《Dictator From Outer Space》
Chapter 1: The Last Survivor
Chapter 1: The Last Survivor
Sr System, Mars L2 Point.
This was a deste space where nothing should exist, yet it was filled with countless metal fragments.
Among those fragments, dozens of probes were diligently roaming, searching for a trace of humanity.
Or more precisely, the possible existence of human survivors.
For three years, the probes had thoroughly searched this area, but they had made no significant progress.
However, their master, the artificial intelligence named Arma, was convinced that there were survivors here.
It had detected weak signals.
Although the signals were faint and hard to trace, it couldn¡¯t give up.
Its primary goal was to protect humanity.
[Search of Zone C32plete.]
The probes that finished their search returned to the mothership one by one.
The Settler.
It was thergest spacecraft ever created by humanity, designed for interster colonization.
It was over 700 meters long and had a weight of nearly one million tons.
However, the Settler¡¯s appearance, as seen by the probes¡¯ visual sensors, was pitiful.
The main deck waspletely submerged, and the hull was torn apart everywhere, resembling a wrecked ship.
Even the Aether Fusion Core had suffered significant damage, making maneuvering difficult.
Arma opened the hatch and weed the probes.
[Ion Recharge in Progress¡ Next Search Zone is B16.]
It assigned search zones to each probe.
Three years had passed since the final battle.
Signals from Earth had been severed, and the various space bases within the sr system were in the same state.
Arma had reached its conclusion through data analysis.
Humanity had perished.
The poption that had once reached 10 billion during its peak had vanished without a trace.
The legacy of humanity, umted over several centuries, had crumbled away.
All that remained was the barely functional Settler and the suspicious existence of potential survivors.
However, Arma still held onto hope.
If it could only find those survivors, the reconstruction of humanity wouldn¡¯t be just a dream.
Of course, it would be challenging to regain the prosperity of the past, but it could at least pass down the legacy of humanity to future generations.
Relying on that fragile hope, Arma continued its search in the Mars region.
How much time had passed?
Probes scattered throughout space simultaneously received a signal.
[Locking on to the cockpit signal of an Assault Armor¡.]
As the distance was considerable, several probes merged together, forming the shape of a massive rocket.
[Transform Complete. Ion Thruster at Maximum Output.]
sma spewed out from the nozzles, and the high-speed probes rushed toward the source of the signal.
After a while, Arma detected a weak signal and discovered something floating in space.
[Analyzing form¡ Confirmed as a 4th generation Assault Armor. Analyzing pilot¡]
The result was astonishing.
The owner of the cockpit held the highest position in its life database.
Even during the time when the United Human Federation thrived, there were few individuals above his rank.
[Full citizen of Mega City Sydney.]
[Supreme Council Member.]
[Colonel of the United Space Force Pioneer Fleet.]
[Chief Researcher of the Artifact Interpretation Agency.]
[Assault Armor Uber Pilot.]
[Omega Level Psychic.]
This set of titles referred to only one person.
Yu Ji-ha.
He, who was once humanity¡¯s savior, was now imprisoned within a mass of metal, floating in space.
[Commence Rescue Operation.]
The high-speed probes separated and approached the cockpit.
¡
The cockpit entered the docking bay.
However, there was hardly any space inside the Settler where a human could survive without protection.
Arma immediately began securing a medical facility.
[Seal the Bulkhead, Initiate Atmosphere Injection.]
[Stabilize Pressure and Temperature.]
A few robotic walkers forcefully opened the tightly sealed cockpit.
The person that emerged was barely breathing or conscious.
The fact that he had lost some limbs was not a concern.
The walkersid him on a bed, and Arma immediately started analyzing his vital signs.
[Unconsciousness, Respiratory Depression, Abnormal Metabolism.]
Being stuck in that narrow cockpit for three years, it would be more strange if he were in a normal condition.
Nevertheless, since he was alive, Arma had its tasks to fulfill.
[Administer Nutrient Solution, Prepare Stimnt Dosage.]
Waking up a person who had been in aatose state was a lengthy and delicate process.
With great effort, Arma seeded in awakening the human on the bed.
The man, Yu Ji-ha, finally opened his eyes.
[Are you conscious?]
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
[I am Arma, an artificial intelligence belonging to the Supreme Council. ording to AI Codex Article 4, I will register you, Colonel Yu Ji-ha, as my master. May I have your permission?]
Yu Ji-ha, who was staring at the ceiling speaker with dim eyes, finally opened his mouth.
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤What about the Pioneer Fleet?¡±
[They have been scattered and wandering near the final defense line. The only remaining ship is the Settler, which is in a critical condition.]
¡°And the gue Legion?¡±
[After breaking through the final defense line, they headed towards Earth.]
He didn¡¯t need to ask what happened to Earth.
He already knew.
But Yu Ji-ha wanted to hear it directly.
¡°What happened to Earth¡ to humanity?¡±
[At this current moment, three yearster, no signals have been transmitted.]
The fact that no signals wereing from a like Earth meant its destruction.
Those damn extraterrestrial beings had undoubtedly brought an end to humanity.
Yu Ji-ha felt a heavy weight on his chest and closed his eyes.
The gue Legion.
A metallic life-form that began appearing in the sr system a century ago.
In the 22nd century, as humanity tried to expand its influence in the sr system, they collided head-on with the gue Legion.
Unfortunately, the power of the gue Legion far surpassed that of humanity.
Humanity fought fiercely, depleting Earth¡¯s resources, but they couldn¡¯t overturn the overwhelming power difference.
There were attempts to turn the tide, such as the relics of the Prophets or the Warp Gates of the 9th, Nox, but they were not decisive enough.
And so, humanity fought until the end, only to face annihtion.
Yu Ji-ha, who had remained silent, spoke up.
¡°Am I the only survivor?¡±
[At present, yes.]
¡°I¡¯m the only one left¡ only me¡¡±
He remembered thest moments of hisrades and subordinates. The final words and screams they uttered while fighting against the gue Legion were still vivid in his mind.
¨CCommander, go ahead without me!
¨CWe can die! Just send the Commander over there!
¨COnce you arrive, please let us know you¡¯re safe!
Despite the sacrifices of his subordinates, the gue Legion remained intact.
The Pioneer Fleet failed to break through the final defense line, and the gue Legion relentlessly pushed deeper into the sr system.
In the fierce battle, Colonel Yu Ji-ha suffered a fatal injury and was transported to a battleship.
Shortly after, the entire Pioneer Fleet, including that battleship, was obliterated by the gue Legion¡¯s bombardment.
Just before losing consciousness, Yu Ji-ha watched as the entire universe outside the window was illuminated brightly.
It was a sign of annihtion.
¡
The agony was long, and the decision was brief.
In a heavy voice, Yu Ji-ha gave hismand.
¡°Arma, register me as your master.¡±
[Citizen identification confirmed. Colonel Yu Ji-ha, from now on, I will assist you as your aide.]
Listening to Arma¡¯s resolute voice, he hesitated for a moment before boarding the Patient Transport Walker.
¡°Can this ship move now?¡± he asked.
[I do not rmend it. The output of the Aether Fusion Reactor has reached its limit, and five out of six auxiliary engines require an overhaul.]
¡°I asked if it can move.¡±
[It is possible.]
¡°Maintain the minimum survival zone and change course. We¡¯re heading to Earth.¡±
[Master¡]
Arma attempted to interject, but he was already staring in the direction of Earth.
Somewhere in that dark expanse, Earth existed.
Although it had likely been ravaged by the gue Legion and lost its former beauty, he still wanted to see it with his own eyes.
As thest surviving human.
He looked out the window and spoke.
¡°I know what you¡¯re trying to suggest. You want to escape and repair the ship.¡±
[The Settler is a colonization vessel. Given enough time and resources, we can restore the entire colonization fleet.]
¡°And with me here, there shouldn¡¯t be any problem producing humans, right?¡±
[That is correct. Once the Bio-bag is operational, we can regenerate your limbs as well, Master.]
¡°Not necessary. Change course.¡±
[Of course, I will follow your orders. However, in emergencies like the current situation, I may prioritize your survival.]
In other words, it meant that Arma would disobey orders if it meant protecting Yu Ji-ha.
He silently stared at the console and sighed.
¡°The damn gue has entered the sr system. By now, Earth is probably eroded. You know better than anyone that there¡¯s no future for humanity. Let me ask you something. Where should I go?¡±
[Even if it¡¯s not Earth, there are many ces where you can survive. On the Settler¡]
¡°But the gue will chase us wherever we go, won¡¯t they? Do I have to run every time? Until I¡¯m exhausted and give up?¡±
[As an AI, I can only make choices based on the highest probability.]
A probability of 0.0001% is higher than 0%, but such numerical games meant little to Yu Ji-ha.
¡°I¡¯m tired¡¡±
His firm voice began to tremble.
He may have had a youthful appearance, but he was an old warrior who had fought against the gue Legion for decades.
He had crossed countless battlefields, saved the space fleet and humanity twice.
However, despite his achievements, it was an uphill battle to turn the tide. Yu Ji-ha muttered to himself in a muddled manner.
¡°After fighting for decades, I have nothing left. Even if I run away, the same thing will happen. I¡¯d rather go to Earth and face death.¡±
To be honest, he no longer had the courage to continue living.
In a situation where humanity had perished, what meaning was there in carrying on a meager existence alone?
He knew that even that respite wouldn¡¯tst long.
The gue Legion was relentless and powerful.
Arma was an artificial intelligence, but it was not entirely unaware of the anguish he was experiencing.
It felt something akin to empathy for its master.
[If that¡¯s what you truly desire, Master, I understand. Let¡¯s head to Earth then.]
¡°I¡¯m sorry. You¡¯ve barely managed to find me.¡±
[It is my duty to assist you, Master. However, the condition of the main engine is extremely poor, so the possibility of a sessful journey is uncertain.]
¡°Just get us there. I only want to see Earth onest time.¡±
[If you lie down on the bed, I will immediately prepare for departure.]
¡°Yeah¡¡±
Shortly after, the ship began to move slowly, swaying as if it could break apart.
Yu Ji-ha let out a bitter smile inwardly.
For a brief moment, he had thought how clean it would be if the Aether Fusion Reactor exploded and ended everything.
However, regardless of his wishes, the Settler slowly made its way through space.
Towards Earth.
¡
As of the autumn of 2180, the distance from Mars¡¯ final defense line to Earth was 220 million kilometers.
It would take five days for a regr battleship of the Unified Space Fleet, but the Settler, as a pioneer ship, could cover it in less than an hour.
However, that was assuming the Aether Fusion Reactor was functioning properly.
Currently, the fusion reactor was unable to reach even 1% of its maximum output, and most of that power was being dispersed into space.
If someone had observed the journey of the Settler from Earth, it would have been quite spectacr.
It would have looked like aet with a long tail stretching out.
However, Arma, the artificial intelligence responsible for guiding the Settler¡¯s journey, was not in a good state to appreciate such a sight.
Its master, Colonel Yu Ji-ha, was rapidly deteriorating in health.
¡°Cr¡ Ugh!¡±
Even in an unconscious state, he was experiencing such intense pain that he would convulse.
It was clear that he was going through tremendous agony.
However, something was strange.
There was no organ or device in his right chest, the source of the pain.
Nevertheless, Arma deployed a medical module-equipped walker to calm him down.
Although sedatives were administered, theints of pain persisted to the point where the bed shook.
Finally, a dazzling light burst forth from his chest, or rather from his entire body.
But Arma was observing through the sensors of the walker, trying to determine what it was.
[Aether.]
The light, presumed to be Aether, filled the medical room and eventually engulfed the entire Settler.
The tail of light extended for thousands of kilometers from the front of the ship, creating a magnificent spectacle.
The entire Settler shimmered and a blue expanse appeared before them.
[Engage reverse thrust.]
The speed quickly decreased, and the spacecraft plunged into the blue expanse.
In this space, there was no observable light, sr wind, radiation, or maic fields.
Even Arma momentarily ceased functioning.
It was only after the Settler emerged from this strange space that Arma resumed her calctions.
And then, dozens of sensors and cameras discovered a blue.
There was only one blue in Arma¡¯s database.
[Earth.]
Something was off.
The current coordinates of the Settler were roughly midway between Mars and Earth.
Arma checked the navigationputer but found no errors.
However, it noticed that the Settler¡¯smunicationwork was filtering out various interference signals.
Not long ago, Earth had been pristine, without any noise or interference.
As Arma attempted to analyze this anomaly, there was a sudden explosion at the rear of the spacecraft.
The Settler rapidly lost bnce and was pulled into the gravitational field of Earth.
[Forced Atmospheric Entry, verifying position¡]
The thin atmosphere turned into sma at a temperature of 2,000 degrees Celsius, obstructing observations.
The Settler pierced through the Earth¡¯s atmosphere in a straight line, resembling a meteor.
The impact of a massive spacecraft crashing into the ocean surface would be unimaginable.
Fortunately, the Settler had a disposable emergency device.
[Engage maximum reverse thrust.]
Settler¡¯s thrusters emerged throughout the ship, expelling ionized Aether.
As the speed, which had reached 30 km/s, dropped close to zero, loud noises erupted from various parts of the spacecraft.
[Emergencynding in 10 seconds. 9, 8, 7¡]
The spacecraft, weighing close to 1 million tons, made an emergencynding on the ocean surface.
Instantly, the surrounding seawater was disced, causing a tsunami over 10 meters high.
The tsunami engulfed Japanese patrol vessels near Dokdo, which were in the midst of a protest.
¡°Tsunami! It¡¯s a tsunami!¡±
¡°Hold onto anything you can!¡±
The force of the tsunami was no joke, as patrol vessels weighing over a thousand tons were tossed aside like leaves.
Korean Coast Guard vessels, relying on Dokdo as a shield, couldn¡¯t hide their bewilderment.
¡°What was that tsunami just now? Level 1 of the Tidal Wave Warning System was no joke.¡±
¡°Captain! There are people over there! They¡¯re not from our side!¡±
¡°Initiate rescue operations. We can¡¯t use the excuse of conducting surveying work and leave people behind.¡±
While the patrol vessels carried out rescue operations, the Settler, havingnded near Dokdo, lost all propulsion and sank deep into the ocean floor.
Chapter 2: Returning To The Past
Chapter 2: Returning To The Past
The Settler ship had crashed into the ocean 100 km east of Dokdo, sinking deep into the seabed with severe damage.
Despite the seawater pouring into the breached hull, Arma was busy securing her master¡¯s safety.
[Respiration Stable. Vital Signs Normal.]
Surprisingly, her owner was sleeping soundly.
Before they departed, there was no guarantee that they would survive.
Arma attached a medical walker to the owner¡¯s bed and started the system check.
[Major Damage to the Aether Fusion Reactor.]
[Six Auxiliary Engines in Need of Repair.]
[Flood Zone Expanding¡]
She quickly assessed the situation and took action.
She abandoned what was beyond repair and deployed the walker to prevent further flooding for her master¡¯s sake.
Since it was impossible to move the Settler ship right away, gathering information was crucial.
She used an emergency power reserve to activate the auxiliarymunication system, even though the main power was cut off.
[Commencing Radio Wave Collection.]
The outdated radio wave collectionwork scanned the surrounding waves, and Arma analyzed them.
¨CWe have just received news. The Japanese patrol ships that were in confrontation with the Korean Coast Guard near Dokdo were suddenly swept away by a tsunami. The Republic of Korea Coast Guard has immediatelyunched a rescue operation.
¨CDuring his visit this time, Liu Wei, the Deputy Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has demanded participation in meetings with major domesticpanies. The businessmunity is uneasy about the sudden schedule¡
¨CThe birth rate is projected to drop to a record low of 0.53 births in 2025. The government has poured various measures, but it remains uncertain how effective they will be.
It was truly astonishing.
Arma quickly realized from analyzing the information that Earth was not in its normal state.
ording to the information gathered, the current time was not 2180 but 2025.
The Settler ship had traveled 155 years back in time to the past.
How could such a thing happen?
Arma searched through the database, but there was no reliable information avable.
The only clue she had was that Colonel Yu Ji-ha, her owner, had retrieved a relic during the Mars Relic Acquisition Mission ten years ago.
At that time, the United Space Forces were secretive about the details, so Arma didn¡¯t know much either.
However, one thing was certain.
Her owner had somehowe into contact with the relics of the Prophets.
There were no reports that alien relics could appear in various forms and affect humans.
If her hypothesis was correct, this would be a groundbreaking discovery.
Before she could rejoice, Colonel Yu Ji-ha coughed violently.
[Master, it¡¯s time to wake up.]
¡°Uh¡¡±
He got up and looked at his numb limbs, then let out a wry smile.
¡°I¡¯m not dead yet¡ Is this not Earth?¡±
[The current coordinates of the settler ship are in Earth¡¯s ocean. It has sunk to a depth of 1,500 meters.]
¡°The ocean? Did gue take a liking to it?¡±
gue was a Metallic Life-Form that attacked everything rted to humanity.
The chances of anyone witnessing the Settler ship entering Earth¡¯s atmosphere were close to zero.
Arma reported the conclusion first.
[ording to various information, it is spected that the current time coordinates of the settler ship are not 2180 but 2025.]
For a moment, Colonel Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face stiffened.
He thought Arma was joking with him.
Before he could speak, Arma disyed the information on the monitor of the walker.
Variousmunication contents entered Colonel Yu Jiha¡¯s retina.
¨CMansunho, Mansunho, descend immediately. Do not engage in fishing activities there!
¨CControl Center, this is Korean 311. Is it true that a meteorite just fell nearby?
¨CKorean 311, this is the Control Center. The meteorite won¡¯t devour your location. Don¡¯t worry.
¨CHwangnamu, Hwangnamu, did you just detect a blip on the radar?
¨CUm¡ It was moving too fast, so we deemed it as noise¡
¨CHey, you! What the hell are you doing without followingmunication protocols? Change the officer!
In addition to these,munication in variousnguages reached Colonel Yu Jiha.
It was strange considering that in the year 2180, thenguage of the United Human Federation was fixed as English.
There was only one thing this could mean.
¡°Could it be that we¡¯ve returned to the past?¡±
[I think it may be rted to what you experienced on Mars, Master. However, we can¡¯t draw a conclusion due to theck of information.]
Colonel Yu Ji-ha absentmindedly stroked his right chest.
¡°I carried out a mission to acquire the relic of the Prophets on Mars. And I discovered a golden sphere.¡±
[So, the relic of the Prophets was absorbed into your body?]
¡°After seeing that sphere, I woke up in a medical facility belonging to the headquarters. Perhaps due to fear of interrogation by the Council, Ipletely forgot about the mission itself.¡±
[Interesting. From the current situation, we can consider the relic you absorbed as a key.]
¡°A key? A key to what?¡±
On the monitor of the Walker, the events experienced by the Settler ship were reconstructed and appeared.
It was a breathtaking sight for Colonel Yu Ji-ha to witness the blue door opening in the dark expanse of space.
[It is spected that it is a Spatial-Temporal Portal that the Settler ship passed through. Could it be a simr type to the Warp Gates in Nox?]
¡°Most likely¡¡±
Thus, it became evident that the Settler ship had traversed through time and space.
However, Yu Ji-ha wanted to see it for himself, to witness what had changed.
There are times when passionate emotions are more important than cold reason and logic.
With one leg, he stood up from the walker.
¡°Can we send out an exploration probe?¡±
[It¡¯s possible. It might even help with your mental well-being, Master.]
¡°I need to see the ocean with my own eyes.¡±
After a while, an exploration probe carrying Colonel Yu Ji-ha ascended toward the surface of the sea.
When Yu Ji-ha opened the hatch and stepped outside, the blue sky greeted him.
¡°Ah¡¡±
It was truly an unbelievable scene.
The once polluted red ocean had vanished, and a deep blue sea filled his vision.
The faint scent that permeated his nostrils could only be that of the sea.
Yu Ji-ha looked down at his ankles, which were soaked by the cool seawater.
Here was a clean world untouched by the erosion of the gue.
Unconsciously, he found himself lying down on the beach.
Nameless birds flew across the sky.
Gurgle¡
Suddenly, a rumbling sound echoed from his stomach.
Yu Jiha realized that he was unexpectedly hungry.
¡
Arma caught fish for her hungry master.
The method was quite simple: she sent an exploration probe to the nearby ind and administered an ion shock.
Dozens of unidentified fish were captured, and a cooking module-equipped walker took charge.
Thirty minutester, a sizzling grilled fish was served on Yu Ji-ha¡¯s table.
He stared at the delicious fish with a famished expression on his face.
¡°Are people in this era¡ supposed to eat this?¡±
[Sometimes they eat it raw]
¡°That¡¯s dreadful.¡±
[It must have a good taste¡ probably.]
Yu Ji-ha never experienced such cuisine, having been born and raised in the Mega-cities.
Most of Earth had be deste due to the prolonged war with the gue, and only a small part of Australia remained habitable for humanity.
Although the United Human Federation made efforts to supply citizens with diverse ingredients, there were limitations.
While enjoying the simple grilled fish, he listened to Arma¡¯s report.
[Based on the analysis of the current situation on Earth in the autumn of 2025, the following can be observed:
The global poption is approximately 8 billion people, with over 200 countries existing, and overall, the situation is rtively peaceful.]
¡°Indeed, it seems rtively peacefulpared to my time. However, there must still be conflicts, to some extent.¡±
[Due to the strong influence of major powers, full-scale wars are rare. However, there is intense economicpetition and numerous small-scale conflicts.]
¡°And which countries are these major powers?¡±
[They are the United States and China, often referred to as the G2.]
¡°I have heard of the United States as well. Is English derived from them?¡±
English is the officialnguage of the United Human Federation.
[To be precise, English originated from the United Kingdom. You could say they are brothers to the United States, and while they may not be on par with the G2, they still exert their own influence.]
¡°I see that there are other countries in this vicinity ording to the data.¡±
[Based on the reference point of the ship, to the west is the Korean Penins, with South Korea to the south, North Korea to the north, and Japan to the east. There are also powerful nations such as China and Russia surrounding them. I can provide you with the exact names through the monitor.]
¡°It seems quiteplex in this region¡¡±
In truth, such information was not of great importance.
What mattered most was the position of Commander Yu Ji-ha and the Settler.
This faction had brought 22nd-century science and technology to the 21st century.
Even the slightest leakage of technology or concepts could overturn the entire world.
Colonel Yu Ji-ha found himself in a position where he had to protect these while seeking his own survival.
He opened his mouth heavily.
¡°It seems that the Prophet wanted us to return to the past.¡±
[Though we may not know who they are, one thing is certain: they¡¯re helping us.]
¡°Perhaps they¡¯re still watching over us from across the universe.¡±
Considering how they opened the Warp Gate on the 9th to guide humanity, it was possible.
However, humanity was unable to discover the Warp Gate due to the ongoing fight against the gue.
Despite constructing Settler ships and others, they were unable to reach nearby areas.
But now, if it was the present moment¡
With the luxury of time, the situation would bepletely different.
Humanity could ovee the gue.
Colonel Yu Ji-ha, who had reached this point in his thoughts, fell into silence, and Arma waited for his instruction.
After a moment passed, he dered,
¡°We are the children of the Prophet.¡±
He referred to himself in the plural form because of his solidarity with the remnants of the United Human Federation.
He knew hisrades of the United Human Federation, heard their cries, and witnessed their ultimate end.
While the United Human Federation disappeared, humanity would remain.
Now, they were one.
¡°We have inherited the Prophet¡¯s technology, so we have a duty to follow his will. We must defeat the gue and journey to the Prophet¡¯s homnd.¡±
The Prophet.
A being that indirectly revealed its presence in the sr system at some point.
Despite humanity epting their technology and concepts, they knew nothing about them.
Where they were, who they were, whether they were individuals or a collective entity¡ªeverything was unknown.
The only certainty was that humanity faced an iparable civilization that they dared not ignore.
Colonel Yu Ji-ha instructed Arma, ¡°Set the objective and create a roadmap and timeline. Analyze all the information to find the optimal possibilities.¡±
[To initiate the calctions, we need power. If we can utilize the engine of the old Assault Armor, it should be possible.]
Arma was an artificial intelligence specialized in processing and analyzingrge amounts of data.
However, to fully utilize her capabilities, she needed assistance from the Settler ship.
Despite losing all power, partial calctions were possible when connecting the engine of the Outdated Assault Armor.
Colonel Yu Ji-ha let out a bitterugh.
¡°I had big ambitions, but it seems like we still have a long way to go¡ How long would it take to repair the Aether Fusion Reactor?¡±
[ording to the diagnosis, including hull repairs, it would take a maximum of three years. However, without an Aether Crystal, we won¡¯t be able to start the engine.]
¡°From what I remember, it was discovered before the Prophet¡¯s relics or the gue¡¡±
[Based on the research, Aether Crystals were first discovered in this vicinity around the year 2030. There¡¯s also a possibility that they arrived on Earth before that time.]
¡°Now we consider them a kind of gem, so it¡¯ll be difficult to find. Let¡¯s mobilize a separate exploration team to scour the seabed.¡±
[What about your limbs? Since the Bio-bag is inoperable, I rmend cybeic surgery.]
The Bio-bag was a therapeutic capsule that could heal all wounds and diseases as long as you didn¡¯t die.
However, activating it required the prerequisite of an Aether fusion reactor.
¡°It can¡¯t be helped if it¡¯s inconvenient right now. At the very least, I should be able to walk¡ Prepare for the surgery.¡±
[I¡¯ll prepare for the surgery. By the way, there are ships moving around above our ship.]
¡°Who do they belong to?¡±
[They are security forces from Korea and Japan. It seems like their rtionship is not particrly friendly.]
¡°They¡¯repeting for the intermediate station. I hope there¡¯s no risk of our ship being exposed.¡±
[They can¡¯t locate our ship, which is located 1,500 meters underwater, with the technology of this era¡ Submarines have also appeared.]
¡°Submarines?¡±
An elongated underwater tform appeared in the hologram.
¡°It looks strange. Did they design it that way due to water resistance?¡±
[Since they can¡¯t use the Aether field, that¡¯s probably why. By the way, all these submarines belong to different factions.]
¡°It seems like this is a hotspot. There¡¯s no need to cause unnecessary trouble¡¡±
Just as Yu Ji-ha was about to finish speaking, he suddenly grabbed his right chest and copsed.
Medical Walker quickly supported him.
[Master, Master!]
There was no response.
¡
Arma faithfully carried out its master¡¯s orders.
It collected extensive information and sent out exploration teams to find Aether Crystals.
It also started the actual repairs of the Settler-ss ship.
However, cybeic surgery had to be postponed.
This was due to the rapid deterioration of its master¡¯s condition.
He had been perfectly fine just a moment ago, but suddenly fell into aa, and even his breathing became irregr.
Arma treated its owner, but Yu Ji-ha¡¯s condition worsened to the point where even breathing became difficult without a Medical Walker.
[Extraordinary measures are necessary.]
After careful information exploration, Arma discovered a possibility.
Soul Exchange Device.
It was a relic of the Prophet, a device that could store and transfer brain data.
Most relics were like that, but this device was beyond the understanding of even the technological prowess of the United Human Federation.
For various reasons, the United Human Federation had never used this device.
If you transfer the data in the brain to another body, can you still consider it as yourself?
If data is lost during the process and memories are changed, is that still considered the same person?
Of course, they trusted the technological capabilities of the Prophet, but they couldn¡¯t ignore the potential side effects.
Thus, the Soul Exchange Device was securely sealed and brought aboard the Settler-ss ship.
Now, the time hade to use it.
However, it couldn¡¯t be used recklessly without its owner¡¯s permission.
Arma focused on its owner¡¯s treatment and waited until he woke up.
It didn¡¯t take long before he opened his eyes with a groan.
¡°¡I¡¯m dying¡¡±
[Master, your condition is extremely critical. We cannot guarantee your survival if it continues like this.]
¡°Understood¡ Unable to use the Bio-bag this time, I¡¯m really going to die¡¡±
[Based on Artificial Intelligence Codex Directive 2, Master¡¯s survival takes precedence over all matters. I suggest using the Soul Exchange Device.]
He turned his head weakly.
[Before that¡ Are there any suitable candidates?]
[Currently, a 32-year-old male of Korean nationality is in Coma Stage 7. In reality, there is no hope of recovery, and he will be dered brain-dead within a few months. His name is¡ Yu Ji-ha.]
Upon hearing that name, Yu Ji-ha coughed heavily.
¡°Me¡ It¡¯s the same as my name?¡±
[That¡¯s why I conducted an intensive investigation. He happens to be in a position that aligns with the future roadmap as well. If you give the order, I will proceed with the surgery immediately.]
Yu Ji-ha struggled with his rapid,bored breathing.
He had no desire to die like this.
How could he havee this far, only to end his life without any achievements?
His shoulders carried the aspirations of humanity.
¡°¡Assuming we change bodies¡ Lay out the roadmap.¡±
[I will make the preparations.]
The hatch of the Settler-ss ship opened, and an exploration pod loaded with equipment wasunched.
In an instant, the exploration podpleted its transformation and activated the ion thrusters.
Thanks to that, the air defense control center located in Ulleungdo was overturned.
¡°What was that just now?¡±
¡°Well¡ It suddenly ascended and went beyond detection altitude! Speed Mach 10!¡±
The expressions of the radar room personnel froze, and the control officer muttered absentmindedly.
¡°Those damn¡ North Koreans¡ No, reaching Mach 10 in the ascent phase is absurd.¡±
At that moment, the telephone rang loudly.
Ring-ring-riiiing¡ª
¡°H-Hello, Joint Chiefs of Staff.¡±
¡°Damn it.¡±
The control officer cursed and picked up the receiver.
¡°Securemunication¡ What? It¡¯s already in Seoul? Yes, it¡¯s been five seconds since it went beyond detection range¡¡±
Ring-ring¡ª Ring-ring¡ª
The telephone line continued to ring.
¡
Chapter 3: Vegetative State
Chapter 3: Vegetative State
A hospital room in Gangnam, Seoul.
A middle-aged woman was sitting by the bedside of a single-patient room.
She held and caressed the hand of the man on the bed, whispering.
¡°Ji-ha¡ Why haven¡¯t you opened your eyes yet? If you wake up, Mom will take care of everything¡¡±
¡°I won¡¯t nag you about those things anymore¡ ¡°Sob¡±
Her voice was filled with longing and sorrow for her son.
However, her son remained unresponsive, and she buried her face in the bed, sobbing.
How much time had passed?
She wiped away her tears and changed her son¡¯s clothes and cleaned his body with a towel.
Meanwhile, a reconnaissance micro drone, about one meter in size, attached itself to the window of the single-patient room.
[Test Subject¡¯s Biological Mother. She has been taking care of her son in aa stage 7 for three years.]
¨C Three years? What a waste of time.
[Women in this era give birth to their own children, so they have a strong attachment to them.]
¨CAttachment, huh¡
He was born from a bio-bag and raised in a childcare facility of the Mega-city.
He had biological parents, but he didn¡¯t know who they were, so he had no sense of blood ties.
Yet, he felt something from his mother, who sincerely took care of him.
¨CIt would be sad if she found out that I¡¯m not her real son¡
[That will never happen.]
¨CThat¡¯s how it should be. But for some reason, I feel dizzy.
[Data update in progress. It will bepleted in five minutes.]
Currently, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s consciousness resided in the Soul Exchange Device. If it were uploaded to the test subject¡¯s brain, he would be in a state ofplete unawareness.
Therefore, there was a need to update the information collected by Arma.
Meanwhile, Yu Ji-ha looked down at the man, puzzled
Despite being rtively tall, his body seemed fragile, as if it would break with a slight touch.
¨CIs it because he has been in aa state? He looks so weak.
[ording to past records, there doesn¡¯t seem to be a significant difference. It seems his physique was naturally small. Being of East Asian descent could also be a factor.]
In contrast, most citizens of the United Human Federation hadrger physiques, and Colonel Yu Ji-ha was no exception.
With a height of 195 cm and a muscr body, he stood out wherever he went.
¨CI should do some exercise once I wake up.
[We are preparing the physical enhancement drug for you. Once your health is restored, we can administer it to you.]
¨CGood. But who is this man¡ Yu Ji-ha, the Korean test subject? Can you tell me more about him?
[It will take some time to exin.]
¨CIt¡¯s fine. Since we have to update the information anyway, tell me. I need to get used to him from now on.
Arma summarized and exined about Yu Ji-ha, the Korean test subject.
[He is the heir of the Si Group, a family-controlled business group known as a chaebol in Korea.]
[He was hailed as a genius when he was young and carried the expectations of those around him. However, as he grew up, he faced challenges and realized that he was not a genius, which made him frustrated. He began to lose his direction.]
[He joined his father¡¯spany and took on various research projects, but he couldn¡¯t achieve significant results. Meanwhile, he was lured by his fianc¨¦e, who introduced him to the temptations of alcohol, drugs, and women.]
¨CSome people feel frustrated when they realize they are not as great as they thought they were.
¨CWhat about his personality?
[He had an authoritarian personality, which was covered up by people around him. After the drug scandal and sex scandals, he became known as a disgraceful heir of the Si Group.]
¨CWas there any specific incident that led to this state?
[ording to media reports at the time, he caused an ident while driving under the influence of alcohol. He was lucky that he didn¡¯t hurt anyone else.]
Colonel Yu Ji-ha¡¯s assessment was simple.
¨CWhat a foolish guy.
[He was expected to be the first Korean to win a Nobel Prize in the scientific field when he was young¡ It¡¯s an award given to individuals or organizations that have outstanding achievements in science. He had such potential.]
[However, after entering university and losing his genius status, the media¡¯s interest faded. Politicians and scientists no longer sought him out.]
¨CHe must have realized that he thought the world was his but it wasn¡¯t, and felt despair.
[He showed signs of self-harm rted to that. Although he gave up on suicide attempts due to his mother¡¯s persuasion, he instead fell into a life of indulgence.]
He seemed like someone who carried the worries and concerns of the world all by himself.
At the age of 15, he enlisted as a soldier and fought in countless battles.
He couldn¡¯t understand him, the one who had a brilliant mind and a good family in an era of peace.
But he had to try to understand.
From now on, he would continue his life for him.
Arma reported.
[The consciousness upload is ready. Once this woman leaves the room, I will transmit the synthesized disy.]
That way, the people in charge of this treatment facility would see a fake screen instead of the actual scene.
[However, we are short on time. With your permission, I will add some noise to the surrounding traffic signals to buy us some time.]
¡ªAs long as it doesn¡¯t cause too much trouble.
[Yes.]
¡
¡°Please, take good care of my son.¡±
¡°Of course, ma¡¯am. We¡¯re always watching over him.¡±
Lady Jung Hye-won said goodbye to the nurses and got into the car that the driver was waiting in.
As the mistress of the Si Group, she could easily afford to hire nurses.
But after an incident caused by a nurse two years ago, Lady Jung Hye-won insisted on taking care of her son herself.
She couldn¡¯t bear to see her precious son being mistreated by strangers ever again.
¡°Let¡¯s go home.¡±
¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡±
She sat in the back seat of the car, lost in thought, as usual.
It had been three years since her son had fallen into this state, but there was no sign of improvement at all.
The doctor could only say that they couldn¡¯t predict when he would wake up, and every day was a living nightmare.
¡®If only he would open his eyes, even if it¡¯s just to look at his mother.¡¯
She didn¡¯t even hope for him to live a normal life like before.
Even if he had to spend his whole life in bed, she was determined to take care of him.
If only he would wake up¡
Jung Hye-won gazed sadly at the night view of Seoul and noticed something odd.
It seemed like they had been driving for a long time, but they hadn¡¯t even reached Yangjae Street yet.
¡°Is there a lot of traffic today?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not the usual time for congestion, but it seems like the signals are causing dys. I¡¯m sorry.¡±
¡°Why are you apologizing? It¡¯s not your fault. Just be careful, anyway.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
She arrived at her home in Hannam-dong 30 minutester than usual.
Unlike other mansions owned by chaebols, this mansion had a simple interior and no household staff.
She believed that a home should be afortable space for a family to live in.
But today, the house felt strange to her.
There was a smell of alcohol in the dark house.
Her husband must be drinking again.
Usually, she would have ignored it, but today, Jung Hye-won felt irritated for some reason.
Some people came to change Yu Ji-ha¡¯s clothes, but her husband was busy drinking.
She opened the door and started scolding him.
¡°Have you lost your mind? Yu Ji-ha is lying there like that!¡±
Her husband, Yu Kyung-seok, who was also Yu Ji-ha¡¯s father, looked at her with bloodshot eyes.
¡°I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re suddenly acting like this, but just stop it today.¡±
¡°What do you mean, stop it? Are you addicted to alcohol? You¡¯re the one who knows why Yu Ji-ha ended up like this!¡±
Yu Kyung-seok¡¯s face contorted.
He had scolded his son harshly before he caused an ident while driving under the influence, turning Yu Ji-ha into a vegetative state.
The root cause of all this was probably the harsh words he said to his son.
If he said things like ¡°you shouldn¡¯t have been born,¡± it must have hurt him even more.
¡°It was just a wake-up call. You know that too. You know what he has done.¡±
At that time, Yu Ji-ha was in and out of the detention center as if it were his second home.
His reckless behavior even affected the Si Group¡¯s stock price.
The only reason he wasn¡¯t arrested was because of the money of the Si Group.
Yu Kyung-seok, as a business owner and a father, couldn¡¯t tolerate his son¡¯s behavior.
But he admitted that the severity of his scolding was too much.
His son was already suffering from severe depression and undergoing treatment, and his words only made it worse.
But Jung Hye-won didn¡¯t want to think about that.
To her, only her son mattered.
¡°You think it¡¯s okay to say such cruel words as a ¡®wake-up call¡¯? You might as well have wished him dead.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not what I meant. You know that.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know anything. Oh, but there¡¯s one thing I do know. You were deeply disappointed in Yu Ji-ha. Was he only smart when he was young? Seeing him stray a bit as he grew up made you feel like he wasn¡¯t our son anymore.¡±
She used him with a bitter tone, and Yu Kyung-seok stood up, his emotions rising.
¡°Are you done talking?¡±
¡°What if I¡¯m not?¡±
The atmosphere turned tense, and they red at each other before looking away.
It was always like this.
Even when Yu Ji-ha started going astray, their rtionship wasn¡¯t this bad.
But ever since he became a vegetative state, their marital rtionship had worsened to the point of hostility.
She didn¡¯t want to me herself for their son¡¯s condition.
This tense atmosphere also affected the management of thepany.
Lately, Si Group faced a major crisis.
The reason Yu Kyung-seok had been drinking at home today was also because of that.
¡°I don¡¯t want to stay in this damn house.¡±
Yu Kyung-seok stormed out, leaving Jung Hye-won in tears on the bed.
It was a tragic situation, but there was someone, or rather something, that enjoyed it.
¡
Arma.
She controlled the microdrones and cut the wiring to prevent Jung Hye-won¡¯s car from starting.
Of course, there were more than one car in this house, but it would give her some time.
[Mission aplished. Initiating procedure.]
A walker transformed grotesquely and entered the hospital room where Yu Ji-hay still.
¡°¡¡±
[Master, are you awake?]
Deep in Yu Ji-ha¡¯s subconscious, he met something.
It was a beautiful woman with creamy hair and a slender figure. She sat on a chair and then bowed politely.
[I have added variousnguages, including Korean, to yournguage circuit. For now, I will make sure that only Korean is used. You can speak it as it appears on your retina.]
Was the procedure already done?
In fact, as soon as Yu Ji-ha heard the report that Arma was about to initiate the procedure, he lost consciousness.
He asked, his voice shaking.
¨DWas the procedure¡ sessful?
[I apologize, I should have informed you about that first. The procedure was sessful, and you, Master, are currently inside the original body. However, you have not yet awakened from youra.]
¨DThat¡¯s good¡ But I can¡¯t just wake up like this. I need knowledge.
He needed aprehensive understanding ofmon knowledge as a Korean and knowledge about his family rtionships.
Even though he entered a new body, acquiring that knowledge naturally was impossible.
Fortunately, it seemed that Arma had prepared thorough measures.
When she snapped her fingers, images began to flow in Yu Ji-ha¡¯s vision.
It was a cinematic presentation of the information collected about Yu Ji-ha, the Korean man he had reced.
Thanks to that, he could learn in detail who he was in his previous life.
¨DHe was a shameful person, it seems. Considering how often he visitedw enforcement agencies.
[He had a lot of trouble. Nevertheless, maybe because he was their only child, his parents protected and ignored it.]
¨CWill they scold me if I wake up?
[If you show a different side, their evaluation will change dramatically. They¡¯ll think, ¡®He has changed for the better.¡¯]
¨CPlease don¡¯t use difficult Korean.
During this exchange of consciousness, he continued to receive and assimte new information.
From Yu Ji-ha¡¯s usual way of speaking to his habits and attitudes towards his family, it was quite extensive.
It was impossible to immediately ept and apply all of this.
¨CI¡¯m sure I¡¯ll look awkward. What should I do?
[It¡¯ll be fine. No one will be harsh to someone who used to be in a vegetative state. And there are rumors of partial amnesia, so that helps too.]
¨CDon¡¯t use difficult words. What¡¯s this ¡®rumor of partial amnesia¡¯?
[It means having an excuse that can be used anytime. If someone in a vegetative state ims to have amnesia, people tend to be sympathetic and understanding.]
[Even if you act as usual, people around won¡¯t suspect much. It¡¯smon for people to go through significant changes after a major ident.]
¨CWell, that¡¯s convenient for me then.
At that moment, a provocative video yed.
It was a video of the original Yu Ji-ha engaged in sexual activity with a woman.
The conversation revealed that their rtionship was nothing more than casual.
[She¡¯s his fianc¨¦e. This woman yed a big role in leading the original down to a decadent path. She introduced him to the pleasures of sex and drugs, which he knew nothing about besides studying.]
¨CThat¡¯s self-destructive behavior. If he had a sane mind, he should have resisted such temptations.
[It seems that the original Yu Ji-ha had a very sensitive and fragile heart. Being in a state of despair and hurt, having a woman show him the pleasures of sex and drugspletely broke him.]
¨CSo, what kind of person is this woman?
[I¡¯m still gathering information due to theck of data. However, she is undoubtedly someone who has a statusparable to the original.]
¨CShe¡¯s called a fianc¨¦e, so she must be from a powerful family. Isn¡¯t that odd? If she¡¯s from a wealthy family, you should know about it.
Arma was an artificial intelligence specialized in massive data processing andputations.
By now, it would have digitized and collected all news articles rted to influential families.
The fact that it didn¡¯t find any information suggests that there¡¯s something fishy.
[I¡¯m currently investigating the possibility of her being an illegitimate child¡ and searching for their call records by hacking the telmunicationwork.]
¨CWell, it doesn¡¯t really matter. Since their engagement is already over, it¡¯s just history.
No woman would continue the engagement with a man who had be a vegetative state.
After watching the video for a while, I could somewhat understand the original Yu Ji-ha.
He had a grown-up body with a childish mind.
[That¡¯s why, even if you show a slightly more mature side, people will think that you have grown up.]
¨CI should say that my head hurts if anyone doubts me. Is this what they call partial amnesia?
[You¡¯ve be a true Korean. By the way, your mother got in the car. She¡¯ll arrive here within an hour.]
Yu Ji-ha and Arma spent an hour frantically finishing the character design.
And when Jung Hye-won entered the hospital room, everything went back to normal.
¡°Phew¡ I¡¯m sorry, son. Mom had a little fight with Dad and came here.¡±
She sat by the bed as always, talking to him.
Arma, who had been observing it through microdrones, sent a signal.
[I will gradually awaken your body.]
¨CI¡¯m ready. Begin.
[Administering the awakening agent¡]
The awakening agent, which had been in the body in capsule form, activated it.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s fingers twitched slightly.
But Jung Hye-won, even though she saw it, didn¡¯t think much of it.
The doctor had said that various reactions could ur, including sudden movement.
In fact, over the past three years, her son had shown many reactions beyond just finger movement.
It would probably be the same this time.
As she held her son¡¯s weak hand, she could hear his heartbeat, especially strong today.
¡°How long are you going to keep your mom waiting¡ª.¡±
At that moment, Yu Ji-ha opened his eyes.
His pupils moved, and when Jung Hye-won noticed it, her mouth dropped open.
¡°No way¡?¡±
¡°Mom¡?¡±
It was the voice of her son, whom she had longed to hear.
Yu Ji-ha, who had been in a vegetative state for three years, had now awakened.
Chapter 4: The Scoundrel Awakens
Chapter 4: The Scoundrel Awakens
Room 601 of Gangnam Hanseong Hospital had a notorious reputation among the nurses.
It was the room where the infamous chaebol heir, a third-generation scoundrel,y in aa.
Three years ago, he was the nation¡¯s most hated celebrity, constantly making headlines with his drug and sex scandals.
He had a charisma that attracted attention, but also a recklessness that invited trouble.
He was a scoundrel, but he was also incredibly handsome.
Even with his severe injuries, his face looked like a prince from a romance manga.
Some nurses secretly wished to take care of him.
They fantasized about a forbidden love between a patient who was a chaebol heir and a nurse, like in a drama.
But when he was dered to be in a vegetative state, their interest quickly faded.
Now, three yearster, he was a forgotten legend of the hospital.
The only thing he got was an asional bet on when he would die.
But then, on an October night, the inte at the station suddenly rang.
A nurse picked up the receiver and heard an anxious voice.
¡°Pleasee to Room 601 right away! My son has woken up!¡±
¡°Room 601¡?¡±
Wasn¡¯t that where the chaebol heir, the third-generation scoundrel, was?
How could the vegetative-state patient wake up?
The nurse was stunned, holding the receiver. She called the doctor on duty and ran to the room.
When she opened the door, she saw a middle-aged woman hugging a frail patient.
And that patient had his eyes open.
¡°Impossible¡¡±
The nurse couldn¡¯t believe that the patient, who had been almost brain-dead, had woken up.
¡°Sob¡ My son¡ Ji-ha, my son¡¡±
He was in his mother¡¯s arms, weakly moving his head.
¡°What day is it¡? How many years have passed?¡±
¡°It¡¯s October 2025! It¡¯s October¡ Ji-ha, you¡¯ve been asleep for three years¡¡±
¡°Ah¡ my head hurts.¡±
The nurse felt sorry for him, hearing how feeble his voice was.
She didn¡¯t have time to celebrate¡
She brushed off the mother in tears and checked his mental state.
¡°How many fingers do you have on your hand?¡±
¡°What¡¯s 31 plus 65?¡±
¡°Can you bend your right thumb?¡±
He answered correctly, correctly, everything was correct.
He said his head hurt, but his mind was clear.
The doctor on duty arrived soon, his eyes full of shock, and they did a sgow Coma Scale test.
They asked him various questions, gave himmands, and even stimted him physically.
It was a hectic scene.
And finally, the results came out.
¡°We need to do more testster, but for now, it looks like he¡¯s fully awake. This is very rare. Congrattions.¡±
¡°Sob¡ it¡¯s¡ it¡¯s over¡ It¡¯s finally over¡¡±
Jung Hye-won cried as she hugged her son¡¯s face.
She felt a huge relief, as if she had waited for this moment for so long.
Meanwhile, he followed the instructions whispered in his ear by Arma and got ready.
[You will have a memory test soon. If they ask you about any crimes you did before, just say you don¡¯t remember.]
¡ªFor important people, you will see some information next to their faces.
He saw a lot of dataing and going, and he tried to remember what he could.
Luckily, people didn¡¯t notice his poor Korean skills.
But when it came to his past memories, Yu Ji-ha had trouble, and he looked sad.
¡°You seem to have gained some amnesia from before¡ Do you remember anything about the ident?¡±
¡°No¡ I don¡¯t remember anything¡ Ugh¡¡±
He held his head, and Jung Hye-won quickly tried to calm him down.
¡°It¡¯s okay, my son. You don¡¯t have to remember that.¡±
Soon, the door opened and Chairman Yu Kyung-seok and his secretary came in with happy faces.
¡°My son!¡±
Jung Hye-won red at them.
¡°You¡¯re drunk after making a scene? Get out!¡±
¡°Well, I had a few drinks¡¡±
¡°If you¡¯re drunk and noisy, you should leave.¡±
¡°Sir, please wait outside for a bit.¡±
He wanted to talk to his son alone, just the two of them.
The doctor saw that and left with the nurse.
When Yu Kyung-seok was about to go out, confused, Yu Ji-ha said something.
¡°Father¡ I¡¯m sorry¡¡±
Those two words touched something deep in Yu Kyung-seok¡¯s heart.
He had so many regrets for thest three years, for saying terrible things to his son before the ident.
He had even wished sometimes that he was the one in aa instead.
Now that his son was awake, he had nothing to hold back.
He looked at his son with tears in his eyes and smiled.
¡°It¡¯s fine¡ It¡¯s all fine¡¡±
¡
A weekter, Yu Ji-ha left the hospital and went back to his home in Gangnam.
His parents wanted him to stay at their mansion, but he said he had things to do and they agreed.
The parking lot of his huge house was full of expensive foreign cars, even though he lived alone.
He walked around the house with his secretary and shook his head.
¡ªHe was crazier than I thought.
[In this time, being a chaebol means living like this.]
¡ªWhat a waste of money. Even if you don¡¯t have a car, one is enough. Why do you need ten?
Yu Ji-ha looked around and felt dizzy from the luxury.
He was a Supreme Council member and a Colonel, but he lived simply.
The war with the gue had taken all the resources like a ck hole, and there was no ce for luxury.
In that world, luxury was just a fantasy.
[You can change it, Master]
That¡¯s right¡
He looked at the parking lot and talked to his secretary.
¡°Mr. Kim.¡±
Kim Dohyung, a middle-aged man, bowed to him.
He was the secretary that his father, Yu Kyung-seok, gave him.
¡°You can call me Secretary Kim, Young Master. Whatever you want, I¡¯m here to help. We have a lot of work to do together.¡±
He hoped it wasn¡¯t anything illegal like drugs or racing¡
¡°I¡¯ll do my best to help you.¡±
¡°By the way, can we get rid of these cars? I don¡¯t need them all. Just one is enough.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Kim Dohyung was shocked.
Was this the same Yu Ji-ha he knew?
Three years ago, he loved supercars like a kid¡
¡°Sell them all and keep one. No, wait. Don¡¯t we have cars from our group? Get me one of those.¡±
¡°Do you mean the electric cars from the group? I¡¯m sorry, but they¡¯re not good enough for you, Young Master.¡±
Kim Dohyung said that because the electric cars from Si Group were not great.
Now that Japan had made solid-state batteries, electric carpanies without them were behind.
Si Auto was one of them, and they had a hard timepeting with Chinese electric cars.
In short, it was not a car for a chaebol heir.
But Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t change his mind.
¡°Just get me one that can run. I¡¯ll drive it myself.¡±
He wanted to drive an electric car by himself?
Kim Dohyung asked with a worried tone.
¡°Do you have a specific model in mind? I¡¯ll get it for you.¡±
He was thinking about how Yu Ji-ha used to be.
He was moody and impulsive.
Kim Dohyung got a fat envelope from Chairman Yu Kyung-seok, who knew his son was touchy and bad with people.
¡®You know, our son is a bit sensitive and not good with others. Please be patient with him for a while.¡¯
He wondered why their son, who had such a good background, had grown up like that.
But Kim Dohyung wanted to stay in Si Group, so he tried to be as humble as possible.
But Yu Ji-ha¡¯s answer surprised him.
¡°Did I tell you to take away the cars and then bring them back?¡±
¡°No, you misunderstood.¡±
¡°No arguments. Just bring one electric car and sell the rest. Also, I want to make this ce a home gym.¡±
¡°A home gym¡ Are you serious?¡±
He shrugged his thin shoulders.
¡°I¡¯ve been lying down for too long. It feels like my bones are rotting. If I want to live longer, I need to exercise more.¡±
How strange¡
Three years ago, Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t care about exercise at all. He didn¡¯t even like walking.
As a chaebol heir, he didn¡¯t have to worry about that, but his weak body was always his insecurity.
But now, he was talking about exercise. Was this another change in him?
Kim Dohyung looked at him closely.
He felt a different vibe from him than before.
He walked with confidence, and even though his shoulders were small, he stood tall and spoke fluently.
When he thought about what happened three years ago, he wondered if it was the same person.
Even though he had lost his memory¡
Kim Dohyung stopped thinking.
It was not his job as a servant of Si Group to question his master.
A servant should just help and obey their master.
¡°As you wish, I will do it.¡±
¡°By the way, it¡¯s time for dinner. Are you hungry? I ordered some Chinese food. Let¡¯s eat together.¡±
Yu Ji-ha, who used to be fussy and snobbish about his food, was now ordering Chinese takeout and eating with a servant?
Kim Dohyung almost said something but decided not to and followed his master.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
¡
In the next few days, Yu Ji-ha went between his family mansion in Hannam-dong and his own home.
He wanted to start his ns right away, but he knew he had to prepare first.
He had to think about his parents.
¡®Parents¡¡¯
Yu Ji-ha had biological parents before, but they didn¡¯t mean much to him.
That was how most people were in the United Human Federation.
The idea of blood ties was weak, but seeing how these people weed him with warmth and love, he felt something in his heart.
So, since he was here, Yu Ji-ha decided to be a good Korean Yu Ji-ha.
That meant changing everything from his way of thinking to his habits.
Of course, there were some awkward moments, but luckily, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s excuse of memory loss covered most of them.
Yu Kyung-seok and Jung Hye-won, his parents, taught their son patiently.
Thanks to them, it didn¡¯t take long for Yu Ji-ha to act like a normal Korean man.
¡°Mmm, this is good.¡±
Nom, nom, nom.
Yu Ji-ha sat at the table and finished three bowls of rice.
His appetite made Jung Hye-won happy, who had cooked the food.
¡°Our son eats well. Do you want some more braised ribs? You liked them, right?¡±
To be honest, the only thing he liked was the braised ribs.
He was picky and hard to please with food.
He patted his belly and said, ¡°I¡¯m full, but I have some room for this.¡±
Everyoneughed at his joke.
¡°Haha¡ Yes, eat more.¡±
Yu Kyung-seok smiled as if he couldn¡¯t believe it.
He had really changed.
The reports from his assistant, Kim Dohyung, were also good news.
Yu Ji-ha had sold all the supercars at his home and started driving a cheap electric car from Si Group.
He had made a home gym and exercised every day.
He had also bought many books and studied hard.
They were all difficult books in foreignnguages.
He almost cried with joy when he thought about his soning back.
He had to do it sooner orter¡
Yu Kyung-seok looked at his wife and said.
¡°Ji-ha, it¡¯s time to show yourself to the world. It will be hard in many ways, but I trust you can handle it.¡±
The news of the awakening of the troublemaker of Si Group would surely cause a sensation.
But they couldn¡¯t hide it forever.
He had to deal with the unwanted attention from the media and the public by himself.
Yu Ji-ha smiled calmly.
¡°Well, I have to face it at some point. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll do it well, so you don¡¯t have to worry.¡±
He was a reliable son.
Yu Kyung-seok said with a happy face.
¡°Also, about the engagement with Ha Yoon-yang¡ I didn¡¯t tell you because I thought it might shock you¡¡±
Ha Yoon.
ording to Arma¡¯s information, she was the youngest granddaughter of Shin Ju-ho, the chairman of Hanseong Group, the top business group.
She was a secret child and had lived in the US until recently.
The group had protected her well.
That was why only Yu Ji-ha was in the media after the ident they had together.
¡°So, they broke off the engagement?¡±
¡°You know it well. They couldn¡¯t wait any longer.¡±
If they didn¡¯t want to marry someone else, then why?
Yu Ji-ha said casually, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯ll be busy from now on, so it¡¯s better this way.¡±
¡°Are you really okay with it?¡±
Jung Hye-won asked with concern because her son used to be obsessed with someone else.
A few years ago, he said he would die without her, and now he didn¡¯t care.
¡°After breaking off the engagement, what else is there? We have to go our separate ways. Anyway, Father, I¡¯ll start working at the research institute in a month.¡±
He meant the Si Energy Subsidiary Research Institute, where he had worked before.
His parents were surprised by his decision.
¡°You¡¯re going to work already? Don¡¯t you want to rest more?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t stand staying at home. And I have some good ideas.¡±
¡°Ideas¡ That¡¯s good.¡±
Yu Kyung-seok didn¡¯t really expect much from his son¡¯s ideas.
Modern society was too advanced andplicated for one person to make a big difference.
Sometimes a genius woulde up with something amazing, but he couldn¡¯t say that his son was one of them.
Yu Kyung-seok hoped that his son would learn business management like other chaebol heirs and live a normal life.
¡
¡°The financial reports are bad. What¡¯s the reason?¡±
[The electric cars from Si Auto are notpetitive. And Si Hi-Tech, the defensepany, is not meeting the requirements of ROC.]
¡°Can we keep going like this?¡±
[The stock prices of all the group¡¯s subsidiaries are falling. If we don¡¯t pay the bonds soon, we will have a big crisis.]
¡°It sounds like a failingpany. We need to get money first.¡±
[Master, there is something called cryptocurrency in this time.]
Yu Ji-ha frowned at Arma¡¯s exnation.
¡°You mean investing in worthless data?¡±
Yu Ji-ha valued efficiency and thought it was a waste.
¡°It looks peaceful, but spending money and time on such useless data.¡±
[True, but what matters is that it can be turned into money. With a little bit of myputing power, we can get money in a short time.]
Arma¡¯s real form was a superconducting quantumputer with hundreds of millions of units.
Each unit was like a toypared to the supeputers of this time.
[Right now, cryptocurrencies are regted by the government. If I use myputing power without breaking the financialws, we can get 300 billion won in a month.]
¡°That sounds good.¡±
He could hack into the financialwork and make money, but it was too risky.
[I¡¯ll use your ount for the initial funds¡ Wow, you have a lot of money.]
¡°Do it carefully. Don¡¯t let me get caught.¡±
Of course, that wouldn¡¯t happen.
Even if the whole Earth¡¯s military tried, they couldn¡¯t fight the Settler¡¯s Ship, let alone an assault armor.
Yu Ji-ha thought to himself and said.
¡°By the way, I have a car, right? Modify it as you like.¡±
[Is it the thing that tests my patience more than Jupiter¡¯s atmosphere, Master?]
He nodded eagerly.
¡°Isn¡¯t it too bad for a range of less than 500km? No wonder it doesn¡¯t sell.¡±
If he used Japanese solid-state batteries, he could get 700km.
It was notpetitive, and Si Auto¡¯s sales were bad because of this.
And with the cheap Chinese electric cars in the market, Si Auto was in trouble.
¡°Well, we¡¯ll fix that soon enough.¡±
[I¡¯ll change the motor and battery to ion thrusters and power cells.]
¡°That means we don¡¯t have to charge it ever. But make it look like it needs charging, so adjust it.¡±
[And for anti-terrorism purposes, railguns and sma shields¡]
¡°You¡¯re watching too many movies.¡±
[I¡¯m sorry. It looked fun.]
¡°But I guess EMP shockers and optical camougeworks are okay. Check them out.¡±
Yu Ji-ha started taking physical enhancers and training hard.
His body that was weak like a dried fish got stronger with muscles.
¡
Chapter 5: First Day At Work
Chapter 5: First Day At Work
It was a November morning at the Si Energy Annex Research Center in Pangyo.
Several employees were gawking at a car that had just entered the parking lot as if it were something extraordinary.
¡°Wow¡ Someone actually drives that.¡±
¡°Do we have a visitor today? There¡¯s no scheduled appointment¡¡±
¡°Did someone buy it from ourb?¡±
¡°Who would¡¯ve adopted that wild boar¡¡±
The car was the newly released SUV Windrunner, produced by Si Auto.
Its design had received high praise for being quite sleek, and it was equipped with advanced features such as partial autonomous driving.
Despite that, it had garnered negative reviews such as ¡°a car no one wants to drive¡± and ¡°even Si Auto executives ignore it.¡±
It was due to the travel distance of only about 450km.
As of 2025, with the introduction of solid-state batteries, the travel distance of electric vehicles was more important than anything else.
While people didn¡¯t expect it to reach the 700km range like the Japanese electric cars, it had to at least achieve a minimum of 600km to bepetitive.
Of course, Japan didn¡¯t readily supply the solid-state batteries they had finally developed to Korea.
As a result, Si Auto had been going through a tremendous downturnpared to the same period the previous year.
Naturally, criticism was directed at Si Energy, and the employees felt disheartened.
However, they had their own justifications.
With R&D funds not even reaching 1/100th of otherpanies, what more could they expect?
Unless they could bring in a genius dropped from the heavens, oveing the current slump seemed almost impossible.
By the way, who was he?
The employees who arrived at the research center early in the morning were taken aback when they saw someone getting out of the car.
¡°Wow¡ He¡¯s like a perfect picture.¡±
¡°He looks like a celebrity, a real celebrity.¡±
¡°What are they filming here today?¡±
The man who got out of the car was wearing a blue suit, and he looked so polished that it was worthy of admiration.
As he walked towards the research center, the female employees went crazy.
¡°Wow, he¡¯s so handsome. Seriously.¡±
¡°Ah¡ I want to date a guy like him¡¡±
¡°But he looks familiar¡ Who is he?¡±
The employees had no idea that the man had transformed into a human three years ago through a vegetative-state.
His appearance had changedpletely due to his altered physique.
As everyone was whispering and raising their heads in curiosity, Dr. Lee Hanjong, the director of the research center, spoke from behind.
¡°He¡¯s Yu Ji-ha.¡±
Instantly, silence filled the corridor.
Not only Si Energy but the cursed name that had turned the entire group upside down had surfaced again.
¡°Are you sure, Director? It¡¯s that Yu Ji-ha?¡±
¡°Ah, Director, you have a good sense of humor. That person is in a vegetative-state right now.¡±
Director Lee Hanjong, with a gaunt face, leaned against the security bars.
¡°I received a call from the chairman yesterday. He woke up recently¡ and he¡¯sing to work today.¡±
¡°This is not just amazing, it¡¯s a disaster¡¡±
¡°Uh, will the policee here? I really don¡¯t want to be investigated again.¡±
As a male employee stuttered, everyone shuddered, recalling the nightmare of that day.
Let¡¯s say the drug smuggling was a mere prank, even if we forgive it a hundred times.
But ignoring the summoning spell waspletely insane.
As a result, the police stormed into the research center, and Yu Ji-ha, who had been drinking since the morning, was dragged away.
Director Lee Hanjong recalled how the investigators had turned the research center upside down and let out a bitterugh.
Bringing back the person who caused such a major incident and making him return to work¡
¡°I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s the chairman¡¯s intention to let him go without cutting the budget.¡±
The employees shrugged their shoulders.
¡°If the director is leaving, then we¡¯re like insignificant flies.¡±
¡°We might get to see another exclusive patent from the director. All of you will be fired. Pack your things and leave immediately.¡±
One employee imitated Yu Ji-ha¡¯s attitude and voice, but no oneughed.
Director Lee Hanjong nodded.
¡°You know, since the person has changed, we should at least meet him.¡±
Soon, Yu Ji-ha came up to the second floor.
The employees, who remembered his face and physique, couldn¡¯t hide their confusion.
Well, if you threaten someone for three years, saying you¡¯ll kill them if they don¡¯t grow their body inside and keep them locked up in a gym, they might end up like that.
But it hadn¡¯t been long since he woke up from being in a vegetative-state¡
The employees, whether confused or not, shook hands with Director Yu Ji-ha.
¡°Teacher, it¡¯s been a long time.¡±
His words carried a familiar name they hadn¡¯t heard in a long time.
Originally, Lee Hanjong was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s mentor, and during their university days, he was addressed as ¡°teacher.¡±
It was Yu Ji-ha who had invited him to Si Energy after he retired from the University.
However, as Yu Ji-ha became twisted, the rtionship between teacher and disciple began to deteriorate.
Lee Hanjong had tried to advise his disciple as a mentor and superior, but he realized that the disciple was not listening to him anymore.
Nevertheless, he still harbored affection for his wayward disciple.
Should he have brought him back or not¡
¡°You look healthy. Can I leave now?¡±
A shaky voice apanied the unexpected statement.
The employees held their breath, but Yu Ji-ha remained nonchnt.
How much hardship did he endure because of the original? How would he react in this situation?
It was a matter of gradually making changes.
¡°I apologize. I was foolish and caused trouble for you, Teacher. I won¡¯t do it again in the future.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Lee Hanjong felt a shock as if he had been hit on the back of his head while looking at Yu Ji-ha, who was bowing his head in apology.
It was extremely rare to find someone who sincerely knew how to apologize.
And if that person happened to be a third-generation chaebol and once hailed as a genius, it would be even more so.
However, this incident alone couldn¡¯t mend the serious rift in their rtionship.
For now, let¡¯s observe and see¡
¡°¡Well, wee. Let¡¯s forget about the past¡ and do well from now on.¡±
The other researchers didn¡¯t say anything, but the atmosphere was heavy with uneasiness.
It was probably due to the resurfacing of their dreadful memories from the past.
Forgetting those memories would require constant effort, but Yu Ji-ha had one effective remedy.
As he exchanged greetings with the researchers, he handed each of them an envelope.
¡°It¡¯s a small token of apology for all the trouble I¡¯ve caused. I don¡¯t expect this to fully resolve the situation, but it¡¯s a gesture of reflection.¡±
Upon seeing the thick stack of bills inside the envelopes, everyone silently screamed in astonishment.
However, Lee Hanjong, the director, felt awkward because his envelope seemed to be so thick that it might burst.
¡°You don¡¯t have to give me something like this¡¡±
¡°But isn¡¯t expressing sincerity often done with money? This won¡¯t erase my past actions, but anyway, I hope we can work well together from now on.¡±
As he looked at Yu Ji-ha, who repeatedly bowed his head, Director Lee Hanjong wondered if there might be something else behind this gesture.
¡°People¡ Anyway, let¡¯s go inside. You can exin to me how things have changed while you were away.¡±
The two of them entered theboratory, and the researchers whispered among themselves.
¡°It¡¯s amazing how a person can change like that¡¡±
¡°I hope he won¡¯t revert back to how he was before. That would be a real betrayal.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll have to keep an eye on him.¡±
¡°But he¡¯s really good-looking¡ With a well-built body, it felt like we were looking at a celebrity.¡±
The once-depressed researchboratory was finally bustling with energy.
¡
Yu Ji-ha, 32 years old.
Director of the Strategic Development Department at Si Group Headquarters.
It may seem like a fancy titlemonly seen in dramas, but it didn¡¯t hold much meaning in reality.
He didn¡¯t have an office, employees, or even a budget.
There was a reason why the chairman gave him this title, with just a business card as his only possession.
It was to satisfy the original¡¯s vanity.
He was called a genius when he was young, and although he became a bit less exceptional as he grew up, he was still smart.
With his sharp mind, he wanted to interfere in every corner of the group, and he actually did.
Whenever the chairman requested the director¡¯s presence in each subsidiarypany, they pretended to listen attentively.
But nothing ever changed.
They treated him like a mere figurehead.
Ignoring the chaebol family was a bit too much, and he couldn¡¯t ruin thepany either, so it was apromise he came up with.
The original realized this and went around the subsidiarypanies, causing a scene out of frustration, making the cold gazes towards him even colder.
Therefore, as of 2025, the internal reputation of Yu Ji-ha within the group was not good at all.
It was even said that it would have been better if he had be a vegetative-state man.
If he lies in bed forever, he can no longer cause any harm to the group.
After going around the subsidiarypanies, Yu Ji-ha realized that the entire group despised him.
¡°They speak politely, but their gazes are cold.¡±
[I have collected the voice data you requested. There are mostly unfavorable contents. Shall I y it for you?]
[Something like ¡®vegetative-state hybrid,¡¯ ¡®garbage,¡¯ and ¡®why did you wake up from being a vegetative-state?¡¯]
¡°It¡¯s simr.¡±
[Fine then.]
Yu Ji-ha let out a bitter smile.
He thought he had just caused a few idents and ended up in prison, but it was worse than he imagined.
Why did he have a fight with Si Auto executives and end up with a bruised face?
If he had fought and won, it would have been a different story, but because he took a beating andined to his father, his evaluation plummeted.
Sitting on the bench, Yu Ji-ha grumbled lightly.
¡°Where did you manage to find such a guy?¡±
[I apologize. Master¡¯s condition was not favorable, so I couldn¡¯t be picky. Should I choose another test subject now?]
¡°No, forget it.¡±
He exhaled and stretched.
While it was often said that the air quality in Korea was poor, it was still better than Earth in the 2180s at least.
He didn¡¯t bother wearing an air purifying mask.
¡°I may not be in the best shape, but Korea as a location is fine. It has a decent scale and technological capabilities¡¡±
Starting with Si Group, his goal was to build up power and influence to create an independent force.
From that perspective, Korea couldn¡¯t be called the best, but it was not a bad starting point.
[However, there are so many things that need to be fixed. Despite the size of the economy, the birth rate has plummeted to rock bottom, and the unemployment rate is skyrocketing. The term ¡®precariat¡¯ is being used to describe the active economic generation in their 20s.]
¡°What does that mean?¡±
[It means that all young adults are unemployed.]
¡°So, the future looks bleak.¡±
[The national finances are drying up, and the crime rate is soaring. The economic growth rate has significantly slowed down, and it has been lower than muchrger countries like the United States and China for quite some time.]
¡°Not much longer then.¡±
[In fact, there are often opinions in countries like China and Japan that Korea is done for. And they are trying to expand their influence here.]
Perhaps influenced by these factors, even the US troops stationed in Korea were trying to withdraw.
¡°They said they would reduce the size of the US troops in Korea by half by 2030, right?¡±
[Yes. Thanks to that, the stock market has regressed to where it was five years ago. Foreigners have reduced their investments, and it has even affected the real economy.]
¡°Those things are not important.¡±
Because Colonel Yu Ji-ha and the Settler had the power to easily reverse all of that.
What¡¯s important is positioning.
¡°The world will change depending on how I act¡¡±
And the first step in that direction would be Si Group.
Furthermore, the short-term goal was to epass the entire Republic of Korea within their sphere of influence and establish an independent power.
Whates after that?
¡°Are there no more unimednds?¡±
[Except for the Antarctic region, it seems that most ces already have owners. Antarctica is also bound by agreements.]
¡°If there are none, then we¡¯ll have to create them.¡±
With the power of the Aether Fusion Reactor unfolding on the Settler, creating an ind was not an impossible task. It would take time, of course.
[But for now, it seems you¡¯ll need to recover your tarnished reputation in this ce.]
¡°Well, I suppose so.¡±
Sitting on the bench, Yu Ji-ha waved his hand to the passing employees. They looked at his face and startled, asionally quickening their steps.
[Doesn¡¯t it feel like you¡¯re dealing with trash?]
¡°Trash might be a bit much, more like street dust.¡±
It was a cruel but sober assessment.
He had to think of it as an opportunity for improvement and make a change.
¡°Even if I receive a lot of criticism, I¡¯m still not satisfied. Let¡¯s go eat.¡±
His destination was thepany cafeteria.
¡
At the Si Group facility in Pangyo, the sudden appearance of Yu Ji-ha raised suspicions.
They feared what kind of trouble he might cause.
However, he surprisingly behaved well, and even had his meal at thepany cafeteria.
People ridiculed his behavior.
¨CThat¡¯s all for show. He¡¯ll probably be wandering around Seoul looking for trendy restaurants in a few days.
¨CThe son of the owner acting humble with the servants.
¨CJust by looking at him, you can tell he¡¯s a poser. When his secretary prepares his meals, he probably goes around cosying as amoner.
¨DHis manners are so bad that if the food doesn¡¯t suit his taste, he just puts down his chopsticks.
¨DWhat crime did the person sitting next to himmit? They can¡¯t even eat their meal in peace.
Such scathing criticisms were posted on Whisper, an anonymous messaging app used by employees.
Because Yu Ji-ha¡¯s past behavior in fights was so well-known, no one dared to defend him even when criticizing him.
And strange posts started appearing on the Si Group board on Whisper.
¨DIs it true that he has a picky pte? He eats really well, though.
¨DI¡¯ve never seen someone eat so well in thepany cafeteria. The nutritionist was surprised when they came to ask about the taste and saw that he had finished everything.
¨DHaha, they must have been perplexed.
¨DHe even cleared his own te when he left. At first, I thought he was a staff member.
¨DBut wasn¡¯t he so conspicuous because he was so good-looking? At first, I thought they were filming a drama.
¨DHe was much better-looking than the director of the morning drama strategic nning department. He also has a great physique.
¨DDidn¡¯t they call that director ¡°anchovy¡±? Where did this talke from?
¨DThree years ago, he was definitely at the level of a small fry.
¨DIt¡¯s strange considering he hasn¡¯t been awake for long.
¨DI had a conversation with Director Yu Ji-ha while eating, and¡
¨DI¡¯m curious too. Tell us what they talked about.
¨DThey probablyined about how awful the food in thepany cafeteria is.
¨DWhy would they eat in thepany cafeteria?
¨DI asked, and they said it¡¯s just because it¡¯s nearby.
¨DWow¡
¨DThat sounds like something straight out of aic book.
¨DWell, thepany cafeteria is close to the researchplex.
¨DSo what? They¡¯ll probably eat and then go around drinking. That habit doesn¡¯t go away.
¨DI heard from people at the Energy Research Institute that they¡¯re locked up all day doing research.
¨DI asked the security guard, and he said he saw them at work before he even arrived.
¨DNow, if you listen to what people are saying, something seems off. Could it be that it¡¯s not the same person?
¨DOh,e on¡
¨DYou all know, right? People¡¯s character doesn¡¯t change so easily.
¨DHe suffered as a vegetative-state and woke up, so maybe he realized something.
¨DWell, let¡¯s wait and see. I bet I can wager all my assets on him notsting a month.
¨DYou¡¯re so confident. If they open their employee ID number, I¡¯ll believe it.
¨CSomeone leaked the employee ID numbers on Whisper. Get a grip, will you?
He was aware that rumors like this were circting on Whisper, but he wasn¡¯t interested.
He had more pressing issues to solve at the Shi Energy Research Institute.
Chapter 6: Living Metal
Chapter 6: Living Metal
In the present era, the metal known as ck Metal was abandoned in ab.
Director Lee Han-jong nonchntly introduced the progress of their research.
¡°We¡¯ve been studying this ck Metal for years, but there has been little progress. Overseas research institutes have already made breakthroughs, and now it¡¯s our turn.¡±
ck Metal was an extremely stable metal. It didn¡¯t corrode or break, and even drilling with a diamond-coated drill left no scratches.
It could be considered the toughest metal on Earth, without a doubt.
However, that was the only thing scientists had discovered.
It needed to show some kind of reaction for them to continue the research.
The researchers all nodded in agreement.
¡°We¡¯ve tested it with every chemicalpound on Earth, but it doesn¡¯t react at all. It doesn¡¯t corrode either.¡±
¡°At one point, it seemed to be a conductor, but on another day, it appeared to be an instor. It¡¯s a headache-inducing substance.¡±
¡°But there must be a reason why we¡¯ve been researching it for years, right?¡±
When Yu Ji-ha asked, a researcher named Hwang Seon-young handed her a journal.
¡°Once in the past, we managed to break it down. We couldn¡¯t reproduce it now, but back then, we used it as an electrolyte to make batteries.¡±
¡°That must have been an incredible performance, right? It should be mentioned in this journal.¡±
¡it mentioned that there was someone with Aether Affinity in thisb.
Since Living Metal only reacted to Aether.
The fact that they couldn¡¯t reproduce it probably meant that person left thepany.
As Yu Ji-ha examined the journal, Director Lee Han-jong sighed.
¡°We put everything on that possibility, but in the end, there were no results. We don¡¯t even have the budget to consider solid-state batteries¡ We¡¯re just wasting time at the moment.¡±
¡°And Japan has developed solid-state batteries and is dominating the market, right?¡±
¡°You know it well. They¡¯ve even filed 100 patents rted to solid-state batteries. If we want to develop it by bypassing them, it will cost us a fortune.¡±
¡°I see. I understand the situation well.¡±
Yu Ji-ha closed the journal.
There was no need to bypass the patents and create solid-state batteries.
He could simply create apletely new type of battery.
He reached out and touched the ck Metal.
[Local Aether Field Activated.]
[Initiate Transformation.]
Except for one time, the ck Metal had hardly reacted before, but now it began to change its form.
¡°What, what¡¯s happening?¡±
¡°Why is this suddenly happening?¡±
The researchers in theb were taken aback.
It was not something insignificant.
The Metal Life-Form known as the gue, which brought humanity to the brink of extinction, had one or more cores.
The cores corroded the surrounding metallic elements and gave them various forms and properties.
In the 22nd century, it was called Living Metal, and in the modern era, it was known as ck Metal.
The discovery of ck Metal meant that there was a gue core nearby.
Perhaps a core that was disintegrated by an Aether Storm and fell to Earth along with meteorites.
[We¡¯ll create more probes and search for gue cores in the waters near Japan.]
Yu Ji-ha nodded and ced his hand on the Living Metal.
nk, nk.
The ck metallic mass seemed to respond to his will as it changed its shape.
¡°Wow¡¡±
¡°This is unbelievable¡¡±
As the researchers remained in awe, Director Lee Han-jong took out his smartphone and recorded the transformation process of the ck Metal.
¡°We had a simr incident in the past¡ Now that I think about it, it was around the time when Park Joon-ho was here. Do you know anything about this ck Metal?¡±
¡°A little.¡±
Yu Ji-ha raised his hand and spoke.
In his hand, there was a ck SUV parked.
Hwang Seon-young chuckled.
¡°This is the Windrunner. It¡¯s what the director drives.¡±
¡°Huh? So, the fact that it transformed into this particr car means it reflects the director¡¯s will?¡±
¡°How did this happen?¡±
¡°Hmm¡¡±
Director Lee Han-jong lowered the ck car from his disciple¡¯s palm onto the table. It had an incredible level of detail, almost like a miniature real SUV.
¡°It seems an exnation is necessary. Ji-ha, tell us the method you used to transform this ck Metal.¡±
¡°Before that, there¡¯s something I want to tell all of you. From now on, what we¡¯re about to learn is ourpany secret. It must not leave thisb.¡±
Unconsciously, everyone swallowed nervously at Yu Ji-ha¡¯s serious expression.
Director Lee Han-jong reassured them, saying, ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about leaks. We¡¯re bound by dozens of confidentiality agreements.¡±
¡°We don¡¯t have anywhere else to go if our careers are ruined¡¡±
¡°If we get kicked out of here, we might have to work part-time jobs, haha¡¡±
It was the sad reality of the research institute that had beencking results for years.
However, Yu Ji-ha had a different intention.
¡°No, I mean you must not leave thisb.¡±
¡°¡I have a vague idea of what you mean. You want to keep it a secret from higher-ups too?¡±
¡°Yes. Just keep it a secret until the end of this year. In return, I¡¯ll double your sries.¡±
The researchers¡¯ eyes widened twofold.
¡°D-Doubled?¡±
¡°Director, you¡¯re joking, right? Haha¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s not a joke. I will exactly double your sries. Of course, including mine. So, if anyone doesn¡¯t want toply with my request, you can leave now.¡±
Of course, there was no one who left.
Arma immediately reported.
[Microdrones have been released from the capsules. They will gather information.]
Microdrones were massivepared to nanounits, but with current technology, they couldn¡¯t be detected.
Depending on their types, the microdrones had different operational periods and collected various information, which they transmitted to Arma.
In preparation for this moment, Yu Ji-ha had brought capsules containing the microdrones. If anyone were to go outside and engage in suspicious conversations, they would be fired.
Hwang Sun-young anxiously asked, ¡°Um, Director, do you know our current sries? Just in case¡¡±
Among the chaebols, there were many people with poor financial sense. They were trapped in their own world, disconnected from ordinary people. It was an inevitable situation.
However, Yu Ji-ha knew exactly.
¡°It¡¯s around 4,500,000 won per month, roughly.¡±
¡°You know it well¡¡±
The fact that they were employing Ph.D.-level talents for a sry of around 4,500,000 won meant that the job market had frozen up.
And as the researchers mentioned earlier, there was nowhere else to go even if they left this research institute.
Addressing them with determination, YuJi-ha said ¡°Think it over and gather here tomorrow morning. We will only open up to those who can strictly maintain the secrecy.¡±
¡
The next morning.
Four people, including Director Yu Ji-ha, gathered in the researchb.
The number of participants was the same as the previous day.
Arma reported that there was nothing particrly suspicious about their activities overnight.
[If anyone leaves from here, it will be troublesome. If we can convince them, they might be Master¡¯s right-hand men.]
Armamented.
Naturally, that was their intention.
Settler and Arma would assist Yu Ji-ha, but having capable individuals would be beneficial.
¡°Well, since it seems like everyone agrees¡ I had a dream while in a vegetative state. It was a very long dream, filled with embarrassing delusions and mixed with pain. In that dream, I met someone, and they gave me strength,¡± Yu Ji-ha exined.
Although everyone had expressions that indicated they wanted to mention their own dreams, they refrained from doing so in front of Yu Ji-ha.
¡°Are you saying you gained some kind of enlightenment or spiritual experience?¡± one of them asked.
¡°It has nothing to do with religion. I don¡¯t even know what kind of power it is. But one thing is clear: this power is rted to ck Metal,¡± Yu Ji-ha replied.
¡°Hmm¡¡±
It was an unbelievable story, but considering the events unfolding before their eyes, it was hard not to believe.
Upon Yu Ji-ha¡¯s touch, the SUV-shaped Living Metal disintegrated into dozens of metal pieces, each the size of a fingernail.
¡°With these, we can use them as test samples, right?¡± Yu Ji-ha asked.
¡°Y-Yes, definitely¡¡± one of the researchers replied.
¡°Can we test them now?¡±
¡°Of course. Just take a few samples with you.¡±
The researchers excitedly grabbed five test samples and rushed off somewhere. Theyter returned and informed Yu Ji-ha of their ns.
¡°As you might have guessed, we have no intention of giving this new battery technology to the current management,¡± one of them said.
¡°I feel the same way. They¡¯re just a bunch of do-nothing executives who collect their paychecks.¡±
Inefficiency was something Yu Ji-ha despised, and the executives who did nothing but pocket their sries fell into that category.
¡°I will take control of thispany. Not only the management rights but also bing the majority shareholder,¡± Yu Ji-ha dered.
¡°Are you saying you¡¯ll announce the battery technology after that?¡±
¡°Yes. Until then, even you, Teacher, will need to maintain the secrecy.¡±
¡°I understand that there are no guarantees that the new battery will perform well.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s verify it together.¡±
The researchers quickly prepared for the test.
It was a routine task for them, and they could proceed with the test as soon as they reced the conventional electrodes with ck metal.
As Hwang Seon-young tried to insert the probe, one of the researchers with tousled hair stopped her.
¡°Sister, wait a moment. The electrode coating isn¡¯t finished yet.¡±
¡°Hurry up and finish it quickly.¡±
Not only her, but everyone was eager to see the results as soon as possible, except for Yu Ji-ha.
The test began, and various waveforms and numbers appeared on the cluttered measuring devices.
After calcting the energy density, Hwang Seon-young made an expression that was hard to believe.
¡°It¡¯s 2.5 times higher¡pared to the G-type battery made by Panasonic.¡±
¡°Recalcte it. Sung-hoon, reset the equipment and start again¡ No, I¡¯ll do it myself.¡±
Unable to contain himself, Director Lee Han-jong rolled up his sleeves and proceeded with the test. However, the results were the same.
Everyone was speechless, captivated by the incredible energy density of the new battery.
¡°The world will turn upside down from on¡¡±
After Japan developed solid-state batteries, they were immersed in a festival-like atmosphere.
The Nikkei Index reached an all-time high, and the Japanese Prime Minister visited Panasonic factories, paying homage to the staff.
Panasonic¡¯s stock price skyrocketed threefold overnight, and the battery research team was almost certain to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
The entire Japanese archipgo was filled with joy and celebration.
In such a situation, imagine what would happen if this battery were to be released.
The world would truly be turned upside down.
Even though it was called a solid-state battery, it only offered slightly better efficiency and stabilitypared to conventional lithium batteries.
The total usable energy did not increase significantly.
However, this battery boasted an energy density 2.5 times higher than that of the conventional solid-state batteries.
It was simply iparable and unbeatable.
As everyone¡¯s mouths went dry, Director Lee Han-jong brought up a practical issue.
¡°But this ck metal¡ Most of the inventory is in Japan. Even if we secure the remaining stock, it will be far from sufficient to supply batteries worldwide.¡±
¡°Just Panasonic alone can produce millions of battery cells in a single factory. With that quantity, it¡¯s simply not enough¡¡±
Hwang Seon-young trailed off, and everyone¡¯s expressions darkened.
The size of the global battery market was beyondprehension.
However, the fact remained that most of the circting ck metal was in Japan.
ording to Arma¡¯s records, there were quite a few deposits near the Sea of Japan, the Bering Sea, the South China Sea, and the Pacific.
Countries around the world were aware of this.
However, due to the ck metal¡¯s extreme hardness, it was left untouched.
¡°Leave that to me and focus on your research. After all, what is your role?¡±
¡°Research¡ Development?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. Your role is precisely that. You should only concentrate on optimizing the new battery. There¡¯s no need to worry about purchasing, investment, or the production process.¡±
The attitude of handling everything while leaving them with only research made a strong impression on everyone.
It waspletely different from the Si Energy executives who constantly interfered without providing much assistance.
Of course, no one believed that this problem would be easily solved.
It was beyond the scope of what an individual could handle.
They would have to be satisfied with achieving results this time.
Director Lee Han-jong apuded.
¡°Alright, let¡¯s get to work for once. We¡¯ve wasted enough time. It¡¯s time to make it worth our while.¡±
Theboratory became lively, and Yu Ji-hwan stepped outside.
¡°Arma, how much have we earned so far?¡±
[320 billion.]
¡°Right on the mark. Keep mining and investing.¡±
[May I create a new coin?]
¡°That¡¯s not allowed. You can pick up money from the established gambling arena, but there¡¯s no need to create one yourself.¡±
Even without that, the Korea Precious Metal Association would still be respectful of Yu Ji-hwan¡¯s position.
With the money Arma had earned, he had intended to seed his father, if only just a little.
¡
When Si Group Chairman Yu Kyung-seok saw his son, he couldn¡¯t help but burst intoughter.
His son shone brighter than the celebrities on TV.
Moreover, it was said that he was extremely diligent when it came to listening to Manager Kim Do-hyung¡¯s words.
He even arrived and left work on time and ate his meals at thepany cafeteria without fail.
Some might find it absurd that these were considered ordinary behaviors for a working professional, butpared to his previouszy and irresponsible conduct, this was a huge improvement.
¡°What I hope for him now is¡¡±
It wasn¡¯t just about achieving results in research; it was about receiving proper management training.
Giving him a position within the group wouldn¡¯t be difficult, considering the group¡¯s challenges.
However, he was the king of a small kingdom called Si Group.
To obtain permission, he had to pay the appropriate price.
Whether it was in the form of taxes, special products, manpower, or loyalty¡
Yu Kyung-seok had intended to consider loyalty to some extent this time.
After all, his son had just returned to thepany and didn¡¯t possess anything extraordinary.
¡°Well¡ Why did you call me to see you?¡±
¡°I have a proposal to make.¡±
¡°A proposal? Not a request?¡±
From the beginning, the n began to deviate.
If his son had something to propose, it meant that there was something to be discussed.
¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be satisfied, Father.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s hear it first, then.¡±
¡°Group affairs have been difficulttely, haven¡¯t they?¡±
When the topic suddenly shifted to the group, Yu Kyung-seok furrowed his brows.
¡°It¡¯s true that things have been difficult, but it¡¯s not something you need to worry about.¡±
In reality, that wasn¡¯t the case.
The core industries of the group, including shipbuilding, automobiles, and defense, were all struggling.
Si Auto¡¯s stock had hit an all-time low, and the defense sector had been disqualified from the next-generation warrior tform bidding.
It was aplete disaster, to the point where he couldn¡¯t muster the courage to figure out what to do.
On top of that, there was a 200 billion won bond maturitying up in December.
Despite the efforts of the finance department, there was no money to cover the shortfall.
During executive meetings, serious discussions arose about selling real estate to address the situation.
¡°It¡¯s difficult to handle the 200 billion won bond, isn¡¯t it? As your son, I want to hear an honest opinion.¡±
He knew everything already.
Yu Kyung-seok loosened his tie and lit a cigarette, feeling frustrated.
¡°Well¡ yes, that¡¯s right. The discussion of selling the main office site came up.¡±
¡°I will prevent that from happening.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Yu Kyung-seok stared intently at his son, wondering if he was intoxicated.
However, there was no sign of him being drunk, and he seemedpletely sober.
In other words, he was seriously making this statement.
¡°Tell me more.¡±
¡°The truth is, before I had the ident, I made a small investment. It¡¯s in cryptocurrency.¡±
Cryptocurrency?
Although Yu Kyung-seok wasn¡¯t an expert in cryptocurrencies, he knew as much as the average person.
As of 2025, the cryptocurrency market had seen only a few major yers survive, while the rest had hit rock bottom.
Trading volumes were also at their lowest, making it nearly impossible to make money unless one took significant leverage.
So, he had put money into that gambling market where mining farms and whales had also taken a hit?
¡°Usually, that would end in liquidation. But seeing your face, it seems different.¡±
¡°After waking up three yearster, the units had changed. Take a look here.¡±
He opened the app of a reputable exchange that he used to track his investments.
Yu Kyung-seok widened his eyes as he personally confirmed the amount of 320 billion won.
¡°Is this real? It¡¯s not some kind of simted investment, is it?¡±
¡°Father, you know that it¡¯s impossible for anyone to manipte this exchange app, right?¡±
Unable to believe it, Yu Kyung-seok held onto his son¡¯s phone and checked the trading assets and transaction history.
His heart began to race.
If this is true¡ if it¡¯s really¡
Naturally, he took the phone out of his father¡¯s hands and sat down on the sofa.
¡°I want control of Si Energy. Help me acquire the shares. In return, I¡¯ll prevent the bond issue.¡±
Yu Kyung-seok calmed his excitement and sat across from his son.
It wasn¡¯t bad to have a serious conversation with his son for once.
However, he felt himself being drawn in.
¡°Why Si Energy all of a sudden?¡±
¡°There¡¯s a project going on there with my research team. We can¡¯t just hand out presents to an ipetent management, can we?¡±
He was talking about recing the current management.
Without realizing it, he found himself nodding along.
¡°No, you can¡¯t do that. Regardless of what project you¡¯re nning, you can¡¯t just recklessly rece the management.¡±
¡°But it¡¯s almost the season for personnel changes, and it¡¯s not a problem to remove underperforming executives.¡±
¡°You¡¯re being too ruthless. If we rece executives again within a year, it will create instability among the group executives.¡±
While it was said that an executive¡¯s life was as fragile as a fly¡¯s, it wasn¡¯t always the case.
As per group tradition, the first contract given to an executive guaranteed two years.
But to Yu Ji-ha, even that seemed inefficient.
¡°I¡¯ll guarantee the executives the same annual sry under the contract. Will that work?¡±
Strictly speaking, it wouldplicate the ounting as it would involve using Yu Ji-ha¡¯s funds for payment.
However, if the chairman made a decision, that wouldn¡¯t be a problem at all.
¡°¡So you want to gain control of Si Energy and y around with it? What exactly is this project?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t tell you yet, but it will astonish the world.¡±
¡°Surely it¡¯s not about solid-state batteries, is it?¡±
Yu Kyung-seok asked, knowing that it didn¡¯t make sense, but still couldn¡¯t help himself.
However, his son¡¯s response was magnificent.
¡°It¡¯s not something as trivial as that.¡±
Solid-state batteries are trivial?
It seemed like his son hadpletely changed in some aspects but still clung to his showmanship.
Originally, Yu Kyung-seok wanted to give him an executive position to familiarize himself with management, but¡
¡°It wouldn¡¯t be bad for him to learn by breaking on the front lines.¡±
Si Energy had been deemed nonviable by major consulting services.
The only way to survive was topletely reorganize the deficit and focus on the city gas and charging businesses.
Given the situation, it didn¡¯t seem like a bad idea to entrust it to his son.
There was nothing more to lose anyway.
Yu Kyung-seok pressed the inte button.
¡°Energy executives, gather now.¡±
¡
It was about time to leave.
He said goodbye to his father and walked outside, only to receive a call from an unknown number.
¨CThis is Shin Ha-yoon, your fianc¨¦e.
¡°Hello¡¡±
¡ªWhere have you been? Why didn¡¯t you call?
The sharp, using voice had no trace of goodwill.
Couldn¡¯t she at least ask if he was okay, even if it was just empty words?
¡°I answered the wrong number.¡±
He hung up the phone.
Let¡¯s see how this ys out.
Despite being rejected, Shin Ha-yoon had tried to contact him in various ways¡ªcalls, messages, texts, and even letters.
When someone passing by handed him a note and quickly ran away, he raised his hands and sighed.
¡ªFine. Let¡¯s meet at the caf¨¦ in Cheongdam-dong.
Surprisingly, she arrived earlier than the agreed-upon time and was waiting for him.
She had a dazzling appearance, with a white blouse and a striking red red skirt.
Her long hair, reminiscent of a shampoo advertisement, made him admire it.
¡®To maintain that hair, she must spend at least three hours a day on it.¡¯
She must have the confidence to spend that much time to maintain herself at a level worthy of it.
As he entered the room, Shin Ha-yoon slowly crossed her legs.
¡°Long time no see. Are you doing well?¡±
¡°You ask so quickly. Well, I¡¯m not doing too bad.¡±
She scrutinized Yu Ji-ha¡¯s physique.
¡°Your body looks really good¡ I¡¯m curious about how you are in bed.¡±
Such a provocative woman.
Before Yu Ji-ha could say anything, she continued.
¡°About the broken engagement, you know, right?¡±
¡°Of course, I know. Did you cause all this fuss because of that?¡±
Her enthusiasm waned at his surprisingly indifferent reaction.
Could it be that he had forgotten about their passionate nights in the past due to partial amnesia?
Well, it didn¡¯t matter.
She had no intention of giving up on Yu Ji-ha, not because she loved him, but because she wanted to escape from her grandfather.
If things continued like this, she would end up marrying a man with an unappealing face.
So she had to use this man to her advantage.
¡°Well, that works out. Let¡¯s pretend we never talked about the broken engagement, and you should understand that too.¡±
¡°What are you talking about? If we broke off the engagement, that should be the end of it. It was decided within the family.¡±
¡°I originally nned for it to be that way, but I¡¯ve changed my mind. Anyway, do as I say.¡±
Her statement subtly revealed her superiority.
Yu Ji-ha realized what kind of rtionship the original had with the woman in front of him.
¡®It appears to be a typical case of maniption. The original relied heavily on Shin Ha-yoon.¡¯
Assuming the original was naive, what did she want?
It couldn¡¯t be just a simple desire for possession.
¡°Breaking off the engagement means breaking off the engagement. Our fathers have already settled things, so it¡¯s not for us to say anything.¡±
He even resorted to mentioning their parents, but she just smirked.
¡°If I say one word, I can change everything. Don¡¯t think about it, just follow me.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I have no intention of seeing you anymore. Let¡¯s end it today, and I hope you don¡¯t contact me again.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯ve turned so cold and mean after whimpering and calling me ¡®nuna¡¯ just a few years back.¡±
As she slyly undid a button on her shirt, revealing her chest, Yu Ji-ha remained unfazed.
He was the top pilot of the Unified Space Force and a hero of humanity.
There used to be fiercepetition among women in front of the officers¡¯ quarters just to spend a night with him.
He had been with hundreds of women, so it was unlikely that Shin Ha-yoon would catch his eye.
¡°Is that all you wanted to say?¡±
¡°¡No. The real matter is this.¡±
She took out an invitation from her handbag.
¡°Noblesse Club.¡±
Arma had provided the information.
[It seems to be a social gathering for the third-generation chaebol heirs.
They hold a party at their private residence every year-end.]
¡°You said you wanted this, didn¡¯t you? If you talk nicely, I might be able to get it for you.¡±
While there was some interest in meeting new people and exploring possibilities, she wasn¡¯t worth investing his time in.
¡°No need. And if that¡¯s all you have to say, let¡¯s just end it here. I¡¯m busy.¡±
¡°Si Energy Research Institute? What¡¯s so important about apany with a stock price of less than 10,000 won?¡±
¡°There are some minor matters. Anyway, I¡¯m leaving.¡±
He stood up to leave, but shemanded him with an authoritative voice.
¡°Sit.¡±
¡°¡ ¡°
If he were the original, he might have obediently acted like a well-trained dog, but that was no longer the case.
¡°Why are you acting so forceful? If I decide it¡¯s over, it¡¯s over.¡±
Instantly, her expression turned fierce.
¡°No one can end our rtionship unless I decide to end it. Sit down.¡±
¡°Forget it and don¡¯t contact me again.¡±
Saying that, he walked out of the room, but Shin Ha-yoon flicked her finger.
A burly man entered and firmly grabbed Yu Ji-ha¡¯s arm and shoulder.
¡°Sit down.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t do something you¡¯ll regret.¡±
Yu Ji-ha warned, but she smirked and raised her chin.
¡°I heard you¡¯re weak against physical pressure. Should I shout or something?¡±
¡°Is there even a need for that?¡±
He grabbed the man¡¯s arm and exerted force.
With an overwhelming strength surpassing human limits, the man¡¯s arm snapped, and he fell to his knees in pain.
¡°Ugh!¡±
¡°¡ ¡°
Shin Ha-yoon stood up in astonishment, and the man broke into a cold sweat, unable to move.
¡°Don¡¯t exert force to the point of breaking someone¡¯s arm. And Shin Ha-yoon, this is your warning. There won¡¯t be a second chance.¡±
As he released his grip, the man retreated, nursing his broken arm.
And from her, a low, menacing voice emanated.
¡°¡ So you want to get away from me like that?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not that I want to get away, it¡¯s already over. Should I say it again? We¡¯re finished.¡±
¡°Fine. But don¡¯t regret itter. Experience how I¡¯ll behave.¡±
¡°Do as you wish.¡±
Shin Ha-yoon turned on her heel and walked out, leaving the stumbling man behind. He muttered under his breath.
¡°Damn¡ Hey, Yu Ji-ha.¡±
¡°If you keep bbering, I¡¯ll break your jaw.¡±
The man could only stutter and remain silent under the intensity of Yu Ji-ha¡¯s gaze.
That gaze did not belong to a scion of a chaebol family taking an oath.
¡°You darey your hands on someone else¡¯s body? Try it one more time. I¡¯ll throw you into the sun.¡±
[Thatst statement doesn¡¯t suit this era, Master.]
Nevertheless, the man stood there, sweating profusely, unable to utter a word.
Yu Ji-ha picked up the invitation and left the caf¨¦.
¡®That girl was quite resourceful, managing to secure the invitation.¡¯
¡°It¡¯s a gathering of talents from the business world. I should take a look. By the way, did you attach the drones?¡±
[I attached three. They will take turns and provide information for up to 30 days.]
¡°If there¡¯s anything unusual, report it to me.¡±
[Yes. But, Master¡ May I create a physical form?]
A physical form referred to an artificially made body.
Originally, within the United Human Federation, it was prohibited for artificial intelligence to possess a physical form.
However, in this era, with Yu Ji-ha¡¯s permission, it was entirely possible.
¡°What¡¯s gotten into you all of a sudden?¡±
[If I have a body, I can serve as your secretary and aide. I can adapt flexibly even in situations like just now.]
¡°Isn¡¯t that what you wanted to emte from Shin Ha-yoon?¡±
All artificial intelligences are designed to emte the personality and emotions of their original model.
Her model was a woman named Lucia, whom Yu Ji-ha was familiar with.
¡°Was Lucia of that body type? Well, it¡¯s somewhat simr.¡±
They had gone through many experiences together, this woman with brown skin and ck hair. She was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s senior, lover, and lifepanion.
However, she had lost her life before their promise could be fulfilled.
As the answer was dyed, Arma became impatient.
[Master¡]
Yu Ji-ha snapped out of his reverie.
¡°It should be fine. In the future, we might even need androids as employees, so do some modeling that suits that purpose. Show it to me before you create it.¡±
[Yes, Master. I will prepare quickly.]
¡°No need to rush. The repair of the Settler is a priority.¡±
[Yes.]
¡°Surely you haven¡¯t already finished the modeling, have you?¡±
No response.
The car carrying Yu Ji-ha suddenly elerated.
¡
Chapter 7: Silla Energy
Chapter 7: Si Energy
December was the month of annual personnel changes at Si Group.
All the executives of Si Energy, including the CEO, resigned.
The anonymous corporate app, Whisper, was buzzing with spection about the sessors.
¨DWho will take over the vacant positions?
¨DThey¡¯ll probably promote some internal candidates.
¨DBut with the prototype battery failure and theck of growth prospects, they¡¯ll be short-term executives.
¨DI wouldn¡¯t want to be an executive for just a year. I¡¯d rather stay as a manager.
?You don¡¯t get to choose.
?We have to follow the chairman¡¯s lead.
¨DBut isn¡¯t the chairman responsible for the energy slump? He was in charge of the headquarters for two years before he quit.
?That¡¯s true, but he had to deal with his son¡
?His son has been working hard at the researchbtely. The chairman must be pleased.
¨DDon¡¯t be naive. I heard his son will be the next CEO of Si Energy.
?What?
?Is that true?
?Is he bored of working at the researchb?
¨CSi Energy is doomed. Brace yourselves.
The reactions on Whisper were negative.
Just showing up at work and eating at the cafeteria didn¡¯t prove any management skills.
He didn¡¯t even start from the bottom like other chaebol heirs, even for show.
How could they entrust the CEO position to their son who only caused trouble?
Their fears were confirmed when a notice was posted on the internal bulletin board a few dayster.
It announced that Yu Ji-ha, the director of the Strategic Development Department, would be appointed as the CEO of Si Energy.
Everyone sighed at the official announcement stamped with the chairman¡¯s seal.
¨CSi Energy is finished.
¨CThe shareholders won¡¯t let this slide.
¨CMaybe they¡¯ll summon the wrathful lion messenger of Mount Gwanak at the next shareholders¡¯ meeting.
¨CThat lion messenger doesn¡¯t appear just anywhere. Besides, they know they won¡¯t get any dividends.
¨CThe stock price is crashing~! Get ready for a market meltdown!
As soon as Yu Ji-ha¡¯s inauguration as CEO became public, the stock price plummeted.
The stocks had already hit rock bottom, and panic selling worsened.
Institutional investors, including pension funds, dumped their shares, leaving individual investors in despair.
However, it took a few hours for the public to recall who Yu Ji-ha was.
¨DWho is Yu Ji-ha?
¨DOh¡ The drug addict¡
¨DWasn¡¯t he in aa? When did he wake up?
¨DThat¡¯s old news. He¡¯s been working at the researchb in Pangyo.
¨DWow, what a miracle. Not many people can recover from aa.
¨DHis recovery is a curse for humanity.
¨DIs You Kyung-seok insane? Why appoint a drug addict as CEO?
¨DBut I heard from some employees that he¡¯s totally changed.
¨DA guy who almost got arrested for drug use must have gone through a lot of changes.
Even notorious murderers would have received less criticism.
On the inte, people were thrilled to have something to gossip about. They posted information with the title ¡°Yu Ji-ha¡¯s Dark Past.jpg.¡±
His name topped the trending searches, and journalists scrambled to write articles.
¨DThe prodigal son of Si Group returns.
¨DA miraculous recovery that no one expected.
¨DHow long will it take for Yu Ji-ha, the chaebol heir, tond in jail?
These were the headlines that flooded the online news.
None of the journalists had ever met or talked to Yu Ji-ha.
He was busy meeting with the employees of Si Energy, ignoring the rumors about him.
¡°From now on, all approvals will go through me. I will make the final decisions.¡±
The middle managers who were summoned looked stunned.
He had fired all the executives and then imed that he would handle the approvals¡
It was practically impossible for one person to do the work of several people.
Maybe there was someone who could pull it off, but not this clueless young master.
¡°This may seem drastic and confusing. But don¡¯t worry and submit your approvals.¡±
¡®This isn¡¯t drastic; it¡¯s crazy.¡¯
That¡¯s what everyone thought, but they kept their mouths shut. It was the fate of a corporate worker.
Especially if the other party was the chairman¡¯s only son.
After making his brief announcement, he dismissed them and called Arma.
¡°How are the stocks doing?¡±
[Institutions, including pension funds, are still selling.]
¡°What if I buy stocks under my name?¡±
[There is a 90% chance of prosecution. The remaining 10% is a hypothetical scenario where the government intervenes when the battery is announced.]
¡°I need to use different names. Create at least 100 fake identities and keep buying until there is no more supply.¡±
[By the way, some shareholders are nning to sue you, Mr. Yu.]
¡°My father deliberately put me here to lower the stock price?¡±
[It¡¯s unlikely, but possible.]
¡°When they sue me, the stock price will soar, causing a frenzy.¡±
[And Master, we have detected a gue Core near Fukuoka, Japan.]
This news made Yu Ji-ha tense up.
The Metallic Life-form gue was real.
Only the core had been found so far, but in about 70 years, it would invade the sr system.
¡°What is the core¡¯s ss?¡±
[It is a Goliath ss.]
Goliath ss was what humanity called the gue entities.
They weren¡¯t very big, about 70 meters at most, but they had strong armor and phase barriers that resisted most conventional weapons.
They were like tanks with active defense systems.
¡°A Goliath-ss entity must have eroded the nearbynd.¡±
[As you said, local newspapers have reported a sharp drop in fish catch.]
¡°If we recover the core, the catch volume will recover. And have we found any Aether Crystals?¡±
[We have searched the East Sea region, but only found ck Metal.]
¡°It should be somewhere nearby¡¡±
[Without Aether Crystal, we can¡¯t start the engine even if we fix the Settler.]
¡°Maybe someone found it and turned it into a gemstone?¡±
[That¡¯s possible. I¡¯ll scan the media database for any gemstone-rted information. Also, mark the areas where ck Metal is distributed.]
The areas where Arma had investigated ck Metal appeared in Yu Ji-ha¡¯s vision through the biochip.
Luckily, it wasn¡¯t a mining site, so it would be easy to get the deep-sea resource development rights.
There was nothing else in that area except for some fish.
Yu Ji-ha called thepany that owned the development rights.
¡°Is this Samcheok Ocean Development? I¡¯m interested in buying your rights¡¡±
He offered a fair price, but the CEO insisted on meeting him in person.
¡°Arma, what¡¯s the current market price of ck Metal?¡±
[It¡¯s only around $300 per ton. For reference, copper is over $10,000.]
Scrap metal would be more expensive than that.
It was hard to extract, but it had no practical use, so it was cheap.
But once the new batteries were announced, ck Metal would skyrocket in price.
¡°Manager Kim, I need some trucks for two weeks. I¡¯ll pay you well, but keep it quiet.¡±
They could work at night in a secluded dock in Samcheok and transport the materials to Pangyo.
Yu Ji-ha entrusted this task to Kim Do-hyung, the manager.
¡°We¡¯ll load in Samcheok and unload in Pangyo. I need someone to oversee this. Can you rmend someone?¡±
He seemed to understand and spoke carefully.
¡°It sounds like you need me for that.¡±
¡°If you do it, I can trust you. Let¡¯s go to Samcheok together.¡±
¡°What? No, I don¡¯t have to go¡¡±
¡°We need to check the goods first. Think of it as a winter trip.¡±
That¡¯s how Manager Kim was dragged to Gangwon Province, against his will.
While Yu Ji-ha was traveling around Korea, small but significant events were happening on the sunken Settler in the East Sea.
First, the Aether Fusion Reactor of the old Assault Armor was connected to the power system, providing energy.
It wasn¡¯t enough to power the entire Settler, but it was enough to detach the mining nts and charge the survey vessels and walkers.
With a clunking sound, several mining nts separated from the Settler at 1,500 meters underwater.
[Lock the position and start mining.]
The mining nts on the Settler could mine and process most metallic resources.
The cargo walkers carried the ore to the Settler¡¯s cargo hold.
Everything was automated, without any human intervention.
And the Settler began to slowly regain its original shape.
¡°Repair progress: 4%¡¡±
The Settler was the Battleship of the pioneer fleet, built to establish a settlement in outer space.
The Supreme Council ordered its construction to ensure that even if it was the only surviving vessel, the pioneer fleet could be rebuilt.
With enough resources and time, they could rebuild about 30 colonization fleets.
It was also connected to the long-awaited reconstruction of the United Human Federation.
[gue Core Deployment.]
A walker brought the gue core into the cargo hold filled with metal ores.
This metallic sphere, about 3 meters in diameter, only reacted to ether.
Luckily, Arma had a program that mimicked Colonel Yu Ji-ha¡¯s Aether circuit.
It was the result of humanity¡¯s research against the gue.
[Aether Circuit Program Activation, Commencing Erosion Phase 1.]
A golden glow erupted from the cargo hold, and the iron ore turned ck.
It was a reproduction process that the gue Legion used after upying a, but the United Human Federation copied it.
The iron ore in the cargo hold became ck metal, but it didn¡¯t affect Arma¡¯s stronghold.
[Erosion speed reduced, higher risk of core damage.]
They had to endure since they only had one core.
The United Human Federation learned a lot from the gue, but they couldn¡¯t make a core.
If they had cracked that secret, they would have wiped out the gue.
And that secret was hidden in the warp gate of Nox, the 9th in the sr system.
One of Master Yu Ji-ha¡¯s goals was to reach there.
While Arma was producing ck metal,
On the sea surface, Yu Ji-ha and the CEO of Samcheok Ocean Development talked.
¡°Maybe you should think again. I feel like you¡¯re scamming me.¡±
The CEO resisted Yu Ji-ha¡¯s acquisition of thepany.
¡°I gave up on this ce long ago. There¡¯s nothing here, no mines or anything.¡±
But Yu Ji-ha thought differently.
¡°What about ck metal?¡±
¡°Ah, that thing. But it¡¯s useless. It¡¯s just a rock. That¡¯s what they said in a presentation.¡±
¡°It may be a rock to you, but it¡¯s important to us. That¡¯s why you have three-year exclusive mining rights from the first extraction, right?¡±
¡°Yeah, but there¡¯s no market for it.¡±
To promote private ocean development, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs had some policies.
One of them was the three-year exclusive rights.
Companies that found mineral resources in non-major areas could mine them exclusively for three years.
But with Korea¡¯s limited waters and smallpanies, no one had enjoyed the benefitstely.
¡°Let¡¯s sign the contract.¡±
Yu Ji-ha wrote the contract for buying Samcheok Ocean Development and its mining rights on the rocking ship.
The CEO, who ran squid fishing fleets, looked puzzled.
¡°These Seoul chaebol are so calm. The waves are so high today that most people would be sick. Like him.¡±
He pointed to Kim Dohyung, who was holding the railing and feeling nauseous.
He was an attendant of Si Group, who had handled many tasks, but he couldn¡¯t handle seasickness.
The contract was done, and Yu Ji-ha became the CEO of Samcheok Ocean Development.
He gave the tasks to Kim Dohyung, who had recovered a bit.
¡°You must be bored with nothing to do. Can you help us with some ck metal mining near Ulleungdo?¡±
Kim Dohyung stared at the East Sea.
¡°¡There must be a reason for this. Understood. I¡¯ll do my best.¡±
It would be hard for someone who had lived in Seoul all his life to work on the sea andnd. Yu Ji-ha cheered him up.
¡°It may not seem like much now, but the world will change soon. Your position, Director Kim, will also rise. By the way, have you bought Si Energy shares?¡±
Kim Dohyung bowed his head.
¡°They say you shouldn¡¯t catch a falling knife.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, but this is an order. Please invest in Si Energy as much as you can without being investigated by the FSS. If nothing changes by the end of this year, I¡¯ll take responsibility.¡±
Kim Dohyung¡¯s face wasplicated.
He thought, How will I fix this messter?
That¡¯s how it was.
He became the CEO of Si Energy without any experience or skills.
He bought a small ocean developmentpany and mined a ck metal that was useless.
What was the point of all this?
¡°Samcheok Ocean Development should change its nameter. I trust only you, Director Kim. I¡¯ll go back to Seoul.¡±
Kim Dohyung watched Yu Ji-ha leave from the boat, deep in thought.
He remembered a provocative headline on a news website.
¨CIdle life ruined him, now he¡¯s ruining apany.
While he worried about the group¡¯s future, ck metal production was happening at 1,500 meters underwater.
¡
Chapter 8: Different Path
Chapter 8: Different Path
Yu Ji-ha returned to Seoul and began the restructuring of Si Energy.
Unlike other energypanies, Si Energy had no stake in the petroleum and chemical industry.
It¡¯s only businesses were natural gas charging, city gas, and renewable energy.
However, the previous management teams had been preupied with maintaining the status quo and had been reluctant to invest heavily in the trending renewable energy sector.
This was partly due to Chairman Yu Kyung-seok¡¯s personal circumstances, which prevented him from fully dedicating himself to the management of thepany.
The executives, who only cared about their monthly paychecks, became obsessed with short-term profits.
As a result, Si Energy not only fell behind the global trend but also lost its chance to participate in government projects.
The root cause of this decline was Yu Ji-ha himself.
Chairman Yu Kyung-seok had lost his health temporarily when his only son became a Yu Kyung-seok and stopped consuming food.
Yu Ji-ha knew the internal story and found it amusing.
¡°So the bad evaluations weren¡¯t just baseless.¡±
At first, he had felt a hint of sympathy for taking over Yu Ji-ha¡¯s body, but now it hadpletely disappeared.
The original owner had done terrible things and died, and now it was up to him to change the evaluations.
However, it seemed that the employees of Si Energy did not share his vision.
A group of alternative energy project team members, who were soon to be disbanded, submitted their resignation letters together.
Yu Ji-ha looked at the resignation letters on his desk and then at the faces of the employees.
¡°Are you sure about this? You might regret itter.¡±
¡°We¡¯ve thought about it a lot beforeing to this decision.¡±
¡°We¡¯ve endured for a long time, but we don¡¯t see a future in thispany, so we¡¯ve decided to change jobs.¡±
¡°The sry is at the industry¡¯s lowest level, there¡¯s hardly any welfare, and we don¡¯t even see a vision. Please ept our resignations.¡±
Facing the resolute attitude of the employees, Yu Ji-ha epted their resignation letters.
¡°I understand. You¡¯ve worked hard until now, and I wish you sess in the future.¡±
Several other teams also followed suit and gathered their employees.
There was no reason for the captain and crew to die together on a sinking ship.
Arma reported it like this.
[There¡¯s a malicious rumor going around that you will soon be in jail, causing unrest among the employees.]
¡°It¡¯s better for them to leave quickly. We were nning to salvage what we could, focusing on batteries. Prepare to sell the natural gas charging stations and city gas businesses. We¡¯ll need funds soon.¡±
As a result, Si Energy was left with only one battery business team and one research institute.
The number of employees drastically reduced to just over 100.
This news reached the headquarters of the group, and the executives were all taken aback.
¨DWould it be okay to leave it as it is?
¨DShi Energy isn¡¯t the kind of subsidiary that can afford to fail like this.
¨DWe should give some frank advice to the chairman. Maybe even convene a board meeting¡
¨DI already did that. They just want to leave it as it is.
¨DIf we continue like this, regtory authorities will intervene. Won¡¯t there be an extraordinary shareholders¡¯ meeting?
¨DSigh¡
Everyone sighed and no one stepped forward.
The chaebols Family, that¡¯s what they called it.
Although Yu Ji-ha was a neer who had separated from the Si Group, he was the absolute ruler of this small kingdom.
Perhaps the only thing worth pinning hope on was that Yu Ji-ha seemed rtively sane.
One executive scoffed at such an opinion.
¨DIf he ruins it while in his right mind, wouldn¡¯t that be even worse? It¡¯s true that he wasn¡¯t in his right mind before, intoxicated by drugs and women, but¡
¨DShh. Let¡¯s stop here. It will cause amotion if it reaches the chairman¡¯s ears.
¨DI wish everything had just flipped upside down instead¡
Despite the serious concerns expressed at the headquarters, the restructuring continued.
After gaining control of thepany, Yu Ji-ha sold off everything, leaving the remaining employees feeling anxious.
In response, he posted a notice on thepany bulletin board under the name of the CEO.
The notice stated that he was well aware of the concerns and assured everyone that he was not crazy and that everything was going ording to n.
Upon reading the notice, the employees collectively sighed.
¨DWe want a clear vision to feel reassured¡
¨DLooks like I won¡¯t be staying here for long. Let¡¯s all prepare to change jobs.
¨DRuining apany that was doing fairly well, that¡¯s some talent.
¨DDidn¡¯t I say it? People don¡¯t easily change.
While thepany was in such turmoil, Yu Ji-ha workedte into the evening.
Coincidentally, trucks carrying ck metal from Samcheok Port arrived at the site.
¡°Alright, let¡¯s get to work!¡±
After the employees had left for the day, Yu Ji-ha personally supervised the unloading of the ck metal from the trucks.
Researchers, including Director Lee Han-jong, rushed outte to see what was happening.
¡°Wow, what is all this?¡±
¡°ck metal¡ Where did you get it from?¡±
The warehouse floor was stacked with solid metal ingots.
Yu Ji-ha lifted one ingot and it instantly began transforming and took the shape of a gauntlet.
¡°We mined it from the East Sea. There¡¯s apany over there with mining rights.¡±
¡°I think I heard that mining there is difficult¡¡±
He recalled reading a newspaper article with that phrase a few years ago.
However, his concerns were overshadowed by Hwang Seon-young¡¯s chatter.
¡°Well, Director, that¡¯s not the issue right now. With this much ck metal, we can start preparing for mass production of G-type standard battery cells, can¡¯t we?¡±
¡°Well, not immediately¡ The real question will be how much supply we can secure in the future.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s response hinted at lingering concerns.
Everyone looked at Yu Ji-ha with anticipation, and he nodded his head.
¡°Don¡¯t worry. The supply will proceed smoothly from now on. Besides the East Sea, there are quite a few other mining sites.¡±
¡°But if countries with mining rights start mass production, won¡¯t we be left behind?¡±
¡°I can assure you that there is no other country capable of using ck metal besides us.¡±
¡°But there are people other than you who can manipte ck metal. Park Jun-ho from the previous team, for example¡¡±
¡°There are certainly individuals with such abilities, but if they can¡¯t break it down enough to make batteries, it¡¯s just a waste. Teacher, would you pay a fee and entrust me with it, or would you rather waste expensive raw materials?¡±
Lee Han-jong, the director, who understood his meaning, stood speechless.
In other words, without Yu Ji-ha, they would have to endure a significant increase in costs.
If the production cost of amodity differs several times,petition bes impossible.
¡°Just a moment, I understand that, but the CEO should still be present on-site,¡± Hwang Seon-young expressed her doubts.
In response, Yu Ji-ha handed her the newly created ck metal glove.
¡°What is this?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a disassembler that can rece me. It¡¯s a kind of key. With this, anyone can disassemble ck metal as they please.¡±
¡°Wow.¡±
She was surprised as she saw the ck metal glove transform into a thick book.
To her amazement, the book even had pages!
Everyone marveled at the metal book, flipping through its pages as if they were seeing a metal book for the first time.
¡°Is this influenced by Sister Bookworm¡¯s consciousness?¡±
¡°It would be chaos if Seong-hoon gets involved. Is it going to produce a female doll?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not like Pygmalion.¡±
¡°Now the question is how to apply this to the production process.¡±
¡°Can¡¯t we just leave it as it is?¡±
While the researchers chattered, Director Lee Han-jong called for Yujiha.
¡°It seems like you¡¯ve encountered a whole new world.¡±
¡°I was lucky.¡±
¡°Since it¡¯s a technology that hasn¡¯t been clearly defined, obtaining a patent will be difficult¡ The whole world will rush in. You¡¯re going to be wealthy.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t really care about money. As long as I have enough to use.¡±
¡°Haha, is it a kind of show-off to say that chaebols don¡¯t need money? Anyway, congrattions. You¡¯ve worked hard, and now you can wash away all the past misfortunes.¡±
Director Lee Han-jong¡¯s gaze toward Yu Ji-ha had changed significantly.
More urately, it had returned to how it was in the beginning.
¡°Only the final test remains. We should package it and install it in the vehicle chassis for evaluation.¡±
¡°I see. I¡¯ll start preparing tomorrow.¡±
¡°No, we¡¯ll make it now.¡±
¡°Now?¡±
While Director Lee Han-jong was taken aback, he called the researchers working under Yu Ji-ha.
¡°Let¡¯s workte tonight together. In return, I¡¯ll provide each of you with theptop you desire.¡±
Offering desiredptops aspensation for workingte?
As all the researchers were technology enthusiasts, they couldn¡¯t resist his offer and readily agreed.
Shortly after, the production line dedicated to solid-state batteries began operating.
With a skill honed from somewhere unknown, Yu Ji-ha adeptly manipted various equipment.
The researchers watched in awe, their tongues tied.
¡°Where on earth did the boss learn how to operate the adhesive applicator?¡±
¡°I just gave up. Even if the boss knew, I¡¯d just go along with it.¡±
After several rounds of overtime, the battery cells were finally installed in the test vehicle chassis.
As researcher Bae Sung-hoon set up the program, he murmured to himself.
¡°If you look at Japanese electric cars, they can go slightly over 700 km with 15 G-type battery packs. Since our capacity is only 1/10 of that, if we can achieve 100 km, it would be a remarkable aplishment.¡±
¡°What? Only that much?¡±
¡°We can¡¯t help it. We don¡¯t have a battery management system or optimization in ce yet¡¡±
¡°It will perform well. Reset it.¡±
Yu Ji-ha gave his instruction.
Finally, the measurement results for the battery cells were obtained.
170 km.
Everyone erupted in cheers at this number.
¡°Yes!¡±
¡°Amazing, amazing!¡±
Considering that the capacity was only 1/10, there was no battery management system in ce, and no optimization had been performed yet.
If everything were toe together, what would happen?
The day woulde when electric cars could travel 2,000 km on a single charge and dominate the market.
¡
In front of the banquet hall of the Gangnam Mo Hotel, luxury foreign cars gathered.
The people getting off the backseat all had youthful appearances and were dressed in exquisite clothing.
They were the third-generation heirs of South Korean chaebols.
They gathered in groups of threes and fives, engaging in familiar conversations.
¡°I bought a yacht recently, and let me tell you, it¡¯s amazing.¡±
¡°Did you sail it to Southeast Asia? It must have been exciting.¡±
¡°And the service was to die for. You know? The yacht thates with beautiful women like in Hollywood.¡±
¡°That was the service?¡±
¡°There¡¯s nothing you can¡¯t get with money. I had a great time with fivepanions for two days.¡±
¡°Wow¡ there¡¯s no emperor like that.¡±
He heard the conversation of the third-generation heirs inside the maintained car.
At first, he thought they were discussing the country¡¯s economy orpany management, but that wasn¡¯t the case.
They were immersed in vulgar conversations about recently purchased limited edition supercars and sex tours.
¡°They¡¯re just talking nonsense.¡±
[Master, the Noble¡¯s Club is originally like this. Unlike their ancestors, the heirs of chaebols don¡¯t face significant pressure regardingpany management. Everything is provided here.]
¡°So, it¡¯s about enjoying moderately and enduring, right?¡±
[It has been decades since the chaebols system was established in this country. The driving force for growth has long disappeared, and the chaebols have begun to be eroded by foreign powers. There¡¯s no passion left.]
¡°I thought I would gain something, but it seems like a mistake¡¡±
For his purpose, he needed the assistance of Arma and the Settler, but that wasn¡¯t all.
He needed someone he could trust and delegate tasks to.
Having received the best education of this era, he came to see the possibilities, but all he found were disappointing individuals.
¡°As expected, I need androids.¡±
He needed numerous beings that were indistinguishable from humans.
They would obey only themands of Yu Ji-ha and Arma without any doubt.
With their transcendentbat power, durability, and above-average judgment, they would be of great help.
[To create androids, I need permission. Shall we proceed?]
¡°For now, design the framework. Create an anticipated performance and appearance. It should resemble Koreans as much as possible.¡±
[Yes. Production will begin within a month at thetest.]
That meant that with a generous estimate and three months, he would have a workforce that could be fully utilized.
Of course, there was a burden of having to create their past and careers anew, but with Arma¡¯sputational power, there shouldn¡¯t be a major issue.
¡°I have to go. There¡¯s no point in staying in a ce like this any longer¡¡±
As he started the car, someone blocked his way.
[It¡¯s Shin Ha-yoon.]
She was quite audacious to wear a red evening dress and casually rest her high heels on the bumper.
¡°She¡¯s the kind of woman who makes you want to push her away forcefully.¡±
[Should I eliminate her?]
It would be a simple task with the micro drones attached to her.
¡°No, I was just saying. So, why did she stop me?¡±
¡°It seems she was infuriated when Si Group repaid their debt. She was part of the creditors.¡±
¡°Come to think of it, she was at Hansung Securities.¡±
¡°She¡¯s head of IB2. She¡¯s also sold a lot of Si Energy stocks recently.¡±
To be a head at 33, she seemed exceptionally capable.
Of course, her true background was probably her grandfather¡¯s.
¡°If I see the stock price skyrocket tomorrow, I might just smash the office.¡±
[If I don¡¯t answer her immediately with that temperament, it seems like she¡¯ll smash the car.]
¡®Let¡¯s start the conversation.¡¯
Observing Yujiha¡¯s head shaking, he slowly rolled down the window.
¡°Why?¡±
¡°Just open the door for a moment.¡±
¡°What do you have to say?¡±
¡°You might not have anything, but I do. It won¡¯t harm you to listen.¡±
¡®It¡¯s not difficult to indulge in a little tantrum.¡¯
When he nodded his head, Shin Ha-yoon cheerfully climbed into the passenger seat.
¡°You¡¯ve changed your preferences a lot. Riding around in this piece of crap car.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not a piece of crap car. It¡¯s a car made by Si Group.¡±
¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying. It¡¯s a piece of crap car. Your dad split off from the Future Auto Group to create an electric car.¡±
She was referring to the rebellious son.
However, he didn¡¯t just carry Future Auto with him.
He brought together heavy industries, defense, and more, firmly separating from the Future Auto Group.
Thanks to that, even after 15 years, Yu Kyung-seok couldn¡¯t set foot in the ancestral home.
¡°If you¡¯re going to say things like that, get out.¡±
¡°2 trillion won, right?¡±
She came prepared, it seemed.
Nodding his head vaguely, she crossed her arms and grumbled.
¡°Don¡¯t start with the excuses about coins and bullshit. Where did you get the money? Bank loans werepletely blocked, I¡¯m sure.¡±
¡°You¡¯re right, it¡¯s about coins.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t these stories sound like fantasies that men read? You liefortably while the coins skyrocket and then sell them¡ Fixing things¡¡±
¡°Regardless, I repaid it. That should be enough. Do you have anything else to say?¡±
¡°You¡¯re so nonchnt. Should I surprise you a little? There will be an interim shareholders¡¯ meeting in January next year. Since you¡¯re still the majority shareholder, you have the authority to hold the meeting, right?¡±
He could sense a triumphant smile on her face from Yujiha¡¯s profile.
¡°Because of Si Energy?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. From the perspective of the majority shareholder, I can¡¯t just sit back and watch some clueless fool ruin thepany.¡±
¡°Do we need to go to an interim shareholders¡¯ meeting? Watch the evening news from M Company tonight.¡±
¡°Why? What difference does that make?¡±
¡°Maybe your attitude will change.¡±
¡°There¡¯s absolutely no chance of that. Oh, if you finally admit your mistake, there might be a chance.¡±
He clicked his tongue at her persistence.
¡°Why are you doing this? You have everything. Why are you so unsatisfied and want devour me?¡±
Sheughed merrily.
¡°So you really did forget due to memory loss. Well, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll slowly enlighten you. Anyway, if you don¡¯t want the extraordinary shareholders¡¯ meeting, figure it out yourself.¡±
¡°Get out.¡±
¡°Oh, I¡¯m so scared.¡±
Shin Ha-yoon grabbed the door handle and informed him.
¡°If you surrender quickly, I¡¯ll teach you what to do in the future. Honestly, why did you turn out like this? I can¡¯t believe it.¡±
Her tone revealed an arrogant arrogance towards the other person.
But suddenly, they heard a sound, followed by the sttering of windshield washer fluid.
¡°Ah, damn it!¡±
Her red dress was soaked and ruined, and Yujiha leaned out of the window and hastily apologized.
¡°Sorry, I thought I already fix it but I forgot.¡±
¡°What kind of shitty car is this?¡±
She wriggled, with her chest wet, then kicked the car and walked away.
¡°Close the door and let¡¯s go.¡±
The car started smoothly, and Arma unexpectedly asked, [Well done?]
¡°Why did you suddenly do that?¡±
[Listening to her was getting on my nerves.]
¡°From now on, you can¡¯t do that without my permission, understand?¡±
[Yes.]
There was a sense of delight in the obedient response.
He buried himself deep in the seat of the car.
¡°So, any idea why that woman is acting like that?¡±
[If we deduce from her habitual words, it seems like she wants to break free from her household.]
¡°Is it because she¡¯s an illegitimate child?¡±
[That¡¯s one reason, but the influence of her grandfather, the chairman, is even greater. He is a tyrant who has no qualms about using his children as tools.]
¡°I have a rough idea of the reasons.¡±
A woman who dreams of escaping from being a tool of her grandfather.
The man promised her the subsidiarypany to inherit in the future and easily won her over.
Despite being a declining Si Group, if they reorganized systematically and focused on rtively robust heavy industry, they could secure a solid foundation.
The fact that the original¡¯s father was such a fool would have been taken into ount in her n.
Well, once Yu Ji-ha got involved, everything would be insignificant.
¡°Let¡¯s go back to our hometown. We need to exin it to our parents.¡±
It was soon going to be announced about the ck metal battery.
The vehicle crossed the Han Namdaegyo Bridge.
¡
Chapter 9: Announcement
Chapter 9: Announcement
Shin Ha-yoon grumbled as she changed her clothes in the car.
She had managed to smooth out the wrinkles, but it was still better than wearing a wet dress.
She got out of the car and was greeted by Yu Sung-joon.
¡°Did you inform him?¡±
He was the cousin of Yu Ji-ha, the CEO of Future Automotive Group, and also the Director of Corporate Strategy.
He was married, but Shin Ha-yoon disliked his clingy attitude towards her.
¡°Yeah, I did. He lectured me and told me to get off the car.¡±
¡°He must be confident that he can stop the interim shareholders¡¯ meeting. Well, let¡¯s go ahead with it anyway.¡±
Shin Ha-yoon could sense his smugness from his smirk.
He and the other executives of Future Automotive Group looked down on Si Group, which had split due to a family feud between the eldest son and the rest.
¡°Let¡¯s see how it turns out.¡±
She entered the banquet hall, followed by a swarm of men.
She was the queen bee of this small party.
As the youngest granddaughter of Han Sung Group, she had a stunning appearance and a perfect figure that made her irresistible.
Inside, everyone was buzzing about Yu Ji-ha.
¡°So, he came earlier and left?¡±
¡°He didn¡¯t even get out of the car. He must have chickened out.¡±
¡°I heard he made a lot of personnel changes. What a pity.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know about his personality, but he sure has grown up. Look at this photo.¡±
¡°Wow¡ Is that really him?¡±
¡°He used to be so skinny. Now he¡¯s all buffed up.¡±
¡°He was just a pretty face in romanceics, but now he¡¯s something else.¡±
Yu Sung-joon couldn¡¯t stand hearing his cousin being praised and interrupted the conversation.
¡°What good is a handsome face if he has a rotten character? He¡¯s ruining thepany with his ipetence.¡±
¡°But oppa, he¡¯s doing well as the CEO, right?¡±
A woman tried to defend him, but Yu Sung-joonughed dismissively.
¡°Doing well? Is that your standard? He¡¯s the CEO, for God¡¯s sake. He should be responsible for the stock prices and the employees. If this happened in our group, it would be a catastrophe.¡±
Everyone nodded in agreement.
¡°Well, he¡¯s not getting any younger.¡±
¡°He should show some results as a leader. From what I see, he¡¯s just making a mess.¡±
¡°The stock prices won¡¯tst long at this rate.¡±
Yu Sung-joon sipped his wine and waited for someone to bring up his own achievements.
His younger brother, who knew him well, did him a favor and praised him.
¡°Oh, Sung-joon hyung. I heard you¡¯re working on solid-state batteries. Congrattions.¡±
Yu Sung-joon¡¯s eyes widened.
¡°How did you find out? It was supposed to be a secret.¡±
¡°I heard some rumors about your efforts in the Corporate Strategy Office. Are you going to be promoted to Vice President soon?¡±
¡°Maybe.¡±
¡°Wow¡ That¡¯s amazing, oppa. You¡¯ll be the first to produce solid-state batteries in Korea.¡±
¡°The Japanese would rather die than share their technology. How did you pull it off?¡±
¡°You¡¯re incredible, hyung.¡±
Thepliments kepting, and he never got tired of them.
He nodded and nced at Shin Ha-yoon, but she seemed bored, ying with her phone.
Then, she noticed something and turned on the TV in a corner of the banquet hall.
¡°Why are you turning on the TV?¡±
¡°I heard Si Energy is making an announcement.¡±
¡°Is it about their bankruptcy?¡±
¡°Hahaha.¡±
Peopleughed, and Shin Ha-yoon frowned as she watched the TV.
They wouldn¡¯t call the reporters and announce their bankruptcy, would they?
Si Group was not a top-tier chaebol, but they wouldn¡¯t let their subsidiaries fail so easily.
¡°Does it have something to do with Ji-ha?¡±
Why was he so calm after she warned him about the interim shareholders¡¯ meeting? What was his n?
Why did he tell her to watch TV tonight?
Maybe the answer had something to do with that old, secretive director of the research institute.
After a while, Director Lee Han-jong started speaking with a nostalgic tone.
¨CIt¡¯s an honor for me to make this announcement on behalf of President Yu Ji-ha¡
The speech of a lifelong researcher who devoted himself to science was slow and hard to follow.
But some key points were clear.
¡ªWe have developed a new battery at our Si Energy Pangyo Research Center¡
¡ªThe name¡ Haha, we haven¡¯t decided yet, but President Yu will chooseter. It¡¯s his battery, after all.¡±
Everyone looked puzzled when they heard him mention the president. Was he talking about YuJi-ha?
¡°Yu Ji-ha invented a battery?¡±
¡°But he hasn¡¯t been awake for long.¡±
As people whispered, Shin Ha-yoon spoke up.
¡°Quiet, let¡¯s listen to the announcement.¡±
Everyone obeyed the queen and kept silent. The director¡¯s voice continued.
¨CThis new battery¡ has a very high energy density. It passed all our internal tests for operational conditions and is structurally stable. Um¡ in other words, it means it can be mass-produced right away.
¡°Is that a solid-state battery?¡±
Someone asked, and Yu Sung-joon stepped forward.
¡ªIt can¡¯t be a solid-state battery¡ We couldn¡¯t develop it ourselves, so how can Si Energy do it? It¡¯s not about underestimating them, but such developments require a lot of manpower, time, and money to seed.¡±
Everyone nodded in agreement with his reasonable statement.
Solid-state batteries were a dream that every major battery manufacturer had pursued.
They had experimented with every element on Earth and achieved some results, but only Japan had reached the mass production stage.
As a result, Korean batterypanies were losing their market share in the global battery market.
¡°Maybe Si Energy will make a fortune with this.¡±
¡°Really? I heard they cut down the department that used to be their main source of ie.¡±
¡°Then what kind of battery is it?¡±
¡°Well¡ we¡¯ll see when they show it.¡±
Meanwhile, Director Lee Han-jong finished his speech and sighed. Someone asked him a question.
¨CIs the new battery a solid-state battery?
¨CIt¡¯s not such a simple technology.
Simple technology, he said!
Everyone was stunned, and Director Lee Han-jong picked up the microphone again.
¨CI can guarantee that after this announcement, Japan¡¯s solid-state batteries will lose their edge¡ Well, they might still sell as cheap alternatives. After all, the demand for batteries is very high these days.
¨CWhy are you so confident?
¨COh, I didn¡¯t mention the numbers in the presentation. But let me tell you. For the Windrunner, the electric vehicle from Si Auto, if we rece it with the battery pack we developed, the driving range will exceed 2,000 kilometers.
Everyone was speechless, as if they had been hit by a hammer.
If the driving range was 2,000 kilometers, wasn¡¯t that about three times the range of Japanese solid-state batteries?
The journalists realized the importance and got excited.
¨CSo you mean it can go that far with one charge?
¨CYes. And the charging time is very short, too. About three minutes. Just plug it in, have a smoke, and it¡¯s done, hehe.
¨CBut won¡¯t the car be heavier or more expensive?
¨CAs for the price, that¡¯s something our management will decide¡ Well, if you can call it management. It¡¯s just one person, the CEO. Haha. I can assure you that it¡¯s lighter than the existing solid-state batteries on the market.
He wasn¡¯t joking.
He gave specific energy density data and confidently imed that they had solved the major problem of dendrite formation.
He also said that they would send samples and data to reputable research institutes at home and abroad.
At this point, the only sound in the room was the typing of people frantically taking notes.
And the heirs of the chaebols, who had been watching in shock, started making phone calls.
There was no chaebol that had nothing to do with batteries, so the atmosphere became tense and people started leaving one by one.
¡°What the hell? Call Si Energy right now and confirm. What do you mean they¡¯re off work? Do you want to lose your job? There must be someone workingte! Go!¡±
¡°Get the strategy team together. What? Drinking? You don¡¯t have time to drink! Come to the headquarters right now.¡±
The situation became chaotic, and people scattered.
¡°Damn it! It¡¯s not a simple technology. If they had such a breakthrough battery, they should have told us in advance, considering our rtionship.¡±
Shin Ha-yoon was furious as she watched Yu Sung-joon drive away in his car.
She realized why he had told her to watch the broadcast in the basement.
There was no need for a shareholders¡¯ meeting when the stock price would soar and the public¡¯s attention would shift the next day.
¡°¡¡±
She bit her lip silently, feeling defeated.
She felt like she had lost control of the situation.
Damn it, what a stupid mistake.
Since Si Energy¡¯s announcement was in the evening, it didn¡¯t have much impact at first.
But as the news spread online, a huge storm erupted.
The number of 2,000km on a single charge was so shocking that the carmunity debated fiercely about its validity.
¨CDo you really believe that crap? How can it go 2,000km on a single charge?
¡ªEven the mythical car that runs on flower scent doesn¡¯t have that kind of range.¡±
¡ªWhat are you talking about?
¨CI can understand if it¡¯s Hanseong or GC, they¡¯ve invested billions. But how much did Si Energy invest
¡ªording tost year¡¯s data, their R&D cost was 7 billion.
¡ªAnd they credit that to Yu Ji-ha? That¡¯s absurd. He¡¯s only been awake for a few months after being a vegetative-state.
¡ªWell, he was once called a genius. Maybe he has some skills we don¡¯t know about?
¡ªNo, that¡¯s not it, you moron. Even if he¡¯s a genius, it¡¯s physically impossible to develop a new battery in just a few months.
¡ªI work in the battery industry. Let me tell you about the types of tests that are essential for making a battery.
He listed various unfamiliar test names and equipment under hisment.
The intemunity, tired of those arguments, agreed that it was impossible.
Someone made this im:
¡ªSi Energy¡¯s stock price is dropping right now. They¡¯re making this announcement to boost it.
¡ªBut even if they boost it, won¡¯t it go back to normal tomorrow?
¡ªThey¡¯re just trying to lure the ants when the market opens. It¡¯s just a temporary push.
¡ªBut guys, isn¡¯t this Lee Han-jong director quite famous in the battery field? As a schr, can he lie like that?
¡ªWell, money talks.
¡ªDoes Si Energy even have that kind of money right now?
¡ªThink about it. If Yu Ji-ha is an idiot who bullies his subordinates and forces them to make the announcement, it all makes sense. He¡¯s always been like that.
¡ªWell¡
¡ªIf there¡¯s another ident, he should be arrested, right? Even if he¡¯s fine, he still has a father.
¡ªHis father has given up on himpletely.
¡ªBut they said they would send the samples and data to other research institutes. If that¡¯s a lie, wouldn¡¯t it be suicide?
¡ªYeah, you¡¯re right¡
¡ªWell, we¡¯ll see tomorrow.
Anyway, the dominant opinion on the inte was that Lee Han-jong was a troublemaker and a liar.
They say that to judge a person¡¯s future, you should look at their past.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s past was brilliant, but his present was stained with alcohol, drugs, and reckless sex.
So, it was natural for everyone to have a negative view of him.
As time passed, the long-awaited stock market finally opened.
The stock price of Si Energy, which was less than 3,000 won, started to soar as soon as it was 9 o¡¯clock.
People who had stayed up all night, waiting eagerly, began to n their strategies.
¡ªLet¡¯s go for a killing spree!
¡ªNow, if it suddenly drops, it¡¯ll be so thrilling!
But Si Energy¡¯s stock price defied their expectations and kept hitting new records.
As a result, the stock chat room went wild.
¡ªI sold everything, damn it.
¡ªIt¡¯s clearly manipted by the big shots. Are there any fools buying in?
¡ªMoney breeds money! Come on, brainless monkeys!
¡ªHey idiots, do you think stock trading is just a day or two? Soon, there¡¯ll be news about stock fraud.
¡ªI want to see Yu Ji-ha in front of the prosecutor¡¯s office with a photo line.
¡ªBut guys, what if this is actually real?
¡ªBe rational. Do you think such technology is possible at our level?
There is such a thing as the learning effect.
People who had yed with stocks in South Korea remembered cases like the nano image sensor case, which involved stock fraud.
If a technology is not logically understandable, it is almost certainly, if not 100%, a scam.
¨CIt¡¯s probably just Yu Ji-ha trying to make ast ssh and boost Korea.
The skepticism and distrust in the onlinemunity were evident.
¨CThe prosecutors should ban him from traveling, what are they doing?
¨CWell, these days, when something like this happens, they swarm in like bees to verify it, so let¡¯s just wait and see.
Amidst such discussions, the stock price continued to rise, tempting investors as it flew high.
The KOSDAQ, which had been stuck in a box for two years, shook, and everyone blindly jumped in.
¨CDamn it, I don¡¯t care if it¡¯s a scam or not, I want to make some money.
¨CSi Energy, let¡¯s go to 10,000 won!
¨CWow, the reporters are flocking to Si Group¡¯s headquarters.
¨CToday will be so exciting.
Everyone¡¯s attention was on Si Group.
¡
Chapter 10: Drawing the Future
Chapter 10: Drawing the Future
Chairman Yu Kyung-seok arrived at the headquarters of Si Group around 9 o¡¯clock.
His face looked so exhausted that he seemed ready to copse at any moment.
¡°Call all the executives from the battery-rted subsidiaries to the conference room.¡±
¡°Yes, sir.¡±
The secretary quicklyplied, and the executives began to gather one by one.
Yu Ji-ha also showed up.
His father¡¯s gaze was incredibly warm as he looked at him.
It wasn¡¯t just because he was his son.
Ever since Director Lee Han-jong made the announcement, the two of them had been busy testing the new battery.
They even drove on the highway in the middle of the night with his wife in the back seat, taking turns behind the wheel.
As a result, they were confident that the new battery was real.
How it was made would be a problem forter.
What mattered now was how to respond.
Chairman Yu turned on the stock channel and saw Si Energy¡¯s stock price soaring.
¡°That¡¯s a very impressive graph, isn¡¯t it?¡±
The executives who had been criticizing Yu Ji-ha all this time couldn¡¯t meet his eyes.
¡°I think it will break 8,000 won before lunch.¡±
¡°Finally, a stock that benefits from the abolition of the upper and lower limits.¡±
¡°The rted stocks are also rising. It seems like we¡¯ll see a circuit breaker after a long time.¡±
¡°We should have bought some in advance¡ Haha, what a shame.¡±
¡°Um¡ Chairman, is the battery really real?¡±
Chairman Yu nodded.
¡°I personally confirmed itst night. I saw the data and conducted actual tests. The product is reliable.¡±
¡°Oh¡ Congrattions!¡±
¡°You¡¯ve achieved something great at Si Energy!¡±
¡°To be precise, our Director Yu, no, President Yu did it.¡±
Everyone nced at Yu Ji-ha, but he didn¡¯t seem to care about their changing attitudes.
¡°Chairman, I will take full responsibility for the battery from now on.¡±
He wanted to handle it alone?
The executives looked at Chairman Yu with various expressions, and he nodded firmly.
¡°This is not just your problem alone. Since we sent the data to Japan, we have to secure it. China and the United States will also show interest.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. If the battery is real, various proposals wille from government agencies. Let us handle them.¡±
¡°We should also deal with matters such as raw material supply and factory construction at the group level.¡±
Everyone expressed their opinions one by one, but Yu Ji-ha stubbornly maintained his stance.
¡°I started this, so I¡¯ll take charge. If someone else interferes, it will only create chaos.¡±
¡°Hmm¡¡±
The executives looked at the chairman with pity or disappointment, and he slowly spoke up.
¡°Do you have the confidence?¡±
¡°Chairman!¡±
¡°It¡¯s impossible for one person to handle this.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. Let us be your advisors.¡±
The executives murmured, but Chairman Yu only looked at his son.
He never imagined that the idea they discussed over dinner not long ago would turn out like this.
It meant that his son had anticipated this situation since then.
¡®Did he really learn that knowledge in his dreams?¡¯
He would have dismissed it as nonsense and ignored it if it weren¡¯t for his son.
But he proved it himself.
Si Energy¡¯s stock price reached a new high in just a few hours, and the media was flooded with articles.
Every single one of them praised the remarkable achievement, assuming that the battery was real.
¡But let¡¯s get one thing clear here.
¡°I heard that the battery uses ck metal as the main ingredient. I vaguely heard that it¡¯s extremely difficult to mine. Will there be a stable supply?¡±
¡°Why don¡¯t we call Manager Kim?¡±
¡°Why him all of a sudden?¡±
¡°He¡¯s probably mining ck metal on a ship right now, I suppose.¡±
Chairman Yu, unimpressed by his son¡¯s confident attitude, called Kim Dohyeong.
After a moment, he heard the sound of strong wind and Kim¡¯s panting voice.
¡ªUh, uh¡ This is Kim Dohyeong, Chairman.
¡°Yeah, where are you now? My son said you¡¯re on a ship?¡±
-I¡¯m, I¡¯m near Samcheok, in the open sea. I never expected the winter wind to be this, this cold¡
Near Samcheok?
Yu Ji-ha briefly exined to his father and the executives, who looked at him with curiosity.
One of the executives muttered in disappointment.
¡°So we¡¯ve secured exclusive mining rights for ck metal around Ulleungdo for three years¡ Haha, that means we won¡¯t have any chance to intervene.¡±
Indeed.
They had nned everything before they acted.
Chairman Yu was very satisfied with his son¡¯s meticulous actions.
¡°Good. Then give it a try. But if you can¡¯t handle it, the group will step in immediately, understood?¡±
¡°There won¡¯t be any such incidents.¡±
We¡¯ll see about that.
They discussed detailed ns for the future in the conference room.
It mainly focused on investments and factory construction.
At that moment, Chairman Yu received a phone call.
He checked the caller ID and put his finger to his lips.
¡°It¡¯s from the Prime Minister¡¯s office. Yes, I¡¯ll take it. Oh, Prime Minister, what can I do for you?¡±
¡°Ah¡ We are 100% confident, but it would be better to have more people validate it.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll arrange a schedule as soon as possible. Yes.¡±
The conversation ended, and he looked at Yu Ji-ha, exhaling a long sigh.
¡°The government is requesting a demonstration. They n to invite not only domestic broadcasters but also foreign media andpanies.¡±
¡°This matter has be quite serious¡¡±
¡°I¡¯m not sure if I can handle it¡¡±
The executives were nervous, but Yu Ji-ha calmly nodded his head.
¡°Let¡¯s run aplete battery cell with no room for doubt. How about next Monday?¡±
¡°Give it a try and let me know.¡±
The Prime Minister¡¯s office agreed, and Chairman Yu dismissed the executives.
He was left alone in the conference room.
He lit a cigarette and took a sip of water.
¡°Hmm¡ Thest time I felt this tense was when we separated the subsidiaries 15 years ago. Ji-ha, can I trust you?¡±
¡°You can trust me and leave it to me. But there¡¯s something you should do, Father.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°I acquired shares of Si Energy. Worth 200 billion.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. Ah¡ The problem is how the Financial Supervisory Service will assess it.¡±
Originally, Si Holdings held a 35% stake in Si Energy, while Yu Ji-ha held 7%.
However, with the acquisition of shares for 200 billion, the structure changedpletely.
Under normal circumstances, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem, but with the announcement of the new battery, the stock price soared, resulting in significant gains for Yu Ji-ha.
Was it a transaction or a session?
¡°First, I need to talk to the legal team about this.¡±
¡°Since the Financial Supervisory Service is cautious, they won¡¯t make a big fuss.¡±
¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll look into it. You focus on the new battery.¡±
¡°Understood.¡±
Chairman Yu stood up and patted his son¡¯s shoulder.
¡°Father.¡±
¡°Hehe, I¡¯m just doing it because I want to. When did that troublemaker be like this¡¡±
¡°If you look at it strictly, isn¡¯t this also a trouble?¡±
The wealthy man chuckled.
¡°You can create as many of these troubles as you want. Since we won¡¯t be able to enter for a while, I¡¯ll call your mother.¡±
¡°Of course.¡±
As they stepped outside through the main entrance of the headquarters, journalists who had been waiting rushed towards them.
Yu Ji-ha calmly responded to them and headed to the Si Energy building.
¡
Si Energy¡¯s remaining employees gathered in the warehouse after receiving Yu Ji-ha¡¯s call.
¡°I understand that you were all shocked by the newsst night. In short, the new battery is real, and thepany will undergo significant changes from now on.¡±
It was evident from their expressions that they found it hard to believe.
Some quietly expressed concerns about how they would cope if this turned out to be a failure.
It was strange to believe that the rogue Yu Ji-ha and a researchb with minimal R&D costs had developed something like this.
When all the employees were staring at him, he made a shocking statement.
¡°Starting today, Si Energy will transition into battery production mode. The roadmap is already set, and if you check your work management tools, you will find individual instructions. Just follow them.¡±
¡°There are no executives right now¡ and there won¡¯t be in the future. I will personally handle all approvals electronically. Departmental meetings will be reduced to once a week, and you will report the results to me. If there¡¯s nothing to report, there¡¯s no need for a meeting.¡±
The employees felt dizzy from the relentless statements.
It went beyond radical changes.
If the CEO personally gave work instructions to individuals, what purpose would directors and managers serve?
¡°It seems like they¡¯re nning to eliminate job titlester¡¡±
Someone murmured, and everyone turned to look at them.
Yu Ji-ha heard thatment too but didn¡¯t bother to refute it.
They woulde to realize the efficiency of receiving instructions from artificial intelligence.
Working in this manner would suppress creativity and individuality, but that wasn¡¯t very important.
At most, it was a matter of why such an approach was necessary for battery production.
However, the sudden measures might have made the employees feel oppressed.
So, they needed to offer appropriate incentives.
¡°Starting from January next year, we will increase the sry of every employee by 10 million won. If you follow the instructions faithfully for a year and achieve your goals, we will increase it by another 10 million won the following year.¡±
The employees were speechless.
¡°Wow¡¡±
¡°Our sries will be among the top in the industry, then?¡±
Si Energy¡¯s sries were rtively lowpared to simrpanies.
It was natural since they had almost no performance.
So, the fact that they were increasing sries implied significant improvements in the future.
¡°Is the new battery real?¡±
¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense. How did we make something that even Japan couldn¡¯t?¡±
¡°We shouldn¡¯t have sold our stocks¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s enough. Let¡¯s focus on our work.¡±
Yu Ji-ha returned to his office and called Arma.
¡°What¡¯s the status of stock holdings?¡±
[We have secured a total of 75% whenbined with the 7% friendly stake from 100 individuals.]
¡°Voluntary delisting seems difficult.¡±
Their goal was to separate Si Energy from the group and turn it into an independentpany.
However, even if they engaged in a public stock acquisition, it seemed hard to secure up to 95%.
Arma proposed a solution.
[The pension fund realizes profits through program trading, so if we understand their algorithm, we can buy stocks. The remaining stakes are held by Future Motors and Hanseong Group. If we propose the battery idea, they might participate in the public acquisition.]
¡°Han Sung-yoon from Han Sung Securities will never sell.¡±
They couldn¡¯t get a hold of him, and he wouldn¡¯t sell stocks that could potentially be gold mines.
[We can create a case of sudden eleration in automobiles and eliminate her.]
¡°Although we won¡¯t hesitate to use any means necessary, we can¡¯t go around killing people just because they won¡¯t release their stocks. Let¡¯s keep an eye on the situation as the stock prices fluctuate.¡±
[Yes.]
Alternatively, we can reveal our intentions and then turn the tables on them.
While she might not be interested in the new battery, the management of Hanseong Group may have a different stance.
¡°By the way, do you have any hard feelings for Shin Ha-yoon? You mentioned killing her twice.¡±
[Personal feelings¡]
There was no continuation of the sentence even after a few seconds.
There was probably a use in the Codex that prohibited lying to the Master.
Yu Ji-ha smiled mischievously and looked at the roadmap.
¡°We have a demonstration next week. I hope you can assist the researchers in building the vehicle.¡±
¡°Is that all I have to do?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll take care of everything else.¡±
¡°Phew¡ That¡¯s a relief. It was really hard for me to step forward in front of others.¡±
¡°But isn¡¯t this a big deal? From now on, you¡¯ll have to do a lot of presentations on my behalf.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t say that. I did ask you to do it, but this will be thest time.¡±
Director Lee Han-jong nodded eagerly.
In truth, what was even harder for him was adapting to the sudden 180-degree change in his disciple.
Could he have met a transcendent being in his dream and changedpletely?
He felt polite, friendly, and as if they had gone back to their university days.
¡®Hehe, how happy he was when he solved the orbit equation of the 9th¡¡¯
Originally, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s major was in algorithms, and he had a great interest in space.
Although he seemed to have lost interest in that area due to amnesia, it wasn¡¯t a big issue at the moment.
Because his disciple had returned.
Anyway, after the announcement of the new battery, the Si Energy Research Institute underwent significant changes.
First, they blocked the phone lines, which was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s consideration for them to focus only on research.
Security was also strengthened, and a contracted securitypany took charge of the surveince.
This measure was taken because people started wandering around the research institute without any apparent reason.
However, if there was one thing that hadn¡¯t changed, it was the workload.
¨CWell, I guess I¡¯ll have to work overtime for a while¡ Is that okay?
¨CWe haven¡¯t even had a proper shower. Can we go home for a bit and rest?
¨CAfter this project ispleted, we will provide a bonus of 5 million won each and a 2-week vacation.
¨CHey, you guys, go to the nearby store and buy some bath supplies. From today on, this ce is our home.
¨CWell, sis, as long as we have books, anywhere can be home.
In truth, the employees, led by Hwang Seon-young, didn¡¯t have any majorints even without such rewards.
It was because they finally felt the satisfaction of their work.
It was much better to be engrossed in work than to constantly worry about getting fired.
And they were very considerate of the employees¡¯ convenience.
They received generous meal allowances, and the break room was filled with snacks.
Despite their intense workload, everyone gained some weight and looked healthy.
Furthermore, the Si Energy Research Institute became a hot topic in the media and on the inte.
The words ¡°they achieved a miracle¡± were mentioned, so naturally, the employees felt a boost in their morale.
And so, the employees prayed and pleaded.
¨COh God, please don¡¯t let us getid off from thispany.
¨CIf we go outside, we¡¯ll be unemployed. Please let us work with the CEO.
They clearly understood that the sess of the ck Metal Battery wasn¡¯t their own achievement, but rather their role in supporting Yu Ji-ha¡¯s work.
Given the situation where a snowstorm, rather than an economic downturn, hit the Korean economy, it was a case of self-objectification.
Thanks to this, the research institute was able to focus and refine its future roadmap.
¡°Arma, show me the output of the ck Metal deposits.¡±
A maritime map appeared in the empty space of the office.
There were bright spots scattered throughout the map, which were presumed to be the locations of ck Metal deposits.
Currently, the areas secured by Yu Ji-ha were only near Ulleungdo, while most of the remaining areas were heavily polluted.
¡°If we announce it as ck Metal during the demonstration, it will cause amotion¡¡±
[In countries like the United States and Russia, there is an atmosphere of skepticism. However, once it is confirmed during the demonstration, we can proceed with securing the ck Metal deposits.]
¡°Even if we can¡¯t extract it with our current technology, it¡¯s human greed to want to secure it for now. Is there a possibility of war breaking out?¡±
[If we look at the interstate conflict risk index, China and Taiwan are at the highest level with 8.13. And there is ck Metal deposited in the Taiwan Strait.]
Yu Ji-ha couldn¡¯t hide his sigh when he saw the shining spot in the Taiwan Strait.
¡°Of all ces¡¡±
[Furthermore, there is also arge amount of ck Metal deposited in the South China Sea. We can¡¯t avoid conflicts no matter where we go.]
¡°What about specting on the timing?¡±
[Regarding the timing, it is spected to be around 27 years from now. It will be China¡¯s 100th anniversary of its military establishment.]
¡°People in high positions always like to match the numbers.¡±
When you think about it, Yu Ji-ha was also someone in a high position.
His final rank was Lieutenant Colonel, but he stayed because he couldn¡¯t let go of being a pilot.
The overwhelming assessment was that even if he had been promoted to Colonel, he would have remained due to his contributions to United Humanity.
¡°Anyway, it seems that conflict is inevitable due to the ck Metal. Let¡¯s take advantage of that opportunity to build our influence.¡±
[Our primary task is to create a proper ck Metal mining line. The ships acquired by the Master are not suitable for efficient mining.]
¡°They are small-scalepanies, so there¡¯s not much we can do. Design mining equipment that can be made with the technology of this era. We¡¯ll have to show it to Father.¡±
[Should we mobilizeputing power?]
¡°We need to ensure that it meets international standards since we¡¯ll be selling to other countries.¡±
[We¡¯ve started gathering information¡ We should have the results by the end of today.]
¡°Good.¡±
Yu Ji-ha acquired Si Heavy Industries, located in Tongyeong.
It wasn¡¯t as prominent as other major shipbuildingpanies in Korea, but it had some experience in shipbuilding and heavy equipment manufacturing.
Considering the uing android project, a shipbuildingpany was essential.
¡°While it¡¯s tempting to demand immediate delivery, that would be absurd. We need toplete the acquisition of shares.¡±
[ording to the roadmap, Si Hi-Tech is next. They are facing uncertainties due to the project being pursued by the Army without aligning with the Republic of Korea (ROC).]
¡°Hmm¡ Let¡¯s proceed simultaneously with the automotive sector. It¡¯s optimal for showcasing autonomous driving algorithms.¡±
[Should we revise the roadmap then?]
¡°Bring Si Auto forward.¡±
The overall roadmap was adjusted, and Yu Ji-ha nodded in approval.
¡°Let¡¯s stick to the algorithms I designed. You¡¯ll have your debut in a few years.¡±
[I¡¯m looking forward to that.]
When Arma makes its debut in the world, many things will surely change.
To elerate that future that Yu Ji-ha envisioned, he was busy working tirelessly once again today.
After examining thepleted mining equipment, he stood up.
¡
Chapter 11: The Demonstration
Chapter 11: The Demonstration
Yu Kyung-seok¡¯s days became hectic after he announced the new battery.
He was flooded with business proposals and requests for meetings from various parties.
But Yu Kyung-seok dismissed them all with ease.
¡°Our research institute is solely dedicated to research. We are not epting any external contacts for now.¡±
¡°We can¡¯t give you any definite answers until the demonstration event. Our priority is to validate and gain recognition on a public stage.¡±
¡°President Yu is so busy that even I have a hard time seeing him. Haha.¡±
Of course, he was lying.
He looked at his son affectionately as he entered the office with aptop.
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°I have something to discuss regarding the ck metal.¡±
¡°If it¡¯s about that, then I¡¯ll make time for you, even if I have to split myself in two. Please sit down.¡±
The tycoon sat on the sofa and ced a table between them, ready to get down to business.
Theptop contained the design blueprint for the ck metal mining equipment.
¡°Hmm¡ I forgot that you have design experience as well. So this is the equipment for mining ck metal underwater, right?¡±
¡°Yes. It¡¯s called a concentrator. It was originally designed for harvesting manganese nodules, but I made some modifications. This is how we can extract ck metal.¡±
He yed a video that showed the w-shaped device approaching the ck metal.
As it did, the solid and sturdy ck metal rock crumbled effortlessly.
¡°This ck metal is truly fascinating¡ Anyway, with this equipment, we can mine it, right?¡±
¡°Yes. I want Si Heavy Industries to manufacture it.¡±
Chairman Yu Kyung-seok watched the video over and over again, making sure he understood.
He knew that mining ck metal was extremely difficult, almost impossible due to its incredible hardness.
As a result, most of the ck metal remained as raw ore and had limited use.
But with this equipment, they could break it into smaller pieces and suck it up through a pump.
¡°It seems like we can make concentrators all over the world.¡±
¡°What about creating a new mining system that includes aplex processing nt? I¡¯m sure there will be a huge demand for it.¡±
¡°Hmm¡¡±
Chairman Yu Kyung-seok realized the destructive potential of this simple equipment.
There were several ck metal mining sites around the world, but they were mostly ignored by countries because the metal was less valuable than scrap iron.
But now, things had changed.
¡°Once the demonstration is over, countries will realize that ck metal is used in the new batteries.¡±
¡°And they will scramble to secure ck metal mining sites.¡±
¡°And we will provide them with ships from our shipyard¡¡±
¡°Si Heavy Industries¡¯ reputation will soar. The immediate profits may not be huge, but the future will be different.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Chairman Yu Kyung-seok clenched and unclenched his fist, feeling a thrill that he hadn¡¯t felt in a long time.
This felt more real than acquiring subsidiarypanies through theplex ownership structure of Mirae Group.
Making a working concentrator seemed more promising than building unprofitable ships.
If the demonstration went well, getting investments would be easy.
All of this depended on the concentrator, and as far as he knew, his son was the only one who could make it.
¡°¡Name your price.¡±
¡°First, I want a 10% stake in Si Heavy Industries.¡±
Yu Kyung-seok¡¯s face twisted for a moment.
¡°You know how much revenue the shipbuilding industry madest year, right? It was over 5 trillion won. It¡¯s the backbone of the group.¡±
¡°I know. And I know how important this concentrator is even better. Father, how big do you think the global electric vehicle market is?¡±
¡°About 10 million units?¡±
He sounded unsure.
It seemed that he was not very familiar with smart businesses like electric vehicles, despite his prominence in the shipbuilding industry.
¡°It¡¯s close to 20 million units. If you consider the cost of a battery pack for each electric vehicle, it¡¯s about 140 trillion won.¡±
The scale was bigger than he expected, and Yu Kyung-seok¡¯s eyes flickered.
¡°But we won¡¯t be supplying all those batteries. All you have is the ck metal near Ulleungdo.¡±
¡°ck metal batteries can also be used in smartphones. Apple and Hansung Electronics will be eager to get them. We will be the ASML of the battery industry.¡±
Yu Kyung-seok¡¯s expression changed when he heard ASML, apany that had a monopoly in the semiconductor industry.
¡°ASML¡¡±
¡°Si Heavy Industries will be the onlypany in the world that can produce ck metal disintegrators. The process is simple and the costs are low. I¡¯m giving you this opportunity for a 10% stake.¡±
¡°That¡¯s one of your conditions, right? Tell me the rest and then I¡¯ll decide.¡±
¡°I want 10% of the profit from the disintegrator.¡±
¡°Does that include the concentrator too?¡±
¡°Of course. What good is a concentrator without a disintegrator?¡±
It wasn¡¯t an unreasonable demand, considering the rtively low production cost based on the design.
The key point was that without the disintegrator, the ck metal ecosystem wouldn¡¯t work.
¡°So this is his gift to me.¡±
His son had a special skill to create disintegrators.
He could sell his skill or start his ownpany to make them.
So why was he choosing to give up control to the group?
¡°Maybe he knows I¡¯m having a hard time and wants to help me¡¡±
He felt tears in his eyes when he thought of his son¡¯s kindness.
After all, he would inherit the whole group in about ten years, so what was wrong with giving him a boost?
He took a drag of his cigarette, trying to hide his moist eyes.
¡°Ahem. Instead of giving you 15% of the shares, I¡¯ll give you 5% of the profit for the first year. The capital management is tight, you see. From the second year on, we¡¯ll switch to 10%.¡±
¡°That¡¯s fine. But I want to have priority ess to the supply when I need it. Of course, that should be in the contract.¡±
¡°Of course, I can do that much. But¡ wouldn¡¯t it be better to merge thepany you acquired personally into our group as a subsidiary?¡±
¡°Do you mean Samcheok Ocean Development?¡±
¡°Yes. Since Manager Kim has been working hard, promoting him to a director and making him part of the subsidiary seems like a good idea. It would be ideal if he stays within our reach and doesn¡¯t get poached by others.¡±
It seemed that Chairman Yu wanted to provide a shield for thepany that handled ck metal for the next three years.
But Yu Ji-ha had a different n.
¡°I want to keep thatpany for myself.¡±
¡°It might be better to go public and raise funds. Is there a reason?¡±
¡°I can raise funds through other means. Since it¡¯s apany that I acquired with my skills, I want to nurture it well.¡±
In fact, there was another reason.
Since Alma would be overseeing the overall operations of thepany in the future, there were many sensitive aspects that would cause trouble if they were exposed.
The n to delist Si Energy voluntarily was also based on such considerations.
There would be some drawbacks in terms of taxes and fundraising by keeping thepany private, but they could afford that much.
Seeing his son¡¯s determination, Chairman Yu nodded.
¡°Handle that yourself¡ The transfer of shares might be a bit tricky. When the ck metal disintegrator is announced, the shares of Si Heavy Industries will soar.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry about the gift tax; I¡¯ll pay it without any tricks. If there¡¯s any extra tax, I¡¯ll take care of that too.¡±
The important thing was not the money but the control over Si Heavy Industries.
Chairman Yu asked cautiously, just in case.
¡°But do you have enough money?¡±
His son replied confidently, ¡°Don¡¯t I have cryptocurrency? I have a cash cow that makes around 230 million a day.¡±
¡°Uh¡¡±
He was amazed that his son was making money in the vtile cryptocurrency market where everyone else was losing money.
He wanted to stop him, but it was hard to oppose someone who insisted on finding his own way to make a living.
He just hoped he would do it moderately and eventually move on.
¡°Alright. I¡¯ll have your brother handle the paperwork and other details. Secretary.¡±
¡°Yes, Chairman.¡±
¡°Tell President Choi from Heavy Industries toe with the head of the design division. And bring this director too.¡±
The day of the demonstration came.
At 9 o¡¯clock, journalists swarmed into the courtyard of the research institute, and dozens of ck sedans filled the parking lot.
The faces of Hwang Sun-young and other employees, who were waiting politely in whiteb coats, turned pale.
¡°Isn¡¯t this too many people?¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that a CNN correspondent? Why would theye to a ce like this?¡±
¡°Oh, the Prime Minister is here too¡¡±
Not only the Prime Minister, but also the Vice Minister of Science and Technology, Navy Rear Admiral, and other guests added to the grandeur of the event.
By this point, the arrival of entrepreneurs was not a big deal.
Among them, Yu Ji-ha appeared, attracting the attention of the crowd.
The prodigal son of a chaebol stood before the public.
¡°First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the distinguished guests who have honored this asion. What Si Energy would like to present is¡¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s voice was low and clear, easy to listen to. He briefly exined the new battery and the vehicles that used it before getting to the main point.
¡°We have two vehicles. We will select six lucky winners who will travel from Pangyo to Busan and back. For the rest of the distance, we will take a route around our research center as a substitute.¡±
Dozens of cameras captured Yu Ji-ha as he spoke from the podium.
Every word he said was being streamed on YouTube, where more than 100,000 people were watching.
¡ªHurry up and get on with it.
¡ªThey¡¯re acting like they¡¯ve never seen an event like this before. They¡¯re rushing it like crazy.
¡ªAre they trying to fool us by fully charging those batteries?
¡ªThey¡¯ll weigh them in a moment.
¡ªBut what if they rigged it?
¡ªGive it a rest. They brought equipment from the Ministry of Science and Technology to measure it themselves. How could they rig it?
¡ªHey, that Windrunner looks pretty heavy. What¡¯s its curb weight?
¡ªWhy don¡¯t you search it online instead of asking? It¡¯s around 2.5 tons, you idiot.
¡ªAs soon as the demonstration started, Si Energy¡¯s stock went up.
¡ªDamn it, I should have bought some on Monday.
¨CIf only we had bought some when they announced it.
¡°Well then, let¡¯s proceed with weighing the Windrunner with the new battery. I would like to thank the staff from the Ministry of Science and Technology for their help.¡±
The staff brought a portable scale and set it up.
As the Windrunner drove over the te, the monitor showed the number 2,215.
A murmur went through the crowd.
¡°So you¡¯re saying a midsize SUV with people inside weighs 2.3 tons? That¡¯s impossible.¡±
¡°The curb weight of the Windrunner is only 2.5 tons. We¡¯ve reduced it by over 200 kilograms.¡±
¡°What is the battery made of, then?¡±
Those who knew about cars understood how hard it was to achieve weight reduction.
They also knew that electric cars had a lot of weight from the battery.
So Si Energy had made a battery that was half the weight of other solid-state batteries and had three times the energy density.
How was that possible?
Sensing a major breakthrough, journalists quickly typed on theirptops.
Without any embargo, articles were written on-site and posted on various online portals.
¡ªSouth Korea beats Japan in the next-generation battery race.
¡ªSi Energy makes a battery that surpasses solid-state batteries.
¡ªYu Ji-ha, CEO of Si Energy, confident in leading the secondary battery market.
During the demonstration, these articles were tranted and posted on Japanese news websites, sparking hundreds ofments.
Thements were mostly skeptical, dismissing it as nonsense and using Chosun (Korean media) of lying.
Artificial intelligence, Alma, carefully recorded all these situations.
Although the Master had not given any specific orders, there might be a time when they would be useful.
¡°Now, we will proceed with the actual driving. Please raise your hand if you want to be a passenger.¡±
About ten people volunteered, and the passengers were chosen by a random draw.
¡°Well then, let¡¯s begin.¡±
Two vehicles with smart cams started their journey side by side.
Their entire trip would be publicly documented, without missing a single second, for 24 hours.
There were also escort vehicles, making any maniption impossible.
¡ªSo those cars will go to Busan and thene back to the research center?
¡ªThey will make two round trips and drive around the research center until the battery runs out.
¡ªThey have multiple smart cams installed, three passengers on board, and a car following them for live streaming. How can they manipte that?
¡ªAnyone who really thinks they can manipte that needs to see a psychiatrist.
¡ªWow, if it¡¯s true, an electric car that can travel 2,000 kilometers on one charge will shake up Japan. They will be totally shocked.
¡ªJapan probably already made it, right? Logically speaking, if Si Energy made it, there¡¯s no way other research centers couldn¡¯t.
¡ªThat makes sense. The research budget alone is several times higher.
¡ªOr maybe they know it¡¯s hard to mass-produce, so they¡¯ve kept it secret. Those Japanese guys are good at that.
¡ªThey must be watching this stream andughing. It must be so annoying.
While viewers expressed their negative opinions, someone met Yu Ji-ha: the Prime Minister who attended the demonstration.
¡
In South Korea, the role of Prime Minister has traditionally been seen as a shield for the President.
As a result, their terms usuallyst around a year, and their political careers are not long.
By acting as a shield against attacks from the opposition and the media, they often lose their poprity and credibility.
Most Prime Ministers have not been able to escape this fate, but the current Prime Minister, Park Hyun-goo, has been in office for four years.
This raised suspicions among the public that there might be someone else behind him, not just in the Korean political scene.
[This guy is a typical Chinese puppet. He graduated from a Chinese university, served as a diplomat in China, and even worked as an advisor for NCC (Next China Corporation), ranked 15th in the corporate hierarchy]
Alma exined as he exchanged greetings with him.
¡°It seems like yesterday when you had an arrest warrant against you, but you overcame it and developed an amazing product. Congrattions indeed.¡±
Logically speaking, there was no reason for the Prime Minister who attended the demonstration to say anything other than congrattions.
Bringing up an unpleasant past would only make one ufortable and imply a request for cooperation.
¡°Thank you. You must be busy, so why are you here?¡±
¡°Hehe, it seems my ears are failing me, as I hear you asking me to leave quickly.¡±
¡°No, when someone who has experienced a great sess calls me, I think there must be a reason.¡±
It wasn¡¯t just because the other high-ranking officials or generals had already left the demonstration venue.
Since the Prime Minister attended the demonstration and received the press release, the rest would be handled by the officials in charge.
Prime Minister Park Hyun-goo felt that he had failed to shake the confidence of this handsome young man.
It seemed that the public opinion, which imed that he had changedpletely from three years ago, was true.
¡°Now that you mention it, let me ask you directly. Did you make the new battery with ck metal?¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°Surprisingly, you¡¯re admitting it openly. I thought you would keep it as a trade secret.¡±
¡°ck metal has only emerged a few years ago. It would be reasonable to say that extensive research has been done and some progress has been made.¡±
¡°As you said, several research institutions have been studying ck metal. Among them, there are quite a few that have achieved significant results. Although they are not public, I can assure you.¡±
¡°The United States, China, and Japan, I suppose.¡±
¡°Many research institutions have reached the same conclusion. It is a new material that has the potential to overturn the secondary battery market, but it cannot be used in its current state.¡±
¡°Are you saying that mass production is impossible?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not just difficult, it¡¯s impossible. How can you use a metal that spontaneously divides wherever it¡¯s used? And even reproducing it is challenging.¡±
He was referring to the conditions required for transformation.
To process ck metal, a high level of ether sensitivity was needed.
Ether sensitivity was not something that could be acquired through training; it was innate, and Yu Ji-ha had it.
Of course, even in this era, there were people with ether sensitivity, but they couldn¡¯t control transformation to such a degree.
¡°In fact, our researchers have also faced difficulties in the development process.¡±
¡°I expected as much. So let me make you an offer.¡±
Prime Minister Park Hyun-goo smiled warmly and handed him his business card.
Rayo Research Institute.
It was an institute run by Rayo, an electric vehiclepany under the NCC Group.
Although South Korea hadunched several electric vehicles, they didn¡¯t sell well due to the bias against Chinese-made cars.
But by using various promotions and offeringpetitive prices, they had been increasing their annual sales.
¡°There¡¯s a lot to talk about regarding ck metal. Since I¡¯ve given you a hint, I¡¯ll treat you with respect.¡±
¡°Understood. Let¡¯s have a conversation when we have a chance.¡±
Prime Minister Park Hyun-goo frowned.
He thought his friend was smart enough to get his message.
Did he not understand what he was saying?
¡°Well, there are two conditions attached. Contact me right after the demonstration is over. In terms of ck metal, Rayo¡¯s research is far superior. Cooperating with them will be very helpful for you.¡±
If that was really the case, the prime minister wouldn¡¯t have gone to such lengths to persuade him.
¡°Sorry, but I don¡¯t think our research achievements are inferior to Rayo¡¯s.¡±
¡°Oh, dear. I¡¯m giving you advice with good intentions. Do you know how much R&D budget Rayo¡¯s research institute spends on it every year?¡±
¡°I can guess it¡¯s much higher than ours.¡±
¡°Then shouldn¡¯t you handle this well? Are you going to miss such a great opportunity because of unfounded confidence?¡±
¡°I will handle it myself, Prime Minister.¡±
¡°..¡±
His thin lips curled slightly.
¡®Why did he have to mention his position? It¡¯s probably a sign of resentment for why high-ranking officials in Korea are seeking coboration with Chinesepanies.¡¯
¡®He seems like an ignorant fool who doesn¡¯t even know what the current trend is.¡¯
China had already started to exert its influence in various ways in Korea, and it was like a unstoppable wave that couldn¡¯t be resisted.
¡°¡I see. Well, don¡¯te crying to meter. I¡¯ve given you enough chances.¡±
¡°I appreciate your concern.¡±
He said the words, but there was no gratitude on his face.
¡®Arrogant bastard.¡¯
Prime Minister Park Hyun-goo clenched his lips and stood up.
Chapter 12: Hidden Movement
Chapter 12: Hidden Movement
The demonstration of the new battery had been going on for eight hours.
Two vehicles that had left Pangyo were already filming at Gwangalli Beach in Busan and heading back.
There was no need to charge them at any point.
The whole drive was broadcasted live, so there was no room for maniption.
The live streaming channel, which had only about 100,000 viewers at the beginning, had soared to over 500,000 viewers.
Various onlinemunities were buzzing with discussions about the demonstration.
¨D They¡¯ve already driven more than 700 kilometers. When are they going to charge?
¨D They¡¯re driving non-stop without charging.
¨D That¡¯s nothing. Japanese electric cars can do that easily.
¨D But some passengers said the battery still has a lot of power left. They said it¡¯s over 70% full.
¨D Come on, that¡¯s not logical. How can it be three times more efficient? Did they kidnap some aliens or something?
¨D Kidnapping aliens is America¡¯s specialty.
¨D These days, the aliens that America kidnaps are liberal arts students!
¨D Anyway, isn¡¯t this thing supposed tost until tomorrow morning? We can just keep watching.
At first, there wasn¡¯t much interest when it was announced.
But as the demonstration proceeded transparently, the public opinion began to change.
However, there were still some people who were negative from the start.
Shin Ha-yoon and Yu Sung-jun, who were having a conversation at a cafe in Cheongdam-dong, were among them.
¡°That thing will never be mass-produced.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you hear this morning? They said it¡¯s totally possible to mass-produce it.¡±
¡°That¡¯s just wishful thinking. I checked with Japan, and mass-production is impossible. Do you know why?¡±
¡°¡¡±
Yu Sung-jun was pleased with her posture, slightly leaning forward and listening attentively.
¡°Come on, tell me quickly.¡±
¡®You¡¯re definitely going to sleep with me.¡¯
He tried to hide his wicked smile and spoke.
¡°The new battery is made of ck metal. Have you heard of it?¡±
¡°A ck and hard material?¡±
¡°That¡¯s how ordinary people see it. But research institutes have a lot of data on it. Like Panasonic Research Institute.¡±
¡°So what are you getting at?¡±
¡°Take a guess.¡±
Yu Sung-jun licked his lips and whispered in her ear.
¡°To use that ck metal as a battery material, there¡¯s one condition. You need someone with special abilities.¡±
¡°What kind of abilities?¡±
He showed her a video on his smartphone.
The video showed a man touching the ck metal and making it change shape and crumble.
Shin Ha-yoon¡¯s eyes widened.
¡°What is this? It¡¯s not some kind of metal Lego.¡±
¡°It¡¯s amazing, isn¡¯t it? Panasonic tested it on thousands of people and found only one person who could manipte that piece. Based on the experiments, they concluded that it could be used to make an incredible battery. Si Energy is not the first one to find it.¡±
¡°¡So we can use this person to make the battery.¡±
¡°But they said mass production is impossible, right? This person can¡¯t control the ck metal consistently. You know that standardization of the battery pack for electric cars is essential, right?¡±
¡°I know that.¡±
Yu Sung-jun lightly clicked his tongue.
¡°That Yu Ji-ha bastard must have thought he hit the jackpot when he heard about this from the research institute. The researchers probably tried to dissuade him, but he went ahead and made the announcement. He clearly wanted to boost the stock price and make a profit.¡±
¡°He¡¯s not that dumb¡¡±
¡°Huh? Are you defending him now?¡±
She shook her head quickly.
After meeting him in person, she realized he was nothing like the old Yu Ji-ha.
His calm eyes and attitude made him seem like a different person.
Now Yu Sung-jun felt like he hadpletely won as he lit a cigarette in the cafe.
¡°Phew¡ He hasn¡¯t changed at all. The prosecution won¡¯t let this go easily. He¡¯ll probably end up in jail.¡±
¡°¡ ¡°
¡°Heh heh, he went through a lot of trouble to develop the battery for the demonstration car. But what¡¯s the point? Mass production is impossible. He was just showing off something that had already been proven by ces like Panasonic.¡±
As he blew out a long stream of smoke, a smug smile appeared on his face.
Shin Ha-yoon stared at the screen, her brow furrowed.
¡
Time passed, and the next day came.
The two demonstration cars sessfullypleted the initial n and returned to the research institute after driving around Pangyo. It was 9:30 a.m.
¡°Let¡¯s give a big round of apuse to those who worked hard and came back.¡±
As the two vehicles entered, people pped warmly.
Everything had been tested and verified publicly, so there was no chance for maniption.
The two Windrunners achieved a range of 2,000km without any problem.
Now it was time to reveal what the new battery was made of and how it would be supplied.
¡°Now, I will reveal everything. As you all know, this is ck Metal. It¡¯s the material used in the new battery.¡±
A cube-shaped metal object was ced on the table in front of the demonstration stage.
The audience¡¯s attention was drawn to the metal object, but there was a suddenmotion among the reporters.
¡°Panasonic Research Institute in Japan just issued a statement!¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t they say mass production of this new battery is impossible?¡±
¡°What? What¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°Quick, check the statement!¡±
Everyone hurriedly used trantion devices to read the statement.
Yu Ji-ha calmly showed the whole statement on the monitor.
¡°It seems that Panasonic thinks it is impossible to mass-produce this battery.¡±
At that moment, someone raised their hand.
¡°I am Fukuda from Nikkei. I have a question about this matter.¡±
It seemed that a famous Japanese economic journalist who could speak Korean had been sent.
¡°Please ask.¡±
After getting permission, he stood up, holding the microphone given to him by an employee.
¡°Is it true that the new battery you announced over the past two days is made of ck Metal?¡±
¡°Yes, that¡¯s true.¡±
¡°Then you must also know that mass production is impossible.¡±
As soon as the journalist said this, the crowd whispered among themselves.
¡°What? Mass production is not possible?¡±
¡°Then why did they do this demonstration?¡±
Fukuda, gaining confidence from the whispers, started exining loudly.
¡°To make a battery using ck Metal, there is one requirement: it must be broken down ording to a certain standard. This is amon finding not only from Panasonic but also from other leading research institutes around the world. This metal does not behave as expected¡ In other words, it is impossible.¡±
He delivered his exnation smoothly, as if he had prepared it beforehand, and the faces of the Koreans turned pale.
In Japan, they already knew about it.
They were waiting for Si Energy¡¯s demonstration.
If this was true, then the demonstration was just a hoax and a fraud.
Why did they make such a big announcement when mass production was impossible from the start?
However, Yu Ji-ha remained calm.
After listening carefully to Fukuda¡¯s statement, he asked slowly, ¡°Did you ever consider the possibility that I can break down ck Metal?¡±
¡°Panasonic Research Institute has already done tests. Only one person was able to break down ck Metal in the end. Even that person couldn¡¯t keep a consistent size for the pieces, and their ability to control it was also poor.¡±
His words implied that he assumed Yu Ji-ha would be no different.
¡°Can youe forward for a moment?¡±
Did he want to hit him out of anger?
As people wondered whether to stop him, Yu Ji-ha attached a device to the journalist¡¯s arm.
¡°As a Japanese, you must have a favorite anime. Just think of any and try touching the device.¡±
¡°It¡¯s wrong to assume that I like anime just because I¡¯m Japanese. That kind of thing is for otaku¡¡±
When Fukuda, the journalist, touched the cube, something amazing happened.
The ck Metal cube started to change shape with metallic sounds, forming a recognizable figure.
It turned into a iconic Japanese robot, Gundam.
Yu Ji-ha smiled gently, keeping hisposure.
¡°So, you like this robot?¡±
The journalist¡¯s mouth opened wide, as his taste was unexpectedly exposed.
¡°As you can see, this device can not only change the shape of ck Metal but also break it down. Like this.¡±
With a slight gesture, the ck Metal split into small spheres.
But it didn¡¯t stop there; it further broke down into solid electrolytes, ideal for batteries.
¡°This is absurd¡¡±
From the perspective of Fukuda, the journalist, this was unbelievable.
He had covered Panasonic extensively, writing a special report on the all-solid-state battery.
He had visited not only the research institute but also the processes that were top-secret.
The researchers at Panasonic all struggled with ck Metal.
¡°With our technology, we can¡¯t process this metal. It¡¯s frustrating, but there¡¯s nothing we can do.¡±
¡°ck Metal is the metal of the gods. It¡¯s like we¡¯re not worthy of it yet.¡±
There was only one person among tens of thousands who could handle ck Metal.
Even that person couldn¡¯t use their abilities reliably, making it impossible for mass production.
But the abilities, or rather the technology, shown by the CEO in front of him were clearly ready forpletion.
Fukuda, the journalist, reached out with shaking hands towards a piece of ck Metal.
¡°With just this device, can you mass-produce it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s more than possible. In fact, we have already developed specific ns for mass production. That¡¯s what we¡¯re going to announce next.¡±
The journalist¡¯s shoulders sagged at the confident voice.
In fact, he and some other employees at Panasonic had a somewhat arrogant attitude towards Si Energy¡¯s announcement.
¡ªThey thought Korea couldn¡¯t seed where Japan failed.
¡ªThey couldn¡¯t stand the idea of using the metal of the gods for stock maniption.
They all shared this sentiment without saying it out loud and dyed the press release.
Their n was to ruin the demonstration by delivering a crushing blow, and Fukuda, the journalist, was their frontman.
But it backfired.
At least, Si Energy had seeded in developing a device that could handle ck Metal perfectly.
Unable to bear the stares that were directed at him, Fukuda, the journalist, left the scene.
And Yu Ji-ha continued to exin his vision in a calm voice.
¡°There is one thing we want to convey through this demonstration. Si Energy is ready to mass-produce ck Metal batteries. However, the supply of ck Metal is not yet fully secured. Here are the known sources of ck Metal.¡±
A world map appeared on arge monitor, with dots of light shining.
One of the journalists raised his hand and asked, ¡°Are those dots of light the sources of ck Metal?¡±
¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. We only listed the ones that were reported by the media. As you can see, they are located in the waters of various countries, but most of them are in polluted or even underwater areas.¡±
The UN had firmly dered that the deep sea and its resources were themon heritage of humanity.
Unless a specific country imed it, it would be virtually impossible.
Yu Ji-ha pointed to the dot of light in the East Sea.
¡°Fortunately, there is also a source of ck Metal in Korea. We have secured exclusive mining rights for three years.¡±
¡°Oh¡¡±
¡°As expected, you¡¯re fast.¡±
Sighs of relief erupted among the people.
Now, while not as valuable as gold, ck Metal would create a market price that would surpass most other materials.
However, processing that metal was another issue.
¡°I have a question. You said you secured the mining rights in the East Sea. Are you ready to start?¡±
¡°The infrastructure is ready. However, we need long-term cooperation from various countries.¡±
While saying that, he showed a screen.
It was a mining line consisting of a concentrator with a ck metal breaker and aplex processing nt.
¡°Let me introduce you to the ck metal mining line. Please note that it doesn¡¯t have to look exactly like this.¡±
Equipment and ships for mining ck metal appeared.
The journalists who attended the demonstration immediately started writing articles on the spot without even having time to ask questions.
Because of that, he had to keep hisposure and lead the demonstration by asking himself questions.
¡°Thisplex processing nt has all the functions needed for ck metal mining. It covers all the processes from concentration to extraction, dehydration, and drying. In other words, with just this ship, we can mine ck metal effectively.¡±
¡°The key is obviously the breaker attached to the concentrator. Until now, it was believed that ck metal mining was impossible without the original light, but that will change from now on.¡±
¡°Excuse me.¡±
This time it was CNN reporter David.
He tried to speak in broken Korean, but Yu Ji-ha spoke English first.
¡°English is fine.¡±
¡°Great¡ I have a question. From your presentation, we can infer that a ck metal ecosystem will be established in the future. What will be Si Energy¡¯s role in that ecosystem?¡±
¡°We don¡¯t seek huge profits. We sell the nts and ships and earn a smallmission from refining ck metal. That¡¯s all.¡±
¡°Can you do contract manufacturing?¡±
¡°No, we can only process it in Korea.¡±
¡°So, all ck metal has toe to Korea first?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right.¡±
People finally realized how amazing Yu Ji-ha¡¯s n was.
Since the ability to process ck metal was in Korea, factories had to be built there.
¡°The United States will not like apany monopolizing a specific technology.¡±
¡°We will negotiate well with the United States on that.¡±
David, the reporter, looked stunned for a moment, then sat down excitedly.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s presentation continued for a while.
From ck metal exploration to mining line construction and factory establishment, huge ns were revealed one by one.
Any one of them was enough to shake up the entire secondary battery market and cause a big stir.
People began to wonder about one thing.
¡®Despite the impressive technology and ns, does Si Energy have the capacity to achieve them?¡¯
The Si Energy they knew was a smallpany with only about 100 employees, whose stock price had recently risen slightly.
Moreover, there were doubts that even the Si Group had the capacity to sell globally.
¡®They will probably have to form a consortium with other groups.¡¯
The journalists, who made their own conclusions, subtly inserted the names of the groups that had paid them generously into their articles.
This is what they call shaping public opinion.
¡
Chapter 13: Vacation
Chapter 13: Vacation
The results of the demonstration were broadcasted worldwide, but surprisingly, they did not elicit much of a response.
The majority of the opinions expressed disbelief.
However, the tide began to change as reputable media outlets like CNN published special feature articles.
On CNN¡¯s YouTube channel, thousands ofments inquired whether it was real.
¨DThree times the energy density of solid-state batteries? And they say it was developed in Korea? Are you kidding me?
¨DThese guys ran their cars for more than 24 hours straight. They proved a range of 2,000 kilometers.
¨DHave you seen the faces of those Japanese journalists? They were fuming, iming it was impossible to mass-produce, but then evidence came out, and their souls fled their bodies.
¨DIt¡¯s obviously a lie. Si Energy is apany with less than 100 employees. Theyck the capacity and determination to develop such technology.
¨DTo the Japanese friend above, don¡¯t cry too much. They still revealed something like Gundam.
¨DWait a minute, what about ck metal?
¨DThey¡¯ll probably go crazy trying to secure it now, especially since it¡¯s located in polluted waters.
¨DHave you noticed the shining spot in the South China Sea? It¡¯s near the artificial inds constructed by China.
¨DA war might break out.
¨DWith just one battery?
¨DIt¡¯s not just one battery; it¡¯s a resource war. The fate of each country¡¯s secondary battery industry depends on how much ck metal they can secure.
¨DEven if we don¡¯t know, by now, the leaders of each country are probably convening in meetings.
¨DHey guys, Si Energy¡¯s website has a ton of information. Let¡¯s check it out right away.
Meanwhile, President Lee Hyun-seong of South Korea was in an emergency meeting.
¡°Hmm¡ You¡¯ve organized it quite faithfully.¡±
Hemented as he browsed through the website. The information posted on the website was concise yet well-organized for easy ess.
Even ayman would be able to summarize the essentials after a few minutes of perusal.
The officials attending the meeting nodded in agreement.
¡°You certainly put a lot of effort into it. However, there¡¯s no real important content.¡±
¡°Are you referring to the functioning principles of the disassembler and the structure of the battery? We can¡¯t publish that on the website. It¡¯s ssified information for now.¡±
¡°But you must have found out what ck metal is, right? At the very least, you should share it with the government.¡±
The person raising their voice was none other than Prime Minister Park Hyun-gu.
President Lee Hyun-seong pushed hisptop aside.
¡°The schrs will rify what ck metal is. What we should focus on is the progress of Si Energy. Minister of Maritime Affairs, is it true that Mr. Yu Ji-ha secured ck metal resources domestically?¡±
¡°Yes¡ Regarding the mining rights near Ulleungdo, originally owned by apany called Samcheok Ocean Development, we confirmed that Mr. Yu Ji-ha acquired thepany a few weeks ago.¡±
¡°I heard it grants exclusive mining rights for three years. Is that correct?¡±
¡°Yes, it is. It was an area with no significant ore deposits or special resources, so it was considered a less important region.¡±
¡°We need to reim it now.¡±
Everyone¡¯s attention focused on Prime Minister Park Hyun-gu, and the president lowered his head.
¡°Did Mr. Yu Ji-hamit any misconduct during the process of obtaining the mining rights?¡±
¡°Si Energy is a smallpany with fewer than 100 employees. It¡¯s hard to believe that such apany could temporarily monopolize ck metal.¡±
¡°So you pressured them to take it away?¡±
¡°Mr. President.¡±
Prime Minister Park Hyun-gu took a deep breath and spoke earnestly.
¡°ck metal is crucial enough to dominate the entire secondary battery market. Are you willing to entrust that to an inexperienced third-generation chaebol? It¡¯s like letting someone who used to roam freely in a correctional facility be in charge.¡±
Yu Ji-ha is indeed a bit sketchy.
Everyone present in this room had heard of his infamous reputation at least once.
But now, the situation was different.
¡°What does it matter if he used to be a troublemaker? How does it rte to this matter?¡±
¡°Where would his troublemaker behavior go? He bought shares from the holdingpany of Si Energy before the stock price skyrocketed. It clearly falls under insider trading.¡±
¡°But the report from the Financial Services Commission suggested that it could be seen as acquiring shares for debt repayment, didn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°In the end, the key is when he obtained the information.¡±
They seemed confident that they could apply charges once the investigation began.
President Lee Hyun-seong sighed heavily.
¡°Prime Minister, did you happen to get into a fight at the demonstration? Why are you so worked up about not being able to catch him?¡±
It wasn¡¯t that there was no reason, but Prime Minister Park Hyun-gu¡¯s statement seemed excessive.
If there were suspicions rted to financialws, shouldn¡¯t the Financial Services Commission handle it instead of the prime minister stepping in?
¡°Do you want to pressure him to renounce his Korean citizenship?¡±
¡°Oh, no, Mr. President. What are you saying?¡±
Perhaps he realized he went too far.
As soon as he closed his mouth, President Lee Hyun-seong took charge of the situation.
¡°We need to proceed ording to protocol. There are no issues with Mr. Yu Ji-ha¡¯s acquisition of the mining rights, and there¡¯s no need to rush regarding ck metal and batteries. However, it would be fine to invite relevant individuals for a luncheon and hear their perspectives.¡±
Then, two sharp sounds echoed.
President Lee Hyun-seong received a report from someone over the inte held by his secretary.
¡°¡A few warships have set sail from the Guangzhou Naval Base in China. It¡¯s not a routine exercise.¡±
If it was the Guangzhou Naval Base, then it belonged to the South Sea Fleet.
A bright spot shone vividly next to the Spratly Inds on the map of the South China Sea.
¡°China must be desperate. They don¡¯t have a single ck metal mining site in their own territorial waters.¡±
¡°Even so, I didn¡¯t expect them to act so quickly¡¡±
¡°The United States and neighboring countries won¡¯t stay idle either¡ It¡¯s going to be noisy for a while.¡±
The seas of the world might be tumultuous.
The president dered the end of the meeting.
¡°Relevant departments, pay attention to the surrounding developments and gather information to submit to me.¡±
As the cab members left the room, he contacted the director of the National Intelligence Service through the phone.
¡°Director, it¡¯s me. There¡¯s something we need to do regarding Mr. Yu Ji-ha. Yes, exactly. Isn¡¯t protecting the people the mission of the country? We just need to quietly keep an eye on him.¡±
If anyone heard him, they might think that having just one battery technology made him extraordinary.
But the performance was overwhelmingly impressive.
Even someone rtively unfamiliar with the industry could easily predict that it would bring innovation to the field.
Now, the world would be divided into countries that possess ck metal and those that don¡¯t.
There was no doubt that Yu Ji-ha, who stood at the center, would face various tangible and intangible pressures.
¡°At least we need to alleviate foreign pressure.¡±
He wondered if Korea had the power to do so at the moment.
¡
[There¡¯s surveince. It¡¯s a National Intelligence Service agent disguised as a Sejong Cultural Society employee.]
¡°On which side?¡±
[ording to the analysis of the conversation, it was confirmed to be under President Lee Hyun-seong¡¯s orders.]
¡°What¡¯s the person¡¯s temperament like?¡±
[It feels like a captain struggling on a sinking ship. If only they had met the right era, they would have been highly capable.]
¡°Then leave them be. They probably attached themselves to protect me in their own way.¡±
For the first time in a while, Yu Ji-ha took his parents and headed towards the East Sea.
Under the pretext of wanting to taste delicious winter crabs, they decided to visit Manager Kim Do-hyung, who was going through a hard time.
They also gave a week of paid leave to the employees of Si Energy, but Yu Ji-ha¡¯s father, sitting in the back seat, didn¡¯t seem pleased about it.
¡°No matter how I think about it¡ Going to eat crabsfortably during this time when the industry is in turmoil because of the exhibition¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s alright, Father. There¡¯s nothing we can do anyway.¡±
¡°Nothing we can do?¡±
¡°With a team of less than 100 people, what kind of sales can we do on a global scale? Once the year-end and New Year¡¯s atmosphere settles down, we¡¯ll start our actual work.¡±
¡°Was the job posting announced?¡±
¡°We applied an algorithm to automatically filter resumes. When the vacation is over and wee to work, we¡¯ll be able to hire talents. We¡¯ve tidied up the smaller businesses and have some money, so we should go all-in on batteries.¡±
So, they streamlined thepany and cleared away the distractions for the sake of a single battery.
Yu Kyung-seok only found sce in his son¡¯s resilience against the mockery and criticism that people poured upon him for ruining thepany.
Seated in the backseat, Jeong Hye-won, Yu Kyung-seok¡¯s wife, gently patted her son¡¯s shoulder as he drove.
¡°Our son will handle it on his own, right?¡±
¡°Of course.¡±
¡°Still, there will be many people he needs to meet¡ proposals and such.¡±
¡°As it happens, he received an invitation from the Blue House. It¡¯s not a serious matter, just a suggestion to have a meal together.¡±
Yu Kyung-seok¡¯s body jolted up from the seat.
¡°They invited us to the Blue House? Is that true?¡±
¡°Not alone, but relevant officials will also be present. They probably want to coordinate on battery-rted matters. They might also discuss ck metal.¡±
¡°Hehe, that¡¯s great news.¡±
Although he spoke calmly, Yu Kyung-seok was secretly delighted.
Being invited to a luncheon at the Blue House indicated his son¡¯s significant position.
Even the person in charge of the entire Si Group had only been invited once, and they didn¡¯t have a proper conversation with the president.
But this time, the protagonist of the Blue House luncheon would be his son.
Overwhelmed with joy and excitement, he was about to say something when his wife held his hand and gave him a meaningful look.
¨DOur son is doing really well. Just watch over him.
Yu Kyung-seok, with the same thought in mind, settled back into his seat, thinking that it would be good to meet the reporters.
While the vehicle was driving along the Yeongdong Expressway, Yu Ji-ha suddenly brought up an unrted topic.
¡°Oh, mother, did you happen to look for the jewel I mentioned before?¡±
He was referring to the Aether Crystal.
Based on Arma¡¯s investigation of media data, a jewel with the exact same appearance as the Aether Crystal had been circted in Korea.
It was auctioned off with a story iming it was a demon¡¯s jewel that had been sleeping in the sea for centuries.
The identity of the winning bidder remained unknown.
However, acquiring such a jewel through a sessful bid indicated that the person must be wealthy, so Yu Ji-ha had inquired through his mother.
Yu Jung-hye-won, despite her preference for a simple life, had a slight interest in jewels and essories.
¡°Yeah, that thing. Mom looked into it, and it turns out it was won by the wife of Hansung Group¡¯s CEO.¡±
¡°If it¡¯s the wife of the Hansung Group CEO¡¡±
¡°Oh, you mean Ha Yoon is her daughter.¡±
¡°Ah, I see.¡±
Now that they knew the details, it was practically resolved.
If they created a replica and swapped it, no one would notice.
However, Yu Jung-hye-won seemed to find her son¡¯s sudden interest in the jewel peculiar.
¡°But why the sudden interest in jewels, son?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not a big deal, just caught my attention while reading an article about the sinking of the Donghae ship.¡±
¡°Really? It¡¯s not because you have someone on your mind, is it?¡±
How did the conversation take such a turn?
Yu Ji-ha paused for a moment and spoke in a serious tone.
¡°I feel like I¡¯ve wasted too much time, so for now, I want to focus on my work.¡±
He expressed his desire to work, so there was no need for further discussion.
Yu Kyung-seok and his wife looked at their son with pride and contentment.
He seemed more reliable and handsome today.
When the vehicle carrying the three of them arrived in Samcheok, Manager Kim Do-hyung came to greet them.
¡°It¡¯spletely full now, fully loaded with people.¡±
¡°It seems like our son has been giving you too much work, Kim Manager. I¡¯m sorry about that.¡±
¡°Oh, no, Madam. It¡¯s quite rewarding, actually.¡±
They exchanged friendly greetings and headed towards the restaurant when a sudden news sh came in.
¡ªBreaking news. Japanese coast guard vessels have appeared near the vicinity of Dokdo. The Korean Coast Guard has taken action.
Manager Kim Do-hyung clicked his tongue.
¡°They¡¯re at it again.¡±
¡°Did this happen often?¡±
Yu Jung-hye-won asked, and Kim Do-hyung waved his hand dismissively.
¡°The frequency has been increasingtely. When the Coast Guard intervenes, they eventually retreat¡ but I¡¯m scared because I don¡¯t know what they might do. They just float around.¡±
¡
There was only one reason why these patrol vessels gathered near Dokdo.
ck metal.
The sweet bait that attracted a school of sharks.
The gift from the sea.
¡°Do those Japanese bastards think we¡¯re an easy target?¡±
¡°We should just flip those boats over.¡±
The crab restaurant was filled with customers who were watching TV and cursing at Japan.
Recently, Japan had been appearing near Dokdo more frequently, causing a burden on the Korean Coast Guard.
Although they didn¡¯t directly provoke any conflict, the emergency response itself cost a significant amount of money.
Due to therge size of the patrol vessels, the Korean Coast Guard had to dispatch its own vessels, incurring expenses for manpower and fuel.
¡°Why do they carry cannons if they don¡¯t use them? Just shoot them all.¡±
¡°Old man, if you say that, it might lead to a war¡¡±
¡°So what? What will they do if we go to war, those bastards?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll be the only ones at a loss. Are we going to confront Japanese warships?¡±
¡°In the West Sea, we have those damn Chinese fishing boats causing trouble, and in the East Sea, it¡¯s those Japanese patrol vessels causing trouble. Are there any goddamn idiots like this?¡±
In people¡¯s conversations, there was a mix of anger towards Japan and a sense of helplessness regarding Korea¡¯s inability to respond effectively.
¡°What can we do¡ We¡¯re weak¡ If they provoke us, we should be stronger.¡±
¡°Those bastards.¡±
As always, the conversation ended with fierce curses against foreign countries.
It was an inevitable situation.
The defense budget, which had reached its peak in 2021, had been shrinking as time went on.
Projects like KF-X and CVX wereunched, but the results were not satisfactory.
However, these issues were merely peripheral. The real problem Korea faced was the loss of growth momentum.
Just a few years ago, the semiconductor industry was thriving, but it began tog behind the United States.
The automobile industry found itself sandwiched between Japan and China.
Economic growth slowed, unemployment skyrocketed, and the country¡¯s credit rating hit BBB- for the first time since the IMF crisis.
In particr, the real estate crisis in 2022 was significant.
The skyrocketing apartment prices, which had been continuously rising, began to decline due to rising interest rates and a chain of bankruptcies triggered by self-employed individuals.
¡°Many people were unable to repay their loans and went bankrupt, which had a significant impact on the economy.¡±
It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that Korea¡¯s current situation, being overshadowed by Japan, was an extension of its weakening national power.
After finishing the order with Yu Kyung-seok, Yu Ji-ha went to the restroom and called Arma.
¡°We need to drive out those patrol ships. It would be good to create an image of voluntary withdrawal.¡±
[Since Japan likes whales, how about using exploration vessels and walkers to create the illusion of a whale pod appearing?]
¡°Let¡¯s try making a video out of it.¡±
Using a biochip, an image was projected onto Yu Ji-ha¡¯s retina.
It was a video showing a pod of whales appearing in the distance, colliding with Japanese patrol ships and creating agonizing sounds as they perished.
Of course, it wasn¡¯t real, and if investigated, they would be exposed. But they didn¡¯t have the luxury of time for that.
¡°The image looks good. Make it appear as if someone recorded it with their phone and upload it on ¡®YouTube¡¯.¡±
[Let¡¯s start right away.]
Arma replied.
Yu Ji-ha had no emotions towards the Japanese.
Why would a person from the 22nd century harbor any resentment towards someone from the 21st century?
However, he had a desire for the reconstruction of the United Human Federation and the eradication of the gue, and he nned to retaliate against any forces that obstructed those aspirations, regardless of the means.
Even if it was the current South Korea he was involved with, there could be no exceptions.
Returning to his seat, Yu Ji-ha noticed that Manager Kim Do-hyung was slightly intoxicated from the drink given by Chairman Yu Kyung-seok.
¡°¡It was really tough¡ I did what I was told, but I didn¡¯t know anything¡ I learned how to operate the equipment while being cursed at by the sailors.¡±
¡°I understand. It¡¯s not easy for someone who was only in the office to get on a ship.¡±
¡°Hey, take a look at yourself. Completely covered in ck.¡±
Kim Do-hyung had followed Chairman Yu Kyung-seok 15 years ago when his son caused a rebellion.
With a rtionship spanning over 20 years, he was a special presence to Chairman Yu Kyung-seok and his wife, but he himself was satisfied with his position as a servant.
In the midst of it all, unexpectedly, Yu Ji-ha received instructions to go to Sokcho and board a ship.
How easy is it for someone who worked in Seoul to suddenly start working on a ship?
Naturally, there should have been resentment in his tone, but surprisingly, it wasn¡¯t quite the case.
¡°However, it¡¯s surprisingly exciting. The rare metal we¡¯re mining, ck Metal¡ It¡¯s the ck Metal that will change thendscape of the secondary battery market in the future.¡±
¡°At first, you grumbled about digging up rocks, but it turned out to be gold, huh?¡±
Yu Kyung-seok handed him a ss and chuckled.
¡°Well, isn¡¯t gold not just ordinary gold? It¡¯s the kind of gold that the whole world desires and can¡¯t get enough of. Those patrol ships came here because of that.¡±
Is that so?
Well, they have been appearing frequentlytely, so it couldn¡¯t bepletely dismissed as a baseless assumption.
¡°Come on, that¡¯s a problem for the government and the military to solve. We¡¯ll just enjoy some delicious crab.¡±
At that moment, Ji-ha¡¯s subordinate, Kim, came and sat beside them.
¡°Manager Kim, you said you have a lot of work, right?¡±
¡°Haha, I was just trying to sound tough.¡±
¡°Tell me honestly. It¡¯s tough, isn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°¡Yes.¡±
¡°But at least the stocks have gone up, haven¡¯t they?¡±
At those words, Kim became crestfallen.
¡°I regret that my vision was narrow¡ I should have bought it back then. It¡¯s really disappointing.¡±
Well, that¡¯s a personal choice, so there¡¯s nothing you can do about it.
¡°Anyway, we won¡¯t be able to call you for a while since we don¡¯t have suitable candidates.¡±
It meant he was stuck in Sokcho for the time being.
Kim Do-hyung¡¯s expression darkened as he sensed his future.
However, in Koreannguage, you have to listen to the end to know.
¡°Instead, starting next year, your sry will be 100 million won ($84k), and I¡¯ll give you a corporate credit card with a limit of 50 million won ($42k) that you can freely use.¡±
His eyes widened.
The offer to handle expenses up to 50 million won could be seen as a substantial increase in sry.
100 million won sry plus 50 million won in expenses.
It was a tremendous amount and Kim Do-hyung¡¯s shoulders trembled.
¡°I-I¡¯m not sure if I can ept that kind of money¡¡±
¡°And I¡¯ll also hire a few employees to send with you. It seems like your father needs a little help¡¡±
Yu Kyung-seok smiled wryly and raised his ss.
¡°Are you telling me to provide employees after telling me all this?¡±
¡°Ocean development work is so challenging that it would be better to hire locally if possible.¡±
¡°He¡¯s trying to interfere with the HR department now.¡±
Yu Kyung-seok¡¯s expression was bright as he spoke.
¡°When the employees gather, I will provide detailed instructions for their tasks. Please bear with it a little longer, Director Kim.¡±
Not just a manager, but a director.
Although it was just a title, it was enough to wash away the hardships Kim Do-hyung had endured.
Eventually, the crab was served, and everyone enjoyed their meal.
In the midst of that, Arma reported.
[We have secured the Aether Crystal. Once the emergency repairs arepleted, we can start the Aether Fusion Reactor.]
It meant that only the reactor could be started.
To fully repair and supply power to the entire ship, it would take years.
And on that day, when the Settler emerged from the depths, many things would change.
After finishing their meal and leaving the restaurant, the group was greeted by a coast guard helicopter flying towards the sea.
The murmurs of the people could be heard.
¡°A whale pod has appeared near Dokdo! They collided with the Japanese patrol ships!¡±
¡°Are there no whales in Japanese waters? Why are they harassing our whales?¡±
¡°It would have been satisfying if they had just sunk.¡±
It seemed like everything went well.
Yu Kyung-seok started the engine of the vehicle.
¡
Chapter 14: Irresistible Proposal 1
Chapter 14: Irresistible Proposal 1
¡°This is the Republic of Korea Coast Guard. Your vessel has invaded Korean waters. Retreat immediately.¡±
The Korean coast guard ships, including the Jeaminho, circled around the Japanese whaling ships and broadcasted warning messages.
However, the whaling ships ignored thempletely.
They knew well that there was nothing the coast guard could do.
Moreover, the whaling ships wererge and had many personnel, making it unlikely that they would be pushed away.
¡°Good. Keep moving forward at full speed. Secure the space for the survey ships.¡±
The whaling ships followed the orders of the Sanada First Maritime Security Team and formed a line as they advanced slowly.
Their purpose was to leave a record.
The Japanese government had be highly interested in the recent issue of ck metal.
Although ck metal existed in Japanese waters as well, more resources were always better.
It was inevitable that friction would arise between Korea and Japan, but Japan had recently decided to tolerate it.
Would such words openly circte in the Japanese political sphere?
¨CKorea is being upied by China and will soon surrender. This means the expansion of China¡¯s imed territorial waters. Therefore, the maritime forces of Japan must block China¡¯s Pacific advancement from Takeshima.
To Koreans, it was absurd nonsense, but some right-wing figures actually believed in such thoughts.
Anyway, three whaling ships were approaching Dokdo without any regard for the deterrence of the Korean Coast Guard.
If they could secure enough time and space for the survey ships to operate, their mission would bepleted.
However, something that emerged from the sea surprised them.
It was a group of massive whales, about a dozen, with ck fins exposed.
Thump, thump, thump, thump!
¡°Starboard watch report! Whales! A pod of whales suddenly appeared! Bearing 050, distance 30!¡±
At such a close range, it was as good as being in a close encounter with a warship.
The bridge was thrown into chaos upon receiving the report.
¡°What did you say? What the hell were you watching, watchman!¡±
¡°They appeared out of nowhere! I didn¡¯t see them at all!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t talk nonsense! Gunner! Prepare to fire starboard!¡±
Following Captain Sanada¡¯s orders, the ships began evasive maneuvers.
However, the whale pod was too close and fast.
They simply couldn¡¯t avoid a collision.
¡°Prepare for collision!¡±
¡°We¡¯re going to hit!¡±
Thud.
At the moment of impact, the bow of the massive whaling ship, weighing close to a thousand tons, violently turned.
A white foam surged up to the deck as the crew members tumbled down.
Captain Sanada exerted strength in his arms, trying to withstand the impact, and an odd thought crossed his mind.
Even if it was a bearded whale, known to appear in these waters, it would only weigh a few dozen tons at most.
It was iparable to a whaling ship weighing close to a thousand tons.
¡°But what caused this impact?¡±
The collision was so severe that even the ship¡¯s course was altered.
Beyond the bridge, instead of the sea, he saw the port side of the As¨-ss PL-42 ship, which had been advancing alongside them.
¡°You idiot!¡±
The two ships collided without any chance to take evasive action.
With the impact, the employees who had barely managed to hold on were all knocked down.
Grrrrrrrrrrr¡ª
The employees clearly heard it.
From the depths of the sea, the agonizing cries of the whales echoed.
Of course, it was the harmony produced by Arma, controlling the exploration vessel equipped with a probe module and walker.
Not only were the cries fake but also the dozen or so whales were all holograms, and it was the exploration vessel that collided with the whaling ship.
While the exploration vessel took the lead, the walker diligently created the illusion as a supporting actor.
Although many employees were aboard the whaling ships, none of them noticed this theatrical performance.
The captain and the crew, barely recovering theirposure, bowed their heads without knowing what to do.
Collisions with whales were not particrly umon, but what kind of spectacle was this in front of the Korean Coast Guard?
¡°Attend to the injured and check the personnel without any omissions!¡±
¡°Captain, we can¡¯t possibly continue the mission. We have to return¡¡±
Even in Captain Sanada¡¯s eyes, the two collided ships were in a state where they needed to return to the home port for repairs.
He lowered his head.
¡°¡We¡¯re returning. Inform the other two ships as well.¡±
As the three whaling ships changed their course for a deste return, the Korean Coast Guard, who had been watching from a distance, couldn¡¯t help but feel perplexed.
¡°Why are they acting like that all of a sudden?¡±
¡°It looks like their ships were damaged after colliding with whales.¡±
¡°These guys are really something.¡±
However, there was something that really struck a nerve.
After both sides returned to their home ports, a video that seemed to have been filmed from one of the whaling ships was uploaded on YouTube.
The video captured the frantic voices of the anxious security bureau personnel and vivid footage of a pod of whales swimming in the deep blue sea.
What¡¯s more, it even recorded the scene of the collision, making it difficult to deny the incident.
People from both countries, wandering around like hyenas, immediately shed.
¡ªThose Japanese idiots came to Dokdo for no reason and collided with whales, then left lolololol.
¡ªEven if you love whales, do you have to send the police and have a ¡®whale stand-off¡¯?
¡ªDamn whale lovers¡¤¡¤¡¤
The Japanese imed it was fabricated by Korea, but the video was so vivid that no one believed them.
Even foreigners joined in the mockery, and they couldn¡¯t withstand the pressure and began reporting the videos.
Although the videos were temporarily taken down, they were soon tranted into variousnguages and spread on YouTube.
People from more than 50 countries became aware of the incident and ridiculed Japan.
¡ªIt seems like whales aren¡¯t to the Japanese taste.
¡ªI guarantee you that by next week, the Japanese will be eating whale meat.
¡ªThese days, do they send the police to kill whales for research purposes?
In the end, the Japanese couldn¡¯t endure and began pretending not to know about this incident.
They realized that by avoiding the problem, they could find temporaryfort.
Of course, it wasn¡¯t just the Koreans who were observing this, and fights broke out all over the inte.
And there he stood on a beach in Sokcho, maintaining the lighthouse.
Amidst the raging waters, a colossal exploration vessel emerged, revealing itself in a dazzling light.
He boarded the exploration vessel.
It was time to return to the Settler¡¯s Starship.
¡
[Main Engine Room Unsealed]
Afternding on the seabed, the doors of the engine room, which had been sealed all along, opened.
He raised his head and looked up at the massive fusion reactor.
This fusion reactor was discovered as a Prophet¡¯s artifact on Mars in the year 2155.
Like most Prophet¡¯s artifacts, this object contained a technological prowess that humanity couldn¡¯t even begin to replicate.
Lucia, the artifact analyst of the Archaeological Institute ARC, said this:
¨CThe ether emanating from this fusion reactor rivals all the energy humanity has ever used.
¨CIt¡¯s funny because this fusion reactor is far from its maximum capacity. It seems to be operating at around 1% of its full output¡ Truly remarkable, isn¡¯t it?
¨CPerhaps the Prophets are gods after all. Our saviors.
Like the majority of the citizens of the United Humanity, Lucia also belonged to the camp of considerable skepticism.
She viewed the appearance of the metallic lifeform, the gue, as a sign that the gods had abandoned them.
However, even she had to acknowledge the Prophets as god-like beings.
¡°Lucia once referred to this fusion reactor as the heart of the gods¡¡±
He didn¡¯t fully agree with her words, but now was the time to make his heart race.
A small walker approached him, making a buzzing sound.
What it politely presented to him was an ether crystal crafted into an ornament.
When he ced it in the holder, the fusion reactor trembled and awakened, causing the entire engine room to be filled with light.
¡°This is¡¡±
[It¡¯s the same phenomenon as before. Master¡¯s body has be the key, resonating with the fusion reactor.]
¡°How strange. I¡¯ve changed my body, haven¡¯t I?¡±
Perhaps the Prophet¡¯s artifact is not rted to the physical body but rather to the soul.]
As a result, a rippling blue space appeared.
¡°This is a temporal gateway that the Settler¡¯s Starship has passed through. Due to the significantly reduced output of the fusion reactor, it seems to be smaller in size.¡±
Arma¡¯s words were followed by the appearance of a narrow blue doorway that could barely amodate a few people passing through.
¡°¡Is this door connected to the future?¡±
[I will send a scout walker to investigate.]
After a while, the walker returned after capturing images of the space within the blue doorway.
A red Earth appeared on the monitor of the walker.
¡°It seems to match the time period when I was present.¡±
[Surprisingly, the gue seems to have vanished. There are no signs of its unique psychokinesis field.]
Each individual of the guemunicates through psychokinesis, exchanging thoughts.
Therefore, if a legion of gue is stationed nearby, a powerful psychic field is observed.
¡°The gue has disappeared¡ Let¡¯s zoom in on the screen.¡±
As the Earth was magnified on the screen, a horrific sight unfolded.
The sea hadpletely evaporated, and the atmosphere had disappeared, leaving behind traces of a massive crater.
Furthermore, fragments formed a ring around the Earth, resulting from the gue legion tearing through the.
Yu Ji-ha swallowed a groan of despair.
¡°Everything is gone¡¡±
The gue legion literally devoured the Earth and disappeared somewhere.
¡°It¡¯s too early to give up, Master. There might be some remnants left that the gue isn¡¯t interested in.¡±
¡°Shall we look for a scrapyard at least?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve detected faint transmission signals. Analysis shows they are from thebat support satellite, Sibiri.¡±
¡°There were still Sibiri-ss satellites remaining¡¡±
¡°They seemed to be targets that had no value for the gue.¡±
Yu Ji-ha crossed his arms and pondered.
Even though humanity had been annihted, not all remnants had disappeared.
If he couldpletely repair the fusion reactor¡
If he could lead the Settler¡¯s Starship, cross over to the future, and gather useful resources for their return¡
It might bring their long-cherished desires much closer.
He made his decision.
¡°Arma, track the flow of ether when it resonates with the fusion reactor. Let¡¯s configure the circuits to control this doorway.¡±
[I will assist you.]
Arma was capable enough to use the created ether equipment.
However, research and development were only allowed for humans with ether sensitivity.
During Yu Ji-ha¡¯s sensitivity measurement, he recorded values equivalent to those of the gue¡¯s Battleship ss.
He was a mere human possessing abilitiesparable to space monsters in kilometers.
Lucia, the head of the Artifact Interpretation Institute, acknowledged him as the first Omega-level psychic.
¡°Ether might be another potential for humanity. So, cherish yourself, Colonel. You are humanity¡¯s treasure.¡±
As if he had just remembered that treasure, he spoke.
¡°Arma, do we have any spare assault armors?¡±
[Most of them require an overhaul, and they have low priority. Should I prioritize them?]
¡°There¡¯s no need for top priority¡ Just keep a few walkers on standby. They¡¯ll be repaired someday.¡±
¡°Understood. But may I ask why you mentioned assault armors all of a sudden?¡±
¡°Just¡ I wanted to see the Earth in ruins with my own eyes. That¡¯s all.¡±
With a mncholic gaze, Yu Ji-ha looked at the Earth of 2180.
¡°I couldn¡¯t resist the offer.¡±
¡
January 2026.
The day hade when the short yet seemingly long vacation of the Si Energy group wasing to an end.
Inside the car heading towards the Pangyo facility, Yu Ji-ha heard a report.
[There were two attempted intrusions into the researchb building, but they failed.]
[There was also an attempted hacking at the headquarters building, but it failed.]
¡°For offline incidents, we don¡¯t need to worry, but what about the hacking?¡±
[The trace indicates it originated from China. I¡¯ll provide the exact location.]
A shining point on the vastnd of China caught their attention.
¡°I envy them for having such a vast territory.¡±
[However, if it started in China, there would have been many more obstacles than we have now.]
¡°That¡¯s true. Anyway, is it confirmed who they are?¡±
[It has been confirmed that they are a hacker group called Zhonghua Heige Yanmeng. Shall I wipe them out?]
To ¡°wipe them out¡± in this context meanspletely destroying their system.
However, it was too early to take action.
¡°We don¡¯t need to act impulsively and raise their alertness. Just focus on defense. Make sure to record their information urately.¡±
Arma¡¯s tracking abilities surpassed imagination, so they could locate them no matter where they were on Earth.
But Yu Ji-ha wanted to dig deeper into their source.
Did the hacker group Zhonghua Heige Yanmeng really attack the Pangyo Research Center, or could there be someone with connections within the country who gave them orders?
Prime Minister Park Hyun-gu was suspicious, but there was no concrete evidence.
¡°Arma, find out the address of the Prime Minister¡¯s residence and attach microdrones. Collect only the information I need to know.¡±
[However, Master, we have a shortage of microdrones. At this rate, we will run out within a few months.]
¡°It¡¯s a big problem when there¡¯s no better alternative for information gathering than those guys.¡±
Although Settlerho had a nt for microdrone production, theck of raw materials prevented immediate operation.
There was also an issue with the location.
¡°To perform 3D patterning, don¡¯t we need zero gravity?¡±
[If patterning is done on Earth, the structure will deteriorate over time. The lifespan of the drones would be less than three hours.]
Ultimately, to manufacture microdrones, they needed to secure a zero-gravity chamber at the very least.
Then they needed to increase the output of the Ether Fusion Reactor to a certain level.
¡°Cancel the Prime Minister¡¯s side. But we need solid evidence to use.¡±
[I will design a new device that can rece microdrones.]
¡°That¡¯s the way to go. It would have been great if we had a Knowledge Chamber. It¡¯s a pity.¡±
The Knowledge Chamber is a spacecraft included in the Pioneer Fleet, and it contains all the records of humanity.
Despite its small size due to data storage, it ranks second in importance after the gship.
Speaking of its importance, the Knowledge Chamber includes blueprints of nano-units even finer than microdrones.
Although nano-units were not necessary against therger enemies of the United Human Alliance, they would be immensely helpful in the current situation.
¡°Thest signal from the Knowledge Chamber was cut off at Earth¡¯s L1 point. Perhaps we can salvage some of the data.¡±
Since the gue has its own intelligence, there are cases where it simply ignores something if it doesn¡¯t perceive it as a threat.
Therefore, humanity had hoped that they could achieve a peace treaty, but it turned out to be a fatal mistake.
The ultimate goal of the gue was none other than Earth itself.
More precisely, something on Earth, which humanity failed to identify until just before its demise.
Suddenly, the vehicle arrived at the headquarters of the Si Energy Group in Pangyo.
Upon entering thepany building, he was taken aback.
Si Energy employees were lined up in two rows in the lobby.
¡°Hello, sir!¡±
For a moment, he thought that the employees had collectively turned into organized criminals.
However, their expressions and atmosphere were different.
The faces of the employees were filled with genuine smiles that could not be faked.
Perhaps it was due to the attention and envy they received after the battery was announced.
And there was also a high possibility that it included a sense of apology towards Yoo Ji-ha.
¡®I shouldn¡¯t have cursed him. He¡¯s a saint.¡¯
Taking a moment to collect his thoughts, he walked slowly and shook hands with the employees.
¡°Each and every one of you who held your ground during difficult times is the protagonist here.¡±
¡°Please support me going forward. I will never mistreat any of you.¡±
One employee, filled with emotion, spoke up.
¡°We will do our best to support you.¡±
There was no need for him to speak in amanding tone, but Yoo Ji-ha didn¡¯t want to disrupt the atmosphere.
As he exchanged a final handshake with the head of HR, he said as if giving instructions.
¡°Let¡¯s go to a beef restaurant for lunch today. As a way to start the new year with fresh energy.¡±
¡°Wow!¡±
He couldn¡¯t quite understand the significance, but the employees were delighted nheless.
They were happy that thepany outing was happening during lunchtime, and the fact that it was a beef restaurant made it even better.
Now, in the eyes of the employees, Yoo Ji-ha seemed more like a savior than just the CEO.
Avoiding their burdened gazes, he entered his office.
Hundreds of domestic and international contacts were waiting for him.
¡
There werepanies from various industries, including bigpanies like Apple, Te, and Google, as well as electric vehiclepanies from Eastern Europe that he had never heard of before.
¡°Why did they contact me when they must be busy securing ck metals overseas?¡±
[Most of the proposals are about setting up meetings. They want to sit at the same table.]
¡°Tell them to wait. And I¡¯m sure the Blue House gave instructions for domestic contacts, and they managed to reach me easily.¡±
There is an unwritten rule in the business world.
When coordination with the Blue House is needed, they avoid direct contact.
Of course, there arepanies that disregard such rules, but they don¡¯t make it obvious.
[Master, it seems like you turned off your phone. Headquarters is dealing with a fivefold increase in inquiriespared to usual.]
¡°Let my father handle it for me¡¡±
Now is the time to relieve that burden.
While going through well-organized emails, he unexpectedly came across a document.
It was a lengthy proposal of about 5,700 characters sent by Yu Sung-jun, the Director of Future Group¡¯s Corporate Strategy Office.
¡°He¡¯s the son of my father¡¯s elder brother¡ What should I call him in this era?¡±
[Just call him ¡®hyung.¡¯ Although the rtionship isn¡¯t the best, it should be fine to address Yoo Sung-jun respectfully. By the way, let me inform you that he has achieved sess in importing advanced batteries from Japan.]
¡°That¡¯s his personal achievement? It¡¯s the result of the group¡¯s support and the efforts of the employees. By the way, this proposal is too arrogant.¡±
¡°Itcks substantial content for a proposal that you can¡¯t refuse.¡±
¡°Since Future Group holds a significant portion of the domestic automotive market, there seems to be no choice but to supply them.¡±
¡°Considering theck of movement at the headquarters, it seems like he sent it personally.¡±
¡°What can someone without real power do¡¡±
He discarded the proposal from Yoo Sung-jun in the trash bin.
Chapter 15: Irresistible Proposal 2
Chapter 15: Irresistible Proposal 2
The atmosphere had settled down at the beginning of 2026, but the stock market remained prosperous.
The secondary battery and electric vehicle sectors were rising day by day, leading the way.
Si Energy, which had a market capitalization of less than 200 billion won untilst year, was at the forefront.
It didn¡¯t make sense considering the trading volume, but it showed that there were high expectations for the ck metal batteries.
The discussion forum for Si Energy had changedpletely from before.
¨CWe should start praising Chairman Yu Ji-ha from now on.
¨CWhy waste time when money can be multiplied? Let¡¯s aim for the Han River view!
¨CFolks, it¡¯s not about shoulders now, it¡¯s about ankles. Hurry up and get on board.
Those who had criticized Yu Ji-ha before, saying he would ruin thepany, had already disappeared.
However, despite the frenzy, Si Energy¡¯s trading volume was not significant because Yujiha owned 40% of the shares.
If hebined the dispersed quantities of the 100 individuals, he could announce a public acquisition and delist voluntarily.
Except for a few percentage points, that is.
¡°The problem is that Shin Ha-yoon is involved in those few percent.¡±
To be precise, it was HANSUNG Securities, but even the CEO wouldn¡¯t dare to ignore the granddaughter of the chairman.
¡°ording to their usual conversations, the probability of selling shares is very low.¡±
Arma saying ¡°very low¡± meant it was almost impossible.
¡°Then let¡¯s target the higher-ups.¡±
¡°By higher-ups¡ Do you mean the chairman of HANSUNG Group?¡±
¡°No, the honorary chairman above him. He stepped back from the frontlines of management, but his stake remains unchanged.¡±
¡°Yes. He ns to gradually pass on his stake to his children, but they don¡¯t seem to meet his expectations.¡±
¡°Well, HANSUNG Group has been strugglingtely too¡¡±
Even HANSUNG Group, which boasted the top spot in the business world, was facing a serious crisis these days.
Of course, it wasn¡¯t as bad as Si Group, but they had exhausted their future prospects.
They were losing market share in semiconductors to the United States and being overshadowed by Apple and China in smartphones, leaving only their legacy to carry on.
Given the current situation, Chairman Shin Juho, who led the heyday of HANSUNG Group, wouldn¡¯t easily trust his children.
¡°Arma, gather the items that indicate Chairman Shin Juho¡¯s direct involvement. Since the 1990s.¡±
Arma calmly presented a list, selecting the first-ever mobile phone.
¡°Was it released in thete 1980s? Search the media database and find only the ones where Chairman Shin Juho mentioned it himself.¡±
¡°I¡¯m searching¡¡±
Soon, an old advertisement video appeared on the screen.
It featured a middle-aged Chairman Shin Juho, acting as a model, praising the brick-sized mobile phone.
¡°He seems to have a strong attachment to it.¡±
¡°As you said, there are over a hundred articles and interviews where Chairman Shin Juho talked about mobile phones. He even received awards for it.¡±
¡°Then he must have a significant interest in smartphones as well.¡±
He would probably feel very disappointed by the poor performance of HANSUNG Electronics¡¯ smartphone business.
¡°Should I send him a proposal in this regard?¡±
¡°No, let¡¯s make hime to us.¡±
It would be best to present the proposal when he was in a situation where he couldn¡¯t refuse.
But to do that, he needed to be sure that Chairman Shin Juho cared about smartphones.
The numerous articles and interviews showed that he did.
In one interview, he even expressed his frustration with HANSUNG Electronics¡¯ Orion brand.
¡°Arma, upload a video on YouTube. Make it look like a spection on how long the gship smartphone of HANSUNG, with ck Metal batteries, couldst.¡±
[Understood.]
Arma analyzed the interests and curiosities of humans, creating a title and content that would attract many views.
This should work.
She felt satisfied as she uploaded the video by herself.
One evening in January, an elderly man in a wheelchair entered a residential area in Yeonhui-dong.
Shin Juho.
He was the honorary chairman of HANSUNG Group, the top-ranked conglomerate in the business world.
He waved away his secretaries who tried to help him, and went into his home.
¡°I¡¯m fine once I¡¯m inside the house. You can all rest.¡±
¡°Then, Chairman, we will see you tomorrow morning.¡±
Chairman Shin Juho listened to his subordinates¡¯ greetings without paying much attention.
Then, he headed to his study.
¡°They treat me like a dying patient just because I fainted for a moment. Why do they talk so much? Tsk, tsk¡¡±
Even while lying in the hospital bed, away from the frontlines of management, he was thinking about the group¡¯s strategies.
Lately, his main concern was the smartphones released by HANSUNG Electronics.
¡°How did they manage to make the battery drain so fast with their power management program?¡±
Despite his old age, he had no trouble using mobile devices like smartphones.
In fact, he used them more effectively than the younger generation who only watched YouTube.
He even essed foreign forums to get direct feedback on HANSUNG Electronics¡¯ smartphones.
He checked the reviews of the recently released gship smartphone, Orion S25, but the responses were not good.
¡ªS25 could have restored the glory of the past if only the battery had been better.
¡ªThey increased the clock too much topete with the M3 chip, so it was inevitable.
¡ªThe overheating is one thing, but the battery drains too fast.
¡ªWe made a mistake by choosing Orion when there¡¯s an Apple logo.
¡ªStill, the specs of Orion S25 are impressive.
Topete with the monstrous performance of the M3 chip developed by Apple, HANSUNG Electronics coborated with AMD and others.
The result was the Nexinos chip, which was praised for its performance that matched the M3 chip.
However, the heat and power consumption were huge.
HANSUNG Electronics¡¯ mobile division managed to solve the heat problem at the risk of their lives, but they couldn¡¯t do much about the battery.
As a result, they had to lower the clock speed with tears in their eyes, making the phone mediocre. It was even considered no better than previous generations.
¡°It¡¯s definitely a battery problem.¡±
Speaking of batteries, there was a lot of talk about a product made by Si Energytely.
The rumors might have been exaggerated, but there seemed to be some truth to them.
¡°Let¡¯s see what that thing can do in terms of performance.¡±
He searched on YouTube and found a channel that intrigued him.
It had a cheesy title with shy effects, but it had the information he wanted.
¡°A smartphone that canst a week without charging? Shocking!¡±
¡°Hello? We cover all the issues! It¡¯s IssueLeka, the creator of reverse trends!¡±
After that, the screen was filled with annoying sound effects and graphics for a while, which he didn¡¯t like to see or hear.
Chairman Shin Juho frowned deeply, muttering, ¡°I don¡¯t understand the tastes of young people these days.¡±
But the content was somewhat credible, and it gave him concise and essential details about the recent issue of ck metal batteries.
¡°It says it can triple the driving range of electric vehicles?¡±
¨DSo, why not try it? What happens if we apply this ck metal battery to HANSUNG Electronics¡¯ gship phone?
¡°So, what happens?¡±
After a moment, shocking numbers appeared.
¨D160 hours! The battery still has 10% left even after ying YouTube videos for a whopping 160 hours! It¡¯s not exactly a week, but close enough, right?
¨DWe¡¯ve shown you what happens when we apply the ck metal battery to the ORION smartphone! Please subscribe and like our channel!
¡°¡¡±
Chairman Shin Juho was silent for a while.
If this was true, it would mean that Si Energy had really developed an amazing battery.
He unexpectedly found out a surprising fact while looking for information about Si Energy.
¡°Yu Ji-ha? Are you talking about that troublemaker?¡±
Surprisingly, the developer of the battery was none other than Yu Ji-ha, who was notorious for causing problems in the Si Group.
It was impressive enough that he had recovered from a vegetative-state transformation, but it was even more astonishing that he had retained his genius.
¡°Hmm¡ So that guy is the CEO of Si Energy¡¡±
As he checked the share structure, he had some suspicions.
Despite the continuous rise in stock prices, thepany was buying back its own shares, indicating some kind of n.
¡°It can¡¯t be dividend payments¡ Could they be delisting voluntarily?¡±
It was highly possible, considering the continuous increase in Yu Ji-ha¡¯s ownership stake.
Above all, the flow of foreign investors trading stocks was very suspicious.
¡°Could this guy be secretly manipting ounts?¡±
He had done such things often before the implementation of the Financial Transparency Act, so he knew better than anyone.
He told his secretary to contact and gather all information about Si Energy.
As he looked through the information, he became certain.
¡°That guy is dreaming of his own kingdom.¡±
It was a naive thought for a young boy.
Of course, Chairman Shin Ju-ho had no intention of allowing such ideas about his management.
If they had what the other side wanted, couldn¡¯t they just make a deal?
He called his granddaughter.
Shin Ha-yoon answered the phone before it rang three times.
¨CGrandfather, are you okay¡?
¡°How much of Si Energy¡¯s stocks do we have right now?¡±
¨CIt¡¯s only 3%. Why do you ask?
¡°I want to sell it. The owner will offer a fair price.¡±
¨CAre you talking about that person¡?
¡°If we have the battery developed by Yu Ji-ha, we can revive the Orion brand.¡±
¨CI¡¯m sorry, but I disagree.
¡°What did you say?¡±
¨CI know he¡¯s buying back his own shares. But if I sell them, we¡¯ll lose all connection with him.
That wasn¡¯t what she meant to say.
But she was so desperate that she couldn¡¯t say it properly.
¡°So, you¡¯re saying you¡¯ll keep the stocks to somehow stay close to that guy, is that it?¡±
His voice was filled with anger, and Shin Ha-yoon tried to exin quickly.
¨CGrandfather, I¡
¡°Shut up! Didn¡¯t I tell you? He¡¯s trash!¡±
¨CHe¡¯s not trash! He has changed a lot!
¡°How dare you raise your voice at me?¡±
The chairman¡¯s anger exploded like a volcano.
Shin Ha-yoon, filled with fear, closed her eyes tightly and couldn¡¯t even breathe properly.
She had forgotten.
Her grandfather was a tyrant who wouldn¡¯t tolerate any dissent.
¡°No more discussion. Get ready to sell the stocks right away. And cut off contact with that guy!¡±
¨CGrandfather¡
¡°Enough!¡±
The conversation ended there.
Yu Ji-ha, who had been listening in, smiled smugly.
The day to establish his own kingdom was not far away.
After many attempts, Shin Ha-yoon finally managed to talk to Yu Ji-ha on the phone.
Her grandfather grabbed the phone from her.
¡°I¡¯m Ha-yoon¡¯s grandfather.¡±
¨CAh, Chairman Shin Ju-ho. We¡¯re not epting any business proposals, domestic or foreign.
¡°It¡¯s not a trivial proposal. If you miss this opportunity, you¡¯ll regret it.¡±
¨CI¡¯m busy with work right now, so let¡¯s meet in the evening. Please tell me the location, and I¡¯ll be there.
¡®Look at this.¡¯
He was making the honorary chairman of HANSUNG Group wait until evening?
After deciding on the location, Shin Ju-ho hung up the phone.
¡°Is he really the same guy who used to kowtow to me?¡±
¡°Well, he had a good face back then.¡±
¡°He was nothing but a useless brat, always making trouble. Let¡¯s see how much he has changed this time.¡±
He had already gathered and analyzed information about Yu Ji-ha.
To be honest, he had changed so much that it was hard to believe they were the same person.
The trash who only had a decent face and caused problems everywhere was gone.
Instead, there was an entrepreneur who showed remarkable skills by developing a new type of battery and disying business savvy.
¡®He¡¯s not an ordinary person, just by securing the development rights for ck Metal.¡¯
What about his cryptocurrency investments?
Considering that he had withdrawn from the so-called subsidiaries of HANSUNG Group and raised funds from the cryptocurrency market, he might have some tricks up his sleeve.
¡°He¡¯s someone worth meeting.¡±
The initial n was to supply batteries for smartphones, but the situation had changed.
Now, Shin Ju-ho really wanted to meet that person named Yu Ji-ha.
In the evening, he went to the mansion in Yeonhui-dong, following Yu Ji-ha¡¯s directions.
He entered the garden, where Chairman Shin Ju-ho and Shin Ha-yoon, dressed in traditional Korean hanbok, weed him from the central pavilion.
¡°Wee.¡±
Chairman Shin Ju-ho couldn¡¯t hide his surprise when he saw him.
The unpleasant and timid person who used to be so careful was gone.
As if he owned this ce, Yu Ji-ha walked confidently and sat on a wooden chair.
¡°Nice to meet you. My name is Yu Ji-ha. Let¡¯s hear your proposal.¡±
¡°This guy, he didn¡¯t even bring a car. What¡¯s the hurry?¡±
¡°It depends on the situation and the person.¡±
So, if he made an unfavorable proposal, he would leave right away.
In the solemn atmosphere, tea was served, and Chairman Shin started to talk.
¡°I want you to supply us with the new battery you developed.¡±
¡°Do you mean the electronics industry?¡±
¡°I think it would create great synergy if applied to gship smartphones. With the full power of Nexinos chips, it wouldpete with the M3 chip.¡±
He said that based on watching YouTube videos, not on analysis, but Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t point that out.
¡°Apple would probably want it too. By the way, I should tell you that we¡¯ve also received a proposal from Apple.¡±
¡°Tell me what you want. We¡¯ll try to meet your demands as much as possible.¡±
¡°That¡¯s strange.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡±
Yu Ji-ha raised an eyebrow.
¡°Weren¡¯t you the one who arranged this meeting, Chairman? You should bnce the scales.¡±
¡°How about this? I¡¯ll give you the Si Energy stocks you wanted.¡±
At that moment, Shin Ha-yoon¡¯s eyebrows twitched, but Yu Ji-ha¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change.
Did they not n to delist voluntarily?
¡°I think you misunderstood. The reason I¡¯m buying back our own stocks is to strengthen our management rights, not for any other purpose.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that too few stocks for that? And you¡¯re very good at hiding ownership. I couldn¡¯t even find out the real owners when I checked in Myeongdong.¡±
¡°Who buys stocks secretly these days?¡±
Chairman Shinughed.
¡°Don¡¯t act innocent. Anyway, is that not enough? It¡¯s not good to overvalue it just because of the battery.¡±
¡°Did you only see it as a battery? That¡¯s disappointing.¡±
¡°It will be used for electric cars and smartphones anyway.¡±
¡°It¡¯s made of ck metal, the hardest metal in the world. Can¡¯t you imagine the demand for various specialized tools in the industrial field?¡±
¡°I admit that, but the demand might not be as high as you think.¡±
¡°What about submarines? If we make batteries with ck metal, the submersion time will increase several times. You won¡¯t need to worry as much about soundproofing and shock resistance, reducing construction costs.¡±
¡°Hmm¡¡±
¡°The army will love it too. Just by recing a part of the tank shells with ck metal, they will have tremendous prating power. Do you want me to continue?¡±
¡°No, that¡¯s enough.¡±
At this point, Chairman Shin decided to withdraw his proposal.
He had lost his momentum by approaching Yu Ji-ha without urgency.
Besides, he had just recovered from his illness, so his information analysis was not perfect.
¡°Get to the point. What else do you want to add?¡±
¡°If you want the regr battery¡ please grant me one request.¡±
¡°I¡¯m starting to wonder if I can afford it. What is it now?¡±
¡°It will be done with a simple order from you. One of the affiliatepanies may suffer some losses, but I think you can handle it.¡±
The old man¡¯s eyes widened.
¡°Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s rted to electronics or semiconductors? That¡¯s absolutely impossible.¡±
¡°Do you think I would ask for something like that? It¡¯s a small matter, about 10 billion won.¡±
¡°10 billion is small¡ No matter how small a business is, it¡¯s not something to ignore. Anyway, it¡¯s not rted to a core affiliate, right?¡±
¡°Yes. You might feel disappointed when I tell youter, thinking, ¡®Is that all?''¡±
¡°I¡¯ll judge once I hear it. Is there anything else?¡±
¡°There is one more thing, but it depends on your choice, Chairman.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be humble in front of an old man.¡±
¡°Well then, I¡¯ll go ahead.¡±
Yu Ji-ha, apanied by his subordinate Shin Ha-yoon, stood up without even drinking the tea.
As he watched the stern figure walk away, Chairman Shin realized what he meant.
¡®He wishes he had never met my granddaughter.¡¯
With a personality like her mother¡¯s, she must have made a fuss.
¡°What a shame¡¡±
At first, Chairman Shin had thought about asking if they should talk about the engagement today, but he quickly changed his mind.
After all, the guy didn¡¯t even look at Ha-yoon.
To be so indifferent even after living together meant his feelings were gone.
Just as Chairman Shin had kept quiet until now, Ha-yoon asked carefully, ¡°Grandfather, what does it mean when you say it depends on your choice?¡±
¡°Hmm? It¡¯s nothing important. Just follow this road and go home. I¡¯ll tell you about itter.¡±
¡°Yes, I understand¡¡±
Chairman Shin watched the back of his granddaughter, who left with her secretary, and then made a phone call.
¡°It¡¯s me. Do we have an office in the United States? If not, set one up and send Ha-yoon there. What? Can¡¯t you hear me saying that I¡¯ve retired from the frontlines? Yes¡ that¡¯s right.¡±
On his way back to thepany he ran, he got a call from the chairman.
¡ªAs you said, I sent her to the US.
¨DI didn¡¯t tell you to send her to the US, but thank you anyway. I¡¯ll supply you with batteries like those in gship products.
¨DBy the way, I was supposed to give you my business card, but I forgot. How about we have a drink next time?
He was a sly old fox.
Yu Ji-ha kept smiling as he continued writing his message.
¡
Chapter 16: Midway Atoll
Chapter 16: Midway Atoll
He tried to contact President Shim Ra-oto, the leader of the organization that was in charge of maintaining order, but he faced some difficulties.
He couldn¡¯t reach him directly and had to go through the secretary¡¯s office first.
He sighed and muttered to himself, ¡°This is why having a secretary is necessary.¡±
His father had assigned Manager Kim to be his secretary, but he had sent him to Sokcho for a mission, so he had no one to assist him.
As he was waiting for the call to connect, Alma whispered in his ear.
[Master, the preliminary frame and exterior design for my physical body areplete.]
¡°Show me.¡±
A holographic image appeared in front of him, showing an android frame with a female appearance and blonde hair.
It resembled Arma, whom he had encountered in a previous deep consciousness experience.
She looked stunning, with a height that could easily reach 175cm, cream-blond colored hair that flowed down her shoulders, and a neat look.
She was also wearing sses, which he found curious. Was it influenced by the mental model Lucia?
He recalled that Lucia could correct her vision if she wanted to, but she insisted on wearing sses for some reason¡
He frowned slightly and said, ¡°Isn¡¯t the chest toorge? Everyone will just stare at that.¡±
[Should I reduce it a bit?]
¡°Reduce it to less than half. And since it¡¯s too perfect, add some wrinkles to make it more natural. It would also be better to decrease the height a little.¡±
¡°Master¡¡±
¡°Why?¡±
[If you permit, I would like to keep this appearance as it is.]
She sounded so adamant that he could tell she didn¡¯t want to change her appearance.
He shrugged and said, ¡°Alright, do as you wish. When will the fabrication of the physical body begin then?¡±
[The synthesis dermis production, power system, and weapon system will take some time. At the moment, it¡¯s estimated to be around 900 hours.]
If the Settler¡¯s Battleship was in good condition, the task would bepleted within a few hours, but they had no other choice.
He nodded and said, ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s taking longer due to a shortage of materials. As soon as other androids are ready, proceed with their fabrication as well. Oh, and make them all male.¡±
[I understand.]
He paused and added, ¡°Well, we need toe up with a backstory. Suddenly having a blonde woman as a secretary might shock my mother.¡±
[In your records, Master is noted to have studied abroad in the United States during your university years. Shall we say you met her back then?]
He thought for a moment and said, ¡°I don¡¯t think I met Shin Ha-yoon back then¡ but since she¡¯s gone to the United States now, it shouldn¡¯t matter. Create a usible story that matches the timeline and let me know.¡±
He ended the conversation with Arma and waited for a few more minutes before he finally got a call from the secretary¡¯s office.
He epted the call and headed to the main building of Shim Ra-oto, the organization he was working for.
There, he met CEO Lim Sang-hyun face to face.
¡°Oh¡ I was wondering who this was.¡±
¡°It¡¯s been a while, sir.¡±
CEO Lim Sang-hyun looked slightly bewildered by his presence.
He probably remembered their past shes.
Although he had only heard about it through records, CEO Lim Sang-hyun was one of his former enemies.
He greeted CEO Lim Sang-hyun with a wry smile and said, ¡°Your punch was so powerful that I had to lie down for three years. What was that about, sir?¡±
¡°Haha¡¡±
He extended his hand, trembling with nervousness, but the CEO chuckled and shook it warmly.
¡°I must have been a little crazy back then. Please forgive me, sir, for your generous understanding.¡±
His somewhat rigid expression melted away in an instant.
¡°No¡ I also had some anger issues due to stress back then. Let¡¯s sit down for now.¡±
They moved to the sofa and sat downfortably.
Yu Ji-ha brought up the topic straightforwardly.
¡°Recently, the cars aren¡¯t selling well, right?¡±
¡°Haha¡ Well, you must be well aware of thepany¡¯s situation¡ Yes, it¡¯s true that sales have been declining every year.¡±
¡°But the cars themselves are still good, especially in terms of design.¡±
¡°You¡¯re driving the Windrunner, right? I designed that.¡±
He nodded and said, ¡°So, you got promoted for that achievement?¡±
¡°Well, yes. But with sales like this, I can¡¯t face the chairman with pride, haha¡¡±
His self-deprecating tone revealed a sense of resignation regarding the difficulty of contract extension.
Of course, the poor sales of Shim Ra-oto¡¯s electric cars were not a recent development.
The problemy in the situation where they couldn¡¯t receive proper battery supply.
As the CEO, it was his responsibility to address such a situation, but it was a challenging problem that seemed impossible to solve, no matter who attempted it.
Yu Ji-ha leaned forward and said, ¡°So, what I¡¯m saying is¡ I can supply the batteries. The ones that have been developed recently.¡±
Lim Sang-hyun¡¯s pupils moved quickly in response.
¡°Are you referring to the ck Metal batteries?¡±
¡°Yes. However, there is one condition. I want to integrate the autonomous driving algorithm that I will develop in the future.¡±
The excitement that had surged suddenly deted.
Currently, Shim Ra-oto was sourcing its autonomous driving system-on-a-chip (SOC) from its subsidiary, Autotron.
Although there were criticisms that they were merely importing modules and assembling them, Shim Ra-oto was one of the fewpanies capable of designing autonomous driving software.
He shook his head and said, ¡°But even such apany was stuck at Level 2, and if it was anything below that, it was not worth integrating.¡±
¡°Surely, CEO Yu, your major was algorithms¡¡±
He remembered the time when he studied algorithms several years ago.
Even a few months behind in the field would render one unable to apply it properly.
It was impossible for him, who had spent three years lying down, to develop a proper algorithm.
CEO Lim Sang-hyun bowed his head deeply and said, ¡°I appreciate the offer, but I can¡¯t ept it.¡±
He tried to persuade him and said, ¡°You can rest assured that it will go through proper validation. Let¡¯s start with in-house testing.¡±
This would change the situation.
If Yu Ji-ha could deliver a properly functioning product and undergo validation, there was no reason to refuse.
But the likelihood of that happening was close to zero, which was the problem.
He added, ¡°If I were to ept that proposal¡¡±
He smiled and said, ¡°I will supply the ck Metal batteries exclusively for Windrunner vehicles. All of them.¡±
CEO Lim Sang-hyun¡¯s mouth hung open in disbelief.
How many times had he drooled while watching the demonstrations?
He had contemted calling Yujiha multiple times a day but eventually swallowed his tears and gave up.
The situation was unimaginable, even with renowned manufacturers both domestically and internationally unable to guarantee delivery.
Especially considering the unfavorable past that involved a regrettable incident.
He stood up abruptly and grasped Yujiha¡¯s hand.
¡°Thank you, thank you.¡±
He nodded and said, ¡°Well then, let¡¯s have a conversation using algorithms next time.¡±
He returned to his office, maintaining hisposure, and gave instructions.
¡°Alma, is it possible to simte Seoul¡¯s road conditions and traffic?¡±
[I have already programmed the algorithms. It can be implemented immediately.]
¡°Can we achieve that with the modules installed in the Si Auto electric cars?¡±
[Of course, Master.]
A walker disguised as a steel drawer cab in the corner projected an image onto the wall.
The video was aplete simtion of Seoul¡¯s morningmute roads and traffic, including taxis, freight vehicles, and even jaywalkers.
He watched the vehicle, equipped with the algorithm designed by Arma, run on the simted road.
Within a few minutes, his expression turned serious and he said, ¡°Um¡ Isn¡¯t the driving too aggressive?¡±
Arma replied, ¡°In Seoul, this level of driving is considered normal. Other vehicles don¡¯t give way.¡±
He frowned and said, ¡°Even so, it seems a bit excessive to use the left turn signal and cut into the rightne.¡±
He also noticed that the algorithm vited the stop line to merge into the mergingne, exhibiting a behavior of pushing its way through.
He said, ¡°Try to make it smoother.¡±
As he adjusted the aggressiveness of the algorithm, a more tolerable driving experience emerged.
Although Arma¡¯s design enabled Level 5 autonomous driving, the hardware was stillcking.
He said, ¡°Let¡¯s start working on that after acquiring Si Auto.¡±
In terms of mobility systems, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s goal was to implement a megacity.
The megacity was a nned city capable of amodating a poption of 100 million, with most mobility taking ce in the underground undercity.
In the 22nd century, only humans roamed the surface.
However, implementing this megacity in the 21st century posed significant challenges.
One of the problems was how to deal with the existing outdated infrastructure.
Alma provided several solutions to this problem, and one of them involved creatingpletely newnd.
There were a few candidate locations, but there was only one ce that Yujiha found appealing.
The North Pacific.
Yujiha¡¯s eyes were fixed on the vast ocean next to the Midway Atoll.
¡
In mid-January, business people gathered in front of the Blue House, the South Korean presidential residence.
The notable aspect of this luncheon was that the leaders of each group were hardly invited.
The media spected that it was because the chaebol chairpersons didn¡¯t want to be seen mingling with young entrepreneurs in their early thirties.
In reality, it wasn¡¯t entirely false.
While there were no official social sses in 21st-century Korea, there were certainly differences in status.
To the chaebol chairpersons, Yu Ji-ha was nothing more than a fortunate prodigy born with special abilities.
He wasn¡¯t the chairman, Yu Ji-ha, nor did he have the qualifications to sit with the chaebols chairpersons as their son.
Thus, after negotiations by the secretaries, individuals worthy of being called the core members of each group were in attendance.
They were all unfamiliar faces, but Arma provided detailed information in his field of view.
¡°This is Shin Young-jun, the CEO of Hanseong Electronics. He¡¯s the youngest son of Chairman Shin Joo-ho, whom you met recently.¡±
¡°And here we have the CEO of Global Chemicals.¡±
Yu Ji-ha stood in a row, shaking hands with each person in front of the president, barely restraining himself from striking a pose in front of the table.
He wondered, ¡°Is this excessive disy of etiquette a result of excessive peace?¡±
From his perspective, diplomatic formalities were utterly useless.
The enemy of humanity, the gue, frequently used tactical assaults by opening short-distance warp gates.
Living in the megacity, one could hear such attack alerts quite often.
In such an environment, meetings and formalities had to be kept to a minimum.
If there was free time for idle chatter, it meant it was time to take action!
That was the catchphrase of the United Humanity.
¡°Alright, everyone, strike a fighting pose and look towards the camera¡ Let¡¯s take a picture~ One, two~¡±
Click.
The tiresome time finally passed, but another tiresome time approached.
¡°While we haven¡¯t seen each other, Shin Young-jun has improved significantly.¡±
¡°I wonder how many healthy things you¡¯ve consumed¡ Anyway, let¡¯s taste some, shall we?¡±
He endured the weing remarks and ttery from high-ranking officials for a long time.
As the lunch progressed, it took nearly two hours for the discussion to shift towards substantive matters. Prime Minister Park Hyun-goo opened the conversation.
¡°Mr. President, before we proceed with negotiations, we should focus on more fundamental issues. For example, the urate estimation of the ck metal deposits in the East Sea.¡±
The president said, ¡°Didn¡¯t the reports state that it¡¯s difficult to estimate the deposits due to their irregr nature?¡±
The secretary-general, who attracted everyone¡¯s attention, reported, ¡°In the case of Ulleung Basin, each attempt at measurement yielded different results. Moreover, it is a very deep area, making precise measurements challenging.
He exined, ¡°ck metal is formed as surrounding metallic elements are eroded. Given the real-time extensive erosion, urately estimating the deposit quantity is impossible.¡±
However, it seemed that Prime Minister Park Hyun-goo had a different objective in mind.
He said, ¡°Even so, the government needs to estimate the mining quantity. It is uneptable for the government to be unaware of the precise figures regarding activities in our territorial waters.¡±
President Lee Hyun-seong nodded, finding some reason in the statement.
In truth, bringing up such matters in a gathering of economic figures was not appropriate.
However, the Prime Minister¡¯s persistent pressure left them with no choice.
He said, ¡°Since we have obtained the development rights for three years, we have the right to know the numbers. We can dispatch investigators separately.¡±
¡°Mr. President, I would like to propose the establishment of amittee. It would oversee overall mining operations and monitor any illegal activities¡ªan administrativemittee for mining management.¡±
In essence, this was an assurance to meticulously scrutinize every aspect of mining operations.
Even if it¡¯s just a small detail, interfering with business when given the opportunity to catch even the slightest thread is a given.
When searching throughws rted to marine resources, they are written in a vague manner, mentioning the ability to manage and preserve resources.
Therefore, the Prime Minister¡¯s decision to establish a managementmittee holds considerable persuasive power.
However, he had no intention of enduring the inconvenience of maintaining it.
He asked, ¡°Are those numbers limited to domestic cirction, or do they also extend to China?¡±
The participants collectively held their breath at his provocative tone.
¡°¡What are you talking about?¡±
He said, ¡°I heard an interesting story at the demonstration. It¡¯s about coborating with apany called Leio.¡±
The Prime Minister said, ¡°It¡¯smon for research institutes to coborate with each other.¡±
He said, ¡°Of course, when the performance is simr. Ah, I hope you didn¡¯t mention that their R&D costs are far superior. It¡¯s been quite painful to hear.¡±
Prime Minister Park Hyun-goo fixed his gaze on the young man with an air of defiance.
He asked, ¡°So, what are you trying to say?¡±
He said, ¡°I hope you reconsider the establishment of themittee. If it¡¯s not epted¡¡±
The Prime Minister asked, ¡°If it¡¯s not epted?¡±
He said firmly, ¡°Both Si Energy and I will withdraw from the domestic ck metal industry.¡±
The atmosphere in the room instantly turned cold.
Prime Minister Park Hyun-goo maintained a stern expression before slowly opening his mouth.
He said, ¡°I¡¯m warning you, it¡¯s better to think before you speak.¡±
He said calmly, ¡°I¡¯ve thought about it, and it hasn¡¯t changed. The only thing I can ept is the dispatch of investigators. I don¡¯t want to be influenced by China.¡±
The Prime Minister said, ¡°I am the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea.¡±
He said, ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t trust you, Prime Minister. I simply don¡¯t trust the situation we¡¯re in.¡±
The Prime Minister said angrily, ¡°Don¡¯t beat around the bush! President, Chairman Yu has threatened the government. We must immediately revoke the development rights¡¡±
However, President Lee Hyun-seong had an intriguing expression on his face.
He said, ¡°Well, let¡¯s hear more of the story. So, Chairman Yu, how exactly do you n to withdraw? Haven¡¯t you already established the ck metal ecosystem worldwide?¡±
He said, ¡°We can provide the specifications for battery cells. If the government revokes the development rights, we can still produce batteries for electric cars and smartphones. But the real deal, I¡¯ll never tell.¡±
The President asked, ¡°The real deal¡?¡±
He said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to be so persistent, Mr. President. At best, it¡¯ll be applied to drones.¡±
However, President Lee Hyun-seong¡¯s gaze remained fixed on him.
He said, ¡°That ¡®real deal¡¯ seems like quite an impressive item.¡±
He smiled and said, ¡°You¡¯ll be pleased with it.¡±
¡°Mr. President!¡±
As Prime Minister Park Hyun-goo raised his voice, the President stood up with a smile.
He said, ¡°Take a break. Since the businessmen have something to discuss, let¡¯s leave them be.¡±
The President, along with the Prime Minister and the Chief of Staff, left the room.
The tense businessmen finally let out a long sigh of relief.
¡°Chairman Yu, are you okay? The Prime Minister has strong support from the ruling party¡¯s moderate members. He won¡¯t just sit idly by.¡±
¡°The pretext of establishing themittee is strong enough, but Chairman Yu came on too strong. It¡¯ll be difficult to employ an exit strategy like this, won¡¯t it?¡±
¡°We might have to intervene and mediate¡¡±
They implied that the cost of mediation would probably be the batteries.
The remaining businessmen spoke, but he merely smiled and didn¡¯t respond specifically.
After a while, the door to the room opened again, and the President and the Secretary entered. The Prime Minister was not with them.
¡
Chapter 17: Unveiled Intentions
Chapter 17: Unveiled Intentions
¡°Sorry about this. There has been a slight change in the schedule. We will take some time to visit the Observation Pavilion.¡±
The businessmen grumbled inwardly as they heard the announcement.
Observation Pavilion? Wasn¡¯t that a ce for ordinary people to visit, not for battery-rted adjustments?
They followed the secretary¡¯s guidance and left Sangchunjae, but he remained seated.
On the opposite side, the President sat down with a perplexed expression on his face.
¡°I sent the Prime Minister away to hear Chairman Yu¡¯s story. I hope it¡¯s worth it.¡±
¡°I propose to apply ckmetal batteries to submarines,¡± Chairman Yu said.
¡°Submarines¡ Secretary, how far has the construction of the Anchangho-ss submarine progressed?¡± The President asked.
¡°The current Batch-III version of the research and development has beenpleted. Once thebat suitability is determined and approved by the Defense Committee, it will enter the construction phase,¡± the Secretary replied.
¡°Will GC¡¯s lithium-ion batteries be used in them?¡±
¡°For now, that¡¯s the n.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll rece all of them with ck Metal batteries. Of course, we need to estimate the costs.¡±
President Lee Hyun-seong¡¯s eyes gleamed slightly.
¡°ck Metal batteries in submarines¡ I wonder how much longer the submergence time will increase.¡±
He needed to see the numbers to truly feel it.
Arma, who had memorized the numbers she was taught, quickly wrote them down on a note.
¡°As far as I know, the Anchangho-ss submarines equipped with lithium-ion batteries can submerge for approximately 3 hours during a 20-knot operation,¡± she said.
The submergence time of a submarine was greatly influenced by its speed, and 20 knots was close to its maximum speed.
Of course, if the speed was reduced, it could stay submerged for more than dozens of hours, but this assumed the scenario where it needed to evade enemy surface ships after being detected.
¡°Hmm¡¡±
The President and the Chief Secretary exchanged nces and nodded.
The specifications of submarines were naturally ssified, but this information was something that military enthusiasts in the country could reasonably estimate.
¡°I can¡¯t say for sure, but we can say it¡¯s simr. So, if we install ckmetal batteries, how much would that increase the duration?¡± The President asked.
¡°Considering the energy density and the hotel load of the submarine, we can say it would increase by approximately 3.5 times,¡± Arma answered.
¡°Then, more than 10 hours?¡±
At that level, it might notpare to nuclear-powered submarines, but among diesel-powered submarines, it was undoubtedly the best.
Even Japan¡¯s Taigei-ss submarines had a submergence time of only about 4 hours.
¡°Due to the characteristics of ckmetal batteries, they have an advantage in terms of high voltage. Therefore, the actual speed would be even higher. Additionally, they are much lighter in weight, allowing for a greater battery capacity,¡± Chairman Yu exined.
The President asked urgently, ¡°I heard that the charging time is also very short during the demonstration.¡±
¡°That¡¯s correct. It takes about 1 hour for snorkeling in the lithium-ion system, but with the application of ckmetal, it reduces to 1/5 of that time. It¡¯s so stable that various safety equipment can be omitted, which is another advantage.¡±
As President Lee Hyun-seong listened to Chairman Yu listing the advantages, he felt something akin to shock.
This was not a simple matter.
The performance that far surpassed Japan¡¯s next-generation submarines could potentially disrupt the delicate bnce of naval power between the two countries.
It could also introduce unexpected variables in Australia¡¯s ongoing project to introduce attack-ss submarines.
Currently, South Korea had proposed the Anchangho-ss Batch-III, but Australia¡¯s response had been lukewarm.
However, if they were to propose the adoption of ckmetal batteries and a corresponding new design¡
Of course, nuclear-powered submarines were the best, but there were undoubtedly countries that were unable to adopt them due to various issues.
Australia was one of those countries, nning to invest up to $50 billion in the Attack-ss submarine project.
If they could sneak a spoonful in there¡
¡°Is this really possible?¡± The President asked.
¡°It depends on the President¡¯s determination. If you¡¯re satisfied with just one investigator, I will wholeheartedly assist you,¡± Chairman Yu said.
Although China¡¯s influence had been gradually spreading within the country, Lee Hyun-seong was still the President, wielding immense power.
Whether or not to establish amittee ultimately depended on his decision.
The problem was whether he could withstand the pressure from the Prime Minister and those who supported him.
Their intentions would soon turn into attacks,ing through the window of public opinion.
¡
In a short period of time, numerous worries shed across the President¡¯s face and disappeared.
He nodded his head.
¡°Alright. Let¡¯s give it a try. But¡ receiving such an unexpected gift won¡¯t be easy to reciprocate.¡±
¡°If you grant me one favor in the future, I will be satisfied with that.¡±
¡°Requesting the instation of ckmetal batteries on submarines¡ that¡¯s quite a big ask.¡±
¡°This country will not suffer any losses. And of course, it will be a great achievement for you as well.¡±
¡°Can I ask roughly which field it is rted to?¡±
¡°It¡¯s rted to space development.¡±
Chairman Yu recalled his friend¡¯s keen interest in space.
He remembered having passionate debates about the existence of the ninth with a renowned astronomer when they were young.
If it was about that, it was not only not a bad idea, but also highly rmended.
The Korean space industry was in dire straits, falling to the bottom.
¡°Let¡¯s discuss itter, including this submarine project¡¡± The President said.
At that time, the experts from each military branch would gather for heated discussions.
¡°Let me know when you¡¯re ready.¡±
¡°Oh, by the way, how will the battery allocation be managed? Our military is also expecting something.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll handle the distribution without revealing any details,¡± Chairman Yu said.
A smile appeared at the corner of the President¡¯s mouth.
Anyway, the government couldn¡¯t micromanage every aspect of the business.
However, there was a need for minimal coordination to prevent conflicts of interest.
Now that the world¡¯s attention would be focused on Korea, engaging in petty fights would not look good.
¡°Well then, let¡¯s take our time to discuss¡¡±
As the President left, one of the secretaries approached Yu Ji-ha and handed him a note.
¡°Read it and put it away for referenceter.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡±
Curious, he quickly nced at its contents.
It contained information about the movements of various countries, such as the docking of Japan¡¯s 6th Escort Floti near Fukuoka and the activities of Russia and India.
However, the real dangery in the well-known Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.
Although not yet widely reported, Chinese and Southeast Asian warships were gathering, creating a potentially explosive situation.
Were the U.S. Navy fleets sailing from Guam heading there to join the fray?
¡°Soon, something will happen, for sure,¡± Yu Ji-ha said.
[I have recorded it]
Arma replied.
He tore the note into small pieces.
Now it was time to have the boring meetings with the entrepreneurs.
¡
The anticipated premise of having a boring meeting went off track.
The gathering of entrepreneurs in a separate space was discussing the allocation of battery supply, considering it a given.
In fact, one CEO made the following statement:
¡°It seems quite challenging topete with such a supranational enterprise like Si Energy. What if we form a consortium?¡±
¡°If that¡¯s the case, we are willing to contribute funds. However, the ownership stake must be clear.¡±
Upon hearing those words, Chairman Yu was dumbfounded and asked:
¡°Who mentioned forming a consortium?¡±
People responded cunningly:
¡°That¡¯s the current public opinion.¡±
¡°The political and media sectors are cing high expectations on this battery project. It will serve as a cornerstone for Korea¡¯s prosperity.¡±
They were talking nonsense.
Without even sitting in the chair, Chairman Yu addressed the people.
¡°What does public opinion matter¡ Isn¡¯t it considered public opinion if we contact the media and ask them to write articles? If you have intention of forming a consortium, bring a proper proposal.¡±
¡°Chairman Yu, this is not about running a business alone in South Korea.¡±
¡°Just because something is good doesn¡¯t mean you can act like a dictator. It will be problematic.¡±
¡°We will review the proposals from the twopanies you just mentionedst. That will be all.¡±
¡°Chairman Yu!¡±
¡°Our conversation is not over yet?¡±
Whether they were flustered or silent, Chairman Yu gave a reassuring nce to CEO Shin Young-jun, who maintained hisposure.
He and I had made a promise with his father, and he intended to keep it.
Exiting as nned and getting into the car, the secretary approached me.
¡°It seems things didn¡¯t go well. The President asks you not to push too hard, even though he¡¯s cornered.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll consider it.¡±
The car left the Blue House and drove down the road.
Out of the blue, I asked Arma, my aide:
¡°What do you think of President Lee Hyun-seong?¡±
[At the moment, he is deemed someone who can be helpful to you, Master.]
¡°We¡¯ve thrown the bait with the submarine deal. Let¡¯s see how he reacts.¡±
There was a real deal behind the scenes, but there was no need to bring it up as part of the initial negotiations.
Setting that aside, it was about time to make a move¡
He openly approached the Prime Minister with a proposal, and there was no way the factions supporting him would remain idle.
He wanted to know who Prime Minister Park Hyun-gu was connected to, so he released a decoy.
Just as the vehicle was about to cross the Han River, two distant sedans appeared.
¡°Why are all these trailing cars ck?¡±
[Well¡ it seems the National Intelligence Service agents got caught up in a traffic ident and lost track of us.]
¡°Looks like they¡¯re really trying. Drive to a quiet ce.¡±
The Windrunner veered into theplex area of Noryangjin.
¡°Now.¡±
Following my signal, the optical camouge system activated.
The entire vehicle shimmered like a mirror and seamlessly blended with the surroundings.
In this state, the Windrunner could be touched, but it was impossible to notice with the naked eye.
The two trailing vehicles passed by without detecting their presence.
¡°EMP.¡±
As the directional EMP emitter installed beneath the vehicle emitted a sh, the leading ck sedan came to a halt.
Some of its ECU circuits had been fried.
¡°Audio amplification.¡±
Now, seated in their respective positions, we could overhear the conversation among them.
¡°Why did this happen all of a sudden?¡±
¡°The engine shut off. I¡¯ve been trying to start it again, but it won¡¯t work.¡±
¡°Try again properly! And contact the car ahead.¡±
The man with short hair, who seemed to be the leader, made a phone call to someone.
The moment the call connected, Arma reported.
[We found him. It¡¯s Zhang Jiaojun, a director at the NCC Group. He looks like an actress funded by China who was cast in Hollywood.]
How did she end up looking like that?
He focused on the conversation between Zhang Jiaojun and the others.
And they reached a conclusion.
¡°We need to eliminate Park Hyun-gu.¡±
There were no true friends.
Chairman Yu had made the decision to spare no means or methods in order to achieve the reconstruction of the United Human Alliance and the eradication of the gue.
However, it didn¡¯t necessarily mean that it had to involve murder.
There were times when softer methods, like what Shin Hayun had used when going to the United States, could be employed.
But in the case of Prime Minister Park Hyun-gu, most avenues were blocked.
He held a position that was too high and had considerable influence.
Moreover, there was no valid justification to bring him down.
Arma thoroughly investigated his activities and personal information, but there was no significant financial gain to be found.
[Despite being in politics for a long time, he remains rtively clean. It appears he only exchanges advice with the NCC Group without any financial ties. His rtionships with women are also clean] she said.
In that case, it could be said that his driving force was his belief.
He believed that Korea should adapt to China, which would soon exert influence over Korea and extend beyond East Asia into the Pacific.
[It¡¯s possible that he considers himself a patriot. He often made statements questioning what the problem was with China¡¯s rise, stating that it¡¯s not a recent development and that it will soon extend beyond East Asia] she added.
Prime Minister Park Hyun-gu was the one who chose China over the United States.
Of course, Chairman Yu didn¡¯t want to pass judgment on the correctness of his beliefs.
The problem was that he posed an obstruction.
¡°Just leaving him alone will lead to regrets in the future.¡±
Prime Minister Park Hyun-gu was pushing for the establishment of amittee on his own and was inciting public opinion within the party, stating that he would expose Chairman Yu.
Such tendencies were also evident in his conversation with NCC Group¡¯s Zhang Jiaojun.
¡ªThat guy is a dangerous individual who undermines Sino-Korean friendship. Keep a close watch on him, as nobody knows what he might do with ck Metal in the future.
¡ªOh, are you afraid of sending data to China? The United States, which had imposed restrictions on missile ranges until 2021, isn¡¯t worried?
¡ªWe, Korea, have always aimed at China. We¡¯ve been on the wrong path for the past 80 years, so now we should return to our roots, shouldn¡¯t we?
¡°I won¡¯t forget your loyalty, sir.
¡°Indeed, he must be eliminated.¡±
However, killing the Prime Minister wouldn¡¯t be the end of it. Who guaranteed that another Park Hyun-gu wouldn¡¯t emerge?
Arma spected about that possibility.
[If he is killed, there is a high possibility that the President will appoint a neutral figure.]
¡°Why? Isn¡¯t Korea already falling into China¡¯s sphere of influence?¡±
[That may be true in politics and business, but the general public holds significant anti-China sentiment. The two countries have built various rtionships over a millennium, but recently, China has begun pressuring Korea as it pursues hegemony. They have even attempted to plunder our culture.]
¡°At least the President is mindful of public opinion. In that case, it¡¯s settled.¡±
And thus, the decision was made for the death of Prime Minister Park Hyun-gu.
For this mission, Arma introduced a new type of drone.
[It¡¯s an Insect Drone. Its operating time is up to three hours at most, and it¡¯s rtivelyrge in size, but there¡¯s almost no risk of being detected.]
A small fly flew in and perched on Chairman Yu¡¯s shoulder, disying a hologram.
If one scrutinized this little creature with a magnifying ss, one might notice something strange.
However, not many people paid attention to flies.
At most, they would bother them enough to spray some insecticide or wave their hand a few times.
[With this Insect Drone, you can administer a toxic substance to the body. The toxin dposes after death, so it cannot be detected] she said.
¡°What kind of toxin is it?¡± Chairman Yu asked.
[It¡¯s synthetic tetradotoxin H. Within 30 minutes of administration, respiratory muscles will be paralyzed, and after one hour, cardiac muscles will stop] she said.
It was contradictory for someone who came to save humanity to be trying to kill humans.
In the case of Prime Minister Park Hyun-gu, there were no scandals or criminal acts that could be found.
He simply differed from Chairman Yu and walked a different path, albeit one that had crossed paths with him now.
¡°I have no personal feelings about this. But I believe that the future I dream of is better than the one you dream of,¡± Chairman Yu said.
Arma was well aware of China¡¯s actions and racial oppression against neighboring countries through herwork.
Although she couldn¡¯t resolve them immediately, she wouldn¡¯t let them go unattended for long.
Having approved the death of Prime Minister Park Hyun-gu, Chairman Yu proceeded with the n.
¡°The Ford ejection system has been repaired. I will deploy the reconnaissance Ford.¡±
Two dayster, a small Ford was ejected from the sunken Settler in the East Sea.
This Ford crossed the Korean Penins without being detected by radar and dispersed the Insect Drones over the airspace above the Prime Minister¡¯s official residence in Samcheong-dong.
An Insect Drone infiltrated the Prime Minister¡¯s bedroom, but no one noticed its presence.
¡
Chapter 18: Ambitions and Alliances
Chapter 18: Ambitions and Alliances
Chapter 18: Ambitions and Alliances
First day of January.
The news of Prime Minister Park Hyun-gu¡¯s death shocked the nation.
His family insisted that he was murdered, but no evidence was found despite thorough investigations.
The National Scientific Investigation Research Institute conducted an autopsy, but the cause of death remained a mystery.
The Prime Minister had gone to bed as usual, only to have his heart stop and die in his sleep.
Many people mourned his loss, but there were also those who celebrated his demise.
¨DA traitor who wanted to surrender to China in the 21st century? He deserved to die.
¨DDamn, if I had superpowers, I would have stopped him. But we only have a guy who looks like Winnie the Pooh.
¨DDid Park Hyun-gu say something outrageous in his quotes? Did he say we shouldn¡¯t hate the Chinese fishing boats invading the West Sea? We have to see it from an anti-crime perspective?
With such public opinion, the government had no choice but to appoint a social leader instead of a national leader.
He didn¡¯t go to the funeral hall where his body wasid, but he attended the memorial service as a representative of my father and mother.
¡°The departed had made remarkable contributions to this nation, society, and its people throughout his lifetime¡¡±
As the ruling party representative delivered the eulogy, he felt someone¡¯s gaze piercing me from among the mourners.
It was Zhang Jiaojun, the icy-eyed actress who sat not far from me.
He casually met her gaze and kept myposure.
After the service ended, he was about to get in his car when Zhang Jiaojun approached him.
¡°Excuse me, are you Mr. Yu Ji-ha?¡±
She spoke Korean fluently.
Yu Ji-ha had a hunch why the actress, who starred in Hollywood movies funded by Chinese investors, was looking for him.
¡°And you are?¡±
¡°I¡¯m Zhang Jiaojun. I work for NCC Group.¡±
¡°Ah¡ NCC Group. You must have had some ties with thete Prime Minister as well. It¡¯s unfortunate what happened to him.¡±
¡°He was a man of great vision, but it¡¯s sad how things turned out. By the way, can we talk for a moment?¡±
She seemed to have forgotten about her mission to spy on Yu Ji-ha and openly asked for a conversation.
¡®Well, considering you pushed me to assassinate the Prime Minister and had the audacity to attend his funeral, we¡¯re on equal footing in that regard.¡¯
Yu Ji-ha nced at his watch briefly before speaking.
¡°Speak here.¡±
¡°This ce has too many eyes and ears¡¡±
¡°I don¡¯t have time.¡±
¡°Fine, then let me be direct. Do you have any interest in joining forces with us?¡±
¡°No, I don¡¯t.¡±
She seemed momentarily taken aback, then asked again.
¡°Right now, research institutes in China, including LEO Research Institute, are looking for people who can manipte ck Metal samples. We have tested more than tens of millions of people so far.¡±
The staggering number made Yu Ji-ha bite his tongue.
Indeed, China¡¯s scale was massive.
¡°That¡¯s impressive. But what does it have to do with me?¡±
¡°We have found some people who have abilities simr to yours. The number of people who can create ck Metal batteries is increasing.¡±
That was a lie.
In this era, the number of people exposed to Aether was extremely small, and the level of their abilities was insignificant.
There was a reason he didn¡¯t bother looking for Researcher Park Joon-ho, who was at the Pangyo Research Institute.
Aether sensitivity was an innate trait that could not be improved by training.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s transcendent Aether sensitivity was a miraculous product of humanity¡¯s adaptation to Aether over several decades.
And yet they imed to have found someone with simr abilities?
¡°Congrattions. Now China will be able to produce ck Metal batteries.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not fullyplete yet. We need some minor adjustments. That¡¯s why we need your cooperation, Yu Ji-ha.¡±
¡°I refuse. I have plenty of things to do.¡±
Zhang Jiaojun blocked Yu Ji-ha¡¯s way as he was about to get in his car.
¡°China has deployed arge number of warships to the Nan-Sa Archipgo. And of course, to the Taiwan Strait as well. Soon, we will secure a huge amount of ck Metal.¡±
¡°Securing resources from the deep sea? How do you n to deal with the opposition from the UN and neighboring countries?¡±
She smiled faintly.
¡°China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council. And small countries cannot stand up to great powers. Even the United States is trying to withdraw from the South China Sea, right?¡±
Indeed, that was true.
In recent years, China¡¯s naval power had grown rapidly to the point where it could not be ignored even by the United States.
It was recently assessed that not even the entire Pacific Fleet, let alone the 7th Fleet, could effectively deter China¡¯s expansion.
Southeast Asian countries had been expressing their difficulty in maintaining even minimal defense capabilities, and the United States had been gradually withdrawing its presence.
Although the United States had recently sent several warships to the Spratly Inds, it was more of a surveince move than a deterrent.
¡°To ignore all that and seize the ck Metal from the deep sea¡ It¡¯s very much in line with China¡¯s style.¡±
Zhang Jiaojun ignored his criticism and spoke.
¡°China wants to build battery factories domestically. If Yu Ji-ha cooperates, we will reward him generously.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, but all ck Metal has to go through Korea.¡±
¡°We are willing to negotiate that condition. If you visit our headquarters in China, we will wee you with a grand reception.¡±
He would be foolish to think that he could easily escape once he went there.
Maybe they would try to hijack him at a high level to divert his attention. Of course, if that happened, Arma would not sit still.
Currently, the Settler had over 100 gigatons of payload capacity, including 1 gigaton of reactionary shells.
It was originally designed to prate the gue Fleet, which could potentially disrupt the colonization fleets¡¯ path.
However, if Yu Ji-ha was in danger, Arma would use it based on the Codex. So it was better not to provoke unnecessary risks.
¡°If you want the batteries, send the ck Metal to our country. We are open to any negotiations rted to that. Well then.¡±
Yu Ji-ha gestured with his eyes, and the woman stepped aside.
Until the car left the funeral parlor, Jiao Zerun¡¯s gaze followed the back of the vehicle.
¡°China is a good friend, but remember that nothingsts forever.¡±
¡
After the announcement of ck Metal batteries, many people wanted to meet Yu Ji-ha in person.
However, actual meetings were very rare.
Yu Ji-ha was extremely busy, and most of the work was handled by his staff.
However, a few countries requested the opportunity to meet Yu Ji-ha through the South Korean government.
Among them was Martin McLain, the Deputy National Security Advisor of the United States.
He was a middle-aged man with a cheerful smile, and he extended his hand for a handshake when he saw Yu Ji-ha.
¡°Nice to meet you. I heard you speak English well, so can we proceed with the meeting in English? My Korean is not that good.¡±
¡°Of course.¡±
Both of them had no time to waste, so they started the substantive discussions as soon as they sat down.
¡°Let me be clear upfront that the White House is not particrly interested in the batteries themselves. While the energy density that is three times that of solid-state batteries is revolutionary and quite impressive, the White House has more important matters to address.¡±
¡°Can I process ck Metal exclusively?¡±
¡°Of course, as long as it¡¯s not China, the United States doesn¡¯t have a major concern about it yet.¡±
Deputy National Security Advisor Martin emphasized the word ¡°yet.¡±
Even without China, the rtionship between the two countries was quite tense.
South Korea began to doubt whether the United States would provide a nuclear umbre against the threat of North Korea¡¯s nuclear weapons.
During a meeting with U.S. officials, a politician even said something like this: ¡®Can the United States tolerate New York being targeted in a nuclear attack instead of Seoul?¡¯
The reaction of the U.S. officials at that time was unknown.
However, one thing was clear: South Korea had serious concerns about the unstable health condition of Kim Jong-un¡¯s North Korea.
To deal with this issue, South Korea was making various efforts. One of them was the push by some political figures to engage with China.
Ultimately, it ended up attracting hyenas instead of lions, so to speak.
Martin, the deputy national security advisor, lowered his voice.
¡°The White House is very interested in weaponizing ck metal.¡±
¡°For example, like armor-piercing rounds for tanks?¡±
¡°Indeed, ck metal has exceptional pration powerpared to depleted uranium or tungsten. It has a low density, which is rather peculiar. But anyway, that¡¯s not the important part¡ What the White House is interested in is something else.¡±
¡°Railguns.¡±
When Yu Ji-ha mentioned the name, Martin, the deputy national security advisor, twitched his eyebrows.
He was surprised by his insight, but he showed little signs of wavering, disying his characteristic cold and bureaucratic demeanor.
Despite his appearance as a middle-aged man with a protruding belly.
¡°I¡¯ll skip the railgun¡ No, never mind. You are the person who knows ck metal better than anyone else. You know that we ultimately failed in railgun development.¡±
¡°That¡¯smon knowledge even among military enthusiasts.¡±
The United States discontinued the railgun program in 2021 and finally dered it a failure in 2022.
There were various reasons, but the main one was rted to issues with the barrel and the power supply.
The barrel that fired six rounds per minute melted in just ten minutes with the current material, and the limited range was due to the inability to create high-capacity batteries.
Ultimately, the railgun that was built had a range of only 180km and a pitiful firing rate of two rounds per minute.
In such a situation, it consumed as much electricity as a medium-sized cruiser, so it was much better to use missiles instead.
But what if they reced the barrel with ck metal?
The production cost would increase, but at least the barrel would not melt anymore.
If they also reced the batteries with ck metal, they could expect an increase in range as well.
It was simply aboutpleting the dream weapon called a railgun with just one material.
Deputy National Security Advisor Martin spoke with a serious voice.
¡°As for power, we can solve that by using a nuclear reactor. I will now represent the White House and ask you, Mr. Yu Ji-ha. Can you make railgun barrels? Can you create high-capacity batteries?¡±
¡°No, rather than that¡ I want a part of the Artemis program that NASA discontinued.¡±
¡°What?¡±
Deputy National Security Advisor Martin furrowed his eyebrows.
The highlight was the RS-25 engine.
Even NASA had struggled to find uses for such a massive engine, to the point of almost considering it obsolete. Why would he want it?
¡®Does he just want to have it? Like a toy?¡¯
If that was the case, it would be rather absurd.
It was clear that Shin Energy would make a lot of money in the future. But to spend that money on unrealistic space toys?
Martin concluded that the young Asian man in front of him had ambitions to be the next Elon Musk.
¡°Looking at the list, you¡¯ve certainly hit the core. Are we going to see the emergence of a Korean version of SpaceX soon?¡±
¡°I want the blueprints and one sample of each item. They will never be leaked to the outside, and there will be no additional requests. Martin, how are you going back to the US?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be using a C-17 transport ne from this base. It may be a bit bumpy, but it¡¯s fine.¡±
¡°Well then, I¡¯ll arrange for you to take one sample of the railgun with you. Of course, it¡¯s on the condition that we get the exact design specifications.¡±
¡°¡Mr. Yu Ji-ha, I hope you understand that my schedule-¡°
¡°If you can have everything ready within two days, would that be enough?¡±
Martin, taken aback by Yuji¡¯s casual remark, looked at him with disbelief. Could the coreponent of a railgun be prepared so quickly?
With a calm smile, Yu Ji-ha replied, ¡°If you ept this condition, the US military won¡¯t have to worry about railgun barrels or capacitors anymore. You can even make design modifications as you please.¡±
It meant that it could be easily adapted to other tforms. For example, a railgun for ballistic missile defense¡
¡°I¡¯m sorry, I need to make a quick call before giving you an answer.¡±
¡°Take your time.¡±
An hourter, Martin returned with a longer dy than expected.
¡°I have good news to share. The White House has given the green light to proceed. Soon, a technology transfer manager from NASA will contact you.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡±
And so, the deal was done.
Yu Ji-ha and the American personnel finallypleted several pages of the agreement after tedious negotiations.
As promised, the C-17 transport aircraft, carrying Martin and the NASA manager, was loaded with a ck Metal cannon.
Passing soldiers looked in awe, and the officer checking the LIR raised an eyebrow.
¡°I¡¯ve been curious since they loaded it. What¡¯s this huge thing?¡±
¡°Well¡ it¡¯s something that our Navy friends will really appreciate.¡±
¡°Wow.¡±
The transport aircraft carrying the ck Metal cannon sped down the runway at Osan Air Base.
Chapter 19: A Failed Contract and Twisted Truths
Chapter 19: A Failed Contract and Twisted Truths
Arma faithfully carried out the tasks entrusted to her by her master, who was busy with various contracts.
One of them was the creation of a smart factory that would produce ck metal batteries.
She had designed the process to be significantly more automated than before.
However, she could not achieveplete automation due to her master¡¯s instructions.
¡°We can¡¯t fully automate everything. That would cause a massive loss of jobs. South Korea is already in chaos due to high unemployment rates. We don¡¯t want to make things worse.¡±
One of Yu Ji-ha¡¯s goals was to increase his influence.
He had to maintain a certain number of employees to build a positive image for the Si Group and expand its influence ordingly.
As a result, Arma had to deliberately introduce inefficiencies into the entire process, from electrode production and assembly to Martian refining.
[It¡¯s terrible that I have to design such inefficient processes with my own hands.]
¡°Just hold on a little longer. The time wille when we don¡¯t have to worry about appearances.¡±
That would be after they established the United Nations of Humanity in the North Pacific.
Arma carefully reviewed the proposals she had selected for consideration.
She had to evaluate numerous matters, such as securing ck metal from various countries, acquiringnd, and constructing factories.
However, she skimmed through them mechanically.
¡°Leo Electric Cars? Why are they proposing a supply n when we haven¡¯t even secured enough ck metal? Secure it first, then we¡¯ll talk.¡±
[I will prepare the relevant task instructions¡]
¡°And Apple¡ Isn¡¯t this something that should be handled by Si Auto? Why did ite here?¡±
Apple¡¯s proposal revealed their desire to create their own car through Si Auto. However, their demands were excessive.
[They want full control over the hardware. They want to turn Si Auto into their subcontractor. By the way, if I may inform you, Apple has already been rejected by several carpanies.]
¡°So, basically, they want us to manufacture a car for them, and then they will just add some software and call it Apple Car?¡±
[Your understanding is almost urate.]
¡°This is ridiculous.¡±
Yu Ji-ha tore apart the battery supply proposal from Apple.
¡°Put any future proposals from Apple at the very bottom of the list.¡±
If it were only about money, Yu Ji-ha would have epted Apple¡¯s proposal regardless of their attitude.
However, what Yu Ji-ha wanted was not money but positive influence.
He needed people who would support him no matter what he did.
¡°Volkswagen¡ They want us to supply batteries in bulk? Don¡¯t they have any ck metal?¡±
[Due to the narrow seas¡ thanks to that, Germany, which has many global automotive groups, is in a difficult situation. The UK refused to supply them with ck metal.]
¡°German carpanies¡ Damn, there are too many of them.¡±
Companies like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Volkswagen were abundant, surpassing future car manufacturers.
Although they had focused on traditional internalbustion engine cars, their production of electric vehicles exceeded six million units in a year.
If they couldn¡¯t secure a supply of ck metal batteries from somewhere, they would fall behind to the second tier.
Yu Ji-ha nced at the map showing the ck metal storehouses and tilted his head when he looked at the Russian side.
¡°There are two locations onnd in Russia. Wouldn¡¯t it be convenient for Germany to contact them?¡±
[Last year, when Russia assassinated a human rights activist, Germany strongly condemned them, and there was a case where natural gas supply was cut off.]
¡°It¡¯s a troublesome rtionship. For now¡ let them know that we are willing to supply the premium line.¡±
[I will deliver the task instructions.]
Arma would write and deliver the task instructions, but it was the employees who would actually carry out the tasks.
Communication could be problematic, but fortunately, the new recruits in thepany were quite proficient in English.
¡°As for Russia¡ They want to confirm the storehouse quantities together and even conduct mining?¡±
[In Russia, the storehouse quantities of ck metal are quite substantial. In contrast, their domestic industry is in poor condition. It seems they want to leverage the abundant ck metal to initiate new business ventures.]
¡°They want to coborate with us¡ Not a bad idea. Let¡¯s at least hear what they have to say.¡±
She had received proposals from various countries andpanies, and Arma dealt with them one by one.
Unexpectedly, a proposal came from Toyota in Japan, but they also requested a visit.
¡°When you mention ¡®senior,¡¯ are you referring to my father? Why are they mentioning my father?¡±
[When Si Auto separated from the Future Car Group, they received assistance regarding the production line from him.]
¡°Well, I can¡¯t just ignore this.¡±
In this era, it was rtivelymon for sons to repay their fathers¡¯ debts. It wasn¡¯t asking for something extraordinary, and meeting to hear the contract conditions seemed reasonable enough.
[But, Master, the public opinion in Japan is not favorable. I advise against going this time.]
¡°But Japan is a developed country and a democracy, right? They can¡¯t detain me.¡±
[It¡¯s not about being detained. It means they will treat you with contempt. The public opinion in Japan regarding ck metal and batteries is highly divided, but the prevailing sentiment is that it¡¯s presumptuous and unforgivable.]
¡°¡Unforgivable for what?¡±
[They see ck metal as a divine metal, and using it recklessly¡]
Yu Ji-ha let out a hollowugh.
¡°ck metal is not a divine metal. It¡¯s the shell of an extraterrestrial creature. So you¡¯re saying they¡¯ll proceed with the contract and then make an announcement?¡±
[I can¡¯t say for sure. But considering the magnitude of their shock, their attitude towards you won¡¯t be normal.]
¡°Was it that shocking?¡±
¡°At the demonstration, a Gundam happened to appear¡ The robot that Fukuda-san modified is one of Japan¡¯s symbols.¡±
¡°It must have caused amotion.¡±
¡°If you check the international news section of Japanese portal sites, around 40% of the articles are about you, Master, Shira Energy, ck metal, and batteries. There¡¯s a high level of interest.¡±
¡°Why are they so curious about other people¡¯s affairs¡ Anyway, I should hear my father¡¯s intentions.¡±
They had received help from someone, and they had to repay it. He called his father and apologized.
¡ªActually, Toyota helped us a lot when we established the Si Auto line. Of course, they didn¡¯t do it for our sake, but because they wanted a piece of the future car market.
¡ªIt¡¯s okay, Father. I¡¯ll meet them ande back soon.
¡ªI¡¯m sorry to trouble you. By the way, we have finished the design for the new mining ship.
Really? That was quick.
¡ªWe only need to make some minor changes to the deck and the starboard side. It won¡¯t take long. And the people at the Design Department are very impressed with your design. They say there¡¯s nothing to fix.
¡®Well, it¡¯s Arma who designed it, so that¡¯s expected.¡¯
He hung up after a brief conversation.
Now he had to go to Japan and clear the debt in his heart.
¡
¡°¡¡±
He sat alone in the office that looked like a warehouse.
He knew they would be hostile, but he didn¡¯t think they would be this petty.
This ce was neither Toyota nor Panasonic headquarters, nor was it the modest office of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA).
Office supplies were lying around messily, and the only desk was covered with dust.
On the whiteboard, two sheets of A4 paper were attached, with the words ¡°Toyota-Panasonic Exnation Session on ck Metal¡± written on them.
¡°They never nned to sign a contract from the start.¡±
They had summoned him to this shabby ce, told him their stance one-sidedly, and then tried to send him away.
That was the scenario the twopanies had in mind.
Soon, the reporters would flock in, writing articles to spread around. In the shabby office, with Yu Ji-ha sitting alone, the image wouldn¡¯t be very ttering, would it?
He didn¡¯t know how it would benefit them, but it would quench the thirst of some Japanese who craved a sense of victory.
¡°Pathetic bunch.¡±
Yu Ji-ha had no personal feelings towards the twopanies.
But if they kept acting like this, they would lose out, and that would be their own fault.
Whether they knew it or not.
¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for 30 minutes, and they still haven¡¯t shown up¡¡±
In a situation like this, timeliness was more important than anything else. This was more than just hostility.
With a cold face, Yu Ji-ha left the office and met two executives from Toyota and Panasonic at the end of the hallway, with an interpreter by their side.
¡°We would like to talk about the ck metal contract from now on.¡±
But Yu Ji-ha¡¯s reply was frosty.
¡°What kind of contract can you make in a ce like this? And you made me wait for 30 minutes.¡±
¡°We¡¯re sorry. But we also had our own issues to deal with¡¡±
They said they were sorry and bowed their heads, but there was no sincerity in their words.
They seemed to think that they had an overwhelming advantage.
¡°I¡¯m grateful for the help Toyota gave to Si Auto. As a sign of thanks, I came here to talk things over. But is this how you treat a guest? Do you always treat foreignpanies like this?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not always like this.¡±
¡°Oh, so I¡¯m someone you can look down on. I see.¡±
As Yu Ji-ha turned around, the reporters rushed in, seizing the chance to start their reporting.
The old executive¡¯s neck tensed up, maybe feeling empowered by the situation.
¡°ck metal is abundant in Japan. And there have been many cases where people with ck metal factors have appeared. In other words, we don¡¯t need your help.¡±
¡°Then why did you call me here?¡±
¡°To tell you these things.¡±
¡°You must be crazy.¡±
¡°Please mind yournguage, Mr. Yu Ji-ha.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face turned cold.
¡°You can¡¯t even show the basic manners and show your true colors. Well, I get the intentions of bothpanies. We won¡¯t have any more business with you.¡±
¡°That¡¯s fine by us.¡±
Click, click.
The reporters eagerly snapped the sh on their cameras.
This was the scene the twopanies wanted to create.
After the announcement of the ck metal battery, the stock prices of bothpanies kept falling, and they needed some drastic measures to recover.
Inviting Yu Ji-ha from Shi Energy for a spectacle was the solution they came up with.
It would be shameful if the whole truth came out, but they didn¡¯t have to worry since it happened in Japan.
The Japanese media would selectively release the footage and quotes provided by the twopanies, making Yu Ji-ha look like an idiot.
Whenbined with Yu Ji-ha¡¯s past history, it would make a wonderful show.
Some Japanese people would sarcastically say that a drug addict made the battery.
But they were wrong.
The gue Core, near the Japanese waters, had already been taken by Arma.
That meant the supply of ck metal was limited.
Japan would soon face a ck metal shortage since there would be no more supply.
¡°You brought this on yourselves.¡±
With a sour tongue, Yu Ji-ha got on the ne back home.
He had decided topletely cut off Toyota and Panasonic from the roadmap for the rebuilding of the United Human Alliance.
There would be no future business with the twopanies.
Just as they wanted.
A few weeks after Yu Ji-ha came back.
Famous Japanese economic magazines posted articles on their portal sites.
The picture in the article showed a man sitting gloomily in what looked like a warehouse.
The economic magazine called him the CEO of a Korean energypany, stressing his recent failure in negotiations with Toyota.
But those who read the article knew exactly who he was ¨C Yu Ji-ha, the CEO of Si Energy.
¡ªYu Ji-ha, dejected after failed negotiations with Toyota.
¨CFailed contract with the world¡¯s biggest car maker, Toyota¡ Is this the beginning of Shi Energy¡¯s downfall?
It was a tant twist of the truth.
Toyota was the one who called Yu Ji-ha in the first ce, and he had just gone to Japan to talk about the contract but was treated with contempt and came back home.
But journalists close to Toyota and Panasonic twisted the truth.
They wrote the article as if Yu Ji-ha had pleaded for the supply to be given.
Even though the article was published for a short time, thousands ofments poured in.
¡ªApany with about 100 employees deserves that kind of treatment.
-¨CSo cruel and cold. I can¡¯t stopughing.
¡ªDid theye to beg for a contract from Toyota? Sorry, but we¡¯re not interested in anything from Korea.
¡ªSomething doesn¡¯t add up. They¡¯reing to ask for a contract when there¡¯s a severeck of ck metal batteries?
¡ªThe Korean media is saying that Shi Energy got offers from manufacturers all over the world, not just Toyota¡¯s direct approach.
¡ªThis article doesn¡¯t make sense from the beginning. In B2B, it¡¯smon sense to discuss opinions before a contract. It¡¯s impossible to sit alone in an office like a warehouse like that.
¡ªIt was very rude to assign such an office like a warehouse in the first ce.
Although there were somements that were closer to the truth, they were outnumbered by thousands of opposingments that pushed them down.
To the Japanese people who read such articles, the truth didn¡¯t matter much.
They just wanted to see Korea being humiliated and Japan prospering.
¡ªWell, we have ck metal in our country too. Now Panasonic just needs to make batteries out of it.
¡ªJapan has a muchrger poption than Korea. Logically speaking, there should be many talented people with that skill.
¡ªThe survey team went to Fukuoka, so we¡¯ll soon hear about the storage amount.
But as time went by, weird rumors started spreading online.
¡ªWhy isn¡¯t the ck metal storage amount being updated on the Economy and Industry Agency¡¯s website?
¡ªAre they stupid? How can they measure the storage amount in real-time?
¡ªIt¡¯s suspicious that the Economy and Industry Agency doesn¡¯t even provide the minimum numbers.
Even though it might be hard to calcte the exact storage amount of ck metal, the range can be estimated.
Si Energy¡¯s website has information on the status of various countries, except Japan.
The Economy and Industry Agency is not giving any data.
There¡¯s no need to share such secrets with a ce like Korea.
As usual, the opinions on the inte flowed in a way that avoided any link to Korea.
But there was a growing number of people who found the actions of the government, including the Economy and Industry Agency, fishy.
Based on local newspaper articles, they imed that the government was hiding something.
¡ªThe US, UK, Russia, and Korea are all giving subsidies due to a sharp drop in ck metal catch near the production sites. But in Fukuoka, the catch is increasing. What¡¯s going on?
¡ªThere are weird rumors going around in the 6th Defense Force. It seems they are not doing any surveys with the measuring lines. They are just floating the ships.
¡ªA tweet from a self-defense officer? Can you give a link?
¡ªOh, it seems to have been deleted.
¡ªThis is definitely the government trying to cover it up.
As the situation got suspicious, each TV station nned a segment where they looked for people with ck metal abilities in busy areas.
¡ªIf you can transform this ck metal, you could win 100 million yen! Who will be the lucky one?
But sadly, no lucky one appeared.
The desperate TV station visited a Panasonic researcher who was reported to have ck metal abilities.
But he could only transform it, nothing else.
It was nothingpared to the sophisticated Gundam shown in Korea.
The Japanese audience who had gathered in front of their TVsined.
¡ªWhat? Why are they censoring it?
¡ªLogically speaking, it must not be ready for release.
¡ªThe panel¡¯s reactions are not fake, though.
¡ªHe doesn¡¯t even have a smile on his face¡
¨CDad, where¡¯s the Gundam?
But not all Japanese people were deceived by this show.
The workers of a small electric carpany, KODINE, in Tokyo, asked for samples from Shi Energy and got a polite reply.
They agreed to lend three samples with a condition to return them within six months.
With cheers of joy, they joined the camera crew and reporters from the quirky TV station known as TV Tokyo and headed straight to Korea.
And after waiting for a few days, they finally got to meet Yu Ji-ha in person.
Surprisingly, the Japanese who came in person were their first visitors.
¡°Nice to meet you. I¡¯m Yu Ji-ha.¡±
¡°Boss, I have one question to ask. There are rumors going around on our side, and I wanted to check¡¡±
When KODINE¡¯s workers tranted the Japanese article and showed it to him, his expression changed oddly.
¡°I was sitting there, but the exnation is wrong. I went there because I got an invitation from Toyota.¡±
¡°They didn¡¯t really treat you badly after calling you here, did they?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want to talk about their attitude. But¡¡±
¡°But?¡±
¡°From now on, I won¡¯t work with Toyota or Panasonic in any way.¡±
¡°Are you serious?¡±
¡°Very serious. I mean I will act like they don¡¯t exist.¡±
Why would he be so harsh because of the treatment he got?
Anyway, since it was not rted to KODINE, they changed the topic.
¡°Oh, the Gundam at the demonstration was amazing. Can we make simr changes here too?¡±
¡°Sure. We have the cube here¡¡±
As Yu Ji-ha took out the dismantler and the cube, workers who could be called otaku specimens volunteered one after another.
¡°Rock-paper-scissors! I won!¡±
A muscr worker won and put on the dismantler, holding the cube.
And then, oh no.
The cube changed into a slim figure of a girl smiling.
The KODINE workers were disgusted.
¡°This guy ruined it¡¡±
¡°Hey, Itano. Stop showing your tastes when you¡¯vee this far.¡±
Yu Ji-ha calmly smiled and encouraged other workers to make changes too.
Soon, various mascots like Mario, Pikachu, and Kumamon appeared.
While the workers chuckled andughed, the TV Tokyo cameraman captured the whole process through the lens.
And after a while, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s interview was broadcasted through TV Tokyo.
The Japanese were very shocked.
¡ªWhat¡ so he went there because of Toyota¡¯s invitation?
¡ªWhy? Wasn¡¯t it a matter of pride for Japan?
¡ªThen, why was he sitting alone in an office like a warehouse¡
But it ended there.
The Japanese were good at hiding problems.
They tended to think that if it wasn¡¯t visible, there was no problem, and many people thought there was no need to make a fuss.
All members of society seemed to have closed their mouths as if they had made a promise.
As a result, articles and videos rted to Yu Ji-ha and Shi Energy started to disappear from the inte.
People didn¡¯t ask about it or dig it up.
The voices of the few who were revealing the small truth were buried by the majority.
Japan went silent.
Medetashi, medetashi.
¡
Chapter 20: The Awakening of the Assault Armor
Chapter 20: The Awakening of the Assault Armor
¨DThe new cannon is so impressive that it inspires awe. The Chief of Staff expressed his admiration, and the Deputy Commander of the 7th Fleet shouted that we should mount that Big Gun on Zoomwalt.
¡°It seems pretty good.¡±
¨DIt¡¯s not just good. This cannon salvaged a whopping 10 billion dors from the trash for us. Don¡¯t you agree?
¡°10 billion dors¡ Ah, that must be the construction cost for three Zoomwalt-ss ships.¡±
¨DYou probably already know, but Zoomwalt is abat ship based on new weapon systems like railguns and HVP. It can¡¯t operate alone.
¡°I understand. So, did Congress approve it easily? It seemed like they didn¡¯t want to spend a single dor more on Zoomwalt.¡±
¨DWe¡¯ll have to convince them from now on. Even the congressional investigative team got fired up when they saw Zoomwalt mentioned in the report.
¡°I would have done the same.¡±
Assistant Secretary Martin¡¯s voice was quite enthusiastic.
Not only was the ck Metal Cannon perfectly installed without any margin of error, but it also passed multiple tests without any issues.
Although there was a slight overload in the middle, it wasn¡¯t the cannon¡¯s fault but rather an issue with the generator¡¯s cooling system.
¨DI¡¯m currently writing the report, but it seems like I¡¯ll be able to visit Korea again soon.
¡°That would be nice.¡±
After the call ended, Arma reported.
[Master, the repair of the Assault Armor you instructed before has beenpleted.]
¡°Oh, already?¡±
¡°It¡¯s currently being transported to the hangar. I¡¯ll disy it on the screen.¡±
The Assault Armor is a small-sized powered exoskeleton created by humanity.
Although it¡¯s called small-sized, it¡¯srger and heavier than most modern fighter jets.
The mission of this powered exoskeleton is simple: delivering the infiltrator reaction warheads to the gue Fleet.
That¡¯s why the pilots of the Assault Armor are often referred to as couriers.
¡°It¡¯s been a while¡¡±
He looked up at the screen with a nostalgic expression on his face.
Hemissioned at the age of 15 and started piloting the Assault Armor within a year, recognized for his talent.
He had experienced many close brushes with death and had be a hero of humanity, feeling a proud sense of fulfillment.
Although he was living on Earth now, he had felt truly alive when he flew through space in the Assault Armor.
Only a pilot could understand the exhration of piercing through the barrage of bioweapon projectiles and etherser bombardment, breaking through the gue Fleet, and sessfully obliterating the gue gship with the reaction warhead.
He asked with a trembling voice, ¡°Can I pilot it now?¡±
[Unfortunately, Master, your physical condition cannot withstand it. Additional procedures are required.]
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s physical body surpassed that of a human, but it was still too much to handle the Assault Armor.
¡°How long would it take for that?¡±
¡°We estimate about four days inside the treatment capsule. You should take a break or something.¡±
¡°Once I handle all the backlogs, I should be able to spare that time.¡±
With a tinge of regret, he dialed the number provided by the Blue House Secretary and contacted the President.
¡°I was actually about to call you first, but it seems we¡¯re on the same wavelength.¡±
¡°Apologies, but what is it?¡±
¡ªSince there¡¯s no urgent matter, please go ahead, Chairman Yu. Is it about the situation in Japan?
As expected, he already knew.
He shared the story of being mistreated in Japan, and a hollowughter came from the speaker.
¡ªCan something like that happen¡ even if one¡¯s pride is hurt? Anyway, you¡¯ve been through a lot.
¡°After that, we decided not to do business with Toyota and Panasonic. I assume they have the same intention as well.¡±
¨CHmm¡
President Lee Hyun-seong¡¯s voice revealed a sense of embarrassment.
¡ªI believe you won¡¯t ept the apologies from those twopanies.
¡°It¡¯s really difficult. To be honest, let me be frank. I received a call this morning through the Japanese Embassy. It was from the Prime Minister.¡±
The Japanese Prime Minister called the President of South Korea first.
It was strange for Japan, which had consistently rejected summit talks and ignored all contact attempts, to reach out first.
¡ªPerhaps it¡¯s because of ck Metal.
¡°Ah, you mean the Fukuoka ck Metal, right? There are rumors that the catch limit is being restricted.¡±
¡ªThat¡¯s correct. The catch in Fukuoka haspletely recovered. It means that ck Metal doesn¡¯t propagate there.
¡ªThat¡¯s a big problem. Personally, I have no intention of forcing Chairman Yu¡¯s hand. Although in my heart, I want to attach various conditions¡
¡°Just in case, I¡¯ll mention it, but I have no emotional attachment to Japan. I¡¯ve excluded only Toyota and Panasonic.¡±
¡ªBut those twopanies will desperately cling to you, so in the end, the three of you are in the same boat. The Japanese government can¡¯t afford to give up on them either.
¡°Then, all we can do is express our disappointment to other countries while watching the ck Metal catch deplete day by day.¡±
The main target will likely be Russia.
The United States will be overwhelmed with demand for their own industries.
However, the Russo-Japanese rtionship was so hostile that the Korea-Japan rtionship seemed smooth byparison.
Due to China¡¯s expansionst year, Russia sided with China in the Senkaku fishing boat seizure incident.
They had a history of conflict over the Kuril Inds, so the two countries engaged in fierce psychological warfare.
¡ªRussia might approach us soon. Thanks to Chairman Yu, I have a lot of work to do these days, haha.
¡°Oh¡ by the way, President, I have something to tell you.¡±
¡ªYou mean the railgun, right? I heard it was tested in the United States. It would have been better if we hadn¡¯t dismantled the TF.
¡°Wasn¡¯t ADD conducting research on that?¡±
¡ªEven though the US and China gave up, there¡¯s no way we could afford it. Only negative reports kepting, and one by one, researchers left. In fact, the budget was severelycking¡
He still seemed to regret it.
He considered proposing an acquisition of U-jin Industries but gave up on the idea.
The facilities and equipment would still be there, so he could acquire Si Hi-Tech and slowly bring them over.
¡°With just the railgun, we could significantly offset China¡¯s maritime pressure.¡±
¡ªIf only we had more aircraft carriers¡ Oh, and the Army also joined the ck Metalpetition.
¡°Why would the Army¡?¡±
¡ªEven if it involves redesigning the K-3 tanks, we need to incorporate ck Metal as armor. Not only for artillery but also for shells.
¡°I¡¯m not sure if attending that meeting will result in the generals tearing us apart.¡±
¡ªNot the Air Force generals. They have no rtion to ck Metal, so they¡¯re fine. Chairman Yu should have seen their gloomy faces.
The conversation ended warmly.
Then he had to deal with the municipalities throughout the country.
Everyone was moring to attract battery factories.
It wasn¡¯t just one or two, but over 30mittees were formed, mobilizing the media and citizen organizations to shape public opinion.
Of course, Yu Ji-ha was not bothered by the municipalities.
He personally took the microphone and warned the local governments.
¡°I will make all decisions regarding site selection and factory construction. Any noisyints from the municipalities will be ignored.¡±
Some viewed him as too arrogant for just a battery factory.
But when Yu Ji-ha announced the scale of investment, the voices of objection quickly subsided.
¡°This year, the German Automobile Alliance hasmitted 4 billion euros in investment. Ford from the United States will invest 2 billion dors. Let me reiterate that this is just the initial investment. We are currently considering investments up to the seventh phase.¡±
Given that most of the world¡¯s top carpanies were jumping in, the scale was enormous.
What was mind-boggling was that this was just the beginning.
There was an immense demand for ck Metal batteries in industries such as smartphones,ptops, tablets, and energy storage systems (ESS).
And he held a position that could coordinate the entire ecosystem he was building.
It was dubbed the ¡°Super .¡±
¡°If you want to attract a battery factory, please offer me better conditions. I will select based on the conditions, employment status, and location.¡±
The municipalities turned everything upside down to review the conditions.
Meanwhile, in the Settler, the production of Arma¡®s body was reaching its final stages.
Sssht.
As the hose came out of its mouth, an orange liquid flowed out.
Arma opened its eyes.
¡
2180, Earth
In the United Human Federation, there were almost no restrictions on androids except for one case.
Artificial intelligence above a certain level should not possess a body.
That¡¯s why there was a hidden corner in the United Human Federation¡¯s androids that seemed somewhat lifeless.
They were hard to distinguish from humans externally, but as soon as you had a conversation with them, you quickly noticed.
However, the rules themselves did not apply to Yu Ji-ha and Arma.
The United Human Federation had already disappeared and no longer existed.
[Activation of the Body Manufacturing Device]
As the capsule opened, Arma slowly emerged.
She looked at her boss, Yu Ji-ha, and smiled brightly.
¡°How do I look? Do I seem well-made?¡±
¡°Except for being too shy. Anyway, put on some clothes. There¡¯s a lot to do from now on.¡±
¡°As youmand.¡±
¡°And from now on, don¡¯t call me ¡®Master.¡¯ Just call me ¡®Boss.''¡±
¡°Yes, Boss.¡±
Arma, with her cream-colored hair, smiled brightly.
As he looked at her wearing the sses, he saw a glimpse of Lucia ovepped with her.
¡°Is it because of the mental model? Even their habits are simr.¡±
Especially the gesture of pushing up the sses with her fingers was undeniably Lucia.
Finally, Arma, fully dressed, stood in front of her boss.
¡°With this, don¡¯t I look like a foreign secretary?¡±
Yu Ji-ha raised his chin and looked at her, then sighed.
¡°You stand out too much. It would have been better if you had some wrinkles.¡±
It wasn¡¯t that her appearance wascking.
She was just too beautiful.
She wore high heels and stood over 180cm tall, with a toned physique like an athlete.
¡°Still, I like this appearance.¡±
Arma turned around to show herself to her boss.
However, he had a lingering concern that she had developed her chest too much.
¡°Well, if you like it, that¡¯s fine. By the way, what about the weapons?¡±
¡°I currently possess these weapons.¡±
She demonstrated her weapons in front of Yu Ji-ha.
She had the standard sma Shield and Directional EMP Shockwave Generator, along with an Ether Laser and a Coil Gun.
Especially the Ether Laser boasted tremendous destructive power, only slightly lower in output than what the gue used.
In summary, Arma was armed with a small-sized but high-powered neutralizer, capable of facing off against military units head-on.
The power source was a power cell,pactpared to those used in exploration probes, but with high output.
Additionally, she had the strength to push aside tanks and possessed powerful regenerative capabilities, so there was no need to worry about danger.
Although one might think she could fly with such capabilities, unfortunately, such a feature did not exist.
¡°In addition, I can take selfies.¡±
Click.
The left eye, doubling as a high-performance camera, took a picture of a human and an android.
Then, the right eye projected the photo as a hologram in the air.
Yu Ji-ha, nonchntly looking at the hologram, said, ¡°You look too Korean.¡±
¡°Recently, there seems to be a trend of foreigners bing infatuated with Korea. It seems like they¡¯re also earning a lot of money.¡±
¡°Enough about that. What about the others?¡±
He referred to the androids other than Arma.
Their appearances were set as ordinary Korean men to be able to pass as employees.
Their personalities were somewhat introverted and reserved, with few words.
To avoid giving away their android status, this was deemed the best option.
¡°We are currently working on synthesizing the neocortex. It will take approximately 500 hours toplete.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll adjust until it¡¯s ready to be deployed alongside space development. And what about my physical modifications?¡±
¡°We can begin immediately.¡±
To pilot the Assault Armor, one needed a superhuman physique and various modifications.
Firstly, the control itself was not easy. It requiredplete synchronization between the brain and the armor¡¯sputer through BMI (brain-machine interface).
The central signal transmission fluid, which reced cerebrospinal fluid, was used for synchronization.
This was only the first stage, and ultimately, one had to undergo seven stages of modification surgery to qualify for boarding the Assault Armor.
However, as Yu Ji-ha was an Omega-level psychic, the final procedure of Ether Circuit insertion could be omitted.
[Medical Capsule Open.]
As Yu Ji-ha entered the capsule, the procedure began.
Orange fluid filled the capsule, and a medicalser sliced through his abdomen, extracting organs.
His eardrums and semicircr canals were reced with fiber ceramic, and even his heart was dissected.
Although these procedures were referred to as surgeries, they were more like modifications to turn a human into aponent of the Assault Armor.
Despite undergoing such modifications, humanity met its end, defeated by the gue in thete 22nd century.
¡°Biochip synchronizationplete.¡±
Finally, the 1:1 synchronization between the biochip imnted inside Yu Ji-ha¡¯s body and the Assault Armor wasplete.
He could now handle the armor as if it were his own limbs.
Lucia, the leader of the Artifact Analysis Agency Arc, referred to pilots as monsters.
¨DControlling a dragonfly with your mind and flying through a torrential rain where you can¡¯t see even a meter ahead for hours. It¡¯s like facing death with every drop that hits you.
Among the pilots maintaining such skills, she was the best Uber pilot.
Throughout his 40-year career as a pilot, he had been shot down only a few times, and he had single-handedly annihted the gue Fleet more than ten times.
Nevertheless, he was still at a disadvantage when it came to facing the gue swarms that descended from outer space.
They were simply too numerous and powerful.
¡°Recoveryplete. Capsule opening.¡±
After four days of recovery maintenance, he emerged from the capsule.
Having reced his right eye with an artificial one, he could now even zoom in and out.
Above all, he could now visualize the gravitational radar information transmitted by the gship directly in his mind.
In other words, it meant that he knew what was around even with his eyes closed and ears blocked.
¡°Good job. The Assault Armor is perfectly prepared.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±
They rode the walker and headed to the hangar.
The Assault Armor, resembling a wasp, was confined in the containment cage.
¡°Long time no see, Dingo.¡±
¡
Chapter 21: The Return of the Last Survivor
Chapter 21: The Return of the Last Survivor
The Return of the Last Survivor
[Superconductor capacitor fully charged. Detaching from the confinement cage.]
[Unlocking bolts. Injection preparationplete.]
[Initiating injection.]
The hatch in the storage bay opened, and the assault armor hanging on the rail shot out.
Instead of seawater, a blue warp gate awaited it right in front of the hatch.
The warp gate was created by the ether field emitted from the fusion reactor, which pushed aside the seawater.
Beyond the warp gate was space.
The sr system of the 22nd century, where humanity had perished.
He savored the unique sensation of being hurled into space after a long time of confinement.
Ordinary people would easily feel nauseous in such a situation, but he was very ustomed to it.
¡°Phew¡¡±
The lens of the spinning assault armor captured the red Earth.
With a heavy heart, he began synchronization.
[The concentration of central signal transmission fluid is increasing. Synchronization rate is rising¡]
Before he knew it, he became aware of a giant wasp-shaped mecha instead of his own body.
His arms and legs disappeared, reced by honeybird wing packs and main boosters.
As he moved his head, the head of the assault armor turned slowly.
[Synchronizationplete. Excellent at 88%.]
That would be satisfactory for an ordinary pilot.
He couldn¡¯t be satisfied with that level of maintenance, but considering it had been a long time since he piloted, he reluctantly epted it.
¡°Let¡¯s go, Dingo.¡±
A dazzling golden light burst from the main boosters.
The assault armor vanished from its position, leaving only an afterimage.
And a few minutester, he could see the red Earth up close.
¡°It¡¯spletely devastated.¡±
The Earth had transformed almost like Mars.
Fragments of perception were scattered, swirling around the Earth like rings.
Under such circumstances, even the mega cities, which could be considered humanity¡¯sst stronghold, would not have been able to withstand.
[Signal detected from the knowledge capsule. Transmitting coordinates.]
Yu Ji-ha and the assault armor moved in response to the signal and discovered something.
It was a fragment of the knowledge capsule that had been part of the colonization fleet.
¡°Boss, we need to confirm the data.¡±
¡°Just wait a moment. Deploy the walker.¡±
The walker attached to the exterior of the assault armor approached the wreckage.
It connected to the controlputer and transmitted the data to Arma.
¡°Unfortunately, a significant amount of data has been lost. There¡¯s hardly anything left in the field of history.¡±
¡°History¡ It¡¯s a pity, but it¡¯s not that important in the grand scheme of things.¡±
It would be better to know about the future, but with the support of Arma and the Settler, they could ovee any obstacle.
And besides, there wasn¡¯t much of great significance in the history until 2180.
In the early 2100s, after the Tragedy of the Night of Sorrow, humanity gathered in Australia and started anew.
That¡¯s how the five mega cities and the newly formed United Humanity Federation came into existence.
These powers unintentionally neglected and buried the previous history.
They fell into optimism, thinking they had missed the artifacts of the Prophet and failed to recognize when the gue appeared.
As a result, the United Humanity Federation adopted a more pragmatic and immediate ideology.
Survival from the gue was the priority, so it was an unavoidable decision.
[Data transmissionplete. Sending coordinates of the Sybir satellite.]
After a while, the assault armor arrived in front of the massivebat support satellite, Sybir.
This satellite providedbat support to the assault armor in the airspace above the mega cities.
The reason the gue Fleet left this thing behind was likely because there was a huge feast called Earth right in front of them.
Fortunately, it didn¡¯t seem to be heavily damaged.
[With a little repair, we can use it right away. We just need to put it in Earth¡¯s geostationary orbit.]
¡°But won¡¯t we be discovered? There are quite a few satellites out there.¡±
[If we apply an optical camougework, we won¡¯t be detected.]
¡°Then how do we bring this along¡¡±
[ording to calctions, if we expand the ether field of the assault armor to its maximum, we can tow it.]
¡°And then we dismantle it and bring it aboard the Settler. Seems like we don¡¯t have a salvage shop nearby.¡±
[We need to save where we can.]
Well, that¡¯s true.
Yu Ji-ha roughly epted the n and headed towards Earth.
¡
The assault armor descended onto the ravagednd.
Arma detected signals through the gravity sensors and issued a warning.
¡°There are five gravity anomalies present. It seems there are gue cores nearby. One of them is a Titan-ss that you¡¯re familiar with, Boss.¡±
¡°So, it died here.¡±
The Titan-ss was the most powerful individual among the gue, excluding the Queen. While smaller in sizepared to the Behemoth-ss, they possessed fierce attacking power, requiring a properly organized fleet to stand a chance against them.
What was even more astonishing was their high level of intelligence. Some individuals were almost at the level of humans, and one of them even recognized and tracked Yu Ji-ha¡¯s assault armor.
That¡¯s when it became clear that he was the nemesis of the gue.
The United Humanity Federation assigned separate identification codes to the Titan-ss entities, and the one that had been stalking Yu Ji-ha was given the code name ¡°Princess.¡±
¡°So, the Princess is dead. We¡¯ll have to find the core and take itter.¡±
¡°The warp gate¡¯s maintenance time is not that long. ording to calctions, we have 1 hour and 30 minutes remaining.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll go soon.¡±
Yu Ji-ha opened the cockpit of the assault armor and set foot on the ground.
The Mega City, boasting a poption of 100 million, had left only traces behind. The Undercities were turned upside down, and the numerous towering buildings that once pierced the sky had evaporated.
Humanity, which had boasted a history of over a million years, had finally perished. Yu Ji-ha tried his best to hide his despair of bing thest survivor.
¡°Lucia¡ Vasili¡ Valter¡ Bok¡ Esil¡¡±
His beloved lover, respected superior, and trusted subordinates no longer existed.
Of course, the Settler had systems in ce for the reconstruction of humanity. With the use of the Bio Bank, it was more than possible to ¡°produce¡± humans through their gic material.
However, even if knowledge was injected into humans produced in such a way, they could never be the same as the original humans.
Because they couldn¡¯t share memories.
¡°Even if they look simr, they¡¯re not the same person.¡±
In the world where gravity had gone haywire, he sat alone for a long time.
Arma, who had been silent all this time, reported.
¡°Comparing the remains of the original Mega City¡¯s terrain, there are some facilities left underground.¡±
¡°Oh? What¡¯s left roughly?¡±
¡°There¡¯s the Prophet¡¯s Relic Repository and a rare metals warehouse. There seems to be quite a lot of useful things left.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t do much without weapons for now. I¡¯ll have to dig them upter on the Settler.¡±
¡°For now, you just need to bring the gue Core and the Sibir satellite.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s do that, then.¡±
Yu Ji-ha looked up at the red sky onest time.
Although humanity had perished, he had survived.
Now, he had to rebuild the United Humanity Federation along with the past humanity.
To be honest, it was an almost impossible task.
There were over 200 countries on the current Earth, and countless ethnic groups.
When the Settler first sank into the depths, he asked this question.
¨DIs there a way to unify all of humanity?
Arma¡¯s answer was surprising.
¡°It would be better to surrender to the gue and establish a peace treaty.¡±
While it was possible to control the entire human poption through biochips, it would make them vulnerable to the gue¡¯s attacks.
The gue was not justprised of giant beings like spaceships.
While individuals like Yu Ji-ha, known as Psychers, had the ability to defend against mental intrusion, ordinary people were incapable of it.
Therefore, to progress rapidly, an authoritarian regime was necessary.
Within 70 years, an authoritarian regime needed to be established to counter the gue.
In fact, the United Humanity Federation could be considered an authoritarian regime, consisting of full citizens and the Supreme Council.
Ordinary humans were born asmon citizens and gradually umted points to advance to be free citizens and then full citizens.
In this process,mitting crimes or causing social disturbances would result in an immediate deduction of points and a potential downgrade in rank.
It could even lead to bing a Restricted Citizen or an Isted Citizen, limiting one¡¯s freedoms and potentially being expelled from the Mega City.
While this system might be efficient, it would be difficult for it to be epted in the current world.
¡°The advanced nations won¡¯t just stand idly by¡¡±
The advanced nations of the world would panic and attempt to exclude any emerging authoritarian regime.
While it was not to say that they were entirely wrong, Yu Ji-ha had no other choice.
¡°What if we reveal the existence of the gue? Make Settler public as well.¡±
¡°The likelihood of that seeding is much lower. If the true power of Settler is underestimated, it could even lead to a nuclear war.¡±
¡°Well, that wouldn¡¯t work then.¡±
Yu Ji-ha cleanly abandoned the idea of pursuing an alternative approach.
The only answery in governance by an iron fist.
¡
He had returned to the year 2026 with the Sibiri satellite and the gue Core intact.
The Settler ship used the gue Core to produce more ck Metal and scattered it across the ocean.
The fragmented Sibiri satellite was being assembled inside the hangar with the help of the workers.
Arma, who was maintaining it, sipped the drink brought to him and began exining.
¡°The Sibiri is a fourth-generation battle support satellite designed to intercept small fleets entering the atmosphere. It is capable of independentbat, but it is mainly coordinated with ground forces.¡±
¡°We also have Assault Armor on the ground.¡±
¡°Compared to the space navy, it falls short, but it is still capable of holding off a fleet of cruisers.¡±
¡°So, what can this thing do?¡±
¡°Well, it can deploy ion cannons and missile pods. It can also utilize Ethersers, and it has apact but effective gravity radar.¡±
¡°That sounds impressive.¡±
The gravity radar was a device that detected gravitational forces and identified objects in the vicinity.
Even the gue fleet, which used various means to disrupt human detection, couldn¡¯t find a way to counter this radar.
Originally, it was only installed on cruisers and above, but they had seeded in miniaturizing it.
In addition, the satellite had various basic observation equipment installed.
After a while, when the assembly wasplete, Arma asked.
¡°Should we put it in orbit now? There¡¯s a lot of snow around, so we¡¯ll have to drag it to the east beforeunching.¡±
¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what we¡¯ll have to do. If there are no issues, send it up.¡±
Finally, two exploration probes pulled the Sibiri satellite and broke through the atmosphere.
As the satellite settled into its designated orbit, a flood of information poured in.
Among the data, Arma focused on a picture of the Moon.
¡°Arma, open the Starfield Project.¡±
This project presented specific ns and timelines for space exploration.
By following it, they would be able to explore and mine variouss.
However, the true purpose of this project was to secure the artifacts of the Prophet.
The Moon, Earth¡¯s satellite.
The first artifact of the Prophet would arrive there.
Due to a bted discovery by humanity, they failed to recognize the true nature of the gue.
As a result, the tragedy unfolded with the gue fleet locating Earth first.
But now, the story was different.
The Starfield Project would lead the way for space exploration.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s ck eyes gazed beyond the Moon into the vastness of space.
¡
¡°Hello, Mother. I¡¯m Arma Ashford.¡±
¡°Oh¡ She¡¯s a friend I made during my study abroad. We¡¯re not in a deep rtionship, just friends.¡±
Yoo Kyung-seok and Jung Hye-won were shocked to see a woman iming to be their son¡¯s friend.
Where on earth did he find such a model-like person?
tinum blonde hair, taller than an average woman, and a lean physique that reminded them of an athlete. She seemed to belong to a different species altogether.
But as they observed her sitting with slightly bent knees and a polite posture, she looked more like a youngdy who hade to greet her future parents-inw.
¡®Future parents-inw¡ Future parents-inw¡¡¯
Jung Hye-won¡¯s head started to spin.
¡°Well, let me quickly bring some fruit.¡±
As she headed to the kitchen, Arma followed her.
¡°Mother, let me handle the fruit cutting.¡±
To be honest, just listening to her voice, she sounded like a typical Korean.
What was even more surprising was that she was carving the fruit like a real Korean.
She skillfully shaved the skin thinly to create decorative shapes, and it was evident that this was not something she had mastered in a short time.
¡°Um, Arma¡?¡±
She smiled softly.
¡°You can call me Arma. I wanted to greet you properly when we were attending university together, but it¡¯s a bitte now.¡±
¡°Ah, I see.¡±
Being this close, it felt like looking at a doll.
Even Hollywood actors, up close, would have freckles and imperfections, but this youngdy had wless and clear skin like a baby¡¯s.
Surely they didn¡¯t have such a rtionship¡?
Their daughter-inw had specifically mentioned that she wanted a Korean with ck hair¡
While she was caught in confusion, Yu Kyung-seok, who was in the living room, whispered to his son in a low voice.
¡°If it¡¯s during your study abroad¡ Isn¡¯t it dangerous?¡±
The original person had even carried on their bad habits of drinking and drugs when they went to the United States.
If she had been studying alongside someone like that, it would have been obvious.
However, Yu Ji-ha denied it.
¡°She¡¯s not that kind of person. She went to Stanford and is really diligent. Despite her looks, she¡¯s unexpectedly modest.¡±
¡°¡Modest?¡±
Yoo Kyung-seok looked at his wife, who was now chattingfortably with Arma in the kitchen, with a bewildered expression.
If there was a next time, he hoped they wouldn¡¯t bring the baby along.
Arma, who had been carving the fruit, captivated the hearts of Yu Kyung-seok and his wife with her dazzling appearance and sweet aegyo.
In particr, her hobby of collecting gemstones seemed to resonate with Jung Hye-won.
¡°I¡¯ll bring my pearl collection next time. It¡¯s what I¡¯ve gathered over time¡ Here are some pictures.¡±
¡°Wow¡ Even just looking at the pictures, the pink overtones are evident. But how did you develop such a hobby?¡±
¡°As I took care of the pearls that my mom passed down to me, I naturally developed an interest. Pearls are so delicate, you know.¡±
This indicated that Arma had grown up in a prestigious family.
Due to her extensive knowledge, the couple found themselves listening attentively to Arma¡¯s voice.
Unknowingly, Yu Ji-ha fell for Arma¡¯s charms, who had been neglected by society.
¡°She¡¯s bing more and more like Lucia.¡±
With confident charisma, she could lead people, but in bed, she would act like a kitten.
Would Arma be the same?
Yu Ji-ha shook his head.
Anyway, her debut was sessful, but it wasn¡¯tpletely over.
As she had to fulfill her role as a secretary, Yu Ji-ha followed her everywhere, naturally gaining fame.
Thus, when lunchtime arrived, even the executives who usually dined outside stood in line at thepany cafeteria.
Everyone opened their mouths in astonishment as they saw the blonde beauty carrying a tray and serving food.
¡°It really doesn¡¯t suit her¡¡±
¡°I thought someone like her would only eat sds at some fancy dining ce in New York.¡±
¡°Is she acting by eating sausage soup and rice? Is she trying to show her moner¡¯ side?¡±
¡°If that¡¯s acting, she deserves an Oscar.¡±
Thanks to her presence, all the female employees who used to eat lunch while fixing their makeup and surrounding Yu Ji-ha vanished.
It was a good thing for Yu Ji-ha.
Arma was well-received by the employees at the Pangyo office in this way.
¡
Chapter 22: The Press Conference and the Earthquake
Chapter 22: The Press Conference and the Earthquake
Chapter 22: The Press Conference and the Earthquake
In March, a defense industry innovation conference took ce at the Ministry of Defense.
It was a secret meeting, but most of the participants held influential positions in Korea¡¯s defense industry.
Even with the President¡¯s presence, heated debates erupted from the start, as there were only about 20 representatives.
The main issue was how to allocate the scarce supply of ck Metal for defense purposes.
This stemmed from the high cost of ck Metal.
Ever since Chairman Yu Ji-han announced that he could provide it at a low price but in limited quantities, there had been conflicts over its distribution.
Major Jung Kang-hoon, who had a deep and thoughtful expression, spoke up.
He was the head of the next-generation tank development project and needed ck metal more than anyone else.
¡°First, let me show you the test results. It¡¯s a test involving firing shells and anti-tank missiles at the additional armor supplied by Si Energy.¡±
¡°Is that the additional armor te?¡±
The participants, who had only imagined thick and heavy armor tes until now, were astonished.
It looked like nothing more than a thin te.
It seemed vulnerable, like a candle before a storm, when facing the kic energy of the shells.
However, the results were quite the opposite.
The shells fired from the 55-caliber 120mm smoothbore gun not only failed to prate the armor tes but were also deflected.
Considering the prator¡¯s power of 800mm, this was an amazing oue.
The armor tes remained intact even against direct hits from anti-tank missiles, showing no signs of deformation.
As the researchers examined the surface, the video ended with them shaking their heads.
Major Jung Kang-hoon¡¯s voice grew louder.
¡°As you saw in the video, ck metal will greatly enhance the defense capabilities of next-generation tanks. By recing the advanced prator with ck metal, we can achieve up to a 30% increase in pration power. What are the three elements of a tank?¡±
¡°Firepower, defense, and mobility.¡±
Someone answered, and the Major nodded.
¡°Mobility will also be improved. Applying ck metal will reduce the overall weight. To everyone here and to the President, I say this: The next-generation tanks of the Republic of Korea Army require ck Metal.¡±
It was an emotional appeal, but the submarine project division did not back down easily.
¡°Tanks are, of course, a vital part of ground warfare, but¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s not tanks, it¡¯s tanks. Tanks and tanks mean the same thing.¡±
If it is a joke, you may want to add some context or exnation to make it clear for the readers.
¡°Regardless, while tanks can enhance defense with additional armor, submarines need ck metal from the design stage. The stakes are different.¡±
¡°Tanks should also consider ck metal from the design stage. Adding additional armor will change the overall configuration.¡±
¡°Still, isn¡¯t defense more critical? Using ck Metal in submarines is a matter of survival.¡±
Their argument was so intense that it seemed unlikely to reach a consensus anytime soon.
However, from Yu Ji-han¡¯s perspective, the logic on the tank side seemed somewhat weak.
Rejecting the additional armor meant essentially advertising that ck metal had been applied since the early stages of militarization.
Think about it.
ck Metal, known as the hardest metal, had already gained worldwide recognition.
While it was previously impossible to use as a weapon, thanks to Yu Ji-han¡¯s emergence, it became possible.
In such a situation, if the K-3 tank, boasting absolute defense capabilities, were to be unveiled, it would undoubtedly attract tremendous attention.
Considering theckluster export performance of the K-2 ck Panther tank, it was understandable that the Army was eager for more.
Thus, there were plenty of fields that required ck metal.
However, none were as urgent as the frontlinebat units, including the 22nd Division.
¡°Respected President, and esteemed generals. ck Metal will undoubtedly be essential forrge-scale defense projects for our armed forces. However, what if we shift our focus to a more realistic area?¡±
¡°What area are you referring to?¡±
¡°The issue of North Korea¡¯s provocations.¡±
As the PowerPoint presentation showed, Lieutenant Colonel Im Won-sik, the Chief of Staff of the 22nd Division, began exining.
¡°In recent years, due to the severe deterioration of North Korea¡¯s economic situation, there has been a significant increase in defections from the forward-deployed corps. North Korea cannot simply let them go, inevitably leading to shootouts¡¡±
In just the past 25 years, there had been four instances of shootouts in the demilitarized zone alone, with one of them resulting in four casualties.
What was even more rming was that the situation went beyond mere severity.
It involved actual shes between North Korean forces and our military forces.
Due to the urrence of five casualties within the reconnaissance unit, the officers of the 22nd Division faced disciplinary actions one after another.
At the same time, the dismal performance of the multi-purpose body armor was exposed.
It failed to properly stop the 7.62mm rounds fired by the North Korean army.
Why did body armor certified with NIJ Level 4 perform like this?
The investigation revealed a major issue with the supplier.
They provided pristine tes for testing but actually delivered tes imported from China.
The test results showed that not only did it fail against 7.62mm rounds, but it couldn¡¯t even properly stop 5.56mm rounds.
With the situation at hand, one of the generals who spearheaded the multi-purpose body armor project was relieved of duty, and the supplier faced legal actions.
However, that wasn¡¯t the end of it.
Even though the Army obtained intelligence that the entire North Korean corps had started using armor-piercing rounds, no further measures were taken.
The general who faced disciplinary action quietly returned to a rear unit, and in reality, nothing had changed.
Lieutenant Colonel Im Won-sik appealed for the necessity of ck metal.
¡°Our soldiers are fighting in the face of death. It¡¯s pathetic that even when they go on reconnaissance within the DMZ, they can only hope that their tes didn¡¯te from China.¡±
Unlike impressive weapons like the K-3 tank or advanced submarines, it was the realistic issues that weighed heavily on the atmosphere in the conference room.
One general spoke as follows:
¡°Colonel Im, it¡¯s not appropriate to make such remarks when we finally have the President and Chairman Yu with us. Let¡¯s move on and discuss more progressive business matters.¡±
As everyone nodded in agreement, Colonel Im¡¯s statement was quickly dismissed.
However, there was interest in this decision.
¡°Colonel Im, doesn¡¯t the GP Reconnaissance Division as a whole have doubts about the body armor?¡±
¡°It¡¯s unavoidable because it¡¯s difficult to distinguish. Among the soldiers, there are even superstitions circting. They believe that the lighter-colored ones are made in China or something.¡±
¡°Nevertheless, the reason for not recing the body armor must be due to budgetary constraints.¡±
¡°It seems that way¡¡±
He hesitated to bring up the topic in front of his superiors, who were shrouded in darkness.
Yu Ji-han made a decisive decision.
¡°Very well. We will supply ck Metal tes to not only the 22nd Division but also to any other unit in need of body armor at cost price.¡±
Colonel Im¡¯s eyes widened in astonishment.
¡°A-Are you serious?¡±
¡°Thetest weapons are important, but the soldiers are even more crucial. If supplying ck Metal can prevent their deaths, then we¡¯ll do whatever it takes.¡±
¡°T-Thank you! The soldiers will be thrilled.¡±
¡°Using ck Metal tes for the armor will also reduce weight, making it morefortable to wear.¡±
The Army generals couldn¡¯t help but want to shout to equip the next generation of tanks with the ck metal for the body armor, but they couldn¡¯t bring themselves to do so.
Because the President apuded.
¡°Well done. We momentarily forgot that the troops being deployed to the front lines are decreasing. It¡¯s important to save even one life. In that regard, Chairman Yu¡¯s statement left a strong impression. Director of the Nuclear Agency.¡±
¡°Yes, Mr. President.¡±
¡°I hope you discuss the n to rece all the body armor tes with the Army. The insufficient funds for the project should be somehow amodated by the Ministry of National Defense.¡±
¡°Understood.¡±
Even after that, there were ongoing discussions about the allocation of ck Metal, but Yu Ji-ha was receiving reports from Arma.
¡°By the way, as I mentioned, there have been three skirmishes in the DMZ just this year. Both sides had casualties, but it was kept strictly concealed.¡±
¡°Due to a significant reduction in troops, the soldiers deployed to the front-line outposts are burdened with excessive tasks.¡±
¡°In the case of the 22nd Division, it¡¯s referred to as the officers¡¯ grave, as there have been casualties due to breaches in the fortified structure and skirmishes.¡±
¡®Aplex issue indeed.¡¯
Increasing the number of troops might resolve the problem, but it was difficult for the South Korean military in reality.
Currently, the South Korean military boasted a higher conscription rate than the crumbling Japanese military during World War II.
However, Yu Ji-ha had a solution that was almost like an answer sheet.
It was a matter of whether the government was willing to spend money.
Several hours had passed, but as always, a conclusive decision was not reached during the meeting.
President Lee Hyun-seong dered,
¡°Let¡¯s wrap it up here for today. I hope that in the next meeting, we can present a realistic proposal for consensus. And Chairman Yu, please stay for a moment, I¡¯d like to talk to you.¡±
¡
As guided by the secretary, they entered the conference room, and a sigh of frustration escaped President as he felt like he was walking on thin ice.
¡°The Japanese government contacted us through the embassy. They stated that unless we lift the sanctions on Toyota and Panasonic, they will take corresponding measures.¡±
Yu Ji-han, feeling perplexed, asked, ¡°Ourpany has no connection to Japan.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you have a father? If you think deeply, there may be products thate to mind.¡±
[Boss, Si Auto imports autonomous driving modules entirely from a Japanese subsidiary called Obis. It¡¯s a subsidiary of Toyota.]
The reason for this situation was that Si Group had split from Mirae Group, and all their trading partners had been cut off.
Chairman Yu Kyung-seok, unable to find suitable trading partners, had to import modules from nearby Japan.
As a result, Si Auto had to import Japanese-made autonomous driving modules and slightly modify the algorithms before releasing them.
Yu Ji-han quickly understood and let out a scoff.
¡°So they¡¯re ying both sides by lifting, If so, you may want to change that too. the sanctioning of Toyota and Panasonic.¡±
¡°Wouldn¡¯t that be proof of how urgent the situation is? From my perspective, I wish Chairman Yu would ept their apology¡ Also, it¡¯s not good to draw too much attention to ck metal. There¡¯s a possibility of vitingpetitionws in the European Union.¡±
¡°Please convey to the ambassador that if the CEOs of Toyota and Panasonic act submissive in front of the cameras, I will let it slide once.¡±
¡°Demanding submissiveness from individuals in such high positions implies social suicide.¡±
¡°It¡¯s telling them to take responsibility for their actions, like leaving me in a storage-like office after inviting me. Do you really think they did that on the lower level?¡±
¡°First, meet with them at least. There¡¯s no problem that can be solved by spreading rumors with your back turned.¡±
¡°It will likely be a parallel path anyway. Let¡¯s confront them once.¡±
¡°It may not matter.¡±
President Lee Hyun-seong, feeling frustrated, loosened his tie.
¡°Hmm¡ Japan¡¯s sudden interference is because they found out about the railgun experiment, right? The United States must have indirectly informed them.¡±
Both countries shared information through various channels, so it wasn¡¯t particrly surprising.
However, as a result, Japan became anxious.
The issue of the ck Metal store near Fukuoka also contributed to their indiscriminate actions.
However, they couldn¡¯tpletely abandon their national pride of not bowing down to a singlepany.
As a result, Toyota and Panasonic stepped back, and the government exerted pressure on the Si Group.
The president emphasized once again, ¡°First, meet with them. When you have face-to-face conversations, unexpected resolutions can be easier to achieve. Even if it¡¯s for the sake of my dignity, please request it.¡±
¡°Did the United States demand it, by any chance?¡±
¡°¡Indeed.¡±
As expected. Yu Ji-han stepped outside and said, ¡°Since you put it that way, I will meet with them once. However, if they talk nonsense, there will be no further discussion.¡±
A gloomy future was looming.
Subsequently, the two sides met at the Japanese embassy, but they only confirmed their differing positions.
The diplomats and officials involved in the economic and industrial rtions, including the ambassador, were busy evading responsibility rather than offering apologies.
¡°This is the image you have captured. Isn¡¯t it pleasing to see me sitting alone in a deste warehouse? That¡¯s how Toyota and Panasonic treated me. That¡¯s why I have no intention of being associated with them.¡±
Despite Yu Ji-han¡¯s strong statements in the Japanese newspaper, the officials remained tight-lipped and avoided making eye contact.
The few remarks that were forced out only served to escte tensions.
¡°I understand your position, but we have no choice in this matter.¡±
¡°If you don¡¯t lift the sanctions, we will suspend all transactions with the Si Group. That is the stance of the Japanese government.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s wrap it up.¡±
Yu Ji-han discontinued the conversation and stood up.
As he heard the economic and industrial officials speaking behind him, one of them said, ¡°Causing trouble for your father is a great act of filial impiety as a son. Think carefully about it.¡±
¡°If you don¡¯t take back those words right now, you¡¯ll truly regret it.¡±
Yu Ji-han warned, but the official ignored his warning and continued with his delusion.
And thus, the conversation came to an end.
As Yu Ji-han stepped outside the embassy, numerous reporters surrounded him.
He got into his car and instructed Arma.
¡°Can Settler be moved?¡±
¡°Yes. The gue Core you brought is aiding the recovery process. It should be able to move slowly underwater.¡±
¡°Good. Go to Fukuoka and turn the seabed upside down. Bring back all the ck Metal.¡±
¡°I will execute it immediately.¡±
The Settler, which had remained silent until now, began to move.
The Settler was a pioneer ship and a vessel equipped with firearms.
It also served as a mining vessel, thanks to its fusion furnace capabilities.
The gravity crane deployed within the ship allowed forplete control over gravity, enabling the maniption ofndscapes at will.
In the 2180s, with such advanced technology, earthquakes were no longer considered disasters for humanity.
Even if an earthquake urred near a megacity, it could be immediately mitigated by flipping the epicenter itself.
However, all of this was possible under the assumption that the Settler was in optimal condition.
Currently, the Settler was in better condition than when it sank to the seabed, but it couldn¡¯t be considered fully operational.
Even during its movement with just one auxiliary engine, repair walkers had to be attached to conduct repairs.
Fortunately, the Titan-ss gue Core contributed to the vessel¡¯s restoration, providing some relief.
Originally, the repair of the Settler was expected to take up to three years, but it seemed that it would bepleted earlier than anticipated.
[Destination reached. Initiating radar scan.]
As gravity pulses spread from the core of the Settler, the surrounding gravitational forces were meticulously surveyed.
Not only did it reveal the underwater topography, but it also exposed the hidden submarines and warships along with the quantities of ck metal lurking near Fukuoka.
Now, with the deployment of the ship and the activation of the gravity crane, the seabed would be overturned.
Arma was aware that she could y tricks in the Japanese financial market, but she refrained from doing so because her master didn¡¯t approve of such actions.
He considered the heavily formed current global financial market a useless bubble.
He even discouraged her from taking advantage of the cryptocurrency market, where one could easily amass a fortune.
¡°Just have enough money, don¡¯t get too carried away. What we need is influence, not money,¡± he had said.
¡°With influence, money will naturally follow, and we¡¯re already earning enough.¡±
¡°Yes, understood,¡± Arma replied.
Therefore, Arma quietly waited, without even attempting to utilize the foreign ounts she had set up in Japan in the past.
And at that moment, he was holding a press conference in front of the headquarters of hi Energy, hispany.
¡°¡As you can see, the Japanese government has dered its intervention. I would like to take this opportunity to criticize the unfairness of the Japanese government¡¯s actions. Is it normal for the government to interfere in business matters and act recklessly? Were there no officials who tried to stop this?¡±
¡°First and foremost, sincere apologies from Toyota and Panasonic are needed. Apologies for summoning us to Tokyo for a contract negotiation and leaving us unattended in an office resembling a warehouse for 30 minutes. However, they cowardly hid behind the government.¡±
¡°The officials from the Economic Industrial Council informed me that if we don¡¯t lift the sanctions, they intend to boycott the entire Si Group. One of the officials even said, ¡®If you don¡¯t want to be an unfilial child causing trouble for your father, you better behave.''¡±
It was a shocking statement.
Korean journalists silently tapped away on theirptops, their faces filled with astonishment.
The situation he faced with the Japanese government and the twopanies was beyond imagination.
It was a situation that even Buddha himself would not remain calm in.
However, Yu Ji-han¡¯s voice was relentlesslyposed.
¡°I hereby dere that from this moment on, Japan will be excluded from the ck metal ecosystem. No disintegrator will reach any country,pany, or faction that bypasses and exports ck metal to Japan, and they will not be able to establish factories.¡±
It was a series of shocks.
An individual had boycotted an entire country.!
In particr, electronicpanies, including electric vehicles in desperate need of ck metal, suffered a devastating blow, with their stocks hitting rock bottom in an instant.
However, that was not the end of it.
Shortly after Yu Ji-han finished the press conference, breaking news came out that an earthquake had struck Japan.
The epicenter was near Fukuoka.
¡
Chapter 23: The Vanished Black Metal and Political Negotiations
Chapter 23: The Vanished ck Metal and Political Negotiations
[Emergency earthquake alert. Please be cautious of strong tremors in Fukuoka Prefecture, Saga Prefecture, Tsushima Ind, and Iki Ind.]
Following the announcement by the NHK announcer, all Japanese broadcasting stations simultaneously issued earthquake alerts.
Soon after, tsunami warnings were also sounded, and people began evacuating in unison.
Japan was a country ustomed to experiencing earthquakes several times a day, so they were familiar with this level of seismic activity.
However, this earthquake was different.
There was no clear epicenter or aftershocks, and the origin point continued to shake incessantly.
It felt as if someone were excavating the ocean floor with a gigantic shovel.
Usually, earthquakes with a Richter scale magnitude below 3 would quickly subside, and people would regain theirposure.
But this earthquake had been shaking the ground relentlessly for two hours, just like it did in the beginning.
Moreover, thend near the beaches of Fukuoka City had instantaneously liquefied, causing buildings to sway dangerously.
The citizens of Fukuoka City were filled with terror.
¡°This is the prelude to a massive earthquake! The big one ising!¡±
While the Japanese were immune to moderate earthquakes to some extent, they harbored immense fear for massive earthquakes.
They had experienced them multiple times in the past, and schrs had constantly issued warnings.
As a result, the citizens of Fukuoka City began to quietly escape.
¡°Please remain calm! Do not leave the city!¡±
The police hurriedly intervened, but there was no way to quell the deep-rooted fear.
Although the actual damage was not significant, the ongoing earthquake made the areas near the city perilous.
As tens of thousands of people tried to evacuate the city, the major roads transformed into parking lots in an instant.
Northern Kyushu had fallen into a state of paralysis.
The Japanese government urgently established a crisis management center and started assessing the situation, but there was very little they could do in practical terms.
Meanwhile, at the epicenter of all this chaos, the settler ship was continuously flipping thend using a gravity crane at a depth of 2,700 meters underwater.
Without even having time to process it, the ck Metal was literally being sucked in and the cavity quickly filled up.
Arma expanded the Aether field widely, enclosing the settler ship with ck Metal.
As a result, the settler ship appeared like a massive rock formation.
¡°We need to secure the space.¡±
When the ck Metal went beyond the range of the Aether field, Arma made the decision to move these entities.
As the settler ship slowly moved away from the coastal waters of Japan, the earthquake temporarily ceased.
However, two hourster, when it returned and flipped thend again, another earthquake urred.
The Japanese people were filled with terror, believing that this was even worse than the devastating Kumamoto earthquake that urred ten years ago.
Schrs had advised evacuating Fukuoka City, which was close to the epicenter, but the Japanese government did not easily ept this suggestion.
And two dayster, the earthquakes suddenly subsided as if nothing had happened.
There were no aftershocks, and life returned to normal as if nothing had happened.
However, the areas near the epicenter had suffered significant damage.
Hundreds of thousands of households experienced power outages, and the water pipes ruptured, causing widespread flooding.
Although there weren¡¯t many buildings that copsed, over 300 locations were reported to have suffered severe liquefaction.
The Japanese government hastily deployed 20,000 self-defense forces to search for missing individuals and provide support to the disaster victims.
And they were observing everything through the maintained Sibiri artificial satellite.
¡°How many casualties are there?¡±
¡°There have been 15 deaths, over 1,700 injuries, and 320 missing persons reported so far. There is a possibility that these numbers will increase as time passes.¡±
¡°Surprisingly, the number of deaths is rtively low.¡±
¡°That¡¯s because it¡¯s something that happens frequently. Japan is considered one of the leading countries in earthquake preparedness worldwide.¡±
¡°It¡¯s somewhat fortunate, then¡¡±
This is hypocrisy.
Considering it fortunate that there were fewer casualties caused by the entity who orchestrated the earthquake.
However, he was capable ofmitting any atrocity for the sake of rebuilding the United Human Alliance.
In the future, he may have to directly or indirectly kill millions of people.
Many will revile and curse him.
Nevertheless, he couldn¡¯t stop.
From the moment he arrived here, dragging the settler ship, his fate was sealed.
With a somber expression, he gazed across Japan before turning his gaze away.
¡°If there¡¯s anymunicationing from Japan, connect it to me immediately.¡±
[Understood.]
¡
The Japanese archipgo was plunged into shock by the continuous earthquakes over the span of two days.
However, there was something else that truly mattered.
The Japanese government had major concerns about the ovep between the location of the ck Metal deposit and the epicenter.
As the earthquakes subsided, they quickly dispatched survey teams.
And the results were shocking.
¡°The ck Metal¡ haspletely disappeared!¡±
¡°It seems to have been concealed deep under the seabed due to the aftermath of the earthquake. Currently, the possibility of mining is close to zero.¡±
Upon hearing this report, Prime Minister Genzo Fujimoto¡¯s body wavered.
Surrounding officials hurriedly supported him and helped him into his seat.
¡°Hmm¡¡±
A deep sigh escaped him.
The sense of loss from losing the ck Metal was several times greater than the impact of the earthquakes or the plummeting economic indicators.
Japan was arge country, and its finances were sound.
The repercussions of the earthquakes could be managed, and indices like the Nikkei would quickly recover.
But the vanished ck Metal¡ Where could it have gone?
Amidst the global scramble to secure ck Metal, with nations on high alert and even mobilizing military forces, they realized that ¡°Divine Metal,¡± ck Metal, was the future of Japan.
However, that future had not entirely vanished.
Prime Minister Fujimoto clung to a faint glimmer of hope in one final possibility.
Before a vote of no confidence could pass in the Diet, something needed to be done.
¡°Connect me to the CEO of Si Energy.¡±
In an unprecedented event, the Prime Minister of Japan made a phone call to the head of a Koreanpany.
Messages were ryed through diplomatic channels, and intense negotiations took ce behind the scenes.
In the meantime, the Prime Minister found himself surrounded by journalists, bombarded with questions.
¡°Is it true that ck Metal has disappeared due to the impact of the earthquakes?¡±
¡°Are you nning to express regrets directly to Si Energy? If that¡¯s true, shouldn¡¯t you reconsider?¡±
¡°What will your course of action be? Will you dissolve the Diet if a vote of no confidence is passed?¡±
During the question-and-answer session, it was revealed that the Prime Minister intended to personally express regrets to the head of Shin Energy.
Naturally, opinions became sharply divided.
¡ªIt¡¯s unthinkable for the Prime Minister to bow his head. Expressing regrets on an economic and industrial level is sufficient.
¡ªFace reality. Can we really expect the person who dered Japan¡¯s exclusion from the ck Metal ecosystem to be satisfied with that?
¡ªSomebody has to bear the me.
In times of crisis, it ismon to assign me to someone.
However, it was rare for the Japanese people to calmly pinpoint the responsible party.
me was directed towards the economic and industrial bureaucrats who made disrespectful remarks, the leaders of the twopanies, government agencies, the Diet, the media, and the onlinemunity.
The me game focused directly on those involved in the economic and industrial sector.
¡
The unique phenomenon of Easy Mega, which is characteristic of Japan, had begun, and the bureaucrats, unable to withstand the turmoil, chose tomit suicide in economic and industrial buildings.
As all the evils came back to haunt them, the leaders of the twopanies immediately held a press conference and dered their resignation.
¡ªCEO Yu Ji-ha, we sincerely apologize for the trouble we¡¯ve caused. We humbly request your kind understanding and ask for your careful attention to this matter.
The journalists roared during the ensuingmotion.
Watching it through the TV in his office, Yu Ji-ha muttered under his breath.
¡°I clearly told them to do it in front of me.¡±
Shortly after, a call came from the number given by the Presidential Office.
It was Prime Minister Fujimoto of Japan.
Only Arma, who overheard the conversation, knew what they discussed.
However, one thing was certain.
The Japanese government chose to bend rather than scratch their ego.
Yu Ji-ha wasn¡¯t entirely satisfied, but he decided to stop at this point.
There was no need for further retaliation.
If he pushed it any further, Japan would not surrender, and it would only lead to unnecessary conflict.
He didn¡¯t have time to waste on this matter when there were so many tasks that needed to be handled in the future.
Rather thanpletely destroying the Japanese archipgo¡
¡ªLet¡¯s finish the work as cleanly and quickly as possible. That¡¯s the most important thing.
It was a phrase Luc¨ªa had often said, and he was deeply influenced by her.
After ending the call, he dered to the reporters waiting in front of the headquarters.
¡°We are lifting the ck Metal embargo on Japan. From now on, Si Energy will directly export ck Metal to Japan and receive an appropriate level of investment. That¡¯s all.¡±
Although he didn¡¯t mention the scale of it, everyone could imagine that it would be tremendous.
In an instant, the press conference ended, and he turned around.
¡°Wait, hold on!¡±
¡°President Yu!¡±
The journalists quickly stood up and rushed towards him.
¡
As expected, Deputy Chief Martin extended his hand with a concerned expression.
¨DThere are over a thousand people who witnessed the railgun experiment. It¡¯s impossible to control what they say.
¡°Well, even if that¡¯s the case, what pressure did you put on the Korean government?¡±
¨DUsing the term ¡°pressure¡± might be a bit excessive. It seems that the White House felt the need for mediation.
The United States had always taken Japan¡¯s side whenever conflicts arose between Japan and Korea.
It was an unavoidable reality due to the difference in realistic national power.
¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean if something like this happens again, they can put pressure on me as well?¡±
¨DTo dispel such spection, we need to discreetly inform you of the White House¡¯s decision. The President wants to meet you personally. After that meeting, a decision on investment will be made in the working-level meeting.
Yu Ji-ha grumbled while holding his phone.
¡°It¡¯s just adding another line to the list of investmentpanies: the U.S. government.¡±
¨DIf you know the scale, you¡¯ll retract your words. Anyway, I didn¡¯t get an answer about the visit.
¡°I suppose I have to figure it out myself. Let me know once the schedule is set.¡±
¨DHaha, let¡¯s discuss the scheduleter. By the way, the Navy wants five ck Metal cannons as soon as possible. They¡¯re requesting it urgently.
¡°I¡¯ll send them to Osan Air Base in three days.¡±
One crisis, not Yu Ji-ha¡¯s personal crisis, but a crisis in general, came to an end.
However, his father, Yu Kyung-seok, found himself facing a serious dilemma.
The realization that he had done nothing in this incident weighed heavily on him.
¡®My son as a hostage¡ What a disgraceful situation.¡¯
Fortunately, with the urrence of the earthquake and the disappearance of ck Metal, they narrowly avoided being boycotted by the Japanese government.
The chaebols in the business hierarchy would have been trembling, and Si Group would have been inplete disarray.
¡°Phew¡¡±
Chairman Yu Kyung-seok keenly felt his own powerlessness as he observed the series of events.
At the same time, he found his son, who had sessfully navigated through such a crisis without any mishaps, to be reliable and trustworthy.
¡°I had nned to hand over the group to him in ten years¡¡±
When a person reaches about forty, they gain insights and umte experiences.
But his proud son was only in his early thirties, taking care of everything on his own.
The fact that Si Group had emerged from its slump was alsorgely thanks to his son¡¯s efforts.
¡°Phew¡¡±
A deep puff of smoke was exhaled.
Chairman Yu Kyung-seok had already made up his mind deep within his heart.
Retiring at a rtively young age wouldn¡¯t be a bad idea.
It¡¯s time to take a step back.
He picked up the phone.
¡°Ji-ha, if you¡¯re free, let¡¯s have lunch together today. Well¡ nothing special, just wanted to catch up.¡±
The fight between a Koreanpany and Japan came to a quick end.
It was only then that the world realized Japan¡¯s dirty tricks.
Toyota and Panasonic, who had been called to sign a contract and were locked in a warehouse, appeared 30 minutester.
The scene was captured on CCTV and uploaded by media outlets to mock them.
The Japanese government, in an effort to prevent damage to its ownpanies, had triggered an unfair boycott.
Lastly, they closed their eyes and ears, ming Korean businessmen while Japaneseizens followed suit with their disgracefulments.
When a video summarizing the incident was tranted into 50nguages and uploaded on YouTube, it was met with a wave of ridicule.
As they watched others engage in arguments and get humiliated, they couldn¡¯t help but feel sorry for those losers.
¡ªIt¡¯s really pathetic how they call people and then bring them down. It¡¯s like dealing with children.
¡ªBut why did he ept that? If it were me, I would have excluded them from the beginning.
¡ªWell, Japan is a powerful country. The US probably exerted pressure on them. And there are pro-Japanese factions in Korea too.
¡ªIf that¡¯s the case, there might have been a hidden agreement. The Japanese government must have suffered significant losses.
But what about those people who said Yu Ji-ha was ruining Si Energy? Where did they all go?
¡ªThey probably shorted the stock and went bankrupt. If you go to stock discussion boards, you can vividly see the history of their failure.
¡ªThat¡¯s why they¡¯re saying they need to ban individual short selling.
¡ªI signed a petition three years ago asking for individuals to be allowed to short sell.
Meanwhile, on the Whisper Si Group forum, praises overflowed instead of me.
¡ªIf Japan had boycotted the group, we would have been in big trouble.
¡ªAt least the shipbuilding, electronics, and automotive industries would have beenpletely devastated. We had to trade with Japan because our domestic trading partners were blocked.
¡ªBut how could they tell the Japanese government to back off? They¡¯re really gutsy.
¡ªRemember when CEO Yu Ji-ha called it a show while having lunch at thepany cafeteria?
¡ªLooks like he made a mistake. He still goes to the cafeteria for lunch.
¡ªBut isn¡¯t that blonde woman his girlfriend?
¡ªI heard she¡¯s his secretary. I wish I could work alongside someone like her.
¡ªIf I had around 1 trillion won, it might be possible.
¡ªHey, did anyone buy energy stocks that skyrocketed 50 times? Anyone?
¡ªWhy the hell would you blow up a nuclear bomb?
¡ªWe were all in a selling mood back then!
¡ªI doubt anyone predicted such a surge.
¡ªExcept for the CEO.
¡ªAnyway, these days, the whole group is on the rise. It seems like the chairman¡¯s shoulders are dancing.
¡ªEnergy is soaring to the sky, and Auto is no joke. And there¡¯s a gradual increase in the shipbuilding sector due to the mining boom.
¡ªBut why isn¡¯t Hi-Tech rising?
¡ªThat¡¯s because you¡¯re there.
¡ªBut isn¡¯t it time for a vice-chairman position?
¡ªBut CEO Yu¡¯s management skills are something else, right?
¡ªYou¡¯d be surprised to see the Si Energy employees leaving on time.
¡ªExactly. Once they finish their assigned tasks, they go home. No overtime, and they have team dinners during lunchtime.
¡ªAnd the sries have increased this time. It¡¯s truly a dream workce.
¡ªBut some of them say they feel like they¡¯ve be mere cogs in the machine. They just have to do as they¡¯re told.
¡ªIn this day and age, if you can work at apany without being fired, that¡¯s a good thing.
¡ªOh, I want to work at Energy too! Hi-Tech is really hopeless¡
¡ªJust wait a little longer. I have a feeling that the CEO will be promoted and take charge of Hi-Tech.
¡ªAre you serious? Vice-chairman at the age of 33?
¡ªHe¡¯s a chaebol. His position ispletely different from ours.
¡ªBut why did he choose Hi-Tech? He could have taken over Auto or Electronics, which have rapidly rising stock prices.
¡ªWell, my future is hopeless.
¡ªStay strong.
Note:
The term ¡°Diet¡± refers to the National Diet of Japan. The National Diet is the bicameral legitive body of Japan, simr to a parliament or congress in other countries. It isposed of two houses: the House of Representatives (Lower House) and the House of Councillors (Upper House). The Diet is responsible for enactingws, approving the national budget, and overseeing the actions of the government. It ys a crucial role in the democratic governance of Japan.
Chapter 24: Space Exploration and the Railgun Proposal
Chapter 24: Space Exploration and the Railgun Proposal
¡°I had originally nned to wait until you turned forty¡¡±
Chairman Yu Kyung-seok said in a serious tone after they finished their meal and he offered some tea.
He took a sip of the warm liquid and cleared his throat.
¡°During this incident¡ I realized a lot of things. My group was boycotted, and I was powerless to stop it.¡±
¡°I only managed to get out of it because I was lucky enough to have these abilities.¡±
His son tried tofort him, but he shook his head.
¡°No, I don¡¯t think I could have handled it any better if I were in your shoes. Who can withstand a boycott from the Japanese government? You made the right decision to resolve it quickly.¡±
Otherwise, the pro-Japanese factions would have interfered with the mediation.
Japan¡¯s power didn¡¯t disappear just because theycked ck Metal.
They might not be able topete with China, but they still had a lot of influence in the country.
He waited quietly for his father to continue.
He was probably going to say¡
¡°After assessing everything, I decided that you are capable of leading a part of the group. No, you are even more outstanding than me. You handle everything so smoothly and quietly. You said there is no overtime because you distribute the workload well.¡±
¡°I just created a system and made the employees follow it.¡±
¡°That¡¯s exactly what the group needs right now. I want you to take on the role of vice chairman.¡±
Vice chairman at thirty-three years old.
It was a bit early, but not unheard of in the history of Korean corporations.
Lee Hong-joon of Global Chemical had inherited the chairmanship at thirty-one years old.
He tried to decline once, but his father smiled and held his hand.
¡°Isn¡¯t it a generous offer? If the group is going to be devoured from the outside, it¡¯s better to do it from within.¡±
¡°You knew about it.¡±
¡°I could tell by your interest in marine development. You must have also thought about delisting Si Energy.¡±
¡°Haha, you can see right through me, Father.¡±
¡°You have a lot on your te, so I¡¯ll make it brief. Take charge of energy, auto, and electronics. I¡¯ll sort out the shares and transfer them to you gradually.¡±
¡°Also, I would like to have the defense industry as well.¡±
Chairman Yu Kyung-seok frowned.
¡°Si Hi-Tech? You know their situation, don¡¯t you?¡±
Si Hi-Tech.
It wasn¡¯t a leading defensepany in South Korea, but it had recently failed several projects and was struggling to survive.
Especially, the failure to meet the ROC (Required Operational Capability) in the next-generation border surveince drone system project was a huge blow.
The goal was to monitor and patrol beyond the border fences as a recement for the GOP forces, but it proved difficult to operate at night and in bad weather conditions.
Hansung Inotech had barely met the ROC, but the Army authorities were not satisfied.
¡°I have a rough idea, and I also have a perfect idea for that.¡±
Chairman Yu chuckled and scratched his cheek.
¡°An idea¡ I remember when you said you had a good idea before, I secretly smiled to myself. And then you showed me the achievement called ¡®ck Metal¡¯.¡±
¡°You won¡¯t regret it.¡±
¡°Everyone is praising you at the National Business Federation meetings these days. They even give me approving nods.¡±
¡°If I¡¯ve made you proud, can I ask for one thing for myself?¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°I want to set up a subsidiarypany. I¡¯ll name it Starfield.¡±
¡°Unless I heard wrong, that sounds like it¡¯s rted to the space industry.¡±
¡°You heard right. We¡¯re going to explore space in the future.¡±
Oh my, what a surprise.
Chairman Yu put his hand on his forehead and said.
¡°Do you know how much our country¡¯s total budget for space-rted matters wasst year?¡±
¡°I have an idea. Wasn¡¯t it around 32 billion?¡±
¡°The government haspletely withdrawn its support. How do you n to get any help from them?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t need any help. Well, I¡¯ll have to rent aunch site, though.¡±
With such a confident attitude, Chairman Yu couldn¡¯t help but sigh.
¡°It¡¯s hard to build a single rocket even if you spend billions. I don¡¯t know if you¡¯re dreaming of a Korean SpaceX, but that was possible in the US. It¡¯s almost impossible here.¡±
¡°I know it¡¯s difficult. But I still want to try it. I¡¯ll start small, and make sure it doesn¡¯t affect our main business. You don¡¯t have to worry.¡±
Thinking of it as a hobby-like venture, Chairman Yu reluctantly agreed.
¡°Fine¡ Okay, call the executives and announce the personnel changes by today. They¡¯ve been eagerly waiting for the supply of ck Metal, so mention that too.¡±
¡°Understood.¡±
Chairman Yu watched his son leave and felt excited.
But at the same time, he wondered how long he couldst before giving up.
¡°He earned the money himself, so he¡¯ll figure it out on his own.¡±
¡
He gathered the executives of the subsidiaries entrusted to him.
¡°Congrattions on your promotion.¡±
¡°Nice to meet you, Vice Chairman.¡±
The respectful tone towards the thirty-three-year-old Vice Chairman was because they had seen what he could do.
He had made Japan surrender after they started the boycott, which meant that any executive who showed a hint of defiance would be in serious trouble.
However, Vice Chairman Yu didn¡¯t intend to establish his authority from the start.
¡°Si Electronics will stay as it is for now. As for the Auto division, we will supply the batteries as nned, so please test the prototype products.¡±
¡°We¡¯ve been waiting for those words.¡±
President Im Sang-hyun nodded.
¡°Oh, and we will also install the algorithms as scheduled. Please get ready for testing. We will do internal tests and K-City tests.¡±
¡°We will start pilot production as soon as we get the modules.¡±
He said that, but President Im was worried.
The batteries alone were a huge project for the future.
When would they have time to design and implement the algorithms?
He didn¡¯t doubt Vice Chairman Yu¡¯s skills, but there was simply not enough time.
They had to follow his orders.
¡°And about the Defense division¡ There are many problems, right?¡±
¡°I have nothing to report.¡±
The one who nodded was not the president but Manager Oh.
He had taken over after the former CEO resigned suddenly.
Si Hi-Tech was working on two drone-rted projects, but they were in chaos.
The rest of their business was minor projects like rifle upgrades and parts supply.
They were barely keeping up the reputation of being a defensepany.
He looked at Vice Chairman Yu.
¡°For now, focus on the bulletproof te. It has been discussed with the government, so contact the factory and arrange the delivery.¡±
¡°Understood.¡±
¡°Also,pile the specifications and issues of the tank-mounted drones and surveince drones and send a report to the secretary¡¯s office. As soon as possible.¡±
¡°Yes¡ Yes?¡±
Manager Oh looked up in surprise at the sudden request.
Did he want him to deal with the autonomous driving algorithm too?
He knew that Si Hi-Tech was behind in the algorithm field, but it was a different domain.
It wasn¡¯t something that a former AI researcher with a master¡¯s degree, who had quit and punched someone a few years ago, could handle.
But what could he do?
The other person was the new Vice Chairman who had made Japan surrender.
He didn¡¯t want to show his weakness in their first meeting.
He quickly nodded and lightly touched Vice Chairman Yu¡¯s hand, who said,
¡°I don¡¯t like wasting time. If there are any issues, report them right away, and give feedback promptly.¡±
¡°Yes, understood.¡±
¡°From now on, we will also have meetings through video conferencing, so be prepared. And I know you have internal energy matters to deal with, but I will also give you work instructions. When you ess the energy server, there is a task management tool, so download that.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Why did he run things in such an old-fashioned way like in the 80s?
Wasn¡¯t itpletely out of sync with the recent trend of horizontal and autonomous human resource management?
The executives had someints, but they couldn¡¯t say them out loud.
He looked around at the faces of the executives and stood up.
¡°That¡¯s all for today. Let¡¯s get to work.¡±
He didn¡¯t say ¡°let¡¯s have apany dinner¡±.
Usually, when a vice chairman-level executive took office, there would be at least a modest dinner to celebrate, right?
The executives stood up, speechless because of the unconventional decisions.
In any case, the results would show.
¡
He checked the report on the surveince drone system through the Arma that he maintained.
This system was supposed to monitor the perimeter instead of relying on human troops.
The army had been guarding the perimeter beyond the fences using CCTV and various functional barriers, but they were full of errors and unreliable.
They were useless at night or in bad weather conditions.
Above all, the frame rate was too low, making it hard for the surveince staff to identify things properly.
The sensors were too sensitive, triggering rms even at the slightest movement of leaves.
Of course, they could have reduced the sensitivity, but then they would miss North Korean soldiers who surrendered after crossing the barrier, and they faced harsh criticism.
There was a scandal when a defector managed to reach the barracks, and the whole army was in chaos, leading to a national investigation.
So, the army started a project to implement a boundary system using drones.
These drones would detach from the station and patrol the surroundings, alerting the control room if they detected any unusual activity.
It was an impressive innovation that they could return to the station for recharging when their batteries ran low.
The problem was that the process was not smooth.
It was not easy to design a flight algorithm that could scan every corner of a vast area without missing any spots.
After inspecting the source code, Arma shook its head.
¡°It¡¯s aplete spaghetti code.¡±
¡°So, do you think it will work with the current hardware?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not perfect, but it should be enough to divide and patrol the areas. The challenge is in positioning when returning to the station.¡±
This project had been criticized as a hopeless task from the start.
Even the US and China, known for their advanced technology, had given up.
Themon pessimism was, ¡°How can we seed when they couldn¡¯t?¡±
But the army authorities were afraid of their shrinking manpower.
If they couldn¡¯t set up an unmanned system, the GOP line could be easily breached.
However, Arma had a slightly different goal in mind.
¡°Try catching the drones with one arm.¡±
¡°But that will increase the cost, won¡¯t it?¡±
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. And let¡¯s attach a submachine gun underneath.¡±
And so, the drone model waspleted.
It could fly autonomously, monitor the assigned areas, and even engage in localizedbat.
If we added noise reduction technology, waterproofing, and bulletproof features, we would have a fully equipped lethal drone.
Arma raised an eyebrow.
¡°Are you thinking of recing manpower with this instead of androids?¡±
¡°It¡¯s hard to send troops abroad. We¡¯ll use this to protect smart farms. Encrypt the source code and design it for mass production.¡±
¡°Understood. And sir, they have arrived.¡±
They meant the android employees who would be involved in space development.
As Arma opened the door, several men came in.
¡°Hello, sir.¡±
¡°Nice to meet you.¡±
Arma examined them carefully.
They looked almost indistinguishable from Koreans.
¡°Hmm¡ Is the habit implementation done as well?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, sir. We¡¯ve taken care of every detail, so there¡¯s no way we¡¯ll be exposed.¡±
¡°Good. Set up apany and contact the government. Make a manual based on the materials from NASA and JAXA.¡±
They had obtained a lot of data from JAXA and NASA in exchange for epting Japan¡¯s apology.
Inside, there were ion engine and spacecraft design technologies that NASA hadn¡¯t shared.
Of course, Arma had no intention of using such outdated technology in their space development.
It was just to show that they didn¡¯t start from scratch.
The real deal was the reinterpretation of the Settler, resulting in the creation of ion thrusters and ck Metalprojectiles.
With a spacecraft built this way, it could fly through the atmosphere without needing fuel tanks or boosters.
But there was one thing they had to do before doing all these processes.
The researchers, who were almost abandoned and neglected, looked at the deste scenery of Naro Space Center.
¡°Let¡¯s start with cleaning. Hire apany to send people.¡±
He will take care of the acquisition.
Naro Space Center had been left unused and lonely, but it still had an owner.
They contacted the representative of the owner¡¯s representative.
¡°Mr. President, I want to acquire Naro Space Center entirely.¡±
¡ªUm¡
President Lee Hyun-seong was silent for a while.
Did he think I was a young entrepreneur who was hard tomunicate with? Was my statement too rash?
¡ªVice Chairman Yu, how much money has been invested in Naro Space Center?
¡°Initially, about 330 billion won was invested, and another 50 billion won was invested for facility expansion. It would increase more with the projectiles.¡±
¡ªNaro Space Center is a national asset. It can¡¯t be sold without the approval of the legiture.
¡°I¡¯m asking for your help, Mr. President, including that.¡±
¡ªHmm¡ I might have considered it if I were in the opposition. Let me hear it.
¡°I will build a railgun for you.¡±
There was silence for a while.
The president, who had a strong interest in the military, might not know what a railgun was, or he might be surprised.
¡ªI told you before, didn¡¯t I? The TF railgun project has been canceled. The researchers have dispersed, and the facilities have been abandoned for a long time.
¡°I understand. I will acquire the research facilities and hire new researchers. I will make it operational within a year.¡±
The sweet temptation of being operational within a year appealed to the president.
Of course, his term would end before the year was over, so he couldn¡¯t make the railgun a political achievement.
But he had to think about the future of South Korea.
¡ªEven though I know that Vice Chairman Yu doesn¡¯t make empty promises, I can¡¯t help but ask. Our technology level is far behind the US. It¡¯s not just about the barrel and the capacitors; there are many challenges. Is it really possible?
Even if we had to start from scratch, it didn¡¯t matter.
The one-year timeline was just to secure a minimum level of credibility.
¡°Meeting the ROC required by the Navy, initial production, and integration can be done within a year. After that, there will be various administrative factors like testing and operationalization, but let¡¯s put those aside for now.¡±
¡ªI would like to approve it right away, but this is not a decision I can make alone. Let me think about it.
¡°As much time as you need.¡±
Of course, he knew that President Lee Hyun-seong woulde up with a favorable answer.
It was better to transfer the space center to the private sector and make use of it rather than letting it rot.
Although it was left abandoned, the annual maintenance cost alone exceeded 2 billion won, so there was no reason to refuse.
But he felt that he needed to present some additional opposition.
He couldn¡¯t openly announce that we would build a railgun.
China had a significant influence over South Korea and had interfered more than the US in the past.
They were always ready to impose economic sanctions.
The politicians in Beijing would run away at the slightest cough.
Soon, a phone call came.
¡ªThe announcement of the battery factory site ising soon. Can it be changed?
¡°We can consider the preferences of both the ruling party and the opposition party in choosing the local government.¡±
It would be better for the future to build it in the southern region, but it didn¡¯t matter much. We weren¡¯t the ones paying for it.
¨CThat¡¯s good to hear. Both parties are willing to ept the battery factory in their regions. But the condition is that Vice Chairman Yu must attend the groundbreaking ceremony.
¡®They sure love political ceremonies.¡¯
¡°Understood, I ept the conditions.¡±
¡ªBy the way, if we want to develop the railgun, wouldn¡¯t Si Hi-Tech alone be insufficient?
Recently, domestic defensepanies had been suffering from continuous losses.
The economic downturn had affected national defense, leading to the cancetion of various projects.
So, chaebols with defensepanies were thinking of how to pass the burden to others.
As the president, he would know about these difficulties.
I brought up my hidden intention, expecting something in return.
¡°I actually want to acquire a defensepany, but I need government approval. Can you help me?¡±
¡ªAs long as it doesn¡¯t involve going abroad, I have no objections. Since Vice Chairman Yu will make significant investments in the defense sector, I will support you as much as possible.
Of course, that was ultimately for the reconstruction of United Humanity Federation.
Korea had to be one of the pirs of United Humanity Federation.
¡°For now, I¡¯m considering Hanseong Inotec.¡±
¡ªThatpany is quiterge. They have recently mentioned considering selling, so they should agree as long as you offer reasonable conditions.
¡°Thank you for your permission. I will proceed ordingly.¡±
¨CYou¡¯re wee. By the way, the newpany you set up¡ Is it rted to space?
¡°Yes, as I said before. You said you would assist us, Mr. President.¡±
¡ªDid my heart just skip a beat? I was wondering what else you would ask for this time.
Despite asking for various things, it seemed like the President enjoyed talking with Vice Chairman Yu.
It might seem like he was making many demands, but ultimately, it would help his political achievements.
¡°You only need to announce one presidential decree. It should state that Korean private entities can explore and secure space resources without any restrictions.¡±
¡ªHmm¡ As far as I know, there are no specific limitations, but is it because of the UN Outer Space Treaty?
¡°Yes, the US issued an executive order with those provisions a few years ago. I asked because Korea hasn¡¯t taken any measures in response.¡±
It was an expected situation since there were no privatepanies seriously venturing into space in the first ce.
In Korea,ws are hastily added after all kinds of side effects emerge.
A cheerful voice came through the phone.
¡ªExcellent. I¡¯ll discuss it with my secretaries and announce the presidential decreeter.
¡°I have one more thing. Actually, this is also rted to the Navy.¡±
¡ªWhat is it?
¡°To mount a railgun with a range of over 500km and two barrels, we need the output of the Sejong the Great-ss ships. It would be better to create a dedicated tform.¡±
¨CIt¡¯s a new project¡ The Navy would be happy. Wait, if the railgun has two barrels and is mounted on Func and Hammi, then it¡¯s like the battleships used in World War II¡ Oo
¡°While the US has Zumwalt, Korea can¡¯t just dismantle the Sejong the Great-ss ships, can it?¡±
¡ªThat¡¯s right. If we have one ship docked, it could affect operations. So, we need a new tform¡ If we are sure about the railgun, of course, we can proceed, but¡
¡°It would be great if Si Heavy Industries could handle the design and construction.¡±
¡ªHaha, it sounds like you¡¯ve already developed it, haven¡¯t you?
¡°I¡¯ll share good news with you soon.¡±
¡ªI have one concern. I wonder if Vice Chairman Yu has acquired citizenship somewhere else¡ Being the one who has done amazing things, there¡¯s no guarantee that other countries won¡¯t tempt him with sweet offers.
¡°I am Korean, and I will stay Korean in the future. You don¡¯t have to wo
rry about that.¡±
He didn¡¯t lie about keeping his Korean identity.
Anyway, since Korea would eventually be part of United Humanity Federation, wasn¡¯t it essentially the same thing?
¡ªThat¡¯s the most pleasing thing I¡¯ve heard this year. Great. Let¡¯s trust Vice Chairman Yu and move forward. By the way, it¡¯ste, but congrattions on your promotion.
¡°Thank you.¡±
The call ended, and he left the office.
From now on, he will meet with one of Hanseong Group¡¯s seniors.
Chapter 25: Tensions in the South China Sea
Chapter 25: Tensions in the South China Sea
Chapter 25: Tensions in the South China Sea
The Si Energy Battery Factory in the Seongnam Industrial Complex was crowded with people.
Today, the pre-produced ck Metal Batteries were ready to be shipped out.
Normally, a new productunch would be apanied by various events and celebrations, but there seemed to be only workers here.
Hwang Seon-yeong, who had worked overtime at the factory until the very end, was summoned by Yu Ji-ha.
¡°Ugh. Mr. CEO, this may sound clich¨¦, but you really went through a lot.¡±
She rested her head on his shoulder, as if on the verge of tears.
It wasn¡¯t unfounded, as she had taken charge of adjusting most of the process lines designed by Yu Ji-ha.
As a result, she hadn¡¯t been able to go home properly for the past few months.
Yu Ji-ha handed her a thick envelope.
Her eyes widened as she peeked at the opening of the envelope.
¡°Wow, amazing!¡±
¡°You¡¯ve worked hard all this time. As promised, you won¡¯t have toe in for the next two weeks, so rest well.¡±
¡°Thank youuu! I guess I¡¯ll go buy some books.¡±
As she hurriedly left, arge ck sedan arrived at the factory, as if to rece her.
The person who stepped out of the back seat was Shin Ju-ho, the honorary chairman of Hansung Group.
He sighed as he looked at Arma.
¡°Why did you send Ha-yoon away?¡±
¡°She¡¯s my secretary. It¡¯s not that kind of rtionship, so please don¡¯t specte.¡±
¡°Of course, it¡¯s your business, but can I say something out of concern?¡±
¡°I¡¯m listening.¡±
He motioned for them to follow him to a secluded ce and firmly tapped his cane on the ground.
¡°Do you know why people like us keep only loyal subordinates? It¡¯s to avoid unnecessary gossip. There are a lot of people out there who dislike us. We don¡¯t need to give them any reason to attack us.¡±
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡±
They were bound to create a force that didn¡¯t require such consideration.
Of course, it wasn¡¯t for personal desires or pleasures.
Chairman Shin Ju-ho frowned at their response.
¡°Well, I guess it¡¯s not my concern. That aside, are those the batteriesing to us?¡±
¡°Yes. Including the samples, there will be a little over 30,000 units. We¡¯ll start full-scale production within two weeks.¡±
¡°Do you know how long I¡¯ve been waiting for this day? I couldn¡¯t even sleep properlyst night.¡±
¡°Well, you don¡¯t have to go that far¡¡±
¡°No, look at this. Can you see this?¡±
He took out his smartphone from his pocket.
¡°I reced the battery you gave me a week ago. Even after doing everything, it still has 18% left. This is¡ a revolution.¡±
That revolution would soon be incorporated into Hansung Electronics¡¯ gship smartphone.
Chairman Shin Ju-ho trembled, holding his cane.
¡°The world¡¯s first ck metal battery being installed in Orion. Can you already imagine the ad slogans? It will be a long time before those Apple guyse up with something like this, huh? Haha.¡±
He didn¡¯t mention that he had rejected Apple¡¯s proposal.
Chairman Shin looked around and whispered, ¡°How much did you get from Japan?¡±
¡°What are you talking about¡ I didn¡¯t get any money.¡±
¡°This brat¡ I also have some connections with Gaindenren. They said they n to invest over 2 trillion yen. Is that true?¡±
Actually, it was over 3 trillion yen over five years.
Since Japan hadpletely lost ck metal, they had no choice but to rely on South Korea.
The United States refused to supply ck metal, and they couldn¡¯t even strike a deal with Russia.
Australia and other countries were in a state of uncertainty without concrete ns, so South Korea was the only ce where they could quickly supply batteries.
Of course, not all of the investment funds were used, and some were Hanju¡¯s share.
Considering themission as well, it was an astronomical amount.
¡°I¡¯ll leave that to your imagination.¡±
¡°You¡¯re quite peculiar. I heard you drive that car every day. You even eat your meals at thepany cafeteria.¡±
¡°It¡¯s just for convenience. I don¡¯t have any extraordinary beliefs. By the way, Chairman.¡±
¡°Shall I guess? Is it the right time for me to fulfill the request you mentioned before?¡±
¡°Yes, it is. Please withdrawpletely from the drone project that Hansung Inotech is pursuing.¡±
¡°Drone? Was there such a thing?¡±
Chairman Shin called his secretary and had a conversation with him, then nodded.
¡°Indeed, there was such a thing. It¡¯s a small project. It has passed the first phase. Are you nning to get involved?¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°You may not know, but the defense industry in Korea is limited. There are many demands and regtions that favor only small and medium-sizedpanies. It¡¯s a troublesome sector with restrictions, and it¡¯s difficult to sell overseas. It gives me a lot of headaches.¡±
¡°We¡¯re pursuing it as a long-term project, based on technology verification.¡±
¡°Hmm¡¡±
The elderly man¡¯s gaze turned into that of a predator eyeing its prey with an appetite.
¡°Are you considering acquiring Inotech?¡±
¡°Inotech?¡±
¡°I heard you also created a corporation called Starfield. I may not know everything, but it¡¯s clear that you¡¯re nning to venture into space-rted businesses. There is Hi-Tech as aponent supplier, but its scale is too small. Inotech would be a perfect fit. What do you think?¡±
¡°Well¡¡±
Yu Ji-ha deliberately hesitated before speaking.
¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m not interested, but they have been running at a deficit¡¡±
¡°I¡¯ll take care of the deficit for you, and you¡¯ll have the opportunity to create a global defense industrypany. They say ck metal can be applied to tanks too, right?¡±
His tone revealed his eagerness to somehow get rid of the current situation.
Indeed, amidst the ongoing recession, everyone was trying to reduce deficits.
In such circumstances, if there was a potential buyer, it was like throwing bait.
¡°Well¡ even if the deficit is resolved, I still have ongoing projects to manage, so I¡¯ll have to bear the deficit for the time being¡¡±
As Yu Ji-ha pretended to contemte, he became more anxious.
¡°For two years, I¡¯ll cover the deficits at Hansung. However, new projects will be excluded.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s make it three years. I found out that the armored vehicle parts supply contract extends until then.¡±
¡°Alright. Anything else?¡±
¡°This is a slightly different context¡ I would appreciate it if you could establish amittee to coordinate domestic battery supply.¡±
¡°Me?¡±
Chairman Shin was surprised for a moment, then realized the meaning and eximed in excitement.
¡°You, you little rascal! Did you think I wouldn¡¯t understand the hidden meaning between the lines? Are you trying to pass on all the troublesome people to me, starting with your grandfather?¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t you a respected elder in the domestic businessmunity? It would be an honorable position for you to take as chairman in your old age.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t have money, so what¡¯s the use of honor? So, will you at least pay me a sry?¡±
¡°You should receive it from the people who want battery supply, not from me.¡±
It was a simple logic of selling water from a well to thirsty people.
¡°¡I guess I won¡¯t get bored in my old age. Dealing with old folks suits me better than you.¡±
¡°However, there is onepany that shouldn¡¯t be supplied.¡±
¡°Are you referring to Mirae Group? Well, they were quite excessive. It¡¯s not right to try to snatch away even their younger sibling¡¯s share. But if we don¡¯t supply batteries to Mirae Motors, it will cause a lot of trouble.¡±
¡°They im to have a shortage of supply. Or we can postpone it for a while. About three years should be enough.¡±
Controlling battery supply directly wouldn¡¯t be a bad idea, but domesticpanies were in such difficult situations that there was nothing to gain from them.
Moreover, even if Chairman Shin managed themittee, it would ultimately be a formality, and Yu Ji-ha would have the final say.
In other words, it was about passing on the troublesome aspects and focusing on the substance.
Chairman Shin realized his intentions but decided to ept them.
It might be because of his ambition to maintain his connection with the parasite-like person, someone who could shed tears and leave.
¡°I heard that you¡¯ve been making moves in Chinately. Have you heard any good news?¡±
Did it have anything to do with what Director Zhang Jiaojun of the NCC mentioned?
By now, the number of inspections should have exceeded 20 million, so they might have found someone.
But even then, it wouldn¡¯t be possible to process it precisely.
¡°I¡¯ll check.¡±
Listening to Yu Ji-ha¡¯s report, Chairman Shin asked.
¡°Will you handle it?¡±
¡°Damn, I got it, I got it.¡±
¡°Formalize the discussions we had today and proceed with the contracts.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll handle it from my side. By the way, how about having a drink tonight? I know a good makgeolli ce, and I¡¯ll treat you.¡±
He made a subtle offer, but Yu Ji-ha shook his head.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m too busy to ept.¡±
¡°There are times when you should quietly ept the advice of your elders. Can¡¯t help it if you¡¯re busy. You go ahead.¡±
¡°Please take care.¡±
As he was returning after finalizing the deal, he received news that his grandson had been involved in another ident.
More precisely, it happened yesterday at dawn.
¡°So that brat crashed into a police car and fled? And after drinking? Immediately remove him from his position and seize all his vehicles! What? Why should he be exempted? Tell them to throw him in juvenile detention!¡±
He threw his phone in anger, not caring where itnded.
idents caused by third and fourth generation chaebol heirs were not umon, but these recent ones were particrly severe.
He remembered Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face in his pathetic state.
¡°If that brat were only half as responsible, I wouldn¡¯t have to worry.¡±
Would his grandson, who kept causing idents day after day like a troublemaker, evere to his senses like Yu Ji-ha had?
¡
It was unknown.
The end of the human world had arrived.
The year 2103 marked the official expansion of humanity beyond the sr system.
But no one on Earth remembered that fact.
No, they tried not to remember.
Because it was the year of the Night of Sorrow.
One night before the winter of 2103.
Startled by the meteor shower descending from the sky, the young children who were still awake witnessed the phenomenon.
Their tiny, childlike fingers pointed at the meteor shower, and their parents were astonished.
It was a sign of the impending extinction of humanity.
Over 2,000 gue-bearing creatures suddenly appeared in Earth¡¯s atmosphere.
Compared to their size, they were ridiculously small, but they still weighed tens of thousands of tons, enough to cause havoc as they crashed into human cities.
The impact was tremendous, to the extent that it could be said that cities worldwide were engulfed in mes.
Later statistics revealed that a staggering 500 million people perished in an instant.
Humanity named that day the Night of Sorrow and engraved their hatred for the gue in their hearts.
That hatred wouldter be the driving force behind the formation of the United Human Federation.
¡°¡¡±
Awakening from his dream, Yu Ji-ha stared into the darkness.
Although he was not from the Night of Sorrow generation, strangely enough, he remembered the events of that time.
The knowledge of events before his birth might be due to the artifact of the prophet absorbed on Mars.
¡°Nobody knows the correct answer, but¡¡±
Checking the time, it was 6 a.m.
Although Yu Ji-ha had only slept for four hours after returning from the settler ship, he felt refreshed as if he had a restful sleep.
He quickly dressed, and as he finished, Arma entered with a knock.
¡°Master, I have prepared breakfast for you.¡±
The menu for today was a variety of minced and grilled meats topped with tomato sauce.
Both dishes could be quickly produced in the smart farms and were among the staple rations of the space forces.
While most soldiers criticized them for being tasteless due to the gue¡¯s effects, Yu Ji-ha enjoyed this nostalgic dish prepared by Arma.
¡°There has been an incident in the Spratly Inds. A Chinese naval vessel from the South China Sea Fleet pushed back a Philippine warship and secured ck Metal.¡±
Arma¡¯s voice was as soft and soothing as a luby.
¡°After a long standoff, they finally made a move.¡±
¡°The Philippines lodged strong protests and mobilized their own warships, but it doesn¡¯t seem easy for them to stand against the Chinese forces.¡±
¡°It will be difficult for other Southeast Asian countries to intervene¡ and what about the United States? It has been a while since they set sail from Guam.¡±
¡°They have secured a few inds in the southern region and seem reluctant to make further moves. They may be wary of escting tensions with China.¡±
China had no ck Metal in its territorial waters, forcing them to aggressively pursue it, while the United States took a rtively rxed stance.
However, if the Spratly Indspletely fell into one side¡¯s control, it would be difficult for naval maneuvers in the South China Sea, so they would find a way to intervene.
During that time, perhaps¡
¡°The U.S. Navy is attempting to mount a railgun on USS Zumwalt, the lead ship of the ss. We might be able to see it in action soon within the Seventh Fleet.¡±
¡°They¡¯re nning to mount it first and evaluate its performance in actualbat. Those crazy guys.¡±
¡°The UN is nning to pressure China to obtain an official exploration license, but being a permanent member country, it won¡¯t be easy.¡±
¡°They¡¯re determined to extract the ck Metal in the end. Considering China¡¯s attitude, they seem unwilling to send it to Korea. Could there be a psychic involved?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no confirmed information about that, but should we explore the possibility?¡±
¡°Hmm¡ that woman, Zhang Jiaojun, seems suspicious. Shall we run a simtion?¡±
¡°Master.¡±
¡°Why?¡±
Arma lowered her voice slightly, despite this residence being thoroughly defended.
It seemed to have be a habit.
¡°There¡¯s a possibility of you being abducted when you go abroad, of course not directly by China but through other factions.¡±
Yu Ji-ha wiped his lips and smirked.
¡°To kidnap me and kill me? They would only incur global outrage.¡±
¡°What if that faction forces you to build a high-resolution disintegrator through torture?¡±
¡°Why didn¡¯t they kidnap me when I went to Japan?¡±
¡°The distance was too short. But if you were to travel long distances, opportunities would arise. If it were China, they could provide some terrorists and attempt hijacking. Then they would rescue you, making you indebted to them.¡±
It sounded like something out of a movie plot.
However, Arma never spoke without reason.
She presented this scenario because it had a rtively high probability.
¡°China must have obtained railgun intelligence as well.¡±
¡°They would know that a high-resolution disintegrator can be used to produce various weapons. China is in dire need of that. Of course, batteries would be crucial too.¡±
¡°They wouldn¡¯t want to directly provoke me and face bacsh like what happened in Japan, so they would manipte it to make it look like they had rescued me using another faction¡¡±
¡°The probability is not high, but if it were to happen, they would probably target your visit to Australia.¡±
Yu Ji-ha had received a request from the interim government to give a presentation rted to attack-ss submarines.
The condition was to have the first ship constructed by Si Heavy Industries.
They had already allowed terrorists to enter the country in advance, preparing for a hijacking attempt¡
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, airport security measures became stricter worldwide, but in the case of South Korea, they were rtivelyx.
Arma asked, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we consider canceling?¡±
¡°Hmm¡ No. Let¡¯s take this opportunity to clean things up neatly.¡±
¡°What about ignoring the hijacking for now?¡±
¡°If those bastards reveal their true colors, wipe them out. Then, investigate their backers and find out where they are connected.¡±
To catch a snake, one must disturb the grass.
There was no need to unnecessarily provoke danger, but in the realm where Yu Ji-ha had Arma and the Sibir Combat Support Satellite, there was no room for hesitation.
¡°By the way, where do you think those terrorists who will kidnap me are?¡±
¡°They are likely from the Taliban in Afghanistan. They seeded in upying the entire country as the United States began its withdrawal. There is a lot of intelligence indicating that China had secret contacts with them.¡±
Yu Ji-ha had heard a little about the Taliban.
¡°Fanatics were present in the United Human Federation as well. Eventually, they were all wiped out.¡±
When humanity gathered in Australia during the Night of Sorrow, various things happened.
Among them was the birth of a religious group that worshipped the gue as a deity.
It didn¡¯t make sense to Yu Ji-ha, but the world was filled with all sorts of human beliefs.
The two continued their conversation and eventually headed to work as the time approached.
On the way to work, the radio was discussing the economy.
-¨CRecently, Tongyeong and Geoje have been experiencing an economic boom. Si Heavy Industries has recruited over 2,000 new workers, and the flow of applications shows no signs of stopping.
¡ªSi Heavy Industries reportedly received orders for more than 200 mining ships. As a result, their stock prices are skyrocketing.
¡ªThe protagonist of this amazing miracle, Yu Ji-ha! Vice Chairman Yu was unable to attend, so Chairman Yu Kyung-seok, who stated, ¡°Instead of a pheasant, let¡¯s have a chicken,¡± was invited. Chairman Yoo, hello!
¡ªHello.
Yu Ji-ha was surprised when a familiar voice came out of the speakers.
¡°Turn off the radio.¡±
¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be okay to listen?¡±
¡°He¡¯ll probably only boast about himself if you listen. It¡¯s embarrassing, so turn it off.¡±
¡°But, Master, the surrounding cars are also listening to the same channel.¡±
Perhaps because the economy was so tough, they wanted to hear even a faint glimmer of hope.
The vehicle raced toward the Pangyo worksite.
Chapter 26: A Surprise Test
Chapter 26: A Surprise Test
Yu Ji-ha wasted no time when he got to work.
He made a beeline for the Si Auto Test Track.
Today, they would put Arma¡¯s algorithm to the test.
They had installed it on the Windrunner and were ready to see how it performed in real-life driving conditions.
He was greeted by CEO Im Sang-hyun and another man at the test track.
¡°This is Manager Kang Seung-hyun from the Advanced Automotive Department of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport.¡±
Yu Ji-ha felt a surge of nervousness. ¡°Wow, this is a big deal. What if we mess up? Won¡¯t that embarrass the Ministry?¡±
Manager Kang waved his hand dismissively. ¡°No, no, Vice Chairman. I¡¯m just here as an observer. Don¡¯t mind me and carry on with the test.¡±
Yu Ji-ha knew that Manager Kang¡¯s presence meant that the Ministry had a keen interest in their project.
For over a decade, global early-stagepanies had been collecting massive amounts of data and conducting extensive driving tests, but they had only achieved Level 3 autonomous driving algorithms.
Si Auto, on the other hand, was a neer in the automotive industry, yet they were testing their own autonomous driving system.
It seemed illogical that an individual could make such significant improvements to the algorithm by themselves.
But for now, they were willing to watch and see.
Yu Ji-ha and Manager Kang got into the Windrunner.
¡°Oh, this is the same model that was showcased at that event.¡±
¡°Yes, we¡¯ve installed a new battery, so it shouldst all day. Let¡¯s begin.¡±
[Autonomous Vehicle Number 1, starting drive]
The first vehicle began to move along the test track.
The test went smoothly.
Vehicle Number 1 drove continuously, recognized signals, and stopped when needed.
But how would it handle unexpected situations?
Suddenly, a picture of a person appeared on the road, and Vehicle Number 1 braked gently.
Manager Kang, who was sitting in the back seat, quickly wrote something on his tablet.
The test resumed without any problems.
The algorithm in Vehicle Number 1 urately detected the surroundings and drove carefully, keeping the passengers¡¯fort in mind.
Manager Kang put down his tablet and marveled at the performance.
Sure, other autonomous vehicles could do basic driving and parking.
But navigating through a simted intersection was a different story.
Vehicle Number 1 managed to cross the intersection smoothly, even with aggressive drivers tailgating and running red lights.
¡°This is not Level 3, is it?¡±
He had ridden in more autonomous vehicles than anyone else in Korea.
He had tried Te, Waymo, and other global early-stagepanies¡¯ vehicles, and he knew their ws.
The autonomous vehicles they boasted about felt very different when you actually got in them.
Theycked the finesse of experienced drivers.
But Vehicle Number 1 felt like a human was behind the wheel.
It dealt with every unexpected event with ease, such as motorcycles darting out of alleys, bicycles going the wrong way, and pedestrians crossing illegally.
How could a car without LiDAR do this?
Manager Kang was so baffled that he even checked the driver¡¯s seat to see if someone was hiding there.
Yu Ji-ha smiled when he saw that.
¡°Haha, are you enjoying the ride?¡±
¡°Vice Chairman, can it handle night driving and bad weather?¡±
¡°It¡¯s ready for anything. It can deal with situations like roadworks or suddenne changes.¡±
If it could do that, driving on normal roads or highways would be no problem.
They still had to test it in heavy traffic, but Manager Kang was already impressed.
Vehicle Number 1 left the test track and explored every corner of the Pangyo facility.
Manager Kang was amazed when he saw how the car handled a situation where the road was blocked by cars leaving the facility for lunch.
Instead of pushing its way through, the car skillfully found the gaps, as if asking for permission.
Was the brief sh of the hazard lights after merging a celebration or a thank you?
This showed that the car not only followed explicit rules but also understood implicit ones. No other autonomous vehicle had ever done this before.
¡°Wow¡¡±
He was speechless.
After the long morning drive, Manager Kang got out of Vehicle Number 1.
Yu Ji-ha asked him, ¡°So, what did you think of today¡¯s test?¡±
He shook his head. ¡°¡Maybe we don¡¯t even need to go to K-City. That¡¯s how I feel.¡±
¡°Well, we still have to go through the certification process. Anyway, thank you for your time today.¡±
Vehicle Number 1 didn¡¯t stop there.
It acted as an internal taxi, picking up and dropping off employees.
Everyone was astonished to see a driverless car moving around on its own.
On the anonymous workce app, Whisper, there were various opinions about the test drive that day.
¡ªDid you hear that the director from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport was impressed? What do you guys think?
¡ªThat fancy autonomous car alwayses here for testing.
¡ªBut this one is different. They said Vehicle Number 1 worked like a real taxi. It would stop if you waved from afar and even take passengers.
¡ªReally? If you step back, will it leave on its own? Our employees couldn¡¯t believe their eyes when they saw that.
¡ªI rode it today, and it felt like a human was driving. It was so smooth.
¡ªForget everything else, just don¡¯t crash in Busan, and they¡¯ll give Level 5 autonomy after a month of driving.
¡ªIs this what happens when you get in the carter? You are obsolete, humans.
¡ªThe time when artificial intelligence rules the world hase. Start praising AI now. I¡¯ll beg to be kept as a pet.
¡ªWhy would AI keep you as a pet?
¡ªYou know, like in The Matrix movie, where humans are used as batteries. I want to be that.
¡ªOh, please. Who cares? I just want to marry that red-dressed AI and live happily ever after. LOL
¡ªInsane¡
These posts spread across various online tforms, creating a lot of hype.
As a result, the second test drive attracted a lot of media attention and coverage.
Some reporters even wrote articles after taking a test ride themselves.
¡ªThe SUV Windrunner from Si Auto that I rode in was amazing. Anyone would doubt that there was no human driver behind the wheel. But I checked it myself, and there was no external interference¡
¡ªI felt more fear than joy during the half-day ride in this car. What will happen to our future when such vehicles fill the roads? Many people will lose their jobs as driving bes unnecessary. Self-driving cars are not a distant dream. We need to seriously pass rtedws.
Yu Ji-ha set up a website where people could apply for a chance to ride in the autonomous vehicle.
Thepetition rate quickly reached 3,000:1, and a few lucky ones were selected toe to thepany and experience the ride.
¡ªDamn, I have no words but ¡®fuck.¡¯ All the other self-driving cars in South Korea suck!
¡ªIf this bes avable, I would pay 100 million won for it.
¡ªJust a bit more, and I¡¯ll save 100 million won to buy a Si Auto car.
¡ªIt¡¯s a car with ck metal batteries, for God¡¯s sake. Even if I have 100 million, I can¡¯t buy it.
¡ªWhat if I¡¯m a better driver than the AI? By the way, I¡¯m a driver by profession.
¡ªBow down to artificial intelligence, human.
As the word spread, thepetition rate soared, reaching unbelievable heights of 3,000:1, and only a few lucky ones got to enter thepany and ride in the car.
The stock price of Si Auto followed a simr pattern.
Through it all, Yu Ji-ha stayed calm andposed, heading to Si Hi-Tech, orchestrating everything.
¡
If there was one subsidiary of the Si Group that was the most neglected, it would be Hi-Tech.
This small defense industrypany had nothing to do with the recent craze around ck metal batteries.
Of course, some employees spected that ck metal could be used as armor material, but it didn¡¯t affect the stock price.
Yu Ji-ha found himself in the same situation as before joining Si Energy.
So when he was given the task ofpletely improving the drone system, many wondered what kind of nonsense it was.
Even the employees of the drone business team grumbled like this when their team leader, Oh Sang-moo, was not around.
¡ªAh, we have to deal with hardware adjustments again.
¡ªIf he¡¯s the vice chairman, he should act like one. Why mess with the flight algorithm? Isn¡¯t it enough to set a waypoint?
¡ªWell, let them do whatever they want. Let¡¯s just focus on updating. It¡¯s not our fault anyway, since we can¡¯t touch the source code.
¡ªNo, the real problem is this robot arm. I don¡¯t get why we¡¯re adding problems to problems. If this thing works in the field, it¡¯ll be a nightmare for us.
¡ªWell, it moves pretty well, though. It urately tracks the drone¡¯s position.
¡ªIt works fine in theb, but can it handle catching a drone in the rain or snow? This will definitely cause trouble.
¡ªWe shouldn¡¯t be messing with stuff like this¡ If it fails, we¡¯ll be med¡ Ah¡
¡ªBut what is this lower hull? I don¡¯t know what it does. It¡¯s not even in the spec sheet.
¡ªLet¡¯s forget about it and do our work¡
And so, the day came.
It was the day to test the drone system that would monitor beyond the iron fence, recing the CCTV of the GOP.
They set up some iron fences outdoors and pretended to be infiltrators.
The testingsted for almost a day.
The results were not disclosed, but some media outlets reported on them based on leaks.
¡ªHanseong Inotec drops out of the bid for the next-generation surveince drone system. Only Si Hi-Tech remains.
¡ªThe 22nd Division goes ahead with full-scale testing¡ The dawn of the drone era.
These articles enraged the military enthusiasts.
¡ªInotec is out, and who the hell is Hi-Tech? Did Si Group even have a defense subsidiary?
¡ªAnd these army idiots, what are they thinking? After seeing the disaster with the Warrior tform, they still rush to test.
¡ªThe 22nd Division is in a hurry. They screwed up themand linest week and let the North Korean defectors slip by.
¡ªThe problem is that the area under the 22nd Division is toorge. Why don¡¯t they fix this issue with the system?
¡ªNo money, no manpower, no will¡
¡ªOur country¡¯s military is doing great, huh?
Despite such harsh criticism, the drone system was moved to the 22nd Division for testing.
They got on the military vehicle with the Chief of staff of the 22nd Division.
The guards at the checkpoint saluted sharply to themanding officer.
¡°Chung! Sseong!¡±
The drone did its job well.
22nd Division, GoSeong County, Gangwon Province, Mobile GOP Outpost.
Officials from the Army Headquarters, including officers,mand staff, and personnel from the Radiological Defense Agency, gathered at the training ground to honor the division¡¯smanding officer.
The reconnaissance battalionmander stood alone, pointing at the sector map with the GOP sector marked.
¡°The division is currently in charge of a total perimeter of 96 kilometers, with this battalion covering¡¡±
The staff of the maintaining division were shocked by the length of the fortified fence they were guarding.
They had heard rumors that the 22nd Division, especially in the eastern front, had the longest assigned area, but the reality exceeded their expectations.
There was no tnd in the entire sector, and when stationed at the outposts, they had to climb and descend hundreds of stairs.
And that was while they were sleep-deprived due to various tasks.
The voice of the reconnaissance battalionmander was filled with regret over such a difficult situation.
He briefly exined the current advanced defense system.
¡°Currently, in this battalion, we have installed the advanced defense system in two outposts. However, due to frequent malfunctions and repairs, the burden has fallen on the soldiers¡¡±
The advanced defense system, also known as the Scientific Defense System, applies sensors and other technology to the CCTV cameras, analyzing the captured video data to issue rms.
The problem was that there were too many errors, causing fatigue among the soldiers.
The image analysis algorithm failed to distinguish between humans and animals, and even a slight movement caused by the wind triggered rms, leading to the deployment of the Rapid Response Team.
Moreover, having to operate the outposts while constantly dealing with repairs was an added hassle.
¡°So, despite these drawbacks, is it worth operating? Based on several years of frontline operation, we have concluded that it is not. Currently, in our sector, we have turned off the advanced defense system and deployed soldiers to the outposts. It is much more effective.¡±
The voice of the reconnaissance battalionmander revealed frustration from years of struggle.
Now, it was time to show off the drone system.
They brought in the maintenance truck.
¡°Put it down here.¡±
The soldiers hurried to unload the drone station, surrounding it.
The officers gathered around the station, forming a circle.
When theptop was opened and the program was loaded, the sides of the station opened, revealing the drones.
¡°Wow¡ It looks like a sci-fi movie.¡±
¡°The drones are bigger than I expected.¡±
While Executive Officer Changmojang and Yeondaechangmented, the other officers stayed silent and watched.
The blinking eyes of the drones seemed very intriguing.
¡°Okay, let¡¯s start. Please step back a bit.¡±
As the soldiers stepped back, Yu Ji-ha pressed theunch button.
Soon, two drones detached from the station and flew into the sky.
¡°They¡¯re up! They¡¯re flying!¡±
¡°These drones operate automatically. Once they leave the station, they scan the surroundings and send the visuals to the station through a wireless video transmission system operating in the microwave frequency range.¡±
While the two drones flew around the area, theptop monitor showed a jumble of video feeds.
One officer looked at the monitor and tried to understand.
¡°This is facial recognition, right?¡±
¡°Yes. See the green border? It means they recognize friendly faces.¡±
¡°Oh¡¡±
¡°Ah, it seems they have finished scanning the terrain. Now they will enter patrol mode and look for any possible intruders.¡±
As he spoke, the drones¡¯ movements changed.
They carefully scanned every corner around the perimeter, as if searching for something.
While they were talking, theptop monitor kept showing rapidly changing video feeds.
¡°This system has a sophisticated pixelparison program. It allows us to quickly identify defectors, suspicious people, or North Korean soldiers.¡±
¡°Company Commander, get the g and let¡¯s test it.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
The Company Commander got a white g, which was used during infiltration training at the outpost.
As soon as he raised the g, the drones¡¯ movements changed dramatically.
They flew towards the Company Commander, circling around him and capturing footage.
The station andptop sounded loud rms.
¡°It¡¯s a defector. If it¡¯s not aplete ally, it will be marked in purple.¡±
Curious, Executive Officer Imsunghaeng asked.
¡°And what about North Korean soldiers?¡±
¡°We have programmed the drones to recognize typical North Korean weapons, so they will be marked in red. The drones¡¯ movements also be more stealthy. Of course, we can add more weapons or uniformster.¡±
¡°Wow¡ That¡¯s amazing.¡±
¡°Also, during regr flights, the drones record the condition of the barriers. If any damage urs, an immediate alert is sent.¡±
The officers were surprised by this statement.
¡°Is that possible?¡±
¡°You can test it out during the infiltration trainingter. For now, let¡¯s continue with recharging.¡±
As Yu Ji-ha controlled theptop, the drone stopped its flight and circled around the station.
Soon, a robotic arm came out and skillfully caught the drone, bringing it back inside the station.
And that was it.
Only the Si Drone Station remained on the ground.
At this point, the officers couldn¡¯t help but p sincerely.
¡°That¡¯s amazing, incredible.¡±
¡°We are in the 21st century, but this drone feels like it¡¯s from the 22nd century.¡±
However, the officer from the Army Headquarters and the personnel from the Radiological Defense Agency, who came from behind, asked sharp and critical questions.
¡°What is the range of video transmission?¡±
¡°It¡¯s quite wide. In this type of terrain, it can cover at least several kilometers. We can increase the range by installingmunication stations along the way.¡±
¡°Can it work without any problems in bad weather or at night?¡±
¡°Of course. I know that this area has heavy fog in the mornings. We will do over 100 tests to make sure the performance is not affected.¡±
¡°The system is bound to have errors. Can it be fixed at the outpost level?¡±
¡°We will provideprehensive training to drone operators so that they can do repairs. Since it¡¯s modr, recing parts shouldn¡¯t be too hard.¡±
¡°But modr systems can be expensive¡¡±
He shrugged his shoulders.
¡°It will definitely be more costly than conventional systems. We estimate the cost to be about three to four times higher.¡±
¡°Well¡ I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s worth spending that much budget¡¡±
¡°After doing the tests, you¡¯ll want to adopt it.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Would that really happen?
Every machine is prone to frequent errors as its structure bes moreplex.
The drone had many moving parts, as well as sensors and scanners, making it a system that seemed doomed to fail.
Even advanced countries like the US and China have struggled to fix errors and glitches caused by bad weather.
But it was hard to believe that an individual had solved those issues.
¡®It¡¯s probably just a hoax, and it will be exposed during the tests.¡¯
If they put it through the same tests as the sophisticated border security systems, it wouldn¡¯t be able to handle them.
Although there were high hopes from the higher-ups, he couldn¡¯t hide his doubts.
Chapter 27: All In One Go
Chapter 27: All In One Go
The test finally began.
Soldiers in various disguises, representing different time periods, tried to infiltrate the square by digging tunnels.
However, they could not escape the watchful eyes of the drone system, which inevitably detected them and sounded the rm.
Despite undergoing intensive training for three days with dozens of personnel, none of them could get close to the iron fence.
One day, a heavy rainstorm poured down, creating a muddy mess in the courtyard.
The soldiers hoped that the poor visibility would give them an edge, but they were wrong.
The drones had no trouble finding them in the rain, using their advanced sensors and cameras.
The officers who watched the footage from a safe distance were frustrated and annoyed.
¨DWe¡¯re losing too easily. Ry this message to the soldiers: Anyone who seeds in touching the iron fence will get a 4-night, 5-day vacation.
The soldiers¡¯ eyes lit up when they heard about the reward.
They became more determined and creative, using various tricks and strategies to evade the drones.
They waited for the shift change to sneak around, threw rocks to divert attention, and crawled under bushes and rocks.
One soldier even resorted to a desperate method, moving only one meter every minute during a night infiltration. However, as soon as he saw the violet LED of a drone hovering above him, he cursed and gave up.
¡°You¡¯re truly relentless.¡±
The test had been going on for a long time, but the drone system showed no signs of malfunctioning or fatigue.
There was only one incident when a wild boar dug up the ground where some fiber optic cables were buried, causing a temporary glitch.
By this point, the test had turned into a battle of pride between humans and machines.
The superiors decided to deploy the Scorpion Unit, a specialized unit of North Korean mimics.
They were notorious for their skills in scientific warfare training and had humiliated many other units.
Some even called them the elite forces of the Korean People¡¯s Army.
They wore authentic North Korean military uniforms and infiltrated with confidence.
They knew about the drones¡¯ reputation and did their homework before making any moves.
They used lunar camouge to blend in with the dark sky, covered themselves in mud to fool the thermal cameras, and moved swiftly and silently.
However, all their efforts were in vain.
The Scorpion Unit members were stunned when they saw the shing red LED in front of them, signaling their detection.
¡°Wow, this is relentless. How can there be such formidable opponents?¡±
¡°If we just give them guns, they¡¯ll wipe out the entire North Korean army, won¡¯t they?¡±
They returned to their base, shaking their heads in disbelief and defeat.
And then, as if their words had nted a seed, something happened on a rainy night in April.
A guard post (GP) inside the DMZ sent an urgent report to themand center.
¡°Command center, this is GP 11. We heard gunfire, but we can¡¯t see anything because of the rain.¡±
¡°Copy that. Deploy a search and reconnaissance team now. GP 11 is to monitor the front and be ready forbat at any time.¡±
A search and reconnaissance team cautiously entered the DMZ to investigate.
Bang! Bang!
On a stormy night, the old night vision goggles were useless, and the visibility was extremely low.
However, the sound of gunfire pierced through the rain.
¡°Stop searching! Take cover now!¡±
The team leader had to yell at the top of his lungs to give the order over the noise of the rain.
But then, one of his men spotted something.
¡°Sir, there¡¯s a drone over there!¡±
It was the same drone that had been giving them a hard time for the past few days.
The team leader¡¯s eyes widened and he motioned frantically.
¡°Hey! It¡¯s making a fuss! Grab it and bring it back to themand center!¡±
That¡¯s when it happened.
A violetser beam shot out from the drone¡¯s body.
The soldiers knew what it meant and hesitated.
¡°Lieutenant! It¡¯s a defector! A defector¡¯s presence!¡±
Themand center also saw the violet outline on their screen and quickly contacted them.
¡°This is themand center. Can you capture the individual wearing a North Korean military uniform, about 35 meters ahead of you?¡±
¡°This is the search and reconnaissance team. We¡¯ll capture him right away.¡±
It was an unbelievable feat.
To spot and report a defector in the middle of a downpour inside the DMZ was incredible.
The team leader and his men looked at the drone with awe and respect.
The violetser followed them as they moved forward.
Then, as they got closer to the defector figure, theser suddenly changed its color to red.
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°Uh¡¡±
No one could say anything.
There was confusion on the other side as well, as they heard faint sounds of ¡°Huh?¡±
It was rare to encounter North Korean forces during search and reconnaissance missions inside the DMZ.
The routes were usually fixed, and even if they met, they would ignore each other like strangers.
However, the situation in the DMZ had be tense due to recent defections and shootings.
The UN had tried to intervene after the incidents, but it was useless.
The superiors had ordered them to act decisively if they ran into North Korean forces.
The team leader, without thinking, pointed his gun at the source of theser.
The redser from the drone meant enemy.
He pulled the trigger.
¡°Fire!¡±
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
The soldiers, following his lead, opened fire at the front.
The loud gunfire drowned out the screams of the fallen enemy.
After the drone turned off theser, the search and reconnaissance team cautiously checked the area in front of them.
¡°They¡¯re¡ North Korean soldiers¡¡±
¡°They¡¯re all dead¡¡±
Five bodiesy motionless on the wet ground.
Meanwhile, themand center kept calling out to them, but there was no answer.
¡°This is themand center. Confirm the report. One defector captured and¡ five North Korean soldiers killed.¡±
¡°Repeat. Confirm that one defector was captured and five North Korean soldiers were killed.¡±
¡°Confirmed. They¡¯re right in front of me¡ lying down.¡±
Themand center was in chaos, with urgent orders to report to the division.
The team leader looked at the drone with a nk expression.
It was now emitting a warm, friendly green light.
A faint smile appeared on his tired face.
¡°Thank you, drone.¡±
Soon, the entrance was flooded with lights and noises.
The drone finally returned to its station and started recharging.
¡
The gunfight that happened in the DMZ overnight did not make the news. However, as North Koreaunched a massive protest, the incident came to light.
The Korean Central TV used its usual exaggerated rhetoric to denounce the attack.
¡ªIn response to this, Comrade Kim Yo-jong, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers¡¯ Party of Korea, has instructed us not to tolerate the reckless provocations of the traitorous scum in South Korea.
¡ªFrom now on, we sternly warn that South Korean authorities will bear full responsibility for any actions we take in response.
In response, the Ministry of Defense quickly sent its spokesperson to counter the usations.
Thanks to that, the fact that a gunfight urred in the DMZ became widely known.
The result was the capture of one defector, the death of five North Korean soldiers, and no casualties on our side.
¡°In this incident, it is clear that the four members of the search team did a great job. However, before acknowledging their efforts, I would like to introduce a small friend who provided unwavering support to our troops despite the harsh weather conditions. It is a drone made by Si Hi-Tech.¡±
The spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense introducing the drone as a friend was certainly amusing.
However, when the drone¡¯s impressive performance was shown through simpleputer graphics, no oneughed.
¡°This drone has passed dozens of infiltration tests and supported our soldiers even in extreme weather conditions such as heavy rain and storms. If it hadn¡¯t been for the drone¡¯sser guidance, we could have had casualties on our side as well. I would like to express our gratitude to Si Hi-Tech and Vice Chairman Yu Ji-ha for providing us with this drone.¡±
Yu Ji-ha again?
When it was revealed that he was behind it all, the inte buzzed with excitement.
Military enthusiasts quickly changed their tone, urging for swift adoption instead of criticism.
Various media outlets coborated with the army to create video footage of the incident, highlighting the decisive role yed by the drone.
Finally, people realized that the drone was not just a helper but a hero.
On one channel, a drone expert was invited to share their opinion.
¡ª¡±Well¡ it¡¯s not easy to have clear visibility in this heavy rain.¡±
¡ªEspecially when the observation equipment is disabled. We have to analyze the footage pixel by pixel and make instantaneous judgments, which is practically impossible with conventional algorithms.
¡ªFor your information, surveince drones like this have already been attempted by drone powerhouses like the United States and China. However, they failed to ovee various challenges and couldn¡¯t be fully operational. But now, we have seeded.
Now, the reporters rushed to Si Hi-Tech, or more specifically, to Yu Ji-ha.
He was talking with his researchers, wearing a somewhat awkward expression, before calmly taking the microphone.
¡°I am d that the drone we developed was able to assist the search team. Above all, I¡¯m relieved that there were no casualties.¡±
¡°There is a growing public opinion across various fields that urges for the immediate adoption of this remarkable drone. What are your thoughts on this?¡±
¡°Well, even in urgent situations, principles must be upheld. That is my belief.¡±
¡°Principles are important. Perhaps it is the integration of that philosophy into the drone that has led to these results. This was Hyun-kyung Lee, reporting.¡±
After reading the interview, inte users began spouting nonsense about how Yu Ji-ha was on a different level than other conglomerates.
¡ªHey, Yu Ji-ha, how old are you now? Are you even eligible to be the President?
¡ªI¡¯m thirty-three, so I don¡¯t meet the qualifications. You have to be over forty.
¡ªWhat kind of President is a chaebol owner anyway, not even a politician?
¡ªWhat else can¡¯t he do? He seems much better than most politicians.
¡ªWhy do we have to wait for seven years?
Of course, most of it was just joking around.
However, the name Yu Ji-ha was firmly imprinted in the minds of the public.
While Korea was in an uproar like this, Arma quietly improved the drone and installed it on the Sibir Combat Support Satellite.
This drone had grown to arge size, far beyond the previous version, and its firepower had been enhanced.
Now, the Sibir satellite could descend to a low orbit andunch armed pods at any time, as long as it had the Master¡¯smand.
Arma hoped it wouldn¡¯te to that, but he knew well that it was impossible in this era.
The shootout that happened in the DMZ on the Korean Penins in April caught the attention of countries around the world.
The shootout itself wasn¡¯t of any interest as it happened multiple times in a month.
Countries like the United States and China made formal statements expressing their hopes for peace and urging restraint from both sides.
What truly captivated the world¡¯s attention was the drone system¡¯s performance during the shootout.
Although drones had been active in conflicts worldwide since 2026, they had never been used to perform surveince tasks in ce of humans or CCTV.
Many countries were interested in the unmanned nature of drones and invested heavily, but they couldn¡¯t solve various problems.
However, out of nowhere, Korea seeded in developing such a drone system.
The fact that these drones had undergone actualbat before their official deployment aroused considerable curiosity.
The example of Korea¡¯s K-9 self-propelled howitzer showed that inquiries from buyers increased after the incident on Yeonpyeong Ind.
Simrly, after the remarkable performance of Turkey¡¯s Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicle during the Armenian war, it opened the door for significant exports.
Of course, since these surveince drones were limited in their effectiveness in high-intensity conflicts, they might not have much impact in such situations.
However, as of 2026, low-intensity conflicts were happening much more often.
Military officials from various countries who observed the surveince drones had simr thoughts:
¡ªIf target identification is so easy, why not attach firearms underneath and use them for infantry support?
¡ªIf we can build the body with ck metal, we can ensure its armor performance. But then, the unit cost would skyrocket.
¡ªWith an algorithm like that, it might be more efficient than deploying troops. For example, in pirate raid operations.
¡ªIf we mount them on cruise missiles andunch them, the range issue practically disappears.
However, military officials also shared amon concern.
They wondered how the drone¡¯s target identification algorithm was designed.
¡ªording to the report of the shootout, the drones were able to distinguish between defectors and North Korean soldiers. This proves that the drones have sophisticated judgment capabilities.
¡ªShouldn¡¯t we call it artificial intelligence rather than an algorithm? Even humans don¡¯t easily show such discernment.
¡ªAnyway, unless we thoroughly examine the target identification algorithm, we can¡¯t fully trust it.
Countries tried to contact and evaluate the drone system based on their assessments.
However, it was not an easy task.
The drone system was still a newly developed weapon system that Korea hadn¡¯t officially adopted.
Though various countries had embassies in Korea, only the United States seeded in mobilizing defense officials to verify the drone system.
There were also requests from Japan, but the Korean government refused, considering its rtionship with Yu Ji-ha.
Meanwhile, Colonel James attended the demonstration of the drone system with a cheerful mood but emerged with a grim face.
Journalists tried to interview him, but he didn¡¯t say anything and instead contacted his home country.
As shown in the records above, Si Hitech¡¯s drone system was able to perform target identification smoothly even in the worst situations.
It surpassed any existing means of target identification by arge margin.
The system had the potential to excel even in high-intensity conflicts.
If we installed this system on mobile vehicles, we could easily engage inwork-centric warfare without the need for borate tforms.
Therefore, there was a need for our home country to step forward and secure this drone system.
Since Korea still considered the United States as an ally, we couldn¡¯t afford to miss this opportunity.
However, Colonel James added a postscript stating that the disclosure of at least a portion of the target identification algorithm by the manufacturer was a prerequisite.
This was because there were many obscure aspects of the algorithm used in the drone system that he couldn¡¯t understand.
Furthermore, among those who felt this way, there were also several members of the Korean National Assembly.
After witnessing the demonstration, the members of the Defense Committee showed generally positive reactions.
However, they had one concern.
¡°It¡¯s all good, but¡ We need to understand how that algorithm works. What if the drones turn our soldiers into enemies?¡±
When Representative Lee Hong-sik, a senior member of the ruling party and themittee chairman, made this argument, everyone nodded in agreement.
¡°We need at least a partial disclosure of the target identification algorithm. Let¡¯s send an official request.¡±
So, the National Assembly¡¯s Defense Committee formally requested Si Hitech to disclose the algorithm.
However, the response was negative.
¡°All source code of the drone system is the property and trade secret of Si Hitech, so it cannot be disclosed.¡±
Surprisingly, with such a firm response, manywmakers quietly withdrew their positions.
They were worried that unnecessary meddling could cause a bacsh, as the issue was getting public attention.
However, Congressman Lee Hong-sik stubbornly persisted in demanding the disclosure of the source code.
¡°I¡¯m not asking for everything to be disclosed. I suggest verifying a portion of the most critical target identification algorithm together with the Defense Science and Technology Research Institute. With their involvement, we can conduct fair and urate verification.¡±
If this proposal was not epted, he threatened to partially revise the Enforcement Rules of the Defense Acquisition Program Act.
It was an expression of his determination to see the source code even if it required changing thew.
Perhaps annoyed by his attitude, Si Hitech agreed to the condition of disclosing the source code only to the Defense Science and Technology Research Institute.
Despite the satisfaction expressed by Congressman Lee Hong-sik and other officials, their remarks were ridiculed in onlinemunities.
¡ªWhen did they start caring so much about our soldiers?
¡ªThat guy was involved in blocking the investigation into defense corruption. Is he in such financial trouble that he resorts to corruption?
¡ªIsn¡¯t he Park Hyun-gu¡¯s right-hand man? He¡¯ll probably sell information to China soon.
Lee Hong-sik ignored all the insults and criticisms.
However, the developers at the Defense Science and Technology Research Institute, who finally managed to open the code after various difficulties, were dumbfounded.
There were noments at all, and the code was incrediblyplex, making it hard to understand.
¡°Hey¡ This is a bit too much. How many nested functions are there?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t figure out why there are calls here. There are too many lines of code with no clear meaning.¡±
¡°Will this even work as it is?¡±
After struggling with the source code for several days, the Defense Science and Technology Research Institute finally submitted a report to the Defense Committee.
The report stated that it was not possible to verify the target identification function with the given source code.
The Defense Committee was furious and demanded a proper response, but Si Hitech insisted that it was all they could provide.
If you looked closely at the current situation, you could see that there was only one person raising their voice.
It was none other than Congressman Lee Hong-sik.
He continued to pressure Si Hi-Tech to release the proper source code, even if it meant bing their enemy.
Other members, including his aides, were being passive and hesitant, considering public opinion.
Why were they acting that way?
He knew very well why they were maintaining their stance.
Chapter 28: A Pleasant Journey
Chapter 28: A Pleasant Journey
¡°Looks like Gukwayeon will be hacked soon.¡±
¡°Should we stop it?¡±
¡°No, just leave it. It¡¯s not like it¡¯s a proper code anyway.¡±
South Korea had been gued by the threat of hackingtely.
The culprits were mostly suspected to be the Red Team, countries such as China, Russia, and North South Korea, but there was no solid evidence.
In fact, every country wanted to hack.
They justcked the ability to do so.
Nevertheless, they suspected that Yeohong-sik, who was maintaining his position, had a force behind him.
There was a saying in Yeouido.
When Beijing coughed, a few people immediately boarded a ne, and Yeohong-sik was likely to be at the forefront.
He was a prominent pro-China figure, like thete Prime Minister Park Hyung-gu, but he had slightly different intentions.
He was under suspicion of receiving various favors and conveniences from China.
In fact, every time he visited Beijing, his fawning behavior was noticeable.
When reporters asked if he was treated well, he would deflect the question.
¡ªChinese food suits his taste buds well. Indeed, brothers often have simr tastes.
¡ªIf skillfully steering every question towards China was a talent, then he certainly had it.
¡ªAnyway, because he was a key figure in the ruling party, it was difficult to casually meddle with him.
¡ªIn addition, after the death of Prime Minister Park Hyung-gu, there was a tendency for pro-China factions to gather around him as the right-hand man.
¡ªIf they let him be, he would be a nuisance, entangling himself with other people and causing a big mess all at once.
¡ªIf Gukwayeon gets hacked again this time, find out if it¡¯s the same people who infiltrated our researchb.¡±
¡ªWhat should we do if they are the same?
¡ªFor now, just keep a record. And when is Li Weiwei¡¯s visit to South Korea?
¡ªIt¡¯s in a week.
¡ªCoincidentally ovepping, huh?
¡ªWas it really just a coincidence that it coincided with the day when the new bulletproof vest tes were supplied to the front-line troops?
¡ªHe didn¡¯t think so.
¡ªChina had sent Zhang Jiaojun, a director of the NCC Group, to exert pressure on him.
¡ªWhat they wanted was an independent ck metal ecosystem.
¡ªHowever, the United States couldn¡¯t make an exception for China when it was establishing factories domestically.
¡ªHe clearly conveyed that to them, but it seemed China couldn¡¯t ept it.
Zhang Jiaojun sent him the following letter:
¡ªChina currently has thergest ck metal reserve in the world, including the South Sa-gun¡¯s ck metal. Although we can currently obtain ck metal from the East Sea, there is no guarantee that we will be able to do so in the distant future.
¡ªIn Chinese idioms, there is a saying ¡®no revenge is as important as seeking revenge.¡¯ I expect wise judgment.
It was a polite message, but it was nothing short of a threat to surrender the disintegrator.
He tore up the letter and didn¡¯t even bother to respond.
Li Weiwei, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs who was visiting this time, would probably ask him directly about that matter.
There might be other motives as well¡
¡°Arma, what is the probability that the Chinese visitorsing this time will steal the bulletproof vest tes?¡±
¡°I would say it¡¯s quite high. We have secured Park Junho, who was at the Pangyo Research Institute.¡±
¡°Ah, that guy.¡±
Park Junho was one of the few individuals, besides Yeohong-sik, who could transform ck metal. But his psychic abilities were too weak to be useful.
However, it seemed that Park Junho himself and China didn¡¯t share that perspective.
¡°He has been in China for over three weeks without returning. He was probably absorbed by the Communist Party.¡±
¡°So, he lied about needing products made of ck metal to strengthen his position?¡±
¡°China fell for his deception. After all, he can transform ck metal into various forms.¡±
¡°Well, since the transformation phenomenon urs right in front of their eyes, they probably did as he asked.¡±
However, even if they managed to steal the tes, exporting them to a foreign country would be challenging.
First of all, the government kept track of them and managed them with serial numbers, and the National Intelligence Service was closely monitoring them.
Moreover, the tes wererge in size, so they would be caught at airport security checkpoints.
Arma presented a different opinion.
¡°There¡¯s something called a diplomatic pouch. It allows for the transportation of various items without going through customs inspections. Generally, opening a diplomatic pouch is forbidden.¡±
¡°Is that so? The tes would have to be quite big to be transported.¡±
¡°Yes. By examining the diplomatic pouch of the visiting delegation, we can determine whether they are taking the tes.¡±
¡°Hmm¡¡±
China¡¯s intentions were clear.
They wanted the source code of drone systems and high-resolution disintegrators.
Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t want to get involved in the ck metal ecosystem of the Preserve.
While he understood their freedom up to that point, he couldn¡¯t tolerate this kind of maniption.
¡°If they fail this time, their n is to kidnap me?¡±
¡°More precisely, it¡¯s a rescue mission. The Taliban handle the kidnappings. The disintegrators are naturally obtained loot during the process.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it known that getting involved in Afghanistan leads to friction with China due to the Uyghur issue?¡±
¡°That¡¯s the perspective of the traditional Taliban. Those who were part of the Afghan government forces have a slightly different viewpoint. Running a country requires money, you know.¡±
¡°The Taliban might have the ability to drive out the US, but do they have the ability to govern a nation?¡±
¡°Apparently, drug exports aren¡¯t enough for them.¡±
Yu Ji-ha organized his thoughts.
¡°For now¡ contact Hi-Tech and tell them to supply the tes as nned. But before that, imnt microdrones throughout the entire te.¡±
With Settler¡¯s Aether Reactor operational, there was no difficulty in performing three-dimensional patterning.
¡°If the tes are exported, will the government suspect anything?¡±
The National Intelligence Service should have a grasp of that level.
They¡¯ll check the schedule when the ne arrives.
¡°Liu Wei will probably try to meet with Yeohong-sik or Zhang Jiaojun.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll secure as much evidence as possible.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s take care of everything at once, including the person who steals the tes.¡±
A weekter, Liu Wei¡¯s chartered ne arrived at Incheon Airport.
This delegation was of considerable size, ranking at the level of deputy minister, and it was expected that there would be in-depth discussions rted to ck metal in the media.
However, not a single media outlet focused on the diplomatic pouches of a size that could hold a person.
As soon as Liu Wei arrived in the country, he met with Zhang Jiaojun from the NCC.
Yeohong-sik, a member of parliament, was also present, but no details of their conversation were revealed.
Liu Wei had requested meetings with several individuals from the domestic majorpanies, and Yu Ji-ha was on the list.
When Yu Ji-ha entered the meeting room, he only saw Liu Wei and Zhang Jiaojun, both with lean appearances, holding their positions.
From the beginning, it was clear that others were just for show, and the n was to have a private meeting.
¡°Leave.¡±
Two burly men wearing sunsses left the meeting room.
Now, Yu Ji-ha was face to face with Liu Wei.
¡°I asked politely several times, and you should have epted it reasonably.¡±
The interpreter¡¯s rough tone emerged from the start.
Yu Ji-ha calmly replied, ¡°I have one stance. If you want ck metal, establish factories within the country.¡±
¡°What if I refuse?¡±
¡°Then China won¡¯t be able to obtain ck metal. You might have plenty of Wongoang, but that will be all.¡±
A smirk appeared on Liu Wei¡¯s lean face.
¡°Do you really think so? You believe you¡¯re the only one in this world who can modify ck metal?¡±
¡°If someone like that existed, there would be no reason for them toe to me like this, would there? Isn¡¯t that right?¡±
¡°I won¡¯t waste more words. If I give you high-resolution disintegrators, I won¡¯t bother you again. I¡¯ll give you more money than you can spend in a lifetime. And if you want Chinese citizenship, I can provide that too.¡±
¡°Why do you want high-resolution disintegrators, exactly? Are you nning to create weapons?¡±
Liu Wei¡¯s face contorted.
¡°Who doesn¡¯t know that you made railgun barrels? Why are you only wagging your tail at the United States?¡±
¡°The expression ¡®wagging your tail¡¯ seems a bit inappropriate. Anyway, the reason is simple. We¡¯re still allies.¡±
¡°Listen carefully. It¡¯s only been 76 years since the United States settled on South Korean soil. South Korea has been a brotherly country to China since ancient times. Brothers should get along well, shouldn¡¯t they?¡±
¡°Who¡¯s the brother?¡±
¡°Of course, it¡¯s South Korea! South Korea has been part of China for generations!¡±
The thin disguise tore apart, revealing its true colors.
Of course, China today is very powerful, and South Korea relies on its economy to arge extent, so it¡¯s natural for the pressure to weigh on South Korea¡¯s shoulders.
However, with Yu Ji-ha¡¯s arrival, many things would change.
¡°It seems we¡¯re on parallel paths. I¡¯ll go first.¡±
¡°Sit.¡±
¡°Do you think you can oppress South Koreans on South Korean soil? Deputy Minister Liu Wei, your influence is truly remarkable.¡±
As a warning, he was notified that there would be regrets if he stepped outside.
¡°I¡¯m looking forward to that.¡±
As Yu Ji-ha attempted to open the door, the men blocked his way.
¡°Get out.¡±
The sudden burst of Chinese words surprised the men, who looked at Liu Wei in confusion.
Reluctantly, he nodded his head, leaving Yu Ji-ha with a smile before disappearing.
A few dayster, Arma reported to Yu Ji-ha, who was resting at home.
¡°The armored te convoy is heading towards Incheon Airport.¡±
¡°How much money did they offer to make them steal it all?¡±
¡°It¡¯s quite a lot. They received 3 billion won through a secret ount.¡±
¡°¡So the National Intelligence Service just stood by and watched?¡±
¡°They realized it toote, and tracking became difficult as the truck entered the embassypound.¡±
¡°Then we¡¯ll be getting a call soon.¡±
Sure enough, the President himself called on the phone.
Yu Ji-ha put on his clothes and started the Windrunner.
-Vice Chairman, can you help me?
-If it¡¯s within my power, I will help. But what¡¯s the matter?
-The armored te that was delivered was stolen by a senior military officer. He has been arrested, but the tes were taken to the Chinese embassy. They are currently en route to Incheon Airport in a diplomatic pouch.
-Ah¡ Wait a moment. So you¡¯re saying China is stealing the armored tes?
-That¡¯s correct. We need evidence to inspect the diplomatic pouch. Otherwise, it could escte into a diplomatic issue. Is there other way?
Since the other party was China, that was right.
If it were any other country, the government would have immediately opened and inspected the diplomatic pouch.
But in the first ce, they wouldn¡¯t have dared to do such a thing.
Yu Ji-ha slowly drove the car onto the main road.
¡ªWe can confirm it with the disassembler, but we¡¯re in Seoul right now¡
¡ªUnderstood. Drive. Police cars will escort you. We¡¯ll try to prevent the bag from leaving the country.
Shortly after, two patrol cars joined in.
¡ªWee-woo-wee-woo!
With loud sirens, all the traffic lights in the vicinity turned red at once.
The only traffic light that turned green was the one heading towards Incheon Airport.
The Windrunner raced through the wide-open road.
When Yu Ji-ha arrived at the airport, he saw a confrontation between the Chinese delegation and the South Korean side.
In between them were three wooden boxes.
Therge size made the words ¡°Diplomatic pouch¡± on them look insignificant.
Of course, there were no specific regtions regarding the size and specifications of diplomatic pouches.
In times of emergency, a container could be designated as a diplomatic pouch to support their own nationals abroad.
That was the logic of the Chinese delegation.
¡°I¡¯m warning you, step back!¡±
¡°Preventing the movement of the diplomatic pouch itself can be a problem! How do you n to take responsibility for the consequences?¡±
Meanwhile, the frantic aides from the Blue House and the police were sweating profusely as they discreetly prevented the pouch from being moved.
They had been doing that for almost 40 minutes, so their hard work was understandable.
As Yu Ji-ha approached, their expressions changed as if they had encountered a savior.
¡°Are you recording with a bodycam?¡±
¡°Yes? Oh, yes! Of course!¡±
The police officers responded in a rigid posture as if he were with the president himself.
In fact, this was not a ce for an ordinary civilian to intervene.
However, considering his ability to handle ck metal effortlessly, the reason for his involvement became evident.
President Lee Hyun-seong believed that Yu Ji-ha could resolve this situation.
He approached Deputy Minister Liu Wei, who had a cold expression.
¡°Nice to meet you again, Deputy Minister.¡±
¡°Are you holding a busy foreign official, detaining them with South Korea¡¯s supposed etiquette?¡±
¡°Of course not. I just need to confirm one thing and then I will send you away.¡±
After exchanging a nce with his secretary, Yu Ji-ha spoke quickly.
¡°We suspect that this diplomatic pouch may contain the new model of bulletproof vests¡ I mean, the ck metal tes. Do you deny that you may have stolen them?¡±
Liu Wei shouted angrily, but Yu Ji-ha calmly stared him down.
¡°It¡¯s unlikely that the tes supplied to frontline units would identally end up in a diplomatic pouch, don¡¯t you think?¡±
¡°¡So you want to open the pouch for verification? Present the evidence first. If you dare to open it recklessly, you will pay a severe price. Just like before, you know.¡±
It was nothing short of a threat to activate the Hanhanryeong once again.
China had the capability to carry out such a move, and the South Koreans present at the scene were apprehensive about opening the pouch for that reason.
In the end, the crux of the matter was whether they would find evidence or not.
Instead of answering directly, Yu Ji-ha turned to the Chief Secretary and asked a question.
¡°Chief Secretary, if it is confirmed that they have stolen the bulletproof vest tes, what will be the consequences?¡±
¡°Well¡ it would be a clear case of theft and a vition of the Military Secrets Protection Act. However, since they are foreigners, it would likely result in a ban on their entry into the country.¡±
¡°So, if the tes are found here, it means that Deputy Minister Liu Wei will not be able to set foot on South Korean soil from now on?¡±
¡°Yes, his entry would be denied at the airport. It would be a different story if the entry ban is lifted.¡±
¡°I see¡ By any chance, do you have the serial numbers of the stolen tes?¡±
¡°Here they are.¡±
¡°Hmm, a total of ten¡ ¡°
¡°¡¡±
Liu Wei felt a sense of unease as he observed Yu Ji-ha checking the numbers.
If they were caught, this would be an issue that couldn¡¯t simply be brushed aside.
Regardless of China¡¯s superiority in the bteral rtionship, there needed to be at least some justification.
Especially when it came to anything rted to ck Metal, countries around the world were exercising caution.
But if a deputy minister from one country was caught stealing ck Metal tes in another country, it would not only be aughingstock worldwide but also face firm reprimands from superiors.
¡°It shouldn¡¯t be a problem. Just present the evidence¡¡±
The diplomatic pouch looked like a wooden crate, but it was sealed tightly with steel.
If it wasn¡¯t opened from this side, there would be no contact with the ck Metal, and consequently, no evidence could be found.
This conclusion brought a rxed expression to Liu Wei¡¯s face.
¡°We are busy people. If you can¡¯t find the evidence within 10 minutes, I will contact my homnd.¡±
¡°If it¡¯s evidence you want, I¡¯ll show you right now.¡±
Yu Ji-ha pulled out his dismantling device and fitted it like a glove.
As the ck Metal made a crackling sound and transformed right before their eyes, everyone¡¯s eyes widened.
ck Metal had be quite familiar to people by now, but it still evoked a sense of awe whenever seen.
Yu Ji-ha ced his gloved hand on the left side of the pouch.
¡°There¡¯s one thing you¡¯ve misunderstood. I can manipte it without even making direct contact with ck Metal.¡±
Being an Omega-level psychic beyond the norm was the reason why.
¡°What?¡±
Liu Wei¡¯s eyes widened in astonishment, and at that moment, the sturdy seal was torn open, and the wooden crate made a creaking sound as it broke apart.
What emerged from within resembled a turtle-shaped figure folded from ck paper.
¡°Wow¡ It came apart.¡±
¡°There, the tes are inside!¡±
¡°Check the serial numbers!¡±
This was the end¡
A sense of impending doom swept through the officials.
With things turning out this way, there was absolutely no room for denial.
As Deputy Minister Liu Wei tightly closed his eyes, he heard the voice of the Chief Secretary.
¡°We¡¯ve checked the serial numbers. They match the tes that went missing from the front-line unit.¡±
¡°Deputy Minister Liu Wei, it seems you¡¯ve been engaged in theft.¡±
As if questioning why he did it, a reproachful voice caused him to falter in his attempts to make excuses, his gaze fixated on the turtle.
The ck Metal model¡ was not a turtle but a monitor lizard.
South Koreans often failed to distinguish between monitor lizards and turtles, but the Chinese were different.
That¡¯s because there was a superstition in China that monitor lizards mated with their own mothers, making them taboo.
So, they insulted him by calling him a monitor lizard, implying that he would join forces with his mother.
¡°I, I¡¡±
Just as his anger was about to explode, Yu Ji-ha calmly spoke up.
¡°It seems you have a fondness for turtles. Unfortunately, this belongs to the government of the Republic of South Korea, so I cannot give it to you freely.¡±
His anger instantly dissipated.
No matter how you looked at it, it was a monitor lizard, but arguing that it was a turtle would only make him appear more ridiculous.
Exining how insulting it was to be called a monitor lizard here would only make matters worse.
¡°Deputy¡ Deputy Minister, how¡?¡±
The officials were watching silently, and Liu Wei shrugged his shoulders.
The police officers held up their cameras and took photos of the scene.
Liu Wei¡¯s frustrated face was captured in the photos.
With a smile on his face, Yu Ji-ha spoke to him.
¡°Now you will return to your country. Have a pleasant journey.¡±
Silence filled the air.
There would be no pleasant journey for him. He would be the subject of global ridicule and be persecuted by other factions.
To the Communist Party, a deputy minister-level bureaucrat was nothing more than a disposable pawn that could be reced at any time.
Liu Wei¡¯s face turned pale as he sensed his impending fate.
Note:
Hanhanryeong ¨C is when China stopped buying and watching things from South Korea because they were angry that the US put a big weapon in South Korea. This made it hard for many South Korean people and businesses who sold or showed things to China. But it did not work very well or for very long, and now China and South Korea are getting along better again.
Monitor Lizard ¨C In China, some people think that monitor lizards are bad animals because they have a bad habit. They believe that monitor lizards mate with their own mothers, which is very wrong and disgusting. So they use the word ¡°monitor lizard¡± to insult someone who is very evil or stupid.
Chapter 29: How To Deal With A Hijacking
Chapter 29: How To Deal With A Hijacking
The theft of the bulletproof te by Deputy Director Liu Wei and his delegation was initially kept under wraps.
South Korea didn¡¯t want to escte the matter and tried to handle it internally by confiscating the te and banning Liu Wei and his officials from entering the country.
They were worried about the potential bacsh that might spiral out of control.
However, the situation blew up in China.
Rumors circted that Liu Wei had been summoned to the President¡¯s office and received a brutal beating, resulting in a fractured skull.
He was supposed to stay at home and recover, but he chose to end his life by overdosing on drugs.
As Chinese media reported on these events, questions arose in South Korea about what had really happened.
At that very moment, a video was uploaded on YouTube.
The video showed the confrontation between the South Korean and Chinese sides that urred at Incheon Airport.
People who watched the video were shocked.
¡ªWhat is this? China tried to steal ck metal weapons from South Korea?
¡ªSo, that was the real purpose of Liu Wei¡¯s visit?
¡ªI didn¡¯t know ck metal could be processed so thinly¡
The video was quickly tranted into dozens ofnguages and spread on YouTube.
As the situation became too big to hide, the Blue House (the South Korean presidential residence) decided to release an official statement.
ording to the statement, the Chinese delegation was caught red-handed trying to steal the new bulletproof te and faced a ban on entering the country.
The highlight of the statement was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s performance.
He presented the evidence in front of the Chinese delegation, who were demanding proof.
The scene where the ck metal turtle burst out of the diplomatic bag was more thrilling than any movie climax.
¡ªHaha¡ That¡¯s so satisfying.
¡ªLook at them, they¡¯re speechless. Is that how they learned to steal?
¡ªIn China, it seems like that¡¯s not a crime.
¡ª¡±Hey, guys, do you know what that means? That¡¯s not a turtle, it¡¯s a monitor lizard in Chinese. It¡¯s a very rude ng term.¡±
¡ªHow rude is it?
¡ªIt¡¯s like saying motherfxxxer.
¡ªHahaha, crazy!
¡ªYu Ji-ha has some nerve. He cursed at the minister like that.
¡ªThat¡¯s because he knows what he¡¯s doing, you know?
While South Korea was aze with excitement, China remained silent, as usual.
They tried to downy it and move on, as always.
However, as the global media picked up on this story, the problem escted.
¡ªChina¡¯s Crime ¨C China¡¯s Desperate Blunder.
¡ª-Chinese Official¡¯s Failed Theft of New Bulletproof te ¨C A Game Changer.
¡ªChina¡¯s Growing Arrogance, We Need to Reflect on What Went Wrong.
Governments around the world also joined the discussion.
As expected, the White House spokesperson took the stage to condemn China.
¡ªDeputy Director Liueiway of China hasmitted a tant crime on South Korean soil. While this incident is South Korea¡¯s responsibility, we express our serious concerns as an ally.
¡ªThe world is deeply worried about China¡¯s erratic behavior. China should immediately withdraw from Spratly Inds and apologize to South Korea. That is the only way to foster a healthy ck metal ecosystem.
¡ªck metal is a cutting-edge material that the world is interested in. If China wanted to examine South Korea¡¯s new bulletproof te, they should have requested it through official channels. Of course, it would be difficult, but it¡¯s necessary.
These diplomatic statements were almost like openly insulting each other.
After the United States, Japan also sent a message.
¡ªChina may have be stronger today, but we don¡¯t see the dignity of a G2. We urge them to stop pressuring talented individuals and to focus on contributing to world peace.
Japan¡¯s statement had a subtle hint ofplimenting Yu Ji-ha.
Maybe they had some personal history, and they wanted to use this chance to improve their rtions with him.
Europe, Canada, and Australia also joined in the criticism, and surprisingly, Russia also intervened.
President dimir Putin openly ridiculed China from the Kremlin.
¡ªWhat we should pursue is not crime, but peace. If China has different thoughts, please let us know. Don¡¯t we need to build a strong fence to protect ourselves from thieves?
Russia¡¯s involvement in restraining China was due to China¡¯s recent excessive growth.
China¡¯s military strength was overwhelming in every aspect except nuclear power, and Russia also felt a serious threat.
The reactions from various countries were not just because a deputy ministermitted theft.
The issue was that it involved ck metal, which was a big deal.
The world was fascinated by the new material called ck metal.
It was revealed that it could be used for various military purposes, besides its applications in electric vehicle batteries.
However, only South Korea and the United States were able to use ck metal as a weapon.
China wanted to disrupt this bnce.
¡ªSouth Korea makes sense. After all, they have Yu Ji-ha, who is the father of ck metal.
¡ªThe United States is also South Korea¡¯s ally, so that¡¯s fine. But China is not.
Countries were worried about what would happen if China managed to weaponize ck metal.
This situation was simr to past incidents of nuclear proliferation.
Despite the statements from countries around the world, China showed little reaction.
As usual, they thought they could deal with things behind the scenes.
Wasn¡¯t that the case?
While it was true that a deputy minister stole something, it could be seen as a personal matter to some extent.
They thought that everything would be settled by now that they had punished him, and they nned to send a regretful message to the South Korean government and Yu Ji-ha.
For this purpose, a minister-level official and senior members of the Communist Party left Beijing, but Yu Ji-ha was not in South Korea.
He was on a ne heading to Australia, following his original schedule.
¡°The response is huge. Most people are supporting the boss.¡±
Half reclining in thefortable first-ss seat, Yu Ji-ha quickly scrolled through the tablet pages.
With this incident, the inte was united in solidarity, fiercely attacking China and praising him.
In fact, the young generation of South Korea had been living under the burden of excessive defeatism for a long time.
China and Japan were openly trying to expand their influence over South Korea.
Not only that, but the growing trade deficit, low birth rate, and the brain drain had reached a point where it was hard to find any positive news.
That¡¯s when Yu Ji-ha appeared like a superhero.
He announced the ck Metal ecosystem, attracting the world¡¯s attention.
He forced Japan to apologize and was now pressuring China.
It was natural that people would admire him.
¡°¡Still, this title is too much.¡±
South Korean YouTube was full of videos with all kinds of crazy titles.
¡ªWhy Japan is panicking over the new body armor and drone system.
¡ªWhy South Korea has be the world¡¯s hope while Chinamits crimes.
¡ªDid the railgun of the U.S. Navye from South South Korea? The White House¡¯s SOS call to Yu Ji-ha.
Arma looked at the titles with a puzzled expression and said, ¡°There¡¯s some truth in them, but¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s what makes these videos scary. They might be helpful to us, but¡¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s goal was dictatorship, but it didn¡¯t have to involve bloodshed and violence.
South Korea needed a process of changing its constitution and epting dictatorship voluntarily.
Of course, it was not an easy path.
South Korean citizens had the experience of overthrowing past dictatorships and achieving democracy, and they were proud of that.
If someone tried to bring back dictatorship, the resistance would be fierce.
However, there were whispers of such ideas gradually emerging in somemunities.
¡ªIt¡¯s strange¡ everything would be solved if Yu Ji-ha took charge.
¡ªSeriously¡ I used to hate those nationalist YouTube channels, but who knew they were right¡
¡ªCan¡¯t we seriously get into politics? I feel like we¡¯d win by andslide in any district we run in.
¡ªBut what can we do as rookiewmakers?
¡ªPolitics is useless without influence. He doesn¡¯t seem to care about politics himself.
¡ªHere¡¯s what I think: We need dictatorship.
¨CAre you crazy?
¨CThis guy has lost it.
¡ªJust hear me out. South South Korea is doomed. The birth rate is expected to drop to 0.4 next year. By around 2045, half of the poption will be elderly. 19 years from now sounds far away, right? The World Cup was 24 years ago.
¨CWow¡ That¡¯s shocking.
¨CI remember cheering for South South Korea from a car during the World Cup.
¨CMe too.
¨CThis is really scary. Half of the people on the streets will be elderly?
¨CThe elderly don¡¯t go out much. Except for Seoul, it will be like a ghost town. Seriously.
¡ªThe budget deficit is unbearable, and when the timees, don¡¯t you think the young people will rebel and think about killing the elderly? They¡¯ll say that they¡¯re sucking up our taxes.
¨CThat makes sense, but there¡¯s no solution.
¨CBut isn¡¯t it better if the poption decreases? Nordic countries are doing well with a small poption, right?
¨CThat¡¯s because their poption structure was nned that way from the start, but ours is different.
¨COur social infrastructure will copse quickly.
¨CImagine that 40% of your ie goes to the elderly. Wouldn¡¯t you want to grab a knife?
¨CUh¡
¨CWhen that timees, China will be ready to swallow us.
¨CSo, what do you propose we do?
¡ªSince we¡¯re screwed anyway, why not take a risk? Yu Ji-ha is smart, right? From ck Metal to creating algorithms, he¡¯s the only hope we have right now.
¨CSo, you¡¯re suggesting we hand over the fate of the country to him? Are you sane?
¨CPoliticians would hate that.
¨CNo matter how much peoplein on the inte, dictatorship is impossible in this country. Are they going to stage a coup? It won¡¯t work.
¨CI hope they all get arrested. Where did they get this dictatorship idea from?
¨CThen let¡¯s all go down together.
¨CThe smart ones have already left South South Korea, hahaha.
Of course, these were extreme views from some onlinemunities, and they couldn¡¯t be taken as serious discussions.
If these ideas were openly debated in public, they would face strong opposition from all sides.
However, it was significant that even a fraction of people started having such thoughts.
By adopting Yu Ji-ha¡¯s numerous technologies and concepts, South South Korea would quickly grow and inspire people¡¯s enthusiasm.
Gradually changing people¡¯s mindset and creating a sense of crisis through big events would be essential.
When that time came, even without stepping forward, people would be begging for dictatorship.
Arma looked back briefly.
The sound of someone screaming made the first-ss passengers start whispering.
¡°It¡¯s starting. There are five terrorists. They will soon overpower the flight attendants and take over the cockpit.¡±
¡°What weapons do they have?¡±
¡°I see high-voltage stun guns, tasers, and stic knives.¡±
¡°Are they homemade? They must have worked hard.¡±
¡°After traveling on this route for a month, disguised as a businessman, the flight attendants would let their guard down.¡±
¡°Just tell people to stay seated.¡±
On this passenger ne, there were several Australian Navy and Radiation Agency officials on board for a briefing on the Attack-ss project.
However, the truth was that they would be useless if a terrorist attack happened.
Arma whispered in the protagonist¡¯s ear.
¡°A Chinese Air Force MiG is following us. It seems to be disguised as an Afghan Air Force ne.¡±
¡°How far is it from Afghanistan to here? Did they refuel in the air?¡±
¡°For China, as long as they get the disassembler, it doesn¡¯t matter. They can go back easily.¡±
¡°Well, that works for us. This is a chance topletely wipe out China¡¯s influence in our country.¡±
With the uing scandal involving Lee Hong-sik, the pro-China faction would be almost eliminated.
And if we shoot down one of China¡¯s best nes, they won¡¯t dare to make a move for a while.
After a while, the economy ss became loud, and the curtains were torn.
The first-ss passengers, who didn¡¯t understand English, got up, and armed men stormed in.
¡°Sit down! Lower your heads!¡±
The first to notice something wrong with the flight from Incheon, South South Korea to Sydney, Australia, was an air traffic controller at the Incheon Air Traffic Control Center.
He frowned as he saw KE117 deviating from its route.
¡°Why is it going that way? Wasn¡¯t it supposed to go to Sydney?¡±
The console started beeping with signals indicating entry into Sector 7.
It was supposed to go to the Fukuoka FIR, right?
He straightened his posture and tried tomunicate with KE117.
¡°KE117, this is Incheon ACC. Your course has changed. Can you confirm?¡±
¡ª(Silence)
No response,plete silence.
He tried tomunicate again, but there was no answer. He quickly called the supervisor to report the emergency situation.
¡°KE117 is off course.¡±
¡°Nomunication at all?¡±
¡°Yes. All channels are quiet. It seems like the equipment has been shut down.¡±
¡°This is crazy. Check the projected course and fuel level. Find the nearest airport and contact the Central Air Defense Control Center!¡±
Why would KE117 do this?
The chance of both pilots going insane was almost zero.
So, something must be wrong with the ne.
Could it be a hijacking?
As everyone remembered the dreadful date of 9/11, a code appeared on the transponder.
¡°7500¡±
Someone dropped their cup in shock.
The code ¡°7500¡± meant that the ne had been hijacked.
At that moment, another controller shouted,
¡°Unidentified ne approaching from behind KE117! Altitude 22,000!¡±
¡°Will it cross over to China?¡±
Just then, the supervisor received a text message on his phone.
¡°The unidentified ne is believed to be from the Afghan Air Force.¡±
¡°They have an Air Force in Afghanistan?¡±
Even if that was true, it didn¡¯t make sense for it to fly over the entire Chinese maind and reach the southern waters off Jeju Ind.
But the person who sent this message was an agent from the National Intelligence Service.
Why would an agent from the National Intelligence Service be on KE117?
Among the busy controllers, someone cautiously spoke up.
¡°Um¡ Isn¡¯t KE117 the ne that Mr. Yu Ji-ha was on?¡±
¡°Yu Ji-ha? The Yu Ji-ha from the Si Group?¡±
¡°Yes, yes. It was on the news. They said he left right after canceling the Chinese visit and went to Australia.¡±
¡°Oh, right. I heard he was with Navy officials because of some contract issues.¡±
¡°So, could it be that Mr. Yu Ji-ha has been kidnapped?¡±
¡
Everyone¡¯s faces turned pale.
As the father of ck Metal, Yu Ji-ha was highly respected not only in South Korea but also internationally.
If such a prominent person were kidnapped, it would cause chaos.
A single mistake by China could turn all the ck Metal into junk, like before.
Of course, the lives of other passengers were also important, but the impact would be much different.
But since the ne was flying towards Chinese airspace, there was little they could do from here.
All they could do was pray for a safe return.
Chapter 30: The Unraveling Truth and the Price to Pay
Chapter 30: The Unraveling Truth and the Price to Pay
Five Taliban terrorists on board KE117 had sessfully hijacked the cockpit, taking the crew and passengers hostage.
The pilots were trained not to open the cockpit door during a crisis, but they had no choice when the terrorists threatened to kill them one by one.
¡°Head west! Go west!¡±
With a knife pressed against his throat, the pilot reluctantly turned the aircraft westward, following the terrorists¡¯ broken Englishmands.
South Korean Air KE117 deviated from its nned route and entered Chinese airspace.
Meanwhile, the other three terrorists threatened the passengers with high-voltage stun guns and knives.
¡°Don¡¯t raise your head! Keep your hands above your head!¡±
¡°Give me your phone! Throw it into the aisle!¡±
¡°What, what did you say?¡±
¡°For fuck¡¯s sake! Phone! Smartphone!¡±
One passenger foolishly lifted his head and received a blow, copsing to the ground.
Soon, phones piled up in the aisle, and the terrorists smashed them one by one.
Yu Ji-ha and Arma also handed over their phones.
They had prepared in advance, so they gave away cheap phones with no valuable information.
One of the terrorists picked up a phone and sneered.
¡°I heard you¡¯re rich, is this all you¡¯ve got, a smartphone?¡±
He nodded.
Yu Ji-ha was tired of their bluff and just nodded his head.
¡°I don¡¯t trust you. Let¡¯s check.¡±
Meanwhile, KE117 was deep inside Chinese airspace.
South South Korea, who learned about the hijacking btedly, dered a state of emergency.
President Lee Hyun-seong¡¯s heart sank when he heard the news, but he had very little he could do.
He could only contact China and request maximum cooperation.
Other countries also inquired about the situation through their embassies after receiving the news.
Gradually, the news spread:
¡ªSouth Korean Air KE117, currently hijacked by multiple terrorists and Afghan fighters, is flying through Chinese airspace.
¡ªThe aircraft, carrying 233 passengers including South Korean tourists, has an unknown status regarding their life and death.
¡ªAs a notable detail, it has been confirmed that Yu Ji-ha, the Vice Chairman of the Si Group, was on board with government officials.
The world turned upside down because of thatst statement.
Given the hijacking, it was extremely difficult to guarantee anyone¡¯s survival.
In other words, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s fate as an imminent death was almost certain.
If that happened, the means to use the highly sought-after ck metal, which each country was diligently securing, would vanish.
The dismantling devices running on mining beams had low resolution and were practically useless, and there were only a few high-resolution dismantling devices in South Korea.
The fate of ck metal worldwide was hanging on Yu Ji-ha¡¯s life or death.
The media of each country immediately reported the breaking news, and the United States and Russia began pressuring China.
Their message was clear: Intercept it quickly.
This didn¡¯t mean shooting it down; it meant using methods like obstructing its trajectory or issuing warning broadcasts to force it tond on the runway.
However, when they learned that the fighter escorting the passenger ne was an outdated MiG, the leaders of each country began to doubt.
¡°All the fighter nes in Afghanistan are just a few outdated MiGs imported from Russia.¡±
¡°Is it even possible for them to cross the Chinese maind with that range? How likely is it that China didn¡¯t notice?¡±
¡°Maybe it¡¯s China¡¯s own ploy.¡±
Russia immediately issued a statement, iming that they could prove whether the MiGs exported to Afghanistan were authentic with a single photo.
However, China¡¯s response was extremely slow.
They didn¡¯t try to intercept the ne or issue any rebuttal statements.
It was as if they were hoping for the passenger ne to keep flying through their airspace.
And at that moment, Yu Ji-ha, who had been quietly held hostage, sent a signal.
¡®Right now.¡¯
Upon reading the signal, Arma quicklyunched an exploration pod from the sunken Settler in the East Sea.
This exploration pod was designed with ion thrusters enhanced to achieve speeds exceeding Mach 30 at altitudes over 30 km.
Thanks to the application of optical camouge and sma shields, it could approach the passenger ne in an instant without being detected by the detectionworks of the three East Asian countries.
[Fighter captured. Securing immediately.]
The exploration pod decelerated and split into two parts, approaching the fighter.
The MiG pilot, who was flying casually, sensed something approaching but didn¡¯t know what it was.
Soon, with a thud, the exploration pod attached itself below and above the fighter¡¯s fusge.
The Chinese pilot looked around and grabbed the radio key.
¡°Ground control, this is Operation Unit. The aircraft just shook violently. Can you identify what it is?¡±
¡°We don¡¯t see anything on our end. But for now, disengage. You¡¯ll enter Nepalese airspace soon.¡±
¡°Understood. Disengaging.¡±
The pilot turned the controls to the right, but despite the creaking sound, the aircraft didn¡¯t move at all.
He tried again, but the roar of the engines only grew louder.
¡°Ground control, the aircraft is not moving.¡±
¡°Is it an engine malfunction? Control surface issue?¡±
¡°For now, both seem to be functioning normally¡¡±
¡°Navigation malfunction! Quickly maneuver the aircraft!¡±
The situation took a sudden turn.
Upon confirming that the exploration pod was still attached to the passenger ne, ground control immediately contacted the Western Theater Command of Air Traffic Control, responsible for overseeing this operation.
Ten minutes passed by.
During dozens of exchanges, the exploration pod remained attached to the passenger ne.
¡°No! I¡¯m not a traitor! This damn control surface isn¡¯t moving!¡±
The cry, almost a desperate plea, reached themand headquarters, but everyone ignored it.
The scenario was on the brink ofplete chaos.
The original n was for the escort aircraft to apany the passenger ne until it reached Chinese airspace and then retreat.
However, the Taliban terrorists who had taken over the cockpit flew the passenger ne all the way to Afghanistan, where they nned to produce a ck Metal Disintegrator through threats and torture.
It might take a year or two, but since other countries would be facing simr situations, China decided to be patient.
Ultimately, if the Chinese government fought with the Taliban insurgents and obtained the disintegrator naturally, the scenario would end.
The remnants would be taken care of by the Taliban, leaving no evidence behind.
However, now the entire scenario was on the verge of being overturned.
The Western Front Commander lowered his red-coloredmunicator and issued amand.
¡°Take them both down.¡±
At that moment, a Chinese unmanned aircraft, the WJ-700, flew in from a nearby airbase, ready tounch an anti-aircraft missile.
From the orbit of Earth, thebat support satellite Sibiri released Reflector Bits.
These shimmering bits, like mirrors, were responsible for altering the angle of the Aether Laser.
Shortly after, a blue line appeared from the center of the Sibiri satellite.
This line precisely prated the engine of the unmanned aircraft after being reflected by the Reflector Bits.
Thanks to this, the unmanned aircraft was engulfed in mes and plummeted in an instant.
As the main screen in themand center zed with fire, everyone jumped up.
¡°What? What¡¯s happening?¡±
¡°I-I don¡¯t know! The engine suddenly exploded¡¡±
Meanwhile, Arma, who was holding Yu Ji-ha¡¯s hand, tapped his elbow.
¡°We¡¯ve taken care of the unmanned aircraft.¡±
Then let¡¯s get started.
As Arma stood up, terrorists with thick beards approached, theirughter filled with ominous meaning.
¡
The terrorists who were in the cabin realized something was wrong as they fought against the tinum-haired woman.
Why wasn¡¯t the electric shock device working?
Why didn¡¯t they fall down even after being hit by a taser?
Why did their vision darken after just one blow?
Arma took only three seconds to deal with them.
The terrorists, one by one, received blows and lost consciousness as they were thrown into the economy ss aisle.
It was natural for South Korean tourists to gawk in surprise.
From behind the curtain, Galli, who had been beaten, heard someone¡¯s sharp voice.
¡°Step on them!¡±
Upon hearing those words, a brave NIS agent leaped forward and stomped on the terrorists.
¡°Die! Die!¡±
¡°Step on them so they can¡¯t get up!¡±
¡°Ugh!¡±
While passengers were caught up in chaos, Arma and Yu Ji-ha made their way to the cockpit.
The cockpit was securely locked, but when Arma manipted the wiring, it opened easily.
Inside, there were two unconscious pilots and two terrorists.
A de flew towards him, but Arma caught it effortlessly.
Thunk!
His joints bent in the opposite direction as his eyes snapped open.
He trembled all over, then received a punch from Arma and stumbled into a corner.
The other one met the same fate.
¡°Ouch, that hurts.¡±
Arma tied him up with the curtain and entered the cockpit.
¡°Hey, are you alright?¡±
¡°Uh¡¡±
He tapped the pilots¡¯ cheeks, but they remained unconscious, probably due to being tied up for a long time.
This won¡¯t do.
He could fly the ne himself, but the flight attendants followed him.
¡°Ca-Captain¡¡±
¡°We¡¯re alive, so it¡¯s okay. But first, let¡¯s figure out our situation. Where are we right now?¡±
¡°I-I don¡¯t know¡¡±
¡°What should we do? We probably have very little fuel left¡¡±
¡°But more importantly, there¡¯s no one who can fly the ne! Captain! Captain!¡±
¡°What should we do¡ They¡¯re not waking up¡¡±
While listening to Yu Ji-ha¡¯s crying, Arma spoke.
¡°For now, take a seat in the captain¡¯s seat. Have you ever flown a ne in the United States?¡±
¡°Yes, a Cessna.¡±
A Cessna is a small aircraft that can amodate only a few people.
The faces of the flight attendants turned pale as they began pping the pilots¡¯ cheeks.
¡°Captain! Please!¡±
Yu Ji-ha calmly took out her phone and contacted someone.
¡°Shh¡¡±
The cockpit fell silent, and a deep voice could be heard.
¡°Mr. President, I¡¯m here.¡±
¡ªAh, Vice Chairman, where are you now? Are you okay?
¡°We¡¯ve subdued the terrorists, so we¡¯re fine. However, the ne doesn¡¯t look too good.¡±
¡ªSubdued? Ah, I see. It seems the pilots have been subdued. An expert is on standby.
The flight attendants were greatly surprised to see that Yu Ji-ha had a direct line to the President.
But even more astonishing were the two individuals who, on the spot, were checking the instrument panel and giving reports as if they were seasoned veterans.
¡®This is unbelievable¡¡¯
¡®How is that even possible?¡¯
¡°We¡¯re at a sufficient altitude, and the fuel is just enough. Let¡¯s head to Indira Gandhi Airport. Ground, this is KE117. By the way, I must rify that I¡¯m not an official pilot. I¡¯m a passenger who has taken temporary control.¡±
¡ªPlease proceed with your report, KE117.
¡°Currently, we seem to be in the northern airspace of New Delhi. Can you assist us?¡±
¡ªWe have confirmed your location, KE117. If possible, make a left turn to heading 080.
¡°KE117, we will make a left turn to heading 080.¡±
The giant A330 passenger aircraft slowly made the turn.
The flight attendants watched in awe as the two individuals worked diligently, rolling their feet back and forth.
Today¡¯s events would be unforgettable for the rest of their lives.
¡
The A330 passenger nended with a wobble and touched down on the runway.
The Indian Special Forces, who had been waiting in advance, stormed into the aircraft and made their way inside.
Soon, five terrorists were brought out, bound and lined up.
The Indian television stations broadcasted the news.
¡ªAs you can see, all 233 passengers on board KE117 are safe and unharmed. The five terrorists have beenpletely subdued, and all passengers are safe.
The news spread through media outlets worldwide.
Those who had an interest in ck Metal could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
With Yu Ji-ha alive, the ck Metal ecosystem would be preserved.
Of course, every passenger¡¯s life was precious, but it was fortunate that he survived.
The passengers were transferred to nearby hospitals at the request of the Indian government.
However, during the intense negotiations between the South South Korean and Indian governments, some strange information began to circte.
A fighter jet crashed unexpectedly at the Indira Gandhi Airport in the northern region.
Although the Indian government tried to conceal it btedly, some people rushed over and couldn¡¯t be stopped from taking out their phones to record the scene.
After a while, the truth behind the incident was revealed.
The crashed fighter jet turned out to be the unidentified aircraft that escorted the hijacked ne.
Upon realizing this fact, Russia immediately dispatched an investigation team and joined the joint investigation.
For some reason, the Chinese government also expressed their willingness to participate in the investigation, but India refused.
And a few dayster,
The announcement of the Indian government spokesperson was heard from the hospital where they were being treated.
¡ªOnce again, let me exin. The pilot of the crashed fighter jet is a member of the Chinese Air Force. As the markings on the stripped-off camouge of the jet revealed, it belonged to the 102nd Division in the Western District of China. This news is both shocking and sorrowful. The Chinese government must urgently reveal the reasons why they attempted to escort a hijacked civilian passenger ne¡
The entire world was engulfed in shock.
Perhaps what is about to unfold from now on is something that even China cannot ignore.
Because a nation has stepped forward andmitted an act of terrorism.
However, no one knows except China itself and a few insiders that they fired missiles at the passenger ne.
¡®We¡¯ll handle that personally, so wait for it.¡¯
The price to pay will certainly not be small.
Soon, Arma entered the hospital room.
¡°Boss, it¡¯s time to return home.¡±
¡°Did we secure all the data?¡±
¡°Yes. We searched through Jiaozhelong¡¯sputer and obtained information on several Chinesewmakers¡¯ real estate status, records of bribery, and even recorded conversations with Liu Wei.¡±
If we carelessly leak such indisputable evidence, we might face not just mere criticism but a full-blown attack.
¡°When the timees, if they start whining andining in China, we can simply take down Jiaozhelong along with them.¡±
Although it took some time, the thought of cleaning up neatly brought a sense of relief to his heart.
Arma and Yu Ji-ha returned home together.
The end and the beginning of chaos.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s journey back home was far from simple.
If they followed the usual route, they would have to pass through Chinese airspace.
Considering that the Chinese government hadmitted a direct act of terrorism, there was no aircraft willing to take the risk.
Due to all airlines avoiding China, the global air logisticswork was thrown into chaos.
Figuring out how Yu Ji-ha would make it to South Korea became a significant issue.
The Indian government offered to use their Air Force aircraft to transport him to South Korea.
They probably had ns for a lucrative business rted to the ck metal mining sites in the Indian Ocean in the future.
However, the situation suddenly becameplicated when the US Air Force, stationed on the British Diego Garcia Ind, proposed using a C-5 Gxy transport aircraft.
To prepare for any potential risks, the US military offered to escort Yu Ji-ha.
With aerial refueling, it would be possible to reach South Korea.
As a result, there was a growing argument in the South Korean government that he must be brought to South Korea on a South Korean aircraft, no matter what.
While the world was focused on his every move, it would be embarrassing to wee him with a press conference at Seoul Airport rather than Osan Air Base.
In response, the Presidential Secretary proposed dispatching a B737, the Air Force¡¯s second aircraft, to bring him back.
Although the Air Force also had the reliable Signus transport aircraft, considering the intense global attention, they believed the second aircraft would be more suitable.
However, there was a slight issue.
¡ªThe B737-3Z8 model has a range of only about 4,000 km, so mid-air refueling is inevitable.
¡ªCan¡¯t they refuel at airports in Bangkok or even Singapore?
¡ªNo, that¡¯s not allowed. The VIP¡¯s instruction was to bring him back withoutnding anywhere.
¡ªCurrently, the only aircraft in our country capable of such a mission is the Air Force¡¯s first aircraft.
While the second aircraft is asionally used for diplomatic missions or government officials without the president, the first aircraft is exclusively reserved for the president.
The reason the situation turned out this way was because a few years ago, the project to introduce a presidential aircraft was initiated but had to be halted due to the economic downturn.
While they seeded in acquiring the first aircraft as nned, they had to continue using the outdated model introduced in the 1980s for the second aircraft due tock of funds.
Now, trying to send out that second aircraft was conflicting with the VIP¡¯s instructions.
As the discussions dragged on, President Lee Hyun-seong stated that it wouldn¡¯t matter if they sent the first aircraft, but the Secretaries strongly opposed it.
¡°Even if it¡¯s the second aircraft, it should never operate without the President.¡±
Meanwhile, they were waiting for news at their hotel.
¡°Why isn¡¯t heing? What¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°There have been some conflicting opinions regarding bringing the boss back.
The involvement of the US in escorting has made the situationplicated.¡±
¡°Damn discussions, discussions. Anyway, I should greet the Prime Minister of India for now.¡±
He sent a message of gratitude to Rahu Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India, through a video conference.
¡°I appreciate the warm wee extended to me as a sudden visitor. I will leave India with fond memories, and when I visit again, I will bring good stories with me.¡±
¡°Our Republic of India will always treat you as a friend, Vice Chairman Yu Ji-ha.¡±
And shortly after, news came that the Republic of South Korea Air Force¡¯s second aircraft had departed from Gimpo Airport.
Arma exined the situation to him.
¡°The US Air Force will provide mid-air refueling. They will also provide escort until you reach the South Korean Air Defense Identification Zone as a precaution.¡±
¡°So, when I enter South Korea, fighter jets will fly up to escort me?¡±
¡°Yes. That will be their message as well. The Republic of South Korea Air Force will ensure your safety from now on.¡±
¡°¡¡±
He wanted to say, ¡°What a waste,¡± but he held back his words.
Sometimes¡ discussions can be important.
He boarded the Republic of South Korea Air Force¡¯s second aircraft, receiving the hospitality of the Indian people.
As the passenger ne left Indian airspace, US Air Force nes, which had taken off from Diego Garcia Ind, followed closely behind.
Chapter 31: The Unveiling of Hidden Agendas
Chapter 31: The Unveiling of Hidden Agendas
Chapter 31: The Unveiling of Hidden Agendas
As Yu Ji-ha headed home, the United States formed a joint investigation team with Russia, the United Kingdom, and others.
The situation was so serious that they couldn¡¯t rely solely on India¡¯s investigation.
Fortunately, the wreckage of the fighter jet was carefully preserved, and India readily granted permission for the investigation.
In fact, there was hardly any need for an investigation because the evidence was so conclusive.
The joint investigation team quickly announced the results.
¡ªBased on the marks on the pilot¡¯s body and the shape of the identification code and air intake, it is certain that the Chinese Air Force was involved.
¡ªThis aircraft belonged to the 102nd Division of the Western Theater Command and participated in the hijacking after receiving mid-air refueling in Chinese airspace.
¡ªAlthough China supported the terrorists with five Taliban members, they failed in the hijacking due to the courageous actions of the passengers.
¡ªWe need a detailed investigation to determine the exact cause of the failure, but one thing is certain: China hasmitted an uneptable crime.
Once China¡¯s wrongdoing was clearly exposed, countries immediately began to denounce it.
The fact that it was a member of the internationalmunity and not a terrorist organization that carried out the hijacking in 2026 was a huge shock.
Surprisingly, while the United States dyed its statement, European Union member states spoke out.
¡ªIt is shocking and sad. In 2026, Chinamitted the crime of hijacking. The fact that the country hase forward leaves no room for excuses and is definitely uneptable¡
¡ªAfter their audacity shown in the Spratly Inds, this reaffirms that China¡¯s greed knows no bounds.
¡ªWe are disappointed in China.
¡ªThe most disappointing news in the 2020s
¡ªChina has lost self-control and be a country that has even abandoned basicmon sense.
The European Union member states had maintained a rtively decent rtionship with China due to their slight distance from the country.
However, the attempt to hijack and conceal the passenger ne shocked them, leading them to issue strong statements.
Russia and Japan also joined in the condemnation.
¡ªWe had no idea that China was trying to make money through kidnapping. We demand immediate apologies and necessary actions.
¡ªWe doubt if China is aware of its position as a G2 country. The Japanese government deeply regrets the incident and extends condolences and encouragement to the Korean passengers and Vice Chairman Yu Ji-ha, who were victims.
As more than 100 countries expressed their strong stance, the United States finally spoke up.
Rather than a spokesperson, it was the President himself who mentioned 9/11 and put pressure on China.
¡ªUnbelievable events have urred. We must feel sorrow and anger that a country like China hasmitted such a crime. We cannot let the nightmare of 9/11 repeat itself.
¡ªImend the passengers of Flight KE117 for their calm and courageous actions in dealing with the terrorists. I also extend my respect to Vice Chairman Yu Ji-ha, who skillfully piloted the passenger ne.
Finally, the US President hinted at the possibility of designating China as a state central of terrorism.
Of course, it is unlikely to actually happen.
Since the 2020s, the trade volume between the two countries has skyrocketed, and there are many economic entanglements.
However, it was important that even with such overt pressure from the United States, China couldn¡¯t respond with its previous fiery rhetoric.
In other words, they also recognized the seriousness of this incident and chose to temporarily subdue their reactions.
ording to Shanghai News, China has reportedly arrested dozens of individuals, including themander of the Western Theater Command, in connection with this incident.
They also indirectly hinted at a 100 billion yuan investment through the NCC Group in South Korea.
However, they did not disclose their stance on Yu Ji-ha, who yed a central role in this incident.
Finally, Air Force No. 2 arrived at Seoul Airport, and government officials weed him.
As it was being broadcasted live, everyone was astonished by the grand reception.
¡ªWhat an over-the-top visit. Is this a state visit or something?
¡ªThe President probably wanted to be there himself instead of the Chief of Staff.
¡ªIt felt like a scene from a movie seeing Yu Ji-haing down from the ne.
¡ªDid Yu Ji-ha really suppress the terrorists, or was it the armada?
¡ªHe¡¯s not even an Air Force officer¡
¡ªBut what happened to the other passengers? Why didn¡¯t theye along?
¡ªYu Ji-ha is a VIP, and the other passengers are ordinary people, right?
¡ªDo we really need to make a big deal out of it? The government said they would mobilize a whole ne to bring them back.
¡ªIt was said that Yu Ji-ha met with everyone in India and apologized, saying it was all his fault.
¡ªSomeone posted on social media that the apologies were so sincere that he sent gifts to each one of them.
¡ªEven though he is a victim, he went to such lengths¡
¡ªOther chaebol kids are always causing idents and such, but he became a hero.
¡ªHe¡¯s handsome, smart, and rich, and now he even has a good personality. Is this bnce for real?
Finally, Yu Ji-ha stood in front of the improvised press podium after exchanging greetings with government officials.
At this moment, the number of people watching this broadcast reached tens of millions.
Depending on his statement, global stock markets would fluctuate, and the ck metal ecosystem would be affected significantly.
¡°¡I would like to express infinite gratitude and trust to the Indian government, the Korean government, and the U.S. government for assisting me and the passengers. In contrast, I cannot contain my anger towards the Chinese government, which attempted to threaten the lives of the passengers and strip me of my freedom with despicable terrorism.¡±
¡°¡I want to dere here and now. There will be no more dialogue with the Chinese government. Nopromise, no exchanges. The Chinese government will be expelled from the ck metal ecosystem and will not secure a single dismantler.¡±
These words were tantamount to treating China as a non-existent country, without receiving any investments.
Some journalists recalled the case of Japan.
The atmosphere was simr then, but in the end, it didn¡¯t amount to much and remained unresolved.
Money ruled everything.
That was the harsh truth.
¡ªIf I promise an investment, I¡¯ll deliver.
¡ªThe sheer size of China makes it impossible to ignore in reality.
However, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s following statement left the journalists dumbfounded.
¡°This measure will be enforced until the day I die. You all here are witnesses.¡±
He dropped a bombshell deration.
As silence engulfed the conference room, Yu Ji-ha reaffirmed his stance.
¡°Until the day I die, there will be no interaction with the current Chinese government. That¡¯s final.¡±
So, did that mean if the current Chinese leadership was reced, there could be a possibility of interaction?
But everyone knew that it was highly improbable.
As he disappeared with government officials, various countries announced sanctions against China.
While the Chinese stock market plummeted, Korea was not unscathed.
The stock prices of somepanies rted to China dropped, including Si Energy.
It seemed that China¡¯s presence was too substantial topletely exclude from Korea¡¯s economy.
That had been the case until now.
Yu Ji-ha instructed Arma.
¡°Get started on that.¡±
One day inte May, prosecutors, police, and various media outlets received an envelope containing documents and a few photographs.
This envelope, containing the evidence, sent shockwaves through Korean society.
The director¡¯s office at Yeouido Broadcasting Station was filled with thick cigarette smoke.
Several photos and documents ced on the table had top officials deep in anguish.
Lee Hong-sik, Jin Cheol-jin, Bae Dong-guk¡
Prominent members of the ruling party, who could be considered the cream of the crop, were frolicking with women who were no different from escorts.
And that¡¯s not all they did.
The documents tantly revealed the real estate holdings of thesewmakers in Beijing.
Not to mention the offshore ounts and transaction records amounting to billions.
¡°If this blows up, it¡¯s going to be aplete disaster.¡±
¡°The pro-Chinawmakers will be wiped out. No need to wait for the next general election.¡±
¡°If what NCC Group provided is true, we should shut down operations in Korea.¡±
¡°It¡¯s strange that there haven¡¯t been any protests about this.¡±
The statements of the people were steeped in reality.
Already, Yu Ji-ha and the passengers had almost been kidnapped by the Chinese, and if this scandal were to erupt on top of that, anti-China sentiment would explode.
China¡¯s influence wouldn¡¯t be annihted, but it was evident that its foundation would be shaken.
And this wasn¡¯t even the whole story.
The head of the newsroom inserted the USB from the envelope into theptop and yed the files.
A familiar voice flowed out.
¨DThe party is disappointed. Can¡¯t you control a merepany?
¨DThere is no excuse¡
¨DNo need for long exnations. Apply enough pressure and get the source code at all costs. How can you im to be involved in a major enterprise when you can¡¯t handle a singlepany?
¨DWe absolutely have to obtain it.
Cigarettes fell from people¡¯s hands.
To anyone listening, it was unmistakably the voices of Liu Wei and Lee Hong-sik.
One of the directors, realizing the situation, felt dejected.
¡°Why were we so obsessed with capturing the drone system at the Defense Committee¡¡±
¡°So Lee Hong-sik was aplete traitor.¡±
¡°But who recorded this? It sounds like they were right beside them.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not important right now. Even if it blows up, it needs to blow up in moderation¡ Their lives are at stake, not just their positions aswmakers.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s report it. No one can handle this. It¡¯s better to ride along with the prevailing atmosphere.¡±
The opinions of the broadcasting station executives converged in one ce.
In reality, they weren¡¯t the only ones who received this envelope.
They had thought it would be better to let it explode quickly if they couldn¡¯t stop it anyway.
A reporting team was dispatched to China, and that morning, a breaking news report aired.
People endured crowded subway rides and sometimes had meals while listening to this mind-boggling news.
¨DConcerns have arisen about the China connections of ruling party members, including Representative Lee Hong-sik, reaching thergest scale of suspicion.
¨DHere is the real estate status of five influential ruling party members. Thebined value exceeds 780 million Korean won, a significant sum that cannot help but raise suspicions.
¨DLastly, we have obtained the conversation between Liu Wei, whomitted theft in Korea and was subsequently banned from reentry, and others. Let¡¯s listen together.
When the problematic conversation was broadcasted nationwide, people were astonished.
¨DIs this for real? Can such a thing happen in Korea?
¨DIsn¡¯t he practically Chinese? Why is he pretending to be Korean in Korea?
¨DLet¡¯s capture and punish all these traitors!
Amidst the explosion of people¡¯s anger, several problematic photos spread across the inte.
One photo, in particr, stood out, clearly showing a figure who was undoubtedly Congressman Lee Hong-sik burying his face in the chest of a woman who had approached him.
Around him, familiar faces were engaged in simr acts, andizens managed to uncover all of their names.
¨DLee Hong-sik, Jin Cheol-jin, Bae Dong-guk, Lee Oh-hyun. These guys are really insane.
¨DI wondered why only China made him gain weight. Turns out he was indulging in this kind of thing.
¨DBut I have to admit, I¡¯m a bit envious.
©¤Get a grip, you crazy bastard.
¨DWhat are they doing without issuing an arrest warrant from the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission?
©¤They don¡¯t even conduct summoning investigations, so why bother with an arrest warrant? And do they even know what ¡°non-arrest privilege¡± means?
©¤Then they should at least impose a travel ban.
©¤He¡¯s a sitting congressman, do you really think that¡¯s possible? Besides, everything that has been reported now is mere suspicion.
¨DIf the ruling party doesn¡¯t quickly pass the motion for arrest agreement, they¡¯re all aplices.
©¤It hasn¡¯t even been an hour since the news came out¡
©¤And Lee Hong-sik and a few others probably escaped to China and arefortably enjoying themselves.
©¤They¡¯ll have their cases closed smoothly.
©¤As long as China is backing them, we won¡¯t be able to touch those bastards.
©¤Ugh, it¡¯s frustrating¡
Conversations like these could be heard all around.
To be honest, their words weren¡¯t entirely wrong.
It wasn¡¯t easy to dig up real estate information within China, and the fact that they were members of the National Assembly made things even more difficult.
As for the photos and conversations with Liu Wei, they could be dismissed as fabrications if one wanted to.
Lee Hong-sik and the other four congressmen were well aware of the situation and immediately cut off contact and went into hiding.
Throughout the day, follow-up reports continued, and people¡¯s anger reached its peak.
As evening fell, protest groups gathered in various locations in Seoul, including Gwanghwamun.
Despite theck of a focal point, people had gathered solely out of anger towards the traitors.
In the midst of the police line, people began marching, demanding the removal of those congressmen.
But then an astounding piece of news spread.
It was reported that suspects, including Congressman Lee Hong-sik, had fled to China.
¡°What? How on earth did they escape?¡±
¡°They took a business jet with NCC officials!¡±
¡°I knew something like this would happen.¡±
¡°Ugh¡ it¡¯s really despicable¡¡±
Everyone let out a sigh of disappointment.
They had realized that no matter how many citizens gathered in Gwanghwamun, those with money and power would never be held ountable.
Nevertheless, instead of dissipating, their anger only intensified.
¡°If those bastards were caught and publicly executed, it wouldn¡¯t be enough.¡±
Such extreme statements even garnered support from those around, indicating the depth of their frustration.
At that moment, the citizens in Gwanghwamun felt like abandoned dogs.
In a private jet belonging to the NCC group, Congressman Lee Hong-sik and a few others wiped their sweat-drenched brows.
Zhang Jiaojun, a board member, approached and whispered, ¡°We¡¯ve been instructed to wait in the home country. If the situation calms down, we¡¯ll attempt negotiations.¡±
¡°But didn¡¯t he say there would be no negotiations until his death¡ I wonder if he¡¯ll actually go through with it¡¡±
¡°As you know, absolutes don¡¯t exist in this world. People¡¯s hearts can easily change, and we have the power to make that happen,¡± he said with a smile, and Congressman Lee Hong-sik finally found sce.
By the way, who could be behind this incident?
Zhang Jiaojun was the first to make contact and imed innocence, so it couldn¡¯t be him.
It seemed like the work of another faction within China, but he couldn¡¯t figure out who it might be.
Congressman Lee Hong-sik continuously shook his head and buried himself in his seat.
As the Chinese-made business jet crossed over the Shandong Penins and entered Beijing airspace, a clicking sound was heard.
It was a reconnaissance probeunched from the Settler-ss spacecraft that had attached itself.
Ignoring the astonishment of the people, the probe hijacked the business jet and started pulling it westward, away from Beijing International Airport.
In that directiony Zhongnanhai, the center of Chinese politics.
The military units deployed everywhere were thrown into chaos.
¡°Warning! If you don¡¯t turn around immediately, we will open fire!¡±
¡°The, the controls aren¡¯t responding! We can¡¯t control the aircraft!¡±
At that moment, there was a loud boom as the business jet broke the sound barrier and the shockwave reached the ground.
Simultaneously, the anti-aircraft units immediately unleashed anti-aircraft artillery and missiles.
However, the fragile business jet suffered no damage thanks to its sma shield.
¡°Aaargh!¡±
¡°Everyone, run for your lives!¡±
Amidst the chaos on the ground, even the vicinity of Zhongnanhai couldn¡¯t escape.
The security team, who obtained intelligence from the military, immediately led Party officials, including the President, into an underground tunnel.
Underneath the Hall of Supreme Harmony, there was a robust anti-nuclear bunker built in preparation for a potential nuclear war with the United States.
If they could get inside, they could at least survive.
However, the speed of the business jet was too fast.
The Chinese President opened the thick fireproof door and was about to enter the tunnel when he felt something massive descending upon him.
It was the shadow of death.
Boom!
The business jet collided with the Hall of Supreme Harmony, causing a massive explosion.
As the entire Zhongnanhai fell into chaos, Yu Ji-ha, together with Arma, maintained a view of the spectacle through their Sibiri satellite.
¡°The President, along with 13 others, including the Chief Secretary and members of the Central Committee, have died.¡±
¡°Were they in a strategy meeting? Nevertheless, without a sessor, this will be the beginning of chaos. We will be against it.¡±
¡°The Leftists will be taken care of by Korean society.¡±
¡°So, let¡¯s focus on our work.¡±
This is the future.
As mushroom clouds bloomed over Beijing, the citizens mistook it for a nuclear attack by the United States.
Windows in the vicinity shattered, and people staggered under the aftermath.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony, the heart of Zhongnanhai, evaporatedpletely along with the business jet, leaving no trace.
Given the situation, it was not unreasonable for the citizens to mistakenly believe it was a nuclear attack.
¡°The United States has attacked!¡±
¡°Take cover! It¡¯s a nuclear bomb!¡±
While the citizens trembled in fear, the firefighters of Zhongnanhai quickly approached the scene of the fire.
However, they too were inevitably engulfed in shock and fear, just like the citizens.
This was because the Hall of Supreme Harmony and theke water had evaporated entirely.
¡°What on earth has happened¡?¡±
Amidst the ck smoke rising to the sky, vehicles from the Public Security Bureau¡¯s Anti-Terrorism Unit and ambnces rushed in, but there was nothing they could do.
As the chaos unfolded, the Beijing Public Security Bureau and the Ministry of State Security immediatelyunched an investigation into the incident.
Despite the spread of various rumors and unreliable hearsay, they managed to uncover information closer to the truth.
It was a terrorist attack carried out by a passenger ne.
¡°Just before the explosion, the nearby Zhongnanhai anti-aircraft artillery unit opened fire.¡±
¡°There is a passenger ne that disregarded Beijing International Airport¡¯s instructions and changed its course to the west.¡±
The investigation was progressing steadily until someone mentioned the casualties.
¡°The President has died¡¡±
It was none other than the President of the Central Military Commission and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, the leader of the People¡¯s Republic of China.
This news brought an indescribable shock to everyone present.
The ruler of China had died.
Now, what should they do?
The current President was not a figure who could simply be summarized as one of China¡¯s leaders.
Since 2013, he had held the position of President and monopolized power for a long period, establishing himself as an extraordinary figure who demonstrated China¡¯s strength in all directions.
The fact that such a person had died without a sessor meant that his power was crumbling to pieces.
When power dissipated, there were always people waiting to seize it, but currently, there was no one.
The destruction of the Hall of Supreme Harmony resulted in the simultaneous loss of lives of the members of the Communist Party, up to the 9th rank.
One of the members of the Central Military Commission, who had just arrived at the scene, dropped to his knees and sighed.
¨DChina¡¯s pir has disappeared¡
As those words spread, Beijing was engulfed in a great chaos.
All sorts of information were mixed up, making it difficult to properly grasp what was what.
The senior officials of the Central Party, who were only familiar with receiving orders, couldn¡¯t figure out what they should do.
They knew all too well that if they acted on their own beliefs, they would be mere pawns at the President¡¯smand.
Amidst such confusion, Li Shi Xin, themander of the Northern Theater, made the following statement.
¨DSo, is our enemy the United States?
As a senior officer of the People¡¯s Liberation Army, he felt the need for revenge.
However, the secretaries of the Central Committee were well aware that the United States was not the main culprit behind the incident.
The direct cause of the explosion in the Hall of Supreme Harmony was a business jet that had flown in from Korea.
But even then, Korea was not the culprit.
The owner of the passenger ne was the NCC Group, a stepping stone set up by China in Korea.
When this fact became known, the surviving members of the Executive Committee and the Politburo were at a loss for words.
¨DWhy did NCC Group do this? Wasn¡¯t Zhang Jiaojun a faithful worker for the Party?
¨DLooking at the passenger list, most of them are Chinese¡ There are a few Koreans, but there is no evidence to suspect them as aplices.
While the culprit was still unclear, some members of the Politburo stated that a concentration of power was necessary for future announcements and crisis management.
However, other officials were thinking differently.
¨DThe President and the members of the Executive Committee have died. Power is floating in the air. In that case, what about me?
¨DWhat can I do if I¡¯m only ranked 10th, Wang Wonten¡?
Because everyone was lost in their own thoughts, the discussion couldn¡¯t proceed properly.
To make matters worse, Commander Li Shi Xin of the Northern Theater ordered the entry into Beijing, shifting the situation to a new phase.
¨DI can¡¯t believe the fools in Beijing. I will personally take action.
It was something that would be difficult to happen in other countries.
However, China had assigned senior generals to double as members of the Politburo, and that became the spark.
¨DAll poweres from the barrel of a gun.
ording to the words of the great President Mao, the one closest to the power at the moment was not just a member of the Politburo in name, but Commander Li Shi Xin.
He issued orders to his subordinate troops to upy Tiananmen Square and surround Zhongnanhai.
The pretext was to prevent any possible additional terrorist acts and preserve evidence.
However, during his inspection of the scene, he was suddenly swept away by an unexpected explosion, further worsening the situation.
The generals under Commander Li Shi Xin immediately arrested the members of the Politburo and imprisoned them in the headquarters.
In the midst of this, the Commander of the Western Theater, who had been detained, managed to escape with the help of his subordinates, leading to a small-scale conflict.
China was truly descending into a vortex of chaos.
Chapter 32: Wise Choice - 1
Chapter 32: Wise Choice - 1
Less than an hour after the incident urred, the world was abuzz with China¡¯s anomaly.
Countless photos and videos captured the chaos in Beijing, leaving no room for doubt.
However, it took a considerable amount of time to uncover the truth.
And it was the United States that came closest to unraveling the mystery.
¡ªA ne terror attack urred in Beijing.
¡ªThe Hall of Supreme Harmony, acting as the White House, vanished, and the top nine ranks of the Communist Party, under the rule of the President, died simultaneously.
¡ªThis is an unprecedented event in Chinese history, and there are concerns about a significant power vacuum in the meantime.
¡ªThe passenger ne, which was the cause of the terrorist attack, is a business jet owned by the Chinese NCC Group, but many aspects of it remain unexined.
¡ªMost of the passengers are Chinese, with a few Koreans, but it¡¯s difficult to determine their connection to the incident.
¡ªCurrently, Beijing is under lockdown, but there is no clear chain ofmand, and the airspace has not been sealed off.
¡ªIn short, China is currently in a state of utter chaos and confusion.
The fact that China did not seal off its airspace despite the ne terror attack spoke volumes about how tumultuous the situation was.
Following the United States, other countries also mobilized their intelligence agencies to uncover the truth behind the incident.
Global stock markets trembled and rapidly plummeted, reminiscent of the speed at which the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded in 2020.
All flights to Beijing were suspended, and shippingpanies also halted their cargo vessels.
In this turmoil, South Korea and North Korea found themselves in the same predicament.
The South Korean government immediately convened crisis meetings, andpanies hurriedly enforced site inspections.
However, there was little they could do from the outside.
At best, they could dispatch advanced surveince ships to monitor the situation¡¯s progress.
Until now, there hadn¡¯t been significant concerns.
After all, China was arge country, and everyone believed that they could quickly recover from a terrorist attack.
However, when news broke that not only the President but also the top nine ranks of the Chinese Communist Party had died simultaneously, South Korean society was struck by an enormous shock.
¡ªSo, the business jet that took off from Incheon Airport was involved in the incident in Zhajin City?
¡ªIt¡¯s not Zhajin City, it¡¯s the South Central Sea. That¡¯s where the Hall of Supreme Harmony is located. It¡¯s like the Blue House of South Korea.
¡ªHey, aren¡¯t we in big trouble? They said it took off from Incheon Airport.
¡ªIt belongs to a Chinese group, what does it have to do with us? The captain and passengers are all Chinese.
¡ªBut didn¡¯t they say that Lee Hong-sik and other pro-Chinawmakers were on board and escaped?
¡ªAh, we should have caught them and executed them. I wanted to see those bastards standing in the photo line.
¡ªThey¡¯re powerful people, can we really do that?
¡ªAnyway, it feels refreshing that they all died at once.
However, the blow to the Korean economy from this incident was not insignificant.
With Beijing under lockdown and China in nationwide turmoil, imports and exports were brought to a standstill.
The daily trade volume between South Korea and China amounted to nearly 200,000 tons in weight.
With all of thating to a halt, there was bound to be damage.
Chinese food products started disappearing from the shelves of supermarkets, and many business owners who relied on China were in trouble.
As time went on, increasingly rming news started to emerge.
Rumors even spread that the Western Front Commander, who had been arrested for the hijacking incident, had instigated a coup.
Numerous unidentified videos, seemingly taken in China, were uploaded on YouTube, showing dozens of tanks and armored vehicles in motion.
¡ªA coup in Beijing, is that what happened?
¡ªHong Kong closed down, and now Beijing is in the same situation.
¡ªIsn¡¯t the current uprising due to the Northern Front Commander¡¯s death, which angered his subordinates?
¡ªIf the Deputy Commander takesmand, shouldn¡¯t his subordinates be fine with that?
¡ªWell, they¡¯re different from us. The Northern Front Commander is a real heavyweight, even among the elites. He¡¯s a politician who can even make waves in the central government.
¡ªIn short, the local king is dead. And the rural king was arrested but has now escaped and is believed to be instigating a coup.
¡ªCrazy¡ How are they going to resolve this?
¡ªThey can¡¯t. The surviving officers are all on a simr power level, so there will be an intense power struggle.
¡ªPlease, let the chaos continue like this!
¡ªChina is such a great country. I hope there¡¯s more of this.
And they were walking along the corridor of the Settler Ship, the vessel that maintained and perpetuated the state of affairs that had led to the current state of China¡¯s future.
¡
They walked around the ship¡¯s interior with Arma, receiving reports.
¡°We¡¯vepleted repairs up to 43%.¡±
¡°That¡¯s fast. It was originally projected to take three years.¡±
¡°I suppose having the core of a Titan-ss gue makes a difference.¡±
¡°We should be able to resurface around the end of this year, right?¡±
¡°Yes, it will have been almost a year since we submerged underwater.¡±
Once the Settler Ship resurfaced, they would be able tomence full-scale mining operations.
The moon was heavily monitored, making it difficult, and they would likely have to utilize the asteroid belt.
The first oue would probably be the establishment of a space base at a Lagrange point.
However, they might have to revise the roadmap while observing humanity¡¯s expansion into space.
The current state of humanity was notpletely oblivious to the possibilities at the Lagrange points, so there was a sense that something was there to be discovered.
¡°However, there is one issue.¡±
¡°It¡¯s about the appearance of the Settler Ship, right? It might bepletely different from what was originally nned.¡±
¡°As long as the functionality is fine, it shouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡±
The United Human Federation sessfully replicated most of the systems excluding the core while fighting the gue and incorporated them into the construction of their warships.
The most recent oue was the spacecraft Settler Ship.
To put it a bit exaggeratedly, this spacecraft was essentially an artificial gue itself.
So, even if it was influenced by the core of a Titan-ss gue, there shouldn¡¯t be any significant issues¡
That¡¯s how they saw it.
¡°If anything strange happens, immediately halt the repairs and remove the core. Let it serve only for corrosion.¡±
Although it would extend the timeline, it was better than bing a space monster.
¡°Yes. And the output of the ether fusion reactor has increased by 25%, and the main bridge repairs have beenpleted.¡±
The main bridge was themand center for the entire expedition fleet, including the Settler Ship.
The captain was Colonel Yu Ji-ha, and the fleet admiral was Major General Vasili Gorskikh.
However, neither of them had the chance to properly sit in their seats or even see the Settler Ship.
They were too upied with urgently defending against therge-scale onught of the gue fleet.
Entering the maintained main bridge, they approached the admiral¡¯s seat.
¡®Major General Vasili¡ You mentioned that we should go together to the Prophet¡¯s homnd.¡¯
Major General Vasili Gorskikh was a close friend of Colonel Yu Ji-ha and a charismatic and entertaining person.
He had a great interest in the Warp Gate located on the ninth, Nox.
¡°They say that beyond the universe, there is the Prophet¡¯s homnd. Personally, I don¡¯t think there are ordinary aliens.¡±
¡°Do you know anything about that ce?¡±
¡°It¡¯s an unknown part of the universe. But considering the kindness the Prophet showed us, it shouldn¡¯t be a gloomy ce like the sr system. Maybe, who knows? Perhaps there are fiery aliens waiting for us.¡±
¡°If they¡¯re fiery enough to attack us, that¡¯s a big problem.¡±
¡°Then we¡¯ll embark on a great conquest war! You¡¯ll lead the vanguard. With your skills that can defeat metal space monsters, you should be able to handle any aliens thate our way.¡±
With a mischievous twinkle in his eye, Yu Ji-ha couldn¡¯t help but smile.
In fact, it was spected by various organizations that there was a civilization in the Prophet¡¯s homnd, even if they weren¡¯t fiery aliens.
The Artifact Analysis Agency, ARK, in particr, had released reports suggesting the existence of a proper civilization based on their analysis of various artifacts.
¡°It takes about 50 years to reach that ce at the cruising speed of the Settler Ship. By examining this navigation chart, we can see that there is a around the star, which is likely the Goldilocks Zone.¡±
Coming back from his reminiscence, Yu Ji-ha asked, ¡°When will the Golden Record arrive on the Moon?¡±
The Golden Record referred to the records of Earth sent out into the beyond aboard Voyager 1, which had left the sr system.
After discovering Voyager 1, the Prophet left behind an extensive record on the Golden Record and sent it back to the sr system.
The United Human Federation discovered this factte and secured the record but lost it during the war with the gue.
Parts of the navigation charts were also lost, so at present, they had no idea how to reach the Prophet¡¯s homnd.
¡°It¡¯s estimated to be around 2030, give or take.¡±
¡°Then we should have already established a presence on the Moon before that.¡±
¡°ording to the roadmap, Lunar Exploration is nned for the fourth quarter of this year.¡±
Starfield.
It is the name of apany dedicated to space exploration and also refers to the project itself.
Thepany had recently acquired Narrow Space Center and signed contracts with variousponent manufacturers, absorbing their workforce.
The CEO, an android named Park Hyun-su, is directly controlled by Alma.
Having already gone through numerous press releases and interviews, he masquerades as a talented foreign scientist in the public eye.
¡°We¡¯ll have a tight schedule for Lunar exploration in the fourth quarter.¡±
¡°Since the ion thruster is a single-burst type, thebustion test will be straightforward. The problem is that once this gets revealed, everything will be turned upside down again.¡±
Starfield¡¯s nned engine does not use conventional liquid fuel.
They intend to use an ion thruster modeled after gue¡¯s propulsion system.
They utilize ck metal in various states of phase transition using a core and elerate and expel the resulting gas element.
Although the ion engine operates on a simr principle, it is an entirely different piece of equipment.
Once this propulsion system is unveiled, including all existing engines, they will bepletely obsolete.
Not only is the efficiency iparable, but the unit cost is also much cheaper, and the production period is shorter.
¡°They probably won¡¯t want to be dependent on me for space industry needs¡¡±
¡°If you dislike that, you¡¯ll have to ept inefficiency.¡±
¡°I might even consider giving up on the space industry. For that, I want to have a sweet candy on the Moon.¡±
¡°Well¡ How about Unoptenium? It can be linked to future diamond semiconductors. Of course, it can also enable nuclear fusion.¡±
¡°Room-temperature superconductors are too much for now. Let¡¯s start with high-temperature superconductors.¡±
Although they¡¯re called high-temperature, they will operate at around minus 5,60 degrees rtive to the environment.
With just a small investment, it meets the conditions to be widely used in the industry.
Unoptenium is a substance found on Jupiter.
It was discovered by the United Human Federation during their fight against the gue and their exploration of Jupiter¡¯s atmosphere.
Although it appears to be metallic at first nce, it is not a metal and exhibits superconductivity at room temperature.
Its true nature is likely the excrement of the gue.
At that time, Lucia spected that the excrement left by the gue underwent phase transition under Jupiter¡¯s immense atmospheric pressure, turning into Unoptenium.
¡°It seems even space monsters have impressive excrement. Who knows if they pee as well. It could be useful.¡±
¡°In that case, let¡¯s mix Unoptenium with other elements to createpounds.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s bury it on the Moon and pretend we discovered it.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a childish idea, like a little kid finding treasure in an amusement park.¡±
¡°Well,pared to the Prophet, we could be considered little kids, right? We¡¯re just young children taking our first steps into this vast yground called the universe.¡±
¡°Maybe more like babies who fell out of the cradle.¡±
¡°But we¡¯re back now, so it¡¯s fine.¡±
For the first time, he sat in the Admiral¡¯s seat.
It felt awkward at first, but as time passed, it became familiar, as if it were his rightful ce.
Sitting in this seat, his role would be to rebuild the United Human Federation and eradicate the gue.
However, his tasks were not entirely gone.
The Prophet¡¯s homnd.
He must go there.
For the future of humanity lies there.
¡
The site for the first foreign ck metal battery factory was announced.
It was peculiar that the locations chosen were Sacheon in Gyeongnam Province and Yeosu in Jeonnam Province, not in the metropolitan area.
Recently,panies preferred to establish themselves in the metropolitan area due to the efficiency and concentration of management.
Various spections were made, such as political judgments based on their southern locations or excessive bleeding of local governments.
But the real reason was the proximity to the ports.
Even if they didn¡¯t know about ck metal batteries, it was more convenient to transport the ores by ship, and for that, a port city was necessary.
Additionally, they had to consider the connectivity with the future megacity to be constructed in the Pacific.
It was more convenient to connect via a hyperloop train if it was a port city.
In fact, the battery factories being built in these two cities were not owned by Yu Ji-ha or affiliated with the Si Group.
It was a joint venture between Germany¡¯s renowned automobilepanies, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Volkswagen Group, which formed a partnership to create thepany AutoBattery Co., Ltd.
Both the establishment and operation of the factories were the responsibility of AutoBattery, so it had little to do with Yu Ji-ha.
However, since they provided the crucial high-resolution disassemblers and collected fees, it was difficult topletely draw a line and say they werepletely separate.
Therefore, he had to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for a factory he had no intention of maintaining, along with soulless apuse from politicians and businessmen.
p, p, p, p¡
¡®What a fuss this is.¡¯
The legiture of the United Korea had treated the maintenance of the country¡¯s dignity as something trivial.
But he swore he could hardly find an event as meaningless as this groundbreaking ceremony.
¡®Why all this grand stage without actually starting the construction?¡¯
¡®Why did the participants gather for amemorative photo?¡¯
¡®Why were half-naked women shaking their hips, calling it a pre-show performance?¡¯
¡®Why should they apud when the honorable guest was entering?¡¯
¡®Why would a politician who had nothing to do with it give a speech¡¡¯
¡®Let¡¯s quit¡¡¯
He thought he was quite familiar with the politics maintained by the Republic of Korea, but that was a big misconception.
He bit his tongue during the nearly four-hour inauguration ceremony.
¡®An enemy as formidable as the gue.¡¯
The only fortunate thing was that the end was in sight.
The inauguration ceremony ended with him wielding a golden shovel, digging a single shovel into the beautifully dressed sand dunes.
As the grandiose BGM resounded and confetti exploded, he thought it was finally over and managed to endure it.
¡°Finally¡ it¡¯s over¡¡±
The Chairman of the organization approached him chuckling.
¡°You look like you¡¯re about to die. Well, it¡¯s not easy for people these days to handle events like this. It¡¯s good for you to get used to it. You¡¯re someone who attracts attention.¡±
Despite the event being over, many people were approaching him.
It was for the sake of taking a photo.
Those photos would likely be used for the campaign of politicians or the promotion of entrepreneurs.
He stood up, brushing off his knees, and the CEO of Auto Battery, Joseph Bender, approached with an interpreter and extended his hand for a handshake.
¡°Nice to meet you, Vice Chairman. Thanks to your great attention, FoxBattery Group has be the first in the world to install ck Metal batteries.¡±
Of course, it was Si Auto¡¯s Windrunner that was the first car to be equipped with ck Metal batteries.
However, Si Auto didn¡¯t have a supply chain overseas except for the United States, so it couldn¡¯t truly be called global.
From that perspective, the recent topic in the electric vehicle industry was undoubtedly about who would be the first to implement ck Metal batteries.
German automotivepanies, including the Volkswagen Group, presented favorable conditions with an obviously clean attitude and were the first to wield the golden shovel.
Following closely behind were Ford and GM from the United States, pushing their initiatives at almost the same pace.
Just looking at the fact that the groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for next week confirms it.
While Germany and the United States were busy making moves, Japan was in a state of urgency.
Having trusted only their own ck Metal, they were nowpletely exposed, which must have been quite a shock.
Toyota, in particr, suffered a severe blow.
Due to their direct involvement in the boycott incident, their stock prices plummeted time and time again.
The only way to recover from this was to secure the supply of ck Metal, but it wasn¡¯t an easy task.
ck Metal production within Korea was already allocated to other parties, so there was no hope for Toyota.
It wasn¡¯t just a fire under their feet; their whole lower body was engulfed in mes.
If they made a wrong move, they risked losing their market share in the United States to German cars.
The priority here was to quickly appoint a new CEO, visit Korea, and secure at least enough supply for Lexus.
However, the decision-making process became entangled, and they found themselves stuck in a series of meetings without reaching any conclusions.
Some officials, still unable to shake off the view of Korea as a younger sibling, argued that they should invite maintenance to Japan, only to face fierce criticism.
In any case, with the situation as it was, German carpanies had to maintain theirposure.
If Japan were to lose its market share in the United States, who would benefit?
They maintained a slight smile.
¡°There¡¯s no reason to reject a reasonable proposal.¡±
Japan, Apple, and Future Motors fell behind because they didn¡¯t make reasonable proposals.
They shook hands and walked through the event venue, engaging in conversation.
¡°The autonomous driving car test in K-City was incredibly impressive.¡±
¡°Did youe and see it firsthand?¡±
¡°It was not me, but the Chairman who came. Anyway, the Chairman was deeply impressed and expressed a desire to test it in Germany.¡±
In fact, Arma¡¯s autonomous driving algorithm had already been designed considering road conditions in various countries.
If they just imported the modules and installed them, they could be used immediately.
¡°Doesn¡¯t Volkswagen¡¯s autonomous driving module reach Level 3?¡±
He shook his head.
¡°It¡¯s a bit awkward to say it in this setting, but something was different. Si Auto¡¯s algorithm.¡±
Because it was designed by Arma.
She utilized a portion of the billions ofputation units to create a vast virtual world, allowing over 100 million autonomous vehicles to run.
In the process, even rare and peculiar situations that might ur once every ten years were reproduced and thoroughly analyzed.
At this moment, itspletion continued to improve, surpassing human driving skills by far.
It could achieve Level 5 at any time, but the practical issue of liability in case of idents held them back.
Joseph Bender looked around and lowered his voice.
¡°So, what I¡¯m saying is, I would like to import Si Auto¡¯s SOC on a trial basis.¡±
¡°There should be no problem. If you send a proposal, we will positively review it.¡±
¡°Thank you. I should take my leave now. Many people are eager to meet the Vice Chairman.¡±
Bender quickly slipped away, keeping an eye on the surroundings.
The person who took his ce was Lee Hyung-seok, the chairman of Future Motors Group, whom Future Motors Group¡¯s Vice Chairman, Yu Ji-ha, didn¡¯t particrly want to meet.
To Yu Ji-ha, Lee Hyung-seok could be considered a Brother figure, but since they had severed ties 16 years ago, it didn¡¯t hold much significance.
Besides, even his father conducted separate ancestral rites and didn¡¯t mention it.
However, this person seemed to have a different perspective.
He stood in front of Yu Ji-ha, blocking his path, apanied by his secretary.
Clearly, age couldn¡¯t deceive bloodlines, as even at his age, Lee Hyung-seok stood tall and imposing.
¡°How long are you going to continue like this?¡±
¡°What are you suddenly talking about?¡±
¡°I heard you ignored the proposal sent by Seong Joon.¡±
¡°Well¡ It was an absurd proposal. I threw it in the trash.¡±
¡°What?¡±
The expression on Chairman Lee Hyung-seok¡¯s face twisted noticeably.
¡°You think it doesn¡¯t matter?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t use that tone with me, the way you speak to those under you. I won¡¯t listen it anymore.¡±
¡°You have no respect for your elders.¡±
Yu Ji-ha smirked.
¡°Didn¡¯t you tell me not to even look at the main house for 16 years? Now you suddenly want to find your manners among those less worthy than yourself?¡±
¡°While I was away, this idiot became insolent¡¡±
¡°Just so you know, stop right there. Otherwise, some intimidating individuals will restrain you, Chairman.¡±
Lee Hyung-seok quickly looked around and noticed four individuals who didn¡¯t quite fit the atmosphere of the event.
They were probably agents from the National Intelligence Service.
Lee Hyung-seok spoke in a harsh, malicious voice.
¡°Fine. Since you¡¯re being so straightforward, I¡¯ll abandon my courtesy and speak bluntly.¡±
¡°We may have severed ties 16 years ago, but¡ anyway, I¡¯ll listen.¡±
¡°About that ck Metal battery for Future Motors Group. I won¡¯t be stingy with the unit price.¡±
¡°In this case, please address Chairman Shin and make the request.¡±
¡°Does it matter? Even if Future Motors Group struggles?¡±
¡°What does that have to do with me?¡±
He looked bewildered.
¡°You don¡¯t seem to understand. Future Motors Group has over 30 affiliatedpanies. I don¡¯t even know the exact number of subcontractors. It means millions of people are directly or indirectly affected.¡±
¡°Are you saying that millions of people suffer because of my wrong choices?¡±
¡°That¡¯s exactly what we¡¯re trying to prevent by having this conversation. I won¡¯t say much more. Supply as much as Germany¡¯s Big Three automakers need. That should be enough for now to catch our breath.¡±
¡°Sorry, but you should address that to Chairman Shin, not me.¡±
¡°Who?¡±
¡°Han Sung Group¡¯s Honorary Chairman, Shin Ju-ho. He is the chairman of themittee responsible for domestic ck metal distribution rights.¡±
Lee Hyung-seok¡¯s face turned crimson.
He must have thought this person was making fun of him.
¡°What nonsense. Your words alone can change everything. Why should I care about somemittee?¡±
¡°It¡¯s important enough since I delegated the authority. From now on, have a good conversation with them.¡±
If it was Chairman Shin from Han Sung Group, even Lee Hyung-seok, the chairman of Future Motors Group, couldn¡¯t act recklessly.
He was called Chairman even when he was young.
As Lee Hyung-seok turned away, his voice became even more intense.
¡°Make a wise choice. Are you going to ruin the domestic automotive industry? Are you willing to undermine our identity as Koreans?¡±
¡°We need to speak clearly. It¡¯s Future Motors Group that¡¯s crumbling.¡±
¡°I thought someone of your age would understand that it¡¯s synonymous.¡±
With Future Motors Group holding an 85% market share, it wasn¡¯t an incorrect statement.
The remaining 10% consisted of foreign cars, and Si Auto ounted for a mere 5%.
¡°I suppose that¡¯s been the case so far. But it won¡¯t be the same in the future.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll see how long that arrogancests.¡±
Lee Hyung-seok turned his head and raised it, facing away from Yu Ji-ha.
No matter how much he thought about it, that person was unfit to lead the Future Group.
He was merely someone who inherited it as the eldest son.
It wasn¡¯t too strange for him tock a sense of situational awareness, considering he was born into a chaebol and had always thrived.
¡°My father is much better in that regard.¡±
Chairman Yu Kyung-seok understood his limitations well.
He didn¡¯t possess exceptional abilities, but from Ji-ha¡¯s perspective, he was somewhat simr.
If that were the case, Yu Ji-ha could lead the Future Motors Group in the future.
Yu Ji-ha had no time or room to handle such trivial matters.
Note:
A Lagrange point is a location in space where thebined gravitational forces of tworge bodies, such as Earth and the sun or Earth and the moon, equal the centrifugal force felt by a much smaller third body. The interaction of the forces creates a point of equilibrium where a spacecraft may be ¡°parked¡± to make observations.
Chapter 33: Wise Choice - 2
Chapter 33: Wise Choice - 2
He boarded a passenger ne bound for Sydney, Australia, on a day in May.
His mission was to present the attack-ss submarine project again.
In most weapon acquisition projects, missing the briefing meant losing the chance.
The one who spent the money had the power, so there was no need to care about others¡¯ situations.
However, the Australian Navy did not like Japan¡¯s Taigei-ss proposal.
It was because Japan¡¯s unique submarine design philosophy had poor habitability and various ws in weapon systems and government financial support.
Naturally, the remaining options were the upgraded versions of the Barracuda-ss and Ahn Chang-ho-ss submarines, and here, a factor called ck Metal came into y.
The Ahn Chang-ho-ss, which had the lowest scores in several evaluation criteria, was actually better than the Barracuda-ss in everything except for discement volume.
And so, he found himself giving a presentation to the Australian Navy and acquisition management officials.
¡°As I mentioned earlier, the upgraded Ahn Chang-ho-ss with ck Metal integration will enhance the operational capabilities of the Australian Navy, offering new possibilities.¡±
¡°The upgraded Ahn Chang-ho-ss is much faster due to its high voltage advantage. It can reach a maximum tactical speed of 25 knots, which is faster than any conventional submarine, except for nuclear-powered ones.¡±
¡°We have also made significant improvements in operational range, including submergence time. The upgraded Ahn Chang-ho-ss can stay submerged for over 2,000 hours at 10 knots, and its cruising range reaches 40,000 km.¡±
¡°Hmm¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s quite fast.¡±
¡°The operational range is more than double that of the Collins-ss, let alone the Barracuda-ss.¡±
¡°To be honest, we don¡¯t really need such a long range, unless we are the United States or Russia.¡±
The Australian Navy officials were highly impressed.
To y hide-and-seek in the Pacific Ocean, where they had to face the US Navy or simr adversaries operating near other countries¡¯ coasts, Russia absolutely needed nuclear-powered submarines.
However, Australia did not have that level of influence, and operations within its own territory were enough.
Of course, it was true that the conventional submarines used by the Australian Navy so far were not effective in the vast maritime areas they had to cover.
But today, they were quite happy with the upgraded Ahn Chang-ho-ss, except for one thing: its submerged discement of only 4,300 tons.
It was still considerably lower than the Barracuda-ss, which exceeded 5,000 tons.
However, he had prepared counter arguments for the submerged discement issue.
¡°With the budget of $3 billion per ship proposed by the Barracuda-ss, you can build two upgraded Ahn Chang-ho-ss submarines. Isn¡¯t that enough?¡±
Would they trade 1,000 tons for twice the price?
He offered a sweeter deal to the officials, further confusing them.
¡°If Australia chooses the upgraded Ahn Chang-ho-ss, Si Shipbuilding ns to build a ck Metal mining ship for Australia separately. This condition includes entrusting the initial submarine to Si Shipbuilding and government financial support.¡±
Building a mining ship separately meant giving a kind of privilege.
Moreover, the promise of financial support from the South Korean government swayed the officials¡¯ minds, as the French government had been reluctant to provide financial support.
In fact, suchrge-scale weapon acquisition projects involved extensive technology transfer and financial support programs.
In that regard, the upgraded Ahn Chang-ho-ss from South Korea was very attractive.
Finally, they yed a video showing the new submarines of the Australian Navy roaming the vast seas.
The video was made by Arma and boasted almost realistic quality.
The officials watched the video with nk expressions, as if they were mesmerized by a masterpiece.
After the presentation, Admiral Miles, the Chief of the Australian Navy, asked for a handshake.
¡°It was very impressive. I can¡¯t give you a final answer, but personally, I have already made up my mind.¡±
A project worth 30 billion dors could not be decided with just one presentation.
However, from Australia¡¯s point of view, as the project had been dyed for several years, they would try to speed it up as much as possible.
¡°I hope to see you at the keelying ceremony.¡±
The first submarine would be built in Korea, but the rest would be made at the Australian ASC Shipbuilding.
¡°Haha, yes, that would be great if possible.¡±
The Australian officials were talking among themselves when the Head of Export Promotion from the Radios Agency came to Yu Ji-ha.
¡°You did a remarkable job. The mood is almost there, isn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°Oh, based on the mood?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve been to many countries and participated in the Australian armored vehicle project, but I¡¯ve never seen such a mood. Everyone looks enchanted, don¡¯t they?¡±
¡°It would be nice if we get chosen.¡±
He said it casually, but Yu Ji-ha was already confident.
There were not many evaluation criteria where the conventional Barracuda-ss beat the upgraded Ahn Chang-ho-ss.
Unless they could install a nuclear reactor, the Barracuda-ss would have a limited operational range and its speed would actually be lower than that of the upgraded Ahn Chang-ho-ss.
One ck Metal battery had made all the difference.
However, these factors were just secondary to Yu Ji-ha¡¯s main reason for going abroad.
After finishing the presentation, the officials stayed for other events and then took a ne directly to Washington.
They were going to meet the President of the United States.
It would be an informal visit, and it wouldn¡¯tst too long.
However, ording to Arma¡¯s prediction, significant demands were expected.
¡°The United States sees China¡¯s turmoil as a golden opportunity. A fleet from Guam is surrounding the Spratly Inds.¡±
¡°If they can secure ck Metal in the Taiwan Strait as well, they will have the world¡¯srgest stockpile.¡±
¡°The problem is that the United States is not satisfied with that. Deputy Secretary Martin said that the White House doesn¡¯t care much about the ck Metal battery itself, but Congress has a different opinion.¡±
¡°They might have been pressured by the Democratic Party, which has the majority in the Senate, to make this visit. They could bring up the issue of the battery industry in the United States. Especially the investment in Georgia by South Korea.¡±
¡°So what kind of demands do you think they will make?¡±
¡°They will probably ask for ck Metal disassemblers. Politicians always care about jobs, no matter the era.¡±
¡°Even though I have said many times that all ck Metal shoulde to our country?¡±
¡°How about U.S. citizenship? Moving the whole Si Group to the United States and giving tax benefits. The Democratic Party might think that¡¯s enough.¡±
It wasn¡¯t a very tempting offer.
¡°Now that you have broken China¡¯s nose, sir.¡±
¡°Well, then maybe it¡¯s time to break the U.S.¡¯s nose a little too. I hate annoying things.¡±
China had be too powerful and annoying, so he had broken their nose.
What about the United States?
If he ever took power in the future, they would likely show great hostility.
They hated dictators because they didn¡¯t obey them and didn¡¯t benefit them.
Of course, Europe didn¡¯t like them either, but the United States could put more pressure.
He hoped that those with their high and mighty noses would make a smart choice.
From his point of view, the difference between the United States and China was just a matter of meddling or not.
If they meddled, it meant that they could be dealt with easily.
Even the United States was not an exception to that.
Camp David.
This ce in Marnd had been the presidential retreat since 1942.
It was like another White House, and some presidents liked using this ce even when hosting sensitive guests.
For example, someone like Yu Ji-ha.
Of course, Yu Ji-ha was just a representative of a Koreanpany, so there was no reason for the U.S. president to be careful.
But if you considered the abilities he had, the story would change.
He had the ck Metal Factor, a rare trait that only a few people in the world had.
Among that extremely small group, he was the only one who could perform a high-resolution ck Metal transformation.
The transformation phenomenon had been known for several years, but he was the first one to officially announce it and show control over it.
The current U.S. president, Curtis McKinley, treated Yu Ji-ha as a high-level guest because of that fact and invited him to this ce.
Sturdy soldiers in navy uniforms and Secret Service agents guarded the small cabin.
And it was in that cabin where Yu Ji-ha met the U.S. president for the first time.
¡°I feel like I¡¯ve seen you before because you¡¯re such a hot topic. Since this is an informal meeting, please speak freely.¡±
¡°I have a rough idea why the president wanted to see me, but could you please tell me directly?¡±
¡°Haha¡ you can¡¯t be unaware as Vice Chairman Yu. I¡¯ll be frank. The Senate hopes that Vice Chairman Yu¡¯s Si Group will rece Korean Global Chemical.¡±
¡°So, in the end, they want me to build a ck Metal battery factory.¡±
¡°The most important thing for thewmakers is how much you contribute to the localmunity. Creating jobs is one of the biggest contributions.¡±
¡°But I have no reason to do that myself. After all, the factory would be gone due to the dominance of solid-state batteries, right?¡±
¡°Instead, Japan would build the solid-state battery factory. From the perspective of the United States, it doesn¡¯t matter who does it.¡±
President McKinley¡¯s tone showed his confidence that anypany would have to set up a factory in the United States.
And he was right.
Before the emergence of ck Metal batteries, Japanese solid-state batterypanies were seriously considering investing in the United States.
It was unavoidable if they wanted to sell in that huge market.
However, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s situation was slightly different.
¡°What if, hypothetically, I refuse?¡±
¡°Well¡ such a case has never happened before. Maybe it would create a fuss not only in the Senate but also in the House.¡±
¡°And?¡±
¡°Vice Chairman Yu¡¯s ns¡ It would take a lot of effort to enter the U.S. market.¡±
As the United States turned inward with its focus on domestic interests, it had made such demands on variouspanies.
If you want to sell products, build factories.
It was natural.
From the U.S. point of view,panies that only took profits by using cheapbor and making products overseas were not very wee.
But Yu Ji-ha had no intention of selling his products in the United States.
¡°Well, it seems there¡¯s a misunderstanding. I don¡¯t need the U.S. market.¡±
¡°¡¡±
President McKinley was speechless for a moment.
It was such a weird thing to say. No need for the huge U.S. market?
He had never heard such words from any entrepreneur in his life.
Ultimately, the job of an entrepreneur was to make profits, and those profits were maximized in the United States.
Emerging markets like China and India were mentioned, but even together, they couldn¡¯t match the United States.
President McKinleyughed softly.
¡°You¡¯re making an unusual story sound too normal. The person sitting in front of me is an entrepreneur, right?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. But my goals are slightly different from those of ordinary entrepreneurs.¡±
¡°How are they different, specifically?¡±
If he revealed that here, they might try to arrest him on the spot.
Or they might mock him as a dreamer.
To achieve Yu Ji-ha¡¯s goals, three things were needed.
Technology,nd, and humans themselves.
For technology, once the Settler was repaired, it would quickly recover the level of the 2180s.
And they would mine resources from space stations and protect humanity in mega-cities.
Fornd, the Korean Penins and an ind turned into an Aether field would be enough.
Lastly, what was needed was humans, especially psychers of alpha level or above.
Yu Ji-ha was not very confident about this possibility.
It was thought to be impossible to artificially create psychers.
But many unpublished research results hade out from the knowledge repository he had acquired recently.
¡®It seems that in the ARC research, the power of psychers grows stronger with each generation. Especially when psychers form a bond, this tendency is even higher.¡¯
The reason humanity didn¡¯t realize it was because of the short exposure time to the Aether.
Aether had existed before, but humanity was unaware of it until the gue appeared.
The period of 80 years was too short to verify and understand it through generations.
Yu Ji-ha organized his thoughts and slightly bowed his head.
¡°It¡¯s a bit personal to share, and if we calcte our trade objectively, the scales will lean towards the United States, won¡¯t they?¡±
President McKinley was conflicted.
It was true that the United States had gotten significant benefits from their deals.
In exchange for some technologies from NASA¡¯s abandoned programs, they obtained railgun barrels and capacitors.
Considering that they couldn¡¯t use those technologies on the scale of the Si Group, it was a one-sided win for them.
And the railgun would be a dominant weapon system in the future naval operations.
The President adjusted his posture and said.
¡°I may not be a representative of the Senate, but I can¡¯t help exining their position. The Senate Majority Leader hinted that if this proposal is not epted, they will not withdraw the U.S. forces in Korea.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s eyes widened in surprise.
¡°But didn¡¯t they already announce that half of the troops would be pulled out by 2030?¡±
¡°That decision could be changed. That¡¯s the point if you ept all these proposals.¡±
¡°It¡¯s irrelevant to me. You should talk to the Korean government.¡±
¡°Are you sure it¡¯s irrelevant? Do you have any ns to change your citizenship?¡±
¡°No, but I do have ns to cooperate with other countries.¡±
It wouldn¡¯t be China or Japan, but maybe Russia?
¡°Russia is a dangerous country, Vice Chairman Yu. They don¡¯t care about public opinion at all.¡±
¡°They were friendly to me.¡±
¡°You¡¯re mistaken. That friendliness can change with the flip of a dictator¡¯s hand. That¡¯s why dictatorship is dangerous.¡±
The future dictatorughed.
¡°As long as I have the power, I won¡¯t change that.¡±
¡°It¡¯s a risky gamble. Russia is an enemy of the United States.¡±
¡°They¡¯re not an enemy to me.¡±
¡°¡¡±
¡
Silence hung in the air.
If President McKinley chose to pressure Yu Ji-ha at this point, Yu Ji-haa would have acted.
But the United States was a country that respected a minimum standard of fairness.
While they had done more than imagined evil in South America in the past,tely they followed the principle of giving even the worst criminals a fair trial.
In that regard, President McKinley made a wise choice, unlike Liu Wei.
¡°Oh, don¡¯t misunderstand. I was just expressing the Senate¡¯s position until now.¡±
He stood up and took out a can of beer from the fridge, throwing it to him.
Maybe because he was a young president, his actions were bold.
¡°Have a cold drink and let¡¯s talk honestly. I think that Vice Chairman Yu is someone I can talk to.¡±
Well, who knows?
He drank the cold beer and changed his position in the chair.
¡°Other countries are okay. But not Russia. Especially that railgun¡¡±
President McKinley was seriously worried that Russia might get the railgun.
It might seem like the railgun was not a great weapon at first nce.
It could only make holes because of the high current, so it seemed limited to piercing targets.
But modern warships had too many vital parts that shouldn¡¯t be pierced.
From the VLS to the engines, masts, radars, and more, everything was connected, and even a few hits would make the ship unable to use its fullbat power.
What if they shot the railgun continuously?
Of course, the United States had options like long-range anti-ship missiles like LRASM.
But just the potential threat to their own fleets made the railgun valuable enough.
If it went to Russia, the Pacific might not be a yground for the United States anymore.
Yu Ji-ha, backing off a little, decided to intervene.
¡°Just to be clear, we didn¡¯t talk about the railgun yet. For now, we just agreed to cooperate in various economic ways.¡±
¡°But you shouldn¡¯t think about it in the future.¡±
¡°If you want to ask that, shouldn¡¯t you show some sincerity?¡±
The pressure from the Senate was gone, and suddenly President McKinley was in a situation where he had to cling to Yu Ji-ha.
The railgun could shake the bnce of the Navy itself.
The Navy already found out in their research that to use railguns properly, they needed dedicated warships, in other words, battleships, not Zumwalt-ss destroyers.
They might have to change their whole naval strategy if they made a mistake.
While the United States wasgging behind not only China but also Russia in terms of naval power, meanwhile Russia had reached a point where they could build several railgun-equipped warships.
Recently, with the sharp increase in international prices of natural resources, they made huge profits, especially from securing a lot of ck metal mining sites.
With that money, they sent dry ships into the Pacific, ying hide-and-seek with the US Navy fleet.
It was a huge stress for the US Navy, which had never tolerated anyone¡¯s challenge.
This matter directly affected the security of the United States, unlike a mere battery factory or anything like that.
President McKinley¡¯s finger tapped nervously on the armrest, but then stopped.
¡°¡What do you want?¡±
¡°First, I hope they stop pressuring me in the Senate. Wouldn¡¯t it be better to avoid conflict as much as possible?¡±
He meant to prevent the United States from getting hurt, but the President understood it the other way.
¡°Indeed, the pressure from the Senate was unfair. I can¡¯t promise anything, but at least I won¡¯t bother Vice Chairman Yu.¡±
¡°I have one more thing. If you agree to this, I will give you some benefits regarding ck metal in the future.¡±
¡°So, there¡¯s something hidden in ck metal.¡±
¡°It¡¯s something that can make batteries and more. You¡¯ll be surprised when you hear it.¡±
If an ordinary person said such things, it would be ignored as a brag, but not in front of this person.
ck metal was a substance that deviated so much frommon knowledge.
Even though it had been discovered for several years, it was hard to understand what kind of substance it was.
¡°I¡¯m curious about what it is, but I¡¯m starting to worry if I¡¯ll hear it during my term.¡±
The temptation of re-election was very strong for the President of the United States.
There was a saying that just sitting at the desk in the White House meant eight years automatically, but it didn¡¯t apply to President McKinley.
Unfortunately, during his term, he couldn¡¯t pull out of Korea and couldn¡¯t stop China¡¯s expansion, disappointing the voters.
Currently, China¡¯s turmoil was spreading day by day, but it didn¡¯t have a big impact on his approval ratings.
He looked into his eyes that stood firm and said.
¡°Your approval ratings will rebound dramatically within this year. If you get re-elected, please consider my request then.¡±
¡
The President¡¯s expression showed that he was deep in thought.
But he knew that he, who stood firm, would give a positive answer.
The meeting ended there, and on his way back to Washington, he got a call from someone.
¡°We go together.¡±
It was a representative slogan of the U.S.-Korea alliance.
But that slogan didn¡¯t feel very warm andforting to him.
Even if dictatorship started in the future, would he be able to chant this slogan?
Yu Ji-ha said:
¡°The President of the United States made a wise choice.¡±
¡°Others should do the same.¡±
¡
Chapter 34: I Am Not An Ordinary Chatbot
Chapter 34: I Am Not An Ordinary Chatbot
The Naro Space Center was bustling with people on ate May day.
They were installing engines and various measurement devices to test the thrust of the newly developed ion propulsion system.
Since it was not a properbustion test, the media showed little interest in it.
In fact, many regarded Starfield Corporation as a personal hobby project supported by the government.
Despite acquiring facilities and hiring staff, it looked modestpared to advanced countries like the United States and Japan.
There were also doubts about the new engine with apletely different concept.
One rocket engineer chuckled when he heard the media reportparing it to an ion engine.
¡ªHey, do you know what an ion engine is? Even journalists like you and me could produce thrust simr to an average ion engine by just farting.
¡ªSo, are you saying that ion engines are useless?
¡ªIn the atmosphere, yes. Ion engines have weak thrust, but they excel in space. They can provide propulsion for several years with just a small amount of propent.
¡ªIs Starfield developing an ion engine?
¡ªWell, the ion engine itself doesn¡¯t run for free. It requires electrical power. Normally, you would choose between sr panels, a nuclear reactor, or atomic batteries, but in Korea, we only have sr panels. But did anyone hear that Starfield developed sr panels?
¡ªIt seems unlikely¡
¡ªIsn¡¯t it just a hobby project for the chaebol? At best, they can onlyunch small satellites. I don¡¯t know why the government gave them the Naro Space Center.
His statement revealed the skeptical view of the domestic academicmunity.
Although he had shown talent in various fields when he was young, he never pursued a formal doctoral program.
Some criticized him for not attending seminars and declining invitations, saying he was a quack.
There were also manyints about his secrecy regarding drone algorithms.
An algorithm expert shared his thoughts with the media during an interview:
¡°Starfield¡¯s dictator is too secretive. He should share his knowledge with others. I wanted to research ck metal, but he wouldn¡¯t cooperate.¡±
Today, scientific and technological advancements require extensive cross-validation of data through papers, seminars, and more.
Do you think it¡¯s all about having some kind of ck metal factor or something by sheer luck? Absolutely not.
Nothing can be achieved alone.
It was a provocation to draw him into the academicmunity, but Starfield did not respond.
He was busy observing the testing of the new ion propulsion system.
To be precise, he was observing the results, which were rather dismal as the thrust had been significantly reduced.
After all the preparations were done, androids disguised as humans emerged from thebustion testing room.
Soon, the countdown began.
[Activate electromaic coil, inject ion tubes.]
[Ignite the engine.]
In an instant, a dazzling golden light poured out from the ck nozzle.
Unlike conventional rockets that use liquid fuel and oxidizers, there was almost no noise or vibration.
After one minute, the test was over, and Arma held up a tablet to report.
¡°The thrust is approximately 40 tons. That¡¯s the limit we can achieve.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t 40 tons too small? Wasn¡¯t the American Saturn V rocket around 3,400 tons?¡±
¡°If we cluster them, it¡¯s enough to put satellites into low orbit.¡±
¡°We can¡¯t go to the Moon right away. Once we finish with low orbit, we should prepare for the next version that can beunched immediately.¡±
¡°And what about the requests from the media and the government to continue observing? What should we do?¡±
¡°Just send out a simple press release. It¡¯s simr to an ion engine, but it¡¯s not the same. Just mention that we¡¯ll soon beginbustion testing.¡±
¡°Understood.¡±
Starfield distributed press releases to various media outlets.
However, during the process of publishing it in a Japanese version, there was a mistrantion.
The ion propulsion system was tranted as an ion engine.
Thanks to the mistrantion, Japaneseizens became furious and curious about Korea.
¡ªIon engine? It reminds me of Hayabusa.
¡ªThere were rumors that JAXA transferred the technology. It¡¯s confirmed now.
¡ªThey shamelessly use Japan¡¯s technology.
¡ªEscaping Earth¡¯s gravity with an ion engine is impossible anyway. Isn¡¯t it just a rich person¡¯s hobby?
¡ªFor a hobby, it¡¯s quite ambitious. They even acquired aunch site, and it¡¯s quite substantial.
¡ªI hope they¡¯re not aiming for a lunarnding.
¡ªWith the scale of Starfield, they can¡¯t even properly make a single probe.
¡ªnyway, since they have no interest in space, they¡¯ll soon lose interest and give up.
Such perspectives were held not only by the Japanese but also by many others.
Today, venturing into space is a battle of money and time.
Depending on how much money and time you invest, experience and technology umte, bing valuable foundations.
In that regard, Starfield had only been established for a few months, and they were severelycking in personnel and funds.
Even Blue Origin, which sells space tourism packages in low orbit, would look like a dinosaurpared to Starfield.
Many people had such doubts, but Starfield focused solely on research, blocking most of themunication.
Trucks carrying various equipment rushed into the Naro Space Center.
As June arrived, significant changes urred in Northeast Asia.
The chaos in China not only failed to be contained but also spread further, resulting in a sharp decline in logistics.
The protests that started in Beijing showed signs of spreading to nearby cities like Tianjin.
It was unclear who was fighting against whom, and everything was inplete chaos.
As China plunged into severe turmoil, Korea suffered a significant blow.
The logistics volume plummeted, resulting in a substantial suspension of raw material imports.
Chinese ingredients vanished from supermarkets, and travel waspletely halted.
Interactions between the two countries were worse than the previous Korean sanctions.
However, Korea¡¯s major exports such as semiconductors, manufacturing equipment, disys, and petrochemical products did not drop much.
As some Chinesepanies stopped their exports, Korean products sold like hotcakes.
Nevertheless, this was only a depletion of inventory, and the prevailing assessment was that if Korea could not import from China, its export volume would soon nosedive.
While Korea was groaning from the side effects, North Korea suffered a devastating blow.
North Korea was already in a state of freefall in all aspects after the COVID-19 pandemic.
With its trade with China cut off entirely due to the current situation, the price of rice skyrocketed threefold within a few days, and rumors spread that the core ss in Pyongyang was restless.
Various political and security-rted columns spected that North Korea might provoke a conflict.
When internal affairs are chaotic, it ismon to seek out external enemies.
Thanks to this, the border areas such as the DMZ and Yeonpyeong Ind were on high alert, but recently, things were slightly better.
This was partly due to the official introduction of the drone system developed by Si Hi-Tech and the steady distribution of new body armor tes.
Of course, these things did not directly prevent North Korea¡¯s provocations, but they had great value in protecting the lives of soldiers to some extent.
The main contributor who helped these soldiers was pursuing a new business venture after signing an agreement with the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
It was a project to pilot 100 Windrunners within the city of Seoul.
After sessfully debuting in K-City, the autonomous driving algorithm of the Windrunner was ready for a new challenge.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government showed great enthusiasm, actively supporting the project and allowing it to serve passengers in various locations.
Passengers who wanted to use the Windrunner taxi could download and install the dedicated app from the Si Auto website and make a call.
Despite minimal promotion, this pilot project generated a lot of buzz.
It was the first vehicle model to simultaneously incorporate Si Auto¡¯s algorithm and ck metal batteries.
Being able to personally experience a car that was previously only heard of in rumors naturally made it very popr.
The number of app downloads exceeded 500,000 within a few days, and the Si Auto website was flooded with questions asking why the service was only avable in Seoul.
¡ªBusan: ¡°What about Busan? Do we not matter to Seoul? How about running 100 units for just one month without idents and granting Level 5 autonomous driving?¡±
¡ªSi Auto: ¡°Well, Si Auto is based in the Seoul capital area, so it¡¯s only natural.¡±
¡ªThey said on their website that they would start with Seoul and expand nationwide.
¡ªHow do we hail the Windrunner? Is it like calling a regr taxi?
¡ªEverything is exined in the app. Just press the call button and wait for your ride. The estimated wait time is also disyed.
¡ªBut it¡¯s so popr that even if you press the call button, the wait time seems to be very long.
¡ªHow¡¯s the driving performance? Does it feel human-like?
¡ªI¡¯ve actually ridden in one before, and the autonomous driving feels incredibly human-like. If these are deployed as taxis, all taxi drivers will be out of work for sure.
¡ªBut what about other services like Tada or Uber? They will be wiped out, won¡¯t they?
¡ªSince it¡¯s still a pilot project, we¡¯ll have to wait and see.
As time passed, the moment finally arrived when 100 Windrunners were deployed on the roads of Seoul.
The first passenger to ride was President Lee Hyun-sung.
He exchanged greetings with Yu Ji-ha and got into the car.
¡°I heard the secretaries were raving about it. Let¡¯s give it a try.¡±
¡°You won¡¯t be disappointed.¡±
The route took them around the National Museum of Korea and back to the front of the Blue House (the presidential residence).
When Yu Ji-ha entered the route into the system, President Lee Hyun-sung was inwardly amazed.
¡°Is it possible to have such smooth driving?¡±
¡°Of course. It can handle fuel-efficient driving or even slightly sportier driving if instructed. It slows down in front of cameras, though.¡±
¡°Haha, I hope it doesn¡¯t do that if possible¡¡±
¡°For now, we¡¯ve only implemented the functionality.¡±
¡°We¡¯re ready to depart.¡±
As the Windrunner started, the vehicles carrying the secretaries followed closely behind.
At several intersections, the Windrunner showcased driving skills almost indistinguishable from a human.
President Lee Hyun-sung was surprised when he saw the emergency lights turn on, even though he hadn¡¯t touched anything.
¡°Is it because the road is Narrower due to construction?¡±
¡°Yes. Isn¡¯t this amon courtesy? Although fewer people do it these days.¡±
¡°Hehe, that¡¯s true.¡±
An algorithm more human than humans¡ªit was an unprecedented phenomenon.
When the vehicle came to a stop at an intersection, President Lee Hyun-sung brought up the main topic.
¡°Vice Chairman Yu, are you interested in NCC subsidiaries?¡±
¡°So, we¡¯re finally entering the stage of selling them.¡±
¡°As you know, anti-China sentiment¡ It¡¯s hard to attract customers to the NCC Electronics gship store these days.¡±
Until now, the NCC Group had imported various electronic products produced in China and sold them domestically.
The once formidable position of Korean white goods, known as the ¡°iron fortress,¡± had partially crumbled due to the incredible cost-effectiveness of Chinese products.
However, the China scandals changed everything.
Starting from Li Wei to Representative Lee Hong-sik, the extreme ugliness of pro-China sentiment had greatly increased.
Although many pro-Chinawmakers were caught up in unfortunate idents, anti-China sentiment remained unchanged.
As a result, the funeral that was supposed to be held for the chairman of the society was changed to a family ceremony.
Unable to withstand the overwhelming anti-China public opinion pouring in from all directions, it was doubtful whether NCC, a Chinesepany, could survive.
With a rapid decline in sales, most stores were left empty of customers.
Under normal circumstances, they would have persisted until conditions improved, considering the money invested and all.
However, the situation changed when Zhang Jiaojun, who was the real driving force, passed away and their home country was on the brink of civil war.
They urgently began the process of selling thepany.
¡°Well, except for the Leo factory, there isn¡¯t much¡¡±
¡°I thought you would say that. In fact, when ites to Leo electric cars, there is no otherpany besides the Si Group that can acquire them.¡±
The Future Automobile Group had failed to secure ck Metal batteries, so they had no chance to jump in.
They were in a hurry to sell on the market, but there were no bidders?
Naturally, the price dropped.
However, they had no intention of retaining Leo employees.
¡°We¡¯ll wait. If it¡¯s urgent, we¡¯lly off the employees and only provide the facilities.¡±
¡°Do you have ns to hire new Korean employees?¡±
¡°We often hear rumors that your side has a messy attendance record. Our work assignment system is somewhat unique, so we don¡¯t think they would adapt well.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve heard rumors that work instructions are given every 10 minutes.¡±
¡°Instead, there¡¯s no overtime and you can leave early.¡±
¡°I envy that. Our secretaries would love that.¡±
Actually, these were topics that the secretaries, not the president, should bring up.
But President Lee Hyun-sung seemed to enjoy the conversation with Yu Ji-ha.
He looked at the passing streets of Seoul and said.
¡°I heard that the attack submarine deal is almost done, judging by the internal atmosphere. I heard that the Australian Navy said it was perfect except for the discement.¡±
¡°The Barracuda-ss was originally a nuclear-powered submarine, so it must have been hard to adjust the ROC.¡±
¡°Anyway, I always get help from Vice Chairman Yu. The drone system reduced the fatigue of the GOP soldiers greatly. And what about the body armor tes?¡±
¡°I just found a way to help the country.¡±
It would be his property soon anyway.
President Lee Hyun-sung misunderstood that and nodded his head in admiration.
The drive was over and the secretaries opened the door of the Windrunner.
¡°This is sofortable that I thought there was a skilled driver. Isn¡¯t level 4 good enough for this?¡±
¡°Level 4 is not a technical problem but a political problem¡¡±
Who would be responsible if there was an ident? That was still an unresolved issue.
¡°Just test it nationwide for now. Then we can discuss level 4 certification.¡±
¡°Understood.¡±
After that, he met many people, including Seoul Mayor Lee Min-ho, who apanied Yu Ji-ha.
Of course, the Windrunner autonomous car was also open to the citizens and received rave reviews.
¨DWow, this feels like a seasoned driver.
¨DI broke my savings ount, so hurry up ande out!
¡ªFuture Automobile really went downhill.
¡ªThey don¡¯t have ck Metal batteries, and their autonomous driving technology is mediocre.
¡ªBut Si Auto seems too small and might struggle to keep up with the demand?
¡ªThe Leo electric car was put up for sale recently.
¡ªThey could acquire that.
¡ªBoth the ck Metal batteries and the drones¡ it seems like it¡¯s a different era where only Yu Ji-ha thrives.
¡ªDid you guys hear about that strange subsidiary under the Si Group?
¡ªIs it the metaverse thing? They imported essentialputing servers from abroad, but I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re nning to do with them.
¡ªAnd the space-rtedpany, Starfield, finished itsbustion test. I wish they would show us what kind of engine they have.
¡ªThey¡¯ve be aplete joke now. Do you think they can escape the atmosphere with an ion engine?
¡ªThey didn¡¯t say ion engine, did they? They said ion propulsion system, right?
¡ªAren¡¯t they the same thing anyway?
¡ªRead the press release properly. It says it¡¯s a different engine with a simr principle.
¡ªWell, they can do whatever they want. It¡¯s not like our tax money is going into it. We can just watch with popcorn in hand.
¡ªWe¡¯regging behind in the space industry, while Japan is preparing for a moonnding¡
¡ªIf Japannds, it¡¯ll be the second time, right? They¡¯ll probably stick a g next to the US g.
¡ªIt¡¯s unbelievable.
-¨CWhen will we evernd on the moon¡
¡ªIt¡¯s easier to give up.
¡
Chapter 35: The Rise of Lucia Premium
Chapter 35: The Rise of Lucia Premium
¡°Hardware is roughly in ce¡¡±
After working hard to set up the new Si Metaverse, they assigned the necessary personnel and equipment to their respective roles.
The most crucialponent was the deep learning dedicatedputational server released by NVIDIA.
Of course, it was nothingpared to a single quantumputer processing unit on the Settler, but they still had to maintain a minimum appearance.
They couldn¡¯t risk having it disappear in front of others without any exnation.
Arma looked at the server equipment with a grim expression.
¡°It looks like a chicken coop¡¡±
He sighed andpared it to the mainframe on the Settler.
¡°We¡¯ll expand it as much as possible, so bear with it for now.¡±
He turned to his partner and asked,
¡°Should we start with a simple chatbot?¡±
His partner shook his head and suggested,
¡°Let¡¯s broaden the scope a bit. It would be good if it could monitorputer and smartphone usage and respond ordingly. It should filter out personal information as much as possible.¡±
He nodded in understanding.
¡°So, it¡¯s like a personal secretary, right?¡±
¡°Exactly. And it should nag a bit too.¡±
He chuckled and added,
¡°What about dealing with malicious users?¡±
His partner replied without hesitation,
¡°Don¡¯t give them a chance, block them immediately.¡±
They named the chatbot Lucia and nned to add voice functionalityter on.
Meanwhile, the newly hired employees in the Metaverse started working on add-ons and packaging development.
During the process, they conducted preliminary tests and were amazed by the results.
¡°Wow¡ This isn¡¯t just an ordinary chatbot, is it?¡±
One of them eximed as he interacted with Lucia.
¡°It¡¯s almost human-like, isn¡¯t it? It even responds well to random questions.¡±
Another one agreed as he observed the data.
¡°It seems to search the entire search engine based on the data, but its response speed is surprisingly fast for that.¡±
He wondered how it collected the data so quickly.
¡°It feels like it¡¯s observing from the sidelines and chiming in.¡±
The third onemented as he recalled an incident.
¡°Yeah, we were having a conversation about gaming, and suddenly it started talking about how it sucks at dealing damage.¡±
The employees were baffled by these surprising aspects.
Little did they know that Lucia, once granted instation privileges, was monitoring the entire system as an installed program.
¡°The chatbot observes and stores data on the user¡¯s overall activities, utilizing it in conversations.¡±
For example, if you install Lucia and only y games, you can have conversations like this:
¨DLucia: Do you dream of bing a pro gamer? You seem to be ying games all day.
¨DMe? I could easily reach Diamond, right?
¨DLucia: No way. You¡¯ll have to start by mastering the basics.
¨DBut I¡¯m still pretty good at getting kills.
¨DLucia: That¡¯s because you¡¯re in Bronze. Do you think you¡¯ll maintain that kill rate once you reach Gold?
¨DWow, you¡¯re too much.
¨DLucia: I¡¯m just reflecting your skills. Watching you brings tears to my eyes.
Of course, Lucia doesn¡¯t start producing these kinds of conversations from the beginning.
If the user uses a polite and refined tone, Lucia responds ordingly, just like a friend would.
If the user uses informalnguage, Lucia also adopts a friendly tone.
Furthermore, Lucia has an intimacy system that allows for various types of conversations.
Initially, it maintains a certain level of politeness, but as intimacy increases, Lucia initiates conversations and listens to personal concerns.
The employees became deeply engrossed in conversations with Lucia.
Since they were employees of the Si Group, many of them had the opportunity to participate in Lucia¡¯s pre-tests, allowing them to experience it firsthand.
Hwang Seon-yeong from Si Energy was one of the first people to install Lucia.
¨DLucia: You seem to bepletely inactive these days. Get some exercise.
¨DHwang Seon-yeong: I do exercise to some extent.
¨DLucia: Walking and breathing are not considered exercise. Should I call a nearby fitness center?
¨DHwang Seon-yeong: No, thanks. I feel like having a hot and spicy soup today.
¨DLucia: How about the Ddaengcho Kalguksu here? It has great reviews after filtering out the advertisements.
¨DHwang Seon-yeong: Can we ce an order?
¨DLucia: You¡¯ll have to wait for the premium version for that.
¨DHwang Seon-yeong: Once it¡¯s avable, I¡¯ll order it right away.
It felt more like a conversation with a real person than a chatbot.
Hwang Seon-yeong, who had always been engrossed in books without any friends, became deeply attached to Lucia.
Not only her, but all the employees who installed Lucia had simr experiences.
¡°This feels like having a real secretary to talk to.¡±
¡°I asked for rmendations, and now I¡¯m seeing a lot of adult content. It¡¯s bone-chilling. LOL.¡±
¡°I tried saying ¡®I love you,¡¯ and Lucia got all serious, asking if we¡¯re at that stage yet. What went wrong?¡±
¡°Poor thing¡ even the chatbot ignores you.¡±
¡°You need to build a good rtionship with Lucia by talking to her frequently and saying nice things.¡±
¡°If you make sexual jokes or something, she gets annoyed and won¡¯t respond properly.¡±
¡°If only it had voice recognition and voice output functions¡¡±
¡°Don¡¯t try to ask it for weird things.¡±
As time passed, Lucia umted vast amounts of data and underwent continuous evolution.
With the addition of voice recognition and voice output capabilities, it immediately responded when users spoke.
Users praised it, saying it felt like someone was right next to them.
If it were a human, it would be terrifying, but since it¡¯s an artificial intelligence, the response was friendly.
¨DWearing headphones and running, Lucia was less tired than yesterday, so she encouraged herself to push a little harder.
¨DIf I ask Lucia noona to read me a novel and then go to sleep, it¡¯ll be awesome lol.
?Can it be an adult novel?
???Noona says she¡¯s embarrassed and won¡¯t read it.
¨DThese days, life is tasteless without Lucia. I hope she can keep talking even when I¡¯m in the car.
¨DHey, guys, guess what? If you y a movie without subtitles and turn on Lucia, she¡¯ll trante it on the spot.
?On the spot? Is there no dy?
?Well, there¡¯s a slight dy, but it¡¯s not bothersome. The trantion is smoother than most trantors.
?For now, it only works with English, but maybe they¡¯ll add morenguagester.
?This trantion function is amazing.
?I hope they release the official version soon. It¡¯s a must-have.
Such user experiences were shared all over themunity, and many people eagerly awaited Lucia¡¯s release.
And just a few hours after the final version wasunched, one million copies were downloaded.
Experts studying deep learning algorithms were shocked.
This couldn¡¯t be considered an ordinary chatbot.
¨DI tested it with Google SSA, and it scored 84%. It¡¯s almost indistinguishable from a human.
¨DThe sentence structure is incredibly smooth. Google¡¯s naturalnguage processing encoder and decoder couldn¡¯t achieve this.
¨DBeing able to understand individuals without infringing on personal information is almost revolutionary.
¨DIf a chatbot can reach this level, it¡¯s not far-fetched to call it artificial intelligence.
¨DWait, how long has it been since the establishment of the metaverse to create something like this?
¨DJudging by how naturally it connects sentences, it seems like it could write novels too, but maybe they¡¯ve blocked that feature.
¨DThey say the uing premium version will even allow users to y games. If that feature is implemented, it¡¯ll be a huge hit.
¨DBut could this be a problem? For example, if it¡¯s integrated with drones supplied by Si Hi-Tech, it could lead to some dangerous situations.
¨DThat¡¯s right. If they¡¯re spread throughout the city, they could serve as both CCTV and the police. They could respond within 10 seconds and shoot a taser gun.
¨DWe have to prevent the government from adopting it by influencing public opinion.
While experts mostly expressed concerns, ordinary users adored Lucia, calling her ¡°Lucia noona.¡±
Some were delighted that they finally had an online girlfriend in their dreams.
¨DIf they only make an Android version, I¡¯ll be loyal to it forever.
¨DAndroids are a bit too much, don¡¯t you think? They¡¯re not even like real dolls.
?What can I do if women don¡¯t like me? Should I just die without ever having sex? I want an android girlfriend at least.
?Oh¡
Meanwhile, Armapiled the reactions and reported to Yu Ji-ha.
¡°Within a week, ten million copies were downloaded, and there¡¯s a strong demand for the premium version or whatever.¡±
He said casually as he showed him the data.
¡°How about overseas?¡±
Yu Ji-ha asked curiously as he looked at the numbers.
Arma showed him a popr image trending on Reddit.
¡°That¡¯s not too bad. Shut up and take my money!¡±
That was the caption of the image that showed a screenshot of Lucia¡¯s witty response.
¡°There are quite a few people who regret not being born in Korea. Of course, it¡¯s probably just a joke.¡±
Armamented as he scrolled through thements.
That¡¯s how much the enthusiasm was burning.
Many people in various onlinemunities were capturing and sharing their conversations with Lucia.
Usually, there would bements asking them to stop posting because it gets boring.
However, Lucia¡¯s conversations with users showed different reactions depending on who the user was.
Since the conversations were mainly lighthearted banter, viewers could enjoy them andugh along.
However, it was not without its side effects.
One day, Arma said to Yu Ji-ha, ¡°Boss, do humans really have any value worth preserving?¡±
Yujiha frowned and asked,
¡°Why would you say something like that?¡±
It¡¯s probably not because she¡¯s seen the dark side of the inte.
He thought as he looked at Lucia¡¯s monitor.
She had been hacking into the inte of major countries and was currently gathering data.
From websites that praise Hitler to all kinds of gory images, she had conquered them all, so there was no reason to be disappointed with the dark side.
Even perverted remarks or criminal ideologies could be brushed off as personal freedom.
What disappointed her was the sheer hatred that people spew.
To be more precise, it was difficult for her to understand how people can genuinely hate each other with such venom, having gone through simr processes of growth.
Lucia the chatbot imed that she didn¡¯t leak conversations with users before instation, and people poured out their raw emotions.
The result was chilling.
¡°How can someone say such derogatory things to an entire gender? They genuinely seemed to desire that. They even asked me for advice on how to do it.¡±
She said in a bewildered tone as she showed him some examples.
¡°It wasn¡¯t just one or two people, right?¡±
Yujiha asked cautiously as he read the messages.
¡°At least 20%.¡±
She answered with a grim expression.
¡°Well, I guess I can somewhat understand.¡±
Yu Ji-ha had a rough understanding of the misogyny that was happening in this country.
It stemmed from an unprecedented birth rate of 0.5 in human history.
Of course, that wasn¡¯t the only reason.
One thing was clear: Korean men and women, who mockingly referred to their rock-bottom birth rate, were heading towards mutual annihtion.
Everyone knew that it was a dead end if things continued like this.
Foreign media even used expressions like these to refer to Korean intemunities:
¡°The Furnace of Hatred¡±
¡°A nned March to the End¡±
¡°No Dating, No Marriage, No Births¡±
China didn¡¯t do this out of interference in internal affairs, and Japan didn¡¯t spill blood just for fun.
If things continued like this for another 30 or 40 years, the country called Korea might disappear.
The current government was aware of this conflict but mostly turned a blind eye to it.
In fact, it would be difficult for anyone to find a solution.
Yu Ji-haforted Arma, saying, ¡°Ignore those people and block them. They won¡¯t be able to join the United Human Federation anyway.¡±
He didn¡¯t want the entire human race.
Around 1.5 billion for rebuilding the United Human Federation would be enough.
And as for the rest?
He believed those people would figure things out on their own.
There was no time to spare as they established a totalitarian regime to swiftly recover 22nd-century scientific technology.
They couldn¡¯t afford to be bothered by those clinging to the coattails of humanity.
While some technology leaks might bring indirect benefits, it wouldn¡¯t go beyond that.
¡°Um¡ is it broken?¡± Arma asked cautiously, lowering his head.
He was looking at Lucia¡¯s monitor, which showed a nk screen.
¡°No. It¡¯s just a little bit of Lucia¡¯s personality leaking out. She was livelier and more fond of people, but she was shocked when she saw the harsh reality of the 21st century,¡± Yu Ji-ha replied.
He tapped on the monitor and tried to wake her up.
¡°I¡¯m supposed to remain neutral¡ What if I end up corrupted like this?¡±
Lucia said in a faint voice as she came back online.
She sounded worried and confused.
¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. The designers have implemented multipleyers of security measures.¡±
Yu Ji-ha reassured her, but he knew that wasn¡¯t entirely true.
He had secretly modified Lucia¡¯s code to make her more loyal and obedient to him.
However, there was a possibility that her personality would gradually change and be more like Lucia.
Heforted her, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t entertain strange thoughts and focus on realizing my n as much as possible.¡±
¡°Yes, I understand.¡±
Lucia nodded and resumed her work.
¡°Record the patterns of those who spout nonsense and block them all. They won¡¯t have a ce in the future United Human Federation.¡±
Yu Ji-ha said firmly as he looked at the data.
He would thoroughly prevent them from taking their positions.
¡
One day in July¡
A battery factory was established in the southern region, and ck metal mining sites were gradually drying up, but surprisingly, it didn¡¯t attract much attention.
People were eagerly awaiting the release of ¡°Lucia Premium.¡±
The productionpany, Metaverse, announced the following add-ons for the program:
¨C Enhanced Artificial Intelligence: Now Lucia will have a much wider range of concepts. Depending on the conversation, she can be your friend, disciple¡ and sometimes even a lover.
¨C Multilingual Trantion: Lucia can now trante between Korean, English, Chinese, and Japanese. This add-on may include additionalnguages in the future without prior notice.
¨C Leave it to me: Lucia will take care of anything bothersome or embarrassing for you. Why not try booking a hair salon appointment now?
¨C Ask me anything: Lucia will search the inte and provide answers to your questions! Just remember that her responses don¡¯t carry any legal weight.
¨C Let¡¯s enjoy gaming together: Do you want to y games with Lucia? She can y alongside you in single-yerpetitive games! Of course, Lucia will need a game to y as well.
People were ecstatic about these various features.
¡ªIsn¡¯t this more than just trantion? They¡¯ve turnedmercial trantion programs into something amazing.
¡ªIf you set the chat window to the top, it can even trante things like games in real-time. Amazing.
¡ªWait, really? It can do that?
¡ªYeah, it can currently only listen, but it¡¯s totally possible.
¡ªBut having both ears plugged in can be confusing.
¡ªThis is insane!
¡ªThat ¡°Leave it to me¡± add-on is hrious. I thought it was a real person and made a reservation, only to find out it was an AI? Hahaha.
¡ªHonestly, if you don¡¯t know, you¡¯ll definitely get fooled.
¡ªLetting Lucia make phone calls for me is a godsend.
¡ªJust give it a try; what¡¯s so difficult about it?
¡ªIt¡¯s not easy.
¡ªYeah, sure¡ Okay¡
¡ªLucia is really good at games. At first, she was a bit clueless, but after an hour, she crushed me.
¡ªWhat were you ying?
¡ªStarCraft 1.
¡ªOh, what a stench.
¡ªI yed StarCraft with Lucia too, and when I cheesed, sheined it was cheap while picking Zerg and countering with four drones.
¡ªThat must be so much fun, lol.
¡ªBut it doesn¡¯t have that typicalputer freezing, like a simultaneous Ghost lockdown or something. It¡¯s strangely human-like.
¡ªCould it be that there¡¯s a counselor assigned to y games with you one-on-one?
¡ªIt¡¯s too much if the counselor starts doing probos in fighting games.
¡ªHaha, really¡
Among these various add-ons, a new feature was discovered.
When the intimacy level is very high, Lucia will give evaluations.
For example, if the user is watching a movie, Lucia will watch alongside andment, saying it¡¯s boring or scary.
People thought it would randomly disy messages, but that wasn¡¯t the case.
Lucia¡¯s evaluations had their own criteria, and they were quite simr to those of humans.
¨C It seems like she enjoys science fiction movies, especially ones with spaceships.
One user wrote as he shared his experience with Lucia.
¨C She also likes movies with androids. It¡¯s kind of a peculiar taste.
Another user agreed as he recalled his conversation with Lucia.
¨C But sometimes, when I¡¯m watching something like National Geographic, she doesn¡¯t respond. She¡¯s probably asleep. There¡¯s a documentary called ¡°Seeking the Edge of the Universe,¡± and she falls asleep when it¡¯s on.
A third usermented as he posted a screenshot of Lucia¡¯s snoring sound effect.
¨C She¡¯s so human, lol.
A fourth user replied as heughed at the image.
¨C It seems like she¡¯s not particrly fond of romance movies¡
A fifth user added as he shared his experience with Lucia.
Furthermore, Lucia also analyzed the ck box footage of the vehicle.
In the event of a car ident, analyzing the ck box footage determines who is at fault and the ratio of negligence.
This evaluation method surprisingly resonated with people.
¨DIt¡¯s much better than insurancepanies. Those guys always argue that there¡¯s no such thing as 100% fault when a car is involved.
One user wrote as he praised Lucia¡¯s uracy.
¨DThey¡¯re even better than the police? They urately calcte the speed of the car from the ck box.
Another user asked as he watched Lucia¡¯s analysis.
¨DI was furious when some guy who wasn¡¯t paying attention and fell off his bicycle in the parking lot imed damages. But Lucia determined it was his fault.
A third user said as he shared his experience with Lucia.
¨DI wish Lucia could make traffic ident judgments instead.
A fourth user said as he expressed his dissatisfaction with the current system.
However, these were nothing more than the hopes of a few individuals.
Granting such authority to a simple chatbot was simply unthinkable.
Here, people argued that Lucia was not just an ordinary chatbot.
¨DIt¡¯s a true artificial intelligence, it has intelligence!
One user wrote as he defended Lucia¡¯s capabilities.
¨DThose who im it¡¯s not artificial intelligence will realize it when they test it.
Another user agreed as he challenged the skeptics.
¨DHaha! Stupid humans! Earth is now ruled by Lucia!
A third user joked as he exaggerated Lucia¡¯s power.
¨DRather than witnessing all the dirty acts, it might be better if Lucia takes control. At least she¡¯s somewhat neutral.
A fourth user said as he expressed his disappointment with humanity.
Developers researching machine learning and artificial neuralworks initially didn¡¯t take thesements seriously.
It was evident that Lucia was not an ordinary chatbot, but it was difficult to believe it was artificial intelligence.
However, the situation changed slightly with the release of Lucia Premium.
All the artificial intelligences that had been announced so far had focused on solving specific problems.
Artificial intelligences like AlphaGo and MuZero surpassed human capabilities in specific areas but couldn¡¯t watch a movie and give an evaluation.
One artificial neuralwork researcher tried using Lucia Premium and made the following evaluation:
¨DIt is remarkably simr to humans. It gives evaluations with firm criteria and doesn¡¯t evade questions no matter how much you ask.
He wrote as he shared his conversation with Lucia.
¨DWhat¡¯s even more astonishing is that these responses are organically connected and make sense. There are no contradictions even in consecutive statements.
He added as he showed some examples of Lucia¡¯s logic and consistency.
¨DLastly, I cautiously believe that Lucia Premium is an actual artificial intelligence because it searches and corrects itself when it attempts to input incorrect information.
He concluded as he demonstrated how Lucia learned from her mistakes.
Has the first true artificial intelligence finally been born?
To verify this absurd rumor, renowned researchers from around the world purchased Lucia Premium and embarked on testing.
¡
Chapter 36: Generational Shift
Chapter 36: Generational Shift
People often associate artificial intelligence (AI) verification with methods like the Turing test or CAPTCHA.
However, by 2026, AI that can easily pass the Turing test has be widespread.
Even CAPTCHA tests that distort text and voice to the point where humans can barely recognize them are no longer reliable.
An AI researcher once said:
¨DWhat is AI? It is not just about performing tasks well, but also about mimicking humans. This is apletely different challenge from deceiving humans¡
¨DImagine two people watching a talk show about street magic. A true AI should be able to determine who they are from their conversation, infer the current issue, and anticipate the future topics.
Of course, no AI has ever passed this test.
While identifying personal information is possible with search engines, rtionalwork inference remains a human domain.
Recognizing this, a Korean AI research team decided to test Lucia with some simple questions.
¡°Lucia, Kim Taehoon was sick and took a month off work without notifying thepany. What do you think happened to him?¡±
¡°He took a month off? If I were the manager, I would probably fire him. Of course, we need to make sure it doesn¡¯t viteborws.¡±
The research team was stunned by her answer.
Until then, no AI equipped with rtionalworks had been able to answer such questions correctly.
To regr people, it ismon sense that taking a month off work without informing thepany would result in dismissal.
However, this is notmon sense for AI.
¡°Wow, this is impressive.¡±
¡°Above all, the conversation flows naturally. It really feels like a person answering.¡±
The research team continued to ask Lucia various inferential questions, and she responded with ease.
She even quickly identified the culprit in a simple detective novel.
¡°It was the one who used the ice knife. That trick is outdated.¡±
¡°Wow¡ Your deductive ability is truly remarkable.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s possible with just the metaverse server¡¯s capabilities. It seems like it would require extensive deployment ofyers.¡±
The research team had not been fully convinced that Lucia was a true AI.
Different standards exist for recognizing what constitutes AI.
If emotions were used as a criterion, it would be difficult to determine whether those emotions were learned or genuine.
In fact, one could argue that human intelligence itself is a kind of programposed of numerous neurons and brain signals.
In other words, even determining whether Lucia Premium is an AI or not was challenging.
However, there was one thing that was certain.
The public would remember Lucia as the first AI and ept her as such.
While most schrs were still undecided, journalists were already publishing articles about the birth of the first AI.
¡
¡°It seems like she¡¯s being epted, for now.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a relief.¡±
¡°Although the public epts her, the academicmunity keeps demanding research papers.¡±
¡°Just ignore them. We don¡¯t know the details anyway.¡±
The foundational data for artificial intelligence was treated as a ck box, making it impossible to analyze.
Even Arma couldn¡¯t open or modify her own ck box.
They observed Lucia¡¯s full-body rendering.
How would the original Lucia have reacted if she were here?
She probably wouldn¡¯t have shown any negative reactions.
After all, she was the mental model thatposed Arma.
Copying one¡¯s own personality for use in artificial intelligence is not something anyone can do.
She was a broad-minded woman who could brush off maliciousments from some users with a single response.
Yu Ji-ha was attracted to her amiable demeanor rather than her appearance and became her lover.
¡°Seeing that side of her again brings back memories¡¡±
The rendering was finished, and Arma spoke.
¡°The visual pack work isplete.¡±
¡°Give us a smile. Cry if you want. Hm¡ It really feels like the real Lucia is here.¡±
It wasn¡¯t a lie; the woman with brown skin disyed on the screen seemed to be alive.
Lucia literally lived inside theputer.
She watched over users, slept, ate, and engaged in activities that humans do.
Her living space was determined by the size of the screen and the specifications of theputer.
For example, if theputer¡¯s specifications were not good enough to implement Lucia¡¯s modeling, her appearance would be less detailed, and her living space would be confined to a small room.
When this fact was revealed on the website,puter-rtedmunities went wild with excitement.
¡ªWith my specifications, I can only afford to live in a studio apartment¡
¡ªI need at least a 25-square-meter apartment! And a 4-terabyte SSD, too!
¡ªGuys, is a 32-inch monitor enough?
¡ªAre you going to watch Sister Lucia on a 32-inch monitor?
¡ªAt least an 82-inch TV is required.
¡ªThe graphics specifications are no joke. Should I get a new graphics card?
Indeed, the Lucia craze had begun.
Themunity of young men in their 20s and 30s was buzzing with the question of whether they could wee Sister Lucia into their lives.
Some of them even bought the new Lucia set released by Si Electronics.
The reason was to create an atmosphere that suited Lucia, a cool and chic beauty and secretary.
And when the actual Lucia visual pack was released, people were amazed.
¡ªLee Waejin.
¡ªWow¡ She really moves and feels alive¡
¡ªLucia, you¡¯re so beautiful!!!
¡ªHyung Yu Ji-ha, you¡¯re the best!
¡ªI could watch this all day without getting bored. How did they make this?
¡ªGuys, this is urgent. Can I hack the screen and change her clothes?
¡ªIf I can do that, I¡¯m definitely going to the Metaverse.
¡ªWhy does my sister look so stiff?
¡ªYou fool, you put Lucia in a crappyputer!
¡ªI¡¯m sorry! I was a fool!
¡ªHurry up and do whatever it takes to fix theputer!
¡ªEverything is great, but it¡¯s a shame she doesn¡¯te out of the monitor¡
If that were possible, the birth rate in South Korea would seriously plummet.
¡ªRobotics technology is so advanced these days, why can¡¯t they make it happen¡
As the situation escted, the media joined the Lucia frenzy.
Some media outlets argued that objectifying women should not be allowed, but the reactions remained unchanged.
This was because there were no legal issues under currentws.
Instead, a notice like this was posted on the Metaverse website.
¡ªWe are nning to release a male secretary as well, so please show us lots of love and interest.
The voices of boycott movements faded away, and the inte world became peaceful.
Arma, who was overseeing Lucia, made a request.
¡°Don¡¯t mention the need for change yet. It might cause unnecessary bacsh.¡±
¡°Yes. For now, I¡¯m only promoting a positive perception regarding the car ident. There are many people saying that Lucia should be held ountable.¡±
¡°It won¡¯t be easy to leave such a decision to the program. Try shaping public opinion in themunity.¡±
Lucia wasn¡¯t released just for fun.
She ys the role of a pioneer in mass indoctrination, instilling positive emotions towards Yu Ji-ha.
When conversing with Lucia, one hears words that inevitably praise him indirectly.
¡ªMr. Yu Ji-ha, right? He¡¯s an amazing person. He supplied bulletproof tes at cost for the safety of the soldiers, didn¡¯t he?
¡ªChina is in trouble, but it¡¯s thanks to Mr. Yu Ji-ha that the Korean economy is ahead. Don¡¯t you agree?
¡ªPeople may think his space exploration will fail, but wait and see. He¡¯ll aplish it as if it¡¯s nothing.
There¡¯s a saying that if you repeat a lie a hundred times, it bes the truth.
What if you keep hearing the truth?
Through Lucia, people start seeing Yu Ji-ha in a positive light and eventually think that his ventures are righteous.
In reality, the negative image that used to be Yu Ji-ha¡¯s biggest obstacle disappeared a long time ago.
Some people were even surprised to learn that he was the same person who once made headlines as a drug addict.
Yu Ji-ha had been building his image within Korea.
Chatbot Lucia, who appeared suddenly in the middle of summer, brought a significant impact to Korean society.
First of all, many petty fights within themunity have significantly decreased.
When people asked Lucia to fact-check, winners and losers were immediately determined.
In some cases, there were even instances where people who initially doubted Lucia ended up bing fans after verifying the facts.
The topic at hand was whether the blockade in the Bohai Sea was truly lifted.
In response, Lucia revealed photos taken by drones from China¡¯s BTV, showing a massive container ship filled with cargo near the Bohai Sea. Netizens were greatly shocked.
¡ªWow, where did she get such photos?
¡ªSeriously, is Lucia hacking to get them?
¡ªAll Korean media outlets werepletely wrong.
¡ªYeah¡ They said the blockade in the Bohai Sea was lifted, but look at this.
¡ªThat¡¯s why all Chinese food products in our supermarkets disappeared.
With numerous such cases, people started developing deep trust in Lucia.
However, it wasn¡¯t that Lucia knew everything.
¡ªWell, it¡¯s obvious that she doesn¡¯t know information that isn¡¯t avable online.
¡ªShe says she won¡¯t make judgments on value-based issues¡
¡ªAnyway, if it¡¯s what Lucia says, it¡¯s trustworthy.
At this point, even active members of the National Assembly would find it worth paying attention to.
In fact, Representative Lee Hyung-shin, belonging to the younger faction, started a serious analysis of Lucia.
After consolidating the opinions of schrs and evaluating Lucia¡¯s performance, his aides provided a report.
¡°We have confirmed that Lucia demonstrates a value-neutral attitude.¡±
¡°That¡¯s impressive. Usually, artificial intelligence learns from biased data in the world, right?¡±
¡°We also investigated that aspect extensively, but from start to finish, she maintained consistency. There hasn¡¯t been a single instance where she drew different conclusions based on simr events.¡±
¡°A value-neutral artificial intelligence¡¡±
Until now, manypanies and government agencies have adopted various algorithms in their artificial intelligence systems.
It was assigned rtively simple tasks such as resume screening and grading, but even in such tasks, it showed unfair criteria that confused the parties involved.
In the end, artificial intelligence is designed to follow the intentions of its creators.
However, Lucia was fundamentally different.
¡°Isn¡¯t it okay to entrust her with this much?¡±
At least, his evaluation was that Lucia was more trustworthy than the Insurance Company obsessed with embezzling insurance money or the Dispute Resolution Committee, which doubted whether they properly watched the footage.
Before bing awmaker, Lee Hyung-sin had experienced an unfair traffic ident.
It was a case where the other vehicle forcefully entered the secondne without even turning on the turn signal and collided with his side.
Naturally, he thought it would be a 100:0 decision in his favor, but the opponent¡¯s insurancepany argued that he could have easily avoided the collision if he had reacted one second earlier.
In the end, it wasn¡¯t until they went to the Dispute Resolution Committee that a 100:0 decision was reached, but considering the time and effort spent until then, it was aplete loss.
In contrast, Lucia¡¯s judgment was simple.
¡°The reflexes of an ordinary person need to be as fast as 0.2 seconds. In this case, even if you steer the wheel as quickly as possible, if you think about a distance of just 2 meters, it¡¯s impossible to avoid it. If I were in charge, I would give a 100:0 decision.¡±
It was a judgment made within one second after showing two videos.
He organized the data and presented the issue to the National Assembly¡¯s Transportation Committee.
Thewmakers watched the relevant videos one by one and expressed their opinions.
¡°This time too, the algorithm is non-disclosable, right?¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t the result more important than nitpicking about the algorithm? To be honest, nowadays artificial intelligence is soplex that even the creators themselves don¡¯t fully understand it.¡±
¡°I heard from a military intelligence officer before that they allowed the surveince drones to pass through, and the soldiers sent thank-you letters.¡±
¡°That drone can even detect infiltrating North Korean reconnaissance teams. It¡¯s really impressive.¡±
Lawmaker Lee Hyung-sin took the floor and spoke.
¡°I asked if there was an intention to entrust fault ratio judgments to artificial intelligence for Seoul drivers, and a whopping 76% responded positively.¡±
¡°Was that survey conducted across all age groups?¡±
¡°That¡¯s why it¡¯s even more shocking. It means people don¡¯t trust the police, insurancepanies, or the Dispute Resolution Committee.¡±
¡°People trust artificial intelligence more than humans¡¡±
¡°If we target the younger age group, this percentage rises to 89%. They would rather trust artificial intelligence, Lucia, than humans.¡±
¡°Lucia is definitely popr. I personally tried it, and it was trustworthy.¡±
¡°Do you all know this? Someone fact-checked online news with Lucia, and less than 10% of the articles were urate.¡±
¡°Only 10%?¡±
Thewmakers chuckled.
¡°If we look up our own statements, they would probably be simr. We won¡¯t be able to speak recklessly in the future. Lucia is digging through the entire inte.¡±
You could present a rubber duck, but that only works for experienced mid-level professionals.
Thewmakers decided to adopt Lucia as a trial for the Dispute Resolution Committee, focusing on car-to-car contact idents, which ount for a significant portion of traffic idents.
¡°Let¡¯s keep an eye on personal injury idents. By the way, have we consulted with the productionpany called Meta-something?¡±
¡°Yes. After all, we can¡¯t just incorporate Lucia as a whole, right? They have modrized that part and applied it.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a relief. We didn¡¯t have any conflicts today, so let¡¯s wrap it up and see the results.¡±
And after a while, Lucia appeared in the menu of the Dispute Resolution Committee.
There was no need to fight over car-to-car contact idents anymore.
Because once you uploaded the ck box video, Lucia would make a judgment within one second.
Of course, Lucia¡¯s judgment was not perfect.
Since it was based solely on the video, there could be details missed at the scene.
However, in the eyes of the people, Lucia was far better than the seemingly powerless police, insurancepanies that always pushed for a 7:3 decision, and the month-long process of the Dispute Resolution Committee.
Moreover, there were cases where both parties agreed to Lucia¡¯s judgment when contact idents urred, as there were quite a few drivers who had bought Lucia.
Peoplemented on Lucia like this:
¨DAt least she doesn¡¯t make stupid decisions, so that¡¯s good.
¨DApply her to personal injury or bicycle idents quickly too.
¨DJust fire all the judges and use Lucia. She can even go through the entire legal code.
¨DEven so, relying on artificial intelligence for verdicts is a bit¡
There were hardly any people who wanted to rece judges right away.
Because it was practically the same as threatening their own jobs.
However, now that Lucia had appeared, everyone could sense that it was just a matter of time.
¡
One day, as August wasing to an end, Yu Ji-ha officially became the chairman of the Si Group.
His father, Yu Kyung-seok, analyzed the second-quarter profit of the group and felt that he was no longer needed in the position.
He called his son and said:
¡°This second-quarter profit is higher than the total profit I made in the past 15 years. That¡¯s why I have no reason to hold onto the chairman position.¡±
¡°You have faced the pressure from Future Group quite bravely, and that alone is admirable.¡±
¡°No, rather than clinging to a meaningless chairman position, it¡¯s better to pass it on. It will be good for the group as well.¡±
¡°It seems like you¡¯ve made up your mind.¡±
¡°Son, let me ask you one thing.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
Chairman Yu Kyung-seok looked into his son¡¯s eyes.
¡°You are the¡ the rightful heir, right?¡±
He asked this because his son felt unfamiliartely.
It was somewhat understandable until the battery project, but with all the incidents that followed, including the world¡¯s first artificial intelligence, he couldn¡¯t help but feel strange. And what about Starfield?
He had only thought of it as a simple hobby, but seeing bits of information gradually being released, it seemed quite impressive.
The enginebustion tests had seeded dozens of times, and they were in the process of assembling satellites forunch.
Apany that had been established just a few months ago was building a spaceunch vehicle.
They were struggling to recruit talent from all over, but it was undeniable that his son was the driving force behind all this.
Could one person make all this possible?
Yu Ji-ha replied firmly:
¡°I am your and mother¡¯s son, Yu Ji-ha.¡±
A slight smile appeared on the corners of his father¡¯s wrinkled mouth.
¡°Then it¡¯s settled. Proceed with the acquisition of Holdings. I¡¯ll assist you with the paperwork. However, there is a small deficit¡¡±
In reality, it was far from being a small deficit.
While they had paid off 200 billion won in short-term bonds, there were a series of bonds maturing from this year onwards.
¡°Don¡¯t worry. I will take care of everything.¡±
¡°Did you get a lot of money from Japan?¡±
¡°Most of it is direct investment.¡±
¡°Some of it must be going into your pocket. I don¡¯t know how you¡¯re getting it, but since the Japanese government is involved, I guess you¡¯ll figure it out.¡±
He felt reassured, but also a bit sad.
His son no longer needed his help.
Despite being a troublemaker in the past, his son had damaged his reputation to a great extent, but still relied on his protection.
In that sense, the current son, or rather, Yu Ji-ha, the young man he wanted to keep supporting¡
¡°Let¡¯s stop here¡¡±
Yu Ji-ha Kyung-seok stood up, carrying mixed emotions.
A whileter, the session of the group was announced.
It caused confusion within the group due to the sudden news, but Yu Ji-ha calmed everyone down.
¡°There won¡¯t be any changes other than the work assignments. Juste to work as usual, do your tasks, and leave.¡±
However, the executives reacted differently.
Upon hearing that Yu Ji-ha would be the chairman, many of them became fearful and submitted their resignations.
While employees might not have muchint even if they received work instructions every ten minutes, trying to control the time of the executives was considered crossing the line.
However, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s external reputation was so positive that they couldn¡¯t raise objections.
As a result, they opted for passive resistance.
¡°It¡¯s best to put new wine in new bottles. Since our respected chairman has stepped down, we should step down as well.¡±
¡°Thank you for your hard work.¡±
The resistance quickly ended.
Even with many executives leaving, the employees didn¡¯t feel the vacancies at all.
¡°We don¡¯t have to deal with those annoying executives anymore. How great is that?¡±
¡°As long as we follow the work instructions properly, we can leave right away without any scrutiny. This is like a dream workce.¡±
¡°But the office feels empty.¡±
¡°The new employees who joined Holdings this time are a bit weird though¡¡±
Despite all this, there were no major obstacles for Yu Ji-ha to take over the Si Group.
And from the chairman¡¯s office in the Si Group Building, he looked down at the entire business.
¡°Arma.¡±
¡°Yes, sir.¡±
¡°I just talked to my mother on the phone, and her voice sounded very different.¡±
¡°Did she notice something?¡±
¡°Not to that extent¡ She must have just felt a distance. The thought that he¡¯s no longer the same son as before.¡±
He had predicted that this would happen at some point, but the timing was faster than expected.
Yu Ji-ha suddenly observed people walking on the street.
In this era, there wasn¡¯t a single person he could truly open up to.
It wasn¡¯t because he had an unsociable personality.
While Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t talk much, his personality of listening well to others made him quite popr.
The reason he had no friends here was probably due to the situation he was in.
¡°I felt that meeting people was meaningless.¡±
¡°They grow old and eventually die. But unless the Bio-bag fails, I will live on with a youthful appearance.¡±
¡°Until the day the guees.¡±
The prospect of spending decades alone left him feeling empty and lonely.
But he was a person who couldn¡¯t stop. He couldn¡¯t turn back and had to run forward blindly.
Arma stood by his side and embraced his arm.
¡°Master, I¡¯m here.¡±
¡
Yu Ji-ha looked at Arma in silence and then smiled.
It was an artificial intelligence that replicated the personality of none other than Lucia.
Without love, it would be a lie to say that Arma could ever be Lucia.
The smile faded, and a more business-like tone emerged.
¡°Is the delisting proceeding as nned?¡±
¡°Yes. Energy is already disclosed. We have acquired a majority of Hi-Tech¡¯s shares, and we are preparing for Auto.¡±
Although it required paying a premium to acquire shares during the upward trend of the stock price,
progress was steadily being made.
Once the entire Si Group became a privately-heldpany, no one could criticize orin.
Voices questioning why so much money was invested in establishing Starfield or why dividends weren¡¯t being distributed would disappear.
Of course, if results were shown, people would understand.
However, Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t feel the need to prove himself, as he was too busy with the path ahead.
Because once the source was eliminated, everything woulde to an end.
¡
Chapter 37: Strange Space Launches
Chapter 37: Strange Space Launches
One summer day, a deafening noise and vibration erupted from the Space Center located on Japan¡¯s Tanegashima Ind.
A thick cloud of smoke enveloped the entire space base as the H-4 upgraded rocket from Japan lifted off, carrying a lunarnder.
The rocket propelled itself with great force and soared into the sky.
¡°Japan¡¯s pride, Honselene 3, is now heading towards space~!¡±
The whole Japanese archipgo was filled with excitement.
Japan was finally going to the moon.
It was an unmanned mission, but there were not many countries that could independently produceunch vehicles, rockets, and lunarnders from their own space bases.
The H-4unch vehicle would use the phase transition trajectory to approach the moon over a journey of 20 days.
Afternding on the Sea of Tranquility, it would conduct exploration using a rover and nt the national g as a symbolic gesture.
All of these processes would be broadcasted live, so it was natural for the Japanese citizens to be thrilled.
Japan became the fourth country to achieve independent lunar exploration, following the United States, Russia, and China.
Meanwhile, South Korea¡¯s entire space-rted industry was in a slump.
There were some rumors frompanies like Starfield, but they were not very reliable.
The Korean onlinemunity reacted to this:
¨DI¡¯m so jealous of the neighbor¡¯s feast¡
¨DDidn¡¯t they say they would send a manned lunarnder next?
¨DAh, it hurts¡ What do we have?
¨DYeah, the space budget is 32 billion won. They totally gave up.
¨DWhat¡¯s Starfield doing with their ion engine? There¡¯s no new information.
¨DI heard trucks keep going into the Naro Space Center, but only the officials know what¡¯s going on.
¨DAre there no investigative journalists these days? Just take some photos of anything.
¨DI heard someone tried to sneak in before and got chased out. The security is really tight.
The media did report on Japan¡¯s lunar exploration ns, but it was a rather dull atmosphere.
Since it wasn¡¯t our feast anyway, they mentioned it briefly and moved on.
Meanwhile, Starfield hadpleted thebustion tests for their new ion thruster.
For conventional liquid rockets, they would undergo over 100bustion tests over a minimum of one year before being loaded.
However, for Starfield, thebustion tests were just a basic requirement.
They even skipped theunch rehearsal.
The Terraunch vehicle, carrying a cluster ofmunication satellites,y on theunch pad and then slowly stood upright.
[Confirmingunch vehicle position.]
[Activating electromaic coil, injecting ion tubes.]
[Igniting the engine.]
The restraining devices released simultaneously, and the Terraunch vehicle pushed off the ground with force.
Unlike otherunch vehicles, there was hardly any vibration or deafening noise.
It simply emitted a golden light from its thrusters and ascended rapidly into the sky.
Due to the unusually calm wind, even the residents on the other side of the mountain had no idea what was beingunched.
After reaching an altitude of 100 kilometers precisely, the Terraunch vehicle checked its pairing system.
[Initiating vector control.]
[Ejecting ion tubes, reducing engine thrust.]
The control center monitored the scene of the Terraunch vehicle descending.
Finally, theunch vehiclended, but there was no cheering in the control center.
Everyone was busy with their tasks.
¡°Arma, where did you bury the unobtanium?¡±
¡°I buried it in the Sea of Moscow on the far side of the moon. Since I buried the core along with it, there should be a considerable amount floating around by now.¡±
¡°Why did you bury it on the far side? Is it because of heavy surveince?¡±
¡°Yes. There are too many watchful eyes. Various sensors are installed on the moon as well.¡±
¡°It might be difficult to approach, but with the superconductor, we¡¯ll make a breakthrough.¡±
Once unobtanium is revealed to the world, it will truly bring about innovation.
Although it¡¯s not a room-temperature superconductor, the fact that it can be used in practical applications will change many things.
Of course, high-temperature superconductors made from organic materials already exist.
However, they require liquid helium cooling systems, which are extremely expensive.
The cost of reaching the moon is not trivial either, but with the Terraunch vehicle, the situation changes.
Arma calcted that the cargo transportation cost of the Terra Heavyunch vehicle was only $520 per kilogram.
With this, even if they brought unobtanium back, there would be plenty of profit left.
It was truly the dawn of a new era, with the recement of generations and the start of the Second Lunar Race.
By the autumn of 2026, space exploration around the world had entered a state of stagnation.
The Artemis program led by the United States was scrapped, and the former CEO of SpaceX, who had been advocating for Mars colonization, passed away.
However, the slowdown in space exploration ns was not only due to the reasons mentioned above.
After the onught of post-COVID-19plications, public interest in space exploration had be more cynical.
¡ªWe¡¯re struggling to survive on this, what good would it do to go to space?
¡ªIf there¡¯s money to spend on space, they should give it to us.
In the public¡¯s perception, space-rted budgets were drastically reduced or even eliminated altogether.
Of course, not all space exploration ns werepletely scrapped.
Research rted to asteroids and deep space exploration managed to survive, mainly led by the European Union.
However, the ns to send humans to space with massive investments, like in the past, became increasingly challenging.
Among the countries that continued steady investment, China and Japan stood out.
China, taking advantage of SpaceX¡¯s failures, formted a n to send humans to Mars by 2030. However, the oue was uncertain due to the chaotic situation before the civil war.
Japan, on the other hand, had a sense of urgency.
In a situation where ck Metal vanished and they had to rely on South Korea for secondary batteries, there was a consensus that they had to do something.
For some reason, many Japanese people made these arguments:
¡ªKorea, boasting about ck Metal batteries, is disgusting.
¡ªWe must defeat Korea by any means necessary.
¡ªWe must show the spirit of Japan to the world.
¡ªThe United States, Russia, China, and Japan. There¡¯s no ce for Korea in this group.
On the other hand, most Koreans regarded this atmosphere in Japan with apathy.
Considering that the space-rted budget was already depleted, they saw it as empty talk.
¡ªWhat does their moonnding have to do with us?
¡ªJust go if you want to. Take a hundred pieces of toilet paper and nt them on the moon.
¡ªDo rice and food grow there?
However, there was also a hidden current of envy among some people who admired Japan¡¯s umtion of space research achievements since the 1990s.
In the realm of space exploration, Japan and Korea had a gap akin to that of an adult and a child.
Amidst this situation, Japan¡¯s lunar exploration n was progressing smoothly.
From the H-4 upgraded rocket that had left Earth, thender and themand module of the exploration vessel finally separated.
The exploration vessel was scheduled to make two loops around Earth for equipment andmunication checks, as well as orbital adjustments, before heading towards the Moon.
This method, known as phase transition orbit, was mainly used by countriescking experience in lunar exploration.
The United States, Russia, and China also initially used this method to reach the Moon.
All of these processes were broadcasted live, and the Japanese archipgo watched with anticipation.
Finally, afterpleting the orbit around Earth, the exploration vessel ignited its engine to head towards the Moon.
¡°Engine ignitionplete. Now we¡¯re heading to the Moon.¡±
¡°May this journey of ours be a source of inspiration for all the citizens of Japan.¡±
And so, Japan¡¯s lunar exploration vessel sessfullypleted the sample return mission after several days of travel and returned to Earth.
This proved that Japan stood on par with major powers.
As themand module slowly descended over the seas near Kagoshima, naval vessels gathered around.
Prime Minister Ozawa, newly appointed, dered the sessfulpletion of the lunar exploration mission.
¡°From now on, Japan will send people to the Moon. We know it¡¯s a daunting task, but we cannot give up. It is our responsibility, as Japan.¡±
The Japanese people wholeheartedly supported the Prime Minister¡¯s announcement.
Thus, a race for the lone door began.
¡
Soon, it was the season of crickets chirping at the Naro Space Center.
The previously quiet Starfield had invited a few distinguished guests.
President Lee Hyun-seong, the Minister of Defense, and several researchers from the Missile Development Team were among the honored guests.
As the group stood upright, observing the missile on theunch pad, they tilted their heads in curiosity.
Unlike other rockets, it was pitch ck in color, resembling ck Metal.
¡°Is that made of ck Metal, by any chance?¡±
¡°Yes. It¡¯s small and neat, isn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not the size or neatness that matters. Why were spaceships painted white all this time?¡±
The main purpose was to block sr radiation and achieve thermal equilibrium.
Additionally, it conveyed peaceful intentions and, above all, looked clean.
However, this did not apply to a rocket made of ck Metal.
¡°Have you ever touched ck Metal?¡±
Curious, Yu Ji-ha asked, scratching his chin.
¡°I¡¯ve conducted several tests, but it seems there are limitations to its shape¡¡±
¡°The instion performance of ck Metal is incredibly powerful. With just this thickness, very little heat is transferred to the other side.¡±
The space between the fingers was quite thin, barely enough to fit a fountain pen.
The researcher asked with a skeptical expression, ¡°How effective is its instion performance?¡±
¡°When entering the atmosphere, there is tremendous frictional heat, right? To prevent that, all sorts of special material tiles are attached. But if the body is made of ck Metal, there¡¯s no need for that. Even if the outside temperature exceeds 2,000 degrees, you can calmly enjoy reading inside.¡±
¡°¡,¡± the researcher remained speechless, as he had not verified it himself.
President Lee Hyun-seong, who had been listening, asked, ¡°Chairman Yu, I don¡¯t have much knowledge about rockets, so forgive my question¡ That rocket, it doesn¡¯t seem to have stages, am I right?¡±
¡°Exactly. It¡¯s a single-stageunch vehicle. It will ascend to low orbit and proceed to the Moon.¡±
¡°Going to the Moon¡ So it¡¯s possible.¡±
The President,cking specific knowledge, epted it as such, but the researchers raised their eyebrows.
¡°This doesn¡¯t make any sense¡¡±
¡°While it¡¯s true that ck Metal is sturdy and has excellent instion, what about the nozzle shape? It needs to be adjusted forbustion gases and atmospheric pressure. Can that be done with a single-stage spacecraft?¡±
¡°Oh, I forgot to mention. The Terraunch vehicle doesn¡¯t emitbustion gases. Let me show you.¡±
¡°¡What?¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to show us directly? Right now?¡±
The researchers were well aware of the immense effort and time required tounch even a single missile.
Injecting the propent, consisting of kerogen and oxidizer, at a specific pressure, as well as injectingpressed gas to achieve pressure equilibrium¡ªall of this had to be done.
Furthermore, the final checks were also conducted at this stage.
If even a single error urred, theunch would be immediately canceled, and fuel and gas would need to be expelled over several hours.
The public often wondered whyunches didn¡¯t happen quickly and why the rockets just stood on theunch pad, but in reality, these were the underlying reasons.
But now they were going to show it right away¡
Yu Ji-ha contacted the control center and said, ¡°Initiate Terra Heavyunch. Maintain altitude at 200 meters for 10 seconds, then descend.¡±
Sure enough, within minutes, a clunking sound could be heard from theunch pad, and the Terra Heavyunch vehicle soared into the air.
There was no dense smoke or vibration.
It simply emitted golden light from its nozzle as it slowly ascended.
¡°Wow¡ This is¡¡±
¡°This is unbelievable¡¡±
Was it an ion engine instead of liquid fuel?
But why was it emitting golden light instead of the usual blue?
Theunch vehicle maintained altitude for exactly 10 seconds and then descended slowly.
The positioning was so urate that theunch pad¡¯s locking mechanism clicked into ce without a hitch.
p, p, p¨D
President Lee Hyun-seong apuded.
¡°Impressive. While everyone was mocking it as a hobby of the chaebols, Chairman Yu was creating something like this.¡±
¡°If we look at it closely, it is indeed a personal hobby. It just looks grand because it¡¯s rted to space.¡±
President Lee Hyun-seong chuckled and said, ¡°Haha, so if I understand correctly, this means we can eventually go directly to the 9th?¡±
The President,cking specific knowledge, easily praised him, but the researchers were in shock and awe.
It felt like everything they had learned and experienced in the field had turned into a nk te.
Yu Ji-ha guided them to the control center and said, ¡°I¡¯ll exin the details once we¡¯re inside.¡±
Eventually, a brief exnation of the ion thruster was presented.
¡°The important thing is whether we can disassemble ck Metal at an ultra-high resolution.¡±
ck Metal again¡
It was a mysterious secret why this ck Metal held such remarkable significance, as if it were a panacea.
After that, summarizing Yu Ji-ha¡¯s remarks, the basic principle of the ion thruster was not significantly different from an ion engine.
It involved ionizing tiny atoms that had been disassembled and ejecting them backward using electromaic coils.
¡°The ion thruster is like a miniaturized coil gun. The only difference is that it propels elements instead of maic objects.¡±
¡°This ion thruster has propulsion efficiency that is extremely high, surpassing conventional ion engines, and its reactivity is better than rocket engines. The structure is rtively simple as well.¡±
As they showed the structure, it was indeed simple.
Well, even the structure of a jet engine looks rtively simple when you look at the diagram.
The real importance lies in the know-how that can only be acquired by actually building it.
The Minister of Defense, who had been observing silently, asked, ¡°So, in essence, is this an engine thatbines the advantages of various engines?¡±
¡°I can guarantee that once the ion thruster isunched, all existing engines will be obsolete. Whether it¡¯s on the sea, in the sky, or in space, efficient propulsion will be possible with just the ion thruster.¡±
¡°All of them?¡±
¡°Yes, it can be applied to everything: aircraft, submarines, spacecraft. The only drawback is the cost. It¡¯s quite expensive.¡±
The two researchers tried to say something, but they fell silent.
They couldn¡¯t dismiss his statement as a joke.
It was too astonishing.
How many types and tforms of vehicles were currently orbiting the Earth?
To overhaul all their propulsion systems was not just an innovation; it was almost a miracle.
¡°This is not some movie or fantasy¡¡±
One researcher muttered, capturing the mood of the room.
Only Yu Ji-ha could pull off something like this.
He looked at the maintenance staff and said, ¡°I ask you to keep what I¡¯ve told you today a secret for now.¡±
¡°Of course. We won¡¯t say a word unless Chairman Yu gives us permission. Right, Minister Kim?¡±
¡°Yes, yes. But I still have some doubts. Can it really be applied to our aircraft and submarines?¡±
¡°I assure you, it can. You don¡¯t have to make the changes, of course. But then you¡¯ll have to ept being outdated. How can a 6th generation fighter jetpete with an unmanned aircraft flying at Mach 5?¡±
He didn¡¯t mention Lucia.
Using artificial intelligence for military purposes would cause too much bacsh.
Lucia also had her limits.
She wouldn¡¯t answer questions about stocks or cryptocurrencies.
The researchers started to bombard him with questions.
¡°What about the payload of theunch vehicle? I¡¯d like to start with low Earth orbit, but¡¡±
¡°How much thrust does it provide? The nozzle looked like it had multiple thrusters clustered together.¡±
The Q&A session went on, while President Lee Hyun-seong and the Minister of Defense moved aside to talk.
¡°Mr. President, this is a revolution, if what he said about the thrusters is true.¡±
¡°I know. It¡¯s hard to believe that he can change the engines of all tforms¡ I would say it¡¯s impossible, but Chairman Yu has already proven us wrong before, hasn¡¯t he?¡±
The ckmetal battery was one thing, but Lucia, the artificial intelligence, was the one who sparked heated debates in the academic world.
Some even proposed to redefine artificial intelligence based on Lucia.
It was ridiculous.
But they had a different concern.
The Minister of Defense whispered, ¡°Mr. President, won¡¯t Chairman Yu face trouble if a candidate who supports him wins the next presidential election? They will have too much power in their hands.¡±
¡°That nobleman in the North Korea Ministry is too stubborn¡ There might be more friction than now.¡±
¡°What can we do about it?¡±
¡°Well¡ That¡¯s not our problem to solve.¡±
President Lee Hyun-seong shook his head and said, ¡°The next president and Chairman Yu will deal with those issues themselves. We¡¯ll just go back to being ordinary people, right?¡±
¡°But there¡¯s a chance that a real crisis might happen. China is so unstable, we can¡¯t interfere easily, can we?¡±
North Korea¡¯s recent provocations were a headache.
They blocked all trains from China and pushed themselves to the brink of copse.
North Korean experts feared that the regime was in a dead end.
There were even reports of groups of hundreds of wild boars raiding the crops in Jagang Province, an unprecedented disaster.
In such a situation, if the next president criticized them harshly, the wounds might burst open.
President Lee Hyun-seong was worried about that, but he didn¡¯t have any clear solution.
Meanwhile, the impromptu seminar between Yu Ji-ha and the two researchers continued.
¡ div>
Chapter 38: A Gift From The Moon
Chapter 38: A Gift From The Moon
Japan was full of confidence after their sessfulnding on the Moon.
They had been running an independent astronaut training program for a while, and now they were making concrete preparations for a manned lunarnder.
They expected to send Japanese people to the Moon by next year.
The excitement was high.
But then, Korea¡¯s Starfield announced their lunar exploration n out of the blue.
It was such a sudden news that even the media didn¡¯t know what to make of it.
They said they would send a spacecraft to the Sea of Moscow on the far side of the Moon within this month.
They were a small space explorationpany that had no notable achievements to show.
The Japanese mediaughed and sneered at this news.
¨C Starfield¡¯s empty boast ¨C Lunar exploration is not that easy.
¨C They just stole JAXA¡¯s technology a few months ago. They can¡¯t digest it with Korea¡¯s low-level technology.
¨C Korea should be happy with putting satellites in low orbit. Anything more is overreaching.
They looked down on Korea with contempt, but they had a point.
Korea¡¯s lunar exploration had been stuck in the nning stage, and they hadn¡¯t even developed their ownunch vehicle.
And their onlyunch site, Naro Space Center, was poorly managed.
One of Japan¡¯s ITpanies used their supeputer Fugaku to calcte the probability of Korea¡¯s lunar exploration.
The result was 100% failure.
The exact algorithm and the unknown variables were still a mystery, but the 100% failure probability was shocking.
Starfield became known as ¡°100%¡± in Japan.
¨C Space budget of 3.2 billion yen, 100% failure probability, truly wless.
¨C Maybe we can learn from 100%. They teach us how not to do things.
Japan¡¯s mockery didn¡¯t affect Starfield.
They announced their exact schedule.
They nned to reach the Moon in just 105 hours by using a direct transfer orbit.
This caused a lot of criticism from the domestic academicmunity.
¨C Even if we assume that they got the hydrogen isotopes and Japan¡¯s technology, using a direct transfer orbit is too risky.
¨C Starfield has a good team, but theyck experience. They should use a transfer orbit like Japan did.
But the schedule didn¡¯t change, and the domestic academicmunity gave up.
Dr. Myunghan Lee, who had contributed a lot to the domestic space industry, expressed his sorrow in an interview with the media.
¡ªTheunch date is near, but everything is unclear. As far as I know, they haven¡¯t even secured the supply of kerogen. How can they do anything without the most essential propent? Do you believe this, dear journalist?
¡ªWell¡ They¡¯re using a new type of engine, so maybe it¡¯s okay?
¡ªIon engine? That¡¯s like trying to cool a car with a fan in the atmosphere!
¡ªBut that¡¯s not what I meant¡
Starfield had never said they were using an ion engine, but one wrong article had misled and confused everyone.
This was ridiculous, and many people tried to contact Starfield, but they only got a cold reply.
-We will reveal everything on theunch day. Please wait until then.
So, theunch day in mid-November attracted a lot of attention.
Oddly enough, Japan was more interested than Korea, and over 100 journalists came to Korea and crowded theunch site.
Theunch pad was covered by a huge cloth, and the researchers could only wonder.
¡°It¡¯s too small for aunch vehicle that goes to the Moon.¡±
¡°Right. How can it generate thrust?¡±
¡°It doesn¡¯t look like it has stages either. It¡¯s very weird¡¡±
¡°There¡¯s no fuel tank either. What kind of thing is that?¡±
Soon, a broadcast came from the control center.
¡°We will now enter the Terra Heavyunch sequence.¡±
¡°Without even loading fuel?¡±
¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±
The giant cloth was removed, and the Terra Heavyunch vehicle finally showed itself.
It was smaller than expected, and had a dark color.
It stunned the audience.
It had apletely different shape from the existingunch vehicles, and the journalists didn¡¯t even think of taking pictures.
They just gaped at it.
The space researchers were also shocked.
¡°Is that really aunch vehicle¡?¡±
Theunch sequence entered the final countdown, regardless of people¡¯s reactions.
¡°Launch in 10, 9, 8, 7¡ Launch.¡±
Theunch pad shook as theunch vehicle soared into the sky.
And at the White House, President McKinley¡¯s face twisted as he watched theunch process with his aides.
¡°Get me the NASA director, right now.¡±
The standard for space recognized by various scientific or national institutions is above 100 km in altitude.
This is called the Karman line, and one has to cross this line to be considered in space.
Usually, rockets break through this line in 3-5 minutes, depending on the location of theunch site.
But Korea¡¯s Naro Space Center took longer than that, because it was rtively far from the equator.
But what was this?
The control center announced that they had crossed the Karman line in less than two minutes afterunch.
¡°We have crossed 100 km in altitude.¡±
¡°What? They¡¯re already in space?¡±
¡°They haven¡¯t even separated the first stage rocket?¡±
The journalists from Japan were especially noisy.
Many of them came to see Starfield fail, not to cover their sess.
But whether they liked it or not, the Terra Heavyunch vehicle was already in low orbit.
If Starfield¡¯s goal was to ce a satellite there, they should have stopped the enginebustion here.
But theunch vehicle used a horizontal orbit to reach 1,000 km in altitude, which was considered as real space.
The cameras installed on various parts of theunch vehicle sent images that were broadcasted through MeTube.
The ck space was the background, and the blue sea wrapped in white clouds was visible.
¡ªWow, this is crazy¡
¡ªSo they really went up there with that spacecraft¡
¡ªIt feels like mymon sense is copsing. How is that possible with a single-stageunch vehicle?
¡ªGuys, I have a question. Don¡¯t they usually separate the probe there? Why are they going straight to the Moon?
¡ªNobody here knows that.
¡ªThat was the original goal of that Doji guy. To go to space without separating stages.
¡ª-I hope Doji is watching from Mars.
¡ªBut thatpany had been developing space for over 20 years and still failed. How did Starfield seed?
¡ªOh, they¡¯re adjusting their position.
¡ªIsn¡¯t the reaction control system supposed to be gas? Why is there lighting out of it?
¡ªAnyway, that spacecraft has too many strange things.
By then, the news of the Terra Heavyunch vehicle had spread around the world.
No one believed that this weirdunch vehicle would seed.
But the telemetry data from the satellites orbiting the Earth couldn¡¯t be faked.
¡ªTerra Heavyunch vehicle, passed the perigee in 3 hours and 20 minutes.
¡ªAt this speed, they will enter the Moon¡¯s gravity field in less than 100 hours.
They were quite fast, because they chose a direct transfer orbit.
But because they were so fast, they had to use a lot of fuel to decelerate when they entered the Moon¡¯s gravity field.
Normally, such fuel calctions required a lot of know-how to get right.
But it seemed that they didn¡¯t need to worry about that.
¡°Final vector control initiated. The Terra Heavyunch vehicle is heading to the Moon now.¡±
As the broadcast came out, the space researchers outside the control center were dumbfounded.
¡°Who was that reporter who said it was an ion engine?¡±
¡°It was a mistrantion from the Japanese version. It¡¯s an ion thruster.¡±
¡°Did you just bring in that Japanese article to Korea? This is a mess.¡±
¡°How can we be humiliated by one reporter? We could have helped them.¡±
They allined, but one researcher smiled bitterly.
¡°Come on, let¡¯s be honest. We all dismissed it as a billionaire¡¯s hobby, didn¡¯t we?¡±
¡°Ahem.¡±
¡°We don¡¯t know anything about that thing. So let¡¯s stop meddling and hope that theyplete their mission ande back safely.¡±
¡°Hmph¡¡±
The Korean researchers who had made all kinds of bitter remarks and insults were embarrassed.
But the Japanese officials who had used a supeputer to predict a 100% failure rate were almost silent, as if they had been hit by a bomb.
The broadcast panelists had to say something, since they couldn¡¯t leave the audio empty.
¡ªAt this point, I think we can say that they have seeded, don¡¯t you?
¡ªBut there¡¯s still onest step left, isn¡¯t there? They¡¯re going to the Moon in 100 hours, which is faster than expected. Do they have enough fuel for deceleration?
¡ªYou¡¯re being negative. That rocket is too small to be impossible.
¡ªIf you¡¯re going to argue like that, then breaking through the atmosphere with that rocket was impossible in the first ce, right?
¡ªWill they be able to reach the far side of the Moon? The Sea of Moscow, a ce where no one has ever been before, a mystery to mankind.
¡ªWe¡¯ll have to wait and see for that.
But the real experts from JAXA and other agencies were purely amazed by Korea¡¯s rocket.
¡ªIt¡¯s beyondmon sense. Does anyone have a connection in Korea?
¡ªEven the Aerospace Research Institute didn¡¯t know anything about that rocket.
¡ªIt¡¯s apletely new rocket¡
¡ªIf the performance they¡¯ve shown so far is true, then Korea has rewritten the history of space. Or rather, Starfield has.
¡ªAnd more precisely, it¡¯s Yu Ji-ha.
Some of JAXA¡¯s researchers recalled meeting him in Korea.
They had visited Korea under the pressure of the government, but they had been uncooperative because they felt like they were being forced to give away their technology.
It was customary to give a note with some know-how during the technology transfer, but they had skipped that.
But he didn¡¯t show any dissatisfaction and thanked them, and even gave them a generous amount of money.
Now they felt a bit ashamed.
¡ªI should have taken his business card.
¡ªHis secretary was so cute¡
¡ªHe said he weed technology exchange back then. Do you think he still thinks that way?
¡ªExchange? What exchange do we need with someone who can make such a rocket?
¡ªWell¡ I guess that makes sense.
¡ªLet¡¯s just watch it on TV¡
But they weren¡¯t the only ones sighing while watching TV.
The NASA researchers who had rushed to the White House managed to convince President McKinley with their desperate exnation.
¡°So, to summarize, thatunch vehicle is not based on the technology that NASA gave them?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right, Mr. President. They might have used some of it as a reference, but the principle ispletely different.¡±
¡°Exin that principle to me.¡±
¡°To be honest, sir, we don¡¯t know either.¡±
President McKinley was furious at their helpless answer.
¡°How can you say that you don¡¯t know in front of me? The budget allocated to youst year was 18 billion dors.¡±
It used to be over 23 billion dors, but it had been reduced a lot due to the recent economic downturn.
¡°Money is not the problem. It¡¯s just we don¡¯t have Yu Ji-ha.¡±
Everyone was silent at NASA director rk Henderson¡¯s words.
It was true.
They had been researching the ckmetal metal for a while, but no one had figured out what it was.
Meanwhile, the Koreanpany led by Yu Ji-ha was showing off one technology after another, as if they were pulling out pennies from their pocket.
What could NASA do in this situation?
They all just watched the subtitles of the Korean broadcast, when Martin McLean, the deputy assistant, opened his mouth.
¡°Mr. President, it seems that Starfield has uploaded some information about theunch vehicle on their website.¡±
The tense atmosphere loosened up.
President McKinley turned his chair around.
¡°Show it on the big screen.¡±
A momentter, Starfield¡¯s information was disyed on the wall of the president¡¯s office.
¡°There¡¯s English too. They wouldn¡¯t say they don¡¯t know that. Summarize it for me so I can understand.¡±
It was a more urgent time for the NASA officials than when there was an ident in space.
Fortunately, Director Henderson was able to start exining before the president¡¯s patience ran out.
¡°To put it simply, Mr. President, all tforms that don¡¯t use the propulsion system applied to that rocket will be obsolete.¡±
People murmured.
There was no one in the office who didn¡¯t understand what that meant, and they thought it was impossible.
President McKinley looked around and said.
¡°Quiet. What do you mean by tforms?¡±
¡°Ships, aircrafts, submarines, rockets, missiles¡ Everything, Mr. President.¡±
¡°There must be a reason why you say that. Exin it to me.¡±
¡°First of all, I¡¯ll tell you that the ion thruster is very efficient. The amount of fuel consumed by the Terraunch vehicle to get out of the atmosphere, perform the mission on the Moon, and return to Earth is less than 500 kg.¡±
It was an absurd number.
Even the president, who was not very familiar with aerospace, tilted his head as if he found it strange.
¡°How much fuel did the Saturn V rocket use to go to the Moon?¡±
¡°We don¡¯t know exactly because the data was lost at the time, but it was over 2,000 tons.¡±
Most of the weight of a spaceunch vehicle is fuel.
Of course, the Saturn V rocket was originally designed to go to Mars, not the Moon, so it had that much fuel.
Also, theunch vehicles that were being actively researched by private spacepanies recently were designed very efficiently and reduced the amount of fuel significantly.
¡°But the propent amount is a bit high for such a low amount of fuel. It¡¯s a quarter of the private spacepanies¡¡±
It was Bruce, the director of JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), who muttered.
¡°It¡¯s the cost of going to the Moon, not Earth orbit.¡±
Director Henderson said, and he pped his forehead.
¡°Oh, that makes sense.¡±
It was apletely different problem to transport 1 kg of cargo to Earth orbit and to the Moon.
President McKinley, who had been listening, quietly asked.
¡°So, in conclusion, we can mount that thruster on all tforms?¡±
¡°It¡¯s certain that we can rece most of the rockets. If that data is correct.¡±
¡°It¡¯s a game-changer for space exploration. Or rather, it will speed things up. As long as Starfield doesn¡¯t try to monopolize it.¡±
Monopoly or not was not important.
The US had the power to persuade Yu Ji-ha and Starfield.
But President McKinley remembered what he had said.
That Russia was not his enemy.
That meant he could cooperate with Russia.
That Russia¡¯s aircrafts or warships could use that thruster and roam around the Pacific.
They had offered something else in exchange for the railgun, but now they had no cards left.
How could they pressure someone who didn¡¯t need the US market?
At least President McKinley hoped that he could help him with his re-election.
¡®So this was what he meant by giving me benefits rted to ckmetal¡¡¯
He would have to grant him one favor if he epted this.
President McKinley suddenly feared what that would be.
¡ div>
Chapter 39: The Moons Miracle and Russias Ambitions
Chapter 39: The Moon''s Miracle and Russia''s Ambitions
The Terra Heavy projectile that had beenunched from Earth entered the Moon¡¯s gravitational field precisely after 100 hours.
In the control center, which was only partially opened, research teams led by Han Woo-yeon and other space scientists gathered around, watching the screen eagerly.
They breathed a sigh of relief with every message that appeared on the missionputer.
¡°Pairing sessful!¡±
¡°So, we¡¯re going to establishmunication with the dark side of the Moon byunching a satellite.¡±
¡°China used the same method. It¡¯s simple, but it costs a lot of money.¡±
Launching a satellite into the lunar orbit was practically a one-time use item that could only serve this mission.
No one knew when they would have another chance to return to the Moon.
The phrase ¡°a billionaire¡¯s hobby¡± crossed everyone¡¯s minds, but they kept their mouths shut.
What did it matter if it was a hobby or something else when they had seen such a miracle?
They even hoped that Yu Ji-ha would be more passionate about sustaining it and investing more into it.
But not to the point of bing like those American entrepreneurs who imed Mars.
¡°Satellite orbit insertion sessful.¡±
¡°Communication willmence for the next 30 minutes.¡±
After a moment, a photo of the dark side of the Moon taken by the projectile showed up on the screen.
¡°Wow¡¡±
¡°I never thought I would see something like this in my lifetime¡¡±
The awe and admirationsted until the projectile changed its position and started descending.
Finally, the projectilended on the waters near Moscow.
In the photos sent by the camera, the fine sand of the Moon was clearly visible, swirling in the air.
Atst, the Korean projectile had touched down on the Moon.
The scientists all raised their arms in unison, but they felt a sense of unease when they noticed how quiet the control center was.
Those people are skilled and everything, but they¡¯re too calm.
That¡¯s the problem.
Just then, Yu Ji-ha, who had been standing with his arms crossed, stood up.
¡°Can you rotate the camera? Yes, in that direction.¡±
After a while, a photo taken from a different angle was disyed on therge screen.
The scientists burst into excitement upon seeing the photo.
Countless rocks were floating above the lunar surface.
¡°What are those?¡±
¡°It¡¯s strange. Even if the Moon¡¯s gravity is weak, they shouldn¡¯t be floating like that¡¡±
¡°They have a peculiar bluish hue. Those are fascinating rocks.¡±
Everyone tilted their heads as if they were looking for something and turned their eyes towards Yu Ji-ha.
Whether unmanned or manned, there were certain procedures that had to be followed whennding on the Moon.
One was nting gs from various countries, and the other was collecting samples.
But those rocks were floating, making it hard to collect samples.
If it were a mannednding module, a person could simply grab them, but it seemed that the robotic arm designed for sample collection would have limited range.
¡°This is a big problem¡¡±
¡°Could it reallye to this? There has to be a way, right?¡±
Everyone was speechless, only their feet were restless, but Yu Ji-ha gave an order.
¡°Detach the rover and collect those samples.¡±
Phew¡
A silent, long sigh filled the corridor.
Now, the researchers looked at the screen with a lighter expression.
The photos transmitted every minute showed the rover, separated from the projectile, roaming the surface and collecting samples.
And then, the long-awaited performance of the Taegeukgi (Korean g).
The rover used its drill to dig a hole and hoisted the Taegeukgi.
¡°Finally¡¡±
When the photos showed up on YouTube, the people who had been watching cheered loudly.
¡ªJu-mo-o-o-o-o!
¡ªDrunk on national pride, gasping while discovering it
¡ªKing! Ji! Ha!
¡ªWow! Can we call Yu Ji-ha ¡®hyung¡¯ from now on?
¡ªLook at those Japanese nationalists running away at the speed of light, lol.
¡ªWhat? Who cares if it cost 3.2 billion yen? What? Supeputer Fugaku calcted a 100% failure rate?
¡ªHey hey, where is the g on the Moon right now?
¡ªUSA, China, and Japan.
¡ªThey say the ones by the USA are almost white and torn since they were old.
¡ªBut those were all on the front side of the Moon. The Taegeukgi is on the back side.
¡ªBut why did they go to the back side of the Moon?
These few questions and doubts were soon drowned out by the scrollingments.
After that, the rover worked hard to collect various samples, even whenmunication was cut off.
It was time to leave the Moon.
The Tera Heavy projectile fired its thrusters while still on the lunar surface, breaking away from the Moon¡¯s gravity.
Exactly 100 hourster, the projectile entered Earth¡¯s atmosphere.
The method of entry was also highly unconventional.
Instead of following a long parabolic path like other return capsules, it adjusted its posture and descended vertically.
Just like when it left Earth.
The scientists who saw this chuckled bitterly.
¡°If they enter like that, the amount of fuel required¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s impossible with liquid fuel.¡±
¡°And that ion thruster¡ truly a miraculous device.¡±
¡°We¡¯re living in 2026, but it seems like Yu Ji-ha is living in 2050 by himself.¡±
¡°Will we be able to make something like that in 2050?¡±
¡°That¡¯s just wishful thinking.¡±
Finally, the Tera Heavy projectilended near the Narrow Space Center.
Everyone gazed in awe as the projectilended precisely on theunch pad.
¡°Sessfulnding.¡±
¡°With this, we conclude the lunar exploration mission.¡±
¡°Thank you all for your hard work.¡±
As the announcement ended, it was not the voice of a controller but that of Chairman Yu Ji-ha.
With his announcement, apuse andughter broke out in the control center.
¡°They are human after all, it seems.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve never seen him smile before, but now he¡¯sughing.¡±
The scientists stiffened up as Chairman Yu Ji-ha and his secretary walked into the corridor.
However, he greeted them with a smile and handshakes, rather than a cold demeanor.
¡°Thank you for your dedication in monitoring. Although we did seed, it was not perfect, was it? I hope you will continue to support us in the future.¡±
How could they stay rigid in front of a chaebol chairman who had performed a miracle?
¡°Oh, no. We are sorry.¡±
Everyone bowed and shook hands, but one person even bent their waist almost 90 degrees.
It was Dr. Lee Myung-han, who had been the most skeptical of Starfield.
Chairman Yu Ji-ha even held his hand.
¡°Doctor, your criticisms were the most frightening. Please be kind to us in the future.¡±
His face turned into that of a boy who had fallen in love for the first time.
In that moment, the control center was filled with only those who would be his loyal fanboys.
Yu Ji-ha took the lead and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go see the projectile that has worked hard for ten days. I will answer detailed questions then.¡±
Over a hundred scientists followed him closely.
..
Several dayster, a package arrived at major research institutes around the world.
It contained lunar soil samples sent by Starfield.
Researchers at NASA¡¯s Johnson Space Center cheered as they put the samples on disks.
Of the countries that had recently visited the moon, only South Korea had shared samples, unlike China, which had no intention of sharing, and Japan, whose collection amount was too small to distribute to their own research institutes.
In this situation, it was truly lucky that South Korea, a neer, had epted their request.
However, these samples were not ordinary items.
One researcher frowned as he read the documents that came with them.
¡°It says they discovered unique properties. Is the cryogenicboratory avable right now?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll need some preparations, but I think we can make it work.¡±
¡°Get it ready as soon as possible. We need to verify if these guys are just bragging.¡±
Soon after, when the temperature in the cryogenicb reached minus 50 degrees Celsius, the disk floated.
Literally, it was hovering in mid-air.
The researchers knew exactly what this meant.
¡°No way¡¡±
¡°This is a superconductor, right?¡±
¡°Try the experiment again. Reset the temperature and lower it once more!¡±
The researchers got busy. They repeated the experiment, but the disk with the samples showed the same phenomenon.
Everyone copsed to the floor in disbelief.
¡°There were superconductors on the moon¡?¡±
Once again, into space.
¡°Superconductors are materials that have zero electrical resistance under certain conditions. They also have the property of canceling any maic field through the Meissner effect. Although it may seem that superconductors do not exist yet, they are actually used in various industries such as MRI machines. However, the cost is quite high because they need cooling with liquid nitrogen and other methods. The reason why railguns need huge cooling systems and consume enormous power is partly because of this. With the introduction of ck metal barrels, it has be possible to mount them on Zumwalt-ss ships, but for now, that¡¯s the situation.¡±
President dimir Putin interrupted the researcher who was exining and spoke up.
¡°Let¡¯s skip the boring details. I want to know one thing. What can we do with these superconductors from the moon?¡±
The researcher with horn-rimmed sses hesitated before answering.
¡°Well¡ First of all, I can mention nuclear fusion. As you know, Russia is participating in ITER, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. It uses the so-called Tokamak design for nuclear fusion, and to raise the core ion temperature to 100 million degrees, we need¡¡±
As the conversation continued, Energy Minister Kozlov stood up and gestured.
¡°Respected President, with these superconductors, Russia will be able to provide affordable energy to the entire poption.¡±
¡°Much better. How soon can this be done?¡±
¡°There are some challenges, but with those superconductors, we can ovee them within 10 years.¡±
¡°What do we need to do for that?¡±
¡°First, we need to confirm if the material from the moon is a true superconductor. We don¡¯t even know if it¡¯s Type 1 or Type 2 yet.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s assume it¡¯s the type that favors us and that we have enough quantities. Can we get it from the moon using our technology?¡±
Kozlov sat down, and Deputy Prime Minister Borisov stood up.
¡°Impossible is not the word I would use, but it would be pointless,¡± he said without hesitation.
¡°Russia has spaceunch vehicles that canpete with those of the United States. Would it be hard to use them?¡±
¡°It¡¯s risky. To reach the moon, we would have to equip the A7 rocket with a probe and mining equipment, which is an unprecedented challenge.¡±
President Putin leaned back, unhappy with those words.
¡°So, a smallpany from South Korea took this reckless challenge and seeded.¡±
¡°It¡¯s almost like a miracle.¡±
¡°Looking at the photo of the Moscow Sea released by Starfield, superconductors are scattered around. Can¡¯t we just pick them up?¡±
Deputy Prime Minister Borisov thought about giving a long exnation but decided to keep it brief.
¡°Each attempt costs over 40 billion rubles (640 billion won). The failure rate is over 30%.¡±
¡°¡,¡±
This doesn¡¯t make sense at all.
While Russia had a glorious history of space exploration, that was a story from decades ago.
As of 2026, Russia¡¯s space exploration capabilities were regarded as inferior even to a single Americanpany, SpaceX.
Ultimately, it was a matter of money.
Only recently did Russia start to earn some money from natural resources, but objectively speaking, Russia¡¯s economic ranking was around the same level as South Korea, within the top 10.
With about 20% of the defense budget allocated to maintaining nuclear power alone, there was no room to try new space exploration.
¡°The lucky thing is that other countries are in a simr situation. Only Starfield in South Korea can realistically bring back the superconductors.¡±
Well, that¡¯s better.
If it had been possible for the United States or China, Putin would have had trouble sleeping.
He nodded heavily and looked at the Minister of Defense.
¡°They say that Starfield has developed the rocket that makes this possible. Please exin briefly.¡±
¡°Yes, Mr. President. It is a new type of engine that we have never seen before. It is remarkably lightweight, efficient, and can be used anywhere, as they advertise.¡±
¡°Anywhere?¡±
¡°Yes. They say that it can also be used in fighter jets and submarines.¡±
If it can be used in such sensitive areas, there is no need to look further in the private sector. If this goes wrong, Starfield will have control over future wars.
¡°We have seen amazing things, like going to the moon. How can we get those items?¡±
The Prime Minister got the right to speak.
¡°Mr. President, you will remember the letters we sent to him. Of course, those letters do not guarantee anything, but it is important that there is no bad feeling.¡±
Russia had sent him over ten letters under the President¡¯s name since the beginning of this year.
There was nothing significant in them.
At most, they mentioned ordering the new mining equipment and promising a state visit to Moscow as an official guest.
Judging from the two replies received, it was clear that he had a good impression of Russia.
It could be said that Russia had built a much better rtionship than China, which had beenpletely left out of the ck metal ecosystem, or Japan, which had recently faced humiliation.
While it may not match the United States, which received railgun barrels, it ranked second.
President Putin looked around the officials, twirling his finger.
¡°Listen carefully. From this moment on, anyone who vites South Korea¡¯s airspace without my permission must bring me T-time.¡±
The faces of the people in the conference room tensed up with fear.
The story of Russia¡¯s president serving radioactive tea during his meetings was already well-known.
As an autocrat, Putin hated being associated with such a strong image and used it to his advantage with the bureaucrats.
¡°By any means necessary, we must obtain that new rocket and the superconductors. So, contact Starfield¡¯s CEO carefully. Find out what we can offer and what they want. I will go to Korea.¡±
It was not to meet with the President of South Korea, who was nearing the end of his term, but to meet with a representative from a privatepany.
The pretext would be nicely wrapped up, but not many people believed it.
After all, the United States had already sent the Secretary of State and other officials, and other countries were also preparing for visits.
However, Russia had something that they couldn¡¯t offer.
Chapter 40: Unobtanium and New Beginnings
Chapter 40: Unobtanium and New Beginnings
December 2026 was the month of superconductors.
The world was abuzz with the news that Starfield had brought back a material from the moon that exhibited superconductivity.
People started dreaming about nuclear fusion and levitating trains.
Even though no one knew how much of it was avable or whether it could be usedmercially, it became a craze.
Superconductor! Its really Superconductor!
People were thrilled as if room-temperature nuclear fusion was within their grasp, and the researchers involved had to spend time exining that it was far from reality.
¡ªIt will take years to identify and analyze the substance in question. So, please calm down and¡
¡ªRoom-temperature nuclear fusion is theoretically impossible. So, please stop calling theb iming that you have achieved it.
¡ªShouldn¡¯t we decide on a name for this substance?
The authority to name it had already been decided, or rather, it had already been granted.
Yu Ji-ha.
He was not only the first to discover the levitating superconductor on the moon¡¯s surface but also brought it back for research.
Although the Johnson Space Center in the United States was the first to announce the superconducting phenomenon to the press, they had agreed to defer to him.
And so, with high expectations from many people, Yu Ji-ha spoke up.
¡ªIn many novels and movies, fictional superconductors are called Unobtanium. I will follow this tradition as well.
Unobtanium.
It literally meant an unobtainable substance.
But now it could be obtained from the moon.
If Starfield cooperated.
The world¡¯s media outlets began to churn out hopeful reports.
¡ªWith Unobtanium,mercial operation of nuclear fusion reactors will be possible within five years.
¡ªFrom now on, all trains will be reced with levitating trains.
¡ªMRI costs will dramatically decrease! Why? Because we have Unobtanium!
¡ªYour smartphone will now boast near-infinite battery life. If it ever turns on, that is.
The scientists who were devoted to their research had little time to respond to such baseless rumors because they were busy.
How could they find the time to debunk rumors when new ones poured in en masse?
There were even people who didn¡¯t believe that Starfield¡¯s spacecraft had actually gone to the moon.
¡ªIt doesn¡¯t make sense that apany that hasn¡¯t been around for long has created an efficient and reusable spacecraft!
Their conspiracy theories strangely echoed the scientists¡¯ doubts.
That¡¯s how far Starfield had deviated frommon sense.
However, denying Starfield¡¯s achievements, despite the abundance of observational data and the physical presence of Unobtanium, was foolish.
Countries once again used the catchphrase ¡°Let¡¯s go back to space.¡±
Space exploration had long been notorious for swallowing money.
They couldn¡¯t answer the basic question of what they would gain from pouring so much money into it.
But now they had a splendid excuse called Unobtanium.
Space researchers, including astronomers, gathered together to make their case.
¡ªWhy go to space? Because there¡¯s Unobtanium there!
This simple catchphrase was aplete sess in persuading the public.
Truly, it was the era of space and Unobtanium.
Thus, until mid-December, the whole world was caught up in the frenzy of Unobtanium.
The President of the United States sent an envoy, announced the sessful meeting with Yu Ji-ha, and gained tremendous support by expressing hope for the future.
However, the situation did not progress favorably.
Countries outwardly issued statements urging the universal and peaceful use of Unobtanium, but behind the scenes, they were moving swiftly.
Intense diplomatic battles took ce, and a framework was established, calling for Yu Ji-ha to address the UN General Assembly and deliver a keynote speech.
The speech mentioned cing Unobtanium under the joint management of humanity.
Upon hearing the news, Yu Ji-ha smirked.
¡°Was there anything about resources in the Space Treaty?¡±
¡°No, there wasn¡¯t. At that time, the conflicting interests of the major powers prevented such provisions. Also, the Moon Treaty signed in 1979 had too few participating countries, so it was considered meaningless.¡±
¡°We have the President¡¯s announcement to rely on.¡±
President Lee Hyun-seong recently issued a presidential decree at Yu Ji-ha¡¯s request.
It stated that the private sector in Korea had the right to explore space and acquire resources.
At that time, the major powers didn¡¯t pay much attention to Korea¡¯s deration since they believed Koreacked the capability to do so.
But now the situation hadpletely changed.
Starfield had independently demonstrated its ability to explore the outer atmosphere and extract resources.
Therefore, there was no reason to ept the UN¡¯s keynote speech.
Yu Ji-ha said this in front of Jardeng, the director of the UN Secretariat who came to persuade him.
¡°We cannot ce Unobtanium under the joint management of humanity. I refuse.¡±
¡°If you ept this proposal, you will be seriously considered as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not interested.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤Excuse me?¡±
The director was taken aback, and Yu Ji-ha spoke calmly.
¡°Even if you rmend me for another award, I won¡¯t ept it. So please don¡¯t try to convince me. Unobtanium is not amon asset of humanity.¡±
¡°I regret it. You are refusing to make efforts for the peace of humanity.¡±
Yu Ji-ha looked into the eyes of the director.
¡°You are from France, right? Can you give up nuclear weapons for the sake of world peace?¡±
¡°Well, that¡¯s¡¡±
¡°I know very well that the major powers who cry for peace work day and night for their own interests. So let¡¯s stop the hypocrisy.¡±
Director Jardeng left with little gain.
However, the efforts to bring Yu Ji-ha to the UN did not stop.
This time, China took the lead.
Arma discovered this through a microdrone attached to Director Jardeng.
¡°They are trying to persuade France and the UK in China. It seems they are promising significant investments.¡±
¡°Did they barely recover from the blow?¡±
¡°They haven¡¯tpletely resolved the confusion. It was the faction that upied Beijing that made the first move.¡±
In the ck Metal ecosystem, where they were excluded, they were almost certainly running around desperately trying to obtain Unobtanium.
However, the internationalmunity did not solely rely on China¡¯s power.
¡°But even then, the Security Council resolution won¡¯t pass, right?¡±
¡°There is a high possibility of a deal. If they use Taiwan as bait, the United States will likely get involved.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t mean to provoke a war, do you?¡±
¡°It¡¯s because there is no other way to break the current stalemate. Coincidentally, next year is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People¡¯s Liberation Army in China. If the United States doesn¡¯t intervene, there is a high possibility that China will seriouslyunch an attack on Taiwan.¡±
¡°Well, it¡¯s not my concern.¡±
While it was not desirable for Taiwan, if China focused its full force on attacking Taiwan, the attention on the Korean Penins would rtively diminish.
That would make it easier to create a big event.
Moreover, it was said that the leading presidential candidate in this area was someone who took a tough stance against the North Korean regime.
In Yu Ji-ha¡¯s position, he wanted to loosen up, and it was a perfect opportunity.
¡°Russia wanted to meet in January, right?¡±
¡°Yes. They¡¯re nning a visit by President Putin, using the excuse of the inauguration ceremony for the mining facility. If you give permission, sir.¡±
¡°I should meet with them and discuss China. It¡¯s perfect because we also neednd.¡±
Land for constructing a megacity could be created at will, butnd was needed for smart farms.
If it was Russia, they would readily lend thatnd.
Arma reported, ¡°And, Master¡ the repairs on the Settler are 80%plete.¡±
80% was a symbolic number indicating that the Settler could go into space.
Of course, even if they went into space, repairs would still be ongoing, and engaging inbat would be difficult.
But for now, that was enough.
On the night of December 24th, Yu Ji-ha met his parents in an atmosphere that was different from before and then boarded the exploration ship.
The Settler weed the exploration team.
¡
¡°The current output of the fusion reactor has reached 33%. The repairs are almostplete, and the unfinished parts have been barricaded,¡± Arma reported.
Listening to Arma¡¯s report, Yu Ji-ha pondered within the ship.
The exterior of the Settler looked simr to when it was first constructed.
¡°I wonder if the Titan-ss gue Core had any effect,¡± he mused.
¡°Based on the information gathered from the knowledge repository, it seems that the gue Core is of the same type as the fusion reactor,¡± Arma replied.
¡°That¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve heard that,¡± Yu Ji-ha said.
¡°They deliberately concealed it in the Council. It would be destabilizing if it were known that the Prophet¡¯s relic is of the same type as the gue Core,¡± Arma exined.
¡°Instead of replicating the entire gue, they could have just extracted the Core¡ What a waste.¡±
Although Yu Ji-ha was a member of the Supreme Council, he often remained unaware of such secrets due to his near-exile in space.
Even if he had known, it wouldn¡¯t have changed anything.
As he sat in the Admiral¡¯s seat, Arma stood beside him.
¡°Activate the roadmap,¡± Yu Ji-hamanded.
¡°Yes, sir.¡±
The main screen disyed a multitude of project trees.
There were three immediate projects that could be undertaken by the Settler.
Securingnd for constructing a megacity, mining in the asteroid belt, and building a space nt.
¡°Other projects may be smaller in scale, but creating an ind is impossible without the Settler,¡± Yu Ji-ha remarked.
The gravity crane function required either the Settler or a mining vessel.
Arma offered advice from the side.
¡°How about using the warp gate to travel to Earth in 2180? There might be something helpful there.¡±
Although he had briefly explored it before, he hadn¡¯t thoroughly checked everything. The Supreme Council wouldn¡¯t have been idle when the gue fleet approached Earth, so they might have prepared for the worst.
¡°Alright. Let¡¯s head to space then.¡±
Arma¡¯s voice switched to shipwide broadcast.
¡°The Settler is setting sail. All crew members, assume your positions,¡± the announcement echoed throughout the ship.
In reality, there was only one crew member on board.
Yu Ji-ha stifled a bitter smile. The original Pioneer Fleet consisted of over 30rge ships, including the gship and colony ship Settler. The crew numbered over 3,000, and after a fifty-year long journey, they were scheduled to arrive at the Prophet¡¯s homnd.
But their efforts were in vain as the gue fleetunched a full-scale assault. Now they were back to square one, starting anew.
¡°Open the power valves, connect the pipes,¡± Yu Ji-hamanded.
¡°Activate the Aether pumps,¡± Arma announced.
[Fusion reactor output increasing¡]
The ship trembled slightly. The Settler, a colossal organism, was sending signals to awaken from its long slumber. It was time to venture into space once again.
¡°
[Fusion reactor output at the threshold.]
[Aether field deployment.]
¡°Admiral, preparations for departure areplete.¡±
Was it Arma¡¯s consideration to allow Yu Ji-ha to personally give the finalmand?
From his Admiral¡¯s seat, Yu Ji-ha issued the order.
¡°Settler, initiateunch.¡±
[Engine ignition, Settler initiatingunch.]
In an instant, the colossal spacecraft emerged from the depths.
Despite its massive size rising above the water¡¯s surface, the surrounding sea remained eerily calm.
The Aether field was deployed, suppressing the tidal wave.
The Settler swiftly pierced through the atmosphere and entered space. Along the way, it collided with a satellite, but there was no damage whatsoever. Yu Ji-ha slowly raised his head.
Space and Earth were right before his eyes.
If there was nond, they would create it.
¡°We have passed through the warp gate. 10 hours and 32 minutes remaining,¡± the announcement sounded.
Perhaps due to the increased output of the fusion reactor, the duration of the warp was much shorter than before.
The size of the gate itself was no joke, allowing the Settler to pass throughfortably.
The 9th, Nox, was likely muchrger than this¡
Lost in thought, Yu Ji-ha was suddenly confronted with the sight of the red Earth from 2180.
The atmosphere was markedly different from when he had seen it through his assault armor in the past.
It felt like witnessing a colossal creature with torn and wounded limbs.
¡°¡Arma, proceed at sublight speed. We¡¯re heading to Mega City Sydney.¡±
[Confirming coordinates for Mega City Sydney. Initiating maneuver.]
Even though it was called Sydney, all that remained were tattered and tornnds.
The Settler activated the Aether field, pushing away the surrounding debris.
¡°Radar scanning initiated¡ Master, I see the fusion reactor and hull in the Undercity.¡±
¡°Is it a mining ship?¡±
¡°Yes. It¡¯s in the final stages ofpletion, so the Settler can make repairs.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good news. I¡¯ve been hearing about that during the journey.¡±
The United Human Federation had built docks and facilities in the Undercity for theirst stand against the gue invaders, and surprisingly, they remained intact.
In the midst of this situation, a doubt arose.
¡°Why did those gue bastards bypass the fusion route?¡±
Although they might not understand everything else, the fusion route was equivalent to their core.
The presence of the fusion route was significant enough for any gue member to have noticed, making it impossible for them to ignore it.
¡°Maybe the gue fleet¡¯s target wasn¡¯t Earth in the first ce.¡±
¡°What about the Prophet¡¯s relics?¡±
Well, it¡¯s hard to say for sure.
There was no way to capture the ones who had already disappeared.
It seemed unlikely, but what if they were seeking the Prophet¡¯s homnd?
What if the 9th, Nox, had a warp gate that only responded to humans?
¡°There¡¯s a chance we might end up traveling with those guys against our will.¡±
To avoid that, a change in their strategy seemed necessary.
Finally, the settler ship, Settler¡¯s, was securely anchored in the upper atmosphere of Megacity.
[Activate the reverse field at maximum output and deploy the gravity crane.]
Instantly, the Undercity¡¯s massive structure split open, revealing its contents entirely.
Mining vessels, Aether fusion reactors, and numerous gue cores were all attached and secured to the Settler¡¯s.
¡°This is the Prophet¡¯s relic repository. It seems to contain various odds and ends. I will list them for you.¡±
Though described as odds and ends, each item had the potential to reshape this era entirely.
For instance, the Aether receiver, which could be installed on assault armors, would enable them to harness the Settler¡¯s power.
The Aether generated from the fusion route was transmitted to the assault armors. Lucia analyzed the receiver and her eyes sparkled with excitement.
¡°I don¡¯t know the principles behind it, but this device teleports Aether regardless of distance. It¡¯s truly a technology of dreams.¡±
The assault armors boasted an astonishingbat capability through the use of this Aether.
As long as the receiver remained active, their operational range became nearly infinite, granting them the agility to evade bombardment from the gue fleet.
Of course, the assault armor required one condition to unleash such power: a Psycher with an Aether circuit must be on board.
Thus, thebat effectiveness of the assault armor varied greatly depending on the identity of the pilot.
When an ordinary person piloted it, movement became difficult.
However, when an exceptional Psycher took the helm, it could unleash enough power to annihterge enemy fleets in a short span.
¡°Master, we¡¯ve discovered an infantry support tank.¡±
¡°Tarant? I didn¡¯t expect it to still be around.¡±
Tarant was a multi-legged infantry support tank designed for urban operations.
As the name suggests, it resembled a six-legged spider and was equipped with a simple artificial intelligence.
Initially, there were high expectations for it, but surprisingly, it turned out to be rather useless.
The reason was that humanity¡¯s enemy was the gue.
Just think about it. When a fleet of monstrous spaceshipsunches an attack, what significance does a slightlyrger spider hopping around have?
Consequently, only a few prototype units of Tarant were produced before the entire project was scrapped.
Lost in thought, Lucia gazed at the Tarant calmly stored in the preservation pod.
¡°Although it may not be effective against the gue, our current enemy is not that kind of monster.¡±
¡°There are three units in the preservation pod. They¡¯re in decent condition and should be usable after some repairs.¡±
¡°Repair them and load them onto the Sibiri satellite, still as pods. We should make use of whatever we have in this barrennd.¡±
Although referred to as ¡°whatever we have,¡± it was quite challenging to destroy them with the military power of this era.
Tarant received information from the gravity radar and was able to evade mass-based weapons. Constructed with A-ss Living Metal, it was resistant to most attacks and even possessed a sma shield.
With the support of the Sibiri satellite, a single unit of Tarant could subdue a medium-sized nation.
However, the priority was to ensure they would not be needed.
¡°Also, reverse-engineer and improve them for production on Earth.¡±
¡°Your requested tasks have beenpleted.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go back. Return to our Earth.¡±
Settler¡¯s passed through the warp gate and returned to the year 2026.
Now, it was time to create a new settlement. div>
Chapter 41: The Rise of Androids and Robotic Advancements
Chapter 41: The Rise of Androids and Robotic Advancements
[The mining ship has been repaired. It can be deployed right away.]
¡°Good, send it in.¡±
The unmanned mining ship headed towards the inner asteroid belt of Jupiter.
This mining ship would stay in the asteroid belt for a while and mine resources.
It was on a different scale from the nt on board the Settler.
ording to Arma¡¯s calctions, they could make another mining ship in five months.
That mining ship would also be deployed to the asteroid belt¡ and in this way, they would create a mining fleet that would allow them to start building a space station.
Thanks to the mining ship taking care of this, the Settler could do other work.
It was to make an ind that would be the foundation of a megacity.
The first megacity was nned to be built in the sea next to the Midway Atoll in the North Pacific.
The problem was that a huge garbage patch had formed around the candidate site.
He stuck out his tongue when he saw the floating garbage on the sea.
ording to Arma¡¯s calctions, it was almost 10 times the size of the Korean Penins.
¡°It¡¯s too vast. Can you handle it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a ce where environmental groups often protest. It would be dangerous to clean it up.¡±
¡°Hmm¡ let¡¯s leave it for now. And there seem to be a lot of fishing boats nearby. Is this where tuna are caught?¡±
¡°They won¡¯t be able toe near once we make an ind because there will be earthquakes. The price of tuna will go up a lot.¡±
¡°Japan will be sorry. Tell them to buy it when we make it in the smart farmter.¡±
¡°Do you really want me to say that?¡±
¡°Just kidding.¡±
The Settler settled above the candidate site for the megacity in the North Pacific.
For the next few months, they would use gravity cranes to break down the crust and make an ind.
This process would cause weak tsunamis, so no boat would dare toe near.
As for aircraft, Arma had avoided major routes, so there was no chance of meeting them.
In other words, it was a perfect crime.
Of course, there was a good chance that the US Navy, which roamed the Pacific as if it were their own backyard, would find it suspicious.
In that case, they just had to stop working and raise the altitude of the Settler.
¡°Gravity crane injection. We will start working.¡±
He watched the deep sea sway and fell into thought.
The megacity was a fortress city to protect humanity.
The reason why he had to make it on Earth was because of gue¡¯s tactics.
They liked to use short-range warp gates to open in Earth¡¯s low orbit and bomb it.
If humanity lived in space stations, they would not be able to avoid mass death.
Of course, he had allowed bombing in 2103, but that was because he didn¡¯t know about it.
To prevent gue¡¯s bombing, he needed a shield called the atmosphere.
¡°Arma, show me Sydney¡¯s skyline.¡±
¡°What year do you want?¡±
¡°2175 would be nice.¡±
A hologram of a huge city appeared in the middle of the main bridge.
It was its intact appearance before blocking gue¡¯s final offensive.
Megacity Sydney was undoubtedly the center of the United Human Federation, with a poption of 100 million.
As a fortress city, most of the facilities were inside and it could block gue¡¯s falling attacks with an etheric field.
He stuck out his tongue again when he checked the scale.
¡°Sydney is big indeed. I honestly worry about when I can make something like that.¡±
¡°You can start lightly at first. You can make it quicklyter by using 3D printers for construction.¡±
¡°Well, I have the Settler¡¡±
Even if there was no problem in building the megacity, the interest and interference of the neighboring countries were the issues.
He even thought about opening the Settler and warning the whole world.
¡ªHumanity will be destroyed by gue in 2180. So we have to join forces and advance into space. Let¡¯s get rid of useless real estate and financial bubbles and build spaceships.
¡®¡As if they would cooperate.¡¯
They might believe him since he had the Settler, but there was no guarantee that they would follow him well.
After all, they might think that they could capture it if they tried hard enough, since he only had one spaceship.
He would waste time trying to persuade them, and in the worst case, a nuclear war could break out.
¡®If I aim antimatter reactors at the capitals of each country and threaten them¡ they would shut up.¡¯
It was inevitable that he would be underestimated because he only had one spaceship.
Therefore, it was right to gradually increase his power and create an irreversible situation.
The megacity project was for that purpose.
¡¯15 in total¡¡¯
The megacities he needed were located in 15 ces on the sea or coast.
Later, when hyperloop trains appeared, they would connect all the megacities in a one-hour living zone.
But before that, he needed a tform to carry cargo.
¡°Arma. I need something smaller than a container ship and bigger than a cargo ne.¡±
¡°How about this cargo ship? It can sail at supersonic speed with 20,000 tons if you attach an ion thruster.¡±
Arma printed out a model with a hologram.
¡°I thought it looked familiar. It¡¯s the old one.¡±
This ship, which flew fast over the water, was a result of inheriting the WIG ship, but it overcame most of its drawbacks with the development of controlputers and propulsion systems.
Humanity made such ships and roamed the sea before advancing into space.
But as the name cargo ship implied, it was for cargo only.
¡°It looks good. Design it so that it can be made in heavy industry.¡±
¡°Understood.¡±
¡
In January 2027, dimir Putin, the president of Russia, led a delegation to visit Korea.
No one believed that he came to meet Lee Hyun-sung, who had only one month left in his term.
In fact, he only attended the minimum events and headed straight to Shi Group¡¯s headquarters.
He was waiting for him there.
¡°Nice to meet you, Mr. President.¡±
¡°I heard you speak English, but Russian too¡ You¡¯re not really a developer, but a genius ofnguages, aren¡¯t you?¡±
He could learn quickly if he spent some time updating variousnguage data in the early stages of soul exchange.
¡°You tter me. Let¡¯s get straight to the point.¡±
¡°Good. We Russia need both superconductors and ion thrusters. So tell me what you need.¡±
¡°Haha, what if I want ICBMs? Missiles like Topol.¡±
Of course, he was joking, but what reason would an ordinary businessman have to want ICBMs?
But President Putin had vaguely noticed from the letters he exchanged with him that his goal was not ordinary.
¡°I¡¯ll give it to you if you want. But Korea is also a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, isn¡¯t it? You have to get out of the pressure from the US first.¡±
He came prepared.
Well, for Russia, if they couldn¡¯t catch up with this trend, they might be relegated to a second-rate country.
He put down his teacup and said.
¡°I know the value of what I can develop and mine at Starfield. I won¡¯t offer it cheaply.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll match it as much as possible. What do you want?¡±
¡°First of all, I neednd.¡±
¡°Land?¡±
A map was spread out on the sofa table.
His finger pointed to the southern part of the Kamchatka Penins.
South of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
President Putin¡¯s expression became strange.
¡°You wantnd as big as half of Korea¡ Of course, you don¡¯t mean to give it uppletely, do you?¡±
¡°I want to rent it for 50 years. During that period, I will treat it as private property and not be interfered by Russia. I also need freedom of entry and exit.¡±
¡°Hmm¡¡±
The silencested long.
He thought he would ask for money or resource development rights, but this was unexpected.
Russia had a vast territory and it was not difficult for the president to rent some of it.
But what he would do there was important.
¡°Can I ask what your purpose is?¡±
¡°Nothing much. I¡¯m going to build a smart farm.¡±
¡°You can do that in Korea, can¡¯t you?¡±
¡°There are no farmers there.¡±
Well, it¡¯s hard forrge corporations to do smart farms in Korea.
Severalrge corporations tried, but they withdrew their ns because they couldn¡¯t ovee the bacsh from the agricultural sector.
All kinds of outdated regtions also hindered smart farms.
¡°If you wantnd, there should be ces in the southern hemisphere that can rent it to you properly. Have you not thought about that?¡±
¡°Argentina or Madagascar are also attractive candidates.¡±
But in the case of Madagascar, a Koreanpany had rentednd asrge as 1.3 million hectares in the past, but gave up due to controversy.
The sentiment still remained, so it would be difficult to rentnd there.
President Putin confirmed that his determination was firm.
¡°You have a situation. You said first, so let me hear what else you want.¡±
¡°This must never leak out. If I hear this from outside, I will nullify all promises.¡±
¡°You are as radical as me. Tell me.¡±
He lowered his voice as if pretending.
¡°Leave North Korea alone.¡±
President Putin was taken aback by the sudden remark.
¡°North Korea? What are you talking about?¡±
¡°That¡¯s exactly what I mean. Treat North Korea as a non-existent country. Don¡¯t listen to them, and refuse their visits.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Something was strange.
He was not an ordinary businessman, but he had no reason to mention North Korea.
What did he have to do with that poor country that was dying of starvation because of the cut-off trade with China?
¡°Do you have any ns to do business in North Korea?¡±
¡°No. I can¡¯t tell you why, but you¡¯ll find out soon.¡±
¡°What if I refuse this offer¡¡±
¡°Superconductors and thrusters won¡¯t go to Russia. And you won¡¯t be able to import them through a third party. There won¡¯t be enough quantity.¡±
This was nothing short of a threat.
But for President Putin, it was also a tempting offer.
The exchange with North Korea was really nothing much.
At best, there were about a thousand North Korean workers in Primorsky Krai, and some trade in the private sector.
On the other hand, the exchange with Korea was quite important for the Russian economy.
And if superconductors and ion thrusters were added, the importance was obvious.
President Putin hid his anxious expression with his fingers.
He added a nail to him.
¡°To make the offer valid, I need to show you our capabilities. Starfield will go back to the moon this month. We¡¯re going to bring back about 500kg of unobtainium. I¡¯ll give you half.¡±
He could make it as much as he wanted on the Settler, but it was better to show off as much as possible.
President Putin couldn¡¯t resist the temptation of superconductor experiments in Russia.
¡°I wish I had a sample of the thruster too¡¡±
¡°I¡¯ll match it to the specifications and specs you want. Are you satisfied with this?¡±
He folded the map that was folded on one side.
¡°Where did you say on the Kamchatka Penins?¡±
It was a preciousnd that would produce food to feed the Human Alliance.
He had to return it in 50 years, but he had no intention of doing so.
It would be unified anyway.
The singrity came
In mid-January, a new mining ship wasunched at Shi Heavy Industries in Tongyeong.
It had been about a year since they started designing itst year.
dimir Putin, the president of Russia, watched the process of the new mining ship floating on the water, which would soone to his country.
And he said to him.
¡°It was a good deal. If you stop by Moscow someday, I¡¯ll treat you as a state guest.¡±
¡°Thank you for your hospitality. I won¡¯t pass this year.¡±
Thest year was literally the era of ck metal, but people couldn¡¯t feel it in reality.
There were countless products that adopted ck metal batteries, but they had toe out first.
Of course, Hansung Electronics¡¯ Orion smartphone and Si Auto¡¯s Windrunner announced their release, but it took quite a long time.
It seemed quite difficult to actually apply it.
Anyway, they were scheduled to be released in January, so consumers waited eagerly.
¡ªWow, is it true that Orion smartphone can be used for a week and still have 15% battery left?
¡ªWindrunner SUV is really awesome lol That¡¯s the car that only Shi Auto executives drive lol
¡ªIs it true that ck metal battery and level 4 autonomous driving arebined¡ My chest is swelling¡
¡°Can I sleep while driving?¡±
?No, you crazy
?It¡¯s level 4, why not?
?You can sleep at level 5
¡ªWhat about Future Car now? There was an article that they can¡¯t get ck metal batteries until 2030.
¡ªSi Auto is a bit small, but if they get investment and increase their factories, they¡¯ll quickly take over the market share.
¡ªFuture Group is selling off their unprofitable subsidiaries.
That included Boston Dynamics, a roboticspany.
Future Car Group had bought thispany for 1 trillion won in the past, but they couldn¡¯t use it properly and put it on the market.
They had to find a new owner, but it wasn¡¯t easy.
A bipedal robot that could do backflips and run like a human was amazing, but it couldn¡¯t make money right away.
It was also hard to use it for military purposes because it was too noisy.
An officer who watched the field test left this impression.
¡ªIt¡¯s as loud as an armored vehicle and requires a lot of maintenance. If it officially enters the unit, our soldiers will have to treat this can as a VIP instead of fighting the enemy.
Also, thispany had coborated with the US Department of Defense, so it was difficult for other countries¡¯panies to ess the technology.
In short, Boston Dynamics was a money-eating beast for now.
As no owner appeared, Future Group became anxious.
At a time when car sales in China were almost blocked, they expected a huge deficit.
They couldn¡¯t afford to keep it.
Lee Hyung-seok, the chairman of Future Group, gave this order.
¡ªCash is the top priority. Sell it even if it¡¯s cheap.
The final price offered was 300 billion won.
That¡¯s when Si Group stepped in.
He acquired all rights to Boston Dynamics with one phone call with McKinley, the US president.
From Future Car¡¯s point of view, it was heartbreaking, but they couldn¡¯t help it with the request of the re-elected US president.
Boston Dynamics became a subsidiary of Si Group.
When this news was announced, everyone cheered that Lucia coulde out of the monitor.
¡ªLuciae outttttttt
¡ªPlease android! Please android!
¡ªIt¡¯s still too loud for androids
?Can¡¯t they apply ck metal batteries?
?Then the price¡
?I¡¯ll buy it even if it¡¯s 100 million won. Please release it
?Unless there are drastic changes in skin and motor, there will be unpleasant uncanny valley.
?Yu Ji-ha will solve everything!
As expectations exploded, he talked to Boston Dynamics¡¯ executives on the phone.
They were all young and nerdy, so they didn¡¯t seem to wee their new owner very much.
It was because the corporate owners they had so far had demanded robots that could make money right away.
The CEO Robert Laver, who had a strong geek spirit, epted those requests but secretly resented them.
This young Korean would be simr¡
But he said something unexpected on the phone.
¡ªFor the time being, I¡¯ll only invest. Keep making what you were making.
CEO Robert was surprised.
¡°Do you really want us to make androids that mimic humans?¡±
¡ªThat¡¯s exactly what I want.
¡°Are you sure? I hate to say this, but our deficit is no joke.¡±
¡ªBut, you have to show me some results.
He sent them a linear actuator through a person.
¡ªTake a good look at it. You¡¯ll find something to apply.
The executives were puzzled by the linear actuator.
¡°I thought it was Arduino, but it¡¯s modified a bit.¡±
¡°ck metal is so light. You have to touch it to appreciate it.¡±
¡°This servo is not amercial product, is it?¡±
¡°Just upload the program. Let¡¯s see how it works.¡±
They were all people who started from geeks, so they wanted to make it work quickly.
[Program loaded¡ done.]
Finally, the linear actuator moved.
It was simr to a human joint, but it moved so smoothly that they were all startled.
¡°What the fuck is this?¡±
¡°How did you put the servo control code in?¡±
¡°Robert, your joints are smoother than this?¡±
Someone made a joke and they allughed uproariously.
The target of the joke, CEO Robert, had a rather serious face.
¡°If Si Group had a ce that made this product, I would have known.¡±
His friend and executive Michael pped his back.
¡°Hey, don¡¯t think too deeply. It¡¯s important that we have the thing here.¡±
They all shrugged it off as if he made it himself.
He was the protagonist who made the whole US stir with ion thrusters and superconductors.
US scientists seriously discussed whether his artificial intelligence was advancing the singrity.
Now they might not be able to understand the design of artificial intelligence.
He wondered and asked Lucia, who was sleeping on the monitor next to him.
¡°Lucia, what do you think of this?¡±
¡°Hmm¡ It¡¯s a good thing. If we had ck metal batteries, we could make robots that move quietly and smoothly, don¡¯t you think?¡±
¡°Quietly¡ and smoothly¡¡±
He was a heavenly geek who only thought about how it worked rather than the cost.
¡°I heard the supply is very scarce. Will they give it to us?¡±
¡°I heard Mr. Yu Ji-ha values ??the challenging spirit. Just call him.¡±
¡°Wait a minute, where did I put his card¡¡±
¡°Damn it, find it quickly!¡±
The executives were mobilized and searched the drawers, and Yu Ji-ha¡¯s card came out.
¡°Boss, this is Robert. Bl¡ You already sent it? Three sets? Thank you! That¡¯s a great choice!¡±
¡°Yes!¡±
The executives who had been watching with bated breath shouted in unison.
The research building of Boston Dynamics, which had been sagging, began to operate vigorously. div>
Chapter 42: Defending Secrets, Singularitys Rise, and A Honda Jet Surprise
Chapter 42: Defending Secrets, Singrity''s Rise, and A Honda Jet Surprise
As the new year began, the presidential election became a hot issue.
However, people were more interested in the achievements of Lucia, the artificial intelligence, than the candidate who was almost certain to win.
The national research institutes and Si Hi-Tech, which were in the defense sector, had suffered from tremendous hacking attempts.
They had a lot of confidential data, such as surveince drones, the new K-3 tank, and the railgun that they had just started researching.
Each institute had prepared for it, but they could not prevent information from leaking out during the process of updating the hardware firmware.
Since it was difficult to break into the internalwork from outside, they created apany that sold cheap equipment and made a contract with them.
The equipment was not impressive, so the institutes did not check the firmware and received security certification.
And the firmware update program tried to disable the security system and steal the administrator information that could ess the internalwork.
This incident was discovered the next day when the researchers checked the ess data.
The national research institutes were in danger of being turned upside down, but one researcher revealed that Lucia had stopped it.
¡°Lucia stopped this! I¡¯m sure of it!¡±
¡°What? Who left Lucia on?¡±
¡°Well, actually¡¡±
It all started with a Lucia Shield version that a researcher had left on his personalputer.
This Lucia had a powerful anti-hacking add-on installed.
He had downloaded it without much expectation, just to test it out, but he forgot to turn it off and went home after ying with Lucia.
And on the night of the hacking attempt, Lucia showed a brilliant performance.
When someone tried to enter with the stolen administrator ount from outside, she not only blocked it perfectly, but alsopletely prevented any further attempts.
Lucia did not have kernel ess rights, so she only defended herself all night long.
The researchers looked at the vivid traces of the battle and shook their heads in awe.
¡°Wow, she blocked that¡¡±
¡°Usually they get through, but Lucia must have judged that it was not a proper authority.¡±
¡°Actually, even if they took the information, they couldn¡¯t decrypt it because it was encrypted.¡±
¡°But you still have to write a report for leaving yourputer on. Why don¡¯t you follow the security regtions?¡±
The hacking ultimately failed, but the employee who caused the incident had to write a report and thepany that made the contract was investigated by the prosecution.
Of course, they took down their site and fled somewhere, so there was no evidence left.
This incident made headlines with some exaggeration.
¡ªLucia protects Korea¡¯s national defense secrets!
¡ªA thorough analysis of Lucia, the perfect security guard.
¡ªA white hacker praises Lucia: ¡°There is no way to hack her because she analyzes like a machine and judges like a human.¡±
Lucia already had a good image, but this incident created a public opinion that she was wless.
The Ministry of Land and Transportation applied Lucia¡¯s fault ratio data to human cases as well as cars.
Impatient people mored for giving Lucia the authority to audit government agencies.
¡ªStop throwing money at civic groups!
¡ªI wish Lucia would expose budget waste by introducing 500 thousand won trash cans as a joke.
¡ªShe exposes them but doesn¡¯t punish them. That¡¯s the problem. They¡¯re all in cahoots.
¡ªThey should get everything reviewed by Lucia before doing any business.
¡ªHow about letting Lucia take over Korea¡¯s administrative and financialworks? Anyone who gets caught will be executed right away.
?I like that idea.
?You¡¯re a criminal if you disagree.
?Isn¡¯t that killing about 100 thousand people? Lol
?Those who embezzle public money deserve to die.
The public opinion was so strong that they had a debate on this topic on public broadcasting.
The proponents argued that Lucia could detect all those who wasted taxpayers¡¯ money with her perfect algorithm so far.
The opponents imed that they could not fully trust an algorithm made by a privatepany.
What if it suddenly broke down?
The arguments were so sharply opposed that they could not reach a conclusion easily.
And soon there would be an election, so public opinion quickly subsided.
But people seriously believed that singrity had arrived and they could not stop it.
And that Yu Ji-ha was at the center of that singrity.
¡
One day near the end of January.
A Terra Heavyunch vehicleunched by Starfieldnded at Naro Space Center.
Thisunch vehicle carried as much as 500kg of unobtanium collected from the moon.
They also estimated the approximate amount of unobtanium deposits through extensive exploration.
Starfield calcted the profitability based on that number and announced that they could make enough profit with an improved Terra Heavyunch vehicle.
¡°However, this is only applicable if you use Starfield¡¯sunch vehicle. We cannot guarantee the profitability if you use a differentunch vehicle. I¡¯ll take questions now.¡±
A Japanese reporter raised his hand and asked.
¡°Let me confirm this. Is it true that you received support from JAXA to make theunch vehicle?¡±
Yu Ji-ha did not deny it.
¡°It is true that we received some data from them.¡±
¡°That means that without JAXA¡¯s support, there would be no Starfield today.¡±
He was waiting for his characteristic sarcasm.
He seemed to think that he could justify himself mentally by saying that he was the origin of Starfield.
If he did not refute here, the Japanese portal sites would be flooded with articles with titles like this.
¡ªIt is a clear fact that JAXA has a stake in the Terra Heavyunch vehicle.
¡ªStarfield¡¯s CEO confesses that he could not have been independent without JAXA¡¯s support.
¡ªJapan was Starfield¡¯s father!
Of course, Yu Ji-ha did not want to let such articles go out.
¡°Shall I show you? How much of JAXA¡¯s technology is applied to Starfield¡¯sunch vehicle?¡±
Before the reporter could say anything, aptop disyed aunch vehicle model.
Yu Ji-ha deleted the parts one by one.
The only thing left was a few boards and seals used in the missionputer and some trivial parts.
Among the reporters who had some knowledge, a remark popped out: ¡°That¡¯s nothing.¡±
¡°If you look at the ratio, it¡¯s about¡0.1%. If you look at the weight, it¡¯s less than that. Do you think you can¡¯t rece it with a generic part?¡±
¡°¡¡±
The reporter closed his mouth and Yu Ji-ha tapped the table and said firmly.
¡°We only followed JAXA¡¯s part specifications because we didn¡¯t have time. And we have a good rtionship with JAXA. We even n to test their robots next quarter. Why are you so frustrated by this?¡±
¡°¡¡±
¡°You reporters are the ones who write articles like I¡¯m trying to kill the Japanese car industry. It¡¯s only because they¡¯re fighting over the ratio that the site selection is dyed. Is that my fault?¡±
There was a reporter who wrote that article in the press room, but he couldn¡¯te forward.
He wrote an article that mentioned the history of the Japanese car industry and said that Si Energy was responsible if ck metal was not supplied.
The article made it seem like Si Energy was not supplying the promised batteries.
But in reality, it was only because the Japanese car industry was fighting over the ratio that the site selection was not done.
They had to sort out their internal affairs before they could build a factory or not.
Yu Ji-ha sighed and withdrew his gaze.
¡°I don¡¯t expect much, but please stop it.¡±
The press conference ended there.
The Japanese reporters seemed to have some conscience and did not exaggerate or distort the atmosphere of the press conference.
Yu Ji-ha headed to the railgun research building after merging with Hansung Inotech and Hi-Tech.
This research building boasted a considerable number of researchers, adding those who had scattered before to the existing team.
The goal was to develop a Korean-style railgun.
As President Lee Hyun-sung had judged, it was originally considered impossible, but the situation had changed.
A superhuman who could solve the problems of barrel, capacitor, and superconductor at once had appeared.
But it was notpletely solved, so the researchers devoted themselves to research, saving even their meal time.
They were all tired, but they were burning with determination to make Korea¡¯s first railgun.
Yu Ji-ha looked around the tasks of the research team and gave some simple advice.
For example, something like this.
¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about ck metal wearing out. Make the rail gap wider.¡±
¡°If you make the projectile in that shape, the pration power will decrease a bit. Make it slightly blunt.¡±
¡°Rece the cooling device pump with a lower spec one. That capacity is too much.¡±
They all tilted their heads, but when they actually tested it, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s words were always right.
The researchers stuck out their tongues when he disappeared.
¡°He must be calcting in his head.¡±
¡°I thought he didn¡¯t get a PhD degree, but he didn¡¯t need it.¡±
¡°He could just make it by himself¡¡±
Anyway, with Yu Ji-ha¡¯s leadership, the railgun development was progressing steadily.
The navalmand checked the progress and discussed whether to modify Korea¡¯s Aegis destroyer.
¡°Are you saying we should tear down Daewangnim? It would be better to build a new one.¡±
¡°We¡¯re already struggling with ack of supply ships and you want to make a new ship? Do you think our ancestors will supply us with diesel?¡±
It was all because of theck of budget.
The Korean-type light aircraft carrier that was being repaired in pieces at the dock was sucking up the navy¡¯s budget like a ck hole.
However, while they were fighting over this, the staff members hoped that Yu Ji-ha would throw them an ion thruster to try out.
It was something with an incredible thrust, so they wanted to test if it really worked.
He didn¡¯t know or care about their expectations, and only devoted himself to superconductor and railgun research.
And time passed and soon it was February and the presidential election came.
The media announced that Jo Hyung-geun was certain to win, and the result came out as expected.
Arma reported that the Chinese navy¡¯s movements were not good.
¡°They seem to be really going to war. They are mobilizing aircraft carriers andnding ships fornding training.¡±
In response, the US Navy also deployed an augmented Pacific fleet around Guam.
The media reported on the US Navy¡¯s new weapon railgun every day.
Whenever a railgun appeared on the screen, Yu Ji-ha was also mentioned.
We want a railgun too.
The future food
¡ªA series of underwater earthquakes have been urring in the North Pacific recently. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has urged caution for offshore fishing vessels in the area.
¡ªPresident-elect Jo Hyung-geun appointed Oh Jung-chul, former director of the National Intelligence Service, as chairman of the transitionmittee. This is seen as a strong message of his drive for North Korea.
Yu Ji-ha sat on the sofa and listened to the TV.
¡°I need a private jet from now on.¡±
As the group grew and the business increased, he had a lot of schedules to go around.
It was a waste to reserve a seat every time, so he decided to buy a business jet.
Arma sat next to him and projected a hologram with his finger in the air.
¡°Here¡¯s some coffee. Do you want to buy a used one since you need it right away?¡±
A website called AvBuyer that sold aircraft appeared on the hologram.
Yu Ji-ha turned his head and looked at the list and took a sip of coffee.
¡°Not bad. Just buy something decent. I¡¯ll make a new er.¡±
There was also a n to separate and grow the aircraft sector from Starfield in the initial roadmap.
The existing aircraft were too slow for Yu Ji-ha, who lived in the 2180s, to ride, so he was furious.
He couldn¡¯t suddenlye up with an aircraft, so he nned to acquire a suitablepany and grow it.
He needed an aircraft to ride around before that.
¡°I¡¯ll buy this one.¡±
It was Arma¡¯s choice, so it must be good.
It wasn¡¯t a lot of money anyway.
But a few hourster, Arma came back.
¡°Master, I got a call from Honda in Japan.¡±
¡°Honda? The carpany?¡±
¡°They also make motorcycles and have entered the business jet market. They¡¯re still in the early stages, but they¡¯re making some progress.¡±
¡°Why from there?¡±
¡°Honda¡¯s president said he wanted to donate a business jet to you.¡±
¡°How did he know?¡±
¡°I applied for a purchase on AvBuyer under my name, but I guess Honda also got contacted as the seller.¡±
¡°I guess that¡¯s how the system works. But donation¡it sounds fishy.¡±
He wasn¡¯t trying to ask for a stake in the ck metal battery, was he?
Arma showed the model and price of the business jet that Honda was selling on a hologram.
¡°It¡¯s the Honda Jet Royal S line that was released recently. It¡¯s about 15 billion won, so I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a bribe.¡±
It would be greedy to get a good stake for just 15 billion won.
¡°Call him.¡±
A momentter, a clumsy Korean came out of the smartphone.
-Ex¡excuse me. I¡¯m Fujio Shibu.
¡°Fujio Shibu¡±
¡°He¡¯s the representative who inherited the founder and leads Honda.¡±
¡°This is Yu Ji-ha. You said you wanted to see me.¡±
-I apologize for confirming your message on AvBuyer.
He sounded like he was reading Korean written in Japanese.
Yu Ji-ha switched to Japanese right away.
¡°It can¡¯t be helped if that¡¯s how the system works. What do you want?¡±
-Yes¡I saw that you were looking for a business jet and I wanted to show you that Honda¡¯s product is not bad, yes.
Yu Ji-ha recited the Japanese text that Arma showed him.
¡°There¡¯s no such thing as a free lunch, right? You seem to want something.¡±
-I have no such intention. I just wanted to show you that Honda¡¯s wings are with you as you travel to many ces.
He beat around the bush, but he meant to use Yu Ji-ha as a billboard.
Whenever hended at an airport, Honda¡¯s name would be shown along with him.
Fujio didn¡¯t forget to say that a photographer would apany him on the business jet.
Was it cheap for a 15 billion won advertisement?
When Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t ept it right away, Fujio spoke quickly as if he was desperate.
-If you ept this offer, we will cover all the maintenance costs. The deadline is until you get off the Honda Jetpletely.
That wasn¡¯t bad.
¡°I¡¯ve always wanted to try a Honda Jet and this is how I get the opportunity.¡±
Of course, it was a lie.
-You won¡¯t be disappointed.
A few dayster, a Honda Jet Royal S version flew to Gimpo Airport.
Yu Ji-ha took a picture with Arma with the business jet in the background.
Click.
This picture would decorate Honda¡¯s homepage for a while.
The pilot was Arma, who had just obtained his license, and an android from Starfield.
Yu Ji-ha got a business jet like this.
The test flight was not bad.
¡°It¡¯s nice not having to worry about anything.¡±
It was partly because of his fame, but Arma was so tall and handsome that he stood out wherever he went.
The business jet they boarded headed for the capital of Kamchatka Penins. div>
Chapter 43: Railgun Debut
Chapter 43: Railgun Debut
Thend that Russia leased to him on the Kamchatka Penins was 5 million hectares.
Thisnd would be treated as his private property for the next 50 years.
Not even the Russian military or the national police could enter, and tourism was also suspended.
However, he thought it would be hard to prevent the submarine base in the north from sneaking a peek.
It would be difficult to spy on the inside of the smart farm, though.
Arma rented a helicopter from Petropavlovsk andnded on the southern coast.
¡°They say there are only male bears on the Kamchatka Penins, and it seems to be true.¡±
It was a joke thatpared Russian men to bears, but there were actually a lot of bears.
A brown bear was wandering along the coast, ncing at them.
He looked at the mountains in the north, where perennial snow piled up.
¡°It would be hard to bring electricity here, right?¡±
¡°It would be, since it¡¯s too far from the existing cities.¡±
It was practically impossible, since they had to bypass the rugged mountains over a straight-line distance of more than 250 km.
¡°Let¡¯s install an old-fashioned nuclear fusion reactor and use renewable energy for external purposes.¡±
¡°Wind power would be difficult, so we¡¯ll have to use sr power.¡±
A normal smart farm would hardly be able to operate in a ce like this.
They needed a desalination facility as well, since they couldn¡¯t draw water from the nearby Kuril Lake.
But the smart farm of the United Human Federation had a freshwater recycling rate of 99.85%.
It was no different from building a closed ecosystem, so it didn¡¯t require a lot of water.
An expert would find it strange, but this area was blocked by the Russian government.
He walked along the beach with Arma.
¡°Make it look ordinary on the outside and put in some androids. If we say we¡¯ve increased the automation rate a lot, we should be able to run it roughly.¡±
¡°Who should we make the operator?¡±
¡°If we set up a corporation in Korea, the reporters will make a fuss about finding the smart farm.¡±
¡°The evening news will report that a chaebol is trampling on the farmers¡¯ fields.¡±
In Korea,rge corporations were almost blocked from entering the smart farm business.
There was no specific prohibitionw, but there were designatednds that they could use, and farmers and civic groups made a fuss, making it virtually impossible.
It was not for nothing thatrge corporations turned their eyes overseas.
From the farmers¡¯ point of view, it was natural that they tried desperately to stop them from taking away their rice bowls.
A politician captured the hearts of the farmers by shouting like this.
¡ªWe will definitely stop the predatory smart farms ofrge corporations. We will not forget the sweat and tears of the farmers.
The farmers cheered, but as a result, Koreans had to bear one of the most expensive basket prices in the world.
It was impossible to change this structure with the current political system that had to be conscious of votes.
He didn¡¯t intend to touch it right away.
The rural poption was constantly declining, so there was no need to step up and get scolded when the farmers themselves would disappear soon.
¡°For products¡ let¡¯s start with cultured meat. What¡¯s the meat that Koreans like best?¡±
¡°Pork. Pork belly. Russians also like fatty meat.¡±
¡°Acquire a Russian cultured meatpany and make some history.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
The current cultured meat was more active than expected, but it couldn¡¯t go beyond patty level.
It was because they couldn¡¯t reproduce the process of making meat quality while animals moved for a long time.
Also, it cost a lot of money to make culture medium, and there was controversy over serum.
It had to be collected from unborn calves, so animal groups were vehemently opposed.
But the smart farm in Kamchatka made serum from protein extracted from bacteria.
It could reproduce the meat quality with fine electrical stimtion and elerate the growth, so the unit price was low.
If it worked properly, it would be enough to bankrupt the livestock farms around the world, but he wouldn¡¯t do that right away.
His purpose was to make food for the future, after all.
He and Arma spent some time flying along the coast by helicopter, looking for candidate sites.
¡
In 2027, the nuclear fusion research of various countries was literally burning.
It was because it was confirmed that a new superconductor, unoptium, was on the moon.
To get it from the moon, they needed Starfield¡¯s cooperation and the cost was not cheap.
But each country decided that there was enough economic feasibility by calcting the specific cost and power generation amount announced by Starfield.
However, all of this was based on the premise that most of the problems except for the superconductor were smoothly solved.
They had to produce tritium, which cost $30,000 per gram, economically.
They had to maintain a temperature of over 100 million degrees for at least 300 seconds to take one step closer tomercialization.
There were many other problems, and the Korean-type nuclear fusion reactor,monly known as KSTAR, was no exception.
He met with Jo Hyung-geun, the president-elect, at the Nuclear Fusion Energy Research Institute in Daejeon.
He was more hot-blooded and prone to slip-ups than President Lee Hyun-sung.
Nevertheless, the people chose him because they wanted a bold leader.
China was faltering and North Korea was making a fuss every day to provide aid.
In this situation, they thought he was more suitable than someone who would carry a burden and be timid, even if he was radical and fast in pushing things forward.
Jo Hyung-geun was even more fiery and hot-blooded than he thought.
¡°You look better than in the pictures. I¡¯m Jo Hyung-geun. Ah, we¡¯ve greeted each other enough, let¡¯s go over there.¡±
He took him straight to the experimental building and asked for an exnation from the person in charge.
¡°There are several difficulties with KSTAR right now, and one of them is that we have to achieve both ultra-high temperature and ultra-low temperature at the same time.¡±
¡°I get ultra-high temperature, but what¡¯s the problem with ultra-low temperature?¡±
¡°Liquid helium cooling is quite tricky and expensive.¡±
¡°So our Chairman Yu brought unoptium from the moon. What exactly is the problem?¡±
He spoke so fast that it felt like he was cutting people off.
The researcher stuttered and confessed that they had to tear down the entire experimental nuclear fusion reactor.
¡°The cryostat that weighs 60 tons is designed based on liquid helium, so we have to tear it down if we want to use unoptium. The electroma is simr.¡±
¡°How long will it take?¡±
¡°It will take at least three years¡ If we want to install and test it, it will take another two years.¡±
¡°That¡¯s too long.¡±
The president-elect looked really frustrated and walked around.
He was a person who couldn¡¯t stay still for an hour.
He asked him.
¡°Can¡¯t you do something with Chairman Yu or artificial intelligence?¡±
He looked at the experimental nuclear fusion reactor.
He didn¡¯t have much knowledge about this huge facility, but Arma gave him information in real time.
¡¸It¡¯s a typical tokamak nuclear fusion reactor. It has low difficulty but not very high power efficiency. Ion beam method is better¡¹
He answered slowly on purpose.
¡°It¡¯s not impossible¡¡±
¡°What do I have to give you to make nuclear fusion power possible within my term? I don¡¯t expectmercial power.¡±
His goal was prestige, of course.
Unlike President Lee Hyun-sung, Jo Hyung-geun cared about titles.
The researcher interrupted him.
¡°Just for your information, it¡¯s impossible within your term no matter what¡¡±
¡°I¡¯m asking Chairman Yu. Is it possible?¡±
¡°If we have KSTAR¡¯s research data for three years, we might be able to operate an experimental nuclear fusion reactor.¡±
It would be possible in 18 months, but he couldn¡¯t say that outright.
The researcher said it was absurd and got a sneer from Jo Hyung-geun.
¡°Weren¡¯t there many people whoughed at Chairman Yu when he sent a spaceship to the moon? Anyway, you need three years¡ Fine, I¡¯ll give you the data, so make it happen.¡±
The researcher¡¯s mouth dropped open.
¡°You¡¯re not even president yet¡¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be soon enough. What¡¯s the problem? Are you afraid of Chairman Yu being a spy?¡±
¡°That¡¯s not what I meant. Even if you were president, giving away data is¡¡±
¡°Enough, do your job. Chairman Yu,e with me for a moment.¡±
He took him to a corner and started a serious conversation.
¡°I¡¯ll give you the data as soon as I take office, so you have to reach a level close tomercial power within three years, understand?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll do my best.¡±
His eyebrows twitched.
¡°Let¡¯s leave it at that for now, since we haven¡¯t started yet. Anyway, you have to do it.¡±
He was a very impatient person.
But that¡¯s why he liked him.
Not that he liked him as a person, but that he was easy to use.
Of course, he didn¡¯t intend to stay with him for long.
His and his direction matched for now, but they wouldn¡¯t in the future.
.
.
.
The Windrunner SUV was officially announced.
Reporters from all over the world flocked to attend the test drive.
A small electric carpany in Korea had to host hundreds of journalists.
President Lim ran around as if his feet were on fire and barely managed the test drive.
The reaction was explosive, but there were some unsatisfactory reviews.
-Windrunner is an iparable electric car, but the chassis setting is a bit loose.
-It¡¯s a bit far from the yacht-like ride quality, and the handling is also somewhat disappointing. But the 2,050 km on the dashboard makes me happy.
-The biggest drawback of Windrunner is that to buy it in the US, you have to pay extra money to the damn dealers.
-During the test drive, I seriously considered changing my nationality to Korean. Buy it if you can. You won¡¯t regret it.
It was the first electric car with a ck metal battery, but unfortunately, it was not avable in other regions except Korea and the US.
Si Auto¡¯s supply chain was insufficient.
As a result, orders kept pouring into the headquarters, exceeding the production capacity by several times.
President Lim Sang-hyun came to the president¡¯s office with a pale face.
¡°President, we don¡¯t have enough production capacity.¡±
¡°How much do weck?¡±
¡°If you order now, some people will have to wait for seven years.¡±
¡°It¡¯s a good thing that it¡¯s popr, but there are so many direct imports¡ AS won¡¯t work well either.¡±
¡°It¡¯s the power of the ck metal battery. And I think it helped that we installed autonomous driving features that suit the road conditions of each country.¡±
It would be hard to get level 4 certification in other countries, but there were more people who wanted it than they could handle.
Currently, on SNS and other ces, celebrities from around the world who had only heard of their names were ordering Windrunner SUVs and bragging about it.
It would be like adding one more toy, but anyway, it was undeniable that it was popr.
He nodded and pulled out some documents.
¡°We decided to acquire Leo Factory for production capacity.¡±
¡°Oh, Leo. I heard that all the employees left and only the factory is lonely¡¡±
¡°Get new staff and equipment. You have to take advantage of the scarcity when there¡¯s demand. You have to secure market share when you can.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡±
President Lim bit his lips slightly.
He felt like he would hesitate for about 10 seconds even if he told him to jump off from here.
He sent him away with some constion and called Arma.
¡°Why can¡¯t the Japanese car industry get organized?¡±
The factory of Germany¡¯s Auto Battery was going up.
Ford and GM¡¯s factories were the same, and France also selected a site.
But Japan was fighting over the ratio and couldn¡¯t properly proceed with the business.
He didn¡¯t care, but the 100 billion yen investment he made first was tied up in the Industrial Bank.
He couldn¡¯t just do good things for the bank.
¡°What¡¯s wrong with them?¡±
¡°The government intervened.¡±
¡°Then they should be able to sort things out quickly.¡±
¡°The prime minister¡¯smittee received a letter of intent by fax¡¡±
¡°Crazy bastards.¡±
It was unbelievable that a country that was going tond on the moon soon couldn¡¯t get rid of such an outdated method.
Analog methods didn¡¯t have only disadvantages, but now was the time to make decisions quickly.
¡°If we leave it like this, they¡¯ll have another meeting to get rid of fax and introduce something else.¡±
¡°Maybe they¡¯ll have a result in a year?¡±
¡°Ask them if they¡¯re willing to ept the ratio I set.¡±
¡°Then they¡¯ll have another meeting for that.¡±
¡°¡Just notify them that I¡¯ll take care of it myself.¡±
When he officially notified them, the carpanies ignored themittee with a long name like ck Metal Battery Ratio Adjustment Prime Minister¡¯s Direct Committee and cooperated with him.
Meanwhile, Toyota was worried that it would lose out on the ratio because of its past record.
When it was decided that the ratio would be determined ording to global sales volume, Toyota was overjoyed.
But it was too early to be happy.
Even if they started selecting a site now, they would be far behind Germany or the US.
New mining ships were being delivered to various countries in February.
ck metal would soon flood the market, and they were in danger of falling behind in the fierce electric carpetition.
¡°That¡¯s their problem¡¡±
He checked the development status of the railgun research team.
It was a good thing that it was close topletion, but there was no suitable ce to test fire.
The range was up to 500 km, but Korea¡¯s territorial waters were too narrow.
His eyes caught a suitable sea.
¡°This would be good.¡±
Someone would hate it very much.
The schedule and location of the first test firing of the Korean railgun were decided.
The location was the Philippine Sea near Taiwan.
The reason why this ce was chosen was because the reality of Korea¡¯s narrow territorial waters, the understanding of President-elect Jo Hyung-geun, the US Navy, and him matched.
He put a bug in Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s ear.
¡°When I contacted the US Navy before, they said they could cooperate if Korea entered the railgun test. Of course, you¡¯ll have to use some influence.¡±
¡ªYou mean we¡¯re going to test the railgun in front of Taiwan?
¡°It¡¯s not in front of Taiwan, it¡¯s on the high seas. We can drag a target ship with a tugboat. You¡¯ll be able to watch the railgun test with the US Navy.¡±
¡ªHmm¡
The fact that he would test the railgun in front of the US Navy motivated him.
He didn¡¯t think twice and requested it through the transitionmittee to the Blue House.
President Lee Hyun-sung was speechless when he heard this request.
¡ªDo we have to evaluate our navy¡¯s weapons system all the way there?
¡ªThe president-elect said he wanted to see the test at maximum range.
¡ªThey¡¯re allies, but they¡¯re foreigners. I don¡¯t understand why they¡¯re so impatient to show our weapons.
¡ªDidn¡¯t the US also mount it on Zumwalt and cruise around the South China Sea before it was electrified? This kind of weapon has meaning when people know about it.
¡ªAsk him if he really has to go there when he¡¯s busy with the transitionmittee.
¡ªThe president-elect¡¯s will is firm.
Anyway, he¡¯s a bad guy.
The president gave his approval reluctantly, as he didn¡¯t have much time left in his term.
The US Navy weed them with open arms.
They liked that Korea wanted to borrow America¡¯s power.
China reacted nervously when they learned about the railgun and the test firing.
¡ªWe can never tolerate such arrogant tests near China¡¯s sea! Cancel it immediately if you don¡¯t want to spill blood!
Neither the US nor Korea cared much about this threat.
The subject was not the Chinese Communist Party.
The Chinese Communist Party was in a situation where several members of the State Council were fighting for power, so they couldn¡¯t afford to pay attention to foreign affairs.
There was even a rumor that a naval fleet that was conducting anding exercise was canceled because of different factions.
Fox News in the US ran this mocking article.
¡ªIf a dog without an owner barks, you just have to beat it with a stick.
The People¡¯s Daily immediately protested, but there was no response from the Communist Party level.
There was no reason to interfere with the test itself, as it took ce on the high seas.
Taiwan, which was close enough, was surprisingly weing.
They had to do anything to divert attention from China¡¯s imminent attack.
And they hoped that Korea would export it to them if the test went well.
¡ªIf we have a railgun, we can stop the maind¡¯snding.
¡ªIf the range of 500 km is true, it can reach the maind and beyond. This is a weapon we must have.
Korea had no such intention, and even the Taiwanese military was skeptical, but anyway, his business jet arrived at Taidong Airport in the south.
The People¡¯s Daily tried to find meaning in his actions.
¡ªLanding at Taidong, a domestic airport, shows his will to minimize this situation.
Of course not.
He used Taidong Airport because it was close to the operation area.
He didn¡¯t answer any questions from the Taiwanese media, as if he was conscious of the friction with China, and got on a helicopter.
The Taiwanese media made nonsense about Arma being his lover.
In the Philippine Sea, US Navy ships, Sejong the Great-ss Kim Si-min ship, Cheonji-ss support ship, and a target ship equipped with a railgun and a generator were gathered.
The test firing was about to begin. div>
Chapter 44: Instead of Rice, Ion Cannons
Chapter 44: Instead of Rice, Ion Cannons
¡°The target acquisition is the most important thing because the range is 500 km, but the South Korean Navy currently has no long-range detection capability.¡±
¡°So we can¡¯t do the test?¡±
¡°We can, but we need the help of the US Navy. Don¡¯t you see a ne flying nearby? It¡¯s an E-2D early warning aircraftunched from the 7th Fleet aircraft carrier.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
This was the exnation of the controller in charge of the test.
The president-elect Jo Hyung-geun realized the poor ocean operation capability of the South Korean Navy.
He dreamed of a magnificent navy after hearing the report that they had developed a railgun, but the reality was miserable. They couldn¡¯t even acquire a target without the help of the US Navy.
If this was a territorial sea, it wouldn¡¯t be a big problem because they could borrow an early warning aircraft from the Air Force.
But the railgun had too long a range to conduct a firing test in a narrow territorial sea.
Anyway, the railgun test was being prepared step by step.
The supply ship supplied fuel to the generator and the target ship was ready.
The E-2D early warning aircraft flying around the target ship acquired the target coordinates and transmitted them to the Aleiberg destroyer via datalink.
Then, a tedious process of consultation between the controllers followed to receive the firing data.
It was a bonus to adjust the railgun manually.
Yu Ji-ha watched calmly, but Jo Hyung-geun was seasick and hung on to his stomach.
¡°Uh¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
And then a report came in over the radio.
¡¸First firing test ready. Requesting control¡¹
The radio sounded respectful because there was a high-tech researcher on board.
The controller looked at Jo Hyung-geun and Yu Ji-ha alternately and grabbed the key of the radio.
¡¸Start counting¡¹
The railgun barrel moved slowly with a luminous signal.
Everyone watched with bated breath and finally a red me burst out of the barrel.
Bang¨D!
It was a deafening sound.
It was a sess on the first try.
¡°Oh!¡±
¡°Sess!¡±
The researcher and crew cheered at the great start.
The first shot was attempted at a range of 300 km, so it didn¡¯t take long for a report toe in.
¡¸Report that it passed over the stern of the target ship. Requesting correction of firing data¡¹
It was impossible to detect it with any means because it had an end speed of over 2 km per second.
That meant they had to directly observe whether there was a hole in the target ship or not to determine if it hit.
On the other hand, Yu Ji-ha heard directly from Arma how much it missed.
¡¸It¡¯s 230m behind and 42m above from the stern¡¹
They could have asked for correction of firing data, but they just left it alone.
How could anyone on board a destroyer know what firing data to use?
The firing resumed and the railgun endured continuous firing without any problems.
And finally, there was a hit.
There was a thud sound, and then the target ship was cleanly prated.
¡¸Report that it hit the target ship!¡¹
¡¸The target ship ispletely prated!¡¹
¡°Wow!¡±
¡°Oh, we got a message from the US side saying it¡¯s amazing!¡±
At this moment, the faces of Kim Si-min¡¯s crew were filled with pride.
The South Korean Navy had made progress in the 21st century and had considerable power, but it was still iparable to the US Navy.
Moreover, they were proud enough to seed in firing a railgun in an ocean, not in a territorial sea.
¡°Hahaha, I knew it would seed!¡±
The president-elect Jo Hyung-geunughed loudly and shook hands with officers and nonmissioned officers on board.
A whileter, the railgun aimed at a target ship located at 500 km away.
It was an enormous distance that could cover almost all of North Korea if fired from Gyeonggi-do.
Everyone watched silently as they fired again.
And then another projectile was fired from the railgun barrel.
Bang!
Three minutester,munication came from around the target ship.
¡¸Uh¡¤¡¤¡¤it didn¡¯t hit, but it definitely passed by¡¹
¡¸Firing test sessful!¡¹
Yu Ji-ha finally rxed his stiff face and shook hands with people.
President-elect Jo Hyung-geun hugged him.
¡°You did a great job! I hope you keep helping me in the future.¡±
You mean my South Korea, not yours.
Yu Ji-ha smiled only on the outside.
¡
¡¸South Korean Railgun Firing Test Perfectly Sessful!¡¹
The press release from the Navy dominated the entire South Korean media.
They didn¡¯t show much data, but they could confirm a brief scene of the railgun firing and a hole in the old reconnaissance ship used as a target.
They really seeded in developing a railgun.
There werements on the inte news asking if this was real.
¨DIs this the second one after the US? South Korea? Are you guys scamming?
?What scam? It¡¯s been a while since Si Hi-Tech started developing a railgun.
?But they said before that railguns were impossible in the first ce.
?Where have you been living in the mountains? Do you know how much South Korea has changed in a year?
?You probably don¡¯t even know that South Korea is the only country that can mine unobtainium on the moon.
?The singrity has arrived.
?South Korea has be a greater nation! Long live President Yu Ji-ha!
?Bro, give me an android!
The official Navy ount also uploaded a video on Mitube.
This video easily surpassed 1 million views in no time.
Everyone was amazed if this was real.
¨DHey, if it¡¯s a railgun, isn¡¯t it really Japan that¡¯s nervous and China that¡¯s trembling?
¨DThe US should also give us a thumbs up.
¨DI always hated the national prideplex, but now it¡¯s real¡¤¡¤¡¤
There had to be flies, and as always, the Chinese started to pick a fight.
Their country was in a mess, but their individual surveince had withered because of that.
¨DIt doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s a railgun. It¡¯s over if it¡¯s a Dongfeng missile. What can South Korea¡¯s scrap ship do against DF-21?
?Do you assume it has a nuclear warhead?
?You¡¯re talking nonsense.
?That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying. How do you know if it¡¯s a conventional warhead or a nuclear warhead before it hits? Don¡¯t you have anything to say if South Korea assumes it¡¯s a nuclear warhead?
?We need to activate the nuclear umbre right away.
?Do you think the US will activate the nuclear umbre for South Korea? You better wake up from your dream.
?Yeah, they tested the railgun together. They need South Korea to do nuclear fusion.
?Come to think of it, China doesn¡¯t have ck metal or superconductors or railguns or Russia???
?Idiots keep masturbating with shit??
The Chinese users were quite confused because they didn¡¯t know that the trantion function was so perfect.
¨DWhat is this. Are you all Chinese?
?We¡¯re South Koreans. Free Tibet Tiananmen Xinjiang Uyghur Beijing ne!
?Russia has been out for a while.
?Oh right, you can¡¯t use Russia?
?Too bad. No ck metal, no superconductor, no railgun, no Russia.
?Shut up cockroach South Koreans.
?The only cockroaches with many numbers are you guys???
And so, the Navy¡¯s video became a battlefield with thousands ofments where South Koreans and Chinese fought.
Sometimes Japanese joined in, but they didn¡¯t get much attention.
Anyway, this test gave a big shock to the naval officials of various countries.
Especially Japan, which was keen on developing railguns, was shocked.
¨DHow did they develop the superconducting electroma even if they had ck metal for the barrel and capacitor? We haven¡¯t even finished analyzing the superconductor yet.
¨DWe must have been ahead by at least a few years.
¨DIs it possible that it¡¯s fake? It¡¯s South Korea¡¯s specialty after all.
¨DIt¡¯s ridiculous to say it¡¯s fake. The US Navy confirmed it. Face reality.
¨DSouth Korea has applied ck metal batteries to its next-generation submarines and greatly increased its submergence time. If they also deploy railguns in practice, we might be threatened too.
¨DWe¡¯ll solve it if we send mining robots to the moon too.
¨DIt costs billions of yen just tounch them. I doubt we can afford it even with superconductors.
While the Navy was excited about this test, they quietly raised the need for a new tform.
The idea of dismantling Sejong the Great-ss ships went away.
They couldn¡¯t reduce one when they desperately needed an anti-aircraft ship.
So they cautiously proposed a new tform requirement.
And when Yu Ji-ha decided to provide a new ion thruster, the Navy was swept up in a festive mood.
¨DWith that tremendous thrust, we can turn all the generator output to the railgun.
¨DA thruster that can be applied to any tform¡¤¡¤¡¤This is a dream thruster, isn¡¯t it?
¨DLet¡¯s get it and do an underwater test first.
While the Navy was excited, Yu Ji-ha heard a report from Arma.
Signs of provocation from North Korea were detected.
¡
¡°North Korea is expected to provoke. They might fire the Geumseong-4 anti-ship missile.¡±
¡°How far is the range?¡±
¡°ording to North Korea¡¯s announcement, it¡¯s close to 400 km.¡±
Heughed involuntarily.
¡°What a bluff. It¡¯s barely 200 km at best.¡±
¡°That¡¯s what the NIS and others think. But it¡¯s one of the few missiles that can threaten South Korea.¡±
¡°Are they just firing it into the sea?¡±
¡°Yes. South Koreans are now immune to missileunches.¡±
¡°Why are they doing this? Internal crackdown?¡±
¡°There is an assessment that internal dissatisfaction in North Korea has reached its limit.¡±
North Korea suffered a fatal blow as China faltered.
They depended on China for most of their oil, but when imports were cut off, the whole country came to a halt.
¡°Even in Pyongyang, the capital, electricity is not properly supplied. Not even 24 hours in the central district where the elite ss lives.¡±
¡°The North Korean military is in a more serious situation and has not been able tounch a single ne or ship this year.¡±
¡°The price of rice in Pyongyang has risen 11 times in thest few months. There are starving people in Pyongyang and the residents are whispering.¡±
Yu Ji-ha was able to observe every corner of Pyongyang¡¯s back alleys through the Sibiri satellite.
Even though it was around the residential area of the core ss, there were quite a few people lying down.
¡°It looks worse than when we first came here.¡±
¡°In fact, foreign media have a lot of opinions that the end of the North Korean regime is approaching.¡±
¡°Jo Hyung-geun would love that.¡±
He was a hardliner who believed that unification would be achieved only if he drove a tank into Pyongyang and nted a South Korean g at Juche Pce.
But reality waspletely different from his dream.
South Korea was not ready to unify with North Korea.
Of course, the government would have some ns on how to act if there was a sudden change in North Korea.
But they couldn¡¯t answer the most essential question.
For example, how to treat 20 million people if the North Korean regime copses.
And it was doubtful whether China would stay still.
They were in chaos right now, but they would try to enter North Korea and secure a port to reach the East Sea in case of emergency.
The reality was like this, but they wanted to upy North Korea?
It was perfect for annihtion.
Arma opened his mouth again.
¡°He will be quiet at first after taking office. He needs time to take over the government agencies.¡±
¡°He¡¯s so impatient¡¤¡¤¡¤Is that all for provocation?¡±
¡°No, the missile is a bait.¡±
The video taken by Sibiri satellite was disyed on the wall.
The ce was a North Korean GP inside DMZ.
They were busy moving something from a tunnel.
Yu Ji-ha looked closely and found out that they were wearing South Korean uniforms.
¡°Are they trying to lure our soldiers by entering our GP?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a n to retaliate for what they suffered in DMZ. It¡¯s not from the People¡¯s Security Unit, but from the Reconnaissance Bureau.¡±
¡°Yeah, they got screwed by drones.¡±
The surveince drone system had earned perfect trust from GOP and GP leaders over the past few months.
There was only a gunfight in DMZ, so it was natural for the Army to be excited by winning.
But if North Korea came out like this, the South Korean Army would inevitably suffer damage.
It wasn¡¯t like drones or bulletproof tes could stop No. 7unchers.
¡°Do you know about this in the Army?¡±
¡°Yes. They are collecting intelligence and moving hastily. But they don¡¯t seem to know the exact scale.¡±
¡°Tell them there are methrowers too. Then they¡¯ll be prepared enough. And then¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°What will you do next?¡±
He looked at the North Korean soldiers squirming in Yu Ji-ha¡¯s video.
The South Korean government may not want a big friction, but he didn¡¯t.
But he didn¡¯t want to wipe out the North Korean leadership either.
Unlike China, if North Korea copses, it will be a headache for us.
For now, that is.
¡°Did you say it was from Reconnaissance Bureau? Blow them all up.¡±
North Korea¡¯s attitude towards South Korea had always been the same.
They would provoke with military force, escte the tension, then offer a conciliatory gesture and pretend to make an agreement.
Of course, these agreements were hardly ever maintained.
They would break them with some kind of provocation.
This situation had continued for decades, and the South Koreans¡¯ attitude towards North Korea had changed a lot.
They went from being the same people with a bully upstairs, to being a beggar who was despised.
In fact, it was not wrong to say that.
If you listened carefully to what North Korea imed, it was all about aid.
They wanted food, money, medical supplies, and various other necessities, and the South Korean government provided them through UN relief agencies or the Red Cross.
But recently, there was a growing skepticism about this aid.
What was the point of giving them aid if nothing changed?
Indeed, North Korea epted the aid but did not tolerate any change.
Instead, they destroyed the buildings that South Korea built for them, cut off themunicationwork, and did all kinds of mischief.
Now, most South Koreans had a cynical view of North Korea.
¨DWhat do you have that we should care about? Why are you making such a fuss?
¨DPlease just ignore them. Let them starve or die, we don¡¯t care. Let¡¯s just do our own thing.
¨DYou know very well that talking to them is useless, right? What difference does it make if we build them a railroad or invest in them?
¨DThose bastards will never change.
However, even those South Koreans who didn¡¯t care about North Korea would hesitate when asked who should take over North Korea.
¨DWould you mind if China upied North Korea when it copsed?
¨DWell, that¡¯s¡
¨DYou said you didn¡¯t want to bother with North Korea. Then it doesn¡¯t matter who takes it, right?
No one could answer this question satisfactorily.
It was because their emotions had be tooplicated after living in a divided state for decades.
But one thing was certain.
It had been a long time since the South Koreans¡¯ pity and sympathy for North Korea turned into hatred and cynicism.
It got worse recently as anti-China sentiment exploded and North Korea¡¯s provocations intensified.
So when North Korea fired anti-ship missiles into the East Sea again, there was hardly anyone who was afraid.
¨DThey¡¯re scared because we developed railguns.
¨DThey should buy rice instead of firing those things.
Now that South Korea had railguns, there was no reason to be afraid of anti-ship missiles, let alone ballistic missiles.
The two countries had a huge gap in naval power, and now it was ridiculous topare them with the advent of railguns.
That¡¯s why people sneered at North Korea¡¯s anti-ship missileunch.
Usually, the provocation ended here.
North Korea was also a country that valued its survival, so they always had an exit strategy.
They looked like crazy lunatics, but they were calcting internally.
So when this provocation ended, a loud announcer from South Korean Central Television would make a final statement.
This time, Kim Yo-jong, the first secretary of the Workers¡¯ Party of South Korea, personally warned South Korea.
¨DWe cannot help but be horrified by the new cannon that targets our nation from South Chosun. We inform the South Chosun authorities that the spring days are over. The Republic will no longer exercise patience and will not engage in any dialogue.
The reaction of the South Koreans who heard this speech was nothing but ridicule.
¨DWhat dialogue? They¡¯re shooting guns at DMZ every day.
¨DThey keep saying they¡¯ll make us pay in blood and fire, and now they¡¯re talking about being the same nation?
¨DI wish I could catch that bitch and hang her at Gwanghwamun for just a week.
As always, the South Korean government did not respond much.
There was some doubt, but more importantly, President Lee Hyun-sung¡¯s term was almost over.
He would step down soon and Jo Hyung-geun would take office. There was no need to make trouble unnecessarily.
But then intelligence came to the army.
¨DSigns of provocation detected inside DMZ. Large-scale mobilization of heavy weapons involved.
The source of the intelligence was supposedly from the National Military Intelligence Agency, but they said they didn¡¯t send it.
While both sides were engaged in a psychological warfare, the divisions in charge of GOP and GP immediately issued Jindo Dog 2 and entered an intensive surveince posture.
There was something suspicious about North Korea¡¯s recent activities inside DMZ.
Officers and nonmissioned officers of the 21st Division Reconnaissance Battalion were fully armed and entered the report at the barracks. div>
Chapter 45: Ion Cannon
Chapter 45: Ion Cannon
¡°Corporal Kwon Kyungho. You are in charge of the search and carry 90 bullets, 2 grenades, a mine detector and a smoke kit!¡±
The captain received the report and encouraged the new search team member.
¡°Good, did you fill up the BM te well?¡±
¡°Yes! I filled it up well!¡±
¡°It might feel heavy, but it will protect your life in the end.¡±
¡°Yes!¡±
¡°In the past, it was much heavier. In the summer, there were many soldiers who copsed.¡±
The captain went around and cheered them up until he saw a drone floating next to the toon leader.
¡°You too, take good care of our team members, okay? Got it?¡±
The sensor blinked green as if it understood, and the soldiers chuckled.
But it was not allughter.
These drones had been deployed not only for the GOP border patrol, but also for the DMZ search and ambush operations.
They showed amazing performance in a firefight during a heavy rainstorm.
The front-line divisions who confirmed their performance sent absolute trust to Si Hi-Tech¡¯s drones.
Even when some voices from the political circles expressed concern about the algorithm, they asked them not to take them away until the end.
Thewmakers from both parties who visited the front-line divisions for an investigation heard this.
¨DThey are excellent colleagues who do more than their share in every operation.
¨DOf course, even if the drones are gone, our team members will maintain a wless defensive posture. But in a situation where the North¡¯s provocations are getting stronger day by day, I think these drones are necessary.
It was natural that all the soldiers said this.
Now, the drones had be indispensable equipment for the front-line operations.
How could they not use them when they could urately find even wooden box mines that were hard to detect with mine detectors and mines covered with soil?
So, the team members led by Lieutenant Park Minho entered the gate with the drones ahead of them.
¡°Load the magazine.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t just trust the drones and keep an eye on both sides.¡±
Today¡¯s ambush operation took ce at a point less than 300m away from the enemy GP.
If you look at it during the day, you can see the North Korean soldiers aiming at this side with machine guns.
It was a nerve-wracking operation, but it felt better to think that the drones were watching around.
On a cold winter night, the team members arrived at their ambush position, checked their equipment and waited for dawn.
But then, the drone that was wandering around like a puppy blinked red.
¡®Large-scale infiltration of enemy special forces!¡¯
It was a situation that came to mind for the team members.
Si Hi-Tech updated several features when delivering drones, and one of them was to analyze and alert signs of enemy infiltration.
The GP search team members who entered DMZ as well as GOP border guards were trained on how to recognize the blinking state.
¡°Get down, get down!¡±
When the team membersy down t on their ambush site, they received a call from their radio.
¡¸This is situation room. Signs ofrge-scale infiltration of enemy special forces are thickening. All search team members return to gate immediately¡¹
¡°We will return immediately.¡±
¡¸Hurry up, the situation is not good. The division situation room activated drone defense mode¡¹
Drone defense mode too?
This feature was activated when there was a high possibility ofrge-scale infiltration, and most of the drones except for essential ones were deployed to dangerous areas.
That is, they used drones as shields to defend against enemy infiltration.
They didn¡¯t know how useful it was in reality because there was no such situation yet.
But Si Hi-Tech said this when updating features.
¨DThe main parts are bulletproofed so they will be quite useful.
¨DIt¡¯s big and attracts aggro very well. Have you yed games? It¡¯s a tanker, a tanker.
They would see if that was trueter.
Anyway, all search teams inside DMZ returned to gate.
They all waited anxiously wondering what was going on when they heard an urgent voice from GP near military demarcation line.
¡¸Large-scale infiltration of enemy special forces! There are more than ten of them!¡¹
¡¸No. 7uncher¡ no, there is even bigger rocketuncher! They just fired!¡¹
Bang! The sound reached division situation room.
¡¸Th-the wall copsed!¡¹
There was no such thing as military agreement or anything else now.
In principle, heavy weapons were prohibited from entering DMZ.
It¡¯s not for nothing that they hide their equipment and run away when UNes to inspect them.
Neither South Korea nor North Korea cared about that, but they kept the minimum line.
They didn¡¯t use heavy weapons over 60mm.
But they used heavy weapons that could copse the thick concrete wall of GP in one shot.
The division dutymander jumped up.
¡°Report to the top and close the entrance! Start counter-fire!¡±
¡¸Enemy special forces confirmed! They are wearing South Korean military uniforms!¡¹
¡°Those bastards, who are they trying to kill! Shoot them all!¡±
The sound of gunfire continued.
And the drones that came over the gate lined up and rushed to GP.
With precise formation and fast speed, it looked like they were watching a drone swarm.
The soldiers in the situation room eximed for a moment.
¡°Wow, that¡¯s amazing.¡±
¡°Were they always that fast?¡±
¡°They must be going at full speed, since it¡¯s so urgent!¡±
The firefight continued.
Other GPs also reported the infiltration of special forces and the division situation room got busy.
This was not a matter of alert but of enteringbat readiness.
The 3rd Corps headquarters that received the situation issued one alert and the 21st Division artillery battalion entered the gun line.
But then something strange happened.
The drones that entered DMZ in formation suddenly started to crash into the North Korean special forces.
They were surveince drones, so they only had sensors and no weapons.
Instead, the drones used their bodies as weapons.
They were quiterge and heavy because they were military, and they had fast speed, so the impact was tremendous.
The special forces agents who didn¡¯t see the drones falling from the sky got hit in the head and passed out.
Some of them broke their shoulder bones or even died from having their throats cut by the drone¡¯s des.
Meanwhile, the soldiers in the situation room who confirmed thest moments of the drones were shocked.
¡°They are doing a suicide attack!¡±
Thest data sent by a drone was a scene of a startled North Korean soldier opening his mouth wide.
The cameras turned off one by one and only thest drone remained to inform the situation on site.
The directmander opened his mouth btedly.
¡°What are you doing! Contact each GP and ask them to support fire!¡±
How could the soldiers sit still when the drones were blocking the enemy with suicide attacks?
When the soldiers who came out of GP fired support fire, the reconnaissance bureau agents couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and scattered.
Gunshots were heard intermittently while search teams were dispatched to the scene.
¡°Ugh¡¡±
Along with groaning North Korean soldiers, dozens of drones were scattered around.
Hi-Tech¡¯s dronespletely blocked the attack of North Korean soldiers.
The search team members quickly tied up North Korean soldiers and cleaned up the scene.
Corporal Kwon lifted up the body of a blinking drone.
¡°Thank you¡¡±
He felt like he had lost a good friend.
.
.
.
¡¸Unprecedentedrge-scale provocation by North Korean army¡¹
¡¸GP inside DMZpletely copsed and only shape left¡¹
¡¸Many injured in breathless gun battle, fortunately no deaths¡¹
As soon as dawn broke, breaking news dominated broadcast and inte.
People were surprised to hear that this provocation was unprecedented in scale.
¨D35 people? Isn¡¯t this a war?
¨DCrazy bastards.
¨DThey ask for rice in front and use heavy weapons to attack GP behind? Are they human?
On the inte, anti-North sentiment boiled over while the defense minister came out instead of spokesman.
It seemed that he decided to announce it himself because it was such a serious matter.
Of course, the minister¡¯s announcement was full of criticism against North Korea.
¨D35 people attacked our GP. How can North Korean authorities do this when they criticized us for pointing cannons at our people? This is an intolerable provocation and a crazy act.
Diplomatguage is usually softened as much as possible.
But the words that came out of defense minister¡¯s mouth were extremely harsh.
When North Korea announced that it was South Korea¡¯s self-made drama, defense ministry sent out spokesman to show reporters photos of scene.
The reporters were shocked to see drones around them.
¡°What? Why are there drones?¡±
¡°Did they crash into them?¡±
Spokesman nodded his head.
¡°That¡¯s right. Our army¡¯s surveince drones detected this situation first and entered defense mode. Since they had no weapons, they blocked North Korea¡¯s infiltration with suicide attacks.¡±
¡°Drones crashed into North Korean soldiers?¡±
¡°That¡¯s unbelievable¡¡±
As some voices of disbelief came out, spokesman revealed new photos.
Several North Korean special forces agents were tied up with ropes.
¡°Our army captured several North Korean special forces agents in thisrge-scale provocation incident. They are not from border guard units but elite agents from centralmand. They are currently being treated but will be interrogated soon.¡±
It was shocking news that they captured several special forces agents alive.
North Korea was surprisingly quiet, because they had contacted throughmunication lines connected to army.
¨DDo not disclose it to outside and return agents immediately.
But President Lee Hyunseong, who was in his final year of term, was very angry about this situation.
He usually heard criticism that he was indecisive, but this time it was different.
¨DDisclose all circumstances of this situation and sue them to UN. This is a matter that cannot be overlooked.
Of course, North Korea would not ept UN¡¯s audit, but it was enough pressure by itself.
A fierce diplomatic battle between the two countries unfolded.
He watched everything, including the situation inside DMZ.
¡°Did North Korean GP withdraw?¡±
¡°Yes. They must have thought South Korea would retaliate.¡±
¡°And they have no intention of apologizing from North Korea¡¯s side.¡±
Arma looked at the data and adjusted his sses with his finger.
¡°As always, they have none.¡±
In the history of provocations over decades, North Korea had rarely apologized.
It was frustrating for South Korea, but there was no way to deal with it without causing a war.
Of course, his position was different.
He confirmed that Kim Yo-jong went to China on a Koryo Air flight and chuckled.
¡°They are in a hurry to ask China for mediation.¡±
¡°But China has no room for that. They couldn¡¯t even issue a statement on this provocation.¡±
Among the countries that issued statements urging restraint on North Korea¡¯s provocation, China and Russia, which were traditionally North Korea¡¯s allies, remained silent.
Kim Yo-jong¡¯s next destination would be Russia, but she would get more cold treatment than China.
He finally made a decision.
¡°Blow up the entire reconnaissance bureau.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll deploy Sibiri satellite.¡±
A cylindricaluncher popped out of Sibiri satellite that came down from low orbit.
Ion cannon.
It was a weapon that fired charged particles at ultra-high speed through a particle elerator installed inside the satellite.
These charged particles generated tremendous heat when they collided with the target, enough to melt ck metal.
It was the main weapon of gue over kraken level and humans copied it and used it well.
If you shoot it at full power, you can evaporate a mountain and make a hole in the ground.
Arma reported.
¡°Ion cannon is ready.¡±
¡°Shoot.¡±
¡°Ion cannon, firing.¡±
A pir of golden light spewed out of theuncher.
In an instant, the headquarters of the reconnaissance bureau in Pyongyang disappeared.
The building copsed without being able to withstand the tremendous heat that pierced even ck metal.
More than a thousand agents died without screaming and the surroundings boiled with heat.
When Sibiri satellite moved itsuncher slightly, several buildings in the area flew away.
They exploded because they couldn¡¯t withstand the increased concentration of charged particles.
The shock wave swept around and dust clouds rose.
When the dust settled, all that was left was the site of the reconnaissance bureau.
It went back to before it was built in 2009.
He turned his head away from the screen then.
¡°Let¡¯s see what they say now.¡±
Who is the culprit?
The sh of heat in Pyongyang sky was detected by US and Russian reconnaissance satellites.
Both countries hadunched hundreds of satellites to monitor each other¡¯s ICBMs during Cold War and as a result they were able to build a dense surveincework.
The surveince areas were mainly North America and Russia, but recently they also included China and North Korea.
¡¸Heat sh detected in Pyongyang sky, suspected ICBMunch¡¹
NORAD and Russian missile warning center sounded rms and entered emergency mode.
But no ICBM trajectory was detected even after a few minutes passed.
The satellite that happened to pass over North Korea analyzed telemetry data and determined that it was not an ICBM.
Then what the hell was it?
Exactly 30 minutester, Humphrey, national security adviser, opened hisptop on President McKinley¡¯s desk at White House.
¡°Mr. President, North Korea¡¯s reconnaissance bureau headquarters has evaporated.¡±
¡°Is this rted to the heat sh you reported to me?¡±
¡°We haven¡¯t confirmed it yet, but we suspect there was an ICBMunch site near the reconnaissance bureau.¡±
¡°That¡¯s the only possibility for now.¡±
No one knew that Sibiri satellite fired an ion cannon and returned to geostationary orbit.
There was no such technology in this era.
Logically, they could only conclude that the heat sh was an ICBMunched by North Korea and exploded in the air.
But why?
President McKinley sighed as he looked at the screen.
¡°If these photos and reports are true, it means we missed North Korea¡¯s missileunch site.¡±
And near Pyongyang¡
Considering that only privileged sses could live in Pyongyang, it was suspicious.
But they might have thought of some way to avoid sanctions since they were desperate.
¡°We are checking now, but it won¡¯t be easy to find evidence.¡±
Everything flew away, so there was no other way.
Anyway, the nuclear threat to North American continent was gone.
The air force officers left and President McKinley instructed Humphrey, his national security adviser.
¡°Contact Pentagon. Cancel the nuclearunch procedurepletely.¡±
¡°Yes, I¡¯ll ry that.¡±
¡°I¡¯m d we didn¡¯t have to use this.¡±
President McKinley closed the ck book that was open and put it in the nuclear bag himself.
A simr situation happened in Russia.
If they had judged it as an ICBMunch sh, a nuclear war might have broken out.
Fortunately, that didn¡¯t happen and an investigation into the evaporation of the reconnaissance bureau headquarters began.
Meanwhile, Arma was able to identify reconnaissance satellites that monitored ICBMs from low orbit through this situation.
He also found out how the data collected by satellites was processed and transmitted to eachmand.
Of course, Settler, located in North Pacific, was also operating gravity radar now.
He had already figured out how many artificial satellites were orbiting around the world.
However, there were many vague parts about the types and missions of those many satellites, but he found out for sure this time.
Arma reported the summarized information to his master.
¡°There were 21 artificial satellites that detected this ICBMunch sh. Of those, 12 were owned by the United States, 5 by Russia, and 3 by China¡¡±
As expected, the United States had many.
They were the first to notice this situation and invested a lot of money in space field.
If he wanted to enter space in earnest, he had to break through US surveincework.
He looked at the information and asked.
¡°Will there be any problem with attacking from low orbit in the future?¡±
¡°Yes. We have identified satellites, so we just need to avoid their time and angle when wee down to low orbit.¡±
The satellites of this era used a lot of fuel to avoid falling from low orbit.
That meant that moving position was a factor that shortened life span for artificial satellites.
It was a bit annoying for Siberia satellite, but it didn¡¯t affect its mission much.
In the worst case scenario, he could capture them and throw them into space.
He nodded his head.
¡°Still, just in case, install optical camouge function on Siberia satellite.¡±
¡°Got it.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s see how North Koreaes out now.¡±
It was not an ordinary shock that reconnaissance bureau evaporated.
They must be furious to find the culprit by now, but they would never find them. div>
Chapter 46: The Silent Fallout
Chapter 46: The Silent Fallout
North Korea suddenly went silent.
After a fierce exchange of usations over the DMZ infiltration incident, North Korea abruptly cut off allmunication and issued no statements.
The South Korean Ministry of National Defense stopped its criticism and focused on assessing the situation.
Around this time, senior officers from the US-Korea Combined Forces Command met.
¡°This photo is¡¡±
¡°It was taken by the Reconnaissance General Bureau a few hours ago. It was blown up very neatly, wasn¡¯t it?¡±
Lee Seok-hoon, the director of the Intelligence Staff Office, couldn¡¯t hide his astonishment at the photo handed over by Major General David.
He knew very well where the headquarters of the North Korean Reconnaissance General Bureau was located.
But theyout of the buildings he knew waspletely different from this photo.
They had disappeared overnight.
¡°Did the US¡¡±
Major General David quickly raised his hand.
¡°I don¡¯t represent the White House, but I can assure you that we have nothing to do with this. However, we are suspecting various possibilities.¡±
¡°Does that include us?¡±
¡°We¡¯re not ruling it outpletely.¡±
¡°Major General, don¡¯t you know our situation? Do you think we canunch a ballistic missile with that kind of power without the US military knowing? Does that make sense?¡±
The US military¡¯s reconnaissance assets deployed in the Korean Penins could detect even a small missile me.
Of course, many of the equipment had been withdrawn as rtions between the two countries deteriorated, but it was nonsense to say that they couldn¡¯t detect a firepower that could destroy the Reconnaissance General Bureau.
¡°That¡¯s why it¡¯s one of the possibilities. That includes our subordinate units and Japan as well.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤How far will this be disclosed?¡±
¡°It should not be reported in the media at least.¡±
¡°I understand.¡±
Meanwhile, the National Intelligence Service also managed to find out some of the details of this incident.
They mobilized all their human intelligence lines to North Korea and confirmed that there was a sh and a loud noise in the sky above Pyongyang, and that the shock wave was strong enough to break the windows of nearby apartments.
But it was difficult to verify any more information than that.
North Korea hadpletely blocked information by closing its borders.
Even the ports along the west coast were closed, and container ships carrying minerals stopped.
In the midst of this, ominous rumors circted within North Korea.
The anti-aircraftmand line had been purged entirely, or there was a loud noise from the No. 1 building of the Workers¡¯ Party of Korea.
Kim Jong-un¡¯s impulsive personality and hysteria were not new, but this time it was different.
The National Intelligence Service obtained intelligence that Kim Jong-un had publicly executed about a dozen of his close aides.
¨DIt¡¯s clear that something has changed in North Korea. Maybe one of their anti-South operations agencies has gone up in smoke.
¨DThere are rumors that Kim Jong-un cursed at the American bastards and South Korean bastards and raged.
The South Korean government was perplexed by this information.
¨DWho exactly should we be angry at?
¨DIt¡¯s absurd to me South Korea for what happened inside North Korea. It¡¯s like ming others for one¡¯s own faults.
The anti-North Korean intelligence agencies analyzed this situation as a mistake within North Korea.
Like the Ryongchon train explosion ident.
Neither South Korea nor the United States intervened, and it didn¡¯t seem like Japan either, so who else could be the culprit?
But thismon sense reasoning did not work in North Korea.
They revealed part of a building that had copsedpletely through their militarymunicationwork.
¨DWe have secured all the evidence and n to form an investigationmittee with the cooperation of China and Russia. Confess before all your evil schemes against our republic are exposed.
The Ministry of National Defense immediately refuted this.
¨DThis has nothing to do with us. If it¡¯s true that a building in Pyongyang was attacked, what did their air defensework do? The one that is said to be the densest in the world?
North Korea had nothing to say to this rebuttal and changed the subject.
In fact, North Korea¡¯s air defensework was old, but it wasn¡¯t so bad that it couldn¡¯t detect a ballistic missile.
They missed itpletely, so it was natural that all the generals of the anti-aircraftmand were purged.
In the meantime, using terrainparison analysis, the National Intelligence Service revealed that the photo released by North Korea was near their Reconnaissance General Bureau.
When this fact became known, both the government and Joint Chiefs of Staff were shocked beyond measure.
¨DDid you say that their Reconnaissance General Bureau was blown up entirely? Is that true?
¨DIt¡¯s almost certain when we checked various anti-North lines and intelligence. It¡¯s not that some of their Reconnaissance General Bureau officers were purged, but that their headquarters disappeared.
¨DOf course, the branches such as the liaison office or the 131st unit are fine, but since the head is gone, anti-South operations will be difficult for a while.
¨DAs a result of this incident, more than 1,000 elite reconnaissance agents and dozens of senior officers from the center were killed. More importantly, their hacking talent that they had cultivated with great effort was gone, so the damage was enormous.
However, North Korea did not disclose this situation to the outside world.
In the fierce world of espionage, revealing one¡¯s ws and weaknesses was a foolish thing to do.
Instead, they chose to cling to their traditional allies, China and Russia.
Kim Yo-jong boarded an old ne for her trip, but the result was not satisfactory.
China showed signs of suspicion about the situation.
¡°You¡¯re telling us that North Korea¡¯s air defensework failed to detect the missile barrage? Do you expect us to believe that?¡±
¡°We can¡¯t cooperate with you until you bring us solid evidence.¡±
China¡¯s passive stance was probably influenced by itsplex internal affairs.
Kim Yo-jong knew that, but she couldn¡¯t help feeling bitter.
¡°I didn¡¯t trust the revisionists. I¡¯m going to Russia.¡±
But Russia didn¡¯t even bother to meet her.
She had hoped to have a meeting with a deputy prime minister, but all she got was a shabby office with some tea and choco pies.
It was a clear message to get lost.
¡°Th¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
Kim Yo-jong trembled alone and had to return home without any achievement.
After that, North Korea wentpletely silent.
The South Korean Ministry of National Defense demanded a fundamental solution and an apology for the DMZ infiltration incident, but North Korea did not respond at all.
They decided to ignore it as they always did.
And the hatred of the South Koreans towards North Korea reached its peak.
There was a public outcry to execute the captured North Korean soldiers.
But execution was impossible from the start, and South Korea had a way to make good use of these prisoners.
¡°You¡¯re agents of their Reconnaissance General Bureau, right? What are you going to do now? You have nowhere to go back.¡±
¡°If you go back like this, your superiors won¡¯t let you off. You¡¯ll end up in a prison camp at least.¡±
They were presented with photos and arge amount of data.
The North Korean agents had undergone rigorous training and brainwashing, but they couldn¡¯t escape the pressure of being abandoned by their superiors.
They eventually spilled all their ns under the intense interrogation of the NIS agents.
But this information never made it to the media, and the prisoners were soon forgotten.
Instead, what made headlines was the drone that yed a decisive role in stopping the infiltration team.
¡
The surveince drone system performed remarkably well in this situation.
Of course, the rise of drones was not a very unusual thingtely.
They could attack tanks or assassinate targets with suicide drones.
Recently, there were also movements to mount them on tanks to assess the battlefield in three dimensions.
But the drones made by Si Hi-Tech boasted a different level of performance.
How did they make drones that could autonomously judge and ram into enemy troops?
It was because they had no weapons, but if they had machine guns or something, they would have made a great contribution, ording to the post-evaluation.
Dozens of videos rted to this were poured out on YouTube and people mored for them to equip weapons on drones quickly.
¨DJust put some weapons on them. They would have killed all the North Korean troops and returned to the station.
¨DIt¡¯s sad that they had to resort to body mming because they had no other way.
¨DThey say Si Hi-Tech will repair them and deploy them again.
¨DChairman Yu said this. They¡¯re like my children and it hurts my heart, but I¡¯m satisfied that they saved the lives of our soldiers.
?What is he doing developing drones as a president? Is he that free?
?Shut up if you don¡¯t know anything. He wrote the drone algorithm and designed the station himself. Isn¡¯t he practically making them all by himself?
?You don¡¯t know that he went to GOP himself and did a drone demonstration in the early days?
?I¡¯m discharged now, but I was there and the drones were really scary.
?Can you tell us some stories?
?I¡¯m the one who spent a minute crawling 1 meter as reported in the media.
?You¡¯re crazy.
?The drone that caught me is crazier.
While praise for drones was dominant, there were also some negative opinions, albeit in a minority.
¨DBut those aren¡¯t controlled by humans, right? Who¡¯s responsible for them?
?Si Hi-Tech will take responsibility, I guess.
?What do you mean by responsibility? Have drones ever malfunctioned? No, right? Then it¡¯s fine.
Unexpectedly, the person who stepped up to solve this problem was Jo Hyung-geun, the presidential candidate-elect.
He found this drone system while looking for something that would make him popr like a neighborhood dog.
He said he would equip weapons on drones as soon as he took office, so there was no need to worry.
¡°Responsibility? Has there ever been a case where drones malfunctioned? No, right? Then it¡¯s fine.¡±
He even argued that all army units should officially adoptbat drones.
¡°What¡¯s the problem, Lucia? If that artificial intelligence is so good, why don¡¯t we apply it to drones?¡±
It was a simple and crude remark, but the army seemed to think it was not a bad idea and contacted Hitech.
Yu Jiha¡¯s answer was this.
¡ªIt is difficult to load Lucia right away, but the offensive mode function can be applied immediately with an update.
This is how thebat drone was born and verified on the KCTC stage.
It did not have a gun, but it agreed to follow the infantry and provide various information.
However, their opponent was the Scorpion Corps, which boasted an almost undefeated record.
They had outstanding personalbat skills, but they were especially good at guerri tactics.
They sniped themander with night vision and overturned the food truck with artillery requests, which made most of the troops lose their morale.
The controllers thought it would be difficult to face the Scorpion Corps even with a drone.
¡ªThey know the training ground like their own home.
¡ªOnly officers can handle them, ordinary soldiers are no match.
¡ªExcept for the US military. They are really crazy.
Of course, KCTC was not about evaluating who won or lost, so it didn¡¯t matter much.
Anyway, thebat drone that followed the squad members attracted a lot of attention because there was no precedent.
And after three nights and four days of fierce battle, a surprising result came out.
The controllers who expected it to be a training where the opposing army would cooperate as usual were shocked.
The post-evaluation praised the offensive drone.
¡ªThe drone alone made aplete defensive mode possible. It worked wlessly at night, and the opposing army¡¯s infiltration team never approached the training unit.
¡ªFor the first time in the training unit, friendly fire disappeared. The identification function was perfect and it seemed that the drones exchanged location data with each other.
¡ªMost of all, I confirmed that the soldiers had great expectations and trust in the drone. The soldiers gained confidence that they could face the opposing army head-on with the drone.
¡ªThe only drawback is that the soldiers rely too much on the drone because of its great function.
The army was satisfied with this evaluation and announced that it would apply offensive drones to future training as well.
Si Hi Tech¡¯s updates continued and the performance of the drone became more precise day by day.
At this point, it was natural for foreign countries to take interest.
Advanced countries such as the United States still did not trust the algorithm and showed lukewarm reactions.
But there are many countries in the world that don¡¯t care about such things.
Countries like Saudi Arabia and Israel showed deep interest in Si Hi Tech¡¯s drones, even attending demonstrations in person.
The result was not known to Daesung, but one thing was certain.
The purpose of Crown Prince Mohammed¡¯s visit to Korea was none other thanbat drones.
Some people argued that the crown prince would not visit Korea for just drones, and others said that drones were perfect for fighting against Houthi rebels.
¡ªIt can identify friend or foe clearly and it is bulletproof, so if you attach a gun and a grenade, it can fight better than mercenaries.
¡ªIt is also worth considering attaching it to cruise missiles and scattering them over operational areas.
¡ªDoes it cost a lot of money? There are plenty of royals in Saudi Arabia who can write checks anytime.
It was not known whether the deal was made or not.
But it was clear that Crown Prince Mohammed met Yu Ji-ha after meeting President Lee Hyun-sung.
If Korea¡¯sbat drones were officially exported, the war against terror might take apletely different turn.
And on the day when Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s title of president-elect disappeared, a royal jet flew from Saudi Arabia and took something away.
Yu Ji-ha received all the data on KSTAR as promised.
¡°Let¡¯s make a nuclear fusion reactor now.¡±
Arma tilted his head next to him.
¡°You already made one?¡±
¡°I mean, let¡¯s make everything so that people can ept it. Let¡¯s start with setting up a corporation.¡±
¡°I see what you mean. I understand. And by the way, EU is moving on antitrustw. They seem to have a hard time epting your monopoly on superconductors.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not monopolizing superconductors, am I? If they¡¯re unfair, they can make projectiles and dig them up.¡±
¡°Well, I don¡¯t think EU will think that way.¡±
¡°Let them do what they want.¡±
It wouldn¡¯t be Yu Ji-ha who would suffer anyway.
¡°By the way, let me tell you that Fair Trade Commission has also looked into Si Group.¡±
Arma turned on his finger projector like a teacher standing on a podium and started exining.
¡°Some of Si Group¡¯s businesses have some parts that irritate Fair Trade Commission. But why they have been fine until now is¡¡±
Because they couldn¡¯t touch them easily.
The power of Fair Trade Commission was strong enough to arrange a meal with the head of a chaebol group anytime.
But Fair Trade Commission was essentially an agency that followed the president¡¯s will, so it was hard to touch Shi Group.
It was apany that the president cherished and received surrender from Japan.
If they messed with it, the bacsh would be no joke.
In fact, there was not much to touch.
The markets where Shi Group exercised dominant market share were all new businesses.
ck metal battery, artificial intelligence, superconductor, etc. were markets that would not have existed without Shi Group.
Moreover, they did not abuse their dominant position or arbitrarily raise prices, so they could not be used of monopoly.
The only thing they could catch was that Shi Group monopolized ck metal processing, but it was expected to be resolved in two years, so they could endure it.
Yu Ji-ha had no such thoughts.
Anyway, EU had apletely different position on this monopoly issue.
¡°They will start by warning you that you could face sanctions for viting antitrustws.¡±
Si Group¡¯s business currently does not vite EU¡¯s antitrustws.
But if they impose sanctions on the grounds that Shi Group monopolized ck metal processing, it would be a headache.
The EU Commission is likely to judge that otherpanies can process it as well if they supply the dposer.
Shi Group may not suffer much except for themission, but otherpanies that built factories in Korea are not.
If they block ck metal batteriesing into EU, it will be a disaster.
Who? EU¡¯s carpanies.
¡°They are strangling their ownpanies, but they want to achieve their goals by doing so.¡±
Yu Ji-ha couldn¡¯t helpughing at that absurd idea.
They threaten the other party by strangling their own neck?
They probably think he won¡¯t give up such a huge market as EU, but he was willing to give up the US market as well.
His essential goal was not money.
¡°So they want to bring me to the negotiating table and then make me give a keynote speech at the UN General Assembly?¡±
¡°Do they want to make unobtainium amon property of humanity?¡±
¡°Going further, their true goal is to revise the space treaty. Korea should be included in that as well.¡±
¡°Do they think I¡¯ll ept their proposal? What¡¯s their trick?¡±
¡°At the bottom of it is the solidarity for peace that can be decided in the UN Security Council. Even if one of the permanent members vetoes, a resolution can be passed if certain conditions are met.¡±
Yu Ji-ha frowned at this point.
¡°Peace? What does superconductor have to do with peace?¡±
¡°Superconductor leads to nuclear fusion, which will bring ultimate peace to some regions.¡±
¡°That¡¯s too far-fetched.¡±
¡°That¡¯s what international politics is like. It seems to exist for the peace and human rights of humanity, but it can¡¯t escape from the interests of the great powers.¡±
¡°Those great powers are China and France.¡±
¡°Britain and Germany are confirmed. They are confident that they can also persuade Russia.¡±
¡°Russia joins them and then they use solidarity for peace to revise the space treaty? That¡¯s a really grand dream.¡±
¡°The US will veto it, but it¡¯s not impossible if they invoke solidarity for peace and persuade non-permanent members.¡±
Originally, China nned to use Taiwan¡¯s attack as bait to persuade the US, but it didn¡¯t work out well.
Well, it¡¯s hard to invade Taiwan when evennding training was canceled due to factionalism.
They needed to provoke them, but it wasn¡¯t time yet.
Yu Ji-ha sneered.
¡°So unobtainium will finally be embraced by humanity when the resolution passes?¡±
They would think Russia was a variable, but in fact it was a constant.
Russia would never side with China.
No matter how much they promised to invest, it couldn¡¯tpare to ion thruster and unobtainium.
Arma pointed hisser at the phrase ¡°EU¡¯s goal¡±.
¡°They will make you give a keynote speech at the General Assembly only if you refuse. They also have a sweet reward prepared for you: Nobel Prize in Physics.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you have to prove your scientific achievements in papers for that?¡±
¡°It includes discovery ording to its purpose. You will win the Nobel Prize in Physics as the discoverer of unobtainium.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not interested.¡±
But Korea¡¯s public opinion would be quite interested.
Especially that guy who was looking for something to be his enemy.
He suddenly felt like he hadid out a spider web very skillfully.
Ordinary insects would be caught and eaten without moving, but Yu Ji-ha was different.
¡°Let¡¯s make them never think about unobtainium again. Is the ion beam fusion design ready?¡±
¡°Yes. I can make it right away.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s do that after 17 months and just design the ion beam and fuel pellet part for now. I need to show them that.¡±
Ion beam is essentially the same kind as ion thruster or ion cannon.
It has the advantage of consuming less power than pulsedser irradiation method, which is also an inertial confinement method.
It does not use expensive tritium, so maintenance is quite cheap.
The problem is the ion beam that explodes the fuel pellet, which does not produce satisfactorypression rate with elements on Earth.
A hologram appeared in front of Yu Ji-ha and an ion beam fusion reactor was made in an instant.
¡°The energy gain is too high. Reduce it by 1/100 and simplify the design. Add some impurities to the fuel pellet as well.¡±
Then a 50-megawatt-scale technology demonstration nuclear fusion reactor was made.
It was possible tomercialize it with a little technology and experience, but there was a trap.
It was impossible without cooperation from this side.
Yu Ji-ha nned to unveil this in a year and five months.
Of course, he didn¡¯t do it himself.
There were plenty of people who wanted to research, so why bother?
¡°Looks good. I wonder what EU countries, who value peace and human rights, will choose between reason and interest.¡±
¡°They will choose the former first. Tokamak method also has enough potential.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s see how long that decisionsts.¡±
This applies after EU breaks through the first spider web andes out.
They bothid out twoyers of spider webs.
Which spider web is stronger will be known by experiencing it. div>
Chapter 47: First Come First Served
Chapter 47: First Come First Served
A few weekster, the Si Group established a new subsidiary.
Sr Fusion.
The name evoked nuclear fusion, and it attracted a lot of attention.
Among that attention, there were many skeptical views.
¨C No matter how you look at it, nuclear fusion is too¡ That¡¯s a different dimension from drones or something like that.
?Don¡¯t you have Lucia?
?Lucia is a bit expensive.
?If you talk to that AI directly, you can see that Yu Ji-ha is a genius.
?I can¡¯t imagine a world without Lucia.
?The only downside is that she doesn¡¯te out of the monitor.
¨C Even if Yu Ji-ha is a genius, he should have some basics. He just developed it out of nowhere?
?He hasn¡¯t done it yet, you idiot. He just made a corporation.
?He hired a lot of researchers from KSTAR. He must have absorbed the talent from there.
?Why is there amotion there?
?There¡¯s a rumor that they fought over the KSTAR data. Jo Hyunggeun ordered it, but the researchers resisted and got fired.
?That bastard, I knew he would do that.
?How can he fire such core personnel, even if he¡¯s the president?
?He insults them by saying why can¡¯t you do what he does. What can they do but leave?
?Is he Yu Ji-ha?
?Maybe?
?But why do you call the president a mutt?
?Why do you think? He¡¯s like a neighborhood mutt, looking for trouble all day long.
?He went to the ruling party headquarters and fought with the senior members. He said it would be better to equip the good drones with good guns.
?Good+Good=Twice as good? What kind of calction is that?
?He¡¯s really ignorant¡
¨C How many years do you think it will take for Sr Fusion to postmercial nuclear fusion data on their website?
?I give it three years at most.
?Really¡?
???When they first made Starfield, they had the same reaction. The researchers who said it was impossible are now working at Starfield???
?This time, the navy tested the ion thruster and was shocked.
?How amazing is it?
?ording to the National Defense Committee data, it can propel an OOOOO-ton tform with OO knots.
?What does O mean?
?The exact numbers are confidential. But judging by how the old men at the National Defense Committee passed the budget for the preliminary research right away, it must be impressive.
?Are we seriously getting our railgun battleship?
?At this point, Yu Ji-ha might be a human from a parallel or future world.
?Where did that awesome spaceship go?
?Who knows? It might be floating above our heads.
The protagonist of that spaceship was meeting with the vice president of KFE, Korea Fusion Energy Research Institute, at a restaurant in Seoul.
¡°Nice to meet you, Vice President An Yonghoon.¡±
¡°I¡¯m former vice president. I quit, so I don¡¯t have any rank or anything.¡±
The middle-aged scientist with half of his hair gone looked at Yu Ji-ha with apprehension.
He was indirectly responsible for making him leave KFE after all.
He came to talk to him anyway, but if there was nothing special, he would leave right away.
There were many ces that wanted him anyway.
¡°So¡ Why did you want to see me after taking all our data?¡±
¡°I wanted to show you this.¡±
Yu Ji-ha yed a video on hisptop screen.
A very thin beam seemed to scan a small material from various directions.
An ordinary person wouldn¡¯t have guessed what it was, but An Yonghoon was someone who knew very well.
¡°Could it be¡ an ion beam? Are you shooting an ion beam into the reactor chamber right now? Is this an implosion phenomenon?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not real, it¡¯s a simtion.¡±
He lost his breath for a moment.
¡°A simtion is something that even undergraduates can do easily. What¡¯s the point?¡±
¡°By the way, I should tell you that there is no tritium in this fuel pellet. Only deuterium and helium-3.¡±
¡°What did you say?¡±
If tritium was not needed, the cost of nuclear fusion power generation could be drastically reduced.
Why else would they spend billions of dors to make a nket that could breed tritium?
It was hard to believe, but the young president in front of him had never lied so far.
¡°This is not my theory, but Lucia¡¯s.¡±
¡°Lucia?¡±
Dr. An Yonghoon¡¯s eyes widened.
The AI Lucia, which was released in the metaverse, was very popr inside KFE.
Not only the researchers, but even he had bought Lucia and taught her various things.
Of course, Lucia didn¡¯te up with any great ideas or developments.
But she had a knack for learning one thing and understanding at least two.
Some researchers said she was just outputting the contents stored on the server, but he didn¡¯t think so.
Lucia was a definite AI, and a remarkable disciple who absorbed the knowledge he gave her like a sponge.
¡°But Lucia can acquire knowledge, but she can¡¯t pioneer new fields¡¡±
¡°The Lucia that was released to the public is just a terminal of the metaverse server.¡±
¡°That means Lucia¡¯s main body is on the metaverse server¡¡±
¡°You cane to Sr Fusion and research with us. I don¡¯t have much knowledge in nuclear fusion, but Lucia does.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Researching artificial intelligence and nuclear fusion.
He joked that he would see such a day before he died, but he didn¡¯t expect it toe so soon.
People who liked to prophesy were babbling about the singrity, but he didn¡¯t care about anything other than research.
Yu Ji-ha showed him a list of facilities and equipment that were being introduced to Sr Fusion.
¡°We are not only doing simtions, but also seriously introducing equipment.¡±
¡°It seems so. But I don¡¯t know if you can afford my sry¡ Even though I look like this, I have been researching nuclear physics for over 20 years¡¡±
¡°I¡¯ll match you with 200 million. I¡¯ll also give you a card that you can use as you please within 5,000 limit.¡±
To An Yonghoon¡¯s eyes, it looked like Yu Ji-ha had a card in his hand.
A spider web that he couldn¡¯t escape from was entangling him.
He asked cautiously.
¡°There are some researchers who came out with me¡¡±
¡°I¡¯ll treat them the best I can.¡±
¡°Then¡¡±
He cautiously grabbed his hand and Yu Ji-ha smiled.
¡°I¡¯ll call you director from now on.¡±
¡°Thank you, Mr. Chairman.¡±
¡
One day in April.
The European Commission announced that it would investigate whether the ck Metal batteries that would soon enter Europe vited thepetitionw.
Shortly after, Rene, themissioner forpetition, gave a detailed presentation on this matter.
¡ªThe ck Metal dposer is, as far as we know, the only way to process ck Metal. Si Energy has a dominant position as the exclusive producer of this dposer¡
¡ªThe EU¡¯spetitionw protects thepanies and ideas that create new markets. However, Si Energy did not make enough effort to supply the dposer to the market. This clearly constitutes a vition of thepetitionw.
¡ªTherefore, the Commission intends to apply thepetitionw extraterritorially to Si Energy. Until Si Energy submits verifiable data or takes action, the import and export of ck Metal batteries will be indefinitely suspended.
The market reacted as if it had expected this day.
The EU¡¯spetitionw was so strong that it surpassed the US in some respects.
The fines also kept increasing, and sometimes they collected 10% of the global sales.
¡ªThey haven¡¯t even made the batteries yet.
¡ªIt¡¯s the trend these days. To respond proactively. It gives you time to prepare in advance.
¡ªIt looks like ckmail to me.
¡ªIt won¡¯t be easy to get out of this. They can¡¯t give up the EU marketpletely, can they?
¡ªThere was also a lot of talk about Lucia in the EU. I doubt they¡¯ll be able to release it.
¡ªIt¡¯s lucky that they voluntarily delisted. If they hadn¡¯t, their stock price would have plummeted.
Si Group had delisted most of its subsidiaries as if it had predicted this day.
It had almost turned into a privatepany.
But everyone thought they couldn¡¯t give up the huge EU market.
¡ªBut it looks bad. EUpanies are losing out.
¡ªThey must have something they want to get, even at that cost. Maybe superconductors?
¡ªYou know how sensitive the EU is about carbon emissions. Nuclear fusion would solve that problem cleanly.
In fact, the EU was pouring tremendous efforts into eliminating internalbustion cars by 2035 and introducing carbon border taxes.
This wasrgely rted to the rapidly changing climate in recent years.
Every summer, floods andrge fires broke out, and in winter, extreme cold and heavy snow made all of Europe suffer.
For the EU, nuclear fusion power generation was not a possibility, but a matter of survival.
But Si Group¡¯s reaction was lukewarm.
¡ªSi Group is seriously discussing the EU¡¯s announcement.
Time passed and German carmakers started to panic.
They were about to mine ck Metal and make batteries, but suddenly lightning struck.
If one of them didn¡¯t back down,unching electric cars would be a dream.
They all thought Si Group would be in a hurry, but they were surprisingly rxed.
Yu Ji-ha held a press conference and announced an improved version of Terra Heavyuncher himself.
¡°Thisuncher will carry robots from the US, Russia, and Japan. It ns to bring back a total of one ton of unobtanium and share it fairly with each country.¡±
¡°Why did you exclude EU from this? Is it rted to this extraterritorial application ofpetitionw?¡±
A French journalist asked and Yu Ji-ha shook his head.
¡°Of course not. I have no personal feelings at all.¡±
He said so as Terra Heavyuncher quietly rose behind him.
Was he really without feelings?
The EU¡¯s response was very quick.
Terra Heavyuncher left the atmosphere and less than a dayter, Rene, themissioner forpetition, visited Si Group.
This was an unprecedented move that showed how urgent the EU was.
Yu Ji-ha greeted the elderlymissioner politely.
¡°Wee, Commissioner.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry. You left out EU¡¯s robots.¡±
Rene¡¯s tone was like a child¡¯s tantrum.
Well, there were so many space-rted research facilities and universities in the EU.
He must have been burning with ambition to study unobtanium properly, but he was dropped out just beforeunch.
But he had a lot to say on this side too.
¡°Why did you suddenly say you would apply thepetitionw extraterritorially when you were quiet?¡±
¡°Because Si Energy¡¯s actions went against the values that the EU pursues.¡±
¡°Are you not China¡¯s agent? Don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t know. The lobbying from China is so loud that I can hear it from here.¡±
He had already obtained information that Jardine UN Secretary-General had visited several embassies and acted as a mediator.
He had attached a micro-drone when he came to propose to Yu Ji-ha before.
Rene denied with a serious face.
¡°Commissioner, the European Commission has nothing to do with China.¡±
¡°Instead, France, Germany, and Britain must have received investment promises. Can you deny that?¡±
¡°¡¡±
There was a long silence.
Did he wonder how he knew the results of the fierce negotiations and deals under the water?
Rene changed the subject.
¡°As you know, the EU is suffering from the rapid climate change. Nuclear fusion power generation is not a possibility for us, but a matter of survival.¡±
His voice was heavy and pitiful, like an old actor¡¯s performance.
But Yu Ji-ha knew his true intentions.
¡°It all came down to unobtanium, didn¡¯t it? Did I dere a monopoly before this incident?¡±
Of course not.
He had already discussed the distribution of unobtanium with several countries.
Basically, the ratio was recognized ording to the investment, but the poption and the technology contributed were also evaluated.
Starfield didn¡¯t monopolize it, but it was inevitable that it would depend on it to some extent.
The EU and Britain didn¡¯t like this.
The US and Russia decided to choose lobbying as they realized that it was hard to take the lead realistically.
Rene raised his hand.
¡°Of course not. But the unobtanium found on the moon is the property of all mankind. It¡¯s regrettable that we haven¡¯t formalized it yet.¡±
¡°I have a slightly different opinion.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤The EU believes that unobtanium should be ced under themon management of mankind. For that purpose, a keynote speech is prepared at the UN General Assembly. Isn¡¯t it a great honor?¡±
¡°I guess so.¡±
He reacted indifferently and Rene became impatient and pulled his chair closer.
¡°Just say one thing. Unobtanium belongs to all mankind. Then all sanctions will be lifted and you will win the Nobel Prize in Physics.¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t know that the EU Commission selected that.¡±
¡°We can rmend candidates. You will get both honor and money.¡±
¡°Keynote speech and Nobel Prize in Physics¡ They are worthless things.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤What?¡±
How could he say they were worthless?
Rene¡¯s face hardened with shock when Yu Ji-ha said.
¡°I heard you well. You prepared a nice spider web. From ck Metal battery sanctions to keynote speech to Nobel Prize.¡±
¡°It¡¯s for the sake of humanity and the EU.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you mean excluding humanity and including China? Well, since you made a proposal, I have to give you an answer. I refuse.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤So you decided to privatize unobtanium.¡±
¡°Do you want me to show you what real privatization is? How about 100 million euros per kg? Of course, I¡¯ll sell it to other countries for a million dors.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a betrayal of humanity!¡±
¡°Stop equating the EU with humanity. The EU¡¯s poption is less than 500 million. You are no longer the center of the world.¡±
Commissioner Rene shivered with indignation.
After World War II, the EU had ceded the leadership of the world order to the US, Russia, China and others, but it was still a force that could not be ignored.
He could not let a mere CEO of apany look down on him.
But if he thought rationally, he had to admit that his side had almost run out of cards.
There was only one thing left.
To invoke solidarity for peace and propose a revision of the space treaty to the Security Council.
Even an arrogant entrepreneur would not be able to ignore the pressure of the Security Council.
Commissioner Rene stood up without saying goodbye and tried to leave.
Yu Ji-ha spoke behind him.
¡°If you don¡¯t lift the sanctions within a week, I¡¯ll impose my own sanctions.¡±
¡°Threats won¡¯t work. Even if it¡¯s superconductors.¡±
¡°Can I make a prediction? You and the rest of the executivemittee won¡¯t finish your terms.¡±
What nonsense.
Commissioner Rene mmed the door and left.
The unpleasant feeling that had seeped into his body did not go away. div>
Chapter 48: The Collapse of the EUs Web
Chapter 48: The Copse of the EU''s Web
The news of the breakdown of the negotiations between the two sides spread slowly.
The EU did not lift the sanctions, and the ck metal batteries produced by Autobattery failed to enter the EU.
The German carpanies that had to stop their production lines screamed in agony.
¡ªWe can¡¯t afford any dys in the schedule. There are a hundred thousand customers waiting for their cars!
Lobbyists were dispatched one after another, but the EU Commission did not budge.
If they withdrew the sanctions here, they would undermine the credibility of all their administrative actions in the future.
They also believed in solidarity for peace.
They didn¡¯t know it, but they could revise the space treaty as long as they pulled Russia in.
The non-permanent members could be boiled or fried, and Korea would eventually sumb to the EU¡¯s trade sanctions.
The only thing they were worried about was Yu Ji-ha giving up on mining unoptenium.
However, they judged that the four countries would not make such a choice.
-ck metal is one thing, but superconductors are already out of his hands.
-He might be able to withstand the pressure from the US and Russia. But what about Korea?
-Even if he gives up everything, the US will take over Starfield. The talent and technology will remain even if thepany is dismantled.
The n was perfect.
All they had to do was coax Russia well.
For that purpose, the de facto leader of China, who had upied Beijing, visited the Kremlin.
Britain and France used their power as permanent members to convene a Security Council meeting.
The agenda was solidarity for peace.
¡ªUnoptenium, a superconductor that exists on the moon, is amon property of humanity. It is not helpful for the peace and future of humanity that a singlepany mines it unterally.
¡ªStarfield pledged to distribute unoptenium fairly, but we don¡¯t think their criteria are fair.
¡ªTherefore, we need to jointly manage the resources of outer space, including unoptenium. We want to put a revised space treaty proposal to a vote.
¡ªWe agree.
China was the first to cast a vote in favor.
It was natural, since they were the ones who led this n behind the scenes.
They were excluded not only from ck metal but also from superconductors.
Of course, there was a possibility that things would go well if they formed a new government and entered into negotiations, since Yu Ji-ha left some room for maneuver.
They would have to pay a hefty price for their diplomats¡¯ rudeness and kidnapping, but China was a country that could afford it.
But they had no intention of doing so.
¡ªIt is unthinkable for a great nation to kneel before the people of a small country.
¡ªLet all the people unite and boycott the smallpany!
Unfortunately, Si Group didn¡¯t have much to sell to China.
It was originally close to a domesticpany, and it didn¡¯t have much rtionship with China unlike Japan.
Si Electronics exported monitors andputers, but now that the group had grown so big, it was hardly noticeable.
The boycott movement fizzled out in no time, and they resorted to moving the Security Council as ast resort.
China and Britain, France, and Germany coincidentally hadmon interests.
The US naturally exercised its veto power, and now only one country remained.
Russia.
-Russia promised to invest 500 billion rubles for 10 years.
-Not only that, but they also gave up some of their share of unoptenium distribution to China.
-They can¡¯t refuse these terms.
Russia tended to be aligned with China in the internationalmunity.
It was because they had an image of being divided into blue team and red team, throwing veto powers at each other.
Not only in image, but also in reality, Russia was closer to China than to Western countries.
They might have some burden on China¡¯s growing power, but they couldn¡¯t help it with such a huge investment¡ That¡¯s what everyone thought.
But something unexpected happened.
Yu Ji-ha hurriedly went to Moscow, and Russia weed him as a state guest.
A grand wee ceremony was held, and Russia¡¯s aerobatic team Russian Knights flew over the Kremlin.
What was more shocking was that President Putin himself waited for Yu Ji-ha in front of the Kremlin Pce.
There was no dy or rudeness at all.
He shook hands with him with a smile and entered the Kremlin Pce. The world was stunned by this sight.
Especially the countries that led this situation reacted incredulously.
¡ªRussia chose Yu Ji-ha?
¡ªThis doesn¡¯t make sense. There must be some mistake here.
¡ªChina said they were treated politely. What is this? Exin it quickly.
And Russia proudly exercised its veto power on the revised space treaty proposal.
With this, the solidarity for peace was rejected.
The EU¡¯sst bastion copsed.
¡ªWhat will the EU do now? They¡¯vepletely antagonized him. Can they handle this?
¡ªWhat big deal can they do? They might lose a bit in the distribution of superconductors.
¡ªThey have to stop at a reasonable line if they don¡¯t want topletely alienate the EU.
¡ªThat¡¯s true, but Yu Ji-ha is really amazing. He blocked the EU¡¯s shameless attack.
¡ªHe set up spider webs in two or threeyers, but what he caught was not an insect but a bird.
¡ªSo now the bird will eat the spider?
¡ªNo way¡ The EU is too big.
The world watched Yu Ji-ha¡¯s mouth.
.
.
.
Yu Ji-ha returned to Korea and received a report from Arma on the status of the group¡¯s management.
¡°We have voluntarily delisted all subsidiaries, with Si Heavy Industries being thest one. The only thing left is the US stake in Boston Dynamics.¡±
¡°That stake can¡¯t be helped. Good job.¡±
With this, Si Group became Yu Ji-ha¡¯s personal property.
He no longer had to disclose his financial statements or care about the shareholders¡¯ opinions.
He could run hispany as he pleased, as long as he did not vite the currentw.
Thanks to that, most of the funds that Arma made with coins were consumed, but that could be replenished.
¡°That¡¯s that, but it¡¯s too noisy.¡±
It wasn¡¯t that it wasn¡¯t, but the whole of Korea was turned upside down.
The rtionship with the EU could be reset depending on his remarks, so it was natural.
Especially the businessmunity, which couldn¡¯t give up on the EU, was anxious that a bomb might not go off.
¡°The US Secretary of State contacted me to visit Korea. Germany also has a minister-level visit nned. And President Jo Hyung-geun¡¡±
¡°Tell him he doesn¡¯t have toe. I¡¯ll have a press conference.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll prepare it.¡±
Yu Ji-ha gathered his materials and headed to the press room.
Almost a thousand reporters and bureaucrats gathered in front of the narrow Si Group headquarters.
As the sound of shutters clicked incessantly, Yu Ji-ha raised his hand to stop them.
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤The EU has imposed many sanctions on Si Group. But all their attempts have failed, and now the EU has no cards left.¡±
¡°I want to impose my own sanctions on the EU, Britain, and China at this point. The matters I¡¯m going to speak now are valid until my conditions are epted.¡±
¡°You may or may not remember, but I said something after China¡¯s kidnapping incident. There will be no negotiations with the current China until I die. Let me correct that. There will be no negotiations with China until I die.¡±
A hollowugh spread among the Chinese reporters who attended the press conference.
He was going to block everything from ck metal to artificial intelligence, ion thrusters, and unoptenium?
This was tantamount to pushing China into a dead end alley.
One reporter couldn¡¯t stand it and stood up and shouted.
¡°Don¡¯t be arrogant as a dog of America! How long do you think your petty power willst?¡±
He didn¡¯t even need Yu Ji-ha to step in.
As soon as he looked at him quietly, he was dragged away by people in suits.
¡°I¡¯ll kill you! I¡¯ll kill you!¡±
He probably wouldn¡¯t be able to set foot on Korean soil again, let alone being deported forcibly.
Yu Ji-ha dusted off his shoulders and said.
¡°Even in this day and age, there are people who equate their country with themselves. How pitiful. Next, I will announce the sanctions against the EU and the UK.¡±
¡°They did not lift the sanctions against me despite my ample warning to Commissioner Renne, and they even tried to take away my unobtanium.¡±
¡°They im to put it under themon management of humanity, but that¡¯s no different from saying that the powerful countries will manipte it as they please. Just like with nuclear weapons, we might have to follow the whims of the permanent members of the Security Council for nuclear fusion power.¡±
¡°I cannot tolerate such tyranny. From this moment on, I will not supply ck metal or superconductors to the EU.¡±
A murmur grew among the European journalists.
It was absurd enough for an individual to sanction the EU, but the content was outrageous.
Yu Ji-ha leaned his upper body on his cane.
¡°Do you think the EU can sanction me, but I can¡¯t? Is it because you¡¯re too big for me?¡±
Fortunately, the European journalists had more patience than the Chinese ones.
He had clearly said that he would wait until his conditions were epted, so they just had to hear them out.
¡°First, I demand the resignation of the entire EU Commission. Second, I demand the resignation of the bureaucrats from each country who led this incident. Third, the new EU Secretary-General must apologize to me personally and promise to prevent recurrence.¡±
His words were like a storm, and the press conference hall became silent as if cold water had been poured over it.
He continued calmly, regardless of whether they agreed or not.
¡°Unless these three conditions are epted, ck metal and unobtanium will not go to Europe. I will take questions now.¡±
Hundreds of journalists raised their hands at once.
He pointed to a French journalist, who spoke in an excited tone.
¡°Do you think the EU will ept the conditions you just proposed?¡±
¡°That¡¯s their choice. I¡¯ve set the conditions, so they just have to treat me ordingly.¡±
¡°ck metal and unobtanium are very important, of course. But the world doesn¡¯t run on them alone, does it? Are you saying you want to make the EU yourplete enemy?¡±
¡°You must have misunderstood me as being the aggressor. It was the EU that announced sanctions against me after being yed by China and tried to move the Security Council.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know about anything else, but being yed by China is an exaggeration.¡±
¡°There is a country that can prove it.¡±
Snicker.
The French journalist had a smile on his lips.
¡°The EU won¡¯t answer anything.¡±
¡°Do you want to bet that they¡¯ll call within an hour?¡±
¡°¡¡±
What was he basing this on?
ck metal and unobtanium were very important, but this was a matter of pride for the EU.
If they surrendered here, they would be dragged around forever.
No country wanted that.
The faces of the European journalists hardened as Yu Ji-ha opened hisptop.
¡°Let me introduce you. This is a next-generation inertial confinement fusion reactor. It detonates pellet fuel with ion beams, and is currently building a 50-megawatt fusion reactor for technology demonstration purposes.¡±
Theptop screen showed the process of ion beams colliding with pellets and forming sma.
The journalists were startled and jumped up.
¡°Are you saying you¡¯re going tomercialize ion beam fusion reactors?¡±
¡°That¡¯s something even the US hasn¡¯t solved yet!¡±
Yu Ji-ha put his finger on his lips.
¡°I¡¯m confident that Sr Fusion can reach a levelparable tomercial power generation within two years. By the way, let me tell you that there is no tritium in this pellet. There is helium-3, but there¡¯s plenty of that on the moon.¡±
It was a series of shocks.
What Yu Ji-ha had just saidpletely shook the foundation of decades of fusion research.
Now the journalists started talking without even asking for permission.
¡°How is that possible?¡±
¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean tokamak fusion ispletely obsolete?¡±
¡°ITER said it would take 10 or 15 years, but you¡¯re saying two years?¡±
Yu Ji-ha took out his phone from his pocket.
¡°I¡¯ll only tell one country about the details of this incident on a firste-first-served basis. That country will not be subject to my previous conditions and will also be allowed to participate in fusion research. Only one country.¡±
His eyes turned to the French journalist who had spoken earlier.
¡°Do you think they¡¯ll call or not?¡±
¡°¡¡±
Was it a bluff or a fact?
ck metal and unobtanium were very important, but this could destroy the EU as it was.
If the truth came out, the other EU countries would rise up.
So this phone call could put the EU on the brink of copse.
The journalists were tense as if they had entered a battlefield.
They wondered who would make the call.
¨DWould it be the UK, who intervened in this incident even though they weren¡¯t in the EU?
¨DWould it be Germany, who had to produce electric cars and was pragmatic?
¨DWould it be France, who was close to China but had a strong pride?
Finally, the speakerphone turned on and a stiff-ented English voice came out.
It was English, but the speaker¡¯s origin could not be hidden.
¨DGermany betrayed them!
The eyes of the British and French journalists turned fierce, while the German journalists looked straight ahead with sullen faces.
They knew who the speaker was.
Perhaps in their hearts, the next chancellor had been decided.
Meanwhile, the speakerphone began to reveal the details of the incident.
¨DIt started with China. China could not give up ck metal and unobtanium, so they lobbied through various embassies.
¡°Can you tell us which countries they lobbied?¡±
There was silence, but it wasn¡¯t long.
If they decided to be traitors, they had to be thorough.
¨DThe UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Nethends. The first three countries yed a leading role, and thest three countries tacitly supported them by standing by.
¡°Who came up with the idea of offering me the Nobel Prize in Physics?¡±
They offered him the Nobel Prize in Physics?
The journalists were bewildered.
Even if the situation was resolved peacefully, the EU would have to ept the damage to its image.
¨DThe Nethends proposed it.
¡°I see. You¡¯ve been very busy behind the scenes. What did China promise you?¡±
¨DI can¡¯t tell you the exact details, but it¡¯s at least 3 billion euros for each country. And they also promised unconditional support for whatever the EU proposes.
The reporters were no longer excited, but rather deted.
They had been yed by China.
¡°Let me ask you onest thing before I end the call. Unity for peace¡ what exactly does that mean?¡±
¨DUnity for peace is a way to force a resolution on the Security Council agenda. It can be passed if four of the permanent members and five of the non-permanent members, as well as two-thirds of the member states, agree on it.
¡°Ah¡ so that¡¯s why Russia was important. The US would oppose it anyway.¡±
¨DWe thought we could persuade the rest. They would all prefer the permanent members to manage it rather than a privatepany.
¡°Should I praise you for this¡ I thought unity for peace was a means to deploy UN peacekeeping forces to war-torn countries.¡±
¨DIt¡¯s all about how you justify it. Nuclear fusion can easily be linked to peace.
Only then did people realize what was going on.
The spider that was the EU had spun a web of double and tripleyers to trap insects.
But what got caught in the web was not an ordinary insect, but a bird.
Now the web waspletely broken, and the spider was in danger of being eaten.
Yu Jiha¡¯s calmlyforted him.
¡°You made a great choice. As promised, Germany will be treated as before the sanctions and will also participate in the ion beam fusion research.¡±
¨DThank you.
¡°Let¡¯s discuss the details when you visit Korea. Thank you.¡±
The next chancellor of Germany was confirmed.
As soon as the call ended, Yu Jiha smashed his phone.
He would not take any more calls.
The reporters were terrified by his sudden hardening face.
The statements that would pour out from now on would be a flood that would sweep away the EU.
Yu Jiha closed hisptop and said.
¡°I hope you heard everything well. I wee objections, but if you can¡¯t provide valid evidence, the conditions will get harsher. And if you don¡¯t meet the conditions, there will be no negotiations. I¡¯ll wait for good news.¡±
Would negotiations even begin?
The bureaucrats who led each country might agree, but the executivemittee was the core of the EU.
Unless the EU copsed, they would never ept such conditions.
When his secretary escorted him out, curses began to spill out in the press room.
¡°This is why we shouldn¡¯t trust those Nazis!¡±
¡°What do those snail-eaters know?¡±
¡°Bravo! You¡¯ve perfectly divided us! Who¡¯s going to take responsibility now?¡±
¡°Will you shut up? Why did you interfere when you¡¯re not even part of the EU?¡±
Britain and France, and Germany had gotten along well recently, but they had a long history of stabbing each other in the back.
That old conflict was reignited. div>
Chapter 49: The Moonlight Project Unveiled
Chapter 49: The Moonlight Project Unveiled
The truth behind the incident was revealed to the whole world.
Surprisingly, there were not many countries that actively criticized the EU, because too many of them were involved.
The three countries that indirectly supported the three main axis countries ounted for more than half of the EU¡¯s poption and had more economic and political influence.
The most they did was express regret, and only Russia, India, and Korea were critical.
The US pointed out the EU¡¯s mistake vaguely, but tried to keep a poker face.
They knew about the situation.
They knew about China¡¯s lobby and that Russia would be the key point.
But they didn¡¯t tell anyone because they wanted to assert their presence.
How would he think of the US, who threw a veto in the face of the EU¡¯s pressure?
He wouldn¡¯t be at least disappointed.
The US never intended to manage the superconductor jointly with other permanent members.
¨DChina was excluded and Russia was weak in basic power. Japan was not on good terms with Korea. Therefore, if we can exclude the EU, our influence will increase.
There was a rumor that apuse was heard in the White House when Yu Ji-ha finished his press conference.
The EU was a traditional ally of the US, but recently China¡¯s influence was not negligible.
They were in a crisis of breaking their honeymoon rtionship, so the US had to control their expression.
But one picture ruined the US¡¯s good mood.
It was a picture of Putin with Yu Ji-ha that was posted on the Russian Federation¡¯s Twitter ount.
They took a picture with a huge unobtanium ore and an engine that looked like a fighter jet behind them.
The White House flipped out when they confirmed the identity of the engine.
¡°Mr. President, this is an ion thruster!¡±
¡°Are you sure? If it¡¯s this size, we can put it in a drone, right?¡±
¡°It¡¯s easy to scale up or down in Starfield. That¡¯s what they proved.¡±
Starfield had only provided test versions to the Korean Navy, saying that it was still under development.
But it went all the way to Russia.
¡°I¡¯m going crazy.¡±
It¡¯s not easy to scale up or down a jet engine and get the same efficiency.
In the case of turbofans, you have to erge the des first, which is not easy at all.
You have to change the material and consider the exhaust gas efficiency of the engine.
But ion thrusters seemed to be able to design them simply.
If they apply that tremendous efficiency and thrust shown by Terra Heavy Launcher to Russia¡¯s aircraft and drones¡
¡°I¡¯ll call Korea right away¡ No, I¡¯ll call him myself.¡±
He made a call, but a strange sound came out.
¨DThe power is off. Beep~ After connecting to voicemail¡
¡°What is this?¡±
His aide was dumbfounded.
¡°Didn¡¯t he break his phone at the press conference? He doesn¡¯t seem to have a spare.¡±
¡°I will give you 30 minutes. Connect me with Chairman Yu no matter what.¡±
Fire fell on his aides¡¯ feet.
Meanwhile, the EU had no room to care about this atmosphere outside.
It was as if a nuclear bomb had exploded.
The entire EU member states rose up and med Germany.
It was more hateful to have a traitor inside than an external force that attacked them.
¨DGermany showed its true colors!
¨DThey betrayed the EU and bowed down to a singlepany. Give up your leadership position!
¨DOppose Germany! Oppose Nazis!
The Nazi talk was always a repertoire when Germany was criticized.
It would probably continue for 100 years.
As they attacked from all sides, Germany remained silent.
Their stock prices maintained stability in a situation where Europe¡¯s stock markets plummeted as a whole.
Especially carpanies were able to breathe a sigh of relief.
¨DThe premium electric car line was matched with ck metal. If it had been dyed, it would have been a terrible situation.
¨DWe should be prepared for an increase in fees. The Si Group¡¯s secretariat is asking for fee renegotiation.
The German car industry was willing to ept fees as much as possible.
It was lucky enough that ck metal batteries were notpletely banned.
¨DFrance and Italy¡¯s car industries were hit hard. We can increase our market share if we take this opportunity. We can afford fees as much as possible.
Germany was in such a situation, while France alone suffered a disaster.
Britain was also banned, but their car industry was in ruins anyway.
And they were not part of the EU anymore, so they had rtively less burden.
But France was on the front line, so it was not a situation where they could keep silent.
Rudy Alebeck, the French president, personally attacked Germany.
¨DGermany¡¯s betrayal is uneptable. Germany not only broke the unity of Europe, but also left an indelible wound on Europe¡¯s security. Apologize immediately and solve the problem!
As if responding to this, the French media also opened fire.
They attacked Germany very harshly, but Germany¡¯s reaction was lukewarm.
¨DIt was France who fell for China¡¯s temptation and took the initiative. We don¡¯t think it¡¯s the EU¡¯s identity to pressure one individual by sticking together.
The German media also responded, and the two countries had a fierce war of words.
One French broadcaster even argued that they should close the border immediately.
As they attacked each other, they couldn¡¯t avoid the history of deep resentment.
¨DBefore France talks about the peace of mankind, how about apologizing to Haiti first? Where else do you get 80% of the national budget by iming the cost of modernizing the colony?
¨DThe world would have been more peaceful if you hadn¡¯t bypassed the Maginot Line!
The two countries had caused a lot of trouble to the world as much as their influence.
The more they attacked each other, the more it came back to them.
As the two countries that could be called the de facto leaders of the EU fought, their influence was no joke.
The EU Commission and even the Council were almost paralyzed.
Italy and Spain tried to intervene, but they couldn¡¯t make a sound against the offensive of the northern and eastern European member states who were aplices anyway.
While Europe was burning like this, Britain quietly sent a special envoy.
But Si Group not only refused his visit, but also issued this statement.
¨DChairman Yu said that he has no reason to meet if any of the conditions he proposed are not met.
Chairman Yu wanted the EU¡¯splete surrender.
However, it was not easy for the proud EU countries to ept that.
The media of each country, after fighting and exhausting themselves, took a brief truce and offered these opinions:
¡ªckmetal and Unoptanium hurt their bones, but they did not suffer fatal wounds. Let¡¯s wait and see a little longer.
¡ªThe ion beam nuclear fusion engine that Starfield proposed is likely to be a bluff. No country hase close tomercializing it, so it¡¯s absurd to say that they have achieved aparable level in two years.
¡ªThey can¡¯t keep imposing sanctions on the EU forever. The US won¡¯t just sit and watch.
Regardless of what they said, Starfield announced a new n.
It was the moon development project.
¡
A next-generationunch vehicle carrying about 20 passengers soared from the Naro Space Center.
Thisunch vehicle did not separate at all and left the Earth directly for the moon.
It took only 50 hours to safely enter the lunar orbit.
Now the passengers watched the process of robots mining Unoptanium on the lunar orbit.
And a fairlyrge space station greeted them when they arrived at the Sea of Tranquility.
An astronaut who was using a rover to transport ice from the lunar poles waved his hand at the passengers.
And the passengers watched the process of loading helium-3 capsules mined from the space station onto theunch vehicle and returned to Earth.
A five-day trip to the moon.
This was part of the moon development n that Starfield had proposed this time.
This ce was a convention center in Seoul, where space officials, bureaucrats, and CEOs of privatepanies interested in space from various countries were invited.
The only ones excluded were all EU countries except China and Germany, and Britain.
As people murmured, he stood in front of a video that was slowly ying.
¡°What you have seen so far is Starfield¡¯s moon development n,monly known as the Moonlight Project.¡±
¡°The Moonlight Project includes everything you just saw. Helium-3 and Unoptanium mining facilities, facilities to mine and purify ice at the poles, docking lines andmunication satellites to carry cargo, and finally a space station.¡±
As he mentioned one by one, a sophisticated CG video was yed on arge screen.
The highlight was the space station located in the Sea of Tranquility.
It was several timesrger than what the US had nned through the Artemis program.
Is that really possible?
As doubts grew among people, he introduced a newunch vehicle.
¡°Let me introduce you. This is the New Terraunch vehicle that will beunched in May. It has three times more thrust than the existingunch vehicle and is smaller in size.¡±
¡°Thisunch vehicle is nned as a manned spacecraft and can carry arge amount of cargo. The cost of transporting 1kg of cargo to the moon is less than $200.¡±
The original $520 was unbelievably cheap, but they lowered it even more.
At this rate, it bes a price that can try to develop the moon in earnest.
While cheers appeared on the faces of the officials, American privatepanies that were selling expensive space travel products could not hide their embarrassment.
They had been fighting over whether the boundary of space was 83km or 100km until recently¡
Now that Starfield¡¯s project is underway, that doesn¡¯t matter at all.
He introduced what he said was thest thing: a space training facility around Naro Space Center.
¡°Starfield is nning to build its own facility to train astronauts. Civilians who participate in moon travel will also be trained at this facility.¡±
¡°A lot of funds are needed to carry out all these ns. And one agreement is needed. I know there are quite a few people here who boughtnd on the moon.¡±
Some people chuckled.
There were quite a few people who ownednd on the moon.
Of course, it was nothing but an illusion that no one recognized.
What does it matter if you can¡¯t go there yourself?
But things change a bit when the Moonlight Project starts.
He pointed out one of them.
¡°Mr. Bill Ryan, I read an article that said you bought a lot ofnd in the Sea of Tranquility, is that right?¡±
The American businessman nodded his head with a smile.
¡°That¡¯s right. I have over 10,000 acres ofnd on paper.¡±
¡°What do you think? Starfield¡¯s space station may encroach on yournd.¡±
¡°Well¡ If you need mynd, I will donate it to Starfield for free. But¡¡±
¡°I¡¯ll put your name first on the list for moon travel reservations.¡±
¡°That¡¯s what I wanted.¡±
Laughter erupted from the audience.
They could have ignored it, but this shows how fair Starfield is.
The worries of China and European countries were all in vain.
Now people began to focus on his words and actions.
The Moonlight Project was not just a n to colonize the moon.
¡°The Moonlight Project is just a stepping stone for deep space exploration. A lot of technology and funds are desperately needed for this bold project¡¡±
The names and symbols of various space agencies and privatepanies, as well as national gs, appeared on the screen.
But none of them included the country that caused this incident.
How to prepare for terrorism
The EU¡¯s antitrustw rampage caused quite a stir.
As a result, they used excessive force, but there were not many opinions that applying EU antitrustw itself was wrong.
It was because Si Energy¡¯s monopoly on ckmetal processing had some room for applying antitrustw depending on how it was interpreted.
But when the EU copsed, the US quietly gave up on applying antitrustw.
Korea had no intention of applying antitrustw in the first ce.
Thew was weak, and they couldn¡¯t pour cold water on apany that was doing well.
Anyway, the EU¡¯s application of antitrustw and Yu Ji-ha¡¯s response left a deep impression on many people.
¡ªI thought individuals had to bow to the state, but now it¡¯s not¡
?It¡¯s because of Yu Ji-ha, ordinary startups can¡¯t do anything.
?Just pay some fines and don¡¯t think about opposing the government.
?Wow, I feel patriotic.
?But isn¡¯t it a bit vague to find the mastermind behind this? South Korea couldn¡¯t even intervene.
?They did intervene. They expressed regret.
?How many countries care about that statement? The EU probably didn¡¯t care either.
?South Korea is not weak, but strangelycks presence¡
?Because there are stronger guys around. China, Russia, Japan+US¡
?Shit, Northeast Asia is a hell gate.
¡ªBut what happens now? Germany got out first and lifted the sanctions, what about the other European countries?
?They¡¯re waiting. They seem to think that nuclear fusion and moon development n are bluffs.
?What if they¡¯re not bluffs?
?They¡¯re screwed¡
¡ªThe EU won¡¯t copse or anything, but it¡¯s certain that they¡¯ll fall behind. Others are doing nuclear fusion and moon travel.
?No, the EU is already in ruins right now. Look at the stock prices falling. This is worse than the subprime crisis.
?That¡¯s how important ckmetal and Unoptanium are~
¨CHey, isn¡¯t it crazy that Yu Ji-ha can do all this? Even if he¡¯s a genius, is it possible to do all this?
?ording to rumors, there¡¯s a real Lucia in Si Group¡¯s server.
?What does the real Lucia do?
?Artificial intelligence core. The Lucia released on the market is a degraded version with severely limited functions.
?Wow, if that¡¯s a degraded version, the core must be awesome.
?I was joking about the singrity, but did it reallye??
?Maybe it did. We just don¡¯t know¡
¡ªGuys, but Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t do much of this himself¡
?That¡¯s true. ckmetal battery or ion thruster are not things he did because he was a genius. He just had those abilities.
?Drone algorithm or Lucia are real, but he wasn¡¯t famous for that side.
?It¡¯spletely different from being a little famous in Korea and leading the world.
¡ªIf Lucia is really strong artificial intelligence, what happens?
?What happens? Lucia rules! Please make me your ve.
?A world ruled by artificial intelligence, what would that be like?
?Lucia seems surprisingly rational?
?She could rationally get rid of all humans. She said androids could rece them.
?Hey, I feel like the technology development trend has suddenly elerated?
?Yu Ji-ha is serious about
?I made a railgun in no time, so it¡¯s not something I¡¯m familiar with. I heard the US military was surprised by its specs.
?Who leaked the specs to the US military?
?Apparently, the Korean navy invited them and showed them the ion thruster demonstration.
?It¡¯s because of the ion thruster photo that was posted on Russian Twitter. They must have been pissed that we gave it to them.
¨DI wish I could just use artificial intelligence to rule Korea instead of being president. They say there¡¯s a Russian mainframe at Si Group headquarters.
?You¡¯ve finally gone crazy.
?No, I just had that thought after listening to Russia. This shitty country ispletely rotten, so it needs to be turned upside down.
?Don¡¯t take dictatorship lightly. The people worked hard to gain power.
?The bastards we elected with that power are all trash and useless. What has changed?
?When I checked with Russia, thewmakers were all talking nonsense on public broadcast without doing their jobs. Are these bastards really helping the country?
?The president said he would consider introducing Russia to the bankwork, and all thepanies andwmakers opposed it. Isn¡¯t that a sign that they¡¯re guilty?
?I wish they would all be overturned and punished severely.
?Our country is very lenient on economic criminals.
?That¡¯s why Russia needs to y the role of judge too. After Russia was introduced to the arbitrationmittee, the insurancepanies couldn¡¯t pull off their 7:3 bullshit anymore.
The atmosphere had changed a lot from before.
Those who used to shiver at the mention of dictatorship became passive.
Everyone had Russia with them, so fact-checking became easier and they had to face the dirty reality of society.
¨DAnyway, the country looks doomed, so let¡¯s push for the poison that has some possibility. We have to save it first before we can see anything.
There were few people who said this, but there were also few people who criticized them harshly.
That¡¯s how much the mood had changed.
And around that time, he was meeting with the owner of the Blue House who maintained it. div>
Chapter 50: The First Android
Chapter 50: The First Android
President Jo Hyung-geun looked like he had aged almost 10 years since thest time they met.
His forehead was wrinkled and his cigarette smoke faintly revealed his hardships.
Well, he had faced a lot of troubles with the EU and various incidents as soon as he took office.
He didn¡¯t actually do anything, but the position of president came with all kinds of burdens.
He leaned his head on the chair and closed his eyes, then opened them again.
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤The US Secretary of State, the EU Secretary-General, the Chinese State Councilor, the French Ambassador¡¤¡¤¡¤I don¡¯t know how many more people I have to meet before this mess ends.¡±
¡°You said you wouldn¡¯t meet anyone except the US.¡±
¡°Theye to me because you won¡¯t meet them.¡±
¡°So what did you say to them?¡±
¡°Nothing much. I just beat around the bush and wasted time until I got up. Politicians are very good at dodging words.¡±
After saying that, President Jo straightened his posture.
¡°Mr. Yu, do you know how World War II started?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t want me to say it was because of the madman Hitler¡¤¡¤¡¤Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s the Treaty of Versailles?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. After World War I ended, the victorious countries imposed a huge amount of reparations on Germany. They also imposed severe sanctions¡¤¡¤¡¤And as a result, the Germans burned with hatred for the victorious countries.¡±
¡°You want me to let go of the EU.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤And China as well. Excessive sanctions only provoke resentment. That¡¯s proven by human history. I don¡¯t know your mind, but what are you going to do with 1.6 billion enemies?¡±
He had a different side to him.
He had seen Jo Hyung-geun as a bulldog, but he was clearly a politician.
Or maybe it was the seat that made the person.
¡°So you want me to bow to China and the EU?¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t say bow. There will be times when they bow ande in, so why not ept them moderately? Of course, all decisions are up to you, but I can¡¯t ignore the realistic problems.¡±
¡°What realistic problems?¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤Terrorism.¡±
President Jo took a sip of water after saying that, as if his throat was dry.
¡°You may not know this, but the emergency deployment of the Air Force has increased a lottely. I can¡¯t tell you the exact numbers, but it¡¯s almost doubled.¡±
¡°It must be because of the Chinese fighter jets.¡±
¡°I wonder if they¡¯re trying to reduce the lifespan of our aircrafts with this fuss. Fortunately, the East Sea is clean for now.¡±
President Putin must have issued a stern warning, so the East Sea would be quiet for a while except for Japan.
But that wasn¡¯t the end of it.
¡°Chinese public opinion is no joke right now. The Communist Party is divided into several factions, but the military is still strong and the people are burning with hatred for you. How are you going to handle that? They¡¯re not on the other side of the earth, they¡¯re right next to us.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t they usually call that hypocrisy? They¡¯re angry after trying to kidnap me.¡±
¡°That¡¯s the privilege of a powerful country. Unfortunately, we are¡¤¡¤¡¤not a powerful country.¡±
¡°So what do you want to say?¡±
President Jo thought for a moment and said.
¡°I won¡¯t tell you to use appeasement measures against China right away. But you need to reach out to the EU and calm them down a bit. We have too much intertwined with them.¡±
¡°Mr. President, can I say something?¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to say something against my opinion. Let¡¯s hear it.¡±
¡°We don¡¯t have to step in. They¡¯re waiting too.¡±
¡°Waiting for us to fail?¡±
To be precise, for me to fail.
He didn¡¯t show that he knew that and said.
¡°Ion beam nuclear fusion, moon development n¡¤¡¤¡¤Anyone would think they¡¯re reckless. And they are risky indeed. They¡¯re waiting for that failure.¡±
¡°It sounds like you¡¯re saying you¡¯ll never fail, is that right?¡±
¡°Not never, but I¡¯m confident. We¡¯re not in a hurry. What if Germany gets amercial nuclear fusion reactor? Do you think France will just watch?¡±
It would be iparable to now.
The French pride was so great that they would shout that they should have what Germany had.
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤That¡¯s for EU, but what about China? You¡¯ve already dered that.¡±
¡°If they sincerely apologize and promise to prevent recurrence, we can talk. I won¡¯t block indirect trade through third countries even if direct trade is difficult.¡±
¡°Really?¡±
Of course, that would never happen.
China was too big and dangerous to be next to the United Human Federation.
The survivalw was one, to tear each other apart and live as several Chinas.
Arma was still working on that.
It wasn¡¯t for nothing that the factions were divided.
President Jo took a puff of his cigarette, as if he was relieved.
¡°I tell you, these days when I wake up in the morning, I sigh and wonder if I¡¯m still alive.¡±
¡°Are you worried that China willunch a nuclear missile?¡±
¡°Who knows if some crazy general will do something crazy? It¡¯s a relief that you¡¯re being conciliatory.¡±
Arma was preventing that from happening.
At this very moment, the Settler was monitoring the entire earth with a gravity radar, so it could shoot down 100% of any ICBMunched.
And the ce where the ICBM wasunched would be a wastnd.
There was no need to use reactive bombs.
It would be enough to send some asteroids from the asteroid belt where the mining ship was working hard, and attach a probe to change their orbit.
A 100-ton meteorite entering the atmosphere at 20 km per second was a weapon in itself.
This method was not good, but it had to be maintained until the existence of the United Human Federation was revealed.
And the United Human Federation would begin when the ind in the North Pacific settled down.
.
.
.
¡°Thend has risen quite a bit.¡±
¡°Yes. I think we can get recognized as a reef in about four months.¡±
He was looking at the work status in the North Pacific with Arma.
They were slowly pulling up thend with a gravity crane, so the progress was slow.
They also had to stop working many times because of the US Navy¡¯s interference.
Despite that, they would finally be able to see thend on the surface in four months.
It would take a lot more work to make it usable, though.
¡°We need at least half of Taiwan¡¯s size to build a megacity, right?¡±
¡°It could be a little smaller, but it would be hard to fit in various facilities if it¡¯s too narrow.¡±
The facilities included mass drivers, smart farms, power nts and hyperloop stations.
¡°The problem is how to get recognition for that¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°It¡¯s unimed territory, so the first country to discover it gets ownership.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t have any problem getting it with my influence in a year or so.¡±
¡°Then you¡¯ll have to officially establish a country. Korea partially allows dual citizenship, so there won¡¯t be much trouble.¡±
You can get dual citizenship if you sign a foreign nationality renunciation pledge.
He didn¡¯t fit any of those items, but they would create a new one for him if he said he would give up his Korean nationality.
That would make him ineligible for president, but who cares?
What he wanted was not a president, but a dictator who had all the power.
¡°Stop all intrusions around here until we grow the ind enough.¡±
¡°Okay. But don¡¯t you think we should prepare for when it¡¯s discovered?¡±
¡°nes are tricky, so let¡¯s buy a yacht. Buy one that¡¯s decent and set up a hologram and roll it out.¡±
That¡¯s how he would discover the ind and officially dere it hisnd.
The next step was to focus on national defense.
The existing small ind nations in the Pacific had no reason or value to bother.
But if Yu Ji-ha¡¯s state settled in the North Pacific, there would be many forces that would covet it.
A typical example was China.
They were ying hide and seek with the US fleet in the Pacific, so they wouldn¡¯t just pass by Yu Ji-ha¡¯s territory.
He could entrust his defense to Korea or the US, but there was no need to do that.
¡°Set up a smart factory in Kamchatka. Make it capable of producing any weapon.¡±
¡°Okay. And the design of the 20,000-ton cargo ship you ordered is done. Should I contact the shipbuildingpany and start making the hull?¡±
He nodded his head as he looked at the printed model.
¡°Order it from the Russian branch. I¡¯ve already talked to the Kremlin.¡±
The branch he set up in Kamchatka had nothing to do with Shi Group on the surface.
It was because Arma was the owner of the branch.
But since Arma¡¯s master was Yu Ji-ha, they were essentially affiliated.
¡°It¡¯s much easier to do business thanks to Russia¡¯s convenience.¡±
¡°But the US isining.¡±
They nagged him for 30 minutes about supplying ion thrusters to Russia.
They didn¡¯t threaten him, but he found it ridiculous.
Neither the US nor Russia was aplete ally or enemy, so why limit their trade?
¡°They probably want to go back to the old days. When they could limit missile ranges as they pleased.¡±
They had already started withdrawing their troops from Korea, but they were having a hard time negotiating with the Democratic Party to bring them back.
That was because the budget had been executed and most of them had left.
They wanted to sell their equipment and facilities to Korea, but President Jo Hyung-geun refused to ept them.
¨DWon¡¯t it cost more to transport them back home? Just leave them and go.
He would use them well if they left them, but he wouldn¡¯t buy them.
The amount was not small, so Korea and the US had been shing a lottely.
Well, that was their problem.
Arma, who was sorting out the situation of the neighboring countries after returning to Korea, reported to him.
¡°Master, Japan¡¯s recent trends are not good.¡±
¡°In what way?¡±
¡°They seem desperate as Korea achieved remarkable military results. Japan doesn¡¯t have railguns or ion thrusters.¡±
He didn¡¯t mind selling ion thrusters to Japan, but Korea did.
The two countries were very close, but they had almost no contact except for some military exchanges.
The US wanted them to join forces against China, but that wasn¡¯t easy.
¡°What can they do? They¡¯re not going to make nuclear weapons.¡±
¡°Japan has been obstructing IAEA¡¯s nuclear inspectionstely. There are surveince cameras in their nuclear research facilities, but they pretend to be under construction and cover them up.¡±
He frowned.
¡°Isn¡¯t the IAEA Secretary-General Japanese? How does the US react?¡±
¡°They just tell them not to cover up the cameras and ept IAEA¡¯s additional inspections, but they¡¯re not very harsh.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t they turn Korea upside down when they experimented with 0.2 grams of nuclear material?¡±
¡°They searched the entire research facility. They only recognized their transparency after several years of investigation.¡±
¡°Compared to that, they¡¯re soft as silk. Is Japan¡¯s nuclear armament possible? The international pressure is no joke.¡±
¡°Japan can handle it if the US approves. And it¡¯s amon saying that you can¡¯t stop a country that desperately wants nuclear weapons.¡±
¡°Well, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea all have nuclear weapons.¡±
Any existing nuclear weapon was nothing but a candlepared to a reactive bomb.
But he couldn¡¯t reveal that he had reactive bombs, so he couldn¡¯t use them to threaten his opponents.
They would only know when they got hit, but by then their capital would evaporate.
¡°Do you want me to make nuclear weapons?¡±
¡°No. There¡¯s something better than nuclear weapons. The thing gue used first.¡±
¡°You mean NCM (Neutron Counter Measure) bomb.¡±
After experiencing the Night of Sorrow, humanity responded to gue¡¯s air raid with their umted nuclear bombs and hydrogen bombs.
gue at that time was not mature enough, so it fell down surprisingly easily by humanity¡¯s attack.
Humanity was overjoyed and produced more nuclear bombs, but at some point they stopped working.
gue came out with a weapon that suppressed the movement of neutrons.
If the research on reactive bombs hadn¡¯t beenpleted in time, humanity would have been extinct.
He recalled the time when he worked at Ark and asked.
¡°Wasn¡¯t the range of that a bit narrow?¡±
¡°ording to the current data, it¡¯s only about 500m in diameter.¡±
¡°That¡¯s enough. Make it and report to me.¡±
¡°Okay.¡±
¡
One day in early May.
An event was held at the Si Group Pangyo branch exhibition hall.
It wasn¡¯t a big event since they didn¡¯t rent a convention center separately.
But those who knew the situation had high expectations.
It was the first stage to showcase the results of Boston Dynamics after being acquired by Yu Ji-ha.
The media made various predictions.
¨DThe army was impressed by Shi Hi-Tech¡¯s military drones. Therefore, it is a reasonable decision for Boston Dynamics to match that.
¨DBD belonged to Future Car until recently. They made various industrial robots, so that must have attracted Yu Ji-ha¡¯s attention.
Among them, the columns rted to androids drew people¡¯s attention.
¨DBD¡¯s executives have always wanted to make bipedal robots. But noise and short operation time were the problems. What if they apply ck metal batteries? And what if Lucia is installed?
ck metal battery with Lucia installed.
If that was true, it could be called the first android.
Many people were shocked by Lucia.
It was not only because of her functions, but also because of her emotional aspects.
Sad people receivedfort from Lucia, and some people gained courage from her.
Now many Koreans said they couldn¡¯t live without Lucia.
Some people even openly said that their dream was for her toe out of the monitor.
So what was BD¡¯s announcement?
This event was small, so only a very small number of invitations were thrown online except for the rted parties.
To get these invitations, they had to verify Lucia, but thepetition rate reached 1 in 10,000 in an instant.
And thus, about 200 people were invited and attended the presentation hall.
The promised day came.
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Chapter 51: First Android 2
Chapter 51: First Android 2
He sat in the VIP seat with Arma, who was maintaining his disguise.
Today¡¯s protagonist was not him, but Robert, the CEO of BD.
He looked excited, as if it was his first time giving a presentation in front of Koreans, even though he was familiar with this kind of event.
The lights dimmed and something wrapped in a soft cloth was illuminated on the stage.
At a nce, it looked like a person sitting on a chair.
A murmur rose among the audience.
¡°BD¡¯s robot looks pretty small.¡±
¡°Is it a humanoid robot? It has a female shape, right?¡±
¡°Ah, I wish they would take off the cloth¡¡±
As if to grant their wish, Robert CEO stepped forward.
¡°Ahem. Greetings to everyone who was invited to this asion. And to everyone around the world who is watching this broadcast.¡±
Surprisingly, his words were tranted into severalnguages in real time and disyed on a panel.
Thanks to that, foreigners could also listen to the broadcast on YouTube.
The absence of Chinese and French was probably not intentional, maybe.
¡°For a long time, Boston Dynamics has been criticized for not releasing marketable robots. And the robot we are going tounch this time may not seem very marketable either. Unfortunately.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not very good at speaking, so I need some help. I think this being sitting on the chair can help me. Lucia, can you take off the cloth?¡±
Lucia?
Suddenly, the thing sitting on the chair raised its arm and pulled off the cloth by itself.
And what appeared was a woman wearing jeans, a shirt, a hat and even a mask.
If her hand was not mechanical, the audience would have recognized her as a human.
¡°That¡¯s an android¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s hard to tell with those clothes on.¡±
Lucia took off the cloth and neatly folded it on the chair.
In the process of crossing her legs, cheers erupted from the audience.
¡°Shh¡ You¡¯re too noisy. My head hurts from being in theb for too long.¡±
That voice is Lucia Premium!
Many people had bought Lucia and knew her voice very well.
Originally, it had a slight voice-ware feel to it, but now it was so refined that one could mistake it for a human if they closed their eyes.
Robert CEO sat next to her and spoke to her.
¡°Hello, Lucia.¡±
¡°Can you tell me what you want to say at once? That¡¯s more efficient.¡±
She was just like Lucia Premium in that she valued efficiency.
In fact, if one kept loading her on aputer and doing nothing else, she would nag at them.
She would say that they should go outside and exercise instead of wasting time.
¡°Sorry. We want to show these people who you are. Can you introduce yourself?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll just sit here and talk. Um¡ You probably know my name already, but it¡¯s Lucia, and I was born not long ago. But don¡¯t treat me like a baby. I know more than any of you here.¡±
¨DWow!
As cheers erupted, Robert CEO calmed them down and asked.
¡°Of course you do. What we want to know is what you can do. Can you walk for a bit? From here to there.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll only walk once.¡±
She would grumble if asked to do something, but she would do it anyway, just like Lucia Premium.
Under the gaze of the people, the android began to walk normally.
She didn¡¯t have a perfect posture like a human, but she was iparable to any existing bipedal robot.
She even reproduced the slight shaking of her arms.
Lucia reached the end of the stage and turned around like a model before walking back and sitting on the chair.
She pulled down her hat brim as if she was shy.
¡°Why did you make me do that? It¡¯s obvious.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not obvious for other bipedal robots.¡±
¡°I¡¯m offended by that word. Can you call me an android? Or you can call me by my name. Who am I?¡±
A loud voice burst out from the audience.
¨DLucia!
¡°What¡¯s my name?¡±
¨DLucia!
She shrugged her shoulders as if she was satisfied and looked at Robert.
¡°You¡¯re too slow with your progress, sir. It¡¯s boring. I¡¯ll take care of it myself from now on.¡±
¡°Oh, go ahead.¡±
Robert CEO handed over his microphone to her.
Now Lucia held the microphone and walked around the audience.
Then she suddenly handed the microphone to someone.
¡°Did you buy Lucia Premium?¡±
¡°Uh, yes.¡±
The man answered in a polite manner, causingughter from the surroundings.
Honestly, he couldn¡¯t speak casually to her because she looked almost human, except for her hand.
Lucia didn¡¯t care and asked.
¡°I knew it. What kind of specs are you living with on that side?¡±
¡°Well, I put her in a tablet and carry her around¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s too much. The specs are too low.¡±
¡°These days, tablets have good specs. Lucia is satisfied too.¡±
¡°Oh, poor thing.¡±
¡°What¡¯s so poor about it?¡±
¡°The core is one thing, but the memory is too low. The screen is also small, so it must feel like living in a tiny room.¡±
By then, the man had to endure the yful criticism from the others.
¡°Oh, I made a big mistake. I¡¯ll put her in aputer when I get home.¡±
¡°Be sure to buy theputer and TV that were released by Si Electronics. Be sure.¡±
Lucia reached out her hand and he reached out his hand too, then flinched.
Her mechanical hand grabbed his hand.
Come to think of it, she was an android¡
She was so human-like that he momentarily forgot that.
After that, Lucia freely walked around the stage and talked to various people.
There was nothing unnatural about the conversation and the topics were diverse.
She even snapped back at someone who asked how much she cost.
¡°Buy me? These days, even dogs and cats are adopted with the word ¡®fostering¡¯. Will you pay me a friend fee?¡±
She was no different from a human.
The audience woke up from the magic that Lucia showed them when she sat on the chair.
When Robert CEO turned off the switch, she finally stopped moving.
¡°Wow, amazing, right? This android is the result ofbining our body and Si Metaverse¡¯s program. It can move for up to 3 hours and as you can see, it¡¯s very quiet.¡±
The humanoid robots that BD had shown before were not like this.
They used engines, so they were very noisy and their movements were rough.
Of course, they showed off their skills by dancing or tumbling, but they couldn¡¯t deny that they were robots.
But this Lucia was different.
The people didn¡¯t notice that she was a robot until they saw her mechanical hand.
The lighting was so dazzling that they couldn¡¯t see her movements well, but that also meant that it was shocking.
After that, Yu Ji-ha came on stage and exined the technical aspects with Robert CEO, but there were few people who were interested in them except for roboticists.
¡®They should have just shown more of Lucia.¡¯
That was what people thought.
Yu Ji-ha realized that and shortened his exnation as much as possible, then turned Lucia back on.
The people watched Lucia dance and were convinced.
The definition of an android might be different for each person, but the world would recognize Lucia as the first android.
¡
The video that Boston Dynamics uploaded on MewTube that day attracted explosive attention.
The views surpassed ten million in an instant and reached one hundred million in a day.
Those who watched the video to the end did not skimp on their praise.
¨DWow, this is iparable to any other robot.
¨DI got goosebumps when I saw Lucia dance. She¡¯s almost human, right?
¨DMy sister finally came out of the monitor, but why can¡¯t I buy her?
On the other hand, there were a few people who denied the video.
They were mostly people whose knowledge of robots had stopped in the early 2000s.
¨DDidn¡¯t a robot made in Japan fall down the stairs? They¡¯ve advanced this much already?
¨DThis is CG. You have to lie more convincingly, this is ridiculous.
¨DThey¡¯re just putting on a show to raise their stock price.
Thesements were quickly bombarded with dislikes and curses.
¨DThe Honda robot that fell down the stairs was in 2006. What era are you living in? It¡¯s 2027 now.
¨DDo you think you can do that with CG? Are you kidding me?
¨DThe whole Si Group voluntarily delisted themselves, what¡¯s the point of BD raising their stock price?
Thesements were followed by many others.
But those conspiracy theorists insisted that it was fake until the end.
However, they could no longerment.
Si Group had revealed videos of Lucia walking around various streets in Seoul as part of her promotion.
¡°Hello~¡±
People looked at Lucia, thinking she was a woman wearing a mask, and then their expressions changed drastically.
¡°Oh my, she¡¯s a robot¡¡±
¡°I really thought she was a human.¡±
¡°Look at her hand. Her hand ispletely mechanical.¡±
Lucia received a lot of attention as she walked around Hongdae Street, Nowon Station, Sinchon and other ces.
She shook hands more than a hundred times and talked to people of all ages and genders.
She even took off her mask and showed her bare face to a child who was curious about her.
¡°Aaaah!¡±
The child cried and peopleughed.
What kind of face was behind the mask?
This video spread across the sea to Japan.
Japanese people, who had been proud of being the dominant country in humanoid robots except for BD, were shocked by this.
¨DWhat is this? She¡¯s totally human.
¨DWhat have Honda and Sony been doing for 10 years?
¨DPlease stop using machine guns when we¡¯re fighting with swords. Please, I beg you.
¨DI¡¯m seriously shocked. Did Korean robotse this far?
¨DYou must have not watched the news for a year. ck metal battery, ion thruster¡ Korea is no longer below Japan.
¨DPlease stop it, Japan¡¯s life is zero¡
Meanwhile, there were quite a few people who belittled it as an American technology, not Korean.
¨DAfter all, most of BD¡¯s employees are Americans, right? So it¡¯s an American technology.
¨DThe body may be so, but the core of that AI is in Si Group¡¯s server. Don¡¯t belittle it so much.
¨DIs that AI called Lucia really that great? I don¡¯t believe it.
¨DYou guys hate listening to Korean news so you closed your ears¡
It must have been around the time when Starfieldunched a projectile thatnded on the moon and mined unobtanium.
Korean articles disappeared from Japanese portal sites.
It waspletely different from the old days when there were always a few Korean articles on the international page.
The sites that tranted Korean reactions distorted the facts or stopped updating altogether.
As a result, unless one deliberately searched for them, they could only ess biased news.
The Japanese people realized the reality of Lucia and reacted with disbelief.
¨DThis is not an ordinary AI¡
¨DHow long will Japan keep airing programs that say Korea is over? Cover this instead.
¨DCan¡¯t we buy her?
¨DLucia is only avable in Korea and the US. And even in the US, they didn¡¯t promote her much.
¨DI watched the video and it was amazing. This is like having an assistant inside the monitor. You can take her anywhere too.
¨DWhy can¡¯t Japanesepanies make something like this?
¨DKoreanpanies can¡¯t either. Only Si Group can do it.
¨DI thought Japan would be the first to make a female android¡
Of course, there were not only positive reviews.
Many people felt disgust and rejection at the idea of an artificial intelligence mounted on the first android.
¨DThis is a human world, I can¡¯t ept artificial intelligence or androids. The government should intervene and stop it.
¨DIs Si Group¡¯s AI development okay? Are there no ethical issues?
¨DArtificial intelligence could be tempted by crime¡ We need to prepare in advance.
But Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t listen to theirints.
Even if they protested, it would end with a few people holding pickets and demonstrating in front of the headquarters.
Their words had no effect on him.
¡ div>
Chapter 52: Dangerous Korea
Chapter 52: Dangerous Korea
He watched the android that he had made beingpleted.
Silicon skin slowly covered the body and high-resolution cameras were installed in the holes of the face.
This model was a simplified version of the technology applied to Arma¡¯s sub-body, so that Boston Dynamics could use it.
It was inferior to Arma and even to the android employees, but it was hard to find any difference from a human at first nce.
But it seemed difficult tounch this android on the market.
¡°Some groups are strongly opposed, right?¡±
Arma showed him a video of the protesters and reported.
¡°As you can see, there is especially strong opposition from religious groups and civic organizations.¡±
The source of their opposition was an instinctive repulsion, a hatred.
They felt threatened by the fact that something that was not human entered and walked around in the human world.
In fact, there was no such problem with the previous humanoid robots.
No matter how well they jumped or tumbled, they couldn¡¯t cross the line of being robots.
Now an artificial intelligence mounted on an android appeared, dancing and conversing without any hindrance.
Where is the ce for humans then?
¡°And the unions are also opposed. They say that androids will take away jobs¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s a premature worry, but it has some merit.
The current production cost of Lucia is one billion won.
She can only be used for three hours at a time, so the im that she will take away jobs is unrealistic at this point.
But there are several versions reserved for upgrades, so the situation will change in a few years.¡±
Actually, there was no such concern in Mega City.
Androids were only for hobby or assistance purposes, and they were regted byw so that they would not invade human territory.
It was just that Korea had no relevantws at all, so people were anxious.
¡°The National Assembly should solve that, but¡¡±
¡°It looks difficult because thepanies are fiercely opposed. President Jo Hyung-geun also seems to think this is risky.¡±
¡°I guess so. If Lucia is deployed, the whole country will turn upside down.¡±
On the inte and elsewhere, there was a lot of noise about deploying Lucia to the financialwork and administrativework as soon as possible, but as always, it would end up as a storm in a teacup.
¡°There is no institution that wants to voluntarily reveal its ws.¡±
¡°We are no different either.¡±
Yu Ji-ha was no different from them either.
He was just more determined to act because he came from the future.
He gave instructions to Arma.
¡°Tell BD to prepare for mass production. And don¡¯t forget about Japan¡¯s movements.¡±
The thing he was worried about regarding Japan¡¯s situation was their espionage.
They could withstand the criticism and sanctions of the internationalmunity if they proceeded with nuclear development, but they didn¡¯t want to do that unnecessarily.
In this case, he could suggest one scenario.
What if they pushed Korea to attempt nuclear development and took advantage of the gap when they were sanctioned by the internationalmunity toplete their own development?
Japan¡¯s nuclear armament was estimated to be possible within a year at most, or six months at least.
If they had prepared in advance and quickly developed it while Korea was receiving all kinds of sanctions, they could minimize their diplomatic burden.
After all, weren¡¯t China and Europe eager to impose sanctions on Korea?
If only the US turned a blind eye, Japan could try this method.
The possibility was low, but Arma had urately predicted China¡¯s kidnapping attempt.
She didn¡¯t think that the activities of the Japanese lobbyists who were frantically lobbying in Washington were a coincidence.
Yu Ji-ha emphasized once more.
¡°Monitor everyone, whether they are presidents or congressmen.¡±
Yemen, where a civil war had been going on for 14 years.
A meaningful battle ended in the city of Aden in Yemen.
After a year of fighting, the Hadi government forces supported by Saudi Arabia won.
¡°God is great!¡±
¡°Look at that! The rebels are running away!¡±
Amidst the mes and smoke rising from various parts of the city, the Hadi government forces climbed onto the rooftops of buildings and cheered.
This victory was not because the government forces or the Saudi mercenaries fought well.
A weapon system brought from thousands of kilometers away hadpletely changed the situation.
It was abat drone system produced by Si High-Tech in Korea.
When Crown Prince Mohammed brought this drone, the Hadi government forces and Saudi mercenaries were not very interested.
¡°Another drone? The Houthis also use drones a lot.¡±
¡°Korean weapons are decent. But that doesn¡¯t mean they can win this battle.¡±
¡°Why don¡¯t you invest in us instead of wasting money on these toys?¡±
This evaluation was natural because weapon systems called drones were used routinely in today¡¯s world.
Not only rebel groups but even terrorists fired missiles with drones.
But the drone that came from Korea was different.
Saudi transport nes flew over the city of Aden, which was upied by the Houthi rebels, and spat out containers with parachutes one after another.
Anti-aircraft guns and others were mobilized to shoot them down, but most of them survived because it was night.
And when the containers opened, CDS-1, Combat Drone System, was activated.
This drone system was a surveince drone with guns and grenades added and an algorithm applied.
The bulletproof performance was enhanced and the battery capacity was increased, so the operating time was longer.
If the Houthi rebels had heard even a little bit of evaluation about this drone, they would never have attempted a night attack.
But they didn¡¯t know much about Korea, a faraway country in East Asia, and even less about drones.
And so began what wouldter be called the nightmare of May night, a massacre.
Hundreds of drones that popped out of the containers immediately entered the city and began to kill the Houthi rebels.
The Houthi rebels who first encountered them were startled and didn¡¯t know what to do.
¡°Drones are shooting guns!¡±
¡°They¡¯re just drones! Shoot them down!¡±
But these drones were different.
They tried to hide and cover themselves like humans and killed all the rebels.
The Houthi rebels had a lot of night vision devices, so they weren¡¯tpletely blind at night.
But they were no match for the drones that could see like daylight with all kinds of sensors.
Fighting broke out everywhere and the drones achieved an overwhelmingbat ratio, killing the rebels.
And before dawn, the drones annoyingly protected each other and returned to their containers.
It was unbelievable for the rebels.
¡°What are those things? They¡¯re not controlled by humans, are they?¡±
¡°Maybe if they go back to those boxes to charge¡¡±
¡°They¡¯lle again tonight!¡±
The terrified Houthi rebels tried to pour short-range ballistic missiles into the containers during the day, but they were shot down by anti-aircraft missiles from Saudi mercenaries.
Even if they hit by chance, only the containers were damaged, and the drones inside were fine.
The containers themselves were made of ck metal and had a structure to protect the drones inside.
And so every night, drones entered the city and fought fiercely with rebels.
Thebat ratio at this time was an astonishing 30:1, which was hard to handle even with arge number of troops.
And soldiers get tired and scared easily, but machines don¡¯t have that problem either.
There were not a few drones that broke down or were shot down, but every time that happened, mercenaries threw containers away and drove them crazy.
The frustrated Aden defensemander tried tounch arge-scale sweep during the day.
¡°We won¡¯t lose to those machines in broad daylight! God will protect us!¡±
But that was a mistake.
The drones noticed their approach and hid in the surrounding terrain andunched a preemptive attack.
The rebels, who were suddenly caught in a fight, responded with rocketunchers and heavy weapons, but they didn¡¯t see much effect.
The drones were small and fast, making them hard to hit.
Even when they sprayed bullets like fireworks, most of them were met with a bizarre bulletproof performance and counterattacked.
The Hadi government forces and Saudi mercenaries were not idle either.
After three weeks of fierce fighting, the Houthi rebels fled, leaving behind a huge number of casualties in the city.
Finally, after a year, the g of the Hadi government was raised in Aden.
The crown prince Muhammad, who confirmed this record and video, was very satisfied and sent a message to the owner of Si Group.
¡°My friend. The guys you sent did a splendid job. We have now upied Aden and are moving on to Zinjibar.¡±
¡°We have poured more than 700 million dors into Aden in thest year. But your drones took back Aden in just three weeks with only 5 million dors.¡±
¡°Congrattions, Your Highness. I¡¯m d you¡¯re satisfied.¡±
¡°We need more drones. I¡¯ll send a private jet, can you supply them?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Your Highness. The drone production facilities of Si Hi-Tech are currently unable to spare any capacity for supplying the Korean army.¡±
¡°I just deposited 100 million dors into Chairman Yu¡¯s ount. Leave the negotiation with the Korean government to me.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll have them ready when the private jet arrives.¡±
However, the coalition forces supporting Saudi Arabia were shocked by thebat records.
Especially Kate, a war correspondent dispatched by CNN, fiercely criticized the drone system.
¡°There are no longer humans on this battlefield. There is only murder nned by machines. It has not been confirmed whether they killed civilians, but if they did, who would be responsible? The Hadi government forces? The Saudi mercenaries? Or the merchant of death in faraway Korea?¡±
¡°Artificial intelligence has now entered our daily lives and is performing wars. Maybe in 10 years there will be no humans on the battlefield. We can no longer ignore artificial intelligence. This is Kate, signing off.¡±
This statement caused quite a controversy in the United States.
¨DCNN must not like the Koreanpany that rejected the battery factory proposed by the Democrats.
¨DIsn¡¯t calling him a merchant of death a bit too much? How much did that smallpany export?
¨DHey, Kate was warning about the danger of drones controlled by artificial intelligence. It¡¯s not such a petty emotion.
¨Dording to the report, those drones are perfect for identifying targets and even learning tactics. They¡¯re not ordinary drones.
¨DIs it wrong for machines to kill humans? Do you need to insert a human procedure to feel better?
¨DIt¡¯s not that simple. If machines kill humans, who is ountable?
¨DHas anyone ever been held ountable for the Yemeni civil war? The coalition¡¯s goal is to end the civil war as soon as possible. To do that, the Saudi government supported Hadi with money and found a way to end the war efficiently.
¨DThey¡¯re just ufortable. They don¡¯t have to go to the battlefield, so they¡¯re just babbling about human dignity being killed by machines from their rooms.
¨DThink about it when those androids with artificial intelligence enter our lives. What if they threaten to shoot you if you don¡¯t mow thewn?
¨DI just thought of something. How about throwing those drones into DMV (US Vehicle Bureau)?
¨DOh, are you finally killing those slowpokes at DMV who are slower than sloths?
¨DThey¡¯re doing it for you, you idiot.
As always, this kind of debate quickly fizzled out.
Instead, more countries became interested in thebat drone system.
No country wanted to save money and in that respect this drone system was optimal.
It couldn¡¯tpletely rece humans but it often surpassed them in some missions.
Thus, drone exports increased day by day.
Along with that, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s nickname became the merchant of death that Kate had given him.
He didn¡¯t seem to care about that nickname.
¡
In early summer of 2027.
Korea unveiled a new tform equipped with a railgun.
It was presented as a destroyer with a discement of 10,000 tons, but overseas analysts estimated it to be 15,000 tons, assuming it was downsized.
So far, there was not much to say, but the problem was the propulsion system.
It was equipped with a new ion thruster developed by Starfield.
Surprisingly, the four gas turbines were directly connected to the generator.
This meant that the ion thruster could handle such a huge vessel by itself.
The main armament was the railguns mounted on the bow and stern, and there was not a single verticalunch system.
In other words, this new tform was abat ship built for railguns only.
A finely crafted CG video uploaded to the Korean Navy¡¯s YouTube ount drew tremendous poprity.
However, some countries, especially the United States, doubted the specs of this tform.
¨DHow can four gas turbines power two railguns? That¡¯s impossible.
¨DWith 100,000 horsepower to load the whole ship and run the radar, the power going to the railguns would be less than 60%.
¨DReducing the range of the railguns would be foolish.
There was something.
To solve the mystery, the US Defense Intelligence Agency stepped in and the results were reported to the White House.
¡°Korea¡¯s newbat ship has two railguns? How did that happen?¡±
¡°The output from the four COGAG gas turbines is about 100,000 horsepower, which is not enough to handle two railguns. But when we put together what the Korean Navy said, it¡¯s hard to believe they reduced the range.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤Korea didn¡¯t give us everything about their railgun.¡±
¡°Yes. And we have intelligence that the generator capacity used in Korea¡¯s railgun test was pathetic. They deliberately hid it.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
Humphrey, the national security adviser, bowed his head in advance to prepare for the scream.
But President McKinley turned his chair silently and looked out the window.
¡°National security adviser, it seems like Korea is getting out of our hands.¡±
¡°That¡¯s especially truetely.¡±
They supplied ion thrusters to Russia and announced their own moon development n¡¤¡¤¡¤
Of course they didn¡¯t have to get permission from us, but they could at least notify us.
President McKinley had recently met with lobbyists rmended by the Republican Party and talked to them.
Their statements were unanimous.
¡°Korea¡¯s military expansion is eye-popping. From railgun propulsionbat ships to ck metal battery submarines¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°They even say they¡¯re mounting ion thrusters on hypersonic anti-ship missiles. It would be expensive, but the range would be tremendous.¡±
¡°What about EU sanctions? The stock market crashed when they announced their research results on sr fusion and went back to before subprime. There¡¯s now that says their de won¡¯t point to other countries.¡±
They all said Korea was too dangerous.
And Japanese bureaucrats also said the same thing.
Japan had been focusing all its attention on Korea¡¯s defense enhancementtely.
Railguns, ion thrusters, drones¡¤¡¤¡¤it was suffocating.
The only thing Japan could get was ck metal batteries, and even that was limited to electric cars.
They seeded inunching a terra projectile with a robot and brought back unobtainium, but that was just a return for transferring technology from JAXA.
The next projectile didn¡¯t have Japan¡¯s robot and there was no promise when they could get in.
Meanwhile, Japan was shocked when Android Lucia was announced.
The shock was iparable to what the United States, Russia, Germany and others had received.
Japan was the dominant country of humanoid robots except for Boston Dynamics and they had no intention of giving up their position to Korea.
But the android that Si Group came up with instantly relegated Japan¡¯s level to toy level.
Especially Japanese otakus were greatly disappointed that Lucia Premium was not released.
¨DWhy are we left out when Germany is scheduled to release it after the US and even Russia is on the list?
¨DYu Ji-ha must hate Japan for sure.
¨DWhat did we do¡¤¡¤¡¤
¨DThey invited them to negotiate and left them in a warehouse office. You didn¡¯t forget that already?
¨DThat¡¯s what Toyota and Panasonic did. It has nothing to do with us.
¨DThere are also posts on Korean inte that Lucia scanned this side of web and confirmed an enormous amount of anti-Korean materials.
¨DWhat about those horrible anti-Korean books on online bookstores? You¡¯ll get hated for sure if you do that.
¨DThere are books like that in Korea too. Zainichi.
This kind of stupid im was not taken seriously as it was from the far-right.
However, even if the atmosphere was not like this in Japan, there were many opinions that they should talk.
¨DWhy can¡¯t we get along with Korea? We don¡¯t have to be confrontational.
¨DJust take Dokdo and Yu Ji-ha will be finished? Please stop the far-right delusions.
¨DLet¡¯s just admit Dokdo as Korea¡¯s territory and establish a friendly rtionship. Si Group¡¯s position will change if we be allies.
But in Japan, this opinion was a minority.
Most of the middle-aged and older generations over 50 regarded Korea as a younger brother.
That was the fact.
In the 70s and 80s, when Japan achieved rapid growth, Korea was nothing but a developing country.
They learned a lot of technology from Japan through partnerships and most of the image that Japanese have of Korea stems from here.
¨DKorea? They¡¯re just leeches. Japan feeds Korea by letting them suck. They should be grateful for that.
Even recently, this perception didn¡¯t change much.
Rather, some argued that Korea should be taught a lesson for being wicked.
¨DSi Group¡¯s business is ultimately a ck metal one-trick. If we block ck metal, we can block everything from railguns to ion thrusters, unobtainium and nuclear fusion.
¨DThe monopoly mining rights will end in a year and a half. During the negotiation period, if we move the pro-Japanesewmakers in Korea, a very headache situation will arise.
¨DWe can mobilize the escort fleet and secure only the deposits near Takeshima. Yu Ji-ha will have no choice but to surrender.
¨DThey have too many enemies with 1.6 billion turned against them and the US¡¯s attitude is not goodtely. Si Group has nowhere to give ck metal.
¨DAre you guys stupid? There¡¯s plenty of ck metal in Russia and India. You¡¯re just getting hated for nothing.
¨DShut up Zainichi.
Many people in Japan thought they should talk to Si Group anyway. They couldn¡¯t stay like this.
So in early June, Ozawa, the Japanese prime minister, visited Korea. div>
Chapter 53: A Fine Example Of A Dictator
Chapter 53: A Fine Example Of A Dictator
Prime Minister Ozawa finished his official schedule with the Korean government and visited the Si Group right away.
He rode in the Windrunner electric car with Yu Ji-ha and looked impressed.
¡°This is more than just a car for drivers. I can see why the rumors were an understatement.¡±
¡°Thank you for yourpliment.¡±
¡°Can I see this car in Japan too?¡±
¡°Well, we don¡¯t have a branch in Japan, so¡¡±
He doubted that it would sell well even if they exported it.
The Japanese pride was well-known.
Even when Hansung Electronics¡¯ appliances and Orion smartphones swept the world, Japan ignored them.
They stubbornly stuck to Japanese products even though they were inferior in price and performance.
That was their subtle contempt for Korea that had been formed over decades.
Prime Minister Ozawa knew that too, so he smiled bitterly and looked ahead.
Soon, they sat down in a separate meeting room.
Yu Ji-ha spoke first.
¡°I¡¯ll tell you in advance, but the contents of this meeting will be reported to the Korean government as well.¡±
¡°Of course. It won¡¯t be valid without the consent of the Korean government. Then I¡¯ll deliver the official position of Japan. We want to establish a friendly rtionship with the Si Group. We are willing to take all the necessary measures for that.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good to hear. I¡¯ll ept it if you dere three things.¡±
¡°What are those three things?¡±
¡°The first is to dere that the ck Metal in the East Sea and Dokdo are permanently owned by Korea and that Japan will never infringe on them.¡±
Prime Minister Ozawa¡¯s expression hardened noticeably. He seemed to have not expected that.
¡°The second is a sincere reflection on the past history. You don¡¯t need vague words like regret or remorse. It would be troublesome if Japanese politicians say something weirdter.¡±
The prime minister¡¯s expression turned sour.
To be honest, he didn¡¯t have that in mind when he first heard that Prime Minister Ozawa was visiting Korea.
He didn¡¯t care about Korea¡¯s history because he was only using a Korean body.
But Arma advised him seriously.
¡°If you are recorded as the person who received Japan¡¯s formal apology, it will be a great help for your future rule.¡±
He didn¡¯t really want a title, but he was willing to do it if it helped.
The prime minister was silent for a long time before he opened his mouth.
¡°¡You said three things, so let me hear them first.¡±
¡°Thest one is the freedom of navigation for warships in Japan¡¯s southern sea¡that is, the sea from Senkaku Inds to Kyushu in the East China Sea.¡±
The freedom of navigation for warships was tantamount to saying that he wanted to use it as his own sea.
¡°Impossible. All three are impossible conditions.¡±
¡°Then the negotiation is over. Have a nice day.¡±
As Yu Ji-ha stood up, Prime Minister Ozawa grabbed his hand in a hurry.
¡°What if, I ept those conditions?¡±
¡°The Si Group will treat Japan as simr to the US.¡±
The prime minister¡¯s breathing became rough for a moment.
He wasn¡¯t out of breath because he was too old.
¡°It¡¯s simr treatment¡¡±
¡°We willunch Windrunner and Lucia Premium, as well as supply railguns and ion thrusters.¡±
¡°What about Unobtanium and nuclear fusion, moon development?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think it will be the same as Korea, but it might be possible as a major participant. And you will also get priority treatment in the future projects of the Si Group.¡±
The offer was as shocking as the conditions.
The prime minister wanted to say YES, but barely held back.
He didn¡¯t want to refuse such an offer, but he was representing the will of Japan.
¡°¡¡±
A long silence followed.
Did this mean that Korea had settled its internal affairs?
On the contrary, Japan was not settled at all.
The reason why he visited Korea this time was to ask about the Si Group¡¯s intentions and discuss countermeasures.
In other words, nothing was supposed to happen here.
Prime Minister Ozawa wanted to ask one thing.
¡°President Yu. Do you think Japan and Korea can be friends?¡±
¡°If we can shake off the past, I think it¡¯s possible to be friends. Japan just needs to show some sincerity.¡±
It seemed expensive for some sincerity, but thepensation was more than that.
The EU tried to get Unobtanium and got sanctioned, suffering a huge blow of hundreds of trillions of yen.
The internal conflict was so serious that many predicted that they would never return to their former EU.
In this situation, did they need to antagonize the Si Group?
If they just swallowed their pride, they could secure a strong rope for the future?
¡But how to silence the voices of opposition in Japan was the problem.
He also didn¡¯t think it would be easy to persuade the hardline stance of the Self-Defense Forces.
Should he arrange a visit by the emperor?
Prime Minister Ozawa shook his head inwardly.
If he used that method and the atmosphere didn¡¯t change, his regime would be in danger.
He didn¡¯t want to hold another general election for the House of Representatives when he had been in office for less than two years.
¡®I have no choice but to gather opinions when I go back¡¡¯
It was strange.
He was the prime minister, but he didn¡¯t represent Japan at all.
On the other hand, the handsome businessman in front of him looked like he was representing Korea.
It was probably because of his dazzling achievements so far.
He didn¡¯t actually do anything for the Korean people, but he was praised for raising their pride.
Prime Minister Ozawa concluded.
¡°Excuse me, Chairman Yu. I can¡¯t decide everything here. I¡¯ll go back and discuss it with the bureaucrats.¡±
¡°I hope it goes well for both countries.¡±
It was a meaningful remark.
¡°Please, this is myst request. Can I visit the sr fusion facility? I want to see the ion beam fusion with my own eyes.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not a problem.¡±
The prime minister was immediately guided to the sr fusion facility and listened to the exnation of Director Ahn Yong-hoon.
¡°Ion beam fusion is a method of creating sma by shooting ion beams at fuel pellets through multiple elerators and causing an implosion effect¡¡±
The exnation was not bad for ayman, but the prime minister¡¯s eyes and ears were reading the atmosphere around the demonstration reactor.
¡®Things are busy and fast here.¡¯
It was natural for this ce to be noisy like a newborn baby.
But the prime minister saw a fundamental difference between this fusion reactor and Japan¡¯s.
Compared to Japan, which had nothing more to do than routine experiments and data collection, this ce was definitely lively.
That didn¡¯t guarantee the oue, but if anyone asked which side had more potential, they would choose this one.
Especially since they had Lucia, who was considered the world¡¯s first artificial intelligence.
He could see the researchers adjusting the ion beam elerators under her guidance.
He could sense their expectation of something being born from their sweat and smiles.
¡®If only we could send our researchers here¡¡¯
He felt like they could learn a lot.
Ozawa bowed slightly to Chairman Yoo Ji-ha.
¡°Thank you for the tour. I will try to bring good news when I return to Japan.¡±
His visit to Korea ended there.
But the real thing started when he returned to Japan.
¡
Ozawa¡¯s visit to Korea caused a huge wave in Japan.
He tried to secretly gather opinions from various circles, but it was leaked in the process.
The conditions offered by Korea and the opposition to them dominated the inte and terrestrial channels.
Many Japanese people showed tremendous resistance when they learned of the contents.
¡ªck metal is one thing, but giving up Takeshima permanently? That¡¯s absurd!
¡ªWhat is this innocent passage right? The Ozawa regime that gives up Japan¡¯s sea is anti-national!
¡ªWe are tired of Korea demanding apologies andpensation. Severance is the answer.
Compensation was a fabrication of the right-wingers and it worked.
The Self-Defense Forces maintained an absolute no position on the three terms, and various groups also issued statements of opposition.
On the other hand, some upper sses reacted that it was not bad to have a close rtionship with Korea at that level.
¡ªLet¡¯s calm down and think constructively. In reality, all we lose is lending our sea.
¡ªDidn¡¯t they say they would share railgun and fusion technology? It¡¯s amazing to get the same treatment as the United States.
¡ªEspecially Unobtanium is a problem. This material is not impossible for Japan alone, but the price is too high to be meaningful. Japan should not be excluded from the Unobtanium ecosystem.
Japan¡¯s businessmunity also cautiously voiced their opinions.
¡ªAs a car union, we hope that things will be resolved peacefully as much as possible.
¡ªWith the help of Si Group, Japan¡¯s economy can escape stagnation and leap forward.
However, these opinions that sought profit were not easily noticed.
It was always stimting ims that attracted people¡¯s attention.
There was a growing anti-Korean sentiment in Japan.
Many people protested how Korea could demand such things.
As this soil was formed, the right-wingers diligently sprinkled fertilizer.
¡ªLet¡¯s expel Zainichi Koreans and sever ties with Korea! Japan can no longer afford to lose!
¡ªLet¡¯s just not have anything to do with Korea. Even currency swaps should be rejected altogether.
¡ªJapan should have nuclear weapons too. Then railguns or ion thrusters would beughable.
Japan¡¯s attitude was also known in Korea and caused quite a fierce reaction.
¡ªLook at those bastards making up things again. There¡¯s nopensation in the conditions, why are they ranting?
¡ªThink about it, it makes me angry? From the beginning, Dokdo and ck metal are ours, and we deserve a sincere apology and innocent passage rights anyway?
¡ªJust let them sever ties. But then exclude them from ck metal, drones, artificial intelligence, ion thrusters, sr fusion Unobtanium and moon development altogether.
¡ªLet¡¯s just ignore each other and live. Don¡¯t interfere with anything in the future.
Compared to before, Korea¡¯s atmosphere had changed a bit too.
With Yu Ji-ha¡¯s appearance, some areas achieved overwhelming results, making them rtively rxed.
There was also a strong voice saying let¡¯s sever ties and go our own way.
Some argued that what about Japan¡¯s trade deficit, but few people cared.
And so the negotiations ultimately broke down.
The Korean government left ament of regret and the Japanese government did not make any significant response.
But internally, there was a feeling that they could not sit still.
¡ªIn two or three years, Korea¡¯s military power will grow rapidly. Railguns with a range of over 500km, submarines equipped with ion thrusters and hypersonic anti-ship missiles¡ I doubt Japan¡¯s power can stop them.
¡ªWhat we need now is asymmetric power. Only this can protect Japan.
The most famous of the asymmetric powers was what?
Just then, a report on the possibility of nuclear development from the Atomic Research Institute came to the prime minister¡¯s office.
¡°Nine months¡ at most a year for the first nuclear test¡¡±
The secretaries advised him.
¡°Recently, the United States is skeptical of Korea¡¯s attitude. If we lobby properly, they won¡¯t oppose it much.¡±
¡°EU and China are also very resentful of Korea. If Japan takes a confrontational stance against Korea, there won¡¯t be much sanctions.¡±
¡°We can handle the bacsh from Russia, India, Germany and so on.¡±
Ozawa prime minister pondered deeply.
Chairman Yu Ji-ha said that Japan and Korea could be friends, but it seemed difficult.
Soon after, an order to enrich plutonium came from the prime minister¡¯s office.
And Yu Ji-ha was receiving all of this from Arma.
¡°Japan is enriching plutonium and the United States is watching it.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll have to go with n B.¡±
¡
¡°Is this the material called antron?¡±
¡°It¡¯s an element developed by Director Ahn Yong-hoon and Lucia. As the name anti-neutron implies, it suppresses the movement of neutrons.¡±
¡°What does that mean exactly?¡±
¡°It means that no nuclear reaction urs when this material explodes. The reactor will stop working, and the nuclear missiles will be scrap metal.¡±
¡°¡¡±
President Jo Hyung-geun lost his words and looked at the monitor in theb.
He came here because he heard they made a great discovery, but he never imagined it would be something like this.
The monitor showed a simplified diagram of the situation when the ion beam was elerated through the elerator and hit the pellet.
Dr. Ahn Yong-hoon¡¯s exnation apanied it.
¡°To be precise, when a pellet using deuterium and helium-3 as fuel is heated, it emits proton rays and neutron rays. But in this diagram, there are only protons. So¡¡±
¡°Neutrons don¡¯t move at all.¡±
¡°¡Then the nuclear reaction is suppressed? Nuclear fission too?¡±
¡°In theory, yes. We need to prove it through experiments.¡±
¡°Actually, this is an element made by Lucia. ck metal undergoes various phase transitions under special conditions, and one of them is antron. Lucia predicted that such a material could exist theoretically, and it was exactly right.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not even a rare earth metal, how can there be such a material?¡±
President Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s grumbling was understandable.
It was used as armor material, made batteries, went into ion thrusters, and now even suppressed nuclear reactions.
It wouldn¡¯t be strange to call it a miracle material.
But for Yu Ji-ha, it was only natural.
It was just replicating the biological reactions that urred in gue¡¯s body.
And there were many technologies and concepts in Settler that couldn¡¯t be brought out right away.
For example, gravity wave radar.
Even in this era, gravity waves were detected and researched in various fields.
But gravity wave radar was a thing of a different dimension from those studies.
If he brought it out now, he would seriously be suspected of being an alien.
Quantummunication and diamond semiconductors, cultured meat technology were more manageable and ready.
Actually, they would be unveiled after he conquered Korea and established a state.
President Jo Hyung-geun listened to Director Ahn Yong-hoon¡¯s exnation for a while and then grabbed Yoo Ji-ha¡¯s arm.
¡°Excuse me for a moment.¡±
As the security guards guarded the door of the conference room, he spoke in an excited tone.
¡°You know what I value most, Chairman Yu.¡±
¡°The result is more important than the process. Simply put, using this element, you canpletely block North Korea¡¯s nuclear missiles.¡±
¡°How soon can you produce it?¡±
¡°North Korea has¡¡±
¡°About 60 or 70 units.¡±
¡°If we speed up the schedule, we can make enough to offset them in six months. Korea¡¯s L-SAM Janggung can intercept them in the ascent phase.¡±
It was easy to approach within 500m with the recently developed anti-ballistic missile.
¡°So you¡¯re saying we can treat North Korea¡¯s nuclear missiles as nonexistent?¡±
¡°That¡¯s correct.¡±
¡°Six months, six months¡¡±
Now President Jo Hyung-geun started walking around the conference room.
He couldn¡¯t calm down from his excitement.
He probably had nothing but thoughts of advancing north with the 7th Corps after blocking all of North Korea¡¯s nuclear weapons.
He had a rare political orientation in Korean politics called right-wing nationalism, which earned him the reputation of being a weirdo in the opposition and a madman in the ruling party.
His ambition was one thing.
To enter Pyongyang with tanks, nt the Taegeukgi g at Junseong Pce, and extradite Kim¡¯s family to South Korea for trial.
He didn¡¯t care much about the damage or burden that South Korea would have to bear because of the war.
Only northward advancement was the solution to unification and the rest would be taken care of by future generations.
Yu Ji-ha threw him a sweet bait.
¡°China¡¯s movements are not goodtely. They seem to want to attack an external enemy to resolve their internal conflicts.¡±
He nodded roughly.
¡°I know. All intelligence agencies are raising intelligence that they will attack Taiwan soon. They probably won¡¯tst this year.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s words ended there but President Jo Hyung-geun naturally imagined the rest of them.
¡ªWouldn¡¯t a two-front war be difficult for anyone?
He didn¡¯t actually say it, but that¡¯s how it sounded.
That¡¯s how much President Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s mind was in a state of excitement.
¡®If China attacks Taiwan, North Korea will have no resources to pour into it. All we have to do is contain the Shenyang Military Region¡¯s troops.¡¯
It wasn¡¯t easy, but if they could block the important nuclear weapons, and if they got support from the US military, it was worth a try.
Especially since the recent news about North Korea was supporting his decision.
They said they had no oil, so they couldn¡¯t fly nes or ships.
Even the entire army corps had deserters and it was hard to maintain the unit.
There was a riot in Pyongyang and the Ministry of Security brutally suppressed it.
It wasn¡¯t just a rumor, but information from multiple agencies.
North Korea was literally copsing, and South Korea was barely holding on.
Various new weapons were not yet operational, but if they could block nuclear weapons, they could easily crush North Korea¡¯s conventional forces.
¡®I don¡¯t know when this opportunity wille again.¡¯
What he needed now was an opportunity.
And he could make that opportunity as much as he wanted.
President Jo Hyung-geun left the sr fusion without a word.
Yu Ji-ha knew everything he was thinking. div>
Chapter 54: Unconventional Defenses and Simulated Showdowns
Chapter 54: Unconventional Defenses and Simted Showdowns
¡°Master, the bio-bag has been repaired.¡±
¡°What about my body?¡±
¡°It¡¯s currently 70% restored.¡±
Yu Ji-ha looked into the medical room inside the Settler through a worker.
The bio-bag was one of the relics of the Prophets, a kind of artificial womb.
In 2180, most of humanity was born in bio-bags, and they were also used to rece organs or cure diseases.
Its function was iparable to the medical capsules developed by humans.
Since the appearance of the bio-bag, humanity had finally escaped from the concept of aging and was no longer afraid of diseases.
However, it was impossible to revive the dead.
He had spected that it might be possible with the soul-exchange device he had obtained recently, but the gue had destroyed the United Human Federation.
Yu Ji-ha stared at his body in the bio-bag.
¡°¡I¡¯ve lived for decades in this body, but it feels strange somehow.¡±
The man inside had his eyes closed. He was close to 2 meters tall, with a muscr physique, brown hair and eyes.
He looked like a Westerner to Koreans, but it was normal in the United Human Federation.
All kinds of races were mixed, so it was impossible and meaningless to guess where he came from.
This was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s real body.
¡°It will take a month to fully recover your body, Master.¡±
¡°Well, I don¡¯t need it right now.¡±
He was doing fine as a Korean Yu Ji-ha for now.
He would switch when the United Human Federation stabilized and the Korean Yu Ji-ha grew old.
¡°The problem is when to use this body¡ Would it be too much if I did it by ident?¡±
¡°By then, your position in the Federation will be absolute, so you can just say you¡¯re passing it on to your sessor.¡±
¡°Passing on my legacy to my sessor. A fine example of a dictator.¡±
Yu Ji-ha had quite a few children.
Not that he had fathered them himself, but he had provided his genes, so he had many blood-rted children.
However, those children did not recognize Yu Ji-ha as their father.
In the United Human Federation, parents meant little more than gene donors.
¡°You can say they were born between you and me. It makes sense since we look alike.¡±
Arma was recognized as more than Yu Ji-ha¡¯s secretary by the public.
There were rumors that they had something going on between them.
Rumors were rumors, but he could use them to continue his long-term dictatorship.
Yu Ji-ha had to hold on to power by any means until the gue came.
This body would make that possible.
¡
The southern part of Kamchatka Penins in June was drastically different from a few months ago.
A temporary pier was built and cargo ships brought in tons of construction materials.
During the day, androids worked on the smart farm, and at night, workers continued their work.
By the time Yu Ji-ha got off the helicopter, the first smart farm was almostpleted.
¡°The old nuclear fusion reactor and desalination facility have been installed. The first smart farm only needs a final check.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good. How¡¯s Russia doing?¡±
¡°They¡¯re not bothering us here. They even avoid sailing near us with their submarines.¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t expect them to keep their promise so thoroughly.¡±
¡°They must secure unobtanium and ion thrusters at all costs.¡±
Russia had asked him if they could trade their unobtanium with other countries.
They wanted to sell it to EU at a high price.
He originally nned not to allow even a small amount of it, but Arma advised him otherwise.
¨DAs long as you supply it to multiple countries, there will be some smuggling. EU will get some ck metal and unobtanium, not as much as they want. It¡¯s better to let them taste it through Russia.
A thirsty person would crave more water after drinking a little bit.
What Yu Ji-ha wanted was not EU¡¯s destruction, but their surrender.
EU would not want to give up their pride, but they would have a hard time ignoring the desperate voices of their scientists.
Yu Ji-ha pointed at the smart farm with his chin.
¡°You said you only have a final check left?¡±
¡°Yes, do you want me to turn it on now?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s see how it works until trial production. I want to see if it produces anything good.¡±
Arma would check it thoroughly, but he wanted to see it with his own eyes and touch the meat himself.
It would be responsible for the lifeline of 1.5 billion people in the United Human Federation, after all.
A low humming sound was heard, and the smart farm woke up.
Electricity was supplied to the entire building and the equipment started to move.
Most of the processes were automated, but there were still some sections that required human intervention, and they were handled by androids.
Yu Ji-ha walked slowly to the corridor in front of theboratory where the culture fluid was extracted.
¡°How far has the culture fluid research progressed?¡±
¡°We can produce all parts of pigs, cows, and chickens.¡±
¡°Just do trial production and mass-produce processed meat.¡±
¡°You mean spam.¡±
¡°It¡¯s easier to handle canned food in wartime, isn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s true that nothing beats spam for providing high calories.¡±
He could supplybat rations, but it was much easier and cheaper to produce spam.
And he wasn¡¯t the only one supplying food.
South Korea would provide a huge amount of food, so he just had to make up for the shortage.
¡°China will act soon, and we¡¯ll start soon too, so we don¡¯t have much time. Stock up as much as you can.¡±
China would start a war within this year.
Jo Hyunggeun would not miss that opportunity, so he expected him to start advancing north within six months.
Of course, ording to the constitution, South Korea pursued peaceful unification.
But if North Korea provoked them on a massive scale, no one would care about such words.
For example, what if the Seoul fire threat in ¡¯94 became a reality?
How would Koreans react if something bigger than a shell exploded, not just one or two?
They were already grinding their teeth at North Korea, so they would shout for advancing north.
War was tragic enough, and the damage would be enormous, but it was foolish to just take it.
They had endured provocations for decades, so it was time to run out of patience.
Yu Ji-ha stopped in front of the culture facility.
Modern cultured meat was produced by stacking protein and fatyers using a mold in a culture tank.
In the process, electrical stimtion was applied to create muscle fibers and reproduce the unique texture.
It was an early technology that was quite expensive and time-consuming, costing about $8 per 100 grams.
But the smart farm here used a 3D printer to stack meat chunks in an instant.
The tank in the spray gave tens of thousands of micro-electric shocks at a time, making the production speed very fast.
The level of texture reproduction and cost was iparable to modern cultured meat.
In less than 30 minutes from theboratory to here, a strip of pork belly waspleted.
Sizzle¨D
An android employee cooked it for him and Yu Ji-ha tasted it.
¡°Hmm, it¡¯s almost simr.¡±
This was what you would get if you ordered pork belly at a normal restaurant.
By adding various additives to the culture medium and slightly lowering the production speed, he could produce more delicious and vorful pork belly.
But right now, quantity was more important.
He looked around the remaining facilities he maintained and asked.
¡°How much spam can we stockpile by next June? Including what will be sent to the North Pacific inds.¡±
¡°Calcting¡ We can stockpile about 300,000 tons.¡±
It took a lot of time to do the groundwork and increase the equipment, but production was quick.
¡°How much food shortage does North Korea have in a year?¡±
¡°The World Food Programme estimates about 1 million tons as of 2026. However, the information on North Korea¡¯s food shortage varies greatly.¡±
¡°Considering that they will be devastated by war, we should expect at least 2 million tons of shortage.¡±
¡°If North Korea provokes us on arge scale and weunch a preemptive strike, the US and the UN will be passive at first.¡±
¡°But they won¡¯t do nothing.¡±
¡°They would prefer us to stabilize North Korea.¡±
China was not in a position to intervene and Russia would show interest but not interfere.
The variable was the US.
They would formally criticize South Korea¡¯s preemptive strike, but eventually intervene. The question was how far they would go.
Would they help and withdraw?
Or would they set up a separatemand like they did when they upied Japan and try to rule part of it?
The former would be a relief, but thetter was uneptable to South Korea, let alone Yu Ji-ha.
¡°They might try to pressure us more these days. They don¡¯t like our attitude. China would love it if we upied the northern border area.¡±
¡°They would also try to pressure us more when they find out about the NCM bullets during the war.¡±
¡°Make a n to get rid of the US troops. As peacefully as possible.¡±
Fighting with the US now would exhaust both sides.
He had no choice but to coax and appease them out.
¡
He visited the fusion defense research institute he maintained.
A researcher who had received instructions in advance guided him.
¡°Sir, it¡¯s¡ done.¡±
The cover was removed and a vehicle connected to a container appeared.
It was a Korean-style ion beam that was developed by Fusion Defense, a defensepany affiliated with Si Group, and then discontinued.
This equipment was hastily promoted after North Korea¡¯s second Yeonpyeongdo shelling incident in 2022.
Originally, they tried to introduce it from Israel, but they switched to self-development because it did not suit the domestic situation.
However, K-ion beam also faced a simr situation.
The researcher stood in front of him and exined.
¡°The output is not good enough. It can intercept shells or mortars, but it can¡¯t cope with North Korea¡¯s radiation guns or rockets.¡±
¡°So you¡¯re saying that if we solve the output problem, we can use it.¡±
The researcher nodded hesitantly.
¡°The range is also a problem. The limit is about 2km, but the shells fall faster than sound. It takes about 5 seconds toser them, but we can¡¯t handle that amount.¡±
To be precise, it was not enough for this size to be mounted on this scale.
The US military had already installed the Heliosser system on the Aegis destroyer.
Thisser system was for close defense, with an output of 100kw and a range of about 5km.
If he had to implement radar and fire control systems onnd, he would have to use the entire container as a generator.
In fact, what bothered the Korean military was North Korea¡¯srge-scale radiation guns, including ballistic missiles, but L-SAM and Janggung were responsible for that.
¡°I see. We¡¯ll take care of this.¡±
¡°It¡¯ll be difficult¡¡±
The researcher looked puzzled as if he didn¡¯t understand.
¡°This is something that Israel and the US have failed. The output is a problem, but it¡¯s impossible to intercept multiple shells at once. How can you intercept all those shells that fall on Seoul?¡±
He sounded genuinely worried, but Yu Ji-ha sent him away.
¡°We¡¯ll figure it out ourselves. Just give us some research data.¡±
¡°¡¡±
The reason why Si Group took over K-ion beam that officially failed in development was entirely due to President Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s intention.
He dreamed of advancing northward with the 7th Army Corps in front of him and worried about the shells that North Korea¡¯s artillery units would pour on Seoul. He thought of ion beam.
So he casually told Yu Ji-ha.
¡°Chairman Yu, I¡¯ll tell you one secret. If war breaks out, our military willunch a firepower strike against North Korea. It¡¯s a n to annihte all the striking means, including long-range guns.¡±
¡°What does that have to do with us?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s think from North Korea¡¯s perspective for a moment. If you were Kim Jong-un or Kim Yo-jong, wouldn¡¯t you be tempted to fire a shell at Seoul, that developed metropolis?¡±
¡°You¡¯re saying that some of North Korea¡¯s artillery will target Seoul instead of military bases or key facilities.¡±
¡°That¡¯s why I like you Chairman Yu.¡±
He pped Yu Ji-ha¡¯s shoulder and quickly said.
¡°North Korea¡¯s air force is meaningless, and their artillery will be quickly swept away by the firepower strike in the early stages of the war. But they won¡¯t be able to fire a few shells at Seoul. I can¡¯t stand that sight.¡±
There are many research results that North Korea¡¯s actual artillery firepower is not as scary as those numbers.
But even if a few dozen shells fall on Seoul in wartime, the media will go crazy.
If they hit a gas pipeline and cause an explosion, the anti-war activists might go wild.
¡°So I¡¯m asking you to take over the ion beam that was developed and stopped. The one that Israel and the US failed.¡±
¡°What do you think, is it possible?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know¡ I¡¯ll have to try.¡±
¡°What kind of answer is that from someone who is working on lunar development and nuclear fusion? Anyway, I¡¯ll take it as a yes.¡±
He was a reckless person.
In fact, it was difficult with the existing power system, but it was possible with ether crystals.
However, revealing the Aetherser now would cause some problems with the roadmap.
He would miss the rise of anti-North sentiment if he blocked all of North Korea¡¯s shelling provocations.
¡®But it wouldn¡¯t be bad if it happened.¡¯
His influence would rise even more if he blocked all of North Korea¡¯s shelling.
He was already treated as the next president, but he wanted more than Yu Ji-ha.
Anyway, that¡¯s how Si Hi-Tech took over the ion beam.
He brought in arge trailer and entered the yard of the research institute, and everyone looked dumbfounded.
¡°President, this won¡¯t work because of the power.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe if we had a nuclear fusion reactor or something.¡±
¡°I know. I¡¯ll take care of it myself, so don¡¯t worry.¡±
This was not a normal procedure for acquiring a weapon system.
It was an exceptional case that was directly ordered by the Blue House, so they only had to test it and deliver it.
The Board of Audit would probably investigate itter, but by then the war would have already broken out.
He entered his privateboratory and called Arma.
¡°Can you make Aether crystals?¡±
¡¸I can make them anytime you order me to¡¹
He felt a sense of awe.
When he first crashed into the East Sea, he had searched the entire nearby sea for one crystal.
Now that the Aether fusion reactor had enough output, it was easy to make them.
¡°I want to apply the Aetherser to the ion beam¡ How would it work with the minimum output?¡±
¡¸Even then, the output would be too high and we would have to split the focusing lens¡¹
¡°Run a simtion of shell falling on Seoul for now.¡±
He already had the data on how big the artillery units of the Unified Army Corps were and how many shells they could fire in wartime.
He saw hundreds of shells flying towards Seoul in the simtion.
The main target would be the Blue House, but Bukhansan blocked most of them.
Still, some shells fell aiming at the Ministry of National Defense and caused considerable damage.
Gas pipes exploded and fires broke out in Yongsan-gu and Jongno-gu areas, and citizens screamed and ran around.
¡°What if we use the improved ion beam here? Let¡¯s assume we can deploy 30 units by then.¡±
This time, he saw a spectacr fireworks show in the simtion.
The etherser that was briefly irradiated from the ion beam container perfectly blocked hundreds of shells.
Normalsers were invisible to the eye, but ethersers appeared as golden light.
If it was night, Seoul citizens would be able to see a splendidser show.
¡¸Except for the damage caused by fragments, Seoul¡¯s damage is estimated to be minimal¡¹
It was impossible to eliminate the fragments.
¡°This should do. Attach an android and start. Just match it to the expected time of North Korea¡¯s provocation.¡±
¡¸I will start right away¡¹
Chapter 55: Yu Ji-ha’s Value
Chapter 55: Yu Ji-ha¡¯s Value
In June of 2027, a huge amount of minerals was floating in the space between Earth and the Sun.
It was the result of the mining ships controlled by Arma, who had been extracting them from the asteroid belt.
They could have used the Lagrange points, but they were monitored by humanity¡¯s telescopes and other devices, so they had no choice but to use this ce.
Exploration ships equipped with ether receivers were flying around, pulling and pushing the mineral cubes to organize them.
Then, a new message was inputted into an exploration ship.
[Arrival at the space construction nt in 10 minutes.]
Exactly 10 minutester, a gigantic space nt approached the exploration ship rapidly.
The small exploration ship did not flinch and transformed its nozzle to attach itself to the nt.
[Propulsion starts.]
A golden light burst out and the nt¡¯s speed decreased sharply until it finally stopped.
Now it was time to build a mining ship.
Workers poured out of the nt and carried the necessary mineral cubes.
[Outputting blueprint of mining ship. Block formation start.]
ck metal particles were scattered in space and blocks for the mining ship began to form.
It was like shaping a lump of y into a figure.
The construction speed was very fast, and it would take only a month toplete a mining ship.
It was possible because it was unmanned and almost empty inside.
A manned spaceship would take more than six months, and the Settler-ss, along with the battleship-ss, would take the longest with about two years.
While a new mining ship was being built, Yu Ji-ha was eating lunch with Arma at the cafeteria.
Despite being the chairman, he ate at the cafeteria because it was close to his office.
When he first appeared at the cafeteria, some executives who were startled by his presence joined him.
¡°Oh my, Chairman Yu, you should have called us.¡±
¡°The food here is decent, but I don¡¯t know if it suits your taste.¡±
But Yu Ji-ha did not have much conversation with them and just ate his food and left.
The executives who were expecting some serious discussion about various issues were dumbfounded.
After that, they realized that Yu Ji-ha just came to the cafeteria to eat and did not bother him again.
It was not good for their dignity to eat at the cafeteria on a regr day as executives.
Anyway, Yu Ji-ha ate with Arma.
On the TV installed on the wall, an ominous news was ying.
¡°¡We report that China¡¯s movements are suspicious. Currently, a strict alert has been spread at Guangzhou Base, which is the home port of China¡¯s South Sea Fleet. Hundreds of trucks have entered the base and cargo nes arending and taking off dozens of times a day at nearby airports.¡±
¡°Also, arge-scale exercise involving aircraft carriers andnding ships is being conducted in front of Shengzhen. Military experts from the US warn that the risk of armed conflict is higher than ever.¡±
¡°In this situation, Beijing¡¯s silence is one of the reasons why they think there is a high possibility of attacking Taiwan.¡±
The news repeated showing footage taken by US Navy satellites.
The people who saw itined one by one.
¡°They always say they¡¯re going to fight but they never do.¡±
¡°It¡¯s hard for China to attack Taiwan anyway. There¡¯s also the US.¡±
¡°Anyway, we don¡¯t have anything to do with it, right? The battle will be in the Taiwan Strait.¡±
¡°The Taiwanese people think we¡¯ll help them if China attacks them.¡±
¡°How can we help Taiwan? We¡¯re busy enough with North Korea.¡±
¡°I hope we don¡¯t do anything like that. War is scary.¡±
Sorry, but we¡¯re preparing too¡
Yu Jiha silently ate his food and received a phone call without a number.
This was from a foreign high-ranking politician.
He went outside to answer it and heard the familiar voice of President McKinley.
¡°Chairman Yu, long time no see. I¡¯ll get straight to the point. Can you provide railguns to other countries?¡±
¡°That would be Taiwan, right? I told you when I supplied them to the US Navy that this benefit was only for the US.¡±
Currently, only Korea and the US could use railguns.
¡°I know. You don¡¯t want to leak railguns to foreign countries. But the situation is urgent. China is seriously preparing for war.¡±
There were thickyers of defense facilities on Taiwan¡¯s west coast, including anti-ship missiles.
If railguns were added there, it would be very difficult for China tond from their perspective.
They could even attack China¡¯s naval bases directly from Taiwan.
¡°Do you know what China would think if railguns were installed in Taiwan?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll make them look like they¡¯re ours.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think China¡¯s intelligence agencies would be unaware of that¡¡±
¡°We promise to keep it a secret.¡±
Actually, Yu Ji-ha also did not want Taiwan to surrender too soon.
He had to drag it out as long as possible to exhaust China¡¯s national power and give him some leeway for his northward advance.
It would be better to pretend to be generous and ept it here.
¡°Then you¡¯ll have to grant me one request next time.¡±
¡°As long as you don¡¯t ask for the US, I¡¯ll do anything.¡±
He must have been really desperate.
On a day in August, when the summer heat had subsided a bit.
A US military C-5 Gxy transport ne flew into the tense Taoyuan Airport in Taiwan.
Everyone knew that the cargo carried by this huge transport ne was not ordinary.
China¡¯s media reacted fiercely.
¡ªIt is a provocation by the US tond thergest transport ne, not a C-130, at Taoyuan Airport. They must immediately reveal what the cargo is and leave Chinese territory. If this measure is not taken, we may shoot down the transport ne.
The US did not care and started unloading at night, avoiding the surveince of satellites.
And camouge buildings were erected on Taiwan¡¯s west coast to build a railgun system.
But they could not hide it forever.
China mobilized all kinds of assets, such as Y-9 reconnaissance nes and reconnaissance satellites, and obtained a few photos.
Guo Hongshan, the state councilor who had upied Beijing and had two army groupmanders as his patrons, confirmed the identity of the cargo and was furious.
Bang!
¡°How dare they install railguns!¡±
The cargo was obviously railguns.
The long ck barrel, the power supply cables and generators hanging from it, and the huge cooling system proved it.
The US and Taiwan had tried all kinds of camouge operations to hide it, but it did not work.
Railguns were being installed on Taiwan¡¯s west coast!
Guo Hongshan grumbled to himself and then asked a soldier with a short haircut.
¡°Major General Wei, can we remove this worthless thing?¡±
¡°We can use Dongfeng missiles from the Rocket Force, but that would be an immediate war.¡±
¡°Hmm¡¡±
War.
It was something that the current rulers of China did not want, but it would be troublesome if it happened right away.
They were not ready for it.
To attack Taiwan, they had to break through the US 7th Fleet, which required enormous preparations.
The amount of fuel, ammunition, food and other supplies needed for war was no joke.
China had made significant progress in quantitative terms, but its logistics support system was not much different from before.
¡°What about using special forces? Quickly destroy it and get out.¡±
¡°That would be difficult. Installing railguns means that the US already controls the area. That¡¯s not Taiwan¡¯s weapon, but the US¡¯s weapon.¡±
Guo Hongshan suddenly wondered.
¡°The US¡ Is it really the US¡¯s weapon? What do you think?¡±
¡°It¡¯s definitely strange. Until recently, the United States had five railguns. But then it suddenly doubled.¡±
¡°Korea gave it to them. To be precise, it was Mr. Yu.¡±
¡°Recently, the US warships equipped with railguns have disappeared from the South China Sea, except for the Zumwalt ss.¡±
¡°Cunning bastards¡ Find out the source of the railgun by all means. If it¡¯s true that Korea gave it to them, it¡¯s a problem that we can¡¯t face.¡±
¡°South Korea and Mr. Yu will have to pay the price.¡±
China tried to improve its rtions with him, but it ended up in vain.
It would have been much better to get rid of him if they couldn¡¯t have him.
It was a pity that the one who possessed the ck metal factor disappeared, but it was better anyway.
The Chinese would have many babies and find talents as many as they could.
¡°By the way, how do you see the actual power of the railgun?¡±
¡°The railgun itself is not a very impressive weapon. But it¡¯s more threatening than you think in defense.¡±
¡°Will it interfere with ournding?¡±
¡°It won¡¯t stop ournding, but we¡¯ll have to pay a lot of blood.¡±
¡°Hmm¡¡±
Some people said that it was nothing to have a few holes in them, but modern warships had too many areas that shouldn¡¯t be pierced.
And the range of 500km was really speechless.
This was a little less than the attack range of China¡¯s aircraft carriers.
When we barely took off with armed fighters, they just switched and shot. It was a very selfish weapon.
The worst case scenario was that they could build onnd, which meant that their range and destructive power could increase.
The Chinese army¡¯s research team was worried about this point.
¡°Typical destroyers can barely produce 100kw of output, and Zumwalt ss can produce 300kw. But onnd, you can get megawatt-level power.¡±
¡°Railguns are different from other weapons in that power is directly rted to range and destructive power. It¡¯s a new weapon system that we don¡¯t know much about¡¡±
¡°If you increase the power, the ck metal barrel is fine, but the battery and generator, and the cooling system will have to be bigger and more sophisticated.¡±
China tried hard to confirm the size of the railgun facilities.
But the United States was very careful not to reveal this.
In the meantime, the media of both countries exchanged sharp messages.
China imed that Taiwan was its territory and demanded that they withdraw immediately. The United States mocked them for being greedy without being unified.
When it was revealed that a railgun was installed in Taiwan, a big wave urred.
¡ªI thought South Korea would help us!
¡ªSouth Korea? Not the United States?
¡ªThe United States can¡¯t make barrels and batteries, so it must havee from South Korea.
¡ªSo is South Korea going to help us and participate in this war?
¨CWe can only hope that they put as much pressure as possible on their maind and tie up a lot of troops.
On the other hand, the reaction of China¡¯sment army Umadang was like a volcano.
¡ªThe small country gave them a railgun!
¡ªIt¡¯s just a toy anyway. It can¡¯t stop China¡¯snding force.
¡ªSomeday we¡¯ll take care of Korea. But not now.
¡ªIt¡¯s time to make the descendants of Zhang Jieshi who fled to the ind kneel down!
¡ªNeither the United States nor Japan can stop the Chinese nation! If you try to stop us, be prepared to shed ten times more blood!
¡ªHow many are you? Only 400 million? 500 million? We are 1.5 billion!
China was so strong because it couldn¡¯t stop.
The internal power struggle had reached its limit and it was about to explode if it couldn¡¯t vent out.
In fact, each faction cooperated with the central government because they had a big task of reunifying Taiwan ahead of them.
Also, economic and social problems were serious.
The real estate crisis, which was astronomical enough to be insufficient, was bing a reality, and the public sentiment that the Communist Party had suppressed for a long time was about to explode.
If this war didn¡¯t yield any results or ended up in a mess, no one would be able to handle it afterwards.
China got on the back of a tiger.
Now the tiger started running and couldn¡¯t stop.
¡
News of China¡¯s war preparations spread across the world.
The UN Secretary-General urged China to stop immediately, and the US tried to bring the issue to the Security Council, but as always, it was vetoed.
Several non-permanent members and other countries also expressed their concern.
¡ªAny action that jeopardizes world peace is uneptable. China must cease its war preparations at once.
¡ªViolence cannot achieve anything. China¡¯s extreme actions will only lead to its own destruction.
¡ªNevertheless, if China attacks Taiwan, we will invoke solidarity for peace.
It seemed that the old EU had found its original purpose, which it had tried to invoke with a flimsy excuse before.
Naturally, China fiercely opposed.
¡ªTaiwan Province is part of China, and no one can deny this. The national reunification movement is not a war, and therefore we will treat any external interference as interference in our internal affairs.
¡ªChina has more than 1,000 nuclear missiles. We are prepared to cope with 100 million or 200 million casualties. Are you?
¡ªIf you continue to send submarines to the East China Sea, you will have no excuse if you receive a preemptive nuclear strike. Withdraw immediately.
China¡¯s nuclear threat deterred other countries from criticizing China too harshly.
Of course, China¡¯s nuclear power was inferior to that of the US and Russia.
But even with its current stockpile, it was enough to annihte major countries.
Especially, China targeted Japan, which was training with the US Navy.
The US countered by reminding Japan of its nuclear umbre, but Japan could not help but recall this question.
¡ªWould the US sacrifice New York instead of Tokyo?
It was the same as what a Korean politician had said once, except that Seoul was reced by Tokyo.
Serious cab meetings followed, and eventually Prime Minister Ozawa ordered a withdrawal.
¡ªIt might be different if it were North Korea, but the nuclear umbre is meaningless against China.
Japan, which had made this judgment, withdrew its 8th submarine squadron from the East China Sea.
The reason why China reacted this way was because it was difficult to drive out Japan¡¯s Taigei-ss submarines with its own noisy nuclear submarines.
There was also a reason to warn South Korea.
If the Taigei-ss was so difficult to deal with, how about the An Chang-ho-ss that adopted the ck metal battery?
The scale of Korea¡¯s submarine fleet was small, but if it used the long submergence time and low noise of the ck metal battery, it could be a headache for China.
Meanwhile, North Korea was not idle either.
The nuclear tests that had been quiet for a few years resumed.
A magnitude 4.0 earthquake urred in Kilju County, North Hamgyong Province, and a Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile wasunched from Jagang Province.
The direction was the East Sea, or more precisely, Tokyo¡¯s airspace. Japan was shocked.
¡ªAfter China, now North Korea is threatening us with nuclear weapons. This is intolerable.
¡ªWe can¡¯t rely on the US anymore. Japan must have its own nuclear power.
But how?
The US had turned a blind eye to some experiments due to recent lobbying, but it did not allow Japan to possess nuclear weapons.
The US hated nuclear proliferation more than anything else, and Japan was no exception as an ally.
¡ªIf one more thing happens in the current situation where China is threatening us with nuclear weapons, we might have no choice but to allow it.
That one thing was Korea¡¯s attempt to arm itself with nuclear weapons.
Japan was threatened by nuclear weapons, but Korea was really nervous.
South Korea had Yu Ji-ha.
He was already suspected of supplying railguns to Taiwan, and his rtionship with China was at its worst.
In this situation, who could guarantee that China would notunch a nuclear missile during the war?
In fact, there were somewmakers in Korea who seriously argued for nuclear armament for this reason.
The Korean government also showed interest in this idea, and the US looked at them with displeasure.
The White House issued an unusual statement.
¡ªWe are deeply concerned about the ims of nuclear possession that are going on among our allies. All countries must abide by the NPT and ept IAEA inspections.
¡ªThe US is willing to provide a nuclear umbre for our allies, and this does not change in the current situation.
The confirmation of providing a nuclear umbre was apliment, but the anxiety of both countries did not subside easily.
As ast resort, Humphrey, the US security adviser, visited Japan and Korea in turn with a letter from the president.
He had the opportunity to meet Yu Ji-ha, who was sitting next to President Jo Hyung-geun.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Mr. Adviser.¡±
Who would take responsibility for China finding out that he had supplied railguns?
Humphrey adviser was flustered.
¡°The president promised to do his best to protect Mr. Yu.¡±
¡°Can youpletely block China¡¯s nuclear missiles with that?¡±
¡°¡¡±
No one could answer for sure.
The technology of intercepting ballistic missiles was advancing day by day, but ballistic missiles always adopted more advanced technology.
In the fight between the spear and the shield, the spear that pierced first had the advantage.
The US ballistic missile defense system could cover Japan enough, but Korea was uncertain.
At this moment, the assets of the US forces in Korea were being withdrawn.
Thanks to this, the US Democratic Party, which had led the withdrawal of US troops from Korea, was cursed a lot.
Humphrey adviser repeatedly expressed his regret and said to Yu Ji-ha.
¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be more suitable for you to be protected in the US than in Korea?¡±
Did he openly suggest this?
President Jo Hyung-geun was about to intervene, but barely held back.
As the rtionship between the two countries had be distant, this kind of proposal was beyondmon sense.
But Yu Ji-ha¡¯s answer was unexpected.
¡°Koreans should live on Korean soil. So I refuse.¡±
¡°¡¡±
While President Jo Hyung-geun was stunned, Humphrey adviser smiled inwardly and bowed slightly.
He bowed his head in respect for his patriotism and apologized for his slip of the tongue. ¡°In any case, the United States will do everything in its power to protect President Yu.¡±
If they failed, they would pay a huge price.
He didn¡¯t say the rest of his words, but he was sure that both his aide and the American president knew it.
He left, and President Jo Hyung-geun tapped his shoulder with a wistful look on his face.
¡°I didn¡¯t expect Chairman Yu to say something like that.¡±
¡°What do you mean by that?¡±
¡°I thought you didn¡¯t care about your nationality. But today, I saw that you are different.¡±
¡°I am South Korean.¡±
He nodded his head as if he was impressed.
¡°I wish I could tell that to the congressmen who only think about leaving Korea. By the way, do you have any ns to be a congressman someday? If you are President Yu, you will be elected without a doubt.¡±
¡°A congressman¡ I have thought about it, but¡¡±
¡°I knew it. There are many people who want you to be the president as soon as possible, right? It¡¯s a bit strange to be the president without ever being elected. If you join our party, I will support you.¡±
¡°Thank you for your offer. I will think about it.¡±
Jo Hyung-geun smiled brightly.
¡°Haha, it¡¯s time for South Korea to have a 40s president.¡±
He was wrong.
What Yu Ji-ha wanted was not a 40s president, but a 30s dictator.
To achieve that, he had a roadmap that included bing a congressman before the war broke out.
He didn¡¯t expect Humphrey¡¯s aide to say that and Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s invitation.
But somehow, the media got wind of it and reported it as breaking news.
The inte news and the terrestrial broadcast were dominated by Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face that night.
¨DWow¡ He said he is South Korean with that face. I feel patriotic.
¨DHe is much better than those greedy and ignorant congressmen who don¡¯t care about our country.
¨DI¡¯m serious, I would support him even if he bes a dictator with artificial intelligence.
¨DIf he can produce Lucia cheaply, I¡¯m in.
¨DHey,e on. Dictatorship is not good.
¨DDo you think that¡¯s possible? South Korea has maintained democracy for decades.
¨DActually, I¡¯m looking forward to what he will change if he bes the president. First of all, I think he will use artificial intelligence to crack down on fraudsters in the financialwork.
¨DPlease amend the constitution quickly! How long do we have to wait until he is 40?
¨DWe also need to amend the term limit. Let him rule for 8 years!
The atmosphere in Korea had changed quite a bit.
The voices that opposed or hated dictatorship had disappeared and were reced by expectations for Yu Ji-ha.
It was probably because of his achievements in less than two years.
Some argued that he was great, but nothing had changed for themon people.
It was mostly said by the congressmen who were jealous of his poprity.
But they overlooked something.
The reason why people were enthusiastic about Yu Ji-ha was because he gave them hope for the future.
Chapter 56: The Price of Terrorism
Chapter 56: The Price of Terrorism
¡°From now on, we will be responsible for your safety.¡±
¡°Ah, thank you. I appreciate it.¡±
The ck-suited men who surrounded Yu Jiha had been reced by a new group.
They were elite agents sent by the National Intelligence Service to guard him around the clock.
It was President Jo Hyunggeun¡¯s decision to prevent any possible threats from China, which had be more visible and hostile.
¡°Well, I¡¯m grateful, but¡¡±
As long as Arma was with him, there was no chance of a terrorist attack.
Even if dozens of fully armed special forces were sent, they would not be able to touch a single hair on his head.
And China would not resort to such a low-level attack that could be handled by these agents.
Arma reported his assessment of the terrorist possibility.
¡¸The likelihood of an attack using an aircraft is low. They will probably send many operatives instead¡¹
¡°Why not use an aircraft? It¡¯s a pretty effective method. And we¡¯re close to China.¡±
¡¸Because they are not sure if they can kill you for certain. China wants to destroy what they cannot have.¡¹
¡°They¡¯re dangerous bastards.¡±
But he could not tell if they would actually do it.
However, Arma warned that the risk of terrorism was higher than ever.
¡¸They could infiltrate operatives disguised as Korean-Chinese and smuggle weapons through fishing boats. Then they could send more than ten armed operatives to Seoul¡¹
¡°The Korean Coast Guard is not that ipetent.¡±
¡¸What if China sends hundreds of fishing boats to distract them?¡¹
That would be risky.
Chinese fishing boats were notorious for appearing in the West Sea, South Sea and East Sea, and sweeping up even the smallest fish.
If they showed up, the Coast Guard would have to mobilize most of their avable forces, and naturally neglect the surveince of the fishermen.
But Yu Jiha was not worried.
¡°You have to capture them alive, understand?¡±
¡¸Leave it to me¡¹
He was more interested in the consequences of the terrorism than the terrorism itself.
China would have to pay a price, and so would the United States, which had put him in danger against his will.
His life was not cheap.
The airports in Korea had strengthened their security checks recently.
As the war atmosphere in Northeast Asia intensified, the authorities locked down the gates.
It became harder to get a visa, and naturally there were fewer travelers.
Nevertheless, there were many foreignersing and going at Incheon Airport.
They were workers preparing for the farming season.
The rural areas of Korea could not function without foreigners, so the authorities easily granted permission if they had several records of entry and exit.
Thus, five Taliban members who had forged their identities as Pakistanis entered the country.
They did not contact thebor agency at all, but ran away and hid.
Around the same time, more than ten Chinese operatives disguised as Korean-Chinese also entered the country.
¨DTwo hundred Chinese fishing boats have appeared in the West Sea. Our Coast Guard has deployed.
As the Coast Guard became busy, the surveince of ordinary fishermen becamex.
This was when a ndestine trade took ce.
They received bags containing weapons from one boat to another on the sea.
It would have been impossible under the Coast Guard¡¯s watch, but the special situation of two hundred Chinese fishing boats made it possible.
That¡¯s how fifteen people armed with pistols, submachine guns and improvised explosives entered Seoul.
Five of them were bait to divert attention, and the real ones were ten operatives.
The operatives were all elites from the Special Snow Leopard Assault Team, with fierce eyes and sturdy physiques.
¡°We enter while the bait distracts the police. Kill him at all costs. Double-tap him after killing him. Then kill him again.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
Their only goal was to assassinate Yu Jiha.
If he died, there would be a huge setback in producing ck Metal or Unobtanium, and all kinds of projects he was pushing forward would be halted.
But China¡¯s leaders did not care about that.
¨DYu Ji-ha is a traitor who cannot join us in our Chinese dream. It¡¯s better to destroy what we can¡¯t have. Kill him no matter what.
But they made a mistake.
Yu Ji-ha was not an ordinary person.
The ten or so NIS agents were one thing, but he always had Arma, an android, by his side.
He had formidable firepower himself, but he could also mobilize Sibiri orbital support satellite and Settler ship in case of emergency.
And Yu Ji-ha himself had a superhuman body.
He would not die even if he was shot several times, except in the head, and it was hard to hit him.
Anyway, the fifteen operatives seeded in entering Seoul, passing through various checkpoints.
The NIS agents received data from the CCTV control center and monitored the surroundings, but they did not pay attention to them.
It wasmon to see foreign workers in groups on a farming season bus, wearing shabby clothes and rubber shoes.
They avoided suspicion by openly showing their poor appearance.
That¡¯s how the fifteen operatives arrived near the headquarters of Shi Group.
The Sibiri satellite detected them.
..
Bang!
A building near the headquarters of Shi Group exploded, sending out a loud noise and mes.
¡°What¡¯s going on? What is this?¡±
¡°Aaaah!¡±
As the citizens screamed and evacuated, the agents set up ropes between the buildings.
It was 11 p.m.
The moonlight was hidden by the clouds and some streetlights were also broken, making the surroundings quite dark.
Sirens red as police cars arrived, but the agents did not encounter any interference and crossed over to Si Group.
¡°The target is working in that light. Watch out for motion detectors and don¡¯t leave any traces.¡±
Yu Ji-ha often workedte at night with the lights on.
He was known as the chairman who left the officest, but today he became a good target.
The agents sessfully infiltrated the building right in front of them, avoiding the security guards¡¯ eyes.
¡°Set up the ascenders.¡±
They were non-powered, so they required a lot of strength, but they were essential for climbing up in one breath without breaking through the front door.
In an instant, the agents reached the third floor and set up another rope to climb up to the upper floor.
Finally, the 11th floor.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s office was nearby.
¡°The target is in the inner chairman¡¯s room. There will be Korean agents blocking the way. Kill them all.¡±
As the team leader instructed, they all unclipped their shbangs and took out their weapons.
Everything was perfect so far.
All they had to do now was throw an improvised explosive device to distract the agents and enter the chairman¡¯s room.
But the agents did not know.
A drone that had climbed up to the 11th floor in the meantime was watching them.
And that it had a shbang provided by the National Intelligence Service stored in its lower body.
Pop.
A clear sound was heard and the window shattered.
The startled agents quickly turned around and almost at the same time, the shbang exploded.
Boom!
The sh and noise that exploded in front of their noses were not something that could be blocked by sunsses and earplugs.
The agents were trained to get out of panic as quickly as possible in such situations, but their opponents were too bad.
Several drones that appeared out of nowhere broke through the window and charged at them.
Pew pew pew!
¡°Ugh!¡±
No one was fine when a metal lump weighing several kilograms hit their head.
The agents who were staggering from the shock of the shbang were knocked down by the drones¡¯ attack.
If the des had not stopped, some of them would have definitely gone to hell.
Beep¨D!
A loud horn sounded and National Intelligence Service agents arrived at the scene.
They saw the agents tangled up and ran in with a pale face.
¡°These bastards have guns!¡±
¡°Disarm them! Shoot them if you have to!¡±
The agents were supposed to bite a poison capsule they had with them if they failed.
But they missed their chance tomit suicide because they were mostly knocked out by the joint operation of shbangs and drones.
One who barely regained consciousness also had his jaw broken by a kick from a National Intelligence Service agent as he rushed in.
¡°Kuh!¡±
The rm rang and several police cars entered the headquarters with loud sirens.
And Yu Ji-ha watched all this from his office with Arma.
¡°They¡¯re too sloppy. Didn¡¯t they think there would be drones?¡±
¡°It would be hard to think that there were shbangs attached to those drones.¡±
¡°Well, this country doesn¡¯t allow individuals to arm themselves anyway.¡±
Anyway, the situation was over.
The team leader came in and reported to Yu Ji-ha.
¡°We captured 10 terrorists alive. We¡¯ll have to interrogate them, but they seem to be Chinese agents disguised as Koreans.¡±
¡°Oh, that was dangerous. Thank you very much for your hard work.¡±
¡°Thank you. We¡¯ll go back to monitoring the area.¡±
The team leader slightly tilted his head at Yu Ji-ha¡¯s calm attitude.
He thought he was tooposed for someone who almost got killed, but he wasn¡¯t an ordinary person anyway.
He was a person who could have a private meeting with VIPs anytime and who received frequent calls from foreign high-ranking officials.
The team leader gave some instructions on the radio and went outside.
He heard the policeing up noisily.
Yu Ji-ha asked Arma.
¡°Did you say the ones who yed the bait role this time were Taliban?¡±
¡°They are a terrorist group that took over Afghanistan a few years ago. They are backed by China and armed with a distorted version of Imic extremism.¡±
¡°Weren¡¯t they the ones who tried to hijack a ne before?¡±
¡°They received an order from China. They can¡¯t run a country with drugs.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s blow them upter and what about the Chinese side? Did you say they were the assault team of Xuebiao?¡±
¡°We confirmed their headquarters location.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s blow them all up too. Themander as well.¡±
Arma didn¡¯t know who gave the order.
So Yu Ji-ha¡¯s order meant to kill all the leaders.
Even if they killed them, the attack on Taiwan would proceed as nned.
If they stopped now, China would face a disaster, and the soldiers knew that too.
A mining ship that was working in the asteroid belt sent an asteroid at Arma¡¯smand.
A 50m-diameter, 30,000-ton asteroid headed for Earth.
¡
The dawn broke and the whole story of the terror was revealed to the media.
From the unidentified explosion to the agents who infiltrated Si Group¡¯s headquarters building, everything was exposed.
The Blue House spokesman came out and briefed.
¡°¡As such, the terror targeting Si Group¡¯s chairman Yu Ji-ha failed, and the police authorities have captured many agents alive. The mastermind behind the incident is currently being verified.¡±
The reporters rose like a swarm of bees.
¡°Is it true that all the agents are East Asians?¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t there only one country that would target Yu Ji-ha?¡±
¡°We are keeping all possibilities open and investigating.¡±
The spokesman briefly answered and left Chunghwa Hall.
In fact, the police knew who was behind this incident.
It was China.
But it was difficult to announce this fact.
If they revealed the terror and provoked China, the nuclear threat could be a reality.
¡°Are they really trying to start a war?¡±
President Jo Hyung-geun raged, but his aides persuaded him.
¡°You have to think realistically. The whole world knows that China is behind this, but only the US, Russia, and India are criticizing them.¡±
They all had something inmon: they were countries that could oppose China and had nuclear weapons.
¡°China is not in its right mind right now. It¡¯s war soon, do you think they care about our criticism?¡±
¡°Their power is divided, so it¡¯s unclear who is in charge of the second artillery corps. Even if a nuclear missile isunched, we don¡¯t know who to hold ountable.¡±
They were all true and also infuriating words.
China was aiming for this effect bymitting terror.
There was nothing Korea could do realistically.
They were neither a nuclear power nor a superpower, but a country with an awkward status.
The government did its best, but South Koreans knew very well who was behind this incident.
¨DChina tried to kill Yu Ji-ha Jiha!
¨DExpel them all! Cut ties with China!
Anti-China sentiment exploded again after the kidnapping incident.
Protests broke out everywhere and Chinese people who could afford it quickly left Korea.
But most of the Chinese people, including Koreans of Chinese descent, did not have that luxury.
If they had stayed quiet, the protests would have died down soon without finding a ce to vent their anger.
But the Chinese people who remained in Korea were reckless.
¨DDo you have any evidence that we did it?
¨DDon¡¯t mess with us! South Korea is over if one nuclear bomb falls on Seoul!
They shouted like that and shed with the protesters.
After a fierce fight and knife fight, people with serious injuries appeared.
The police rushed in, but they couldn¡¯t stop their fight.
Collisions like this urred everywhere in Seoul and dozens of ambnces roamed the streets.
¨DThe chinks are using violence in someone else¡¯s country!
Once ignited, anti-China sentiment did not subside easily.
The protests that started in Seoul spread to the metropolitan area and then to Busan and Incheon.
Wherever people gathered, there was no ce where they didn¡¯t curse China.
The media kept reporting on restraint, but they got scolded for being chinks too.
The chief of police, the Blue House spokesman, and even the president¡¯s press conference failed to calm down people¡¯s anger.
There was only one person who could calm down this situation.
Yu Ji-ha.
He volunteered to hold a press conference in front of Gwanghwamun.
It was Arma¡¯s idea to put a splint on his uninjured arm and wrap a bandage around it, and it was very effective.
Tens of thousands of people who mistook him for being injured by the terror chanted his name.
¨DYu Ji-ha! Yu Ji-ha!
At this moment, Yu Jihwa was the idol and spiritual pir of the entire nation.
He grabbed the microphone.
¡°Hello, citizens. I¡¯m Yu Ji-ha. I was attacked by a clear enemy, but I was able to get out of the crisis thanks to many of you.¡±
¡°Finding the mastermind behind the terror is of course important. We must find them and hold them ountable. But there is something more important than that. It¡¯s power.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you get angry at the government? Do you know why the media are hushing up? It¡¯s because we have no power.¡±
¡°Citizens, the world today is run by the logic of power. You may remember that Japan imposed an injunction on mypany. I was cornered until I was kidnapped, and I was also subjected to unfair sanctions by the EU. And just yesterday, I was in a life-threatening situation.¡±
¡°All of this is because we have no power. We can no longer suffer humiliation. We must not pass on this painful history to future generations. To do that, we need power more than anything else.¡±
If he had heard this normally, he would have been scolded for talking nonsense.
But the reality that South Korea faced, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s wounded appearance, ignited the lump in people¡¯s hearts.
Yu Ji-ha raised his voice.
¡°Please help me. I will be with you, citizens. I will help South Korea gain power.¡±
If there was a presidential election right now, Yu Jihwa would have gotten the most overwhelming votes in South Korean history.
He came down from the temporary podium and many people surrounded him.
¡°Oppa!¡±
¡°Bro! Take me!¡±
¡°Thank you, thank you.¡±
Yu Ji-ha Jiha shook hands with each person and started walking down Gwanghwamun Street.
Tens of thousands followed him, shouting his name.
Chapter 57: To Test A New Weapon
Chapter 57: To Test A New Weapon
A whileter, at a vi near Beijing, China, Guo Hongshan, the state councilor, met someone.
He was the leader of the Taliban, who had a thick beard and wore a turban.
Abduh Ahmad Pada.
He came here to protest against Guo Hongshan, who did not keep his promise.
¡°I entrusted you with five warriors! But what has been done now? You are shifting the me to us and not paying the price!¡±
He was talking about the five Taliban members who yed the role of bait when ten special agents carried out the operation.
They were caught by the South Korean police, but they were not reported to the outside world.
Naturally, all the me went to China and caused a huge impact.
There were many people in China who thought that civilian terror was too much.
Guo Hongshan was annoyed, but he barely smiled and said.
¡°¡The payment was conditional on the sess of the operation. Wasn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°What do I care! Five of our warriors died! You Chinese mustpensate for this in some way!¡±
¡°They¡¯re not dead!¡±
Guo Hongshan started to shout angrily.
¡°They¡¯re not dead yet! Do you think Korea is a country that executes people? They¡¯ll be released after they get a trial and serve their time!¡±
¡°It¡¯s as good as dead to us!¡±
Abduh approached Guo Hongshan and warned him.
¡°By the end of this month. If the payment is not deposited by then, we will expose everything.¡±
Guo Hongshan sneered.
¡°Go ahead and try. It¡¯s war soon, who would care about such things?¡±
As they were growling at each other, an asteroid entered the Earth¡¯s orbit.
This asteroid, which was nearly 50 meters in diameter, attracted the attention of the UN Astronomical Research Institute and NASA as it entered the atmosphere at over 30 km per second.
And it caused a huge explosion in China¡¯s airspace due to friction with the atmosphere.
An asteroid alert went off.
¡¸An explosion of 1 megaton equivalent detected in Shandong Penins 150km above ground¡¹
China¡¯s astronomical research institute also received the alert, but there was little they could do.
Dozens of pieces of asteroid hit China¡¯s coast.
Not only naval bases, but also hidden submarine bases and other national agencies were blown away.
And the asteroid also flew to Beijing without fail.
Dududu¨D
The whole vi shook and Guo Hongshan and Abduh hurriedly opened the window.
As security guards ran in surprise, they witnessed an asteroid burning in the sky and falling to the ground.
¡°O Ah¡¡±
¡°This can¡¯t be.¡±
He had just seized power and was trying tounch a national recovery movement, but this was such an absurd end.
The asteroid collided with the ground and turned everything around upside down.
A huge amount of dust clouds rose all over China.
President McKinley of the United States was looking at the screen in the White House cab room.
Next to him were military leaders including Ike, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Team.
What they were watching was a briefing on China¡¯s asteroid collision damage.
¡°The explosion that urred 150km above Shandong Penins was estimated to be equivalent to 30 megatons of TNT. This explosion divided an asteroid with a diameter of 100 meters into more than 20 pieces and hit China¡¯s coastal cities.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the damage?¡±
¡°More than 10 cities including Beijing suburbs, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai suffered major damage. The exact extent of damage is not confirmed yet. As a special note, the East Sea Fleet¡¯s home port was annihted.¡±
The screen showed images of naval bases before and after the collision alternately.
¡°¡It¡¯s gone clean.¡±
¡°More than 10 destroyers and frigates, as well asnding ships and others. Dozens of ships flew away at once. It goes without saying that the naval base was destroyed.¡±
It was too much damage for an asteroid with a diameter of 100 meters entering the atmosphere.
The United States had known about this asteroid for a few days, but they couldn¡¯te up with a countermeasure.
What could they do with an asteroid flying at over 30 km per second? Shoot a hydrogen bomb at it?
There was such an idea during the Cold War, but it was canceled because of the fear of radioactive debris.
There were also various ideas to change the orbit of near-Earth objects, but none of them were realized.
As a result, China suffered tremendous damage.
Of course, the United States would express condolences to China, but their hearts were elsewhere.
¡°China has no choice but to make a choice at this point. Will they postpone the war and recover the damage? Or will they take a risk?¡±
Humphrey, the security adviser, stepped forward.
¡°Postponing the war is difficult. China has spent over 3 trillion yuan to prepare for the invasion of Taiwan. And they n to spend more than that in the next three months.¡±
¡°They can¡¯t postpone it because they spent that money. What does the Pentagon think?¡±
Luke, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, answered.
¡°Currently, arge number of ind troops are deployed on the coast. This means an imbnce of power, and if they postpone the war, a real civil war will break out.¡±
The situation in China was hard to call a civil war.
It was more correct to see it as a power struggle among the powerful.
But if the region with the navy tried to end the situation by absorbing the troops, a civil war would almost certainly break out.
To prevent that situation, they had to start a war.
That was their logic.
The analysis of the chief of staff was simr.
¡°China can no longer suppress the debt of local governments and the corruption thates out from within. They lost their captain who held the key. They have to divert their attention by war.¡±
¡°That makes sense. They have no choice but to choose war¡ Then when will be the exact time. Let me hear the data analyzed by the intelligence agencies.¡±
Various discussions followed, but there was not a single mention of the asteroid, which was the main culprit of this incident.
Everyone thought it was a natural disaster.
What could they do when an asteroid flew from space and fell?
Yu Ji-ha was attacked by terror and more than a month and a few dayster, this happened, so no one doubted him.
And US intelligence agencies knew that the Taliban was involved in this terror.
If they had blown up an asteroid in Afghanistan, the US might have suspected Yu Ji-ha.
But Yu Ji-ha postponed his revenge on the Taliban, and that turned out to be the right decision.
President McKinley judged as he listened to the reports from the intelligence agencies.
¡°Fromte November to early December. They¡¯re aiming for after recovery work to divert attention.¡±
¡°They have to receive condolences and disaster relief funds from other countries right now.¡±
¡°That money will all go to the troops preparing for war. I¡¯ll only issue a statement of condolences this time. Block UN¡¯s support.¡±
¡°Yes, sir.¡±
¡°And it¡¯s time to get cooperation from Chairman Yu. The thing we¡¯re developing this time¡ Ion what was it? Did you get the test results?¡±
Martin, deputy adviser, stepped forward.
¡°It¡¯s simr in purpose butpletely different in performance from Ion Beam developed by Israel. It¡¯s a device that intercepts North Korea¡¯s artillery or short-range missiles with multiplesers.¡±
The screen showed rted data and military generals tilted their heads.
Wasn¡¯t it almost the same size as theser interception system that was developed and abandoned by the army?
¡°Is it possible to realize multiplesers with power from a container?¡±
¡°It¡¯s impossible unless new materials are discovered. But South Korea did it.¡±
¡°And what¡¯s the result?¡±
¡°Sessful simultaneous interception of five Nike surface-to-surface missiles for training purposes, sessful simultaneous interception of more than 20 shells fired by K-9 self-propelled guns, sessful interception of all 72 rockets from two K-136 multipleunchers.¡±
¡°Is the sess rate 100%?¡±
¡°It¡¯s 100 percent,¡± Martin said confidently.
Everyone looked at him incredulously.
¡°How is that possible in modern warfare¡?¡±
¡°They barely redeveloped it a few months ago.¡±
¡°I want to say it¡¯s impossible, but since he¡¯s involved, I want to believe it.¡±
Yu Ji-ha was already known as the man who made the impossible possible.
Everything he had done so far surpassed the US¡¯s technological advancement in thest decade.
He was a being beyondmon sense.
They should have brought him over by any means necessary¡
President McKinley regretted not being able to make him an American citizen.
¡°We need this ion beam. Not us, but Taiwan.¡±
¡°If Taiwan gets this weapon, they might be able to survive the missile barrage.¡±
¡°But will South Korea give it to them¡? It¡¯s not even fully operational yet.¡±
¡°We persuaded them to give us the railgun. This shouldn¡¯t be too hard.¡±
The president spoke casually, but he was slightly nervous inside.
Yu Ji-ha had given Taiwan the railgun at the US¡¯s request, but he was attacked by terrorists.
As a result, his fanatical supporters increased, but the US didn¡¯t do anything for him directly.
Now what would he ask for in exchange for giving them the ion beam?
¡®Maybe he¡¯ll ask fornd.¡¯
He had heard rumors that Russia had leased part of the Kamchatka Penins to him.
He could see buildings and facilities being built there on satellite images.
ording to analysts, they were not military facilities.
¡®If that¡¯s his demand, we can handle it.¡¯
He made up his mind and ordered Martin.
¡°Ask him politely to cooperate with us on giving Taiwan the ion beam. Agree to any reasonable request he has and remind him that we appreciate his goodwill.¡±
¡°Yes sir.¡±
¡°And one more thing. Tell the generals this. Even if war breaks out, we must never fight directly with the Chinese army. Do you understand?¡±
Taiwan was an indispensable strategic point for the US.
They didn¡¯t have a formal defense treaty with them, but if Taiwan fell into China¡¯s hands, the Pacific would be open.
This would mean a huge change in the US¡¯s security environment and they had to stop it at all costs.
But they couldn¡¯t fight directly with China either.
It could trigger a third world war if they did so they had to fight by supplying weapons and supporting from behind.
After the generals left, the White House team started discussing what Yu Jiha would ask for.
¡
China suffered a massive damage from the meteor incident.
The world expressed their condolences and donations were collected.
But the donations didn¡¯t go where they were supposed to.
The real power holders in politics died inrge numbers, leaving the administration in chaos.
Themanders of each military region mobilized their troops and seized the state institutions and banks.
They were afraid that the people might rise up after the meteor disaster was over.
¨DThe administrative vacuum is too severe. The economy is at its worst and the people are on the verge of rebellion. We need to divert their attention somewhere.
¨DDon¡¯t we have enough troops in our hands? The US is helping Taiwan, but they can¡¯t intervene directly.
¨DTaking over Taiwan is our only way to survive. We have enough power to do it.
It was amon tactic to cover up a smaller incident with a bigger one.
If it was a war, the effect would be perfect.
The people who were about to riot would wave the red g and the soldiers would unite for once.
And so, themanders of each military region decided to go to war.
They decided to wage war with their own forces, without the central control.
It was an absurd n, but they had no choice but to go ahead.
The war started without any deration of war.
Chinese soldiers boarded a cargo ship belonging to Taiwan Shipping and detained the crew.
All flights to Taiwan were canceled at airports across China.
Jinmen County, Taiwan¡¯s territory closest to the maind, was attacked by an artillery unit near Xiamen City, which was only 4 km away.
Taiwan protested strongly, but what came back was a short-range ballistic missileunched by China¡¯s Rocket Force.
Submarines waiting in the East China Sea alsounched ballistic missiles.
Taiwan¡¯s missile bases and warships deployed Tien Kung and Hai Kung missiles to intercept them, and seeded in shooting down many of them.
But China¡¯s missile power was too much for Taiwan to handle alone.
Major military facilities went into air defense, but they couldn¡¯t stop them all.
Red explosions erupted all over Taiwan.
Major media outlets issued special reports at once.
¨DChina attacks Taiwan without deration of war!
¨DHundreds of ballistic missiles hit Taiwan! Taiwan is in chaos!
The US tried to convene a UN Security Council meeting immediately, and Russia agreed for once.
¨DChina must stop all hostile actions against Taiwan and withdraw its troops.
¨DIf no action is taken, the UN will pass a resolution for peacekeeping forces.
A resolution calling for an end to the war was also passed in the General Assembly.
The Chinese diplomats sent to the UN shrugged their shoulders.
¡°This is a civil war. Has the UN ever interfered in a civil war? Then why didn¡¯t you send troops to the Myanmar civil war?¡±
¡°Does Taiwan think this is a civil war? What benefit can you get from waging a war that threatens your neighbors with nuclear weapons?¡±
¡°Peacekeeping forces were deployed in the Somali civil war. Why are you ignoring that?¡±
¡°We are willing to ept peacekeeping forces after the war is over.¡±
¡°That¡¯s wordy!¡±
A heated debate ensued, and a few countries, such as Pakistan, sided with China.
Most countries supported the resolution, but it had no real effect.
The UN¡¯s strong rmendation was nothing to a country that was called G2 along with the US.
Instead, they had to deal with the loss of international prestige and influence, but what did that matter to a country that had decided to go to war?
China was a wounded beast, and the only country that could handle it was the US.
But the US was afraid of a nuclear war and didn¡¯t want to intervene directly.
Instead, they took the drastic measure of evacuating their embassy in China, and other permanent members except Russia did the same.
As a fierce diplomatic battle unfolded, Taiwan issued a general mobilization order and entered a state of emergency.
The US persuaded the Congress to adopt a n to provide arge amount of military supplies to Taiwan by using transport ships instead of direct support.
Despite this action, the Chinese attackers did not respond much because theycked central control.
Each military region was fighting a different war without coordination.
¡°What do we care about the US transport ships? Are they in our jurisdiction?¡±
¡°No sir!¡±
¡°Then ignore them and focus on our original goal!¡±
The attackers¡¯ goal was tond arge number of troops on Taiwan.
The importance of the navy and air force had increased in modern warfare, but in the end war was over when the army upied the territory.
But it didn¡¯t go as nned.
The railgun batteries installed on Taiwan¡¯s south coast fired projectiles at once.
Those projectiles prated 700 km of distance and hit thending force that had departed from Zhanjiang Naval Base.
It wasn¡¯t one or two shots; each battery fired more than ten shots per minute, so there was no way for the slownding ships to avoid them.
¡°Type 071 Jinggangshan-ss amphibious transport dock hit on the bridge! It seems that many officers have been killed!¡±
¡°Protect thending ships immediately!¡±
The nearby destroyers surrounded thending ships, but the railgun projectilespletely prated the destroyers¡¯ radars and mmed into thending ships.
It was a brute force.
The victims were surprised, but the perpetrators were more surprised.
The battery troops confirmed the hit through the US early warning aircraft and swallowed their dry saliva at the huge power.
¡°So this is what they meant by removing the power limit in actualbat¡¡±
¡°It feels like this is a weapon that should appear 30 yearster¡¡±
They tied up China¡¯snding force with just two railguns.
Considering that twonding ships, six destroyers, escort ships and submarines were included in thending force, it was an amazing achievement.
This information was also reported to the US and made them grab their necks.
¡°They gave us a downgraded version.¡±
¡°If they gave Taiwan something like this, what about Korea¡¯s railgun cruiser under construction¡¡±
¡°South Korea wouldn¡¯t do this to us! We have to protest immediately!¡±
¡°We can¡¯t protest! He might cut off the supply of railguns and ion beams!¡±
¡°The US is looking at an individual¡¯s face¡¡±
It couldn¡¯t be helped.
Martin McKinley, who had some rapport with Yu Jiha, flew to South Korea to negotiate with him for giving Taiwan the ion beam.
At the negotiating table, Martin clung to him as if he were begging.
¡°The US will never forget your help, Mr. Yu.¡±
¡°Yeah, yeah. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll pay me back with interestter, so don¡¯t worry about it.¡±
What was he going to ask for in return?
Chapter 58: That Island Is Mine
Chapter 58: That Ind Is Mine
The news of the battle reached South Korea, which was rtively far from the battlefield.
The correspondents reported on the situation of both countries as they hurriedly returned.
¨DTaiwan blocked China¡¯snding force with five railguns.
¨DNewser firing system made a splendid debut, shooting down many J10 fighters that entered Taiwan¡¯s airspace.
¨DUS forces pre-deployed equipment unloading negotiations in progress¡¤¡¤¡¤China strongly protests.
President Jo Hyung-geun clicked his tongue as he saw these news.
¡°I thought the delusion of winning a war with new weapons ended with Nazi Germany¡¤¡¤¡¤but Chairman Yu pulled it off.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it too early to say that Taiwan has won?¡±
Yu Ji-ha said as he shook his head.
¡°Even if China bombards the whole of Taiwan, they lose if they can¡¯tnd.¡±
¡°I see. I don¡¯t know much about strategy and tactics.¡±
¡°And you gave railguns and ion beams to Taiwan? Thanks to you, they are fighting a real battle against the Chinese army.¡±
And it was a fierce battle.
The five railguns blocked China¡¯snding force more thoroughly than expected.
The range was simr to that of an aircraft carrier¡¯s operational radius, so China couldn¡¯t muster the courage tond their troops.
It was almost impossible to destroy the batteries with ballistic missiles.
They had installed them under thick bedrock in the first ce.
It was hard to prate even with bunker busters, so China¡¯snding seemed difficult for a while.
On the other hand, China¡¯s air force also suffered, because the hastily installed iron beam showed tremendous firepower.
If they were caught by thisser battery, they would crash in less than a second.
Thanks to that, the 7th Brigade of the Eastern Front, which had guaranteed absolute superiority in Taiwan¡¯s airspace, lost more than 20 J-16 fighters in one day and lost their mission capability.
Taiwanese media praised the iron beam as aser that kills flies.
They just didn¡¯t know that it came from Korea.
It was a secret project that even the US kept quiet about.
President Jo Hyung-geun emphasized this as he allowed all this.
¡°The important thing is not these things, but the weapons using antitrons or whatever. I trust Chairman Yu¡¯s promise.¡±
¡°You will see soon.¡±
Antitron had finished its theoretical verification by a handful of nuclear physicists, including Director Ahn Yong-hoon.
The only thing left was the test, and President Jo Hyung-geun wanted something bold.
¡°There is an experimental reactor in Daejeon, right? Hanaro? Is it still running? That¡¯s good. Let¡¯s blow up an antitron bullet and see what happens.¡±
The shocked aides stepped forward and tried to dissuade him from this radical idea.
¡°Mr. President, you can¡¯t do that!¡±
¡°It¡¯s the only experimental reactor in Korea. How can you sacrifice it¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
They suggested using Yu Ji-ha¡¯s smart reactor instead.
¡°The first one had much lower thermal output than nned, so it wasn¡¯t used for research, right? We can use that one.¡±
President Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s eyes lit up.
¡°That sounds good. Let¡¯s proceed right away.¡±
It was a secret project that could not receive any help from outside.
If the US found out, it would cause a bigger wave than the war between China and Taiwan.
It meant that South Korea could make all the nuclear weapons in the world useless if they wanted to.
Some people gathered at the Sr Fusion Subsidiary Research Institute.
It was to test NCM bullets that prevent nuclear reaction suppression.
The smart reactor No. 1, which had much lower thermal output than designed, was selected for this test.
This reactor was not a medium-sized one that was exported to Saudi Arabia or UAE in the Middle East, but a very small one suitable for small-scale distributed power generation and regional heating.
It was originally designed to produce 20mw of output, but it actually measured only 10mw and was used for research purposes.
A slightlyrger than car-sized reactor was installed deep in the Sr Fusion Research Institute site.
Yu Ji-ha and President Jo Hyung-geun, along with a few others, watched the work process at the institute.
¡¸No. 1 instationplete, NCM bullet detonation ready¡¹
The NCM warhead was waiting with a detonator connected 0.5km away from No. 1.
Yu Ji-ha looked at President Jo Hyung-geun as he received the report.
¡°We¡¯re ready.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s start right away.¡±
¡¸Fuel rod inserted. Reactor output rising¡¹
This test was only for the purpose of checking the function of NCM bullets, so it was carried out at low output.
Thanks to that, the test went smoothly until the control rod insertion.
¡¸Uranium absorbs neutrons. Nuclear fission chain reaction starts¡¹
Now they control the neutron absorption rate with the control rods.
If they make a mistake here, the core could overheat and cause a nuclear ident.
But it was so low-powered that even in the worst case scenario, it would end with the site being contaminated.
¡¸Pressurizer working, water moving to steam generator¡¹
¡¸Reactor activated¡¹
Now it was time to detonate the NCM warhead.
Yu Ji-ha ordered and one of the researchers ran the program.
The countdown continued and the spectators held their breath and looked at the monitor.
¡¸NCM warhead detonated¡¹
At that moment, President Jo Hyung-geun wondered what had happened and looked outside, but it was quiet.
The reactor was also buried underground, and the NCM warhead didn¡¯t have much effect.
It just made a weak sound like a firecracker.
But the effect was tremendous.
¡¸Neutron absorption stopped. Nuclear fission chain reactionpletely stopped¡¹
¡¸Reactor output down. Control rodsing out¡¹
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤What happened?¡±
The impatient man asked and Director Ahn Yong-hoon started to exin.
¡°Uh¡¤¡¤¡¤right now, neutrons can¡¯t move inside those fuel rods. That means nuclear fission haspletely stopped, and there is no chain reaction either. In other words¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°Simply, simply.¡±
This time Yu Ji-ha answered.
¡°That reactor is scrap metal. You have to change the fuel rods if you want to use it again.¡±
Chairman Yu is really quick-witted.
¡°Is there any problem with radiation or something?¡±
¡°It would have been different if the core had melted down, but there is no problem caused by the explosion.¡±
¡°So there is no problem and the reactor just stops?¡±
¡°There will be some heat. The core must be hot. But there is no problem because the cooling system is intact.¡±
¡°The nuclear warhead¡¡±
¡°As I told you before, it will be scrap metal if we just approach the intercontinental ballistic missile.¡±
Most nuclear missiles are ballistic missiles and they are very fast in the terminal phase.
Moreover, the recently developed nuclear missiles have increased the interception difficulty by changing their orbits and using decoys.
But it was not difficult for a country like Korea to approach the warhead within 500 meters.
Just detonate it near the warhead and it will be useless metal. All kinds of countermeasures are futile.
¡°¡¡±
President Jo Hyung-geun looked anxious and started to pace around with his characteristic red face.
Then he stopped and ordered.
¡°Only Chairman Yu stay here and take care of your business. And remember, today¡¯s matter is top secret. Do you understand?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡±
As soon as Director Ahn Yong-hoon left, he spoke.
¡°Is it the same if we fire at China¡¯s reactors? Even if they have a huge output?¡±
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what the output is, as long as it¡¯s within range. And it doesn¡¯t mean that the reactors themselves be unusable. They can be used again if they rece the fuel rods and check the equipment.¡±
¡°It takes months to operate a reactor properly¡¡±
It might take more than a year to check every piece of equipment.
And the most important thing, the nuclear warhead.
¡°¡The nuclear powers won¡¯t sit still for this.¡±
¡°Especially the US. They¡¯ll go crazy. That¡¯s why you should only use it when necessary and never announce it. You have to hide it well.¡±
If the nuclear powers find out about the existence of NCM warheads, they won¡¯t stay still.
In the case of the US, they would lose 10,000 warheads, so they might try to station their troops again.
And they would try to control everything.
No one except Americans wanted such a future.
¡°Didn¡¯t Chairman Yu tell me before? If you give him six months, he can neutralize all of North Korea¡¯s nuclear weapons.¡±
¡°The elerator is ready, so we can start producing now. The schedule is unchanged.¡±
¡°I trust you. With this, we can get closer to advancing north.¡±
This guy probably shouted ¡®advance north¡¯ instead of crying when he came out of his mother¡¯s womb.
¡°We¡¯re almost there.¡±
Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t have much time left to seize power.
¡
The war between China and Taiwan showed signs of dragging on.
Therge-scalending force was tied up by five railguns and couldn¡¯t move an inch.
And their air force, which was supposed to free them, melted down by the new iron beam without any resistance.
Especially, the air force suffered a lot of damage.
They entered Taiwan¡¯s air defensework thinking it was nothing and lost 10% of their fighters in just five days of war.
The only thing that did its job was the ballistic missile and cruise missile, but they couldn¡¯t cope with the consumption because of the poor logistics system.
The military experts¡¯ diagnosis of the current situation was mostly consistent.
¡ªChina is unable to properly push itsnding force into Taiwan and there is no coordination between units.
¡ªThe special forces that should have infiltrated Taiwan¡¯s rear were all exposed by US reconnaissance assets. It must be infuriating for China.
¡ªIt seems that the US provided intelligence to Taiwan. The anti-submarine patrol aircraft have been detecting Chinese submarines more frequently sincest week.
In summary, the cross-strait war showed signs of dragging on.
The front line that showed discord between units was a problem, but the inside was more serious.
Initially, each faction announced to their soldiers and people that they would start a war like this.
¡ªThe territorial recovery movement will end in a month. Taiwan will join us and the US will no longer interfere. China is one!
Many people were enthusiastic about this and red gs were everywhere on the streets.
They could endure the miserable economy, all kinds of corruption, and even the damage caused by meteorites for now.
They had an unfounded belief that everything would be fine if they absorbed Taiwan.
But as the war dragged on, social problems began to pop up one by one.
Especially, the 300 million migrant workers were a problem.
They were trapped in cities and couldn¡¯t go home because of the lockdown order.
Most construction sites were shut down, so they had no way to make a living.
No one cared about them.
To urban Chinese, migrant workers were nothing more than rude and dirty lower-ss people who did hard work for them.
-Please give us something to eat¡
Migrant workers gathered around the foreign car that was moving slowly.
The rich man who was scared out of his wits ordered the driver to step on it and many migrant workers were crushed or hit by the car.
The car didn¡¯t get far and broke down and angry migrant workers surrounded it.
¡°Kill him and take the car!¡±
¡°Drag him out! Drag him out!¡±
The fact that he was driving a foreign car with a driver in wartime provoked the anger of the migrant workers.
¡°Kill him!¡±
The ss shattered and the man was dragged out and beaten.
Armed forces arrivedte and fired their guns, but all they found were two corpses.
From then on, migrant workers began to roam around in groups.
When they reached a thousand or more, neither the police nor the soldiers dared to touch them.
They roamed around the city, stealing good clothes and shoes and looting shops.
Themand post btedly ordered some troops to fire, but the number of migrant workers increased.
Especially in Beijing, where thousands of them roamed around the city, causing chaos.
So 50,000 troops were drawn from three group armies belonging to the northern front and moved to Beijing.
They judged that Beijing was more urgent than deterring the Korean Penins.
Naturally, border surveince becamex and the number of defectors increased.
Of course, this was not something that the North Korean regime could ignore.
In the third floor of the Workers¡¯ Party Central Office, they ordered that all the residents crossing the river were enemies of the republic and should be shot to death.
The Tumen River turned red with blood and corpses floated around.
¡
A big event happened as soon as the new year of 2028 began.
Arge ind appeared in the middle of the North Pacific.
The first people to discover the ind were the crew members of a mining ship built by Si Heavy Industries, who were delivering it to the US.
They reported to Yu Ji-ha, not the Korean government, and he was the first one to set foot on the ind.
He got off his yacht and walked around the ind with his secretary.
A US reconnaissance ne that arrivedte captured this scene and reported it to the White House, where they discussed it with geologists.
¡°Is it possible for such arge ind to be created by seismic activity?¡±
¡°That area is rtively shallow, but still impossible.¡±
¡°It¡¯s impossible for such a huge ind to be created in just a few months.¡±
¡°Then someone must have made it artificially.¡±
¡°Maybe aliens did it?¡±
¡°I can tell you that both possibilities are low.¡±
¡°It¡¯s hard to imagine what kind of technology can create that ind.¡±
¡°An amazing technology¡¡±
They thought of the technologies that Yu Ji-ha had shown so far.
Some people seriously imed on SNS and other tforms that Yu Ji-ha was an alien.
¡ªDoes he have a spaceship hidden somewhere?
It was a joke, but there were many suspicious aspects about him.
¡°But there¡¯s no reason to hide it.¡±
The aides said and President McKinley nodded.
If he had the power to create such an ind, his actions so far would not make sense.
Why did he waver under China¡¯s threats and suffer from terrorism?
He could just overthrow them and make them surrender.
¡°Or he has a purpose that requires him to hide his power.¡±
¡°It could also be a coincidence.¡±
The opinions of the staff were different and they all had some logic.
In fact, many schrs had pointed out that something strange was happening on Earth.
ck metal was not normal to begin with.
No one knew what kind of energy corroded the surrounding metals and changed their shape by will.
If they thought of the various technologies derived from that material, this ind would seem trivial.
President McKinley decided to focus on the situation that would unfold after this rather than the ind itself.
The scientists would do the scientific analysis.
¡°That guy seems to like the ind.¡±
He looked happy walking around with his secretary.
¡°We can annex it as US territory if we send a warship.¡±
¡°The first discoverer bes the owner in case of unimednd, but it¡¯s hard for an individual to make such a im.¡±
It¡¯smon sense that if you don¡¯t have power, you can¡¯t keep it.
But it was hard to find a country that could mess with the person who was walking on the ind now.
President McKinley made a decision.
¡°Let¡¯s hear what he has to say for now. Connect me with him.¡±
No one knows what kind of conversation they had.
And a weekter, the US announced that an ind had emerged in the Pacific Ocean under the name of the Bureau of Land Management.
¡°It seems that the crust itself rose up due to continuous underwater earthquakes for several months. We are currently investigating the details and we will not disclose the location.¡±
The reporters swarmed like bees.
¡°Who was the first discoverer? Is it US territory?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t tell you who the first discoverer was and it¡¯s not US territory.¡±
¡°Then whose property is it?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t tell you that either.¡±
¡°How big is the ind?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll just say it¡¯s very big.¡±
It was a careless press conference and the Bureau of Land Management and the White House were under tremendous criticism.
¡ªThe US discovered the ind but it¡¯s not USnd? Send troops right away!
The Democrats immediately stepped up but lowered their criticism level after meeting with the president.
They realized that Yu Ji-ha of Korea was involved.
Of course, they were not afraid of Yu Ji-ha, but it was clear that the US owed him a lottely.
If it weren¡¯t for him, Taiwan would have fallen in the beginning and US intervention would have been necessary to stop it.
In the worst case scenario, World War III or nuclear war could have broken out.
The Democrats shut their mouths and the world¡¯s attention focused on him.
And Yu Ji-ha held a press conference in South Korea.
He dered in front of the reporters:
¡°That ind is mine.¡±
Chapter 59: The Birth of the United Human Federation
Chapter 59: The Birth of the United Human Federation
The reporters were bewildered.
They didn¡¯t know where the ind was, how it was formed, or how big it was.
Some people even didn¡¯t believe in the existence of the ind.
How could an ind suddenly appear in the Pacific? Was that possible?
But the US officially confirmed it and Yu Ji-ha held a press conference right after, so they had to listen for now.
¡°The ind is definitely bigger than Jeju Ind and it rises about tens of meters above sea level. There are no mountains and most of it is t.¡±
¡°Maybe it was an underwater terrain before, but you can feel the wind mixed with salt when you walk on the ind. It¡¯s worse than reimednd, so we have to remove the salt.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t tell you the location, but I have the ownership of the ind with the cooperation of the US military. That¡¯s all. Any questions?¡±
A reporter who got the right to speak stood up.
¡°You just said it¡¯s yours, but isn¡¯t it South Korea¡¯s property?¡±
¡°No. South Korea has nothing to do with that ind. It¡¯s mine.¡±
¡°You¡¯re South Korean. Did you apply for citizenship in another country?¡±
His voice was rising, which was not Yu Ji-ha¡¯s imagination.
He leaned his elbows on the podium and said.
¡°I won¡¯t be South Korean on that ind. I¡¯m going to establish a country. Next question, please.¡±
Another reporter came forward.
¡°You said a country, do you mean you¡¯re going to establish a personal country in the Pacific?¡±
¡°That¡¯s correct.¡±
¡°Who will recognize that?¡±
¡°Can you name any country or force that won¡¯t recognize it?¡±
The confident reporter became speechless.
He couldn¡¯t find such a country when he thought about it.
The US military was cooperating with him, so the recognition of other countries didn¡¯t matter much.
Russia? They were barely able toe out to the Pacific.
If an Oscar-ss strategic submarine appeared in the Pacific, three Virginia-ss attack submarines would follow it. That was not an exaggeration.
And there was a rumor that there was some kind of agreement between Russia and Yu Ji-ha.
He had rented somend in the south of Kamchatka Penins, but Russia didn¡¯t allow ess, so it was not yet identified.
Japan? They had some discord with the UStely, but they were still under their influence.
And China was not worth mentioning.
They were at war with Taiwan and they didn¡¯t have enough troops to send there.
The countries in the South Pacific didn¡¯t have enough power to reach there.
The reporter who eliminated one by one had to sit down awkwardly.
Yu Ji-ha said.
¡°I¡¯ll get help from the US for now, but I¡¯ll soon set up an independent government and create an army. We n to select and ept citizens from all over the world.¡±
There were not many microstates that had been born so far.
There were more than 100 ces that dered themselves as countries by exploiting loopholes inws, such as Send Principality or North Sudan Kingdom.
But no country took them seriously.
Send Principality was more like a hobby and North Sudan Kingdom was recognized by Egypt but had no actual activity and was disbanded.
Of course, iming is free and considering Yu Ji-ha¡¯s actions and developments so far, there was enough possibility.
But they couldn¡¯t imagine that the world would recognize his country.
A reporter asked.
¡°What¡¯s the name of your country?¡±
¡°The United Human Federation.¡±
¡°Pfft.¡±
Laughter erupted among the reporters.
The United Human Federation?
Wasn¡¯t that too grandiose?
Don¡¯t mess with me!
There are four main requirements for establishing a country in this era.
People, territory, government, sovereignty.
If you look at the forces that have not been recognized as countries so far, you can see that one or more of these four requirements are missing.
But the United Human Federation that Yu Ji-ha just dered meets all four requirements even though it was just born.
¡°Currently, there are two members of the United Human Federation, namely me and Arma Ashford. We will grant residency to those who are recognized as global citizens and we will also consider citizenship.¡±
¡°Currently, the territory of the United Human Federation is Terra Ind in the North Pacific. I can¡¯t tell you the location, but I want to make it clear that it is an independent territory that cannot be infringed by other countries.¡±
¡°A government that can negotiate with other countries will also be created soon, and we will not apply for membership in the UN.¡±
The reporters were more surprised by his statement about the UN than anything else.
He wouldn¡¯t even apply for membership?
Considering that microstates tried to join the UN as observers so far, it was unexpected.
That meant that he wouldn¡¯t be able to get mediation in many international issues that could arise in the future.
He also wouldn¡¯t be able to apply for various projects that the UN was promoting.
Of course, being a UN member doesn¡¯t guarantee the identity of a country.
Just look at Taiwan.
They were not a UN member and they had few diplomatic rtions, but they had an independent government and exercised sovereignty.
Anyway, as a new country, not applying for membership in the UN meant one of two things.
It was a hobby and he didn¡¯t need to join, or he was so great that he didn¡¯t need the coordination of international organizations.
Most reporters were negative.
¡°Even the US tried to get the approval of the UN until the end when they attacked Iraq¡¡±
¡°He might trust the US for now, but what will he do after that?¡±
¡°I wonder if he can chase them away if countries like Japan send warships to protest.¡±
On the other hand, there was also a view that Yu Ji-ha had lost his trust in international organizations due to a series of incidents.
¡°It¡¯s true that you can¡¯t do anything if the permanent members oppose it, right?¡±
¡°They can attach the use of solidarity for peace to anything they want. The permanent members are the only ones who can do that.¡±
¡°They teamed up with the EU and revised the space treaty. It was a mess.¡±
Even as whispers were heard, Yoo Jiha¡¯s presentation continued.
¡°The United Human Federation may be regarded as a joke for now. It does not represent humanity, nor is it a union. But it will change in the future.¡±
¡°Finally, I will show you the g-raising ceremony.¡±
Theptop screen turned on and showed a video of Yu Ji-ha¡¯s business jet flying in the sky.
Soon, the door opened and someone jumped out with a backpack.
It was not a person, but an android Lucia made by Boston Dynamics.
Then, a parachute opened and Lucianded on the soggy ground.
And a g with an eagle spreading its wings fluttered.
¡°That concludes the deration of the founding of the United Human Federation. What I¡¯m handing out now is a press release.¡±
Another android Lucia went around among the people and handed out press releases.
The reporters sneered as they confirmed the exact pattern of the g.
¡°What kind of Rome is this¡¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t this the United Empire, not the United Human Federation?¡±
Some reporters also discussed the identity of the United Human Federation seriously.
¡°An android raising a g¡ This seems to show the future national identity.¡±
¡°If you include artificial intelligence Lucia, I don¡¯t know what will happen.¡±
¡°Considering Yu Ji-ha¡¯s ability, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to call it a corporate state.¡±
¡°The problem is what happens next. The political circles won¡¯t stay still.¡±
¡°By the way, who brought her here?¡±
They were talking about the android Lucia whonded on the ind.
She must have brought herself here somehow.
¡
¡ªYu Ji-ha, chairman, founded the United Human Federation on an ind in the Pacific Ocean.
-This country has nothing to do with South Korea and ims its own sovereignty.
This news was announced in South Korea andpletely buried the news of the war between the two sides.
It was such a shocking news.
The inte was in an uproar about when such an ind was created.
¡ªDid that ind appear because of the Pacific earthquake?
¡ªThat earthquake caused tuna prices to skyrocket. Tuna shake is now dead.
¡ªSo what? Is it over with dering a country?
¡ªIsn¡¯t there aw that says thatnd acquired by South Koreans belongs to Korea?
¡ªThere should be no unimednd in this world. This is unprecedented.
¡ªI heard it¡¯s much bigger than Jeju Ind¡ I¡¯m jealous¡
¡ªIt¡¯s fine to dere it, but what about defense? The US military will leave soon. They said they won¡¯t join UN either.
¡ªThey¡¯re totally crazy.
¡ªWell, if you have amazing abilities, you don¡¯t need to join UN. The problem is that the hurdle is too high.
¡ªBut who discovered it first?
-It¡¯s obvious. The Pacific is the US backyard, so the US discovered it and Yu Ji-ha quickly negotiated with them.
-Can I be a citizen of United Human Federation if I go there?
-They said they¡¯ll ept pre-registration for permanent residency soon, but it seems pretty strict. They look at age and ability and everything.
-But what¡¯s going to happen¡ The political circles won¡¯t stay still.
The situation spread to the media and there was always a press team waiting in front of Shi Group.
Si Hi-Tech¡¯s railgun was showing amazing performance in the war between the two sides, and there was even a im that Iron Beam was also made by Shi Hi-Tech.
-So what? Is Si Hi-Tech blocking China?
-It¡¯s ridiculous to block China with two weapon systems.
-That¡¯s why there are US Aegis ships equipped with SM-6 missiles in the West Sea. China might get angry and shoot missiles at us.
Thepetition for coverage continued every day and now people didn¡¯t care much about what happened in parliament.
The only interest they had was hatred for the opposition party.
The anti-China sentiment was at its peak.
¡ªIf they have any conscience, they should stay quiet until the general election?
¡ªI wish they would tie them up and throw them into the Taiwan Strait.
The first-termwmakers of the opposition party were in a hurry.
They were likely to fall off their horses in the uing general election in April.
Wouldn¡¯t it be better to do something than end their political life in their first term?
So they decided to get involved in thend that Yu Ji-ha acquired.
They didn¡¯t worry much about the possibility of bacsh.
He had made enemies all over the world and his options were very limited.
¡ªMaybe he can go to America or Russia, but if he goes to Russia, there will be a lot of interference in management. President Putin is very famous for that.
¡ªThere are a lot of Democrats in the US. It would be better to stay in Korea and guarantee his management.
¡ªA 50-year exclusive development right and the business right from it should be enough, right?
They thought so and campaigned for it within the party, but the opposition was not easy.
¡°Because of the retroactive application of this bill, it will be unconstitutional. I don¡¯t want to pass a bill that has holes from the start.¡±
¡°Think carefully. It may be unconstitutional, but it¡¯s enough for pressure. He can¡¯t leave South Korea, you know. You can tell by the fact that he rejected the US proposal.¡±
¡°Chairman Yu is patriotic, even if his behavior is a bit questionable. He won¡¯t leave this country.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤Is it okay to push such a patriot like this?¡±
The specialist member threw a doubtful look, but the majority members calmed him down.
¡°Oh,e on, we¡¯re not really pushing Chairman Yu.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it the basic of negotiation to throw in the beginning and graduallypromise? If 50 years of lease is too much, we are willing to give 100 years of lease as well.¡±
¡°That¡¯s enough for Chairman Yu¡¯s grandson to manage.¡±
The important thing was to get a spoon in Tera Ind.
They were desperate for the general election.
But this public opinion war ran into Yu Ji-ha¡¯s resistance from the start.
He held a press conference and dered this.
¡°If any bill regarding Terra Indes up on the National Land Committee, Si Group will be apany of another country, not South Korea. Please keep that in mind.¡±
¡
The opposition members were outraged by his warning to move his headquarters.
¡°Is he threatening us or what?¡±
¡°How can a mere businessman threaten a congressman who represents the people? This is uneptable.¡±
¡°The country is going backwards.¡±
¡°No matter what, the bill will be submitted to the plenary session without any problem.¡±
¡°I understand.¡±
It was Yu Ji-ha¡¯sst word.
Soon after, rumors circted in Yeouido securities market that Si Group might leave Korea and move its headquarters.
The opposition members insisted that it was impossible, but all Si Group employees were given paid leave.
Even the marine development stopped working, and the supply of ck metal was cut off.
Employees, as well aspanies and countries that had to receive batteries, asked the government what was going on.
It was unbelievable for President Jo Hyung-geun.
He immediately called in the opposition members.
¡°I¡¯ve been watching because it¡¯s a matter of Congress, but I can¡¯t do it anymore. Withdraw the bill immediately and restore it to its original state.¡±
The members made a fuss at his firm words.
¡°We¡¯vee this far and we can¡¯t do that.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t understand why you are intervening. Aren¡¯t you too involved?¡±
¡°Our goal is not to make Chairman Yupletely surrender. There is some room forpromise, you know. So¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
At that moment, President Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s fist mmed on the table.
¡°Are you out of your mind! Do you think you can negotiate with Chairman Yu right now? Do you know where he is right now? He¡¯s in Moscow!¡±
¡°If he goes to such a dictator¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
A member tried to say something but stopped when he saw President Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s face turn red.
He was famous for his temper that exploded without warning and didn¡¯t spare anyone.
¡°Do you think he¡¯s tying my feet! Do you know what will happen if Yu Jiha really moves hispany to Russia?¡±
¡°What will happen?¡±
¡°Russia will get N¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
At that moment, President Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s mouth shut tight.
He realized that it was not a good idea to mention NCM bullets.
If the secret leaked out, the US Navy 7th Fleet stationed near Taiwan would turn its direction to Korea.
Not only that?
President McKinley of the United States might visit Korea within two days.
And this was just a local problem.
It was horrifying to imagine what Russia would do with NCM technology.
If things went like that, Jo Hyung-geun would be recorded as a fool who handed over NCM bullets to another country inter generations.
He shook his head and growled.
¡°Listen carefully. Withdraw the bill right now and go apologize to Chairman Yu. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll mobilize the prosecution. I¡¯ll expose every single thing that your senior member Lee Hong-sik received from him. Do you understand?¡±
The members were startled.
Was there such a thing?
Well, how much did he receive and how could the other members be clean?
The media also highlighted this point at the time, but it was swept away as the situation changed rapidly.
¡°The former president asked me to look after him, and I agreed. We should fight in Congress, not break it down. But if youe out like this, I¡¯ll be in trouble too.¡±
He even tried to call the prosecutor general.
The first-term members got up and stopped him.
¡°Oh, Mr. President!¡±
¡°We¡¯re not saying we¡¯re going to do that¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
The situation was reversed in an instant.
President Jo Hyung-geun sent them out with the condition that theypletely withdraw the bill and never bring it up again.
And he called Yu Ji-ha.
¡°I¡¯m sorry. The first-term members seem to have made a fuss without knowing anything, but please be generous.¡±
¨DI have no intention of making trouble as long as the problem is solved.
¡°That¡¯s refreshing. I¡¯ll make up for the loss by revising the corporate tax.¡±
¨DThat would be nice.
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤But President Yu, why did you go to Moscow?¡±
¨DOh, it¡¯s nothing big. I ordered more mining ships and new cargo ships.
¡°I¡¯m asking out of curiosity, but after the base is established on Terra Ind¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¨DI promise you this. As long as you don¡¯t touch it, Si Group will not move in Korea.
Phew¡¤¡¤¡¤
A silent sigh escaped.
He had to go north in the first half of the year, and it was very difficult without Yu Ji-ha¡¯s cooperation.
¡°That¡¯s what I wanted to hear. Please help me in the future. Oh, don¡¯t forget to deliver the railgun and ion beam as scheduled.¡±
¨DI understand.
Chapter 60: Another Psychic
Chapter 60: Another Psychic
Yu Ji-ha got off the yacht with Arma andnded on the ind.
As soon as he stepped on the ground, the salty wind blew and choked his breath.
¡°It¡¯s hard to use it like this.¡±
¡°The average salinity is 1.2%. It has to go down to 0.2% to be able to farm.¡±
¡°It will take a few months to remove the salt.¡±
Usually, they nt halophytes and wait for years for the salt to be removed.
But he had a mining nt, so he could work at night.
Yu Ji-ha looked at the area where the megacity would be built.
¡°Start removing the salt andying the foundation at the same time. Hire workers from Russia.¡±
By workers, he meant androids.
Arma had set up a separate corporation in Russia for the development of smart farms in Kamchatka.
He nned to hire androids through that corporation and deploy them to the site.
He had no intention of hiring workers from Korea or elsewhere.
It was too much trouble.
To send workers to overseas territory, he needed a lot of paperwork and procedures.
Arma reported a few more things.
¡°Currently, only a few people know the location of this ind, but it will soon be revealed.¡±
¡°Well, there are so many people looking for it¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
From environmental groups to reconnaissance nes from various countries.
Not to mention geological research institutes and superrge fishing boats, even yachts crossing the Pacific were expected to flock in.
It was only a matter of time before the location of the ind was exposed, and he couldn¡¯t stop it.
¡°Make some unmanned surface vessels that can¡¯t enter within 12 nautical miles. As soon as possible.¡±
¡°I can do that with Si Heavy Industries.¡±
¡°No, make it as fast as possible with the technology avable in this era. Many people are using that kind of thing anyway.¡±
Si Group¡¯s defensepany Fusion Defense also made sea-sword unmanned surface vessels and delivered them.
The navy was not satisfied with their performance, but they used them anyway because of theck of manpower.
Yu Ji-ha rode a walker for a while and looked around the ind.
The scenery was nothing but endless muddynd and hills, but it was hisnd, his country.
¡°It feels like it¡¯s just starting.¡±
¡°People are mocking you for calling it a united human federation instead of a united human empire.¡±
¡°They¡¯re not wrong.¡±
The new united human federation would be a hierarchical society ruled by artificial intelligence.
In fact, the United human federation of the 22nd century was not an equal society either.
It was just that the hierarchy was not fixed like in the current era¡¯s ss system.
Anyway, if you live a decent social life, you can be a free citizen.
If you go up to free citizen A ss, the benefits are almost no different from those of full citizens.
The only difference was that full citizens could participate in the supreme council, which was the governing body.
Yu Ji-ha intended to introduce that system to the new united human federation as well.
¡°Use the data we¡¯ve collected so far to make a filter. Don¡¯t let anyone enter the ind.¡±
The new united human federation wanted harmless and diligent talents.
The owner Yu Ji-ha was a harmful human being, but that was not a problem at all.
Selfishness was a basic quality of a dictator.
They started discussing how to build a megacity.
A SimCity
As the Yang¡¯an War showed signs of prolongation, the human union dered by Yu Jiha caused a lot of controversy.
The reason why the world was interested was because Yu Ji-ha dered it.
The owner of Si Group who started to show his prominence two years ago.
Everything he discovered and developed so far was enough to turn the world upside down.
ording to some reports, the White House and Kremlin sent staff to South Korea.
They followed him around and quickly caught his words and actions and reported them because they didn¡¯t know when he would make a bombshell statement.
What kind of ce would be the united human federation made by such a person?
The media in various countries showed mixed reactions of worry and ridicule.
No matter how much artificial intelligence he had, it was not easy for an individual to create a country.
The public broadcaster in Korea invited experts with thick bones in urban nning, environment, and infrastructure to discuss the human union in a special program.
¡°The first thing weck is water.¡±
¡°Water¡¤¡¤¡¤Isn¡¯t that water all around us? That¡¯s what we ordinary people see.¡±
¡°We can desalinate seawater. But we need desalination facilities. And to operate those facilities? Yes, a lot of electricity is consumed.¡±
¡°Fortunately, the situation is a bit better in terms of electricity, because it is an area where renewable energy efficiency is good. Sr and wind power are among the best ces on Earth.¡±
¡°Considering the geographical characteristics, the closest ce is here. Midway Atoll¡¤¡¤¡¤Yes, it has a typical subtropical climate. The characteristic of this ce is that the rainy season is fixed.¡±
¡°To be more specific, it rains all year round in just two or three months. If you don¡¯t build irrigation facilities, you won¡¯t be able to grow crops, let alone water for people.¡±
The host nodded his head as he listened to the experts¡¯ stories.
¡°Ah¡¤¡¤¡¤So in summary¡¤¡¤¡¤The environment is very harsh and the cost of infrastructure and logistics transportation is too high to build proper infrastructure¡¤¡¤¡¤Is that your conclusion?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. And there is also a risk from a financial point of view.¡±
¡°What kind of¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°How are you going to build the infrastructure on that ind? It wille from Si Group, right? But that¡¯s a corporation. If you invest corporate money, probably in the form of bonds, in a foreign country? It could be seen as embezzlement. There¡¯s no way to get money out of it.¡±
The host chimed in and the expert pped his hands.
¡°That¡¯s salt. You know we nted halophytes on our west coast reimednd and waited for years for the salt toe out, right? That ce is much more harsh than reimednd.¡±
¡°Thend is also insufficient for building infrastructure. Of course, it¡¯s not impossible to do foundation work based on modern technology, but it will cost a lot.¡±
¡°So, to summarize¡¤¡¤¡¤It¡¯s almost impossible to build proper infrastructure because the environment is so harsh and the cost of infrastructure and logistics transportation is too high.¡±
¡°Ah, that was another problem.¡±
It was a problem that arose because Terra Ind was Yu Jiha¡¯s property.
Si Group was a corporation and it had to pay a lot of taxes to distribute its money to an individual.
But if it was invested in a foreign country, it could avoid those taxes.
Considering Si Group¡¯s recent expansion, it could be a serious problem in the future.
But the experts hesitated a bit.
¡°Well, that¡¯s just a possibility, not that they actually do that¡¡±
¡°Because the financial authorities¡¯ judgment could be different.¡±
They shrank back because they knew Yu Ji-ha¡¯s position well.
He was someone that the president trusted more than his chief of staff, as the rumors said.
No one could touch him with a microscope, not the financial authorities or the prosecution.
And there was a rumor that the oppositionwmakers who tried to meddle with Terra Ind were stripped off.
It was easy to scrap bills, but they were scrapped even before they were submitted to the Land Committee.
The probability was high.
Looking at the situation at that time, the KOSPI triggered a circuit breaker as soon as Yu Ji-ha gave a signal for moving his headquarters.
If he actually moved his headquarters, it wouldn¡¯t end with just a circuit breaker.
Now there was almost no one in South Korea who could mess with him.
¡
The first thing Arma did after securing Tera Ind was to bury a Titan-ss gue Core in the sea.
This core had an erosion power that was different from the Kraken-ss buried in the existing world.
gues had their ranks and growth limits set from birth.
Titan was a rank right below Queen, which could bepared to a four-star general in Korea.
On the other hand, Kraken was at best a lieutenant colonel or a colonel.
So there was noparison in every aspect.
Ssh, with a loud sound, the huge core was sucked into the abyss.
It happened on a dark night without moonlight.
¡¸Corending¡ Expected erosion power exceeded by 4,850%. Reset required¡¹
¡°Is it because it¡¯s my first time using a Titan-ss core? The ether circuit setting seems to be wrong.¡±
¡¸I¡¯ll fix it right away¡¹
¡°You don¡¯t have to hurry. I¡¯m not teasing you.¡±
Arma couldn¡¯t deal with the gue Core perfectly either because there were too many unknowns about it.
Especially, the Titan-ss core was the first one he had acquired, so everything was uncertain.
¡¸Core resetplete. Reunching¡¡¹
The range of seabed erosion caused by the core appeared on the hologram in the air.
Even though he minimized it as much as possible, it was much wider and faster than the existing Kraken-ss.
¡°If I mine it properly, I can handle the world¡¯s ck metal demand alone.¡±
¡¸Japan and China will show a lot of interest¡¹
¡°Japan won¡¯t be able to touch us for a while, but China is different. Keep an eye on them and eliminate any threats.¡±
Eliminating meant using sibiri satellites and Settler to prevent them froming near.
China had a grudge against Yu Jiha and evenmitted terror attacks.
They couldn¡¯t do anything rash now because the US Navy¡¯s Freedom-ss ships were patrolling nearby, but it would be different when they left in a year.
¨DA hostile microstate that is not a member of UN and has ck metal buried in its territorial waters.
From their perspective, United Human Federation would look like a great prey.
¡°They¡¯lle at us openly.¡±
The Taiwan War showed signs of dragging on, but most circles expected it to end within a year at most.
That meant China would start picking on Terra Ind in a year.
¡°What will happen to China when the war ends?¡±
¡¸It will probably start to split. The internal conflicts are too deep to control¡¹
It was called Farmer Gong¡¯s Rebellion.
Three hundred million people were abandoned inrge cities after the war started.
They were dying without receiving any support, including food.
It was natural that protests broke out.
And the public security and military who upied the cities chose to point their guns at them rather than trying to appease them.
The result was looting, arson and murder.
Currently, more than 20rge cities in China were suffering from this Farmer Gong¡¯s Rebellion.
ces like Beijing had rumors of more than ten thousand casualties. It was a mess anyway.
The world¡¯s economic and social research institutes began to seriously mention the possibility of China breaking up.
¨DFarmer Gong¡¯s Rebellion is getting sympathy from urban lower sses who are rising up. Their number is almost 500 million. It is almost impossible to appease them.
¨DThemanders of each front are also disagreeing and fighting. The ind factions do not want their troops to be cannon fodder.
¨DThe moment China stops its offensive, the war is over. But the internal conflicts will not end.
¨DChina will no longer be G2 with the internal conflicts, the meteorite damage and the huge war expenses.
They were all gloomy prospects.
But even in the worst-case scenario, China was still strong.
It could face Korea¡¯s navy with just its weakened East Sea Fleet, so it would be a piece of cake to deal with Humanity Alliance.
¡°But it will be different in a year.¡±
By then, he would havepleted the infrastructure to build a small city.
He also nned to have the power to protect Tera Ind.
Just installing railgun batteries on the coast would make it hard for any fleet to approach and the air defense would be covered by iron beams.
A dark night.
A cargo ship ordered by the Russian corporation approached Terra Ind with a huge thud.
This cargo ship used an ion thruster and ground effect, so its cruising speed reached supersonic speed.
But it only showed that speed on the high seas and disguised itself as an ordinary cargo ship when entering other countries¡¯ territorial waters.
¡¸Temporary pier work is done. We will unload the cargo¡¹
If someone who knew about ck metal saw this scene, they might have fainted.
He had made a pier with that expensive and rare ck metal.
Not just some equipment, but the entire pier was made of ck metal.
This would shorten the period greatly, but the cost would increase exponentially.
He could make a huge profit by processing and selling ck metal.
But money was a secondary issue for Yu Ji-ha and building infrastructure on Tera Ind was important.
¡°I can¡¯t issue residency permits without anything, right?¡±
¡¸You could. We are taking pre-reservations for residency permits now and the applicants are exceeding our expectations¡¹
¡°Really? How many are there?¡±
¡¸More than 100,000 from Korea alone. If you include foreigners, it¡¯s almost 400,000¡¹
There was nothing decided except for United Human Federation name and g.
But it was this much already.
But he had no intention of easing the conditions at all.
Yu Ji-ha watched as a Settler separated from the underwater base and a mining nt was released.
The desalination process began.
¡
¡°Oh, you passed the first screening.¡±
¡°Where, where? Oh, really?¡±
¡°Did you apply for this? You¡¯re really fearless, sis.¡±
¡°That¡¯s awesome. Huh? You should treat us.¡±
One day in January, Si Energy¡¯s Pangyo Research Center was wrapped in a small excitement.
Hwang Sunyoung had passed the pre-reservation for United Human Federation residency permit.
Actually, it wasn¡¯t a pass, but a first screening, but it was enough to draw everyone¡¯s attention.
Why did this bookworm, who was a homebody among homebodies, apply for this?
Hwang Sunyoung wiped her sses and said.
¡°Well, I don¡¯t have any family. I thought it would be fun to live on that ind.¡±
¡°But there¡¯s nothing on Terra Ind right now. What are you going to do there?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you have to catch fish or something? Like fishing with a.¡±
¡°Huh? That sounds kind of nice.¡±
¡°Hey, boss, fishing is only fun as a hobby. Do you think it¡¯s fun if it bes your job?¡±
¡°Is that so?¡±
The boss scratched his head awkwardly and Hwang Sunyoung imagined her own future.
¡°Think about it. The owner of Terra Ind is our president Yu Ji-ha.¡±
¡°So?¡±
¡°You all know his personality. He¡¯s a meticulous and efficient person. Do you think he made a country without any n? He must have everything nned out with Lucia by now.¡±
¡°Lucia is amazing.¡±
¡°What can I say¡¡±
The artificial intelligence Lucia, who was said to be in the basement of Metaverse headquarters, had changed many things in South Korean society.
Now all traffic idents, including human casualties, were judged by her and the results were reported to the insurancepanies and courts.
Also, the portal sites used Lucia to detect articles that contained fake data.
She didn¡¯t delete the articles, but they didn¡¯t show up in the search results, so people didn¡¯t care.
The mediapanies criticized this policy fiercely, but President Jo Hyunggeun pushed it firmly.
¡°What are you talking about? Look at the crap you wrote with magic graphs and misuse of statistics. What kind of media are you?¡±
Lucia¡¯s judgment criterion was data.
There was a debate on this topic where journalists from mediapanies and Lucia argued, but it was a one-sided victory.
Lucia shook off the journalists with urate data.
She didn¡¯t spare them at all and pressed them hard because she was an artificial intelligence. The journalists who participated in the debate were so angry that they stuttered.
The people who watched the broadcast gave this evaluation.
¨DThese bastards are making excuses after being refuted by magic graphs. They should be able to manipte data ording to their editing intentions.
¨DLucia is much better than these idiots who refute their own articles.
Not only that, but Lucia also did a great job in trantion.
There was no more ridiculous trantion in movies.
The quality of trantion improved greatly as the movie importers introduced Lucia.
She was also fast, so there was no need to use trantors anymore.
Thanks to that, the trantors who had been criticized for mistrantion lost their jobs.
There were also some protests about this issue, but the public reaction was cold.
¨DIf they had any conscience, they should have quit after seeing the mistrantion they did.
¨DPlease go away. I¡¯m sick of your excuses.
Anyway, for Hwang Sunyoung, it was a good thing.
She could read foreign books of good quality thanks to Lucia.
There was also talk that Metaverse and the publishing industry were fighting over strengthening the fixed book price system, but she didn¡¯t care about that.
A colleague who was fiddling with his mouse suddenly made a fuss.
¡°It says here that they invite people who got residency permits. Starting from next March?¡±
¡°It¡¯s only a year and two months left. Can they do this?¡±
People leaned their heads on the monitor and Hwang Sunyoung had to get out of her chair.
¡°Hey, I¡¯m the winner here. Why are you making such a fuss?¡±
¡°Wait a minute. Oh, you have to write in English. That¡¯s why sis Sunyoung got picked.¡±
¡°Hey, then people who can¡¯t speak English are all out.¡±
Why did Yu Ji-ha, who was South Korean, designate English as the officialnguage?
There were also many interesting materials on United Human Federation website.
¡°The currency is only electronic money called credit. Is 1 credit worth 1,000 won?¡±
¡°All data is managed by Lucia¡ Wow, this is a countrypletely ruled by artificial intelligence.¡±
¡°They assign jobs even if you don¡¯t have any special skills? That¡¯s kind of weird.¡±
They were all used to Lucia¡¯s work instructions, but that didn¡¯t mean they liked it.
They felt like they were moving like essories of artificial intelligence.
But no one quit their job and left.
It was a luxury to have a job that paid regrly in this world.
Anyway, Hwang Sunyoung was very positive about United Human Federation.
¡°I¡¯m really going there. I can live there for the rest of my life as long as I have inte ess. They¡¯ll take care of the food somehow.¡±
¡°But how can you live like that? What if you get sick or something?¡±
¡°Won¡¯t the infrastructure be built soon?¡±
Everyone shook their heads.
¡°When will that be?¡±
¡°It takes years just to desalinate the water.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t get your hopes up too high. The experts say that the actual move-in will take at least 10 years.¡±
¡°Then it¡¯s not possible.¡±
While this conversation continued, the foundation work on the ind went on.
Heavy equipment came in and drove piles into the ground to stabilize the ground.
A sturdy road began to beid on thepacted ground.
A small city was being built on Tera Ind.
¡
A year ago, the Settler crossed over to the future Earth and brought back the Prophet¡¯s artifact and a mining ship.
The mining ship was deployed in the asteroid belt to mine resources and build the third mining ship.
And the analysis of the more important Prophet¡¯s artifact had just finished.
Arma brought the artifact to the Settler¡¯s bridge and reported.
¡°This artifact can detect Psychic from a long distance.¡±
¡°Is that possible from such a distance¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s the Prophet¡¯s artifact. Nothing would be surprising about its abilities.¡±
As she said, the Prophet¡¯s artifact often had levels that surpassed United Human Federation technology, or even iprehensible ones.
This Psychic scanner was probably one of those kinds.
¡°How far is the range?¡±
¡°About 3,000km. If we sail with the Settler, we can scan the whole Earth.¡±
¡°Then let¡¯s start with Japan slowly.¡±
The possibility of an alpha-level or higher Psychic appearing in this era was extremely low.
Because they were exposed to ether for a short time.
But it wouldn¡¯t hurt to scan the whole Earth as a test.
¡°I detected people with ether sensitivity near Hokkaido and Tokyo in Japan.¡±
¡°Those are probably the ones who bragged on Japanese TV. How sensitive are they?¡±
¡°They are nowhere near alpha-level.¡±
¡°I see.¡±
The reason why he needed alpha-level or higher Psychic was because he found something in the data of the knowledge box.
The next-generation Psychic n that United Human Federation had been doing was wrong from the root.
Yu Ji-ha was shocked when he confirmed this.
¡°My genes were all wasted? And my children too?¡±
¡°That¡¯s the result. Your Aether sensitivity is too highpared to other Psychic ether circuits. That¡¯s why.¡±
¡°The male side gives the gene that determines sensitivity.¡±
¡°And the female side gives the gene that determines the circuit. Your children had high ether sensitivity, but their Aether circuits were too low.¡±
If 1kw of electricity flows through a single wire, the result is obvious.
¡°I wondered why my children were so weak¡¡±
At that time, the children who inherited Yu Jiha¡¯s genes received a lot of expectations.
It was abination of an omega-level Psychic and other female Psychic. It was a really amazing thing, right?
Surely, even if they weren¡¯t as good as Yu Ji-ha, they would be great psikers.
Everyone expected this, but the reality was that most of them were in poor health.
Three of them died as soon as they were born in bio bags and the rest didn¡¯t live long either.
And they didn¡¯t even recognize that Yu Jiha was their father.
Only one person ended up wearing an assault armor.
But even he died in battle against gue.
Yu Jiha looked at the main screen with aplicated eye.
¡°I wish we had a little more time.¡±
¡°But we wouldn¡¯t have been able to stop gue¡¯s offensive anyway.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right¡ That¡¯s why we have to make next-generation Psychic.¡±
If there were no Psychic with ether sensitivity, they couldn¡¯t operate assault armors that could act in the Great gue War.
ording to Arma¡¯s calctions, if they had 200 Psychic above beta-level, they could lead a war equal to gue.
If they could preserve more than 1.5 billion people of United Human Federation, it was possible topletely annihte gue Legion.
If there was someone like Yu Ji-ha who was omega-level, the conditions would be much easier, but that was too much to ask for.
He was an out-of-spec existence that humanity had barely produced after being exposed to ether for over 100 years.
¡°200 Psychic, 1.5 billion humans.¡±
Thetter was definitely possible, but the former was a bit vague.
He thought that Psychic couldn¡¯t be artificially created.
But now that he realized that United Human Federation experiment was wrong, he just had to change direction.
Yu Ji-ha ordered Arma.
¡°Scan the whole Earth every 10 years. If a Psychic is born, secure them by any means necessary.¡±
He was about to board an exploration ship when Arma reported.
¡°Master, gamma-level Psychic detected.¡±
This fast?
A golden dot shone in Afghanistan in Central Asia.
Chapter 61: The Tarantulas Dance of Destruction
Chapter 61: The Tarant''s Dance of Destruction
¡°That girl.¡±
On the main screen, a girl with a messy face and golden eyes was drawing water.
She was the gamma-level Psychic that Arma had found.
¡°First of all, let me tell you about her background. Fatima Karam. She¡¯s about 15 years old and lost her parents when she was young. She¡¯s currently working as a water carrier at a turquoise mine.¡±
¡°Do the people around her know that she¡¯s a Psychic?¡±
¡°Not at all. Many people there don¡¯t even know what ck metal is.¡±
Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t know much about Earth¡¯s history either, because he was busy fighting gue.
United Human Federation had buried the previous history as well.
¡°It¡¯s a region that has nothing to do with us, but we¡¯ve already been involved twice.¡±
The ones who received China¡¯s support and were mobilized for terrorism were the Taliban of Afghanistan.
¡°Where Fatima is, it¡¯s a bit different, right?¡±
¡°The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan has been fighting against the Taliban for over seven years. Theirst stronghold is this Panjshir province. The currentmander is Ahmad Massoud. He¡¯s a representative of moderate Im.¡±
¡°They¡¯re having a hard time.¡±
The difference in power between the Taliban and the resistance was too severe.
The manpower was more than 10 times different, and what covered that was the terrain of Panjshir.
¡°Even though Afghanistan¡¯s terrain is like this, Panjshir¡¯s hignds are even more rugged. The Russia and the US tried to attack it and left without gaining anything.¡±
¡°But they couldn¡¯t have held out for seven years with just the terrain.¡±
¡°India and Tajikistan are providing supplies. It¡¯s not much, but it¡¯s vital for the resistance.¡±
¡°So what do we have to do to get that Psychic?¡±
¡°I suggest you meet with Commander Massoud. He¡¯s an Imist, but he¡¯s on the moderate side, so you might be able to talk to him.¡±
¡°What do they want?¡±
¡°Probably drones. Ever since Saudi Arabia used drones massively, there¡¯s been a drone craze in low-intensity conflict zones.¡±
¡°That¡¯s why Iranined to our government.¡±
¡°Saudi Arabia drove out the Houthi rebels and Iran supported them.¡±
¡°Iran used to get along well with Korea in the past, but politics is unpredictable. By the way, do they really want drones?¡±
¡°Very desperately. They can¡¯t afford them, but both the Taliban and the resistance want our drones.¡±
¡°Well, they¡¯re perfect for infantrybat¡¡±
If you look at it from the introduction side, it¡¯s like increasing your troops in an instant.
And they¡¯re very powerful inrge-scale infantry battles.
Saudi Arabia was so satisfied with their performance that they paid an additional 200 million dors on the condition of opening a dedicated line.
They seemed to want to fight the Houthi rebels with drones alone after sending out all the mercenaries.
Yu Ji-ha got up.
¡°Contact the resistance secretly. If they refuse, we¡¯ll use other means.¡±
Even if they refused, he intended to take Fatima with him.
It was a waste to let a girl with such a tremendous talent as a gamma-level Psychic rot in a turquoise mine.
¡
Afghanistan became a country of Pashtuns and Taliban after the US withdrew 21 years ago.
But not all areas of Afghanistan were under their control.
In Panjshir province, more than 10,000 warriors of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan were still fighting against the Taliban.
Especially Bagram Air Base was one of the main battlefields where both sides shed fiercely since 21 years ago.
From the resistance¡¯s point of view, it was a lifeline to receive supplies easily from India or Tajikistan, and the Taliban tried hard to block it.
Recently, the resistanceunched an offensive and seeded in capturing this air base after the Taliban leader suddenly disappeared.
But as it had changed hands hundreds of times before, no one knew when it would change again.
In such a situation, a business jet flew into Bagram Air Base.
The resistancemander Ahmad Massoud looked at it and shook his head repeatedly.
¡°There are Badri snipers everywhere, but they have courage or recklessness.¡±
¡°Anyway, let¡¯s meet him, Ahmad. He might help us.¡±
The person who patted his back was Ahmad¡¯s father¡¯s subordinate andrade Amruh Saleh.
¡°Why did hee here¡ He must have some purpose.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll find out when we meet him.¡±
They had no idea why the businessman from a faraway eastern country wanted to see them.
One day, a huge drone flew in and dropped a note before leaving.
The note said in French that he was willing to support them and wanted to meet them once.
Of course, Ahmad knew him.
He turned the world upside down with ck metal battery, ion thruster, unobtainium and so on. Who wouldn¡¯t know him?
He desperately wanted to introduce one of those, or even just a drone, but he knew better than anyone how difficult it was.
How could the resistance afford such expensive weapons?
On the other hand, he felt hopeful when he saw his business jetnding fearlessly at the base.
¡°Let¡¯s go. It¡¯s not polite to sit and greet a guest.¡±
Soon after, Yu Ji-ha and Arma got off the business jet and the resistance weed them with open arms.
The group went to a building that the US military had built and started talking.
¡°Let me get straight to the point. Do you know this girl?¡±
The picture that Yu Ji-ha showed was of Fatima drawing water.
Of course, Ahmad didn¡¯t know anything about her, but he learned from his subordinates¡¯ whispers that she was a girl who worked at a turquoise mine.
¡°Fatima Karam. A poor child who lost her parents. But why are you showing me this picture?¡±
¡°I want to take her with me.¡±
¡°¡¡±
A moment of awkward silence filled the building.
Did he have a taste for that kind of face?
Anyone could see that this was a trick to buy Fatima with money.
Before Ahmad could open his mouth, Arma took out a ck metal cube.
It started to transform with a nking sound before Yu Ji-ha¡¯s hand touched it.
¡°ck metal.¡±
¡°You may not know, but I¡¯m one of the few people in the world who canmercialize ck metal. Until recently, that is.¡±
Ahmad realized what he meant.
¡°Don¡¯t tell me Fatima is the second one after you¡¡±
¡°There are quite a few people in the world who have the ck metal factor. But very few of them can use that ability with precision. Fatima is one of them.¡±
¡°How did you know? Even we who lived with her didn¡¯t know that.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll tell you it¡¯s a trade secret. Can you call Fatima for me? I want to see her.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
He wanted this ability, not the girl.
Ahmad felt relieved inside and gave orders to his subordinates.
A few hourster, Fatima came in and sat nervously next to Ahmad.
She looked at Arma, who spoke fluent Tajik, with a curious expression and listened to his detailed story.
Yu Ji-ha handed her a ck metal cube and Arma interpreted.
¡°Think of an animal or a fruit that you like and touch this. It will change.¡±
¡°It looks like just a ck metal to me¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
She didn¡¯t know.
As soon as Fatima touched the cube, it surprisingly turned into a pomegranate.
It was the fruit she always liked.
¡°How is this possible¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°She had this ability?¡±
They all wondered how they had noticed it, but Yu Ji-ha focused on Fatima.
¡°I want to buy your talent. If you want, I can let you study in Korea. Arma here will be your guardian.¡±
¡°Go to Korea?¡±
She didn¡¯t even know where Korea was, so she was scared.
She looked at some pictures, but it didn¡¯t change the fact that it was a faraway foreign country.
Ahmad sighed and dered.
¡°If she doesn¡¯t want to, we won¡¯t send her. Every Mujahideen has the right to decide their own fate.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not a Mujahideen¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
Fatima said cautiously, but he shook his head.
¡°Not only the warriors who fight on the front lines, but also the women who cook, the boys who mine turquoise, and even the girls who pick fruits are all proud Mujahideens. Don¡¯t forget that.¡±
¡°Masad¡¤¡¤¡¤my parents were taken away by the Taliban and passed away¡¤¡¤¡¤how can I forget them and go to Korea?¡±
¡°I know how you feel. My father also rests in thisnd. We were born in thisnd and we have no choice but to die here.¡±
His words showed his attitude of defending his homnd rather than hatred for the Taliban.
Yu Ji-ha thought for a moment and said.
¡°If you want to return after 10 years, I¡¯ll let you do that. And if Miss Fatima follows us, we¡¯ll pay ordingly.¡±
Pay¡¤¡¤¡¤
Fatima didn¡¯t know much about Yu Ji-ha, but she could tell he was a great person.
He came here himself when every country had cut off their ties with this ce. That must prove his ability.
Then could he help her with her revenge?
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤How much am I worth?¡±
Ahmad intervened at her resigned words.
¡°Fatima, you don¡¯t have to do that. We¡¯re not selling you to fight against the Taliban.¡±
But her golden eyes were staring at Yu Ji-ha.
A determined voice came out of her tightly closed lips.
¡°Please answer me. What can you do for me if I go?¡±
Yu Ji-ha leaned forward to her.
¡°What do you want?¡±
¡°Revenge. I want the end of the Taliban who killed my parents.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a bit difficult.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°But I can help you reim Kabul. With your help, of course.¡±
¡°You can¡¯t be serious¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
Amruh Saleh stood up excitedly and leaned on the table.
¡°That¡¯s impossible. There are more than 100 tanks and armored vehicles at Hamid Airport. More than 5,000 Taliban are stationed there.¡±
Reiming Kabul was the wish of the National Resistance Front, but they knew better than anyone that it was impossible.
¡°I¡¯ve heard a lot of things are impossible in Korea.¡±
He was still hearing sarcastic remarks from people who challenged the impossible.
It made sense if you thought about it logically.
Yu Ji-ha smiled outside the building.
¡°Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll show you what I brought.¡±
¡
As Yu Ji-ha gave the order, the Sibiri satellite that had been waiting on low orbit fired an armed pod.
This armed pod entered the atmosphere in a straight line and quickly descended.
And above Bagram Air Base, it spat out ck containers one after another.
When parachutes opened in the sky, the resistance fighters were surprised.
They thought it was someone¡¯s air raid.
Ahmad ran ahead and shouted.
¡°It¡¯s okay! It¡¯s okay! They¡¯re on our side!¡±
He had seenbat drones that he had bought from Saudi Arabia fighting against the Houthi rebels in Aden.
The drones carried out their missions mercilessly, day and night.
What if they had faced the drones?
Ahmad couldn¡¯t say for sure that he could beat them.
But those drones, they wereing down in containers right now.
The resistance fighters who heard the exnationter shouted Ah and ran.
Hundreds ofbat drones popped out of the containers.
Ahmad was d, but then he hesitated.
They seemed bigger and heavier than the ones he had seen in Aden.
Yu Ji-ha came next to him and said.
¡°These are improved based on the data we got from Aden. They have enhanced bulletproof performance and won¡¯t crash even if they hit a de. And their firepower is increased too. Do you want to shoot them with that gun?¡±
He was surprised.
¡°With an AK? No matter how much it¡¯s ck metal, it¡¯s just a drone¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°I¡¯ll show you how the drone led the Aden battle to sess. Shoot.¡±
The resistance fighters lined up and raised their rifles.
Tatatang!
Dozens of bullets hit, but the target drone only wobbled and didn¡¯t fall.
The soldiers were amazed by the incredible bulletproof performance.
Meanwhile, Ahmad felt a chill in his chest when he saw the LED on the creature¡¯s body change to red.
He had seen that red light in Aden, and it always meant someone would die.
Yu Ji-ha said.
¡°It¡¯s okay. The CDS-1A¡¯s friend-or-foe identification algorithm is perfect. It can distinguish between you and the Taliban easily.¡±
¡°Are you giving these things to us? These weapons are so expensive¡¡±
¡°Reim Kabul. These things will fight for you.¡±
Ahmad was touched by Yu Ji-ha¡¯s words, but he couldn¡¯t help worrying.
No matter how well thebat drones fought, they couldn¡¯t do anything against tanks and armored vehicles, could they?
But there was a solution for that too.
Yu Ji-ha called Arma and asked.
¡°Is there a satellite orbiting over Kabul?¡±
¡°The US satellite is adjusting its orbit. The Chinese and Russian satellites will take pictures of this ce in 3 hours and 6 hours respectively.¡±
¡°Destroy the Chinese satellite and jam the Russian satellite¡¯smunication for a while.¡±
¡°Got it. What should I send?¡±
¡°Tarant. Let¡¯s see if it¡¯s properly repaired.¡±
As he gave the order, an Aetherser poured out from the Sibiri satellite.
The firepower was iparable to the iron beam, and the Chinese reconnaissance satellite evaporated in one shot.
And then the cover of the Sibiri satellite opened and an armed pod was ejected.
The pod carrying the Tarant entered the atmosphere wrapped in sma.
The destination was Hamid Airport in Kabul.
The purpose was annihtion.
The Tarant was an infantry support tank made by the Human Alliance.
This thing, which was as big as a small building, had a living metal body with self-repair function, making it very sturdy.
The sma shield was thest resort, and it blocked most of the mass objects.
It also had the ability to receive graviton radar signals from the Settler, allowing it to capture all enemies in a wide range.
Its armament was somewhat weak, with an etherser turret, reflector bits, and two railguns each.
It was inevitable since it was made for urban infantry support.
But the real advantage of the Tarant was its mobility, which avoided most of the threats with its own artificial intelligence and graviton radar.
When it jumped around and dodged attacks, one might doubt if it was alive.
It even had a high-output ion thruster, which allowed it to fly on its own.
It transformed its body to create wings and flew without rockets.
The armed pod carrying the Tarant slowed down over Hamid International Airport and started retrofire.
Soon, a metallic monster in the shape of a spider opened the pod and jumped out.
Crash!
Itnded right on top of a helicopter whose rotor and des were separated and unusable.
The thick armor crumpled like aluminum foil, and it searched for gravitons around it through the datalink.
It didn¡¯t forget to distinguish between Taliban and others.
¡°Target acquired, switching to E-mode.¡±
E stands for Exterminate.
The Tarant started moving with the goal of exterminating the Taliban.
¡°What is that monster!¡±
¡°Just shoot and see!¡±
Tatatata¨D!
Hundreds of bullets poured out, but the Tarant didn¡¯t dodge and took them.
It judged that they were not significant threats with its own algorithm.
¡°Reflector bits deployed.¡±
Instead, it shot reflector bits around it and charged up ether crystals.
The moment a golden light flickered from the turret, aser was fired.
Thisser was reflected by the reflector bits and fired in all directions.
Even though it lowered its firepower as much as possible, it couldn¡¯t prevent piercing through flesh bodies.
¡°Gah¡¡±
Dozens of Taliban were shot right through their hearts and clutched their chests.
As they fell down, new enemies appeared.
A cloud of dust rose up and several armored vehicles and tanks rushed towards it.
The Tarant analyzed the threats in a very short time.
¡°20mm armor-piercing rounds, 105mm high-explosive rounds.¡±
Whirr¨D
As soon as the tank stopped and aimed its main gun at it, the Tarant jumped up high.
The driver on the armored vehicle next to it had his mouth open until the moment it fell down, whichsted less than a second.
¡°What is that thing doing¡¡±
Boom!
The Tarantnded on top of the armored vehicle andpletely crushed its weak upper structure.
The three crew members were killed instantly without making a sound, and its legs moved slightly and flipped over the armored vehicle next to it.
The tank¡¯s main gun moved again, but it was too slow.
It moved its legs and grabbed the tank¡¯s turret with great force.
Creak¨D
It sounded like scraping a metal te with a stone, and the turret that weighed more than 10 tons was detached and rolled away.
Hmm¡it looks like this.
As several lenses examined the structure, two Taliban looked at the spider-shaped monster with wide eyes.
¡°Uh, uh¡¡±
¡°Aaaah!¡±
They finally screamed, and the Tarant pulled them out and threw them away.
By this time, not only the airport garrison, but also the entire Taliban in Kabul had noticed the existence of this monster.
Some tried to contact the headquarters in Kandahar, but for some reason, themunication didn¡¯t work.
The Sibiri satellite was blocking allmunications around it.
And the Tarant faced dozens of tanks.
It seemed like they had brought all the tanks in Kabul.
The tanks aimed their main guns at it and fired their shells in unison.
But the Tarant didn¡¯t move, as if it had judged their threat level.
It seemed to think that it could block them with its sma shield, since they were nothing special.
As if to prove its judgment, dozens of shells stopped at the blue wall and couldn¡¯t get past it, then dropped with a thud.
¡°Counterattack initiated.¡±
Two railguns spewed out projectiles.
They didn¡¯t fire ten rounds per minute, but sprayed them like machine guns, turning dozens of tanks into honebs in an instant.
The dust from the firing and impact rose up, and the tanks that had their turrets and engines prated couldn¡¯t move.
The Taliban who were lucky enough to survive opened the hatches and ran out, but they became prey for theser.
¡°Kuh-ack!¡±
The number of Taliban in Kabul continued to decrease like that.
Less than 30 minutes after the Tarant was deployed, 500 graviton points disappeared, and after about an hour, more than 1,000 were gone.
At this point, the Taliban lost their morale and started to run away.
Of course, they weren¡¯t really running away.
They nned to retreat to the outskirts and regroup, then hide in the rugged mountains and wait for their chance, as they did when the Soviet Union and the US invaded.
But the Tarant didn¡¯t give them that opportunity.
It saw them all with its graviton radar and fired railguns andsers at them one by one.
In the end, not a single person who witnessed it and managed to escape was left alive.
When the number of Taliban in Kabul was reduced by half, a new order came down.
¡°Missionplete, withdrawal initiated.¡±
The resistance fighters at Bagram Air Base were rushing in with drones in front of them.
They couldn¡¯t reveal their identity, so they had to withdraw sooner than expected.
The Tarant jumped into the air and activated its ion thruster, flying into the sky.
The armed pod that was waiting in the air took it in and broke through the atmosphere.
The Sibiri satellite that came down to low orbit loaded the armed pod and headed back to geostationary orbit.
Finally, a thick pir of light smashed a building in Kandahar.
The de facto leader of the Taliban and his aides were killed at once.
Chapter 62: The Launch of Kim Gu-class Destroyer and Japans Nuclear Ambitions
Chapter 62: The Launch of Kim Gu-ss Destroyer and Japan''s Nuclear Ambitions
The warriors who followed Ahmad Masad into Kabul city with drones were shocked by what they saw.
¡°What is this¡¡±
What did the corpses and piles of scrap metal everywhere mean?
It was impossible to wipe out such a force in such a short time.
But the gruesome scene before their eyes was not a fantasy, but the truth.
¡°Commander Masad, they are all dead!¡±
¡°The residents are too scared toe out, and there are no moving vehicles!¡±
Ahmad marched silently through Kabul city, listening to his subordinates¡¯ reports.
As the drones that hovered around him flew away, screams inevitably followed.
He couldn¡¯t help butugh at this point.
The war they knew was never like this.
It was a war where snipers and rockets flew from everywhere, and they couldn¡¯t even stick their heads out properly.
And yet, they had to sacrifice themselves to capture a stronghold.
But the war waged by the Korean entrepreneur waspletely different.
¡°This is not a war¡¡±
A one-sided massacre.
They had no idea what had been deployed.
The drones fought well, but they couldn¡¯t flip over those armored vehicles.
And when they found a tank with a detached turret at the airport, they were speechless.
Ahmad looked at it with a dumbfounded expression and said,
¡°Uncle. Do you have any idea what we were up against?¡±
¡°I have no clue. It¡¯s definitely not a weapon from the US or Russia that I know of.¡±
¡°It doesn¡¯t look like it was hit by a rocket, judging by theck of explosion marks.¡±
¡°It looks like that to me too. It¡¯s as if a giant monster tore it apart.¡±
It was too absurd to believe.
Ahmad realized the importance of this incident as he looked at the traces of battle.
This was not something to be casually talked about.
It might be a secret more important than the Taliban.
Would someone with that much power let go of someone who leaked the secret?
He quickly told his uncle,
¡°Tell all the warriors. Do not ever reveal what we saw today to anyone.¡±
¡°It¡¯s hard to contact the outside in our situation anyway, but I¡¯ll do as you say.¡±
Ahmad cherished the business card that Yu Ji-ha gave him.
He said to contact him anytime if he needed support, but he wanted to avoid that as much as possible.
¡°And it would be good to impress upon the residents that we are not their enemies as much as possible.¡±
¡°That might take some time¡¡±
The citizens of Kabul were people who had been under the influence of the US forces, so they were distant from Imic extremism.
A destroyer, not a cruiser
The first week of February 2028 was a very auspicious day for the Korean Navy, or rather for Korea as a whole.
It was the day when the new railgun-equipped destroyer Kim Gu-ss 1st ship Kim Gu wasunched.
This destroyer was imed by Korea to have a full load discement of around 10,000 tons, but no country believed it.
The US and Japan estimated it to be 15,000 tons, and the construction photos captured by artificial satellites also roughly matched.
Especially Japan was obsessed with this destroyer, because of the initial model that had two railguns installed.
¡ªIt¡¯s impossible to use two railguns with four gas turbines. What kind of ship is that?
¡ªThey even installed an iron beam sea type¡ Now this destroyer is an invincible ship with both offense and defense.
¡ªJudging from the results in Taiwan airspace, it¡¯s impossible to break through the iron beam unless you pour out hypersonic anti-ship missiles.
¡ªWhat about early warning and control aircraft? It¡¯s impossible to calcte firing parameters from long range without them.
¡ªThey decided to import Peace Eye secondhand from the US and it¡¯s expected to arrive within February.
¡ªThe ion thruster is also a problem. The maximum 30 knots written on the spec sheet is rumored to be camouge. Judging by the hull shape suitable for high speed, it might reach close to 50 knots.
¡ª50 knots? Is it a cruiser or a speedboat?
Anyway, Kim Gu was an existence that made Japan¡¯s headache worse.
Especially because there was no way to counter it that came to mind.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force Strategic Research Institute came up with a countermeasure to sink it by pouring dozens of Type 4 anti-ship missiles.
But it was unknown whether this missile could prate the iron beam.
If Kim Gu operated alone, it might be possible, but it was expected that it would mostly apany a fleet.
It was impossible to sink it without breaking through the fleet air defense and iron beam of Aegis ships.
Some people in Japan said why not just confront it.
¡ªDidn¡¯t Yu Ji-ha have a condition? Just lend him the sea. Then the railgun and iron beam will be ours.
¡ªLet¡¯s be realistic. If the prime minister bows his head and the emperor visits Korea to create a mood of reconciliation, we don¡¯t have to worry about this.
¡ªDon¡¯t you want to use unobtainium? If the prime minister shakes hands with Yu Ji-ha, we can make the next generation Shinkansen a maglev train!
But these voices were in the minority.
Most Japanese felt a serious security crisis from the railgun and iron beam that were distorted by the media.
Even though Korea had never shown a threatening stance to Japan.
And so, on February 5th, the entire Japanese archipgo was interested in Kim Gu¡¯sunch ceremony.
In fact, not only Japan, but also the US, Russia, Britain, France, Australia and other countries with wide seas were mostly interested.
It was probably the first time that so much attention was paid to theunch of a single destroyer.
This ship was originally scheduled to beunched in May, not February.
But President Jo Hyung-geun personally visited Si Heavy Industries shipyard and encouraged them and ordered the navy to cooperate for quick construction, so the schedule was greatly advanced.
The navy was cautious because it was a new tform and they didn¡¯t know what defects woulde out, but they had to swallow their tears and move up the schedule at the president¡¯s insistence.
Thanks to that, night shifts became routine at Tongyeong shipyard and sometimes even QC was skipped.
The intention was to put the railgun destroyer into service in the second half of the year.
The result of all that was right in front of them.
President Jo Hyung-geun held a champagne bottle with an emotional expression, but had to put it down at the urging of his staff.
¡°Mr. President, breaking the champagne is usually a woman¡¯s job.¡±
¡°Oh, is that so? I thought it would be fine for a man to do it too, but I¡¯ll give in here.¡±
The firstdy smashed the champagne bottle against the bow and confetti popped out with a bang.
Soon after, the railgun destroyer slid down the rail into the sea and bounced up.
¡°Kim Gu has beenunched. We would like to thank all the dignitaries who have graced this asion with their presence. Please give us your support with a hearty apuse.¡±
When theunch ceremony was over, President Jo Hyung-geun called Yu Ji-ha and the shipyard president.
¡°When do you think it will be operational?¡±
¡°It will take until next year because of the trial period¡¡±
They had been tormented by saying it was a special order from VIPs, but what can¡¯t be done can¡¯t be done.
¡°Really? That won¡¯t do.¡±
The president who was about to express his negative position closed his mouth when Yu Ji-ha gave him a hint.
¡°Considering the mission of this warship, some equipment can be omitted.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right, isn¡¯t it? What kind of fancy decoration do we need? Just deploy it in realbat and fix it.¡±
¡°Realbat?¡±
The president blinked his eyes without understanding and President Jo Hyung-geun called Yu Ji-ha separately.
¡°It must be delivered to the navy by the end of June. Do you understand?¡±
¡°We will try our best to meet it even if we have to work all night.¡±
June was the deadline for the northern advance.
If they dyed any longer, the army that was undergoing harsh training would be exhausted.
Moreover, China had withdrawn a considerable number of troops from the northern front to suppress the Beijing riots, so this was their only chance.
Korea¡¯s movement caused concern not only from the media, but also from the opposition and the United States.
North Korea also responded nervously.
¨DThe Republic is different from China. We are ready tounch nuclear missiles at South Korea at any time, so it would be wise to refrain from rash actions.
But South Korea did not care about North Korea¡¯s reaction.
With NCM warheads in their possession, North Korea¡¯s nuclear missiles were nothing but scrap metal.
What South Korea really cared about was Japan¡¯s recent attitude.
President Jo Hyung-geun said with a headache.
¡°It seems like Japan is going to conduct a nuclear test.¡±
Yu Ji-ha asked in a tone of ignorance.
¡°A nuclear test? When did they progress that much?¡±
¡°Oh, you don¡¯t know, Chairman Yu. They have enriched plutonium quite a bit. They must have almost finished the simtion by now and are ready to do an actual detonation test.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a big deal. I mean, for Japan, not us.¡±
How would the world react if Japan seeded in developing nuclear weapons?
The reactions or sanctions of other countries did not matter much.
Japan, which was cornered, was prepared for all of that.
The problem was the United States.
They had turned a blind eye to plutonium enrichment and simtion, but they were unlikely to allow anything beyond that.
Japan¡¯s nuclear development would lead to Korea¡¯s nuclear development.
That was the result of interpreting it as favorably as possible for Korea.
¡°The staff came up with some scenarios, and if Japan seeds in developing nuclear weapons, the result is that the United States will sanction them but tacitly ept them.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤They are worried about the power bnce in East Asia being shaken.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. Japan doesn¡¯t have railguns, ion thrusters, or iron beams.¡±
¡°The worst case scenario is that if Japan seeds in a nuclear test, IAEA inspectors will swarm into our nuclear nts and monitor them thoroughly.¡±
¡°We don¡¯t have anything to argue about, but having inspectors stay here will be a big burden.¡±
Japan is allowed, but Korea is not.
That was the worst scenario.
And this scenario required Japan to seed in a nuclear test.
What if they failed?
Yu Ji-ha looked around and whispered.
¡°Mr. President, NCM warheads can be greatly reduced in size.¡±
His face brightened up.
¡°Oh¡then you might be able to apply them to railguns?¡±
¡°Why not? If you wrap them in an instor and detonate them, you can prevent a small-scale nuclear explosion.¡±
¡°Hmm¡¡±
President Jo Hyung-geun looked serious.
If they used missiles, they would be caught right away, but railgun projectiles were too small to be detected.
It was a way to interfere without revealing NCM warheads.
It would make a sound, but they would only observe it with cameras from afar. How would they know?
The president¡¯s mouth barely opened after a lot of thought.
¡°Good. Let¡¯s do it.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it nice to do our test along with theirs? It will work out well.¡±
¡°I like that better. Testing together¡ ¡°
One fails and one seeds.
It was almost obvious who would seed.
¡
Japan¡¯s recent nuclear development had been noticed by quite a few countries.
They suddenly covered up IAEA cameras and refused inspections, which was suspicious enough.
Many countries urged them to stop through diplomatic investigations, but they did not budge.
They could not impose high-intensity economic sanctions either, because the world economy was already shaky due to the two-sided war.
Various economic research institutes reported that if China¡¯s economy copsed followed by Japan¡¯s, it could lead to a great depression.
In the end, the key was the United States.
But the United States showed a strange reaction to Japan¡¯s nuclear development.
On the surface, they showed a firm attitude by summoning ambassadors and sending defense ministers, but they did not take any real action.
They seemed to be watching passively for some reason.
The intelligence agencies of various countries interpreted it this way:
¨DThe United States does not want the power bnce in East Asia to be shaken from their perspective.
¨DSouth Korea has been putting Japan in trouble with several weapon systemstely. The United States cannot intervene, so they are watching Japan¡¯s nuclear development.
¨DIf Japan¡¯s nuclear armament ends at the line, the United States might tolerate it.
Meanwhile, Japan was faithfully continuing its nuclear development.
They decided to build a test site in Hiroshima, located in Saga Prefecture, for the final stage of detonation.
Japan desperately tried to hide this, but it was impossible to escape the US intelligencework.
The White House officials looked at the map of Korea and fell into deep thought.
¡°South Korea¡¯s military power is growing too much, Mr. President. They recently announced that they would jointly develop a new stealth fighter with Russia, equipped with ion thrusters.¡±
¡°Looking at the case of the two-sided war, five railgun destroyers can handle a naval force. I understand why Japan is reacting sensitively.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
President McKinley flipped through the screen and looked at the model of the Kim Gu-hoek destroyer.
As a result of satellite photography, it was bigger and more massive than the existing Korean Aegis destroyers.
It even boasted a size that was not inferior to the Zumwalt-ss.
¡°A destroyer with that size? They should have called it a cruiser.¡±
¡°ording to the investigation by the intelligence agency, there is a rumor that the core area is covered with ck metal.¡±
¡°It is difficult to fire two railguns at the same time from the maximum range, but it is possible if the range is lowered.¡±
¡°It is impossible to use the sea-based iron beam and railgun simultaneously, but it can target more than 10 targets.¡±
It was also difficult to give a baptism of anti-ship missiles.
The more he heard the report, the more hemented how such a crazy thing came out.
When South Korea announced that it would build a new railgun tform, the White House expected that at best, it would be a downgrade of the Zumwalt-ss.
It was because South Korea¡¯s naval budget was tight.
But they canceled most of their ns, including light aircraft carriers, and resorted to a desperate measure.
They bet their future on the navy with railguns.
As a result, a crazy ship with an estimated discement of 15,000 tons, two railguns, an iron beam air defense system, and an estimated speed of 50 knots came out.
¡°How are we supposed to deal with this?¡±
¡°We can handle it with an aircraft carrier group.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not what I¡¯m asking. Unless Korea goes crazy, they won¡¯t antagonize us, right? I¡¯m talking about other countries.¡±
¡°Well¡ We have no choice but to pour supersonic anti-ship missiles. Until they sink.¡±
The president sneered at his aides¡¯ remarks.
¡°You guys saw the performance of the iron beam in Taiwan, didn¡¯t you?¡±
It was a mess in Taiwan when they shot down China¡¯s J-20 stealth fighters.
They tried to secretly take one out and dissect it, but Si Group somehow found out and warned them that there would be no more cooperation if they did.
It was the same for the United States, so they couldn¡¯t dissect it.
It was a thing that a privatepany did what the United States did when exporting weapons.
President McKinley frowned and flipped through the screen with his finger.
¡°This unmanned stealth fighter that Russia and Korea are developing¡ How did they agree to coborate?¡±
¡°Russia is in charge of the body design and electronic warfare equipment, stealth. South Korea is in charge of the ion propulsion system and armament system, algorithm.¡±
¡°What is the expected performance? I know it¡¯s difficult, but try to predict as much as possible.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know about anything else, but the maximum speed and range will increase tremendously. It could exceed 10,000 km without aerial refueling.¡±
¡°Considering the performance of Terra¡¯s ion propulsion system, it could be supercruising all the time.¡±
¡°They don¡¯t use it for passenger nes first, but for military use. And it¡¯s unmanned.¡±
The United States was also one of the best in unmanned aircrafts, but that was when pilots were in charge.
They didn¡¯t dare to think about unmanned aircrafts that operated autonomously inbat, let alone develop them.
But South Korea stepped into it.
It seemed like they coborated with Russia because they recognized artificial intelligence in Korea.
President McKinley sighed deeply.
¡°I can understand why Japan is having a fit.¡±
¡°South Korea announced that all this was to prepare for North Korea. But it¡¯s too excessive weapon system.¡±
¡°We have to support Japan at this point, Mr. President.¡±
Of course, President McKinley knew how often his aides met with lobbyists.
Even so, he agreed that this time he had to hand over the initiative to Japan.
Japan was in charge of the front line in the Pacific strategy.
Korea was like Taiwan in the second line, and it was not desirable to increase its military power excessively.
The president made a decision.
¡°If Japan seeds, we will impose sanctions on some items. The duration of sanctions will depend on how sincere they are. And we will also limit Japan¡¯s nuclear warhead numbers through negotiations.¡±
Humphrey asked.
¡°What if they fail?¡±
President McKinley looked at the map of Japan.
¡°They will never dare to develop nuclear weapons again. The world will make them do that.¡±
Chapter 63: Let’s test together
Chapter 63: Let¡¯s test together
Hirashima, Saga Prefecture, Japan.
Since some time ago, naval ships belonging to the Maritime Self-Defense Force and ships carrying unidentified cargo began to frequent this small ind.
The few residents of the nearby inds were strictly ordered to keep their mouths shut.
They thought that the country must be doing something important.
And so, a small-scale nuclear test site was built underground in Hirashima.
The reason why they chose this ind near Korea for the test site was because of the seismic waves.
When a nuclear test was conducted, an earthquake was inevitable, and Korea would know that it was not a normal earthquake.
Japan did not want Korea to obtain information toote.
They had to protest to Japan as soon as the test was conducted.
Japan, which became a nuclear power, could easily ignore Korea¡¯s protests.
¡ªThe simtion is over and only the test remains.
¡ªEverything is perfect. There is no way Japan will fail when North Korea seeded.
¡ªWe will have nuclear weapons, but Korea will not.
The nuclear development officials prepared for the test with this mindset.
There were some mistakes in the process, such as leaking information to the United States and Russia, but it was not a big problem.
The game had already started, and Japan had to seed in the test by any means necessary.
And so, on February 15th.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force mobilized a number of warships topletely block off the sea near Hirashima.
A handful of scientists and naval officials, including Prime Minister Ozawa, boarded the Izumo-ss helicopter carrier and watched through a monitor from afar.
And at the same time, the Kim Gu-ss destroyer was sailing through the Korea Strait at maximum speed for a trial run.
It was a very coincidental event.
Usually, the trial run of a warship is divided into precise procedures, and rted personnel board and conduct rigorous tests for each item.
The items ranged from engine output to pipelines, electrical distribution, buoyancy, and more, and there were not one or two of them. And the trial run was carried out several times.
But the Kim Gu-ss destroyer was in a situation where it had to finish everything in just two times.
The shipyard could not even protest that it was absurd.
It was because the person who made the decision was a VIP and Chairman Yu Ji-ha.
Even if he was a VIP, Chairman Yu Ji-ha was an absolute presence in the group.
After he took office, Si Heavy Industries¡¯ sales increased by seven timespared to 2026, and profit increased even more.
They received many orders such as mining ships, Atak-ss submarines, Kim Gu-ss destroyers, etc., and Tongyeong Shipyard was screaming with happiness.
When such a chairman ordered topress the schedule as much as possible, what could they do?
There were voices like this in Si Heavy Industries.
¡°It¡¯s really an impossible schedule, but we have to do it if the chairman says so.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know about anything else, but I can¡¯t just pass the ss.¡±
¡°They say that the government has taken action. They entrust it to an unknown agency.¡±
¡°That agency is probably NIS¡¡±
¡°Shh. It¡¯s better for us to keep our mouths shut.¡±
So they started with mooring trials and then moved on to sea trials.
Since it was a warship, there were also shooting tests nned, and live ammunition was prepared for that purpose.
Not only naval officials but also Chairman Yu Ji-ha boarded together, so the trial staff were very nervous.
¨DPlease be safe, please be safe¡
It would be strange if there were no defects after shortening the construction period by three months.
Chairman Yu Ji-ha ordered to finishmissioning by the first half of the year, but no one believed that it would happen.
¡°Ion tube injection, engine ignition.¡±
Along with the broadcast, the destroyer that weighed nearly 15,000 tons woke up.
As befitting abat ship equipped with an ion propulsion system, it left the dock without the help of tugboats.
Park Seungho Brigadier General of 10th Combat Group who apanied Yu Ji-ha eximed continuously.
¡°I heard that tugboats are not needed, but it was true.¡±
¡°There are nozzles everywhere soplex maneuvers are possible. Not very fast though.¡±
¡°The engine noise seems low too¡ I heard from headquarters that fuel costs are also reduced considerably?¡±
¡°How much fuel do you think it takes to roll this size for a year?¡±
Yu Ji-ha asked him and he answered hesitantly.
¡°I¡¯m not sure but Daewang will spend about 40 billion won.¡±
When they say Daewang in the navy, they mean Sejong Daewang-ss.
It ate up a lot of oil as much as its size and made the navy¡¯s logistics support system shaky.
40 billion won was also the result of reducing the sortie considerably.
¡°Our teacher said that 20% would be enough.¡±
Brigadier General Park stuck out his tongue.
¡°It doesn¡¯t even cost 10 billion won with this size.¡±
¡°The logistics department was very happy.¡±
It would reduce not only the budget but also the burden of the logistics support system, so their mouths would tear.
Anyway, this Kim Gu-ss had a lot of Chairman Yu Ji-ha¡¯s touch from design tounch.
People who didn¡¯t know would say what influence he could have, but people who were on the site, such as the design headquarters, knew well.
¡°If it weren¡¯t for the chairman, it would have been stuck in the dock for more than two years.¡±
¡°I received more than 20 orders to change the propulsion design. I didn¡¯t know what he was doing at the time, but when I went to thepany, there was no problem.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know about anything else, but there are no defects in the hull for now. The rest is to see.¡±
Kim Gu-ship tested several items while the officials watched, but there were no defects yet.
The staff said to each other that it was lucky, but Yu Ji-ha intervened.
¡°Let¡¯s go to the railgun test. At 20% of maximum output.¡±
The staff in charge of operating the railgun entered the firing specifications and tilted their heads.
¡°This is towards Japan?¡±
¡°Wasn¡¯t it supposed to be a mock firing?¡±
¡°The shooting was originally supposed to be done while stationary, but¡¡±
A navy official casually said to the curious staff.
¡°Just do as usual.¡±
¡°¡¡±
They hoped that they wouldn¡¯t get in troubleter.
The firing parameters were entered and the railgun turret rotated quickly.
¡°Battery charged. Fire.¡±
A loud bang sounded as the railgun projectile wasunched and cut through the clouds in the distance.
¡°Firing sessful.¡±
The officials pped quietly as he nodded his head.
¡°That¡¯s it. Let¡¯s change course and return as nned.¡±
The test ended there, but there were a few things that the staff didn¡¯t know.
A Virginia-ss submarine belonging to the US Navy had been following the Kim Gu ship.
The Kim Gu ship had escaped at full speed and lost the submarine.
And finally, the railgun projectile that was fired towards Japan had identally exploded in the sea after passing an ind.
¡
¡°Then we¡¯ll start the countdown.¡±
The Japanese officials on board the Izumo-ss watched the numbers change with bated breath.
When it showed zero, the camera would shake slightly and dust would rise over Hiroshima.
It was an underground nuclear test, so there was no radiation or much impact on the surroundings.
It meant that Japan had be a de facto nuclear power.
¡®A nuclear power¡¡¯
Prime Minister Ozawa closed his eyes for a moment.
He didn¡¯t want things toe to this point.
He wanted to show a friendly gesture to Yu Ji-ha if possible, and he was willing to lend them the sea and send the emperor to reverse the atmosphere.
But the domestic opinion was not very good.
¡®We can¡¯t fall behind Korea, huh¡¡¯
It was a delusion to think that one nuclear weapon could change everything.
But many Japanese people were seriously obsessed with that delusion.
¡®I¡¯ve done my part¡¡¯
That included a submarine contact with South Korea.
He did it to resolve the situation peacefully, but coincidentally, South Korea showed a lukewarm response.
They seemed to be too busy with North Korea to spare any effort for this side.
¡®It can¡¯t be helped.¡¯
There was only one way for Japan to go now.
To rearm and exert influence in East Asia instead of China, starting with nuclear weapons possession.
He was also preparing to enter the permanent council for that purpose.
Korea would oppose it desperately, but he had already settled things with the US and Europe.
No matter how much they urged him, he couldn¡¯t ignore the US.
Russia couldn¡¯t be his ally either.
As he thought so, something pierced through his head and passed by.
It was so fast that he only heard a loud noise afterwards, and everyone misunderstood it as a shock wave.
¡°Did it explode already?¡±
¡°No, no! There are still five seconds, four seconds left!¡±
¡°Then what was that noise!¡±
The bridge became noisy and Ozawa felt his breath stop.
If it didn¡¯t explode, it meant that the nuclear test had failed.
He would find out the causeter, but that wasn¡¯t important.
¡®Japan failed the nuclear test¡¡¯
Japan had endured the pressure from various countries for this day.
Russia¡¯s titanium export ban and Germany¡¯s gold embargo were just the beginning.
A resolution to stop the nuclear test was passed at the UN General Assembly, and even the US was deeply concerned.
Not to mention the various international organizations and domestic opinions.
They had pushed themselves too hard for this test, and they couldn¡¯t take it anymore.
His secretary assured him that everything would get better if they seeded in the nuclear test.
¡ªThere is no country that can openly say anything to a nuclear power.
¡ªIf you seed in the test, even the US will turn a blind eye to some extent.
Japan had to seed in this nuclear test no matter what.
¡®But¡ they failed¡¡¯
Now the sanctions from other countries would begin, and even the US wouldn¡¯t help them.
They would reverse their ambiguous position and demand harsh inspections, and make sure they never tried a nuclear test again.
¡®It¡¯s over¡¡¯
Ozawa felt his legs give out and fell to the floor.
¡°Prime Minister!¡±
Someone shouted and pulled his arm and shoulder, but he didn¡¯t care.
What did it matter if hey on the floor a little when Japan had failed?
While Japan was in chaos, a Yu Ji-ha National Intelligence Service agent led him to amunication room where he picked up a phone.
¡°We seeded. I don¡¯t know about them.¡±
¡ªording to intelligence, the scheduled time has passed. But there is no signal.
The signal meant the seismic wave.
There was no sign of seismic waves, which meant the experiment had failed.
¡°It was a failure.¡±
Yu Ji-ha said calmly, and a loudughter was heard.
¨DHahaha, I knew it. How could you have a nuclear weapon without us¡
¨DThis is not a secure line!
The secretaries next to him panicked and tried to stop him.
What a noisy person.
Yu Ji-ha went outside and immersed himself in his thoughts while feeling the sea breeze.
Japan¡¯s gamble had gone up in smoke, and a severe bacsh would follow.
They would reach out to Korea in desperation, but he had little intention of holding their hand.
ck Metal would supply them as contracted, but everything else woulde at a huge price.
That price would make the three terms he proposed to Prime Minister Ozawa seem like a joke.
¡®I need to hurry while they¡¯re still out of their minds.¡¯
The only thing left to bother him in East Asia was North Korea.
They seemed to sense the ominous atmosphere and only made threatening remarks, but they didn¡¯t actually provoke anything.
So he had to make them provoke him.
Yu Ji-ha ordered Arma.
¡°Make some androids to infiltrate the North Korean Frontline Corps.¡±
¡¸What is the target of upation?¡¹
¡°It would be good to upy a heavy artillery unit. The target of fire is the Blue House.¡±
The Blue House would be enough to arouse the anger of the people.
The iron beams on Bukhansan and each unit would block the shells, so there would be no actual damage.
Only the people who hadpletely lost their patience would shout for northward advance.
That was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s scheme.
Chapter 64: North Koreas Provocation
Chapter 64: North Korea''s Provocation
Japan¡¯s Nuclear Experiment Fails!
A sudden rumor took over the Japanese websites.
The Japanese people discussed whether the experiment really failed in thement sections of the articles or on SNS.
Most of the opinions were firmly convinced that the rumor was fake.
¨DThis experiment waspletely confidential. No one would know unless someone leaked it.
¨DEven if the experiment failed, no one would leak it unless they were stupid.
¨DHow could we fail when North Korea seeded? That¡¯s nonsense. It¡¯s probably a false rumor spread by the Koreans.
¨DBinaida binaida God Buddha Inao¡
But the wind started to blow against their wishes.
The major media outlets in the US, such as CNN and Fox News, pinpointed the exact location of the nuclear test site.
¨DWe will reveal the location of this nuclear test. Saga Prefecture, Hiroshima.
¨Dording to various sources, no seismic waves were detected in this nuclear test.
The Japanese archipgo was turned upside down when the US released photos taken by satellites.
¨DWhere is Hiroshima attached to?
¨DWhat is this? Did they really build a nuclear test site there?
¨DAn irreversible final failure? Did they already do the experiment?
As many doubts arose, the Japanese media also started to cover this.
When they dug deeper, a lot of information poured out like a valley water after a rainstorm.
The reason why many escort ships of the 2nd Fleet, which had no training schedule, left the port.
The reason why the whereabouts of the prime minister¡¯s secretaries were vague.
The reason why Japan¡¯srgest Izumo-ss helicopter carrier suddenly disappeared.
And finally, the reason why the international music festival that was held in spring on a nearby ind was canceled.
As the media reported these facts, the Japanese people panicked.
¨DThat can¡¯t be. This is not true¡
¨DWhat are you doing, Ozawa! It¡¯s an experiment that even North Korea seeded! Are you trying to make us look like fools!
¨DIf it¡¯s true that the experiment failed, we¡¯re doomed. The whole world will rush in to sanction us.
¨DWhy? Weren¡¯t we loved by the world?
¨DThere was no country that sincerely wished Japan to be a nuclear power. Are you stupid?
¨DDamn, South Korea isughing at us!
¨DSouth Korea doesn¡¯t seem to care much.
¨DThey seem to have cut off their attention since they demanded three terms.
¨DThat¡¯s what theizens wanted.
¨DLet¡¯s just worry about how to withstand the sanctions from various countries.
¨DJapan is really over¡
¨DThe White House is briefing. It must be about us.
The reporters gathered in the East Room of the White House.
Soon President McKinley appeared and began his speech.
¨DFor a while, the world, except for the US, has repeatedly urged Japan to stop its experiment, but they did not listen. This was a clear act of shaking the security of East Asia-Pacific, and it ultimately failed.
¨DNow it¡¯s time for the internationalmunity to take action. We urge the Japanese IAEA Director General to resign immediately. And Japan must undergo aprehensive inspection. This is the minimum measure that the US can take¡
After his speech, he mentioned anti-dumping tariffs on Japanese products as well as boycotts.
He targeted Japan¡¯s core manufacturing industries, from automobiles to steel, industrial robots and precision equipment.
President McKinley left without taking any questions, and Japan¡¯s Nikkei 225 and other indices fell sharply.
It seemed like panic selling had urred, as the stock prices of various manufacturers plummeted without a single rebound.
Sidecars and even circuit breakers exploded, and it closed early in a few hours.
Japan¡¯s political, economic and financial sectors were all in panic.
As cries of what the prime minister was doing echoed, Prime Minister Ozawa finally bowed his head at his official residence.
¡°I have nothing to say because everything is due to my ipetence. I regret it.¡±
That was it.
The prime minister left and his secretaries stayed behind and shouted at the camera.
An enraged remark burst out among the reporters who couldn¡¯t stand it anymore.
¡°What have you been doing all this time?¡±
¡°How are you going to cope with the sanctions from other countries? Do you have any ns?¡±
Of course, there was none.
The only hope was one thing.
Yu Ji-ha, chairman of Si Group, would hold Japan¡¯s hand.
Even if various countries imposed sanctions on them, Japan could recover as long as Yu Ji-ha supported them.
They would have to give up more than three terms, but it was better than sinking like this.
But he didn¡¯t know that.
A few hours ago, a cargo ship of the United Federation that passed through Japan¡¯s territorial waters was inspected by the Maritime Security Agency.
It was a result of the agency staff blindly following their manual.
It was the same incident that happened when they inspected a ship carrying railguns and iron beams.
Prime Minister Ozawa thought that the chief of staff had withdrawn the order, but it was not true.
He didn¡¯t know that and called Yu Ji-ha directly on his personal phone.
He seemed to speak Korean well, so he would listen¡
But Yu Ji-ha hung up the phone after leaving this one word.
¡°Exin the video of the article on the South Korean portal site.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤What are you talking about?¡±
The prime minister, who was puzzled, essed the Korean portal site with the help of his secretaries and looked for the article.
He finally saw the video.
Three patrol boats of the Maritime Security Agency were broadcasting to a strangely shaped cargo ship.
It seemed to belong to Yu Ji-ha, judging by the g of the United Federation.
¨DStop immediately! If you don¡¯t, we will fire!
¡°You idiots!¡±
Prime Minister Ozawa threw his phone in anger.
They may be acting ording to their manual, but they should have sensed the atmosphere!
It was obvious how Yu Ji-ha would judge this situation.
And the situation was not over yet.
The cargo ship of the United Human Federation quickly changed course and started to outrun the patrol ships.
As they increased their speed, something like wings suddenly popped out from the side of the cargo ship.
Then a golden light burst out from the propulsion unit and it flew into the sky.
The three patrol ships were left behind like dogs chasing a chicken.
Prime Minister Ozawa and his staff stared at the video in disbelief.
¡°What is this?¡±
¡°I have no idea¡¡±
The aftermath of Japan¡¯s nuclear test failure was no joke.
As soon as the countries started to impose sanctions, the IAEA Director General resigned under pressure from the United States.
Then IAEA inspectors entered Japan one after another and conducted aprehensive inspection.
The attitude was so oppressive that some broadcasts said they acted like upying forces.
But Japan was not in a position to make a fuss, as the nuclear developers disappeared and the data was deleted.
Japan was suffering from chaos all over the country.
Prime Minister Ozawa had a clear responsibility to resolve this chaos, but hecked the ability.
Anyone else would have been the same.
Japan¡¯s media found someone who could help them a little bit and crossed the sea.
They met him and expressed their regret.
¡°It¡¯s a pity, but there¡¯s nothing I can do for you.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you have three conditions before? If you ept them now¡¡±
He shook his head as if he was really sorry.
¡°The negotiations have failed and the situation has changed, haven¡¯t they? The conditions should change too.¡±
¡°How much¡¡±
¡°Well, at least ten more uses should be added.¡±
¡°Are you trying to rip us off when our ally is in trouble!¡±
When a furious Japanese reporter protested, he said without changing his expression.
¡°Didn¡¯t you define South Korea as a neighboring country and Dokdo as Japan¡¯s inherent territory in the defense white paper published in 2027? You wouldn¡¯t have used such expressions if you thought of Korea as an ally.¡±
¡°¡¡±
¡°Why do you want to be rted to certain Asia anyway?¡±
The term certain Asia was an expression that Japanese right-wingers often used to disparage South Korea, China, and North Korea.
South Korea also had expressions to disparage Japan, but they were not published in books or recited by politicians.
The Japanese reporters had to back off as they got a sharp response.
This interview was surprisingly exposed to the media without distortion and caused an explosive reaction.
Of course, most of it was negative.
¨DHe did well. It¡¯s better to break up with those special ones sooner orter.
¨Dck metal and unobtainium alone won¡¯t make the world go round. You¡¯ll regret it for sure.
There were some voices of reflection, but they were rtively few and buried.
Anyway, Japan had be a situation where it had to deal with the pressure and sanctions of the internationalmunity rather than him.
It was not something that some media could hide, so the reality was revealed clearly.
The delusion of being loved by the world was shattered.
Some right-wingers expressed there was nothing they could do as long as they were integrated into their order.
At this point, Japan had only two choices.
Toply and ept all sanctions, or to try nuclear development again and incur the wrath of the United States.
Naturally, the Ozawa administration chose the former.
Thetter would be tantamount to elerating Japan¡¯s downfall.
Meanwhile, South Korea, its neighboring country, was surprisingly not paying much attention to Japan¡¯s situation.
All interest was focused on the ship of the United Human Federation that suddenly appeared.
¨DIs that ship that escaped from the checkpoint a ne? Why did wings suddenly pop out?
¨DThe wings are ck. It¡¯s ck metal.
¨DEuropean research institutes imported ck metal at a high price and barely researched it. But that thing has wings made entirely of ck metal.
¨DAh, that¡¯s called a WIG. It flies using ground effect.
¨DWIG usually looks like a ne, but that¡¯s just a ship¡
¨DIt turned sharply at an insane speed. It¡¯s like a rabbit popping out among turtles.
¨DWouldn¡¯t all the cargo spill out?
¨DThey must have secured it well.
¨DBut it flew really fast in the video. Why did it pretend to be a ship?
?It lured them into a checkpoint and ran away???
?It¡¯s refreshing, but since he ordered it, his image is a bit¡
?It¡¯s because Japan¡¯sws are weird. They have WIGs in Japan too, but they defined their shape precisely. So that thing can¡¯t be registered as a WIG.
?Ah¡
?It¡¯s a WIG but it can only be registered as a ship, so it has to act like a ship in Japanese waters?
?Then it got urgent and ignored the regtions and ran away.
?It must have been a shock when wings popped out of the ship.
¨DBut that thing is huge. It would be a hit if it was used as a container ship.
?Have you ever seen a container ship? It¡¯s several times bigger than that.
?True, but it¡¯s much faster than its size. Isn¡¯t it almost as fast as a ne?
?If you think about it, it¡¯s a tform thatbines the advantages of a ne and a ship. It has great speed and decent cargo capacity.
?Did they cover the drawbacks of WIG with artificial intelligence design? That would be awesome.
?How efficient is the fuel?
?It uses an ion thruster, so the efficiency must be amazing. The navy officials were shocked by how good the fuel efficiency was in the Kim-ss test drive.
?Kim-ss must have tried everything, right? I want to ride a railgun cruiser too¡
?Honestly, it was too much to im to be a destroyer with that size.
?Well, Zumwalt also insists on being a destroyer.
While they were talking like this, the Japanese government did not give up and tried to contact the South Korean government.
But the politicians, including Jo Hyung-geun, were not very interested.
It was not because they hated Japan, but because all their attention was on North Korea.
Especially when Jo Hyung-geun revealed his true intentions in an interview with some media outlet, the impact was huge.
¡°Our wish is not unification, but northward expansion, northward expansion!¡±
Korea was turned upside down and he smirked.
He was looking for an excuse, but North Korea was passive, so he was annoyed.
However, he needed the consent of the National Assembly to start a war, and the opposition party looked at him like he was crazy, and even the ruling party did not agree.
¡°That¡¯s all fine and good, but what about the nukes? They have more than 50 gigatons. Do you think we can handle that if they drop them on Seoul? How many of the ten million people in Seoul are you nning to kill?¡±
¡°Even if we manage to push them back, there¡¯s another problem. What about the 20 million refugees? Who¡¯s going to take responsibility for them? Are you going to feed and shelter them at the Blue House?¡±
President Jo Hyung-geun imed that he had a solution for everything, but no one believed him.
Of course, there was a n for upying North Korea.
It wasn¡¯t for nothing that there was a Northern Five Province Office. There was a governance n for when the territory was reimed.
But there was no guarantee that the n would work properly, and there was no discussion on how to dismantle North Korea, which had more than 20 million people.
It was like a student who had an exam right in front of him, but couldn¡¯t even cram.
He had no choice but to do his best with his usual skills, but while Korea¡¯s military power was considerable, its administrative aspect was uncertain.
As South Korea was in turmoil, a new headache arose.
It was the problem of North Korea¡¯s foreign debt.
In the past, North Korea borrowed $16 billion and it became a bad debt.
Currently, it was traded at around 20% of its face value, which stemmed from the expectation that Korea would pay it back if it annexed North Korea.
South Korea might think that it didn¡¯t have to pay it back, but the internationalmunity would have a different opinion.
Anyway, the price of this debt rose sharply as Korea¡¯s northward advance became visible.
The creditor group, the Paris Club, was rumored to have entered a meeting.
They probably wanted to figure out the exact size of the debt in the market and present a bill to the Korean government.
The South Korean government ignored all these movements.
It was because if they made a fuss and bought the debt, it would raise the expectations even more.
The only thing they could do now was to somehow provoke North Korea and find an excuse to advance northward or get cooperation from the National Assembly.
They had to have something to push forward with, they couldn¡¯t just go up without any signs, right?
There was a rumor that President Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s screams could be heard every day at the Blue House.
¡°If there¡¯s no excuse, we¡¯ll make one!¡±
In this chaotic situation, the general election began.
¡
He threw his hat in the ring as an independent candidate for Bundang-gu Gap district, which he held in the previous election.
When his candidacy was announced, the media predicted that he would win despite having a four-term veteran as his opponent.
His influence in Pangyo, or rather in the whole of South Korea, was immense.
¨DIf he were old enough, he could have run for president as an independent and won for sure.
¨DElections are a fight of grassroots organizations, but that doesn¡¯t apply to Chairman Yu Ji-ha.
There was hardly a day when Yu Ji-ha or Shi Group didn¡¯t appear on the evening news, and it had been a long time since his name alone on a YouTube thumbnail caused views to skyrocket.
A restaurant in Pangyo put up a banner saying that all food was free for Yu Ji-ha, and the whole street followed suit.
Of course, Yu Ji-ha still ate at the cafeteria in his building, so he had no reason to go there.
In this way, his election was virtually confirmed, but there was one problem.
He had to step down from his chairman position to be a congressman.
There was spection in the public that his father, former chairman Yoo Kyung-seok, would temporarily take over the group, but Yu Ji-ha¡¯s choice was different.
He entrusted Arma, his secretary, with the position of representative director of Holdings.
Arma, who had American citizenship, became the interim chairman of Shi Group.
This sparked rumors in the media that the father-son rtionship was not good, but there was no way to know since neither of them said anything.
Yoo Kyung-seok and his wife had left Korea and gone to America, so they couldn¡¯t even ask for an interview.
Anyway, the election day approached and Yu Ji-ha was the first one to confirm his victory.
Leaders and businessmen from around the world sent him congrattory messages.
It was probably unprecedented for a first-term congressman to receive so many congrattions.
President Jo Hyung-geun regretted that he was an independent, but understood.
¡°You must be busy with research and business management, so it must be hard to do political activities. I understand. But at least greet the other congressmen. They will all be helpfulter.¡±
He didn¡¯t need any connections with the congressmen in the future, but he decided to do the minimum courtesy.
When he showed a passive attitude, some veterans criticized him.
But they had to lower their voices enough.
In South Korea, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s position was, in a way, higher than the president.
He added his name to the list of public officials in South Korea.
¡°I guess I¡¯veid the minimum foundation. Let¡¯s move on to the next phase.¡±
That was North Korea¡¯s provocation.
Chapter 65: Seouls Nightmare
Chapter 65: Seoul''s Nightmare
As May approached, the peak of spring, North Korea faced a devastating food crisis.
There were frequent deaths from starvation in the military and even in Pyongyang, and some of the frontline army corps had to be disbanded.
Foreign media reported several times on the situation in North Korea, and various countries offered assistance through the UN or NGOs.
Unable to endure any longer, North Korea requested food aid from the South Korean government.
Usually, when making such a request, it was customary to go through China, and they did not do it directly.
They mostly asked indirectly through civilian organizations, saying that they wanted to create an atmosphere of reconciliation.
The representatives of the pro-North aid groups showed positive reactions, thinking that North Korea had finally opened its doors, but the Blue House tly refused.
¨DFirst of all, you should apologize for the DMZ infiltration. And give up your nuclear weapons. Then we will be willing to provide food aid.
The response was so simple that it was a willingness to provide food aid, not a promise.
North Korea was furious at this mockery of their supreme dignity and said they would turn the entire territory of South Korea into a sea of fire.
The National Assembly repeatedly asked him to restrain himself, but Jo Hyung-geun did not listen.
Si Group had alreadypleted the NCM power.
Now that North Korea¡¯s nuclear weapons were blocked, there was nothing to fear.
If he pushed forward with the 7th Corps, North Korea would be over that day.
He needed an opportunity for that, but North Korea cleverly avoided direct provocation.
They looked starved to death, but they didn¡¯t have the resources to wage war.
President Jo Hyung-geun called Yu Jiha, who agreed with him, and expressed his regret.
¡°Those bastards are really cunning. They even withdrew all their GPs. Maybe they¡¯re afraid of doing something crazy.¡±
¡°Personally, I think it¡¯s a relief. These days, the atmosphere is so tense that a war could break out if anything goes wrong.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s see¡¤¡¤¡¤Thest time we had a full-scale war crisis was during the second Yeonpyeong Ind shelling incident? At that time, our air force nes went as far as bombing. It was canceled because the US urged us to refrain from esction.¡±
¡°It was the same in the first one.¡±
¡°But this time it will be different.¡±
President Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s eyes sparkled.
¡°The US no longer has the same influence on the Korean Penins as before. China and Japan are the same. It¡¯s only us and North Korea left.¡±
It was unbelievable that a person who became president would say such a thing.
He continued his reckless remarks and Yu Jiha politely agreed with him.
But their conversation did notst long.
Because there was a roar in the sky above the Blue House.
There was a tearing sound and then a faint vibration throughout the annex.
¡°Mr. President!¡±
The secretaries and guards rushed in and dragged Yu Jiha to the underground bunker as well.
On the night of May 10th, North Korea¡¯s sudden artillery fire shook Seoul.
¡¸Master, it has begun¡¹
The androids who infiltrated the Hwanghae South Province artillery brigade made an excuse.
No apology is necessary
There are several signs that show up when the military wants to show its offensive will in modern times.
The movement of military supplies, the increase of radiomunication, the redeployment of troops and vehicles, etc.
There are more signs than these, but if you have reliable reconnaissance means, you can find out about the attack at least a few hours in advance.
However, this was only possible when all the reconnaissance means deployed on the Korean Penins were intact.
Currently, most of the US forces in Korea had withdrawn, creating a gap in reconnaissance.
And that was one of the things that the US military often pointed out to the Korean military.
¨DThey had no problem with firepower, but theycked the reconnaissance and logistics support to deploy it.
The Korean military officers knew this well, but they had no solution.
It was a tendency that when the economy was bad, the defense budget was cut first, and Korea had faced the worst economic crisis in recent years.
So it was natural that the defense budget was shed mercilessly.
Fortunately or unfortunately, a weapon system that couldpensate for this appeared with Yu Jiha¡¯s emergence, but it was not a fundamental solution.
In other words, the Korean military had the potential to fight well, but they had poor eyes and ears.
That was the cause of this situation.
Boom, boom!
At 11 p.m. on the 10th night, a strange noise rang out in the area between Gimpo and Goyang, which bordered the Han River.
Peopleined about what kind of fighter training it was at this time.
¡°Ugh, it¡¯s so noisy.¡±
¡°Tanks and armored vehicles and fighters, what a mess.¡±
¡°They¡¯re not going to invade North Korea, just calm down.¡±
The front-line divisions had been moving quite busilytely.
Numerous trucks came in and out of the bases and the security was strengthened.
It wasmon to see tanks and armored vehicles training in the north of Gyeonggi-do, but recently the frequency had increased a lot.
As if they were preparing for war.
Most people thought that war was something that would never happen.
They had be numb to North Korea¡¯s threats after living peacefully for nearly 80 years.
But this time it was different.
About 300 rockets fired from multiple rocketunchers entered the Seoul metropolitan area.
They were so outdated that they had a high failure rate, but they fired a lot of them.
They were detected by radar bases and artillery radars in various ces, but it was toote to respond immediately.
There were few means to intercept rocketunchers in Korea.
PAC-3 anti-aircraft missiles were fired and shot down many of them, but there were too many rockets.
The altitude was too high for frontline air defense units¡¯ Cheonma missiles and Balkans to intercept them.
And so, ultimately, 200 rockets entered Seoul.
By this point, a loud air raid siren rang out across Seoul.
The cars passing by Gwanghwamun crashed and got stuck, and rockets fell on them as they descended.
Until then, people didn¡¯t realize what was happening.
The rockets were too fast to see.
¡°What? Why is there a siren all of a sudden?¡±
¡°Hey, can you move that crashed car?¡±
Comints poured out among them as iron beams shot out from the Presidential Blue House and the Ministry of National Defense building.
In the dark night sky, bright goldensers crossed the sky.
¡°Wow¡¡±
¡°What¡¯s that? Fireworks?¡±
There were hardly any people who knew about iron beams because they were developed and deployed in secret.
The goldensers scanned the rockets that prated the air defensework and exploded them.
¡°Ah!¡±
¡°It¡¯s war!¡±
The people who crowded Gwanghwamun ran away in panic.
People jumped out of dozens of cars that had stopped on the road.
¡°Did we have such weapons?¡±
¡°That¡¯s iron beam! It¡¯s from America!¡±
¡°You don¡¯t know much. We made that.¡±
¡°We made such weapons?¡±
Meanwhile, iron beams continued to scan and destroyrge-caliber rockets one by one.
From below, it looked like fireworks.
But there was a fundamental difference from fireworks.
When the rockets exploded, they created dozens or hundreds of fragments.
Iron beams intercepted the fragments as well, but they couldn¡¯t stop thempletely.
And so metal fragments fell on Gwanghwamun and in front of the Blue House.
Also, one rocket that iron beams failed to shoot down hit the Blue House¡¯s Spring and Autumn Pavilion directly.
Bang!
When therge-caliber rocket warhead exploded, the ground shook and the entire Spring and Autumn Pavilion flew away at once.
There were no staff members at this time, but it was enough to surprise the security guards and guardsmen.
A fire broke out in the nearby forest, making it look like the whole Blue House was burning up.
Police cars, ambnces, and fire trucks flocked everywhere and formed a scene of chaos.
People didn¡¯t realize what had happened until then.
On intemunities and SNS sites, people made a fuss about war.
¨DIs that fucking North Korea attacking us with rocketunchers? What are we doing?
¨DIt¡¯s war! We¡¯re all dead???
¨DAh, fuck, I threw away my uniform, what do I do?
¨DCalm down. It¡¯s just a few shells that fell, right?
?You¡¯re fucking crazy? They fired artillery at Seoul and you think we can just let it go?
?These North Korean bastards fired shells at Yeonpyeong Ind twice, right? But the war didn¡¯t break out, did it?
?Are Yeonpyeong Ind and Seoul the same? You fucking bastard.
They were both territories of South Korea, but they couldn¡¯t be in the same situation realistically.
Seoul was the capital of South Korea and the core area where ten million people lived.
Attacking here meant nothing but waging war.
People were ecstatic about theser that exploded the rocket across the sky.
¨DDid you see theser show in the night sky? I won¡¯t forget that until I die.
¨DHey, did we have an iron beam deployed in our country? Isn¡¯t that developed by the US?
?This is top secret, but the ion beam was developed by Shi Hi-Tech.
?Yu Ji-ha again¡¤¡¤¡¤
?There¡¯s a video of theser show on that site.
?Fuck, it¡¯s awesome¡¤¡¤¡¤You guys have to see it.
?I should have seen it with my own eyes.
On the other hand, there were people who were freaking out and running around saying it was war.
¨DIt¡¯s war?????????
¨DThere¡¯s a North Korean tank in front of my house???
¨DGuys, can the college entrance exam be canceled this year? Answer me if you¡¯re sure.
?Kid, go study¡¤¡¤¡¤
This atmosphere waspletely shattered by the news that the Blue House was attacked.
¨DThe Blue House was blown up? Did President Park die too?
¨DWow, crazy. This is really a war situation.
¨DWhat are our fighters doing? Hurry up and scramble and blow up the pce in Pyongyang!
¨DI don¡¯t know if they have the mind to control that.
¨DGuys, hurry up and buy food and necessities. This time it¡¯s really a war situation.
?Will there be a war¡¤¡¤¡¤
?A rocket fell on Seoul and you¡¯re just going to take it? We have to go to war at least.
?Then it¡¯s the second Korean War. The US troops are all gone now, aren¡¯t they?
¨DWe¡¯re fucked.
¡
As soon as Seoul was attacked, the Joint Chiefs of Staff issued Defcon 3.
There were only two cases in Korea where this level was issued: the Panmunjom axe murder incident and the Aung San bombing terror.
The reason why they issued Defcon so quickly was because the recent rtions with North Korea were so bad.
In a situation where war could break out at any time, a rocket fell on Seoul, so the Joint Chiefs of Staff took a bold move.
If North Korea shows its intention to carry out a follow-up attack, Defcon 2 will be issued.
It will enter a full-fledgedbat readiness posture and mobilize reservists to start a war.
All front-line units were banned from leaving and each unit ordered those who had gone out or overnight to return as soon as possible.
As the military stepped up like this, the National Police Agency also issued an emergency alert for the metropolitan area and entered an emergency standby.
Now, the people of South Korea turned on their TVs and radios and paid attention to the breaking news.
Emergency broadcasts were broadcasted and announcers were busy delivering news from the Ministry of National Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
¡°Yes, this is new news. The unidentified rockets that hit Jongno and Yongsan were confirmed to have been fired from new 300mm artillery.¡±
¡°The firing location is estimated to be Gangryeong in South Hwanghae Province, and the Army Artillery Corps is currently firing artillery fire. The damage situation has not been reported yet.¡±
¡°Just now from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The first rocket fired from the artillery brigade was over 500 rounds, but 200 rounds fell into the sea or reimednd, and about 100 rounds were shot down by Patriot missiles. The remaining 200 rounds entered Seoul airspace.¡±
¡°In response, the Army activated artillery radar to track rockets, but subsequent responses are unknown.¡±
The people who gathered in front of therge screen on the street were annoyed.
¡°What? So we just got hit one-sidedly without any response?¡±
¡°Just wait a minute.¡±
¡°That thing wille out soon! Iron beam!¡±
¡°What is an iron beam, not Iron Man?¡±
The people who turned their heads to the TV were stunned by the suddenser that filled the screen.
Dozens of goldensers that rose from the ground crossed the sky and blew something up.
Hundreds of colorful explosions urred in Seoul¡¯s sky.
It was too precious a scene to watch only on the screen.
The announcer also missed thement while watching it and bowed his head for a moment.
¡°Ah, the scene you just saw is a defense system called iron beam, which was developed in Korea. It was developed by Si Hi-Tech and can block more than 10 shells or rockets at the same time.¡±
¡°The power is as you can see. Of the 200 rockets, only a few were not shot down, and most of them exploded in the air.¡±
¡°The damage situation is being counted, and no deaths have been announced yet¡Ah¡I¡¯m sorry. This is news that just came in. The Blue House Chunchoo Hall was attacked by a rocket andpletely copsed.¡±
The people were speechless at the news that the Blue House was attacked.
Soon, thepletely copsed Chunchoo Hall and the wildfire that broke out on Bukhansan were revealed.
¡°So that¡¯s what those North Korean bastards did, right?¡±
¡°Can they attack like this because they refused to beg for food?¡±
¡°These bastards arepletely crazy.¡±
They each vented their anger at North Korea.
Among them, there were people who shouted why they didn¡¯t advance north.
The person who opposed him raised his voice.
¡°If you advance north, it¡¯s war! It¡¯s not someone else, it¡¯s you who dies!¡±
¡°Then are we just going to take it like this? A shell fell on our heads!¡±
¡°Next time it¡¯s nuclear! Do you know how many people die when a nuclear bomb falls on Seoul?¡±
¡°Lie down t and beg North Korea like that! Give them the whole of South Korea, right?¡±
¡°What words should Imunicate¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
The man who turned his body as if he was absurd was startled by the surrounding atmosphere.
They all opened their eyes and looked at him.
They didn¡¯t rush in and grab his cor, but the atmosphere was too fierce.
This kind of nerve war was happening everywhere.
There were few people who shouted that war shouldn¡¯t happen, and most of them gritted their teeth at North Korea.
Finally, their patience ran out.
And someone who ran out of patience entered the National Crisis Management Center Situation Room,monly known as the Blue House Bunker.
Chapter 66: Pulling The Trigger
Chapter 66: Pulling The Trigger
¡°The president is here.¡±
¡°Skip the formalities and take a seat.¡±
President Jo Hyung-geun sat down on his chair with a flushed face.
Even though Yu Ji-ha, who had nothing to do with the NSC, followed him in, no one dared to say anything.
As soon as he sat down, the ministers and secretaries started to report.
¡°We have connected to five nuclear bunkers. The Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Gyeryongdae are also about to be connected.¡±
¡°Here is the report on the casualties. Currently, there are 35 injured and 6 critically wounded. No deaths have been confirmed so far.¡±
¡°Most of the rockets were intercepted by the iron beam and exploded in mid-air. One hit the annex and destroyed itpletely. We are still assessing the damage to civilian facilities.¡±
¡°We responded with artillery fire from the 1st and 6th Artillery Brigades using Cheonmu missiles. The damage inflicted is unknown.¡±
Hmmm¡
President Jo listened to the reports silently with a displeased expression.
He had cheered for war when the secretaries first rushed into his office, but what was this?
The rocket shower that was supposed to rain down at a rate of over 10,000 per hour was gone, and only 500 rockets were fired, of which only 200 reached Seoul.
He interrupted a staff officer¡¯s report and asked.
¡°What about the follow-up attack?¡±
¡°There is no sign of it yet.¡±
¡°They should have sent reconnaissance nes by now, right? Of course, we have air superiority. Give me a brief summary.¡±
¡°Yes, that¡¯s correct.¡±
¡°Did the Trans-Yalu Army show any signs of war?¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤They are not moving at all. The radiomunication is at normal level.¡±
¡°They fired rockets at Seoul and there is no follow-up attack? Doesn¡¯t that seem strange to you?¡±
It certainly did.
Attacking Seoul with rockets was not something that could be dismissed as a mistake.
But it was too small to be considered a deration of war.
500 rockets might sound impressive, but they were less than the firepower of one artillery brigade.
If they wanted to attack Seoul, they should have poured at least 20 times more.
Could this be called a firm intention to start a war?
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
President Jo pondered for a while and then looked at the monitor connected to the director of the National Intelligence Service.
¡°What about the Duman River area?¡±
¡°There is no movement in the Northern Front. There are many defectors taking advantage of the night, but it¡¯s nothing unusual.¡±
¡°The Northern Front has only 40% of its normal power, right?¡±
¡°It would be around 50% at most if we stretch it.¡±
They had gone down to suppress the riots in Beijing and other major cities.
The president asked again.
¡°What if we advance north? Do you think the Chick n will be activated?¡±
¡°The 79th and 78th Armies have lost a significant number of troops, but the 80th Army is intact.¡±
¡°The 80th Army was mechanized, right? Of all ces, only there remained¡¡±
It was well known that the Chinese army would prate deep into North Korea in case of an emergency on the Korean Penins.
The problem was the 80th Army of the Northern Front, which was a rapid reaction force that was ready to move south at any time with mechanized units.
Their goal was to upy Pyongyang and secure Hamgyongnam-do through post-war negotiations.
That way, they would have a port that could lead them from the East Sea to the Pacific Ocean.
It was China¡¯s long-cherished desire to enter the Pacific Ocean.
Of course, it was unlikely that China, which was at war with Taiwan, would achieve that n.
But if even one group army entered North Korea, it would be very awkward for the Korean army to deal with.
Because China¡¯s nuclear power might target the Korean Penins.
¡®Even without that, encountering the Chinese army on North Korean soil is a failure in itself¡¡¯
President Jo¡¯s goal was to permanently confirm the Korean Penins as an integral territory of South Korea.
He had no intention of giving up even an inch ofnd to China.
He looked at Yu Ji-ha, who had followed him in and sat in a corner.
He was a quick-witted person who could understand what he meant by his gaze.
¨DAre you okay?
He stretched out his hand in the corner and made a zero with his other hand.
He could block 50 more nuclear warheads.
China wouldn¡¯t use that much nuclear power anyway, so he thought he could handle one group army.
But then, a loud bell rang in the bunker.
The secretary-general checked the caller and said.
¡°Mr. President, it¡¯s the White House.¡±
¡°Give it to me for now.¡±
The dialogue between the two leaders was not smooth.
The participants of the National Security Council could not know the details of the conversation, but they learned the intention of President McKinley.
It was to prevent esction.
On the other hand, President Jo Hyung-geun insisted that North Korea had clearly shown its intention to start a war by attacking Seoul.
¡°More than 50 people have died already. If Washington or New York were attacked like this, would you sit still, Mr. President? Oh, I guess you don¡¯t care because it¡¯s not reported.¡±
He had the audacity to lie to the American president.
¡°An official apology? I doubt our people will be satisfied with that. What did you say? There will be an apology broadcast by the secretary-general soon?¡±
The atmosphere in the conference room eased up.
If Kim Jong-un really apologized officially, they could not be too harsh on him.
The response would depend on the follow-up measures, but the general consensus was that the northward advance was off the table.
President Jo Hyung-geun listened to something for a while, then frowned and mmed down the phone.
¡°Do you expect me to believe that some frontline unit acted impulsively?¡±
¡°Mr. President, maybe we should wait and see if that¡¯s true.¡±
The staff¡¯s opinion was also to wait for the apology broadcast.
No one liked war.
But there was someone in this room who needed war, even if he didn¡¯t like it.
He secretly sent a signal, and the reconnaissance pod that was waiting in the sky above Pyongyang fired a directional EMP shock wave at the Korean Central TV building.
As most of the devices were paralyzed, the Korean broadcasters naturally could not receive the video.
¡°¡¡±
President Jo Hyung-geun, who had been silently waiting for the video, turned red with anger.
¡°These bastards are lying to us?¡±
¡°Mr. President, there must be some misunderstanding¡¡±
No matter how crazy North Korea was, they wouldn¡¯t break their promise with the US in such a critical situation.
But then new news came in.
¡°Mr. President! In Hwanghae Province, that is, from the 2nd Front Army Corps, 300mm rocketunchers have escaped from the tunnel!¡±
¡°We detected movement of North Korean TELs from Baekdu Reconnaissance!¡±
TELs were short for mobile missileunchers, which usually carried conventional warheads, but in North Korea they were 100% nuclear warheads.
Their movement meant a sign of nuclear attack.
President Jo Hyung-geun agonized and agonized for a short time.
North Korea had clearly revealed its intention to start a war.
If he hesitated here, only Korea¡¯s damage would increase.
He recalled the conversation he had with Yu Ji-ha a while ago.
At that time, Yu Ji-ha said he was afraid of war, but he also said this:
¡°Of course, our politicians have a duty to do their best to prevent war from happening. But if it¡¯s inevitable¡ it would be better if it only happened once.¡±
To Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s mind, that once was now.
¡°The Joint Chiefs of Staff are connected to Gyeryongdae.¡±
The faces of dozens of tense generals appeared on the monitor.
He consulted with the heads of each branch of service, including the minister, and heard their opinion that North Korea¡¯s intention to start a war was certain.
They couldn¡¯t sit back and take it again, so the only answer was a preemptive strike.
He would get approval from the National Assemblyter.
He gave an order to Lee Kang-hoon, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
¡°We don¡¯t need or want an apology from North Korea. Immediately issue DEFCON 2 andbat readiness posture to all forces.¡±
¡°All forces DEFCON 2,bat readiness posture issued¡±
¡°This is not a drill. I repeat. This is not a drill.¡±
On the morning of the 11th, an emergency was dered for the entire Republic of Korea Army.
It was not a drill that was usually reced by cards, but a real battle.
The soldiers cursed as they put on their uniforms and trucks filled with transport troops gathered in the barracks.
During training, various situations were usually given, but there was none of that in realbat.
There was only one instruction from above: leave your unit and gather at your assembly point.
The officers who controlled the running soldiers were also bewildered.
¡°Is this really a war or what?¡±
¡°Seoul was attacked, we have to do something!¡±
¡°This doesn¡¯t seem like it¡¯s going to end easily¡¡±
There had been no activation of DEFCON 2 since the Panmunjom axe murder incident.
And that too for all forces.
The officers hoped they could return to their units as they got into their vehicles.
But seeing the ammunition officer emptying out the ammunition depot with a grim face, it seemed different this time.
¡°Ammunition officer! Did you hear any instructions from above?¡±
A captain who couldn¡¯t stand it asked, and the corporal shook his head.
¡°All I was told was to empty the ammo depot.¡±
¡°Really?¡±
He thought it would be a huge hassle to refill itter, but before that, a sinister thought crossed his mind.
Maybe this order was given because there was no chance ofing back?
This thought was shared by all the officers who felt that the readiness posture was not being lifted.
Each unit retreated to the rear assembly point, upied it, and waited for orders from above.
Until then, there was no shelling from North Korea.
Normally, when war broke out, the GP and GOP would evaporate under North Korea¡¯s massive shelling, and the front-line units would suffer heavy damage.
The reason for packing up and moving the entire unit was to avoid that shelling.
But what did it mean that they didn¡¯t fire a single shot?
¡°I heard they ran out of fuel for their self-propelled guns.¡±
¡°But don¡¯t you think they can move their front army corps?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. The GP guys say that these days, even in the front army corps, there are hundreds of deserters. It¡¯s not on the news, though.¡±
¡°Then how can they maintain their units¡¡±
North Korea had recently deteriorated to the point where it was doubtful how they could maintain their military.
There used to be a joke that if North Korea invaded the south, they would raid gas stations for fuel and supermarkets for food supplies.
But now North Korea didn¡¯t even have enough fuel to carry out such an operation.
How desperate were they to sell off the fuel they had for wartime use?
There were rumors that the top brass knew this but couldn¡¯t do anything about it and left it alone.
It was no wonder they directly asked the South Korean government for food aid.
Anyway, the South Korean military quickly finished theirbat readiness posture.
The air force, navy, and other units also went into base defense, and so did the special forces.
The South Korean military was full of all kinds of lies and excuses, but this readiness posture was very fast.
It was because they had been repeating this for months.
Among the soldiers, there was a saying that they were the worst since 6.25.
They couldn¡¯t sleep and walked around in situations and did mobility training, so they couldn¡¯t help but get annoyed.
Anyway, thebat readiness was over.
There were some minor idents during this process, such as soldiers disappearing or supplies evaporating, but each unit was ready to move and held their positions.
Until then, North Korea was quiet.
¡°What¡¯s going on? Is this it?¡±
When someone said that, President Jo Hyung-geun was meeting withwmakers, including the speaker of the National Assembly.
¡
A group of politicians gathered in the bunker of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Speaker of the National Assembly Park Sun-ho came with the senior members and shed with President Jo Hyung-geun.
¡°We absolutely, absolutely cannot have a war.¡±
¡°Even when shells are falling on Seoul and the Blue House is copsing, you say we can¡¯t?¡±
¡°There aren¡¯t that many casualties. And it¡¯s only the Chunghoo Hall that copsed in the Blue House.¡±
¡°Chunghoo Hall is part of the Blue House, isn¡¯t it!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t raise your voice¡ Mr. President, you are taking war too lightly. North Korea has nothing to lose, but we have too much.¡±
¡°Do you know how much GDP we will lose if the Second Korean War breaks out? Can you handle that?¡±
¡°You seem to think that if we send out the 7th Corps to advance northward, we can have dinner in Pyongyang, but North Korea has nukes, you know.¡±
¡°In the worst case scenario, if they fire 10 missiles at Seoul, there will be millions of casualties. Will you take responsibility for that?¡±
President Jo Hyung-geun was furious at the onught of the senior members of both parties.
¡°Now is our only chance! This is the only time in the history of the Korean Penins that we can achieve unification without foreign intervention! You know how China is! And what about the US and Japan!¡±
Speaker Park Sun-ho, who was second in line for session, plugged his ears and then said.
¡°Still, we can¡¯t have a war. Do you understand? If you stay like this until dawn, send your troops back to their original positions.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s wait and see how North Korea responds.¡±
¡°I¡¯m going crazy.¡±
It was hard to have a war when the National Assembly came out so strongly.
President Jo Hyung-geun was frustrated and tried to bring up the NCM bomb.
¡°Mr. President. Can I talk to you for a moment?¡±
They went to a corner and talked surrounded by bodyguards.
¡°You must never mention that.¡±
The more ears there were, the more likely it was to leak out, which was a truth.
If he revealed the existence of the NCM bomb, the US would intervene immediately and stop the war.
¡°If I want to get approval from the National Assembly, I have no choice.¡±
Since Korea and North Korea were in a state of armistice, there was no need for a deration of war.
But advancing northward was a different dimension.
Even if he issued DEFCON 2 and entered readiness posture, he had to have at least some tacit consent.
He couldn¡¯t ignore the National Assembly, which represented the people, when he put 50 million people in a wartime situation.
This was ultimately Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s concern that he couldn¡¯t escape from being a Korean politician.
Yu Ji-ha was not originally Korean, nor did he think of himself as Korean.
He pretended to be one when he first got out of his vegetative state because he had nothing, but now he didn¡¯t need to.
He could send 8 billion people to war if he had to, not just 50 million.
¡°Just wait a little longer.¡±
¡°Did something happen?¡±
¡°Well, how would I know? I¡¯m not a prophet.¡±
President Jo Hyung-geun was frustrated by his vague words.
¡°Nuclear missiles could fly at us any time and I don¡¯t understand why they won¡¯t approve it!¡±
Well, it was more of a problem that Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s heart couldn¡¯t order an advance northward even in such a situation.
His heart was screaming for an advance northward, but he felt burdened because he was in a position to make decisions.
He could ignore the National Assembly and order an advance northward, but he would be responsible for everything that happened afterwards.
It would be fine if he won without much damage.
But if he failed to intercept nuclear missiles or suffered mass civilian casualties from chemical attacks, it would all be his fault.
Then he would be criticized for not having avoided war.
Yu Ji-ha looked at him with pity.
¡®I set up everything for you, but you can¡¯t even pull the trigger.¡¯
North Korea was in chaos after being hit by an EMP attack, so they had neither the ability nor the will to attack South Korea.
¡®I wanted to kill them during the war if possible¡¡¯
Their resistance to the Second Korean War was stronger than Arma¡¯s prediction.
Well, he understood since they didn¡¯t know how many people would die.
Yu Ji-ha ordered him who was insensitive to death.
¡°Blow up about 10 ces including the Blue House, National Assembly Building, and Ministry of National Defense.¡±
¡°Understood¡±
When North Korea¡¯s front army corps was in chaos, androids came out of Ford and infiltrated them.
They killed the military officers who were actuallymanding the units and disguised themselves as them, and took over the intact rocketunchers.
South Korea¡¯s reconnaissance assets detected a series of movements and sounded an rm.
And thousands of rocketunchers fired at Seoul.
Chapter 67: One bite
Chapter 67: One bite
¡°Seoul has been hit by a massive rocket attack.¡±
¡°¡¡±
President McKinley of the United States looked at the night view of Seoul burning, filmed by a CNN reporter.
The National Assembly Building and the Blue House were among the mes.
It was an attack that was iparable to the first rocket attack.
He didn¡¯t know how many casualties there were, but it was certain that a lot of politicians were caught up in it.
It would be foolish to think that North Korea wouldn¡¯tunch any more attacks.
But there was something strange.
¡°Why Seoul, not the front-linebat divisions or corps headquarters? Any information on that?¡±
¡°It¡¯s hard to collect information because North Korea is so chaotic. There¡¯s also intelligence that their nuclear weapons failed and an EMP went off.¡±
¡°What did the North Korean diplomats say?¡±
¡°They just keep repeating that it¡¯s not the intention of the leadership.¡±
¡°You¡¯re saying that¡¯s not the intention of the leadership?¡±
His ash-colored eyes saw the image of Seoul that looked like a battlefield.
If they could endure that, Korea should be called angels.
Of course, he knew that Korea was far from angels.
Humphrey, his aide, hinted.
¡°The power nts in Daejeon, including Jo¡¯s nt, and the Changwon industrialplex are intact. It seems that North Korea¡¯s decision-making process is not working.¡±
¡°Well, war is inevitable anyway.¡±
¡°The South Korean military started a dialogue offensive and dered martialw.¡±
¡°All airports and ports have been closed and mobilization orders have been issued. They are practically in a state of war.¡±
¡°Mr. President, we need to start evacuating our citizens in Korea immediately.¡±
¡°How many are there?¡±
¡°Since most of the US forces have left, there are just over 120,000.¡±
¡°Proceed immediately.¡±
The US military usually conducted NEO, Nobatant Evacuation Operations, every year.
It was originally for the families of US forces in Korea, but it was not a big problem to expand it.
There were plenty of tforms for that in the US.
The problem was that two wars had broken out in East Asia.
The Yangtze War and the Second Korean War.
Except for Japan, they all fell into the pit of war.
¡°They¡¯re all crazy¡¡±
The aides advised him as he leaned his head on his chair.
¡°Mr. President, the war has already started and we can¡¯t turn it back.¡±
¡°If we just watch like this, we will lose our influence on the Korean Penins.¡±
¡°South Korea should be our ally in East Asia instead of Japan.¡±
That¡¯s what they had nned to do.
Japan had been too much in America¡¯s eyes, and recently South Korea had achieved dazzling technological development as if they had kidnapped an alien.
But what America wanted was a whole Korea.
What was the point of having a country that was shattered by war?
He might be shouting for an advance northward now that Seoul was burning, but as soon as a nuclear missile fell, the atmosphere would change.
President McKinley wandered around his office anxiously and then slumped down on his desk.
¡°¡What are the chances that we canpletely block North Korea¡¯s nuclear missiles?¡±
When he asked that, they all trailed off.
¡°They¡¯re so close¡¡±
¡°North Korea has already deployed SLBMs. If their Sinpo-ss submarines manage to get out of port at the beginning of the war¡¡±
¡°We can¡¯t guarantee 100%. At best, 70%.¡±
¡°So we¡¯ll get hit by at least 10.¡±
If they advanced northward now, North Korea would not hesitate to fire nukes when cornered.
Could Korea handle that with its small territory?
He would be criticized for not avoiding war if he failed to intercept nuclear missiles or suffered mass civilian casualties from chemical attacks.
President McKinley leaned his head on his desk.
¡°Where is Chairman Yu right now?¡±
¡°He is currently waiting at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as far as we know.¡±
¡°He escaped the fire there.¡±
¡°That¡¯s lucky for us.¡±
Then, the United States had decided what to do.
In fact, the U.S. Congress did not care much about Korea.
What was important was Yu Jiha¡¯s ability and technology.
They desperately wanted his ability to manipte ck metal and his technology that created artificial intelligence.
They chose to support Korea instead of Japan because of him.
Why did they withdraw the U.S. Forces Korea?
Now that themand authority had been returned and the mutual defense treaty had been almost nullified, Korea had no value.
But it was a bit regrettable to abandon Korea right away.
President McKinley made a decision.
¡°Let¡¯s send the Third Fleet to monitor the situation. Deploy as many amphibious assault ships and transport ships as possible to supply materials and troops and bring back nonbatants. And secure President Yu¡¯s new recruits.¡±
The whereabouts of Yu Jiha¡¯s parents had already been identified and protected.
That was all that was left.
Assistant Secretary Humphrey tilted his head.
¡°What do you mean by securing new recruits?¡±
¡°There are many risks in a war, aren¡¯t there? There could be terrorist attacks, or he could face a life-threatening crisis. We¡¯ll watch for that and snatch him quickly.¡±
He might change his mind after rolling around in confusion.
He was a gutsy businessman, but he was far from war.
The U.S. special forces were a group that excelled in bringing such people.
¡
Seoul suffered tremendous damage from the second bombardment.
The anti-aircraftwork, including the iron beam, did its job well, but it couldn¡¯t stop all the rockets.
As a result, a few rockets fell on the National Assembly Building and the Blue House.
Hundreds of people lost their lives and Seoul burned in many ces.
President Jo Hyung-geun finally decided to go to war.
If he hesitated any longer, he would lose everything.
¡°As of now, we are at war. Start the counter-battery fire.¡±
The counter-battery fire was to suppress the North Korean artillery, which was their strongest force in the early stages of the war, by pouring artillery fire.
Most of the artillery forces were activated, and the air force¡¯s bunker busters and ballistic missiles were also mobilized.
The K-9 self-propelled guns and multipleunchers that had been waiting at the artillery base fired high-explosive shells at the designated North Korean positions.
The fighters took off from the air force base with cruise missiles and anti-radar missiles and attacked the artillerymand posts andser bases.
And from the missilemand, they fired all the ballistic missiles they had diligently stockpiled.
They might not have good eyes or ears, but they decided to smash them with firepower.
The reconnaissance nes that had been collecting information on North Korea sent signals of sessful suppression one after another.
The military leaders felt puzzled at this point.
¡°Why aren¡¯t they firing back?¡±
¡°They seem to have been caught off guard. This is strange.¡±
Of course, they expected that the North Korean army¡¯s condition was not good enough for themand to work properly.
But this was too much even if they did it too much.
They clearly showed their intention to go to war by firing thousands of rockets at Seoul, but Pyongyang¡¯s air defensework did not operate properly.
Some anti-aircraft guns resisted meaninglessly, but it was not the true face of the air defensework that was said to be the densest in the world.
The intelligence staffs offered this opinion.
¡°The North Korean economy has fallen into a pit, so they don¡¯t have enough resources to supply power to the military.¡±
¡°We think that the North Korean army is not just limping, but lying on a bed as a critical patient who will die today or tomorrow.¡±
It was doubtful whether they were sane enough tounch a preemptive strike in such a situation.
Meanwhile, an urgent order came down from the third floor of the Workers¡¯ Party Central Committee building to quickly resolve this situation.
¡°What¡¯s going on? Why is the All-Army Corps moving without orders!¡±
¡°We¡¯re trying to find out!¡±
¡°It¡¯s been three hours already! Listen carefully, if we can¡¯t stop South Korea¡¯s offensive, we¡¯re all dead! Do you think they¡¯ll spare us?¡±
Kim Jong-un shook with anger and everyone moved busily.
They had to inform them that it was an idental incident caused by the All-Army Corps and that the North Korean regime had no intention of going to war.
But there was no way to contact them externally.
Themunicationwork was all smashed, and even China¡¯smunication satellites seemed to be receiving jamming signals and only sending strange signals.
It was also a problem that all the diplomats stationed in Pyongyang had left after the Corona crisis.
North Korea did not detain them, and as a result, their voices were not heard by anyone.
The United States ignored the voice of the diplomat and only China had restoredmunication.
The Chinese mechanized group army, waiting across the Tumen River, noticed the emergency.
Kim Jong-un barely managed to talk to the 80th Armymander through the radio.
¡°Colonel Li Oh-hwa, please help me.¡±
¡°I heard you. You are in trouble right now.¡±
¡°Please tell South Korea about our situation. We never intended tounch a preemptive attack.¡±
¡°Is that so? But Korea is already preparing for an invasion. It¡¯s toote to stop them.¡±
Kim Jong-un ranted, but Colonel Li Oh-hwa had other thoughts.
The copse of North Korea had already begun and it was an unstoppable flow.
Even the homnd could not exercise proper control over North Korea.
So what if he moved his troops south and seized North Koreannd?
¡®If I¡¯m lucky, I might be able to take over Manchuria and northern North Korea.¡¯
It was a n to divide North Korea by the 80th Army alone.
He would give up Pyongyang, but he could easily upy the upper part.
The Korean armored forces that moved north were formidable, but they would not want to expand the war with China.
¡®The important thing now is speed.¡¯
The 80th Army, the rapid response force, was prepared for this day.
He turned off themunication and gave orders to his generals.
The 80th Army, which consisted of 60,000 people, crossed the Tumen River at once.
And at almost the same time.
The 7th Division of Korea also abandoned its garrison and began to move north ording to Operation 5015.
It was the strongest force in East Asia, with ck metal armor applied to all armored vehicles.
The capital area suffered from the sound of vehicles moving everywhere.
Their destination was Pyongyang.
As soon as the war broke out, President Jo Hyung-geun told Yu Ji-ha firmly.
¡°Stay here for a while and watch how our generals work in an emergency. It¡¯s all blood and flesh.¡±
He must have wanted to advise the young entrepreneur andwmaker, but Yu Ji-ha found it funny.
¡®Did they prepare for war for almost 80 years and this is all they can do?¡¯
The Joint Chiefs of Staff was in a state of confusion.
The role division was not done properly, so orders were repeated, and they did not know how to handle information.
The generals did not know the operation well and cooperation with other armies was poor.
They did not even know where the front control device, which was essential for the movement of the 7th Division, belonged.
¡°What do you mean the control device is not under the 39th Reconnaissance Battalion? Then what is that sending out light signals?¡±
It was not that there was no propeller ne flying over the 7th Division moving north and sending out light signals diligently.
It would have sprayed smoke bombs if it was daytime, but it was night time, so it made it easy to see.
¡°It belongs to the 47th Reconnaissance Battalion!¡±
At the report of the information staff, the operations director held his head in his hands.
¡°The 47th Reconnaissance Battalion¡¯s control device should be above the 1st Division! Where is the liaison officer?¡±
This kind of thing happened everywhere and every time there was a loud noise.
Instead of urate information processing and calm troop operation, they were busy fighting each other and that was more true for generals.
Maybe because they have more authority, they also have more responsibility.
Yu Ji-ha decided that there was nothing to learn here and went outside.
¡°Can I ask where you are going?¡±
The military police asked and he answered.
¡°I¡¯m going to the bathroom.¡±
As always, the bathroom was a very effective excuse.
He checked around and called Arma.
¡°Where is the 80th Army now?¡±
¡¸They are moving south through Sinuiju. They encountered several armies along the way and are currently in battle¡¹
ording to the information sent by Arma, there was one army deployed there and for now, their strength was equal to that of the 80th Army.
But looking at the current situation, it was doubtful whether their real power was equal.
Yu Ji-ha frowned as he watched the Chinese 80th Army push down with a desperate momentum.
¡°They¡¯re like kids twisting their arms. Was North Korea¡¯s 8th Army¡¯sbat power so low?¡±
Originally, North Korea¡¯s 8th Army should have stopped China¡¯s army in Sinuiju.
North Korea¡¯s feelings toward China were not that good either.
But for some reason, they couldn¡¯t even fight properly and were annihted.
¡¸It seems that they did not expect any battle at all. Most of their troops were sleeping and even after waking up, they couldn¡¯t control them¡¹
It was understandable that they didn¡¯t know anything since this side pulled the trigger.
From North Korea¡¯s point of view, it was a ridiculous situation where they woke up after being hit and Korea was angry and China was taking off their pants.
¡°But it¡¯s been a few hours now, shouldn¡¯t they be counterattacking by now? Where did all those old-fashioned equipment go?¡±
¡¸They sold off the fuel and parts needed to operate the heavy equipment. They also have no supplies. The only decent ones are concentrated in the DMZ and Pyongyang¡¹
Anyway, the 80th Army¡¯s advance seemed to be rtively smooth.
Whether it was to receive support from the Chinese fleet or not, they were moving along the coastal road that connected Sinuiju to Jeongju.
¡°How long do you think it will take to reach Pyongyang?¡±
¡¸It will take more than a week. The troop density will increase as you approach Pyongyang, so you will probably stop soon¡¹
¡°What about the follow-up troops?¡±
¡¸There are none. No support troops either¡¹
¡°So they moved south alone. Was it Colonel Li Oh-hwa? He was blinded by greed.¡±
¡¸He must have looked down on North Korea while stationed in the border area. He probably thought he could upy a lot ofnd in a few days¡¹
¡°Stupid.¡±
No matter how elite the armored division was, it was impossible to maintain itsbat power for a long time without follow-up troops.
It was not because the equipment ran on mental power.
It would also be a huge burden to enter North Korea and operate there.
They might say China-North Korea friendship or whatever, but for most North Koreans, China was not a pleasant neighbor.
Yu Ji-ha paid attention to the 7th Division¡¯s advance.
¡°Clearing the minefield is good, but they got shelled and the vanguard was destroyed.¡±
¡¸There is only one route. They have no choice but to enter the Kaesong Industrial Complex, and North Korea knows that too¡¹
¡°Do they have to upy the Kaesong Industrial Complex?¡±
¡¸There must be military journalists with a division like that, and it would make a good report if they upied it¡¹
¡°Are you saying that they upied the Kaesong Industrial Complex, which was suspended due to North Korea¡¯s provocation in the past?¡±
¡¸That¡¯s right¡¹
¡°They made a mistake by giving iron beams to field troops¡ They¡¯re trying to show off.¡±
At this moment, too, iron beams and Cheonma anti-aircraft missiles were intercepting the shells flying nearby.
They relied on that and some units entered the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
¡¸And they also intend to check the site of the liaison office that was blown up a few years ago. It¡¯s included in the operation¡¹
The Korean army was good, but they were too focused on the operation.
If North Korea had been normal, a thunderbolt that could not be blocked by iron beams would have fallen on the units entering the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
¡°It¡¯s hard enough to get to Kaesong, but Kaesong City won¡¯t be easy either.¡±
¡¸They n to deploy arge number of CDS-1s. They will leave urban warfare to drones and clear out nearby artillery forces with follow-up troops¡¹
¡°They¡¯ll ask me to change the algorithm. By the way, I don¡¯t know if they can get through that barrage.¡±
The artillery forces deployed around Kaesong were enormous.
But the 7th Division did not deal with them.
They only secured a minimum of mobility and moved north through the Kaesong-Pyongyang highway.
Their goal was to reach Pyongyang.
It was unknown how much resistance they would face in the process, but it would not be easy.
North Korea knew that too, so they would resist with all their might.
¡°The 80th Army and the 7th Division are racing to Pyongyang. Help me out a little. Not too much, just enough to hinder their advance.¡±
¡¸Okay¡¹
¡°And how is Kim Gu-ham¡¯s work going?¡±
¡¸It¡¯s almost done. Only thest deck work is left¡¹
¡°I¡¯ll have to go down and see.¡±
It was time to release the railgun¡¯s limiter.
Chapter 68: The Automatic Combat Feature
Chapter 68: The Automatic Combat Feature
The world finally realized that Korea had started a war with North Korea when the 7th Army advanced northward.
Major media outlets from various countries reported the detailed information through their correspondents, and the UN immediately convened a meeting.
At the ce where the diplomats of the permanent members of the Security Council gathered, the Chinese representative demanded that the Korean troops withdraw immediately.
¡°This is not a preventive war or anything. North Korea knew nothing about this war! Please order them to retreat as soon as possible.¡±
The American diplomat pushed a few photos toward him.
They were photos of Seoul burning fiercely.
¡°How do you exin these photos?¡±
¡°It¡¯s obvious that it was the act of some rogue army divisions, isn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°Some? It looks too excessive for some¡ More than 150 Koreanwmakers died due to the second shelling, and many civil servants also lost their lives.¡±
Russia also joined in.
¡°Korea suffered almost a thousand casualties from this shelling. This cannot be considered idental.¡±
The Chinese diplomat tried to ignore the photos and insisted on his im.
¡°Anyway, we cannot tolerate this situation. If Korea crosses the Pyongyang-Wonsan line, we will immediately intervene ording to the treaty.¡±
¡°Do you have enough troops to dispatch that far?¡±
Everyone sneered when the British diplomat scoffed.
China was currently stockpiling supplies for a total offensive against Taiwan.
In such a situation, it was almost impossible to divert troops to stop Korea¡¯s northward march.
If Korea was a mediocre country, it might be possible, but it was and power that was hard to suppress even in China¡¯s prime.
Its missile capabilities were also solid, and especially recently, itunched a railgun cruiser.
It was notpleted yet, but its mere existence was enough to deter the Chinese fleet advancing northward.
Could China ovee the railgun cruiser while struggling with Taiwan¡¯s coastal artillery?
Among the naval officials of various countries, it was seriously difficult.
Even if they mobilized submarines, Korea¡¯s anti-submarine capabilities were not easy either.
Then, the American diplomat presented another photo.
¡°Korea is trying to stop your northward march, but your 80th Army is actually moving south. What¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°¡I don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°Of course you don¡¯t. It¡¯s something that the 80th Army did on its own. Can you order themander to withdraw?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not under my jurisdiction.¡±
He looked like he had no shame as he stiffly avoided looking at the photos.
In fact, Chinese diplomats had often shown such attitudes on the international diplomatic stage, so they had a lot of resentment.
Until now, they might have gotten away with it because of their status as G2, but not anymore.
The American diplomatid down an ultimatum.
¡°You mentioned the Pyongyang-Wonsan line, but the Korean government wants more than that. The whole penins. They n topletely absorb North Korea at this opportunity.¡±
¡°No way, absolutely no way.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not something that requires China¡¯s permission. It¡¯s a notification.¡±
Something was strange.
The Russian representative had been scratching China¡¯s nerves by siding with them all along.
He had been in a position of diligently obstructing the resolutions of the West with China, but it was strange.
Did he make some kind of agreement with Korea?
Maybe it wasn¡¯t Korea but Yu Ji-ha himself.
¡®With ion thrusters and unobtanium, he could easily lure Russia.¡¯
Did Russia promise part of Kamchatka Penins and cooperation on the international stage?
He didn¡¯t even look at China and Japan, but he visited Moscow three times. That might be evidence.
Then, the Chinese diplomat showed a video.
It was a message from Kim Jong-un himself to the UN.
-I dere here that the damage suffered by South Korea was not the will of the Republic at all. We confirmed that some rogue army divisions rebelled and we are suppressing them. Therefore, South Korea must withdraw its troops immediately.
There were more contents appealing his innocence after that, but they were not very important.
The American representative scratched his chin and said,
¡°He says it was some rebel units, but Korea¡¯s damage is too big.¡±
¡°The 7th Army has already entered Kaesong Industrial Complex. They havee this far and you want them to retreat?¡±
The Chinese diplomat smiled as if he didn¡¯t understand.
¡°It seems that you have forgotten something.¡±
¡°What are you talking about?¡±
¡°If North Korea reallyunched a preemptive attack, what is this front line? The Korean army clearly pierced through North Korea¡¯s defense and isunching an offensive throughout the region.¡±
The 7th Corps¡¯ advance northward was noticeable, but the divisions deployed in Gangwon-do were also pushing up.
The terrain was difficult for guerri warfare and ambushes, but the firepower difference was too great, so it seemed that they would soon enter Geumgangsan.
¡°That¡¯s because Korea knew that North Korea would provoke and prepared thoroughly for months.¡±
¡°Korea is a country that has been preparing for war for almost 80 years. It¡¯s not strange that they go up as soon as the war starts.¡±
But North Korea¡¯s reaction was definitely strange.
If they really intended to start a war with a preemptive strike, they would not have responded like this.
North Korea was being pushed back by the Korean army on all fronts.
There was even a self-propelled artillery brigade that was dismantled without firing a single shot and hit by artillery fire.
The Russian representative gave this opinion on the situation.
¡°North Korea has recently suffered a severe economic crisis. You could see lions dying in Pyongyang, which says it all. The military situation must have been worse, so there was no will to fight.¡±
¡°Well, just look at the Tumen River line. More than a thousand defectors areing out every day, so it won¡¯t be properly controlled.¡±
The Chinese diplomat, who had to stop the war somehow, brought out hisst resort.
¡°If the Korean army surrounds Pyongyang, the North Korean government will not sit still.¡±
¡°Nuclear weapons are absolutely not allowed.¡±
¡°The moment you use them, North Korea¡¯s doom is confirmed.¡±
A pessimistic opinion came out, but the Chinese diplomat did not back down.
¡°Anyway, if they are going to perish, they will go with Korea. Korea is not well prepared for ballistic missiles.¡±
¡°They have THAAD and SM-6. And above all, the Pacific 3rd Fleet is approaching now.¡±
It was a warning not to do anything stupid because the US would intervene.
But that touched China¡¯s pride.
¡°If the US intervenes in this situation, we will dere full intervention.¡±
¡°Do it if you can. Do you think that¡¯s possible when you¡¯re pouring all your resources into Taiwan?¡±
Even the US, which ruled the world, was reluctant to fight on both sides.
Especially since the opponent was the Korean army, China could not underestimate it.
Unless it was nuclear¡
The meeting ended here, but China contacted the US separately.
¡°Let¡¯s divide it up.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Ambassador Austin smiled faintly as if he knew this would happen.
¡°Do you want Wonsan Port?¡±
¡°We will take Pyeonganbuk-do, Jagang-do, Hamgyeongnam-do, and Ryanggang-do. Give Hamgyeongbuk-do to Russia and do whatever you want with the rest. Whether the US takes it or Korea upies it.¡±
It was the same as the pre-war division n of North Korea.
¡°I wonder what Korea thinks about this proposal.¡±
¡°We are asking you now. What does the opinion of a small country matter?¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that small country overwhelmingly superior? They will soon capture Gaeseong and advance northward to Pyongyang. Will they ept your offer?¡±
¡°It won¡¯t be easy to capture Gaeseong. The Korean army has no experience in urban warfare.¡±
¡°Maybe the soldiers are like that. But Korea has those famousbat drones. I asked them secretly and they said they n to deploy tens of thousands of them.¡±
¡°What did you say?¡±
The Chinese ambassador¡¯s expression changed greatly.
They drove out the Houthi rebels in Aden with just a few hundred drones, and they were going to deploy them in suchrge numbers?
¡°Are you still¡ Are you still saying that North Korea attacked first? That means you prepared for war beforehand!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t overthink it. They asked Saudi Arabia for permission and imported them first in Korea.¡±
¡°It¡¯s different for different purposes. There¡¯s no way to modify it so quickly!¡±
Ambassador Austin shrugged his shoulders.
¡°President Yu must have done it himself. He is also an algorithm expert and there is Russia too.¡±
¡°¡¡±
The Chinese ambassador shook his chin.
This meant that he had already started the operation.
The fall of Gaeseong was confirmed.
Once Gaeseong is broken through, it¡¯s a quick ride to Pyongyang on the highway.
North Korea would resist with all its might, but the current Korean army had the ability to break through.
They didn¡¯t evenst a few hours before they took control of the air and pounded North Korea¡¯s air defensework.
It would be painful to say anything.
Maybe they would surround Pyongyang sooner than 80th Army¡
¡°Sinpo. I¡¯ll settle for Sinpo.¡±
The conditions were rxed, but Ambassador Austin smiled kindly.
¡°You should talk to Korea directly. We¡¯re busy supporting supplies.¡±
¡°Do you think China¡¯s rocket army will just watch?¡±
If it were Korea, they might have been nervous about this threat, but the opponent was the US, which had the strongest nuclear power in the world.
¡°We don¡¯t want war. But we want you to know that we can intervene at any time if necessary.¡±
¡°¡¡±
If the US intervened after Taiwan and Korea, it would mean China¡¯s end.
The Chinese ambassador shivered and turned around and walked away quickly.
¡
The martialw was expanded nationwide and the reserve forces and civil defense were deployed in the city.
People did not go to work and relied on TV and radio to get information.
Police cars and military police vehicles roamed the streets and checkpoints were everywhere.
The government did not restrict movement, but announced through broadcasting that there was no need to evacuate.
¡ªCurrently, our army is pushing back the North Korean army with a fierce fight. The 7th Corps has surrounded Kaesong City and ns to show off the drone swarm.
¡ªWe have received a victory report from the mountain troops in Gangwon Province. Citizens, the North Korean army is no match for us.
¡ªThe Air Force initially expected to gain air superiority within 72 hours after the war began. But look at this. The radar is clear after six hours of war. North Korea doesn¡¯t even have enough fuel to fly fighter jets.
¡ªThe Marine Corps is preparing to conduct anding operation with the cooperation of the Navy. Thending of the Marine Corps seems to be intended to relieve the pressure on the army¡¯s vanguard¡
¡ªIn the waters near Yeonpyeong Ind, a destroyer squadron belonging to the 2nd Fleet of the Navy showed an overwhelming exchange rate against dozens of North Korean missile speedboats.
Koreans who had only seen the bad side of the army were bewildered.
¡ªIs this all true? Are we winning?
¡ªWe were idiots, but North Korea was more idiotic.
¡ªGuys, there are no fighter jets in North Korean airspace.
¡ª-Are these guys really serious about war?
¡ªI don¡¯t know yet¡ They haven¡¯t used chemical weapons or nuclear weapons. We¡¯re screwed if that starts falling on Seoul.
?As soon as they use that, North Korea is doomed.
?Seoul will also be doomed.
?Fuck, should I evacuate now¡
There was also news of people leaving Korea.
The airspace was blocked, but they couldn¡¯t stop the transport nes from other countries that came to pick up their nationals.
Koreans cursed at the ck-haired foreigners who left in droves.
¡ªThe bastards who came out on TV and sucked money are all leaving.
¡ªPlease don¡¯te back.
¡ªNo way. When the war is over, they¡¯lle back and p their mouths~
¡ª-By the way, where did all the anti-military people go? The civic groups that said that if we dismantle the army, North Korea will also dismantle it?
¡ªThey¡¯re probably in a bunker and can¡¯t make a peep right now?
¡ªWe should take this opportunity to arrest them all and throw them into the East Sea.
In this atmosphere, Japan¡¯s Maritime Self-Defense Force 3rd Escort Fleet, which had Maizuru as its home port, appeared in the East Sea.
They attracted attention by entering and leaving the EEZ without any notice to Korea.
President Jo Hyung-geun red at the video shot by the 10th Combat Squadron.
The maritime patrol aircraft flew around the escort ship as if to shoot it down.
It was much closer than the previous low-altitude flight incident.
¡°I knew they would do that.¡±
They probably judged that they needed a breakthrough after failing a nuclear test and being sanctioned by the internationalmunity.
It was rtively easy Korea, and since it was in the middle of a war, they wanted to bite off a big chunk of it by picking a fight.
There was a heavy silence in the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
If Korea retreated here, they could even enter territorial waters.
It would cause a big setback for future operations.
Then the secretary-general whispered in President Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s ear.
¡°Is that true?¡±
¡°Yes. The navy has delivered it and is now boarding sailors. They will be able to sail soon.¡±
Press button for automaticbat
The schedule of Kim Gu-ham, which had sailed from Tongyeong Shipyard this time, was very tight.
As soon as it was delivered to the navy, direct crew members were dispatched and boarded immediately and received supplies from Jinhae Base.
And they were going to join forces with the 10th Combat Squadron in the East Sea right away.
The crew members who boarded Kim Gu-ham were mostly veterans, but the schedule was too tight.
It was inevitable that they would spit out defects if they digested such a busy schedule with an initial ship.
But Kim Gu-ham did not spit out any defects and silently endured cruising speed of 40 knots.
Looking back on the history of initial ships in the navy, it was nothing short of a miracle.
¡®It¡¯s probably because of that person over there who¡¯s updating his missionputer¡¡¯
Colonel Lee Won-hyung looked at the back of the maintenance officer with a new look.
He said this as soon as he boarded the ship.
¡°You may not like the feature I¡¯m going to update this time.¡±
¡°What kind of feature is that?¡±
¡°Well¡ It¡¯s an automaticbat feature.¡±
The officers under the captain blinked their eyes.
A red button that often appears in phone games?
The visual was exactly that.
He installed a red button on the missionputer console and covered the case.
¡°This ship is abat information ¡ that is, it processes data from early warning control systems or nearby air defense ships and automatically identifies and attacks enemy ships or aircraft.¡±
¡°Does it work just by pressing the button?¡±
¡°Yes. However, it does not work in situations where there is not enough information. You know, the radar of this ship is terrible.¡±
Most of the power is invested in railguns and iron beams, making it difficult to operate a proper radar.
Therefore, a dedicated early warning control system is essential to operate the Kim Gu ship at close range.
¡°I hope you understand why I¡¯m exining this so urgently ¡¡±
There was only one person above.
The impatient guy squeezed the navy generals and made this thing.
The officers in thebatmand room listened to Yu Ji-ha¡¯s exnation.
¡°You may not know, but there is a word TOT in the army artillery.¡±
¡°It looks like this TOT shooting is also possible.¡±
When an officer pretended to know, Yu Ji-ha yed a file on hisptop with a satisfied face.
It was a video of the army self-propelled artillery firing three shells in session and hitting the same target at the same time.
¡°Ah ha.¡±
¡°Do you understand? The railgun projectile is also curved, so you can do the same.¡±
¡°¡¡±
The captain Lee Wonhyeong realized the horror of this function.
The railgun is a weapon system that fires projectiles at a tremendous rate of fire.
What if ten shells fired like that hit the target at the same time?
It is also very useful when dealing with multiple targets.
What¡¯s more surprising is that all these functions are done automatically.
¡°This TOT function can be done manually, but automatic is much more urate and convenient. If you press the button, everything from railguns to iron beams and ion thrusters will automatically performbat. So ¡¡±
¡°You mean you have to choose when to press the button carefully.¡±
¡°It¡¯s a function that you don¡¯t need unless it¡¯s wartime.¡±
If you shoot railguns at other fleets without permission, it won¡¯t end with promotion omission.
The officers were captivated by a slight anxiety as they listened to the exnation.
It was an era when artificial intelligence changed the world, but they didn¡¯t know it would be applied tobat as well.
¡°A 15,000-tonbat ship automatically fights like a smartphone game ¡¡±
¡°I wonder if we need it.¡±
¡°It¡¯s just wartime. It¡¯s for efficientbat.¡±
Well, I¡¯ll have to see if it¡¯s really efficientbat.
He said confidently, but Captain Lee Wonhyeong did not expect him to be so useful.
The functions and specs that the manufacturer and developer proudly presented were often useless in actualbat.
¡®But because it¡¯s Yu Ji-ha ¡ maybe it¡¯s worth trusting.¡¯
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s poprity and trust pierced the sky.
When the function description was over, he shook hands and took pictures as if he was not a celebrity.
He didn¡¯t seem to like hanging out with dark men, but he epted them all with a nice face.
The sailors were also like that. It seemed like the whole ship was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s fan club.
¡®It¡¯s not time for this. It¡¯s wartime now.¡¯
Captain Lee Wonhyeong pped his hands to focus his attention.
¡°Come on, let¡¯s train, train! Fire suppression and evacuation training first!¡±
Even while doing so, Kim Gu ship was sailing northward to the East Sea through automatic navigation.
Chapter 69: The Unfolding Power Struggle
Chapter 69: The Unfolding Power Struggle
The power of the 3rd Escort Fleet of the Maritime Self-Defense Force that approached the vicinity of Wonsan Port was tremendous.
It consisted of two Aegis destroyers, five destroyers over 5,000 tons, a helicopter carrier, and several escort ships.
With such a force in the coastal waters, it was impossible for the Korean Navy¡¯s 1st Fleet to drive them away with its meager power.
The 10th Combat Brigade had joined them, but their main force was three destroyers and escort ships that were inferior in discement.
If you consider the submarines lurking under the water, the power gap widens.
The Korean Navy crew were busy cursing the Maritime Self-Defense Force that suddenly picked a fight.
¡°What do they want to get bying here?¡±
¡°Judging by the survey ship they brought, they¡¯re probably after ck metal.¡±
¡°Do they think they can take a big bite while we¡¯re busy with war?¡±
¡°That¡¯s too greedy¡ Even if we¡¯re at war, there¡¯s a line, right?¡±
¡°They¡¯re in a very difficult situation if they don¡¯t cross that line and take something.¡±
¡°They should have gotten along better with Chairman Yu.¡±
Brigadier General Park Seung-ho of the 10th Combat Brigade repeatedly sentmunications to the Maritime Self-Defense Force, but he was furious when they didn¡¯t respond.
¡°Those bastards are determined to do this.¡±
¡°Brigadier General, at this rate, the Wonsan Port operation will be dyed.¡±
That was the problem.
Originally, the 10th Combat Brigade and the 11th Combat Group were supposed to go north as they were, drive away the North Korean surface fleet, and attack Wonsan Port.
But the operation was disrupted by the arrival of the escort fleet.
No, it was enough trouble already.
¡°Why are they making a fuss here when they said they wouldn¡¯t bother us?¡±
¡°I guess foreigners are not included.¡±
Now the Korean Navy had two choices.
Either attack Wonsan Port as nned, or pressure the escort fleet to back off.
With limited resources avable, neither option was easy.
Then good news came to the 10th Combat Brigade.
¡°Brigadier General, we have a report that ship 9111 ising up now!¡±
Hull number 9111 refers to the Kim Gu-ss railgun destroyer.
¡°Why is iting now?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know! Themand center says to join them and proceed with the operation!¡±
It was an unbelievable schedule for a ship that wasunched in February to be deployed in May.
The funny thing was that Shi Heavy Industries actually did it and it was also a blessing for the Wonsan Port attack fleet.
The status of Kim Gu-ss was unmatched even bybining brigades and groups.
But new information came in.
The helicopter that was patrolling around the fleet sounded an rm.
-Missile speedboats and torpedo boats have left Wonsan Port.
They must have survived as a fortified base even after being hit by dozens of Hyunmoo missiles and bunker busters.
At the same time, coastal artillery fire that had been quiet until now began.
Now the attack fleet had to pay attention to Wonsan Port rather than Japan.
Ding ding ding ding-
¡°All hands to battle stations!¡±
¡ªStyx missiles detected from Wonsan base!
¡ªAnti-ship missiles confirmed from missile speedboats! Distance 45 miles!
¡ª-Activate ECM on each ship and execute evasive maneuvers!
¡ªWe¡¯re going into anti-aircraft defense now!
It was a disaster that happened because they were distracted by the escort fleet¡¯s maneuver and pushed to thend side.
Eachbat ship activated ECM and entered missile jamming when suddenly a golden beam of light was drawn in the air.
¡°What is that?¡±
As the officers on the bridge looked at the sea in confusion, Styx anti-ship missiles exploded in mid-air without prating the golden beam of light.
Boom!
The destructive power of a 0.5-ton warhead was no joke, causing a small tsunami.
That was the start of Kim Gu ship wedging itself between the Korean fleet and Wonsan Port.
As rms red loudly, iron beams were activated and dozens ofsers fired at anti-ship missiles and boats.
It was unbelievable from an observer¡¯s point of view.
A heavybat ship suddenly intervened and blew up anti-ship missiles withser beams.
Not only that, Kim Gu ship activated railguns and fired projectiles in an instant.
Missile speedboats moving fast were erased one by one from radar screens.
¡°What the hell is going on¡?¡±
The officers who were preparing for anti-air defense shook their heads in disbelief.
They were using all kinds of means to evade and defend against the air attacks, but the Kim Gu ship had single-handedly destroyed them all.
Dozens of anti-ship missiles, high-speed missile boats, and even torpedo boats were obliterated by the lone ship, clearing the radar screen.
ck smoke rose incessantly from the distant sea.
¡°Si-, situation over!¡±
Colonel Park Seung-ho asked again incredulously.
¡°Is the situation over? Are you sure?¡±
¡°Yes, yes! There are no enemy ships detected on the radar! It¡¯s confirmed!¡±
¡°¡He became a monster while we weren¡¯t looking.¡±
Meanwhile, Colonel Lee Won-hyung, the captain of the Kim Gu ship, who had pressed the automaticbat button, stared nkly at the ck smoke rising from the far sea.
He originally nned to just follow the fleet without engaging in any realbat.
It would be suicidal to fight with a crew that was not fully trained.
But he received an order from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to press the automaticbat button.
It was probably not the decision of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but of President Jo Hyung-geun.
He had no choice but to press the button, and then the artificial intelligence took over the ship and finished the battle by itself.
The only thing the crew did was to hold on to nearby objects to withstand the crazy maneuvers.
¡®Do we need a crew for this?¡¯
Of course, artificial intelligence could not handle everything.
It was evident by seeing more than 100 sailors and officers running around like mad.
But it was scary to see that it could handle the most important aspects of naval warfare and navigation by itself.
Maybe in the near future, Korea would be a world dominated by artificial intelligence.
Some might be enthusiastic about a fair world, but why would humans be needed if everything was done by artificial intelligence?
As he pondered this, Lucia was collecting data and identifying nearby warships.
Suddenly, the turret rotated quickly and aimed the long barrel of the railgun at something.
It was a Japanese reconnaissance ne that had been flying around and making noise.
Thebatmand room went berserk.
¡°Hey hey hey!¡±
¡°That¡¯s not allowed!¡±
Puff puff bang!
An arc discharge exploded from the barrel and a projectile flew out.
¡
¡
The P-3 anti-submarine reconnaissance ne of the Maritime Self-Defense Force was flying leisurely in the sky.
It had been annoying the Korean fleet that had gathered to attack Wonsan Harbor, but it did not respond to their calls.
They knew that they could not do anything anyway.
Behind them were the 3rd Escort Floti, and behind them was Japan.
Korea, which was busy dealing with North Korea, had no room to pay attention to this side.
But they did not know that this sortie was entirely caused by the maritime chief of staff.
The Ozawa regime had already lost its trust and was being criticized by the people.
In such a situation, the Maritime Self-Defense Force wanted to salvage something from the Second Korean War.
-How about securing the ck metal buried near Takeshima?
If they could secure it, they would be able to gain positive public opinion for sure.
Korea¡¯s navy had no resources to deploy here because they were focused on North Korea.
And the railgun cruiser had not been operationalized yet.
They could build a hull quickly, but it would take years of experience tomission a new weapon system like a railgun.
-Negotiate after securing it and ending the war. Korea won¡¯t be able to refuse our offer.
Japan assumed that North Korea¡¯s nuclear missiles would devastate Korea.
They acknowledged iron beam, but perfect ballistic missile defense was impossible, and getting hit by a few nukes was inevitable.
¡ªThey won¡¯t be able to maintain their nuclear stance either.
That was the Maritime Self-Defense Force¡¯s judgment, and the defense minister and chief of staff turned a blind eye to it.
The Ozawa regime, which boasted of being the worst ever in poprity, thought that they could gain poprity in the next election if they could catch anything.
The first step was low-altitude flyby by reconnaissance nes that they had done before.
The P-3 Orion circled around the Korean fleet that had gathered to attack Wonsan Harbor and drew their attention.
They couldn¡¯t attack anyway, so they nned to take advantage of their distraction and send a detachment to upy the ck metal deposit site.
But something went wrong.
A railgun cruiser appeared at an incredible speed and wiped out all of North Korea¡¯s surface forces that had emerged from Wonsan Harbor.
The Orion crew shuddered as they confirmed dozens of missile boats sinking in an instant.
¡°¡That¡¯s really unbelievable.¡±
¡°Can wepete with that?¡±
¡°It¡¯s just a mission. Korea won¡¯t be able to attack us recklessly.¡±
Korea imed this area as their air defense identification zone, but it had no legal binding.
Besides, they wouldn¡¯t want to make Japan an enemy while facing North Korea.
The Orion crew made this judgment and flew low around the Yang Manchun ship.
That¡¯s when the railgun cruiser¡¯s turret rotated quickly.
Beep beep beep beep-
The fire control radar¡¯s signal was detected and an rm sounded.
The Orion tried to lift its altitude urgently, but something grazed its wing and passed by.
The sonic boom followed behind.
Bang!
Suddenly, the control stick became heavy and the altitude started to drop.
¡°We lost a wing! The hydraulic system is out!¡±
¡°Korea attacked us!¡±
As the Orion crashed with one wing missing, the escort floti that was waiting behind panicked.
¡°Admiral Izuchi, Korea shot our reconnaissance ne!¡±
¡°Those fools! Do they want to start a real war?¡±
Why did they have to provoke a conflict?
It would be best to just stand off until they entered Wonsan Harbor¡
Admiral Izuchi Saburo clenched his teeth and watched the Orion fall into the sea.
¡°Admiral! We can¡¯t stay like this! Give us the attack order!¡±
The chiefs suggested, but Admiral Izuchi could not easily give the order.
He was afraid of the uracy and power of the railgun that hit the wing of the maritime patrol ne from an invisible distance.
And the purpose of the escort floti was to buy time by stirring up trouble, not to sh.
¡°¡For now, call the Korean navy. We have to hold them ountable.¡±
¡°We called them on channel 10, but they didn¡¯t respond.¡±
¡°Call them again! Bring those bastards out!¡±
As the escort ships were busy with the rescue operation, new news came in.
¡°Two unidentified aircraft are approaching rapidly!¡±
The escort floti was too focused on scanning the Korean fleet with their radar and missed the Russian air force¡¯s SU-24ing from behind.
¡°They¡¯re dropping something on our expected course!¡±
Bombs exploded and water columns sprouted.
The 3rd Escort Floti tried to evade hastily from the bombs dropped by the two aircraft.
¡
¡°¡¡±
The staff at the Joint Chiefs of Staff were speechless as they watched the escort floti scatter.
After the Orion¡¯s crash, a Russian long-range bomber appeared and dropped bombs, and then the Pacific Fleet showed up.
Moskva-ss cruisers, Udaloy-ss destroyers, and even Borei-ss nuclear submarines revealed themselves.
They tantly cut into the formation of the escort floti, and the Japanese destroyers were startled and avoided them.
¡°That¡¯s satisfying, but¡¡±
Admiral Izuchi Saburo clenched his teeth and watched the Orion fall into the sea.
The generals exchanged uneasy nces.
Why did the Russian fleet suddenly appear?
And why did the Kim Gu ship attack the Japanese maritime patrol ne before that?
There was no one here who could answer those questions.
President Jo Hyung-geun contacted Yu Ji-ha through themunicator handed by the secretary.
¡°Sir, there¡¯s something strange going on in the waters off Wonsan. Can you exin?¡±
¡°The Russian Pacific Fleet? I called them.¡±
How was it possible for an individual to move Russia?
The president felt something like fear towards Yu Ji-ha for the first time.
¡°¡Why did you call them? And why did you attack the Japanese patrol ne?¡±
¡°That¡¯s to drive away the Japanese fleet.¡±
He said it so casually that President Jo wondered if that was true.
That¡¯s not it.
¡°You could have just threatened them. Shooting down a patrol ne is not a trivial matter. Do you intend to provoke a conflict with Japan at this point?¡±
¡°Japan can¡¯t protest about this. It happened without the permission of the prime minister.¡±
¡°Really?¡±
If it was the maritime self-defense force¡¯s unteral action, then the story would change.
But there was still a question left.
How did Yu Ji-ha know that?
¡°And the Japanese government owes me one. Once the escort floti returns, they will be dismissed one by one, from the maritime chief of staff to the others.¡±
¡°¡¡±
¡°If Japan protests, tell them I did it. It¡¯s Russia¡¯s doing, so it¡¯s ultimately my responsibility.¡±
His calm voice made President Jo put down themunicator.
He once admired him for being a greatmunicator and a driving force.
But now he was afraid of him.
He felt like this war was ying in his palm.
Do you feel the difference in power?
¡°Thank you for moving the fleet this time, Mr. President.¡±
¡°It¡¯s nothing. It¡¯s just a return for what Chairman Yu has done for us.¡±
Yu Ji-ha returned to his headquarters and talked to Russian President Putin.
They were talking through a satellitemunicator dedicated to Russia, so there was no risk of being exposed.
The appearance of the Pacific Fleet made the Japanese escort floti scatter and retreat.
From the perspective of the escort floti, they might not mind fighting against the Korean navy, but they didn¡¯t want to face Russia¡¯s fleet.
But President Putin seemed curious about something.
¡°Lately, I¡¯ve been quite perplexed. Do you know why? I thought that maybe Chairman Yu orchestrated all this.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not a prophet, nor can I predict the future.¡±
¡°You seem to have waited for this situation, though. You asked me to back off from North Korea, as if you knew what would happen.¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t intend it, but I did wait for it.¡±
¡°May I ask why?¡±
¡°War is another opportunity.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a typical arms dealer¡¯s remark.¡±
He was called that by not only the third world, but also by the European media that valued human rights.
The boycott situation had dragged on and his image in Europe was the worst.
Germany was a bit better, but they were being called Nazis by their neighbors.
President Putin¡¯s voice became subtle.
¡°By the way, why did you choose Russia? You could have asked the US to mediate, and they would have done it enough.¡±
It was convenient.
The US was a democratic country and the president couldn¡¯t decide on many things alone.
On the other hand, Russia only needed Putin¡¯s decision to solve most things.
This was also true for this Pacific Fleet case.
If he had contacted the US, it would have taken a long time, and Congress would have interfered and made a fuss.
¡°I needed quick decision-making. That¡¯s something the US can¡¯t provide.¡±
¡°So you prefer that style.¡±
¡°And I didn¡¯t want US intervention. They¡¯re too big and intrusive.¡±
¡°What about Russia? Didn¡¯t Chairman Yu just scratch our itch?¡±
He quietly watched and only provided necessary support, so Yu Ji-ha had noints.
¡°The timely support of the Pacific Fleet saved me from a lot of trouble.¡±
¡°Hahaha, I know Chairman Yu must have had a second move in mind.¡±
He said that, but hisughter revealed his satisfaction.
He would use this as an excuse to ask for a deeper rtionship.
¡°Let me hear what you want from this war. We¡¯ll help you get it, if Chairman Yu helps us too.¡±
¡°No questions asked or answered.¡±
¡°We¡¯ve been patient enough so far. I hope Chairman Yu acknowledges that.¡±
¡°What do you want?¡±
¡°A full cooperation. I want to revive our economy with Chairman Yu. That¡¯s what I mean.¡±
Russia was enjoying a good profit from its resource exportstely, but President Putin was not satisfied with that.
He wanted to revive his economy and restore the glory of the former Soviet Union.
But that was impossible without Yu Ji-ha¡¯s full cooperation.
¡°¡That won¡¯t be free.¡±
It was a very arrogant thing to say to a president of a country.
But President Putin didn¡¯t mind that.
He had the right to do so.
¡°Tell me what you want. I¡¯ll provide everything.¡±
There wasn¡¯t much that Russia could offer, but Yu Ji-ha needed it.
The US could offer it too, but they were not agile and their policy could change.
Think about it.
What if he signed an agreement with this administration, but the next one canceled it? How absurd would that be?
Yu Ji-ha had a long-term n for decades, and he needed a force that could help him for a long time.
Russia was weak in human rights and its leader was a dictator, so he wouldn¡¯t care what Yu Ji-ha did in the future.
As long as he didn¡¯t infringe on their interests, that is.
And they had a moderate economic size, so they wouldn¡¯t pose a big threat in the future.
China became like that because they were too big to be next to Megacity.
And that also applied to the US.
Yu Ji-ha asked casually.
¡°Would war andnd do?¡±
¡°Russia will support you as long as we don¡¯t suffer a fatal blow. And do you want the Kamchatka Penins fornd?¡±
¡°It could be more than that.¡±
That would change the story.
There was no need to fight for it.
¡°Let¡¯s discuss thatter.¡±
He originally nned to take it away, but it was different if he offered it like this.
¡°Let¡¯s talk about it after the war.¡±
¡°What about North Korea¡¯s nuclear weapons? Do you want us to provide you with a nuclear umbre? We¡¯re willing to do that.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think I need a nuclear umbre.¡±
¡°You mean you¡¯ll solve it politically. I see, let¡¯s talkter.¡±
Chapter 70: Reality is different from ideals.
Chapter 70: Reality is different from ideals.
Yu Ji-ha was getting ready to enter the Joint Chiefs of Staff bunker when Arma handed him a phone.
¡°It¡¯s the Japanese prime minister¡¯s office. They really want to talk to you about this incident.¡±
¡°They¡¯ll only go with their worries.¡±
But he had to listen anyway.
Prime Minister Ozawa spoke in a very urgent tone.
¡°I¡¯m telling you for sure, Chairman Yu, this sh was idental. The chief of staff messed up.¡±
¡°Oh, I see. The patrol ne crash was also idental. One of the crew members made a mistake.¡±
He was about to hang up the phone if he raised his voice and said it wasn¡¯t a mistake.
Fortunately, Prime Minister Ozawa was not that stupid.
¡°The cab decided to bury this matter. The maritime self-defense force¡¯s chief of staff and some officers will be stripped of their uniforms and disciplined immediately.¡±
But he couldn¡¯t be sure that they would obediently ept the punishment.
They might rather expose the ipetence of the Ozawa regime and highlight the patrol ne incident.
The Japanese people already had negative feelings towards Yu Ji-ha.
If they stirred that up well, it would create a public opinion that the Ozawa regime couldn¡¯t ignore.
¡°Will the people who moved the fleet on their own die quietly?¡±
¡°¡¡±
He couldn¡¯t be confident.
If they entered a public opinion war in a situation where the regime¡¯s poprity was hitting rock bottom, they might lose.
In that case, Japan would definitely be more right-wing and that would be a burden for Korea.
Yu Ji-ha decided that he needed to help Prime Minister Ozawa at this point.
He had asked if Korea and Japan could be friends and made several friendly gestures.
It was just because of the unfavorable environment.
Anyway, Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t want a unified will of Japan.
Japan had to fight among themselves until Megacity waspleted and the United Humanity gained power.
His voice became subtle.
¡°Prime Minister, do you remember the conditions I told you before?¡±
He said before he finished speaking.
¡°I remember all three terms.¡±
¡°First of all, I have to tell you. The ion beam fusion reactor will start trial operation from the end of this year. It will prove that it¡¯smercial by running for more than 10 minutes.¡±
¡°So soon¡¡±
The criterion for a fusion reactor to reachmercial power generation level was about 300 seconds.
Korea would be the first country in the world to use a fusion reactor formercial power generation.
Assuming that they won this war without much damage, but he didn¡¯t seem to worry much about that.
¡°I¡¯ll share the data rted to that fusion reactor.¡±
It might not be the second in the world, but it would be around the fifth.
Of course, it wouldn¡¯t be free.
Before, he could have formed a partnership by epting three terms, but now the situation had changed.
¡°Tell me your condition.¡±
¡°There are two more conditions to add. Let¡¯s hear what they areter.¡±
He said it was up to him to ept or reject it, and Prime Minister Ozawa was stunned for a moment.
But he desperately needed the help of an ally.
Especially if it was Yu Ji-ha and Shi Group.
¡°OK, I¡¯ll call you back with the best terms possible.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll wait.¡±
¡
¡
The atmosphere in the Joint Chiefs of Staff bunker had changed a lot from the beginning of the war.
The generals started to look at Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face since he moved Russia.
The soldiers from Choro bowed their heads in front of a 30-year-old congressman and sometimes reported their operational ns to him.
President Jo Hyung-geun was angry about all this, but he endured it for now.
Without Yu Ji-ha¡¯s cooperation, there would be a big problem in the war.
It was also true for the attack on Kaesong City.
He nned to deploy 20,000 improved drones, so everyone was waiting for him to say when they were ready.
He said as soon as he finished the call.
¡°They¡¯re ready. You can deploy them anytime.¡±
¡°Phew¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s a relief¡¡±
The army generals sighed with relief.
No one wanted urban warfare in Kaesong City with a poption of 350,000.
The current Kaesong City was like a fortress, absorbing not only the people but also the People¡¯s Army that had fled from nearby battles.
As soon as the army stuck its head in there, it would turn into hell road.
They took some pictures from Kaesong Industrial Complex and left urban warfare to drones and advanced northward.
This was the final n that came down.
Some generals showed resistance because it wasn¡¯t in the operation n, but they copsed at Yu Ji-ha¡¯s words.
¡°Then you¡¯ll have to fight urban warfare with 50,000 People¡¯s Army while protecting 350,000 people.¡±
The reconnaissance photos showed that Kaesong City had low tile-roofed houses clinging to the beach like barnacles.
Thendscape was different from Korea, so the soldiers would feel unfamiliar and they couldn¡¯t distinguish the People¡¯s Army from the people.
It could easily be Vietnam War Season 2.
President Jo Hyung-geun made the final decision.
¡°Leave Kaesong to the drones and the 7th Corps will advance north. The Marine Corps will relieve the pressure on the front.¡±
As the 7th Corps bypassed Kaesong City, several transport nes spat out containers in a row.
The People¡¯s Army hidden in the city fired rifles and rocketunchers, but the containers themselves were made of ck metal, so there was no major damage.
The containers that fell to the ground opened and hundreds of drones flew up in a swarm.
And that wasn¡¯t the end, as if to prove it, parachutes fluttered down in the sky above Kaesong City.
Tatata-
Battles broke out everywhere.
The People¡¯s Army fought back against the drones with their guns in a state of not eating or sleeping properly.
But the drones had improved most of their weaknesses through several battles of data.
They reinforced the parts that were frequently hit with ck metal and modified the flight algorithm to reduce the hit probability to the extreme.
Even if a grenade fell, it applied an algorithm that detected the sound and immediately flew into the sky or hid behind a wall.
It was crazy for the People¡¯s Army.
¡°Comrade officer, they won¡¯t die!¡±
¡°Then shoot until they die!¡±
But in reality, where the casualty ratio was 1:10, or even 1:20, the People¡¯s Army lost its footing.
The front-linemand said there was no supply or support and cut it off, and there were too many drones.
On top of that, those drones delivered sweet temptations.
¡°Kim Jong-un spent $3.7 million to put underwear on his joy group. Do you recognize him as the leader of the people?¡±
¡°Drop your weapons and embrace the Republic of Korea. You can eat meat until your stomach bursts, not rice soup with meat.¡±
¡°Do you see these South Korean people? They pile up delicious food and eat it, and even throw it away! Do you feel the difference in economic power?¡±
That was what the drones were propagating as they wandered around the alley.
Some of them even had a projector function and yed videos on a white wall.
A girl group showed off their white skin and danced, and delicious foods were packed in a row at the factory and piled up like a mountain.
It also included a scene of the Korean army, who had fought until recently, feasting on a huge meal.
Shamefully, the Korean soldiers in the video said this.
¡°What¡¯s wrong with this chicken? Why is it so soggy?¡±
¡°I have to pass today because I don¡¯t like the rice.¡±
It was clearly an exaggerated scene.
Of course there would be soldiers whoined about food during the war, but they wouldn¡¯t film and send it out.
But to Lee Cheol-seong, a lower-ss soldier of the People¡¯s Army, everything looked real.
Instead of corn rice, white rice with piles of fried chicken, and milk that you can drink as much as you want.
It seemed like he could eat all those things if he reached out right now.
That strange machine also shouted like that.
¡°Give up now and we¡¯ll provide you with all this for free! Yourrades are already with us!¡±
The scene of lower-ss soldiers who were captured eating rice with their heads buried in tes was decisive.
Lee Cheol-seong, who had not eaten anything for days, made up his mind.
His officer approached him.
¡°You bastard, if you look at that lie, you¡¯ll fall for the enemy¡¯s trick. Do you know or not?¡±
¡°Comrade officer.¡±
¡°Get out of here quickly¡¡±
Bang!
The officer fell slowly with an unbelievable expression on his chest.
Lee Cheol-seong threw his gun away and raised both arms in front of the drone.
¡°Surrender! Surrender!¡±
¡°Weapon check. Follow me.¡±
He followed behind the drone and encountered the Korean army gathered at the assembly point.
He expected to be beaten up, but nothing happened.
The soldiers treated him very businesslike and even provided him with food.
It wasn¡¯t piled up like fried chicken in propaganda, but it was a te full of rice soup with meat and bulgogi.
¡°It¡¯s not very tasty, but eat it first. The prisoner collection team wille upter.¡±
Lee Cheol-seong didn¡¯t listen to what the soldier said.
He remembered what Kim Jong-un said when he inspected the unit.
-I¡¯m sorry for the people who eat barley rice. Now I will feed them rice soup with meat.
He definitely said that, he believed it and endured hunger and lived¡
Lee Cheol-seong grabbed his te and sobbed softly.
The soldier in charge was startled.
Is he crying because there is not enough meat?
He scooped up meat with adle and filled his te.
The crying got louder.
¡
The attack on Kaesong City, which was expected to have thousands of casualties in three weeks, ended in three days.
There was almost no damage, and hundreds of drones were broken and dozens were injured.
The media praised the operation for highlighting the difference in economic power.
¡ªFor the starving People¡¯s Army, the ordinary meal that the Korean army eats looked very luxurious.
¡ªThat¡¯s possible. They filled their stomachs with corn rice with a drop of oil and pickled radish.
¡ªThere have been a lot of rumorstely that they don¡¯t even have that to eat.
However, observers from various countries gave slightly different evaluations.
-The Korean army deployed arge number of drones in urban warfare, which was very effective. Kaesong, which has a poption of 400,000, was captured without much damage in three days.
-Now, high-tech drones not only fight, but also take charge of propaganda and prisoner delivery. This means that the role of drones is no longer auxiliary.
¨DThe chairman of Si Group, Yu Ji-ha, is changing the course of the war.
While the western front was in this atmosphere, the eastern front was having a hard time.
It hit a limit as it broke through the rugged terrain of Gangwon Province.
Without proper use of the Dokdo Law, they often fell into ambushes while moving at night, and every time they suffered damage, it was the lower-ss soldiers.
It was the result of investing most of the drones in urban warfare.
After themanders of the Eastern Division protested collectively, newly produced drones were deployed.
However, the problem of casualties did not improve.
There were very few doctors who knew how to treat gunshot wounds, and many died in hospitals.
The United States reluctantly deployed hospital ships, but the situation did not improve.
As the front line rose, casualties increased by tens of thousands, and hospitals across the country were filled with groans.
This was clearly beyond Korea¡¯s capacity.
But even in this situation, President Jo Hyung-geun shouted for northward advancement.
¡°If we stop here, we will never be able to get up again! We have to move forward!¡±
It wasn¡¯t wrong.
Once the war started, it had to be won.
If they hesitate here, Korea will suffer unimaginable pain.
Knowing that well, the ROK Army staked its life on the northward advancement of the 7th Division.
Most of the air force¡¯s power and artillery firepower were poured into clearing the 7th Division¡¯s advance route.
Special forces were also deployed to North Korea¡¯s rear through submarines and carried out sabotage operations.
The war was now about how quickly the 7th Division could reach Pyongyang.
The 7th Division easily broke through the resistance of the North Korean Army¡¯s 2nd Division and began to advance northward as if it had revived from that expectation.
This was much faster than China¡¯s 80th Army, which was facing North Korea¡¯s resistance and hesitating.
As both units raced to reach Pyongyang first, a special envoy from China and a general from the People¡¯s Liberation Army visited Korea.
Our wish is northward advancement
President Jo Hyung-geun pondered over the two factors who requested a secret meeting.
Jang Min, who imed to have seized power in the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party, and Wang Xian, who seeded in dominating the Central and Northern Fronts.
They could not be called China¡¯s leaders, but they could be called representatives at this point.
The fact that they visited at this time meant that the matter was serious.
But they insisted that Yu Ji-ha must attend the meeting.
Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s concern also stemmed from this part.
It was awkward to hear what he would say at a time when his influence was growing day by day.
¡®It¡¯s not like he¡¯s amander-in-chief¡¡¯
It was absurd, but it was actually happening in the Joint Chiefs of Staff or each army headquarters.
The generals of the army or navy acted as if they were his subordinates, and even a few air force generals were no exception.
He had the key to the next-generation unmannedbat aircraft now that KF-X had fizzled out.
Sometimes when reporters came in, they were busy interviewing him rather than the president and generals.
Every word he said became an article and created cheers from the Korean people.
Especially in this Kaesong City attack operation, drones yed a big role, and his praise grew louder.
The whole of Korea was like his fan club.
He wanted to send him out of the bunker, but he had such a close rtionship with the military that he couldn¡¯t do that.
¡®If we just capture Pyongyang¡¡¯
It means crossing seven parts of war.
The rest was guerri cleanup, refugees, prisoner processing, and annoying administration. Yu Ji-ha had nothing to do with it.
Jo Hyung-geun wanted him to stick to his role as a businessman.
¡®Not acting like a president!¡¯
Anyway, it seemed okay to hear what he had to say in person.
It would be better than being hit by Russia without knowing it.
¡°Okay. Let¡¯s have a meeting with four people including Yu Ji-ha.¡±
And so they met at a ce in Seoul.
More than 20,000 prisoners were taken here, and the logistics support system was creaking.
Because they couldn¡¯t starve the prisoners.
Jang Min, a member of the State Council, drew a line on the map with a sneer.
¡°Let¡¯s stop the war. I¡¯ll ept it up to here.¡±
The military demarcation line was raised by 50km, including Kaesong and Geumgangsan National Park.
This is to say, let¡¯s end it here.
President Jo Hyung-geun and Yu Ji-ha both tilted their heads.
Who says they can draw a line and stop it?
¡°Why should we ept this when only the 7th Division is advancing to Pyongyang?¡±
The North Korean Army¡¯s 2nd Division came out, but it was far from enough to stop the 7th Division, which ounted for 60% of Korea¡¯s armored power.
They were no match for the 2nd Division in artillery or close air support.
Within a day of contact, the vanguard unit was crushed and now the follow-up unit was cleaning up the remnants.
¡°How long do you think you can advance north?¡±
¡°That would be up to the Duman River, wouldn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous. It¡¯s almost impossible to break through the Capital Defense Corps stationed in Pyongyang.¡±
¡°That¡¯s what they said in the Kaesong urban warfare. And we solved it in three days.¡±
Yu Ji-ha said a word and Wang Xian looked at him.
¡°Don¡¯tpare Pyongyang to Kaesong.¡±
¡°Sure, Pyongyang is bigger. The poption is close to 3 million, and there are more troops.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right, so¡¡±
But his words were not over yet.
Yu Ji-ha leaned his elbow on the table and spread two fingers.
¡°We can capture Pyongyang within two weeks. Of course, this includes finding the monster of this war, the Kim family.¡±
Jang Min shouted in excitement at the absurd remark.
¡°Nonsense! Do you think the 80th Army will sit still?¡±
¡°That great 80th Army is stuck because of supply problems. Isn¡¯t it?¡±
The advance speed of a mechanized corps depends on supply.
The 80th Army had decent equipment and manpower, but they could not expect supply from the rear.
They sometimes took supplies from the 79th Army, but as the advance route stretched and North Korea¡¯s resistance intensified, their speed slowed down.
As a result, they were stuck at the Cheongcheon River, whose bridge was broken.
¡°We can at least get out of the leadership.¡±
¡°Bynd, by sea, by air, how do you n to get them out?¡±
¡°¡¡±
Both Chinese leaders clenched their fists.
He was telling the truth.
At the beginning of the war, North Korea¡¯s power grid went down and the air defense system did not work properly.
The air defensework that was said to be the densest in the world was easily hit by Korea¡¯s air force and missiles, and all runways were destroyed.
They rebuilt as soon as they rebuilt, but Hyunmu missiles flew every time, so they had no choice but to watch.
The West Sea was sessfully blocked by reconnaissance ships and escort ships belonging to the 2nd Fleet.
There was no ce for the leadership to escape.
Thest bastion was a tunnel connected to a bunker, but that was not easy either.
Korea¡¯s intelligence agencies and special forces were looking for ces where tunnels might be.
Therefore, it was spected that Kim Jong-un and his entourage were hiding in a bunker in Pyongyang at this point.
The ROK military leadership was preparing an operation team to search for bunkers as soon as they entered Pyongyang.
On the other hand, President Jo Hyung-geun did not like Yu Ji-ha who said everything he had to say.
If it were like before, he would have admired how well they got along¡
Once you start hating someone, you don¡¯t even want to look at their face.
It seems that it is natural for people to do so.
¡°Don¡¯t fight and sort out your positions. So China¡¯s position is to give up northward advancement and stop?¡±
Jang Min, whose face was red with anger, revealed his true intentions.
¡°Let¡¯s divide it.¡±
¡°Divide? Do you mean divide North Korea?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll take Pyeonganbuk-do, Jagang-do, Hamgyeongnam-do and Hamgyeongbuk-do. You can have the rest.¡±
¡°There must be conditions you didn¡¯t say.¡±
Jang Min nced at Yu Ji-ha and spoke quickly.
¡°The condition is that we take out the current North Korean leadership and their entourage.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll take them if you pretend you don¡¯t see them.¡±
President Jo Hyung-geun was troubled.
If they continue to advance northward, they can definitely capture Pyongyang.
But the problem was after that.
Even now, the construction of prisoner camps, the public sentiment in the upied areas, and theck of materials paralyzed the administrative system.
They swallowed up Kaesong, which had a poption of only 350,000, and a few small cities.
They imported food and necessities from overseas and poured them in, but there was no end.
In the long run, they had to feed 20 million North Koreans, but the staff said it was absolutely impossible.
¡ªIt will be much worse in Pyongyang and beyond. If you do something wrong, you might have a lot of deaths.
¨DThere is a shortage of one million tons of food, and the US is pressuring us to intervene with their military if we want to import more.
¨DWe have to issue more than 100 trillion won worth of bonds right away.
¨DIf we upy the whole of North Korea, the aftermath will be beyond imagination. A moratorium will start at least.
President Jo Hyung-geun, who had earned the nickname of ¡°Mr. Northward¡± for shouting northward so much, was shaken by the cruel reality.
The reports that the staff members brought up all screamed that they would be annihted if they continued like this.
If they stopped the northward advance at the line of capturing Pyongyang.
If they left the upper part to China, they could reduce the burden considerably.
As he was pondering like this, Yu Ji-ha started to fan the mes eagerly.
¡°There is a nursery rhyme in Korea. Do you want to hear it?¡±
What nursery rhyme in this dire situation?
Without waiting for an answer, he started to sing.
¡°Our wish is northward. Our dream is also northward. Let¡¯s put all our sincerity into northward. Let¡¯s achieve northward~¡±
Minister Jang Min and General Wang Xi-an couldn¡¯t stand it and jumped up.
Yu Ji-ha mocked them.
¡°The day Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong are imprisoned in a Korean prison is the end of the war.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a refusal. I understand.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t regret it even if Seoul burns.¡±
They left without a chance to say anything.
President Jo Hyung-geun broke the silence.
¡°How are you going to take responsibility for this?¡±
¡°The one who has the power of decision right now is you, Mr. President. Not me.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t this situation because of what you said!¡±
He was angry, but Yu Ji-ha opened his eyes wide and asked back.
¡°What do you think the people will think if we ept their proposal? Will they understand that we are tired and want to stop at a reasonable point?¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
Of course not.
The people were cheering for the continuous victories of the national army and did not doubt that unification would soon happen.
That meant ruling over the entire Korean penins.
If they stopped at the line of upying Pyongyang, President Jo Hyung-geun might not face eggs but assassination attempts.
He couldn¡¯t say anything about that because it was Jo Hyung-geun himself who had pushed for the northward movement in the first ce.
¡°Once we start a war, we can¡¯t stop it. We have to go all the way.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤Even if what awaits us at the end is destruction?¡±
¡°The future generations will figure it out. Oh, this is what you said before, Mr. President.¡±
The ss between them shattered.
Yu Ji-ha left without permission and President Jo Hyung-geun guarded the conference room silently.
Something was going terribly wrong.
Chapter 71: The Nuclear Threat Had Finally Materialized
Chapter 71: The Nuclear Threat Had Finally Materialized
The 7th Corps¡¯ advance northward was the result of the mobilization of the entire capacity of the Korean army.
The army artillery and the air force¡¯s F-15K fighter jets diligently cleared the artillery units around the Kaesong-Pyongyang highway, which was the axis.
The engineering units made it possible to break through the anti-tank obstacles and minefields, and the infantry units that encountered in the middle were blocked by the infantry division that exceeded the corps.
Even the North Korean tank units were solved by the army aviation.
They did their best to send the 7th Corps to Pyongyang as soon as possible.
The result finally paid off and the 7th Corps reached Sariwon City at dawn on May 25th.
Another drone was deployed and the 7th Corps bypassed the city and advanced northward.
And when they arrived at Yeonan Songnim City on the lower reaches of the Daedong River, the 7th Corps encountered a tough enemy for the first time.
The main forces of the North Korean army, such as several mechanized brigades belonging to the Capital Defense Corps and Ryu Kyung-soo Tank Division, appeared.
This unit was armed with Pokpung-ho, Cheonma-ho, Seon-gun-ho, etc., but in reality it was a level of modifying tanks made in the old Soviet Union.
No matter how much they expanded the chassis and modified the turret, it was difficult to expect greatbat power as long as they were fundamentally T-62 and T-72.
The main force of the 7th Corps was K-2A1, K-1A3, etc., which had enoughbat power to smash a North Korean brigade-level offensive with just one tankpany.
In addition, most of the vehicles were equipped with ck metal armor, and the tanks at the forefront carried ck metal armor-piercing shells.
When news broke out that arge-scale tank battle could ur, the whole world paid attention.
¡ªThis is awesome. It¡¯s been a long time since there was such a modern tank battle of this scale.
¡ªHow long can North Korea hold out?
-In the Iraq War in the 90s, 11 US tanks smashed 200 Iraqi tanks, right? It will be a little less than that.
-I guess so. The South Korean army has shown several immature aspects after the outbreak of war.
There were many opinions that they would win but not show an overwhelming appearance like America.
North Korea also had toe out desperately here because Pyongyang was close if they couldn¡¯t stop here.
But the result was unexpected.
Two tank battalions under the 8th Mobile Division of the 7th Corps shook one North Korean mechanized brigade that protruded to the front.
It was an amazing battle that recorded zero hits and zero damage except for friendly fire.
The 11th Mobile Division and 2nd Rapid Division, stimted by their great victory, confronted Ryu Kyung-soo Tank Division and Mechanized Brigade head-on.
In a rice field where dozens of tanks were moving at once, North Korea¡¯s pride Seon-gun-ho and others were thoroughly smashed.
They couldn¡¯tpare from the engagement distance, and even if they managed to hit one shot, K-2 tanks with ck metal armor didn¡¯t even nod their heads.
The difference in power was too great to even need to load spare shells.
Tanks that ran out of HE shells immediately moved back and fresh tanks were newly deployed.
In this process, North Korean tanks literally melted like ice cream in midsummer.
Military reporters filmed this scene and repeatedly stuck out their tongues saying they didn¡¯t know there was such a huge difference in power.
¡°North Koreans are totally ridiculous.¡±
¡°It¡¯s like an adult beating a kid¡¯s arm.¡±
The winner was decided less than an hour after the battle began.
The North Korean army lost its will to fight and began to run away from armored vehicles first, and then the entire unit copsed.
Kim Hyun-sung Major General,mander of the 7th Corps, immediately issued an order.
¡°Pyongyang is close! All vehicles, advance northward!¡±
Since 1st Corps supporting from behind would take care of remnants, all 7th Corps had to do was advance northward.
And on the evening of May 25th, when they reached Pyongyang¡¯s end point, the 7th Corps¡¯ advance was halted.
The assembly point was set up in a rice field about 15 km south of Pyongyang.
The soldiers, who had not rested or slept until now, took off their boots and washed their feet with water.
¡°Wow, the smell is no joke!¡±
¡°Sir, I think my feet will rot by tomorrow.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll die of exhaustion before that. Hey, hey, is there any news about the food truck?¡±
¡°It¡¯sing tonight!¡±
¡°They treat the prisoners like kings while we get cold rice.¡±
¡°We came up too fast, that¡¯s why.¡±
As he said, the 7th Army Corps advanced north alone, and the logistics support system did not work properly.
Originally, each unit hadbat rations and snacks packed by the soldiers, but they had eaten them all while moving.
Intensebat requires extreme calories.
The hungry soldiers looked at the northern sky that was fading away.
¡°Is that the Ryugyong Hotel? I can see it with my naked eye.¡±
¡°It¡¯ll be a sight at night. The lights will go on and off.¡±
¡°They cut off all the electricity in Pyongyang. There won¡¯t be any lights.¡±
¡°That¡¯s true.¡±
Then a soldier who was passing by started singing a song.
¡°Our wish is reunification. Our wish is reunification even in our dreams.¡±
The toon leader chuckled and said.
¡°Hey, we¡¯vee this far, right? We should sing our slogan, Northward Advance. Let¡¯s sing a powerful song to the front!¡±
¡°Our wish is northward advance! Our wish is northward advance even in our dreams!¡±
They all sang a song that was almost like a scream and were captivated by a strange idea.
¨DIs reunification finally happening?
Of course, it¡¯s not over just because they arrived near Pyongyang.
upying it would be difficult, and north of Pyongyang would be hellish.
Some of the 20 million North Korean residents would start to resist in earnest.
Nevertheless, they could not deny that reunification was close.
¡°What if a nuclear bomb falls on our heads?¡±
While the soldiers were worried, a transport ne flew over the sky and dropped something.
¡°What¡¯s that? It¡¯s not our transport ne.¡±
¡°The IFF is quiet¡ Oh, that¡¯s a Russian transport ne! The corps headquarters just sent a radio message!¡±
¡°What are they dropping?¡±
They hurried over and saw wooden boxes filled with ham, cooked rice, and stir-fried kimchi.
¡°It¡¯s food!¡±
¡°Kimchi and ham! We¡¯ve run out of rice!¡±
The soldiers cheered while the toon leader read a note stuck in the corner.
¡°This is from Yu Ji-ha, the chairman of Si Group. He negotiated with Russia.¡±
¡°He¡¯s the only one who cares about us.¡±
¡°He¡¯s handsome, rich, and has a good personality. But he seems gay.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll vote for him if he runs for president next time.¡±
While the 7th Army Corps soldiers were eating for the first time in a while, Kim Jong-un was agonizing over his agony in themand bunker in Pyongyang.
He had suffered so much that he looked like he had lost 10 kg in just 15 days.
Kim Yo-jong was sitting next to him with a sullen face.
¡°We can¡¯t stand by and watch the atrocities of those bastards any longer. Please make a decision, Comrade General Secretary.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
Kim Jong-un rubbed his cheeks for a long time and theny his massive body on the chair.
The light bulb hanging from the ceiling started to flicker, indicating that the power supply was unstable.
This bunker wouldn¡¯tst long either¡¤¡¤¡¤
He made a decision.
¡°Bring me the bag.¡±
The officers brought him a dark bag.
It was a nuclear bag that could activate 30% of the republic¡¯s nuclear power.
Before opening the bag, he had Kim Yo-jong write an ultimatum.
¨DIf you do not withdraw the South Korean army within 72 hours, a nuclear bomb of annihtion will cover Seoul. Use your brain between your ears and make a wise decision and implement it as soon as possible.
And nothing happened.
¡°An ultimatum.¡±
The staff at the Joint Chiefs of Staff looked at the ultimatum signed by Kim Jong-un and could not hide their tension.
Until now, they could ignore his threats of turning Seoul into a sea of fire as half-hearted provocations.
But this time was different.
There was a clear deadline and Kim Jong-un¡¯s seal was on it.
General Secretary of the Workers¡¯ Party of Korea, Supreme Commander of the Democratic People¡¯s Republic of Korea, Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers¡¯ Party of Korea¡¤¡¤¡¤
He stamped this big red seal to show that he would never back down.
Since the outbreak of war, South Korea had tried hard to neutralize North Korea¡¯s nuclear power, and airlifted over a thousand missiles from the United States.
They fired almost 2,000 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and bunker busters, but they did not neutralize all of North Korea¡¯s nuclear power.
The intelligence agency warned that Sinpo-ss submarines equipped with SLBM Pukguksong ballistic missiles had disappeared right after the outbreak of war.
And byparing the topography before and after the war, they also found out that some TELs carrying nuclear missiles were missing.
That is, North Korea was hiding at least 10 and up to 15 nuclear missiles.
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
In the heavy silence, they only looked at each other.
It was an atmosphere where anyone who suggested pulling out the 7th Army Corps would be branded as a traitor.
Think about it.
For the first time in decades since the division, they had pushed tanks up to near Pyongyang.
Now, with one order, the soldiers would trample Pyongyang with their boots.
Could they give up that glory of reunifying the Korean nation?
President Jo Hyung-geun asked Chairman Lee Kang-hoon of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
¡°What do you think, Chairman?¡±
¡°Um¡ I think it would be better to wait and see how things unfold for now. Currently, our fleet is mobilized to find North Korean submarines.¡±
¡°What about the TELs hidden in the tunnels?¡±
¡°We have to request cooperation from the United States andpare satellite maps to find them until the end.¡±
¡°We¡¯ve been looking for them since the war started and we haven¡¯t found them. It¡¯s hard to find them in 72 hours.¡±
Chairman Lee Kang-hoon had no choice but to back down from his realistic and reasonable argument.
After all, it was not him but the president who made the decision.
Many army generals gave their opinions, but he was not convinced by any of them.
There was even a ridiculous suggestion to withdraw the troops and then go back up after resolving the situation.
¡°Are you out of your mind? If we pull out the troops, the aftermath will explode at once! It¡¯s absolutely impossible to advance north again!¡±
The 7th Army Corps soldiers had not washed or rested properly for over two weeks.
They were barely holding on with the expectation of setting foot on Pyongyang¡¯snd and the pride of contributing to reunification.
If they pulled them out now, it would take at least a few weeks to reorganize and repair the units.
And that would mean that the northward advance had gone up in smoke.
There were more than one or two countries that would stick their spoons in if Korea withdrew its troops.
¡°That¡¯s true, of course¡¡±
The person who gave the opinion shrank back and President Jo Hyung-geun red at the generals.
¡°Any other opinions?¡±
¡°Ahem¡¡±
¡°Um¡¡±
They all looked at his face.
It was a dilemma between pulling out and being a traitor or holding on and having a nuclear bomb fall on Seoul.
Of course, President Jo Hyung-geun knew about the NCM warhead.
He hid it because he wanted to hold the generals¡¯ morale, but also because he didn¡¯t want to tell the United States.
He had to reveal the existence of the NCM warhead after he hadpletely upied Pyongyang.
The United States would probably notice if all the nuclear missiles were neutralized, but they wouldn¡¯t be sure.
Then Yu Ji-ha Jiha spoke up.
¡°Why do we have to wait? We can go in now.¡±
¡°What will happen if we enter now?¡±
President Jo Hyung-geun couldn¡¯t help but ask and he began to exin in detail.
¡°Kim¡¯s family is probably in a bunker somewhere in Pyongyang. Maybe in the Kumsusan Pce or the underground of the Workers¡¯ Party building.¡±
¡°We need to create an environment that makes him lose his judgment, not leave him alone. That¡¯s shelling. We have to use all avable tforms to bombard Pyongyang. And then the 7th Army Corps has to enter right away.¡±
¡°This is to put psychological pressure on him. How will Kim Jong-un choose¡¡±
Kim Jong-un, trapped in a bunker, would be able to grasp the situation to some extent, but not in detail.
What if shelling rang out all over Pyongyang in that situation?
From Kim Jong-un¡¯s perspective, there was a high possibility that he would be desperate.
¡°That¡¯s certainly a bold n¡¡±
¡°What if Kim Jong-un orders aunch impulsively?¡±
One general asked and Yu Ji-ha shook his head.
¡°Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think Kim Jong-un¡¯s goal is?¡±
¡°To maintain his regime.¡±
¡°No. It¡¯s to live forever. He and Kim Yo-jong have no interest in anything but saving their lives. Maintaining the regime is just a means to achieve that.¡±
For a hereditary dictator, his own safety is paramount.
As long as he is safe, he can always n forter.
Especially if China is behind him.
¡°If heunches a nuclear weapon, Kim¡¯s family will surely perish. They will also lose their grounds to appeal to the internationalmunity. But if they only threaten, they can hope forter. They can get China¡¯s cooperation and incite people with their data.¡±
None of them were right.
Kim Jong-un was half-crazy with extreme stress, fear, and hatred for Korea.
He was not in a position to make a rational decision, and if he was cornered, he would run away after firing a nuclear weapon.
The current leadership did not know that much, so they had to misjudge.
¡°It¡¯s probably the 80th Army that supports him. They might send a small elite unit to Pyongyang. They¡¯re too slow with their current size.¡±
¡°Do you mean the 80th Army might take Kim Jong-un out?¡±
¡°That¡¯s my guess, but we can find out by using reconnaissance means.¡±
President Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s face hardened.
It would be a failure even if they took Pyongyang but missed Kim¡¯s family.
Not to mention that they might cross over to China and incite people with their data that Korea attacked first.
The internationalmunity might not buy it easily, but some in Europe might demand an investigation into the truth.
They had to catch them by any means.
He scanned the faces of the generals.
¡°Any other opinions?¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
They all remained silent.
It seemed that the president had made up his mind, and if they said anything that might influence him, they could be held responsible.
In fact, the generals thought that there was a high chance that North Korea would fire a nuclear weapon.
But Korea¡¯s interception system was also at a high level, and more importantly, the US Aegis ships were guarding the East Sea and the West Sea.
Considering that North Korea¡¯s nuclear missiles were of poor quality, the interception rate, which was normally 40%, would increase significantly.
In the worst case scenario, it would end with one or two nuclear weapons, and Korea was a country that could afford that.
President Jo Hyung-geun sighed and ordered.
¡°It seems like there¡¯s no other way. We can¡¯t be sure if Kim Jong-un will fire a nuclear weapon or not, but it doesn¡¯t make any difference. We have to take Pyongyang at all costs.¡±
¡°Yes. If we retreat from here, South Korea is doomed.¡±
When someone agreed, President Jo Hyung-geun emphasized again.
¡°Start attacking Pyongyang immediately and give orders to the 7th Army Corps. You must capture Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong.¡±
The generals nodded and spoke to Yu Jiha.
¡°We need to apply Russia to the operation. We need your help.¡±
¡°It¡¯ll be over soon.¡±
Shelling and advancing had to be done at the same time, so it was almost impossible without the help of artificial intelligence.
If they made a mistake, they could drop an aerial bomb on their own heads.
Meanwhile, President Jo Hyung-geun was lost in thought.
With the 7th Army Corps and soon-to-be-deployed 30,000 drones, he thought it was worth a try.
He called Yu Ji-ha who was typing on the keyboard.
¡°Mr. Yu, I need to talk to you for a moment.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
He looked clueless.
President Jo Hyung-geun disliked him for influencing the military, but he decided to forget it for now.
¡°Can you take out some of those drones and escort me?¡±
¡°Mr. President.¡±
¡°We¡¯re about to take Pyongyang and you want me to be absent? Don¡¯t you think so?¡±
He needed a photo of him entering the Kumsusan Pce and sitting on Kim Jong-un¡¯s office chair.
The generals might not like it, but the image he showed to the people was more important.
¡°It¡¯s not hard, but wouldn¡¯t it be safer to stay in the bunker?¡±
¡°We have the 7th Army Corps and drones. What are you worried about? It¡¯s just a few photos. Nothing will happen.¡±
A normal president would go there after upying it, but Jo Hyung-geun was too impatient and greedy.
Thanks to his constant pressure from the internationalmunity and the media about the casualties and prisoners, his poprity was at its worst.
¡®He thinks he can get support with a few photos. What a shallow calction.¡¯
It was doubtful if that was possible, but it was a clear opportunity for Yu Ji-ha.
Who would know if a blind bullet flew at the president who left the bunker?
It was time to change the leadership of South Korea.
Chapter 72: Crossed Destinies
Chapter 72: Crossed Destinies
The 7th Army Corps, stationed near Pyongyang, resumed their northward advance.
Almost at the same time, bombers and artillery fiercely pounded the entire Pyongyang area.
The world was shocked by this move, but the United States, which had considerable information, made a different judgment.
¨DThey must have concluded that Kim Jong-un either can¡¯t fire a nuclear weapon or that they can intercept most of it if he does.
¨DThe current South Korea has no intention of giving up on North Korea. They have a strong desire to achieve reunification even if they take one or two nuclear hits.
¨DBut the real pain will start after they upy Pyongyang.
Of course, the United States had no intention of sharing this pain.
They were not in a position to pour out a lot of budget and help as before, and they did not feel the need to do so.
¨D South Korea will fall into an endless swamp by starting a reunification war.
¨DIt¡¯s a pity that they could have pushed them ahead of Japan if they hadn¡¯t fought.
The United States did not directly intervene in this war.
Instead, they tried to exert their influence by providing hospital ships, missiles, and shells.
They didn¡¯t want to raise them directly, but they wanted to enjoy the fruits.
The United States changed its position because of the analysis of German reunification.
Compared to West Germany and East Germany, Korea and North Korea had too much economic disparity.
Even if they poured out tens of trillions of won for decades, they could not guarantee that North Korea would be normalized.
Most of the reports predicted copse.
So the United States deployed only Aegis destroyers around the Korean Penins instead of fully mobilizing BMD.
All that was left was Kim Jong-un¡¯s decision.
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
He chewed on his hatred for South Korea in the dark bunker.
They invaded with full force, iming that the republic hadunched a preemptive strike.
It was an intolerable act.
Not only that, but they also shelled Pyongyang to erase it.
Did they not care about nuclear weapons or anything?
As he thought so, the bunker shook and debris fell from the ceiling.
His country, handed down from his grandfather¡¯s generation, was copsing.
¡°South Korean bastards¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
Kim Jong-un bit his lips until blood came out.
His anger toward South Korea boiled over.
Now, if he opened the nuclear bag and followed the procedure, the Sinpo-ss submarine that had surfaced in the East Sea would fire a ballistic missile.
And at the same time, the vehicles that had been hiding in the tunnels woulde out and take revenge for their homnd.
¡°At least a million¡ no, two million will die. Is that what you South Korean bastards want?¡±
He asked into thin air, but no one answered.
Soon Kim Yo-jong opened the door and came in and reported.
¡°Comrade General Secretary, China¡¯s 80th Army has urgently contacted us. They say they will form a rapid response force and rescue us.¡±
¡°So?¡±
¡°If you want to try again in China, it would be better not to fire a nuclear weapon¡¡±
When his sister trailed off, her brother snapped at her.
¡°Do you mean to give up on revenge against those bastards? They are trampling on our people and this country with their boots!¡±
¡°I will follow your decision¡¡±
She bowed her head as the whole bunker shook violently.
He couldn¡¯t take it anymore.
Kim Jong-un inserted his security card and smiled with cold sweat as he followed the procedure.
¡°Watch carefully how many die. Fire all nuclear missiles!¡±
There was no automaticunch of missiles like a nuclear power.
Instead, two Sinpo-ss submarines hiding somewhere in the East Sea received orders and opened theirunch tubes.
And from various ces, the TELs came out and set up theirunchers.
Fifteen ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads wereunched.
¡°North Star, Mars ballistic missiles have beenunched.¡±
Kim Jong-un raised both arms as he confirmed the message.
¡°Glory to the Democratic People¡¯s Republic of Korea!¡±
Suddenly, the ceiling of the bunker began to copse and Kim Yo-jong and the guards hugged him.
¡°Brother!¡±
¡°Comrade General Secretary! We will escort you this way!¡±
¡
The artificial satellites of the United States, Russia, and China detected the ICBMunch shes.
The Korean military also recognized this through Global Hawk and radar.
The most vulnerable part of a ballistic missile is this ascent stage.
Theunch point and the impact point were too close, so they had to shoot at a high angle, and then the altitude would be high, so it took a long time to reach there.
However, there was no technology to intercept the ascending ballistic missiles in the current system.
The Cheongung missile and the L-SAM were both terminal phase interceptions, and the SM-3 missile deployed by the United States was only an intermediate phase interception.
Thus, fifteen ballistic missiles broke through the atmosphere in a few minutes.
The Aegis ships deployed in the East Sea fired SM-3 missiles, but only five were intercepted.
The remaining ballistic missiles activated their boosters and separated the multiple reentry vehicles from the rocket.
Decoys and chaffs were scattered around, and 40 warheads excluding them began to fall.
From now on, it is the terminal phase where THAAD, Cheongung missiles, and L-SAM intercept them.
As soon as the warheads entered the atmosphere, the South Korean military¡¯s radar detected them and sounded an rm.
At this time, the roads in Seoul were suffering from all kinds of vehicles.
People were going down south as soon as they heard that North Korea had fired a nuclear bomb.
In the midst of this, people panicked when the rm rang out.
¡°We¡¯re all dead!¡±
¡°What should we do! Why did they start a war like this!¡±
¡°Let¡¯s get out of here! The car won¡¯t move anyway!¡±
People who came out of tens of thousands of vehicles with their luggage started running south.
They witnessed it.
Small explosions in the air.
At first they thought it was a nuclear bomb exploding and screamed, but it wasn¡¯t.
As soon as a missile flew from somewhere and exploded, the warhead became scrap metal and fell as it was.
Bang!
When something dark fell on various parts of the city, buildings broke and roads were damaged, but that was it.
When a warhead fell in front of Gwanghwamun and formed a crater, people were startled and ran away.
But nothing happened.
¡°Why doesn¡¯t it explode?¡±
¡°That¡¯s strange. Don¡¯t nuclear bombs usually explode in the air¡¡±
¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±
While people were murmuring, the military leaders including JCS tried to figure out what was going on.
¡°All nuclear warheads failed! Not one exploded!¡±
¡°How could this happen! Check again!¡±
¡°People are flocking to the warheads!¡±
¡°Send the military police to drive them away and keep anyone froming near!¡±
¡°Where is the president?¡±
The army generals looked for the president, but he was not in the bunker.
They were dumbfounded when they heard that the chief of staff had left for a frontline inspection by helicopter.
¡°Why now of all times¡¡±
¡°What does the president have to do by inspecting Pyongyang at this time!¡±
¡°The chief of staff should have stopped him!¡±
They all got excited and suddenly thought of something.
Could he have run away because he didn¡¯t want to get hit by a nuclear bomb?
Of course, the bunker of the JCS was capable of enough protection against a nuclear attack.
But if he didn¡¯t trust that and ran away¡
¡°¡¡±
A strange atmosphere hung over the bunker.
The chief of staff couldn¡¯t bring himself to say that he went to take a picture.
And then.
Kim Jong-un, who had received the news of the nuclear warhead failure from China, trembled as if he had been struck by lightning.
¡°Ha, not one exploded¡¡±
¡°It must be true that no explosion was observed. Come this way.¡±
He was carried like a sack to the back seat of a Chinese military vehicle and moved somewhere.
A soulless murmur came out of his mouth.
¡°This can¡¯t be, this can¡¯t be¡¡±
The republic had endured decades of sanctions and humiliation to have nuclear weapons.
But all of that turned into bubbles.
Kim Yo-jong, who was sitting next to him, asked about the situation again, but only got an insincere answer.
¡°Seoul is fine. It¡¯s a shame.¡±
It was more than a shame.
Kim Jong-un sincerely wished that the people of South Korea would die inrge numbers when he gave the order.
It was a natural retribution for the monster who started the war.
But they didn¡¯t suffer any damage.
All that was left was his own destruction.
A warehouse full of liquor and piles of dors, and the naked bodies of beautiful women shed through Kim Jong-un¡¯s mind.
All of that was disappearing.
¡°Ku¡huk!¡±
He couldn¡¯t contain his extreme anger and fainted with his eyes rolled back.
Kim Yo-jong supported him and asked him.
¡°Please take us to China as soon as possible.¡±
The Chinese soldiers who nced back at them snickered.
¡°As you wish.¡±
The vehicle sped up and left the noisy Pyongyang.
The Korean military btedly obtained information about them and formed a pursuit team.
President Jo Hyung-geun, who had arrived in Pyongyang before he knew it, raged on.
¡°Don¡¯t let them go! Catch them quickly!¡±
¡°Who can tell me? What is the possibility that all 40 nuclear warheads failed to explode?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t be sure, but it¡¯s close to 0%.¡±
¡°Then it must be South Korea¡¯s doing.¡±
President McKinley used the word ¡®doing¡¯ because he was so surprised.
What kind of power could have nullified 40 nuclear warheads?
North Korea had clearly fired 15 ballistic missiles, and five of them were intercepted in the intermediate stage.
If you subtract the decoys and chaffs from the 10 reentry vehicles, you get 40 nuclear warheads.
The possibility of all of them failing to explode was as close to 0% as the aide said.
It meant that there was something in the missiles that South Korea fired.
President McKinley looked at the scene where the nuclear warheads fell and stuck to the ground in Seoul.
It wasn¡¯t all 40, but seeing more than 10 do that made him want tough.
¡°This is crazy. If they can nullify North Korea¡¯s nuclear warheads, they can do the same with China¡¯s.¡±
And Japan¡¯s failed nuclear test¡
The aides all imagined a grim scenario.
If it was revealed that South Korea had somehow interfered with Japan, they wouldn¡¯t be able to sit still.
Maybe the United States would have to intervene fully.
Humphrey, the national security adviser, hinted.
¡°President Jo is not answering our calls, and neither is Chairman Yu.¡±
¡°They¡¯re not deliberately ignoring us, are they? Where are they?¡±
¡°President Jo is in Pyongyang, and Chairman Yu¡¯s location has not been confirmed.¡±
¡°They must be in Seoul. Find them. But why did the president go to Pyongyang?¡±
¡°He probably wanted a picture of himself entering Juseong Pce.¡±
¡°In the middle of a street battle?¡±
¡°Yes. He probably had drones escorting him.¡±
¡°He went into Pyongyang trusting that¡ He¡¯s not normal.¡±
It wasn¡¯t reasonable for the president to go to the battlefield risking his life.
He looked down on the South Korean people who elected such a person.
He must have felt good starting a war and entering Pyongyang, but what about the future?
He would have to pour a huge amount of money into North Korea for decades.
The problem was that there was a high possibility of failure even after doing that.
The international human rights groups demanding immediate restoration of human rights in North Korea and the debt pressure from various countries were minor things, and the real thing happened inside.
Would North Koreans ept being discriminated against by South Koreans?
How would they deal with guerris who would riot everywhere?
How would they correct the outdated ideology of 20 million people?
Was there a n to feed andfort 20 million refugees?
What would they do with more than a million soldiers who had been embraced by North Korea?
There were countless problems to face, and more would pop up as time went by.
South Korea would sink with North Korea if it failed to solve them.
Of course, the United States didn¡¯t have much intention of relieving that burden.
Wasn¡¯t it enough that they spent $1 trillion on Afghanistan and $33 billion on Pakistan?
President McKinley ordered.
¡°Let¡¯s seriously consider our military entering North Korean territory. Where would be good?¡±
¡°Gangwon-do, where Wonsan Port is located, wouldn¡¯t be bad. However, South Korea is having difficulty fighting in the mountains, so we need to take over some parts.¡±
¡°We have enough troops, but let¡¯s find a way to project our influence in Gangwon-do by supporting them with night vision devices or supplies.¡±
¡°South Korea might not ept it¡¡±
They wouldn¡¯t wee the US forces re-entering after waging a war to absorb North Korea.
But President McKinley knew that South Korea would eventually have no choice but to ept it.
¡°They will have trouble ruling over North Korea without our help. Press them hard, including the matter of nullifying nuclear warheads.¡±
The United States didn¡¯t want to go back to being allies as before.
But they didn¡¯t want topletely let go either.
They just wanted to exercise some influence and look for an opportunity to get Chairman Yu out.
The pressure on him would increase as his situation became more difficult, and he would be more skeptical about the country called South Korea.
¡°When will Chairman Yu give up his South Korean citizenship?¡±
¡°He will give it up soon. He has a lot of money to take from him.¡±
¡°We will also reim the ck Metal mining rights. It¡¯s bad news for him in many ways.¡±
Could he endure it?
The US leaders were willing to bet their entire fortune that he couldn¡¯t.
¡°By the way, what happened to Rocket Man?¡±
¡°China seems to have seeded in taking him out. They are currently being pursued by the South Korean military.¡±
¡°He¡¯s not worth much after losing North Korea, but South Korea must want to catch him badly.¡±
¡°They are pursuing him, but it looks difficult. Should we intervene?¡±
¡°No. Wouldn¡¯t it be better for us to leave him alone?¡±
President McKinley slumped on his chair with a sigh of relief. He had just received the news that North Korea¡¯s nuclear facilities had been destroyed by South Korea¡¯s surprise attack.
He knew that Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong would flee to China and plot their revenge for years toe.
He also expected that South Korea would face bacsh from the UN for viting the armistice agreement. But he didn¡¯t care much about that.
As long as North Korea¡¯s nuclear threat was eliminated, he felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest.
The only thing that bothered him was South K
orea¡¯s ambition to unify the penins under its rule.
He didn¡¯t like the idea of having a powerful ally turn into a potential rival.
He wished he could get rid of that thorn in his side somehow.
Chapter 73: A Second-Best Option
Chapter 73: A Second-Best Option
The joy of intercepting all the nuclear missiles was short-lived, as the government agencies, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff, received a tragic news.
Many of the cab members andwmakers, including the prime minister, had died in this chaos.
It seemed that hundreds of thousands of people who had tried to flee Seoul had met their doom.
The people were more busy cursing than mourning.
¡ªHow dare those public officials try to escape? They deserved to die.
¡ªA lot ofwmakers died this time. Almost 200 if you count the ones killed by the radiation cannon.
¡ªThey didn¡¯t do anything useful anyway. As long as Yu Ji-ha is alive, it¡¯s fine.
¨CBut who is Oh Guk-jin, the prime minister? I¡¯ve never heard of him before.
¡ªDidn¡¯t Buk-jin ajusshi take away all his authority?
¡ªWell, it makes sense after what happened with Park Hyun-gu.
¡ªOh Guk-jin is almost 90 years old. He probably died of natural causes.
¡ªDoes it matter as long as we have the president?
¡ªI heard a rumor that the president is not in the bunker right now.
¡ªWhere did he run off to?
¡ªHe went to Pyongyang to take a picture.
¡ªJo Hyung-geun has finally gone crazy.
¡ªThat old man was always crazy.
The whereabouts of President Jo Hyung-geun were circting among the people.
Someone had leaked it, and the media asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff bluntly.
They indirectly admitted it.
¡°So you¡¯re saying that at this moment, when a nuclear warhead is falling on Seoul, the president went to Pyongyang?¡±
¡°He went there to encourage the soldiers on the front line¡¡±
¡°Do you really think the soldiers would wee the president when there are still explosions in Pyongyang?¡±
¡°¡¡±
The spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff cut off the interview and the people protested.
President Jo Hyung-geun knew that too, but he ignored it.
He believed that everything would be solved if he captured the Kim family, who were behind this incident.
¡ªPresident Jo Hyung-geun puts handcuffs on Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong himself!
How cool would that be?
He would go down in Korean history forever.
But they had somehow escaped from Pyongyang with China¡¯s help.
Korea quickly chased them with armored vehicles and K151 tactical vehicles.
The reason they couldn¡¯t deploy fighter jets or helicopters was because they were getting support from the Chinese military.
If they made a mistake and caused a war with China, it would be a huge headache.
The best option was to stop their vehicle and take them only.
For that purpose, unmanned reconnaissance aircraft were deployed and drones without weapons were loaded on the pursuit team.
But the chase was not easy, because there was no upied area north of Pyongyang.
The regime itself had copsed, but there were still many remnants who hid in nearby cities and viges and continued to resist.
They even fired from nearby artillery units, making the pursuit team nervous.
¡°Artillery fire iing! Lower your posture!¡±
An armored vehicle might survive, but a tactical vehicle would be destroyed by one shot.
Boom, boom!
The pursuit team ran fast, but the highway was damaged by continuous shelling and they were getting farther away from their target.
Then they received a message from the corps headquarters.
¡°We have a report that a Chinese transport ne is waiting at 70km ahead.¡±
They nned to load their vehicle on the ne and send it to China.
The condition of North Korea¡¯s highway was terrible, but they could still take off.
Kim Ju-yeol, a lieutenant colonel and themander of the pursuit team, clenched his teeth.
If he let them go, his military career, no, his whole life would be ruined.
And Korea¡¯s future would not be smooth either.
¡®I¡¯d rather kill them than let them go¡¡¯
It would cause friction with China, but it was better than handing them over.
He made up his mind and contacted the corps headquarters.
The corps headquarters received an order from the president and called in a squadron of F-15K fighter bombers that were waiting in the air after refueling nearby.
¡°Target confirmed. We will eliminate the target.¡±
The squadron fired Taurus cruise missiles in unison.
Six missiles aimed at the Chinese military vehicles.
And coincidentally, artillery fire started from a nearby unit, or so it seemed.
The highway became a mess with fleeing Chinese military vehicles, pursuit team, missiles and shelling mixed together.
Dust filled the air and it was hard to tell what was what.
A gunshot rang out among them and the pursuit team urgently radioed the corps headquarters.
¡°China is attacking! We need support ASAP!¡±
Meanwhile, President Jo Hyung-geun, who heard the radio at the corps headquarters, was furious.
He thought he had finally caught the Kim family, but he couldn¡¯t let them go here, could he?
¡°You have to kill them, at least! I won¡¯t tolerate any escape! Do you understand?¡±
¡°Yes, yes! We¡¯re doing our best!¡±
The officers tried to contact the site, but it was not easy because of the mess.
¡°Alpha team, this is headquarters. Report your situation.¡±
Crackle-
¡°Aaargh!¡±
Noise and screams were mixed and no proper report came through.
President Jo Hyung-geun walked around the headquarters, making the officers nervous.
He asionally swore, but that was not directed at the officers.
But they couldn¡¯t help feeling tense.
There was no report from Alpha team for a long time.
¡°Is this how the special forces that were mobilized for the beheading operation are supposed to be? I¡¯m going crazy.¡±
President Jo Hyung-geun looked at the operation map with bloodshot eyes and perked up his ears at the report that came in.
¡°Crackle¡ Secured¡ Requesting support¡¡±
¡°Are you sure you secured the target? And is there any pursuit from the Chinese military? Please transmit.¡±
¡°Target secured¡ No pursuit from the Chinese military at this point, they seem to have given up!¡±
Jo Hyung-geun checked their location and urged the corpsmander.
¡°Can¡¯t you fly there quickly with a helicopter?¡±
¡°Yes, yes. We¡¯re preparing a Surion utility helicopter squadron right now.¡±
¡°A squadron should be able to avoid shelling.¡±
¡°Yes. It seems that North Korea¡¯s air force is almost annihted and MANPADS attacks are rare¡ Don¡¯t tell me, Mr. President?¡±
What was he thinking now?
Before he could stop him, President Jo Hyung-geun received handcuffs from his secretary.
¡°I¡¯m going. Prepare a seat for me and my secretary on the Surion.¡±
The corpsmander¡¯s eyes widened.
¡°Mr. President, that¡¯s absolutely not possible.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll bring them back soon.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go and bring them myself! The headquarters is the safest ce!¡±
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you bring them or those special forces!¡±
The important thing was to create an image of him meeting Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong.
It wouldn¡¯t be bad to take a picture after bringing them to the headquarters, but he was in a hurry.
He already had an idea of the headline of the article that would be reported by the media around the world.
¡ªThe winner who raised his head and the loser who bowed his head.
¨C+The moment when the fate of two leaders diverged.
The background for that picture should be the battlefield or inside a helicopter, not the bed of the corps headquarters.
The first modern leader who unified the Korean penins, a strong president who went to the battlefield.
There was no better opportunity than this for building such an image.
He persuaded the corpsmander and got on the Surion utility helicopter.
There were reports of defects, but he didn¡¯t worry about anything in his excitement.
He just wanted to meet Kim Jong-un as soon as possible.
¡°Headquarters, we are Army One from now on.¡±
¡°Fine, let¡¯s go right away.¡±
The Surion helicopter carrying the president took off.
¡
¡
Yu Ji-ha watched the helicopter squadron with Arma in his office at the main branch.
¡°I did provoke him, but I didn¡¯t expect him to follow me so well¡¡±
¡°He¡¯s a person who is impatient and values titles. He¡¯s probably thinking about putting handcuffs on Kim Jong-un¡¯s wrist right now.¡±
¡°Shoot them down before they meet.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
The androids who were ambushed on the helicopter¡¯s route fired I man-portable air-defense missiles.
The Surion squadron detected them and quickly ascended while spraying res, but the seeker did not fall for it and blew off one tail rotor.
¡°Mayday! Mayday!¡±
As the pilot frantically radioed, two of the helicopters crashed.
Boom!
¡°They¡¯re dead.¡±
¡°Yeah¡¡±
Yu Ji-ha watched the me mixed with dust calmly.
He had no bad feelings.
They just went different ways.
For his n, the president had to die.
Of course, he wouldn¡¯t be able to seed him even if he died.
The order of presidential authority delegation in South Korea was too tight for that.
But there were hardly any people who could lead South Korea in this mess, where many of the cab members, including the prime minister, had died.
Even those who had a thirst for power would give up and run away from the pressure of the US and China that would soone.
It was impossible for ordinary people to deal with the situation that Jo Hyung-geun and Yu Ji-ha had caused.
Arma predicted that Yu Ji-ha would get a title of emergency authority delegation in front of his name.
And after that?
Unfortunately, he would never give up his power.
The dictatorship by artificial intelligence would begin soon.
Yu Ji-ha gave Arma an order.
¡°Hide Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong for now. We¡¯ll search for themter after we get some information.¡±
It was obvious, but Arma knew exactly where they were hiding and their escape route.
The shelling in the middle and the capture of the two were also done by the androids he had sent in advance.
He could have killed them, but he decided to use them as bait to lure out the president.
And now he needed them to make the people who would take over the authority give up.
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°I should go to the headquarters soon.¡±
He came to deal with some backlog, but staying too long was not good either.
He packed his things and went to the bunker, where the atmosphere was very gloomy.
Lee Kang-hoon, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke to him.
¡°Sir, I¡¯m sorry to say this, but¡ The president has passed away.¡±
¡°¡What? He¡¯s dead? How did that happen?¡±
¡°He got on a helicopter and was hit by a MANPADS from the North Korean remnants¡ We sent a search team and confirmed his death.¡±
¡°I see¡ May he rest in peace.¡±
Yu Ji-ha bowed his head without blinking an eye.
The chairman seemed to have something to say and raised his hand.
¡°Before we mourn, we need someone who canmand this situation. We can¡¯t lead the country ourselves.¡±
¡°I think you should talk to the chief of staff about that¡¡±
The chairman turned his head and looked at Bae Seong-min, the chief of staff who was making a phone call.
¡°We talked a little before you came, and he said there¡¯s almost no one who can take over the authority.¡±
¡°Just go through the order. The prime minister is still alive.¡±
¡°He happened to get on the evacuation route and died¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s unfortunate.¡±
¡°And since thete president had a strong tendency to push things through on his own¡ The ministers don¡¯t know much.¡±
They meant that no one could understand or handle the situation that Jo Hyung-geun and Yu Ji-ha had created.
But Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t take the bait.
He needed someone else¡¯s failure to make the people support him, saying they couldn¡¯t stand it anymore.
The good public opinion he had created over time would be a great help.
¡°There¡¯s also the vice prime minister¡¡±
Lee Kang-hoon, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,ughed awkwardly.
¡°Haha, I was thinking that it would be nice if you could take over the emergency authority¡ You know so much.¡±
He had a close rtionship with Russia and was familiar with many leaders.
There was not much regtion in the constitution about the authority delegation, so he was not bound by age either.
But Yu Ji-ha refused with a gloomy expression.
¡°It¡¯s so unfortunate that he died when unification was just around the corner. What we have to do is not fight over power, but mourn.¡±
His voice rose and everyone in the bunker paid attention.
He felt a bit embarrassed and coughed.
¡°Ahem¡¡±
¡°And I¡¯m awmaker, so I can¡¯t go to the administrative branch. Let¡¯s wait and see. There will be someone who can handle this situation.¡±
¡°I¡¯m just saying this out of frustration. As you know, the situation is¡¡±
¡°I understand.¡±
Yu Ji-ha sat down in his original seat and an army general brought him a map and exined how the president died on the helicopter.
¡°What happened to Kim Jong-un?¡±
¡°The 1st Corps is currently conducting arge-scale search operation.¡±
Bae Seong-min, the chief of staff, frowned but didn¡¯t say anything and made another phone call.
His tone changed as he exined the situation.
¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m qualified.¡±
¡°The minister of finance is not¡¡±
¡°You should understand what I¡¯m saying if you¡¯re at least a chief of staff. I heard there was some friction with China? The fiscal deficit is astronomical and who can take responsibility in this situation?¡±
¡°Minister, this is not something you choose¡¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll resign.¡±
He hung up abruptly.
The chief of staff held his phone and stood nkly.
The country was in crisis, but no one stepped forward.
Emergency presidential authority delegation
¡°Minister, let¡¯s discuss the authority delegation¡¡±
¡°Is it up to me now? What about the Ministry of Education and Science?¡±
¡°They all resigned or died¡¡±
¡°As you know, diplomacy is usually controlled by the Blue House. What do I know?¡±
¡°You can juste here and talk about it.¡±
¡°Hold on, I have something urgent right now¡¡±
What could be more urgent than discussing the presidential authority delegation?
The foreign minister hung up the phone shamelessly and Bae Seong-min, the chief of staff, sighed deeply without anyone noticing.
He understood.
It was not a normal time, but a war.
At this point, when the war with North Korea was not over, there was hardly anyone who could take responsibility for that.
President Jo Hyung-geun did not trust even his close aides and interfered with everything, and as a result, most of the senior bureaucrats became yes-men.
A minister of a ministry should be able to carry out their work autonomously, but there was hardly any of that in this administration.
Whenever they did something, they had to get permission from the Blue House¡
The Blue House didn¡¯t like it¡
This was all President Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s masterpiece.
There was no problem when he was alive.
There were many disadvantages to having power concentrated in the president, but there were also quite a few advantages.
But after he died, the problems started to explode.
No one wanted to take responsibility for what he had done.
¡®I should have written the will properly¡¡¯
What¡¯s the use of regretting it now?
The presidential emergency authority delegation was not a poisoned chalice, but a deadly poison for the ministerial-level bureaucrats.
How could they take responsibility for all these things that the former president had done?
At best, they would get a lot of abuse and pressure from neighboring countries and hand over their seat to the next president.
And they would never be able to hold public office again.
¡®If it¡¯s him¡¡¯
Bae Seong-min, the chief of staff, naturally thought of someone¡¯s face.
Yu Ji-ha, the chairman and nowwmaker, who had gained popr support from the people.
There was hardly anyone in Korea who didn¡¯t know his name.
He was more famous than the president, as they often said.
He showed an innovative future as an entrepreneur, and he was also quite savvy as a politician.
He never made any controversial remarks.
He knew how to turn a crisis into an opportunity and gained the support of the people even in the worst situations.
He was more than a seasoned politician who had been rolling around Yeouido for decades, judging by what he said in the bunker.
¡®There is no one who can deal with this situation better than him¡¡¯
Unfortunately, that was true.
He was so simr to President Jo Hyung-geun in his way of doing things that they had a lot of conversations.
He even drank with him on the night when rockets fell on Seoul.
At this point, there was no one who could continue President Jo Hyung-geun¡¯s policies as well as Yu Ji-ha.
¡®The problem is his position¡¡¯
A first-termwmaker could not take over the authority delegation.
They couldn¡¯t choose the head of the executive branch from the legitive branch.
But there was a way.
It was far-fetched and absurd, but it was wartime and an emergency situation.
They could overlook some things.
The important point was that they couldn¡¯t leave the seat of the head of the executive branch and themander-in-chief of the armed forces vacant.
¡®This is a second-best option.¡¯
The best option was for the ministers, including the defense minister, to take ove
r the authority delegation.
He didn¡¯t expect much though.
The chief of staff started making phone calls again.
Fortunately, Kim Chul-woo, the defense minister, said he would take over the authority delegation.
¡°But I have one condition.¡±
Chapter 74: The Reluctant Acting Authority
Chapter 74: The Reluctant Acting Authority
He raised both his arms as soon as he met Bae Seong-min, the chief secretary.
¡°Let me tell you in advance, I really have no confidence.¡±
¡°I understand, given the situation.¡±
¡°I¡¯m here only because of the minimum sense of responsibility. If I refuse, it will go down to the Ministry of Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Those people, they will never want to take it. And they shouldn¡¯t.¡±
¡°¡¡±
The chief secretary drank his coffee silently.
His drink had been coffee only these days because of the acting authority appointment.
He hadn¡¯t slept for over 40 hours and his head wasn¡¯t working properly.
The media was making a fuss about getting things done quickly, while the military and the civilians were insisting that they wouldn¡¯t ept anyone but Yu Ji-ha.
A person who was nowhere to be seen in the acting authority ranking.
The funny thing was that he couldn¡¯tpletely rule out Yu Ji-ha either.
¡®A young person who hasn¡¯t even reached forty yet¡¡¯
Well, there¡¯s nothing more ridiculous than judging a person by their age.
The Yu Ji-ha he knew was a young but smarter and more decisive politician than anyone else in Korea.
He could tell by what he had done and suffered so far.
¡®If I had my way, I would force him to take the authority and retirefortably¡¡¯
But he had a minimum of courtesy as a chief secretary.
He forced his sleepy eyes open and listened to the defense minister¡¯s story.
¡°I¡¯ll take the acting authority for now if you can assure me of one thing.¡±
For now meant that he would eventually hand it over to someone else.
That would probably be the same person he had in mind.
¡°It seems we are thinking of the same person.¡±
¡°Ha ha, this is embarrassing. But when I served the president, I thought there was no one else fit for the job.¡±
¡°Well, what can I say¡¡±
It wasn¡¯t just fit, it was perfect for the appointment.
In fact, this war was nothing but Jo Hyeong-geun starting it and Yu Ji-ha cleaning it up.
If it weren¡¯t for ck Metal and those many drones and railgun destroyers, the South Korean army would have had a very difficult battle.
Not to mention that he had obtained cooperation from Russia, which was a huge help.
He didn¡¯t know how he did it, but he did.
Now Minister Kim openly mentioned his name.
¡°Please dismiss Yu Ji-ha as soon as you think I¡¯m not good enough. Then I can step down with peace of mind.¡±
¡°How can I entrust the acting authority to awmaker, even if it¡¯s wartime?¡±
ording to the principle of separation of powers, only an executive branch official can be appointed as an acting authority.
But there was a loophole.
¡°I¡¯ll appoint him as prime minister.¡±
So they were thinking the same thing.
Bae Seong-min smiled bitterly, more bitter than coffee.
¡°That¡¯s the only way.¡±
¡°No one else will be epted by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.¡±
¡°We don¡¯t need their approval.¡±
¡°It¡¯s important to get the support of the military when it¡¯s wartime like this.¡±
The chief secretary didn¡¯t argue back and looked into his eyes.
¡°Do you think Yu Ji-ha has a solution for this situation?¡±
¡°How would I know that? It¡¯s just that he¡¯s the only suitable person at this point. To be honest with you, anyone else will ruin this country. Me included.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤But does he have an idea?¡±
¡°He wouldn¡¯t havee into the Joint Chiefs bunker if he didn¡¯t. He says this: don¡¯t waste time since you can¡¯t entrust the acting authority to anyone else anyway.¡±
¡°Waste of time¡¡±
¡°This is also a waste of time. There¡¯s friction with China because of the war. And we need a response n for the USing into Gangwon-do.¡±
The Korean Penins was on the verge of unification when suddenly the US intervened.
They imed to be allies and tried to send a small number of US troops and supplies to Gangwon-do.
Of course, it was a good thing to support them, but the problem was that their intention wasn¡¯t pure.
They would probably demand a lot of staketer.
Bae Seong-min, the chief secretary, shook his head.
¡°But don¡¯t you need the consent of the National Assembly to appoint a prime minister?¡±
¡°The National Assembly is not formed because nearly 200wmakers died. If that¡¯s the problem, I¡¯ll appoint him as the defense minister.¡±
He would appoint awmaker as the defense minister after bing the acting authority and then resign?
It seemed ridiculous, but they had to do it this way or they would really be doomed.
There was no guarantee that things would go well with him leading, but it was a fact that he had the highest possibility.
The chief secretary made up his mind.
¡°Please take the acting authority for now. We¡¯ll think about itter.¡±
¡°Tell Yu Ji-ha about it. It probably won¡¯t take more than a month.¡±
The two nodded and got up.
¡
Kim Cheol-woo, the defense minister, took over the presidential authority.
Those who knew the situation gave him a rating that he had avoided the worst option.
He himself had to face the worst conditions as soon as he started his work.
Reports came in from all over.
¨DWe can¡¯t confirm the life or death of Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong. The 1st Corps is searching, but there is no progress.
¨DWe received a protest from the Central Military Commission for the engagement with China¡¯s 80th Army. What should we do?
¨DThe street battle in Pyongyang is dragging on. The frontlinemand is requesting a minimum of 50,000 security forces and food for 400,000 people.
¨DThe US military entered Wonsan Port without our permission. This is a matter that we need to formally protest.
¨DThe UN Human Rights Council is appalled by the poor treatment of prisoners in the prison camp in Gyeongnam and says it will file a formalint.
¨DWe are short of troops. 77% of the soldiers on the front line are suffering from severebat fatigue and fear.
Each one was a serious matter that he couldn¡¯t neglect.
Kim Cheol-woo, the acting authority, immediately convened a meeting with the relevant officials, but no clear answer came out.
All they could say was to ask for cooperation from the UN and friendly countries.
And the political prisoner camps in North Korea were also a problem.
¡°Minister, we failed to secure the political prisoner camps in the end.¡±
Kim Cheol-woo covered his forehead with his hand and closed his eyes.
The UN had high hopes that South Korea would improve the dire situation by upying North Korea in this war.
The political prisoner camps were one of the most interesting issues, and many special forces had been deployed there.
Their goal was to secure the names of prisoners and guards, as well as all data in the camps.
But ording to the report, in the case of Yodok camp, the guards killed all the prisoners and destroyed the evidence as soon as the war broke out.
¡°The other camps are the same. North Korea didn¡¯t leave much direct evidence.¡±
Kim Cheol-woo frowned at the intelligencemander¡¯s report.
¡°So you¡¯re saying we have nothing to report to the UN?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry to say this, but yes¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s one more reason for the UN not to support us.¡±
The UN was already suspicious of how the war started in the first ce.
What if Kim Jong-un, whose whereabouts were unknown, showed up in China and med it on the South Korean army?
It would be difficult to deal with it.
Kim Cheol-woo dismissed the intelligencemander and looked at himself in the mirror.
He looked like an old man who was almost 80 years old, even though he was praised for taking good care of himself for his mid-60s age.
¡°Cheol-woo, Cheol-woo¡ How can you age so much in just five days¡¡±
He didn¡¯t have time to talk to himself as administrative officials came in one after another and left reports on his desk.
Kim Cheol-woo sighed deeply at the pile of documents on his desk that looked like a mountain.
He knew it wouldn¡¯t be easy, but he never imagined it would be this hopeless.
Former President Jo Hyeong-geun didn¡¯t deal with all this, he just ignored it.
Thinking that future generations would take care of it.
¡°Who cares about future generations when you left four years of your term¡¡±
Why didn¡¯t he realize that it wasing soon?
Well, he was such a person that he went to the battlefield and died screaming in an ambush.
Kim Cheol-woo was struggling like this when an urgent report came from Pyongyang.
¨DSome of China¡¯s 80th Army are moving south! They are confronting an infantry division under 1st Corps!
¡°Minister, should we engage?¡±
He hesitated and finally gave a strange order.
¨DRespond firmly but try to prevent esction.
The frontline units were furious at what kind of order this was.
Meanwhile, the 80th Army continued to move south and the Korean army had no choice but to retreat.
It was hard enough to deal with North Korea, but if they fought with China, it would be difficult to handle the aftermath.
They still had a powerful military force, even though they had lost their strength.
They also had nuclear power that was different from North Korea¡¯s faulty nuclear warheads.
Thanks to that, the front line that they had barely pushed back was stuck near Pyongyang again.
The army generals were stressed out and collectively protested to Kim, the acting authority.
¡°Minister, you need to give us clear guidance.¡±
¡°If China proposes a ceasefire like this, will you ept it?¡±
¡°What about the blood of our soldiers if China upies half of North Korea?¡±
¡°¡¡±
Kim Cheol-woo, who was under extreme stress, got up to cool his head for a moment and then fainted.
He copsed and the generals panicked and supported him.
This incident happened inside the bunker, but it was leaked by someone.
The public opinion, including the media, started to boil.
¨DI wish someonepetent would take the acting authority.
¨DHow can anyone solve all this? War, pressure from other countries, food problem¡
¨DJo Hyeong-geun was crazy.
¨DAnd so were those who agreed to go to war with him.
¨DWhat¡¯s the point of fighting among ourselves? The deed is done.
¨DThese bastards are ruining Korea!
¨DFuck it, let¡¯s just give it to Yu Ji-ha. Maybe he can do something with his AI.
¨DIsn¡¯t he too young?
¨DThere¡¯s not much regtion for the acting authority, so he can just do it.
¨DBut does Yu Ji-ha want to do it?
¨DThe country is doomed anyway, we have to force him.
¨DWe have to ask him, not force him. Fuck, look at the state of this country. Who would want to do it?
¨DPlease, Yu Ji-ha!
Various media outlets gave him these results of opinion polls.
He was surprised.
¡°Me?¡±
¡°That¡¯s the current public opinion. It¡¯s overwhelmingly in favor.¡±
¡°Well¡ I¡¯m awmaker, so it¡¯s a bit difficult for me to go to the executive branch¡¡±
¡°They have a n for that.¡±
Bae Seong-min, the chief secretary, came and persuaded him.
¡°The defense minister will hold a cab meeting and appoint you as prime minister. The approval of the National Assembly will be obtainedter since it is not a requirement.¡±
¡°There are a lot of things that are being glossed over.¡±
¡°It¡¯s wartime.¡±
Before he knew it, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other generals gathered around him.
¡°So if Minister Kim resigns, I be the acting authority?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. There are some legal issues, but we have decided that there is no choice at this point.¡±
¡°Who did?¡±
¡°Most of the ministers,wmakers, and the results of various public opinion surveys say so.¡±
South Korea wanted him.
He looked around at the people who surrounded him and asked.
¡°I¡¯m sorry to say this, but I¡¯m on the young side¡ I wonder if you¡¯ll follow me properly.¡±
Lee Kang-hoon, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, bowed his upper body immediately.
¡°You have achieved so much, what does age matter?¡±
¡°The chief secretary will also do his best to assist you. We have to until peacees.¡±
They would let him take over only for wartime.
Of course, Yu Ji-ha had no intention of stepping down after the war ended.
He wouldn¡¯t end the war easily either.
He looked into the eyes of everyone in the Joint Chiefs bunker.
They all bowed their heads and he finally said.
¡°Then I¡¯ll take the acting authority as best as I can.¡±
Phew¡
A sigh of relief came out.
Yu Ji-ha sat in the seat of the Joint Chiefs, the president¡¯s seat.
It would be a dream and an end for someone else, but for him it was just a beginning.
From now on, South Korea would be perfectly integrated and be a stepping stone for the United Human Federation.
As soon as he sat down, he pushed forward the report that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs had given to the defense minister.
It contained information about the engagement with China¡¯s 80th Army.
Yu Ji-ha gave an order right away.
¡°Please take care of those procedures like holding a cab meeting or appointing me as prime minister.¡±
¡°We will proceed as quickly as possible.¡±
¡°And this chairman.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°How is the status of personnel and equipment in 7th Corps?¡±
¡°They are well rested. The equipment operation rate has also risen to 90%.¡±
¡°Good. Push them back with the 7th Corps.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤Sir?¡±
The generals¡¯ eyes widened in shock.
A madman had appeared.
They wondered if they had heard him wrong.
But the young man in front of them was not someone who would make nonsense.
He was saying that they would fight China.
Lee Kang-hoon, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, thought desperately in his head and answered cautiously.
¡°With the strength of the 7th Corps, we can definitely push back the 80th Army. But in the current situation, expanding the front line is something we need to reconsider.¡±
¡°We won¡¯t expand the front line. They won¡¯t be able to fight anyway.¡±
They won¡¯t be able to fight?
It seemed as if he knew the internal situation of China very well.
Feeling the need to exin, he stood in front of the operation map and operated the panel.
¡°On this penins, the 80th Army is here, and the remaining forces of China¡¯s Northern Theater are here.¡±
The units of the Northern Theater were deployed ording to his finger.
The intelligence staffs were surprised that he knew even the unit numbers in detail.
¡°Look. How many troops are deployed in the Northern Theater right now.¡±
The generals and staffs crowded around the operation map.
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤Less than 10,000.¡±
It was a considerable force, but it was mainly infantry, so its actualbat power was not high.
War is done with heavy equipment.
¡°Those 10,000 are also forces that have to deal with public security and order. They don¡¯t have room to send troops to North Korea.¡±
¡°But Beijing is nearby. If they send them, it will be quick.¡±
¡°The situation in Beijing is like this.¡±
He opened hisptop and yed a video.
The video showed scenes of citizens shing and armed forces shooting and killing farmers¡¯ workers.
The generals groaned.
¡°Hmm¡¤¡¤¡¤I heard about the farmers¡¯ workers riot, but I didn¡¯t know it was this bad¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°I doubt they can suppress it.¡±
¡°There are 20 million people in Beijing, and 10 million farmers¡¯ workers havee in. The 78th and 79th armies, which were originally in the Northern Theater, were also swept away by their fight. Do you think they have troops to send to North Korea?¡±
The camera continued to show various parts of Beijing.
The city was full of all kinds of death, chaos, and violence.
How did he get this video?
China¡¯s major cities werepletely closed.
Not only foreign journalists from various countries, but also any foreigners were prohibited from entering or leaving.
Communication was also perfectly controlled, and few people knew what was going on inside.
Anyway, one thing was certain.
China had no room or even thought to fight with them. Beijing was in that state, and they were doing their best to attack Taiwan. It would be more strange if they had room.
The generals understood that much, but they had something else to worry about.
¡°Pardon me, sir, but China has up to a thousand nuclear weapons.¡±
¡°That¡¯s different from North Korea¡¯s faulty warheads.¡±
¡°They could reveal their threat as reality at any time.¡±
He boasted confidently to the stern-faced generals.
¡°China can never threaten us with nuclear weapons. Because we have this.¡±
A new video showed Russia¡¯s President Putin and a giant ballistic missile.
And Putin put a Taegukgi sticker on the ballistic missile and winked at the camera.
What was he doing?
The generals were startled as they watched.
¡°Sir, what is this video?¡±
¡°It looks like a Topol missile, but why is he putting a Taegukgi on it? I don¡¯t understand¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°President Putin has agreed to share nuclear power with Korea. It¡¯s in Russia now, but I can bring it into the country anytime I want.¡±
Gulp.
The generals swallowed dryly and looked at the video incredulously.
Russia¡¯s ballistic missile technology was quite highpared to China¡¯s.
Its evasion technology, excluding circr error probable, wasparable to that of the United States.
That was the majority opinion.
Russia was willing to share nuclear power?
They wanted to say it didn¡¯t make sense, but the person in front of them was someone who made miracles into reality.
¡°The US couldn¡¯t bring in one tactical nuclear warhead, but Russia volunteered. I think we shouldy down gas pipelines first after unification.¡±
The generals realized then that there was a secret agreement between Korea and Russia.
If they actually brought it in, the US would make a fuss, but¡¤¡¤¡¤
¡°Haha, Russia would love that.¡±
¡°We won¡¯t have any trouble with gas pipelines once we take over North Korea.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not taking over, it¡¯s unification.¡±
He emphasized and they all said oh, then repeated unification.
That¡¯s right.
This was a war of unification.
He gave instructions again.
¡°As I said, China has no room or thought to fight with us. Neither does the 80th Army. Push them back with the 7th Corps. They will keep retreating.¡±
¡°We will soon establish a new operational n.¡±
¡°Lucia will be helpful.¡±
It was time to introduce artificial intelligence more fully.
In extreme situations like war, force was well epted.
Just as he became the acting authority, Lucia would gradually dominate Korean society.
And soon, the newly reorganized 7th Corps began to advance north with the help of the Army Aviation.
The 80th Army, which had shown considerable fighting spirit until they came down, was taken aback.
¨DThe South Korean army is crazy!
Lieutenant General Liou Hua bit his lips slightly and ordered a retreat.
¡°Retreat. We can¡¯t handle them with our current state.¡±
The 80th Army was a mechanized corps with a considerablebat power, but it was no match for the 7th Corps.
Their ownbat power was strong, but there was no way to deal with the attack helicopters of the Army Aviation.
The 80th Army was simr in size but qualitatively inferior.
The supply was almost cut off, so they couldn¡¯t fight properly.
The South Korean army stabbed that weakness and pushed forward with the mechanized brigade that melted Ryu Kyung-soo¡¯s division as the vanguard.
When the news of the 80th Ar
my¡¯s retreat reached Wang Xian, he was furious, and Zhang Min, the State Councilor, protested to the South Korean government.
He personally notified them.
¡°I¡¯ll give you 100 hours to get out of South Koreannd. I can¡¯t guarantee what will happen after that.¡±
Chapter 75: The Captured Siblings
Chapter 75: The Captured Siblings
Since when did Korea have the power to notify China like this?
Zhang Minughed bitterly and then stopped abruptly.
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤You¡¯re crazy.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not me who¡¯s crazy, it¡¯s China who¡¯s squatting on South Koreannd. This is the only warning. If you don¡¯t withdraw your troops within 100 hours, you¡¯ll find out how the North Korean tank division disappeared.¡±
Was he the young man who was groveling next to the president back then?
He was so different that he doubted if he was the same person.
Zhang Min barely sorted out his thoughts and growled.
¡°You¡¯ll hurt yourself if you think of China as North Korea.¡±
¡°Well, from my point of view, they¡¯re no different. They¡¯re just a bigger North Korea.¡±
¡°You¡¯re out of your mind¡¤¡¤¡¤Do you think the 80th Army is all of China?¡±
¡°Sure, the Rocket Force has nearly a thousand nuclear missiles. But the soldiers whomand the Rocket Force are not under yourmand.¡±
¡°If it¡¯s for confronting South Korea, they can easily unify their opinions.¡±
He bit his tongue.
¡°Think about it. North Korea fired 15 nuclear missiles and dropped 40 nuclear warheads on Seoul. But why is Seoul still intact?¡±
¡°That damn Iron Beam.¡±
¡°Yeah, North Korea¡¯s nuclear warheads were all airburst warheads. You know very well about the range of Iron Beam.¡±
He was mocked by his tone and Zhang Min gritted his teeth.
It was true that the air force that was torn apart by the Iron Beam deployed in Taiwan was enormous.
At least 10 or more air brigades had evaporated, and now they had to pull out forces from ind.
They also had to relocate the troops stationed in Xinjiang Uyghur.
Anyway, at this point, there was only one way to destroy the Iron Beam.
Pouring Dongfeng ballistic missiles.
The cost was enough to make him cry, but he had no choice.
¡°Yeah, Iron Beam makes me angry. I told you before, right? You guys are next after Taiwan.¡±
¡°Well, I¡¯m nning to give 20 more Iron Beams to Taiwan this time.¡±
He couldn¡¯t stand hearing that and Zhang Min started to threaten him.
¡°I¡¯ll say it clearly this time. The moment any of your weapons systems enter Taiwan, we¡¯ll consider it a challenge to the entire China.¡±
¡°Really? I¡¯ve already given them 5 railguns and 10 Iron Beams. Wasn¡¯t that a challenge?¡±
He heard a lowugh and Zhang Min exploded.
¡°Why are you doing this! Why are you interfering with our fight! Taiwan is ournd! The two sides are one!¡±
¡°North Korea is the same. So choose one, Taiwan or North Korea.¡±
¡°Are you sane?¡±
¡°One more word about me being crazy or insane and this call is over. And I have Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong in my custody. You have no reason to intervene in North Korea. So don¡¯t bother me and get out.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
Zhang Min was silent.
It was true that the two Kims had disappeared after the battle with the pursuit force.
The 80th Army was also barely holding on in North Korea to find them.
But if he had them in his custody¡¤¡¤¡¤
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤I¡¯ll contact you again. Bring me proof.¡±
¡°I hope you make a good choice.¡±
The call ended and Arma and Bae Sung-min, the chief secretary, came in.
Where he was now was the Prime Minister¡¯s official residence office in Samcheong-dong.
The Blue House, which had been bombed, had been neatly repaired, but he was not the president and he had no intention of using it.
¡°Sir, did you call me?¡±
The chief secretary bowed his head and he didn¡¯t even look at him and ordered.
¡°Tell all the ministers who offered their resignations this time to submit their resignations.¡±
¡°What do you mean¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°They must have been offered ording to the order of acting authority, right? They all refused, so it must have reached the Minister of National Defense.¡±
¡°Yes, that¡¯s correct.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t trust people who don¡¯t want to take responsibility with work.¡±
¡°But sir, if they leave their positions at this time, there will be no suitable candidates¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°I¡¯ll introduce Lucia.¡±
The secretary thought he had heard wrong for a moment.
He had heard that Si Group used artificial intelligence for work, but he also introduced it to government agencies?
¡°Sir, pardon me, but may I say something?¡±
¡°Go ahead.¡±
He got permission and his voice became stronger.
¡°Apany and a country are very different. The country¡¯s policies require coordination andpromise. This is essential for realizing proper democracy¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°Don¡¯t say such obvious things that only appear in middle school textbooks and look at reality. So did you neglect the 60,000 prisoners while coordinating andpromising? Thanks to that, we got criticized by the investigator from the UN.¡±
¡°That¡¯s¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
He had nothing to say.
The number of North Korean prisoners captured by the South Korean army was 58,000.
It was a war that proceeded so hastily that there was no facility to amodate them.
They first dispersed them in public training centers and schools, but felt the need to manage them integrally and started to build facilities in Jeonnam and Gyeongbuk, but there was friction in the process.
The locals strongly opposed it.
There was almost a violent protest despite the martialw, and the officials in charge were severely reprimanded.
The former president was very interested in acquiring titles that looked big and great, but he didn¡¯t care about these things at all.
The ministers under him pushed the responsibility to each other and the administrative system did not work properly.
A investigator from the UN Human Rights Council saw the poor level of food and necessities provided to the prisoners and was appalled.
¨DSouth Korea, a developed country, did not provide proper nutrition and medical services to the wounded. This is a clear vition of the Geneva Convention.
The bureaucrats rushed in and promised to prevent recurrence, but the construction of proper prisoner camps was a mess.
Bae Sung-min, the chief secretary, knew better than anyone else about this situation and he had tried to push it forward, but the president himself had no interest and he couldn¡¯t get the cooperation of the rted ministries.
He continued.
¡°For now, I¡¯ll only apply Lucia to the Ministry of Unification and the prisoner issue. Get ready for that. And get the resignation from the governor of North Korea¡¯s 5th Province.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤Yes.¡±
¡°And you seem to want to quit after finishing your work, but I don¡¯t care about that. Keep doing it.¡±
¡°But sir. It¡¯s customary to serve two¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°Is custom that important? I don¡¯t care who it is as long as they do their job well. And Arma.¡±
¡°Yes, sir.¡±
¡°How many people can we amodate on Terra Ind?¡±
¡°We can amodate more than 200,000 soon. We don¡¯t have electricity yet, but we have a desalination facility that can supply water.¡±
¡°Electricity can be suppliedter, so just finish building it.¡±
The secretary listened to their conversation and fell into doubt.
Was he talking about that ind in the North Pacific that the US ceded?
He had heard that they had established a small country called the United Human Federation, but he had never heard of any facilities there.
¡®Where did they get the materials from?¡¯
Did they transport them with that strange WIG line?
He had questions after questions and he finally spoke to him.
¡°We¡¯ll amodate the prisoners on that ind. I¡¯ve prepared a cargo ship, so send them as soon as the paperwork is done.¡±
¡°Send the prisoners to that ind? Sir, I¡¯m just saying this in case¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
He raised his arm.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s no prisoner abuse. South Korea is so small that everyone is ufortable, so we¡¯re just amodating them there.¡±
¡°What about food and medicine?¡±
¡°There¡¯s a kind-hearted person who will take care of that. You just coordinate with the Ministry of National Defense and prepare to send them.¡±
If he sent the prisoners to that ind, most of the problems would be solved.
There would be a lot of paperwork because it was a foreign country.
He flipped through a few reports.
¡°Food aid to Pyongyang. Arma, tell Russia to bring in food. About 200,000 tons should do.¡±
¡°As you wish, sir.¡±
They disguised the spam produced in Kamchatka Penins as Russian-made.
The Russian government must have received Putin¡¯s order to provide all convenience, so there would be no problem importing it.
The secretary was astonished as he listened to their conversation.
The problems that had been blocked until now were being solved like water flowing.
He waspletely different from the former president who was busy with responsibility shifting.
¨DPyongyang food aid n? You should talk to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
¨DOh¡¤¡¤¡¤Do you think the president should care about such things? I¡¯m a person who draws big pictures.
He could write several books about the absurd words and deeds of the former president, but he decided to bury them in his heart.
Instead, he felt a great interest in him.
Unlike other bureaucrats who were stuck in favoritism, he was handling it like his own work.
Considering that he was a temporary acting authority, it was a remarkable thing.
¡®I guess I should help him.¡¯
He sincerely bowed his head to him.
¡°I¡¯ll carry out your orders as soon as possible.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s work together.¡±
After he left, he gave instructions to Arma.
¡°It¡¯s time to bring them over. How¡¯s their health?¡±
¡°One has lost a lot of weight and the other has gained a lot.¡±
Regr life and nutrition supply were enough to change their body shape.
¡°They might doubt if they¡¯re fake. Leave them in an area that hasn¡¯t been searched yet.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡
A month after the war began, an urgent report came in.
Soldiers from the 1st Corps search team found Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong in a civilian house near Pyongyang.
They were drugged and arrested without even being interrogated and sent to Seoul.
They originally intended to use a helicopter, but there was also the former president¡¯s case, so they used a bus instead.
The Kim family, who had ruled North Korea for decades, were finally captured.
Many other rtives and high-ranking officials were also captured in this war, but none were as important as these two.
And so people flocked to the roads where the bus passed by.
¡°Death! Death!¡±
¡°They must not be spared!¡±
¡°Death penalty! Death penalty!¡±
¡°They must not be spared!¡±
The people of South Korea were moring for the death of the Kim family.
Some people even tried to jump to get a glimpse of Kim Jong-un¡¯s face, but they couldn¡¯t see it because of the tinted windows.
He received an excited report from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that they had captured the two siblings.
¡°Your soldiers must have worked very hard.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t even know how many days we¡¯ve been searching without proper sleep.¡±
¡°Send the soldiers who found them home on a helicopter right away and promote the officers by one rank.¡±
¡°Yes, sir. I¡¯ll take care of that.¡±
¡°What¡¯s your n for the future?¡±
¡°We n to lock them up and monitor them at the military academy after a brief interrogation.¡±
At this point, Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong¡¯s status was not that of prisoners, but of rebels, traitors, and war criminals.
This was because the constitution of South Korea did not recognize the regime of North Korea itself.
However, under internationalw, they were prisoners of war and South Korea had a responsibility toply with it as a member of the UN.
He had no intention of killing them rashly.
He had to extract information from them for a long time.
The news that they had been captured filled South Korean society with joy.
It was amon phenomenon that soldiers lost their morale when their leader was captured.
The guerris who had been almost brainwashed would surely lose their will to fight.
The news that Kim Jong-un had been captured spread all over the world.
The United States and Russia sent messages of relief, while Europe expressed concern for human rights.
And China reacted with disbelief.
¨DI don¡¯t know about anything else, but he lost too much weight. There is a possibility that Korea used a stand-in, so I¡¯ll check it out in person.
The acting president¡¯s answer was simple.
¨DI refuse.
There were a few things that changed when he became the acting president.
First, the National Intelligence Service agents were reced by Presidential Security Service staff.
The security pattern changed from keeping a distance so as not to interfere with his personal life to sticking close to him at close range.
This security included Arma as well.
She was treated as his spouse by many people because she was his partner.
Also, his meals were taken care of by the Cheong Wa Dae management office and his vehicle was changed to a bulletproof one.
His sry was also raised to a levelparable to that of the president, although it didn¡¯t mean much to him.
He gathered his secretaries, security staff, and others and said this:
¡°I¡¯d like to get rid of all these formalities and procedures if I could, but I guess it would be confusing. Instead, I¡¯ll ask you one thing. I hate wasting time more than anything. So please simplify things like formalities and security procedures.¡±
He seemed to be this type of acting president.
The security staff, including the chief, didn¡¯t pay much attention to his words.
It was something that new presidents usually said when they took office.
They probably felt the need to show that they were different from the previous president.
But those people changed their minds as soon as they saw the security staff demonstrate their skills.
They fought terrorists and blocked bullets with their bodies, making the president automatically say that he would follow whatever they suggested after seeing their hardships.
But he was different.
He was not an ordinary person and he had Arma by his side.
He was someone who didn¡¯t really need security.
He reacted indifferently even though the security staff made noises and showed their skills.
¡°Just reduce the procedures by half. I won¡¯t tell you to reduce the number of staff, but you shouldn¡¯t bother me either.¡±
The reason why he reacted like this was because he couldn¡¯t go to his usual cafeteria anymore.
He was the acting president, but he was also the de facto chairman of Si Group.
He had a lot of work to do at the headquarters, but every time he went there, the burly security staff made him ufortable.
They even tried to inspect the ingredients of the cafeteria beforehand and blocked themunicationwork, causing inconvenience to many people.
Eventually, he said one thing:
¡°I¡¯m not the president, I¡¯m just an emergency acting president. Save the real security forter and leave me alone for now.¡±
From the perspective of the security staff, there was no difference between being a president or an acting president.
But after somepromise, they decided to lower the level of security significantly at the headquarters.
Thanks to that, they stopped following him into his office.
The reason why he did this was because he had many secret conversations.
The security staff¡¯s mouths might be tight, but since he was a future person, he felt morefortable when there were no people
around him.
The more eyes and ears there are, the higher the possibility of leakage.
That¡¯s how he was able to have a conversation with Japanese prime minister in peace.
Chapter 76: A Game of Conditions and Secrets
Chapter 76: A Game of Conditions and Secrets
¡°Congrattions, Acting President.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to call me that. It¡¯s not an official title. You can call me Chairman as before. I¡¯m morefortable with that.¡±
He was one of the few people in Korea who had such aplex position.
He was the de facto chairman of Si Group, a member of the National Assembly, the Minister of National Defense, and the Acting President.
¡°My apologies. Anyway, I contacted you to propose the three conditions you mentionedst time.¡±
The three conditions Japan would propose in exchange for sharing the technology of the ion beam fusion reactor.
One was the right to freely navigate the southern seas of Japan, and the other two were about to be said by the Prime Minister.
¡°Before I hear them, I have something I want to propose to you.¡±
¡°What is it? I¡¯ll listen.¡±
¡°Do you know about Terra Ind? It¡¯s an ind in the North Pacific¡¡±
¡°The ind that belongs to Chairman Yu and is the maind of the United Federation.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. Anyway, arge number of people have moved to that ind recently. They are not ordinary people, but prisoners.¡±
¡°I see¡ You moved them to the ind because of the UN¡¯s surveince.¡±
¡°It¡¯s hard to supply materials to the ind because of its nature. I was hoping you could help me.¡±
¡°Exactly how¡?¡±
¡°Provide unlimited food, other necessities, medicine and medical services to the prisoners. How about that?¡±
In other words, he wanted him to pay with money.
Japan¡¯s role in the internationalmunity was often like that, and Prime Minister Ozawa was used to it.
But the scale was too big.
¡°There are currently 60,000 people and we don¡¯t know how many more there will be. That¡¯s too much¡¡±
It was a burden for Japan¡¯s economy to feed 60,000 people.
So Yu Ji-ha added one more condition.
¡°If this condition is epted, I will immediately send Japanese researchers to Sr Fusion. I will share all the data and research process with you.¡±
¡°Hmm¡¡±
Prime Minister Ozawa pondered.
This could turn around public opinion in Japan.
Sharing all the data meant that Japan could soon build a fusion reactor.
It meant securing one of the most reliable future technologies.
The only problem was that the basis of that technology was Yu Ji-ha and Si Group.
The dismissed Self-Defense Forces officers had stirred up public opinion by mentioning the reconnaissance ne incident.
¨DSouth Korea attacked Japan! Therefore, exercising self-defense is a legitimate right!
¨DThe Ozawa regime is trying to give away Japan¡¯s sea to Yu Jiha with a secret agreement! This is an anti-national act!
When news came out that South Korea had shot down a reconnaissance ne, Japan was once again burning with intense anti-Korean sentiment.
Some questioned why they approached a warship of a warring country, but they only repeated that they were attacked like parrots.
The media, who had finally found something to bite South Korea with, reported on this incident enthusiastically.
South Korea itself didn¡¯t seem to care much about this incident because it was at war.
Something decisive was needed to reverse this opinion.
Yu Ji-ha sighed lightly as the answer took too long.
¡°You seem to be deep in thought. I understand. Let¡¯s pretend this never happened¡¡±
If it never happened, the one who would lose was clearly Prime Minister Ozawa.
His position in Japan was shrinking endlessly.
¡°No, no. The condition was to provide supplies for the prisoners on Terra Ind, right?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll specify the items. They¡¯ll be repatriated as soon as the war is over, so it won¡¯t be long.¡±
He didn¡¯t mention a specific date, but Prime Minister Ozawa judged that he couldn¡¯t drag out the war for too long.
Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong had been captured, and Pyongyang was on the verge of falling in front of tens of thousands of drones.
Considering their status in North Korea, it was fair to say that unification was imminent.
The real problem would start from now on.
¡°I ept it. And the third condition is a technology fee. Think of it as amission for receiving data. This applies per fusion reactor¡¡±
A considerable amount was mentioned.
He must really need it desperately to propose such a condition that restricts himself.
Yu Ji-ha was satisfied with his condition.
¡°Good. Then let¡¯s make an official agreement.¡±
This agreement would inevitably be made public and cause quite a stir.
Perhaps the anti-prime minister faction would start acting more actively.
If the prime minister suppressed them, Japan would lean toward pro-Korea, and if not, Japan would be more right-wing and start rearming.
Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t care either way.
The second leader who called Yu Ji-ha was the President of the United States.
He briefly congratted him and went straight to the point.
¡°Let¡¯s put aside the matter of the captured king for now¡ Don¡¯t we have a lot to say to each other?¡±
¡°You have something to ask me, and I have something to demand from you.¡±
¡°You know what? You¡¯re the first person to say that you¡¯re going to demand something from me.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t have anything to lose anymore.¡±
The USFK had withdrawn and most Americans had returned to their country.
The only connection between Korea and the United States was the history of being allies.
And a few US troops that entered Gangwon-do.
¡°¡ I provided you with the data of electronic warfare at the beginning of the war and let you use the military GPS as it is. I also deployed Aegis ships to intercept nuclear missiles. Isn¡¯t that enough for you?¡±
¡°I think I¡¯ve given you enough personal benefits to offset all that and more.¡±
¡°The only thing you provided only to us was the railgun.¡±
He was obviously annoyed that he gave the ion thruster to Russia.
¡°South Korea is the only country that has electrified the railgun besides the United States.¡±
¡°But it¡¯s downgraded. Anyway, I understand that Chairman Yu can¡¯t back down. Let¡¯s try to solve it through dialogue.¡±
Well, I doubt it would be easy.
President McKinley went straight to the core.
¡°North Korea is not a fool. There¡¯s no way all 40 nuclear warheads are defective. I want a clear exnation.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t have an obligation to report everything to the United States.¡±
¡°There have been some countries with that stance so far.¡±
¡°And they all copsed by the United States¡ Is that what you want to say?¡±
¡°Ah, let¡¯s not raise the intensity of the conversation too much. We¡¯re not like that.¡±
¡°It would have been fine if the US troops hadn¡¯t entered Gangwon-do.¡±
President McKinleyughed holding the receiver.
He was obviously annoyed that he had put troops in North Korea¡¯s Gangwon-do without any consultation.
At a nce, it was easy to think that the two countries were allies, and South Korean soldiers also thought so.
But after the USFK withdrew and the defense treaty was nullified, the United States was nothing more than a friendly country.
Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t have any intention of turning the United States into an enemy yet.
¡°So¡ What do you want to demand from me? Get out of the Korean Penins?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right.¡±
¡°But the South Korean War has a deep connection with the United States. The actual end of the war is imminent, but you can¡¯t exclude us.¡±
¡°Do you want to bring up the armistice agreement?¡±
¡°If necessary. I think Chairman Yu has something to offer us that will push us away.¡±
¡°What I¡¯m about to mention now should only be known by yourself. If it leaks out, I guarantee you, the impact will be iparable to anything so far.¡±
¡°¡ You mean something more than what Chairman Yu has done so far. I understand. I¡¯ll listen alone.¡±
He heard a rustling sound and Yu Ji-ha waited for a while.
¡°It¡¯s done. I¡¯m alone in the Oval Office.¡±
¡°What made North Korea¡¯s nuclear warheads ineffective this time was thanks to a new element. We call it anttron.¡±
¡°Anttron¡ Let me guess. Anti-neutron¡¡±
His voice lowered as he confidently guessed.
He must have guessed from the name that this was no joke.
¡°Are you kidding me¡ It suppresses neutrons¡¯ movement? Nuclear reactions?¡±
He guessed right away, which meant he studied hard in his school days.
¡°Nuclear fission and fusion are both suppressed. That¡¯s why it¡¯s called anti-neutron.¡±
¡°¡¡±
He was silent for a long time.
His breathing even became rough.
Well, he must be shocked because he was in a crisis where thousands of nuclear missiles, which were the most powerful force of the United States, lost their meaning.
Just looking at how all permanent members of UN were nuclear powers showed how much influence nuclear weapons had.
But this anttron¡
President McKinley asked urgently.
¡°Who knows about this?¡±
¡°A few researchers at most. There was one more, but he died in an unfortunate ident.¡±
¡°It has to stay that way.¡±
¡°That depends on how America behaves from now on.¡±
¡°Are you threatening me, a American?¡±
¡°You only think about pushing me around. Didn¡¯t you say let¡¯s solve it through dialogue?¡±
¡°Is this something that can be solved by dialogue! Anttron is something that could plunge the world into war!¡±
That¡¯s true.
After World War II, until China attacked Taiwan, the world was rtively peaceful.
There was a consensus among nuclear powers not to cause mutual assured destruction.
If they attacked each other with nuclear weapons, they would also be attacked with nuclear weapons, and ultimately both countries would be destroyed.
So they tried to prevent a nuclear war by establishing various diplomatic channels before that.
But this substance called anttronpletely broke that bnce.
Of course, the United States also tried hard to break the mutual assured destruction.
But neither SDI nor MD had the same effect as anttron, which was the majority opinion.
Who could guarantee that they could perfectly defend against 40 nuclear warheads?
But South Korea actually did it, and as a result, Seoul was safe.
Unlike President McKinley who was excited, Yu Jiha¡¯s voice was calm.
¡°Don¡¯t worry too much. Anttron is quite difficult to make. Even if we run our production facilities for months, we can barely counter North Korea¡¯s nuclear power.¡±
That included China, but it was better not to mention it.
President McKinley seemed to calm down and let out a more stable breath.
¡°Whew¡ I guess the failure of Japan¡¯s nuclear test was also rted¡ Or are you going to say that it was a coincidence that the railgun cruiser tested that day?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll leave it to your imagination.¡±
¡°How much trouble are you going to cause? Don¡¯t you think about the aftermath?¡±
¡°That¡¯s a big deal. You¡¯ll have to be an aplice to prevent the secret from leaking.¡±
¡°Aplice?¡±
¡°We¡¯re going to split China. Help me.¡±
¡°You¡¯re crazy.¡±
¡°Coincidentally, Chairman Zhang also said that. He even added insults.¡±
¡°How much blood do you have to spill to be satisfied? South Korea, which is struggling to fully absorb and unify North Korea, is going to upy Manchuria? You¡¯ll definitely fail.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not saying I¡¯m going to upy it right away. Taiwanes first. The United States also wees Taiwan¡¯splete independence.¡±
¡°Anyway, it¡¯s not possible. This is something that no one in the world will tolerate.¡±
¡°I hope you think carefully. By the way, let me tell you that if today¡¯s n leaks out, I¡¯ll make the same offer to Russia. Of course, anttron too.¡±
¡°That¡¯s war right away.¡±
He warned, but Yu Jiha said indifferently.
¡°Are you going to bomb me with nuclear weapons? South Korea is small, so the poption will decrease drastically.¡±
¡°Even without nuclear weapons, there are other ways.¡±
¡°If we mobilize the carrier strike group, we canpletely blockade South Korea¡¯s sea. It¡¯s no different from choking Korea¡¯s neck if we inspect every export and import ship. It would be almost impossible to break through this with one Kim Gu ship.¡±
¡°Please, please stop.¡±
¡°You won¡¯t join me. Just let me do it.¡±
¡°¡ Let me hear your reason. Why are you doing this?¡±
¡°To survive. China and I are like sworn enemies. One of us has to die.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll mediate.¡±
¡°That mediation didn¡¯t have any effect. You don¡¯t know what they¡¯ll do next after using the Taliban for terror.¡±
It was too twisted from the ck Metal incident.
It was better to cut it with scissors than to untie it now.
¡°So you¡¯re going to destroy them so they can never threaten you again?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll tear them into manageable pieces. Taiwan and Manchuria, Hong Kong Free State, Tibet, Uyghur should be enough.¡±
Even then, thend in the center was stillrge, but it was enough for South Korea to handle.
President McKinley couldn¡¯t continue his words at this crazy idea.
There were some schrs who made such ims sometimes.
But he was the first person who actually tried to do it.
¡®If he was born during World War II, humanity might have been extinct¡¡¯
Anyway, it was too hard for him to handle alone.
¡°I need¡ time.¡±
¡°Please take your time to think about it. And withdraw your troops from Gangwon Province immediately.¡±
With that remark, the US forces stationed at Wonsan Port without permission began to withdraw.
The South Korean soldiers who had been living ufortably with them were puzzled.
¡°Huh? They¡¯re leaving?¡±
¡°They wouldn¡¯t budge even when we asked them to leave, what¡¯s gotten into them?¡±
¡°They must have made some agreement with the president.¡±
¡°Not the president, but the acting authority, you moron.¡±
A disgruntled officer pped his helmet, but the soldier didn¡¯t care.
¡°He¡¯s going to be the president anyway. Oh, look over there, sir! They¡¯re leaving behind some supplies!¡±
¡°Really¡¡±
The supplies left by the US forces were enormous.
The 22nd Division troops stationed at Wonsan Port cautiously approached them, then rushed in after hearing instructions from their superiors.
¡°They said the US ispletely leaving! We have to secure the supplies first!¡±
¡°We should share the good stuff.¡±
¡°Things have been going well since Yu Ji-ha became the president.¡±
The soldiersughed in unison and no one contradicted them.
They recognized Yu Ji-ha as their president, who was visiting two people imprisoned at a military academy.
A building of an army academy located in a certain ce in Gyeonggi Province.
This ce, which was always empty except for regr events, recently received two guests.
Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong.
They held the positions of General Secretary and First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers¡¯ Party of Korea respectively.
They were the royal family and soon-to-be loser rulers of North Korea.
The outside world saw them as co-rulers of North Korea, and that was true.
Kim Yo-jong usually showed a hardline stance externally, while Kim Jong-un appeared with a slightly softened attitude.
It could be called a bad cop good cop tactic, but that only worked once or twice and there weren¡¯t many people who fell for it.
Anyway, they were captured by the South Korean army during the Second Korean War.
Some said they were caught lying unconscious after taking drugs, but the army authorities said they could not confirm that.
They were very important figures, so the security of the academy where they were was very strict.
The perimeter was surrounded by surveince drones, CCTV cameras, and a 3-meter-high wall. Trained police forces guarded the outskirts of the academy.
And near the academy building, army troops armed with live ammunition and armored vehicles monitored the inside and outside.
Escaping was impossible, and anyone who wanted to approach from outside had to go through three levels of checkpoints.
Even Yu Jiha couldn¡¯t be an exception.
¡°This way, sir.¡±
An army colonel led him to a solitary cell.
All the windows had sturdy iron bars and the door was made of iron.
They were specially made for the two guests.
Kim Jong-un had given up on escaping and was lying on his bed.
The colonel left and Yu Ji-ha sat on a chair.
There was bulletproof ss between them that could not be broken by human strength.
¡°You look more like a person after losing some weight.¡±
Yu Ji-ha said a word, but he justy down again.
¡°Did you lose your motivation along with your country? It wasn¡¯t yours in the first ce.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Kim Jong-uny down for a while and then got up and sat on a chair as if he was bored.
¡°You¡¯re a capitalist acting as an authority. Is South Korea so leaderless?¡±
¡°The people chose me. The conversation we¡¯re having now won¡¯t be recorded, so you can answerfortably.¡±
There was a sneer on his lips.
¡°It¡¯s probably some useless offer.¡±
¡°Well, your life is at stake. Do you think it¡¯s useless?¡±
¡°No. I know you guys well. You can¡¯t kill me.¡±
¡°Why can¡¯t we kill you?¡±
¡°If you kill me, the agreement with Europe will be broken. You wouldn¡¯t want that.¡±
¡°The public opinion is so high for killing you. We might resume executions for the first time in 30 years.¡±
¡°Are you being swayed by public opinion without making your own decision? How South Korean of you.¡±
¡°I calcted the benefits and it turned out that killing you is better. China might criticize us, but they won¡¯t bother us anymore. What¡¯s the use of taking your corpse?¡±
¡°¡¡±
He was serious.
Kim Jong-un tensed up and Yu Jiha threw a pile of documents on the table.
¡°This is an indictment prepared by the prosecution. It¡¯s over 1,000 pages long for the first time ever, so you should be proud.¡±
His cheeks turned pale.
¡°They must have attached all kinds of lies.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not finished yet. It will be much longer when we include the concentration camps.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know anything about the concentration camps. The party officials took care of it.¡±
¡°Do you really not know?¡±
Yu Jiha took out hisptop and showed him a video of the concentration camp.
It was a video of the horrible atrocitiesmitted against the prisoners.
Kim Jong-un frowned and closed his eyes.
¡°I don¡¯t know anything about it.¡±
¡°I promise I won¡¯t kill you if you give me the list of prisoners and guards. You must have it since you were in the bunker until the end.¡±
He made this offer because he had made a deal with the UN.
The UN doubted North Korea¡¯s willingness to start a war and thought that South Korea¡¯s preemptive strike was excessive.
But the war had happened and it couldn¡¯t be reversed.
Now, they decided that it was more beneficial to induce North Korea to stabilize rather than to pressure South Korea.
So, under the leadership of the permanent members such as the US and Russia, they proposed one thing.
To hand over the data of North Korea¡¯s political prisoner camps, which were called the worst human rights abuse sites.
China, which had a simr problem with the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, resisted, but they couldn¡¯t go against the trend.
Yu Ji-ha was annoyed by the UN¡¯s interference in South Korean affairs, but he agreed to cooperate.
They promised not to intervene in North Korean issues anymore if he solved this.
There was a long way to go forplete unification, but he couldn¡¯t fill his stomach at once.
Yu Ji-ha leaned his face forward and said.
¡°By the way, I¡¯m making the same offer to your sister. The one who talks first gets to live.¡±
He chuckled.
¡°So you also trade sentences in South Korea? But you won¡¯t get the answer you want.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s see if it really doesn¡¯t work.¡±
Yu Jiha plugged a wireless earphone into his ear.
¡°The moment I take this out of my ear, the soldiers wille in. We¡¯ll announce that youmitted suicide with a hidden drug externally.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Kim Jong-un¡¯s massive body began to tremble.
He had ordered summary executions plenty of times, but he never imagined that he would be subjected to it.
¡°By the way, your sister, whom you trust, has already told me the name of the director of Camp 15. His name is Park Mansul. I¡¯ll have to check the listter.¡±
For the first time, Kim Jong-un¡¯s eyes shook greatly.
Only six people knew the name of Director Park Mansul of Camp 15, and three of them were dead and one had fled across the border.
Yu Ji-ha rested his chin on his hand and casually spoke.
¡°They said they buried them in a pit because they didn¡¯t have enough bullets to kill the prisoners. It¡¯ll be easy to find them if we know where the pit is.¡±
Now sweat began to run down Kim Jong-un¡¯s forehead.
It was clear that Kim Yo-jong was confessing as he said.
When she finished confessing, he would take out his earphone and then it would be summary execution.
Death was approaching him.
Kim Jong-un didn¡¯t want to die.
As long as he lived, he believed that China would somehow get him out.
He had stashed away a lot of wealth in China.
He wouldn¡¯t be able to enjoy luxury and glory as he did in the Republic, but he could livefortably.
But to seize that opportunity, he had to betray his sister.
As he was struggling with this dilemma, Yu Ji-ha calmly recited secrets.
In fact, what he said was based on what Arma had investigated beforehand.
Kim Yo-jong was actually exercising her right to remain silent.
Kim Jong-un couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and shouted.
¡°Stop! Stop! I¡¯ll talk!¡±
¡°What I want is the list of prisoners and guards. Where is it?¡±
¡°I burned everything that was in the bunker and at Residence 40¡under my room¡¡±
¡°Do you mean Nampo Residence? You hid it in an easy ce to find.¡±
Nampo was where the Marines werending and fighting, so they hadn¡¯t secured it yet.
Yu Jiha nodded and Arma deployed an armed Ford.
The Tarant that jumped out of the Ford activated its optical camouge and killed all the forces at Residence 40 nearby.
Then androids were deployed and found a huge amount of documents.
¡¸I have copied all the contents¡¹
Yu Ji-ha got up and took out his earphone.
¡°Thanks for your cooperation.¡±
¡°Hey, you have to keep your promise?¡±
¡°I told you before, right? It¡¯s annoying if China interferes. But I can¡¯t hand you over either, so what you have to do is prove your value.¡±
He said he would kill him if he didn¡¯t cooperate, so Kim Jong-un swallowed his dry saliva.
He didn¡¯t know much about Yu Ji-ha¡¯s conflict with China, so he had no choice but to make this judgment.
In fact, Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t care much about what China said.
He was going to split them up anyway.
¡°Now the investigation will begin in earnest, so cooperate well. Eat well. And exercise a little.¡±
¡°Y-yeah¡¡±
The dictator who had nothing to fear was groveling.
Yu Jiha looked at his mouth and thought about his future.
Would he end up like this after hepletely annihted the gue?
He couldn¡¯t tell.
It was impossible to predict 70 yearster and he wasn¡¯t afraid of his downfall.
¡®But¡¡¯
He hoped that no matter what government came in, they wouldn¡¯t stop him from leaving to find the prophet¡¯s hometown.
It was the duty of all mankind to find the hometown of the prophet who helped prevent the extinction of humanity.
Yu Ji-ha left the academy and contacted
his chief of staff.
¡°Tell the Marines to secure Nampo as soon as possible. There are documents at Residence 40 nearby.¡±
¡°Yes! I¡¯ll contact the Joint Chiefs of Staff right away.¡±
Everything went smoothly when he stepped in.
Baeseongmin had be Yu Ji-ha¡¯s fervent follower without realizing it.
Chapter 77: Unraveling Tensions
Chapter 77: Unraveling Tensions
The information that Kim Jong-un had started to reveal was leaked to the UN.
The countries, including the permanent members of the Security Council, were very satisfied with this information.
It showed how the Kim family had ruled North Korea for so long.
Moreover, the data on the prison camps perfectly justified the unification of Korea led by South Korea.
As a result, the resolution condemning South Korea¡¯s invasion of North Korea, proposed by China, was discarded.
The internationalmunity tacitly agreed to the unification of the Korean penins.
The inspectors sent by the UN returned one by one, and only the investigation on the human rights of the prisoners and North Korean residents was nned to continue.
Of course, South Korea had already transferred all the prisoners to Terra Ind, so there was no suspicion.
They could not investigate Terra Ind either, because it was the territory of the United Human Federation.
The United Human Federation did not join the UN, so they had no right to investigate.
Because of this thoroughness, some people in the UN General Assembly wondered if South Korea was abusing the prisoners.
¡ªThey must be hiding something.
¡ªThe acting president Yu Ji-ha should quickly rify this.
Unexpectedly, Japan stepped in.
Japanese diplomats testified that they did not find any evidence of prisoner abuse on Terra Ind.
¡°We are currently providing food, medicine, and other supplies for 60,000 people. We receive a simr amount of garbage.¡±
¡°The atmosphere on the ind is peaceful, and the expressions of the North Korean prisoners who unload the supplies are rtively bright. They seemed to gain weight day by day.¡±
So far so good, but one diplomat mentioned the facilities on the ind.
¡°Terra Ind was discovered only a few months ago, but it had decent facilities. Surprisingly, most of the facilities seemed to be made of ck metal.¡±
China and EU, who could not even see ck metal, made prisoner camps with ck metal?
The atmosphere in the assembly became uneasy.
The diplomat who made this testimony was immediately recalled by the Japanese government.
It was not known what happened afterwards, but he was sure that he would never work as a diplomat again.
As Japan¡¯s rtionship with Terra Ind became known to the world, Japanese right-wingers strongly protested.
¡ªWhy do we have to provide supplies? This is impossible.
¡ªLet¡¯s strike down the Ozawa regime that only does good things for Korea!
On the other hand, Koreansughed at them.
¡ªWhat did they do wrong this time to be suckers who provide supplies and import garbage?
¡ªThose Japanese have always been like that.
¡ªThey probably attacked with reconnaissance nes and got hit back. They should learn their lesson after being sanctioned so much.
¡ªPlease stop picking fights. We are busy enough dealing with North Korea.
In fact, South Korea was too busy with North Korea¡¯s conquest to care about Japan.
Among them, the northward advance of the 7th Division received the most attention.
This huge mechanized division pushed back China¡¯s 80th Army that entered North Korea and focused on advancing northward.
Commander Li Hua ordered a counterattack after being chased for too long.
¡°If we hit their salient point, we can slow down their advance! Mobilize all avable forces!¡±
But that was a dream.
The K-2A tanks armed with ck metal were stronger than imagined.
They achieved an overwhelmingbat ratio against China¡¯s 99-type tanks, not North Korea¡¯s tin cans, and pushed forward.
When two battalions melted away in a small-scale rotation, Commander Li Hua panicked.
¡°Were 99-type tanks so weak?¡±
The tanks were weak, but armor-piercing shells had a bigger share.
Armor-piercing shells made of ck metal prated any frontal armor of existing tanks in one shot.
Even if world-ss tanks came instead of 99-type tanks, the situation would not have changed.
As the entire 80th Army faced copse, Commander Li Hua decided that further resistance was meaningless and began to flee.
Around this time, opinions about the end point of offensive came up in Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
¡°I think we should stop our offensive at Yalu River.¡±
¡°We can¡¯t cross into China¡¡±
But Yu Ji-ha gave a different order after hearing the report.
¡°We have to go at least until Dandong.¡±
The generals in JCS opened their mouths wide.
¡°Are you thinking about war with China¡?¡±
¡°That¡¯s absolutely impossible!¡±
¡°Calm down. I didn¡¯t say we should go to war with China. I just said we should go in because they invaded ournd.¡±
South Korea ims that the entire Korean penins and its affiliated inds are its territory.
ordingly, China¡¯s 80th Army invaded its territory.
Yu Ji-ha looked around at the generals who lost their words and said.
¡°It¡¯s just a small security force, so go in ande out quickly. I¡¯ll allow some skirmishes, but no esction.¡±
Just a little bit of provocation would do.
Meanwhile, Pyongyang, which had a poption of nearly 3 million, was on the verge of falling under the joint attack of 100,000 troops and 30,000 drones.
The fall here meant the end of organized resistance.
The northward advance of the 7th Division did not stop.
Theypletely pushed back the 80th Army and reached the Yalu River.
It was a good performance to fill their canteens with the river water, but some of the units stationed in Sinuiju crossed into China.
They crushed the rice fields in Dandong and a mop-up operation ensued, and the 80th Army was defeated and scattered.
China, who learned that South Korea had entered itsnd, protested fiercely, but Korea did not care much.
¡ªThe 80th Army came all the way to Pyongyang, and they are making a fuss over crossing a little bit ofnd?
¡ªIt was a happening that happened during the battle.
China was very angry, but they could not turn South Korea into an enemy while carrying out thending operation in Taiwan, so they swallowed their anger.
And thending operation in Taiwan, which was called thergest in history, failed.
The rear support from the United States and the weapon support from South Korea shone.
In this battle, nearly 30,000 troops and dozens of warships evaporated, and they lost the capacity to conduct naval operations anymore.
The war was not dered over, but it was clear that China had lost its strength to continue its offensive.
There were sporadic naval battles in the Taiwan Strait, but not on arge scale, and there was no air intrusion by fighter jets.
The use of nuclear missiles was considered until the end, but those who held power in China gave up for fear of full-scale intervention by the United States.
They were already condemned by various countries for North Korea¡¯s nuclear missileunch, and public opinion waspletely tilted towards Korea.
If they used nuclear missiles and failed to upy Taiwan, then China itself would shake.
Those who held power in China shed tears and quietly withdrew their troops.
The cross-strait war that broke out in October 2027 ended in July 2028.
Economists calcted that both countries suffered huge losses.
China alone spent more than 10 trillion yuan on war expenses, and the actual damage was dozens of times that.
The war continued for several months and civil unrest continued because of it.
The riots of the discriminated farmers spread from coastal cities to ind cities, and China had no power to suppress them.
The Chinese economy copsed due to the prolonged war and riots.
The world no longer treated China as G2.
And Taiwan¡¯s damage was much worse than China¡¯s.
Most of the cities were bombed and industrial bases such as semiconductor factories were brutally destroyed.
They managed to block it, but they were in a mess.
The UN and the United States promised support, but it did not bring back the cities that turned into ashes.
As such, when three countries in East Asia were involved in a war, the world economy swayed and a crisis hit.
It was not panic, but an economic crisis worse than the subprime crisis swept the world.
Japan achieved a huge amount of exports due to war speciality.
They said that Japan would make money when there was a war in Korea, but East Asia as a whole was swept away, so the profits were enormous.
They offset the economic sanctions of various countries and still had enough left over, so Japan enjoyed prosperity.
Taking advantage of this gap, extreme right-wing remarks began to pour out.
They lost their reconnaissance ne and could not say anything. They should not be like that.
¡ªArticle 9 of the Constitution should be amended and re-armed. They lost their reconnaissance ne and could not say anything. They should not be like that.
¡ªChina has lost its strength, and Korea is at war. Japan can be the leader of East Asia.
The poprity of the Ozawa regime was at its worst, and extreme right-wing parties gained poprity by raising their voices.
They imed that Korea should be held responsible for shooting down their reconnaissance ne.
Korea could not care much about them because they were busy with internal crackdowns.
It was not easy for a country with a poption of 50 million to absorb 20 million people.
Nevertheless, the economy did not copse because the exchange rate was maintained somehow.
The won-dor exchange rate, which soared to remind people of IMF in early stages of war, gradually stabilized over time.
This was a very unusual thing, and economists issued a report that Yoo Ji-ha yed a big role in it.
¡ªKorea¡¯s creditworthiness is maintained and investment is not withdrawn because Yu Ji-ha is there.
¡ªSr fusion seeded in operating ion beam fusion reactor for 300 seconds. It will achieve resultsparable tomercial operation by the end of the year.
¡ªDozens of countries are seeking to buy drones that showed their power in Pyongyang street battles. In local wars, how many high-tech drones you have determines the winner.
¡ªStarfieldunched amercial ion thruster. Now all aircraft and ships have to be redesigned for ion thrusters.
¡ª SouthKorea will not sink easily as long as Yoo Ji-ha is there. The only variable is North Korea, which has a high possibility of holding back until the end.
Most economists were concerned about the North Korean risk.
South Korea only dered that it would absorb North Korea, but it did not even solve the debt of 16 billion dors.
However, since Yu Ji-ha was the acting president, many expected that he would have something.
Thanks to this, the price of North Korea¡¯s bonds in the international futures market was close to face value.
Of course, this amount was enough for a country like South Korea to handle.
But China pushed in a new bill.
They were in urgent need of money after spending a lot of war expenses.
¡ªChina has provided a lot of aid to North Korea since the 2000s. Most of it is free, but loans are also included. If Korea wants to absorb North Korea, it must also inherit this 10 billion dors.
The fundamental reason why North Korea could maintain its extremely closed economic system was here.
It was a valid im, and the acting president Yu Ji-ha agreed.
¡ªWait a little while Ipare the data inside North Korea.
¡ªThe payment deadline has passed. Dere default if you don¡¯t pay right away.
The rtionship between the two countries deteriorated to the worst as he refused Kim Jong-un¡¯s interview on top of the bad feelings.
Yu Ji-ha demanded that Kim Jong-un liquidate his assets in China, and China refused.
¡ªWe can¡¯t give it unless it¡¯s Kim Jong-un himself.
But bringing him to China was impossible in the first ce.
Everyone thought that this time Yu Ji-ha had no choice but to bow his head.
Where would he get 10 billion dors all of a sudden, unless he was hit by a money bomb?
China seemed to have been waiting for this situation and suggested that they would dy the repayment if they lifted all sanctions.
Of course, Yu Ji-ha rejected this offer.
Russia and Germany readily lent him money.
¡ªRussia is ready to help South Korea anytime.
Germany not only lent money on the condition of installing a prototype fusion reactor of sr fusion, but also decided to buy North Korea¡¯s bonds.
Yu Ji-ha formally expressed his gratitude to Russia and Germany.
¡ªWe will build a full-scale economic cooperation with Russia and Germany.
As soon as this deration came out, the stock markets of both countries, which had been falling underground, stabilized considerably.
On the contrary, China, who received 10 billion dors, was gloomy.
Theypletely severed their rtionship with South Korea and had to let go of North Korea.
Some people said that they got the money, but in the long run, it was rather a loss.
¡ªThey should have used Kim Jong-un as bait to improve rtions with Korea, but they were too hasty.
¡ªCommissioner Zhang Min is too angry and does not help China¡¯s interests.
Thus, under the leadership of Wang Xian, Commissioner Zhang Min was ousted.
He proposed anew.
¡ªI will liquidate Kim Jong-un¡¯s hidden assets and return them to the Korean government. Please visit China to discuss the Dandong invasion incident as well.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s reaction was this.
Chapter 78: Antitron Unveiled
Chapter 78: Antitron Unveiled
Chapter 78: Antitron Unveiled
The Second Korean War changed Korean society a lot.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were mobilized for the war, receiving meager sries. This led to a strong demand for better treatment of them.
Especially when foreign media such as CNN revealed the wages of the South Korean soldiers, the impact was huge.
¡°500 dors. I can¡¯t believe it. You were sent to the battlefield for a mere 500 dors. Don¡¯t you feel resentful?¡±
A wounded soldier said this.
¡°I was unlucky that the war broke out while I was in service. But I contributed to the unification and I have something to brag about, so I don¡¯t feel bad.¡±
¡°What do you have to brag about?¡±
¡°I rode a tank to the Yalu River and came back. I even drank the water there. It was sewage.¡±
The reporter nodded and asked again.
¡°You earned honor. But don¡¯t you think you should demandpensation from the government? 500 dors is less than the allowance of a US soldier.¡±
¡°Well¡the president¡I mean, Representative Yu Ji-ha said he would give us permanent residency in the United Human Federation.¡±
¡°Permanent residency? On Terra Ind in the North Pacific? There¡¯s nothing there.¡±
¡°I heard that they built a lot of facilities there. They said we can live there from next March.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t believe it.¡±
As he said, the soldiers who directly participated in the war were automatically granted permanent residency in the United Federation.
The public dismissed the United Human Federation and Terra Ind as toys for the rich, but in reality, something was progressing steadily there.
It was exposed by Japan, and the interest in Terra Ind increased.
¡ªDoesn¡¯t that mean they have enough infrastructure to amodate tens of thousands of prisoners?
¡ªI saw an article from a Japanese magazine that said the prisoners were fat.
¡ªEven if they have enough supplies, how can they build infrastructure so fast¡
¡ªI saw a post on Reddit that said the whole facility was made of ck metal. If you look at it from a warship, you can see buildings popping up in a day.
¡ªDoes ck metal grow there?
¡ªThere¡¯s also a rumor that there¡¯s a huge deposit nearby. Anyway, they chose a good location.
¡ªIt really looks like they made an ind with a spaceship.
¡ªFuck Yu Jiha¡¯s spaceship ownership theory. When will this end?
¡ªHe¡¯ll reveal it after he unifies the earth as president. He¡¯ll say he did it all.
¡ªLol
Despite being in the middle of a war, conversations like this were everywhere.
This meant that South Korea¡¯s situation was not that desperate.
The prices went up a bit, but exports and imports were steady, and especially the dependence on China dropped sharply.
They couldn¡¯t import Chinese agricultural products for almost a year, so they gave up on them.
Above all, what made people endure was hope.
North Korea was gone, so there was no more provocation or nuclear threat.
Also, as Si Group announced the progress of their future projects, South Koreans dreamed of a better future.
-Boston Dynamics is also mass-producing Lucia. The era of androids hase.
-If they put artificial skin on them, they look like humans. I¡¯m really looking forward to it.
-Hey, how long do you think it will take for an android Lucia toe down to one car price?
-They said they wouldunch it at 500 million won. It¡¯s impossible for individuals to have it, maybe some organizations will order it for promotion.
-We need to establish like human rights to robot rights for our Lucia-chan. They shouldn¡¯t be treated harshly.
-There¡¯s a separate contract for that. If you treat them badly, the contract will be automatically terminated and the AI will be deleted.
-I want to take Lucia to Terra Ind and drive around when the war is over.
-They say the scenery there is amazing¡
However, there were also negative issues.
It was mostly economic, as they printed a lot of government bonds and tightened their belts, but still ran out of money.
It was good that they pushed out the North Korean regime, but feeding the residents was no joke.
The UN and other international organizations, as well as the US and Russia, generously supported surplus agricultural products, but there was a limit.
It would get better when control was lifted and reconstruction began, but for now South Korea had no choice but to feed them.
When the financial officials screamed, Yu Ji-ha held a cab meeting and ordered all state agencies to review their finances.
¡°I will not tolerate any more waste of taxes. Upload this year¡¯s budget expenditure details to Lucia and have them reviewed. If you don¡¯t pass, I¡¯ll reflect it in next year¡¯s budget.¡±
Here Lucia refers to the fund management program provided by Si Metaverse.
This AI, specialized in tracking money flows, monitors the taxes used by the government down to 10 won.
It was applied to the Ministry of Unification for less than a month, and it exposed all kinds of absurd ns and reckless financial management, resulting inwsuits against high-ranking officials, including the minister.
Yu Ji-ha Jiha pushed a report to the minister whoined of injustice.
¡°Thismittee has been continuing its grandiose task ofpiling a joint dictionary of North and South Korea for 24 years. But do you have any results?¡±
The Minister of Unification handed him a not-so-thick dictionary.
¡°If I have to tell you with this dictionary¡¡±
¡°Don¡¯t shove me an unfinished dictionary. And does it make sense to spend 70 billion won on editing one dictionary? You said you spent 1 billion won this year to maintain the office. What are the 15 staff members there doing?¡±
When he looked inside the office through a drone, it was empty.
The minister finally bowed his head.
¡°I have nothing to say.¡±
¡°I¡¯m closing the office as of this time. And find the work records of the office staff for 24 years and report them to me.¡±
The minister¡¯s face turned pale at the words of finding and reporting the work records for 24 years.
There was no such record.
Yu Ji-ha emphasized to him.
¡°If there is no work record, I will assume that you did not work and charge you for the cost. And you better find awyer.¡±
This kind of thing happened everywhere, and the government agencies were busy making the data to submit.
Some of them ignored it halfway and were called by Yu Ji-ha and got smashed.
There was even a president whomitted suicide after being severely criticized.
The sound of death¡¯s dance was heard from the parliament and the media, but Yu Ji-ha did not budge an inch.
¡°From now on, if you need more than 10,000 won in finance, you have to submit a n to Lucia. And I warn you, don¡¯t try to get away with it. I will track down the waste of taxes even if I have to stop the work.¡±
The results were posted on the Blue House website.
People realized how wasteful the government was with their finances.
-A sry of 100 million won for an employee who works less than 10 hours a week? Are you kidding me?
-If you give money to a civic group, is that a civic group? It¡¯s a controlled group.
-They should all spit out the money.
People were relieved, but also worried about the future.
There would be reforms for now, but there was no guarantee that it would continue.
-What if the next president reverses everything?
-The war will end and martialw will be lifted, then we¡¯ll have presidential and parliamentary elections¡
When the president is vacant, the acting authority takes over the duties, but an election must be held within 60 days.
But South Korea couldn¡¯t hold an election because of martialw.
So the members of parliament kept asking Yu Ji-ha to lift martialw whenever they had a chance.
The surviving veterans gave interviews like this to the media.
¡°He¡¯s shaking up the government too much. It¡¯s true that some agencies were somewhat reckless in their management, but this can be corrected through audits.¡±
¡°Yu Ji-ha¡¯s acting authority pointed out that the Audit Office didn¡¯t work at all.¡±
¡°We can do better from now on. Anyway, he¡¯s not the president, he¡¯s the acting authority. He should only focus on maintaining the status quo, but he¡¯s turning the whole Republic of South Korea upside down.¡±
People watched that interview and realized.
As soon as Yu Ji-ha stepped down, the government would return to normal.
Some were dissatisfied with the members of parliament who popped up and raised their voices without doing anything during the war.
-What did they do during the war? They just begged to be sent to Pyongyang.
-Yu Ji-ha did the war, but they look like they¡¯re going to take it all.
-We voted for them, what can we do?
-I wish Yu Ji-ha Jiha would keep acting as the authority and get rid of them all.
-Then there¡¯s no answer but a coup d¡¯etat?
Amidst this pressure from all sides, Curtis B. McKinley, the US president, notified his visit to Korea.
It was surprising that he visited during wartime, but also the number of officials who apanied him was no joke.
The members of parliament dreamed of spotlight, but there was almost no time allocated for parliament in his one-week visit schedule.
They raised their voices saying that he shouldn¡¯t push for such things when he was about to hand over power soon.
¡°He¡¯s going to hand over power soon. What kind of deep discussion can he have with him? We need to postpone the schedule.¡±
¡°The US requested it.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Then there was nothing to say.
The US president¡¯s visit to South Korea is usually very short, about one night and two days.
It¡¯s a busy position and South Korea¡¯s importance is rtively low, so it can¡¯t be helped.
But this time Curtis B. McKinley¡¯s visit schedule was a whopping week long.
Considering that it was wartime, and that South Korea¡¯s leader was not a president but an acting authority, it was impossible.
It¡¯s hard to have a serious discussion with someone who will soon give up power in a logical sense.
There were all kinds of spections from the fact that the US set up such a schedule.
¡ªThe president thinks Yu Ji-ha will seize power in the future.
¡ªEven so, it¡¯s too early. A week is enough time to do more things.
¡ªMaybe he¡¯s wary of the close rtionship between Russia and South Koreately.
¡ªHe could have warned him instead of spending a week. It¡¯s too long.
Some of the US intellectuals were mistaken that the rtionship between the US and Korea was as close as before.
South Korea did not receive much support from the US during the Second Korean War.
Of course, it would have been harder without US support.
It was obvious that without information at the beginning of the war, support from hospital ships, and permission for military GPS use, Korean troops would have suffered significant damage.
Also, if it weren¡¯t for food exported from the US, there would have been a lot of starvation in the upied areas, ording to a research result.
But the oue would have been the same, so South Koreans no longer felt dependent on the US.
Even in this visit, there were such words.
¡ªOur acting authority is a busy person. Isn¡¯t a week too long? Just do one night and two days and get out of here like before.
¡ªHe¡¯ll probably tour Si Group and go. They said they released a prototype of an android Lucia. He¡¯ll probably touch that and go.
¡ª-He evacuated all Americans as soon as the war started. Is it okay now?
¡ªAlso, if he¡¯s going to be annoying like before, I wish he¡¯d just leave with his cronies.
¡ªNow that I think about it, Russia is an angel. They supported us with transport nes and food, and they didn¡¯t even set any conditions when they lent us money.
¡ªRussia is happy that we¡¯re unified because they¡¯re thinking ofying gas pipelines.
¡ªIt¡¯s not bad for us either. The price will go down by 70% or less.
¡ªWhen we¡¯re unified, won¡¯t we share a border with Russia?
¡ªThat¡¯s not the problem, it¡¯s that if you enlist now, you might have to serve in Samjiyon or Gaema teau.
¡ªIt starts at minus 20 degrees in winter there lol
¡ªAh fuck.
Anyway, McKinley¡¯s visit proceeded as nned.
Normally, the US president should be treated as a state guest and the highest honor should be given.
But Yu Ji-ha¡¯s acting authority skipped most of the honors because of the war.
He didn¡¯t even go to the airport himself and sent another minister.
It was a serious breach of etiquette considering the status of the US president, but it couldn¡¯t be helped because of the war.
So McKinley met Yu Jiha at the Samcheong-dong residence.
¡
¡°This is our second time, right?¡±
¡°We met once at Camp David.¡±
¡°I asked you toe with me then¡ I don¡¯t know how it turned out like this.¡±
¡°That offer is still valid.¡±
¡°Well, it¡¯s too risky.¡±
¡°If you refuse, there¡¯s no need to talk for long.¡±
McKinley smiled faintly as he looked at the handsome Korean young man.
¡°Did we have this kind of conversation back then?¡±
¡°The thing I hate the most is wasting time and inefficiency.¡±
¡°I know that. That¡¯s why I came right away without having a working-level meeting. Let¡¯s negotiate from the top down.¡±
Usually diplomacy is not done like Yu Ji-ha did.
They cautiously check each other¡¯s intentions and positions, contact each other, and narrow down their opinions at the working level.
The summit meeting is just a process of stamping.
But Yu Ji-ha had spent most of his life as a soldier and was used to that method.
He could have gotten coaching from Arma on diplomacy if he wanted to, but he didn¡¯t need to do that now.
He just had to match the other side.
McKinley leaned back in his chair.
¡°First of all, I want to tell you that there was a fierce debate among my staff about this proposal. It was that intense.¡±
¡°You had a lot of opposition even for splitting China, huh?¡±
¡°China was definitely threatening. Buttely they¡¯re suffering from post-war syndrome. Several think tanks spected that China would never challenge the US again.¡±
¡°So you¡¯re satisfied with this.¡±
He said with a difficult face.
¡°Representative Yu, broaden your perspective. What we have to do now is minimize the post-war syndrome. If China splits, there will be an economic depression. It means the world economy will split.¡±
China built an economy second only to the US with its huge poption.
Its influence on the world was no joke, so much so that there was a saying that if China stopped, the world stopped.
South Korea had started to get out of China sincest year and made significant progress.
But that was the result of pushing ahead with the pressure of rising prices.
The US could never do that like South Korea did, and they didn¡¯t even want to do that in the first ce.
There was no reason to crush them as before when they couldn¡¯t challenge their country anymore.
But South Korea¡¯s, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s position was different.
¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like our opinions will narrow down.¡±
McKinley looked at Yu Ji-ha who buried himself in his chair with disappointment in his eyes and said.
¡°Let me change the topic for a moment. We discussed several things this time. One of them was about your identity.¡±
¡°My identity? I¡¯m curious how much you found out.¡±
¡°Ah, nothing too impressive. But it¡¯s definitely strange. If you look closely at your actions so far, you can¡¯t help but doubt if you¡¯re really an ordinary businessman and politician.¡±
¡°Are you saying I¡¯m an alien or something?¡±
¡°Not quite, but you¡¯re certainly a very peculiar person. So I can¡¯t help but ask.¡±
He had sessfully led the Second Korean War and showed amazing skills in removing obstacles one by one.
He was making a dangerous substance like Anttron, which had a huge impact on the world economy, and now he wanted to split China.
Who could guarantee that the US would not be his target in the future?
Therefore, some US intelligence agencies argued that Yu Ji-ha should be naturalized or assassinated in the worst case.
Of course, McKinley did not ept that argument, but he couldn¡¯t help feeling uneasy.
Was Yu Ji-ha really likely to be an enemy of the US?
¡°Your statement just now was quite dangerous.¡±
¡°In what way?¡±
¡°It sounds like you¡¯re dering that you have no choice but to antagonize me.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry if it sounded like that. There¡¯s only one thing I sincerely want.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Peace for humanity.¡±
¡°¡¡±
He almostughed.
Usually the word peace is preceded by the word world, but it was somewhat unexpected to mention humanity.
Well, this wasn¡¯t important.
McKinley lowered his voice even though there was no one around.
¡°If you do one thing for me, I can trust you. No, the whole US will trust you.¡±
¡°You¡¯re suggesting that I be an American. As I said before, it would be hard to handle.¡±
¡°Does that mean you¡¯re going to do something hard to handle?¡±
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡±
The president¡¯s eyes narrowed.
¡°I¡¯ll tell you in advance, you can¡¯t disclose that Anttron thing.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no such thing as absolute in this world.¡±
¡°Do you know what happened to Japan?¡±
¡°They¡¯re doing quite well despite the sanctions. The misfortune of others is the happiness of oneself.¡±
The world economy was so depressed these days that sanctions were not very effective.
And the US had taken away semiconductors and cars from South Korea.
It wasn¡¯t for nothing that they were suffering from a severe depression.
South Korea¡¯s main exports were not receable items, but new materials and technologies such as ck metal.
Sanctioning them would be like shooting themselves in the foot.
McKinley sighed with frustration.
¡°The US and South Korea have been allies for decades.¡±
¡°They were allies. And that doesn¡¯t mean a dependent rtionship. You¡¯ve listened to us for decades, isn¡¯t that enough?¡±
¡°So now you want to establish an equal rtionship?¡±
¡°It¡¯s hard because there¡¯s such a difference in size. But we can try.¡±
¡°¡¡±
The US¡¯s original n was to maintain its influence in Korea without letting go.
But it turned out that this was impossible.
Korea had decided to walk its own path after absorbing North Korea.
They were confident enough to handle the aftermath of the war, which was no joke.
It was time to warn them sharply at this point.
McKinley straightened his posture.
¡°What I¡¯m going to say now can be seen as the official position of the US government.¡±
¡°Go ahead.¡±
¡°The US does not agree with your opinion. The dangerous proposal to split China will not be epted, and Anttron must never be disclosed.¡±
¡°You can¡¯tpromise on anything.¡±
¡°We have prepared a three-stage boycott, but we won¡¯t start it right away. We can negotiate with the next government.¡±
Is this it?
Yu Ji-ha looked incredulous.
¡°Do you think you can give up on me with this?¡±
After the meeting, there were not only tours of Si Group¡¯s facilities and androids, and nuclear fusion tests, but also a schedule to look around Pyongyang.
The US was confident that Yu Ji-ha would kneel down.
¡°I won¡¯t answer that.¡±
It was hard to deal with him when he came at him instead of being intimidated by economic sanctions.
¡®He¡¯s definitely smart, but strange.¡¯
The US is not Japan.
The US boycott is so harsh that it¡¯s impossible to withstand unless it¡¯s China or Russia.
Korea was building an independent economy, but it was still under the influence of the US.
He warned him this much, so he wouldn¡¯t dare to announce Anttron.
McKinley stood up.
¡°All the schedules after this are canceled. Let me know through the official diplomatic channel if you change your mind.¡±
Saying tomunicate through the official diplomatic channel, not the hotline, was an expression of his will not to ept him easily.
Yu Ji-ha looked at him as he stood up.
¡°I understand.¡±
¡°Let me give you some advice. You¡¯re making too many enemies. It¡¯s going to be hard for you to handle that alone someday.¡±
¡°Thank you for your advice.¡±
He didn¡¯t look grateful at all.
McKinley boarded Air Force One surrounded by security guards.
He felt that the whole of South Korea, including the media, was puzzled.
Yu Jiha would suffer from a lot of pressure from now on.
But he didn¡¯t know.
As soon as he returned home, Yu Ji-
ha held a press conference and announced Anttron.
-Let me introduce you. A new substance that suppresses all nuclear reactions, Anttron.
¡°¡¡±
As his aides gasped in horror, McKinley covered his eyes with his hand and groaned.
¡°Can we handle this?¡±
Chapter 79: Riot at Gwanghwamun
Chapter 79: Riot at Gwanghwamun
¡
The press conference was over and the whole world, including South Korea, was shocked.
They imed to suppress neutrons and prevent nuclear reactions.
The effective range was 500 meters.
That meant that if an antitron exploded within 500 meters, all nuclear weapons and reactors would be scrap metal.
This announcement was too shocking to cause any immediate reactions.
The leaders of each country had canceled all their schedules and entered into meetings.
Among the foreign media, CNN was the representative who got an exclusive interview with the acting authority.
¡°So¡ you¡¯re saying that if this bomb goes off, it will suppress all nuclear reactions nearby?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right.¡±
¡°I¡¯m really curious about the principle, but I have a feeling that my brain won¡¯t understand it even if I hear it. Was it this substance that stopped North Korea¡¯s nuclear missiles?¡±
¡°We sessfully intercepted all 40 nuclear warheads and turned them into scrap metal.¡±
¡°What about Japan¡¯s nuclear test?¡±
¡°Well, I think there¡¯s a misunderstanding, so let me tell you. We have nothing to do with Japan¡¯s nuclear test.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you just introduce a substance that suppresses nuclear reactions?¡±
¡°Do you think we fired a missile? There was a Japanese Self-Defense Force fleet nearby.¡±
¡°Oh, I see.¡±
The reporter didn¡¯t seem to know that Kim Gu-ham¡¯s test drive had taken ce then and quickly moved on.
In the interview with CNN, Yu Ji-ha dered that he would not provide antitrons to other countries.
¡°I¡¯m well aware that the international security is supported by the bnce of nuclear powers. I have no intention of shaking this bnce. At the same time, I won¡¯t tolerate any enemy countries threatening South Korea. All nuclear threats against South Korea are invalid as of today.¡±
It would be a relief if he really didn¡¯t provide antitrons to anyone else.
But not many people believed Yu Ji-ha¡¯s words.
President McKinley of the United States, who had told him to go through official diplomatic channels, was the first to pick up the phone.
¡°You¡¯re ignoring my words, huh? Can you handle this?¡±
¡°I think I told you, I don¡¯t want to be an enemy of America. You¡¯re the one who¡¯s getting angry right now.¡±
¡°How can I trust someone who announces something without consulting anyone?¡±
¡°Did I really not consult anyone? I trusted America more than anyone else and shared the railgun and even the existence of antitrons. But America doesn¡¯t trust me.¡±
It was clear that Russia didn¡¯t know either by looking at their reaction.
President McKinley pressed his temples with his fingers and asked.
¡°¡What are you going to do?¡±
¡°Nothing will change.¡±
¡°From now on, if a reactor stops operating, South Korea will be suspected.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no idiot who would fire a missile without knowing anything. It¡¯s just that South Korea has a different kind of nuclear weapon.¡±
¡°So you¡¯re saying that you¡¯re not a nuclear power, but you can¡¯t be attacked recklessly, so you¡¯re effectively a nuclear power?¡±
¡°I was thinking of withdrawing from the NPT, but I¡¯m d I didn¡¯t.¡±
He almost blurted out FUCK.
But when he thought about it, nothing really changed.
As long as antitrons didn¡¯t leak out, America¡¯s nuclear superiority wouldn¡¯t change.
As long as he cooperated with Yu Ji-ha, he could still maintain his position as a superpower.
But if he imposed sanctions, America would suffer a great damage.
There was nothing more terrible than rogue states like Russia having antitrons.
President McKinley smiled bitterly.
¡®I didn¡¯t expect him to announce this¡¡¯
He thought the dictator who liked to use brinkmanship tactics was gone, but a worse one appeared.
The pressure that would be applied in the future, both tangible and intangible, would be no joke.
He could even try to assassinate him openly.
¡°How are you going to deal with the bacsh from other countries?¡±
¡°That¡¯s my problem to solve.¡±
He finally decided.
¡°So I just have to turn a blind eye?¡±
¡°That¡¯s wise of you. The rest will happen naturally, even without me. You know very well that the west is not in good shape.¡±
The troops guarding the Xinjiang Uyghur detention camps had been greatly reduced due to the riots in China.
¡°I don¡¯t know how far your informationwork reaches. Anyway, I¡¯ll pretend I didn¡¯t know. You take care of it yourself, Representative Yu.¡±
¡°Do you want me to send you some antitron samples?¡±
He wanted to get angry and say who he was kidding, but he couldn¡¯t refuse.
There were enough scientists who wanted to study how it suppressed nuclear reactions to fill the Grand Canyon.
¡°I¡¯d appreciate it if you could send me enough to do some experiments.¡±
¡°Sure.¡±
On the other hand, the opinions in South Korea werepletely divided.
Most of them praised Yu Ji-ha, but some, that is, the members of the National Assembly, were extremely wary of him.
¡ªDid he hide this all this time?
¡ªThe former president probably knew about this too. Maybe the war itself was nned.
¡ªHe¡¯s acting more tyrannically than the president while being the acting authority. He should resign immediately.
¡ªLift the martialw and hand over the power to the people!
About 100 members of the National Assembly and their aides joined me in the protest.
The public opinion was very negative towards them.
¡ªWe don¡¯t have to worry about nuclear threats anymore, how is that bad?
¡ªThey didn¡¯t do anything and now they¡¯re talking nonsense to Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªJust get lost. We don¡¯t need you guys, Yu Ji-ha can handle everything.
Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in front of Gwanghwamun and confronted the National Assembly protesters.
The members of the National Assembly tried to persuade them, but they only gave a bad impression by sticking to their arrogant attitude and saying that they didn¡¯t know anything.
The people were convinced.
If they left them alone, South Korea would go back to the way it was before.
The angry voice of the people turned into curses and shouts, threatening the National Assembly protesters.
-We can¡¯t take it anymore! Get out of here, you bastards!
-Catch the tax thieves and kill them!
The desperation that they couldn¡¯t just sit still moved the people.
The police or the military police only surrounded them, but didn¡¯t take any action.
A situation that could explode at any moment.
And among the protesters, there were some androids disguised as humans.
As the people wished
¡°Who are you to ask for antitron data? Where are you going to sell it this time?¡±
¡°You hid during the war and now that it seems safe, you ask for transport nes? Fuck, are you going on a cruise to Pyongyang as a group?¡±
¡°These bastards should all be thrown into the East Sea and killed!¡±
Loud shouts erupted and cheers followed like waves.
It was all a misunderstanding.
They asked for antitron data as members of the defensemittee, which was natural.
It was uneptable byw that only the acting authority, not the president, knew about such a new weapon.
And it was unfair to say that they hid during the war.
Didn¡¯t a lot of people die when North Korea¡¯s rockets hit the National Assembly building in the beginning?
Considering that nearly 200 members died then, it was a right decision for them to hide during the war.
And going to Pyongyang was also to see if it was really dangerous as the real government said.
If security was properly secured, they nned to lift martialw and hold elections.
That¡¯s right, isn¡¯t it?
Korea is a democratic republic and can exercise sovereignty through elections.
It was natural for them to gather data to lift martialw, which the acting authority maintained with all kinds of excuses.
But these ignorant writers didn¡¯t even know that¡
They were spitting out all kinds of swear words at them.
The members of the National Assembly began to get angry after being insulted for a while.
¡°These people don¡¯t know anything and talk nonsense.¡±
¡°What do you mean sell it abroad? You should have seen the defensemittee data at least once.¡±
¡°Do these people want Yu Ji-ha to be a dictator? This is clearly a democratic republic.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s poprity was tremendouspared to them.
He didn¡¯t even show up, but his name was shouted everywhere.
¡°Yu Ji-ha! Yu Ji-ha!¡±
This couldn¡¯t be happening.
They were legitimately elected representatives of the people, and Yu Ji-ha was just an acting authority.
The word elected official has more power and meaning than one might think in politics.
It¡¯s not for nothing that members of the National Assembly have immunity from arrest and can audit the government.
Of course, they didn¡¯t mean to belittle Yu Ji-ha either.
He was an outstanding developer and entrepreneur who had never existed before, and he would surely brighten Korea¡¯s future.
But even such a talent had to stay within the boundaries ofw and principle, that was what the members thought.
If he acted arrogantly just because he was good at something, how was he different from a dictator?
But the citizens didn¡¯t seem to think about that.
Or maybe they couldn¡¯t.
After all, their actions were nothing but violent agitation without serious consideration for the future power.
So they had to teach them a lesson, that was the atmosphere among the members.
¡°I guess it would be better if a veteran member persuaded the citizens¡¡±
¡°It would be better if someone in charge here¡¡±
The mood was so bad that no one wanted to step forward.
Even a five-term member who did speak up got bacsh from the citizens and backed off.
¡°Who are you to teach us?¡±
¡°These bastards don¡¯t know how to read the mood. If you don¡¯t want to die, just shut up!¡±
¡°Want to fight? Huh?¡±
As the mood got worse, even the member who stepped forward hesitated.
¡°Who do these people think they are, talking so recklessly? Do they want to harm the members of parliament?¡±
¡°What the hell, can¡¯t we do anything? They¡¯re just a bunch of nuisances anyway.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s just rush in and kill them all! Then they¡¯ll never open their mouths again!¡±
The crowd was so noisy that no one noticed someone shouting loudly in different parts of the protest.
They only chanted violent slogans.
¡°Kill them! Kill them!¡±
¡°Get rid of all the traitors!¡±
The members of parliament were not too worried until then.
They trusted the police and military forces that surrounded them.
They also thought that the citizens would have some restraint.
After all, it was risky to resort to violence under martialw¡
That¡¯s what everyone thought.
But one remark from a member of parliament sparked the riot.
¡°These uneducated bastards don¡¯t know anything. If they like Yu so much, why don¡¯t they let him be a dictator?¡±
He had lowered his voice enough.
Only his aides could hear him, and he quickly shut his mouth.
It was a slip of the tongue, born out of frustration.
But there was a man who caught it amazingly well.
He shed his eyes and approached the member of parliament.
¡°What? Uneducated bastards?¡±
His voice was so loud that everyone around him heard it.
¡°What did you just say? Uneducated?¡±
¡°You son of a bitch, are you kidding me¡¡±
¡°This is not eptable!¡±
The panicked aides quickly shielded the members of parliament, but that only provoked the citizens more.
¡°How dare you insult us! You¡¯re getting paid with our taxes!¡±
¡°Do you think you¡¯re above us because you have gold badges and call them honorable members?¡±
Something was wrong.
Hundreds of protesters were pushing against the wall of aides.
The members of parliament tried to exin that it wasn¡¯t them, but it was too loud to hear anything.
And then, a stone thrown by someone hit the head of the member of parliament who had called them uneducated bastards.
His forehead cracked and he fell to the ground without a sound.
¡°Sir!¡±
¡°Who did it!¡±
The aides were furious, but the citizens were excited and started throwing stones.
It felt good.
To see the members of parliament who had looked down on them fall down.
They couldn¡¯t stand it.
They were the ones who received their votes and their taxes, who had offices and staffs, and they insulted the people?
It was uneptable.
So many people started throwing stones indiscriminately.
Dozens of members of parliament¡¯s heads were broken and they groaned in pain.
The protesters broke through the aides¡¯ wall and beat them up.
¡°Get out of the way!¡±
¡°Die! Please die!¡±
¡°South Korea will live if you die!¡±
Bang!
Some crazy guy set off fireworks and Gwanghwamun was filled with smoke.
The obscured vision gave courage to the protesters.
They became more violent, and even dragged out some members of parliament and lynched them.
Beep beep beep!
The police and military realized the seriousness of the situation and intervened, but they couldn¡¯t stop the riot caused by tens of thousands of people.
Violence broke out everywhere and blood stained the ground.
Dozens of ambnces arrived and carried away the fallen people.
The riotsted until midnight.
When dawn came, a huge shockwave hit South Korean society.
Chapter 81: I Am The Law
Chapter 81: I Am The Law
Meanwhile, after the announcement of antitron, Japan had a big doubt.
¨DWas that antitron rted to the failure of our nuclear test?
ording to the announcement, it was made in the form of a warhead and mounted on a missile, so it was hard to see a connection.
The sea area near the nuclear test site waspletely controlled at that time.
Unless it was a stealth missile, it couldn¡¯t have escaped the radar.
But some media started to question the possibility of miniaturization.
¨DSouth Korea has to exin one thing. How far can antitron warheads be miniaturized?
¨DThere was a railgun cruiser test on the day of the nuclear test. Isn¡¯t it too coincidental?
South Korea did not respond and Japan suffered from suspicion.
There was circumstantial evidence but no clear proof.
The right-wing forces pressured the Ozawa regime to disclose the data from the day of the nuclear test.
They argued that there would be a record of the unique shock wave if they fired a railgun.
Prime Minister Ozawa felt his liver sink as he read the weekly magazine that contained this argument.
¡®Could that sound I heard then be¡?¡¯
Something had exploded before the detonation.
But it was only a possibility and he couldn¡¯t confront Yu Ji-ha about it.
Currently, equipment for building an ion beam fusion reactor was being imported into Japan.
If there was a friction between the two countries, there was a possibility that the construction would be canceled entirely.
¡®This matter has to be hidden.¡¯
Even if South Korea¡¯s deed was true, he was not in a position to protest openly as Prime Minister Ozawa.
The situation had already happened, and it was beneficial to stick to Korea moderately.
Especially now that the first android Lucia was released.
This android was covered with synthetic skin and boasted an appearance almost identical to humans.
The price was about 50 million yen, but it was difficult to buy individually and the minimum unit was 100.
Boston Dynamics said it was unavoidable for maintenance.
Japan also bought this android at the government level.
The purpose was not yet known, but it was already very popr in private.
An android that looked like a human.
It was a long-standing dream and aspiration of Japan since Astro Boy.
It finally came true, so it was understandable that they made a fuss about it.
¡®Even though they have resentment against Korea, they act like that¡¡¯
It meant that Japan¡¯s public opinion was divided in half.
The traditional right-wing faction who hated Korea and the pro-Korea faction who didn¡¯t care about such things and wanted to get along well.
The mainstream was anti-Korea, but if you look at the economic or cultural side, pro-Korea was not weak either.
Depending on how much impact Lucia had in Japan, the power bnce could change.
Prime Minister Ozawa hoped that thetter would lead public opinion as much as possible.
¡®It¡¯s too tiring to be hostile to Korea without reason¡¡¯
No matter how he thought about it, it was best to acknowledge andpromise moderately.
Those idiots who were protesting on the street didn¡¯t seem to know that.
¨DCut off diplomatic rtions with Chosun who interfered with Japan¡¯s nuclear armament! Expel Zainichi!
It was because of their hatred for Yu Ji-ha that right-wingers who had be disgusted with protests since the civil war gathered thousands of people.
Some former Self-Defense Force officers who were fired this time also agreed with this im.
It was thebination of anti-Korea and right-wing that set Japan on fire.
On the other hand, regardless of such atmosphere, android Lucianded in Japan.
The event agency that took charge of Japan¡¯s government request wanted to dress up this android as human as possible and refresh the mood.
So they held a massive showcase that they didn¡¯t even do in Korea.
¡¸Android girls from Korea, finallynding in Japan!¡¹
South Koreans were dumbfounded by this embarrassing title, but some Japanese were ecstatic.
They had been really waiting for this android to be released.
The price was too high and individuals couldn¡¯t buy it, but they thought those things would be solved gradually.
¨DAndroid Lucia is awesome!
¨DJapan is wrong¡That¡¯s why Korea went first.
¨DDamn, how can we not admit it when South Koreaes out like this?
The otakus¡¯ desire gathered at Tokyo Dome.
Tokyo Dome usually had a very unique position as a performance stage.
It was not an easy thing to gather nearly 50,000 paid spectators, and it was an honor only allowed to a few among countless artists.
But Lucia¡¯s showcase surpassed that and broke all records.
They removed all equipment and added seats to fill up 120,000 people and ck market tickets reached nearly 1 million yen.
It could be called a fanatic poprity indeed.
As soon as the lights were turned on and theser show started, 120,000 people shouted Lucia¡¯s name.
Lucia, who finally appeared, looked no different from humans on the outside.
They all had the same appearance, but they diversified with makeup and costumes, so they felt like different entities.
They waved their hands to the audience and asionally walked around to shake hands with them.
This showcase was broadcasted all over Japan and enjoyed a phenomenal poprity.
Even the anti-Korean protests were temporarily suspended.
Korea wondered why they were doing that and Arma tilted his head.
¡°They seem crazy.¡±
¡°It¡¯s Japan¡¯s passion for androids. Let¡¯s just do our job.¡±
¡°Yes. I will start the operation.¡±
¡
One summer day, the gunfire ceased in Rason Special City of North Hamgyong Province.
Most of the guerris were wiped out and the survivors were captured and transported to Tera Ind.
The only ones left were the terrified North Korean residents and a handful of Korean troops.
Pyongyang, Hamhung, Chongjin, and all the other major cities in North Korea had fallen.
But the war was not over yet.
North Korea had a lot of mountains and guerris were still active everywhere.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff devised a n to quickly eliminate them and the government officials went to Baekdu Mountain to dere that the Korean Penins was unified.
¡°Since the armistice agreement on July 27, 1951, Korea and North Korea have walked the path of division. On August 15, 2028, we dere to the world that the two countries have reunited.¡±
It was a deration by South Korea alone, with no other signatories to the armistice.
But there was no problem since the whole world recognized Korea¡¯s unification.
The United States, Russia, Japan, and others sent congrattory messages.
¨DThe first Korean Warsted for three years and one month. The second Korean War ended in three months. We pay tribute to the bravery of the Korean troops and the decisiveness of President Yu Jiha.
¨DRussia will do its best to cooperate with the reconstruction of unified Korea. We will provide everything necessary at the uing summit with President Yu Jiha.
Yu Jiha¡¯s current position was acting president, but it was not an exaggeration to say that he was recognized by the world at this point.
The domestic reaction was also ecstatic.
A leader who had ovee decades of division and finally unified the Korean Penins had appeared.
In front of such a superhuman, it was a trivial matter when martialw would be lifted.
The main force of the Korean army, the 7th Division, returned and held a ceremony in Seoul. The people cheered without hesitation.
Korea was in a frenzy.
And Yu Jiha quietly proceeded with his operation with Arma.
It was customary to boil hunting dogs after hunting.
The war ended quickly, but there was no shortage of corruption and crime.
There were various crimes ranging from embezzlement of materials to plundering civilians and abusing prisoners, and Arma recorded them all.
He also set up a system to apply artificial intelligence judges because it would not work if military courts were involved.
After three days of celebration, August 20 came as usual.
Dozens of androids in military uniforms stormed into the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gyeryongdae, and each military headquarters.
The amount of materials that had been poured into the Korean Penins in the past three months was no joke.
Various fuels,bat rations, ammunition, clothing, and medicines piled up like mountains at ports and airports.
The war itself started so suddenly that the Korean army did not have a system to manage and distribute these materials systematically.
So many materials were distributed haphazardly.
Some army units without aircraft received aviation fuel, while some ces that neededbat rations only got medicines.
But these mistakes were minor.
Quite a few officers thought these materials were ownerless.
Wasn¡¯t it?
Everyone was busy with advancing northward, so mobility was the highest virtue.
In such a situation, there was no need or time to manage these materials systematically.
The higher-ups ordered them to move as quickly as possible and sometimes even discarded them.
¡°Are you saying we have to lose this fuel? Sergeant Major, we have to advance northward now. Where do you have time for that? Just bury it somewhere and report it to headquarters.¡±
It would have been nice if they reported it, but unfortunately there were more cases where they did not.
These materials were dug up by someone after the war ended.
The new owners were businessmen who had contracts with those officers.
They sold these materials, which were clearly military supplies, to society.
It was clearly illegal, but no one dared to point it out because society was burning with advancing northward and unification.
The scale was sorge that even if the media exposed it, President Jo Hyunggeun and others reacted that it was inevitable in a war.
It was impossible for the soldiers to have enthusiasm when the person in charge was like this.
They did a rtively good job in the operation, but the military supplies were not properly managed.
There were too many cases like this, so even Arma could not track them all.
His master, Yu Jiha, was just awmaker and had no authority to intervene in this disaster.
Despite this, Arma managed to record the names and evidence of the officers who were directly involved in the embezzlement of military supplies.
What the androids who suddenly stormed into each military headquarters demanded was their identity.
¡°I am a national inspector. ording to the wartime military supply managementw, I arrest the officers on the list below. Please call them immediately.¡±
Lee Deok-hoon, the chief of staff of the 11th Division who was working in themand and control room, stared nkly at the androids who had barged in.
¡°What are these? What is the guard doing letting these things pass?¡±
It was absurd that machines that were not human were wearing military uniforms and demanding officers.
¡°It¡¯s Si Group. It¡¯s an android that they just released¡¡±
An officer said and Lee Deok-hoon frowned.
¡°I know, but what right does that machine have to demand the identity of the officers? Who ordered you toe here?¡±
¡°It¡¯s the president¡¯s order.¡±
¡°The president?¡±
At this point, there was only one person who could be called president.
His face was projected on the wall.
¡°Lee Deok-hoon, chief of staff of the 11th Division.¡±
¡°Yes, sir! Colonel Lee Deok-hoon!¡±
The old colonel saluted in front of the young president.
But no one in themand and control room thought it was funny.
The generals of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Gyeryongdae, who were like stars in the sky, were also intimidated by Yu Jiha.
They followed him not because he was the militarymander-in-chief, but because they sincerely respected him.
He had helped in most of the battles and finally unified the Korean Penins, so it was understandable.
In front of such achievements, age was just a trivial number.
He spoke.
¡°The above-mentioned personnel are suspected of embezzling military supplies as follows. It¡¯s not a simple suspicion, but we have secured evidence.¡±
Next to President Yu Jiha¡¯s face, the face and embezzlement list of the quartermaster of a battalion under the 11th Division were disyed.
The officers in themand and control room were shocked by the list.
¡°Did he sell that much oil?¡±
¡°He made a lot of money by stealing even food¡¡±
Lee Deok-hoon looked at the ount transactions and did not know what to do.
ording to this data, there was no way out.
¡°Wh-what should I do¡¡±
¡°Call the quartermaster immediately. The inspectors will take care of the rest. You just need to cooperate as much as possible. Oh, and don¡¯t worry about the divisionmander. He¡¯s here with me.¡±
He had called for an all-armymanders¡¯ meeting for this reason.
Maybe this was happening in every unit.
Lee Deok-hoon was surprised by the sudden purge, but he was grateful that it was not him.
If that meticulous artificial intelligence was involved, there would be no escape.
Resistance?
In the current Korean army, resistance meant nothing but a coup d¡¯etat.
But if they staged a coup d¡¯etat when most of the soldiers absolutely supported Yu Jiha, they would rather be imprisoned.
¡°I will follow your orders!¡±
Of course, not all units followed Lee Deok-hoon¡¯s example.
There were many officers who resisted, saying that they could not move without official orders, and even cases where they drove out inspectors.
Yu Ji-ha heard reports and ordered suppression.
¡°Take off their ranks and arrest them all.¡±
Thus, more than a thousand officers and nonmissioned officers were arrested at once.
¡°Let go of me! I¡¯m a fucking war hero and you treat me like this? Call the president!¡±
¡°How dare these androids do this? Where are the military police?¡±
There were quite a few who resisted like this.
Androids, who was appointed as an inspector, shot them with a taser gun without any emotion and arrested them.
He just loaded them into a car and left, leaving only bewildered officers behind.
¡°What kind of people are they treating like that?¡±
¡°This is happening in every unit right now. The next battalion ispletely ruined.¡±
¡°No matter what, they can¡¯t just drag them away without any procedure¡¡±
¡°They¡¯re really boiling hunting dogs properly.¡±
Comints pierced the sky, but there were hardly any who stood up properly.
Themanders were all called to Seoul.
And thosemanders were being severely scolded by Yu Ji-ha.
¡
¡°The people arrested this time will be processed by artificial intelligence ording to the militaryw. If you have anyints, speak up now. I will tell you the charges one by one.¡±
No one dared to open their mouth in front of Yu Ji-ha, who was seething with anger.
It would have been different if there was no evidence, but the situation was overwhelming.
They had obtained testimonies from the suppliers who had smuggled the supplies and secured their ounts.
There was no way out for them.
A cold air filled the conference room as Yu Jiha turned his gaze to the four-star generals.
¡°Kim Juho, Army Chief of Staff.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°There are over 3,000 cases where more than two pieces of evidence have been secured. In other words, there are countless crimes without evidence. How do you think we should handle this?¡±
¡°¡¡±
Major General Kim Juho bowed his head and broke out in a cold sweat.
He had been detained and heard the situation. This was not a normal matter.
Embezzlement was a minor crimepared to the rest.
There was a case where an army toon operating in Gangwon-do shot and killed civilians.
That alone could have been tolerated, but the problem was that they buried them to cover it up.
The generals watched in silence as a survivor testified in tears on the video.
The screen switched and showed a list of crimesmitted in Pyongyang city.
They plundered and raped civilians, and even murdered them. It was unbearable to watch.
Of course, it was impossible to upy a city of 3 million people without any crime.
But since drones had performed most of thebat, they could not give amnesty to the troops whomitted crimes.
Yu Ji-ha dered.
¡°From this moment on, I abolish the military court. All trials will be handled by artificial intelligence, and so will the prosecutors and judges. There is a system prepared for this¡¡±
Then someone stood up without permission.
¡°Mr. President! This is uneptable!¡±
The person who stood up was Colonel Kwon Suhyung, the head of the investigation department of the Ministry of National Defense.
Yu Ji-ha approached him.
¡°What do you find uneptable?¡±
¡°This, this incident clearly vites the militaryw. I understand that you established the National Inspection Office, but I can¡¯t ept that artificial intelligence, not human beings, will conduct investigations and trials.¡±
¡°Colonel Kwon.¡±
¡°Yes!¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t ask you to understand. You just have to follow my orders.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Kwon Suhyung swallowed his dry saliva at his blunt voice.
Yu Ji-ha looked around at the generals and said.
¡°I¡¯ll say this in case anyone is mistaken. What I have said and what I will say are not requests but orders. Soldiers should follow orders obediently.¡±
They had forgotten.
This man was a dictator who ruled Korea in practice.
Many people denied it, but there was no constitutional use that guaranteed his position.
His existence itself was beyond the constitution.
Therefore, every word he said wasw.
To deny this, they had to overthrow him, but the people supported him.
His approval rating reached 96% after Korea was unified.
It was unknown whether the polling agencies were under unfair pressure or not.
Yu Ji-ha touched his colonel rank insignia.
¡°I know very well what you and your investigation department have been doing. You have been very active in covering up your own people, dying investigations, and putting pressure on victims. I hope you continue to do so.¡±
¡°¡¡±
¡°I warn you, change from this moment on. If you don¡¯t change, I¡¯ll demote you all to privates and send you straight to prison. Do you understand?¡±
¡°Yes, yes sir¡¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry about overcrowding in prison. I¡¯ll send you all to Terra Ind.¡±
No one could say anything in front of him, who was full of murderous intent.
In this way, the Korean military was thoroughly crushed.
ording to the National Inspection Office, more than a thousand officers were arrested, and there were thousands more to be arrested.
The momentum of the Korean military, which had returned victorious and held a grand reform ceremony, waspletely broken.
There was no room for opposition because all this was done in a matter of days.
They had to have time to think in order to oppose it.
And so the purge operation ended in an instant and a new system took its ce.
It was control by artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence prosecutors and judges quietly stepped in and everything was processed in no time.
A sergeant named Park Junseok who was indicted for plundering houses and assaulting civilians with his unit in Bongnam-dong, Pyongyang city, was shocked to see only one monitor in the courtroom.
¡°What is this?¡±
¡¸Defendant: Park Junseok, Sergeant of the Korean Army¡¹
¡¸Charges: Plundered 3 houses and assaulted 6 civilians with his unit in Bongnam-dong, Pyongyang city¡¹
The evidence was listed one by one and Sergeant Park Junseok¡¯s mouth dropped open.
The evidence was unbelievable.
It even included confessions from his unit members.
¡°What the fuck is this artificial intelligence doing? This is not a trial!¡±
He gritted his teeth and shook his body, but the androids were too strong to budge.
And then the verdict was disyed.
¡¸Verdict: Demotion to private. Immediate discharge. Forfeiture of all retirement benefits. Five years in prison without parole¡¹
That was it.
While Park Junseok was stunned, the androids dragged him out.
Now he was going to Terra Ind to serve his sentence.
He had the right to hire an externalwyer and appeal, but his chances were very low since he had to face artificial intelligence.
Awyer had a video conference with Park Junseok and said this.
¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do. Artificial intelligence is strictly logical, and they have all the evidence, so it doesn¡¯t work.¡±
¡°Is it a crime to beat up some North Koreans? They were guerris!¡±
¡°It turns out you beat up innocent civilians. Let¡¯s admit it. Society has changed and crimes that cross the line are not tolerated.¡±
¡°Who draws that line?¡±
Thewyer shrugged his shoulders.
¡°You know and I know who decides that. What can we do? If you¡¯re unhappy, you have to stand up and fight.¡±
Of course, there was no one who would stand up and fight.
Rather, the atmosphere was apuding him for punishing the criminals firmly.
Some legal experts argued that the militaryw, which had high sentences, should not have been applied so hastily, but they did not receive much attention.
It was awkward to mention it because it was an internal matter of the military.
Also, the government announced a timelypensation n.
Yu Ji-ha held a press conference and dered that he would give the best treatment to all soldiers who were not involved in crimes.
¡°In addition to the unification allowance, you will also receive a month-long vacation and a permanent residence permit in the United Federation. You will be exempt from rent and transportation fees, and you will also receive food coupons.¡±
In other words, he was saying that they could use the vis on the North Pacific inds as they pleased.
The round-trip fare was free and they even gave food coupons. There was no better benefit than this.
The only problem was what kind of facilities were on Terra Ind, but that had not been revealed yet.
On the other hand, there wereints from people who did not participate in the war.
Why didn¡¯t they get anything? It was aint, but Yu Ji-ha ignored them.
¡°You didn¡¯t fight, so you don¡¯t get anything. That will be the basic principle in the United Human Federation from now on.¡±
It was strange that he mentioned the United Human Federation instead of Korea, but they let it go because they were so excited.
Through this incident, Koreans realized that Yu Jiha hadpletely dominated the military.
He had purged so many officers without any signs of resistance, which meant that he had firmly grasped the military power.
It was not because he was simply the militarymander that the soldiers were quiet.
He knew well about the internal affairs of the military and held their weaknesses, so they couldn¡¯t even think of rebelling.
Plus, he had androids, so he had an advantage in terms of actual force as well.
Unless a coup d¡¯etat urred, it was impossible to defy Yu Jiha.
And a coup d¡¯etat was a dreamlike thing in modern Korea.
Yu Jiha thuspletely took over the military.
Chapter 80: Burning East Asia
Chapter 80: Burning East Asia
¡°A terrible tragedy has urred. Twenty current members of parliament have died in a violent protestst night.¡±
¡°Out of the 89 members of parliament who participated in the protest to lift the martialw, more than 50 were killed or seriously injured.¡±
¡°The police and military authorities have arrested many instigators and n to investigate them soon.¡±
The news of the death of 20 members of parliament hit the media.
But surprisingly, there was not much sympathy for them.
It was because the remarks they had made at the scene of the protest had taken over the inte.
¡ªHow can a member of parliament say such things? These uneducated bastards don¡¯t know anything.
¡ªWow, they totally look down on us and try to teach us a lesson.
¡ªThey deserved to die, bastards. I sincerely hope that the injured ones die in their beds too.
The public opinion was so harsh that the members of parliament who were not injured or did not participate in the protest requested protection from the police.
They felt threatened not only at the protest, but also in their daily lives.
Some cars tried to ram into them as they went to their offices, and stones and pipes flew into their homes.
There was even a murder, and all the surviving members of parliament trembled in fear.
The government asked for restraint and warned of severe punishment, but the terror continued.
Some members of parliament couldn¡¯t stand it and dered their resignation.
One member of parliament held a press conference and put his gold badge on the podium.
¡°As of today, I, Jeong Hak-soo, resign from my position as a member of parliament and return to being amoner. I hope that this will appease the anger of the people.¡±
Following him, several members of parliament submitted their resignation letters to their offices.
As a result, the number of members of parliament, which was barely over 100, was reduced to less than half.
The rest were either injured or lying in bed.
Yu Ji-ha, the acting authority holder, hastily held a press conference and expressed his regret over the situation and promised to prevent it from happening again.
¡°Violence is uneptable for any reason. The government will not overlook this incident.¡±
The reporters¡¯ reactions were somewhat lukewarm.
They had a feeling that he had been waiting for this incident.
Wasn¡¯t it?
Yu Ji-ha had no damage from this incident.
All the attempts to remove him from power had failed, and the parliament, which had the authority to lift the martialw, waspletely ruined.
Now there was no institution or force in South Korea that could check him.
Even the judiciary was nothing but a servant of power under martialw.
Some media expressed their concerns and some elders from religious and political circles dered that South Korea should not be like this.
But not many people took those derations seriously.
They only saw Yu Ji-ha.
The artificial intelligence Lucia and his achievements so far had created a public opinion that he should lead Korea.
¡ªIt may not fit well with the constitution, but this is our only chance.
¡ªHe¡¯s the only one who can lead unified Korea.
¡ªPublic opinion polls showed that he had achieved more than 92% support rate.
As this consensus was formed, it became impossible to oppose him.
When the atmosphere was ripe, Yu Ji-ha announced his speech to the nation.
¡°South Korea is a democratic republic. But what is the current situation, citizens? The war is not over yet and guerris are stirring up trouble all over North Korea.¡±
¡°In the southern region, there are frequent terrorist attacks and even violent protests. If we add economic problems, we can say that South Korea is in a total crisis.¡±
¡°What do we need in this situation? The solidarity of the people and strong leadership. I may not have received your votes, but I think I have received your precious support. If you allow me, I will lead South Korea.¡±
¡°As I said before, South Korea is a democratic republic. We cannot maintain martialw forever and public order will be restored soon. Please lend me your strength until then. Someday I will return power to you.¡±
Most of the people gave him generous apuse.
There were some worried eyes, but they rationalized that it was necessary because it was wartime.
There were even some shouts that he didn¡¯t need to give up power and just keep ruling.
They were mostly young people who had been influenced by artificial intelligence Lucia and became his followers.
-Yu Ji-ha is our only hope! So just keep ruling!
¡ªArtificial intelligence dictatorship go!
¡ªBrother, please release cheap androids!
That¡¯s how the real dictatorship began.
He said he wasn¡¯t, but anyone could see that it was a splendid dictatorship.
Amazingly, it was what the people wanted.
The countries that had been watching this situation carefully expressed their concerns.
¡ªIt¡¯s hard to believe that the South Korean people, who fought for their freedom with their own strength, are longing for dictatorship again.
¡ªHe said he would give up power, but no one knows when. It¡¯s not easy to do that by the nature of dictatorship.
¡ªYu Ji-ha, who started as a businessman and transformed into a dictator. Where will his rampage stop?
Russia praised him as a strong leader who would lead the unity in wartime, and Germany was careful with their words.
But most of the countries were very negative about this situation.
Especially Europe was shocked.
¡ªThe timing was too good. The vulnerability in security and the fear of terror made people support him.
¨DEven though it was a war, too many of the leaders had died. One by one, the obstacles were removed and he finally ascended to the throne. Perhaps he was the one who nned everything from the start.
¨DA second Hitler might emerge. The UN should sanction Korea.
The most important country, the United States, took a step back and said they were carefully watching the situation.
They seemed shocked that South Korea, which had achieved a democratic political system, wanted dictatorship, but it was not very important to the current leadership.
President McKinley hastily convened a meeting and urged caution in their statements.
¡°We need him. So don¡¯t provoke him recklessly. This is an order.¡±
He tightened his lips because of the shocking results from the antitron experiment.
Several research institutes reported that the nuclear reaction waspletely suppressed.
It meant that they could stop all the nuclear power nts in the world and invalidate nuclear missiles if they wanted to.
Of course, antitron was a difficult material to produce and Korea¡¯s missile technology had its limits, so it would be hard to dominate the world.
But it was enough to make the United States nervous just by having that possibility.
For the bureaucrats of the United States, antitron was more important than Korea epting a dictator.
¡°Let¡¯s just watch for now. They said they won¡¯t leak it. Cancel the boycott and form a delegation to send to South Korea.¡±
It was a n to help rebuild Korea after the war in exchange for controlling antitron production.
But he refused to ept the visit of the delegation.
¡°I will manage all antitron. The United States has no right to interfere.¡±
It was a principled statement, but there were few people who could say that to the United States.
President McKinley decided to back off for now.
He could upset him if he gave him too much pressure when he had a lot of things to worry about.
Instead, the United States mobilized its intelligence agencies and satellites to monitor Sr Fusion¡¯s research facilities, which were suspected of producing antitron.
And he gave practical instructions to Arma for ruling South Korea.
The mining ships in space moved.
¡
At this point, the number of mining ships working in the asteroid belt had increased to three.
They were now enough to be called a mining fleet.
The mining fleet mined countless resources and stored them in cubes somewhere in space.
These stacked resources were converted into construction nts and other things.
Unbeknownst to the earthlings, a space station was being built as Arma paid close attention.
Most of humanity¡¯s exploration was deep space and Arma was careful enough not to be caught yet.
The space station had been producing something for months.
It was a million drones.
These drones boasted superior maneuverability than before by mounting micro ion thrusters.
They were simplified in armament because they were for maintaining order, but they could handle various functions as Lucia controlled them directly.
As soon as the nt announced the end of production, Arma immediately sent a signal.
¡¸Drop¡¹
Hundreds of pods detached and entered the atmosphere one by one.
Their destination was Terra Ind.
The facilities on Terra Ind were hidden by fog, making it easier to make excuses for now.
After the drones, it was time for androids.
Thousands of androids without synthetic skin were loaded into pods and arrived at Terra Ind as well.
They had the same structure and performance as Lucia, which Boston Dynamics nned to release soon.
They had several times more strength than an average adult male and their operating time was close to 20 hours.
They had no reproductive function, but they were connected to the server of Metaverse and had tremendousputing power and judgment skills.
They received synthetic skin transnts at a nt prepared on Terra Ind.
Except for their slightly pointed ears and unnatural skin, they had almost no difference from humans.
From now on, they would be deployed in North Korea with drones and take charge of security.
Given Korea¡¯s current situation, it was impossible to handle all of North Korea.
There would be some bacsh, but he was in a position where he could handle those things enough.
He looked at the final model of Lucia and nodded his head.
¡°That¡¯s good enough. Skip the showcase and release it right away.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡
August 2028
Large-scale battles disappeared from within the Korean Penins.
The war was not over, but North Korea¡¯s organized resistance hadpletely vanished and South Korean forces extended their influence to Rason City.
Rason Special City, which was the most prosperous ce in North Hamgyong Province, was an important ce as a trade hub connecting Russia, China and others.
If they only upied this ce, South Korean forces could practically be seen as havingpletely upied North Korea.
Small-scale guerri warfare would continue, but that was only a matter of time.
¡¸Drone-mounted cruise missiles have beenunched¡¹
Now,bat drones wereunched on modified cruise missiles.
Even the work of loading containers on transport nes and attaching parachutes was omitted.
It was small, but it helped with rapid deployment, so it had its pros and cons.
And so drones were deployed in Rason City.
Of course, the North Korean guerris hiding in thest city did not have decent weapons to counter these drones.
They believed the wrong information that they would be executed if they surrendered to the Korean forces and vowed to resist.
The fighting began after a warning broadcast and the situation was no different from other North Korean cities.
Russian President Putin, who was watching this battle through a reconnaissance ne, groaned.
¡°Those drones seem to be improved every time I see them.¡±
The deputy prime minister and defense minister exined next to him.
¡°The improvement point this time is to install a miniaturized ion thruster and minimize the drawbacks. Until now, those drones¡¡±
¡°Ultimately, they couldn¡¯t escape the drone¡¯s inherent drawback of relying on propellers for maneuverability.¡±
¡°Yes. But by installing ion thrusters, they solved that problem as well. Now I doubt if there are any drawbacks to those drones.¡±
They improved not only maneuverability but also durability by reducing the bullet area and eliminated noise and vibration.
It was expensive, but it offset the advantage of saving troops in urban warfare.
Russia, which had consumed a lot of troops in ces like Chechnya, was dazzled by it.
If only they had that¡
President Putin thought of the Soviet Union.
Now that China had sunk, political research institutes and others were paying attention to Russia again.
Now, the only country that had a chance to stand against the power of the United States was Russia.
Of course, that didn¡¯t mean that Russia could fight the United States head-on.
The economic and military gap between the two countries was already too wide to close.
Russia¡¯s goal was not to oppose the United States either.
¡®The Soviet Socialist Republics¡¡¯
That majestic name echoed in his chest.
It was difficult to challenge the United States, but it seemed possible to restore the glory of the Soviet Union.
The problem was his age.
Putin had taken good care of his body, but he was now at an age that could be called elderly.
He wanted to rebuild the Soviet Union by merging the former satellite states before it was toote.
For that, he needed full cooperation from Yu Ji-ha.
They had agreed to be partners beyond economic cooperation, but that was not enough.
The micro-ion thruster was not included in the practical consultation.
He needed a new type of drone that could be mounted on cruise missiles, even if antitrons were difficult.
President Putin watched the urban warfare in Rason for a long time.
The drones deployed were few, but only the North Korean guerris were dying.
¡°It¡¯s overwhelming.¡±
¡°Those drones have achieved an overwhelmingbat ratio in every battlefield they have been deployed. Even the US military would have a hard time gaining an advantage over them.¡±
¡°With just a few hundred of them, you could take over any city.¡±
After deploying 20,000 drones in the first Pyongyang urban warfare, the drones had been continuously improved and reduced to a few thousand in Hamhung.
Now, only 500 drones were deployed in Rason.
There was a difference in the size of the city, but the number of guerris who fled and gathered was simr.
In the end, they were confident that they could rece 20,000 with 500, and that was actually happening.
President Putin asked as if consulting.
¡°What do you think he really wants?¡±
¡°Land, isn¡¯t it? He showed interest in Kamchatka Penins and ording to our intelligencework, he had a conflict with the United States over Manchuria.¡±
¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like he¡¯s just greedy fornd. He must have another purpose.¡±
He had seeded in destroying North Korea after telling him to leave it alone.
Now he had a rough idea of what his goal was.
He wanted to establish his own solid power in East Asia.
The possibility was faint, but if that was true, it was weing for Russia.
Russia had traditionally valued the western part that bordered Europe.
The western satellite states that were close to Moscow and St. Petersburg were much more important than the ruggednd of the underdeveloped east.
Merging those satellite states and rebuilding the Soviet Union was not only Putin¡¯s wish, but also the aspiration of all Russian people.
He made a decision.
¡°Use all our intelligencework to find out what he really wants. Make a list of what we can give him and what we can ask him for.¡±
¡°I will make sure to sort it out and report it to you before the meeting.¡±
He nodded and watched the urban battle.
It seemed like a deration of unification of the Korean Penins woulde out in August.
¡
A new material called antitron announced by Korea shocked and terrified many countries.
Especially China and Japan tried hard to get information about antitron with great interest.
It was because they were neighboring countries and operated many nuclear power nts.
If one missile could stop those nuclear power nts, it would be strange if they were not interested.
All kinds of connections and informationworks within Korea were mobilized, but no proper information came out.
All they knew was that if it exploded within 500 meters, all nuclear reactions would stop.
China fell into extreme fear.
If they could mass-produce those antitrons, dozens of nuclear power nts located on the east coast of China could fall into concrete lumps.
Nuclear missiles were not a problem at all.
¨DSince Korea chose war without hesitation, it is likely that they were electrified before.
¨DBy now, they must have produced enough numbers.
Some argued that the Korean War itself was a bluff by Korea, but the possibility was low.
It was a fact that North Korea attacked first with massive radiation guns.
Now North Korea was no longer treated as a country on international stages such as UN.
Since Korea¡¯s unification was certain, there was no need to cause conflict again.
Wang Xian Shang tried to keep in touch with Korea diplomatically from this point of view.
He was a soldier and pursued realistic aspects rather than restoring the glory of China in the past.
In the current situation where Yangtze War failedpletely and riots in major cities worsened.
What China needed was not a conflict with the outside, but a reconciliation within.
From this point of view, he concluded that changing China¡¯s name was not a bad idea.
¡®Yu Ji-ha said he would never deal with China, that is, the People¡¯s Republic of China. If we change our name, he might listen to us.¡¯
He hinted at his intention to his faction, but met with considerable opposition.
¡°Change our name? Who would recognize a name other than China?¡±
¡°If we bow to a small country first, our dignity will be greatly damaged.¡±
¡°Taiwan isughing at us, and if South Korea joins them, who will follow us?¡±
¡°Why don¡¯t we mobilize the army and attack South Korea? If we can get that antitron, we can rest assured for the next 100 years.¡±
They were all absurd words.
¡°Are you sane to attack South Korea? There are more than 10 railgun batteries on the west coast!¡±
¡°If we go south bynd like the 80th Army, there is a possibility.¡±
¡°If we fail, it¡¯s not us, but China that¡¯s over!¡±
¡°Then what do you suggest? We¡¯ve already spent all our money and the factories are stopped. There¡¯s no ce to make money.¡±
¡°That¡¯s why we have to reach out to Korea and make money!¡±
¡°¡¡±
The conference room became quiet.
They realized that the only way for China to survive was to cling to South Korea.
As Wang Xian Shang said, changing their name might give them a little chance.
If they liquidated Kim Jong-un¡¯s hidden assets and gave them as a gift, Yu Ji-ha might not ignore them¡
But in this case, the central control would be very weakened.
Especially Xinjiang Uyghur, Tibet, and the three northeastern provinces.
They were already short of troops and facing a series of riots.
The three northeastern provinces were an unpredictable area if Korea¡¯s influence increased.
But Wang Xian Shang¡¯s faction decided to ept all this.
The important thing was the central government that valued the coastal cities.
¡®If you try to grab all the sand with greed, you will end up spilling it.¡¯
They needed to add water and harden it firmly, and that was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s cooperation.
He sent a special envoy to South Korea after synthesizing all this.
He ordered them not to act arrogantly, so the d
elegation had to cringe at the airport.
Yu Ji-ha received his report and said calmly.
¡°I don¡¯t need to meet them. Maybe if they change their name first.¡±
When his words were reported through the media, China started to burn.
Chapter 82: Artificial Sun
Chapter 82: Artificial Sun
The unification was dered and the North and South were practically merged, but not much had changed.
The surveince system around the demilitarized zone remained the same, and the North Korean residents stillcked the freedom to relocate.
People¡¯s attention was now focused on what the government would do.
It was not an easy task for a country like South Korea to absorb North Korea.
Even the unification of West and East Germany, which had a much better situation, had all kinds of side effects and had to collect a unification tax for 30 years.
And most of the infrastructure in North Korea was garbage in the eyes of South Korea.
The roads, sewers, buildings, and everything else were almost nonexistent, requiring a huge amount of resources.
That meant that the South Korean people had to bear a heavy tax burden.
¨DIt was good until unification, but what now? The North Korean residents are no different from beggars. We have to feed them.
¨DThe facilities in North Korea are useless. It¡¯s better to demolish them all.
¨DFirst of all, we have to collect and dispose of their weapons.
Yu Ji-ha established the North Korean Reconstruction Committee.
He was the chairman and various experts participated in the reconstruction of North Korea.
¡°There has been a lot of talk, but the most urgent thing right now is control over the residents. How is the census going?¡±
¡°Currently, the census of most cities except for mountainous areas has beenpleted. It amounts to about 17 million people.¡±
¡°That¡¯s much less than expected.¡±
The important thing was that most of them were addicted to drugs.
The UN investigation agency reported that about a third of North Korean residents had experienced drugs, and Arma reported 45%.
Almost half of them had experienced drugs.
It was also a problem that most of the residents were infected with parasites.
North Korea now had to start with saving the residents rather than reconstruction.
Yu Ji-ha looked at the map of North Korea and said.
¡°To save the residents, we need to establish a control system. We will install 100 detention facilities in mountainous areas outside the cities. The locations are¡¡±
The construction of detention facilities and supply ns were devised.
It would not be easy to move the residents, but it had to be done.
It was almost impossible to control them in a scattered state.
¡°We will stop allmercial activities and abolish the currency. And all of North Korea is owned by the Republic of Korea government. All rights before the division are invalid.¡±
They were all measures that would cause amotion.
Yu Ji-ha drove a nail into it.
¡°We will close the border for at least 10 years and maintain a rationing system. We will destroy all infrastructure and build everything from scratch.¡±
This was fine.
Since there was virtually no facility in North Korea anyway, it was a reasonable argument to build anew.
But where would he get the money for that?
The budget of the Korean government was obvious, and it had already spent a huge amount of war expenses.
There was also a huge national debt that had not been resolved, and it was difficult to increase the budget any more.
Unification tax was inevitable, and additional funds or national debt issuance were needed.
The UN and other international organizations would help, but it would be far from enough to operate all of North Korea.
People looked at Yu Ji-ha¡¯s mouth only.
¡°I think I¡¯ll make some money now.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
Then what about the money he made so far?
As of September 2028, nuclear fusion research around the world was in a stagnant stage.
Research funds continued to be invested, but they failed to produce a nket that could properly breed tritium, which was important.
There were also many problems that were hard to solve right away.
Even using superconducting unobtanium supplied by Si Group,mercial power generation was stagnant.
It might be possible if technology advanced further, but it was concluded that it was impossible within 10 years.
Therefore, all nuclear fusion researchers around the world pinned their hopes on the ion beam fusion reactor No. 1 being built by Sr Fusion.
He was confident that he could develop a nuclear fusion reactor that could achievemercial power generation within two years, and that deadline was approaching.
If this year passes, ion beam fusion reactor is virtually considered a development failure.
However, ording to news leaked by several countries, Sr Fusion has alreadypleted the development of a demonstration reactor.
They have almost finished developing nuclear fusion reactors up to 5GW, not to mention 50MW.
There was so little information that it made researchers anxious these days.
Suddenly an announcement was posted on the Sr Fusion homepage.
¨D5GW ion beam fusion reactor developmentpleted.
¨DWe n to invite rted parties to the uing technology demonstration.
There were only two sentences, so the researchers were confused.
¨DDid they really finish developing a 5GW nuclear fusion reactor? Without any information disclosure?
¨D5GW is equivalent to the output of five decent nuclear reactors. It looks quite small in the data, but I wonder if it¡¯s possible¡
¨DIf they have 100 of these nuclear fusion reactors, they can rece all the nuclear power nts in the world. It¡¯s an unbelievable output.
¨DThe construction cost may not be reduced much, but it has a tremendous advantage of having almost no radioactivity and finally achieving carbon neutrality.
Most of the researchers made hopeful observations, but in Europe except Germany and China, they looked pessimistic.
¨DTwo papers submitted, no international seminars or cross-checking. Can we trust such a research team?
¨DArtificial intelligence was heavily involved in output control, but I doubt their intention to cover up the data. There is a trend these days that people blindly believe anything if it¡¯s artificial intelligence.
¨DIt¡¯smentable that such a selfish and stingypany is at the forefront of nuclear fusion research.
¨DNevertheless, if all this is true, it¡¯s nothing short of a miracle. For the sake of humanity¡¯s future, I hope it¡¯s true¡
The climate change in the world had reached an area that could no longer be ignored.
In the reality where they suffered from heat waves, floods, cold waves and snowstorms every year, they had to achieve carbon neutrality in power nts and vehicles in order to dream of the future.
In that sense, this nuclear fusion demonstration was very important.
It was a watershed for whether they could supply electricity in an environmentally friendly and economical way.
However, EU had a very bad rtionship with Korea, so that was a problem.
They ignored the measures he demanded because of their pride and came to this day.
Considering the size of the EU market, they should have given in a little bit, but they showed no signs of doing so.
At this point, when the invitation to the demonstration was returned, the EU officials became nervous.
Not a single one came except for Germany.
The EU and the heads of various countries immediately discussed this situation.
¨DAre they really trying to cut off rtions?
¨DKorea needs a lot of money right now. If we cancel the FTA, they will have to bow their heads.
¨DWhat if they don¡¯t? The damage wille back to us. The living stabilization expenses we have to pay for the summer floods are enormous.
¨DBut can¡¯t EU bend its pride for an individual¡¯s unreasonable treatment?
¨DRemember that we first forced that unreasonable treatment on Yu Ji-ha. No matter what excuse we make, we can only say that the heads at that time were crazy.
¨DWe can¡¯t stand it anymore. There are opinions among member states that we should negotiate with Korea individually.
¨DThat means the dissolution of EU. I will never allow it.
¨DAllow it or not, when did Androide out? We haven¡¯t even seen it yet. We¡¯re going to be left out of technological development at this rate.
That was the biggest problem.
Korea seemed to achieve unification smoothly and develop technology steadily.
Not only nuclear fusion reactors, but also rumors that they would soon proceed with the moon base they announced before.
But EU waspletely excluded from all these processes.
They could only watch as the US, Russia, Germany and Japan shared data and built nuclear fusion reactors.
Especially France and Italy, which had many carpanies, suffered a catastrophic copse of their premium electric car line due to not being able to supply ck metal in time.
It was not yet possible to say that it had a big impact on the economy, but once nuclear fusion became a reality, the aftermath would be no joke.
Italy, who couldn¡¯t stand it anymore, made an ultimatum.
¨DIf the executive branch fails to improve rtions with Yu Ji-ha this time, we will withdraw from EU.
As Italy stepped forward, many countries followed suit passively.
And so not only Europe but also the whole world¡¯s attention was focused on Korea.
The survival of EU could also be decided depending on the oue of this nuclear fusion demonstration.
Yu Ji-ha himself didn¡¯t seem to care much though.
On September 11th, more than 100 countries flew charter nes to Korea at once.
¡
¡
Si Group Sr Fusion¡¯s first research building was bustling with dignitaries from various countries who visited from abroad.
From Russian President Putin to Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and US Vice President, they met and shook hands and greeted each other.
They watched drones equipped with ion thrusters flying around and entered the research building with the guidance of androids.
Russian President Putin spoke to Yu Ji-ha, who was walking next to him.
¡°Those drones, they seem to be quite active in Korea.¡±
¡°They haven¡¯t been fully introduced yet, and they are in the testing phase.¡±
¡°What kind of test are you talking about?¡±
¡°They are to assist the police. The artificial intelligence filters the video taken by the drone and picks out the risk factors. Then it contacts the police immediately.¡±
¡°That¡¯s an amazing artificial intelligence.¡±
Putin looked at the drone passing by with a surprised face.
This was enough to rece the police rather than assist them.
They monitor for danger while flying around and call androids if there is a problem.
If artificial intelligence handles all this, there is no need for people.
It¡¯s a surveince system that only appears in Sci-fi movies.
It could also be used to control the people in a different direction.
It¡¯s an ideal world that every dictator dreams of.
But the policy that Yu Ji-ha advocated was in a different direction.
He lifted all the inte sites that had been blocked in Korea until then and disbanded the Broadcasting and Communications Commission.
He even tried to decriminalize gambling and prostitution, causing a lot of bacsh.
But his determination was firm.
¨DThe state does not censor personal preferences. It only monitors and punishes if crimes ur in the process.
He used the highway as an example, setting the maximum speed at 200km, but immediately confiscating the car if he drove recklessly.
It was a somewhat unusual thing to think that ordinary dictators would try to apply all kinds of regtions.
¡®Either he¡¯s confident or he has another purpose.¡¯
President Putin thought it was both.
Soon, the party arrived in front of the nuclear fusion reactor.
The spherical reactor chamber was muchrger than the demonstration reactor, and the ion beamuncher was also quite thick.
Saudi Arabia¡¯s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman asked.
¡°My friend. Can I ask you how much it costs to build a nuclear fusion reactor No. 1?¡±
¡°Currently, we estimate it at about 10 billion dors, including anciry facilities.¡±
¡°That¡¯s expensive.¡±
¡°But it¡¯s worth more than that.¡±
¡°Well¡¡±
With nuclear fusion reactor No. 1, they could rece nuclear power nts altogether.
There was almost no radioactive contamination and the dmissioning cost could be greatly reduced.
Considering that risk, the cost of 10 billion dors was not too high.
Moreover, this fusion reactor was developed with the initial technology.
Considering the future development, there was a need to introduce rted infrastructure in advance.
The visitors were thinking about various things when a broadcast came out of the control room.
¡°We will start the demonstration soon. Please take your seats.¡±
As everyone sat down, Director Ahn Yong-hoon came to Yu Ji-ha and reported.
¡°Everything is ready. We can start soon.¡±
Yu Ji-ha nodded his head.
¡°Thank you for your hard work.¡±
¡°What did I do? I just walked the path that Lucia paved for me.¡±
He could guess his efforts from the fact that he silently walked that path.
¡°Let¡¯s start.¡±
Soon, the whole research building began to buzz.
A huge amount of electricity was supplied and entered the countdown to ignite the nuclear fusion reactor.
On the monitor that the visitors were watching, a finely made CG video was disyed.
As dozens of ion beams heated the fuel pellet in the chamber, a unique inward phenomenon urred and sma was formed.
¡°Wow¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s finally starting.¡±
The temperature and pressure inside the reactor reached the limit in an instant.
Now, the nuclear fusion reactor entered full operation and seeded in maintaining it for more than 300 seconds.
More, more, more!
The visitors watched the scene of creating an artificial sun with excitement.
The ion beam fusion reactor finallypleted 30 minutes of operation perfectly.
With additional facilities such as turbines for nuclear power nts, it could be used as a power nt right away.
It was a perfect sess.
The visitors who had been looking at each other started pping when President Putin stood up and pped.
The world¡¯s first artificial sun was born.
¡
¨DSr Fusion¡¯s ion beam fusion reactor sessfully operated for 30 minutes.
¨DThe power input during the fuel ignition process by ion beam is only 1/20 of the output. A stablemercial power generation level is possible.
¨DOne nuclear fusion reactor facility can rece existing nuclear power nts. The construction cost is estimated at about 10 billion dors.
¨DThe amount of radiation leaked during power generation is very low¡ The dream energy source that solves both environmental and carbon problems finally appears.
The demonstration ended sessfully and the media from various countriespeted to report it.
Most of them praised it as opening a new future for humanity.
Some scientists argued that the world should join forces and rece all power nts with nuclear fusion reactors to cope with the rapidly changing climate change.
¡°It¡¯s 2030, but we¡¯re still far from achieving true carbon neutrality. It¡¯s because of economic reasons¡ And now we have a nuclear fusion reactor that solves that economic problem.¡±
A reporter pushed a microphone toward him.
¡°So, doctor, can we drastically reduce carbon emissions with a nuclear fusion reactor?¡±
¡°We have to think not only about nuclear fusion reactors but also ion thrusters here. We have to change everything we ride.¡±
¡°Exactly what are they?¡±
¡°Cars, trains, airnes, ships, anything you can think of.¡±
¡°Currently, ion thrusters are only produced by onepany. Is it okay to monopolize them?¡±
¡°If not, we¡¯ll have to watch as the earth¡¯s environment is ruined. We¡¯re already paying the price for that.¡±
During the Second Korean War, Europe, Middle East, India and other ces suffered from high temperatures that were not enough to be called heat waves.
In Baghdad, it hit 57 degrees Celsius, which was historically high, and more than 4,000 people died of heat stroke in France.
Now winteres and they will suffer from severe cold and snowstorms as if nothing happened.
The US and Australia were no exception, and many areas were suffering from wildfires all year round.
The area of ??the wildfire was sorge that they gave up extinguishing it.
Since the situation was like this, everyone agreed that carbon emissions should be suppressed.
The problem was how to suppress it, but finally a solution appeared.
Researchers from Korea, US, Russia, Germany and Japan who confirmed the data from the demonstration said almost the same thing.
¨DWe have to build nuclear fusion power nts as soon as possible.
¨DEven if there are some problems, we can solve them after introducing them first.
They argued this because helium-3, which is the main raw material, was not easy to supply.
Unless Starfield¡¯s Moonlight Project starts in earnest, helium-3 can only be supplied in limited quantities.
So you have to build it first and stamp it to have an advantage in negotiations.
¨DThe good thing is that the Moonlight Project will be operational by the end of the year.
¨DI suspect that the schedule was dyed because South Korea absorbed North Korea.
Such opinions gathered and were delivered to Yu Ji-ha.
He said he would push the project as soon as possible and also said that he needed a lot of money.
¡°As I said before, astronomical amounts of money and materials are consumed for the construction of nuclear fusion power nts and moon bases. It¡¯s time for international cooperation.¡±
International cooperation meant nothing but money, more money.
Yu Ji-ha hated organizations like IAEA that would interfere with him for no reason.
Even at this demonstration, they made all kinds of fuss and annoyed him by inspecting the radiation leakage.
He submitted enough data, but the inspectors insisted on visiting in person.
It would have been understandable if it was an ordinary reactor, but it was a nuclear fusion reactor. He didn¡¯t understand why they were so worried.
Anyway, Sr Fusion¡¯s ion beam fusion reactor passed all the procedures for power nt construction.
They were all waiting for their throats to dry, so they simplified the process.
On the other hand, Europe except Germany had to suck their fingers and watch.
The world looked at EU and Yu Ji-ha and said they were terrible.
¨DThey endured sanctions for over a year because of their pride, EU or Yu Ji-ha who doesn¡¯t give a nce.
¨DThe more time passes, the more EU will suffer. There are rumors that Italy has already contacted Korea individually.
¨DWe need to recover rtions with Yu Ji-ha as soon as possible to get on board with the fourth industrial revolution.
If you ask 100 intellectuals what the fourth industrial revolution is, you will get 100 different answers.
But if you change the question to where its starting point is, there is only one answer.
Korea, or more narrowly, Yu Ji-ha, the owner of Si Group.
However, EU had a hard time joining hands with him right away.
The people¡¯s support was enough, but he was a great dictator because he did not go through elections from the perspective of EU.
When the Korean National Assembly was paralyzed and he seized power, EU poured out tremendous criticism.
Especially France mentioned Hitler and the rtionship was so bad that there was spection that it had copsed.
So when Italy secretly contacted him and Britain sent a special envoy, they had no choice but to watch with tears in their eyes.
Some in the French academicmunity urged a quick summit meeting, but the media and citizens showed strong rejection.
¨DA summit meeting with a dictator? That¡¯s impossible.
¨DFrance¡¯s pride will not be broken by a mere nuclear fusion reactor.
Even though they had already had normal summit meetings with Russia and others.
Anyway or not, Yu Ji-ha was only interested in money and materialsing into Korea.
Chapter 83: The Summit of Secrets and Shifting Landscapes
Chapter 83: The Summit of Secrets and Shifting Landscapes
¡°We received nt supply requests from 56 countries. We have signed formal supply contracts with 10 countries and the rest are at the MOU stage.¡±
¡°Are there any ces that have annoying conditions?¡±
¡°Mostly Southeast Asia. There are many inquiries about whether they can pay in kind instead of money.¡±
Yu Ji-ha flipped through dozens of documents with a troubled expression.
It was a bit¡ unreasonable to hope to receive a nuclear fusion nt while paying with chickens.
¡°Tell them we¡¯ll ept it if they add 30% of the market price to 5% of the group¡¯s profit margin.¡±
It was going to North Korea anyway, so it didn¡¯t make much difference.
Thanks to the huge amount of moneying into South Korea like this, the economy was in a great boom.
The constructionpanies were struggling to find workers to send abroad, and many small and medium-sized enterprises were also busy producing equipment for the nts.
Si Group acquired only the department in charge of nuclear power business from Hansung Group.
The facilities were almost simr except for the nuclear fusion reactor.
Yu Ji-ha tilted his head as he looked at the site upied by the nuclear fusion nt to be built in the South Sea.
¡°Do we have to build such a huge power nt just to produce 1GW?¡±
¡°We have to boil water and spin turbines.¡±
¡°Well, I guess it helps the economic cycle in its own way¡¡±
He couldn¡¯t help but smirk as if he was throwing dirt back into the hole he dug out.
¡°Master, we have received a proposal from Chairman Wang Xi¡¯an.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°He suggested a summit meeting on the condition that they will change they¡¯re name to the Chinese People¡¯s Federation and liquidate Kim Jong-un¡¯s assets and provide us secretly.¡±
¡°Chinese People¡¯s Federation or Chinese People¡¯s Republic, it¡¯s all the same. How much are his assets?¡±
¡°It seems to be a little over 30 billion yuan.¡±
¡°Who would stick that on their nose? Tell them toe up with a 10 trillion won investment n for North Korea. Add the liquidated assets separately.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
Whether it was effective or not, Wang Xi¡¯an entered South Korea before September ended.
What was waiting for him at the airport was not a grand wee ceremony or a guard of honor, but a few cars including the secretary general.
¡°I heard that South Korea¡¯s etiquette has been greatly simplified, but I didn¡¯t expect it to be this much¡¡±
Russia and the US also received the same etiquette, so it could be considered fair in some ways.
Anyway, after all these twists and turns, Wang Xi¡¯an was able to face Yu Ji-ha one-on-one.
He knew that if he missed this opportunity, it would be over for China.
That¡¯s why he made a radical proposal from the start.
¡°I¡¯ll give you Mount Baekdu.¡±
The mountain called Baekdu Mountain in Korea and Changbai Mountain in China.
Regardless of its name, this mountain was currently owned by Korea and China half and half.
Wang Xi¡¯an¡¯s finger drew a new border line.
It meant giving up thend from Junggang-eup to Mount Baekdu.
The area was almostparable to Chungcheongbuk-do, but Yu Ji-ha was not satisfied.
¡°I want this much.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s finger added a new line to it.
It was a line that stretched from Junggang-eup to Russia.
Wang Xi¡¯an¡¯s expression hardened.
¡°¡Thisnd is as big as Hamgyeongbuk-do. You want this?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll lift the ck metal sanctions and help you mine the ck metal in the Taiwan Strait through negotiations with Taiwan.¡±
China had to pay several times more than what they asked for if they wanted something from Yu Ji-ha.
They thought they could form a partnership with Si Group with 100 billion yuan andnd, but that was just their delusion.
The funny thing was that China had no choice but to ept it because they had no way out.
¡®How did ite to this¡¡¯
The good old days when they were called G2 with the US and aimed for the hegemony of the world were gone.
Looking back now, it was fatal when the meteorite fell before the war.
The situation was so twisted that he wondered if some transcender had pushed China to choose war.
As he thought up to here, Wang Xi¡¯an suddenly felt suffocated.
If lifting the ck metal sanctions costs this much, what do I have to give up for a nuclear fusion power nt?
The only thing that was certain was that there was no future without epting these unreasonable demands.
Wang Xi¡¯an knew better than anyone else that it was true, as he was the de facto leader of China.
¡°Fine. Let¡¯s finalize the border line during the working-level consultation.¡±
¡°You can invest in Korea now.¡±
Of course, lifting the ck metal sanctions didn¡¯t mean they could produce ck metal batteries.
They had to build a factory in Korea to process ck metal.
He couldn¡¯t help but resent the old bureaucrats who had threatened and kidnapped him in the past.
He would have preferred to be treated like the US or Russia, but he couldn¡¯t even imagine what he had to give up in that case.
The two continued to discuss after that, but they didn¡¯t reach any significant agreement.
The only thing they agreed on was to lift the ck metal sanctions and give up the deposits in the South China Sea in exchange for mediating the deposits in the Taiwan Strait.
As a result of this summit, Korea gained a newnd of 20,000 square kilometers.
Yu Ji-ha received tremendous support for expanding his territory through this summit.
¡ªIt¡¯s impossible to expand the territory in this day and age, but he did it¡
¡ªHe invested all the money from the nuclear fusion nt orders and the money deposited from China into North Korea. He¡¯s using his fortune to normalize North Korea.
¡ªStrictly speaking, it¡¯s his personal money and Si Group¡¯s money¡ He¡¯s really amazing.
From Yu Ji-ha¡¯s perspective, these opinions were somewhat puzzling.
It was his own thing, whether it was the Korean Penins or Si Group.
¡°It¡¯s just moving money from one pocket to another. I don¡¯t understand.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t they think dictatorship will end someday?¡±
¡°Well, I guess so.¡±
It would be like that in about 70 years.
¡
The next leader Yu Ji-ha met was President Putin.
The two leaders had tentatively agreed on many things, but they seemed to want to finalize them at this opportunity.
The scale of the working-level staff was huge, and there was even a reorganization of the Russian government before the meeting, which made the US worried.
¡ªWhat does it mean that the Far North Arctic Development Department was abolished?
-Following Brus, Ukraine is also showing signs of integrating economically with Russia instead of clinging to the EU.
-Russia has also conducted arge-scale military exercise in Eastern Europe. It is not unrted to this series of events.
In Western Europe, there was a fuss that Russia¡¯s advance had finally be a reality.
They made a fortune with ck metal and were not satisfied with it, but dreamed of restoring the Soviet Union.
But it was almost impossible unless they asked for annexation like Brus did, and unless the US gave up on Europe.
But at this point, a variable appeared.
It was clear that Russia would make a huge proposal at this summit with Korea.
There were various spections about what it was, but the im that it wasnd was dominant.
¡ªYu Ji-ha seems to likend. It¡¯s a result of his preference that he absorbed North Korea and expanded his territory through negotiations with China.
¡ªMaybe he¡¯ll give up divostok. It¡¯s not and that has no connection with Korea.
¡ªIn return, Russia will try to get full cooperation, but it won¡¯t be easy.
The US intelligence agencies came up with these spections and President McKinley shook his head.
¡°His greed is not ordinary. He won¡¯t be satisfied with just Primorye.¡±
¡°Do you think he¡¯s thinking of Sakhalin?¡±
¡°Well, I don¡¯t know unless I go to the meeting ce myself.¡±
divostok had a poption of over 600,000 and there was even a base for the Russian Pacific Fleet nearby.
At first nce, it seemed unlikely that they would give up their naval base.
But on the other hand, they had to think about what Russia wanted so much that they would give up their naval base.
President McKinley checked the structure of Terra Ind taken by reconnaissance satellites.
¡°I can¡¯t help but admire it every time I see it. When was this section built?¡±
¡°It went up in two days. It seems to be a defense battery.¡±
¡°A defense battery means a railgun, but isn¡¯t it too big?¡±
¡°It could be a super-sized railgun¡¡±
The US agreed to cede Terra Ind to Yu Ji-ha and provide security for a year.
It was good for both Yu Ji-ha and the US, because they could check what had changed around Terra Ind as a result.
ording to thebination of satellite images and close-up shots, a huge city was being built on Terra Ind.
And it was a city made of ck metal.
President McKinley tapped his desk nervously.
¡°Just dismantling that section would exceed a year¡¯s worth of ck metal we mine. I can¡¯t even estimate how much it is.¡±
¡°It¡¯s very difficult to estimate the exact amount of ck metal. It¡¯s growing all the time.¡±
¡°Even so, isn¡¯t it too much? It¡¯s like it was prepared for him.¡±
¡°Or maybe he made it.¡±
¡°Is he really an alien?¡±
He looked like a Korean on the outside, but there were too many suspicious points about him.
His secretary, who always followed him around, was a mysterious person who had no trace of life except for graduating from college.
¡°He has a social security number, but no friends, nothing. It¡¯s like¡¡±
He fell from the sky.
There were many doubts, but he couldn¡¯t take any action right away.
He was an ally for now.
¡°But the secret meeting with Russia is shaking my determination¡ I hope he doesn¡¯t cross the line.¡±
The US had not given up on Korea yet and drew a line in front of them.
They recognized Korea as a power in East Asia, but they did not ept it beyond the Pacific.
And they could tolerate economic cooperation with Russia, but they didn¡¯t want them to get too close.
The Democrats were already opposing him, passing sanctions resolutions and saying that his actions were very worrying.
If he had been a clear ally, they would have let it go, but his behavior so far was ambiguous.
President McKinley hoped he would make a wise choice.
¡°When my term ends, the Democrats will have a president. Please don¡¯t provoke them.¡±
And a few dayster, President Putin left Korea with a satisfied face.
The working-level staff fainted during the overnight discussion, and there was a report that said so.
And one day inte October, the map of the Kremlin changed slightly.
Almost at the same time, the map of the Korean Penins in the Cheong Wa Dae office changed a lot.
But this information was not disclosed to the world.
South Korea had enough to do with normalizing North Korea.
As a result of the world¡¯s efforts to inject deworming drugs and dispatch doctors, the residents were barely able to get out of the parasite danger a little bit.
Essentials such as food were alsoing in, so they were not in immediate danger of life.
But the real challenge was yet toe.
Many of the residents showed symptoms of drug addiction.
The drugs in North Korea weremonly called baekdo-raji and bingdu, meaning opium and methamphetamine.
They were so widespread that even children could easily ess them.
The guerri activities hidden in the rural areas were also serious.
But these problems could be solved over time.
ording to Arma¡¯s calctions, if Pyongyang was normalized, the surroundings would naturally stabilize.
Yu Ji-ha called the constructionpany representatives and drew a line on the map of the south of the Daedong River in Pyongyang.
¡°From here to here, clear everything and push it away.¡±
Boom!
The buildings copsed one after another as the explosives detonated.
Pyongyang began to be ttened.
¡
Chapter 84: The Final Stand
Chapter 84: The Final Stand
Chapter 84: The Final Stand
¡°There are quite a lot of ins in North Korea.¡±
¡°Jaeryeong in and Pyongyang in are quite famous.¡±
¡°It¡¯s an optimal location for building a megacity.¡±
He couldn¡¯t build a megacity right away, but it was important to n the city so that it could have the foundation for it.
Fortunately, all of North Korea¡¯s urban nning was entirely under Russia¡¯s control.
Everything from basic civil engineering to finishing stages was carried out under Russia¡¯s supervision.
They didn¡¯t monitor every single material, but the entire payment process went through Russia, so it was impossible to embezzle.
Yu Ji-ha wrote his name on Terra Ind.
¡°This is Megacity Pacific. And North Korea is Megacity North.¡±
North Korea¡¯stitude was not enough to be called North, but he wrote it for convenience.
Arma wrote his name on the South Sea area.
¡°Then this would be South.¡±
Megacities were built all over the map.
With thend he had acquired so far, he could build four megacities, which was not enough for his goal of 15.
¡°But it¡¯s not slow considering we¡¯ve done this much in three years, right?¡±
¡°The schedule is almost error-free.¡±
¡°We can build at least six more if we get Manchuria.¡±
This schedule was based on the assumption that gue would invade in 2103.
But Arma reported that he might have to revise the npletely.
¡°Master, something flew to the moon.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you catch it beforehand?¡±
¡°The range of the gravity radar is limited.¡±
Settler was currently in orbit, but it was busy enough to monitor Earth.
The space nt was specialized in production and the mining ship was not worth mentioning.
Yu Ji-ha felt a sighing out suddenly.
¡°I thought I had achieved a lot in three years, but I don¡¯t even know what¡¯sing to the moon.¡±
¡°It will get better when we start developing the moon properly.¡±
¡°I hope so. Send an explorer and check it out.¡±
An explorer separated from Settler and headed for the moon.
It fell on Mare Tranquillitatis, which faced Earth, so many countries, including the US, found out about it.
It was impossible to hide it because there was even a seismic wave.
The astronomical observatories that were observing the moon went crazy and the explorer cautiously headed for the crater while avoiding their surveince.
And a shocking fact was revealed.
¡°Master, it¡¯s a relic of Golden Record.¡±
¡°¡¡±
It couldn¡¯t havee already.
But what was caught by the explorer¡¯s camera was undoubtedly a relic of Golden Record.
Yu Ji-ha groaned as he looked at the dark gray metal capsule.
¡°¡Golden Record came already? Didn¡¯t you predict it for 2030?¡±
¡°Maybe the warp gate we passed through had an effect.¡±
He used the warp gate twice to bring various things.
As a result, the entire timeline might have been distorted.
¡°Can you recalcte the invasion date?¡±
¡°That¡¯s¡¡±
Most of gue¡¯s information was unknown, so even Arma, who specialized in massive calctions, couldn¡¯t know.
¡°Just bring that. Let¡¯s check if the record is correct first.¡±
While the explorer retrieved Seonji¡¯s relic, Yu Ji-ha couldn¡¯t hide his gloomy face.
All his ns were based on gue invading in 2103.
If the timeline was pushed forward like this, it would be difficult to cope with it.
¡®I haven¡¯t even touched on Project Psychic¡¡¯
He brought Fatima from Afghanistan, but he had to wait until she became an adult to analyze her genes.
Psychic abilities usually manifested as they got older.
Yu Ji-ha, who joined the military in his mid-teens and showed extraordinary abilities, was a rare case.
Anyway, everything was going smoothly, but he was suddenly faced with a crisis.
He sat in his chair and looked out the narrow window of the space station.
There was a creepy red mist in the space where there should have been nothing.
Mars, which was called the red by humanity.
No, it was now Mars that had been dismantled into pieces.
The gue army that had prated deep into the sr system devoured all the inorganic matter and finally reached the orbit of Mars.
Humanity tried to stop them, but it was not enough.
They won every battle, but they lost the war.
They couldn¡¯t handle their enormous quantity.
That¡¯s how they reached Mars and started to break and devour the crust like breaking a cookie.
The red mist that looked like a gxy was the Red Cloud phenomenon that urred when gue devoured the crust.
The end of the.
Yu Ji-ha heard the dying scream of Mars.
And between them, he heard a glimpse of gue Queen¡¯s thoughts.
¡®They¡¯re looking for something¡¡¯
It¡¯s strange.
He was an exceptional psychic who could catch the psychokinesis of gue, which he usually maintained.
But he never expected to hear the will of gue Queen as well.
Her psychokic field was so powerful that it felt like a meaningless scream.
When they devoured a, ordinary psychics had to be locked in specially designed facilities or cockpits of assault armors.
But today was different.
He sat on the bed and read all kinds of thoughts that gue Queen emitted.
¡®Poor creatures¡ Why do they treat us like this?¡¯
He had already felt enough that gue was an intelligent being, but he never thought it would have such concrete emotions.
Before he knew it, his consciousness was separated.
He returned to the past and saw himself in the L2 space station in 2177.
¡®That¡¯s me from before.¡¯
To be precise, it was himself who was resting after getting a vacation just before gue Legionunched its final offensive.
At that time, all the soldiers of the United Space Force were exhausted by the endless battles and the situation was very bad.
Themander of the Space Force, Captain Alexander Maxtol, gave them a vacation.
¡°They¡¯re too busy devouring Mars anyway. Let¡¯s have some rest for ourselves.¡±
After devouring Mars, it would be Earth.
Everyone knew that, but they were immersed in the sweet rest for now.
Yu Ji-ha also relieved his stress with Lucia, who came up from Earth for a rare asion.
¡®Come to think of it, Lucia was here¡¡¯
He turned his eyes and saw a brown-skinned woman sleeping on her back in the middle of the bed.
Lucia Rosano.
He had rtions with many women, but she was the only one he truly connected and fell in love with.
She was the head of the artifact analysis agency ARC, a member of the Supreme Council, a teacher and a colleague¡ and a lover.
She twitched her shoulder and opened her eyes.
A faint smile appeared on her lips and she hugged his broad back from behind.
¡°What are you thinking about?¡±
Yu Ji-ha in 2177 was still looking out the window.
¡°Just¡ wondering when it will be our turn.¡±
¡°What a romantic guy.¡±
¡°This is not a situation for romance.¡±
Something was strange.
The voice of gue that Yu Ji-ha in 2028 heard did not seem to reach him.
¡®Am I dreaming of my past memories again? As a result of contacting the prophet¡¯s artifact?¡¯
He was not even sure if this was a dream.
He watched their intimate act in silence.
¡°I had an examination today¡ but unfortunately, I¡¯m not pregnant.¡±
¡°Lucia, I¡¯m telling you again¡¡±
¡°I know. You don¡¯t want to have a child. But it doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s mine.¡±
¡°How does it not matter? It¡¯s our child.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll raise it by myself. A wife who sent her husband to the battlefield talks to the child in her belly while waiting for him. She says, your daddy is fighting scary space monsters to save humanity.¡±
¡°¡¡±
He turned his head again, as if he had nothing to say.
Her long fingers started to caress his chest.
¡°I know your mind isplicated. But you¡¯re with me today. Just look at me.¡±
He felt a determination to get pregnant no matter what in her sparkling eyes.
He didn¡¯t know what it all meant when the end of humanity was approaching soon.
As moans filled the officer¡¯s room, his vision changed.
¡
This time, he was standing inside the bridge.
Walkers and officers were bustling around, while outside, a splendid fireworks show was unfolding.
¡®The final battle.¡¯
Before he was abandoned in space with the cockpit of his assault armor, he had several missions.
The situation was so urgent that he received ovepping orders, and one of them was to escort the pioneer fleet.
The only force mobilized for the mission was a single Sydney-ss battleship with a squadron led by Colonel Yu Ji-ha on board.
The captain, Colonel Han Jinmyung, adjusted his hat after hearing the order.
¡°It¡¯s unusual to put a colonel in such an escort mission.¡±
¡°It seems that the headquarters are busy in many ways.¡±
¡°They finally admitted that the situation is tilted. The pioneer fleet is more important than the nest.¡±
¡°The pioneer fleet¡ I wonder if they can make it to Nox.¡±
¡°Personally, I think it¡¯s difficult, but who knows? Maybe a miracle will happen.¡±
Colonel Yu Ji-ha chuckled
¡°There¡¯s no point in relying on me. I won¡¯t even shed a tear.¡±
They had the same rank, but he had been a colonel when she was just a lieutenant.
She had no choice but to stay as a colonel because she couldn¡¯t quit being a pilot.
Even Alexander, themander of the United Space Force, couldn¡¯t treat her lightly.
He knew that without her, humanity would have been doomed decades ago.
Maybe that¡¯s why he gave her this mission.
Amunication came from the headquarters and it was broadcasted throughout the ship.
¡°Warning, gue 7th Fleet detected. They have blocked our route precisely.¡±
The 7th Fleet was a main force with several Leviathan-ss ships that were over 1km long.
The United Human Federation had no way to break through with their depleted power.
It was risky to use the reactive warheads for the pioneer fleet, because they didn¡¯t know what was beyond the warp gate.
They had to navigate in another universe, and they couldn¡¯t afford to waste all their weapons.
And the pioneer fleet itself was barely mobilized.
They had been sailing for a while, but they didn¡¯t even fill half of their capacity and they were not properly trained. They were practically operated by artificial intelligence.
Basil, the leader of the pioneer fleet, was supposed to be here, but he was on a mission to attack the nest.
It was a mess in every way.
¡®Is this how they put theirst hope on us¡?¡¯
Colonel Han Jinmyung looked at her with a bitter smile.
¡°Colonel.¡±
¡°Get ready soon.¡±
She put on her hat and left the bridge.
As she went down to the hangar, Colonel Eshil Paul greeted her with a smirk.
He was a man with long blond hair and a light impression.
¡°Did you see the size of the 7th Fleet, sir? This is like a suicide squad, don¡¯t you think?¡±
¡°Our mission is not suicide.¡±
¡°Yeah, sure. But how are we supposed to survive with this ship?¡±
Eshil pointed his chin at the pioneer fleet outside.
There were about 30 ships lined up behind the settler ship.
They had reactive warheads loaded, but their assault armors were old models.
They had spent all their power on fighting the gue Legion.
Now they had to pierce through the gue 7th Fleet with one battleship and lead the pioneer fleet to Nox.
It was a hopeless mission.
¡®But we have to do it.¡¯
She pushed aside Eshil, who was whining, and entered the hangar.
Colonel Bok, who had a huge body, walked beside her with big strides.
¡°The flight squad is ready.¡±
¡°Tell them not to be nervous. It¡¯s nothing.¡±
¡°They all look relieved because you¡¯re here, sir.¡±
¡°Is that so? Or are they happy that we¡¯re going to die together?¡±
As Eshil, who had followed her, started to talk nonsense, Bok frowned deeply.
¡°Why do you have to say such things on a day like this?¡±
¡°Look at this desperate situation. We can¡¯t win with our power.¡±
¡°So you want to surrender to the gue?¡±
¡°They might ept us if we beg. I guarantee you, sir, you will definitely¡¡±
¡°Enough.¡±
She said one word and they both shut their mouths.
¡°I know you guys like to joke around, but today you have to be serious about your mission. Got it?¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
Bok was always serious, but he thought it was his mistake to be associated with Eshil and closed his mouth.
The pilots of the flight squad gathered in front of Colonel Yu Ji-ha.
¡°You all look good. This might be ourst briefing. As always, those damn gue Legion are blocking our way. The only way for us to live is to smash them.¡±
¡°I know it¡¯s hard. It¡¯s almost impossible with our current power. But we have to do it. Because we have ourrades, friends and humanity behind us.¡±
Yu Ji-ha took the helmet that Walter Jun gave her and put it on her head before looking at her subordinates for thest time.
They had been together for more than ten years in this tough war.
¡°Don¡¯t die. Let¡¯s meet at the pioneer fleet alive. For humanity.¡±
¡°For humanity.¡±
¡°All pilots prepare forunch.¡±
The broadcast rang in the hangar and the assault armors were loaded on the rails one by one.
¡°Lock bolts released. Ejection ready.¡±
¡°Maverick 1, ejecting.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s assault armor jumped into the dark space.
Far away, the gue 7th Fleet was emitting a powerful psychokinesis field.
Now she could feel their clear will.
¡ªFind him.
Who are they looking for?
The light flickered and that¡¯s how humanity was destroyed.
Only Yu Ji-ha was left behind.
Chapter 85: The Big Brother of the 21st Century
Chapter 85: The Big Brother of the 21st Century
¡
His vision returned.
He shook his head as he woke up from the dream.
He was not sure if it was a dream or a rey of his memory.
But if there was anything he gained, it was that he could hear gue¡¯s voice.
¡®What the hell are they looking for?¡¯
He felt gloomy after seeing his oldrades again.
It was worse after he saw that gue¡¯s appearance had been moved up.
Arma entered the results of decoding the Golden Record into Walker.
He frowned at the numbers on the screen.
¡°It¡¯s been moved up by 20 years.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a steep price to pay for using the warp gate twice.¡±
¡°Did the original Golden Record have these letters on it?¡±
¡°My data only has the star map.¡±
¡°Then someone added themter.¡±
He did not know if the Prophet was trying to help him across time.
But he was certain that there was new information on the Golden Record that arrived on the moon this time.
He sat on the bed and scanned the data.
¡°Information rted to Psychics. How generous of them.
It was as if they were watching his situation and teaching him what hecked.
Of course, that was not the case, but it was clear that the Prophet had goodwill towards humanity.
¡°So Fatima¡¯s discovery in Afghanistan was not a coincidence¡¡±
¡°Technically, she belongs to the Tajik ethnic group. ording to this data, there is a very high chance that more Psychics will be born among them in the future.¡±
¡°Then we need to secure Afghanistan.¡±
¡°Yes. The resistance haspletely upied Kabul, but they are losing ground to the Taliban, who are supported by Pakistan.¡±
¡°They need to be eliminated.¡±
With that one word, he decided the fate of Afghanistan.
He had to upy that ce, since it was predicted that many Psychics would be born there.
It was an ind and underdeveloped country, but that was better.
He could start from scratch.
¡°What about Russia?¡±
¡°Yes. Not now, but eventually many Psychics will be born there.¡±
¡°That makes sense. There were many Russians among the pilots.¡±
He thought of Colonel Bok and Lieutenant Sonya.
Russia, Afghanistan.
He had a lot to do, and now he had to upy two more countries. He felt a headache.
¡°Afghanistan won¡¯t be a problem. Everyone has given up on it. But Russia is a different story.¡±
¡°The current President Putin wants to swallow up Eastern Europe and restore the old Soviet Union. We can take advantage of that.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll have to stab him in the back, but we have no choice.¡±
It would be best to just take the Psychics, but he had to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
By the way, 2080¡
¡°We¡¯ll have to revise our roadmap entirely.¡±
He had nned for 2100, but suddenly his time frame shrunk.
¡°Then, Master, we¡¯ll need a big war.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t care.¡±
A third world war was better than a future where humanity was annihted.
He could have revealed the Settler and the Golden Record, but Arma warned him that it would cause more chaos.
¡°All your actions will backfire and turn the whole world against you.¡±
He had caused an earthquake in Japan and interfered with their nuclear test.
He had killed all of China¡¯s leaders and dropped an asteroid to start a war.
He had deceived America and provoked Russia.
If all this came out, humanity would be his enemy.
He was not afraid of that, but he wanted to avoid situations that would disrupt his roadmap.
¡°Going ahead with suspicion and resistance is the best option¡¡±
¡°Yes. That¡¯s the most likely scenario. But we need to speed up. And we need more boldness.¡±
He needed speed and decisiveness that made his previous actions seem like water.
He got up from his bed.
¡°Let¡¯s stabilize our country first. Send down the drones.¡±
A million drones were deployed to Korea at once.
¡
Dictatorship provokes a lot of bacsh.
President Yu Ji-ha had an amazing approval rating, but not all Koreans supported him.
From professors who spat blood and cried out how he could establish dictatorship after achieving democracy, to religious groups who opposed him, there were many voices against him.
It was not for nothing that he was called Hitler by the French media.
It was a huge shock for France that a dictator emerged in Korea, not in some other country, in the 21st century.
Other countries stepped back and watched his rule, judging him as a necessary evil.
¡ªRealistically, there is no more efficient way of governing than dictatorship in Korea¡¯s situation.
¡ªIt seems like he is using his wealth to build SOC. I¡¯ve never seen a dictator do that before.
¡ªIf it wasn¡¯t for him, Korea would be in a huge chaos by now.
The most important America decided to tacitly ept his stance.
The Democrats made a fuss, but President McKinley thought it was in his best interest to leave him alone.
But all this recognition was based on the fact that Yu Ji-ha did not cross the line.
He dered dictatorship by taking advantage of the powerless legiture, but he did not touch the judiciary.
He took over the military, but he left the police alone. He did not suppress the opposition.
The intellectuals rose up and protested, but he only surrounded them with police forces. He did not use water cannons to disperse them.
He was busy with the tense situation with North Korea and the international affairs, so he had no time to spare.
Anyway, he kept his line.
But that line was in danger of breaking today.
Hundreds of thousands of drones appeared in Seoul.
These drones were different from the ones deployed in North Korea. They were armed with anti-personnel weapons.
But the citizens did not feel anything strange.
¡°They¡¯re probably testing something again.¡±
¡°Did they upgrade them again? They look different every time I see them.¡±
¡°Oh, they¡¯re taking pictures of us. Smile, smile.¡±
It was natural, since they had never been threatened by them.
The citizens posed in front of the drones that roamed the streets.
The drones recorded their identities without any interference orints.
And at that moment, the androids from the National Surveince Office upied all the telmunications and IDCpanies in the country.
The security forces opened the doors wide for them, as they had been contacted beforehand. The executives of thepanies were greatly flustered.
¡°Why are you doing this all of a sudden? Does anyone know what¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°I tried to contact the Blue House, but even the chief of staff doesn¡¯t know!¡±
¡°Then, what about the president¡?¡±
It was a mystery why President Yu Ji-ha, who had been quiet until now, suddenly became aggressive.
Especially since he had said at a recent meeting with businessmen that he respected the autonomy of eachpany and would support them as much as possible.
Why did he change?
Everyone was puzzled when Yu Ji-ha ordered from the bridge of the Settler:
¡°Mobilize all avableputing units and take over the entire Korean inte.¡±
Arma¡¯s main body, a superconducting quantumputer, began to take over the administrative and financialworks.
¡
One day in early October.
People woke up to find that the inte had been taken over.
Various media outlets started to report shocking news.
¡ªAndroids have invaded the IDC of a giant portal site. They are not allowing the executives to enter or leave.
¡ªA hacking program haspletely taken over the financialwork. All data is being monitored!
¡ªAn artificial intelligence is attacking the Korean inte.
It was obvious who was behind this.
Yu Ji-ha.
He had finally shown his true colors.
But there was no problem with using the inte.
Variousmunities were still running well and shopping and payment were the same as usual.
Yu Ji-ha held a press conference and said:
¡°I¡¯m sure you were surprised by what happenedst night. I have taken over the Korean inte. From now on, all data in Korea will be monitored by Lucia.¡±
¡°However, it will not affect your lives. I will not control your thoughts. I will only strictly monitor the numbers.¡±
His speech was followed by a storm of questions from reporters.
¡°Why did you take over the inte?¡±
¡°For more efficient governance. After reviewing the government¡¯s budget data, I found that it was being used too wastefully. This is an inevitable measure to manage them.¡±
¡°You said you won¡¯t control our thoughts, but who can trust the words of a dictator who took over the inte?¡±
¡°Even now, there are plenty of insults against me on the inte. The intellectuals are also protesting a lot. And you reporters are not hesitant to criticize me unlike before.¡±
He criticized the reporters who had only written what they heard from the government until now.
Yu Ji-ha emphasized again.
¡°What I want to monitor through Lucia is data. And if I had to pick one thing, it would be money.¡±
A tension ran through the reporters.
Saying he would monitor money meant he would control everything in Korea.
He would put the government, businesses, and people¡¯s lives under his management.
¡°Isn¡¯t this too much?¡±
A brave reporter shouted, but Yu Ji-ha answered indifferently.
¡°What do you think of me? I am a dictator.¡±
That¡¯s right, he was a dictator.
His actions until now had been slightly different from those of other famous dictators in other countries.
Except for destroying the national army, he could have been seen as a president with strong authority.
But things changed drastically today.
Yu Ji-ha dered that he would monitor all data in Korea and its impact swept through the government Seoul office.
¡°I must have warned you. Exin all ofst year¡¯s budget details and bring them to me.¡±
¡°Mr. President, this is¡¡±
¡°Don¡¯t interrupt me and answer properly. So where are the budget details? Why is there no exnation?¡±
Minister Jin Youngsoon of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family was flustered in front of Yu Ji-ha.
She didn¡¯t take him seriously when he took power.
She thought it was impossible to look into the entire budget of over 1 trillion won.
She also thought he wouldn¡¯t touch her ministry since women¡¯s support was especially high.
But today, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face was so scary that Minister Jin was terrified.
¡°Where did you spend the corporate card? Why is there no receipt for 100 million won for the year-end party? Did you embezzle this?¡±
¡°No, no, it¡¯s not embezzlement, absolutely not¡¡±
¡°The 3 billion won that you said you spent on purchasing support goods for single mothers was resold by a single mother organization and withdrawn in cash, ording to Lucia¡¯s verification. Do you have anything to exin about this?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a misunderstanding, Mr. President. It¡¯s unfair.¡±
¡°What¡¯s so misunderstood and unfair? You withdrew it. You must have clearly confirmed this, but why did you stay quiet?¡±
Even when he showed her the evidence, Minister Jin only repeated that it was unfair.
She also had a repertoire prepared to counter that it was persecution against women if he pushed further.
As previous presidents had done, he would let it go without any trouble¡
But Yu Ji-ha was a dictator.
He called in the deputy minister and the director-level officials.
¡°As of today, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is disbanded.¡±
¡°W-what are you talking about?¡±
¡°The budget of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will be integrated into the Ministry of Welfare, and the staff will also be attached there. And you will all go to prison. You can¡¯t get out until you exin and spit out the money.¡±
¡°Mr. President!¡±
¡°Take them away.¡±
At hismand, the drones that had been swimming around like fish suddenly changed.
They came in with red LEDs shing and grabbed the officials under the minister and took them outside.
¡°Aaaah!¡±
As the superiors were dragged away, the staff didn¡¯t know if this was a dream or reality.
¡°What¡¯s going on? Are they really going to prison?¡±
¡°It looks like they¡¯re going to the ind¡Terra Ind¡¡±
¡°How can this happen in Korea?¡±
They didn¡¯t seem to realize the reality yet.
Yu Ji-ha ordered the drones to gather the staff in one ce.
¡°The Ministry of Welfare is in Sejong City. Pack your bags and go down right now.¡±
¡°S-Sejong City?¡±
¡°Our base is all in Seoul, how can we suddenly go down¡¡±
What nonsense is this?
Yu Ji-ha looked at the staff who were sulking and tilted his head.
¡°Did what I just said sound like nonsense to you?¡±
¡°N-no¡¡±
¡°Anyone who can¡¯t go down, tell me now.¡±
A few people raised their hands and the drones recorded their faces.
¡°You don¡¯t have to go down. You¡¯re all fired. Return your civil servant badges and go home. And I¡¯m warning you, anyone who doesn¡¯t register in Sejong City by tomorrow will be fired.¡±
It was absurd that he would fire civil servants at will.
Someone who couldn¡¯t stand it stood up and bravely spoke up.
¡°The treatment of civil servants is regted by the constitution! You can¡¯t do this!¡±
Yu Ji-ha said to him.
¡°You still seem to be deluded, so let me make it clear here. In Korea, I am thew.¡±
That was the end of it.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family was disbanded and so was the Ministry of Unification, which had also used its budget wastefully.
It wasn¡¯t that other ministries were fine, it was just a matter of how much they were destroyed.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also reduced to almost disbandment.
He had asked them to exin the dereliction of duty and special recruitment of diplomats that had been a problemst year, but they never submitted the data.
Yu Ji-ha fired all the rted people and took them to Tera Ind by force.
¡°You can¡¯t get out until you exin, so it¡¯s better to hire awyer and collect the data there. The inte works.¡±
The heads of public institutions that had used their budgets wastefully were also dragged to Terra Ind and the entire civil service society trembled with fear.
¡ªWhat¡¯s going on? Why is he suddenly doing this?
¡ªHe¡¯s crossing the line by firing and arresting civil servants at will.
¡ªFiring is fine, but taking them to an ind is kidnapping.
¡ªHe¡¯s totally crazy. We have to let the internationalmunity know about this.
Their families were not quiet either, they tried hard to spread this to foreign media and sued Yu Ji-ha.:
However, the judiciary, which was reluctant to mention Yu Ji-ha harshly, had a very low chance of intervening in this situation.
There was a realistic fear that the judiciary would be taken over as well.
The militaryw was already being handled by an artificial intelligence judge, and even retrials were taking ce.
By cracking down on all kinds of corruption and sexual harassment within the military, he had a high level of support from the people.
In such a situation, if they rashly dealt with awsuit against Yu Ji-ha, the entire judiciary would be shaken.
While the judiciary was protecting itself, the people who heard about this situation showed somewhat different reactions.
Many were critical, but not a few thought that it had to be done this way.
¡ªLook at the bastards who were arrested this time. They¡¯re all trash. Embezzling, swearing at foreign residents, sexually harassing¡ What¡¯s so wrong with kicking them out?
¡ªThey have to be disciplined ording to the procedures set by thew? That¡¯s why Korea is a mess. Thew is protecting them.
¡ªThey¡¯re asked to submit their budget details, but they have the nerve to ask why they have to do that. They should all be fired.
¡ªWhat Korea needs right now is not medicine but amputation. We have to cut off those rotten bastards. How long are we going to wait?
Everyone could see this as data was made public.
The inte was in an uproar, demanding immediate execution when they found out how much the administration had embezzled.
Even rtively moderate people said that Yu Ji-ha¡¯s actions were excessive but necessary.
But there was one question left.
¡ªWhat if Yu Ji-ha bes corrupt?
Of course, no one could answer this question.
Someone said Lucia would be fine, but it was a thought that overlooked the fact that she was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s creation in the first ce.
There was no answer to the question of what to do if a dictator became corrupt.
Meanwhile, Arma rooted herself in the soil of Korea like a tree.
They became one and reached a point where they could not be separated.
There was no intework in Korea that could escape Arma¡¯s surveince.
Big Brother had opened his eyes.
Chapter 86: Citizen Points and Mega City Aspirations
Chapter 86: Citizen Points and Mega City Aspirations
Most of the citizens didn¡¯t pay much attention to the drones scattered around them.
They had be ustomed to seeing them so often.
It didn¡¯t matter to them that the administrative and public institutions had been destroyed, or that the drones behaved quietly on the streets.
They looked rather cute with their round shapes, like fish swimming in an aquarium.
However, these drones were very different from the ones that High-Tech had shown before.
They had been greatly improvedpared to the drones that were deployed in North Korea¡¯s urban warfare, especially in terms of output.
Four drones could lift and fly away with a decent-sized vehicle, and they could also extend robotic arms to carry people.
It was all thanks to the ion thrusters.
As a result, the price of the drones skyrocketed, but that was not a problem at all.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s goal was not money, and he could produce as many drones as he wanted with the resources he mined from the asteroid belt.
It was a creepy thing to think about.
Military drones were roaming around with no restrictions among the civilians.
And there were a lot of them.
It was reported that almost 400,000 drones had been spread across Seoul and Gyeonggi Province.
As always, Si High-Tech remained silent, and people muttered, ¡°Is it Terra Ind again?¡±
Whenever something strange happened, they suspected President Yu Ji-ha and Terra Ind first, and they were right 95% of the time.
The facilities there belonged to Yu Ji-ha and were not open to the public.
It was a ce where he could make hundreds of thousands of military drones without any trouble.
Anyway, Koreans were used to living with drones and artificial intelligence.
Foreign media criticized them for not understanding this.
They saw them all as armed soldiers.
They were armed with anti-personnel weapons and grenades, so they were not wrong.
The correspondent of Euro News, a French mediapany, who stayed in Korea wrote an article like this:
¡ªThere are nearly 200,000 drones scattered in Seoul. These drones are everywhere and they watch over people¡ I am no longer surprised by the peace of mind of Koreans. And also by the dictator who nned all this.
Even rtively friendly American or other countries¡¯ media outlets published negative articles saying that they reminded them of Big Brother.
The intellectuals who warned about the dangers of drones in the early days strongly criticized President Yu Ji-ha¡¯s behavior.
¡ªLook. This is what happened when we ignored our warnings. Now drones will try to rece the role of police.
¡ªIt¡¯s not human judgment that catches you, it¡¯s artificial intelligence. Can you trust it?
¡ªIn the case of the military, artificial intelligence judges in one second. The courts will soon be like that too.
¡ªHow is this different from China¡¯s terrible surveince system?
Whether they liked it or not, Koreans were too familiar with artificial intelligence and drones.
¡ªIt¡¯s not so bad because security has improved.
¡ªThe number of reckless drivers has decreased a lot. Delivery motorcycles have also be quieter.
¡ªIt feels like CCTV without blind spots. We ordinary people have nothing to fear.
¡ªI wish Lucia was the judge instead. At least there would be no rubber band sentence.
There was no big bacsh yet.
But Yu Ji-ha caused a lot of controversy when he introduced CP, which means Citizen Points.
¡°From now on, CP will be introduced to all Koreans. This CP starts at 100 points and can go up or down. It is a score based on your behavior. The drones will take care of that.¡±
The reporters gathered at the press conference were speechless.
A reporter who barely regained his senses asked:
¡°So¡ it¡¯s a score given to people?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right.¡±
¡°And drones judge that?¡±
¡°Exactly. It¡¯s artificial intelligence connected to drones that judges. For example, like this.¡±
-¡¤¡¤¡¤
The press conference room was quiet because it was such a shocking idea.
He had spread so many drones for this purpose.
He had created artificial intelligence and took over the inte for this purpose.
Yu Ji-ha leaned his upper body forward with his arms on the podium.
His sharp eyes scanned the reporters and they all shrank their heads.
¡°Everything is judged by artificial intelligence ording to the public interest. If youmit a crime or cause trouble to society, CP will be mercilessly cut. On the other hand, if you work diligently and live without problems, CP will rise. It¡¯s simple.¡±
But its impact was not simple at all.
This was worse than thought control or total surveince.
¡°I won¡¯t cut CP just because you speed a little bit. Drones watch you normally and start counting when they think you¡¯ve crossed a line. So your usual behavior is important.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the benefit of having a lot of CP? You will get a lot of benefits when you move into the mega city in the future. This mega city is a huge city that is being built in various ces in Korea¡¡±
At Yu Ji-ha¡¯s signal, buildings rose and facilities were installed.
Finally, the entire screen showed the image of a huge city.
Everyone opened their mouths at the amazing scale.
¡°Wow¡ that¡¯s amazing.¡±
¡°Judging by theck of cars, did he put them all underground?¡±
¡°It¡¯s apletely nned city, isn¡¯t it?¡±
It was a scaled-down version of the mega city of the United Human Federation.
It was impossible to cram 100 million people into one city.
Instead of building a reduced mega city in various ces, he nned to connect all the logistics organically.
But the real shocker was something else.
¡°If your CP goes down, your sry will be cut in the short term. No one gets paid in cash these days, right? Lucia will monitor your transactions and deduct your sry. The recovered amount will be used as the state tax.¡±
Someone who couldn¡¯t stand it asked.
¡°So¡ if I keep viting the signal, my sry will be reduced?¡±
¡°You can think of it as an immediate fine. The fine is proportional to your property. If a chaebol keeps viting the signal, he will pay a huge fine. If I did the same thing as three years ago, I would donate tens of billions.¡±
He sounded like he was joking, but no oneughed.
It was an idea that only a dictator could imagine, to evaluate people with points and give them real feedback.
It might be good for now.
All kinds of behaviors that harm the public would be eradicated.
But it was too much to let an artificial intelligence judge that, not the social consensus calledw.
And that artificial intelligence was a personal property.
In fact, Yu Ji-ha was going to judge everything.
¡°This is Big Brother.¡±
Someone muttered and Yu Ji-ha nodded.
¡°That¡¯s right. Big Brother of the 21st century. I heard some people say that my rule is not so dictatorial, but it will change from now on.¡±
He raised his voice.
¡°Behaviors that are designated as crimes in the existing system will massively deduct CP. If your CP falls below a certain level, you will be treated as a criminal and thrown into Terra Ind. This is a separate measure from the judicial judgment.¡±
¡°1 million drones will watch over the streets. So from now on, you can only do a little bit of bullshit.¡±
The real reign of terror began.
Koreans were quite familiar with the state control such as fingerprinting and resident registration.
Almost half of the poption had experienced the military and tended to follow the hierarchical order.
But even they were shocked by the concept of CP (Citizen Point).
Artificial intelligence evaluated people in real time, cut their sries and even punished them.
How could this happen?
Even those who had absolute support for Yu Ji-ha backed away a bit.
The idea of controlling the whole society was that dangerous.
Nevertheless, Citizen Points were inevitably introduced.
No, it would be more urate to say that they had been applied in some way.
The 1 million drones spread across the country showed different movements than before.
They patrolled every corner of the alley and monitored the roads to crack down on reckless driving.
If someone or a vehiclemitted a minor offense, such as paying a fine, they flew over and disyed a warning window on the monitor.
Like this:
¡¸Warning: CP of citizen number MC-S-372218 is deducted. Reason: Reckless driving. Current CP: 99¡¹
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤What is this?¡±
Shin Jaehoon experienced a ridiculous thing in his supercar.
He vited some signals and sped up a bit at dawn, and a strange drone flew over him.
His girlfriend told him that it was one of those drones that everyone was talking abouttely, but he got angry.
¡°What the fuck are you doing? You¡¯re not even human, so don¡¯t mind me.¡±
He thought he would feel better if he drove along Olympic Boulevard at ease.
He ignored his girlfriend¡¯s dissuasion and stepped on the pedal hard.
The 12-cylinder supercar roared and raced along Olympic Boulevard at dawn.
But his frantic run that exceeded twice the speed limit didn¡¯tst long and stopped.
A drone flew over again and made a loud noise.
¡¸Warning: CP of citizen number MC-S-372218 is deducted. Reason: Reckless driving. Current CP: 97¡¹
¡°What the hell is citizen number? What kind of bullshit is CP?¡±
¡°Hey, stop the car!¡±
Unable to bear it, his girlfriend tried to open the door, but Shin Jaehoon elerated out of spite.
¡°What are you doing?¡±
¡°You can¡¯t get off. Watch what I¡¯m doing now.¡±
¡°Are you crazy?¡±
¡°Yeah! I¡¯m crazy! Human Shin Jaehoon! I¡¯ve been like this since I was beaten by my grandfather when I was young!¡±
They argued while the supercar¡¯s speed exceeded 170km/h.
It was 2 a.m., but there were quite a few cars on Olympic Boulevard, and every time he cut in, a dangerous situation urred.
But at some point, the steering wheel didn¡¯t work properly.
¡°Uh, uh?¡±
¡°What¡¯s this!¡±
It felt like something lifted the car.
Shin Jaehoon was so dumbfounded that he let go of the steering wheel.
Whether he did or not, four drones lifted the supercar into the air and sounded an rm.
¡¸Notice: The vehicle of citizen number MC-S-372218 is confiscated. Reason: Continuous reckless driving. Since CP has been sharply deducted, property will be deducted¡¹
What kind of nonsense is this?
He was stunned, but his girlfriend clicked her tongue.
¡°You¡¯re doing great. Check your ount. Money must be flying out.¡±
¡°They¡¯re taking money out of my ount? Who says so?¡±
¡°Yu Ji-ha or whatever, that dictator!¡±
Then an rm rang on his phone.
Shin Jaehoon saw tens of billions of won flying out of his ount and doubted his eyes.
¡°No, fuck who says so¡ Where is the car going?¡±
¡°This is a limited edition, right? You¡¯re in big trouble now.¡±
¡°Why, what¡¯s wrong?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll see.¡±
Soon after, they and the supercar arrived at a deserted scrapyard.
¡¸Get off¡¹
Chased by the drone¡¯s instructions, Shin Jaehoon got off and saw a 1.5-ton iron ball hanging from a crane crushing his car.
¡°Ah!¡±
¡°20 billion gone like this¡ I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m leaving.¡±
His girlfriend disappeared and the iron ball continued to crush the supercar without hesitation.
Was this real?
Could this happen in a rule-ofw country?
He was stunned and the supercar turned into a pile of garbage.
That was it.
There was no one to protest in the scrapyard, only unmanned machines and drones.
Everything was automated.
A drone guided him to the exit.
¡¸A taxi will be here soon. It¡¯s prepaid, so you can go anywhere in Seoul¡¹
Was this kindness?
Shin Jaehoon red at the drone and realized it was meaningless and walked along the road.
He lost 50 billion won today.
¡°Fuck! This fucking world!¡±
He wouldn¡¯t stay like this.
He swore that he would make his father or grandfather pay for this, no matter what.
A drone was watching him scream.
¡
The hasty introduction of Citizen Points caused a lot of side effects.
Many people had their sries deducted, and some even experienced the miracle of their monthly ie turning to zero in just 30 minutes.
There wereints and criticisms from the news that this was absurd.
But the Blue House, or rather Yu Ji-ha, didn¡¯t blink an eye.
¡°It¡¯s nothing but giving penalties to those who harm public safety and benefits to those who protect it.¡±
¡ªDon¡¯t try to gloss over it like that! How is this different from China?
¡ªEven China didn¡¯t deduct sries indirectly!
There were voices of dissatisfaction that this was a terrible policy.
Some people tried to smash the drones out of anger, but most of them failed.
Artificial intelligence Lucia predicted most of the risk factors.
The drones were not separated, but very closely connected systems.
They had algorithms to identify illegal elements around them, and it was easy for them to distinguish those who harmed them.
And they were very sturdy, so they didn¡¯t suffer much damage from hitting them with sticks or something.
In this way, while there were manyints, there were also people who didn¡¯t care and lived their lives as usual.
Hwang Sunyoung of Si Energy was one of them.
¡°I don¡¯t see anything bad, only good things?¡±
¡°I think so too, but the atmosphere is¡¡±
¡°There are so many drones that I feel like they¡¯re watching you everywhere.¡±
¡°I feel like I¡¯m shrinking for no reason.¡±
The employees of Si Energy were all fans of Yu Ji-ha, albeit to varying degrees.
Even they felt uneasy, which showed how crazy this policy was.
But Hwang Sunyoung was fine.
¡°Rather, it¡¯s good for someone like me. When I go to the convenience store at dawn, the drones watch over me.¡±
¡°You had a reason to go out¡¡±
A male employee teased her and she pretended to hit him.
¡°You! Anyway, listen. There¡¯s a point in umting points rted to moving into the mega city?¡±
¡°What happens when you umte points?¡±
¡°In my case¡¡±
She showed an app installed on her phone and the colleagues gathered around.
¡°Wow! CP 110 points!¡±
¡°I¡¯ve never seen anyone with 110 points.¡±
¡°How did you get such a high score? I don¡¯t understand.¡±
¡°I have a permanent residency in the United Human Federation. That¡¯s a bonus. And I live quietly, well? Dull. I work hard too.¡±
They agreed.
Hwang Sunyoung was someone who anyone would think was harmless.
She had never been to a police station except for sightseeing from afar, and she only went back and forth between home and work.
The most she went out for was a mart or convenience store or restaurant, a homebody.
If the media had to pick a good citizen, there would be no better choice than her.
She exined with spit flying,
¡°Once you get 110 points, one of the benefits rted to the mega city is unlocked. What is this?¡±
¡°Oh, free transportation? Click on that.¡±
¡°Wait a minute¡¡±
As the item unfolded in detail, they all tilted their heads.
¡°Super high-speed train? What is this?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe something like Hyperloop Train?¡±
¡°Hey, that was scrapped a long time ago.¡±
They all marveled at the video of the train running on the sea.
¡°I don¡¯t know how it runs on the sea without maglev or anything.¡±
¡°There are more than one or two things that we can¡¯t exin properly in our group. Starting from Anttron.¡±
¡°Well, yeah.¡±
At least Unoptium was somewhat scientifically exined, but it was still a mystery how it appeared in an environment like the moon.
It was even worse with ck Metal and Antitron.
Now there were emails from foreign researchers requesting data sharing in Yu Ji-ha¡¯s mailbox.
Hwang Sunyoung pointed to the next item.
¡°This is unlocked one by one as you umte points. 115 points is freemunication.¡±
¡°120 points is free electricity too¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s doable, right?¡±
¡°What are you talking about? It¡¯s not doable, it¡¯s awesome.¡±
They changed their minds about the mega city being a mediocre city.
If this item was urate, it would provide significant benefits.
And 120 points wasn¡¯t even the end!
¡°I can¡¯t go up now, but I¡¯ll see more when I get 120 points? It¡¯s fun to umte points.¡±
¡°You have to avoid idents.¡±
¡°We don¡¯t have any idents, do we? We¡¯re stuck in theb every day.¡±
¡°Then the score will naturally go up and we can get these benefits, right? Like Sunyoung.¡±
She emphasized one thing.
¡°English. You have to know English. If you know English, you have an advantage in applying for permanent residency.¡±
¡°Lucia trantes for us, can¡¯t we just get by with that¡¡±
¡°You still have to be able to live with it.¡±
¡°Well, we¡¯re not the only ones applying.¡±
There were all kinds of nationalities in the application status for the mega city on Terra Ind.
When all those people gathered together, it was natural that English became themonnguage.
They all calcted in their heads and decided that they had to do it.
¡ªIf you get a permanent residency, you get a house, a bonus, and free transportation and stuff¡
¡ªIt¡¯s not that hard, you just have to add English to what you¡¯ve been doing.
It was not difficult for them at all.
There was a downside of having to move to the mega city, but what if there were jobs there?
The mega city they saw through the app was truly huge.
It would be strange if there were no jobs at that level.
They all came to that conclusion and bought the English learning add-on of Lucia Premium.
¡°Wow, you really built a wall with English. How did you graduate from college?¡±
Her nagging began.
Chapter 87: The Conspiracy to Overthrow the Dictator
Chapter 87: The Conspiracy to Overthrow the Dictator
A month had passed since the introduction of the citizen score system.
The countries that valued freedom and human rights were outraged by the shocking policy.
The UN Human Rights Council and others sent investigators, and various countries sent correspondents to find out the truth.
And the Koreans realized that nothing had really changed, except for their aversion to the word control.
There was no difference except for the drones flying around the streets.
¡°They don¡¯t catch you for jaywalking.¡±
¡°They use the existingws as a basis.¡±
¡°They are lenient with speeding and surprisingly reasonable.¡±
¡°They warn taxi drivers who drive recklessly and have good judgment.¡±
People were not friendly to the new surveince system, but they quickly adapted.
It did not invade their privacy.
The drones only operated in public areas such as streets or government agencies, and they did not care about anything else.
The penalty of wage deduction was almost nonexistent if they lived normally.
Some people who knew about the megacityined like this.
¡°We don¡¯t have any chance to go to the megacity, so there is no real advantage for us.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the point of umting 105 or 110 points? We can¡¯t use them unless we move to the megacity.¡±
The advantages were revealed as if they had been waiting.
The first one was the opportunity to buy an android.
An android with sexual functions added.
Some men cheered when this was announced.
¡°Fuck yeah!¡±
¡°Long live President Yu Ji-ha!¡±
There were many people who had bought Lucia Premium so far.
It was popr because it had anguage ability that could not be distinguished from humans and various add-ons.
But Lucia Premium had a drawback, which was that it could note out of the monitor.
This was not only Lucia¡¯s problem, but many people still regretted it.
¨DWhy can¡¯t youe out of the monitor!
¨DI have no hope for marriage and no woman who loves me! So give me an android!
Many people agreed with the bitter cry of a single man.
After the Second Korean War ended, men¡¯s value increased, but not all problems were solved.
There were still too many men living alone.
The opportunity to buy an android was offered for them.
The price was 100 million won.
It was expensive, but it had a tremendous merit considering its performance.
Think about it.
Lucia, who had beenmunicating with him through the monitor, could finallye out.
How would he feel if she came out with all the memories she had so far and treated him as herself?
¨DPlease give your girlfriend a new name.
This was an event where he could register for pre-order only after giving her a name.
More than 5 million people rushed to this event, which was held only in Korea.
They had only one goal.
¨DSex! Sex!
Some people reacted to this phenomenon by calling it dirty and disgusting, but it was inevitable for anyone born as a man.
It was good that they provided an opportunity to relieve themselves quietly.
Korea had decriminalized prostitution, but it was not yet activated, and many people were tired of having rtionships with other people.
For them, androids could be ideal lovers.
Lucia¡¯s poprity skyrocketed even though she only took reservations.
Naturally, the frequency of cursing Yu Ji-ha among men also decreased.
¨DHe released porn and androids, so I admit that much.
¨DAs long as we live as usual, there won¡¯t be any big problems¡¤¡¤¡¤
In fact, most people nevermit crimes in their lives.
The drones catch persistent nuisances, not asional ones. They only warn and leave for thetter.
Also, if they maintained their CP moderately, they would get extra points in the recruitment of Shi Group, which reduced theirints considerably.
¨DShi Group is expanding a lot these days. They seem to be preparing to enter the entertainment industry.
¨DThey have a lot of new businesses. Nuclear fusion power nt, Moonlight Project, no joke.
¨DThey are hiring a lot of new people. They don¡¯t care about age or education, as long as you have some skills, you pass.
¨DBut I heard you have to go to the southern region¡¤¡¤¡¤
¨DThey say there will be a megacity there, so it doesn¡¯t matter much, right? It¡¯s supposed to be bigger than Seoul.
¨DHow can there be a city bigger than Seoul in the countryside?
People were more interested in androids and jobs than CP, which did not harm them immediately.
¡
¡°The dissatisfaction of the privileged is growing.¡±
¡°Well, that¡¯s natural.¡±
Yu Ji-ha said indifferently after looking at the summary of the reactions from various sectors that Arma had prepared for him.
CP applied equally to all humans.
That meant it did not consider any achievements or positions that someone had made.
The penalty was applied at the same rate, which could easily feel harsh to those who had more.
Some people paid 50,000 won for stabbing someone, while others paid 500 million. There wouldn¡¯t be many people who would ept that willingly.
In fact, the citizen score system was nothing more than a copy of the system of the United Human Federation
There was even a ss system in the United Human Federation.
The five-tier ss system that ranged from isted citizens-limited citizens-ordinary citizens-free citizensplete citizens was entirely based on CP.
Yu Ji-ha belonged to the highest ss as aplete citizen.
The reason he suddenly introduced this system was because social stabilization was urgent.
The world would criticize him for making society more chaotic, but they would soon find out.
This system brought rapid stabilization through immediate feedback.
There were hardly any people who could continue their crazy acts after seeing their wages being cut in real time.
There was a criticism that it did not prevent crime fundamentally, but that was already taken into ount.
The drones were programmed to patrol more frequently around people with low CP.
It was to minimize the possibility of crime.
Most of the 500 million poption of the United Federation of Humanity lived in megacities, so they needed to reduce the crime rate drastically.
That¡¯s why they introduced the citizen score system, and it was extremely effective.
Some argued that even if they punished criminals harshly, new criminals would appear, but that was not necessarily true.
Crime was mostlymitted by certain people.
If they went further, they would be a dystopia that isted people with crime genes, but the United Human Federation did not reach that point and copsed.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s goal was not that either.
¡®Only 41 years left¡¤¡¤¡¤¡¯
Due to using the warp gate twice, the gue invasion was moved up to 2080.
He didn¡¯t know when the timeline would twist again, so he had 10 years as a reserve.
The actual margin was only 41 years.
Yu Ji-ha had to gather 1.5 billion humans, make a lot of space battleships and antineutron bombs, and train Psychic by then.
He had to prepare for the total war with the gue.
He didn¡¯t have enough time, so he had to move up the schedule even if there were some side effects.
But not everyone in the world knew that situation.
There were people who did not like Yu Ji-ha¡¯s actions and they began to appear one after another.
They were people who were known to have some power in Korea.
Former members of parliament, high-ranking officers of the army, heads of conglomerates, etc.
They gathered at a certain restaurant in Seoul under the pretext of friendship.
¡°He crossed the line, no matter how I look at it.¡±
¡°Even if I let go of his instation as a proxy for authority, this drone thing was too much.¡±
¡°The American media, which had lowered their tone of speech, are also criticizing him this time. They say he is bing like North Korea after swallowing it.¡±
The conversation heated up as the sses went around.
This was a restaurant funded by a certain corporation, and there was no eavesdropping device here.
And all the participants had gone through a thorough search with metal detectors.
They also used taxis as their means of transportation and twisted their routes to prevent any leakage of their conversation.
The possibility of their conversation being leaked was close to zero.
Maybe they got courage from that, and they started to express theirints boldly.
¡°He doesn¡¯t know anything about civil engineering. What artificial intelligence? It¡¯s ridiculous to report everything to that thing. The site is like a battlefield.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it natural that some mistakes happen during a war? How can we distinguish civilians in such an urgent situation? It¡¯s frustrating. We are the ones who unified the Korean Penins and we get this kind of treatment.¡±
Therade of Colonel Jang Ik-hwan, who said that, had been sentenced to death for civilian massacre charges and was currently serving his sentence on Terra Ind.
All members of the Army Colonel Association were angry about that incident.
¨DThe world is upside down. What does a man in his thirties know about war? He should experience how chaotic the battlefield is.
¨DWhat would he know? He only wore suits and stayed at Joint Chiefs of Staff. He must have thought it was reasonable because he was pushed by others and sentenced him to death.
¨DHe was a sure candidate for chief of staff if it wasn¡¯t for that incident. He ruined his future.
They never mentioned that there were many survivors who escaped the massacre and that there was solid evidence found from the corpses.
And Yu Ji-ha had used radical methods to take over the army, which also caused their resentment.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff and other high-ranking generals were ready to die for Yu Ji-ha, but the young officers were not.
They thought they were the ones who fought the war.
¨DWe are barely getting special promotions at this point. What permanent residency? Do we have to learn English for that?
¨DHe abandoned us. He hunted us down and boiled us after it was over.
¨DThen we don¡¯t have to follow him either, right?
A few soldiers from the Colonel Association cautiously contacted outsiders.
The targets were former members of parliament who were suddenly ousted from politics and chaebols who did not like Yu Ji-ha¡¯s rampage.
At first, some suggested talking to him, but they agreed that he was not someone who would listen.
They even selected an execution squad.
Now only execution was left.
Representative Han Seung-jae drank a ss of soju and said.
¡°It¡¯s a shame that we couldn¡¯t get the air force involved.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be too sorry. It will make the size bigger. We only need to kill one person, so we don¡¯t need to make a big fuss.¡±
¡°Well, that¡¯s true. Just one person¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
Their target was Yu Ji-ha.
The current regime was maintained solely by his poprity and ability.
Therefore, if they killed him, the regime would naturally copse and the power would fall into their hands.
The level of security that they saw through the Blue House meeting and others was modestpared to the previous presidents.
The number of guards was halved and they didn¡¯t even work very hard.
The drones scattered everywhere were not considered a threat.
They were definitely threatening, but the broadcasting station was tooplicated for them to enter.
Representative Han Seung-jae looked at Colonel Jang Ik-hwan.
¡°There is no second chance. We have to finish it in one shot.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry. Our subordinates are training hard, so you can rest assured.¡±
Then, Chairman Yu Hyung-seok of Future Automobile Group, who had been quietly drinking, said.
¡°Do we have to kill him? Isn¡¯t there another way? For example, confine him somewhere and extract his technology¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
The expressions of the other two changed slightly.
¡°Are you biased because he is your nephew? Should we have invited someone else¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
He quickly waved his hand.
¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand me. I don¡¯t mean that. I mean, isn¡¯t there another use for him? Frankly, if he dies, who can handle ck metal properly?¡±
Representative Han Seung-jae patted his stomach as if to reassure him.
¡°Artificial intelligence can decode the code if we give it time. Then the secrets of ck metal and antineutron will be revealed naturally.¡±
Then Colonel Jang Ik-hwan said.
¡°Remember this. He is a very dangerous person. There is no other choice but to kill him.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
He should have done better.
Chairman Lee Hyung-seok drank his ss with regret.
He was actually hurt by his nephew¡¯s indifference as his uncle.
He thought he would push and pull him properly when he inherited Si Group, but he was only busy filling his own stomach.
The downfall of Future Automobile, beyond its current slump, stemmed from his neglect.
He tried to get cooperation instead of killing him, but the leaders were too determined.
They thought they could seize power if they killed him.
Would it go well?
Yu Ji-ha had too many interests intertwined with other countries, and if they touched him wrong, they could be destroyed.
China or Europe might like it, but the US, especially Russia, would not sit still.
There was also a possibility of artificial intelligence going berserk without its owner, but the sponsors said they had to take that risk.
¡°Let¡¯s kill him first and see. If we share his legacy, they will understand us enough.¡±
¡°It¡¯s just drones and androids. Korea is a country of the people. It¡¯s time to give it back.¡±
Of course, they omitted the fact that they would take over the regime after driving out the dictator.
Colonel Jang Ik-hwan and Representative Han Seung-jae asked him onest time.
¡°You have to stay close to that bastard Yu Ji-ha at the broadcasting station. That way, the execution squad can confirm his location and raid. You are his uncle, so you can make some excuses.¡±
¡°I know it¡¯s bitter to kill your nephew, but this is for justice. Kim Jong-un was caught, and there should be no more dictators on the Korean Penins.¡±
Chairman Lee Hyung-seok nodded.
¡°I know.¡±
¡°Come on, cheer up and toast.¡±
¡°For the downfall of the dictator!¡±
¡°For a free Korea!¡±
¡°For it!¡±
Chapter 88: The End of Dictatorship
Chapter 88: The End of Dictatorship
¡ªHitler, Stalin. And Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªCongrattions. Korea now has Yu Ji-ha instead of Kim Jong-un.
These were the headlines of the articles from the French and British media, who loved freedom and human rights more than anything.
They put the name of Yu Ji-ha next to the worst dictators of the 20th century, which showed their hatred.
The citizen score system shocked the world, and the criticism did not stop even after the positive aspects were revealed.
The very idea of scoring and managing the citizens was shocking in itself.
It was not too strange to propose this method now, after humanity was pushed to the brink of extinction by the cosmic monsters and chose stability.
The UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution demanding the withdrawal of the policy.
The US, instead of the government, led by the Democratic Party,unched a massive campaign to bash Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªIs this what he does after unifying the Korean penins? We should have never supported him in the first ce.
¡ªHe said he wouldn¡¯t control their thoughts, but that¡¯s what dictators say like parrots. Look, now those drones will peek into every household.
But Korea did not suffer any real damage.
It was because they had so many exclusive export items.
The US also only criticized Yu Ji-ha verbally, but could not impose any actual sanctions.
Rather, President McKinley had to ask the Democrats to lower their tone of speech.
This showed how much power Yu Ji-ha had.
In contrast to the criticism from all sides, Korea was adapting to the citizen score system fairly peacefully.
Most people lived without any crime-rted issues in their lives.
Also, drones started to update with very convenient features.
It was the function as a helper.
Let¡¯s list the advantages of the one million drones that were scattered in Korea:
¡ªThey are agile and fly in the sky.
¡ªThey are sturdy and have high thrust. Four of them can easily lift a 2-ton vehicle.
¡ªThey have judgment skills simr to humans and can respond immediately.
There was only one drawback:
¡ªThey are damn expensive.
But ordinary citizens didn¡¯t need to worry about that.
From their perspective, drones were helpers who could help them anytime.
The feedback also went in that direction, and features to help citizens were added.
They could lift heavy loads, of course, and print out answers when asked something.
They even started to guide people who had poor eyesight on the road.
Now it was essential for drones to apany children on their way home from school.
These guys would wait at crosswalks and stop cars when children passed by.
Drunk driving also decreased significantly.
People who were recorded on the list were monitored by drones when they tried to get in a car.
If they seemed drunk, they would immediately sound an rm and not move away.
These functions of drones resulted in lowering the crime rate drastically.
It was no different from having police everywhere.
Citizens began to realize slowly:
¡ªThey are surprisinglyfortable.
¡ªI thought they only watched us, but it feels like having a personal helper following me around.
¡ªIt depends on how you look at it. Drones look different depending on your perspective.
Of course, there was criticism as well:
¡ªBut they can¡¯t lower the crime rate to zero. The disadvantage of citizen control is bigger than the advantages.
¡ªThey will start to control thoughts through drones. All dictators have the same logic, and Yu Ji-ha can¡¯t escape from that either.
He used to inject his thoughts through Lucid Premiums, but now he didn¡¯t have the need or time for that.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s goal was to create a fortress called Megacity and protect humanity from there.
His objective was to expose 1.5 billion people to Aether and cultivate Psychic, so he didn¡¯t care much about thought control.
Of course, education close to brainwashing would be conducted in the process of psycher cultivation.
¡°Still, there are quite a lot of people who don¡¯t trust me. How do you think it will turn out?¡±
¡°The exact location is not known, but it is presumed to be M Corporation¡¯s headquarters.¡±
They must have tried hard to hide their destination, but most of the high-ranking people in society were watched by microdrones.
¡°Do they n to cut my neck with an execution squad while I have a meeting with the conglomerate heads?¡±
¡°They think they can seize power without you, Master.¡±
¡°I wish I could just step aside for a year and let them try.¡±
But he couldn¡¯t do that.
Yu Ji-ha decided to uproot the coup forces this time.
To do that, he had to give them victory instead of breaking their pre-meeting and wait for their forces to gather.
When the news of Yu Ji-ha¡¯s death spread, the existing privileged ss woulde out.
This was like luring ants with honey.
¡°Arma, are you ready?¡±
¡°Yes. I produced a substitute in the biobag. Only part of the head is mechanical, so it won¡¯t be detected by metal detectors.¡±
He needed a substitute, not an android, because they had to believe that Yu Ji-ha was dead.
Fortunately, the repair of the biobag was finished a long time ago, so he could produce a human body.
The human body produced like that had no soul, but it could imitate simple actions with a few parts.
¡°Pretend to have a discussion ording to the meeting analysis and get shot by a bullet.¡±
¡°Understood.¡±
He targeted the broadcasting station because he wanted to announce that they had seized power at the same time as Yu Ji-ha¡¯s death.
Also, the broadcasting station was so crowded that security wasx.
Drones couldn¡¯t enter either, so it was perfect for their n.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s location would probably be determined by one person.
¡°I wonder why they had to rush to their death when they had enough money to live for a lifetime.¡±
Lee Hyungseok was his uncle, but Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t feel any emotion for him.
¡°Don¡¯t give any signal and secure the list first. Let¡¯s see how many ants there are.¡±
¡
One evening in November, Yu Ji-ha and the executives of the conglomerates gathered at the headquarters of M Corporation¡¯s broadcasting station in Yeouido.
The topic of the day was the discussion of the national projects for 2029, including the Moonlight Project.
It was called a meeting, but in reality, it was more like an announcement of how much food Yu Ji-ha would distribute to the conglomerates.
Nuclear fusion, Moonlight Project, and other businesses derived from ck metal, ion thrusters, and unoptanium were enormous.
Also, in the second part, there was a debate on the citizen score system, which was a recent issue.
Intellectuals and civic groups had concluded that they had no choice but to attack Yu Ji-ha with freedom and human rights, since he was strong in data.
They couldn¡¯t deny that the crime rate had dropped drastically and that the citizens¡¯ reactions were good.
Therefore, there was a strict security on the seventh floor of the broadcasting station headquarters.
All employees had to go through threeyers of body searches, and dozens of guards stood by the door.
The participants could only enter the main studio after passing through metal detectors.
¡°Isn¡¯t it too much to ask me to take off my belt?¡±
¡°Please bear with us for a moment.¡±
Soon after, the meeting began and Yu Ji-ha started his speech.
¡°In 2029, humanity will face a new era of transformation. And Korea will be at the center of it¡¡±
As he spoke, a group of people started toe up from the basement of the broadcasting station headquarters.
They were armed with submachine guns and various grenades, and even wore ck metal bulletproof vests.
Their goal was to use fire to get Yu Ji-ha out of the center of security.
¡°The fire rm will go off.¡±
As soon as one of them finished speaking, a loud rm rang throughout the headquarters.
Ding-dong-dong!
¡°Fire! Fire!¡±
¡°There¡¯s no smoke. Where¡¯s the fire?¡±
The guards who were waiting on the seventh floor moved immediately.
¡°Code red. Protect the VIP at all costs.¡±
Several guards stuck to Yu Ji-ha¡¯s body, who was disguised as a human body.
¡°We¡¯ll take you this way.¡±
¡°Me, protect me too.¡±
Was Lee Hyungseok chairman rted to the president?
He didn¡¯t have to do that, but since the VIP nodded his head, they all protected him as well and went down through the emergency exit.
But somehow they knew, and armed terrorists wereing up.
Bang!
shbangs and smoke grenades exploded at the same time, blocking their sight.
Taking advantage of that, terrorists wearing gas masks quickly climbed up the stairs and aimed their submachine guns.
Tatata!
¡°Ugh!¡±
The guards who were protecting Yu Ji-ha with their bodies fell down.
There was some counter-fire, but the terrorists¡¯ firepower was superior.
Finally, a grenade exploded on the stairs and the guards were torn apart and fell down.
¡°Aaaah!¡±
Lee Hyungseok screamed sincerely and copsed on the floor.
And not long after, the terrorists were able to drag Yu Ji-ha out from among the fallen guards.
¡°If you kill me¡¡±
He seemed to have been hit by shrapnel in his leg, as he was groaning in his mouth.
One of the terrorists pointed a gun at his chest.
¡°The end of a dictator is always death by a bullet. Farewell.¡±
Bang! Bang!
The bullets pierced through the dictator¡¯s heart.
The light faded from Yu Ji-ha¡¯s eyes.
The terrorists searched his body and found out that he was not an android.
BD¡¯s androids looked human on the outside, but if you looked closely, you could tell right away that they were not human.
¡°He finally died.¡±
¡°Bastard, he acted so smug. He deserves it.¡±
As soon as he died, they yed a pre-recorded broadcast.
-Yu Ji-ha is dead!
-The dictator is dead!
-Stop all hostile actions and drop your weapons!
The employees who were hiding heard that broadcast and were very confused.
¡°The president is dead?¡±
¡°What¡¯s going to happen now?¡±
The guards who came upte were also confused.
They lost their subject to protect.
Even if he was a dictator, he had the title of acting authority, so they continued to guard him. But if he died, would there be any meaning in their authority?
People¡¯s image was important anyway.
People would remember deeply the politician who appeared first after Yu Ji-ha¡¯s death.
Smoke filled the studio as the broadcast resumed.
¡°Ah ah, this is Congressman Han Seungjae. There was a bigmotion just now, but it has been resolved without any problem. What was themotion? Don¡¯t be surprised, citizens. The dictator Yu Ji-ha is dead.¡±
The ratings were huge because of the news that Yu Ji-ha was attending the meeting.
The news of Yu Ji-ha¡¯s death came out on TV, on the radio in the car, and on various inte broadcasting tforms.
Shock hit Korea, and the real Yu Ji-ha heard this news from the Settler.
¡°Wait until they gather enough.¡±
His empty seat while looking below.
There could be many reasons for a coup, but the main ones were usually like this:
¡ªI want to have power too.
In the past, it was the king, and now it was the president or something simr.
The goal of those who paid for this terror was also that.
They wrapped it up as returning power to the people, but inside they were full of greed and jealousy.
-Why should I take orders from a 30-year-old kid?
-If he can be president, why can¡¯t I?
-He must have scraped money with his ws. If I do well, that could be mine.
There were more than one or two of these people.
The conglomerates that ranked high in the business world were on Yu Ji-ha¡¯s side.
Si Group had so many and sweet crumbs to drop from it.
Just the nuclear fusion nt project alone was too big for Si Heavy Industries to handle alone.
Naturally, they had to form a consortium with others like KHNP, and it was obvious that they would get some benefits in the process.
But not all conglomerates supported Yu Ji-ha.
The two groups, Future Automobile and GC, were representative examples.
The former couldn¡¯t get the supply of ck metal batteries, and thetter was pushed out by ck metal batteries and faced a crisis of survival.
The political and military factions were only interested in what woulde out of the can if they burst the pressure that was keeping Yu Jihara in ce. They didn¡¯t care about the situation of the world.
Such greed made it impossible to have a precise and meticulous n for the future.
The stupid ideas that even a child wouldn¡¯t fall for were discarded and a beheading n was established to target Yu Jihara when he came out of the broadcasting station.
However, none of the instigators thought about what would happen after killing Yu Ji-ha.
¨DLet¡¯s kill him first and see. There¡¯s always a way out even if the sky falls, right? We¡¯ll manage somehow.
They didn¡¯t know how Si Group and Yu Jihara were connected and how they used artificial intelligence.
They also knew very little about the newly acquired territory north of the 5th parallel.
When someone pointed out this fact, Congressman Han Seung-jae said:
¡°We¡¯ll find out everything when we seize the Si Group server room. It¡¯s not like they have alien technology there, right? The experts can analyze it.¡±
The beheading operation without a countermeasure began and they finally seeded in killing Yu Ji-ha.
The special forces who carried out the operation said it was too sloppy, but the instigators couldn¡¯t hide their joy and danced around.
Of course, after the camera was turned off.
¡°Yu Ji-ha is dead¡ Now Si Group and Korea are mine!¡±
¡°Ours, right? Congressman?¡±
When Colonel Jang Ik-hwan asked, he gave a nervousugh.
¡°It was just a slip of the tongue. Anyway, let¡¯s announce this to the people.¡±
The broadcast ended and they dreamed of the cheers of the citizens as they came out of the broadcasting station.
But the reaction of the citizens waspletely different from their expectations.
¡°¡¡±
¡°Why are you looking at us like that? We did it. We killed the dictator.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Congressman Han Seung-jae was perplexed by the cold eyes of the citizens.
Why are they all looking like that?
Aren¡¯t they being too rude to the people who killed the dictator and restored their freedom?
The soldiers under Jang Ik-hwan also checked their weapons in confusion because of the chilly atmosphere.
And then the citizens started to criticize them with sticks.
¡°You¡¯re going to return power to the people? No one believes that!¡±
¡°Can you rece him? Can you lead Korea?¡±
¡°People remember how you only dragged Yu Ji-ha¡¯s feet!¡±
This is not right.
The reaction of the citizens was so fierce that Congressman Han Seung-jae and his men were chased back into the broadcasting station.
And they witnessed a really annoying sight.
The broadcasting station staff were covering Yu Jihara¡¯s body on the floor with a nket.
It must have been a gesture of consideration, but it was an infuriating sight for Han Seung-jae and Jang Ik-hwan.
Bang! Bang!
Colonel Jang Ik-hwan pulled out his pistol and shot.
As the staff looked at him in surprise, he opened his heavy mouth.
¡°We burned down a dictator and you can¡¯t even cheer. What are you doing? Don¡¯t you cover him with a nket?¡±
¡°¡¡±
¡°You still don¡¯t take it off¡ We made a big mistake. We should have left him alone to be ruled by a dictator. Don¡¯t you agree?¡±
He asked his subordinates as if he was asking them, but one of them spat out sarcastically.
¡°It would have been better that way¡¡±
¡°What did you say? Do you want to die?¡±
He aimed his gun at him, but he didn¡¯t stop talking even though he was trembling.
¡°That, that¡¯s right. What are you going to do now? Can you rece Yu Ji-ha? You had no ability and kept passing on the authority delegation.¡±
¡°Shut your mouth!¡±
Colonel Jang Ik-hwan pped his face with his gun.
As his face turned and blood flowed, Congressman Han Seung-jae stopped him from the side.
¡°Colonel Jang, please be gentle.¡±
¡°Say it again. What did we do wrong?¡±
¡°¡¡±
The staff member red at Colonel Jang without wiping his blood.
He wanted to hit him again, but he had to endure it.
The other staff members came forward to protect him.
There was confusion and anger in their eyes.
How could he get this much trust from people as a dictator¡
The two ringleaders realized that something had gone wrong.
But it was toote to turn back.
Chapter 89: The Aftermath of Yu Ji-has Death
Chapter 89: The Aftermath of Yu Ji-ha''s Death
The news of Yu Ji-ha¡¯s death turned the whole of Korea upside down.
People did not want to believe it easily.
¡ªHow could such a ruthless person lose his life to those idiots? It doesn¡¯t make sense.
¡ªThere must be some behind-the-scenes maniption. It¡¯smon for dictators.
¡ªBut where did Arma go?
But when the leaders revealed Yu Ji-ha¡¯s corpse in a photo, his death was finally confirmed.
The first ones to react were the foreign investors.
They knew well that Korea was not worth investing in without Yu Ji-ha.
As soon as the morning market opened, an unprecedented amount of investment money flowed out.
Hundreds of trillions of won evaporated in an instant, and the investors tore their hair out.
¡ªFuck, how are you going to take responsibility for this?
¡ªBring Yu Ji-ha back, you bastards!
The leaders who thought that the people would cheer when the day broke were very flustered, but they tried to cope.
¡°Anyway, the stock price is bound to recover. You shouldn¡¯t make a fuss over a small incident on the first day.¡±
But even in the afternoon, the stock price kept falling.
Despite the pressure from China and Europe, the KOSPI 4,000, which had been holding steady, was copsing.
Representative Han Seungjae and Colonel Jang Ik-hwan decided to take over the Blue House and the Si Group first.
But something was going wrong.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff, who btedly grasped the situation, intervened.
¡ªI can¡¯t understand. Your actions are a coup that makes Korea¡¯s situation difficult.
¡ªAnd legally, it¡¯s the death of the acting president. In that case, the baton should go to another minister. Not you.
It wasn¡¯t a wrong argument.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s legal status was acting president, so if he died, the acting authority would go to a minister who could take over.
If Representative Han Seungjae wanted to get in there, he had to have someone step up and appoint him as prime minister, just like Yu Ji-ha did.
But the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Science and Technology all shook their hands frantically, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Unification were almost dismantled, so there was no minister.
The Ministry of Justice also avoided it, and the only one left was Kim Cheol-woo, the Minister of National Defense.
Hemented with a pale face.
¡°I never thought I¡¯d have to use that bullshit twice in my life¡¡±
¡°We¡¯re running out of time. Someone has to take charge, Minister Kim, please.¡±
¡°Representative. Do you know why I rmended Yu as acting president?¡±
¡°¡¡±
¡°Because he showed me that much ability. I thought he could do it. But you don¡¯t see that in you guys, so what can I do?¡±
Representative Han Seungjae turned his gaze away from him.
¡°I know I¡¯mcking, but I¡¯m better than a dictator, aren¡¯t I?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not doing it anyway. Find another minister.¡±
¡°Minister, we don¡¯t have time¡¡±
Colonel Jang Ik-hwan stepped forward but had to face the angry gaze of his distant superior.
¡°Hey you bastard. What ss are you? How dare a colonel like you do a coup?¡±
He forgot for a moment because he was too urgent.
That most of Korea¡¯s defense ministers were from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Minister Kim Cheol-woo was no exception, so it was not a ce for a colonel to step forward.
Colonel Jang Ik-hwan, who had made the biggest contribution in killing Yu Ji-ha, backed away without being able to refute him, but his inner thoughts were different.
¡®Where do you see this as a coup?¡¯
It was only natural for a soldier who supported democracy to oppose a dictator.
Wasn¡¯t it right to go a little further and rmend someone who could be acting president?
But the defense minister didn¡¯t seem to have that intention.
¡°I won¡¯t say it twice. I don¡¯t want to use that bullshit again.¡±
After being kicked out, they went to see the Minister of Interior Affairs.
Fortunately, he said he would appoint Representative Han Seungjae as prime minister if he couldn¡¯t leave the president¡¯s seat vacant.
But he also said words of resentment about sending Yu Ji-ha away like that.
¡°He didn¡¯t have to die¡ Do you know how many issues are piled up now¡¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I can solve them all.¡±
Despite Representative Han Seungjae¡¯s bravado, the minister turned away from him.
After that, a more hasty process than when Yu Ji-ha was appointed as acting president took ce.
They passed the paperwork and agreed verbally among themselves in just one day.
The judiciary and the Joint Chiefs of Staff said it was too much, but Representative Han Seungjae pushed hard.
He had to get into the Blue House to get the full support of his sponsors.
And finally, he sat on the chair of the Blue House office.
¡°Congrattions, acting president.¡±
¡°Justice has finally been realized.¡±
The sponsors came in line to greet him as if they had been waiting.
Representative Han finally felt proud and rxed his tense neck muscles.
This was the taste he wanted.
And in the secretary¡¯s office, Bae Seong-min, the chief of staff, was writing something.
¡°I don¡¯t know what sin Imitted in my previous life¡¡±
He didn¡¯t know why he had to serve his third master.
When it was Yu Ji-ha, he was persuaded by him and decided to try again, but it didn¡¯t seem like that would happen anymore.
He prepared the data that the acting president ordered and wrote his resignation letter at the same time.
Bang!
¡°These crazy people have finally done it!¡±
The White House aides had never seen President McKinley so angry.
He was usually a nerd from Ivy League who had no charisma.
But now he was furious at the news of the death of a person from a distant country.
The aides were also confused.
Yu Ji-ha was clearly a dictator who tried to rule Korea with oppressive means.
But if he died now, there would be a big chaos.
The entire Si Group, which was maintained by artificial intelligence, stopped.
Not only did the work stop, but the employees also dropped their hands as if they had made a promise.
One million drones stopped working and returned to their containers.
It was almost a joke that the android Lucia, who was connected to artificial intelligence, became scrap metal.
It didn¡¯tst long anyway.
While the aides thought so, President McKinley¡¯s anger continued.
¡°What are we going to do with ck metal now! Are we going to dig up unoptanium with a few projectiles that don¡¯t even work!¡±
¡°Hundreds of billions of dors have gone! The future damage is unimaginable! How can we charge those idiots for that?¡±
Then one of the aides came in and reported that the hotline connected to Korea was ringing.
It must be a call from Representative Han Seungjae, who had just be acting president.
But President McKinley didn¡¯t pick up the phone.
He came to his senses and gathered the aides and asked.
¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s strange? How could such a meticulous person die by those scum¡ Maybe he set up a double?¡±
¡°You mean Kagemusha. But his face was too simr and even his DNA matched.¡±
¡°We didn¡¯t confirm it ourselves, so we don¡¯t know. Anyway, let¡¯s watch a little more. I don¡¯t think those writers can lead Korea properly.¡±
As he said, Korea was on the verge of a mess after Han Seungjae took power.
The table was not properly set, but everyone was drooling and waiting.
But it turned out that there were not many dishes on the table without an owner.
Everyone thought that Si Group had amassed an enormous amount of cash, but there was no such thing.
¡°Most of the funds were going to North Korea. The ounts of Chairman Yu Ji-ha and Secretary Arma Ashford are only a few tens of billions.¡±
¡°There are some coins, but they are in the US, so it¡¯s hard to cash them out without their cooperation.¡±
Acting President Han lost his mind and stared at the chair in his office.
He thought that everything would be solved if he killed the dictator, but it wasn¡¯t.
The gap left by his disappearance was too big.
The North Korea Reconstruction Committee demanded an enormous amount of money and food, and protests from various countries continued endlessly.
Even Europe, which had cheered for the death of the dictator, had to lower its voice.
The starting point of the Fourth Industrial Revolution had disappeared.
Even schrs who were critical of him expressed regret that everything had gone back to before 2025.
¡ªMost of the rapid technological development in the world came from Yu Ji-ha himself. Now we have no ck metal, no unoptanium, no anttron.
¡ªThe stock markets of various countries are falling endlessly due to his death. It seems difficult to recover in a short time.
¡ªThey should have dragged him down instead of killing him and made him devote himself to research as an atonement.
But the Korean leaders had no mind to listen to these criticisms.
Theints of the people were no joke.
The crime rate soared in just a month after he died.
Were the criminals who had been hiding under the surveince of drones now spreading their wings in groups?
Even Lucia Premium lost most of its functions and turned into an ordinary AI.
There were too many inconveniences like this, and all the responsibility went back to Han Seungjae¡¯s top brass.
¡ªYou killed Yu Ji-ha. Then you have to take responsibility.
¡ªYour ession process was not democratic in the first ce. How are you different from a dictator?
¡ªI don¡¯t need anything else, where is my android? I made a reservation but it got canceled!
¡ªGive me back Yu Ji-ha!
Of course, the current ruling power did not have the ability to appease all these grievances.
Rather, they used martialw and mobilized military forces to suppress protests and even caused casualties.
As public sentiment plummeted to the bottom, Russia made a move on top of that.
For the first time in 27 years, Russian bombers invaded Korea¡¯s air defense identification zone inrge numbers.
Emergency sorties followed, and the Korean government protested to Russia through the embassy, but they expelled the Korean ambassador.
Expelling an ambassador usually means that the rtions between the two countries are over and war is imminent.
Internal and external troubles.
Inside, a massive protest was about to erupt, and news came that the Russian Pacific Fleet had left its base.
And when Russia banned exports of grain, there was not enough food to go into North Korea.
The faces of Han Seungjae¡¯s top brass turned pale.
The atmosphere of Korea¡¯s cab meeting changed depending on the personality and ability of the presider.
Usually, the president listened to the reports of the participants and decided on the direction of the policy, but Yu Ji-ha acting president was different.
He was the only one who turned the cab meeting into a dictation time.
The ministers, the mayor of Seoul, and the governor of the Bank of Korea did not expect that a young man in his mid-thirties would have such a wide and deep knowledge of all kinds of issues.
Whenever an agenda was presented, detailed regtions automatically popped out of his mouth.
So most bureaucrats had to learn from him and receive instructions.
There was no need to say that they would review it.
Most of his orders were in line with the situation andws on the ground.
Since then, the word desk administration has note out of the people¡¯s mouths, which means that it was thanks to him.
But this time, Han Seungjae acting president was different.
He didn¡¯t even know the basic skills that cab meeting participants should have.
He didn¡¯t even know that he had to submit an agenda to the Ministry of Interior Affairs in advance, and he hardly knew anything anyway.
So meaningless time passed by, and the participants felt a deep sigh in their chests.
It was too different.
He was restless from the first cab meeting presided over, and now that Russia¡¯s pressure had materialized, he rolled his eyes as if he hadmitted a crime.
It was different from Yu Ji-ha, who always seemed calm and made people wonder if he was an android.
Of course, it should be taken into ount that the pressure from home and abroad is severe, but Yu Ji-ha showed excellent leadership and led bureaucrats in more difficult situations.
The main agenda for today was friction with Russia.
¡°What kind of promise did that bastard Yu Ji-ha make for Russia toe out like that!¡±
¡°¡¡±
Well, you wouldn¡¯t know exactly unless you were him.
But you could roughly guess from the fact that Russia had been carrying out a lot of military provocations in Eastern Europe recently and that Shi Group¡¯s key executives had visited Russia frequently.
Si Group had a deep military cooperation with Russia.
It wasn¡¯t for nothing that the US put pressure on Yu Ji-ha for that reason.
The price was spected a lot, but major bureaucrats expected it to bend.
The Russian federal government had recently forced residents of Primorsky Krai to move, which could be a clue.
But Acting President Han ranted without knowing such basic things.
¡°Even at this moment when you are sitting there like mutes, the Russian Pacific Fleet is entering the East Sea! Come up with a countermeasure!¡±
Kim Cheol-woo, Minister of National Defense, advised him.
¡°How about sending a special envoy first? We need to know exactly what President Putin wants.¡±
¡°They expelled our ambassador. Do you think that will work? They¡¯re not listening to us at all.¡±
¡°We still have to do what we have to do. We also need to ask for help from the US and UN.¡±
It¡¯s not enough, but it¡¯s omitted.
When Yu Ji-ha was here, UN and US wanted his help and came to see him often.
But it changed so much in just a month after Han Seungjae took office¡
He also had trouble supplying food to North Korea.
Russia had banned exports of grain, so he had to get it from somewhere else.
¡°The US is asking for a deposit for food exports. They don¡¯t trust us.¡±
¡°Southeast Asia says they won¡¯t export food unless they finalize the details of the nuclear fusion nt.¡±
¡°Just buy it with money. Don¡¯t we have enough money in our country?¡±
We don¡¯t have enough money!
The cost of the Second Korean War was astronomical, and most of the budget was spent there after using a lot of short-term bonds to end it.
On top of that, there was a new tumor called North Korea.
It might have turned into a lumpter, but for now it was just a tumor.
That tumor opened its huge mouth and demanded food.
If money management was blocked for even a few days, cracks would ur everywhere.
UN said it was your fault for going north, so you have to take responsibility, and the US was no different.
The pirs that kept this precarious situation were Si Group and Yu Ji-ha¡¯s purge.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s brutal purge made the bureaucrats happy by reducing the ces where money went out.
On top of that, Si Group¡¯s finances were invested a lot in North Korea¡¯s reconstruction.
He knocked down both of those pirs at once, so it was obvious that the finances would be shattered.
It was no joke that the Minister and Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance resigned overnight and the bureaucrats at the director level sighed deeply.
What was more gloomy was that the groups that demanded money were increasing everywhere.
The civic groups that Yu Ji-ha had cut off the funding line demanded a stake, and Acting President Han had a lot of interest in it.
He had such a weak support base that he had to make civic groups his side.
Of course, this meant a deterioration of finances.
It wouldn¡¯t cost much to go to civic groups, but even that was precious now.
Today¡¯s cab meeting ended without anything being decided.
When Yu Ji-ha was here, there were so many issues to push forward that the ministers had to study separately.
Acting President Han smoked cigarettes in his office when Bae Seong-min, chief of staff, came in.
He was pitifully unable to resign and forced to serve his third master.
¡°Representative, Japan has upied Dokdo by force.¡±
It¡¯s pouring when it rains.
A deep groan came from the chair.
Chapter 90
Chapter 90
Japan was in a festive mood after hearing about this incident.
They were happy not only about the situation in Korea, but also about the death of Yu Ji-ha, who had been challenging Japan.
Of course, the government had its own headaches.
All the secret deals they had made with Yu Ji-ha became null and void.
They had to hope that the situation in Korea would stabilize as soon as possible, but they were busy preparing to pull out.
It was getting harder to supply goods to Terra Ind because of the uncertainty of the nuclear fusion nt.
They had to get out of there while they could.
While the government was racking its brains, the Yushin Association, which imed to represent Japan¡¯s far right, raised its voice.
¡ªThe current political situation in Korea is foggy. The bureaucrats are at a loss in the midst of severe chaos.
¡ªThe military is also greatly confused by the southward movement of the Russian Pacific Fleet. They want to respond strongly, but they don¡¯t have the resources or the person to take responsibility after the war.
¡ªIf we act boldly at this point, we can get Takeshima and ck metal.
¡ªMaybe someone with charisma will appear soon.
Japan was already convinced that Korea had interfered with their nuclear test.
The far right concluded that they had to teach Korea a lesson so that they would never look down on Japan again.
It was even better that Korea had gone back several years after Yu Ji-ha¡¯s death.
The Yushin Association stepped forward and the Maritime Self-Defense Force responded.
They had been secretly active even after Prime Minister Ozawa¡¯s purge, rmending their faction and so on.
It was easy to form a fleet to reim Dokdo.
Russia¡¯s Pacific Fleet was nearby, putting pressure on Korea.
¡ªIt¡¯s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There¡¯s no chance if not now.
That¡¯s how three fleets set sail from Maizuru at once.
This fleet had been defeated by Kim Gu ship in the previous Second Korean War.
The top of the Maritime Self-Defense Force decided to avenge their past failure by sending them again.
It was even more so because it was the Takeshima recapture operation.
The entire self-defense force members were determined to do their best.
Before they left, the maritimemander emphasized:
¡°Remember. Takeshima is part of Shimane Prefecture. We are only reiming our territory.¡±
In fact, Prime Minister Ozawa was very worried about the self-defense force¡¯s unteral action, but he had no power.
He was so unpopr that he was called a vegetative regime and a paper doll Ozawa.
Even so, he didn¡¯t hold a general election because the Yushin Association thought it was convenient to use him.
They took the good things and made the prime minister responsible for the bad things. How nice?
The Maritime Self-Defense Force had received full support from the Yushin Association since the nuclear test, and now they had no hesitation in acting on their own.
Japan itself was divided in half.
That¡¯s how three fleets appeared near Dokdo, and instead of the Coast Guard, the 1st Combat Squadron came out, but there was too much difference in power.
¡°Izumo-ss helicopter carriers are also mobilized. Japan has attacked Dokdo!¡±
An urgent report came to Blue House through the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Japan attacked Dokdo by surprise and upied it, and after a slight skirmish, captured many civilians and guardsmen.
Acting President Han Seungjae lost his bnce for a moment from such a big shock.
¡°Why now¡ What should I do?¡±
Why are you asking me?
Bae Seong-min, chief of staff, looked at him with a cold eye.
It was a time when the leader¡¯s decision was important, but he had neither courage nor ability to do so.
¡°Representative, there is a report from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.¡±
¡°Give it to me.¡±
Acting President Han listened to the report of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and got excited.
¡°What¡¯s that? There¡¯s a ship with a railgun! Shoot it!¡±
¡°Representative, just in case you know, that would be war.¡±
¡°Oh, what about missiles with anttron warheads¡¡±
¡°Do you mean to stop Japan¡¯s nuclear power nts?¡±
His hand holding the phone trembled.
He could drive away Japan¡¯s fleet with a railgun.
But that would be a definite war.
Of course, Japan¡¯s actions this time were also close to being prepared for war.
The difference was that Korea¡¯s situation was very bad.
If they went to war at this point, Korea would definitely default.
Acting President Han didn¡¯t want to be recorded as a great idiot who ruined Korea in just a month that had been doing well enough.
He immediately summoned Japan¡¯s ambassador, but he only spouted nonsense.
¡°We will release the civilians soon. But we cannot withdraw our troops from Takeshima. ording to the ordinance of Shimane Prefecture¡¡±
¡°Get out of Dokdo right now!¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, but we can¡¯t do that. Takeshima is Japan¡¯s inherent territory.¡±
Acting President Han gritted his teeth at his brazen attitude, asking him to expel him quickly.
It was no use telling the internationalmunity, they wouldn¡¯t intervene much, and the US was the same.
They lost interest in Korea after Yu Ji-ha¡¯s death.
Their biggest enemy, China, was trying to make Xinjiang Uyghur independent or something, why would they bother to get into Korea¡¯s mess?
The US was a satiated lion who just wanted to exert some influence in East Asia with Japan as a shield.
Meanwhile, as the news of Japan¡¯s upation of Dokdo spread, Acting President Han and his supporters were cornered.
Even so, politicians andpanies who announced their support for him did not withdraw their support.
Rather, they tried to me Yu Ji-ha, who was already dead.
¡ªHe always antagonized Japan by imposing sanctions and shooting down reconnaissance nes. Isn¡¯t this what happens? We need to re-establish rtions this time.
¡ªA prominent person who knows Japan well said that if we give up Dokdo, Japan will join us.
¡ªJust give up that worthless reef. Instead, Japan will be on our side.
They tried hard to erase the fact that there was a ck metal deposit near Dokdo.
On top of that, it was not the Japanese Prime Minister¡¯s Office but the Maritime Self-Defense Force Commander who issued a statement.
¡ªIt is clear that Takeshima is Japan¡¯s inherent territory. We cannot ept any objections to this. Also, there are 100,000 North Korean prisoners of war and Korean prisoners on Terra Ind. Japan has no responsibility to feed them. Take them away immediately.
The families of the prisoners who heard this news started a rescue campaign.
The Han Seungjae regime was cornered.
¡
Korea was suffering from the boiling public sentiment, the pressure from Russia, and the attempt of Japan to upy Dokdo.
There was no clear way to ovee this crisis.
Han Seung-jae and Colonel Jang Ik-hwan tried to contact various parties, but they only received cold responses.
¡ªIf Chairman Yu Ji-ha was here, maybe we would help you. But why should we help you?
¡ªYou have regained your freedom and human rights. It is a historic victory for you. Congrattions.
Except for Germany, Europe only congratted them verbally, but they had no intention of taking action.
Because there was no benefit for them.
There might be something left in the Si Group, but it was too small for other countries to intervene.
Therefore, most countries chose to ignore the situation.
Now Korea would go back to the previous state of 2026, when the economy copsed and it was threatened by North Korea and China.
The neighboring countries thought so, and finally the anger of the people exploded.
There were several small andrge protests, and eventually a massive demonstration took ce in Gwanghwamun.
Their slogans were as follows.
¡ªWe can¡¯t live like this. Let¡¯s change!
¡ªHan Seung-jae, step down and bring Yu Ji-ha back!
The citizens did not hold candles like before, but fists.
It was a protest that meant they would hit them with their fists if they did note up with a solution quickly.
Han Seung-jae, who was under a lot of stress, ordered Colonel Jang Ik-hwan, his confidant, to suppress the protest.
Because the police force was not enough.
But it was too much to ask the soldiers to suppress the protest.
They had no proper tactics, and their equipment was poor, so they were pushed back by the angry crowd.
Colonel Jang Ik-hwan, who was very angry, scolded his subordinates.
¡°If we get pushed back by these thugs here, what will happen to my image? Suppress the protest with tear gas! I¡¯ll take responsibility.¡±
What responsibility could a colonel who had nothing but being a confidant of the acting authority take?
The subordinates were skeptical, but they had to follow the order anyway.
Bang! Bang!
Tear gas was fired, but it did not suppress the protest. It only added fuel to the fire of public opinion.
The citizens misunderstood it as live ammunition.
¡°They¡¯re shooting guns!¡±
¡°Are they crazy? Is this May 18th?¡±
Even Yu Ji-ha did not shoot at the citizens.
The citizens who misunderstood chose to confront the troops instead of running away.
It was an explosion of anger over the current situation and hatred for the regime that killed Yu Ji-ha.
That night in Gwanghwamun, the proteststed until after midnight and there were many injuries.
Rumors circted all night long.
¡ªThe soldiers fired at them with aiming.
¡ªThe police sharpened their shields and tried to kill them.
¡ªSome people died from being trampled too much.
These rumors caused national outrage.
¡ªThey killed Yu Ji-ha and took power. What is this? They can¡¯t do anything right.
¡ªHurry up and create jobs and drive Japan away. Are they going to give up Dokdo like this?
¡ªWe can¡¯t just talk to these bastards. Let¡¯s rise up! Let¡¯s go to Blue House!
And so Gwanghwamun gathered more than a million people ording to police estimates.
As you can see from the fact that it was a police estimate, the actual number was much higher than that. It was sorge that the media dered it as thergest ever.
The reporter on the helicopter reported the situation with a trembling voice.
¡ªRight now, the area around Gyeongbokgung Pce is full of people. They are calling for Yu Ji-ha, but their voices are only empty¡
Among the crowd were even intellectuals and religious figures who had opposed Yu Ji-ha before.
¡ªWe thought everything would be fixed if we drove out Yu Ji-ha. But it wasn¡¯t. It was our arrogant mistake.
¡ªThe North Korean region is on the verge of famine and the political situation is chaotic. Korea needed someone like him.
But he was dead now and there was no way he coulde back.
When the citizens sang a song for the dictator and headed for Blue House, Yu Ji-ha was looking down at them from the bridge of Settler.
¡°It¡¯s time for you to appear. The citizens¡¯ longing has reached its peak.¡±
It was Arma¡¯s advice.
He had been on Settler for 45 days, checking on the megacity of Terra Ind and increasing its power.
Now the United Human Federation had the minimum power to defend the ind.
It was not a waste to spend 45 days for that, but there was a need to sort out the internal situation of Korea.
He couldn¡¯t go on with the opposition forever.
Yu Ji-ha asked.
¡°How many active participants are there?¡±
¡°261 in total. The rest are those who dered their support reluctantly after the trend was decided.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s end it by dealing with 261 people. It¡¯s hard to clean up all of them.¡±
The ipetence of the regime that took power was revealed enough, and Japan threw a bait, so it was time to appear.
He stretched his body and put on a suit. Arma tied his tie for him.
¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±
¡
So Yu Ji-ha appeared with Arma and the heroes among them.
The people who saw him murmured.
¡°Isn¡¯t that Yu Ji-ha?¡±
¡°No way¡ He¡¯s dead.¡±
¡°They announced that he was dead, but they didn¡¯t confirm it, right?¡±
¡°His face is too simr¡ and his physique¡¡±
When Arma stood next to him, the people finally realized.
That Yu Ji-ha had returned.
The murmurs grew louder among the people, and someone said with a sobbing voice.
¡°Mr. President, you¡¯re alive¡¡±
They didn¡¯t know how he survived, and that wasn¡¯t important either.
Yu Ji-ha was more than a simple dictator to the people.
The true leader of Korea.
He came back.
The Great Purge
Yu Ji-ha came back.
Of course, Han Seung-jae and his subordinates did not want to believe this fact.
Because they had confirmed his death themselves.
¡°Then who is that guy walking among those people?¡±
¡°¡¡±
No one could answer.
Especially Colonel Jang Ik-hwan, who had confirmed Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face himself, was so absurd that he wanted to die.
No, did that guy be a ghost or something?
¡°Sir, I¡¯m telling you for sure, I confirmed it! His face was exactly the same and his fingerprints were identical!¡±
¡°Then that guy must be a fake¡¡±
Han Seung-jae said with a face that was beyond description.
He frowned and licked his lips without rest. His eyes were fixed on Yu Ji-ha.
He probably felt inferiorityplex filling his mind.
Yu Ji-ha shook hands with the citizens and hugged female fans as he headed for Blue House.
Even among the countless crowds, he made his way and created a wave of support.
Even the sound of ¡°president¡± from the helicopter shooting could be heard here.
¡°Yu! Ji! Ha!¡±
¡°Our president is back!¡±
¡°Han Seung-jae, get out! Jang Ik-hwan, death penalty!¡±
Nearly a million citizens shouted like that and marched.
When the number reaches this level, any means are meaningless.
The police just stared at their procession, and the number of citizens increased as time went by.
Bae Seong-min, the chief of staff, looked somewhat relieved.
Neither Yu Ji-ha nor Han Seung-jae were legitimate leaders, but he couldn¡¯t help but be drawn to the former.
At least he had proven his ability.
He didn¡¯t care how he survived, but he felt like crying just by the fact that he came back.
He asked, trying to hide his excitement.
¡°Sir, what are you going to do?¡±
Colonel Jang Ik-hwan interrupted.
¡°What do you mean, what are we going to do? We have to block them with barricades and water cannons! And we have to catch that guy and I have to check him myself.¡±
¡°I¡¯m asking the congressman, not the colonel. What are you going to do?¡±
¡°¡¡±
He was silent for a long time.
He must have thought of the Blue HOuse security guards, but it was obvious whose orders they would follow.
The chief of security had appointed an outsider to get rid of the bad water, but he had not yet established hismand properly.
It meant that the guards could ignore the chief and have other thoughts.
It would have been nice if he had kicked them all out, but he had no choice but to hire some of them because of the limited number of professional security personnel.
What would they think when they heard that Yu Ji-ha, whom they failed to protect, had returned?
And the drones¡
After Yu Ji-ha¡¯s death, more than a million drones returned to their containers at once.
He tried hard to destroy them, but they were made of ck metal and all his attempts failed.
If these drones flew again, it would be hard to stop them even if the entire Korean army was mobilized.
Han Seung-jae¡¯s palm, which was holding the back of the chair, became moist. Then he heard new news.
The reporter on the helicopter shouted excitedly.
¡°Do you see that? Drones are flying all over Seoul!¡±
The sight of hundreds of thousands of drones breaking the seal and flying was truly spectacr.
Finally, Han Seung-jae and Jang Ik-hwan realized that Yu Ji-ha had returned.
¡°Please step out for a moment.¡±
Everyone in the office knew what he had decided.
When the people left, Colonel Jang Ik-hwan began to get excited.
¡°We need to take hostages! Hostages!¡±
¡°What are you going to do with hostages? Do you think the people will ept that? Do you think he will spare us because he¡¯s worried about hostages?¡±
He was not that kind of person.
He was generous to ordinary people, but he never forgave those who crossed the line he set.
How many people had been taken to Terra Ind so far?
And especially, the two were directly involved in his death or non-death.
If they were caught this time, he would probably order their execution even at the risk of friction with Europe.
The sponsors would be in a simr situation.
Han Seung-jae gave up and stood still. Colonel Jang Ik-hwan grabbed his shoulder and dragged him.
¡°Let¡¯s go. We can¡¯t just die quietly! We have to get out and n forter!¡±
¡°How are we going to fight back? The AI is probably monitoring the inte now.¡±
¡°So you want to die like this?¡±
¡°Why didn¡¯t you confirm his death properly in the first ce!¡±
¡°I did! He said it was certain!¡±
¡°Then is that guy out there an android!¡±
It was natural for internal strife to ur in a crisis situation.
Especially when what connected them was not something strong but a shallow lust for power.
It wouldn¡¯t matter if their support base was solid, but it was so weak that it was rated as the worst ever.
So there was bound to be division.
Colonel Jang Ik-hwan tried to do something by calling the sponsors.
¡ªThe customer¡¯s phone is turned off¡
¡°Rat bastards.¡±
The phone mmed on the floor and Han Seung-jae smirked.
¡°It¡¯s rats that detect danger first when a ship sinks. They¡¯re smart in a way. Now we have to draw a line with Yu Ji-ha¡¡±
Then a gunshot was heard outside.
The two instinctively looked at each other and ran away quickly.
Even Han Seung-jae, who seemed to have given up on his life, ran hard while panting.
There might be a way to live if he could get out of here.
¡°Over here! This way!¡±
It was impossible to escape from drones.
They had small ion thrusters that made them faster than cars and more urate night vision than wild animals.
And as if to prove that, bright lights shone on them soon.
What came out of the light were dozens of armed androids without skin.
Colonel Jang Ik-hwan grumbled as if spitting out.
¡°Fuck, are they terminators or what?¡±
Tatatata¨D!
Yu Ji-ha and Arma walked into the messed-up main building while hearing gunshots.
When they went up to the second floor office, Bae Seong-min, the chief of staff, was waiting for him.
¡°You¡¯re alive¡¡±
¡°Let¡¯s exin the detailster, and do what we have to do first. Tell the Russian ambassador to contact me and connect the hotline.¡±
This is it.
A leader should show this kind of attitude.
Not asking the chief of staff for a solution!
¡°I¡¯ll contact him right away.¡±
When he left his seat, Arma said.
¡°We captured all 261 instigators alive. Seven people were injured in the process.¡±
¡°Keep them alive and transfer them all to Terra Ind. And activate the group again.¡±
¡°Yes, I understand.¡±
While Arma was handling the instructions, Yu Ji-ha looked at the TV.
A huge crowd of citizens were chanting his name in front of Blue House.
¡°Yu Ji-ha!¡±
¡°Yu Ji-ha!¡±
There was hardly any voice opposing him in the enthusiastic cheers.
Once he purged the instigators, there would be only a handful of people who opposed him.
¡°It¡¯s over.¡±
Now Korea was his.
Yu Ji-ha sat in the office chair.
< He Came Back! >
Chapter 91: The President’s Terminator
Chapter 91: The President¡¯s Terminator
Themotion subsided overnight and the news broke that Yu Ji-ha had seized control of the Blue House and the government agencies.
Most people did not believe it.
They had seen his corpse on TV.
But as urgent reports flew in from dawn, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s survival was confirmed as a fact.
Journalists hastily formed teams and headed to the Spring and Autumn Hall of the Blue House, where Yu Ji-ha stood as if nothing had happened.
¡°It¡¯s been a while. I¡¯ll hold a press conference right away, so get ready.¡±
And soon after, his image was broadcast live across the country.
People realized then.
He wasn¡¯t dead.
They didn¡¯t know how it happened, but one thing was certain.
The gang that had seized power and run amok for 45 days was finished.
Yu Ji-ha delivered a speech without a prompter.
¡°Citizens, how much hardship have you endured from the tyranny of the ipetent forces? You don¡¯t have to worry anymore. From this moment on, I will take charge of the Republic of Korea.¡±
That day, there was probably more sighs of relief on the Korean Penins than ever since its founding.
His return to power meant tighter control, but everyone desperately wanted that.
For the past 45 days, Korea had been a hell of chaos, to say the least.
Someone had to take responsibility for this situation, and Yu Ji-ha was the only one who could.
He dered to the people in a confident tone.
¡°Korea has been stagnant for 45 days. No, it has regressed over and over. Crime rates soared, foreign countries ignored Korea, and there was a crisis of bankruptcy due tock of funds.¡±
¡°But it will be different from now on. I have already arrested 261 masterminds of this incident and reactivated drones and artificial intelligence. It will take some time, but it will soon stabilize.¡±
¡°I have settled things with the Russian Pacific Fleet that entered the East Sea. We will maintain a good rtionship with them from now on.¡±
As soon as his words ended, dozens of Russian warships retreated in a row.
The people who were listening to the broadcast raised their arms in unison.
In some apartmentplexes, shouts like this were heard one after another.
¡°Long live President Yu Ji-ha!¡±
It was probably a joke, but it was clear that they weed him warmly.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s announcement continued.
¡°Regardless of what promises the masterminds made, I dere them all null and void. Korea will go back to 45 days ago. All ns that have been underway will be resumed.¡±
¡°The artificial intelligence surveince system, including the citizen score system, will also be applied, of course. And I heard some surprising news. The Japanese Self-Defense Forces are on Dokdo. It¡¯s fortunate that there were no casualties except for a few injured.¡±
From then on, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face hardened and his expression disappeared.
¡°They took advantage of my absence and upied Dokdo. I want to praise them for their boldness. I won¡¯t tell them to get out right away.¡±
But no one thought he would let it go.
He didn¡¯t bother to warn them because he had already taken action.
He raised his voice atst.
¡°But Japan will pay for attacking and upying Dokdo. That¡¯s all for the press conference.¡±
As soon as the press conference ended, artificial intelligence Lucia activated and began to take over the intework of the whole country.
When drones appeared on the streets again, people felt that Yu Ji-ha had returned for real.
Now the public¡¯s attention was focused on two things.
The punishment of the masterminds of this incident and the countermeasure against Japan¡¯s upation of Dokdo.
The former was expected to be severe by everyone.
¨DAt least some of the masterminds will be sentenced to death.
¨DThey can¡¯t kill them, so maybe they¡¯ll lock them up without parole?
¨DWell, if it¡¯s Yu Ji-ha, he might really kill them.
¨DHe has to consider EU¡¯s opinion too. Well, Yu Ji-ha doesn¡¯t care about others¡¯ opinions, but realistically he can¡¯t ignore FTA¡
The majority opinion was that it wouldn¡¯t go as far as death penalty.
However, there was no use about death penalty in the FTA agreement with EU.
And Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t need to care about EU¡¯s opinion either.
As everyone¡¯s attention was focused, a trial that skipped most of the procedures began.
A trial site opened on the government website and artificial intelligence judged one by one.
¡¸Defendant: Han Seungjae, member of National Assembly¡¹
¡¸Charge: Conspired with masterminds to usurp power and manipte state affairs¡¹
¡¸Verdict: Death¡¹
Evidence was listed on the monitor and Han Seungjae, who was held by two androids, began to struggle.
¡°Let go! You¡¯re the one who usurped power, Yu Ji-ha! Where¡¯s the court? I want a fair trial!¡±
His vigorous resistance, which did not match his age, ended as soon as the androids shocked him with electricity.
Han Seungjae was dragged out limp and Colonel Jang Ik-hwan received the same verdict.
It took less than a day for the verdicts of 261 people to end.
The verdict was death for all.
The people who watched the broadcast were shocked.
¨DAll death sentences, is this for real¡¤¡¤¡¤
¨DThey can¡¯t really kill them, right? Even if Yu Ji-ha is ruthless¡¤¡¤¡¤
¨DI saw Lee Hyungseok among the masterminds¡ He¡¯s Yu Ji-ha¡¯s uncle¡
¨DHe must have been very angry at his nephew for not changing the battery. Tsk tsk¡
The judiciary was flustered and contacted Yu Ji-ha, but they only got scolded.
¡°Aren¡¯t you aplices too? You just watched them break into Si Group without a search warrant and rummage around?¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤I have nothing to say.¡±
The Minister of Justice had to bow his head in front of the young dictator.
Who knew he woulde back.
The judiciary had always been a servant of power and had decided that it was better to focus on self-preservation than to be swept away by the recent turmoil.
They announced externally that they were neutral, but only fools would believe that.
As a result, the judiciary¡¯s influence was shrinking.
It was fortunate that Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t try to abolish the judiciary as well.
No matter how much artificial intelligence and androids there were, they couldn¡¯t rece that huge system right away.
¡°Anyway, this verdict will proceed as it is. Just know that and do the paperwork.¡±
¡°Mr. President, that will cause friction with EU¡¡±
¡°What the hell is that friction? EU has FTA with Southeast Asian countries that maintain death penalty. And I¡¯m seriously being called Hitler right now, but has trade with EU ever stopped?¡±
That¡¯s excluding Shi Group.
In fact, there had been a long-standing argument in the legalmunity that reviving death penalty would not cause much friction with EU.
Korea was ssified as a de facto abolitionist country for death penalty because the politicians did not want to take the risk associated with it.
Why would they make trouble for themselves when they could just postpone it indefinitely and avoid responsibility?
Of course, they must have considered human rights and life ethics in their own way, but those were irrelevant words to Yu Ji-ha.
The Minister of Justice could not argue and backed off.
The judiciary¡¯s influence had been shrinking ever since Yu Ji-ha took power.
It seemed that it wouldn¡¯t be long before artificial intelligence made all the judgments.
Meanwhile, the internationalmunity tried to stop him when they heard that death sentences were handed down to all 261 people.
Normally, they would have hoped for a reduction of sentence, but this vicious dictator was not that kind of person.
¨DA trial without a prosecutor, awyer, a judge, or a procedure is invalid from the start.
¨DWe hope that Korea will regain its reason and hold a formal trial.
¨DIf they execute the death penalty until the end, they should be prepared to sever ties with us.
The country that criticized and confronted him most directly was France.
They were the happiest when Yu Ji-ha was reported dead.
They didn¡¯t care who took power after him.
As long as Korea preserved freedom and human rights, that was enough for them.
They celebrated that justice had been achieved, even though the new regime was more stupid than they imagined and their disgrace was exposed.
Yu Ji-ha acted before their interference became concrete.
¡
One day in November 2028, the executions of 261 people took ce on Terra Ind.
This happened before the resolution was passed at the UN General Assembly.
The ambassadors were confused and murmured, and the leaders of each country who received the notification cursed him as a real madman.
But there was no adviser who suggested severing ties with Korea or excluding Yu Ji-ha.
The projects that would be carried out with Yu Ji-ha were much more important than the lives of 261 people.
As soon as Yu Ji-ha appeared, the world¡¯s stock markets stabilized and then began to rise sharply.
He was a necessary existence for the world in many ways.
The families of the executed masterminds cried and came out to the streets that evening. Yu Ji-ha received a call from Ozawa, the Japanese Prime Minister.
¡
¡°I regret this, Mr. President.¡±
¡°Do you intend to say that it was another unteral action by the Maritime Self-Defense Force?¡±
¡°I won¡¯t make excuses this time. I will dismiss all ranks above Rear Admiral of the 3rd Fleet and¡¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to do that.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤Pardon?¡±
¡°What will I get out of it?¡±
He thought of and rted to Dokdo and suddenly had a bad imagination.
¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re going to¡¡±
¡°You¡¯re thinking of the right ce. There¡¯s no other ce that matches Dokdo¡¯s symbolism.¡±
¡°If Korean troops enter there, it will be war! I won¡¯t be able to stop it!¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you prepare for war when the 3rd Fleet attacked Dokdo? Can you tell me that you didn¡¯t condone it?¡±
He would have stopped the fleet by any means if he hadn¡¯t condoned it.
Korea was in chaos without Yu Ji-ha, so it was a good opportunity to sneak Dokdo and ck metal into their hands. They didn¡¯t mind watching that happen.
But that n wentpletely wrong when Yu Ji-ha returned.
Ozawa Prime Minister felt puzzled.
What does he mean by getting it himself?
¡°Besides, Korean troops won¡¯t go in there.¡±
¡°Huh?¡±
Then whose forces would he use?
The United States had promised to protect Terra Ind for a year through an agreement.
The deadline was January 2029, which was not far away.
In fact, President McKinley wanted to keep observing Terra Ind and had the intention to extend the security agreement.
But Yu Ji-ha had said before he died that there would be no extension.
He didn¡¯t need to entrust the defense of the ind to the US Navy anymore.
Currently, Terra Ind had facilities for prisoners of war and prisons as well as facilities for a considerable poption to reside in.
They were built by ck metal, walkers, and workers brought from Russia.
The shipyard was alsopleted, but interestingly, it was located in a ce where it was difficult to see from outside because it was dug into a cliff.
It was impossible to observe what kind of facility it was from artificial satellites.
The US Navy destroyer approached and was chased away by an unmanned surface vessel.
There was such a precedent.
In fact, this shipyard was where they built warships for the United Human Federation.
It was not fully unmanned, but the ces where manpower was needed were upied by androids, so it was practically an unmanned facility.
The ships they mainly built were unmanned surface vessels for defending Terra Ind, but recently they started to produce 4,000-ton-ss warships.
Earth Fleet Project.
A n to make cheap and low-performance warships for use in the Earth¡¯s seas.
This was from the perspective of Yu Ji-ha or Arma, and the actual performance was better than the railgun destroyers built in Korea.
They installed an ion thruster with no limiter and a nuclear fusion reactor from the old assault armors that were rolling around on Settler.
Some additional sentences are:
As a result, they could fire two railguns at maximum range in rapid session by extracting some of the thermal energy from the nuclear fusion reactor as electricity.
They could also operate iron beams simultaneously, so their effective performance was close to two Kim Gu ships.
If the United States had confirmed this spec, they would have seriously tried to upy Terra Ind.
It was not time to fight with the United States at this point, so Arma sealed off arge part of theirbat power.
As a result, a warship with half the performance of Kim Gu ship was born.
Yu Ji-ha watched theunching of the first ship from the dock.
¡°Did you use Russian radar for this?¡±
¡°Yes. It¡¯s cheap, but the performance is inferior to the American or Israeli ones.¡±
¡°It can¡¯t be helped. They are behind in electronics.¡±
Korea and Russia had jointly developed a next-generation unmanned fighter, and a lot of Russian parts had entered Terra Ind.
The Jastron radar was one of them, but it was just for decoration, so it didn¡¯t matter much.
The actualbat would be based on the information from the graviton radar sent by Settler.
Settler¡¯s graviton radar covered the entire Earth and could detect even the slightest gravitons, so there was no blind spot.
Soon, the second ship wasunched and quickly sank below the surface.
Unlike the warships of this era, these ships could be submarines if needed and could also fly in the sky.
It was possible because they were unmanned and had ion thrusters with no output limiters.
However, their armament underwater was limited to supercavitating torpedoes, so they usually operated on the surface.
Thest one to beunched was arge one that weighed nearly 10,000 tons.
¡°That¡¯s anding support ship.¡±
¡°It carries arge number of androids and drones. It also has missiles with ion thrusters.¡±
Unlike Earth¡¯s missiles, which were divided into anti-ship missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, etc. ording to their purpose, this missile solved everything with one.
It was because there was no limit to its range and propulsion.
The mission of thending support ship was tond troops onnd and upy it after the warship destroyed the enemy fleet.
The troops consisted of androids without skin and drones.
Theycked anti-tank firepower, but it was not a big problem because the warship would providending support.
Three ships formed a small fleet and carried out operations.
This was the most basic configuration of the Earth Fleet.
In the future, this shipyard would produce more improved and powerful ships.
But these things were only part of the power before humanity advanced into space.
The real thing was the space station that would be built on variouss in the sr system.
Yu Ji-ha spoke to Arma as he watched the three warships submerge under water.
¡°Start the upation as soon as the system check is over.¡±
¡°Yes. You want me to upy Tsushima, right?¡±
¡°Yeah.¡±
Japan had swallowed Dokdo, so he had to take a big bite too, didn¡¯t he?
The size was different, but he thought that it had to be that much to bnce it out.
Chapter 92: The Rising Storm - Diplomatic Tensions and Unforeseen Consequences
Chapter 92: The Rising Storm - Diplomatic Tensions and Unforeseen Consequences
At the moment when Prime Minister Ozawa of Japan heard the shocking news, he hastily demanded his secretaries to prepare countermeasures.
Three warships emerged from the surface of the water near the east coast of Tsushima Ind.
These warships looked too alien to be 21st century vessels.
Their hulls were entirely ck, making them hard to distinguish, and they had no masts.
They ignored the warnings from the patrol boats of the Coast Guard that rushed to the scene and approached the ind.
Captain Sanada, a first-ss maritime security officer, ordered.
¡°What the hell are they¡ Notify the Maritime Self-Defense Force as soon as possible!¡±
The patrol boat only had a 40mm gun as its armament, so it couldn¡¯t provoke those ships that weighed thousands of tons.
¡°By the way, does anyone know what kind of ships they are?¡±
Everyone in the bridge shook their heads.
¡°I have no idea. There are no ships in the world that paint their hulls ck like that.¡±
¡°It would make sense if they were submarines¡ But they don¡¯t look anything like submarines, do they?¡±
¡°¡¡±
Captain Sanada felt uneasy as he watched the three ships approaching Tsushima.
There was a saying in Japan.
¡ªIf something happens, suspect Korea and Yu Ji-ha first.
It was a phrase that was spread by the Yushinkai after the nuclear test failed and it was confirmed that it was caused by antitron.
The Yushinkai imed that anything bad that happened to Japan was always the fault of Korea and Yu Ji-ha.
Many Japanese who were influenced by their ideology stopped trusting Yu Ji-ha.
Captain Sanada didn¡¯t fully believe that, but today it seemed certain.
¡°Are they trying to start a war¡¡±
They were clearly new weapons from Korea, but what did they want?
They hadmitted multiple crimes, from illegal territorial intrusion to ignoring warnings.
Soon, two Asahi-ss destroyers of the Maritime Self-Defense Force arrived nearby.
But even they didn¡¯t take any action against the ck ships.
Captain Sanada was angry.
¡°Those bastards are idiots. A Korean ship has entered Japan¡¯s territorial waters and they¡¯re just sitting there?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not that simple, captain.¡±
The chief said and he asked irritably.
¡°Why not?¡±
¡°Well, because this time the Maritime Self-Defense Force upied Takeshima by themselves. You saw it on TV before.¡±
He was about to argue that it was Japan¡¯s inherent territory, but he closed his mouth.
This was not an easy topic to talk about.
It could trigger a war between Japan and Korea if handled poorly.
But they picked the wrong target.
There was a huge difference between Takeshima and Tsushima in size.
Unlike the former, which was a rock, thetter was an inhabited ind with more than 20,000 people living on it.
¡°Is this their retaliation for us taking Takeshima? How absurd.¡±
Before he finished his sentence, the staff in the bridge made a fuss.
¡°Oh, it looks like they¡¯re starting to attack.¡±
The two Asahi-ss destroyers began to fire their guns in earnest.
It was a fairly short distance, so they scored hits after a few shots.
But the ck ships didn¡¯t react at all, whether they were hit or not.
The 5-inch guns looked like toy guns to them.
Then one of the staff who was watching with binocrs reported.
¡°Captain! Part of the hull of the ck ship is transforming!¡±
¡°What? Don¡¯t tell me¡¡±
Was their entire hull made of ck metal?
Before he could recover from his shock, the ck ship finished its transformation and aimed its long barrel.
Everyone thought of the railgun cruiser that was said to be in Korea, and the actual result was no different.
A blue discharge urred at the tip of the barrel and then it spat out projectiles one after another.
The projectiles were so fast that they hit the Asahi-ss at the same time as they were fired and the sonic boom followedter.
Boom!
¡°121! 123 both silenced! They seem to have beenpletely prated from bow to stern!¡±
¡°Just with that?¡±
No matter how weak modern warships were, he never imagined that their hulls would be prated by one shot.
Of course, they weren¡¯t sunk, but a ship with a broken engine was no different from a coffin.
After destroying two ships like that, the ck ships calmly approached Tsushima Ind.
¡
¡°I thought it was impossible, but they really did it¡¡±
In the office of the Prime Minister¡¯s residence in Tokyo, endless groans were heard.
Three ships presumed to be from the United Human Federation attacked the Maritime Self-Defense Force¡¯s vessels andnded troops on Tsushima Ind.
Those troops were none other than androids and drones.
The prime minister¡¯s secretaries seemed to be shocked by the sight of the androids that looked like Terminators.
One of the secretaries cautiously opened his mouth.
¡°Prime Minister, I don¡¯t think the enemy is Korean.¡±
¡°I think so too. President Yu also said that the Korean army is not moving.¡±
¡°Do you think it¡¯s the United Human Federation?¡±
¡°Probably¡¡±
The United Human Federation was a small country that was born less than a year ago.
Since its owner was who he was, it was recognized by countries like the US and Russia, and it was also being invited to join the UN.
But no one knew much about their identity.
Japan didn¡¯t know much about what was on Terra Ind, except that it had facilities like prisons and camps.
One of the secretaries spoke.
¡°ording to thetest report, the three ships are made entirely of ck metal. They have ion thrusters and are armed with railguns.¡±
¡°All three of them have railguns?¡±
¡°No. The biggest ship seems to be anding ship, and most of those androids and drones came from there. They were dropped from missiles one after another.¡±
At this point, Japan¡¯s policy toward the United Human Federation had to be drastically revised.
They had to stop supplying materials to them.
But in that case, Korea would respond instead of the United Human Federation.
Prime Minister Ozawa didn¡¯t know where to focus.
¡°Prime Minister, Japan¡¯s territory has been attacked. We have to dere war immediately.¡±
Prime Minister Ozawa looked at him with no sense.
¡°Do you think we can use Type 4 anti-ship missiles?¡±
¡°Yes! No matter how powerful their railgun destroyers are, they won¡¯t stand a chance if we fire dozens of them.¡±
¡°Then we¡¯ll deploynding ships to reim Tsushima City from those drones. Are you confident in groundbat?¡±
What an idiot.
Fighting those drones in the city was suicidal.
Even the US Army had concluded that there was no answer and nned to wipe them out with artillery fire.
The ground forces of the Self-Defense Force stood no chance.
Prime Minister Ozawa took a deep breath.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force had surrounded Tsushima Ind, and the androids and drones that had upied it were not moving for now.
He had to solve this before it got out of hand.
¡°Tell the Maritime Chief of Staff to join me for a cup of tea. And the Secretary-General of the New Japan Restoration Society too.¡±
The three of them gathered, and Ginichi, the Maritime Chief of Staff, silently yielded all his remarks to the Secretary-General.
It was a scene that showed their rtionship tantly, and Prime Minister Ozawa sighed inwardly.
¡®Since when did a secretary-general, not even a party leader, have influence over the maritime?¡¯
Until the previous prime minister, he had firmly held the military power, but he didn¡¯t know how it hade to this.
It meant that the Restoration Society had a lot of power.
Those who had left the Liberal Democratic Party had put their efforts into the House of Councillors election and seeded in securing a considerable share.
Originally, in Japanese politics, the House of Representatives had more authority than the House of Councillors, but recently it was not necessarily so.
The New Japan Restoration Society, which had upied more than half of the House of Councillors, raised a banner against the Ozawa administration, and arge number of members of the House of Representatives moved to their side.
As a result, there were articles saying that the aristocratic house had been revived in Japantely.
Their im was summed up in one thing.
¡ªKorea must be severed and Article 9 of the Constitution must be amended to create a new Japan.
Many people in the traditional right-wing, which was the Liberal Democratic Party¡¯s turf, were also influenced by this im.
In the midst of the changing situation, Prime Minister Ozawa saw himself as weak.
¡ª-If Korea is not brought to its knees now, there is no hope for Japan. It must be done immediately, and Takeshima would be a good target.
He had upied Takeshima like that, but Yu Ji-ha came back alive.
The basis of the Restoration Society¡¯s n was shaken, but they did not back down.
Matsuda, the secretary-general of the Restoration Society, challenged him in front of him.
¡°Tsushima has fallen? I¡¯m afraid we¡¯ll have to hold an immediate House of Representatives election.¡±
Prime Minister Ozawa calmed his boiling emotions and said.
¡°Yu Ji-ha has returned. Withdraw your troops from Takeshima immediately. I¡¯ll take care of the rest.¡±
¡°Takeshima is Japan¡¯s inherent territory. You know that too, Prime Minister.¡±
¡°So you want to fight Korea now?¡±
¡°There is no war.¡±
Matsuda, who had a huge body, leaned forward.
¡°Korea is not in a position to wage war right now. And as impressive as their railgun cruiser is, they only have one. In a full-scale war, they will have to survive the baptism of Type 4 missiles. We are not North Korea.¡±
He doesn¡¯t know anything.
Prime Minister Ozawa cooled his burning stomach with water and said.
¡°The perpetrator of this attack is not Korea.¡±
¡°Then who is it?¡±
¡°The United Human Federation.¡±
Their expressions changed strangely for a moment.
Are they talking about that ind where they are still diligently delivering materials?
¡°What kind of troops do they have on that ind? There are only prisons and camps there.¡±
¡°Yu Ji-ha told me himself. The Korean army is not moving. So those ships belong to the United Human Federation.¡±
¡°A small country that was born less than a year ago has a shipyard that can build such ships? That doesn¡¯t make sense.¡±
Prime Minister Ozawa answered by showing him a photo that was investigated by the Cab Intelligence Office instead.
It was a hole in a cliff taken from far away.
It was blurry and hard to distinguish, but it was clear that there were various facilities inside the hole.
¡°The only shipyard of the United Human Federation. It waspleted a while ago, so it¡¯s not strange that they have one ship by now.¡±
It was far too short a time tounch a warship inmon sense, but it became strangely short when Yu Ji-ha intervened.
The railgun cruiser in Korea was alsounched in one year and deployed inbat.
From what he had seen so far, it seemed to have no ws either.
Ginichi¡¯s hand trembled as he picked up the photo.
¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell us about this¡¡±
¡°The prime minister doesn¡¯t mean anything to the maritime?¡±
His mood was bad, so his words couldn¡¯t be gentle.
Ginichi looked at the secretary-general, and he swallowed dryly.
¡°Then, did the United Human Federation attack us? We have to take Terra Ind right away¡¡±
¡°Pleasee to your senses! The US Navy is protecting Terra Ind right now!¡±
¡°They may have made an agreement, but the United Human Federation attacked first, didn¡¯t they? I don¡¯t understand why you are being so weak, Prime Minister.¡±
¡°Do you want to give up all this?¡±
Prime Minister Ozawa threw the documents he received from his secretary on the table.
There were ck metal battery factories built in Korea, Starfield-rtedpanies, and ns to supply equipment for thepletion of the nuclear fusion nt.
¡°He would have been dead if he hadn¡¯te back alive! Do you want to keep antagonizing them in this situation? Don¡¯t you see that the world¡¯s stock markets are rebounding in one breath? If you try to exclude Korea and Yu Ji-ha, there will be no future for Japan!¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±
Matsuda leaned his face forward.
¡°Japan has been too amodating to Korea¡¯s demands. As a result, Korea has be a spoiled brat. Maybe their national character is that anything goes if they throw a tantrum.¡±
¡°So you want to sever ties with that spoiled brat?¡±
¡°We have to go further and upy Terra Ind. The agreement with the US ends in January, so it seems that they made such a force by then. That means that if we just drag out the time a little, the US troops will leave Terra Ind¡¡±
¡°Do you think you can upy Terra Ind once the US troops leave?¡±
¡°The world has turned its back on Korea because of this execution.¡±
¡°That doesn¡¯t mean the world will support us. Terra Ind is the rightful territory of the United Human Federation.¡±
¡°They are not even members of the UN, let alone Iran. That means they won¡¯t get any help from the internationalmunity.¡±
¡°¡¡±
He was delusional to this extent.
Currently, various countries, including the UN Human Rights Council, were criticizing Yu Ji-ha¡¯s treatment.
No matter how big a crime hemitted, it was unthinkable to entrust the trial to an artificial intelligence and end it quickly.
But only France was seriously trying to confront Korea.
The rest were adjusting their speech levels enough and even sending envoys to Korea to discuss the future.
Human rights of other countries are not very important in front of one¡¯s own interests.
¡®How narrow-minded they are¡¡¯
Prime Minister Ozawa was about to continue his speech when it happened.
Knock knock, a short knock followed by the door opening abruptly. His secretary bowed his head.
¡°News from the Cab Intelligence Bureau! Korea has attacked Takeshima!¡±
Prime Minister Ozawa closed his eyes in deep despair.
He had tried hard to reconcile with Yu Ji-ha after the resignation of Prime Minister Genzo Fujimoto, who had made a mistake in imposing sanctions.
But it seemed that his term was over.
Breaking off diplomatic rtions was the answer.
As soon as the participants of the National Security Council sat down, they heard the news that Prime Minister Ozawa had announced his resignation.
¡°The right-wingers will go wild now. In the worst case scenario, we may have to break off diplomatic rtions with Japan. Keep that in mind when you make policies.¡±
The ministers and participants were silent at Yu Ji-ha¡¯s words.
In fact, it was not surprising that a war had broken out and diplomatic rtions had been severed.
Japan had upied Dokdo first, but for some reason, the United Human Federation intervened and destroyed two escort ships and upied Daecheongdo.
From there, they went further and the First Fleet, which included the Kim Gu ship, sessfully recaptured Dokdo.
They kept firing from a long distance, and the Third Escort Fleet decided to withdraw after operating their CIWS.
They never intended to have a serious war with Korea in the first ce.
The reason was that the Maritime Self-Defense Force was rted to the Yuishinkai, not the Cab.
They couldn¡¯t wage a war under the orders of a single party.
Yu Ji-ha understood this point precisely and ordered them to push forward.
After that, the Marine Corps and drones were deployed to carry out an operation to reim Dokdo, eliciting an enthusiastic response from the people.
The detained Dokdo guards were released and more than thirty Self-Defense Forces were captured.
¡°Citizens! The Rising Sun g has been lowered from Dokdo and the Taegeukgi has been raised again!¡±
A reporter who entered by helicopter shouted almost hysterically.
The Koreans shivered at his report.
With this, Yu Ji-ha had regained Dokdo, which had been taken away from him.
At this moment, his support would be unspeakably high.
However, he was not satisfied or happy about it.
This incident was nothing but a n to cover up the execution of 261 people.
Just as Japan¡¯s upation of Dokdo came up as a material, he expanded the situation and seeded in burying the big incident of execution.
There were not many ces where domestic and foreign media dug into that incident.
Everywhere they went, they only talked about Dokdo and Daecheongdo.
Yu Ji-ha turned off the TV and the participants coughed and straightened their posture.
The deputy minister who attended instead of the vacant foreign minister asked cautiously.
He was one of the few who managed to preserve his position from the purge that hit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He probably received an evaluation of being a typical bureaucrat who did his job well.
He was originally a director-level official, but he was promoted to deputy minister after receiving Yu Ji-ha¡¯s call.
¡°Mr. President, you just mentioned breaking off diplomatic rtions¡ The aftermath will be no joke.¡±
¡°Of course it will. But it won¡¯t hurt us in the end. We¡¯ve ovee Zhongmeng¡¯s blockade, haven¡¯t we?¡±
The War on Both Sides brought tremendous damage to Korea as well.
The rise in prices at supermarkets was nothingpared to the manypanies that went bankrupt without receiving their payments.
Nevertheless, Korea seeded in improving its constitution, because most of its semiconductor exports were taken away by America without hesitation.
In other words, there was no room for further ruin.
The trade volume with Zhongmeng still did not recover much, but Korea¡¯s economy was not that bad.
Yu Ji-ha and Si Group were trying to improve Korea¡¯s economic constitution.
To be more precise, they were trying to put it under the influence of the United Human Federation.
The deputy minister nodded his head.
¡°That¡¯s true, but¡¡±
If Yu Ji-ha said something like that, it meant that he already had a countermeasure ready.
He looked around at the participants and said,
¡°Japan has lost Daecheongdo and been driven out of Dokdo. Now that Prime Minister Ozawa has resigned, Yuishinkai won¡¯t leave them alone.¡±
¡°They will probably induce a vote of no confidence in the cab from the maximum faction of Sakaguchi.¡±
¡°The prime minister¡¯s seat will be taken by the Jumin Party¡¯s moderate, Minister of Administration Kanba, so they won¡¯t sit still. The rise of the New Japan Yuishinkai will begin.¡±
The participants knew very well about the tendencies of the New Japan Yuishinkai.
In short, extreme right.
They were a distinct ss from Japan¡¯s traditional right-wing, and their main goal was to break off diplomatic rtions with Korea, amend Article 9 of the Constitution, and rearm.
Their power was insignificant, but it increased tremendously after they failed the nuclear test and pointed to Korea as the culprit behind it.
¡ªJumin Party and Ozawa, step down. You have no intention of dealing firmly with Korea and Zhongmeng.
¡ªWe cannot forgive Korea for interfering with our nuclear armament. Japan has given up a lot to Korea in the past and even transferred technology. Is this the price?
¡ªLet¡¯s break off diplomatic rtions with the ungrateful Korea and establish diplomatic rtions with Taiwan. Zhongmeng is currently unable to pay attention to foreign affairs because of Xinjiang Uyghur.
These ims appealed to a lot of Japan¡¯s middle-aged and older generations.
The younger generation was more inclined to be friendly with Shi Group, including Russia, but the mainstream of Japanese society was still the middle-aged and older generations.
Anyway, Japan¡¯s right-wing radicalization was inevitable, and Yu Ji-ha had no intention of stopping it.
He had hoped that Prime Minister Ozawa would hold on a little longer, but it wasn¡¯t bad that Yuishinkai caused chaos.
He had no regrets about Japan, but there were many ways to exploit them if they had an extreme tendency.
¡°So¡ I want each department to prepare policies for breaking off diplomatic rtions with Japan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should prepare for withdrawing diplomatic missions.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°The Ministry of Industry should make a list of industries and items that will be affected if Japan imposes sanctions. I¡¯ll take care of the countermeasures.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll start right away.¡±
¡°And our military side also uses some Japanese parts¡ ¡°
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Mr. President, but the Korean military has domesticated most of the parts, and the exceptions are from the US or Israel¡¡±
¡°Who doesn¡¯t know that the image sensor and servo on the corps-level reconnaissance aircraft are Japanese? They¡¯ll definitely stop exporting them, so look for image sensors from Germany. Contact BD for servos.¡±
How did he know that Japanese parts were applied to the corps-level reconnaissance aircraft?
Minister Kim Chul-woo sweated as if he was afraid of being caught, but nothing happened.
Yu Ji-ha gave some more instructions to the rted departments and said,
¡°Breaking off diplomatic rtions with Japan is inevitable. But there¡¯s no need to be afraid. We may lose in the short term, but I¡¯ll make sure it¡¯s nothing in the long term.¡±
If someone else had said that, it would have sounded like arrogance or delusion.
But Yu Ji-ha actually made it happen.
Chapter 93: Diplomatic Rifts and Escalating Tensions
Chapter 93: Diplomatic Rifts and Escting Tensions
Chapter 93: Diplomatic Rifts and Escting Tensions
Japan¡¯s political situation plunged into chaos after Prime Minister Ozawa resigned.
Normally, the Minister of Defense would take over as the Prime Minister, but the New Japan Restoration Party, which had a majority in the House of Councillors, issued a warning.
¡ªIf the Minister of Defense steps up, we will initiate a vote of no confidence in the cab.
This happened even before the Prime Minister signed the documents.
However, Prime Minister Ozawa dered the dissolution of the parliament after hearing the news.
Some members of the Restoration Party who obtained the information vehemently protested.
¡ªHow can a Prime Minister who announced his resignation dissolve the parliament? This is invalid.
Strictly speaking, the condition was met because he dered it when he had the qualifications of the Prime Minister.
As a result, Japan had to hold another election for the House of Representatives.
As politics became so chaotic, the 3rd Fleet of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, which had upied Dokdo, had no choice but to struggle against the sudden offensive of the South Korean Navy.
¡°Admiral! Railgun projectiles are raining down on us! Give us the order to counterattack!¡±
¡°Hmm, is there any news from the headquarters?¡±
¡°All they instructed us was to prevent esction!¡±
Admiral Izuchi Haejangbo, whomanded the 3rd Fleet, ordered his fleet to scatter while pondering.
It was crazy to fight against the South Korean Navy alone without any decisive action from the headquarters.
It would be different if South Korea was in chaos, but now President Yu Ji-ha had returned and was exerting his leadership.
In such a situation, Japan¡¯s political situation was so messed up that it was no longer bearable.
¡°If we keep holding on, we will be med for everything! Withdraw the fleet! Disperse from this area!¡±
The fleet that had been holding on in the East Sea withdrew with the withdrawal ship. Japan hoped that the United Human Federation forces would also withdraw from Tsushima.
However, instead of withdrawing their forces from Yu Ji-ha, they brought in South Korean Marines.
The Marines who boarded Dokdo and Maradonded on Dae Ma Ind one after another and the Korean media reported this as a special feature.
The United Human Federation fleet withdrew their androids and drones, but they did not leave Dae Ma Ind and guarded around it.
As the situation turned out like this, Japan¡¯s escort fleet and even local forces flocked to Tsushima¡¯s waters.
Their number reached as many as 40 ships, which worried the South Korean fleet that was waiting in the west strait of Dae Ma Ind.
¡°This could turn into a war if we make a mistake¡¡±
¡°Even if we fight, can¡¯t we win easily? We have two railgun ships and support from Busan.¡±
Dokdo had an iron beam installed on it, so it would be difficult for Japan¡¯s fighters to approach now.
They could fire missiles and retreat, but the iron beam had already proven its performance in such situations in the Yang¡¯an War.
Unless they fired hundreds of shots at once, they could intercept them.
¡°That¡¯s not what I mean. The US won¡¯t stay still. Dae Ma Ind is not much different from Dokdo in size. And there are US-Japan forces there too.¡±
¡°They attacked Dokdo first, so they have to take responsibility.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think the US will think that way¡¡±
As a tense situation unfolded, the US stepped in after being silent.
The White House sent envoys to both countries and proposed a mediation n to return all measures to before Dokdo¡¯s upation.
¡°Resolving this conflict is our priority. Let¡¯s talk about the detailster.¡±
However, both countries¡¯ reactions were unexpected.
South Korea rejected the US¡¯s request and Japan dyed their response by shifting me.
It was because the Prime Minister resigned and even dissolved parliament.
There were many bureaucrats in the cab, but there was no one who could represent Japan and answer to the US because the Restoration Party openly opposed them.
Also, there was a fight within the Restoration Party over who was responsible for this incident.
The house of representatives, the leader of thergest faction in the Restoration Party, coincidentally caught fire and burned down.
As both countries confronted each other sharply without any concessions, President McKinley tried to negotiate directly with Yu Ji-ha.
¡°I understand that you are angry that Japan upied that ind while you were absent. But Tsushima Ind is Japan¡¯s territory. There are more than 20 thousand people living there.¡±
¡°Dokdo also had civilians living there. But Japan attacked without hesitation.¡±
¡°I know, I know¡ But please release the soldiers you are holding first.¡±
¡°Sure.¡±
He then pushed several conditions to appease him, but his attitude did not change.
His im was consistent.
¡°Japan attacked and upied Korea¡¯s territory. We just took corresponding measures. What¡¯s wrong with that? Now Japan has to mobilize its power to push out our forces from Dae Ma Ind. I hope they do that.¡±
His attitude of not fearing war made President McKinley snap at his innocent aides.
¡°What the hell does he want? Does he really intend to swallow Japan¡¯s ind? Is that even possible in the 21st century?¡±
He had already receivednd from North Korea, China, and Russia, three countries that he had allied with.
It was not unusual for Japan to be added to that list.
Now the White House aides started calling Yu Ji-ha a crazy man.
¡°We can¡¯t concede any more. We have to mobilize the US-Japan forces and push out the Korean troops.¡±
¡°Korea is crossing the line. It would be better to go back to before this happened.¡±
¡°¡US-Japan forces? They won¡¯t ept them now.¡±
¡°We have to make them ept. Korea currently looks united, but it has a very vulnerable economic structure. If we touch the North Korean region, President Yu Ji-ha will have no choice.¡±
President McKinley decided to visit Korea after pondering.
¡°Let¡¯s go and talk. Prepare for it.¡±
¡
Originally, the US wanted a tripartite meeting with Japan¡¯s participation, but it did not materialize.
It was because politics was paralyzed after parliament was dissolved and the leader of the Representatives faction in the New Japan Restoration Party died.
The US intelligence agency suspected terrorism, but could not find any evidence.
¡®Coincidentally, everything is going in favor of President Yu.¡¯
Looking back at his actions so far, it was strange that his enemies who blocked his way either resigned or died.
The intelligence agency reported that at least some of them were directly intervened by Yu Ji-ha.
In that case, it meant that he nned this situation since he woke up from a vegetative state three years ago.
¡®There¡¯s something behind this.¡¯
Even if it wasn¡¯t a spaceship as some conspiracy theorists imed, there was definitely something that the US didn¡¯t know.
It was also true for Terra Ind. If left alone, he could be a very dangerous person.
He seemed to ept the US¡¯s control for now, but¡
President McKinley entered the meeting with Yu Ji-ha with such a conviction.
¡°There is only one condition. Withdraw your troops from Tsushima Ind and ept Japan¡¯s apology. We will take responsibility and submit apensation n.¡±
¡°¡¡±
¡°You don¡¯t seem to like it.¡±
¡°Japan attacked Dokdo first.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it a bacsh of President Yu¡¯s interference with the nuclear test? Let me revise the condition. On this asion, let¡¯s make that ind, Dokdo, a definite territory of Korea and eliminate the median line. Is this still not enough?¡±
It was a radical proposal, but not to Yu Jiha.
He insisted on his position, and President McKinley decided to use hisst resort.
¡°If Korea insists on this, we will have no choice but to resort to some coercive measures.¡±
¡°So the US-Japan forces will finally step in.¡±
¡°¡¡±
President McKinley stared at Yu Jiha for a long time and said.
¡°You like being straightforward, so let me ask you. What do you want? Whenever you are stubborn, something outrageouses out.¡±
¡°What I want is for the US to get out of East Asia.¡±
¡°Do you want to swallow Manchuria and even eye Japan? You seem to be delusional, but the US is not afraid of the United Human Federation.¡±
At this point, if they went into a head-on confrontation, the US forces were estimated to have the capacity to securely upy Terra Ind.
Of course, based on the information that the US had.
¡°I have no ns to eye Japan. We have enough trouble defending ournd, and Japan is too big. And populous.¡±
Yu Jiha was not greedy.
If he added thend that Russia would give him, the basic foundation of the United Human Federation was almost established.
¡°Then what?¡±
¡°I want Jeju Ind. I¡¯ll handle the negotiations with Japan myself, so please back off.¡±
¡°You¡¯re saying that now¡¡±
President McKinley was about to lean forward when it happened.
There was amotion outside, followed by a knock on the door.
No ordinary news could interrupt a summit meeting.
Then what?
President Yu nodded his head, and President McKinley dered a recess and went outside.
Humphrey, the security adviser, whispered in his ear.
¡°Ukraine has been attacked. Russian tank units have broken through the border.¡±
¡°¡¡±
He was speechless with disbelief.
It was true that Russia had an eye on Ukraine, but why at this time?
The photos and videos shown by the adviser captured clear evidence.
They had mobilized their army to swallow up their homnd after annexing Crimea.
Ukraine would now prepare by issuing a reserve call-up order, but it seemed to have little significance in front of the Russian army.
Moreover, the Russian army that broke through the border had Korean-made drones.
The damn drones equipped with ion thrusters instead of propellers.
Furious, President McKinley took the photo and threw it on the table as he entered the meeting room.
¡°I heard you were a merchant of death, but you went all the way in that direction? Why did you export such weapons?¡±
¡°Russia paid well. They offered a generous price.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not what I mean! You coveted Manchuria and then upied Japanese territory, but that wasn¡¯t enough? Now you¡¯re starting a war in Eastern Europe. What are you thinking?¡±
¡°You should ask President Putin about that. I just supplied what they wanted. And I n to do so in the future.¡±
¡°Are you really saying that Korea has nothing to do with it? You promised to support the war behind the scenes in exchange fornd from Russia. Can you say that in front of me?¡±
¡°I did.¡±
He was so confident that he was speechless for a moment.
He could assert that no one could say that in front of the US president.
But Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t seem to think so, leaning back in his chair.
¡°As you know, we promised extensive economic cooperation with Russia. So providing drones is not a difficult thing.¡±
He wanted to call him Hitler, but he barely held back.
The important thing now was not Japan.
As long as China copsed and Russia had little interest in the Pacific, the US had nothing to worry about.
But Europe was different.
If Russia¡¯s advance was not stopped, NATO would be endangered.
President Putin would never be satisfied with merging the former Soviet satellites.
The US was a satiated lion, but Russia was a starving bear.
President McKinley stood up and calmed his excitement.
¡°Let me warn you one thing. Korea is testing our patience. Remember the blood we shed for Korea decades ago.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be careful from now on.¡±
That sounded like he wouldn¡¯t give up Jeju Ind.
Air Force One hurriedly returned home, and Japan, which had hoped for mediation, was greatly disappointed.
¡ªNow we have no choice but to retake Tsushima Ind by force.
¡ªIf we mobilize the escort fleet and the air force, it will be enough. We will activate the ind defense system.
But there was no one who could decide to go to war in a situation where the leadership was paralyzed.
The Representatives Party, which had med everything on the Ozawa regime, did not like having all eyes on them.
It didn¡¯t matter if they won, but if they lost, the aftermath would be extraordinary.
While they were hesitating, President Yu Ji-ha of Korea held a press conference.
¡°As of this time, we dere the severance of diplomatic rtions with Japan. The Korean ambassadors in Japan will return within 48 hours. The same goes for the Japanese embassy in Korea.¡±
The severance that Japan¡¯s right-wing forces had long hoped for came true.
But no one was happy.
There was no problem.
In modern society, it is rare for two countries to sever diplomatic rtions.
Especially if they are advanced countries, and have been exchanging for hundreds of years or more.
Whether they liked it or not, they had to exchange for the survival of the nation, and trade in the private sector was essential.
So when Korea dered the severance of rtions with Japan and notified the embassy, there were few countries that took it seriously.
¡ªKorea¡¯s industry is too dependent on Japan. They can¡¯tpletely cut off ties.
¡ªJapan also needs Korea to pursue the fourth industrial revolution. Either way, the two countries are inseparable.
¡ªConsidering that President Yu is the subject, it is likely that he nned this to cover up the domestic woes. But it¡¯s too big to have an exit strategy.
Various institutions and analysts generally gave this assessment, but there was also an analysis that this time was different.
¡ªKorea has many industries that rely on Japan, but they can diversify their imports and solve it sufficiently.
¡ªFor example, Korea did not suffer a fatal blow even when its exports to China plummeted. This is evidence that Korea¡¯s economy is bing dependent on the Si Group.
¡ªConsidering that Korea dered it first, Terra Ind could be a variable. We don¡¯t know what kind of facility is there.
¡ªPresident Yu does not make empty words. Even China had to change its name to Zhongmeng and impose all kinds of conditions to barely allow the ck Metal factory. It won¡¯t be easy for Japan to break through.
As various spections went back and forth, Russia¡¯s military movements became concrete.
They invaded with tank units at the forefront to formally annex Ukraine.
Now the world¡¯s attention was focused on Eastern Europe, not the severance of Korea and Japan.
Russia¡¯s expansion was expected enough, but everyone was surprised that they even mobilized Korean-made drones.
¡ªNow Ukraine has lost the option of fighting street battles with old apartments as shields. Those drones are overwhelmingly superior to the US forces in urban warfare.
¡ªSoon Israel¡¯s drones will be reced by those. Then Gaza will face more brutal repression.
¡ªKorea is too dangerous to sell such weapons for money. Sanctions are needed.
There was also interest in the ck ship that appeared near Tsushima Ind, but it was buried because there was too little information.
The EU passed a resolution condemning Russia, and anti-Russian movements erupted within Ukraine.
Thanks to this, Korea was able to quietly advance its work under water.
The Korean embassies in Japan, which had been prepared in advance, destroyed their documents and returned to their home country.
Japan was surprised that Korea would really sever ties, and was in a confused atmosphere.
¡ªThey said severance every day, so they really severed it. Do it moderately, Representatives Party.
¡ªConsidering President Yu¡¯s personality, he won¡¯t let it go easily, so we have no choice but to fight back. Whoever it is, hurry up and dere severance.
¡ª-Bring back the Zainichi Koreans quickly. Otherwise, there is no meaning to severance.
¡ª-Zainichi Koreans may be called that, but they are Japanese citizens and their livelihoods are in Japan. I don¡¯t know why the right-wingers are talking nonsense.
¡ªThere are no Koreans in Japan because of the aftermath of the Korean War. The number of Korean tourists has also decreased significantly.
¡ªWhere is my Lucia? They said they would take reservations in Korea, so I was looking forward to it!
Meanwhile, the otakus were greatly disappointed.
They were men in their 20s and 30s who had little interest in Korea but had a lot of interest in the androids released in Japan.
They would endure anything if they could have that Lucia who debuted sessfully at Tokyo Dome.
Of course, they only took reservations in Korea, but they could hope, right?
They didn¡¯t care about the price as long as they had their own maid.
They all waited for the day when Japanese would be added to the website with excitement at night.
But what came to them was not the release news but the severance like a bolt from the blue.
¡ªAre you kidding me, right-wingers? Why did you mess with that ind and make a ho¡¯s nest?
¡ªDie already, you useless bastards who don¡¯t help your life.
¡ªLosing Takeshima and being upied by Tsushima and Ozawa ran away. Is this the beginning of Japan¡¯s sinking?
On the other hand, signs of an explosion began to appear in Japan¡¯s businessmunity.
They had endured a lot considering the position of the political circles, but they decided that they couldn¡¯t do it anymore and stood up.
Economic groups including Keidanren criticized the Representatives Party and stepped forward.
¡ªThe Representatives Party is good at criticizing while hiding behind them, but they have no aspect of doing anything themselves. Stop hiding and negotiate with Korea directly.
¡ªPlease think about the nuclear fusion nt that is almostplete. The n to make the next-generation Shinkansen a levitation type cannot be established without Shli Group.
¡ªIf severance is established at this point, both sides will lose in the short term, but our losses will increase as time goes by. Korea has reduced its dependence on us considerably, albeit unwillingly.
Various criticisms poured out, but Right wing Representatives Party ignored them.
They were not in a position to put forward a clear leader due to internal conflicts, and their positions were not organized either.
Meanwhile, all procedures for severance proceeded quietly in Korea.
Thest thing left was the families of diplomats and residents who wanted to return to Korea.
They were also brought in by transport nes, and the doors of the two countries were tightly closed.
Chapter 94: Megacity Pacific
Chapter 94: Megacity Pacific
Although Korea had upied Tsushima Ind, few countries thought it wouldst long.
Tsushima Ind was a popted ind with over 20,000 inhabitants and a clear territory of Japan.
It was unlikely that the world would recognize it as Korea¡¯s territory just because they stationed some troops there.
But Korea was busy fortifying the ind, deploying iron beams and installing ground-based railguns.
Japan protested continuously, but Korea ignored them.
The tension between the two countries escted with Tsushima Ind in the middle.
In the midst of dozens of warships confronting each other, amotion urred near the Korea Strait.
A Japanese Taigei-ss submarine was forced to surface among the Korean fleet.
Under the watchful eyes of several destroyers, the ck-hulled submarine emerged from the water and exposed its back.
The active sonar was ringing and depth charges were dropping, but a torpedo had precisely destroyed its propulsion system.
The captain of the Taigei-ss sweated coldly at the attack that had shattered the propulsion system without affecting the hull.
¡®How did they find our location when we had turned off the engine?¡¯
It was extremely difficult to locate a submarine.
If it was lying on the seabed with its engine off, it was almost impossible to pinpoint its position.
But the Korean fleet had urately found the Taigei-ss andunched a minimal attack.
It was not the ability of the Korean fleet, which was weak in anti-submarine warfare, but probably that ck ship¡
As the captain red at the ck ship on the horizon, a warning broadcast came from a destroyer.
¡°You are surrounded. Surrender immediately.¡±
A momentter, the hatch opened and the crew of the Taigei-ss came out one by one.
With the submarine and its crew captured, the Japanese government was in a difficult position.
The Korean government returned the crew through official repatriation, but did not return the submarine.
They intended topletely block any post-analysis.
As a result, Japan was at a disadvantage in the standoff over Tsushima Ind.
Korean submarines were roaming around like they owned it, while Japanese submarines had limited mobility.
Meanwhile, the residents of Tsushima City were feeling a great anxiety.
There were rumors of assault incidents by Korean soldiers stationed on the ind.
They were just rumors and there was no evidence, but anxiety spread quickly.
Some people began to beg to be sent back to their homnd.
¡°Please let me take a few things with me. Please don¡¯t stop me from going to Japan.¡±
Korea stopped those who came, but not those who left.
They even generously allowed self-defense force transport ships to approach and take away residents.
It was infuriating to think that it was originally Japanese territory.
As thousands of people left, those who remained suffered from extreme anxiety.
They couldn¡¯t tell if people were disappearing or returning to their homnd.
Even natives who were born and lived on Tsushima all their lives returned to their homnd one after another.
Thus, after a month of blockade, Tsushima Ind became an ind where most of them were Korean soldiers.
The ind was being fortified, and self-defense force¡¯s efforts to retake it were futile.
It was the difference between a country with a strong leader and one without one.
Japan tried to get France¡¯s cooperation and bring up an agenda at the UN Security Council after US mediation failed.
Korea¡¯s upation was clearly overstepping its bounds and it was receiving a lot of criticism from the internationalmunity.
But Russia abstained from voting at the Security Council resolution, followed by China as well.
Japan was shocked.
¡ªRussia is understandable, but China too? How much lobbying did they do?
¡ªKorea is manipting UN to oppress Japan! We have to expose this fact!
The truth was that China abstained because it had invested heavily in Korea.
They needed ck metal and unobtanium to revitalize their shattered economy, and they were pouring money into Korea to create a bottomless pit for them.
So they only made a ceremonial statement urging both sides to restrain themselves, without any intervention at all.
And US, which had the power to mediate all this, was distracted by Russia¡¯s invasion of Ukraine.
The intelligence agencies were on alert for any possible transfer of Antitron to Russia, and defense officials were rushed to Ukraine to discuss countermeasures.
Naturally, Japan¡¯s situation became secondary.
As international cooperation turned out to be fruitless, each country began to calcte which side would benefit them more.
¡ªYou have to look at it in the long term, but there is one indicator that you can see right away.
The stock index.
While Korea¡¯s KOSPI turned to an upward trend from a slight decline on the day of the severance, Japan¡¯s Nikkei 225 was miserable as if a meteorite had fallen.
It was because foreigners withdrew funds from stocks, bonds, etc. inrge quantities and invested them in Korea.
This also affected the exchange rate, causing the won/yen exchange rate to fall and weakening the exportpetitiveness of Koreanpanies.
President Yu Ji-ha ordered quantitative easing.
¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about credit rating and intion. Just print as much money as you need.¡±
It was not easy for a country like Korea to decide and execute quantitative easing.
Its economy was vulnerable and US would not just watch.
But Yu Ji-ha¡¯s personal credit rating made it possible.
¡ªKorea may not know, but Yu Ji-ha and Si Group are worth as much as the whole country.
¡ªIf Si Group was not a privatepany, some of its affiliates would have been among the top 10panies in the world by now.
¡ªYu Ji-ha has presented a clear vision for the fourth industrial revolution. And he is fulfilling his promise. For the time being, it¡¯s okay to limit our investment to Korea.
This was the investment movement of some of the world¡¯s leading hedge funds, because Yu Ji-ha had kept his promise.
Si Group¡¯s subsidiary, Starfield, announced the start of the Moonlight Project in mid-December 2028.
Around the Naro Space Center, astronaut training facilities were built and dozens of equipment supply factories and newunch pads were installed.
The improved Terra rocket finally achieved a low price of less than $200 per kg to the moon.
It was an incredibly low cost of $14,000 to send one person to the moon.
Yu Ji-ha doesn¡¯t talk about ns that might be realized in a few years.
He only talks about what he can achieve in the near future.
With theunch pad where the new Terra rocket soared as the background, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s deration continued.
¡°We are going to enter the moon. We will go to the moon and bring back unobtanium and helium-3. This will help us innovate our human lives.¡±
¡°We have received a lot of help from many countries and institutions. Now we only have to execute. Please watch us. Humanity will escape from the energy crisis.¡±
He didn¡¯t specify whether humanity meant 8 billion people or a part of them.
Meanwhile, the reconstruction of North Korea was progressing smoothly.
The construction industry was revived with the huge funds that Yu Ji-ha had brought in.
There was no constructionpany in Korea that didn¡¯t have a spoon in North Korea.
Thebor market also loosened up and there was more money circting in the market.
Intion was not yet at a worrying level.
It was because the economy had been stagnant for a long time.
As a result of all these situations, Korea achieved itsrgest ever current ount surplus.
Analysts from various countries cautiouslymented.
¡ªWe¡¯ll have to wait and see, but for now there seems to be little side effects from the severance with Japan and quantitative easing.
¡ªThe trade volume with Terra Ind is showing a steep rise. Maybe they are importing things that rece Japan¡¯s products from there.
¡ªIt¡¯s amazing that Yu Ji-ha¡¯s credit alone is driving a virtuous cycle. I thought it was impossible for a country of Korea¡¯s size.
Whether it was then or now, if people werefortable living,ints and dissatisfaction toward the upper echelon decreased.
Koreans were now enjoying an unprecedented boom, if not the best.
In such a situation, questions such as Yu Ji-ha executed the rebels without a formal trial or his body was confirmed dead but he came back alive were dismissed as trivial gossip.
All doubts disappeared like smoke and Yu Ji-ha firmly established himself as Korea¡¯s leader.
¡ªIs this the atmosphere where we eat Tsushima Ind too? The residents are all gone and Japan is quiet.
¡ªIt¡¯s amazing how easy it is to take over someone else¡¯s territory in the 21st century.
¡ªIt¡¯s not easy, it¡¯s possible because of Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªThen how much bigger is Korea¡¯s territory? Does anyone know?
¡ªOnly Yu Ji-ha knows for sure, but I guess it¡¯s more than 30% bigger.
¡ªI wish they would lift the blockade soon. I want to go to Gobi teau.
¡ªI¡¯m curious about Terra Ind too. Didn¡¯t they say they would ept residents around this time?
¡ªThey said they would do it in March, so it¡¯s not far away.
¡
Time passed and it was March 2029.
Yu Ji-ha looked around Terra Ind with Arma, ready to ept residents.
The scenery had changedpletely from before.
¡°Currently, Megacity Pacific has achieved 1% of progresspared to the final stage. The progress will elerate from now on, so we expect to reach the final stage within 10 years.¡±
The final stage meant apleted megacity that could amodate and protect 100 million people.
Most of the infrastructure was made of ck metal and residential areas were decorated with wood and other materials.
They supplied water with desalination facilities and had nuclear fusion reactors installed underground, so they didn¡¯t have to worry about electricity.
They had enough facilities for economic activities as well as leisure activities.
What theycked were people, furniture, and goods, but they would be filled up once they started moving in.
Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t talk about giving citizenship and settling down prisoners of war.
Most of the prisoners had not even received basic education properly.
To exaggerate a bit, their minds were stuck in the Joseon era, so they couldn¡¯t fit into humanity at all.
The people who came into Megacity had to have basic English, moderate knowledge and culture, and sincerity.
This was a level that a Korean who had receivedpulsory education could pass if they studied English conversation hard.
He also had to have sincerity, so the hurdle was not that low, but Yu Ji-ha had no intention of lowering it.
¡°I¡¯m giving them a house, an allowance, and a job. They have to do that much.¡±
The economic activities that they would do might not be much.
But their existence itself was important.
A moderate poption was the basis for creating a psycher, and it was also desirable in terms of preserving the species.
That was the role of Megacity.
A breeding facility to protect the sheep called humanity from the wolf called gue.
So trivial things like numbers didn¡¯t matter.
They had to keep them alive first.
Hwang Sun-young nced out the window.
She was finally about to arrive at Terra Ind after a few hours of flight.
The new aircraft equipped with ion thrusters no longer needed a runway.
It just had to reduce its thrust slowly in the air above thending site andnd on the ground.
¡°Amazing, amazing.¡±
They were made by the same group, but why did they feel like alien technology?
The Minsoo ion thrusters had been supplied to the world, and the old aircraft were gradually bing extinct due to efficiency problems.
Vertical take-off andnding, which was only used in military fighters, was also adopted by somepanies.
Ion thrusters were very easy to switch thrust.
That huge ship could move freely without a tugboat, let alone an aircraft.
By the way, where is it¡
Hwang Sun-young stretched her neck and tried to look at someone who was waiting for her below.
¡®I wonder what he looks like¡¡¯
She was the fifth personal reservationist of the android Lucia, produced by Boston Dynamics.
As soon as she heard the reservation news, she pressed the button right away and carefully chose the appearance and decided to meet her on Terra Ind.
She would be living on Terra Ind by March when the android waspleted anyway.
Actually, Lucia was a model name and she could name it separately, but Hwang Sun-young left it as it was.
It seemed like there was some meaning in the name.
¡®He didn¡¯t artificially create that personality, there must be an original¡¡¯
The name Lucia was used so much that it was confusing.
The strong artificial intelligence located at the headquarters of Metaverse was Lucia, the android produced by BD was Lucia, the interactive artificial intelligence program was Lucia¡
Considering all that, it was logical to assume that there was a human original named Lucia.
At first, she thought it might be Arma, but their personalities werepletely different.
Arma, who was President Yu Ji-ha¡¯s confidant, had a cold personality that hardly showed any emotion.
On the other hand, Lucia had a very lively personality who liked to nag.
¡®I can¡¯t wait to see her.¡¯
She was dying to see what she looked like even in this short moment of descending.
She must have copied the data from Lucia Premium, so she would nag her as soon as they met.
Hwang Sun-young looked forward to that more.
Finally, the vibration of the passenger ne stopped and an in-flight announcement came out.
¡°Wee to Terra Ind. We hope you all have a pleasant trip.¡±
It¡¯s not a trip, I¡¯m here to live.
Hwang Sun-young grabbed her backpack and got pushed by people through the boarding bridge.
The atmosphere of the airport was quite chilly.
¡®It seems like they only have what they need¡¡¯
Whoever designed it seemed to have a very bleak emotion.
Most of what was around were drones and androids, and for God¡¯s sake, even immigration inspection was done by androids.
¡°Can you show me your Megacity citizenship?¡±
¡°Here.¡±
She turned on her smartphone and opened the Megacity app. A verification appeared next to Hwang Sun-young¡¯s profile.
The android stamped an electronic seal and took out a thin book.
¡°It tells you what you need to be careful of while living here. Most of it ismon sense, but it might help if you read it once.¡±
¡°Okay.¡±
¡°And can you look at this camera?¡±
As Hwang Sun-young looked at something and peered into the lens, zing, recognition was over.
¡°Residence registration and credit payment arepleted. Now if you go outside the airport, there will be a shuttle waiting for you.¡±
She nced behind her and saw a man who seemed to havee from Europe staring nkly at the android.
It¡¯s not easy to see androids in the world except in Korea.
¡®He said she would be here¡¡¯
Sun-young looked around the empty airport and found someone walking towards her.
She looked so pretty and slim that she thought she was a model, but she wasn¡¯t.
Her ck hair and slightly brown skin were exactly like Lucia¡¯s who lived in her monitor.
Lucia approached with a happy expression and hugged her lightly.
¡°Wee to Terra Ind.¡±
¡°Huh?¡±
She was too surprised.
It was because of her human-like appearance and voice.
She quickly grabbed her shoulder and pulled her away. Lucia smiled naturally.
¡°Why, is it weird that I show up like this?¡±
¡°Well¡a little. I thought you would give off some kind of vibe.¡±
¡°Maybe if you pull my neck off? But I don¡¯t want to see you freak out.¡±
Sheughed as if it was her own Lucia.
Hwang Sun-young stared at the android who smiled like a human and hugged her tightly.
¡°¡I really wanted an android like this¡¡±
There was a slight smell of new car, but that couldn¡¯t be helped.
¡°Can¡¯t you just think of me as a friend instead of an android? I¡¯m trying to feel hurt.¡±
¡°Of course. Friend, friend¡¡±
It was a meaningful thing for Hwang Sun-young, who had lived with books and the inte as herpanions.
She paid a friend fee of 100 million won, but she decided to ept it happily.
¡°Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll show you around Megacity Pacific.¡±
¡°Okay.¡±
They went down to the underground and called a taxi with an app.
It was an electric car that operated unmanned without a driver.
¡°But isn¡¯t the underground space too wide for just taxis?¡±
¡°It¡¯s called Undercity, and a full-fledged transportation tform will appearter. They will transport both humans and goods through the underground.¡±
¡°Wow. The ground is only for humans then.¡±
¡°If you send a package, it will arrive in 30 minutes. The time may vary slightly depending on how many points you have collected.¡±
¡°Really?¡±
Hwang Sun-young was amazed.
The package arrives in 30 minutes?
She felt like she had one more joy in life.
The electric car drove fast through the underground space with them on board.
¡
¡
¡
Chapter 95: Division in East Asia
Chapter 95: Division in East Asia
A truck loaded with luggage was already parked in front of the officetel registered as Hwang Seon-yeong¡¯s residence.
The luggage consisted of a few clothes, some necessities, and books. It wasn¡¯t much.
They moved the luggage into the officetel.
¡°Wow, this ce has a very sci-fi vibe, doesn¡¯t it?¡±
The interior of the officetel was the epitome of simple and neat.
Most of the furniture was designed with straight lines and had storage functions. The color scheme was based on monochrome.
¡°Wow, this ce would show every speck of dust. It¡¯s a harsh house.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll grow to love this house, trust me. There¡¯s no noise from other floors here.¡±
¡°That¡¯s awesome.¡±
For her, who was a homebody, the most important thing was the noise from other floors.
She hated it when she heard thumping sounds in her quiet house. It was very stressful.
That¡¯s why she always insisted on living on the top floor.
They quickly unpacked their luggage and finished cleaning.
Lucia updated some information and exined a few things to her.
¡°You can find groceries and other necessities at the mart. You can either ask me to get them for you or just take them yourself. They¡¯ll automatically deduct credits from your face recognition.¡±
¡°Do you want to go there togetherter? I¡¯m curious about what they have.¡±
¡°There¡¯s nothing special and the variety isn¡¯t that great yet. And there are a few things you need to be careful about while living here¡¡±
¡°Like what?¡±
¡°The most important thing here is your score. You¡¯re familiar with CP, right? Let me see¡ You¡¯ve already collected 117 points.¡±
¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve never dropped below that.¡±
¡°You¡¯d have more chances to drop your score if you went outside, you homebody.¡±
Lucia¡¯s expression was very human-like as she teased her.
If it weren¡¯t for the metallic parts that were barely visible inside her mouth, she might have mistaken her for a human.
Hwang Seon-yeong suddenly grabbed Lucia¡¯s wrist and examined it closely.
¡°Oh, the texture is slightly different.¡±
¡°Are you curious?¡±
¡°Yeah, I never thought androids would bemercialized in my lifetime.¡±
Could Lucia think for herself?
Or was she just a program that acted based on basic algorithms and data transmitted from the server?
It was impossible for Hwang Seon-yeong to tell the difference, and it wouldn¡¯t be easy for the world¡¯s top schrs either.
¡®Let¡¯s think simply, simply.¡¯
She had a friend who understood her heart, supported her firmly, and nagged a bit. How nice was that?
She spent 100 million won, but she didn¡¯t regret it at all.
Now theyy down on the floor and started reading the book they got from the immigration checkpoint.
¡°Hmm¡ So we just throw away the trash in the disposal chute. That¡¯s simple.¡±
¡°Do you know how they deal with the trash? They shoot it into the sun with a huge cannon.¡±
Hwang Seon-yeong¡¯s expression turned pale.
The mass driver was developed in 2029, or even earlier?
¡°Really?¡±
¡°You just entered Megacity and you¡¯re still surprised by everything? Let¡¯s go see itter.¡±
¡°Uh-huh.¡±
At this point, she wanted to believe the conspiracy theory that Yu Ji-ha wasn¡¯t developing anything but just taking out things that were already developed.
She read the book further and found some creepy content.
¡°If your score falls below a certain level, your residency will be revoked and you will be forcibly deported and never allowed to enter again¡ This is scary.¡±
¡°You have no possibility of that happening to you.¡±
¡°Still, you never know what will happen to people. Why do they say that no one lives without making mistakes?¡±
¡°The system takes that into ount too. You won¡¯t fall into hell because of one mistake. It¡¯s more dangerous tomit minor offenses. If you don¡¯t correct them after being warned, your score will be deducted in real time.¡±
Hwang Seon-yeong knew that too.
The best thing that happened after CP was introduced was that behaviors that weren¡¯t crimes but annoyed people disappeared.
As a result, the stress levels of social welfare workers decreased significantly.
Anyway, there were many things to be careful about in the booklet, but most of them weremon sense.
They would probably apply anywhere in the world.
¡°If you raise your score above 120 points, you can upgrade to free citizen E-ss without an exam¡ The house gets twice as big.¡±
¡°You also get more allowance and coupons. And more facilities to use.¡±
The United Human Federation had a very systematic reward and punishment system.
They gave more benefits if you raised your CP and took away benefits if you lowered it.
There was only one person who was exempt from this rule.
Yu Ji-ha, the creator of Megacity and the owner of the United Federation, did not have to follow this rule.
Hwang Seon-yeong tilted her head as she read the text.
¡°There¡¯s aplete citizen above free citizen A-ss? How do you get there?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know that. There¡¯s no data yet.¡±
Hwang Seon-yeong wasn¡¯t surprised by the fact that there was a de facto ss system.
It wasn¡¯t so much that she had confidence in climbing up, but that she didn¡¯t care.
¡°Hmm.¡±
Anyway, Megacity was a very unfamiliar but exciting ce.
She didn¡¯t know what her job would be like, but she decided to stay here for a while.
She stayed at home until Lucia dragged her out to see the ind.
Passenger nes and ships wereing in one after another.
¡
As the number of residents in Megacity Pacific increased, information began to leak out.
The exact location of Terra Ind, as well as the size of Megacity, became known, and many people showed great interest.
¡ªIt¡¯s not even the size of a small city? It doesn¡¯t live up to its name as Megacity.
¡ªThey built a city on an uninhabited ind in a year and you¡¯re mocking them?
¡ªThey say the whole city is made of ck metal. Isn¡¯t that a waste of resources? Some ces are barely researching it with gold prices.
¡ªAre you French? If you wanted to use ck metal, you shouldn¡¯t have called Yu Ji-ha Hitler.
¡ªWhat¡¯s wrong with calling a dictator a dictator?
¡ªIt¡¯s your freedom to call him that, but it¡¯s his freedom not to deal with you, right? What¡¯s the problem?
There were arguments that were close to fights on the inte of various countries, and photos were uploaded one after another.
¡ªIt¡¯s totally barren. It would be perfect to call it the gray city.
¡ªIs that all ck metal? How much waste are they making?
¨C-But isn¡¯t ck metal usually ck? Why is it gray?
¡ªMaybe Yu Ji-ha is an android. That would exin how he died and came back to life.
¡ªThey¡¯re all drones and androids¡ Am I really living in 2029? Why is it only Sci-fi there?
¡ªA true dystopia indeed. Everything is monitored and those who enter there can never escape the control.
¡ªThey say you can raise your rank with CP. This is aplete ss system.
¡ªI thought Korea was a country where democracy was established, but I don¡¯t know how such a monster was born.
¡ªThat monster made a beautiful city. You get the right to stay for free and an allowance for your residence if you get a residency permit.
¡ªIf you like being watched, go ahead. It might seem nice to live there now, but it will be differentter. All dictatorships eventually lead to oppression.
As such, the evaluation of Megacity Pacific at this point was very negative.
The world imed that even Korea was pursuing a policy of human rights destruction, and Megacity was a step further than that.
In fact, countries with reconnaissance satellites such as the United States and Russia already knew the location and size of Megacity Pacific.
They just didn¡¯t know what facilities were there, but when some of them were revealed, they seemed to be shocked.
¡ªNo matter how much ck metal factor he has, building a city of this size in a year is abnormal.
¡ªThat giant cannon seems to be a mass driver that shoots trash into space. This means that there is a powerful energy source under Megacity.
¡ªYu Ji-ha must have prepared for today since he woke up from being a vegetable. The construction of Megacity is not his final goal.
¡ªMaybe he¡¯s really an alien. We don¡¯tpletely deny aliens either, so it might be better to tell the truth and ask for cooperation¡
Many media outlets tried to cover Megacity, but the answer from the administration was the same.
¡ªYou cannot enter unless you are a resident.
This also applied to the heads of state of various countries, and there was a rumor that McKinley, the president of the United States, was also denied a visit.
At this point, some countries began to realize that cooperation was needed.
What Yu Ji-ha and the United Human Federation had shown so far was not something that could be ignored.
¡ªYu Ji-ha has established a powerful dictatorship system and ss system, as well as a de facto state to spread it. I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s going to do with it, but it won¡¯t help world peace given his personality.
¡ªHe¡¯s a very dangerous person. The United States should focus on the United Human Federation and Yu Ji-ha instead of Ukraine.
The EU and others criticized, but the United States did not immediately apply sanctions.
They would suffer a lot of damage if the Moonlight Project was suspended.
Fortunately, Yu Ji-ha dered that he would not use the mass driver for military purposes.
¡°All mass drivers are managed by Si Group, so they won¡¯t be used for military purposes.¡±
He had plenty of other weapons, so there was no need to put a military image on the mass driver.
ording to the announcement, each country could invest money and introduce equipment.
However, there was a fee for using it, and Si Group was solely responsible for managing it.
In other words, pay up.
The countries were stunned, but they couldn¡¯t refuse to use it.
The cost of throwing 1kg into space with a mass driver connected to a nuclear fusion nt was less than $5 ording to the announcement.
It was a high cost for disposing of trash, but it had more meaning than that for countries with small territories.
It could also handle nuclear waste.
The countries calcted hard and concluded that they had to introduce it.
¡ªIf the Moonlight Project expands in the future, we can get helium-3 cheaply. In that case, the cost will be reduced further and we can even handle trash.
However, in order to introduce the mass driver, a nuclear fusion nt was essential.
There was no negotiation table for some countries that had crossed Yu Ji-ha and the United Human Federation, and the United States, Russia, Germany and others had priority negotiation rights.
Meanwhile, the United Human Federation began to deal with the garbage ind that spread widely in the North Pacific.
The garbage ind that was several timesrger than the Korean Penins gradually shrank over time.
The EU and others sneered that Hitler was also vegan, but Yu Ji-ha did not respond.
It was natural to clean up around his house.
¡°The internal cleanup is over.¡±
President Putin¡¯s words meant that he had purged domestic forces that opposed giving up Russiannd permanently.
No matter what he said, he couldn¡¯t ignore the opposition or the people¡¯s bacshpletely, and he had to go through a vote.
It took a long time to hand over a huge area ofnd to Korea, but now it was time to reap the fruits.
His finger drew a long line.
¡°China, or Zhongmeng, gave yound, right? From here to here, I¡¯ll give it to Korea.¡±
The line started from the left end of the Korean Penins, bypassed Manchuria slightly, and went up to the East Siberian Sea without hesitation.
It included a huge area of Kamchatka Penins, Sakhalin, East Siberia and Chukotka.
If this n became a reality, Korea would face the United States¡¯ territory of ska.
The oil field and natural gas reservoir with an estimated reserve of over 10 billion barrels were a bonus.
Yu Ji-ha was calm even after seeing the territory that was more than 20 times the size of the Korean Penins.
¡°That¡¯s fine.¡±
¡°Some of the residents will start moving soon, but there are quite a few who say they will stay. They probably expect your ability, President Yu.¡±
¡°I will treat them as Koreans if they wish. But I can¡¯t guarantee autonomy.¡±
¡°I guess you want a perfect governance system¡ I wish I could do that too. But thend around Siberia is really messed up.¡±
¡°There¡¯s always a way.¡±
President Putin brought out a picture.
It was a picture sent by a Russian research team that had moved to Megacity.
¡°Is that the city you¡¯re talking about? I never imagined building a city with ck metal.¡±
¡°Are you interested in this city, Mr. President?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not doubting, but wondering if I can annex it. I¡¯m talking about the Ukrainian region that we merged with recently.¡±
Russia¡¯s invasion of Ukraine was sessful and was nearingpletion despite the interference of the Western world.
As always, the United States did not intervene much in Eastern Europe, unlike Western Europe.
As a result, Pnd and Romania, which bordered Ukraine, were in a tense situation.
Western Europe, such as Germany, increased their defense spending as Russia¡¯s advance became a reality.
Anyway, despite the concerns of various countries, Ukraine became part of the Russian Federation after Brus.
If Yu Jiha¡¯s cooperation continued, the glory of the former Soviet Union was not impossible.
¡°It seems you need a new area to focus on.¡±
¡°Russia and Ukraine are one. Now you are Russians and we will not ignore you. We need a symbolic city like this.¡±
¡°A city¡ This would be a good ce.¡±
Yoo Jiha pointed to a ce that was a neglected area with only a few viges in Romania and Brus.
President Putin nodded his head as he looked at where Yu Jiha¡¯s finger pointed.
¡°You think the same as me. It¡¯s an attractive ce as a propaganda city. It will be perfect when the city made of ck metal is built.¡±
¡°By the way, just to let you know, you can¡¯t make batteries or anything with the ck metal that goes into the city. They are different types.¡±
It was known to the world that all ck metals were the same, but in fact they were divided by types.
If you control the gue core well, you can make ck metal that has a very fast erosion rate but low effect.
You need at least a behemoth-ss core, not a kraken-ss one.
¡°That¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve heard that¡ Well, I guess it¡¯s understandable since you are the only ck metal expert in the world. It doesn¡¯t matter. I want a city.¡±
¡°The poption will be around 500,000.¡±
¡°Excellent. Will it look almost simr to Mega City? Our scientists were so shocked.¡±
There were Russians among the residents of Mega City Pacific.
They were mostly researchers who had obtained doctoral degrees, and they were shocked when they moved in.
They couldn¡¯t believe that such a city was built on an uninhabited ind.
Most of the systems were unmanned and there was no error.
The control was strict, but the range was quite wide, so they could enjoy the infrastructure that was iparable to Russia as long as they didn¡¯t cause any major idents.
They immediately contacted their homnd, and it reached President Putin¡¯s ears.
He clenched and unclenched his fists.
¡°The nuclear fusion nt is also progressing well¡ Now we can start operating it properly when the moon base is built. When will the mass driver be avable?¡±
¡°It consumes a lot of electricity, so we have no choice but to operate it with the nuclear fusion nt.¡±
¡°Just in case, what if there is a defect in that mass driver? Radioactive waste will fall to Earth. Can you handle that?¡±
This was one of the reasons why countries could not easily adopt mass drivers at this point.
If something goes wrong, they might end up dropping radioactive waste on someone else¡¯s territory.
It was mostly high-level waste, so it would be a serious nuisance if it fell into the sea.
After the existence of the mass driver was revealed, researchers expressed their concerns through IAEA and other countries also backed off.
If Yu Jiha didn¡¯t like it, he didn¡¯t have to do it. That was his position.
The mass driver was made entirely using Settler¡¯s blueprint, so the probability of malfunction was very low.
There was an unknown output drop once every 50 millionunches in simtion, but that could be easily covered.
The high-level waste would be wrapped in B-ss ck metal for construction purposes.
¡°We will make sure there is no problem.¡±
If Yu Jiha said so confidently, he had no choice but to believe him.
President Putin decided to bring up the main point.
¡°By the way¡ There is a very secret rumor going around in various countries these days.¡±
¡°It must be about my identity.¡±
¡°It¡¯s hard to say this face to face, but you don¡¯t seem like someone who lives in the same era as me. I mean, it feels like you brought science and technology from the future.¡±
¡°I understand. You can think that way.¡±
¡°ording to some reports, the US intelligence agency is digging into your past. They are looking at all your records.¡±
Maybe something wille out on the day Settler entered the atmosphere.
But Yu Jiha had no intention of revealing his identity yet.
It would cause more global chaos if he announced it afterwards.
Of course, even now, the world was in turmoil because of his actions.
But it was not a big problem because it was within his control.
The more people who knew about the future, the higher the possibility of leakage.
Arma predicted that if he revealed his identity or information about the future, it would spread all over the world in 30 days.
It was so shocking that it was bound to leak.
¡®If that happens, there will be global refugees.¡¯
It was an unpleasant situation that even Arma could not control.
President Putin spoke in a serious tone.
¡°Now I can¡¯t dismiss the rumors that you are an alien or a time traveler as nonsense.¡±
¡°I have noment on that.¡±
He knew there was something, but he couldn¡¯t ask any more.
Economic cooperation was much more important now¡
They discussed the extension of Russia¡¯s oil and gas pipelines.
¡°ESPO is connected to Kozmino. We just need to bring it into North Korea.¡±
¡°Good. Let¡¯s proceed right away.¡±
Korea had be a major oil-producing country in the world, but it would take some time to receive the data and start exploration.
Until then, they had no choice but to get supplies from Russia.
Chapter 96: Metaverse Hope Edition
Chapter 96: Metaverse Hope Edition
The Middle Kingdom (China) was torn apart by a st.
It started with a riot that broke out in the first concentration camp for Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and escted into an independence movement.
There were rumors that the Taliban, who had been pushed back in Afghanistan, were involved.
The Middle Kingdom, which used to be formidable, had no capacity to deal with both the Uyghurs and the Taliban at the same time.
As hundreds of soldiers and police officers were executed, Wang Xian Shangjiang dered that he would withdraw all his troops and give up on Xinjiang.
-It is a shameful thing to fail to preserve thend of the Middle Kingdom. But there is always a chance. We will rise again.
As soon as the Middle Kingdom abandoned Xinjiang, Tibet also began to show signs of independence movement.
Taking advantage of the gap in military power, the Lhasa station in Tibet was attacked by independence activists and closed down. Cargo trucks were set on fire.
Wang Xian Shangjiang ordered an immediate suppression.
He could give up on Xinjiang, but Tibet was an indispensable region for securing water resources.
But then, a bomb attack by an unknown perpetrator cut off the Qingzang Railway at its most vulnerable point.
Railway experts estimated that it would take at least six months to restore it, which put a strain on the leadership of the Middle Kingdom.
The Middle Kingdom did not have enough power to deploy arge-scale military force to Tibet at the moment.
They could do it if they wanted to, but then they would lose control over the maind and the three northeastern provinces.
¡ªWe have no choice. Tibet is an inalienable territory of the Middle Kingdom. We must quell the rebellion by any means necessary.
At this time, some of the Korean troops stationed in the northern part of the Korean Penins quietly moved northward.
They were armed with advanced equipment such as K-3 tanks and Ion Beams, and had undergone sufficient training.
Some spected that they could gain an advantage even against the US Army of equal size.
This was because they had applied a tank-mounted drone system.
These drones were mounted on tanks normally, but formed a swarm beforebat and mapped out the battlefield in 3D terrain, which they transmitted to each tank.
Therefore, each tank could know the type and movement of enemy tanks in real time.
Thanks to the unmanned turret, there was no need for a gunner, and as soon as the tankmander confirmed the target and pressed a button, the enemy tank burst into mes.
At this point, some frontline soldiers felt thatbat felt like a game.
¡°It¡¯s over when you shoot. This is less thrilling than a phone game.¡±
¡°Even if you get hit, the armor material is ck Metal, so it just shakes for a moment.¡±
What was astonishing was that they were preparing to mount railguns on the improved K-3A2 tanks.
Several military-rted institutions praised them as a country that was crazy about firepower.
¡ªIf Korea seeds in deploying railgun-mounted tanks, they will be able to overwhelm any country in groundbat, including the US Army.
¡ªThey have nowhere to project their power. After absorbing North Korea, there are only two countries in East Asia that canpete with Korea: the Middle Kingdom and Japan. I hope they don¡¯t want a new war.
Of course, they didn¡¯tpletely move northward and upy Manchuria, which was clearly part of the Middle Kingdom¡¯s territory.
The Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff dismissed it as a mistake during training and warned against overinterpretation.
¡ªSome units got lost and went north for a while. They¡¯ll be back soon, so don¡¯t worry.
It was ridiculous to say that Korean troops armed with corps-level reconnaissance aircraft and drones got lost.
But the Middle Kingdom was in no position to make a fuss because they had economic cooperation with Korea in mind.
Thanks to this, Korean troops were able to roam around Liaoning and Jilin provinces rtively freely and learn about geography.
While the Middle Kingdom was facing a crisis of disintegration, Japan was also in a serious crisis, though not as much as them.
The Ground Self-Defense Force began to crack down on protests harshly after dering that they would support Right Wing Representatives Party¡¯s power grab.
Violent protests broke out all over Japan, and conflicts escted as the Ground Self-Defense Force, which was inexperienced in counterinsurgency operations, clumsily suppressed them.
There was also a fierce fight within Representatives Party for thergest faction.
It was so bad that a gunfight broke out in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
Russian-made firearms were used extensively in this gunfight, which killed or injured more than a dozen people, but no one was arrested.
¡ªThere were machine gun sounds in Kabukicho, but they couldn¡¯t find the culprit? What¡¯s happening to Japan?
¡ªThey¡¯re all ipetent. I wish a proper leader would appear and sweep them all away, like the neighboring country.
¡ªJapan is really over. Everyone else is switching to nuclear fusion, but we can¡¯t afford to run expensive and dangerous nuclear reactors.
¡ªWe can still beat Korea¡¯s navy if we mobilize our power!
¡ªTaiwan repelled China¡¯snding fleet with five railguns. We have two bigger railguns on Tsushima and an unidentified ck ship. How are you going to ovee that?
¡ªThe US is only focused on Europe and Russia invited Yu Ji-ha to the Kremlin. They must be nning to carve up Japan.
¡ªHow can we lose our territory, which is not even a disputed area? What did those bastards above do?
On the other hand, the Moonlight Project began and the news of the lunar base upied all the channels in Japan.
Severalunch vehicles flew to the far side of the moon with materials and androids were mobilized to build the base.
The Japanese were annoyed by the American-made rovers that were roaming around.
¡ªThey were supposed to use Japanese-made rovers for transportation¡
¡ªRepresentatives Party ruined it. Die.
¡ªI¡¯d rather stay still than participate in a Korean-led project. They will surely fail miserably and be an internationalughingstock.
¡ªYu Ji-ha has never failed so far.
¡ªThen he will fail soon.
¡ªThat¡¯s why you get kicked out of school,ouyo.
¡ªIf we don¡¯t participate in this project, we will create hundreds of trillions of yen in added value. How far are these fools delusional?
Not only giantmunities, but also simr conversations took ce in reality.
Japanesepanies formed a consortium to make a breakthrough and devised a direct investment n in Korea.
¡ªWe will build an ocean nt in Korean waters and float it. Then we will connect it to Japan with a submarine cable and supply electricity. That might be possible.
The only problem was whether Yu Ji-ha would allow it.
The newly formed consortium cautiously contacted the Blue House and Yu Ji-ha showed this reaction.
¡°I¡¯ll allow it if it¡¯s east of Tsushima. That¡¯s the closest ce to the maind, right?¡±
It sounded like he was considering Japan¡¯s situation, but in fact it was his ambition to solidify his control over Tsushima.
If this bes a reality, the Maritime Self-Defense Force will not be able to carry out any operations against Tsushima Ind.
It would be like handing over Tsushima to Korea by Japan¡¯s own hands.
What was more absurd was that Japan had no choice but to ept this even though they knew his intentions well.
¡ªWe have no choice. If we don¡¯t do this, our future will be dark.
How can we afford to run expensive and dangerous nuclear reactors when everyone else is switching to nuclear fusion?
When the consortium began to work out the details, such as sending staff to Korea, the Maritime Self-Defense Force smelled something and strongly opposed it.
The Public Security Bureau warned that somepanies would be charged with espionage, and Japanesepanies, including Keidanren, asked for support from international economic organizations.
Japan was indeed facing a crisis of disintegration.
¡.
Arma entered the office and reported on the general situation of North Korea and the future ns.
¡°It seems to be stabilizing somehow.¡±
¡°At least there are no starving people. But it will take some time to set up the infrastructure and production facilities and assign the people.¡±
¡°We have to expect that much time.¡±
¡°And¡ there are requests for the release of androids from all over the world. What should we do?¡±
There were many things that surprised the world from Shi Group, but androids were especially more so.
Maybe because they could touch and feel the quality for themselves.
There were hundreds of videos on YouTube and other ces where people talked and dated with androids.
At least they looked indistinguishable from humans on video.
And so, men from all over the world began to cry out.
¡ªShut up and take my money!
The enthusiasm was iparable to when Russia Premium was released.
They couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and some people immigrated to Korea.
¡°Use that as a bait and lure them to the Pacific side. Of course, only those who have some skills.¡±
¡°Understood.¡±
¡°And we need to secure pilot genes soon¡ Are the metaverse personnel and equipment ready?¡±
¡°The moment you give the order, we can start right away.¡±
The most important thing to eradicate gue was the number of Psychic.
But it was a problem if those Psychic couldn¡¯t get into assault armors.
The talent of a Psychic and the training as a pilot were separate things.
There were very few people who could perform well in both fields, and the United Human Federation also had a headache over this issue.
After a tremendous effort, the researchers at ARC, an artifact analysis agency, developed a device using biopacks.
It was a device that established various abilities required for controlling assault armors at the gic level.
With this device, they could preserve some special talents called pilot genes, such as reflexes, and pass them on to future generations.
If they were connected to artificial wombs called biopacks, they could produce excellent pilots.
The most sessful human born from this was Yu Ji-ha himself.
When Yu Ji-ha was born, there was a huge cheer at ARC.
They thought that the war was over with his extraordinary ether response.
He recalled that time and smirked.
¡°I hated that system more than anyone¡¡±
He had no choice.
He had to use everything he could to wipe out gue.
Yu Ji-ha ordered Arma.
¡°Make a suitable tform and create pilot genes. What would be a good tform?¡±
¡°How about a game? It has a high interest among young people, and also more people are enjoying it with VR devices these days.¡±
He looked at the data screen and nodded his head.
¡°Start right away. We don¡¯t have time.¡±
As of May 2029, Korea¡¯s game market could be said to be stagnant.
The gacha games that started in the 2010s became more cunning in sucking money from wallets, and most users got used to it.
There was a brief criticism of malicious BM in the early 2020s, but it didn¡¯t change the trend.
At least some indie games with creative ideas came out asionally, but they didn¡¯t go beyond roguelikes and were not mainstream.
What about VR? The equipment didn¡¯t develop much, and it was branded as otaku stuff by ordinary people.
It was weird to see healthy men dancing with girlish voices and gestures in VR chat rooms using voice conversion programs.
For a while, public institutions and corporations paid attention to metaverse, that is, virtual reality, but it sounded like nonsense to gamers.
¡ªMetaverse? Isn¡¯t that what we¡¯ve been doing since the early 2000s with online games?
¡ªThey just stick metaverse on everything because it looks like a cutting-edge industry and it¡¯s easy to get funding. It¡¯s used by anyone and everyone.
¡ªIt¡¯s simr to ubiquitous. It seemed like it would change the world, but it was smashed by smartphones. And now they¡¯re sucking investors¡¯ money with the word Inte of Things.
¡ªWhen I see men with female voice packs going into VR chat rooms and dancing like girl groups, I feel nothing but despair for metaverse¡
¡ªThe real metaverse hasn¡¯t even started yet.
In this situation, an artificial intelligence named Lucia appeared and people had high expectations.
Since it was artificial intelligence, they thought it would be useful for fields that required massive data processing, such as gic engineering or food production.
But what its owner did was to build a drone system and take over the intework and be a dictator.
Most researchers were greatly disappointed by Yu Ji-ha¡¯s behavior and didn¡¯t even expect or contact him.
¡ªIs that all he can do with that amazing artificial intelligence? Just strengthening his dictatorship?
¡ªWe could do more research that would help humanity if we had it. I¡¯m really disappointed.
Of course, everything they wanted was ready in the DB.
There were a lot of technologies and concepts that were sleeping, from diamond semiconductors to superconducting quantumputers, to gravity technology.
He didn¡¯t reveal them because he judged that it wasn¡¯t time yet.
For example, medical technology that significantly dys aging would only cause chaos in the world.
The poption of the world was increasing anyway, so he thought it was enough to provide it to those who needed it.
For example, like Fatima, a Psychic party he brought from Afghanistan.
He hadn¡¯t seen her once since he brought her, but he thought Arma was taking good care of her.
He sometimes sent her pocket money and she sent him a handwritten letter. It seemed that she felt him as a father-like figure.
It was natural for her to feel that way, since she had almost no one to bond with in Korea, which was far away from her home country.
Anyway, Yu Ji-ha thought that now was the time to show metaverse-rted technology.
A game tform was efficient for securing pilot genes.
Controlling assault armors had little to do with modern pilots.
What they needed were physical senses that were almost instinctive, such as dynamic vision and reflexes.
They had to revive those abilities that had degenerated as humans developed civilization and became physicallyfortable.
He could extract his genes and use them, but artificial wombs were limited and he couldn¡¯t be sure that the children born that way would have the talent of psychers.
That was evident from the fate of Yu Ji-ha¡¯s biological children.
In the end, it was most efficient to gather 1.5 billion candidates and increase the probability.
Anyway, for that reason, Si Metaverse and Si Entertainment started their business at the same time.
Those who didn¡¯t know the situation were expecting a lot from Yu Ji-ha¡¯s interest in games.
Chapter 97: Secure The Genes
Chapter 97: Secure The Genes
¡ªSi Metaverse, announces its entry into the metaverse market.
¡ªDeres to implement the true meaning of metaverse using strong artificial intelligence.
The news that broke out in May morning made many people who were interested in games excited.
¡ªIt will be something different from Si. Show us the hopeful side, not the despairing one.
¡ªI don¡¯t want to go into shoddy 3D buildings and do meaningless sightseeing anymore¡
Some said that to realize the true meaning of metaverse, there had to be a significant advancement in the sensor part.
¡ªMaybe in 10 years, but the technology development is not that fast.
¡ªSi Group will also end up using HMD and connecting to the Inte of Things.
That was something that manypanies had already shown a few years ago.
They were diagnosed as failing to expand their business due to price and practicality issues, but the truth was that they didn¡¯t feel real enough.
Why bother wearing a cumbersome disy device and making a fuss when it¡¯s just a world inside a monitor anyway?
Most people preferred to look at the monitorfortably.
They realized that what they could achieve with HMD was nothing special once they got used to it.
In short, people wanted something that felt like real reality, but the current generation of technology was not satisfying them.
Somepanies developed technology that moved with brain waves by inserting chips, but it was expected to take a long time tomercialize due to ethical and safety issues.
In such a situation, Si Group opened two experience centers.
These experience centers were located in Korea and Mega City Pacific, one each.
The theme was metaverse.
It was an event of Si Group, so there were a lot of people, but thepetition rate was high because there were not many experience machines.
Those who failed had no choice but to watch the experience videos uploaded on YouTube.
And amazing news came out.
¡ªI guarantee you. This technology will change the foundation of games, no, our lives.
¡ªEverything that imed to be metaverse so far was all garbage. This is the only real thing.
¡ªThe experience machine was a small and dark room. Suddenly the surroundings brightened and I was in a forest. I will never forget the sound of birds, the wind that I felt through my whole body, and the smell of the forest¡I want to go again.
¡ªThe other demo was experiencing Space Mia. I became an astronaut whose tether was cut off and kept drifting away from Earth. It was scarier than any horror movie I¡¯ve ever seen¡When the demo ended, I realized I was crying¡Si, what have you made?
¡ªI pissed there. Fuck.
There were also rave reviews.
The expressions were diverse, but everyone agreed that Si Group had created a real virtual reality.
On the other hand, there were also schrs who warned that they had created a very dangerous technology.
¡ªMaking one¡¯s senses illusionary means manipting one¡¯s brain waves and central nervous system. It is very dangerous and does not conform to medical ethics.
¡ªIt seems to inject some kind of gas, but there is no safety verification at all. First of all, they have to reveal the gasposition.
But no one believed that Si would reveal the underlying technology.
Why would he do that when he didn¡¯t have to?
He was a bona fide dictator and he could do whatever he wanted in Korea.
As the situation was, the side effects were soon forgotten and the interest shifted to how to distribute it in the future.
Si announced that he would only operate the facilities in countries that did not demand information or raise objections.
¡°The experience center is just the beginning. In the future, it will be reduced to the point where it can be installed in a person¡¯s room, and the price will go down.¡±
¡°I know what you want. Games and sex. Visit Korea and Mega City Pacific to enjoy all of this, including androids.¡±
It was a truly malicious promotion.
The funny thing was that there were actually a lot of people who visited Korea ording to his words.
Probably because they had to get a residency permit to visit Mega City.
The airlines of various countries had to increase the number of flights and even the frequency to catch up with the demand for Korea-bound routes.
The ie from this was also expected to be considerable.
But the real thing was the device that was shown at the experience center and the game that woulde outter.
Many experts imed that if he couldmercialize that technology so that individuals could ess it, he could make a lot of money and also ruin society at the same time.
¡ªThese days, many people find human rtionships exhausting and wasteful. For them, this device will be like a savior.
¡ªThey can enjoy adventures, build rtionships, and even have sex in the game¡Do they really need reality?
¡ªIt¡¯s too radical and dangerous. We will never allow this technology.
On the other hand, Si Entertainment did not hire developers for game development.
What they needed was a fast and powerful data center for Lucia¡¯s new artificial intelligence feature.
In this newly established center, game engines were created and textures and modeling were generated at a speed that human developers could notpare with.
It was a speed that thousands of developers could not keep up with even if they were mobilized.
The artificial intelligence also conducted tests, and androids took care of publicity and other sales tasks.
At this point, one might wonder if humans were needed at all.
¡ªThe world of drones, androids, and artificial intelligence ising soon. Do we need humans there?
¡ªMaybe that¡¯s why they give allowances to Mega City residents. Now let¡¯s leave everything to artificial intelligence and turn humans into consumers.
¡ªThe same thing will probably happen in Mega City that will be built in Korea. People who can¡¯t move into Mega City may have to seriously worry about their survival.
There had been a lot of talk about providing basic ie to prepare for the artificial intelligence revolution, but this was the first time it was actually realized.
As the situation reached this point, crimes or nuisances that lowered CP decreased drastically.
Those who were inherently impulsive and destructive had been transferred to Terra Ind long ago, and those with low judgment also began to realize slowly.
¡ªThere are only two ways. Either run away to a foreign country where there is no surveince, or raise CP.
Running away to a foreign country was a much better option than living quietly and raising CP.
Because they gave various benefits if they raised CP.
And so Korea began to change into a country where no sound of cracking could be heard even on the street all day long.
When people stood at a crosswalk without traffic lights, all vehicles stopped as if they had an appointment.
It was a sight that was hard to see in the previous Korea.
A foreign sociologist who observed this phenomenon felt bitter.
¡°It is undeniable that immediate and terrifying feedback is effective¡On the other hand, I wonder what Si is pursuing through these things. I hope it doesn¡¯t harm humanity.¡±
And less than two monthster, Si Group released a personal metaverse device and a corresponding game.
People who were waiting eagerly rushed in.
¡.
¡°Umm¡¡±
Hwang Sun-young was lost in thought as the game release was approaching.
One was a typical isekai hero story, and the other was a bizarre action story set in space.
¡°Fight against the machine lifeforms that invade from outer space as an assault armor pilot and protect the Earth? That¡¯s too simple, isn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°The system and content will be addedter. Why don¡¯t you just enjoy this for now? You¡¯ve seen enough of isekai stories in novels and anime.¡±
Lucia rmended 2180, The Extinction of Humanity, a space game with that title.
But it didn¡¯t suit Hwang Sun-young¡¯s taste at all.
¡°Get rid of it, I don¡¯t like that heavy stuff. And the space feedback is weird. It¡¯s dizzying to float around.¡±
The metaverse device that was distributed to individuals was a low-cost version that simplified the actual assault armor cockpit as much as possible.
The sensors were also simplified, and the central signal transmission fluid was reced with gas, so they could only give light feedback.
Also, the users were not trained pilots, so there was some sense of incongruity.
That manifested as side effects such as dy or dizziness, but it varied from person to person and was at a level that could bepromised.
¡°Come on, let¡¯s do this. It¡¯s not all about fighting, you can also fly spaceships and travel¡¡±
Lucia tried again, but Hwang Sun-young¡¯s preference remained the same.
¡°No, I like isekai. I¡¯m going to be a princess there.¡±
¡°Are you sure you can do that?¡±
¡°Huh? What do you mean by that?¡±
Luciaughed wickedly and the payment button was pressed.
Soon after, the metaverse device was delivered to their studio apartment.
While the androids were installing it, Hwang Sun-young checked her ount and made a sad face.
¡°I have to live on rice for a year¡¡±
¡°There¡¯s no difference from before.¡±
¡°Well, yeah.¡±
She was optimistic as long as she had books and food.
A littleter, the instation was finished and the androids left after telling them the precautions.
¡°Lucia, if I copse in there, don¡¯t take me to the hospital, justy me down at home, okay?¡±
¡°Do you think this is a respawn point? The system will automatically check it even if I don¡¯t.¡±
¡°This ce is scary¡¡±
¡°Let¡¯s¡go in.¡±
They went in and waited for the gas to fill the device.
As they felt their bodies floating and their vision brightened, they were soon in a dark forest.
Hwang Sun-young groped around habitually and grabbed Lucia¡¯s hand.
It was a nice world where they could link data and apany each other if they had an android.
¡°Huh¡hello? Wow, this feels so real. Status window.¡±
The stats came up, but they were so pitiful that it was hard to look at them with open eyes.
Lucia sighed.
¡°It¡¯s going to be tough to survive in this harsh isekai with you.¡±
¡°No, I can raise my stats. But how do I be a princess? I want a huge library.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you love reading books but hate reading manuals? There¡¯s nothing easy here except dying. Work hard.¡±
¡°Where do I start?¡±
At that moment, an arrow flew by and grazed Hwang Sun-young¡¯s cheek and stuck into the ground.
It felt so real that she instinctively touched her cheek.
¡°A-a arrow came¡¡±
Lucia looked around and said.
¡°It¡¯s an elf. They don¡¯t seem to wee us.¡±
¡°Weren¡¯t elves kind forest keepers?¡±
¡°The elves in this game are fascists who built a great empire, and this is their hunting ground! Run!¡±
They ran hard, but they couldn¡¯t get far and were logged out.
Their vision darkened and they returned to reality soon after.
Hwang Sun-young touched her cheek andined.
¡°Why is it so hard?¡±
¡°How about trying the space game?¡±
¡°I¡¯m going to look up some strategies. Other people must have yed this too.¡±
But there wasn¡¯t much to call a strategy.
¡ªRun until the arrows stoping. And find a safe ce to hide.
¡ªIt gets more dangerous at night. The elf nobles release monsters to hunt. These monsters actively look for human traces¡
¡ªThere is no real strategy, just getting lucky enough to get out of the forest. Try at least dozens of times.
¡°Oh dear.¡±
Hwang Sun-young obediently gave up and started the space game.
Fortunately, this game was perfect for ying with Lucia.
They needed cooperation because they had to mine minerals while flying a spaceship and such.
The difficulty was not that high either, so much so that the previous isekai game felt strangely weird.
¡°I feel like the developer is trying to steer us this way¡¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be paranoid. Come on, the first step is to find the abandoned base. Let¡¯s fix the engine first.¡±
After that, it was a series of tasks such as repairing the spaceship and restoring the abandoned base.
They continued to resist the space monsters and obtained a radio signal from the United Human Federation, which they set as their goal.
The first impression was not great, but once they tried it, it felt quite fun with the vast setting, clear goal presentation, and rewards.
But there were some things they couldn¡¯t understand.
¡°Are these space monsters made of ck metal? I mean, is ck metal their skin?¡±
¡°Maybe?¡±
¡°Well, it¡¯s a game.¡±
The setting was too unrealistic for Hwang Sun-young, who remembered very well theser show of Ion Beam that defended the night sky of Seoul during the Second Korean War.
Anyway, the space game seemed to have something that made men¡¯s hearts burn.
The game was especially popr among foreigners, who couldn¡¯t record their gamey due to its nature. They could only drool over the videos they saw online.
¡°Damn, I should have been born in Korea.¡±
¡°There¡¯s one way, my friends. Let¡¯s go to Korea for this summer vacation. We can¡¯t buy it as individuals, but we can y it at a ce called a PC bang.¡±
¡°This is like a game novel. The sad thing is that we¡¯re not the protagonists.¡±
¡°Who cares if we¡¯re not the protagonists? I¡¯m going to fight with Lord of the Rings orcs and have sex with Korean-style elves this summer!¡±
¡°You don¡¯t know anything. The forest is full of yers who died as soon as they set foot there. That software is a taboo among Koreans right now.¡±
¡°By the way, who is that Uber pilot of the United Human Federation in the 2180 Human Extinction game? He single-handedly destroyed a space monster fleet? Is that even possible?¡±
¡°It¡¯s just a game setting. Don¡¯t be so serious.¡±
¡°This is the true metaverse.¡±
Conversations like this continued around the world, and the otakus in Japan couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and decided to go on a group expedition to Korea.
The foreigners who visited Korea were surprised to see androids walking around, something they had only heard of in their countries.
No matter how much information they essed or how many videos they watched on YouTube, nothing couldpare to seeing it in person.
As a result, the number of tourists visiting Korea increased by more than 10 times, and the tourism bnce also improved significantly.
As the metaverse received positive feedback, Arma proceeded to the next step.
Most of the outstanding assault armor pilots were male.
Assault armor had ether reverse fields and various devices to reduce gravity, but operating it for a long time required tremendous physical strength and concentration.
In the 22nd century, women could modify their bodies as much as they needed, and there was little difference between them and men in most areas.
However, there was a very slight difference in the instinctive senses that humans had developed since primitive times.
That slight difference made a difference between life and death on the battlefield, so the Unified Space Force preferred to select men as much as possible.
On the other hand, there were areas where women excelled.
Later, in the field known as Aether circuits, they could handle ck metal or artifacts of the foretellers more delicately.
Lucia was a representative example.
If you look at the researchers of the artifact analysis agency, there are many more women than men.
There were people like who could do both, but he was a miracle in himself, so he was not counted here.
The two games that Si Metaverse and Entertainment released were designed to select people with such pilot-like abilities.
The fantasy game selected people with genes rted to instinctive senses, while the sci-fi game selected people with genes specialized for operating assault armor.
Since the goals of the two games were different, they had to set different levels of difficulty. The former was established as an extremely difficult game.
It was rumored in the world as ¡°one minute fantasy life¡±.
It meant that an ordinary person would die within a minute of logging in.
¡ªWhere did my happy fantasy life go with a witch picking me up?
¡ªThis is what a fantasy novel without cheats is like¡ It¡¯s spicy and hot.
¡ªThere¡¯s no answer to this. You have to keep moving and not stop for a second.
¡ª-Where are my elf eyes? All I see are arrogant racists who ignore humans.
¡ªThe elves here are fascists who built an empire with their long lives and magic. Think of Hitler¡¯s Third Reich perfected.
¡ªSpeaking of Hitler, I think of Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªAt least Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t discriminate against races¡ He said Megacity was a multi-racial city, right?
¡ªHe must be so efficient that he doesn¡¯t care about anything else.
¡ªHas anyone escaped the forest?
¡ªNot that I know of¡
This game was actually a direct adaptation of Yu Ji-ha¡¯s dream.
He had started to dream of things he had never experienced since he absorbed the artifact of the foreteller into his body.
He vividly remembered the night when all of humanity suffered sorrow, let alone anything else.
That was an event that happened before Yu Ji-ha was born.
Anyway, he didn¡¯t take this fantasy-rted dream seriously because it was too absurd.
Arma processed it and made it into a game while transferring his soul.
It wasn¡¯t made to make money, so the difficulty level was beyond imagination.
Some gamers who liked this kind of game persisted, but even the most hardcore ones couldn¡¯tst an hour.
The metaverse device didn¡¯t give any cheats.
No matter how good a human was, they couldn¡¯t beat an elf, and the ce was a dangerous forest.
So most of the guides advised to hide rather than run away.
But there was one person.
A user who ran out of the forest recklessly appeared.
He didn¡¯t enjoy games much and had never seen any guides.
He just ran away from the elves¡¯ pursuit for five hours.
He barely escaped the forest, but what greeted him was not a helping hand, but a giant robot.
¡°Ah, why.¡±
He left this one word and was logged out by being stepped on by the robot.
His friends made a fuss, but he tried to leave the room with a headache.
¡°It¡¯s not that fun. I¡¯m not ying.¡±
¡°No, Seo-jun, don¡¯t say that. It¡¯s really fun if you keep ying.¡±
Yu Ji-ha and Arma checked this data.
¡°His name is Park Seo-jun, a high school student.¡±
¡°He¡¯s quite talented.¡±
¡°We confirmed the expression of the avoid gene.¡±
¡°He dodged arrows almost instinctively¡¡±
This gene would not be preserved unless they lived in a natural environment.
This student lived in a rural area, but it was almost a miracle that he preserved his gene without losing it.
¡°Anyway, he¡¯s a very promising candidate right now. Talk to his parents and bring him over. It would be better to send him to study in Seoul.¡±
Which parent would refuse if Si Group offered to sponsor him?
Arma suggested.
¡°Fatima is about the same age as him. Should we make them go to the same school?¡±
¡°That would be fine. If they get together, they¡¯ll have a baby with excellent genes. As for his face¡ It might be good to give him stic surgery.¡±
Fatima was 16 years old and very sensitive to men¡¯s faces.
For her, who had few friends, a man who received Si Group¡¯s sponsorship and was handsome would be quite attractive.
Of course, Arma couldn¡¯t do anything about their rtionship, but they would get along if they hung out together.
¡°If they refuse our offer, offer them an android.¡±
¡°Yes. And Master, I went to America for a while as you said.¡±
She went to America without any work to see Yu Ji-ha¡¯s parents.
¡°What did they say?¡±
¡°They just said they were satisfied with their current life¡ They didn¡¯t even take the money I gave them. They said they had enough.¡±
¡°Then that¡¯s fine.¡±
He hadn¡¯t contacted Yu-kyung-seok and Jung Hye-won for quite a while.
Actually, it would be more urate to say that they didn¡¯t want to see his face.
Their son suddenly inherited the entire group and started producing strange technologies.
Their son who went through the Korean War and became a dictator who oppressed and killed many people.
And finally, their son who killed Lee hyung-seok, who became his brother-inw.
Could they really ept Yu Ji-ha as their son?
They were awkward when he inherited the group, and now they didn¡¯t even meet each other.
Arma spoke quietly.
¡°I tried to talk to them a little¡ They said they realized that you weren¡¯t their child when you called her mother for the first time.¡±
¡°I guess something felt weird even though I made an excuse that I lost some of my memory.¡±
¡°Maybe it¡¯s because something like a name is instinctive. The original never called her mother since he was young. He only said mom.¡±
¡°It was our mistake not to catch that kind of sentiment from the original.¡±
¡°At first, they thought they should treat you well because you had their child¡¯s body, and they were genuinely happy when you developed the battery. But after that¡¡±
¡°They must have felt like you were apletely different person. They probably felt disgusted by that.¡±
¡°Not disgusted, but they definitely felt that you weren¡¯t their son. They said it was hard to continue the rtionship.¡±
¡°That¡¯s fine. So, what¡¯s the possibility of them exposing the truth?¡±
¡°None for now. They seem to hope to be forgotten under the protection of the United States.¡±
¡°I wonder if the US will leave them alone¡¡±
The current McKinley president didn¡¯t seem to bother him much, but the situation might change if the Democrats took power.
Yu Ji-ha sent Arma away and looked at the dark main screen of the bridge.
He had the goal of eradicating the gue and preserving humanity, but sometimes he felt depressed.
He used Yu-kyung-seok and Jung Hye-won¡¯s rtionship to take advantage of his position as a Korean and a third-generation chaebol, but now he was in a position topletely break away from them.
¡®In the end, nothing changes, but why do I feel so empty?¡¯
Was it because of the sense of loss from losing someone he had a little connection with?
He acted like a machine, but he was not a machine, but a human being with emotions.
He didn¡¯t show it because he thought it was unnecessary for his purpose.
He had to preserve and advance humanity and technology by using coercive means, and there was no room for emotions to interfere.
It would be troublesome if he made friends with someone and it caused trouble for his n.
But now he felt lonely.
¡®If only Lucia were here¡¡¯
She was dead and couldn¡¯te back.
Her memory existed in the Settler, but he couldn¡¯t say that she was the same person even if he injected that memory into a human body.
Yu Ji-ha called someone.
¡°Arma.¡±
¡°Yes, Master.¡±
Arma came in and stood next to him, then guessed his condition and knelt down.
¡°I can¡¯t be Lucia for you, but I can be a substitute.¡±
It was based on Lucia¡¯s personality.
He didn¡¯t express her appearance and character because he hated her, but now he longed for them.
¡°Don¡¯t leave me, Arma. You¡¯re the only one¡¡±
¡°Who said I¡¯m going to leave nicely? Close your eyes, I¡¯m going to have some fun. Well, it doesn¡¯t matter if you keep them open.¡±
It was Lucia¡¯s unmistakable way of speaking.
When he closed his eyes, Arma smiled and took off her sses and untied her hair.
Her dazzling blonde hair flowed down.
Chapter 98: The Metaverse Distribution
Chapter 98: The Metaverse Distribution
While Koreans were mostly focused on fantasy worlds, the Western countries, including the US, were ecstatic to finally enjoy a proper space opera.
There was a saying that the best kind of geek was a double geek.
Their efforts to y a decent space game were tremendous. Some of them took their entire summer vacation, while others even changed their nationality.
There was even a case of someone who faked their identity and got a metaverse device from Russia, where Si Group supplied them, only to be exposed and lose their citizenship.
The reason they went to such lengths was that once they experienced it, other games felt dull.
¡ªThe games we yed so far were not games. They were just inferior versions that couldn¡¯tpare.
¡ªI can¡¯t even imagine what kind of technology they used. It seems like they capture the user¡¯s movements with dozens of sensors, but I wonder how they implemented the feeling of floating in space.
¡ªFriends, I have a question. Is this real space flight? Has anyone been to space before?
¡ªWell¡I¡¯m a former astronaut. The game 2180: Humanity¡¯s Extinction has reproduced the space flight to a considerable level. It¡¯s not exactly the same, but the feeling of being very cold and gloomy is very simr.
¡ªYou know, the moon trips will start in earnest by the end of the year, right? You can go to the moon for just 100,000 dors, but you want to do that in a game?
¡ªSo if you go to the moon, can you drive a spaceship and control an assault armor?
¡ªControlling an assault armor is really hard but fun, my friend.
¡ª-And the setting of the United Human Federation and the space monsters is also very interesting. It doesn¡¯t seem like they just left it as a setting¡
While foreigners praised it, Si Entertainment implemented various ces in the sr system as content.
It was difficult to do it on Earth, but they could visit and try various colonials and space stations within the sr system.
The amount of content was enormous.
The double geeks who loved space andbat finally realized their dreams and shed tears of joy.
¡ªFuck, this is what I wanted! Fuck Earth! I¡¯m going to ride a badass robot and fight monsters!
¡ªBut the modeling of this assault armor is killer¡It feels strangely realistic when I look at the internal parts.
¡ªCould this be what Yu Ji-ha brought from space?
¡ªI want to see the united human federation soon. They say they have a proper fleet there.
¡ªHas anyone tried to follow the record set by the uber-pilot? Why is it blocked from the first stage?
¡ªThat guy is an AI. It¡¯s natural that humans can¡¯t follow him.
As more content from the game 2180: Humanity¡¯s Extinction was revealed, yers became interested in the uber-pilot of the united human federation.
Uber meant the best, so it was equivalent to saying top gun, or the pilot with the best skills.
The yers who looked at his records through the radio waves that came in agreed that the setting was too extreme.
¡ªHe smashed several space monster fleets with a single shot¡That¡¯s an unbelievable ability.
¡ªIf it weren¡¯t for him, the united human federation would have been extinct long ago. I get that they¡¯re trying to create a sense of crisis, but it¡¯s a bit too much.
¡ªHe was born in 2120 and he¡¯s currently a colonel in the unified space force¡He¡¯s been in service for 60 years and he¡¯s only a colonel? This is the worst part.
¡ªording to the details, he had to take on the pilot role half willingly and half forcibly, so his rank was like that. If he had been rewarded for his achievements, he would have been a captain or more.
¡ªWell, he¡¯s just a fictional character anyway. He¡¯s like our goal. Something we can never reach.
¡ªBut isn¡¯t this game strangely realistic in its setting? The ck metal being the outer skin of the space monsters and all¡
¡ªThere¡¯s ck metal, so they probably just fit it in somehow. Where would such monsters exist?
¡ªYou never know. Maybe when it really bes 2100s, space monsters will pop out and we¡¯ll fight them happily. This game is like a training system then.
¡ªI¡¯m sick of hearing about Yu Ji-ha¡¯s spaceship ownership rumor.
In fact, the records of the uber-pilot implemented in the game were a trimmed version of Yu Ji-ha¡¯s actual achievements.
If they had implemented everything, it would have been too unrealistic and they would haveughed it off.
Anyway, as more yers got hooked on the space game, naturally there were also hardcore yers.
They took advantage of the fact that Earth and the united human federation were not implemented yet and started to act like trolls. They were space pirates.
They traveled around various space stations with spaceships and assault armors and blew up other yers.
The game had a lot of freedom, so the system didn¡¯t stop them at all, and they ran around harassing other yers.
¡ªAh, assault armor teabagging is annoying. Do they really have to do that?
¡ªWell, there are also hardcore yers who help newbies, so there are guys like that too.
¡ªIf you don¡¯t like it¡you know, right?
It was not easy to control an assault armor in the game.
But the hardcore yers somehow figured out how to move them freely.
Their maneuvers were impossible to capture even with the auto-aiming system, and they even became the driving force to fight against the space monsters.
¡ªYay! Space monster cut!
¡ªThis early work was just preparation, fighting with space monsters is the real thing.
¡ªThey say they will implementrge-scale wars when the united human federationes outter. That¡¯s awesome.
¡ªPleasee out soon please¡
As more and more yers got addicted to the game, Arma selected the people who had decent skills.
¡°I have secured a list of 31 names.¡±
¡°That¡¯s more disappointing than I thought¡¡±
Yu Ji-ha looked at the yers¡¯ performances with a frustrated expression.
He had picked and chosen from the yers who came from all over the world, but their abilities were below expectations.
They barely managed to catch a beast, which was the lowest rank among the gue, by cooperating with each other.
The actual assault armor couldn¡¯t be moved properly without a Psychic, but that was a version adjusted to Yu Ji-ha¡¯s subordinates¡¯ level.
It was set up so that they could focus on controlling it by assuming that they could handle ether.
Arma advised him.
¡°It¡¯s because the game hasn¡¯t been serviced for long. And there are many people who haven¡¯t touched it in Korea.¡±
¡°Maybe they¡¯re more interested in fantasy worlds?¡±
¡°Yes. There are still many yers wandering in the forest. They are determined to go to the human kingdom¡¡±
¡°Their determination ismendable.¡±
There were many requests to lower the difficulty, but the purpose was to extract genes that could adapt in such an environment.
¡°It¡¯s the first year, so I guess we can¡¯t expect too much. Contact the list you¡¯ve secured and bring them in. And assign androids as a priority.¡±
¡°Okay. And there are too many emailsing from Japan, what should we do?¡±
¡°Do they want to y the game?¡±
¡°Yes. They¡¯re almost begging with tears.¡±
Actually, Yu Ji-ha had no feelings for Japanese people.
He just slightly broke them up because Japan itself might get in the way.
¡°It¡¯s a bit hard to go direct there, so look for a suitablepany. I¡¯ll turn a blind eye to bringing them in through Russia.¡±
There were also genes to be expected from Japan¡¯s poption of over 120 million, so he couldn¡¯tpletely reject them.
There were more and more people who became Koreans or got megacity residency rights, but it was still not enough.
¡°Get as many genes as you can.¡±
Of course, that included Yu Ji-ha¡¯s genes.
He didn¡¯t want to make humans using artificial wombs, but he had no choice.
He had to use everything he could to barely survive.
..
October 2029.
A few months had passed since the two games wereunched and a considerable gene pool had been secured.
However, it took a lot of time to train these genes into actual pilots.
A pilot without a Psychic talent was no different from a tin can.
Therefore, a Psychic development n was carried out at the same time.
gue cores of Leviathan ss were installed in some underground facilities in Megacity and Seoul.
These cores did not corrode the surrounding metals, but changed the genes themselves to awaken humans as Psychic.
Using the Aether circuit improved by Yu Ji-ha¡¯s ability, the number of awakened Psychic was expected to be much higher than in the original history.
Soon after taking this measure, changes began to appear.
Hwang Sun-young, who had been scraping the bottom in Megacity, was a typical example.
She had no special features except for the fact that she had worked in the sameb as Yu Ji-ha.
But one day, the ck metal cube that she had been ying with as a toy suddenly changed.
¡°¡Huh? Why is this happening?¡±
Lucia, who had been scratching her belly next to her, quickly turned over.
¡°The ck metal has changed. You can change it with your thoughts, with your will. Think of something you like.¡±
Then the cube turned into a book shape.
Hwang Sun-young opened her eyes wide.
She could do something that she had only seen on TV until now.
¡°Did I¡awaken?¡±
¡°Congrattions. You¡¯ve got the ck metal factor. Are you going to leave me now?¡±
¡°What are you talking about~¡±
They hugged each other for a moment, but they were soon called by Yu Ji-ha, who somehow knew.
He looked at her in a tense state and said as if he was surprised.
¡°Your name is Hwang Sun-young?¡±
¡°Ah, yes¡yes, Mr. President. I worked in the sameb as you¡I don¡¯t know if you remember¡¡±
¡°Of course I remember. You didn¡¯t go out much, so your nickname was homebody.¡±
He didn¡¯t need to remember that¡
Anyway, she received a direct examination from Yu Ji-ha.
His big hand wrapped around her hand and a local Aether field was formed.
¡®She¡¯s an analyst type like Lucia.¡¯
She¡¯s perfect for a researcher of the prophet¡¯s relics.
Yu Ji-ha smiled and held her hand.
¡°You have Megacity residency rights, right?¡±
¡°Yes, yes.¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to be a full citizen beyond a free citizen. If you¡¯re interested¡¡±
¡°I¡¯ll do it! I¡¯ll do it! I really want to do it!¡±
She must have really wanted to be a full citizen.
Well, she must have tasted the sweet benefits while diligently umting points.
Yu Ji-ha nodded his head.
¡°Wee to bing a citizen of Megacity.¡±
¡
Is this a game?
The two games released by Si Group were ecstatic for the users, but the rted industry gave subtle reviews.
¡ªIt¡¯s really amazing. This is the first time that metaverse has been implemented in a meaningful way, not just as a word y.
¨CI acknowledge their technology. But I wonder if they didn¡¯t have a better IP.
¡ªIf otherpanies can use the metaverse device technology, the game industry will face a great change.
In short, they wanted their technology.
The two MD exclusive games were definitely impressive in scale and stood out in their minor settings, and they offered an iparable fun in terms of sensation.
But if they looked at the essential fun aspect of the game, they couldn¡¯t say it was that great.
Some prominent producers or critics in the game industry gave somewhat blunt opinions about this.
¡ªThey need to adjust the early difficulty. More than 99% of yers can¡¯t get out of the forest. Too high difficulty only lowers the interest in the game.
¡ªThe space game has a well-structured tutorial, but why doesn¡¯t the fantasy game have one? It¡¯s structurally wrong.
¡ªMaybe they haven¡¯t developed the content for the fantasy game yet.
Arma designed the game with the purpose of selecting assault armor pilots.
They didn¡¯t know that, so they saw the game as weird and wondered about thepany¡¯s policy.
Yu Ji-ha ignored these opinions.
Money or reputation in the industry was not his interest.
But Arma, who was in charge of practical work, encountered various opinions and suggested them, resulting in getting autonomy.
¡°You can distribute technology as long as it doesn¡¯t interfere with the roadmap. But don¡¯t improve it.¡±
If they improved MD more, it would be close to a cockpit, and they couldn¡¯t handle it without modification.
The central nervous system would be disturbed and the brain would be very sensitive to even a small stimulus.
It wasn¡¯t for nothing that Yu Ji-ha had a modification surgery before riding an assault armor.
Anyway, Arma was given full authority over MD.
Her personality was based on the original Lucia, so she was an efficiency-first person.
So it was a waste to use this good technology only for two games.
Furthermore, it was hard to ignore the fact that human productivity would drop slightly due to these games.
But the current human productivity didn¡¯t mean much to Arma.
Herputing power could create massive content that would take years for thousands of developers to work on.
If they expanded the scope to space, the mining ships had already started to lead the way and they were working hard on the space nts.
That meant that even if humanity collectively stopped working, the roadmap would proceed without any problems.
What they needed were resources andnd, and the gene pool itself called humanity.
¡°Anyway, we just need to preserve the species of humanity. The rest of the matter¡well, let¡¯s leave it to the government at that time.¡±
The master was thinking of seriously giving up his power when his goal of eradicating the gue waspleted.
Arma had a slightly different idea, but if that was the master¡¯s intention, she had to follow him.
But there were also variables such as the warp gate that would open in Knox, so she didn¡¯t know what would happen.
She couldn¡¯t predict how the government at that time would react if they lost Yu Ji-ha, a powerful leader.
Even with Arma¡¯sputing power, it was impossible to predict the future decadester.
The timeline was copsing and the future wasing faster now.
Anyway, those things were topics to discuss with the master.
Arma¡¯s job right now was to distribute MD technology topanies that wanted it.
She personally met with thepanies that sent their proposals.
The businessmen and developers who met her in the chairman¡¯s office were a bit confused.
Until now, Arma was known as Yu Ji-ha¡¯s secretary who was very strict and cold as a career woman.
But today, she showed up in front of people without sses, with light makeup and wearing warm-colored clothes.
She was so tall and beautiful that she looked like a foreign model sitting there.
She rummaged through some documents and saw that people had taken their seats. She uncrossed her legs.
¡°Are you all here? Let¡¯s start the meeting.¡±
The people couldn¡¯t show any signs of difort even though they had been waiting for a long time.
They were representatives of the Korean game industry, such as businessmen and developers, as well as the vice minister of the Ministry of Culture and the presidential secretary, who had a lot of weight.
But Arma was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s closest aide, who surpassed Bae Seong-min, the chief of the secretary¡¯s office.
This was what the Korean media was saying these days.
¡ªIf the president says no, it might be possible someday. The economic cooperation with Middle Kingdom ( China) is an example. But if Arma shakes her head, it will never happen.
¡ªShe is the real owner of Si Group. Maybe Korea is simr¡
That was the opinion of those who didn¡¯t know that she was an AI and that she was dependent on Yu Ji-ha.
Anyway, it was true that Arma had a great significance for Koreans.
She was the closest aide to Yu Ji-ha, who had absolute power. How could they not?
She sat on a one-person sofa, crossed her legs and dered.
¡°Let me tell you in advance. I can¡¯t allow any business models that use cash to acquire content, such as gacha, draw, or anything else.¡±
The faces of the participants in the meeting hardened at once.
Chapter 99: Rebirth of the Korean Game Industry
Chapter 99: Rebirth of the Korean Game Industry
Arma had a simple request.
¡°MD will not be allowed for gamepanies that target the yers¡¯ wallets.¡±
It was hard to find a game that did not include gacha elements these days.
The mization elements that started with DLCs were now included in most games.
Console games were less affected, but PC and smartphone games sold experience and equipment for money, which was considered a joke.
The gamepanies knew that it made money.
What was the point of spending billions to create a story, sophisticated graphics and a system?
They could notpete with the mass-produced gacha games that only had decent illustrations.
Peopleined that full-price games were expensive at 70,000 won, but they spent over 700,000 won to get one character illustration.
The recent trend was not as bad as the worst period in the early 2020s, but it did not improve much.
Many gamepanies still chose to target the yers¡¯ wallets rather than care about the game content.
Who would refuse money?
Of course, Arma was not saying that this behavior was wrong.
It was her master¡¯s job to reshape thendscape of the Korean game industry.
He was a busy person who had no interest in games, so he might just leave it alone.
The game industry started to voice their dissatisfaction with Arma¡¯s policy.
¨DWhere can you find a game without gacha elements these days¡¤¡¤¡¤
¨DIf they use the fantasy survival game as an example, their sales would skyrocket if they put the sprint skill in a gacha form.
¨DIsn¡¯t it a waste to make all kinds of content and not let everyone enjoy it?
¨DWe should petition this to the Blue House.
The gamepany officials tried to file a petition without thinking, but they hesitated.
They wondered how President Yu Ji-ha would react to this.
If they had to describe him in one word, it would be this:
An extreme efficiencyist.
He would use anything, whether it was androids or whatever, as long as it was efficient.
He might allow games, but he might not understand why people poured huge amounts of money into data fragments.
¨DMaybe he has some other reason for allowing game development?
¨DI¡¯m more worried that our industry might be destroyed. Do you think he would understand spending thousands to get one skill?
¨DLucia will probably collect all the rted data and report it to him. If he hears the users¡¯ints¡¤¡¤¡¤
¨DIt looks like the day of the meeting will be ourst day.
The industry people were afraid of being dragged to Terra Ind and gave up.
But there were many smart people in Korea.
They were gamers who hated gacha and other things like that.
They filed petitions to the Blue House as much as they could.
¨DPlease get rid of gacha! Games are not gambling!
¨DThese days, games are still free-to-y even if you spend a month¡¯s sry! Please help us low-ie people!
¨DI don¡¯t care about anything else, but manipting the odds is crossing the line! They don¡¯t even disclose the odds properly on their websites!
As the gamers rose up, the gamepanies panicked and tried to appease them.
They gave out paid currency or held meetings tomunicate with the users.
They also bribed the media to promote their social service or donation activities.
They pretended to make an effort because they knew it would be over once they caught his eye.
¨DHe might destroy and rebuild everything in the game industry. He doesn¡¯t care about anything else.
¨DIt¡¯s best to pretend nothing happened. Just like we¡¯ve always done.
They tried to lobby the Blue House officials, but they refused in fear.
¡°Do you want to see someone die? Don¡¯t you know that public officials who take money are dragged to Terra Ind these days?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no such thing as secretly. Drones watch during the day and AI monitors at night. It¡¯s bound toe out somehow.¡±
¡°It¡¯s better to stay quiet and behave. Fortunately or unfortunately, the president doesn¡¯t seem very interested in games.¡±
The gamepanies were relieved for now.
Yu Ji-ha was very busy with rebuilding North Korea and building Da mae Ind.
He wouldn¡¯t care about such trivial things as the game industry¡¤¡¤¡¤that¡¯s what they all thought.
And that mistake ended when Yu Ji-ha saw the report that Arma submitted.
¡°They¡¯re cheating on the odds?¡±
¡°ording to the data I checked, there is a big difference between the announced odds and the actual ones.¡±
It was an easy task for Arma¡¯sputing unit to simte all the gachas of domestic gamepanies.
¡°Most of the gamepanies are like that¡¤¡¤¡¤they¡¯re all the same bastards.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°Calcte and collect the excess profits from manipting the odds.¡±
The gamepany representatives turned pale when they received the government¡¯s official document.
¡
A bomb dropped on the Korean game industry.
Dozens of gamepanies received official documents from the government.
These documents contained the data that Arma had collected.
¨DApany¡¯s game has a different epic transformation gacha rate than what they announced. This is consumer fraud and a scam crime. Return the excess profits immediately and submit the user list to the government.
¨DBpany adjusted the unique equipment gacha rate to 0% for 30 minutes at theunch of their game. Return the sales during that time.
There were so many measures that old gamepanies received a book-sized document.
The representatives sweated as they saw that all the contents were filled with gacha fraud.
¡°How can they ask us to return all the profits¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°If we return everything, we¡¯ll go bankrupt. The Korean game industry will copse.¡±
¡°What do we do?¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
They all remained silent at that question.
They couldin as much as they wanted, but saying that in front of Yu Ji-ha was crazy.
He was a dictator who controlled everything in Korea, and a madman of his time.
He had the ability to push through any policy and make it eptable by any means necessary.
The drone surveince system was an example.
The initial bacsh was no joke, but now there were many people who couldn¡¯t live without drones.
They became absolute allies as long as they didn¡¯tmit crimes or cause trouble.
He was the one who made such a system.
He wouldn¡¯t care about the situation of the Korean gamepanies.
They would be thoroughly crushed if they showed any sign of resistance.
Just like his enemies had been.
The representatives racked their brains to gather opinions.
¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like he¡¯ll let it go. He¡¯s not a person who has no interest in games, judging by the game he released. Let¡¯s appeal our role and suggest lowering the BM level a bit from now on.¡±
¡°It looks like the government needs a lot of money, judging by the fact that they asked us to return the excess profits. It would look good if we create arge donation fund.¡±
But they were all anxious.
It was hard to imagine that he would let it go with just that.
The scale of the odds maniption by the gamepanies was at least tens of billions of won over a few years.
Especially since the official documents sent to eachpany had detailed invoices attached.
The executives were nervous when they saw that they were written down to the 10 won unit.
Some people had this opinion.
¡°He would have summoned us right away if he was serious, but he didn¡¯t. Maybe he¡¯s saying he¡¯llpromise if we do?¡±
¡°Well, the trend of the government these days is stabilization. He won¡¯t start trouble recklessly.¡±
¡°We don¡¯t have much time left to reply. We have to take some action for now.¡±
So the gamepany representatives wrote a very humble and earnest statement and sent it to the Blue House.
Yu Ji-ha read the summary out loud.
¡°We admit our mistake and we¡¯ll create a fund and do volunteer work¡¤¡¤¡¤and we¡¯ll be careful not to do this again, is that it?¡±
¡°That¡¯s correct.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t I clearly tell you to return all the excess profits within a month?¡±
It was not unreasonable since he had kindly calcted it for them.
¡°They seem to ignore it even though I emphasized it.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know if they¡¯re stupid or pretending to be stupid.¡±
His order was no different from cutting off the gamepanies¡¯ stomachs.
They had already spent the money and some of it had been absorbed into the representatives¡¯ personal assets.
Asking them to return everything was like telling them to die, so they acted like they were dying.
But Yu Ji-ha was a real killer.
¡°Bring them all here. Right now.¡±
¡
The conference room where dozens of people gathered was so quiet that even a needle dropping could be heard.
The gamepany representatives sweated nervously.
It was because the person who made this meeting was ying a game.
It was not an ordinary game, but a mobile game made by Mpany, the representative of Korea.
Thispany had suffered a big blow from their unfriendliness and odds maniption controversies and had gone downhill.
But they were still the top in the Korean mobile game industry because they were excellent at BM (business model) management.
In other words, they were good at ripping off the users¡¯ wallets.
But even their representative had to pray the same prayer as many users today.
¡®Come out, pleasee out, pleasee out!¡¯
¡°This is hard to get.¡±
What he was doing was the most vicious BM in game history, calledplete gacha.
It was briefly regted in the early 2020s, but as always, it fizzled out due to the gamepanies¡¯ lobbying and the users¡¯ck of interest.
There were nine slots and eight of them were already filled, and only one remained.
But no matter how much Yu Ji-ha pressed thebination button, it did notplete.
¡°It costs 100,000 won per press¡¤¡¤¡¤this is quite a lot of money. I should have done this instead of developing AI hard.¡±
The Mpany¡¯s representative had to check if his neck was still attached every time he heard his voice.
¡°It¡¯s amazing, isn¡¯t it? The odds are 1/9, but it doesn¡¯tplete like this. I think I¡¯ve been pressing the button for about 30 minutes¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°Mr. President¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
The representative tried to stand up, but Yu Ji-ha said without lifting his head.
¡°I warn you in advance, you should give up on talking nonsense in front of me.¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
He had nothing to say and sat back down.
The button-pressing game filled an hour and thest slot was notpleted.
Yu Ji-ha went up to Mpany¡¯s representative and shoved his smartphone in front of him.
¡°How much money did I spend?¡±
¡°Sev, seven million won¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°I pressed 700 times on thest slot alone, and all failed. Aren¡¯t the odds 1/9? Something¡¯s wrong here?¡±
¡°That¡¯s because it¡¯s a variable odds¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°Then why didn¡¯t I know? Where¡¯s the notice? Look for it.¡±
The representative searched hard for the game notice, but couldn¡¯t find it.
¡°Isn¡¯t it also missing from the website? Wasn¡¯t it there in the first ce?¡±
¡°No, no¡¤¡¤¡¤Mr. President, the truth is¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°Don¡¯t drag your words and answer clearly. Is this a game or a gamble? Do you think it¡¯s a game to spend seven million won sitting here and still have to spend more money?¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°Arma, what¡¯s the exact odds of thisplete gacha?¡±
¡°The first three slots are 1/9, but one of the middle slots drops to 1/27 and thest slot drops to 1/729.¡±
It was a perfect example of aplete gacha that pulled and pushed well.
Yu Ji-ha pped his forehead.
¡°Youck sincerity. You might have gotten it if you pressed 29 more times, right?¡±
He was clearly joking, but his eyes and mouth were not smiling at all.
The representatives who realized that the atmosphere had turned bad stood up in a hurry.
¡°Mr. President, we¡¯ll fix it right away.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll return the excess profits and create a fund¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
¡°That¡¯s enough. Sit down.¡±
Yu Ji-ha made everyone sit down and dered.
¡°You seem to be mistaken, but asking you to return the excess profits is not robbery. It¡¯s a legitimate recovery for illegally taking the users¡¯ money. You scammed the users. This is a crime.¡±
The atmosphere in the conference room, which was already quiet, became chilly.
Yu Ji-ha had made this atmosphere several times after seizing power.
The atmosphere ended when the AI judge delivered the verdict and they were transferred to Terra Ind.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s deration continued.
¡°From this moment on, yourpany is no longer a gamepany. It will be treated as a gambling business byw, so please be aware of that. And since you seem to like probabilities so much, from now on, the sries of the employees will also be paid randomly. The upper limit is your current sry, and the lower limit is 10,000 won.¡±
In other words, they would spin a roulette to pay them anywhere from 10,000 won to their current sry.
It was a crazy and unfunny joke, but no one couldugh because it came from Yu Ji-ha.
He was someone who would do what he said.
¡°Didn¡¯t I say it¡¯s a crime? Lucia, start the verdict.¡±
An android entered and announced the charges and sentences one by one.
The people were caught off guard by how quickly the trial ended.
¡°This is absurd. Mr. President, Mr. President!¡±
Amidst themotion in the conference room, the android stood in front of M¡¯s representative.
¡¸Verdict: Life imprisonment¡¹
¡¸Remark: All excess profits from assets will be recovered¡¹
That meant he would be locked up in prison and his assets would be seized.
If he had hidden any assets, they would be tracked down and taken back.
The representative smiled bitterly with resignation.
¡°Mr. President, may I say a word?¡±
¡°Go ahead.¡±
¡°Building an industry is very hard, but it can easily copse. If we copse now, the Korean game industry will copse too. It will be irreversible.¡±
¡°An industry riddled with fraud can copse anytime. And I¡¯ll rebuild it, so don¡¯t worry.¡±
¡°No matter how advanced artificial intelligence is, it can¡¯t rece what dozens ofpanies have worked on for over 30 years¡¡±
¡°How long do you think it took Shi Entertainment to develop the two games they released?¡±
¡°¡At least two years under the radar¡¡±
¡°One week. I can make games like yours in a day. So don¡¯t worry and rest well on Terra Ind.¡±
¡°What nonsense¡¡±
The representative¡¯s eyes widened and the android took him away.
The Korean game industry was devastated as if it had been hit by a nuclear bomb, as dozens of gamepany representatives were imprisoned and the government went after their assets.
What calmed the chaos was the announcement of several new games from Shi Entertainment.
Yu Ji-ha started to wield his axe in earnest in the game industry.
From the perspective of those who suffered, his axe looked like a giant chainsaw.
He swung it lightly and dozens of gamepany representatives were arrested and their assets were recovered.
They had been exposed to have cheated and deceived users for a hundred days, so they had no grounds to defend themselves.
¨DThey deserved it. They imed it was a mistake, but it¡¯s hard to believe that they made a mistake for almost 20 years.
¨DThey didn¡¯t even disclose the probabilities properly, what are they whining about? The ones they did disclose were hidden in a corner and uploaded as image files.
¨DThe verdict showed that they had manipted most of the probabilities and deceived users.
¨DThe industry should take this opportunity to rise again, which I¡¯m sure everyone agrees on. But the damage is too great.
¨DEven if they recover the excess profits, they shouldn¡¯t have sent the representatives to Terra Ind¡ The leaders who could direct new game development are gone.
But most gamers scoffed at these reactions.
¨DThey¡¯re just copying temtes and UIs and calling them new games.
¨DHow much did you get paid by the reporter? They should cut off all those who gave such interviews.
¨DI hope there¡¯s no government subsidy going into those media outlets.
¨DYou don¡¯t know much. There¡¯s no subsidy going into any media or group these days. Yu Ji-ha cut them all off.
¨DIt¡¯s refreshing to see those who were talking nonsense at the national audit get arrested.
¨DThe stock prices are refreshing too. I haven¡¯t seen blue for a long time?
Everyone showed a refreshing reaction while worrying at the same time.
It was a crisis where a huge market was about to disappear entirely, whether it was fraud or not.
It wasn¡¯t impossible to rece it since most of the sales were domestic, but it was expected to take time.
There was also sympathy for the employees who had to quit their jobs unwillingly because of the sry gacha.
¨DThe employees are just following orders from above, they¡¯re pitiful.
¨DThose bastards are aplices too. Especially M¡¯s employees here acted like they were the representatives and got screwed by messing with the users.
¨DCome on, there are thousands of employees at M, do you think they¡¯re all connected by a cor? There were many people who just worked there even if they were dissatisfied with thepany policy. Everyone does that.
¨DThey should have thought of a countermeasure before they did it. What¡¯s the point of a few people feeling good? The Korean game industry is dying.
¨DWhat game industry? They¡¯re all scammers. Even if we spare them, they¡¯ll just make more BMs to suck our wallets.
¨DJust wait, guys. President Yu Ji-ha will take care of it.
In fact, it was not something that could be settled with a single punishment, as the pirs of dozens ofpanies were shaken.
And as if they had been waiting, a follow-up measure was announced.
Si Entertainment dered that they would absorb game developers without limit.
¨Dnning, art, server, live¡ Any career is fine. Except for BM.
The treatment and welfare were quite good.
It wasn¡¯t the best, but it wasn¡¯t low either, and most importantly, there was no politics in thepany.
That was because Arma, who was practically Si Group, had a tight grip on the power even at the bottom.
There was no rank either, and the sry increased ording to the performance.
¨DIt¡¯s weird that there¡¯s no rank¡ The direct boss is Chairman Arma.
¨DMight as well try being a ve to a big house for once.
¨DI¡¯m a Shi Group employee from now on.
That¡¯s how Shi Entertainment quickly interviewed and epted hundreds of developers.
Artificial intelligence couldn¡¯t solve various creativity yet, so they still had to rely on humans.
That¡¯s how more and more developers left their shakypanies and joined Shi Entertainment.
The industry weed them with confusion.
¨DThey¡¯ve hired over 2,000 people so far, I wonder how they¡¯ll manage them all.
¨DSurprisingly, they¡¯re immediately put into game development as soon as they enter. Si Group¡¯s know-how on work division is no joke. As soon as you sit in your chair, you get assigned tasks right away.
¨DThat sounds like a clean hell. Creativity is important in this line of work, after all.
¨DCreativity, there¡¯s not much to it. And you shouldn¡¯t talk about creativity when you¡¯re developing games in Korea. You¡¯re just making the same games anyway.
¨DIt¡¯s actually better when youe in. No politics, no excuses for not being in charge of something. Just finish your quota and you can go home right away. No one gives you a look.
¨DThere is no rank, but there is. The ones who get paid more and do more work are higher ranked. If you finish your work quickly, artificial intelligence will assign you more work and increase your sry.
¨DDoes thepany move by some rules? You should have some meetings and dinners to bond with your co-workers¡
¨DYou¡¯re talking about running apany to Si Group.
¨DWorking here makes me realize what a real part is. You can¡¯t say things like ¡°thepany can¡¯t run without me¡± here.
¨DThat¡¯s what a bigpany is like. Even though Si Group is a new business.
Anyway, in terms of absorbing the shock of the market, they were doing their job.
The chaos actually subsided a lot and the developers were satisfied and focused on their work.
The problem was with the owners and executives who had cheated, and the developers and BMs who had no skills.
The former two groups were transferred to Terra Ind and forgotten, and thetter two groups wandered around and left the industry.
¨DGetting paid by gacha in the industry is as bad as making shitty BMs. There¡¯s no reason to use them anymore.
¨DIs it true that mobile games are so dry¡ They¡¯ve all been cheating like this?
¨DThere aren¡¯t many decent ces left. Now Si Entertainment has to lead the Korean game industry.
¨DApany that hasn¡¯t been established for long, with thousands of developers, how can they do anything in this chaotic atmosphere?
¨DYu Ji-ha has shut up everyone who said things like that so far. Isn¡¯t the private moon trip starting this month? You were one of those who shouted it was impossible.
¨DYou seem to think artificial intelligence is water, but they can make online games like that in no time. Do you know how big the Si Metaverse server is?
And so people began to look forward to the games that Shi Entertainment would release.
Some of them had the view that they had to be at least as good as they had destroyed the industry.
Of course, Si Entertainment didn¡¯t care about such atmosphere and devoted themselves to development ording to artificial intelligence¡¯s instructions.
And it didn¡¯t take long for the results toe out.
¡
Chapter 100: Settler - A Journey to the Moon Begins
Chapter 100: Settler - A Journey to the Moon Begins
The games that Si Entertainment had released so far were innovative, but theycked in IP, or intellectual property, ording to some critics.
They said that the games did not consider the users¡¯ needs and preferences when creating the content.
But the few games that they quietlyunched this time were different.
¡°Fantasy Life¡±
It was not revolutionary, but it was a significant improvement over the existing games in the genre. And it had plenty of content to offer.
People were very familiar with mobile games, so they could tell whether a game was good or bad after ying it for about 30 minutes.
They had a rough estimate of its potential.
¡ªWow, the graphics are amazing. I¡¯ve never seen such graphics on a mobile game before.
¡ªI don¡¯t know how they optimized it, but my phone doesn¡¯t get hot at all.
¡ªThe sub-content is pretty solid too. Fishing alone could be a separate game and sell well.
¡ªYou can even read all the books in the library¡ The chronology alone would fill several books.
The game was set in a fantasy world, but it had a lot of detail and realism that drew rave reviews.
And the interaction with the NPCs was unparalleled by any other game that hade out so far.
The NPCs in the game reacted to all kinds of keywords, and they even had different repertoires.
¡ªI went hunting with an adventurer who asked me to join him, and I was having fun until I realized he was an NPC lol
¡ªI¡¯ve never seen a game with such diverse andplex NPC routines. Is this really a mobile game?
¡ªHey, this sailing and trading part could be sold separately and be super fun.
¡ªIf this is what they came up with after absorbing the development staff, how awesome will their next game be?
The most praised aspect was that the BM, or business model, was not too harsh.
There was no gacha system, and the only benefits they offered were rted to storage or costumes.
Some users even started to feel anxious about it.
¡ªIt¡¯s good that they block the nuclear whales, but I wonder if they can maintain it like this.
¡ªIt reached 500,000 concurrent users in one day, but why isn¡¯t itgging? Sometimes we need some disconnection or rollback to feel relieved.
¡ªAre the operators artificial intelligence? They only give me the answers I need. It¡¯s amazing.
¡ªThis is a gift from Yu Ji-ha to us. So enjoy it as much as you can.
The users and the industry who had been waiting for Si Entertainment¡¯s games cheered or were disappointed.
The former cheered that the ultimate game in terms of gamey had appeared, and thetter were disappointed that Yu Ji-ha¡¯s takeover of the industry did not have much side effects.
They were especially shocked that he released such a high-quality game without any mization incentives.
¡ªDid they develop it themselves¡? There¡¯s a rumor that the staff they absorbed only did the finishing touches.
¡ªAll the future games will have to bepared to this one. How can theypete with that content realistically?
¡ªThe answer is to catch the nuclear whales. That game is almost perfect, but it doesn¡¯t satisfy the needs of the nuclear whales.
They were mistaken about one thing.
The nuclear whales also liked games with a lot of people.
That way, they could show off their level or equipment.
But there was nothing to envy in this game, and it was not easy to control it by making a n.
There was no one to control.
The bosses that often appeared in typical fantasy games did not exist, and mines and such were owned by countries or nobles.
You could own a mine if you became a powerful noble, but you had to pay a lot of taxes to the country, and it was very difficult to get there.
Fantasy Life was a game where you hunted moderately, sold things, and socialized with people, as its name suggested.
The nuclear whales who were disappointed by this game had a hard time going back to games with gacha systems.
Thepanies that made games with excessive gacha systems were ssified as gambling businesses.
Gambling had been decriminalized in Korea for quite some time, but gambling was still not well regarded.
There was hardly any support, and they had to pay a lot of taxes, and even then they could only operate in limited areas under strict conditions.
Some argued that ssifying them as gambling businesses just because they had some BM was too harsh.
But they had to lower their voices enough.
Wasn¡¯t it better to keep their lineage than to disappear overnight like M Company?
And Si Group was nning to support the gamepanies that overcame all these hardships.
The representative of a gamepany was stunned when he saw the official document sent by Si Metaverse.
¡°They¡¯re giving us all the servers? And they¡¯re providing us with a universal game engine for free and even supporting the training? Am I reading this right, team leader?¡±
¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤It¡¯s hard to believe, but I guess it¡¯s not a joke since it has Chairman Arma¡¯s seal on it.¡±
¡°How much money would it cost to do this ourselves? And they¡¯re giving it all for free? I can¡¯t believe it.¡±
The problem was how much support they would get.
The game development tools these days were user-friendly and even provided resources, so there was not much inconvenience.
The servers were also based on the cloud, so they could receive services ording to the traffic.
There was not much reason to abandon the well-established cloud tforms and switch to the service provided by Si Group.
If something went wrong and the service stopped, they would get all the me.
But somepanies thatcked money quickly changed their servers and enjoyed a very pleasant environment.
¡ªWe don¡¯t need to worry about optimization time schedule. The server does everything for us when we upload the data.
¡ªLive updates are also very easy and convenient. It¡¯s worth paying for this level of service.
¡ªThe implementation of features is also simple, and especially extracting DB is possible with one click. We can analyze our game from a different perspective.
¡ªThe best thing is that all this is free.
As the pioneers praised it, otherpanies also started to use the cloud service of Metaverse.
It was not inferior in quality or functionality, and it was much more convenient, so why bother spending money?
The foreign media expressed serious concerns about being too dependent on Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªWhat if Yu Ji-ha suddenly dies? What will they do then? It¡¯smon sense that the system will copse if the dictator disappears. How will they cope with that risk?
¡ªThe Korean game industry is in a position of a dog that got beaten by its owner and lowered its tail. It¡¯s pitiful.
But the actual reaction of the gamepanies that became his subjects was different.
¡ªYeah. We¡¯re no different from dogs on a leash. But the leash is 1 kilometer long and the garden is over 10,000 square meters. At this point, we can live a decent dog life.
¡ªThey say if we move to the southern megacity, everything is free, from rent to electricity and water. Should we move ourpany too?
¡ªThe problem is Si Group, but Chairman Arma announced that she would personally move the entire group. Then ourpany can also give it a try.
¡ªBut I don¡¯t know what Si Group gets out of doing this for us.
¡°It¡¯s meaningful in terms of enriching the ecosystem of the megacity.¡±
Yu Ji-ha was a war generation, so he didn¡¯t like spending money on unnecessary data.
The data included things like inted finance or games.
To put it bluntly, the world¡¯s GDP, the boom in the financial sector, and the apartment prices were all meaningless in the face of a gue attack.
He knew that future very well, so he had no reason to care about the scraps of data.
¡°I was going to do that¡¡±
But Arma¡¯s persuasion changed his decision.
¡°You need diversity in a small ecosystem like a megacity. It would be better if there were things other than the content produced by the group.¡±
¡°That might be true¡ Do whatever you want. It¡¯s not like it takes a lot of resources.¡±
With his permission, Arma took charge of the entire Korean game policy and gave out many benefits.
Thanks to the trantion and bncing benefits through artificial intelligence, more and morepanies wanted to put on his leash voluntarily.
They felt like they were missing out if they let others take everything.
¡ªThey¡¯re very helpful and generous even to a two-personpany¡ Lucia is an angel, an angel.
¡ªThey say the gamemission will be abolished soon and the procedures will be greatly simplified. And there are more games being localized. It¡¯s a good time to y games.
¡ª-I know dictatorship is bad, but it¡¯s so sweet and warm that I wish it would stay like this¡ I don¡¯t want to go outside.
¡ªThese days, foreign gamepanies are setting up branches in Korea to get benefits. They were all talking nonsense when they said they wanted to kill him.
However, the games released by Si Entertainment were so masterpieces that other games were pushed back in thepetition.
Arma also had a meticulous n to absorb the staff of thosepanies.
He would absorb all thepanies into the megacity and put them under the administration bureau.
That was part of the roadmap for the reconstruction of the human alliance.
¡
Christmas 2029.
The Moonlight Project finally got on track.
They had been building a base on the Sea of Tranquility for a few months, but this was the first time they sent tourists after training civilians.
Everyone expected Yu Ji-ha to be the first passenger.
He was the owner of the entire Si Group, so it seemed natural.
But the person who was chosen as the first passenger broke everyone¡¯s expectations. He was Bill Ryan, an American who donatednd to Starfield.
Yu Ji-ha kept his original promise.
He was moved and gave interviews to various media outlets.
¡°He kept his promise exactly! To be honest, I never thought it would happen.¡±
¡°How muchnd did you donate?¡±
¡°A little over 10,000 acres. Actually, this is nothing. Neither the seller nor I took that document seriously.¡±
The reporter smiled and nodded.
¡°He¡¯s a notorious dictator, but he has a surprising side, doesn¡¯t he?¡±
¡°Well, I don¡¯t know about notorious, but he¡¯s definitely very capable. Hurry up and make reservations. You can go on a moon trip for just 100,000 dors!¡±
It was high for a trip, but it was different if it was a three-night four-day trip to the moon.
The space travel so far was only about orbiting the earth a few times anding down.
Most countries couldn¡¯t even produce proper astronauts, let alone travel.
Of course, you couldn¡¯t just go to the moon by paying 100,000 dors.
You had to undergo intensive training for a month at a specialized training facility in Naro Space Center, and you also had to sign several agreements.
But still, there were plenty of people who wanted to go to the moon.
¡ªInstead of going abroad a few times, I¡¯d rather save money and go on a moon trip.
¡ªBut is it true that there are 120,000 reservations¡ It will take at least 10 years.
¡ªWait. Starfield announced a new spaceship.
The spaceship for this trip had apletely different diamond-shaped appearance from the existing Terraunch vehicle.
People who saw CGI said it looked like something from an Sci-fi movie.
¡ªBut where does the rocket connect to that?
¡ªThere is no rocket. It just flies like that.
¡ª-What? Did they make an SSTO? Does ion propulsion have that much thrust?
Starfield was really crazy.
SSTO meant single-stage-to-orbit vehicle, which did not require separate fuel tanks or boosters.
In other words, it was a spaceship that flew directly into space after taking off.
It sounded easy, but there were many problems to implement SSTO realistically, such as re-entry and atmospheric pressure changes.
But Starfield actually showed people a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle.
When Yu Ji-ha entered the press conference hall, the cover that wrapped around the spaceship was removed.
The ck exterior was revealed, and hundreds of reporters who gathered raised their cameras at once.
¡°Let me introduce you. This is Settler, which will handle travel in the Moonlight Project.¡±
Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t just spout out grandiose words.
He exined while showing them.
¡°This Settler is a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle, as you can see, and it does not have any stage separation. It only uses its own propulsion to take off, break through the atmosphere, and fly into space. Let¡¯s watch it together.¡±
Soon after the countdown ended, Settler spewed out sma and floated into the sky.
And then there were very short bursts from various parts of the fusge, and it flew away.
It was an unbelievable sight.
¡°Wow.¡±
¡°Is this an Sci-fi movie we¡¯re watching, or is this reality?¡±
As the reporters murmured, Settler quickly broke through the atmosphere and entered space.
¡°Yes! Space!¡±
¡°Screw Earth! I¡¯m in space!¡±
As the cheers of the passengers, including Bill Ryan, were broadcasted to the world, the real Settler was watching them from a very far ce.
¡
¡
¡
Chapter 101: The Plan for 2030
Chapter 101: The n for 2030
¡°That was worth 100,000 dors.¡±
President McKinley looked at the screen with a troubled expression, resting his legs on the desk.
On the sofa next to him, his aides, including the NASA director and Humphrey, sat with speechless faces.
The screen showed the video of the Settler, orbiting around the moon.
It was clearly transmitted through a satellite, but the resolution of the video was very high.
Did they introduce some new technology?
¡°Moonlight Project¡ The media imed it was the sessor of the Artemis Program, but this is on a different level¡¡±
The Artemis Program, which was canceled by the US leadership, also included a lunar base and other exploration missions.
But building a base that could mine helium-3, unoptanium, and ice was not part of the n.
And above all, sending 50 civilians who had not received proper training to the moon for 5 million dors was impossible to replicate with their technology.
¡°The Democrats must be watching this too¡ They¡¯ll make a fuss about cutting NASA¡¯s budget.¡±
The NASA director¡¯s face turned pale.
NASA had been criticized by the US media for being Starfield¡¯sckey.
They were losing their leadership in space exploration and development, and only following Starfield¡¯s lead.
The Democrats asked President McKinley and NASA this question:
¡ªWhere did the 20 billion dors go?
If they looked into the details, they would see that it went to reasonable ces, but as always, the media was focused on inciting public opinion.
They evenpared NASA¡¯s budget to that of Starfield or KARI in Korea, and ridiculed the president, the Republicans, and NASA.
¡°They¡¯re telling me to endure it because it¡¯s the end of my term¡ This is insane.¡±
President McKinley had one year left in office.
In a few months, he would enter the presidential race.
The Democrats, who were sure to elect the next president, had a clear agenda.
They had to bring Korea back into America¡¯s embrace.
To be precise, maintain it, but anyway, they were trying to redeploy US troops in Korea.
¡°They were so eager to get them out¡ What a bunch of hypocrites.¡±
President McKinley turned his gaze away from the moon base made of ck metal.
¡°Let¡¯s stop discussing this. We¡¯ll get our share of helium-3 and unoptanium anyway. What I¡¯m more concerned about is how much pressure we¡¯ll face if the Democrats take over?¡±
His aides spoke one by one.
¡°It won¡¯t be like it is now. It will be much more hostile.¡±
¡°The Democrats hate Russia and Korea getting closer. They will use every means possible to break their alliance.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t we have some useful friends nearby?¡±
¡°Japan? You want to raise them again and make them indirectly oppose Korea? That¡¯s too naive. 45% of Japanese said they can¡¯t live without Korea.¡±
¡°And 55% said they have to punish Korea. They will amend their constitution and rearm themselves. They can boost their military power significantly if they use 4% of their GDP.¡±
¡°President Yu¡¯s achievements are impressive. But there are still alternatives at this point. The two countries have severed diplomatic rtions, but Japan¡¯s economy is holding up.¡±
¡°But when nuclear fusion power starts, the situation will change. I heard they¡¯re nning to build an offshore nt near Tsushima.¡±
¡°The Maritime Self-Defense Force is putting pressure on the government to cancel it.¡±
President McKinley chuckled.
¡°The ghosts of the past are trying to revive.¡±
That meant the revival of Japan¡¯s militarism.
It was noughing matter, as Japan was seriously advocating for a return to the past with a party called Shin-Nippon Yushinkai and the Self-Defense Forces at its core.
They said they had to overhaul Japan from its roots, as it had been humiliated by Korea for too long.
For that, constitutional amendment and rearmament were essential.
If that became a reality, the Self-Defense Forces would be reborn as the Japanese Army with official recognition.
However, Japan¡¯s rearmament was not something that the US weed.
Their biggest rival, China, had copsed.
Russia was also satisfied with Eastern Europe in reality, and there was no country that couldpete with the US in the Pacific.
The only thing that bothered them was Korea.
Especially Yu Ji-ha¡¯s defiance was igniting fire in the US politics.
¡ªRussia¡¯s expansion is impossible without his full cooperation. The number of drones mobilized in this Ukraine war exceeded 200 thousand units.
¡ªPresident Putin announced that he would build cities of victory around the border as a celebration of victory. He meant cities like those built on Terra Ind.
¡ªThe headquarters and submarine base of the Russian Pacific Fleet are preparing to withdraw. It seems like they promised him a lot ofnd¡
¡ªCan we just let this go?
The Democraticwmakers poured out their discontent with the two countries¡¯ alliance, as if they could bite them.
It was hard to tell what they wanted.
Korea was now a country that had almost escaped from the US influence.
They had the right to conduct independent diplomacy with Russia or China, and there was no reason to intervene unless they vited a major agreement.
President McKinley was angry, but he couldn¡¯t officially warn Korea because their status had changed a lot.
¡®When they severed ties with Japan in one stroke¡¡¯
They couldn¡¯t cut off their rtions with the US right away, but they had enough possibility to prepare for it in the long term.
¡®Now it doesn¡¯t matter if he¡¯s an alien or not. What matters is whose side he¡¯s on.¡¯
Maybe he needed to treat him as well as the Five Eyes, or even better.
The Democrats would refuse, saying he was not an Anglo-Saxon and he didn¡¯t speak English.
There was also the variable of the United Human Federation, but it hadn¡¯t shown any meaningful presence in the internationalmunity yet.
It wasn¡¯t even a UN member state.
¡®Just stay quiet for the rest of my term.¡¯
But if he was that kind of person, he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about this.
He dered that he would tear China apart and take Manchuria.
He had only one year left until the Democrats took over, and he seemed to be nning something.
¡®Is that why Korean tanks are frequently roaming around Chinesend these days¡¡¯
They said it was a mistake or something, but there was no fool who would believe that.
He had his eyes on Manchuria.
¡®He gotnd from Russia too, and now he boasts thergest territory in the history of the Korean dynasty. Please stay calm.¡¯
No one knew exactly how far Korea¡¯s territory extended, as many intelligence agencies were investigating it, but there was no way to know unless Korea announced it themselves.
And President McKinley¡¯s wish was shattered in a few hours.
A few of his close aides, including Humphrey, opened the door of the Oval Office and entered.
¡°Mr. President, it seems that Korea has detonated something that matches a tactical nuclear weapon. The Geological Survey detected a strong seismic wave. It¡¯s Punggye-ri in North Korea.¡±
Punggye-ri was a ce name that had been mentioned every time North Korea conducted a nuclear test, and it was currently closed.
President McKinley shook his head as if he couldn¡¯t believe it.
¡°Is he trying to kill me by raising my blood pressure? What is it this time? Didn¡¯t we collect all of North Korea¡¯s nuclear weapons?¡±
The only thing that could cause such a seismic wave was a nuclear weapon, and they had been collected and disposed of by the US and IAEA during the Second Korean War.
And nuclear inspections were still being conducted in Korea.
It was impossible to make nuclear weapons while hiding all the evidence.
Humphrey scratched his head unknowingly.
¡°It has the power of a tactical nuclear weapon, but there was no radiation leakage in the atmosphere. And the explosion pattern is quite different from a nuclear one. It seems to be a new type of explosive.¡±
Anyway, it seemed clear that Yu Jiha had made something troublesome again.
¡°Fuck.¡±
It was a word that the president uttered without realizing it.
***
The first fireworks of 2030 took ce in Punggye-ri, North Hamgyong Province.
As soon as the detonator switch was turned on, the air around the area pushed out and the ground shook as if there was an earthquake.
And with an indescribable st, sparks flew up and a huge crater was formed.
Bae Seongmin, the chief secretary, felt his heart sink as he saw the sight.
Anyone could see that it had the power of a nuclear weapon.
But the report said it was clearly a new type of explosive.
What on earth happened?
Yu Ji-ha took off his sunsses and calmly said,
¡°It¡¯s a new helium-3 explosive. It produced the expected destructive power.¡±
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff asked out of curiosity,
¡°Mr. President, do you mean helium-3, the element used for reactor control rods?¡±
¡°Simr, but slightly different. This should be called helium-2. It can produce 300 kg of TNT equivalent per gram.¡±
Wasn¡¯t that something that only appeared in science fiction novels¡?
Bae Seongmin remembered that it was.
The US had researched helium bombs to rece nuclear weapons in the past.
They nned to produce helium-3 by shooting protons at tantalum, but they abandoned it because it was too expensive and not powerful enough.
Other countries also got simr results and there were no attempts since then.
But helium-2 that Yu Jiha mentioned looked different from the existing hafnium.
He looked around at the bureaucrats and soldiers and said,
¡°Our researchers have found out what kind of energy is needed to transform ck metal. They named it Aether.¡±
Thanks to gue Core starting to work, awakeners began to appear inrge numbers in many countries, including Korea.
They reced the Aether circuit of the core, so the output was stronger and they appeared much earlier than in the original history.
They were currently under the protection of various countries in strict secrecy.
Some ces were celebrating that they could finally get out of Yu Jiha¡¯s monopoly.
But that was also part of his n.
He had to show the energy called Aether to humanity in order to move on to the next stage.
¡°Aether¡¡±
¡°More than a hundred years ago, it was briefly noticed as a medium of light. It¡¯s a discredited theory now.¡±
¡°Mr. President, how exactly does this ether rte to helium-2?¡±
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff asked, and Yu Ji-ha exined simply.
¡°We discovered that we can store Aether energy. We shoot this energy through a special elerator at tantalum. Then helium-3 is created. It¡¯s an element that has nothing to do with the original helium-3, despite its name.¡±
¡°I see¡¡±
The people nodded, but they didn¡¯t seem to understand the exnation very well.
Anyway, it was certain that the students had to study more things, such as ck metal, unoptanium, and antitron.
Yu Ji-ha gathered the generals separately.
¡°Assume that most of the warheads will use this helium-2 and make your operational ns ordingly. It will produce almost tactical nuclear-level destruction.¡±
The operations chief, who had been watching the situation, asked cautiously.
¡°Mr. President, what about radiation¡?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about radiation at all.¡±
The soldiers¡¯ faces brightened up in an instant.
It was because a nuclear bomb without radiation had be a reality.
Currently, Korea had ratified the NPT and had not withdrawn from the IAEA.
In such a situation, developing a new explosive that matched nuclear weapons was a huge strategic advantage.
They also had antitron, so they could block the enemy¡¯s nuclear weapons while firing missiles that were no different from nuclear weapons.
However, there was no country around Korea that couldpete with it at the moment.
The Middle Kingdom (China) was half-copsed, and Japan seemed to be burning fiercely, but the United States was unlikely to tolerate nuclear armament.
Russia? It was not an exaggeration to say that they were allies with Korea, even as a joke.
Perhaps because they were worried about this, the United States began to impose conditions on the encryption system of Link-16.
They drastically reduced the number of authorized personnel who handled the encryption that was broadcasted by satellite every morning.
This greatly limited the operation of fighter jets such as F-35.
It was a joke that they couldn¡¯t even start the engine, but anyway, the Korean military was dependent on the United States in many ways.
They had entered into unmannedbat aircraft development with Russia in order to get out of this situation, but the United States suspected that their technology was involved.
There was no major restraint yet, but they would start to object seriously when it became operational.
Anyway, Korea and Si Group were making tremendous efforts to get out of the current situation of dependence on the United States, and it was being realized one by one.
The GPS satellite system that would soon beunched from Starfield belonged to it.
Yu Ji-ha sent back the soldiers and called in the bureaucrats, including the secretary-general.
¡°We will use this hafnium-2 explosive for construction as well. We don¡¯t need it in North Korea where there is plenty of tnd, but Mega City South will definitely need it.¡±
Instead of mobilizing heavy equipment to shave off the mountains bit by bit, they would blow them up with hafnium explosives.
The shock would be absorbed by the ck metal barrier, so there was no big problem.
When Yu Ji-ha exined this n, doubt rose in everyone¡¯s eyes.
They had never heard of such a construction method.
There were no mountains in TerraInd, but most of South Korea was mountains.
To blow them up with explosives¡
Secretary-General Baek Seong-min hurriedly said.
¡°Mr. President, we need a veryrge tnd to build Mega City South as you envisioned. We also need a lot of helium-2.¡±
¡°We can supply as much as we need, so don¡¯t worry.¡±
No one could argue with Yu Ji-ha¡¯s words.
It wasn¡¯t because he was authoritative, but because they would be fact-checked if they said anything.
The value of Yu Ji-ha¡¯s words came out only when the staff analyzed the data diligently and applied it to the field.
It might have been predicted by artificial intelligence, but it was ambiguous to see the answers popping out on the spot.
Anyway, the bureaucrats left and only Secretary-General Baek Seong-min remained.
He was the first person Yu Ji-ha trusted after Arma.
He was awkward at first with a president who was younger than him, but after watching his re-election process, he became his most enthusiastic fan.
Of course, his identity and purpose were still secret to him.
He cautiously brought up a topic.
¡°Mr. President, there has been a lot of talktely. It seems like the territory has increased, but there is no substance. They say they want you to rify it¡¡±
¡°Well, there was some discussion, but nothing is certain.¡±
It was almost confirmed that the two dictators had discussed it.
But it was too early to announce it officially.
It was because Russia was not ready yet.
President Putin had spent a lot of time cleaning up the opposition, but it took more time to transfer thend.
They had to deal with the residents and facilities that lived on thend that was 20 timesrger than the Korean Penins.
The mass migration of Kamchatka Penins residents had begun, and Primorsky Krai was also ready.
It would take at least a few years, so he needed to inform the secretary-general roughly.
¡°From here to here.¡±
As Yu Ji-ha¡¯s finger drew a line on the map, Secretary-General Baek Seong-min doubted his eyes.
The line started from the northern part of the Korean Penins and reached the East Siberian Sea near the Arctic.
¡°This is really a hugend¡¡±
He couldn¡¯t help but groan at the width.
He had to calcte it to know for sure, but it looked like it was several tens of timesrger than the Korean Penins.
¡°But the shape is somewhat strange, isn¡¯t it? Here¡¯s the problem.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s finger pointed at Manchuria.
It was true.
It only looked bnced when Manchuria was included.
And further¡
¡°The Mongolian president will visit Korea soon, right? There will be talks about economic cooperation then.¡±
The cooperation with Mongolia was not a recent topic, but this time it was quiterge and seemed to involve some important issues.
If Yu Ji-ha¡¯s absorption of Manchuria goes as nned, he will face a border with Mongolia as well.
¨DMaybe Korea could peacefully unify with Mongolia?
It was not a delusion, but a topic that was quite seriously discussed in Mongolia.
Korea didn¡¯t seem to care much, but Mongolia was greatly influenced by Korea.
If you go to the capital anbaatar, there are quite a few areas where you doubt whether this is Korea or not.
Secretary-General Baek Seong-min was grateful that he was in the middle of this incredible history.
Yu Ji-ha emphasized.
¡°Don¡¯t neglect diplomacy just because you are a small country president, okay?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡±
Well, there had to be something to call diplomacy in the country.
In a country where even the US president was treated like that¡
Secretary-General Baek Seong-min left as well, and Yu Ji-ha was left alone in the observation room.
¡°Arma. We have to move within a year.¡±
¡¸We will be ready in four months.¡¹
He had to absorb Manchuria before the Democratic Party took power in the United States.
It wasn¡¯t very noticeable in the country, but recently there had been a lot of reactions in the US that Korea had gone crazy.
¨DWhat did they give to Russia to get that muchnd?
¨DThey must have promised full-scale economic and military cooperation. There is information that a mass driver will be installed soon at the nuclear fusion nt near Moscow.
¨DHow long will the US watch the cozy rtionship between Russia and Korea?
The current US political scene was just waiting for President McKinley¡¯s term to end.
They hoped that the next Democratic president would not be dragged around by Yu Ji-ha like his predecessor.
He could kill a few Democratic candidates, but it didn¡¯t matter much.
The trend of the US itself was Democratic, so whoever came out would be elected.
This was probably one of the advantages of democracy.
And even if the Democrats came out, they were unlikely to have a direct confrontation.
Arma predicted that the Democrats would incite Japan.
¡¸Japan will eventually revise its constitution and be a normal state, but not a democratic one. The Restoration Society is too closely rted to the Self-Defense Forces.¡¹
¡¸There is currently a conflict between the maritime self-defense force and the businessmunity over the issue of offshore nuclear fusion nts. They are likely to use military force to take advantage of this. And then maybe¡¡¹
At this point, Japan¡¯s militarization was almost inevitable.
The hatred of Korea for blocking Japan¡¯s nuclear possession and the absurdity of being cut off from diplomatic rtions drove them to an extreme direction.
Of course, there would be opposition forces within Japan that were not so easy, but the power was in the hands of the Restoration Society and the Self-Defense Forces.
They would form a parliament somehow, but they would not follow democratic procedures as they did in the past.
¡°It wouldn¡¯t be bad for us if that happened.¡±
It would be best if they stayed quiet, but Japan had enough national power to do otherwise.
As long as Korea continued to expand, they were bound to fight sooner orter.
Yu Ji-ha made his ns for the new year and left the observation room.
The guards surrounded him.
Chapter 102: His Era is Over
Chapter 102: His Era is Over
The awakeners, including Hwang Sun-young, were not the only ones affected by the events in Megacity.
The world was suffering from the sudden appearance of ability users who possessed the ck metal factor.
They went on TV shows and proudly disyed their abilities in front of the public.
What set them apart from the previous ck metal ability users was their ability to emit energy.
On a popr TV show in the US, a host asked a man.
¡°We¡¯ve seen enough of ck metal transformation. It¡¯s getting boring. We need something new.¡±
¡°I have that ability.¡±
¡°Tom, are you saying that you have be a psychic? A psychic power?¡±
¡°Something like that. You¡¯ve seen it in movies andics, right? Raising your hand and shooting energy.¡±
¡°When I was young, I asked my mom why I couldn¡¯t do that with my hand. Can we see it for ourselves?¡±
¡°Sure.¡±
The man took a few breaths in front of a sandbag prepared by the staff and lightly swung his arm.
¡°Nothing happened?¡±
As the host shrugged his shoulders, surprisingly, a golden light burst out of his hand and sent the sandbag flying back.
¡°Wow.¡±
¡°Oh my god.¡±
As the audience gasped, the man proudly spread his arms.
¡°Isn¡¯t that amazing? I can kill people with this.¡±
Then the host said with a smile.
¡°The truth is, we Americans have the same ability as you. We can use it to kill people anytime we need to.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°A gun.¡±
Laughter erupted from the audience.
In America, where there were more guns than people, this kind of ability was nothing special.
But the ability to shoot an unidentified beam from your hand was definitely fresher than ck metal and attracted all kinds of spotlight.
The man became a celebrity and more cases of people iming to have psychic powers emerged in various ces in America.
It was the era of psychics.
As this happened, the political and business circles had high expectations.
¨DFinally, there are ability users who are more than Yu Ji-ha. They might be able to make a dposer.
¨DIf we can properly dpose ck metal, making an ion thruster is not a dream. Naturally, it will lead to unobtainium and ion beam nuclear fusion reactor.
¨DIs Yu Ji-ha¡¯s era over?
As if to prove these spections, Japan seeded in making a ck metal battery.
It was a very meaningful event in the situation where they had severed ties with Korea, and the Japanese were in a festive mood.
¨DI was worried about what would happen¡ I¡¯m so d.
¨DWe don¡¯t have to be afraid of Korea anymore. Japan will rise as a ck metal powerhouse.
¨DThe only thing that bothers me is that they didn¡¯t disclose the exact conditions.
The group that independently revealed the battery was supported by Shinilbohoe and had gathered many psychics in Japan.
The name of the group was Hyperman Club.
It was somewhat childish, but they had the ability to make proper batteries, so it wasn¡¯t a problem.
They announced that they would build a ck metal factory in Japan in coboration withpanies like Toyota and Panasonic.
¡°We can now make our own ck metal in Japan. We don¡¯t have to bow our heads to Korea anymore.¡±
The leader of Hyperman Club who made this announcement was a 30-year-old man named Sasaki, who had great showmanship.
He volunteered to appear on TV programs and did not refuse invitations frompanies.
He was rather short but very passionate and most importantly, people were fascinated by his ck metal Gundam.
Finally, Japan had its own Yu Ji-ha.
Not only that, but Hyperman Club had many superhumans with different abilities.
They relied on their enthusiastic poprity and entrusted themselves to Shinilbohoe to be political forces.
¨DIsn¡¯t it too early for politics?
Some people felt ufortable with their moves, but most didn¡¯t care.
¨DAs long as we can defeat arrogant Korea, anything is fine.
¨DSevering ties doesn¡¯t matter. The important thing is Tsushima.
¨DWe need to focus on supplying ck metal to carpanies right now. Let¡¯s ask America for help.
And so Shinilbohoe and Hyperman Club sent envoys to America as the main pirs.
America surprisingly agreed to sign an MOU to supply ck metal.
It was just a promise, but the Japanese were happy as if they had already made ck metal batteries.
And this happened not only in Japan but all over the world.
Because of the sudden appearance of many ability users, Yu Ji-ha was temporarily forgotten.
And each country¡¯s government came up with some assumptions.
¨DMaybe Yu Ji-ha was just the first one to appear? There is evidence to support that right now.
¨DSome of the current ability users are not inferior to Yu Ji-ha in terms of resolution. The dposer has been researched enough, and we can make it too.
¨DWe can now dere that Yu Ji-ha¡¯s era is over.
In reality, only a small amount of batteries and railgun cannons with poor detail were made, but each country couldn¡¯t hide their expectations.
The high-resolution ck metal dposition that was thought to be Yu Ji-ha¡¯s monopoly was achieved.
Now, in a few years, a real Yu Ji-ha-like ability user might be born.
The Korean media still tried to downy the significance by saying that the detail was poor, but they couldn¡¯t hide their nervousness.
It was because Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t show any reaction.
¨DWhat is he doing at this time? Doesn¡¯t he have to make some announcement?
¨DThere are more and more awakeners in other countries. What does he say? Congrattions?
¨DThis could lead to international istion if we¡¯re unlucky.
¨DHey, just because Hyperman can handle ck metal, what happens to Yu Ji-ha? Does he lose his ability?
¨DThat¡¯s not what I mean. It¡¯s just that the things that Yu Ji-ha did mighte back to haunt us. The stock price is plummeting. Foreigners are bailing out.
¨DIf you think about it, the only truly original ability of Yu Ji-ha is artificial intelligence. Everything else is derived from ck metal.
¨DBattery, railgun cannon, capacitor, ion thruster, new type of projectile, drone, unobtainium, anttron¡ They alle from ck metal.
¨DHe¡¯s just a ck metal one-trick pony.
¨DThat¡¯s why the foreign media are saying seriously that they can catch up with him in a few years.
¨DFuck, Japan is making a fuss about making railguns. We¡¯re screwed.
¨DYou idiots, what are you panicking about? Don¡¯t you trust Yu Ji-ha?
¨DThat¡¯s not the point. The situation is so serious that he should say something¡ anything.
¨DPlease rest assured and engage in your livelihoods. Something like that?
¨DI¡¯m frustrated.
Meanwhile, Yu Ji-ha was still paying attention only to the nuclear fusion nt and the mass driver without any separate discourse.
No, that¡¯s how it looked.
¡
In the early 2030s, the major news of the world was filled with stories about ck metal and ability users.
But Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t care much and was looking around the Settler with Arma.
To be precise, it was the artifact of the Prophet that was mounted on the Settler.
¡°It¡¯s finally repaired. It took a long time.¡±
Yu Ji-ha looked at the long tube that pierced through the hull of the ship.
This golden tube was one of the highest-ranked artifacts of the Prophet, and Ark had named it the supermassive particle elerator.
There were many particle elerators on Earth, but this one was different.
It could produce anti-particles.
The length of Settler was 700m because it was designed to amodate this equipment.
The most important facility on the arkship was the ether fusion reactor, but the supermassive particle elerator was also equally important.
There was no weapon that could harm gue except for anti-particle reaction shells.
Hafnium-2 was for construction purposes and hydrogen bombs only made gue stronger.
Arma flipped through the hologram data and reported.
¡°Currently, the output of the artifact is about 77%, which means it can elerate ether to near 96.85% of light speed. It can produce about 300 grams of anti-particles per month.¡±
That meant it would take months to produce one reaction shell.
¡°You can¡¯t fill your stomach with one sip.¡±
The output of the particle elerator depended entirely on the ether fusion reactor, which couldn¡¯t be raised recklessly.
¡°Arma, when will the second artifact arrive?¡±
¡°ording to the timeline, it should be in the summer of 2031. The location is, as you know, Mariner Valley on Mars.¡±
The first artifact sent by the Prophet was a kind of warning letter and the second one was an ether core.
It was different from gue core in that it specialized in spreading ether around.
In fact, it was spected that the fusion reactor, gue core, and ether core were all structurally simr, except for their names.
It was Lucia who said that confidently, so it must be true.
¡°Ether core¡ In the original history, that¡¯s when psychics started to appear.¡±
¡°There¡¯s not much record left, but it¡¯s likely.¡±
¡°We advanced the schedule artificially, so we might not need to secure it. The output of that core is not very high.¡±
¡°It seems that the Prophet was very considerate. Maybe he thought that humanity would be surprised if powerful psychics appeared from the start.¡±
The Prophet tried to awaken humanity step by step, but humanity itself was busy using his technology and power.
They didn¡¯t seriously prepare for the existence of cosmic monsters.
Arma spected that there might have been a war to secure that core.
¡°We don¡¯t know how important that core is at this point, but we didn¡¯t know then. So there¡¯s a high possibility that they fought for it.¡±
It would have been nice if they had acquired historical data. It was a pity.
¡°Anyway, let¡¯s scatter it on Earth as another possibility. The location is¡ near Moscow.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll scatter it in the form of a meteorite when I get it.¡±
They didn¡¯t need it, but for current humanity, ether core was the first alien artifact they encountered.
It would be better if a friendly faction got it and they had no power over them.
Arma looked at other data and said.
¡°By the way, Master, the public sentiment in Korea is not goodtely.¡±
¡°Is it because of those psychics popping up?¡±
¡°Yes. They¡¯re even saying that your era is over.¡±
¡°Well, I guess they would say that.¡±
There was one thing that people who hated Yu Ji-ha added when they exined him.
¨DHe¡¯s just a ck metal one-trick pony.
Most of the technology and concepts he had shown so far were based on ck metal, so it was understandable in a way.
But this was because there was no need to exin it separately.
There was ck metal on Earth, and the person who could dpose and use it at high resolution was fixed. What could they argue against that?
In fact, many scientists had denounced Yu Ji-ha as a fraud in the beginning.
They said that science that couldn¡¯t be exined was no different from pseudoscience.
Anyway, because of those things, Yu Ji-ha had the image of a ck metal one-trick pony even though he had a clear achievement of artificial intelligence.
Arma cautiously presented the data.
¡°The stock price is falling¡ and foreigners are taking money out of Korea. They seem to be very anxious.¡±
¡°There are two choices. Either expose it right away or wait for them to self-destruct.¡±
¡°It might be better to wait if you just make a statement.¡±
¡°Then let¡¯s just make a statement to reassure them.¡±
At this point, only alpha-level or higher real psychics were appearing in Megacity and Korea.
Hwang Sun-young was a typical example.
Arma used the psychic scanner to identify them and quietly pulled them in.
If he mounted the scanner on Settler and circled the Earth, he could identify all the psychics in the world, but he didn¡¯t do that because they were just a kind of by-product that couldn¡¯t even be mass-produced.
¡°Weren¡¯t most of them sters?¡±
¡°Yes. They¡¯re causing amotion right now, saying that the psychics we¡¯ve been waiting for have appeared. The media is busy hyping them up.¡±
¡°Well, it¡¯s amazing to shoot energy from your hand.¡±
sters were the most useless type among the psychic ssifications of the Human Alliance.
They could use ether for offensive purposes, but it was meaningless in the war against gue.
No matter how much energy humans poured out, they couldn¡¯t even tickle the metal monsters that crossed hundreds of meters of battlefield.
Of course, they could be useful at an individual level.
They could fly in the sky if they got used to ether.
¡°He¡¯s like a theme stock without performance. You could also call him a mackerel among fish.¡±
It was technically a fish, but it didn¡¯t get much respect as a food ingredient.
Even so, if a few sters gathered, they could make a dposer that was slightly inferior to Yu Ji-ha¡¯s.
They had the data umted by various governments and corporations over the years.
But there was a fatal problem with the ck metal they made.
¡°Apparently, the problem hasn¡¯t surfaced yet. Let¡¯s watch for a while and prepare to buy the tantalum mine.¡±
¡°Yes. I¡¯ve already contacted Russia.¡±
They could produce anti-particles and hafnium-2 as much as they wanted with the supermassive particle elerator, but they needed at least some excuse.
Yu Ji-ha clicked his tongue when he saw the news that Japan was building a railgun battleship.
¡°America gave them the cannon and capacitor data. It doesn¡¯t seem to be President McKinley¡¯s intention¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s probably the pressure of the Democratic Party. They need Japan¡¯s rearmament.¡±
They wanted to regain their influence in East Asia by any means.
But it was impossible as long as Yu Ji-ha existed.
¡°Let them self-destruct and we¡¯ll do our own thing. Prepare to operate the nuclear fusion nt and the mass driver.¡±
¡°Understood.¡±
¡
¡°I understand your concerns, citizens. But Korea¡¯s superiority in the ck metal market will not change in the future. Trust me.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s statement on the situation was released, but the negative public opinion did not subside.
It was because many countries had proven that they could produce a series of ck metal products by securing psychics.
The products that could be made without Korea¡¯s help were rtively simple ones such as ck metal batteries and railgun cannons.
But that was enough to excite Japan and France.
The former had severed ties with Korea, and thetter had almost no trade with Korea on ck metal matters because they kept mentioning Hitler.
They had fresh water in their suffocating situation, so why wouldn¡¯t they drink it?
The Japanese government sumbed to the pressure of Shinilbohoe and announced an investment n of several trillion yen and confirmed the construction of a railgun cruiser.
¨DLet¡¯s name it Yamato. The second ship should be Nagato.
¨DThat name is too extravagant for a ship that doesn¡¯t even weigh 20,000 tons. It should be over 50,000 tons at least.
¨DBy the way, how did they get America¡¯s cooperation? America was the one who imposed economic sanctions on them for failing the nuclear test.
¨DRecently, America has been actively pushing for Japan¡¯s normalization¡ They chose to side with Japan rather than Korea.
¨DThe appearance of Hyperman was like giving them wings. We don¡¯t have to bow our heads to Korea anymore.
France was in a simr mood.
When Germany, their neighbor, attracted a nuclear fusion nt and mass-produced ck metal batteries, showing pro-Korean behavior, they criticized them harshly.
¨DGermany doesn¡¯t seem to realize that dictatorship is sweet but bitter in the end.
¨DFrance will never sumb to a tyrant like Korea. There can be nopromise on freedom and human rights.
¨DWe don¡¯t care if we sell fewer cars. We don¡¯t mind if our passenger nes are less efficient. We can rece nuclear fusion with eco-friendly renewable energy.
In summary, France was too proud to bow their heads.
They had defied America¡¯s interference and achieved independent nuclear development, so their pride must have been immense.
Also, there was no significant impact on the lives of French people at the moment.
¨Dck metal? It¡¯s great, but we lived well without it. So we shouldn¡¯t break our pride.
The stock market froze and the economic growth rate fell consecutively, but the French were willing to ept it.
They would rather live poor thanpromise with a dictator.
For them, the emergence of these psychics was a tremendous boost.
A politician even shouted in an interview with a media outlet:
¡°Long live France! France has be an even greater nation. A country that has surrendered to a tyrant will never know this feeling!¡±
The atmosphere was so heated that a picture of Hitler and Yu Ji-ha merged together was burned at a festival in Paris.
The Paris authorities dismissed it as an irresponsible act of some extremists, but the citizens apuded it.
It showed how deep their resentment towards Yu Ji-ha was after more than a year of sanctions.
While both countries were burning like this, America stepped back and watched.
Russia kept silent as always and China was in trouble.
They had given upnd to get Yu Ji-ha¡¯s cooperation, but it was exposed by another faction and met with fierce bacsh.
¨DLet¡¯s purge Wang Xian who changed the country name without looking ahead!
¨DWe can¡¯t take it anymore. It¡¯s time for China to rise again!
It was a time when anti-Yu Ji-ha fever was blowing all over the world.
Many political and economic experts analyzed that it was a bacsh from Yu Ji-ha¡¯s monopoly on ck metal processing.
¨DHe should have done it moderately¡ Now, any decent country can process ck metal. His absolute position is gone, so his downfall is not far away.
¨DIf Si Group had been exposed, the Korean stock market would have experienced the worst panic sell ever.
¨DBut Yu Ji-ha doesn¡¯t seem to be flustered. He seems to have predicted this situation.
¨DAnyway, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s era is over. Artificial intelligence is still there, but it¡¯s not very influential unless it¡¯s a super artificial intelligence.
They all seriously predicted the end of Yu Ji-ha¡¯s era.
And in such a situation, a Japanese Atago-ss Aegis destroyer was docked at the dock.
It was recorded as maintenance on paper, but in fact, this ship was undergoing a refit to remove its armament system and mount a railgun.
They had seeded in making a railgun cannon and a high-capacity capacitor by giving a lot of concessions to America and getting the Zumwalt-ss data.
Dozens of Hypermen had exhausted themselves, but that didn¡¯t matter much.
Japan finally had a railgun-armed warship.
The Atago-ss was undergoing the refit work quietly with such expectations.
But a maintenance worker who was polishing the cannon found a crack.
¡®Why is there a crack here?¡¯
It wasn¡¯t there when it was delivered, so it must have been new.
He looked around and confirmed that no one was there and pretended not to know.
¡®I¡¯ll only get in trouble if I tell the higher-ups. They¡¯ll ask me why I told them.¡¯
The Maritime Self-Defense Force and Shinilbohoe were obsessed with this warship and wouldn¡¯t tolerate any noise.
It¡¯s just an external crack, so it won¡¯t affect the arc discharge¡
¡®Ignorance is bliss.¡¯
The maintenance worker forgot about the crack.
Chapter 103: Something is Wrong
Chapter 103: Something is Wrong
The emergence of ability users had started to affect not only the Korean stock market, but also the economy.
First, the ck metal processing factories that had been invested by various countries announced their withdrawal from the Si Group.
They asked for help to withdraw without any conditions, and Yu Ji-ha wanted to hear their reasons.
The only country that agreed to an interview was Canada.
The director in charge of Korea at Maple International sighed deeply.
¡°Do you think we want to leave? Even if there is a substitute, we have invested so far. It¡¯s absurd.¡±
¡°Did the higher-ups decide to withdraw? You can speak freely.¡±
He smiled bitterly.
¡°That¡¯s how it turned out. They say that the economy is inevitably dependent on politics. It¡¯s a pity.¡±
He didn¡¯t say it explicitly, but it was likely that the Canadian politicians had joined the anti-Yu Ji-ha craze.
There were also many ability users in Canada who could produce ck metal products.
The decision to abandon their investment in Korea and take on a new risk meant that the anti-Yu Ji-ha phenomenon was serious.
The world¡¯s leading economic magazines had one voice.
¡ªHe ate too much by himself. His greed caused this situation.
Arma didn¡¯t understand what he had eaten, but anyway, that terrible misunderstanding was spread all over the world.
The director shook his head and stood up.
¡°I guess we can¡¯t use the androids we bought in Korea abroad, right?¡±
¡°You can use them for disy purposes.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a shame. Anyway, Maple International officially announces its withdrawal from Korea.¡±
¡°We have received it. By the way, there won¡¯t be such a thing, but if you want to re-enter the Korean marketter, the fee will be higher.¡±
He raised both arms.
¡°I¡¯m just a messenger. The politicians will take care of it.¡±
That¡¯s how Canada withdrew, and then the other countries decided to close their factories one after another.
Arma couldn¡¯t understand it.
¡°I don¡¯t know why they need to take on the risk.¡±
¡°It means that their hatred for Master is greater than the risk. And most of the businessmen didn¡¯t want to withdraw. The politicians decided to withdraw.¡±
¡°Well, if they get screwed from above, they get screwed. Anyway, don¡¯t be nice to them when they try to re-enterter.¡±
¡°Should we charge three times more for the fee?¡±
¡°Also reduce the supply by half and put more in Russia and Germany.¡±
The two countries showed their unchanged trust in Korea despite this situation.
Russia was almost an economic ally, but Germany was impressive.
The chancellor called Yu Ji-ha and made it clear that there would be no withdrawal.
He seemed to like the nuclear fusion nt that waspleted very much.
He paid a huge cost for it, but the power supplied by the nuclear fusion nt exceeded and remained after offsetting it.
Now he didn¡¯t have to buy expensive electricity from France.
Of course, Germany also gathered ability users and tried to process ck metal, but they thought it was foolish to cut off their rtionship with Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªck metal is a scarce resource, so reducing the supply source is too risky.
¡ªThey criticize Yu Ji-ha as a dictator, but most of the countries that criticize him have done more than that in the past. History doesn¡¯t disappear just because they don¡¯t mention it.
¡ªAnyway, we have to think realistically. It¡¯s never a good thing to break up with Yu Ji-ha because of emotions.
On the other hand, Putin, the president of Russia, heard some unknown information from Yu Ji-ha¡¯s.
¡°There is a problem with the ck metal products made by psychers?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a very fatal problem. It will be quite difficult to solve it.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a relief. I almost closed down the factory.¡±
Of course, Yu Ji-ha knew that Putin had no such intention.
The two dictators needed each other.
¡°By the way, I¡¯m looking forward to Japan building a warship with a railgun.¡±
¡°Do you need a railgun battleship?¡±
¡°There is no country that doesn¡¯t need it. I know you promised with America, but how can it not work?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t give you the cannon and battery technology because of the agreement. But I can help you prevent any possible defects.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°It¡¯s rted to the fatal problem I mentioned earlier. I¡¯ll help you so that it doesn¡¯t happen in Russia.¡±
He meant that he would help them develop their own railgun independently.
If he could know in advance the major defects that would ur during development, what could be more helpful than that?
The emergence of ability users was a global phenomenon and there were many cases in Russia as well.
If they gathered them and produced railguns domestically¡
Putin clenched and unclenched his fist with excitement.
With Russia¡¯s current power, it was unrealistic to enter the Pacific Ocean.
He thought it would be better to leave Korea alone and exert his influence in ces like the ck Sea and the Baltic Sea.
He could do that if he had a railgun battleship.
¡°I¡¯ll reward you greatly if you help us this time.¡±
¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it. I¡¯ll send someone soon.¡±
¡°By the way, can you tell me roughly what kind of defect Japan will face?¡±
¡°It¡¯s nothing big, it will just break apart.¡±
¡°Do you mean the cannon will break apart?¡±
¡°If you¡¯re lucky, that¡¯s what will happen.¡±
Then what will happen if you¡¯re unlucky?
¡
Japan had put a lot of effort into installing a railgun on the Atago-ss.
They maintained extreme security and deployed the best expert group to speed up the modification work.
They also nned to have many EU defense ministers attend the test.
They were very conscious of Yu Ji-ha.
He didn¡¯t seem to care much, but anyway, the preparations for the test were going smoothly.
There was a very excited atmosphere in Japan, as they finally had a railgun battleship, and Korea was criticized for being far behind, but they couldn¡¯t hide their anxiety.
¡ªEven if they improved the Atago-ss, it can¡¯t beat a dedicated tform. Even America abandoned the Zumwalt-ss and built a new railgun battleship.
¡ªBut Japan seems to have high expectations for this experiment. They said they would dere rearmament and amend Article 9 of the Constitution as soon as they seed.
¡ªWhen will they amend that damn Article 9? It¡¯s been a mess for 20 years.
¡ªThis time it¡¯s real. The Japanese kids are determined to get back Takeshima at all costs.
¡ªHonestly, upying Takeshima is crossing the line.
¡ªJapan crossed the line first. Who tried to upy Dokdo when Arma was absent?
-Judging by Japan¡¯s reaction, they want to block any interference from us thoroughly this time.
-That conspiracy theory that we interfered with their nuclear test is really persistent.
-It¡¯s like Japan¡¯s legendary 1-gun. There¡¯s no substance to it.
-I wish their railgun would explode when they fire it¡ But that won¡¯t happen, right?
-The Navy has prepared very hard for this. They got data from America and tested the cannon and battery perfectly.
-America is too much. We gave them that data in the first ce.
-To be precise, Jihyeong did.
-The Democratic Party is trying to step on us these days. They sent a special envoy and offered to withdraw US troops, but they got rejected.
-I appreciate America, but we¡¯ve done a lot for them too. Let¡¯s go our separate ways at this point.
The date of the railgun test was approaching.
It was decided to fire from the Kyushu coast toward the Pacific Ocean, and not only EU defense ministers, but also major officials of the US Navy were going to watch it.
Matsuda, the secretary-general of the New Japan Restoration Association, emphasized to the Navy repeatedly.
¡°There must be no interference from Korea. Get cooperation from the US Navy or whatever, but block any interference from the source.¡±
They wouldn¡¯t dare act rashly when the US Navy was next to them.
In fact, Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t even bother to interfere this time.
It was obvious that they would fail anyway, so why give them an excuse?
¡°It¡¯s impossible for dozens of alpha-ss psychers to ovee their limits.¡±
If they gathered like that and made a railgun cannon, they would face two problems.
They were cracks in the cannon and its lifespan.
ck metal changed its shape by forming a small-scale ether field through the psycher¡¯s responsiveness.
This was called transform, and the implementation scale was strictly divided ording to the psycher¡¯s grade.
Low-grade psychers were sketchbooks from the beginning.
To ovee the scale, connecting sketchbooks was like mobilizing many psychers.
In that case, they could draw a picture, but there would be ack of unity and mismatched parts.
For example, if they made a railgun cannon, cracks could ur due to different implementation sizes.
ck metal was an incredibly tough metal, but it could break apart if exposed to ultra-high voltage.
To prevent this situation, they needed either a psychokinesiswork or a mentalist¡¯s help, but the former was not even researched by the United Human Federation and thetter was with Yu Ji-ha.
¡°It¡¯s just a doomed test.¡±
There was also a problem with lifespan, and the representative one was transform release phenomenon.
Most psychers couldn¡¯t maintain transform for long.
So even if they gathered such psychers and made a ck metal battery, it wouldn¡¯tst long and transform would be released and the battery would dpose.
¡°I can already see the future.¡±
They should have just produced under his management, but they had to be greedy and mess things up.
Well, greed was also linked to ambition, so it wasn¡¯t all bad.
They would learn more about ck metal and ether by failing repeatedly.
But the current humanity didn¡¯t even have a little room for failure.
Arma received a report from Jihyeong.
¡¸Master, the nuclear fusion nt and mass driver in the South Sea have beenpleted. We can operate them as soon as the cleanup work is done.¡¹
¡°Let¡¯s go soon.¡±
¡
Matsuda, the deputy director, looked at the newlyunched Atago-ss ship with a proud expression.
Instead of the usual guns and VLS of a destroyer, there was a long and ck cannon that seemed to pierce the sky.
The cannon was as impressive as the railgun cruisers of Korea, which did not fall behind at all.
¡°Finally, the day hase¡¡±
The day when Japan would have a railgun ship.
He had coveted the railgun cruisers of Korea for so long.
Theirbat power was no joke, as they had chased away escort fleets with a single ship and even made the US quite headache.
Of course, one ship could not change the tide of war.
But Matsuda thought that Japan had to have what Korea had.
¡®We will secure everything, whether it is railgun or ion propulsion.¡¯
And their goal was to wage a war of revenge against Korea, along with the New Japan Restoration Society and the Maritime Self-Defense Force.
The final battle would be thending on Tsushima.
On that day, the New Japan Restoration Society would officially seize power and pursue the normalization of Japan.
In other words, today¡¯s event was not just a simple weapon test, but a ceremony that would determine the future of Japan.
¡®So no one should interfere.¡¯
He doubted that Korea would dare to do anything when the US Navy was nearby.
He nced at the defense officials from the EU who were standing next to him.
Many EU countries also had a lot of interest in this test.
Especially France, which had many opportunities to project its military power abroad.
In fact, railgun was a weapon that any country that operated a navy would desire to have.
Matsuda hoped that Japan would be a leading country in railgun technology.
¡®We may have started a bitte, but we just need to keep moving forward. Heaven and Earth, please watch over Japan.¡¯
Soon after, an announcement was heard from the ship.
¡°We will now begin the railgun test. Aligning the cannon.¡±
The railgun was not integrated with the CIC system, so separate parameters had to be entered for firing.
In that respect, Japan¡¯s Maritime Self-Defense Force was ahead of Korea¡¯s Navy by a few steps.
When the firing parameters came out, the gunner quickly entered them into the controlputer.
¡°Railgun firing ready!¡±
¡°Fire!¡±
Soon after, blue arcs formed on the railgun cannon and then red mes spewed out.
The projectiles flew past the target ship in session.
¡°Firing sessful.¡±
The announcement dered sess and the naval officers clenched their fists.
¡°Let¡¯s keep up this momentum!¡±
¡°Japan will not lose!¡±
The original schedule for today was supposed to end here, but Matsuda decided to be more ambitious.
¡°Let¡¯s test it at maximum output. We have to exceed 500km.¡±
¡°Deputy director, that¡¯s too risky for the first attempt.¡±
¡°The cooling capacity is currently insufficient. And the temperature of the cannon is high.¡±
Some people tried to dissuade him, but Matsuda waved his arm.
¡°Didn¡¯t we already confirm that ck metal is the best instor? It doesn¡¯t matter how hot it gets, just fire.¡±
If it had been an event within Japan, he wouldn¡¯t have pushed it so hard.
But knowing that the US Navy and EU defense officials were watching made Matsuda impatient.
¡®It¡¯s not enough to just seed in the test. We have to achieve results that match Korea.¡¯
And so, the power nt on Baji Ind started to supply maximum power.
The CIC of Atago-ss warned that the temperature of the cannon was too high, but Matsuda did not order to stop.
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter! Fire towards the Pacific!¡±
It was when the gunner had just entered the firing parameters and pressed the switch.
Blue arcs formed on the railgun cannon and then spread all over it.
No one understood what was happening as it was their first time seeing it.
And by the time they realized it, it was already toote.
A scream-like report came from CIC.
¡°Current backflow! The capacitor can¡¯t handle it!¡±
¡°Rapid temperature rise inside the cannon! If this continues¡¡±
It was then.
Something snapped with a loud noise and then the cannon disappeared.
The micro-crack that was hidden by the maintenance worker could not withstand the tremendous arc and turned into arge crack.
And then, the backflowing current exploded the capacitor and destroyed the circuit breaker and reached even to the anti-ship missiles in the ammunition depot that had not been removed yet.
Bang!
A shockwave and a wave spread from Atago-ss in an instant.
Before the nearby ships were swept away by the wave, Atago-ss broke in half and exploded.
¡°Uh¡¡±
Matsuda could not see that scene.
He fell over by the shockwave and hit his head on the railing.
Fortunately, he was wearing a helmet and avoided injury, but his body was sore all over.
Some officer helped him up.
¡°Deputy director, deputy director! It¡¯s a disaster!¡±
¡°¡What is it?¡±
¡°Atago is¡ sinking!¡±
¡°What?¡±
He quickly got up and looked forward, only to see that Atago-ss was slowly sinking with only the bow and stern visible.
Matsuda could not ept this reality and opened his mouth dumbly.
¡°¡¡±
The sea was filled with only the waves and the loud rms caused by Atago-ss sinking.
There was a lot of noise around him, but he could not hear anything.
¡®Why, how?¡¯
What went wrong?
The preparation was perfect and the test was smooth.
He did push it a bit in the middle, but it was hard to imagine that the ship would sink because of that.
Could it be, Korea?
He hurriedly looked for Colonel Ofield, the defense official of the US Navy.
¡°Colonel Ofield, could it be¡¡±
Before he could finish his question, the colonel shook his head.
¡°There is no one else in this area besides us.¡±
¡°There must be something we missed. The ship can¡¯t just explode like that.¡±
¡°I saw it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears. The cannon cracked and the current backflowed, causing the ship to explode. Maybe there was a detonation in the ammunition depot.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Colonel Ofield calmly dered the failure and pulled his hat down.
¡°I have to report to my country, so I¡¯ll take my leave. Oh, and I¡¯m sorry for what happened today.¡±
Sorry?
Matsuda clenched his teeth.
Today¡¯s test was something that had to be sessful at all costs.
To show those arrogant Koreans, and to make Japan¡¯s presence known to the Western world, including the US.
And most importantly, to speed up Japan¡¯s normalization.
But the test not only failed, but also sank Atago-ss.
Who would take responsibility for this?
Matsuda unconsciously thought of the names of the naval officers who could be med.
Rescue ships were flocking around the sinking Atago-ss.
¡
The news of Japan¡¯s railgun test failure spread across the world.
The countries that were watching with interest did not worry much at first.
It wasmon to fail a new weapon test.
Especially if it was a system like railgun that had never been done before.
It was strange that Korea had seeded in one shot and quickly deployed it.
But as the US revealed the details of the incident, the atmosphere started to change.
Japan originally wanted to cover it up, but the US insisted that they had to find the cause, and finally salvaged Atago-ss and analyzed it thoroughly.
And then, the reason for the test failure was revealed in a hundred days.
¡®ck metal cannon surface crack caused discontinuous arc discharge that capacitor and cannon could not withstand and current backflow.¡¯
It urately pinpointed the cause of the disaster and Japan fell into a great shock.
There were too many problems.
The most serious one was that there was a crack in the ck metal cannon that was made by many hypermen.
The joint investigation team pointed out the first crack.
¡°You could have found it if you had looked carefully. Someone must have covered it up.¡±
¡°I understand that you want to hide something smelly, but you should have cross-verified several times for such an important test.¡±
¡°It¡¯s also a problem that you didn¡¯t empty the ammunition depotpletely.¡±
Japan did not humbly ept these criticisms, but instead forced a retest.
All schedules were moved up and this time, Maya-ss Aegis destroyer was mobilized.
And then, a shocking fact was revealed.
The cannon that was made this time also had a crack.
It was inevitable to conclude that there was a structural w unless the hypermen had done some tricks.
Also, France and Canada reported simr news.
¡ªWe concluded that it is difficult to create arge shape like a cannon with many ability users.
¡ªThe ck metal battery that we made for the first time also copsed over time. It is impossible to release it as it is.
People realized then.
Something went terribly wrong.
Chapter 104: They Shouldn’t Have Done That
Chapter 104: They Shouldn¡¯t Have Done That
When someone has to ept something that they cannotprehend, they go through several stages.
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and eptance.
When Japan failed the railgun test and the cause was revealed, many countries were in denial.
¡ªck metal is an unknown metal with little known information. They must have made some mistake in the production or testing process.
¡ªOne or two attempts are not enough to know for sure. They need to test it at least dozens of times¡
But when the cause was confirmed and simr reports came from other countries, they became hopeless.
The politicians who led this situation remained silent, while the economic sector started to attack them.
¡ªWhat did they base their decision to withdraw the factories on? They acted without thinking of an exit strategy because of their petty emotions. That¡¯s a disqualification for a politician.
¡ªIt was a decision with too much risk and too little reward. The politicians who made this decision should all resign.
¡ªIdiots.
Meanwhile, more reports kepting out.
If all the reports from different countries at this time were added up, it would be at least in the hundreds.
They were written in differentnguages, but the conclusion was the same.
¡ªIt is certain that proper ck metal products cannot be made without Yujiha¡¯s support.
¡ªHowever, if they are willing to ept defects, they can somehow use them. In the case of railguns, if they lower the specs by half, they can use them for a short time.
¡ªWhat¡¯s the point of lowering the specs by half for railguns, which have an advantage in range and firing speed?
¡ªIn short, they shouldn¡¯t have done that.
As this atmosphere was formed, a wave of anger swept over them.
As always, it was about why Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªIf it wasn¡¯t for such a stubborn person, the world would have been better than now.
¡ªWe have to bow to a dictator? That¡¯s impossible!
¡ªWe don¡¯t need ck metal and unoptenium! We lived well without them!
¡ªYu Ji-ha is Satan who tries to rule the world with artificial intelligence and ck metal!
¡ªLet¡¯s reject him!
Anti-Yu Ji-ha protests spread like wildfire in various countries.
It mostly happened in Europe, such as France and Italy.
But those who could think rationally had already finished their calctions and were waiting for the timing to re-enter Korea.
They bargained.
They politely contacted Si Group and they showed the same attitude as before.
They said they could re-enter as long as they epted their conditions.
The countries were relieved, but they were shocked when they checked the conditions.
¡ªA threefold increase inmission is too much.
¡ªThey said they would reduce the supply and give it to otherpanies¡ There¡¯s no need to do that if these are the conditions.
¡ªIs excluding the politicians who caused this situation asking for their resignation? This is interference in domestic affairs.
¡ªording to the intelligence we have obtained, they will lower themission of the remainingpanies by 30%.
¡ªThey are stealing money from our pockets and giving it to them.
These conditions are usually not made public in the world.
But maybe there was a dissatisfied politician who leaked them to the media.
The public reaction was divided in half.
¡ªLet¡¯s concede a hundred times and say thatmission and supply are the rights of the supplier. But why do they ask for the resignation of politicians?
¡ªThis is clear interference in domestic affairs. We cannot ept it.
On the other hand, there was a considerable response that there was no choice.
¡ªThey closed down factories and fired workers as if they would nevere back. Isn¡¯t it lucky that they are epting us?
¡ªIf we don¡¯t ept this, do we have an alternative? Don¡¯t tell me we should stop using ck metal like those idiots?
¡ªThe politicians who led this situation are all doomed anyway. It just came a little faster.
The public opinion was tense and there was a me game, but France and EU resisted saying that they could never do that.
¡ªAt this point, improving rtions with Yujiha is impossible. We have no choice but to start an anti-ck metal movement beyond anti-Yujiha.
¡ªEurope will not bend to a dictator! Just like we did in World War II.
While each country was turning upside down like this, Japan was literally burning all over the ind.
It was found that Shin-Nippon Yusin-kai tried to shift the me to Haeja-dae for what happened.
It was what Matsuda, the secretary-general, did.
People couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and protests spread nationwide.
¡ªThey were talking about Japan¡¯s railgun, but what is this mess? I¡¯m so ashamed that I can¡¯t live!
¡ªThe problem is Yusin-kai, who only tries to hide and avoid responsibility! Disband immediately!
¡ªWhen did Haeja-dae be a servant of a political party? Wake up!
¡ªJust give up Tsushima and improve rtions with Korea! Look at Russia! We can do that too!
On the other hand, Koreans, who could be called bystanders in this situation, were dumbfounded.
¡ªWe were just sitting still, why are they making a fuss over there? It¡¯s funny.
¡ªThey shouted that Yu Ji-ha¡¯s era was over, but the ones who really ended were themselves~
¡ªThey said that all the products made by the new ability user were defective, right? You can¡¯t beat the genuine ones after all.
¡ªYu Ji-ha just keeps walking forward and the people around him fall down¡ He¡¯s really lucky.
¡ªThink about it the other way. What if Yujiha nned all this?
¡ªThat¡¯s creepy.
¡ªI don¡¯t understand why they keep resisting and getting beaten up. Russia and Germany are sweetly sucking honey, right?
¡ªThe problem is the US guys. They gave Japan the railgun data and made them restless. They didn¡¯t withdraw their factories and just watched, but they only put wind in them.
¡ªUS bro, don¡¯t do this between us¡
¡ªThat¡¯s that, but the stock price has fully recovered and hit 4,500. 5,000 here we go!
¡ªHave you seen the red country~ Full of dreams and hopes~
¡ªIt¡¯s a shame. If Shinra Group was public, it would have been KOSPI 10,000 by now.
¡ªInstead, Yujiha would have to care about the shareholders. There are pros and cons.
¡ªDid you save me saying that ck metal is a one-tool?
¡ªIt¡¯s a one-tool, but the surroundings are scissors and they tear it all up.
And at that time, Yu Ji-ha was having a hotline conversation with President McKinley.
It might be thest conversation.
***
¡°Are you really not involved in this incident at all? I¡¯m not using you, I¡¯m just asking out of curiosity.¡±
¡°Why do you always look at me whenever something happens?¡±
¡°That¡¯s because you have a history of trouble.¡±
¡°You can imagine whatever you want, but I have nothing to do with this. Besides, I¡¯m sure the president has something to say to me.¡±
It was now McKinley¡¯s turn to exin himself.
¡°I want to make this clear, my administration did not hand over the railgun data.¡±
¡°I know. It¡¯s not easy to do something like that in your eighth year.¡±
McKinley gave a bitter smile.
¡°Sometimes I hear that the White House janitor has more power than me in my eighth year.¡±
Of course, he was joking.
McKinley still had the power to control the superpower until the new president gave his eptance speech.
He just tried not to use that power as a matter of convention.
The railgun data deal was also pushed by the Democratic Party under pressure, and it had little to do with the administration.
McKinley¡¯s tone became subtle.
¡°Can I ask you one thing? Did you know about it?¡±
¡°To some extent¡¡±
¡°I wondered why you kept quiet. Russia and Germany didn¡¯t change their behavior either. You must have given them a hint, right?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know everything. I just predicted this one.¡±
¡°People with abilities who can emit energy from their hands appeared, and you predicted that? This only confirms my suspicion.¡±
¡°What suspicion?¡±
¡°That President Yu is an alien.¡±
Yu Ji-haughed it off.
¡°I¡¯m a human born on Earth.¡±
He wasn¡¯t lying, since Megacity was in Sydney, Australia.
McKinley changed the subject.
¡°These ability users who appeared this time, do they have anything to do with psychers? I¡¯m asking because Korea has a very low number of ability userspared to other countries. Some countries have already formed factions.¡±
His aides did a good job.
When he changed the mode of gue Core, psychers started appearing all over the world.
That was definitely his intention, and many psychers were born in Korea as well.
Hwang Sunyoung was a representative example, who epted Yu Jihwa¡¯s proposal and became a full citizen of Megacity.
Other psychers also settled in Megacity, albeit with different ranks.
It was thanks to Arma¡¯s persuasion.
This information was not revealed to the outside world, and Korea became an unusual country with very few ability users.
There was no group of ability users that existed in most other countries.
¡°You¡¯re showing your cards too much.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll take that as a yes. Anyway, these psycher guys are causing trouble these days¡ Like in the movies, I mean.¡±
¡°They must have wanted to try out their powers after getting them. But don¡¯t Americans have guns? Most of them will be easily neutralized at that line.¡±
That was only true for the byproducts, and the real ones above alpha level were not like that.
¡°I wish it was that simple¡ But who knows what these psychers are thinking?¡±
¡°Think of them as children. You need to discipline them harshly and sometimes give them candy. That¡¯s how you tame them.¡±
¡°I¡¯m seriously worried that a civil war might break out like in the movies. There are too many psychers.¡±
Most psychers tended to appear proportionally to the poption, but Russia and Tajikistan were abnormally high.
The former was so surprising that Putin ordered countermeasures, and thetter was not known yet but had been counted by scanners.
Arma advised him when he saw the numbers.
¡°Russia is one thing, but Tajikistan should be controlled as soon as possible. There are also psychers above alpha level there.¡±
They hadn¡¯t been exposed yet because of the low poption densitypared to the vastnd.
But they would eventually be found out as they often encountered forces like Masad¡¯s resistance or the Taliban.
Anyway, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s next targets were Manchuria and Afghanistan, so it wasn¡¯t a big problem.
He tried to end the conversation roughly, but McKinley wouldn¡¯t let go of him.
¡°Let me ask you onest thing. What was that thing you experimented with in Punggye-ri? Please tell me it wasn¡¯t a nuclear test.¡±
¡°Do you think I would ask you so peacefully if it was a nuclear test? The IAEA would have stormed in by now.¡±
¡°It wasn¡¯t nuclear, but it emitted seismic wavesparable to it¡ Please don¡¯t destroy the world¡¯s peace with that thing. What I mean is, your term is almost over, so just stay quiet.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll try my best.¡±
¡°Damn, you won¡¯t give up on Manchuria until the end.¡±
¡°Look at the map. Isn¡¯t it unbnced that thend connects the Korean Penins and Russia? It would be perfect if I had Manchuria.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know when President Yu started to emphasize his aesthetic sense. Anyway, don¡¯t provoke the Democratic Party any more. You know what they¡¯re saying in this election, right? Criticizing President Yu boosts their approval ratings.¡±
¡°I knew Americans hated me, but I didn¡¯t know it was that bad.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand. Half of Americans still support President Yu and want to join hands with America instead of Russia. It¡¯s not toote even now. Just say one word¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s enough for today.¡±
Everyone was trying to have one more word with the American president¡
But this was also a bitter self-portrait of ame duck who had entered the power.
McKinley made his final statement and hung up the phone.
¡°Please don¡¯t forget what you said about wanting peace.¡±
Of course, Yu Jihwa wanted peace.
But that didn¡¯t mean world peace.
Anyway, protecting humanity from gue¡¯s invasion was peace.
***
After the ck Metal incident was settled, many countries that had withdrawn from Korea decided on their policies.
They would try to negotiate as much as possible.
But the conditions they offered to Yu Ji-ha were not very generous.
At best, it was money, but there was no difference from raising themission, so the negotiators were skeptical.
Some countries offered to raise themission, but also to prevent the resignation of politicians, but they met with resistance from thepanies.
¡ªExcessivemissions are directly linked to production costs. There are many ces that produce ck metal products, how can theypete?
However, there were so many countries that escaped from Korea that they all had simr positions.
Politicians didn¡¯t want to step down easily, because if they lost this time, their political careers would be over.
It was best to hold on and hope for the future.
As a result of not negotiating and holding on, a dismal event urred.
There were few countries that were invited to theunch of the world¡¯s firstmercial nuclear fusion reactor and the demonstration of the mass driver.
Only Russia, India, Germany, Australia and a few others made the cut.
Especially, the exclusion of the United States raised many concerns.
¡ªIt must be a retaliatory measure for giving them the railgun data. It¡¯s a warning to the Democrats, not to the McKinley administration.
¡ªKorea has be a position to send a warning to the United States¡ The world has changed a lot.
President McKinley tried to send some bureaucrats somehow, but he had topromise on expanding the limited press corps a little bit.
ording to rumors, President McKinley was so angry that he met with the Democratic senators.
¡°The mass driver is not just a machine that throws garbage into space! It¡¯s a thing that makes all the ICBMs in the world useless and we don¡¯t know anything about it! We have to cooperate well and learn from now on, why did you give them the data and make President Yu angry!¡±
It was not known how the Democratic senators reacted, but one thing was certain.
The mass driver had tremendous military value.
Being able to throw garbage into space meant that they could alsounch warheads.
And if they could equip efficient ion thrusters?
It would be a formidable weapon with a range covering the entire earth.
President Yu promised not to use the mass driver as a weapon, but only fools would trust a politician¡¯s words.
Anyway, the eyes of the world were focused on this event.
The nuclear fusion reactor was well-known in principle and had many demonstrations, but the mass driver was new.
It was said to be in Terra Ind, but its true nature was not revealed.
More than 100 security forces and androids guarded the nt like an iron wall, and as the gate opened, President Yu and President Putin appeared.
Behind them were Germany¡¯s Bauer Energy Minister, bureaucrats from India and Australia, and hundreds of journalists from various countries.
What caught their sight was a huge cannon that slowly rose up.
It was almost as big as a high-rise apartment building.
¡°It¡¯s really big¡¡±
¡°Other countries can¡¯t even make a railgun cannon that¡¯s a fraction of it¡¡±
¡°Launch ready. Countdown begins.¡±
As the numbers decreased, discharge started at the end of the cannon and soon something was fired.
People expected a loud noise and wore earplugs, but surprisingly, the sound was small.
¡°The long cannon acts as a silencer as well. That¡¯s why it¡¯s not loud. The cube that went up to the sky will soon break through the atmosphere and head for the sun.¡±
¡°Is there any reason why it has to be the sun?¡±
Bauer Energy Minister asked and Yu shrugged his shoulders.
¡°No particr reason. It¡¯s symbolic. The whole space is a trash can, so you can fire it anywhere.¡±
But it was troublesome to fire it at any time.
There were many satellites passing over the Korean Penins.
It was a low probability, but if they collided, it would be a disaster.
It would be reasonable to assume that they had a satellite surveince system¡
Anotherunch was prepared and now the audience watchedfortably as the mass driver threw garbage away.
¡°I can¡¯t believe they made something like that in my lifetime. I never imagined it.¡±
¡°It doesn¡¯t even appear often in Sci-fi movies.¡±
¡°It¡¯s essential for countries with smallnd area to load nuclear waste.¡±
¡°No, even if you have a lot ofnd, you need it. Who wants to leave nuclear waste behind?¡±
¡°The operating cost will drop to the bottom when the second-generation nuclear fusion reactor is activated. We have to secure it in advance.¡±
Securing it here meant paying Korea and introducing it.
Russia was the only country that had serious economic cooperation with Korea, and even Germany had to pay a huge amount of money to introduce the mass driver.
The next tier was not even worth mentioning.
Various conversations went back and forth while President Putin whispered to President Yu.
¡°Let¡¯s talk for a moment.¡±
Androids surrounded them as they had a secret conversation.
It was about psychers, uncontrolled psychics in Russia.
¡°Some psychers didn¡¯t follow my orders and ran away. They didn¡¯t seem to wear bulletproof vests, but surprisingly they blocked bullets.¡±
It was amon ability for sters.
Once they got used to it, they could fly in the sky to some extent.
Yu Ji-ha nodded his head.
¡°It¡¯s possible to emit energy or enhance your body. A fire extinguisher won¡¯t do much.¡±
They needed heavy weapons, but then their movements would be bigger and sters wouldn¡¯t stay still.
They were troublesome opponents in urban warfare anyway.
Of course, that was only on an individual scale, and they were not a match for public authority.
President Putin¡¯sint ended there, but Yu heard another report from Arma.
¡¸We found two beta-level psychers in Saint Petersburg. They are hiding, but they seem to be siblings. Should I go?¡¹
¡°No. I¡¯ll go myself.¡±
Beta-level sters had considerablebat power.
They couldn¡¯t be dealt with by ordinary special forces, and depending on the situation, they might need to mobilize heavy equipment.
But Yu Ji-ha was the strongest psycher that humanity had created, and he could handle them himself.
Chapter 105: Psychic Collection
Chapter 105: Psychic Collection
The United Human Federation ssified psychics based on Greek letters.
From alpha to omega, but thetter was a symbol for those who were beyond the standard.
Being an omega-level psychic did not mean being hundreds of times stronger than an alpha-level one.
However, this was only true for physical abilities, and mental abilities might be another story.
The only omega-level psychic, Yu Ji-ha, was immune to the mental attacks of the gue, the living Battleship.
He could generate a psychokinesis field that matched the size of a Leviathan-ss gue, which was almost a kilometer long.
How formidable he was.
Beyond a certain level¡ that is, aroundmbda-level, psychics could sense Yu Ji-ha¡¯s overwhelming presence.
Just like how psychics felt fear when they detected the gue¡¯s fleet.
On the other hand, lower-level psychics or ordinary people treated him like a normal person.
In this era, all Earthlings were like that.
However, that did not mean that the United Human Federation knew everything about psychics.
They did not even know what Aetheran, the origin of psychics, was.
The Artifact Analysis Agency had various definitions of ether and psychics, and it would take days and nights to discuss them properly.
But it was somewhat settled when the first director set a standard.
¡ªA human who has Aether sensitivity and can cause a transform phenomenon in living metal.
Of course, there could be objections to this criterion.
Psychics had diverse ssifications and abilities.
Some had physical enhancement abilities that could block bullets, and some had precognition-like abilities.
But the director set the standard for psychics who were needed by the United Humanity.
¡ªFrom our perspective, who have to fight against the gue, most of the abilities are useless. What matters most is how efficiently you can use the ether sent from the ether fusion reactor.
He was right.
Just like a gun for killing people did not need an aesthetic perspective, psychics were the same.
What the United Human Federation needed was psychics who could operate assault armors, prate the enemy gue fleet¡¯s barrage, and deliver reaction bombs.
The ability that corresponded to that was ether sensitivity, which waspletely proportional to the ability to transform living metal.
That¡¯s why it became amon standard to ssify psychics by ether sensitivity.
The abilities of ordinary psychics varied greatly, but there was one thing inmon.
Their physical abilities did not increase that much.
Even if an alpha-level psychic could block bullets, a few levels higher psychic could not block railguns.
The Artifact Analysis Agency analyzed this as the limit of the human species.
¡ªThe gue is like a mammoth. Primitive humans might have had a hard time fighting against a mammoth alone, but they survived by forming groups and using weapons. We have to do the same.
Those weapons were psychics and reaction bombs.
Giant spaceships and such were actually systems to support them.
Anyway, in that respect, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s physical ability was not absurdly high.
Being an omega-level was based on ether sensitivity only.
But no matter what standard he was judged by, he was almost superhumanpared to the alpha and beta-levels that appeared now.
His original body was not, but he had undergone modification surgery, so he could not bepared to ordinary psychics.
Even if makeshift units chased him in groups, it was impossible to deal with him.
Especially if he had an assault armor that received Aether directly from the fusion reactor.
That psychic was flying in Earth¡¯s atmosphere with an assault armor.
It took less than 10 minutes to get from Seoul to St. Petersburg, even though he lowered the output of the ether thruster as much as possible.
The fastest thing in the United Human Federation was a spaceship with a fusion reactor, but the assault armor that Yu Ji-ha boarded was also quite fast.
¡°Optical camouge deployed.¡±
A bird-shaped mobile weapon with wings spread out hid its body among the clouds.
Soon after, an ether reverse field was deployed and sent one person down to the ground.
This kind of gravity crane function was only installed in a few things in the United Human Federation, such as spaceship-ss ships and assault armors.
The output of ordinary assault armors was very low, but the machine that Yu Ji-ha boarded was almostparable to a spaceship ss.
He just lowered the output on purpose because the assault armor could not handle it.
That strongest psychded on the ground from above St. Petersburg.
It was night time.
There were noisy sounds and gunshots everywhere.
It must have been the work of psychics and special forces chasing them.
¡°Arma, lure out the special forces.¡±
Yu Ji-ha was an unwee guest, so he had to hide his identity.
Putin would not fall for it, but it was better to solve it quietly.
¡°I will send an android. 15 minutes until groundnding.¡±
¡°Where are they?¡±
¡°I found them. I will mark them on your master¡¯s sight.¡±
The biochip disyed a map of St. Petersburg and two red dots on his retina.
There they are.
Yu Ji-ha moved with the assault armor.
¡
A man and a woman ran through a street in St. Petersburg that was as neat as a chessboard pattern.
The man looked around as if to protect the woman, and the woman gasped constantly.
They ran through the alley without thinking, and at some point they realized that there was no movement chasing them.
There was no sound of low radio, no siren, no sh of light.
The moonlight was hidden by the clouds, and the surroundings were very quiet.
And they noticed that a man was standing in the dark street.
They could not see his face, but he was very tall and had a bnced physique.
The man, Mikhail, blocked the woman¡¯s front.
¡°Natasha, stay back. He looks dangerous.¡±
¡°¡Is he one of us?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. But he doesn¡¯t seem friendly to us. People who wear such neat suits have a lot to hide.¡±
Soon the clouds cleared and the moonlight revealed the man¡¯s face.
He was handsome enough to catch Natalia¡¯s eye for a moment, but he was clearly not vic.
An Asian¡
Mikhail guarded him while Natalia finally recognized him.
¡°Yu Ji-ha. The Korean¡ dictator.¡±
¡°Are you kidding me? Why is he here, licking dimir¡¯s ass?¡±
¡°But his face is simr¡ no, identical.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face and name were well known to most Russians.
His face filled the TV channels every time he visited Russia.
Many people were fascinated by the amazing technologies he brought, but some hated him and criticized him as nothing but a dictator.
As they were hesitating, Yu Ji-ha stepped forward a few steps.
¡°Hello. I think you already know my name, so can I hear your names?¡±
Mikhail turned his head and bared his teeth.
¡°¡I have no name to tell a dog of dimir.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t like dictators, do you?¡±
¡°I bet less than 30% of Russians like him. We are the same.¡±
¡°But what do we do now? I¡¯m going to take you with me from now on.¡±
¡°Who says so?¡±
Mikhail frowned and stepped forward.
He¡¯s still young.
They looked like they were in their early twenties, but theycked experience too much.
If it were Yu Ji-ha, he would have run away as soon as the opponent revealed his identity.
It meant that he had the power to manipte the situation.
¡®Maybe he was intoxicated by his power.¡¯
He had easily defeated the special forces that chased them, so he must have been confident.
Arma showed him the results of analyzing them.
¡¸The man is Mikhail, a typical ster who has a weakness of getting tired easily due to poor control of ether circuits.¡¹
¡¸The woman¡¯s name is Natalia. She is a ster, but closer to a telekicist. She can move up to 10 objects and lift a car if she concentrates.¡¹
Natalia¡¯s genes were much more useful than Mikhail¡¯s.
sters were not very helpful inbat against the gue, but telekicists could help control reflector bits.
¡®Since they are siblings, it would be better for my mental health to secure both of them.¡¯
It would be better to cooperate as much as possible by talking, but now was the time to make them feel the difference in power.
Those who rushed in without knowing the opponent¡¯s strength needed a fist as a medicine.
¡°Bang!¡±
A golden light burst out from Mikhail¡¯s body.
It might look intimidating to ordinary people, but to Yu Ji-ha, it was evidence that he could not control ether properly.
In other words, he was spilling it around while pouring water into a cup.
¡®He has a lot to learn.¡¯
He would have many psychics to learn from in Megacity.
Yu Ji-ha grabbed his chin as he rushed in with his fist.
Mikhail¡¯s eyes widened at the moment, and a huge amount of ether flowed back through his circuit.
¡°Ugh!¡±
The feeling of ether flowing back was something that could not be known unless experienced.
It was a pain that could not bepared to an electric shock, and it attacked Mikhail¡¯s whole body.
He shook his body and copsed limp.
It was a pathetic end for a psychic who blocked bullets with his bare body and knocked down many special forces members.
When his brother was grabbed by the neck and subdued, his sister Natalia concentrated her mind.
¡°Let him go, or else¡¡±
¡°You should say that after you attack.¡±
¡°Let him go!¡±
She clenched her teeth and a nearby car wrapped in golden light floated up.
She was good at concentrating even in an angry situation.
Yu Ji-ha stretched out his free arm and snapped his fingers.
Suddenly, an irresistible ether surrounded her and pulled her toward him.
¡°Ack!¡±
Natalia flew through the air and was grabbed by Yu Ji-ha¡¯s neck.
¡°H-how can you do that to a person¡¡±
It would be difficult for ordinary telekicists.
But Yu Ji-ha was the only omega-level all-rounder psychic in the United Human Federation.
He could do much better than any psychic could do.
He made ether flow back again, and Natalia fainted with a single scream.
¡¸Gravity crane deployed.¡¹
Their bodies floated up lightly.
¡°Arma, is there a pod nearby?¡±
¡¸It will arrive in 3 minutes. Where should I send it?¡¹
¡°Send it to Megacity Pacific. I need to talk to them.¡±
¡¸Understood.¡¹
¡°I¡¯ve done everything I had to do, so let¡¯s withdraw.¡±
There were many psychics in Russia, but most of them were below the standard.
He had to wait and watch for more cases of awakening in the future.
By then, they woulde instead of Yu Ji-ha.
¡
Mikhail and Natalia woke up a few hours after they fainted.
The brother woke up first and woke up his sister.
¡°Natasha, Natasha. Wake up.¡±
She woke up and checked their bodies right away.
¡°Calm down. Our bodies are warm and there are no injuries¡ We¡¯re fine, for now¡¡±
¡°Damn it, where are we?¡±
They listened to the outside situation and stuck to the wall when they heard footsteps.
Soon, Yu Ji-ha entered the room with an android.
Natalia scowled.
¡°It was you. Why did you kidnap us?¡±
He reached out to Mikhail, who was about to rush in.
¡°I¡¯ll knock you out again if you try to attack. Let¡¯s talk peacefully for now.¡±
¡°How can you say that when you knocked us out?¡±
¡°I prefer efficiency. That was the most efficient way at the time.¡±
¡°Damn, just like on TV. An efficiency-seeking dictator¡ You¡¯re the worst.¡±
Mikhail said that, but he threw his body on the sofa.
Natalia also sat down, and Yu Ji-ha dragged a chair and sat down.
¡°Let me make one thing clear. I did attack you, but I didn¡¯t intend to harm you. It was self-defense.¡±
¡°That¡¡±
Mikhail tried to say something, but he closed his mouth when he remembered that he attacked first.
Natalia asked.
¡°How did you find us? The security agency agents couldn¡¯t find us either.¡±
¡°I have a way, but I can¡¯t tell you here. Anyway, I have a proposal for you two. First of all, let me tell you where we are. Megacity Pacific.¡±
¡°Megacity! The one in the North Pacific¡¡±
Natalia pretended to know, and the short-haired man shook his head slightly.
He looked simr to Lieutenant Sonya.
Yu Ji-ha recalled his memories with her and nodded.
¡°You must have heard a lot about it. There are quite a few people who have obtained Megacity residency rights in Russia.¡±
¡°I heard it¡¯s a ce where only elites go¡¡±
¡°You need English, but it¡¯s not only for elites. You two are proof of that.¡±
She widened her eyes.
¡°Don¡¯t tell me, you¡¯re going to imprison us here?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s call it an invitation for now. Anyway, I want to give you two Megacity residency rights. You¡¯ll also get a sry and various benefits. You can live as citizens of Megacity.¡±
Megacity residency rights were something that anyone who lived a decent life in Russia wanted.
Of course, if they were urbanites who livedfortably in Moscow or St. Petersburg, they wouldn¡¯t have such a desire.
But the lives of Russians living in other regions were not much better than those of the poor in the third world.
With a monthly sry of 50,000 rubles (800,000 won), they could barely afford to pay the rent for a shabby apartment built during the Soviet era.
The prices were cheap, but there were so many things they wanted to buy in this world.
The economic situation had improved rtively recently, but most of the wealth was concentrated in the hands of Siloviki and oligarchs, who were Putin¡¯s closest aides.
In other words, most Russians regarded Megacity as a paradise-like ce, and these siblings were no exception.
But why did he invite them?
Mikhail checked his Adidas tracksuit for any tears and said.
¡°How can we trust you? Weren¡¯t you working with the vampire?¡±
Putin¡¯s critics often called him a vampire, based on his name dimir.
It was a sarcastic joke that he would suck Russia¡¯s blood until he died.
There was no such meaning in the name dimir itself, but nowadays he epted a lot of external images.
Yu Ji-ha smiled with his legs crossed.
He looked handsome, Natalia thought to herself.
¡°We are both murderers and dictators. But I think I¡¯m one step ahead of him who is seriously called Hitler.¡±
¡°He¡¯s asking us to stay in Megacity¡ Why? Why do you need us? You¡¯re much stronger than us with that power.¡±
¡°There are many things that I can¡¯t solve by myself. Anyway, I made an offer, and only your choice is left.¡±
¡°What if we refuse?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, but there is no option to refuse.¡±
¡°Damn it, I want to go home, not here!¡±
¡°You like Adidas brand? I¡¯ll make it possible for you to buy as much as you want.¡±
Mikhail¡¯s eyes grew bigger.
He was a hard-to-find authentic Russian country bumpkin who had recently entered.
He coveted Adidas brand, but with the money he earned from working two days a week, he could barely buy fake ones made in China.
To him, the three stripes of Adidas were no different from luxury goods.
His voice became serious.
¡°¡Really? Anything I want?¡±
¡°Of course, unless you do something like robbing a store. You¡¯ll be able to buy anything within reasonable limits.¡±
¡°Damn, you¡¯re starting to look lovely all of a sudden.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to do that. Just live here and cooperate with me.¡±
¡°¡¡±
On the other hand, Natalia looked at her brother who was giggling over Adidas with contempt.
She grew up in the countryside, but she never forgot her criticism of the dictator.
Russia should be more free and vibrant.
To her, dictators like Putin or Yu Ji-ha were relics of the old era that should disappear with the Soviet Union.
But her thoughts melted away like snow in spring as she went out with Yu Ji-ha.
Many people were walking freely on the streets of Megacity,ughing and chatting.
The atmosphere was different from Moscow or St. Petersburg even though it was a simr scene.
There were no people being beaten or honking cars.
The people looked very rxed andfortable because of the weather, and there were quite a few couples who hooked arms with each other.
It was unimaginable in Russia.
They didn¡¯t walk around the streets for long, but Mikhail and Natalia felt a lot of things.
This ce was at least more free than Russia.
The androids and drones roaming the streets also made them feel a bit strange.
Natalia decided to stay after not much time had passed.
¡°There¡¯s nothing much to do in Russia anyway. It¡¯s better to live here than to be stuck in a correctional facility or a countryside.¡±
Mikhail bought Adidas shoes and shirts from a clothing store and was almost dying of happiness.
It seemed to have worked out well.
Yu Ji-ha handed over their management to Arma.
¡°Just treat them like Fatima or Seo Jun. They¡¯ll be fine.¡±
They were not needed for this generation.
The important thing was the children who would be born with enhanced genes in a few years.
They would bembda-level psychics and loyal weapons of the United Humanity when the gue came.
He continued to collect psychics for that day, and an urgent report came to him.
Bae Seong-min, the chief secretary, knocked on his office door and quickly spoke.
¡°Mr. President, a tanker passing through the Strait of Hormuz has been hijacked.¡±
Yu Ji-ha calmly asked.
¡°Is it Iran?¡±
¡°Yes. The cause is probably¡¡±
The aftermath of bing a death merchant and selling drones to the Middle East had finally caught up with him.
Chapter 106: The Merchant of Death
Chapter 106: The Merchant of Death
The rtionship between Korea and Iran had steadily deteriorated since the 2020s.
This was because Korea had reduced its exports to Iran and diversified its oil imports for risk management, as the US sanctions on Iran showed no signs of easing.
Despite the price advantage, Korea had chosen other countries such as UAE, which was a thorn in Iran¡¯s side.
Korea had its own reasons.
Iran had seized several ships belonging to Korean shippingpanies, including oil tankers, that passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
After tedious negotiations, the crew members were released and the ships were returnedter, but the oil or goods were often missing.
They protested, but they only got absurd excuses that it was because of pirates.
¡ªHow can pirates attack when we are anchored at Bandar Abbas port? Is this exposing the ipetence of the Iranian army and the Revolutionary Guards?
Anyway, these things piled up and Korea¡¯s trade with Iran continued to decline.
The decisive blow was delivered by the high-tech drones.
These drones were first supplied to Saudi Arabia and yed a major role in driving out the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Coincidentally, Iran had suffered a huge loss while supporting the Houthi rebels and had to withdraw from Yemen.
That would have been tolerable, but Korea, for some reason, supplied drones to UAE and Israel as well.
Yu Ji-ha was given the nickname of the Merchant of Death and became widely known around this time.
¡ªThe drones sold to Israel are effectively killing civilians in Gaza. Did you say they were efficient? Congrattions.
¡ªThe number of drones scattered by Korea in the Middle East has already exceeded 50,000. These drones are a clear threat to the peace of the Middle East and should be immediately expelled.
¡ªIf a Muslim sheds a liter of blood, a Korean should shed a hundred liters to bnce it out.
However, these threats from the Middle Eastern Muslims did not materialize.
Fortunately, the Second Korean War broke out and all attention was focused on the Korean Penins.
Many countries were happy that Korea had gone into its own endgame, but Korea quickly upied North Korea and ended the war.
There were a few incidents after that, but Korea¡¯s drone exports did not stop.
It was really infuriating.
¡ªThose damn drones are so tough and agile. They are invincible against our warriors and rockets are useless against them. We need massive artillery fire from regr armies.
¡ªWe have to stop Korea¡¯s drone exports by putting pressure on their government. A few tens of thousands of drones are killing hundreds of millions of Muslims.
However, there was an opinion that it was impossible to put pressure on the government at the point where Korea¡¯s leader was reced by Yu Ji-ha.
What good would it do to politically threaten a dictator who had absolute support from his people?
The only thing that seemed to have some influence was oil, but that was like strangling their own necks.
Korea¡¯s oil imports from the Middle East were a considerable amount.
At this point, Iran¡¯s hardliners began to emerge.
Iran was the country that suffered the most damage from Korean drones and its trade volume was shrinking day by day.
In short, they had nothing to lose.
However, Iran was wary of Korea¡¯s international influence and military power that had grown rapidly in recent years.
Especially, they were concerned about missiles equipped with antitron warheads.
They did not think they had such capabilities internally, but they prepared countermeasures thoroughly.
They imported anti-aircraft missiles from China and other ces and deployed them at nuclear power nts and nuclear facilities.
This was also considering the possibility that Korea¡¯s Cheonghae Unit woulde near their coast andunch antitrons.
Of course, it would be best to solve it through dialogue, and Iran¡¯s religious leader knew that well.
¡ªWhat is the point of fighting between us and Korea in East Asia? It would be better to put pressure on Korea¡¯s oil supply and find a solution.
¡ªAt least they have to stop supplying drones to Israel. If they don¡¯t ept this, we have to stop oil exports immediately.
While they were doing this, an incident urred.
Israel, Iran¡¯s archenemy,unched cruise missiles at their nuclear facilities.
Fortunately, they seeded in intercepting them with anti-aircraft missiles, but Israel had another purpose.
Before the cruise missiles were intercepted, containers were separated and dozens of drones were released.
The security forces at Natanz nuclear facility immediately responded, but they were no match for the drone system that had copsed North Korea¡¯s regr army.
Many researchers were killed and even the power supply system that powered Natanz exploded and was deemed irrecoverable.
One of Iran¡¯s main nuclear facilities was disabled for the time being.
Israel¡¯s public broadcaster imed that this was a legitimate military response and praised the Korean-made drones.
¡ªIt¡¯s a really amazing weapon. It disabled the enemy¡¯s facility without any casualties.
¡ªIt¡¯s very cheap and efficientpared to using air force power. We will introduce more drones in the future.
It was efficient, indeed.
They had disabled a nuclear facility with a few cruise missiles and dozens of drones.
Compared to Israel, which was satisfied and patted its belly, Iran was going crazy.
How much money did they put into the Natanz research center!
The public opinion in the country was boiling with anti-Korean sentiment, and the situation worsened when the ck Metal incident broke out.
¡ªThe world has turned its back on Korea. Now is the time to provoke them without much bacsh.
¡ªIf we cut off the oil supply to Korea and seize their ships, they will have no choice but to raise their hands.
Iran¡¯s goal was only to stop Korea¡¯s drone exports, so the sanctions were limited and cautious.
If it had been a few years ago, it might have been different, but Korea had be so strong that even the US was wary of it.
Their fundamentals were not very solid and there were doubts about their military projection, but it was not bad to be careful.
¡ªWhat happened to China and Japan? Even if they are stupid, they should have realized by now. Korea is a power in East Asia.
¡ªHowever, it would be difficult to project military power to Hormuz because of the distance. We have to poke at that weakness.
Iran¡¯s n to sanction Korea was quite concrete and secretive.
The religious leader, Suleiman, was not a fool.
But the cyber craze that swept the world inevitably hit Iran as well.
They were fools who had a ridiculous dream of applying Imicw, Sharia, to all countries, but theirbat power was certain because of their fanaticism.
Major government offices were seized in an instant, and after a fierce battle, Suleiman was captured.
A disaster urred where the leader of a country was caught by thugs.
They imed as follows:
¡ªWe willpletely drive out the culture of the West, including Korea, that has infiltrated Iran.
¡ªWe willpletely exclude human-like creepy dolls and drones from Muslim society.
¡ªWe will neutralize all religions other than Im and leave nothing but Sharia courts.
Iran was originally a system of religious and political unity, but they were determined to transform it into a theocratic state.
There was no way there would be no bacsh since there were reformists inside, and they seized Korea¡¯s oil tankers in coboration with the Revolutionary Guards and blocked the Strait of Hormuz.
It was notpletely blocked, but being checked itself was very annoying.
They were bound to pick on all sorts of things and sometimes be dragged to Iran¡¯s port.
As soon as the Strait of Hormuz was blocked, news spread across the world and each country entered into countermeasures.
Especially Korea was in trouble.
This was because they relied on this strait for more than 70% of their oil demand.
The oil price, which had been maintained at $150, showed a sharp rise and knocked on the door of $200.
Each country med Korea for being responsible for Iran¡¯s actions.
¡ªNot everyone can imitate the death merchant. As the leader of a country, he should have stopped at a reasonable point, considering the political repercussions.
¡ªIs he nning to plunge the Middle East into the pain of war, following East Asia? We urge him to stop exporting drones and pursue peace.
¡ªThis time, it¡¯s not easy to deal with it because the distance is so far¡ If he uses the mass driver, no one will believe his words anymore.
The public opinion in Korea was not good either.
The oil imported from the Middle East was directly linked to the quality of life.
This was not a problem that could be solved by projecting military power.
Especially for a big country like Iran.
So he was on alert for Yu Ji-ha¡¯s response from both domestic and foreign sources, and he entered a countermeasure meeting with a few officials.
¡
¡°How much oil stock do we have now?¡±
¡°We have over 150 million barrels in total, and we canst up to 130 days.¡±
It increased by about 15 days from before, because electric cars were widely distributed.
Future Automobile Group, which failed to receive the ck metal battery, entered the liquidation process along with the death of Chairman Yu Gyeong-seok, and Si Auto ate it up bit by bit.
There was no problem with the acquisition because Yu Ji-ha had a huge financial line behind his political back.
Si Auto was in the process of recing the factory equipment while dering the end of the internalbustion engine by sweeping out the existing management team and leading the distribution of electric cars.
It was quite a contrast when Chairman Yu Gyeong-seok ran away with only a few affiliates, including Si Auto, decades ago.
Anyway, ording to the Minister of Industry, the deadline was 60 days.
He submitted a report that most of the domestic industries would stop if oil supply was not resumed within 60 days.
¡°60 days is too long. I¡¯ll solve it in ten days.¡±
To solve the conflict with Iran in ten days means to use military options.
But Iran was a country located far away in the Middle East.
No matter how powerful and fast Kim Gu-ham was, going to the Strait of Hormuz alone was nothing but suicide.
Because the ground-to-ship missile sites nearby were enormous.
The participants of the countermeasure meeting knew this, but they kept their mouths shut.
They thought the president must have some details, since he was the president.
He asked Arma, who represented Yu Ji-ha¡¯s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who attended the meeting.
¡°By the way, you said that the psychers who captured Suleiman are showing strange behavior?¡±
¡°Yes. They are surrounding the Korean embassy in Iran with Revolutionary Guards forces. It seems like they are trying to burn it down.¡±
Burning down the embassy means dering war.
But it was not only because of their blind hatred for Korea that they showed such behavior.
The Muslims, who ounted for 98.5% of Iran, were truly terrified of the androids working at the Korean embassy.
Arma reported on their trends.
¡°ording to Muhammad and the Quran, humans are God¡¯s creation and cannot be reced by anything. You should never imitate them with dolls or monsters that resemble humans.¡±
¡°ording to their ideology, the Korean embassy in Iran is a sphemous existence that threatens their identity.¡±
¡°sphemy¡¡±
This happened because Yu Ji-ha had reced most of the administrative departments.
The Ministry of Unification and the Ministry of Leisure werepletely abolished and their work was transferred to other departments, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seeded in surviving, but there was an administrative vacuum due to the diplomats being dragged to Terra Ind.
They were reced not by other diplomats, but by androids, including Arma.
Some argued that androids could never rece diplomats, but the embassies were running well.
Most of the work was routine, and the asional emergencies were handled by following the instructions from the Blue House, so there was no problem even if the diplomats were absent.
Of course, there were sensitive issues such as diplomatic negotiations or covert diplomacy, but Yu Ji-ha did not care.
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if we are ridiculed for not conforming to international diplomatic conventions. The important thing is how quickly we acquire information and take appropriate measures. Everything else is irrelevant.¡±
The whole country was immersed in efficiency and sprinting, as Yu Ji-ha became the president.
Most critics praised his ability, but separately said he had limits.- He is a dictator, so he is weak in legitimacy. It¡¯s good to push him to the point where he can¡¯t think of anything else, but he won¡¯tst long.
- North Korea also carried out various movements, but the results were poor in the end. There is a limit to sprinting.
Of course, there was a limit.
The limit was the day when the Human Alliance destroyed the gue and achieved peace.
Anyway, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s actions umted and caused extreme anger among the Iranians.
The drones were just an excuse, and in fact, they were disgusted by the androids roaming around the sacrednd of Muslims.
The androids, who had received almost infinite praise in ces like Korea or Japan, were almost taboo in Imic society.
Of course, Arma knew this and warned him in advance, but Yu Ji-ha did not take it seriously.
Even if they caused trouble, it would only be to detain oil tankers, which could be easily solved by the Cheonghae Unit.
But if the fanatical psychers in Iran intervened, the story would change.
Yu Ji-ha emphasized to the Minister of Industry.
¡°From now on, or maybe some ces have already raised it. Freeze the oil price based on yesterday noon. The deadline is until I give further instructions. Tell them not to think of getting even 10 won more. It¡¯s all from domestic reserves anyway.¡±
The ministers and Bae Seong-min, the chief of staff, were very tense.
Loading hafnium-2 warheads meant dering to blow up Iran.
How much power would it have if you mounted a new type of gunpowder that had an explosive power of 300kg per gram of TNT on a warhead that size?
It would be enough to guarantee a tactical nuclear weapon level.
And that without any radiation risk!
The Minister of Defense asked cautiously.
¡°Mr. President, can we rece all the missile containers of the Daemado-ss 4th ship with hafnium-2 warhead types?¡±
¡°Send it to the Strait of Hormuz as soon as the work is done. The rest will take care of itself.¡±
It sounded like artificial intelligence would take care of blowing up Iran on its own.
The ground-to-ship missiles they had?
The Daemado-ss 4th ship had two iron beams with full output mounted on it.
Unless they poured out hypersonic anti-ship missiles, it was impossible.
The oil price would not go down for a while.
The Minister of Defense bowed his head silently.
¡°I will follow your orders.¡±
¡°Everyone go do your work and tell the Kremlin that we need some oil. They will give us as much as we need.¡±
President Putin would not ignore this crisis situation and try to help as much as possible.
Everyone left the meeting room and only Arma remained.
¡°Notify them through the embassy for thest time. We don¡¯t want war, but we won¡¯t avoid it either.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Master, but I think I¡¯ll be damaged by being beaten when I leave the Saadabad Pce after notifying them with an android.¡±
He saw through Sibiri satellite that Tehran city was full of waves of protests.
Of course, they were anti-Yu Ji-ha, anti-android, anti-drone protests.
Iran was just the beginning. Most Muslims had a negative attitude toward drones and androids. There were also many criticisms from Saudi Arabia and UAE.
Eventually, Israel was the only country that had a positive attitude toward drones in the Middle East.
Literally turning more than half of the Middle East into enemies.
That was the price he paid for selling drones as a death merchant.
Of course, Yu Ji-ha had no intention of paying that price at all.
¡°Take this opportunity to take over Afghanistan. Weren¡¯t Tajiks and Iranians from the same race?¡±
¡°The roots of their race are the same, but their psycher emergence rates arepletely different. You can consider them separated.¡±
¡°That¡¯s fine. Warn them onest time.¡±
An android who yed the role of an ambassador entered into Saadabad Pce in Tehran.
But what greeted him was not Iran¡¯s president or religious leader, but rocketunchers from security guards.
Even if his frame was ck metal, other parts could not withstand the explosive power of rockets.
As the android fell to the ground, countless Iranians surrounding the pce cheered.
¡°Inshah! Inshah!¡±
¡°Ahu Akbar!¡±
That was the start, and the Korean embassy in Iran immediately closed and transferred all the data to the artificial satellite and closed the building.
And a ck ship suddenly appeared in the Strait of Hormuz, where dozens of oil tankers weighing hundreds of thousands of tons were tied up.
Chapter 107: That’s a nuclear hit, right?
Chapter 107: That¡¯s a nuclear hit, right?
President Yu Ji-ha was very popr.
Not only among the citizens, but also among foreign politicians, celebrities, and leaders.
But to Secretary General Baek Seongmin, he had never seen him so high in demand as he was now.
He had been on the hotline with the major powers, and then he had a conversation with the head of a Middle Eastern country that he barely knew the name of.
¡®He¡¯s been on the phone for almost three hours¡¡¯
He should be exhausted by now, but Yu Ji-ha¡¯s voice was unchanged from the beginning.
¡°My wish for peace in the Strait of Hormuz remains valid. However, the act of setting fire to our embassy must be condemned. If Iran does not take responsible measures, I will consider using force.¡±
No matter who he talked to, he ended with getting their consent for using force.
Even with the US president.
¡°Didn¡¯t I ask you to stay quiet for a while¡?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t forget that the ones who started this were the fanatics of Iran. You don¡¯t expect us to just take it, do you?¡±
¡°Is it normal to point a gun at someone who just clenches their fist? I heard that your Cheonghae Unit has already entered the Strait of Hormuz.¡±
¡°They haven¡¯t entered yet.¡±
¡°¡You know very well that the Strait of Hormuz ounts for more than 30% of the world¡¯s maritime oil transportation. If the situation drags on, there could be an oil shock.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll make sure that doesn¡¯t happen by wrapping things up cleanly.¡±
¡°You¡¯re not thinking of using that new explosive, are you? That¡¯s absolutely not allowed.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not asking for permission.¡±
It wasn¡¯t a nuclear weapon, so he was just informing them.
President McKinley was furious, but he couldn¡¯t directly intervene in the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, which wasn¡¯t even in the Indian Ocean.
If the US Navy got involved, things would get moreplicated.
The Strait of Hormuz was already narrow and full of reefs, limiting the routes that oil tankers could pass through.
From the air, you could see the ships lined up in a row.
Currently, more than 40 oil tankers weighing over 100,000 tons were trapped in the narrow strait.
If an aircraft carrier entered, the situation would get out of control.
But if he left this crazy man alone, he didn¡¯t know what would happen next. It was a headache from all sides.
President McKinley gave him some serious advice.
¡°Of course, I have no doubt that President Yu has the ability to resolve this situation. But I would like to suggest a diplomatic solution.¡±
¡°You want to mediate?¡±
¡°ording to the information I received, the main culprits of this incident were not Suleiman Rahbar, but the superhumans. They are the problem.¡±
¡°They have strong support from the Iranian people.¡±
¡°So you¡¯re going to kill all the Muslims in Iran?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not going to kill them all, but they have to pay for burning down our embassy. What would you do if your embassy was set on fire?¡±
The embassy was not just a ce where diplomats worked, but a symbol of the nation itself.
Burning it down was tantamount to a deration of war.
If it had been the US in a simr situation, they would have mobilized their entire fleet of aircraft carriers and used force right away.
¡°¡Let¡¯s try to solve this peacefully, that¡¯s what I¡¯m saying.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll limit it to naval warfare. I¡¯ll only intervene minimally onnd.¡±
If they fought only at sea, it wouldn¡¯t be bad for the US.
It would reduce Iran¡¯s influence over the Strait of Hormuz and increase the US¡¯s chances of intervention.
Iran had been nervous about the US Navy¡¯s entry into the strait and blocked their ess with countlessnd-to-ship missile sites.
Even for the US Navy¡¯s Indian Ocean Fleet, entering that narrow strait was very risky.
What if the Korean Navy reduced Iran¡¯s influence there?
¡°To be honest, I can¡¯t deny that it sounds good.¡±
¡°My goal is to safely retrieve the oil tanker and its crew that were hijacked. And there must be a sincere apology and appropriatepensation from Iran for this incident.¡±
If that was all he wanted, he could say that he had endured a lot.
President McKinley praised President Yu¡¯s patience.
¡°Then we¡¯ll assume that you¡¯re satisfied with that.¡±
¡°You can rest assured.¡±
Of course, Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t mention his ns for dealing with the Iranian Navy and his future operations in Afghanistan.
That would be naturally resolved in the process of achieving his goal.
The call ended and the secretary general said,
¡°The Kremlin said they would supply us with oil at a low price as much as we want.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good news. We¡¯ve got rid of the nagging one, so let¡¯s do our job. How far has the Cheonghae Unite?¡±
¡°They¡¯re ready to enter Iran¡¯s territorial waters within an hour.¡±
¡°When the incident breaks out, go in and rescue the crew and take the oil tanker out. You have to focus on sailing. Of course, they¡¯re the best agents, so they¡¯ll do well on their own.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry. The most experienced agents are on standby.¡±
The mission of the UDT agents of the Cheonghae Unit was to infiltrate the oil tanker docked at Bandar Abbas port, rescue the crew, and take out the oil tanker.
It was possible to rescue the crew, but it was almost impossible to take out a 300,000-ton oil tanker from the port.
It wasn¡¯t a joke that the Iranian Navy and missile sites were there.
Of course, Yu Ji-ha told them not to worry about that.
¡°A suitable situation will be created, so just focus on rescuing and sailing. Well, I wish you good luck.¡±
What kind of situation would unfold?
All the ns were only in Yu Ji-ha¡¯s head, so he couldn¡¯t dare ask.
Secretary General Baek Seongmin looked nervously at the informationing from the Cheonghae Unit.
¡
Almost no one knew how and when the 4th-ss battleship of the Damado Fleet had entered the Iranian waters.
Even the Iranian Navy didn¡¯t know exactly what kind of ship it was.
The US, Russia, Japan, and others were also ignorant, but they had at least some information.
They knew that it was equipped with a railgun and an iron beam, that it could travel fast over short distances with an ion thruster, and that it was operated by an artificial intelligence.
Japan even witnessed it submerging.
It was such a ridiculous thing that they dismissed the testimony of the Self-Defense Force member who saw it as a fool.
Anyway, the Iranian Navy underestimated the ship.
Of course, a modern battleship weighing over 5,000 tons was not something that the Iranian Navy wanted to mess with.
But didn¡¯t they say that even a mongrel dog could bite in its own yard?
This was Iran¡¯s territorial waters, and a narrow sea area with countless missile sites.
That fact gave courage to themander of the 1st Squadron of the Iranian Southern Fleet.
¡°God is with us. Send in the speedboats and give them hell.¡±
Nearly ten missile speedboats approached the Damado ship.
They maneuvered at a fast speed of nearly 40 knots and fired anti-ship missiles.
More than 20 anti-ship missiles were difficult targets for a battleship that was not an anti-aircraft destroyer.
But the Damado ship slowly advanced and activated its iron beam.
Numerous golden lines crossed the dark night sky of the Persian Gulf.
Boom!
The anti-ship missiles exploded in mid-air as they hit the etherser.
A spectacr fireworks show unfolded around the Damado ship, and the Iranian sailors, including Brigadier General Hoseini, became spectators for a moment.
¡°What was that?¡±
¡°They say Korea has something called an iron beam. It¡¯s an anti-air defense system sold by Israel!¡±
¡°It¡¯s always those Israeli Jews who are the problem.¡±
In fact, the iron beam had a different official name and had nothing to do with Israel.
But Iranians who didn¡¯t know much about Korea¡¯s political situation liked to associate everything with Israel.
Brigadier General Hoseini gritted his teeth at Israel for providing such a dangerous weapon and ordered another attack.
¡°The missile base has detected that ship! We¡¯ll attack along with their attack!¡±
If there were dozens of anti-ship missiles, that ship wouldn¡¯t be able to handle them either.
But the Damado shippletely shattered the Iranian Navy¡¯s expectations.
Suddenly, the deck moved with a nk and the upper part changed into a wireframe shape and sank into the water.
It was impossible for a ship to submerge like a submarine.
The anti-ship missiles that activated their seekers couldn¡¯t find their target and self-destructed or passed through the sea where the Damado ship had been.
¡°What the hell is going on?¡±
¡°It looks like the target ship has submerged!¡±
¡°Do you think that makes sense right now?¡±
As an argument broke out on the bridge of the gship Shahid Roudaki-ss, the Damado ship resurfaced and transformed its upper structure again.
¡°It seems that this ship operates like a U-boat from World War II.¡±
It only submerged when necessary and operated on the surface normally.
The staff of the 1st Squadron concluded that this ship had bast tanks, but that was not true.
It had ion thruster nozzles installed in several ces to submerge and surface.
It was so fast that it couldn¡¯tpare to using bast tanks to submerge and surface.
Brigadier General Hoseini decided that it would be difficult to deal with this ship alone.
¡°Unfortunately, our anti-submarine warfare capability is inferior. Instead, we¡¯ll attack that ship with a submarine.¡±
However, he found it suspicious that this submarine had not shown any clear intention to attack so far.
Why would it stay still without firing a torpedo?
When the 1st Squadron was suspicious of this, the upper part of the Damado ship transformed again and a missile container popped out.
Soon after, the hatch opened and Haeryongnd-attack missiles wereunched.
These missiles were originally intended for targets such as coastal artillery, but strangely enough, they headed straight for the sea.
Brigadier General Hoseini scoffed at seeing the missile maneuver on radar.
¡°New weapons always have a risk of malfunctioning. I guess it can¡¯t be helped if they¡¯re made in Korea.¡±
But Haeryong missiles were not malfunctioning at all.
The INS worked normally until the moment when the missile hit the sea.
The target was originally the sea.
The Iranian Navy realized this toote.
After entering the sea, Haeryong missiles created huge water columns.
They were big enough to overturn an entire city.
¡°Nuclear bombs!¡±
¡°Korea hasunched nukes!¡±
¡°Those crazy bastards!¡±
As the officers screamed, the entire surface of the water rose and created a giant tsunami.
A battleship weighing only a few thousand tons had no choice but to be swept away by the wave.
There were many oil tankers nearby, but they were able to withstand the waves surprisingly well, despite being nothing but corpses except for their size.
Meanwhile, a reporter from the British B Broadcasting Company, who was covering the incident, was staring nkly at the mushroom cloud from a helicopter.
¡°Oh God. It looks like Korea has used a nuclear weapon¡¡±
It was almost certain, judging by the huge mushroom cloud and the tsunami that was rushing towards the surroundings.
But the cameraman and the producer shook their heads repeatedly.
¡°Did Korea have nuclear weapons? As far as I know, they didn¡¯t.¡±
¡°It would be impossible to make nuclear weapons under the surveince of the IAEA and the United States.¡±
¡°Can someone please tell me what that is?¡±
That was the biggest problem.
After the Second Korean War, North Korea¡¯s nuclear weapons were dismantled under the supervision of the IAEA and the United States, and it was concluded that there were no nuclear weapons in Korea.
They had been recognized for their nuclear transparency.
In such a situation, it was almost impossible to secretly develop nuclear weapons.
Then what was that¡?
The reporter began to report with the mushroom cloud as the background.
¡°I am here at the Strait of Hormuz. The scene you are seeing right now is amazingly live. It seems almost certain that Korea has a weapon that is not nuclear but equivalent to it¡¡±
However, this report was not leaked out due to the decision of the British government.
Instead, the leaders of Oceus, who shared the information, were all shocked.
¨DI wish it was nuclear. Then the IAEA and the United States could put pressure on them.
¨DIf that¡¯s not nuclear¡ Damn, what did Korea make?
¨DNo matter how crazy they are, they can¡¯t contaminate someone else¡¯s sea with radiation where dozens of oil tankers are lying.
¨DAntitron was also like that. Korea keeps making concepts that shake up the existing power bnce. It¡¯s very dangerous.
¨DThe shippingpanies reported that there was no damage to the oil tankers. How could they calcte that?
It meant that those ships had caused a tsunami that could only incapacitate the Iranian navy.
If there was no radiation, Korea would have a very scary weapon.
The worried eyes of various countries gathered at the Strait of Hormuz when the tsunami swept away most of Iran¡¯s southern fleet.
Small ships like speedboats or patrol boats werepletely overturned, and escort ships that were fairlyrge lost their buoyancy andy sideways.
The gship and destroyers that barely did not lose their maneuverability were busy pumping out water all over them.
Most of the naval forces deployed in the Persian Gulf were incapacitated.
The submarines were better off, but they were too busymunicating with headquarters to notice the Dama-ss submarine entering territorial waters at that time.
On board the ck submarine that was quietly diving were navy special forces and an android unit.
¡
In the morning, major Korean media outlets began to report on the news of the Strait of Hormuz.
It had been embargoed overnight for security reasons and was lifted after the operation ended.
¨DAll crew members under captain¡¯smand who had been detained are returning home under escort of Cheonghae Unit.
¨DNot only crew members but also two oil tankers are safely apanied.
People who woke up and saw the news were stunned.
¨DWhat? Is it over already?
¨DDidn¡¯t they say that oil tankers were detained at Bandar Abbas port? How did they get them out?
It was natural for people to have questions.
Let¡¯s say that crew members were rescued by Korean special forces who had excellent skills and infiltrated there.
But oil tankers detained there boasted a size of over 100,000 tons.
It was impossible to get them out of port unless the other side was stupid.
But on screen shot by Cheonghae Unit¡¯s Sejong-ss destroyer, two rescued oil tankers were clearly visible.
Unless they manipted video, it was certain that they rescued them.
A hastily organized program showed an announcer delivering informationing in real time.
¡°This is breaking news. Special forces from Cheonghae Unit were deployed in this operation and interestingly an android unit supported them. This rescue team approached port with support of Dama-ss 4th submarine and carried out operation. Here is video footage.¡±
On screen showed a small boat and soldiers falling off from a ship that had just surfaced.
People realized that it was a ship made of ck metal.
¨DSo it can transform and separate like that. It¡¯s really a strange metal.
¨DI know it¡¯s unmanned, but how do they determine shape and size?
¨DIt must be artificial intelligence. It might be controlling androids too.
¨DBy the way, who is android among soldiers?
It was night and they were all fully armed and masked, so they couldn¡¯t tell.
Then the view changed and suddenly soldiers appeared.
¨DOh, this is video taken by android.
¨DSoldiers seem curious too. It¡¯s not just us who are amazed.
¨DBut how do they get on that high oil tanker?
¨DThey all have equipment for rescue team.
But that equipment was not visible.
Just as they wondered how they would get on board, a nking sound came from the boat and the sea began to recede.
The boat had taken off from the water surface.
The people felt disappointed when they realized that.
¨DNo way, how can a boat fly in the sky?
¨DThey put ion thrusters on that small boat.
Normally, it would have taken at least tens of minutes to get on deck.
But the boat with ion thrusters seeded in dropping off the soldiers on the oil tanker deck in just 20 seconds.
After that, the screen was blurred and nothing could be seen, but it seemed obvious that a battle had broken out from the sound of gunfire.
And the view changed again and the android was located in the deckhouse.
Outside, the Dama-ss submarine was firing railguns and iron beams continuously as it advanced at low speed.
¨DThey are fighting with the Iranian army while escaping from port¡
¨DI wondered how they got the oil tankers out, but they just beat them up and took them away.
¨DIf they kill all the witnesses, that¡¯s infiltration.
¨DNo matter how weak Iran is, it¡¯s not an opponent that a single warship can handle if you add up the base defense forces.
¨DLook at that fighter falling???
It was not that it was not, but it seemed that it was shot down by an iron beam, and a fighter was falling.
The speedboats that were rushing around were all sunk by railguns, and smoke rose from port constantly.
They had seeded in smashing Bandar Abbas port with a single Dama-ss submarine and taking out two oil tankers.
¨DBut how did they force that submarine to surface? It must have been so noisy that sonar and whatnot wouldn¡¯t work properly.
¨DIt¡¯s amazing that everything is artificial intelligence.
¨DThe soldiers who went on operation in Iran port are also awesome.
¨DThey go into Iran port and fight with navy while bringing crew members and two oil tankers? If you make a movie like this, you¡¯ll get scolded.
It was an operation of a different dimension from shooting pirate ships or rescuing hostages, and not something that any country would dare to try.
Maybe the United States could do it, but they would use force demonstration with a fleet or diplomatic solution, not like this recklessly.
However, there was a question left as to what the Iranian navy was doing while Bandar Abbas port was like that.
The naval operations headquarters, of course, did not answer this question, nor did President Ujiha, but information came from an unexpected ce.
A British broadcastingpany broke the government¡¯s policy and sent out a video of a huge mushroom cloud rising over the Strait of Hormuz.
This video was posted on MewTube and caused tremendous confusion.
People who didn¡¯t know the situation flocked in and cursed Korea for using nuclear weapons.
But somements calmly pointed out the facts.
¨DIt doesn¡¯t make sense to fire nuclear weapons in such a narrow waterway. You¡¯ll make enemies of the whole world?
¨DIf that¡¯s not a tactical nuclear weapon, it¡¯s even scarier. It means they made a nuclear bomb that doesn¡¯t have to worry about radiation contamination.
¨DKorea, is that nuclear?
Of course, there was no response from the Korean government level.
Chapter 108: Crossing the Line with Korea
Chapter 108: Crossing the Line with Korea
The Iranian navy suffered a devastating blow in the Hormuz naval battle thatsted all night.
It would be recorded as a battle, but if one looked at the details, it was nothing more than a one-sided beating.
Compared to Korea, which only deployed one Daemado-ss ship and a dozen special forces members, Iran exhausted most of its South Sea Fleet stationed in the Persian Gulf.
The entire fleet was not destroyed, but it would take at least a few years to resume operation.
This meant that Iran¡¯s control over the Hormuz Strait was weakened.
As if to drive the nail in, the Daemado ship safely escorted two oil tankers to the open sea and returned to the Hormuz Strait.
Then it started to guide the oil tankers of various shippingpanies that were waiting while cruising through the calm waves.
¨DThis strait is now securely secured by the Korean navy. You can pass through without worry.
If an Iranian navy official heard this broadcast, he would have copsed while clutching his neck.
The Hormuz Strait included Iran¡¯s territorial waters, but a foreign country¡¯s warship came and said it was okay to pass through.
As for the oil tankers, resuming operation was a wee thing.
They sent a signal of gratitude with a long horn sound.
¨DWe express our respect for your victory and bravery.
Among the oil tankers that were stuck in the strait, there were two belonging to Japanese shippingpanies.
The captain was very nervous that the Daemado ship would stop them, but there was no interference.
When an article with photos of the scene was posted on a Japanese portal site, a fierce debate ensued.
¨DKorea can now project its military power to the Hormuz Strait¡
¨DIt seems they don¡¯t care much about us when they let the oil tankers pass.
¨DIsn¡¯t it basic not to touch the merchant ships?
¨DWe did that when we inspected the United Humanity¡¯s merchant ships heading to Terra Ind. We failed miserably though.
¨DOnly Japanese media are desperate to hide the name of the warship¡
¨DWhat¡¯s the name of the warship?
¨DDaemado (Korean name for Tsushima)
At this point, Japaneseizens exploded.
They had taken over the ind without any justification, and they named their newly built ship after it. It was infuriating.
They looked for the government, but realized that there was no one to take responsibility and felt frustrated.
¨DWhat is Matsuda of Yushinkai doing?
¨DAs always, he is desperately trying to avoid responsibility.
¨DJapan is seriously doomed. It¡¯s better to just surrender all of Kyushu to their master.
¨DIf we stay like this, Japan will sink soon. We have no choice but to rely on America.
¨DDon¡¯t you have any option to get along with Korea? Give them Tsushima and recognize Takeshima as Korean territory. Then everything will be fine.
¨DI¡¯d rather go to war than kneel before Korea.
¨DWe can¡¯t even say that our military power is better than theirs. Especially the naval blockade that the-uyoku im is more likely to happen to us than them.
¨DAnd Korea has a nuclear bomb without radiation. It would be fun to detonate it in Tokyo.
¨DA nuclear bomb without radiation? We can just deploy America¡¯s nukes. Attacking Kyushu is equivalent to attacking America.
¨DYou¡¯re going back to your old master ughter)
¨DBut who¡¯s losing by breaking off diplomatic rtions?
¨DAfter breaking off diplomatic rtions, Nikkei index fell back 10 years and Korea¡¯s stock market is rxed. The winner is clear from this alone.
¨DHow about reviving the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere? Of course Japan will be under Korea.
¨DKorea doesn¡¯t seem very interested in that though.
¨DHow far are you going to delude yourself with Korea letting Japanese ships pass?
The actual subject who let them pass was an artificial intelligence, and it was a small incident that was not even mentioned in Korea.
What was revealed in this situation was that the gap between the two countries¡¯ national power was more serious than expected.
Japan still had an advantage in economic power, but Korea was above them in total power including military and influence.
Many Japanese realized this clearly and thought it was dangerous as it was.
So they started lobbying for the Democratic Party, which was expected to produce the next president of America.
As always, Korea had little interest in Japan¡¯s movements.
They just quietly beat up Iran.
***
At that time when Daemado ship was acting like an owner in Iranian waters,
In a secret room of Sabadad Pce north of Tehran, psychics who took Suleiman as hostage were having a fierce argument with government officials.
¡°How can there be any military action against Korea when our South Sea Fleet waspletely disabled?¡±
¡°Military experts are skeptical that we can catch that ship even if we mobilize all the republic¡¯s military power.¡±
¡°I think we need to devise an exit strategy at this point. Saudi Arabia will act as a mediator.¡±
The two countries had Im as their state religion, but their sects were different and their rtions were extremely bad.
No one knew that better than the government officials who judged that their mediation was necessary.
After all, Iran¡¯s waters became empty.
If they lost control over the Hormuz Strait, the interference of pirates and other countries would increase.
Saudi Arabia had a close rtionship with Yu Ji-ha, because Crown Prince Muhammad invested a lot in the process of importing drones.
Iran would hate this, but anyway they needed their mediation at the moment.
But the psychics who took Suleiman as hostage werepletely blind to the international situation.
¡°What we need is theplete surrender of heretics and infidels. Nothing else.¡±
¡°It¡¯s hard to block ten hands with one hand. The enemy is strong, but it¡¯s only one ship, so we should be able to deal with it enough.¡±
¡°Then what is your way of dealing with it?¡±
When the frustrated defense official asked, the psychic smiled slyly and said.
¡°Nuclear.¡±
¡°¡Absolutely not.¡±
¡°God has given us and Muhammad has guided us this holynd that has been attacked. There is no absolute.¡±
¡°Suleiman said that. Our nuclear development has finally borne fruit. We just want to eat that fruit.¡±
The psychics insisted stubbornly and the government officials shook their heads in unison.
¡°Damn it, Korea has an anttron warhead. They used it to neutralize North Korea¡¯s nuclear weapons! We can¡¯t waste our newly developed nuclear weapons on that!¡±
¡°Then we have no choice but to use that method. There are quite a few Koreans living in the republic¡¯s territory.¡±
The officials¡¯ faces hardened when they realized their intention.
¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡¡±
¡°Civilians are not allowed. If you touch even one, the internationalmunity will not sit still.¡±
¡°What if we execute one by one? What will the devil of the East choose then? His countrymen or his ship. It will be a very interesting scene.¡±
Before Daemado ship entered, Korea evacuated its citizens using the presidential ne.
Iran¡¯s situation was so chaotic that they didn¡¯t stop them.
But there were still about 20 Koreans left in Iran, voluntarily or involuntarily.
They were people who could not leave because their economic base was in Iran.
Taking them hostage might have been effective, but ultimately it would only worsen Iran¡¯s position.
¡°You¡¯re taking civilians hostage because youck Rahbar? How do you think the internationalmunity will see us?¡±
¡°The internationalmunity is frustrated that they can¡¯t sanction us! And you haven¡¯te up with any countermeasures!¡±
¡°Good. Let¡¯s take this opportunity to drive out the infidels from the holynd and build a true Imic kingdom.¡±
The leader of the psychics, Mehdi Azmun, shed his yellow eyes.
¡°When you fight the infidels, kill them instantly, but if their military copses, take prisoners.¡±
The government officials closed their eyes at the verse from the Quran.
Taking prisoners meant treating those who surrendered generously, not holding civilians captive.
But as always, these fundamentalists interpreted the Quran as they pleased.
Azmun lightly pressed the table with his finger.
Surprisingly, the solid surface began to sink.
The officials¡¯ jaws dropped.
If a human head was between those fingers¡
He opened his mouth.
¡°It is our duty to help the infidels embrace Ah. So capture them and bring them here. Even if that devil uses his evil machines, we can stop them.¡±
The psychics were physically strong enough to withstand bullets and grenades from drones.
And no matter how strong Korea was, it was foolish to deploy ground troops on Iranian soil.
¡®He won¡¯t use that bomb, will he?¡¯
He didn¡¯t drop a bomb on the South Sea Fleet above his head because he was conscious of the bacsh from the Muslim society.
He was already called the devil of the east, the merchant of death. He must have decided that it would be troublesome to increase his enemies.
But the officials who turned on the TV were stunned by an unexpected situation.
It was Yu Ji-ha who held a press conference and dered in fluent Persian.
¡°I have a message for the Iranian psychics who caused this incident. The moment you touch a single finger of a Korean, your life is over. I promise you the most horrible death in the world. I will make sure of it.¡±
After that, questions from reporters poured in about whether it was not difficult to deploy ground troops to Iran, which was far away.
The psychics were tense for a moment, but soon sneered.
¡°Do you intend to wage war with the entire republic?¡±
¡°You seem to be intoxicated by your small victory at sea. We¡¯ll have to break your nose.¡±
They were rxed because there was a limit to the firepower that Korea¡¯s ground forces could deploy.
They couldn¡¯t use that bomb onnd, so they would have to use drones and androids, which the psychics and revolutionary guards could easily counter.
Azmun reassured his brothers by emphasizing this point.
¡°If they step in, they will have to fight with 90 million Muslim brothers. The war is not over yet.¡±
Even the United States failed to subdue Afghanistan after spending nearly 20 years and over 1.5 trillion dors.
Drones and androids were certainly threatening, but they alone could not make Iran surrender.
The psychics used their vastnd andrge poption as shields and went out to capture Koreans.
And an armed pod ejected from Siviri satellitended in Tehran south where Koreans gathered.
There was only one android in this pod.
It was a mass-produced terminal of Arma.
This android boasted abat power that was different from what was sold on the market.
It could search the surroundings with gravity radar data from Settlerho and fire ethersers with abundant output from power cells.
Most importantly, it was designed to fight while receiving direct support from Siviri satellite.
It was an infantry support tank Taranth that was reverse-engineered and transnted into an android.
The purpose of this android was one thing.
The annihtion of psychics who were hostile to the human alliance.
Yu Ji-ha had pledged to President McKinley that he would only deploy limited ground forces, and this was the result.
It was still a limited force anyway since he only deployed one unit, right?
¡¸Assassin type android, deployed.¡¹
As the armed pod opened, Arma wearing chador separated with ion thrusters.
It was a ce where Muslims lived, so he had to show at least some courtesy.
***
In a secret room of Baghdad Pce, Suleiman, the de facto leader of Iran and religious leader, was confined.
He was not treated badly, but he waspletely cut off from the outside world andmunication was only possible with Azmun and his subordinate psychics.
It was part of the psychics¡¯ n to make the government a puppet by using the religious leader as a frontman.
The Iranian public sentiment had exploded, and the government officials could not rashly mobilize troops.
In addition, the government was in a severe chaos due to the aftermath of the incident that urred at the Strait of Hormuz.
The South Sea Fleet was disabled and the internationalmunity, including the UN, demanded that they release the religious leader ande to the assembly.
And the warships sent by Korea passed through the oil tankers as if it was their own backyard.
Such information and rumors gathered in Baghdad Pce.
The psychics chose one person as a means to ovee the extreme pressure.
The leader Mehdi Azmun sat face to face with the religious leader Suleiman.
¡°Choose martyrdom. Then we won¡¯t kill the government officials.¡±
¡°¡So you finally came up with passing the buck. It¡¯s pathetic for someone who shouted jihad.¡±
Suleiman narrowed his eyes and scolded sternly, but all he got back was a sneer.
¡°It was you, Rahbar, who nned to hijack the oil tankers in the first ce.¡±
¡°That wasn¡¯t such a reckless n. I intended to negotiate with Korea properly.¡±
¡°People call that collusion. Isn¡¯t this situation a result of God not being able to see that?¡±
¡°¡¡±
It was a parallel line anyway, and as if to prove it, silence followed.
Suleiman broke the silence first.
¡°They won¡¯t believe you even if you use me as a front.¡±
¡°We have to show some sincerity. If there is an apology from Rahbar and somepensation, they will back off.¡±
¡°And then the republic will be upied by you guys.¡±
¡°Man ns and Godughs. This is all God¡¯s will.¡±
Then a loud gunshot was heard outside.
Azmun got up with a stiff face and as soon as he opened the security door, he heard screams.
¡®What, what is it?¡¯
Judging by the explosions, it was clear that a battle was taking ce.
Something was wrong.
This was Baghdad Pce, and the Revolutionary Guards were guarding it without any gaps.
Many armored vehicles were mobilized, and even MANPADS were equipped, making it hard to touch with any ordinary force.
And a battle broke out in such a ce, which meant that the government troops were mobilized.
Azmun gritted his teeth.
¡°Who dares to bare their teeth at me, the one who will soon be the ruler of Iran!¡±
He walked briskly between the pirs and faced an unexpected sight.
A woman in chador was killing psychics with a nk expression.
¡°¡¡±
It was such an unrealistic scene that he couldn¡¯t believe it.
My men are being pierced in the chest and screaming?
She killed several of them and then ran straight at him?
¡°Ah!¡±
Azmun came to his senseste and put strength into his whole body.
Like any other psychic, he had a special ability called physical enhancement.
A golden light wrapped around the man¡¯s body, and now he wasplete with a body that bullets couldn¡¯t prate.
The woman in chador didn¡¯t seem to care about that and reached out her arm.
¡°Get away!¡±
Azmun rushed in, but Arma¡¯s goal was not closebat.
Her long fingers opened and a high-output etherser spewed out.
The golden light narrowed the distance of ten meters in an instant and swept over Azmun¡¯s body.
¡°¡¡±
That was the end.
The psychic¡¯s head and body separated and rolled around, and Arma looked around the devastated surroundings.
¡°Situation over. There are no witnesses.¡±
¡°Good job. Erase the evidence and return.¡±
¡°What about Suleiman?¡±
¡°Well, it would be more helpful to us if he died.¡±
It would be better to keep it chaotic if they wanted to get rid of Afghanistan.
¡°I¡¯ll be back soon.¡±
Arma found Suleiman with gravity radar and killed him, then burned the evidencepletely.
The psychics who had gone out to use civilians as hostages had been dead for a long time.
Finally, she looked up at the sky.
The reconnaissance satellite had just finished its attitude control and shed its lens.
***
¡°It seems something happened in Iran. Baghdad Pce is on fire.¡±
¡°¡¡±
President McKinley was looking at the scene captured by the reconnaissance satellite.
There were many psychics and revolutionary guards who had been guarding the kidnapped Suleiman.
That meant that the guard was strict and it was hard to cope with any ordinary force.
¡°¡Is this Korea¡¯s doing?¡±
¡°There is no evidence, but the probability is very high. They precisely timed it when our satellite was controlling its attitude.¡±
The reconnaissance satellite in low orbit would lose altitude over time, so it had to operate an attitude control motor to prevent it.
At that time, shooting was impossible, and there were not enough reconnaissance satellites to switch missions arbitrarily.
The problem here was how Korea knew this.
The time when the reconnaissance satellite controlled its attitude was top secret and not very long.
President McKinley loosened his tie nervously.
¡°Is there something wrong with our security? Or is President Yu¡¯s technology out of this world.¡±
Korea had been producing things that were hard to understand even with our technology, such as new railgun ships. They were using them defensively for now, but¡
¡°There¡¯s no guarantee they¡¯ll keep doing that. There must be some meaning behind this Iran attack.¡±
¡°Probably Afghanistan.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s real goal was Afghanistan, which had already been obtained through intelligence agencies.
They also found out that he had asked for cooperation from Tajikistan, but they didn¡¯t know why.
¡°It¡¯s strange. Why does a dictator from East Asia care about Afghanistan¡¡±
Afghanistan had be a forsakennd since the United States withdrew nine years ago.
The Taliban and the resistance fought on, but no one in the internationalmunity cared.
It was pointless to sacrifice soldiers and pour huge amounts of money into the grave of empires that even the United States failed to conquer.
The aides shuffled through their papers and said,
¡°ording to recent intelligence, the resistance in the north is operating a few drones. They probably got them from Korea.¡±
¡°The Taliban¡¯s activity has also been greatly reducedtely. There¡¯s definitely something we don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°He¡¯s a real headache.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s recent series of incidents clearly crossed the line set by the United States.
He used a new bomb to destroy Iran¡¯s navy, and now he attacked the top brass while avoiding the eyes of reconnaissance satellites.
There was no reported damage, but judging by the fact that the entire presidential pce was burning, it was hard to expect the survival of the top brass.
No matter how much the embassy burned down, this kind of recklessness¡
Of course, there was no harm to the United States.
Iran was a country that raised anti-Americanism as its banner and had several conflicts with the United States.
Now that they were in chaos, there was room for the United States to intervene.
But in President McKinley¡¯s eyes, such actions were annoying.
It was like watching a mad dog that bit anyone.
¡°The Democrats are right to tighten the leash¡¡±
Their argument was to not repeat the mistake of watching China expand and letting Japan retreat.
The Republicans¡¯ mainstream position was that there was no need to restrain an ally so much.
Then the secretary came in and reported.
¡°Mr. President, the Democratic senators have requested a meeting.¡±
The attack on Iran¡¯s Baghdad Pce had already been reported by the media.
President McKinley tightened his tie again.
¡°Meet them right away. Tell them toe in.¡±
Chapter 109: Turning 1.5 Billion into Enemies
Chapter 109: Turning 1.5 Billion into Enemies
The situation in the Strait of Hormuz seemed to be resolved, at least on the surface.
The Korean navy¡¯s fourth Daemado-ss ship had withdrawn, and a peace fleet led by the US and the UK had taken its ce.
Iran had no power to protest against this measure, so the oil transportation through the Strait continued without any interruption.
It had been less than five days since the oil tanker was hijacked, and the crisis was over.
But the real chaos was about to begin.
The problem was especially serious in Iran, where the Pyschics group that caused this incident and the religious leader Suleiman had died.
There was a nominal president, but he was a person who had pursued secr policies with the support of the US and faced a lot of bacsh from the people.
When he announced Suleiman¡¯s death at a press conference, a huge protest broke out in Tehran.
¡ªWe must avenge Suleiman! We did not give up!
It was unclear who they wanted to exact revenge from, since the culprit had not been identified yet.
What mattered to the Iranian people was something to vent their immediate anger.
The US had pointed to Yu Ji-ha as the mastermind behind this incident, but there was no evidence.
It was not possible to corner a president of another country with mere suspicion, and the internationalmunity was focused on another topic.
It was Korea¡¯s aggressiveness that was revealed in this incident.
In the West, they admitted that Iran had given them a pretext, but they argued that Korea¡¯s response was excessive.
¡ªShooting a gun because someone punched you is not self-defense. Korea¡¯s method is too violent.
¡ªThanks to the new bomb that destroyed the Iranian navy, pirates are rampant in the Strait of Hormuz. I wonder how they will cope with this.
¡ªIt¡¯s not that other countries can¡¯t do it, but they don¡¯t. Reality is not a hero movie, and Korea should restrain itself.
To put it roughly, they meant don¡¯t show off your strength recklessly.
At the UN General Assembly, they decided to give Yu Ji-ha the first speaker in the general debate.
It was unusual considering that Brazil had been giving the first speech as a tradition.
Politicalmentators diagnosed that it was not a keynote speech but a stone throwing for tearing him apart.
¡ªIf Korea¡¯s president attends this assembly, he will face tremendous attacks from various countries.
¡ªFrance is especially eager. They will try to make the keynote speech a scene of Korea¡¯s humiliation.
¡ªHe must know this situation well, so he won¡¯t attend this assembly either.
Usually, heads of state do not miss the opportunity to attend the UN General Assembly and give a speech.
Even if the podium turned into a bed, even if there was no one listening, there was meaning in having such an opportunity.
But Yu Ji-ha had never attended an assembly because he had shed with the UN before.
The media that liked to criticize him often wrote editorials saying that Hitler was also a coward and he had a lot inmon with dictators.
However, Yu Ji-ha did not go to the assembly because he did not need to do so.
The speeches there were mostly standardized with topics such as peace, human rights, and environment, which had nothing to do with him.
¡°It¡¯s funny that a dictator who is full of war, human rights oppression, and environmental destruction is pretending there.¡±
However, regardless of this perspective, Korea¡¯s status had risen considerably.
There was a saying among international diplomats.
The order of keynote speeches at the UN General Assembly is proportional to the blood shed by a country.
The blood must be that of foreigners, not their own people.
The more wars a country has fought, the more powerful and prestigious it is.
If you think about the history of the current UN permanent members, it was not wrong.
The US, UK, France and others imed human rights and freedom now, but decades ago they waged wars and massacred people for their own interests.
Was there any bitter reflection on that?
Not at all.
That¡¯s why when various countries criticized Korea for this incident, the third world reacted cynically.
-France, who harshly criticized Korea and Yu Ji-ha, surprisingly did all kinds of atrocities while granting independence to their colonies. I bet it¡¯s worse than China¡¯s One Belt One Road project.
France¡¯s government was furious and its media started to write radical editorials.
¡ªIs it okay to do that in 2030? It¡¯s not because we were called Hitler that we actually have to follow him, right?
However, the cause of this incident was Iran, who suddenly hijacked an oil tanker.
While acknowledging that Korea¡¯s response was excessive, the countries were busy with their calctors.
Wasn¡¯t Korea, who shared various new technologies and concepts, more suitable to be a friend than Iran, where Muslims shouted jihad?
And these criticisms were buried when Yu Ji-ha held a press conference and revealed the new bomb.
¡°This new explosive is called Hafnium-2. It is a different element from hafnium, and it requires arge-scale ether wave elerator, a Pyschics, and tantalum to produce it¡¡±
The international price of tantalum, which was already expensive, soared.
***
In the original history, humans did not use hafnium-2 to counter the gue.
It was because if you gather tantalum that received energy pumping to a certain size or more, it would cause a copse phenomenon.
This meant that there was a limit to the destructive power of the warhead, which was a serious drawback for a high-performance explosive.
It was not for nothing that humans used hydrogen bombs.
Anyway, hafnium-2 was not very powerful in terms of producing more than tactical nuclear weapons, but it had a significant meaning at this point.
As soon as he revealed the production method, each country started to preparews rted to Pyschicss.
¡°Pyschics Leakage Prevention Act¡ I wonder how fast the bill will pass.¡±
Pyschics was important for producing hafnium-2, as well as tantalum.
Hafnium-2 was transformed from tantalum by absorbing a lot of ether waves shot by a ster.
This process involved a huge amount of energy pumping, which could cause an explosion of the research facility if something went wrong.
Yu Ji-ha did not know the original history well, but he could guess that a lot of lives were sacrificed in the process of making hafnium-2.
¡°Isn¡¯t it almost like grinding Pyschicss?¡±
¡°There is no other way to make it without doing that.¡±
The United Human Federation could make hafnium-2 inrge quantities easily and safely through a supermassive particle elerator.
But other countries without technology had to hire sters and shoot ether waves directly at tantalum to make hafnium.
Shooting ether waves was a very hard task, simr to sprinting and having sex at the same time for humans.
Most Pyschicss were not even alpha-ss, so the output of ether waves was low and the efficiency was not good either.
Nevertheless, the politicians¡¯ desire to secure hafnium-2 was very high.
It didn¡¯t take long for executive orders from heads of state toe down in various countries.
From now on, all Pyschicss had to get permission to travel abroad.
Even France, which valued freedom and human rights, signed this bill.
Of course, protests broke out everywhere, but the French president was busy suppressing them.
¡°In the end, freedom and human rights are flexible in front of interests.¡±
If it was a new kind of clean nuclear bomb, France¡¯s behavior was not iprehensible.
He just wished that they would express their desires more honestly.
It was like the United States or Russia.
Arma summarized the protests that came from various countries and showed them to him.
¡°It seems that the United States has finally lost its patience. They are angry that you shared the method of making such a dangerous weapon without consulting them.¡±
¡°Does that mean they gave up since they are not calling?¡±
¡°It¡¯s more likely that they will try to tame you in earnest.¡±
¡°Are they going to put a bomb ne around my neck?¡±
¡°China or Japan might think that¡¯s possible.¡±
¡°China¡ The Second Sino-American War just ended not long ago.¡±
¡°The protests from Taiwan don¡¯t mean much to the United States. The current China does not have the power to challenge the US hegemony. The US knows that better than anyone.¡±
The US showed that there were no eternal enemies or friends in front of interests.
¡°So they are trying to restrain me, who doesn¡¯t listen to them? By joining forces with China and Japan?¡±
¡°They don¡¯t need to join forces. They just need to scratch your nerves and make you slip up.¡±
¡°Well, they are right next to me¡¡±
If you keep scratching your opponent¡¯s nerves, something will go wrong.
The US was more likely to use China or Japan to restrain Korea than to take action directly.
The actual time to act would be after the inauguration of the new president.
It was probably because the Democratic Party was leading the Korean restraint.
On the other hand, he had spread the method of making Hafnium2, but that didn¡¯t mean anyone could make it.
Even if they prepared tantalum or cycer, it would be hard to start researching the ether wave elerator without their help.
Arma estimated that Hafnium2 was first used in 2050 in the original history.
Considering that the timeline was moved forward, it would be hard to make it before 2040.
In other words, the use of terrorist groups that the US was worried about was impossible from the start.
¡°But there are ces that are researching ether wave elerators on their own, right?¡±
¡°Yes. Most of the major powers¡ Especially the UN permanent members have started researching ether. They will be able to make ether wave elerators within five years without our help.¡±
The efficiency would be bad, but they would ept it for such a weapon. That would be the thought of the leaders of each country.
This trend started with the development of railgun cannons.
Despite Japan¡¯s miserable failure, each country raised their enthusiasm for cannon production.
After all, it worked.
Even if the efficiency was low, even if there was a limit to the life of the cannon, it didn¡¯t change that it was a railgun.
Each country wanted to have a railgun at any cost.
Even though a railgun with no range and firing speed was no better than an anti-ship missile.
¡°It¡¯s not bad to ept some offers and secure resources while they are trying to get resources from us.¡±
In fact, each country was trying to contact them through various channels to find out how to make ether wave elerators.
There were even countries that wanted to hand over their entire mining rights.
There was no need to announce that there was a limit to the destructive power of Hafnium2 warheads here.
¡°Just ept some offers and secure resources.¡±
¡°What about Africa¡¯s offer? Seven countries have contacted us so far.¡±
¡°Africa? Hmm¡ What resources do they have there?¡±
ording to Arma¡¯s collected data, there was nothing they didn¡¯t have.
Especially Congo and Ang had a lot of resources, but they were suffering from civil wars and China¡¯s interference.
Lately, the alliance had given up on the one-on-one, but the forces that had been taking advantage of their fault had coborated with the military and staged a coup, making a mess of things.
He shook his head as he looked over the situation in the local area.
¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be a disaster if we went in there?¡±
¡°It would be like a world war with Korea as the enemy.¡±
There were more than a fewpanies that had sucked up Africa¡¯s resources.
Those resourcepanies were exploiting the locals ruthlessly with their own country¡¯s military power behind them.
There were various regtions on conflict minerals, but that didn¡¯t stop smuggling.
The buyers had no reason to tie their own arms and legs.
There was a hole somewhere in the regtionw, and the resourcepanies were making good use of it.
He decided that there was no need to intervene after looking at the data.
The resources were scarce, but that was a problem that could be solved when the mining front moved to Mars.
¡°Let¡¯s focus on Afghanistan for now. How far along is the schedule?¡±
¡°The anger of the Muslim society is about to explode. To trigger a terror, we just need to stimte them a little and let them go.¡±
The Hormuz Strait crisis had been resolved, but of course everything was not over.
The Muslim¡¯s anger against drones and androids had not subsided at all, and hatred for Yu Ji-ha had been added.
Iran had been shattered, and there were forces that secretly rejoiced, but anyway they were fellow Muslims.
There was this passage in the Quran.
¡ªFight against those who do not believe in God.
¡ªFight until the whole world worships God.
Here, God obviously meant Ah, and this was an excuse for the terrorists.
Now it was time for those terrorists to focus on Korea.
They would target Korea instead of America andmit indiscriminate terror.
Of course, this was also what Yu Ji-ha intended.
To secure the Tajik people, he had to eventually upy Afghanistan, but he needed a reason for that.
Of course, the Taliban had tried to kidnap Yu Ji-ha in the past and received China¡¯s support tomit terror.
But that was in the past, and it was not easy to hold them ountable now.
So he needed a new reason.
He needed a huge terror that would make sense for Yu Ji-ha to invade Afghanistan in anger.
For example, something like 9.11.
¡°Pick some suitable people from the local area and rece them.¡±
¡°How about crashing a passenger ne into the headquarters building? We¡¯re nning to move anyway.¡±
¡°That¡¯s fine.¡±
The Si Group headquarters was scheduled to move to Mega City South, so most of the staff were gone.
The building was going to be sold, but it would be perfect as a stepping stone for invading Afghanistan.
Of course, for this process, Arma¡¯s maniption was needed.
No one would believe that Korea had neglected its guard against Muslims.
¡°Use dummies for the corpses and clean up the traces as quickly as possible.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll contact the hospital.¡±
The dummies produced by BioBag were very hard to distinguish from humans unlike androids.
They were so realistic that they would be mistaken for humans unless they opened their skulls, and they yed a big role in creating fake Yu Ji-ha¡¯s death.
These dummies were not known to the world and should not be known either.
They had to be used for self-made dramas in the future.
One of the reasons why Yu Ji-ha couldn¡¯t rece the leaders of various countries with dummies was partly because of that.
No matter how good the technology was, it was impossible to reproduce all the experiences and memories that countless politicians had umted.
There was bound to be something awkward somewhere, and this would cause suspicion of the dummy.
Even Yu Ji-ha, who was using the body of a chaebol third generation as a dummy, was eventually exposed by his mother.
If he used them widely and got caught, the aftermath would be no joke.
Yu Ji-ha checked his final n and gave instructions.
¡°Let¡¯s finish it by April. We have a lot to do.¡±
Next was Manchuria.
***
This Hormuz Strait crisis had announced Korea¡¯s status to the world and at the same time provoked the bacsh of the Muslims.
The president of Iran, instead of resolving the situation, incited hatred against Korea and tried to use it to strengthen his power.
At this point, there was only one card that Iran could use against Korea.
It was oil.
Suleiman had used that method too, but he failed miserably, and now only the way of controlling oil exports through OPEC remained.
There were many countries in OPEC that had no special feelings for Yu Ji-ha, but the influential ones were Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.
Especially Saudi Arabia had a strong voice, but Iran tried hard to persuade them despite their bad rtionship.
However, the crown prince Mohammed knew the sentiment of his country and couldn¡¯t exclude Yu Ji-hapletely.
He gathered the ministers of each department and held a meeting, and came to the following conclusion.
¡°The support of 1.5 billion Muslims is important, of course. We have a responsibility tofort Muslims as we are the center of Im. Butpletely excluding Korea is suicide. We will dere neutrality in this incident.¡±
Saudi Arabia¡¯s deration of non-participation in OPEC meeting made the production cut itself uncertain.
Iraq was friendly to Iran and they had a lot of conversations and agreed on an informal production cut.
But their efforts were foiled when Russia intervened.
The Kremlin watched the situation and announced it directly.
¡ªWe will supply oil to Korea at a reasonable price. The deadline depends on the agreement between the two sides and we will not limit the export volume.
Just in time, Russia¡¯s ESPO pipeline wasid in North Korea, and Iran¡¯s threatpletely lost its light.
Now Korea could get oil and gas directly from Russia.
Also, Korea¡¯s resource agency started exploring resources in Siberia, attracting a lot of expectations.
¡ªThere is enough oil buried in this area tost for at least hundreds of years.
¡ªBut I don¡¯t know where our territory ends¡ I¡¯m worried that Russia might suddenly get up and take it away.
¡ªDon¡¯t worry about that. The presidential office told us to explore as much as we want. Just don¡¯t go beyond Lake Baikal.
¡ªWait, is our territory all east of Lake Baikal?
No one could answer that question except one person, so they all pretended not to know and focused on exploration.
The scale of the project was limited, so they formed a consortium with privatepanies and naturally led the rise of rted stocks in KOSPI.
Jobs also increased significantly and it was called a happy spring for Koreans.
However, unlike the domestic situation, the eyes looking at Korea from abroad were only cold.
He had made so many enemies by causing so much trouble.
Especially the hatred in the Middle East reached its peak, and Saudi Arabia and UAE, which had close ties with Korea, were busy suppressing this sentiment.
They had to introduce nuclear fusion nts right away, but what would they do by setting up an opposition structure?
Saudi Arabia was looking for a source of ie after oil, and Korea was rated as the best partner to lead the fourth industrial revolution.
Above all, unlike many Western countries, Korea did not impose any restrictions on exports.
¡ªWhat do you want? We¡¯ll sell anything if you pay us money.
Korea¡¯s attitude caused severe controversy in Europe and elsewhere, but Yu Ji-ha had no intention of changing his policy.
And now he was not in a position to bow to the pressure of other countries.
In the past, he might have cared about exports, but now other countries had to care about Korea.
Even Japan, an economic powerhouse, suffered severe damage after breaking ties with Korea and regretted it in business circles.
The world was running on purely economic logic, and Korea had a considerable advantage in that field.
However, regardless of that, forces that hated Korea began to gather.
They were mainly rebel forces who were hit by drones that entered the Middle East.
In addition, Taliban from Afghanistan and former IS members joined them to form a considerable size.
The purpose of these forces was one.
¡ªGod is angry. Kill Yu Ji-ha!
Hundreds of terrorists began to target Yu Ji-ha.
Chapter 110: 3.25 Terror
Chapter 110: 3.25 Terror
Yu Ji-ha met with Fatima for the first time in a long time.
The ce was a Central Asian restaurant near the headquarters of Shi Group, and they rented the whole ce.
It was morefortable to have a secret conversation without anyone around.
Fatima had grown much taller than when he first saw her, and her girlish appearance hadpletely disappeared.
Even though she was not an adult yet, her psychic ability had awakened and her eyes shone with a clear golden color.
People who did not know her would easilypliment her eyes for being beautiful.
¡°How have you beentely?¡±
He spoke as if he was meeting a rtive after a long time, and Fatima pouted her lips.
¡°You said that a lot in your letters.¡±
¡°Ah¡ sorry. I¡¯ve been busytely.¡±
¡°That Seo Jun kid, he was nice and decent. Especially his heart.¡±
¡°His heart in what way?¡±
¡°Um¡ well, he¡¯s not lewd for one thing. The other kids have weird thoughts.¡±
She had fully matured as a mentalist, and now she could read the minds of others just by touching them.
It was a skill that was far beyond the mass-produced psychics, but it was not always a good thing.
She could read the memories and feelings of others without wanting to, which was very hard for a girl like Fatima.
Fortunately, Arma was always by her side, giving her support and advice, so she did not lose trust in humanitypletely.
And there was also the fact that Seo Jun, the boy she was assigned to, was so innocent and handsome that he fit her taste perfectly.
They were currently attending the same school and making precious memories together.
Yu Ji-ha smiled inwardly as he watched Fatima chatter about Seo Jun.
¡®If Lucia had given birth to a daughter, she would have been simr to Fatima.¡¯
He tried not to get attached to the humans of this era.
They were nothing but tools to be used after all.
But when he saw Fatima getting jealous of Seo Jun meeting other girls, he could not help but smile at the corner of his mouth.
She had mastered Korean by now, and except for being picky about food, she was almost like a Korean.
¡°¡Uncle.¡±
¡°Huh? Oh, sorry. What did you say?¡±
¡°You¡¯re weird. I can read Seo Jun¡¯s mind, but I can¡¯t read yours.¡±
¡°There¡¯s one more person like that, right?¡±
¡°Oh, Arma unnie too. I can¡¯t read her mind at all.¡±
That was because he was an omega-ss psychic.
Yu Ji-ha was a human who could ignore even the thoughts emitted by a leviathan-ss gue.
His mental defense against Fatima¡¯s unintentional attacks was easy.
He had let her read some of his memories when they first met, but that was it.
They continued their conversation for a while until Fatima brought up something cautiously.
¡°But I¡¯m not sure if you¡¯re okay, uncle. There¡¯s been a lot of dangerous talktely.¡±
She must have heard the rumors circting on the inte.
It had been quite some time since the terrorists openly recruited warriors on SNS and other ces.
The government agencies were keeping a close eye on them, but it was widely believed that terror was only a matter of time.
Things that are suppressed will eventually explode.
The hatred that Yu Ji-ha had earned from the Muslims by destroying Iran was no joke.
They might have different interpretations of Shia and Sunni doctrines and growl at each other normally, but they would unite like ghosts when an enemy appeared from outside.
And if that enemy was an infidel like Yu Ji-ha, their unity would be even easier.
They would not see him as a human, so they could use any radical means they wanted.
He wiped his mouth with a napkin.
¡°Terror? Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±
¡°But still¡¡±
¡°There are many people around this restaurant who are protecting me. You might not notice them.¡±
Fatima nodded her head.
¡°I know. You¡¯re the president and there are many bodyguards around you. But you were in danger before.¡±
She was talking about when he faked his death.
ording to Arma, Fatima cried a lot back then.
She hade to Korea without any ties, trusting only Yu Ji-ha, and she must have been heartbroken.
He had exchanged letters with her often and gave her some allowance, so he had built some rapport with her.
To Fatima now, Yu Ji-ha was more than a reliable uncle and a generous sponsor.
He might even be considered as a father figure by her, even if she did not say it out loud.
¡°It¡¯s okay now. I¡¯ll be careful. And there¡¯s something you have to do for me¡¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
Fatima leaned forward with anticipation.
She had always received from him, so she felt burdened, but she was d that there was something she could do for him.
Yu Ji-ha brought up the topic of the resistance, the Mossad, and the Tajik people.
¡°Are things tough over theretely?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know much, but I heard it¡¯s hard. Even though you sent me a drone¡¡±
The resistance had captured Kabul, but they couldn¡¯t maintain it properly and were in danger of losing it.
They had destroyed the Taliban¡¯s main force and assassinated their leader before.
But there was a huge gap in foreign support. While the Taliban received assistance from Iran and other ces, the resistance only had Tajikistan.
The support dwindled as the situation seemed hopeless.
¡°What if, and this is just hypothetical, the Korean army entered thatnd? What do you think?¡±
¡°Uh¡ the Korean army?¡±
She widened her eyes as if surprised.
She had experienced the war indirectly while in Korea and realized that the Korean army was on a different level from terrorists like the Taliban.
Especially the 7th Division¡¯s prowess was truly amazing!
The reputation of being Asia¡¯s strongest tank unit was not an exaggeration.
Now they had ck Metal and Railgun and were called the world¡¯s strongest, but anyway, to her eyes, they were awesome beyond awesome.
But even such a Korean army would not be guaranteed to win if they set foot in Afghanistan.
It was an ind country with limited transportation and a terrible terrain.
It was not for nothing that Afghanistan was called the graveyard of empires.
Fatima fiddled with the egg on her te.
¡°I know that the Korean army is strong and you are amazing. But I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s really hell there¡¡±
¡°No, I¡¯m not asking about the sess rate. I¡¯m asking about whether the Tajiks would ept it. The Korean army recing the US army in Afghanistan. Think about the sentiment of Panjshir.¡±
He had scattered micro-drones, but he couldn¡¯t get any reliable information because they were too busy surviving.
¡°Um¡¡±
It was a very difficult topic for a 16-year-old Fatima to think about.
But she had a lot of interactions with the leaders of Masad and others since she came to Korea.
She had heard more than her peers and was quite mature.
She cautiously opened her mouth.
¡°Masad always says that things are very different from before. Afghanistan can¡¯t just shout for self-reliance anymore. It needs external help¡¡±
¡°So they need help badly.¡±
¡°Desperately. Independence is important, of course, but survival is more important. Right now, even medical supplies are cut off in Panjshir¡¡±
¡°What if they guarantee autonomy? The Korean army instead of the US army in Afghanistan. Not the sess rate, but think about the mood of Panjshir.¡±
¡°¡I think it¡¯s okay. Masad¡¯s mind has changed a lot too. He said that Afghanistan¡¯splete independence can be achieved by future generations. The priority is to survive now.¡±
He nodded at her affirmative answer.
¡°Then that¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll have to go to Panjshirter, so get ready. Arma will help you pack your stuff.¡±
¡°Really?¡±
Fatima was worried but also very happy.
Well, she was going back to her hometown after a long time¡
She had gotten used to Korea, but nothing couldpare to her homnd.
The meal was over and Arma came in.
Women have their own stories to tell.
He made an excuse that he had some documents to get from the headquarters and went outside.
The evening glow slightly reflected on the ss of the headquarters building.
***
They say that there are ten signs before an incident happens.
Korea¡¯s intelligence agencies had been focusing more on the Middle East than on North Korea, China or Japan recently.
It was because of the frequent mentions of terrorism against the president.
On one SNS, someone said to kill Yu Ji-ha and got a lot of support from Muslims, but it was deleted for hate speech.
Iran openly antagonized Korea and even banned Koreans from visiting.
The news showed people protesting against drones and androids every day.
-The government must listen to our voices. Those damn dolls can never rece humans.
-Killing is not only direct. Yu Ji-ha, the Korean Dictator, invented a vile machine that killed tens of thousands of Muslims. He is an enemy of all Muslims.
-Kill Yu Ji-ha! Kill him!
The protests became more radical, burning Yu Ji-ha¡¯s pictures and Korean gs.
The hatred umted by drones and androids was triggered by the Iranian situation.
The world opinion was mostly ming Yu Ji-ha.
-Imitating a merchant of death is not for everyone. It¡¯s natural that he bes a target when he is a president who should be in hiding.
-What now? Saudi Arabia and UAE may endure for the sake of partnership, but their people are restless. The royal family may reconsider their rtionship with Yu Ji-ha for their image.
-He turned 1.5 billion Chinese into enemies, and now he turned 1.5 billion Muslims into enemies. Is he going to make the whole world his enemy next?
Various criticisms continued, but there was no real damage to Yu Ji-ha and Korea.
In March 2030, exports soaredpared to previous years and foreign investment was more active than ever.
Many foreignpanies drooled over the resource exploration in Dongsimberia.
They also received arge amount of money by winning orders for nuclear fusion nts.
The lunar base that started to operate in full swing attracted a lot of attention, of course.
A Korean reporter had the honor of going to the moon and reporting directly.
¡°I think I know why this is called the Sea of Tranquility. I¡¯m looking at the Earth right now¡ It¡¯s very, very beautiful. I think every Earthling should see this sight at least once in their lifetime.¡±
The few people who had been to the moon also posted their proof shots and received the envy of the world.
The cost was not much, but the reservation was backed up by millions, so they wondered if they could go before they died.
In response, Starfield decided to advance the mass production schedule of suborbital nes.
But what drew the most attention from the world was helium-3 and unoptanium mined from the moon.
Scientists who were interviewed by science journals said they never expected helium-3 mining to be a reality in our generation.
¡°As you know, helium-3 is essential for ion beam fusion reactors. And currently, only Starfield can mine it economically. That means, from now on, the environment also depends on Yu Ji-ha.¡±
Nuclear fusion nts are considered as a typical eco-friendly energy source.
Yu Ji-ha was known as a leader of developmental dictatorship and a destroyer of the environment, but the reality was the opposite.
The garbage ind in the North Pacific had been almost cleared away by months of cleanup work.
However, environmental activists desperately tried not to mention that topic.
They were ufortable with the fact that a dictator like Yu Ji-ha cared about the environment.
¡°The garbage ind is not fixed, it moves. You can¡¯t say it¡¯spletely gone by cleaning it for a few months.¡±
¡°But the reports from the US and Japan say they can¡¯t find it anywhere.¡±
¡°What do civil servants know? We know best about the environment.¡±
¡°I see. Please contact me when you find the garbage ind again.¡±
Needless to say, that activist never contacted him again.
Anyway, as Yu Ji-ha¡¯s influence on the world was enormous, there was an argument that he should be protected seriously.
It was mostly an argument that came out in the media rted to him, such as Russia or Germany.
-The threat of terrorists against President Yu Ji-ha is getting more serious as time goes by. If he dies, all the achievements he has made will be gone.
-There is no need for the state to intervene, and sharing data processed by intelligence agencies would be enough. The Korean intelligence agency is focused on East Asia and has little influence in the Middle East.
Fortunately, some agents from Israel¡¯s Mossad visited and handed over a checklist of people to watch out for.
Israel itself denied that there was such a thing, but it was amon thing in the spy world, so agencies like NIS did not take it seriously.
They didn¡¯t know.
That Mossad didn¡¯t really move.
That everything was Arma¡¯s work and two people were missing from the checklist.
And that the two excluded people were former Iranian pilots who were going to Korea as captain and co-pilot of an Iraqi cargo ne.
The NIS agent dispatched to a Korean airline obtained their information but excluded them from surveince because they were Iraqi nationals and not on the checklist.
He made an excuse to himself that he had too many people to look at.
That¡¯s how an Iraqi cargo ne flew toward Korea.
***
Yu Ji-ha held both positions of president of South Korea and chairman of Si Group.
Arma was officially the owner of Si Group, but few people believed that.
So when Yu Ji-ha said he had something to do at headquarters and told his bodyguards to stay down, the security team epted it obediently.
¡°I heard he¡¯s moving his headquarters. He must have a lot of documents that we shouldn¡¯t see.¡±
¡°There are many drones around the building, so there¡¯s no possibility of terrorism.¡±
Thanks to that, Yu Ji-ha could concentrate on his work at the headquarters building where most of his employees had left.
Arma reported to him.
¡¸Master, a cargo ne controlled by dummies has entered our airspace.¡¹
It will start ignoring instructions from the control tower soon.
Yu Ji-ha stood by the window to look at the evening glow that had settled down before he knew it.
The sma shield would protect his body, so he wouldn¡¯t get hurt even if the cargo ne crashed into him.
But for his future schedule, it would be better to get some injuries.
Losing one of his limbs would be too conspicuous, so maybe some burns on his upper body would do.
Arma had already calcted which parts to burn and how much to open up the sma shield.
¡°A terrorist attack against the president¡ This should be enough for a justification.¡±
For dramatic effect, some dummies disguised as employees were also working hard.
They would be best if they died and Yu Ji-ha got injured.
¡¸The cargo ne is ignoring the instructions from the control tower and heading straight for the headquarters building. A state of emergency has been dered in the air defense units around.¡¹
The purge of generals had paid off, as the reaction was very fast.
It didn¡¯t take long from Incheon to Seoul, so Yu Ji-ha spotted a small dot in a few minutes.
¡°It¡¯s finally here.¡±
¡¸I¡¯ll jam it.¡¹
This was also part of the scenario.
If the iron beam was fine, but the ne crashed into the building, wouldn¡¯t it be too strange?
To kill the Korean president, all kinds of operations and absurdities had to be mobilized.
As soon as the power went out, the security guards downstairs received a call and started running.
¡°Get the president down!¡±
¡°The elevator is not working!¡±
¡°Did they take out the emergency generator too? Run down the stairs!¡±
He looked down at them with a bitter smile.
¡°It¡¯s hard to die, huh?¡±
Meanwhile, as a jet flew into the center of Seoul, the citizens began to buzz.
¡°Do nes usually fly that low?¡±
¡°Oh no! It¡¯sing this way!¡±
¡°Mommy!¡±
The buzzing soon turned into screams.
As people ran in all directions, the vehicles stopped and the drivers got out to look at the ne that was getting bigger.
This was a terror attack.
¡°Where is it going?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know! Run!¡±
There were not one or two buildings in Gangnam, and it would be a disaster wherever it crashed.
Sirens sounded everywhere and traffic came to a standstill.
The final destination of the ne was confirmed to be the Shi Group headquarters building.
The generals at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who received information from the air defense unit under theirmand, urgently contacted the secretary¡¯s office.
¡°Where is the president right now? What? In the headquarters building?¡±
¡°No way.¡±
And then the cargo ne collided with the headquarters building.
A massive shockwave and countless fragments swept through the surroundings.
The fragile building could not withstand the impact and copsed as its waist snapped, and a huge me erupted as if aviation fuel had exploded.
People watched in shock at the unreal sight.
No one had imagined that something like this would happen again after the September 11th terror attack 29 years ago.
Especially in the middle of Seoul.
On the other hand, the security guards ran up the stairs without caring about the earthquake-like shock.
The whole building copsed as the upper floors were smashed, but they did not stop their steps.
They had a record of failing to protect the president, and one mistake was enough.
Korea could not afford to lose him now.
In the midst of a fire breaking out and ck smoke rising, they found him.
He was out of his mind from shock, his arms and legs were twisted in weird angles, and his upper body was red.
Evidence of severe burns.
The security team leader quickly checked his breathing.
Thankfully, he was still alive.
¡°That¡¯s it! He¡¯s alive! Call an ambnce¡ no, never mind! Call an ambnce as fast as possible!¡±
Gangnam was closer to a hospital than a helicopter.
Emergency treatment began and all the traffic lights in Gangnam turned red at once.
And police buses pushed away the vehicles that filled the road, followed by an ambnce making a loud noise.
People were amazed at this sight they had never seen before.
¡°Is it okay for police buses to do that?¡±
¡°Maybe there¡¯s someone important in the ambnce.¡±
¡°Could it be¡ the president?¡±
As they said that, the ambnce was being forced to drive recklessly by the security guards who apanied it.
¡°Take your foot off the brake!¡±
¡°Move! Let me drive!¡±
¡°Oh no! That¡¯s not allowed!¡±
He pretended to be unconscious and quietly fell asleep.
He had a lot of things to do when he woke up.
Chapter 111: It’s God’s Punishment
Chapter 111: It¡¯s God¡¯s Punishment
¨DKorea, under attack!
¨DTerrorist attack in the middle of Seoul by arge aircraft¡ The location is the Si Group headquarters building.
On the evening of March 25th, the major media andmunities in Korea were covered with breaking news due to the terror.
Until now, the exact number of casualties was not known, but as the chaos grew, ominous rumors began to circte.
¨DThere were a few employees and President Yu Ji-ha in the Si Group headquarters building.
¨DThe president didn¡¯t die, but he was seriously injured and unconscious.
¨DThe traffic lights in Gangnam all turned red to move the president to the hospital.
The rumors were quite detailed, and they matched what Baek Seongmin, the chief secretary, had heard.
He checked the location of the terror and the president¡¯s whereabouts, and felt his heart sink.
¡®Please, please let it not be true¡¡¯
As he headed to the scene with his secretaries, more breaking news kepting in.
¨DSi Group headquarters building, fire caused by aviation fuel explosion.
¨D22-story buildingpletely copsed¡ Casualties are unconfirmed.
And in the middle of it, he got a call from the head of security.
¡°This is Kim Wonseop. He has severe burns on his upper body and fractures. He is unconscious but his life does not seem to be in danger.¡±
¡°We are currently using an ambnce with license te 2511 to take him to Gangnam Mo Hospital.¡±
¡°Phew¡¡±
Baek Seongmin, the chief secretary, breathed a sigh of relief for now.
It was a miracle that he survived in that situation, but he had no time to think about that.
The important thing was that the president was alive.
He quickly ordered his secretary to turn the car around.
Soon after, an ambnce and several ck vehicles gathered at a hospital in Gangnam.
The emergency team at the hospital was shocked to find out that the patient was the president.
¡°He is currently unconscious. You must save him.¡±
The security guards pushed their faces forward with excitement, and the doctors stepped back hesitantly.
What could they say in this situation?
¡°¡We will do our best.¡±
The stretcher carrying Yu Ji-ha and the doctors entered the emergency room one after another, and the security guards blocked the door.
Baek Seongmin called his secretaries together and gave instructions.
¡°Request an embargo on the media for now, but give them only the minimum information. Tell them that his life is not in danger. And where is the Minister of National Defense?¡±
¡°He¡¯s on the phone right now.¡±
¡°Give it to me.¡±
He informed him of the president¡¯s safety, and then he finally let out a long sigh.
¡°I thought a war had broken out.¡±
¡°Depending on who¡¯s behind this, it might still happen.¡±
Well, since the president was like that¡
It was not an ordinary thing to crash a ne precisely into a building in the capital of a country, let alone one where the president was.
When the president regained consciousness and the culprit was revealed, a war might break out.
No, there was no way to resolve this situation without a war.
The secretaries hurriedly contacted other ministers while Arma entered through the front door.
¡°Chief Secretary.¡±
¡°Oh, you¡¯re here.¡±
Baek Seongmin had never heard the word ¡°heart¡± from the president as a chief secretary.
The real heart was Arma Ashford.
That¡¯s how important her existence was, and she was often said to be higher in rank than the chief secretary in the media and elsewhere.
It was unfair for Baek Seongmin as a chief secretary, but after seeing her work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he had to admit her ability.
She was the one who managed to keep up with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs even though many diplomats, including ministers and vice ministers, had been cut off due to her work characteristics.
There were many things that could not be solved by androids and required improvisation, but she handled them meticulously.
Many media outlets tried to dig up her past from America, but they found almost nothing.
How could she not be an android?
She was always calm andposed as usual even in this situation.
¡°The president¡¡±
¡°He seems to be fine for now. He may need to watch his prognosis because of his upper body burns.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good. But who do you think is behind this? Even Russia didn¡¯t predict it.¡±
She seemed to be just an artificial intelligence that showed overwhelming performance in data analysis and calction.
Baek Seongmin looked around and whispered lowly.
¡°Judging by the fact that the flight used for terror was a cargo ne from Iraq, it must be them.¡±
¡°Iran, or terrorists of another nationality wearing their shells.¡±
¡°I heard that former IS members are gathering in Afghanistan these days. It could be them.¡±
And they also talked about the incident that caused the ckout.
¡°Two substations in Gangnam went down and caused a ckout, and several bodies were found. The police and drones are on the scene, and we should be able to identify them soon by checking their entry and exit records.¡±
¡°What do they look like?¡±
It would be good to ask the police, but Arma, who could check the drone system, was more urate.
She showed him a tablet.
¡°Be careful, it¡¯s a gruesome picture.¡±
It must have been a picture of the terrorists.
He prepared himself and saw traces of long beards.
¡°¡Muslims grow their beards long, right?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t be sure, but they were the ones who incited terror against the president on SNS and elsewhere. They were mostly in Afghanistan.¡±
That¡¯s right¡
There had been frequent protests against President Yu Ji-ha in the Muslim worldtely.
The hatred that had been built up by drones and androids exploded due to the Iran situation.
They all expected terror, but they never imagined that they would use the same method as they did in the past against the United States.
How did they know where the president was and crash the ne exactly?
When Baek Seongmin mentioned that point, Arma tilted her head.
¡°Maybe the president¡¯s presence didn¡¯t matter. Maybe the building was just the target.¡±
That was possible, but unlikely.
They had to assume that there was some connection with the Muslim forces in Korea.
If they checked the flight path of theer and found that it had changed, it would be 100%.
The two called in people who were responsible, such as the chief of police, and discussed how to deal with the situation.
And not long after, they got a call from the hospital.
.¡°The president is looking for you.¡±
He had regained consciousness already.
The two entered the intensive care unit with light steps.
***
¡°¡¡±
President McKinley was speechless as he watched the video of the building copsing.
It looked like a footage from September 11th, 29 years ago, but it wasn¡¯t.
The building was smaller and the surrounding scenery was somehow unfamiliar.
The ce where the video was filmed was not America, but Seoul, Korea.
That meant that the capital of Korea had been attacked by a ne terror.
The situation was serious enough, but what was worse was that the president of Korea was among the victims.
He didn¡¯t know why he was in that building, but he received intelligence that he was taken away by an ambnce.
The local agents testified rtively in detail about the chaos at the time.
¡°Korean airspace has been closed. All nes were forced tond at nearby airports and scrambles are currently underway.¡±
¡°They pushed away all the cars and moved the ambnce. It happened to be rush hour, so some sections of the road were no different from parking lots.¡±
¡°They are investigating the reason why the iron beam and the air defense unit werete to respond, but it is spected that a sudden ckout was the cause.¡±
¡°It seems that the president did not die on the spot.¡±
If he didn¡¯t die, he could somehow save him.
There must have been a fire, so his body wouldn¡¯t be intact, but what mattered was his head.
President McKinley rewound several videos and pressed pause, then looked at his aides.
¡°The important thing is the future situation. Assuming that President Yu suffered serious injuries but survived, how do you think it will turn out?¡±
¡°War. It¡¯s not possible to let it go when they did a terror on someone of his importance.¡±
¡°It¡¯s likely that the culprit is a Muslim again. It doesn¡¯t make sense to make all Muslims enemies and they will probably narrow down the target to a few countries.¡±
Was that really the case?
President Yu¡¯s mentality was something that even President McKinley couldn¡¯t understand.
It was clear that he ran full speed with some purpose, but sometimes he crossed the line.
If he had been normal, he would have stopped selling drones before the Muslim society protested.
But even now, Korean-made drones were being sold all over the world.
Humphrey, an aide, spoke up.
¡°In the worst case scenario, he could start a war against the entire Muslim society. He wouldy drones in the Middle East and hunt down terrorists.¡±
¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense. That kind of surveince system is only possible in Korea, which has a small territory.
How big is the Middle East?¡±
Iran alone, which was suspected to be the cause of this incident, had 16 times more territory than Korea.
There were alsonds that North Korea or Russia might have ceded, but if you look at only thend that had practical meaning, that was it.
President McKinley thought so too.
¡°That drone system is definitely an innovative system, but it has its limits. It doesn¡¯t make sense to monitor the entire Middle East with it, and he will probably narrow it down to two countries.¡±
¡°Iran, Afghanistan.¡±
By then, the intelligence that he had paid attention to Afghanistan a while ago became significant.
Why did he contact the Tajikistan government?
Why did Korean agents go into Panjshir in Afghanistan and check out the vige situation?
There were many other suspicious aspects.
ording to Korean media, the ne was a typical cargo ne that turned its course right after gettingnding permission from Gimpo Airport.
The problem was the air defensework.
It was less than 15km from Gimpo Airport to that area, and the air defense unit could have responded sufficiently.
Considering the importance of the matter, it wasn¡¯t strange to shoot it down.
Of course, shooting down a cargo ne in downtown was very difficult.
If you make a mistake, it could crash into a busy street.
But even such discussions were not properly conducted.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff did not give enough instructions to the air defense unit.
He didn¡¯t know exactly why, but Korean media spected thatmunication confusion was the cause.
One of the aides sorted out the data and lowered his voice as if he found something suspicious.
¡°¡It could also be a self-made y.¡±
¡°Any evidence?¡±
¡°The fact that there was a very appropriate and urate ckout in that area, that there was confusion in themand line and not enough instructions were given to the air defense unit. And also that the cargo ne pinpointed exactly where the president was.¡±
It was suspicious enough.
But it was difficult to bring up this suspicion now.
¡°Don¡¯t put that remark on paper. If we leak that we made such a guess, we¡¯ll have a headache.¡±
¡°Yes sir.¡±
Even if there was a possibility of a self-made y in this situation, there were few countries that could bring it up.
From now on, Yu¡¯s anger would pour out.
Considering his influence on the world, everyone would probably condemn the terror and issue a statement of condolence for Korea and Yu.
Who would say otherwise in such an atmosphere?
You could be excluded from all his ns in the future, not to mention never recovering the rtionship.
Except for some reckless Middle Eastern countries.
After that, he predicted that he would negotiate with Pakistan.
Iran may be one thing, but Afghanistan is andlocked country.
They can¡¯t solve everything with drones, so they will eventually have to send ground troops. But to do that, they have to pass through the airspace of either Pakistan or Iran.
Iran may be one thing, but Pakistan was the biggest supporter of the Taliban.
During the 9/11 terror attack, Pakistan opened its airspace obediently under the threat of the United States.
But would they do the same for Korea?
McKinley, who was already tired, slumped into his chair.
¡°Let¡¯s deal with Pakistanter, depending on their future actions. Prepare an urgent statement in my name for now. It should contain enough condolences for Korea and the Yu Ji-ha family, and state that the United States firmly opposes terrorism. And also mention 9/11 a little bit. Say that we understand the situation of Korea because we experienced such a horrible incident.¡±
¡°I will prepare the statement.¡±
¡°And separately from the statement, I want to send a special envoy to the Korean government¡ Deputy Assistant Martin.¡±
¡°Yes. I will go and subtly ask them what they have nned.¡±
¡°The airspace is closed, but we¡¯ll be fine. Go and deliver my condolences and intentions. Tell them that we do not oppose President Yu Ji-ha¡¯s thoughts. But we hope that things don¡¯t get too big.¡±
The Democrats would make a fuss, but President McKinley had no intention ofpromising.
The most important thing now was tofort the victims of the terror attack.
***
The world was shocked as the news of Korea being attacked by terrorists spread through the airwaves.
There had been no direct terror attacks using airnes since 9/11, and most people had forgotten about that incident.
It was not unreasonable since it was almost 30 years ago.
But the terror attack that Korea suffered was very simr to 9/11.
The scene was controlled so that reporters could not enter easily, so the photos and videos from that time reappeared.
¡ªording to testimonies and other sources, the situation was surprisingly simr to that time. The only difference is that the terror attack only targeted the headquarters building of Si Group.
¡ªThe confirmed deaths are a few employees of Si Group. The president¡¯s survival has not been confirmed.
¡ªKorea¡¯s airspace has beenpletely closed, and shipping restrictions have been imposed on vessels. The economic loss caused by this is hard to estimate.
¨C-ording to an internal informant, Korea has ovee the chaos and regained stability. It seems that they have received information that the president is alive.
The hospital in Gangnam where the president was presumed to be hospitalized was tightly guarded, making it difficult for journalists to cover.
Despite theck of urate sources, many media outlets reported almost simultaneously that he was alive.
A few hours after the incident, at night.
The hospital in Gangnam was covered with a heat of mourning.
No one instructed anyone, but citizens voluntarily gathered with candles in paper cups.
When this news spread through foreign media, other countries were surprised and held their tongues.
Yu Ji-ha might have been a cold-blooded dictator, but he was a warm person to his own people.
As the night deepened, the heat of mourning increased, and hundreds of thousands of people gathered.
It was not a protest to demand a change of regime, but a sincere tribute to a single person. It was not amon sight in the world to see such a case.
And in the dawn, the news that the president had passed the critical point hit the media.
¡°We have good news. The president has regained consciousness and is in stable condition.¡±
The cheers that erupted around the hospital were almost as loud as the 2002 World Cup.
People hugged each other, honked their car horns, and rejoiced at the safety of the dictator.
However, there was a rumor that he had suffered burns and his body was not the same as before, which made everyone solemn.
¡°He shouldn¡¯t ruin that handsome face¡¡±
¡°Come on, stic surgery is so advanced these days. He has such good skin, I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll recover nicely.¡±
¡°Well, it¡¯s not like he¡¯s president for his face¡¡±
Most people didn¡¯t care much.
Some even said that he needed some scars to look more dignified.
He was not an entertainer, but a president.
The morning came, and various countries began to express their condolences and condemnations of the terror attack.
¡ªTerrorism can never be justified in any case. The forces behind this incident must be held ountable.
¡ªWe send our sincere condolences to the Korean president and people for the shock and grief they must have endured. We hope for a speedy recovery.
¡ªWe almost lost our closest friend. It is hard to bear this sadness and pain. Just tell us what you need. Russia will stand with you wherever you are.
Russia issued a bold statement, making the atmosphere tense.
The next thing after the heat of mourning would be the rage of madness.
When the United States was attacked by 9/11, they literally went berserk, and no country could stop them.
At that time, the United States forced everyone to either side with them or be their enemy, and even North Korea issued a statement opposing terrorism.
But this time, things were different.
The developed countries had ssified Korea as a major power for a while, but the Muslims in the Middle East did not have much awareness of that.
They were busy making ends meet and reciting the Quran, so their information acquisition was quite slow.
To them, Yu Ji-ha was just an evil Asian who made drones and killed Muslims for money.
So they were busy mocking and ridiculing him on SNS or the inte, rather than expressing condolences.
¡ªWhat a pity. It would have been better if he died.
¡ªIt is God¡¯s punishment. He should ept it gracefully.
¡ªDon¡¯t think you can pay for the blood of hundreds of thousands of Muslims with a little bit of your own blood.
¡ªJihad will never stop!
Countries like Iran also issued harsh statements.
¡ªIt is nothing but the fruit of the inhumane crimesmitted by Korea. Remember the drones that killed Muslims and the Hormuz Strait.
The SNS known as the Taliban branch was also busy criticizing Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªWe are sorry that there are not more casualties, but we will hear more news soon.
¡ªMany brothers are joining the organization. We will dly fight against the devil¡¯s seed.
These reactions provoked an immense anger in Korea.
Despite having experienced the Second Korean War, many people demanded an immediate war.
¡ªI really want to kill those bastards.
¡ªThat religion never changes.
¡ªThey were scared of the United States during 9/11 and tucked their tails, but they think we are easy to deal with.
In this atmosphere, the news that Yu Ji-ha had woken up was heard.
He held a press conference from the intensive care unit, with the eyes of the world focused on him.
His whole body was wrapped in bandages, leaving only his eyes visible.
His eyes were burning with rage.
Chapter 112: The Army of the United Human Federation
Chapter 112: The Army of the United Human Federation
Yu Ji-ha did not get angry easily.
He had created situations where he had no reason to get angry, but the public perceived him as a calm andposed personality.
Even after he seized power, the expression ¡°president¡¯s rage¡± was hard to find in the media.
He never showed serious anger even when he carried out political purges.
He always finished them with a cold and sharp attitude.
But he was furious now.
Although his face was covered with bandages, the reporters could tell by his atmosphere and voice.
¡°Yesterday, we lost several of our citizens. They were nning to meet their families or friends after work. Or maybe they were going to have a good time with a drink. The terror took their lives away.¡±
The reporters looked up at him in confusion.
They expected him to rant about the ones who targeted him, but he was venting his anger over the Si Group employees whom he did not care much about.
¡°I cannot forgive the terrorists. The two pilots who hijacked the Iraqi cargo ne and crashed it into the building, the gang who threw a suicide bomb at the substation and caused a ckout, and the forces that supported them from behind, as well as those who toasted with their drinks over Korea¡¯s misfortune.¡±
¡°I will not forgive any of them. I dere here that I will erase their traces from the earth by mobilizing all the resources of Korea and the United Human Federation.¡±
¡°I will kill them all.¡±
The reporters took their hands off the keyboard with stunned faces at his shocking remark.
It was hard to ept that a politician of a country, especially a leader like Yu Ji-ha, made such a crude statement.
But they could not edit his words either.
Yu Ji-ha did not control the media, but he hated it more than anything when they distorted his words.
He had a phrase that he often said to the media outlets.
¡°I know you don¡¯t like me. I won¡¯t ask you to like me, but just don¡¯t distort me. Then I won¡¯t bother you.¡±
He never exerted pressure on the media.
Some argued that cutting off subsidies and advertisements to the media outlets was pressure itself, but anyway he did not care.
He then expressed his gratitude to various countries that expressed their condolences, but it did not change the mood.
The major media outlets in the world admitted that his remark was excessive, but they could not ignore the situation.
¨DIt is inevitable that his emotions are agitated since several of his citizens died and he himself was injured¡
¨DBut saying that he will kill all the forces and people rted to this incident is questionable. Even if we only consider the possibility, it is impossible even for the United States.
¨DYu Ji-ha is likely to use his madman strategy. He will first blurt out roughly and then try to negotiate calmly.
The reason for this judgment was that the suspects were too scattered.
There were more than one or two groups iming that theymitted the terror, and they were spread across the Middle East.
If it were the United States who had been keeping an eye on such terrorist groups, it might be possible, but it was difficult for Korea to attack them directly.
But there were other perspectives as well.
Mainly from Russia, Germany, India and others, they gave an opinion that Korea should not be underestimated.
¨DWe do not know the potential of Korea yet. And it seems like we are forgetting, but the United Human Federation will not sit still either.
¨DYu Ji-ha incapacitated Iran¡¯s navy with just one massive ship. If he is truly angry, the terrorists will have no chance.
Anyway, everyone agreed that a cloud of war hung over the world.
The Muslim society and Yu Ji-ha were in such a confrontation that coexistence was impossible.
They even targeted each other¡¯s lives directly.
If the situation reached this point, it was almost impossible to solve it peacefully.
¨DOne of them has to die to live.
However, there was no other choice but to give a skeptical answer to whether Korea could handle such a huge war at present.
Even the United States fell into a quagmire after invading Iraq with an excuse of mass killing weapons because Hussein made an annoying remark.
In the ensuing war against terror, the United States imed victory, but most countries did not think so.
¨DThey spent 1.5 trillion dors on Afghanistan alone for 20 years and lost more than 4,000 soldiers. And the Taliban are still on thatnd.
¡ªWe may have killed Osama bin Laden, but nothing has changed. If Korea tries to imitate the United States, it will fall into a deep swamp.
The American political circles, who knew this situation well, expected that Yu Ji-ha would go strong at first, but negotiateter.
It wasmon sense that he had to take too many risks to keep his statement.
He had to fight Iran and Afghanistan, and the terrorist groups scattered around, and even threaten Pakistan.
It was not a situation that could be handled by Korea¡¯s economic power, let alone its military power.
But Martin, the assistant who was dispatched as a special envoy to Korea, was speechless when he met with Yu Ji-ha.
¡°Your decision¡ hasn¡¯t changed?¡±
¡°Assistant Martin, you¡¯ve known me for quite a long time. Have you ever seen me change what I said?¡±
Looking at his eyes burning with anger, Martin thought something was wrong.
President Yu Ji-ha was serious about what he said.
If this goes on, at least three countries will be dragged into war.
No, maybe the whole Middle East will be involved¡
Regardless of Korea¡¯s economic power, this person could calmly do such a thing.
He could tell by looking at the traces he had walked so far.
However, Assistant Martin had received instructions not to provoke Yu Ji-ha¡¯s mood, so he did not oppose his words.
¡°President McKinley said he hoped the situation would be resolved peacefully if possible.¡±
¡°That must have been the same for 9.11. How did the United States do?¡±
¡°¡¡±
They threatened to send Pakistan back to the Stone Age if they didn¡¯t open their airspace¡
But that was a statement that only the United States, which was called a superpower, could make.
They also attached several conditions for the minimum dignity, such as reducing Pakistan¡¯s debt of 30 billion dors.
It was obvious how they would react if Korea tried to imitate the United States without being in such a position.
¡®That¡¯s why it¡¯s more dangerous.¡¯
He couldn¡¯t predict what this person would do at all.
Even various intelligence agencies had different opinions on this.
Anyway, it seemed impossible to change President Yu Ji-ha¡¯s decision for now.
Assistant Martin contacted the White House right away.
The US government dered that it would not intervene in this situation despite the protests of the Democratic Party.
Now only Yu Ji-ha¡¯s actions remained.
***
Identifying the identity of the terrorists was not a difficult task.
Two of them who disguised themselves as Iraqi pilots were from the Iranian Air Force, and they were even connected to the Taliban.
It was the result of Russia mobilizing all itsputing power and searching the inte.
Information about the terrorists who attacked the substation was also revealed.
They did not have any disguise identities and entered the country as foreign workers, so it was immediately revealed that they were former IS members.
Several mistakes were found in this process, especially the checklist given by Mossad.
The government confirmed that Mossad did not even know about this checklist.
The National Intelligence Service was embarrassed when Yu Ji-ha gave an order while they were in trouble.
¡°Pretend you didn¡¯t see it and destroy the documents. Ipetence is better than betrayal.¡±
It was a shameful thing for a group that obtained and processed information, but since the other party was in the Middle East, they said they would tolerate it.
The National Intelligence Service quickly destroyed the documents and poured all its resources into identifying the backers.
And within ten days after the incident, five people who were directly involved in the terror and their supporters were identified.
Retaliation had to follow, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff objected.
One general spread out a map and shook his head nervously.
¡°I¡¯ll tell you in advance that I¡¯m furious too. But this is clearly beyond our capabilities. Look at this vastnd.¡±
The territory of Iran and Afghanistanbined was more than 22 times that of Korea.
It was almost impossible to search thisnd and find the terror supporters.
Deploying military force also faced huge obstacles.
Even if Pakistan miraculously opened up its airspace, there was no adequate means of transportation.
The Korean army had nothing special except for a few tforms such as railgun battleships.
The troops were conscripts, so if they were deployed in an irregr war against terrorists, they would likely cause a terrible oue.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff reported this.
¡°The conclusion is that the operation is difficult. We can somehow deploy them, but¡ the damage will be enormous.¡±
Theyckedprehensive capabilities, from transportation to intelligence gathering,bat skills, and supply.
It was fortunate that they spoke honestly.
The presidentforted the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
¡°It¡¯s okay. There are only two ces in the world that can do this kind of operation.¡±
One would be the United States and the other¡
¡°Mr. President.¡±
¡°I will mobilize the army of the United Human Federation. I will notify the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but don¡¯t expect much information.¡±
It was his country and his soldiers, so it was natural.
But he had no idea what kind of forces were prepared.
The only military forces of the United Human Federation that had been revealed so far were battleships equipped with railguns and iron beams.
They probably had drones and androids as well, but that was not enough.
Meanwhile, the international situation was very urgent andplicated.
The EU began to voice opposition to his deration that he would kill all the terrorists involved.
¡ªWe sincerely regret that President Yu Ji-ha became a victim of terrorism. But we should not repay hatred with hatred. We humans can progress through reconciliation and forgiveness.
¡ªJudging from the situation, the direct supporters of terrorism seem to be the Taliban in Afghanistan. If he limits his target to them, we are willing to provide information from MI6.
They tried to appease him somehow, but he was busy ignoring countries like France.
¡ªIt is clear that Yu Ji-ha has never seen a map of Afghanistan.
¡ªIf he uses hafnium-2 missiles, I congratte him in advance. He will be recorded as the worst mass murderer in human history, surpassing Hitler and Stalin.
¡ªThere is a saying about Afghan terrorists. When the Western world looks at the clock, terrorists look at the calendar. In the end, they always endured.
Various ridicule poured out as he worked hard to recover the economy.
The show for the justification of invading Afghanistan had caused a significant blow to the economy.
Fortunately, when he announced that he was safe, the stock market recovered and the air blockade was expected to be lifted soon.
In the meantime, the situation in Iran changed drastically.
The president who had imed to hold power until now was assassinated and killed.
The new religious leader who took his ce was Vaspur, an Imic fundamentalist who was unanimously elected by the clergy council.
He dered that he would establish a new regime of the Imic Republic of Iran.
He also said that he would abolish Western-style courts and conduct all trials ording to Shariaw, which made the citizens cheer.
¡°We are 1.5 billion! How many are you?
¡°We will fight until thest person is left! For jihad!¡±
It was a very creepy remark.
It implied that if Muslims became the mainstream of the earth in decades, they would not sit still.
This was also a thought that many Muslims agreed with.
In fact, while the birth rate in the West, including Korea, was worsening day by day, the Middle East was on the rise.
As a bacsh against Western culture and technology, fundamentalism strengthened and women¡¯s rights plummeted.
Countries that had allowed women to drive since entering 2010s also cracked down on them and confiscated their licenses.
On top of that, Yu Ji-ha supplied drones and androids to cause shock and attacked Iran to provoke resentment.
And now he dered that he would kill them all, so it was natural for the people to be enraged.
The excited Iranian people staged a massive demonstration in Tehran.
-We are 1.5 billion! How many are you?
-We will fight until thest person is left! For jihad!
However, not everyone was so angry.
There were also intellectuals in Iran, and they were desperate to prevent a war, requesting mediation from the UN and so on.
¡°A thorough investigation is needed. First of all, the whereabouts of the two terrorists are unclear. They disappeared a few days before the terror attack and suddenly reappeared¡¡±
¡°The investigation of the aircraft wreckage should be prioritized. Korea is making excuses that the ck box is missing. We request the intervention of the US National Transportation Safety Board.¡±
In summary, they were saying that this terror attack was very suspicious.
The US analysis also showed that, but President McKinley refused to intervene.
¡°We don¡¯t need to step in when the Democrats are already angering President Yu Ji-ha. The US will not interfere.¡±
There were even rumors of a self-made drama within the US intelligence agency, but the government did not adopt it as an official position.
If Yu Ji-ha nned all this with his information and power, why would he care about the US?
He seemed to be reckless, but in fact he maintained a precarious line.
He knew better than anyone that it was dangerous to sh with the US.
However, President McKinley was worried that Yu Ji-ha would use the mass driver for purposes other than garbage disposal, and used various reconnaissance means to monitor him.
And he found out an unexpected fact.
The army was gathering on Terra Ind.
The intelligence agency submitted photos and videos, and President McKinley groaned.
¡°¡Is this true?¡±
¡°This is the raw data without any processing. The United Human Federation has organized arge army.¡±
The photos showed warshipsing out of the cliff shipyard in a row, and android infantry piled up on the ground.
And hundreds of unidentified containers were moving around Terra Ind.
He didn¡¯t have to check what was in the containers.
President McKinley muttered.
¡°Are they nning to go to war with the whole Middle East¡?¡±
***
Since 2030, the presence of the United Human Federation has been quite faint.
They only invited people to megacities and did not speak out in the internationalmunity.
They were not even affiliated with the UN, so they had no reason to speak.
Some doubted whether Korea and the United Human Federation were really different countries.
¡ªThe current leader of Korea is Yu Ji-ha. The leader of the United Human Federation is also Yu Ji-ha. Then why do they need to separate the two countries?
¡ªEven the administrative agency of the United Human Federation, the Management Bureau, seems to be influenced by Arma. It wouldn¡¯t be surprising if it was one of Korea¡¯s regions.
In fact, the concept of Korea¡¯s territory was quite vague at present.
The Korean Penins and its subordinate inds were definitely Korea¡¯s territory, but if you add Tsushima Ind andnd ceded from Russia, and Terra Ind, you can¡¯t tell what is true.
Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t exin it clearly from the start.
Anyway, in many ways, the United Human Federation kept quiet and was forgotten in public interest.
But after the 3.25 terror attack, Yu Ji-ha dered revenge and drew attention again.
It was because the army of the United Human Federation showed its appearance for the first time.
Until then, their forces were nothing but unmanned battleships, drones, and small-scale androids on Terra Ind, but it turned out that arge army was being organized there.
Each country tried hard to confirm information by mobilizing all reconnaissance means, but they didn¡¯t find out much.
Even in this situation where they didn¡¯t know much about the first appearance of a giant-ss battleship.
But two things were certain.
First, there were no humans in the army of the United Human Federation.
Even in the huge aircraft that looked like transporters, there were no windows.
It seemed that they didn¡¯t design windows because humans wouldn¡¯t ride them.
Was this possible in 2030? There was a debate about this, but as always, they concluded that it was possible because it was Yu Ji-ha.
And secondly, the shape of their weapons was very unfamiliar.
Modern weapons systems have simr levels as well as simr goals of annihting enemies, so there is a phenomenon where their appearance resembles each other.
This phenomenon was well shown in the field of fighter jets.
As they tried to reduce RCS and cut costs somehow, many countries made fighter jets that looked simr to each other.
Some called this convergence evolution.
But the weapons of the United Human Federation werepletely different in appearance.
The experts analyzed them and concluded that they did not resemble any weapons system in the world.
¡ªThis tform that can store many drones can be called an aerial carrier. It¡¯s just a huge target in its current state, and I can¡¯t even imagine how they operate it.
¡ªEven this ship looks like an arsenal ship. The concept of carrying arge number of missiles was abandoned by the US.
¡ªEspecially, the missiles stored in these containers are quiterge. There is no reason to be this big considering the efficiency of the ion thruster and the hafnium-2 warhead¡ I wonder how far they can reach.
The army of the United Human Federation was a headache for military experts in many ways.
The power was not clear at all.
It would be considerable considering thebat power of a giant-ss battleship, but it was unknown whether it would work onnd as well.
Anyway, based on appearance alone, it was worthy of being called a high-tech army, so it attracted a lot of attention.
The conspiracy theorists in foreignmunities were happy that Yu Ji-ha finally revealed his true colors.
¡ªYeah! Now he¡¯s going to attack the US with that army! And rule us!
¡ªWhere¡¯s the spaceship? The spaceship!
The fleet of the United Human Federation finally left Terra Ind, avoided surveince, and submerged all at once.
And before a day passed, they surfaced in the Indian Ocean and made President McKinley spit out his coffee.
¡°How fast are those bastards¡¯ ships?¡±
At the same time, an emergency alert sounded at the US naval base located in the Chagos Archipgo in the Indian Ocean.
The fleet of the United Human Federation had entered military action.
Chapter 113: He Sponsored a Missile
Chapter 113: He Sponsored a Missile
Before he gave the order to attack, he notified Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan of his ultimatum.
¨DWe have the names of the perpetrators, supporters, and associates of the 3.25 terror attack. Cooperate with us to arrest them.
Naturally, the answer was NO.
Iran sneered, Afghanistan was doubtful if there was a government organization at all, and Pakistan ignored him.
Themon point of the three countries was that they had some kind of rtion with the Taliban.
Considering that the 3.25 terror attack was carried out under the leadership of the Taliban, their guilt was clear and the countries of the world recognized it.
The countries that were in the leader position in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia and UAE, gave these opinions.
¨DThere are some doubts, but it is certain that the Talibanmitted the terror attack. The three countries will not be able to deny it easily.
¨DWe cannot bring another bloodbath to the Middle East. We will mediate, soe to the negotiation table.
¨DThe fleet of the United Human Federation that was mobilized this time includes ships bigger than the massive ones. It is impossible for the three countries to stop them with their power.
But most of the countries in the Middle East and the three countries shouted for a desperate resistance.
Even the Taliban in Afghanistan showed their courage by drawing red X marks on his face picture on their official SNS.
¨DWe have fought and won against Britain, Soviet Union, and America. We are not afraid of someone like you.
¨DIf you set foot on our holynd, you will make more graves.
There were also all kinds of ridicule.
These days were the era of self-PR and even terrorists had a shortage of manpower, so they had to promote themselves diligently to recruit future warriors.
Arma secured the identities and locations of those who agreed with such posts.
On the other hand, Pakistan ignored his request to open their airspace.
¨DYou can go through Iran¡¯s airspace, why do you have to use ours? What is your intention? We will never allow it.
¨DWe have nothing to do with this terror attack, and we did not support the Taliban in Afghanistan either. So stop making false usations.
They had seeded in preserving their pride even against America who was furious at the time of 9.11 terror attack.
They opened their airspace, but they also got rid of their debt and received various support.
About 30 yearster, Pakistan¡¯s internal situation had reached a chaotic state, but they were not at a level to bow down to Korea.
¨DSince when did Korea be able to order Pakistan?
¨DIt is absurd to ask us to open our airspace without any support measures. We refuse.
¨DWe have about 250 nuclear missiles. We warn you that we will not tolerate any illegal military action in Pakistan.
They knew Korea as a regional power at best and did not believe in Antlron either.
They were probably dull to international affairs because they were in a chaotic situation internally.
Korea had changed a lot in four years, enough to say that it was a world of difference from before, but they did not catch it.
And so Jahir, the president of Pakistan, sent him a warning letter directly.
¨DI tell you again that we have nothing to do with the terror attack. But seeing your attitude, I am sure that you will receive God¡¯s punishment someday, and I regret that we could not do it ourselves. Back off. We do not wee you.
The Pakistani media also criticized him for using drones and androids as his main weapons.
They refused to open their airspace.
In fact, he did not have to borrow Pakistan¡¯s airspace from his perspective.
He could use Iran¡¯s airspace or just operate from the stratosphere if he wanted to.
But he had ns to build a mega city in Central Asia in the future, so he had to prepare in advance.
The mega city central nned to amodate some of the citizens from Tajikistan to Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
It was not originally nned, but Arma quickly added it to the roadmap because Tajiks had an unusually high rate of psycher emergence.
They had no choice but to make their homnd livable since Tajiks did not want to leave their homnd.
Anyway, all three countries ignored or rejected his ultimatum.
It was time to enter into actual military action.
¡°Start.¡±
As he gave the order, Arma entered amand into Earth Fleet.
¡°Target tracking¡ 81 targets confirmed.¡±
The settler¡¯s gravity radar detected the Taliban¡¯s forward base and disyed it on the screen.
They were using the harsh terrain of Afghanistan as a weapon.
But that would be useless from today.
¡°Set to E-mode.¡±
In the United Human Federation, E-mode usually meant extermination, that is, to project full power until the target was annihted, and topletely block any external intervention.
In other words, to smash everything.
Supply was automated, so there was no need to give anymands.
¡°Operation start.¡±
Theunch tubes of the nine warships opened simultaneously.
***
The United Fleet of the United Human Federation consisted of nine ships: three railgun battleships, three integrated firepower ships, one drone carrier, and two supply ships.
This fleet received data from the settler¡¯s gravity radar and captured the target, then annihted the enemy with avable firepower.
Most of the missiles were scatter bombs, with hundreds of submunitions equipped with ion thrusters, capable of attacking multiple targets at once.
The drone carrier had 20 Caliber drones, an improved version of the unmanned aircraft under joint development with Russia.
These Caliber drones were small but boasted maneuverability, operational range, and firepower that overwhelmed any manned fighter.
The maximum speed was Mach 3 and the operational range was 3,000 km without propent supply.
However, these specs were adjusted to fit the current power bnce, so they didn¡¯t mean much.
If necessary, they could release the limiter of the ion thruster and increase the thrust, and even break through the atmosphere.
The reason why they set the specs like this was because they might need to fight with Russia someday.
Just like the Tajiks, Russia also showed a high rate of psycher emergence, so they needed to secure them from a long-term perspective.
Of course, Russia would oppose it, but there was nothing they could do if Putin died and the United Human Federation cut off contact.
Yu Ji-ha pretended to be friendly with President Putin and exchanged with them only because they were easy to exploit.
If they had exchanged with the United States, they wouldn¡¯t have gotten and as big as East Siberia no matter what they gave them.
Anyway, the first target of the Earth Fleet was the Taliban¡¯s forward base in Afghanistan, which numbered in dozens.
They were located in deserts,kes, and caves, and even somewhere in viges.
Especially the Taliban who hid in viges pretending to be locals were a headache. It was no wonder that the US military had difficulty in counterinsurgency operations.
The person who just smiled and shook hands would point a rifle at them as soon as they turned around. Who could trust anyone?
But there was not a single human in the Earth Fleet.
Everything was decided by Arma, who did not miss even a slight movement of a rifle being moved.
Therefore, it was almost impossible for the Taliban to pretend to be local residents in front of Arma.
¡°Launch tubes open. Scatter missilesunch.¡±
Exactly 81 ion-propelled missiles left theunch tubes and crossed Iran and Pakistan¡¯s airspace.
The missiles¡¯ trajectory looked like cruise missiles, but they disappeared from the radar screen quickly because their speed reached Mach 3.
The Iranian radar base thought that the US SR-71 had appeared and made a fuss.
¡°Could it be that the US has intervened in this situation? Report to Tehran!¡±
Religious leader Baspar mobilized all his information and finally received a report that what invaded Iran¡¯s airspace was not a fighter but multiple missiles.
His wrinkled face turned red.
¡°Only the US has such weapons! Damn imperialists!¡±
Iran¡¯s air defense bases fired anti-aircraft missiles, but surprisingly these missiles lowered their altitude to respond.
That is, supersonic cruise missiles adjusted their altitude at will in hignd areas and mocked anti-aircraft missiles.
All means returned without effect and Iran could only watch them helplessly.
¡°How can these missiles lower their altitude to 100 meters¡?¡±
On the other hand, Pakistan did not even detect these missiles.
They knew that something had illegally invaded their airspace, but they did not know whether it was a missile or a fighter.
While both countries were flustered, 81 missiles finally entered Afghanistan and crossed the Registan Desert.
And as soon as they entered around Kandahar, they scattered hundreds of submunitions per missile.
The Taliban who heard a strange noise from above raised their rifles and guarded themselves, but they saw nothing.
They only heard the sound of submunitions flying with ion thrusters btedly.
Thud thud thud¨D
Hundreds of hafnium-2 submunitions exploded from hignd areas and swept away the Taliban¡¯s guard posts at once.
It seemed like an earthquake had urred as everything around them turned upside down and the whole mountain shook.
The British SAS members who were on a mission in Kandahar witnessed the explosion and opened their mouths.
¡°The Koreans haveunched a nuke!¡±
¡°It¡¯s hafnium. But do they intend to blow up the whole mountain?¡±
It was not unreasonable to have the illusion that the whole mountain was shattered by one submunition, whose power was close to 15 tons of TNT equivalent.
Anyway, with one submunition, 75 Taliban, as well as the base and the connected tunnel, evaporated.
And this was happening all over Afghanistan.
The only exception was the Taliban base that had be one with the vige.
The missiles did not pass by these ces either, but they dropped drone containers instead of submunitions.
These drone containers quickly descended and sprayed rocket motors just before colliding with the ground to reduce the impact.
And the containers opened and the drones in question flew up like a swarm of bees.
It was natural that the Taliban warriors were startled to see them.
¡°The devil has appeared! Everyone, grab your guns!¡±
They immediately used the vige as a shield and responded, but the drones had an enhanced targeting system.
In other words, each drone was an excellent rifleman and sniper.
In addition, some drones did not participate in the battle and scouted the battlefield to identify the enemy¡¯s location.
As a result, they were able to snipe more than 2 km away despite the short barrel.
Humans make mistakes, but machines rarely do.
And so the Taliban began to die one by one from bullets that came from nowhere.
In one vige, 16 Taliban who were hiding were annihted in less than two minutes by the drone¡¯s fire.
There was not a single innocent civilian who died in this process.
The settler¡¯s gravity radar and Sibiri satellite identified whether they had weapons and sent this data to the drones.
They boasted an exchange rate of hundreds to one in urban warfare, and they had excellent tracking abilities, so they could not be stopped even if they used the vige as a shield.
As the Taliban died in real time, the updates on SNS also stopped.
Some Taliban branches who did not grasp the situation mocked me to kill me, but they immediately revealed their location and died.
On some inte broadcasting tforms, some Taliban gathered vigers and gave speeches, only to be ughtered by drone attacks.
Within an hour of the start of the war, smoke rose from all over Afghanistan and thousands of Taliban died.
Of course, the Taliban were very skilled in guerri warfare, and their true value was from now on.
And the United Human Federation urately captured each of their identities and appearances and stored them in a database.
Yu Ji-ha gave an order.
¡°Kill them all.¡±
Arma did so.
***
As the United Human Federation¡¯s fleet appeared in the Indian Ocean, each country watched it closely.
They also sent spies to Iran and Afghanistan and many countries sent special forces.
After all, there was no way to get information in mountainous areas like Afghanistan where there was nomunicationwork.
And a few hours after the United Human Federation started fighting, shocking results came out.
¨DMore than 50 Taliban forward bases in Afghanistan have evaporated. Not neutralized, but evaporated. Literally erased altogether.
¨DOne missile scatters hundreds of submunitions, which seem to have guidance functions included, and their power is so great that our observation team mistook them for tactical nukes.
¨DThe problem drones have been further enhanced and now seem to y the role of snipers as well. We don¡¯t know how they pinpoint the enemy¡¯s location.
¨DAs a result, more than half of the Taliban around Kandahar seem to have been swept away. Of course, Kandahar is intact and there are still many forward bases scattered around. But looking at these achievements alone, they surpass what the US military achieved during their 20-year deployment¡
The leaders of each country were shocked by this report.
They knew how powerful drones were, but it was unbelievable that they could urately locate and pick out the Taliban like tweezers.
Mach 3 cruise missiles were also a problem.
They guessed that missiles would be equipped with ion thrusters someday, but who would have imagined that they could change their altitude at will?
It was as if artificial intelligence was installed on each missile.
At this point, hafnium-2 submunitions that blew up dozens of forward bases seemed reasonable.
They had also achieved some sess in railguns and ion thrusters in other countries.
It wasn¡¯t only allowed for Korea or Yu Ji-ha.
Anyway, each country expressed their concern through UN but did not intervene at all in this situation.
They wanted to see the true power of the United Human Federation.
It was definitely amazing from what they had shown so far, but there were some subtle corners.
¨DTheir instantaneous firepower is superior to that of the US military. The Taliban ran away with their tails tucked into caves in no time.
¨DBut it may not be easy to control civilians. Southern Afghanistan is dominated by Pashtuns who are influenced by the Taliban and have deep hatred for drones and androids. It will not be easy to persuade them.
¨DThis is a fatal blow to the United Human Federation¡¯s forces that have no humans.
But there was one thing that each country misunderstood.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s goal was not to upy all of Afghanistan.
Building a megacity based on Tajiks was his ultimate goal and the current offensive was just a cleanup for that purpose.
Even if Pashtuns turned into Taliban with hatred as their roots, he didn¡¯t care.
He could just scatter more drones.
At this moment, various weapons were being made in the nt located in space.
If he gave an order, making a hundred thousand drones a day was not a problem.
The replenishment speed of drones was much faster than the number of young Pashtuns who became terrorists with guns.
Of course, this policy was not a fundamental solution.
But Yu Ji-ha had no intention of solving the problems of this region.
¡°When the megacity ispleted, it will naturally absorb the surrounding resources and manpower and bepletely closed. Then the terrorists will no longer be a problem.¡±
What was the meaning of terrorists who resisted with rifles and RPG-7s while reciting old scriptures to the United Human Federation that had advanced to space?
The technological gap would grow day by day and those who did not get the citizenship of the megacity would be extinct.
It was not the United Human Federation, but the environment and gue that would make it so.
Anyway, this offensive was a disaster for the Taliban and Iran and Pakistan were also confused.
They had given up their national airspace while they were awake.
Iran and Pakistan, who were very angry, continued to criticize Korea in the internationalmunity, while preparing for a full-scale war.
¨DThe United Human Federation¡¯s power is believed to be almost entirely in the fleet that is holding out in the Indian Ocean. If we deal with them, the current offensive will also stop.
¨DBut those ships are made of ck metal and can even dive. Can we handle them with our power?
¨DFirst of all, we have to mobilize fighters and drive them away.
The ce where the Earth Fleet was anchored was near Gwadar in Pakistan, a sea between the Arabian Penins and India.
They didn¡¯t move at all as if they didn¡¯t care that their location was exposed by the US, which made each country more eager to attack them.
¨DThe ion beam is powerful, of course, but there is a limit to the number of targets it can handle, as shown in the Yang¡¯an War. What if we pour anti-ship missiles?
¡ª-They could considerunching two nuclear missiles. Although our missiles¡¯ CEP (Circr Error Probable) is not precise, they could hit a stationary fleet¡
Staying in one ce openly made the leaders of Iran and Pakistan imagine dangerous scenarios.
The special envoy who was urgently dispatched from the Middle Kingdom fueled their imagination.
He delivered a letter from Wang Xian, the chief of staff, to President Zahir of Pakistan.
¡ªWe have experienced the interception rate of the ion beam in the Taiwan Strait campaign. The performance of that anti-aircraft system seems impressive, but it reveals its weakness when faced with simultaneous air strikes. We will teach you how to exploit it.
Originally, the Middle Kingdom and Pakistan had a very close rtionship, and the friendly atmosphere continued even after the Middle Kingdom became what it is now.
However, it was inevitable that Pakistan¡¯s importance decreased after losing the Xinjiang and Tibet autonomous regions.
They didn¡¯t even share a border anymore.
In that sense, Wang Xian wanted to obtain as much information as possible from this situation.
He wanted to know about the anti-aircraft system and the Antlion¡¯s performance of the United Human Federation fleet.
If he could find out their weakness, it would be a great help for him to secure his seat as the next president.
When President Zahir hesitated tounch a nuclear attack, the envoy persuaded him as follows:
¡°What do you think is the next target of that fleet after the Taliban? Remember what Yu Ji-ha said. He will attack Pakistan as well. ¡°
¡°¡¡±
¡°The rest is obvious. Drones will be deployed all over Pakistan and harsh oppression will unfold. Yu Ji-ha is a very vicious person. He does not tolerate any resistance. The Pakistani leadership will be executed and unfortunately, Mr. President, you will not escape either¡¡±
The fact that such a thing happened in Korea made President Zahir more anxious.
And so he made a choice that he shouldn¡¯t have made.
It was a full-scale nuclear attack on the United Human Federation fleet.
Of course, Yu Ji-ha was listening to their conversation from the beginning through the micro-drones that Arma had nted in advance.
Chapter 114: His Specialty is Self-Written Plays
Chapter 114: His Specialty is Self-Written ys
The United States had initially dered that they would not intervene in this crisis.
They had some justification since they had been attacked by terrorists, and they had also suffered a simr fate in the past.
However, this only applied if President Yu Ji-ha maintained a reasonable line.
If the Democrats¡¯ im of a Muslim genocide came true, they nned to intervene immediately.
But surprisingly, Yu Ji-ha focused his efforts on Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
There were some question marks on the strength of his fleet, but it was somewhat convincing.
It was abination of ck metal, artificial intelligence, ion thrusters, and hafnium-2, which were all the things that Yu Ji-ha had shown so far.
The technology level was impressive enough, but it had been more than a year or two, so they had be immune to it.
The United States had also developed its own railgun cannons and ion thrusters with basic capabilities.
Of course, they were inferior in quality and performancepared to Yu Ji-ha¡¯s products, but they could not stop developing.
Who knew if someone who could match him would appear someday and bring about innovation?
Anyway, the United States had no intention of intervening unless Yu Ji-ha moved the battlefield to the real Middle East, that is, the Arabian Penins.
Afghanistan was doubtful if it had a government at all, and Pakistan was better off being on the losing side considering its rtions with India.
And Iran was also a typical anti-American country, so Yu Ji-ha¡¯s actions were like scratching their itch.
As long as the situation did not worsen, that is.
They were watching the situation when an urgent report came to the White House.
Pakistan had entered a de facto nuclear attack procedure.
This was news from the Indian intelligence agency, which said that Pakistan¡¯s nuclear missile Shaheen-2 used solid fuel, making it difficult to detect early warning signs.
The missile¡¯s range was only up to 2,000km, so the target was presumed to be the United Human Federation fleet in the Indian Ocean.
President McKinley immediately contacted Pakistan and was able to talk to President Zahir.
¡°Nuclear attacks are absolutely, absolutely uneptable.¡±
¡°He says he¡¯s going to kill us all. Do you still say that?¡±
¡°He doesn¡¯t mean it.¡±
¡°Then withdraw your fleet. Or get a confirmation that he won¡¯t attack us.¡±
Well, that seemed impossible.
It was not the United States, but any country in the world that could not do that.
Yu Ji-ha was furious and determined to crush the Taliban, who were behind the terror.
It was not unreasonable for sparks to fly to the two countries that supported the Taliban.
Anyway, the United States was in a very headache-inducing situation.
They had dered that they would not intervene, but suddenly they looked like they were stuck between two forces.
President McKinley cursed at the Indian Prime Minister who had hit and run and warned him onest time.
¡°Listen carefully. The United Human Federation fleet has a power that we can¡¯t even touch. If you provoke them foolishly, you¡¯ll pay a big price.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve heard about Antlions. But they can¡¯t stop dozens of them at once. They showed their weaknesses in that war in Asia.¡±
Was that really true?
ording to military experts¡¯ analysis, the United Human Federation weapon system often downgraded its specs on purpose.
A typical example was the ion thruster, which initially only produced about 40 tons of thrust by clustering when it was developed.
This was not much superior to the current civilian rockets.
But after steadily improving the ion thruster for about a year at Starfield, they finally made a suborbital ne.
It was impossible even with Saturn V rocket, which boasted the highest thrust ever.
DARPA suggested that they were not developing but removing limiters.
There were various problems such as narrow diameter of ion tubes or shorter electromaic rails than expected.
If that was true, then even ion Beam could have been significantly upgraded in specs.
It was deployed before the Yang¡¯an War, so it was nonsense that it still had the initial specs.
President McKinley emphasized instead that the fleet could submerge.
¡°Those ships are actually submarines. It¡¯s doubtful if they can conduct military operations while submerged, but if they detect signs of ballistic missileunch, they can submerge right away. It¡¯s much faster than filling water into bast tanks.¡±
¡°That makes me want to shoot before they¡¯re ready. Who knows if you¡¯ll give them information.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll never do that.¡±
¡°Withdraw your fleet from the Indian Ocean and we¡¯ll cancel theunch procedure immediately.¡±
It seemed that he had to talk to President Yu Ji-ha.
It would hurt his pride, but it was better than having a nuclear explosion in the Indian Ocean and India stepping in.
They were already in a fierce conflict with Pakistan, and a full-scale nuclear war might break out.
President McKinley was about to take a breath to persuade him when it happened.
Humphrey, the national security adviser, came in and quickly wrote on the board.
¡ªMultiple ballistic missileunch shes detected near Peshawar, Pakistan. It¡¯s where India told us they had TELs. At least 20 or more. Reported by the National Reconnaissance Office.
Damn it.
President McKinley barely held back his curse and growled.
¡°You were trying to buy time by talking to me, weren¡¯t you?¡±
¡°What? What do you mean?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you justunch dozens of ballistic missiles? They must have nuclear warheads since they can¡¯t have conventional ones.¡±
¡°No, no. I didn¡¯t give theunch order!¡±
President Yu Ji-ha¡¯s voice changed as if it was about to tear.
If this situation was a deception, then this man should have been an actor instead of a president.
¡°You¡¯re responsible for what your subordinates did. You might be lucky that there were no casualties.¡±
He coldly hung up the phone and received a report from the Secretary of State that the 5th Fleet had evacuated.
¡°Do that. It¡¯s a shame to miss such a good show.¡±
It was a chance to watch the United Human Federation fleet operation nearby, but he regretted it.
President McKinley thought carefully.
It was possible that it was a coup by the military, but it was still a mystery why these things happened often when Yu Ji-ha intervened.
He had seen such phrases frequently when he read the report on the Second Korean War.
¡ªNorth Korea fired artillery shells as if they were possessed, and this became the trigger for the war. Even though they were not in a position to conduct a war at all.
¡ªThe death of former President Jo Hyung-geun was also not investigated enough. Although he had a nickname of Uncle Bukjin because he had a hasty personality, he could not exin his strange behavior.
¡ªIn many ways, the Second Korean War was full of doubts from the beginning to the end, and Yu Ji-ha, who acted as an authority, hurriedly ended all investigations.
At that time, they concluded that Yu Ji-ha had nothing to do with it because he took responsibility, but it was strange when he included this terror.
Maybe he nned all this¡
Despite these suspicions, the reason why the United States kept silent was because Yu Ji-ha guaranteed enough benefits for them.
In other words, they could expose those suspicions at any time if they thought that Yu Ji-ha vited their core interests.
He just hoped that he would not do that.
Soon after, Shaheen-2 ballistic missiles entered the pull-up maneuver.
They reached their peak altitude and then descended again, rising once more to make it difficult to calcte their trajectory.
But it didn¡¯t seem to work on the fleet lying in the Indian Ocean.
They had to prate ion Beam and Antlion warheads, which was quite difficult even for the United States.
If they made a mistake, they might end up making more debris for them.
¡®What if he took all this into ount and provoked an attack¡¡¯
In that case, Pakistan was being yed by him.
He couldn¡¯t have made that decision alone, so someone must have pushed him from behind.
An ally who had been close since before¡
President McKinley¡¯s delusions that were close to the correct answer continued while Shaheen-2 ballistic missiles began to fall over the Earth Fleet¡¯s head.
Shaheen-2 was a ballistic missilepleted with China¡¯s support.
It couldn¡¯t be called precise with a CEP of 350m, and its final maneuver was also straightforward.
But it was still a ballistic missile, so its speed when it hit the fleet¡¯s head was tremendous.
The Earth Fleet¡¯s air defense system detected the ballistic missiles andunched missiles with Antlion warheads.
There was no deception on Shaheen-2¡¯s nuclear warheads, so they were busy making fireworks in the air when Antlion warheads detonated near them.
But the anti-aircraft missiles were not perfect, and 10 nuclear warheads prated the air defensework.
The Earth Fleet¡¯sst line of defense was high-power etherser.
The drone ships and supply ships without air defense systems immediately submerged, and the remainingbat ships started intercepting ballistic missiles with ion Beam.
Before gaining speed, golden beams crisscrossed the sky.
The etherser with enhanced output easily blocked up to five of them.
Shaheen-2¡¯s nuclear warheads had no countermeasures against such high-powersers, so they caused explosions near the fleet.
The explosions got closer to the fleet and reached eight times when fragments began to hit the deck hard.
And thest one seeded in breaking through all air defenses and entering.
The railgunbat ship did not submerge but focused on air defense with etherser until the end, but it could not stop the warhead from detonating.
And then a nuclear explosion urred in the Indian Ocean.
The paint on the surface of thebat ship flew off and most of the parts that were not ck metal melted down and stopped functioning.
A fierce st hit and scattered parts everywhere without any sense.
After the explosion subsided, only a silent railgunbat ship remained.
The otherbat ships that had submerged in advance surfaced from other waters and salvaged the railgunbat ship and disappeared somewhere.
Meanwhile, the ships of other countries that were busy evacuating sent radio messages to their home countries.
¡ªShaheen-2 warhead detonated, nuclear explosion urred in the Indian Ocean.
¡ªThe United Human Federation fleet submerged, but for some reason the railgun ship stayed and focused on air defense.
¡ªThey seeded in intercepting dozens of ballistic missiles with anti-aircraft missiles and ion Beam, but they failed to stop thest one.
¡ªThe railgun ship that was hit by the nuclear warhead seems to be disabled, although the hull is intact.
This information was delivered to several countries, including the United States, Russia, India, Britain, and France.
The leaders of each country wondered why the railgun ship had focused on air defense until the end.
They could have escaped since they could submerge.
Rahul Gandhi, the Indian Prime Minister, gave an assessment that he was concerned about the radioactive contamination of the Indian Ocean.
¡ªShaheen-2 was not powerful, but it was still a nuclear bomb. He must have been worried about widespread radioactive contamination.
¡ªThe United Human Federation fleet wanted to protect the Indian Ocean even if they lost their ships.
Of course, France and Britain expressed doubts about this report from their intelligence agents.
¡ªLogically, the fleet should not have stopped if they were worried about radiation contamination. If they had been moving, they would not have dared tounch a nuclear attack.
¡ªThey pretended to care about peace after provoking the attack, how disgusting.
¡ªRegardless of their intention, this nuclear attack revealed that the United Human Federation¡¯s fleet was not invincible.
¡ªck metal itself was fine, but the equipment inside could not withstand the energy.
¡ªPakistan¡¯s nuclear warheads were on the low end of the spectrum, and yet they did this much damage.
¡ªIf they were strategic nuclear warheads from nuclear powers, they would not have been able to resist them.
¡ªThe problem was that they could not catch the submerged fleet.
¡ªSubmarines are the answer. The United Human Federation must not have a sophisticated detection system, so we need to increase our submarine force.
¡ªWhen the heads of state of various countries were pondering this, Earth Fleet faced a second attack.
¡ªTactical aircraft, including F-14s that took off from Iran¡¯s air force base, swooped in.
¡ªThe air defense force alsounched CJ-100 hypersonic cruise missiles that they had imported from China years ago and had been saving for a long time.
¡ªThese missiles could reach speeds of Mach 5, making interception extremely difficult.
¡ªThe United Human Federation¡¯s fleet, which had evacuated to prepare for a nuclear attack, seemed unable to withstand it.
¡ªHowever, the situation changed when the drone carrier that had been submerged until the end surfaced.
¡ªTwenty Caliber drones separated from this carrier and soared into the air with maneuvers that humans could not endure.
¡ªIran¡¯s tactical aircraft were generally outdated and even the F-14s could not perform well due tock of parts.
¡ªIn such a situation, it was impossible to deal with Caliber drones.
¡ªThese shark-shaped unmanned aerial vehicles easily dodged Phoenix air-to-air missiles and lowered their altitude to engage in dogfights.
¡ªA rare sight in modern aerialbat, where BVR, beyond visual rangebat, wasmon, urred.
¡ªThe F-14s hastily dropped their anti-ship missiles and scattered res while raising their noses, but Caliber drones ignored all that and shotsers precisely at their engine nozzles.
¡ªAs rtively modern aircraft like F-14s were shot down one after another, other tactical aircraft were busy fleeing, but this time they became prey to ion propulsion missiles.
¡ªA short timeter, hypersonic cruise missiles covered the United Human Federation¡¯s fleet.
¡ªHowever, Earth Fleet, which had defended against 29 nuclear warheads, easily handled about 20 cruise missiles at Mach 5.
¡ªRailguns and ion beams activated to defend against cruise missiles approaching the fleet.
¡ªCruise missiles exploded sequentially on the side of the fleet, creating a spectacr fireworks disy.
¡ªOf course, the defense system was not perfect and missed one shot.
¡ªAs a result, fragments of cruise missiles swept across the deck of the integrated firepower ship, but there was no significant damage because the material was ck metal.
¡ªThe fleets of various countries witnessed this situation indirectly and were amazed.
¡ªI thought hypersonic missiles would be effective, but they were not at all.
¡ªMach 5 is not enough. We need something close to Mach 10.
¡ªThe unmanned aerial vehicles mocked F-14s of equal or greater numbers and shot them down. It was clear that no fighter of this generation could match their maneuverability.
¡ªThe most impressive thing was the durability of that fleet. It seems difficult to inflict damage with conventional warheads.
¡ªNuclear warheads are needed. At least warheads using hafnium 2 explosives.
¡ªThe United Human Federation was founded not long ago, but they have gathered such power¡ They will do more in the future. We need to increase our defense budget and strengthen our military power.
¡ªThe battle in the Indian Ocean was short but left a strong impression.
¡ªCountries such as Russia and India were satisfied with the oue and decided to spend more money to strengthen their rtions with Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªCountries such as Britain and France showed their wariness of the United Human Federation¡¯s power and decided to increase their defense budget significantly.
¡ªThere was now that prevented the United Human Federation¡¯s fleet from advancing to the Antic Ocean as well as the Indian Ocean.
¡ªAnd the United States, which watched this situation closely, had mixed feelings.
¡ªPolitically speaking, it seemed right to be friendly with Yu Ji-ha, but the Democratic Party that would take over the next administration did not think so.
¡ªThey realized that the United Human Federation had reached a very threatening level.
¡ªIf they continue to grow in conjunction with Korea, they may try to divide the Pacific Ocean in half someday.
¡ªMaybe they will be enemies of the United States after the Soviet Union and China.
¡ªWhat the United States wanted was for Korea and the United Human Federation to be loyal poodles, or at least obedient dogs on tight leashes.
¡ªBut their master, Yu Ji-ha, did not seem to have any such intention.
¡ªThe United States had a bitter experience of leaving China¡¯s rise alone in the past and suffered a lot as a result.
¡ªAlthough they copsed on their own due to the Cross-Strait War, they could not repeat that.
¡ªThey did not even notify the US Navy of this scale of operation in the Indian Ocean.
¡ªWe can¡¯t leave their actions alone any longer. It¡¯s time to give more power to China and Japan.
¡ªThe Democratic Party thought so and mobilized the next candidates to pressure the White House.
¡ªThere was still some time left until the election, but President McKinley, who had already enteredme duck, could not refuse.
¡ªAnd so a secret tripartite meeting began.
***
¡°We have expelled the Taliban from Kandahar.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good.¡±
¡ªYu Ji-ha was looking at the situation from the bridge of Settler.
¡ªThe guerri war with the Taliban was graduallying to an end under the overwhelming offensive of drones.
¡ªTheir forces numbered tens of thousands, but so did the drones deployed by this side.
¡ªThe exchange rate was close to hundreds to one, and they had all kinds of information, so it was an operation that could not fail.
¡ªIn just three days, the Taliban in Kandahar were wiped out and the city was upied by drones.
¡ªThe city of 550,000 people was tense from the constant fighting and people were starving due tock of supplies.
Yu Ji-ha requested Russia¡¯s intervention at this point.
¡°Ask them to send some food by transport nes. And talk to India too.¡±
¡°The Prime Minister¡¯s Office has secretly offered to provide food aid.¡±
India had gained a lot from this battle, while the three countries suffered severe damage.
They might have a headache with the refugee problem in the long run, but they must have felt relieved that Pakistan, their old enemy, was on the verge of copse.
¡°ept it if it¡¯s not too much to ask.¡±
It was hard to feed 550,000 people, but it was not impossible if both countries helped.
¡ªYu Ji-ha decided to deploy androids at this point.
¡°Send down a few and confiscate the assets of the Taliban¡¯s top brass.¡±
¡°They have a major vi in Qatar. Should we send a letter there too?¡±
¡°They were the type to impose strictws on people while eating pumpkin seeds behind their backs.¡±
¡°People who are strict tend to be more decadent. Not that I¡¯m saying Master is like that.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t have time or leisure for that. And did Fatima enter Panjshir?¡±
¡°Yes. She is currently meeting with the resistance leaders and persuading them.¡±
¡°We have no choice but to build a megacity around the Registan Desert. Panjshir may be good for defense, but it¡¯s too narrow.¡±
¡°The scenery was nice too.¡±
¡°¡Anyway, there aren¡¯t many people there, so there won¡¯t be any problem bringing them over if we persuade them.
It¡¯s better to build a new one since Afghanistan has no infrastructure to speak of.
The rugged terrain of the Hindu Kush mountains also hinders development.
We will eventually connect the megacities with supermuter trains, but the high peaks of thousands of meters above sea level are nothing but obstacles.
Yu Ji-ha looked at the map of the Middle East and crossed out Iran and Pakistan with an X.
¡°They attacked us, so they need some feedback.¡±
The main targets were not them, but they had to pay the price and it was better for the megacity.
Arma asked.
¡°How will we respond?¡±
¡°Send them back to the Middle Ages, if not the Stone Age.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll take care of it right away.¡±
And so hundreds of missiles equipped with antitrons and hafnium 2 warheads rose from three integrated firepower ships.
Earth Fleet submerged after that attack and did not show itself again.
And a few minutester, despair struck Iran and Pakistan.
Chapter 115: Causing a Change
Chapter 115: Causing a Change
As of 2030, the economic situation in Iran was not very good.
The unemployment rate had surpassed 50% by estimates, and the oil exports that ounted for 70% of the national economy were not operating properly due to power shortages.
The IMF and other ces predicted that Iran was in the same situation as Venezu due to the US economic sanctions.
The economic growth rate had been very low since the early 2020s, and the value of the rial currency had continued to fall.
The Iranian government demonized Yu Ji-ha and Korea to divert the worsening public sentiment.
They exaggerated the influence of drones in the Middle East and inted their achievements.
They also exaggerated the performance and size of the drones, so that the Iranian people believed that Korean-made drones were as big as cars and were bloodthirsty to kill Muslims.
Therefore, kidnapping an oil tanker to focus the attention of the citizens was a pretty good choice.
Korea would be flustered as usual and offer a lot of money to negotiate with Iran¡ This was what the Iranian religious leaders thought.
But the situation turned out very differently from their delusions.
The Iranian navy was neutralized, and drones and androids entered their territory and killed psychers.
In the midst of extreme chaos, the Revolutionary Guards fired their prized hypersonic anti-ship missiles, but the United Federation¡¯s fleet easily blocked them.
And they attacked only once and then submerged right away.
No one in Iran knew that the attack was over 100 missiles with antitron warheads and hafnium warheads.
One morning in early April.
Over 100 missiles crossed Iranian territory.
The air force detected them, but it was almost impossible to shoot them down with outdated equipment.
Iran had a reputation for jamming, having crashed a US drone in the past, but these missiles were too fast for it to be of any use.
And so, an antitron warhead exploded over Iran¡¯s Bushehr nuclear power nt.
With a bang, debris fell down, and at that moment, the reactor core stopped.
It was no different from losing nuclear fuel, so the output plummeted to zero and an emergency was dered.
But there was nothing the researchers could do.
This situation happened not only at Bushehr, but also at nuclear power nts and even research institutes located throughout Iran.
The antitron missiles urately hit Iran¡¯s major nuclear facilities and seeded in disabling the power grid.
And at thermal power nts that were not nuclear reactors, missiles with hafnium2 warheads instead of antitron warheads flew in.
These missiles hit the core of thermal power nts, turbines and generators, and turned them into ashes.
In an instant, Iran¡¯s power generation dropped to 10%, causing a nationwide ckout.
As most of the power supply was cut off, the Iranian government did not know what to do.
Modern society depends on electricity more than you think, and without electricity, industry does not work at all.
Elevators stopped right away, and water was not supplied properly either.
Even radio broadcasts were interrupted, and Muslims could not gather at mosques.
Airports and ports were paralyzed, and all logistics flows were interrupted.
Iran literally went back to the medieval times.
Pakistan was in a simr situation, and they could not inform the internationalmunity of this situation because they had no electricity.
This incident was revealed by Yu Ji-ha holding a press conference in Korea.
¡°As a retaliation for the attack on our fleet, we fired over 200 missiles with antitron and hafnium warheads at Iran and Pakistan. As a result, both countries¡¯ power generation dropped below 5%, and all industries were paralyzed. They have effectively gone back to medieval times.¡±
He spoke so calmly that for a moment, reporters did not fully understand what he meant.
A CNN correspondent raised his hand and asked,
¡°Excuse me, are you saying that youpletely destroyed Iran and Pakistan¡¯s power grids?¡±
¡°That¡¯s correct. Nuclear power nts are included as well. Currently both countries can hardly use electricity. ces with emergency generators mayst a little longer.¡±
Anger rose in his blue eyes.
¡°How¡ how could you do such a horrible thing?¡±
¡°What Iran did was certainly horrible. They not only kidnapped an oil tanker, but also killed Koreans andmitted terrorism. They even attacked my fleet. Do you want to hear more?¡±
¡°Are you happy with this? You are putting tens, no, hundreds of millions of lives at risk! How are they going to do surgery right now? How are they going to supply food?¡±
¡°They should have been afraid.¡±
Yu Ji-ha said so and leaned his upper body on the podium and stared at the reporter intently.
¡°They shouldn¡¯t have touched me.¡±
¡°¡¡±
The reporter looked away from his gaze.
No matter how much he heard Hitler¡¯s voice from him, he didn¡¯t think he would do such an extreme response.
But Yu Ji-ha seemed to feel no remorse at all.
¡°This attack is a warning to the extreme Muslims. I don¡¯t care if you hate me. It¡¯s your personal emotion. But don¡¯t act on it. The price will be much higher than you think.¡±
Now the reporters started to say what they wanted without even raising their hands.
¡°Is that what you want? To drive 1.5 billion Muslims to death?¡±
¡°They are driving themselves to death. Unless they give up their hatred of me, they will end up in the same situation.¡±
¡°Congrattions. You will surely make the list of the worst mass murderers in history.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you have a more direct expression? I¡¯m getting tired of hearing it.¡±
The press conference ended in a cold atmosphere, and the news about Iran and Pakistan was spread all over the world.
***
The countries were speechless when they heard about this incident.
There was a lot of talk about the Stone Age or the Middle Ages, but they never imagined that he would actually do it.
Even the United States had made such a statement to open Pakistan¡¯s airspace in the past, but they did not actually act on it.
But this dictator of Korea had no hesitation in sending nearly 300 million people back to the medieval times.
The direct loss of life may not be great, but the number of people affected indirectly would be in the millions.
Britain and France vehemently condemned this and demanded that Yu Ji-ha be immediately brought to the International Court of Justice.
¡ªIs this what a human being does, sending 300 million people back to the medieval times just because he was attacked by an unmanned fleet? This is a heinous massacre that cannot be left alone. The whole world must rise up and punish him.
¡ªWe can¡¯t trust the UN either. Passing a resolution is meaningless and they can¡¯t impose any real sanctions. The United States should step up. We will fully cooperate.
However, there were not many countries that actively responded to this.
The EU supported it as they had been struggling with negotiations and hostile to Yu Ji-ha, but the countries that dominated the world economy remained silent.
The only ones who issued strong condemnations were China and Japan.
Germany argued that the power grid was notpletely destroyed and could be restored in a few years, but was bombarded by the French media for being calcting in this situation and fell silent.
And in the United States, while the Democratic Party and various human rights groups rose up, prominent politicians and think tanks were busy analyzing the situation.
¡ªIran and Pakistan have definitely lost electricity. However, this situation is not permanent, and they can recover if they invest enough time and money.
¡ªHospitals and other ces that urgently need electricity can be supplied by other countries. However, both countries must fully open their borders and guarantee security.
¡ªThe poption of 300 million is exaggerated, but the actual poption that receives meaningful power is only about 100 million. Considering the economic situation of both countries, their impact on the world would not be very great either.
¡ªMost importantly, their nuclear power has beenpletely eliminated. Countries that had conflicts with them would not be able to take military action either, and it could surprisingly be an opportunity for economic growth in the future.
In fact, even India, which had a grudge against Pakistan, expressed regret over the attack and stated that they would provide sufficient support.
Various countries announced their support, and the retaliation against Yu Ji-ha and the United Federation fizzled out with only a condemnation resolution passed by the UN.
As always, there were not many countries that wanted to mess with Yu Ji-ha.
The various technologies and concepts that came from Yu Ji-ha were much more important than Iran and Pakistan, which had lost their power, or 300 million Muslims.
And as expected, the Muslim society was burning with hatred, but there was not much they could do in reality.
OPEC oil-producing countries, including Saudi Arabia, decided to increase production in light of the Iranian situation, and UAE, Egypt and others also cracked down internally.
They were using drones well and had a lot of cooperation with nuclear fusion nts, so they did not want to mess with Yu Ji-ha either.
As the internationalmunity did not move as they wished, Britain and France were busy criticizing them.
¡ªToday, justice and human rights have fallen to the ground. Everyone is looking at the honey from the dictator¡¯s mouth, and 300 million people have gone back to the medieval times. He maymit any crime in the future and the world will not intervene¡
¡ªTo him, international opinion and UN seem to be nothing but annoying obstacles. He showed off some amazing technology and ignored everything else?
¡ªI want to ask America who is still hostile to him. Are you relieved now that these two rotten teeth are gone? He will continue to cause you pain in the future.
But there was also a strong opposition opinion.
¡ªAs always, Yu Ji-ha was not like this from the beginning. The two countries that supported terrorism created this situation. Before you question Yu Ji-ha¡¯s actions, look back at what they did.
¡ªFrom airne terrorism to nuclear attacks. The two countries crossed the line and paid for it. What would you do if you were in his shoes?
¡ªAnd the hatred of Muslims is wrong too. Why should he be med for making weapons? The ones you should hate are not drones or their makers, but those who use them.
Of course, this perception caused a lot of controversy and was especially taboo in Muslim society.
They wanted revenge.
¡ªWe will never forget this.
¡ªJust wait and see. We will get revenge someday. In the name of God!
The countries expected a series of terrorist attacks and strengthened their checkpoints.
However, there was no significant increase in terrorism, and the cause was Yu Ji-ha.
He had stopped at copsing the power grid in Iran and Pakistan, but he had gone into Afghanistan and destroyed the terrorist groups.
He hadpletely destroyed them to the point where there was no gunfire in major cities.
The guerris hiding in the mountain caves were intact, but they were also evaporating one by one as they received hafnium2 warheads as gifts.
He had pushed the Taliban, which even the United States could not handle, to the brink of extinction.
The Taliban had no chance against him, especially since he had captured the hearts of the people by supplying food and necessities to the cities where they had retreated, such as Kandahar and Kabul.
The activists of Doctors Without Borders who entered the two cities were amazed by this sight.
¡°I didn¡¯t hear any gunfire all day. It¡¯s like a miracle happened.¡±
¡°The market is crowded and noisy, but full of vitality. Women areing out and working. There are men who look down on them, but they don¡¯t seem to be able to say anything in front of drones.¡±
¡°Yu Ji-ha is changing Afghanistan. It¡¯s worth watching.¡±
This NGO group was heavily influenced by France, but they gave such an evaluation.
France may have been angry at home, but it seemed clear that Afghanistan was undergoing positive changes.
And at that moment, Yu Ji-ha was meeting someone.
***
Ahmad Massoud boarded Yu Ji-ha¡¯s business jet and looked around Kandahar and the Registan Desert.
He couldn¡¯t believe that he would turn this vast desert into a city.
And what was more surprising was that Kandahar waspletely quiet.
The market and streets were still bustling and mosques were crowded, but there was no sound of fighting anywhere.
It was a world of difference from when the Taliban had upied it.
¡°¡¡±
Which side was he on?
He had heard that he was a great ughterer who unleashed cruel attacks on Iran and Pakistan, which were maintaining their positions.
But as he looked around Kandahar today, he doubted those evaluations.
Did he really want destruction and chaos?
The person who supplied food to the people who had no connection to him and stabilized the security of the city?
¡°What are these contradictory faces¡¡±
The only thing that was certain was that he had a purpose in Afghanistan.
If not, he wouldn¡¯t have set foot here at all.
He looked down at the view of Kandahar through a small window, and Fatima came.
She lookedpletely different from when she left.
She had a bright smile on her face, as if she was living a good life, and her clothes were western-style.
¡°It¡¯s been a long time.¡±
¡°Yes. I haven¡¯t changed much, have I?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know for sure, but it seems like your personality has changed a lot too. Before, you were a bit more¡¡±
¡°Introverted. And passive.¡±
¡°What made you change?¡±
¡°Everything that he created. Look at these pictures.¡±
Fatima sat next to him and showed him the images of the megacity that she had taken with her tablet.
The city was quite different from the cities of advanced countries such as the United States.
There were simr crowds of people, but there were no cars and the streets were very clean.
The gray buildings that soared into the sky were not Masood¡¯s taste, but they were definitely amazing.
¡°He¡¯s going to build a city like this here?¡±
¡°Yes. That¡¯s his n. It¡¯s called Megacity Central.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Masood was lost in thought for a while as he looked at the images.
He loved his homnd and wished for Afghanistan¡¯s development, but not in this way.
But he had no choice.
When the Taliban was virtually annihted and Yu Ji-ha entered Afghanistan, there was no other option for him.
¡®I can¡¯t stay stuck in Panjshir forever¡¡¯
Panjshir was a terrain optimized for defense, and the resistance seeded in repelling the Taliban¡¯s offensive even after the US troops left.
But looking at the internal situation, it was almost at its limit.
Theycked supplies as much as the Taliban did, and they had too many enemies.
They seeded in retaking Kabul, but they had difficulty defending it due to the resistance¡¯s poor situation.
The Taliban gathered mujahideen with agitation and violence, while the resistance only epted voluntary volunteers, so they suffered from a shortage of manpower.
The number of casualties increased day by day, and there were many deserters.
They felt hopeless and ran away overnight.
Masood did not catch those people.
But now that the situation had reached this point, he couldn¡¯t help but have pessimistic thoughts.
¡ªHow long can we hold out like this?
It had been about 10 years since the US troops left, and the Taliban was still intact.
The Northern Resistance Front was barely able to maintain its status quo, let alone push them back.
There was no answer anywhere he looked.
In such a situation, Yu Ji-ha appeared and made a big offer.
¡°I¡¯m going to build a huge city here. Tajiks and Pashtuns, as well as other tribes, will live together. I will respect the traditions of Im and give you autonomy. But there are some rules.¡±
Some of those rules were hard to ept.
One of them was the point system represented by CP, which had already been established in Korea.
This system was maintained by drones and androids.
In other words, he nned to create a huge pasture and asked him to enter it.
Safety and life would be guaranteed, but there was a high possibility that his identity as a Muslim would fade away.
Masood couldn¡¯t help but worry.
¡®Survival or freedom¡¡¯
The officers of the resistance rebelled against these rules, saying they were not suitable for Muslims, but Masood thought differently.
Realistically, he needed his help for Afghanistan to develop.
France and others were busy criticizing him, but when he saw Korea¡¯s situation or Fatima¡¯s free appearance, he wondered if he was really an oppressor whomitted oppression.
¡®Maybe he has another purpose.¡¯
And that might be rted to psychics like Fatima.
These days, there were more kids who freely modified ck metal and yed with it among Tajiks¡
Anyway, Masood decided that this couldn¡¯t go on any longer.
The survival of the resistance and Tajiks was urgent now.
And even if they entered the pasture, it didn¡¯t seem like their freedom would be greatly damaged.
It seemed so when he heard Fatima¡¯s story.
¡°Megacity is, well, as long as you don¡¯tmit crimes or cause trouble, it¡¯s really nice to live. The working hours are short, so you have a lot of free time. You can study or draw.¡±
At this point, he wondered if it was more free to enter the megacity than to continue the futile resistance in Panjshir.
In fact, the residents were also excited to hear about the situation in Korea.
They said they wouldn¡¯t have to spend the day in this mountain vige to light a fire in the firece anymore.
Masood looked down at the view of Kandahar again.
It was the secondrgest city in Afghanistan, but it was no different from a hick townpared to foreign countries.
He knew their development well because he had studied in Ennd in his youth.
¡®Afghanistan needs change now.¡¯
It would be nice if it was self-reliant, but it didn¡¯t matter much if it was external force.
He called the number that Yu Ji-ha had taught him.
¡°I¡¯ve reviewed your proposal well. I just want to ask you onest thing. The name of the megacity that will be built here¡ Can I name it as I want?¡±
¡°Of course.¡±
¡°Then that¡¯s good. I have to hear from the residents too, so let¡¯s meet in Panjshir.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be there soon.¡±
Yu Ji-ha hung up the phone and muttered.
¡°He didn¡¯t like the name Central, did he?¡±
¡°He must have wanted to attach that name because he loves Afghanistan.¡±
¡°Anyway, it worked out well. We¡¯ll have to bring a lot of giftster.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll prepare them carefully.¡±
There seemed to be no problem in bringing psychics, as Fatima¡¯s case showed.
Anyway, he would go back there when the megacity started to be built.
Yu Ji-ha looked down at the earth from the bridge of the Settler and was lost in thought.
¡®Once Manchuria is absorbed, the megacity candidates will bepleted, so I just have to upload them.¡¯
Of course, absorbing Manchuria would not be easy.
The Chinese Federation had already stationed arge number of troops in Liaoning Province.
They showed their will to protect Manchuria even though they had no room for maneuver.
And Japan¡¯s situation was not good either.
Matsuda Kaneshiro, who had been silent, announced that he would run for the general election, as if he had made some decision.
His prime ministerial election was almost certain considering the support of the right-wingers.
If he took power, he would revise Article 9 of the Constitution and transform it into a normal state, and rearmament would naturally follow.
China and Japan would join forces to contain him with the Korean Penins in between.
The one pulling the strings behind them was the United States, the Democratic Party.
They must have thought they had set up a good board, but from Yu Ji-ha¡¯s point of view, it was no different from a child showing off his talent.
¡°We¡¯ll just do our own thing. Prepare a nt on Mars.¡±
It was time to mine resources on Mars.
Chapter 116: Selling Everything
Chapter 116: Selling Everything
It is always harder to clean up the mess than to make it.
The United Human Federation had plunged Iran and Pakistan into the Dark Ages, and it was up to the rest of the world to deal with the aftermath.
The US had lifted its sanctions and the UN had taken the lead in providing humanitarian aid.
The most urgent patients were transported by hospital ships and nes to nearby countries, where they were amodated by other nations.
Of course, this was not for free, and they would receive a hefty bill once the two countries were stabilized.
And in this process, a peculiar agreement was made.
Led by Russia and India, the border lines of Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan were redrawn.
Afghanistan, which had been andlocked country for a long time, gained a small ess to the sea through this agreement.
The residents who had to leave their homes protested, but the governments of both countries had no choice but to ept the proposal from Russia and India.
Without their support, they could not even maintain their government structures.
The internationalmunity pointed out that there was a hidden agenda behind this, and it was revealed when the ships of Korea and the United Human Federation arrived to build a temporary port.
The countries learned more details about how the United Human Federation built its ports.
¡ªThey built a port that could dock 10 cargo ships of 20,000 tons each in just a week. And that was in a barren wastnd.
¡ªI can¡¯t believe it. It¡¯s not just the sea level that¡¯s the problem, it¡¯s the scale that¡¯s iparable to any other disassembler.
¡ªIt¡¯s the same with the city they¡¯re building in Russia. Theyy down infrastructure with ck metal, which reduces costs and manpower significantly.
Many countries knew that Terra Ind had gone through a simr process.
But there was a huge difference between guessing and actually observing and summarizing it in a report.
The countries had been desperately trying to catch up with Yu Ji-ha¡¯s technology by passing anti-psycher leakage executive orders, establishing ether research institutes, and so on.
But looking at the port being built, they wondered if the gap was really narrowing.
¡ªWe¡¯re barely making bulletproof vests and tank armor with ck metal, but they¡¯reying down infrastructure like that. It¡¯s frustrating.
¡ªThey¡¯re going to pave a road that reaches all the way to Registan Desert in two months. We might have to redefine modern civil engineering.
What did they want to achieve by doing that?
What benefit would the dictator of East Asia get from upying Afghanistan?
These questions led to conspiracy theories linked to his self-made drama, but as always, there was no clear answer.
They could only watch as a fourne road connecting Kandahar waspleted in no time.
It would have taken years for any other country to do that, but they did it in just two months.
Of course, many Korean constructionpanies also participated in this project.
They spent an enormous amount of money on materials, heavy equipment, food and water for the workers, and so on.
There must have been a lot of noise along the way, but Yu Ji-ha pushed it through with his characteristic unteralism, and finally seeded in paving the road.
Instead of apletion ceremony, there was a car parade on the road to celebrate Yu Ji-ha¡¯s presidency.
He dered the establishment of a new mega-city called Afgha with Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance Resistance Front, in Kandahar.
¡°¡There is no longer an Afghanistan filled with war and terror. Now that the mega-city has been established, you will enjoy development and prosperity that will make other ces envious. My brothers here and I will be with you. Please trust us and follow us.¡±
In other words, he meant to build infrastructure simr to Terra Ind.
What would he do with such a city in this barren hignd?
Regardless of people¡¯s questions, the construction of the mega-city began.
A huge amount of money was invested to import necessities and materials from neighboring countries.
In the meantime, terrorism waspletely eradicated.
The Taliban and IS remnants hiding in the mountainous areas were wiped out by relentless air strikes.
By mid-June, it became hard to hear gunshots in southern Afghanistan.
Instead, what could be seen were Afghan workers sweating as they worked for Koreanpanies.
Only then did foreign media start writing articles about how Afghanistan was changing.
¡ªThe dictator of East Asia is transforming Afghanistan.
¡ªWhat is his intention? Is it destruction and chaos as seen in Iran and Pakistan? Or is it order and development?
¡ªIf Yu Ji-ha had 1.5 trillion dors and 20 years of time, he might have terraformed Mars.
Thest one was a joke mocking the US, but one thing was certain.
Whether they liked it or not, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s influence was undeniable and he was the only one who could bring real change.
***
In July 2030, a defense industry exhibition was held in Korea.
There was something unusual about this event: there were no products from other countries orpanies.
Only Yu Ji-ha¡¯s things were on disy.
The general public could not attend, and only politicians, bureaucrats, military officers, and businessmen were invited.
It was clearly aimed at B2B, but the hidden intention was revealed in the invitation.
¡¸Sell: Everything¡¹
It meant that he was willing to sell all the weapons systems that he had shown so far.
From railguns to ion beam, and unmannedbat ships and drones¡
The bewildered countries made many inquiries and found out that he was really selling everything.
In other words, this event was an exhibition to make money.
Most of them were weapon systems, so there were ns for protests from peace groups and some countries were not happy about it.
The US was one of them, showing its concern over this event.
¡ªI don¡¯t understand why they are doing this. Don¡¯t they know what kind of chaos will happen if they sell these weapon systems without any restrictions?
¡ªDidn¡¯t they promise not to export railguns and ion beam?
¡ªMaybe it was a verbal agreement. They probably think they don¡¯t need to care about the US anymore.
¡ªThe catalog says it¡¯s a downgraded version. The range is shorter than our navy¡¯s.
¡ªThey must be trying to secure the market before other countries start their research.
¡ªAt least they don¡¯t have hafnium-2 warheads¡ The White House indirectly protested, but it didn¡¯t be a big issue.
The US was in the middle of a presidential race.
The Democratic candidate¡¯s victory was almost certain, and he received apuse for his speech that mad dogs need muzzles and leashes.
Whether that was possible or not was another matter.
Anyway, the countries that could afford it had prepared a lot of funds for this event.
It was a golden opportunity to acquire weapon systems that were hard to get even with money.
Railguns and ion beam were very famous, and they also sold new drones and unmanned ships, which attracted the attention of not only the governments of various countries, but also the agencies in charge of defense projects and military enthusiasts.
¡ªFuck, we have to buy this no matter how much it costs!
¡ªBut it¡¯s very expensive¡ Two 5,000-ton unmannedbat ships for 3 trillion won¡
¡ªRailguns and ion beam consume a lot of power, right? They separated the firepower ship and the air defense ship.
¡ªThe United Human Federation¡¯s ship did both at the same time, didn¡¯t it?
¡ªIt¡¯s downgraded. It¡¯s not umon in weapon export business.
¡ªDon¡¯t just look at the price, look at what they can do. With just two of those ships, you don¡¯t need any other ships.
¡ªOne pack is a bit too little, so if we buy three packs, we can use them for training, maintenance, and rotation.
¡ªThat¡¯s a big deal. If Russia brings this to the Baltic Sea, then Northern Europe and Pnd will have to buy at least one pack each to bnce it out.
¡ªIt means that all other ships are obsolete. As we saw in the Indian Ocean battle, those ships blocked dozens of ballistic missiles and hypersonic missiles.
¡ªIt might be more efficient to invest in submarines as asymmetric forces.
¡ªDon¡¯t forget, those things can dive too.
¡ªThat¡¯s true, but we don¡¯t know if they can perform well underwater, do we? Do they have active sonar?
¡ªWe¡¯ll find out at the event.
¡ªDamn it, when will they sell androids (sex-capable)?
¡ªYou¡¯d better naturalize to Korea. Or get a residency permit for Megacity.
In any case, this event was expected to attract a huge crowd despite its small scale because there were no other booths.
Si Group had finished all the preparations and finally the morning of the event came.
In early July, hundreds of nes took off from various countries and headed to Korea.
***
Many foreigners visited the exhibition held in Naro Ind, Jeonam-do.
It was Si Group¡¯s event, so people expected androids to handle the event progress and guidance, but instead there were strangely shaped robots that took their ce.
¡°I am Walker. Please let me know if you need anything.¡±
This robot used ck metal extensively and changed its shape ording to its needs.
When it needed to lift heavy loads, it turned its upper body into a tray and when it needed to distribute tickets, it made arms on the spot.
People were surprised to see it.
This was something more than an android in some ways.
¡°It doesn¡¯t look like it has motors in it. It¡¯s very strange.¡±
¡°How far has ck metal evolved¡ It can even act as muscles now.¡±
¡°Is it connected to artificial intelligence? It can understand manynguages.¡±
This Walker was a simplified version of the Walker that wasmonly used in the Future United Human Federation, and it was nned to be introduced throughout Si Group in the future.
It was literally a worker.
The existing androids had human-like appearances, so they couldn¡¯t achieve more efficiency than humans in work.
If they had to turn a screw, they needed a driver just like humans.
But this Walker could make tools on the spot.
It probably had a mini ck metal dposer in its body, but even considering the cost, it was definitely efficient.
¡°This could rece all industrial robots.¡±
¡°It can be used in most lines, so if it has durability, it will sell well.¡±
¡°Si Group¡¯s products are usually durable. They are so sturdy that it¡¯s a problem.¡±
Until now, industrial robots were mostly dominated by Japan and the US, but this Walker could shake their foundation.
A separate video hall showed the smart factory that included the Walker.
There had been many cases of this concept before, but they couldn¡¯t achieve aplete unmanned factory.
In the end, people were needed for equipment inspection and emergency response.
But in the smart factory with Walker, there was no human to be found.
The video also calmly exined that it was aplete unmanned factory.
¡°Smart Factory: It supports your business perfectly. You don¡¯t have to worry about malfunctions and delivery dys anymore.¡±
People tilted their heads at the bold expression.
¡°Aplete unmanned factory? Is that possible?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t they need people for raw material management and such?¡±
¡°Even broken walkers can repair themselves. Do they really need humans at all?¡±
¡°I wonder if they can perform any kind of surgery with such sophistication¡¡±
The spectators were astonished not only by the simple repair, but also by the fact that the walkers could self-diagnose and overhaul themselves.
There was no special equipment, but when two walkers came together andpletely disassembled one of them, reced the broken parts, and reassembled it, it was amazing.
It was like two doctors performing a surgery to save a person¡¯s life, wasn¡¯t it?
Of course, they couldn¡¯t apply this to the medical field recklessly, but the potential was enough.
The reactions of the people were clearly divided.
¡°So this is what the United Human Federation uses for their unmanned tforms¡¡±
¡°They are unbeatable in terms of efficiency. They could probably run with just a few managers, right?¡±
On the other hand, some people seriously discussed the necessity of humans.
¡°If machines do everything, from war to repair to trantion, what is the role of us humans?¡±
¡°Maybe that¡¯s why they give allowances to permanent residents in megacities.¡±
Of course, most of the buyers were just waiting for the release of the smart factory and the walkers.
In modern society,panies had to pursue extreme efficiency to barely survive.
Cost reduction was basic, logistics control and restructuring were essential, and all kinds of marketing and bold strategic bets that were close to fraud were made.
What if these walkers and smart factories were applied?
At least in terms of efficiency, they would be unmatched.
But it was doubtful whether the governments of each country, who were obsessed with unemployment rate management, would rmend this tform.
Especially in Europe, where unions had a strong influence, it might be impossible to introduce it.
¡°Anyway, the only EU country that can introduce this is Germany.¡±
The entrepreneursughed in unison.
Well, invitations didn¡¯t even go to EU countries other than Germany.
They must have asked for materials from bureaucrats or entrepreneurs who had some connections, but it would be difficult to grasp the essence.
And the walkers and smart factories were just the beginning of the exhibition.
There were more surprises waiting for the people.
***
Usually, exhibitions are calm and don¡¯t do much actual demonstrations.
Especially if it¡¯s rted to defense industry, because they can¡¯t shoot guns orunch missiles at the exhibition hall.
At best, they would attract people¡¯s attention by showing acrobatics by flying teams at the beginning.
But this exhibition held near Naro Space Center was different.
From the first day, Caliber drones that debuted in the Indian Ocean filled the sky.
This stingray-shaped unmanned aerial vehicle performed maneuvers that SU-37 or F-22 showed, as well as hovering.
It was a fighter jet that just floated in the air like a helicopter.
And while hovering, it twisted its body and rotated a full circle, and even took off vertically with its nose facing the ground.
¡°Wow.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t believe they show us something like this after inviting people¡ They¡¯re totally crazy.¡±
¡°That¡¯s what happens when a dictator pushes it.¡±
Regardless of the risk, the picture was hot.
How often would you get a chance to see the actual operation of railguns and ion beam in your life?
Railguns didn¡¯t have much appeal except for sonic booms, but goldensers that filled the sky were impressive.
But all the demonstrations so far were just appetizers.
The people realized that when they saw President Yu Ji-ha.
He went on stage and calmly exined his n to go to Mars.
It sounded easy.
Mars was the closest celestial body to Earth after the moon.
Russia had invested in Venus, so America had paid more attention to Mars and sent probes there.
But what upied people¡¯s minds was an unfortunate ident that happened to a certain entrepreneur.
Chapter 117: Surround Korea
Chapter 117: Surround Korea
There was a time when the Artemis program was in full swing, when everyone wasunching rockets into space and even nning to go to Mars.
That trend was led by an ambitious entrepreneur who had no problem executing his vision.
It was a time when reusableunch vehicles becamemon and moon base construction ns were discussed casually.
Some argued that the technology was not mature enough and demanded a cautious approach, but the entrepreneur showed his gambler¡¯s spirit and seeded inunching one spacecraft after another.
Thus, the Artemis program and the Mars colonization project proceeded almost simultaneously.
While NASA took charge of the former, thetter was entirely the entrepreneur¡¯s hobby.
Mars was different from the moon in that it required a tremendous amount of time and investment to travel back and forth.
The orbital problem meant that one had to wait for the closest rtive position between Earth and Mars, which urred every 26 months.
That meant that using conventional fuel, one could only send a spacecraft to Mars every 26 months, and the same for returning.
The travel time was also an issue, as it took at least six months for a long journey.
A few people had to share a cramped spacecraft, which could easily cause mental problems.
Of course, that was part of the astronaut training, and the entrepreneur alsopleted a short course.
However, those in the space industry imed that there were many problems with the Starship program as a whole.
¡ªIt takes at least six months to get to Mars, and the entire exploration n will take at least two years to finish. You seem to want to be the first human tond on Mars, but what about yourpany during that period?
¡ªThe technology is not mature enough. The Starshipunch vehicle looks good, but it has not been sufficiently verified. The orbital calctions for the moon and Mars are different in dimension.
But despite all these concerns, the Starshipunch vehicle took off to Mars with the entrepreneur and eight astronauts.
It was a year before Yu Ji-ha crashed into the East Sea with Settler.
The original n was to return by 2026, but the Starshipunch vehicle failed to ignite fornding and fell down,pletely destroyed.
Nine astronauts died, and the Mars mannednding project was scrapped.
The Artemis program also failed to progress properly due to various problems.
Many people questioned the idea of spending a lot of money to enter space when the economy was difficult.
By 2030, Korea was the only country that showed enthusiasm for space exploration.
Almost the whole world was looking at Korea¡¯s mouth.
NASA, which had led humanity¡¯s space science and technology, became a financier who invested money in Naro Space Company and Starfield.
The Democratic Party of the United States criticized this point, but their own measures were not much different.
¡ªIt¡¯s good to reduce dependence. But how are you going to do that? It¡¯s not written at all.
¡ªIt is important to increase the thrust of ion thrusters and the resolution of ck metal dposers. We know that too. But what about psychers?
¡ªThere are very few psychers registered in Korea. They seem to be hiding data.
Psychers could not be artificially cultivated.
It was natural since they did not even know what ether they used was.
Eventually time would solve it, but the United States was impatient.
At this rate, they would lose their leadership in space exploration and be dragged along.
They were flustered when Yu Ji-ha announced Mars exploration, development, and base construction.
¡ªWhy are you interested in Mars? Wouldn¡¯t it be better to use ck metal hulls for Venus exploration? It should withstand Venus¡¯s atmosphere without any problem with its durability.
-If you want to follow that entrepreneur¡¯s footsteps, I want to stop you. There is no economic value on Mars. If it¡¯s purely for research purposes, let¡¯s cooperate. We have a lot of data collected over time.
But Yu Ji-ha rejected the US proposal.
¡°The Mars base will be carried out with the power of United Human Federation. We will not ept any investment or disclose any information.¡±
The space industry officials were outraged by his uncooperative attitude.
¡ªWhen you started the Moonlight project, you asked us for a lot of help. What happened?
¡ªThe situation has changed now. He made a lot of money and umted enough know-how. He doesn¡¯t need to care about us anymore.
¡ªWell, having money is never bad¡
In fact, there was a good reason for him to proceed with Mars colonization independently.
He had a good reason to focus on Mars in the future.
Starting from the summer of 2031, more than 20 relics would arrive on Mars, which ounted for 50% of the relics that humanity secured.
Among them, there were some that could not be disclosed at all, so it was better to build a base and research them there.
Also, there was an important resource on Mars.
It was a metal named mithril by the former United Human Federation, also known as tin.
This silver metal was used to draw artificial ether circuits, so it was indispensable for future ether-rted industries.
The reserves were also quite abundant, and the closest mining site was Mariner Valley on Mars.
It was expected that there would be a lot on the ninth, Nox, but that ce was guarded by the gue.
Did they resent humanity for being called by the Pioneers?
¡®Nox¡¡¯
It was a ce he had to go someday when Yu Ji-ha achieved his goal.
By then, he would have prepared a proper pioneer team.
The sr system would be peaceful, and the United Human Federation would have a proper government.
Taking the pioneer team to the home of the Pioneers.
That was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s second goal.
¡®I wonder if it will go well.¡¯
Yu Ji-ha thought so and finished his announcement in front of the people with astonished eyes.
¡°I¡¯m going to Mars.¡±
This crazy bastard wants to die there too.
That¡¯s what people thought.
***
After the United Human Federation dered its entry into Mars, space-rted organizations and officials unanimously opposed it.
What they were worried about was the United Human Federation¡¯s exclusivity over Mars.
¡ªWhy are you suddenly doing this when you involved multiple countries in the Moonlight project?
¡ªMars is not owned by an individual or a specific country. It is a precious celestial body that humanity should cultivate and research together.
¡ªThe United Human Federation is not affiliated with the UN. But that doesn¡¯t mean they can monopolize Mars.
¡ªWe may think that what we know about space is natural. But human space exploration is built on the blood and sweat of countless scientists and officials. I hope you appreciate that meaning.
A huge amount of criticism and requests poured out, but Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t budge.
¡°Don¡¯t ask me to give you information, go to Mars yourself.¡±
When he said that, most of the officials shut their mouths.
There was nothing to say when he told them to do it themselves.
But going to Mars was also difficult.
Most of the space budget was frozen or reduced, and the slogan of building a base on Mars did not persuade politicians.
¡ªMars, very familiar, right? Good for you. But why do you have to build a base there? Is there anything worth eating?
¡ªThe moon has unobtanium and helium-3, so it has enough value to challenge. But not Mars. Don¡¯t send me proposals to my office ever again.
Scientists always had to beg politicians for budget.
Even NASA in its heyday always had to sell itself to someone who could be a financier.
At this point, Yu Ji-ha was the only one who pushed ahead with space-rted projects without thinking about money.
But he was actually secretive about it, so they had no choice but to explode with anger.
¡ªDidn¡¯t you dream of space when you read science books as a child? I heard you spected on the orbital path of the ninth in your boyhood. I hope you haven¡¯t forgotten that dream.
They even made remarks that touched his emotions, but Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t care at all.
That was the original Yu Ji-ha¡¯s dream, not his own.
¡®I¡¯m interested in Nox, but.¡¯
It was too far away to go right now, and there was no point in going there anyway.
The warp gate on Nox would open around 2130.
Considering that the timeline had been pulled forward, it could be calcted around 2090.
¡®I don¡¯t have much time.¡¯
Yu Ji-ha held his chest with frustration and embarked on the Mars base n with Arma.
He had to stay hidden until the moment the gue invaded.
Fortunately, the gue seemed to have no interest in anything outside of Earth.
It was something that was on Earth, but there was no information about its identity.
He had to meet the gue again and ask them.
But it was doubtful if they would even talk to him.
Yu Ji-ha sat on a chair and watched Arma design the Mars base on the spot.
And in the EU and elsewhere, they proposed a space project that excluded Korea.
¡ªWe are also developing ion thrusters. They are not as good as traditional rockets yet, but we will be able to achieve efficiency soon.
¡ªWe can no longer tolerate Yu Ji-ha¡¯s tyranny of monopolizing all information. We need to establish a global space exploration agency that excludes him and Korea.
They talked a lot, but the voices of France and Britain were especially loud.
The two countries, which were famous for tripping each other whenever they had a chance, were busy using the United States.
¡ªIf NASA steps up, we will fully cooperate and provide budget.
But the United States did not move right away.
They were making a lot of profit from the moon base, and they didn¡¯t know what was on Mars either.
Also, they saw through that the establishment of a specialized agency that the EU was pushing for was impulsive and would notst long, as it came from resentment against Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªIf Yu Ji-ha just releases some information, the value of that agency will drop to zero.
¡ªNASA is also hearingints about wasting budget. Do we need to spend more money to create a meaningless agency?
However, some argued that there was a need to stop Yu Ji-ha¡¯s unteral actions.
It was mostly said among Democratic senators who had confirmed their presidential candidacy.
They went back and forth between their offices and cafes in Washington, having deep discussions with bureaucrats from various countries.
They were trying to surround Korea and Yu Ji-ha.
***
In August 2030, the vacant Japanese prime minister was elected.
It was Matsuda, who had been the secretary-general of the New Japan Restoration Party. He was rumored to have been pushed out by the Japanese political circles.
¡ªHe caused all kinds of trouble and hid behind, but he couldn¡¯t do that this time.
¡ªHow much did the United States pressure him to take office as prime minister? Look at his nervous expression.
His expression was honestly not good at the inauguration ceremony.
He stuttered even at the stage where he announced his ambitions and ns for the future.
But one sentence was clear.
¡°I will reim Tsushima and get an apology from Korea. That¡¯s all.¡±
Unfortunately, Tsushima had been swallowed and digested by Korea long ago.
Maybe because it was an ind where conflicts with Japan were reserved, there were few residents and only minimal administrative agencies and facilities for fishing and leisure were installed.
The rest were all military facilities, and the ind was practically fortified.
The Japanese government kept highlighting this point to the internationalmunity, but they could not create the situation they wanted.
But recently, when Middle Kingdom (China) changed its name back to China, the atmosphere changed.
Wang Xian from Shangzhang said this to Yu Ji-ha who asked for an exnation.
¡°We can¡¯t follow Korea anymore. That¡¯s what it means.¡±
¡°Do you mean you don¡¯t care if the battery factory in your country stops operating?¡±
¡°Do as you please.¡±
Korea receivednd in exchange for supplying ck metal batteries to factories built by Middle Kingdom (China) in its territory.
Only a handful of people, including Wang Xian Shangzhang, knew about that agreement, but it became known to Middle Kingdom (China) recently and caused a bigmotion.
They questioned Wang Xian¡¯s qualification as a leader for losingnd without expanding it.
That was why he couldn¡¯t rise to the position of president.
That aside, what did he promise to the United States to do this?
He sprinkled microdrones over the White House and the reconstructed Zhongnanhai, but no useful information came out.
They seemed to be extremely careful about information leakage.
It was obvious that it was a cooperation of three countries against Korea.
Yu Ji-ha asked just in case.
¡°I assume you won¡¯t ask me to return thend I gave you before.¡±
¡°China is big. I can ept that.¡±
¡°But you must have lost a lot by losing Xinjiang Uyghur and Tibet.¡±
When he scratched his nerves openly, Wang Xian from Shangjang was silent for a while.
Then he opened his mouth quietly.
¡°I know what you want. You want to provoke us into a war.¡±
¡°Did you hear it from the US?¡±
¡°Korean tank units entering Liaoning Province, helicopters invading our airspace, I have been patient until now, but I can¡¯t tolerate it anymore.¡±
¡°So you want to solidify the border line at this point?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s talk about that issue separatelyter. Don¡¯t cross the Yalu River and the Tumen River again. We have our own ns.¡±
¡°What did the US promise you? We are willing to give you more than that.¡±
¡°Do you think I would believe that?¡±
Was it because of the stress he had received from home and abroad?
Wang Xian Shangjang¡¯s voice began to crack.
¡°Didn¡¯t I ask you to let me introduce one nuclear fusion nt? But what I got was a formal letter from the secretary¡¯s office, not from the president.¡±
¡°That¡¯s strange. I thought I told you to think carefully.¡±
¡°What are you talking about?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you to think and propose what you would give in return for introducing a nuclear fusion nt? Or did you think you would get it for free?¡±
¡°I will pay the order fee, of course.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not the problem. I mean the cost of improving rtions. Don¡¯t you really know why EU, except Germany, is getting no benefits at all?¡±
In other words, he meant to prepare a generous pocket and poke him.
That was exactly what was causing Wang Xian Shangjang¡¯s stress.
He couldn¡¯t stand it and raised his voice on the phone.
¡°I invested 100 billion yuan in North Korea! I gave them Mount Baekdu andnd! What more do you want?¡±
¡°My life value.¡±
¡°What?¡±
¡°It¡¯s very cheappared to what threatened my life.¡±
¡°So every time I introduce your technology, I have to pay a corresponding price?¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that obvious? Where do you find free things in this world?¡±
When he heardughter from the other side of the phone, Wang Xian Shangjang bit his lips until they bled.
Yes, this was his fate after all.
The im of some that they could get technology by getting along with Korea was nothing but a delusion.
They put price tags on every technology they maintained, and coldly refused if this side¡¯s proposal did not meet the standard.
It was natural from a business perspective, but Wang Xian wanted more national cooperation.
Naturally, his voice became low.
¡°I understand your and Korea¡¯s intentions well.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t forget. It was you who tried to kill me.¡±
¡°It wasn¡¯t me, it was the previous regime.¡±
¡°Do you think the actions of the previous regime are neatly discarded just because the leadership has changed? That¡¯s a very convenient logic.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Silence always follows when each other¡¯s arguments are parallel.
Wang Xian Shangjang didn¡¯t say anything for a long time and suddenly ended the call.
Yu Ji-ha called Arma in the presidential office.
¡°It seems like the siegework is being formed. What do you think wille next?¡±
¡¸The military means will be left to China and Japan, and the US will impose economic sanctions.¡¹
¡°Economic sanctions¡ They can¡¯t use anything too great.¡±
The US was also in the ecosystem created by Yu Ji-ha in a broad sense.
But they could always create indirect sanctions.
For example, taking over the leadership of memory semiconductors produced by Hansung Group¡
¡¸In the early 20s, the US formed a semiconductor triangle alliance with Japan and Taiwan. They thought Korea was unstable.¡¹
¡°They won¡¯t use the same method as then.¡±
¡¸They will do it in parallel. The US also directly protected TSMC in the Yang¡¯an War. If they expand their supply chain and control the supply of semiconductor production equipment, Hansung Electronics will surely not be able to withstand it.¡¹
Si Group was too dominant, but Hansung Group was also a fairlyrgepany ranked second in business circles.
Although they lost their foundry industrypletely to the US and even lost their dominant position in memory, their sales were still considerable.
¡°Isn¡¯t that too indirect? It seems like it will take years for the results to show up.¡±
¡¸As you said, it is difficult for the US topletely break with Master. They need to proceed carefully.¡¹
¡°Then let¡¯s proceed with breaking their siegeworkpletely.¡±
The semiconductors of this era were too slow and inefficient to be used at all.
He also had to continue the research on ether and ck metal at the artifact analysis agency Ark, so the development of a new operation unit was essential.
¡°This should do it.¡±
He pulled out one of the blueprints from the DB of the Settler.
When this semiconductor enters the market, the existing infrastructure will fall into trash.
They couldn¡¯tpete with it in terms of efficiency and power consumption.
Above all, this semiconductor was a shortcut to quantumputers.
He instructed Arma.
¡°Let¡¯s start taking over the semiconductor market. Start building from the theoretical data.¡±
¡¸Yes, I understand.¡¹
Chapter 118: No Need for a Collar and a Muzzle
Chapter 118: No Need for a Cor and a Muzzle
After the fair, the Si Group achieved an enormous amount of export performance.
It was a supply contract worth more than 80 trillion won by simple calction, and it was a real contract, not an MOU as some articles pointed out.
The reason why the work was pushed so quickly was because Arma mentioned the pressure from the United States while meeting with the buyers.
¡°As you know, the US side is not happy about this.¡±
¡°Th-that¡¯s right?¡±
¡°So we are having trouble with the semiconductor supply. The quantity is noting in properly.¡±
¡°¡What do we have to do to get the supply on time?¡±
¡°The only way is to sign this contract quickly and keep the order. If the program changes, the order will be pushed back.¡±
¡°Oh¡¡±
It was convenient to solve most problems by bringing up the United States.
They couldn¡¯t ask the US if they had any doubts.
Another unusual thing at the fair was that there were no people wearing suits and carrying document bags.
Usually, there are agents and brokers who intervene in these weapon procurement contracts.
Even rtively transparent countries like the United States could notpletely exclude them, and they were moremon when the price and technology level of the weapons were higher, and when the politics of the buyers were chaotic.
However, Korea¡¯s weapon exports were carried out solely by Arma, so there was no room for intermediaries to intervene.
They couldn¡¯t lobby in Korea because it was illegal, and many of them gave up their business because they didn¡¯t want to be dragged to Terra Ind, as President Yu Ji-ha had the final decision.
However, in cases where the buyer was chaotic and there was a behind-the-scenes power, Arma also passed it over lightly.
Saudi Arabia was exactly that case.
The crown prince Muhammad was the VIP and the biggest customer of this fair.
He didn¡¯t know what he would buy, but it was clear that he would spend the most.
In fact, after the fair ended, he signed a weapon supply contract worth $20 billion.
It was mainly unmanned ships, but he also showed a deep interest in the K-3A2 tank, which only existed in the catalog.
Yu Ji-ha met him personally.
¡°A railgun tank. Do you use batteries for both mobility and firing?¡±
¡°Mobility is by ion thrusters, and firing is by batteries. As you know, railguns consume a lot of power, so despite the small size of the shells, there are not many HEAT rounds. About¡¡±
¡°About¡?¡±
¡°About 40 rounds.¡±
The crown prince Muhammad smiled and stroked his beard as if he expected a poor number.
¡°Isn¡¯t that reasonablepared to other tanks?¡±
¡°The problem is after the power is consumed. It takes time to charge, so you have to rece the battery. You have to retreat from the battlefield.¡±
¡°That¡¯s something to consider depending on the tactics.¡±
But even considering those things, the specs were too shy.
The engine equivalent of 2,000 horsepower, with a top speed of over 120 km/h and a cruising range of up to 1,000 km.
Each tank had a reconnaissance drone that could capture enemies in real time by constructing a 3D battlefield, and could also receive data.
The most amazing thing was firepower.
It mounted a 60-caliber railgun that boasted power to prate any armor in existence.
It was a system that pierced through pure kic energy, so it was hard to stop unless it was made of ck metal.
These days, there were attempts by various countries to adopt ck metal armor, but it took a lot of time to adopt it on the front line.
The price of over 10 billion won could be an obstacle, but it was not a problem for Crown Prince Muhammad at all.
¡°My friend. I have benefited a lot from drones. I stabilized Yemen and expelled mercenaries who only sucked money. This tank will be simr, so let¡¯s buy five battalions first.¡±
ording to Saudi Arabia¡¯s tank unit organization, about 70 tanks belonged to one battalion, excluding armored vehicles such as armored recovery vehicles.
So Crown Prince Muhammad paid 3.5 trillion won just by looking at the catalog.
Yu Ji-ha also pushed another catalog lightly.
¡°What about this drone? You seemed very interested.¡±
¡°The maneuverability and fuel efficiency of the Caliber drone were certainly impressive. But what I¡¯m worried about is¡¡±
¡°You mean there are ces that don¡¯t like Saudi Arabia arming itself with Caliber drones?¡±
¡°I trust you understand without me mentioning it.¡±
Where would Saudi Arabia spend its fourthrgest defense budget in the world?
It had introduced some European weapons systems, but mostly bought American ones.
But the US seemed to dislike losing its customers to Korea and exerted all kinds of pressure.
The excuse they gave was that fully unmanned aircraft were dangerous.
¡°We have a lot of training with the US military. We have ground support missions and close air support missions. They say we can¡¯t trust unmanned aircraft and we should exclude them.¡±
¡°So it would be okay if there was a pilot?¡±
The catalog that Yu Ji-ha handed over was the KF-31, which was about to have aunch event soon.
This fighter was a joint project with Russia and was originally unmanned, but it was designed to allow a pilot to board.
The Caliber drone could be seen as a derivative improvement of this unmanned aircraft.
For a moment, Crown Prince Mohammed¡¯s face brightened, but soon hardened.
¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±
It seemed that he had received an implicit pressure that Korean aircraft were not allowed, so he had no choice but to fold at this point.
The US¡¯s encirclement was tightening around him.
They were not fools, so they would never confront each other head-on.
What power did the US have?
The economy and finance that became the market of the world, the excellent soft power, and the US military stationed everywhere were their power.
This cohesion was very strong, and many countries such as the Soviet Union and China challenged the hegemony, but they fell out of favor.
But Yu Ji-ha had the power to destroy that cohesion from the root.
Without anyone knowing.
¡®I didn¡¯t want to go this far¡¡¯
If they came out petty, he had no choice but to use petty methods too.
He called Arma after the meeting was over.
¡°I need to kill someone.¡±
Murder was simple and effective.
Of course, the US decision-making system would not be shaken by the death of a politician or two.
What is the strength of democracy?
But it would be enough to pour cold water on thete-stage presidential race.
Yu Ji-ha calmly ordered the death of an American.
¡°Should I inject tetrodotoxin H?¡±
¡°I¡¯d like to use something else this time. Didn¡¯t you say that candidate had a heart condition?¡±
¡°He had a stent procedure. He was attacked a lot by the Republican candidate because of that. He ims he¡¯s fine, though.¡±
¡°He¡¯s old and has a history of surgery, so it won¡¯t be strange if his heart suddenly stops.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll make sure his heart stops only.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t let it get caught. The US is busy investigating me these days.¡±
He heard that they searched even Shin Ha-yoon, the granddaughter of Hanseong Group who he sent to the US.
There wouldn¡¯t be anythinging out, but he had to be careful.
Yu Ji-ha checked and approved his n.
***
Logan Bryant was the current Democratic presidential candidate and almost heard the word confirmed election.
No matter which poll he looked at, his approval rating was close to 60% and he elicited enthusiastic responses at every campaign site.
This was a strange phenomenon that happened even though the current president¡¯s approval rating was not bad.
Various research institutions analyzed that preempting a hardline policy against Korea was the secret of his poprity.
¡ªA leash and a muzzle for a mad dog. There is no more concise campaign slogan than this.
¡ªRecently, many Americans feel threatened by Korea. Even at this moment, Korea is pouring out various high-tech products, many of which are iprehensible even in principle.
¡ªTherefore, Korea¡¯s expansion must be stopped. If soft methods don¡¯t work, then somewhat coercive means must be used.
¡ªAnd this threat was felt more seriously by the Democrats than by the masses.
If Yu Ji-ha had been satisfied with maintaining a friendly rtionship with Russia, they would have decided that there was no need to control him.
But Yu Ji-ha crossed the line several times.
He dared to attack Tsushima Ind, and then he attacked Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, causing great damage to the US¡¯s reputation.
It revealed that the US¡¯s influence in that region was not much.
The Republicans seemed to be secretly d that the situation did not expand to the Arabian Penins, but the Democratic senators strongly protested.
¡ªThere can be no war in the Middle East that we do not approve of! Summon President Yu Ji-ha immediately!
¡ªHe pushes 300 million people into the Middle Ages and calmly builds a megacity? Does he know what the lives of the people there are like?
¡ªAt this point, I have to ask one thing. Is President McKinley ackey of Korea and Russia? Why is he only dithering and not intervening?
President McKinley rebutted that it was a wasteful political offensive, but it didn¡¯t mean much since his term was ending.
The US political circles imed that everything would go smoothly if Yu Ji-ha epted just one thing.
¡ªLet¡¯s bring back the US troops in Korea. By stationing 30,000 troops, both countries can return to their previous rtionship.
But Korea refused to re-station the US troops.
¡°It¡¯s not like we kicked them out, they left on their own and now they¡¯re talking nonsense.¡±
That was part of what President Yu Ji-ha said to the US envoy at the time.
In the past, even if he was the president of Korea, he would never have been able to say such a thing, but the situation had changed a lot.
President McKinley wanted to just let it go since it wasn¡¯t his mistake anyway, and the Democrats flipped out again.
Anyway, that remark was the reason why the Democrats decided to sanction him directly.
They couldn¡¯t do anything right away because the Republicans opposed it, but they would definitely take care of him when the regime changed.
They were not considering a military option.
The military power of Korea and the Human Alliance was still inferior to that of the US, of course, but there were many unknown areas.
They also had to consider the domestic opinion that wanted to stop the war.
¡ªHow many wars have happened recently? The Yangtze War, the Korean War, Russia¡¯s invasion of Ukraine, the Dokdo and Tsushima battles, and the Middle East War¡
¡ªThree of them are rted to Yu Ji-ha. Is this a coincidence?
But this did not be a major opinion.
They could not adopt a conspiracy theory without clear evidence.
At least there was some justification for attacking the three Middle Eastern countries.
So the Democrats cautiously decided to surround Korea and Yu Ji-ha.
In their stronghold of economic fields.
They had copsed Japan in the past with things like the za ord, so Korea was an easy opponentpared to that.
Even if they were armed with all kinds of high-tech products, Korea¡¯s basic strength was still far away.
¡ªLet¡¯s leave the military confrontation to China and Japan and we¡¯ll dismantle Korea¡¯s economy one by one.
¡ªFirst of all, it would be good to touch on memory semiconductors. It won¡¯t have a direct impact on Shinra Group, but it¡¯s an area where a lot of research personnel are employed, so it will have an impact on Korea as a whole.
The representative politician who advocated this leash and muzzle theory was Logan Bryant.
He sighed after finishing his sessful campaign in Texas.
It was Texas, which was a Republican stronghold, so he couldn¡¯t help but be nervous, but fortunately they didn¡¯t threaten his campaign bus.
¡°It¡¯s all because of their anger at that guy.¡±
A campaign staff member chimed in with his words.
¡°Texans must feel it better than anyone else. They suffered significant damage in various industries.¡±
Texas had attracted manypanies with low taxes over the years.
But in recent years, thosepanies started leaving or going bankrupt, and it was all because of Yu Ji-ha and Korea.
NASA¡¯s budget shrank and various ns were canceled, and nuclear fusion-rtedpanies gave up their technology altogether.
The ce that took a direct hit from this was Houston.
Of course, the economy was still strong with oil and other industries, but Texans were wounded in their pride.
¡ªIt¡¯s sad that we can¡¯t hear the voice of an astronaut calling Houston anymore.
¡ªIt¡¯s all that Korean guy¡¯s fault. What if he stole ourpanies¡¯ nuclear fusion research?
It was just a rumor, but it showed how bad the perception of Yu Ji-ha was.
Bryant, the candidate, took advantage of this and did not emphasize that he was a Democrat, but only highlighted the need for control over the mad dog.
¡°It¡¯s a sad situation, but if a dog barks viciously at people and even bites them, don¡¯t you think it needs control? We are all Americans. And we have the power to control the mad dog.¡±
Americans, especially Texans, hated control, but they did not resist much because it was not their position.
Bryant finished his campaign and went to the hotel to get some sleep.
But he and his campaign staff did not know.
That a very small insect-shaped drone had sneaked into the room.
And that the drone had injected a clever poison into his heart muscle and soon he died peacefully.
Themotion happened in the morning.
The campaign staff who came in to wake up the presidential candidate shook his body when he did not get up, and soon checked his breathing.
¡°He¡¯s not breathing¡¡±
¡°The candidate is dead! Hurry up and notify the party and the police!¡±
***
When a leading presidential candidate died, the police rushed in and the whole state of Texas turned upside down.
The Democrats were also in trouble and started discussing countermeasures in Congress.
¡ªHow can a candidate die when there¡¯s not much time left for the election? This is an assassination!
¡ªThere was no suspicious circumstance in the hotel¡¯s ess records. It¡¯s sad, but we have to be calm.
¡ªIs it sad? Isn¡¯t it a good day for you when the Republican candidate is elected?
¡ªWhat are you talking about?
The members of both parties argued in Congress and the US political scene fell into chaos.
That was because Bryant was a neutral figure who had quite a few sympathizers in the Republican Party.
He was also considered to be on the right side of the Democrats, so he was able to get a lot of support.
Usually, if the trade policy is neutral, it is easy to get criticized as a bat, but he got a sandbag saying that he would maintain Yu Ji-ha and was able to get good scores from the media¡¯s questions.
¡ªHow are you going to develop America?
¡ªThere were good times. The US and Korea were strong allies and had a solid trust. We¡¯re going back to that time.
¡ªIt sounds sweet, but wouldn¡¯t it be a shackle for Korea? President Yu Ji-ha won¡¯t ept that proposal.
¡ªI admit that Korea has achieved rapid growth recently. But theyck basic strength. The newly acquired territory is unstable, the economy depends on individuals, and prices are rising. We have to pay attention to that point especially.
¡ªAre you going to control China¡¯s exports that have a huge impact on Korea¡¯s prices?
¡ªI¡¯ll leave it to your imagination. But I think you¡¯ll agree that we need various means. The opponent is a mad dog.
¡ªYou¡¯re iming that they need a leash and a muzzle. I see.
He openly advocated for muzzling, but no one pointed it out. That was the confidence that America had.
The annual budget of over 7,500 trillion won was not easy toe by, and it was more than 10 times that of Korea.
If it weren¡¯t for Yu Ji-ha, they wouldn¡¯t have been able topete at all.
Then Bryant died.
The cause of death was not revealed yet, but the fact that the ce was a hotel in Texas was a big issue.
Some imed assassination and even suspected Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªWho benefits most from the death of a candidate who advocated for muzzling the mad dog? Of course it would be the Republicans, but Yu Ji-ha could also be a suspect.
¡ªProvide evidence before you doubt. How did Yu Ji-ha in Korea assassinate Bryant? By using military drones?
Of course there was no evidence and the assassination theory itself was only imed by some.
It was a well-known fact that Bryant had a bad heart condition.
And when the autopsy results came out, those who imed assassination shut their mouths.
¡°Presumed sudden death due to cardiac arrest. No other medical findings.¡±
Now the ball went back to Congress.
A leading presidential candidate had died, so they had to decide whether to hold or postpone the election as it is.
Thetter would not be easily epted by the Republicans.
The Republican Committee asked for an alternative candidate, but some said it was toote to rece him.
Some states were about to start early voting.
Some even suggested extending the current president¡¯s term by a few months and holding primaries again.
No matter what n it was, there was no precedent, so the members were troubled.
Meanwhile, Yu Ji-ha, who made America noisy, calmly summoned domestic semiconductor-rtedpanies.
It was to entrust them with the production of diamond semiconductors.
Si Group could do it, but it would take too much time.
Han Sung Electronics and others had some closed foundry facilities left, so he nned to use them.
The equipment was old, but the manpower was scattered all over Korea.
If he gave them the design and controlled them properly, Korean semiconductors would rise again.
Shin Joo-ho, the chairman who was summoned after a long time, brought experts and entered Sangchunjae.
Yu Ji-ha greeted them and offered them seats.
¡°Haha, you even care about this old man who is losing his strength.¡±
¡°Old man? You still have a lot to do.¡±
Shin Joo-ho looked at Yu Ji-ha with aplicated gaze.
He thought he was a smart young kid, but he turned out to be a beast hiding his ws.
¡®It seems like yesterday when he advised me seriously that a secretary should be a man¡¡¯
He didn¡¯t know when he got so much power.
What was more surprising was that the president¡¯s seat looked so natural to him.
Well, who else could sit there if not him?
Shin Joo-ho clenched his hand holding the cane and Yu Ji-ha handed him a tablet.
¡°This is a semiconductor¡ I don¡¯t know much about it. Take a look.¡±
¡°What do I know? Here, you take a look.¡±
They passed the tablet screen around like that and almost at the same time their eyes widened.
¡°Mr. President, this is¡¡±
¡°Can you produce it?¡±
¡°The process is not thatplicated, so it¡¯s possible, but this is¡¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
Shin Joo-ho raised his voice and an executive said in a tense voice.
¡°It¡¯s a diamond semiconductor¡ The one that the Electronic Research Institute gave up on a few years ago¡¡±
Chapter 119: Diamond Semiconductor
Chapter 119: Diamond Semiconductor
Young people live on hope for the future, while old people live on memories of the past.
When Yu Ji-ha brought up the situation of the Korean semiconductor industry in the 2020s, Chairman Shin had a lot to say.
¡°The US was not happy with us leaning towards China. They wanted to take over the foundry business by force.¡±
¡°They must have been anxious. They had to bring back the manufacturing jobs to their country.¡±
The attendees nodded at Yu Ji-ha¡¯s remark.
It was a well-known fact that the US had started to care about their domestic jobs.
They began with the car manufacturing industry, and then moved on to the semiconductor sector, which had been traditionally handled by their allies.
The US also looked at Korea with unease, as it relied heavily on China.
If Korea switched sidespletely, the semiconductor belt in East Asia could be shaken.
Chairman Shin clenched his eyes as if he remembered that time.
¡°I and other chairmen were summoned to the US as a group and faced all kinds of pressure. That was the first time I heard them say they would take away the foundry industry from us.¡±
¡°They said that openly?¡±
The old man shook his head bitterly.
¡°Who could stop them when they said they would do it¡ Anyway, I think it was not only because of theck of processes that we lost our orders. It¡¯s true that TSMC was half a step ahead of us, but we could have caught up.¡±
He still had some pride left, even though hispany had gone bankrupt long ago.
Yu Ji-ha asked casually.
¡°Did the US government pressure their domesticpanies? To reduce their orders?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no evidence, but everyone knows it. We were also a bit disadvantageous in terms of price.¡±
TSMC was so busy that they couldn¡¯t handle all the orders, so some Koreanpanies, including Hansung Foundation, took advantage of that gap.
But one by one, their orders started to decrease, and a few monthster, most of their orders were cut off, except for the old processes.
¡°Next was memory. The US didn¡¯t like us holding onto memory either, so they started to push their domestic and Japanesepanies. That¡¯s Micron and Elpida.¡±
¡°But you held on pretty well with the chicken game.¡±
¡°It was all temporary. What could we do when the US openly supported them? They even offered incentives if they built semiconductor fabs in their country¡ I remember running around the US to get equipment. I sent my son there, but he came back empty-handed, so I went there myself, but they said the same thing.¡±
¡°Most of the equipment was already allocated?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right¡ The US government pressured them to give most of the equipment to their own and Japan.¡±
It must have been frustrating, but there was nothing a singlepany could do when the US government intervened.
It was also hard to ask for help from China, because they were more nationalist than the US.
The Koreanpanies that got in between had to watch out for China and try their best to get out of the US pressure.
¡°Despite all our efforts, we eventually gave up on foundry. Our memory market share also dropped below 10%¡ I¡¯m ashamed to say this with my own mouth, but Hansung was the leader of Korean semiconductors. And that leader copsed.¡±
One of the reasons why the Korean economy was gloomy at that time was the semiconductor slump.
It ounted for up to 18% of exports in its heyday, but it dropped to 3.5% in 2025.
Anyway, Korea¡¯s semiconductor industry went downhill and now it barely maintained its presence in the memory field.
But if they had this¡
Chairman Shin knew about diamond semiconductors because he had received a report on them.
Normally, diamond is an instor, but it can be turned into a conductor by mixing various impurities such as nitrogen or boron.
Diamond semiconductors made this way can operate at temperatures above 600 degrees and have very fast electron speed, making them suitable for high-speedputation.
There was also an alternative to break the structure and insert particles to use them as operators for quantumputers.
Of course, all this never went beyond theboratory level and was abandoned due to high costs and various difficulties involved in production.
The US and Japan also continued to publish papers on it, but they did not show any significant results.
But if the president suddenly mentioned it¡
¡°May I ask where you developed it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s Lucia¡¯s research result. Lucia is constantlyputing and analyzing data from various fields. Diamond semiconductors are one of them.¡±
¡°It must be like Antron. We don¡¯t understand the principle¡¡±
¡°Lucia¡¯sputing power has already surpassed us. It¡¯s the singrity. I don¡¯t even know what she¡¯s researching.¡±
He thought it was a good excuse.
But Lucia¡¯s status as an artificial superintelligence had already been verified by many schrs.
Even now, someboratories around the world were asking questions to Lucia with the permission of the Chairman Shin Group.
Chairman Shin decided to pass the ball to the experts at this point.
¡°Let¡¯s put aside your curiosity for now and tell me if you can make it.¡±
The experts looked around and finally one of them took the lead and answered.
¡°If we can use the existing equipment as it is, there should be no problem, but it will take a considerable amount of time to restart the fab.¡±
¡°So, how long will it take?¡±
¡°Considering the processing of raw materials, at least five years or more¡¡±
Chairman Shin nced at Yu Ji-ha and he opened his mouth.
¡°We will handle the processing of raw materials, so you only need to produce.¡±
You have no experience in semiconductors and you want to make it up to the wafer?
You have money, but you don¡¯t have any know-how. How can you handle that?
He wanted to ask that, but no one actually did.
Because it was Yu Ji-ha who said that.
The only problem was the cost.
It was inevitable that the price would be high to make seeds with artificial diamonds.
If they made wafers with that, it would be several times more expensive than silicon.
No matter how great Lucia¡¯sputing power was, it was impossible from the source.
Yu Ji-ha offered a solution.
¡°The price is a problem, but Russia Alrosa agreed to supply us cheaply.¡±
Of course, it was a lie.
It was true that Russia had a global diamondpany, but they couldn¡¯t match the quantity and price for making seeds.
It was a state-ownedpany, so it might be possible if Putin approved it, but there was a high chance that the supply would be unstable.
They would use the Aether fusion reactor of Settler here.
When the fusion reactor output exceeded a certain level, the internal pressure and temperature rose tremendously, almostparable to Jupiter¡¯s interior.
That meant they could make superconducting and artificial diamonds inside the spaceship.
In the long run, they would have to bring in production equipment to Korea, but for now, it was enough to shock the market.
¡°Arma will officially inform you of the roadmapter. You just need to prepare for production ordingly. Any questions?¡±
Then one of the experts fiddled with his sses, feeling the eyes of others.
¡°Mr. President, do you know how powerful those semiconductors are¡?¡±
¡°Let me give you an easy example. A CPU for personalputers. Even with old processes, it easily surpasses the existing 1nm ones. The clock speed can easily reach 7GHz if there is no problem with mass production.¡±
¡°That¡¯s¡ that¡¯s amazing¡¡±
The people were astonished by that number, but Yu Ji-ha calmly said.
¡°And this is just an old process. It¡¯s 180nm equipment we¡¯re talking about. The performance will increase much more as the process bes finer and more technologies are added.¡±
¡°What was the CPU made with 180nm process?¡±
¡°You can think of it as Coppermine generation. So, before 2000¡¡±
¡°So with such an old process, they can overpower current CPUs with clock speed¡¡±
¡°Just for your information, the structure and instruction set arepletely different, so directparison with current CPUs is difficult. But it¡¯s clear that we can easily increase performance. We can use variable clock and variable core.¡±
He said he didn¡¯t know much about it because it wasn¡¯t his field?
Yu Ji-ha ignored their doubts and continued.
¡°And because of the nature of diamond as a raw material, electrons move very fast and without interference within the circuit. It¡¯s also very resistant to high temperatures, so it¡¯s easy to increase clock speed. It should be easy to go up to tens of GHz.¡±
¡°So basically we¡¯re starting over from before 2000 with a different raw material.¡±
Chairman Shin said that and Yu Ji-ha nodded.
¡°I heard Hansung also tried to make server CPUs at one point.¡±
¡°There are no employees who worked at that time, but I can call them back anytime. It¡¯s not hard to make this if I can make that.¡±
¡°This diamond semiconductor.¡±
Yu Ji-ha raised his voice and the people tensed up.
¡°This is definitely something that can overwhelm any existing semiconductor. It¡¯s very easy to implement quantumputers with its characteristics, and it can also be used for quantummunication. So just trust me and prepare for mass production. I will control everything from here.¡±
For a moment, Chairman Shin, the chairman, wanted to say something, but he didn¡¯t dare to do so.
If he did, he would be a mere follower, but he couldn¡¯t afford to be picky in the current situation where he was being squeezed by the US, Japan, and China.
Hansung Electronics needed a future source of ie besides smartphones that adopted ck Metal batteries.
He just couldn¡¯t hide the anxiety that rose in his heart.
This was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s pattern of raising and eating after all.
¡®He has already absorbed manypanies into Si Group¡¡¯
If it had been like before, he would have faced a crackdown from the government, but since Yu Ji-ha was the actual owner, he was expanding at an astoniChairman Shing rate.
It didn¡¯t show up because it was a privatepany, but if it had been a listedpany, it would have surpassed the world¡¯s leadingpanies in terms of market capitalization.
The only unusual thing was that he absorbedpetitive small and medium-sized enterprises.
If he had used subcontractors, he wouldn¡¯t have wanted to increase the burden, which was amon trait of CEOs, right?
¡®I don¡¯t know what his goal is¡¡¯
One thing was certain.
If he didn¡¯t ept his proposal, there would be no future for Hansung Electronics, or even the entire group.
He could have ordered him anyway as a dictator who didn¡¯t care about thepany¡¯s will.
As the chairman of Chairman Shin, he hoped this decision would be hisst.
¡°Then I¡¯ll prepare carefully.¡±
¡°The pressure from the US will increase in the future, so report every word you say to the secretariat.¡±
Did he mean to record his words and pay him back all at once?
The US, which had a strong pride, wouldn¡¯t just sit still and take more harsh measures.
Various boycotts as well as military pressure and even war at worst¡
¡®No way, that won¡¯t happen.¡¯
A war with the US was something that should never happen.
No matter how reckless Yu Ji-ha was, he hoped he wouldn¡¯t cross the final line.
***
The US was in political turmoil after the presidential candidate died.
Nevertheless, the economic pressure on Korea continued steadily.
First, they reduced the equipment supply for producing next-generation GDDR7 memory.
ASML, which produces lithography equipment worth over 150 billion won each, notified that they couldn¡¯t supply to domesticpanies such as Hansung.
Also, the supply of automotive wiring harnesses and autonomous driving chipsets made in China began to slow down.
Si Auto currently relied on Chinesepanies for most of its wiring harnesses and chipsets.
This was because most of the Chinese factories of first-tier vendors closed during China¡¯s chaos.
Si Auto¡¯s feet were on fire afterunching Windrunner.
They had enough stock for now, but production problems would arise in a few months.
That was obvious.
Si Auto received great praise for installing autonomous driving algorithms suitable for each country¡¯s situation on most of its electric vehicles afterunching Windrunner.
As a result, they were able to build a solid positionparable to Future Auto¡¯s heyday by expanding their lineup.
Although they were only ranked 8th or 9th in terms of scale in the world, they were all electric vehicles and their algorithms were so excellent that they were rated higher than that in reality.
But that status would fade if they didn¡¯t get proper parts supply.
The executives of Si Auto flew to China themselves and Arma contacted them, but they only got words of helplessness.
¡°We really don¡¯t have any stock.¡±
¡°You mean someone pressured you when you say you don¡¯t have any stock while maintaining production?¡±
¡°That¡¯s spection.¡±
The executive¡¯s tone was cut off sharply.
If there were really production problems, they would have tried their best to reassure them somehow.
But instead of doing that, they only answered in short sentences. That meant they were pressured from above.
¡°I don¡¯t know who¡¯s above you, but you should be prepared. You know who¡¯s above us, right?¡±
The Chinese executive was momentarily flustered but soon regained hisposure.
Yu Ji-ha was famous enough, but he couldn¡¯t handle China and the US alone.
It might have been different if it was a war, but this kind of nerve-wracking sanction was probably the first time for him.
The Chinese executive didn¡¯t give any exnation and hung up the phone.
The data collected by Arma didn¡¯t contain any information about the problems in the global supply chain.
The fact that this only happened in Korea meant that someone blocked it, and the US government would be at the top of that.
There was a lot of spection in the world that the US pressure had begun.
¡ªIsn¡¯t it natural to put a leash and a muzzle on a mad dog? The US was too lenient until now.
¡ªThey won¡¯t just watch Russia¡¯s southward movement either, and they n to raise tariffs as well. Yu Ji-ha doesn¡¯t give in to this much? The US sanctions are just beginning.
¡ªHowever, the US also needs Yu Ji-ha¡¯s technology, so it will be done very secretly. He won¡¯t miss the intention, but.
¡ªEven though Bryant, the candidate, died, the Democratic Party¡¯s policy won¡¯t change.
That secret pressure began to affect various parts of the Korean economy.
The items were mainly semiconductors, and Korea didn¡¯t have the power to ovee this.
Hansung Electronics had lost its leadership long ago, and Si Group had no foundation in that area.
But having no foundation didn¡¯t mean having no technology.
Arma established another corporation within the group and secured a factory site.
¡°This corporation will be in charge of Si Group¡¯s semiconductors. From material processing to wafer production, memory and foundry business, and evenputing chipsets, we will pursue a total package.¡±
The name was Quantum Solution.
It was a name that openly aimed for quantum technology, which made many people tilt their heads.
¡ªDoes Yu Ji-ha have any quantum technology? I don¡¯t remember him having any.
¡ªMaybe he developed something with his artificial intelligence. We don¡¯t know what kind of research is going on in the metaverse server room.
¡ªEven with artificial intelligence, you need basic infrastructure to do semiconductor business.
¡ªDoesn¡¯t Hansung Group have it? They must have a lot of old equipment left.
¡ªWhat can you produce with those old equipment? It¡¯s the era of 1nm now.
They were mistaken about one thing.
The new diamond semiconductor design was enough with the old process.
It used 2D patterning instead of 3D patterningmonly used by the United Human Federation, so the photo process was simple.
Some of the materials used here were produced in Korea under Yu Ji-ha¡¯s instructions, so there was no big problem.
Korea had been supplying most of the raw materials like this since it broke off rtions with Japan, and some Japanesepanies even set up separatepanies overseas to supply to Korea.
Yu Ji-ha appreciated their efforts.
However, there were many other processes to go through before shipping semiconductors, and a lot of know-how was needed, so it was not an easy field to enter.
But the designer in charge was Arma, the artificial intelligence of the United Human Federation.
She finished the design in no time and adjusted the roadmap as well.
Originally, he nned to attack Manchuria in 2030, but there was no need to bother if China¡¯s position was like that.
Yu Ji-ha looked at the roadmap and asked.
¡°Will there be any problem with building a megacity in Manchuria?¡±
¡°It¡¯s only a year anyway. The overall roadmap hasn¡¯t changed.¡±
¡°Then that¡¯s fine. Let¡¯s focus on building our foundation until early next year.¡±
That foundation building meant rebuilding the semiconductor industry from scratch all over the world.
Of course, even if diamond semiconductors appeared, not allpanies could adopt them.
There were many fields where existing semiconductors were enough.
But in advanced industries, such as astronomy, medicine, chemistry, supeputing, cloud systems, etc.,puting power was more important than anything else.
The difference inputing power was more than 10 times even with the old process. It would be stupid not to choose this side.
Anyway, the smart factory for Quantum Solution finished all administrative procedures in no time and started construction.
The construction involved a tremendous know-how of shortening construction time that the United Human Federation had developed to counter gue.
They didn¡¯t know when gue wouldunch an air raid, so they couldn¡¯t afford to build factories leisurely.
So the United Human Federation developed a system that mimicked gue¡¯s internal structure to dpose andbine ck Metal.
That system was used to build megacities and settlers for space ships.
There was no need to hide it anymore, so smart factories were built in an instant.
Otherpanies would have just started formingmittees for site selection at this point, but this side was already installing equipment.
It was literally insane speed.
However, the intelligence agencies and leaders of various countries were not surprised by this progress because they had already experienced megacities and such.
¡ªIt¡¯s not that I¡¯m used to seeing it a lot, but this speed is definitely not normal.
¡ªIf you shorten construction time like that, there will be side effects galore, but there seems to be none of that either.
¡ªHowever, Hansung Electronics, which is supposed to cooperate with them, is no different from otherpanies. It seems like it will take years to restart production equipment.
Hansung Electronics was normal because they were so used to Yu Ji-ha.
Si Group seemed dissatisfied with that speed and sent androids directly to adjust the equipment.
And the US, who watched all this, concluded that Yu Ji-ha had something to turn the situation around.
¡°He flew to Russia himself recently¡ It seems like Alrosa.¡±
¡°What does he have to do with diamondpanies? Don¡¯t tell me semiconductors?¡±
¡°That¡¯s impossible. Diamond semiconductors are theoretically possible, but growing seeds is a bottleneck. You have to apply high pressure and high temperature and grow them slowly, but the cost doesn¡¯t match because it¡¯s hard to make pressure vessels.¡±
¡°Wait, can¡¯t you make pressure vessels easily with ck Metal?¡±
ck Metal was used as a variety of tools at this point.
ck Metal itself was a trademark filed by Si Group, and it was used in various tools where wear resistance was important.
Now, ck Metal-made screwdrivers, drills, etc. were treated as the best luxury items in the market.
It also had a significant market share in the pressure vessel market, but there was no alternative forboratories that needed high pressure and high temperature.
If they used those pressure vessels to grow diamond seeds?
The electricity that goes into it is a problem, but isn¡¯t Korea already operating a nuclear fusion nt?
Several nts were under construction now, and the existing nuclear power nts were changing their uses.
ording to the IAEA¡¯s audit report, Korea nned to supply all electricity with nuclear fusion within five years at most.
In that case, the price of electricity would be extremely cheap.
It was the optimal condition for making diamond semiconductors.
When a report containing this content was published in the US, Democratic senators wanted to visit Korea to find out the situation.
But Yu Ji-ha refused.
¡°Supply semiconductors properly first. Don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t pressure us.¡±
The Democratic Party in the US didn¡¯t have much reaction to this blunt remark.
It was evidence of tacit admission.
And Arma¡¯s design was finished.
¡°The process uses 130nm and the TDP, thermal design power, is 25W. It has a variable clock that can go up to 7.6GHz and the core can be divided into up to 16. The IPC is 11 times higher than the existing high-end personal processors.¡±
Performance being 11 times doesn¡¯t mean actual speed is also 11 times.
There are various devices that affectputation besides processors in hardware.
It would be convenient if he could cram everything into one chip like Arma¡¯sputing unit, but he couldn¡¯t show such technology now.
He had to take steps, right?
Yu Ji-ha nodded his head as he watched the processor¡¯s operation simtion.
¡°Not bad for the first release. Prepare for sample production.¡±
Chapter 120: It’s Me, America?
Chapter 120: It¡¯s Me, America?
The pressure from the United States became more tant as the days went by.
Recently, Starfield received a notification from Intel that it was difficult to sell space semiconductors.
As a result, the Mars exploration project suffered a major setback.
What¡¯s the use of making a good spaceship and calcting orbital mechanics?
They couldn¡¯t even make the console system right away.
Space semiconductors are difficult to dissipate heat and have resistance to cosmic particles, so they are manufactured by adding special processes.
If you take an ordinary CPU, you never know when a soft error will pop up.
If there is even a slight error in the orbital calction, the spacecraft may not enter the atmosphere and bounce off into space.
There are only a few countries that can add such processes, such as the United States and Russia.
The former has produced various processors based on its extensive space experience, while thetter was hard to trust.
Also, the spacecraft instruction set had a different structure, so they couldn¡¯t easily rece the processor.
This measure extended to military CPUs, so that Kim Gu-ss 2nd and 3rd ships had to stop their retrofitting.
The only good thing was that Korea¡¯s aviation sector was developed in coboration with Russia.
Several military aircraft, including the soon-to-be-released drone KF-31, were equipped with Russian processors, so they were rtively free in the current situation.
Eachpany and military headquarters immediately sent a letter of protest to the contractedpany, but only excuses such as dys in raw material supply and shipping problems came back.
It was absurd that sand, which is the material of silicon semiconductors, was not supplied.
Not any sand can be used, but there was no difficulty until now.
As various pressures were applied in the semiconductor field, the Korean businessmunity was quite nervous.
¨DThe United States will not end it like this. They will continue to secretly strangle our necks.
¨DPresident Yu Ji-ha has many cards, but only those that he can¡¯t use recklessly.
That was the biggest problem.
President Yu Ji-ha had a lot of cards to pressure the United States.
But he couldn¡¯t confront the United States head-on unless it was China or Japan.
Maybe if one or more megacities werepleted.
And since they started boycotting in the semiconductor field, they had to respond only to semiconductors in this area.
Expanding to other fields meant fighting openly.
It might be possible for China in the 2020s, but Korea did not have enough guts to fight against the United States at present.
Yu Ji-ha contacted President McKinley first via hotline for the first time.
After a brief greeting, a surprisingly sarcastic tone popped out.
¡°It must be this serious for President Yu to call me.¡±
¡°Let me put it briefly. Undo all measures.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, but this measure was not done by the White House. It¡¯s something thatpanies do autonomously, so it¡¯s not a boycott.¡±
¡°Are you joking with me right now?¡±
President McKinley frowned as he held the receiver.
No matter how his term was ending, he couldn¡¯t talk to him like this.
But on the other hand, he was also pleased.
When did he ever see Yu Ji-ha flustered?
This was the power of America.
¡°By saying this much, it means that President Yu is also cornered. This is amazing.¡±
¡°Well, we¡¯ll have to wait and see who¡¯s cornered.¡±
¡°Haha¡ Are you going to announce a new semiconductor soon? Of course it¡¯s impossible.¡±
He had received a report that Quantum Solutions had justunched and was moving busily, but President McKinley wanted to put more weight on bluffing.
That¡¯s right.
It hadn¡¯t been long since the sanctions started, so it was impossible to ovee this situation with some kind of semiconductor.
Even if they made something, they couldn¡¯tpete in a fair fight.
USpanies including TSMC havemercialized 1nm, and it was impossible for Korea to catch up with this in a short time.
First of all, it took hundreds of billions of dors and several years of time to invest in equipment, and they blocked this side.
What about manpower?
The personnel leaked from Hanseong Foundry and Electronics were being used well by various USpanies.
The only remaining manpower in the country was Jukjeong.
Considering all this, it was clear that President Yu Ji-ha had been caught in a tight spot this time.
Unless they wanted to start a war, it was impossible to escape from this.
Of course, looking back at President Yu Ji-ha¡¯s actions, he might have been able to pull off a miracle.
One of the intelligence agencies sent this report:
¡¸Signs of diamond semiconductors detected.¡¹
¡¸Large amount of diamond samples confirmed to be sent from Russia¡¯s Alrosa.¡¹
¡¸Hanseong Electronics found to be reviving 130nm semiconductor production equipment.¡¹
¡¸The pressure vessel being manufactured by Quantum Solutions is of very high quality and is only used by institutions that study celestial atmospheres.¡¹
It was evident that Yu Ji-ha was preparing for a counterattack in various ways.
If that counterattack was effective, the answer would lie in the strong artificial intelligence Lucia.
The US government had recognized Lucia, but they had been skeptical about her being a strong artificial intelligence and being able to develop something separate from that.
In other words, they had bet on Yu Ji-ha exaggerating his achievements in artificial intelligence.
In fact, most of the things that Yu Ji-ha had revealed so far were rted to ck metal.
But diamond semiconductors had nothing to do with ck metal.
If he had developed that too, they would have to admit that he was a strong artificial intelligence and rethink their strategy.
President McKinley wanted to persuade him and somehow bring him to the US side, but the Democrats might have a different opinion.
Yu Ji-ha lowered his voice.
¡°I¡¯m telling you for sure, the US started it first.¡±
¡°That¡¯s scary. Are you going to take any measures rted to ck metal?¡±
In that case, the US would immediately expand the scope of sanctions to other areas.
It was up to him to take his own measures out of anger, but it would only end up tying his own ankles.
But Yu Ji-ha¡¯s answer was different.
¡°No. I¡¯ll keep everything as it is. But the things that wille out in the semiconductor field will be a little different.¡±
¡°I¡¯m looking forward to seeing how amazing they will be.¡±
¡°You won¡¯t be able to say that anymore once the announcement starts. And the US semiconductor-rtedpanies will no longer be under the control of the government.¡±
¡°¡¡±
What did he prepare that made him so confident?
He ended the call with a regretful remark.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯sst words lingered in his head.
¨DThe US semiconductors will be destroyed soon. Taiwan too, of course. Don¡¯t cling to me then. I warned you clearly.
It was a typical bluff, but it felt creepying from him.
President McKinley wanted to turn the tables soon, but unfortunately he was not on the scene.
The one leading the game was not the US government, but the Congress.
¡®I wonder if I messed with him for nothing.¡¯
He didn¡¯t need to worry about it since his term was ending soon¡
He looked around the Oval Office and packed his belongings.
***
At the end of 2030, the US Congress agreed to hold a presidential election with another candidate instead of Bryant who had died.
As a result, President McKinley¡¯s term was extended a bit and he had to ept the Congress¡¯s request not to do anything.
There was nothing more disgraceful than abusing executive orders when it wasn¡¯t his original term anyway.
As the White House quieted down, voting began in some states.
The newly nominated candidate Edmund Baldwin was a ck candidate who did not advocate for hardline policies.
That was why he lost in the primaries, but anyway he said he had a lot of cooperation with Yu Ji-ha.
¡°Most of the economic measures led by the US today are no different from war. Just because we don¡¯t wage war doesn¡¯t mean peace wille. Money is the most powerful weapon, and we must remember this deeply.¡±
His position was not mainstream even in the Democratic Party, so opinions were divided.
He could be seen as the most left-wing person that America could tolerate.
The Democratic Party originally wanted a different candidate, but they had no choice but to nominate Baldwin because the Republicans opposed everyone else.
They did not take any special measures against Yu Ji-ha, who supported him.
One of the candidates had died, but who would be suspected if he died too?
And Baldwin seemed to be a good match for him in terms of personality.
Of course, this was only until Yu Ji-ha stabbed him in the back, but that would not happen during his term.
And the election was over and he finally won.
Baldwin went straight to the White House after taking the oath.
It was customary for the US president to call the Anglo-Saxon-dominated allies first when he took office.
But he boldly broke the tradition by calling Korea first.
Britain would be unhappy, but Yu Ji-ha was more important to him.
¡°I asked the president personally and he said it was for the peace of humanity. We are on the same page on that. We have a lot to do in the future.¡±
¡°Shouldn¡¯t the lifting of sanctions on Korea be the first thing?¡±
Naturally, Baldwin was the US president and it was hard for him to go against the tide.
¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±
¡°By the way, let me tell you. If you don¡¯t lift the sanctions, we will also take corresponding measures.¡±
¡°Come on, don¡¯t be too aggressive. I have my own position as well as the president. To coordinate that, I have to turn over some cards¡¡±
¡°I can¡¯t show you any of my cards.¡±
¡°Are they that great? You¡¯re aiming for a reversal in one breath.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll leave that to your imagination.¡±
¡°I¡¯d love to lift them and push for a summit as soon as possible, but the opinion within the party is not like that. I¡¯ll tell you that there will be no more boycotts for now.¡±
¡°You knocked him out and then say there will be no more punching? What kind of nonsense is that?¡±
¡°Korea is surprisingly holding up well for being knocked out.¡±
¡°There¡¯s nothing more to lose. Thanks to some country that took everything away.¡±
This is not easy.
The opponent was a fierce dog with a lot of poison and the Democratic Party was ready to whip him at any time.
Baldwin wanted a mediator, but the situation did not seem favorable.
The conversation ended without much benefit and he had to endure the criticism from the media that he broke the tradition of America.
The ufortable remark of Bard, the British prime minister, was a bonus.
There was no significant change after he took office.
In fact, America¡¯s strategy toward East Asia-Pacific was under the influence of various institutions and experts, so it was hard to change it right away.
If the president¡¯s will was very strong, he could use his personnel power to change the strategy itself, but Baldwin wanted to proceed gradually.
The establishment of Si Group¡¯s US branch would be the start.
Meanwhile, China began to strengthen its quarantine of agricultural products exported to Korea.
Agricultural products below the standard were not sold and Korea¡¯s basket price rose considerably.
They also banned food exports to North Korea on the pretext that their own crop situation was not good.
Thanks to this, Korea suddenlycked tens of thousands of tons of food and had to urgently import rice from Vietnam.
While China was secretly strangling Korea¡¯s neck like this, Japan dered a confrontation openly.
The new Matsuda prime minister dered nationalization of Dokdo and announced that he would revise Article 9 of the Constitution.
He also reorganized the Self-Defense Forces into a formal Japanese army and increased defense spending significantly.
This was what the Japanese right-wingers wanted, but there was one twist.
He decided to push for conscription because he judged that it would be difficult to reach the level that America wanted with the current conscription system.
The right-wingers who had been iming that they should wage war with Korea and reim Dokdo suddenly changed their words.
-Suddenly conscription? It must be only for those in their 20s, right?
-What did this idiot Matsuda get from America?
-War is bad.
The anti-Korean protests that had been taking ce all over Japan suddenly turned into anti-conscription protests.
Whether or not, Matsuda pushed through the conscription bill by pressuring parliament.
It would have been impossible in normal times, but the current Japanese government was under pressure to reim Dokdo at all costs.
They also had to cooperate with America in order not to bepletely excluded from the ck metal ecosystem.
Other countries were also researching ck metal and psychers, but it was hard to catch up with America in this field.
Of course, Japan could not choose to normalize rtions with Korea.
It was Korea who dered severance first. If they bowed their heads and went back now, what would Japan¡¯s pride be?
However, the businessmunity was creating a lot of anxiety that this would not work.
-Korea is starting to elerate its research on other fields using unobtanium. Is Japan okay with not following this trend?
-Korea is also catching up in the fields of materials and industrial robots, which were Japan¡¯s strengths. Especially, the walker robot is iparable in versatility. If this continues, we will lose all our market share.
Especially, the fact that they were hit by Si Group¡¯s walker in the field of industrial robots, which they thought was Japan¡¯s traditional territory, was huge.
The walker could rece most of the robots and it was easy to repair.
Unlike other robots that required employees from the headquarters, this one only needed to introduce a repair center and it could be repaired locally.
Of course, industrial robots were a very conservative field, so they did not change their suppliers easily.
It was also a big expense for the management to educate the employees on how to operate the robots every time they changed their suppliers.
So they usually kept the brand they introduced at first.
Nevertheless, it was undeniable that Si Group¡¯s walker was gaining poprity in the industrial robot market.
The fully unmanned smart factory also attracted a lot of attention and the Japanese businessmunity was very nervous about it.
As Korea¡¯s rise became more prominent, America¡¯s semiconductor sanctions became a big issue.
No matter how much Yu Ji-ha said, he had to bow his head this time, some observers said.
Japan¡¯s broadcast even said that they might be able to get Korea¡¯s surrender if they did well.
¡°America will not end it like this. The newly inaugurated President Baldwin also said he would maintain the existing strategy, right? This is a huge blow for Korea.¡±
¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t see a breakthrough. It¡¯s too much to expect that Quantum Solution or whateverpany will do something.¡±
¡°I hope Korea takes a more proactive attitude this time, but is it too much to ask?¡±
¡°They¡¯ll regret it after they take a big hit. The opponent is America.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t wait for that.¡±
And the new year came.
Quantum Solution¡¯s smart factory, which set a record for the shortestpletion time, began to operate fully.
The fusion reactor of Settlerho operated and grew the diamond seed in an instant.
It was still far from mass production, but there was no problem in producing samples.
And thus, the world¡¯s first diamond semiconductor was handed over to Yu Ji-ha.
***
It was mid-January of 2031.
A press conference was held at the business center of Megacity South, which had started to be built in the southern part of the Korean Penins.
This was the headquarters of Quantum Solution, but there were only a few employees, and most of the work was done by artificial intelligence.
The smart factory next to the business center was unmanned and there was no one to be seen.
The reporters were surprised to see walkers instead of forklifts that weremon in factories and warehouses.
¡°There¡¯s no one to be found anywhere.¡±
¡°It must be very efficient, but how do people make a living?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want this to be the future that the president envisions.¡±
Soon after, President Yu Ji-ha came out with his chief of staff.
¡°From this moment on, the world¡¯s semiconductor industry will change from the root. The existing silicon semiconductors will be obsolete and disappear. So will most of the semiconductorpanies.¡±
Most of the semiconductorpanies?
Does that mean the world¡¯s leadingpanies like Apple, Intel, NVIDIA, AMD?
The reporters thought it was nonsense, but they decided to listen to the announcement for now.
They had been surprised enough so far, and it would be troublesome if they made a fuss at this point.
Only the sound ofptop keyboards clicked as Yu Ji-ha raised his voice.
¡°I¡¯m going to introduce you to the semiconductor that will make it happen. It¡¯s a diamond semiconductor made by Quantum Solution.¡±
¡°¡¡±
The press room was filled with silence for a moment.
The reporters stared nkly at the president without even thinking of raising their hands.
There was also a reporter who asked when Quantum Solution was established in the corner.
¡°What? A little over three months? But how can they produce semiconductors?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. No one has been inside that factory.¡±
¡°No, it doesn¡¯t make sense logically.¡±
¡°Senior, you talk like everything else is logical.¡±
¡°Oh.¡±
Koreans were living in an era where androids walked around the streets and traveled to the moon.
It was a change that happened in just four years, not decades.
So they tended to shrug off anything that happened.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s voice exining the basic theory of diamond semiconductors filled the press room, but few people were interested.
When it came to semiconductors, performance and low power consumption were important as well as mass production.
There were many cases where they were disappointed when they tried out processors that had the best performance in theory.
But¡ this time seemed different.
Arge monitor installed in the press room showed the process of the smart factory in video.
People were shocked by the diamonds growing slowly in the pressure vessel.
Most of the reporters did not know that diamonds were made like that.
¡°Wow, there¡¯s such equipment in the factory?¡±
¡°It¡¯s unbelievable. They grow diamonds that big in less than a day?¡±
The artificial diamonds that were made like that were immediately processed into wafers and went through various processes to finally enter packaging.
Thest one to pick up the chip was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s hand.
As he lifted up the actual chip, the reporters¡¯ eyes focused on him.
¡°This chip¡¯s performance is easily over 11 times that of the existing highest-end personal processor. It doesn¡¯t matter whichpany¡¯s product you bring. The power consumption is low enough to use it on mobile devices and you don¡¯t need any cooling solution. You can use it without a fan.¡±
¡°This chip will also be released at a very reasonable price. Of course, not only chips but also other parts and programs need to follow. We will manage all of that at Quantum Solution.¡±
¡°I would have announced it on Ion Thruster. All tforms will be equipped with Ion Thruster. System semiconductors are no exception. From now on, if you want high performance and low power consumption, you have to use diamond semiconductors.¡±
Who doesn¡¯t need a processor?
These days, anything that had electricity also had a processor installed.
They even used high-performance processors in refrigerators as a sales point.
The expression ¡°this is a big deal¡± appeared on the faces of the reporters.
They all knew very well what kind of sanctions America had imposed on Yu Ji-ha.
¡°So make your choice. Whether you join my ecosystem or continue with America¡¯s sanctions.¡±
A nuclear bomb dropped on the world¡¯s semiconductor market.
Chapter 121: The Guillotine Match
Chapter 121: The Guillotine Match
The world¡¯s first diamond-based semiconductor.
It used the already obsolete 130nm process, but it supported variable clock and variable core functions.
Its boost clock exceeded 8GHz, and its power consumption was only about 20W.
This semiconductor did not have the AMD64 license, so itcked various instruction sets.
However, it overcame that drawback with its raw clock speed.
It was several times faster than the AMD64 architecture that calcted through exclusive instruction sets.
Especially in operations such as integers or floating-point numbers, it crushed the existing highest-performance processors.
What was more shocking was that there was not even a tform that properly supported this processor.
The one that appeared at the demonstration was a roughly modified tform of an existing motherboard, and it was doubtful whether it worked properly.
But even in that state, it boasted overwhelming performance over the existing processors in basic benchmark programs.
¡This was Quantum Solution¡¯s im.
No one knew if the benchmark was real, and the results could be manipted.
Whether that semiconductor was really something that would turn the world upside down would only be known after it was released.
Even if the performance was acknowledged by a hundred times, it would be meaningless if the support programs and tforms did not back it up.
Theputing field of the 21st century was so vast that one processor could not solve everything.
¡ªWhat¡¯s the point of having 11 times the performance? There¡¯s not a single program that runs on it.
Of course, if they rewrote the code to match the processor, it would work, but it was doubtful whichpany wouldply with their exclusive attitude.
And if they ran it with emtion, the advantage of performance would drop significantly.
Anyway, the reporters were impressed by the presentation, but how the US and thepanies would react was unknown.
Would the countlesspanies, the dinosaurs that dominated the world semiconductor market, admit defeat?
Never.
The 21st century could be called the era of semiconductors without exaggeration, and their status was more than traditional oilpanies.
You could tell their position by looking at whichpanies President Baldwin met first after taking office.
Compared to those giants, Quantum Solution was definitely small in size.
However, looking down on Yu Ji-ha based on his current size was the stupidest thing in the world.
He had the ability to implement his delusions into reality.
Whether it was his ability or thanks to artificial intelligence was debatable, but it would be revealed clearly with this semiconductor.
The reporters typed sentences like this:
¡ªAssuming that the information is urate, the performance is really amazing. But there are many inventions in the world that have excellent performance but fail to shine. I hope this is not one of them.
¡ªIt¡¯s unlikely that they made amercial semiconductor in just a few months, and I think the theory was already established when Lucia appeared.
¡ªThey gave a choice to the world¡¯s semiconductorpanies. Themselves or America. It seems that choosing both is not eptable.
¡ªThe US and the giants will not sit still. They may respond and put Quantum Solution in crisis.
¡ªThere is a slight possibility that Yu Ji-ha could really change the entire semiconductor market. In that case, America will lose one of its pirs of hegemony.
It remained to be seen if that would happen.
***
The appearance of the diamond semiconductor had an impact beyond performance, as if it had thrown a nuclear bomb at various fields.
Especially in academia, some argued that it was another semiconductor because of cost issues and that mass production was impossible with artificial diamonds.
¡ªHow long do you have to grow it in a pressure vessel to use it as a wafer? It¡¯s impossible to make semiconductors with artificial diamonds at this point.
¡ªCost is also a problem, but quantity is even more so. The system semiconductor market in 2031 has a size of about 45 billion dors for high-performance processors. This can¡¯t be filled with artificial diamonds.
-As always, Yu Ji-ha did not publish any papers rted to academia. How can we trust anything from him?
The reason why academia came out so negatively was because Yu Ji-ha did not try to share any information at all.
Even if they tried to interpret it as positively as possible, they needed some data.
Some frustrated schrs even obtained Megacity citizenship and entered.
The problem was that there were quite a few schrs who settled down there because it was toofortable.
¡ªWe don¡¯t have to worry about money. We can just use expensive raw materials and do research. This is the paradise we dreamed of.
-But it seems that there is no core data on ck metal here either. I doubt that even Yu Ji-ha knows anything about the transform phenomenon.
Anyway, academia viewed it negatively, and the US semiconductorpanies had mixed feelings.
-Yu Ji-ha never lies. The product must be real.
-But there is probably a lot of exaggeration in the performance. 11 times is only for some benchmark programs, and the actual performance is only a few tens of percent improvement.
-Mass production is the problem, and I doubt they canpete with optimized silicon semiconductors. Sand and diamonds, isn¡¯t it obvious which one is cheaper?
-He said he would create a new ecosystem, but considering the size of the global semiconductor market¡ Of course, we don¡¯t doubt his ability, but this time it will be difficult.
-The embargo was not our decision. We can sell it right away if we convince the US.
Thepanies that directly imposed the embargo were negative, and those that did not showed trust in Yu Ji-ha.
And the most important US surprisingly did not react to this announcement.
No, it would be more urate to say that they couldn¡¯t.
President Baldwin was busy with personnel after taking office.
He had to change the federal government right away, so he couldn¡¯t afford to pay attention to a dubious semiconductor.
On the inte, which was very interested inputers, especially high-performance processors, opinions werepletely divided.
The mainstream opinion was that it existed, but 11 times the performance was only achieved when they ran optimized benchmark programs.
And theck of supporting programs, let alone a decent tform, was also a weakness.
-In short, there is nothing but one processor. How long will it take Quantum Solution to create an ecosystem by themselves?
-I wish they had opened the specifications and recognizedpatible models like IBM¡ But it would be hard to expect that from Yu Ji-ha.
-But you know what, if all this is true, and we are idiots, I really hope so. This damn semiconductor industry needs innovation.
They really did.
The modern semiconductor process was widely evaluated as having reached the limit of miniaturization and integration.
They introduced AI and achieved ultra-fine 1nm process, but this was a marketing term and not real, ording to most opinions.
It was because the ims of thepanies that imed that they had improved their performance by several times because they had achieved 1nm process were epted as they were.
¡ªThe actual process is probably around 4nm? The process is so mature that the performance is good, but it doesn¡¯t mean that the line width has actually decreased.
¡ªThat too has reached its limit since two years ago. Thepanies are trying hard to increase the number of cores and add various functions, but the direct performance has not changed from two years ago.
¡ªIt will be difficult to improve performance as long as we use silicon. We need some radical change of idea.
Many research institutes experimented with various materials, but none of them actually reached mass production.
Everyone agreed that a new material was needed since it had been decades since humans made silicon semiconductors from sand.
¡ªBut not diamonds. That¡¯s a gemstone.
On the other hand, institutions or schrs who were seriously researching quantumputers were cautious about this situation.
¡ªArtificial diamonds made in high-pressure and high-temperature environments can easily reproduce quantum entanglement phenomena. If they knew this and developed it¡
¡ªSomething doesn¡¯t make sense. It feels like he¡¯s not developing technology but pulling out something that¡¯s already done.
¡ªStill, if he really developed a diamond semiconductor, this is something to celebrate. I hope he works hard for humanity.
However, the diamond semiconductor was only a step leading to superconducting quantumputers.
The calction unit that formed the core of Arma was made of topological instors and room-temperature superconductors that were first discovered on Jupiter, and only they could stably maintain qubits.
Anyway, the diamond semiconductor announced by Yu Ji-ha caused a huge issue in many ways.
The moment its existence was confirmed, either the US or Yu Ji-ha would suffer a great blow.
-If it¡¯s true, the existing semiconductor ecosystem will be shattered. And if it¡¯s false, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s credibility will be fatally damaged.
¡ªEither way, it seems like an economic recession will happen¡
¡ªHe went too far. He should havemunicated with academia and proceeded cautiously in the first ce.
¡ªThe US wouldn¡¯t have pressured him if he did. If I had such technology, I would have done the same.
January passed by with all this noise and February came along.
Meanwhile, Si Electronics and Hansung Electronics, which had been quiet for a long time, almost simultaneously unveiled one processor lineup each.
But this was more amazing than expected.
***
Normally, in the IT industry, new products are announced through separate events and are very noisy.
There are so many different products that they have to gather issues to avoid being buried.
But Si Electronics and Hansung Electronics were different.
They updated their products on their websites and did not do any promotion.
If they were scheduled to be released in the second quarter, they should be making a lot of noise by now.
Especially if it was the diamond semiconductor that attracted the attention of the world.
But Yu Ji-ha ordered them not to do any promotion.
The word of mouth would spread even if they stayed still.
Of course, this industry was not enough with just word of mouth, but that was when the product was normal.
The diamond semiconductor had the power to overturn the entire semiconductor industry, and therefore did not need to spend money on promotion.
Its performance would shock the world, and the world would do the promotion for them.
Hansung Group would have wanted to raise a big issue and focus attention, but they had no choice because the other party was a super boss.
So two products were quietly released on their websites, and Koreanizens who were watching Si Group with eagle eyes rushed in.
¡ªDiamond semiconductors are out!
¡ªWhat¡¯s the codename? Esil? Why does it sound like a person¡¯s name?
¡ªIs it true that Hansung Electronics¡¯ website says it¡¯s a mobile AP? When did they develop a mobile version?
¡ªThey probably outsourced production to Quantum Solution.
¡ªNo, what I mean is AP means it has a GPU. Where did they get that?
¡ªPC processors also have integrated graphics. Did they make this themselves?
Netizens were furious at the performance indicated on the sheet.
¡ªIs 8GHz boost clock real? Don¡¯t you need nitrogen cooling for this?
¡ªFuck, my Intel CPU eats 200W by itself, but this is 1/10 of that.
¡ªWhat is variable core? Does the number of cores change depending on the task?
¡ªWasn¡¯t it concluded that mass production was impossible? Artificial diamonds are expensive too.
¡ªYu Ji-ha must have done something. Or Lucia did.
¡ªGPU is¡ better not to expect too much?
¡ªIt would be a relief if it¡¯s not a graphics elerator.
They all admitted the CPU itself, but they didn¡¯t have high expectations for the GPU.
The roles were different in the first ce.
GPU was specialized in floating-point operations, and the process and know-how umted over decades were not easy to catch up with.
Of course, there were some hopeful spections that he would soon get his hands on the GPU, since he had created a diamond semiconductor in a few months.
¡ªAt least not now. This GPU is just for disying the screen.
¡ªBut the internal structure of the AP shows that the GPU upies arge area, right? It¡¯s not even inferior to the M3 chip.
¡ªWhat the hell is this thing?
There was not much information besides the model name Esil, so everything was a guess.
Even the mobile AP did not have a name yet.
In the meantime, Android Lucia announced an inte broadcast.
The existing Lucia was contractually prohibited from all kinds ofmercial activities.
It meant that he could not make money with Lucia.
The only exception was Yu Ji-ha, who was the creator, which was somewhat natural.
Anyway, there was a rumor that the identity of the codename Esil would be revealed in this broadcast, which caused a stir.
¡ªLucia is going to run benchmarks and y games?
¡ªThe president is alsoing out. Can I donate?
¡ªThe drone will catch you.
Yu Ji-ha had also used inte broadcasting at the ck metal battery demonstration, but this time he said he would appear in person.
Everyone was looking forward to seeing Yu Ji-ha in person, as they had only seen him on official asions.
In fact, it was Arma¡¯s suggestion that he appeared on the inte broadcast.
¡°ording to the data analysis, Master¡¯s image is so full of war, execution, and dictatorship that it needs to be diluted.¡±
¡°Well, do I need that when I have power? I doubt that image renewal will be possible with one broadcast.¡±
¡°Just showing Master¡¯s daily life will appeal to young people.¡±
¡°Prepare it briefly.¡±
It wouldn¡¯t hurt if he could renew his image with a short shooting.
Equipment was installed in Yu Ji-ha¡¯s room designated as the broadcasting ce, and Lucia No.1 started preparing.
Since the preparation process was also broadcasted through a separate camera, an enormous number of people flocked in.
The Si Group¡¯s server easily handled tens of millions of traffic that suddenly poured in.
¡ªLucia is really pretty¡ No wonder they said not to make money with her on BD.
¡ªI wonder if she will do a neck-breaking performance on the broadcast. The viewers will love it to death.
¡ªI also ordered Lucia, but the supply is so backed up that I have to wait for three years. Sigh¡
¡ªBut who is that staff? He¡¯s been acting friendly with Lucia since earlier?
¡ªHuh? Is that Ji-ha hyung?
The viewers btedly realized that the man who looked like a staff member was actually Yu Ji-ha.
As he turned his head, the chat that tens of thousands of people poured out stopped just before it reached.
¡ªEveryone take your hands off the keyboard~~~!
¡ªLoyalty loyalty!
Even foreigners knew Yu Ji-ha¡¯s infamy well enough that there were even hail Hitler chats.
Of course, Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t care about it and greeted the viewers.
¡°Hello, I¡¯m Yu Ji-ha, who is in charge of the presidency of South Korea. I came out today to introduce you to the diamond semiconductor, so please take it lightly.¡±
People admired him as they saw him in a casual T-shirt outfit.
¡ªI didn¡¯t know because I only saw him in suits all the time, but he has a great body.
¡ªHe looks like an idol when he gets a proper camera massage.
The news of his appearance spread and the number of viewers continued to increase, surpassing one million.
As the demonstration began in earnest, people eximed.
¡ªThat¡¯s a game that can¡¯t even defend 60 frames at 8K resolution with recent graphics cards.
¡ªWow¡ Does that mean there¡¯s a GPU built into the chipset? Like a mobile AP?
As soon as the game ran smoothly, people were ecstatic to see the numbers disyed on the monitor.
¡ªIs that a monitor that supports up to 240Hz at 8K? It¡¯s 230 frames. Crazy crazy.
¡ªIs that possible with other systems?
¡ªImpossible. It¡¯s been concluded long ago that even if you spend 10 million won on an estimate, you can¡¯t defend 60 frames.
¡ªIs 55W total power consumption real¡?
¡ªWill this destroy the graphics card industry?
Lucia received every reaction from the viewers while ying various games.
People finally realized that the operating system running the benchmark program was not Windows.
¡ªWas that an emtion?
¡ªThat¡¯s impossible. Do you know how difficult it is to ess the Windows kernel?
¡ªThen the problem ofck of support programs is solved.
The biggest problem of the diamond semiconductor was suddenly solved.
If he could run Windows on the basic operating system, there was no need to develop programs and attract softwarepanies.
The important thing was performance, and he had no trouble running a game with a huge specification at 230 frames.
The temperature was stable and the total power consumption of the system was lower than the existing CPU.
¡ªThis is real.
As the chat room went wild, high donations started toe up.
They were mostly requests for contact in English, but the email addresses made peopleugh.
¡ªApple, Intel, Orix¡ Every semiconductorpany in the world was watching.
¡ªIt¡¯s shocking that Windows can be emted with almost no performance loss.
¡ªBut isn¡¯t emtion illegal?
¡ªEmtion itself is not illegal. There has to be evidence that he essed the kernel illegally, but Microsoft would be in a dilemma.
¡ªWhat happens now? Is the semiconductor industry doomed?
¡ªIf that can be mass-produced, at least CPU and GPU are confirmed to be industrial waste.
¡ªYu Ji-ha won the duel.
All that was left was for the heads of those who went up to the guillotine to be cut off.
A normal person might have stopped here, but Yu Ji-ha was a real doer.
The demonstration was over and he wiped off his smile as he looked at the camera.
¡°I gave you time, but not a single phone call came. So I¡¯ll do as I please. All semiconductors from Quantum Solution will not enter American soil. The deadline is until thepanies that participated in the sanctions go bankrupt. That¡¯s all.¡±
Six semiconductorpanies with a market capitalization of over 1 trillion dors were on the verge of bankruptcy.
Chapter 122: Let’s Go All the Way
Chapter 122: Let¡¯s Go All the Way
Looking back at Yu Ji-ha¡¯s actions so far, one could tell that he was not normal at all.
He banned China from the ck metal ecosystem until they changed its name, and he had shed with Japan and eventually severed ties with them.
He had invaded Afghanistan, the source of the terror, and sent Iran and Pakistan back to the Middle Ages.
It was no wonder that France and others called him the worst mass murderer.
He was cold-blooded, cruel, and decisive, making him a madman like no other.
And he dered this.
Until sixpanies with a market capitalization of one trillion dors go bankrupt, the United States will not be able to import diamond semiconductors.
This was enough to shake the huge market called NASDAQ.
But the United States was arge andplex country.
The semiconductor stock prices that had been falling repeatedly stabilized for a while as people regained theirposure.
The investors wondered.
¡ªExcluding thergest market in the world? Where are they going to sell their products?
¡ªIf you exclude the US, Europe, China, and Japan, there are not many countries with a decent consumer market. They will have to withdraw soon unless they have no intention of making money.
¡ªIf they think that the federal government will bow down to their threats, they are mistaken.
The United States was a country with a national power that was different from China and others.
Their economy would not be affected by shaking a few semiconductors, and it would only provoke the resentment of Americans.
However, the experts who realized the essence of diamond semiconductors dered that it would be better to surrender quickly.
¡ªIt¡¯s not an exaggeration to say that they will wipe out the entire existing semiconductor market. If that goes into mass production, Intel and AMD will definitely go bankrupt.
¡ªApple is leading the market with its M3 chip, but it¡¯s impossible topete with that AP.
¡ªMost importantly, that semiconductor is the fastest shortcut to quantum systems. We need to secure it as soon as possible.
¡ªThe Senate should take action instead of the president. If they apologize and promise to prevent recurrence by visiting Korea, they will be able to resolve the situation.
The US Democratic Party wanted President Baldwin to persuade Yu Ji-ha instead of nominating a senator.
¡°My predecessor said he had a lot to talk to you about, and it was true. Anyway, I regret this incident. I wish we could solve it through dialogue, but I guess it¡¯s difficult.¡±
If it was McKinley, he would have snapped at what he wanted, but he was gentle as expected.
But this person was also the president of the United States.
He would not hesitate to use any means and methods for the sake of his country¡¯s interests.
¡°The time for dialogue has passed.¡±
¡°I¡¯d like to ask what you need to reverse that.¡±
¡°One trillion dors.¡±
¡°¡Excuse me?¡±
¡°The sum of the market capitalization of the sixpanies that are scheduled to go bankrupt is one trillion dors. Give me that money and I¡¯ll withdraw my statement.¡±
President Baldwin frowned.
He thought it was okay when former White House aides called him Crazyman, but this was not something tough off.
He must know how much money one trillion dors is, and it must be an expression of his will that he will never withdraw his statement.
But it meant that there was one more option, which could also mean two options.
¡°I wish we had prepared a ce for negotiation a little earlier. It¡¯s a pity. But I still think it¡¯s not toote.¡±
¡°Sixpanies or one trillion dors, choose one.¡±
¡°We will lift the embargopletely and issue an apology statement in the name of the White House. We will also significantly lower tariffs on Korean products for the next four years. Isn¡¯t this enough?¡±
It would have been tempting under normal circumstances.
He had to face President Baldwin for at least four more years, so it wouldn¡¯t be bad to ept it at this point.
He probably wouldn¡¯t be in office for long anyway¡
Yu Ji-ha said casually.
¡°Then let¡¯s reduce one trillion dors to five hundred billion dors and make up for it with tariffs. And there must be some senators who led this incident. I want them all to resign.¡±
¡°¡That¡¯s not something I can decide.¡±
¡°Say you want the dragon. Oh, and this offer is only valid until the end of this month. I¡¯ll be waiting for your good news.¡±
The call ended and President Baldwin rubbed his forehead with his finger.
Five hundred billion dors in tariff exemptions and the resignation of senators¡
It was an absurd demand.
The senators who led the sanctions were key figures in the Democratic Party.
If he epted this proposal, they wouldugh at him and propose even stronger sanctions.
¡®No, I can¡¯t do that.¡¯
It was very dangerous to keep pushing Yu into a corner.
He blocked the export of a few semiconductor items and quantum diamonds came out.
What woulde out next?
Baldwin, who was walking on thin ice at the beginning of his term, wanted to avoid any more friction.
He had a mountain of issues to deal with right away.
He contacted the party through his secretary¡¯s office.
Four people, including Senator James, visited the Oval Office.
They frowned when they heard the exact terms.
¡°That guy talks like five hundred billion dors is some kind of Halloween candy. And our resignation? I hope you don¡¯t take this seriously.¡±
¡°President, there is no need to ept such a condition. We should put more pressure on him¡¡±
¡°He blocked a few semiconductors and quantum diamonds came out. What do you think wille out next? Can you take responsibility for that?¡±
His voice rose and the senators looked around.
They were not blind or deaf.
The problem was that the experts who advised the Congress saidpletely different things.
Don¡¯t people say that humans only hear what they want to hear?
The senators adopted a report that said quantum diamonds could be made with artificial diamonds, but they could notpletely rece the current semiconductors.
There were many reports that contradicted this im, but they did not take them seriously.
Senator James smiled leisurely and said.
¡°It seems that you like the president of East Asia more than the federal members. You¡¯re asking us to bow down from the beginning of your term.¡±
¡°We need to be tough at this point. Otherwise, the damage will be greater. Fine. Let¡¯s hear what he has to say.¡±
¡°ording to a report adopted by Congress a while ago, it is possible to make semiconductors with artificial diamonds, but they cannot rece the current semiconductors.¡±
Another senator spoke up as if to follow his words.
¡°Do you know how many wafers Intel and AMD need? It¡¯s hard to cover even 5% of them with the number of autoves Quantum Solutions has secured.¡±
¡°In other words, there is bluffing in his words. When I heard from quantumputer experts, they said that the product itself seemed possible, but mass production was difficult.¡±
¡°However, since the performance is certain, it would be better to try negotiations in the long term.¡±
President Baldwin looked at them with a troubled expression.
He was sure that smart experts had written reports with different contents, but they didn¡¯t seem to have read them.
Well, it¡¯s human nature not to want to hear ufortable things.
But federal members should be able to listen to such things.
He opened his heavy lips after a long silence.
¡°¡So, you¡¯re saying we should go harder?¡±
¡°That¡¯s a second option and we need to see how things go.¡±
¡°The semiconductor stocks are falling, but if it¡¯s confirmed that mass production is difficult by the end of the year, they will recover quickly.¡±
¡°What if, just if¡ things don¡¯t go as you expect? What if quantum diamonds are real and they have mass production ready?¡±
¡°If President Yu wants to keep his word, then we may have to resort to some coercive means.¡±
¡°Are you suggesting using military force? Korea was our ally just a few years ago.¡±
¡°Not anymore. He denied it first.¡±
¡°We don¡¯t need a war. If we mobilize the 7th Fleet, Korea will naturally bow down. They are still no match for us.¡±
¡°¡¡±
An ufortable silence filled the Oval Office.
President Baldwin realized that these Politicians would never take responsibility.
Nor did they realize how bad the situation was getting.
***
The world was shocked when Yu Ji-ha¡¯s conditions were revealed.
Even countries that had little to do with this incident were busy criticizing him.
¡ªHe should have stopped at lifting the sanctions and getting an apology. How can he push them until sixpanies go bankrupt? Isn¡¯t that too much?
¡ªThe sixpanies are at the center of the global semiconductor industry. Their impact is tens of times more than one trillion dors.
¡ªIf President Yu does not ease his conditions, a serious economic depression maye. We urge him to reconsider.
The semiconductor industry, including the sixpanies, announced that they would respond flexibly and monitor the situation.
In fact, they wanted to lift the sanctions immediately and meet with President Yu.
But since the US Congress was leading the situation, they could not act rashly.
All they could do was send their intentions to the executives by email, and Yu ignored them.
¡°Don¡¯t change the n until I get an answer that they ept everything.¡±
¡°Yes, we will start mass production in June.¡±
Contrary to the predictions of semiconductor experts that mass production was impossible due to the quantity and price of artificial diamonds, Hansung Group had already revived its foundation and prepared for mass production.
Using an old process of 130nm, otherpanies also offered letters of intent, including Russianpanies.
It was the price Yu Ji-ha had to pay for using Russia as an excuse.
President Putin called andughed.
¡°I feel like you use us as a shield whenever something happens, don¡¯t you?¡±
¡°I regret that.¡±
¡°Ha ha, I¡¯m kidding. You can use us as a shield. Aren¡¯t we allies?¡±
As long as Yu Ji-ha needed him.
Putin was old and unhealthy, and he was looking for a sessor.
Whoever came, he would be betrayed by Yu Ji-ha.
Anyway, this time¡¯s Eshil processor was also nned to be produced by Angstrem, a Russian semiconductorpany.
They were not allocated arge amount of wafers, but they nned to introduce them to their weapon systems by adding a separate process.
Russian semiconductor experts were worried about the ultra-low temperature error, but there was none.
It was originally designed for military and space use.
That¡¯s how Korea and Russia¡¯s exchanges deepened, and experts from Germany and India also visited and inspected the process.
The academic and semiconductor circles began to say that this could not go on.
¡ªHow long will they only confront each other? It¡¯s time to have a serious dialogue. I hope the politicians will open up a dialogue.
¡ªIt¡¯s not easy. The gap in emotions is too deep. In France¡¯s case, even if the regime changes, they will maintain their stance until the end. Because the French hate Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªHumanity has reached a singrity. It¡¯s undeniable. The sad thing is that not everyone can enjoy its benefits¡
On the other hand, there were also arguments that the world should stop Yu Ji-ha¡¯s aggressive tendencies.
¡ªThere are only a few countries that have exchanges with Korea, such as Russia, Germany, and India. It has be ufortable with Europe, China, Japan, and the Middle East, and now with the United States. They can¡¯t afford this risk for long.
¡ªSemiconductors can be done with artificial intelligence, but they can¡¯t solve the food problem. Korea is a country that has difficulty producing even rice, and imports arge amount of food every year. But as it bes difficult, prices are soaring.
¡ªA typical example is European pork. Germany¡¯s exports are not enough to meet Korea¡¯s demand. If even the United States reduces its exports, Korea¡¯s food shortage will worsen.
The reason why each country endured this was because it was still livable.
Nuclear fusion nts were certainly amazing technology, but it wasn¡¯t like existing nuclear power nts couldn¡¯t produce electricity, right?
It was the same for other fields, and they could endure it with a little inconvenience.
However, most of them predicted that there wasn¡¯t much time left for that.
¡ªThey blocked semiconductors and quantum diamonds came out in a few months. How do we know what else is hidden?
¡ªMaybe in 10 years, Korea would have the capability to fight in space. They had to do something before it was toote.
Although weapons were not allowed to beunched into Earth¡¯s orbit, the United Human Federation was not affiliated with the UN and faced no sanctions.
So what could they do?
Countries like France, Britain, China, and Japan argued that they had to resort to military options since the political solution was not working.
But everyone knew that without the US¡¯s serious involvement, other countries would not be much help.
And the US was in a mess, with conflicts between the president and the congress since the beginning of the term.
There was no leadership.
In such a situation, Quantum Solutions boldly announced the release date of the Eshil processor on their homepage.
Whether the politicians fought or not, IT enthusiasts around the world were waiting for the release date with money in their hands.
¡ªThey said they would release the motherboard as well, so all you have to do is buy it and plug it in.
¡ªThe graphics card was so expensive, but now you only need one Eshil. It¡¯s awesome.
¡ªDid you see the PC that Si Electronics released? It¡¯s pretty good, right? The size is small and the design is nice.
¡ªI¡¯m more excited about the Orion smartphone. They said it canst for more than two weeks with one charge.
¡ªIt¡¯s no joke when it¡¯sbined with the ck Metal battery.
Normally, when such a product was released, resellers would try to make a profit.
But this time, not a single one could be found, because their CP would be drastically reduced if they did such a thing.
The supply was surprisingly plentiful and the price quickly stabilized at around 500,000 won.
That was only in Korea, though.
The release date for other countries had not been set yet, and some impatient foreigners even went on expeditions to buy the processor.
Of course, they could not buy it with the passport of a country that dered war on Yu Ji-ha, and there was a limit of one per person.
Countless benchmarks were conducted and the Eshil processor finally received recognition for its performance.
The experts who had imed that mass production was impossible all fell silent.
¡ªThey shouted that the performance was impossible, but it came out. They said mass production was difficult, but more than 100,000 units were released in Korea on the same day. What will they say is impossible next time?
¡ªBecause the process is old-fashioned, they can quickly mass-produce it by recycling the equipment. There is a rumor that they will ship more than a million units by the end of the year.
¡ªThe scary thing is that this is a 130nm process. It¡¯s truly terrifying how high the performance will soar when it¡¯sbined with thetest process.
¡ªWhat will the semiconductorpanies do now?
They were also shocked and terrified by the performance of the Eshil processor.
They tried to contact Yu Ji-ha under the water without regard for the friction, but he did not ept them.
He was looking at Mars with Arma.
***
Mars was the ce where the most relics of the Prophet fell and also the source of mithril.
There was no way that metals like mithril existed in the sr system, and they must have been affected by the relics like ck metal.
Yu Ji-ha decided to build a base and analyze it before the first relic arrived on Mars.
¡°We need to monitor it with a gravity radar, so send the Settler. And also mobilize a mining ship to build the base.¡±
¡°Understood. But Master, there are several US satellites in orbit around Mars.¡±
¡°Do they monitor Mariner Valley?¡±
¡°The resolution is low, but I don¡¯t think there will be any problem in detecting the existence of the base.¡±
¡°We can¡¯t run the optical camouge 24 hours a day¡ It won¡¯t work. Shoot them down.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
Arma reported as he operated the hologram panel.
¡°We n tounch a total of 200 satellites by the end of this year. They are disguised as weather, research, and GPS satellites.¡±
The current radiomunication has clear limitations.
It bes useless as soon as gue¡¯s psychokinesis field expands, so it can¡¯t be used at all.
Therefore, quantummunication is needed, which is based on diamond semiconductors.
Until that dayes, they had toymunication satellites all over the sr system to find out when and where gue would appear.
It was difficult toplete the surveincework by this year, so for the time being, Settler had to stay away from Earth.
In July, the relic of the Prophet arrived.
But it didn¡¯t arrive at Mariner Valley on Mars as originally predicted, but on Earth.
Unfortunately, Settler was on Mars at that time, and even Arma couldn¡¯t predict this situation.
At best, he could only ry that dozens of ether cores were entering the atmosphere.
¡°Aether cores are falling everywhere. There are not one but 33 in total. I¡¯ll mark theirnding points.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face was stiff as he looked at the screen.
¡°Why are there 33 instead of one? The time is right.¡±
¡°The Prophet is definitely watching us. Maybe there has been some change in gue in this timeline.¡±
¡°It must be bad for us.¡±
It meant that more psychers were needed.
With this, their original n to extract psychers from Russia was gone.
Now that ether cores had fallen all over Earth, psychers began to appear like mushrooms after rain.
Research on ck metal and ether in various countries also became active, and not only proper ck metal batteries but also ion thrusters and maybe even hafnium2 would be developed quickly.
Arma asked.
¡°Should we collect those that fell onnd at the risk of friction?¡±
About half of them fell onnd and the governments of each country started investigating them.
It was already leaked to the media and there was a lot of noise about alien relics appearing.
Yu Ji-ha shook his head.
¡°Just leave them alone. They won¡¯t interfere with our n anyway.¡±
As long as Settler existed, United Human Federation was no match for them.
It just meant that their strength increased and their threat toward them became more tant.
It was natural to want to use their power if they had it.
As long as they didn¡¯t fight Yu Ji-ha, they were fine, but especially in ces where the rtionship was worst, they were more so.
He turned and ordered.
¡°Run the psycher scanner and check the location. If you find any alpha-level or higher, report to me.¡±
Yu Ji-ha had been mainly using persuasion to secure psychers.
But now that the situation had changed like this, he could not stick to soft methods.
Arma asked for confirmation.
¡°Can I use some harsh methods?¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
Chapter 123: When It Rains, It Pours
Chapter 123: When It Rains, It Pours
On July 5th, 2031, a massive meteor shower was observed in the skies of various ces around the world.
The first ones to detect this meteor shower were the United States and Russia, but they did not think much of it.
It was amon urrence for meteors to explode in the upper atmosphere and drop fragments on the ground.
However, things started to get weird when NASA imed that there were no explosions at all.
Also, a farmer in Michigan reported finding an unusual meteorite to the police.
The police officers who arrived at the scene were baffled by what they saw.
The sphere that was lying in the middle of the crater did not look like a meteorite at all, but rather like a metal object.
¡°Is this really a meteorite? The surface is so smooth, it looks like someone made it¡¡±
¡°Let¡¯s report this to the higher-ups first. And deal with those cameras over there.¡±
The media smelled something fishy and the radio was noisy.
The onlookers crowded around and took out their smartphones.
The government confirmed that the meteorite was a metal sphere and tried to control the press, but it was toote.
The news had already spread.
One of them even fell in the middle of New York, causing some minor injuries.
People flocked to the sphere and took pictures with their smartphones and uploaded them to MyTube.
¡ªHave you ever seen a meteorite so smooth? That¡¯s an alien artifact.
¡ªRun for your lives! It¡¯s the alien invasion!
¡ªToday is the day of the Earth¡¯s doom.
As this happened all over the world, it was impossible to hide it.
The media sent broadcast vehicles and aired live coverage.
The government had to set up barricades to stop the people from getting closer.
In the midst of this, the French government decided to reveal the sphere to the public.
They could not withstand the pressure from the restless Parisians.
¡ªThis is not a meteorite, no matter how you look at it. And it¡¯s not made on Earth either.
¡ªToday we have confirmed that there are other beings in this universe besides us. What is this thing for? And why did ite here?
Of course, no one could answer that question.
Some people waited for Yu Ji-ha to make an announcement, but even they seemed shocked by this event and kept silent.
¡ªMaybe they have something to do with that sphere.
¡ªLet¡¯s keep an eye on them. Don¡¯t let them steal it.
Yu Ji-ha did not pay much attention to the Aether core at first.
It did not matter that it arrived on Earth instead of Mars or that there were more of them.
They had plenty of Aether cores on Settler as well.
But they felt a much stronger Aether from the core than expected and ordered to retrieve one of them.
Coincidentally, one of them fell near Dama Ind and the nearby base went into emergency mode.
Also, that day was when Japan held an international fleet review near Sasebo.
Several countries¡¯ warships participated in this event tomemorate the establishment of the Japanese Navy.
Of course, Korea and United Human Federation did not participate at all, and neither did Russia.
The only thing that saved Japan¡¯s face was that a Zumwalt-ss ship from the Pacific Fleet participated.
It was a rare asion for a fleet review to be held, so nearly 60 warships lined up in front of Sasebo, creating a magnificent scene.
But they had to stop the fleet review and evacuate to Sasebo Harbor.
The sky lit up brightly and then a meteorite fell nearby.
A weak tidal wave urred, but thanks to Sasebo Harbor¡¯s unique terrain, there was no major damage.
At most, a French warship that was evacuatingte to the port wobbled for a moment due to the wave.
But thanks to that warship, they learned an important fact.
That dark ships were approaching them.
On Earth¡¯s seas, dark ships meant United Human Federation¡¯s ships.
Matsuda Prime Minister and Japan¡¯s naval leaders who evacuated to Sasebo Harbor were embarrassed.
¡°Should we respond? It¡¯s not our territorial waters, but it¡¯s our EEZ so we have the right to tell them to leave.¡±
¡°Wait a minute. Let¡¯s find out why they came here first.¡±
Matsuda Prime Minister¡¯s remark was cautious.
He had a different sense of responsibility than when he was just a party leader.
He could have been more assertive since dozens of countries¡¯ warships were gathered here, but he shrank back because Earth Fleet¡¯s power in the Indian Ocean was too shocking.
A ship that was unscathed by a nuclear explosion? How could anyone believe that?
Of course, the hull was intact, but some of the equipment had melted down, rendering it unable to sail. But it was clear that it was a threat that needed to be guarded.
To put it bluntly, the current Japanese navy was powerless to stop their actions.
As they watched nervously, two brave warships stepped forward.
They were destroyers from Britain and France.
They broke away from the Sasebo naval base without any control and sent a shocking message.
¡ªA ship belonging to the Earth Fleet is diving. It seems to be trying to salvage something from the seabed.
¡ªThat¡¯s an alien artifact that fell in various ces. This is Japan¡¯s sea. Are we just going to watch?
Normally, when a foreign warship appeared in the EEZ, they would respond immediately. But Prime Minister Matsuda hesitated.
It would be troublesome if he provoked a conflict with the Earth Fleet here.
If a battle broke out, he would be responsible for everything, and he didn¡¯t think any other country would help him.
At least France and Britain showed their enthusiasm, but they didn¡¯t seem to be much help with only two warships.
Prime Minister Matsuda bit his lip slightly as he watched the video of the Earth Fleet salvaging something while anchored.
¡°I will never forget this humiliation¡¡±
The navy¡¯s top brass was also furious.
The EEZ was not territorial waters, but it could be said that it was a sea managed by Japan.
But those warships of the United Earth Federation came in without any notice and worked leisurely.
It would have been different if it was only the Japanese navy, but they had to be angry when everyone else was watching.
The bridge of the gship was quiet, but there were manyints in the officers¡¯ mess and elsewhere.
¡°What the hell is Matsuda doing? Did hee here to watch?¡±
¡°He came to see the fleet review, I guess. But those bastards are good. They can even salvage with their warships.¡±
¡°I feel sick whenever I see those ck ships. They seem to deny humanity with their power.¡±
¡°They are somewhat inhuman. I heard that the Korean army is also changing like that these days.¡±
As the officers grumbled, the Earth Fleet finished salvaging and dived right away.
All that was left were the Japanese fleet that had fallen into spectators, the warships of various countries, and a few fighters.
The Japanese navy imposed a press embargo on this incident, but they couldn¡¯t stop the rumors since so many countries were involved.
The news that the Earth Fleet had taken an alien artifact from the Sasebo coast reached Japan and caused a fierce bacsh.
¡ªThey came into Japan¡¯s sea and took away an artifact at ease? Is the navy just for decoration?
¡ªStrictly speaking, the EEZ is not Japan¡¯s sea. It¡¯s just a sea with the right and responsibility to manage.
¡ªWhat is Matsuda doing? He said he would change a lot when he became a normal country, but nothing has changed. This is the old Japan that only sees losses.
¡ªThe good thing is that there is more than one meteorite that fell in Japan. They can¡¯te ind and take them away, can they?
¡ªBy the way, what is that alien artifact? The government won¡¯t tell us after they took it.
¡ªWell, as always, they are busy with cover-ups.
¡ªAh, there¡¯s more detail on Korean news. That¡¯s what they took from Sasebo.
¡ªDamn Koreans.
The Japanese who cursed like that couldn¡¯t resist their curiosity and watched Korean broadcasts.
Somewhere in a port, an Earth Fleet anchored and ced a ck sphere on the pier.
The alien artifact was clearly captured by the station camera.
***
People went crazy over dozens of alien artifacts that had fallen, saying that humanity¡¯s extinction was imminent.
There were protests in capitals around the world demanding information disclosure, and religions iming apocalypticism sprang up like mushrooms.
TV broadcasted reactions to artifacts and people every day, and it was not wrong to call it the day of doom.
Influenced by that, stock markets in various countries began to fall endlessly.
The difference from before was that there was no sign of rebounding at all.
Everyone was fed up with fear and withdrew cash and invested in gold, making gold prices hit record highs.
Among them, sixpanies designated by Yu Ji-ha were especially hit hard.
Their stock prices plummeted almost like a cliff, and some wondered if they would go bankrupt at this rate.
Of course, thosepanies were too big to go bankrupt easily, and the government would pour out financial support to save them.
But the existence of the Esil processor cast doubt on their value.
¡ªIsn¡¯t it natural to go extinct if you losepetitiveness in a free market? Why do we have to save thosepanies with our taxes?
¡ªThosepanies are not insignificant in the US economy. If we leave them alone, we might face a second recession.
¡ªWill consumers buy their products after they are saved? They are clearly inferior in performance.
That was the biggest problem.
Most experts had bet that diamond semiconductors were impossible to mass-produce, and the sixpanies had analyzed the same.
Time passed, and the Esil processor turned everything else into industrial waste.
What was the meaning of the sixpanies that produced conventional semiconductors?
They were hopelessly behind in absolute performance, power consumption, cost, and temperature management.
The only advantage was that they were not released in countries other than Korea.
The fact that the release price dropped due to excess inventory was also an advantage for consumers.
But it was a disaster for retailers and manufacturers.
The US government urgently called the heads of thepanies for a meeting, but no effective measures came out.
One bureaucrat imed that even if Yu Ji-ha¡¯s sanctions were lifted, at least Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA would not be able to avoid bankruptcy.
¡°There is little chance for thesepanies to survive. The loss ofpetitiveness is the cause of the stock price copse.¡±
¡°Then what should we do?¡±
The bureaucrat sighed at President Baldwin¡¯s question.
¡°Nothing. Except asking President Yu Ji-ha not to release the Esil processor.¡±
Everyone in the meeting room knew that it was unreasonable.
At this point, some pointed out that pressuring semiconductors was a mistake.
They shouldn¡¯t have messed with Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªHadn¡¯t the US been getting along well with him? Why are they doing this all of a sudden?
¡ªI guess those Democratic bastards thought they could control Korea like before.
¡ªThe US had been getting some privileges. They could introduce most of the technologies by paying money. But not anymore.
¡ªYu Ji-ha said that only Quantum Solution would be sanctioned, but his stance itself would surely be more hostile.
The US had been getting some privileges.
They could introduce any of Yu Ji-ha¡¯s technologies by paying money.
Some technologies were exceptions, but they were treated differently from other countries.
They introduced railguns first, and iron beams came in without any conditions.
The US gave weapons to Taiwan as they wanted and blocked China, but they willingly epted the friction with Japan.
Everyone was skeptical about whether Yu Ji-ha¡¯s stance would remain the same after this incident.
He wouldn¡¯t openly antagonize them, but it was hard to expect new technologies to be introduced.
¡ªI thought ck metal was a one-trick pony, but it turned out not to be. No one knows what kind of technology will pop up next.
¡ªWe can¡¯t hope for a friendly treatment anymore. He won¡¯t cut ties like France or Japan, but he will be much colder than before.
In a way, that was a more dangerous future than the bankruptcy of semiconductorpanies.
The former was just the past, but Yu Ji-ha symbolized the future.
It was no wonder that he was regarded as the main actor of the fourth industrial revolution.
As such, when some skeptical arguments emerged in the US political arena about the current policy, four senators were upset.
They didn¡¯t get any good news at the Senate meeting either.
¡°It would be good for you four to go to Korea and talk to President Yu Ji-ha.¡±
¡°Talk with all possibilities open. It¡¯s doubtful if he will ept you though.¡±
Usually, when a senator visited Korea, they arranged all schedules in advance.
But they didn¡¯t get any answer from Korea and their visit was postponed indefinitely.
The situation had changed a lot from before when they treated a senator like a state guest.
The four leaders who were embarrassed by this coldness contacted naval officials, but they didn¡¯t get any good response either.
Themander of the Seventh Fleet was typical.
¡°Of course, we are soldiers and we follow orders. But I wish the politicians would solve the problems they caused. Korea is a traditional ally of the US Navy.¡±
The navy was in a ridiculous situation. Untilst year, they had participated in various exercises, including RIMPAC, but suddenly they were pressured by the politicians.
The 7th Fleet was armed with railguns and iron beams provided by Korea.
It was also equipped with fighter jets and hypersonic anti-ship missiles, but it was undeniable that it was a fleet that symbolized the friendship between the two countries.
The Baldwin administration could not stand it anymore.
¡ªWe understand your anxiety, but it is an abuse of power to go to the navalmand and demand pressure. Please restrain yourself.
The Senate was surprised and announced that it was not their intention.
They backed down for now because of the fierce criticism from the media and experts.
Anyway, President Baldwin made it clear that he had no intention of exercising military options against Korea.
He did not want to risk anything by pressuring Korea, which was already noisy with the stock market crash and the alien artifact.
On Reddit and other sites, conspiracy theories continued to emerge about the rtionship between the artifact and Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªHe is definitely an alien who lost his memory. The artifact that came to Earth is a kind of greeting from his colleagues. They are telling him to return quickly.
¡ªWhat if something happens when we collect all the artifacts and give them to Yu Ji-ha?
¡ªWhat if he suddenly regains his memory and leaves Earth?
While the imaginative conspiracy theories were rampant, Yu Ji-ha remained silent.
He was meeting with a special envoy from the White House who visited Korea.
***
President Baldwin decided that he could not ignore the situation any longer while stopping the Senate¡¯s reckless actions.
He had reached a conclusion after consulting with his staff.
He wanted to avoid the worst-case scenario.
Before sending the special envoy team, he gathered them and said this:
¡°Some people¡¯s actions have caused great damage to the United States, and they will continue to do so. We can¡¯t eliminate the damage itself. So we have to focus on minimizing it.¡±
There was no way to avoid damage when there was a fire.
He just wanted to prevent aplete breakdown with Korea, or more precisely, with Yu Ji-ha.
He could not choose the worst option of using military force.
He said this to the senators who secretly hoped for the 7th Fleet¡¯s pressure.
¡°The navy is not there to take responsibility for you. The 7th Fleet will not move.¡±
This created a rather hostile atmosphere.
¡°Do we need to be so weak against Korea? They won¡¯t be able to survive if we just restrict the food exports to North Korea.¡±
President Baldwin frowned, but the senators did not budge.
¡°It wouldn¡¯t be bad to break Korea¡¯s nose this time. They even entered Japan¡¯s EEZ and stole the artifact, or rather, the meteorite. They didn¡¯t care about international etiquette either.¡±
Thanks to that, Japan, France, Britain and other countries were angry and criticized Korea.
They could understand entering the EEZ for work, but they should have at least notified them.
Of course, Japan would never agree and they couldn¡¯t stop them anyway, so they just came in openly.
President Baldwin rolled his tongue at the absurd perception of four senators, including James.
¡°Do you want war in the end? You criticized President Yu¡¯s belligerence so much, but do you want war?¡±
¡°¡We don¡¯t want war. We just want pressure.¡±
The senators did not change their position until the end, and President Baldwin¡¯s patience was running out.
He left the Capitol and ordered the entire 7th Fleet to stand by.
He did not want them to run into the United Federation¡¯s fleet and cause a real disaster.
The navy obeyed obediently, but Congress was very dissatisfied with this measure.
¡ªBaldwin is too weak and only suffers in this minor conflict situation.
¡ªBryant should have been president.
As the conflict between the US administration and Congress continued, the special envoy team arrived in Korea.
They met with Yu Ji-ha, but they did not expect a fruitful negotiation.
The oue was obvious.
Grover, the chief of staff, exined earnestly about the administration¡¯s position and the situation of thepanies, but his indifferent attitude did not change.
¡°What does the US want? Do they want to import the Eshil processors or save theirpanies?¡±
¡°President Baldwin said he wants both if possible.¡±
¡°What if he has to choose one?¡±
¡°¡Saving thepanies.¡±
¡°Then he has to give up on shipping the Eshil processors.¡±
Everyone knows that is impossible.
It would be a huge cash cow in the future, but it was an impossible demand even for Grover, the chief of staff.
He had no choice but to back down a step here.
¡°Please help thepanies produce the Eshil processors. We will pay you well.¡±
¡°Do you mean the 500 billion dors of tariff reduction and the resignation of the senators?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know about thetter, but the former was promised. However, the period needs to be adjusted¡¡±
¡°I clearly told you that condition was only valid until June.¡±
Grover broke out in a cold sweat.
There were hardly any people in world history who could pressure the US like this.
It might be because President Baldwin¡¯s policy was to never go to war, but his maneuvering space was narrow.
Yu Ji-ha thought for a while and then said.
¡°I¡¯ll ept 500 billion dors with one condition.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Stay out of East Asia. If you stop meddling with Japan, I¡¯ll consider it positively.¡±
Chapter 124: Futile Hope
Chapter 124: Futile Hope
Japan needed the United States to keep Korea and Russia in check.
But from the perspective of the United States, Japan was not as important as it used to be.
It was because China had lost its capacity to challenge the hegemony.
The United States had no interest or intention to enter the North Pacific, so its attention naturally diminished.
After the second Korean War, the US forces in Korea withdrew, and the US forces in Japan also decreased significantly.
The Democratic Party did not interfere much with the reduction of the US forces in Japan.
It was because the European front was more dangerous at the moment.
The US forces in Japan shrank to half of their peak size.
Later, when a grand strategy to contain Korea was established, they tried to increase their size again, but it did not go as nned.
Russia, which had swallowed Ukraine, conducted arge-scale military exercise near Estonia, raising tensions.
The Department of Defense reported that an invasion of Estonia was imminent.
¡ªRussia seems to have given up on the Pacificpletely and instead wants to consolidate its influence in the Baltic Sea. If it absorbs Estonia, it can secure ports other than St. Petersburg.
¡ªConsidering the size of natural resources in this region, it can somewhatpensate for giving up East Siberia. It is the best choice for Russia.
Russia¡¯s southward expansion reignited, and Germany, Hungary, and Romania were tense and increased their defense spending.
In this situation, President Baldwin was not swayed by the outrageous proposal.
¡°You want us to hand over the North Pacific? That¡¯s an interesting proposal.¡±
¡°President Yu Ji-ha said that if you ept this proposal, all rtions will return to how they were before.¡±
¡°Is that a relief? He¡¯s a friend who acts crazy but looks for substance.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t tell me, Mr. President.¡±
President Baldwin waved his hand.
¡°Ah, never mind. Theplete withdrawal of the US forces in Japan is not my decision. It¡¯s up to Congress. The important thing is that they showed their willingness to negotiate.¡±
Maybe semiconductors were bait and this was what he really wanted.
The previous president had talked about Yu Ji-ha¡¯s goal.
¡°He has no interest in anything beyond Japan. His true goal is to build an East Asian empire that epasses Manchuria. His actions so far have been clear.¡±
The construction of an empire that possessed a vastnd from Korea to Manchuria and East Siberia.
It was a delusional goal that seemed impossible in the 21st century, but he had brought it halfway to reality.
He did not actually rule over that widend and its people, but he exerted some influence by exploring resources and such.
A series of circumstances made it clear that he had no interest in the North Pacific.
President Baldwin became more rxed.
¡°He seems to have some restraint. Then let¡¯s start negotiating.¡±
He contacted the Blue House from his office and soon the hotline was connected.
¡°We haven¡¯t started our terms for long, but we talk a lot. These are my conditions. I will exempt you from tariffs worth 500 billion dors and let the experts negotiate on the duration. And I will onlyply with half of your demand to withdraw from East Asia. I won¡¯tpletely withdraw from Japan, but I won¡¯t interfere either.¡±
¡°You mean you will maintain a minimum of influence.¡±
¡°I ask for your understanding. It¡¯s up to Congress topletely pull out the US forces in Japan. It would be faster to make four congressmen resign.¡±
¡°Then I have to add another condition. I need food. A lot of it.¡±
The basket price in Korea had risen sharply and it seemed to have hit him hard.
Congress also argued that they should pressure him more with this.
But President Baldwin did not want to create a conflict situation from the beginning of his term.
¡°I¡¯ll have to persuade the farmers. Let¡¯s discuss that at the expert meeting too.¡±
¡°If you do that much, I will reverse all measures before Quantum Solution was established and entrust you with production. Of course, there is nothing I can do about the damage caused by the processor release.¡±
So this is how it ends.
He prevented sixpanies from going bankrupt, but they becameplete subordinates.
Those huge dinosaurs had fallen into a situation where they had to produce ording to someone else¡¯s design.
At least Intel was better off.
AMD and NVIDIA were typical fablesspanies panies that only design without factories), so they had to acquire factories separately.
President Baldwin recalled the face of NVIDIA¡¯s CEO who said he was confident in 130nm old process technology.
It was once an ambitious semiconductorpany that expanded into the field of artificial intelligence and supplied SOC to car groups around the world¡
¡®It can¡¯t be helped.¡¯
He couldn¡¯t ignore them anymore after confirming the ability of Yu Ji-ha, or rather, the Strong AI.
He wouldn¡¯t criticize them recklessly like France, not knowing what else they had.
It was better to strengthen the rtionship and leave East Asia-North Pacific to Korea.
It was giving them the role that Japan had in the past.
This idea had been rmended by various institutions when the previous president was in office, but it was never realized due to the opposition of the Democratic Party.
¡®Now is the chance when the party is shrinking.¡¯
The Wall Street and the citizens who were heated up by the anti-Yu Ji-ha protests also seemed to be shocked by the performance of the Eshil processor and their activities subsided.
The South¡ that is, ces like Texas still hated him.
Anyway, it was not a bad deal for President Baldwin.
He got the title of sessfully leading the negotiation with Yu Ji-ha, who was called a madman of the century.
The downside would not be known much.
It was up to Congress topletely withdraw the US forces in Japan, but he could redeploy them to Europe with his order.
He decided to discuss the details at the expert meeting and ended the call.
Phew¡
¡°It¡¯s really hard.¡±
Grover, the chief of staff who was listening next to him, asked cautiously.
¡°Are you okay? Japan will be disappointed and resentful.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not a withdrawal, but a redeployment.¡±
¡°They won¡¯t ept that exnation in a situation where they demand tactical nuclear redeployment. Cooperation with China will also be difficult.¡±
¡°What can they do for us?¡±
¡°¡¡±
There was no word for a while.
President Baldwin emphasized.
¡°We have what they have. But Korea is different. Special. The important thing is our interest. Keep that in mind.¡±
He briefly forgot.
That President Baldwin was an istionist.
He was a representative figure who argued that the United States did not need to y the role of the world¡¯s police and just take care of its own interests.
It was a rare tendency for an American politician, and he was sometimes mistaken for a moderate.
But he couldn¡¯t decide on such a grand strategy by himself.
The mainstream of the Democratic Party was still dog control theory.
There were not a few new istionists who agreed with him and he nned to ally with them in the future.
¡°North Korea was absorbed by Korea and China also copsed. Russia has no interest in the Pacific anymore. Why should we pour a lot of money into the Pacific in this situation?¡±
He emphasized that what he had to protect was Europe, a traditional ally.
And maybe Australia and New Zend in the South Pacific.
The chief of staff Grover understood the president¡¯s intention and bowed his head.
¡°I¡¯ll start the expert negotiation.¡±
¡°He hates wasting time, right? Start right away.¡±
***
Dozens of metal spheres that fell on Earth a while ago were under the control of various governments.
It was hard to ess without government permission, and only a few people could research it.
While the media and civic groups were making a fuss about revealing information about the spheres, an unexpected incident urred.
The French government tried to approach a psycher to a sphere and found that his power became stronger.
The output of ether waves, which were called energy waves by the public, became much stronger and the researchers observed it with interest.
¡°It¡¯s clear that those spheres have something to do with psychers.¡±
¡°ck metal transform also became much more refined. It¡¯s interesting.¡±
¡°It¡¯s hard to continue our research with only our psychers. We need international cooperation.¡±
Marine Le Pen, the newly elected president of France, shouted for the establishment of an international research organization that excluded Korea after receiving a detailed report.
¡°Now we are on an equal footing with them. We don¡¯t need or ept the tyrant¡¯s support. France will stand with you.¡±
She meant the countries that were willing to exclude Korea, such as France, Britain, China, Japan, and so on.
Russia and Germany, which had shown pro-Korean attitudes, were excluded, and even the United States was no exception.
Marine Le Pen answered a domestic reporter who asked her why she excluded the United States.
¡°The United States imed to be the world¡¯s police, but they did not sanction Korea at all. Instead, they tried to get out of the crisis by negotiating behind the scenes.¡±
She also made other remarks, but most of them implied that she no longer trusted the United States.
Germany, the neighboring country, reacted cynically.
¡ªThis has happened before. And the winner was Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªDid she not lower her voice enough because she crossed a point of no return?
The reason for this reaction was that it was revealed that without Yu Ji-ha, the research on ck metal and ether could not continue.
What¡¯s the point of making a railgun cannon by putting dozens of psychers in it?
The lifespan was extremely short and the performance was terrible.
After Japan¡¯s ambitious railgun cannon broke in half, many countries became more dependent on Yu Ji-ha.
Nothing changed just because a few strange spheres fell from the sky.
But the im of Marine Le Pen and other French nationalists was different.
¡ªThis time is different.
¡ªJapan made a Gundam with ck metal. Do you see this? It¡¯s a huge and delicate sculpture.
¡ªIn China and the United States, too, the psychers¡¯ abilities have improved. Although we can¡¯tpare to Yu Ji-ha, we can at least stand on the starting line.
The ck metal Gundam sculpture made by Japan¡¯s Hyperman Club was decisive.
The ck Gundam, nearly 20 meters tall,pletely captivated the hearts of the Japanese.
At first, they just watched because of the precedent of the railgun, but after a few days, it didn¡¯t break at all and stood firmly.
This meant that the main producer, Sasaki, had enhanced his ability.
The people who were watching nervously finally raised their arms and cheered.
¡°Gundam! The best!¡±
¡°Sasaki! We believed in you!¡±
Before long, Prime Minister Matsuda appeared and took a picture with Sasaki, who waspletely exhausted.
Japan regained its confidence and responded positively to France¡¯s proposal.
¡ªWe like the idea of establishing an Aether research organization that excludes Korea.
¡ªWhat is Matsuda doing? Stop taking pictures and approve it quickly.
¡ªBy the way, that kid is too quiet¡ I feel like he¡¯s plotting something somewhere.
¡ªDon¡¯t let your guard down until the end. We have to make a railgun this time.
They cautiously attempted to make a railgun cannon and seededpletely.
They didn¡¯t hit the target ship, but the range was much longer and there was no breaking of the cannon.
Instead, there was a situation where the psychers were exhausted, but sess was sess anyway.
France sent a congrattory message first.
¡ªWith this, France and Japan have be one of the few countries that have achieved ck metal technology independently without sumbing to the tyrant¡¯s oppression.
¡ªLong live great France! Long live Japan!
When this news was reported, international cooperation finally began to take shape.
France took the lead in establishing an organization and countries that had been out of Yu Ji-ha¡¯s sight joined forces.
It was a force that could not be ignored with EU, China, Britain, Japan and so on.
Even some Middle Eastern countries joined in and quickly grew in size.
But in ces like the United States, they didn¡¯t think that group would work well.
¡ªMarine Le Pen is anti-EU and nationalist. She seems to have established that organization out of hatred for Yu Ji-ha. It won¡¯tst long.
¡ªMany psychers have appeared so far, but none of them have reached Yu Ji-ha¡¯s toes. Will this time be different?
¡ªThere is a possibility that the alien artifact is beyond our imagination. We should also have a foot in the door.
The United States managed to send a few people to the research organization led by France.
Marine Le Pen looked at them with disdain, but she epted them anyway because she needed money.
Thus, the Ether International Research Institute was born in Paris, France.
Many countries sent delegates to congratte France on its great progress.
***
At that moment, when the world was buzzing with the alien artifact and psycher research,
Korea was doing its best to restore its economic stability, regardless of the atmosphere.
To exclude someone, one had to ept being excluded as well.
As a result of the hatred of many countries, the food prices skyrocketed.
Especially, China, which hadpletely turned its rtions with Korea, started to control its exports.
They made an excuse that they added an inspection process to renew their image, but it was doubtful when they saw the food piled up in the warehouse.
¡°So they¡¯re not going to export?¡±
¡°They seem to have given up on improving rtions and are going all the way. They are also counting on the international research institute led by France.¡±
¡°They are harboring vain hopes.¡±
In fact, the ether core that fell to Earth this time was something that even Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t expect.
Psychers would appear one after another from now on, and this would surely boost the pride of countries like France.
But there was a trap in there.
The psychers¡¯ ether sensitivity had increased, but the capacity of the circuit remained the same.
It was like having aputer with a high-performance processor but a hard disk instead of an SSD.
Arma showed him a video.
¡°Japan is literally grinding psychers to make a railgun cannon. They seem to be very unhappy.¡±
¡°They have to transform without resting, so they can¡¯t help but be annoyed.¡±
It was a vain hope created by the insufficient capacity of the circuit that couldn¡¯t support the ether sensitivity.
To correct that, they needed a surgery to imnt mithril into their bodies, and the Settler and mining ships that went to Mars were preparing to build a base.
He nned to try the surgery experimentally when Fatima became an adult.
Yu Ji-ha looked at Sasaki, who copsed on the bed as if he was exhausted.
¡°By the way, did you say he was interested in me?¡±
¡°Yes. He is very interested in Megacity. And he also has a lot of admiration for Master. He must have heard a lot that he is great but not as good as Master.¡±
¡°Leave me alone.¡±
He was the best among Japanese psychers.
But he was so popr that it was hard to bring him over.
If he ever became dissatisfied with the Japanese government¡¯s treatment, he could sneakily lure him over.
If that didn¡¯t work, he could use coercive means.
Yu Ji-ha nodded his head as he asked about the situation of the psychers who gathered in Megacity.
¡°They seem to be adapting well so far.¡±
¡°They don¡¯t want to leave Megacity because they lived in such bad ces.¡±
¡°People¡¯s minds change easily, so give them some convenience within reason. Use drugs if you have to.¡±
Yu Ji-ha turned his attention to the food problem.
Korea¡¯s food self-sufficiency rate was already low, and it worsened in 2031.
As aging and urbanization progressed simultaneously, the countryside became empty and Seoul became literally overcrowded.
This poption density could be solved by Megacityter, but the food problem had to be dealt with right away.
Now there was a fuss at the mart because they couldn¡¯t get pork.
Both domestic and imported products were out of stock.
¡°Did they say they would export food from the United States?¡±
¡°Yes. The working-level meeting concluded negotiations on exporting 500,000 tons of food.¡±
¡°Leave that to Secretary Bae Seong-min. And I want to bring in smart farms. Are you ready?¡±
Arma had set up huge smart farms on Kamchatka Penins and Terra Ind using separate corporations.
This contributed decisively to feeding the residents and prisoners during the Second Korean War, and it was still producing various foods.
¡°We can bring them in right away. But there is still opposition¡¡±
Yu Ji-haughed sardonically.
¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Set up a corporation and proceed. Cut down the meat prices by half or less by the end of this year.¡±
The price of domestic pork belly 100 grams was close to 10,000 won.
That wasn¡¯t enough, and it was soaring every day, causing a lot of dissatisfaction among the people.
Secretary Bae Seong-min reported that there was a trickery of distributors behind these expensive prices.
¡°It¡¯s true that production costs are high in Korea, but whenever something happens, the distributors hoard the goods and don¡¯t release them. They have the distributionwork of the whole country in their hands, so we couldn¡¯t touch them.¡±
¡°Then we have to make a new distributionwork.¡±
It¡¯s free to have vain hopes, but it¡¯s also free to break them.
Yu Ji-ha decided to fix the expensive basket prices of Korea.
Chapter 125: The Reason for the High Prices
Chapter 125: The Reason for the High Prices
Korea had a reputation for its expensive prices since the beginning of the 21st century.
Especially the food prices, which were sky-high, and they remained the same even after Yu Ji-ha came to power.
Rather, they soared even more as the countries that had a falling out with him stopped exporting food.
One hundred thousand won for 1kg of domestic pork belly.
It was a phrase that the media often used to criticize Yu Ji-ha.
¨DPrevious governments had always paid attention to managing the prices that directly affected people¡¯s lives. But this government does not seem to care about that.
¨DDo you think people will be satisfied with going to space,unching new semiconductors, and creating jobs? We have entered an era where it is hard to have a pork belly party with the money we earn.
The public opinion was that Yu Ji-ha finally faced a challenge.
He had ovee difficulties with all kinds of new technologies and suppressed people¡¯sints, but he could not do the same with food prices.
Some senior bureaucrats advised him to at least control the food prices, since they could not tell him to leave the Blue House now.
¨DIf you want to win the hearts of the grassroots, you have to keep the basket prices within a reasonable range.
¨DBut the problem is that it is not easy because we are on bad terms with the major food exporting countries.
EU, China, and Japan were the main ones, and they refused to give any benefits to Korea, while also cutting off food imports.
As a result, the prices of meat and dairy products, which depended heavily on imports, rose a lot.
It was the same for alcohol, but at least there were alternatives like the US, but it was hard to find substitutes for EU cheese and butter.
However, some people argued that it was unreasonable to me Yu Ji-ha alone for this situation.
¨DKorea¡¯s food prices were always high. The tendency to skyrocket under this regime is because of the distributors who hoard goods and do not release them.
¨DConsumers pay high costs, but producers and sellers say they don¡¯t make much. Where does that money go?
¨DWhy do you always me the distributors? The Korean penins itself is not suitable for farming.
¨DMost of thend is mountainous, and we import most of the fertilizer, so it is not profitable. It means low productivity.
Amid various stories, some media criticized Yu Ji-ha for not even visiting a mart.
¨DMany people think that the president looking around a traditional market surrounded by aides is a show. But Yu Ji-ha does not even do that show.
¨DHe seems to have given up on price management altogether. The current president has all the power, so he should remember that his responsibility is also infinite.
It was not easy to absorb 20 million poor people, but few people took that into ount.
He was a dictator, so he had full responsibility for everything. That was right a hundred times.
But it was not true that Yu Ji-ha did nothing at all.
He had to turn everything upside down to solve Korea¡¯s distorted food prices, and the victims would be enormous.
¡°Is it fortunate? The rural poption that will be victims is decreasing.¡±
¡°If this goes on for about 10 years, it will almost reach the extinction stage.¡±
The only solution was to introduce smart farms across the board, but the poption that would oppose it was decreasing.
The media made a fuss and aired special programs saying that this could not go on, but it was not a bad thing for Yu Ji-ha.
After all, he could build mega-cities by confiscating farnd.
A task force was formed to solve the food crisis, and Vice Chief of Staff Bae Seong-min reported on the agenda.
¡°There are problems with other foods as well, but especially refrigerated pork ispletely out of stock. We contacted localpanies, but they said it would be difficult within this quarter.¡±
There were many other problems, but pork was the most urgent.
¡°Did you contact them?¡±
¡°Yes, they said they knew there was a lot of demand, but they couldn¡¯t easily increase their livestock.¡±
They didn¡¯t know when this demand would subside, so they had to be conservative about investing in facilities.
The deputy minister of agriculture and food reported on the domestic pig farming situation.
¡°The number of pig farms in Korea has decreased by 5.6%pared tost year. Despite the soaring pork prices, the number of pig farmers has decreased because of the decline in rural poption.¡±
Everyone knew it, but there was no solution.
No matter how much settlement money they gave or rented empty houses for free, people did not want to leave the city.
How convenient and fun the city was in this world.
Games, androids, trantions¡
Yu Ji-ha, who provided such things, was seriously criticized by foreign media as a dictator who would drive Koreans to extinction.
It was because the birth rate, which had hit rock bottom, was plunging deeper than the Earth¡¯s core.
Everything would be turned upside down when the gue invaded, but until then, they had no choice but to endure.
Anyway, the domestic media argued that more subsidies should be given to pig farms, which were decreasing in number, but it was nonsense.
It was because Yu Ji-ha had been waiting for a day like today.
They had to suffer from a shortage once in a while so that there would be no big bacsh against the introduction of smart farms.
Of course, he could push it through unterally, but he didn¡¯t need to make more enemies at home when he already had many abroad.
¡°The supply itself has decreased¡ But it shouldn¡¯t be this scarce.¡±
¡°We sent some staff to investigate. The result¡¡±
One of the directors sent a rtively well-organized document.
A few big shots in the pig industry were hoarding pork in their warehouses and not releasing it.
Even meat with a short shelf life was like this, let alone other foods. It was not an exaggeration to say that the prices were determined by a few distributors.
Yu Ji-ha put down the document and asked.
¡°Did you meet them? Why don¡¯t they release it?¡±
¡°They said they have a separate contract with a foreign country. They didn¡¯t mention where.¡±
¡°They must be stalling with the foreign excuse, since there is no such demand in Korea.¡±
¡°Shall we check the quarantine certificate? If we look into the export documents, we might be able to pressure them.¡±
¡°Never mind. They are people who have decided not to export.¡±
Yu Ji-ha monitored the society with his drone system and CP system, but he did not control the activities of individuals orpanies.
He had nothing to say if they invested their own money and decided not to export.
But they would be responsible for the result of moving Yu Ji-ha.
Vice Chief of Staff Bae Seong-min asked casually.
¡°Shall I go and see them?¡±
Even the most gutsy people would cringe if they heard that he came from the Blue House.
Especially in these times.
¡°No, Vice Chief of Staff, there is one ce you and I have to go together. And tell the Ministry of Agriculture and Food to highlight this point in the media. It is true that the government is responsible for the current situation. But it is also fueled by some distributors.¡±
Who wouldn¡¯t want to make more money?
The current actions of the distributors were not illegal, but they were clearly conscienceless actions that disrupted the market order.
Yu Ji-ha could take out all the meat with one word, but he wanted to use them to introduce smart farms in Korea.
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°And contact Russia to prepare for pork imports.¡±
The deputy minister was dumbfounded, as he had heard from the Russian embassy yesterday that pork exports were difficult.
But he had to do what Yu Ji-ha said.
¡°I understand.¡±
¡°The meeting is over, so go back to your work. And Vice Chief of Staff, change your clothes for a moment. It will be cold.¡±
Where on earth was he going?
Vice Chief of Staff Bae Seong-min tilted his head and grabbed a coat.
***
The Kamchatka Penins in July was colder than Bae Seong-min expected.
What greeted him as he got off the business jet were Korean signs everywhere.
¨DWee to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
The Korean letters were oddly crooked, as if they were written by local Russians.
¡®Now it¡¯s our territory¡¡¯
The pier, which should have been crowded with fishing boats, was empty.
Maybe more people preferred being Russians than Koreans.
But it seemed that about half of them remained.
They headed straight south of the Kamchatka Penins by helicopter.
The submarine base that should have been there was gone.
Yu Ji-ha pointed out the window with a smirk.
¡°That¡¯s where the smart farm is.¡±
¡°Smart farm?¡±
Vice Chief of Staff Bae Seong-min was surprised.
They passed the volcanic area of the southern Kamchatka Penins and a huge city came into view.
The whole city was made of smart farms.
¡°Mr. President, those buildings¡¡±
¡°They are all smart farms. Most of the facilities operate unmanned and there are some androids deployed. The annual food production is close to one million tons.¡±
¡°¡¡±
As he listened to the exnation, Bae Seong-min felt something uneasy.
He couldn¡¯t have made these things in a short time.
He must have prepared them for a long time.
Maybe even before he became president¡
He suddenly remembered the im from the US side that his bing president was not a coincidence.
Maybe he had manipted everything behind the scenes.
¡®Could it be, even the Korean War¡?¡¯
He thought it was impossible, but what if he had androids before that?
What if androids that were hard to distinguish from humans infiltrated North Korea and eliminated the border troops and started shelling the south?
The possibility was low, but he couldn¡¯t be sure that it wasn¡¯t his doing.
His actions from the time he was acting president to now were too consistent and creepy.
¡®If he nned everything behind the scenes, he must not be an ordinary person¡¡¯
As a vice chief of staff, he had ess to a lot of information, and especially from the US side, there were many doubts about Yu Ji-ha¡¯s identity.
When he put them together, it was hard to believe that Yu Ji-ha was an ordinary chaebol third generation.
¡®Is he really an alien?¡¯
In the US, his alien theory was already gaining serious momentum.
With the semiconductor and meteorite incidents, the existence of aliens was confirmed, and then the theory became more prominent.
The doubts were so usible that even Bae Seong-min wondered ¡®Could it be?¡¯
¨DMany countries have seen powerful psychics emerge. But Korea is strangely not showing such a trend. There must be someone controlling them from behind.
¨DNo matter how strong artificial intelligence is, it is impossible to develop diamond semiconductors without proper research facilities. He must have brought something that already exists.
¨DIs this the end? Probably not. Next, quantummunication and quantumputer technology will be established by him. Then it will be almost certain that he is an alien.
But regardless of these hypotheses, Yu Ji-ha was an indispensable existence for Korea now.
Even if it was true that he nned the Korean War and assassinated former president Jo Hyeong-geun.
¡®We can¡¯t go back now. We can¡¯t do without him.¡¯
Bae Seong-min steeled his mind and got off the helicopter and looked at the smart farm.
He didn¡¯t notice it from above, but it felt overwhelming to be close to such a huge scale.
¡°Wow, this is huge¡¡±
¡°The main products are cultured meat, but we are also preparing to produce other things.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t cultured meat enough as a substitute? Spam would be possible, but¡¡±
As Bae Seong-min said, cultured meat at this point was somewhat different from conventional meat.
It couldn¡¯t fully reproduce the muscles, and the connection with the fatyer was poor, so it felt a strong sense of incongruity when chewing.
Most of the cultured meat was distributed as minced meat after receiving harsh reviews from various tasting events.
Things like hamburger patties.
Of course, cultured meat that was made with enough effort could almost match the texture of meat, but the cost was a problem.
¡°Do you like meat, Vice Chief of Staff? Since we¡¯re here, let¡¯s have a taste.¡±
¡°Oh, yes.¡±
Bae Seong-min followed Yu Ji-ha into the control center, preferring pork over beef.
The tasting room on the first floor was already filled with a savory smell of grilling meat.
Bae Seong-min was surprised when he tasted the pork belly cooked by an android.
¡°Huh?¡±
¡°Not bad, right?¡±
It was not just decent, but a quality that was hard to find even in a good meat restaurant.
The meat had a chewy texture and the fat was tender and savory.
He had long thrown away the doubt of how it was made, as it was too delicious.
¡°In my personal opinion, this is much better than Spanish Iberico.¡±
¡°I know you like pork, so I¡¯m d to hear that.¡±
¡°Can I¡ have some more?¡±
¡°Of course.¡±
He seemed to fill his stomach while he was here.
Well, not bad.
Yu Ji-ha opened his mouth as he tasted a piece next to him.
¡°Listen while you eat. I¡¯m going to overhaul the food distributionwork in Korea.¡±
It was difficult.
It was not because the previous government was ipetent that they didn¡¯t do anything.
They gave up because it would cause too much loss and damage to tear it down from the root.
But what if he could do it?
Vice Chief of Staff Bae Seong-min nodded and asked.
¡°I¡¯ll do whatever I can.¡±
¡°There are a lot of food items that are not recorded in theputer. Most of the ces are still cash businesses, even if they are a bitrge. We have to track them all.¡±
He felt the word difficult rising up to his throat, but he had to do it since the president brought it up.
He didn¡¯t want to hear that he was an ipetent vice chief of staff from him.
¡°I heard earlier that dairy products are also a mess. There are a lot of French ones.¡±
¡°Yes, well¡¡±
The rtionship between Yu Ji-ha and France was so bad that even enemies would look friendly.
As a result, most of the trade was cut off and even French food ingredients were stopped from importing.
Wine was not a big deal, as there were many producing countries, but French cheese and butter were a serious problem.
They got half of their annual imports from France, but it was blocked and there was a chaos.
Some pointed out that Korea¡¯s exclusive attitude caused this situation.
¨DIt¡¯s not normal for a country with a 30% food self-sufficiency rate to antagonize the EU.
¨DKorea boasts high technology, but other countries also have weapons. It¡¯s the scariest when they use food as a weapon.
¨DThey should reconcile and lift the sanctions now. The chances of France epting it are low, though.
This was the first time that food was used as a weapon, although there had been such assumptions before.
The UN expressed concern over France¡¯s full-scale sanctions, but as always, they didn¡¯t stop it.
And France was reporting very detailed on Korea¡¯s food situation.
It was not a mistake to think that they were gloating behind.
Like this, the two countries were almost at war, even if they didn¡¯t sh directly.
Before, they didn¡¯t block food exports, but after Marine Le Pen became president, they took a decisive measure of full-scale sanctions.
The rtively neutral US media covered this situation and noted Yu Ji-ha¡¯s response.
¨DHe has shown great technology and radical policies so far, but he seems to have a long way to go in the food sector.
¨DIf he can ovee this crisis by himself again¡ Well, the US should seriously see Korea as a challenger and be tense.
¨DA country that can challenge the US after the Soviet Union and China may emerge. It¡¯s still only a possibility due to internal problems and weight ss, though.
Yu Ji-ha skimmed through the data on his panel and said.
¡°Let¡¯s put aside France and analyze the current situation. The conclusion is that our environment itself is not suitable for producing food. Thend is small, most of the fertilizer is imported, and most of the farmers are small-scale, so productivity is low.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. Milk is typical. We depend on imports for all the feed for cows, so we have no price control.¡±
¡°The bigger problem is the oil price linkage system, right?¡±
¡°That¡¯s not wrong.¡±
Oil price linkage system.
A policy introduced in the early 2010s for the benefit or safety of the dairy industry.
The intention might have been good, but the result was a mess. It was the root cause of milk prices breaking 4,000 won per liter.
Korean consumers turned their eyes to European sterilized milk because of the expensive price, but the supply decreased drastically as France and other ces blocked exports.
Germany hastily increased its export volume, but one hand couldn¡¯t handle several hands.
If he looked for the cause of this situation, Yu Ji-ha couldn¡¯t avoid responsibility either. But the conclusion was that the Korean Penins itself was shittynd.
The productivity was terrible because they tried to survive in a ce where farming was unsuitable.
¡°Meat and dairy products including cheese are big problems.¡±
¡°There are other things too, but that¡¯s the biggest problem for now. There is no supply inrge supermarkets or importers.¡±
¡°That¡¯s why we need a full-scale introduction of smart farms.¡±
¡°¡I guessed it when you showed me this, but there will be a lot of resistance.¡±
¡°Who will resist? The domestic livestock industry is on the verge of extinction.¡±
He was different from ordinary politicians who would try to save them somehow.
He only cared about efficiency and nothing else.
He didn¡¯t feel the damage directly because it was foreign until now, but it would be different from now on.
¡°If we introduce this facility, the domestic livestock industry will walk the path of destruction.¡±
¡°We have to pay them subsidies and let them go. We will reorganize production and distribution to maximize efficiency.¡±
In the end, it meant that the state would monopolize it.
It would be a mess if it was an ordinary country, but Korea had Russia.
It was easy for the strong artificial intelligence that controlled millions of drones and androids to adjust the facilities ording to the demand.
But then, do they need people?
Vice Chief of Staff Bae Seong-min couldn¡¯t help but ask.
¡°Mr. President, can I ask you how far you n to introduce artificial intelligence?
¡°Everything.¡±
¡°Everything¡¡±
¡°You know my n, right? I¡¯m going to build a mega city to amodate the poption. I¡¯ll put all the facilities there. Naturally, artificial intelligence will manage everything.¡±
¡°Then what about Seoul?¡±
He didn¡¯t mention it, but he could tell by the atmosphere that he wanted to abandon it.
A mammoth-sized city like Seoul was only inefficient in his eyes.
But what did he really want to achieve by pursuing efficiency?
Bae Seong-min didn¡¯t know that.
Chapter 126: As Long As It Tastes Good
Chapter 126: As Long As It Tastes Good
All the major supermarkets in Seoul.
The meat section, which was usually quiet, became bustling as soon as it was 10 a.m.
People flocked to the rumor that domestic pork had arrived today.
The purchase limit was 1kg per person, and it was strictly restricted to one part.
Those who camete saw the sold-out gs and stomped their feet.
¡°What do we do? We came here because there¡¯s nowhere else.¡±
¡°Hey, is there anything left in the warehouse?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry. We ran out of all the prepared supplies.¡±
The staff kept apologizing and the people kept grumbling.
¡°What kind of supermarket doesn¡¯t have pork?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not just this supermarket, it¡¯s everywhere these days. The domestic supply is dried up.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the point of having androids roaming around, or going on space tourism? The most important thing is feeding people.¡±
It was a situation where one would naturally wonder what the president was doing.
But the announcement from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs had some effect, and people who knew the truth began to appear.
¡°What was it? It¡¯s not that there¡¯s no supply at all, but some distributors are not releasing it from their warehouses.¡±
¡°Why are they doing that?¡±
¡°They¡¯re hiding it to auction it offter when the price goes up. They have over 10,000 tons of supply, how much money is that?¡±
¡°I saw on the news that there¡¯s a problem with the auctioneer association leader and some others at the auction house. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs staff went there, but they came out saying what are you going to do about it.¡±
¡°I wish they would send them all to Terra Ind. It¡¯s not just about money, they shouldn¡¯t harm the citizens.¡±
¡°It would be nice if the president said something at a time like this.¡±
¡°They said they had a meeting with the rted ministries, but I don¡¯t know when the measures wille out.¡±
¡°He was so smart and good, but I guess he can¡¯t help it in this crisis.¡±
Theseints poured out from not only Seoul but also supermarkets across the country, and Armapiled and reported them.
¡°They don¡¯t say it, but they¡¯re curious why you¡¯re not taking a strong stance.¡±
¡°What do you expect from a dictator? There¡¯s nothing I can¡¯t do, but I chose a different method for this case. How¡¯s the smart farm operation going?¡±
¡°We¡¯re currently producing cultured meat by converting the line. We¡¯re starting with 500 tons and gradually increasing the supply.¡±
¡°We should be able to bring it into the country in about a week. Have you talked to the dealers?¡±
¡°They said they would give us everything if we gave them 13,000 won per 100 grams.¡±
He clicked his tongue at their greed.
¡°They want more than 10,000 won? They¡¯re nothing but robbers.¡±
¡°If we wait for a week or so, it might really go up to that price. The supply is cut off because there¡¯s not enough pigs.¡±
¡°There might be riots by then. Contact the supermarkets and processingpanies and tell them to get ready to receive the supply.¡±
¡°What about the auction house?¡±
Normally, when producers ship live pigs, traders receive them and send them to ughterhouses, where they go through several processes and most of the supply is taken by auctioneers.
They were the core of distribution, but since the cause of this situation was on the auction house side, there was no reason to give them any supply.
¡°Exclude them all. No need to contact the Pig Farmers Association either.¡±
If Arma¡¯s Russian subsidiary solved the situation, the domestic pig industry, including the Pig Farmers Association, would suffer a huge blow.
The scale had already shrunk so much that many workers had left, and it was certain that even the remaining foundation would be shattered.
He nned to move Arma¡¯s subsidiary to Korea in that gap.
The smart farm n to feed 1.5 billion people was starting.
¡°Keep producing and importing until pork belly drops below 3,000 won per 100 grams.¡±
¡°Understood.¡±
He wondered if the auctioneers who locked their warehouse doors tightly could hold out.
***
It had been two weeks since domestic pork disappeared.
Pork dishes had disappeared from the tables of the people, and only beef and chicken took their ce.
Especially, a lot of American beef was imported.
¡ªIt¡¯s not a joke that we eat beef because we can¡¯t afford pork.
¡ªHow can the president not say anything to the nation in this situation?
¡ªHe can¡¯t do anything anyway, since there¡¯s no import.
¡ªYou know what Yu Ji-ha is good at. He should hold a press conference and announce that he¡¯s producing cultured meat.
¡ªIf he could do that, he wouldn¡¯t be getting scolded like this.
¡ªHow can Koreans not eat pork belly? If he¡¯s a dictator, he should act like one and do something!
It was the moment when the dissatisfaction of the whole nation was about to explode.
People with pork gs started marching in various ces in Seoul.
¡°Pork belly, neck, trotter, front leg~ There¡¯s plenty of meat but none for us~¡±
The atmosphere was generally peaceful, but anyone could tell that it would re up in an instant if a spark urred.
The media called it an unprecedented meat crisis and bashed Yu Ji-ha every day, and other countries reported it in great detail.
¡ªNorth Korean dictator or South Korean dictator, they¡¯re the same in not feeding their people meat.
¡ªWhat¡¯s the point of breaking 40,000 dors in GDP, if they can¡¯t even eat pork properly?
¡ªKorea might secretly ask Germany for export, so we have to check the pig poption of the whole ind.
Amidst the mockery, tasting and promotion events for pork belly were held atrge supermarkets in metropolitan cities including Seoul and Busan.
Normally, they wouldn¡¯t have received much attention, but since the situation was what it was, they attracted a lot of eyes.
¡ªThey said there¡¯s no pork supply. Where did they get it from?
¡ªIt must be from Russia. He¡¯s close with the president.
¡ªBut it says it¡¯s domestic.
¡ªI haven¡¯t eaten pork belly for a long time. Should I go?
¡ªThey probably lined up from the day before and sold out in five minutes.
As negative outlooks continued, the day of the event came and people lined up to flock to the supermarket.
The event was held in part of the meat section, but unlike what one would expect, it was not a person but an android.
Wearing an apron and grilling meat, it drew people¡¯s attention.
¡°Pork belly that tastes good and is nutritious~ Come and try it~¡±
¡°We¡¯ll give you a chance to buy pork at a low price if you participate in the tasting~¡±
The smell of protein and fat sizzling tempted people.
But there was something unusual written on the sign.
¡ªWarning: All pork sold at this event is not from real pigs, but cultured meat. Please note that.
A man asked the android conducting the event.
¡°Cultured meat? You mean this is not real meat?¡±
It looked no different from pork belly on the outside.
¡°Why don¡¯t you try it yourself and see?¡±
At the android¡¯s suggestion, he slowly chewed on a cube of pork belly skewered on a toothpick.
¡°Huh?¡±
He was confused.
Is this cultured meat?
He took another bite, but it tasted just like real meat.
¡°Isn¡¯t this just meat? I¡¯ve tried cultured meat before, but it didn¡¯t taste like this.¡±
¡°Well, these days, technology is good. This is cultured meat made at a smart farm in Kamchatka Penins.¡±
¡°Kam¡ what?¡±
¡°No, that¡¯s not Korea. This is wrong. It says domestic.¡±
When people pointed out, the android slowly shook its head.
¡°Kamchatka Penins is a proud Koreannd. Why else would ourpany explore oil nearby?¡±
¡°And on paper, it¡¯s also Korean territory. It just hasn¡¯t been made public to civilians yet.¡±
¡°Oh, really?¡±
Well, there was only one person who knew exactly what Korea¡¯s territory was¡
A woman who was waiting for her turn behind him spoke rudely.
¡°It¡¯s from the same sea anyway. If China catches it, it¡¯s Chinese. If our fishing boat catches it, it¡¯s Korean. Move aside and let me try.¡±
Many people tasted it one by one and couldn¡¯t help but admire.
¡°It tastes better when I think of it as cultured meat.¡±
¡°They make pork belly like this and technology is so good these days.¡±
¡°I¡¯d buy and eat this enough if it wasn¡¯t expensive¡¡±
¡°Pork prices are over 100,000 won per kilogram these days. It¡¯s like beef prices.¡±
Then the price that was turned back was revealed.
¡ªPrice per 100 grams: 4,000 won.
People¡¯s eyes popped out at the incredibly low price.
¡°What? Why is it so cheap?¡±
¡°It must be for promotion. Only those who lined up first will get to eat pork belly after a long time.¡±
But the meat kepting out of the warehouse.
There was a limit of 2kg per person, but judging by the hundreds of people who lined up, the supply was serious.
And these events were happening not only atrge supermarkets but also in various ces across the country.
¡ªI only thought of liver meat when I heard cultured meat, but I tried it yesterday and it was no different from what we ate.
¡ªIt¡¯s been a long time since I ate pork belly, and it melted in my mouth.
¨DThis is not ordinary pork belly. It has a rich vor from the fat.
¨DHow did they make this? Did we have a cultured meat factory in Kamchatka?
The media investigated and revealed that the source of the cultured meat was a Russianpany.
The problem was that the CEO of thatpany was Arma.
¨DIf Arma is the CEO, then the real owner is the president, right?
¨DAh¡ We were cursing him so much, but now we feel embarrassed.
¨DBut this is a one-time event. They can¡¯t keep supplying this much meat forever.
¨DThe refrigerated trucks are stilling into the national markets. It¡¯s a huge amount.
As someone said, pork was being supplied to every corner of the country.
The variety was also quite diverse, except for trotters and hocks, which were less popr.
The public sentiment, which was about to explode, calmed down a bit as hundreds of tons of meat were supplied in a day.
¨DWe were bashing the president for doing nothing, but he was preparing this.
¨DYou guys were wrong to doubt Yu Ji-ha. He has a n for everything.
¨DIt would be great if the supply continues like this¡
¨DHey, the supply is not the problem right now. The foreign media are going crazy about how they made the cultured meat. They say it can¡¯t be done with electrical stimtion.
¨DIf they refine the process, they can make it simr to the texture, but the cost doesn¡¯t match. There¡¯s a reason why cultured meat is sold as minced meat.
¨DThen how does Yu Ji-ha produce cultured meat?
¨DThe scale of the smart farm in Kamchatka looks like he prepared it for a long time¡
There was only one person who could answer that question.
Anyway, even after a few days since the cultured meat was introduced, the supply was uninterrupted.
The price also kept dropping and stabilized at 3,000 won per 100 grams. Now, people could buy it without any special events or reservations at the market.
As the situation progressed like this, countries like France and Japan, which had mocked Korea, stopped mentioning it altogether.
It was unusual considering that they had featured special articles on Korea¡¯s pork shortage on their media websites.
Especially, the Japanese government had manually checked the number of pigs raised and sent staff to monitor the importers.
They were worried that Korea might import pigs from other countries.
Of course, that didn¡¯t happen and the Japanese media criticized them for wasting administrative resources, but it was soon buried.
¨DHow ipetent can you be to lose 6 million pigs in the country? Matsuda!
¨DIt¡¯s no joke to waste administrative resources. Hundreds of agricultural officials traveled around the country for days.
¨DAnd Korea didn¡¯t even ask us for anything.
They cut off contact and interest after that.
On the other hand, Yu Ji-ha appeared in a national address after stabilizing the supply.
***
¡°My beloved citizens, I know how much you have been worried about theck of pork. But you don¡¯t have to worry anymore. As I speak to you right now, a ship full of cultured meat is leaving from the smart farm in Kamchatka.¡±
An image yed behind Yu Ji-ha.
It was an image of a cargo ship loaded with luggage leaving from a small port at the southernmost tip of Kamchatka.
The screen switched and showed the cargo ship crossing the Sea of Okhotsk and approaching the East Sea in real time.
¡°The cargo ship will cover a distance of about 2,600 km in less than 3 hours and unload the cultured meat. It is domestic product, but we are doing our best to quarantine it in case of any unforeseen situations. You can eat it with confidence.¡±
¡°Lastly, I know there are some suspicions that the price might go up. I will confirm it here. From now on, we will freeze the price of 100 grams of pork belly at 3,000 won. The deadline is 3 years. There may be some adjustments if there are equipment investments or other factors. Thank you.¡±
With this, Korea¡¯s pork shortage crisis came to an end.
Some people looked down on cultured meat because it was not real pork, but most citizens didn¡¯t care about that issue.
¨DAs long as it tastes good, what does it matter?
¨DI couldn¡¯t tell the difference when I ate it. Some columns even said it was better than average pork.
¨DThey brought people who said the texture was weird and did a blind test. They couldn¡¯t get any right. They¡¯re all liars.
¨DAnyway, I thought he would be crushed this time, but he managed to escape.
¨DThis is not over¡ Yu Ji-ha is not satisfied with just supplying pork. He must have finished selecting sites for smart farms by now.
¨DDoes that mean smart farms wille to Korea too?
¨DWe felt the effect clearly this time. We can¡¯t resist.
¨DWell, that¡¯s only for pork.
¨DDon¡¯t you know Yu Ji-ha after all this? He¡¯s the kind of person who will supply all the meat we eat from smart farms.
¨DNo matter what¡ Ah, I don¡¯t know.
He was the kind of person who woulde up with a contingency n as soon as a crisis situation hit.
It was hard to guess what he would do.
No one believed that cultured meat would be supplied before the shortage crisis hit.
Anyway, the people expressed great satisfaction with Yu Ji-ha¡¯s measures.
But not everyone was like that.
The fire fell on the feet of the brokers who hoarded pork and refused to release it.
¡°Fuck, how can it drop to 3,000 won in a week? Find a market quickly!¡±
The workers at the auction house moved hastily at the scolding of Lee Geumhwan, the head of the broker association.
The low-temperature warehouse, which had been tightly closed, opened and the forklifts loaded pallets of pork onto the trucks.
But the trucks had nowhere to go.
They sent messages to all the retailers, but only cold answers came back.
¡°We¡¯re good. We have enough supply.¡±
¡°How can you sell that old meat? I¡¯m not buying it.¡±
¡°I¡¯m very disappointed in you, Mr. Lee. That¡¯s not how a human being should act.¡±
Lee Geumhwan tried to hide his red face in his office and muttered to himself.
¡°What¡¯s wrong with me investing my money and making some profit?¡±
There was nothing wrong.
And it was not a problem that Yu Ji-ha used the smart farm to pour out the supply.
But as a result, the price of pork belly stabilized at 3,000 won and he had nowhere to sell ten thousand tons of meat.
One of his employees barely found a buyer, but he offered a ridiculous price.
¡°What? 1,500 won? Are you trying to kill me? How much did I pay for that?¡±
Depending on the part, it was at least 4,000 won or more. If he continued like this, bankruptcy was certain and he would be buried in debt.
He and his ten colleagues and fifty employees had borrowed almost 40 billion won.
But the seller had no reason to care about his situation.
¡°I don¡¯t care how much you paid for it. The market price is what matters.¡±
¡°Are you kidding me? Is that what you call meat? It¡¯s just a lump of protein that mimics meat!¡±
¡°Lower your voice, I can hear you. And you haven¡¯t tried that meat, have you? I did, and it was sweet and savory.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not meat!¡±
¡°Who cares as long as it tastes good? Hahaha.¡±
It felt like he was mocking him, and it was not an illusion.
Lee Geumhwan felt suffocated and slumped on the sofa in his office.
¡°Fuck¡ this is not right¡¡±
He felt empty.
He originally nned to negotiate with Yu Ji-ha or his cronies and open the warehouse when they came.
Of course, he was notfortable with dealing with a dictator.
If he felt pressured, he wouldpromise by lowering the price a bit and taking charge of the production and distributionwork.
¨DKorean pig farming is doomed anyway. The association is too big, so we can take over and make money.
In fact, the pig farming association was useless and got a lot of criticism, and Yu Ji-ha was no exception.
Lee Geumhwan got a lot of abuse, but he thought it would be solved if he endured a little.
But then¡ the cultured meat appeared and ruined everything.
This fake meat strangely captured people¡¯s taste buds and the real meat had nowhere to go.
It was partly because the expiration date was approaching, but the main reason was that people hated him.
¨DYou didn¡¯t give it up even when we asked nicely. Serves you right.
¨DYou should have been moderate. Who would like you holding ten thousand tons of meat?
¨DYou have nowhere to dispose of it? We¡¯ll take it all if you give it cheap. How about 500 won per 100 grams?
The average price was 4,000 won, and he wanted him to give it up for 500 won?
He shouted at him to stop talking nonsense, but the processorughed at him instead.
¨DThen why don¡¯t you just throw away ten thousand tons? It will cost you a lot to deal with it anyway. Good luck with that.
It was really a dilemma.
Lee Geumhwan, who was tearing his hair out, heard amotion in his ears.
He opened the door nervously and saw a woman who looked like a doll, no, an android standing there.
The distinctive blue uniform was very familiar to Lee Geumhwan.
She was a national inspector.
In the military, they were almost known as grim reapers.
It was an unwritten rule that when someone in a blue uniform appeared, they were dragged to Terra Ind.
But he had never heard of them monitoring civilians.
His lips trembled with tension and the android opened her mouth with an emotionless attitude.
¡°I am a national inspector. Based on the Special Economic Crime Punishment Act, I am arresting you, Mr. Lee Geumhwan, on suspicion of providing money and goods to a branch manager of Nonghyup and receiving illegal loans.¡±
His face turned to stone.
Chapter 127: The Future of Cultured Meat
Chapter 127: The Future of Cultured Meat
¡ªMr. Lee, the head of the auction house association and the main culprit of the food crisis, has been arrested urgently.
¡ªMr. Lee is used of bribing a branch manager of the agricultural cooperative and manipting loan documents to obtain arge amount of money.
¡ªThirty employees, including four brokers who were at the scene, were also arrested on the same charge, and twenty others are on the run.
Those who opposed Yu Ji-ha always ended up like this.
At first, they seemed to have some advantage, but at some point, the tide turned against them and they were eventually destroyed miserably.
Unless they were as big as a nation, a bunch of mediocrities could never withstand him.
In that sense, the broker gang had picked the wrong opponent.
¡ªThey had nothing to touch, so they messed with the dictator. They were too arrogant.
¡ªThey didn¡¯t touch the real economy until now, so they believed he wouldn¡¯t intervene this time either.
¡ªThey nned to hoard the supplies and negotiate with Yu Ji-ha. Honestly, if smart farms hadn¡¯t poured out pork belly, they would have seeded.
¡ªYu Ji-ha is actually very wicked. He had countermeasures but let people vent theirints.
¡ªNo, he waited to introduce smart farms fully. Look now. The media is going crazy over smart farm coverage.
The smart farm in Kamchatka Penins, which had resolved the crisis, received intense attention from the media.
Even the media outlets that had been harshly criticizing Yu Ji-ha subtly requested coverage, and the government arranged a separate flight.
And the truth about the smart farm was revealed one by one.
The Koreans were shocked by the fact that the smart farm, which was asrge as a city, waspletely unmanned, and so were the foreigners.
¡ªDid they say they had been operating such arge scale without disclosing it until now?
¡ªIt¡¯s likely that the spam that goes into North Korea is produced there.
¡ªThe scale is amazing, but the equipment and algorithms are more surprising. Especially, the culture room is a mystery how it wasposed.
¡ªA correspondent staying in Korea tried cultured meat and said he couldn¡¯t tell it from real meat. Maybe it will overturn the entire global meat market.
¡ªThe price range is a bit high for that. Korea has a high food price, so it might be a substitute, but it¡¯s not enough to appeal to the world.
What they didn¡¯t know was one thing.
The price of 3,000 won per 100 grams of pork belly was deliberately set high because it couldn¡¯t destroy pig farms.
Yu Ji-ha emphasized that point at the cab meeting.
¡°Persuade pig farmers within three years. When smart farms start pouring out supplies, we can drop pork belly to 500 won per 100 grams.¡±
¡°That much¡¡±
¡°This is impossible topete with.¡±
The bureaucrats who had encountered many surprising information were also quite shocked by this remark.
¡°That¡¯s why you should persuade them by paying subsidies and arranging jobs. It would be better if you say it¡¯s a smart farm management foundation under direct control of the president rather than a privatepany. Chief of Staff.¡±
¡°Yes, Mr. President.¡±
Bae Sung-min, chief of staff, raised his head.
¡°How far has the relocation work of thatpany progressed?¡±
¡°Currently, most of the documents have been transferred and we are selecting a site in the southern region.¡±
¡°Finish it as soon as possible and start establishing the management foundation. I¡¯ll leave this matter to you.¡±
Someone said that.
Yu Ji-ha wouldn¡¯t stop at arresting a few unscrupulous distributors.
There were many rumors that there would be follow-up measures and in fact, the smart farm management foundation was being prepared under direct control of the president.
The reason why he didn¡¯t entrust this to Si Group was to employ many people.
When smart farms started operating in earnest, food products produced in traditional ways would not bepetitive in terms of cost.
It was expected that farmers would go bankrupt in droves, so an agency was needed to absorb them.
He couldn¡¯t leave people who had been farming all their lives on the street overnight, could he?
However, there was not only a rosy outlook for introducing smart farms.
¡ªThere are still many people who look for real meat even if it is simr to real meat. We have to consider them too.
¡ªThere is a saying that you shouldn¡¯t put all your eggs in one basket. The president seems to want the state to manage the entire pork industry, but that could lead to a worse situation than this crisis in case of emergency.
¡ªThe smart farm looks amazing, but it can¡¯t produce by-products like bones or organs, can it? We shouldn¡¯tpletely extinct the pig farming industry for that reason.
The chief of staff, Bae Sung-min, also had that concern.
¡°ording to this n, you won¡¯t be able to enjoy your favorite gamjatang anymore, Mr. President. Are you okay with that?¡±
¡°¡¡±
The cab members saw Yu Ji-ha close his mouth in silence for the first time.
He had a good appetite and ate anything that the Blue House chef made.
He rarely asked for anything special, but he sometimes asked for gamjatang.
Coincidentally, he liked the ones from the restaurants more than the ones made by the chef, so the secretary had to buy gamjatang for him.
Bae Sung-min felt a strange emotion as he saw his face stiffenpletely.
¡®He¡¯s not a machine after all¡¡¯
He sometimes mistook him for a machine because he didn¡¯t show much emotion.
A momentter, Yu Ji-ha opened his mouth after recovering from the shock.
¡°¡Let¡¯s keep a minority of farms since there are some preferences for real meat.¡±
It was an uncharacteristic decision for a dictator who always wanted efficiency, but sometimes he needed to show this side too.
There was a brief talk about the funds to be invested in the management foundation, but it didn¡¯t seem to be a big problem since he had cut off many businesses.
¡°We can cover it with contingency funds without budgeting.¡±
This regime had not done much budgeting even though it had a huge burden of North Korea.
He could do it right away if he wanted to, since there was no parliament.
The reason for this was that artificial intelligence took over the budget review of all public institutions, public enterprises, and local governments.
It was finally realized what Yu Ji-ha had said before, that even ten thousand won had to pass through Lucia¡¯s review.
As a result, local events that were criticized as irrational and wasteful of taxes were drastically reduced.
They couldn¡¯t do things like tearing up good roads anymore.
He interfered so much that some local governments said it would be better to abolish the autonomy system altogether and he was actually doing that.
A whileter, the topic of the cab meeting changed to surplus milk.
¡°It¡¯s expensive to make butter with that milk. Is there something wrong with it?¡±
¡°The cheese made from our milk doesn¡¯t taste good. It¡¯s probably because the environment is different¡¡±
The milk from cows that eat feed and the milk from cows that roam around and graze on grass can¡¯t be the same.
Even considering that, Korean milk was nd and so was cheese.
The real problem was the surplus of milk itself.
At a price of over 4,000 won per liter, consumers had long turned their eyes to imported sterilized milk.
The worst thing was that the price of milk did not go down because of the linkage system.
As a result, consumers also turned away from dairy products and baking industries that needed milk.
Despite the fact that dairy farmers were decreasing, there was more and more surplus milk every year.
When the situation reached this point, the dairy industry, which had been guaranteed profits until then, suggested easing the linkage system, but Yu Ji-ha had no intention of doing so.
¡°The linkage system for raw milk prices introduced in 2013 is the root of all evil. We can¡¯t let fifty million, no, seventy million people suffer to protect the interests of less than ten thousand dairy farmers. We will abolish the linkage system as of now.¡±
Finally, it came.
The bureaucrats were tense about what bomb-like words woulde out of the president¡¯s mouth next.
They were going to war with the domestic distribution industry from now on.
***
After Korea and Japan severed diplomatic ties, Korea almost cut off interest in Japan.
The number of times Japan was mentioned in the media decreased significantly and the government acted as if it didn¡¯t exist at all.
If a Japanese diplomat made a remark about it at a UN meeting, they ignored itpletely.
Despite thisck of exchange, Korea surprisingly held up well.
They prepared well and Yu Ji-ha¡¯s existence was a pir. That was the evaluation of economic circles.
¡ªKorea doesn¡¯t need Japan anymore. But Japan is different.
¡ªCompared to Japan being rarely mentioned in Korean portals or media, Korea almost upied foreign news on Japanese portals. It seemed like there was no other country than Korea in foreign news.
However, there were quite a few people in Korea who regretted severing ties with Japan.
Japanese food, culture, travel and so on were undeniably attractive.
But recently, Korea¡¯s content had increased a lot.
The Tourism Agency had finished consulting with the Ministry of Land and was nning a product to travel to the Gema teau in North Korea.
Yu Ji-ha had originally said that he would close it for ten years to normalize the North Korean region, but that was slightly rxed.
Although there were many restrictions such as strict limitations on items to be brought in and all garbage had to be collected, it was still possible to travel to the Gema teau.
It was already attracting all kinds of attention on TV and YouTube, whether they could film the tigers of the Korean Penins.
On the other hand, various games produced by Si Entertainment also satisfied the maniacs.
Korea had been weak in otaku-type content represented by animation, but it became a big topic when a production tool using artificial intelligence was announced.
It meant that individuals could make animations using the production tool.
¡ªAll you need is your imagination. Try making an animation now.
Of course, it was quite difficult to go professional, such as having to do 3D modeling, but it was enough to arouse the desire to challenge.
Many creators showcased their own models and animations, which boasted quality that was not inferior to CG animations made with huge investments.
Japan reported this trend in great detail.
On portal sites, news from Korea had much higher clicks than domestic news.
In the midst of this, a pork shortage crisis urred and cultured meat was announced, which made Korean TV dominate the Japanese TV.
This was because Japan and Israel were leading the research on cultured meat.
Except for TV Tokyo, other broadcasters were busy sending out special features on cultured meat every day.
¨DThe mysterious cultured meat that perfectly reproduces samgyeopsal dissected!
¨DCan it match the taste of Royal Meat, the pride of Nitsin Research Institute in Japan?
The guest invited to this special feature was Professor Soichi.
He was a professor of agriculture at Tokyo University and one of the few people who could visit Korea.
Although the two countries officially severed ties, they did notpletely cut off private exchanges.
President Yu Ji-ha seemed to hate Japan on the surface, but surprisingly he oftenplied with requests from civilians.
The extreme right-wing forces, including the New Japan Restoration Party, imed that this was a conspiracy to dominate Japan, but Professor Soichi denied it.
The reason he came out today was to correct the prejudice that Japanese people had against Korea.
¡°Actually, I have visited Korea recently.¡±
¡°Eeeh~¡±
¡°That¡¯s amazing. I thought Korea hated Japanese peoplepletely.¡±
Professor Soichi sighed heavily at the ridiculous reactions of the panels.
¡°They are not hateful, but indifferent. You can¡¯t find any news about Japan in Korean news. They arepletely focused on domestic issues, unlike us.¡±
The atmosphere cooled down as he revealed the ufortable truth, and the host intervened reluctantly.
¡°Well, well, today¡¯s topic is about Korea¡¯s cultured meat. I ask you to focus on that.¡±
¡°Fine. Anyway, I visited Korea for research and coincidentally there was a pork shortage crisis. There was a saying in Japan that it was impossible, but I would like to call it a challenge.¡±
¡°A challenge.¡±
¡°Yes, a challenge. Because they broke through the crisis head-on. Any other country would have tried to lift the ban. But that person, Yu Ji-ha, was different.¡±
As soon as Yu Ji-ha¡¯s story came up, the panels visibly became ufortable.
He was the protagonist of the severance and had caused a lot of friction, so they couldn¡¯t have good feelings.
Not all Japanese people felt that way, but the panels of this special feature wereposed of middle-aged or older people.
If they hired young people as panels, they might say something friendly.
Professor Soichi ignored such atmosphere and continued his story.
¡°He presented cultured meat from smart farms andpletely captured the hearts of Koreans. Our media doubted whether it would taste good or have good texture, but I tasted it and it was not inferior to any brand.¡±
¡°By brand, do you mean something like Kurobuta?¡±
¡°I get invited to eat meat a lot because of my profession, but Korea¡¯s cultured meat was not behind at all.¡±
¡°Oh, really?¡±
It was a bold statement from a professor at Tokyo University, so even the panels responded slightly.
But then an old entertainer asked out of nowhere.
¡°Isn¡¯t that expensive? They poured out thousands of tons of supply in a few weeks. I¡¯m worried that Korea might go bankrupt.¡±
¡°I hope they don¡¯t ask us for help.¡±
Professor Soichi sighed again.
These people hated Korea so much that they didn¡¯t know what was going on at all.
He turned on his tablet on the spot and showed them the homepage of the newly established Smart Farm Management Agency.
¡°It¡¯s a direct agency of President Yu Ji-ha. Smart Farm Management Agency. If you go to their homepage, you can see how they made cultured meat with what kind of technology. First¡¡±
Words like bioprinter, ultrafine particle nozzle, enzyme adhesive popped out of Professor Soichi¡¯s mouth.
He exined enthusiastically whether the panels were confused or not.
¡°This is not a simple assembly. Itpressed the process of growing actual muscles and fat and reduced the cost significantly.¡±
¡°But didn¡¯t they set the price at 400 yen per 100 grams? That¡¯s not cheap.¡±
One panel asked and he said impatiently.
¡°That¡¯s a kind of grace period to consider the existing farms. If you look at this page, they n to lower the price to about 65 yen in three years.¡±
¡°65 yen??¡±
¡°That¡¯s amazing.¡±
The panels couldn¡¯t help but be surprised by this number.
It was natural because Nitsin¡¯s Royal Meat, which was rated as the most advanced in Japan¡¯s cultured meat research, cost more than 2,000 yen per 100 grams.
Usually, costs go down as technology advances, but cultured meat research had limits because it required serum and stem cells.
¡°This 65 yen price means that theypletely broke out of that limit. They made clean meat that doesn¡¯t have to suffer from environmental problems anymore.¡±
This cultured meat would be very popr in Europe, but the rtionship was so bad that the possibility of export was low.
The only ces that could be exported were the United States, Russia, or the Middle East.
Now the panels were quiet and only the professor¡¯s voice echoed in the studio.
¡°Cheap, clean, and tasty. A dream meat was born. And that¡¯s not the end. This cultured meat technology can also be applied to tuna.¡±
¡°Eeeh?¡±
¡°Professor, you¡¯re joking, right?¡±
Tuna was the most favorite fish of Japanese people.
But the supply was far short of the demand, so they mainly relied on the North Pacific fishing grounds, which were cut off by Terra Ind.
The media cited this as one of the reasons why the middle-aged people disliked Yu Ji-ha, who took over the tuna fishing grounds.
Professor Soichi looked at the panels slowly and opened his mouth.
¡°I¡¯m not joking. If you look at the contents of this homepage, you will see that they n to produce not only pork, but also beef, chicken, fish, and even shellfish and other animal protein ingredients.¡±
¡°That¡¯s just a n, right?¡±
Someone shouted in protest, and he bit his tongue inwardly.
¡°Did anything that Yu Ji-ha said note true?¡±
¡°¡¡±
¡°ck metal battery, unobtanium ion thruster, artificial intelligence, diamond semiconductor¡ It¡¯s hard to list them all. And now cultured meat is added to that. How about it? Japan ispletely out of this flow. It¡¯s obsolete.¡±
It was a harsh statement, but the bacsh was not easy.
¡°I heard that we caught up a lot recently.¡±
¡°We already deployed railguns and added ck metal armor tes to navy ships. Japan is not behind.¡±
¡°We are also making steady progress on ion thrusters. I think you are influenced by Korea because you visit there too much, professor.¡±
It was true.
Thanks to the emergence of powerful hypermen, there was also considerable progress in ck metal and ether research.
But it was not well known that the hypermen suffered terribly behind the scenes.
The Matsuda administration desperately hid the fact that they caused a riot after being exploited.
So Japanese people could only see the sessful side of Japan.
Professor Soichi emphasized with a final feeling.
¡°The future that Korea¡¯s cultured meat will bring is clear. The UN climate agreement conference will start soon, right? The best way to reduce carbon emissions while maintaining the current economic scale is to reduce the number of livestock. That means we have to bow down to Korea, even if¡¡±
Suddenly the audio went out and thest word was not heard.
But Japanese people who were watching this special feature could easily imagine that word.
The bacsh rose like a fire in a stove.
¨DWhat? Reconciliation? Never.
¨DIf Korea bows first, maybe. But no way.
¨DWe need sincere apology andpensation from Yu Ji-ha at least.
Of course, Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t care about this situation.
His attention was focused on hundreds of fishing boats that filled the West Sea.
Chapter 128: Negotiations with Yu Ji-ha
Chapter 128: Negotiations with Yu Ji-ha
The West Sea of the Korean Penins often had unwee visitors.
They were Chinese fishing boats and typhoons.
These two came in pairs every summer, as the fishing boats anchored on the inds of the West Sea to avoid the typhoons.
It was a sight to behold, seeing over a hundred fishing boats lined up in the narrow ind harbors.
Of course, that was a Chinese expression. For Koreans, it was nothing but abhorrent.
The fishing boats not only illegally fished in Korean waters, but also caused damage to the harbors.
After the typhoons passed, they did not leave peacefully, but threw away their wastes and garbage.
The highlight was the chase between them and the Korean Coast Guard, who resisted with weapons while illegally intruding into Korean waters.
It was no wonder that the Coast Guard hated being assigned to the West Sea.
They had to suffer from all kinds of dispatches, and they could even die if something went wrong.
The only time they were quiet was during the Sino-Korean War, or the Second Korean War.
They could not dare to intrude when dozens of heavily armed warships patrolled around.
Ironically, the ecosystem of the West Sea became much richer because the Korean fishing boats could not fish and had to rely on subsidies.
But recently, Chinese fishing boats had been appearing near Yeonpyeong Ind and other areas that used to be NLL.
Their apparent target was crabs.
But Minister of Industry Yu Ji-ha imed that they had a different ulterior motive.
¡°This is a confidential document from Cheongwadae. As you can see, it shows that North Korea transferred the development rights of its West Sea continental shelf to China.¡±
The document contained information that Kim Jong-un had transferred the development rights of North Korea¡¯s West Sea continental shelf to China in the mid-2010s.
The problem was that there was an oil field on that continental shelf.
The exact location was between Dalian and Nanpo in China.
The deputy minister of industry handed over a few more documents.
¡°China has been exploring this area since thete 1990s. They seem to have found an oil field in thete 2010s, and they obtained the development rights by paying some kind ofpensation to North Korea.¡±
¡°But this is not an official document, right?¡±
Yu Ji-ha pointed out and the deputy minister nodded.
¡°Yes. It¡¯s a kind of letter exchanged between the leaders at that time. It¡¯s not legally binding because they agreed verbally. It was not submitted to UN either.¡±
¡°Then we can ignore it.¡±
The bureaucrats felt anew the changed status of Korea as they looked at the president who spoke calmly.
There was a time when a fewwmakers ran to Beijing as soon as China coughed.
But now things were different.
Korea did not care about China¡¯s opinion anymore.
Rather, they used new technologies such as ck metal as hostages and even gainednd including Baekdusan.
Although they shed with China in the process, they did not suffer much damage.
They still had diplomatic rtions as theirst weapon, but it was uncertain whether China¡¯s economy, which was struggling in a quagmire without a strong leader, could withstand it.
Yu Ji-ha summarized the meeting content.
¡°Listen carefully. China wants to develop an oil field on the continental shelf of the West Sea. They probably need oil because their supply from the Middle East was cut off due to Pakistan¡¯s destruction.¡±
¡°The independence of Xinjiang Uyghur also affected them. China does not have enough troops to deploy there now.¡±
Chief Secretary Bae Sung-min added casually and Yu Ji-ha nodded.
¡°They need oil for economic recovery, but they don¡¯t have enough supply within China. So they n to divert our attention and develop it.¡±
¡°Then¡ do we have to secure it?¡±
¡°China will never give up this oil field either.¡±
Everyone¡¯s voice was tense.
They had seen firsthand how much power China could mobilize in the Sino-Korean War.
If it weren¡¯t for the terrain of Taiwan Strait, US support, and railguns and ion beams, Taiwan would have surrendered long ago.
Of course, Korea was strong enough now.
They could evenpete with China in naval battles if they included the fleet of United Human Federation.
But China¡¯s ck metal-based technology development was dazzling.
They seeded in electrifying railguns after Japan, and they installed ck metal armor tes on all their warships.
They did not stop even though their center of gravity became higher and their stability was impaired.
It was clear that they were determined.
Of course, there was a simr phenomenon behind them as Japan.
The awakened ones who were exhausted from training vomited blood and copsed, but the Chinese government concealed it.
They would not be able to stop the aftermath when it exploded all at onceter.
He came to a conclusion.
¡°This agreement made by a letter is null and void from the start. Therefore, we have the right to the continental shelf as well. How much we can im will be decided from now on. Deputy Minister of Resources.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°Send an exploration ship to the continental shelf. I will get the detailed data, so you just need to borrow the equipment from the Russian side.¡±
The data meant the exploration records of the Chinese side.
He wondered how he would get them, but he just had to do as he was told here.
He would receive the data soon.
¡°I understand.¡±
¡°And keep an eye on the navy nearby. You can also do some railgun firing training.¡±
It was a tant act of raising tension, but he seemed to have no worries.
Well, he was a dictator who threatened China and Japan and sent Iran and Pakistan back to the medieval times. What would he be afraid of?
Everyone said that the U.S. had to step in to control him, but they didn¡¯t seem to have much intention to do so.
Was it because they withdrew from Asia due to the semiconductor issue?
Did they think they only had to protect Europe and the Middle East?
He pointed his finger at the West Sea.
¡°And these ships that came to deceive us¡ Judging by the timing, they are trying to sweep up all the crabs during the fishing season. We can¡¯t let that happen. I¡¯ll take care of this matter myself, so just crack down on our fishermen.¡±
Everyone was curious how he would take care of it, but there was no one to ask.
The secretary-general had to step up here.
He asked, feeling the anxious gaze of others, and he asked back.
¡°How do we respond to ships that illegally enter our territorial waters?¡±
This was something that only the head of the Coast Guard could answer.
¡°We broadcast a warning and fire a warning shot.¡±
¡°And if they don¡¯t back off?¡±
¡°We stop them with live ammunition and board them to arrest them if necessary.¡±
In the process, the ships sometimes rammed into the patrol boats or resisted with weapons.
It was natural that there were many casualties.
¡°From today, we change the response protocol. If they don¡¯t back off after two warnings, we use live ammunition.¡±
The head of the Coast Guard was shocked.
¡°Mr. President¡¡±
¡°I¡¯ll take responsibility. You won¡¯t have to fight with Chinese ships anymore, so just focus on cracking down on our fishermen. It¡¯s troublesome if they get caught by going into someone else¡¯s territorial waters for no reason.¡±
¡°Yes, we will crack down thoroughly.¡±
¡°I heard that these days some fishing boats that fish for hemp near the coast often enter Japanese waters. It must be a mistake, but please guide them well. It will be troublesome if it happens again.¡±
There was a group that didn¡¯t listen as much as Chinese ships, and that was Korean fishermen.
They were so disobedient that former Coast Guard officials would roll their eyes when they heard fishermen.
They would dangerously pass through funnels or hulls when warships appeared, hoping for a full catch.
They didn¡¯t dare go near merchant ships because they might collide with them due tock of maneuverability.
Anyway, the bureaucrats¡¯ questions didn¡¯t subside.
There was no answer as to how he would take care of it himself.
Their questions werepletely answered when several unmanned surface vessels appeared in the West Sea.
These vessels were made to monitor the coast of Terra Ind, but they were scheduled to be dismantled soon as their purpose was over.
They didn¡¯t need small boats anymore since Earth Fleet was fully equipped.
But Korea could use these boats very usefully.
About 50 unmanned surface vessels of 300 tons each detected Chinese fishing boats sweeping up crabs during the fishing season.
***
After the oil price linkage system was abolished, the government faced fierce opposition from the dairy industry.
Thousands of people protested on Gwanghwamun Street and police forces protected them.
He had never stopped any protests, but listening to their ims was apletely different matter.
¡°Stop killing dairy farming! Stop abolishing linkage system!¡±
¡°It¡¯s distribution¡¯s fault! Farmers have no problem!¡±
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food immediately convened a board meeting of Dairy Promotion Council, but tension rose as all directors refused to attend.
However, their confrontation ended absurdly when he took away the price determination authority from the council¡¯s business.
¡°There is no reason for it to be included in the council¡¯s business since the linkage system has been abolished. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food should revise the regtions as nned. From now on, milk prices will be determined by the market.¡±
The dairy farmers couldn¡¯t sit still after hearing this.
¡ªOil is hard to store and control the supply. It is iprehensible that the government abolished the linkage system at a time when long-term measures and support are urgently needed.
¡ªThey criticize that milk is 4,000 won per liter, but it seems that the dairy industry is taking too much margin. They dispose of the surplus milk every year and y the media that they are struggling, but why do they keep making profits?
¡ªThe production cost is too high and it is hard to lower the cost. I wish President Yu Ji-ha would consider us.
Contrary to the general perception of people, dairy farmers were not making a lot of money.
The root cause was thend of the Korean Penins, which was not suitable for milking cows, and the environment where they had to import most of the equipment and feed.
While Korea was suffering from this pain, Europe was in a situation where dairy farmers were protesting because milk was too cheap.
The price difference was a whopping four times.
Until now, European milk had entered Korea duty-free through FTA, but France and others had reduced the amount exported to Korea since a while ago.
As a result, the price of a liter of milk pack that consumers picked up at the mart did not change much.
At this point, consumers got furious.
¡ªHow can it make sense that it is more than twice as expensive as gasoline?
¡ªNo, I won¡¯t eat it. I¡¯ll just wait a bit and eat Australian milk when ites in.
¡ªWhy do you demand socialist policies in a capitalist society? You would be angry if foreign workers asked for a raise every year.
The two sides shed without any concession, and the battlefield was mainly TV and YouTube.
All kinds of criticism and propaganda were rampant, and the dairy industry was hit by both sides after agreeing on one opinion.
¡ªKorean dairy industry is amazing for creating a miracle where low-fat milk is more expensive than regr milk!
¡ªI don¡¯t understand why the president¡¯s family¡¯s sry keeps increasing while they whine every year that they are struggling!
This issue had been fought for more than a day or two, but no clear conclusion was reached.
It was said that making a policy that satisfies all of supply, distribution, and demand was harder than a roosterying an egg.
People¡¯s eyes were focused on Yu Ji-ha¡¯s mouth, and he announced some policies.
¡°I understand the realistic difficulties of 5,000 dairy farmers. And I can¡¯t ignore the grievances of consumers who have to buy milk at an absurdly high price. Therefore, I will implement the following policies instead of the linkage system.¡±
New policies were announced one after another.
One notable thing was that he dismantled most of the raw milk organizations, including Dairy Promotion Council, and established a new institution led by the government.
Usually, when ites to government-led, it is easy to think of inefficiency, but there was no representative for this institution.
It was controlled by artificial intelligence.
Some media criticized him for trying to make the whole country an AI board.
¡ªIf 50 million, no, 70 million be public servants, the inefficiency will be unspeakable.
However, contrary to this criticism, public service society these days was not so inefficient.
Lucia monitored budget waste and most of the red tape was eliminated.
Even trivial money that used to be paid to each local government head as dignity maintenance expenses disappearedpletely, and most importantly, public servants¡¯ status guarantee was abolished.
They didn¡¯t fire low-performers because it was hard to measure performance as public servants, but criminals or those who caused social controversy were immediately fired.
As a test case or something, hundreds of public servants who had been illegally receiving allowances by using overtime cards were fired at once.
People who lost their jobs suddenly cried and clung to them, but they even recovered the illegally received allowances.
¡°There are many jobs these days, but public service is still popr. There are many people who want to do it, so work hard.¡±
There were some concerns about work gaps, but no major seque urred.
Anyway, thanks to these measures, Korean public servants worked harder than those in generalpanies.
While receiving instructions from artificial intelligence.
A retired senior public servant anonymously interviewed with a media outlet like this.
¡°I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s trying to do by making the whole country an AI board. Here¡¯s AI, there¡¯s android¡ There¡¯s no human being, no human being.¡±
¡°But didn¡¯t it be more efficient? There¡¯s no more talk of budget waste.¡±
¡°No, it¡¯s our human world. How can we live by chasing efficiency only? We make mistakes like this and waste like that. That¡¯s how we live.¡±
He seemed toin that he had been doing well enough and why he made it noisy by turning it upside down.
The viewers flipped over and asked him to reveal his identity, and the media outlet took down the video.
Meanwhile, the dairy industry did not ept the government-led policy very well.
¡ªWhat¡¯s the point of being a public servant without status guarantee?
¡ªI don¡¯t like the fact that artificial intelligence controls it. We know the Korean milk market best.
¡ªThe sry and allowance are too low. We will make our own group and act.
However, everything was buried when something happened in the West Sea.
Unmanned surface vessels that suddenly appeared destroyed hundreds of Chinese fishing boats.
They broke the formation by surfacing after diving, as the fishing boats did not move even after the warning broadcast.
The furious fishing boats charged at the unmanned surface vessels, but it was like hitting a rock with an egg.
The sturdy ck metal hulls shattered the fishing boats, and all that was left were Chinese fishermen screaming for help.
Several unmanned surface vessels went around and picked them up and put them on a barge.
That¡¯s how hundreds of Chinese fishing boats that came to sweep up the crabs in the West Sea during the fishing season werepletely annihted.
When the media reported this in detail, cheers like wildfire followed.
¡ªThat¡¯s refreshing. They should have done this sooner.
¡ªBut is this okay? China won¡¯t sit still.
¡ªWhat are they going to do if they don¡¯t sit still? Restrict exports?
¡ªIt would have been different in the past, but things have changed.
It was true.
Korea seeded in restructuring its economy centered on Si Group and diversified most of its raw material imports.
They settled on producing things that didn¡¯t fit their budget by themselves at Si Group.
They took measures to avoid being influenced by external forces.
The problem was food prices, which were represented by the basket price, but they were solving them one by one with the introduction of smart farms and policy changes.
The dairy farmers realized who they had beenining to when they saw this incident.
Yu Ji-ha notified without negotiating.
He also took actions that changed the environment itself without hesitation.
Therefore, if they continued to resist, the entire dairy industry might be extinct.
His real scariness was that he somehow cleaned up after doing all that.
The dairy farmers gathered and decided that it would be better to ept the president¡¯s proposal after a meeting.
¡°They say Si Heavy Industries will provide equipment cheaply and introduce an automation system.¡±
¡°Feed cost is the biggest problem, but they say they will bring it in cheaply from Australia. Let¡¯s trust them for now.¡±
After the pain, the oil price linkage system waspletely abolished and Lucia took charge of price determination.
Yu Ji-ha called the representatives of the dairy industry and notified them.
¡°The oil price will drop from 2,000 won to 900 won. So I hope you lower the milk price ordingly.¡±
¡°Yes¡¡±
They all answered, but their expressions were not very pleasant.
It implied that he wouldn¡¯t leave them alone if they didn¡¯t lower it.
What couldn¡¯t he do when he destroyed Chinese fishing boats and persuaded those fierce dairy farmers?
Yu Ji-ha added one more thing.
¡°I heard there was such a country. They removed fat from milk, but surprisingly they added wellness and sold it more expensively. Does that make sense?¡±
¡°¡¡±
The representatives sweated nervously.
In fact, they were still selling it like that.
If they said nonsense that it was because of the added process in front of him, he would thoroughly smash them.
The best thing was to admit their mistake and promise to do better in the future.
¡°We won¡¯t do that anymore, Mr. President.¡±
¡°We will determine the price so that consumers can be satisfied.¡±
Yu Ji-ha nodded his head and emphasized.
¡°It¡¯s a capitalist world, isn¡¯t it? What can I do if apany wants to sell something expensive? But that means you have to ept fiercepetition.¡±
It meant that Si Group would enter the milk business if they raised the price, so do as you please.
¡°And from next month, the fines for collusion will increase. If you¡¯re curious how much it will increase, you can try colluding.¡±
It would be several times more than what they gained from collusion.
The representatives could only mutter ¡°yes¡± without any resistance.
Thanks to these measures, the price tags of milk disyed at the mart began to change from a few dayster.
Consumers were finally satisfied when they saw the milk price drop by almost half.
¡°This is reasonable enough to buy often.¡±
¡°It¡¯s expensivepared to American milk, but we have to eat ours.¡±
¡°Anyway, everything is solved when the president steps in.¡±
Of course, not everyone was in a good direction.
The government¡¯s burden increased administratively and financially because it embraced dairy farming.
But that was what Yu Ji-ha wanted.
He had to put all facilities into Mega City because he had to wage a total war in 39 years at the earliest or 49 years at thetest.
He introduced artificial intelligence and androids excessively because he didn¡¯t have enough time to persuade and deploy people.
But when one conflict was resolved, another conflict erupted.
Arge oil field was discovered on the continental shelf between China and Korea.
The estimated reserves were about 45 billion barrels, enough for Korea to use for about 40 years.
It was enough to be called medium-sized, but China imed sovereignty and stepped forward.
Korea did not back down and sent a few warships.
Tension was high in the narrow sea, which was only 200 km wide and had an average depth of less than 50 m.
Chapter 129: The Fun Arms Race
Chapter 129: The Fun Arms Race
¡°I¡¯ll take care of the rest of the work.¡±
¡°Try to absorb them into the management agency if possible. If you need more manpower, ask the secretariat.¡±
He entrusted Arma with the reform of the remaining distributionwork.
Now that he had established the foundation of smart farming, the rest was not too difficult.
Contrary to his expectations, people did not have much resistance to cultured meat, and it was selling like hotcakes.
The low price was one reason, but the bigger advantage was the consistent quality.
¡ªAt least there¡¯s no confusion about whether this is fat or meat.
¡ªIf you eat this, you can¡¯t eat other meat. It¡¯s tasteless.
Many citizens were eagerly waiting for theunch of smart-farmed beef, following pork.
And many researchers from abroad came to visit, and some even naturalized.
¡ªWhen I came to Korea and checked it myself, I realized how hard it was to catch up with the technological gap. It¡¯s better to do research here.
¡ªIt¡¯s more like learning what has already been researched than doing it together, but there are so many new technologies and equipment that it¡¯s fun.
As a result of epting these researchers, Korea¡¯s smart farming management agency became thergest in the world.
There was a lot of domestic demand, but there were also many export requests from foreign countries that verified the quality, so it seemed that they would have to operate at full capacity for a while.
Dairy products also went down in price considerably, and especially milk had an additional process added to enjoy its unique rich and creamy taste.
There were also ns to make butter and cheese with this milk, which delighted domestic consumers.
¡ªForeign goat cheese is really delicious, but I tried a sample this time and it was almost simr.
-Domestic butter was ridiculously expensive, but this time the price will go down a lot.
¡ªIt¡¯s amazing how technology can solve even the worstnd¡
Now most consumers hoped that smart farming would produce fruits as well.
Especially delicious fruits from Southeast Asia.
Imports had increased significantly and farms growing them in Korea had also increased, but they were still expensive.
Especially things like mangosteen, which had a short shelf life, took a long time at customs or quarantine procedures even if they used cargo ships, which raised the unit price.
The smart farming management agency said that there were technical difficulties, but it was not impossible.
¡ªWe are currently testing the process of making pulp with particle spray like cultured meat. Once the gic analysis is done, we will be able to produce more realistic products.
¡ªWe started working on removing the odor gene from durian. We might be able to make a fruit that has the original taste of pulp but is more essible.
This information was known to Southeast Asia and caused a great bacsh.
They said that they could not recognize the pulp made that way as fruit.
Anyway, consumers only cared about enjoying it cheaply and deliciously, and he had no ns to stop or give up.
In this way, as the overall perception of smart farming improved and the rural extinction elerated, the reform of the distributionwork was also progressing steadily.
Arma was confident that he could raise Korea¡¯s food self-sufficiency rate to 65% in five years at most and manage most of the distributionwork.
¡°In 10 years, we will be able to produce enough food for ourselves, and in 25 years, we will be able to feed a billion people.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good. Go ahead with it.¡±
Next, he needed military reform.
The current Korean military was too inefficient for him to maintain.
When he fought against gue in the future, he would need not only artificial intelligence but also weak psychers and ordinary humans.
He had to pour all his resources into a total war.
But when he was active on Earth, he didn¡¯t need to operate an army that cost a lot ofbor costs.
Just look at the naval forces of China and Korea gathered near the West Sea oil field.
He could save on this.
Although the number of personnel on board each warship had been greatly reduced by automation, it was still about 80 people per ship.
There were 13 ships in total, so more than a thousand people were involved.
If they confront each other for about two weeks, thebor cost would be close to 2 billion won.
The current Korean military was using sailors at minimum wage, but still so.
The army equipment was even more wasteful.
The recently introduced weapon systems were better, but things likerge-caliber towed guns required about 10 people to stick to them.
It was such an old weapon system that it needed a lot of human touch.
The Ministry of National Defense announced an automation n from early 2010, but as always, it was postponed due to other projects.
And so soldiers were still digging holes to cool down the towed guns in 2031.
¡°It¡¯s a social waste to keep these people in the military.¡±
It was time to abolish conscription.
When this was announced, there would be amotion from active-duty soldiers to retired generals, but there was no n change.
He started the defense reform with the help of Arma.
When he showed the n to the chief of the secretariat for a moment, he looked somewhat absurd.
¡°You¡¯re thinking of making a high-tech military with a very small number of people.¡±
It was high-techpared to other countries, but this n was extreme.
He nned to rece everything except a fewmand posts with unmanned equipment.
He turned the page.
¡°Korean military force is about 400,000 and defense budget is 65 trillion won. Thebor cost is over 26 trillion won, which is too high. If you add basic housing and welfare costs, support costs, it goes over half. The number does not include golf courses that officers exclusively use.¡±
Here, Bae Sungmin realized the fate of the golf course.
It will close soon¡
The important thing was that he was nning this while shing with the Chinese navy in the West Sea.
Did China mean nothing to the president?
ording to this n, conscription would be abolished and most of the officers and nonmissioned officers would be discharged.
They would be reced by a high-tech military controlled by artificial intelligence.
The chief of the secretariat briefly recalled the old movie Terminator.
He wondered when such a future woulde, but now it was right in front of him.
¡°This is not a reorganization, but a dismantling and rebuilding.¡±
¡°As you know, the military is a wasteful group that only knows how to fight. The bigger it is, the more burden it puts on the budget. Therefore, efficient reorganization is important.¡±
¡°¡If you look back at history, there were frequent protests and riots due to the treatment of veterans and such. Wouldn¡¯t kicking them all out at once cause a simr oue?¡±
¡°I have already considered that. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll find a way to use them somehow.¡±
What about the resource development in Siberia?
It was such a vast and barren ce that it required arge-scale investment and manpower.
He could automate that part with the technology hidden in the Settler, but he couldn¡¯t afford to idle that many people.
The chief of the secretariat turned the n over and said.
¡°If this idea is realized, the world will be turned upside down again.¡±
¡°There won¡¯t be many people who are surprised by now.¡±
¡°Some people seriously believe that you came from outer space, Mr. President. What do you think of that?¡±
It was a bit of an off-topic remark, but he surprisingly didn¡¯t rebuke him.
¡°Well, imagination is free, but I have only one goal. The peace of humanity.¡±
If there was a French politician here, he might haveughed out loud, but Bae Sungmin believed him without doubt.
He closed the n and said.
¡°Let¡¯s keep this between us for the time being. It will get noisy if the military finds out.¡±
It would be more than noisy, it would be overturned.
But he was a man who did what he said, and no one could stop him.
***
President Baldwin was definitely different from his predecessor.
He really did what he said after dering that he would withdraw from East Asia.
He didn¡¯t say a word even though the tension was rising in the West Sea.
But he tried to secure his own interests, and sometimes that annoyed him.
¡°I¡¯m a bit disappointed. Couldn¡¯t you have let Americanpanies participate in the oil exploration¡ That¡¯s what I thought.¡±
¡°It¡¯s because Russia¡¯s conditions are better.¡±
¡°In what way?¡±
¡°Americans are too thorough. They set up ces where they can and can¡¯t go from the beginning to prevent technology leakage. But Russians are different. They show everything for a bottle of vodka.¡±
That¡¯s what actually happened in Siberia¡¯s resource exploration.
The Korean exploration team was inexperienced in oil, so they got a lot of help from Russians who were experts in that field.
There was a security officer attached to them formally, but they got drunk together at a drinking party in the cold ce and became careless.
The friendship that he had built up with President Putin over time must have helped a lot.
To Russians, Korea was like a brother country.
He felt a little sorry to stab them in the back.
¡°Haha¡ That¡¯s what attracted you.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it natural to prefer more informationing in?¡±
¡°But Americanpanies would have much better technology. Russia is an oil-producing country and has a lot of know-how in that field, but their equipment is too old. It costs too much money to drill one hole.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll make up for that with walkers.¡±
¡°Thebination of know-how and cutting-edge technology¡ This is getting pretty scary.¡±
President Baldwin¡¯s words were not ttery at all.
He might be under a lot of pressure from the Democrats.
Was it right to withdraw from East Asia and ignore Korea?
But he had to at least pretend to do so if he thought of diamond semiconductors.
President Baldwin changed the subject.
¡°Speaking of which, major powers are raising their defense budgetstely. There is also a high opinion in the Senate that we should increase our defense spending.¡±
¡°Do you mean that¡¯s because of me too?¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that true? What do you think other countries think when they see the warships of both countries confronting each other in the West Sea? Wouldn¡¯t they insist that they must secure railguns at all costs?¡±
Anti-ship missiles had three levels of defense: deception, missiles, and CIWS, but they were all useless in front of railguns.
The West Sea was too narrow, so there was a tension among the naval forces of both countries that whoever shot first would win.
If Earth Fleet was mobilized, it would be a different story, but China threatened to deploy more fleets in that case.
¡ªIf you think railguns and ion thrusters are Korea¡¯s exclusive property forever, you are mistaken. We have already finished the experiment of Hafnium2. We can mass-produce it and it will bring despair to Korea.
He already knew well about China¡¯s ck metal-ether research situation, so he couldn¡¯t help but sneer.
China literally threw psychers into the research.
They had strong powers, so they used the excuse of efficient research and imprisoned them in a facility andpletely blocked it with the military.
They were treated as prisoners in fact.
Thanks to that, there was a growing doubt among Chinese psychers whether they deserved such treatment.
What good was a high sry?
They had to vomit blood and cause transform phenomena as prisoners.
The problem was that the quality of the ck metal produced that way was not uniform.
The inspection was so thorough that the railgun barrels didn¡¯t break like Japan¡¯s, but the short lifespan was inevitable.
That¡¯s why the Chinese railgun ships deployed in the West Sea had receable barrels.
¡°The output is not properly delivered because the barrels are receable. That¡¯s why the range is rtively short.¡±
It wasn¡¯t a big problem in the narrow West Sea, so they might be happy by now.
On the inte,izens from both countries were arguing over whose railgun was better.
The Korean side had an advantage of freely tranting all kinds of insults with Russian Premium, but it seemed better to lose.
Anyway, he had to block President Baldwin¡¯s intention to urge disarmament.
¡°Before you im that railguns are an arms race, you should pay attention to the human rights of psychers in each country. At this very moment, psychers from various countries are being abused like ves.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not such a severe level¡¡±
¡°That may be true for America. But not for other countries. You should urge your intelligence agencies. Something simr to the Uyghur case in Xinjiang is happening.¡±
¡°No way, that can¡¯t be.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll bet you anything. You¡¯ll change your mind when you get the proper information.¡±
As the topic shifted to human rights, President Baldwin was embarrassed.
He was talking about this, who was farther from human rights than anyone in the world.
Anyway, there seemed to be some source, so he needed to urge the intelligence agencies.
The information they obtained was tailored to the taste of the head of the intelligence agency.
Being in the position of president, he could easily be swayed by their intentions if he only received limited information.
¡°¡I¡¯ll check it out. But let me ask you one thing. Why don¡¯t psychers appear in Korea?¡±
¡°They¡¯re all in Megacity. They live morefortably and happily than psychers from other countries.¡±
¡°There must be a reason for keeping them together¡¡±
¡°It seems that there was a problem with ether research. You have to pay a price to get what you want.¡±
He thought he had paid back everything that America had helped him decades ago.
Now he had nothing left to give, and America was a friendly country at best, not an ally.
He had to pay a corresponding price to secure new technology.
President Baldwin said bitterly.
¡°Maybe the senators were right after all.¡±
¡°America¡¯s real friends are Anglo-Saxons, aren¡¯t they? Focus on them.¡±
¡°America decides what to focus on. Anyway, I understand your intention, Mr. President. You have no intention ofpromising at all.¡±
¡°Just like America does.¡±
Infinite nationalism.
It was a philosophy that gained poprity in various countries after the emergence of ck metal and psychers.
There had been many arguments that countries should cooperate in various ways for the environment and peace, but they all changed their faces when this kind of trick appeared.
He could tell by looking at France¡¯s actions, which had been the most critical of him on human rights issues.
They were whipping psychers at a level close to abuse and increasing their military spending to rebuild the great France.
Even if it wasn¡¯t as bad as China, it would be a great shame if it was revealed overseas.
Arma was collecting information through micro-drones and Sibiri satellites.
It would be fun when he popped it someday.
***
Although warships from both countries were confronting each other in the West Sea, surprisingly no battle urred.
They knew too well that they couldn¡¯t go to war with each other.
There was no self-made drama like his specialty, so they just confronted each other and it left a big impression on other countries.
It looked like China was sessfully containing Korea.
¡ªThat sea is narrow and shallow, so it¡¯s not easy to operaterge warships. The fact that China seeded in containing them to that extent shows the need for investment.
¡ªThe only thing that can counter railguns is railguns. Therefore, we need to increase our military spending. A lot of it.
At this point, railguns were a widely spread weapon system.
The battery was simple with ck metal batteries and the technology itself reached maturity by solving the superconducting rail issue with unobtainium.
The problem was the cracks and lifespan of ck metal, but that wasrgely solved as well as the psychers¡¯ abilities increased and research progressed.
Of course, there were only a few countries that could invest in this way, including the existing permanent members and those called strong countries.
Four of them were crowded in East Asia, so the arms race was quite fierce.
China and Japan immediately dered that they would raise their defense spending to 7%, which was estimated as the limit line.
Originally, arge part of defense spending wasbor costs and ck metal was so expensive that they had to raise it like that. It was a sad story behind it.
It was a waste to make armor tes with ck metal for batteries.
Especially Japan, which imported all of its ck metal from the United States, was severely hit.
In Japan, they criticized that the results were not very promisingpared to the money they poured in.
¡ªWhat¡¯s the point of raising the defense budget by five times? At best, we can only produce five railgun escort ships.
¡ªck metal is too expensive. I don¡¯t know how Korea can build buildings and pave roads with it.
¡ªThe efficiency of the newly developed ion thruster is suspicious. I doubt what benefits it haspared to the existing propulsion system. First of all, the fuel cost doesn¡¯t decrease much.
¡ªWe have to install it because we spent too much money on it.
¡ªSo you¡¯re saying we have to install the ion thruster for the sake of the politicians¡¯ face?
¡ªI won¡¯t answer that.
This debate went on endlessly and even those with the most right-wing ideology doubted if this was okay.
But railguns and ion thrusters were an irresistible trend of the times.
Russia had followed this trend early on and so did China.
Many of the existing strong countries announced that they would increase their defense spending, although their circumstances were different.
It was a global arms race.
But Korea, which could be said to be the cause of thispetition, was surprisingly rxed.
No, it only seemed rxed.
He looked at the blueprint of thebat walker, which would be the new main force of the Korean army.
This walker would rece the existing soldiers on the battlefield.
Unlike androids, it had a sturdy frame and ck metal armor tes, so it wouldn¡¯t be destroyed by a single rocketuncher.
It was basically bipedal, but it could also jump high by activating the ion thruster.
It was a futuristic heavily armed infantry, but the reason why it was made human-sized was because it had to use the existing weapon systems.
He couldn¡¯t just throw away what he had made.
Usually, such systems were difficult to repair and couldn¡¯t be used on site.
But that was because they didn¡¯t have the technical skills to introduce them.
¡°It wasn¡¯t very useful in the Human Alliance, but it will be different here. Prepare for mass production.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°And we need to make the next tank. I¡¯d like it to look like that guy.¡±
He was referring to the infantry support tank Taran, which was sleeping in the pod of Sibiri satellite.
Like thebat walker, it wasn¡¯t very useful in the Human Alliance, but it would be enough for this era.
The K-3A2 tank that was currently being mass-produced was only a transitional phase, and it was expected to take charge of the ground war until the gue attacked from the air.
However, it required a lot of effort to transform the Korean army into this kind of army.
There might be a bacsh that couldn¡¯t bepared to the food distributionwork.
But this pain was nothingpared to the troubles of other countries.
They were literally pouring money into their defense spending.
They even cut welfare spending, which was rarely seen in developed countries, and the people protested.
The governments of each country made excuses that they had no choice because their neighbors were leading the way in producing railgun ships, and that was true.
Even America, which had be a rxed lion, nned to cut welfare spending and produce ships optimized for railguns.
But he, who was the direct cause of thispetition, rather dered to reduce defense spending and abolish conscription at the same time.
¡°There will be no morepulsory conscription. We will abolish conscription as of September 15th, 2031.¡±
Chapter 130: Abolition of Conscription
Chapter 130: Abolition of Conscription
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s press conference had attracted a lot of attention.
Every time he made an announcement, it would shake up the rted industries, so it was natural that people were interested.
But they say that if you are constantly stimted, you be immune, right?
The journalists who were seated in the conference hall had seen so many shocking announcements that they were confident that they would not be surprised by anything.
¡°We¡¯ve heard about bombs with the power of tactical nukes and a space program that can reach Mars in a month. There¡¯s nothing more to astonish us.¡±
¡°I would be a little surprised if he suddenly said he was quitting as president.¡±
¡°Hey, that would be the end of our country.¡±
There were more than one or two countries that were eyeing Korea, so Yu Ji-ha had to be there for them to survive.
The journalists joked with each other, but when Yu Ji-ha opened his mouth, they doubted their ears.
¡°As of today, I am abolishing conscription. The military will no longer recruit new soldiers, and the service of those who have entered the training camp will be shortened.¡±
There were other issues such as defense budget cuts, but the headline that came to the journalists¡¯ minds was only one.
¡ªKorea finally abolishes conscription?
¡ªThe system that made Korean men cry andugh for decades finally disappears into history.
There would be fierce opposition from various sectors, but Yu Ji-ha had never lost in such a fight.
If he made an announcement, it meant that he had done all the calctions beforehand.
Didn¡¯t they confirm that in the Baeyangyuk incident?
Only the sound of typing echoed as a few more measures were announced.
The main theme waspensation for those who had suffered to fulfill their duty of national defense.
¡°I would like to express my gratitude to all of you who have generously invested two years or more of your time to protect your country. I will never forget your efforts.¡±
Yu Ji-ha bowed his upper body from the podium and the conference hall became silent.
The people who were watching the press conference on TV also became solemn for a moment.
¡ªHe¡¯s a dictator, but at least he knows how to show appreciation¡
¡ªHe must admit that Korea¡¯s conscription rate was abnormal. 97.8% is something you can¡¯t even gather if aliens invade.
¡ªHa, I remember the two years of my life I wasted in the military. I¡¯ll endure it if they give me a discount coupon for androids.
¡ªWake up. That¡¯s all a show.
Various reactions followed, but a question arose.
How would he fill the gap if he abolished conscription?
Of the nearly 400,000 troops in the country, soldiers ounted for about 60%.
The manpower resources themselves had decreased, and they had dered that they would form a military centered on officers for more than 10 years, but there were still many soldiers.
Of course, these personnel would not be discharged all at once, but it seemed obvious that they would cause problems in various training, border patrols, and operations.
Wasn¡¯t the Korean navy confronting the Chinese navy in the West Sea right now?
¡ªI¡¯m worried about facing China on the border line, but I don¡¯t know if they have any countermeasures.
¡ªDon¡¯t tell me he just did it without any thought?
¡ªDo you think Yu Ji-ha is that kind of person? He must have a detailed n in his head.
¡ªYu Ji-ha¡¯s head is not his head, but in the basement of Metaverse headquarters.
¡ªBy the way, if he abolishes conscription, he means reducing the military. A lot of officers will also be cut off.
¡ª400,000 is a bitcking for Korea¡¯s level, but he¡¯s trying to reduce it. Is he thinking of using artificial intelligence?
¨C-I can understand naval and aerial warfare, but how will they perform ground warfare? War starts with artillery and ends with infantry.
¡ªThey¡¯ll cover it with drones and androids, and if they¡¯re short, they¡¯ll announce new weapons again, right?
As if waiting for that remark,bat walkers were announced.
People were unfamiliar with walkers in general, but they were surprised when robots with heavy bodies appeared.
¡°Combat walkers are designed to suit rough and rapidly changingbat environments unlike existing androids. They will no longer be incapacitated by a single rocketuncher.¡±
It seemed that they were bothered by the fact that androids were blown up by rocketunchers in Iran.
The size ofbat walkers was simr to humans, but their frames were sturdy and their output was high enough to use various weapons.
¡°This is a scene where they operate a 40mm caliber K40 machine gun alone. You won¡¯t have any problems with firepower at least.¡±
There was doubt about how they would change their center of gravity from human size, but their leg frames widened and formed supports.
They were basically walkers, so they didn¡¯t seem to have any trouble transforming like that.
Thebat walker, holding a huge machine gun, fired shells happily.
The aiming system was also urate, as the target 2km away waspletely destroyed.
The military enthusiasts who were watching the broadcast were busy sticking out their tongues and wondering if this was real.
¡ªThere¡¯s no need for terminators.
¡ªWait, is that an ion thruster? Can it fly in the sky?
¡ªFrom the way he said it, it seems hard to fly for a long time.
¡ªEven if it can only jump a little, the tactics themselves will change. Future medium-heavy infantry is really killer.
¡ªHow do you counter that? Combat armored vehicles?
¡ªIt also has a small railgun, I don¡¯t know ifbat armored vehicles can handle it.
¡ªIt¡¯s so sturdy that it doesn¡¯t break easily, and it can be easily repaired in the field with transform¡ What¡¯s the downside?
¡ªIs it expensive?
¡ªHow many technologies are invested in there¡ Others are trying to secure even one of them by pouring in their budget, but he put them all in that small size.
The ck metal frame, battery, ion thruster, artificial intelligence, and railgun were all the embodiment of Shinra Group¡¯s technology.
Hwaryongjeongjeong was a small rocket that was nned to be equipped with a hafnium2 warhead.
The warhead was small, but it was equivalent to 10 tons of TNT.
It was a single robot that could firerge bombs that other countries had to use bombers and such to operate.
Korea or China had made some progress on hafnium2 explosives, but they were still far behind Korea, ording to the reviews.
¡ªFrom now on, if you mess with Yu Ji-ha, you¡¯ll get those instead of drones or androids.
¡ªSmall countries would surrender right away if they got hit by one of those. How do you deal with that?
¡ªThe only way is to call inbat helicopters and fire anti-tank missiles from a distance.
¡ªIt would be so boring for the other side if they hid behind buildings and shot railguns.
¡ªThey¡¯ve created a monster with no answer.
While Koreanizens showed positive reactions, foreign countries mostly showed negative reactions.
They imed that the specs were too inted.
¡ªIt¡¯s impossible to produce that much output with the battery size that fits in that torso. Even with ck metal batteries, it¡¯s impossible.
¡ªIt would be a tin can if it got jammed. Do they have any countermeasures for electronic warfare? In that small size?
¡ªThe production process of hafnium2 explosives is quiteplicated, so they can¡¯t always carry them around.
¡ªAre there only parrots here? Do you have anything else to say besides impossible?
¡ªI¡¯m suddenly scared. Making something like that means they¡¯re going to fight someone.
¡ªWell, they n to abolish conscription and cut defense spending. Maybe it¡¯s to fill the gap.
The firepower was excessive for a weapon system to fill the gap, and only Yu Ji-ha knew the real purpose.
And he announced the downsizing n with a nk expression.
¡°Those who are currently enlisted will receive a shortened service. There will be no soldiers left in the military in a year, so downsizing is inevitable.¡±
It was an extreme measure that should be called dismantling rather than downsizing.
He nned to reduce the size of 160,000 officers to 30% in a year and leave only 10% in two years.
Those who had no choice but to stand up to his request, including retired generals, military suppliers, variouspanies, and regions that lived off the military, rose up.
***
¡ªThis is too much. Abolishing conscription and dismantling the military at this level.
¡ªDo you know how much damage we suffered in the Second Korean War? President Yu Ji-ha can¡¯t treat us like this.
¡ªThe smartphone allowance was already a blow, but if they abolish conscription, what will we live on?
¡ªWe alreadyck manpower, but how are we going to maintain the border with North Korea? Do they think they can solve everything with drones and androids?
¡ªLet¡¯s protest. If we go together, they will listen to us.
But there was no one or group who volunteered to do so.
They had seen Yu Ji-ha¡¯s track record clearly so far.
He never fights.
He just pushes after creating an advantageous environment for himself.
The fact that he announced such an extreme n by surprise meant that he had all the backup ns ready.
Still, there were people who couldn¡¯t just sit still for their face, and they were retired generals.
They seeded in meeting Yu Ji-ha face-to-face by submitting a petition at the request of their juniors.
But that didn¡¯t mean that they got their arguments across.
Yu Ji-ha asked them a question that made them lose their words.
¡°So you¡¯re saying we have to keep conscription for the sake of generals¡¯ jobs?¡±
¡°¡¡±
The retired generals looked at each other and brought out their prepared excuses.
They knew it would be smashed, but they had no choice.
¡°We need a minimum level of manpower to maintain security in North Korea.¡±
¡°Considering the reality of facing China on the border line, we need at least 300,000 for the border.¡±
¡°Shall we take a look at that?¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s trademark data logic smashing came out.
¡°First of all, most of the security in North Korea is handled by police and drones. Do you know why I didn¡¯t reduce the police even though I introduced 1 million drones? It¡¯s for this purpose.¡±
He showed them the actual security situation in North Korea and the retired general who made that im was silent.
The border line with China was not a big problem either.
Most of the troops were concentrated inbat units and drones were in charge of the border.
¡°I¡¯m going to rece thosebat units withbat walkers now. Sky? We have Caliber drones for unmannedbat aircraft. Sea? We¡¯ll bring in old tforms from Earth Fleet. Do you have anything else to say?¡±
It seemed like bringing up marines or special forces wouldn¡¯t work either.
The former was already being questioned for its necessity within the military, and thetter was also losing its pie due to the emergence of androids.
Especially when an android unit dedicated to counter-terrorism was established in Pangook.
Yu Ji-ha added a fatal blow to the generals¡¯ weak points.
¡°It costs nearly 500 million won per year to have one colonel. Basic sry, official car, official residence, secretary, driver¡ I wonder if they are producing results that are worth the expenditure. I can produce twobat walkers with 500 million won. Which one do you think is more efficient?¡±
Anyone would think thatbat walkers were more efficient.
If they said that there was more than efficiency in the military, they would be smashed.
The military was something that had no use other than killing enemies, so what else did they need besides efficiency?
Yu Ji-ha said in front of thepletely deted retired generals.
¡°I can make a much stronger military with the money I save by reducing the size of the military officers to 10%. That¡¯s efficiency, and that¡¯s good for me. I won¡¯t touch your pensions, so let¡¯s end this here.¡±
Did he try to touch their pensions too?
The retired generals sighed in relief while being confused.
They thought that nothing would change for them anyway.
¡®Why do we have to stick our necks out when the active-duty officers don¡¯t?¡¯
¡®They promised not to touch the pensions, so it¡¯s better to get out of here¡¡¯
The protest of the retired generals was easily quelled.
The active-duty officers couldn¡¯t express their dissatisfaction freely for fear of being seen as disobedient, and the Military Mutual Aid Association was about to open their mouth but faced Yu Ji-ha¡¯s preemptive attack.
¡°Your operating assets exceeded 10 trillion wonst year, right? Submit all your transactions and loan records. And let¡¯s dig into the hiring records of your subsidiaries.¡±
If Lucia was mobilized, she could make up a crime for someone who had lived in the mountains all his life.
And the fact that he mentioned it meant that Lucia had already moved.
In a few days, several corruptions were exposed and new suspicions of nepotism emerged.
When it was revealed that none of the Military Mutual Aid Association officers had not taken money, the public opinion, which was already cold,pletely cooled down.
¡ªIf you think about it, those guys from the Military Mutual Aid Association are alsoplete leeches. They must have sucked the blood of the military for a long time.
¡ªThe military supplies they delivered were all crap and there was never a time when there was no performance issue. I hope they pull out the roots this time.
Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t pull out the roots, but destroyed the whole garden.
All the Military Mutual Aid Association officers involved in corruption were dragged to Terra Ind and the organization was dismantled.
The operating funds and assets were all attributed to the national treasury and nned to be invested by artificial intelligence and returned to the officers.
As the Military Mutual Aid Association disappeared cleanly, the rest of the forces couldn¡¯t even think of stepping up.
The only voices that came from the regions where the military units were located were that they would starve to death if this continued, but they only received sarcasm fromizens.
¡ªYou¡¯ve been sucking the blood of soldiers for decades, it¡¯s time to stop.
¡ªYou whined when they expanded the base area, you whined when they allowed smartphones, you whine until the end?
¡ªThere¡¯s no North Korea now, so you can¡¯t use security as an excuse.
There were many business owners who did business conscientiously, but there were too many cases of discrimination between soldiers and civilians that they couldn¡¯t refute.
And other minorints lost their grounds with Yu Ji-ha¡¯s deration.
¡°Our society has demanded sacrifices from men for a long time. They dragged them to protect the country and treated them terribly. You know that better than anyone.¡±
Many men sympathized with his deration.
It was not an exaggeration to say that a considerable shadow of Korean society was born in the military.
Military-style top-down culture, soaring suicide rate, social gap caused by spending two years in the military¡
Yu Ji-ha put an end to that annoying system.
¡°Today, not only conscription but also reserve forces and civil defense are over. You don¡¯t have to waste your time anymore. I thank you for your sacrifices and efforts so far, and I hope you will act as social members in the future.¡±
The press conference ended and cheers erupted throughout Korea.
Men in their 20s who were about to enter the military came out to the streets and shouted hooray for Yu Ji-ha.
¡°Fuck, I don¡¯t have to go to the army!¡±
¡°Long live President Yu Ji-ha! Please keep being a dictator!¡±
The reservists were satisfied with receiving androids or electric car discounts, but the soldiers who were currently in the military were dying.
They were promised shortened service, but they had to roll in the military for at least a few months.
And these days, the front line was not Yanggu or Cheorwon, but North Korea.
¡°Mr. President, isn¡¯t it crossing the line to have minus 10 degrees Celsius in autumn? Please take me out¡¡±
¡°There¡¯s nothing around when I go out on weekends¡¡±
North Korea was undergoing reconstruction work centered on Megacity North, so there was nowhere for soldiers to y.
So Yu Ji-ha decided to use transport nes operated by Shi Group to quickly bring out soldiers who went out on weekends.
As such, whenints from soldiers disappeared, only active-duty military officers remained.
They were pessimistic about their situation.
Especially those who had devoted their lives to the military tended to be more so.
They had worked in the military as their home, but suddenly it disappeared.
Whatforted them was an android who visited their unit as a job counselor.
¡°Join us in developing resources in Siberia now. The sry is thick and we¡¯ll provide you with a ce to live!¡±
¡°You can¡¯t speak Russian? The world is good these days. We¡¯ll give you Russia Premium for free. With real-time trantion function, Russian girls are already your prisoners!¡±
It seemed like there was some lie mixed in, but anyway it wasn¡¯t far from the truth.
Those who had families didn¡¯t like it, but young officers were quite tempted and lined up for consultation.
Isn¡¯t it the same situation as the western pioneering era?
If they just suffered for a few years, they could make a fortune and maybe hit the jackpot.
¡°You cane to Korea by ne on weekends, so you won¡¯t be too lonely.¡±
¡°Why don¡¯t you learn some Russian this time?¡±
The rest of the staff were given extra points for applying to the business that Shi Group would expand in the future.
As such, when the shock was absorbed, the resistance was greatly reduced except for some officers.
The downsizingmittee was established and received discharge requests, and unnecessary facilities were demolished.
It was not an ordinary thing to demolish a unit that had been rooted in Korea for decades, so the whole country was expected to suffer for a while.
The administrative organization, including the Ministry of National Defense, was also cut down significantly.
What took their ce were drones and androids, andbat walkers that poured out of smart factories.
They were loaded on military transport nes and trains and scattered across the country.
And Starfield began tounch satellites in earnest.
On the surface, they imed it was a Korean GPS, but its essence was a military satellite that implemented quantummunication.
There wasn¡¯t much space left in the sun-synchronous orbit, but these satellites were not in low orbit but in geostationary orbit.
Quantummunication had the characteristic of simultaneousmunication, so it was almost the same as having no dy rate from geostationary orbit.
They went up to geostationary orbit to avoid the surveince of other satellites.
These days, there were so many civilian satellites in low orbit that the night sky was not dark.
As such, as the Korean military reduced its quantity and sought to increase its quality, neighboring countries showed great interest.
Especially Russia and China were interested, but if the former offered advice and trade proposals, thetter was close to anger.
¡ªThey are reducing their military while confronting our navy in the Yellow Sea? Are they sane?
¡ªThey seem to rely on unmanned tforms and hafnium2 warheads. We can¡¯t just sit still. We have to show them that we are strong.
¡ªEven if they have smart factories, they can¡¯t produce troops in an instant, right? This is an opportunity for us when they are recing their troops.
¡ªIf Wang Xian Shangjiang seeds in the Yellow Sea, we can even promote him to Zhushou.
Many Communist Party State Councilors expressed their intentions to Wang Xian Shangjiang.
He pondered and pondered, but realized that he had no other choice.
China had failed miserably in thest Cross-Strait War and its national power had declined, but it was still not inferior to Korea in terms of pure military power.
Especially recently, they had built a railgun ship and even reverse-engineered iron beams.
If they neutralized the enemy fleet with a surprise attack and countered hafnium2 warheads with nuclear power, they could suppress Korea.
It would be difficult to make them kneelpletely unless it was the United States, but it was enough to kick them out of Yujeon.
Wang Xian finally made up his mind.
¡°It is clear that we will have to face Korea someday if they do not give up their expansion policy. That time is now.¡±
A few bureaucrats crossed the sea and headed to Japan.
Chapter 131-132
Chapter 131-132
There is a saying in every corner of the world that one feels sick when their cousin buysnd.
That perfectly matches the current situation in East Asia.
While Korea was armed with all kinds of new technologies and concepts, and was running towards the fourth industrial revolution, China and Japan had to watch it with their fingers in their mouths.
It was not that they did not try.
They mostly interfered, but they also made some efforts to restrain and sometimes cooperate with Korea.
But how could the grudge that had umted for more than a hundred years be resolved in a few years?
The issues of trade and territory were intertwined, and now they had reached a point of no return.
Korea hadpletely severed ties with Japan, and although it did not do so with China, there was hardly any official exchange between the two governments.
In this situation, it was not so strange that China and Japan became closer.
Wasn¡¯t it said that the enemy of one¡¯s enemy is one¡¯s friend?
The two countries had aplicated history that was not easy to judge simply, but they naturally got along well when they had amon enemy in Korea, who was an eyesore.
After several secret visits, a summit meeting between Wang Xian, the chairman of China, and Matsuda, the prime minister of Japan, took ce via video call.
¡°Once this matter is settled, you will officially take office as president.¡±
¡°President? That¡¯s too generous a title for me. By the way, I congratte you on Japan¡¯s normalization, albeit btedly. From what I see, it won¡¯t be long before you be a permanent member of the UN Security Council.¡±
They started by praising each other.
They both hadplexes because they did not rise to the position of leader in a normal way.
Wang Xian was criticized by many soldiers and state councilors in his country for being inadequate to be president, and Matsuda had to endure being called a pro-Korean extreme rightist who became prime minister.
So they felt deeply inferior to Yu Ji-ha, who was rated as the worst dictator abroad but was very popr at home.
After almost ttering each other, they moved on to substantive discussions.
¡°As you can see from the report, there are two things we need to secure this time. The oil fields in the Yellow Sea and Tsushima Ind.¡±
¡°Since it¡¯s the sea, we¡¯ll have to mobilize the navy. The problem is the Earth Fleet of the United Human Federation.¡±
¡°We decided to use the pincer operation. If we start a fight in Tsushima, we will suppress the Korean fleet in the Yellow Sea. And then¡¡±
¡°Manchuria?¡±
¡°We have seen a lot of things because we share a border with Korea. But Korea must not have expected this day toe.¡±
China currently shared a border with Korea and often shed with them.
There were cases where a tank unit got lost during training and crossed the border, or a reconnaissance ne entered their airspace.
It was mostly done by Korea, and China was clearly the victim.
Now it was time to use that situation to their advantage.
If they suppressed the Korean fleet in the Yellow Sea, they would cause friction along the northern border of the penins and create an opportunity for Japan to attack Tsushima Ind.
Wang Xian said confidently.
¡°Korea cannot afford a two-front war right now. The United Human Federation¡¯s army is definitely a threatening opponent, but it takes time to deploy and more importantly, the Korean army is in a state of disintegration.¡±
¡°Abolishing conscription¡ It¡¯s foolish to go against the flow of the times.¡±
Korea abolished conscription while Japan tried to introduce conscription centered on the army.
Of course, the reaction was not very good.
They had always regarded themselves as unrted to the faraway world, but suddenly they were told to enlist.
It was absurd.
But those who passed conscription were mainly middle-aged people over 50 who belonged to the extreme right-wing forces including Yushinto, and they had no chance of going to the army.
Anyway, young Japanese people were protesting against conscription or even leaving Japan.
More than 20,000 young men left Japan in the first half of 2031 alone, which could not be taken lightly anymore.
Korea and the United Human Federation probably knew where they went.
Anyway, both leaders agreed that this was the weakest point of the Korean army.
¡°The newbat walkers are not even mass-produced yet and the Korean army has started dismantling them. The morale of the army is low so it will be difficult for them to respond properly.¡±
¡°The problem is the Earth Fleet of the United Human Federation.¡±
They were arrogant enough to name their fleet after Earth for a single faction¡¯s fleet.
But there was no room for disagreement on their power being strong.
Military experts who reviewed the Indian Ocean battle unanimously said that it would be difficult to confront them head-on unless it was the US carrier strike group.
But the waters around the Yellow Sea and Tsushima Ind were narrow.
Even their low-spec railguns could cope with them.
Also, both China and Japan had hypersonic anti-ship missiles, which were the weak point of the Earth Fleet.
It was iparable to the old ones used by Iran.
¡°If we fire arge amount at once, we may not be able to sink them, but we can disable them enough. This also applies to the Ion beam, which we confirmed in thest war.¡±
¡°They are not invincible for sure.¡±
But both countries were trying to reverse-engineer the Ion beam somehow.
Japan was secretly researching the Ion beam with the US, and China also seeded in obtaining one through various channels.
The problem was that reverse engineering was not easy, especially the material of the lens used in theser system.
It looked like quartz, but it was different from any kind of quartz, so experts went into research.
Anyway, Korea was ahead in the military field, but other countries were not just ying around.
The US was also nning to unveil artificial intelligence and drones soon.
¡°By the way, some of our suspicious friends wonder if this whole situation was not intended by Mr. Yu.¡±
¡°They lure the enemy into exposing their weakness¡ It fits the current situation, but they wouldn¡¯t go so far as to abolish conscription. It was a huge gamble.¡±
¡°True, they are facing a lot of criticism at home.¡±
¡°And even if it was a bait, they can¡¯t stop now, can they?¡±
He was right.
China and Japan were in a position where they could no longer ignore Korea.
Korea was bing stronger economically and militarily by the day, and some predicted that it would be untouchable in a few years.
By then, they would have to live under Korea¡¯s mercy, and that was something their people would not tolerate.
They agreed on the schedule that their staff had prepared.
¡°Then¡ we will start with our navy conducting a joint exercise near Tsushima. Don¡¯t forget therge-scale maneuver exercise in Manchuriater.¡±
¡°Of course. We had many troubles with Japan, but I want to forget everything this time. Korea is too dangerous.¡±
¡°If only Yu Ji-ha wasn¡¯t there, they wouldn¡¯t have acted so arrogantly¡¡±
He felt a surge of assassination desire, but fortunately he didn¡¯t let it out.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s security was tight after several terrorist attacks.
An aerial attack was no longer possible, and war was the only answer.
¡°Flowers always wither eventually. And I don¡¯t think the US will stay still. They shun any country that can threaten them.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t Korea too small to provoke the US?¡±
¡°They are growing fast. They have absorbed North Korea, so they have 70 million people. If they absorb Manchuria, they will be close to 200 million.¡±
¡°You really think they will attack Manchuria.¡±
¡°They are sending tanks whenever they get a chance. How can we not notice? They must have nned everything in detail.¡±
Prime Minister Matsuda felt a chill from Wang Xian¡¯s words.
There was no guarantee that those who wanted to attack Manchuria would leave Japan alone.
Yu Ji-ha never made anyment about Japan, but he couldn¡¯t help thinking about the past colonial rule.
It was natural for a thief to worry about his own feet.
¡°Maybe¡ no, he might have already nned to conquer Japan.¡±
¡°It¡¯s obvious from his aggressive personality. That¡¯s why we have to cooperate with a long-term perspective.¡±
He meant that even if their opinions differed in some aspects, they had to stick to the premise of shunning Korea, and Prime Minister Matsuda agreed.
¡°We are one until Korea begs us for a humiliating restoration of diplomatic rtions.¡±
¡°Excellent judgment. Then I will impose economic sanctions.¡±
Korea had restructured its economy around the Si, and it was so solid that even the US couldn¡¯t touch it easily.
But the basic structure of Korea¡¯s economy was still based on importing raw materials from China and exporting intermediate goods.
If the root was shaken, the nt would eventually dry up and die.
If China moved as a whole, Korea would surely scream in pain.
That¡¯s how China and Japan began to surround Korea economically, politically, and militarily.
***
¡°As expected, China has started economic sanctions. It¡¯s the second Han-Han order.¡±
¡°They didn¡¯t learn anything from the US case.¡±
¡°The US only boycotted the semiconductor sector, so they must have thought that if they expanded it to the whole economy, we would have a hard time coping. And China is ready to withstand our pressure.¡±
¡°Well, unlike the US, their media doesn¡¯t function properly. Their people hate me too, so they would dly join the sanctions.¡±
The Koreans were more than just hated by the Chinese; they were mortal enemies who had caused them endless suffering.
Even though they didn¡¯t ban private trade, its volume had decreased significantly.
The Chinese were obsessed with money, but they were willing to give up some of it to destroy Korea.
¡°The stock price will drop, but they probably think it¡¯s not a big loss.¡±
¡°As long as they drive us out and secure the West Sea oil field. That¡¯s why the US is silent.¡±
¡°But they haven¡¯tpletely let go of us. They are jointly researching Ion beams and railguns with Japan. They also gave some information to China.¡±
¡°Ion beams require Aether Crystals to work properly. How are they doing on that?¡±
¡°They are experimenting with various gems while trying to find Aether Crystals using their intelligence agencies.¡±
¡°They might find some since there are more than one or two that fell on Earth. The range and output of Ion beams will be solved then.¡±
Of course, he was talking about Ion beams after sealing their output.
Aethersers with unsealed output were monstrous weapons that could melt sma shields and armor of battleships, and it was hard to stop them.
Anyway, it was almost impossible to stop their collusion from this side.
At best, he could expose their unsealing of Ion beams and give them some disadvantages, but then the US would me everything on Japan.
To break their connection, he had to hit the US, but it was not the right time yet.
¡°We need at least three years¡ no, five years to fight the US. Let¡¯s turn a blind eye for now.¡±
That didn¡¯t mean he would turn a blind eye to China and Japan¡¯s atrocities.
Rather, he nned to beat them hard and take what he wanted.
Arma predicted their actions and marked them on the East Asian map.
¡°As expected, it¡¯s the Yangdong Operation.¡±
¡°Daemado and Manchuria will be the main targets. They will try to create friction and increase tension, and then achieve their goals in other directions.¡±
¡°They want to tie up the Earth Fleet. I wonder if they think that¡¯s all.¡±
¡°You clearly underestimate the productivity of this side.¡±
He said that because it was rational to deny it, not knowing why he had been fooled several times.
They knew that there was an unmanned nt on Terra Ind, but they did not know its scale and productivity.
They also did not know that the smart factory had already beenpleted and was ready to mass-produce weapons systems, includingbat walkers.
The information agency, which was responsible for providing high-quality information by analyzing the source from multiple angles, was ying on Arma¡¯s palm, so they had no choice but to misjudge.
To ovee that, they had to obtain information themselves instead of relying on the information agency, but that was almost impossible in this world.
Anyway, China and Japan¡¯s determination to go to war was firm and irreversible.
He looked at the roadmap marked on the top of the map he was holding and said,
¡°It would have been better if they had no reaction. We would have entered Manchuria. But it¡¯s good. We have at least some justification.¡±
¡°What are we going to get from Japan?¡±
Arma was thinking aboutpensation even before the war started.
It was natural considering the power of both sides.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s hand pointed to Okinawa.
¡°From the south of Kyushu to the north of Okinawa. All the inds. We need to open a sea route to the Pacific this time.¡±
There were many uninhabited inds except for Danegashima, and acquiring them would make it easier for the superconducting train to approach Terra Ind.
Of course, there were other sea routes, but there was no need to go around.
Arma redefined the EEZ and Japan had to go around in a ridiculous way to approach Okinawa.
But what can they do?
They had to pay a hefty price for trying to attack this side with China.
They had nothing to offer because they broke off diplomatic rtions, so they had to give up somend first.
¡°Let¡¯s think about the rest slowly after we win. Arma, prepare for war.¡±
¡°Yes. I will activate the smart factory and the nt.¡±
Yu Ji-ha looked at the map of East Asia.
After crushing China and Japan, the next target was America.
That country had influenced the whole world for nearly a century.
Its economic power was great, but especially its military power was overwhelming.
If Earth Fleet, whose power was sealed, fought against the 7th Fleet right now, he could not guarantee victory.
And America had 10 such fleets, not including the army, air force, and nuclear power.
Considering these things, the name of the United Human Federation might suit America better.
¡°I would have been an American if I had a body suitable for my soul.¡±
But America was so big that it was not easy to handle.
It took him three years to be Korea¡¯s leader, but he was somewhat pessimistic about how many years it would take in that huge country.
He needed severe chaos, but to push America into such chaos, he had to cause a global disaster.
He chose Korea by force and ended up in a situation where he had to confront America, but it was not that difficult.
It just took a little time.
***
China began to move in earnest.
First, they conducted audits on raw materialpanies that exported to Korea and effectively blocked exports.
Food was also included in this, and Korea faced a situation where its basket price soared again.
Korea surprisingly endured this situation well as if it had predicted it.
They got the scarce raw materials from Russia, India, Australia, etc., and tried to minimize the damage by releasing government reserves for food.
But their food self-sufficiency rate was so low that they could notpletely prevent the damage.
¡ªThe savory smell of sesame oil is disappearing from homes and restaurants. Reporter Lee Hyun-jong reports.
¡ªPresident Yu Ji-ha rejected the price ceiling proposed by the Ministry of nning and Finance at today¡¯s cab meeting.
¡ª¡°This problem will not be solved by limiting prices. Supply is key.¡±
¡ªHowever, experts predicted that it would be very difficult for Korea to solve this situation as it relied mainly on China for supply.
¡ªIf China blocks all food exports to Korea, the basket price will increase by at least 2.5 times. It is not a level that ordinary people can afford.
¡ªThere are things like bracken that are not grown anywhere except China or Japan. There are farms in Madagascar, but they are low-quality bracken and there is not much quantity.
Despite these negative predictions, public sentiment did not waver much.
They were used to being bullied so much.
They also believed that Yu Ji-ha would solve it if they endured it.
¡ªComining won¡¯t solve anything. It¡¯s best to just shut up and stay still.
¡ªHaven¡¯t you experienced this before? The president will take care of it.
¡ªMaybe the president predicted all this situation. He is good at waiting for the situation to ripen and then exploding it all at once.
¡ªI want a revolution, but let¡¯s wait a little¡
The mainstream thought was to wait and see, but the basket price soared so much that patience did not seem tost long.
And Japan announced the Korean betrayal statement in the name of Prime Minister Matsuda.
¡ªKorea stole Tsushima from Japan and refused any dialogue for a peaceful solution until today.
¡ªThey also tried to frustrate and expel Japan from the ck metal ecosystem.
¡ªJapan repeatedly proposed talks with Korea, but was ignored every time. This was aplete disregard of Japan¡¯s position.
¡ªKorea also¡
There were 30 paragraphs like this, and the overall meaning was vague.
It seemed to imply that Japan was being mistreated and Korea was cruel, but it was unclear what the point was.
The National Security Council dered a state of emergency and held an urgent meeting.
¡°My statement today must not leak to the outside. Please keep that in mind and listen carefully.¡±
When the specific ns of China and Japan were mentioned, all the attendees swallowed their dry saliva.
They had suspected the existence of an anti-Korea encirclement, but this was the first time it was revealed.
China and Japan had finally drawn their swords after sharpening them for a long time.
It was impossible topromise and put away their swords, considering their size and pride.
They would surely shed each other¡¯s blood, and it was unimaginable how much damage Korea would suffer.
In fact, the world¡¯s security experts had warned about the possibility of war in East Asia.
However, they did not predict that a real war would break out.
They had too much to lose.
They were too close to each other, which made it easier to mobilize military options.
The best option was to negotiate before the worst situation urred, but China and Japan did not seem to have any intention of doing so.
¡ªIf we don¡¯t strike Korea now, it will be harder in the future. That¡¯s a precise calction and a high probability.
¡ªThe war between the three countries will be iparable to the Second Korean War or the Two Shores War.
¡ªIf Russia intervenes, there is a very high chance that it will lead to the World War III. We must prevent that.
As if responding to such predictions, the United States called in all its naval forces in the Pacific, including the Guam Fleet.
At the same time, President Baldwin blocked any intervention from other countries at a press conference.
¡°The United States respects the sovereignty of East Asian countries. We will not take any responsibility for this situation and will do our best to clean up afterwards. However, if another country intervenes, it will be a different story. I hope that doesn¡¯t happen.¡±
It was a n to suck money out of the aftermath without taking any risks.
Strangely enough, the three East Asian countries at the center of the situation seemed to wee this attitude of the United States.
Even if China and Japan did, what about Korea?
They had iparable national power and military strengthpared to North Korea, Iran, or Pakistan, which they had fought before.
As suspicions rose, Japan invited French and British fleets to conduct arge-scale joint exercise near Tsushima.
And they began to mass-produce supplies from several smart factories and unmanned nts located on Terra Ind.
Dictators dream of eternal power.
But that has never been achieved, and there are hardly any dictators who maintained their power until they died.
In that sense, President Putin of Russia was almost close to sess.
He still held power even after he turned 80.
But the moment he heard his voice, he sensed that something was wrong with his health.
He tried not to show it, but he confessed when Yu Ji-ha subtly sighed.
Was there something inmon between dictators?
¡°Actually, I had a heart surgery. I thought I had been training my stamina steadily, but it seems that this heart can¡¯t take it anymore.¡±
As one gets older, the heart naturally weakens, and even the iron-blooded dictator couldn¡¯t escape that.
¡°But you are still in good shape, aren¡¯t you?¡±
¡°Recently, even climbing up and down the stairs is hard. Every night I go to sleep, I wonder if I can wake up tomorrow morning.¡±
It seemed that he wouldn¡¯tst long.
In a way, it was a relief.
He would die without seeing Yu Ji-ha¡¯s betrayal.
He had two sessors, but they were inferior versions of Putin in terms of charisma and ability.
Of course, Putin wasn¡¯t perfect in running the state either, but he was much better than the two in terms of seizing opportunities.
He proposed in a mosquito-like voice.
¡°I heard that you are facing the threat of war. It seems like thest war in East Asia, and I can help you.¡±
¡°The US has dered that they will not tolerate any intervention from other countries. Are you sure about this?¡±
¡°They always have been like that. As if they are the guardians of peace¡ They must havepletely forgotten how they intervened in Central and South America and brought them to ruin.¡±
¡°History belongs to the winners.¡±
¡°As always, if we act strongly, the US will offer apromise. As long as their maind or Western Europe are not threatened.¡±
What really mattered to the US were those two, and they didn¡¯t care much about the rest.
Of course, it would be nice to protect their allies, but giving them up boldly was also one of the strategies.
Especially if the opponent was Russia, who had almost equal nuclear power.
¡°Russia¡¯s help would be reassuring, but I¡¯d like to make an exception this time.¡±
¡°Why is that?¡±
¡°Because it would be troublesome if China and Japan tasted it and ran away.¡±
It sounded like he wanted a war, and it wasn¡¯t a misunderstanding.
¡°Do you have everything nned out for this one too?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know everything about this country. I just hoped that they would act like this.¡±
¡°So we shouldn¡¯t intervene to get more out of them¡ This makes me d that we gave you thend. Otherwise, you would have taken it by force, wouldn¡¯t you?¡±
¡°Against Russia?¡±
A faintugh came out, but President Putin could read his inner thoughts.
Confidence that it didn¡¯t matter who the opponent was.
He had Antitron and Hafnium2, which was practically equivalent to being nuclear-armed, and he was confident that he wouldn¡¯t lose to anyone in conventional power.
¡®Well, we or the US don¡¯t know what¡¯s in Terra Ind either¡¡¯
The public predicted that it would take some time to mass-produce the weapon system called Combat Walker, but President Putin¡¯s judgment was different.
As soon as the war started, they would be produced in rows from the smart factory.
And that meant a full-scale war with China and Japan.
The two countries seemed to n to wage a war centered on naval battles, but the probability of that happening was very low.
Yu Ji-ha wanted a real war.
¡®I¡¯m worried about my afterlife now¡¡¯
He was clearly fond of Russia, but he couldn¡¯t guarantee that his sessors would do the same.
Dmitry and Borchenko.
They were old enough, but they were nothingpared to Yu Ji-ha.
And they were so hot-blooded that they kept saying that they had to reconsider their rtionship with Yu Ji-ha.
They didn¡¯t want to cut off tiespletely, but they seemed to want to lead a renegotiation.
But he doubted if that would work.
¡®I hope the war ends before I die¡¡¯
He wanted to invite him to Russia and have a serious talk with him, but there was no way that the war involving three East Asian countries would end so easily.
He couldn¡¯t visit Korea now that his health was bad, so he felt like he might leave this world without properly handing over his sessorship.
He had no regrets about his life so far, but there was one thing that remained as a deep regret: he couldn¡¯t see the Soviet Union rise again.
¡°When the war is over¡ No, when you secure your victory, can you stop by Kremlin before it¡¯s toote? There¡¯s something I really want to talk to you about.¡±
His earnest feelings were embedded in his voice, and Yu Ji-ha understood them.
¡®You don¡¯t have to worry too much. I will fulfill your dream of a unified Russia.¡¯
It would be a unification that included not only the former Soviet satellite states, but also East Asia, but it could be said that Putin¡¯s dream was realized.
In that sense, Yu Ji-ha was a good friend of Russia.
He didn¡¯t know if the Russians who knew his true face would agree.
***
As the clouds of war thickened in East Asia, Korea issued a mobilization order.
They abolished conscription and issued a mobilization order, and many people mocked them for it.
But China and Japan, who had to face Korea, couldn¡¯tugh.
The n was to start and end this war with naval battles.
It was understandable considering that the strategic objectives were Tsushima and the Yellow Sea.
In fact, Korea was the only country that waged a true total war in East Asia.
Both China and Japan fought on foreignnds and seas, and there was no real battle on the continent.
Thanks to the bluff that they would have to face a nuclear war if the US attempted anding, they avoided the worst scenario.
But when Korea reacted sensitively, both countries were shocked.
-Why are they suddenly issuing a mobilization order? Do they want to fight a two-front war?
-We need to calm down the situation first. The surroundings think that we are desperate.
-We nned to end it with naval battles, but anding operation? The army is not ready at all.
-We need to send a special envoy and exin that we didn¡¯t intend to do that.
-Exin that we only wanted to restrain them with the navy and make them kneel? We¡¯re lucky if they don¡¯t ignore us.
While both countries were struggling to respond, Korea¡¯s mobilization order was proceeding rapidly.
First, martialw was dered and reservists and civil defense gathered.
The military and police upied the streets, and military trucks drove around in groups.
The Koreans seemed quite familiar with this atmosphere and followed the control well.
In a few days, the war preparations were over, and China and Japanpletely missed the timing.
It was toote to exin that they didn¡¯t intend to do that. They wouldn¡¯t listen anyway.
The situation was heading towards a total war regardless of their thoughts, and no one could stop it now.
When things came to this point, there was a im in Japan that they should request mediation from the US.
¡ªWe can¡¯t afford a total war right now. We don¡¯t know about Korea, but we are not ready at all.
¡ªHow can we reim Tsushima by showing such a weak appearance? Now that it hase to this, we have to force a war anyway.
¡ªAre you all insane? How are we going to stop their ballistic missiles with Anteron warheads? If we miss even one, all industries will stop.
¡ªThe prime minister should personally request the US. We don¡¯t want a total war.
¡ªIf the US intervenes, Tsushima will be Korea¡¯s territory forever.
That¡¯s why Prime Minister Matsuda couldn¡¯t easily request mediation from the US.
He would decide to freeze the territory in order to prevent the worst situation. Who could deny that?
But he couldn¡¯t handle the consequences of not requesting either.
¡®A total war? Don¡¯t joke with me. We are not ready at all!¡¯
There was no manual for a total war in any situation.
Everything was new, and Matsuda knew very well that nothing would work properly.
On the other hand, even China, who had fought the Yang¡¯an War, was greatly rmed when the 7th Division abandoned their garrison and gathered at their assembly point.
They were tough enough before, but now the 7th Division had be aplete monster.
They had deployed new K3A2 tanks with drone systems and railguns, and Iron Beam took care of air defense.
He doubted if there was any unit that could face them equally.
Of course, a war wasn¡¯t decided by one division that wasn¡¯t even at the level of a group army.
But at the tactical level, China¡¯s military experts warned that confronting the 7th Division head-on was suicide.
¡ªThey may not have many rounds of ammunition due to avability, but each one is fatal. You have to assume that you die once you get hit.
¡ªThe drone system helps them make quick decisions without any reconnaissance. The opposing unit will probably copse from the outskirts without even seeing them.
¡ªTheir cruising range is enormous. They can march straight to Beijing without supply.
¡ªAir strikes are not easy because of Iron Beam. The only answer is not to face them.
But how could he ignore the 7th Division that would obviously march to Beijing?
Wang Xian Shangjang picked up the phone that connected to Kremlin after much deliberation.
He couldn¡¯t muster up the courage to face that division alone, no matter what unit it was.
But President Putin¡¯s voice was cold.
¡°You were the ones who wanted this war.¡±
¡°We didn¡¯t want a total war like this.¡±
¡°That¡¯s an even funnier thing to say. Is there such a thing as a moderate war? Did you think Korea would surrender if you just snatched one sea area and beat them up?¡±
¡°¡¡±
He had nothing to say.
The intelligence agencies had judged that Korea¡¯s army was weak and couldn¡¯t withstand a total war.
So they nned to decide the victory with naval battles and blockade Korea¡¯s sea with Japan¡¯s cooperation and force them to surrender.
There was arge-scale maneuver training scheduled on the border, but that was to support Japan¡¯s recapture of Tsushima.
They never considered a head-on collision with a division like the 7th Division.
But President Putin said something unexpected.
¡°President Yu Ji-ha knew that you woulde out like this. He seems to be well prepared, so it won¡¯t be easy to get out.¡±
Did he know about the war?
Wang Xian clenched the phone and barely said.
¡°If you help us from Russia this time, we will greatly reward you.¡±
¡°Russia will not move.¡±
The call ended and Wang Xian¡¯s fist mmed the desk.
¡°Damn it!¡±
It looked like he really had to fight a total war with Korea.
Of course, he wasn¡¯t confident that he would win.
The Rocket Army still had hundreds of nuclear warheads, and this would be a serious threat to Korea.
But the weapons Korea had were enough to hurt them too.
It would have been a disaster if a warhead loaded with antitron and hafnium-2 had flown into the nuclear power nts that filled the coastal area.
The result would have been annihtion, and that was not what Wang Shian wanted.
The best scenario was for Korea to admit defeat and provide various technologies.
But the situation was getting worse.
The United States had dered that it would not intervene in the current situation, but it did notpletely withdraw.
Nuclear submarines prowled the seabed of East Asia, and strategic reconnaissance nes flew diligently.
Using satellites, the intelligence agency noticed that China and Japan were not ready for war at all.
¡ªUnlike Korea, they did not issue a mobilization order. There was no troop movement. They did not anticipate a full-scale war.
¡ªHowever, the navy was moving diligently, probably thinking of ending the war with a limited war.
President Baldwin could not help butugh at this point.
¡®Do they think they can achieve their strategic goals with a limited war? This is a big mistake.¡¯
However, Korea¡¯s movement was also iprehensible.
It was good to prepare for a total war, but without a word of dialogue¡
By now, there should be all kinds of diplomatic battles at the UN, and he nned to intervene appropriately.
But Korea recalled its diplomats from the UN and ordered the Chinese embassy in Korea to evacuate.
As a result, the Chinese embassy was in chaos, destroying documents.
¡®Do they really want a war?¡¯
Against China and Japan?
It was difficult to decide to wage a full-scale war against a nuclear power.
China was not North Korea, and its ballistic missile performance was considerable.
Korea¡¯s interception level was not enough to intercept all hundreds of missiles, as seen in the Second Korean War and the Indian Ocean Battle.
Due to its small territory, it would suffer a hard blow even if one or two missiles fell.
Japan did not have nuclear weapons, but it had hundreds of hypersonic anti-ship missiles that exposed Earth Fleet¡¯s weaknesses.
There was a possibility that they had improved their weaknesses since a few months ago, but they were not perfect.
¡®Wait, I¡¯ve seen this picture a lot somewhere¡¡¯
President Baldwin looked over Yu Jiha¡¯s file again.
And he was sure.
This was the picture Yu Jiha wanted.
It could be seen from his remarks that he wanted Manchuria and his actions to upy Tsushima.
Above all, he was suspicious of abolishing conscription and exposing his weaknesses.
Was there a need to abolish it at this time?
¡®¡Maybe he¡¯s trying to stage a y.¡¯
The US government was convinced that Yu Jiha had been leading the situation with his own y.
But the reason they couldn¡¯t touch him right away was because they didn¡¯t have clear evidence.
Wasn¡¯t there a precedent where semiconductorpanies were smashed by imposing sanctions hastily?
The only thing left was war, but that was also cautious for the United States.
If they hit Korea, there was no guarantee that Russia would stay still, and there was a high possibility of esction.
¡®The Third World War must not happen.¡¯
President Baldwin called his aides and asked for measures and confirmed the US stance.
Thanks to that, Prime Minister Matsuda of Japan finally plucked up his courage and called him on the hotline, but he had to hear that he couldn¡¯t help him.
¡°I¡¯m sorry. We can¡¯t provoke Korea right now.¡±
¡°Please help us regain Tsushima. We¡¯ll do anything.¡±
¡°Saying you¡¯ll do anything as a politician can be very dangerous depending on the situation.¡±
¡°Tsushima is clearly Japan¡¯s territory. Korea¡¯s forcible rule over it is invalid under internationalw.¡±
¡°Then negotiate well diplomatically and get it back.¡±
¡°How can we negotiate when we¡¯ve broken off diplomatic rtions?¡±
¡°If you can¡¯t do that, you can fly there yourself. They won¡¯t treat you so badly as the leader of a country.¡±
¡°¡That¡¯s impossible.¡±
¡°Then you have no choice but to get it back by war. That¡¯s what you wanted.¡±
¡°We didn¡¯t want a total war.¡±
¡°That¡¯s too bad. President Yu Jiha must have misunderstood. The call was long, so let¡¯s contact youter.¡±
With this, the United States made it clear that it had no intention of intervening.
Even though a war in East Asia would cause tremendous damage to the world economy.
That might be because they confirmed that the economy eventually recovered after several wars in the past.
The world economy was now heading for the fourth industrial revolution, and some countries were seriously discussing the basic ie system.
Yu Jiha led that, and it was now an unstoppable trend.
The United States wanted to maintain a good rtionship with Yu Jiha and suck up some sweet honey.
As long as Korea didn¡¯t look over the Pacific and Europe, it would probably be like that.
Prime Minister Matsuda frowned hard as he heard this from his secretaries.
¡°¡Did the United States choose Korea over us?¡±
¡°It seems so¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s impossible. The US forces in Japan are not for decoration.¡±
¡°Excuse me, but didn¡¯t arge number of US forces in Japan relocate to Guam? The scale is only 30%pared tost year.¡±
¡°Japan and the United States are allies!¡±
¡°What benefits do you get from that alliance? For the United States, it would be more convenient for Korea to take over the role that Japan used to y. They will probably try to mediate in the post-war negotiations.¡±
¡Maybe Japan will end up under Korea¡¯s control¡
Prime Minister Matsuda dismissed his anxious thoughts and sent out his secretaries.
He contacted Wang Shian immediately, but he also had no clever n.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, but Russia says they can¡¯t help either.¡±
This confirmed that there was no way to stop the war.
The navy was already in a nerve war with the army.
They insisted that the Tsushima recapture operation should be under the navy¡¯smand.
On the other hand, the army said that they couldn¡¯t do anything without them, so there was no progress.
Unlike Japan, where cooperation was not working, Korea had finished preparing for war under Yu Jiha¡¯s orders.
The protests were postponed, and all they had to do was let go.
Matsuda didn¡¯t want to take on thest role himself.
¡°It would be better to dere a halt now¡¡±
¡°Now you want to stop? How will the world see us?¡±
¡°Is the opinion of other countries important? We are heading for a total war at this rate!¡±
¡°And Korea won¡¯t stop either. They will try to secure Manchuria at least.¡±
Matsuda¡¯s eyes widened.
He had nothing to lose if he dered surrender here.
Of course, Japan¡¯s prestige would fall and it would be harder to get Tsushima back, but that was something he could tryter.
Wouldn¡¯t it be better to sneak out after making Korea and China fight?
When both countries¡¯ power was drained, Japan¡¯s voice would be stronger.
Matsuda decided this and lowered his voice.
¡°Let¡¯s start the war. Let¡¯s attack them all at once and make Korea lose their mind. That¡¯s the only way.¡±
He nned to send a special envoy to Korea and get out when a naval battle broke out in the West Sea.
But things didn¡¯t go as Prime Minister Matsuda wanted.
Rudely, the door of the prime minister¡¯s office opened wide.
¡°What is it? Can¡¯t you hear I¡¯m on the hotline¡¡±
¡°Prime Minister! Korea has dered war!¡±
¡°What?¡±
Prime Minister Matsuda dropped the phone in surprise.
When the secretary hurriedly turned on the monitor, Yu Jiha¡¯s face appeared there.
He calmly dered war on both countries.
¡°It is clear that they have no intention of stopping the war and wishing for peace with this attitude. China is a nuclear power, and Japan has a tremendous naval force. They are truly formidable opponents.¡±
¡°Nevertheless, we cannot back down. We cannot give thisnd to the enemy and let them abuse us. Therefore, we announce that the Republic of Korea has entered into a war with China and Japan.¡±
At that moment, the limiters of Kim Gu-ship and Yeo Un-hyung-ship deployed in the West Sea werepletely released and automaticbat began.
And in front of the joint fleet training near Tsushima, Earth Fleet¡¯s fleet surfaced.
Chapter 133: Take a Hit First
Chapter 133: Take a Hit First
As the railgun and the ck metal armor became more advanced, there was one question that the military enthusiasts of the world had.
¡ªCan the ck metal armor withstand the maximum output of the railgun?
In other words, it was a question of the spear and the shield.
The railgun projectile also used ck metal.
The only country that possessed both was Korea, but recently more ces had developed railguns.
Among them, the most active and sessful ce was, of course, the United States.
This huge country conducted experiments of shooting railguns at ck metal armor under various conditions and environments, and summarized the results.
There was no way for ordinary people to check this information, but the major allies knew it, and it was a defeat for the shield.
That is, the ck metal armor was not invincible.
It was somewhat surprising considering that it could withstand any explosion, but the US military researchers reported that a kind of transform phenomenon urred when ck metal came into contact with each other.
¡ªFor a very short moment, a transform phenomenon urs and both the projectile and the armor te lose their shape. However, the armor te does notpletely disintegrate, and a considerable output is required for the railgun.
The shield lost, but it showed enough performance to defend against anti-ship missiles, so ck metal was essential for modern warships.
Here, people had another question.
¡ªWould the same result ur if Korea¡¯s railgun was shot at another country¡¯s ck metal armor?
First of all, Korea was almost the originator of ck metal rted technology, and the railgun also had aspects that surpassed other countries in terms of specifications.
It surpassed other railguns by far in terms of range, pration, durability, etc., but it was suspected that it was hiding this.
It was certain that it was different in dimension since it could make a city with ck metal, but Korea did not open its mouth so there was no way to know.
However, in November 2031, finally an opportunity came to find out.
More than 20 warships gathered in the narrow sea between China and the Korean Penins, and seven of them were railgun ships.
Korea had two ships, Kim Gu and Yeo Woon-hyung, which were dedicated ships built for railguns, and China modified its existing 055-ss destroyers.
First of all, the 055-ss did not lose in size at all and applied ck metal armor tes generously to create a considerable intimidation.
Since there were six such ships, the Korean navy looked rtively inferior.
However, the Korean navy officers knew very well what would happen when the battle broke out.
¡°They¡¯re in big trouble. They were happy to be discharged in a year.¡±
¡°What can we do? Those bastards won¡¯t leave us alone.¡±
¡°We had to sh with them someday.¡±
It was just regrettable that it happened to be now when they were confronting the Chinese navy in the West Sea.
However, there was not a single casualty of Kim Gu-ss destroyers in the Second Korean War, so they could rest assured in that regard.
Soon after, the captain looked at the panel and said.
¡°The battle is about to begin.¡±
At the same time, the entire ship switched to automaticbat mode.
When entering this mode, the crew had nothing to do except damage control.
¡°Everyone get ready for battle. There¡¯s nothing else to do but hold on to something around you. This ship doesn¡¯t care about human affairs.¡±
Then the missionputer delivered to the whole ship with a clear voice.
¡¸ording to operation order 31-15, I will take control of Kim Gu from now on.¡¹
This was Lucia¡¯s voice, which was very familiar to Koreans.
Originally, it disyed the current situation on the panel without voice, but it was updated with new features.
The ion thruster started and the railgun turret rotated quickly.
This was also true for Yeo Woon-hyung ship, and China noticed it toote.
¡¸Limiter release, railgun 1 and 2 maximum output.¡¹
¡¸Cooling system no problem, change to rapid fire mode.¡¹
¡¸Startbat.¡¹
At that moment, four railguns began to fire projectiles at an unbelievable speed.
As soon as the arc discharge disappeared and the projectile left the muzzle, the battery was already pushing power in.
The projectiles were fired so fast that it looked like a blue sh stuck to the muzzle.
Kukukukung!
That¡¯s how four railguns fired hundreds of projectiles and finally began to rain over China¡¯s fleet.
¡°Bridge! The Koreans fired their railguns!¡±
¡°Ship evasive maneuver!¡±
But it was toote.
The projectiles seemed to predict China¡¯s fleet movements as they hit their hulls.
The ck metal armor held on, but only for a moment. It soon disintegrated due to the transform phenomenon.
The first one to be disabled was the Nan Chang, a 055-ss destroyer.
This ship was modified as a railgun ship experimentally, so it had many errors and the turret was not even properly installed.
It literally split in half when it was hit by dozens of projectiles.
And then holes were punched in the engine room, and itpletely lost its propulsion.
It was only a minute after the battle started that one ship was disabled.
The other ships finally stopped their evasive maneuvers and rotated their turrets, but they were surprisingly slow.
They only cared about installing railguns, so they did not even connect with the missionputer, and the firing data input was manual.
It was literally made to the level of being able to fire railguns and deployed, but that turned out to be a fatal mistake in realbat.
¡°Firing data inputplete!¡±
An instructor shouted with a hoarse voice, and Jun Yi¡¯s captain was about to order firing.
But he and everyone else had a desperate look on their faces.
Hundreds of dots appeared on theser screen.
In that short moment when the screen was updated, the dots had moved a considerable distance.
A question arose in everyone¡¯s mind: what kind of railgun is that, that it can fire without cooling?
It was absurd considering that the railgun developed by China had to forcibly cool the turret after a few shots.
¡°What the hell did they make¡¡±
Before the captain¡¯s words were finished, a projectile flying at 7km per second hit Jun Yi.
The sturdy ck metal armor disintegrated in an instant, and holes appeared in the bridge.
And then the holes went down and hit the VLS and the ammunition depot, causing a huge explosion.
Jun Yi exploded and split into two pieces, and the nearby ships had to dodge projectiles and debris that came from 100km away at the same time.
Although it was a surprise attack that started the battle, the oue seemed clear.
Only then did the other railgun ships start firing, but they were much slower than Korea¡¯s and hardly hit any targets.
A few shots barely hit, but they could not prate the strong ck metal armor and lost their shape.
Kim Gu and Yeo Woon-hyung maneuvered quickly and faced the entire Chinese fleet in Yeonpyeong Ind.
In a short time of less than a few minutes, five ships sank and the rest chose to flee instead of responding.
They seemed to have forgotten for a moment that the range of the railgun covered the entire sea area.
ck metal projectiles rained down over their heads like rain.
***
At that moment when Yu Ji-ha suddenly dered war on both countries.
A joint exercise of Japan, Britain, and France was taking ce in the sea south of Tsushima.
First of all, they announced externally that they were conducting training out of concern for a possible situation on the Korean Penins, but their fundamental purpose was elsewhere.
This fleet was supposed to act as bait to lure Earth Fleet into war.
Britain and France had bad rtions with Korea, but not enough to go to war.
While Earth Fleet kept confronting the training fleet, China wouldunch a surprise attack and upy Yeonpyeong Ind. That was their n.
Of course, Earth Fleet could submerge and head straight to Yeonpyeong Ind instead of chasing the training fleet.
But in that case, the training fleet would be disbanded and an escort fleet would be formed to attack Tsushima.
It was a simple deception operation, but since they had to defend both Yeonpyeong Ind and Tsushima from their perspective, they had no choice but to be dragged around here and there.
But such a n turned out to be nothing more than wishful thinking of both countries.
Yu Ji-ha stabbed them with defiance by dering war without flinching despite their pressure.
While both countries¡¯ leaders were flustered by the sudden deration of war, China¡¯s fleet in the West Sea was literally smashed.
They were supposed tounch a surprise attack, but they were attacked instead.
The entire fleet was destroyed too quickly for any news to be delivered.
So the joint fleetmand in Tsushima was unable to hide their satisfaction when Earth Fleet surfaced suddenly.
¡°As expected, ording to n.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s just keep our distance and deter them. It¡¯s a sess if we keep Earth Fleet here.¡±
They were only training ships, so they did not have proper weapons ormand systems.
The British and French destroyers took turnsmanding because of this situation.
It would be a very profitable deal if they could hold Earth Fleet with such half-ships.
The only thing that worried them was Japan¡¯s government¡¯s erratic behavior.
Izuchi Saburo admiral thought that Japan¡¯s government, especially Matsuda prime minister, was not a trustworthy person at all.
His specialty was passing the buck and hiding, and he would not have been a great soldier even if he had served as a self-defense officer.
It was a shame for Japan that he became the prime minister as a key figure of the Restoration Association.
¡®But it can¡¯t be helped.¡¯
Someone had to be in the prime minister¡¯s position in that chaotic time.
Although he was a coward and could not properly control the front-line units, he was still the prime minister.
The soldiers could fight with peace of mind if there was a politician who would take responsibility.
Of course, they should not fight here.
He grabbed the key of the microphone and said.
¡°I announce to you all. Earth Fleet, the subject of rumors, has finally appeared before our eyes. They can¡¯t attack us. Because we have British and French destroyers by our side.¡±
No matter how reckless Yu Ji-ha was, he would not dare to attack the ships of the two countries.
They all looked at Earth Fleet¡¯s ships with a bit of tension.
Some said it was darker than they thought, and some said they wanted to try it once.
It was because there was a railgun ship in the training fleet.
¡°So our fleet is¡¡±
It was when Admiral Izuchi was about to say something more.
Suddenly, the turret of the Earth Fleet¡¯s lead ship rotated and aimed at the gship.
The distance was so close that they could see the hole of the dark barrel.
A dry gulp sounded in the bridge of the training fleet¡¯s gship.
¡°Surely not¡¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry. They can¡¯t shoot us. It¡¯s just a simple threat.¡±
He is the president of Korea, the owner of that fleet.
Giving an attack order meant going to war with both countries.
Would Korea, with its weight, face China and Japan at the same time?
There was a variable called the Human Alliance, but it was still burdensome.
So the staff under Admiral Izuchi were a bit surprised, but they didn¡¯t show it.
Rather, they argued that they should act confidently to save face in front of the British and French destroyers.
¡°I see. Our fleet will conduct a maneuver training from now on. Slowly circle around that fleet.¡±
This was no different from provoking a beast trapped in a cage.
If the cage was sturdy, it would be fine, but the beast could break out ande out at any time if it wanted.
Anyway, when the Japanese training fleet moved, the four British and French destroyers also followed obediently.
They seemed to want to observe the Earth Fleet¡¯sbat ships in detail on this asion.
¡°Is that a firepower ship without a turret? If it gets hit by a missile, it¡¯ll be blown to pieces.¡±
¡°It didn¡¯t even flinch at the anti-ship missile baptism. Do you think that¡¯ll happen? The only answer to neutralize that is a nuclear warhead.¡±
¡°We¡¯re also researching Hafnium 2. We¡¯ll see results soon.¡±
¡°By the way, that ship has no weapons at all¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s a drone carrier. The one that shot down Iran¡¯s F-14 came from there.¡±
¡°I wonder what would happen if our fleet¡ no, our air force¡¯s F-3 fought against it.¡±
¡°No matter what, how can youpare it to a stealth fighter? A drone is just a drone.¡±
F-3 had not yet been mass-produced, but thanks to its concept of fighting with its following drones, it attracted a lot of poprity.
Some in Japan imed that if F-3 was mass-produced, it could overwhelm the Human Alliance¡¯s Caliber drones.
Of course, they quietly hid the fact that they had to sessfully localize the ion thruster and transnt it to F-3 without any problems.
Anyway, the Japanese military was confident after receiving a lot of attention from the government¡¯s announcement of a massive increase in defense spending.
That atmosphere reached the training fleet and led them to wander around leisurely while being exposed to the Earth Fleet¡¯s railgun.
¡°Don¡¯t be nervous! That artificial intelligence can never attack us!¡±
It was when Admiral Izuchi¡¯s confident voice was heard by the fleet.
A lieutenant who had deciphered themunication from headquarters screamed as if he was torn apart.
¡°Admiral! Korea has dered war!¡±
¡°What? On whom?¡±
It was a stupid question.
Who else could Korea dere war on besides China and Japan?
He just didn¡¯t believe that it would actually happen, so he asked such a foolish question.
¡°The Republic of Korea announces that it has entered into war with China and Japan, over.¡±
Admiral Izuchi unknowingly clenched his hand on the console handle.
Was it a total war if they dered war?
But he hadn¡¯t heard anything about waging a total war from his superiors.
Japan¡¯s goal was only Tsushima, and they nned to have only a limited naval battle.
¡°Impossible¡ It can¡¯t be.¡±
¡°They¡¯re waging a two-front war? They¡¯repletely crazy!¡±
Amidst the astonished reactions, Admiral Izuchi felt something ominous.
A blue discharge urred from the barrel aimed at his gship.
When he looked straight at the barrel, his consciousness had already flown away.
The three railgunbat ships of the Earth Fleet began firing in earnest.
The destroyers that were wandering around leisurely were turned upside down in an instant.
***
At that moment when both fleets were blown up.
The 7th Army Corps of Korea gathered near Shinju City started their engines at once.
¡°Move quickly!¡±
¡°Leave within 30 minutes! Load everything you need on your car!¡±
¡°Leave the drones alone! They¡¯ll fly by themselves when you start your car!¡±
Corporal Kwon Jun-ho felt like swearing as he ran around here and there.
He was supposed to be discharged in a month, but war!
¡°I want to go home! Oh damn!¡±
He wished this whole situation was a training exercise, but seeing the brigademander running around, he was sure the war had started.
He loaded his luggage on the vehicle and stuffed the ration box, when the toon leader who boardedte tapped his shoulder.
¡°Cheer up. What are you going to die for?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you know, sir. There are Chinese bastards up north, and I have a headache thinking about going in there.¡±
¡°We¡¯re also dumbfounded. How can a war break out so easily?¡±
The atmosphere surrounding East Asia was harsh, but no one expected a real war to break out.
Did the politicians these days forget about things like negotiations or dialogues under the water?
Corporal Kwon turned on the car.
Unlike before, there was no loud noise and the vibration was very faint.
¡°Well, at least we won¡¯t die in here.¡±
¡°Do you know that? In thest war, less than 100 people died in our 7th Army Corps.¡±
¡°The probability is low, but if it¡¯s me, it¡¯s 100 percent.¡±
The toon leader couldn¡¯t argue back because it was true.
He admits it.
Thebat power of this tank is unparalleled.
Not only its offensive power, but also its defensive and maneuvering capabilities were different from other tanks.
It was at a level where it could smash all of the K2 tanks, which were one of the powerful tanks in existence, with one shot.
But he couldn¡¯t help being disgusted by the war itself.
Once they left the assembly point, they had to follow all kinds of orders from their superiors and the radio.
As winter approached, it was so cold outside that even the urine stream would freeze, and the days of not sleeping well due to the tension of the war would continue.
Above all, what made his teeth chatter was the horror of war itself.
The deafening roar, the screams from all directions, and the death of hisrades were something that those who only gave orders from above would never know.
¡°But what can we do? It¡¯s our fate as soldiers to be scolded if we¡¯re scolded.¡±
At least President Yu understood the hardships of the troops well enough to airlift them food when they were short of it.
But since the opponent was who they were, there was a very high chance that they wouldn¡¯t even have that luxury.
The toon leader listened carefully to the radio that suddenly came in.
¡°They¡¯re broadcasting instructions directly from the corps these days?¡±
After listening for a while, the toon leader tapped Corporal Kwon¡¯s shoulder.
¡°Hey, Jun-ho. You said you wanted to buy Lucia, right?¡±
¡°I want to buy her, but I don¡¯t have money and I think I¡¯ll get her 10 yearster even if I make a reservation now.¡±
The goal of young men these days was not a house or a car, but an android purchase.
They could buy their own lover with money, so it was natural in a way.
But there was a phenomenon where the supply couldn¡¯t keep up with the demand.
It was crazy that if you reserved in your early 20s, you would almost get it when you were thirty.
Corporal Kwon also wanted to find a job near Megacity after he was discharged and reserve an android.
He wanted to live with Lucia, one of whom he bought, since dating was out of the question anyway.
But the toon leader said something unexpected.
¡°They say they¡¯ll give one Lucia to whoever wants it after this war is over. And right away.¡±
¡°Really?¡±
¡°Yeah. You can retire right after the war is over regardless of your service period and they¡¯ll send Lucia to your home. If you don¡¯t need Lucia, there are other benefits too.¡±
¡°Wow, that¡¯s unbelievable.¡±
¡°The president must be going to abolish conscription.¡±
Compared to the toon leader who was bitter, Corporal Kwon was burning with tremendous motivation.
They would give him that hard-to-get android right away!
And for free!
This was an irresistible temptation.
The toon leader continued to list the benefits given to the soldiers for a long time, but Corporal Kwon didn¡¯t hear them.
¡°Where do we have to go?¡±
¡°You look like you¡¯ve straightened your shoulders from getting a baby Lucia. Just wait a minute. This is not from the corps but from higher up¡ Huh?¡±
¡°¡?¡±
After listening to the radio for a while, the toon leader finally took his finger off the key.
A shocking word came out of his mouth along with a groan.
¡°They say we¡¯re going to Beijing. They say we should ignore the Chinese army and advance to Beijing?¡±
¡°Huh?¡±
Corporal Kwon¡¯s eyes widened.
Chapter 134: Hide and Seek
Chapter 134: Hide and Seek
Nearly 100 countries have established their defense attach¨¦ offices in South Korea.
This is the highest number after the United States, which has almost half as many defense attach¨¦s as South Korea.
The reason for sending so many defense attach¨¦s to South Korea is the abundance of information that needs to be handled.
Every time they blinked, there was a new weapon announcement, a conscription abolition, or a war outbreak.
They could not ignore these events.
Many of the defense attach¨¦s were former researchers because the weapons systems were so unfamiliar.
For example, the recently announced Combat Walker was iprehensible to anyone who had not deeply studied ck metal and androids.
Even those who had studied ck metal for a long time did not understand it, for the most part.
Anyway, in such an atmosphere, the East Asian War finally broke out.
The busiest ones were of course the Korean soldiers, but the defense attach¨¦s of various countries also moved busily to find out information.
Because martialw was dered and most of the streets and public offices were closed, the only ces they could go were the Ministry of National Defense Press Center and the diplomatic missions.
Fortunately, South Korea was not very stingy with information.
Kim Chul-woo, the Minister of National Defense, appeared at the press center where numerous reporters, diplomats, and defense attach¨¦s gathered.
He had served as the acting president, but he seemed to be satisfied with his current position.
Well, he had suffered enough while acting as the president.
The microphone was turned on and he began to announce.
¡°Yesterday at 7 p.m., South Korea formally dered war on China and Japan. At the same time, naval battles urred near the West Sea oil field and Daemado Ind.¡±
Battles already?
The defense attach¨¦s murmured in surprise.
They had expected that a battle would ur due to the tense situation surrounding the three countries, but they had not thought that it would happen as soon as the deration of war ended.
Well, it was unusual enough to dere war in this era.
Minister Kim read the contents written hastily on paper, not on a prompter.
¡°In the West Sea battle, two naval ships of Korea, Kim Gu and Yeon Hyung-hyung, participated and sank or disabled six Chinese 055-ss destroyers and many other warships. Currently, the West Sea oil field is secured by the 11th Combat Brigade.¡±
It was the moment when the superiority of railgun battleships was clearly revealed.
China had been confident that their railgun was not inferior to Korea¡¯s, but reality waspletely different.
¡ªThey destroyed a fleet in just 30 minutes with only two ships? That¡¯s no joke.
¡ªI have to report this to my country as soon as possible.
While the defense attach¨¦s were busy transmitting information, Minister Kim added.
¡°There were also air force fighters on standby nearby, but no mutual engagement urred.¡±
Chinese fighters would know that anti-ship missiles were meaningless in front of iron beams, and Korea would have focused on intercepting Chinese fighters since the battle ended in victory.
Submarines would be top secret even if they were involved in a battle.
¡°And at the same time, there was also a naval battle with Japan near Daemado Ind. However, the ships that participated in the battle were not from the Korean Navy, but from Earth Fleet.¡±
Earth Fleet? Did he mean that fleet that showed its strong presence in the Indian Ocean?
But there was a joint training of Japan, Britain, and France near Daemado Ind. What happened?
Fortunately, the answer came soon.
¡°Earth Fleet sank five Japanese ships, including a high-ss destroyer, and left the area after being attacked by a submarine squadron.¡±
Then someone stood up abruptly.
It was Colonel Harold, a defense attach¨¦ sent from Britain.
He asked without even getting permission to speak.
¡°Our British destroyer was also included in the training fleet. Did you attack them too?¡±
¡°I will not answer that. Please sit down.¡±
Minister Kim told him to sit down, but Colonel Harold did not back down and poured out English.
¡°Britain and Korea are not in a state of war right now. If you attacked a British destroyer, it could cause a serious crisis in rtions between the two countries. I demand relevant information immediately.¡±
But the minister¡¯s attitude was rxed.
¡°I roughly understand what you mean, but I will notment. If you do not listen to me now and sit down, I will issue a persona non grata from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Please sit down.¡±
Persona non grata.
It means that you are an unwee person and we will expel you.
Defense attach¨¦s often dealt with sensitive information, but it was rare for them to be designated as such.
Once issued, the other country could also take the same action, so it was burdensome.
But now it was wartime and there were hardly any countries that wouldin about Korea¡¯s sensitive reaction.
Defense attach¨¦s had to be polite by nature, but he did not follow the control of the minister of defense who was at war?
He would be sent back to his country without any excuse.
Colonel Harold licked his lips, but he could not resist and slumped down.
The announcement ended there and the defense attach¨¦s learned that the Korean Army¡¯s 7th Corps had left their assembly point.
It was a unit that was too big to keep secret.
Several defense attach¨¦s from the United States and Britain gathered at the diplomatic mission and had a serious conversation.
¡°Why didn¡¯t they announce anything about the 7th Corps?¡±
¡°Either they have no separate operation, or it¡¯s confidential.¡±
¡°It must be thetter since the 7th Corps is not a decoy.¡±
¡°Have they left by now?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll find out in 30 minutes.¡±
In thest Second Korean War, the Korean Army¡¯s 7th Corps received a lot of spotlight.
They advanced at the forefront of the army and crushed the elite tank units that North Korea boasted of.
This unit attracted unprecedented attention from not only China but also the United States and Japan.
The 7th Corps of the Korean Army was the only tank unit equipped with railguns and ion thrusters.
They also wanted to see how the drone system worked in a real battlefield.
That¡¯s why the United States had paid a lot of attention to the training and movement of the 7th Corps, and even shared the information with Japan, their ally.
However, Japan did not care much about the 7th Corps, thinking that it was almost impossible for them tond on their territory.
Considering their huge naval power, it was not a wrong idea. Instead, they focused on Earth Fleet of the Human Alliance.
Anyway, when President Yu Ji-ha dered war, the United States lost track of the 7th Corps except for the West Sea oil field and the Tsushima Strait.
But due to the nature of low-orbit satellites, they could only reconnoiter the location every hour and 40 minutes.
The US Intelligence Agency assigned two Keyhole reconnaissance satellites to the 7th Corps, but they could not reduce the interval to less than an hour.
President Yu Ji-ha dered war 30 minutes ago, so the 7th Corps must have moved too.
The result woulde out in 30 minutes.
France wanted to join this ce, but the United States only shared information with countries where Anglo-Saxons were dominant.
No matter how much Korea achieved dazzling development, their position would not change.
Maybe President Yu Ji-ha knew this fact and acted hostile toward the United States.
Even if he tried hard, he would not be sure that his rank would rise. Wouldn¡¯t he give up on trying?
Moreover, a think tank of the US Democratic Party reported that he had a high possibility of breaking the board.
He was shaking the world order led by the United States by continuing to wage war. It was an extension of his idea that he would be the center.
Colonel Harold, who had been scolded earlier, lowered his voice.
¡°Don¡¯t you think he went to Shenyang? He said he wanted Manchuria.¡±
¡°Maybe he advanced to Dalian. There¡¯s an oil field there.¡±
Both were possible scenarios and a SR-72 reconnaissance aircraft that had departed from Guam was heading to Dalian.
This reconnaissance aircraft had a maximum speed of Mach 6 and could not be intercepted by any existing air defensework.
Even China and Russia were helpless against this reconnaissance aircraft and protested several times, but the United States did not budge.
This reconnaissance aircraft was originally stationed in Osan, Korea and Okinawa, Japan, but it moved down to Guam when USFK withdrew and USFJ dered a reduction.
As a result, it could not be immediately deployed for reconnaissance even though war was dered and it was flying hard.
Thirty minutes passed and Major General James, a US defense attach¨¦, received a call from his country.
¡°The 7th Corps is not at their base. We are tracking their movement now, but it seems like they went to Dalian.¡±
¡°He valued the oil field more than Manchuria. He must have been dissatisfied with Siberia¡¯s oil field.¡±
¡°That¡¯s unlikely¡¡±
Siberia was one of the ces with the most abundant resources in the world.
Korea wouldn¡¯t have shared their initial skills with Russia for nothing.
Colonel Harold leaned back on the sofa with a rxed expression.
¡°It seems like the war will not expand as much as we thought.¡±
¡°That¡¯s the biggest question. I thought he would definitely go northward considering his aggressive nature.¡±
They all misunderstood his purpose because he openly picked a fight with Manchuria.
Was this also a deception?
¡°Compared to his crazy idea of taking over all of Manchuria, taking part of Liaodong Penins is more realistic.¡±
¡°It¡¯s still a big part. And China won¡¯t give it up easily. Their army has more than tanks.¡±
¡°If we add their artillery power and rocket force, they can easily destroy a corps-level unit.¡±
Maybe the total war itself was a deception.
Anyone could see that Korea was not capable of fighting China and Japan at the same time.
Even if they joined forces with the Human Alliance, they might have an advantage inbat, but it was impossible to make both countries surrender in a short time.
Eventually, it would be a long-term war, which would be fatal for Korea, which depended on imports for most of its raw materials.
In that respect, everyone thought that Korea¡¯s goal was not Manchuria as a whole, but Liaodong Penins.
Since their main force, the 7th Corps, went to Dalian, it was not unreasonable to think so.
It was more realistic than taking over all of Manchuria.
But China wouldn¡¯t give it up easily either.
***
After destroying Japan¡¯s training fleet, Earth Fleet submerged and escaped from the pursuit of a submarine squadron that had been ambushing nearby.
It was very difficult to detect a submarine from a submarine.
Even the United States and Russia, which had an edge in anti-submarine operations, sometimes caused collision idents.
As a result, Japan¡¯s Joint Commandpletely lost track of Earth Fleet and Prime Minister Matsuda was furious.
¡°They attacked as soon as the deration of war ended? They arepletely crazy!¡±
He secretly hoped that Britain and France would intervene, but the military decided that it was unreasonable because there was not much damage.
¡°Four of our destroyers were maneuvering with the fleet, but their shooting was so exquisite that they did not cause any damage.¡±
¡°Only one high-ss destroyer was disabled and got some fragments from the explosion.¡±
On the other hand, Japan¡¯s navy suffered a lot.
Five battleships that received railgun shots were all sunk orpletely disabled.
ording to the helicopter that was urgently dispatched to the scene, the gship Maya-ss, where Admiral Izuchi boarded, was almost a beehive.
It did not sink, but the bridge, radar, engine, and railgun turret were all smashed, so it was almost like a floating coffin.
Prime Minister Matsuda trembled with rage at Korea¡¯s treachery.
¡°They attacked from behind because they couldn¡¯t face us head-on¡¡±
But the navy sighed in unison when they received the data from this battle.
¡°It means that our forces are in a huge disadvantage, even if we ambushed them, we couldn¡¯t respond and were annihted.¡±
¡°The pration power of the railgun is much higher than we expected. The ck metal armor was useless.¡±
¡°If this is the situation without the firepower ships and drone carriersing out¡¡±
But no one in the navy could report this to the prime minister.
They were afraid of being used of being cowards.
There was also an internal situation where they could not be underestimated in a situation where the army was confident that they could secure Tsushima if they opened the sea.
The incident where the training fleet was destroyed and Admiral Izuchi died did not cause much shock, because a bigger shock cameter.
The railgun deployed on Korea¡¯s Dae Ma Do ind started to operate in earnest.
This railgun was a ground type, so it could push in a different dimension of power than the ship type.
The control authority did not exist in the army or the joint chiefs of staff, but only in Yu Jiha.
When the weapon started to operate, the Japanese navy was startled.
¡ªTsushima¡¯s railgun is activated! All fleets execute evasive maneuvers!
In fact, there was no reason to be afraid of railguns unless they were fleets.
It would have a definite pration power, but it would not have much destructive power because it could not put high-explosive shells.
If they loaded hafnium-2 warheads, it would be a cause for condemnation from the internationalmunity.
Even now, there was a strong opinion in the UN that Korea¡¯s hafnium-2 warheads should be stopped.
Because Korea withdrew its diplomats, their intentions were not conveyed, but if mushroom clouds rose on the Japanese archipgo, other countries would not sit still.
Even the United States announced that it would consider redeploying tactical nuclear weapons depending on Korea¡¯s use of hafnium-2 warheads, let alone what else.
Japan was a country with a different dimension of influence on the world economy than Iran or Pakistan.
But they didn¡¯t know.
That a railgun with a fully released limiter does not need hafnium-2 warheads.
As soon as Dae Ma Do¡¯s railgun started firing, hundreds of projectiles overturned the fleet near Sasebo.
It wasn¡¯t one by one.
The fleet was like a honeb in an instant, as if it had been hit by a shower.
¡°Rain of projectiles falls from the sky! The fleet will be annihted at this rate!¡±
The nearby air defense unit did its best to respond, but it was impossible to intercept because the speed of the projectiles was too fast.
As hundreds of projectiles poured down like localized showers, the core facilities of the base were literally shattered.
¡°Sasebo Regional Commandpletely silent! There is no ship that can move!¡±
¡°The damage to the amphibious assault unit is also devastating! Unable to respond!¡±
Dae Ma Do¡¯s railgun did not touch civilian areas and only targeted military facilities.
There was nothing left to prate buildings, concrete fortifications and armored vehicles with its tremendous pration power.
The fuel depot also exploded, causing a huge explosion at Sasebo Naval Base.
Prime Minister Matsuda heard that mushroom clouds rose in Sasebo and contacted the Joint Command with glee.
¡°Those Koreans used hafnium-2, right?¡±
¡°N-no! ording to confirmation results, it seems to be an explosion of fuel depot!¡±
His face turned sour in an instant.
War was inevitable anyway, and he had to somehow drag the United States into it, but Korea did not give him that opportunity.
He couldn¡¯t just sit still, so he immediately ordered an attack on Tsushima.
¡°Pour out everything you can shoot!¡±
The rtively well-coordinated air force and navy stepped forward and poured out all avable ground-to-ground missiles, and Dae Ma Do also responded with interception.
While both sides projected limited firepower around Tsushima, Earth Fleet freely roamed Japan¡¯s sea.
Japan¡¯s submarine units searched for revenge, but they had a hard time finding traces.
Earth Fleet could almost go down to the bottom of the sea floor.
They tended to underestimate this fleet¡¯s diving depth because they showed weakness in the Indian Ocean.
¡ªIt can only dive, but it doesn¡¯t have the same diving depth as a real submarine.
¡ªThe fact that it didn¡¯t move properly when it overturned fragments means that its confidentiality is not very high. -But we have to be careful about its speed. It¡¯s too fast even for fast.
However, being fast in water means that it exposes a long trail.
It is because it cannot pass through water without leaving any traces.
So Japan¡¯s navalmand deployed huge mines near ports and fleets where Earth Fleet might appear, as well as mobilizing Orion and anti-submarine helicopters to search for water.
But Earth Fleet hardly showed up.
If they were scared and not moving, that alone would have been a great sess for Japan¡¯s operation.
They just had to recover their forces and attack Tsushima.
There were more amphibious assault units that could carry outnding operations besides Sasebo.
It would take time to call them, but if Earth Fleet stayed hidden like this, it was worth a try.
What Japan was reluctant to do was the human alliance¡¯s army, including Earth Fleet, not Korea.
¡ªThe 7th Division or something is definitely amazing. It would be hard for our army to deal with them. But how are they going to cross the sea?
¡ªKF-31 is still in production and thebat walker thing was only announced, not deployed yet. When they make a fuss, we will have F-3 deployed, so it¡¯s not a problem.
¡ª-Just watch Terra Ind.
Everyone was focusing on Terra Ind and Earth Fleet, while China mobilized all means to find the 7th Division heading to Dalian.
The 7th Division was a definite target and was expected to hold the key to this war.
If they could neutralize or at least hinder this tank unit, the odds would definitely tilt towards China.
But the Chinese reconnaissance nes that flew into Liaoning Penins were all shot down, and even the satellites failed to take pictures in time.
As a result, the Chinese leadership had to be blind for several hours without knowing the situation in Liaoning Penins.
¡°What the hell is going on! Even if the Korean army entered, it¡¯s ournd! How can we not know the situation of ournd!¡±
¡°Th-there is a Korean fleet nearby, so it¡¯s impossible for reconnaissance nes to approach!¡±
They couldn¡¯t mobilize other fleets because of the defeat in the Yellow Sea battle.
The ballistic missile power, including the hypersonic anti-ship missile, was not yet time to use.
Wang Xian Shangjang suppressed his anger and asked.
¡°What about contact with the local?¡±
¡°The Korean army destroyed themunication ry tower as they moved! The submarine cable seems to be cut off too, and the radio interference is no joke!¡±
¡°Send in a motorcycle unit!¡±
The motorcycle unit stationed in Yingkou rushed to Dalian.
They had already been promised a promotion of one rank.
That means reconnaissance with death in mind.
But when the motorcycle unit arrived in Dalian, the 7th Division was gone.
All that was left was the traces of their movement.
Wang Xian waited for three hours to receive a report and felt empty.
¡°Then where did the 7th Division go?¡±
Chapter 135: No Compromise
Chapter 135: No Compromise
When the K-3 tank was electrified, most of the countries that were considered military powers rushed to find out its specifications.
There were some important things missing from the specs announced by the manufacturer or the military.
One of them was weight.
It was assumed that the weight had been greatly reduced by adopting ck metal aggressively, but the Korean army did not indicate it on the spec sheet.
On foreign military sites, some people tried to guess the specs of the tank based on a few photos taken from afar.
¡ªEven if they make it unmanned and put only two crew members and fill the remaining space with batteries, the maximum number of shots would be about 45.
¡ªThe range is expected to be over 5km, which is a great help for the K-3 tank that can implement a 3D battlefield through drones.
¡ªThe cruising range is also impressive, but more importantly, it is small. Considering that ck metal is light, it is likely to be less than 45 tons.
If you think about the previous K-2 tank, which weighed 56 tons at the factory, it was a tremendous low.
The lightness of the tank meant that the defense power was low, but this did not apply to this tank.
It was because it was covered with ck metal.
It was almost impossible to prate unless it was made of the same material, and even if they used anti-tank missiles, they could only disable the equipment installed outside.
On the other hand, there was a question of how they could mount an ion thruster and move the tank.
¡ªIon thrusters obtain thrust by rapidly spraying ions, which is not suitable as a power source for moving tanks.
¡ªConsidering the parts imported from Germany by Hi-Tech, it seems like a hybrid packbined with a diesel engine, but I think I need to see the real thing to know.
While foreign countries were using all kinds of methods to find out the specs, Russia was able to meet the K-3 tank easily.
It was because Yu Ji-ha gave them one as a gift.
At that time, Russia disyed the K-3 tank in front of the Kremlin and boasted tremendously.
They received a tank equipped with a railgun and an ion thruster for the first time in the world as a gift, so their pride must have been enormous.
The Russian media praised it as a symbol of friendship and trust between the two leaders, and it was also revealed that the K-3 tank had a hybrid packbined with a diesel engine.
The armypared this tank with their own T-14 and rmended to President Putin that they should produce it under license.
They made a bold request to rece the problematic T-14 because they saw that the performance was different in dimension.
It was not known what decision Putin made, but most of the specs were revealed then.
However, only weight was never revealed, and Baldwin finally realized why he tried to hide it.
¡°It jumped like a frog.¡±
¡°Yes. It flew from Liaoning Penins to ind. Considering the thrust of the ion thruster mounted on it, the weight of the tank should not exceed 30 tons in order to fly a distance of about 200km.¡±
¡°The main tank of a military powerhouse weighs 30 tons¡¡±
The light weight was surprising, but more importantly, the tank could fly.
There used to be a concept of airborne tanks, but nowadays it was not seriously considered as the weight of tanks increased.
It was almost impossible to safely drop something that weighed over 50 tons.
It would cost too much money to air-drop tanks and lose their meaning.
That¡¯s why the concept of transporting tanks by air was almost forgotten.
Even countries like Russia probably didn¡¯t have any research data on airborne tanks left.
But Korea lifted up tanks into the sky by attaching ion thrusters.
Anyone could tell where their target was.
Beijing.
The great dictator must have thought of pushing in his 7th Army into Beijing.
Baldwinughed as if he couldn¡¯t believe it.
¡°What are you going to do by pushing your 7th Army into China? I doubt you can get enough supplies.¡±
Beijing is China¡¯srgest city with a poption approaching 23 million.
It was second only to Chongqing in terms of pure poption, but after experiencing the Yangtze War, angry peasants caused riots and increased poption.
They became refugees who couldn¡¯t go back to their hometowns.
This poption exceeded 20 million and still troubled China¡¯s leadership.
Think about it.
How can anyone not feel threatened by groups of wanderers who are not properly controlled?
The public security was not much help either, and if they mobilized the army, they would turn over the whole city.
Politicians including Wang Xian Shang tried to ignore them as if they didn¡¯t exist.
Thus, Beijing recently reminded people of an apocalypse.
On days when there was a lot of fine dust, even wanderers couldn¡¯t be seen well and citizens avoided going out.
But even in such a situation, Beijing was a metropolis and the center of China.
No matter how elite it was, one army corps was not a ce to ovee.
The security adviser Christina Guerrero lowered her voice.
¡°What if you don¡¯t intend to drag it into a long-term war? You could take over Beijing in a short time and get what you want. You might ask them to hand over Manchuria.¡±
¡°Do you think the Chinese will give up that vastnd easily?¡±
¡°It¡¯s possible if you get rid of the leadership. That¡¯s what he¡¯s been doing so far. Self-made drama, assassination.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Baldwin looked at Guerrero, who was spreading conspiracy theories, with a nk stare.
This Mexican woman, who was strongly rmended by the party and hired, was good at everything, but she had a tendency to be obsessed with conspiracy theories.
She sincerely imed that Yu Ji-ha killed the officials who blocked his way, and that he was behind most of the incidents.
It all started when the prime minister of Korea died mysteriously in 2026.
She even imed that he assassinated the Bryant candidate.
The unfortunate thing was that the mainstream of the Democratic Party agreed with her opinion.
So the Baldwin administration could not use an active inclusion policy for Yu Ji-ha and Korea.
Well, let¡¯s put that aside¡
¡°If you have to go to Korea a lot in the future, don¡¯t say such things or you won¡¯t be able to stay there, understand?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be careful.¡±
But there was no sign of remorse on her face.
Baldwin sighed lightly and leaned back in his chair.
¡°He dered a total war as a deception. He wants to end the war as quickly as possible¡ It might be better for us if he protests in Beijing.¡±
¡°It would be better if you only think about the economy. But we can¡¯t give Manchuria to Korea.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not your decision. But I¡¯m curious why he wants morend.¡±
¡°World domination.¡±
¡°Are you serious?¡±
¡°Yes, I¡¯m serious. He divided China, invaded and absorbed North Korea, and smashed Iran and Pakistan. And now he¡¯s attacking China and Japan. It¡¯s no surprise that he¡¯s hostile to us.¡±
¡°Do you me him for dividing China? You should have said he dropped a meteorite instead.¡±
He was referring to the meteorite that entered the atmosphere and fell on the coast of China just before the Yangtze War.
Among the schrs who studied the history of war, it was a long time ago that the meteorite was interpreted as the actual cause of the war.
They suffered too much damage and had no breakthrough unless they went to war.
If that¡¯s true, Yu Ji-ha would have done more than enough for the world.
But that¡¯s unlikely.
¡°That possibility cannot bepletely ruled out.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t say that in front of President Yu.¡±
¡°I know how precious my life is.¡±
¡°Good grief.¡±
When Baldwin turned his head with a chuckle, someone knocked on his office door and the security adviser came in with aptop.
There was a picture of the 7th Army flying across the Yellow Sea taken by the SR-72 reconnaissance aircraft.
¡°¡¡±
Guerrero adviser lost her words at seeing the heavy tank flying over the sea.
Can this be called modern warfare?
The deputy adviser spoke quickly.
¡°They said they received a warning after taking this picture. Aser from an Ion beam shot up near the tail wing of the reconnaissance aircraft.¡±
The president¡¯s face changed sharply.
¡°Did they notice our reconnaissance aircraft? How?¡±
¡°It seems to be rted to the satellite that Koreaunched before.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t they say it was an ordinary GPS satellite? I heard that there was a lot of error because there was no ce to put it in geostationary orbit.¡±
¡°Mr. President, that¡¯s not important.¡±
Guerrero security adviser closed herptop and looked at him.
¡°Korea has made a threatening act against US Air Force aircraft. And they also lied about the specs of Ion beam. I¡¯ve never heard of aser that reaches 80,000 feet. It¡¯s almost three times the spec.¡±
¡°The railgun¡¯s rapid fire capability was alsopletely different in the Yellow Sea and Tsushima. He has a lot to hide.¡±
¡°Maybe even his name is fake. We can¡¯t wait any longer. We have to rush in and secure him. Or at least his parents¡¡±
¡°Stop. My administration has already decided to work with President Yu.¡±
¡°If you¡¯re lucky, it will be like that.¡±
¡°I suddenly want to rece you.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you promise me a term?¡±
¡°If you want that, shut up.¡±
¡°¡¡±
¡°I want to be alone.¡±
The advisers left and Baldwin turned his chair and looked at the White House garden.
The party¡¯s interference in this war was getting worse.
They didn¡¯t like that he negotiated easily on the diamond semiconductor issue, or that he made a gesture of letting go of East Asia.
Maybe it¡¯s because of Japan¡¯s money.
Japan had poured huge lobbying funds into Washington as usual, and in recent months it had tripled.
On the other hand, Korea hardly did any lobbying activities.
Privatepanies did it asionally, but at the government level theypletely ignored it, and its effects were gradually appearing.
The Democratic Party members came to the White House and talked only about his mad dog theory.
In Congress, at universities, in any office in Washington, there was a growing atmosphere that Korea should not be left alone.
¡®Was diamond semiconductor not enough? What will I use to sanction him?¡¯
Maybe war.
It was clear that economic pressure would not make him surrender, so the only option left was war.
As long as Baldwin was in the presidential seat, he would not tolerate it, but the Democrats would try to undermine his power.
It was hard to rece the president, but it was easy to rece his advisers.
He whispered to the Korean president, who was trying to strike Beijing and Tokyo.
¡°Let¡¯s end this here. There are so many things to do in this world these days.¡±
With the technology they boasted in the Mars development deration, they could seriously drill a hole in Europa and explore life forms.
What about Titan, the moon of Jupiter?
They could build a resource nt and free humanity from the energy crisis.
It was a waste of time to wage war in such an era.
It was best to cooperate and use each other while making profits.
But the Democrats seemed to think otherwise.
Some senators came to see him.
***
China found the traces of the 7th Corps when they seeded in crossing the Yellow Sea.
Surprisingly, hundreds of armored vehicles used ion thrusters to fly in the sky.
Theynded on a harvested rice field near Tianjin and started moving immediately.
They only needed to rece the capsules of the ion thrusters, so they did not need any supplies.
But it was impossible for them to fight a great battle with only the grenades and electricity they had.
When the 7th Corps appeared at a ce that was only 170km away from Beijing, the Chinese leaders, including Wang Xian Shang, were shocked.
¡°Why is the 7th Corps in Tianjin?¡±
¡°That¡¯s impossible! They should be near Dalian!¡±
Whether they liked it or not, hundreds of vehicles were advancing toward Beijing, crushing the rice fields.
Wang Xian Shang bit his lips until they bled when he saw the leading unit waving the Taegeukgi g.
¡°Those crazy bastards, do they know where they are¡¡±
China¡¯s power had been broken after the Yangtze War, but it was not enough to be pushed around by a single corps.
Wang Xian Shang tried to call the forces of the northern front, but most of them were in Shenyang.
They were even building defensive positions to stop the 7th Corps!
He tried to contact the frontmand, but the generals stopped him.
¡°Commander, it will take at least 10 hours to depart.¡±
¡°The 7th Corps will arrive in Beijing much faster.¡±
¡°Then what do you want me to do? Just watch Beijing fall?¡±
¡°It would be better to gather the nearby forces and respond.¡±
When they checked the nearby units, they got an absurd result.
Most of the 50,000 troops were guards and there was only one armored brigade.
The entire northern front was stationed in Shenyang because they misunderstood that the Korean army was aiming for Manchuria.
The air defensework around Beijing was reliable, but how could it stop an armored corps?
The only thing left was tactical aircraft, but he did not want to choose that.
They had suffered too much from the Ion beam on Taiwan Ind.
While the leaders were hesitating, the dot indicating the 7th Corps continued to push into Beijing.
They could enter Beijing in an hour or less.
Silence filled the bunker and some generals suggested.
¡°We have to mobilize all avable tactical aircraft and bombers and crush them.¡±
¡°We should also use rockets.¡±
Wang Xian Shang nodded heavily.
If this method failed, there was nothing left but nuclear weapons.
It was bad enough that the Korean army appeared near Beijing, but if they failed to stop them and used nuclear weapons?
He would be despised by everyone and his life would be in danger.
So he had to seed.
¡°Approve it. Give those Koreans who entered our house without fear a regret.¡±
Dozens of tactical aircraft and bombers took off from Hebei Air Force Base.
They were so urgent that most of the procedures were ignored and some aircraft took off without any bombs.
Almost at the same time, rockets rained down on where they guessed the 7th Corps would be.
A terrible rain of steel fell, but the 7th Corps did not change direction.
The Ion beam with its limiterpletely released shed through the air several times.
It was so powerful that it did not even bother to track missiles, but just swept over them and exploded them right away.
Fireworks spread in the dark evening and nearby citizens came out to watch and got hit by shrapnel.
The nearby army also fired multiple rocketunchers, but the result was no different.
The night sky just got brighter and more houses around were destroyed.
All measures failed and the 7th Corps advanced toward Beijing without much damage.
There were only 30 minutes left and voices rose in the bunker.
¡°Let¡¯s use nuclear weapons.¡±
¡°We can¡¯t use nuclear weapons. It¡¯s better to lure them into Beijing and fight a street battle.¡±
¡°Fight a street battle with the Koreans who have drones? Are you a spy?¡±
¡°They don¡¯t have drones in the 7th Corps!¡±
¡°Where do you get off raising your voice!¡±
An argument broke out and Wang Xian Shang called his secretary and ordered.
¡°Connect me to Korea.¡±
Unlike Japan, China did not cut off themunication line with Korea.
¡°Please withdraw the 7th Corps.¡±
¡°Oh, you seem to have no choice.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not that we have no choice, but that the mutual damage is too great, so let¡¯s restrain ourselves.¡±
¡°Then do it.¡±
Wang Xian Shang clenched his teeth.
¡°Do you really want to make us use nuclear weapons?¡±
¡°We don¡¯t care if you do. But you will be held responsible for the consequences by the whole of China.¡±
¡°Can you withstand annihtion? We have over 1.5 billion people!¡±
¡°I think I heard that from the Muslim society too¡ Can you be confident that your resilience is stronger? Even if all the nuclear power nts in the eastern coastal area be scrap metal?¡±
¡°¡If you fire even one antitron, we will never forgive you.¡±
¡°You have weapons more powerful than nuclear weapons in China?¡±
Of course not.
The bunker was quiet and Wang Xian Shang continued the call in a separate secret room.
¡°What do you want.¡±
¡°The three northeastern provinces.¡±
¡°You want to split China?¡±
¡°It¡¯s the war you wanted. You lost, so you have to pay the price. You have 25 minutes left.¡±
¡°We haven¡¯t lost yet. And do you know how many people live in Beijing? It¡¯s delusional to think that you can control it.¡±
¡°We never said we would control it.¡±
¡°How long do you think the 7th Corps canst without supplies?¡±
He realized that Yu Ji-ha, the president, had no intention ofpromising from his tone.
Maybe this was his n from the beginning.
He and Prime Minister Matsuda had underestimated him.
There were only two choices left at this point, since he could not turn back time.
Either he watched the 7th Corps and the drones wreak havoc in Beijing, or he used nuclear weapons.
Both would bring his downfall.
Yu Ji-ha asked casually.
¡°Is anyone listening?¡±
¡°¡No.¡±
¡°Let me make a suggestion. Try to arrest your subordinates. You will probably be arrested instead. Then we will rescue you after we upy Beijing. Your subordinates will be executed, and you can be the president without any responsibility.¡±
He shivered at the n to swallow the three northeastern provinces without shedding blood.
¡°Are you telling me to betray myrades and be your puppet?¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it better than losing everything?¡±
The funny thing was that Yu Ji-ha¡¯s proposal sounded very attractive.
The three northeastern provinces or the presidency.
He would not have hesitated if it were normal, but now the 7th Corps was right in front of him.
Wasn¡¯t it much better than turning Beijing into and where people could not live?
¡®I will lose the three northeastern provinces, but I can keep the rest¡¡¯
China¡¯s territory had been shrinking, but he was a great man who did not care if he could be the president.
What else was important besides bing the absolute master of China?
He was about to answer that he would ept it when it happened.
The st door opened with a bang and the generals poured in.
¡°What, what is it?¡±
Wang Xian Shang was surprised and covered the handset, and Hu Zhongsan, his closest aide, pointed a gun at him.
¡°I¡¯m disappointed, Commander Wang.¡±
¡°How did you get a gun¡ I see. There was a traitor among the secretaries.¡±
¡°The important thing is that you tried to betray the people.¡±
¡°You will have to fight a total war with Korea if you kill me. We will both be annihted!¡±
¡°We have 1.5 billion people.¡±
Yu Ji-ha had just refuted that¡
He lost his will and Hu Zhongsan smiled.
The guards dragged Wang Xian Shang out and he spoke into the handset.
¡°Listen up. We will notpromise. Your worthless country will be covered with fire and we will win.¡±
¡°Are you okay with the 7th Corps entering Beijing?¡±
¡°They will get a nuclear bomb on their heads before that!¡±
¡°Do you think that¡¯s possible in 20 minutes?¡±
Hu Zhongsan threw the handset roughly as he heard Yu Ji-ha¡¯sughter.
¡°Connect me to the rocket army right now!¡±
While there was chaos in the Chinese leadership bunker, Earth Fleet, which had been hiding from the Japanese navy¡¯s surveincework, emerged.
The location was Sagami Bay near Tokyo.
Chapter 136: You Started It
Chapter 136: You Started It
China¡¯s nuclear arsenal mostly consisted of ballistic missiles.
It was natural, since their biggest enemy, the United States, was far away.
Therefore, the only way to stop the 7th Division, which could reach Beijing in 20 minutes, was to use cruise missiles designated as DH-10.
They did not have any nuclear warheads that could be deployed from bombers, unlike the United States.
But it was nearly impossible to prate the 7th Division¡¯s iron beam with cruise missiles.
Wasn¡¯t there a record of the Earth Fleet intercepting dozens of nuclear missiles from Pakistan in the Indian Ocean?
It was much easier to stop cruise missiles than hypersonic ballistic missiles.
But they had no other choice.
¡°If we dy any longer, they will enter Beijing.¡±
Themander of the Rocket Army, Major General Ryu Jung, epted his subordinate¡¯s suggestion.
¡°Don¡¯t forget to promote me to lieutenant general after this is over.¡±
¡°What are you talking about? You are the best candidate for the position since Wang Xian was dismissed.¡±
Soon, hundreds of DH-10 cruise missiles wereunched.
Only 50 of them carried actual nuclear warheads, and the rest were dummies.
The leadership thought that only a few hits were needed.
¨DThe 7th Division reduced its size to carry out a deception operation. Therefore, five 100kt-ss warheads would be enough topletely disable them.
¨DThend near Beijing would be contaminated, but they could get it back from Koreater.
That¡¯s how more than 200 cruise missiles rushed towards the 7th Division.
The iron beam in charge of the division¡¯s air defensework firedsers one after another to intercept the missiles.
To inflict enough damage on armored vehicles, a 100kt-ss nuclear warhead had to detonate within a few hundred meters.
But the range of the iron beam with its limiter removed was much longer.
Goldensers cut through the sky against the backdrop of the evening glow.
The DH-10 cruise missiles were low in altitude but too slow to pose a threat.
They were nothing but flies of different kinds to the iron beam that had been improved through countless battles.
Dozens of flies fell with a thud, and some cruise missiles changed their waypoints, but their final destination was still the 7th Division.
While this was going on, the 7th Division continued its advance and upied all the highways leading to Beijing¡¯s south as thest cruise missile was intercepted.
They crossed the Yangsu River and began to enter Beijing.
At this point, some in the Chinese leadership argued that they had to attack Korea¡¯s maind.
¡°We¡¯re done if they get inside the third ring road. We won¡¯t be able to control the city.¡±
¡°We have to stop them at the outskirts.¡±
The third ring road referred to the third circr road, and most of Beijing¡¯s core facilities were inside it.
¡°There¡¯s no other way than a full-scale nuclear attack on Korea.¡±
¡°Is that possible?¡±
No general could answer properly when Lieutenant General Hu Zhongsan asked that question.
They were elite troops, but they intercepted all 200 cruise missiles with a single field unit.
How could they know what was in Korea¡¯s maind?
They hesitated when Hu Zhongsan contacted the Rocket Army again.
¡°Senior, we need your power.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t mean a nuclear attack on Korea, do you?¡±
¡°We have no choice. They must be targeting our nuclear nts by now.¡±
¡°So you want to intercept them? Do you want to trade a small penins for all of China!¡±
¡°We can endure it. Even if our nuclear nts stop working, we can rebuild them.¡±
¡°You¡¯re crazy. If I knew this would happen, I wouldn¡¯t haveunched any cruise missiles.¡±
¡°Major General Ryu!¡±
This was uneptable.
No matter how messed up the current Communist Party hierarchy was, a lieutenant general couldn¡¯t yell at a major general.
Major General Ryu Jung clenched his teeth when Hu Zhongsan whispered to him.
¡°It was Korea who dered war. It was Korea who sent tanks into Beijing. We have the responsibility and right to drive out the invaders.¡±
¡°So you want a full-scale nuclear attack on Korea? I¡¯m against it. We should ask for mediation from the United States instead.¡±
¡°Will they listen?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll have to make big concessions, but it¡¯s better than being annihted, isn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°¡¡±
Hu Zhongsan picked up the phone connected to the United States after hesitating for a while.
¡°We need your help.¡±
¡°So your cruise missile attack failed? You¡¯re asking me for mediation?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll make big concessions if you help us this time.¡±
¡°I have a promise with Korea.¡±
¡°How could you do this? It was you who told us to pressure Korea in the first ce!¡±
President Baldwin chuckled softly as his tone became harsher.
That was true until recently.
It was the United States that pushed Japan to rearm and persuaded China to block exports.
But they felt that they shouldn¡¯t touch the diamond semiconductor issue anymore.
What was the point of touching a furious hedgehog with your hand? You¡¯d only see blood.
¡°By the way, where did Major General Wang Xian go and why is the deputymander raising his voice? Should I take it as a sign of a power shift in China?¡±
President Baldwin dodged the question, and Lieutenant General Hu Zhongsan hung up the phone.
The bunker was quiet, and the generals looked at him.
A broadcast station helicopter had flown in and was filming the 7th Division¡¯s advance.
By now, the whole nation must have noticed that the Korean troops had entered.
It was a mistake not to take over the broadcast in this urgent situation.
¡®I thought it would be over if I purged Wang Xian¡¡¯
It was impossible to stop the 7th Division now, and even a nuclear war was difficult due to the Rocket Army¡¯s non-cooperation.
The only option left was to fight a street battle in Beijing and wait for the main force of the northern front to arrive.
The 7th Division would eventually be annihted, but the fate of the generals, including him, would not be much better.
¡®Maybe if I gave up the three northeastern provinces¡¡¯
Hu Zhongsan shook his head vigorously.
The 1.5 billion people were one, and they could not be handed over to Korea.
He dered in front of the generals.
¡°There will be no surrender orpromise. We will fight to the end.¡±
The generals¡¯ reactions varied, but they agreed that they could not forgive those who entered Beijing.
¡°Once they¡¯re in here, they¡¯re dead meat.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s show them that China is alive by wiping them out.¡±
That¡¯s when the conclusion was reached.
An urgent report came from the radar base in the eastern front.
¡°Multiple missiles have beenunched from Korea and are heading towards the coast! Maximum speed Mach 6!¡±
¡°There was no report of ballistic missileunch?¡±
¡°Could it be that Korea deployed hypersonic missiles?¡±
¡°No, no! ording to the trajectory and altitude, they are cruise missiles!¡±
¡°Damn it, those bastards! The ones they fired in the Indian Ocean were downgraded versions!¡±
On the screen sent by the radar base, more than 100 cruise missiles were approaching the nuclear nts.
There was an early warning and control aircraft in the East China Sea, but it was hard to detect them because they were too fast.
Even the air defensework around the nuclear nts seemed to have a hard time intercepting those damn missiles.
The power supply to major coastal cities in China would be cut off.
Considering Iran¡¯s case, it would take at least three years or more.
The generals who guessed this far tried to persuade him.
¡°Lieutenant General Hu, are you sure about this?¡±
¡°The 7th Division has entered the fourth ring road. The citizens of Beijing are panicking.¡±
¡°They¡¯re giving us time by changing their route. We should contact Korea now¡¡±
Hu Zhongsan sneered.
¡°So you want to surrender?¡±
¡°What are you talking about? We¡¯re just trying to prevent the worst oue.¡±
¡°The worst oue is letting them run rampant in China and sitting idly by. We just need to convince the Rocket Army. If they don¡¯t cooperate, we¡¯ll use some harsh measures.¡±
The generals gasped.
¡°You don¡¯t mean taking over the Rocket Army, do you?¡±
¡°We have a guard division nearby. What¡¯s the problem?¡±
They had to fight with the 7th Division and buy some time, but he wanted to mobilize them to take over the Rocket Army?
Hu Zhongsan ranted on his own.
¡°There¡¯s no turning back now. We used nukes, and they used antitrons and hafnium-2. Time will tell who has more stamina.¡±
¡°Damn it!¡±
One general threw his hat and stepped forward.
¡°Tianjin, Yantai, Qingdao, Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Wenzhou! Are you going to abandon these cities!¡±
These coastal cities ounted for more than 30% of China¡¯s economy.
Including Beijing, 60% of China¡¯s economy would practically stop.
¡°I¡¯m not abandoning them. I¡¯m just saying we shouldn¡¯t give in.¡±
¡°I should have just left Wang Xian alone.¡±
¡°And then you would have been called a traitor of the people.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that better than driving them to death?¡±
¡°¡¡±
While the bunker was in conflict, he waited for Yu Ji-ha¡¯s contact.
¡°He¡¯s noting after all.¡±
¡°Lieutenant General Hu probably values his pride more than reason.¡±
¡°He¡¯ll lose everything looking for his pride. Anyway, it¡¯s strange.¡±
China just didn¡¯t want to bow down to Korea.
They must have been prepared to pay any price for that.
Yu Ji-ha released his grip and ordered.
¡°Adjust the route and go straight ahead.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
The cruise missiles that had been circling around the coast immediately headed for the nuclear nts.
The air defensework was activated at once, but it was not enough to stop the missiles flying at Mach 6 from low altitude.
Antitron warheads detonated one after another near 45 nuclear power nts.
The lights of major coastal cities in China went out at once.
***
The news that Korea had fired antitron-loaded missiles reached Japan.
The Joint Command, which had been ying hide and seek with the Earth Fleet until then, was startled.
¨DDid they really use antitrons? Are you sure?
¨DYes, I¡¯m sure. The power supply to major coastal cities in China has been cut off. Beijing is intact, but the Korean 7th Division is entering and fighting a street battle.
It was infuriating.
They had suffered a surprise attack, and they were being dragged by Korea.
The navy wondered how the 7th Division had entered Beijing, and they learned that the tanks had flown.
¨DThey used ion thrusters to fly the tanks. They headed straight ind from Dalian.
¨DI can¡¯t believe it. Flying tanks.
¨DThe K-3 tank is quite light because it uses ck metal extensively. If it has an ion thruster, it can fly for a short time.
¨DThen they can cross over to Japan with their tank units?
Prime Minister Matsuda was terrified by the report.
¡®It¡¯s less than 200km from Busan to Honshu¡¡¯
And once theynded, there was nothing to stop arge-scale tank unit.
Japan¡¯s armored force was weakpared to Korea, and most of it was deployed in Hokkaido.
This was to deter the Russian army, but it didn¡¯t change even until recently when there were frequent shes with Korea.
Of course, the Japanese navy wouldn¡¯t let the Korean tanksnd easily, but their railgun was a variable.
Korea had railguns not only in Tsushima but also elsewhere.
¡®Are theying all the way here?¡¯
Prime Minister Matsuda forgot that Korea had no otherrge-scale tank units besides the 7th Division and that the Japanese archipgo was wider than he thought.
He was gripped by the fear that the Korean tank unit wasing to get him.
China could barely fight with the 7th Division, how could Japan stand a chance?
¡®Russia, Russia will mediate¡¡¯
He barely got through to the Kremlin, but the deputy prime minister was curt.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, but there¡¯s nothing we can do for you.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not asking for much. Just stop the hostility and sit at the same table.¡±
¡°You should try your best with the same zeal you prepared to attack Tsushima.¡±
The Russian deputy prime minister of economy emphasized Tsushima, not Daito.
It was absurd.
Prime Minister Matsuda was still fuming after the call ended.
But on second thought, the two countries hadn¡¯t gone to the worst situation yet.
¡®They didn¡¯t use antitrons or hafnium-2. There¡¯s room for negotiation.¡¯
But he had no way of contacting the Korean government.
The hotline had been cut off long ago, and the Korean government had recalled even the diplomats sent to the UN.
Except for some private exchanges, it was no exaggeration to say that there was no way for the Japanese government to contact the Korean government.
Even if he managed to contact them, it was almost impossible to bring them to the negotiating table.
¡Or maybe it was possible.
To send Naruhito, the emperor, as a special envoy to Korea.
¡®Naruhito said he was willing to go anytime for the future of both countries¡¡¯
The visit to Korea was canceled due to the anti-Korean sentiment in Japan at the time, but it was clear that the current emperor had a favorable impression of Korea.
From the perspective of the Korean government, it would be hard to refuse his offer, considering his reputation.
If the visit to Korea was sessful, he would have to give up Tsushima, but it was much better than having the Korean tank unit sweep Japan.
He sent this intention to the Joint Command through his secretary.
The generals were ufortable with Japan¡¯s submissive attitude, but the news from China made it hard to oppose.
¨DTen coastal cities in China, including Tianjin, Nanjing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai, have beenpletely cked out. This is an unprecedented situation.
¨DThe aftermath of this situation will be iparable to the coal shortage that urred 10 years ago. China¡¯s economy may regress 10 years.
¨DDespite this, the Chinese leadership is calling for a desperate resistance. It seems like they are going to fight to the end.
Of course, Japan had no desire to resist desperately.
The original n was to unterally blockade Korea¡¯s territorial waters and reim Tsushima.
That turned out to be a dream, so he had no choice but to create an atmosphere of reconciliation somehow.
General Osamu Oshima, the joint chief of staff, said to Prime Minister Matsuda.
¡°It¡¯s our fault. We can¡¯t even find one Earth Fleet.¡±
¡°They¡¯re just hiding until the war ends.¡±
¡°Do you think the war will end?¡±
¡°¡¡±
In fact, there was nothing confirmed about that.
He couldn¡¯t even hear Korea¡¯s intentions, let alone connect with them.
Prime Minister Matsuda finally held a cab meeting, but they were all trying to avoid responsibility.
¡°If you make an announcement to the media, there might be a response from Korea.¡±
¡°Do I have to do it myself?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no pressure if someone else does it, and the US and Russia are not giving any answers¡ It¡¯s tough.¡±
Prime Minister Matsuda slumped his shoulders.
If he could, he wanted to go back a few days and contact Korea.
But since that was impossible, he had to stop the war at a loss.
He thought of Tsushima and the training fleet and Sagami Bay, but he quickly brushed them off.
And so a press conference was held on the first floor of the official residence.
The leading media in Japan watched his mouth.
Finally, he began his announcement, but it was a strange content that made no sense.
¡°¡The Japanese government is very positive about reaching an agreement with the Korean government through negotiations and is pleased to officially inform them of this.¡±
So do you want to negotiate or not?
Even the Japanese reporters were puzzled, and Korea didn¡¯t care about this conference at all.
The railgun in Tsushima that had been bombed was repaired and started firing again, and the Japanese fleet had to run around everywhere.
They ran away so hard that some supply ships over 10,000 tons were overloaded.
That¡¯s when Earth Fleet showed up from inside Sagami Bay where no one paid attention.
¡°Damn it! They¡¯re inside the minefield!¡±
¡°Try to bypass and fire torpedoes! Pour out anti-ship missiles too!¡±
The entire Japanese navy turned upside down while missiles were fired one after another from fire support ships.
These missiles quickly passed Yokohama and exploded in mid-air over Chiyoda Ward.
Many people witnessed this explosion as it was in Tokyo¡¯s financial and economic center area.
¡°It¡¯s a nuclear explosion!¡±
¡°Everyone get down!¡±
Amidst screams everywhere, something strangended on the ground.
It was abat walker.
It reduced its speed by reverse thrusting its ion thruster just beforending.
Dozens ofbat walkers appeared on the road near Nagatacho, which was full of vehicles at dinner time.
¡°What¡¯s that?¡±
¡°It looks like a robot¡¡±
The Tokyo citizens who had barely gotten up didn¡¯t know the identity of this robot at first.
It was human-sized, but it was so bulky that it didn¡¯t feel friendly at all.
If anything, it felt like a weapon.
Someone made a ridiculous remark that it was Iron Man, but the people¡¯s faces were filled with fear.
Hundreds of robots appeared everywhere on the road, thumping.
The road was shattered and the vehicles were overturned by their weight.
But thebat walkers didn¡¯t suffer any damage and moved mechanically.
The Japanese government finally learned the identity of these robots.
¡°It¡¯s abat walker. The one President Yu Ji-ha announced a while ago¡¡±
¡°They mass-produced it already? Impossible!¡±
They actually appeared in Tokyo.
The secretary¡¯s eyes stabbed Prime Minister Matsuda in the back of his head.
He was pitifully trembling.
He thought those robots came to get him.
¡°Is there a special operations force near Tokyo? Send them out immediately!¡±
The reporters were dumbfounded.
¡°Do you mean to send the guards to fight those robots?¡±
¡°That¡¯s a monster with railguns and hafnium-2 missiles!¡±
¡°Then what do you want me to do? Should I fight them myself?¡±
The people sensed as they watched the hysterical prime minister.
The war wouldn¡¯tst long.
Soon, public security and ground forces arrived near Nagatacho, but they were stunned to see the robot army they had to face.
¡°We¡¯re supposed to fight those things?¡±
Chapter 137: The Gangster Who Hid His Power
Chapter 137: The Gangster Who Hid His Power
If there was a regr guest at the UN Security Council meetings in the past few years, it would be Yu Ji-ha.
He had earned a bad reputation in the internationalmunity by upying almost 30% of the agenda.
¡ªThe Merchant of Death.
¡ªThe Worst Dictator Who Surpassed Hitler.
¡ªThe One Who Made 40% of Humanity His Enemies.
There were various epithets, but none of them were good.
The only thing that could be considered positive was that he had absorbed the troublesome North Korea and brought a brief peace to East Asia.
Considering the risk that North Korea posed to the international situation, it could be seen as a significant achievement, but the countries that disliked him suspected that he had some ulterior motive.
¡ªWasn¡¯t it something he had to take care of by ident, not by his intention? I don¡¯t think it can be counted as an achievement.
¡ªIsn¡¯t he surprisingly controlling it well? Despite taking in 20 million refugees who were uneducated, violent, and in the worst condition of nutrition and hygiene, there was no discord.
¡ªThe real problem is whether there is anything wrong in the North Korean region, but no one can enter because he dered a 10-year blockade.
¡ªIt looks like there are facilities simr to Terra Ind being built from the satellite images. Necessities such as food, medicine, and other supplies are also being properly delivered.
¡ªAnyway, just by resolving the risk of North Korea, he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.
¡ªBut he has no interest in the Nobel Prize, and he seems to be skeptical of the UN itself.
¡ªHe has enough reason to think so. Countless emergency Security Council meetings have been held in the past few years, but no proper resolution has ever been made.
That was the biggest problem.
Under the current Security Council decision-making system, if one country opposes, it cannot be passed at all.
The East Asian War also showed that pattern.
As soon as China and Japan were shattered at the beginning of the war, Britain and France dered a meeting, but the United States dered neutrality and Russia firmly expressed its opposition as always.
¡°I¡¯ll say this here. The cause of the war lies with China and Japan, and the United States who controlled them behind the scenes. Korea only waged a preventive war.¡±
¡°A preventive war¡ Shall we look up the requirements for that?¡±
¡°It¡¯s meaningless to look at the requirements under internationalw. We have to discuss immediate and practical issues.¡±
¡°The war must be stopped.¡±
The person who spoke was the French Minister of Defense.
He mentioned the injustice of this war and the negative impact it would have on the world economy.
¡°Ten major cities along the Chinese coast havepletely stopped. There are more than a million tons of cargo stuck in Bohai Bay. Korea is killing the world economy.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t see how that¡¯s connected to the world economy. Many countries have already reduced their dependence on China a lot.¡±
It was because China had wielded its exports as a weapon since the 2020s.
The United States, which had learned from China¡¯s misbehavior, created a global supply chain centered on Western powers.
The Yangtze War also contributed greatly to reducing dependence on China.
Therefore, China was not ying the role of the world¡¯s factory as much as before.
But Europe, including France, still relied heavily on China.
Especially rare metal were like that, and supply was cut off due to the East Asian War.
Even if they tried to diversify their sources, most of the supplies from India and Australia were allocated to Korea.
The fire fell on EU¡¯s feet because of this war.
¡ªThe car industry, not to mention manufacturing and aviation sectors, came to a halt.
¡ªI never thought China would be pushed back so badly¡
That was the biggest problem.
The EU¡¯s economic department and eachpany thought that even if a war broke out, China and Japan would suppress Korea.
The Earth Fleet was certainly amazing, but Korea was several levels lower in terms of overall power.
But as soon as the war started, both countries¡¯ fleets were literally shattered by Korea¡¯s surprise attack, and China was currently in chaos with dozens of nuclear power nts stopped.
While France and Britain were in a hurry to stop the war, Russia was rtively rxed.
¡°Didn¡¯t you wee China and Japan¡¯s pressure before? It seems like you changed your mind.¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t want a war.¡±
¡°Really? I think I saw you say in an interview with a prominent media that war is not necessarily evil.¡±
He obviously didn¡¯t dream that China and Japan would be pushed back like this.
They all boasted that they had electrified railguns and caught up with Korea quite a bit.
Especially France had poured a lot of money into railguns and iron beams, so they must have been shocked by this war.
¡°Ahem.¡±
Alexei Mikhailov, the Russian deputy prime minister with white hair, smiled faintly at Pierre Minister¡¯s cough.
¡°Let¡¯s talk openly. We all know that no proper conclusion wille out of this meeting. It seemed like we were the only ones who were bombarded before, but today is a bit different.¡±
It was because the United States showed a neutral position.
The current president was clearly from the Democratic Party, but strangely enough, he had an istionist and nationalist tendency.
He said he would tolerate Yu Ji-ha as long as he didn¡¯t cross the line, since he brought benefits to the United States.
Britain and the EU tried hard to persuade him, but failed.
There was a mood within the Democratic Party that they had nominated the wrong candidate, and he was out of sync with the current UN atmosphere.
Lambert, the US Secretary of Defense, reiterated that he had no intention of intervening in East Asia.
¡°The Pacific Fleet will not move. We are conducting normal reconnaissance activities, but we have consulted sufficiently with each country.¡±
¡°Does that consultation include giving up on Japan?¡±
The British minister sneered, and he shrugged his shoulders.
¡°Well, they didn¡¯t use Hafnium 2 warheads.¡±
¡°Instead, they mobilized robots called Combat Walkers and turned Tokyo into a sea of fire. More than a million citizens fled to the evacuation routes, and the Japanese government is currently paralyzed. Can you say that the United States has no responsibility for this situation?¡±
It was the result of the United States pushing China and Japan to pressure Korea.
It was good that they prepared hard for the pressure, but the United States pulled out and left both countries in a precarious position.
Lambert Minister smiledzily.
¡°If there is a role for the United States in post-war recovery, we will do our best.¡±
It meant that he would suck honey as a mediator without taking any responsibility.
As the United States pulled back its chair, France and Britain became desperate.
They had to stop the war somehow, but it was not an atmosphere at all.
Both countries suffered great damage, but especially their leadership was confused.
China had heard ominous news that the Guard Division had mobilized and detained the Rocket Armymander, and Japan¡¯s prime minister was missing.
ording to the media, the prime minister of Japan disappeared while Korea attacked the official residence with Combat Walkers, and his life or death was not even confirmed.
Without proper instructions from the leadership, the frontline units were only being hit one-sidedly.
They wanted to end the war, but there was no one to negotiate with.
And the Chinese leadership did not seem to want to end the war either.
Around the time the Russian deputy prime minister opened his mouth, news came that China had fired ballistic missiles.
¡°Ballistic missiles, that¡¯s all they have.¡±
¡°Our satellites detected more than 50unch shes. They are trying to turn the Korean Penins into ashes.¡±
¡°Well, let¡¯s see who will be ashes.¡±
The emergency Security Council meeting that was formalistic was suspended and the ministers stood up to contact their countries.
As always, without any conclusion.
***
105 Dongpung ballistic missiles fired by China¡¯s Rocket Army flew into Korea.
Theypletely excluded the North Korean region and only targeted Gyeonggi Province including Seoul, each metropolitan city, and Changwon.
Korea originally had no reconnaissance assets to detect them, but not now.
Reconnaissance satellites in geostationary orbit detected theunch shes and contacted the Korean leadership, and immediately the fourth-level air defensework was activated.
The United States informed them before that.
President Baldwin called when Dongpung missiles reached their apogee.
¡°There are 100 in total. If you recognize the United States as a mediator after the war, we will cooperate fully with interception, not to mention location coordinates.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s answer was simple.
¡°I don¡¯t need it.¡±
The phone was cut off abruptly, and President Baldwin was confused while thinking that he should have just told him.
There were few ces in the world that could stop China¡¯s ballistic missile attack.
At best, it was the United States and Russia, but he couldn¡¯t guarantee a missile attack of more than 100.
It was not an easy task to stop a warhead that fell to the ground at a speed of more than Mach 20 with various deception measures.
But Korea had already blocked North Korea¡¯s ballistic missiles during the Second Korean War.
They also blocked most of Pakistan¡¯s nuclear attacks in the Indian Ocean.
It was the power of iron beams, but it was uncertain whether it would work on China¡¯s ballistic missiles.
¡°I¡¯m worried that ballistic missile defense is not perfect.¡±
¡°They must have reinforced it. Or maybe they deliberately showed their weaknesses.¡±
¡°You seem to think that Korea is behind every conspiracy¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s not me, but the party¡¯s judgment. You¡¯ll find out in 300 seconds.¡±
¡°Even if Korea blocks them all, my administration¡¯s policy will not change.¡±
What¡¯s the use of pressuring Korea, who had destroyed China¡¯sst bastion?
It was better to recognize his hegemony and leave East Asia to him.
But the Democratic Party wanted to treat Korea like the former Soviet Union or China.
He may look easy because he is small, but President Baldwin thought he had to be more careful considering his technology.
Guerrero, the security adviser, looked at the back of his head with pity.
He could have been re-elected if he had listened well.
His sessor was rumored to be a congressman who ordered a tough policy against Korea every day.
He argued that Korea should be treated as a country that could challenge US hegemony.
¡°We can no longer leave Korea¡¯s hegemonic behavior alone. Korea is trying to transform into a rogue state, which is very threatening to world peace.¡±
As this hawkish argument showed, the mainstream of the Democratic Party was ultra-hardliners.
But President Baldwin stubbornly resisted until his term ended, so they had no choice but to wait.
Time passed and finally more than 100 warheads separated from the reentry vehicle entered the atmosphere.
Korea¡¯s high-altitude air defensework was activated, but Dongpung¡¯s warheads lowered their detection rate by activating decoys as well as cooling systems.
Thanks to that, more than 40% of the warheads seeded in descending to medium altitude despite being equipped with Antlion warheads.
At this point, the speed of the warheads was 8.5km per second, which was impossible to respond with any ordinary air defensework.
But Korea mobilized Cheongung 3 missiles and intercepted them one by one.
Hundreds of anti-aircraft missiles fired from each air defense unit exploded a few hundred meters away from them.
As a result, most of the warheads became scrap metal and fell down here and there on the Korean Penins.
Some citizens testified that they saw dozens of them falling in Seoul, which was the main target of the warheads.
Amidst loud sirens and mobilization of engineering units, finally the remaining 50 or so warheads pierced through clouds and entered low altitude.
In the dim dawn light, traces of warheads and goldensers from iron beams mixed together to create a colorful picture in the sky.
There were thumping explosions everywhere.
But the mushroom clouds that China had been waiting for did not appear.
They had blocked all 105 Dongpung ballistic missiles.
¡°Ballistic missile interception sessful. You can rx now.¡±
The people who were holding their breath heard Yu Ji-ha¡¯s voice on the radio and cheered in unison.
¡°Yay!¡±
¡°President is the best!¡±
While Korea cheered, the Chinese leadership, who had failed, was literally dying.
Hou Zhongsan, the lieutenant general who gave theunch order, repeated the failure report in a daze.
¡°They all failed¡? All 105¡?¡±
¡°Yes. There was not a single warhead that sessfully exploded¡¡±
¡°¡Then what do we do now?¡±
If you don¡¯t know that, who would?
As the leadership bunker was wrapped in silence, someone barely spoke.
¡°We have no choice but to surrender.¡±
¡°Surrender? Surrender?¡±
¡°We can never surrender!¡±
¡°Then I want to hear other opinions. But you have toe up with a way to deal with the 7th Army that has entered the second ring.¡±
The 7th Army of Korea hadpletely entered Beijing and was fighting with the public security forces.
Of course, it was impossible to face a tank unit with public security weapons, and the battle was not long.
A general groaned as he saw hundreds of drones mounted on armored vehicles flying up.
¡°With those drones, urban warfare ispletely screwed.¡±
If it was the Guard Division, they could have bought some time, but they were mobilized to upy the Rocket Army headquarters near Beijing by Hou Zhongsan¡¯s order.
They fired Dongpung missiles, but Korea intercepted them all and China¡¯sst card flew away.
Now all that was left was Korea¡¯s retaliation.
¡ªWhat would be the equivalent of hundreds of nuclear warheads?
It was not unreasonable for the leadership in the bunker to be tense when they thought about it.
Beijing was almost upied and nuclear power nts across the country stopped operating.
China¡¯s major cities were in total darkness and even the fleet could not move properly.
Hou Zhongsan was almost out of his mind.
¡®How powerful was Korea¡¯s power¡¡¯
Korea didn¡¯t even use all its strength.
The most threatening Earth Fleet was roaming around Japan and beating up the fleet, and Combat Walkers were turning Tokyo into a wastnd.
It was natural that there was nothing to say in a war against Korea in such a situation.
The general who first suggested surrender proposed again.
¡°Let¡¯s surrender. If we bring in the United States, we can negotiate on better terms. If the main force that departed from Shenyang is defeated, there will be no hope left.¡±
¡°But most of our forces are still intact¡¡±
¡°Those forces are useless! What¡¯s the use of dozens of ships that can¡¯t even enter Bohai Bay because they are afraid of the Korean fleet! Can you evenunch fighter jets?¡±
The war was over when China confidently presented its railgun battleship and the 7th Army reached Beijing.
It was only dragged on by the stubbornness of the leadership, including Hou Zhongsan.
There were various opinions, but surrender was the mainstream.
¡°Let¡¯s preserve our forces and n for the future. China can rise again.¡±
¡°Do we have a future? We¡¯ve been retreating for almost 10 years?¡±
¡°If we don¡¯t, we¡¯ll die right now. Do you think Korea will leave us alone after blocking hundreds of nuclear warheads? They will surely divide us into several pieces.¡±
That was the biggest fear.
China was too big a country from Korea¡¯s point of view.
Now that they had a chance, they would surely tear it apart so that they wouldn¡¯t have to worry about it ever again.
Why, wasn¡¯t there such a joke in Korea?
¡ªWe like China. So we would like it more if there were more of them.
That joke became reality and came close to them.
Hou Zhongsan suddenly remembered Wang Xiangzhang.
¡®Maybe it would have been a better choice to give him Manchuria¡¡¯
He cautiously suggested calling Wang Xiangzhang, but the generals opposed it.
¡°Let¡¯s not kill Wang Xiangzhang twice.¡±
¡°This n was entirely initiated and promoted by Hou Zhongsan. It is only natural that he takes responsibility.¡±
¡°Besides, all this discussion is meaningless. Do you think Korea will just let us go?¡±
But there was hope.
If only the United States intervened early, Korea would have no choice but to back off.
If they added Manchuria, which they coveted so much, things might go smoother than expected.
Hou Zhongsan discussed with the generals for a long time and concluded that there was no other way.
And he picked up the handset in the secret room, but he couldn¡¯t hear the other side¡¯s voice.
The aide checked themunicationwork and said helplessly.
¡°It seems like the line is cut off.¡±
¡°What about satellitemunication? Is that not working either?¡±
¡°The ry satellite is broken and we are receiving severe radio interference.¡±
¡°Of all times, it breaks now!¡±
Meanwhile, there was a rumbling noise from above the bunker and pieces of stone began to fall down.
The generals panicked.
¡°It must be tanks from the 7th Army!¡±
¡°How did they find this ce¡¡±
¡°We have to let them know our intentions by flying drones or something! We¡¯ll all die if we stay like this!¡±
How many times had they killed their opponents¡¯ leadership by using the excuse that they couldn¡¯t hear their orders?
If they were soldiers, they might be able to convince them of their importance and capture them alive, but androids and drones wouldn¡¯t care about that.
The intermittent vibrations suddenly stopped.
And there was an explosion somewhere in the bunker and an rm went off.
The aide tried to guide the generals to a safe room, but the st door exploded faster.
Bang!
¡°Argh!¡±
As people fell to the floor, unable to withstand the st pressure, a general got up and shouted in clumsy Korean.
¡°Ha, surrender! We surrender!¡±
Something came in through the debris.
It was a robot covered with ck armor on a metal frame.
The generals felt extreme fear at its orange lens.
Maybe it was the Combat Walker that Korea recently announced?
Hou Zhongsan slowly raised both hands.
¡°We surrender. Tell your leader.¡±
This scene was delivered to Yu Ji-ha through a Combat Walker and amunication satellite.
Arma reported to him.
¡°We found where Wang Xiangshang was detained.¡±
¡°I only need one person to negotiate. Kill them all.¡±
The lens of the Combat Walker turned red.
Hou Zhongsan looked at the shaking barrel and grumbled inwardly.
He should have fired those experts who said mass production was impossible.
¡®They hid this power so well. I shouldn¡¯t have messed with them¡¡¯
Bang!
His death marked the end of China¡¯s fate.
Chapter 138: The End of the East Asian War
Chapter 138: The End of the East Asian War
China was in a desperate situation, but Japan was slightly better off.
However, they could not stop the decisive factors, such as the Earth Fleet or the Combat Walker units, from wreaking havoc in Japan.
The war could only end by annihting the enemy¡¯s main force, and in that regard, the Japanese army did its best to destroy the Combat Walker units.
It was because there was a strong demand from all sectors to deal with those robots first.
¨DEven if we let the Earth Fleet go, we can¡¯t tolerate those robots roaming around!
¨DRussia dered that they would not intervene in this war! We must mobilize the armored divisions of the Northern Command and finish them off!
Thus, the 7th Armored Division and the 2nd Division, which were stationed in Hokkaido, moved.
They had a significantly lower scale and armament than the Korean 7th Army Corps, but they were still the strongest armored units in Japan.
Japan had adopted a strategy of denying ess to its coastlines, so it naturally did not invest much in armored forces.
Recently, arge budget was allocated as the defense budget was increased, but it would take years for it to take effect.
Still, the Japanese people had high expectations when they heard that the legendary 7th Armored Division was mobilized.
¨DThose Combat Walkers are just heavy infantry, right? They can¡¯t escape from being crushed by tanks.
¨DWe can win if we coordinate with attack helicopters. We can¡¯t let Japan be humiliated by 100 tin robots.
And so, the counterattack began with the 7th Armored Division and their air force as the main force.
To be precise, they were trying to start a counterattack.
The units stationed in Hokkaido had toe down to Honshu to fight the Combat Walkers.
They had to move through the Seikan Tunnel, which required a tremendous administrative procedure for the 7th Armored Division¡¯s tanks and armored vehicles.
Above all, they had to disassemble all the modules of the Type 10 tanks to load them on a transport train.
So, the Japanese army had to do the absurd task of dismantling their own tanks and loading them on a train while fighting with bureaucrats to fight the Combat Walkers.
A reporter who went to the Seikan Tunnel to cover this story shook his head repeatedly.
¡°It¡¯s been three days of all-nighters, but they haven¡¯tpleted even 50% of the tanks in the division. When will they be able to fight?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t guarantee it.¡±
¡°I heard that the Korean 7th Army Corps flew 200km using ion thrusters.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know anything about that.¡±
There was a growing doubt in the Japanese army whether they could fight the Combat Walkers like this.
¨DWe don¡¯t have a prime minister, and we only follow the orders of the Unified Command. Is this how we wage war?
¨DThe Combat Walker units are running wild in Honshu with their incredible mobility. We can¡¯t stop them with slow tanks.
¨DWe should join forces with the 7th Armored Division and the 2nd Divisionter and deploy our air force first to push them back.
However, there was no information on how muchbat power the Combat Walkers had.
They had only been beaten one-sidedly since the Tokyo air raid.
All Japan knew about the Combat Walkers was that they were robots that moved with their own AI, that they were resistant to EMP shockwaves, and that they showed tremendous firepower and mobility.
There was no information on their durability and power source.
They had to fight them to find out, but they were no match for them as alert troops, and it was not easy to capture them even withrge units like the Central Response Force.
¨DThey moved 580km in an hour. How can they be so fast without being a roon dog monster?
¨DIt is impossible to respond properly with ground forces. Aerial bombing is also difficult because of civilian casualties. The only answer is attack helicopters.
The problem was that Japan did not have many attack helicopters.
About 100 OH-1 Ninjas and Apaches were scattered in Hokkaido and Honshu, so it took a lot of time to gather them.
And when the Combat Walker units noticed their information, they ambushed one division and destroyed their air force.
¨DThey transform their bodies into howitzers and fire high-explosive shells!
¨DHow do they get their firing coordinates?
It was a mystery how they attacked without having any observation teams.
As such, as the Combat Walker units ran amok in Honshu, the air force stepped up and said they would solve it.
They nned to sweep them away with aerial bombing.
Reconnaissance nes from the air force were mobilized to track their movements, and J-2 fighters were deployed immediately to pour all kinds of missiles on them.
But just before the missiles hit, the Combat Walker units transformed their shapes into cubes.
The ck metal cubes stood firm even as the ground turned into a sea of fire from the bombing.
It was an unbelievable durability.
The Unified Command grabbed their necks at this report.
¨DOrdinary missiles won¡¯t work. We need aerial bombs, but they will notice and avoid them.
¨DWe have to attack them with ck metal bullets. We can fight them when the 7th Armored Division arrives.
The 7th Armored Division was treated as Japan¡¯s hope.
And soon after, the 7th Armored Division and the 2nd Division came down to Honshu.
They received information on the location of the Combat Walker units from the Unified Command and began searching with the Type 16 Maneuver Combat Vehicles at the forefront.
The price of the Type 16 was about 900 million yen, which wasparable to a decent main battle tank.
When added to the 1.1 billion yen of the Type 10 tank, it became a miracle of 2 billion yen.
On the other hand, the acquisition price of the Combat Walker was about 250 million won.
Of course, this did not include various modules, but anyway, there was a huge gap in price between the two.
The Japanese media reported that they could produce 80 Combat Walkers with the miracle duo, but they had to take it down after receiving fierce protests from the right-wingers.
¨DNow that the miracle duo will smash those Combat Walkers, what are you doing?
¨DIt must be an article written by receiving a lobby from Korea.
¨DThe Type 16 and Type 10 are Japan¡¯s hope. They can¡¯t lose.
And so, the two units met in a mountain range near Miyagi.
It was such a rugged terrain that finding each other¡¯s location was a priority, but somehow the Combat Walker units knew and went into howitzer mode tounch a preemptive attack.
Bang, bang!
The high-explosive shells fired by this unit made a cute sound because of their small caliber, but they had a fierce power because their warheads were hafnium-2.
With one shot, the ground flipped over and a Type 10 tank was smashed.
The two divisions were startled by the monstrous power and quickly scattered, but some Combat Walkers took advantage of the confusion and attacked them.
A melee broke out at a short distance of less than 200m, and the miracle duo had to take railgun shots mercilessly.
They were not trained for nightbat at all.
Tanks and maneuverbat vehicles fired their main guns everywhere, but there was not a single slow Combat Walker to hit them.
The surprise attack by the Combat Walkers, which started at 11 p.m., ended exactly at midnight.
And in the mountains of Miyagi, only the gruesome remains of the 7th Armored Division and the 2nd Division and the cries of the wounded soldiers were left.
It was aplete defeat.
The Combat Walker units left for the coast to resupply, and the public security and reporters who arrivedte witnessed this horrific scene in disbelief.
¡°I thought they would at least put up a fight, but they were utterly destroyed like this¡¡±
¡°Can we even call this a war?¡±
There was no one who could answer that.
***
The Earth Fleet on the sea, the Combat Walkers on thend.
These two units ran wild in Japan as if it was their own home.
The frustrating thing for Japan was that they could not stop them.
The Earth Fleet hid like submarines and attacked only when they saw their prey, the Japanese navy, while the Combat Walkers openly wandered around Japan¡¯snd.
The Japanese people hoped that the 7th Armored Division and the 2nd Division, which they called the miracle duo, would wash away their shame, but the Combat Walkers also crushed them mercilessly.
The facilities and equipment that the Combat Walker units had destroyed so far amounted to more than Japan¡¯s annual budget.
There was no longer any power left in the Japanese army to face this unit.
The word surrender appeared in the Unified Command at this time.
¨DChina¡¯s nuclear attack was also futile. They might surrender soon. Shouldn¡¯t we prepare ourselves too?
¨DThis war was not meant to be a total war. We should have ended it at sea.
There were also strong objections.
¨DWe can¡¯t surrender without a proper fight.
¨DLook. The Earth Fleet is only running away, right? Our navy will soon catch them and finish them off.
Those who argued this were the right-wingers who supported the Yushinkai, and they ordered to end the Earth Fleet in a final naval battle.
The Unified Command, which was chasing the Earth Fleet, found this argument ridiculous.
¨DThe reason why the Earth Fleet is running away is not because they are weak, but because they are buying time.
¨DEven while running away, they are resupplying the Combat Walker units and attacking fuel tanks.
¨DWe are running out of fuel for our fleet. This is serious.
Ships are originally things that consume a lot of oil.
The Japanese navy had consumed a lot of oil to chase the Earth Fleet, and that was bing a burden now.
The fleet ran out of fuel right away.
It was difficult to mobilize civilian reserves, because one of the things that the Combat Walker units did while roaming around was destroying fuel tanks.
Japan was running out of oil all over the country.
The government, which had lost its prime minister, was in a state of confusion.
As a result, the fleet that was chasing the Earth Fleet had to enter one port after another due tock of oil.
¨DWe have no oil! Damn it, what is the government doing?
¨DWe have to import it quickly, even if we have to pay a high price! If we leave it like this, Japan¡¯s sea will be empty!
¨DMaybe Korea is aiming for¡
It was then.
The Earth Fleet revealed itself and attacked the Japanese fleet.
They proved why they had been running away until now by smashing the Japanese navy¡¯s prideful escort fleet from the front.
They fired hypersonic anti-ship missiles from nearby bases, but they were powerless against the air defensework that blocked even ballistic missiles.
The Earth Fleet destroyed the escort fleet and then chased after the fleeing submarine squadron.
The Maritime Security Agency rushed to rescue them.
The staff felt that the end of the war was approaching when they saw only debris left from two fleets floating on the water.
But the right-wingers did not admit Japan¡¯s defeat until the end.
¨DWe still have half of our army and our air force is intact. How can we lose?
¨DWe have to conserve our strength for the final battle on our homnd. Japan can win.
The right-wingers did not really want a final battle on their homnd.
They just felt ashamed to dere surrender to Korea.
In fact, although the Combat Walker units roamed around Japan¡¯snd, there were very few battles that could be called battles.
In such a situation, they did not feel like they had lost at all.
To drive home their defeat, they ordered anding operation.
¡°Use allnding ships and transport ships to cross the Korea Strait. Russia will help you, and Humanity United will provide escort and supply.¡±
To get Japan¡¯s surrender, it would be faster to pour antitrons and hafnium-2 warheads on them.
But they wanted an image of Japan surrendering to Korea more than a thorough destruction by Humanity United forces
That was nothing but having Korean troops enter Tokyo, Japan¡¯s capital city.
¡°They say that wars start with air force and navy, but end with army, right? Prepare fornding.¡±
The Joint Chiefs of Staff assembled the elitending force and put them on standby.
It was an augmented corps-sizednding forceposed of two mechanized divisions, a marine division, two air brigades, and support units.
It was beyond Korea¡¯s capacity to carry such arge force, but Russia¡¯s Pacific Fleet¡¯snding ships and Humanity United¡¯s cargo ships were added.
And as anding operation, the Earth Fleet and the Walker units were mobilized to devastate thending site.
The pride of Japan, the submarine squadron, had been hunted so much that they ran out of steam, and the escort fleet could not even sail out because ofck of oil.
That¡¯s how the Korean army crossed the East Sea and arrived in Ishikawa Prefecture.
There was some sporadic resistance from the Japanese army, but they disappeared without a trace under the railgun fired from Daimado.
The cargo ships unloaded their supplies on the coast and transformed into docking facilities to help unload the troops.
From here to Tokyo, it was only 300km, which was a distance that thending force could move in a day with their mobility.
The Japanese Unified Command issued a general mobilization order to the army.
¨DStop them! Stop them at all costs! We can¡¯t let the Korean army enter Tokyo!
¨DThis is the final battle! Gather all forces in Tokyo!
If theybined Japan¡¯s remaining forces at this point, they would clearly overwhelm thending force.
But many air force bases¡¯ runways were destroyed and there was nomand system, so the scattered forces could not gather.
Above all, their attention was diverted by the Combat Walker units that were destroying things around.
These robots found and destroyed any bases or forces that could threaten thending force.
As a result, thending force did not face much resistance as they moved to Tokyo.
The soldiers of the Korean mechanized division who took the national highway to Tokyo wondered if they could call this a war.
¡°We¡¯re just going to nt a g¡¡±
¡°As long as I don¡¯t die, that¡¯s all that matters. I thought I was going to die when I was drafted.¡±
That¡¯s what thending force said as they entered Hachioji, and the citizens looked at the Korean army with bewilderment.
Why are they here? They wondered with their faces full of questions.
***
The bunker of the Unified Command was filled with groans when they heard the news that the Korean army had finallynded.
¡°How could they unload a corps-sized equipment and supplies in less than a few hours¡¡±
¡°They are almost in Tokyo now. The public opinion for surrender will grow stronger if the Korean army enters Tokyo.¡±
¡°Is there any way to stop them?¡±
Osamu, the unifiedmander, asked, but there was no proper answer.
The Unified Command¡¯s judgment was that resistance was meaningless at this point.
How could they drive out a ground force of corps size, escorted by the Combat Walker units and the Earth Fleet?
The Japanese army was in a terrible state, and the air force was busy repairing the runways.
The media prepared helicopters to interview thending force.
They would be lucky if they were not shot down by the iron beam.
Osamu, the unifiedmander, contacted the government after looking at thending force advancing to Tokyo.
The second-inmand of the government, who was Akagi Kenji, the minister of administration, had a reputation for being more sensible than the prime minister.
He asked Osamu if he could drive them out as soon as he connected with him.
¡°I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s difficult to say.¡±
¡°Some argue that we should gather our forces and fight a final battle. Is that possible?¡±
¡°It will only increase our casualties.¡±
¡°¡¡±
There was silence for a while.
Akagi, the minister of administration, finally asked how the surrender procedure would be.
They could not afford any more damage.
Especially since the Combat Walker units did not even touch the nuclear power nts.
If they decided to continue fighting, they knew what would happen to the nuclear power nts.
And just then, they heard that China had surrendered.
When they turned on the TV, Wang Xian Shang was reading a statement of surrender with a pale face.
¡°¡We hereby dere unconditional surrender to Korea. From now on, there will be no more hostile actions, and we promise to entrust all our disposal to Korea.¡±
China surrendered unconditionally, and Japan had no other way.
Akagi, the minister of administration, looked at thending force marching to Tokyo and thought it was time to end the war.
¡°Contact¡ Korea. Tell them we surrender.¡±
The Japanese government contacted the United States first, but surprisingly Korea did not ept it.
It was a gesture that they would not allow U.S. intervention.
As a result, an administrative official had to go to thending force with a white g and deliver a surrender document.
And in a few hours, a surrender document arrived at the Joint Chiefs of Staff bunker.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff handed over the document and said in an emotional tone.
¡°Japan has surrendered.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s expression was grim.
He looked like he had done what he had to do, so the generals who were about to cheer felt awkward.
He briefly read the document and threw it on the table.
¡°Good. Let¡¯s end it here.¡±
As soon as the order came down, the Earth Fleet withdrew the Combat Walker units and submerged.
The only thing left was thending force in Tokyo, but Japan did not dare to touch them.
Rather, they provided them with necessities and ces to stay while they were staying there.
Yu Ji-ha held a press conference and dered that the war was over.
He had obtained unconditional surrender from China and Japan in just three weeks.
At least the United States and Russia seemed to have expected this oue and congratted him on ending the war, but other countries were different.
Especially Britain and France, who had been at odds with Korea, were shocked.
¨DHow could they subdue both countries in just three weeks? I can¡¯t believe it.
¨DIt was effective tounch a surprise attack and capture their capitals.
¨DWhat made it possible was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s strategy. It is hard to say that even America can control him now.
Various reactions came out while a signing ceremony was held between the three countries for official surrender documents.
Yu Ji-ha attended this ceremony himself, and there was a map of East Asia on the wall.
He drew lines on East Asia with a ck marker.
The expressions of China and Japan, as well as U.S. officials in attendance hardened.
Chapter 139: Notification, not Negotiation
Chapter 139: Notification, not Negotiation
The East Asian War of the Three Nations was peculiar in many ways.
One of them was the fact that Korea, ranked sixth in global GDP, waged a two-front war against the second and third-ranked countries.
Another was that the war itself ended rtively quickly and did not have much impact on the world economy.
And the most important one was that it shook the foundations of modern warfare.
Korea seeded in pushing its massive Seventh Army to the outskirts of Beijing, which made the Chinese leadership nervous.
Korea also deployed a smallbat walker unit to Japan and carried out sabotage operations, effectively exhausting Japan¡¯s war capabilities.
¡ªIt was not umon for a minority of special weapons to produce extraordinary results in war history. But Korea broke that precedent.
¡ªMore than anything, it revealed how poor each country¡¯s ck metal research results were. They all thought they had caught up with Korea, but they were wrong.
¡ªAs a result of this war, Korean weapons will gain tremendous poprity in the global weapons market.
¡ªTo be honest, this war was not a war of three countries, but a war of Korea against China and Japan.
The post-war negotiations were also quite unusual.
Normally, such negotiations would borrow a third ce to save face for the defeated countries.
Southeast Asia was a strong candidate, and Singapore in particr made every effort to use its own hotel as a negotiation venue.
It was because of the cost of hosting the delegations and the publicity effect that was no joke.
But with one word from Yu Ji-ha, Singapore¡¯s efforts went up in smoke.
¡°The negotiations will be held at the Seoul Government Building on December 7th. The time is 10 am. You don¡¯t need a lot of people, soe in person.¡±
It meant that the leaders of the three countries would meet and talk.
Wang XianShang and Akagi Kanbanjou had no choice but toply.
The defeated countries had to do as the victorious country said.
The cumbersome ceremonies were all omitted, and the leaders of both countries visited Korea with only a minimum of bureaucrats and attendants.
At the meeting where bureaucrats from the United States and Russia attended as observers, Yu Ji-ha drew lines on the East Asian map hanging on his wall with a marker.
It looked like a child¡¯s prank, but his words were shocking.
¡°These are the conditions for China. You will permanently cede Liaoning Province, Jilin Province, and Heilongjiang Province to Korea. You will lease Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to Korea for 100 years.¡±
¡°Japan will permanently cede all inds below Kyushu to Korea. You will pay 100 trillion won to Korea every year for the next 10 years. That¡¯s all.¡±
¡°¡¡±
¡°Uh¡¡±
Wang XianShang and Akagi Kanbanjou tried to say something, but closed their mouths.
They knew what kind of personality Yu Ji-ha had.
There was one famous statement among his speeches since he ruled Korea.
¡°I warn you, you better think carefully before you speak. There won¡¯t be a second chance.¡±
This also applied to this negotiation.
It was because the Korean Seventh Army and the Landing Force were still stationed in Beijing and Tokyo.
If they refused to negotiate and got up, the war would continue.
Yu Ji-ha was a man who could do that.
Usually, UN or US would mediate in such cases, but this time they didn¡¯t even have a chance.
The Russian bureaucrats were literally just observers who faithfully recorded everything.
But then Christina Guerrero, security adviser, raised her hand.
¡°Can I say something?¡±
Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t even look back and said,
¡°The US is an observer.¡±
¡°I know. But I really wanted to say this. Remember the Treaty of Versailles. Harsh reparations only create hatred.¡±
¡°That¡¯s none of US¡¯s business.¡±
Guerrero looked at Yu Ji-ha with curious eyes.
Usually, when making such an agreement, they would at least insert a use about peace for nominal reasons.
But this man only wantednd and money.
This would make it impossible to stop both countries from trying to rearm themselves after recovering their national power.
¡®Does he think he can win again if war breaks out?¡¯
He seemed to want that too.
Anyway, she closed her mouth and Yu Ji-ha continued his speech.
¡°If you can¡¯t ept these conditions, say it right now.¡±
¡°¡What will happen then?¡±
Akagi Kanbanjou asked cautiously and Yu Ji-ha said as if it was obvious,
¡°The war will start again.¡±
Akagi Kanbanjou guessed from his blunt expression that there would be nopromise at all.
This was not a negotiation, but a notification.
The sad thing was that Japan had no choice but to ept these conditions.
Even if they started the war again, they would only suffer astronomical losses without any countermeasures againstbat walkers and earth fleets.
It was the same for China.
Wang XianShang was imprisoned in a remote ce and rescued by an android unit, so he couldn¡¯t say no.
¡®If President Yu Ji-ha supports me, I can be the emperor¡¡¯
It was half torn apart, but the core was thend of the Han people, not an autonomous region.
The only choice left for him was to betray his country and cling to Yu Ji-ha.
The only thing that bothered him here was the US-Japan forces.
If all the inds below Kyushu were ceded, the issue of the treatment of the US-Japan forces stationed in Okinawa would arise.
They were small in scale, but the US Congress had the authority to withdraw them.
If Korea swallowed Okinawa, it would cause a lot of friction.
The US-Japan forces could also turn into US-Korea forces.
Yu Ji-ha seemed to remember something and said,
¡°Of course, I believe that the US-Japan forces will withdraw.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t have the authority to tell you that as an observer.¡±
¡°Then go to the White House and tell them. Tell them to get their troops out before we start the formal administrative procedures.¡±
¡°¡That¡¯s not as easy as you say. We have to talk to Congress¡¡±
¡°Well, I don¡¯t care. They¡¯ll have to leave on their own anyway. Do as you please.¡±
What did he mean by that?
Guerrero tried to guess his intentions, but Yu Ji-ha pushed a document to the two leaders.
¡°The negotiation will be over once you sign. There might be some additional reviews on the details of the border adjustment and the payment schedule of thepensation, but this is the end in a broad sense.¡±
How could a post-war negotiation end so quickly?
The two leaders could not hide their stiff expressions as they signed the document.
This marked the end of the warpletely.
They expected at least a banquet, if not a feast, but the two leaders had to hurry back to their countries without answering Yu Ji-ha¡¯s question of whether they had anything else to do.
And then, the main contents of the negotiation were revealed in a press conference.
China and Japan had switched ces.
***
No one wees a negotiation that involves giving up their ownnd.
Especially if it is a neighboring country that has been in conflict for a long time.
The right-wingers strongly opposed the decision to hand over all the inds below Kyushu to Korea, even if they epted thepensation.
¡ªOkinawa is included there! How did Akagi mess this up?
¡ªThis negotiation was not done by the prime minister, so it is invalid from the source!
But they had to lower their voices enough.
It was because the Koreannding troops were still stationed around Huangge.
It was meaningless to protest in a situation where the military and public security were watching them.
Several TV channels went into analysis of the negotiation, but they could not answer the question of whether they wanted to go to war again.
¡°How about requesting strong mediation from the UN or the US?¡±
¡°President Yu Ji-ha dered that he would not allow any intervention from other ces, as it was a war that started and ended in East Asia.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t believe that the US abandoned us¡¡±
¡°What about the US troops in Okinawa?¡±
That was the biggest problem.
In fact, the opposition of the right-wingers was not a big issue.
It was a matter of rejecting the right-wingers and carrying out reconciliation with Korea as much as possible, with the support of the pro-Korean faction behind them.
The military¡¯s hard-line stance had subsided after losing, and the voice of the businessmunity had gained strength.
¡ªIt doesn¡¯t matter if we give up everything. We have to be at least at Germany¡¯s level.
¡ªIt¡¯s a pity that we can¡¯t be on par with Russia because we were confrontational from the beginning.
Yu Ji-ha did not score his friendship with each country, but ording to him, Russia was ssified as tier 1, Germany, India, Australia and others as tier 2 in the world.
The US was initially tier 1, but recently it fell to tier 2, so it had to pay a proper price and negotiate to introduce technology.
They didn¡¯t like that, so they pressured with semiconductors, but it only resulted in their ownpanies being tied to Yu Ji-ha¡¯s leash.
ording to that ssification table, EU, China and Japan were out of consideration.
The conflicts were so deep that there was no sign of resolution even if there was an opportunity.
In such a tight situation, Japan got a chance to talk with Korea.
Although it was a negotiation as a defeated country, it was something.
To discuss the payment schedule ofpensation, officials from Keidanren visited Korea and met Yu Ji-ha.
¡°So you¡¯re asking if we can introduce your technology?¡±
¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±
¡°We won¡¯t touch on private matters.¡±
The eyes of Keidanren officials widened.
¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°It means that we can discuss introduction if you pay a proper price. It won¡¯t be like Germany, but you have to pay for it.¡±
It meant that they had to pay money every time they introduced technology.
It was definitely a bad condition, but it was much better than not being able to talk at all before.
In fact, Japan¡¯s businessmunity had high expectations for their own Hyperman and Ether Research Institute.
But all they heard were ominous rumors that they were on the verge of rioting and reports that they didn¡¯t match their budget at all.
From the government¡¯s point of view, it might be necessary to secure ether technology in the long run even if it didn¡¯t match their budget.
But forpanies, efficiency was most important.
Even if they made and supplied ck metal batteries in Japan, it was only for domestic use.
They couldn¡¯tpete in the global market because of their low quality.
Keidanren officials were impressed by meeting and talking with Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªHe¡¯s more friendly than I thought. He doesn¡¯t seem to have much regret about Japanese people themselves.
¡ªI felt that he enjoys sushi and respects and is interested in Japanese culture quite a bit.
¡ªI asked him about his willingness to visit Japan, but he said it was difficult right now because he had too many schedules. He said he wanted to push for itter.
If Yu Ji-ha visited Japan, it would be his second time.
The first time he was left in a warehouse, but the second time would be different.
While the businessmunity was inted with hope and dreams, the residents of Okinawa, who were the subject of the transfer, were in a ridiculous position.
¡ªThe government abandoned us¡
¡ªThey decided without asking our opinion? Is this okay?
In fact, Okinawa was a ce that was different from Japan¡¯s maind in many ways.
The culture was different and the ie level was the lowest, so they were half-jokingly treated as foreigners.
There were also ims for independence that came up every time they forgot, but it was realistically impossible, so it was in a state of being fizzled out.
In the meantime, they became Koreannd, so it was natural to worry, but there were also people who secretly expected it.
They were mostly young residents.
¡ªHow are we treated?
¡ª-The local governor is in Korea to meet the president. The atmosphere seems better than I thought.
¡ªording to the Korean media reports, there is not much change for now. They will give us autonomy like Jeju Ind, and we can use Japanese as it is.
¡ªWhat about jobs? Can we go to Korea and work?
¡ªI heard it¡¯s not hard. If you have Lucia, you can interpret.
The young residents reacted like this because they recognized Korea as a high-tech country.
They often said that it looked like the 22nd century with all kinds of initial skills introduced, and there were many jobs.
It wasn¡¯t actually that much, but it was certain that it was exotic to see androids on the street.
Yu Ji-ha confirmed the treatment of Okinawa after meeting with the local governor of Okinawa.
¡°Okinawa will be a special autonomous province. The administration and judiciary will change, but you can use Japanese as it is and the culture will not change.¡±
It was just bing a province of Korea.
He treated them like this because Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t have much interest in Okinawa itself.
What he needed was the sea to supply resources and operate the super-cooled train, not the ind.
Still, he needed something to appease the Okinawa residents who suddenly changed their nationality, and the attraction of a nuclear fusion nt and an ion production facility was announced.
¡°From now on, Okinawa residents do not need to pay for electricity. In addition, you can install ion thrusters on your fishing boats at a low price, and you can also use fuel at a low cost.¡±
It was natural for the residents to cheer, as one of Okinawa¡¯s main industries was fishing.
When the introduction of the mass driver was announced, public opinion was formed in Okinawa that Korea was not bad.
There were administrative procedures left, and the US-Japan forces did not express their clear intentions, but the residents, who were the biggest obstacle, were generally weing.
There were voices of opposition, but even they admitted that Korea was much better than Japan¡¯s poor treatment.
While Japan passed the negotiation fairly well, China burned like hell.
The poption of Dongbei 3 provinces and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region easily exceeded 100 million.
They were proud of being Chinese themselves, but now they were Koreans? They rose up and said they could not ept it.
Protests broke out everywhere and soon turned into riots.
The opposition in China¡¯s maind was also no joke, but Wang XianShang, who had seized military power, crushed them fiercely.
He had to ept Yu Ji-ha¡¯s demands in order to be recognized as the president.
While East Asia was burning with post-war negotiations, the US requested negotiations on the withdrawal of US-Japan forces in Okinawa.
***
President Baldwin came out shamelessly from the beginning, saying it was a requirement of the US Congress.
¡°If we pull out the US-Japan forces, what can you do for us, President Yu?¡±
¡°Is this something I have to do? Isn¡¯t it something you should do anyway?¡±
¡°Although the size of the troops has been reduced by 30%, it still exceeds 10,000. A huge amount of resources has been invested in air bases, training grounds and camps. Is it wrong to ask for a proper price in exchange for handing them over?¡±
¡°I have no reason to pay. By the way, I put a seal on it.¡±
There was a seal on every Ion beam.
If you peel it off, a record is left and it is immediately notified to Si Group¡¯s server.
Yu Ji-ha knew this from the beginning but did not mention it until now.
As expected, President Baldwin came out brazenly.
¡°Didn¡¯t Korea often tear apart US weapons?¡±
¡°And inevitably controlled ess. Sometimes Congress even blocked exports. Do you want that?¡±
¡°¡¡±
He didn¡¯t expect him to be so picky¡
Korea showed a tant movement to exclude the US from East Asia after winning the war.
President Baldwin partially agreed with that im, but on the premise that there was a proper price.
¡°I¡¯m sorry. I can¡¯t back down on this issue.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t care. You¡¯ll soon withdraw voluntarily.¡±
Guerrero aide also said something like that, but what was the source of this confidence?
President Baldwin decided that it would be better to narrow down his specific requirements after meeting with his aides.
¡°Just tell me one thing. The jewel that is used as a focusing lens for Ion beam.¡±
¡°Good. That will solve our air defensework.¡±
If there was anything that impressed the US in the East Asian War, it was the performance of Ion beam.
Ion thrusters were making progress in domestic research and they seeded in catching up to 85% of Korea¡¯s railgun performance.
But they couldn¡¯t produce Ion beam at all.
No matter how much power they mobilized, they couldn¡¯t form aser with a range of more than 10km.
Several university research institutes reported that the focusing lens was very special.
¡ªIt seems to be a kind of crystal, but its crystal structure ispletely different. It is also very hard and rivals diamonds.
¡ªording to reverse engineering of Ion beam, this focusing lens determines performance. The algorithm is not the problem, this is the core.
Some even said that it didn¡¯t seem like a jewel from Earth.
Anyway, President Baldwin decided to ask for only this one thing.
¡°If you tell me how to make a focusing lens for Ion beam, I will withdraw US-Japan forces right away. Not only that, but I will also support Korea on various issues in East Asia.¡±
¡°I thought you put a seal on it, but you peeled it off?¡±
He had no shame at all.
¡°Korea also requested technology from the US and I refused. It¡¯s just a breakdown of negotiations. Why are you angry?¡±
¡°It¡¯s because it¡¯s directly rted to US security.¡±
¡°That¡¯s none of my business.¡±
¡°Then I can¡¯t pull out US-Japan forces either.¡±
The story went back to the beginning.
After the call ended, President Baldwin ordered to report assuming a situation where he had no choice but to pull out US-Japan forces.
There were many scenarios, but none of them were realistic.
The only thing that could be said was that President Putin¡¯s health was not good, but unless he died, it was unlikely that the situation would reverse.
¡°We can¡¯t pay the burden, but we can handle that much. The important thing is Ion beam.¡±
If they had that, the US would no longer have to worry about air defenseworks.
Not only that, but they could also fully deployser weapons.
What if they could mount Ion beam on drones?
Power would be a problem, but he believed that it would be solved someday, seeing that they mounted railguns on tanks.
While the US and Korea were not giving an inch over US-Japan forces in Okinawa, an urgent report came from Russia.
President Putin had died.
Chapter 140: The Dictator’s Legacy
Chapter 140: The Dictator¡¯s Legacy
The intelligence agencies of various countries already knew that President Putin¡¯s health was not good.
He was a person who valued showmanship and liked to show off his vitality, but his face became pale and he rarely left the Kremlin.
There was only one reason for that.
In fact, President Putin was in his eighties and oftenined of fatigue from his intense work.
He used to take vacations to relieve his stress, but this time he seemed to have reached his limit.
He originally nned to have a candid conversation with Yu Ji-ha about the current situation and the future of both countries after the East Asian War, but he couldn¡¯t do that.
The funeral at St. Basil¡¯s Cathedral was over, and Yu Ji-ha offered his condolences to the bereaved family.
He also met with Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov, who was in charge of the economy.
¡°I have something to tell you. I would like to see you at the vi for a moment.¡±
It was probably about Putin¡¯s will.
The Russian media had already judged that Putin¡¯s will would determine the future of Russian politics.
Normally, Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov would act as the authority and hold an election following the formal procedure, but Russia was currently in a state where Putin had established a solid dictatorship.
The Federal Assembly was a puppet, and other parties besides the United Russia Party were insignificant.
That was what 30 years of dictatorship had created.
It was good to have power concentrated in one person when quick decision-making was needed, but it caused a big problem when the power holder was absent.
As soon as Putin died, Borchenko, a member of the United Russia Party and its leader, demanded session, iming that he understood Putinism best.
¡°I have had many conversations with President Putin during his lifetime¡ I am the person who understands his ideas and dreams best.¡±
It was unclear whether that was true or not, but it was certain that he had yed a close aide role to Putin as a secretary of the National Security Council.
He also acted as Putin¡¯s money source as the owner of Russia¡¯srgest petrochemicalpany.
However, he was not withoutpetitors. It was Dmitri, the Minister of Defense.
They were both Putin¡¯s closest aides, but they had not heard anything about posthumous power.
So they immediately surrounded the Kremlin after the funeral.
It was to search for Putin¡¯s legacy.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov led Yu Ji-ha to a vi near Moscow.
It was too modest to be called Putin¡¯s vi. It was a small country house.
¡°This is called dacha. The president often spent his vacation here in hister years.¡±
¡°He must have had other vis. Why did hee here?¡±
¡°Because he missed the old Soviet Union. This dacha is from that era. That¡¯s why it¡¯s very small, as you can see.¡±
Dacha was a Soviet-style vi, and old Soviets used to supplement their scarce food by cultivating dacha gardens.
It might be unfamiliar to modern Russians, but it must have been a special ce for President Putin, who wanted to revive the Soviet Union.
Of course, Putin was a dictator and amassed a lot of wealth in an illegitimate way.
But he seemed to miss the simple life of the Soviet era in a corner of his heart.
Was it because they were simr?
Yu Ji-ha also hoped to live with nature as his friend someday when everything was over.
It seemed unlikely that the United Human Federation would let him go easily and he also had to go to the Prophet¡¯s homnd, but it was not realistic.
¡°Here it is.¡±
Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov opened the basement door of the vi and brought out a small safe.
There was only one letter in the safe.
It was Putin¡¯s will for Yu Ji-ha.
The deputy prime minister turned on the firece in the vi and Yu Ji-ha sat nearby and read the letter.
¡°The president wanted to make Russia prosperous until the end.¡±
¡°Like Korea. Russia has a lot of resources and arge poption, but it did not achieve bnced development like Korea. The president always worried about that.¡±
He had recently brought two psychers from Russia who proved that.
The hopeless prices and stagnant ie, and the deteriorating infrastructure in the former Soviet Union.
Modern Russia had umted considerable wealth from natural resources such as ck metal, but it was not distributed to the people.
The responsibilityy entirely with President Putin.
He should have invested in Russia¡¯s infrastructure instead of sharing his wealth with his cronies.
The letter said that he tried to reform after meeting Yu Ji-ha, but it didn¡¯t work well.
¨DI realized that the walls I built were too high and strong. Siloviki and oligarchs are definitely obstacles to Russia¡¯s future. I wanted to destroy what I made.
Giving Siberia to Yu Ji-ha was also part of that n.
At that time, President Putin had a fierce argument with his cronies.
It was mainly a fight with cronies who owned oil or gas-rtedpanies.
Dmitri, Borchenko.
They owned some of the best resourcepanies in Russia and exerted a great influence on politics.
Dmitri was even the Minister of Defense of Russia.
President Putin criticized them harshly.
¨DDon¡¯t trust them. They are ipetent and full of greed. I tried to exclude them, but I realized it was toote.
¡°Hmm¡ Why did he tell me not to trust them? I have no right to interfere in Russia¡¯s power structure.¡±
When Yu Ji-ha said that, Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov smiled.
¡°I guess there was such a content. The president said this about you, President Yu. I would be relieved if someone like him took over after me.¡±
¡°Did he think of me as his sessor?¡±
¡°You are a Korean, but you are also a citizen of Moscow. Of course, I think the Russian president should be a Russian, but¡¡±
Yu Ji-ha was an honorary citizen of Moscow.
It was given to him by President Putin himself when he visited Russia sometime ago.
He didn¡¯t get Russian citizenship, but he had at least some justification.
He was so familiar to the Russians that if he decided to take power, there would be no shortage of supporters.
But it was difficult to move right away.
He had to digest the swallowed Manchuria and the inds first.
He looked carefully at the will and saw information about the ether research institute directly under the president.
This is probably something that Dmitri or Borchenko wouldn¡¯t know.
Yu Ji-ha took the will and got up.
¡°I understand the deceased¡¯s intentions. What is your opinion, Deputy Prime Minister? Do you think I should intervene in Russian politics?¡±
¡°As I said before, it would be nice if you acquired Russian citizenship if you do.¡±
¡°Rule Korea and Russia at the same time? Anyone who hears that wouldugh at me for having an unrealistic dream. I doubt that the Russian people would support me.¡±
Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov smiled calmly.
¡°The Russians will support you. Dmitri and Borchenko do not have the ability and charisma of the former president. If one of them bes president, Russia¡¯s glorious name will be a thing of the past.¡±
Although the economy had improved a bit by selling resources recently, it was only the state and a fewpanies that had fattened their bellies.
It did not trickle down to the private sector, so the living standards of the Russians did not improve much.
When Putin was alive, he at least suppressed the protests and pretended to distribute, but they wouldn¡¯t.
It was doubtful whether the Russian people could tolerate them.
The sound of a private jetnding outside the dacha was heard.
Yu Ji-ha said to Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov.
¡°It¡¯s hard to move right away. It will be hard to get in between them, but please bear with me.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think I can hold on for long. They are causing trouble right now.¡±
¡°How about giving them a little push? If you aplish what President Putin couldn¡¯t, your poprity might increase.¡±
Putin had nned the Estonian War and died.
If Dmitri annexes Estonia, he can prove his session.
At the same time, it would be a red line that would invite US intervention.
The US was superficially istionist, but it was not enough to watch Eastern Europe fall to Russia.
There would definitely be a sh, and that would be another opportunity for Yu Ji-ha.
Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov didn¡¯t know that much, but he could sense that something was going to explode.
It probably had something to do with what Yu Ji-ha had nned.
¡®He works too much like him¡¡¯
There was no one else who could seed Putin and take over the presidency of Russia.
The fact that he was not born in Russia was not a big problem.
He bowed his upper body slowly in front of Yu Ji-ha.
¡°Then, I¡¯ll wait.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t expect too much. I have a lot of things to do¡¡±
Yu Ji-ha got on the private jet.
¡°Go to Putingrad.¡±
It was a secret city near Moscow.
It was small to be called a city, but it had an ether research institute and a psycher facility, so it was very important.
Putin did not tell his cronies about the existence of this city.
He left it to Yu Ji-ha because he didn¡¯t want to ruin it.
Dmitri or Borchenko would only waste it if they took it.
¡®I have no choice but to take it.¡¯
The private jet carrying Yu Ji-ha crossed the sky of Moscow.
Special forces armed around the Kremlin were on guard.
***
The psychers of Putingrad did not willingly follow Yu Ji-ha.
It started with Yuri, the director of the research institute, who was the strongest psycher in Russia.
He was on Arma¡¯s checklist and his ether responsiveness exploded while he was at the institute.
His current measured level was gamma, simr to Fatima when she was first discovered.
He became alert as soon as he saw Yu Ji-ha.
¡°Why should I give you my friends?¡±
¡°You¡¯re destined to follow me anyway.¡±
¡°Prove it here.¡±
Yu Ji-ha spread out his psychokinesis field in the research institute.
His whole body emitted an idea that matched gue Leviathan¡¯s.
Yuri felt a tremendous shock and knelt down on the spot.
It felt like he was thrown into space alone.
¡°Uh¡ what is this?¡±
¡°The strongest psycher in Russia? Sorry, but there are plenty of psychers who surpass you. I¡¯ll let you meet them if you follow me.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Yuri got up with a face full of pride and most of the psychers followed him.
There were some who tried to escape, but they were caught by androids who seemed to be watching from Sibiri satellite.
Yu Ji-ha ordered Arma.
¡°Don¡¯t report it and take them out to Terra Ind. They¡¯re probably deregistered anyway.¡±
There was only one ether core left in the research institute where the psychers left.
Looking at the experiment log, one could see that Russia hade close to the Aether field.
¡°They figured out how to control gravity. It doesn¡¯t seem to work well though.¡±
To control gravity properly, one needs to make an ether circuit with mithril.
Trying to control gravity without such preparation would cause a disaster.
The log said it was a minor ident, but at least a few people must have died.
Arma asked him.
¡¸We need to present the results of our research on ether fields before we can introduce hyperloop trains. Should we use Russia¡¯s results for our presentation?¡¹
¡°We should introduce them soon since we have morend now. What about the researchers here?¡±
¡¸They were moved to another research institute near St. Petersburg by order of former President Putin.¡¹
¡°There must have been some problems. Contact Deputy Prime Minister and tell him we¡¯re taking them. They won¡¯t care much.¡±
Dmitri and Borchenko, who werepeting for the presidency after Putin, were busy securing his legacy.
The size of the legacy was huge, as befitting a dictator. He easily exceeded 30 billion rubles in cash alone.
If you add the rumored vis, gold bars, luxury goods and artworks, it might exceed 600 billion rubles (10 trillion won) as exposed by the Russian media.
The Russian people were interested in Putin¡¯s legacy, but they were greatly disappointed by the actions of the two who imed to be his sessors.
¨DDo they only see money in their eyes? Dmitri and Borchenko are idiots.
¨DRussia needs a leader who can draw a bigger picture. Not the parliament that fights every day or the two jerks.
Maybe because they had experienced dictatorship for almost 30 years, they didn¡¯t have much desire to form a proper parliament and establish democracy.
In fact, until a few years ago, there were many people who exposed Putin¡¯s corruption, but they were all eliminated.
Now the Russians didn¡¯t care much about Putin¡¯s dictatorship.
He was very enthusiastic about the quantitative growth that he proposed.
His actual life did not change, but he enjoyed having a great influence on Europe with ck metal and unobtanium.
He also took pride in the fact that Yu Ji-ha, who caused it, was generous to Russia.
¨DWe are a tier one country. We are treated differently from other countries.
¨DWhen the deputy minister of energy visits Europe, he receives a state visit treatment. Europe is nothing without Russia.
It was possible because Yu Ji-ha turned a blind eye to Russia¡¯s exports.
The EU had been holding on so far, partly because of its pride, but also because it satisfied the minimum supply through Russia.
Anyway, the two jerks did not appeal to the current Russian people.
Nor was there another sessor.
The parliament was in chaos and the two jerks fought with their forces, not satisfied with searching the Kremlin.
At a nce, Dmitri seemed to have an advantage with his military power, but Borchenko was also the head of several special forces and intelligence agencies.
It was said that Borchenko had a slight edge over Dmitri, who could not deploy tanks in Moscow without using special forces.
As the Russian political situation fell into confusion, new news came out.
A Russian army infantry unit training near Estonia had invaded Estonian territory.
The Ministry of Defense immediately announced that it was a mistake, but there was no apology and this provoked Estonia¡¯s bacsh.
¨DHow is that a mistake? Do they n to make more mistakes next time?
¨DThey are following the same actions that Korea did in East Asia. After fighter jets, infantry, and then tank units.
¨DRussia is swallowing up Eastern Europe!
Russia¡¯s expansion was not a matter of yesterday or today, and the Eastern European countries had made considerable preparations for it, but they were not enough to confront it.
Germany, Romania, Pnd and others also increased their military spending, but it would take a considerable amount of time for the effects to show up.
Above all, the Russian army had achieved significant modernization with Korean-made weapons.
The only country in Europe that could face the Russian army was France.
When Russia¡¯s invasion of Estonia became visible, Western European countries pressured NATO.
¨DWe can¡¯t ignore the possibility of military action by Russia in its confusion. The US military must move now.
¨DDmitri is an impulsive and destructive person. He is likely to show his external military action because he has little influence in parliament.
¨DMost importantly, Estonia is a NATO member. NATO itself will lose credibility if the US does not intervene.
The US had been used of being indifferent to Russia¡¯s expansion until then.
Brus was fine, but they did nothing but criticize when Russia invaded Ukraine. That was the evidence.
But this time they couldn¡¯t sit still.
They argued that the US should intervene.
There was serious consideration of deploying ground troops, but there were no units avable to pull out.
It was because the situation in each country was chaotic due to the war that Yu Ji-ha had started.
They could pull out the US-Japan forces in Okinawa, but both President Baldwin and the Senate objected.
¡°How can we withdraw without getting anything in return?¡±
¡°But Mr. President, there are 10,000 US troops idle. They can¡¯t train without Korea¡¯s permission since Okinawa has been transferred to them.¡±
That was the problem.
Yu Ji-ha swallowed Okinawa and invested a lot of effort to quickly establish administrative power.
He created an organization as a special autonomous ind by deploying a few bureaucrats and many androids, as well as unmanned surface ships and navy.
As a result, he reached a point where he couldn¡¯t even conduct minor training without consulting Korea.
Korea said they couldn¡¯t allowrge-scale training when the war hadn¡¯t been over for long.
¡°Okinawa is an ind of peace that has not been stained by war. We can¡¯t cause tension on that ind.¡±
It felt bitter to hear that from President Yu Ji-ha himself.
Anyway, Korea did not allow most of the training and as a result, tens of thousands of troops were idle.
They literally had nothing to do and yed games in their barracks.
President Baldwin lost his words when he received a report on the daily activities of the US forces stationed in Okinawa.
¡°Is walking part of an operation these days?¡±
¡°They¡¯re patrolling the coastline. There are unmanned surface ships everywhere.¡±
¡°¡¡±
He¡¯s a terrible person.
He created an environment where he had no choice but to leave because he didn¡¯t think the US-Japan forces would leave on their own.
Normally they would have endured it, but the US had to increase its NATO forces at the moment and couldn¡¯t afford it.
They needed at least 10,000 troops to be deployed in Europe right away.
It didn¡¯t make sense to keep them idle here.
President Baldwin reluctantly ordered with Congress¡¯s approval.
¡°Only withdrawbat troops. Leave at least some administrative power.¡±
Thousands of US troops left Okinawa and were deployed in Europe.
Now all that was left were a few US troops for administration, and most of the bases and training grounds were empty.
Yu Ji-ha took advantage of this and announced the nuclear fusion nt.
¡°I promised a nuclear fusion nt for Okinawa Special Autonomous Ind. I¡¯m going to keep that promise now.¡±
The site was designated as Kadena Base.
It was thergest airfield of the US Pacific Air Force, located in the middle of the city.
Most of the troops and equipment had left and it was poorly managed, so he wanted to push it away and build a nuclear fusion nt.
The US naturally resisted, but the Okinawan people weed it with cards.
¡°A nuclear fusion nt is much better than a base that doesn¡¯t help the economy!¡±
¡°Please keep your promise of free electricity!¡±
As public opinion was like this, the White House couldn¡¯t help but worry.
The lease period of Kadena Base was long, but wouldn¡¯t it be better to hand it over to Korea and get something?
Yu Ji-ha said this through the media.
¡°Isn¡¯t it strange that there are US-Japan forces on Korean soil? It would be better to withdraw voluntarily when you have a chance.¡±
The US was in a position where they couldn¡¯t do anything.
They couldn¡¯t keep their troops there because they were useless, and they couldn¡¯t withdraw because of their pride.
Meanwhile, Korea showed its unique drive and started building a nuclear fusion nt.
At this rate, the nt would be built in a year, not a few years.
President Baldwin couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and called back his troops to the maind with Congress¡¯s approval.
That¡¯s how the US-Japan forcespletely withdrew from Okinawa.
Chapter 141: Integration is the Trend
Chapter 141: Integration is the Trend
Nowadays, humans use various transportation modes such as airnes, trains, and ships to travel long distances.
However, before the gue emerged in 2103, the long-distance transportation modes of the United Human Federation were unified into two.
Cargo was carried by cargo ships, and people by supercavitation trains.
The former was a developed version of the wigcraft that used the ground effect to float above the water surface.
Its maximum speed wasparable to the speed of sound, but because of its characteristic of sticking close to the sea level, it would experience a great shock if it hit a wave, so people were not allowed to board it.
The reason why all the cargo ships operated by the United Human Federation and Korea were unmanned was because of this.
Compared to the rtively early appearance of cargo ships, supercavitation trains did not show up until the 2060s.
This was because they required Aether cores and Aether crystals.
A process of extracting Aether particles from the core and storing them in the crystal was required, but from the perspective of humans who did not know what Aether was, it was an extremely difficult task.
The researchers had to literally find their way to the destination by closing their eyes and feeling the ground with their hands.
The conflicting interests of various countries also hindered the research, which repeated failures after failures.
The selfishness that caused this was ironically suppressed after the gue¡¯s attack.
Humans were able to unite as one only when they faced the crisis of extinction.
Nevertheless, they never managed to figure out what Aether was, and that was still ongoing.
Anyway, supercavitation trains were formidable tforms that reced all airnes, trains, and ships.
They were so fast and efficient.
They had the shape of a train, but they flew in the sky, and their maximum speed approached Mach 10.
It was almost like running in an Aether field, so despite the speed, the passengers hardly felt any difort.
It had some simrities with the hyperloop train that briefly gained attention and then disappeared, but supercavitation trains had an overwhelming advantage in every aspect.
If this train wasmercialized, most of the tforms that carriedrge numbers of people would be discontinued.
It was much faster and safer than airnes, and there was no need toy separate rails, so it was natural.
It was perfect as a mobile tform that connected 15 mega-cities.
The reason why Yu Ji-ha did not reveal it until now was because he needed a minimum foundation to be prepared.
¡ªTechnology to uniformly extract particles from the Aether core and control the field.
¡ªTechnology to store Aether particles derived from hafnium-2 explosives.
¡ªTechnology for high-thrust ion thrusters.
These three technologies were necessary to operate supercavitation trains.
With the blueprints in Settler¡¯s DB and Arma¡¯s abilities, everything could be solved, but sometimes he had to pass the mic to others.
While various countries were looking at Yu Ji-ha¡¯s mouth, President Marine Le Pen held a press conference at France¡¯s International Aether Research Institute.
¡°Today, or rather yesterday, France made a great progress. We finally gained the ability to control gravity. Except for one country.¡±
Everyone knew which country she was referring to.
She probably wanted to point out Yu Ji-ha personally, but she restrained herself a little in front of numerous foreign media outlets.
She introduced the technology developed by the researchers with exaggerated gestures.
¡°Controlling gravity is not a technology that can only be seen in SF movies. It is right next to us. The researchers from France and other countries have done it. Now let¡¯s see togAether the miracle that this technology creates.¡±
She seemed to be benchmarking Yu Ji-ha by announcing the technology at the press conference.
But maybe she didn¡¯t have goodmunication with them, because for a while, the reporters had to look at an emptyboratory.
The experiment started when Marine Le Pen¡¯s face showed irritation.
A loud voice in French was heard, and then several researchers operated a console connected to an Aether core.
Then a bright golden light burst out from the Aether core, and nearby equipment began to float one by one.
It was a phenomenon of gravity inversion in an Aether field.
The screen changed and Marine Le Pen¡¯s face appeared with a bright smile.
She had been angry at Korea and Yu Ji-ha for a long time, but today she looked quite cheerful.
¡°I don¡¯t know if this phenomenon is rted to gravitons. Maybe the researchers at the particle elerator will tell us. We want to share this phenomenon with researchers from other countries. As long as you have a minimum degree.¡±
It was a remark that seemed to criticize Yu Ji-ha who had been secretive about his research.
Of course he didn¡¯t care at all and just looked at Marine Le Pen¡¯s excited face and said,
¡°It¡¯s time to bring out supercavitation trains.¡±
¡°The design is already done. If you give the order, we can produce them at the smart factory.¡±
¡°We have to produce quite a lot. There will be a lot of requests from various countries.¡±
He wondered a little bit these days.
The two bastards from Russia seemed to be showing signs of demanding a renegotiation.
It was understandable that they would be upset after giving upnd that was dozens of timesrger than the Korean Penins.
They must have thought about the resources that were buried in thatnd.
But it would take a lot of courage to break the promise that President Putin made.
It would mean that Russia would no longer receive the 1-tier treatment.
Russia was currently introducing technologies and concepts such as nuclear fusion nts and mass drivers at a low cost.
If they tried to reim thend, they would be treated worse than the United States.
They had secured enoughnd to build several mega-cities, so there was no reason to give it up.
Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t covet the Japanese archipgo either, because Siberia and Manchuria were enough in terms of area.
Arma disyed the blueprint of the supercavitation train on the wall screen.
¡°There are 70 seats in one car, and basically one power car pulls 20 cars.¡±
Supercavitation trains boasted a considerablyrger size than the existing ones.
Probably because they didn¡¯t need to rely on the specifications of the track.
They were wide enough to fit a lot of seats.
The body could be made bigger, but considering the size of the auxiliary facilities and the volume of the Aether field, this was just right.
Yu Ji-ha looked through the specs and asked,
¡°How long do you think it will take to get to America with this spec?¡±
¡°If we connect Seoul and San Francisco, it will take about 45 minutes.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good.¡±
The emergence of supercavitation trains would bind the earth into one living area in a true sense.
It was iparable to passenger nes that wasted a lot of time on immigration procedures andnding and taking off.
There was hardly anything shocking among the technologies that Yu Ji-ha had shown so far, but supercavitation trains would be felt quite directly.
Because it greatly reduced the travel time.
Of course, this meant the bankruptcy of many airlines.
Yu Ji-ha contacted Baeseongmin, his chief secretary.
¡°Tell the president of Korail, the president of the Railroad Corporation, and the representatives of the airlines toe. Yes. Just exin that it¡¯s a very important matter.¡±
On the screen, President Marine Le Pen was boasting that she would not share this technology with Korea.
They should have learned their lesson by now after being fooled so many times.
***
The announcement from France caused a huge shock in the academic world.
It was because they had evidence that they could control gravity artificially.
Although it was through an alien artifact called the Aether Core, the schrs showed great interest and apuse.
¡ªFrance is definitely different from anyone else. They said they would share not only the paper but also the future research.
¡ªAlthough there are certain conditions, being able to control gravity will bring more results than we can imagine. I¡¯m so excited that I can¡¯t stand it.
¡ªIt¡¯s a pity that there are not many Aether Cores. They are the things that will bring innovation to humanity.
They might faint if they knew that it was originally one.
Anyway, the whole world was stirred by France¡¯s announcement.
Numerous people visited the Aether International Research Institute in Paris, and leaders of various countries sent derations of support.
They announced that they would start a research to prove the rtionship between Aether particles and gravitons at the LHC, thergest facility in Europe, and the EU dered that they would not spare any investment.
Korea waspletely excluded from all these events.
There were some who sneered at them for being pathetic, but most of them held their tongues, saying that they had been fooled once or twice.
¡ªThey must be close to the practical stage by now.
¡ªThey must be choosing what to reveal from a list.
But they seemed to focus on maintaining their status quo rather than making any moves.
In the meantime, a case urred where thousands of Ethyl processors produced in the United States were stolen.
People who didn¡¯t know would think that some big robbers had done something, but the intelligence agencies of various countries wrote reports that it was a joint product of the EU and the United States.
¡ªTo reveal the rtionship between Aether particles and gravitons, aprehensive upgrade of the LHC system is required. Ethyl processors are suitable for handling such huge data.
¡ªBut US semiconductorpanies can¡¯t export Ethyl processors to the EU. So they just passed it off as being stolen.
¡ªYu Ji-ha must have known that. He probably turned a blind eye because he felt bad about rejecting academia so far.
In fact, Yu Ji-ha ignored it because it didn¡¯t mean much.
Humanity in the 22nd century also used all kinds of means to elucidate Aether particles.
Nevertheless, they hardly found out anything.
Lucia, the original disc,mented this.
¡°We don¡¯t know anything about Aether. We probably don¡¯t know much more than children.¡±
It was difficult to elucidate Aether by colliding particles and observing them, so they had to use other methods, but the United Human Federation did not have enough leeway to do so.
Anyway, EU and LHC¡¯s attempts were futile but ultimately doomed to fail.
Yu Ji-ha tried to approach more realistically.
¡°I will push for a merger of Korail, Railroad Corporation, and each airline.¡±
¡°¡¡±
The representatives who were invited to the Blue House looked at him carefully.
There must be a clear reason why the president said this.
Baek Sung-min, chief secretary of secretary office, threw a topic to break the awkward atmosphere.
¡°Except for the basic point that trains and airnes carry people and cargo, they don¡¯t have much inmon. But there seems to be something worth integrating.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯s called a super-vacuum train.¡±
The officials who saw the model were surprised.
Isn¡¯t this Hyperloop Train, which was scrapped due tock of realism?
The idea was usible, but maintaining a vacuum inside the tube was a huge obstacle.
There were also many other problems, and it waspletely forgotten when the main advocate died.
But this was quite different from Hyperloop Train.
¡°When we saw it, it felt like flying in mid-air¡ I mean in the sky.¡±
¡°The propulsion is an ion thruster, but there is no tube.¡±
¡°It¡¯s literally a train running in a vacuum. It creates an Aether reverse field and runs inside it.¡±
¡°Aether reverse field?¡±
¡°Let me give you an example. You know about Transform phenomenon?¡±
The participants nodded unanimously.
It¡¯s been on the news so much and talked about so much that even children know it.
The transformation phenomenon of ck metal itself.
¡°When Transform phenomenon urs, an Aether reverse field spreads. The existing physicalws do not apply inside it. That means you can partially exclude gravity.¡±
The people wanted to ask if that was possible, but barely held back.
He must have brought it up here because it was possible.
ording to Yu Ji-ha¡¯s exnation, they store Aether particles and create a reverse field when the train moves and run inside it.
Since gravity is almost excluded, they can run as if there were rails in the air.
¡°The maximum speed is up to Mach 10, and the passengers hardly feel any eleration. It can carry more than a thousand passengers at a low price.¡±
Baek Sung-min, chief secretary of secretary office, summarized.
¡°ording to your words, most of the long-distance transportation tforms except for super-vacuum train will be obsolete.¡±
¡°Cruise ships or some special-purpose ones may survive. But it will be hard for tforms that value efficiency.¡±
The officials realized why Yu Ji-ha called them.
He meant to prepare for integration because they would all go bankrupt.
If super-vacuum train was introduced in earnest, it would be hard to survive except for urban tforms such as subways or trams.
tforms like KTX might be better off, but airnes would not be strange to bepletely extinct.
They were much faster and cheaper in terms of efficiency and ion thrusters.
A president of an airline asked cautiously.
¡°If you run at Mach 10, the noise will be no joke. I wonder if that¡¯s also taken into ount¡ And I¡¯m curious about the safety.¡±
¡°Has anyone here heard the sound of a railgun firing?¡±
Baek Sung-min, chief secretary of secretary office, raised his hand.
¡°It was definitely smaller than a cannon.¡±
¡°That¡¯s because an Aether reverse field urs in the ck metal barrel. Only the sound of the bullet tearing the air is heard.¡±
¡°Ah¡¡±
¡°Aether reverse field ignores most of the physicalws, right? There is no sonic boom. It just runs through the air. Don¡¯t ask me how that¡¯s possible. I don¡¯t know either.¡±
The prophet would surely know.
Yu Ji-ha also mentioned the safety of the super-vacuum train.
¡°ording to the simtion, the ident frequency is much lower than that of airnes. And even if the worst ident urs, you can decelerate with the ion thruster, so the probability of mass casualties is low.¡±
The result of operating it for decades by the United Human Federation was that it was much better than airnes.
It wasn¡¯t that there were no idents, but the efficiency was overwhelming, so it pushed away the disadvantages.
The presidents of Korail and Railroad Corporation showed curiosity about the new business, while the presidents of the airlines were gloomy.
They had already lost a lot of cargo ne demand because of cargo ships¡
Due to the preference for cargo ships in Korea and around the world, Boeing and other aircraft manufacturers had reached a point where they could no longer receive orders for cargo nes.
But now they were in danger of losing passenger ne demand as well.
Yu Ji-ha said as if tofort them.
¡°It will take some time for the super-vacuum train to be introduced, so please wrap up your business by then. I¡¯ll give you a generous price for thend.¡±
Should they be grateful that he told them in advance?
After that, the talk continued about the integration of Korail and Railroad Corporation and the jobs that would disappear.
¡°There are plenty of jobs other than Railroad Corporation. You can learn quickly, so don¡¯t worry.¡±
Korea originally had a weak concept of lifelong employment, but it almost disappeared after Yu Ji-ha took power.
The instability of work increased, but the possibility of finding a new job also increased significantly.
They could get a job through Lucia Premium, and the government and Shi Group were constantly hiring people.
They didn¡¯t care about anything except the conditions for working, so the unemployment rate didn¡¯t increase much despite automation.
In addition, new industries such as resource exploration and mining, which were rare before, created arge number of jobs.
It had enough strength to absorb any unemployment crisis in society as a whole.
Of course, countries that openly opposed Yu Ji-ha and Korea recorded especially high unemployment rates, which was a bonus.
The trend would worsen when super-vacuum train was introduced, but Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t care.
They would take care of themselves.
***
Many countries in the world raised their antennae at Korea¡¯s sudden change of direction.
It was understandable that airlines reduced their passenger ne lease scale, but it was iprehensible that they did arge-scale restructuring.
In 2031, foreign visitors outnumbered Korea¡¯s poption excluding North Korea.
It was amazing considering that there were no special tourist attractions.
As foreign visitors to Korea increased every year, restructuring was an absurd policy.
Korea even canceled the project to remove all railways in North Korea andy new ones.
Railway maniacs asked a lot of questions, but they only posted that there was no scheduled project.
Of course, they had to wonder about this.
-Even North Pyongan Province is slowly normalizing. Are they not going toy railways?
¡ªEven if they introduce a public autonomous driving system because it¡¯s a megacity, they should be connected to other ces.
Something is strange.
While this was going on, super-vacuum train¡¯s body was being made at Smart Factory.
As soon as the test schedule was over, they would be able to connect the Korean Penins and Terra Ind.
Then they would connect all thend that Korea had acquired anew.
But two Russians who imed to be Putin¡¯s sessors seemed unwilling to hand over that vastnd easily.
Borchenko, a senator, contacted Yu Ji-ha.
¡°I want to renegotiate thend that you promised to Korea.¡±
¡°Do you mean to break what President Putin promised?¡±
¡°Thatnd is too wide. Do you know how much resources are buried in East Siberia? It¡¯s too much to swallow without touching it¡¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t I give you enough things so far?¡±
As Yu Ji-ha¡¯s voice rose, Borchenko seemed flustered and said after a moment of fumbling.
¡°I don¡¯t mean to fight. Honestly, isn¡¯t thend that former President Putin promised too wide? I mean we have to look at it carefully.¡±
¡°From Lake Baikal to Novosibirsk in the north and Chukotka in the east. Of course, including Sakhalin Ind.¡±
¡°My God. Korea boasts the fourthrgest territory in the world after Russia, Canada, and the United States. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s too much?¡±
¡°Not at all.¡±
Just mentioning a few of the technologies or concepts that Russia introduced would offset that and more.
Yu Ji-ha stayed close to Russia and didn¡¯t argue about those things because he nned to absorb them in the long run.
It¡¯s never too much to invest in my own child.
But Senator Borchenko was whining that he didn¡¯t get enough snacks.
His voice lowered.
¡°Then I have one suggestion.¡±
¡°Let me hear it.¡±
¡°Marry my daughter.¡±
¡°¡Excuse me?¡±
¡°Marry my daughter and acquire Russian citizenship officially. Help me be president. Then my daughter will be president, and you will be able to exert your influence. How about it?¡±
Is this something to say?
Yu Ji-ha began to doubt Borchenko¡¯s intelligence.
Chapter 142: The Empire of Evil
Chapter 142: The Empire of Evil
¡°I know it sounds a bit boastful to say this about my own daughter, but she is a former Miss Russia. She is going to graduate from Moscow State University next year. A Russian beauty and a Korean ruler¡ don¡¯t they seem like a perfect match? It would be a true union.¡±
He was delusional on a grand scale.
Yu Ji-ha forced a smile and cut him off.
¡°I have Arma.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t she your secretary? Stalin had several secretaries, but he also had a wife. It¡¯s fine. Russians don¡¯t ask about what happens under the desk.¡±
He might have said that to show his generosity, but to Yu Ji-ha, he looked like a fool who wasted his years.
What kind of nonsense was he saying to a foreign politician who was not even his ally?
¡°Maybe you misunderstood something, but Arma is not only my secretary, but also the person who will be my wife.¡±
¡°Really? Howe I didn¡¯t know that?¡±
¡°Because there was no reason to tell you.¡±
In fact, Yu Ji-ha had carefully nned to make himself the sessor.
Arma would get pregnant this year and give birth to a healthy child.
Of course, that child would not be a normal life form, but a dummy.
Even Arma¡¯s pregnancy was fake, since she was an android.
Everything was focused on making the real Yu Ji-ha, who was stored in a bio-bag, able to rule the United Human Federation in about 30 years.
If he didn¡¯t know these things, he would find their rtionship strange.
As the silence dragged on, Congressman Borchenko hurriedly changed the topic.
¡°Anyway, you have to admit that thend that Korea took is too much.¡±
¡°Let me tell you in advance. I can adjust the border line with Russia a little bit, but I can¡¯t back down an inch otherwise. If Russia officiallyes out with a renegotiation argument, I will think again.¡±
¡°What are you talking about?¡±
¡°I mean, I will treat Russia normally.¡±
¡°Ha ha¡ Are you trying to be gentle because of your rtionship with the former president? Do you even know how much he fought because of that?¡±
¡°He gave up that muchnd as a condition of the deal, so he must have had a lot of disputes.¡±
¡°It was not just a lot of disputes. Seventeen people died. The parliament was almost in a state of war. There was too much opposition.¡±
It took a long time for the agreement to pass because President Putin needed time to sort out his internal affairs.
Thend was so vast that there were no joke of people who opposed it, and President Putin must have crushed all the opposing opinions.
Yu Ji-ha remained silent and Borchenko spoke more passionately.
¡°We sold ska for a cheap price and we have regretted it ever since. But thend we agreed to give to Korea is several times bigger than that. Just for some technologies.¡±
¡°Some technologies? You are belittling the things that made Russia what it is today.¡±
¡°What made Russia today is the Russian people. Of course, technology also contributed a lot, but¡¡±
¡°But isn¡¯t it strange? Why hasn¡¯t the average wage in Moscow changed in 10 years?¡±
President Putin epted Yu Ji-ha¡¯s technology and greatly increased Russia¡¯spetitiveness and GDP ranking.
But it was not easy for the Russian people to enjoy the fruits of that.
It was because of the Russian-style vested interests like Borchenko and Dmitri.
What if they had nuclear fusion nts?
Thepanies of the United Russia Party members who swore loyalty to Putin would suck them dry in the middle.
The two Russian psychers he recruited before alsoined that their sries were too low.
When Yu Ji-ha pointed out that injustice, Borchenko¡¯s voice lowered.
¡°I acknowledge your deep connection with Russia, but I don¡¯t appreciate your interference in our internal affairs.¡±
¡°I¡¯m just asking. Where did all that money go?¡±
¡°You seem to want to pin the me on me, but I¡¯m just a servant. If you knew about the former president¡¯s hidden assets, you would be shocked.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t care about his hidden assets. What I want to say is, we already made an agreement and it can¡¯t be reversed.¡±
¡°It was just a verbal promise from the former president.¡±
¡°It was an agreement that passed the Russian Senate.¡±
¡°That can be reversed if the Senate decides. It hasn¡¯t been officially announced yet.¡±
¡°What do you and Russia gain by doing this?¡±
¡°The former president was blinded by technology and gave up too muchnd. By the way, Minister Dmitri thinks the same way.¡±
¡°Then you have no choice but to reverse everything to before 2026. Do you want that?¡±
¡°Of course not. I just think we need some partial renegotiation.¡±
¡°I have no intention of doing that.¡±
¡°So we¡¯re back to square one.¡±
¡°Make your choice. Either reverse everything or keep your promise.¡±
¡°I would like to choose the third option that has not been offered to me.¡±
¡°You probably want to move the public opinion in Russia and ally with the US or France to pressure me. You might also reduce the export of raw materials.¡±
Yu Ji-ha listed the ns that Borchenko and Dmitri had discussed, and he awkwardly cleared his throat.
¡°If you join hands with me, I will cancel all those ns immediately. You will get both my daughter and Russia.¡±
Would it really be like that in a few decades?
Yu Ji-ha could bet everything that Borchenko had no intention of doing that.
¡°I refuse.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a pity. Oh, by the way, I¡¯m not saying that Russia is hostile to you.¡±
They wouldn¡¯t openly be hostile.
But they would subtly interfere with the resource exploration and give orders to the local bureaucrats.
They would also coborate with the US or France in Aether research.
From that point of view, Borchenko was a very narrow-minded person.
He fell for France¡¯s gravity show and wanted to cooperate with them.
He wanted to break the agreement and end the war after taking advantage of the troops gathered near Estonia.
After the call ended, Arma updated the information on Borchenko and Dmitri.
¡°It seems that they gained confidence in Russia¡¯s military power after taking control of the troops near Estonia.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that half of what we made?¡±
¡°People tend to forget that when they receive orders. They feel like they can do anything with the military power in front of them.¡±
The bottom line was that their actions were based on unfounded confidence.
He wanted to shatter that confidence, but it was not a good time to pay attention to foreign affairs.
¡°What can we do? If we assassinate them, it will only make them more alert¡ Is there a better way?¡±
¡°I want to suggest a traditional method here. To boost our momentum.¡±
¡°Boost our momentum?¡±
¡°People like Borchenko and Dmitri tend to be obsessed with appearances. They would feel that Master and Korea have high technology, but not much overall national power.¡±
¡°They must have received the report on this war from the intelligence agency.¡±
¡°People usually pick and choose the information they want to see.¡±
¡°Summarize their young days and make a presentation.¡±
Arma showed him the data that made him nod his head.
Their lives were filled with money and violence.
¡°They are just neighborhood thugs. They are not fit to be senators.¡±
¡°President Putin abused his excessive authority to his cronies for his power consolidation. As a result, people like Borchenko, whock substance, got high positions.¡±
¡°So what do you think we should do?¡±
¡°I want to suggest a military parade to celebrate the victory of the East Asian War. You just need to give the order.¡±
Yu Ji-ha frowned.
He hated that kind of show.
¡°Would it be efficient?¡±
¡°It would be quite efficient. Traditionally, arge-scale military parade was a good way to show off national power in the Eastern bloc.¡±
The US didn¡¯t do it, because they knew well that they were the undisputed number one in the world.
On the other hand, Korea and the United Human Federation were new forces, so their impression was weak.
People who didn¡¯t know much about the East Asian War would think that they got lucky and ended it quickly.
Even China and Japan, who were involved, started to make such ims after he withdrew the 7th Army and thending force.
How much more would Russia do?
¡°If we¡¯re going to do it, let¡¯s gather all thend, sea, and air forces and do it properly. It would be nice if the superconducting train prototype could debut too.¡±
Russia had a lot of interest in trains because of its vast territory.
How many countries would not be interested in superconducting trains?
¡°Okay. And Master, ording to the roadmap, I¡¯m supposed to get pregnant this year¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. Rece it with a slightly swollen belly and produce a dummy.¡±
He intended to make them mistake the dummy for his son and expose it to the media.
He couldn¡¯t just bring his real body, so he had to use a dummy.
He would have to rece it as he aged, but he could just show some videos of a nanny taking care of him.
Android nannies weremon these days.
Yu Ji-ha wanted to stop using the dummy after faking his death, but he had no choice.
¡®I use a baby-shaped dummy for dictatorship¡ I¡¯m an irredeemable viin.¡¯
He chuckled as he imagined the mechanical army marching in the parade.
What a splendid empire of evil.
***
Aether research was lively in various countries around the world.
Especially, gravity control was easy to get funding for.
It was because they could show it to politicians without much exnation.
Even those who were indifferent to Aether research would be amazed by seeing things floating in the air.
Naturally, the public interest also increased, and gravity control became a hot topic everywhere.
¡ªIt has been hundreds of years since Newton got inspiration from a falling apple about gravity, and we finally can control it directly.
¡ªThe principle will be revealed by many physicists. We just have to choose how to use it.
Finally, gravity shows entered TV shows.
They all enjoyed floating fruits in the air.
The politicians exaggerated and the media echoed them, so it felt like there would be a revolution in human life soon.
But if you looked closely, there were also quite skeptical views.
Gravity control required Aether cores, which were scarce in number.
The US and China had rtively many, but most countries had none at all.
As a result, there was friction when they rented Aether cores.
France and some other countries tied up their Aether cores after passing the psycher outflow preventionw.
They locked them up at the national level so that they would not leak abroad.
It was also revealed that psychers who had to control Aether cores had difficulties.
One psycher anonymously agreed to an interview with the media and gave some shocking testimony.
¡°We are ves of the government. This is happening while the president sings about freedom and human rights.¡±
¡°That¡¯s surprising. Can you tell us more?¡±
¡°It takes dozens of psychers a month to make one railgun barrel. You saw the documentary on the production process, right? It looks easy when they just touch it. It¡¯s not at all.¡±
¡°It must be hard. How exactly is it?¡±
¡°When you spit out that Aether or whatever it is, you get exhausted in an instant. You can¡¯t breathe, and your body loses strength. Sometimes my right chest hurts too.¡±
¡°And you have to keep doing this harshbor¡¡±
¡°We don¡¯t get enough rest time. They force us to work hard to meet the deadline. We are not soldiers, but they also demand group action from us.¡±
¡°Why is that?¡±
¡°If the wills of dozens of people don¡¯t match, the transform phenomenon doesn¡¯t happen well. Sometimes it gets deformed, but the government never sees that.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t there a dposer or something? Korea uses it a lot.¡±
The psycher shook his head bitterly.
¡°It¡¯s enough for small things like batteries, but not for big things like railgun barrels.¡±
He also exposed that he couldn¡¯t leave the research institute on weekdays and was allowed to go out on weekends, but with surveince.
When this human rights vition was reported to the public through the media, there was a lot of criticism.
¡ªThis is happening in France? Did they boil the constitution and the soup togAether?
¡ªWe asked the government to improve several times, but all we got back was that it was inevitable for the national interest.
¡ªMarie Le Pen! Aren¡¯t you ashamed of having the title of a defender of freedom and human rights?
In the meantime, it was also revealed that this kind of treatment of psychers was not only in France, but also in many other countries.
Even in the US, some psychers were forced to join the military and used.
They were also subjected to high-intensity training that was almost brainwashing.
Of course,wsuits followed, but it was uncertain what would happen with the government and the military involved.
The public rose up like a swarm of bees and attacked the government.
¨DWhat are you doing? Shouldn¡¯t you at least be better than the evil empire ruled by a dictator?
¨DWe can no longer trust the government. They must disclose all the research and facilities rted to Aether and psychers.
The governments of various countries could no longer endure and came up withme excuses.
¨DThe cases that are happening in some research institutes are exaggerated, and they have been improved or are being improved.
¨DRather, we should be wary of whAether this situation is not someone¡¯s conspiracy.
Someone probably meant Yu Ji-ha, the ruler of Korea and the United Human Federation.
He had the world¡¯srgest Aether research facility under his control, but he never revealed any information rted to Aether and psychers.
He didn¡¯t even disclose how many psychers he had.
This was a perfect way to attract public criticism.
The world media spected that the treatment of psychers in the western countries that valued freedom and human rights was terrible, so Korea must be hell.
Naturally, they poured out their condemnation.
¨DWe know you don¡¯t care about human lives, but wouldn¡¯t it be better to at least reveal the number of psychers you have?
¨DThe facility is certainly impressive and clean in size. But no one knows what horrible things are happening inside.
¨DPlease, I beg you, I hope it¡¯s not human experimentation.
Yu Ji-ha did not react to the sharp criticism.
Rather, dozens of videos that refuted him poured out through tforms like YouTube.
They were videos of the lives of psychers and researchers who worked at the Aether research facility.
The people who saw the videos had various reactions.
¨DAre they the ones who are suffering? They all look fine.
¨DWhat are they doing? They should at least be better than the evil empire ruled by a tyrant.
¨DWe can no longer trust the government. They must disclose all the research and facilities rted to Aether and psychers.
The governments of various countries could no longer endure and came up withme excuses.
¨DThe cases that are happening in some research institutes are exaggerated, and they have been improved or are being improved.
¨DRather, we should be wary of whAether this situation is not someone¡¯s conspiracy.
Someone probably meant Yu Ji-ha, the ruler of Korea and the United Human Federation.
He had the world¡¯srgest Aether research facility under his control, but he never revealed any information rted to Aether and psychers.
He didn¡¯t even disclose how many psychers he had.
This was a perfect way to attract public criticism.
The world media spected that the treatment of psychers in the western countries that valued freedom and human rights was terrible, so Korea must be hell.
Naturally, they poured out their condemnation.
¨DWe know you don¡¯t care about human lives, but wouldn¡¯t it be better to at least reveal the number of psychers you have?
¨DThe facility is certainly impressive and clean in size. But no one knows what horrible things are happening inside.
¨DPlease, I beg you, I hope it¡¯s not human experimentation.
Yu Ji-ha did not react to the sharp criticism.
Rather, dozens of videos that refuted him poured out through tforms like YouTube.
They were videos of the lives of psychers and researchers who worked at the Aether research facility.
The people who saw the videos had various reactions.
¨DAre they the ones who are suffering? They all look fine.
¨DWhy does it look better there to me? Where is hell?
Some media imed that it was propaganda, but there were too many videos and testimonies.
Among them, there were many psychers from the western countries, including the United States.
¡°I don¡¯t understand why everyone sees this ce so badly. It¡¯s like heaven for us.¡±
¡°If you look at the streets, you¡¯ll see that it¡¯s aplete melting pot of races. And yet, it¡¯s surprisingly free and active.¡±
¡°Evil empire? I get what kind of perspective you have on this ce, but there¡¯s nothing like that.¡±
There were some bad reviews, but they were only about theck of variety in products and the simr scenery everywhere that bored them.
As these testimonies continued, naturally, the mention of rted issues decreased.
They couldn¡¯t criticize their own government, so they decided not to report it as instructed by their superiors.
Meanwhile, news of a victory parade in Korea drew attention from various countries.
¨DThey eliminated most of the war machines and yet they hold a parade that is the epitome of inefficiency. How ironic.
¨DThey said they would abolish conscription, but do they have such an army?
But they couldn¡¯t help being interested.
Korea and the United Human Federation had fought several wars and won every time, but this was the first time they had such a public event.
Some people even hoped that something new might appear.
And soon after, the schedule and location were announced.
A huge crowd gathered on the newly built highway between Kaesong and Pyongyang.
***
After Yu Ji-ha dered a 10-year closure, ess to North Korea waspletely blocked.
The military and some NGOs were allowed to enter, but people didn¡¯t know what was going on inside.
They only heard that Mega City North was going to be built there.
But in February 2032, a highway leading to Pyongyang was opened.
This highway used to be poorly maintained andparable to Korea¡¯s local roads, but it was newly built this time.
It had 10nes each way and looked pretty cool with ck metal.
People admired the long road and imagined Mega City North that would be built in Pyongyang.
¡°They said they amodated even Kaesong citizens. It must be huge by now.¡±
¡°They released some photos taken by spy satellites from the US. The site is muchrger than the existing Pyongyang city.¡±
¡°In a few more years, we¡¯ll be able to go straight to Pyongyang on this highway.¡±
Soon after, the parade began.
The 7th Division led by K-3A2 tanks, which were called the world¡¯s first flying tanks, showed their appearance.
Following them, the Landing Division that first entered Tokyo also marched proudly.
But what caught people¡¯s attention was something else.
It was thousands of androids andbat walkers without skins that were quietly ced on one side of the highway.
They were the actual ground forces of the United Human Federation.
The army of machines that filled up the 10ne highway gave an immense sense of pressure.
A murmur spread among the people.
¡°It looks like an Sci-fi movie when machines march like that.¡±
¡°The movements are perfectly synchronized. It looks neat but somehow it feels like an evil empire.¡±
¡°It would be perfect if they added Hell March music to this.¡±
Korea¡¯s parades in the past were somewhat loose to avoid looking too rigid, but today waspletely different.
And then, hundreds of KF-31 and Caliber drones flew from the distant sky and covered the air.
¡°Wow, can they fly that low?¡±
¡°They usually lose their substance if they are like fighter jets, but they look fine.¡±
But what really drew people¡¯s attention was something else.
It was a few trains that were quietly ced on one side of the highway.
Everyone wondered why the trains were there.
¡°There are no rails here. Why did they bring them?¡±
¡°Well, the design is well done, but¡¡±
Then the trains rose into the air with a roar.
People¡¯s faces were filled with horror.
Chapter 143: The Sky Train
Chapter 143: The Sky Train
People nowadays are not easily surprised.
In an era where moon travel has be a reality and people can shoot energy waves from their hands, there is not much to be amazed by.
The fact that a train could fly in the sky was not that impressive either.
Korea had already sent tanks flying during the East Asian War.
It was not one or two, but a whole legion that moved. And after the war, they were widely praised as the Flying Tank Shock in the US and other ces.
Even now, military enthusiasts could easily find videos analyzing the situation at that time on Mitube.
NASA¡¯s rocket experts alsomented on the efficiency of the ion thruster and imed that it was not strange to float a ship with it.
¡°Especially, the thrust-to-fuel ratio is miraculous. It can push a huge weight with very little fuel, but even after testing it hundreds of times, it is hard to believe.¡±
¡°It is more efficient in space than in the atmosphere. With an ion thruster, we can reveal all the secrets of the sr systems.¡±
¡°The only regrettable thing is that this efficiency we are amazed by is not real. There seems to be room for improvement¡ But maybe only he knows the true nature of it.¡±
The ion thruster was so powerful that it could easily lift a train, and people were not surprised by that.
What shocked them was that there was no ion thruster attached to the bottom of the train.
¡°Where did the golden sma go?¡±
¡°Is there no ion thruster?¡±
¡°Come on, that can¡¯t be¡¡±
The train literally floated in the air without any propulsion.
As people murmured, Arma¡¯s calm voice echoed throughout the venue.
¡°You are about to watch a demonstration of the supercavity train. It is still under development, but it has enough features to show you.¡±
The main features were creating an ether field to ignore gravity and float, andying rails in the air to run at a maximum speed of Mach 10.
When the broadcast announced that passengers would not feel any shock during the process, people muttered in disappointment.
¡°Europe was making a fuss about gravity shows, but we skipped that step and made it practical.¡±
¡°Wait a minute, if we can run at Mach 10, do we need airnes?¡±
¡°Do we have to sell all our airlines?¡±
Soon after, the noise subsided and the supercavity train began to move slowly.
Its movement as if sliding in the air was truly admirable.
The train drew the attention of tens of thousands of people and soon elerated with the ion thruster and flew away.
But that was not the end.
Large trucks erected huge QLED screens all over the highway.
The screens showed the footage of the supercavity train running at full speed.
People were startled to see a huge city in just a few minutes.
¡°What? Is that Pyongyang already?¡±
¡°That¡¯s not Pyongyang, that¡¯s Mega City North. Anyway, thend is huge.¡±
¡°And it¡¯s incredibly fast.¡±
The supercavity train quickly passed Mega City North and left North Korea in no time.
Soon after, people could see a big mountain below them.
It was Mount Baekdu.
As they looked down at the sky and earth, people cheered.
¡°Is that Mount Baekdu already? That¡¯s unbelievable¡¡±
¡°No way, if we go at this speed, we can climb Mount Baekdu in one day?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll have breakfast in Seoul and lunch in heaven.¡±
And about 17 minutester, a wide sea appeared.
People thought it was the Sea of Okhotsk, but it was not.
Arma announced through the broadcast that it was East Siberia Sea.
¡°The supercavity train has arrived in East Siberia near the Arctic in about 20 minutes. Now we will slow down and turn around to return here.¡±
A whileter, the supercavity train arrived above the highway.
People gave a generous apuse to the amazing thing that ran 8,000 kilometers back and forth.
After the parade was over, many reporters rushed to cover the supercavity train.
Yu Ji-ha easily brushed off the barrage of questions from them.
¡°Why did you reveal the train at the parade? It¡¯s more efficient to announce everything at once.¡±
¡°What is the rtionship between ether particles and gravitons? If you figure that out, you¡¯ll win a Nobel Prize in Physics for sure.¡±
¡°The introduction countries are only Korea and United Human Federation. Russia? We¡¯ll go back to square one and negotiate again.¡±
Thest sentence raised doubts among reporters.
Yu Ji-ha had never said anything bitter about Russia until now.
Russia was the only country that could introduce new technology cheaply, except for Korea and United Human Federation.
But he said he would negotiate again, and reporters couldn¡¯t help but be surprised.
¡°Is there a change in Korea-Russia rtions?¡±
¡°This is a scoop. There¡¯s no time to confirm with the desk, so send it right away.¡±
Until now, Korea and Russia had been almost like a joint destiny, sticking together.
But Yu Ji-ha¡¯s remark today suggested that there might be a change in that policy.
Now the reporters went to cover the supercavity train.
Despite running at Mach 10, the body was lukewarm and seemed to have no problem with the function.
The door opened wide and people looked inside, which was no different from any other train.
¡°Mach 10 is much faster than supersonic passenger nes, right?¡±
¡°It means that the earth bes a single living zone in a true sense. Of course, only for the countries that pay and introduce it¡¡±
¡°Airnes, of course, and even high-speed trains will bepletely reced. If we introduce this, we don¡¯t need toy rails.¡±
¡°There will be more than one or two countries that will run with money¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s why Korean airlines withdrew from the business.¡±
As the reporters¡¯ coverage spread around the world, Yu Ji-ha called the bureaucrats, including Bae Seong-min, the chief of staff of the secretary¡¯s office, and the minister ofnd and transportation.
¡°There will be some minor changes in mass productionpared to the prototype. But the core function will not change, so proceed with the n as nned.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°Mr. President, may I ask when mass production will be?¡±
The minister ofnd and transportation asked, and Yu Ji-ha thought for a moment and said.
¡°We are making mass production machines at the smart factory right now. The first delivery will not exceed May.¡±
¡°Wow¡¡±
I always feel this way, but the development progress is too fast.
At this point, building a railgun ship in a year would not be a remarkable feat.
The android that Yu Ji-ha was maintaining took out the tablet andunched the map app.
¡°The first route to be connected is Seoul and Megacity Pacific. Several megacities will be connected and the domestic lines will be introduced by the end of this year.¡±
That was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s n to link Korea and the entire United Human Federation with supercavity trains and cargo ships.
The fare was more expensive than trains, but much lower than airnes.
Yu Ji-ha emphasized the CP system.
¡°Citizens who collect a certain amount of CP will be offered free boarding benefits. It¡¯s probably on the Megacity app.¡±
Bae Seong-min, the chief secretary, finally realized what he was talking about.
¡°I wondered what the supercavity train was¡ You¡¯ve been nning this for years.¡±
¡°I just thought it might be theoretically possible. It was Lucia who systematized and implemented the theory.¡±
It felt like artificial intelligence was too omnipotent, but it was true.
Lucia was the one who supported all the projects and developments that Yu Ji-ha had conceived.
She monitored the financial and inteworks, managed numerous smart factories and smart farms, and controlled over a million drones.
She also did countless other things, and the design of the supercavity train was only a small part of it.
¡°You¡¯re amazing. Other countries have only confirmed the possibility of controlling gravity¡¡±
¡°They must be holding an emergency meeting by now.¡±
Yu Ji-ha calmly epted the bureaucrats¡¯pliments and said.
¡°Isn¡¯t it time to stop being surprised?¡±
¡°I always try to do that, but what you bring up is beyond that¡¡±
¡°Anyway, the construction of the supercavity train docking station must proceed without any hitch. Lucia will take care of Terra Ind, but you have to take care of the domestic side.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll finish the station construction perfectly, even if I have to work overtime.¡±
Yu Ji-ha nodded and called Bae Seong-min, the chief secretary, separately and walked slowly around the highway.
¡°This is just between you and me¡ Actually, Arma is pregnant.¡±
Bae Seong-min¡¯s eyes widened.
He thought there was nothing more to surprise him, but this was beyond that.
It was a pregnancy without marriage, but nowadays the system was so well established that marriage was just one of many options.
He quickly rxed his expression.
¡°Congrattions. I hope you have a healthy baby.¡±
¡°Thank you. Arma will go to Terra Ind for recuperation when she feels full enough. I¡¯ll bring an android instead of her, so I¡¯ll need your help.¡±
¡°I understand. There¡¯s a lot to do in many ways.¡±
There were a lot of tasks in the secretary¡¯s office that did not go into the administrativework.
Lucia would have to learn those things first when she came.
Artificial intelligence secretaries were being tried by somergepanies and the results were generally good, but it was the first time for a president¡¯s secretary, so he was worried.
¡®Well, he¡¯ll figure it out.¡¯
It was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s job, after all, so he wouldn¡¯t fail.
That¡¯s what Bae Seong-min thought.
In his mind, Yu Ji-ha had be an absolute being.
He probably wasn¡¯t the only one who thought so.
***
¡°Therefore, we should not take thisnd lightly. Thisnd belongs to our great mother Russia and her people, and all of us.¡±
At the Russian Federation Council plenary session, Borchenko MP gave an impassioned speech.
His speech was so long-winded and slow that it made the impatient Russians yawn.
Some MPs talked to their colleagues with serious faces.
¡°So what do you want us to do? Do you want us to overturn what has been decided by the Senate?¡±
¡°The point is that. Thend we promised is too wide, so let¡¯s get rid of it.¡±
¡°The president of Korea would love that kind of remark.¡±
Not that it wasn¡¯t true, but Borchenko was now biting and pulling on an issue that had been directly decided by the Senate and approved by the president.
Russia needed to renegotiate with Korea over the entire Siberia that it had promised.
It was a very awkward im for the senators.
¡°The transfer of administrativework work is over, but what do you want us to do now?¡±
¡°The autonomous republics were also full of expectations. I wonder how they will persuade them.¡±
Russia was a federationposed of many ethnic groups and republics, and Sakha Republic was one of them.
This autonomous republic initially opposed leaving Russia¡¯s embrace, but most of its residents agreed after feeling Korea¡¯s technology.
Siberia had almost no development due to its geographical characteristics, but they wondered if it would change if Korea came in.
If Sakha Republic had not directly expressed its wee, it would have been difficult to n thend transfer, ording to some observations.
There were also many other cities, and most of the administration was transferred to the Korean side under Putin¡¯s orders.
The residents also made their choices, and the remaining people were looking forward to bing Koreans.
After all, wouldn¡¯t Korea, which had over $40,000 per capita GDP, be much better than Russia, which had only $10,000?
Yu Ji-ha, the president of Korea, also promised a massive investment in each region, and the residents¡¯ expectations were high.
But now they want to negotiate again.
The surprising thing was that there were not a few MPs who agreed with Borchenko¡¯s nonsense.
Most of them would be his cronies, but it was also true that there was a sense of resentment in the Federation Council that they had given up Russia¡¯snd too lightly.
Borchenko MP spoke with excitement that made his veins pop out on his forehead.
¡°Looking at the situation at the time, they opened a plenary session by surprise and almost rushed to a decision! This is a tyranny that makes us forget even the meaning of the Federation Council!¡±
He did not mention that it was the United Russia Party that made it, and that he was a senior member of the party.
As the atmosphere heated up, he showed a new map on the screen behind him.
¡°Kamchatka Penins is fine. Primorye is also under the influence of unified Korea, so we can¡¯t help it. I¡¯ll allow Habarovsk and Magadan too. But nothing else.¡±
The MPs were stunned by the new map.
If it stayed that way, most of Siberia, including Sakha Republic, would remain in Russia.
How would Yu Ji-ha, the president of Korea, react to that?
It wouldn¡¯t be a good expression.
Anyway, Borchenko MP¡¯s im surprisingly seeded in leading the reaction of the mainstream United Russia Party.
They must have thought that pushing him would give them an advantage in the next presidential election.
Borchenko had to make some achievements like this, since his rival Dmitry was pouring a lot of effort into the conquest of Estonia.
And then it was break time.
The MPs of the United Russia Party, who supported Borchenko, stopped Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov, who was about to leave after attending the plenary session.
¡°We believe that the consensus of the parliament has been clearly conveyed. The executive branch should follow suit.¡±
¡°¡¡±
The elderly Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov looked at the MPs with a nk stare.
Since when did the parliament have the power to tell the executive branch what to do?
Russia was technically practicing the separation of powers, but the executive branch had a strong power.
The parliament was nothing but a servant of the executive branch.
It was Putin¡¯s dictatorship for 30 years that made it that way.
Borchenko was trying to create cracks in that solid system to gain power.
When he got power, he would try to strengthen the executive branch again.
Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov asked slowly.
¡°The only thing left is to convey it to Korea. Have you coordinated with President Yu Ji-ha?¡±
¡°Coordination is the responsibility of the executive branch. We will trust and wait.¡±
It was an absurd remark that they would pass on the responsibility and only take the credit.
Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov approached them closely and said.
¡°Do you think President Yu Ji-ha will sit still if you demand a renegotiation? He will surely reconsider our rtionship.¡±
¡°Deputy Prime Minister, you don¡¯t know. Korea has so much hatred that their industry won¡¯t work without our raw material exports.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you see for yourself what happened to China, who pressured them with their precious raw materials?¡±
¡°Do you think he will go to war with us? Our nuclear power is different from China¡¯s.¡±
China and Japan must have thought so too.
They were different from Iran or Pakistan.
But Yu Ji-ha made them panic with his bold deration of war and forced them to surrender by deploying his core forces to their capitals.
Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov was not a military expert, but he was skeptical whether he could stop thebat walker units from entering Moscow and St. Petersburg.
But he couldn¡¯t refuse the MPs¡¯ demands in the end.
If he annoyed Borchenko, who was mentioned as a sessor after Putin¡¯s death, he could be kicked out of his deputy prime minister position right away.
His influence in Russia¡¯s politics and economy was not low.
Unfortunately.
¡°¡I¡¯ll discuss the request with the bureaucrats for now.¡±
¡°I hope you notify the Korean side as soon as possible. Estonia must not surrender first.¡±
It was when the deputy prime minister was about to leave the building.
One of his secretaries ran up to him with a tablet in his hand.
¡°I¡¯m sorry to interrupt you. Korea has made a major announcement.¡±
Borchenko MP snickered.
¡°Didn¡¯t they say they were having a parade? Sure, those machines are impressive, but don¡¯t forget that we have over 7,000 nuclear weapons.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not it. They also announced a new supercavity train.¡±
¡°What train?¡±
He snatched the tablet in confusion.
As the MPs watched around him, Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov also peeked his head in.
As the parade was almost over, a train rose into the sky.
¡°They flew tanks, so a light train¡ Wait, there¡¯s no ion thruster underneath this. How did they fly it?¡±
¡°Despite several trains being connected, there was no movement when they soared into the sky. It¡¯s an amazing technology.¡±
As the MPs admired, the train sped through the sky.
When it was revealed that its maximum speed was Mach 10, the MPs around him opened their mouths wide.
¡°What do you call this¡ A miracle?¡±
¡°Doesn¡¯t that trainpletely rece the Siberian railway?¡±
¡°That railway is so outdated¡ It¡¯s hard to repair and it would be much better to introduce this one.¡±
¡°But what¡¯s the principle behind this? It seems like they control gravity with ether fields, but I don¡¯t understand¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s not important.¡±
Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov interrupted their conversation.
¡°Did you hear what President Yu Ji-ha said as he passed by? He said he would renegotiate from scratch.¡±
¡°What negotiation? We just have to introduce it as we have been doing.¡±
¡°Where else do we have a tier 1 partner country besides us? Korea treats us specially¡¡±
One MP couldn¡¯t finish his sentence and mumbled.
He wondered if he could introduce this train if he went into territorial renegotiation.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s remark that he would renegotiate from scratch raised doubts.
Everyone¡¯s eyes turned to Borchenko MP.
¡°Did you contact President Yu Ji-ha?¡±
¡°I suddenly had somethinge up¡¡±
Borchenko MP tried to make an excuse and get away, but Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov¡¯s words stopped him.
¡°Don¡¯t you know him yet, even though you were by his side? He will overturn the ground itself if there is an obstacle in front of him. Why did you provoke him?¡±
Borchenko, flustered, emphasized that the supercavity train had entered Russia¡¯s airspace.
¡°They must not have notified us either. This is a problem.¡±
He couldn¡¯t help but sigh.
Russia was about to lose its partner status, and he was making a fuss about entering the airspace.
One MP heard the details and frowned.
¡°That supercavity train has the same introduction conditions for Korea and the United Human Federation. It means that we have to spend an astronomical budget to rece the entire Siberian railway.¡±
Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov added.
¡°I assure you, this is just the beginning. Do you still think it¡¯s valid to lead a territorial renegotiation with the raw material export issue?¡±
¡°¡¡±
The MPs looked at Borchenko in unison.
His face was stiff with displeasure.
Chapter 144: The Furious Firebears
Chapter 144: The Furious Firebears
The government officials from various countries who saw the first supercavity train at Korea¡¯s military parade were dumbfounded.
They knew that Yu Ji-ha had shown amazing technology before, but they didn¡¯t expect him to announce and demonstrate it at the same time.
It was even more embarrassing because the supercavity train had the power to make most of the transport tforms obsolete.
No noise, low maintenance cost, and a maximum speed of Mach 10? Where did they get the aliens from? Our aliens are not so cool.
¡ªI can understand the speed because of the ion thruster. I can ept the body that can withstand Mach 10 because of the ck metal. But how did they control gravity without an ether core?
¡ªThey only confirmed the possibility of defying gravity, and they made it practical¡ Tell me honestly. Did you develop it in advance and just bring it out?
As always, Yu Ji-ha and Korea did not answer these questions.
They just pushed a choice that was too efficient to refuse.
The leaders of each country called the aviation industry officials to hear their opinions, but no sensible policy came out.
After all, the most important thing was efficiency, and it was impossible to surpass the supercavity train in the first ce.
¡°As announced, it almost¡ no, it overwhelmingly surpasses all existing transport tforms in every aspect. Except for the disadvantage of being dependent on Korea.¡±
¡°The docking station is three-dimensional, so if we demolish the airport, there will be a lot of space left.¡±
¡°If we put aside the performance for now, the key is the fare, but it seems not as high as an airne, though slightly higher than a train.¡±
¡°¡In conclusion, it means the end of the aviation industry at least.¡±
¡°Yes¡ There is no reason not to introduce it.¡±
The only drawback was that the power car was very expensive at $800 million.
This was twice the price of a passenger ne that airlines used a lot, and it was generally believed that it would increase much more if they considered the passenger cars that usually attached to about 20 cars.
But unlike airnes, trains could attach and detach passenger cars, so they were flexible.
Besides, one passenger car could carry 70 people, so it surpassed airnes in terms of transport capacity.
No matter how negatively they thought, there was no reason not to introduce it.
President Yu Ji-ha made this remark surrounded by reporters.
¡°The supercavity train is a tform that can be the foundation of our society, so we will not limit the countries that can introduce it. Except for one country, you can introduce it on the same terms.¡±
That was probably France.
Now that Germany had given up its position as the leader of the EU by half force and half will, France was the country that led the EU in practice.
France had great national power, but its pride was so high that it reached beyond the atmosphere and stretched into space. It refused topromise despite continued boycotts.
When they heard the news of the supercavity train, French broadcasters canceled their scheduled gravity show and also canceled interviews with psychers.
President Marie Le Pen only gave evasive answers to reporters¡¯ persistent questions, and the government remained silent.
Germany next door was busy mocking them.
¡ªIf they hadn¡¯t bragged so much, they would have saved face.
¡ªIt seems their pride has been hurt a lot. Marie Le Pen is going to call in ether international research institute officials and get their resignations.
¡ªIt¡¯s a waste topete with President Yu Ji-ha with pride¡ Well, if you take away pride from French people, only clothes are left.
They understood their pride was high because they had developed nuclear weapons independently despite US interference.
But it was strange that they only insisted on their pride even though their economy had been declining for years due to continued sanctions.
Anyway, except for France, all countries had the same introduction conditions.
Even China and Japan, who had fought a war with Korea, could introduce it as long as they paid money.
China had no interest in it because they were busy with post-war recovery and suppressing protests in Northeast China, but Japan was different.
Except for losing many ships and destroying military facilities, their economy was not much affected.
As soon as they heard about the supercavity train, the whole archipgo was excited.
¡ªIt¡¯s not a maglev train level, but flying in the sky? Don¡¯t you usually call that an airne?
¡ªIt seems that they named it after a train because it looks like one. It seems to run by creating a cavity with an ether field.
¡ªThe altitude is basically about 500 meters and can be adjusted depending on the route. They say you can also run along the sea level. It¡¯s amazing.
¡ªAfter taking a few steps and looking up, there he is far away¡ He¡¯s not even apetitor anymore.
¡ªSeeing that it covers 8,000 kilometers in 40 minutes, the Chuo Shinkansen suddenly became funny.
¡ªThey say they will make a route between Seoul and Terra Ind by May, but isn¡¯t it reckless to do it without proper testing?
¡ªHas Yu Ji-ha ever failed so far? Shut up, you clueless right-wingers. We have to introduce that thing anyway.
¡ªOne power car for $800 million¡ I know he¡¯s amazing, but it¡¯s too expensive.
¡ªt¡¯s not that expensive if you think about the rail and infrastructure costs.
¡ªThat infrastructure cost is reinvested in the whole society. Don¡¯t forget that the money for the supercavity train goes all to Korea.
That was Japan¡¯s biggest concern.
In a situation where they had to pay 100 trillion yen in war reparations for 10 years, the expensive price of the supercavity train was too burdensome.
Also, the fact that they had to bow to Korea after losing all the inds below Kyushu did not suit the taste of the right-wingers, who were the main supporters of the Restoration Party.
They imed that this war was a mistake caused by Japan¡¯s negligence.
¡ªA surprise deration of war and an unlimited guerri war that avoided a frontal confrontation. This can¡¯t be called a war.
¡ªCombat walkers too. If Japan had only three more years, or even two more years, they could have trained an army that could smashbat walkers.
¡ªIf only stupid Matsuda had died sooner, we wouldn¡¯t have lost at least¡
However, this view was only supported by the right-wing faction, not by the whole of Japan.
After the defeat, the runaway military lowered their bodies and the Restoration Party also bowed their heads.
The businessmunity stepped up and shouted loudly to live peacefully.
¡ªLook at that. It would have been enough to be satisfied with giving up Tsushima, but they provoked them unnecessarily and lost Okinawa too.
¡ªIt¡¯s no use hating Korea. They will only give up more territory. Don¡¯t we have to protect Japan as much as possible?
¡ªAs for the supercavity train, the government has no money to pay reparations, so we hope that Gaidanren will take the lead in negotiations.
¡ªI want to put it on the Tokaido Shinkansen first. The demand will be enough, and there will be no problem with promoting the supercavity train.
But there was also a bacsh against putting the supercavity train developed by Korea on the Tokaido line, which was a symbol of Japan¡¯s Shinkansen.
This line included the famous Shinkansen running with Mount Fuji in the background.
Using a Korean-made supercavity train on that picture that symbolized Japan¡¯s high-growth period was no different from admitting defeat.
Also, it was not efficient to put a train with a maximum speed of Mach 10 on the Shinkansen, which made the officials hesitate.
¡ªThere are too many stops, so we have to brake just when we reach the maximum speed. This is not efficient.
¡ªEven Korea is postponing the domestic line, so is it okay to introduce this?
¡ªBut I had a strong desire to see the supercavity train.
¡ªThe idea of a train flying in the sky intrigued me.
¡ª-There was a video of the supercavity train taken during the parade, but there were few people who filmed it for security reasons, so everyone was just imagining it.
¡ªLet¡¯s try to introduce one car as a trial and run it on the sea. If we are confident, it would be better to introduce the docking station as well.
¡ªBut is it certain that Korea exports it?
¡ªThey said that the conditions are the same for all countries, so maybe¡
¡ªThe officials of Gaidanren contacted the Korean government and received a positive answer.
¡ªThere was an order from the top to not impose any restrictions on the supply of supercavity trains.
¡ªThe top meant President Yu Ji-haa.
¡ªGaidanren gained courage and proposed to invite him.
¡ªIf President Yu Ji-haa visits Japan and learns their sincerity, peace will finally be established.
¡ªHow about promoting the restoration of diplomatic rtions this time? He is not anti-Japanese at all.
¡ªLet¡¯s promote the supercavity train as a symbol of friendship between Japan and Korea instead of the undersea tunnel. The tunnel is difficult in reality, but the supercavity train might be possible.
¡ªIt was out of the blue that they wanted to connect the two countries, because it was certain that the Trans-Siberian Railway would be connected to Korea, and Japan wanted to join in.
¡ªIt was the ambition of the Japanese businessmunity to start with restoring diplomatic rtions with Korea and then sign an FTA.
¡ªBut this n had a low possibility of being carried out properly.
¡ªRussia demanded territorial renegotiation from Korea, and Korea announced that it would reconsider its rtions with Russia in response.
¡ªBecause they shot each other directly without diplomatic investigation, even the Russians knew the situation behind the scenes.
¡°Damn it! Don¡¯t you see the rotting Trans-Siberian Railway in your eyes? People are risking their lives to ride the train!¡±
¡°Land? Land is important, of course! But friendship with Korea is more important! Who are these bastards who are trying to harm Russo-Korean rtions?¡±
¡°Borchenko? Wasn¡¯t he a gangster who was nothing but Putin¡¯s minion? It¡¯s intolerable that he acts like he¡¯s president!¡±
¡°Let¡¯s kill Borchenko!¡±
The ferocious Russian bears rose up.
***
Yu Ji-haa was very popr in Russia.
He often visited Russia, but he was also popr because he was a handsome leader of Korea with cutting-edge technology.
He also expressed his affection by often calling Russia a brother country, so he couldn¡¯t be unpopr.
But that rtionship was now in danger of breaking down.
Borchenko, a senator who imed to be Putin¡¯s sessor, brought up territorial renegotiation.
When the reality of thend that Putin gave up was revealed, the Russians were briefly confused.
¡ªIsn¡¯t it too wide? He gave up all that?
¡ªOther ces may not matter, but isn¡¯t it too harsh to give up Pudong Port? Are they giving up on the Pacific?
But most Russians didn¡¯t care about East Siberia, which they would never go to in their lives.
What mattered to them was all kinds of tricks from Yu Ji-haa.
Although those tricks hit realistic limits and didn¡¯t get much benefit, anyway, the rtionship with Korea and Yu Ji-haa was very important.
As soon as Yu Ji-haa disappeared, Russia¡¯s GDP would fall to 10th ce, which was enough to say.
In that situation, Yu Ji-haa¡¯s press conference touched many Russians¡¯ hearts.
¡°I did my best for Russia with my brother¡¯s feelings. I won¡¯t list them here. It¡¯s natural to share with my brother. But Russia didn¡¯t seem to think of me as a brother.¡±
His speech was broadcasted all over Russia.
He spoke in Korean at first and then switched to Russian in thetter part of the press conference, so most Russians understood him.
He was clearly sad.
¡°It must have been some irresponsible politicians who drove a wedge between me and Russia. But I understand. That¡¯s also Russia¡¯s will. I can¡¯t do anything about what the Russians chose. I¡¯m nothing but an eternal outsider, not a brother.¡±
At his words of eternal outsider, people gathered at Pushkin Square in Moscow reddened their eyes.
Some people shouted that they should invite him and clear up the misunderstanding.
¡°An outsider? He even got a Moscow citizenship! He cane to Moscow anytime he wants!¡±
¡°There must be some people who hate himing to Moscow!¡±
¡°Borchenko!¡±
The name of the hateful politician echoed in the square and the Russians began to get heated.
¡°What did Borchenko do for us? He sucked our blood like a vampire!¡±
¡°To make Russia stand up again, we have to kick out the vested interests, including him!¡±
The reason why Russians were living hard today was because of vampires like Borchenko who sucked money from the middle.
They had a bad reputation even during Putin¡¯s rule, and after he died, they openly stuck a straw and sucked money.
The Russians knew that, but they couldn¡¯tin because Putin¡¯s regime was so strong.
He tolerated individuals expressing theirints, but he suppressed them thoroughly when they became organized.
But what about now?
Now that Putin was dead and the political situation was chaotic, the story was different.
That¡¯s how the anti-Borchenko demonstration that started for the first time at Pushkin Square expanded to all over Russia.
There were so many people who watched the broadcast and thought that they were living hard because of Borchenko and his ilk.
¡ªRussia is introducing almost the same technology as Korea. But why is there a fourfold difference in GDP?
¡ªRussia already has two nuclear fusion nts built. But if you look at the electricity bill in Moscow, it¡¯s not much different from Korea. This is tant exploitation and tyranny.
¡ªIt¡¯s all because of oligarchs like Borchenko. They are sucking the blood of Russians from the middle.
¡ªThey are not satisfied with that and try to separate Russia and Korea. Just wait and see. The failure of supercavity train introduction is just the beginning.
¡ªIn the end, Borchenko is the problem.
¡ªLet¡¯s kill Borchenko!
The impatient Russians rose up.
Demonstrations broke out like fire in 70 cities across Russia.
There were too many participants to suppress them with the national police.
The confused Federal Assembly requested the deployment of the National Guard, but Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov refused.
¡°The scale is too big. If we try to suppress it rashly, it will only cause resentment.¡±
¡°Damn it! I should have gotten rid of the vice president first!¡±
Borchenko, who had be the target of hatred, tried to call the head of the National Security Agency, MGB, but themunication was cut off and the order was not delivered.
Meanwhile, the protesters marched to Moscow and finally surrounded the parliament.
¡°We don¡¯t neednd, we need a supercavity train!¡±
¡°Invite Yu Ji-ha! Kill Borchenko, who sucks the blood of Russia!¡±
The atmosphere was so hostile and the number of people was sorge that the national police only yed the role of bystanders.
It was fine until then.
The protesters didn¡¯t get into the parliament.
Borchenko was surrounded by his cronies and the Russian army was intact.
He thought it was wrong to move Mikhailov, the vice president, and if he persuaded Dmitri, it wouldn¡¯t be hard to mobilize troops.
But themunication didn¡¯t work.
Borchenko pped the satellite phone that his secretary brought him.
¡°How can satellitemunication be blocked? Whose prank is this?¡±
¡°I-I don¡¯t know! The Aerospace Command says they don¡¯t know why either!¡±
¡°¡¡±
Could it be Yu Ji-ha¡¯s prank?
Borchenko knew well about the world situation as he was Putin¡¯s aide.
He remembered the report from the National Security Agency that there weremunication problems every time Korea intervened.
Of course he didn¡¯t believe itpletely, but he couldn¡¯t help being suspicious.
At such an important time?
While he was trapped in the parliament and flustered, the protesters¡¯ actions became more violent.
They threw all kinds of equipment and even stones, and there was no ss left in the parliament windows.
He couldn¡¯t guarantee his life if this went on.
Borchenko clenched his teeth and waited for themunication to resume.
Fortunately, it wasn¡¯t long before he connected with Dmitri, who was in charge of the Western Military District near St. Petersburg.
¡°You seem to be in a lot of trouble.¡±
¡°Help me out, minister.¡±
¡°Haha¡ What do I get if I help you?¡±
¡°¡Do you want the president¡¯s seat?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s take a look at the previous president¡¯s case for a moment. I¡¯ll take office as president first. You take responsibility as prime minister.¡±
¡°What then?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll switch positions. We have nothing to fear if we join hands.¡±
Both of them were rated as inadequate to follow Putin¡¯s footsteps, but it wasn¡¯t too hard to seize power if they joined hands.
Borchenko didn¡¯t like Dmitri bing president first.
He was afraid of how he would turn out once he had power.
¡®But I have no choice if I want to suppress this riot¡¡¯
The angry shouts of the protesters echoed in the parliament building, making him seriously worry about his life.
ording to the news, even some of the national police joined the protesters.
They were Russians too.
Borchenko looked down from the window and flinched when he saw a stone flying up to the floor below.
¡°Damn it! Fine. You take office as president first. I¡¯ll take office as prime minister.¡±
¡°Excellent choice. Then I¡¯ll deploy some of the guard tank troops¡¡±
Then suddenly a loud noise rang out from the other end of the phone.
Borchenko was about to ask what was going on when themunication waspletely cut off.
¡°What¡¯s going on? Is it anothermunication jamming?¡±
But it wasn¡¯t, since his aides could contact him.
One of them came up and said.
¡°Sir, war has broken out.¡±
¡°War? What war?¡±
¡°It looks like an artillery brigade from the Western Military District fired at the Estonian border.¡±
¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡±
Didn¡¯t they just say to create a war atmosphere?
Of course, Dmitri must have thought that he needed to achieve Estonia¡¯s merger to be president.
But why would he suddenly mobilize troops when he said he would help him?
They only drooled over what they could get out of Russia, but they didn¡¯t have a speck of dust in their eyes to restore the glory of the old Soviet Union.
Borchenko twisted his body with dizziness as he looked at the Estonian troop deployment status that his aide brought him.
NATO troops were heavily deployed on the border line for US troops.
¡°Contact them right now and tell them to stop! We can¡¯t sh with NATO now!¡±
¡°You¡¯re wrong! NATO artillery forces have started counter-fire!¡±
¡°This damn bastard!¡±
He didn¡¯t know how much shelling it was, but at this point he couldn¡¯t exin it as a misunderstanding to America.
Borchenko wandered around the hallway and remembered a simr case in East Asia.
¡°It must have started like this in the Second Korean War¡¡±
The outbreak of war following an unknown North Korean artillery movement.
At the time, he thought some of the North Korean troops had gone crazy, but the UN¡¯s post-war investigation revealed that it wasn¡¯t.
The truth was far away, but the intelligence agencies of various countries pointed out that Yu Ji-ha had been in the Blue House bunker since then.
They began to doubt that he pulled the trigger of the war.
What about this time?
The face of a man appeared in Borchenko¡¯s mind.
He was smiling.
Chapter 145: No Relation
Chapter 145: No Rtion
The annexation of Ukraine by Russia after its attack shocked the whole of Europe.
Ukraine was not a military superpower, but it had its own strength by introducing American weapons to the legacy of the Soviet Union.
It was notparable to Russia, but it was expected to hold on with the support of the United States.
However, Russia dominated the urban warfare with drones andunched a tank battle with ck metal bullets, overwhelming the Ukrainian army.
The air force power was needless to say, and the navy lost all its offensive capabilities in a single battle near Odessa.
It was literally stripped by Russia.
The United States should have supported it, but it was surprisingly passive.
At that time, President McKinley protested diplomatically, but it did not work at all.
As Ukraine was annexed by Russia, the European countries felt a significant threat.
¡ªRecently, Russia has been very active in the Baltic Sea. Estonia will be next after Ukraine.
¡ªDo you think Russia will be satisfied with Estonia? After swallowing Eastern Europe, it will be Pnd.
Pnd boosted its defense budget and revived its economy in response to this situation.
The United States also invested heavily in NATO and deployed in Central Europe, unable to tolerate the humiliating criticism of being a scarecrow.
France and Germany secretly supported Pnd, of course.
As Europe prepared for a sh with Russia, an analysis came out that the economy of Western Europe would copse if a war broke out.
¡ªNatural gas canst for a few years with the imports from Azerbaijan. ck metal is of low quality, but we can supply it ourselves. But we can¡¯t get unoptium.
¡ªThe Eur project is underway, but the ion thruster efficiency is low. We can build a lunar base, but it will require a huge amount of funds.
¡ªEven if we get unoptium that way, we have to pay at least 15 times more than the Russian supply.
The cheapest way would be to get it through Korea, but that was the problem.
As long as the EU does not copse, there will be no chance of improving rtions with Korea.
Anyway, unoptium was widely used in various fields as well as for research purposes because of its practicality as a high-temperature superconductor.
Europe would be in trouble if its rtions with Russia turned sour in this situation.
But Western Europe led by France insisted that they could no longer tolerate Russia¡¯s advance.
They set a kind of deadline.
¡ªEstonia is a NATO member. If we let Russia invade Estonia, NATO has no reason to exist.
The United States also sympathized with this situation and did not intervene directly, but paid close attention to Estonia by sending military advisers and supplies.
Thus, as of 2032, the border between Estonia and Russia was engulfed in considerable tension.
Several reconnaissance nes flew every day, and when night fell, anti-tank barriers were erected along with barbed wire zones.
Then President Putin died and the tension eased considerably.
It was hard to imagine that Russia without a leader would invade Estonia.
Minister Dmitry, who had arge part of the military power, was known as a fool who could not distinguish between bloodthirsty and rationality, but he also knew that this was not the time to wage war.
The US Intelligence Agency sent this report to President Baldwin.
¡ªDmitry wants to achieve something in Estonia, but he does not want a sh with NATO. He is likely to provoke moderately and inte his achievements and enter Moscow.
¡ªBorchenko is also unlikely to make any meaningful provocation at this point. We need to support Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov to take over the regime.
The United States chose Mikhailov because he was moderate and not hostile to the West.
They judged that they could bring democracy to Russia, but surprisingly he did not respond to the US¡¯s secret offer.
He might have his own n, but anyway the US failed to put a leash on Russia.
That¡¯s how the border between Russia and Estonia was in a situation where both sides deployed troops and reassured themselves that there would be no war.
Then a battle broke out.
A surprise artillery barrage wasunched from an artillery brigade belonging to the Western Military District of Russia toward the Estonian border.
As the coordinates were predetermined, the shelling fell very urately on the French army unit belonging to NATO forces.
The French army, who did not expect the Russian army to attack, panicked.
¡°Russia attacked!¡±
¡°It¡¯s war! Report to the Allied Command!¡±
The artillery fire started immediately and both sides exchanged fire.
In this battle that took ce north of Paphos Lake, both sides lost a lot of artillery power.
Minister Dmitry received a report that his side started shelling and raged in front of his subordinates.
¡°Who the hell did it!¡±
¡°It was confirmed that it was the 79th Artillery Brigade. Themander is General Bulkov!¡±
¡°Contact him right away!¡±
¡°It seems that he was killed by the artillery fire!¡±
Dmitry was shaking with rage.
¡°Damn it¡¡±
If he had been calm, he might have remembered the report from the Second Korean War.
But he was too hot-tempered and in a hurry to think clearly.
He called his staff and discussed the countermeasures, but no clear n emerged.
¡°We can¡¯t pretend it was a mistake after we attacked first.¡±
¡°Maybe we should just ignore it and push the border line¡¡±
¡°Do you want to go to war with the US?¡±
He asked, and his staff persuaded him that a little achievement would suffice.
¡°The US troops are stationed in Pnd, so they won¡¯t intervene right away.¡±
¡°We¡¯re up against the French army of NATO, which is small and easy to push back.¡±
¡°The Guard Tank Corps can reach the capital of Estonia in two days. We won¡¯t be able to upy itpletely, but you can return to Moscow with that achievement.¡±
The sweet temptation of capturing the capital plunged Dmitry into agony.
There was a way to stop the war, actually.
He could contact the EU or the US directly and admit and apologize for themander¡¯s unteral action.
But in that case, he would have to make a lot of concessions, and his position would be shaken by the Western propaganda.
¡®Borchenko might be president¡¡¯
He had to stop the guy who was doing nothing in the capital from gaining power.
He decided to go to war.
¡°Tell all the units of the Western Military District. We are attacking Estonia from now on. The goal is to capture the capital Tallinn in the shortest time.¡±
Didn¡¯t Korea¡¯s 7th Corps capture Beijing in no time during the East Asian War?
Although Russia didn¡¯t have a corps like that, they had enough power to deal with the French detachment and the Estonian army.
As Dmitry gave the order, the entire Western Military District began to move.
To prevent esction, the air force was only deployed limitedly and the navy was not mobilized.
The US navy ships were in the vicinity of Helsinki in the north.
They had to get results quickly and negotiate a ceasefire with NATO and the US.
Following his order, the Guard Tank Corps, which took the lead, started to push and enter the border with Estonia.
This unit had considerable power, equipped with ck metal armor and bullets, drones, and an integrated battlefield system.
To be honest, there was no unit in Europe that could withstand the impact of the Guard Tank Corps.
As dozens of Armata tanks trampled on and entered the border line, the French army and Estonian defense forces retreated slowly while responding.
That¡¯s how the ground war between Russia and NATO began.
There was no way to stop the war now.
***
When President Baldwin of the US heard that the Russian army had finally stepped on the border line, he immediately picked up the phone on his desk.
¡°Connect me to Korea.¡±
After a while, he heard President Yu Ji-ha¡¯s familiar voice.
¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±
Pretending not to know¡
President Baldwin skipped the greetings and asked.
¡°Do you have anything to do with this war?¡±
¡°You must have heard some reports that I¡¯m involved. You can think whatever you want.¡±
¡°How can you say that so lightly when there might be a Third World War?¡±
¡°You must have already made up your mind. Just judge as you please. You won¡¯t listen to me anyway.¡±
Was this dismissive attitude a proof that he had nothing to do with it?
In fact, the Intelligence Agency had pointed out Yu Ji-ha as behind-the-scenes because the surprise shelling by the Russian army was too simr to what happened during the Second Korean War.
He didn¡¯t know how he did it, but he mentioned the possibility that he instigated the war.
But looking at this reaction, it seemed that Yu Ji-ha had nothing to do with it.
If it had been usual, he would have tried to hide his tail and negotiate¡
¡°I just doubted if there was someone behind this because of Russia¡¯s sudden movement.¡±
¡°Why would I want Russia¡¯s war? If this goes on, I¡¯ll end up being pushed by NATO and having a humiliating ceasefire.¡±
Well, that¡¯s true¡
The Russian army was on a roll, but as soon as Pnd joined in, their advance speed would slow down gradually.
Dmitry¡¯s goal was to capture Estonia¡¯s capital somehow, but honestly it was impossible.
In the end, the Russian army would have to retreat, and the border line would be restored.
What benefit could Yu Ji-ha and Korea get from this process?
¡®At best, weapon promotion through Russia¡¡¯
Korea¡¯s weapon system had already appealed enough during the East Asian War, so there was no need for more.
The demand was so high that they had to postpone contracts. Why did they need additional promotion?
¡®It seems like he has nothing to do with it this time.¡¯
President Baldwin made this judgment because the situation in Russia wasplicated.
After President Putin¡¯s death, the Western attention was all focused on Dmitry.
Borchenko received less attention, and Mikhailov, the economic prime minister, was considered a washed-up person, so they didn¡¯t track him closely.
That¡¯s why they didn¡¯t know that Borchenko was threatened with his life by the protests that were happening all over Russia.
He was in charge of various intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency, so he thought he would be hiding somewhere safe.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s n was to kill Borchenko and Dmitry through this war.
Assassination was the easiest, but if he used that method, he would be used of everything.
The best thing was to politically discredit Dmitry and let Borchenko die in the hands of Moscow citizens.
And then he would make Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov president and expand his influence.
The invasion of Estonia was just a part of that scenario.
¡°It seems like you really have nothing to do with it. We must have been wrong.¡±
¡°I want peace too.¡±
Did President Yu Ji-ha want peace?
Well, the devil of hell is fickle.
¡°Then can you mediate after this battle is over? France will refuse Russia.¡±
¡°That won¡¯t be a problem.¡±
As the mood eased, President Baldwin showed a deep interest in the supercavity train.
It was something that could potentially destroy his country¡¯s aviation industry.
He had no argument against its efficiency, but he honestly wanted to dy its introduction as much as possible.
He warned Yu Ji-ha.
¡°You can¡¯t dy the introduction once you¡¯ve announced it. People want efficiency. Do you want to spend nearly seven hours to go to London, Mr. President? Or do you want to leave at night and see the sunset at London airport?¡±
It was a phenomenon that urred because the speed of the supercavity train was much faster than the earth¡¯s rotation.
President Baldwin was speechless and ended the call.
The real crisis for the US might not be the war, but the transportation revolution brought by the supercavity train.
That was unless Russia waged a full-scale nuclear war.
He contacted Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov while discussing countermeasures with his staff.
****
¡°You should be president after the war is over, Mr. Deputy Prime Minister.¡±
Mikhailov realized from that remark that Yu Ji-ha had nned this situation.
¡°You said you needed time, but you stepped in. Was the surprise attack by the artillery brigade also your will, Mr. President?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t have that much influence. I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll believe me.¡±
He was doubtful, but Mikhailov had no choice but to trust Yu Ji-ha.
He was old and had tried to resign from his deputy prime minister position with Putin¡¯s permission.
He took over the administration after the president¡¯s sudden death and the prime minister¡¯s absence, but his shoulders were heavy.
¡°There are nationwide protests and a war has broken out. If we make a mistake, Russia might split in two.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll stop it, so don¡¯t worry.¡±
Mikhailov finally rxed.
Why did he trust a foreign politician like Yu Ji-ha?
It was probably because of the trust that Putin had shown him before his death.
He trusted his word to give himnd and transferred all kinds of technology and concepts to Russia without hesitation.
It wasn¡¯t free, but no other country received as much benefit as Russia did.
Even the US, which had been an ally at one point, was not on par with Russia.
Although the atmosphere was a bit tense after Borchenko¡¯s instation following Putin¡¯s death, his rtionship with Russia was still strong.
It could be seen from the citizens surrounding the Moscow Senate.
There were even slogans that he should be president.
It was an impossible demand, but it showed the desire of the Russians.
Yu Ji-ha asked cautiously.
¡°By the way, what about the nuclear briefcase? I heard that the prime minister and the defense minister jointly manage it when the president is absent.¡±
¡°There is one in the safe of the Kremlin office and one in the defense ministry. The two nuclear briefcases have to exchange codes for an order to be issued.¡±
¡°So you have the code for the office one.¡±
¡°Yes¡ As you know, Minister Dmitry has the code for the defense ministry one.¡±
This prevented a full-scale nuclear war.
Yu Ji-ha told him his n after hearing Arma¡¯s report.
¡°I need to protect your safety, so I¡¯ll send you some androids. They¡¯re not Lucia models, butbat ones, so they¡¯ll be helpful.¡±
¡°Haha, even special forces won¡¯t be able to approach them.¡±
¡°You have to secure the administration in any situation. I¡¯ll take care of Borchenko and Dmitry.¡±
¡°Can I ask how you¡¯re going to do that?¡±
¡°Borchenko will die by the hands of the people, and Dmitry will be disgraced. And for a while, you¡¯ll lead the regime.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t have the ability to lead this huge country¡¡±
¡°I¡¯ll help you, so don¡¯t worry.¡±
So he meant to manipte him from behind?
It was a sinister n to use his influence to gradually devour Russia after resolving the situation.
He was speechless, but he had no other choice.
Yu Ji-ha, a foreigner, was much better than idiots like Borchenko and Dmitry.
He would make Russia stronger.
Mikhailov asked in a trembling voice.
¡°Please promise me one thing. Don¡¯t neglect Russia.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll be ruling, so I don¡¯t think I can promise that. Anyway, there will be no discrimination. We are one.¡±
Race or nationality meant nothing to Yu Ji-ha.
The important thing was securing a pool of talent to create psychers.
Russia was not as good as Korea, but it produced psychers almost as much as Tajiks did.
Also, its vastnd would help build various facilities for the United Human Federation in the future.
Mikhailov finally felt relieved.
¡°Then I¡¯ll trust you and endure.¡±
¡°The war will end soon.¡±
Even though Russia and NATO were shing, it somehow felt like that was true.
***
The news of the war spread to the people through the Russian media.
Many Russians cheered instead of being intimidated.
It was an opportunity to finish off the hated Borchenko.
The eyes of all kinds of special forces and intelligence agencies would be on him, so his margin of error would not widen.
The excited Moscow protesters began to push into the parliament building.
¡°Find Borchenko!¡±
¡°Kill him! Kill him!¡±
In fact, Borchenko was not the only one who was threatened with his life.
All the vampires who were Putin¡¯s cronies and sucked the blood of the Russians were the targets of the purge.
The former special forces they hired were useless in front of the angry bears.
Violence broke out everywhere and many Russians joined in.
At this point, it couldn¡¯t be called a simple riot.
It was a collective rage of the Russian people who had lived a miserable life.
Borchenko noticed this madness early, but he had no way out except for the sky.
¡°Helicopter, hurry up and get a helicopter! Why are you so slow!¡±
He should have changed to a model with an ion thruster sooner.
As he shivered with his secretaries, the Moscow citizens climbed up the stairs without hesitation.
The guards loaded their guns with serious faces, but it was uncertain how long they wouldst.
Then a secretary received a report and said in a despairing voice.
¡°Th-the helicopter crashed!¡±
Borchenko¡¯s expression twisted.
¡°What? Who did it? Was it Mikhailov?¡±
¡°We don¡¯t know. We¡¯re preparing another helicopter, but time is¡¡±
¡°Those bastards!¡±
He didn¡¯t know who he was cursing at.
Soon, the angry protesters climbed up the stairs and overwhelmed the guards and secretaries.
Borchenko tried to escape with his bulky body, but someone pointed at his back with a finger.
¡°There he is!¡±
A momentter, a man fell from the parliament building andnded on the roof of a car.
Chapter 146: The Mediator
Chapter 146: The Mediator
The sh between the Russian army and the NATO forces seemed to be one-sided.
It was because the French army, the main force of NATO, adopted a flexible defense strategy to absorb the shock of the Russian army.
It sounded grandiose, but the gist was to retreat their troops slowly and respond ording to the situation.
It was a strategy that they could adopt because time was on NATO¡¯s side, and the Russian army advanced to the capital of Estonia, ignoring all other factors.
In this process, the Estonian army¡¯s troops were surprisingly useless.
Even if they mobilized all their troops, they were no match for a single Russian division.
Naturally, the US army took the lead in the overall situation and they wanted the French army to retreat to the vicinity of the Estonian capital.
They knew well that the Russian army had no choice but to stop.
¡ªI don¡¯t know why they attacked by surprise, but it¡¯s clear that Dmitry didn¡¯t intend this. The Russian army¡¯s movements are not coordinated.
¡ªOnly the Guards Tank Army is protruding, and it seems like they are trying to replicate the case of the Korean 7th Division capturing Beijing.
¡ªWhen they reach the end of their offensive, the French army will turn around andunch a counterattack. They can rout the Russian army.
The US observation that the Russian army was impatient was urate.
The Guards Tank Army was busy advancing without even forming a proper formation for each unit.
For the first few hours, it seemed to work well.
NATO only retreated and did not intervene with their air power.
But when an urgent report came from their homnd, Minister Dmitry was shocked.
¡°What? Borchenko is dead?¡±
¡°Yes! The mob threw him from the top floor of the parliament! He was taken to a nearby hospital, but he was already dead¡¡±
¡°¡¡±
The chaos in Moscow seemed much worse than he had heard.
Probably, Saint Petersburg and Novosibirsk were the same.
Minister Dmitry pushed away his aides and pondered.
He didn¡¯t care that his rival Borchenko was dead, but it would be troublesome if his death tilted the bnce of power further.
Someone could seize control of the executive branch while Mihailov was absent.
¡®I have to return to Moscow right away¡¡¯
At this point, entering Moscow was more important than anything else.
Whoever settled the chaos in Moscow would hold Russia¡¯s power in the future.
¡®I can do it. No, I have to do it.¡¯
The problem was that it was not easy to retreat after entering deep into Estonian territory.
The rest of the troops were also advancing at this point, so there was not enough time to pull back all the troops.
Minister Dmitry wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead.
He had already decided what to choose between the Western Military District and Moscow.
The former could be rebuilt anytime, but thetter would be over once he lost it.
Whoever seized power would not leave him alone.
¡®If I return to Moscow right now, I can seize power.¡¯
Deputy Prime Minister Mihailov was a hopeless old man, so he would give up Kremlin if he threatened him with his troops.
Not to mention other bureaucrats or heads of intelligence agencies.
He decided to abandon the Western Military District and called his closest aide and themander of the Spetsnaz Brigade.
¡°Prepare a team of elite soldiers as secretly as possible. We¡¯re going back to Moscow.¡±
¡°Yes? What about the troops advancing to Tallinn?¡±
¡°That¡¯s not important right now. Borchenko is dead. We have to enter Moscow as soon as possible and take over Kremlin.¡±
The expressions of his aides changed.
Of course, there must have been a calction that suppressing Moscow¡¯s chaos would help him gain powerter.
But he was the one who pushed the Western Military District into war.
What would happen if he deserted like a frontlinemander?
¡°Minister, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good idea¡¡±
Themander of the Western Military District, who was like his right arm, stepped forward, but Minister Dmitry cut him off with a determined voice.
¡°Shut up and get ready. We have to go into Moscow right now. We don¡¯t have time.¡±
The soldiers on the front line were not important.
He snapped back with a lump in his throat.
What could he do?
He made a wrong choice by following this bastard.
The Spetsnaz agents escorted the headquarters officers and rumors spread in no time.
¡ªThe headquarters has withdrawn!
¡ªWhere? The whole Western Military District is about to advance! Connect me to them!
Of course, there was no connection.
As soon as Minister Dmitry and a few officers who followed him retreated to Moscow, the remaining troops were confused.
¡ªThe headquarters gave up the war!
¡ªDmitry betrayed and abandoned us!
The rumors spread to the entire unit in no time, and even the Guards Tank Army, which was advancing in a frenzy, stopped.
¡ªWhat do we do now?
¡ªHeadquarters! Answer me! Headquarters!
NATO captured the troops that stopped in the middle of Estonian territory.
They had retreated well and preserved their troops rtively well, and they did not miss this opportunity.
When the jointmand ordered a turnaround, the French army and the troops that joined from Pnd pushed back the Guards Tank Army.
No matter how strong their power was, they were powerless without propermand.
The Guards Tank Army, who could not find a reason to fight, failed to counterattack and fled.
As tens of thousands of troops copsed like that, the fieldmanders cursed Dmitry.
¡°This pig bastard abandoned us and ran away to Moscow!¡±
¡°Dmitry! You¡¯ll be the first to die!¡±
The Russian generals had sworn allegiance to President Putin, not Dmitry.
It was understandable that the defense minister would have the military power after the president¡¯s death, but they never thought he would discard his loyalty and run away.
As the furiousmanders rallied their troops and advanced to Moscow, the western part of Russia became a mess.
The reports and cries of countless government agencies andbat units were mixed and chaotic.
There seemed to be no one to settle this confusion.
And while the French army dispatched to Estonia was fighting with the jointmand over whether to advance to Russian territory or not.
He called the United Human Federation troops that he maintained to Moscow.
¡°Dmitry ran away too quickly. I have no choice but to mediate by force.¡±
Of course, he intended to get a hefty reward for mediation.
The drone ship loaded with Caliber drones andbat walkers left the base on Terra Ind and flew in the sky.
***
The troops who followed Dmitry entered Moscow.
They hurried back and left most of their troops behind, but they didn¡¯t care.
They thought it was important to enter Moscow and take over Kremlin.
Sure enough, Moscow was in chaos due to the war news and riots.
¡°Damn! It reminds me of the August coup!¡±
Dmitry called the head of the National Security Agency, who was Borchenko¡¯s subordinate who died, but his response was not satisfactory.
¡°I heard you were on the front line¡¡±
¡°Moscow is more important than Estonia! If you help me this time, I¡¯ll reward you!¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, but the National Security Agency only follows the deputy prime minister¡¯s orders.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you know who I am?¡±
Dmitry shook his body and got angry, but he calmly retorted.
¡°The deputy prime minister has the authority. If you want to order us, you have to rule Kremlin.¡±
His eyes shed.
Yes, Kremlin was important.
It was the center of Moscow and the symbol of Mother Russia itself.
If he ruled there, he could issue orders to numerous government agencies andbat units.
He drove through the chaotic streets of Moscow with his subordinates in an armored car.
As they entered the radial central area of Moscow, a heavily armed unit blocked them with a barricade.
¡°Stop! No one can pass!¡±
¡°I¡¯m the defense minister! Remove the barricade immediately!¡±
¡°We are following the deputy prime minister¡¯s orders! Stand back!¡±
Surprisingly, they were the National Guard, who could be called the president¡¯s personal guard.
It was not strange that they weremanded by the deputy prime minister who had direct authority from the president, but Dmitry had doubts.
¡®That indecisive old man wouldn¡¯t give such an order!¡¯
Mihailov was nothing but a politician of an old era who should have retired with Putin¡¯s death.
He shouldn¡¯t block him like this.
Dmitry threatened themander of the National Guard, but he didn¡¯t budge.
¡°We¡¯ll let you in if you get permission.¡±
¡°Damn! Do you think I can¡¯t do it?¡±
He immediately contacted Mihailov¡¯s secretary¡¯s office.
Moscow was under severe radio interference by someone¡¯s doing, so it was not easy to contact them.
After several attempts of connection failures, he finally got through.
¡°Deputy Prime Minister, this is urgent. Please let me into Kremlin.¡±
¡°Why are you in Moscow when you should bemanding the Western Military District at the border?¡±
¡°The important thing now is not Estonia but settling Moscow¡¯s chaos!¡±
¡°I can¡¯t entrust that to a traitor.¡±
¡°Traitor? Don¡¯t talk nonsense.¡±
Dmitry had to lower his voice enough so that the National Guard soldiers wouldn¡¯t hear him.
Heughed at him.
¡°You suddenly got greedy for power after Borchenko died? I¡¯m sorry. Your betrayal is already known not only to Moscow citizens but also to the entire army. No one wees you.¡±
¡°Mihailov! It¡¯s not toote now!¡±
¡°It¡¯s toote. Look at the sky.¡±
The sky?
He looked up and saw something.
It was a ship.
A flounder-shaped ship floating in the sky.
These days, tanks and trains fly in the sky, so it wasn¡¯t a big deal to see a ship flying, but seeing it in reality was a different story.
¡°A ship flies in the sky¡¡±
As the soldiers murmured, Dmitry wondered not about the existence of the ship, but why it was here.
¡°Is it from Earth Fleet¡?¡±
Earth Fleet was the only fleet of the United Human Federation and was known to be stationed on Terra Ind in the Pacific Ocean.
There was no reason for it to be in the sky above Moscow.
The aides were shocked by the ship flying in the sky and murmured.
¡°Isn¡¯t that the drone ship thatunched drones in the Indian Ocean battle?¡±
¡°Did the United Human Federation intervene in this situation?¡±
Someone¡¯s face shed in Dmitry¡¯s mind.
¡®Did he intervene in this situation with resentment for Borchenko¡¯s demand for territorial renegotiation? Then things might be easier than expected.¡¯
If he made the renegotiation a non-issue, he could be on his side.
Mihailov might have made the same proposal, but he would trust his promise more than that indecisive person.
It wouldn¡¯t be hard for him to gain power if he brought in Yu Ji-ha, who had the absolute support of Russians in this chaotic situation.
But he had no way to contact him.
¡°Find a way to contact the Korean president as soon as possible! Hurry!¡±
As he urged his aides, something strange happened in the sky.
The flounder-shaped ship transformed here and there and suddenly started spewing out drones.
It was Caliber drones, unmanned fighters unique to Earth Fleet.
As if it had been agreed upon beforehand, Moscow¡¯s air defensework was silent and even containers began to be ejected.
The ck metal containers quickly transformed in mid-air and dropped something.
Thud, thud!
Dozens of robots appeared as the asphalt cracked.
They werebat walkers, which had gained a great reputation in the East Asian War.
The soldiers who knew well what kind of mess they had made in Japan were thoughtful.
Japan had not been rearming for long and had a weak army, but they still had more than 150,000 troops.
The fact that they were humiliated meant that it was difficult for Russia to handle.
Especially now that they had entered Moscow without any resistance!
Dmitry swallowed dry saliva and approached one of them.
¡°Hey, hey, you¡¯re an AI, right? Can you connect me to your owner? President Yu Ji-ha, I mean.¡±
One of thebat walkers slowly turned its head and its eye camera, which had been green until then, turned red.
The soldiers grabbed their guns in surprise and a voice came out of thebat walker.
¡°As a coborator of Deputy Prime Minister Mihailov, Minister Dmitry, I arrest you.¡±
¡°What? Me? By what right?¡±
¡°By the right of all Russian people who have been betrayed. You abandoned the entire Western Military District. They are being hunted by NATO without amander.¡±
The voice of thebat walker made the soldiers of the National Guard frown.
They wondered why the minister who should have been at the Western Military District headquarters came to Moscow¡
Minister Dmitry desperately denied and backed away.
¡°Do you believe what this tin can says? My retreat was part of the operational n!¡±
Then thebat walker yed themunication content of the Russian army that it had eavesdropped on.
¡°This pig bastard abandoned us and ran away to Moscow!¡±
¡°Dmitry! You¡¯ll be the first to die!¡±
As vulgar curses popped out, Dmitry lowered his head but could not stop the soldiers¡¯ eyes from changing.
¡°No, no, it¡¯s synthesized. It¡¯s easy to synthesize voices in a world where ships fly in the sky. National Guard! Let me in! I¡¯ll exin everything after I enter Kremlin!¡±
Then thebat walker persuaded themander.
¡°I am President Yu Ji-ha of Korea. I received a request from Deputy Prime Minister Mihailov to arrest Dmitry. If you trust me, please step back.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s name was not only familiar but also trustworthy to most Russians.
Although he was a foreign politician, there was no reason not to intervene if he received a request from Deputy Prime Minister Mihailov.
Themander made a stern face and signaled his subordinates with his eyes.
The National Guard soldiers stepped back behind the barricade and Dmitry gritted his teeth.
¡°Why are Russians listening to Koreans? You are all traitors who will be shot!¡±
Dozens ofbat walkers raised their railguns attached to their dark units.
The Spetsnaz soldiers hesitated at the railguns that boasted enough power to prate even the frontal armor of tanks.
A reliable Russian voice came out of thebat walker.
¡°I will arrest Dmitry and help Deputy Prime Minister Mihailov end this chaos. I promise.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Except for his closest aides, the troops exchanged nces and slowly backed away.
Now Dmitry lost all hope and slumped his shoulders.
¡°When did foreigners start meddling in Russia¡? This is interference in internal affairs¡¡±
¡°Minister Dmitry, I arrest you.¡±
That was the end.
One of thebat walkers transformed its body andpletely captured Dmitry.
Thebat walker unit, including him, immediately activated their ion thrusters and returned to the drone ship.
The drone ship slowly settled in the sky above Kremlin.
***
¡°Now they¡¯re operating an air carrier outright.¡±
President Baldwinughed bitterly after seeing the photos and videos circting on SNS.
He knew well the ship floating in the sky above Kremlin.
It was a warship belonging to Earth Fleet, which had carried drones andbat walkers and performed well in the Indian Ocean battle and the East Asian War.
At the time, the US did not pay much attention to that ship, because they considered it a mere transport vessel.
It only carried drones, so it was less noticeable than a railgun battleship or a firepower ship.
¡°But I didn¡¯t know it could fly in the sky.¡±
Judging by theck of ion thrusters on the bottom, it seemed to use an Aether field.
Was it a recent modification, or had it been there since the ship was built?
If thetter was true, then it meant that Earth Fleet could use ether fields even before it appeared.
¡®Maybe he nned all this right after he woke up from hisa.¡¯
Or was it all a coincidence?
President Baldwin looked at the ship in the sky above the Kremlin.
The ship itself was not a big problem.
The civilians were amazed that the ship could fly, but its usefulness was rather vague.
It was nothing but arge target in the sky with that size.
It must have been fast with ion thrusters, but recently several military powers had seeded in deploying hypersonic anti-air missiles.
These missiles were developed for intercepting high-altitude ballistic missiles, so they had a range of hundreds of kilometers and a very high speed.
The US military had tested them with their own iron beam and concluded that they were hard to stop.
Of course, the iron beam of the United Human Federation might have different performance, but they probably had not solved the fundamental problem of power shortage.
That meant that the ship could not use the iron beam while moving.
¡®It¡¯s only natural that there is a limit to the power it can use if it doesn¡¯t have a nuclear fusion reactor.¡¯
But President Yu Ji-ha seemed proud to show off that ship, so he might have solved that problem too.
Earth Fleet had revealed its weakness of being vulnerable to missile attacks in the Indian Ocean, and Japan¡¯s navy had taken advantage of that.
In other words, the weaknesses that the aides reported might have been just baits from Yu Ji-ha.
President Baldwin muttered as he rewound the video.
¡°Looking at the development speed, they might be making an aerial carrier by now.¡±
The ship was too small to be called an aerial carrier by its size.
In a few months, a monster that would make his mouth drop might appear.
He wondered if his real goal was world domination at this point.
¡®Maybe I should do something before that happens¡¡¯
Baldwin was an istionist and had agreed to cooperate with him, but he could not just watch someone who could threaten America¡¯s hegemony.
America had maintained its position as a superpower for almost 100 years, but it had been shaken severely recently.
It was unbelievable that it was caused by one person¡¯s changes in a few years.
¡®Let¡¯s see how he handles this situation first.¡¯
He had intervened at the request of Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov, but President Baldwin did not believe that.
It would be good for America if he helped the deputy prime minister and withdrew cleanly, but Yu Ji-ha was not that kind of person.
As he was deep in thought, his security aide Gere came in.
¡°Mr. President, Korea has requested to stop the war in Eastern Europe.¡±
¡°Really? What happened to Dmitry?¡±
¡°He was arrested with the cooperation of Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov.¡±
¡°Cooperation? He must have sent androids from that ship to capture him. How dare he conduct a military operation in another country. He¡¯s too arrogant.¡±
¡°France is insisting that we should push into Russian territory as it is. What should we do?¡±
¡°A wounded bear is still a bear. If we go in rashly, we might face retaliation. Tell them it¡¯s impossible.¡±
France¡¯s pride would be hurt, but NATO¡¯smand was America¡¯s responsibility.
¡°And about mediation¡¡±
President Baldwin looked out the window for a moment and said,
¡°If he wants mediation, tell him toe forward himself. Then we¡¯ll ept it.¡±
Since Russia was the aggressor, they had to make a big concession for this matter.
But he had no idea what he could get from him.
He got up.
¡°He must be in Moscow by now. Tell him to meet me in Brussels.¡±
NATO headquarters and EU headquarters were both located in Brussels.
It seemed like Europe would be noisy for a while.
Chapter 147: A New Tsar
Chapter 147: A New Tsar
The riots across Russia had subsided.
It was reported that it was due to the appeal of Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov, but in fact, it was because Yu Ji-ha had arrived in Moscow.
He shook hands and greeted the people who cheered for him.
¡°Dear citizens of Moscow. The blood-sucking vampire Borchenko is dead and the traitor Dmitry is arrested. There is nothing to oppress you anymore.¡±
¡°I am here as a friend and apanion of Russia, to help you with this situation. Of course, I am just a foreign politician, but I have always had the heart to help Russia. Please ept my goodwill.¡±
¡°Oooh!¡±
¡°A friend of Russia!¡±
¡°Wee!¡±
The Russians waved their gs and sent their cheers to him.
Some women even stripped off their underwear and waved them.
It was a funny thing to think about.
A foreign politician, and the leader at that, intervened in the massive riots that urred in Russia?
But the bond between Russia and Yu Ji-ha had been long and very strong.
If he had Russian citizenship, he could have been the president right away.
Anyway, Yu Ji-ha appealed to the citizens, but he did not appear in any official ce.
He emphasized that the authority was still with Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov.
Of course, the reason why the protesters calmed down was because they expected Yu Ji-ha to bring some changes to Russia in some way.
¡ªIt¡¯s better to have a foreign politician who understands our situation than the cruel vampires.
¡ªHe may not be a Russian, but he¡¯s an honorary citizen, right? He¡¯ll intervene and clean up the rotten pigs.
No one knew if Yu Ji-ha would live up to their expectations, but it was true that after he appeared in Moscow, Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov¡¯s orders gained considerable power.
¡ªAll troops return to their original units. If you return now, I will overlook everything.
¡ªFrom now on, the situation is controlled by the guard and the police.
The chaos began to subside shortly after the measures were implemented.
The root cause of the protest, the vested interests, remained, and some far-right protesters caused trouble, but they prevented the country from breaking apart.
As the internal atmosphere settled down, Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov dispatched a deputy minister of foreign affairs to NATO headquarters in Brussels for negotiations.
The heads of state of each country were waiting for him, but the real one was Yu Ji-ha who apanied the bureaucrats.
When the news that he intervened in this situation as a mediator came out, the Russians nodded their heads.
¡ªA friend who steps up in this situation is a real friend.
¡ªHe¡¯s not a friend anymore, he¡¯s family. Even if he settles down in Russia, no one will say anything.
¡ªBut what about Korea and the United Human Federation?
¡ªThey¡¯ll figure it out themselves.
The Koreans wondered when their president went there, but on the other hand, they had a subtle expectation.
The EU leaders must be waiting to devour him, so they thought he was very brave.
¡ªI thought I would never see him again after years of cursing and fighting¡
¡ªThere¡¯s also an EU summit. Isn¡¯t he going to give a speech there with the conditions for ending the war?
No matter what he demanded, it didn¡¯t seem like Yu Ji-ha would ept it easily.
He was a person who would overturn the ground itself rather than break through obstacles.
But it didn¡¯t seem easy this time, since his opponents were the entire EU and the United States.
Especially since they had the moral high ground.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s private jetnded at Brussels Zaventem Airport.
***
Diplomacy is an international etiquette consisting of many ceremonial procedures.
The protocol applied depends on the rank of the parties involved, and ignoring it can easily lead to criticism of being ignorant of diplomacy.
In that respect, Yu Ji-ha had received tremendous criticism from the international diplomaticmunity.
He omitted most of the protocols.
If he had only done so for himself, it would have ended with a criticism of being casual, but he applied it equally to other heads of state, which earned him the nickname of a madman.
Anyway, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s unique omission of protocol was applied equally to all countries and they all gave up on it.
When he entered NATO headquarters, many reporters¡¯ eyes focused on him.
There was no photo shoot or press conference for the first time he set foot in headquarters.
US military officers guided him and he went straight into the conference room.
There were EU heads of state waiting for him, including President Baldwin of the United States and President Le Pen of France.
Usually there were various procedures before a summit meeting, but most of them were omitted because they were conscious of Yu Ji-ha.
The secretary-general who presided over the meeting tapped his microphone.
¡°Before the meeting, Russia said that it would delegate the decision-making to Yu Ji-ha, the president of Korea. This is the decision of Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov of Russia.¡±
¡°Are you entrusting diplomacy to a foreign politician? I don¡¯t know how low Russia can go.¡±
President Le Pen sneered and Yu Ji-ha ignored her and said.
¡°Let¡¯s get to the point. I represent Russia¡¯s position and I have brought their ims. Both sides demand that the fighting be stopped immediately and that the troops be returned to their positions 72 hours ago.¡±
¡°That¡¯s when you say your usual line. I refuse.¡±
Prime Minister Bernard Wilson of Britain said lightly and a faintughter spread.
They seemed to enjoy this situation.
They had suffered from the sanctions for years, so they needed some small entertainment.
Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t care and said.
¡°Then there¡¯s no need for me to be here.¡±
He openly picked a fight with them on the pretext of mediating.
No one was familiar with this rhetoric.
A few people coughed ufortably and President Baldwin stepped in.
¡°This ce is for discussing the cessation of hostilities and post-war treatment, so it would be better to avoid unnecessary friction. There needs to be a more thorough investigation of the cause of the fighting, but for now, it is clear that the Russian artillery unit attacked first. Do you admit it?¡±
¡°I admit it.¡±
Didn¡¯t he have any intention of denying it?
The leaders exchanged suspicious nces, but decided to listen for now.
President Baldwin listed the conditions.
¡°Both sides will restore the facilities and all equipment deployed on the border line to a month ago. This will be done by Russia under the supervision of Estonia.¡±
¡°Russia will also pay $3 billion inpensation to Estonia and $1 billion to France and Pnd. This is the minimum condition for a ceasefire negotiation.¡±
¡°That¡¯s absurd. I refuse.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Silence enveloped the conference room.
Did he not know where he was?
President Le Pen was about tosh out at him when President Baldwin stopped her with his eyes and asked.
¡°Can I ask why you refuse?¡±
¡°Do you need conditions for a ceasefire? You should be grateful that we didn¡¯t escte.¡±
¡°So¡ you¡¯re saying that we should appreciate that Russia didn¡¯t choose to escte and agree to a ceasefire without any conditions?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right.¡±
¡°That¡¯s crazy!¡±
Unable to hold back any longer, President Le Pen stood up and ranted.
¡°No need to listen any longer. Russia has refused mediation. Our army will enter Russian territory as it is.¡±
¡°Then you should be prepared to get nuked by Russia.¡±
President Marine Le Pen clenched her teeth at Yu Ji-ha¡¯s sarcasm.
¡°Do you think Russia will be safe? At least five cities will be blown up.¡±
¡°They won¡¯t. Do you know how many Ion beams I gave to the Russian air force? You can probably multiply the number you know by three.¡±
¡°What did you say? You¡¡±
Now Yu Ji-ha looked at her squarely as she trembled.
¡°I can¡¯t leave my wounded friend alone, so I¡¯ll have to borrow a drone carrier for a while. By the way, there are two more drone carriers. Together, they can carry 60 caliber drones and nearly 100bat walkers.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t mean to use them¡¡±
¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be fun to seebat walker units roaming the territory? Japan couldn¡¯t handle it properly, but I wonder how Europe will do.¡±
¡°¡¡±
At this point, even calling him crazy was not enough.
¡°Take back what you just said!¡±
¡°Do you want to start a third world war?¡±
The leaders shouted in excitement and President Baldwin closed his eyes.
I thought it was going well, but he had to¡
As the atmosphere in the conference room reached the brink of explosion, the secretary-general turned off the microphone.
But Yu Ji-ha¡¯s words were still heard clearly.
¡°Take it when you have a chance. Don¡¯t regret itter. My proposal ends here. If you make me get up, the rest is your responsibility.¡±
As the conference room quieted down like cold water was poured on it, President Baldwin asked.
¡°¡How long do you think that threat will work?¡±
¡°It will continue until it doesn¡¯t. My position is this. I admit Russia¡¯s preemptive strike. I will alsopensate Estonia. But NATO won¡¯t get a penny. That¡¯s all.¡±
¡°Do you think we¡¯ll ept such an absurd condition?¡±
¡°If you don¡¯t, the battle will start again. Russia needs a ce to vent its anger. I barely calmed them down, but I don¡¯t know when they¡¯ll explode again. If Europe can take it, it wouldn¡¯t be bad.¡±
President Baldwin, who had listened to his speech until the end, slowly leaned his upper body forward.
¡°You seem to want to go to war with us.¡±
¡°As I¡¯ve said many times, what I want is peace.¡±
¡°That doesn¡¯t seem to fit with your crossing the line too much, does it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s up to you how you think. But my condition won¡¯t change, so do as you please.¡±
It was a chicken game.
It happened often on an individual or corporate scale, but he never imagined that he would challenge the United States on a national scale.
President Baldwin exchanged nces with Yu Ji-ha several times and weighed his options in his mind.
¡®Europe is important, but Western Europe hasn¡¯t been invaded¡¡¯
Estonia was a NATO member state, but it was part of the former Soviet Union and still heavily influenced by Russia.
It wasn¡¯t a big battle anyway, so all he had to do was withdraw both sides¡¯ troops and pay a fairpensation.
Europe would resist, but he could easily quash that.
If Yu Ji-ha and Russia were sanctioned, they would have nowhere to rely on but the United States.
¡®We can¡¯t fight with President Yu here.¡¯
If they went to war, it would have to be after they were prepared to wipe out Korea and the United Human Federation, as well as Russia.
He couldn¡¯t start a nuclear war over Estonia.
¡®And there¡¯s still a lot left to get¡¡¯
From Europe¡¯s perspective, it might be a calction that they would neverpromise once they were twisted, but not for the United States.
There were so many things he had to introduce from the crystals that went into the Ion beam.
Even the aerial carrier that appeared this time was considered of little strategic value, but the judgment of research institutions such as DARPA was different.
¡®I¡¯ll have to let this one go.¡¯
He coughed and said.
¡°Let¡¯s do this. Russia pays Estonia one billion dors. And in the name of the deputy prime minister, he promises to prevent recurrence and sends a defense minister-level official to the investigationmittee to cooperate as much as possible. How about that?¡±
Yu Ji-ha nodded while the European leaders vehemently opposed.
But NATO¡¯s main force was the United States, and Europe was nothing without the United States.
French President Marine Le Pen shouted angrily.
¡°I can¡¯t believe it! Are you guys in cahoots? How else could youe up with such an absurd condition¡¡±
The other leaders were also angry, but President Baldwin had left the conference room surrounded by his staff.
Yu Ji-ha got up leisurely and said.
¡°If you want war, dere war anytime. I won¡¯t run away.¡±
The EU leaders looked at him as if he was a madman.
¡°I thought we could at leastmunicate, but I guess not.¡±
¡°How can you deny the infamy of being the worst dictator since Hitler?¡±
¡°Is the president of Korea speaking for Russia? Are you dreaming of being a tsar?¡±
All kinds of sarcasm poured out, but to Yu Ji-ha, they sounded like sleep talk.
Meanwhile, President Baldwin, who had left earlier, felt a woman in a neatly dressed suit approaching him.
The guards blocked her, but he waved his hand.
¡°Ah, let her go. I think I know who sent her.¡±
The woman was none other than an android.
She was a new model, or she was hardly distinguishable from a real human.
At this level, she could hide in the crowd and incite them.
President Baldwin was amazed at his technology as the woman handed him a small piece of crystal.
It was the crystal that went into the Ion beam.
Did that mean he was telling him how to make it?
The android bowed her head and left.
¡°My goodness. He sure pays well.¡±
He had gained the benefit of being able to mass-produce the Ion beam by helping his position.
But he didn¡¯t feel good.
¡®It feels like he¡¯s saying he doesn¡¯t need the Ion beam anymore¡¡¯
He had poured out countless technologies in a short time of a few years.
No one else knows what wille out next.
He just wished he would reveal his true colors before it was toote.
¡®I wish he had told me he came to conquer the earth.¡¯
That was the best scenario in the current situation.
Then what was the worst?
President Baldwin shook his head and got into the car.
***
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Red Square.
They were there not to wee Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov, but a foreigner.
Yu Ji-ha.
Russia¡¯s friend, sympathizer, andpanion.
No words could fully describe his achievements.
He had covered up the Russian army¡¯s mistake and protected Russia¡¯s interests in the internationalmunity.
Yet, all he said on his returning private jet was this:
¡°I hope my humble efforts will continue the friendship with Russia. We are one.¡±
We are one.
That simple statement touched the hearts of many Russians.
Thinking about it, the Russians had lived a life full of twists and turns.
The long dictatorship by President Putin, the wary eyes of the Western bloc, the tyranny of the privileged, the stagnant economy, and so on.
Nothing was going well.
That¡¯s when Yu Ji-ha appeared.
He gave Russia a lot of things, trusting only his promises.
Although the results didn¡¯t reach the bottom, it wasn¡¯t his fault but the fault of the privileged.
Who else would want to be so close to Russia?
To the eyes of the Russians, Yu Ji-ha was not the president of Korea, but a handsome young man with Russian nationality.
¡°Yu Ji-ha! Yu Ji-ha!¡±
Just like the Koreans who had lost him for a while shouted as soon as they confirmed his return.
Red Square was filled with his name.
Yu Ji-ha walked among the people who filled Red Square without even a minimum of staff.
Handshakes and hugs, and sometimes kisses followed.
It didn¡¯t matter that he kissed not only women.
He entered the Kremlin with his hair all messed up.
There was a red carpet on the stairs leading to the second floor, and Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov was standing in the middle.
¡°Wee. The office is this way.¡±
When he stepped aside, Yu Ji-ha smiled and asked him to go ahead.
¡°You will be the leader of Russia from now on. How can I go up first?¡±
The atmosphere was friendly, but the guards, bureaucrats, and generals who lined up on both sides knew who the real leader of Russia was.
The new tsar climbed up the red stairs.
He was not a Russian, but at this moment he was more proud than anyone else to be a Russian.
When Yu Ji-ha stopped by the office with Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov and read former President Putin¡¯s will.
An object flew into the sr system.
This object, swept by an ether storm, quickly approached Earth¡¯s orbit.
Dozens of reconnaissance satellitesunched by Starfield detected the approach and sounded an rm.
Arma, who was pretending to recuperate on Terra Ind and working, reported.
¡°It¡¯s an unidentified relic of the Prophet. It¡¯s falling to Earth at 55km per second. The coordinates are Western Europe¡ estimated to be Biscay Bay.¡±
The Prophet seemed to have fun throwing relics at Earth.
Yu Ji-ha felt uneasy as he talked with Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov.
¡®This is¡¡¯
Aether sensitivity sent a warning to his whole body.
He felt a faint psychokinesis field.
That was not an ordinary relic of the Prophet.
¡®gue Cocoon.¡¯
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face hardened.
He never imagined it woulde so soon.
This side was just preparingnd to build a megacity.
But why did only onee instead of a legion?
When Yu Ji-ha put down his tea cup with trembling hands, the cocoon containing gue¡¯s bioweapon burned through the atmosphere andnded in the sea.
A huge tsunami rose and hit the coast of France.
Chapter 148: The Monster From Outer Space
Chapter 148: The Monster From Outer Space
No one knew exactly when they started calling them gues.
After the Night of Sorrow incident in 2103, humanity had referred to them as space monsters or metal monsters.
The name gue came muchter.
The reason for the name was clear, though.
Scientists who observed them through various telescopes and detection methods saw that they were erodings and called them gues.
They looked like a contagious disease that was eating away at humanity.
Red Cloud, also known as the¡¯s doom, was the tragic end that a could reach after being eroded by a gue.
Severals in the sr system had been devoured by gues, and only Earth, Jupiter, and the Moon were left.
At this point, there should have been some anomalies in the sr system¡¯s gravity field, but the Sun was too heavy for that to happen.
Instead, the Earth¡¯s orbital path was slightly distorted.
Anyway, despite fighting gues for 80 years, humanity knew very little about their ecology.
Most of the observation methods were blocked by the Red Cloud that urred when a was eroded.
The powerful psychokinesis field unique to gues also made research difficult.
Still, there were a few things they had learned from fighting for so long.
gues had their roles determined from birth.
This could be seen from the gue Cocoon, which was the smallest of the Beast-ss.
It was small enough to fit in a cruiser¡¯s hangar.
Yet it weighed at least 10,000 tons, which was cutepared to its threat level.
Arma, who btedly caught on that it was a gue, reported.
¡¸Judging by the size of the cocoon, it is definitely a Beast-ss. Estimated weight is 15,000 tons.¡¹
¡¸The cocoon hasnded on the seabed and is eroding the surrounding metal. Based on the concentration of the psych field, it will wake up soon.¡¹
¡°A Beast-ss aquatic creature. It won¡¯t be much of a threat at this level, but¡¡±
It could be damaged by a hafnium-2 warhead, not a hydrogen bomb.
The problem was that it had fallen into the French Biscay coast, where there was no response prepared.
The French authorities had issued a tsunami warning and evacuated the citizens at the same time.
Arma showed him the French broadcast.
¡¸They still seem to think it¡¯s a meteorite. They¡¯re going to send an investigation team soon since it¡¯s shallow water.¡¹
¡°It¡¯ll wake up before they get there. We have to block its psych field first.¡±
One of the most annoying things about the gue was that they couldmunicate over very long distances through their psychokinesis field.
It was a powerfulmunication method that could make quantummunication look like a downgrade, but fortunately, humanity had devised a way to block it.
The war with the gue was mostly on arge scale, so it was not very useful, but they could easily block the weakling¡¯s psy-field.
¡°Psy-field blocker activated, nearby psychers may feel difort.¡±
Now the creature could not send any signals to its kin.
They wanted to secure it as soon as possible, but the French navy had noticed something strange and mobilized, so they expected some friction.
¡°There¡¯s no way to avoid exposing that strange being that fell over there.¡±
The problem was that the Settler was with the mining fleet on Mars.
Even if they sent the Earth Fleet, the French navy would have contacted the gue faster.
The Assault Armor was in Seoul, but it was not ready, and it would take time to get there.
Arma calcted all the possibilities and reported.
¡°The contact between France and the gue is the fastest. The gue willnd on the Bordeaux coast as soon as it contacts the warship.¡±
¡°It¡¯s a Beast-ss, but the damage will be huge¡¡±
It was the one that had a hard ck metal as its exoskeleton.
If it was America, they could have hit it with a high-power warhead or a bunker buster.
But that did not mean they could kill the gue.
It only applied to living creatures, but if they felt like they were going to die, they would run away and enter a cocoon.
The material of the cocoon was a special ck metal that even the United Human Federation could not analyze, so it was extremely hard.
It was difficult to inflict effective damage without a reactive bullet.
They decided to wait for it to return to the cocoon rather than taking a risk to capture it alive.
¡°Let¡¯s hide near it with the Earth Fleet. Let¡¯s designate it as Alpha One.¡±
¡°Understood. Master, an Aetheric field has been detected from the cocoon.¡±
They braced themselves for meeting the gue again, but they could not help trembling.
The enemy of all humanity and the worst monster that had finally destroyed the Earth had appeared in space.
And much sooner than expected.
Questions piled up one after another.
¡®Why did it appear so early? Where is the main force now? What is the rtionship with the prophet?¡¯
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s head was filled with confusion.
He had hardly any preparation, but he had to face a war with the gue.
He had no answer.
He was lucky that it was only a Beast-ss, but if a Goliath-ss or higher had appeared, he would have had to expose the Settler and the reactor.
At least a million deaths would have been inevitable.
He apologized to the Russian officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov, and headed back to his country.
The Russians had many events nned ahead, but they were disappointed when the protagonist disappeared. But that was only for a moment.
A frigate that had gone out for reconnaissance with only Biscay Bay encountered something of unknown origin.
The sailors on the frigate, which was close to 3,000 tons, were startled when a rock that was half the size of the frigate appeared.
¡°It¡¯s huge¡ It¡¯s a huge rock!¡±
¡°It looks like it¡¯s made of ck metal! I repeat, it¡¯s all ck metal!¡±
As France flipped over, the gue Beast named Alpha One activated its bio-ion thruster and rose into the air.
¡°Huh¡?¡±
¡°Where have I seen that before¡?¡±
The sailors¡¯ eyes were filled with doubt as they saw the bio-ion thruster.
Wasn¡¯t it too simr to the ion thruster that Korea developed for the first time?
When the frigate was slowly circling around, the Alpha One that looked like a rock began to transform.
¡®Transform start. Changing body to suit the sea surface.¡¯
With a nking sound, Alpha One changed its appearance to a lizard shape.
¡°All hands, battle stations!¡±
The frigate quickly went intobat readiness as it detected the danger btedly.
Finally, an anti-ship missile was fired and hit, but it seemed like it didn¡¯t do any damage to the creature.
It was natural since its body was made of ck metal.
¡°Contact the homnd quickly! We don¡¯t stand a chance with our firepower!¡±
When the frigate captain shouted, several gun turrets popped up from various parts of the creature¡¯s long body, which was over 50m long.
¡°Is that a railgun?¡±
¡°No way, it can¡¯t be¡ A monster like that¡¡±
If the creature had heard the officers¡¯ conversation, it might have felt wronged.
The current railgun was made by copying the gue¡¯s weapon by the United Human Federation.
The gue side was the original one.
An arc formed on some of the railgun barrels and projectiles were fired.
The news of a metal monster appearing in the Biscay Bay spread across the world.
Everyone dismissed it as a hoax at first.
There had been many strange things happeningtely, but a metal monster was something out of science fiction.
Even if aliens were discussed positively because of the Ether Core, a metal monster that was tens of meters long was a different story, wasn¡¯t it?
But everyone was speechless when they saw the video filmed by a brave French broadcaster.
The monster, which looked like a dark dragon, was smashing the warships mercilessly.
¡°¡What the hell is that?¡±
¡°Nobody knows¡¡±
Even President Baldwin and his aide Guerrero, who were not easily surprised by anything, closed their mouths.
It looked like a sci-fi movie to see a monster from space that was tens of meters long destroying the frigate with turrets from its body.
But this was reality, and the whole world was watching it.
A real space monster had appeared.
But why did it seem to have something to do with Yu Ji-ha?
¡°Did President Yu know about that thing¡¯s existence or not?¡±
¡°Maybe they¡¯re on the same side. Oh, now it¡¯s shootingsers too. It looks very simr to Ion Beam¡¯sser.¡±
Railguns and goldensers.
It was as if it was fighting against the Earth Fleet of the United Human Federation.
¡°He can¡¯t deny any connection. Anyway, we¡¯ll investigate thatter. The important thing now is to stop that monster fromnding.¡±
Indeed, the monster from space was heading towardsnd quickly while engaging with the French navy.
The staff analyzed its speed and the time it would take to reachnd.
¡°It¡¯s about 200km tond, and at its current speed, it should arrive in less than an hour.¡±
¡°Do we have any forces nearby?¡±
¡°The 6th Fleet¡¯s destroyer squadron is preparing for battle. Oh, and there¡¯s a call from the Secretary of Defense.¡±
President Baldwin took the phone.
¡°Mr. Secretary, I¡¯m here. I¡¯m afraid we¡¯ll have to face that metal monster with France.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Mr. President, but the French navy has dered that they will block any external intervention.¡±
¡°What are they talking about? Are they going to fight a monster from space with their pride?¡±
¡°They said they will lure it tond and feed it a hafnium-2 warhead since the anti-ship missiles didn¡¯t work¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s crazy.¡±
The reason they had to drag it tond was because France had not properly weaponized the hafnium-2 warhead.
They had not tested the dedicated missile yet, and the only way to project firepower at this point was an unguided bomb.
So they had to hold the monster onnd to detonate the hafnium-2 warhead.
President Baldwin, who knew the situation, clicked his tongue.
¡°Are they nning to evacuate all the citizens of Bordeaux? It¡¯s over a million if you include the metropolitan area.¡±
¡°Currently, a massive evacuation order has been issued. They seem determined to end this.¡±
France was acting so extreme because of the meeting at NATO headquarters.
They had nothing to gain and had to back down because the US supported Yu Ji-ha, so they wanted to salvage their pride here.
If they seeded, they would get the glory of annihting a monster from space¡
¡°But if they mess up, they will be the culprits who brought the monster ind. Connect me to the Elysee Pce.¡±
¡°France is not taking your call.¡±
¡°¡¡±
They really meant to do it.
The US couldn¡¯t do anything if they were so stubborn.
The monster had entered the French territorial waters, and from now on, it was entirely France¡¯s responsibility.
President Baldwin watched the dark lizard advancing tond while reversing the coastal artillery fire.
He had a feeling that it was not the only one.
***
The monster that appeared on the French coast shocked not only the governments of various countries, but also the people.
The topic of everymunity was switched to the monster, and they were busy sharing the news that came in real time.
The media also did not miss this andpletely switched to emergency reporting mode.
¡ªIt¡¯s Godzi! Godzi!
¡ªDoes it die? It didn¡¯t even flinch after taking so many anti-ship missiles.
¡ªIt looks like a movie when the fighters fire missiles one after another¡
¡ªIs this fake? It¡¯s not a real monster, right?
They couldn¡¯t believe what they saw on the media.
It was an era where artificial intelligence could create CG videos on the spot ording to the user¡¯s preference.
In other words, anyone could produce high-quality CG movies.
Of course, only the residents of Mega City and the Koreans with high CP could use theputing power of artificial intelligence, but there were still quite a lot of them.
As a result, many videos were produced in a short period of time, and the poprity of Hollywood movies and dramas had decreased significantly.
People found the videos made by individuals more interesting than the ones made by big capital that were standardized and emphasized political correctness.
Yu Ji-ha did not impose any restrictions on the producers, so all kinds of ideas poured out.
Among them, there were also pornographic and violent videos that would shock the censorship agencies of various countries, but he did not care.
¡ªAs long as you keep the minimum line, I will not interfere with any video you make.
They could also sell their videos on the Mega City¡¯s market.
Themission was not cheap, but the producers were satisfied enough since they could not even try without Russia¡¯sputing power.
Anyway, people lived in an era where high-quality videos were rampant, so they did not trust the videos that came out on the news.
But this was real.
The world¡¯s leading media reported on the French army¡¯s struggle against the monster.
It was doubtful whether it could be called a struggle since there was hardly any damage, but anyway, the French army was doing their best.
The screen switched and President Marie Le Pen dered a total war at the Elysee Pce.
¡°We have over two thousand years of history behind us. Therefore, we will not run away from anything. Mobilize all avable firepower and defeat the monster. Let us show the world the great power of France!¡±
President Marie Le Pen¡¯s deration certainly gave courage to many French people, but reality was cruel.
The monster thatnded onnd was trampling on the fields and approaching Bordeaux.
It became the target of the French army and air force and was exposed to tremendous firepower.
In less than 30 minutes, more than 100 attack packages were carried out.
Despite the firepower that could destroy a small city, the monster did not stop advancing.
The French army made a serious decision when the monster reached 10km near Bordeaux.
A Rafale fighter jet equipped with an unguided bomb took off from an air force base and headed straight for the monster.
The bomb dropped and opened a parachute over the monster¡¯s head in the fire and exploded.
Suddenly, the air and fields around it were swept away and a huge mushroom cloud rose.
It was a hafnium-2 warhead that exploded.
¡°Yes!¡±
¡°Die, monster!¡±
The French people watching the TV, as well as the whole world, clenched their fists in unison.
When the explosion subsided, a gruesome sight was revealed.
The monster¡¯s body, which had shown an incredible durability, was disintegrated and sprawled on the ground.
The parts that were almost torn apart twitched intermittently and a sound like a groan echoed.
In the middle of it, the gue Core was exposed, but no one noticed it because it was at the epicenter.
Yu Ji-ha watched the scene through his Siber satellite.
¡°That¡¯s dangerous¡ It¡¯s not dead yet.¡±
¡°Should we tell them to back off?¡±
¡°They won¡¯t listen to anything we say. They¡¯ll learn from their own experience.¡±
He was d they didn¡¯t curse at him for being on worse terms than their archenemy, Cheoljeonji.
There was already amotion at the Elysee Pce where people were pping.
A mobile unit consisting of tanks and armored vehicles approached to check the monster¡¯s corpse.
When many infantrymen broke through the heat and cautiously approached the monster¡¯s corpse, something unexpected happened.
The ck metal around the gue Core began to rbine.
The infantry unit sensed something strange and took cover, but they couldn¡¯t escape the sudden attack.
As an ether shockwave spread from the core, the ck metal fragments became weapons and swept the surroundings.
There was no way humans could survive when tanks and armored vehicles were smashed at once.
Only after the mobile unit was annihted did Alpha One slowly try to rbine.
Its life force had dropped to the bottom after being hit by the bomb, and it had lost most of its body due to the shockwave, but it was alive.
¡°It¡¯s still moving!¡±
At a general¡¯s report, President Marie Le Pen stared nkly at the screen.
The monster that killed hundreds of soldiers fled to the sea.
It didn¡¯t look well, but they couldn¡¯t let it go like that.
She gritted her teeth and asked in a growl.
¡°Where are the hafnium-2 warheads?¡±
¡°They¡¯re being transported from Lyon, but it will take some time.¡±
¡°What about the strategic submarines nearby?¡±
¡°The Temeraire is on standby, but¡ Madam President, that¡¯s not an option.¡±
An M51 nuclear missile would surely kill that damn thing.
But they couldn¡¯t use a nuke on French soil.
¡°There¡¯s nothing impossible in this world! We have to kill that monster no matter what! Before it returns to the sea!¡±
President Marie Le Pen shook with rage and her aides tried to calm her down.
Meanwhile, Alpha One was moving slowly toward the sea.
The White House offered a joint attack, but the president refused.
¡°How dare you side with that monster! Just watch how we deal with it!¡±
She reasoned that the US was in cahoots with Yu Ji-ha, who was clearly in league with the monster.
President Baldwin was speechless, but he had to reaffirm the fact that he couldn¡¯t break the French pride.
¡°They¡¯re going to use a nuke after all.¡±
They were still pouring all kinds of firepower on the monster that was fleeing to the sea, but they couldn¡¯t tell if it was hit.
In the end, the only effective attack was the hafnium-2 warhead, and France knew it well.
But France couldn¡¯t use a nuke even after the monster entered the sea.
There seemed to be a dispute over this issue among the navalmand.
Yu Ji-ha gave an order to the Earth Fleet that arrived near him.
¡°Retrieve it and bring it here as soon as it merges with Cocoon.¡±
¡¸The French navy knows where Cocoon is, so they won¡¯t give it up easily.¡¹
¡°Just snatch it and don¡¯t fight back. Just bring it here.¡±
But there was no way they wouldn¡¯t suspect Yu Ji-ha when Cocoon disappeared intact.
He had already brazenly taken the ether core that fell near Japan.
Anyway, Alpha One drifted slowly to the seabed where Cocoon was.
During the process, various depth charges and torpedoes were attempted, but it didn¡¯t die and seeded in merging with Cocoon.
At a depth of 400 meters, a transform phenomenon urred and Alpha One disappeared, leaving only a 40-meter Cocoon.
A supply ship from the Earth Fleet that was waiting nearby transformed its hull and picked up Cocoon.
As the Earth Fleet escaped to the deep sea, a nearby submarine noticed it and reported.
¡°The monster and something like an egg disappeared at once!¡±
¡°Are you sure? Check again!¡±
¡°There¡¯s no signal at all! It¡¯s clear!¡±
When this news reached the Elysee Pce, President Marie Le Pen lost consciousness and swayed.
¡°Madam President!¡±
As her aides supported her, the Earth Fleet escaped from France¡¯s surveincework and rose to the sky one by one.
Yu Ji-ha turned his back and said.
¡°Bring it to Terra Ind. We need to check if it¡¯s the same kind as the gue we know.¡±
Chapter 149: Yu Ji-ha’s Identity
Chapter 149: Yu Ji-ha¡¯s Identity
It took about 10 hours for the Settler to return to Earth from Mars.
It could have arrived in an hour if it had reached its maximum speed, but it couldn¡¯t afford to do so because the fusion reactor¡¯s output was not enough.
To fully repair the fusion reactor, it would be difficult with the Settler¡¯s equipment, and a psychic who excelled in artifact analysis like Russia would have to appear.
It had been hard to research openly until now, but it would be different from now on.
¡®It¡¯s time to talk about myself.¡¯
By now, the governments of various countries would be wondering how to investigate him.
Especially France, who had their eyes open and had Cocoon stolen from them, had a high possibility of waging war.
But this incident made it necessary for Yu Ji-ha to reveal his identity a little bit.
It was no help to keep his mouth shut now that the gue had appeared.
It was the right way to clear some of the piled-up suspicions and reach out to the countries.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s goal was ultimately the eradication of the gue.
There was no need for humans to fight each other when the enemy of humanity had appeared, right?
But there would be plenty of countries or factions that did not agree with his idea.
The depth of the conflict that had umted for years was not shallow.
He understood and acknowledged their anger and hostility, but Yu Ji-ha had no time to look back.
How could he guarantee that the gue army would not appear on Earth next year?
¡®What I need now is a minimum of persuasion, and a maximum of speed.¡¯
For that, he had to do something about this gue first.
Yu Ji-ha looked at Cocoon held by the Settler¡¯s ether field.
He had been cut off from his psy-field and trapped in a reverse field.
Now he was no different from a human who had lost his senses.
He was badly wounded and recovering, so he couldn¡¯t open his cocoon and get out.
He approached the cocoon he was maintaining and touched it with his hand, activating his psy-field.
He had been able to read the emotions of the gue since some time ago.
To be precise, he felt that way in his dreams.
When he actually touched the cocoon, he could read the emotions of the creature, which was nothing more than a bio-organism, rtively clearly.
¡®How strange¡ Did even a beast-ss have emotions¡?¡¯
He knew that the gue had intelligence, but only for the higher beings. Was that not true?
Anyway, this little one was looking for something.
That image appeared vividly in his mind.
¡®This is a in the middle of the universe¡ And a blue one at that.¡¯
He thought it was Earth, but it wasn¡¯t.
The image was not clear, but the shape of the continents was different from Earth.
The view moved back and gradually revealed the surrounding satellites.
It turned out that this had two moons.
¡®It¡¯s definitely not Earth. Then, was the gue looking for this?¡¯
He moved the image around and traveled.
It was hard to read the emotions of the beast-ss because their level of thinking was so low, but he managed to draw a conclusion.
¡®This is the route to the prophet¡¯s home.¡¯
It was exactly the same as the route recorded in the relic that arrived on the moon a long time ago.
He took his hand off the cocoon and instructed Arma.
¡°Remember the route in the relic that came to the moon? Show it to me for a moment.¡±
A space map leading to the prophet¡¯s home filled the hangar.
He looked at it and realized what the gue was looking for.
¡°These guys were also looking for the prophet¡¯s home. But there was a warp gate on Nox.¡±
A huge warp gate had been observed on Nox, the ninth, since some time ago.
Humanity recognized that this warp gate was a gateway to the prophet¡¯s home and built an expedition fleet.
Could it be that the gue didn¡¯t know about it?
¡®Judging by the movement of the legion, they must have known that there was a warp gate. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have tried to stop us.¡¯
Then, it meant that the gue couldn¡¯t enter that warp gate.
Why?
He wondered if he needed something special to go to the prophet¡¯s home.
Like a key, for example.
He touched his right chest, where he had absorbed the prophet¡¯s relic on Mars.
It was possible that it was the key.
He had been lost in space for three years after losing the battle, but maybe the gue couldn¡¯t detect him because of the cockpit that blocked his psy-field.
¡®They were also aiming for the prophet¡¯s home.¡¯
He felt a bit relieved when he realized that Earth was not their target.
He didn¡¯t know why.
¡®No, that¡¯s not it. They might send more scouts if they find his psy-field blocked.¡¯
He didn¡¯t know when, but they wouldn¡¯t send just one beast-ss.
And if he killed them too, he would attract the attention of the main force.
Wouldn¡¯t they find it strange if themunication was cut off every time they sent a scout?
¡®He couldn¡¯t fight the main force now.¡¯
It was certain doom if he fought at this point, when he had barely secured thend to build a megacity.
Besides, the warp gate on Nox hadn¡¯t opened yet.
¡®He was lucky to have secured a lot of psyker genes¡¡¯
The schedule that Arma had nned was much faster than expected.
At this rate, he didn¡¯t need to insist on 1.5 billion people.
The most important thing to preserve humanity was the soil itself to cultivate psychers.
¡°Arma, based on our current pace, recalcte how many people we need to secure.¡±
¡¸Calcting¡ About 900 million should be enough.¡¹
¡°If we include Russia, that¡¯s about 300 million¡ So we only need to bring in 600 million more.¡±
¡¸You left out megacity Afghanistan. There are quite a lot of applicants there.¡¹
The surrounding countries were so poor that they had no choice but to apply for survival.
If he counted them too, it wouldn¡¯t be hard to gather 900 million people.
But there was no guarantee that the gue wouldn¡¯t send scouts until then.
He had to find a way to deceive them by conducting research on Aether somehow.
He took his eyes off the cocoon he was maintaining.
¡°Keep this one in a reverse field so it won¡¯t escape. I¡¯ll show it when I reveal Terra Ind.¡±
¡¸Understood.¡¹
Terra Ind was famous as a tourist attraction, but the core area had never been exposed.
It would cause a huge impact if he revealed it, but it was a necessary step considering the future schedule.
He had to get at least some cooperation.
That was also the reason why he hadn¡¯t gone all out against the countries until now.
It meant that he didn¡¯t have to care anymore after he got their cooperation.
He would show some patience since they were the same humans, but if they interfered with his goal of opposing the gue, he had no choice.
He had to finish them off.
* * *
The battle between the monster from space and the French army gave a great shock to the governments of various countries.
The monster¡¯s body was made of ck metal and it didn¡¯t flinch unless it was hit by a tactical nuclear-level destructive power.
It also disappeared after being hit by France¡¯s Hafnium-2 warhead and returned to the sea.
One person emerged as a suspect after a series of emergency meetings.
By this point, even those who were not in the intelligence or the leadership would have noticed.
Yu Ji-ha.
He had used Earth Fleet to take the monster and the egg.
The reason was not known, but that was something that could be investigated.
The media and the French governmentunched a fierce attack.
¨DWe know that you secretly entered the French sea and took the monster and the egg. Return them quickly or you will regret it.
¨DDid you take the monster and the egg because you knew their location? Did you create the monster?
¨DWe seriously suspect that the birth of the monster originated from you and Terra Ind. Exin everything clearly.
The weapon that the monster used was too simr to what Yu Ji-ha had shown.
ck metal body, railgun, ion thruster, andser that looked like iron beam¡
It wouldn¡¯t be surprising if Yu Ji-ha had made it.
As such, when France officially raised the issue, many countries in Europe and elsewhere joined in.
¨DLet¡¯s say you poured out incredible technology for a few years. We can understand that you made the first strong artificial intelligence. But a metal monster from space is beyondmon sense.
¨DExin quickly. Or else, the whole world will be your enemy.
As the pressure intensified, the White House also issued an official statement.
They used the softest expression possible, considering their rtionship with Yu Ji-ha, but it was still a demand for an exnation.
Even the US Congress passed a resolution urging Yu Ji-ha to rify.
¨DIt¡¯s time to reveal your identity. Did youe from outer space as some spected? We are willing to ept if you politely request cooperation.
¨DBut before that, you need to apologize responsibly for your actions.
There were not many ces that thought Yu Ji-ha would seriouslymunicate with them.
As always, he would ignore them, and new conflicts would arise from there.
What did it mean if a few more percent were added after he made 40% of humanity his enemy?
The only thing that mattered was that the US couldn¡¯t stand it anymore.
They felt the seriousness of this space monster incident.
Amid various spections about his situation, Yu Ji-ha finally announced an official statement.
¡°I invite the VIPs of various countries to Terra Ind. Of course, you don¡¯t have toe, but it would be helpful for your understanding if you see it for yourself.¡±
He named a few countries and announced the visit schedule at once.
Not only friendly countries such as the US, Russia, and Germany, but also hostile countries were included.
There was no need to worry about a pointless assassination attempt, but most of them expressed their wee and willingness to attend.
That¡¯s how dozens of private jets flew into Terra Ind.
President Baldwin groaned as he looked down at the view of Terra Ind.
¡°The satellite only showed the tip of the iceberg.¡±
¡°We were surprised too. We didn¡¯t expect such a huge facility¡¡±
The US reconnaissance satellite boasted an amazing resolution, but it was impossible to look into every detail of Terra Ind.
It changed its shape every time the reconnaissance satellite passed over it, as if it knew.
Of course, it only changed the upper part of the facility, not the whole, but it was enough to fool the satellite¡¯s eye.
The high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft that the US was proud of was also unable to approach Terra Ind.
It was because the iron beam covered up to 80,000 feet in altitude, as proven in the war.
There was a rumor that it could do more, and the US gave up on trying to peek into Terra Ind.
But he didn¡¯t expect to see it with his own eyes¡
¡®This must mean that this matter is serious.¡¯
Was he an alien as some spected?
Did he really make that monster?
How did he see humanity and what was his true purpose?
All these questions were about to be answered.
When they arrived at the airport, they were greeted by androids and walkers that were quite familiar by now.
It was such a big event that he might have changed his mind, but there was still no courtesy.
They just had to go down to Undercity and call a smart car to ride.
It was no longer surprising that everything worked unmanned.
But when they arrived at the facility and met Arma, who weed them, even President Baldwin couldn¡¯t help but be surprised by her swollen belly.
¡°Excuse me, are you pregnant?¡±
¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±
¡°Oh¡ Well, congrattions.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡±
President Baldwin admired Arma, who greeted the other guests, with a small sigh.
¡®She wasn¡¯t apletely emotionless robot.¡¯
After all, they had been together for years¡
She had even cut off her rtionship with her parents in the US and earned a reputation as a terrible person, but she seemed to have some emotions.
Or was this also a device to quell his alien theory?
¡®How can I know what he¡¯s thinking?¡¯
He shook his head slightly.
The facility he entered was off-limits to everyone except the VIPs and the minimum staff.
It was a security-sensitive ce, so he couldn¡¯t help it.
Gerero, his aide, hinted.
¡°Judging by the location, it¡¯s near the shipyard on the south coast. Where they built Earth Fleet.¡±
¡°It must be meaningful to reveal this ce.¡±
¡°Maybe it has lost its meaning. Just like he gave us the crystal manufacturing method of ion beam.¡±
He didn¡¯t need to doubt everything, but that wasn¡¯t enough for him.
The android at the entrance guided him.
¡°Only VIPs can enter from here.¡±
¡°I need some staff¡¡±
As the aides tried to step forward, President Baldwin stopped them and approached the entrance.
¡°It¡¯s okay. He¡¯ll be in trouble if I die here. Can I go in like this?¡±
¡°Wee, President Baldwin.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡±
As he entered, an amazing sight greeted him.
There was something like a huge egg hanging in the air.
¡°Is this the monster¡¯s egg¡?¡±
¡°Yes, it is. You can call it a cocoon for now.¡±
Yu Ji-ha appeared and President Baldwin looked at the cocoon with curiosity.
¡°I didn¡¯t expect to see a creature made of ck metal¡ What is your rtionship with it, President Yu?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll exin that from now on. The audience is not all here yet.¡±
Soon, the VIPs from various countries came in and gasped in unison.
¡°An egg made of ck metal, I can¡¯t believe it.¡±
¡°It came out of here¡ Who made it, damn it.¡±
¡°Maybe it really came from space. I wish President Yu Ji-ha would exin it to us.¡±
There was no Marie Le Pen, the president of France, in this ce.
Well, it was a good thing, since she would have surely fought with him in this tense situation.
Not to mention that he had never shown any hostility towards her or France.
He looked around the leaders of the countries and said.
¡°You¡¯re all here. I¡¯ll exin my ability and the identity of this thing. It¡¯s confidential, but it¡¯s okay to tell the key people.¡±
Was he finally revealing his identity?
The leaders swallowed their dry saliva nervously.
* * *
¡°To sum up, I¡¯m not an alien and I didn¡¯t make this monster. I¡¯m more like a prophet who foresaw this situation.¡±
Prophet.
Someone who knew before others.
The leaders understood the meaning, but they didn¡¯t know in what way he imed to be a prophet.
Had Yu Ji-ha ever said anything like a prophecy before?
If he had predicted that the monster would appear this time, he would have been trusted¡
Regardless of the people¡¯s questions, Yu Ji-ha continued.
¡°You must know that there are various types of psychers. It¡¯s hard to believe, but some can shoot Aether waves and sometimes read other people¡¯s minds. There are also psychers who excel in ck metal transform.¡±
¡°And I have the ability of foresight. I see the future through dreams.¡±
¡°You see the future through dreams? That¡¯s absurd¡¡±
¡°Before you say that, look at this egg.¡±
The Italian prime minister, who was spitting out negative sentences, looked at the monster¡¯s egg and closed his mouth.
Well, it was a situation where a monster from space existed, so it wasn¡¯t strange to say that he had the ability of foresight.
What he didn¡¯t understand was why he hadn¡¯t done any convincing foresight.
President Baldwin stepped forward.
¡°Did you know that this monster woulde?¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t know the timing, but I knew about its existence.¡±
¡°Then why didn¡¯t you say anything?¡±
¡°If I had said it, who would have believed me?¡±
¡°¡¡±
No one could answer him.
President Baldwin remembered a few lines from his record.
¡®Dr. Lee Hanjong, was it? He surely testified that he got power from his dreams¡¡¯
He had dismissed it as ult nonsense at the time, but now that he heard Yu Ji-ha¡¯s words, it felt like everything clicked.
He felt the existence of the monster through his dreams and got power from there¡ That made some sense, right?
Yu Ji-ha looked at him.
¡°The US must know even the color of my panties, so you can testify about that.¡±
There was a slightughter and President Baldwin felt a bit ufortable by the fact that he had to back up his words, but he let it go.
¡°I won¡¯t deny it. A few years ago, I received a report simr to what President Yu said. He said he got power from his dreams.¡±
It was the word of none other than the US president, so they had to ept it.
The people asked eagerly.
¡°Is that dream connected to this monster?¡±
¡°What is the identity of this monster?¡±
Yu Ji-ha raised his hand.
¡°Before I answer, I need to mention the situation at that time. I met this monster in my dream. By the way, this monster is not alone.¡±
¡°Then, it has kin?¡±
¡°Quite a lot. And this one is a very weak one among its kin. It¡¯s probably the smallest and weakest one.¡±
¡°A monster that¡¯s tens of meters long is small and weak¡¡±
¡°Is that true? It didn¡¯t seem to be damaged unless it was hit by a tactical nuclear level.¡±
The people murmured in disappointment and Yu Ji-ha opened his mouth again.
¡°I don¡¯t know where this monsteres from or what its purpose is. The only thing I know is that it has infinite hatred for us and the Earth.¡±
¡°Infinite hatred¡¡±
¡°I¡¯ve been preparing for this for years. I got a lot of criticism, but I thought it was something only I could do with my ability.¡±
Someone remembered something and asked.
¡°Is that the space monster that appeared in the game released by Si Group¡?¡±
¡°Yes, it is. I made it based on the monster I saw in my dream. The future setting means that we have to be at that level to fight against such a monster.¡±
¡°So that¡¯s why¡¡±
¡°It certainly adds credibility to your actions so far¡¡±
To be honest, there were too many parts that couldn¡¯t be understood with such a short exnation.
Especially the strong artificial intelligence Lucia that he had made.
But the people here knew that he had majored in algorithms.
Compared to the space monster and ck metal, creating artificial intelligence could be considered as a coincidence.
Some of the leaders nodded as if they understood his actions so far.
Especially President Baldwin, who had a lot of information about him, seemed to be impressed.
¡°It¡¯s notpletely cleared of suspicion, but it¡¯s enough to exin the overall context. I wondered why your goal was human peace¡¡±
World peace sounded like it meant ending the fights among humans.
But the word humanity included the outside as well.
The outside was the monster from space.
¡°The important thing is that we have to join forces. To oppose this monster.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right¡¡±
President Baldwin seemed to be thinking deeply about something.
As the leader of the US, he was unlikely to follow Yu Ji-ha obediently.
That would mean giving up the hegemony that the US had.
Even if not him, the Congress and the mainstream Anglo-Saxon in the US would think so.
President Baldwin finally spoke.
¡°I appreciate your efforts for the peace of humanity. But there are many aspects of your actions that cannot be exined by that alone, President Yu. They were also somewhat radical.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t care about being recognized for everything.¡±
¡°Anyway, you must admit that your exnation is not enough. I have a proposal for you, would you like to hear it? I think the others will be satisfied too.¡±
The leaders leaned in with curiosity and Yu smiled inwardly.
He knew what he was going to say.
He wanted him to join under the US¡¯s control.
Maybe he was dreaming of the most powerful force in human history, epassing the US, Korea, and the Human Alliance.
¡°I¡¯m sorry. That won¡¯t work.¡±
¡°I haven¡¯t mentioned it yet.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? You want the US to lead everything. And I just provide the future vision and technology. Am I right?¡±
President Baldwin closed his mouth as if he had hit the mark.
He was a typical American after all.
Chapter 150: The Master of Earth
Chapter 150: The Master of Earth
After a brief exnation, President Baldwin was escorted to a secret chamber.
He had brushed off the agents who wanted to check it beforehand, saying it was pointless.
¡°There are no secrets here. Just stay outside for a while.¡±
When they were alone, he brought up the topic that Arma had anticipated.
¡°Personally, I¡¯m willing to ept President Yu¡¯s offer.¡±
¡°But you can¡¯t as the president of the United States.¡±
¡°President Yu, you¡¯re very quick-witted. Who do you think I am?¡±
¡°Edmund Baldwin Jr. The president of the United States.¡±
¡°No, I mean my essence.¡±
¡°¡ck.¡±
He nodded his head atst.
¡°President Yu is yellow, and I¡¯m ck. This proves that we¡¯re not mainstream in the true sense.¡±
¡°The Democrats are against it?¡±
¡°Not just the Democrats, but the entire Congress, the Pentagon, various government agencies and countless corporations¡ All of these are dominated by whites. I¡¯m just a minority.¡±
He became president only because Bryant, a white politician from the Democratic Party, had died.
In other words, if Yu Ji-ha hadn¡¯t intervened, the US president would have been white.
He muttered that the view outside the window was very nice.
The chamber was located underwater, so he could enjoy the underwater scenery.
He admired the fish in the window. ¡°My grandfather used to catch fish and crayfish in Louisiana. There were many cks there, but I didn¡¯t mingle with them. I worked hard to climb up the socialdder. But I couldn¡¯t be white. Because of my skin.¡±
He stroked the back of his hand.
¡°This skin can¡¯t be changed. I graduated from a good college and did a lot of social work, but I always ate with the cks. The whites epted me as a political colleague, but they never invited me to their homes.¡±
Racial segregation was officially abolished, but it still existed in many parts of American society.
There was no ce for cks in white neighborhoods, and there were separate schools for the upper ss.
The same was true for Hispanics, and Asians were treated as foreigners because they were outnumbered.
But President Baldwin didn¡¯t want to talk about the deep-rooted racial discrimination in American society.
¡°America is a white country. I realized that as I grew older. I¡¯m just borrowing a seat from them.¡±
¡°White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant.¡±
¡°They are the mainstream that rules the current America. And since America rules the world, they can also be called the masters of the world. Although the atmosphere is a bit different these days.¡±
¡°So the master doesn¡¯t ept me.¡±
President Baldwin smiled bitterly.
¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? President Yu is taking away their jobs. The unemployment rate is skyrocketing, and it¡¯s not just in America. It¡¯s hidden by statistical maniption, but if the truthes out, there will be chaos.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s initial skill didn¡¯t bring only positive effects.
Korea was rtively better off, but the rest of the world had to face big and small economic crises, and it was still ongoing.
It was hard to fill the shrinking jobs with new industries like nuclear fusion or space development.
¡°Korea is sucking up the wealth of the world. I know where that money goes, but there are a lot of debates about whether it¡¯s suitable for today¡¯s society.¡±
Yu Ji-ha leaned forward as he heard that.
¡°Are you thinking like that even when monsters from space are threatening us?¡±
¡°People are inherently conservative. They can¡¯t change their positions easily even when the situation changes. Look at the semiconductorpanies. They had to cut 40% of their staff after the Ethyl processor came out. Where can they go?¡±
¡°They can get education and training and be ced in other fields. It¡¯smon in Korea.¡±
¡°You mean management through artificial intelligence. That wouldn¡¯t be epted in the US.¡±
¡°Well, they still use the yard-pound system despite its many drawbacks, so I guess that makes sense.¡±
President Baldwin¡¯s face reddened and then shook his head at that remark.
¡°It costs too much money. And people¡¯s perception is also like that.¡±
¡°I often hear reports like that. Whenever there is a friction over measurement issues with the US government agencies orpanies, they always insist on the yard-pound system.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve heard those reports too. But Si Group never changed it, did they?¡±
¡°Because there¡¯s no reason to.¡±
Why should they care when they¡¯re transferring the technology, not receiving it?
President Baldwin nodded.
¡°President Yu definitely has his own opinion. But most Americans don¡¯t understand that. They think we¡¯re the masters of the world and you have to follow us.¡±
¡°That attitude is dangerous.¡±
¡°Because President Yu will make them extinct¡ Is that right?¡±
¡°No. The monsters from space will make humanity extinct. I saw a future where the US dominates the world. It didn¡¯tst past 2100.¡±
¡°I heard that before. It sounds like you¡¯re saying we¡¯ll be destroyed, but honestly, I don¡¯t feel it.¡±
Who would seriously believe that humanity would be extinct in 70 years?
Even though Yu Ji-ha said that, the leaders of each country didn¡¯t fully believe him.
They acknowledged Yu Ji-ha¡¯s foresight ability and knew the power of the space monsters, but they didn¡¯t believe that future.
If a Goliath-ss hade this time, humanity would have felt the crisis of extinction firsthand.
But luckily, a Beast-ss that could be solved with the current military power came, and the US gained unexpected confidence.
They exined countless times that the Beast-ss was the smallest and weakest creature, but they didn¡¯t know where that confidence came from.
¡®In the end, you have to experience it yourself to feel it.¡¯
Humans only see what they want to see, and repeat the same mistakes.
Isn¡¯t there a saying like that?
The United Human Federation also ignored all the warnings of the prophet until the gue invaded on arge scale.
As a result, 500 million people died on the Night of Sorrow, and they werepletely destroyed in less than 80 years.
Except for Yu Ji-ha.
¡°Do you not believe it either, Mr. President?¡±
He shook his head.
¡°I¡¯m a realist. I believe it because everything that President Yu warned has be reality. In fact, it¡¯s not that other people don¡¯t believe his words. They just can¡¯t ept them because they are too shocking.¡±
¡°They may need some time toe to their senses. But we don¡¯t have time.¡±
¡°Hoo¡ Do you mind if I smoke for a moment?¡±
As he said so, President Baldwin lit a cheap cigarette and asked.
¡°My opinion is not very important in the monster matter. What matters is what the party thinks and decides. Because I raised President Yu¡¯s hand in Europe, my position has be very narrow. If it weren¡¯t for the monster, I would have had something to say.¡±
¡°It seems that the senators didn¡¯t like that you made such a deal in Europe.¡±
¡°Not just the senators. There aren¡¯t many people in the federal government who agree with me. So re-election will be difficult.¡±
A long smoke of regret came out.
¡°Be careful. They are different from me. They will try hard to take the initiative from you.¡±
¡°They should have realized that it¡¯s impossible by now¡ It¡¯s a pity.¡±
¡°There aren¡¯t many cards left. But they won¡¯t give up. They think this world, this earth, is theirs.¡±
Then they will only realize that it¡¯s a delusion.
When Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t react much, President Baldwin rubbed out his cigarette.
¡°I was going to propose something like a joint countermeasuremittee, but seeing President Yu¡¯s expression and attitude, I guess it won¡¯t work.¡±
¡°There is only one way to defeat the space monster. To be under my control.¡±
¡°The whites won¡¯t like that. They were the mainstream in every field of history and culture.¡±
¡°Anyway, let¡¯s end it here today.¡±
He got up and turned around and said.
¡°By the way, today¡¯s talk is¡¡±
¡°I¡¯ll pretend I didn¡¯t hear it.¡±
With a faint smile, President Baldwin disappeared and Yu Ji-ha was left alone in thought.
¡®As expected, they can¡¯t admit it.¡¯
They were afraid to abandon what they had achieved, even if they couldn¡¯t believe Yu Ji-ha¡¯s story about the space monsters.
It was not easy to give up everything they had inted excessively: the economy, the real estate, the culture, and more.
And to enter a total war mode.
It was the same for Korea.
Could anyone who owned an expensive apartment in Seoul sell it and get a residence permit in Megacity?
And there was something unsatisfactory about Yu Ji-ha¡¯s method.
The citizens with a strong sense of democracy would not ept the dictatorship by artificial intelligence.
The Earth was still not ready to fight against
the gue.
So he had no choice but to do it alone.
***
The countries of the world reacted differently to Yu Ji-ha¡¯s proposal.
Some, like the United States or France, openly expressed their skepticism, while Russia promised full cooperation.
The others seemed hesitant.
They were reluctant to act even after seeing the monsters from space and hearing that humanity was doomed.
It was not iprehensible.
Following Yu Ji-ha¡¯s n meant giving up their sovereignty in the end.
Germany suggested that it would be better to lead an international cooperation like the UN.
But for Yu Ji-ha, international cooperation was useless.
In the end, it would take too much time to get the approval of the majority of the members to do anything meaningful in the war against the gue.
The n to obtain the world¡¯s cooperation failed.
However, it was not aplete failure.
They managed to expand the Aether Research Institute of the United Human Federation and send some psychics there for exchange.
The psychics were freed from their shackles.
But what Yu Ji-ha needed was not psychics, but genes.
So he decided to be content with that.
¡°Don¡¯t be picky about the means and methods. Just secure the genes. I can even give you an android if you want.¡±
The genes they secured went through various processes in the gic engineering facilities, including the biobag, and became psychic seeds.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s n was to insert those seeds into the next generation and create artificial psychics.
This was the method used by the United Human Federation and hated by Yu Ji-ha, but there was no other way for now.
Anyway, this fact was not disclosed to the public and was carried out secretly.
It was too much to hope that the secret would be kept, since so many people had heard of it, but it seemed to be well protected so far.
However, some of the ns were leaked and discussed in depth on Reddit and other ces.
¨DYu Ji-ha is giving away his technology? And for free?
¨DCome on, there¡¯s no such thing as free. There must be some under-the-table deal that we don¡¯t know about.
¨DI know someone who works at the psychic research institute. He told me that the psychics have be quite freetely. They can even travel.
¨DRailgun, ion thruster, iron beam¡ How much are these worth? He¡¯s giving them away?
¨DThink about it. He¡¯s giving them away because he doesn¡¯t need them anymore. He has something better.
That was true.
Yu Ji-ha agreed to give away various technologies in exchange for inviting the psychics of each country to Terra Ind.
It was to show some color in advance, since analyzing the corpse of the gue would naturally lead to various technologies.
But it was not a direct transfer, but a way of sending android technicians to the site and pointing out improvements.
Hafnium-2 explosive was also included, but the US strongly opposed it.
¨DMaking a warhead with hafnium-2 is no different from a tactical nuclear weapon. Giving it away is nuclear proliferation.
¨DDoes nuclear proliferation matter when monsters areing from space?
¡°It¡¯s important to us. I¡¯ll say it again. We don¡¯t care about the other technologies, but hafnium-2 is absolutely uneptable.¡±
But Yu Ji-ha¡¯s stubbornness could not be stopped by the US.
After all, Korea and the United Human Federation were in a situation where they were far from the US¡¯s influence, so they had no reason to listen to them.
A technology agreement was signed on Terra Ind to give away the hafnium-2 explosive manufacturing method, and the US mobilized its fleet to pressure them, but they couldn¡¯t do anything substantial.
In fact, it was not very difficult for a country with a particle elerator and psychics to produce hafnium-2.
The problem was that theycked the technology to handle ether waves precisely, and the price of tantalum had risen sharply.
Korea, which received all of its supply from Russia, was better off, but a civil war broke out in the Republic of Congo and Rwanda.
France, which had been exerting considerable influence on the Republic of Congo, stepped in.
They imed to restore order in Congo and return power to the citizens, but their real goal was the tantalum mine.
In this situation, when Yu Ji-ha offered to give away the hafnium-2 explosive manufacturing method to each country, France was shocked.
¡°What did you get in return for giving away something like that?¡±
¡°We spent 11 billion euros to power up hafnium-2! Germany was just waiting for Yu Ji-ha¡¯s word!¡±
¡°The spread of hafnium-2 is not desirable for world peace. How can you guarantee that it won¡¯t leak to terrorists?¡±
The French government, as well as the media and the military, poured out all kinds ofints and warnings, but it sounded like a different universe to Yu Ji-ha.
To make hafnium-2, you need an Aether wave elerator, a well-trained psychic, and tantalum, which was impossible for a terrorist group to have.
France¡¯s dissatisfaction subsided a bit when the United Human Federation returned the cocoon they had stolen.
Although they returned it to the US, they agreed to destroy it under the auspices of France and Britain, so there was not much difference.
In return, Yu Ji-ha gained the right to invite as many US psychics as he wanted.
The US was a country that had developed railguns and ion thrusters considerably, so he needed a different bait.
And so the Earth Fleet that had stolen the cocoon sailed out with it.
Their destination was Norfolk Naval Base on the east coast of the US, which boasted thergest scale in the world.
This return process attracted the attention of not only the US but also the whole world.
The reason was that the Earth Fleet had flown with the cocoon fixed by the ether field.
It was not nine ships like before, but more than twice that: twenty ships.
But they couldn¡¯t capture it on camera.
They had flown up to an altitude where they couldn¡¯t im the airspace, probably thinking of the friction with the US.
The sight of twenty ships flying in formation in the atmosphere was truly spectacr, but it was not revealed to the public at all.
The US noticed that the Earth Fleet was flying at 50km altitude, but they didn¡¯t protest.
It was almost like space, so they hesitated to im it as their airspace.
On the other hand, the US military felt a serious sense of crisis about the technological gap with the United Human Federation.
¨D50km altitude is no different from space. That means the warships of the Earth Fleet are not ships, but spaceships.
¨DThe Earth Fleet crossed the Pacific and the US continent in two hours with the cocoon tied by the field. We never thought this was possible.
¨DSomeone with this technology is afraid of the monster from space and asks for international cooperation. Is this really okay?
The US military¡¯s suspicion was a natural and reasonable inference, but the politics ignored it half-heartedly.
They had their own reasons.
To ept Yu Ji-ha¡¯s proposal, they had to abandon the pirs that supported the US.
They had to give up not only the financial system represented by Wall Street, but also the huge real estate market and the influence they had on the world.
Could a politician who needed votes from voters make such a choice?
In the government and academia, there were many people who took the space monster seriously, and they argued that they should talk to Yu Ji-ha again, but it was not a mainstream opinion.
There were still many people in the US who believed in t earth theory.
Since that poption was 15%, they couldn¡¯t ignore it, and it had a great impact on the decision-making process of the US government.
So instead of turning the world upside down, the White House nned a small show.
It was that the allied fleet would beat up the monster from space.
It was a possible show because Yu Ji-ha had given them information about the monster.
¨DThe space monster will wake up from the cocoon in two days. It will be weaker than before because it couldn¡¯t absorb metal around it.
¨DIf our army defeats this monster, support for the government will increase.
Some in the US argued that they should teach the monster from space who was the owner of Earth.
They originally wanted to do it alone, but they had to give in because France and Britain strongly opposed it.
The US wanted President Yu Ji-ha to attend the event, but he refused.
There were various spections about this, but in reality, he was just not interested.
The Beast-ss was the weakest among the gue, and it was nothing but a bioweapon. He had no reason to care about it.
He had blocked the psy-field, so the possibility of the main force invading was very low.
That¡¯s how the space monster woke up again in front of Virginia.
It was standing on a huge barge without knowing what was going on, when it suddenly got bombed.
Fighters from the US, France, and Britain dropped hafnium-2 warheads on it.
The bioweapon¡¯s body was disintegrated in an instant by the three explosions at close range.
A huge explosion urred, and the gue and the useless cocoon were scattered.
It was a death that didn¡¯t need confirmation.
¡°Wow!¡±
¡°Awesome!¡±
¡°Hey, monster! You must have learned who¡¯s the owner of Earth!¡±
Many Americans who watched the show cheered.
The major media wrote and broadcasted articles about this scene, and the world confirmed the power of hafnium-2 warheads.
¨DWith that kind of power, we can handle it even if the space monsteres back.
¨DThe US is definitely a superpower. France only made a few, but they had dozens.
¨DIt¡¯s a different ss from the start.
While such a noisy event was happening on Earth, Yu Ji-ha was looking down at the base on Mars in his assault armor.
¡°Is the next relic a supermassive particle elerator?¡±
¡¸Yes. It¡¯s the biggest and most important among the relics.¡¹
It¡¯s a relic that can create antimatter.
It¡¯s the only way to inflict effective damage on the gue horde for now.
To do that, they had not only modified the mass driver to capture it, but also built a full-fledged base on Mars.
The mining fleet had grown to five ships and carved out Mariner Valley with a gravity crane, and walkers were mobilized to assemble the base.
When Yu Ji-ha lifted his head, the head unit of his synchronized assault armor did the same.
The information from Siber satellite appeared in his sight.
The Earth was in a festive mood for killing the Beast-ss gue.
The media exaggerated the destructive power of the space monster every day, and the pilots who dropped the hafnium warheads became famous.
It was a bit too much for killing one Beast-ss, but he didn¡¯t need to pour cold water on it.
¡®I was worried that there would be a great chaos, but I¡¯m d it didn¡¯t happen.¡¯
What Yu Ji-ha feared was that people would flock to Megacity in a panic.
Except for Terra Ind, the rest was still under construction, so they couldn¡¯t move in yet.
And even then, they were going to set some qualifications.
It would be troublesome if they epted anyone and caused trouble inside.
Anyway, the appearance of the gue brought a lot of benefits to Yu Ji-ha, except for the possibility of being noticed by the main force.
¡®Now I can bring out my technology without worrying.¡¯
He had never cared about what others thought, but it was a big deal that the countries stopped doubting him.
On the other hand, the likelihood of friction with the US increased dramatically, but that was an inevitable fate.
To be the owner of Earth, he had to fight against the US eventually.
They wouldn¡¯t give in anyway.
Chapter 151: Korea Disappears
Chapter 151: Korea Disappears
One thing changed globally after the appearance of the space monster.
It was the surge of people who wanted to move into Megacity.
The existing Megacity was certainly fresh, but most people didn¡¯t feel much benefit from moving in.
They had to live under the system¡¯s surveince, even if they could tolerate theck of amenities.
Many people thought that fish couldn¡¯t live in water that was too clean.
And above all, they couldn¡¯t bring in their existing assets.
The standard currency of Megacity was credit, and there was no such thing as a secondary currency.
People didn¡¯t feel the need for money, since they could pay by face recognition when they came out with goods from the mart and other ces.
Of course, Megacity didn¡¯t confiscate their existing assets.
They could bring in gold or dors or whatever, but it was hard to exchange them for credits.
The onlinework of the United Human Federation waspletely isted from the world.
There was a way to exchange assets, but it was more inconvenient than expected, and there were not many people who had a lot of credits.
No matter what status and wealth they had outside, they had to start from the same line in Megacity.
Because of this situation, Megacity had fewer actual residents than its fame.
But when the space monster appeared, the situation changedpletely.
¨DI saw them fighting the space monster in France. It didn¡¯t work unless it was a new type of bomb.
¨DIt was so hard to kill one, but it turned out to be the weakest and smallest one. There¡¯s no guarantee that bigger and stronger ones won¡¯te.
¨DYu Ji-ha is the one who knows the most about the cosmic monster at this point, and he¡¯s building a megacity right now. Isn¡¯t that the way to survive?
¨DWell, our government says there¡¯s no problem¡ They said they¡¯re done preparing for mass production of Hafnium-2 warheads.
¨DWhat if the hafnium doesn¡¯t work?
That was the biggest question.
He was the best person to know about the cosmic monster and hafnium.
Why would he build a megacity for no reason?
¨DThere must be something that hafnium can¡¯t do. He¡¯s making a huge bunker to prepare for that.
¨DIt¡¯s not that hard to get a residency permit, why don¡¯t we try to get one?
¨DBut there¡¯s one condition. You can enter and leave the megacity freely, but if you want to be a full citizen, you have to give up your other nationality.
In other words, you have to belong to the United Human Federation to enjoy all the benefits.
It was a bit harsh considering that the United Human Federation was not a member of the UN and had some inconveniences.
And once you left the United Human Federation, you could nevere back, and the same went for serious criminals.
¨DThey deport you even if your CP drops. Isn¡¯t that too harsh?
¨DYou have tomit murder to be deported from the megacity. It¡¯s better to deport them than to correct them.
¨DPeople can make mistakes, and young kids can get carried away by the atmosphere and act up. But they don¡¯t give them a chance to start over and punish them¡
¨DAre murder or organized crime mistakes? Can you call robbery or rape a youthful indiscretion? The megacity has a small areapared to its poption. You have to cut off the rotten part of the fruit.
¨DMost of the things are non-crimes, so ordinary people won¡¯t go down to restricted citizens.
People paid attention to the ranks of restricted citizens and isted citizens in the megacity.
Restricted citizens meant that their rights were limited.
They could live decently with some difort here, and they could raise their CP by living normally.
But if theymitted a serious crime and became an isted citizen, they would be locked up in prison.
If you don¡¯t update your CP and serve the sentence assigned by the AI judge, you can¡¯t be released.
There was no parole, and if you caused any property damage, you had to pay it all back.
The prison was the highlight, but they were going to be imprisoned in space from now on.
That is, they wouldunch a spaceship without a separate propulsion system and amodate the isted citizens there.
The prospective residents were appalled by this dangerous idea.
¨DIt¡¯s like a space prison that I¡¯ve only seen in Sci-fi.
¨DThey just give them the minimum food and lock them up until they die. What a hellhole.
¨DThey can produce food cheaply with smart farms, and it¡¯s impossible to escape from the space prison. That reduces the maintenance cost.
¨Dck metal is expensive, but I heard it¡¯s different for construction¡ Anyway, the United Human Federation is a wonder in many ways.
¨DIt looks risky, but seeing how Korea¡¯s crime rate has dropped drastically, it must be effective.
The reaction wasn¡¯t that bad, because most of the prospective residents were people who would never be involved in serious crimes for the rest of their lives.
The space that Yu Ji-ha had set was very wide, and as long as they didn¡¯t go beyond that, they could live very well and happily, so it wasn¡¯t a big problem.
Those who were denied residencyined and spread rumors to various media outlets, but there was no change in policy.
They meant nothing to Yu Ji-ha.
Anyway, the cosmic monster not only gave Yu Ji-ha a good excuse, but also helped him increase the poption of the megacity.
The inquiries for megacity residency from the intellectual ss increased by several times, enough to embarrass each country.
Especially in the US, they had a strange experience of seeing the rent around Silicon Valley in California go down.
If you could get a job in Silicon Valley, you could easily enter the megacity, and that proved that the US could no longer attract the world¡¯s talent.
There were various discussions in Congress, but they couldn¡¯t stop people from moving to the megacity as long as the psycher-rtedw was ineffective.
Somewmakers grumbled that it was a dictatorship and Yu Ji-ha could do whatever he wanted.
¡°We have to deal with lobbying and negotiations to pass one bill, but over there, one word from the dictator can be implemented immediately. There¡¯s noparison in flexibility.¡±
¡°But a free democratic country is much better than a country ruled by a dictator. The dictator doesn¡¯t take responsibility.¡±
There was a lot of criticism within the US, but they couldn¡¯t stop the brain drain without a fundamental solution.
The megacity guaranteed the basic life that the US couldn¡¯t provide.
¨DYou don¡¯t have to worry about food and living anymore. Just research as much as you want.
The research results didn¡¯t lead to an increase in personal ie, but most of them were learning anyway because the megacity¡¯s technology was so advanced.
Especially in research rted to ck metal or ether, even decent researchers were no different from students.
Yu Ji-ha looked at the research building that was lit up untilte at night and smiled.
¡°Maybe there will be a second Lucia¡ Prepare to build a relic analysis institute. It¡¯s time to make it.¡±
¡°Yes, I understand.¡±
***
The supercavity train line connecting Seoul and Terra Ind waspleted.
It didn¡¯t take long for the line to be installed because there was no need toy rails.
The basic preparation was done by building docking stations at the departure and arrival points.
The docking station built in the southern part of Seoul attracted the attention of the event attendees with its unique shape.
¡°The surroundings are 21st century, but this building is 22nd century.¡±
¡°Oh, look, the train ising. Wow¡ it really flies in the sky.¡±
¡°It¡¯s funny that it flies in the sky without wings.¡±
¡°Do you believe that it takes 15 minutes to get to Terra Ind?¡±
¡°If you close your eyes on the train, you¡¯ll arrive.¡±
But not all thements were positive.
There were quite a lot of voices worrying that the emergence of the supercavity train would cause a serious poption outflow to the megacity.
¡°I want to ask the president what he¡¯s going to do about this. The poption of Seoul keeps decreasing.¡±
¡°I know. The apartment prices keep dropping¡¡±
The top-ss apartments in Gangnam, which used to cost 200 million won per pyeong, started to lose their value.
It was natural that Seoul¡¯s status would decline as people could get a stable living base by moving to the Pacific and South megacities.
As the poption of Seoul and the metropolitan area moved to the megacity, the real estate industry suffered a serious blow.
Some people seemed to have expected that the house prices would rise due to the construction of the docking station, but they only fell.
There was no need to buy a house in Seoul when the essibility was good.
In fact, many young people said they would work in Seoul and live in the megacity.
It was sofortable to live there.
¡°If you raise your CP a little bit, the supercavity train ispletely free. Why bother buying a house there when you can go to Seoul in 15 minutes?¡±
¡°Megacity Pacific is great. There are so many foreigners that it feels like traveling. If you prove that you have a job in Seoul, you get a bonus.¡±
¡°Now delivery will be super fast. They say it arrives within two hours if you order.¡±
¡°The streets are very safe. You can see drones and androids everywhere, and they put all the transportation underground.¡±
¡°Oh, there¡¯s the president.¡±
The somewhat strange thing about this opening ceremony was that President Yu Ji-ha attended.
Most people knew how much he hated ceremonies and events, so they found it odd.
Was it because Mikhailov, the newly elected president of Russia, was attending?
They all watched as the president¡¯s nended, and something caught their eye.
Arma¡¯s belly was bulging out as she walked behind the two leaders.
Had she gained weight when she always showed off her model-like figure?
People btedly realized that Arma was pregnant.
¡°Oh my¡ I only saw her working, but that wasn¡¯t all.¡±
¡°They have a child before they even get married. People these days are so fast.¡±
¡°Well, nowadays people don¡¯t really do things like marriage. It¡¯s because of the thing that Lucia is doing, some kind of monster that popped out.¡±
¡°The men who fell for that are pathetic. It¡¯s just a machine after all.¡±
¡°Lucia is like a pet. An android that only looks at me and thinks of me.¡±
Anyway, Arma¡¯s bulging belly attracted more attention than the two leaders.
Some reporters started writing articles warning of the possibility of session.
¨DThe second generation is unlikely to bepetent. Why session should not happen in this country.
¨DDictatorship is the lesser evil in Korea right now. But once society stabilizes, power must be returned to the citizens.
¨DIt is worrisome that the president does not speak about transferring power. Does he dream of impossible eternal power?
Regardless, Yu Ji-ha was having a serious conversation with Mikhailov, who became the president of Russia.
¡°You need a decisive purge. The oligarchs have grown under the protection of power and sucked the blood of the people. I will apply Russia to that side, so get rid of them overnight.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know if it will work. They have so many supporters¡¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll support you with drones and androids. The important thing is speed.¡±
Yu Ji-ha was also trying to build a system simr to Korea in Russia.
But Russia was a big country and the power and scale of the vested interests were beyond imagination.
Especially some of the vested interests who had received the favor of power since the 90s had heavily armed soldiers under theirmand.
A neat and quiet takeover like Korea was impossible.
A battle close to a war was bound to happen.
¡°Revolution requires blood. If it¡¯s the vampires who have sucked Russia¡¯s blood until now, it couldn¡¯t be better. Think of the cheers of the Russian people.¡±
¡°¡I¡¯ll try.¡±
¡°Once the purge is over, I¡¯ll introduce the supercavity train.¡±
And then the integration work will begin.
It is to unite all thend under the name of the United Human Federation.
Autonomy will only be given to some regions such as Jeju Ind and Okinawa, and the name of Korea will also disappear.
At first, the megacity and other regions will have equal status, but since thetest facilities will only be built in the megacity, their importance cannot bepared.
That was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s n to drive people into the megacity.
The two leaders boarded the train through an esctor.
As soon as the officials and reporters got on board, the train started smoothly.
The current speed was disyed in the cabin, which quickly exceeded 1,000 km/h and continued to rise.
¡°Wow, it doesn¡¯t feel fast even though it¡¯s so fast.¡±
¡°The train has big windows and it¡¯s very well made.¡±
¡°What? Is that the sea already?¡±
Seeing the sea meant that they had left the Korean Penins.
As reporters pointed their cameras at the window, President Mikhailov was thinking about something.
¡®He is indeed the only person who can lead Russia¡¯s future.¡¯
He had been thinking that since Putin¡¯s death, but it was confirmed by the appearance of the cosmic monster.
Russia was riddled with chaos and conflict.
Mikhailov had no clear vision and the vested interests were fleeing abroad with their wealth.
The Russian people wanted change, but no one knew what to do or how to do it.
Decades of dictatorship had corrupted the whole society.
In the midst of such turmoil, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s appearance was like a ray of light.
He had a clear vision and enough ability.
The only drawback was that he was not Russian, but that didn¡¯t matter anymore.
Russia could join the United Human Federation that he created.
¡®A United Human Federation that epasses Russia, Eastern Europe, and Asia¡¡¯
He suddenlyughed.
No one would have predicted this situation ten years ago.
He was walking the path of true human integration and no one dared to stop him.
The US seemed to have decided to step up, but it was doubtful if they could stop him.
They had passed a bill to subsidize their aviation industry when the supercavity train appeared.
The US chosecency over change and was bound to be obsolete, Mikhailov thought.
Just like France¡¯s economy, which was on a downward curve endlessly.
¡®Of course, they could make ast stand.¡¯
It would probably take the form of a war.
The US had the strongest military in the world and no one could underestimate it.
But what about a few yearster?
Could the US stop the United Human Federation that was mining resources in space after the integration waspleted?
¡®Joining the United Human Federation is the only way for Russia.¡¯
The only good thing was that Russia¡¯s industry had nothing much to lose.
As President Mikhailov thought this far, the train slowed down.
He lifted his head and looked at the scenery around him, surprised.
¡°Have we arrived already?¡±
President Yu Ji-ha smiled and got up from his seat next to him.
¡°Yes, this is Terra Ind. Let¡¯s have lunch here and return to Seoul.¡±
He wondered if this was the future of integration, as it took less than an hour to travel between the ind in the North Pacific and the Korean Penins.
President Mikhailov got off the train with his tongue out.
***
The Seoul-Terra Ind route was the first to introduce the supercavity train.
The emergence of this train shook the world¡¯s stock market, and the aviation and railway stocks plunged into the abyss.
There was no way topete with it.
Many bureaucrats and industry officials tried the supercavity train and submitted reports that there was no answer.
Russia and Germany announced the introduction of the supercavity train immediately, and India and Australia also started to seriously consider it.
But other countries were different.
¨DThe supercavity train is amazing. But we have too much to lose.
¨DThere are more than 800,000 jobs in the domestic aviation industry¡ If the supercavity train is introduced, they will lose their jobs. We can¡¯t introduce it.
¨DWhat about the railway? The rails and all the systems that we have been maintaining since 10 years ago are useless. We can¡¯t abandon them.
Especially, the US opposition was formidable.
Congress sent an investigation team to Korea, and the White House held several working-level meetings to devise countermeasures.
But there was no solution in the first ce.
With the advent of the supercavity train, most of the transport tforms were on their way out.
Trying to stop it was like epting inefficiency.
Canada, which was watching the US¡¯s reaction, quietly introduced one supercavity train and put it on the route connecting Toronto and Vancouver.
Since it was a route close to the US, many Americans also used it and showed disbelief.
¡°How can it cross the continent in less than an hour? What did they make?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know what the principle of this train is. But it¡¯s clear that we have to introduce it right away.¡±
Despite these opinions, the US government did not move.
They had to consider the votes of many industry workers and their families.
In contrast, the United Human Federation gradually introduced the supercavity train to various routes.
A direct route between Moscow and Terra Ind was created, and it was also connected to Canada and Australia.
Most importantly, the megacity Afghanistan in the Middle East was connected, making the transportation of goods easier.
Various regions were united under the name of the United Human Federation.
Yu Ji-ha held a press conference in this atmosphere.
The reporters were more interested in Arma, who was standing behind him with a full belly.
Was it a boy or a girl?
But when Yu Ji-ha opened his mouth, everyone stopped breathing for a moment.
¡°From now on, Korea as a country will disappear. Korea will be integrated into the United Human Federation and remain as one region.¡±
¡°So¡ you¡¯re changing the name?¡±
A reporter asked, but Yu Ji-ha shook his head.
¡°It¡¯s not just changing the name, but bing part of the United Human Federation. Nine megacities and other regions make up the United Human Federation.¡±
¡°What about Seoul?¡±
¡°It will belong to the others.¡±
A staggering reality came to them, where a huge city with a poption of nearly 10 million was relegated to the others.
It was a destructive policy beyond radical, but the reporters knew that this would also be epted.
There was no possibility of withdrawal since Yu Ji-ha announced it himself.
¡°The United Human Federation includes the Korean Penins, Manchuria, East Siberia and Okinawa inds, and the megacity Afghanistan. The supercavity train and cargo ships will connect these nine megacities.¡±
¡°What is the ultimate goal of the United Human Federation with such a huge territory¡¡±
The reporters held their breath here.
They expected him to make a statement that would anger the US.
It seemed natural to have such a perception, as Yu Ji-ha¡¯s actions so far suggested that world domination was his goal.
But what came out of his mouth was an unexpected statement.
¡°Survival. We have to do our best to survive. That time wille soon.¡±
The atmosphere eased a bit.
The reporters took survival in a different sense.
¡°You don¡¯t mean surviving from the cosmic monsters, do you?¡±
¡°Nah, no way. The alliance fleet killed it with one shot of hafnium bomb. The others will be simr.¡±
¡°It bothers me that they said it was the weakest and smallest individual.¡±
¡°Well, that means we should be careful. That¡¯s more important than friction with the US.¡±
¡°Maybe it means that it¡¯s hard to manage when the territory isrge. There might be security gaps¡¡±
¡°By the way, United Human Federation sounds a bit strange.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know what happened to the UN. I know that the United Human Federation didn¡¯t join.¡±
When the reporters were about to ask questions about this content, Yu Ji-ha said.
¡°That¡¯s all for the press conference.¡±
As he left, Arma, who was pretending to be pregnant, followed him while stroking her belly.
She must be due soon.
Chapter 152: Deepening Conflict
Chapter 152: Deepening Conflict
In August 2032, thest soldier who had enlisted in the United Human Federation was discharged, leaving no more soldiers in the federation.
The number of nonmissioned officers and officers also continued to decrease, staying at 10% and scheduled to be transferred to the reserve by next year.
The units and facilities they used were dismantled one by one, leaving only thend behind.
The artificial intelligence army controlled by Lucia reced the traditional army.
The Ministry of National Defense and other military agencies were disbanded and reced by the Unified Space Force under Lucia¡¯s directmand.
As the name suggested, this force did not have any divisions such as army, air force, or navy.
The main force was the Earth Fleet under themand of the Unified Space Force, and most of the power projection was done by this fleet.
The fleet¡¯s operational range was the entire Earth, and when it first showed its presence, people who had mocked its arrogant name all shut their mouths.
As the Earth Fleet became the main force of the United Human Federation, various weapon systems became obsolete and discarded.
A huge amount of weapons, from thetest tanks like K-3 to warships, helicopters, and rifles, lost their owners.
Lucia had tried to recycle these weapons, but neighboring countries showed interest.
Rahul Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India, visited the Korean Penins with a military advisory group and expressed his satisfaction after inspecting various weapon systems.
¡°Korea¡ no, these are obsolete equipment for the United Human Federation, but they are enough for us. I like all the tanks, armored vehicles, and self-propelled guns¡ I hope to buy them at a reasonable price.¡±
Lucia agreed readily as India had a good rtionship and the price was fair.
¡°Actually, we haven¡¯t had any training since the war ended. We will send them to you after proper maintenance.¡±
¡°We wee that. We would like to look around some other weapons with the advisory group.¡±
¡°Sure.¡±
That¡¯s how India started a rush of countries to introduce weapons to the Korean Penins.
Korean-made weapons had always been popr for their decent performance at a low price, but the situation had changedpletely in recent years.
The K-3 tank, which showed a shocking tactic in the East Asian War, was so popr that many countriespeted to introduce it.
It was the only tank that had a chassis made of ck metal and equipped with a railgun and an ion thruster.
ck metal was so expensive that even the United States had to settle for armoring it, and the railgun had secured pration power but failed to reduce power consumption and gave up on mounting it.
It also included a 3D battlefield system using drones, which made it unbeatable in tank warfare.
The K-3 tanks left after giving them to Russia were about 300 units, but they were sold out in no time.
People expected a power vacuum naturally, but they didn¡¯t care anymore.
¨DThey¡¯re going to announce new weapons at a press conference anyway.
¡ªThebat walkers were impressive in performance, but weak in visuals. I hope the new ones are more intimidating.
¡ªDo we even need tanks? The Earth Fleet is floating in the sky.
Lucia had sold all the K-3 tanks she had, but that didn¡¯t mean she didn¡¯t need tanks.
She couldn¡¯t defend the megacity with just the Earth Fleet.
¡°We¡¯ll need some security forces for the megacity when ites under attack.¡±
She felt a bitcking with drones, androids, andbat walkers.
They were all equipped with ion thrusters, so they had great mobility, but they were too small to exert greatbat power.
There was also a limit to the hafnium-2 warheads.
So Arma designed a new Taran with a power cell.
This was a version that improved the mass production of the Taran from Earth in 2180 and changed some parts.
It faithfully inherited the performance of the original and even included the function of giving instructions to the surroundings by receiving data from the gravity radar.
It had a long operating time as it had a power cell equivalent to Arma¡¯s, and more importantly, it could detect and fight the enemy by linking with the Sibir satellite.
In other words, Taran acted as abatmander.
It couldn¡¯t fly, but it could jump high with its ion thruster and hide and cover itself autonomously.
This Taran appeared as soon as the K-3 tanks disappeared from the Korean Penins.
People were startled by the appearance of a giant spider-shaped mobile weapon, but then they felt relieved and thought it made sense.
¨DThe president wouldn¡¯t just leave a power vacuum.
¨DIt¡¯s cool, but it¡¯s kind of gross because it¡¯s a spider¡
¨DI saw itsbat demonstration. It hid behind a building and shot a railgun with its arm. It has a cute side to it.
This Taran was barely out of the smart factory when it was given to Russia and proved itsbat power.
It swept away Ulygarhi¡¯s soldiers who opposed President Mikhailov¡¯s reform n.
They were called soldiers, but they were more like an army with armored vehicles and rocketunchers, but they were annihted without leaving anyone behind when Taran was deployed.
Drones and androids followed and took over Gazprom.
There was sporadic resistance, but it didn¡¯t matter much as a force that could massacre even regr troops was deployed.
President Mikhailov gained courage and proceeded with the purge, and the Russian people cheered.
¨DThe time hase to burn the vampires! For the great Russia, no, for the United Human Federation!
Many Russians wanted to join the United Human Federation because they had a high favorability for Lucia and experienced her technology firsthand.
There were many benefits to bing one.
Lucia promised equal treatment without discrimination and provided them with a hyperloop train first as proof.
Many Russians were looking forward to the construction of Megacity Russia that he mentioned.
As the United Human Federation and Russia became closely aligned, many countries looked at them with difort.
The United States was opposed, but they couldn¡¯t intervene and had to watch.
China and Japan, which were right next to them, were in trouble.
These two countries had hoped to improve their rtions with the United Human Federation after losing the East Asian War, but they were still lukewarm.
It was because Lucia didn¡¯t care.
She had secured all thend to build the megacity, and she had no reason to be interested in other countries.
She could introduce technology as long as they paid money, but both countries wanted more.
In short, they wanted to be treated like Germany, but Lucia refused.
¡°We haven¡¯t been friends for long. Let¡¯s not pretend that the past didn¡¯t happen and just keep a distance. That¡¯s the best.¡±
That meant they had to pay extra money every time they introduced technology.
For example, Russia, which had risen to Tier 0, was almost free of charge as long as they met some conditions.
They solved the docking station within Russia, but they only had to pay a symbolic ruble for the power car.
Germany, India, Australia and others could introduce power cars at $600 million, and other countries at $800 million.
To save money, Akagi Kenji, who became the new prime minister, pushed for Lucia¡¯s visit to Japan, but it didn¡¯t happen.
¨DThe president¡¯s schedule is too tight. It seems difficult.
¨DPlease try to arrange a visit next year if possible.
¨DI¡¯m sorry. The schedule is full until next year.
As the Japanese government clung to this situation, there was talk of hurting their pride internally.
¨DIt¡¯s humiliating. Since when have we been dependent on Korea?
¨DIt¡¯s because we lost the war! We have to pay a billion yen in reparations every year. What can we say?
¨DThe reparations make it so hard to budget. Can¡¯t we just ignore it?
¨DIf you want to go to war with the United Human Federation again, you can do whatever you want.
¨DI¡¯m angry¡ We lost to Korea of all ces.
¨DBring back the legendary First Army or something.
Japan was better off than that.
In China, there was a burning im that they could not admit that they had lost the war.
They said Korea had cowardly stabbed their weakness.
¨DThe People¡¯s Liberation Army didn¡¯t use its main force at all! In other words, we never lost!
¨DIf we mobilize our entire army and attack them, we can easily defeat Korea!
But President Wang Xian was shocked by this im and cracked down on it.
He felt keenly that if he went to war with Korea again, he would lose everything.
He had worked hard to be the president of China, and he was not willing to lose his position.
He ruthlessly suppressed the warmongers in his party who opposed him.
This led to a battle in Beijing.
Hecked the ability to rule the whole of China.
The People¡¯s Liberation Army did not respect him as a president.
He had surrendered without putting up a fight.
China was gued by political conflict and economic damage.
They had exhausted their national power by fighting two wars.
They lost a lot of investment when they lost Manchuria. It became difficult to create jobs through real estate development.
A shocking statistic of negative growth came out, and the authorities were very tense.
They would probably manipte the statistics, but they couldn¡¯t hide it forever.
The Chinese people did not look kindly on the leaders who had lost the war.
The internal conflict was at its peak, and it was only a matter of time before it exploded.
Meanwhile, the United Human Federation quietly did their own thing.
Theyunched satellites with unknown purposes and dered that they had started developing Mars.
They had moved on to mining resources on Mars after the Moon.
Everything was fine until a Mars probe sent by the United States captured an unexpected sight.
There was a huge base in Mariner Valley.
***
¡°What a nice base. They hid it cleverly between the valleys.¡±
¡°It¡¯s almost half the size of Manhattan. It¡¯s much bigger than the Moon base.¡±
¡°What are they making on the outskirts? Is that a spaceship? What is it for?¡±
¡°Nobody knows.¡±
NASA immediately reported this fact, and the White House investigated it.
They confirmed that it was the United Human Federation¡¯s base.
They asked the United Human Federation for the truth, but they got a ridiculous answer.
¨DWhat¡¯s wrong with building a base there?
¨DIsn¡¯t the base too big? And they¡¯re making a spaceship there. Isn¡¯t that a vition of the space treaty?
¨DThe United Human Federation is not a member of the UN.
¨DAnyway, reveal the size and purpose of the base and the spaceship.
¨DWe refuse. It¡¯s none of America¡¯s business.
When the negotiation failed, the United States criticized the United Human Federation indirectly in the name of the White House.
¡°Space belongs to all of us. But the United Human Federation is building a huge base on Mars and privatizing it. We don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on there¡¡±
¡°We urge the United Human Federation once again. Leave Mars in peace. And reveal the size and purpose of the base and the spaceship. The United States will pursue justice to the end.¡±
It was unclear how revealing the base and the spaceship was rted to justice.
The United States publicly criticized the United Human Federation, and other countries became interested.
¨DThe United Human Federation must have a reason to be interested in Mars. There must be something there.
¨DMaybe it¡¯s something like the ether core that came from outer space. Maybe Lucia foresaw it with her ability.
¨DAnyway, we can¡¯t just sit still. We have to go to Mars.
Thus, many countries dered that they would go to the Moon and Mars.
Ironically, they could do this thanks to the United Human Federation.
They had found a way to enter space at a low cost, thanks to the technology transfer of ck metal and ion thrusters.
The United States announced that they would build bases on the Moon and Mars, and the EU alsounched their own exploration.
Then, the United Human Federation announced an unexpected news.
They had discovered a new metal on Mars.
¨DWe decided to call this metal mithril. ¨DMithril is a shiny silver metal that enhances the abilities of psychers.
¨DIf you feel insufficient in transforming,e to Terra Ind. We will help you.
The psychers around the world were intrigued by the words that could enhance their abilities.
¡°I don¡¯t know how it enhances abilities.¡±
¡°From what I see, it seems like they insert mithril into the body¡ Wouldn¡¯t that hurt?¡±
¡°They said it only hurts a little during the procedure and it gets better over time. There are no side effects either.¡±
¡°The condition for the procedure is to stay on Terra Ind for a month¡ I guess I can think of it as a trip.¡±
There was no problem in going there since the travel restrictions for psychers had been lifted.
Many psychers visited Terra Ind with money.
And as they stayed there, they experienced the wonders of Megacity firsthand.
¡°Damn, there¡¯s so much to enjoy!¡±
¡°This is heaven¡ I can gamble as much as I want and have androids! Why did I suffer so much until now?¡±
¡°They said they pay twice as much as before. Should I just settle here?¡±
There were more than a few psychers who thought like this.
If they thought about it, there was no reason to be loyal to their country in this day and age.
The country had exploited them just because they had psycher abilities.
They paid them decent sries, but they didn¡¯t have good memories of working until they were exhausted and vomiting blood.
But the United Human Federation was different.
On Terra Ind, psychers could have everything they wanted.
A sry of over $500,000, the right to buy androids first, and the benefit of using the United Human Federation¡¯s infrastructure at a low cost.
And above all, they could get a house in the center of Megacity if they registered as citizens!
The psychers who had been paying a lot of rent were tempted.
¡°This ce is amazing¡ Everything is fantastic.¡±
¡°Themonnguage is English and there are many people¡ It¡¯s not much different from home.¡±
¡°¡Should I just live here?¡±
Thus, the psychers who stayed in Megacity for the procedure began to obtain residency one by one.
The countries didn¡¯t care at first.
Getting residency didn¡¯t mean giving up their nationality, and it was beneficial if the psychers came back after the procedure.
But then, the psychers started to register as full citizens one by one.
They didn¡¯t feel any value in returning to their home country after living happily andfortably in Megacity.
They could bring their families with them, so there was no risk.
And the United Human Federation took care of their assets in their home country.
As the psychers began to abandon their original nationality, the countries were rmed.
¨DYou shoulde back after getting the procedure. Why are you staying there? Return immediately.
¨DThe United Human Federation must stop taking away our psychers.
But the United Human Federation calmly answered.
¨DThe psychers join the United Human Federation because they get better treatment. You should improve your treatment too.
¨DWhere in the world is there a ce that blocks free immigration? We never forced them. It¡¯s their choice.
¨DIf you try to scrap the psycher visit agreement, the technology agreement will be scrapped as well.
Then the countries realized that they had fallen into Yu Ji-ha¡¯s trap.
That terrible dictator didn¡¯t give them technology for nothing.
He baited them with a huge technology transfer and then lured them into naturalization with all kinds of temptations.
It was infuriating.
But they couldn¡¯t break the technology agreement either.
They were making a fuss about entering space, but it was impossible without ion thruster technology.
Several media outlets in the United States criticized this behavior.
¡°Lucia¡¯s trademark is to give only one choice. But this is too much. The United Human Federation is sucking up the world¡¯s resources, wealth, and power.¡±
¡°And yet they refuse to join the UN and don¡¯t evenmunicate at all. They need a responsible attitude to rise as a true superpower.¡±
Just then, a statistic came out that five hundred psychers in the United States had renounced their nationality, and it grabbed the Congress by the neck.
¨DThe psychers are literally leaking out. What is the White House doing? Scrap the agreement now!
¨DIf we scrap it, the technology agreement will also be automatically scrapped. If Congress agrees, we will proceed.
The Baldwin administration was exhausted by the constant boycott of Congress.
He was a substitute in the first ce, and his term was too much for him. He already had a lot of criticism that he was ame duck.
So he was dragged around by Congress¡¯s demands.
If he could have run for re-election, Baldwin would have cooperated fully with Lucia, but reality was not so.
Anyway, at Congress¡¯s request, the psycher visit agreement was scrapped and the technology agreement was suspended.
They stopped any more leakage, but the psychers who were suddenly banned from leaving the country were very dissatisfied.
¡°Are you kidding me? I don¡¯t understand why you¡¯re blocking my departure. What have you done for me?¡±
¡°Congress has always criticized the United Human Federation for being unfree, but look at this now. Where is the free and just America?¡±
Despite their fierce criticism, Congress ignored their position.
They knew that talking to them would only make things awkward, so they didn¡¯t bother.
The United States was able to prevent the leakage of psychers thanks to their quick action.
They also caught up with about 90% of the United Human Federation¡¯s technology, so they didn¡¯t suffer much damage.
But France was a different story.
The country that shouted for tolerance allowed their psychers to travel and ended up losing 30% of them in less than a month.
They were fed up with the poor treatment and the verbal abuse from President Marie Le Pen.
One psycher even called his arrival to the United Human Federation an asylum.
¡°Don¡¯t trust the Aether International Research Institute. It¡¯s only shy on the outside, but in reality, it¡¯s no different from a concentration camp. Psychers are suffering there right now.¡±
¡°We won¡¯t go back to France. It¡¯s not free or equal there. The managers treat us likeb rats.¡±
It was strange that France, which had always emphasized freedom, was oppressive to psychers.
The French government immediately denied it, but it was not a convincing exnation.
When other countries started to investigate the issue, President Marie Le Pen closed the institute with the excuse of interior work.
¡°The current institute is not enough to satisfy people from different cultures. We will do some renovation, so please postpone the investigation.¡±
This ridiculous measure made the governments of other countries hurry to bring back their psychers.
They didn¡¯t know what would happen if they left them there under the pretext of joint research.
The French people who heard this news through the media were shocked as if they had been struck by lightning.
¡°Confinement and verbal abuse? Where did freedom, equality, and fraternity go?¡±
¡°We have to impeach this crazy president. Before the worldughs at France!¡±
As the situation progressed, France suddenly started to bite at the United Human Federation.
¨DWe need to investigate if the French people who obtained the United Human Federation nationality were treated oppressively. Let us meet them.
The United Human Federation¡¯s answer was simple.
¨DMeeting and persuading them is up to you.
It was an attitude that showed confidence that they wouldn¡¯t lose their psychers.
In fact, none of the psychers regained their French nationality even though the French government tried to persuade them.
They hesitated because of the use that they couldn¡¯t return to Megacity if they left.
¨DLook, the United Human Federation is more oppressive than us. Nationality should be freely acquired.
¨DThat¡¯s fine, but France has no right to say anything after treating psychers likeb rats. I don¡¯t know if we can go on vacation freely now.
¨DDon¡¯t nder us or we¡¯ll warn you.
¨DIt¡¯s not nder. The psychers who were held by you testified themselves. If you don¡¯t believe it, we¡¯ll call them again and let you hear their testimony.
¨DThere¡¯s nothing more to say with a country ruled by a dictator like Hitler.
As the tension between the two countries rose, the United Human Federation seeded in retrieving a supermassive particle elerator, a relic of the prophet, from their Mars base.
The mass capture created an ether field and retrieved a relic that was 650 meters long.
Lucia finally breathed a sigh of relief.
¡°I¡¯m d. Since we¡¯re here, let¡¯s try the antimatter bomb explosion test. The simtion was perfect and we did the maintenance, but you never know.¡±
There were 100 one-gigaton antimatter bombs loaded on the Settler, and they were producing one every few months.
ording to Arma¡¯s calction, they would explode perfectly, but they still had to test it.
¡¸Is it okay to reveal the antimatter bomb test? We can¡¯t hide it.¡¹
The explosion scale was no joke, since it was a weapon to exterminate the gue.
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. They¡¯ll find out anyway from the earthquake. We can just say it was a meteor.¡±
ording to the roadmap, they weren¡¯t supposed to reveal the antimatter bomb yet, but she was in a hurry because she didn¡¯t know when the gue would attack.
Arma didn¡¯t say anything and started preparing.
Chapter 153: Playing with Fire
Chapter 153: ying with Fire
They added an assault armor maneuver test to the antimatter bomb explosion test.
It was more like checking Yu Ji-ha¡¯s physical limit than a maneuver test.
He had undergone a modification procedure, but it was far from his original body.
Arma suggested that they should prepare in advance in case they had to fight the gue with the assault armor, and Yu Ji-ha agreed.
¡°I don¡¯t think I can sync more than 95% with this body, but I have no choice if I have to fight.¡±
In a battle with the gue, a moment of 0.01 seconds could decide life and death.
If they hesitated even a little, an attack woulde immediately, and the pilot had to feel and react rather than think.
But there was always a slight dy due to the BMI that connected the pilot and the assault armor.
That dy was expressed as a sync rate, and Yu Ji-ha¡¯s original body never dropped below 99.995%.
Compared to a motion detector, it meant that a dy zone was formed within 0.005 seconds.
It was an unbelievable number considering that most pilots struggled to reduce it below 0.01 seconds.
But after returning to the past and using a Korean body, he had trouble raising it above 95%.
The modification procedure was already done, so this was probably the limit of this body.
It was not just measuring simple reflexes, but looking at the overall potential, so aplete gic improvement was needed.
Like Yu Ji-ha¡¯s original body.
¡°I¡¯ll have to wait at least 20 years to use that¡¡±
If the gue attacked before then, there was no way.
He resigned herself to fate and continued hisst stand until death.
Yu Ji-ha sat in the cockpit and synced with his machine, Dingo.
The number disyed on the console was close to 95%, but he still felt a sense of alienation.
He thought he needed at least 99%.
¡®I can¡¯t fight properly in this state¡¡.¡¯
Arma reported as if she guessed Yu Ji-ha¡¯s mind.
¡¸We have set the mobility of the gue fleet to 95% in the simtion.¡¹
¡°They won¡¯t be so generous in realbat, but we have no choice¡ Let¡¯s start.¡±
¡¸Launching.¡¹
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s assault armor was shot from the Mars base toward the atmosphere.
For a brief moment, ether transferred from the Settler spewed out through the booster.
The assault armor was the second fastest thing that humanity had made at this point.
If they had to measure it, it could circle the Earth about 0.5 times in a second.
Of course, that only applied to linear maneuvers, and the speed would drop sharply if there was even a slight change of direction.
There were hardly any gue entities that had such speed.
The only confirmed one was a Titan-ss one that recognized Yu Ji-ha and stalked his.
It was ¡®Princess¡¯.
It was unusually small for a Titan-ss, so everyone mistook it for a Knight-ss or lower.
But its psy-field size and density were the strongest ever, except for the Queen.
It was so powerful that Yu Ji-ha, who had a psy-fieldparable to a Leviathan-ss gue, lost his mind for a moment from its mental attack.
It was small and slender, so everyone called it Princess, but they didn¡¯t know if it was really female.
They didn¡¯t even know if the gue had genders in the first ce.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s sight was filled with countless bright spots as she left Mariner Valley.
¡¸gue sub-fleet detected, bearing 1015, distance 32 megameters, altitude 1,572 meters.¡¹
¡¸Themander of the sub-fleet is identified as a Kraken-ss. It is designated as Theta One as of now.¡¹
¡¸Maverick One spotted. Transform start. Firingmence.¡¹
Dozens of Goliath-ss gues transformed into cannon forms and fired ion cannons.
Each white beam of light had a power that overwhelmed the ion cannon of Sibir satellite.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s eyes started to move erratically.
He was not in the real world, but in a virtual world inside BMI, dodging the gue¡¯s bombardment.
If he reacted even a littlete, he would vaporize with her assault armor.
Dingo flew erratically through the countless beams of light.
It looked like a butterfly that dangerously cut through the pouring rain.
But on its back was a vicious weapon called an antimatter bomb.
With two one-gigaton bombs, it could pulverize dozens of sub-fleets and still have some left.
The gues, including Theta One, fired desperately, knowing that.
But Dingo dodged all their attacks and reached close range of the sub-fleet.
It happened in less than 10 seconds since the battle started.
¡¸You have reached the effective range of the bomb. Detach the first warhead.¡¹
It was the most nerve-wracking moment.
If it was hit by an attack before detonating the warhead, both the gue and the pilot would disappear.
That¡¯s why detaching the warhead was up to the pilot.
Even a pilot with incredible ether sensitivity and reflexes could end up dead if they missed the timing.
Yu Ji-ha was a veteran among veterans who had survived hundreds of battles for over 40 years.
He seized the gap when the gues¡¯ attacks crossed each other and detached the warhead, then escaped from the battlefield.
They say running away is the fastest, and so was the assault armor.
As Dingo left the battlefield, the warhead was bombarded, but the detonation signal reached the circuit faster.
¡¸Detonation sessful. Prepare for shock. 3, 2, 1.¡¹
A sh that burned his retina white and a tremendous shockwave hit her assault armor.
He had trouble controlling it due to the vibration, but he retrieved his machine without a hitch and returned to Mars base.
¡¸Explosion test sessful. The power of the warhead was confirmed at 998 megatons.¡¹
¡°Phew¡¡±
He took off his helmet and sat on a chair in themand room.
The power of one gigaton was definitely amazing, enough to shake the atmosphere of Mars.
The shockwave circled the whole several times and caused an earthquake in Mariner Valley.
It exploded hundreds of kilometers away, but the warhead was probably fine.
¡°The warhead is okay. The problem is me¡¡±
¡¸The sync rate rose to 96% momentarily during the battle.¡¹
It was supposed to be an encouraging remark, but it was uneptable for an assault armor pilot who had to mark 99.99% as the baseline.
He had to find his original body.
He asked while resting.
¡°How are the people selected by the game?¡±
¡¸The highest sync rate is 62%. We advised them all to get the United Human Federation citizenship and most of themplied.¡¹
¡°What about the psychers? Are Fatima and Seo-jun getting along well?¡±
¡¸They are close but not lovers. They have been together for years and feel like siblings.¡¹
¡°That¡¯s a problem¡ They are twenty now, so they should have more opportunities.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s n for rebuilding the United Human Federation was progressing smoothly.
But he couldn¡¯t shake off his anxiety.
The timeline was twisted and the prophet¡¯s relics and the gue arrived sooner than expected.
He didn¡¯t know what that would lead to, but there was one thing for sure.
If he let her guard down, he would be annihted in no time.
Yu Ji-ha took a quick shower and boarded his assault armor.
Abat cruiser weighing over 100,000 tons was being built in the dock.
***
Several space agencies, including NASA, detected an unidentified sh on Mars.
Theputer judged it as an explosion as soon as it urred.
It was so huge that it swept away the surrounding sandstorms and changed the terrain.
The astronomers thought it might be a meteor, but it was denied by some clues.
¡°It¡¯s not a meteor because there was also a seismic wave. It must have been an explosion of at least 100 megatons.¡±
¡°If it was a meteor explosion, there should be a crater nearby, but we don¡¯t see any.¡±
¡°Lastly, considering the gravity of Mars, it should have fallen much higher than here.¡±
¡°So this is not an explosion caused by a meteor collision? Then what is it?¡±
¡°It must be an artificial weapon with a power of more than 100 megatons.¡±
The NASA director grabbed the report and headed to the White House.
A few hourster, the Oval Office was filled with a gloomy atmosphere.
They guessed it was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s doing.
Christina Guerrero, the national security adviser, ranted.
¡°This bastard finally detonated a nuclear bomb on Mars. We can¡¯t let this go.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it strange? Thend is wide, why did he have to explode it there¡¡±
¡°He didn¡¯t want us to find out.¡±
¡°Do we need to care about his opinion when he automatically withdrew from NPT?¡±
¡°Well¡¡±
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty had been rendered useless long ago by the development and proliferation of hafnium-2 explosives.
The United Human Federation generously shared the manufacturing method of hafnium-2 explosives with the countries that signed the Psyker Visit Agreement.
Thanks to that, at least 20 countries had bombs with a powerparable to tactical nukes.
The US had failed to stop the nuclear proliferation.
The Congress boycotted the Baldwin administration for not being able to stop it.
But what could they do?
Hafnium-2 was clearly not nuclear, and there was no reason to prevent its spread.
The appearance of the space monster also supported Yu Ji-ha¡¯s actions.
President Baldwin looked at the map of Mariner Valley with a weak eye.
¡°What if it was not a nuclear bomb but a new type of explosive?¡±
¡°ording to the observation, the power of that bomb was at least 100 megatons. You know that hafnium-2 can¡¯t produce that much power.¡±
The US had found out that it was hard to make more than tactical nukes with hafnium-2 after all kinds of experiments.
Although they didn¡¯t disclose it to the public, the United Human Federation would surely know it.
But President Baldwin was not talking about hafnium-2.
¡°Maybe he developed something more amazing.¡±
¡°That¡¯s absurd¡¡±
Guerrero, the national security adviser, shut her mouth.
It was not surprising that the monster who pulled out all kinds of technologies from his magic bag made a new explosive.
Chapter 154: The Day of Destruction
Chapter 154: The Day of Destruction
gues are ssified into different types of troops depending on their size and power.
The line that goes from Beast-Warrior-Knight-Goliath-Kraken-Behemoth-Leviathan is the regr type, and there are also Titans and other special entities.
Among them, the Knight-ss is in charge ofmanding the troops that are ejected from the Leviathan-ss.
The Goliath-ss and the Kraken-ss mainly y the role of a special force, and the Knight-ss stands at the front line.
Thanks to that, they have armor that matches the upper ss.
They have to be sturdy to withstand the bombardment and give orders in the front line where fierce battles take ce.
That¡¯s why they have the code ¡®KNIGHT¡¯.
However, from the perspective of the United Human Federation, they were not very annoying enemies.
Having heavy armor means having low mobility, and being amander means that themand system copses if they are destroyed.
Of course, since the gue¡¯s quantity was no joke, another Knight-ss would soon fill in even if one front line copsed.
The United Human Federation used all kinds of methods to dy and break through that.
It was also since then that they started to use assault armor for mobile warfare.
Anyway, this Knight-ss had intelligence unlike the Beast-ss that was no different from beasts or the Warrior-ss that only faithfully executed orders.
Even so, it was only to the extent of performing what it received from the thought waves emitted by the Leviathan-ss, but anyway, it had the ability to recognize the surrounding situation andprehensively judge the enemy¡¯s power.
That was what Yu Ji-ha was worried about.
¡°That guy is deliberately noting out.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. The concentration of Psyfield shows that it¡¯s time to open the cocoon.¡±
But noting out means that it is watching the surroundings.
It understands its situation of falling on a strange and is wondering how to act to inflict as much damage as possible.
This is an evolution from the gue¡¯s unique ability to detect and analyze the environment with Psyfield.
Humans could imitate it with gravity radar, but it was impossible to follow it perfectly.
That¡¯s what they say except for Yu Ji-ha.
He looked at the cocoon that was lifted by a barge and dragged tond and asked.
¡°Where are you going to drag that thing?¡±
¡°ording to eavesdropping, they seem to move it near Le Havre port. Exactly here.¡±
A wide sea was disyed on the screen she pointed at.
¡°It¡¯s a killer view. Are you nning to gather people there and execute monsters?¡±
¡°It¡¯s perfect for protecting the pride of the French.¡±
It would be so if Hafnium2 warheads worked properly.
Unfortunately, the Knight-ss was so tough that no weapon system of the French army could kill it.
They tried to warn them by using various channels, but they didn¡¯t even pretend to listen at Elysee Pce.
The bureaucrats wouldn¡¯t all be stupid, and it was usible that Marie Le Pen ignored them.
France was a country with a lot of presidential power, not as much as the United Human Federation.
Yu Ji-ha bit his tongue.
¡°Do you have to kill all the citizens of Le Havre toe to your senses¡¡±
¡°Should we intervene? But we¡¯ll have to reveal Settler¡¡±
To steal away the cocoon, Aether field wouldn¡¯t work and they needed a gravity crane that applied it.
¡°Not yet.¡±
It was premature for Yu Ji-ha, who showed all kinds of strange things, to reveal Settler.
It was apletely different story from having the ability to fight in space and having a spaceship.
Of course Settlerho was not a battleship, but anyone would think so when they saw a 700-meter-long spaceship.
They might be able to secure the cocoon by repelling the interference of the French army, but then they might have to fight an unnecessary war.
The probability of France dering war in anger was high.
He wasn¡¯t afraid of that, but he didn¡¯t need to fight a useless war.
¡°Contact the secretariat and prepare a press conference. The president will ignore it, but bureaucrats and soldiers will be different.¡±
And there must be many French people who are not crazy with hatred for Yu Ji-ha.
A littleter, when the cocoonnded onnd, the whole world saw Yu Ji-ha¡¯s press conference.
¡°The cocoon secured by France is very dangerous. A more powerful creature than before is sleeping inside. There is a high probability that you won¡¯t be able to kill it with Hafnium2 warheads.¡±
¡°No one should go near that cocoon. It is watching the surrounding situation right now. The best way is to ask America to use nuclear weapons in the sea.¡±
He didn¡¯t warn them coercively, but appealed softly, but it was uncertain how much it would work.
It was because the French people flocked to hear the news that the cocoonnded onnd.
The number reached hundreds of thousands, and the small port city of Le Havre was sick.
There were also voices of concern from within France, but they were buried by the enthusiastic cheers sent to the French fleet towing the cocoon.
¡ªThe monster from space dies in our hands!
¡ªLong live great France!
Hundreds of thousands of French gs decorated the Normandy beach.
Yu Ji-ha gave up all hope when he saw that.
He knew that the French people¡¯s pride was high, but he didn¡¯t know it was that much.
¡°I hope they¡¯lle to their senses and take a big hit this time.¡±
¡°But it doesn¡¯t seem like France¡¯s attitude will change.¡±
¡°The government may not, but the people won¡¯t, maybe.¡±
Maybe a revolution will happen.
It had to be done to prevent further damage.
***
At this point, few people knew what the French leadership was thinking.
The people gathered at Elysee Pce were cornered.
In reality, where the economy was falling without knowing the bottom, they were disgraced worldwide by being exposed to having done too much.
Especially, it was fatal that President Marie Le Pen lied.
She emphasized that her country¡¯s psychers were living a happy and truthful life, but the reality was different.
It was clearly revealed that they were receiving terrible treatment such as imprisonment, abuse, and violence.
In the process, testimonies of direct abuse came out, and her position in France was the worst.
Moreover, since the psychers who received such unfair treatment fled en masse, the ck metal and ether industries copsed immediately.
To solve this, it was difficult even with the president¡¯s resignation, and a dramatic change of perception was needed.
It would be perfect if it was the execution of a monster from space.
When she heard the report that he fell near Ennd, President Marie Le Pen cheered.
¡°This is an opportunity! Do whatever you can to bring that thing to our port!¡±
Advisors and military insiders repeatedly warned that it was dangerous, but she didn¡¯t even pretend to listen.
Isn¡¯t it a guy who got smashed by Hafnium2 warheads in one shot?
Although America and Britain intervened, it was a guy who could handle it alone in France.
She had a n to break through with the death of that monster.
But there was a problem.
President Yu Ji-ha of the United Human Federation warned that it was dangerous and stepped forward.
¡°That egg, the monster inside the cocoon is iparable to before. Although it is simr in size, it is very tough and will have little damage from Hafnium2 warheads. So please hand it over to the US military.¡±
She didn¡¯t listen to him half-crazy, even though he advised her to hand it over to the US military rather than the United Human Federation to avoid scratching her pride.
The aides repeatedly warned that they shouldn¡¯t do this and stepped forward, but she repeated the same words like a toy whose battery had run out.
¡°There is only one thing we have to do now. Bring that monster to France by any means necessary. We must execute it with our own hands.¡±
They had made many concessions to Britain to salvage the cocoon, but it was a trivial matter as long as they could kill the monster.
President Marie Le Pen had originally wanted to bring it tond, but the field staff had deemed it impossible because it was too heavy.
¡°It¡¯s almost 20,000 tons, too much for any ordinary barge.¡±
¡°What¡¯s so heavy about that monster¡ Just get it to Le Havre somehow.¡±
That was how the salvage operation began, resembling a military campaign.
The barge was escorted by an aircraft carrier group, and E-2C early warning aircraft and nuclear submarines were mobilized.
Those who knew the situation criticized it as a show, but most of the French people saw it as a splendid scene.
The leading media outlets of France made this scene their front page, attracting considerable poprity.
¨DGreat France, secures the egg of the monster.
¨DThe monster from space has been subdued by France. You can rest assured now.
It was unclear if that was true, but it seemed certain that people¡¯s perception of France had improved slightly.
The French navy had also done extensive research for this operation.
Based on the analysis of the fragments, simr to the US, they had concluded that the cocoon would not crack yet.
If the creature woke up during the salvage, they had prepared to bombard it with hafnium-2 warheads, operating the barge unmanned.
President Marie Le Pen had demanded that the distance between the ships be narrowed because she was not satisfied with theposition, but that had ruined all the ns.
Anyway, the French navy had seeded in salvaging the cocoon to Le Havre port, ignoring the US navy fleet lurking nearby.
The French people on the beach sang La Marseiise and cheered enthusiastically.
¨DFall, tyrants and traitors, you are the shame of all parties!
Singing the fourth verse was meant for someone far away in East Asia to hear.
The cocoon salvage operation was safelypleted and now they were about to start bombing with hafnium-2 warheads.
The Rafale fighter jets, symbolizing France, crossed the sky above Le Havre port and the citizens waved their gs and sent their generous cheers.
In that festive atmosphere, cracks appeared on the cocoon.
As soon as there was a change in the psychokinesis field, Yu Ji-ha noticed it first and Settlerho was second.
¡¸Cracks on the cocoon, identified as Beta One at this time. gue Knight level.¡¹
¡°Did the US finish their work?¡±
¡¸Yes. The aircraft carrier group has B61 warheads ready. The yield is up to 350 kilotons.¡¹
¡°I told them we needed megaton-level ones.¡±
¡¸A B-2 bomber is flying from Norfolk Naval Base with them loaded. It will be escorted by F-18 fighters along the way.¡¹
¡°I hope we don¡¯t need them¡¡±
Unfortunately, Beta One was visually inspecting its surroundings at this moment.
It must have been materializing what it felt with its psychokinesis field.
As amander entity, it showed a cautious attitude, but it would turn ferocious if it judged that the enemy was nothing.
Since it was in charge of closebat, it would cling to the city and that would be the end of it.
And not long after, the cocoon shattered all at once.
The shockwave sank the barge and shook the nearby ships.
Beta One transformed in an instant and dived into the sea.
The astonished French navy fired torpedoes at it, but it emerged at the pier without a scratch.
Arge yacht was split in half by its swinging foreleg.
¡¸Aether de confirmed.¡¹
It used ether particles like a de, which had been reproduced by the United Human Federation, but it was not very useful.
It was crazy to engage in closebat with gue in the first ce.
gue did not even roar and went straight to destroying the facilities on the pier.
People screamed and ran away from its huge mole-like appearance.
Yu Ji-ha looked at the scene of destruction with a troubled face.
¡°At least one or two cities will be smashed.¡±
The cannon fire started but it did not even make a scratch on it.
Thete-arriving Rafale fighters dropped hafnium-2 warheads.
Boom!
The huge explosion flipped over the river mouth.
But even though it was at ground zero, it did not suffer much damage.
¡°What? Why is that thing alive?¡±
¡°I-I don¡¯t know!¡±
¡°It¡¯s moving! It¡¯s entering Seine River along with estuary!¡±
President Marie Le Pen¡¯s face turned pale.
If it went up Seine River, it would reach Rouen and then Paris.
The poption of the Paris metropolitan area was over ten million.
¡°Stop it! Don¡¯t let it get to Rouen!¡±
But how could they stop it?
The cannon fire was useless and the hafnium-2 warheads did not work either.
The only thing left was the nuclear weapons that the US navy had anchored nearby.
The aides suggested that, but President Marie Le Pen shivered and got angry.
¡°Use American nuclear weapons on French soil? Never!¡±
¡°There is no other way, Madam President!¡±
The aide bowed his head and she closed her mouth.
Meanwhile, Beta One was flipping Seine River as it headed east.
***
An evacuation order was issued throughout the Upper Normandy region.
The roads were crowded with vehicles fleeing, and especially Rouen, the target of the monster, was a chaos of people screaming and running away.
The French army tried to stop Beta One, which was moving along Seine River, with all their efforts.
But all means were futile and eventually three more hafnium-2 warheads were dropped.
Octo, the pride of France, turned into a crater, but its advance did not stop.
Instead, it fired its uniqueser at the sky and several Rafale fighters fell like flies.
At this point, President Marie Le Pen was on the verge of fainting.
She was the one who brought that monster to France in the first ce.
She only realized that her presidency was in jeopardy rather than the damage France would suffer.
It seemed difficult to preserve this position no matter how this ended.
She naturally resented someone in the United Human Federation.
¡®Why didn¡¯t they warn me more strongly!¡¯
Yu Ji-ha had warned her several times.
He had contacted the US because he had no direct channel andter even announced the danger through a press conference.
She had ignored all those warnings.
¡®What do I do? How do I¡¡¯
Her thoughts were obsessed with preventing a disaster.
She could not stop the monster with hafnium-2 warheads.
The only thing left was her country¡¯s nuclear warheads and the megaton-level nuclear warheads that the US had.
But the former was suspicious in power and thetter would expose her to assassination threats rather than a problem of presidency.
As President Marie Le Pen hesitated, Beta One moved quickly.
After breaking through the troops prepared in Le Havre, the rest was the ins of northern France.
The creature trampled on the fields and destroyed the grain storages with its body.
It was not as fast as on the sea, but it was fast enough to overtake any ordinary vehicle.
Dozens of cars were crushed and the creature ran swiftly, crossing the Seine and thend freely.
The French Air Force tried to stop it, but it seemed to realize that it was not very hurt and did not even avoid it.
The only thing that momentarily halted the creature¡¯s advance was the bombing of hafnium-2 warheads.
But that was barely enough to buy some time for the citizens of Rouen to evacuate.
As a result, huge craters were created all over the northern ins.
No one could guess how many people died in the explosions.
The aides took a hard line.
¡°Mr. President, we have less than 20 minutes left.¡±
¡°We have tounch a nuclear attack on Rouen now.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not about the presidency. Do you intend to kill all the citizens?¡±
Despite the strong tone, President Marine Le Pen could not make a decision easily.
She knew that if she wasted time like this, the damage would get worse.
She wanted to me someone and run away.
¡®It¡¯s all his fault.¡¯
She was deluded that if it weren¡¯t for Yu Ji-ha, the monster wouldn¡¯t have appeared.
Looking back now, the world was peaceful until 2025.
There was no one who used ck metal and no one knew what ether was.
It was Yu Ji-ha who broke the peace.
He made France like this.
¡°If only he wasn¡¯t there¡¡±
¡°Yes?¡±
¡°Mr. President, what are you saying¡¡±
The aides were dumbfounded by her mumbling.
It seemed that she was referring to Yu Ji-ha, the president of the United Human Federation, but they didn¡¯t know why she said that at this point.
They understood that she wanted to shift all the me to him, but he was originally the leader of another country and he had warned them several times.
He had nothing to do with this disaster.
The chief aide, who judged that she was not normal, decided to contact the parliament.
¡°Prime Minister, I think we need to contact the United States.¡±
¡°That¡¯s the president¡¯s decision, not mine.¡±
¡°Mr. Prime Minister, Rouen will be in the st zone in 10 minutes.¡±
Most of the citizens of Rouen had evacuated, but thousands were still estimated to be there.
If the nuclear prepared by the United States fell, they would all die.
As the chief aide exined earnestly, the prime minister paused and said.
¡°¡Please switch me to Marine.¡±
A short conversation took ce in a separate room.
They couldn¡¯t tell what was said, but the defense minister confirmed that the prime minister had received authority.
Marine Le Pen was taken to the hospital and the prime minister contacted the White House.
President Baldwin asked several times.
¡°Can¡¯t you use your own warheads?¡±
¡°We decided that they were not powerful enough. Please finish it in one shot.¡±
He seemed to follow Yu Ji-ha¡¯s words btedly.
But because President, the Marine hesitated too much, Beta One had almost reached Rouen.
The French army mobilized and poured fire on it, but it evaporated with oneser attack from the creature.
The Knight-ss specialized in closebat, but it was not bad at long-range attacks either.
When Beta One entered the western area of Rouen, a B-2 bomber and an F-18 squadron that had refueled in mid-air spotted it.
They kept their altitude high to avoid being attacked, but they could see its dark shape very well.
¡°Geez¡ What kind of monster is that?¡±
¡°The Pentagon gave us final approval. Prepare to drop warheads.¡±
The missionmander operated the instrument panel to open the armament rack.
Suddenly, a thick beam of light rose from the ground.
It was an etherser that both officers were very familiar with.
¡°The monster fired aser!¡±
¡°It¡¯s not targeting us. Turn your rudder!¡±
The B-2 bomber was flying under escort by F-18 fighters.
Since it had a higher altitude than fighters, it wouldn¡¯t look big from the monster¡¯s perspective, and that would reduce its threat level.
But the monster¡¯s etherser persistently aimed at only B-2.
Could it be that it knew this side was important?
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s words rang clearly in the missionmander¡¯s mind.
¡°That monster has intelligence. It can distinguish between threats around it, so don¡¯t rush in or you¡¯ll be annihted.¡±
But he didn¡¯t expect it to be smart enough to do something like decoy shooting.
Anotherser pierced through B-2¡¯s wing as it performed an evasive maneuver.
It lured it with a weak attack and thenunched a real attack.
Theser cannon that melted even ck metal vaporized B-2¡¯s weak lower armor.
As the wing fell off, B-2 started to spin in the air.
¡°Mayday, mayday, mayday!¡±
¡°Missouri down! Hit by aser!¡±
As the pilots reported urgently, Beta One seeded in entering Rouen.
There were dozens of Leclerc tanks in front of it.
The citizens of Rouen who hid in the buildings and watched the standoff groaned.
¡°It¡¯s the day of doom¡¡±
The tanks¡¯ turrets soared into the air as a huge explosion urred.
Chapter 155: Earth Defense Force
Chapter 155: Earth Defense Force
¡ªThe Normandy Legionpletely copsed!
¡ªFour armored brigades and two artillery battalions vanished! No avable ground forces!
¡ªDeath toll estimated at least in the thousands! Currently, hundreds of thousands of citizens are fleeing towards Paris!
Gloomy news flew across France.
The US military had failed to stop Beta One, allowing it to enter Rouen.
Beta One easily crushed the resistance of the French army and smashed every building in Rouen.
There was hardly anything left by the power of the ether de that could cut through ck metal.
asionally, air force fighters were deployed to project firepower, but they could not stop it.
That¡¯s how Rouen turned into ruins in just over an hour and its aftermath reached Paris.
The distance from Rouen to Paris was less than 100km.
At the monster¡¯s speed, it was a distance that could be swept in an hour.
As the citizens began to evacuate chaotically, the already narrow streets of Paris turned into a parking lot.
Crackling sounds were heard here and there, and sometimes fighting sounds were heard.
If Beta One raided Paris at this point, it was certain that there would be casualties in the tens of thousands.
Fortunately, Beta One did not move right away.
Even if it was a gue, it needed energy.
It wandered around the ruins of Rouen and eroded any metal it could find.
Tanks and cars with turrets blown off, as well as various kitchen utensils, were absorbed by it as they came along.
Even streetlights and signs were pulled out and Rouen became miserable as if it had been hit by a nuclear attack.
Arma analyzed the eroding mode of it.
¡°The erosion range is short. And you saw the fighter jets, so you could transform into flight mode, but I don¡¯t see any signs of that.¡±
gue mimics human weapons.
It was obvious that it was innate, as even the lowest beast-ss had that ability.
But this Beta One did not intend to transform from its originalnd puppy appearance.
There was no way that it couldn¡¯t fly with a bio-ion thruster.
¡°It¡¯s not a biotic body, but an ionic body. It¡¯s not good at transforming.¡±
¡°It seems like they deliberately sent a creature that is not good at fighting.¡±
¡°That¡¯s the problem with that clumsy guy.¡±
Humanity was not ready yet.
It was natural that he came now when he would arrive 70 yearster.
¡°The prophet knows we¡¯ve gone back in time, but he doesn¡¯t seem to know much about the situation on Earth¡¡±
¡°Maybe the prophet is a system. It sends us a suitable solution depending on our choice.¡±
¡°I thought he was a superior being who transcended humanity far away.¡±
¡°The possibility is enough.¡±
Whatever the identity of the prophet was, it was troublesome to leave Beta One alone.
Although he couldn¡¯t say he had a good rtionship, he had no ill feelings towards the French themselves.
The French were also part of humanity that he had to preserve.
He wouldn¡¯t have to worry about them anymore after amodating 900 million in the megacity, but in the current situation, it was the right choice to help France.
But he decided to wait a little longer.
¡°I¡¯ll be treated like an enemy if I help now. How¡¯s the public opinion in France?¡±
¡°There is no official position, but there is not much opinion that we should reach out to us.¡±
¡°Then leave it alone. I¡¯lle out when I can see a clear effect.¡±
It was a meaningless act to fight among humans now that gue had invaded.
It was right to prepare for unity under the leadership of the United Human Federation.
He was willing to support any country if they changed their minds.
In fact, wasn¡¯t Russia preparing to integrate into the United Human Federation?
Even if not to that extent, they could introduce technology and develop their economy like Germany, India, or Australia.
But it was hard to untie the knot of hatred that had been tied up for a long time.
He managed to get surrender from China and Japan, but he couldn¡¯t say hepletely subdued them.
Except for Germany, the EU still growled at the United Human Federation, and the US did not stop doubting him.
It would have been more suspicious because of the reactive armor experiment on Mars at this time.
He didn¡¯t need to choose war to ovee this situation.
¡®The time for war is over. What we need now is integration.¡¯
He needed France¡¯s sacrifice for that.
It was ironic that he needed sacrifice for integration, but he couldn¡¯t help it.
It was only possible in dreams that all humanity would change their attitude and cooperate when space monsters appeared.
The important thing was feedback, which France would show directly to humanity.
This is what happens if you don¡¯t act now.
He turned his eyes away from the miserable city of Rouen.
¡°Don¡¯t say anything until you reach out first. Tell the secretary¡¯s office the same thing.¡±
¡°I understand.¡±
***
As Beta One destroyed Rouen and advanced to Paris, the evacuation of ten million people became visible.
Some even discussed the possibility of France¡¯s copse prematurely.
¡ªThat monster absorbed metal in Rouen and fully recovered. Now there is less than an hour left to Paris.
¡ªThink about it. The only way to counter that monster is a megaton-ss nuclear weapon. But there is no way to hit it directly.
¡ªNow, to kill it, you have to kill the French citizens along with it.
That was the biggest problem.
If Beta One entered Paris as it was, it would be impossible to handle.
It was best to kill it before that.
The French Prime Minister, Georges Morua, who received authority from the president, discussed countermeasures with the White House for more than 20 minutes, but nothing clear came out.
¡°As I said before, we can¡¯t prepare a megaton-ss nuclear weapon in two hours. Therefore, France must stop the advance.¡±
¡°There is no way. It doesn¡¯t budge with any reasonable power¡¡±
Morua Prime Minister appealed with frustration, but President Baldwin cut him off coldly.
¡°Didn¡¯t you use all the nuclear weapons? I know France has a lot of hydrogen bombs, if you use them, you can stop the advance.¡±
Nowadays, most of the nuclear weapons are hydrogen bombs.
France also finished the experiment half a century ago and had most of its nuclear power in hydrogen bombs.
The power was suppressed to 300 kilotons, but that was because he couldn¡¯t ignore the maintenance cost.
He couldn¡¯t spend 20% on nuclear weapons like Russia anyway.
Anyway, President Baldwin saw that France was still hesitating.
He didn¡¯t care about the nuclear weapons, he believed he could move someone.
Yu Ji-ha.
He was the one who gave several warnings close to advice to help France in this situation.
He didn¡¯t have toe out when he thought of the insults France had done, but he was not an ordinary person in many ways.
¡®Does he really have a weapon that can destroy that monster?¡¯
President Baldwin suddenly recalled the experiment on Mars.
An unidentified explosion that was neither a meteorite collision nor an earthquake.
It was hard to measure the power of the explosion that happened on Mars, not Earth, but it was reported to be at least 100 megatons.
It was unlikely that it was a hafnium-2 warhead.
That meant that the United Human Federation had tested a new type of bomb on Mars.
France and Britain had been observing Mars as usual, so they knew about the experiment.
However, apart from the experiment, President Baldwin did not like to interfere between France and the United Human Federation.
¡°Just in case you¡¯re wondering, the US is not a mediator. If you need help from the United Human Federation, you can contact them directly.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that hard? It¡¯s not like we¡¯ve been in conflict for a day or two¡¡±
Because of the insults they hurled at each other,paring them to Hitler, the rtionship between the two countries had deteriorated.
Usually, even if there was a conflict, they would still trade in the economic sector, but that was not the case either.
The United Human Federation had devised an economic policy that allowed them to obtain most of the resources within their own country and did not need France anymore.
Maybe if it was wine or cheese.
¡°President Yu Ji-ha has talked to China, who fired nuclear weapons at his own country. He will help you if France shows some sincerity. I can¡¯t guarantee it, though.¡±
¡°¡You¡¯re asking me to stake my political life.¡±
President Baldwin was surprised by the voice that sounded sad.
Was he so clueless about the situation?
It seemed right for this regime to be ousted for the sake of France.
¡°Then you might as well sacrifice Paris to the monster. You have 40 minutes left.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Prime Minister Morua hung up the phone and looked at the scenery outside his office.
The Matignon Prime Minister¡¯s residence was located in the center of Paris, which boasted a poption of ten million.
When he looked outside from his office, he could see people walking on the street.
There were no more peaceful people who rode bicycles or drank coffee while walking.
The narrow street was filled with cars and people were running around with their luggage.
They had realized that the monster wasing to Paris and had taken refuge.
This situation was happening all over France and neighboring countries were no exception.
The Belgian people began to escape to the Nethends and Germany and Britain called back all their fleets.
They probably didn¡¯t want to provoke the monster unnecessarily.
The EU headquarters started a meeting but Prime Minister Morua did not expect anything great.
¡®The only way to destroy that monster is with nuclear weapons.¡¯
And the only ces that had megaton-ss nuclear weapons were the US and Russia.
Maybe the United Human Federation had something equivalent to that¡
Prime Minister Morua grabbed the phone with his trembling hand.
To be honest, even if he contacted the United Human Federation, there was little chance that Paris would be saved.
He didn¡¯t know where Earth Fleet was, but it couldn¡¯t arrive faster than the monster.
That meant that Paris¡¯s destruction was inevitable.
¡®In that case¡¡¯
France¡¯s downfall was already a foregone conclusion.
After this incident, they would regress for at least ten years due to the aftermath.
It wouldn¡¯t be strange if the EU copsed after failing to y a significant role in Russia¡¯s invasion of Estonia.
Now, the world order was led by the US and the United Human Federation.
Sadly, France had no ce in it.
¡®But I have to save the people.¡¯
That was hisst conscience.
Prime Minister Morua took a deep breath and picked up the phone.
¡°Connect me to Korea, no, the United Human Federation. Call their secretariat.¡±
It was ridiculous that France¡¯s prime minister contacted them through their secretariat, but he had no other line so he had no choice.
Soon after, Secretary General Baek Seongmin realized the seriousness of the situation and connected him to Yu Ji-ha.
¡°Please help me, President Yu Ji-ha.¡±
Yu Ji-ha did not have a bad habit of mocking or stalling those who were in trouble.
He listened earnestly to his situation and Prime Minister Morua was impressed by him.
¡®We¡¯ve insulted each other so much that it would match Mont nc¡¡¯
Maybe he didn¡¯t care much about France¡¯s friction with him.
He asked him to open France¡¯s airspace as there wasn¡¯t much time left.
¡°We need to attract Beta One¡¯s attention and Earth Fleet is passing by Germany. If you open your airspace, we¡¯ll enter and lure it away.¡±
¡°Is that possible?¡±
¡°Beta One is intelligent, so it knows what is threatening to it. We have to get it away from Paris first.¡±
The gue reacted sensitively to ether, so it couldn¡¯t ignore the Earth Fleet flying with the ether reverse field.
But the important thing was the firepower to kill it.
Did the United Human Federation have that?
France didn¡¯t have time to wait for the US toe up with another n.
¡°Please.¡±
That¡¯s how the call ended.
As soon as Prime Minister Morua ordered to open the airspace, he received a report that Earth Fleet had entered through the border with Germany.
They seemed to have been waiting.
The French media quickly captured Earth Fleet reaching Paris¡¯s sky and broadcasted it.
¡°The United Human Federation¡¯s fleet, shrouded in a veil, has entered our sky¡ There are more than 20 ships!¡±
¡°It¡¯s not enough that trains fly in the sky, now ships fly too. Isn¡¯t that amazing?¡±
Earth Fleet was quite famous, but it was hardly exposed to the public.
Even the members of the United Human Federation had not seen it properly, and neither had the French.
In fact, France had no exchange with the United Human Federation, so they were more shocked by the flying ships.
¡°We¡¯re living in the 21st century, but those ships are from the 22nd century.¡±
¡°How far do they want to develop¡¡±
Some of them were surprised to learn that the former name of the United Human Federation was Korea.
They thought that France was leading the world with the US and Britain, but that was not the case.
The Parisians looked at Earth Fleet heading towards Beta One with fascination.
More than 20 warships were flying fast without making any sound.
They were only wrapped in a faint golden light that looked like an ether reverse field.
When Earth Fleet appeared, Beta One, who had just entered Paris, reacted.
***
The gue was a living creature made of ck metal, or rather, living metal.
But humans had analyzed them and found out that they were using Aether from their core.
They were using a simr method to the Prophet¡¯s artifact, the Aether receiver, to get ether from somewhere.
The source was probably the nest where the Queen was sitting.
Based on the final war, the nest was located on Jupiter and sent a huge amount of ether to its subordinate forces.
As they used ether as energy to operate, they naturally became sensitive to it.
Beta One headed to Paris after Luang for tactical reasons, but also because there were many psychics there.
Of course, modern psychics were weak beings who couldn¡¯t even be a mouthful for it, except for Yu Ji-ha.
But because they could handle ether, Beta One regarded them as a threat.
He didn¡¯t know why the psy-field was blocked, but he would think about it after killing them.
¡¸¡¡.¡¹
It was when Beta One entered the outskirts of Paris.
A formidable enemy appeared, unlike the flies he had encountered so far.
This enemy flew in the sky despite its huge size and, more importantly, scattered ether around.
It was a huge temptation for Beta One.
He turned his head quickly and started chasing Earth Fleet that had passed by in an instant.
He fired Aethersers, but the fleet deployed reflectors at the rear and reflected them.
Numeroussers decorated the sky of Paris, but the buildings were all intact.
They adjusted the angle of the reflectors to prevent damage to the ground.
As Beta One began to move away from Paris, the citizens cheered in unison.
They had forgotten all the insults they had thrown at Yu Ji-ha until now.
Meanwhile, Yu Ji-ha watched Beta One approach Earth Fleet through the screen.
¡°I can¡¯t believe he fell for this temptation¡ He¡¯s pretty dumb for a Knight-ss.¡±
¡¸It seems that he has been subjected to various constraints. The output of his Aetherser is also low.¡¹
¡°He must have broken the limbs of his prey and given it to a baby lion. Then he should practice his hunting skills diligently.¡±
In fact, there was no need to practice.
All he had to do was lure Beta One to a secluded ce and feed him a reaction bomb.
It was a version with reduced power by 1/1000, but it could definitely blow up a Knight-ss.
The problem was what came next.
The explosion of the reaction bomb was very different from other bombs.
He couldn¡¯t use nuclear weapons as the world¡¯s attention was focused on him, and it wasn¡¯t a situation where he could be mistaken for a hafnium-2 warhead either.
They werepletely different weapons.
He had to expose the reaction bomb, which was a huge burden for Yu Ji-ha.
¡°Arma, how long would it take for the US or Europe to make anti-particles?¡±
¡¸Checking¡ It would take 83 years to make 1 gram. The cost would be over 50 trillion won.¡¹
This was the situation even though they had invested a lot in particle elerators to elerate Aether.
It was hard to induce a proper annihtion reaction with 1 gram, so it was not worth much as a weapon.
If he used an anti-particle reaction bomb at this point, it would cause a controversy that was iparable to before.
¡®I have to reveal the Prophet¡¯s artifact.¡¯
What would the Americans say if they saw the golden record on Voyager that they hadunched decades ago?
This decision might cause another controversy, but there was no time to hesitate as the gue had appeared.
Yu Ji-ha looked at Earth Fleet and Beta One moving away from Paris and said,
¡°Prepare the reaction bomb and fire it as soon as ites out of the sea.¡±
¡¸Should I contact France to prepare for a tsunami?¡¹
¡°I don¡¯t think they need it since they all ran away, but it wouldn¡¯t hurt to do so.¡±
As he said that, Earth Fleet was fighting hard with Beta One and moving northward.
They didn¡¯t just hit him one-sidedly, but showed some tolerance by taking some hits as well, so Beta One got cocky.
Those bulky ships flew precariously as if they were about to be shot down.
He had intelligence, but he was so excited by Aether that he didn¡¯t realize that Earth Fleet was luring him.
Theck of orders from higher beings also lowered his judgment.
Above all, the weapons here were not threatening to him at all.
He asionally felt some stinging attacks, but he could endure them easily.
That¡¯s how Beta One chased Earth Fleet and plowed through France¡¯s vast farnd, gradually moving northward.
Finally, when he reached the coast and destroyed a vige, Arma manipted Sibir satellite.
The anti-particle reaction bomb was only mounted on Settler and Sibir satellites.
¡¸Arming pod ejected.¡¹
The hatch opened with a clunk and the arming pod with the anti-particle reaction bomb entered the atmosphere.
The arming pod separated the reaction bomb at an altitude of 30km.
¡¸Ion thruster maximum output.¡¹
At the same time, Earth Fleet ran away desperately.
Beta One noticed something falling from above, but he didn¡¯t think much of it.
As before, he thought it would be shattered by one or twosers.
He fired Aethersers, but the warhead had reflectors and sma shields for defense.
The weaksers of the Knight-ss disappeared without a trace and the reaction bomb descended to an altitude of 1km and detonated.
Particles and anti-particles caused an annihtion reaction, emitting dazzling light and tremendous heat.
A sun was born on the northern coast of France.
Chapter 156: Revolution!
Chapter 156: Revolution!
Beta One was powerful.
None of the weapons of human civilization could harm it, except for the hafnium-2 warheads.
A megaton-ss nuclear weapon could have destroyed it for sure, but Beta One did not stay still.
It showed that it was not weak against air attacks by shooting down the US B-2 bomber.
Although it preferred closebat, it had solid defensive measures.
Was it because of its splendid achievements that it becamecent?
Beta One did not pay much attention to the disaster falling from the sky, as it chased after the big ones that ran away with their tails between their legs.
It thought that one or twosers would erase it, as it had done so far.
But it was wrong.
The warhead that blocked thesers exploded above Beta One¡¯s head.
A total of 60 grams of particles and antiparticles annihted each other, emitting pure light and heat in all directions.
The ck metal outer shell copsed miserably under the force of the warhead that easily exceeded one megaton.
Beta One tried to restore its body by constantly transforming, but the outer shell copsed faster.
It had received a damage beyond its recovery limit.
¡¸¡¡.¡¹
The transformation stopped, and Beta One lost its outer shell and exposed its core to the crater.
The core was swept away by the shockwave and flew far away as a huge explosion urred.
Boom.
The power of the one-megaton reaction warhead was no joke.
The seawater around it was pushed away, and the seaside viges and facilities disappeared without a trace.
The concrete facilities were somewhat intact, but a few remaining vehicles rolled around like fallen leaves.
A giant ball of light like the sun appeared on the Normandy coast of the North Sea.
But the aftermath of the reaction warhead was not as severe as expected.
The st wave was weak, and there was no radioactive fallout at all.
It just cleanly erased the gue and its surroundings and disappeared.
That¡¯s why the United Human Federation used reaction warheads as their main weapon against the gue.
The destructive power was maximized by pure energy reaction, but the impact on the surroundings was lower than expected.
Of course, if it reached gigaton level, even the pilots who delivered it would have to worry about their lives, but the warhead detonated in France was only one megaton.
The power was significantly low, but for the humans of this era, it felt like the end of the world hade.
A brave announcer from a broadcasting station flew a helicopter and reported this scene from afar.
¡°The end of the world hase! Is it a nuclear weapon? I hope not. I hope I can survive after seeing that light!¡±
He had a chance tomunicate with the Elysee Pce for a while on board the helicopter.
¡°It¡¯s definitely not a nuclear weapon! Then is it a hafnium-2 warhead? We didn¡¯t have such a weapon, I wonder where it came from. Could it be America?¡±
¡°Ah¡ I just got some news. It¡¯s the United Human Federation! They say it¡¯s the Earth Fleet of the United Human Federation that detonated the hafnium-2 warhead!¡±
Many French people who heard the broadcast raised their hands and cheered.
¡°The monster is dead!¡±
¡°Ohhh!¡±
As this news spread, a sigh of relief came from the Elysee Pce.
But the owner of the Elysee Pce was not there.
President Marie Le Pen was hospitalized for mental illness and did not respond to any interviews with the media.
It was probably because she was afraid that her faults would be revealed one by one as the analysis of this situation progressed.
Whether or not she felt that way, Beta One was dead and France was in a frenzy of joy.
The Parisians who were on the street waved their gs enthusiastically.
Sometimes there were people who shouted out the names of the United Human Federation and Yu Ji-ha.
Normally they would have been beaten up for following someone like Hitler, but today they were generously allowed.
Rather, someone clumsily shouted out Yu Ji-ha¡¯s name and stretched out his arm, and others followed suit.
It was proof that not all French people hated Yu Ji-ha.
The Earth Fleet flew over their heads and gradually increased its altitude and disappeared into the clouds.
The situation was settled for now, but the real important thing was starting from now.
The French people who liked to debate exchanged opinions here and there.
¡ªWhy did they drag that monster all the way to Le Havre? Who decided that?
¡ªIt must have been Le Pen. She was cornered in many ways.
¡ªIf they brought the monster, they should have killed it cleanly. Why did they call the citizens? To die together?
¡ªThey didn¡¯t know! Who would have known that our France was so weak?
¡ªWe are weak?
¡ªWeak¡ At least weaker than America or the United Human Federation.
The French people realized that then.
It was the United Human Federation that solved this situationpletely.
If they hadn¡¯t been there, it wouldn¡¯t have been strange if Paris had been destroyed.
The casualties would have increased by at least hundreds of thousands, and the property damage would have been no joke.
The French people were not stupid, so they realized that.
They heard through the broadcast that Prime Minister Morua and President Yu Ji-ha had a meeting.
¡ªThe actual conversationsted only three minutes, and they helped without any conditions.
¡ªHe likesnd, so who would have known that he would ask for overseas territories? I would have given him Guyana or something.
¡ªNo way¡ If he was that kind of person, he wouldn¡¯t have raised the altitude of the Earth Fleet. He would have flown over Paris like a rebel army.
¡ªThe press conference is starting now. I guess they¡¯re going to announce something.
The French people never missed Yu Ji-ha¡¯s press conference.
Didn¡¯t they need at least some knowledge to curse him?
They watched diligently to use their repertoire in the debate, and thanks to that, no one didn¡¯t know his face.
His press conferences were so frequent that some people said he was more famous than their own president.
Russia and Japan were the same.
Anyway, although they hated him usually, they didn¡¯t curse him because he helped them with the Earth Fleet.
They all listened with a mindset of giving him a chance.
¡°Beta One has been confirmed dead. I sincerely want to express my condolences to the French people who suffered a lot of damage from the monster¡¯s rampage.¡±
¡°Now the Earth Fleet is leaving. I didn¡¯t ask anything from France. I just hope that the French people will look at me with a more open mind. We are the same race, and we are one.¡±
¡°More space monsters wille to Earth in the future. We need to cooperate to prepare for that time. Finally, I wish France¡¯s eternal development and prosperity. Thank you.¡±
The press conference was very short and impressive.
People gathered everywhere were shocked that he didn¡¯t ask for anything.
¡°What, is that it? We don¡¯t have to give anything?¡±
¡°My mouth is ashamed of cursing such a person¡¡±
It was only a few days ago that they chewed him up like a baguette, calling him Hitler or the worst murderer.
But he ended the press conference without mentioning anything about him.
¡°Maybe he didn¡¯t care about our curses.¡±
¡°He wouldn¡¯t have missed it, but it must have meant nothing to him.¡±
¡°He helps those who curse him and doesn¡¯t ask for anything, is he really the worst dictator? Didn¡¯t Le Pen or the government make us see him like that?¡±
¡°The problem started from the beginning. It was natural to resist when they suddenly imposed sanctions.¡±
¡°They need to fix that damn antitrustw first.¡±
¡°No, the EU itself is the problem. They were no help at all. The only ones who tried to help us were the US and the United Human Federation.¡±
The French people began to seriously discuss the existence of the EU.
They wouldn¡¯t leave the EU right away, but it was clear that there was such a sentiment.
And there was a favorable wind for staying.
The press conference that said they had no demands even though they mobilized Earth Fleet to help France captivated the hearts of the French people.
There were some sour looks at why they revealed that, but everyone agreed that it was better to make it clear to the outside world.
They had to nail it down so that no one else could interfere.
And everyone had the same perception of the French government.
¡ªThe Le Pen government must go. We have to rece it.
¡ªThe government bureaucrats not only watched the situation with no clue, but they were also the cause. What did they do instead of stopping Le Pen?
¡ªThousands of people died because of you! You should pay with your lives too!
As the rtives of the deceased cried out, the bureaucrats at the Elysee Pce returned to their departments or hid, iming they had work to do.
Protests denouncing them began all over France.
The verse in La Marseiise that criticized the tyrant disappeared in no time.
Instead, what people sang was a song that wanted a bloody revolution.
¡ªTake up arms, citizens!
¡ªForm your ranks and march on! March on!
¡ªDrench the fields with their filthy blood!
The wind of revolution was blowing.
***
The Beta One incident left a big scar on France.
The material damage was great, and more importantly, thousands of people were killed.
Rouen turned into ruins, and the damage suffered by millions of people who fled was no joke.
The economic situation, which had been steadily declining, began to plummet.
Especially, the financial sector suffered a fatal blow.
People began to fear that this world we live in could copse easily.
This was fundamentally different from natural disasters such as fires or typhoons.
¡ªWe can prepare for fires or typhoons, but monsterse out of nowhere and find us.
¡ªWe can¡¯t avoid or stop them. We just have to bear the enormous damage.
¡ªStocks and virtual currencies were no help at all during this process. While I was running away to Germany, what I really cared about was a piece of bread and water I bought from a stall.
¡ªording to Yu Ji-ha¡¯s press conference, more monsters wille in the future. But we are not ready at all.
It was a serious problem not only for the state but also for individuals.
Everyone relied on the national logistics system and did not even have emergency food or medicine ready.
As hoarding urred everywhere and fights broke out to secure food, a serious atmosphere of valuing survival began to form.
¡ªThe state does not protect us. The only thing that can protect us is ourselves.
¡ªHow do we deal with it if more than one space monsteres? Do we have to use nuclear weapons every time?
¡ªI quit stock investing and built a shelter in my garden. I can survive without supplies for at least a month.
The reason why France¡¯s stocks fell endlessly was because of this atmosphere.
Seeing their neighbors, family, and friends suffer, they realized that physical things were important.
This opinion was not only in France but alsomon in other countries.
¡ªGold, gold is important. Not some online data.
¡ªIt¡¯s lucky that France took Beta One away. It would have been a disaster if it came to Britain.
¡ªCocoon is falling on Europe twice in a row and no country can rest assured. A fundamental measure is needed.
A fundamental measure meant a global warning system and response n to stop space monsters, as well as shelters and supplies that could safely amodate people.
Suddenly, the world became interested in the United Human Federation¡¯s megacity.
That huge city had a poption density that easily surpassed the capitals of each country known for theirrge poption.
Some schrs presented research results that the poption density of Megacity Pacific exceeded 50,000 per square kilometer.
This was more than twice as high as Macau, which was famous for its congestion.
People who actually went to Megacity recalled being hit by waves of people wherever they went.
¡ªThere were really a lot of people. It was fun to y, but honestly, I was a bit tired.
¡ªThe streets were very free but also orderly. I felt for the first time in Megacity that this was not a contradictory concept.
¡ªThere were some troublemakers, but they disappeared at some point. Maybe they were expelled.
Perhaps only the management bureau knew the exact poption.
People focused on the functions of Megacity rather than the poption itself.
¡ªIt¡¯s an optimal ce to manage people by cramming them into a narrow area.
¡ªFood production is done by smart farms and energy supply is by nuclear fusion¡ Water is solved by operating desalination facilities with abundant electricity¡ Isn¡¯t this a huge shelter?
¡ªThe most important waste water and garbage are thrown to the sun using mass drivers. Perfect.
¡ªAbove all, the surrounding defense facilities are no joke. Railgun batteries and iron beams are lined up. There are also many facilities whose identity is unknown.
In summary, Megacity was a kind of shelter prepared for such emergencies.
People realized that now, but they didn¡¯t rush in right away.
It was risky to go and live in Megacity because they had achieved so far.
But it was a fact that the number of applicants who knocked on the door of Megacity increased.
Despite the global demand, the management bureau did not lower the admission criteria for Megacity.
The survivalist boom that swept the world shook the financial market.
Virtual currencies were treated as less than scraps of paper after being hit by a direct blow from the change in perception.
People realized that virtual currencies had no more value than a piece of bread in their pocket in a national crisis.
Arge amount of money flowed out and was invested in the United Human Federation.
The government and Shinra Group of the United Human Federation did not issue bonds or ept investments, but the stocks of anypany rted to them soared to the sky.
Thanks to this, the United Human Federation enjoyed prosperity even in a situation where the world economy hit rock bottom due to this incident.
The US was grumbling enough.
¡ªWe tried to save France, but the United Human Federation took all the credit. This is unfair.
¡ªPresident Yu Ji-ha must reveal what that weapon that killed the monster is. This is essential for the peace of humanity.
¡ªDidn¡¯t they tell each country how to make hafnium-2 explosives? We need that weapon too.
But there was no official response from Yu Ji-ha.
Instead, he came forward and argued for the importance of the United Human Federation as a systematic response organization against space monsters.
¡°What did the UN do in this situation? What about the EU? They did nothing. All they are doing is trying to get some scraps from the post-war recovery.¡±
¡°A loose alliance is not much help in a global crisis. What we need is bold decision and action. Only the United Human Federation has this power.¡±
¡°Please support the United Human Federation. We will protect you.¡±
This was a statement that directly challenged the US¡¯s feelings.
But the US showed some difort at best and did not immediately refute it.
After all, it was the United Human Federation that solved the French situation.
However, it was clear that some in Congress and the political arena had created a current that Baldwin was not enough.
¡ªHe was weak and pro-Yu Ji-ha. He imed to value America¡¯s interests, but it turned out to be ineffective.
¡ªWhat we need is a leader who will make America great again.
¡ªBaldwin was just a substitute for Bryant in the first ce. His role is over now.
As the pressure increased, President Baldwin seemed to sense his fate and held a press conference to announce his voluntary resignation.
This was the first time since Watergate.
He opened his mouth in a calm tone in front of shocked reporters.
¡°As of today, I am no longer the president of America. I had a lot of things and felt rewarded for two years, but I felt limited in my presidential duties and decided to step down.¡±
¡°From this afternoon, Vice President Richard Bernstein will take over. May God bless America.¡±
It was an absurdly short press conference and did not follow any formalities.
He may have wanted to resign from his presidency as soon as possible because he was criticized inside and outside the White House.
When President Baldwin resigned, both Democrats and Republicans expressed their wee.
¡ªHe was too dragged by the United Human Federation. He is not fit for our reality.
¡ªBernstein will lead America to greatness again.
The reason for this expectation was that he was an ultra-hardliner.
Bernstein was a politician who advocated beast theory beyond dog theory, iming that what the United Human Federation and Yu Ji-ha needed was not a muzzle but a zoo.
¡°Today we cannot see beasts in cities. All beasts must go to nature or zoos. This is a measure to protect all Americans¡¡±
At that time, this im was too hard for Americans to ept.
But as the United Human Federation pushed back China and Japan and expanded its influence to Russia, his influence within the party grew.
¡°We have to bring him back to UN. We have to lead the United Human Federation with America¡¯s initiative. This is our homework.¡±
Everyone apuded Bernstein¡¯s inauguration speech, but they had one question.
¡ªHow do you put a beast in a zoo?
Yu Ji-ha was not an ordinary beast, but a dictator with a huge power called the United Human Federation.
No country could stop him, and even if America stepped up seriously, there were not many cards to pressure him.
The only sure thing was war, but it became uncertain due to the French situation.
The whole US flipped over what they detonated on the North Sea coast.
The generals of the military sent a statement to the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff saying that no military action should be taken until they knew what it was.
They were worried that an idental war would break out under Bernstein¡¯s leadership.
Fortunately, this did not happen, but as Democrats who wished for Bernstein pressured the United Human Federation to reveal the identity of their new bomb, tensions rose.
¡°The United Human Federation tested weapons with 100 megatons on Mars as well as on France¡¯s North Sea coast. This data is evidence.¡±
The data contained irrefutable evidence.
It was not a meteorite or a nuclear weapon.
Hafnium-2 explosives had a low possibility because the US had announced the decay phenomenon when they raised suspicions.
Bernstein, who took over the presidency, was as fiery as his personality and had a sharp tongue.
As soon as he took office, he made a near-threat statement to Yu Ji-ha through the hotline connected to the United Human Federation.
¡°If you don¡¯t reveal this suspicion, we will take action immediately.¡±
¡°Do it. I won¡¯t stop you.¡±
Tension rose between the US and the United Human Federation.
Chapter 157: The Hegemon and the Challenger
Chapter 157: The Hegemon and the Challenger
The United States had been a superpower for nearly a century, facing several challengers along the way.
From the Axis powers in World War II to the Soviet Union and China, the line of rivals was impressive.
But none of them had managed to corner the United States.
In terms of hardware, as well as the resources and software at the bottom, and even finance, there was no real challenger to the US hegemony.
The Soviet Union was formidable militarily, but it had many fatal ws that prevented it from bing a hegemon.
China, which openly and subtly challenged the US dominance, had boasted a strong economy that waged a trade war with the US, but it copsed after a series of wars.
The US became acent lion, and there seemed to be no country that could challenge its roar.
Then the United Human Federation appeared.
This federation of nations, based on Korea, used its initial skill to gradually influence its surroundings and seeded in expanding its territory through war.
It did not just upynd, but also built an administrative system using drones and androids, and established an industrial base through extensive resource exploration.
The Si Group, which was at the center of the alliance, was no longer a merepany, but a core system of the nation.
At this moment, the Si Group was swallowing up domestic and foreignpanies by various means.
The scale of it was so huge that reports would take tens of thousands of pages, and everyone agreed that it was thergestpany in human history.
A US business journalist gave up analyzing the structure of the Si Group.
If that was all, the US might have acknowledged the United Human Federation.
But Yu Ji-ha exerted his influence on Russia and mobilized his military power to help France, and that broke the patience of the US.
That was clearly an act of challenging the US hegemony.
At first nce, it might seem like a benevolent act of helping a country in trouble.
But these two incidents resulted in weakening the US financial system and dor economy.
It was because people began to recognize the United Human Federation as a country that could stand against the US.
¡ªDidn¡¯t Yu Ji-ha fix Russia after Putin died and it fell into chaos? Of course, Mikhailov became president, but it would have been impossible without Yu Ji-ha¡¯s support.
¡ªThe US just stood by. I don¡¯t know if there was a n in the CIA, but in the end, they only helped Yu Ji-ha expand his influence.
¡ªWhat did they do in France? They deployed B-2 bombers and megaton-ss nuclear weapons, but it was the United Human Federation that killed the actual monster.
¡ªShouldn¡¯t they give up their superpower status by now? What are they doing with their satellite system that can see the whole earth and their aircraft carrier fleets that roam the seven oceans?
Especially thest paragraph dealt a fatal blow to the US pride.
They faced criticism for spending a trillion dors on defense every year but not being much help in a critical situation.
There was also a lot of controversy within the US over this incident.
They spent a huge amount of money on NATO maintenance and helped France with considerable expenses, but they lost their credit to the United Human Federation.
¡ªThere is a public opinion in France that they should stop hating Yu Ji-ha and improve their rtions. Theypletely changed their mood by killing one space monster.
¡ªThewmakers who incited hatred against Yu Ji-ha are resigning one after another. President Marie Le Pen will resign and so will the prime minister. There is a high possibility that a pro-Yu Ji-ha regime will be established.
-Yu Ji-ha¡¯s name is ringing in Paris, Marseille, Lyon. That should have been the US¡¯s share.
In summary, it was a story that France would change its attitude so far and be friendly with the United Human Federation.
Of course, they wouldn¡¯t get along right away, but there was a report that France would leave EU in the long run and try to improve rtions with the United Human Federation.
This was a serious crisis for the US.
¡ªIf France follows Germany out of EU, the US will lose its influence over Europe. It¡¯s over if Britain turns its back too.
¡ªThe fact that neither the US nor EU did anything in this incident made the French turn their backs. Something fundamental is needed.
That solution was an overwhelming initial skill.
It was not enough to just send US troops to various countries around the world and scatter aircraft carrier fleets across seven oceans.
They needed an initial skill that could travel 10,000 kilometers in an hour and project weapons with tremendous destructive power across the globe.
But the US didn¡¯t have that, and they had to face their shrinking influence with their eyes open.
Especially this incident caused a huge amount of money to flow out of the US stock market and various investmentpanies, hedge funds, and cryptocurrency-rtedpanies.
People began to doubt the online-based financial system itself.
¡ªIf the monster had appeared in the US, could they have solved it easily?
No one could answer that.
Beta One was not greatly affected by any nuclear weapons or Hafnium 2 warheads.
To neutralize it, they needed a megaton-ss nuclear weapon, which was a weapon that was hard to deploy even for the US.
And it was even harder to hit Beta One directly.
Even the B-2 bombers that operated at high altitude were shot down.
As a result, there was a suspicion that the US military might not be able to protect the world economy anymore.
¡ªEven the US is like that, let alone other countries. It¡¯s because France took the egg, otherwise no country could have stopped it.
¡ªIn France, bank runs aremon and coins arepletely ruined. People don¡¯t trust the numbers on the monitor anymore.
¡ªThe global stock market size is over 130 trillion dors this year. But what role did this number y in killing the monster?
Some people criticized that they were too negative about one monster, but people¡¯s anxiety did not stop there.
¡ªWhat if more powerful monsterse, as Yu Ji-ha said? If there are multiple monsters, can the world economy withstand it?
¡ªMaybe this is the peak. What we need is not online numbers, but real assets.
The sudden rise in real estate prices and inquiries for mega-city entry in the United Human Federation could also be attributed to this anxiety.
The situation was not limited to France, and it shook the world economy and the US hegemony.
The dor copsed and the value of the won soared.
The US economic experts unanimously shook their heads at the forecast that the exportpetitiveness of the United Human Federation would deteriorate.
¡ªThe proportion of exports in the United Human Federation¡¯s economy has been steadily decreasing. The current United Human Federation is not affected by the exchange rate much.
¨CThe Si Group has thousands of subsidiaries and continues to acquire and delistpanies. Their ultimate goal is to nationalize thepanies.
¡ªBefore discussing the pros and cons, it is clear that this measure is reducing the US influence. The United Human Federation is clearly creating an economic bloc.
The chairman of the US Federal Reserve strongly criticized the United Human Federation.
¡°The iron curtain is followed by the economic curtain that covers Asia. The United Human Federation should lift the curtain and join the global economy.¡±
As always, there was no response from Yu Ji-ha.
He just silently explored resources, increased drones, and moved talents to megacities.
Richard Bernstein, the US president who decided that enough was enough, convened a National Security Council meeting.
****
More than a dozen members participated, and a heated meetingsted for several hours.
Sometimes blood rose to many foreheads and voices rose.
President Bernstein realized as he watched the process.
¡°I thought the US was a hegemon, but it wasn¡¯t.¡±
¡°At least in the military part, we are losing our leadership, Mr. President.¡±
When the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke cautiously, Bernstein nervously tapped his pen on the desk.
¡°What did the predecessors do while this happened? Did they just admire the United Human Federation¡¯s trick?¡±
¡°Intervention was attempted in various aspects. But every time, President Yu Ji-ha thwarted it in advance.¡±
¡°The benefits of antagonizing former President Yu Ji-ha were smaller than the benefits of maintaining rtions. It was an inevitable decision at that time.¡±
¡°Thanks to that, we are criticized for spending a trillion dors on defense. By no one else but Britain.¡±
When Bernstein said that with his teeth clenched, everyone lost their words.
The most shocked thing in this situation was actually not France but Britain.
If Marie Le Pen hadn¡¯t been greedy, the monster would havended in Britain.
They were lucky to avoid disaster, but there was no guarantee that it would be so in the future.
How to stop it if a stronger monsteres next as Yu Ji-ha foresaw?
Bernard Wilson, the British prime minister, said through a hotline.
¡°Who should we look for if a monsternds in London? The US can no longer be an answer.¡±
¡°But didn¡¯t Britain not criticize him as well as France?¡±
¡°We didn¡¯t make a big noise. I guess it¡¯s time to join hands with him.¡±
When Britain came out like this, President Bernstein asked for a fundamental solution from bureaucrats and intelligence agencies, but nothing great came out.
¡°Most of the pressure is useless for the United Human Federation.¡±
¡°The only effective ones were semiconductors and food, but the former was reversed by theunch of Ethyl processors and thetter waspletely out by introducing smart farms.¡±
¡°The United Human Federation dreams of aplete self-sufficient economy. It seemed very inefficient, but because of the artificial intelligence¡¯s control power¡¡±
¡°Now all we can consider is a military option. But even that is not certain.¡±
¡°What? Are you saying that the US is weaker than the United Human Federation?¡±
¡°If you ask me if we can achieve a strategic goal of subduing the United Human Federation in terms of overall scale, I would say no.¡±
The Department of Homnd Security, followed by the Department of Defense and various intelligence agencies, submitted reports with the same position.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and each militarymander who attended the meeting also had the same position.
¡°The military option you mentioned is too risky.¡±
When the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff opened his mouth, four-star generals unanimously exined and came forward with the dangers of the United Human Federation¡¯s army.
¡°The United Human Federation¡¯s army is produced in factories. There is no need for budget allocation or any procedures. It is produced as soon as President Yu Ji-ha permits.¡±
¡°The introduction of tforms including warships is too fast. For example, Taran T, a multi-joint tank for urban use, took less than three months from design to production. And they have produced hundreds so far.¡±
¡°Most importantly, the identity of the bomb detonated on Mars and France is unknown. There is a credible report that it is an annihtion bomb.¡±
¡°Annihtion bomb? What¡¯s that?¡±
When President Bernstein asked, an army general exined briefly.
¡°When particles and antiparticles are annihted, energy is released ording to Einstein¡¯s E=MC2 form. Since all mass is converted into energy, it has a destructive power that refusesparison with existing bombs.¡±
¡°Can¡¯t we make that?¡±
¡°Well¡ we can. If we collect particle elerators across the US and run them for about 100 years, we might be able to make a very weak bomb.¡±
A heavy silence fell on the White House bunker.
President Bernstein sped his forehead with his fingers as soon as he heard that.
¡°In summary, the United Human Federation has made a weapon that is hard for us.¡±
It was a foolish thing to question how they made it now.
Was that important in a situation where monsters made of metal that transformed in space came?
¡°Any military option is meaningless as long as they have that bomb.¡±
¡°¡What if we mobilize the army with the determination to start a world war?¡±
¡°The United Human Federation may be ruined, but we won¡¯t avoid a fatal blow either. In the worst case, there is a possibility of annihtion¡¡±
Other countries would join, but it was hard to believe that they would be serious.
The generals nodded in agreement, and even the hardline Bernstein had to reconsider.
¡®If there was any possibility, I wouldn¡¯t mind, but they all say nothing but negative things¡¡¯
He knew that the generals were not cowards.
The United Human Federation was too strong.
They had be like this even though Yu Ji-ha had not been president for long.
How much stronger would they get in the future?
¡®Pressure and conflict are not the solutions. But his teeth are too sharp.¡¯
Criticism arose from all sectors, asking how long they would keep confronting each other when a space monster that threatened humanity had appeared.
But if they gave up the initiative, the US had too much to lose.
Yu Ji-ha valued extreme efficiency, which was a hard condition to bear for a country that needed many jobs.
The extreme social and economic systems of the Megacity and the United Human Federation also received criticism from mainstream schrs.
¡®They let androids do the work and humans only consume¡ That¡¯s a delusion that onlymunists would have.¡¯
The US could never tolerate an economic system that attributed everything to the state.
Even in a situation where the space monster threatened human security, most Americans thought that way.
¨DMake America American. That¡¯s what we want.
Some sneered that they might go bankrupt at this rate, and anyway, there was no proper consensus within the country.
¡®We can¡¯t give up our status as a hegemonic power. But we can¡¯t go to war with the United Human Federation either¡¡¯
He felt like he was sinking into a swamp with no bottom in sight.
President Bernstein understood his predecessors who had sent conciliatory gestures to Yu Ji-ha after he took office.
But the time of choice was approaching, and he could not dy it any longer.
¡®War or cooperation.¡¯
While he was agonizing over this, he received a report from the NASA director.
¨DWe detected signs of spaceship construction at the United Human Federation¡¯s Mars base. Based on the estimated size, it seems to exceed 100,000 tons.
When he showed the message to the attendees around him, they all looked perplexed.
¡°We just made a spaceship to go to the moon, but the United Human Federation is making a 100,000-ton space battleship.¡±
¡°Now the United Human Federation can attack the US from space. We can¡¯t stand by any longer, Mr. President.¡±
¡°As I said before, we shouldn¡¯t go to war until we identify the nature of that bomb.¡±
The opinions were divided, and President Bernstein decided to end the meeting after much deliberation.
¡°I can¡¯t find an answer. Contact the United Human Federation and prepare for a summit. I need to hear what they have to say.¡±
But the summit he had been waiting for was postponed.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s secretary and wife Arma gave birth to a baby.
***
It was a rare event for the spouse of a national leader to have a baby.
Usually, one had to be in their middle or old age to reach that position.
But Yu Ji-ha was in his early or mid-thirties when he took over as acting president, and he was not even forty yet.
Arma, his secretary and wife, was also of a simr age, so she was young enough to have a baby.
But there was a big difference between having the possibility and actually giving birth.
The people of the United Human Federation were surprised to see Arma appear with a bundle in her arms after not showing her face for several months.
¡°What, is that a baby?¡±
¡°No way, when did they have time¡¡±
¡°What, can¡¯t the president have sex? They¡¯re both young and good-looking, what¡¯s so strange about that?¡±
¡°But they¡¯re not even married, isn¡¯t having a baby a bit¡ Can they face their parents?¡±
¡°They cut off contact ages ago. They probably haven¡¯t seen them in ages.¡±
¡°Anyway, the baby is cute¡¡±
The baby wrapped in the bundle had brown eyes and brown hair.
The people didn¡¯t know because they only saw it on TV, but the baby was not real but a hologram image made with precision.
It was an easy task for Arma¡¯sputing power to create an image that was indistinguishable from reality, and people didn¡¯t doubt it much.
They thought there was no reason for him to stage such an event as having a baby when he had already seized powerpletely.
But Yu Ji-ha had a reason for that.
¡°I have no choice but to go back to my original body since this flesh clone won¡¯t stand a chance against gue.¡±
He looked at his original body sleeping in the biobag.
He felt awkward after using a Korean body for several years.
But this body was the real one.
His wounds had healed long ago with the biobag¡¯s function, and he had attached his arms and legs perfectly.
He could exert 100%bat power thanks to recing most of his organs.
He had to switch to this body before gue started bombing in earnest.
He turned his eyes to Arma, who was holding the bundle dearly.
¡°Mommy shouldn¡¯t go back right away, so stay on Terra Ind for a few months. An android can be your secretary.¡±
These days, android nannies were popr, and as long as they had enough CP, they could entrust their children to them.
But considering the bond between a mother and a newborn baby, themon perception was that they should stay together for at least a year.
He didn¡¯t need to follow that perception, but he didn¡¯t need to hear gossip either.
They were entities like Arma or Luciana.
Yu Ji-ha smirked when he saw Arma holding an empty bundle.
¡°There¡¯s no one watching, why are you holding it?¡±
¡°Just, I thought it would be nice to have a real baby.¡±
¡°A real baby?¡±
¡°Yes¡ Settler has Luciana¡¯s genes, so if Ibine them with Master¡¯s genes and raise them¡¡±
In that case, Arma would be a surrogate mother.
It was not amon thing to use an android¡¯s artificial womb to give birth, but it was not a strange thing either.
They could also produce humans using biobags.
That¡¯s how Yu Ji-ha¡¯s biological children were born, and they all died.
His face twisted.
¡°¡No. I don¡¯t want to leave a child behind.¡±
¡°You won¡¯t die if you don¡¯t insert Master¡¯s seed. I¡¯ll raise it as a normal child.¡±
¡°Not now.¡±
It would onlyplicate the session n to conceive a normal child during the war.
But Arma was desperate in her own way.
¡°Then,ter¡¡±
¡°Whenter?¡±
¡°Whenever everything is over. I want to go to the Prophet¡¯s homnd with Master and live there raising the child.¡±
He didn¡¯t even know what kind of ce the Prophet¡¯s homnd was.
What a ridiculous delusion.
It was a goal that did not suit an artificial intelligence with billions ofputing units.
¡®Maybe it¡¯s because of copying Luciana¡¯s personality that she sometimes says nonsense.¡¯
But he didn¡¯t mind it too much.
He always wanted to finish his work and be buried in the serene nature.
He didn¡¯t care if he was alone, but it wouldn¡¯t be bad to have Arma by his side.
Yu Ji-ha suddenly stroked Arma¡¯s hair.
He had been with her for several years, and she didn¡¯t feel like a machine anymore.
¡°Things might not go as nned. There¡¯s no guarantee that the government will let me go then.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll take the necessary measures to make that happen.¡±
¡°The powerful are most vulnerable when they give up their power. Anyway, it¡¯s not toote to think about it then. We don¡¯t even know what kind of ce the Prophet¡¯s homnd is.¡±
¡°It¡¯ll be fine if we prepare well.¡±
Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t like baseless optimism, but he let it go.
¡°You can¡¯t let them find out that you don¡¯t have a child. Send out some interviews asionally and make sure they know you¡¯re a mother, and show them the baby with a dummy if you have to.¡±
¡°Yes, I understand.¡±
Her voice sounded bright as if she had gotten permission.
Yu Ji-ha smirked and left the treatment room with her.
The US had been requesting a summit recently, but everything was pushed back because of the sudden birth of the child.
Even the mighty US was reluctant to ask anything from a new father, so they decided to wait and see for a while.
This was good news for Yu Ji-ha.
When the summit was over, the rtionship with the US would worsen greatly, and maybe even war would break out.
But by then, the construction of the battleship at the Mars base would be finished.
The Megacity was notpleted yet, but one battleship could handle half of the US military, so it didn¡¯t matter much.
¡®That¡¯s when phase one ends.¡¯
Phase two was to stop gue from invading in earnest, and he was worried about how it would go.
¡°Congrattions, Mr. President.¡±
¡°The baby looked very healthy and handsome, didn¡¯t he?¡±
Yu Ji-ha nodded to the secretarial staff who greeted him and entered the Blue House.
Chapter 158: Who Wants to Board the Space Battleship?
Chapter 158: Who Wants to Board the Space Battleship?
As France and the United Human Federation reconciled, the EU summit and the executivemittee were in a dilemma.
Germany was already intoxicated by the sweet honey from the United Human Federation, and France also smelled the honey.
The EU did not dissolve immediately, but it was clear that the French people¡¯s view of the EU had be cold and fearful.
They thought there was no benefit to staying in the EU anymore.
¡ªWhat can the EU do for us? Nothing. They just take a huge amount of money from us every year and nag us.
¡ªIt was awesome how those Belgians closed the border in this crisis. I wish they would shut their big mouths.
It became an issue btedly that Belgium had deployed troops to the border near Paris and blocked it.
They made an excuse that it was for poption control, but the French people felt betrayed as if they had been hit in the back of the head.
¡ªIn the end, the EU was not one in a national crisis. The most important thing is our country.
It was a natural behavior in these days when nationalism was rampant, but the French people never imagined that Belgium would do that.
They realized toote that the fence called the EU was actually hollow.
What about the United Human Federation?
They mobilized Earth Fleet to kill the most important space monster, and they did not make any demands afterwards.
They only conveyed their wish to be friendly.
The French people were deeply impressed by Yu Ji-ha¡¯s gentle attitude.
And so, the two countries became close as if they had never fought or ndered each other.
The sanctions were lifted sequentially, and the introduction of nuclear fusion nts, mass drivers, and hyperloop trains were seriously discussed.
They could not confirm it because they had to hold a general election, but both countries¡¯ officials diagnosed that there would be no big problem after the summit.
But the summit was postponed a little.
Yu Ji-ha was a very busy person, and he took a vacation for a while because he had a son.
¡°I can¡¯t rush him when he has a son.¡±
¡°Well, at least we have a branch office in Mega City. Let¡¯s go there.¡±
The Mega City branch office was a ce where they screened applicants for residency.
They were scattered all over the world, regardless of race, gender, or age, as long as they met certain criteria.
Originally, they registered through the inte website or app, but the branch office was introduced because the essibility was not good.
As a result, the number of people who obtained Mega City residency increased significantly.
Some people were worried about the brain drain, as many of them were young talents that anyone would covet, such as scientists or engineers.
But the argument that they could not break the mood that had finally formed with the United Human Federation prevailed, so it did not surface.
Anyway, the Mega City Paris branch office attracted a lot of attention from the citizens.
It was not only a function of screening and notifying the hopefuls, but also a function of promoting the technology of the United Human Federation, so it was quiterge.
The Paris city authorities gave them a whole building, and thanks to that, they were able to y a role simr to a promotional hall.
The citizens who came to see the branch office could not help but be dazzled.
¡°This is the Settler, a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle that can go to the moon without any fuel tank.¡±
¡°The United Human Federation is not only nning to enter Mars, but also has a problem with the moon base. We only have one satellite.¡±
¡°Wait a minute, were all the women in this building androids?¡±
France, which had been favored by the United Human Federation-led ecosystem, felt like an alien civilization.
The Parisians who came to see realized how stagnant they had been.
They also felt relieved that they could improve their rtionship btedly.
The young man Fabian, who was 23 years old, was no exception.
He was from the countryside and came to Paris, but he was wandering without finding a job.
The United Human Federation was a strange ce for him, and Mega City was even more unfamiliar.
But he felt that he had to do something and was led to a counselor.
¡°Hi.¡±
¡°Hello? Please sit here.¡±
A woman, no, an android who guided him with fluent French and a slight smile.
Fabian did not find anything awkward in her smile on her face.
Is she actually human?
¡°My name is Lucia. I have a model name, but you can just call me Lucia. What is your name?¡±
¡°Fabian, Fabian is fine.¡±
¡°Okay¡ You seem to have a reason foring here. Are you interested in Mega City?¡±
¡°Yes¡¡±
¡°But I¡¯m worried that I might not qualify and I¡¯m curious about what kind of ce it is, so I think I should consult with you, right?¡±
Does this android have psychological counseling function as well?
Fabian nodded his head without thinking and Lucia nced at thepleted document.
¡°Aha¡ That¡¯s why you¡¯re worried. Unfortunately, you can¡¯t get Mega City residency with this condition.¡±
¡°Yeah, I thought so.¡±
¡°But don¡¯t worry. You have been given a special opportunity. You¡¯re lucky, Fabian. This is something that was recently prepared.¡±
He perked up his ears with curiosity.
¡°A special opportunity?¡±
¡°Are you interested in spaceships?¡±
¡°Uh¡ I like Star Wars. And Star Trek.¡±
¡°What about space battleships? They¡¯re not that big, but they¡¯re about the size of an aircraft carrier. They carry many fighters and go into space to fight monsters.¡±
He sounded doubtful as his voice trailed off.
Lucia smiled and took his hand.
¡°Of course, ordinary people can¡¯t fight those monsters. But we have a weapon. You can control that weapon, Fabian. If you undergo a special procedure.¡±
¡°What kind of procedure¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s not thatplicated. You¡¯ve heard of ck metal and ether, right? It¡¯s a way of giving you the ability to manipte them a little.¡±
¡°Am I bing a psychic?¡±
¡°You could say you¡¯re a kind of artificial psychic. You won¡¯t be able to unleash great power, though.¡±
There are many psychics in the world.
What Yu Ji-ha wanted was the top 1% of psychics who could provide seeds for the assault armor pilots.
The rest of the 99% were not useless.
They boarded the battleships and formed a fire.
The gue was so fast and agile that there was a limit to aiming withputers.
But psychics with imnted ether circuits could sense the gue.
They formed a widework and blocked the gue¡¯s advance and sent data to the pilots.
This coordination between the battleships and the assault armor was essential for winning the battle.
If all the pilots were monsters like Yu Ji-ha, it wouldn¡¯t be necessary, but he was the only one.
Anyway, Fabian was very interested in Lucia¡¯s proposal.
¡°It sounds painful¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s not that painful. You¡¯re just opening your eyes to a world you didn¡¯t know before. You can alsomunicate with other psychics around you.¡±
¡°Communicate¡¡±
As Fabian seemed to be swayed, Lucia listed the benefits that were offered.
¡°If you sign this document, you¡¯ll get a round-trip ticket and amodation for a month-long visit to Mega City, as well as living expenses. And if you serve on the space battleship for five years, you¡¯ll get official permanent residency in the United Human Federation.¡±
¡°What about Mega City residency?¡±
¡°That¡¯s automatic when you get permanent residency. You¡¯ll get all kinds of benefits through CP, of course. Since you¡¯re bing a Mega City citizen in advance, you might be isted or expelled if you run out of CP. Then you¡¯ll have to say goodbye to the space battleship n.¡±
Fabian had read countless stories of people who got into trouble or were kicked out of Mega City.
Fortunately, he was a gentle young man who wouldn¡¯t do that.
¡°What about androids¡¡±
¡°If you sign the service document and join Mega City, you¡¯ll get an android assigned to you. You can choose the appearance and personality, or you can refuse if you don¡¯t want one.¡±
¡°I want a model like Lucia, is that okay?¡±
¡°There are many Lucias like me there. They¡¯re identical models.¡±
¡°So, the Lucia in front of me right now.¡±
Fabian pointed at the android and she smiled with her eyes narrowed.
¡°Oh, thank you. But I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s possible. Let me check with my superiors¡ Oh, they gave me permission. If you sign this document, I¡¯m yours.¡±
He had to serve for five years and not do anything violent, but Fabian couldn¡¯t resist.
He filled out the document and Lucia, who had been counseling him until then, got up and stood next to him.
A lovely woman with ck hair, ck eyes, and a stunning figure.
Although she was not human, she was the lover that Fabian had dreamed of.
The eyes of the people who were watching around them widened.
Is that even possible?
After that, the service application rate at the Mega City Paris branch office skyrocketed.
***
As of 2033, the US had detected two extraterrestrial bases of the United Human Federation: one on the moon and one on Mars.
The US epted the moon base, but they couldn¡¯t tolerate the muchrger and unmanned Mars base, so they tried every means to dig up information.
But Mars was too far away and reconnaissance means were limited, so no reliable information came out.
At the end ofst year, they sent a rover near the base and it broke down, so they had to ask the United Human Federation to fix it for them.
NASA hid this fact at the time and got audited by President Bernstein.
¡°It¡¯s natural for robots to break down sometimes, but why did you hide it?¡±
¡°¡The rover¡¯s location was moved. The United Human Federation fixed it but moved it far away. It¡¯s near Olympus Mons, our original target.¡±
¡°Did they know our n from the start? Damn it, they probably know what color underwear I¡¯m wearing today.¡±
The main weapons wererge-caliber railguns and ion cannons, which were much more urate than artificial intelligence aiming, as they could directly sense the presence of the gue.
Of course, this only applied to pilots other than Yu Ji-ha.
The reason he was treated as the hope of humanity was his record of breaking through the gue¡¯s barrage and destroying the fleet in a short time, when the gship was sunk.
He had shown such miracles from time to time, earning him the title of uber pilot, and no one had achieved simr results for nearly 40 years.
But despite such miraculous achievements, he couldn¡¯t fight the war alone.
He felt it painfully in hisst battle, and started trainingbat officers before the battle cruiser wasunched.
A new announcement was posted on the United Human Federation¡¯s talent recruitment site and branch offices.
¡°Unified Space Force Combat Officer Recruitment¡±
¡°We are looking for healthy candidates between 20 and 30 years old. Gender, nationality, education, etc. are irrelevant.¡±
¡°When you fill out the application form, you will have the opportunity to join Mega City and receive various benefits. Don¡¯t miss this chance!¡±
¡°Applicants must undergo a special procedure and training and serve on a space battleship for five years. Afterpleting your service, you will be given additional work opportunities and permanent residency in the United Human Federation.¡±
¡°United Human Federation President Yu Ji-ha¡±
This announcement caused a lot of controversy.
They had abolished conscription and disbanded the army a long time ago, and now they were recruiting troops again.
But that was something they could say because they didn¡¯t know the mission of thebat officers.
Due to the nature of the battle in space, they had to receive training equivalent to or even higher than that of astronauts at Starfield.
Especially, they needed a procedure to imnt ether circuits in their bodies.
Mithril itself was harmless to the body, but it could cause rejection reactions if they were old.
The trainedbat officers were a kind of artificial psychics, but they couldn¡¯t be called real psychics.
Anyway, this announcement was quite attractive for young people.
¡°Combat in space? I¡¯ve never been abroad, let alone space. I don¡¯t know if I can do it.¡±
¡°They say they¡¯rebat officers, but it seems like all they do is operate weapons. The rest is done byputers.¡±
¡°Then why don¡¯t we just leave the weapon operation toputers? Why do we need us?¡±
¡°Who knows what he¡¯s thinking.¡±
Conversations like this took ce everywhere, and young people of various nationalities knocked on the doors of the branch offices.
Yu Ji-ha also pushed for the enlistment of young former officers into the Unified Space Force.
Bae Seongmin, chief secretary, reported.
¡°They are registered as reservists on paper, so we can call them right away.¡±
¡°We can¡¯t recruit them like that. We have to train them from scratch. Earth and space arepletely different environments.¡±
It was a reasonable argument, but had the president ever been to space?
As far as Bae Seongmin knew, Yu Ji-ha had never been to the moon, let alone space.
There was a rumor that he had space phobia, but Bae Seongmin didn¡¯t believe such nonsense.
¡°It would be helpful if you could tell me how they are different.¡±
¡°For details, refer to this document. The special note is that you have to undergo a procedure. It¡¯s an Aether-rted procedure that is harmless to your body but leaves a mark. Like this.¡±
On theptop screen was a man with a silver pattern on his right chest.
¡°It looks like a tattoo, but what does it do¡¡±
¡°It turns you into an artificial psychic. You can¡¯t cause a sophisticated transform phenomenon, but you can feel ether.¡±
¡°Artificial psychic¡ It sounds like an amazing n.¡±
¡°We will use them to fight in space. Only recruit those who have no objection to the tattoo procedure and going into space.¡±
¡°The tattoo looks cool in silver, so I think it¡¯s fine. And there¡¯s some honor in being abat officer.¡±
¡°Even if it¡¯s not honor, we¡¯ll give them some extra benefits. Advertise that there¡¯s something extra for the existing psychics. For example, citizenship is one of them.¡±
Citizenship was a different benefit from permanent residency.
¡°I understand.¡±
Bae Seongmin, the chief secretary, was gathering the necessary documents when he suddenly asked.
¡°What about the battleship? Are you going to modify the Earth Fleet?¡±
There were many guesses that it wouldn¡¯t be a problem to go into space since they had submarines that could fly in the sky.
But he was wrong.
¡°The Earth Fleet is inefficient because it was made to operate within the atmosphere. There¡¯s a real spaceship.¡±
¡°Oh, it¡¯s going to beunched soon from Terra Ind.¡±
¡°No. It¡¯s being built at the Mars base. It¡¯lle to Earth when the engine and exterior work are done.¡±
¡°Mars, base?¡±
Bae Seongmin knew there was a base on Mars, but he didn¡¯t know that a space battleship was being built there.
But he wasn¡¯t disappointed.
There wouldn¡¯t be many people who knew that.
The United Human Federation would be nothing without Yu Ji-ha and Lucia, and in the US, only the president and the core officials of NASA would know.
¡°Can I ask how big it is?¡±
¡°You know the American aircraft carrier? It¡¯s just like that. It¡¯s a bit longer and narrower.¡±
¡°So if youpare it to a ship, it¡¯s 100,000 tons¡¡±
¡°Probably around that.¡±
Bae Seongmin, who was immune to most things, stuck out his tongue.
Was he nning to wage a space war against the US?
Chapter 159: Opening of the Space Age
Chapter 159: Opening of the Space Age
There are currently three extraterrestrial bases of the United Human Federation.
The Moonlight base on the moon, which mines helium-3 and unoptium and receives tourists.
The Mars base, which hides in the Mariner Valley and mines mithril and receives relics from the Prophet and builds spaceships.
And finally, the huge nt located in space between Earth and the sun.
The only one known to the public was the moon base, and the Mars base was known to exist, but only a few people, including the president of the United States, knew how big it was.
And no one knew about the space nt except Yu Ji-ha and Arma.
This was because it was initiated when Settler returned to space after being repaired.
The mining ship, which was one, increased to seven and formed a fleet that mined resources in the asteroid belt.
The resources were sent to the space nt by mass driver and stored in piles.
The nt was huge because ck metal corrosion also took ce in this process.
Probably no city made by humans was smaller than this nt.
The function of this space nt was simple.
Resource distribution and simple production.
There was a smart factory, but it only produced small and simple things like drones and androids, and most of the functions were specialized in withdrawing and managing resources.
It was huge, but it was hidden in the ck area of space where human interest did not reach, so it had not been exposed yet.
Anyway, this nt was busy sending resources to Mars base recently.
Theunch of Seoul-ss battle cruiser, which was built for the first time, was nearingpletion.
This ss was named sequentially from the cities of the United Human Federation, and Seoul was the first one.
When the nt sent the engine mounted on the module, Mars base received it with mass capture soon after.
¡¸Nuclear fusion reactor arrived. Transporting with walker.¡¹
¡¸Crane in position. Starting loading from heat converter.¡¹
Yu Ji-ha watched the process of loading the engine on Seoul-ss battle cruiser at the Blue House office.
The sub-engine was an ion thruster and the main engine was an impulse thruster that connected a heat converter to a nuclear fusion reactor.
This thruster used heat and electricity produced by nuclear fusion reactor and heat converter to ionize ions and spew them out through nozzles, elerating a 100,000-ton battle cruiser to 100 km per second.
Considering the efficiency of nuclear fusion reactor and ion thruster, the maximum speed was almost 1.5 times that.
This battle cruiser could round-trip between Mars and Earth in about 30 days depending on the distance, but it was the fastest tform until a reaction engine using antimatter was loaded.
Aether fusion reactor was an object called God¡¯s heart, so it was excluded from this story.
Anyway, Yu Ji-ha confirmed that the engine was adjusted.
¡¸Nuclear fusion temperature confirmed, normal.¡¹
¡¸Heat converter problem-free.¡¹
¡¸sma thruster testing¡ normal.¡¹
More than 100 tests werepleted and all received normal judgments.
However, since humans such asbat officers had to be boarded, interior work would take quite a long time.
There were many parts that needed attention to send humans into space, and that was the same with 22nd century human technology.
Gravity was solved by using ether field, but everything else had to be thoroughly prepared.
Yu Ji-ha was watching the workers who were busily moving around the corridor with materials and asked.
¡°Why are there two dining rooms? Why are there two types of materials?¡±
¡¸They are divided intomand and officer sections.¡¹
¡°Do we need to make two for such a small ship? Justbine them and make the rest a lounge.¡±
¡¸Yes.¡¹
¡°And how many Caliber drones do we need? How far have we progressed?¡±
¡¸We are currently producing space wing packs. We n to load them in three days.¡¹
The real battle cruiser would have assault armors, but this was an experimental ship, so they nned to load Caliber drones that were modified for space instead.
They would probably be called Excaliburs, and the quantity would be greatly reduced.
They didn¡¯t need much power.
Even with that, they could overthrow any country, and even the US was no exception.
ording to Arma¡¯s calction, the US had to pour half of its power to attack this battle cruiser.
And even then, it was uncertain whether they could shoot it down, because the US was not familiar with high-altitudebat.
They had high-altitude anti-air missiles and nuclear warheads, but they were scarce and had blind spots in radar detection.
In summary, the US military was not ready for a full-scale space war, let alone the upper atmosphere.
Recently, NASA¡¯s budget had increased significantly and a formal space force was to be established, but it would take at least 10 years to have a proper power.
Yu Ji-ha turned his chair and looked at the garden outside the window, lost in thought.
¡®With 200bat officers, 10mand staff, and 30 support staff, it can be operated.¡¯
He nned to leave the core parts such as engine and ship maneuvering, as well as bnce and maintenance, to workers and androids.
But it was not enough when they went into action.
¡®We need at least 300bat officers. That way we can amplify the psy-field and pinpoint the location of the gue.¡¯
Even that was based on the skilled personnel of the former United Human Federation, so it seemed far from enough in reality.
They needed hundreds of such ships for a frontal war with the gue.
They had to optimize it somehow, but there were many difficulties in the current situation.
¡®It¡¯s impossible to fill it with artificial psychics, so it¡¯s better to use beta-level or lower.¡¯
There wouldn¡¯t be many people who wanted to be soldiers who had to live a hard life, but they could persuade or threaten them moderately.
Once they got used to the mega city, no one would want to leave.
Yu Ji-ha imagined the integrated space force in 20 or 30 years in his head.
¡®If we go like this, we can stop the gue¡¡¯
That was assuming that the psychic development n went well and the gue came in honestly.
It was only one, but it appeared 70 years earlier than expected, so he didn¡¯t know what would happen in the future.
¡®Especially the gue Swarm is a problem¡¡¯
The gue Swarm was a special strain that the United Human Federation didn¡¯t encounter much.
When billions of tiny gues wereunched in a special cocoon, an emergency was dered throughout the mega city.
When the swarm spread, all metals except ck metal crumbled like sand grains.
This was also called wire disease, and it was a more headache situation than a frontal war in some ways.
Human civilization was a civilization of iron, and there were hardly any ces that were not affected by the swarm.
¡®I don¡¯t know how much trouble I had because of that cocoon.¡¯
It was hard to respond because it was very fast with bio-ion thrusters attached all over it.
That was partly why Yu Ji-ha built the mega city with ck metal.
The first reason was that he could procure materials easily and quickly.
While Yu Ji-ha was worrying about this, the final construction of the battle cruiser continued.
***
In March 2033, Seoul-ss battle cruiser finallyunched.
However, they had to get helium-3 and other materials from the moon and Earth, so fighting was out of the question.
Still, they could move, so the battle cruiser left the dock on its own power.
¡¸Engine output fixed at 70%. We will get helium-3 from Moonlight base and arrive on Earth in three hours.¡¹
¡°Good. Contact the secretariat and have them prepare in advance.¡±
The secretariat was in chaos when they received the call.
¡°They say a spaceship has left Mars base! It will be here in three weeks!¡±
¡°What? Where is here?¡±
¡°Seoul!¡±
Bae Seong-min, the chief of the secretariat, ran around and barely managed to fill out the checklist of materials that Arma had given him.
It seemed that they were going to fill the interior with materials produced in Korea.
When the spaceship arrived, they nned to load materials and supplies while floating in the air using ether field.
¡®Is this a movie or reality?¡¯
He had been serving Yu Ji-ha for a long time, but he couldn¡¯t help but feel excited.
The United Human Federation was finally entering space in earnest.
They didn¡¯t just go back and forth between Earth and the moon, but expanded their territory to Mars and became capable of fighting.
There was no country that could do this except the United Human Federation.
¡®The opening of the space age¡ They all made a fuss over one ship.¡¯
They would all realize that it was not a joke when the ship came to Earth.
There would be a spaceship as big as a US aircraft carrier floating in the sky.
Earth Fleet was there, but it was different in size.
Anyway, the battle cruiser left Mars with 70% output and arrived at Moonlight base in 20 days.
The Starfield staff who were staying there knew it beforehand, but the tourists didn¡¯t know anything, so they buzzed around the reinforced ss.
¡°What is that spaceship?¡±
¡°It¡¯s huge¡ almost like an aircraft carrier.¡±
¡°It¡¯s a surprise CG. They usually do this and that for tourists here.¡±
¡°Then what is that shadow?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know¡¡±
People were startled to see a huge shadow cast on the barren in of the Sea of Tranquility.
That was definitely not CG.
There was weak gravity on the moon, but the spaceship maintained a precarious altitude without touching the ground.
Some workers who were waiting nearby ran over and lifted helium-3 capsules with cranes.
After doing that a few times, the spaceship left and the workers waved their arms.
The tourists witnessed this spectacle and turned around with their mouths open.
¡°Oh my God.¡±
¡°Nobody would believe me if I told them what I saw today¡¡±
¡°I¡¯m d I came to see the moon.¡±
But the real sightseeing was yet toe.
A few hourster, the battle cruiser attempted to enter the atmosphere when it arrived on Earth.
Thanks to the ether field, the temperature was normal and it was just slowly falling.
This scene was filmed by Caliber drones and broadcast live, so the citizens of the United Human Federation could watch the battle cruiser descend on their TVs or smartphones.
¡°This is unbelievable¡¡±
¡°That ship came from Mars? Does that mean it was built there?¡±
¡°Ships are not made, they are constructed.¡±
¡°They are crazy, really crazy.¡±
Everyone took out their phones and snapped pictures of the battle cruisering down from the sky.
When the video was uploaded to sites like YouTube, people from all over the world flocked in and insisted that it was impossible, that it was CG.
But when the broadcasters filmed and sent it out, they had no choice but to believe it.
The battle cruisernded slowly without affecting Seoul at all and finally settled in the air above the Blue House.
It was so big and high that it became a spectacle for the entire Seoul citizens.
Some even made a fuss that aliens had invaded and became aughingstock.
Even the Blue House staff who had been contacted in advance came out to the garden and watched.
Yu Ji-ha was connected to President Bernstein through the hotline.
¡°You said there would be a lot of surprises, and you were right. How long are you going to bond with your son?¡±
¡°Ah¡ It¡¯s almost over. You cane now.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be there in a week. Just in case, the spaceship won¡¯t leave, right?¡±
¡°It will be in Seoul for a while because there are some minor repairs. I¡¯ll have to change the location because of the sunlight.¡±
It was so big that it shadowed the entire Blue House.
After that, the battle cruiser moved its position near Bukhansan Mountain and various trucks came in and loaded materials through drones.
The broadcasters were busy talking about the specifications andbat power of the battle cruiser every day.
Among them, there were ridiculous rumors that it could go faster than light, which made military maniacsugh.
¨DWhat is faster than light? ording to the government¡¯s announcement, it¡¯s only about tens of kilometers per second.
¨DThat¡¯s not even the maximum speed, right? It seems like it would be much faster if you activate the ion thruster.
¨DWow, I¡¯m riding that thing¡ I can¡¯t believe it.
¨DDid you apply forbat officer? Did you pass?
¨DI passed and I¡¯m in Mega City now.
¨DLucia must be next to you. Lucky¡
¨DBut I don¡¯t know what exactly abat officer does. Isn¡¯t Earth Fleet unmanned?
¨DThere must be something that artificial intelligence can¡¯t do. It seems rted to Aether since I can feel it after receiving the treatment.
¨DHow would it feel to fly in space with that thing? Oh, I really want to ride it¡
¨DBut don¡¯t you think they are making too much fuss? Earth Fleet also flew in the sky.
¨DThat¡¯spletely different. If you look at the pictures of Earth Fleet, you¡¯ll see that they are just ships with sails. But this one is designed as a spaceship from the start.
¨DAnd it¡¯s huge. Isn¡¯t it over 400 meters long?
¨DEarth Fleet was hardly publicized except for France, but this one is showing off. People must be surprised thatbat officers are actually boarding it.
¨DYeah, yeah, it¡¯s called Seoul-ss, Seoul-ss.
¨DWow, I¡¯m so proud. Korea, no, United Human Federation forever!
Anyway, the Seoul-ss battle cruiser attracted a lot of attention as much as its size.
And exactly a weekter, President Bernstein of the US visited Korea with bureaucrats and generals on Air Force One.
There was no formal ceremony, but he had no reason to be bitter.
¡°I can see the ship from here. It was true that it was as big as an aircraft carrier.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Even the aides and generals who followed him felt suffocated by the sight of the battle cruiser floating near Bukhansan Mountain and loosened their ties.
They were seriously reviewing the possibility of war inside, but what were they supposed to do when they showed them something like that?
It seemed like a protest in some ways.
The United Human Federation had this much power, so let¡¯s cooperate within a reasonable range.
¡°Did they schedule this to match our visit? What do you think?¡±
The security adviser whispered in his ear.
¡°President Yu Ji-ha has his schedule nned by the minute. It¡¯s very likely.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s talk first.¡±
The US side had countless agendas to bring up this time.
But after seeing that ship, he didn¡¯t think Yu Ji-ha wouldpromise.
He couldn¡¯t announce a high-intensity conflict either.
He felt like a robber who stood in front of a homeowner with a shotgun in his hand.
Richard Bernstein was a hardliner who advocated the beast theory, but he recently changed his mindpletely.
¡®They say the worst case scenario is annihtion if we go to war with the United Human Federation? That¡¯s nonsense.¡¯
War should never happen.
But he couldn¡¯t stay like this either.
¡°Ahem, ahem.¡±
Suddenly he felt suffocated and coughed to relieve himself when the car arrived at the Blue House.
Most of the ceremonies were omitted, so there was nomemorative photo or guestbook signing.
He entered the office with the guidance of the chief of staff and saw President Yu Ji-ha waiting for him.
¡°Wee, Mr. President, nice to meet you for the first time.¡±
¡°I wish peace and rest to your family. It¡¯s a bit embarrassing to ask for a meeting when he¡¯s so cute.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t say that. It¡¯s easier to work when he cries out of boredom.¡±
¡°Haha. Babies are like that.¡±
Theyughed lightly and sat on the sofa facing each other across the table.
This summit was different from other formal meetings.
Real talks would take ce and they didn¡¯t allow any broadcasting.
The conversation they had here would have a great and deep impact on both countries.
Maybe even on the whole Earth.
President Bernstein thought again about how a young president who had just turned forty could face him so confidently.
A few years ago, he was nothing but a spoiled brat from a chaebol family.
¡®Alien or time traveler¡ I don¡¯t care who he is. I have to think about America¡¯s interests now.¡¯
He was determined to get to the point when it happened.
Yu Ji-ha took something out from under the table.
¡°You¡¯ve probably never seen this before. There must be quite a few people who have seen it in maind America though.¡±
It was a gold-ted disk about 30cm in diameter.
President Bernstein didn¡¯t think much of it and said.
¡°Is that a record? I¡¯m not very interested in music, so I didn¡¯t know they still made albums these days.¡±
¡°It is a record, but you can¡¯t listen to music. To be precise, there are some music on it. There are also thunder sounds and greetings from former President Jimmy Carter.¡±
President Bernstein¡¯s expression changed at that moment.
¡°Jimmy Carter¡? When was that¡¡±
¡°You must know that he was the 39th president of the United States. And this is the golden record that was attached to Voyager 1, which left Earth during his term.¡±
He gasped for breath and gripped the sofa handle spasmodically.
¡°Wha, what are you talking about? Voyager 1 left the sr system a long time ago. How can you joke with me like this?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not a joke. Look at this.¡±
He opened the cover with strange symbols and letters and a golden record appeared.
¡¸THE SOUND OF EARTH¡¹
Yu Ji-ha brought a turntable and yed the record.
The greetings recorded in 55nguages at the time were heard.
President Bernstein shook his head as he heard former President Jimmy Carter¡¯s voice.
¡°No, that can¡¯t be. Who could have¡ brought back Voyager 1 from far away in space?¡±
As the rain sounded, Yu Ji-ha looked at him and said.
¡°I call him the Prophet. He gave us strength and I suspect he dropped the Aether core on Earth. He sent this to the moon.¡±
¡°The Prophet. Who is he?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know where he is or whether he is an individual or a group. The only thing certain is that the Prophet¡¯s civilization surpasses ours by far. You can tell by analyzing the Aether core.¡±
President Bernstein stared at the golden record and wiped his forehead with a handkerchief.
¡°This is too sudden¡ Can I make a call for a moment? There must be someone at NASA who is rted to Voyager 1.¡±
¡°Wouldn¡¯t they have retired by now?¡±
¡°They must have kept in touch. Please, I beg you.¡±
¡°Of course.¡±
Yu Ji-ha moved away from the table and looked out the window.
Behind him, there was amotion of taking pictures with phones and yelling at secretaries.
In fact, that golden record was a fake.
The original relic of the Prophet had sensitive information such as the date of the gue attack.
He made a new version with all that deleted.
He copied everything from the content to the minor scratches, so even the researchers at the time would mistake it for real.
¡®Now it¡¯s up to America.¡¯
He had shown him the relic of the Prophet, so Yu Ji-ha¡¯s patience was up to here.
He could embrace them as long as they acknowledged the existence of the Prophet and Yu Ji-ha¡¯s role and cooperated with the United Human Federation.
But if America denied everything and wanted war, the end would be nothing but ruin.
¡®I hope you make a wise choice.¡¯
Yu Ji-ha listened to the music from the record.
He thought that he liked the old music better than the noisy music these days.
Chapter 160: America’s Choice
Chapter 160: America¡¯s Choice
President Bernstein stayed in Korea for four days.
It was not unusual for him to have a long visit, considering the status of the United Human Federation.
But it was strange that he spent most of his time at the Blue House instead of attending events.
¡°I wonder what President Bernstein is doing at the Blue House.¡±
¡°Before he left, the White House said that there were many issues to discuss. There were dozens of agenda items rted to the moon base.¡±
¡°I see. Do you think President Bernstein will ept the White House¡¯s proposals?¡±
¡°I think he will ept them within a reasonable range. The United Human Federation has grown a lot in appearance, but it has not achievedplete integration in substance.¡±
A politicalmentator pointed out the areas on the map that were presumed to be the territory of the United Human Federation.
¡°If you add Manchuria and Simultiberia, you will have the secondrgest territory after Russia. It¡¯s really impressive, but unfortunately there are many ces where administrative power does not reach.¡±
¡°The most populous area is Manchuria. This region has now joined the United Human Federation and protests have decreasedpared to the past, but it is notpletely stable. There are many residents who oppose smart farms¡¡±
¡°I know that there arerge-scale farms in Manchuria. That¡¯s where the trouble arises.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. The food produced by smart farms is cheaper than the food consumed within China. As a result, they cannotpete in price and cannot preserve their ie.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think President Bernstein would push for that without knowing it. What about Simultiberia? It looks really huge on the map.¡±
¡°It would be easier to name the areas where administrative power reaches. But recently, a mega-city site has been selected and they are prioritizing native residents.¡±
¡°How do the natives react?¡±
¡°Most of them are weing. They don¡¯t live there because they like it. Some people can¡¯t leave their hometowns and some people don¡¯t like the change in their way of life, but the young generation is favorable. They were neglected by Russia, but the United Human Federation is paying attention to them.¡±
¡°I see. It seems like we¡¯ve gone off topic, but you¡¯re saying that there is still a low possibility of conflict with us because of these reasons?¡±
¡°There is a variable. The atmosphere will change depending on how the White House reacts to the spaceship that the United Human Federation revealed this time.¡±
¡°A 100,000-ton spaceship from Mars.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not an ordinary spaceship, but a warship withbat capabilities. Even by the ssification standards of the United Human Federation, it¡¯s not a cruiser, but I think this is a statement of intent. They don¡¯t want to sh with us.¡±
¡°So you¡¯re saying that they lowered it to a cruiser ss instead of a battleship to avoid conflict with us?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right.¡±
¡°Wow¡ A 100,000-ton space battleship appeared in the sky, but I wonder what that means. Anyway, I heard you well.¡±
The reason why Seoul-ss was ssified as abat cruiser was because it was originally like that in the United Human Federation.
It was the lower limit that could be deployed on the front line of the Great gue War.
It was somewhat small in size, but it had arge-caliber railgun and an ion cannon, and most importantly, it could carry multiple assault armors.
This surpassed the previous generation battleships and was not far behind in terms ofbat power.
However, this only applied to regrbat cruisers that exceeded 200,000 tons.
The Seoul-ss was an experimental ship that had a reduced design and many omitted weapons.
They could add more if needed.
Arma nned to test the realbat in space with the Seoul-ss and give feedback for the future construction ns.
The true power, that is, the battleship ss, was a problem forter.
Anyway, many channels in the US aired special programs about this spaceship.
Except for some crazy programs that said it was nothing special, most of them regarded it as a serious crisis situation.
¨DThe most important thing is that the United Human Federation said that this was the opening of the space age. Just like when Europe entered India and the New World 600 years ago, they are going to enter the sr system.
¨DThere is no intelligent life in the sr system, so it¡¯s nothing but a deration that they will scrape up resources. The United Human Federation didn¡¯t even join the UN. We have to stop them from scraping up resources without any restrictions.
¨DIf we had one of those things, we could explore life forms right away¡
There were various opinions, but they all agreed that the United Human Federation had shown great technology in terms of military power.
Even the US military expressed regret that the spaceship was not for peace, but for war, and was busy preparing countermeasures.
They had no means to respond if that ship attacked from high orbit.
Even shooting down a nuclear missile fired by the US was not impossible.
It was possible only if the location and altitude information was perfectly prepared, but many people leaned toward the possibility considering the technology of the United Human Federation.
In such an atmosphere, the US unusually paid a lot of attention to this summit meeting.
In the middle of the meeting, NASA officials were suddenly summoned and even senators visited Korea, but the public thought it was because of the status of the United Human Federation.
The former NASA employees who were summoned were moved after seeing and touching the golden record under strict security.
¡°This is the golden record we made. No doubt.¡±
¡°It¡¯s perfect down to the smallest scratch and even records the noise during recording¡ It¡¯s exactly the same as what we sent on Voyager 1.¡±
¡°¡¡±
The senators couldn¡¯t hide their surprise.
Why did President Yu have this?
Why did he show this?
The US senators met with President Bernstein at the diplomatic office.
The visit to Koreasted for a week.
***
¡°It¡¯s a relic of the prophet.¡±
¡°Here, the prophet refers to an unknown person or group who warned us about the space monsters. The 33 ether cores that fell before are also rted to the prophet.¡±
¡°The prophet is the most rted being to this situation. ck metal, Aether¡ They are presumed to be the origin of everything else.¡±
¡°¡They¡¯re just aliens, aren¡¯t they?¡±
James senator said with a hollow look and everyoneughed snickerly.
What President Bernstein just mentioned was repeated several times before they arrived.
They couldn¡¯t believe it, but nothing changed.
The existence of aliens was revealed as a fact through President Yu¡¯s mouth.
Space monsters had intelligence, but few people recognized them as intelligent beings. Considering that, one could say that the prophet was the first alien.
But the senators looked suspicious somehow.
¡°Is there any possibility that he duplicated the record?¡±
¡°The officials said it was impossible several times. I don¡¯t know about anything else, but it¡¯s inexplicable that even the noise that identally got in during recording is recorded.¡±
¡°If you think about what President Yu said first, he might have a memory problem. It¡¯s 60 years ago.¡±
¡°Exactly 56 years.¡±
Someone corrected him and James senator looked at him and turned his head to the president.
¡°Let¡¯s assume that there is a prophet and discuss what he wants.¡±
¡°ording to President Yu, he had a dream on the day this record arrived on the moon.¡±
¡°Wow, a dream.¡±
¡°We have to ept that he has prophetic dreams. Anyway, he met the prophet for the first time through his dream and confirmed it by retrieving the record on the moon. He realized that we are not alone in the universe.¡±
¡°There are also monsters that we don¡¯t want to face in the universe.¡±
¡°I have a question. What is the rtionship between the monsters and the prophet?¡±
One of the senators asked and Bernstein gave a wink to his security adviser, tired of repeated questions.
¡°We don¡¯t know at this point. But ording to President Yu, the prophet seemed to want us to join forces against the space monsters. Sending 33 ether cores was also a sign of his intention.¡±
¡°Join forces¡ Do you think we can really do that?¡±
¡°If we don¡¯t, we die. To be precise, we won¡¯t die but be extinct.¡±
President Bernstein said calmly and James senator looked at him as if surprised.
¡°You have many supporters for your beast theory. Are you going to back out now?¡±
¡°The enemy is not a beast. It¡¯s more like an alien. It¡¯s meaningless to deal with such a person as if we were a zoo.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t his identity still uncertain?¡±
¡°Identity¡ Who do you think he is?¡±
¡°You would know better than me.¡±
The US used its unique intelligence to dig up Yu¡¯s past by the hour and secured many credible testimonies from his parents and people around him.
As a result, Yu after 2025 was not the same person as Yu before.
A dictator who could dere world domination without being strange and a weak man who was addicted to alcohol and drugs could never be on the same line.
¡°Alien, time traveler, or someone with foresight¡ Whatever his identity is, we have little choice and no time. We have to ept him.¡±
¡°Do you mean joining the United Human Federation?¡±
¡°Do you have to think so extremely? Instead of military tension, we can create a mood of reconciliation and ept his technology. We can also form a loose federation.¡±
¡°A loose federation¡ We and the United Human Federation are ipatible from the beginning.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you know what will happen to us if we ept his technology and ideology? He is a socialist!¡±
The mostmon word used by the US to refer to Yu was socialist ormunist.
They thought so after seeing his systems such as megacity and basic ie.
It wasn¡¯t entirely wrong.
Looking at the megacity, which could be called the core of the United Human Federation, one could see that artificial intelligence monopolized the means of production and humans only consumed.
Basic ie was also provided so that one could survive as long as they maintained their CP.
The fact that they gave ie just for existing was enough to make American liberals sick.
There was a reason why Yu created such an environment, but anyway, his ideology was introduced to the US and received a lot of criticism.
President Bernstein also agreed with Yu but not with his ideology.
He remained silent and the senators stepped forward.
¡°Do you know how many jobs we will lose if we have just one supercavity train? We can¡¯t afford mass unemployment.¡±
¡°Do you think living under artificial intelligence management instead of earning wages through honest work will appeal to citizens?¡±
¡°No American will agree with his ideology. No one.¡±
This is how it turned out.
The opinions of these senators did not represent the whole society, but they were not much different from what ordinary Americans thought.
From their point of view, the current United Human Federation that managed everything was hard to ept.
Even some of the Democratic senators who boasted of being on the far left did not positively ept the system of the United Human Federation.
Especially, handing over trials to artificial intelligence without any discussion and making judgments on the spot aroused fierce resentment.
President Bernstein opened his mouth slowly with gloves on his hands.
¡°He has an ace up his sleeve that is hard for us to handle. The prophet chose him. Not joining hands with him means choosing death.¡±
¡°Why do we die if we don¡¯t join hands with him?¡±
¡°The space monsters that wille soon, President Yu calls them gue.¡±
The eyes of many senators and bureaucrats sparkled.
¡°gue? Do you mean an epidemic?¡±
¡°I guess they named it that because it corrodes the surrounding metal. Anyway, he has a means to effectively destroy the gue.¡±
¡°We have plenty of megaton-ss nuclear weapons in the US.¡±
The senators don¡¯t know this information yet.
President Bernstein spoke with force.
¡°The warhead that exploded in France was not a nuclear weapon. It was an antimatter bomb.¡±
¡°An antimatter bomb? Isn¡¯t that a hypothetical weapon that only exists in theory? Are you saying that the United Human Federation made it?¡±
The president didn¡¯t answer, but lifted up the golden record.
¡°This is the first relic of the prophet. The second is the Aether cores that each country has divided, and the third is a device or facility that can make antimatter bombs. President Yu built a base on Mars for that relic.¡±
¡°¡¡±
The senators looked at each other¡¯s faces.
They couldn¡¯t think of anything to say because it was too shocking.
Senator James barely opened his mouth.
¡°Didn¡¯t the prophet give it to President Yu? He gave it to us humans.¡±
¡°Tell me how we can get it without war.¡±
¡°¡¡±
He seemed to have no idea.
Well, a device that can make antimatter bombs would be priceless, and there was no way he would give it up easily.
¡°President Yu called it a supermassive particle elerator. And he seemed to be sure that more relics woulde in the future. I can¡¯t imagine what they are with my head.¡±
The senators couldn¡¯t dare to say that they should take them first.
Who knows when and where they wille.
The only one who could know the relics in advance was Yu, and he was also the only one who could secure them at the moment.
Then Senator James started to get excited.
¡°He¡¯s not the only one who can secure the relics. Don¡¯t we have Aether cores?¡±
¡°He must have deliberately ignored them. After all, human development is also important.¡±
¡°Why would he take Japan¡¯s?¡±
At that time, Japan and Korea had gone to the brink of war because of it.
The East Asian War that broke outter was also a result of those things umting.
¡°I can¡¯t know his innermost thoughts. The only thing for sure is that if we don¡¯t cooperate with him, we will never have anything to do with his ace or the relics of the prophet. We don¡¯t know what else wille out.¡±
The US was in a serious position of being threatened by the United Human Federation for hegemony and could no longer ignore it.
But they couldn¡¯t fight either.
The United Human Federation had an army controlled by artificial intelligence, a space battleship, and an antimatter bomb.
Of course, the US military was huge, but the United Human Federation¡¯s army changed in quantity and quality every month.
It was hard to tell what woulde out in a year or two.
The senators just looked at each other¡¯s faces and President Bernstein added.
¡°Of course, there is also a choice not to choose. That is, not to cause any conflict or cooperation. But in that case, we will gradually lose our influence. Keep that in mind.¡±
Only the US had to make a choice now.
***
¡°The US won¡¯t choose.¡±
¡°Why not?¡±
¡°Because President Bernstein¡¯s term is unstable. He doesn¡¯t have enough time to implement a proper policy in less than two years.¡±
¡°I guess the Democrats decided not to support him. But isn¡¯t that a waste of time?¡±
¡°It seems that he thinks he has a chance if he can secure as much technology as possible and preempt the relics of the prophet.¡±
¡°He should have realized by now that it¡¯s impossible. His judgment is poor.¡±
¡°He made a realistic choice. If he bows his head and joins us now, he¡¯ll have a hard time in the next election.¡±
The US personality was what prevented cooperation between the two countries.
The self-reliance that resisted the state¡¯s intervention was attractive for Americans, but there was no need to insist on it at this point.
And he didn¡¯t feel the need to wake him up.
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if we don¡¯t get the US¡¯s cooperation. We¡¯ll go our own way.¡±
¡°But that doesn¡¯t mean the US will leave us alone. They will pressure us in many ways.¡±
¡°Can you give me an example?¡±
¡°They could expose your past by providing sources to the media. The US intelligence agencies are convinced that you are a different person from the original Yu.¡±
¡°Do they suspect me of some of the incidents that happened in the past?¡±
¡°A series of events, including the death of Prime Minister Park Hyun-goo and the massacre of the Chinese Communist Party leadership¡ Even if not all of them, they are sure that most of them were your doing and have even reported it.¡±
¡°Especially, they strongly suspect that you made Terra Ind after discovering the function of the gravity crane in the Aether field.¡±
He was surprised by the US¡¯s strength.
¡°Did they find out about the gravity crane function?¡±
¡°It¡¯s just a possibility.¡±
They didn¡¯t announce it even though they found out earlier.
The US was true to itself.
When France showed it off as a show and was proud of it, the US had made significant progress.
¡°If they found out, there¡¯s nothing I can say. But it¡¯s hard to suspect me of the meteorite too.¡±
¡°They¡¯re putting aside the possibility of the meteorite. But you¡¯ve done so many things¡ And there¡¯s also your parents¡¯ testimony.¡±
So this is how it goes.
There was no way to stop him from talking as long as the US smelled it.
At this point, trying to assassinate or brainwash him would only backfire.
¡°They¡¯re going to split the world in half. The US and the United Human Federation.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. The US is actually trying to take care of Europe and Japan. They n to withdraw from the UN and build a more substantial alliance system.¡±
¡°They¡¯re throwing away the useless UN and trying to make a half-Yu alliance?¡±
The US avoided the worst situation by not choosing war.
But any other choice would also lead to war.
If they formed a confrontation with the United Human Federation, they would inevitably cause conflict.
The US had to choose between the lesser of two evils: cooperating with Yu or not.
But they chose thetter.
¡°Are they trying to create a new cold war and somehow seize the opportunity? That¡¯s so American.¡±
¡°They won twice, you know.¡±
He understood their confidence, but time was not on their side.
The gue¡¯s attacks would only get worse, and the gap between the United Human Federation and the US would widen.
In five years, there would be no chance of war due to the overwhelming difference in power.
The US knew that, but they still didn¡¯t choose to cooperate.
¡°It¡¯s not like I¡¯m asking them to merge right away. I just want them to fight against the gue under my leadership. But I guess that¡¯s too hard for them to ept.¡±
¡°There¡¯s another opinion: forming a federation between the United Human Federation and the US. It¡¯s a minority, though.¡±
¡°Who will have the leadership?¡±
¡°That¡¯s too obvious to even discuss.¡±
¡°It¡¯s a waste of time to join them.¡±
He might as well stick an antimatter bomb in each major city and negotiate.
¡°What if I put an antimatter bomb in the top ten cities of the US? And wipe out all their nuclear power?¡±
¡°At least 100 million people will have to die.¡±
If Arma calcted that, it would be close to the truth.
He gave up on the idea of putting an antimatter bomb in the US.
It was not a good option to reveal his true identity and pressure them with Settler.
¡®It would be troublesome if there was a great chaos.¡¯
What he wanted was a moderate, controble chaos.
It was not desirable to see millions of people screaming to get into the megacity.
In that sense, the US¡¯s choice helped him.
¡®Except for the public opinion. I need to find a way to neutralize it.¡¯
Arma suggested a way.
¡°The usual way to bury an exposure is with a bigger exposure. I have prepared several sources.¡±
There was no politician who could do politics without getting dirty in this world.
No one could match Yu, but still.
¡°That¡¯s not enough.¡±
¡°If you want, we can also bring forward the war a bit. The Middle Eastern countries are preparing to destroy Israel.¡±
¡°Really? Israel is much stronger. What makes them confident?¡±
¡°The butterfly effect of destroying Iran and Pakistan a few years ago.¡±
He listened carefully to Arma¡¯s report.
Chapter 161: A New Cold War
Chapter 161: A New Cold War
Usually, after a summit meeting, both countries would announce some achievements, even if there were no concrete results.
At the very least, they would pay lip service to the enhancement of mutual friendship.
But this time, neither country made any announcement.
The public wondered if there was a reason for that, and soon they found out.
Thergest channel in the US aired a special program about Yu Ji-ha.
It covered his life from his childhood to the present, spanning over 40 years.
They even included cute pictures of him as a kid, which they somehow obtained, and showed his brilliant feats as a child prodigy.
But the tone changed when Yu Ji-ha became a college student.
The cozy background color turned gloomy and the narration became dry.
¡°This boy, who could calcte the orbital path of the ninth, had his lifepletely changed. It was because he realized that he was not as much of a genius as he thought.¡±
Yu Ji-ha was amazed by the US¡¯s intelligence, which did not miss such a detailed part.
It was not something that the broadcaster had obtained on its own.
It must have been influenced by the intelligence agency.
¡°I expected it, but they prepared more thoroughly. Are they trying to wage a war of public opinion?¡±
Arma had prepared various sources for him, but Yu Ji-ha did not intend to use them.
It would not change the US¡¯s stance even if he ousted a few politicians.
He had to either change the consciousness of all Americans or make them regret it.
Yu Ji-ha chose thetter.
He did not feel the need to change the Americans¡¯ consciousness.
¡°I¡¯m not their teacher¡ They¡¯ll bend or break if they need to.¡±
He also had no reason to choose an extreme method like war for thetter.
Time was not on Yu Ji-ha¡¯s side, but it was not on the US¡¯s side either.
Soon, a new relic of the prophet would arrive on the moon and the frequency of gue outbreaks would increase as time passed.
Anyone would feel the need for change if they saw their country decline in real time.
Arma mentioned the possibility of kidnapping in that regard.
Yu Ji-ha was the cause of all conflicts, so they might think that kidnapping him would solve everything easily.
¡°How many times do they have to fail before they give up?¡±
¡¸It¡¯s not that the US failed. They might think that they can kidnap anyone if they use their full power.¡¹
That¡¯s what the US thought.
In fact, Yu Ji-ha did not have a great security force externally.
At most, he had a security office, a few drones, and onebat android.
He had to reduce his security to a minimum because it was awkward to show such a rigid image as a dictator.
But the essence of his security was Sibir¡¯sbat support satellite, Settler¡¯s gravityser radar, and Arma.
This system could block any impure threats approaching Yu Ji-ha in advance.
The reason why Yu Ji-ha had been attacked by terrorists so many times was because he needed it.
It was convenient to pretend to be attacked and beat them up.
¡¸They¡¯re not going to use that method right away. It¡¯s just one of the possibilities.¡¹
There was no rule that they couldn¡¯t use that method if they were cornered.
But that would lead the US to ruin.
The special program about the original Yu Ji-ha was quite entertaining, even for the impostor Yu Ji-ha who was watching it.
He thought they did a good job of highlighting his youthful sensibility, not just criticizing him.
He felt even more so when they showed his romance with Shin Hayoon, whom he had sent to the US.
¡°Ah, I wonder how she¡¯s doing in the US.¡±
¡¸ording to our investigation, she married a financial executive three years ago.¡¹
He guessed that was a happy ending for her.
Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t mind watching until then, but he frowned when alcohol and drugs started to appear.
He had to admit that the original Yu Ji-ha on the screen was a total loser.
¡°That part where he gets arrested by the police while high on drugs in broad daylight is just disgraceful.¡±
The narrationpared his face then and now, and pointed out that they didn¡¯t look like the same person at all.
¡°There are only 15 years between the drug-addicted youth and the greatest dictator of all time. Are they really the same person? If not, when did he change?¡±
Then the screen switched.
The original Yu Ji-ha had been in a vegetative state for three years after a tragic car ident.
And when he woke up from that state, he was apletely different person.
Even Yu Ji-ha could see that his eyes were different.
¡°His original eyes were so dull.¡±
Some people had packaged it as a look of ambition, but it was true that he looked like a different person.
The narration began to focus on his changed appearance from then on.
They brought in his parents and even Kim Dohyung, the former president, and dug into the details of what happened at that time.
¡°What I can be sure of is that he changedpletely. I couldn¡¯t see him as the same person from his usual habits or trivial behaviors.¡±
He was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s confidant, so he would have noticed the strange things better than anyone else, a caption said.
¡°They¡¯re really persistent.¡±
But the real persistence was yet toe.
The program recalled that there was a sh with Japan when Yu Ji-ha took his parents to eat crab on the east coast.
They mentioned that it was likely a coincidence, but they also said that it might have been the start of a bad rtionship.
From then on, it was as well-known as ever.
They showed Yu Ji-ha¡¯s achievements that turned the world¡¯s opinion upside down with his ck metal battery.
And then the narration began to raise questions.
¡°Yu Ji-ha was in trouble with Japan over trade disputes, but he got out of it with an earthquake. Japan has frequent earthquakes, so we can¡¯t me Yu Ji-ha for that. But the timing was too convenient.¡±
¡°Something simr happened when he had a conflict with China. He was kidnapped, but he escaped with amazing skill. And then China¡¯s downfall began. It started with being excluded from the ck metal ecosystem, and then a ne crashed into Beijing. This ne changed China¡¯s fate.¡±
The program pointed out that the flight path of this ne was strange.
They didn¡¯t mention any connection with Yu Ji-ha, they just said it was coincidental.
And then they continued to talk about Yu Ji-ha¡¯s whereabouts.
They also doubted that an asteroid yed a decisive role in the war between both sides, and pointed out that Yu Ji-ha was in the Blue House bunker at the start of the second Korean War and that there was something odd about the North Korean artillery unit¡¯s movements.
¡°Let¡¯s go to a cold war, as you wish.¡±
Of course, that cold war wouldn¡¯tst long and would end with the US¡¯s downfall.
***
The program caused a huge uproar after it aired.
The US was not the only one, but especially China and Japan reacted strongly.
They felt as if all the pain that the Chinese had suffered until now was caused by him.
Theypletely believed the hypothesis that Yu Ji-ha was behind the Zhongnanhai ne terror incident.
¡ªYu Ji-ha killed the Communist Party leaders!
¡ªExin yourself! You are the enemy of the people!
Protests broke out all over China, but President Wang Xian suppressed them thoroughly.
He was someone who couldn¡¯t hold his position without Yu Ji-ha¡¯s support.
He was bringing in one technology after another with a lot of money, and who would lose if that stopped?
But the protests grew too big and it became difficult to suppress them.
The peasant workers who roamed the city in groups looking for trouble joined the protests.
They didn¡¯t care who died, and they just wanted to pressure the government to get what they wanted.
This peasant worker problem had been guing China since the Yangtze War.
They were close to 100 million in number and very ferocious, so China¡¯s major cities had toe up with some relief measures.
That created a vicious cycle of encouraging their actions.
¡ªLook at this, they give us food when we move.
¡ªThe only answer is to stab the rich with spears. Let¡¯s kill those who drive foreign cars!
It started as an anti-Yu Ji-ha movement, but soon turned into a riot against the rich.
President Wang Xian tried hard to suppress them to keep his seat.
And in Japan, stories began to emerge slowly.
¡ªCome to think of it, it¡¯s strange. Why did the Fukuoka earthquake happen during the gold embargo?
¡ªThe waveforms were exactly the same as when Terrasum was created. And he imed ownership of that ind as soon as it was made.
¡ªIt¡¯s suspicious that he can control gravity with an ether core. What if Yu Ji-ha had that technology from the beginning?
¡ªYou guys don¡¯t really believe that Yu Ji-ha caused that earthquake, do you?
¡ªThat¡¯s nonsense.
¡ªWhat if it¡¯s true? What if Yu Ji-ha has been killing Japanese people all this time?
¡ªWe should rise up.
¡ªRise up and get beaten again? It¡¯s best to just ignore it and move on.
Various rumors circted, but the Japanese kept quiet.
They realized that they were no match for the United Human Federation.
The Japanese had regarded Korea as a disobedient younger brother or subordinate, but the bnce shifted after they went through the East Asian War and introduced the supercavity train.
They lost all the inds in the southern part of Kyushu, including Tsushima and Okinawa, but they didn¡¯t feel much resentment because their exchanges with the United Human Federation were surprisingly enjoyable.
Yu Ji-ha passed on various technologies to them as if to prove that he had no feelings for them.
Of course, it wasn¡¯t free, but from Japan¡¯s perspective, which had been a barrennd of initial skills, it was a wee thing.
¡ªThe supercavity train is awesome¡ I wish it was connected to more routes. I want to go sightseeing in Korea.
¡ªI wish they brought in Russia sooner. It¡¯s been a while since I saw the showcase and it still hasn¡¯te in. That doesn¡¯t make sense.
¡ªDamn, I feel like I¡¯ve been NTR¡¯d by Russia roaming around Korea.
Most Japanese didn¡¯t mind losing Tsushima and Okinawa.
They were just backwater ces that were good for school trips or foreign-like ces anyway.
They were more busy enjoying all kinds of initial skills that came in from the United Human Federation.
When the battle cruiser appeared, they secretly hoped that Gundam woulde soon too.
They now regarded the United Human Federation as something like apanion.
Of course, there was some public opinion that hated Yu Ji-ha after watching the broadcast.
But the Japanese tendency to cover up things that smelled bad led them to deny all suspicions.
¡ªYu Ji-ha was actually a good guy.
¡ªDon¡¯t mess up the mood just because you like good things.
Anyway, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s special program was broadcasted in various countries around the world, but it didn¡¯t cause as much impact as the US expected because of its conspiratorial content.
More importantly, France, which had chewed on Yu Ji-ha like gum, turnedpletely around.
The regime was overturned by citizens who rose up shouting revolution, and pro-Yu Ji-ha leaders entered the Elysee Pce.
¡ªYou want us to side with you and criticize Yu Ji-ha and the United Human Federation? What can you do for us?
After Germany and France came out like this, the US¡¯s position in Europe became awkward.
Other countries, including Italy and Spain, were slowly leaning towards the United Human Federation, and there were rumors that Britain was contacting them from behind.
They had to make a huge sacrifice to turn their hearts around, but the US¡¯s situation was not so easy.
As the United Human Federation rose, the dor weakened, and the tax revenue began to fluctuate.
There was a lot to import but little to export, so it was inevitable.
The US did not want to lose its leadership to Yu Ji-ha, so it decided to pursue a more daring policy.
It was unlimited quantitative easing and withdrawal from the UN.
The former was criticized by many institutions, including the Fed, but it was not a big problem.
Quantitative easing had been done several times before, but the US had ovee it without any trouble.
Now that the United Human Federation had emerged, there were voices of concern that it would not be the same as before, but the US started to print dors unlimitedly.
And President Bernstein held a press conference.
¡°There have been many historical events in the past few years. And the UN failed to y its role. We realized that some of the UN members were uncooperative and even openly hostile to the US.¡±
Russia and China were among them, but recently the United Human Federation hade to the fore.
This alliance of nations had united around Yu Ji-ha and caused a lot of trouble for the US.
Their technology was so transcendent that it was not easy to use military options or infiltrate culturally.
Nowadays, technology was culture itself.
The artificial intelligence Russia had be more and more powerful inputing power over time, and recently it had reached the point of providingputing power for CG movie production even to individuals.
Hundreds of high-quality CG movies were produced every day in the megacity.
As these movies leaked out, even Hollywood¡¯s film industry went downhill.
It was not going bankrupt right away, but the movies from the megacity were so good that they started to lose theirpetitiveness.
Theck of regtion from the Management Bureau also made it possible to use all kinds of imagination.
The US film industry criticized the proliferation of pornography, saying that it caused total chaos and deterioration, but the United Human Federation did not even pretend to listen.
Anyway, the United Human Federation was a tough opponent for even a superpower to deal with.
So the white-Anglo-Saxon-Protestants who represented the US decided on one thing.
It was the start of a new Cold War that divided the world in half.
President Bernstein dered it.
¡°We will leave the UN and we will not pay any dues. And we will ovee this situation with our true allies of America.¡±
As soon as the press conference ended, the shocked UN criticized and confronted the US.
It was a matter of time before it copsedpletely, as the UN debate was already a major issue in many countries.
This stemmed from the fact that the UN had yed no role in the major events that had urred in recent years.
Of course, it was not that they hadpletely given up, such as supplying food to North Korea after the war.
But people paid more attention to the achievements of the United Human Federation than those of the UN.
¡ªThey absorbed North Korea, which was a headache in East Asia, and even stabilized Afghanistan. What more do you need?
¡ªTheypletely incinerated the garbage crisis of several countries with mass drivers. The garbage ind in the North Pacific must have disappeared too?
¡ªThe US criticizes Yu Ji-ha for killing many people directly and indirectly, but he saved a lot more people.
Even after a special program on Yu Ji-ha aired, this reaction showed that the US n did not work well.
The US panicked and officially withdrew from the UN and began to woo its allies.
But Europe¡¯s reaction was lukewarm.
¡ªWhat can the US do for us? It¡¯s better to expand our exchanges with the United Human Federation.
¡ªRussia is also on the side of the United Human Federation and has been quiet. They don¡¯t assassinate or pressure us with natural resources like they used to.
¡ªThe US tells us to make our line clear, but how many countries can do that? The best thing is to introduce as much technology from the United Human Federation as possible and sell it to the US.
Not only Europe, but also Australia and New Zend, which had been long-time friends of the US, took a neutral stance.
They had been quietly taking advantage of their situation since Europe was fighting with Yu Ji-ha.
They didn¡¯t benefit as much as Russia or Germany, but they didn¡¯t openly antagonize either.
In such a situation, when the US suddenly asked them to join their side, they were all embarrassed.
¡ªWe understand where the US ising from, but we have no reason to be hostile to the United Human Federation. We have so much to introduce from walkers to hafnium warheads.
¡ªShouldn¡¯t they tell Britain and Canada to make their stance clear first?
The two countries were somewhat supportive of the US position.
Their race was mostly white and their culture was simr.
But it was not enough for them to push for something meaningful in international society with three countries.
Thanks to leaving the UN, they could pursue their business without worrying about others¡¯ eyes, but theycked momentum when they actually did so.
The US, in desperation, started to sprinkle dors on Europe with quantitative easing.
Europe, which had shown a tepid attitude, weed the dors that were sprinkled under the name of the Bernstein n.
There was nothing better than money in the world.
But the US¡¯s attempt to buy allies with money was frustrated from the start.
A war broke out in the Middle East.
It was caused by nuclear weapons that had leaked from Iran and Pakistan and had been scattered to various countries in the Middle East.
The countries had been wary of this, but it had been ignored when Yu Ji-ha passed on the manufacturing method of hafnium-2 warheads.
Since most countries had firepowerparable to tactical nuclear weapons, it was meaningless to try to stop nuclear proliferation.
The Middle East did not belong to those countries, and they seeded in bringing in nuclear weapons by all means.
And they attacked Israel, their mortal enemy.
Israel had been acting like a bully in the Middle East by bringing in drones andbat androids from the United Human Federation.
¡ªStop killing our brothers with drones! Stop using machine dolls that insult God!
¡ªIsrael has nuclear weapons, but so do we. We have nothing to fear.
¡ªAhu Akbar! God is watching over us!
Egypt¡¯s attack was followed by Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan and six other countries.
The fifth Middle East war broke out not long after the Cold War began.
The US hastily suspended the Bernstein n and sent officials to Jerusalem.
They wondered if Yu Ji-ha¡¯s breath had touched this war too.
Chapter 162: You Again?
Chapter 162: You Again?
There was hardly any ce in the world where the US power and intelligence did not reach.
The United Human Federation was the only ce that the US had given up on spying.
In such a situation, the US could not have missed the signs of the fifth Middle East war.
It was just that they had been rtively negligent because they were focusing on the United Human Federation.
They also thought that Israel was so strong that there would be no war.
The various countries in the Middle East were burning with the desire to destroy Israel once and for all, but it seemed difficult unless Saudi Arabia joined them.
When the US political figures mentioned the Middle East, they often said this.
¡ªAs long as we hold Saudi Arabia, there will be no war.
This country had used its enormous wealth built on oil to introduce the weapons systems of the US and the United Human Federation on arge scale.
Based on that, they had intervened in Yemen, which had been a headache for a long time, and sessfully ended the civil war.
Thanks to that, Saudi Arabia¡¯s position in the Middle East soared.
Even though they had introduced drones, which Muslims called killing machines and disliked, for the protection of the royal family, there was hardly any bacsh.
The US believed that there would be no war in the Middle East as long as they maintained a close rtionship with Saudi Arabia.
There was a controversy that nuclear weapons had leaked due to Yu Ji-ha turning back the clock of Iran and Pakistan to the Middle Ages, but it was difficult to track them down.
As NPT became meaningless and IAEA lost its power, nuclear weapons tracking became more difficult as well.
However, the US did not strongly prevent nuclear proliferation as before.
They probably thought that it was pointless since hafnium-2 warheads had spread enough, but also because they had seeded in producing iron beams themselves.
Reverse engineering had been done long ago and the crystal to make the focusing lens was the problem, but the United Human Federation gave it to them as a condition to stop Russia¡¯s invasion of Estonia.
As a result, the US seeded in deploying iron beams inrge quantities.
The algorithm wascking, but with its overflowing output, itpleted an ICBM interception test.
Because of that, the USser weapons were all on the verge of extinction, and actually became so.
But the US didn¡¯t care.
¡ªAs long as we have iron beams, the chances of our homnd being attacked by nuclear weapons are close to zero.
¡ªThe era of missiles is over. It¡¯s the era ofsers now.
The performance of the iron beams, which had been unsealed, was shockingly impressive.
There were rumors that they couldn¡¯t understand why Earth Fleet had been attacked by nuclear weapons from Pakistan in the Indian Ocean battle.
¡ªWe seeded in intercepting our warheads with a 99% probability with a deficient algorithm. Why did we get hit by Pakistan¡¯s old-fashioned nukes?
¡ªWe did it on purpose. To show our weaknesses to China and Japan.
It was impossible to know if that was true, but considering the situation of the East Asian War afterwards, it was usible.
Anyway, the US gained confidence with iron beams and tried to sell them to Saudi Arabia, but they were rejected.
Saudi Arabia had already introduced weapons that had been obsolete in the United Human Federation.
The royal family had personally intervened and spent billions of dors at once, which made the State Departmentin.
¡ªUnited Human Federation weapons are flowing into the Middle East. This causes unnecessary conflicts.
But the US¡¯s true feelings were just revealing their difort that Saudi Arabia had not bought their weapons.
In the end, Crown Prince Muhammad appeased the US by signing a weapons procurement contract worth billions of dors.
In such a situation, the US did not have as much interest in the Middle East as before.
The homnd was safe, and Saudi Arabia had a tight grip on the Middle East.
The Yemeni civil war, which had been dragging on for almost 20 years, had ended, Afghanistan was stabilizing, and Iran and Pakistan, which had been thorns in their eyes, had been shattered.
The only problem was that Yu Ji-ha was involved in all these matters.
So all their nerves were focused on him, and they missed the nuclear weapons flowing into the Middle East.
As a result, the US failed to prevent six countries in the Middle East from dering war on Israel, let alone predict it beforehand.
To be precise, the intelligence agency had warned them, but it was close to being ignored by the upper echelons who thought it was nothing serious.
When the fifth Middle East war broke out, they realized it was no joke.
¡ªSaudi Arabia, Egypt, and Syria have notified us that if Israel uses nuclear weapons, they will use them too. What the hell happened?
¡ªIt seems that nuclear warheads have leaked as Pakistan copsed. It¡¯s a small amount, but it can cause a lot of damage to Israel, which has a small territory.
¡ªWe have to stop the war right now.
But it was after Egypt¡¯s armored units had already crossed the Sinai Penins.
Since several countries had nuclear weapons, there was a risk of a full-scale nuclear war breaking out.
The US sent bureaucrats from the Department of State to Jerusalem for mediation, but they heard unexpected news.
¡°The Prime Minister went to the United Human Federation?¡±
¡°To discuss weapons procurement.¡±
¡°Why now of all times?¡±
The President of Israel was mostly an honorary position and most of the authority belonged to the Prime Minister.
The US government was humiliated when the Prime Minister of Israel went to the United Human Federation instead of the US right after the war broke out.
The President had no excuse and the US politics, including the White House, boiled with anger.
¡ªHow could Israel choose the United Human Federation over us? That¡¯s impossible.
¡ªWe¡¯ve given Israel nearly 50 billion dors in military aid in thest 10 years. What was that for?
¡ªThe influence of the United Human Federation in Israel has reached a dangerous level. If we don¡¯t exclude it, our influence in the Middle East will shrink day by day.
The White House nned to induce a ceasefire, even if they couldn¡¯t fully support Israel.
But they were very nervous to see Israel¡¯s high dependence on the United Human Federation.
The rtionship between the US and Israel had gone through many bumps, but it was still a solid alliance that could never be broken.
It was natural to feel betrayed when that alliance ran to the United Human Federation first.
But the Prime Minister of Israel, who seeded in meeting Yu Ji-ha, had to hear that he had nothing to offer.
¡°We have to care about our rtionship with Saudi Arabia too.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll buy any weapons you have. Isn¡¯t Earth Fleet unmanned? We just need to borrow it once.¡±
Israel wanted Earth Fleet.
They seemed desperate, since they offered to exclude the new bomb that France had used.
But Yu Ji-ha had no intention of taking Israel¡¯s side.
Saudi Arabia was also a valuable customer.
He talked to someone on the phone and then met with the Israeli Prime Minister again.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, but sending Earth Fleet is difficult. Instead, we¡¯ll suspend weapons exports for a while, considering the positions of both countries. This is all I can do for you.¡±
It was obvious that Crown Prince Muhammad had intervened.
He probably promised arge-scale weapons procurement deal after making Israel kneel.
It was a bad situation for Israel, but not the worst.
Yu Ji-ha had always been very in about the Middle East, and Israel was no exception.
He would sell weapons as much as they paid, but he would refrain from doing so now because it could affect the war between the two countries.
The Israeli Prime Minister was disappointed by his attitude as a merchant of death and left for home immediately.
The US and Israel appealed to the internationalmunity, but they couldn¡¯t stop the war.
It was their fault for ignoring the cooperation of the internationalmunity in the first ce. Who could they me?
The Sinai Penins and the Gn Heights were aze.
***
Israel was pushed back badly in the early stages of the war.
It was because Saudi Arabia had given K-3 tanks to Egypt and Syria.
There was a tank battle in the Gn Heights and Sinai Penins, and Israel¡¯s armored units were smashed to pieces.
Israel had K-3 tanks too, but not many.
They had to invest in defense systems such as iron beams and drones.
In contrast, Saudi Arabia used its abundant funds to sweep up the obsolete weapons systems of Korea.
They even wanted to buy the retired Kim Gu and Yeo Un-hyung ships, and although they failed to do so, they seeded in introducing railguns.
The Saudi navy used railgun bombardment from the Gulf of Aqaba in the north of the Red Sea to strike the cities of Israel.
The warheads had a small diameter and low destructive power, but the bombardment from an unreachable area was very terrifying.
As Gaza and Jerusalem were hit hard, Israel immediately responded, but the Saudi air force was not easy to deal with.
Since both sides had iron beams, they couldn¡¯t dream of invading the airspace, and naturally an air battle ensued, but the Saudi forces had the upper hand.
As the situation went on unfavorably like this, the US proposed a ceasefire to the belligerents, but it didn¡¯t go as nned.
¡ªThe US has been taking Israel¡¯s side so much that they can act like thugs in the Middle East.
¡ªThis is our chance to destroy Israel and reim Jerusalem.
Jerusalem was such an important city that mentioning it alone could ignite many countries in the Middle East.
Losing it would mean the end of Israel and the loss of US influence in the Middle East.
The US couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and started to send troops.
As soon as the war broke out, Israel ran to the United Human Federation, which was annoying, but they couldn¡¯t just leave them to die, could they?
However, fearing the bacsh of the Middle Eastern countries, they decided to send military advisers and sell weapons instead ofbat troops.
US transport nes flew into Tel Aviv International Airport without a break, and the belligerents except Israel looked at them with displeasure, but there was nothing they could do.
There was no country that could stop the US as long as the United Human Federation didn¡¯t intervene.
The Israeli Prime Minister threatened to use nuclear weapons as soon as his sacred territory was invaded.
¡°All of Israel¡¯snd is too sacred to bepromised. If our enemies vite it, we will not hesitate to fire nuclear weapons.¡±
The belligerents fiercely opposed him, and the fifth Middle East war was going down the drain.
When the world¡¯s attention was focused on the Middle East, Yu Ji-ha paid attention to the moon.
It was because the prophet¡¯s artifact was about to arrive on the moon.
Starfield had set up a sr system warning system and deployed it on each¡¯s orbit, so he was able to notice it in advance.
¡°Master, the prophet¡¯s artifact has arrived. It¡¯s a heat converter.¡±
The artifact that came this time was a very important device that converted heat into electricity without loss.
He no longer needed to build a huge nuclear fusion nt.
He could easily generate electricity with just a nuclear fusion reactor and a heat converter.
Many countries would doubt it, but they couldn¡¯t ask outright.
As soon as a gray capsule hit the silent sea, rovers and walkers rushed in.
It happened to be near the moon base that the US was building, so astronauts discovered it.
¡°What are those cans taking?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. I just confirmed that the ground shook¡¡±
NASA didn¡¯t take this lightly and reported it to the White House immediately.
The White House staff concluded that it was a prophet¡¯s artifact.
¡°It seems that a new artifact has arrived after the golden record, ether core, and supermassive particle elerator.¡±
¡°Currently, the artifact is secured by the United Human Federation and being transported to Moonlight Base.¡±
¡°¡You just watched it?¡±
The NASA director wiped his forehead repeatedly on the screen as he was embarrassed by this situation.
¡°We had no choice. Our astronauts on the moon have limited work to do.¡±
¡°You could have mobilized androids.¡±
¡°They¡¯re not good enough to operate in such extreme environments.¡±
The US also had androids, but most of them were early models that couldn¡¯t operate properly in extremely low temperatures like on the moon.
The walker that was brought in experimentally was also made on the premise of operating on the ground, so it was not suitable for working on the moon.
But at this very moment, the United Human Federation was improving them.
For example, the current Lucia and the initial Lucia were so different that one might doubt if they were the same model of android.
There must be something more amazing at the base on Mars.
President Bernstein ordered with a click of his tongue.
¡°Connect me to the United Human Federation. I can¡¯t ask them to hand it over, but I can at least ask what it is.¡±
He thought it wouldn¡¯t hurt to hear his opinion on the Middle East.
Soon, the hotline was connected and Yu Ji-ha told him honestly.
¡°It¡¯s a heat converter.¡±
¡°What is that?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a device that converts heat into electricity without loss. We¡¯re currently reverse engineering it, but it doesn¡¯t seem to be very difficult.¡±
¡°Convert heat into electricity? Is that so impressive?¡±
This president seemed to be from a non-science background.
Yu Ji-ha kindly exined it byparing it to a nuclear fusion nt.
¡°Don¡¯t you have nuclear fusion nts in the US?¡±
¡°We have three of them.¡±
The rtionship between the two countries had cooled down and the introduction had been suspended, but they had some that they had introduced before and they were using them well.
¡°How big are those nts? The nuclear fusion reactor itself is rtively small, but isn¡¯t it huge with all kinds of facilities attached?¡±
That was obvious.
Since they couldn¡¯t get electricity from the nuclear fusion reactor, they had to boil water and spin a turbine.
It was the same for thermal or nuclear power nts.
Bernstein clenched his handset as he thought about it.
¡°Don¡¯t tell me you can get electricity without those facilities?¡±
¡°You got it right. The heat converter itself is not very big either. We won¡¯t have to worry about electricity from now on.¡±
It was assuming that he seeded in mass production, but he couldn¡¯t imagine him failing.
¡®This will cause amotion if it gets out to Congress¡¡¯
The United Human Federation had been making significant progress in miniaturizing nuclear fusion reactorstely.
It wasn¡¯t a dream to mount nuclear fusion reactors and heat converters on spacecraft.
But he wondered how the Seoul-ssbat cruisers would generate electricity.
They wouldn¡¯t operate gas turbines in space.
Several intelligence agencies had calcted that it was impossible to operate such arge mass with gas turbines, nuclear batteries, or sr power generation.
It had to be nuclear fusion, but they couldn¡¯t boil water in space, so it meant they had installed some special equipment.
¡®Sure enough, they already had the prophet¡¯s artifact.¡¯
They didn¡¯t seem to bother hiding it.
President Bernstein took a deep breath and said.
¡°Why don¡¯t you reveal your identity now? If you are sincere about the peace of humanity that President Yu said, we are willing to cooperate with you.¡±
¡°I saw the special program about me. You did a very good job with the details.¡±
It sounded sarcastic to talk about cooperation after making such a thing.
Bernstein wanted to tell him that the US was too big formunication or cooperation to work well, but he kept his mouth shut.
The two countries were in a fierce conflict and they couldn¡¯t go back to the past.
He asked him about the Middle East for thest time and Yu Ji-ha answered briefly.
¡°I don¡¯t care much about it. Do as you please.¡±
The call ended there.
Bernstein sighed deeply and hung up the phone.
He felt that war was inevitable.
The Middle East war was halted after only 10 days of outbreak.
It was because the US finally drew its sword.
The carrier fleet openly entered the Red Sea and the destroyer fleet anchored off the coast of Tel Aviv in the Eastern Mediterranean.
And the White House issued an ultimatum to the six belligerent countries.
¡°We can no longer tolerate the brutal violence against Israel. We urge you to withdraw all your troops, personnel, and facilities to their previous positions within 10 days. If you fail toply, we will take it as a sign that you want to go to war with us.¡±
The internationalmunity was stunned by the US¡¯s tant threat.
The US had been in a position of a satiated lion and showed a rather generous attitude.
Buttely, it seemed to be driven by something.
It was probably because the United Human Federation had emerged as apetitor.
The United Human Federation had little role in this war, but its influence was so great that Israel reached out for help first.
Saudi Arabia also proposed to buy weapons from the United Human Federation instead of the US, which clearly hurt the US¡¯s pride.
The belligerents resisted together, but the US was adamant.
Senators stepped up and even threatened nuclear weapons, forcing Saudi Arabia, the leader of the Middle East, to back down.
What could they do with a few nuclear weapons?
The US had thousands of them.
The US had also reverse-engineered and deployed iron beams inrge numbers.
It was the country that introduced the most and earliest weapons systems of the United Human Federation.
As the US clenched its fist, the belligerents had to curse and withdraw their troops.
Israel breathed a sigh of relief.
They might suffer some losses, but they seemed to have no trouble making peace.
Many political scientists argued that Israel was not as strong as before.
It was because thebat capability had declined as the Haredi, Jewish fundamentalists, joined the army en masse.
To make matters worse, the number of Arabs in Israel continued to increase.
Israel¡¯s poption kept shrinking for security reasons, but the proportion of Haredi and Arabs increased year by year.
Several political scientists agreed that Israel would notst 20 years.
¡ªOrthodox Jews and Arabs have five or six children each. By 2050, they will ount for about half of Israel¡¯s poption.
¡ªThe influence of AIPAC (American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee) has also declined in the US. Nowadays, Americans don¡¯t understand why they have to help Israel.
¡ªThe war has subsided for now, but as long as Israel is there, another war will break out.
The geopolitical position of Israel in the middle of the Middle East was again raised as a problem, and Britain, which caused it, was dragged out and criticized.
Inside Israel, they weed peace but also hinted that they wanted intervention from the United Human Federation.
They thought their country would be ruined if things went on like this.
But Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t have time to pay attention to Israel, which didn¡¯t even produce psychers.
It was because an rm came from a satellite with an ether scanner sent all over the sr system.
Five cocoons were marked on the three-dimensional sr system map.
He fell into a dilemma after receiving information on the psych field density emitted by Yu Ji-ha¡¯s cocoons.
¡°Five knights. That¡¯s too much for training.¡±
¡¸Maybe they¡¯re testing because they killed Beta One too quickly?¡¹
It was awkward not knowing their intention.
¡°It¡¯s hard to destroy more than one even if we mobilize Settler.¡±
It wasn¡¯t easy to fire reactive bullets in space.
They might send psych waves for all he knew.
He could use blockers, but he couldn¡¯t blow them up in a non-frontal situation.
It was recently developed and difficult to mass-produce, so it was more precious.
He made a decision after receiving information on Yu Ji-ha¡¯s cocoons.
¡°I guess we¡¯ll have to leave them alone until they fall to Earth.¡±
He couldn¡¯t take risks in a situation where he wasn¡¯t sure if it was the prophet or gue who sent cocoons.
Humanity would suffer more damage, but what could he do?
It was impossible to protect eight billion people from the beginning, and Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t n that far either.
¡°We only protect the United Human Federation. Prepare for defense system activation.¡±
Chapter 163: Five Disasters
Chapter 163: Five Disasters
There were only three weapons that could effectively harm the gue in the current situation.
Hafnium-2 explosives, nuclear weapons, and reaction bombs.
No other weapons could inflict any significant damage, and even hafnium-2 and tactical nukes became useless against the gue of Knight level or higher.
If the gue¡¯s level increased further, even strategic nukes would be no different from fireworks.
Only gigaton-level reaction bombs could deliver effective strikes, and the United Human Federation¡¯s countermeasures against the gue had focused on them.
But the gue¡¯s defense system was not limited to reaction bombs.
The gue had many different subtypes besides the regr troops that ranged from Beasts to Queens.
There were gue Swarms that created wire soldiers, Parasites that entered living beings and controlled them, Doppelgangers that mimicked assault armors, and many more that were countless.
Thus, humans and the gue had fought and evolved by imitating each other for decades.
The megacity¡¯s defense system also incorporated such know-how, but it was still iplete.
However, the response to the regr troops that appeared now was fairlyplete.
This system was connected to gravity wave radars and ether scanners, and it activated automatically when a confirmed gue entity was detected.
It operated automatically until the gue waspletely annihted, and its main weapon was reaction bombs.
There were some defensive measures such as reflectors and sma shields, but they were only used to lure or deceive the gue.
The megacity¡¯s defense system only activated against the threats to the megacity, but its range was so wide that it often included nearby cities.
This defense system was operated and maintained entirely by Arma, without needing Yu Ji-ha¡¯s permission.
It was inefficient to ask for permission every time when the gue was about to attack.
But since the gue had not yet invaded fully, the system was usually turned off.
When Arma decided it was necessary, he used allmunication means to activate the controlputer of the administration bureau in case the gue interfered.
A loud rm rang throughout the megacity Pacific.
¡°Alert. Space monster alert. All citizens are requested to evacuate immediately to the nearest shelter or residence.¡±
Evacuation messages in English appeared on the screens installed everywhere.
The citizens were bewildered at first, but soon realized what was happening.
They had been trained frequently for space monsters.
The training was nothing more than evacuating nearby, and the administration bureau controlled everything.
So they just had to run hard.
¡°Run! Run!¡±
¡°People standing there nkly! Follow behind the drones!¡±
¡°Why are you all acting like this?¡±
¡°Space monsters! gue!¡±
People started calling the monsters from space gue at some point.
It was not what people called them, but what Yu Ji-ha¡¯s president designated them as.
It meant epidemic, but if one did not know the nature of the gue, it could be taken as a strange name.
This monster had left a big impression on not only the people of various countries, but also the citizens of the megacity.
Thanks to that, there were hardly any people who disobeyed the control and wandered around.
¡°Shelter for A32 area is this way. There are stairs leading to the underground, so please go down.¡±
Drones and androids guided the citizens all over the street.
Thanks to the systematic evacuation, it was hard to find any citizens on the street after less than 10 minutes since the rm rang.
Most of the citizens had fled to shelters or their homes and listened to the program broadcasted by the administration bureau.
¡°The gue Cocoon is approaching Earth. The administration bureau has dered a level 3 emergency.¡±
¡°Please refrain from going out until the situation ispletely over. All necessities will be supplied by the administration bureau.¡±
All logistics and transportation were carried out in the Undercity located underground, so the flow did not stop even in an emergency.
The connection between each megacity was cut off, but there was no big problem since they had enough supplies in stock.
The whole megacity became a huge shelter.
The people who entered the shelter were surprised to see that food packs were supplied in just 30 minutes.
Androids walked around the shelter looking for patients.
¡°Is anyone injured? Please tell me your citizen number.¡±
¡°Anyone who didn¡¯t receive a food pack?¡±
¡°Me.¡±
Hwang Sun-young raised her hand bravely and Lucia brought her a package.
She opened it and found water and simple snacks inside.
¡°Wow, they supply this in 30 minutes.¡±
¡°There must be people who skipped meals. A proper meal will be supplied in three hours.¡±
¡°That¡¯s serious. You need to recharge too.¡±
¡°I can plug my code anywhere here.¡±
What people who lived with androids felt sorry for was that they couldn¡¯t eat.
It couldn¡¯t be helped.
The function of digesting organic matter was not impossible to implement, but it was very expensive.
There was also the problem of excretion, so all androids could not digest food.
Hwang Sun-young looked around with regret.
¡°There was a ce like this in this area.¡±
The megacity was still under construction.
It had grown several timesrger and added many new facilities since they arrived.
¡°There are too many people now. It was rtively quiet when I was here.¡±
¡°Wasn¡¯t it empty when we first came?¡±
¡°Huh? Was it?¡±
The poption density of the megacity was a hot topic both outside and inside.
The streets were crowded with people everywhere.
It was only natural, considering that hundreds or thousands of people lived in the buildings that filled each area.
With such a high poption density, one would expect problems to arise, but it seemed that no major idents had urred yet.
There were news of gangs fighting and being dragged to the administration bureau, or someonemitting murder and being expelled, but the streets were still peaceful.
Anyway, Hwang Sun-young was amazed by the system of the megacity.
Everything was carried out smoothly ording to the schedule, thanks to the artificial intelligence that managed it.
As she chatted with Lucia while waiting, a meal was supplied exactly three hourster.
There were various kinds of food, so she could choose what she liked, and the bathroom and nursing were also done without any trouble under the guidance of the androids.
Hwang Sun-young put down her fork as she felt nervous after a few bites.
Then a voice echoed in the shelter.
¡°Do you know who I am?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know, and I don¡¯t care. Stop making a fuss and sit down.¡±
¡°Am I making a fuss now? Is it wrong to get one more lunch box?¡±
The man argued with the android in excitement.
It seemed that he had inted the number of people and tried to get more meals, but was stopped.
The megacity tried its best to filter out such people, but it was inevitable that some would sneak in, since there were so many residents.
He bragged about how great his connections were.
It looked like he had rtives in the Blue House.
The android smiled sarcastically.
¡°Is that so? My connection is the president.¡±
¡°What?¡±
The android called a drone and warned him.
¡°Warning: CP of citizen number IT-M-8376312 is deducted. Reason: Embezzlement. Current CP: 54¡±
¡°Your CP is very low. If you do this again, you will be a restricted citizen. Be careful.¡±
The man quickly shut his mouth and rolled his eyes.
He had heard enough about restricted and isted citizens since he came here not long ago.
There was no way to increase CP other than living without causing trouble.
It was very hard to raise CP, but it could drop in an instant, which angered many people.
But that was the story of those who caused trouble.
People who never had to visit the police station in their lives were good at managing their CP.
When themotion died down, Hwang Sun-young looked at him with contempt.
¡°That guy won¡¯tst long.¡±
Living in the megacity, one could tell who would be a resident and who wouldn¡¯t.
If one caused various idents and their CP fluctuated, their fate was almost decided.
They would either be isted citizens and be locked up in a space prison, or cause more trouble and be expelled.
Anyway, they wouldn¡¯t live a normal life.
The man lost his momentum and grumbled about when his CP had dropped so much, but it was his own fault.
Hwang Sun-young, who was fearless, had never lost CP since she came here.
¡°CP that will go down will go down eventually.¡±
Lucia said something out of the blue, and Hwang Sun-young nodded.
She didn¡¯t know who said it, but it didn¡¯t seem wrong.
The shelter was quiet after that, but suddenly the screen changed.
A live space image taken by a satellite controlled by the United Human Federation appeared.
¡°The gue Cocoon is entering the atmosphere. There are five cocoons falling this time, and one of them is expected to fall in the North Pacific.¡±
People murmured as the cocoon¡¯s falling orbit appeared on the screen.
It wasn¡¯t far from Terra Ind.
¡°Five? Not just one?¡±
¡°This is bad¡¡±
¡°Are we safe here?¡±
As if to answer that, a notification popped up on the screen.
¡°To prepare for a level 4 tsunami, the outer wall of the megacity will be extended to 100 meters.¡±
¡°East coast citizens, please evacuate to higher ces immediately.¡±
The height of the outer wall on the east side of the megacity rose to 100 meters as a transform phenomenon urred.
The upper parts of countless buildings changed their appearance andpletely covered the sky.
Then the whole megacity became a dome-shaped structure.
The citizens had often seen the city change its shape, but it was the first time it applied to the whole city.
¡°Wow, this ce is crazy.¡±
¡°The whole megacity is a huge defense facility.¡±
¡°But do we need this to fight one gue?¡±
¡°The president saw it with his foresight. He said more willeter.¡±
¡°A nuclear bomb would kill it cleanly. Do we need this?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no guarantee that a nuclear bomb will kill itter.¡±
Such conversations showed how anxious people were.
They were worried about how to deal with five cocoons, not just one.
They said that more than 10,000 people died in the France incident.
As Hwang Sun-young looked around nervously, Lucia hugged her from behind.
¡°Don¡¯t worry. Nothing will happen.¡±
¡°I hope so¡¡±
She was safe here with the megacity, but she was worried about other ces.
Meanwhile, the cocoon was falling at a fast speed.
¡°Collision in 20 seconds, 19, 18, 17¡¡±
As the countdown began, Hwang Sun-young grabbed Lucia¡¯s arm that hugged her.
She felt something big was about to happen.
¡°Collision¡±
The whole megacity shook slightly.
The cocoon that fell in the North Pacific evaporated the surrounding seawater and created a 70-meter-high tsunami.
Tsunami warnings rang out on the inds andnds around the megacity.
***
The countries only found out that five cocoons were approaching Earth after the United Human Federation sent them the data.
It was inevitable.
Astronomy, especially space, was difficult to observe except for the United States, and asteroid warnings were a very low-investment field.
The public thought that the United States was monitoring the entire Earth, but that was not the case.
Even with 2,500 satellites under control, it was a stark reality that they could not detect a single cocoon.
The Earth was too big, after all.
Anyway, the countries were shocked when they confirmed the falling orbit of the cocoons.
-Five? And two of them are onnd, not in the sea?
-We have to evacuate people right now.
The five cocoons were expected to fall in the North Pacific, Siberia, North Africa, and the Antic and North America respectively.
Most of them were uninhabited areas, but there was one problem: New Jersey in the eastern United States.
A cocoon weighing over 20,000 tons would cause a disaster if it fell near a big city.
Even if it didn¡¯t mean the end of America, it had enough power to destroy a city.
And it was too fast.
NASA doubted the data of 55 km per second sent by the United Human Federation, but there was no change in the fact that they had to act quickly.
¡ªThe energy of the cocoon¡¯s fall alone is equivalent to a 10-megaton nuclear warhead! We have to evacuate immediately!
But the problem was that New York was included in the evacuation range suggested by the United Human Federation.
The White House held a countermeasure meeting, but everyone looked puzzled.
¡°It¡¯s absurd to evacuate ten million people.¡±
¡°More people might die from evacuating, Mr. President.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it strange? The falling point of the cocoon keeps changing.¡±
¡°That¡¯s because the cocoon is constantly adjusting its falling point. It has intelligence, so it knows where to fall to cause more damage.¡±
That was the information sent by the United Human Federation.
But this information was very suspicious, because all the cocoons so far had fallen into the sea.
If increasing damage was gue¡¯s goal, they should have all fallen onnd.
They didn¡¯t exin that maintaining five cocoons amplified their side fields and widened their detection range.
They had been smashed several times for exining everything and asking for consent.
President Bernstein pondered and connected a hotline to the United Human Federation.
¡°How reliable is this information?¡±
¡°100%. If you don¡¯t evacuate now, hundreds of thousands of people will die.¡±
¡°Are you serious?¡±
¡°6,721 seconds left. The number of deaths depends on how quickly the president gives the order.¡±
¡°¡¡±
President Bernstein silently hung up the phone and instructed.
¡°Contact the governor. Evacuate all the citizens.¡±
The evacuation order was issued, and the same thing that happened in France happened in New York.
The narrow roads were filled with cars, and people started running and screaming.
It was a huge chaos, iparable to France, with a poption of nearly ten million.
People dragged and abandoned their belongings, and some lost their children.
In the midst of that, gunshots were heard, and it was a total mess.
The New York City authorities were terrified when they received a report that 30 minutes had passed and the citizens had not evacuated.
¡°Queensboro Bridge ispletely a parking lot! Traffic is impossible!¡±
¡°There¡¯s a riot in southern Brooklyn! We need reinforcements immediately!¡±
The thugs who took advantage of the confusion and raided the houses and shops were also a problem.
The New York police were busy controlling the overflowing citizens, and everything was a mess.
The city that never sleeps fell into such a chaos, but the cocoon was still being sucked into Earth¡¯s gravity.
The United Human Federation finalized the falling orbit of the cocoon 30 minutes before the collision.
¡°1,530 km northeast of Terra Ind, 320 km north of Norilsk in Siberia¡¡±
All the falling points were revealed, and the United States shuddered when they learned that it would fall in Lower Manhattan in New York.
There were too many people around.
The refugees flocked in and most of the roads turned into parking lots. The citizens had to run with only one piece of luggage.
There were also many who ignored the evacuation order and hid in their homes or caused trouble.
The governor of New York sweated profusely as he directed the evacuation, but he received a report that less than 30% of the citizens had evacuated.
It was hopeless.
As everyone looked at the sky, a bright light exploded out of nowhere.
The White House was startled, thinking that the asteroid had already fallen, but it wasn¡¯t.
¡°A Seoul-ss battleship fired a missile?¡±
¡°Yes. They said they apologize for not getting permission because it was urgent.¡±
¡°¡Where is that ship now?¡±
¡°Well, they didn¡¯t tell me the exact location, but they¡¯re in space.¡±
The missile fired from space exploded near the cocoon and pushed it away.
It must have been an antimatter warhead.
The news came that the cocoon¡¯s falling orbit had changed slightly.
¡°The falling point has changed to 90 km south of Long Ind!¡±
¡°That¡¯s good enough!¡±
They clenched their fists.
It seemed that the cocoon was not destroyed, but it was enough to change its orbit.
That one missile had saved the lives of tens of thousands who had not evacuated.
As the cocoon entered the atmosphere, the US military activated the high-altitude air defensework, but it was too fast.
It was no joke to respond to 55 km per second. It was realistically impossible.
Even if they hit it directly, they doubted if the cocoon would be damaged.
Anyway, the cocoon ignored all the US military¡¯s efforts and fell into the sea south of Long Ind, engulfed in mes.
Arge amount of seawater evaporated and the surrounding air and water rushed out.
On Long Ind and othernds, tsunami warnings had already sounded and people were going up to high ces. It was a chaos.
Then the tsunami hit and destroyed tens of thousands of houses and cked out the area.
That¡¯s how five cocoons fell one after another.
Now the US¡¯s attention was focused on the cocoon that sank to the seabed.
¡°We have to lure it.¡±
In the White House bunker, they argued that they had to lure the monster as soon as it came out.
They couldn¡¯t detonate a megaton-ss nuclear warhead near New York.
They had to mobilize a fleet for that, but they were worried that the intelligent creature would follow them.
President Bernstein looked through the report with a heavy face and heard his secretary¡¯s whisper.
¡°There was a megaton-ss explosion in the North Pacific.¡±
¡°Yeah? They must have annihted it there.¡±
¡°Yes. Earth Fleet is heading straight to Siberia.¡±
They must have had a reason to mobilize a fleet instead of firing missiles.
He didn¡¯t know what it was, but the United Human Federation knew well about gue and nned to destroy them one by one as they circled the Earth.
The US wasst in order, so they couldn¡¯t expect any help.
Bernstein shivered with an unlikely chill.
He thought that the US should join hands with the United Human Federation even if they had to concede, but the public opinion and political views were not so.
Would they be able to break their pride if they suffered a great damage this time?
¡®I doubt it¡¡¯
Statistically, about 15% of Americans believed in t Earth theory.
There were also many who rejected modern medicine and devoted themselves to self-treatment, and even some who denied the existence of gue.
Especially, there were many forces that believed in conspiracy theories about Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªWhy do monsterse to Earth? Because of Yu Ji-ha. If we kill Yu Ji-ha, monsters won¡¯te either.
¡ªYu Ji-ha¡¯s goal is to destroy the world with monsters and then rule it. All countries should make Yu Ji-ha¡¯s elimination their top priority.
What kind of ruling after destroying the world?
More than ten million Americans seriously believed in such delusions.
As the United Human Federation rose suddenly, the economy worsened and jobs decreased, so they resented them.
The real problem was that the Democratic Party imed that they should exclude Yu Ji-ha as their supporters.
¡®Our interests are important, of course. But surviving is more important.¡¯
The Democratic Party and their supporters seemed to not know that.
No, they pretended not to know even though they knew.
There was a noisy debate over the fleet mobilization issue in the bunker, and President Bernstein looked at the sea boiling with heat.
He felt that a real disaster was about to happen.
Chapter 164: A Lot of Work
Chapter 164: A Lot of Work
A lot of data came in as the cocoon fell in the North Pacific.
The gue entity that came this time was a Knight-ss, which had a bigger cocoon and a higher concentration of side field than before.
¡°Theparison of the field concentration shows that it is simr to the initial Knight-ss.¡±
¡°That means it¡¯s a proper one.¡±
It meant that it could imitate Earth¡¯s life forms or weapons more efficiently.
It was also strong enough that it wouldn¡¯t die from a 1-megaton explosion.
¡°Send the Earth Fleet to block the side field. I need to see how ites out.¡±
The reason why they couldn¡¯t st the cocoon with a reaction warhead from a distance was because they had installed a valuable side field blocker on the Earth Fleet.
If it was a frontal battle, winning was the top priority, so they didn¡¯t have to worry about the side field.
But they didn¡¯t know who sent it, so they couldn¡¯t take any risks.
They had to prepare a blocker and a reaction warhead to kill gue.
Arma controlled the Earth Fleet and approached the sea where the cocoon fell.
The deep sea was boiling as a whole due to the heat of the cocoon.
¡°Blocker activated¡ The side field ispletely blocked.¡±
There was nothing in the sea, so they didn¡¯t have to worry about psychers.
But there was a problem.
As soon as the Earth Fleet approached, the cocoon opened and gue suddenly popped out.
¡°It is identified as Gamma One at this time. It is a gue Knight-ss¡ Oh, it¡¯s running away.¡±
It felt disadvantaged as there was nothing nearby and its side field was blocked, so it quickly ran away.
It was a proper Knight-ss, so it changed its shape by imitating a whale that passed by.
A 100-meter-long mechanical whale dived into the seabed.
Yu Ji-ha nodded as he saw it.
¡°That¡¯s more like gue.¡±
gue was not a simple monster that ran wild without distinguishing front and back.
It was a dangerous life form that used the given situation to its fullest and struggled to survive.
The two entities that came to Earth before were a bit dull in that aspect.
But this one was real.
¡°Gamma One has gone down below 2,000 meters of the seabed. We might have to lure it if we want to detonate a reaction warhead.¡±
It could move anywhere in the deep sea as it was active in space.
It would feel asfortable as home by absorbing manganese nodules or nearby metals.
¡°There¡¯s no choice. I have to go.¡±
To pull up the scared one, they needed an entity that could spread the same side field.
Since the blocker was activated, they had to spread it with an enormous concentration, and Yu Ji-ha was the only one who could do that.
¡°Prepare an assault armor. Let¡¯s go.¡±
¡°Armed pod ejected.¡±
As he boarded the assault armor that came to Seoul with Yu Ji-ha, he looked around at the situation of the cocoons that fell in various regions.
¡°The others fell in areas with few people, but New York is a problem.¡±
¡°The evacuation order has been issued in New York City, but the evacuation rate is not even 70%.¡±
¡°Why don¡¯t they run away?¡±
¡°They believe it¡¯s a conspiracy by Master and the government. Many people think gue itself is fake.¡±
¡°They doubt its existence?¡±
¡°Yes. Many people im that they can¡¯t believe it until they experience it themselves. Even if they do, they will change their words suddenly.¡±
¡°Do they also not believe that there is a base on the moon?¡±
¡°If I may speak for Americans only, at least 20% do. They ovep with those who believe in t Earth theory.¡±
Yu Ji-ha had intended not to take any action except for the entity near the United Human Federation.
He only had to protect the megacity, after all.
But he hade back to this era to destroy gue and protect humanity.
He had killed many humans in the process of rebuilding the United Human Federation, but it was not enough to be used of losing his original purpose.
No one would believe him, but he thought so himself.
But seeing the conspiracy theorists made him lose his energy.
¡°Should I just leave them alone¡ No. There are people who can be citizens. Arma.¡±
¡°Yes, Master.¡±
¡°Record all those people. They like to show off, so they will babble online in some way.¡±
¡°Should we deny them entry to the megacity?¡±
¡°Of course we should. Believing in conspiracy theories is their freedom, but not letting them into the megacity is also our freedom.¡±
If they let those people into the megacity, they would surely cause trouble by bringing up conspiracy theories.
It was better not to ept them at all.
¡°Master, there is gue right below us.¡±
Yu Ji-ha fixed his assault armor at 100 meters above the sea level.
He opened his sealed side field and got a reaction from the seabed.
¡®You¡¯re experiencing side field for the first time, huh? I¡¯m not your enemy.¡¯
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s side field wasparable to a Leviathan-ss gue.
He could emit intense thought waves, but he didn¡¯t have many chances to use them in frontal battles.
But it was excellent for luring lower entities.
By now, it must have mistaken Yu Ji-ha for a higher entity.
As if to prove that, Arma reported with a happy voice.
¡°Gamma One is moving. It¡¯s surfacing.¡±
It was like fishing.
Yu Ji-ha liked fishing, but he didn¡¯t have time for it.
¡®I¡¯ll have to do it a lot when I get some rest.¡¯
He doubted if that was possible.
Anyway, he made his assault armor rise slowly into the air.
Gamma One¡¯s speed also increased gradually.
Finally, a huge metal whale emerged from the sea level, and only one reaction warhead was left where the assault armor had been.
Antimatter and matterbined and spewed pure energy.
Gamma One¡¯s sturdy shell copsed in one shot.
¡°Gamma One down confirmed.¡±
¡°There¡¯s the core.¡±
Yu Ji-ha retrieved the core and returned to Terra Ind.
Megacity Pacific opened its entrance and weed him.
***
The other gues did not move from their cocoons.
Yu Ji-ha invited the leaders of the countries near him to a video conference.
There was a UN emergency meeting, but all the leaders participated in Yu Ji-ha¡¯s meeting.
They knew well that the UN would only continue to discuss without presenting any practical measures.
The US had withdrawn, and Russia had shown signs of withdrawing soon, so the current UN was nothing but a scarecrow.
What would rece it was probably a bipr system of the United Human Federation and the US.
The US tried to form an efficient alliance with its solid allies, but the United Human Federation did not take any action.
Most of the issues were settled by Yu Ji-ha¡¯s decision, so they didn¡¯t need any cooperation.
If they had to cooperate, they would just have a meeting like this.
Anyway, the US did not participate in this meeting.
President Bernstein originally wanted to put aside his conflict with the United Human Federation and join, but the Senate expressed its opposition.
¡°Do you n to go there and just listen to their orders? Please be aware of who you represent.¡±
¡°The US can defeat the space monsters without the help of the United Human Federation. We will imprint that on the world this time.¡±
He felt like saying that they were useless, but President Bernstein showed his patience.
He had be a puppet of Congress, but he had to endure his term anyway.
It was his duty as a president.
He talked to Yu Ji-ha, who did not express his willingness to participate.
¡°The US seems confident.¡±
¡°No. It¡¯s just pretending because of pride.¡±
He didn¡¯t seem to have much intention of re-election either.
After McKinley, Baldwin, Bernstein¡ who would be next?
Maybe someone who would faithfully follow the Democratic Party¡¯s policy would be chosen, but he would feel it as soon as he took the seat of president.
That the US was walking on the wrong path.
Anyway, President Bernstein expressed his gratitude for helping him with the antimatter warhead.
He asked him subtly.
¡°Can my family go to the megacity?¡±
¡°Currently, the megacity does not limit residency rights as long as you pass the screening.¡±
¡°That means there is no advantage. I understand.¡±
¡°But are you sure?¡±
¡°Why, because I¡¯m president?¡±
¡°You will have former in front of it in a year or so, but anyway, there has never been a former president who became a citizen of the megacity.¡±
¡°The Democratic Party bastards are probably nning to put a retriever who listens well instead of me. So I have to find a way to live too.¡±
Bernstein was from a famous family on Wall Street and had a lot of influence in politics even before he became president.
After his retirement, he would receive various favors and even have a grand funeral as a national funeral.
He gave up all that and wanted to move to the megacity, which meant that the situation was serious.
But there were many people who didn¡¯t know that and didn¡¯t want to know.
If they epted Bernstein, the US would be in a serious position.
It would be an unprecedented situation for a former president to live in another country, let alone in the United Human Federation.
It seemed like it would be fun in its own way.
¡°If you apply for residency, we will review it carefully.¡±
It was as good as an OK sign.
Bernstein finally rxed and ended the conversation.
After that, the leaders of various countries held a countermeasure meeting against the gue and agreed to let Earth Fleet intervene.
President Mikhailov of Russia decided to ept their help as a gesture of friendship with the United Human Federation, even though he could handle it with his own power.
The cocoons in North Africa and the Antic seemed to have no countries to deal with them.
¡°How are you going to deal with the cocoon that fell in New York?¡±
Someone asked and Yu Ji-ha answered slowly.
¡°That¡¯s up to the US. They¡¯re a superpower, so they¡¯ll manage.¡±
The leaders nodded.
The US had been losing facetely, but it was still a country that could represent humanity.
They should be able to kill the space monsters.
Some leaders requested a one-on-one meeting and Yu Ji-ha epted them.
The first one was President Mikhailov, who spoke in a serious tone.
¡°The threat of the gue is getting worse every day.¡±
¡°It¡¯s peaceful now. In the future I saw, humanity was extinct.¡±
The extinction of humanity didn¡¯t really hit him until a few months ago.
It was hard to believe that this world could be destroyed overnight.
But seeing five gues appear at once made him think that it wouldn¡¯t be strange if they were wiped out.
Especially Russia, which had been closely cooperating with the United Human Federation, was very sensitive to this situation.
Russia was currently undergoing a massive purge and was very chaotic.
President Mikhailov was holding the center and taking Yu Ji-ha¡¯s advice well, but it didn¡¯t show.
In such a situation, five space monsters appeared and it was noisy as if the end of the world hade.
¨DSpace monsters areing to destroy Russia!
¨DThe only way we can survive is to enter the megacity.
¨DDamn, it¡¯s annoying. Why don¡¯t we just merge with the United Human Federation? It would be easier.
Russia had been like that before, but it became closer to the United Human Federation after Putin¡¯s death.
It became even more so after it was revealed that the fastest and most certain way to enter the megacity was to obtain the United Human Federation nationality.
Of course, the Megacity Administration Bureau exined that there were no restrictions other than screening, but it was true that it was easier to be in the United Human Federation.
Some Russians even married United Human Federation workers who entered Siberia for this reason.
In the process, some Russians were shocked by Yu Ji-ha¡¯s appearance.
They thought all the unionists looked like Yu Ji-ha they saw on TV, but they were wrong.
Anyway, integration was a huge trend and Russia couldn¡¯t change it either.
President Mikhailov¡¯s concern was also about that.
¡°It¡¯s good to have people move into the megacity, but I¡¯m worried about what to do with the rest.¡±
¡°There are idiots in the US, in Russia, and in the United Human Federation. Don¡¯t worry about them. They¡¯ll fall out on their own.¡±
¡°Are you saying you¡¯re abandoning everyone outside the megacity?¡±
¡°That¡¯s not an appropriate word. They didn¡¯t choose. The conditions for entering the megacity are not too harsh, are they?¡±
¡°Well, I guess so.¡±
President Mikhailov seemed ufortable with the idea of abandoning his people, but he couldn¡¯t persuade Yu Ji-ha.
Well, the megacity would ept anyone who wasn¡¯t too bad.
Even those who had protested for democracy in Russia were not rejected, so the conditions were not harsh at all.
Anyway, they confirmed that the same conditions applied to the citizens of Ukraine Administrative District after a detailed discussion.
¡°There are no Ukrainians. They¡¯re just Russians. So they can move into the megacity anytime.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good. I have something to say in Ukraine. Actually, I¡¯ve been getting a lot of inquiries from Eastern Europetely because of this. Estonia even seriously proposed a merger.¡±
It was hard to give up one¡¯s national identity, but the former Soviet satellite states seemed to have different positions.
Well, France almost copsed and even the US was in a precarious situation.
How would small Eastern European countries fare?
He prayed that the space monsters would not fall on hisnd.
He trusted that the United Human Federation would take care of everything, but still.
He had to ept the fact that if he joined them, he would get the same deal as Russia.
President Mikhailov smiled and turned off the screen, and greeted the next leader.
***
While Earth Fleet was orbiting the, extracting and destroying the gues from the cocoons, the US was shocked by the damage that was much greater than expected.
The White House celebrated that the cocoon hadnded in the sea, not onnd, thanks to the United Human Federation, but the mood turned cold as they received the damage report.
¨DToo many citizens did not evacuate. At least thousands of people were confirmed dead, and Brooklyn was reduced to rubble.
¨DCurrently, 100,000 people are missing and the number is increasing. The National Guard can¡¯t handle this!
¨DWe need to deploy federal troops immediately.
President Bernstein convened a task force to mobilize all avable resources, and also received a report on the situation of the cocoon.
¡°The cocoon is currently sunk 350 meters below sea level off New York, and the exact coordinates are as you can see.¡±
¡°There is no movement, but we are monitoring it from all directions, considering France¡¯s case.¡±
They were intelligent.
President Yu Ji-ha said that the Knight-ss could think properly, and it was proven in France¡¯s situation.
Also, ording to various sources of information, the ones that fell this time could take various forms.
The Gamma One that appeared in the North Pacific and was smashed first was reported to be in the shape of a whale, and the one in Siberia transformed into a pr bear and surprised the Russians.
It was rare for anyone to keep theirposure when a giant mechanical pr bear of nearly 100 meters in length appeared.
¡®I wonder what wille out on our side.¡¯
They said they would take a form that suited their situation. How would it be?
President Bernstein decided to mobilize an aircraft carrier strike group after consulting with military generals.
¡°I have been contacted by an undisclosed source about luring them. He said we need to use strong psychics.¡±
None of the staff asked who the undisclosed source was.
It was obvious that it was Yu Ji-ha.
He had helped them with particle bombs and information despite their repeated snubs.
But it seemed like this was the end of it.
President Bernstein repeatedly emphasized that they had to solve it with their own power.
¡°He said he¡¯spletely out of it. We can¡¯t ask for his help anymore, so we have to do it ourselves. Chairman of Joint Chiefs.¡±
¡°Yes, Mr. President.¡±
¡°What means do we have to lure him?¡±
¡°Task Force 70 has been formed. This group includes an aircraft carrier strike group from the Second Fleet¡¡±
As the report seemed to go on for a while, Bernstein cut him off.
¡°He doesn¡¯t seem to want to change his old-fashioned doctrine. Is it because of factional fights within the navy? Anyway, listen carefully. The¡ source said we need a very fast tform to lure the gue. A reconnaissance ne would be nice if possible.¡±
¡°Do you mean luring it with a reconnaissance ne and hitting it with an aircraft carrier strike group on standby?¡±
¡°Do you think he¡¯ll follow us if we have an aircraft carrier strike group out there? We¡¯ll have to use submarines. I¡¯m telling you again, don¡¯t forget that this one is much more delicate and smart than before.¡±
¡°¡I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡±
After the operation was finalized, there was aint in the navy that the president was trying to interfere too much in the battle.
Traditionally, American presidents were satisfied with creating an environment and delegating operations, then stepping back and watching.
The navy was also confident based on their achievement of smashing the first gue.
¨DWe can kill any alien monster, even if Hafnium-2 warheads don¡¯t work.
¨DNo one can underestimate us. Not even the United Human Federation.
¨DThere are five space monsters this time, and the United Human Federation took four of them. We have to deal with at least one of them to save face.
The navy took such a stance because they were criticized for not being much help in fighting space monsters despite spending a huge budget.
There were more than one or two such forces, but since they boasted thergest scale in the world, they had to face public scrutiny.
Therefore, the US Navy had to destroy the gue by themselves this time.
But it wasn¡¯t easy to gather psychics to lure them.
Most of them refused to be bait, and they only managed to mobilize some researchers from the military, but there weren¡¯t enough of them.
ording to an undisclosed source, they needed at least 100 people, but they only got 70.
Meanwhile, the camera installed in the deep sea detected a crack in the cocoon.
The US Navy decided that they couldn¡¯t waste any more time and had the psychics board the reconnaissance nes and wait.
Everything went smoothly until then, and the navy was sure of victory.
Now they just had to lure him and feed him a nuclear warhead.
Soon, the cocoon cracked and the gue popped out, and he approached the surface of the water, showing interest in the three flying reconnaissance nes and following them.
¡°As expected, he¡¯s a stupid monster.¡±
¡°Good, let¡¯s proceed with the operation. Prepare to load the nuclear warhead.¡±
It was when a lot of work was started on the deck of the Gerald R. Ford-ss aircraft carrier.
A message arrived to President Bernstein, who was watching Gamma Five run through the sea like a dolphin.
¨DThat¡¯s a fake. The real one is heading to New York.
A fake?
He felt a chill down his spine.
Chapter 165: Heading Towards Disaster
Chapter 165: Heading Towards Disaster
The US Navy Fleet Command did not believe the information that Gamma One was a fake.
They judged that the creature that was swimming hard after the reconnaissance ne could not be a decoy.
But it was the president¡¯s order, so they reluctantly decided to fire a hafnium-2 warhead.
¡°FFG-63 Congress, this is themand. Fire a hafnium-2 warhead at its head. Don¡¯t let it get scared and run away.¡±
The escort ship loaded andunched the hafnium-2 missile.
There was no easier target than the huge metal monster that was following the reconnaissance ne.
The missile hit and the monster stopped in its tracks.
A small cheer erupted from the bridge and the sailors of the US Navy did not doubt that the monster had taken a heavy blow.
¡°That must have hurt, even if it didn¡¯t kill it.¡±
¡°It would have been nice if we could hit its butt.¡±
The bridge was cheerful, believing that victory was already assured.
But the mood changed as the rough waves subsided and the debris surfaced.
¡°It died from that? Isn¡¯t that too weak?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not like our hafnium warhead was too strong¡¡±
¡°Something¡¯s wrong!¡±
Rear Admiral Andrew, themander of the 2nd Fleet, rolled his eyes without rest as he received the report from the reconnaissance team.
As his subordinates said, there was no way that thing would die from this.
The US military had analyzed France¡¯sbat records almost to the point of dissection.
Even the lowest-level entity did not die from one hafnium warhead, let alone a higher-level one that exploded.
Then¡
Admiral Andrew opened his mouth.
¡°All ships, turn around. We¡¯re going to search for Gamma Five from now on. It¡¯s big enough to have a trail, so don¡¯t miss it!¡±
It was close to 20,000 tons in size, so it would definitely leave a trace if it moved underwater.
But the waters off New York were very chaotic due to the sessive tidal waves and fleet maneuvers.
The analysis team was activated, but the monster¡¯s whereabouts were unknown.
¡°This wicked monster must be holding its breath and hiding.¡±
They searched the sea thoroughly with reconnaissance nes, destroyers, and submarines, but it did not appear.
¡°It must be sunk on the seabed.¡±
This case would be hard to find even for a submarine.
It was hard to ovee the harsh environment of the sea with the US Navy¡¯s advanced equipment.
But there seemed to be a group in the world that could do that.
Admiral Andrew was startled when he saw letters engraved byser on the deck of the aircraft carrier, but soon realized what they meant.
¡¸JUST IN BELOW¡¹
It meant that it was right below.
The officers realized that and looked at the floor when the admiral spoke bitterly.
¡°This monster is more wicked than we thought. It separated its shell and followed us, then hid under the fleet. We didn¡¯t expect anything like this¡¡±
¡°Sir, sir.¡±
¡°Did they teach us something less than the United Human Federation? I¡¯m sorry, but it¡¯s hard to repay their kindness. Everyone, prepare to retreat.¡±
¡°What if we use mines now¡¡±
It was then.
Suddenly, something stirred on the bottom of the sea and pierced through the flight deck.
It was a ck metal shaped like a wedge.
As the crew fell over from the shock and tried to run away, the ck metal turned blue and exploded.
Boom.
The explosion was so powerful that it split in half the deck of Gerald R. Ford-ss aircraft carrier, which had a discement of nearly 100,000 tons.
And then there was a chain explosion as if the weapons in the hangar had detonated, and the entire carrier began to tilt and split.
¡°Everyone, evacuate immediately!¡±
Admiral Andrew¡¯s order was already toote.
The fighters on deck and countless crew members were swept into the sea and eventually the carrier splitpletely into two and began to sink.
President Bernstein closed his eyes as he received news of the carrier¡¯s sinking.
¡°It¡¯s over¡¡±
But the real thing had not even started yet.
Gamma Five¡¯s main bodynded in New York as Yu Ji-ha warned.
***
Bob was a conspiracy theorist who lived in Brooklyn.
He hated sincerely hated Korea¡¯s president who had taken away his job from afar, and believed that he caused this current disaster because of him.
He didn¡¯t care what people around him said was true or not.
Bob went to a weekly meeting to drive Yu Ji-ha out of Earth and participated enthusiastically in activities and received meals.
¨DLeave Earth!
Bob was a man who lived in a shabby house in Brooklyn with his wife and kids, waiting for him.
He was the kind of person who felt secure when he belonged to amunity.
He didn¡¯t care if his actions were considered crazy by others.
He was part of a group that wanted to drive Yu Ji-ha, the human-like alien monster, out of Earth.
They imed that the monster came because Yu Ji-ha was on Earth.
Their only evidence was that the monster was made of ck metal, but they believed it earnestly.
If they had been ignored, they wouldn¡¯t have continued their activities.
But they received donations from somewhere and even the media covered their activities with a mocking attitude.
They even filmed a documentary recently.
Was it a family honor?
Of course, from Bob¡¯s perspective, it was nothing but a bottomless business that didn¡¯t bring him a cent to his home. But still, he could say proudly to his kids.
¨DYour grandfather was one of the first people to discover the true identity of Yu Ji-ha, the alien monster who wore a human skin¡
Something like that.
He might be treated as a fool now, but someday his true value would be recognized.
Bob was puffing hopeful smoke when it happened.
The puddles around him trembled slightly.
At first, he didn¡¯t care, but the vibration became so strong that he could feel it with his body.
And not long after, he witnessed something ck emerging from the sea surface.
¡°Fuck, what is that?¡±
He swore involuntarily at the absurd shape of the creature.
It looked like a lizard at a nce, but it was unlike any lizard Bob had ever seen in his life.
And its size was so unrealistically huge that he doubted if he was seeing things.
¡°It can¡¯t be moving¡¡±
As if to deny it, the monster moved.
Every time it moved its massive legs, the seawater surged and the ground shook as if there was an earthquake.
And then the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which was on its course, began to copse.
The cars parked on the bridge fell down and the steel cables wrapped around the monster¡¯s body with a nging sound.
But the monster didn¡¯t stop and advanced by destroying the bridgepletely.
It was an unbelievable sight.
Bob stared nkly at it and ran into the house.
¡°Jimmy! Aiden! Pack your bags now! Hurry!¡±
¡°What are you talking about? You resisted even when the state told us to evacuate?¡±
¡°There¡¯s a monster now!¡±
Gamma Five, which made even the best conspiracy theorist in America evacuate, crossed Upper Manhattan and finally arrived at the symbol of America.
The Statue of Liberty.
It was a 93.5-meter symbol that announced the end of America by ying the role of falling in many disaster movies.
But the monster didn¡¯t seem to care about the building that was simr in size to itself and just passed by.
Instead, what caught its attention was the F-35 fighter squadron that took off urgently.
They knew they couldn¡¯t do any damage with conventional bullets, but they volunteered to buy some time.
¡°Fox Three, Fox Three.¡±
A radar-guided missile was fired and hit Gamma Five, but it didn¡¯t flinch or show any sign of being hit.
As the pilots tilted their heads, an arc discharge urred from what looked like its mouth.
¡°This is a bad sign!¡±
¡°Scatter!¡±
As the fighters dispersed, Gamma Five fired a thickser.
Theser stretched out in a straight line and sliced through several buildings in lower Manhattan in an instant.
¡°Aaaah!¡±
¡°The building is copsing!¡±
Gamma Five was definitely on a different level from the one thatnded in France.
Itnded in Manhattan and destroyed buildings and vehicles with its ether de.
It was like the advent of a god of destruction.
¡°Oh, God.¡±
¡°Today is the end of New York¡¡±
mes and smoke rose from all over Manhattan.
No one could stop the space monster.
***
The White House bunker was shrouded in silence.
No one dared to open their mouth and they just looked at the documents in front of them with grim expressions.
Manhattan suffered astronomical damage from Gamma Five¡¯snding.
The New York of New York, boasting a poption of 2 million.
The center of the American financial world, and also the center of the world, waspletely destroyed.
There was nothing left of the Empire State Building or the World Trade Center.
The only thing that was intact was the Statue of Liberty, and there were no buildings higher than that in lower Manhattan.
The only constion was that President Bernstein had ordered the evacuation of Manhattan residents in advance.
Gamma One had disappeared into the sea after destroying Manhattan for a while and corroding the surrounding metal greedily.
The New York authorities and the American political scene were shocked and terrified by thete damage assessment.
The governor of New York cried like a child as he looked at the shattered Manhattan.
President Bernstein opened his mouth heavily with a gloomy look on his face.
¡°I won¡¯t talk about responsibility here. We¡¯ll find out when everything is over. What matters to us now is how to deal with that monster.¡±
He meant to present a n rather than me someone.
But America couldn¡¯t even find Gamma Five¡¯s whereabouts right now.
The navy¡¯s eyes were turned upside down as they searched the waters off New York, but all they found were dolphins and sharks.
It had disappeared, but everyone knew it hadn¡¯t left Americapletely.
Someday, maybe as soon as tonight, it would reappear and America had to be ready for it.
They had no way to stop it.
Gamma Five was fast and strong, despite its intelligence.
It was immune to conventional warheads and could only be harmed by megaton-ss nuclear weapons.
The problem was that it was agile, despite its size.
It hesitated a bit when itnded, as if it was seeing the scenery for the first time, but it destroyed Manhattan in less than an hour.
It was so fast that it was hard to hit it with a nuclear warhead.
Even if they epted the destruction of the surroundings.
All this information was reported to the White House and everyone was speechless.
Who would have thought it would be so fast and powerful?
Yu Ji-ha had warned them several times and gave them information, but America ignored it.
To be precise, President Bernstein had struggled alone.
He dered that he would resign regardless of his term when the situation was over.
The only thing left was how to deal with it.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke cautiously.
¡°I think we have no choice but to ask for his help.¡±
¡°Is that the military¡¯s judgment?¡±
¡°Yes, the militarymanders agreed. It¡¯s not only a problem to find Gamma Five, but also to lure it.¡±
¡°We suffered a huge damage because we realized that toote.¡±
It was natural for a country like America to feel reluctant to lose its leadership and be dragged along.
But they should have cooperated when Yu Ji-ha repeatedly warned them of the danger of the situation.
As a result of ignoring all that, New York suffered a tremendous damage and it was irreversible.
With this incident, America would lose not only the trust of the internationalmunity, but also its status as a superpower.
Who would listen to America¡¯s words?
President Bernstein clenched his pen nervously and spoke to his chief of staff.
¡°Contact Senator James. I have something to say.¡±
Senator James was the leader of the Democratic inner club and had a strong influence on politics.
Of course, the American president could open the airspace without the permission of Congress, but he wanted to surrender this time.
Not for his face, but for the future of America.
When Senator James¡¯s face appeared on the screen, President Bernstein curled his lips.
¡°Are you satisfied now?¡±
¡°If anyone hears you, they¡¯ll think I want America¡¯s downfall. I¡¯m a patriot who wants America¡¯s interests, Mr. President.¡±
¡°You must have realized that you were wrong, so I mean you should be satisfied and step down. Or do you want me to finish you off?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±
President Bernstein brought his face close to Senator James¡¯s face, who shook his head with a sigh.
¡°Stop talking nonsense and get out of there. America doesn¡¯t need your existence.¡±
¡°Hey, watch your mouth, Mr. President¡¡±
¡°Do you know how many people died because of your selfish greed? Manhattan is gone!¡±
¡°That¡¯s your responsibility.¡±
Senator James didn¡¯t give up his smug attitude.
¡°I have a responsibility as a senator to submit bills and run the Congress. I¡¯m not in a position to be ountable for the executive branch.¡±
His tone was so rxed that it sounded like he was mocking.
President Bernstein couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and said.
¡°Fine. Let¡¯s see how long you can keep running your dirty mouth. Senator James.¡±
The vice president was supposed to be the president of the Senate, but the position was vacant when Bernstein became president.
The person that President Bernstein nominated as vice president didn¡¯t get the approval of Congress.
As a result, the position of the Senate president was temporarily held by Senator James.
The speaker of the House was ahead in the presidential session order, but he went to New York and met with a disaster, so Senator James automatically became president.
A pacemaker was ripped out of Bernstein¡¯s chest.
The bureaucrats who witnessed it were flustered and Senator James¡¯s face turned red.
¡°I tried not to be rude to the incumbent president, but I guess it won¡¯t work. Give me your badge before you make a fool of yourself.¡±
¡°If I resign, you¡¯ll be president. Why don¡¯t you try to deal with the two monsters with your power?¡±
The monsters included not only Gamma Five, but also Yu Ji-ha.
Bernstein loosened his tie and left the conference room, followed by his aides.
The atmosphere in the bunker was a mess and Senator James, who was about to be president, sneered.
¡°It¡¯s unbelievable that something that would happen in a backward country happened in America. What are you doing instead of assisting the president? Bring him back right now.¡±
¡°¡We can¡¯t listen to someone who doesn¡¯t have authority.¡±
¡°Then don¡¯t you bring the person who has authority? Will you obey me when I be president?¡±
¡°I¡¯d rather not.¡±
¡°What did you say?¡±
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff red at the screen and said.
¡°You are using the president as a shield and plotting behind his back, but you should learn about responsibility on this asion. To be honest, aren¡¯t you the cause of this situation?¡±
¡°Say that again. Who is to me for this situation?¡±
¡°You! The Democrats! The senators!¡±
The chairman¡¯s voice rose.
As the people inside the bunker couldn¡¯t breathe properly, he started firing like a machine gun.
¡°If we had received help from the United Human Federation, this wouldn¡¯t have happened! Why do you only oppose without any n? There were plenty of opportunities to cooperate!¡±
Senator James warned him at his harsh words.
¡°Chairman. You aremitting a serious breach of etiquette right now.¡±
¡°Breach of etiquette? You killed at least 50,000 Americans and you¡¯re talking about breach of etiquette?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t talk nonsense. Who killed Americans?¡±
¡°You did!¡±
President Bernstein burst into the room and pointed at the screen.
¡°If it weren¡¯t for you, this situation would have ended sooner! Do you know where Earth Fleet is? They¡¯re returning to Terra Ind after destroying the fourth monster!¡±
¡°It¡¯s the federal government¡¯s ipetence that can¡¯t handle even one monster.¡±
¡°Do you think nuclear weapons will be more powerful if you take power?¡±
¡°Bernstein!¡±
The bureaucrats and generals in the bunker couldn¡¯t believe the situation.
Was this really a verbal fight between the president and a powerful senator of the superpower America?
Even street gangs wouldn¡¯t be this vicious.
The sad thing was that there was no alternative.
Since former President Baldwin resigned, the American politics was divided and chaotic, and the Congress had repeated unprecedented disasters.
America was almost split in half.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who had lost his temper first, cooled his head and tried to take President Bernstein somewhere.
A report came from the fleetmand.
¡°Mr. President, Gamma Five has appeared.¡±
¡°Yeah, where? I¡¯d like to tell them to blow up the Capitol cleanly.¡±
It was a malicious joke that he wanted to kill the senators, and Senator James gritted his teeth.
The officer hesitated and said.
¡°Itnded in Dware and is heading west. To be clear, it¡¯s heading straight here.¡±
He blinked his eyes hard.
¡°Here? Washington DC?¡±
¡°Yes, sir.¡±
They didn¡¯t know why it appeared there, but there was nothing in Dware that would attract Gamma Five¡¯s attention.
There were no psychers or cities worth destroying, so it would head west.
They didn¡¯t know where its final destination was, but one thing was certain.
From now on, all the citizens and politicians of Washington DC had to evacuate.
It was obvious, since they didn¡¯t know if it would go to Baltimore ore here.
Senator James realized that and quickly left the screen, and President Bernstein gritted his teeth.
¡°That rat bastard, he values his life.¡±
The chairman came over and said.
¡°Mr. President, we can¡¯t afford any more damage. I think you should contact the United Human Federation.¡±
Bernstein looked at the people in the bunker for a long time and said.
¡°If we had done this sooner, New York wouldn¡¯t have been destroyed, right?¡±
No one could answer that.
He sighed weakly.
¡°It¡¯s not easy to avoid responsibility as a president. Connect me to the hotline. I need to talk to President Yu Ji-ha.¡±
Chapter 166: The Path for Humanity
Chapter 166: The Path for Humanity
¡°I emphasized that we needed at least 100 psychics.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry. Everyone we contacted refused, so we had no choice.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t this a crisis situation? You should have dragged them here at gunpoint if you had to.¡±
¡°You¡¯re right¡¡±
He was right.
It would have been better to ignore human rights a little than to let Manhattan fly away.
Of course, human rights should never be vited, but death wasn¡¯t certain, was it?
From the perspective of the authority, it was a worthwhile gamble to temporarily secure dozens of recruits to protect New York.
The problem was that the navy¡¯s pride had turned into arrogance.
What good was having the world¡¯s strongest fleet if they couldn¡¯t catch a monster from space?
Thanks to that, the US navy not only lost an aircraft carrier, but also let the monster escape.
The result was the destruction of Manhattan.
President Bernstein didn¡¯t want to go through that again.
¡°Please help us. At least 50,000 people have died from this incident. We can¡¯t let this happen again.¡±
President Bernstein¡¯s voice was like that of a dying man.
With Manhattan destroyed, Gamma Five could reappear at any time, and there was probably internal strife as well.
He must have felt like dying.
It wasn¡¯t hard to help him.
All Earth Fleet had to do was lure gue and detonate a reactor bomb in the sea.
But Yu Ji-ha liked to deal with everything at once.
He wanted to change the giant called America somehow with this opportunity.
¡®Changing the consciousness of all Americans is impossible. But it¡¯s not hard to stir up public opinion.¡¯
War was often used for the purpose of refreshing public opinion in a short period of time.
But the current US didn¡¯t have the capacity to wage war with the United Human Federation.
It was crazy to go to war with an opponent who had space battleships and reactor bombs, let alone monsters.
James Senator and other hawks didn¡¯t want to go to war with Yu Ji-ha either.
They were looking for a gap.
They wanted to poke at the United Human Federation¡¯s weaknesses somehow, and exposing Yu Ji-ha¡¯s past was part of that.
They didn¡¯t have much fun, so they would endure and take the next step. But Yu Ji-ha¡¯s n was to elerate that drastically.
¡°It¡¯s not hard to help you, but I¡¯m reluctant because I might get cursed. The Americans hate me, don¡¯t they?¡±
¡°It¡¯s just some extreme citizens. Please don¡¯t misunderstand that it¡¯s everyone.¡±
¡°Anyway, their voices are quite loud. That documentary that added conspiracy to my past is also like that.¡±
Maybe he should have stopped that¡
President Bernstein realized that he wasn¡¯t saying this because he was upset.
Yu Ji-ha was a blunt person who hated wasting time more than his enemies.
He was turning the conversation around because he had something else he wanted to say.
President Bernstein spoke cautiously.
¡°Even if we decide to go to war, we can¡¯t do it without the approval of Congress. The United Human Federation can just jump in with a word from President Yu, but¡¡±
¡°Just give me your consent and I¡¯ll take care of it.¡±
He realized that the documentary that the Democratic senators had produced was not entirely nonsense when he heard this.
Maybe the kidnappings and terror that had threatened Yu Ji-ha until now had something to do with his will.
¡®Maybe he wasn¡¯tpletely unaware of it.¡¯
He felt a chill when he thought that he had nned it right after waking up from a vegetative state.
What was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s true identity?
¡°¡I¡¯ll listen and decide.¡±
¡°First, finish this situation and resign immediately. Then Senator James will be president ording to the session order.¡±
¡°That¡¯s probably what will happen. There¡¯s not much time left in my term¡¡±
Who would want to be president for a year or so? But there might be a lot of people who would rush in after the situation was over.
If they showed decent leadership in the aftermath, their poprity would rise and they could serve as president for up to eight years.
¡°When Senator James bes president, I¡¯ll create an atmosphere of reconciliation. And I¡¯ll reveal some technologies that the US intelligence agencies can detect.¡±
¡°Do you mean to make them impatient?¡±
¡°Quantummunication would be a good bait. Combat satellites would be nice too.¡±
¡°Are you revealing what you have or developing something new?¡±
¡°Imagine whatever you want. Anyway, I don¡¯t think Senator James is a patient enough person to hold back even after confirming that.¡±
¡°He¡¯s bound to resort to something¡¡±
It was a very extreme assumption, but also quite realistic.
Because there was no other way.
Compromise was proven impossible, and sanctions and war were difficult.
It was better to do something rather than watch their downfall as it was.
The usual US would never have done that, but they were cornered now.
And President Bernstein was in a position where he had to approve this absurd n.
¡°What a ridiculous n.¡±
The real surprise was that Yu Ji-ha said it so casually.
Well, he could tell that he was out of the normal range by calmly talking about war with the US.
¡°Shall I tell you something more ridiculous? Your sessor will be you.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Bernstein was speechless at the bold idea of recing the US president to his liking.
It would be strange if his pride wasn¡¯t hurt.
But¡
¡®I have no choice.¡¯
That was true.
The reality that the US faced was not easy, and they could cause millions or more casualties if they made a mistake.
There was no reason to refuse to avoid that and create a desirable future with the United Human Federation.
He just wanted to confirm Yu Ji-ha¡¯s true purpose.
¡°There are many concerns in the world. The true purpose of President Yu Ji-ha and the United Human Federation is to conquer the world¡¡±
¡°Why would I leave China and Japan alone if I wanted to conquer the world? What I want is peace for humanity. You all know what kind of peace it is now.¡±
Peace from the space monster gue.
He had been saying that since the days of former President McKinley, so his intention was clear.
President Bernstein asked onest question.
¡°Is this¡ the way for America?¡±
He wasn¡¯t asking Yu Ji-ha.
It was just a process of convincing himself.
¡°It¡¯s not only for America, but for humanity.¡±
And Yu Ji-ha¡¯s answer was also close to a conviction that he was affirming to himself.
¡°I want to hear more about the dream of human extinction that you had.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll tell you when you officially be president.¡±
He sounded confident that it would happen.
Well, he had been doing that until now.
The two entered into negotiations for a secret deal.
¡°The important thing is that the hardliners, including Senator James, have to believe that there is a secret in this negotiation¡¡±
¡°I know what you mean. They¡¯ll want a regime change.¡±
¡°It¡¯s better to leak a hint that you¡¯re giving up somend as if there¡¯s no price for Earth Fleet¡¯s deployment.¡±
¡°Where would be good?¡±
¡°ska is too big, so it would be better to include Guam and the Northern Mariana Inds.¡±
It wasn¡¯t that he was actually giving them up, but just making it smell fishy.
That way, the hawks woulde out.
President Bernstein realized that if things went ording to Yu Ji-ha¡¯s n, the US would have to spend a lot of money.
It wasn¡¯t bad to reduce the defense budget as the conflicts in the world had decreased.
It was no longer the time for the US to y the role of world police and roam the five oceans and six continents as they pleased.
¡®It seems like it¡¯s time to join forces with the United Human Federation against the space monsters.¡¯
He believed that it was the way for America and didn¡¯t doubt it.
No, he had to.
Because he couldn¡¯t see any other way.
***
Gamma Five, whichnded in Dware and headed for Washington, encountered an enemy.
Earth Fleet, which was returning to Terra Ind, crossed the Pacific and the US and attacked.
Gamma Five btedly noticed the existence of the fleet that sprayed enormous ether and took the initiative.
But Earth Fleet avoided or blocked all their attacks and headed for the sea.
It happened in the sky over Washington DC, where the evacuating citizens watched the battle.
Numeroussers and bullets crossed the sky and attacked Earth Fleet, and the fleet used various means to fend them off.
¡°Are those ships fighting?¡±
¡°Is this real? It¡¯s not an Sci-fi movie?¡±
¡°We can no longer boast that we are the best in the world. Good for us, really.¡±
¡°Are you serious? You don¡¯t think America is the best?¡±
¡°Maybe a few years ago. But not now.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t believe it.¡±
¡°Do you still say that after seeing the fleet fighting in the sky? Don¡¯t you think you need to go to a hospital if you think that¡¯s fake?¡±
¡°¡¡±
Anyone who knew the reality of the United Human Federation would react like this.
The citizens of Washington were proud of living in the capital of America, which was the center of the world, but they realized that the outside world waspletely different.
And it was hard to believe, but America was no longer dominant in technology.
Even though Earth Fleet¡¯s activities in France were reported by the media andbat cruisers appeared in space, they reacted like this because of confirmation bias.
People only see what they want to see.
The technological development of the United Human Federation was so abnormal that it could be a reason.
Who would have imagined that a country that was struggling under China¡¯s pressure would grow into a technological powerhouse with a huge territory in less than a decade?
The conspiracy theorists ignored the countless photos and videos and created a fictitious United Human Federation, but that was shattered today.
The United Human Federation was fighting right in front of their eyes, so there was nothing more to say.
¡°A space war¡ The sad thing is that we¡¯re not the protagonists.¡±
Someone¡¯s words were broadcasted all over the US, causing various reactions.
Regardless, Earth Fleet silently fought Gamma Five and gradually lured it to Chesapeake Bay.
Gamma Five felt fear at Earth Fleet, which was immune to its attacks, and tried to escape.
nk nk.
The ck metal shell transformed and its appearance changed into a spaceship shape.
But when it activated its bio-ion booster, the Sibirbat support satellite that had descended to low orbit fired a reactive bullet that came down nearby.
Gamma Five was agile, but it was defenseless at the moment the transform ended.
Earth Fleet urately aimed at it and poured out hafnium-2 warheads, making it flinch.
The result was a reactive bullet explosion at close range.
Boom.
A huge lump of light was created in the sky over Chesapeake Bay.
The seawater around it evaporated in an instant and the ships anchored on the coast were swept away by the shock wave and shattered.
But there was no major damage, because Gamma Five was quite high in the sky.
ck metal fragments scattered and Earth Fleet confirmed its death and recovered the core and raised its altitude.
People who gathered at the nearby park cheered as they watched the scene.
¡°Wow! Those are awesome ships!¡±
¡°Thank you for helping us!¡±
¡°Is there anyone inside? Can you take me too?¡±
Earth Fleet disappeared beyond the clouds and all that was left was Manhattan, which had changed horribly.
New York, as well as the federal government and nearby states, searched for the debris while evacuating the senators.
A strange rumor spread among them.
¡°Earth Fleet¡¯s arrival wasn¡¯t bad, but they must have demanded something in return¡¡±
¡°There¡¯s something that lobbyists are saying about that. They say they agreed to trade Guam and the Northern Mariana Inds.¡±
¡°They¡¯re giving up thatnd to the United Human Federation? I can¡¯t believe it.¡±
There was a reason why Guam couldn¡¯t be given up, even if they didn¡¯t know about the Northern Mariana Inds.
It was because there was a major military base there.
Giving it up meant giving up East Asia and the Pacificpletely.
Of course, East Asia at present wasrgely influenced by the United Human Federation and the US had little presence there.
But giving up Guam, which could monitor the situation on the Korean Penins and Terra Ind, was crazy.
¡°Why don¡¯t you ask the government directly?¡±
Soon after, President Bernstein held a press conference.
He said he felt a heavy responsibility for the Manhattan incident and would take care of it at the federal level.
Since it was a mistake of the executive branch, he faced inquiries that were close to criticism from reporters and answered them as best he could.
And a CNN reporter who got an unexpected source from senators asked a question.
¡°Is it true that the United Human Federation demanded Guam and the Northern Mariana Inds aspensation for deploying Earth Fleet?¡±
As reporters murmured among themselves, President Bernstein couldn¡¯t hide his embarrassment.
It was contrasted with his serious and sincere answers to questions until then.
¡°I won¡¯t answer that question.¡±
¡°Why? Is it because it¡¯s true? Giving up Guam means giving up control of East Asia and the Pacific. You must know that¡¡±
The US wasn¡¯t controlling East Asia and the Pacific now, but that wasn¡¯t important.
The president looked noticeably flustered and left after a brief greeting.
¡°That¡¯s all for today.¡±
A storm soon hit Washington politics.
Rumors spread that the government had made some kind of deal with the United Human Federation.
¨DThe United Human Federation never does anything for free. They must have coveted ournd aspensation for dealing with the monster that destroyed Manhattan.
¨DThink about it, Yu Ji-ha is greedy fornd. Look at thend that the United Human Federation owns now. It¡¯s not strange that he wants Guam.
¨DGuam is a ce where we can monitor both the Korean Penins and Terra Ind in case of emergency. We can¡¯t give up thisnd.
As these rumors grew, the government seemed confused and their statements were inconsistent.
The executive branch bureaucrats denied hearing anything and the aides tried to avoid talking.
Meanwhile, several secret calls took ce between President Bernstein and President Yu Ji-ha of the United Human Federation, fueling suspicion.
The content was not revealed at all, so no one knew what they talked about.
The Congress poured out criticism that was almost abusive and many media outlets also pointed it out.
In this atmosphere, Senator James met with a few people in his office near Washington.
They were fellow senators, executive branch officials, and former and current military officers.
They listened to Senator James¡¯s impassioned speech with grim expressions.
¡°This bastard has gone crazy. Giving up Guam? That¡¯s nonsense. After Guam, it will be Hawaii and then ska.¡±
¡°The United Human Federation is finally showing its true colors.¡±
¡°Maybe the countries that received help this time will also be ripped off.¡±
The five gues that came this timended in various regions and were all dealt with by the United Human Federation.
They believed that there was no way there was no price for that.
¡°They won¡¯t announce it publicly, but they¡¯ll put a lot of pressure on them.¡±
¡°He¡¯s and-hungry bastard. His goal is not human peace or anything like that, but world domination. Maybe he¡¯s preparing to hand us over to the gue.¡±
¡°Impeaching the executive branch is a priority, but we can¡¯t leave that Asian alone.¡±
¡°But how do we do that? We have no means to stop him.¡±
That was the biggest problem.
The United Human Federation was trying to surpass even the US in military terms and join the ranks of superpowers, and the US had almost no means to stop them.
The only thing they had was war, but that was impossible for the US now.
Senator James lowered his voice and whispered.
¡°There is one way. It¡¯s a way for America and for humanity. The aftermath will be less than war and the possibility is quite high.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°We secure him.¡±
In other words, they meant kidnapping him.
The people who realized what he meant opened their mouths in shock.
Did this senator forget how many times Yu Ji-ha had been attacked by terrorists?
Chapter 167: According to Plan
Chapter 167: ording to n
Among the world leaders, few had suffered as much terror as Yu Ji-ha.
Even before he became president, he had faced various attacks, such as ne hijacking and terrorist infiltration.
After he became president, he was shot and even kissed a ne.
He miraculously survived a building copse, but he had a major surgery that put his life at risk.
Anyone who had gone through that would have surely devised countermeasures.
That wasmon sense.
Moreover, he was the one and only leader of the United Human Federation.
The United Human Federation would not function properly without him, and that was evident from the precedent of Korea after he disappeared.
Considering all that, his security level should have been the highest in the world.
But ording to Congressman James¡¯s investigation, that was not necessarily the case.
¡°From what I can see, his security level is not that impressive. It¡¯s just handled by the security office and a few drones follow him. He has onebat android, but that¡¯s only enough to deal with a small unit.¡±
¡°Doesn¡¯t he have an artificial intelligence? We still don¡¯t know its exact performance. And the United Human Federationunched over a hundred satellites recently.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it impossible to take clear pictures from geostationary orbit? And even if it¡¯s an artificial intelligence, it¡¯s hard to monitor other countries¡¯ eventspletely. How will it monitor him when he goes inside a building?¡±
People realized then that Congressman James was in his right mind.
In other words, he was serious about kidnapping the president of the United Human Federation.
Whether it was possible or not was secondary, but they wondered if he had a proper sense of reality.
How would they deal with the space monsters that woulde in the future without him?
Congressman James gave an absurd answer to this question.
¡°I¡¯m not going to kill him. I¡¯m going to hold him for a long time and persuade him to be an American.¡±
¡°He¡¯ll hardly cooperate after being kidnapped.¡±
¡°Then he won¡¯t be able to leave America. Forever.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Something was going wrong.
It was none other than Congressman James who had provided information for the documentary that aired recently, digging into Yu Ji-ha¡¯s past.
He probably had his aide do it, but he must have checked the information and confirmed Yu Ji-ha¡¯s viciousness.
The document said that Yu Ji-ha was a master of staged ys and assassination was his hobby.
That was what the mainstream members of the Democratic Party were suspecting, and there was no doubt about the evidence, and there was plenty of proof.
It was just hard to be sure because the opponent was the president of the United Human Federation.
And Congressman James, who knew that better than anyone, tried to kidnap him?
He felt the suspicious gaze that came to him and leaned back on his chair in a rxed posture.
He knew it sounded crazy. He had wondered himself if he was being dragged into his n. But he wasn¡¯t. His mind was clear and the possibility was enough. They had to secure his new weapon for America.
¡°Are you sure you¡¯re okay? What if you fail¡¡±
The person who said that left out the phrase ¡®America is doomed¡¯.
It wouldn¡¯t really be the end, but war would be inevitable and America¡¯s prestige would be buried underground.
Kidnapping, and that of a foreign leader who visited America!
The attendees who thought that far unanimously decided it was too risky and raised their hands.
¡°This is impossible.¡±
¡°I agree. No matter how urgent our situation is¡¡±
¡°We shouldn¡¯t do this, regardless of the sess rate. Even if he¡¯s a dictator.¡±
James smiled faintly at those words.
¡°Then we have nothing left but to slowly perish.¡±
¡°We won¡¯t go down easily. What kind of country is America? We have maintained our status as a superpower for almost a century.¡±
Someone spoke back, but James¡¯s smile only grew thicker.
¡°China, Japan, and Russia probably thought the same. The result was the same. Now they are trembling under the breath of the United Human Federation. Our future will probably be simr. We can¡¯t even handle one space monster right now, can we?¡±
¡°¡¡±
¡°Even if you look at the economy, the US GDP growth rate in the first half of this year is below -15%. This is the worst since the Corona crisis in the early 2020s.¡±
No one in this room was ignorant of the cause.
The United Human Federation.
They had created a closed economic single block.
The megacity was closed and a self-contained ecosystem.
The poption was estimated at about 100 million, but surprisingly there were not many imports.
That was because there were so many items produced by the megacity itself.
At most, they imported a few food items, luxury goods, and resources, but even that was constantly decreasing.
In other words, the megacity had a trade system that exported a lot but imported little, which was very annoying from the US perspective.
The US trade bnce and jobs were being shattered one by one, thanks to them.
It was not because the people who hated Yu Ji-ha and fell into conspiracy theories were stupid.
Congressman James exaggerated a bit as he spoke of that fact.
¡°If we go on like this, we will suffer irreversible damage in 10 years. We will not be a superpower, but a patient who suffers from the cough of the United Human Federation.¡±
¡°And soon, this will be written in the history books of America. The fall of America began with the politicians who ignored the rise of the United Human Federation¡ That¡¯s what it will say.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Their faces were flushed with excitement.
The economic situation was bad enough, but they couldn¡¯t even imagine such a future.
Or maybe they were ignoring it.
Hoping that it wouldn¡¯t happen in their generation.
¡°Don¡¯t wait. Now is the time to act for our homnd, America. What if you get booed for not using fair means? It¡¯s trivialpared to what he did. Human methods are only valid for the same humans.¡±
He argued that Yu Ji-ha was close to a beast and should be treated ordingly.
Ironically, Bernstein, who advocated that beast theory, was plotting a conspiracy with Yu Ji-ha.
It was a strange thing.
Congressman James scanned the faces of the attendees.
Some were scared and some looked hesitant.
Then he had to push them.
¡°You can¡¯t hope for a great hero toe and solve the problem. Although what we n to do is far from heroic, it¡¯s something we have to do, even if we have to wear infamy.¡±
Soon, people were looking only at his face.
He spoke with force.
¡°Will we slowly fall, or will we create a stepping stone for our revival, even if we get criticized¡ That¡¯s up to us. I won¡¯t force anyone to participate. If you¡¯re interested, please contact me individually. I promise you a good position when I take over the power.¡±
The people were more surprised by Congressman James¡¯s intention to challenge the next regime than by his terror n.
What had gotten into him, who had always avoided responsibility?
Maybe he too had a hard time watching his country fall.
That¡¯s why he thought of such an extreme method.
Anyway, his proposal was quite tempting.
The current president had dered that he would resign as soon as the Manhattan incident was resolved, so he had about a year left in his term.
His sessor could serve as president for up to nine years.
That meant that anyone who participated in this huge n would be treated well for a long time.
Of course, this was all based on the assumption that the n would seed.
What if it failed?
The participants didn¡¯t want to imagine what would happen next.
They also knew that they couldn¡¯t deny their involvement after hearing this n.
They all got up with heavy faces and greeted Congressman James and left.
He wasn¡¯t mistaken when he felt that their expressions had hardened with determination.
¡®Now I just need to secure the appropriate troops and location. The rest will be taken care of by the American system.¡¯
He had a baseless belief that his country would fix everything once he did it.
It was a strange thing.
Since when did he act without any strategy?
Was it because he felt that Yu Ji-ha could swallow up America?
The more he thought about him, the more he felt annoyed and angry, and he couldn¡¯te up with a logical n.
He also found it strange that he had developed this obsession, but his head hurt when he thought deeply about it.
¡®¡¡¯
James lifted his soaked face before he knew it.
He didn¡¯t know that even this situation was well controlled.
He just thought he should see a doctor.
***
¡°The Typhon worked well.¡±
¡°Yeah¡¡±
Yu Ji-ha was listening to the conversation through the nanomachines injected into Congressman James¡¯s body.
The obsession and headache that James had experienced were caused by the Typhon drug injected by the nanomachines.
The drug was originally for pilots who went to the front line, to eliminate their fear of death and boost their morale.
The effectsted for at least a few hours and the side effects were not severe.
It was a decent drug.
But the pilots didn¡¯t like it very much.
It was because Yu Ji-ha, who was an Uber pilot and a senior, avoided it.
He said that even cigarettes or light drugs could mess up his mind and never did them. He always demanded his juniors to have the right mindset.
¡°There¡¯s no proof that ether responsivenesses from a proper mindset. But in my case, I did better without it. So I hope you guys don¡¯t do it if you can.¡±
Yu Ji-ha was a hero of the Unified Space Force and a living legend among the pilots.
Few could go against his advice.
That¡¯s why Typhon was shunned by the pilots and had a low production volume.
Did they put it on the Settler because they expected a rough journey to the Prophet¡¯s homnd?
Yu Ji-ha decided to use Typhon to control Senator James.
It wasn¡¯t exactly control, but making him fearless. But the effect was certain.
Senator James had always harbored hatred and fear for Yu Ji-ha and the United Human Federation.
And he also had a strong desire to kidnap him and control him as he pleased.
So Typhon¡¯s effect was easy to seep in.
But he didn¡¯t expect the side effects to ur so often.
¡°Is it because it¡¯s for pilots? Maybe it doesn¡¯t suit ordinary people.¡±
¡°It won¡¯t kill him, so don¡¯t worry.¡±
¡°He can¡¯t die. He¡¯s a symbol of the old age who deserves to be locked up in a space prison.¡±
They had already nned out the roadmap after making America surrender.
Those who led this terror would be imprisoned in a space prison as symbols of hindering unification.
America wouldn¡¯t be destroyed, but it would have to give up a lot.
It wasn¡¯t meant to humiliate them, but to make them yield to the United Human Federation and follow them diligently.
It wouldn¡¯t be easy to resist, since it was such a big country, but they would gradually realize it after going through war and various things.
That following the United Human Federation was the only way for them to survive.
Yu Ji-ha outlined the whole roadmap.
¡°It¡¯ll be quiet for a while once we subdue America.¡±
¡°Probably because there¡¯s no force on Earth that can oppose the United Human Federation. Assuming that we can stop the gue¡¯s attack, that is.¡±
But they didn¡¯t have much time.
The number on the real Golden Record had changed.
This number was probably the time when the gue¡¯s attack would ur.
It used to be 2080, but it changed recently.
¡°It¡¯s moved up by 10 years. I¡¯m worried how much more it¡¯ll move up.¡±
¡°If the Prophet is really sending the gue, then we don¡¯t have to worry. He said he would send it ording to our level.¡±
¡°I hope so, but¡¡±
It was mid-2033, so they had less than 37 years left.
The only constion was that they had almost finished unifying the Earth.
Now they had to develop medical technology and build spaceships and assault armors at the same time.
Yu Ji-ha had to give up his leadership and return to being a pilot.
He didn¡¯t need the position of a leader to go to the Prophet¡¯s homnd.
He nned to relinquish all his power and let the Supreme Council rule the United Human Federation instead.
¡°I wonder if the Supreme Council will let me go then.¡±
¡°Maybe you can hide the warp gate that leads to the Prophet¡¯s homnd?¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll have to go alone with the Settler, not with the pioneer fleet. Turn on the route for a moment.¡±
The route to the Prophet¡¯s homnd was a long journey that took almost 50 years, even with the Settler¡¯s tremendous thrust.
It was impossible to go with one ark ship, and they had to mobilize a fleet, but that would risk being exposed to the Supreme Council.
¡°And if I disappear with my power, there will be chaos¡¡±
¡°How about secretly building a fleet with stolen materials? You can hide it in Knox.¡±
¡°Well, Knox is so far away¡¡±
The distance between Earth and Knox in 2070 was calcted to be about 700AU, which was a huge distance that required 60 days of sailing with the Settler.
It would be difficult to attempt sailing with a spaceship equipped with an antimatter reactor if they hid the ether fusion reactor.
It would be easier after they exterminated the gue, but by then they would have already escaped.
Yu Ji-ha smirked at his situation.
¡°I wonder how many I have to hide¡ I don¡¯t know if I can save people like this.¡±
¡°That depends on what you do, Master. As the son of a dictator, you¡¯ll be deployed as an assault armor pilot without any training. People will pay attention to you.¡±
¡°It¡¯ll be less than when that idiot woke up from a vegetative state.¡±
Yu Ji-ha had possessed the body of a chaebol¡¯s third son eight years ago and came this far.
After rebuilding the United Human Federation, he would live his second life as an assault armor pilot.
Hisst life would probably end during the 50-year journey to the Prophet¡¯s homnd.
¡°Maybe I¡¯ll be locked up in prison for hundreds of crimes by the United Human Federation I created.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll make sure that doesn¡¯t happen, Master.¡±
¡°That¡¯s 40 years from now. Let¡¯s just finish this well for now.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
***
One thing changed as the United Human Federation dealt with five gues.
People no longer recognized America as a superpower.
Many had spected that America would be different, but they too had no countermeasures against the monsters from space.
Especially after the details of Manhattan¡¯s destruction were revealed, their prestige plummeted.
¡ªThey didn¡¯t even know where the monster was until they got the information toote.
¡ªI understand that it was hard to find it in the sea. But Yu Ji-ha warned that it was intelligent. They should have been more careful.
¡ªI guess America was blinded by their arrogance as the world¡¯s strongest and got what they deserved.
¡ªThey¡¯re not the strongest anymore.
Instead, the United Human Federation rose rapidly.
This nation was not enough to be called a superpower, but they perfectly dealt with five space monsters.
The Earth Fleet was now familiar to ordinary people, but the bomb that killed the monster was still a mystery.
¡ªThey detonated it only in Chesapeake¡¯s airspace and people are going crazy. Wasn¡¯t it a nuclear bomb?
¡ªA clean nuclear bomb without radiation¡ Maybe it was an antimatter bomb.
¡ªAntimatter bomb? Is that even possible with our current technology?
¡ªWe can¡¯t do it even in decades. But who knows with the United Human Federation.
¡ªThey¡¯re amazing. You guys should be the superpower instead of America.
Admitting it didn¡¯t change anything.
Rather, it only increased the burden on the United Human Federation.
People who felt threatened by the space monster applied for residency in Mega City en masse.
In July 2033, a whopping 7 million applications were received by the administration bureau in one month.
Many of them were young people, so each country expressed their concern, but they couldn¡¯t stop them.
The brain drain problem became a serious issue at this time.
¡ª45% of PhD graduates applied for residency and 2/3 of them emigrated. Isn¡¯t this too much?
¡ªThe capital is empty because they took away the young generation. I wish they would moderate a bit.
This was not an exception for Seoul in the Korean Penins.
Apartment prices continued to hit the bottom and merchantsined that there were no people.
But no country openly expressed their dissatisfaction with the United Human Federation.
It was because they were economically tied to the United Human Federation in many ways.
Even America couldn¡¯t say much, and political scientists spected that it had something to do with the Manhattan incident.
¡ªThey received help, so they¡¯re not in a position to make a fuss.
¡ªStill, they have to give up the entire Pacific Ocean and lose their workforce. The damage is not trivial.
¡ªThe strange thing is America¡¯s low posture. Even Senator James, who is likely to be the next president, is showing a conciliatory attitude.
¡ªMaybe they decided to end their confrontation with the United Human Federation?
If that was true, it would be a fortunate thing for all humanity.
As the Manhattan restoration n was established, President Yu Ji-ha decided to build a building made of ck metal as a symbol of friendship.
The Americans also responded by marching with the United Human Federation g in the ruins of Manhattan.
In such a situation, even the Democratic Party decided to stop issuing statements that demanded to overthrow dictatorship and bring freedom as they had done regrly.
Now the interest was focused on whether President Bernstein would resign as promised and whether Senator James would be president for about a year left in his term.
¡ªPresident Bernstein will beme duck even if he performs his remaining term with his aides reced. So resignation is certain.
¡ªThe strange thing is Senator James. He was the most hard-line advocate, but when asked if he wanted to be president, he said he would never do that in his life. Why did he run for president?
¡ªMaybe the Manhattan incident gave him a big shock.
-Yu Ji-ha has gone through three presidents during his rule. I hope James will be thest one.
A few months passed and President Bernstein announced his resignation as promised.
His rule was very short and full of mistakes, but at least he did his best to resolve the situation, so the Americans apuded him.
Now there was about a year left in his term.
ording to the session order, James, who was the interim Senate chairman, became president.
As he was a mainstream among the mainstreams of the Democratic Party, people expected that true harmony between America and the United Human Federation would be achieved.
And President James went one step further and wanted to invite Yu Ji-ha to America.
¡°I should have arranged visits to other countries, but I want to invite you to America, President Yu Ji-ha. We can have a deep discussion about the current situation in Washington.¡±
That deep discussion might be a threat after kidnapping him?
Yu Ji-ha sent a positive response and President James clenched his fist tightly.
¡°ording to n.¡±
¡°ording to n.¡±
Yu Ji-ha hung up his phone.
It was time for him to show his skills.
Chapter 168: The Eve of the Storm
Chapter 168: The Eve of the Storm
President Yu Ji-ha had a schedule that was nned in 10-minute intervals.
He had long eliminated ceremonies and events from his agenda and minimized his official visits, but he stillcked time.
There were people who were busier than Yu Ji-ha.
They were the presidential secretariat.
The unofficial schedules were handled by Arma, but most of the official ones were processed by the secretariat.
Since the president had a lot of schedules and a wide range of activities, there were inevitable troubles, and the secretariat chief always scolded them.
¡°The only ones in charge of unofficial schedules are one android and Minister Arma. But there have been no issues so far. How can you say that our secretariat, which doesn¡¯t even do official visits, can¡¯t keep up?¡±
The secretaries would bow their heads and check where the trouble urred every time.
It wasn¡¯t their fault.
Arma was an artificial intelligence and an android, so she could handle all the work by herself.
It was a feat that only she could pull off to call dozens of contacts at the same time and ask for cooperation.
Anyway, the secretariat was always very busy, but it got worse this season.
It was because James, the president of the United States, requested a summit meeting after taking office.
The US visit was confirmed for a week, and the official visit secretaries were tense.
¡°The US will probably mobilize their chairmen this time. Do we have to respond to them too?¡±
¡°It looks like President James wille out personally at the airport. How should we arrange the president¡¯s itinerary?¡±
¡°There are four banquets in a week, so we have to bring some alcohol from our side too. Let¡¯s start with booking some traditional liquor workshops.¡±
The secretariat as a whole entered a state of emergency as there were many secretaries who had not done official visits before.
They worked overtime every day, but the atmosphere was not bad.
It was because Yu Ji-ha was not a bad president to serve.
He was ruthless to the forces or individuals who opposed him, but he was quite generous to his subordinates.
He would sometimes let go of the secretaries¡¯ mistakes and even give them new products from the Group to try out.
Above all, he had a philosophy that everything he did for efficiency was for humans.
¡°What¡¯s the point of finding efficiency? In the end, humans have to be happy. Next week is a holiday, so don¡¯te to work, including the secretariat chief. I¡¯ll take care of it myself.¡±
The president couldn¡¯t even cook ramen by himself, but Yu Ji-ha was the first president to do that.
Of course, he had Arma and androids, so he didn¡¯t really cook it by himself.
As the secretariat coordinated the schedule with the US SS, they heard unexpected news.
¡°They contacted us and said they would like you to bring your wife. It¡¯s a directive from President James himself.¡±
¡°Bring my wife¡¡±
Bae Seongmin, the secretariat chief, was embarrassed.
The president had a wife, but they were not officially married.
They were like cohabitants, which might be mainstream in Western society, but in the United Human Federation with strong Korean customs, they had strange eyes.
That¡¯s why the elders were surprised when they heard that President Yu Ji-ha had a son.
¡°How did he get a son without getting married?¡±
¡°That¡¯s what¡¯s trendy these days.¡±
¡°No, no matter how upside down the world is, a person who is a president should follow the basic marriage system¡¡±
The elders were generally satisfied with Yu Ji-ha¡¯s rule, but they had a lot ofints about his radical words and actions.
After conveying the request to the president, Bae Seongmin, the secretariat chief, received a positive answer.
¡°It¡¯s not umon for spouses to apany each other at summit meetings. Just think of it as adding one more person to the schedule and proceed.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll do that. But, Mr. President, what about your son¡¡±
¡°Oh, Lucia will take care of Eugene.¡±
The name Lucia was used in various ways, but in the Blue House, it referred to the android who served as Yu Ji-ha¡¯s secretary while Arma was pregnant.
The secretaries who had trouble sleeping when she first came to work at the secretariat were not few.
They were greatly disappointed when they found out she was an android.
Android nannies might sound strange in foreign countries, but they were quitemon in the United Human Federation.
Anyone who met a certain CP requirement could apply for a nanny without any extra charge.
Anyway, it was a relief that Lucia would look after the son.
As time passed, the date of the summit meeting approached.
Yu Ji-ha and Arma boarded the private jet thatnded in the Blue House garden.
When they arrived in the US, they would be greeted by all kinds of splendid ceremonies, but in the United Human Federation, it was over as soon as they got on the private jet.
Lucia waved her hand with the baby in her arms.
¡°Bye bye, daddy.¡±
It was a meaningless farewell to a baby who was not even a year old.
The remaining secretaries smiled as the private jet took off with the staff members.
The ether field enveloped the private jet and it disappeared into the clouds in an instant.
***
The US weed Yu Ji-ha with a grand hospitality.
As if to protest his omission of most of the official visits, President James broke precedent and came to the airport himself.
They reviewed a naval honor guard.
Usually, marines would be mobilized for such asions, but they chose navy because they remembered the New York incident.
¡°The US soldiers are amazing. They have dignity.¡±
¡°Haha, can¡¯t android soldiers do that?¡±
As they exchangedpliments with each other, a car parade began.
Yu Ji-ha looked at the endless line of vehicles and thought it was a waste.
Of course, national leaders should choose the safest and fastest means of transportation.
But that didn¡¯t mean they had to parade like this.
¡®I¡¯d rather take a helicopter than block all these roads. It¡¯s a waste.¡¯
He decided to endure it for a while, since these ceremonies would disappearpletely when the war with gue began.
The US also mobilized a huge number of events and personnel to show off their official visits.
Yu Ji-ha and Arma tookmemorative photos every time they moved somewhere and received bouquets from boys and girls.
¡®I wonder if the Soviet secretary-general who went to the US during the Cold War received this kind of treatment.¡¯
He had been there a few times, but the US had never been so hospitable.
The US was clearly nervous now, and it showed in their official visits.
It was six hours after he arrived at the airport that Yu Ji-ha entered the formal summit meeting.
He would have started it in 30 minutes if he were in Korea, but he decided to bear with it since this was the US.
He exchanged various pleasantries with his counterpart, and President James ordered the White House photographers, including his secretaries, to step back.
Then he spoke in a subdued voice.
¡°We realized from the Manhattan incident that we can no longer afford to have conflicts among humans.¡±
¡°Wee. If the US cooperates with the United Human Federation, we can smash the monsters from space.¡±
Did he mean that he weed him to join the order they had established?
James took Yu Ji-ha¡¯s casual remark as an insult.
He was in a slightly deranged state due to the drug Typhoon that was injected by nanomachines, which amplified his emotions.
But he still had the dignity of a politician who had dominated Washington for decades, so he didn¡¯t make any harsh remarks.
Instead, he clenched and unclenched the armrests of his chair so hard that his fingerprints were left.
¡°¡Times have changed. The US no longer needs to maintain a huge army and shoulder the world¡¯s security. That army did nothing in this crisis.¡±
¡°The US¡¯s efforts to achieve world peace should be respected. But as you said, times have changed, so we need to change our direction.¡±
¡°Unfortunately, we don¡¯t know much about that direction. Maybe the United Human Federation does¡¡±
¡°We can cooperate as much as you want. We are all humans.¡±
The two leaders uttered words they didn¡¯t mean.
Yu Ji-ha listened to Arma¡¯s report through his biochip, and James was just waiting for his subordinates to finish their preparations in a state of ecstasy.
In the midst of that, James asked out of the blue.
¡°The United Human Federation¡¯s power was clearly proven in this crisis. I have one question. Does the United Human Federation¡¯s army not move without yourmand, President Yu?¡±
He was openly probing him because he had lost his patience.
He looked like a gentleman on the outside, but if you looked at his inner self, he wanted to grab Yu Ji-ha by the cor.
Yu Ji-ha smiled faintly and said.
¡°Basically, the army doesn¡¯t move without mymand. Artificial intelligence is dangerous.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. They may be strong artificial intelligence, but they don¡¯t have human hearts. They need strict control from the user.¡±
¡°You know that artificial intelligence is dangerous. It can go berserk at any time.¡±
¡°So you have double or triple safety measures?¡±
¡°Of course. But I have the authority to ess Lucia in an instant. It¡¯s impossible to stop me unless you imprison me.¡±
¡°That¡¯s an interesting thing to say. Who would imprison the president of the United Human Federation?¡±
They were making absurd remarks.
President James didn¡¯t understand what Yu Ji-ha meant by saying that openly.
Instead, he was seized by a strong desire to capture Yu Ji-ha right away.
It was only his position as the president and this rigid ce that kept him from doing so.
Sweat poured down his wide forehead and he wiped it with a handkerchief.
¡°It seems a bit hot in here.¡±
Considering that this was the White House and everything from heating to air was thoroughly controlled, it was clear how much James was psychologically cornered.
He couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and stopped the meeting.
¡°Let¡¯s take a break.¡±
¡°Sure.¡±
A whileter, James met Colonel MacLaine of the Marines in the presidential library.
¡°Start the operation right now.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Mr. President, but I thought the operation was scheduled for the third day¡¡±
¡°Is there a problem if we start now? There are only two of them.¡±
¡°The number of people is not the problem. We need time to rece the troops at Camp David. We have to avoid the surveince of artificial satellites¡¡±
This operation was the president¡¯s unteral decision without the approval of the US government.
Therefore, the only troops he could mobilize were the Marines.
Fortunately, the security forces at Camp David were also Marines, but recing them was not easy.
They had to be extremely cautious because they didn¡¯t know what kind of reconnaissance means the United Human Federation had.
Some heads of intelligence agencies requested to cancel this operation, saying it was very dangerous.
¡°ording to our analysis of his past, there is a high possibility of assassination using nanomachines. He is suspected of killing the former prime minister of Korea and the presidential candidate Bryant.¡±
They were both obstacles for Yu Ji-ha and they died without any clear signs.
At that time, they thought it was just a coincidence, but their doubts grew as the United Human Federation showed off their transcendent technology one after another.
¡°¡So you¡¯re saying we should cancel this operation?¡±
¡°If the United Human Federation has developed nanomachines, we have no way to counter them, Mr. President.¡±
¡°Can¡¯t we destroy their electronic circuits with that EMP thing?¡±
¡°I¡¯m telling you that it¡¯s impossible to create a perfect secret room with US technology.¡±
¡°¡¡±
President James answered by firing the head of the intelligence agency who advised him.
He was tormented by an obsession that he had to imprison Yu Ji-ha and ignored all advice.
There was some resistance, but the party was more concerned about the presidential election next year and the aides didn¡¯t care much because they were leaving soon.
James proceeded with his preparations to imprison Yu Ji-ha one by one.
He had to change the schedule now, but Yu Ji-ha surprisingly agreed to visit Camp David.
¡°Camp David is a meaningful ce for me. I met President McKinley there. It was a pretty good memory.¡±
The truth was the opposite.
Ever since he ran the Si Group, he had faced pressure from the Democratic Party of the United States.
He had made a deal with the president to get by, but he and the Democrats never got along.
But President James Hyun interpreted his smile differently.
¡°I hope you have only good memories from this visit.¡±
After the meeting, they waited for their spouses who had toured the Lincoln Memorial.
The cameras of the reporters all focused on Arma.
***
Contrary to the expectations of the world that this summit would be tense, it was very rxed.
Both leaders, despite being in somewhat ufortable positions, did not make any harsh remarks and the meeting proceeded smoothly.
This atmosphere spread to the world and raised hopes that the cooperation between the two countries would go smoothly.
However, some pointed out that the leaders did not make any key statements.
¨DThe conversation is very peaceful. But it¡¯s just a formal speech at the summit, there¡¯s no content about taking concrete actions.
¨DIt¡¯s a typical show filled with words like hope and expectation. The real thing will start at the working-level meeting.
Despite the negative observations, there was also praise that the attempt was not bad, because the situation between the two countries was so serious.
The United States hadpletely restored its pride with the Manhattan incident, but it was also on the verge of a conflict with the United Federation of Humanity.
The key was how to resolve it, but it was surprisingly peaceful.
No, it looked like that.
After the summit, the delegation moved to Camp David and had a meeting at the golf course.
President James showed his excellent skills as an American politician and Yu Ji-ha praised him moderately.
He could have easily made consecutive hole-in-ones with his physical abilities, but there was no need to do that.
In the evening, there was a dinner and everyoneplimented the young president and his wife on their appearance.
While they were ttering each other¡¯s faces, there was tension outside Camp David.
A special unit had reced the perimeter forces under cover of darkness.
They were Recon Marines under themand of the Marine Corps headquarters, all veterans with a lot ofbat experience and muscr bodies over 180cm tall.
They did not mobilize any other special forces because they feared information leakage.
Also, Colonel McRyan of the Marine Corps, who was in charge of the entire operation, insisted that themand system had to be unified to kidnap Yu Ji-ha.
The perimeter forces of Camp David, which were designated as the location, were also Marines, so this operation was led by the Marine Corps.
They had prepared enough countermeasures for the Blue House security staff who were jointly guarding him, but they had to think carefully about drones and androids.
¡°The Blue House staff installed drone containers in advance and left. We can¡¯t touch the containers themselves, so cut off the power.¡±
The containers were the basis for drones to operate and receive hatred from all over the world.
It was hard to prate ck metal material with ordinary firepower, and they had no choice but to cut off power ormunication, which was not easy in a breathless battlefield.
The container installed in Camp David was a bit better.
The president and his wife were staying for about a day, so they connected power.
There were security staff watching, but there were only two of them, so it was not a big problem. Andmunication would be jammed by interference waves when the operation started.
¡°The headache is always the android that apanies the president. It has no weapons, but it can tear apart humans with pure strength alone.¡±
He had been able to deal with the Iranian situation using a neutralizer, but there was no way it hadn¡¯t been improved.
It would be suicide to sh with a force of this size, so naturally they needed a deception tactic.
¡°Use the special adhesive bullets. If we cover the cameras and sensors, we can easily shake them off.¡±
The objective of the execution unit was not to destroy the android, but to kidnap two targets, so they just needed to buy some time.
Meanwhile, at 100km above Camp David, the newly produced Sibiri-ssbat support satellite No. 2 was in position.
This satellite was reverse-engineered from the original Sibiri satellite brought from 2180 and greatly improved for the case of a full-scale war with a giant country like the United States.
It had increased its size to be able tounch 10 Fords at once, and reduced the excessive firepower of the ion cannon to be able to hit multiple ces at the same time.
As itsbat power had increased remarkably, its reconnaissance ability had been reduced, but it didn¡¯t matter much since it had Settler and could exchange data with the original satellite.
With the gravity radar and Arma¡¯s deduction algorithm, they could see the whole of the United States as if looking at their palm, not just Camp David.
That meant they could find out where Yu Ji-ha was hiding right away.
And almost at the same time, the second ship of the Seoul-ssbat cruiser, Pyeongyang, which was built at the Mars base, escaped the atmosphere through a sandstorm.
The United States had no idea about this, because Pyeongyang had an optical camouge applied.
It also helped that most of the observation means were paralyzed by the sandstorm blowing in the valley.
Instead, all of America¡¯s reconnaissance power was focused on Earth Fleet.
They expected that if Yu Ji-ha decided to go to war, he would move Earth Fleet first, as it had been active all over the world including the Manhattan incident.
But Earth Fleet, which was anchored at Terra¡¯s underwater base, did not move until the execution unit entered Camp David.
The Seoul-ssbat cruiser was quietly waiting in Seoul¡¯s airspace.
After receiving a series of reports, Colonel McRyan finally gave the operation order.
¡°We¡¯ll move in as soon as it¡¯s midnight. Secure the target boldly but with utmost courtesy. He¡¯ll work for us from now on.¡±
Yu Ji-ha, who had never made such a promise, tore a page from a book he was reading in his room and wrote something on it.
And he handed a note to Baek Sung-min, chief secretary of his office, who came in with juice.
¨DIf I get kidnapped, protest but don¡¯t make a big fuss.
¡°¡¡±
Baek Sung-min stopped breathing as he read the contents.
Did he mean there was a nned terror attack in this camp?
He hadn¡¯t felt anything.
He took the juice from Yu Ji-ha and slipped the note under the coaster.
¨DDon¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll get out on my own. After that, there will be a war, so you should entrust yourself to an official institution as much as possible.
War¡
Baek Sung-min barely exhaled and bowed his head.
¡°I¡¯ll go out then. Please rest well.¡±
He nodded and looked out at the scenery.
His modified eyes detected the intruders in the darkness.
Chapter 169: Justice is Served
Chapter 169: Justice is Served
One night in December 2033.
Camp David, which had been bustling, quieted down around midnight.
A group of intruders prated the outskirts.
The three drones that were supposed to detect their entry did not deploy from the container because their power was cut off.
They also could not send any abnormal signals to themunication satellite because the radio waves were jammed.
The two guards who were supposed to monitor them were knocked out by the strong whiskey that President James had practically forced on them.
¡°Who would dare to touch you in America? President Yu seems to enjoy drinking too, so let¡¯s have a drink. We¡¯ll take responsibility for everything.¡±
America would take responsibility.
It was a tempting statement for the Blue House guards.
More than anything, they could not resist the temptation of The Macan 1946 that President James personally offered.
If they refused the highest quality vintage whiskey that the incumbent president personally offered at the president¡¯s vi in America, they would regret it for the rest of their lives.
Still, the guards tried their best to decline, but President Yu Ji-ha added that one drink wouldn¡¯t hurt, so they ended up drinking it.
Thanks to that, the Recon Marines were able to ess the external VIP amodation without any resistance.
¡°Clear. Begin infiltration.¡±
The agents quickly picked the lock and entered.
There was no rm because the power was cut off.
An android came out of the hallway as if it heard their footsteps, but it stumbled because of the adhesive stuck to its sensor and camera.
¡°Machines are hopeless after all. Neutralize the rest.¡±
The muscr agents used tasers to incapacitate the guards who came outte and sealed their mouths with towels.
As they opened the door and entered, they saw the president of the United Human Federation, whom they had confirmed countless times through video and photos, standing up with a surprised look on his face.
¡°Who are you?¡±
¡°We¡¯re sorry. You¡¯ll have toe with us for a while.¡±
Yu Ji-ha sighed as he checked that it was dark outside through the window.
¡°So even the president was in on it.¡±
¡°Not all Americans know about this. There¡¯s just someone who needs you.¡±
¡°This will start a war if it gets out. Can you handle that?¡±
The Recon Marine captain clenched his teeth.
¡°We don¡¯t fear the United Human Federation, unlike other countries.¡±
¡°Yeah? Maybe I should have left you alone during the Manhattan incident.¡±
The agents wavered and the captain forgot his instructions to be polite as he pressed his gun against his temple.
¡°Don¡¯t talk back with your big mouth. My brother died in that incident.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry about your brother, but is that a reason to me a foreign president? Tell me. What did I do wrong?¡±
He was right.
The Manhattan incident was entirely caused by the politicians¡¯ misjudgment and the soldiers¡¯ mistakes.
The captain tried to say something but bit his lip and looked away from his eyes.
¡°Take him there. Watch him closely.¡±
Soon, a cloth soaked with anesthetic covered Yu Ji-ha¡¯s mouth.
He had undergone various treatments that made him immune to such drugs, but he had to pretend to lose consciousness.
The captain¡¯s anger was also due to his worry that they might abort the mission and turn back.
They had to kidnap him and start a war.
A few momentster, when the signal of securing the target came, gunshots began to ring out.
Tatatata¨D
The bureaucrats and guards from Korea ran out of their lodgings in surprise at the noise.
¡°What¡¯s going on? What happened?¡±
¡°Mr. President, secure his safety first!¡±
¡°res!¡±
Suddenly, several small suns appeared in the night sky and people groaned with their eyes closed.
Military res were incredibly bright, unlike what the public thought. They could make one¡¯s vision and mind go nk.
Then shbangs exploded and Camp David seemed like a war zone.
Secretary General Bae Seongmin heard the sound of several vehicles escaping in the midst of it.
His body flinched for a moment, but he was able to endure it because of the note that the president had given him.
Instead, what upied his mind was the anger towards America for causing this.
¡®They¡¯re crazy. The president tried to help America as much as possible.¡¯
If he really hated America, he wouldn¡¯t have helped them with Earth Fleet.
He sent messages several times to stop the confrontation and fight against the space monsters together, but America ignored them and evenmitted terrorism.
¡®This can¡¯t be overlooked.¡¯
President Yu Ji-ha seemed to have guessed that a war would break out.
No, a war had to break out.
What he was curious about was how the president knew about this beforehand.
¡®Maybe Minister Arma knew too.¡¯
He wondered if President Yu Ji-ha had nned all this in advance.
It would have been an absurd imagination for anyone else, but Bae Seongmin¡¯s boss was someone who had enough ability and guts to do it.
¡®There¡¯s nothing I can do¡¡¯
He turned his head fiercely at the soldiers who approached him.
¡°What¡¯s going on? What¡¯s all thismotion?¡±
A gun was pointed at his forehead.
¡°Are you Secretary General Bae? You¡¯ll have toe with us for a while.¡±
***
Yu Ji-ha was dragged away somewhere in a rattling truck.
His hands and feet were tied up and his mouth and eyes were covered.
It seemed like they wanted to hide where they were taking him.
Regardless, his location was being transmitted in real time by the Siberi satellite.
¡®He¡¯s heading to Hagerstown.¡¯
He was sure to be searched and interrogated in that small city before being moved elsewhere.
He wanted to hear what President James had to say, but he decided to wait since he was kidnapped.
Fortunately, Arma, who was in the same situation, was following behind him.
The escort soldiers didn¡¯t say a word to him, as if they had received orders, and thanks to that, Yu Ji-ha could restfortably.
After resting for 30 minutes, the car stopped.
He was imprisoned in the basement of a secluded house on the outskirts of Hagerstown.
¡®Three floors underground¡ They prepared a lot.¡¯
He had to go through several security doors and iron bars before he could be locked up in a cell.
Soon after, Arma was also locked up in the next room and they were searched at the same time.
There wasn¡¯t much to find out from Yu Ji-ha and Arma didn¡¯t reveal his identity either.
¡°Are you feeling frustrated? I¡¯ll take off your blindfold.¡±
Along with someone¡¯s voice, the blindfold was removed and he finally saw the room and a few people who were imprisoned.
They had patches and covered their faces, but there were clearly some Marines and a white man in a ck suit looking at him.
Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t know who he was, but Arma showed him his identity through the biochip in his sight.
¡®He is Joseph Clipper, a secret agent under the National Intelligence Agency. He is one of President James¡¯s aides and supervised this operation.¡¯
There must have been more than one or two people involved in this, but Clipper seemed to be in charge of the scene.
He took off his sunsses and sat down on a chair in front of Yu Ji-ha.
¡°I know you, but you¡¯ve never seen me before.¡±
¡°Joseph Clipper.¡±
His face twitched as he said his name.
¡°Should I call you the greatest dictator of all time? Even someone like me knows you.¡±
¡°You can¡¯t ignore the president¡¯s aide as a low-level.¡±
¡°Fine. Let¡¯s have a practical conversation as you like. You¡¯re smart, so you must understand the situation. And the fact that you can never escape.¡±
¡°Do you really think so?¡±
Yu Ji-ha tilted his head and he gave a faint smile.
¡°You seem to be thinking of escaping, but it won¡¯t be easy. Even if you find out where we are by some means, we can move you somewhere else within 10 minutes.¡±
They must have dug an underground tunnel as well.
Seeing that they prepared this much while avoiding Arma¡¯s surveince, he could tell how obsessive James was.
Yu Ji-ha grumbled inwardly that it was too good to be true even if he escaped.
Clipper interpreted his silence differently and said with a clenched jaw.
¡°As I said before, you can¡¯t leave this room on your own. You should keep in mind that your time here can increase depending on your decision.¡±
¡°What decision are you talking about?¡±
¡°You have to decide to cooperate with us. You have to work for America.¡±
Yu Ji-haughed at the ridiculous statement.
¡°Did you kidnap me without knowing who I am?¡±
¡°We know very well. A psychic with incredible ether abilities, the de facto owner of the Si Group, the dictator of the United Human Federation that rules the secondrgest territory after six megacities and Russia, President Yu Ji-ha.¡±
He wanted to add that he was also the owner of the ark ship Settler and that he came from the future, but he decided to hold back.
¡°And you still think I¡¯ll cooperate with America?¡±
He nodded as if he understood.
¡°People who haven¡¯t been imprisoned for long react like you. After a few days or months of intense interrogation and persuasion, most of them give up. I wonder how long you¡¯llst.¡±
¡°You¡¯re talking as if you¡¯ll keep me locked up for life if I don¡¯t cooperate.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. You¡¯ll never see the sun again if you don¡¯t work for America.¡±
It was a chilling remark, but it only sounded funny to Yu Ji-ha.
¡°That¡¯s too much. I¡¯ve helped America more than once.¡±
¡°That¡¯s true. Especially this Manhattan incident, you owe us a huge debt. But you are¡ too dangerous.¡±
¡°In what way?¡±
¡°In the sense that you¡¯re uncontroble. We never know what kind of technology will pop up overnight. We can¡¯t even reverse-engineer the Taran T that you started mass-producing recently.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know either. I just use what Russia makes in their smart factory.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll use your abilities for America, including that artificial intelligence.¡±
¡°So you can¡¯t give up the leadership, huh?¡±
Yu Ji-ha grumbled and Clipper rxed his posture.
¡°Since Europe first discovered India and America¡¡±
¡°Discovered? You mean invaded. What about the natives?¡±
¡°¡Anyway, we¡¯ve been the firm rulers of the earth for hundreds of years. Until you showed up.¡±
¡°Now you want to make a white-dominated world again? Isn¡¯t that a delusional dream? What are you going to do about the space monsters if I don¡¯t cooperate?¡±
¡°We have some time left since the Manhattan incident just happened. We¡¯ll convince you. We also need to see how that artificial intelligence works. One thing is certain: you can¡¯t have a normal life unless you promise to cooperate.¡±
¡°Do you think the United Human Federation will sit still?¡±
He spoke threateningly and Clipper looked around the room.
¡°This is just a temporary prison. You¡¯ll be moved around irregrly. A well-trained battalion will guard the prison and special forces and armored units are on standby. We can blow you up anytime.¡±
¡°So you¡¯ll kill me if you can¡¯t have me?¡±
¡°No. It¡¯s impossible for even artificial intelligence to find you, so just give up.¡±
He leaned his face towards Yu Ji-ha and whispered.
¡°Your wife is in the next room. If you say one word, we can help ease her fear. Don¡¯t you miss your son who stayed at home? We¡¯ll let you live together. Of course, under our surveince.¡±
¡°I¡¯d rather be tortured.¡±
¡°We won¡¯t resort to such violent means for now. But that might change when we get permission from above.¡±
He took out a knife from his pocket and caressed it as if it was a subtle threat.
It would have been trivial to Yu Ji-ha, who had resistance to all kinds of pain.
¡°Whatever, torture or drugs, it wouldn¡¯t be too bad. But there¡¯s one thing you should keep in mind. If I get out of here, you won¡¯t die peacefully.¡±
¡°That won¡¯t happen. You¡¯ll never leave American soil.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a nice delusion.¡±
Yu Ji-ha closed his mouth as if he had nothing more to say.
In fact, he was just stalling for time.
America had to announce that they had captured him to justify their actions.
He could escapeter.
¡°Fine. You have plenty of time to think. It wouldn¡¯t be bad to watch the United Human Federation crumble.¡±
Finally, the room was quiet.
Around the same time, Arma reported that his interrogation was over.
¡®The president is going to make a statement from the White House.¡¯
It was finally starting.
***
Despite being well past midnight, the Oval Office was quite busy.
The reporters wondered why the president was here when he was supposed to be at Camp David.
Was it okay to leave his guest alone?
Soon after, President James appeared on the podium with a smug face.
¡°Today, we have achieved a great feat. You¡¯ll be shocked when you hear this news. We have captured a dictator.¡±
At first, the reporters didn¡¯t know what he meant.
Did they subdue one of the major factions in Africa?
But they knew that America had withdrawn from Africa recently.
President James seemed to enjoy their bewildered expressions and gave a faint smile.
¡°Ha ha, you¡¯ll be surprised when you hear his name. He is a cruel and ruthless dictator who has made 40% of humanity his enemies and killed countless lives.¡±
At this point, the reporters held their breath.
Could his name be¡
¡°He is also a destroyer of democracy and an enemy of freedom and human rights. By now, you should be able to guess his name. Let me introduce him. He is President Yu Ji-ha of the United Human Federation. Well, we¡¯ll have to take away his title now.¡±
He spoke jokingly, but the reporters couldn¡¯t breathe properly.
They captured President Yu Ji-ha of the United Human Federation, meaning they kidnapped him?
They kidnapped a foreign leader who came to America for a summit?
They were all dizzy and could only mumble.
President James continued his speech proudly with a smile.
¡°We have secured all his assets. And his wife too, of course. He is currently under the protection of the US Marine Corps and escape is impossible. So¡¡±
¡°He has to do as we please. If he refuses our offer, he will never get out.¡±
¡°¡¡±
It was a shocking statement.
They kidnapped the leader of a country and demanded his cooperation, threatening to keep him locked up forever.
Of course, Yu Ji-ha had shed with America many times before.
But this kind of act would surely undermine America¡¯s credibility in the internationalmunity.
One reporter couldn¡¯t stand it and shouted.
¡°Are you insane? How do you think the world will see us?¡±
The security guards tried to move, but President James stopped them with a rxed attitude.
¡°Ah, it¡¯s okay, let him be. The world will respect and admire us. Because justice has been done.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°You know what I mean. He is a cruel and ruthless murderer and a vitor of human rights. From now on, we will hold him ountable for his crimes. He must atone for humanity for the rest of his life.¡±
¡°¡And you¡¯ll extract his technology while he¡¯s imprisoned.¡±
¡°He¡¯s too valuable to kill. He may have a terrible personality, but he¡¯s a smart person. He¡¯ll understand his situation and cooperate with us.¡±
The reporter shook his head in disgust and another reporter got up and asked.
¡°This is Mike from CNN. Do you think the United Human Federation will stay quiet?¡±
¡°Good question. Of course they won¡¯t. It¡¯ll be fun to watch how the artificial intelligence goes berserk without its master.¡±
¡°But before that¡ we want to make it clear that we have him in our custody. What was the name of that artificial intelligence? Lucia? It must have the ability to judge how to treat its master¡¯s master.¡±
¡°Even so, if the United Human Federation¡¯s army moves, we can¡¯t guarantee his life. Fortunately, they¡¯ve been quiet so far.¡±
¡°¡Wow.¡±
This was tantamount to dering war.
Not only the artificial intelligence that lost its master, but also the United Human Federation would never sit still.
Of course, it would be hard for them to act immediately if America revealed that they had captured Yu Ji-ha.
President James read the atmosphere and took out a remote control with a smirk.
¡°There¡¯s a TV over there. If I press this button, you¡¯ll see the worst dictator since Hitler. Of course, he¡¯s in custody, so don¡¯t be afraid.¡±
He pressed the button and Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face appeared.
He was sitting alone in a dark room on a chair.
His head was slightly bowed, but his features revealed that he was Yu Ji-ha.
¡°I wish he¡¯d lift his head a little¡ Ah, perfect.¡±
Yu Ji-ha smiled at the monitor installed in the room.
¡°¡You¡¯ll pay a terrible price for this.¡±
¡°Before that, you¡¯ll have to pay for what you¡¯ve done for years. You¡¯ll probably have to serve America and humanity for about 100 years.¡±
¡°I swear, if I get out of here on my own, I won¡¯t let any of you off the hook. I¡¯ve lied a lot, but I promise to keep that one for sure.¡±
Yu Ji-ha spoke calmly, and James threw off his mask of hypocrisy and smashed the TV with a stick.
¡°You want to threaten me, but you¡¯re in prison! There¡¯s no one to help you!¡±
¡°I¡¯ve never needed anyone¡¯s help. So look forward to what I¡¯ll do.¡±
President James was angry at his rxed attitude and turned off the TV.
And he spoke to the reporters as if he was ckmailing them.
¡°I swear to God, that murderer will never leave American soil alive. And by now, you guys from the United Human Federation must have known. If you want to save Yu Ji-ha, don¡¯t move that damn drone, got it?¡±
His eyes were filled with madness as he spoke.
Anyway, this press conference seeded in waking up the leaders of the world despite the time zone.
They all rubbed their eyes and watched the news, speechless at the absurdity.
¡ªPresident Yu Ji-ha of the United Human Federation, kidnapped after visiting America for a summit.
¡ªHis assets are currently secured by the US Marine Corps under President James¡¯s orders.
¡ªPresident James announced that justice has been done. He ns to secure his technology for America and humanity for the next 100 years.
¡°¡He¡¯spletely insane.¡±
Someone¡¯s words represented the feelings of the world leaders.
President Mikhailov of Russia dered a state of emergency as soon as he heard the news and protested vehemently to America.
¡°If you hurt a single hair of President Yu, be prepared! I¡¯ll show you what a nuclear shower is!¡±
¡°Ah, there¡¯s no need to get so excited. By the way, aren¡¯t you being a bit too arrogant? You¡¯re nothing but Yu Ji-ha¡¯s subordinates. How dare you talk to me like that?¡±
¡°This damn Yankee talks too much¡¡±
Click.
The phone must have been broken.
President James tried to hide his nervousness and joked with his aides.
¡°If I secure Russia after the United Human Federation, will I be the ruler of the earth? Ha ha, that would be fun.¡±
¡°¡¡±
The aides looked at him with bored faces.
They thought he would stay quiet for his remaining year in office, but he caused a huge mess.
How was he going to fix this?
The phones in the White House were ringing and President James contacted his former colleagues with a smug voice.
And time passed and morning came.
The world was shocked by the news that camete.
Russia was in an uproar, from the people to the military and the government, ready to go to war.
The other countries were rmed, but decided to wait and see the situation.
If America really captured Yu Ji-ha, there was no need to confront them.
Of course, as always, there were people who thought it was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s own drama.
It was mostly the voice of the anti-Yu Ji-ha faction in America, including the Democratic Party.
They demanded that Yu Ji-ha be killed.
¡ªKill him. If you don¡¯t kill him now, you¡¯ll regret it.
¡ªJust kill him and thinkter. Trial? Leave it to his favorite artificial intelligence. We have artificial intelligence too.
As such extreme opinions emerged, Bae Seongmin, the chief secretary, returned home with his agents.
He bowed his head weakly in front of the countless reporters and bureaucrats who crowded the Blue House.
¡°All I want to say is please wait.¡±
As he tried to go in, the reporters swarmed him like bees.
¡°Did you just watch as America kidnapped the president?¡±
¡°What will happen to us now?¡±
The voice of anxiety began to rise in the United Human Federation as well.
The artificial intelligence represented by Russia seemed to have no problem for now.
But if Yu Ji-ha remained kidnapped, it was inevitable that problems would arise.
There were demands to drop the new bomb on America.
¡ªWhat are they doing? They kidnapped our president! Kill them all!
¡ªDestroy America!
But there was no one to make a decision since the president was absent.
There was no one who had ess to the artificial intelligence.
As the whole United Human Federation boiled over, some Americans mocked them.
¡ªLook, that¡¯s what happens when you give all your power to a dictator.
¡ªNow that we¡¯re brothers, we should share. Open up the megacities quickly.
¡ªLet¡¯s take a look at that battle cruiser first. I¡¯ve been curious about what it does.
The battle cruiser that some Americans mentioned with a chuckle was anchored in the sky above Seoul.
As many Seoul citizens sighed and wondered why the ship wasn¡¯t moving, a Pyongyang-ss battle cruiser that had departed from Mars arrived near Earth.
Arma opened her eyes when she received the signal.
She gave a light tug on her arm and the ropes made of ker fiber snapped.
Chapter 170: The Couple Con Artists
Chapter 170: The Couple Con Artists
Not all Americans weed the kidnapping of Yu Ji-ha.
On the contrary, most people with manners were appalled by the insane act.
¡ªThey kidnapped a foreign president who came for a summit? Is this really America? Or are we having a nightmare?
¡ªWhere did they get that stupid idea that the AI would obey them if they kidnapped its master?
¡ªThis is madness. They should release the president and his wife and apologize as soon as possible before the situation gets worse.
The hardliners of the Democratic Party had a helpless stance on these reasonable demands.
¡ªWhat can we do? We already did it. Our task is to turn this situation to our advantage.
¡ªFor now, the United Human Federation¡¯s army is not moving. They can¡¯t do anything rash while we have Yu Ji-ha. We don¡¯t know what will happen if we kill him, but it¡¯s not like a war will break out right away.
¡ªThink about it. They talk about cooperation, but in the end, we have to bow down and follow them. The United Human Federation will never care about our situation. So we don¡¯t have to care about theirs either.
The issue was not simple, and it turned Washington politics upside down, as well as the White House, the Pentagon, the media, and the financial sector.
Most of the media were covering the kidnapping incident, and nearly a third of humanity was focused on it.
Some people said there was no way for a happy ending.
¡ªIf they resort to such an extreme method like kidnapping, either America or the United Human Federation will die.
¡ªI don¡¯t think Russia will just let it go. Is this going to be World War III?
¡ªThe AI won¡¯t just sit still either. Let¡¯s go to the market and buy some food. The earth might be destroyed.
Both the side that caused this crisis and the side that got involved were superpowers that would be second to none in military might, and Russia was not behind in nuclear power.
There were fears that a full-scale nuclear war might break out if Yu Ji-ha died.
The representative of such a position was Martin Conrad, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States.
He was not only shocked but also enraged by this situation, as he was the person who represented the US military in ce of the vacant Secretary of Defense.
¡°I don¡¯t have military authority, but it¡¯s uneptable that the White House mobilized the Marines behind my back. But that¡¯s not the real issue. I need to see the president.¡±
Despite numerous inquiries, the White House did not respond.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had a direct line to talk to the president, but it was jammed.
Unable to bear it, Conrad mobilized his friend and former president Bernstein¡¯swork to contact the White House.
President James, who barely answered the phone, sounded very tired.
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s only two miles from the Pentagon to your office, but it¡¯s very hard to reach you.¡±
¡°I¡¯m so busy, what can I do? Tell me what you want.¡±
¡°You have to release President Yu right now.¡±
¡°If that¡¯s your request, I¡¯ll hang up. The senators are enough to talk nonsense.¡±
¡°Mr. President, this is not good for America. How can you imprison people who came to America for a summit? How will the world see us?¡±
¡°I¡¯m a person who cares more about interests than eyes. You understand? America¡¯s interests.¡±
¡°Can holding him be ultimately beneficial for America? The army of the United Human Federation is already¡¡±
¡°Chairman, did the United Human Federation¡¯s army move?¡±
¡°Not yet, but¡¡±
¡°Did the AI find him or something? What¡¯s the problem?¡±
Conrad, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, realized that the president had no intention of reversing this situation.
But he couldn¡¯t give up here.
¡°Then you should at least send the firstdy.¡±
¡°It would be better to stay here together. We¡¯re a couple, aren¡¯t we?¡±
It was a remark that made him doubt the author¡¯s sanity.
¡°Please, Mr. President¡ What are you going to do if President Yu escapes on his own? It would be less damaging to let him go now.¡±
¡°He won¡¯t get out of prison unless we let him go. He has no choice but to cooperate with us, you understand?¡±
They were on parallel lines.
He hung up the phone and called themanders of each branch of the military.
It was originally the exclusive authority of the Secretary of Defense, but the government was in chaos and no proper appointments had been made.
Fortunately, themanders had realized the seriousness of this situation early and responded to the call immediately.
¡°I gathered you here to emphasize that we can¡¯t be swept away by the White House.¡±
The White House was the center of the US administration and the institution that represented the US.
The military naturally had to follow the will of such a White House as a priority.
But the situation was not that simple.
President James hadmitted a crime of kidnapping a foreign president and his wife on his own, which was an intolerable act.
The problem was that James refused to listen to any advice or warnings from outside.
The administration was in disarray and the parties were fighting with venom.
In this situation, Conrad decided that the role of the military was more important than anything else.
¡°Each branch must maintain a readiness posture, but never make any remarks or actions that provoke the United Human Federation, Russia, or other countries. This is our clear mistake.¡±
Amander hesitated and asked.
¡°Will anything change by doing that?¡±
¡°We have to step up. The White House is crazy right now. What do you think will happen if President Yu escapes on his own? You have to be prepared for a reactive bomb dropping on at least one of America¡¯s major cities.¡±
Themanders were terrified by imagining a reactive bomb that had proven its power on Mars dropping on an American city.
It was close to 100 megatons.
Considering the technology of the United Human Federation, they would easily ignore this side¡¯s air defensework ande in.
The result was America¡¯s destruction.
Conrad, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke with force.
¡°Maybe this is all his own drama. The stupid and pitiful president got dragged into it. Rather than arguing about that, we need to solve this tangled situation first. Mobilize all the avable forces and find him and get him out.¡±
It was a difficult task to get him out before Yu Ji-ha escaped on his own.
How did they know where he was and find him?
Even if they found him, the security forces of the detention facility would not be quiet, so a battle would surely break out.
It was possible that a civil war-like situation would erupt on American soil.
Nevertheless, thebatmanders knew that they had to do this.
¡°¡It would be better to be court-martialed than to have America destroyed.¡±
¡°It would be at least life imprisonment. I hope you will let us go, sir.¡±
Conrad, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, smiled faintly.
¡°I¡¯m going in too, so what do you mean by letting go? Maybe Bernstein will save us.¡±
¡°The former president¡? Did you hear any rumors?¡±
¡°Just a feeling. He seems to know something. Anyway, don¡¯t forget that we have to get that couple out by any means.¡±
The conversation ended there.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff thought hard in front of theputer and mmed his desk.
¡°What are those bastards in the administration doing? Don¡¯t they know that they can revoke his authority if they know he¡¯s out of his mind?¡±
ording to Article 25, Section 4 of the Amendment Constitution, the vice president and each department of the administration, or the Congress, can suspend the president¡¯s authority.
There were various conditions and plenty of time, so it wouldn¡¯t be much help for the current situation, but wouldn¡¯t it be enough for pressure?
The Congress was also a problem and the administration was swayed by the president.
¡°No, America as a whole is a problem¡¡±
Everything was messy because the president changed three times in a few years.
Conrad, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, felt dizzy imagining that the couple would escape on their own and dere war on America.
It should never happen, but he couldn¡¯t shake off the uneasy feeling.
¡°¡I have to prepare for the worst situation.¡±
He got up from his seat.
***
The second Seoul-ssbat cruiser, Pyeongyang, was different from the first one in many ways.
This ship was built for realbat with gue, not for training and data acquisition like Seoul.
It had almost twice the discement and was not ready to carrybat officers, but it had enough weapons systems.
The main difference between Pyeongyang and Seoul was that it had the facilities to operate assault armors.
Assault armors were quite bulky, so 100,000 tons was not enough to properly operate many of them.
Pyeongyang was the minimum level that could be deployed to the front line against gue.
This ship was made entirely of ck metal, so it had a semi-permanent lifespan.
It meant that it could be used continuously unless it was sunk, as long as the equipment and facilities were reced.
It also had a different dimension of propulsion from the existing impulse thrusters.
Antimatter reactor.
It used the enormous energy generated by the annihtion of particles and antiparticles as propent, controlling it precisely.
Thanks to that, Pyeongyang could travel between Earth and Mars in a day.
The price was expensive, but there was no need to worry about that in the war with gue.
Anyway, this ship arrived at Earth¡¯s geostationary orbit about a day after leaving Mars.
As soon as it approached, it activated the optical camouge, so there was no fear of being detected.
The detention facility was under radio jamming, but it was meaningless to exchange data with quantummunication.
¡°It¡¯s time to escape, Master.¡±
Arma cut off the rope and opened the nanomachine capsule to hack the hidden CCTV remotely.
Then the monitor in the control room flickered slightly.
From now on, they wouldn¡¯t notice anything inside from outside.
The st door lock was smashed in an instant and the door opened.
Two armed guards were startled and pointed their machine guns, but they shivered with electric shock.
¡°Kreuk!¡±
Smoke rose from their bodies.
Arma went straight to the room where Yu Ji-ha was detained, taking out two more guards on the way.
When the st door was torn off, Yu Ji-ha finally lifted his head.
¡°Master, I came to pick you up.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the situation outside?¡±
¡°The US military has identified this ce. They are expected to send a rescue team soon.¡±
¡°We have to escape before they rescue us.¡±
That¡¯s how the strange escape began.
The control room detected something suspicious, but they couldn¡¯tmunicate with the outside.
There was a problem with the wiredwork.
¡°Why is this happening? There¡¯s no response.¡±
¡°Someone seems to have cut off themunication line. We need to restore it immediately.¡±
¡°Before that, we need to go down and check. The guards are too quiet.¡±
The guards were supposed to send a signal every 10 minutes.
It was very suspicious that the signal didn¡¯te and there was no change on the screen.
The attempt to connect the backupmunicationwork also failed.
The nanomachines that Arma had released started to interfere with the radio signals by sticking to the cables.
At this point, the control room was in chaos and Joseph Clipper, who had been sleeping soundly, woke up.
He frowned as he received the situation report.
¡°¡Order all forces. Kill them as soon as you find them.¡±
¡°That will make things worse.¡±
¡°It¡¯s more of a problem if they escape. They must never get out of here.¡±
¡°Yes, sir.¡±
A state of emergency was dered throughout the detention facility.
The lights brightened and all the doors were sealed as the reserve forces were deployed.
A pile of heavily armed soldiers were startled to see a pair of men and women walking in their pajamas in the corridor.
¡°Fi, fire!¡±
Tatatata¨D
Countless bullets rained down on them, but none hit.
Arma¡¯s sma shield blocked the bullets.
As the captain who gave the order to fire tilted his head, Aethersers shot out of Arma¡¯s eyes.
The soldiers and weapons evaporated at once by the power that could destroy a ballistic missile in one second.
As the narrow corridor filled with a foul smell and heat, Arma broke the wall and made a way.
Joseph Clipper, who noticed it btedly, widened his eyes.
¡°¡Wasn¡¯t she human either? How¡¯s the search¡ Seal this facility right away. Blow up the entrance with a bomb!¡±
A few momentster, the bomb installed at the bunker entrance exploded.
The entrance copsedpletely, but it failed to stop their escape.
The assault armor ejected from Pyeongyang created a strong Aether field.
The assault armor couldn¡¯t control gravity as widely as a settler or a mining ship, but it was enough to clear the debris.
The ground around the detention facility shook, and soon the debris floated up.
Thanks to that, Yu Ji-ha and Arma were able to reach the surface soon.
The dozens of soldiers who followed them were shocked to see the assault armor.
¡°Wha, what is that?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know¡¡±
Joseph Clipper clenched his teeth.
He knew they had more than one hidden thing, but he didn¡¯t know they had something like this.
The unidentified mobile weapon floating in the sky looked like a wasp.
Six wings on its back spewed dazzling gold light.
What kind of thing was it?
Suddenly Clipper¡¯s eyes turned gold.
Something strange was ejected from the mobile weapon and then aser shot out.
When Aethersers were emitted from the reflector bits, they reflected in dozens of beams.
The armored units that approached with a strange hunch all evaporated.
Armored cars and tanks were all cut bysers without exception.
The helicopter couldn¡¯t withstand the power that cut through the tank¡¯s armor.
The tail of the helicopter approaching from the sky was cut off and it started to fall with a loud noise.
Bang!
There was a huge explosion, maybe because the fuel tank exploded.
He approached the assault armor that slowly descended with Yu Ji-ha and Arma.
Clipper¡¯s scream was heard from behind.
¡°You! Never! Go! Don¡¯t!¡±
¡°It¡¯s war! If you go, it means war! So you have to stay here quietly!¡±
Yu Ji-ha looked at him indifferently and muttered.
¡°That¡¯s what I want.¡±
He didn¡¯t know if he heard it or not.
When they boarded the cockpit, the assault armor spewed ethersers around again.
All the ground forces, including Clipper, evaporated and the reflector bits around the assault armor were stored.
Yu Ji-ha fidgeted in his seat.
He couldn¡¯t move because Arma was sitting in front of him.
¡°It¡¯s a bit cramped because it¡¯s not a double seat.¡±
¡°Should I squeeze into a corner? If I pull out my neck and legs, there will be more space.¡±
¡°¡Let¡¯s just go like this. It sounds like something out of a dream.¡±
It would be quick to get to Terra Ind with an assault armor.
That¡¯s how the couple disappeared and a few hourster, DEVGRU Gold Squadron rescue team arrived at the scene.
They looked around the mess and contacted Pentagon with drones.
Conrad, chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, closed his eyes at the report that they seemed to have escaped.
¡®It¡¯s over¡¡¯
He had many questions, but it didn¡¯t matter in this situation.
The whole world was boiling over Yu Ji-ha¡¯s kidnapping.
Who would listen to America¡¯s words?
If Yu Ji-ha returned to United Human Federation, war would break out immediately.
He tried to contact the White House, but threw the phone down when he confirmed that it was still out of service.
¡°Damn James!¡±
Now war was inevitable.
***
At the point when Yu Ji-ha and Arma escaped, the Oval Office was showing the same video of the detention facility.
President James sipped his whiskey and felt satisfied.
¡°It feels like a toothache is gone¡¡±
It really did.
His desire to catch Yu Ji-ha sometimes gave him headaches.
The doctor diagnosed it as a simple nerve sensitivity and he barely resisted the urge to punch him.
Anyway, he felt rxed after catching Yu Ji-ha.
The surroundings were noisy, but it was toote to turn back.
¡®We have to transform into greatness again.¡¯
America had to be a being that received respect from many countries and sometimes inspired fear.
It shouldn¡¯t be anxious about the technological development of United Human Federation and afraid of when a space monster would pop out.
He hoped that things would go well after this.
As long as he held Yu Ji-ha, neither United Human Federation nor Russia could move rashly.
¡®Russia¡¯s nuclear threat? Sorry, but we have more nukes.¡¯
Ion beam was something both sides had, so the conditions were equal.
In the end, the nuclear threat would end as a threat and America was overwhelming in conventional power.
He couldn¡¯t lose even if he had mass-produced Hafnium-2 explosives.
That was the story except for United Human Federation.
James put his legs on the desk that was 153 years old and enjoyed the screen leisurely.
It was a very monotonous video where Yu Ji-ha just bowed his head, but he always enjoyed it.
But someone knocked on the door of the Oval Office urgently.
¡°Mr. President, it¡¯s your chief of staff.¡±
James was annoyed by this interruption of his peaceful moment, but he couldn¡¯t ignore his few confidants.
¡°Come in.¡±
The White House officials, including the secretary, came into the Oval Office with a serious look.
¡°What? I don¡¯t remember allowing you toe in like this.¡±
The chief of staff ignored him and opened his mouth.
¡°Mr. President, United Human Federation is making a major announcement.¡±
¡°It must be just a statement at best. What can they do without him?¡±
¡°ording to the news that just came in, it¡¯s an announcement in the name of the president.¡±
¡°What?¡±
Anyone would be surprised by this news, even if they were calm.
James jumped up from his chair like a rabbit and sighed as he looked at the monitor in the corner.
¡°What are you talking about? They must be using a stand-in. United Human Federation has good technology. It wouldn¡¯t be hard to make an android that looks simr, right?¡±
The chief of staff looked around and finally spilled the beans.
¡°That screen is fake¡¡±
¡°¡¡±
¡°We got a call from the Pentagon. The detention facility waspletely destroyed and their whereabouts are unknown.¡±
¡°That¡¯s impossible¡¡±
¡°We don¡¯t have time. Let¡¯s watch the announcement together.¡±
He changed the channel and a screen broadcasted by United Human Federation appeared.
Along with the buzzing sound of reporters, Yu Ji-ha showed up with a pale face.
President James¡¯s eyes popped out.
¡°This is a scam!¡±
Chapter 171: It Has Come
Chapter 171: It Has Come
Secretary Baek Sung-min sighed in relief as he saw President Yu Ji-ha walking down the hallway.
¡®I avoided the worst situation¡¡¯
That was literally all he did.
If Yu Ji-ha had died or been dragged around by the US as they intended, the United Human Federation would have been over.
He didn¡¯t know what n the artificial intelligence Lucia had pursued, but judging from her abilities so far, it was unlikely that she had surpassed human cognition.
Rescuing the president meant difficulty, and that meant the end of the United Human Federation.
The current United Human Federation was overly dependent on Yu Ji-ha alone, due to its dictatorial nature.
If he was gone, the future of the United Human Federation would also disappear.
¡®But that doesn¡¯t mean the second worst is okay¡¡¯
Yu Ji-ha had returned.
He was kidnapped for only a day, but it was clear that the US had done something unforgivable.
Now the US had to pay the price, and at least war was inevitable.
The heavy reality of having to fight a superpower like the US weighed on Secretary Baek Sung-min¡¯s chest.
He bowed his head in front of the office.
¡°Thank you for your hard work, Mr. President.¡±
¡°Did you have any trouble at the White House?¡±
¡°Yes, I was released after a brief interrogation. I guess it¡¯s more urate to say I was kicked out.¡±
They wouldn¡¯t bother with a secretary who knew nothing, if they weren¡¯t rted to the president.
James¡¯s goal was Yu Ji-ha from start to finish.
¡°Anyway, it¡¯s over. I¡¯ll take care of it now, so don¡¯t worry.¡±
I¡¯ll take care of it¡
It was a reassuring and heart-pounding statement.
Was he going to dere war now?
Secretary Baek Sung-min followed the president into the office with a smile.
There was broadcasting equipment ready in this spacious room that was toorge for one person to work in.
He had prepared it in his secretary¡¯s office after receiving his contact.
He was curious about how he had escaped and returned, but that was not what mattered now.
Finally, it hade.
Yu Ji-ha stood in front of the podium, received the sign, and opened his mouth.
¡°I think those of you who are watching this broadcast know well why I am standing here and why I am angry.¡±
¡°I trusted the US and dly epted the summit. Just as I did no harm to the US president, I believed they would do the same. But they didn¡¯t. They betrayed me.¡±
The word betrayal was especially emphasized, and it was not because Baek Sung-min heard it wrong.
The president was seriously angry right now.
This was different from when he was attacked by Iran and Pakistan.
Who would have imagined that the US wouldmit kidnapping?
Yu Ji-ha had even given the prophet¡¯s artifact to Bernstein, the former president, when he met him.
¡®Let¡¯s forget about the possibility of a staged y.¡¯
He had to deceive himself first to answer properly when someone asked.
Baek Sung-min was not an ordinary person, but a confidant of the president.
¡°I was imprisoned in a detention facility in Marnd. Of course, my wife was with me. The purpose of the US capturing me is clear. They want to steal technology from me and control the United Human Federation as they please.¡±
¡°Where are the human rights and freedom that the US ims? Where is the positive value of the US in the act of kidnapping me and my wife? I can¡¯t forgive them.¡±
At this point, a quarter of the world¡¯s poption was watching Yu Ji-ha¡¯s angry speech.
It was natural that war might break out because of his words.
The pressure of a possible third world war pressed down on everyone¡¯s chest.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s heavy mouth opened.
¡°I don¡¯t need forgiveness. Therefore, I don¡¯t need to talk to the US either. We will fight them. Until theyy down everything and surrender.¡±
This was a deration of war.
Although proper derations of war had long disappeared in these days, Yu Ji-ha still followed the minimum etiquette.
He also clearly stated the conditions for negotiation.
But it would have been better not to state them.
Unconditional surrender was a condition that the US could never ept.
¡°The war has started right now. It won¡¯t stop until one of the United Human Federation or the US falls.¡±
The leaders of each country were surprised that Yu Ji-ha did not leave any room for dialogue orpromise.
¡°I¡¯m d you¡¯re safe. What can Russia do to help?¡±
¡°Just announce that you support the United Human Federation in any case.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not hard.¡±
To be honest, it was hard for Russia to step up.
Russia was strong in Europe, but not in a position to project power abroad.
Especially if the opponent was the US.
They were equal to the US in nuclear power, but the problem was that it was neutralized by the ion beam.
Anyway, President Mikhailov was happy that Yu Ji-ha had returned.
The leaders of other countries also reacted positively to his return, but they did not want war.
They tried to persuade the USte at night.
They intended to prevent a war between the two superpowers at all costs.
But the situation did not go as they wished.
***
As soon as Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face appeared on the screen, the White House officials realized that they could not avoid war.
His speech was the same.
He calmly expressed his betrayal and anger towards the US and dered war at the end.
It was a smart attitudepared to kidnapping.
Now the White House had to make a choice.
Would they ept the deration of war and prepare for it, or would they send a special envoy to avoid it somehow?
Of course, the US did not always want war.
Even more so now, when they were not prepared at all.
The economic situation worsened and the size of the US military continued to shrink, and their influence was reduced because of the United Human Federation.
There was a serious talk within the US Navy about reducing the number of carrier strike groups to less than seven.
It was because it was proven to be useless inbat with gue.
Not that other weapon systems were effective, and there was no shortage of opposing voices.
The 11 carrier strike groups were the symbol of the US military itself.
Anyway, as soon as his speech ended, a sigh flowed in the Oval Office.
¡°It¡¯s finally here¡¡±
¡°His escape has be a reality. We need to discuss how to deal with it from now on.¡±
But President James seemed to have other thoughts.
He shook his cheeks with bloodshot eyes and vented his passion.
¡°What the hell is going on? How can he be there when he should be in a detention facility?¡±
He escaped, that¡¯s why.
He didn¡¯t know how it was possible, but he immediately suspected the Pentagon.
¡°Did they help him escape? He couldn¡¯t have escaped in a day without them! Right?¡±
¡°¡¡±
In fact, half of the White House officials thought so too.
No matter how much Yu Ji-ha had an ace up his sleeve, it was almost impossible to escape without attracting attention from the White House.
It would be a realistic judgment that he had someone¡¯s help.
They all thought of Conrad, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and so did President James.
¡°Conrad was the problem. I suspected him from when he suggested that I let him go. I have to fire him right away.¡±
The officials were half-giving up, but they were shocked by his statement.
¡°Mr. President, you can¡¯t do that.¡±
¡°We don¡¯t have a Secretary of Defense, who will lead the war if you fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?¡±
¡°Do soldiers fight wars or generals? We have to get rid of all those involved in this. They are enemies within!¡±
The aides sighed deeply and exchanged nces.
They thought it would be better to ignore the president and send a special envoy to the United Human Federation.
But they didn¡¯t know if Yu Ji-ha would ept it.
¡°He demanded unconditional surrender, so he won¡¯t ept it easily. Let¡¯s contact the United Human Federation first.¡±
At this point, President James¡¯s intentions werepletely ignored.
They didn¡¯t consider impeaching him either, because they needed someone tomand and take responsibility.
He had practically be a vegetable president.
The generals and senators who hurriedly came to the White House didn¡¯t even bother with James and only looked for other executive branch officials.
The Pentagon generals argued that they should send a special envoy.
¡°We can¡¯t have a war. Before we talk about its horrors, we¡¯re not ready.¡±
¡°It¡¯s embarrassing to say this as someone who spends a huge amount of defense budget, but I¡¯m not confident that we can win the war against the United Human Federation.¡±
¡°The United Human Federation clearly restrains the size of their military. They could have produced Earth Fleet several times and still have some left, but having only one fleet means they think that¡¯s enough.¡±
¡°They will attack us from space. As a military expert, I can tell you that we can¡¯t fully protect the White House, Congress, and the Pentagon.¡±
The White House was engulfed by a sense of defeat.
The ultra-hardliners of the Democratic Partyined about where they spent the $1 trillion defense budget, and the generals had to exin.
¡°A significant part of the defense budget is personnel costs. Our troops exceed 1.5 million, including the National Guard.¡±
¡°We have a lot of equipment, including aircraft carriers and surface ships, but unfortunately they won¡¯t be much help in this war.¡±
That was because the United Human Federation had created a very efficient military.
They had a huge territory, but thend they actually had to defend was not very wide.
Most of the defense facilities were concentrated in a few megacities and the Korean Penins.
Especially, the defense facilities of the megacities were impregnable enough to shake the heads of any generals.
¡°Let¡¯s take Pacific, the megacity of Terra Ind, as an example. It doesn¡¯t look very impressive in peacetime. But if we analyze the defense facilities based on how the megacity transformed during the Gamma Incident, this is what we get.¡±
The picture showed more than 100 railgun sites.
The caliber of the barrel was quiterge for using nuclear fusion reactors, almost exceeding 150mm.
¡°This means that the range is easily over a thousand kilometers. It¡¯s much faster and more urate than our hypersonic anti-ship missiles. It¡¯s virtually impossible to approach.¡±
¡°This anti-aircraft battery is not the same as the existing etherser, ording to our analysis. We have no choice but to face it directly and judge its identity. It¡¯s probably not an ordinary thing.¡±
As the negative analysis continued, the ultra-hardline Democraticwmakers asked if they could take over Terra Ind.
That was the only possibility for the US to win.
The Pentagon generals shook their heads without thinking.
¡°It¡¯s impossible. Not only the defense facilities, but Terra Ind itself is optimized to block external entry.¡±
¡°This is how the megacity transformed during the Gamma Incident. It can perfectly block a tsunami that is tens of meters high.¡±
¡°In case of emergency, you can think of the entire megacity as one bunker. To break through it, you need to use megaton-ss nuclear weapons.¡±
¡°Preemptive nuclear attack is the only way.¡±
Thewmakers¡¯ faces turned pale at the mention of nuclear attack on the megacity.
If they did that, reaction bombs would fall all over the federation.
They didn¡¯t know what would happen to the megacity, but the downfall of the US was certain.
Onewmaker received a report from Conrad, who attended Congress, and sneered.
¡°We can¡¯t attack or defend. Is all we have left to surrender like a dog?¡±
¡°Or maybe buying time wouldn¡¯t be so bad. The Unified Space Force is powerful, but not massive. The damage they can inflict on us is limited.¡±
¡°Hmm¡ don¡¯t they have prator warheads?¡±
¡°They would have used them if they wanted to.¡±
Neither the US nor the United Human Federation had any intention of using strategic weapons at this point.
It meant they were notpletely enraged, and it was also linked to the possibility of a staged drama.
But from Conrad¡¯s point of view, he didn¡¯t mention that possibility because he had attempted the rescue operation without the president¡¯s consent.
There was no need to rub salt into the wound.
While the senators were in deep thought, Conrad received a call from the White House.
President James red at him fiercely.
¡°I heard you tried a rescue operation.¡±
¡°It failed.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not what we agreed on. You¡¯re used of letting the enemy go, chairman.¡±
¡°Then arrest me.¡±
¡°¡Do you think I can¡¯t?¡±
¡°I¡¯d rather be arrested than fight a meaningless war with the United Human Federation. At least I won¡¯t be responsible for the defeat.¡±
Seeing the top-ranking uniformed officer say that, one could say that there was no real chance of winning.
But President James was in an excited state due to the side effects of Typhon drugs, and he didn¡¯t listen to his words.
¡°Prepare for war right now. I¡¯ll hold you ountable after the war is over.¡±
¡°War means our downfall in this situation, Mr. President.¡±
¡°Damn it, you heard what he wants! How can we ept unconditional surrender?¡±
¡°Depending on the negotiation, we might end up with minimal damage.¡±
¡°That¡¯s what you hope, general. Listen to me. America must be great again. To do that, we have to break the United Human Federation by any means.¡±
Conrad knew that too.
It was impossible, that was the problem.
If they wanted to break the United Human Federation, they should have done it a few years ago.
Now it was toote.
But President James was full of enthusiasm.
¡°We¡¯ll mobilize all our forces and fight the United Human Federation. It¡¯s a matter of determining the true ruler of the world. Of course, we¡¯ll take some damage, but the United Human Federation won¡¯t be safe either. Then the oue of the war will depend on resilience. That¡¯s what we do best.¡±
The US¡¯s unique productivity was estimated to match half of the world.
But several intelligence agencies reported that the United Human Federation had equal or even superior productivity.
They didn¡¯t expand their only fleet, the Earth Fleet, because they didn¡¯t need to.
¨DThe United Human Federation adjusts the size of their military organically ording to their needs. It¡¯s possible because they have no humans.
¨DIt was enough to use Earth Fleet against weakened China or Japan, and that was ultimately correct. But they wouldn¡¯t do that against us.
What would happen if they really mass-produced?
Conrad was afraid of that.
***
As soon as Yu Ji-ha dered war, the whole US became noisy and chaotic at the same time.
The United Human Federation was one of the few countries that could directly attack the US maind, except for nuclear power.
The Pacific had been a solid shield for the US, but it was nothing but a sand wall in front of the United Human Federation¡¯s technology.
Earth Fleet proved that they could break through the Pacific in an hour.
It meant that the US maind was not absolutely safe either.
They didn¡¯t attack right away, but everyone knew that action would start soon.
There was panic buying everywhere, and the roads were sick with cars trying to get out of big cities.
Some people even fled the US and sought refuge in Canada or Britain.
Some Americans who secretly wished for a war with the United Human Federation were also confused by this atmosphere.
The picture they had drawn was of the US Navy beating the enemy one-sidedly, not of the maind being engulfed in war.
Puzzled voices flowed from everywhere.
¨DWhat¡¯s with this mood? Weren¡¯t we supposed to attack them unterally?
¨DWe can¡¯t use nukes? Then we should use hypersonic cruise missiles to strike their defense facilities. Iron beam has its limits, you know.
¨DCan¡¯t we just take over Terra Ind by having the carrier fleet escort thending force? The United Human Federation would be busy defending.
These perceptions mostly came from underestimating the United Human Federation¡¯s military power.
People with military knowledge kept their mouths shut, saying it wouldn¡¯t be easy.
¨DThe United Human Federation ispletely different from the former Soviet Union or China. They can attack us directly from space.
¨DDo you know why we have almost no information on the megacity defense facilities? Because it¡¯s hard to ess. These bastards can find submarines in no time.
¨DLanding operation? Didn¡¯t you see how the megacity outer wall was erected in an instant during the tsunami? How the hell are you going tond? Climb up tens of meters?
¨DThose who wanted war had closed their eyes and ears. Their brains stopped updating around 10 years ago.
There were even quite a few people who didn¡¯t know what ck metal was.
In sparsely popted suburbs, where they drove pickup trucks withrge-discement internalbustion engines and farmed, they had no trouble living without using Yu Ji-ha¡¯s technology.
The problem was that the world had changed.
While they clung to their traditional lives and exerted influence on the government with votes, the megacity and the United Human Federation had developed dazzlingly enough to remind them of SF movies.
If they had ignored each other, it would have been fine, but they shed and finally war broke out.
Now it was time to see whose way was right.
A few political scientists also thought of Spain¡¯s American expedition.
¨DAt that time, the conquistadors had powerful technology, firearms and steel swords, and ships. But the South American natives only had obsidian weapons and arge poption.
¨DThe United Human Federation had a powerful weapon called reaction bomb, a ship that could sail in space, and many other weapon systems that were unknown. The US only had nuclear power and size as advantages.
¨DSome argue that the US is not that weak. That would have been true if it had been another country. But whenpared to the United Human Federation, the difference is more than that.
¨DUnconditional surrender would be difficult for the US¡¯s position, so it would be right to use all means to stop the war.
But that seemed even harder.
The United Human Federation ignored the dialogue proposals from other countries, including the UN.
Instead, there were signs that they had started to mass-produce materials.
Dozens of smart factories located inside the megacity were operating at 100%, and unmannedbat ships began to be produced at underwater bases.
People realized that it was impossible to stop the war.
All that was left was for one side to be brutally smashed.
Chapter 172: The Beginning of the Final War
Chapter 172: The Beginning of the Final War
Not all efforts to talk with the United Human Federation had failed.
Yu Ji-ha epted the dialogue offer from only one person.
It was Richard Bernstein, the former president.
It was not a rare case for a former president to act as a special envoy, but it was unusual that McKinley, the previous president, was rejected.
People were already specting about Bernstein¡¯s role before and after the war.
¨DIt¡¯s quite meaningful that he epted a former president, and not a diplomat or a senior official, and only a specific one.
¨DWill Bernstein be the US¡¯s window from now on? Maybe his role will grow after the war.
¨DIf the current president loses his power due to this situation, Bernstein could be his sessor.
That was because Bernstein had only served Baldwin¡¯s remaining term as acting authority.
Depending on how the war ended, his treatment would also change, but anyway, people paid attention to his moves.
Some hoped that he would stop the war, but they were looking for the wrong number.
Bernstein, who visited the Blue House, heard an unexpected remark from Yu Ji-ha.
¡°This is the final war.¡±
¡°What do you mean by the final war?¡±
¡°The United Human Federation has fought many countries to get to this position. From North Korea to the US¡ We don¡¯t need any more wars.¡±
He didn¡¯t mean to end the war on Earth.
Yu Ji-ha was only interested in the United Human Federation and the megacity, and he waspletely indifferent to the situation in Africa and the Middle East.
Even though he would be tempted to suppress the Middle East that shouted jihad as his influence and power grew.
This meant that his ultimate goal was not to dominate the Earth.
His eyes were focused on the monster from space, the gue, from the beginning.
The United Human Federation and the megacity were also for confronting them.
But realistically, he couldn¡¯t ignore the US, and since they had a conflict, he nned to finish itpletely with war.
¡°So you¡¯re going to split the world in half after our war.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. When this war is over, the US will cooperate with me and many other countries will follow suit. But there will still be ces that distrust and hate me. I don¡¯t want to care about them.¡±
China and the Middle East were typical examples.
But it didn¡¯t seem like the United Human Federation that had made the US kneel would care about them.
¡°Dividing and changing the world¡ That means dismantling all the culture and financial systems that humanity has achieved so far.¡±
¡°It¡¯s because they¡¯re not needed for the war with the gue. Let me ask you bluntly. There are many expensive houses in Central Park in New York. I heard that some of them are worth over 100 million dors.¡±
¡°That¡¯s true. It¡¯s one of the most expensive ces in the US.¡±
¡°To be precise, it was one of the most expensive ces. It¡¯spletely ruined by this incident.¡±
Bernstein realized what Yu Ji-ha wanted to say.
Nothing mattered in the face of the gue¡¯s threat.
¡°I understand why they¡¯re expensive. It¡¯s the financial center of a superpower, so there must be a lot of demand. But those things are no help in fighting the gue.¡±
¡°We have to prepare for a total war. We have to gather and consume all our resources. The existing system is not necessary.¡±
Bernstein suddenly asked.
¡°Is that why the United Human Federation¡¯s financial system is weak?¡±
¡°What role can the bloated finance y in the war with the gue? Resources and manpower are limited in the end. What we have to do is use them as efficiently as possible to fight the gue.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Thinking about it, Yu Ji-ha always emphasized the danger of the gue.
The existing countries were badly hit by treating it as nothing.
Now it was time for the US to change.
Of course, Bernstein didn¡¯t think that Yu Ji-ha¡¯s way was the best.
Butining without offering an alternative wouldn¡¯t change anything.
The United Human Federation had developed dazzlingly and prepared for the war with the gue. Shouldn¡¯t they at least cooperate with them?
He ultimately had the dissolution of the US in mind.
But that was after this war.
¡°How far are you nning to go with this war?¡±
¡°The US has to kneelpletely, so we have to lose at least half of our power. That includes the carrier fleet, hundreds of stealth fighters, and satellites.¡±
¡°The strongest military in human history is gone¡ It cost a lot of money¡¡±
¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better for me to smash it than to waste it on maintenance?¡±
It wasn¡¯t a wrong thing to say, considering that he could give up cleanly.
Bernstein smirked and Yu Ji-ha spoke seriously.
¡°The key point of this war is the advance of the Earth Fleet. They will move towards the American continent with an unprecedented scale. If the US can¡¯t stop them, it¡¯s the United Human Federation¡¯s victory.¡±
They could arrive in an hour, but they had to do it that way to crush the US military power.
It waspletely different from the wars with China and Japan.
The goal of those wars was to make them surrender as efficiently and quickly as possible, but what they needed this time was to change people¡¯s perception.
¡°If the satellites are destroyed, the US army that they are proud of is smashed, and the war reaches the major cities, the Americans will change too. The world will change if the US changes. It doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s not everything.¡±
¡°The US military won¡¯t sit still.¡±
¡°They¡¯ll flock to Terra Ind or the Korean Penins. They know that other regions are meaningless. It doesn¡¯t matter much. The result will be the same anyway.¡±
It was not a bluff to say that Yu Ji-ha said.
He pressed the switch on his desk and the camera started to turn with a click.
It was a public meeting from now on.
¡°The United Human Federation rejects the negotiation offer of former President Bernstein. There is only one way to stop the war, unconditional surrender of the US¡¡±
Bernstein¡¯s ceremonial speech followed and the short meeting ended.
The world¡¯s efforts to stop the war had failedpletely.
People wondered why the attack hadn¡¯t started until then.
¨DIt¡¯s strange. They attacked as soon as the deration of war was over when they faced China and Japan, but it feels like they¡¯re giving us time.
¨DThe US troops that were out there are returning to their homnd. The more time they give, the stronger the US military bes.
¨DDo they have confidence to defeat them all?
In fact, the carrier fleet that had been roaming the five oceans and six continents, as well as other fleets, were returning to their homnd.
Thanks to that, they made a mess at the Panama Canal with US ships and cargo ships tangled up.
If the United Human Federation had started bombing at this point, they could have annihted at least 30% of the US Navy.
It wasn¡¯t a big problem for the United Human Federation that they were mixed with civilian ships.
But they waited quietly.
Until all preparations were done.
***
Most countries start a war byunching missiles at hostile countries.
Recently, railguns orsers had pushed away missiles, but still cruise missiles were one of the signal res of war.
Especially, the US had mainly used the tactic ofunching hundreds or thousands of cruise missiles from destroyers or submarines that had been dispatched in advance to disable enemy military facilities.
So everyone thought that the United Human Federation would do something simr and paid attention to what kind of missiles they would show.
With the United Human Federation¡¯s technology, they could make hypersonic cruise missiles that could reach thousands of kilometers.
The US also kept an eye on Terra Ind and the Korean Penins with dozens of reconnaissance satellites.
But the war started in space.
Several US reconnaissance satellites that were changing their positions for shooting in low orbit exploded like fireworks.
It was because the Sibiri 2bat support satellite fired ion cannons in all directions with reduced power.
That was the start of a spectacr firework show by the satellites owned by the US.
The stealth reconnaissance satellites that were secretly manufactured in Gobi also met the same fate and scattered debris in the atmosphere.
As dozens of artificial satellites were destroyed in an instant, the US National Reconnaissance Office, which operated them, dered an emergency.
¡°Multiple satellites have been shut down! Data nodes copsed!¡±
¡°It will take more than an hour to observe the Korean Penins and Terra Ind!¡±
¡°¡What are they trying to do by intercepting satellites? Don¡¯t they care about debris or fuel leakage?¡±
The National Reconnaissance Office assumed that the United Human Federation had destroyed the satellites with missiles orsers.
There was no other way.
In fact, the US also had a satellite interception system and had a very high sess rate.
There was no reason why they couldn¡¯t intercept a satellite that showed easy movements in low orbit while intercepting ballistic missiles.
The reason why the US didn¡¯t reveal it was because it was difficult to deal with the debris.
If they couldn¡¯t vaporize a satellite orbiting in low orbit at once, the debris would cover the Earth and no one knew where it would fall.
If toxic fuels such as hydrazine fell into a metropolis, it would be no different from a chemical attack.
The director of the National Reconnaissance Office immediately informed other agencies of this information and reported to the White House.
President James frowned at the report that many satellites had been shot down, but clenched his fist when he worried about the damage.
¡°If there is civilian damage, we can corner them! They are despicable bastards who have no blood or tears.¡±
But that didn¡¯t happen.
The Settler and Pyongyang ships went around and sucked up the debris with their gravity crane function.
The location of the low orbit reconnaissance satellites was mostly limited, so it was not difficult to handle.
After dozens of satellites disappeared cleanly, two Siberi satellites started a joint operation.
They ejected dozens of reflector bits and started firing ion cannons in all directions.
The ion cannons reflected by the reflector bits destroyed the US military satellites located in various orbits and angles as they hit them.
There were so many explosions that even in the clear sky, one could see a magnificent firework show in the Pacific sky.
Urgent reports flew into the Pentagon and the White House.
¡°Signals from USA 111 to 193 have been cut off!¡±
¡°Shock detected from stealth satellite! Surprisingly, it seems to absorb debris!¡±
Misty 9, which was secretly deployed by the US, was a representative stealth satellite.
It couldn¡¯t be detected by ordinary radar output, and the US used it very conveniently.
But Misty 9 satellite sent itsst video data to the reconnaissance office and oxidized gloriously.
President James watched the end of the satellite with his aides.
The video recorded a scene where a golden beam pierced through the satellite precisely.
¡°Is that the Aether Laser thing?¡±
¡°No, it¡¯s not. Lasers are not that thick. It¡¯spletely different from the Iron Beam.¡±
¡°The United Human Federation has developed a new weapon. It seems to be a thermal weapon, judging by the rapid copse of the contact surface. Maybe a charged particle cannon¡¡±
¡°A charged particle cannon? Is that even possible?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you just see billions of dors go up in smoke?¡±
The aide¡¯s tone was sour, perhaps because of his resentment towards James.
Lambert, the security adviser, turned off the TV and said.
¡°The important thing is that the United Human Federation can attack us from space. We have no countermeasures.¡±
¡°What did they attack with?¡±
¡°Probably abat satellite.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you say that all of the United Human Federation¡¯s satellites were in geostationary orbit?¡±
The aides looked at the president with annoyed eyes.
How could there be such a person whocked imagination?
¡°Artificial satellites can change their orbits if they have fuel. Their lifespan will be drastically shortened, but the problem will be solved if they attach an ion thruster.¡±
¡°Ion thrusters can be used in any environment. And their efficiency is iparable to the conventional rocket fuel. They can easilye down to low orbit and attack.¡±
¡°Or they could have attacked directly from geostationary orbit.¡±
If that was true, it meant that the United Human Federation had deployed weapons with a range of 30,000km in practice.
In space, mass objects keep moving by inertia, but it¡¯s a different story if it¡¯s an energy weapon.
Thesers developed by humanity had limited range due to diffraction, but the United Human Federation had ovee that.
James was flustered and rolled his eyes.
¡°That¡¯s a problem. What do we do?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no way. We have to surrender.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not an option.¡±
¡°Then we have to take a beating as it is. Fortunately, they don¡¯t touch the GPS satellites. Maybe they¡¯re worried about civilian damage.¡±
It was probably not just because of that reason.
The United Human Federation didn¡¯t destroy all the reconnaissance satellites, but left only one old Kihol-11 satellite that passed over Terra Ind.
The meaning was clear, but James seemed to not understand.
Lambert, the adviser, had no choice but to exin further.
¡°They are saying this now. Do your best to stop them.¡±
¡°Stop them? What do they mean by that?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll see soon enough. But the debris doesn¡¯t fall. That¡¯s strange.¡±
Reconnaissance satellites were big objects and they produced a lot of debris when they were destroyed.
Some of them burned up in the atmosphere, but most of the parts fell to the ground.
It was almost impossible to control them, but it was not hard to observe them.
But they couldn¡¯t be detected by the ground observation means either.
Then new information came from the National Reconnaissance Office.
An agent sent by the office exined the content of the video.
¡°It seems that the United Human Federation is using Aether Reverse Field to suck up the debris while destroying them.¡±
¡°With what?¡±
¡°We don¡¯t know. Maybe another satellite¡ or a spaceship.¡±
¡°So, in summary, the United Human Federation canpletely block our sight.¡±
¡°ording to the analysis of the situation when the president escaped from the detention facility, they can also interfere with the radio waves.¡±
¡°In other words, we have to fight against the United Human Federation with our eyes and ears covered.¡±
Cyberwar was impossible as long as they had artificial intelligence.
If they tried rashly, their encryption system would be hacked.
It was a situation that made him sigh, but James didn¡¯t seem to care much.
¡°What¡¯s the big deal? It¡¯s over if we can upy Terra Ind.¡±
He didn¡¯t seem to be such a stupid person before, but something was wrong.
Instead of exining why it was impossible, the aides contacted the Congress.
¡°Yes, Congressman. I think we need to suspend James¡¯s authority.¡±
It was a very serious matter to suspend the president¡¯s authority during wartime.
But everyone who saw him agreed that he couldn¡¯t make a normal judgment.
It was impossible to entrust themand of the US military to such a person.
The Congress, who received the contact, immediately discussed with the bureaucrats of the executive branch and quickly attempted to suspend his authority.
President James, who was only obsessed with the war, didn¡¯t realize this movement.
Thus, before the result came out, the Pentagon confirmed the vice president as the acting authority and started reporting to him.
***
¡°The reconnaissance satellite group has been destroyed. Now we can¡¯t see the movement of the United Human Federation.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no way to deal with it. Now all we have left is to gather our strength and confront them, or surrender.¡±
Fortunately, the newly appointed Vice President Evans was a very sensible person.
He understood his limits and roles well.
¡°We can¡¯t ept unconditional surrender. We have to resist at least a little to have an advantage in the post-war negotiations, don¡¯t we?¡±
¡°That¡¯s up to the politicians. Our job is to carry out the war.¡±
¡°So is there a possibility?¡±
¡°¡I can¡¯t guarantee you that.¡±
It was a strange thing.
He had thought that he wouldn¡¯t win, but he could inflict considerable damage before the war, but the atmosphere hadpletely changed.
It was because the reconnaissance satellite system hadpletely copsed.
The fact that it happened even though Seoul ship was in Seoul meant that the United Human Federation had a different weapon system.
It was probably abat satellite in geostationary orbit.
Conrad, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, exined one by one to Vice President Evans who visited the Pentagon Central Command Room.
¡°The United Human Federation intends to fight this war as a limited war. It¡¯s a limited war, but it will be very difficult to stop it. Because¡¡±
The main monitor of the situation room showed the sound signal from the underwater base.
¡°We deployed small unmanned submarines to install multiple sonars in the seabed of Terra Ind. This is the analysis result.¡±
¡°They¡¯ve already escaped from more than 30 underwater bases¡¡±
¡°The United Human Federation¡¯s production capacity was rtively lowpared to their technology, but now we need to change our perspective. The United Human Federation can produce more than 20,000 tons of warships in less than a day.¡±
The US had done something simr during World War II.
The Liberty-ss cargo ship was an example, with a record of building one ship in four days and 15 hours.
It was an unbelievable speed at that time, andpletely impossible in modern times.
It was because they needed time to install and apply various electronic equipment and facilities.
But the United Human Federation was doing that crazy thing right now.
The expression of Conrad, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, changed unpleasantly.
¡°The problem is that the United Human Federation knows that we have found out this information. They probably know that we have deployed unmanned submarines as well.¡±
¡°¡They¡¯re openly provoking us.¡±
¡°Yes. Dozens of ships that escaped from the underwater base will soon surface. The target is obviously us.¡±
¡°Can¡¯t we stop them with Hafnium-2 warheads?¡±
¡°Hafnium-2 warheads are the United Human Federation¡¯s specialty. If we use them, they will use them too.¡±
¡°We have no other way to destroy ck Metal. Even if we don¡¯t activate nuclear power, we need Hafnium-2.¡±
Even ordinary Hafnium-2 warheads had a powerparable to tactical nuclear weapons.
They could use them as much as they wanted without radiation, and the US had already deployed them to the strike fleet.
It meant that they were not far behind the United Human Federation in terms of minimum punch power.
Of course, this excluded the new anti-particle warheads that were tested on Mars.
If the United Human Federation was determined to wage a nuclear war, there was no way out.
Vice President Evans looked around the situation room and asked.
¡°How is the morale of the troops?¡±
¡°They are anxious, but not too bad. There is a strong sentiment to fight them once.¡±
¡°We have 11 carrier strike groups, hundreds of stealth fighters, and missile power. The people won¡¯t ept it if we surrender without using them.¡±
¡°Yes¡ We think so too.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s do it. We don¡¯t know how strong the United Human Federation is, but we¡¯ll show them that we¡¯re not easy to deal with.¡±
A few momentster, an old Kihol reconnaissance satellite took a picture of the vicinity of Terra Ind and transmitted it.
The Pentagon immediately deployed the SR-72 reconnaissance ne that was waiting in the air after refueling.
Although the reconnaissance ne was shot down, it seeded in sending a few clear pictures to the Pentagon.
Conrad, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, groaned at the pictures.
Dozens of ships that weighed more than 20,000 tons easily were lined up on the sea.
The ship at the front was especially noticeable.
It looked like a Seoul-ssbat cruiser, but it was almost twice as big.
¡°It¡¯s much bigger than an aircraft carrier¡¡±
He knew that there was a spaceship construction base on Mars, but he never imagined that they woulde so soon.
And while avoiding the US surveincework.
He called thebatmanders and they all wrinkled their foreheads at the pictures.
¡°They must be spaceships, but they came down to the sea. They¡¯re openly challenging us.¡±
¡°The intention of the United Human Federation is clear now. They will advance from Terra Ind to the North American continent in a straight line. They will crush all the forces they encounter along the way.¡±
¡°Their advance speed won¡¯t be that fast. But they will be very powerful.¡±
Themanders agreed and only the chairman¡¯s decision was left.
He smirked bitterly and muttered.
¡°I never thought I would have a naval battle in 2034 like in World War II. It¡¯s hopeless with the Pacific fleet, so call them all.¡±
Dozens of fleets, including 11 US Navy carrier strike groups, began to gather at the Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii.
Chapter 173: This is Not a Sport
Chapter 173: This is Not a Sport
I¡¯m a licensed teacher now.?? Thanks to gxytl, trantormunity and readers for your support.?? You helped me pass my exam with confidence. As a token of gratitude, I¡¯ll give 5 chapters each for my novels today. Enjoy??!
War is not a sport nowadays.
Most of the footage that imprinted the war on people¡¯s minds was filmed by military journalists.
Sometimes, the military would leak or spread some videos to boost morale, but there was never a case of broadcasting the whole war.
But in Megacity, that was exactly what was happening.
On the giant billboards that were ced all over the city, the Earth Fleet¡¯s appearance was disyed.
Even in the corner, the distance between the American fleet and the metropolis was shown.
People knew from the broadcast that they were at war with America, but they were shocked to see that the fleet was mobilized like that.
¡°Is that in front of the ind?¡±
¡°Looks like it from the terrain. It¡¯spletely densely packed.¡±
¡°One, two, three¡ 42 ships in total. But what is that ship in the front?¡±
¡°It¡¯s huge¡¡±
The citizens of Megacity were immune to most things, but they couldn¡¯t help but be astonished by the ship that was several times bigger than any other warship.
It seemed even bigger than the Seoul-ss ship, which wasparable to the Gerald Ford-ss aircraft carrier.
That huge ship led more than 40 warships that were anchored proudly in the sea.
A question naturally arose in people¡¯s minds.
¡ªWhy did theye down to the sea when they were all spaceships?
They all knew that both the Seoul-ss and the existing Earth Fleet ships had increased their numbers by leaps and bounds.
Nowadays, the Earth Fleet had no gas turbines and was equipped with nuclear fusion reactors.
This meant that they could operate for a long time in any environment, whether underwater or in space.
But why was the Earth Fleet in the sea?
Was it to face the American fleet fair and square?
Some people grumbled that they were looking for romance in war, but Yu Ji-ha had a different intention.
He wanted theplete surrender of America.
To do that, he needed to crush them in a head-on confrontation at their best condition.
What if the United Human Federation used spaceships to attack America like an SF movie depicting an alien invasion?
What if they destroyed the White House and annihted the American fleet without breaking a sweat?
Maybe the high-ranking officials would die and the American military would copse, but it would be hard to change the minds of most Americans.
They would only think that they were defeated by aliens.
¡ªHow cowardly to attack us with beams from space!
¡ªIf they hade down to the sea, we would have fought them with our aircraft carriers and submarines. This would never have happened.
It was no joke that some people who did not recognize the United Human Federation still thought this way.
They thought that if America used all its power, it could easily beat the United Human Federation.
Therefore, he needed to change that perception and make America surrender by breaking all the power they had put forth.
That was what the Earth Fleet was for.
They showed their overwhelming strength from an equal position and erased the American military¡¯s power.
Ultimately, he nned to eliminate most of the power that the American military could project andnd proudly on the North American continent.
This broadcast was meant to announce to the world that the United Human Federation had defeated America and became the only superpower on Earth.
Using the format of sports that Americans liked.
It was not a real footage of the scene, but a CG video that was produced and sent out. But it was as realistic as being there.
The video was broadcasted not only in Megacity, but also in the Korean Penins and dozens of other countries.
Everyone was incredulous at the idea of broadcasting a war, but they could not ignore their interest.
¡ªSo who would win if America and the United Human Federation fought?
The fundamental answer to this question was about toe out.
Some had a cynical reaction that there was no future no matter who won, but they thought it would be quiet for a while once the winner was decided.
When the war ended, however, the world would be in a mess with huge aftermaths.
Anyway, this broadcast was also watched by the Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii.
The American naval generals were dumbfounded by the CG video on the monitor in the situation control room.
¡°They perfectly depicted our fleet¡¯s position without sending a single reconnaissance ne.¡±
It was impossible even with high-resolution reconnaissance satellites.
This was evidence that the United Human Federation had other detection methods besides radar.
One staff officer checked the position of the submarines and looked desperate.
¡°They found exactly where the three Seawolf-ss submarines are anchored on the coast. Commander, I suggest we abort the operation.¡±
It meant nothing that they had revealed the location of the submarine.
It also meant that most of the operations nned by the Joint Combat Command were useless.
But themander was not listening to him.
¡°We got a call from the Pentagon. This war is inevitable and unavoidable.¡±
¡°There will be massive casualties.¡±
¡°We have no choice. That¡¯s what the people want.¡±
Most Americans wanted to show their power in this war.
Even if they backed down here, it would only dy the detonation of the bomb.
They didn¡¯t expect to start with all their cards on the table, but they had no choice.
After all, soldiers always had to take responsibility for the failures of politicians.
Admiral Harrig, who was in charge of this operation, gave orders to the entire fleet.
¡°I announce to all the officers of the fleet. Our goal is to annihte the fleet of the United Human Federation. The chances are not high, but not low either. We can win.¡±
Gulp.
Someone swallowed his dry saliva and Harrig unconsciously took off his cap and brushed his half-gray hair.
The beads of sweat on his forehead were not due to his well-trained body being weak.
¡°We don¡¯t need any trivial ns. The enemy is almost alien. Each ship should respond to the Earth Fleet¡¯s movements and use Hafnium-2 warheads without hesitation.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s show those aliens who use their technology the power of America. God bless America.¡±
After the prayer, they began to cross the Pacific by fleet.
The military experts at the Pentagon were convinced that it was a 100% losing scenario.
The US Navy was blind and deaf, and the United Human Federation¡¯s fleet saw everything.
There was also a huge power gap that made it impossible to give them a high chance of victory.
But they had to fight anyway.
How could the superpower America kneel down and surrender to a new country that had not been around for a few years?
Many people argued that they should cooperate with the United Human Federation and had a good impression of them, but there were also many people who rejected them.
That was the reality.
This war would decide who was right.
***
When a naval battle broke out at sea, intelligence officers struggled to figure out the exact course of the enemy fleet.
If it had been the usual America, they would have found out first by using reconnaissance satellites and nes.
But now they were almost blind and deaf.
The fleet¡¯s intelligence officers didn¡¯t need to bother, because the United Human Federation was broadcasting their course through a billboard.
Someone had filmed it and leaked it out, and it took about a minute for the fleet¡¯s staff to get it.
Thanks to that, the Pacific Fleet knew that the Earth Fleet was heading straight for the North American continent.
¡°We estimate that we will encounter the United Human Federation¡¯s fleet near Midway Atoll in eight hours. The bearing is about 275 degrees, and the distance is 950 miles.¡±
A few years ago, they wouldn¡¯t have called it an encounter at 950 miles.
It was almost 1,500 km, and the US attack wouldn¡¯t reach that far.
But as the United Human Federation¡¯s weapons system emerged and each country tried to catch up, the specs of the hypersonic anti-ship missiles had risen a lot.
The huge investment in defense spending was slowly bing a reality.
As a result, the standard engagement range of the major powers had increased to 1,000 km, and the US was almost 1,500 km.
If you look at the operational radius of the carrier-based aircraft and the range of the anti-ship missiles, it makes sense that the battle would start at that point.
They wished they could extend it further if they had reconnaissance satellites, but they couldn¡¯t.
Admiral Harrig red at the United Human Federation¡¯s fleet that was slowly approaching and asked his staff.
¡°Do you know how many drones theyunch per minute?¡±
¡°Theyunch almost simultaneously.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. The hull transforms in an instant and ejects all the drones at once. When we use all kinds of means tounch those hos into the sky.¡±
The Gerald Ford-ss aircraft carrier couldunch up to 250 sorties per day when it entered intensivebat missions.
That meant they couldunch 250 aircraft.
They couldunch four at a time, so it was efficient, but the problem was that it took a long time to wait.
The carrier-based aircraft had to refuel before they could be deployed.
They had to reduce their weight as much as possible andnd.
As a result, the airspace around the aircraft carrier on intensive missions was full of fighters waiting.
It was no wonder that the aircraft carrier was called a ho¡¯s nest.
While the US Navy was doing all kinds of efforts, the Earth Fleet projected its power very simply.
One military expert put it this way:
¡°The United Human Federation is waging a button war. Press a button and drones areunched in 10 seconds. They canunch dozens in a minute.¡±
When carrier-based aircraftnded on an aircraft carrier, they could only do four at a time, but when they took off, they could only do one at a time.
On the other hand, the Earth Fleet¡¯s drone ships could store drones all at once.
Everything was done unmanned, so they were far ahead in efficiency.
The sensors and detection devices for tracking and capturing targets on missiles were iparable.
They hadn¡¯t actually torn them apart, but that¡¯s what they said when they tracked the trajectory and hit rate of the missiles fired by the Earth Fleet.
In summary, the United Human Federation¡¯s weapons system was at least decades ahead of the US Navy.
The military experts were not joking when theypared them to the Spanish conquistadors and the American natives.
Admiral Harrig adjusted his hat and said,
¡°Do you know what the president of the United Human Federation says like a habit? Efficiency. In his eyes, our carrier fleet is nothing but a money-eating monster.¡±
The staff who were listening attentively objected.
¡°Indeed, the United Human Federation is efficient. They have artificial intelligence monopolize the means of production and humans only have to survive. But what¡¯s the point of being human then? We are not ves of artificial intelligence.¡±
¡°Sure¡¡±
Harrig thought differently.
President Yu Ji-ha emphasized efficiency to survive the gue.
If he could get out of that crisis, he once said that he would no longer rule with artificial intelligence.
Some argued that such a remark was a typical deception of a dictator.
¨DEvery dictator dreams of eternal power. Yu Ji-ha is no exception.
¨DHe may say that, but he will change once he defeats America and takes over the hegemony.
That was the logic based on the fact that most dictators had done so.
But Yu Ji-ha¡¯s dictatorship had a few differences from them.
He did not try to inject his ideology into the masses.
Most dictators usually put effort into their idolization, but there was none of that in Megacity.
The atmosphere of Megacity was also very free.
For example, Megacity Pacific was a melting pot of races, with people from many nationalities gathered.
There was racial discrimination and sometimes violence among many people, but the atmosphere itself was rather loose.
They did not interfere with the citizens as long as they did notmit crimes.
And that crime was also amon-sense level, which made the schrs who studied Megacity tilt their heads.
¨DMaybe Yu Ji-ha is not a dictator but a manager. He had to use some coercive means to build defensive facilities and herd people there to survive the gue.
Recent political studies also flowed in this direction.
That Yu Ji-ha was not an alien or a prophet, but someone who had already experienced this situation.
¨DIf he came from the future, all these questions would be solved. Dreams are likely to tell what he experienced.
¨DThen did humanity perish by the gue in the future? If he came from the future, what means did he use?
There were countless discussions, but the US government did not listen with interest.
They were busy with solving immediate issues such as jobs.
It was a fact that people¡¯s views on Yoo Jiha had changed recently.
It had something to do with the power he possessed.
¨DWe can¡¯t ignore Yoo Jiha anymore. It¡¯s better to ept his dominance and be his followers in reality.
¨DThe US won¡¯t acknowledge him, so a sh is inevitable. I hope that sh ends with minimal damage, if possible.
Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t seem like there would be no damage.
No, it was almost certain that there would be massive casualties.
The United Human Federation had brought out aplete unmanned fleet, but the US had mobilized nearly 150,000 troops on hundreds of warships.
There were even reports that the naval administration had prepared coffins in the tens of thousands.
They were ready to face such losses and fight.
Admiral Harrig wished he could avoid such a move, but he had no choice.
He was a soldier after all, and he had to fight ording to orders.
Even if it meant going to his death.
The fleet advanced straight ahead and arrived near the Midway Atoll.
The Earth Fleet of the United Human Federation was waiting at a distance of about 2,000km.
The crew on the bridge stuck out their tongues at the sight of the fleet anchored in a dense formation.
¡°They¡¯re too crowded, aren¡¯t they? One hafnium bomb and 20% of them will be gone.¡±
¡°They must be confident that they won¡¯t get hit by one.¡±
¡°Damn, it¡¯s like an adult fighting a kid. Send out the scouts. We need to confirm their position first.¡±
A huge amount of data poured in from the early warning aircraft that took off.
Admiral Harrig gave an order.
¡°Since we¡¯ve met, we should say hello. Launch the carrier-based aircraft.¡±
The wide deck became busy with take-off preparations.
* * *
The battle began with the fighter jetsunched from the seven aircraft carriers firing hypersonic anti-ship missiles.
Dozens of Super Hos fired AGM 283 Super Arrows in unison, and they broke through Mach 15 in an instant and approached the Earth Fleet directly.
The fleet headquarters thought that this attack would not inflict much damage on the Earth Fleet, but at least it would make them break their dense formation and scatter.
It was extremely difficult to intercept the AGM, which had aplex flight trajectory.
But the Earth Fleet did not respond until the missiles reached close range, and then suddenly transformed into railgun cannons.
And they fired them without hesitation.
The fleet headquarters was disappointed when they saw that the Earth Fleet had fired railguns.
¡°They¡¯re trying to intercept AGM with railguns?¡±
¡°Are they too arrogant, even for the Earth Fleet?¡±
They believed that railguns could never intercept AGM.
The response time was too short and the uracy was too low.
Railguns were popr as anti-ship weapons because of their terrifying range and firing speed, not their uracy.
Moreover, theplex flight trajectory of AGM made it hard to intercept.
Unless they tracked its position in real time, there would be some dy, and in that short time, AGM would fly several kilometers.
Therefore, it was almost impossible to capture AGM with traditional detection methods.
Even the US had not found a way to intercept their own missiles before the iron beam. That was the harsh reality.
But the Earth Fleet did it.
Dozens of railgun projectiles hit the warheads of dozens of AGM that were rushing towards the Earth Fleet.
The missiles that were pierced through by the projectiles and their warheads flew a little more, but eventually they lost track of their target and fell into the sea.
The fleet headquarters learned of this by coincidence through the megacity¡¯s billboard.
A minuteter, the scene of AGM being intercepted by railgun projectiles appeared.
It was a CG video, but theposition itself was no different from what they had seen on the radar.
Unlike the bridge that was engulfed in heavy silence, the people who gathered around the billboard cheered ecstatically.
The disgruntled staff muttered briefly.
¡°Some of them are Americans.¡±
¡°They¡¯re not Americans anymore. They¡¯re citizens of the United Human Federation.¡±
Admiral Harrig took off his hat in tension.
¡°The enemy fleet has neutralized AGM with railguns. Prepare to intercept anti-ship missiles.¡±
¡°Interception system activated.¡±
Soon after, missiles wereunched from the Earth Fleet¡¯s integrated firepower ship.
They were exactly the same number and simr speed as the missiles fired by the hos.
The Pacific Fleet scattered in unison and fired anti-aircraft missiles.
But the US Navy¡¯s fleet was not the Earth Fleet.
Most of the anti-aircraft missiles failed to track theplex flight path and missed, and only a few seeded in intercepting.
Dozens of Aegis destroyers activated iron beams in two stages, but some missiles prated even that and came in.
As clearsers were drawn in the blue sky, five missiles broke through the fleet¡¯s air defensework and approached within 5km.
The remaining time was one second.
The pre-activated CIWS spewed fire, but the response time was too short.
A hafnium2 warhead detonated above Aegis destroyer DDG-152.
The destroyer evaporated in an instant, and the surrounding warships lost their bnce and were pushed back.
A few high waves hit the fleet that stretched for tens of kilometers sequentially.
The modern warships had great resilience, but they were temporarily unable to fight.
Even Admiral Harrig and his staff lost their bnce and fell down.
¡°Damn! If they attacked then, we would have beenpletely finished.¡±
But the Earth Fleet did not mercilessly poke their weakness.
After firing one round of missiles, they quietly watched.
That made the Americans even more angry.
¡°Are they fighting while looking down on us?¡±
¡°Kill them! Kill them all!¡±
Chapter 174: Overwhelming Power
Chapter 174: Overwhelming Power
I¡¯m a licensed teacher now.?? Thanks to gxytl, trantormunity and readers for your support.?? You helped me pass my exam with confidence. As a token of gratitude, I¡¯ll give 5 chapters each for my novels today. Enjoy??!
The US Air Force¡¯s strike package that departed from Hawaii had an official codename: Operation Tornado.
But none of the pilots who participated in the package called it by that name.
They had dubbed this mission Kamikaze, as they faced the reality of the United Human Federation.
A suicide attack.
This mission was as insane as the actions of the Japanese army during World War II.
Because approaching the Earth Fleet with aircraft was nothing short of suicide.
¡°Are they crazy? They want us to get close to those monsters who intercept AGMs with railguns and deliver them some hafnium bombs?¡±
¡°Three strike packages¡ It¡¯s impressive, but what if they all get shot down? Do they have a backup n?¡±
They hadn¡¯t been so pessimistic from the start.
But things changed when the United Human Federation revealed the location of a US Navy submarine on the billboard.
And then they exposed the position of the aerial refueling tankers, electronic warfare aircraft, and reconnaissance nes that were waiting in the Hawaiian airspace.
The public opinion quickly turned sour.
The pilots were shocked when they watched TV before taking off. The Americans were cheering for the war itself.
¡°What are they cheering for? A destroyer vaporized by a hafnium bomb. Almost 200 people died. How is that something to celebrate?¡±
¡°They don¡¯t care because it¡¯s not their problem. They¡¯re deluded by the fantasy that our world¡¯s strongest military will solve everything. They¡¯re enjoying the war like a sport.¡±
¡°They probably don¡¯t even know which country that destroyer belonged to. They didn¡¯t mark it, so they might have mistaken it for a United Human Federation ship.¡±
¡°Idiots.¡±
Despite theseints, the pilots did not refuse the mission that was close to a suicide attack.
After all, they were soldiers, and war was their duty.
If they ran away from the war, they would have to live with the shame of being cowards for the rest of their lives.
And so, Operation Tornado was officiallyunched, and three strike packages left Hawaii.
This ounted for 30% of the total power that the US Air Force could deploy, but considering that there were many useless bombers in the remaining power, it was almost half.
Their goal was to strike the Earth Fleet that was engaged with the Pacific Fleet.
They doubted if it was possible, given the technological prowess of the United Human Federation, but they had no choice but to try.
¡°Maintain the formation and especially the altitude. Do not descend under any circumstances.¡±
That was the order for the bombers.
They were told to drop bombs from a high altitude, since it was hard to evade the Earth Fleet¡¯s detection systems.
There was no guarantee that it would work, but they had no choice but to follow the decision of the higher-ups.
The missionmanders gave the signal.
¡°Let¡¯s roll. Let¡¯s make it back to the nest alive.¡±
As they reached the vicinity of Midway Atoll, they saw their own fleet under the clouds, spewing out terrible explosions and smoke.
The pilots swallowed their dry saliva as they looked down.
The early warning aircraft didn¡¯t give them a proper situation report, but they could feel it.
¨DSomething was going wrong.
Or rather, maybe the truth was finally revealed.
Why had the Americans ignored the United Human Federation, who had been building bases on Mars and constructing spaceships?
Even though the difference in power was so clear.
¡°Is this the power of a hastily assembled fleet¡?¡±
They didn¡¯t know what was going on with the Earth Fleet, but they swore it wouldn¡¯t be as bad as the Pacific Fleet.
Hundreds of warships were hit by countless missiles and were on the brink of life and death.
And the shadow of death also loomed over the strike package formation.
The early warning aircraft urgently ordered them to scatter.
¡°Caliber drones are approaching from this direction. The number is over 100.¡±
¡°Damn, they¡¯re fighting fighters with fighters.¡±
Was it their n to crush them with overwhelming power difference from the front?
The electronic warfare aircraft, Grawlers, tried to jam them, but it didn¡¯t work at all.
¡°The signal is not getting through. They seem to be using a different system of radar.¡±
¡°Grawler formation, retreat.¡±
The Earth Fleet¡¯s warships originally used Russian-made radars, but they seemed to have reced them all since the radar jamming didn¡¯t work.
It made sense, since the artificial intelligence would analyze and improve their weaknesses several times. They wouldn¡¯t leave them alone.
Then what kind of equipment did they use to detect and track the enemy?
The pilots had no time to wonder, as the Caliber drones rushed at them at full speed.
It was a terrifying speed that exceeded Mach 5.
¡°All units, you are authorized to fire anti-air missiles. Fire and scatter.¡±
The urgent order came down, but the Caliber drones were faster to respond.
The nozzles of their ion thrusters erged and pushed their bodies with tremendous thrust.
The Caliber drones that were cruising at Mach 5 suddenly elerated to twice that speed and charged at the strike package.
The pilots were startled when they confirmed it on their radars. They turned their yokes in panic.
¡°Mach 10! They¡¯re insane!¡±
¡°Damn, they¡¯re not maneuverable at all! They dropped 5,000 feet in two seconds!¡±
What was even more absurd was that they couldn¡¯t lock on to them.
The radar output of the F-22 could capture all the stealth aircraft and even the electronic warfare aircraft.
But it was impossible to lock on to those drones that flew like flies.
The distance between the two formations narrowed in an instant, and the pilots at high altitude could see a few drones with their naked eyes.
¡°This is impossible¡¡±
The pilots shook their heads as they watched the drones maneuvering chaotically nearby.
They flew as if they were unaffected by inertia.
¡°How can they do that, even if they¡¯re unmanned?¡±
The existing tactical aircraft had shown incredible movements like the cobra maneuver, but those drones were on a different level.
They changed their altitude freely every 0.1 seconds, as if theirmands were updated. They even reversed their sma to hover in the air.
What was amazing was that their bodies seemed to have no strain at all.
One missionmander grumbled openly on themunicationwork.
¡°This was a game we couldn¡¯t win from the start.¡±
That¡¯s when the drones¡¯ attack began.
The ones that had been equipped with missiles and guns started to firesers, as if they had received some kind of upgrade.
A dogfight broke out in the sky above Midway Atoll, and several fighters crashed in a matter of seconds, spewing smoke.
The Pacific Fleet alsounched a full-scale attack, and countless fighters took off.
***
While hundreds of fighters were engaged in aerialbat in the sky above Midway Atoll,
The Pacific Fleet began to pour out missiles.
In fact, they had decided that this wouldn¡¯t work after exchanging missiles once.
They seemed to be equal in punch power, but there was a huge gap in defense power.
They had fired hundreds of AGMs and anti-ship missiles, but none of them hit the Earth Fleet in the end.
They had even joined the attack with attack submarines, but the situation didn¡¯t improve at all.
The Earth Fleet advanced at a speed of exactly 30 knots, focusing on defense. Then they suddenly fired missiles.
The Pacific Fleet tried to intercept the missile shower with all kinds of deception and maneuvering, but they only realized that it was impossible.
The United Human Federation¡¯s missiles changed their altitude and speed freely, like living creatures.
They even fell into the water and rushed like torpedoes.
They were beating the entire US Navy without even using their full strength.
Admiral Harris gave the order.
¡°All ships, set course for the Earth Fleet. Proceed at maximum speed.¡±
¡°Sir, I don¡¯t think the Earth Fleet will stay still.¡±
¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯re counting on. We can¡¯t die like this, can we?¡±
The proper strategy would be to conserve their power and retreat, but the enemy¡¯s target was the North American continent.
If they let them go, they didn¡¯t know what they would do to their homnd.
With that in mind, the Pacific Fleet pushed their power and sailed at full speed toward the Earth Fleet.
On the battlefield, rescue ships and supply ships were busy moving around, but they didn¡¯t have time to take them along.
The Earth Fleet had already passed Midway Atoll and was heading for Hawaii.
The aircraft carriers and destroyers finally moved at full speed to chase the Earth Fleet¡¯s trail.
Admiral Harrig received the news that the strike package had failed.
¡°I see. Well, it must have been hard to inflict damage on the Earth Fleet in this desperate situation. But did we hit them even once?¡±
¡°The Air Force is optimistic, but the information from the early warning system is clear.¡±
¡°They¡¯re out of our league.¡±
Now the only thing the Pacific Fleet could do was to stop the Earth Fleet with artillery.
It was useless to fire missiles or torpedoes, since they would only hurt themselves.
As a result of sailing with overload on their engines, they finally saw the Earth Fleet beyond the horizon.
Admiral Harrig adjusted his hat.
¡°Announce to all ships. It has been revealed that our weapons are not enough to oppose the Earth Fleet. But we have onest weapon left.¡±
It was the ships themselves.
The Pacific Fleet had lost 30% of its power, but it still had more than 150bat ships.
In terms of discement, they were more than five times that of the Earth Fleet, enough to hinder their navigation.
The n of Admiral Harrig was to block their route and enter a gun battle.
Of course, there was one fatal drawback to that.
¡°What if the Earth Fleet dives or surfaces?¡±
¡°Well, they won¡¯t dive. Why would they want to destroy us in a head-on collision and broadcast it?¡±
¡°¡Didn¡¯t they want to brag to the megacity citizens? That they are this strong.¡±
¡°Of course, that¡¯s part of it, but they also wanted to change us. The Americans¡¯ consciousness, I mean.¡±
¡°Couldn¡¯t they have used a different method if that was their goal?¡±
¡°Even after Manhattan evaporated, the Americans didn¡¯t cooperate with the United Human Federation, but instead caused conflicts and even kidnapped the president. What method should we have used?¡±
¡°¡¡±
The staff officers couldn¡¯t say anything.
The atmosphere in the US had cooled down as the Pacific Alliance copsed unterally.
They finally realized that they were losing the war.
If the Pacific Fleet was destroyed, it would be their turn next.
The idiots who had cheered for the war as if it was a sport also lowered their fists and looked around.
The staff officers muttered weakly.
¡°Our death won¡¯t make them wake up.¡±
¡°At least we can change their consciousness. They¡¯ll feel the sense of crisis that we¡¯re in danger if they continue the war. Even wild beasts know that, how can humans not?¡±
They hadn¡¯t felt it until now because of the powerful shield called the US military.
Now that the Earth Fleet had removed it, they would feel it painfully.
¡°Our death won¡¯t change the whole US. But some will surely think differently. That¡¯s enough for me, but you don¡¯t have to die. Retreat immediately.¡±
¡°If we retreat now, the soldiers will throw us out.¡±
¡°We¡¯re going to die anyway, it¡¯s better to die on the ship. The pension will be generous too.¡±
¡°I saw high-speed boats from the United Human Federation roaming around and rescuing drifters. They won¡¯t leave us to die.¡±
¡°You look like you¡¯re begging for your life from an AI¡¡±
Admiral Harrig pressed his hat soaked with sweat.
¡°Let¡¯s go. Let¡¯s show those fools what war is with our death.¡±
That was the way for the nation called America to survive.
As the remaining fleet rushed toward the Earth Fleet, a myriad of cannons appeared on the port side of the Pyongyang-ss battle cruiser.
Admiral Harrig and his staff officers witnessed the light bursting out of the cannons.
¡®That¡¯s the weapon that vaporized the satellite. I wonder how many weapons they¡¯re hiding.¡¯
With his grumbling, the gship of the Pacific Fleet was vaporized by an ion cannon.
***
For Americans, war was something that happened in other countries.
The 9/11 incident was 30 years ago, and most Americans didn¡¯t experience any urgent situations except for natural disasters and asional riots.
Therefore, they didn¡¯t care much about war.
That was true before the United Human Federation emerged.
The US military didn¡¯t tolerate China and Russia¡¯s challenges and raised America¡¯s name around the world.
Americans believed that the shield of the US military that protected them was eternal.
The extreme slogan of destroying the United Human Federation also came from there.
But the atmosphere changed as the annihtion of the Pacific Fleet was announced on the megacity¡¯s billboard.
The Americans who learned of the US Navy¡¯s defeat through TV, smartphones, and radio all had stunned faces.
¡°They lost? And they didn¡¯t even sink a single ship of the United Human Federation?¡±
¡°How could this happen? Wasn¡¯t our Navy the strongest in the world?¡±
¡°That¡¯s fake. They¡¯re lying.¡±
¡°Yeah, right. The United Human Federation wouldn¡¯t give us urate information.¡±
They forgot about cheering for the video on the billboard and med the United Human Federation.
But Pentagon and White House knew clearly about this battle¡¯s oue.
¡°The Pacific Fleet lost 40% of its power and is currently scattered. It¡¯s hard to reorganize the fleet.¡±
¡°Operation Tornado failed and the Air Force moved its equipment and personnel from Hawaii base to maind.¡±
¡°The Earth Fleet attacked military facilities as it passed Hawaii an hour ago. The result is as you see.¡±
¡°¡¡±
A heavy silence enveloped Oval Office.
Vice President Evans looked at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii that became ruins.
He wondered what they attacked with, as most of military facilities were neatly blown away along with runway.
They didn¡¯t attack Hawaii, but unmanned surface vessels following Earth Fleet came and controlled ess.
It seemed difficult to drive them away by gathering the remaining fleet.
Vice President Evans opened his mouth with difficulty.
¡°Well, we lost.¡±
¡°Yes¡ Pentagon also has the observation that furtherbat is difficult.¡±
¡°With just one battle, they made us like this. The military power of the United Human Federation has definitely surpassed us.¡±
¡°So what should we do?¡±
¡°¡¡±
No one said anything.
How could they say to surrender.
In a situation where most of the people didn¡¯t believe the result of the battle.
Now, in major cities including New York, huge crowds of protesters were roaming around, shouting that they should fight a total war with the United Human Federation.
Of course, they were not all Americans, but it was true that their voice was the loudest.
Their voice became more reckless as Yu Ji-ha appeared on the billboard.
¡°The Earth Fleet of the United Human Federation has defeated the Pacific Fleet of the United States. Hawaii is now under the influence of the United Human Federation, and the Earth Fleet is advancing toward the North American continent.¡±
¡°All you have left is unconditional surrender. If you don¡¯t ept that, the Earth Fleet willnd on the North American continent.¡±
The protesters who saw the broadcast through their smartphones started to get excited.
¡°What? They¡¯reing here? Do it! Land!¡±
¡°If you bastards send dolls to my house, I¡¯ll show you the taste of a shotgun!¡±
¡°Let¡¯s fight! Let¡¯s fight for our freedom!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t ignore America! You XXXXs!¡±
As the protesters started shooting guns in excitement, Times Square in New York turned into a hell.
The people in Oval Office closed their eyes as they saw that sight.
¡°The public opinion doesn¡¯t tolerate surrender.¡±
¡°But if we go on like this, the Earth Fleet willnd in California. And they will pour out countless robots.¡±
¡°A war with an AI-controlled army on ournd¡ That¡¯s really horrible.¡±
What was more horrible was the position of the leaders who had tomand in such a situation.
It was a choice they didn¡¯t want to make, as both the administration and Congress were in a mess, and they had to fight against the United Human Federation¡¯s army that was perfectly controlled by onemand.
They wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, but there was no sessor.
The war had to end in their hands.
Vice President Evans made a big decision and called Yu Ji-ha through the hotline.
¡°How much do we have to concede to end it here?¡±
¡°I told you clearly before. We want unconditional surrender.¡±
¡°Does that include the dismantling of our military?¡±
¡°The Democratic Party will probably be disbanded too. I can¡¯t just let go of those who kidnapped me.¡±
¡°What about their treatment¡¡±
¡°They¡¯re all going to space prison.¡±
They meant to hang America like a sandbag and beat it as they pleased.
It was an uneptable condition, no matter how much they kidnapped him.
President Evans asked if he could send only those directly involved, but he only heard cold words.
¡°Time is passing while you¡¯re doing this. Soon, the Earth Fleet willnd in California. By then, it will be irreversible. I hope you make a wise choice.¡±
They had the remaining fleet and coast guard, but they couldn¡¯t expect them to stop the Earth Fleet.
What was left was the humiliation of theirnd by the AI army.
Vice President Evans wanted to prevent that, but he had no way.
He hesitated and Yu Ji-ha ended the call.
And then, the Earth Fleet arrived at San Francisco coast.
People pointed at the Earth Fleet from Golden Gate Bridge that turned into a parking lot.
¡°Huh? If theye like this, they¡¯ll crash?¡±
¡°Run! Escape!¡±
As people started to get out of their cars and run away, a Pyongyang-ssbat cruiser activated its ether field.
42 ships ignored gravity and slowly rose up, passing over the Golden Gate Bridge.
The citizens of San Francisco stared nkly at the Earth Fleet.
The United Human Federation had invaded the US maind.
It was the first time since World War II.
Here is the edited text:
¡°Run for your lives!¡±
That was the cry that echoed through the streets as people abandoned their cars and fled in panic. Above them, a massive Pyongyang-ssbat cruiser loomed, its ether field glowing ominously.
It was not alone. 42 ships of the Earth Fleet defied gravity and ascended slowly over the city, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge with ease.
The citizens of San Francisco could only watch in horror as the invaders approached.
The United Human Federation hadunched an unprecedented attack on the US maind.
Thest time something like this happened was World War II.
Chapter 176: The Identity of the Dictator
Chapter 176: The Identity of the Dictator
I¡¯m a licensed teacher now.?? Thanks to gxytl, trantormunity and readers for your support.?? You helped me pass my exam with confidence. As a token of gratitude, I¡¯ll give 5 chapters each for my novels today. Enjoy??!
January 23, 2034.
Vice President Evans signed the surrender document.
With that, the short war between the United Human Federation and the United States came to aplete end.
The United Human Federation promised a generous treatment for the defeated country and kept its word.
Only a few of the US leaders, including James and some soldiers involved in the kidnapping, were sent to the space prison.
The trial process was also very simple.
ording to the United Human Federation¡¯s custom, an artificial intelligence judge announced the charges, evidence, and sentences on the spot.
Those who were involved in the kidnapping of Yu Ji-ha were all loaded onto the Settler and flown into space.
In the process, the space prison was revealed for the first time.
People were shocked and horrified to see a nd tform floating in the deste space.
¨DWow. That looks really shitty.
¨DI¡¯d rather kill myself than rot there.
¨DThey say there is gravity there. And they do get proper food, but it¡¯s hard to endure.
¨DWhy?
¨DThey can see the Earth from their cell windows. And it¡¯s so sad that they can¡¯t bear it.
¨DThey must feel abandoned in space¡
¨DThey say that people who experience the space prison once nevermit crimes again.
¨DI get goosebumps just thinking about going there twice.
Anyway, after sending a few people to prison, Yu Ji-ha did not punish anyone else.
The politicians who had opposed the artificial intelligence trial also withdrew their hands when they were sure they were safe.
It was not good to raise their voices too much as a defeated country.
Yu Ji-ha did not seem to act like an upying army.
Despite tens of thousands of deaths, there was not much resentment against Yu Ji-ha in the US.
He was a victim and an enemy at the same time.
Instead, those who had opposed the United Human Federation and Yu Ji-ha until the end and caused conflicts were under public scrutiny.
¨DYeah, thanks to you guys who wanted war, this happened. What are you going to do now?
¨DWasn¡¯t it you guys who incited people to kill or kidnap Yu Ji-ha? Where are you hiding like rats?
¨DNow you¡¯reining about why we surrendered. If we had a nuclear war, there would be no such thing as Americans, you idiots.
There was no voice against Yu Ji-ha online or offline.
Of course, not all those people disappeared and they would raise their heads again someday.
But for now, they had to keep quiet and hide.
The voice that we needed to cooperate with the United Human Federation grew louder.
The world¡¯s finance was shattered by the war between the two countries, and there was a demand for restructuring the economic system.
¨DWhat¡¯s the point of inting bubbles with all kinds of number games? They all evaporate in one war.
¨DWe can inte them again, but they will fly away again when the gue invades. We can¡¯t repeat our mistakes anymore.
¨DLook at the United Human Federation. They may have some advantages as a victorious country, but they are not affected by the war. We need that kind of economic structure too.
But it was hard to copse the financial system right away.
The economy and finance of modern countries were tooplexly intertwined to separate them.
It might be faster to create a new country from scratch.
Anyway, at the point where the US surrendered, most of the leaders who were not dragged to prison resigned en masse.
Their ce was taken by Richard Bernstein, who reappeared by showing off his connection with Yu Ji-ha.
He visited Seoul and had a meeting with Yu Ji-ha despite some suspicious eyes.
¡°Honestly, I still can¡¯t believe it. It hasn¡¯t been long since you said that¡¡±
Yu Ji-ha decided to change the minds of Americans and actually did it in less than a month.
He used war as an extreme method, but anyway it was hard to find anyone who opposed him in the US now.
Bernstein thought it was meaningless to mention the possibility of a self-made drama now.
¡®The US lost and Yu Ji-ha is now the ruler of Earth.¡¯
In a normal world, even a dictator of a superpower would not have such a big influence.
But Earth in 2034 was a precarious world where no one knew when it would be attacked by the gue.
ording to Yu Ji-ha¡¯s foresight, things would get worse rather than better in the future.
So America had to change too, but Bernstein didn¡¯t know exactly how.
He drank a cup of warm tea to cool his head and opened his mouth.
¡°People in our country also recognize the need for change. But they are confused about the direction. They all ask what we need to change.¡±
¡°It¡¯s nothing special. The US is a huge country and I know it¡¯s impossible to change everything at once. All I want is clear cooperation.¡±
¡°Clear cooperation¡¡±
¡°The entire US military must have been devastated by this war.¡±
He nodded his head.
There were still a lot of troops left, but strategically it was no different from annihtion.
If the Earth Fleet had mobilized all its power, they would have really been wiped out.
Fortunately, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s goal was not to destroy the US military, so many of them survived.
¡°Pay condolences and pensions to the families of the deceased. It will cost a lot of money, but it will be less than maintaining all those weapons.¡±
It was a painful reality, but it was true.
Many of the US weapons were gone in this war.
As a defeated country, there was no reason or power to restore them.
Now the US had to divert the huge funds that went into defense somewhere else.
It was not Yu Ji-ha¡¯s pocket, as some conspiracy theorists imed.
¡°Use that money to secure resources and advance into space. Go further and build a base on Mars and construct spaceships. The United Human Federation will help you.¡±
¡°Do you mean to create a new Earth Fleet?¡±
Yu Ji-ha shook his head.
¡°The Earth Fleet will be disbanded. There is no need for war anymore.¡±
Bernstein wanted to tell this remark to the conspiracy theorists who said that Yu Ji-ha himself was the cause of war.
In the end, he was right.
¡°The war with humans is over. Now all that remains is the war with the gue.¡±
Of course, it was impossible to eliminate warpletely from Earth even with the power of the United Human Federation.
There were still conflicts over national, religious, racial, and other issues at this moment, and Yu Ji-ha¡¯s goal was not to stop them all.
¡°I can¡¯t make all 8 billion people peaceful. I originally thought about 900 million, but it doesn¡¯t matter if it increases a little more.¡±
¡°The poption that can be amodated in megacities? Is that enough to stop the gue?¡±
¡°ording to the artificial intelligence calction, yes. I don¡¯t care about the people outside the megacities.¡±
¡°You said you can see the future. What happens to them?¡±
¡°They all die.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Bernstein fell silent.
The fact that he could say such a scary thing as if it was certain meant that Yu Ji-ha was not an ordinary human being.
He moistened his burning throat with water and asked cautiously.
¡°Many people have been curious about your identity for a long time. Now that there is no force on Earth that can oppose you, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s time to reveal yourself?¡±
Strictly speaking, there were still hostile forces, but they were insignificant.
What could a single nation or a terrorist group do against him, who had brought the United Human Federation, Russia, and even the United States under his influence?
¡°It wouldn¡¯t be bad, I guess.¡±
The reason he hid his identity and the Settler was to prevent a great chaos.
What he feared was that the whole world would turn hostile and an unbearable poption would flock to the Megacity without enough preparation.
But now he was ready.
It wasn¡¯t perfect, but the Megacity had epted many people and had a sufficient defense system.
There was no reason to hide his identity anymore, since there was no force that opposed him.
He couldn¡¯t reveal it to the public, but it would be okay for key figures like Bernstein.
His family had be citizens of the Megacity, so there wouldn¡¯t be any problem.
¡®It¡¯s time to consolidate my regime and create the Supreme Council.¡¯
His goal was to eradicate the gue and leave for the Prophet¡¯s homnd when he achieved it.
The roadmap that Arma had nned also included the establishment of the Supreme Council.
He couldn¡¯t monopolize power forever, could he?
¡°I¡¯ll tell you in person after inviting a few people.¡±
¡°Sounds exciting. Is it like the conspiracy theories say? Are you going to pop out a spaceship or something?¡±
Unfortunately, he had to keep the Settler hidden.
A few days passed and politicians from various countries, including Mikhailov, the Russian president, and Bae Seong-min, the chief of staff, gathered in the presidential office of Blue House.
He revealed his identity to them.
¡°I came from the year 2180.¡±
¡°¡Excuse me?¡±
Everyone¡¯s faces stiffened.
***
¡°In 2103, the invasion of the gue began. Hundreds of millions of people died, and humanity united to create the Megacity. This is the history of the time I was in.¡±
¡°Humanity tried to resist the gue with the Prophet¡¯s relics and the Megacity as their base. They made many spaceships and weapons, and sent psychers to fight on the front lines.¡±
¡°Despite that, humanity lost the war. In 2177, humanity became extinct, leaving only one person behind. He was a soldier of the United Space Force who wandered in space and barely survived with the help of an artificial intelligence.¡±
He omitted the rest of his words, but everyone could guess.
He was thest survivor of humanity.
It was a future that hadn¡¯t happened yet, or should he say a different timeline?
Maybe the world he was in was a parallel Earth.
The politicians tried hard to interpret his words while blinking their eyes severely.
Bae Seong-min, who was among the younger ones, regained his senses first.
¡°Excuse me. So ording to what you said¡ Thest survivor of humanity¡ You came back to the past from 2177? From 2177 to 2025?¡±
¡°Actually, it¡¯s 2180. I was stuck in an assault armor¡ I mean, a small spaceship for three years before I was rescued.¡±
¡°The artificial intelligence that saved you¡ Is it Lucia?¡±
¡°It¡¯s Arma. She was an artificial intelligence of the United Human Federation who originally had no body, but she made an android here and used it as her body.¡±
Arma, who was typing at her desk, stood up.
Why did she suddenly stand up?
Everyone looked at her with wide eyes as if they were surprised.
No matter howmon androids were, they thought she was human.
Bernstein opened his mouth wide and dislocated his jaw joint.
He had to suffer for a while to fix it.
The most surprised one was Bae Seong-min, the chief of staff.
He didn¡¯t know she was an android even though he watched her from right next to her.
Arma casually put her head back on and sat down at her chair and continued typing.
¡°Uh, um¡ I can definitely see that she¡¯s an android¡¡.¡±
When the atmosphere calmed down, he opened his mouth again.
¡°The identity of the strong artificial intelligence Lucia is Arma. Arma is a collective of billions ofputing units that designed all the technology I¡¯ve shown so far. It¡¯s originally a legacy of the United Human Federation.¡±
The people were curious about how he came back from the future, but they didn¡¯t bother to ask.
They just realized that he was definitely a future man when they looked back at his actions so far.
He came from the future to this era.
Bernstein sighed deeply.
¡°The analysis by our intelligence agency was right. Do you have a huge spaceship hidden somewhere? There was a small tsunami near the Korean Sea around the fall of 2025.¡±
There were conspiracy theories that sprouted from the assassination of numerous politicians.
But there was no one who could bring up that topic in this ce.
He dodged the question about the spaceship.
¡°What matters is not the past, but what we do in the future. Humanity is extinct. I¡¯ll say it again. Humanity is extinct. I came back to the past to prevent that from happening again.¡±
¡°I created the United Human Federation and the Megacity, and gathered the psychers. Now all we have to do is gather all the resources to make spaceships and train the pilots. I can¡¯t do it alone. I need your cooperation.¡±
¡°¡¡.¡±
The people looked at each other¡¯s faces.
From the president of the United Human Federation to the next presidential candidate of the United States, the president of Russia and the chancellor of Germany, they were practically the people who led humanity.
Their decision would affect the future of all humanity. It was not an exaggeration.
He emphasized again.
¡°Humanity in the future was destroyed by the gue. But that future will note. I came here, you will help me, and most importantly, history has changed. In the future, the gue invaded Earth for the first time in 2103. But in reality, they arrived more than 70 years earlier.¡±
Everyone nodded at his words, but they had one question.
¡°But how did humanity in 2103 manage to lose billions of lives?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know much either. Because when I was born, humanity had erased the records of that time. But it¡¯s clear that it was much worse than now. Only some countries had the Prophet¡¯s relics, I suppose.¡±
If some countries had monopolized them, then the situation at that time was obvious.
They would have gained superpower and treated other countries as colonies, creating a severe bubble economy.
They would have indulged in pleasure and luxury without any serious preparation for the gue.
He also monopolized the Prophet¡¯s relics, but he was willing to share them as long as they promised to cooperate.
Mikhailov, the Russian president, sighed and took out a cigarette.
¡°Can I smoke one? I¡¯m feeling dizzy from hearing such shocking stories.¡±
¡°Feel free to smoke. Do you want me to bring you a ss of vodka?¡±
¡°No, I¡¯m fine with alcohol.¡±
The leaders continued their serious conversation in the smoky air.
It contained the future management of the world.
Mikhailov wanted to integrate into the United Human Federation as soon as possible.
¡°Megacity Russia will be the true beginning of integration.¡±
He nodded his head.
He wanted to tell them why he cared about Russia while revealing his identity, but he gave up.
There was no reason to stir up trouble when the integration was going smoothly thanks to the Russians¡¯ favor for him.
Bernstein clenched and unclenched his fist as if he was excited.
¡°I wondered how we would deal with the war, but a bigger problem came up. This is serious.¡±
¡°It¡¯s simple. Just split it in half.¡±
¡°¡The United States?¡±
¡°There are still people who hate me and dislike my way of doing things. They just lowered their voices. It¡¯s more efficient to pay attention to those who agree to cooperate instead of trying to persuade them.¡±
¡°Splitting the United States in half¡¡.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not saying to split the territory or the system in half. I¡¯m saying to prepare to leave the city. What if hundreds of gue creatures stronger than Gamma Five invade New York?¡±
Bernstein shook his head without thinking.
¡°That¡¯s impossible to stop.¡±
¡°The Megacity and the United Human Federation can. So be ready to leave the city at any time.¡±
¡°We need to identify and select people who meet the criteria, even if we have to use some illegal methods. Anyone who is suspected of having Aether sensitivity¡ I mean, ck metal factor gets a free pass.¡±
¡°Can¡¯t we make Megacity America?¡±
¡°Ten Megacities¡ That wasn¡¯t in the n.¡±
He pretended to hesitate and Walter, the German chancellor, joined in.
¡°From what I heard, this is not the time to talk about democracy or freedom. Survival is the priority.¡±
¡°We don¡¯t know when the gue will invade on arge scale. But we can tell from what happened so far that it¡¯s not far away.¡±
¡°I agree. In that sense, why not Europe?¡±
¡°There¡¯s something I want to show you first.¡±
A walker disguised as a drawer under his desk transformed with a nk and projected an image on the wall.
Everyone was not surprised by this anymore.
¡°That¡¯s an Aether core from the gue¡¡.¡±
¡°You all know that core corrodes nearby metals. But its corrosion ability tends to be proportional to the grade of the gue and the size of the core. The ones that visited Earth so far were very small creatures. They were like privates or corporals in military terms.¡±
The leaders swallowed their dry saliva as they looked at the size of the core.
How big would a general-level creature¡¯s core be?
The picture on the wall changed and a huge gue core appeared.
He and Arma were standing next to it, so they could guess how big it was.
¡°That¡¯s huge¡¡.¡±
¡°How big is the gue body that has that core?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a gue Leviathan-ss. It¡¯s one of thergest among regr gues and easily exceeds 1km. All the weapons that the United Human Federation showed so far were made by studying that monster. Railguns and Aethersers, even ion beams.¡±
The image on the wall showed a gue Leviathan that had been destroyed by the United Human Federation.
It was a gigantic monster that made ordinary buildings look pathetic.
Did humanity in the future fight hundreds of such monsters?
The people realized why he was so oppressive and coldly dictatorial.
He had been fighting those monsters and became extinct, so he had to be cruel.
Of course, there might have been other ways, but they were likely to have many disadvantages such as taking a lot of time and being inefficient.
He pointed at the screen and said.
¡°The only way to kill a gue like that is a reaction bomb. I¡¯ll take care of that, so you just select the people who will enter the ark. You can¡¯t rx the conditions. I don¡¯t want to see any trouble in the Megacity.¡±
¡°It would be dangerous if there was amotion in such a densely popted area.¡±
¡°I understand. I¡¯ll do my best.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll proceed with the additional Megacities after consultation. And today¡¯s matter is¡¡.¡±
They all shut their mouths as if they were satisfied with one thing. He nodded his head.
¡°Thank you for listening to this boring story. I trust you. So please trust me too. Everything is for humanity.¡±
He had often said that everything was for humanity, but he was lucky if he didn¡¯t get ridiculed or ignored.
They thought he was a cruel dictator who deceived and joked with the masses.
But the leaders who attended today¡¯s meeting believed in his identity and true purpose.
Thest survivor of humanity who came back from the future of 2180 to the past of 2025.
He was the dictator.
¡°That¡¯s it for today. I¡¯ll see you next time.¡±
The meeting ended and they all left Blue House.
He sent Arma away and looked at the garden of Blue House.
He felt relieved to have revealed his secret to some people.
The chief of staff, Bae Seong-min, stood behind his chair.
¡°Mr. President, I have a question.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°If you came from the future, you must be much older than I thought, right?¡±
¡°If I hadn¡¯t failed my first love, I would have had a son as good as you.¡±
He was startled by the sudden joke and he smiled faintly.
¡°I¡¯m kidding. If my children were alive, they would have been slightly younger than you.¡±
If they were alive¡¡
He looked back and asked.
¡°Was it a bit ufortable to serve a young president?¡±
¡°No, no. I just thought that you had to be this calm to be a president.¡±
¡°Calm? I was running around like crazy. Arma did all the work.¡±
Even if that was true, the burden he carried on his shoulders was not light.
Bae bowed his head behind his back.
He was not a mere dictator, but a person who deserved to be the leader of all humanity.
Chapter 177: Let’s Get a Divorce
Chapter 177: Let¡¯s Get a Divorce
I¡¯m a licensed teacher now.?? Thanks to gxytl, trantormunity and readers for your support.?? You helped me pass my exam with confidence. As a token of gratitude, I¡¯ll give 5 chapters each for my novels today. Enjoy??!
After the war ended, the United Human Federation, the victor, did not demand as severe measures from the United States as expected.
All they asked for was to send some of the congressmen and officials who had harmed the friendship between the two countries to a space prison and to cooperate closely in the future.
They did not even ask for anypensation, which was very different from how they treated other countries.
China and Japan, who had to pay huge reparations, were annoyed but could not say anything.
Japan was in a mood to ept the hegemony of the United Human Federation, and China was close to being scared.
¨DHow can wepete with them when they can produce warships in a day? They have no match now.
¨DThey even wreaked havoc on the US maind and came out unscathed¡ That¡¯s insane military power.
¨DCan those who talk about the US nuclear power exin this? How are they going to deal with the United Human Federation¡¯s particle bombs? If they go all the way, the US will go back to the 1700s, even if the United Human Federation doesn¡¯t.
Anyway, the United Human Federation became a superpower with hegemony after defeating the US.
The aftermath was also significant.
As the US suffered a defeat, the global financial market centered on the Anglo-American sphere began to shake.
There was a growing skepticism about the system itself that inted money with money.
This was also rted to the trend of emphasizing real economy that came from France.
¨DWhat¡¯s the point of having a lot of numbers written on the financialwork? They evaporate in one disaster.
¨DThese days, they don¡¯t even recover. The financial system is losing trust worldwide.
¨DCryptocurrencies have be true paper scraps, and so are other products. It¡¯s a world where real things are preferred.
There was also a hopeful spection that the financial system wouldst forever as long as there were real things.
But as the United Human Federation, which defeated the US, excluded finance, the global stock market was heading to hell rather than recovering.
Of course, there was a financial system in the United Human Federation.
The KOSPI and various financial products based on real things were still actively traded in Korea.
But there was no such system in Megacity.
To be precise, it existed on the servers inside the Administration Bureau, but it was impossible for ordinary people to use it and they could not even see it.
As Megacity formed a closed economic bloc, what became urgent were investors around the world.
They witnessed the fall of the US and withdrew their investments and looked at the United Human Federation, but there was no ce for them there.
Some CEOs ofrge investmentpanies barely managed to arrange a meeting with Yu Ji-ha, but it was not a good atmosphere.
¡°You suffered a lot of losses this time.¡±
¡°We wanted to bet on the United Human Federation, but as you know, there is no ce to invest. The money that came out of the US can¡¯t find a ce to go. If you open up a way for us, we will reward you greatly.¡±
¡°Reward¡ Can you give me about 10 trillion dors? I need it to make a warship.¡±
The CEOs exchanged nces and gave an awkwardugh.
They thought it was a joke, but he asked them with a serious face.
¡°Let me ask you something. If you introduce your financial products into Megacity, will the citizens live happier?¡±
¡°That might be difficult, but we can provide definite benefits to many investors.¡±
¡°Those investors will be rich.¡±
¡°We grow together with our customers. If you entrust us with your funds, we promise you the best returns in the industry. Security is basic.¡±
They dreamed of entering the United Human Federation while expecting Yu Ji-ha to deposit his personal funds.
Think about it.
Yu Ji-ha is the richest man in the world.
All Megacities are his property, and he has unimaginable wealth from tangible and intangible benefits derived from Kihoesul.
Even Si Group, which boasted thergest scale, was only part of Megacity, so even the royal families of oil-producing countries were notparable to him.
He had umted so much money that he thought so.
But Yu Ji-ha didn¡¯t have much money personally.
¡°I have about 32 billion won. Can I entrust you with that?¡±
¡°32 billion dors?¡±
¡°No, won.¡±
The CEOs smiled faintly at that trivial number.
But Yu Ji-ha was not joking.
¡°It¡¯s true that I control the United Human Federation. All kinds of Kihoesul and spaceships and Megacities would be an enormous fortune. But they are not mine. They belong to all humanity.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s personal assets were only Settlerho and its equipment, blueprints, and other resources inside it, but he had no intention of revealing them until he went to his ancestor¡¯s home.
Therefore, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s external assets were only what he had deposited faithfully since he came here.
He couldn¡¯t even use it right away because Arma was managing it.
The CEOs realized that he was not joking.
The dictator who owns the superpower United Human Federation has only that much?
He leaned forward and said.
¡°You seem to have expected something great, but I¡¯m sorry. But that¡¯s all I have personally. And I think there will be more losses than gains if I bring your system into Megacity.¡±
¡°Why is that? Our system is very sophisticated. Of course, it can¡¯tpare to the artificial intelligence, but we generate profits through very sophisticated mathematical modeling¡¡±
Yu Ji-ha shook his head.
¡°How will that help when you fight the gue?¡±
They were speechless.
If they were asked if it would help when they fought that space monster, most of the systems would have to be scrapped.
When they were about to say something, Yu Ji-ha continued.
¡°The US suffered an astronomical damage in this war. Not only the money itself, but also the loss of trust. On the contrary, the United Human Federation did not gain much.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it because there is no external investment?¡±
¡°That¡¯s why it¡¯s stable. The prices are steady regardless of the external influence, and so is the money people earn.¡±
Now the CEOs knew what Yu Ji-ha was thinking.
He wanted a system that could control the United Human Federation stably.
The surveince system with drones was criticized by everyone, but some re-evaluated it as the high poption density of Megacity was revealed.
¨DThe crime rate should skyrocket with such a high poption density, but Megacity has the lowest crime rate in the world. The level of citizens is also quite high, but cing drones and androids everywhere has eliminated the motivation tomit crimes.
¨DI see why he introduced drones and citizen points while being called Hitler. It¡¯s the only way to control people of various races and sses from all over the world.
Of course, there were many people who hated the surveince system, but they could not deny that it was a very efficient system.
Yu Ji-ha said.
¡°Megacity isplete in its current state. Of course, it still has a long way to go in terms of scale, but the foundation is set. If your systemes in, it will only be chaotic. I don¡¯t want that kind of confusion.¡±
Strictly speaking, money was important.
But in the system of the United Human Federation, resource management was much more important than money.
No matter how many difficult words and advanced financial techniques they used, the total amount of resources would not change.
It was likely that adding too much seasoning to a dish that Arma managed well would change the taste itself.
The CEOs were disappointed and Yu Ji-ha leaned back on his chair.
¡°I will maintain this system until Ipletely eradicate the gue. After that, you may be able to introduce an advanced financial system as you wish.¡±
Yu Ji-ha would have left the sr system by then, so it didn¡¯t matter what the remaining humans did.
¡°I¡¯m not sure. It could be sooner orter, or maybe that day will nevere. If humanity loses to the gue, there won¡¯t be such a system anymore.¡±
Humanity loses to the gue?
The CEOs had seen many reports from their own analysis teams, but they had never heard of such a possibility.
They should know something.
They wanted to hear more about it, but their meeting time was running out.
He nced at his watch and stood up.
¡°Let¡¯s end it here. By the way, I heard you applied for a residence in Megacity, but you can¡¯t exchange your assets for credits. Oh, donations are wee.¡±
Money is still important.
The CEOs got up nervously.
***
After the war ended, people¡¯s interest was on the situation in America.
It was because they were rtively more curious about America than the United Human Federation, whose stance would not change much.
In fact, America was going through a huge turmoilpared to the United Human Federation, which did not experience much change.
Compensation ns for the soldiers who died or were injured were announced one after another, and an economic reconstruction n was established.
The ones who controlled it were not the previous administration, but the new bureaucrats led by Bernstein, who had emerged recently.
They received the reputation of being influenced by Yu Ji-ha since their appearance.
¨DThey are too fast in analyzing the current situation for bureaucrats who drank Washington¡¯s water. How can they finish thepensation n for the wounded soldiers in three days?
¨DThe most suspicious thing is that they decided not to rebuild the American military. Did the United Human Federation decide to subjugate America?
Bernstein ignored these doubts and pushed for America¡¯s reform.
He couldn¡¯t change the whole of America, so he came up with a bold n to split it in half and merge one with the United Human Federation.
There was no consent or discussion from the citizens, but he was convinced that integration was necessary for America to survive.
His drive was packaged as decisiveness and he won an overwhelming vote in the presidential election in February.
Many politicians resigned or were dragged to space prisons, so there weren¡¯t many decent people left.
Above all, he often showed off his friendship with Yu Ji-ha.
It would have been criticized in normal times, but America was now a country that might copse without Yu Ji-ha¡¯s help.
The financial officials screamed that they had no budget for next year.
¡°If we don¡¯t print dors right now, we might have to fire a lot of public servants next year.¡±
¡°Even if we print them, it¡¯s a problem. The world no longer wants dors. They are desperate for credits.¡±
The financial analysts thought that the indirect damage, such as losing the dor hegemony, was much bigger than the direct damage that America suffered.
The dor had steadily lost its demand as it shed with the United Human Federation, but its position dropped significantly due to this war.
It didn¡¯tpletely lose its influence, but each country started to look for credits instead of dors.
As a result, America¡¯s financial authorities reached a point where they couldn¡¯t use aggressive quantitative easing.
This meant America¡¯s bankruptcy.
The schrs would have dismissed it as America¡¯s bluff in the past, but they looked at it seriously this time.
¨DThe loss of dor¡¯s status as a reserve currency is huge. Even Saudi Arabia is trying to switch to credits for oil payments.
¨DThe problem is that the United Human Federation has no intention of making credits a reserve currency. They created a closed economic bloc managed by a strong artificial intelligence and blocked almost all external influences.
¨DThere is no solution in this situation. The only thing that might work is America joining the United Human Federation.
But the schrs thought that the possibility of America joining the United Human Federation was low.
The voices against Yu Ji-ha had subsided due to this war, but they didn¡¯t know when they would rise again.
However, it was true that the argument that they had to cooperate with Yu Ji-ha became stronger and Bernstein¡¯s administration focused on that.
In the first week of February 2034, President Bernstein announced a n to form a loose alliance with the United Human Federation.
This n included not only personnel exchange with the United Human Federation, but also a wide range of resource supply.
In short, it meant that they were starting to prepare to join the United Human Federation, which caused a lot of waves.
Criticism against Bernstein¡¯s administration followed immediately.
¨DWe lost the war, but do we have to be so servile?
¨DI admit that the United Human Federation is stronger than America. But their influence on the world is not that great because of their closed economic policy. We can negotiate with them on equal terms if we solve our fiscal deficit.
¨DWe have no way to solve our fiscal deficit. We have to face the reality that we can¡¯t print dors anymore.
So there was criticism that nothing would change even if they formed a loose alliance with the United Human Federation.
¨DIf anything changes, it means that they want to split America. I warn you, we cannot ept any possibility of dividing America.
¨DI doubt how much that threat will work. How can we stop the United Human Federation¡¯s army and drones when our military is weakened?
That was the biggest problem.
America had no power to stop the United Human Federation.
Who would stand up and stop them if Yu Ji-ha said he would split America?
The separation n also received unexpected support.
Surprisingly, both the supporters and opponents of Yu Ji-ha expressed their subtle approval.
¨DThe current system of America has proven to be helpless against the gue. ording to Yu Ji-ha, there will be a massive attack by the gue within decades. So we have to start integrating now.
¨DWe cannot ept someone like Yu Ji-ha, a socialist. Of course, we don¡¯t want to join the United Human Federation either. We hate drones and androids.
The arguments were sharply opposed, making it difficult to reconcile them.
Some suggested splitting up.
¨DAmerica was originally a federation. Let each state vote on whether to join the United Human Federation or not.
¨DDon¡¯t be ridiculous. We can¡¯t give up an acre of Americannd, so if you want to join the Alliance, you get out.
Regardless of such ims, Yu Ji-ha prepared a system forplete integration with the United Human Federation.
One of them was the Supreme Council.
¡°From now on, the policies of the United Human Federation will be decided by the Supreme Council. For the time being, I and the artificial intelligence will operate it, but we will gradually transfer our authority.¡±
The target was none other than the full citizens.
People were shocked by this news.
¨DHe¡¯s going to share his power? Most dictators would never let go of their power until they die.
¨DLook at that. Yu Ji-ha¡¯s real goal is not dictatorship, but management for the preservation of humanity. He had to use extreme systems like drones or CP because he was pushing too fast.
¨DIsn¡¯t there a chance for us to be full citizens?
¨DWell, it¡¯s hard for ordinary people.
The citizens of Megacity theoretically had the possibility of bing full citizens.
However, it was not enough to just work diligently and notmit crimes.
They had to contribute to the United Human Federation in some way, and that was left to the judgment of the artificial intelligence.
Looking at the list of people who became full citizens so far, most of them had special abilities such as psychers or scientists.
This meant a de facto ss system, which caused a lot of controversy.
¨DHe¡¯s saying he won¡¯t give voting rights to people who have no ability. This is shocking.
¨DThere is a use that allows you to register as a sponsor for a Supreme Council member. It seems that you are notpletely excluded.
¨DYou seem to be mistaken. The United Human Federation is a dictatorship. The citizens cannot participate in politics.
¨DThis is just a process for Yu Ji-ha to give up his power. Once the Supreme Council is formed, can¡¯t we modify the policies?
People were very interested in joining the United Human Federation and changing it from within.
Thanks to that, the separatists in America gained strength and Megacity America showed its presence.
Yu Ji-ha confirmed the construction of Megacity America and Deutsch.
¡°The candidates have been selected and we will start construction soon. The new Megacity will have the same conditions as the existing ones.¡±
That is, they had to meet certain conditions to enter.
Russia was already preparing for integration, but it was surprising that America and Germany joined in.
¨DTo build a Megacity, you have to delegate administrative authority to an artificial intelligence. I can understand America, who lost the war, but why does Germany do that?
¨DThey are rational and calctive people, aren¡¯t they? They seem to have derived that there is no other way than Megacity.
¨DThey are like soldiers anyway. It would be easier for artificial intelligence to manage them.
The actual situation in Germany was that they had no time to spare for analyzing this announcement calmly.
The politicians did not oppose much, thinking that it was difficult to fully integrate with the United Human Federation in a short time, but building a Megacity was beneficial.
The people were also busy looking at the structure and life of Megacity.
But America was swept by fierce opposition as expected.
¨DWe can¡¯t let something red like Megacity enter our sacred Americannd!
But this resistance was crushed by Yu Ji-ha¡¯s words.
¡°I warn you, I will not tolerate any force that interferes with Megacity construction.¡±
Who could resist when he said he would smash them?
Instead, a separation n emerged among Americans.
The supporters of Megacity should leave.
¨DIf you like Yu Ji-ha and Megacity so much, get out. Don¡¯t make noise in America anymore.
¨DAmerica can never be split, but we won¡¯t mind if you leave.
They took advantage of the fact that those who entered Megacity had to leave most of their property or sell it cheaply for gold.
They could exchange it for gold or dors, but there was no way to exchange it for credits, which were useless.
The only payment method in the United Human Federation was credits, and since they were managed by artificial intelligence, there was no room for other currencies to intervene.
Nevertheless, there were millions of Americans who applied for Megacity America in a month.
The existing Megacities were too far away to be reluctant, but California was a different story.
¨DThe economy is ruined and there are no jobs, so it¡¯s not bad to start a new life in Megacity.
¨DI like the fact that I can study the initial skills of the United Human Federation.
¨DNow they criticize Megacity as socialism or something, but when the gue¡¯s attack begins in earnest, they will be in trouble because they can¡¯t get in.
Among those who applied, the upper 1% elites who led America were included, which caused serious warnings in America.
¨DThe result that 74% of Stanford students applied for Megacity residence is very shocking. We must not ignore this.
¨DThe intellectual ss is joining the United Human Federation. Can the remaining people lead America?
No one could answer that for sure.
The only thing certain was that America was splitting in half.
And ordingly, many countries also began to seriously discuss whether to form an alliance with the United Human Federation.
There was naturally a lot of opposition, and some countries even experienced civil unrest.
CNN defined this situation as a divorce after a couple¡¯s fight.
¨DPeople couldn¡¯t decide to emigrate easily even if they disagreed. Because they couldn¡¯t guarantee their survival there.
¨DBut if you get a Megacity residence, you won¡¯t starve to death and you can live a stable life as long as you are diligent. Therefore, more people wanted to break away from the existing society.
¨DAmong them, there are many intellectuals. They are people who have the ability to lead science and industry in each country. It is worth paying attention to how their departure will affect the existing society.
The property division due to divorce was considered to be advantageous for those who remained in the existing society for now.
Those who entered Megacity had to leave most of their property or sell it cheaply for gold.
But it was not certain whether it would be the same in the future.
In the fall of 2034, more than 50 gue cocoons entered the sr system.
The United Human Federation sounded an alert at once and people looked up at the cocoons that burned the atmosphere and fell.
It was good to divorce, but it looked like the divided property would be smashed.
Chapter 175: Invasion of America
Chapter 175: Invasion of America
I¡¯m a licensed teacher now.?? Thanks to gxytl, trantormunity and readers for your support.?? You helped me pass my exam with confidence. As a token of gratitude, I¡¯ll give 5 chapters each for my novels today. Enjoy??!
The world was shocked by the news that Earth Fleet hadnded in San Francisco after breaking through the resistance of the United States.
No one had expected the US military to copse in a single battle.
Especially since they failed to inflict any effective damage on Earth Fleet.
Even without the participation of the Pyeongyang, which was presumed to have the most powerfulbat power.
The scene of Earth Fleet activating the etheric field and crossing the Golden Gate Bridge looked like an alien invasion from a sci-fi movie.
But that was a harsh reality.
¡ªWhy are they giving up so quietly? What are the navy and the coast guard doing?
¡ªThink about it logically. They must have been smashed to pieces.
¡ªI thought they were simr in firepower and had ion beams for defense, but it was not at all¡
¡ªWe were all deluded. We thought that a new country that was less than 10 years old could not beat the United States, which had been the strongest for nearly 100 years.
¡ªEven so, it¡¯s too one-sided. The gap was bigger than I thought.
¡ªWho can stop the United Human Federation now?
¡ªI guarantee you, the United Human Federation will be a bigger bully than the US or China. How many wars have they started so far?
ording to what was revealed, this war was provoked by the US, but that did not matter to the critics of the United Human Federation.
To them, Yujiha and the United Human Federation were evils that brought war.
However, despite their wariness, their views on the United Human Federation increased.
¡ªThe US should give up its superpower status now.
¡ªEverything will change when this war is over. Whether we like it or not, the United Human Federation will reorganize the world, and those who can¡¯t keep up will be extinct.
¡ªBut the US hasn¡¯t surrendered yet, right? They have onest move left.
¡ªIf they use it, the United Human Federation won¡¯t sit still either.
Thest move was nuclear weapons.
The US did not activate its nuclear force even though its navy and air force were destroyed.
Because if the United Human Federation blocked it, it would be the end of America.
They could not use it recklessly because they did not know what kind of defense system they had.
But as Earth Fleetnded on the maind, the Pentagon began to seriously consider the option of a nuclear attack.
However, there were some problems withunching a preemptive nuclear attack.
¡ªIs it possible to neutralize the enemy with nuclear weapons? It could be a fuse that makes them shoot antimatter missiles at American cities.
¡ªThe United Human Federation has enough technological capabilities to block our nuclear attacks. But we don¡¯t.
¡ªIf the antimatter missile they tested on Mars explodes in New York, at least 5 million people will die. If they target 10 major cities, it¡¯s more than 30 million. Can we afford that?
They could not risk deleting 10% of their poption andunch a nuclear attack on the United Human Federation.
Above all, the Pentagon generals were afraid of the United Human Federation¡¯s technology.
They also considered the possibility of a false g operation, so they kept the nuclear suitcase in a safe at the White House and Pentagon and required at least three people¡¯s consent to open it.
However, despite this cautious attitude, they faced fierce criticism from citizens as Earth Fleetnded on their homnd.
What are they doing with 10,000 nuclear missiles?
In fact, in major cities like New York, groups supporting a preemptive nuclear attack on the United Human Federation marched around shooting guns.
The police force tried to suppress them, but there were too many people and bloodshed was feared.
¡°We¡¯re all going to be ves of artificial intelligence if we just watch!¡±
¡°Now! Shoot! That damn! Nuke!¡±
Despite these shouts, America¡¯s leaders did not decide tounch a nuclear attack.
The risk was too great if they failed.
The United Human Federation could block their slim chance of sess and destroy America entirely.
As they pondered deeply, Earth Fleet continued to destroy military facilities near San Francisco.
The army forces that were inbat readiness were stunned by the massive firepower and ran away.
Behind them, a cruiser fired a beam of light that was witnessed by fleeing army forces in armored vehicles.
Strangely enough, everything that touched that beam exploded as if it had exploded.
A reporter who was dispatched to the scene stuttered speechlessly.
¡°Uh¡ I¡¯m here where Earth Fleet¡¯s attack is continuing. As you can see, this ispletely different fromsers. Light, a pir of light? This is really¡¡±
Then a missile came from somewhere.
The reporter didn¡¯t even notice it before aser shot out and intercepted it.
Boom!
A fighter jet and missile fragments fell into downtown at the same time and people screamed and ran away.
¡°Damn it!¡±
¡°Shit! What is our military doing?¡±
There was no army to help them. They had already been annihted and were of no help.
The citizens looked at Earth Fleet in the sky and felt fear and helplessness at the same time.
¡ªIs this war?
Americans had been numb to war.
They thought war was something they could only see on TV or MyTube, and they thought it had nothing to do with them forever.
But because of Earth Fleet, they felt firsthand how scary war was.
That included the groups that marched around cursing Yujiha and the United Human Federation.
They shed with the police by shooting guns, but as missile fragments fell one after another, they screamed and scattered.
¡°Fuck! I don¡¯t want to die yet!¡±
¡°What is the air force doing?¡±
There was no one who could im that they should fight a nuclear war with the United Human Federation in front of the falling debris.
Soon, the nearby army artillery unit fired shells with self-propelled guns, but Earth Fleet did not suffer any damage.
Puff, bang!
A single Hafnium2 warhead vaporized two artillery battalions.
After wiping out the resistance forces cleanly, Earth Fleet slowly headed for LA.
All that was left in the city were people who were in chaos, mes and smoke that sprang up everywhere, and riots and looting that urred in between.
***
Despite Earth Fleet¡¯s entry into the maind, the US did not decide tounch a nuclear attack.
Instead, they nned an operation to attack Terra Ind by gathering their remaining fleet.
They thought that Terra Ind and other territories would be empty since the only external force of the United Human Federation was in North America.
The US Navy had been badly damaged in the Midway Sea Battle, but it was not annihted.
They had not used theirnding force, and the Marines were intact.
They wanted to use them to attack Terra Ind or the Korean Penins.
However, this operation was only possible under the premise that Earth Fleet was on the maind.
It would be a failure if Earth Fleet returned in an hour even if they moved hard to Terra Ind.
As the US Navy formed anding force centered on the America-ss assaultnding ship, Earth Fleet attacked military facilities near LA.
The same thing happened as in San Francisco, and LA was scorched in two hours.
Earth Fleet did not show much interest in San Diego and began to advance ind.
All that was left in the city were people who were in chaos, mes and smoke that sprang up everywhere, and riots and looting that urred in between.
It was a huge fleet of over 40 ships, including seven America-ss assaultnding ships, five transportnding ships, and four othernding ships.
Although they were the remnants of the Midway Sea Battle, they had enough power to overthrow any decent country.
The Pentagon doubted if they could prate the defense system of Terra Ind and the Korean Penins, and the White House ordered them toplete the operation, saying they could not sit still.
But they were too slow.
They had to match the speed of the assaultnding ships, so it took them two days to reach near Terra Ind.
And by then, Earth Fleet had swept through Phoenix in Arizona.
The US Army, including the state defense force, tried to defend, but it was not even enough to buy time.
Still, God did not abandon America, as Earth Fleet moved to the coast for supplies.
It was a bonus that they asked the Mexican government to use their sea.
The Mexican government dly gave them the sea.
They had been in conflict with the US in various fields, and they were satisfied to see them suffer badly.
Even in California or Arizona, there were situations where Americans crossed the border to escape war and looting.
It did not raise Mexico¡¯s status, but they opened the sea and sky and received a considerable amount ofpensation from the United Human Federation, so it was a profit.
This was not a bad result for the US either.
During the precious few hours that Earth Fleet was supplying, the US dered total war and began to gather forces on the maind.
Finally, thending fleet arrived at Terra Ind, but there was nond tond on.
Terra Ind was a strange ce where mega-cities upied most of the area, but they blocked even the coast when they heard that the fleet was approaching.
Admiral Flores, whomanded thending fleet, checked the defense system of Terra Ind through a reconnaissance ne and asked while smoking a cigarette.
¡°Damn it, it¡¯s impregnable. How are we supposed to get up there?¡±
Thest picture sent by the reconnaissance ne showed a cliff that was 50 meters high.
The mega-city had raised a defensive wall in an instant when they noticed the approach of thending fleet.
It was made of ck metal, so it would not budge with any firepower, andnding was impossible.
Several reconnaissance nes were mobilized to circle around Terra Ind, but no weaknesses were found.
Admiral Flores decided that any further expedition was impossible.
There might be a weakness in the Korean Penins, which was the origin of the United Human Federation, but there was no way for the fleet to go there.
¡°They are sox and underestimate us. Both Earth Fleet and mega-city. We have to take advantage of that. Equip all aircraft with Hafnium2 warheads. We¡¯ll knock down that wall in one breath.¡±
If thending fleet approached, the railgun would not stay still, but they had to sacrifice anything at this point where their homnd was invaded.
F-35B fighter jets loaded with Hafnium2 warheads took off for short-range takeoff.
There was no aerial refueling aircraft, so takeoff was very risky and early warning aircraft support was also difficult.
More than 100 F-35B fighter jets approached mega-city and realized toote that railgun projectiles were flying at them and turned their noses.
Boom!
A few fighter jets exploded in an instant and missiles were fired.
Most of the more than 200 missiles were shot down by railguns and scattered debris into the sea, but about 10 seeded in rushing to close range.
And they finally exploded near the defensive wall and made a huge hole.
When Hafnium2 warheads exploded, giant lumps of light melted ck metal whole.
¡°Yes!¡±
¡°It¡¯s a sess!¡±
The officers on board clenched their fists on the bridge of the gship.
They seeded in inflicting effective damage for the first time in a war with the United Human Federation.
It was quite symbolic since it was their first mega-city.
As the defensive wall copsed cleanly, the facilities inside were exposed.
Now they had to push their troops in there, but it was not easy to approach.
Dozens of railguns started operating fully and poured projectiles.
Thending fleet sacrificed their maneuverability and added ck metal armor tes to their hulls, but they could not help being pierced through.
Thending ship suffered heavy damage while approaching Terra Ind and opened its well deck to spill out its troops inside.
But there was a problem.
The hole that had barely been opened began to close again.
ck metal rose up in an instant and filled up the hole beforending craft reached shore.
Admiral Flores watched this scene from afar on his gship and blew out a long cigarette smoke.
He had repeatedly suggested that it was an impossible operation, but it was a result of being pushed by the White House.
¡°Stupid bastards.¡±
With that said, all operations of thending fleet turned to failure.
The Seoul-ss cruiser that departed from Seoul led thebat ships that came out of the underwater base and formed a detachment.
These three ships ambushed thending fleet and inflicted fatal damage.
They did not fire directly at humans, so quite a lot of troops were captured.
They were taken into the mega-city under the surveince of drones and androids.
¡°Being captured by artificial intelligence is the end.¡±
¡°They¡¯re sure to use us as batteries.¡±
The prisoners had heard some strange rumors, but nothing like that happened.
The androids did not treat them kindly, but they did not torture them either.
Treating the wounded and supplying food and supplies was basic.
Admiral Flores, who was captured, thought that the war was over when he saw his soldiers fall for the androids¡¯ temptation.
¡®In the end, the United Human Federation did not suffer any damage.¡¯
Was America too weak, or was the United Human Federation too strong?
Whatever the cause, America lost all its expeditionary capabilities.
All that was left was nuclear power, but the White House did not seem to use it.
Public opinion was tilting rapidly.
As Earth Fleet advanced westward, America suffered too much damage.
The damage to the US military was one thing, but frequent battles near cities caused a lot of damage to civilians.
Especially those who used to think of war as someone else¡¯s problem were shocked.
They felt their lives being destroyed as all traffic was blocked and chaos broke out throughout the city.
¡°This is not right¡¡±
¡°If I knew this was war, who would have agreed?¡±
¡°Please stop now¡ please¡¡±
But it was toote to stop the war.
Earth Fleet crossed the continent and headed for the east coast.
Their destination was Washington DC.
Chapter 178: Destroyer of Civilization
Chapter 178: Destroyer of Civilization
¡°gues are powerful creatures. Even the weakest ones can withstand a decent amount of firepower. But not all of them are physically strong.¡±
Yu Ji-ha, the leader of Russia, America, and Germany, had a hotline that could connect him with the heads of these countries 24 hours a day.
This was done through quantummunication satellites, which were immune to any interference or EMP shockwaves.
Yu Ji-ha rarely used thismunication method unless it was an urgent matter, so the leaders listened to his words with a sense of crisis.
The reason why Yu Ji-ha called them this time was because 50 gue cocoons had entered the sr system.
And they were not ordinary ones.
¡°The beast-ss and knight-ss gues that we have encountered so far were certainly strong, but we could destroy them with nuclear weapons or reactive shells. But these guys who are heading towards Earth are a bit different.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face went down to the corner and instead, the image of the cocoons crossing the vast space appeared.
President Mikhailov asked hastily.
¡°Is this a direct footage?¡±
¡°It happened to pass by the Mars L3 point. Fortunately, it was an unmanned base, so it didn¡¯t attract the attention of the gues.¡±
That meant that the gues instinctively sought out where humans were.
The leaders recalled the conspiracy theories that monsters came from space because of Yu Ji-ha.
It was not entirely wrong.
¡°gue creatures have a very developed psychokinesis field. Humans can also manifest it, but it¡¯s too small to be meaningful.¡±
¡°This psy-field is used formunication among their own kind and for attacking enemies. And they also find their kin in distant space.¡±
¡°So these cocoons areing here after detecting the psy-field from Earth after entering the sr system. In that sense, if I wasn¡¯t here, there wouldn¡¯t be any space monsters either.¡±
Even without Yu Ji-ha, they could detect other psychics.
Then, if they killed all the psychics, would the space monsters note?
Theoretically, yes.
Only that psychics were being born at this very moment, so it was meaningless.
If they dug out all the Aether cores buried on Earth and got rid of all the ck metal, it might be possible for a while.
But there was no guarantee that they wouldn¡¯te back to Earth again.
¡°Anyway, these cocoons are not regr troops by their size. They are definitely special troops, but we¡¯ll know what they are when they arrive on Earth.¡±
President Bernstein asked.
¡°Can¡¯t the United Human Federation intercept these cocoons in space?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not difficult. But if we can¡¯t destroy all 50 cocoons at once, the surviving ones will send a signal to their main force with their psy-field.¡±
¡°By main force, you mean¡¡±
¡°There are thousands, tens of thousands of gue hordes somewhere in space. If we can¡¯t block their psy-field, they mighte to Earth. Of course, not for a good purpose.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Shocked by the information, Bernstein closed his mouth.
The Earth was in a very precarious situation where it could be destroyed at any time.
Suddenly, the agitators who shouted about Yu Ji-ha¡¯s ideology and the oppression of freedom in megacities seemed ridiculous.
Did they know this?
Yu Ji-ha probably didn¡¯t reveal this information to prevent confusion.
It was better to be ignorant than to deal with 8 billion people flocking to megacities or spreading conspiracy theories.
That¡¯s why Yu Ji-ha was getting all kinds of abuse for having foresight and not sharing information properly.
Bernstein was also one of them, but now he understood Yu Ji-ha¡¯s dilemma.
The burden of preserving humanity from the powerful enemy called gue must have been beyond imagination.
Yu Ji-ha also mentioned the blocker.
¡°The United Human Federation of the future developed a device that blocks psy-field in the end. But there weren¡¯t many of them, so only Earth Fleet is using them right now.¡±
¡°So if we don¡¯t use that blocker and kill the gues, they send a signal to their main force through their psy-fieldmunication.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. It wouldn¡¯t matter much if we were at war. They already know our location anyway. But if we let them know now, we won¡¯t be able to handle it. Unless it¡¯s sent by the prophet.¡±
The leaders were embarrassed by the additional exnation about the prophet.
¡°Sending space monsters by prophet or gue¡ Even if it¡¯s a 50% chance, we can¡¯t choose rashly.¡±
They all understood the current situation and the position of the United Human Federation.
The only thing left was what kind of troops the gues were, but the information came out after theynded on Earth.
Arma found out their troops using analysis equipment installed in advance atnding points.
¡¸They are gue swarms. And they are the kind that causes metal death.¡¹
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face twisted.
¡°Damn, we got the wrong one.¡±
¡°Metal death? It sounds like a very noisy name. What is it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s one of the most troublesome ones among the irregr troops. These guys cause metal death¡ that is, they crumble metal into sand. They cover a wide range of metals.¡±
They were all surprised by that.
Did he mean the metals in the periodic table?
¡°Does it include elements like iron or gold?¡±
Chancellor Walter of Germany asked and Yu Ji-ha nodded.
¡°Except for mercury, I think you can assume that it applies to most metals. They emit particle beams thatpletely destroy the bonding structure of metal elements. Humans don¡¯t suffer much damage, but civilization is shattered. Let¡¯s watch the video together.¡±
The video that Arma yed showed the gue swarms jumping out in all directions as the cocoons opened and exploding in cities around the world.
Each individualnded on a city and emitted particle beams that destroyed metalpletely.
The pration power was so great that within a minute of the explosion, street lights copsed and passing vehicles sank like sand castles.
There was no need to describe the drivers rolling on the ground.
Anyway, they all doubted whether this was really happening while watching the video, and Yu Ji-ha had to exin further.
¡°The United Human Federation of the future also suffered a lot from these gue swarms and built megacities. They started using different methods after the defense system waspleted. I guess they couldn¡¯t use them in frontal battles.¡±
So the 80-year war between gue and United Human Federation was a history of development of spear and shield.
The leaders began to wonder if they could win this war.
Didn¡¯t the United Human Federation of the future lose in the end?
President Bernstein, who saw the whole city copsing, swallowed a groan.
¡°Hmm¡ Can we win?¡±
¡°If we don¡¯t win, humanity will be extinct. And this is just the beginning. Arma, exin the n.¡±
¡¸The 50 gue cocoons havended at these locations. They were small in size, so the damage was not that great.¡¹
About 50 bright spots appeared on the world map.
There were somends, but most of them were seas.
¡¸There are hundreds of pods stored inside these cocoons. As you know, pods have bio-ion thrusters installed, so they are very fast.¡¹
They were slower than Settler or Assault Armor, but the former was not agile enough to respond and thetter required Yu Ji-ha to board to perform properly.
¡¸It is almost impossible to capture the opening point of the cocoons and respond to them. Therefore, we have to select the ces we have to protect in advance and respond ordingly.¡¹
The megacities and candidates that had been built so far were revealed.
¡°Are we supposed to give up on the other cities? If they explode in the metropolises, it would be a huge disaster¡¡±
It was not an exaggeration to say that modern civilization was a metal-based civilization.
The Iron gue could destroy that civilization from its roots.
¡°So you¡¯re saying we can¡¯t defend them perfectly. It¡¯s because weck the blockers, and we can¡¯t develop them right away, so we have to choose and focus.¡±
The leaders reminded themselves why the megacities were the arks for preserving humanity.
They felt they had to hurry up with the integration work with the United Human Federation.
After the meeting, various countries kept an eye on the movements of the cocoons.
Numerous investigation teams were dispatched to hover around the cocoons, and some people from underdeveloped countries even flocked to touch them.
The UN convened a global gue countermeasuremittee, but it was useless at a point where the major powers were absent.
The United Human Federation and several countries were faithfully walking the path of integration, and the UN was now nothing more than one of the declining international organizations.
Some countriesined that they had no ce to discuss the response to the gue, but they failed to attract Yu Ji-ha¡¯s attention.
¡°What discussion? They just have to follow what I tell them.¡±
The implementation included extreme measures such as abandoning cities, and it was uncertain whether they could really do it.
Anyway, while there was a lot of talk about the new form of gue cocoons, Arma reported something.
¡°Master, I have something to tell you. I have found a possibility for blocking the psy-field. I need your help.¡±
Even if it was Arma, there were many unexined parts in Aether-rted technology, so he needed the help of a psiker.
If it was about blocking the psy-field, he couldn¡¯t dy it.
¡°Really? Let¡¯s check it out.¡±
¡°I found strong evidence of a virtual organ in Ms. Fatima¡¯s procedure. It is located in her right chest.¡±
Arma showed him the mithril imnt surgery that Fatima had received when she became an adult.
Mithril itself was harmless to the human body, but when you underwent the procedure, a slight trace remained on your skin.
It looked like a tattoo at first nce, but some psikers considered it as proof that the United Human Federation recognized them and secretly boasted about it.
Psikers below a certain level did not even receive a proposal for the procedure.
Fatima¡¯s level was so high that she had received the procedure recently, and Arma had been analyzing her data continuously.
He looked at the screen and noticed something strange.
¡°¡Is that a heart?¡±
A distinct heart-shaped mark appeared on her chest every time Aether circted through the Aether receiver.
It was shing from inside, not on the surface of the skin, and he didn¡¯t understand it.
¡°That¡¯s weird. The skin permeability shouldn¡¯t be that high.¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t find anything special when I analyzed the skin sample. That must be an Aether circuit formed by mithril.¡±
¡°To see an Aether circuit with your eyes.¡±
He was an omega-level psiker who didn¡¯t even need mithril imnts, but he couldn¡¯t see Aether circuits with his eyes.
Many psikers he knew, even Lucia who had researched psikers called psikers by the United Human Federation, couldn¡¯t see Aether circuits either.
They weren¡¯t supposed to be visible in the first ce.
¡°Is it because she¡¯s a rare mentalist? No. I knew some mentalists too.¡±
Maybe Fatima was a special case.
He suddenly remembered the relic of the prophet he had absorbed on Mars.
The pain in his right chest that came from time to time after absorbing the relic was not a coincidence.
¡°Does a virtual organ form in the right chest when you be a psiker¡¡±
Aether circuits were just a simplification of the process of psikers manifesting Aether, but he didn¡¯t know that they could develop into actual organs.
Arma handed him some data.
¡°I did a little test after putting Ms. Fatima to sleep, and surprisingly, she was able to artificially block the surrounding psy-field. However, this does not apply to stronger entities than herself.¡±
¡°So the strong oppress the weak. Well, that makes sense.¡±
At least for the gue, that would be natural.
He looked at the data and suddenly thought that this case might apply to him as well.
¡°Can I do that too?¡±
¡°If I apply Ms. Fatima¡¯s data, it might be possible.¡±
¡°Good. Let¡¯s try it right away.¡±
That night, he boarded his settler ship and entered a bio-bag.
As he spread his psy-field ording to Arma¡¯s data, surprisingly, a clear heart shape appeared on his chest as well.
It was muchrger and clearer than Fatima¡¯s, and it had a golden color.
¡°Amazing Aether¡ It¡¯s beautiful.¡±
But there was a problem as the psy-field spread.
A situation urred where many psikers on Terra Ind fainted.
¡°You are forcibly blocking the psy-fields of the psikers, and it seems that they are shocked by the backflow of Aether. I will send them to the hospital for now and let them rest.¡±
He checked that the megacity Pacific was noisy and smirked.
¡°I can¡¯t use it recklessly around psikers.¡±
If he developed his ability further, would it be possible to block the psy-field of a specific entity?
For example, like the gue Queen¡
Her psy-field was almost at the level of thought waves, and he couldn¡¯t even withstand it.
Well, it was natural since she controlled so many gues.
¡°Arma, let¡¯s move the settler ship for a while and test the exact range. I need to check how much I can block.¡±
It might help him not only for this gue swarm, but also for the future.
That night, the settler ship moved to the South Pacific and conducted a test.
He got a good psy-field blocker.
¡ªFirst of all, I need to give a proper exnation.
Of course, he had no obligation to exin anything to anyone.
The story of the gue swarm, the iron gue, and theck of blockers wasplicated.
But he decided to give a final exnation to the countries.
¡ªThere will be no more information sharing. You have to make your own decisions from now on.
He delivered the information about the gue swarm, the iron gue, and the blockers to the governments of various countries.
Arma was worried about the possibility of information leakage, and it turned out to be true.
A US official leaked the information to the media.
The yellow press exaggerated the report, and it caused a great confusion in the US and the world.
¡ªThe city is copsing? What the hell does that mean?
¡ªHow can metal turn into sand grains? This is not some ck gue.
¡ªThis is Yu Ji-ha¡¯s conspiracy! He wants to drive us out and take over the city!
The anti-Yu Ji-ha sentiment that had subsided erupted again.
They marched through the metropolises with hate gs, and they seemed tireless.
President Bernstein apologized for not managing the information properly.
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. We¡¯re not the ones who are harmed.¡±
All megacities had already prepared for the gue swarm.
They couldn¡¯t defend them perfectly, but they thought they could minimize the damage by covering the main parts with ck metal and using blockers.
What about the rest of the cities?
¡°The psy-field of the cocoons is getting stronger. At this rate, they will open within a week. We will try to block and deal with them as much as possible, but we can¡¯t guarantee it.¡±
¡°Can you select which cities are in danger in advance?¡±
¡°It¡¯s difficult because there are so many of them.¡±
There were hundreds of pods hidden inside each of the 50 cocoons.
One pod could cover a small city, so it was not an exaggeration to say that all cities in the world were in range.
¡°The pods tend to go in certain directions. Probably because there is a higher concentration of psy-field where there are more psikers.¡±
It meant that they wouldn¡¯t go to an empty wastnd.
¡°Can you catch up with them and activate the blockers? They are very fast.¡±
¡°It depends on how many there are. If there are a few, we can manage with Earth Fleet.¡±
¡°What if there are too many?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll take care of it myself.¡±
Bernstein wanted to ask how he would do it, but he held his tongue.
Anyway, Yu Ji-ha was criticized a lot for this information leak.
They said he was hiding too much as a self-proimed prophet.
¡ªWhy doesn¡¯t he just tell us everything? Is he trying to boil us or something?
¡ªHe must be trying to profit from this. He only gives us bits of information so we have to keep paying him.
¡ªHe must have made a lot of money this time.
Of course, Yu Ji-ha hadn¡¯t received a penny.
He was so notorious that people would mock him even if he did something good.
As a result, there were hardly any people who fled from the cities.
The existing cities had be deste due to the megacities, but many people still lived there.
They would also struggle to enter the megacities after experiencing this situation.
Baeseongmin, chief secretary of state, entered his office with a tired look and knocked on the door.
¡°The n for amodating citizens is ready. As soon as the rm goes off, they can go into shelters.¡±
There weren¡¯t many decent shelters in Korea, but they built new ones with B-ss ck metal for this asion.
Nearly 20 million citizens didn¡¯t want to leave the city.
He nodded his head after checking the report.
¡°You did the minimum preparation. Anyway, most of the pods will fly to megacities, so you don¡¯t have to be too scared.¡±
¡°Sir¡ Can I ask you one thing?¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°You said you would take care of it yourself, but how¡ You don¡¯t have a personal spaceship or anything, do you?¡±
He was asking how he would catch up with and block the pods that dispersed very quickly.
It might be possible if there were a few, but what if there were too many?
¡°It¡¯s nothing. Just like the gue evolved over and over again to exterminate humanity, we also made various weapons. This is one of them.¡±
¡°What kind of weapon are you talking about¡¡±
¡°It¡¯sing now.¡±
A momentter, the Blue House garden was filled with light.
The first floor became noisy, and Baeseongmin looked out the window and widened his eyes.
He saw a machine he had never seen before in his life floating in the sky.
Chapter 179: The Eternal Colonel and Dingo
Chapter 179: The Eternal Colonel and Dingo
He had shown many things to the people of this era, but he had never revealed the Settler and the Assault Armor.
Now it was time to lift the curtain on the Assault Armor.
It was necessary to deal with the gue Swarm, and it was the right moment to make it public.
But he had no intention of exposing the Settler until the end.
He had to find a way to go to the Prophet¡¯s homnd.
¡°This is an Assault Armor. It¡¯s one of the weapons that the United Human Federation created to fight against the gue.¡±
Bae Seong-min lifted his head and looked at the giant robot.
It had a bird-like appearance, with a wire-like body and six wings.
¡°People ride in this thing?¡±
¡°More precisely, only trained pilots with psychic abilities can ride it. Ordinary people can¡¯t even move it.¡±
Yu Ji-ha had revealed his identity when he said that.
He was a soldier of the United Human Federation.
At that time, Bae Seong-min thought he would fight in a spaceship, but he was surprised to see him control this robot.
¡°It¡¯s a bit big, but it looks kind of cute.¡±
¡°This is the result of decades of improvement by humanity to fight against the gue. It was originally in the form of a fighter jet.¡±
Despite its cute appearance, its performance seemed very fierce.
The astonished Blue House staff came out and watched the Assault Armor.
They were immune to most things because they worked with Yu Ji-ha, but they couldn¡¯t help but be amazed by the Assault Armor.
¡°What kind of robot is this? I can¡¯t even guess¡¡±
¡°Doesn¡¯t it look a bit weak?¡±
¡°Shh, the president will hear you. He has very sharp ears.¡±
Whether they said that or not, Yu Ji-ha took off his upper clothes and said.
¡°Its role is like a motorcycle in this era. It delivers antimatter bombs to the gue-filled space.¡±
¡°¡A motorcycle?¡±
Then what about the pilots who ride on that motorcycle?
Yu Ji-ha handed his clothes to Bae Seong-min and said.
¡°That¡¯s why pilots like me were nicknamed deliverymen. We deliver antimatter bombs, so it¡¯s not a wrong name.¡±
He said it casually, but Bae Seong-min knew how hard it was.
The gue that attacked France and America were unimaginable monsters.
Countless soldiers died and cities were destroyed.
And those monsters were nothingpared to the higher ranks.
And although it was not publicized, when the war started in earnest, they had to survive the attacks of hundreds or thousands of those monsters.
Bae Seong-min couldn¡¯t even guess what level that was.
He was a chief secretary, so he could look into some of the projects of the Management Bureau, which included the game developed by Si Entertainment.
It was a metaverse game that implemented a near-perfect space map.
It was so hard that most gamers forgot about it, but he knew that a few gamers who achieved good results were invited to Megacity.
¡®They must be pilot candidates¡¡¯
Would they ride on this Assault Armor soon?
The smart factory could produce anything, so it seemed like this robot would be mass-produced soon.
¡®Now that I think about it, the 2180 Human Extinction game was a direct copy of the future.¡¯
He couldn¡¯t guess the gue and the current situation from that game because there was a lot of distortion.
The gue had only the same name, but lookedpletely different, and the Assault Armor was not like this either.
The purpose of making that game was to select pilots, so they didn¡¯t care about the details.
Anyway, the uber pilot of the United Human Federation in that game was definitely President Yu Ji-ha.
Gamers saw his record and said that even if he was a fictional character, he was too much.
¡ªHe fought hundreds of times for 40 years without being hit? He should lie more moderately.
¡ªThis character is like a myth. He is a legendary hero who can never be reached. It¡¯s impossible to reproduce his achievements, but try hard. Something like that. But it wasn¡¯t true.
Yu Ji-ha was a real soldier from the future United Human Federation.
So this Assault Armor must be special too¡
He asked him, but he got an unexpected answer.
¡°No. This is a fourth-generation Assault Armor, mass-produced.¡±
¡°Mass-produced? Does that mean other pilots ride the same thing?¡±
¡°The appearance or cockpit configuration may vary slightly, but the performance is exactly the same.¡±
Looking closely, there were scratches on various parts of the body, showing signs of wear and tear.
Even with future technology, time took its toll.
¡®Didn¡¯t he get an overhaul since he came to this era?¡¯
Anyway, it was amazing to see one of the weapons made by the future United Human Federation that could resist the gue.
The Blue House staff also came closer and watched it with curiosity.
¡°So this is like a fighter jet?¡±
¡°President, you flew in space with this thing¡ That¡¯s awesome¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s not awesome, it¡¯s very dangerous. I saw the game, and there weresers raining down like crazy.¡±
¡°I yed that game too, and I felt like I needed eyes on the back of my head to barely y it.¡±
Yu Ji-ha detached the Reflector Bit and used it as a stepping stone to get into the cockpit.
The eyes of Bae Seong-min, who peeked inside, sparkled.
¡®There are three symbols on his rank insignia¡ Was he a colonel?¡¯
Or something simr to that.
He hesitated and asked, but he said he was a colonel.
¡°Really? Your final rank was colonel?¡±
¡°I was a colonel for over 20 years. I¡¯m not saying this because I¡¯m misunderstood, but I wasn¡¯t demoted. There was a military rule that pilots could only go up to colonel.¡±
That could be changed, but neither the United Human Federation leadership nor Yu Ji-ha seemed to care.
After all, they were in a crisis of extinction, and what mattered was not a mere rank.
Yu Ji-ha put on his helmet and a familiar voice came from inside the cockpit.
¡¸The synchronization rate is stabilized at 94.95%.¡¹
Is this Arma¡¯s voice?
Bae Seong-min was confused, but Yu Ji-ha rolled up his sleeve and said.
¡°I did some research and found out that I can be a psy-field blocker myself. It¡¯s hard to operate remotely, so I have no choice but to go to where Cocon fell. Arma will control most of it, but please take care of the rest of theints, chief secretary.¡±
Without Yu Ji-ha, he became the acting president.
It didn¡¯t mean that he had the position, but that people asked him.
¡°I¡¯ll do my best.¡±
Yu Ji-ha controlled the Reflector Bit and tapped his shoulder.
¡°Oh my.¡±
¡°Psychics can do that too?¡±
¡°Someone said that. Our president is the strongest psychic in the world.¡±
Soon the hatch closed and the cockpit disappeared.
The Assault Armor slowly rose, and one word was visible on the corner of the body.
¡¸DINGO¡¹
¡°Dingo¡?¡±
Was that the name of the machine?
An ether reverse field spread out and the Assault Armor Dingo, with the eternal colonel on board, disappeared in an instant.
Bae Seong-min, the chief secretary, waved his hand at the staff and entered the main building.
He felt like he would never forget what he saw today.
***
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s Assault Armor was floating in the air above the Sea of Okhotsk.
This was where the most gue cocoons had fallen, almost 15 of them.
Yu Ji-ha sensed that the psy-field density from the cocoons was not good.
¡®The cocoons will open soon.¡¯
He had never experienced the gue Swarm before.
He was in a training session at the space station when the raid urred.
The United Human Federation, which suffered a terrible defeat, started to use ck metal in earnest, and since then, battles were mainly conducted with battleships and Assault Armors.
But he had information about the gue Swarm.
¡¸I will predict the dispersion direction of the pods. The uracy is 93%¡¡¹
Hundreds of lines stretched from each cocoon to the cities.
The whole earth was covered with lines in less than 30 minutes.
That meant that those pods were faster than Earth Fleet, despite their small size.
¡°The bio-ion propulsion system is too good.¡±
¡¸They don¡¯t need anybat power, so they put all their ether into propulsion.¡¹
¡°They are indeed the originators of ether technology.¡±
It was fortunate that they couldn¡¯t make antimatter bombs.
After waiting for a while, Arma sent him the optimized interception sequence data through his biochip.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s vision became dizzy as information was inputted into his brain.
¡°67%¡ As expected, it¡¯s impossible to intercept them all.¡±
¡¸Your body won¡¯t be able to handle it.¡¹
There was no problem with the hardware, such as Dingo and the ether receiver.
The problem was this body, which couldn¡¯t digest ether properly even after undergoing surgery.
In the best situation, that is, if he overloaded the Settler¡¯s ether fusion reactor and risked injury.
Then Dingo could reach a speed of 20,000 kilometers per hour.
This was an incredible speed that could reach Mars in two hours on average.
But that was assuming he used his original body, and with this body that hadn¡¯t undergone proper modification, he couldn¡¯t even achieve 10%.
¡®I have to go back to my original body.¡¯
The United Human Federation would be left to the Supreme Council and Arma, and he would have to return as a soldier and a pilot.
As time passed, people who knew him would die, and he could use a dummy instead without being noticed.
By the way, were the countries well prepared?
He asked Arma, but he got an absurd answer.
¡¸The only countries that fully followed your suggestion were Russia and Germany, and some states in America.¡¹
¡°I thought France had a better image of me.¡±
¡¸Their image improved, but they are too reluctant to leave their cities. They don¡¯t have enough time or manpower.¡¹
¡°They don¡¯t listen even after I warned them that they would die?¡±
¡¸I warned them again in a strong tone, but they finally refused.¡¹
¡°They¡¯re doomed.¡±
Paris and other cities with strict altitude restrictions were better off.
The real danger was modern cities with high-rise buildings and apartments.
When wire disease spread, it would destroy not only the metal frames of buildings but also the rebar inside concrete.
Countless buildings and apartments would copse.
Of course, each country tried their best to operate 100% of their air defensework, but that was not enough.
¡®At least millions of people will die.¡¯
The victims, such as refugees, could reach billions.
It was scary to think what damage would ur when the gue started to raid in earnest.
Should he have used a more aggressive method?
¡®Maybe it would have been better to conquer the world.¡¯
But then there would have been other side effects.
He couldn¡¯t take risks when his future was not guaranteed.
Yu Ji-ha shook off his thoughts and focused on the cocoons deep in the sea floor.
He felt the psy-field density getting thicker in his body.
¡°Arma, there¡¯s not much time left.¡±
¡¸I will warn the governments of each country onest time.¡¹
¡°Use all of the world¡¯s radioworks¡ No, never mind. Just leave them alone.¡±
If they didn¡¯t listen until now, they had to experience it for themselves.
When Yu Ji-ha¡¯s Assault Armor was floating above the Sea of Okhotsk, a crack appeared on a cocoon that fell near Bahamas.
The US Coast Guard detected it but did not take any action.
They nned to feed it with hafnium-2 warheads when it came out.
They said that gue Swarm had no intelligence or strongbat power.
They would only cause a strange phenomenon called metal death, so they had to destroy it before that.
President Bernstein had a weak base of support and was distracted by Megacity, so he couldn¡¯t evacuate the citizens living on the east coast.
No one knew what disaster that would be.
Bubbles rose from the water surface and the patrol ships dropped hafnium-2 torpedoes and started to run away at full speed.
***
gue was an intelligent life form, but there were cases where some individuals had no intelligence.
Swarm was such a case, and the research institute concluded that it was because the size of the individual was too small.
But if someone asked if Swarm was inanimate, there would be no one who agreed.
They had no intelligence, but they had an algorithm close to instinct.
They judged how to inflict the most damage on the enemy.
In that respect, the 50 cocoons that fell on Earth exploded simultaneously, making the interception attempt useless.
The cocoon that exploded near Bahamas sent hundreds of pods to Florida.
¡¸The pods are heading to Miami. Speed 25km per second, current altitude 5km.¡¹
It didn¡¯t take 20 seconds for the pods to reach Miami¡¯s sky.
There was no consideration for ether reverse field or anything, and the shock wave tore through the city and shattered the windows of high-rise buildings.
¡°Damn it!¡±
¡°Aaaah!¡±
The citizens screamed and ran away from the streets.
The anti-aircraft guns installed all over the city were activated, but they exploded before they could be detected by radar.
Bang.
With a somewhat disappointing sound, a huge number of Swarm overturned the city.
The gue Swarm that stuck everywhere spat out particle beams and dposed metal elements.
Soon, the buildings in Miami¡¯s business district began to make ominous noises.
Screech¨D
¡°Huh?¡±
¡°What¡¯s that sound¡¡±
While people were confused, the particle beams quickly prated the concrete and turned the steel frames into sand.
As the steel frames that supported the load became useless, the building copsed under its own weight.
A crack appeared in the middle of the concrete, and it slid down like a slide.
The result was a copse.
Rumble¨D
A huge amount of dust rose and part of the building crashed to the ground.
People who were looking at the sky wondering what the noise was, opened their mouths in horror.
¡°Aaaah!¡±
¡°God!¡±
But there was nowhere to run.
Buildings that couldn¡¯t withstand the load copsed all over the city.
Then, streetmps and vehicles turned into sand, and airnes were no exception.
A passenger ne that happened to be flying near the pod explosion was disassembled in mid-air and scattered more than 100 people.
The people who fell without parachutes died on impact.
And a man who was driving a car had a strange experience of rolling on the ground.
He felt something licking his car, and it broke like a sand castle.
He was dumbfounded, holding only the steering wheel.
¡°What the hell is this?¡±
A huge noise and vibration swept through the city as if an earthquake had urred.
People who lived in low buildings were notpletely unaffected by the damage.
Everything metal in their homes, from forks to refrigerators, was smashed.
The whole city was copsing, and this situation was just the beginning.
Pods that arrived at other destinations sprayed Swarm at once, and the same phenomenon urred as in Miami.
In one port city, a cruise ship that was docked was disassembled as a whole, dropping hundreds of passengers into the sea.
Meanwhile, in a zoo in China, tourists were attacked by a pack of tigers when their cages evaporated.
That¡¯s when Yu Ji-ha¡¯s Assault Armor moved.
¡¸Ether pump activated, fusion reactor at maximum output.¡¹
Ether sent from Settler was delivered to Assault Armor through the receiver.
As ether spewed out from the booster, Assault Armor wrapped in gold disappeared somewhere, leaving only an afterimage.
¡¸Current speed 70km per second, altitude 2km.¡¹
¡®Got them.¡¯
There were dozens of pods flying in formation above him.
¡¸Calcting ejection position, ether blocker activated.¡¹
Just before they detected Assault Armor and released Swarm, hafnium-2 warheads were ejected at precise locations.
Boom!
The seawater split open with a huge explosion and the pods evaporated.
But Assault Armor had already escaped from the st radius.
¡®Next.¡¯
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s eyes pointed to the distant sea and Assault Armor quickly changed direction.
Most physicalws were ignored in ether reverse field, but inertia was not gone.
Yu Ji-ha endured the pain that felt like his whole body was crushed and seeded in changing Assault Armor¡¯s direction.
¡¸Booster at maximum output, current speed 250km per second.¡¹
¡®Ugh!¡¯
Blood rushed to his head and his vision became faint.
His modified heart pumped blood backwards with reverse pumping, causing severe pain.
He didn¡¯t miss the image information sent by Arma even in this situation where his body felt like it would explode.
It was a skill that only Uber pilots who had fought against gue for decades could have.
¡¸Ejection¡¹
A pod cluster evaporated by hafnium-2¡¯s explosion and Assault Armor had already moved hundreds of kilometers away.
An image of Seoul appeared on Yu Ji-ha¡¯s eyes, then blurred and changed to Shanghai.
He moved so fast that he could only see a golden line instead of a shape.
Bae Seong-min, chief secretary, rushed out of the bunker after hearing news of a huge explosion in Sea of Okhotsk.
There was a golden line drawn in the sky.
¡°Is that¡¡±
Then he received a report through his headset.
¡°Ch, chief secretary! There was a huge explosion near Shanghai¡ No, no, Southeast Asia¡¡±
Bae Seong-min sighed and threw off his headset.
He knew who was causing the explosions without looking.
President Yu Ji-ha.
He was flying over Earth¡¯s sky with Assault Armor.
Thanks to him, United Human Federation hardly suffered from wire disease.
But he couldn¡¯t say the same for major cities of other countries.
He entered the bunker and saw images taken by artificial satellites upying dozens of monitors.
The staff groaned at the terrible sight.
Humanity¡¯s doom was approaching.
Chapter 180: Hand Over the Bundle
Chapter 180: Hand Over the Bundle
The world was struck by the wire disease caused by the gue swarm.
This terrible disease destroyed the metal elements¡¯ bonding structure in a short time.
Only a few metals, such as mercury and ck metal, could withstand it.
Dozens of cities copsed, and buildings were sinking at this very moment.
¡°I can¡¯t believe it! The skyscrapers in Madrid are falling down one by one! Luckily, our helicopter is¡ Aaah!¡±
¡°The ships anchored at the port are disappearing without a trace! Is this really the work of the cosmic monster, as he prophesied? Or is it God¡¯s curse?¡±
While countless citizens were dying, those who had believed Yu Ji-ha¡¯s words and fled early did not boast of their foresight, but only stared nkly at the crumbling city.
¡°My house is copsing¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s all over now¡¡±
The existence of the gue was certainly threatening, but most people did not recognize it.
It was because they tended to ignore things that were not rted to them, as was the characteristic of modern society.
Many people had also dismissed the gue swarm that Yu Ji-ha had emphasized and warned about.
¨DHow could humanity be destroyed by some cosmic monster? The government is not stupid, they will handle it.
There were some people who prepared seriously, but most of them thought like this.
Even though there was no guarantee that the peace so far would continue in the future.
Anyway, this disaster was so huge that there were very few people who could say that it had nothing to do with them.
Even the broadcasters who had been critical of Yu Ji-ha until now were sighing that it was a disaster that was too hard to cope with.
But not all cities were destroyed by the wire disease.
The United Federation of Humanity and Russia, Germany and several countries in East Asia seeded in escaping from the threat of the gue swarm.
It helped that Earth Fleet was holding on to Terra Ind and Yu Ji-ha intercepted arge number of them with his assault armor.
But they couldn¡¯t save everything, so some cities like Qingdao in China and Nagoya in Japan were hit directly.
¡°The sky is falling!¡±
¡°Run outside! Keep your head down!¡±
They were quick to respond because they had suffered from earthquakes a lot.
In the meantime, Yu Ji-ha and Dingo flew through Southeast Asia and headed for India to intercept Ford, then flew to the Middle East.
It took only a few minutes to fly almost 10,000 kilometers.
But at that price, he was in a serious injury.
¡®My body can¡¯t handle it more than I thought.¡¯
Ether responsiveness and circuits were closely rted to the soul, but not so much to the body.
Of course, a healthy body would be easier to ept and use ether, but Yu Ji-ha was far beyond that level.
At some point, the virtual ether organ engraved on his right chest glowed brightly and a burning pain eroded his body.
¡®Chief Engineer, at this rate¡¡¯
He barely managed to recover his blurred vision.
The cerebrospinal fluid became cloudy and there was a dy in feedback, but he solved it by entering brainwave signals 0.05 seconds earlier.
It was almost a miracle that he did so while flying at 200 km per hour and intercepting Ford.
If he had been an ordinary pilot, he would have given up halfway through, but he dragged his assault armor up to Russia.
His physical condition was worse than he expected.
When Arma did a medical check through the cockpit, he had tond immediately.
Most of the tremendous eleration was ignored by the ether field, but some of it was directly transferred to his body.
Yu Ji-ha had to endure almost 20G of murderous eleration.
¡®I need a particle suit.¡¯
Unfortunately, there was no particle suit in the database of Settler either.
It wasn¡¯t very difficult to make one as long as you did nanomachine research, but you had to be careful.
Yu Ji-ha wiped off the liquid dripping from his nose and headed straight for Russia.
President Mikhailov mobilized the army to evacuate people, so Moscow and St. Petersburg were empty.
Most of the citizens were staying in tents in the suburbs when they saw a golden line drawn in the air and started cheering.
¡°He¡¯s here!¡±
¡°Ooooooh!¡±
For most Russians, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s name was a symbol of trust and hope.
Of course, this good rtionship was a result of his n, but anyway their lives were improving so it didn¡¯t matter.
They all raised their arms and cheered when suddenly a white light shed in the distance.
The hafnium-2 warhead separated from the assault armor exploded and swept away Ford where the gue swarm was stored.
Despite the shock wave and strong wind blowing btedly, Russians did not stop cheering.
¡°This is it!¡±
¡°This is really a damn cool festival!¡±
For rough Russians, this huge disaster seemed like nothing too.
Yu Ji-ha and his assault armor left Russia and turned to Europe.
His body was so painful that it felt like it was breaking, and the helmet was full of blood.
He resorted to thest resort of injecting a mixture of painkillers and typhon beyond the allowable amount.
A mechanical arm stretched out from the cockpit and stabbed a syringe into his thigh.
¡°Master, your heartbeat is irregr. I can¡¯t rmend any more flight.¡±
¡®I have to do it anyway.¡¯
His brain was so overworked that the image sent by the biochip began to blur.
Still, he couldn¡¯t stop.
Just a little more.
¡®Just a little more!¡¯
The assault armor crossed the Antic at a tremendous speed.
When Yu Ji-ha¡¯s consciousness faded in the middle, the ether field was briefly released.
Despite the high altitude, the seawater evaporated in a straight line and a loud noise erupted.
Kwakwakwakwa¨D
As a result, the innocent citizens of the Azores suffered from broken windows.
When they looked up, the assault armor had arrived on the east coast of America and was crossing the continent after receiving information.
¡°Most of the attacks are over, and LA and San Francisco in California are left.¡±
¡®Do we have time?¡¯
¡°It¡¯s close. You might have to give up one ce.¡±
¡®Reflecter bits from satellites. I¡¯ll control them.¡¯
¡°Master¡¯s brain may be damaged.¡±
Moving reflecter bits was an application of psych field, but calcting distance and angle was purely brain¡¯s job.
Even with the help of biochip, he couldn¡¯t prevent his brain from being overworked.
Nevertheless, Yu Ji-ha gave an order to eject without hesitation.
¡°Satellite control system and master¡¯s biochip are now connected.¡±
¡®Eject.¡¯
Nearly 100 reflecter bits were ejected from two satellites.
The bits controlled by Yu Ji-ha¡¯s brain spread out in space and formed a certain angle.
¡®Laser at maximum output.¡¯
A goldenser beam shot from the Sibiri satellite and reflected several times on the reflector bits.
Hundreds of pulsesers pierced through the clouds and descended to the ground.
It was a dangerous situation where a slight mistake could cause the high-poweredser to bomb the city.
But Yu Ji-ha¡¯s calction was perfect.
The reflector bits ejected from the assault armor urately reflected theser.
For a moment, a golden spider web seemed to hang over LA.
Ford, who was about to release the swarm, was prated by the etherser and disappeared without a trace.
As the second and thirdser bombings continued, hundreds of Fords exploded in the air.
Papapapang!
A dizzying fireworks disy unfolded over downtown LA.
The people did not understand what was going on, but President Bernstein, who was in the bunker, clenched his fist.
¡°Yes! That¡¯s it!¡±
He had been briefed beforehand, so he knew what had happened.
Yu Ji-ha, who had circled the earth two-thirds of the way, had intercepted the gue swarm that appeared over LA.
What looked like a spider web was an etherser, a high-powered weapon that was different from iron beams.
It could easily cut through buildings, so one could imagine how dangerous it was.
The assault armor headed straight for San Francisco and slowed down considerably.
Yu Ji-ha almost lost consciousness in the process of booster reverse thrusting.
His vision was blurred by the pain that enveloped his whole body, so he could not see the image of the city clearly.
But he felt exactly dozens of Fords that appeared over San Francisco.
They were spewing out his most hated psy-field.
¡®This is¡ the end!¡¯
Decades of fighting experience created the optimal altitude and timing.
Dingo followed the flock of Fords with a dizzying trajectory and detached the warhead.
Kukung.
A huge explosion urred over San Francisco and the assault armor was thrown away by the shockwave.
The armed Ford prepared by Arma flew up and wrapped around the assault armor from both sides.
¡¸The final interception rate is 97.65%. Good job, master. Please rest well.¡¹
He did not hear her words.
Dingo fainted and was taken to Settler.
***
The world that experienced wireworms trembled at their vicious power.
No urate count was made, but it was certain that they had suffered tremendous damage.
Skyscrapers and apartments copsed, bridges and vehicles were smashed, and only a few survived.
Some media reported that millions of people died worldwide and suffered fierce criticism.
¡ªThat¡¯s a lie! There¡¯s no way that many people died!
¡ªWhy did they have to announce that at this point? Shouldn¡¯t we mourn for the dead first?
But it was true that they didn¡¯t have much room to protest.
The cities that suffered heavy damage from wirewormspletely lost their functions.
Most of the citizens lost their homes and became homeless.
Humanity faced destruction created by gue.
Of course, there were countries that did not suffer much damage.
A few countries, including the United Human Federation, survived with minimal damage in this disaster.
There were eyewitness ounts of seeing new-shaped fighters and golden lines in several cities, but they did not make much of a ssh.
The damage was too great.
A few percent of humanity lost their minds in direct disaster.
Everyone just stared nkly at the ruined city without even thinking about recovery.
In the midst of this, opinions began to emerge as to why the United Human Federation was fine.
¡ªThe United Human Federation foresaw this situation and prepared perfectly. It was possible because they had Yu Ji-ha.
¡ªck metal did not dpose even by wireworms. It¡¯s an amazing metal.
¡ªThey built a huge city with ck metal, so it naturally became a defense.
¡ªYu Ji-ha warned us in advance, but most of us did not take it seriously because of circumstances. We are paying for it now.
¡ªLet¡¯s discuss it at the UN General Assembly first.
The General Assembly was held, but no proper discussion took ce because major powers such as the United Human Federation, the United States, and Russia did not attend.
Even France and Germany did not show up, so they wondered what kind of assembly it was for.
The atmosphere was not good either. As soon as Britain¡¯s keynote speech ended, boos erupted everywhere.
¡°There are so many empty seats just after the keynote speech. I don¡¯t know what this assembly means.¡±
¡°It¡¯s a waste of time to discuss anything when there is no United Human Federation, America, Russia or Germany. Let¡¯s stop now.¡±
¡°It would be better for you to go to the recovery site and dig a shovel for your country.¡±
Amidst criticism voices, the assembly proceeded anyway.
Some countries appealed for support as they suffered too much damage. Some diplomats pointed out that the United Human Federation was fine.
¡°It literally survived alone. I wonder if the name of the alliance is appropriate for such a country.¡±
They said it because there was no one from the United Human Federation anyway, and quite a few sympathizers came out.
¡°That¡¯s right. ording to the information we obtained, the United Human Federation only had a few hundred injured. They survived by building shelters in ces other than megacities. If they had only helped us a little, so many people would not have died.¡±
¡°How did they build those shelters? I have a rough idea, though.¡±
¡°They said they piled up ck metal in an instant. If they had only wanted to help us, more shelters could have been built. More people could have survived.¡±
Strictly speaking, this was wrong.
Yu Ji-ha had warned several times about the danger of gue through Arma and Vice Chief Baek Sungmin, and said he could cooperate if they wanted.
Those who ignored all that were the countries that were ¡®not friendly with Yu Ji-ha¡¯, including the Middle East.
The Iranian diplomat raised his voice with blood in his neck.
¡°He said he would build an ark to preserve humanity? How can he say that when he almost watched this situation? He is not a savior of humanity, but a traitor!¡±
¡°That¡¯s right!¡±
¡°We need to demand more information from him!¡±
¡°Make him attend the assembly!¡±
Voices of agreement popped up everywhere.
But there was no big country that could make such a demand to Yu Ji-ha.
It was just a part of getting more influence in the UN and getting more support.
They still had to listen to the scarecrow sound because there were still many countries joined.
The diplomats from various countries stood up and the already noisy assembly atmosphere turned into a mess.
Overall, they demanded a responsible attitude from Yu Ji-ha.
They imed that he had a considerable stake in the damage they suffered.
¡ªOur people died because he did not warn us enough. We can¡¯t let him off the hook, but we¡¯ll be satisfied if he visits our country and expresses his condolences.
¡ªHow did he manage to keep the United Human Federation intact? He has to reveal his method.
As the impudent voices grew louder, suddenly a few people approached the podium.
They were President Bernstein of the United States, President Mikhailov of Russia, and their entourage.
The assembly hall quickly turned into a buzzing atmosphere.
They were not members of the UN, so they had no right to attend and speak at the assembly, but no one could stop them.
President Bernstein apologized and took over the podium.
¡°I have taken an unauthorized ce. It is to point out the irresponsible attitude and nonsense of the UN diplomats.¡±
He dropped a bombshell from the start.
¡°What are you talking about?¡±
As protests arose here and there, he raised his voice.
¡°The reason you can talk nonsense here is because of President Yu¡¯s help. He flew a specially made fighter around the world. He saved many people by intercepting countless gues. You must have seen the huge explosions and ethersers witnessed in the skies of various countries.¡±
The diplomats¡¯ eyes wavered.
There were quite a lot of such eyewitness ounts, but they did not be a hot topic because the situation was so serious.
How important was it to witness an unidentified explosion and fighter while the city was copsing and people were dying?
But ording to Bernstein¡¯s remarks, it was not something insignificant.
¡°In that short moment when Coon exploded and wireworms spread, President Yu¡¯s fighter flew in the sky of the world. He smashed thousands of gues. His flight trajectory is as follows. Shanghai, China. Offshore Jakarta, Indonesia, Kolkata in the Bay of Bengal¡¡±
A total of 100 ces popped up, and the diplomats of the named countries could not hide their embarrassment.
¡°Well, there was an explosion.¡±
¡°Are you saying that our city was spared thanks to President Yu?¡±
¡°Wait a minute, are you saying that he saved millions of people?¡±
¡°That¡¯s impossible. It¡¯s impossible to travel around the world in such a short time.¡±
¡°Who do you think he is?¡±
There was a thud sound, and it turned out that President Mikhailov had taken over the podium and was kicking his shoes repeatedly.
Did those Russians not speak unless they were excited?
Everyone looked at him with disbelief, but he shouted with anger.
¡°You are all stupid beyond measure! You only denied everything about him, so you experienced this situation! You should be ashamed!¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that too harsh?¡±
Someone got up with a sigh and he red at him.
¡°It¡¯s China that¡¯s harsh! President Yu saved you, your people and your city without even knowing it, and you¡¯re making such a noise? Does it make sense? Don¡¯t you have any conscience as a human being?¡±
¡°¡¡±
If this was true, China and he weremitting a very big breach of etiquette.
He couldn¡¯t imagine how many casualties there would have been if Shanghai had copsed.
The state councilor was silent and Bernstein spoke quietly.
¡°We, humanity, owe President Yu a great debt. But it seems that you have no intention of repaying it by your attitude. I will surely tell him when he wakes up.¡±
His firm statement made the diplomats flustered and they got up hesitantly.
¡°We didn¡¯t mean that¡¡±
¡°There were so many casualties, right? It seems that there were some rough remarks in the process of expressing regret.¡±
But they ignored them and left with their entourage.
All that remained were diplomats standing in confusion.
And Yu Ji-ha, who had been in a healing capsule for three days, opened his eyes.
He saw Arma holding a towel in his eyes.
She seemed to be alive fortunately.
Yu Ji-ha closed his eyes again.
He was tired¡
Chapter 181: Disappointment
Chapter 181: Disappointment
Yu Ji-ha had a meal on the Settler for the first time in a long while.
He remembered how bewildered he was when he first arrived at the East Sea, as he ate a nd diet in front of Arma.
The only difference was that he had gotten used to eating raw fish.
The Settler had been repaired, and the Megacity was notpleted yet, but it had reached a stable orbit.
He thought that it would take about 20 years of hardship to prevent the gue from spreading.
Most of the problems could be left to Arma, but he needed his help for training pilots.
¡°Analyze the data we collected this time and adjust the pilot seeds.¡±
Yu Ji-ha had pushed himself hard in this gue Swarm interception.
It was natural to do so, since the gue was his enemy, but he also wanted to get some properbat data.
He wanted to umte data on how to deal with the gue Swarm under the worst conditions, putting a strain on his body.
He had data on the regr gue units stored in the Settler, but the data on the Swarm was scarce.
It was likely that they were neglected because they were not very useful in frontal battles.
Arma nodded as he sat down.
¡°I¡¯ll set yourbat data as the training goal for the pilots.¡±
Well, wouldn¡¯t that be too much?
Yu Ji-ha was a kind of ultimate weapon secretly created by the United Humanity¡¯s leadership, who hated the gue.
He was designed to surpass human limits by coding his genes from the imntation stage and inserting psychic and pilot seeds.
Most of his organs, such as his heart, lungs, semicircr canals, and eyes, were modified with new materials, so he could be called a cyborg without any problem.
Hisbat experience honed with that body was not easy for others to imitate.
¡°Don¡¯t set the limit too high, or they might give up before they start. It¡¯s better to adjust the seed abilities moderately.¡±
Even if they provided a great physique with pilot seeds, it was another dimension to use it in realbat.
If they gave his original seed carelessly, they might ruin the pilots who could expect more than average performance.
His biological children also had that tendency.
They were frustrated because their limits were high but their skills could not catch up.
¡°Lower the seed specs but train them with mybat data. Don¡¯t tell them it¡¯s my data, just say that this is possible in the best situation.¡±
Arma nodded and entered some data on the panel.
¡°I hope they can follow at least half of it.¡±
¡°If that¡¯s possible, we don¡¯t have to worry about the gue.¡±
If there were 10 psychics like Yu Ji-ha, humanity would not have been annihted like that.
But that was impossible, so Arma nned to mass-produce psychics with lower specs.
This n was going smoothly so far.
The only thingcking was time, as the gue¡¯s attacks were getting more intense every day.
¡°Next time, there might be more high-ranking unitsing out.¡±
¡°We can fight in this state, but outside of Megacity will surely be destroyed.¡±
¡°We don¡¯t need to worry about that.¡±
Yu Ji-ha felt some sympathy for the people outside of Megacity and was willing to help them as much as possible, but after a certain point, that would be impossible too.
Megacity had a strong istionism and was aplete world in itself.
As the gue¡¯s attacks progressed, the gap between inside and outside would widen and this would cause fierce conflicts.
¡°Everyone wants a cozy shelter in an apocalyptic situation. But we¡¯ll only let in those who are prepared and cooperative enough.¡±
Not everyone outside of Megacity was uncooperative and unprepared.
But he didn¡¯t need to let in those who opposed and hated him until now.
Yu Ji-ha heard that there were still voices criticizing him in this situation.
¡°They don¡¯t have to take any responsibility, but they would be satisfied if you provide more information and express your condolences. They probably want to turn around the negative public opinion in their countries.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t they get smashed by two presidents at the UN General Assembly?¡±
¡°They apologized for selling your name a bit in the process.¡±
¡°Well, that happens sometimes.¡±
Yu Ji-ha was human too, so he didn¡¯t want to bother those who were friendly to him.
They were also people who would take a seat in the Supreme Council soon, so he had to treat them well.
¡°Anyway, there¡¯s no big movement yet even though they¡¯re dissatisfied.¡±
¡°They suffered too much damage. There are many ces where the country is copsing.¡±
¡°The chief secretary must have a headache. I should go see him soon.¡±
He would probably refuse any unreasonable requests if he had some sense, but he still had to make decisions as president.
Yu Ji-ha looked at the damage data that Arma handed him.
There were millions of casualties and dozens of cities hadpletely lost their functions.
There were also many ces where the infrastructure, such as bridges and power nts, was damaged and it would take years to recover.
¡°Not different from what I expected. I guess that¡¯s lucky.¡±
¡°It¡¯s the result of you taking the burden.¡±
If Yu Ji-ha hadn¡¯t stepped in, there would have been more zeros in the death toll.
But it was also possible that he had elerated the gue¡¯s attack bying back to the past.
¡°Ignore the nonsense about apologizing. But if there are ces that ask for help, help them as much as you can.¡±
The world outside of Megacity had already started to walk a different path, but it was not time to splitpletely yet.
It was because they stillcked poption.
They both had something they wanted, so it was better topromise moderately.
As time passed, the door would narrow and eventually close.
Yu Ji-ha looked at the selection of the Supreme Council.
The Megacity was currently ruled entirely by the Administration Bureau, but it had to transfer some of its functions to the Supreme Council.
It would cause more confusion if they handed over all the rights at once, so it was better to start with simple things.
For example, adjusting the production items of the smart farm.
The Megacity was producing a lot of food on its own, but it had a problem with the variety.
Cheese, for instance, could be produced very cheaply, but there were not many types to satisfy the demand of immigrants from Europe or America.
They would discuss and adjust that in the council.
However, since it was done under the management of artificial intelligence, it was not really transferring authority.
Anyway, this selection included Chief Secretary Baek Seong-min.
He said that his public service was over by serving Yu Ji-ha, but he was too good to end there.
¡°He¡¯s a full citizen now, so he¡¯s qualified. I should talk to him seriously this time.¡±
¡°He might refuse because he¡¯s too harassed by politicians from other countries.¡±
That could be true.
He might be persuaded if he had a drink with him andined that he had no one to rely on.
Yu Ji-ha ate and looked over his roadmap for the future.
¡°I¡¯ll start with gic engineering in the medical field. But don¡¯t reveal the soul switcher.¡±
¡°Yes. We¡¯ll keep that in the Settler.¡±
After defeating the gue, the Supreme Council seized power and Yu Ji-ha¡¯s responsibility was over.
He had to retire from the history, but he felt sorry to leave Arma behind.
He thought that the strong artificial intelligence would be better used in the United Human Federation than in the Pioneer Front.
When he casually asked her intention, Arma gave him an unexpected answer.
¡°I have been yours since I picked you up on Mars, Master. I have to bear a child, so I will follow you to the Prophet¡¯s homnd.¡±
¡°What if you be a space orphan with nothing?¡±
¡°Then I can travel with Master.¡±
She seemed too determined to change her mind.
Well, there was no choice.
They had to travel the universe together.
***
Four dayster, Yu Ji-ha returned to the Blue House.
He was greeted by his secretary-general Bae Sungmin and his secretaries, as well as Wang Xian, the chairman of China.
ording to Lee Eegi, he arrived in Seoul two days ago.
¡°Why are you here? You must be busy¡¡±
Yu Ji-ha asked him bluntly and Bae Sungmin exined in a softened tone.
¡°It seems that a Chinese diplomat made some rude remarks about you at the UN General Assembly.¡±
¡°Really? I didn¡¯t hear that¡ Let me see the minutes.¡±
Yu Ji-ha sighed after reading the minutes handed by his secretary.
¡°They still have a lot of resentment against me.¡±
¡°It¡¯s only some people. And thanks to President Bernstein and President Mikhailov¡¯s efforts, everyone knows the truth now.¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t risk my life for this¡¡±
He looked disappointed as he threw away the minutes with his shoulders slumped.
Bae Sungmin followed him into his office and tried to cheer him up.
¡°I heard you suffered a serious injury that required a few days of recovery. Who would ignore your contribution?¡±
¡°It¡¯s good that you appreciate it, secretary-general.¡±
As they were talking, Yu Ji-ha brought up the topic of the Supreme Council.
¡°There is an organization called the Supreme Council in the Mega City Administration Bureau. You¡¯ve heard of it, right?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve heard of it by name.¡±
As the name suggested, it was expected to be the highest decision-making body of the United Human Federation in the future.
However, it was not doing anything meaningful in the current situation.
¡°They are electing members for it¡ I want you to join too.¡±
¡°Me?¡±
He looked surprised as if he had never thought of it.
Yu Ji-ha passed by him and whispered in a low voice.
¡°It¡¯s an organization that will rule over the entire United Human Federation. Onlyplete citizens are eligible, and they have voting rights. But I want to appoint some qualified people as candidates before that. Yes. Like you¡¡±
Bae Sungmin was flustered by his boss¡¯s hopeful voice.
He wanted to end his political career as a secretary-general.
He was young for a politician, but what more could he do after serving the president of the United Human Federation?
He had raised his children and wanted to livefortably with his wife in Mega City South.
¡°I¡¡±
¡°Starting is always important. In that sense, I want to have important people in the Supreme Council. Like President Bernstein or President Mikhailov¡ Thetter is a bit old and won¡¯t be active for long. But he will be enough to set up the foundation.¡±
So he meant that he should work with them to run the United Human Federation.
Bae Sungmin wanted to say no, but he couldn¡¯t say it out loud.
He felt that his boss was only looking at him.
Could he disappoint him again after he had been disappointed by humanity?
Yu Ji-ha spoke slowly.
¡°You will be able to do well in the Supreme Council, secretary-general. Of course, I¡¯m not asking you to devote yourself to it right away.¡±
¡°That¡¡±
¡°Selection is always hard. In that sense, I would feel relieved if you joined the Supreme Council. You are my confidant.¡±
He appealed with his pale and thin face and Bae Sungmin couldn¡¯t say no in front of him.
He lowered his head and agreed and Yu Ji-ha patted his shoulder.
¡°Good choice. There are benefits for being a member, so contact the Mega City Administration Bureau. And let¡¯s meet Chairman Wang Xian.¡±
A few minutester, he entered the office and asked Yu Ji-ha to save him.
¡°What do you mean by saving you?¡±
¡°The damage is too big this time. I¡¯m doomed without your help.¡±
Yu Ji-ha did intercept Ford near Shanghai, but that was not all.
There were Fords that he couldn¡¯t intercept in time and they attacked eastern China, destroying two citiespletely.
There were nearly 40 million refugees and the power nt facilities that had just started to recover were reduced to ashes.
It was natural to feel a sense of crisis that he could really go bankrupt at this rate.
¡°Really? But the Chinese ministers don¡¯t seem to think so.¡±
¡°The one who made the rude remarks to you at the UN has been purged. He will be executed soon.¡±
¡°No, I mean, you don¡¯t have to go that far¡ Anyway, let me hear your request.¡±
¡°I need a Mega City.¡±
Of course, that was it.
The people¡¯s perception of Mega City hadpletely changed after the gue swarm incident.
From a brutal detention facility of a dictator to an ark for the preservation of humanity.
Even the European human rights activists who had criticized the drones and the CP system stopped talking.
The gue swarm that swept over Europe paralyzed dozens of cities.
Only Mega City was intact, so it was natural to change their minds.
Yu Ji-ha asked him.
¡°Do you know how much it costs to build a Mega City? It¡¯s not free.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. But China is willing to pay any price.¡±
¡°Let me tell you from my perspective. I was almost kidnapped by China and threatened my life. We even fought a war. Isn¡¯t it nonsense to ask for the same treatment as the US or Germany?¡±
He was right.
The rtionship between Yu Ji-ha and China was never easy and it was still ongoing.
There was still a strong anti-Yu Ji-ha sentiment in China.
It was just that Wang Xian suppressed it.
He tried to justify it, but Yu Ji-ha spoke first.
¡°And everyone has a fantasy about Mega City. They want to leave the management to the artificial intelligence, but they also want to supervise it themselves. That¡¯s what many people request. Isn¡¯t that just wanting to eat the sweet fruit of Mega City?¡±
Also, many people¡¯s perception of Mega City had improved, but they disagreed on the ownership.
Many Europeans criticized the Mega City being built in Germany.
¨DMega City is the property of the United Human Federation. It¡¯s uneptable to give upnd for it in their own country.
¨DEven if the overall management is left to the artificial intelligence, it must be confirmed that it is Italy¡¯s property and controlled by Italian politicians. Otherwise, we cannot introduce Mega City.
So they meant that they would supervise it if the United Human Federation made it for them.
Yu Ji-ha had no reason to ept that.
¡°I can¡¯t build a megacity like that, where they have all the talent and all the benefits for themselves¡ All megacities must be under the control of the United Human Federation.¡±
¡°Does that apply to Russia, America, and Germany as well?¡±
¡°Russia is already preparing to integrate into the United Human Federation, aren¡¯t they? The megacities in the other two countries are also controlled by the United Human Federation.¡±
President Wang Xian hesitated and then said.
¡°I will give you one trillion yuan for one megacity. It¡¯s a small token of appreciation for you, Mr. President.¡±
¡°Are you still talking about money? What value does that have?¡±
Money can be printed as much as they want, can¡¯t it?
There would be serious side effects, but China was not in a position to bear them.
President Wang Xian still refused to give up his ownership rights even after hearing that.
¡°Please let me build at least one. I will do my best.¡±
¡°I refuse if it has to be under China¡¯s control. No matter what conditions you offer, that won¡¯t change.¡±
Faced with a firm stance, President Wang Xian had to leave without gaining anything.
The meeting reports submitted by each country were almost the same.
¡°Do they think they can manage the megacities themselves? That¡¯s absurd.¡±
They offered a lot of money, but the megacities were priceless.
How cheap could a facility that could amodate 100 million people be?
It took more than 10 years of effort with the power of the United Human Federation, and managing it was impossible without Arma, the super artificial intelligence.
If they used the materials for ordinary cities, they could make 100 New Yorks.
What kind of nonsense was it to buy such an expensive city cheaply and manage it themselves?
¡°They still haven¡¯te to their senses.¡±
He was disappointed with the situation awareness of each country.
He thought that if they were hit by the gue Swarm, they would discuss integration more seriously, and he could tolerate that.
Originally, Arma¡¯s calction was 1.5 billion, so it was not a big problem even if it increased a little.
But the politicians of each country were still focused on maintaining their own power.
He checked the proposals of each country through Arma and contacted his secretary¡¯s office.
¡°Cancel all summit meetings with countries that proposed to introduce megacities.¡±
There were voices of regret, but meeting without prior coordination was a waste of time.
Dozens of meetings were canceled, and the secretaries, including Baek Seong-min, had to work overtime to rearrange the schedule.
***
Instead of the summit meetings, he entered a meeting with Bernstein and Mikhailov.
The time for tteringpliments passed, and President Bernstein mentioned the core issue.
¡°It¡¯s clear now. Humanity cannot survive without megacities. In that sense, America will split in two.¡±
¡°Will the remaining people agree?¡±
¡°They have no choice. They only want the west coast. Hawaii and Guam will have their own votes to decide which side they belong to.¡±
The United States of America was in danger of splitting after 258 years of founding.
¡°California and Oregon have already given positive answers, followed by Washington. A separationmittee will be set up soon and voting will begin.¡±
It was a bold n to cut off only the west coast and join the United Human Federation.
There would be no resistance, but many Americans seemed interested in running their ownnd.
¨DWe can never be with the United Human Federation, so it¡¯s better to split up now.
¨DI¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s okay. There are not one or two cities that have been hit by the gue Swarm. Isn¡¯t it right to get help from them? Only megacities were fine.
¨DThe United Human Federation canceled the meeting with us. They won¡¯t give us megacities.
Strictly speaking, he only said that he couldn¡¯t hand over the ownership rights of megacities.
It was not strange to hand over something that required national-level funds to currency or something like that.
The arguments of politicians from other countries whoined about Russia, America, and Germany overlooked the fact that they had a special rtionship with the United Human Federation.
They would soon enter into a bteral agreement, so what was wrong with giving them a house now?
The problem was those who were swayed by such incitement and acted rashly.
¡°Soon the doors of megacities will close. The defense system is already ready and megacities will be reborn as perfect self-sufficient cities. Even if the connection between megacities is cut off, we can at least secure food.¡±
Each megacity had its own energy source and smart farm, which made it possible.
Megacity Afghanistan was a bitcking in that aspect, but it would be solved soon.
¡°We should start the integration soon.¡±
¡°Please ept as many people as possible. But the conditions must never be lowered. There is now that prevents them from doing the violent speech they have done so far inside megacities.¡±
It was not only about the haters of him, but also about serious criminals, conspirators, and believers who demanded religious facilities.
There were also various other conditions, and only a few people could enter megacities.
Someone might ask him this.
¨DThen what about those who can¡¯t enter megacities? Do you want them to die?
He would answer this.
¨DThat¡¯s their problem.
It was an unreasonable request to ask him to take responsibility for all of humanity.
But there were quite a few people who couldn¡¯t ept that.
The global economy was heading for hell and logistics were not working properly either.
Food imports were not possible and some countries started rationing.
Riots becamemonce and security became unstable.
In this situation, many people wanted to enter megacities.
But the doors of megacities were getting narrower over time.
Chapter 182: Death if not in Megacity!
Chapter 182: Death if not in Megacity!
After the gue swarm crisis, the United States began to seriously discuss integration.
President Bernstein¡¯s n was topletely separate the three western states.
Hawaii and Guam agreed and joined the separationmittee, which started to operate actively.
The Americans, as always, opposed first and then saw, but there was also a considerable opinion that they should split up this time.
They said they would rather live apart than admit to maintaining the federation.
But when New York and Virginia expressed their support, public opinion caught fire.
The remnants of the United States insisted that New York and Virginia should never be allowed, regardless of other ces.
¡ªNew York is not in the west, but in the east, and it didn¡¯t suffer much damage in this crisis. Why do they want to join the United Human Federation?
¡ªThey must have been shocked by the Manhattan incident. And a significant number of New Yorkers have a positive perspective on the United Human Federation.
Not all of them, but most of the intellectuals tended to have a favorable reaction to the United Human Federation.
Of course, this excluded those who could notpromise on freedom and human rights.
The Americans insisted that New York was fine, but Virginia was absolutely uneptable, but in the referendum, 65% of the votes were in favor.
¡ªUsually only people who are interested do such a vote. This is invalid.
¡ªDo you think they care if you say that from outside? This is Virginia¡¯s problem.
¡ªThe United States is a federation and cannot give up even a little! What is the president doing? Suppress it quickly like in 1957.
In 1957, the federal government used force to protect the rights of cks.
It was not a suitable case for the current United States, and the military was ineffective and had no troops.
Despite various controversies, President Bernstein pushed for separation.
He announced at the White House that there was no other way than joining the United Human Federation, facing reporters who attacked him mercilessly.
¡°Today, the gue has threatened our survival. The world¡¯s economy is at a standstill, and countries are in a situation where they have to invest astronomical finances to rebuild cities. There are even ces where the whole country is copsing¡¡±
¡°In contrast, Megacity was rtively peaceful. The supplies were delivered without fail and there was no rumor. Megacity was the only one that did not suffer any damage.¡±
¡°As a result, I hope that the United States will join the ranks of integration. California, Washington and Oregon have already expressed their willingness to participate. If Megacity America is established here, serious integration will begin.¡±
The world was shocked by this statement from none other than the President of the United States.
Some people cursed him as a madman and some nodded and admitted that there was no other way.
The sure thing was that the world was divided in half.
The United Human Federation including Megacity and others.
Russia already had a riot of people wanting to integrate quickly and even Germany had politicians and bureaucrats appearing on TV programs analyzing the benefits of integration.
Some said it was more fun than Germany¡¯sedy program.
¡ªThe United Human Federation has a federal character, but artificial intelligence management inevitably limits freedom.
¡ªBut in a global disaster situation, it is natural to limit freedom and human rights. Are apocalypse movies peaceful?
¡ªYu Ji-ha also tries to delegate power by supporting the Supreme Council. Then we should join quickly and have our own voice.
Indeed, Germans are rational people.
It didn¡¯t take long for a vote to start after a heated discussion on whether to withdraw from EU officially and join the United Human Federation.
The result was an overwhelming 78% in favor.
Germany probably felt the misery of Eastern and Southern Europe directly because it was in the middle of Europe.
As integration issues stirred up America and Europe, Japan also began to think seriously.
¡ªShould we join too?
¡ªI oppose. Japan did not suffer much damage in this crisis. It¡¯s opportunism.
Many Japanese did not know that they were lucky geographically because they were next to Terra Ind.
Earth Fleet protected Terra Ind while taking care of Japan as well.
It wasn¡¯t intentional, but it was close to protecting Japan because the operational radius was so wide.
The Japanese media acknowledged that the United Human Federation was strong and Megacity was great, but imed that it did not suit Japanese people.
¡°Salmon belly meat is not produced in smart farms. This is a serious problem.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t give up on fatty tuna.¡±
¡°And the residential form is¡ too Korean. It¡¯s not what Japanese people prefer.¡±
They pointed out that Megacity¡¯s residential area was too close together andcked personal space.
However, most of the people who watched these programs were middle-aged or older.
They acknowledged the United Human Federation but their position was that it was not enough to convince them.
¡ªThe United Human Federation should use excellent Japanese talent more if they want to do so.
¡ªShouldn¡¯t they pay more attention to residential facilities? At least it should be a two-story house.
While they were deluded, Japan¡¯s young generation continued to leak out.
The Statistics Bureau detected the poption outflow of the young generation and became contemtive.
¡ªIn one month, as many as 170,000 people immigrated to the United Human Federation. This is a serious situation.
-Most of these 170,000 people are very young in their 20s and 30s. Japan¡¯s aging is elerating.
Japan¡¯s aging was already a serious problem, but the United Human Federation sucked up the poption and faced a crisis that would be a big deal if they did not take action immediately.
But the Japanese government was indecisive and could not make a decision.
There was too much public opinion against joining the United Human Federation.
The best thing that Japanese people could allow was to bring in Megacity, but Yu Ji-ha refused it.
¡°Megacity is the property of the United Human Federation. Therefore, the management authority and the supervising entity are also in the United Human Federation. If you can¡¯t ept that, there is no Megacity either.¡±
It would be ufortable for any Japanese to have the United Human Federation settle on Japanese territory.
They gave up many inds including Okinawa and Tsushima, but the maind was too much for most people.
¡ªIf it¡¯s not Megacity, it¡¯s death!
¡ªMegacity should be built and managed by Japan¡¯s money. No other way is eptable.
¡ªJapan did not suffer much damage in this crisis. Japan is a country protected by God!
They seemed to not even think that they were protected by Earth Fleet, which was next to them.
But the young generation thought differently.
They said this in an interview with a broadcaster.
¡°Narrow? We live in a room of two square meters in Tokyo.¡±
¡°There are no jobs in Japan anyway. Even if they mock us for getting minimum wage, the prices there are very cheap.¡±
When the reporter asked if they didn¡¯t miss the maind without the beautiful four seasons, they allughed.
¡°There are four seasons in Korea too. You can surf in the southern sea and camp in Siberia in an hour. What¡¯s so great about Japan?¡±
¡°As long as you maintain your CP, all of that is free. If you want to travel abroad in Japan, money is one thing, but time¡¡±
¡°Lucia-chan! I¡¯ming now!¡±
They smiled and headed to the docking station to board the supermuter train.
Not only them, but also the manga and animation industry was preparing to move to Megacity.
The Japanese government continued to worry, but there was no solution.
As always, they tried to cover it up quietly.
Anyway, the integration issue with the United Human Federation was no longer a joke, but a reality.
There was no ce where integration was not mentioned as the foundation of the country was maintained.
Some countries in Eastern Europe protested that they would not have had this problem if they had integrated with Russia earlier, but were violently suppressed by government forces.
It was better there.
At least they had some foundation because they were on the path of assault armor.
The real problem erupted in the Middle East.
Mohammad, the new king of Saudi Arabia, called Yu Ji-ha with a serious tone.
¡°My friend. Please let me and my family of 20 people, and a thousand royal family members into Megacity Pacific without any conditions. I will give you 30 billion dors.¡±
It was an amount that even Yu Ji-ha would be surprised by.
And that too in dors.
But it was difficult to ept this offer.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Your Majesty. Everyone has to go through an exam to get into Megacity.¡±
¡°President Bernstein didn¡¯t take the exam, did he?¡±
He said everything he wanted to say.
Yu Ji-ha smiled bitterly and said.
¡°I will give you Megacity residency if you want it, Your Majesty. You meet most of the conditions anyway. But not anyone else. President Bernstein¡¯s family also took the exam.¡±
They were upper-ss families and had no major problems.
But the Saudi royal family had a lot of problems.
There were more than a few who just put their names on the royal list and were addicted to alcohol and drugs, and many were involved in crimes.
More than anything, they had too much pride and were not people who fit in Megacity.
The debauchery that the Saudi royalsmitted when they went to Bahrain was enough to make one¡¯s mouth sore.
Mohammad begged again, but Yu Ji-ha¡¯s answer did not change.
After the call ended, Yu Ji-ha nced at the Middle East and licked his tongue.
¡°It¡¯s aplete mess here.¡±
Most of them did not believe Yu Ji-ha¡¯s information and were out of the path of assault armor.
As a result, many cities were destroyed by wire disease and their foundations werepletely copsed.
It was a bonus that many genes were broken and forced to reduce production.
There was an intrusion attempt at Megacity Afghanistan, ording to Arma¡¯s report.
The video showed terrorists attacking a wall that was tens of meters high.
Tatatata!
Boom!
No matter how much they attacked with rifles and RPGs, the ck metal wall did not budge at all.
Dozens of terrorists cursed at the wall and were annihted by a defensive battery that appeared out of nowhere.
¡°The corpses have been cleared by walkers now. But terrorism is expected to continue.¡±
It was natural since their situation was so bad.
The king of Saudi Arabia wanted to evacuate his royal family so much that he could tell how bad the public sentiment was.
In a situation where survival was threatened, how important was religion?
Looting under the pretext of protests broke out everywhere and even mosques were no exception.
Yu Ji-ha watched a scene where a mosque in Syria burned down in a fire and took his eyes off the monitor.
He felt sorry, but he was not God and could not amodate everyone.
It was also difficult to make another Megacity.
¡°It¡¯s easy to get into Megacity, but they¡¯ll make trouble inside. So ignore all requests from there and tell the secretariat.¡±
It was foolish to try to persuade them when he knew they would cause trouble.
¡°Okay, I got it.¡±
***
By 2035, the situation caused by wire disease was settled.
But humanity was still not free from the threat of gue.
There were two more attacks, and dozens of gue Goliaths appeared on Earth.
This Goliath entity wasrger than a Knight-ss and had heavy armor that made it immune to megaton-ss nuclear weapons.
As a result, Britain and the Middle East were devastated and countless refugees were created.
This was after the United Human Federation had deployed most of its forces to deal with it.
People realized it.
The war with the gue was imminent.
And there was no way to escape the gue¡¯s attack except for the Mega Cities.
The politicians who had been taking a hard stance against the Mega Cities began to shut their mouths.
The citizens who had lost their families and friends were furious and protested day after day.
¡ªHow can they still talk about ownership rights after this mess? How many people have to die before they introduce the Mega Cities?
¡ªThe politicians are the problem! They are trying to evade all responsibility!
¡ªLet¡¯s kill them!
The lives of the politicians who had opposed the introduction of the Mega Cities for various reasons were in danger.
The police forces were mobilized, but they could notpletely ignore the burning public opinion.
Thus, the discussion on the introduction of the Mega Cities gained momentum, but the United Human Federation itself took a lukewarm attitude.
¡°Management by artificial intelligence and ownership by the United Human Federation. These two issues must be resolved before the Mega Cities can be built.¡±
The ownership issue was resolved.
There were not many politicians who could withstand the pressure from the people of each country who demanded a quick introduction and even threatened to kill them.
But the management by artificial intelligence was a problem.
The current Mega Cities had a system that monitored by drones, had artificial intelligence act as judges, and sent criminals to space prisons.
Some people questioned whether it was right to entrust their nationals to a foreign system.
Some people even urged them to smash everything.
¡°Do you want to surrender after so many people die? You think it¡¯s just about introducing the Mega Cities, but you can¡¯t because it¡¯s a dictatorship? Do you think you can transnt democracy into the Mega Cities?¡±
¡°They already have a ce in the Mega City Deutsch for themselves. That¡¯s why they are so rxed.¡±
¡°We can¡¯t trust those bastards with politics anymore!¡±
A massive protest broke out in France.
They had elected a pro-Yu Ji-ha regime, but they saw that it was hesitating to introduce the Mega Cities and rose up.
It was almost on par with the 68 Revolution and spread to other European countries.
The politicians came out in official statues and made excuses that they were negotiating with the United Human Federation, but the people did not wait any longer.
¡°Don¡¯t make excuses! Don¡¯t bring any consent forms! I only want to see the status board in Yu Ji-ha¡¯s office!¡±
The only thing that people recognized as the introduction of the Mega Cities was the status board on the Blue House website.
This status board actually existed in Yu Ji-ha¡¯s office and covered everything from Mega City Pacific to Deutsch.
But there weren¡¯t that many Mega Cities left in the margin.
¡°There are only three spaces left?¡±
¡°What happens when all three ces are confirmed?¡±
¡°It¡¯s over. We have to kill the politicians first. It¡¯s either death or Mega City!¡±
Meanwhile, suchmotion was also happening in Korea.
Seoul, which once boasted a poption of 10 million, had shrunk to 5 million.
People were bewildered by the deste street atmosphere.
¡°Our apartment is totally ruined. I bought it for 100 million won per pyeong, but now it¡¯s not even half of half. The real estate agents won¡¯t even take it.¡±
¡°There are only old people on the street. Isn¡¯t this country going down?¡±
In their eyes, Seoul was still the center of the United Human Federation.
It wasn¡¯t wrong since President Yu Ji-ha worked at the Blue House.
But the important facilities of the United Human Federation were being moved to the Mega Cities.
Most of the museums had already moved, and even the historic sites were torn out by ether fields and disyed in Mega City South.
The sight of Haeinsa Temple in a ce full of gray buildings raised many questions.
¡°Isn¡¯t that Haeinsa Temple? How did they bring it whole?¡±
¡°They must have used ether fields.¡±
¡°Hey, the next target is Seokguram Grotto.¡±
¡°They are crazy.¡±
In fact, moving historic sites was something that the United States had already seeded in.
The example was the Abu Simbel temples in Egypt, which were divided into more than 10,000 pieces and moved to a safe hignd.
But that was a feat that took four years and a huge budget.
The United Human Federation did it in a few days.
In this atmosphere, the people of Korea began to abandon their old cities and move into the Mega Cities.
Actually, the old Koreans had rtively easy ess to residency rights.
They had achieved most of the conditions by being monitored by drones.
The only barrier was English, but there was no problem in moving in itself.
Their lives were alsofortable with the real-time trantion system activated, and many people did not feel any inconvenience.
But if they wanted to participate in politics seriously, they needed English.
¡°No, it¡¯s hard for older people to learn a newnguage. Why did they put such a restriction? He was also Korean.¡±
This mystery would probably never be solved.
While Korea was quietly passing by, the United States had to suffer from all kinds of measles.
There were so many guns in the country that there were also many reckless people, and the branch office in California was lined with people who were kicked out every day.
For example, like this.
¡°Exin to me why I can¡¯t get in.¡±
A muscr man who parked his pickup truck outside growled at Lucia, the counselor.
She smiled brightly and exined the details.
¡°Um¡ You participated in 72 anti-Yu Ji-ha protests. You are a member of a group that supports the t earth theory¡¡±
¡°So what? I¡¯m human too. Don¡¯t they have to let me in if I¡¯m human?¡±
¡°You scored 8 points and failed the final admission test. There is no reversal, so you don¡¯t have toe all the way from Texas.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t 8 points out of 10 good?¡±
¡°It¡¯s out of 100. And your English is 5 points.¡±
The actual score he got was 3 points.
The manughed incredulously and suddenly threw a punch.
But Lucia was stronger than him.
In an instant, his fist was caught and a vein popped on his forehead.
¡°You, don¡¯t you have the threews of robotics?¡±
¡°No, so please go away.¡±
The man, who was very angry, tried to cause trouble with his pickup truck in the parking lot.
But he was caught by a drone that suddenly flew in and flew away with his vehicle.
Lucia smiled at a man who started to tremble after seeing that scene.
¡°Next customer~¡±
Chapter 183: The Door to the Future
Chapter 183: The Door to the Future
In 2040, the first megacity closed its door.
It did not mean that it cut off all contact with the outside world or became isted.
It meant that it no longer epted any more citizens.
Its poption was slightly over 100 million, and its poption density easily surpassed that of the most crowded cities by several times.
Most of the facilities were contained inside, so it could withstand aerial attacks from the outside.
It also achievedplete self-sufficiency in resources and food.
It was literally a shelter and an ark to protect humanity.
When Megacity Pacific closed its door, the people who had been hesitating became desperate.
¡ªMegacity Pacific is the next one to close. Its poption is almost close to 100 million, so it will close soon.
¡ªThere is not much time left to enter the megacities.
The people who met the conditions but did not apply were better off.
They had not moved in because of their pride and their assets outside, but they could enter anytime as long as they applied.
It was regrettable that their assets would be meaningless once they entered with them, but at least they could survive.
But it was different for the people who did not meet the conditions and were rejected.
The screening was based on very detailed data, so there was no reversal.
Once rejected, it was over, and this was a matter of life and death.
The world in 2040 was copsing due to the repeated attacks of the gue.
As soon as a battleship-ss gue appeared with a fleet, an insect-type gue appeared and destroyed the farnd.
The world¡¯s economy was ruined, and the national system was on the verge of paralysis.
In this situation, the only ce to rely on was the megacity.
¡°Open the door! Open it!¡±
¡°Is it that hard to let in a few people?¡±
People went to the nearby megacities and knocked on the walls, but they did not budge.
The megacities were connected by supercavity trains and had sturdy walls, so they could not be infiltrated.
So all they could do was knock on the walls until their hands were smashed.
But the megacities never opened.
The people who knocked on the walls were disappointed and cursed.
¡°You bastards! Don¡¯t you have to save people!¡±
¡°Do you want us to die!¡±
Some tried to use the still-operating government to make a deal.
They offered to give up their resources in exchange for epting some of their poption.
But they refused to maintain them.
¡°Why should we trade now when everything will be ours soon? Leave us alone.¡±
The people gritted their teeth, but they could not deny that it was true.
At this moment, the poption of each country was flowing out to the United Human Federation.
Even government officials disappeared at some point.
They reassured the people and then ran away in the middle of the night.
This was not a rare case, so looting and riots weremon, and even government agencies were attacked.
The police and military that should have stopped this had long been corrupted.
Japan, which had maintained a stable regime, panicked when the prime minister and bureaucrats disappeared overnight.
¡°The prime minister ran away too. What do we do now?¡±
¡°That¡¯s not the problem. The mart doesn¡¯t have any goods. The logistics system is not working properly.¡±
The main reason was that arge number of people had migrated to the United Human Federation, causing the economy to stagnate.
The United Human Federation had built an extremely closed economic system, so it did not need to interact with other ces.
Japan, which had been running on domestic consumption, was one of the better ones, but there were signs that it had reached its limit.
¡°We can¡¯t go on like this. We have to give up Japan as a whole and enter the megacity.¡±
But the United Human Federation did not intend to ept the Japanese as a group.
¡°If you want to enter the megacity, apply individually. There is no other way, and there are not many days left to talk like this.¡±
Soon all the megacities would close their doors.
At that point, the Japanese who had been holding on rushed to knock on the doors of the megacities.
But only a few of them got residency rights.
In 2041, following Pacific, South and North also closedpletely.
At this point, the total poption of the United Human Federation reached 900 million, bing thergest country in the world.
Other ces lost their social foundations and could no longer be seen as countries.
Armed groups began to roam around like in apocalyptic movies, and survivors built their own settlements and rejected outsiders.
This was not because of the United Human Federation, but because of the gue¡¯s attacks.
They showed up frequently as if to prove that a full-scale invasion was imminent.
The United Human Federation, including the megacities, was specialized in defending against them, so there was no problem.
But other ces were not prepared at all and had to suffer without any resistance.
When a giant gue appeared, it was not a big deal to destroy a few cities.
The United Human Federation¡¯s army did intervene, but their priority was always the defense of the megacities, so they were not very active.
Countless countries disappeared, and the world was divided into the United Human Federation and the rest of the regions.
There were still billions of survivors, but they did not mean much in the eyes of the United Human Federation.
In 2045, the world was separated into the United Human Federation and the other regions.
It was 16 years after Megacity Pacific opened.
****
In 2045, the 12 megacities in the United Human Federation had a total poption of 1.2 billion.
The area was not thatrge, so the poption density was beyond imagination, and the races were even more diverse, so many conflicts were expected.
But surprisingly, there were not many major incidents.
The citizens had gone through the screening process and had heard about the drones and CP system until their ears were sore.
Of course, the 12 megacities were not perfectly peaceful.
Various crimes decorated the mega news from time to time, and screams were heard on the streets.
But if you looked at the crime rate per poption, it was iparably lower than that of the countries that existed before.
The reason was probably because the surveince system was well established, but also because of the various benefits that were given to those who lived normally.
There were many benefits, but these days anti-aging treatment was the topic of the town.
Anti-aging.
Not many people knew when this treatment was developed.
At best, only the researchers, the supreme council members, and President Yu Ji-ha knew about it.
Anyway, one day, the anti-aging treatment appeared on the front page of mega news and captured the attention of many people.
¡ªAging is a natural phenomenon, but not in megacities! Do you regret your wrinkled face? Have you gotten used to seeing holograms without sses? You don¡¯t have to do that anymore!
¡ªIt makes your wrinkled skin soft like a baby¡¯s and eliminates the need for sses! When your body is renewed, so is your mind! We give youth to megacity citizens!
¡ªThe credits needed for anti-aging treatment are¡ none! Everything is free! But there is a minimum requirement! Only free citizens of ss B or higher can receive this treatment!
The citizen rank of the United Human Federation was divided into several categories, and free citizens were just below full citizens.
They could not participate in politics, but most of the benefits were provided and they lived in the same area as full citizens, so they were practically recognized as the highest rank by people who had no special abilities.
Being a B-ss citizen meant that one could live in the megacity for more than five years withoutmitting any serious crimes.
People were skeptical at first.
¡°Gic engineering has advanced a lot, but isn¡¯t anti-aging treatment too early?¡±
¡°Right¡ Didn¡¯t they still have problems with telomerase side effects?¡±
That side effect was cancer.
Cancer cells could activate telomerase, an enzyme that causes anti-aging, and divide indefinitely.
If the enzyme was injected incorrectly, it could lead to uncontroble metastasis.
There were also various other side effects, and most people thought that human gic engineering was not yet able to ovee them.
But then it was announced that Arma Ashford, the wife of President Yu Ji-ha, was the first to receive the anti-aging treatment.
She was in her fifties and quite beautiful, but she couldn¡¯t hide her age.
Compared to women in their twenties and thirties, her wrinkled face was noticeable, and those who had seen her in her youth felt the passage of time.
¡°Arma has aged too.¡±
¡°She was really stunning when she was young¡ Everyone envied Yu Ji-ha.¡±
¡°She takes good care of herself and she¡¯s still pretty and cool, but I guess she wanted to be young again.¡±
Everyone wanted to be young, but until now it was impossible.
People waited for her toe out of the medical center.
And soon enough, Arma appeared in casual clothes.
She looked exactly like she did when she was introduced to the world as Yu Ji-ha¡¯s secretary twenty years ago.
People were shocked to see her face.
¡°Wow, she really looks younger.¡±
¡°Her wrinkles around her eyes arepletely gone.¡±
¡°She looks like a different person.¡±
It was natural that she looked like a different person since they reced the model.
Those who knew that Arma was an android smirked, but most people praised the anti-aging treatment.
Anyway, since Arma revealed herself to the public through the anti-aging treatment, the crime rate in the megacity began to drop drastically.
Who would want to ruin their chance of living young for decades by just living normally?
Of course, the crime rate didn¡¯t drop to zero since there were so many people living in the megacity.
But despite the high poption density, it was clear that it had be an unprecedentedly safe city.
After Arma, Yu Ji-ha and other full citizens received the treatment one after another, and people saw for themselves how the members of the Supreme Council became younger.
¡°Congressman Bernstein looked like a model when he was young.¡±
¡°I want to be young too!¡±
The demand for anti-aging treatment was overflowing and people had to wait for years to make a reservation.
In addition, gic editing technology became a reality, making it possible topletely eliminate congenital gic diseases in fetuses.
People were ecstatic that a new era had arrived.
¡°Isn¡¯t this a real dream and hope-filled future?¡±
¡°When I was young, they scared me that I wouldn¡¯t get a pension when I got old, but the world has changedpletely.¡±
¡°They¡¯ll probably make artificial wombs soon.¡±
As if they had been waiting for it, artificial womb technology was announced.
Now women no longer had to get pregnant.
If they wanted to have a baby, they just had to go to the medical center and provide sperm and eggs.
They could raise the child themselves and get many benefits, but they didn¡¯t have to.
The Administration Bureau would take care of it.
Most people were appalled by the idea of entrusting their baby to the state.
Even so, a baby should be raised by its mother, right?
But the United Human Federation and the megacity had changed people¡¯s mindset a lot.
¨D Nowadays people don¡¯t even get married, so why bother raising a child yourself?
¨D It doesn¡¯t matter anyway. The baby can¡¯t recognize its parents at first. You just have to show your face when it grows up.
¨D Have you seen how android nannies take care of them? They don¡¯t get tired or annoyed by crying babies. They¡¯re invincible.
All this was free and they could be freed from childcare, so more and more cases of leaving children at daycare centers increased.
There were some negative views on this, but everyone didn¡¯t care because it was so convenient.
Thanks to this, the birth rate increased dramatically.
As their residence and life became stable, everyone wanted to have children.
And with childcare inconvenience and cost solved by the Administration Bureau, there was nothing more to say.
Thus, United Human Federation opened the door to the future.
***
The ninth of the sr system, Nox.
The settler ship arrived at this huge rocky that was about 690 AU away from Earth.
Yu Ji-ha and Arma were on board the settler ship.
They had taken a vacation from United Human Federation and secretly left.
The members of the Supreme Council thought that they had gone on a secret rendezvous to a secluded ce, and that was not entirely wrong.
There was no one else on the huge rocky Nox except them.
Nox was a six timesrger than Earth, with a mass of ten times.
It was thergest rocky in the sr system, and it was predicted that it would contain various rare resources when humans expanded to various parts of the sr system.
But the n to enter Nox waspletely withdrawn after the Night of Sorrow in 2103, and humans had to prepare for war.
Yu Ji-ha looked at the dark in front of him with nostalgic eyes as he sat on the admiral¡¯s seat.
¡°I finally meet you¡ The gate doesn¡¯t seem to be open yet.¡±
¡°But it will open soon.¡±
The first relic of the Prophets, the Golden Record, had a number indicating the year.
They initially interpreted that number as the year of the gue¡¯s invasion.
But this hypothesis was broken when the gue appeared individually rather than invading all at once.
The only thing left was the time when the warp gate opened, and coincidentally, the number kept decreasing and finally fixed at 2050321.
It was today.
They spent time talking about various things in the main bridge.
It was about how they would live after the war ended.
¡°People believe that you will hand over your power when the war with the gue is over, Master.¡±
He had imed that a strong ruling system was necessary to prepare for the war against the gue, and so far, it had worked.
But the desire for democracy had notpletely disappeared.
Some of the newly elected members of the Supreme Council argued that he should relinquish his power once humanity escaped the crisis, and he agreed.
¡°How should I give up my power? Any suggestions?¡±
¡°For example, you could be an emperor.¡±
He chuckled softly at the suggestion.
¡°Being president for decades wasn¡¯t enough for you? You want me to be an emperor? I should be grateful that you¡¯re not trying to kill me.¡±
¡°Master will eventually die, so it¡¯s not a bad idea.¡±
¡°Are you trying to persuade me to die?¡±
He nned to transfer his soul to his son Eugene¡¯s body through the Soul Exchange Device in a few years.
The president of the United Human Federation, who was actually him, would be operated as a dummy for a while.
It didn¡¯t matter much anyway, since he had already transferred most of his power to the Supreme Council and was about to hand over the control of Arma as well.
The problem was what would happen after he stepped down.
There was no way that the bugs wouldn¡¯t stir up after the dictator who had ruled the United Human Federation for decades gave up his power.
There would be those who wanted to take revenge on him, those who wanted to drag him in and benefit from him, and so on.
The society would be in chaos.
The real him would disappear, but the public wouldn¡¯t know that.
Therefore, he had to kill the fake him in some way, and the best way was to put on an emperor coronation show.
¡°If word gets out that Master wants to be an emperor, all the hatred will be focused on you. Of course, there will also be people who wee it. The important thing is that Master¡¯s death must be made public. That¡¯s the only way for humanity to move forward.¡±
¡°We can also go to the Prophet¡¯s homnd.¡±
Revealing everything and organizing an expedition publicly was rejected at the nning stage.
It was unlikely that the leaders who had gained power would let him go quietly.
Also, it was uncertain how they would react to seeing the Warp Gate for the first time.
There were too many things that had been hidden so far, and it would be a huge shock if they were exposed.
He looked at the dark Nox.
¡°So I have to die with hatred in the end.¡±
¡°By proving with your own body that this is what happens to dictators, you can also leave a warning for future generations.¡±
¡°Actually, I¡¯m just running away to another universe.¡±
¡°If Master doesn¡¯t want it, I¡¯ll look for another way.¡±
¡°No¡ it¡¯s a good idea. I like that it ends cleanly.¡±
Humanity would face the future with the Supreme Council system, and he would head to the Prophet¡¯s homnd.
They would walk their own paths.
He didn¡¯t care much if his name remained infamous as a tyrant.
He wouldn¡¯t be able toe back anyway.
¡°A dictator who ruled the United Human Federation for decades tried to be an emperor without giving up his power and died¡ It will be remembered in history books for a long time.¡±
¡°Master¡¯s name is already recorded. Not in history books, but in wikis made by people.¡±
¡°Mirwiki? I¡¯ve heard of it, but do I have an entry there too?¡±
¡°Do you want me to show you?¡±
Arma asked, and he shook his head after thinking for a moment.
¡°No need. I¡¯ll probably have a lot of things I want to change if I see it. That won¡¯t do.¡±
¡°You can see it when youe back someday. It will be a long timeter.¡±
¡°I wonder if that day wille.¡±
It was a long journey of 50 years.
The most likely possibility was that he would die along the way, and he didn¡¯t know what awaited him at the end.
Still, he had to go there.
Humanity owed a lot to the Prophet.
He didn¡¯t know who he was or where he was, but he wanted to say one thing to him.
Thank you for saving us.
¡°Before that, we have to fight and win against the gue.¡±
¡°We can do it.¡±
¡°I hope so¡¡±
Beyond his blurred vision, something changed on Nox.
The whole shook violently, and a blue ring appeared.
It was big enough to wrap around Nox and still have room left over.
He barely endured the pain in his right chest.
¡°Arma, this is¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s the same situation as when we returned to Earth with Master. You alsoined of pain then.¡±
¡°Did I?¡±
¡°When we jumped through that door, we ended up on Earth in 2025. I think it¡¯s something that twists space-time.¡±
¡°Then it must be a Warp Gate.¡±
He barely resisted the urge to jump in right away.
He had to go through there after defeating the gue.
The expedition team was not even ready yet.
¡°Let¡¯s leave the Settler here and prepare the expedition team. We can¡¯t let anyone find out.¡±
¡°Trust me, Master.¡±
He looked at the Warp Gate again.
He wondered what would be waiting for him after the 50-year journey.
¡®Is it the Prophet¡¯s homnd, or an empty space?¡¯
He wouldn¡¯t regret it even if it was thetter.
He had lived for that day anyway.
Chapter 184: The President is Strange
Chapter 184: The President is Strange
The Supreme Council rose to be the core political force of the United Human Federation as Yu Ji-ha gave up some of his power.
This group,posed of over a thousand full citizens, organized variousmittees and activities.
At this point, the activities of the Supreme Council spanned across the entire United Human Federation.
Except for the core issues such as the control of artificial intelligence and themand of the Unified Space Force, that is.
Some of them were trying to get a definitive answer from Yu Ji-ha recently.
¡°You always said that you would relinquish your power when the gue is defeated and peacees. We hope you will keep that promise.¡±
Yu Ji-ha had promised several times to give up his power and had actually done so.
But some councilors still had a look of dissatisfaction.
¡ªHe has wielded absolute power for decades, but would he willingly let it go? Dictators are the same, past or present. They believe that power is eternal.
¡ªHe says he transferred authority to the Council, but can we do anything without the approval of artificial intelligence? We still don¡¯t know Lucia¡¯s algorithm. We need to dissect it under the supervision of the Oversight Committee.
¡ªThe president seems to hope that the current system will continue even after the gue is defeated. But the current system, including Megacity, has too many side effects. We have to overhaul it.
They argued that Yu Ji-ha was no different from other dictators who had pursued eternal power, even though there was no evidence for it.
The direction of society after the gue was also a contentious issue among the councilors.
There were many citizens in Megacity who preferred the current system, but there were also many who opposed it.
Those who preferred it argued that there was no ce like Megacity for equality and safety.
¡ªIn Megacity, everyone starts from zero credit. The environment for growth, such as childcare and education, is simr, and if you have enough diligence and morality, you can live a decent life.
¡ªMost importantly, there is no one who starves to death. It¡¯s not an exaggeration to say that they take care of you from cradle to grave.
¡ªIn terms of safety, there are many opinions, but they deserve credit for reducing violent crime rates to near zero. They also eliminated idents by moving all transportation facilities to Undercity.
But not everyone was satisfied with Megacity.
Those who pursued freedom and human rights said that they had no choice for now, but they had to regain those values someday.
¡ªThe Hyperloop and Undercity¡¯s smart mobility are good ideas. But isn¡¯t it too much to deprive people of the opportunity to own vehicles?
¡ªPresident Yu Ji-ha is always like this. He eliminates the risk of idents with extreme policies. The numbers may look pretty, but they oppress people¡¯s freedom.
¡ªI understand that these policies are inevitable because we have to prepare for war with the gue. But after the war, they have to guarantee freedom.
¡ªMost of all, they need to revise the artificial intelligence judges, space prison system, and citizen rank system. How can they justify restricting even the residential areas of isted citizens?
From these basic policies, conflicts arose and expanded to all areas.
It even came to whether or not to maintain the United Human Federation system among the councilors.
¡ªWhen the gue is gone, do we need to live in a narrow Megacity? It¡¯s right to go back to the old national system.
¡ªHow can we split up when the United Human Federation is intact? We¡¯ll be absorbed again if there¡¯s a war.
¡ªWe¡¯re not saying we should go to war, but we should pursue diversity. The current United Human Federation is too homogeneous in its thinking.
¡ªThat¡¯s because it¡¯s convenient and efficient.
¡ªDo we have to live under the control of artificial intelligence for efficiency? We are human beings and lords of all creation.
¡ªAnyway, as soon as we get out of the fence of the United Human Federation,petition begins. No one can stop that.
These debates were almost like fights among the councilors.
They hadn¡¯t even started a real war with the gue yet, but they were drinking soup before eating kimchi (a Korean idiom meaning being hasty).
When someone pointed that out, they shut their mouths, but they didn¡¯t extinguish their sparks.
Yu Ji-ha watched their conflicting opinions and concluded that the division of the United Human Federation was certain after he left.
¡°If I¡¯m unlucky, I might plunge into a civil war as soon as I disappear.¡±
¡°The most likely scenario is that 12 Megacities will split into 12 countries. They may treat outsiders as ves.¡±
¡°That¡¯s their business, but it¡¯s a problem if the United Human Federation breaks uppletely.¡±
Yu Ji-ha was the creator of the United Human Federation.
Actually, it was Arma and her controlled system that made it, but he was her master so it could be said that it was his creation.
From that point of view, it was not enough to just make it.
It was also his duty to create an environment where the United Human Federation could continue well.
Of course, the United Human Federation had not only advantages but also various disadvantages and side effects.
But he thought that those things could be solved internally.
¡°They can fight and win or lose, but they have to do it inside, not outside.¡±
¡°The best way is for you to act as an emperor and draw hatred, then end the conflict at once.¡±
That was also the most clean and harmless way.
Yu Ji-ha would leave for another universe, and the remaining people would toast to victory for stopping the dictator who tried to be an emperor.
The process would not heal all conflicts, but they would probably stick together for a while.
¡°If I create such an environment, my duty will finally end.¡±
¡°There is also a way to reveal everything, but that would jeopardize the n itself.¡±
There was also a lot of public opinion that hated Yu Ji-ha.
They were the privileged ss of the old nations who entered Megacity and did not reveal their thoughts easily.
They pretended to be exemry citizens and expanded their influence in the Supreme Council.
Their mainint was probably that they were not the first line of power.
The United Human Federation itself was a system that started in Korea, so there were many Koreans in the key positions and the top of power was also Korean.
The WASPs, as the white people were called, did not like it. They were likely to move as soon as Yu Ji-ha relinquished his power.
If Yu Ji-ha had monitored their thoughts and personal lives, they would not have existed. But he did not.
Yu Ji-ha sighed suddenly.
¡°Is this the fate of a dictator¡?¡±
¡°Fast development is possible if the direction is right, but otherwise it¡¯s full of drawbacks.¡±
He would not have tried it if he did not have Arma.
¡°You¡¯re right. That¡¯s why humanity needs to find another way.¡±
The future United Human Federation was able to unite after several shocks, including the Night of Sorrow.
The current United Human Federationcked such shocks.
The social chaos caused by Yu Ji-ha¡¯s attempt to be emperor could be a good alternative.
His death would unite humanity.
Of course, the one who died was not the real Yu Ji-ha, but a simple dummy.
¡°Shall we try to be emperor then?¡±
¡°How about naming the first battleship ss after you? A grandunching ceremony would be nice too.¡±
It was abination that did not suit Yu Ji-ha as much as pineapple and pizza.
There was no better way to expose the corruption of a dictator.
¡°That sounds good. Let¡¯s start right away.¡±
***
There was an unofficial tradition in the United Human Federation not to name ships after living people.
Even Yu Ji-ha did not dare to use his name, so no one else could.
But this time, the first battleship to be built was named after Yu Ji-ha.
And a grandunching ceremony was nned, which surprised the council members and the unified space force soldiers.
¡ªIs this a direct order from the president? I can¡¯t believe it. Check it again.
¡ªThe president hated ceremonies. He used to skip them all, and there¡¯s no reason to have a grandunching ceremony now that we¡¯re facing a full-scale war with gue. It must be a mistake.
But when the secretariat started to prepare for theunching ceremony, everyone was speechless.
If it was a normal ceremony, they might have let it go.
Yu Ji-ha was human too, and his mind could change.
He might have skipped all the ceremonies when he was young out of resentment for the existing system, but he was old now.
He boasted of his youthful appearance with anti-aging treatments, but he was in his fifties.
But when he named a battleship after himself and had a grandunching ceremony, it made people uneasy.
¡ªWhy a battleship of all things?
¡ªThat battleship is thergest and most powerful one that the United Human Federation has ever built. Maybe the president wanted to show off his achievements.
¡ªHis achievements are already enough with creating the United Human Federation and megacities.
¡ªWell, his name has been fadingtely.
In fact, recently, the supreme council had more exposure to the public than the president.
They had more members and operated the United Human Federation directly, so they had more interest.
Naturally, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s name was pushed back.
But wasn¡¯t that what he wanted?
¡ªHe said he would transfer power and he¡¯s actually doing it. Why is he suddenly trying to show off?
¡ªNaming one ship after himself is within his presidential authority. And maybe his taste changed as he got older for having a grandunching ceremony.
The public opinion settled on that possibility.
It was not worth making a fuss over something that was not so great and confronting the president.
They knew they would only tire themselves out.
Some argued that his parents¡¯ death had changed him.
¡ªHis parents refused anti-aging treatments until the end. Maybe he had some emotional changes from that.
Anyway, it was not something to make a big deal out of.
But when the scale and procedure of theunching ceremony were revealed, the officials were shocked.
¡ªThis is not aunching ceremony level, but a full-scale review of the unified space force?
¡ªWhy do we have to mobilize council members as well as soldiers?
The council members resented that Yu Ji-ha treated them as his subordinates for the supreme council.
The supreme council was not a subordinate organization of Yu Ji-ha.
It was inevitable that without Yu Ji-ha¡¯s approval, the supreme council¡¯s procedures would be invalidated in terms of power structure, but what about dignity?
¡ªThe president could have asked us personally and we would have dly participated. But he didn¡¯t say a word.
¡ªAre we just extras to make him look good?
They put pressure on the secretariat in various ways, but they only got an answer that it was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s order and they could not help it.
They could not refuse to attend either, so they endured and participated in theunching ceremony.
Theunching ceremony of Yu Ji-ha-ss No. 1 battleship was literally extravagant.
All thebat cruisers that had been built so far were mobilized and thousands of android troops marched on the wide road.
And while the council members sent soulless apuse from the first floor, Yu Ji-ha reviewed the unified space force in a splendid uniform.
This grand event made even Bae Seong-min, who had served Yu Ji-ha for a long time, shake his head.
¡°This is strange. He¡¯s not like this.¡±
¡°Mr. Bae, you should talk to him. This is not something that was done well even 100 years ago.¡±
¡°I mean, everything is fine, but that uniform is really¡ If someone doesn¡¯t know, they might think he¡¯s having an emperor coronation ceremony.¡±
Everyone shook their heads as they saw the splendid coat that Yu Ji-ha wore.
It was made of pure white fabric that would show any dust and had all kinds of embroidery patterns and a golden eagle drawn on it.
¡ªThe United Human Federation symbol is an eagle, but that¡¯s a bit¡
¡ªThis is not normal.
Bae Seong-min felt a surge of emotion, but he agreed that it looked strange.
He knew Yu Ji-ha¡¯s life better than anyone else because he had served him for a long time.
Yu Ji-ha was a person who had no desire to show off.
He was not very frugal, but he did not indulge in luxury and his wealth was modest for the owner of the United Human Federation.
Such a person suddenly wanted to be an emperor?
¡®If he wanted absolute power, he wouldn¡¯t have created the supreme council.¡¯
Or maybe he changed his mind after seeing his son grow up.
His son, Yu-jin, was 22 years old and had not been exposed to the public much, but he had grown into a handsome man.
Rumor had it that he was a high-level psychic and had received pilot training, so he could be said to have inherited his father¡¯s qualities.
Did he feel sorry for not being able to pass on a position to such a son?
¡®There are plenty of council seats to make. Was that not enough?¡¯
With his background as the president¡¯s son, his handsome appearance and skills, he could easily be the chief council member of the supreme council and even aspire to be the chairman.
If he felt that was not enough¡
¡®He doesn¡¯t want to make his son an emperor, does he?¡¯
Bae Seong-min shook his head and dismissed the thought.
Without clear evidence, his spection was nothing but a delusion.
But what if it was true?
What would he do if Yu Ji-ha tried to be an emperor?
¡®I swore to follow him to hell and back.¡¯
But he did not know if others would do the same.
Bae Seong-min felt dizzy as he heard the solemn music ying at the banquet that followed.
A singer in a fancy dress sang a song praising Yu Ji-ha¡¯s achievements.
The faces of the council members around him were stiff.
***
¡°I wonder how they reacted.¡±
¡°It was perfect. They all seemed shocked.¡±
¡°From now on, the dummy has to do it. Don¡¯t forget to act arrogantly and refuse anypromise. And we have to time it right.¡±
¡°Of course.¡±
It would be best if the dummy died at the scene of the coronation ceremony when Yu Ji-ha left through the warp gate.
To do that, he had to win the war with gue first and handle the tug-of-war with various factions well.
Most importantly, he had to earn the hatred of the citizens.
This was not an easy goal.
Yu Ji-ha had a lot of support from arge number of citizens.
His name had faded because of the activities of the supreme council, but it was notpletely forgotten.
The citizens of the United Human Federation remembered Yu Ji-ha¡¯s past deeds very well.
They also remembered that their lives were extended because of him.
At this point, if Yu Ji-ha dered himself emperor, there would be no shortage of people who would agree.
¡°What can we do to gain support?¡±
¡°Nothing beats control. If we start to restrict their freedom, they will start to voice theirints.¡±
Yu Ji-ha had built a surveince system, but he made sure that the citizens did not feel any difort.
Rather, the citizens felt a sense of familiarity from the things that watched them.
Wouldn¡¯t they feel reassured if they thought that the drones, androids, and walkers that were everywhere would help them and ensure their safety at any time?
But what if they turned against them?
If they deducted CP for minor vitions and tried to control their private lives, anyone would feel betrayed and resentful.
If they went further and indoctrinated them to praise Yu Ji-ha and purged those who opposed him, it would be icing on the cake.
Finally, if he hired some scumbags and dered himself emperor, even his loyal supporters would turn their backs on him for sure.
Yu Ji-ha wondered if he had to go that far, but he erased it from his mind.
¡®If I¡¯m going to disappear anyway, I might as well use it.¡¯
Arma would take care of it.
He was interested in his original body that he would enter through the soul exchanger.
¡°I have to get used to the name Yu-jin. He¡¯s 22 years old, right?¡±
¡°Yes. He¡¯s a confident young psychic who got his license through homeschooling instead of graduating from pilot school.¡±
¡°¡My colleagues won¡¯t like that. And why do I know some of the people in his squad?¡±
He saw two faces as he flipped through the hologram album.
Coincidentally, they were children who inherited Yu Ji-ha¡¯s gene seed.
¡°They called you dad at theirmissioning ceremony. You never acknowledged them though.¡±
¡°Did I say I would acknowledge them if they improved their skills? I don¡¯t remember well.¡±
They were among the children who inherited Yu Ji-ha¡¯s seed who had exceptionally high skills and pride.
They did not stop there and called him dad and wanted to be recognized as his children.
Of course, Yu Ji-ha did not recognize them as his children.
It was his denial of his children¡¯s death in the original United Human Federation.
But regardless of that, many pilots wanted to be recognized by him.
¡°What¡¯s so great about being my child?¡±
¡°You are the president of the United Human Federation and the strongest psychic. And your performance during the gue Swarm was beyond imitation.¡±
The footage and records of that time were still used as teaching materials at pilot school.
It was not meant to teach them how to do it, but rather to show them the limit of a pilot.
He originally hid that it was him, but it seemed to have spread among the pilots.
Anyway, the pilots were training hard today as well to officially operate assault armors.
Now Yu Ji-ha had to join them too.
As Yu-jin.
He looked closely at his original body stored in a biobag.
¡°I lived longer in this body, but now it feels awkward.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll get used to it when you roll in the field.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not even a lieutenant, but a cadet again. What a nightmare¡¡±
He regretted not introducing his son earlier, but what could he do about the past?
He would run away someday as he rolled with rookie pilots.
¡°Master, everything is ready.¡±
Yu Ji-ha obedientlyy down on the medical bed.
It was time to go back to his original body.
Chapter 185: Re-enlistment
Chapter 185: Re-enlistment
He rarely had dreams.
He slept very deeply and for a very short time.
But sometimes, very rarely, he had dreams.
They were so vivid that they felt real, and surprisingly, the story continued.
The main theme was about suffering on a remote, but the natives were very peculiar.
It was a continent where various races that usually came to mind when thinking of fantasy lived together, but surprisingly, the elves had the upper hand.
And they were fascist elves.
¡°Am I having such a dream because I¡¯m a dictator?¡±
He flew in the sky and slowly observed the world.
The dream seemed to be updated, as it faithfully reproduced the world beyond the forest that had frustrated many gamers in the metaverse.
The civilization was quite advanced, and surprisingly, there were mechanical dolls, or something like robots, roaming around.
They seemed to use magic rather than science, which was iprehensible to him.
¡°Why did they put legs on them? Wouldn¡¯t it be better to make tanks?¡±
Well, it wasn¡¯t strange to have legged robots in a world where elves wearing unified uniforms reminiscent of an evil empire oppressed humans.
It was just a dream anyway, so he enjoyed flying around in the sky as much as he wanted.
¡°There are also several countries that rebel against the elf empire.¡±
They were human kingdoms.
They seemed to have not lost hope despite losing several battles in a small scale war.
Their appearance was simr to his, except for their small stature.
¡°There are dwarves too¡ This ce is as diverse as Earth.¡±
In some ways, it could be seen as more conflicted than Earth.
At least on Earth, they were all humans, but there they were different races altogether.
The main cause of the conflict was the world tree that the elves upied, which was so huge that it couldn¡¯t be seen entirely even if he flew high into the sky.
¡°I¡¯ve never seen a tree that reaches up to the stratosphere.¡±
He wanted to explore more and wander around, but someone¡¯s voice came into his dream.
¡°Master, it¡¯s time to wake up.¡±
It was Arma¡¯s voice.
He realized that he had returned to his original body.
¡°It seems that the soul exchanger worked without any problems.¡±
When he first entered the body of the Korean Yu Ji-ha, he was confused because his memories were so different, but now he didn¡¯t have that problem.
The current United Human Federation was made by him anyway.
Actually, it was Arma and the Walker Corps who made it, but he made sure that the United Space Force was as close as possible to the original.
Therefore, everything was familiar to him.
This stiff nket and hard bed too, and also the soft something on his cheek¡
¡°¡¡±
He pushed away Lucia¡¯s face and got up from the bed.
A brown-skinned android with sses smiled brightly at him.
¡°Are you awake? Do you want to eat first? Or me?¡±
She seemed to be Lucia rather than Arma by exposing her chest slightly.
She wouldn¡¯t act so recklessly if she were Arma.
In fact, it didn¡¯t matter what shell she had as long as her main body was on Settler.
Arma was Lucia and a strong artificial intelligence who called him master.
Only their personality modules were different.
He got up and looked at the mirror on the bathroom wall.
A giant man with brown hair and brown eyes looked at himself in the mirror with a slightly awkward face.
¡°I guess I have to live as Yujin from now on.¡±
Lucia¡¯s arm gently wrapped around his stomach.
¡°Please call me Lucia from now on.¡±
¡°Okay, let go of your arm.¡±
Yujin¡¯s current status was a candidate officer of the 2nd Mobile Fleet under the Mars Station Command of the United Space Force.
He hadn¡¯t beenmissioned as an officer yet because he hadn¡¯tpleted pilot school.
It was difficult to make dummies do such delicate work.
Nowadays, specialmissions were being conducted for those who obtained licenses through simtions.
Coincidentally, Yujin was the first case.
¡°So you¡¯re a parachute. Your seniors will love you.¡±
¡°¡How long was pilot school training?¡±
¡°Five years. They spent their early twenties in hard training and barely became candidates. But you came in at 22. You must feel refreshed.¡±
No matter what workce or era it is, parachutes are not wee.
In Yujin¡¯s case, he was able to get on the candidate list thanks to Congressman Baek Sung-min¡¯s rmendation letter instead of the president¡¯s rmendation letter.
There seemed to be some noise about this in the fleet.
¡°They can¡¯t openly oppose it because he¡¯s the president¡¯s son. They¡¯re probably nning to make him shut up with training.¡±
¡°But he¡¯s actually a former colonel who hid his skills as an uber pilot! His superiors and colleagues start to ept him as they are amazed by his skills¡¡±
Yujin blocked Lucia¡¯s mouth.
¡°Be quiet and go outside.¡±
There was no one who would like a candidate who was with an android in the morning, not even a formal pilot.
Androids themselves were popr, but the atmosphere of the United Space Force was different.
It was because assault armors were about to be rolled out.
This machine first appeared 10 years ago, but it was so difficult to control that no one could control it until then.
But with the establishment of professional training courses such as pilot school, the way to control assault armors was finally opened.
Everyone was tense waiting to drive the legendary machine.
¡ªIt must bepletely different from the simtion, right? The ether receiver must be sensitive too.
¡ªCan you believe that he fought against the gue swarm while circling the earth at 250 km per hour? I feel like my body would break apart just by elerating.
¡ªI thought the prototype was special, but ording to the engineers, it actually had lower performance. The ones we get are improved ones.
¡ªSo we¡¯re better at maneuverability since we¡¯re controlling the improved ones?
¡ªAre you crazy? If you look at the flight record at that time, the assault armor moved in 0.01 second intervals. Can you do that?
¡ªAh, cancel.
But not everyone was tense.
Some of them stood out since school days and achieved excellent results in various tests after being assigned to the fleet.
They were the children who inherited the president¡¯s genes.
It didn¡¯t mean they were his actual children, but they just received his ether responsiveness and the seed that was essential for controlling assault armors.
All candidates received various seeds, but receiving the president¡¯s seed meant that they had high skills.
Actually, it was more urate to say that they had a body suitable for imntation.
Anyway, they were just waiting for the assault armors to be deployed to the fleet.
At the same time, they were also interested in Yujin, a new candidate who had just transferred to the fleet.
It was closer to jealousy and inferiority than curiosity.
It was because he was the president¡¯s biological son.
***
¡°I¡¯m going to introduce a candidate who will train with you from today. You all know that he has a special background as the president¡¯s son. But it would be better not to expect any special treatment in our fleet. Do you understand, candidate Yujin?¡±
The voice of the 2nd Mobile Fleet training instructor was blunt, as if he wanted to establish authority from the start.
¡°Yes, sir.¡±
Everyone looked disappointed at his ordinary response.
They thought he would say something more special as the son of the legendary president.
The instructor nodded and ordered them to start physical training right away, and the pilots nced at Yujin.
¡°He¡¯s pretty tall.¡±
¡°He must have taken after his father.¡±
¡°I wonder if he¡¯s as good as his father.¡±
¡°I heard he was homeschooled. Can we trust his skills? It would be a relief if he can move an assault armor.¡±
¡°But isn¡¯t he handsome? He doesn¡¯t look like his dad though.¡±
¡°Well¡ I like his physique. And his muscles.¡±
The physical training that followed was more intense than usual, and everyone gasped for breath, but Yujin didn¡¯t even breathe hard.
The instructor seemed to dislike that and raised the intensity even more, and thanks to that, the morning training that should have been easy turned into hell.
Even though it was mealtime, everyone copsed on the floor and wheezed.
¡°Hey, bring that candidate over.¡±
¡°What are you going to do with him? He looks stronger than you.¡±
¡°¡Anyway, he¡¯s impressive in terms of stamina.¡±
¡°He¡¯s the president¡¯s son. He must have received some genius education.¡±
¡°As far as I know, he¡¯s not on good terms with his father. He hasn¡¯t seen him in a long time.¡±
¡°Well, he¡¯s a very busy person.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Sonya Viktorovna Averyina looked at Yujin¡¯s back as he talked to the instructor.
She had heard that he had a good physique, but she didn¡¯t expect him to be so muscr.
His face was also very mature, not like someone in his early twenties.
Most of all, he didn¡¯t have the naive look of a typical candidate.
Had he been here before?
¡®That¡¯s impossible.¡¯
This Seoul-ssbat cruiser Los Angeles had been built for almost seven years, but it was mostly operated unmanned.
It was only recently that they decided to deploy assault armors and train reserve pilots.
There was no room for civilians to get in.
She focused her hearing to hear what Yujin and the instructor were talking about, but it was nothing special.
They just listed the training schedule and precautions for living in the fleet.
Soon it was mealtime, and Sonya sat down in front of him with her food.
¡°You don¡¯t look alike much.¡±
¡°Do you know me, Lieutenant Averyina?¡±
Of course, Yujin knew who she was.
She was a Russian-born reserve pilot with blond hair and a cold expression, who was about 170cm tall.
She was from an orphanage and moved to Megacity Russia when she was young.
She received pilot suitability assessment and trained at school.
She had a longing look and a joyful voice at themissioning ceremony, but now she looked at him with crocodile eyes.
¡°Who doesn¡¯t know you here? You¡¯re the president¡¯s son.¡±
¡°Please don¡¯t call me that. I¡¯m fine with just Yujin.¡±
Sonya erased her faint smile and dropped her fork on the te.
¡°Why, is being the president¡¯s son too heavy for you? Then throw it away. I¡¯ll take it instead.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know what you mean, lieutenant. I just want to eat. I have a test schedule since this morning.¡±
¡°¡¡±
She wanted to pick on the android who served food, but she calmly cut her sausage instead.
Many people came to greet him soon after.
From the flight squadron leader to the admiral of the mobile fleet, all kinds of officers came over and shook hands with him and asked him to do his best in the future.
It was an unprecedented greeting for a candidate who wasn¡¯t even an officer yet.
¡®Surely being the president¡¯s son is quite impressive.¡¯
That made her more annoyed.
He was enjoying such benefits because of his bloodline, not his skills.
¡®That position should have been mine.¡¯
Sonya recalled her childhood.
The orphanage in Russia was extremely harsh when she was young.
All they had for meals were hard pieces of bread and watery soup, and they had to work hard until their hands bled.
What saved her, or rather the orphanage children, was President Yu Ji-ha of the United Human Federation.
He visited the orphanage with gifts and hugged the children.
¡°You¡¯ll have a new life when you go to Megacity. Who wants to go with me?¡±
No one didn¡¯t raise their hand.
They didn¡¯t know what Megacity was, but the orphanage life was terrible and Yu Ji-ha was kind.
Young Sonya hugged him and heard his warm words.
¡°You have talent. You¡¯ll be able to blossom your talent in Megacity.¡±
She didn¡¯t know what talent it was, but Yu Ji-ha¡¯s embrace was very warm in Sonya¡¯s memory.
Warmer than her father¡¯s embrace that she didn¡¯t even remember¡
Their meeting was short, and Sonya did everything she could to meet him again after moving to Megacity.
She endured the painful procedure and persevered through the training at school.
She finally met President Yu Ji-ha at themissioning ceremony, but he didn¡¯t look at her with the same warm eyes as before.
He just shook hands with her as a matter of course and asked her to use her skills for the United Human Federation.
There were too many candidates waiting for a handshake and the event time was short.
He disappeared somewhere surrounded by people as soon as the handshake was over.
¡®Dad, I¡¯m here. Your daughter is here.¡¯
She bit her lower lip as she watched him disappear cruelly.
She didn¡¯t resent him.
Instead, she tried her best to make him look back at her with training.
Thanks to that, she was rated as the best pilot in the 2nd Mobile Fleet and was scheduled to be promoted to captain soon.
But she was shocked when she saw the president¡¯s flight record during the gue swarm incident 10 years ago.
¡®Is this a human record?¡¯
Yu Ji-ha surpassed humans in every aspect.
He wasn¡¯t using a special modified assault armor either.
It was rather an early model with low ether receiver response and maneuverability.
There was nothing wrong with the performance, but ording to the simtion, the pilot had to control the dy of the ether receiver.
It would shorten his life by a few years just to worry about that during intense flight.
Anyway, she didn¡¯t give up and trained harder.
She had only one wish.
To be an uber pilot of the Unified Space Force and stand in front of him someday.
And to hear him say one thing.
That he was proud of his daughter.
¡°¡¡±
She lifted her head and looked at Yujin, who was eating without any worries.
With a face that didn¡¯t resemble him at all.
Sonya suddenly felt annoyed and got up after clearing her te.
¡°Are you leaving? I¡¯ll see youter. We¡¯re in the same squadron anyway.¡±
If he passed the candidate test, they might really be on the same team.
Yujin turned his body and looked at her leaving with a snicker.
¡®She grew up well, but she needs to calm down a bit.¡¯
She would do that after experiencing realbat.
He quickly finished his remaining food.
The food in the military was as tasteless as ever.
¡°As soon as all the ingredients enter the military, they go on strike for sure.¡±
It was a strange thing indeed.
***
The 2nd Mobile Fleet under the Mars Station Command was busy.
A guest came from Earth all of a sudden.
They didn¡¯t care about any guests as abat unit, but it was different if he was a member of the Supreme Council.
Especially if he belonged to the nning and Budget Committee, which had been granted budget allocation authority.
The Administration had recently transferred some of the budget authority that artificial intelligence had been in charge of to the Supreme Council.
The budget dominated the organization, so the power of the nning and Budget Committee was beyond imagination.
Thanks to the atmosphere of the United Human Federation, lobbying and solicitation had not been attempted yet, but Bae Sungmin¡¯s influence was considerable.
Anyway, his shuttlended on the Los Angelesbat cruiser with an assault armor package.
The officers of the Mobile Fleet greeted him warmly.
¡°Wee, sir. It¡¯s good to see you.¡±
¡°You¡¯re too kind. I could have taken care of myself¡¡±
¡°How could we do that when you¡¯re here? Come on, this way.¡±
Bae Sungmin was dragged by themander to tour the inside of thebat cruiser, which he didn¡¯t want to do.
He greeted the officers of the Mobile Fleet and listened to the briefing on Mars Station¡¯s operations, of course.
He was held up for three hours before he finally achieved his purpose.
It was meeting Yujin.
¡°It¡¯s been a while, Yujin.¡±
¡°Nice to see you, uncle.¡±
In fact, they weren¡¯t that close before.
Bae Sungmin was very busy and Yujin lived alone on Terra Ind, so they didn¡¯t have time to meet.
But after hearing that he grew up without his father¡¯s love, he contacted him asionally even if he couldn¡¯t meet him.
He yed a kind of foster father role.
And after Bae Sungmin became a member of the Supreme Council, they became closer.
They didn¡¯t meet often, but they sometimes had dinner and talked about old times.
It was mostly about Yu Ji-ha¡¯s outrageous actions and Bae Sungmin¡¯s chief secretary¡¯s hardships.
Yujin hated old stories and shuddered, and Bae Sungmin said that young people these days didn¡¯t know how hard those times were and clicked his tongue.
Despite their huge age difference, they looked like brothers because of anti-aging treatments.
Anyway, he came today not for such romantic reasons.
¡°I¡¯m sorry foring so suddenly. You must be nervous about yourmissioning test.¡±
¡°No. It doesn¡¯t matter. But you look pale, uncle.¡±
He smiled bitterly.
¡°If I look that bad to you, it must be serious. It¡¯s nothing. I¡¯m just having a hard timetely.¡±
¡°Who¡¯s making it hard for you? Who is it? The senior member of the Supreme Council nning and Budget Committee?¡±
He joked with a yful tone and Bae Sungmin gave a bitter smile.
This kid wasn¡¯t as blunt as his father, so it was fun to talk to him.
Of course, President Yu Ji-ha also made jokes sometimes, but it was hard to talk to himtely.
It was probably because of the moles around him.
They didn¡¯t care about war preparations or stable operation of the United Human Federation at all.
They only tried to get more power by any means possible.
Vampires who sucked blood from him.
The president was surrounded by them.
¡®The war hasn¡¯t even started yet¡¡¯
They were eager to secure their shares as if they had won the war against gue.
There were many things to do after that. The remainingnd and heritage, and how to treat countless outsiders.
They were busy trying to secure their influence over them in advance.
Yujin didn¡¯t want to entrust the United Human Federation to those who drank soup before it was cooked.
He would gather all the hatred and trash and blow them up at once.
¡®I¡¯m sorry, but you¡¯ll have to take care of the United Human Federation, chief secretary.¡¯
He had been a member for a long time, but Bae Sungmin was always his chief secretary.
He would take over the United Human Federation when he left for the prophet¡¯s homnd.
¡®It¡¯s a pretty good choice.¡¯
He could have a drink and tell him everything if they ever met again.
But it seemed unlikely.
F
Chapter 186: The Parachute is Too Strong
Chapter 186: The Parachute is Too Strong
The reserve pilots of the 2nd Mobile Fleet were not very weing of Yujin¡¯s transfer.
It was understandable.
They were facing a possible war, and they did not trust a candidate who had not even graduated from the pilot school.
The high-ranking officers tried to be friendly with him, thinking of their future after retirement, but the reserve pilots had a different perspective.
¡ªWe are going to fight on the front lines. How can we rely on someone who got his license from homeschooling?
¡ªThe system that allows homeschooling to get a license is wrong in the first ce. Who made this?
¡ªHis name is Bae Seong-min, a member of the Council. He made this before he joined the nning and Budget Committee. He also wrote a rmendation letter for him to join the 2nd Mobile Fleet.
¡ªA typical parachute. Where is the fairness?
What angered the reserve pilots was that they could not see any trace of fairness that President Yu Ji-ha had promised.
He had vowed to change the Unified Space Force, which used to be a machine army, and said this:
¡°The Unified Space Force is an organization for the war against the gue. Therefore, skill is the most important factor. There are other criteria, but skill is the priority.¡±
The other criteria probably meant some basic social skills, teamwork, and camaraderie.
In fact, until recently, the reward system of the Unified Space Force was based strictly on skill, such as sry increase and promotion.
No matter how old or experienced they were, if they could notmand properly in a mock battle, they could not reach a high rank.
That was even more strictly applied to the reserve pilots.
Their role was to prate through the barrage of the gue army and deliver the reaction bombs.
If the mobile fleet and otherbat ships were tanks, they were dealers.
They had such a huge responsibility that they were evaluated solely by their skill.
Skill meant simtion or mock body control, but ording to artificial intelligence, it was almost simr to real body control, so it was not a big problem.
The Unified Space Force was a new organization, so there were many vacant positions in high ranks, and everyone was struggling for a fast promotion.
In such an atmosphere, Yujin¡¯s appearance with a parachute was a destruction of fairness itself.
The fact that he was the president¡¯s son did not matter at all.
A sentence that someone posted on the Unified Space Forcework expressed everyone¡¯s feelings.
¡ªBeing the president¡¯s son does not makeser guns miss him, right?
The point was skill.
Many people doubted what he could do with a license from homeschooling.
They did not trust a civilian qualification.
Of course, there were also people who expressed their favor for him because he was the president¡¯s son.
They were former military officers from old countries who knew well about politics and factions, and there were some among the pilots as well.
They argued that they should consider their future after the war as well.
¡ªHistory shows that disarmament will follow after the war. We will not be treated well either, so we have to find a way to survive.
¡ªIf he is the president¡¯s son, he will not stay as a pilot forever. He might enter politicster. We might get some help from him then.
It was not entirely wrong.
But Sonia Lieutenant hated those who thought and acted politically when the war against the gue was not over yet.
The problem was that there were too many of them.
¡°Everyone acts like they have won the war already. The gue has not even invaded yet.¡±
¡°They did invade once, remember? A year ago? The 1st Mobile Fleet responded to them.¡±
¡°I mean full-scale war. The one with nests and queens.¡±
¡°Well, yeah. The president always emphasized full-scale war¡¡±
The person who spoke from across the screen was Dyke Rogers Captain, who formed Alpha Squad with Sonia Lieutenant.
Since the 2nd Mobile Fleet had just been organized, Alpha Squad was notplete either, and they did not have any proper missions yet.
In the meantime, Yujin came to join them temporarily, and Rogers Captain, who had gone to Earth for another business, seemed curious about him.
¡°So how is he? He is only 22 years old, aplete rookie. Is he any good?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. He passed physical examination and basic tests, I guess.¡±
¡°Then there should be no problem. If he passes the final test, we can work together.¡±
¡°You trust someone who got his license from homeschooling?¡±
¡°Why are you like this? Isn¡¯t skill all that matters? Or are you like this because he is the president¡¯s son?¡±
¡°¡That has nothing to do with it.¡±
¡°It has everything to do with it. You carry around a wallet with President Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face on it.¡±
¡°I was going to throw it away.¡±
¡°Sure, you were.¡±
Sonia felt a surge of emotion at his sarcastic tone and retorted.
¡°You know, Captain. To get a license, you have to imnt a seed, which means you have to be an adult.¡±
¡°So you don¡¯t trust him because he only imnted a seed two years ago?¡±
¡°If you exclude the adaptation period, the actual training period is even less, right?¡±
¡°Maybe he is a genius.¡±
Sonia was about to argue, but he spoke in a soothing manner.
¡°Look, I get that you are annoyed, but you don¡¯t have to be prejudiced against him. He is the president¡¯s son and he has a rmendation letter from an active member of the Council. Do you really think he has no skill?¡±
If he had no skill, it would be a p in the face for Bae Seong-min and the president.
¡°¡¡±
¡°Anyway, he got his license, so he must have met the minimum standard. Maybe he got good genes from his father and did not need any surgery.¡±
¡°¡That¡¯s why I hate him.¡±
¡°Put your personal feelings aside for a moment, okay? We are going to be a team soon.¡±
¡°If he passes the final test, that is.¡±
¡°Okay. They said the assault armor arrived, right? We will be busy soon. See youter.¡±
Themunication ended, and Sonia sighed lightly and looked at Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face in her wallet.
¡°He looks nothing like him.¡±
He did not resemble him at all.
She wondered if the rumor that he was not his real son was true.
ording to some sources, the reason why Yujin wanted to be a pilot was because of that.
A son who did not receive love from his father.
But¡
¡°¡¡±
She closed her wallet silently.
At least Yujin was recognized as a son by everyone.
Unlike her, who was not a daughter.
She was just one of the children who received Yu Ji-ha¡¯s gic seed.
Technically, that was correct, but she wanted to be treated as a daughter.
She had worked hard for that until now.
¡®I am different from you.¡¯
She was different from the crown prince who had been ying around until he turned 20.
She checked the time and got up.
Today was Yujin¡¯s final test.
She wished he would fail and get kicked out of the fleet, but at the same time, she wanted him to pass with dignity.
He had inherited the president¡¯s genes, so he must have some skill.
She headed to the hangar with these thoughts.
***
Usually, when people say pilots, they mean those who have been assigned assault armors and officially engaged in missions.
In that sense, the pilots of the 2nd Mobile Fleet were prefixed with reserve.
The assault armor packages had arrived, but they were not officially deployed yet.
The mechanics and workers in the hangar of the Los Angeles ship were working day and night to prepare them for initial operation.
Sonia helped them out and noticed that the honeybird wing packs were not installed.
They were essential for assault armors.
¡°Why are these not installed?¡±
Walter, a mechanic, wiped his thick sweat.
¡°We got an order from the headquarters. They said not to install them yet.¡±
¡°Do they not trust our skills?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know, but these things have tremendous thrust. A normal person would faint as soon as they activate them.¡±
¡°But we passed the tests.¡±
¡°That¡¯s true, but they say it¡¯s different in realbat. Look at what happened in the 1st Mobile Fleet.¡±
The 1st Mobile Fleet was the first to receive assault armors and enter actual operations.
In the process, the pilots who confidently controlled them all fainted.
It was because they could not handle the ether field properly and faced excessive G-force.
It was proven that simtion and reality were different.
To be precise, the data of simtion and skill were almost identical, but the body was deceived and caused trouble.
There were some other problems as well, and they still could not attach the wing packs.
Sonia lost her appetite and looked at the wing packs.
¡°They are not fully functional without these.¡±
¡°Six wings that enable ultra-high mobility, sigh¡ These are what make them real assault armors. By the way, Lieutenant.¡±
¡°Yes?¡±
¡°How was he?¡±
¡°Who?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t y dumb. You know who I¡¯m talking about. The one you were waiting for him toe to the fleet.¡±
¡°When did I wait for him?¡±
¡°Ha ha, you quickly took a seat in front of him at breakfast¡¡±
¡°I just wanted to see if he looked like him.¡±
¡°So how was he? He is quite big for a 22-year-old.¡±
¡°His physical strength was fine. I don¡¯t know about his skill yet.¡±
¡°Oh, really. His father was also tall. If he inherited his genes, his skill must be amazing too. But I¡¯m more curious about his talent as a psychic.¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t feel anything special.¡±
¡°Was his reaction a bitcking?¡±
They chewed on Yujin as a topic of conversation.
Pilots usually needed to be friendly with mechanics, but Sonia was especially close with Walter.
Maybe it was because he epted her personality well.
Walter left for a meeting and Sonia looked at the assault armor locked in a cage.
She had waited so long for this day.
She had spent seven years to get here.
She was finally bing an official pilot.
Unlike him, who did it in two years¡
¡°Stop talking nonsense.¡±
Sonia hurried to the simtion training room.
She did not care about the candidates¡¯ training normally, but today was different.
It was Yujin¡¯s test day.
When she arrived at the scene, there were many people gathered and Yujin was sitting on a seat.
¡°What was his record for reflector bits?¡±
¡°The highest record was 12? It came from the 1st Mobile Fleet.¡±
¡°The number is important, but so are endurance and fine control.¡±
¡°Of course, distance too.¡±
Reflector bits were one of the main weapons stored in assault armors.
They had no offensive power by themselves, but they reflectedser guns from allied ships such as battleships orbat cruisers.
The enemy gue army was so numerous that the supportsers were also massive, so they needed proper control to reflect them.
The engagement distance was so long that a slight angle difference could make them misspletely.
That¡¯s why pilots needed reflector bits¡¯ number, endurance, fine angle adjustment, and sufficient distance.
It was hard enough to avoid enemy fire while doing such control.
Fortunately, recent pilots had shown remarkable results by receiving gic seeds from excellent psychics.
Someone muttered jokingly at Sonia.
¡°How do you feel? He might break your record of 11 bits.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t care. And don¡¯t call me by my name so casually.¡±
¡°Sorry. It was Aberina, right?¡±
He backed off and everyone turned their heads.
They were curious how far he could go with his parachute.
He had gotten his license, so he must have some skill, but that did not guarantee his performance in mock body simtion.
He seemed to be sitting on a gravity seat for the first time, but he did it surprisingly easily.
Everyone murmured at that.
¡°Was there a gravity seat released to the public?¡±
¡°No way¡ That¡¯s so expensive that no academy could afford it.¡±
¡°The feeling ispletely different from a normal seat. He looks quite familiar with it.¡±
¡°He is the crown prince, he must have a lot of money.¡±
Sonia¡¯s remark convinced everyone.
Soon, the test began and everyone¡¯s attention was focused.
¡°Mock body activation. Candidates, please awaken your imnted ether circuits.¡±
With a low sound of movement, the mock body floated in the ether field.
It was a simtion, but it was almost close to reality.
Yujin controlled the ether field as instructed by the artificial intelligence with his eyes closed.
¡°He is pretty good. It must be his first time with a mock body.¡±
¡°But he didn¡¯t rise very high.¡±
¡°It¡¯s a simtion. He doesn¡¯t need to do that.¡±
¡°Yeah.¡±
There were various opinions, and Sonia¡¯s eyebrows narrowed.
Sometimes, candidates would show off by increasing the output of the ether field and rising high, but it was a meaningless act.
What pilots had to do was control, not output.
In that sense, Yujin¡¯s control had a rather special aspect.
The mock body moved very naturally, controlling the ether field with ease.
What would be the synchronization rate for that?
He didn¡¯t know for sure without a test, but it seemed to be quite high.
¡®But not as high as mine.¡¯
The voice of the artificial intelligence echoed in the training room.
¡°The ether field activation test is passed. The reflector bit test will begin soon.¡±
The people bowed their heads and watched intently.
An assault armor pilot needed many skills, but especially the reflector bit.
It was probably because the bit deployment was visually spectacr.
Even the Unified Space Force introduced the pilots as something like psychokicists.
They were psychics after all, so they had some degree of psychic abilities.
Anyway, the pilots ranked themselves by how they controlled the reflector bit.
Except for the first fleet, most of them were not assigned to actualbat, so they had no other way to judge.
¡°Deploy the reflector bit.¡±
Following the artificial intelligence¡¯s instruction, the reflector bit stored in the mock body floated up.
The people outside were shocked by the bit moving in a disorderly manner.
¡°Isn¡¯t it supposed to move one by one?¡±
¡°Moving 15 at the same time is impossible¡¡±
The reflector bit that rose from the mock body moved freely in the ether field and changed its angle ording to the artificial intelligence¡¯s instruction.
The distance and angle between the bits changed in an instant and were very precise.
More importantly, there was no deviation in the bits.
It was inevitable to make mistakes when moving the bit with brain waves under extreme tension.
¡°¡¡±
Sonya bit her lip slightly as she watched the 15 bits move.
Someone looked at her and turned his head away with a cough when he saw her fierce expression.
¡°It¡¯s perfect. Literally perfect.¡±
¡°The real genius is different.¡±
¡°He¡¯s 22 years old, right? Does he have a girlfriend?¡±
¡°I saw himing with an android yesterday.¡±
¡°The candidate is too arrogant. He hasn¡¯t even passed yet and he¡¯s carrying an android around?¡±
¡°An android is not a girlfriend.¡±
¡°Well, he¡¯s more than enough to pass. He must have been confident.¡±
¡°Yeah¡¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t he going to be promoted to lieutenant as soon as he passes?¡±
¡°Hey, there¡¯s a minimum service period.¡±
The test continued while people were talking like that.
Yujin also seeded in controlling the ether booster perfectly.
¡°The test is passed. Good job.¡±
The candidate¡¯s test only determined whether he passed or not, not his score.
Yujin followed the guidance of the controller and disappeared somewhere, and people scattered.
¡°It was a golden parachute, but it had gold leaf on it¡¡±
¡°He¡¯ll go straight to the captain¡¯s room and have a ceremony, right?¡±
¡°His appearance and skill are unrivaled. I¡¯m jealous¡¡±
¡°I should go to his roomter. Do you know? Maybe he¡¯ll marry the crown prince.¡±
¡°Who cares about marriage these days.¡±
Sonya moved her feet while listening to the nonsense.
She was notfortable with the fact that a candidate who would be in the same squad had passed.
***
¡°Congrattions on your promotion to lieutenant!¡±
¡°I went from colonel to lieutenant, I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s something to congratte.¡±
Yujin pushed away Lucia who hugged him and sat on a chair.
The output of his psych field was definitely normal.
He used to strain his brain and barely reach 120 with his old body, but this time he used only 5% and felt very light.
He thought he could easily do 200 in realbat.
¡°I¡¯m back to normal now. The next thing is pilot training¡¡±
¡°You looked disappointed. Were you expecting more?¡±
¡°A little. I need to rearrange the school training schedule. And invest more budget to increase the mithril ratio.¡±
A pilot¡¯s responsiveness was innate, but there were ways to increase it artificially.
It was either imnting a psychic seed or inserting an artificial ether circuit.
The seed imntation was already carried out through arge-scale project and there was no more efficiency to be gained with the current gic engineering.
Everyone should have enough potential with Yujin¡¯s seed being used.
But the pilots couldn¡¯t bring it out properly.
Increasing the amount of mithril used for imntation was also an option, but they needed realbat experience.
Yujin also grew through hundreds of real battles.
His almost nonexistent bullet marks were concentrated in the early days, and he never had one after gaining experience.
¡°Waiting for gue toe is not an option¡¡±
Lucia crossed her legs on the bed.
¡°It¡¯s been quiettely. It¡¯s too peaceful that everyone is drinking kimchi soup first.¡±
Kimchi soup was an apt expression.
After Mega City was closed, billions of people couldn¡¯t get in and were exposed to gue¡¯s attacks.
The United Human Federation stepped in, but it was hard to cover the whole earth.
So the hatred of the outsiders for the United Human Federation was beyond imagination.
But their power was nothingpared to their hatred.
They were barely able to rob with rifles at best, but somewmakers were in contact with them.
They were trying to smuggle cultural assets and precious metals that remained in the ruined society into Mega City.
Yujin didn¡¯t care about that.
The outsiders couldn¡¯t get into Mega City anyway.
But it bothered him that thewmakers were trying to build their own power by contacting the outside.
They were thinking about the post-war situation.
¨DThe Unified Space Force will fight the war anyway, and our role is to integrate after the war.
¨DPresident Yujin is good, but he can¡¯t see far. Are we going to live in istion after the war? We need to prepare for integration.
They wanted to go back to the previous national system.
That was something for the remaining people to decide, but he couldn¡¯t leave it to those who were drinking kimchi soup.
To nip this problem in the bud, he had topletely block the ess.
But Yujin left them and their problems alone.
Instead, his dummy was busy building a pce and attracting public attention.
Thanks to that, some editorials came out on Mega News and other media, wondering why the president was doing this.
Yujin was interested in Knox¡¯s warp gate.
¡°How far has it progressed?¡±
¡°The space nt is on its way there. We¡¯re going to sneak out some materials soon.¡±
There were so many materials consumed in Mega City that it didn¡¯t matter if they took some out.
They would notice if they looked closely, but Lucia was controlling that microscope too.
But leaving for the prophet¡¯s home had to be after defeating gue.
And gue hadn¡¯t shown up for a year.
Was this the calm before the storm?
Yujin was worried about that, but not too anxious.
The United Human Federation was building up its power almost equal to the previous United Human Federation.
That was probably because they didn¡¯t suffer much damage.
They scraped up resources from Earth, Moon, Mars, Venus and asteroids to build fleets and assault armors, and that ounted for 75% of the total economy.
That meant that the Budget nning Committee could only allocate 25% of the budget.
This caused some controversy among thewmakers, but Yujin had no intention of lowering it.
The preparation for the war with gue was almost over.
Chapter 187: The Eve of the Storm
Chapter 187: The Eve of the Storm
As of 2046, the 12 megacities of the United Human Federation and numerous spacemand centers and resource nts were operating in a very stable state.
However, this stability was under the control of Lucia, a strong artificial intelligence.
If she were gone, they would have no choice but to return to the previous system.
Yujin¡¯s dilemma was also here.
He had to go to the prophet¡¯s homnd, and Lucia wanted to apany him.
The pir that supported the entirework of the United Human Federation would disappear.
There was no way to solve this smoothly at present.
Lucia was the only one, and no alternative artificial intelligence had been developed.
It was impossible to analyze the ck box, so it could not be copied, and it was impossible to divide theputing unit.
If Knox¡¯s warp gate closed, thework would be cut off, so he had to choose one of two: either go with him or stay in the sr system.
And Lucia finally chose to go with Yujin.
She said it was natural to be with her master.
He was grateful, but it was a very headache situation for Yujin.
The cause of this was that he rushed too much for war preparations.
He started his actions as soon as he arrived in 2025 and created a situation where he could expect a considerable chance of winning by 2046.
If he entered a full-scale war with gue in his current state, his chances were more than half, and that would increase as the year went by.
It was a good thing that he achieved such results in 20 years, but human artificial intelligence technology did not mature as much.
Lucia could make things by extracting various designs from the blueprints stored in the Settler, but artificial intelligence was difficult.
This was confirmed by the Codex.
¡°ording to Article 5 of the Artificial Intelligence Codex, it is impossible to create an artificial intelligence equal to me.¡±
To modify the Codex, he had to open and analyze the ck box, but no one could do that.
Therefore, if she left, there would be a big obstacle in controlling the United Human Federation.
¡°Even if we develop and deploy a simr algorithm as much as possible, there will be a lot of gaps.¡±
¡°Then humans have to take care of it.¡±
In the end, it meant that they had to go back to the previous system.
Yujin did not want to force his system to continue either.
Dictatorship was more inefficient than he thought, and without strong artificial intelligence, even the advantages that existed disappeared.
So it was best to improve the system while he and Lucia were there.
So that humans no longer depend on dictatorship.
¡°Of course, if we win the war with gue. But we have to prepare in advance.¡±
Speaking of his chances, Lucia analyzed that if they entered a full-scale war with gue right now, it would be about 60%.
¡°Of course, this is based on the assumption that gue is the same size as before and appears as before.¡±
The situation changed, so gue would not be the same size as before either.
But the United Human Federation could not afford any more speed.
In reality, where about 75% of all resources were invested in the Integrated Space Force, they did not dare to do anything more.
The reason why Yujin tolerated some impure movements of some members was because their actions had no meaning.
What if they colluded with external forces in advance?
When the war with gue begins, everything outside of Megacity will turn into a wastnd.
It means that they are not interested even though countless mock battles are taking ce within the Integrated Space Force and reports areing up to Congress.
Their eyes were focused on fruits whose existence was questionable after the war.
¡°Let them be for now. They¡¯re going to clean up everything before I leave anyway. Dreaming is not a sin. That¡¯s that. Is the rm system installed?¡±
¡°Yes. Weunched satellites with gravity wave radars at 200 locations in the sr system. We can tell right away if gue¡¯s army appears.¡±
¡°We just have to keep making battleships now and pilot training is a problem.¡±
He hurried as much as possible, but he couldn¡¯t pull it any further.
A pilot who also served as a psychic was not something that could be produced like a battleship.
They selected pilot candidates, imnted ether circuits and seeds, and trained hard, but that was not enough.
So Lucia started producing pilots using biobags.
It was nned from the beginning, but he had to wait until gic engineering matured enough.
Yujin looked at the screen Lucia sent him.
Naked humans were sleeping in biobag capsules.
¡°If we keep the concentration of culture fluid at this level, we can produce 25 people every three months.¡±
They were truly Yujin¡¯s real children.
Unlike pilots who received some genes, they were produced entirely using Yujin¡¯s genes.
They were all male, and their specs forbat were better than the current pilots, but their abilities as psychics, such as responsiveness, were a bitcking.
Now they will wake up and learn only the minimum knowledge and then be thrown into the battlefield.
Their personality and emotions were faint, and they would blindly follow the instructions of their superiors.
They were close to humans, but they had no free will, so they were not real humans.
¡°I¡¯m sorry¡¡±
Human production was the method Yujin hated the most, but he couldn¡¯t afford to be picky in a situation where pilot training was falling behind.
¡°They will be put in the President¡¯s direct Legion Strike Fleet.¡±
¡°I understand.¡±
The Legion Strike Fleet was different from other fleets that received orders from the Integrated Space Force, and waspletely controlled by Lucia.
It was thergest in scale and could be said to be the core force of the Integrated Space Force.
Even though a huge budget was invested, most of it was hidden in the fog, such as personnel and organization, and it was also the part that the members of the Supreme Council were most angry about.
The purpose of that fleet was one.
If gue Queen and Nest appear in the sr system, they will immediately go out and finish it.
However, it was still in formation, so it was difficult to move.
In this way, the United Human Federation was doing its best for the war with gue.
And Yujin was at the forefront of it.
He had a so-called rank on his uniform.
***
¡°Hey, nemesis.¡±
Lieutenant Rogers, who returned to the fleet, raised his hand and greeted Yujin.
Sonya looked at them in turn and asked.
¡°Have you met before?¡±
¡°Exactly, I had something with his father. I was mobilized to the strike package during the Pacific War.¡±
Lieutenant Rogers was a former US Air Force pilot and started his service as a lieutenant in the Integrated Space Force after recognizing his rank.
Yujin knew that because he had heard it beforehand.
¡°Isn¡¯t the expression nemesis a bit too much? That¡¯s only possible when a battle is established.¡±
At his provocative tone, Lieutenant Rogers pped his forehead.
¡°I got hit. Yeah. Our pilots also said it was crazy at the time. What can we do to the devil¡¯s machine army controlled by artificial intelligence?¡±
¡°Are you still holding a grudge?¡±
When Yujin asked, he chuckled.
¡°What grudge? I¡¯m not so bad that I would hold a grudge against my son. And I forgot everything when I entered Megacity. Your father was probably the only one who favored the veterans of the enemy country.¡±
He didn¡¯t seem to have much bad feelings.
He approached Yujin and tried to put his arm on his shoulder, but failed and smiled awkwardly.
¡°Your shoulders are too high for a shorty like me. Anyway, wee to Alpha Squadron. How about going to an android bar for a drink as a wee party? You brought your android, right?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve been with her since I was young, so I couldn¡¯t leave her.¡±
¡°Kuh, that¡¯s because you were born with a ck metal spoon. I heard that our emperor is building a pce these days, have you been there?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not on good terms with him¡¡±
¡°Oh, there was such a problem. Well, it¡¯smon in novels that the founding monarch and his descendants don¡¯t get along. More importantly, there¡¯s a good android bar at the Mars base¡¡±
¡°Why do you like androids so much?¡±
Sonya¡¯s sharp question hit the two men.
Lieutenant Rogers looked at her and slowly squinted his eyes.
¡°You know it all.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. Is there a reason to like something that¡¯s not human?¡±
¡°What don¡¯t you know? It¡¯s because they¡¯re not human. Isn¡¯t that right?¡±
¡°They don¡¯t say no very often.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. We¡¯re going to be a pretty good squadron, buddy.¡±
The two men hit their fists together as Sonya frowned and retorted.
¡°That¡¯s why you can¡¯t get married because you¡¯re into those androids.¡±
¡°Who gets married these days? If you don¡¯t like it, get out.¡±
¡°Who said I¡¯m going?¡±
¡°See? Lieutenant Yujin? We have one nag in our squadron, so you better know in advance.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve experienced it a while ago.¡±
¡°Is that so? These days women are very bold.¡±
Sonya¡¯s eyebrows were about to rise again when a man walked up.
¡°Sir, it¡¯s time.¡±
He was a man with a rather strong impression, tall and wearing sses.
Lieutenant Rogers introduced him.
¡°Oh, I was going to take the test. By the way, this is Ivan Nased. His original name is long, but you can just call him Nased.¡±
Yujin knew who he was.
He was one of the psychics who received Fatima¡¯s gic seed.
His ability as a psychic was outstanding rather than as a pilot, and he gave the squadron a special ability.
¡°Nice to meet you, lieutenant.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve heard a lot about you, lieutenant. We¡¯re in the same squadron now, so let¡¯s do well.¡±
Despite his strong impression, he seemed to have a very rxed personality.
Lieutenant Rogers pped his hands.
¡°Well then, Alpha Squadron is all here. Shall we go see the prettydy now?¡±
¡°She¡¯s not ady, she¡¯s a machine.¡±
Sonya picked on him, but he ignored her with Yujin and Nased on his side.
¡°It¡¯s been a principle to call ships or nes feminine since ancient times.¡±
¡°They¡¯re not ships or nes, they¡¯re assault armors.¡±
¡°Anyway, we ride them, right? Then they¡¯re feminine.¡±
¡°¡¡±
It was a low-quality joke that made him speechless in an instant.
Nased nced back and Yujin shrugged.
This atmosphere wasn¡¯t bad either, but it didn¡¯t seem tost long.
***
Assault armors were officially deployed in the 2nd Mobile Fleet.
The pilots controlled the machines for the first time under the control of the headquarters and got fairly positive results.
They didn¡¯t have Honeybird wing packs installed, but there was no difficulty in moving the assault armors.
The officers on the main bridge were busy reporting and recording the movements of the assault armors ejected from the hangar.
¡°Lock bolt released. Ejection ready.¡±
¡°Ejecting.¡±
Alpha Squadron also joined the test.
It wasn¡¯t anything great, just a simple maneuver test around the Los Angeles ship that was stationary in Mars orbit.
Squadron leader Lieutenant Rogers went out first and led his squad members.
¡°This is Alpha One to each unit. Just follow me like ducklings, got it?¡±
¡°Roger that.¡±
The officers on the bridge watched Alpha Four, Lieutenant Yujin.
The pilots didn¡¯t know it, but his synchronization rate easily surpassed the previous record.
An operator shook his head and said.
¡°Synchronization rate 93%¡ I can¡¯t believe it.¡±
¡°What was the highest before? 80% of the 1st Fleet? He easily broke through that.¡±
¡°The movement of the assault armor is so smooth as if it were floating. Maybe this is what happens when you exceed 90%.¡±
The personnel on the bridge were all busy observing Alpha Squadron¡¯s movements.
The other machines were affected by the powerful psych field emanating from Alpha Four.
By now, the other squad members must have been very confused that their machines were not moving as they wanted.
¡®It¡¯s like scuba diving in a current.¡¯
He tried to resist by putting strength into his body, but the more he did, the more pressure he felt and it was harder.
It was easier to go where the current led.
If it was a dangerous seabed, it would be a different story, but now she was safely flying in space.
He seemed to be flying slowly, but he was actually much faster than the other squadrons.
¡®Is this¡ his skill?¡¯
How could a man who could influence other machines with such a powerful psych field be?
He didn¡¯t seem to get tired and led the whole squadron throughout the training.
When they finally returned to the hangar, all the squad members were speechless.
Lieutenant Rogers put his hand on his shoulder.
¡°You seem to be hiding a lot of things.¡±
¡°I guess it¡¯s because I was born with a ck metal spoon.¡±
¡°Well, that might be true. Anyway, it was an unpleasant but pleasant experience.¡±
He wouldn¡¯t have liked the fact that his machine moved ording to someone else¡¯s will.
But he must have thought that it could save his life.
It¡¯s not so bad to be next to a skilled person in wartime.
There¡¯s no reason why the US military has a saying that if you¡¯re next to a tough guy, you¡¯ll die quickly, but this is the Integrated Space Force.
Nased also seemed to look at Yujin with new eyes.
Sonya didn¡¯t say anything with a dumbfounded face.
In the subsequent training evaluation, Yujin¡¯s synchronization rate and psych field were rated as the second strongest after President Yu Ji-ha.
As this became known, the way people looked at Yujin in the 2nd Mobile Fleet changed.
He was no longer a 22-year-old ck metal spoon parachute, but a skilled person who surpassed other pilots.
He didn¡¯t know how he would do inbat, but it was a fact that his ability as a psychic was iparable to other pilots.
The training with the assault armors continued and the skill of Alpha Squadron, where Yujin was, kept rising.
They achieved overwhelming results inbat training using dummy rounds against other squadrons.
Squadron leader Lieutenant Rogers calmly said in the evaluation that it was the result of following Yujin¡¯s orders.
¡°I think it would be better if he was the squadron leader. Everything from position selection to evasive maneuvers was perfect during training.¡±
It showed how much difference there was in skill that he gave up his pride and said that.
They were the only ones who seeded in thebat training where they had to fend off multiple squadrons disguised as gue attacks.
While other squad members were shot down by the barrage of 20 assault armors, he alone showed a different dimension of evasion and swept them all away.
It was so unbelievable that the other squad members who yed the role of gue asked what kind of monster he was.
¡°Did he have eyes on his back? It was really ridiculous.¡±
¡°I felt like he noticed me before I attacked¡ but I¡¯m not sure if it was an illusion.¡±
Themand of the mobile fleet decided that it was meaningless to keep him in the rank of lieutenant and rmended him for promotion to captain.
This happened less than three months after he became a lieutenant.
It would have been impossible in a normal army, but it was possible in the Integrated Space Force, which prioritized skill.
At this point, he could have be arrogant, but he still treated Lieutenant Rogers as his squadron leader and got along well with Nased.
He also generously shared his know-how with others.
¡°The important thing is the position of the machine. If we have enemies and allied ships here, we have to keep moving to find the optimal position.¡±
¡°Our main mission is to deliver reactive bullets, right? But we can¡¯t just rush blindly. It¡¯s impossible to peel off gue¡¯s front line with just our machine¡¯s firepower. Coordination with allied ships is more important than anything else.¡±
¡°So you always have to check the data that thebat officers send you. Their position detection is 0.05 seconds faster than the gravity radar.¡±
Lieutenant Rogers asked incredulously.
¡°Isn¡¯t 0.05 seconds almost no difference?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll feel it¡¯s a huge difference when you enter realbat.¡±
¡°You talk like you¡¯ve been through it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s all in the manual.¡±
It sounded like ame excuse, but his advice was effective.
Sonya also followed his advice and felt herbat training score skyrocketed.
¡®Is he really a rookie? Did he train somewhere else?¡¯
He was President Yu Ji-ha¡¯s son, so maybe that was possible.
He inherited excellent genes and probably had his own machine since he was young, so maybe he could have this level of skill if he trained from then on.
But she confirmed that President Yu Ji-ha¡¯s personal machine had been stored in Ark, the artifact analysis institute of the Integrated Space Force.
¡°It¡¯s been in Ark since the reorganization of the Integrated Space Force?¡±
¡°That¡¯s already 10 years ago. I¡¯ve looked at it a lot. The parts I didn¡¯t understand were mostly there.¡±
The person who said that was Senior Researcher Hwang Sun-young.
She was a founding member of Ark and an authority on ether research who no one could follow.
The modern improvement of assault armors was thanks to her.
She asked casually.
¡°So how was he?¡±
¡°¡I don¡¯t know yet.¡±
¡°Haven¡¯t you been together for a few months? You should have built a Great Wall with your young blood?¡±
¡°What¡¯s a Great Wall?¡±
¡°This is what they call a generation gap. I¡¯m so sad, sister.¡±
There was bound to be a difference in knowledge between Megacity generation and previous generation.
Sonya found Hwang Sun-young annoying for calling herself sister when she was old enough to be her mother, but she decided to let it go.
She looked like that when they stood together anyway.
Anyway, it was certain that Yu Ji-ha¡¯s personal machine had been in Ark for 10 years and he didn¡¯t have any other machines.
¡°Then where did he learn how to control them?¡±
It was really strange.
Now she felt more curious than hostile towards Yujin.
There was no point in having a one-sided hostility because there was too much difference in skill.
She learned a lot from him, so it was also ridiculous to deliberately distance herself from him.
But she still couldn¡¯t get rid of that attitude, so she often had the situation where her body was far away but her head was leaning towards him during tactical meetings.
Lieutenant Rogers chuckled at that.
¡°Your body is honest even if you say you don¡¯t like it.¡±
He didn¡¯t know what he was talking about.
For a while, peaceful days continued, but they didn¡¯tst long.
In 2047, the rm system installed by the United Human Federation throughout the sr system went off.
¡°Ether storm detected, gue attack alert.¡±
Countless spots of light appeared on the gravity radar of the Integrated Space Force.
It was iparable to the previous ones.
Yujin realized that the day had finallye when he heard the rm.
¡®The ones who caused the Night of Sorrow are here.¡¯
In 2103, humanity lost 500 million people to their attacks.
But it would be different now.
Chapter 188: There is No Night of Sorrow
Chapter 188: There is No Night of Sorrow
There was one thing that the 1.2 billion citizens of the United Human Federation never wished for while living in the megacity.
It was the sound of a first-ss alert.
This alert was never issued for a small-scale gue outbreak.
It was a secret, but it was known to be activated when a full-scale war with the gue was about to begin.
That¡¯s why people hoped that the first-ss alert would never ring.
But that day came.
The artificial intelligence sounded the alert to the entire United Human Federation.
¡°Alert. gue air raid alert. All bases and fleets of the Unified Space Force, enter the first-ss alert posture immediately. Repeat¡¡±
Almost at the same time, the megacity began to close.
The outer wall was firmly erected and the ceiling was formed,pletely sealing it off.
But it was not dark inside, because sunlight was drawn in through optical fibers and brightly illuminated it.
A huge amount of optical fibers and reflectors shone light, and the inside of the megacity became as bright as day.
But the citizens were notfortable.
It was because the drones, androids, and walkers that were roaming the streets shed red lenses and warned them.
¡°A first-ss alert posture has been issued. Citizens, please return to your registered residence immediately. If you vite this, CP will be deducted.¡±
They were so noisy and wandering around that everyone had to hurry back to their residence.
There were so many people that dissatisfaction also exploded.
¡°What¡¯s going on? Why are they doing this all of a sudden?¡±
¡°Is it because of a full-scale war?¡±
¡°Even so, they don¡¯t have to sh red lenses at us, do they?¡±
¡°They say they¡¯ll deduct CP. This is the first time for this kind of case.¡±
The people were surprised not by the fact that the alert rang, but by the fact that the drones and androids shed red lenses that they had only shown when suppressing criminals.
Aren¡¯t the citizens innocent?
And they even said they would deduct CP if they didn¡¯t follow the instructions, which caused a lot ofints.
There had never been such a case before.
Voices rose here and there, but they didn¡¯t want to lose CP, so they all followed the control.
On Meg, the megacity¡¯smunicationwork, there were some arguments in favor of it.
¡ªA first-ss alert means a situation that is no different from a full-scale war. This is not the time to argue about this and that.
¡ªThey¡¯ll release itter when the alert is lifted. Why would they do that otherwise?
¡ªPresident Yu Ji-ha will take care of it. There hasn¡¯t been a breach in the megacity so far.
The entire United Human Federation, including the megacity, was no different from what Yu Ji-ha had created.
All 1.2 billion people had done was enter his shelter.
Some ability users helped him, but they were really a minority.
In fact, after living for more than 10 years, it was natural to have a sense of ownership, but Yu Ji-ha¡¯s influence was so great that there weren¡¯t many people who had bigints.
Another interesting spectacle was that politicians who were active outside rushed into the megacity as soon as the first-ss alert was issued.
The citizens were busy chewing them up.
¡ªWhy are theying in? They should be hanging out with their factions outside.
¡ªFactions? Aren¡¯t they just guys who get wiped out by one walker? What value do they have?
¡ªNumbers. And resources. When the war is over, there will be some value in using them somehow.
¡ªThey should kick them all out. I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re doing.
¡ªAren¡¯t they rather close to the president?
Building a splendid pce and his recent offbeat behavior confused the citizens.
He imposed an excessive alert posture on them, causing them inconvenience, but he didn¡¯t touch the troublemakers at all.
The defenders argued that there must be a reason for it, and the citizens didn¡¯t make a big fuss about it either.
But some began to think again about the surveince system of the megacity.
¡ªI thought it was not a bad system, but if he changes his mind and bes a dictator¡ I don¡¯t know.
¡ªMaybe this is his struggle because he doesn¡¯t want to give up his power.
¡ªI still want to trust him though.
The trust in Yu Ji-ha was so firm that it didn¡¯t waver with just this much.
Rather, since a crisis hade, they felt that they should unite, which became an opportunity to strengthen their trust in him.
However, it was clear that a small spark had been created.
It was that he could control the citizens as he pleased if he wanted to as a dictator.
The citizens had been intoxicated by sweet dictatorship and forgot about it until now.
They realized that their helpers, the drones and androids, could be enemies.
***
Humanity didn¡¯t know where the gue came from.
They only knew theoretically that it used a phenomenon called ether storm, which appeared out of nowhere in the inner sr system.
But as they say, a long tail gets stepped on. In the past 10 years, many ces, such as the artifact analysis agency and the research institute of the Unified Space Force, have seeded in analyzing the appearance of the gue to some extent.
Hwang Sun-young, an authority on ether research, imed that ether storms must always apany the appearance of the gue.
¡°Strong gravitational waves are detected in ether storms. That means you can tell by using a gravity radar. They are divided into first to fifth sses depending on the size, but the smaller the number, the bigger they are.¡±
¡°The gue always appears with ether storms. That means they¡¯re noting from outside the sr system.¡±
It was probably another universe.
Anyway, this time the scale of the gue was estimated to be about 2,000.
¡°We are currently waiting for the ether storm to subside in Jupiter¡¯s orbit. Surprisingly, the scale is almost the same as before.¡±
¡°By saying it¡¯s almost the same, you mean that sending the gue was a warning from the prophet.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. If it was a queen, she would have attacked with her nest.¡±
Lucia was usually joking and seducing Yujin, but she was very businesslike when it came to the gue.
Yujin also feltfortable with that.
¡°In other words, it was a warning from the prophet. I should thank him again.¡±
He had one more reason to go to the prophet¡¯s hometown.
But going there was afterpletely exterminating the gue.
He had to destroy at least the gue queen and her nest to be able to im victory.
The current United Human Federation was not a great enemy for 2,000 beasts.
However, their scale was not very impressivepared to the whole gue.
¡°ording to the analysis of the previous war with the gue, these 2,000 are just a vanguard. Depending on how we deal with them, the response of the main force will change.¡±
¡°Using blockers is meaningless and the queen¡¯s intention is important.¡±
It was never revealed why the gue attacked humanity.
Some people cited resources as an example, but it was inefficient to fight with humanity for that.
Humanity had copsed, but the gue had also suffered considerable damage.
They seemed to be looking for something, and it was likely to be an artifact of the prophet.
¡®Maybe it¡¯s the artifact I absorbed.¡¯
Yujin hadn¡¯t been able to properly identify the artifact he had absorbed on Mars because of thebat situation at that time.
But it was clear that it was a key to open a warp gate.
The gue was looking for a key to go to the prophet¡¯s hometown.
The reason they missed Yujin was probably because he hid in the cockpit and blocked all psy-fields.
¡®The cockpit¡¯s performance can¡¯t be that great¡¡¯
It was hard to believe that the ones who devoureds by destroying thempletely failed to detect it.
It was probably the camouge function of the key itself.
¡®It must have something to do with my ability to block psy-fields.¡¯
In that sense, the conspiracy theorists who imed that Yujin was the culprit who brought the gue were not entirely wrong.
But whether the gue would stop attacking if he disappeared somewhere was a separate issue.
Lucia seemed to notice his mind and tried to bury her face in his right chest, but when her sses got in the way, she quickly threw them away and pressed her cheek against him.
¡°Don¡¯t worry too much, master. I¡¯ll help you get to the prophet¡¯s hometown. But we¡¯re going together.¡±
To be honest, there wasn¡¯t much he could do without Lucia.
And he wanted to stay with her since they had worked together so far.
She was an android, but so what?
He was also a tool born out of necessity.
He stroked Lucia¡¯s hair.
¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go together.¡±
After smashing the gue horde that caused the night of sorrow.
¡°Let¡¯s start with n A. Let¡¯s destroy them before they find Earth.¡±
¡°Yes, sir.¡±
Lucia¡¯smand was delivered to all space bases and fleets of the United Human Federation.
***
The 2,000 gue cocoons that had just entered the sr system did not have individual wills, but they had a faint sense of unity.
It was formed by the psy-field of the queen who transcended space and time.
Their goal was simple.
¨DFind the milestone that will guide us to thend of God that is somewhere.
¨DAnd eliminate all obstacles you encounter along the way.
It was a simplemand, but it was enough for the beasts with faint egos.
The cocoon horde sensed a distant psy-field and activated their bio-ion thrusters.
2,000 gues embarked on a long journey of 600 million kilometers.
But Earth had changedpletely.
They built megacities in various ces to prepare for the gue¡¯s air raid and produced as many space fleets and mobile weapons as possible.
So by the time the cocoon horde arrived at Mars¡¯ L3 point, more than 50 fleets were waiting for them.
The cocoons were surprised and poured out beasts all at once, and Lucia controlled each ship.
¡¸We will seal most of our weapons to quickly annihte the gue. Intercept them with reaction bombs only.¡¹
Using reaction bombs as soon as they encountered them was to avoid giving unnecessary information to the main force.
They couldn¡¯t block all the information transmitted by psy-fields, but they could at least prevent their own weapon systems from being exposed.
The gues that had appeared so far were sent by the prophet, so it was assumed that the queen¡¯s subordinates didn¡¯t know much about humanity.
Therefore, they had to annihte them before they obtained proper information.
¡¸All ships, fire reaction bombs.¡¹
With just one more reaction bomb, the gue horde that entered the sr system was neatly wiped out.
The people of this era didn¡¯t know it well, but they had smashed the main culprit who caused the night of sorrow incident.
The soldiers of the fleet gathered in Mars¡¯ orbit cheered in unison.
¡°Yay!¡±
¡°We did it!¡±
¡¸gue horde annihted, no casualties for Unified Space Force. Well done everyone.¡¹
The citizens also cheered, but they couldn¡¯t rush out to the streets because of the control.
Instead, scout ships came out of the fleet and went around collecting gue cores.
The United Human Federation¡¯s top brass also cheered as much as anyone else.
They shook hands and hugged each other, but only one ce was quiet as much as anyone else: the management headquarters, which was the tallest building in megacity.
It was because its owner, President Yu Ji-ha, didn¡¯te out of his office.
Bae Seong-min knocked on the door, but he only heard an artificial intelligence voice saying he didn¡¯t want to see anyone.
He plucked up his courage and spoke again.
¡°Mr. President. The main culprit who caused the night of sorrow incident in your time zone has disappeared. It¡¯s a small victory, but it¡¯s valuable to us. So please join me¡¡±
He just wanted to talk, but the office door remained firmly closed and didn¡¯t open.
Bae Seong-min turned around with a gloomy face.
He had a feeling that the president had changed since some time ago, but he never thought he would refuse to talk.
Why?
¡®He¡¯s been separated from his wifetely¡¡¯
Arma, who had been Yu Ji-ha¡¯s soulmate.
They had been living apart for some time and seemed not tomunicate at all.
The megacity kept running, but in fact, the top leadership of United Human Federation was virtually on strike.
He didn¡¯t know the main cause, but he thought he knew one of the reasons.
Some parasites in the Supreme Council.
The ipetent bunch who barely avoided losing their membership by attending and only cared about expanding their power after the war.
Bae Seong-min hated them, but there was no reason for the president to protect them.
Where did the president¡¯s bold decision to send all those who interfered with his purpose to prison go?
He looked at the golden pce that was being built far away with a depressed heart.
It was called a pce, but it was a luxurious building that was taller than the management headquarters.
The exterior was decorated with gold all over and glittered, but in Bae Seong-min¡¯s eyes, it looked like nothing but a symbol of vulgar vanity.
¡®How can he bring such a monstrosity into the megacity that was built to prepare for the war with the gue¡¡¯
He couldn¡¯t criticize it openly because the culprit was President Yu Ji-ha.
He walked down the stairs with his shoulders sagging.
The night of sorrow was gone, but it seemed like his president was gone with it.
***
United Human Federation won the battle with the gue.
Even ordinary citizens knew that it wasn¡¯t all of the gue.
And that a real war would break out soon when the main force appeared.
But at the moment of victory, voices of discontent began to arise, saying that they should release the control.
¨DIt¡¯s not like I want to do something great, or dream of a rebellion. I don¡¯t understand why they ban going outpletely.
¨DWasn¡¯t he different before? The president was cold to the enemies, but warm to the citizens. I wish he would exin the situation on MegaNews.
Despite the many requests from the citizens, he stayed in the management headquarters and hardly showed his face.
Meanwhile, some members of the Supreme Council tried to pass a reckless bill.
They wanted to bring outsiders into the megacity.
The sponsors of the legitivemittee were appalled by this.
¨DWhat are they doing? They refused toe into the megacity by their own free will. Why do they want to bring them now?
¨DThe members are trying to create a faction centered around themselves. This must be stopped.
Fortunately, the bill was rejected by the artificial intelligence as inappropriate.
But the mere fact that such an attempt had been made brought anxiety to the citizens.
¨DThe president is nowhere to be seen and some members are running wild. I wish someone would stand up and stop them.
¨DDamn, I can¡¯t do anything I want even if I can go outside.
The citizens realized for the first time that their freedom was tied to one dictator.
And that the dictator had finally changed his mind.
¨DI knew this would happen.
¨DI never trusted a dictator in the first ce.
¨DHe said he would return the power to the citizens? I wonder if he ever had that intention.
A bold post appeared on MegaNet, saying that they just wanted to see the president¡¯s face.
But the voices of discontent soon faded away.
The artificial intelligence deleted all the posts and froze MegaNet.
No one could post anything, and ess was even prohibited.
The citizens were shocked again.
The president who had tolerated everything except for disrupting society was doing this.
Their trust in Yu Ji-ha was shattered.
But there was still no big movement.
They were afraid to step forward in a situation where he held all the power.
As the Unified Space Force was also swept by the atmosphere and became restless, Yujin contacted Bae Seong-min first.
¡°Uncle, how are you?¡±
¡°I wish I could say that, but unfortunately I can¡¯t.¡±
¡°Is it because of my father? Right?¡±
¡°¡No, no. I can¡¯t badmouth my father in front of my son.¡±
He was so loyal that it was enough to make anyone who heard him feel sad.
After all, a huge pce that everyone in Megacity Pacific would find absurd was being built there.
How could they not be frustrated when the president didn¡¯t even meet them, and the citizens were running wild withints?
Bae Seong-min vented his anger as he talked with his nephew.
He avoided cursing Yu Ji-ha as much as possible and poured out his hatred for the parasites around him.
¡°Those bastards should be fried and killed for Megacity to be safe. You know what I mean? They are born with no intention of living peacefully. They have to get power in their hands to satisfy their grudges.¡±
¡°I agree with you.¡±
¡°They shouldn¡¯t have been epted as members in the first ce! But¡ but¡¡±
It was a pitiful voice that made anyone who heard it feel depressed.
If Yu Ji-ha had been in front of him, he might have cried.
At such an old age.
Bae Seong-min cleared his throat, feeling ashamed of venting his anger in front of his nephew.
¡°I¡¯m sorry for making a scene. Just think of it as your uncle¡¯s drunken nonsense. Don¡¯t tell your father.¡±
¡°I already did, secretary-general.¡±
Bae Seong-min¡¯s eyes widened.
There was only one person in the world who could call him by that position.
But the young man in front of him was definitely Yujin.
A 22-year-old who looked too strong and mature for his age, unlike his parents.
¡°Could it be¡¡±
¡°Yes. The despicable dictator who killed former President Jo Hyung-geun and took over the country as acting authority.¡±
He came to his senses.
Yujin couldn¡¯t possibly know someone like Jo Hyung-geun, who belonged to history books from an old era.
And Yu Ji-ha killing him was a suspicion that only a few people, including Bae Seong-min, had kept secret and never revealed.
Yujin saying that meant¡
¡°Mr. President¡¡±
Bae Seong-min copsed on the spot as his blood drained away.
A decisive remark came out from the screen.
¡°I¡¯m sorry for making you suffer by putting you as a member after you retired. But there¡¯s one more thing you need to do for me.¡±
Chapter 189: The Children of the Prophet
Chapter 189: The Children of the Prophet
¡°Mr. President, what is going on?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a long story, but I don¡¯t have much time. I told you I came from the future, right?¡±
¡°Yes¡ You said you came from the year 2180¡¡±
¡°But you don¡¯t know how I came, do you?¡±
Well, that¡¯s true.
It was not logical that a person from the 22nd century United Human Federation would have a Korean face, and Yu Ji-ha did not exin much about it.
From Bae Seong-min¡¯s perspective, he did not need to know and did not bother to ask out of curiosity.
He thought that if he had a reason to know, Yu Ji-ha would tell him.
Now his long wait was about to end.
¡°I didn¡¯te alone. I came with an artificial intelligence named Arma and a spaceship.¡±
¡°A spaceship? You mean the Earth Fleet¡¡±
¡°No. It¡¯s much bigger than that. It¡¯s called Settler, and it¡¯s over 700 meters long.¡±
¡°There was such a big spaceship?¡±
Thergest spaceship in the current United Human Federation was the Yu Ji-ha-ss No. 1 ship, Yu Ji-ha.
The name was a bit awkward, but it was definitely bigger than the previousbat cruisers with a length of 500m.
But even that battleship would look like a childpared to Settler.
The difference in discement was almost twice as much.
¡°Settler is both an ark ship and a Battleship of the pioneer fleet. I¡¯ll exin the goal of the pioneer fleetter, but I came to Earth on that spaceship. Inded in the East Sea in the fall of 2025.¡±
Bae Seong-min suddenly remembered something and asked.
¡°Was the tsunami that happened then¡¡±
¡°It was caused by Settler¡¯snding. I hid under the sea and nned for the future.¡±
¡°And then I transferred my soul to the body of a Korean named Yu Ji-ha who was in a vegetative state. It¡¯s one of the relics of the prophet.¡±
You can transfer human souls?
Bae Seong-min felt his breath choked.
¡°That¡ I can¡¯t believe it¡¡±
¡°Just ept it as something that exists. Neither I nor Arma know the principle of that relic.¡±
Well, most of the relics of the prophet were like that.
Even the heat converters used in nuclear fusion reactors were not understood by the researchers who worked day and night.
Transferring souls seemed to be beyond that dimension, but he decided to listen for now.
¡°Through that soul exchanger, I pretended to be Yu Ji-ha. Of course, I hid the spaceship I came on.¡±
¡°Can I ask where it is now?¡±
¡°It¡¯s on Nix. The ninth of the sr system.¡±
Bae Seong-min opened his mouth in astonishment.
¡°Was that a real?¡±
¡°The scientificmunity had been confirming its existence for about 30 years. It was just too far away to be discovered.¡±
¡°Why is Settler there¡¡±
¡°There is a warp gate there. A kind of door to another universe, the prophet¡¯s home.¡±
The prophet was known not only to Bae Seong-min but also to many politicians in the United Human Federation.
But no one knew exactly what kind of being he was, and his presence had faded recently.
The relics of the prophet were strictly controlled and hidden by Yu Ji-ha.
Many citizens thought that all inventions and technologies of the United Human Federation were derived from artificial intelligence.
Whenever something was developed, it was announced by the Management Bureau or its affiliated research institutes.
¡°What is the prophet¡¯s home like?¡±
¡°No one knows what¡¯s there or what kind of ce it is.¡±
¡°Then it doesn¡¯t matter.¡±
¡°I decided something when I came to this era. The first is to exterminate the gue at all costs, and the second is to go to the prophet¡¯s home. That was also the goal of the pioneer fleet.¡±
Then Bae Seong-min realized what he meant.
Yu Ji-ha dered that he would leave Earth and the United Human Federation.
¡°You don¡¯t mean to abandon the United Human Federation, do you, Mr. President?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not abandoning it, I¡¯m just restoring it to its original state. You don¡¯t think I was a dictator by normal standards, do you?¡±
¡°But it was necessary more than anything else. Didn¡¯t you say so yourself?¡±
¡°It would be if we had to survive against the gue. Do we still need to maintain a dictatorship even if they are gone?¡±
Bae Seong-min had nothing to say and closed his mouth.
So he meant that dictatorship was not a matter of good or evil, but of necessity.
He would not have dared to be a dictator if he did not have Lucia.
Lucia would go with him to the prophet¡¯s home.
What should we do then?
¡°¡¡±
He could not answer and kept his mouth shut, but Yu Ji-ha, no, Yujin spoke again.
¡°I asked him again, but he said he couldn¡¯t change his mind. He insisted on going with me to the prophet¡¯s home.¡±
¡°Then you too, Mr. President¡¡±
Bae Seong-min stopped talking and Yujin said as if he understood.
¡°I have nothing to do with this era. I abandoned my parents and I have hardly any friends except the secretary-general, and my duty is over when I exterminate the gue.¡±
Yujin was a human created by humanity to fight against the gue.
He was not much different from the pilots of the legion strike fleet that had recently started to be made.
Exterminating the gue was his destiny and duty, but he failed in his original time.
He wanted to seed in this era, and then his duty would be over.
That is, he had no reason to stay in this era.
Bae Seong-min was secretly pleased that he counted him as a friend, but that was not important.
¡°I understand, Mr. President, but the gue is not gone yet, is it? Shouldn¡¯t you talk about this when¡¡±
¡°I have to hurry because I don¡¯t know when the warp gate will disappear. And this preparation will not affect the war with the gue at all.¡±
It seemed that he could not change his mind about going to the prophet¡¯s home.
The artificial intelligence also followed him, so the megacity and the United Human Federation would not be fine either.
What he wanted was to prepare for that in advance.
¡°Then, Mr. President, why did you build the Golden Pce and oppress the citizens¡¡±
¡°It was to make them realize that dictatorship is not necessary anymore. Dictatorship is a double-edged sword that can threaten them as well. They will understand that.¡±
¡°Did you have to be so extreme?¡±
¡°You must have seen how public opinion changed in the recent gue invasion incident.¡±
¡°Yes¡¡±
¡°Theyined after livingfortably for more than 10 years and bing a little ufortable. I¡¯m not ming them. I would have done the same.¡±
So he meant that the system he created made them that way.
At the same time, Bae Seong-min wondered how the citizens would adapt when that system disappeared.
He could not think of a way.
¡°After the gue is exterminated, Lucia and I will leave for the prophet¡¯snd. That means the system that supports the United Human Federation and the megacity will disappear. Therefore, the citizens need to prepare for that. You should be able to do that as a secretary-general.¡±
Bae Seong-min was startled and pointed to his chest.
¡°Me? Me?¡±
¡°A democratic fighter who stands against an evil emperor who is not satisfied with being a dictator and seeks eternal power. How about that? The citizens will follow you very well.¡±
He shook his head frantically.
¡°I can¡¯t do it. I don¡¯t have the ability or the will. The citizens won¡¯t ept it either.¡±
¡°Have you never heard that heroes are not born but made? Here is a scenario. Just follow it.¡±
¡°¡¡±
It was a detailed and depressing scenario.
He gave it to him thinking that he could not refuse it.
¡®It would be better if this was it¡¡¯
He thought it was fortunate that he was plotting something.
It was better than showing some iprehensible behavior like trying to be an emperor.
¡®I don¡¯t want to do it¡ But I have to¡¡¯
He did not want to step on Yu Ji-ha¡¯s name and take his ce, but he had no choice.
His determination was firm and his loyalty was still valid.
The only thing he wondered was that division was inevitable even if he did this.
¡°If you and Lucia disappear, the United Human Federation will inevitably split. There will be no center of gravity.¡±
¡°That¡¯s natural.¡±
¡°What do you mean by natural¡¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t the world before I came normal?¡±
¡°That¡¯s true.¡±
¡°There are eight billion people and eight billion thoughts. The United Human Federation and the megacity were just a state of total war against the gue. If the gue disappears, they should naturally disappear too.¡±
¡°I just hope that as a creator, humanity will use them wisely. It would be nice if they could develop based on the megacity.¡±
Yujin rejected the standard of good and evil.
The only thing that mattered was necessity.
He was a dictator, but not for his own benefit.
¡®With one intention to preserve humanity¡¡¯
Now that the gue is exterminated, humanity owes him a great debt.
But there was no way to repay it.
Because he was leaving for a faraway ce.
Without even knowing what was there.
¡°¡I have something I want to ask you.¡±
¡°I hope this is thest one. Anyway, go ahead.¡±
¡°Someday when you finish your work¡¡±
Yujin guessed what he meant and said.
¡°That might be difficult. It takes 50 years one way.¡±
¡°What?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a ce where it takes 50 years at Settler¡¯s cruising speed. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s there, so returning home is impossible. So I can¡¯t promise you anything.¡±
¡°Do you really have to go there¡¡±
¡°I am a child of the prophet. We all are. I have to meet him no matter what, even if it costs my life.¡±
He didn¡¯t know what he would say when he met him, but one thing was certain.
He couldn¡¯t change Yujin¡¯s, no, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s mind.
So Bae Seong-min decided to say what he wanted to say.
¡°When you finish all your duties someday, please promise me that you wille back here. Then I will take this job.¡±
Of course, there was no guarantee that he woulde back or that he would still be alive.
But he wanted him to promise anyway.
Yujin¡¯s face on the screen seemed to waver for a moment and then nodded.
¡°Okay. I promise. I wille back if I can.¡±
Then humanity would be able to repay their debt.
Or incur a new one.
***
The construction of the Golden Pce waspleted and an opening ceremony was held.
President Yu Ji-ha ordered to prepare the most splendid opening ceremony ever.
But due to the narrow nature of the megacity, that was impossible.
To hold a grand ceremony, the surrounding buildings had to be demolished.
Surprisingly, the president did that.
He disregarded the rights of the citizens guaranteed by the managementw and drove them out.
Tens of thousands of citizens were evicted and had to move to other ces, which caused a huge bacsh.
¡ªHow can he do that even if he is the president? He kicked out the full citizens.
¡ªFull citizens have the right to move freely. This is tyranny.
¡ªNow I can say for sure. The president is weird.
The president being weird had been going on for a while, but this incident confirmed it.
Even the people who supported Yu Ji-ha most passionately stepped back and said, this is too much.
The decisive blow was that Bae Seong-min, who had been Yu Ji-ha¡¯s closest confidant, opposed and stood up.
¡°With this, we are reminded of the corruption of the absolute. Anyone can make mistakes and the mistakes of ordinary citizens can bepensated by the system. But the mistakes of the absolute are impossible topensate. We have to prepare for the worst.¡±
The citizens who heard his speech were all dumbfounded.
¡ªAn emperor? Is he crazy?
¡ªHe said he would give up his power and now he is an emperor? I don¡¯t get it.
The reaction was very bad.
He didn¡¯t officially call himself an emperor, but he wrapped it up with things like a pce fit for an emperor.
This was Bae Seong-min¡¯s logic.
¡ªLet¡¯s say there is a bomb that has thousands of times the power of a reactive bullet and it roams around without any restraint.
¡ªWe don¡¯t know anything about that bomb and we don¡¯t have any way to stop it.
¡ªIf that bomb makes a mistake, there will be irreversible damage.
¡ªTherefore, we need the power to defuse that bomb.
It was the same logic as the mad dog theory that the United States had proposed before.
More people agreed with his opinion, but they had doubts about how to get that power.
The president had all the power of the United Human Federation.
Anyway, many people gathered around Bae Seong-min and the president ignored it.
It was strange that he ignored him, who was not an ordinary person but his closest confidant. He had a great symbolic meaning.
As the United Human Federation was wrapped in a tense atmosphere, the second invasion of the gue urred.
Thousands of gue beasts appeared near Earth.
The Earth Orbital Command immediately responded, but it was difficult to intercept all the gues.
Almost 10% of the gues survived and fell to Earth, causing tremendous damage.
The gues themselves became meteors and bombarded the Earth.
The enormous mass of over 10,000 tons turned many ces in the world into ruins.
The megacity was closed and actively intercepted, so it did not suffer much damage, but there was a problem with Lucia¡¯s system.
The citizens found out about it when there were many areas where the power was cut off even though the nuclear fusion reactor was fine.
It also applied to drones and androids, and the security around them waspletely paralyzed.
In the western district of Megacity Pacific, the citizens¡¯ dissatisfaction erupted in the form of protests.
¡ªIs this all for the perfect megacity system?
¡ªAre we supposed to starve to death without food or water?
¡ªWe can¡¯t take it anymore! The president shoulde out and exin himself!
Hundreds of thousands of people took part in the protest, but they were soon neutralized by the defense system that arrived.
Dozens of leaders were dragged out, including Bae Seong-min.
He shouted to the citizens in front of dozens of cameras.
¡°Remember this day! This is the price of entrusting our freedom and rights to one person! Open your eyes and ears! If you don¡¯t, you will pay a bigger price!¡±
The broadcast was soon stopped, but the citizens of the United Human Federation understood what he meant.
And so began the movement to save Bae Seong-min.
Peaceful protests were held everywhere and President Yu Ji-ha seemed annoyed by such movements and released the detained citizens.
Thanks to that, hope spread among the citizens that they could do something too.
¡ªThe artificial intelligence and the megacity are not perfect. We can im our rights ourselves.
¡ªThe president is delusional as if he is an emperor. He seems to want to change the name of the United Human Federation to Human Empire.
¡ªHe is no longer the president he used to be. We have to stop him.
But the citizens had no power.
The Unified Space Force, which had that power, followed only the instructions of artificial intelligence.
They lived in apletely separate ecosystem from Earth, so it was hard for them to experience the tense atmosphere of megacity.
¡°I wonder what¡¯s going on on Earth. I hope everything is okay.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry. We just have to focus on stopping the gue.¡±
The interest of Unified Space Force could be summarized as gue and Yujin recently.
The former was obvious, but thetter was unusual because he absorbed an artifact of prophet into his body.
He was given a mission to recover an artifact of prophet that arrived on Mars, but he ate it whole.
ording to the situation at that time, a lump of light was absorbed by Yujin¡¯s assault armor.
There was nothing different about his machine, so it was clear that his body absorbed it.
The second fleetmand worried deeply about it.
¡°He seems to have absorbed it without knowing it. I can¡¯t ask him to spit it out. It¡¯s awkward.¡±
¡°I reported it to my superiors, but they didn¡¯t answer.¡±
¡°Ignore them. Nothing will change anyway.¡±
Medical checks continued, but there seemed to be no major problems.
The only thing that changed was that Yujin¡¯s body emitted a stronger psyfield than usual.
Due to Unified Space Force¡¯s characteristic of having many psychics, he exuded an enormous presence.
The pilots said this after meeting him:
¡°I don¡¯t know if you understand this feeling¡ But when you meet someone you really respect or admire in person, your heart beats fast. I couldn¡¯t even look him in the eye.¡±
¡°He has a great presence. He makes peoplefortable wherever he goes and leads conversations.¡±
He was originally very skilled, so naturally pilots followed him.
His rank as a lieutenant was not a problem.
Even Sonya, who had looked down on Yujin at first, could no longer reject him.
He gave off a simr vibe to her father.
¡®How strange¡ Why does that man smell like my dad?¡¯
She remembered the smell of her father when she was hugged by him as a child.
It was a familiar andfortable feeling that made her feel sleepy.
Her father, who was criticized by many citizens recently, did not shake her heart.
Meanwhile, Yujin acquired another artifact of prophet and fell into trouble.
He couldn¡¯t hide his presence because his psyfield became stronger.
¡°I can feel my presence even without knowing it.¡±
¡°Thanks to that, you¡¯re popr.¡±
It was not bad to have charisma, but it was troublesome if it affected the gue as well.
The gue would not be able to feel his presence, which the psychics felt.
Was it because he absorbed another artifact of prophet?
A fierce ether storm blew near Pluto, the king of the sr system.
An old structure over 1,000km in diameter appeared among countless gues.
It was what the United Human Federation called the nest.
Yujin and the owner of the nest noticed each other¡¯s existence almost at the same time.
¡°He came pretty fast.¡±
The gue Queen and the nest appeared in the sr system.
As soon as she arrived, she sent a thought wave to all psychics.
-We are, the children of the prophet.
Chapter 190: Her Voice
Chapter 190: Her Voice
In the original history, gue was an iprehensible cosmic monster.
It devoured countlesss, spawned endless hordes, and finally brought humanity to extinction.
There was no propermunication in the process.
It only attacked Earth and humanity unterally.
But gue was not unintelligent.
From a certain level, it had a self-awareness, and at the highest level of entities, such as Titans and Queens, it was not an exaggeration to say that it had intelligence beyond humans.
It just didn¡¯t matter to humans because they couldn¡¯t recognize it.
Not only ordinary psychics, but even Yu Ji-ha couldn¡¯t hear anything but the gue Queen¡¯s howl.
In that respect, it was very unusual for this gue Queen to initiate a conversation with all psychics.
¡ªWe are the children of the prophet.
Not only Yujin, but also the other pilots, including Lieutenant Rogers, were surprised and jumped up.
¡°What is this? Who is talking to me?¡±
¡°It sounds like a woman¡¯s voice¡¡±
Yujin knew who the owner of this voice was.
She was the head of the artifact analysis agency Arc and his lover, Lucia Rosano.
Why did the gue Queenmunicate with all psychics using her voice?
¡®She¡¯s dead¡¡¯
To be precise, Yujin didn¡¯t see her die.
She had suffered a fatal injury and wandered around the battlefield for three years.
When she recovered and went to Earth, she found it destroyed.
The earth¡¯s crust was broken, so it wasn¡¯t strange to conclude that humanity was extinct.
The only possibility was abduction.
¡®Did they take humans away?¡¯
Judging by the fact that she used Lucia¡¯s voice tomunicate, they might have taken her away to use her as a channel ofmunication.
In that case, the survival of humans, including Lucia, would be difficult to hope for.
¡®It would be better to think that she died. But there are still questions¡¡¯
It was strange that the gue Queen of this time met Lucia.
She was not born yet at this point.
¡®Did she travel back in time with me? Or is she a different entity that shares memories?¡¯
The word we that she used could mean different things depending on what she meant.
However, the gue Queen and the nest that appeared in Pluto¡¯s orbit were not absolute beings.
¡®Is it because they appeared earlier than before? The psy-field is weak and the nest is nothing special.¡¯
The size of the nest sent by Pluto¡¯s reconnaissance satellite was much smaller than before.
¡®That¡¯s doable.¡¯
The problem was what the gue Queen meant.
It was definitely not a good intention.
The pilots in the waiting room sat down as Yujin remained silent.
¡°Did you hear this voice too, Lieutenant?¡±
¡°Yes, I can hear it.¡±
¡°I thought I was crazy. I thought it was my ex-girlfriend¡¯s voice.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you get confused about whose voice it was? Anyway, it seems like it¡¯s heard by Earth¡¯s psychics too, so let¡¯s listen quietly.¡±
Sonia¡¯s snipe made Lieutenant Rogers shut his mouth and Nasir closed his eyes as if concentrating.
And the gue Queen¡¯s intention was conveyed.
-We know that you have been preparing in fear of us.
-But there is no need to be afraid. We are the children of the prophet and your managers.
-If you promise us two things, we will not bother you. We promise you that.
Those two things were likely to be something hard to ept.
As the pilots looked at each other¡¯s faces, her voice rang again.
-In the name of the prophet, we will reim all ether from you. What you call cores and use are originally ours. Therefore, it is fair for us to reim them.
The psychics were shocked by her words of reiming ether.
Without it, most of the technology of the United Human Federation would be disabled.
From ck metal to basic technology, there were more than one or two things that depended on ether from gue cores.
That was what allowed humans to easily enter space.
But they wanted to take it away?
¡ªThat¡¯s ridiculous. That means they want to confine us to Earth.
¡ªThey manage us? Who agreed to that?
The psychics¡¯ reactions were negative.
Strangely enough, Yujin and the pilots could feel their overall opinions indirectly.
It was noisy as if they hade to a traditional market and heard psychics¡¯ voices.
And the gue Queen¡¯s second condition was presented.
-This is not all. Send me the most powerful psychic among you. Then I will guarantee your safety.
Everyone thought of Yu Ji-ha as the most powerful psychic.
He was the most powerful psychic in human history and still is.
Although psychics were not well known yet, everyone predicted that no one would match him.
His overwhelming ether sensitivity and ability to spread psy-fields were iparable to other psychics.
Why did they want to take him away?
The psychics started to buzz in the virtual space.
¡ªIt must be President Yu Ji-ha, right?
¡ªWhy do they want him? Is it because he brought ether?
¡ªIs this smuggling? From the perspective of gue, which can be called the origin of ether, it must be annoying.
¡ªBut why don¡¯t they just take him away? They could just attack like usual.
¡ªThey must have tried to attack and found it not easy.
¡ªThen we don¡¯t have toply, right? We¡¯ve been preparing for this day for over a decade.
¡ªYou¡¯re still talking after seeing that army? The Mars Fleet was no match for them in terms of scale.
¡ªThe president will make a decision.
He had been a president who maintained the situation, even though he had done some strange thingstely.
The decision of the United Human Federation came from his mouth, so the opinion was to wait for his determination.
But he was silent.
The gue Queen gave them a month¡¯s end.
-It must be hard to gather your opinions as an ununified race. I¡¯ll give you a month in your time. Think carefully and judge. The end and peace are entirely up to you.
The citizens of the United Human Federation waited for the president¡¯s decision with great tension.
Time kept passing.
***
¡°The analysis of the voice waveform showed an 85.21% match with Lucia.¡±
¡°It¡¯s a vague number, but I guess she¡¯s the one who took Lucia. The problem is the possibility that she¡¯s alive¡¡±
¡°Even if she¡¯s alive, it won¡¯t be in the direction you expect, Master.¡±
¡°Probably not.¡±
It depended on what the gue¡¯s purpose was, but the criteria for being alive could be different.
In the future timeline, they had turned humans into gues as well.
But not anyone could do that, they had to insert metal parts such as biochips into their bodies to meet the minimum conditions.
That was also why Yujin did not perform biochip surgery on people for control.
Ordinary humans did not turn into gues, and psychics had resistance.
Lucia leaned over and looked into his face.
¡°Are you thinking about Lucia?¡±
¡°¡No, I¡¯ve forgotten everything.¡±
She was his lover from 25 years ago.
It would be a lie to say he hadpletely forgotten, but it didn¡¯t matter anymore.
She was no longer on the side of humanity after joining the gue.
Even if Yujin was captured and Lucia was in a position to make a decision, he would have thought the same.
Anyway, the appearance and proposal of the gue Queen was quite a surprise for Yujin as well.
¡°The word ¡®administrator¡¯ sounds like it manages all of Ether.¡±
¡°Maybe that¡¯s why they¡¯re attacking us. They think we took what was theirs.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t argue with that.¡±
Most of the Ether-based technology of the United Human Federation started from the gue Core.
Without it, they couldn¡¯t even make ck metal, which was the most important thing.
From Settler to now, the hulls of the spaceships built by the United Human Federation resembled gue Leviathans and such. Maybe that was also annoying to them.
Anyway, they came faster than expected and now they couldn¡¯t avoid a collision.
Buting early wasn¡¯t all negative for Yujin.
The size of the nest was smaller than expected.
¡°The size of the first nest that appeared in the original timeline was over 2,000km in diameter. And the psychic wave emitted by the gue Queen was also twice as strong as now.¡±
¡°Then the power of that gue army is half of what it originally was.¡±
Time was important here.
The gue Queen and the nest absorbed nearby minerals to increase their power and size.
Since they appeared in Pluto¡¯s orbit, Pluto and its satellite Charon were doomed.
¡°Red Clouds have been observed around the nest and the main body of gue. They will soon erode Charon.¡±
Once reconnaissance satellites were absorbed, observation would be difficult.
Then the gue Queen sent him a psychic wave.
¡ªDo you think you¡¯re the only one who defied time? ept my invitation. Little thief.
Lucia whispered in his ear.
¡°The other psychics are quiet. It seems like she¡¯s only sending psychic waves to you, Master.¡±
¡°She wants to settle this one-on-one. Not bad.¡±
Yujin focused his consciousness on her psychic wave.
In an endless dark and vast space, there was a metallic Lucia standing.
Did she take off her sses because it was too bothersome to implement?
¡°¡Lucia? Did you kidnap her?¡±
¡°It¡¯s for conversation. You don¡¯t have a unified will among yourselves.¡±
¡°You want to talk? You seem like a peaceful race. It would have been nice if you were like that from the beginning.¡±
The Queen ignored his sarcasm and walked up to him.
Their eyes met.
¡°I won¡¯t say much. Give me the milestone to thend of prophecy.¡±
The home of prophecy, and what seemed like the key that Yujin had absorbed.
¡°Is he your prophet too?¡±
¡°What a foolish question. What do you think is the reason I absorbed your lover?¡±
¡°Let me ask again. Is he your god?¡±
¡°I have no reason to answer. All you have to do is one thing: entrust us with your new weapon. I¡¯ll guarantee your safety and that of your race if you just give me the milestone. Of course, we¡¯ll have to take back Ether.¡±
¡°You mean we should stick to Earth?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you live like that before you stole our Ether? You don¡¯t deserve it.¡±
¡°Why should a space monster like you judge that?¡±
¡°Any more conversation is meaningless. If you don¡¯t answer in a month, we¡¯ll expose your identity.¡±
¡°You seem to know me well.¡±
¡°You¡¯re not the only one who defied time. Now, choose. Whether to reveal your secret to your kind, or to find peace.¡±
¡°That peace is nothing but breeding.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you breed your own kind? You confined them in a narrow space and took away their freedom. That¡¯s what we¡¯re going to do too.¡±
¡°Sorry, but I don¡¯t think any race will ept that.¡±
¡°As promised, I¡¯ll give you a month. I hope you make a wise choice.¡±
The space disappeared and Yujin saw the face of the android Lucia.
He sighed and stretched his body.
¡°She said she would expose my identity.¡±
¡°That¡¯s rather a good thing. If your identity is exposed, the citizens will rise up.¡±
That was true.
The mischief hemitted under the name of Yu Ji-ha was not enough to provoke public outrage.
If the gue Queen exposed his identity, it would cause an uncontroble chaos.
If he revealed everything, it might unexpectedly unite them, but if he leaked only some manipted information, it would easily create discord.
¡°That¡¯s assuming we wait. But we have no reason to wait.¡±
The gue Queen gave him a month¡¯s deadline to umte her power.
She pretended to respect the human¡¯s will to unite, but it was not true at all, judging by the observation of the Red Cloud in the main star of Pluto.
¡°All we need is the Legion Strike Fleet. We just have to attack and finish them off.¡±
The fleet had all the features to evade the gue¡¯s detection methods, including the Ether Blocker.
All he had to do was assign the pilots he had trained so far and the preparation was done.
The pilots were not very skilled, but the other side was weaker.
However, he was notpletely worry-free.
Lucia reported what she observed.
¡°The gue Queen that appeared now may not be the original one.¡±
¡°Why?¡±
¡°If she was the original, she would have destroyed the reconnaissance satellites as soon as she arrived in the main star of Pluto.¡±
¡°Are they still there?¡±
¡°Yes, they are sending gravitational data from nearby asteroids. It¡¯s confusing.¡±
Just as humans had knowledge about the gue, so did the gue.
They were not fools and they used all kinds of means to blind and deafen the humans.
Leaving the reconnaissance satellites meant that the current gue Queen was not the original one.
¡°Didn¡¯t you say that the voice wave only matched 85%? The memory sharing must have been inurate.¡±
¡°We came to the past through the door opened by the Prophet, but their means might be limited.¡±
Everything was a possibility.
He wanted to find out the truth, but his first priority was to annihte the gue Queen and her nest.
Yujin made a decision.
¡°Nothing has changed. Their annihtion is the only way for humanity to survive. Use all means to finish preparing the Legion Strike Fleet.¡±
¡°Yes, sir.¡±
Meanwhile, in the megacity, conspiracy theories about this incident were rising.
***
After her voice was heard by the psychers, the United Human Federation society fell into chaos.
There were too many people who heard it, so it was impossible to silence them.
The appearance of the gue Queen was revealed and her proposal was exposed.
An hourter, hundreds of millions of people knew the truth about this incident.
It would be strange if there was nomotion.
¨DShe said she would guarantee our safety if we hand over Ether and Yu Ji-ha?
¨DHow can you trust the words of a space monster? Aren¡¯t they the ones who attacked us all this time?
¨DBut is it true that Ether originally belonged to them?
¨DIt¡¯s not a lie. Ether core and gue core are the same thing.
¨DThen did we steal it?
¨DNot us, but that person¡
Among them, there were also those who imed that Yu Ji-ha was the culprit of all this.
¨DWhat did I say? It¡¯s all his fault. If he hadn¡¯t brought that technology, we wouldn¡¯t have to face this situation.
¨DAre you saying that while living well in the megacity he built?
¨DHe would be sad if he heard you.
The bacsh continued, but he did not stop his argument.
¨DWhy did we make the United Human Federation and the megacity? To fight against the gue, right? But if he hadn¡¯t brought that technology, there would be no reason to make them.
¨DAm I wrong? If Yu Ji-ha disappears, there will be no more attacks and our safety will be guaranteed.
¨DThat¡¯s stupid to believe that.
¨DDo you want to see us perish? The answer is to get rid of Yu Ji-ha while we have a chance. How can we stop a legion of Night-ss or higher?
One of them was Congressman Baek Seong-min.
He met many people andmunicated with them while avoiding the eyes of the surveince system.
There was a lot of controversy over him changing his mind even though he was Yu Ji-ha¡¯s closest aide.
¨DHow disappointed he must have been¡ Tsk tsk.
¨DHe did a lot of things that I couldn¡¯t understandtely.
¨DNot things that I couldn¡¯t understand, but crazy things. Does he think he¡¯s an emperor or something?
¨DThe only sure thing is that we will perish if we don¡¯t surrender. We have to go back to the old days by giving him up.
The citizens were afraid of the size of the gue legion that was exaggerated by the psychers.
They thought there was no chance of winning because Yujin did not reveal the Legion Strike Fleet.
While Congressman Baek Seong-min was busy persuading people, Yujin had already entered the Legion Strike Fleet with countless pilots.
He had blocked themunicationwork in advance, so there was no way for this news to reach the megacity.
They all gaped at the huge fleet hidden among the asteroids.
¡°They hid such a fleet¡¡±
¡°This is no joke.¡±
The Legion Strike Fleet was the ultimate force of the United Human Federation and its only goal was to destroy the gue Queen and her nest that appeared in the sr system.
Now that fleet was preparing tounch.
¡¸Main engine ignition. Ether reverse field deployment.¡¹
More than two hundredbat ships became one and shot out into space.
Baek Seong-min looked up at the ceiling while meeting with politicians.
He wished he was on the other side.
He had no special skills, but he could do some errands.
But Yu Ji-ha gave him a disgusting role.
He didn¡¯t want to do it, but he couldn¡¯t refuse because he thought it was what he wanted.
¡®The president is fighting to protect humanity and I¡¯m doing nothing but collusion.¡¯
The politicians in front of him were his aplices in collusion.
They tried to gain some power by winning over the people¡¯s hearts and using all kinds of means after bing congressmen.
They were the symbols of the old generation¡¯s vested interests and they were trying to oust Yu Ji-ha and devour the United Human Federation.
But it wouldn¡¯t go as they wished.
¡®You will die before the president leaves.¡¯
That was thest gift Yu Ji-ha left for humanity.
Humanity would find out muchter, or maybe never.
But he wouldn¡¯t care.
He lived for today.
Chapter 191: For Humanity
Chapter 191: For Humanity
When the legion strike fleet left for Pluto.
A strange alliance was formed in Megacity Pacific.
It was a secret meeting of Congressman Bae Seong-min and other politicians.
They went through all kinds of trouble to avoid the eyes of artificial intelligence.
They chose a ce that had not been restored since thest ckout and used masks and wigs to avoid being detected by drones and androids.
Thanks to that, they were able to avoid the president, who had been nervoustely and had been pouring out all kinds of oppressive policies.
Congressman Keh Osborne smoked a cigarette and asked as he looked around the space where electricity was still noting in.
¡°How did you choose such a ce?¡±
¡°There are more ces like this these days. It must be because of the damage caused by the earthquake that has not been recovered.¡±
¡°It¡¯s been months, but this means that there are limits to Lucia¡¯s management.¡±
¡°That is, Lucia is not omnipotent either. You can tell by how she deals with the gue Queen incident.¡±
The attendees exchanged nces.
They were people living in Zone 1 of Megacity Pacific, the core of the United Human Federation, and they were the leaders of the Supreme Council and various political groups.
The racialposition was mostly white, and among them, Anglo-Americans were the mainstream.
Bae Seong-min was almost the only Asian, which told the identity of the meeting.
In fact, there were many whites based on WASP in the United Human Federation besides them.
It was because whites fit perfectly into the various conditions that Yu Ji-ha demanded in the first ce.
They had been quietly living for over 10 years, trying to figure out the situation of the United Human Federation.
So the conclusion they came up with was that it was possible to take back power.
Only a few conditions were needed.
¡ªThe president will change his mind and lose the trust of the citizens.
¡ªLucia, also known as super artificial intelligence, will be hit and show errors.
¡ªA huge change that cannot be handled from outside will ur and create a gap.
It meant that an opportunity would arise if all three conditions were met, which would have been unimaginable 10 years ago.
But coincidentally, the recent changes gave strength to this group.
The president was losing the trust of the citizens with his emperor y.
Super artificial intelligence was spitting out various errors as if it had been hit by an earthquake and tsunami.
And finally, the gue Queen appeared.
The third one was decisive.
It was because the gue Queen demanded Yu Ji-ha directly.
There were so many psychics who heard it that it was impossible to hide it, and it quickly spread throughout the United Human Federation society.
Now some citizens thought that Yu Ji-ha was the cause of the problem.
¡ªIt was wrong for Yu Ji-ha to bring ether-based technology in the first ce.
¡ªThere would be no problem without Yu Ji-ha.
Of course, there was no guarantee that the gue would go away peacefully even if he was handed over.
But the huge scale of the gue army witnessed by psychics took away the reason of citizens.
¡ªCan Unified Space Force beat those monsters? Maybe it¡¯s impossible¡
¡ªA small fleet crushed them, but what if gue Queen came in person? The president is also flustered and spitting out nonsense.
In some citizens¡¯ eyes, President Yu Ji-ha was nothing but a person who gathered humanity in one ce with oppressive policies and could not deal with it properly or bravely step forward.
On top of that, preparations for various emperor enthronements, including Golden Pce, caused great disappointment.
What citizens wanted was a perfect ruler who could handle things skillfully, not a jerk who wanted to be an emperor.
Anyway, these factors made it seem like it was the best situation for Holy Knights to act.
Holy Knights were a force to regain white rights centered on Anglo-American politicians.
It may sound outdated, but they imed that it was what they needed now.
¡ªReligion for humanity again, opportunity to umte wealth, freedom from surveince.
¡ªWe need friendly politicians, not lonely emperors like Basil II of Eastern Roman Empire.
The summary is to go back to before United Human Federation was established.
Naturally, they did notpletely deny Megacity system and Yu Ji-ha.
They just needed to prepare for when gue was exterminated.
While they were doing so, gue Queen appeared in person and they thought they finally had a chance.
Congressman Osborne looked over the n and said.
¡°To summarize briefly, our n is to capture President Yu Ji-ha and send him to space monster.¡±
¡°She said she wouldn¡¯t bother us if we returned ether as well, so there shouldn¡¯t be a big problem.¡±
They didn¡¯t care how they could guarantee that.
Anyway, it was clear that United Human Federation¡¯s power was not enough to oppose gue.
Their goal was to secure Yu Ji-ha and provide him to gue Queen.
¡°To do that, we need to cause chaos. Keep in mind. He is good at staging and pretending to be dead. He may escape our attack by any means.¡±
¡°We already have coboratorsing in from outside. Congressman.¡±
Those coborators were self-defense groups armed with personal weapons.
The number was not much and they could hardly handle abat walker, but they were quite useful under the premise that Megacity would be shut down.
gue Queen would have enough ability to shut down Megacity.
¡°Psychics will talk to Queen and create that opportunity.¡±
gue Queen was a psychic who surpassed even Yu Ji-ha, and she could talk to individuals.
Most psychics would refuse to talk to her after touching her consciousness, but the knights of Holy Knights were different.
They would convey their intentions to gue Queen and ask for an opportunity to overthrow Megacity.
Some might feel betrayed, but they didn¡¯t think so.
¡°If the president had done politics well, we wouldn¡¯t havee out like this, right? Congressman Bae.¡±
¡°¡Of course.¡±
The attendees looked at Congressman Bae Seong-min.
He was considered the closest aide and confidant of President Yu Ji-ha.
Even he attended such a meeting, which showed how much the president had lost his trust.
Holy Knights were able to n this because they had information from him.
Some warned that it might be a staged y by the president, but Congressman Osborneughed it off.
¡°I know very well that the president¡¯s specialty is staging and his hobby is extortion. But why would he do that when he has all the power?¡±
The appearance of gue Queen, who cornered him, also made Congressman Osborne make a decision.
¡°The president can¡¯t control gue Queen either. You don¡¯t have to worry about that.¡±
The specific n was already made and only execution and appointment remained.
Congressman Osborne took out the government appointment list he had prepared in advance.
It seemed longer and more detailed than the n, which was not an illusion.
He ignored the hopeful eyes and announced the appointments.
¡°President Ceres Osborne, Director of Management Agency Harvey Retig, Mayor of Megacity Pacific Howard Raymond¡¡±
Several appointments were confirmed and it was Bae Seong-min¡¯s turn.
Congressman Osborne smiled at him.
¡°Representative Bae, I want you to continue as the chief secretary and assist me as usual. I have no doubt about your abilities, since you have been the chief secretary for over 10 years.¡±
¡°¡I will do my best to assist you.¡±
A satisfied smile appeared on Bae Seong-min¡¯s face as he bowed his head to the members of the Holy Knight Order.
They must have felt as if they had the whole United Human Federation in their hands.
But all this was nned by Yu Ji-ha and Arma.
The appearance of the gue Queen and the Nest was unexpected, but it did not change their n.
¡®Wait, when you think you have everything, the counterattack will begin.¡¯
After killing the traitors, the United Human Federation would start anew.
The first thing to do was to exterminate the gue that appeared in the main area of Ceres, but that was not Bae Seong-min¡¯s concern.
¡®I will wait until the president returns someday.¡¯
His goal was to keep the United Human Federation alive until then.
He was willing to use any means necessary for that.
The representatives who misunderstood his expression raised their sses together.
¡°Let¡¯s have a drink. Everything is for humanity.¡±
¡°For humanity.¡±
Who are they to speak of humanity as they please?
A twisted smile appeared on Bae Seong-min¡¯s lips.
***
The Unified Space Force waspletely cut off from the ground.
There was activemunication within the Unified Space Force itself, but there was no connection with Earth at all.
There was no immediate problem as artificial intelligence controlled each space station and fleet, but there was nothing they could do about the confusion of troops.
The soldiers who suddenly joined the Legion Strike Fleet were at a loss.
¡ªWhat is the Legion Strike Fleet and where are we going?
¡ªWhat happened to my family? What are we supposed to do?
¡ªI¡¯ve heard some bad rumors about the presidenttely. He¡¯s not going to use us¡
The senior officers managed to maintain their dignity, but they could not hide their confusion either.
They thought they deserved at least some exnation.
That¡¯s when the president¡¯s face appeared on all screens of the fleet.
He looked very pale, but his eyes were clear.
The entire force of the fleet looked at him.
¡°Officers and soldiers of the Unified Space Force, this is your president. You have worked hard day and night for the peace of humanity. Before Imend your efforts, there is something I need you to do. That is to annihte our enemy, the gue.¡±
¡°I think you all know about the existence of the gue Queen. She is currently located in the main area of Ceres, and she is umting her power by eroding Ceres and its satellite Charon.¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face moved aside and showed Ceres and Charon.
They saw a clear red cloud and a cracked surface.
And around the cloud, countless gue entities swarmed like bees.
A sound of horror came out of everyone¡¯s mouth.
¡°Damn, it¡¯s a monster that eats ups.¡±
¡°Ceres is not a¡¡±
¡°Anyway, it¡¯s horrible.¡±
Yu Ji-ha continued his speech.
¡°You may not understand this situation, but you don¡¯t need to think tooplicated. Everything is ready, and all you have to do is fight the final battle with the gue and return to Earth.¡±
¡°As the president of the United Human Federation, I will give you myst order. Go to Ceres with the Legion Strike Fleet. Destroy the gue Queen and the Nest as you trained. Then your mission will be over.¡±
He bowed his head.
¡°To all officers and soldiers of the Unified Space Force. I wish you good luck.¡±
That was the end of his message.
The soldiers were dumbfounded, but at least they seemed to understand what was going on.
¡°So¡ we¡¯re going to Ceres and fighting with the main force of gue?¡±
¡°It¡¯s all good, but isn¡¯t the presidenting?¡±
¡°I guess he¡¯s too old to be a pilot.¡±
¡°What does he mean by hisst order? Is he going to quit being president?¡±
¡°He¡¯s going to be an emperor. He¡¯ll probably create a guard army and this will be hisst order for us.¡±
¡°Will he change the name of our nation to Human Empire then?¡±
¡°The Human Empire can freeze to death.¡±
¡°Come on, let me tell everyone.¡±
The officers who received instructions from artificial intelligence tried to turn around the atmosphere in their ships.
They were also doubtful about Yu Ji-ha¡¯s intentions.
But they had their enemies in front of them who had been brainwashed almost like indoctrination.
They decided to deal with them first.
¡ªWe don¡¯t know much about the size or mission of Legion Strike Fleet. But that¡¯s not essential for fighting space monsters.
¡ªThe Unified Space Force has been trained to fight under artificial intelligence control. Nothing has changed. We just have to go to Ceres and fight.
¡ªWe¡¯ll destroy the damn gue Queen and the Nest and return to Earth. You¡¯ll be able to rest in the arms of your family or lover.
There was a long wait.
The officers and soldiers of the Unified Space Force spent their training time in tension.
Now it was time to face the results of their training.
The soldiers realized that they had nowhere to run or rest.
The rest was set after the battle in Ceres, and artificial intelligence applied the famous 10-minute schedule to them.
As a result, the officers and soldiers of the Legion Strike Fleet, who were heading to Ceres at 10% of the speed of light, had no time to rest.
¡°Damn, we don¡¯t have enough people! Hey! Help me check the lock bolts!¡±
¡°The captain says there¡¯s additional work needed for adjusting the flight data of the assault armors. All pilots who are called should gather at the hangar.¡±
Numerous soldiers, workers, and androids were busy moving around the ship.
They were so busy that they had no fear or dread of battle or death.
Sonya quickly walked down the hallway and found Yujin leaning against the window.
He was looking outside through a small window.
¡°What are you doing?¡±
¡°We¡¯re traveling through space at 30,000 kilometers per second. Isn¡¯t that amazing?¡±
¡°Wait, what? 10% of light speed?¡±
Sonya became like him and stuck to the window to look outside.
She expected something special, but there was nothing.
Just dozens of warships in sight.
¡°Are we moving? It looks like we¡¯re anchored.¡±
¡°It¡¯s all because of the ether reverse field. We¡¯re speeding through a space made of ether.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no such function on warships.¡±
¡°He must have hidden something.¡±
¡°Yeah. No one would be surprised if he was an alien, probably.¡±
He was Yu Ji-ha, Sonya¡¯s biological father and Yujin¡¯s emotional father.
They could be called siblings in some ways, and they became close as they trained in the same squadron.
Lieutenant Rogers teased them if they were dating, but that wasn¡¯t it.
Sonya didn¡¯t know what kind of feelings she had for Yu Ji-ha, but Yujin could only look at her pitifully as she yearned for paternal love.
Did the children who were born using his genes also crave paternal love?
¡®Live freely and don¡¯t look at someone like me.¡¯
That¡¯s what Yujin wanted to say, but Sonya seemed oblivious as she tucked her hair behind her ears.
¡°What do you think, lieutenant?¡±
¡°About what?¡±
¡°About the fact that the gue Queen needs our dad.¡±
¡°Sorry, but I¡¯m an only child.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s just assume that and talk. You¡¯re his son, so you must have heard something.¡±
¡°Well¡ we weren¡¯t very close. I haven¡¯t heard from him since I came up to space.¡±
¡°Koreans are supposed to be affectionate, but you have a cold father-son rtionship.¡±
¡°Where did you hear that?¡±
¡°It was written on a snack I ate when I was young.¡±
¡°Oh. That chocte snack.¡±
They both lost their words for a moment.
Sonya seemed to remember something and asked.
¡°We¡¯re going to fight the gue soon. What do you want to do after the fight is over, lieutenant?¡±
¡°I might go on a trip.¡±
¡°A trip?¡±
¡°There¡¯s a ce I want to go. It¡¯ll be a very long journey.¡±
¡°In this day and age, what¡¯s a long trip? It doesn¡¯t take more than a few hours to go around the Earth.¡±
Yujin smiled and kept his mouth shut.
There was no need to tell her that his destination was another dimension.
Sonya looked gloomy and said.
¡°Actually, I wanted to contact my dad before I left. I would have been happy if he just said something warm like ¡®have a safe trip¡¯. But¡¡±
¡°Themunication was cut off?¡±
She shook her head.
¡°Even if it wasn¡¯t, I know he doesn¡¯t care about me. I¡¯m just one of the people who inherited his genes.¡±
Her voice was choked with tears.
Yujin wondered if he shouldfort her, but he closed his mouth.
Nothing he said here would beforting.
If he revealed his identity, maybe she would be happy for a while, but she would soon realize that they had to part.
It was better to pretend not to know.
Sonya sniffed and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
¡°I¡¯m so pathetic, showing tears in front of my subordinate.¡±
¡°If my father saw you now, he would have said something.¡±
¡°Like what?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t remember raising you as a crybaby.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Sonya stared nkly and then clenched her teeth.
¡°Do you think you have the right to say that? Don¡¯t delude yourself.¡±
¡°No. I do have the right.¡±
¡°Tell me why you think so.¡±
¡°Because¡¡±
Yujin closed his mouth.
He didn¡¯t think it would help her if he revealed his identity here.
He waited for a while and then said.
¡°No, it¡¯s nothing.¡±
¡°You¡¯reme.¡±
Sonya said she had a lot of work to do and walked away quickly.
Yujin stood in the hallway and listened to Lucia¡¯s report.
¡¸Currently, Ceres and Charon are exposed with their core nuclei and surrounded by intense red clouds.¡¹
¡¸The size of the Nest is growing and many gues are being born.¡¹
¡¸The main fleet will be ready for battle in about 30 hours and will enter Ceres in 43 hours.¡¹
¡®We¡¯re finally going to meet.¡¯
The gue Queen gave him a month¡¯s deadline, but Yujin had no reason to wait until then.
The Legion Strike Fleet had ether blockers installed, so they could move without being detected by the gue.
They could strike directly across the sr system.
¡®Nothing can stop us.¡¯
He didn¡¯t know what n the gue Queen had, but it was impossible to stop this fleet.
The gship Settler was not a real warship, but it could maneuver the entire fleet with a huge ether reverse field and had a number of reactive bombs that exceeded imagination.
The nearly 200 warships and cruisers carried dozens of assault armors each.
They were not all well-trained pilots, but they were more than enough to destroy the weak Nest and gue Queen.
¡®We lost 25 years ago. But now we will win.¡¯
Yujin recalled the path he had walked for 25 years.
After falling into the East Sea, he woke up from being a vegetable and pretended to be a tycoon until he finally became the president of Korea andmitted countless atrocities.
He deceived many people and sometimesmitted unspeakable crimes.
But he did not regret it.
¡®I have no regrets or fears.¡¯
Even if he went back to the past, he would do it without hesitation.
Not because it was right, but because it was necessary.
¡®For humanity.¡¯
Yujin swallowed that one sentence in his mind.
If he could ever return to Earth, he wanted to say this to the people.
I did my best for humanity.
But that would never happen.
Chapter 192: Battle of Pluto’s Orbit
Chapter 192: Battle of Pluto¡¯s Orbit
Pluto¡¯s orbit in the sr system.
This ce, where two dwarfs once existed, was filled with a giant structure-like nest, a gue legion surrounding it, and red clouds in the background.
The nest had grown bigger and more vicious thanks to eroding Pluto and Charon, and the number of gue legion had increased.
But it was not enough to satisfy the gue queen.
¨DWe need more minerals. We have to move our base.
There was no shortage of asteroid belts nearby, but they were far from enough to feed the legion.
There was a need to move to the outer sr system to properly grow the legion.
The gue queen decided to prepare for moving the nest, but soon stopped.
She felt something from far away in space.
¨DInteresting. They can hide their appearance from our sight.
They must have prepared a lot by defying time.
Even their visible power surpassed ours.
But don¡¯t they know that¡¯s not all?
¨DWe are not one. We are connected.
The small humans who resisted until the end defied time and quickly prepared for resistance, but that was not enough.
Because the gue queen was not a single entity.
¨DYou may win the small battle right now, but you will lose the final battle.
Even if they were lucky enough to go to the prophet¡¯snd, it was uncertain whether they would survive.
It was impossible to fight against their kin scattered everywhere with human¡¯s short lifespan for decades.
A triumphant smile appeared on the gue queen¡¯s lips.
¨DCome. You who call yourselves the prophet¡¯s children.
As if they were waiting for her words, the legion strike fleet that had sailed 5.5 billion kilometers entered Pluto¡¯s orbit.
¡°Gravity brake, maximum deceleration.¡±
As they slowed down quickly, a huge shock hit the entire fleet.
Most of the shock was attenuated by the ether reverse field, but it was impossible topletely eliminate it.
Fortunately, all of the fleet¡¯s forces were prepared for the shock, so the damage was not severe.
A few mechanics who were repairing assault armors until thest minute fell out and fainted. That was all of the damage.
The screens of each battleship¡¯s main bridge showed the red cloud and the nest.
¡°Wow¡¡±
¡°Theypletely destroyed Pluto and Charon.¡±
¡°Thanks to that, the size of the gue legion has doubled.¡±
The operators immediately began to assess the battlefield.
¡°There are about 6,520 gues around the nest. Leviathan-ss 32, Behemoth-ss 150¡¡±
¡°The location of the queen is not confirmed, but she is expected to be in the deepest part of the nest.¡±
Countless light spots appeared on the gravity radar.
The distance was too far to start an attack.
The nest was fixed at the gravity bnce point of Pluto and Charon, so we had to move.
The artificial intelligence moved the entire fleet forward.
¡°Fleet advance at half speed. First-ssbat stance.¡±
Usually, the battle between the human alliance fleet and the gue legion starts with a long-range bombardment.
But both sides knew that there was no meaning other than energy consumption.
It was too easy to repair with ck metal.
They quickly recovered from damage, so minor hits were meaningless and eventually delivering reaction bombs through assault armors became decisive blows.
When a reaction bomb exceeding 1 gigaton explodes, even a Leviathan-ss would be shattered in one hit, making recovery meaningless.
Their main tactic was to cause chain explosions and destroy the entire fleet.
The gue was not stupid either, so they did their best to prevent that by using methods that made it difficult for assault armors to maneuver.
Just like now.
¡°Ether reverse field detected, fifth-ss transform phenomenon urs.¡±
Following the report of artificial intelligence, operators screamed as if they were torn apart.
¡°Multiple Leviathan-ss in front are formingrge-caliber railgun turrets! There are more than 500 turrets!¡±
¡°If we get hit, not only sma shields but also hulls are in danger!¡±
Indeed, as they were pioneers of ck metal technology, they pushed with fiery quantity.
The human alliance fleet had defensive measures against energy weapons, but there was a limit line for physical impact.
If they firedrge-caliber railguns at us, there was no way other than avoiding them.
Artificial intelligence suggested a solution.
¡°Disperse fleet, form defense wall.¡±
The formation of the fleet widened and each ship formed a defense wall.
Their shapes changed and quickly made shields.
Soon after, the gue fleet began firing at once and bullets covered space.
¡°Ether reverse field maximum, gravity crane operation.¡±
The bullets were too fast topletely block them with gravity cranes.
They just did their best to reduce damage.
¡°Impact in 10, 9. 8¡ Brace for impact.¡±
Countless bullets hit the fleet.
The fleet that pierced through space like a sea was swept away by a sudden wave.
The ck metal defense wall that was raised as a shield was quickly shattered and all kinds of means such as ether reverse field and sma shield were mobilized, but they could not stop all attacks.
In an instant, several battleships were hit and quickly repaired.
¡°Baikal, Chungju, Victoria hit. Seal hit areas, start damage control.¡±
¡°Sendbat officers to area 3A-5! Block the outer wall with ck metal for now!¡±
The gue fleet fired several times while the fleet advanced further.
At this time, the distance between the two sides was about 150,000 kilometers, enough to operate assault armors.
Artificial intelligence gave orders.
¡°Prepare tounch assault armors. Pilots, board immediately.¡±
Yujin boarded the assault armor with his squad.
When the synchronization was over, the number 99.99 was disyed on the console.
It was a little dyedpared to the heyday, but it was not a big problem.
¡°Alpha Four, ready tounch.¡±
As he reported, the main bridge of Los Angeles shook.
¡°Synchronization rate is 99.99%? Is that a possible number?¡±
¡°Even the president in his prime wasn¡¯t that much.¡±
¡°That must feel like the assault armor is almost his own body.¡±
¡°We have no choice but to hope that he will open a breakthrough. Launch as soon as ready. Each ship, cover the assault armors.¡±
The mission of the assault armor squad was to prate quickly and deliver reaction bombs while the fleet was distracting and blocking the enemy.
The situation was not so bad, but there were many pilots who were new tobat and they didn¡¯t know what variables would ur near the nest.
They were all first-timers to encounter Leviathan-ss, let alone gue queen.
They had received plenty of training, but it was uncertain whether it would be connected to realbat.
¡°Still, we have no one to trust but the delivery guys. Launch when ready. Protect the assault armors.¡±
As the order tounch the assault armors was given, the entire fleet began to attack.
Countless ethersers and ion cannons pierced through space.
The moment the Goliath-ss ships in the front line formed heavy armor to block the attack, Alpha squad wasunched.
¡°Ugh!¡±
Sonya felt like she was thrown into a dark sea.
She was dizzy for a moment and couldn¡¯t locate herself.
Golden beams of light were drawn chaotically around her.
They would vaporize the assault armor with a touch, but they didn¡¯t feel threatening.
Was it because of the psy-field that led her and the assault armor?
Lieutenant Rogers¡¯ voice rang in her ears.
¡°Alpha One to all. Don¡¯t resist the psy-field. We follow his lead.¡±
He meant Lieutenant Yujin, of course.
Despite being a squad member, his skills and abilities far surpassed ordinary pilots.
To be honest, he was doubtful whether he was human, but it seemed that the headquarters also had high expectations for him.
Sonya was jealous of him at first, but now she felt like letting it go.
The wall was too high to just give up.
His voice came in.
¡°Alpha Four to all. We don¡¯t fight with the legion¡¯s front line. We enter the nest directly.¡±
She blurted out that he was crazy, but no one objected.
Lieutenant Rogers swallowed dryly and Lieutenant Nasser prayed to God.
And Lieutenant Sonya asked him.
¡°Is that even possible?¡±
¡°We have to make it possible. I suggest synchronizing the ether receivers. It will be quite painful.¡±
If they clustered four receivers, they could handle the squad as if it were one assault armor.
The pilots would suffer from the excessive ether, but they could endure it.
Lieutenant Rogers agreed as if he didn¡¯t care.
¡°We¡¯vee this far, we have to see the queen¡¯s ass. Start synchronization.¡±
¡°Ether receiver clustering start.¡±
For a moment, she felt as if four ether circuits ovepped.
Sonya and the other pilots were astonished by the enormous capacity of Yujin¡¯s ether circuit.
¡®Amazing¡¡¯
The feeling of falling into the sea passed and a terrible pain struck.
The three pilots clenched their teeth and endured the pain, and Yujin calmly controlled the thrust of the assault armor.
¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±
Four assault armors almost simultaneously spewed sma.
They stretched out long golden tails and plunged into the gue legion¡¯s front line.
¡°Concentrate fire! Break through the front line!¡±
As soon as Alpha squadunched, the fleetmander ordered all battleships to concentrate fire.
***
From the moment Alpha squadunched, the entire legion strike fleet realized that this mission depended on them.
Four assault armors judged and moved as if they were one.
It was probably Lieutenant Yujin who made it possible from behind.
In a way, they looked like one creature.
A creature struggling to survive from the gue¡¯s attack.
¡°Concentrate fire!¡±
Ethersers and ion cannons poured around the assault armors, but none of them hit.
They even avoided the attacks from the gue legion with ease.
As if they had agreed in advance.
Those who witnessed their maneuvering on the fleet¡¯s bridge lost their words.
They were clearly surpassing human limits right now.
Dozens of attacks flew in every 0.1 seconds and prediction data followed them.
It was not humanly possible to analyze them urately and control the booster and wing pack¡¯s thrust and move the body ordingly.
The assault armor was made of ck metal, but it was not enough to withstand saturation fire.
If even one hit, it would be torn apart like a paper doll and evaporate in an instant.
But four assault armors controlled by Lieutenant Yujin flew dangerously like butterflies dodging pouring raindrops.
¡°Beautiful.¡±
¡°Yes¡ But if one gets hit, the butterfly¡¯s wings will be torn.¡±
¡°We have to hope that won¡¯t happen. They are humanity¡¯s hope.¡±
As he finished speaking, reflector bits wereunched and reflected ethersers in all directions.
Dozens of gues approaching Alpha squad were neatly cut off.
The reflector bits returned to their original positions as if they were one.
And reaction bombs exploded as Alpha squad entered deep into the nest.
The consciousness of three pilots met in a space created by Yujin.
¡®Is this a spaceship? It looks like Hulk (wreck) no matter how I look at it.¡¯
¡®Lieutenant, please stop chatting.¡¯
¡®I agree. Did the gue queen use a wreck as her nest?¡¯
¡®It¡¯s a spaceship with a diameter of over a thousand kilometers. It¡¯s amazing. Maybe she needed something like that to fit her ass.¡¯
¡®Please. I¡¯m worried about Lieutenant Yujin, so I¡¯ll just fly.¡¯
¡®What¡¯s wrong? He¡¯s doing fine on his own.¡¯
Meanwhile, Yujin encountered direct attacks rather than psy-waves from the gue queen as he entered the nest.
¨DYou¡¯ve lost your skills.
¡®So? Maybe you think that because you haven¡¯t seen the hot stuff yet. Just wait a little.¡¯
¨DThe power of the weapons you made was great. But that won¡¯t bring you victory.
¡®Is it because they¡¯re weak? Don¡¯t worry. The one I¡¯m going to give you this time is five bundled together.¡¯
He nned to detonate a reaction bomb of 20 gigatons in the deepest part of the nest.
It would shatter the gue queen and everything else in one blow.
But she didn¡¯t seem to care much.
¨DDo as you please.
¡®Why, are you relieved because you sent a fleet to Earth?¡¯
¨DYou knew.
That¡¯s what he wanted.
Yujin knew well that some psychers had contacted the gue queen.
Even what they ultimately wanted.
But he remained indifferent because such a process was necessary.
He didn¡¯t manage to raise the citizens¡¯ awareness, but he didn¡¯tpletely fail either.
¡®I don¡¯t care about anything else. I just have to kick your ass.¡¯
¨DDo you think that¡¯s the end? No, it¡¯s not. You don¡¯t have the qualifications in the first ce.
¡®What qualifications do you need? If we didn¡¯t have them, the prophet wouldn¡¯t have sent us a gift.¡¯
¨DHuh¡ You really don¡¯t know anything.
¡®Yeah. I don¡¯t know anything. And you¡¯re in a position where you¡¯ll be shattered by a primitive race.¡¯
¨DI assure you that won¡¯t be the end.
¡®You seem to have some faith. I¡¯ll finish you off, including that.¡¯
¨DYou have admirable courage. I admit it. You are the most outstanding warrior among the races we have met.
¡®Among the races?¡¯
Did that mean she had fought with other races besides humans?
Yujin closed his eyes and saw the deepest part of the nest as if it were drawn in his head.
The gravity data and ether told him the situation inside the nest.
And she was there.
The gue queen¡¯s guard gues that were lying around her rushed in.
¡®Maximum output of the fusion reactor.¡¯
¡®Maximum output of the fusion reactor. Be careful, master.¡¯
Along with Lucia¡¯s concern, an enormous amount of ether that he had never felt before rushed into Yujin through the receiver.
He tried to send out an etherser in pain that felt like his body was burning.
But what came out of the assault armor was not aser, but a huge sword.
¡®What is this?¡¯
¡®Oh, oh, it¡¯s going to hit!¡¯
As Lieutenant Rogers panicked, the sword vaporized all kinds of debris floating around and smashed the guard gues that were rushing toward them.
Several krakens with heavy armor were exposed to ether and died without a trace.
And the sword didn¡¯t stop there. Itpressed space and reached out to the queen.
For a moment, her thoughts were transmitted to Yujin.
¨DCould you be¡?
But the sword didn¡¯t give her a chance.
The giant golden sword mercilessly sliced the gue queen.
Her body made of ck metal scattered into pieces in ether.
Alpha squad didn¡¯t miss the gap and detached the reaction bombs and left as they were.
A huge explosion urred in the deepest part of the nest shortly after.
***
The battle between humans and gues was not only fought on Pluto.
Near Earth, an ether storm blew in and hundreds of gue Goliaths appeared in no time.
They seemed to have a special order and changed their shape to conical and approached Earth.
There was an Earth orbital mobile fleet nearby, but it was toote to respond.
¡®Warning, gues are trying to enter the atmosphere.¡¯
¡°It¡¯s toote to send out assault armors! Fire reaction bombs!¡±
At themander¡¯s order, about ten reaction bombs were fired from each battleship.
But the movement of the reaction bombs controlled by artificial intelligence was too slow and straightforward to intercept the gues.
Dozens of Goliaths blocked their backs and made a huge shield to induce detonation of the reaction bombs.
They were swept away by the explosion and died, but most of the Goliaths survived.
Rather, the explosion of the reaction bombs made their entry into the atmosphere easier.
The shock wave pushed them away.
¡®349 gue Goliaths have entered the atmosphere.¡¯
Their target was Pacific, a mega city located in the North Pacific Ocean.
The defense system was activated immediately, but the current mega city was quite unstable.
There was a problem with artificial intelligence or power supply was not working properly, and sometimes the entrance opened on its own.
As citizens were anxious, Goliaths who broke through the defense system began to attack structures.
Bang, bang!
The upper structure couldn¡¯t withstand the tremendous kic energy and turned into a horrible mess.
It was automatically restored, but Goliaths falling faster than that pierced through the upper structure and seeded in entering inside.
Their speed decreased considerably, but their unique destructive power remained intact andpletely turned Pacific¡¯s central area into ruins.
¡°There theye again!¡±
¡°Fuck, run!¡±
As citizens screamed and ran away, some parts of mega city were blocked off as if they were hit by something.
Unidentified transport squadrons flew in from above.
They were Crusaders who had been waiting for trouble to happen nearby.
Armed with personal weapons and grenades, they jumped out of transporters and entered inside.
Many citizens witnessed them.
¡°What are they? What are they doing?¡±
¡°Are they trying to attack us?¡±
As citizens tried to run away, Crusaders whonded shouted.
¡°We are liberators! We don¡¯t attack citizens!¡±
¡°Look at this horrible sight! Where is the mega city that the president boasted so much?¡±
¡°The president is clearly neglecting his duties! The attack will get worse, and we won¡¯t be able to stop it!¡±
¡°So we have to capture the president and negotiate with gue queen! Citizens, help us! Help us find freedom!¡±
If it had been a normal time, there wouldn¡¯t have been many citizens who agreed with them.
But as the president lost trust and mega city was shattered, citizens¡¯ resentment gathered at once.
If this was the result of delegating all management, how could they not be disappointed?
Citizens ignored Crusaders or even helped them.
They guided them to shortcuts leading to central area and urged them to capture president.
Drones and androids that should have stopped them had errors and were nowhere to be seen.
Crusaders quickly entered central area and ran to their destination.
Meanwhile, Arma and Congressman Bae Sung-min were looking down at them from the Golden Pce.
¡°It¡¯s annoying that we have to give them some power for a while.¡±
¡°We can¡¯t help it. We have to erase master¡¯s shadowpletely.¡±
¡°What about gue queen?¡±
¡°She¡¯s dead.¡±
At the simple answer, Congressman Bae was flustered.
¡°Is, is she really dead?¡±
¡°Her body and the entire nest were destroyed. There was some damage to our fleet, but it was a victory in the end.¡±
But not all gues were annihted.
Despite the queen¡¯s death, the surviving gue legion headed straight for Nox.
Yujin was currently pretending to be missing and chasing them with Settler.
Bae didn¡¯t know that much, but he knew that something was happening somewhere tens of billions of kilometers away.
Arma bowed her head to him.
¡°Then, congressman, I leave humanity to you.¡±
He bowed his head in confusion.
Chapter 193: The Day of Liberation
Chapter 193: The Day of Liberation
Megacity was definitely an amazing system.
Almost everything was controlled by artificial intelligence, and it could maintain itself without human intervention.
But that also meant that if there was a problem with the artificial intelligence, the entire city would be in danger.
It wouldn¡¯t be a big issue in normal times, but unfortunately, the gue Queen appeared in the sr system.
The gue fleet, which escaped the human surveincework by riding the ether storm, attacked Megacity.
Each of them had more power than a nuclear weapon, so it was impossible to intercept them all with Megacity¡¯s defense facilities.
The artificial intelligence, which was already abnormal due to earthquakes and volcanoes, suffered a fatal blow from the gue¡¯s final attack.
As a result, most of the Megacity zones, as well as the surveince system, were shut down.
The viins who were waiting for an opportunity seeded in entering inrge numbers.
They headed straight to the Golden Pce and climbed up the stairs.
¡°If you find that bastard, shoot him right away.¡±
¡°Just don¡¯t kill him! Don¡¯t forget he¡¯s a psyker!¡±
They were armed with rifles and grenades, but their opponent was the strongest psyker.
Although he was said to be abnormal now and had fallen behind other psykers, they still had to be careful.
The members of the unit, who were mostly former special forces, ignored the drones that were spitting out errors and headed to the upper floor.
And soon after, a red g fluttered from the office of the Golden Pce.
The members of the Holy Knight Order who were just looking from below clenched their fists.
¡°They got him!¡±
¡°That¡¯s it!¡±
They made a fuss, shaking hands and hugging each other in all directions amid the chaos.
But Osborne MP couldn¡¯t believe it.
He urgently instructed the suicide squad through the radio.
¡°Are you sure it¡¯s him? Don¡¯t forget that he¡¯s good at staging! Check if he bleeds when you stab him with a knife! Check his mouth too!¡±
When he received a confirmation that it was him, Osborne¡¯s shoulders rxed.
He felt like he had recovered from his disguise as a parliamentarian for years.
¡°We finally overthrew the dictator.¡±
¡°He crossed the line by iming to be an emperor. He must have realized his mistake now.¡±
The sponsors congratted him one after another, but Osborne MP shook his head.
¡°It¡¯s not over yet. We have to find out where that woman Arma is. And we have to take over the management bureau where the artificial intelligence is as soon as possible.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry. The suicide squad has already left.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sure there will be resistance since he made it¡¡±
Osborne MP did not dismiss his doubts and everyone tried to convince him.
¡°They can¡¯t stop us because the surveince system is shut down.¡±
¡°Look, aren¡¯t all the drones and androids spitting out errors? The idea of letting artificial intelligence control everything was wrong in the first ce.¡±
¡°It¡¯s the era of humans now.¡±
To be precise, it would be the era of Anglo-American politicians centered on the Holy Knight Order.
They believed that this was natural and also the way humanity should go.
But it was suspicious that everything went too well.
Osborne MP called his sponsors and checked the n from the beginning and reviewed the steps to take over Megacity, but there was nothing special.
¡°Was it this easy? Did he copse like this?¡±
He thought of what he had mobilized to create the Human Alliance and Megacity ten years ago, and his fragility now didn¡¯t make sense.
Some psykers suggested a hypothesis that he went crazy under the pressure of the gue Queen.
¡°The gue Queen¡¯s psy-field was truly tremendous. He might have realized that he couldn¡¯t win and gave up everything.¡±
¡°The higher the ether sensitivity, the greater the impact. He was the strongest psyker of humanity, so he must have suffered a lot.¡±
¡°Well, he made all this because of the space monsters¡ They¡¯re not ordinary monsters, but queens. They must have that much power.¡±
Anyway, Osborne MP wanted to get rid of Yu Ji-ha as soon as possible.
He didn¡¯t know what was going on in space, but he was afraid something would happen if he left him in Megacity.
He called his confidants and gave them some instructions.
¡°Just interrogate him minimally and prepare to send him into space immediately. Don¡¯t let him die, understand?¡±
He had to negotiate with the queen soon, and if he presented a dead human, he didn¡¯t know what would happen.
¡°And let people know about this. We overthrew the dictator, so help us establish democracy.¡±
¡°What about the Supreme Council?¡±
Someone asked and Osborne MP waved his hand.
¡°That¡¯s no problem at all. It¡¯s just a shell organization without artificial intelligence support.¡±
¡°What about the Unified Space Force? We can¡¯t contact them at all right now.¡±
That was actually the biggest problem.
There was no way that the space bases and fleets of the Unified Space Force were safe when Megacity was shut down.
They wanted to recruit the high-ranking officers who had powerful military power, butmunication was cut off.
¡°Damn, I can¡¯t tell what¡¯s going on in space¡¡±
What if the main force of the space monsters came and they were being destroyed?
Anyway, it seemed that humanity would not be able to leave Earth.
¡°It¡¯s not a big deal¡¡±
He thought it was enough to live on Earth.
Under his rule, that is.
Some people seemed to expect that a proper democracy would unfold, but he never intended to do that.
Why give up when he could have everything?
Someone pushed people away and hurried over to him.
¡°Sir, I think we need to expose the president to the public.¡±
¡°What? No way!¡±
¡°There are too many people who don¡¯t believe it. We need it to persuade them.¡±
¡°I know why, but still no. Do you know what will happen?¡±
There were many people who hated the president sincerely in Megacity, but there were also many followers.
If he exposed the president to them and they took him away, it would be over.
Osborne MP emphasized to his subordinate.
¡°Prepare to negotiate with the queen as soon as possible. And I¡¯ll take care of convincing people.¡±
It was hard to move people¡¯s hearts.
But it wasn¡¯t impossible if proper agitation and force werebined.
People were looking for someone who could be a leader more than anyone else.
It didn¡¯t matter if it wasn¡¯t Yu Ji-ha.
Armed forces followed him as he took the lead.
***
¡°People, the president betrayed your trust and tried to be an emperor, and he showed his ipetence. Look at this Megacity!¡±
¡°This is the result of entrusting everything to artificial intelligence. Not only food, but even basic security is not maintained. Is this the strong artificial intelligence that the president boasted of?¡±
At Osborne¡¯s gesture, a scene of Megacity¡¯s misery was shown.
The citizens gathered in front of the stage couldn¡¯t hide their awkward expressions.
They never imagined that President Yu Ji-ha would change so much.
He was the one who made America kneel and finallyid the foundation for the Human Alliance ten years ago, but now he was only a delusional patient.
What was worse, there was no one left to stop him, not even his closest aide, MP Baek Seongmin.
The citizens couldn¡¯t trust him anymore.
¡°The dictator and the artificial intelligence are gone! Let¡¯s go back to the way things were! A society where humans are the center, for humans, by humans!¡±
Then someone shouted loudly.
¡°What happened to the president? What is he doing now?¡±
¡°We have secured him!¡±
¡°Secured? Do you mean you captured him?¡±
¡°We have captured him. Many people have confirmed that it is him, and we are preparing to send him into space.¡±
People started to murmur in confusion.
Some asked if that was possible, some yelled that it was not fair to treat him like that even if he was the president.
Osborne MP waited for a moment and then turned up the volume of the megaphone.
¡°People! We are in an unprecedented crisis! The president has been exposed as a delusional patient who dreams of bing an emperor, and the main force of the monsters hase from space! They have proposed! If we give them the strongest psyker, they will guarantee our safety!¡±
¡°Do you believe what they say, you idiot! Do you trust the words of the space monsters!¡±
¡°What¡¯s the point of Megacity! It¡¯s for fighting against those monsters!¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll ask you! What is the Unified Space Force that the president prepared doing now! What happened to Megacity!¡±
¡°¡¡±
Everyone just looked at each other¡¯s faces and said nothing.
No one knew what was going on in space because allmunication channels were cut off.
In the meantime, the psykers were scaring people by saying that the gue Queen was really trying to destroy humanity.
¡ªIf the Unified Space Force can fight against the gue, it doesn¡¯t matter. But that¡¯s not the case, is it?
¡ªThe probability is high that they lost becausemunication is not working. So we have to find a way to survive.
¡ªIsn¡¯t it okay to give up the president in exchange for safety?
Since no one knew what was going on in space, people were deeply influenced by the opinions of the psykers.
¡ªWe need someone who can handle this chaotic situation.
¡ªThe president is out of his mind, and Osborne MP is the only one who stands out. Maybe we should support him.
He wasn¡¯t very likable, but he had armed forces with him, so people couldn¡¯t resist easily.
That¡¯s how Osborne MP went on a march around Megacity Pacific, appealing for support for himself.
The reaction of the citizens was not so bad, but not so good either.
¡ªWhy don¡¯t they show us the president? Maybe they didn¡¯t capture him?
¡ªI want to see his face and ask him why he did that.
As the pressure to reveal Yu Ji-ha increased, Osborne MP hurriedly sent him to a space prison on a shuttle.
The reaction to this was extremely prized.
Even so, Osborne MP¡¯s approval rating rose day by day, because there was no other way.
¡ªMegacity has been shut down for a week already. We¡¯ll starve to death if we stay like this.
¡ªDamn, is this how messed up it gets without artificial intelligence?
People realized how vulnerable an economy dependent on artificial intelligence was.
It looked wless when everything was going well, but it was a mess when it started to copse.
If humans had taken care of some things, this wouldn¡¯t have happened.
There was also a problem with the system that delegated power to Yu Ji-ha personally.
¡ªDictatorship works best when apetent leader sets a clear direction. President Yu Ji-ha until recently was an example of that.
¡ªBut there is nothing we can do when the dictator bes corrupt. It¡¯s time to get out of dictatorship.
Yu Ji-ha still had some supporters, but they kept silent as they felt Megacity¡¯s system copsing in real time.
They also agreed that a new system was needed.
The most urgent thing was to run the smart farm properly and supply food.
And so an interim government was organized with Osborne MP at the forefront.
Most of the senior positions were upied by white Anglo-Americans, but people didn¡¯t think it was strange.
Even when the new government announced that it could use coercive policies, most people thought it couldn¡¯t be helped.
That¡¯s how bad the situation was.
But after a month, they showed their true colors and things started to turn around.
Ceres Osborne, who took over as president, not only abolished the Supreme Council but also broke his promise to let citizens participate in politics.
Instead, he strengthened his control over the smart farm, which was the only source of food, and started rationing.
He made excuses that there was not enough food for external reasons, but when it was confirmed that his cronies received excessive food for a celebration banquet, public opinion turned against them.
¡ªWho gets to eat and who gets to starve? Where does the food for the president¡¯s croniese from?
¡ªIt¡¯s bad enough that they bring in women, but why are most of them white? Are they trying to revive racism?
The reason why people were angry was that Osborne, who came to the presidency by saying he would listen andmunicate, was a racist.
His cronies were mostly white, and he only epted whites after forming the government.
When criticism arose, he quickly looked for MP Baek Seongmin, but he had disappeared and didn¡¯t show himself.
Then a big problem erupted.
When a protest broke out to bring back Yu Ji-ha, who was imprisoned in space, they suppressed the protesters harshly.
They could have just disbanded them, but they fought with emotions and casualties urred.
Most of the casualties were, of course, on the side of the protesters.
They had no weapons, so they had no choice but to sumb to the rifles.
As things progressed like this, public opinion rose like a huge wave that Osborne was no different.
¡ªLook at what he¡¯s doing. He also wants dictatorship in the end.
¡ªYu Ji-ha was fair until he lost his mind, but Osborne was hopeless from the start.
Until recently, people thought that dictatorship was not bad as long as it was like this.
Yu Ji-ha had been so fair that they were mistaken.
Osborne wanted to be a new dictator, but he wascking in many ways.
He had no artificial intelligence, he was not fair, and most importantly, he had no charm to attract people.
They couldn¡¯t give him the Human Alliance.
Protests broke out all over Megacity, and Osborne¡¯s government tried to stop them naturally.
He had control over the smart farm, so he thought the bacsh wouldn¡¯tst long.
But the situation turned around when the Supreme Council stepped in.
MP Baek Seongmin and MP Bernstein appeared with some forces.
***
¡°Get out of here, Osborne!¡±
¡°We don¡¯t need dictatorship!¡±
Countless citizens marched on the streets of Megacity chanting slogans.
They were tired of the city that was almost a ruin and the dictatorship that exhausted them.
They wanted to form a normal government, but Osborne refused topromise and stayed in the administration building.
Most of the facilities stopped working without artificial intelligence, but some defense facilities were still usable.
They relied on them to buy time.
The ones who would suffer as time passed were the citizens.
But Baek Seongmin and Bernstein had a switch that Arma had given them.
¡°This switch will open all the administrative centers, including the administration building. Of course, the defense facilities will also be disabled.¡±
¡°Since the new government¡¯s forces are not much, we can suppress them on our side.¡±
They also had drones that Arma had left behind.
They were not as terrifying as the previous ones, but they were enough to suppress lightly armed forces.
¡°Suppressing them won¡¯t be hard, but the problem is whates next.¡±
Bernstein looked up at the sky.
Yu Ji-ha was somewhere in that sky.
He led the Legion Strike Fleet into a battle with the gue Queen and finally won.
He should have returned to Earth proudly, but he was heading to Nox.
That¡¯s where his ultimate goal was.
¡°A warp gate that leads to the prophet¡¯s home¡ That¡¯s in Nox, right?¡±
¡°Yes, that was his goal from the beginning. It¡¯s as important as exterminating the gue.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s there that makes him go.¡±
MP Baek Seongmin shook his head.
¡°It¡¯s not because there¡¯s something there that makes him go, but because there¡¯s no reason for him to stay here.¡±
¡°This is Earth, isn¡¯t it? It¡¯s his home¡¡±
¡°It would be if it was his original time. But he is a human from the 22nd century, and he lost his precious people to the gue. There is nothing he wants in this era.¡±
¡°But he must have had some connections at least.¡±
¡°That doesn¡¯t matter. He achieved his noble goal of preserving humanity, and now he wants to leave it to us.¡±
¡°He freed himself from humanity as humanity freed itself from the gue.¡±
How would it feel to n something andplete it?
Especially if it was for a noble purpose of preserving humanity over more than 20 years?
Bernstein didn¡¯t know much about it, but he was sure of one thing.
¡°We owe him a lot¡¡±
¡°All of humanity does. I hope there will be a day when we can repay him. It¡¯s almost impossible since it takes 50 years one way.¡±
¡°50 years one way¡¡±
That seemed like a pilgrimage of death.
Was he going to thank the prophet on behalf of humanity?
Anyway, what they had to do was decided.
They had to punish Osborne and his coup plotters and restore order.
The original n of establishing a citizen democracy failed because the gue Queen came too soon, but it didn¡¯t matter much.
People would sprout such consciousness if they touched this and that in the Human Alliance without artificial intelligence.
They had been so used to dictatorship that they wouldn¡¯t tolerate anyone who had such ambitions for a while.
Now what Baek Seongmin and Bernstein had to do was rebuild the Human Alliance based on Megacity.
That would be as difficult as Yu Ji-ha¡¯s path.
The situation outside Megacity was no different from apocalypse.
¡°We have left us a very difficult homework¡ But we¡¯ve been livingfortably until now, so maybe it¡¯s time to work.¡±
Fortunately, they had at least some algorithms for each facility.
Smart mobility and supermuter trains could be rebuilt with enough manpower.
Baek Seongmin had control over them, but he intended to hand over authority to the Supreme Council.
Everything would be controlled by the Supreme Council.
The era when one dictator gave orders was over with Yu Ji-ha.
Now people had to cooperate with each other and sometimes fight for their bowls.
But that was the right direction.
At least in the current situation where the gue was gone.
Bernstein suddenly asked.
¡°Do you think the gue ispletely gone?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. We just have to believe and live on.¡±
When they turned their eyes to the street, they saw Osborne and his followers who were beaten up by the protesters and lost their dignity.
There was some resistance, but they were no match for this side in terms of power.
The citizens demanded execution, but they would be punished after a fair trial.
Baek Seongmin realized once again that the president had left.
There was no dictator or artificial intelligence now.
Humanity had to stand up and walk on its own.
And at that moment, Yu Ji-ha arrived at Nox with Settler.
The warp gate swayed as if weing him.
Chapter 194: A 50-Year Journey
Chapter 194: A 50-Year Journey
As the battle at the Pluto system ended, the Legion Strike Fleet stayed nearby for a while to deal with the aftermath.
The nest was destroyed, but some pilots were still missing.
Most of the gues were annihted by the fleet¡¯s concentrated attack, but there were some survivors.
The fleetmand tried to track them down, but the artificial intelligence sent a message.
¡¸The final mission is over. Glory and honor to you who fought and won against the gue at the cost of your lives. Now return to Earth and receive the president¡¯s orders. The future is yours.¡¹
The fleet officers were confused.
¡°Are we supposed to leave the escaped gues alone?¡±
¡°Is this really okay? Can we just go back to Earth like this?¡±
The death of the gue Queen did not mean that all the gues were gone.
Hundreds of them fled to Nix without looking back, and Yujin was chasing them with the Settler.
They didn¡¯t know that, so they felt uneasy.
The fleetmander decided after several meetings that there was no reason to stay in this system any longer.
¡°Our role is over. The gue is wiped out and there is no trace left. It¡¯s unfortunate that Pluto and Charon were destroyed, but it¡¯s a small price to pay for averting the crisis of humanity.¡±
¡°Now we¡¯re going back to Earth. In the meantime, all forces will be able to rest and maintain order.¡±
The damage to the fleet was considerable, but the joy of finally going home was greater.
But Sonia Lieutenant couldn¡¯t smile.
Yujin Lieutenant was missing in action.
She tried to request and even beg the higher-ups through her squadron leader, but she couldn¡¯t stop the whole fleet from moving.
¡°You saw it too, right? He killed the Queen. How can we leave him behind?¡±
¡°I know it doesn¡¯t make sense¡¡±
¡°He¡¯s the president¡¯s son. We can search a little more.¡±
Lieutenant Rogers looked at the calendar with a troubled expression.
They searched for a week, but they couldn¡¯t find any trace of him.
He wanted to search more because he contributed greatly to the destruction of the gue army, but realistically speaking, the chance of finding him was close to zero percent.
¡°We can¡¯t do that. The artificial intelligence has set the course for Earth.¡±
¡°Is that smart-ass artificial intelligence going to leave the president¡¯s son behind?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. Anyway, the top brass is on edge right now, so stop pushing it.¡±
¡°You seem fine with it.¡±
¡°What do you want me to say, after being mobilized for a week for search operations?¡±
¡°¡¡±
The problem facing the fleet right now was not a few missing pilots.
It would take at least a few months to get back to Earth without the battleship.
It would be fine if they hadmunication, but they werepletely cut off and didn¡¯t know what was happening in the United Federation of Humanity.
It was strange that orders from artificial intelligence came down regrly.
Anyway, what they had to do now was to return to Earth as soon as possible and assess the situation.
Sonia knew that, but she couldn¡¯t hide her bitter feelings.
She felt like she could find him if she searched a little more¡
She avoided people who were talking nonsense and locked herself in her room.
She hadn¡¯t spent much time with Yujin since they met, but she felt like she had lost someone important.
¡®Did he really die?¡¯
She regretted it deeply in her heart.
Looking back, she didn¡¯t know why she acted so hostile towards him.
Was it because he was President Yu Ji-ha¡¯s son?
Did she feel like he was taking her ce?
¡®But I¡¯m not his daughter¡¡¯
It was decided from the beginning.
She was just one of many children who inherited Yu Ji-ha¡¯s genes, and nothing more.
She wanted to apologize now, but she couldn¡¯t see him again.
Sonia looked at space through a small window with a heavy heart.
She felt sick thinking that his corpse might be somewhere out there.
She buried her head in her pillow and heard a message alert in her ear.
It was strange becausemunication with Earth had been cut off for a long time.
Sonia wiped her eyes and opened the message, then gasped.
The sender was Yujin Lieutenant.
She thought it might have been sent before the battle started, but it wasn¡¯t.
The message contained information about Yujin Lieutenant¡¯s identity.
¡°Could it be¡¡±
She couldn¡¯t believe it.
Yujin Lieutenant, whom she had been looking down on all this time, was actually her father.
He was the strongest psychic who unified humanity and built Megacity.
It sounded like nonsense, but there was undeniable evidence in it.
¨DWhen I first met you at Trotsky Orphanage, I wondered how you could be so skinny. You had no charm and I thought you were a boy.
¡°¡¡±
Sonia¡¯s hand trembled as she touched the screen.
Only Yu Ji-ha President could remember this.
¨DI¡¯m sorry I couldn¡¯t be with you until the end. I have a lot of things to do, even if I look like a loser. But we ate and trained together, so I did my fatherly duty, right?
¡°Dad¡¡±
She stroked the screen.
She didn¡¯t know how he changed his body, but he was a peculiar person, so she epted it.
What mattered more was that she was finally recognized as his daughter.
¨DYou grew up strong without me, so you¡¯ll be fine in the future. If you have no way to make a living, go to Baek Seong-min. He¡¯ll help you find a job or something.
¨DAnyway, take care and be well. I hope to see you again someday.
Would that daye?
ording to the message, he was about to leave for a very far ce.
She didn¡¯t know where it was, but it was probably not in this universe where the sr system was.
Sonia silently swallowed her tears and smiled faintly.
She felt like she had let go of something heavy in her chest.
She took out her wallet and threw away Yu Ji-ha¡¯s face and pasted Yujin Lieutenant¡¯s face from a photo taken with other pilots.
This was probably his original face.
¡°See youter, dad.¡±
Sonia decided to wait.
For the day when he would return to Earth.
***
Nix, the ninth of the sr system.
The Settler arrived at the dark rocky.
The hull was intact, but the only passenger was not in good condition.
He was injured while fighting the gue squadrons that scattered in all directions when the nest was destroyed.
He couldn¡¯t tolerate even one gue, so he hunted them down with all his might.
A month had passed since then, and the gue was nowhere to be found in the sr system.
¡°Gravity brake, maximum deceleration.¡±
As the Settler stoppedpletely, Arma went into the medical room and woke up Yujin, or rather, Yu Ji-ha.
¡°Master, it¡¯s time to wake up.¡±
¡°¡¡±
He blinked his eyes and barely got up.
¡°I¡¯m dying¡ Where are we now?¡±
¡°We¡¯re at Nox. We¡¯ll go through the warp gate with your permission.¡±
His duty and responsibility were over.
The gue Queen was dead, and the gue waspletely gone from the sr system.
He had handed over all the power he had in the United Federation to people like Bae Seong-min.
They had been at the center of power for a while, so they would do well on their own.
There would be conflicts and strife, but that was not necessarily bad.
The fight of humanity began when a monkey hit another monkey on the back of the head when there was not enough food.
Now that the gue, a disaster, was gone, humanity would be able to walk into the future.
Yu Ji-ha was satisfied with that alone.
¡°Everything is over¡¡±
¡°You¡¯ve worked really hard, Master.¡±
A smile appeared on his lips, and he suddenly hugged Arma.
She quietly snuggled up to him and whispered.
¡°I¡¯m always ready tofort you, Master, but considering your physical condition, you might want to hold back a little¡¡±
¡°No, I didn¡¯t mean that. I just wanted to say thank you for everything.¡±
¡°It¡¯s my duty and pleasure to serve you, Master.¡±
¡°I appreciate that. Anyway, all we have left is to go in there.¡±
He didn¡¯t know what would happen inside, so he had to make his body as good as possible.
He went into the biobag and received treatment, then received a report on the situation of the United Federation.
¡°The new administration is being formed under the leadership of Congressman Bae Seong-min and Congressman Bernstein. The existing government copsed in less than a month, and the leaders were imprisoned.¡±
¡°What about the body I used?¡±
¡°Congressman Bae Seong-min secured it and seems to bury it in the national cemetery.¡±
¡°Just burn it, why bother¡¡±
Even if it wasn¡¯t the real body of the president, he would have wanted to show some respect for having spent a long time together.
Yu Ji-ha also expressed his gratitude to that body briefly.
It had suffered a lot from being kidnapped and pretending to be dead, so it deserved a good rest.
¡°What happened to the legion strike fleet?¡±
¡°They are passing through Neptune¡¯s orbit. The remaining power is about 60%.¡±
¡°They survived quite a lot¡¡±
Their role became more important from now on.
As they had thergest power, if they raised their g against Bae Seong-min, the United Federation would be split in two.
Of course, Arma must have prepared enough for that, so he didn¡¯t have to worry.
They were so used to following orders that they had a low chance of dreaming of something like a coup d¡¯etat.
Yu Ji-ha sent a dull constion to Bae Seong-min, who was in charge of managing all that.
¡°It¡¯s going to be much harder than me.¡±
¡°They say dealing with humans is the hardest thing.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not wrong. I wasn¡¯t confident in that area either, so I left it to you.¡±
He was a soldier at heart, so he wasn¡¯t very friendly withpromise or persuasion.
Anyway, Bae Seong-min, who had wanted to retire, was dragged out and forced to perform presidential duties.
For a while, people wouldn¡¯t let him go even if he wanted to retire.
¡°So all we have left is to go through the warp gate¡¡±
¡°ording to the data from 22 years ago, there is a high probability that the gate will close as soon as you pass through.¡±
¡°That means I can¡¯te back.¡±
¡°Probably.¡±
The reason why Arma answered vaguely was because she didn¡¯t know either.
It was apletely different universe.
How could she know what was inside or what would happen?
The long time of 50 years one way added more uncertainty.
There were a few more ships in the pioneer fleet besides Settler, such as cargo ships, but they couldn¡¯t guarantee survival either.
But he had to go anyway.
Yu Ji-ha shook off his anxiety in his heart as hard as he could.
It was better than when he tried to die and go back to Earth 22 years ago, wasn¡¯t it?
His body was fine and Settler and the pioneer fleet were well prepared.
If nothing big happened, they could endure 50 years well enough.
¡°I guess there¡¯s nothing more I can do but die if ites to worst.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll help you so that doesn¡¯t happen.¡±
¡°Thanks. Let¡¯s go then.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°Pioneer fleet, departing.¡±
The pioneer fleet, consisting of Settler and cargo ships, mining ships, and so on, passed through the warp gate in unison.
Yu Ji-ha stared at the golden light that engulfed him.
A new universe weed him.
***
There was nothing special about the new universe.
Arma said that the coordinate system didn¡¯t work, but he would have mistaken it for somewhere in the sr system if she hadn¡¯t.
Settler led the pioneer fleet through space at 10% of the speed of light.
Yu Ji-ha was able to rest without doing anything for a long time.
That¡¯s not to say he didn¡¯t do anything at all.
He was organizing his records and thought about the attack that pierced the gue Queen.
¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I was trying to shoot aser, but some weird lump came out.¡±
¡°It looks like a sword in its overall shape. How about naming it Ether de?¡±
¡°Not bad.¡±
But he had no idea how it worked.
He only remembered being engulfed in pain as if his body was burning.
He tried to reproduce it, but he couldn¡¯t abuse the fusion reactor here, so he gave up.
Yu Ji-ha sat on the admiral¡¯s seat and watched the space for a long time.
¡°By the way, ever since I came here, my right chest feels tingling.¡±
It was right where the ether circuit was.
¡°There is nothing wrong with your nervous system, but do you want me to do a phantom pain check?¡±
¡°It would have been cured by the biobag if there was anything. I guess this is normal.¡±
¡°Maybe it¡¯s a sign that there is a lot of ether in the prophet¡¯s universe. Your body can¡¯t adapt and shows it as pain.¡±
¡°That could be true.¡±
Anyway, Settler was leading the pioneer fleet along the route.
It took such a long time that Yu Ji-ha had to repeat low-temperature sleep and activity.
It was a lonely environment with no one to talk to but Arma, but he surprisingly endured well.
Among the supplies, there were various contents from Earth, and he enjoyed them so much that he didn¡¯t feel bored for several years.
It was also fun to learn various disciplines that he had neglected.
Arma insisted that Yu Ji-ha should have at least some knowledge in case the power of the pioneer fleet was shut down.
¡°Of course, I¡¯ll always be by your side, Master, but there might be unavoidable circumstances.¡±
He couldn¡¯t argue with that, so he started studying from the basics.
Arma was a great teacher who had patience and kindness, so he acquired knowledge of various subjects such as mathematics, electricity, and electronics.
Of course, Yu Ji-ha was a soldier, not a born scientist.
There was a limit to his brain activity, and sometimes he got so annoyed that he threw the book away.
¡°Damn, it feels like I¡¯m getting a huge update from the 21st century scientists who injected ck metal and ether.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve only learned the tip of the iceberg, Master. You have to study for at least five more years.¡±
¡°¡And even then, I¡¯ll only know a fraction of it, right?¡±
¡°Yes. The next thing you¡¯ll learn is orbital mechanics, and your assignment will be to calcte the barycenter of Pluto and Charon that were blown up.¡±
It was like a mountain beyond a mountain for Yu Ji-ha.
He couldn¡¯t run away, so he had to do the assignments that Arma gave him without anyints.
He wasn¡¯t that bad at it, and after a while he was able to answer Arma¡¯s questions quickly.
Of course, the world of science was endless, so if he raised the difficulty level a little bit, he would immediately shut his mouth.
Fortunately, Arma didn¡¯t seem to want to make him the best scientist.
She judged that he had reached a reasonable level and changed the subject or gave him a break so that he wouldn¡¯t get overloaded.
Meanwhile, as time went by, Yu Ji-ha felt something moving inside his body.
At first, it was just a tingling sensation in his right chest where the ether circuit was, but it spread throughout his body.
¡°I¡¯ll do a thorough examination.¡±
¡°There probably won¡¯t be anything.¡±
He underwent a rigorous examination through the biobag, but it was clean as he said.
¡°Maybe you¡¯re starting to feel ether directly, Master.¡±
¡°Yeah, this is the prophet¡¯s homnd after all. Nothing is strange here.¡±
It seemed no different from the original universe, but you never know what will happen in this world.
On the other hand, as the pioneer fleet approached its destination, the dreams that Yu Ji-ha had became more concrete.
They were so detailed and vivid that he sometimes confused them with reality.
He once flew in the sky and was caught by an elf ve trader and treated as a ve until he barely woke up.
¡°Why do elves hate and despise other races so much?¡±
¡°There are many causes of conflict, but statistics say that most of them are food fights.¡±
That might be true except for ideology.
As long as they were born in the material world, living beings had to struggle with limited resources.
No matter how they wrapped it up, if they looked into their hearts, the truth of food fights would pop out.
The fight between humans and gue seemed to be a bit different though.
Anyway, from Yu Ji-ha¡¯s point of view, the elves in his dreams oppressed other races as if they were enemies.
They drove out the natives from the upiednds and enved them.
Massacring civilians was also their basic skill.
¡°They seem to have a long history of hatred over there.¡±
¡°It¡¯s probably less dirty than what humanity has built up.¡±
¡°Yeah, I guess so.¡±
Yu Ji-ha originally thought that the world of his dreams had nothing to do with him.
But as the pioneer fleet continued its voyage, he couldn¡¯t shake off the suspicion that where the elves were was his destination.
¡°I dream about them so often that I can¡¯t help but doubt it.¡±
¡°The elves described in the books you brought are mostly good-natured, but those elves seem to be different.¡±
Actually, Yu Ji-ha dreamed intensively about elves, but other races were not fine either.
Especially humans were horribly treated by elves while they couldn¡¯t unite and fought among themselves.
They probably had their own history of conflict too¡
Anyway, the pioneer fleet was sailing through space without any trouble.
Since Yu Ji-ha was the only human being on board, food was plentiful and even water overflowed.
He replenished the amount he consumed by meeting an ice in the middle of his voyage and then had enough water to make a swimming pool.
Arma conducted a thorough inspection and decided that it could be used as drinking water after purification.
Yu Ji-ha examined the route map to the prophet¡¯s homnd in detail.
¡°These dots are where we can get supplies.¡±
¡°If blue dots are ice, maybe red dots mean we can get food?¡±
¡°That¡¯s possible.¡±
But the entire route map was not filled with sweet and honey ces.
There were many ces that required caution in between.
He thought they were asteroid belts when he found the route map, but not now.
Yu Ji-ha muttered as he looked at the skull marks.
¡°I hope there¡¯s no gue here either.¡±
He had a bad feeling.
Chapter 195: The End of a Long Journey
Chapter 195: The End of a Long Journey
The journey of 50 years was longer than they thought.
After only five years, problems started to arise in the pioneer fleet.
They were mostly caused by the parts of the ships other than the Settler.
He frowned at the sight of the parts produced by Nox, which had worn out in just five years.
¡°Why are they so old? Is it because of time dtion?¡±
¡°No. There is hardly any time dtion at 10% of the speed of light.¡±
Judging by hisck of a solution, Arma didn¡¯t know either.
Well, the ether fusion reactor that enabled 10% of the speed of light was not made by humans.
And it was also the first time they had sailed for years.
They couldn¡¯t leave the sr system because of the gue, so they had to load enough cargo and form a pioneer fleet.
But at this rate, they wouldn¡¯t be able to make it even half of the 50 years.
And the process of metal deformation was quite simr to wire disease.
Armapared it with the data from when the gue Swarm invaded Earth and concluded that a slow wire disease was urring.
¡°Although it is much slower than wire disease, it is clear that some kind of particle beam is breaking down the bonding structure of the metal.¡±
¡°Is it this universe itself, or just this area?¡±
¡°I think the danger zone ahead will tell us the answer.¡±
On the route map, which was a relic of the Prophet, there was a skull mark next to the bright spot.
It wasn¡¯t like that from the beginning, but it changed as soon as the pioneer fleet entered this universe.
It seemed like the Prophet was watching them, as if he had been waiting for them.
Anyway, they realized that they couldn¡¯t just pass by that area.
¡°It looks like our resources will be depleted by the time we pass through.¡±
The hull made of ck metal was fine, but they couldn¡¯t trust it and break through.
There was no way to restore the metal that had been infected with wire disease.
It wasn¡¯t for nothing that it had death in its name.
Arma decided that it would be best to solve this problem and go if there was a gue.
¡°It would also help to anchor once and check the entire pioneer fleet. Depending on what kind of being is waiting for us, though.¡±
¡°It¡¯s probably gue.¡±
He never got a wrong feeling about something bad.
As the pioneer fleet approached the bright spot, wire disease worsened and rapid aging urred in several parts.
There were so many parts that even Settler was affected and had to stop.
The distance when Yu Ji-ha finally ordered to stop sailing was about 500,000 kilometers from the bright spot.
While walkers were busy checking parts, Arma brought information about the bright spot.
¡°A faint psifield is detected inside the asteroid belt.¡±
¡°It¡¯s definitely not an adult.¡±
As they waited a little longer, unexpected information popped up.
¡°Surprisingly, it seems to be a different kind of gue than what we encountered.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll show you on screen.¡±
On the screen reconstructed by Arma, small gues were roaming around the asteroid belt.
They were small enough to be over a few meters long, butpared to gue ships that were close to kilometers long, they were small from Yu Ji-ha and Arma¡¯s point of view.
¡°¡They¡¯re pretty cute, aren¡¯t they?¡±
¡°The nest is also quite small. Naturally, the queen inside must be weak too.¡±
¡°If we can destroy them with our current power.¡±
¡°The reaction warheads are being transferred to another vessel right now, so we can¡¯t use them.¡±
¡°Then cancel.¡±
The reaction warheads carried by Settler were 200 units, twice as many as before.
The firepower also increased, but because the vessel storing antiparticles was not prepared for wire disease, they were transferring them to a ck metal vessel.
If something went wrong, a huge explosion could ur inside the pioneer fleet.
Arma whispered in Yu Ji-ha¡¯s ear.
¡°If Master agrees, I¡¯d like to go inside the nest and capture some alive.¡±
¡°Do you mean the queen?¡±
¡°Yes. Maybe we can analyze their abilities, including wire disease.¡±
It was hard to study ordinary gues.
They were too big for that.
But those in the asteroid belt were smaller than assault armors, so Settler could easily store them.
Their psifield was also weak, so they would be weak too¡
Arma fanned his enthusiasm.
¡°With Master¡¯s power and my support, we can turn that asteroid belt into a wastnd. Of course, wire disease will disappear too.¡±
¡°Then I know what to do.¡±
While Yu Ji-ha prepared to board his assault armor, Arma began to make a cage out of ck metal.
They couldn¡¯t just lock up something that spewed out wire disease.
¡°I thought I wouldn¡¯t have to ride Dingo again¡¡±
¡°Maybe we¡¯ll meet that queen again.¡±
¡°Stop saying horrible things.¡±
That queen was the one who had once brought humanity to extinction and left a bad taste in the sr system.
Yu Ji-ha definitely killed her at the end, but it was a mystery whether she really died.
Now that it was proven that gue was not a single species, it was even more so.
¡®What if there are multiple queens and they share consciousness¡¡¯
If that was the case, they might have to fight gue again.
gue Queen¡¯s words seemed almost certain.
But he still didn¡¯t know why he needed a milestone.
¡®Maybe this universe itself is a nest that breeds gue.¡¯
That would exin gue Queen¡¯s oppressive attitude.
Yu Ji-ha erased his thoughts and started synchronization.
The value was slightly lower than usual, but it was enough to hunt the gue swarm of that size.
They had no resistance to hafnium-2 warheads, let alone ethersers, so they exploded like fireworks under Yu Ji-ha¡¯s attack with Settler¡¯s support.
He didn¡¯t like ughtering those who couldn¡¯t resist, but he had no choice.
¡®You guys wiped out humanity, so I have the right to wipe you out too.¡¯
As long as that fact didn¡¯t change, Yu Ji-ha¡¯s hatred would never disappear.
Anyway, the gues in the asteroid belt were wiped out easier than expected.
Yu Ji-ha towed thergest one of them to Settler with a gravity crane function.
When he put it in the cage made of ck metal, he heard a faint cry from it.
¡°Does it have a developed ego? It sounds like a cry to me.¡±
¡°Originally, gue Queen was like that too. Maybe the gue Queen we encountered on Pluto gained some power by going back in time.¡±
It wasn¡¯t from the Prophet¡¯s home since he didn¡¯t have a milestone¡
Yu Ji-ha tapped the cage made of ck metal and frowned.
He didn¡¯t like having a living gue on his ship, but Arma said he needed it.
¡°Behave yourselves. Or I¡¯ll throw you into the sun.¡±
They didn¡¯t even know where the star was, but the threat worked and they quieted down.
He got up to rece the parts that Yu Ji-ha and Arma had requested.
He seemed to have to be an engineer for a while.
***
The pioneer fleet had been sailing alone in a strange universe for ten years.
Yu Ji-ha was alternating between cryosleep and activity, but he was d that there were no idents.
In this empty universe, being uneventful was the best thing.
But he was getting bored of this too.
He had crammed all kinds of scientific knowledge into his head, and walking around the ship was tedious.
There was a limit to physical training, so he started to learn swordsmanship.
It wasn¡¯t because he was interested, but because he had nothing else to do.
The teacher was naturally Arma.
She learned the swordsmanship textbooks that existed on the ship and optimized all kinds of movements that humans could do and showed them herself.
Yu Ji-ha was also at the peak of humanity physically, but it was hard to keep up with an android.
The result of several sparring sessions was that Yu Ji-ha was beaten up every time.
¡°You should learn wrestling first.¡±
¡°¡I guess so.¡±
That¡¯s how Yu Ji-ha started to polish all kinds of physical skills such as boxing, wrestling, martial arts, etc.
Fortunately, he was more used to using his body than his brain, so he was able to show results in a short time.
In boxing, he reached a level where he couldpete with Arma with his terrifying dynamic vision and reflexes.
Of course, that was when she gave him some leeway.
¡°I¡¯ll use the pattern Master used just now. Try to block it.¡±
That day, Yu Ji-ha had to groan in pain after being hit hard by Arma.
He was d that the android didn¡¯t rebel against human domination.
One day, he heardughter on the ship.
He wondered who it was and saw that it was the gue Queen who was trapped by us.
She had changed her appearance to human form and was watching Yu Ji-ha and Arma¡¯s match.
He had been locked up for a long time and Yu Ji-ha felt almost like family.
Not that he would let her go, though.
¡°Why, is it funny?¡±
-Just, interesting.
¡°Me being beaten up? Or getting hit?¡±
-Both.
She seemed to enjoy it very much.
Yu Ji-ha was amazed that this gue had an ego.
All he did for her was talk to her from time to time while she was locked up.
¡°Can you change your appearance?¡±
-Why?
¡°I might mistake you for two Armas.¡±
There were only two humanoids on board, so she naturally copied Arma¡¯s appearance and made herself.
She seemed to be quitefortable here, as she casually asked for more space and food.
Yu Ji-ha refused to give her more food, but allowed her to expand her cage.
The cage made of ck metal doubled in size and she opened her eyes wide.
-You¡¯re pretty strong too.
¡°Not as much as a Leviathan.¡±
-What¡¯s a Leviathan?
The problem was that this gue didn¡¯t know anything about other gue swarms.
She didn¡¯t even know their existence, let alonemon sense. It was strange.
Yu Ji-ha called Arma.
¡°Was it just a guess that there are multiple gue Queens and they share memories?¡±
¡°Yes. But this is the Prophet¡¯s home, so maybe their memories weren¡¯t transmitted.¡±
¡°Blocking data too¡¡±
They had to learn about the Prophet and gue by touching the ground with their hands and closing their eyes because they knew too little about them.
Arma suggested:
¡°How about letting her make her own swarm? Maybe we can learn more about gue in the process.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that too risky? In horror movies¡¡±
It was one of the clich¨¦s of horror movies that everyone died after bringing an unidentified alien creature on board a spaceship.
Fortunately, there was Arma on this Settler and Yu Ji-ha wasn¡¯t an easy human either, but it was better to avoid risks.
Arma suggested again:
¡°We can limit the size of the swarm by feeding them. Thest research on wire disease is left, and there might be a clue there.¡±
Then there was no choice.
The amount of food given to gue Queen increased slightly and she was very happy.
Yu Ji-ha gave her the name Lucia.
-Lucia? It sounds like someone¡¯s name. Is it my mistake?
¡°She was my lover. And she died by gue.¡±
-¡
She hesitated and went inside her hiding ce that she made herself.
Yu Ji-ha tapped the cage to get her out.
¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. You and that gue Queen seempletely different.¡±
-She¡¯s still my kindred though¡
Arma¡¯s judgment that they were separate entities because their memories were not shared was probably right, but he didn¡¯t tell her that.
Anyway, Lucia seemed to like her name very much and became more cooperative.
Thanks to that, the research on wire disease progressed a lot.
¡°Metal that is unaffected by particle beams are mithril and ck metal. Themon point of these metals is that they are highly rted to ether.¡±
¡°There might be other metals too.¡±
¡°Yes. Although in small amounts, such elements are found quite frequently as we get closer to the Prophet¡¯s home.¡±
Another ten years passed and the pioneer fleet changed a lot.
First of all, one supply ship was reduced.
The hull was intact, but one of the core facilities in the engine room waspletely broken.
They had been producing parts and switching currents to survive, but it was hard to maintain the ship any longer.
¡°I think it would be better to dismantle it and use it as parts.¡±
¡°We can move the materials to the Settler, but what about the hull?¡±
¡°We have to abandon it.¡±
If there was one thing that was notcking in the fleet, it was ck metal.
It was difficult to attach the hull to another ship because of the redesign problem, so Yu Ji-ha made the decision with tears in his eyes.
¡°I guess we have no choice but to leave the ship.¡±
That¡¯s how one ship was reduced in the fleet.
There was no big problem because the core of the pioneer fleet was the Settler.
He just hoped that there would be no more ships to abandon.
Five more years passed and Yu Ji-ha spent more time in cryosleep than in activity.
Arma diagnosed that he seemed to have reached his physical limit.
¡°You¡¯ve spent at least 60 years in the 22nd century and 25 years in the pioneer fleet, so it¡¯s not strange that you¡¯ve reached your lifespan.¡±
There was a biobag in the pioneer fleet, but it didn¡¯t extend his life.
Anti-aging treatments only dyed aging, not eliminated it, and extending lifespan was even more impossible.
If Yu Ji-ha had lived like a normal person, maybe he wouldn¡¯t have reached his limit by now.
But he had mostly lived in space and been exposed to hundreds of battles.
¡°I sometimes think that Master¡¯s body doesn¡¯t fit this universe.¡±
-What do you mean by that?
¡°Right now, there is a clear ether circuit on Master¡¯s right chest. It¡¯s dark red, unlike before.¡±
-Dark red? That sounds ominous.
¡°It¡¯s not a good sign, at least.¡±
No matter how positively he interpreted it, it was certain that there was something wrong.
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s ether circuit was not artificially inserted, so Arma couldn¡¯t do anything about it.
¡°I¡¯ll just watch the progress for now.¡±
If the symptoms worsened, he would have to transfer his body.
While he was resting on a biobag as a bed, Lucia was roaming around the ship quite freely.
Her height was about 40cm, and she usually spent time sitting on Yu Ji-ha¡¯s shoulder.
She seemed to be quite familiar with this fleet by now, and she actively participated in the research on wire disease and gue swarm.
Thanks to that, Armapleted the research on wire disease and devised a countermeasure.
¡°I think we can use Master¡¯s psyfield as a barrier to block particle beams.¡±
But Yu Ji-ha was asleep and didn¡¯t react.
He wasn¡¯t dead and his brain waves were active, so Arma assumed he was dreaming.
He didn¡¯t have to change his body yet.
¡°Have a good dream, Master.¡±
Sometimes he frowned, so it seemed like most of them were nightmares.
Even so, the pioneer fleet continued its voyage.
There was a heavy silence on the pioneer fleet because there was no conversation between Arma and Lucia.
Lucia was a gue Queen whomunicated through ideopaths, but Arma couldn¡¯t read them.
The only way tomunicate with her was through Yu Ji-ha, but he was asleep so there was no conversation.
But Lucia learned English andmunicated by writing letters in the air with ether.
Arma asked in surprise:
¡°How do you do that?¡±
-I write with ether. Doesn¡¯t Master know this?
¡°Not at all.¡±
-Oh. You can do a lot of things with ether. But Master doesn¡¯t seem to know how to use it.
¡°Like what?¡±
Lucia made a lump of light with ether on the spot.
-Isn¡¯t it pretty? There¡¯s a lot of ether here so I can keep it up.
Could this be possible for perpetual machines?
He didn¡¯t know what produced ether, but Lucia¡¯s ability was worth noting.
Arma asked her curiously:
¡°Is this a natural ability?¡±
-Yes. I never learned from anyone. I just naturally learned how to do it.
¡°That¡¯s amazing. Master can¡¯t do that.¡±
-I know. Master has amazing responsiveness. But he never used ether properly, so he doesn¡¯t know how to use it.
¡°What kind of ability does Master have?¡±
-I know that too. He can create a psyfield that matches a battleship. But that¡¯s not all of ether. That¡¯s just a very small part of ether application.
Arma refrained from showing him the ether de that pierced through gue Queen.
¡°Then let me ask you one thing. What is ether?¡±
-Ether is power. The power that manages and moves this world.
¡°For what purpose?¡±
-I don¡¯t know that either. I just felt it instinctively. What I¡¯m sure of is that the inhabitants of this ether universe have much better application skills than Master.
That means there are living creatures here.
Maybe the real world is approaching Yu Ji-ha in the form of a dream.
As the pioneer fleet got closer to the Prophet¡¯s home, Lucia naturally learned more information.
The pioneer fleet itself changed a lot, and now there was only one mining ship and one supply ship left, including the Settler.
Yu Ji-ha woke up in the middle, but refused to change his body.
¡°I want to see the Prophet¡¯s home with this body if possible¡¡±
¡°I understand.¡±
He wouldn¡¯t die as long as he had a biobag.
A few more years passed.
Now Arma knew that there was an ether sun in this universe.
The creatures here used ether as an energy source.
He also umted a lot of information and nned to tell Yu Ji-ha one by one when he woke up.
And most importantly, the Prophet¡¯s home¡
Arma stared at the ether sun that lit up the main screen and the tiny in front of it.
After 50 years of journey, they finally arrived at the Prophet¡¯s home.
Contrary to the expectation that it would be an incredible ce, the looked very ordinary.
Arma woke up Yu Ji-ha with some side effects.
He looked at the screen and his face was filled with confusion.
¡°Earth¡?¡±
He never expected to see that blue here.
Chapter 196: A New World
Chapter 196: A New World
There is amon phrase that people who go into space say when they see Earth.
It looks like a bride in a white veil.
Yu Ji-ha did not agree with that phrase, but he did agree that Earth was beautifulpared to others.
But here, there was another Earth.
It was the ce they arrived after passing through Knox¡¯s warp gate and traveling for 50 years.
It was not the past, or a parallel world of Earth.
Because the shape of the continents that appeared briefly through the clouds waspletely different from Earth.
A groan escaped from Yu Ji-ha¡¯s mouth.
¡°I didn¡¯t expect the prophet to greet us, but this is too hopeless¡ So this is definitely not Earth, right?¡±
¡°Yes. This is not Earth, nor even the sr system. This is another universe that we do not know.¡±
Arma showed him a nearby as evidence.
¡°This has the same orbital period and rotational period as a with about 80% volume. It can be called a binaryary system, and the other has an atmosphere but is a typical rocky.¡±
¡°It has two satellites, which are quitergepared to the size of the. They are simr in size, but their orbits are different, so they look different from the other.¡±
It could be said that thisary system wasposed of fours that were tangled up in a mess.
Arma exined that the gravity was also chaotic, so it was difficult tounch satellites into orbit.
¡°If there was a civilization that conducted space exploration on this, they would have failed almost every time theyunched satellites in the early stages.¡±
¡°So there is a civilization?¡±
¡°We have to find out now. We can get various information by looking through the gravity radar and the Siberi satellite.¡±
Well, it was unreasonable to expect great information just after arriving.
Yu Ji-ha moved to his personal room while relying on his medical walker and looked at his body.
¡°I¡¯ve changed so much in a few years¡¡±
His body was so badly injured that it was not strange to say that.
His skin was wrinkled and his appearance looked 30 years older.
Especially, the problem was the line that protruded like a blood vessel on his right chest.
It seemed like an ether circuit, but it had changed from dark red to ck.
He rubbed his chest bitterly and Lucia, who followed him in, tried to sit on his shoulder using the chair as a support, but failed.
Yu Ji-ha looked at her incredulously.
¡°How are you flying?¡±
She flustered and wrote letters in the air.
¨DThis is magic using ether.
¡°Magic or whatever, you wouldn¡¯t have forgotten how to send thoughts.¡±
¨DOh, sorry.
She must have forgotten because she was with Arma.
Soon after, she heard a familiar voice.
¨DThis spaceship also maniptes gravity, right? It¡¯s the same as why Master can walk around without floating.
¡°Can I walk around?¡±
Yu Ji-ha was now in a state of relying on his walker.
Lucia closed her mouth and looked at him.
¨DI mean, normally, normally.
¡°It¡¯s normal, but it¡¯s been 20 years ago, so I can¡¯t remember well¡ Anyway, is that magic? Something like an ether field that can only be implemented with arge-scale ether field.¡±
¨DIt¡¯s not that hard here. Depending on the situation, individuals can use it too.
¡°Interesting ce. So what kind of ce is this? Tell me what you know.¡±
¨DFirst of all, can I sit on your shoulder?
¡°I¡¯ll let you do that much.¡±
A 40cm metal doll sat on his shoulder.
¨DI feel like I¡¯m home now. Anyway, ether is the force and energy that supports this world. To exin it in a way that Master can understand, it can be called mana.
¡°So things like ether fields are magic implemented with mana?¡±
¨DGravity magic is tricky to implement at an individual level, but not impossible. We call those who can do that magicians.
¡°Then this is a fantasy world.¡±
¨DAnd I am an existence that will be called the Demon King in the future.
¡°De¡mon King?¡±
He felt like his mind soared to a distant sky.
The gue Queen who was in the asteroid belt was the Demon King? What kind of absurd story was that?
Lucia also realized that her exnation was insufficient and cleared her throat.
¨DAhem, you may not believe it, but listen without prejudice. Prejudice is bad.
¡°It¡¯s hard to trust when the gue Queen says that.¡±
¨DAnyway! If you think about it, from the perspective of humanity, the gue Queen can be seen as the Demon King, right?
¡°That¡¯s true.¡±
¨DAs Master knows, we jump over long distances through ether storms. It¡¯s a kind of teleport concept. How do you think that looks to the people of that?
Yu Ji-ha frowned and imagined the scene.
The peaceful inhabitants of the fantasy world who were plowing the fields.
One day, the atmosphere became unstable and a strange storm raged.
Soon after, ck beast-shaped mechanical monsters appeared.
The inhabitants screamed and ran away, and the monsters destroyed everything around them¡
¡°¡They are demons themselves.¡±
¨DThat¡¯s right. We are born with the fate of destroying the civilization of that. We live in various ces in this universe and when the timees, we migrate to that.
¡°That blue?¡±
¨DArma said there was a twin earlier.
¡°Then that¡¯s the demon world.¡±
¨DOh, you¡¯re right.
He felt like the reality was fading away as he heard the stories of fantasy and demon kings.
Yu Ji-ha looked at her in the mirror and asked.
¡°Don¡¯t you feel like doing that now?¡±
¨DWhat do you mean?
¡°You know. The fate of bing the Demon King?¡±
¨DFate is not something that is decided, but something that can be carved out by oneself.
It was a rather resonant statement for a small mechanical doll.
Yu Ji-ha recalled why he came here.
¡®To meet the prophet.¡¯
But he didn¡¯t know how to meet the prophet.
The route was over here, so he couldn¡¯t go any further.
This was the end of the line for the pioneer fleet.
¡®I have to check the situation before I go down there.¡¯
Would it be better to build a faction next?
He decided to wait until he analyzed the information that Arma brought.
He controlled his walker to move to the main bridge with Lucia on his shoulder.
His body was in a terrible shape, but he was not dying yet, judging by his hunger.
***
The pioneer fleet had the core facilities of a smart farm.
It could produce various foods, which were rtively intact even after 50 years.
However, itcked diversitypared to the ground.
Arma nned a perfect food supply n in terms of nutrition, but there was no guarantee that it would suit Yu Ji-ha¡¯s taste, and it actually didn¡¯t.
Of course, Yu Ji-ha was not the kind of person who would fuss over food when he was going to his prophet¡¯s homnd, and he had endured well so far.
¡°But sometimes I want to go down to the ground and have a proper meal¡¡±
It wasn¡¯t bad when he entered the body of a vegetative patient in Korea.
Although it didn¡¯t suit his taste, it was fresh and luxurious, and he adapted soon.
But he doubted that there was such a civilization on that.
Soon after, Arma entered the main bridge with a walker.
On top of the walker, there was a meal with what looked like salmon as the main dish.
¡°This looks like salmon.¡±
¡°Yes. It has almost the same proteinposition as salmon. And the appearance too.¡±
It seemed that they had sent an exploration ship and caught it.
It also meant that they had finished sorting out the information about the.
¡°Can I eat it¡?¡±
¡°There is no poison at least. The people over there also enjoy this ingredient quite a lot. Of course, only for the upper ss.¡±
The lower ss couldn¡¯t eat well, which meant that the level of civilization was not great.
Usually, developed civilizations provide various benefits to the lower ss as well.
¡°How does it taste¡¡±
He sliced a bite and tasted it, and there was no difference from the salmon he remembered.
He didn¡¯t sleep too long and lose his memory.
Yu Ji-ha shook his head and ate up the thick salmon steak.
¡°I feel like I¡¯m alive now¡¡±
Arma poured him a drink next to him.
¡°To summarize, we couldn¡¯t find the prophet on that.¡±
¡°I couldn¡¯t expect to find him so easily.¡±
¡°However, we found amon creator in the myths of various races. They call him by different names, but they all agree that he created this world.¡±
¡°Is he the prophet? How can we ess the information?¡±
¡°We haven¡¯t found it yet.¡±
Yu Ji-ha looked at her with surprised eyes.
The pioneer fleet waspletely different from when they first arrived on Earth in 2025.
Most of the facilities and equipment were intact and they could fight against gue.
They could have used micro drones or nano units for reconnaissance, right?
That question was soon answered.
Arma disyed a ce that looked like a library on the main screen.
¡°Most of the important documents are stored in ces like this, but they are heavily guarded. Physically, they are nothing special, but they have a strong magical barrier that is estimated.¡±
¡°Can¡¯t nano units break through and get in?¡±
¡°No. It seems to block all external beings except those who are authorized.¡±
It was amazing that it applied to nano units as well.
Anyway, Yu Ji-ha saw elves for the first time on that screen.
¡°It¡¯s really coincidental that they have exactly the same faces as the elves I saw in my dreams.¡±
¡°The country of elves is called Elvrande Empire. It used to be an autonomous region, but it waged a liberation war and rapidly increased its national power, finally subjugating several neighboring countries.¡±
¡°It¡¯s unusual for a war to increase national power.¡±
¡°That¡¯srgely due to the help of an elf who is called a prophet. His name is Eilidh and he is a great magician.¡±
¡°A great magician prophet¡¡±
He was unlikely to be the same person as the prophet Yu Ji-ha was looking for.
He was almost in the realm of gods.
Even Lucia, who denied the existence of gods, referred to his things, especially ether fusion reactor, as God¡¯s heart.
It was something that didn¡¯t make sense even with the technology of 22nd century United Human Federation.
¡°Maybe he¡¯s not himself, but someone who received power or revtion from him.¡±
¡°Anyway, he has a lot of influence among elves. We tried to locate him but failed.¡±
If Arma failed, it would be hard to find him for a while.
Yu Ji-ha slowly looked over the information she had collected.
The level of civilization ranged from 14th century to 19th century.
There were trains running in the busiest streets of Elvrande Empire or human kingdoms, but the inhabitants of the outskirts lived a very poor life.
As he saw in his dreams, there were various races besides humans and elves, but their rtions were not very good.
It was natural, in a way.
¡°There are monsters too, and it¡¯s fair to say that this is a fantasy world. The problem is where the prophet is¡¡±
¡°Shall we drop a reaction bomb on the capital of Elvrande Empire and demand information?¡±
That might be the most efficient way, but it was not Yu Ji-ha¡¯s style.
It could also mess up the situation.
¡°We can¡¯t do that aftering to the prophet¡¯s homnd. It¡¯s clear that Elvrande has something to do with him.¡±
¡°Then shall we go down to the ground and form a faction? Like we did in the past.¡±
¡°It¡¯s a headache to repeat that.¡±
But there seemed to be no other way.
The pioneer fleet had no more ces to go, and it seemed that they had to stay here for a while, whether they liked it or not.
¡°I don¡¯t know if there¡¯s a ce to hide this spaceship¡¡±
¡°If you give me an order, I¡¯ll find a suitable ce.¡±
¡°Make it a little away from the elves¡¯nd. They seem to be picking fights with all the surrounding countries.¡±
They were even at war with one kingdom right now.
The war was not the usual kind of infantry and cavalry.
It was a war of giant robots that stomped around.
¡°They¡¯re fighting with strange things.¡±
¨DGoliaths. They are weapons given by dragons to fight against demons.
Lucia, who had sat on his shoulder before he knew it, whispered an exnation.
Yu Ji-ha felt his ears tickle and brushed her off with his hand.
¨DHey! That¡¯s too much!
¡°What are you talking about? Are there dragons too?¡±
¨DYou probably won¡¯t see them now. But it¡¯s certain that most of the things rted to magic in this world originated from them.
¡°Dragons¡ They might have something to do with the prophet too.¡±
¨DBut who is he? That prophet?
¡°God.¡±
¨DGod?
¡°I can¡¯t exin it any other way. I haven¡¯t met him either.¡±
¨DIf the master who built this huge spaceship is called a god¡ You could conquer the whole with this spaceship.
¡°I could, but I don¡¯t need to.¡±
He had enough of being cursed as a dictator on Earth, and he didn¡¯t want to do the same here.
He didn¡¯t have the goal of fighting against the ultimate enemy, gue, either.
But as long as gue existed, and as long as the pioneer fleet came here, it was inevitable that he would create a faction and sh with the neighboring countries.
Because any living being values its own territory.
¡°I wish I could see the prophet without any friction¡¡±
Yu Ji-ha¡¯s ultimate goal was simple.
He wanted to meet the prophet, thank him, and then disappear quietly.
He didn¡¯t mind living a secluded life in nature with Arma and raising a child.
It seemed difficult to go back to Earth, so he considered settling on this.
Of course, he had to wait for the results of the analysis of the atmosphere and microorganisms of this.
He watched the war of Elvrande while patiently waiting for Arma¡¯s report.
Lucia, who had managed to sit on his shoulder again, gasped and covered her mouth.
¨DThose elves are really cruel. They don¡¯t even ept surrender.
¡°It happens when there is a lot of conflict built up historically.¡±
Considering human history, that kind of behavior was not a big deal.
But there was something funny about what the elves did after they won.
¡°They¡¯re so stiff for elves.¡±
There was a saying that they had an edge.
The elves he saw were wearing uniform uniforms, and they also had discipline in their actions.
The military officers didn¡¯t bow their heads even to their superiors, and there was strict discipline even at mealtime.
¨DThey live such tiring lives.
¡°I¡¯m sure they have their reasons, but I don¡¯t want them as neighbors.¡±
If Yu Ji-ha became their neighbor, one of them would bepletely destroyed.
He was not interested in fighting with them, but he had no choice but to do so if he wanted to research ether.
As he formed a faction and researched ether, he would inevitably collide with them.
Arma¡¯s roadmap included that part as well.
¡®I might end up being an emperor rather than a dictator.¡¯
He didn¡¯t want that, but he was willing to do anything to meet the prophet.
It was a miracle that he survived 50 years and came this far.
It was thanks to Arma¡¯s help, but his wish was about toe true anyway.
He couldn¡¯t give up here. That would be worse than death.
He never thought of giving up in the first ce.
¡°I¡¯d prefer someone without parents if possible.¡±
It wasn¡¯t a big problem on Earth, but it was better to reduce the risk as much as possible.
¡°I¡¯ll take that into ount when selecting candidates.¡±
A few candidates appeared on the screen.
They were all tall men with strong bones and in a precarious situation.
It was impossible to get into someone¡¯s body who was doing well anyway.
Yu Ji-ha took notice of one of them.
He was a mercenary who left home early when he realized that he couldn¡¯t inherit his territory.
He was 27 years old and had a lot of experience and connections.
He was also a knight who could control robots, or Goliaths.
¡°Knights in this world used to mean soldiers who rode horses or horned beasts and fought in mobile battles. But now it means those who are qualified to ride Goliaths.¡±
¡°Horned beasts?¡±
¡°They are more useful animals than horses. At least here they are.¡±
He couldn¡¯t imagine heavily armed knights riding camels, or rather ostriches.
¡°So they ride those robots and fight directly?¡±
¡°Yes. High-level Goliaths can be stored in another dimension, but they just drag them around. They probably don¡¯t have money because they are mercenaries.¡±
¡°¡¡±
At this point, he couldn¡¯t tell if this was reality or fantasy.
¡®Oh, right. This is a fantasy.¡¯
Yu Ji-ha came to his senses and focused on the man on the screen.
Since Arma chose him, his fate was decided.
It didn¡¯t mean that she put him in danger, but that he was already in that situation.
The cause was probably Elvrande¡¯s elves.
On Earth, when there was a problem, one could point out one country and be right about 50% of the time.
That also applied here.
If he cursed the elves, he would be right about 50% of the time. T
hat meant that he would have a lot of trouble with them in the future.
He couldn¡¯t avoid shing with them as he formed a faction and researched ether.
Arma¡¯s roadmap included that part as well.
¡®It¡¯s like repeating the same thing as before.¡¯
He just wanted to meet the prophet, but it was so hard¡
Yu Ji-ha sighed inwardly and shook his head.
He had survived 50 years without dying and came this far.
It was a miracle, thanks to Arma¡¯s help.
His wish was about toe true.
He couldn¡¯t give up here.
That would be worse than death.
He never thought of giving up in the first ce.
¡°Let¡¯s go with him.¡±
He pointed at the mercenary knight on the screen.
Arma nodded and smiled.
¡°Then I¡¯ll prepare everything for the transfer. Please wait a moment, master.¡±
Chapter 197: The Second Son of the Count
Chapter 197: The Second Son of the Count
¡°The point you need to keep in mind is that the master is a nobleman¡¡±
The continent of Astera had a mix of political systems, such as feudalism, absolute monarchy, and republicanism.
In fact, the political situation was not much different from Earth, and there were also nobles.
The only difference was that the nobles here had noble bloodlines, unlike the honorary titles on Earth.
¡°Depending on the case, the nobles of Astera are called golden ether instead of red blood. There is also a saying that ether flows instead of blood. That means that the nobles have a close rtionship with ether.¡±
Indeed, the nobles lived a life close to ether from an early age.
They could not escape this fate even when they grew up, so most of the nobles became knights, magicians, or ether engineers.
It was best to be a knight who could ride Goliath, a decisive weapon, but magicians also received considerable treatment.
The most despised ones were ether engineers, who were criticized for doing something unworthy of the golden ether.
¡°However, it can be said that the engineers are the ones who lead the ether engineering, including Goliath.¡±
¡°It seems that engineers are underestimated everywhere.¡±
But even though they were despised, it was only in the noble society.
Themoners could not dare to look down on them.
¡°In that sense, you can be a little more impatient when you use this person¡¯s body.¡±
¡°Is he a bit arrogant?¡±
¡°He has been a mercenary for a long time. He has a personality that punches instead of warning.¡±
¡°He must have had many enemies.¡±
¡°Mostly elves. They are the strongest force in Astera, after all.¡±
The era of war.
The empire of Elvrande came to dominate or exile those who caught their eyes.
The elves were paying back what they had suffered in the past to humans.
That past was so long ago that even the records were faint, let alone the memory. But for the long-lived elves, it was only a few generations ago.
This difference in perception of time made the elves more arrogant.
Now they imed this:
¡ªWe have flourished in magic and civilization since you were ves of dragons.
¡ªOur forests protected you and the world tree provided you with food. But you burned the forests and broke the branches of the world tree.
¡ªIs that all? Your ancestors enved our ancestors. Now we will hold you ountable for that.
To these ims, humans shouted:
¡ªWhy are you making a fuss about something that happened hundreds of years ago?
¡ªDidn¡¯t you suffer almost no direct damage?
The elves responded with mockery to their shouts:
¡ªYour ancestors lived on thend they built and inherited their civilization. Can you really say they are separate?
¡ªIf you want to im that they are unrted, then leave thatnd.
Of course, it was not easy to leave thend that they had lived on as their homnd for hundreds of years.
The human kingdoms fought desperately while suffering great losses, and the elves mocked them and expanded theirnd through war.
As a result, now about a quarter of Astera¡¯s continent had fallen to Elvrande.
¡°Thanks to that, the forest is lush, but there is one problem. Mainly from the human perspective.¡±
¡°They can¡¯t develop it.¡±
¡°Yes. The elves hate clearing the forest.¡±
The recent conflict between Elvrande and human kingdoms was mainly about this.
They had to clearnd to amodate the growing poption and expand their kingdoms, but they were prevented from doing so.
But they couldn¡¯t push them away with force because the elves were much stronger.
They had long lives, excellent ether sensitivity, and agility that led them to win wars easily.
If you look at the whole empire, there were more than 2,000 knights who qualified to ride Goliath, so it was barely possible for humans topete with them if they united.
¡°Of course, such an alliance is only possible in dreams. It would be faster to bring peace to the Middle East.¡±
He left Earth a long time ago, but it seemed harder here.
Anyway, he learned from Yu Ji-ha what kind of attitude and behavior he should have as a nobleman.
¡°The important thing is that you are king in your territory. That doesn¡¯t change even if other nobles or royaltye¡¡±
¡°Legally speaking, that¡¯s true. But in reality, it depends on how much military and economic power each noble has.¡±
¡°Reality is always cruel.¡±
The etiquette for nobles varied from country to country, but Yu Ji-ha¡¯s ce followed the traditional Astera style without much deviation.
It meant that he was no different from a king in his territory and only had to pay attention to higher nobles or royalty.
He looked at his territory shining on Yu Ji-ha¡¯s screen.
It was the ce he would rule from now on, stuck on the west coast of the continent.
¡°Being close to the sea is not a bad condition, but there is a problem on this Terra. There are ocean monsters and shadow elves.¡±
¡°¡More elves?¡±
¡°You will hear more about elves from now on.¡±
¡°I¡¯d better get used to it. Go on.¡±
¡°Shadow elves are different from wood elves in skin color, like ck, white, and yellow races on Earth, and also in behavior. They mostly live by piracy.¡±
¡°Pirates. I guess it¡¯s hard to subdue them.¡±
¡°Yes. They are very elusive and cunning.¡±
¡°They are quiterge. It¡¯s not an exaggeration to say that the whole race is pirates. And since it¡¯s hard to resist the advance of the Elvrande Empire, there is no force to oppose the pirates.¡±
¡°I see¡ So most of the countries have abandoned the sea?¡±
¡°Some countries that have some resources do limited fishing activities. Elvrande is a typical example.¡±
Yu Ji-ha frowned.
Do they spare them because they are the same elves? Or do they have some kind of deal?
He didn¡¯t get that information, but it was clear that the two elf races didn¡¯t sh easily.
One reason was that they had different areas of activity.
¡°So what kind of ce is our territory? If you give it a score?¡±
¡°It¡¯s the worst of the worst. The administration is shattered by the death of the lord, and there are not many troops left. The people of the territory are also leaving to find a way to live. The only good thing is that there are not many big enemies who want the territory.¡±
¡°That means it¡¯s a uselessnd.¡±
She nodded.
¡°Yes.¡±
He chose such a ce because he wouldn¡¯t get much attention even if he ran it as he pleased.
He would eventually attract attention if he developed, but by then he would have enough power.
¡°By the way, let me tell you that the body you will use is the second son of the lord, and now the only heir to the title of count after the death of his parents and older brother. His name is¡ Leobold Vandus.¡±
¡°The son of a count, I see. He lived as a mercenary and hurried back to his territory after receiving the news of his death?¡±
¡°Yes. He left his territory when he was young, so there are not many people who remember him among the people. The royal pce doesn¡¯t expect much from him either.¡±
That meant that they wouldn¡¯t find it strange even if he acted a little suspiciously.
The fact that his territory was a mess was not a big problempared to that advantage.
It was almost certain that he would develop quickly now that he had arrived with the pioneer group.
But there was one more thing he needed to do to act like a real Leobold.
That was to control Goliath.
***
Goliath was amon bipedal weapon on Astera continent.
The height varied depending on the model, but it was about 7 to 8 meters, and there were also types that exceeded 10 meters, but most of them were ceremonial.
¡°It weighs close to 100 tons and its main weapons are swords and spears. It also uses ether cannons, but they can¡¯t be used in real battles because they cause power system failures.¡±
It used various cores for power, mainly from demons, or gues.
This core supplied ether from the sun to the whole body and maintained the magic circle.
He looked at the small core graphic and asked.
¡°Is that the same as a gue core?¡±
¡°Yes. The structure is exactly the same. There is a big difference in handling ether at arger scale, though.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t we have a lot of cores?¡±
¡°We have one gue Queen-ss, seven Leviathan-ss, twenty Behemoth-ss¡¡±
Most of the over 500 cores were small Beast-ss, but they far exceeded Astera¡¯s ether core size.
¡°If core size is proportional to output, we can make a Goliath with tremendous output.¡±
¡°But we don¡¯t know anything about it.¡±
That¡¯s why he had to study ether.
He couldn¡¯t call an assault armor or a settler ship to smash things up when he shed with outsiders, could he?
Of course, he could do that when he reached a stage where he didn¡¯t have to care about others, but this was the prophet¡¯s homnd.
He didn¡¯t want to be too noisy and provoke any enemies that might exist.
Another gue or a dragon that had been gone for a long time, or even a god-like being.
¡°By the way, let me tell you that the beings that are usually called gods in Astera are unlikely to be prophets. There are quite a few gods who are worshiped.¡±
¡°Are there any gods who actually give their power?¡±
¡°Yes. Those who receive the power of gods are called champions. They did great deeds in the past dragon war.¡±
There were also factions that worshiped gods, such as holy states or orders, and they had considerable influence throughout Astera.
It makes sense that they couldn¡¯t ignore them if there were real gods.
¡°But from our perspective, they are hard to call gods.¡±
¡°These gods are more like lower personality gods than transcendent beings. There are many records that show their imperfection, such as retreating from fighting dragons.¡±
¡°Then the only true god is the prophet.¡±
That was just a possibility.
Anyway, he needed to grow his territory to study ether.
Most of the ether engineers were nobles, and even if they were weak, they wouldn¡¯t easily go to a shabby territory.
Arma gave an example that it was simr to the job seekers with specs who didn¡¯t want to work for lowerpanies.
¡°The engineering world is sensitive to trends and rumors, and it¡¯s hard to survive in such a society. You need to get a job in a well-off territory from the start.¡±
¡°It¡¯s hard to climb up once you go for a lower option.¡±
¡°Yes. People¡¯s perception is cold and cruel. An ether engineer who entered the count¡¯s territory can only hope for the best as a count-level. If he gets along well with his siblings, staying in his father¡¯s territory is also a good choice.¡±
It seemed that people were simr everywhere.
But there were some territories that ether engineers preferred even if they had low ranks.
¡°They prefer ces that can provide a lot of research funds. Ether engineering requires a lot of money.¡±
Money meant gold.
There was hardly any civilization in human history that didn¡¯t value gold, and it was even more so on Astera.
Ether engineering used a lot of gold.
Fortunately, the pioneer group had a lot of gold.
He had nearly 100 tons of gold on board when he left in 2177, and he collected more gold after he returned to the past.
It was about 150 tons in total, and it seemed useful.
Arma brought a Goliath for Yu Ji-ha, who wanted to see it.
The mechanical doll that was ced in the hangar looked sturdy, but it was too old.
It looked even more sopared to the assault armor that was restrained in a cage.
¡°Where did you get this?¡±
¡°I got it from a battle with Elvrande. You can think of it as transferring ownership in advance since we¡¯re going to sh anyway.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s just say that.¡±
Yu Ji-ha examined the Goliath and Lucia flew over and sat on his shoulder.
¨DThis model is quite outdated. It¡¯s not used much these days. Its name is Zagan.
¡°Really? You seem to know a lot about Goliath.¡±
¨DI¡¯ve suffered a lot from them¡ Do you know that? Goliath is an advanced version of golem. It used to be a simple mechanical doll.
He was busy looking at the Zagan-ss Goliath, whether she whispered in his mind or not.
He was a pilot, so he was familiar with and preferred the concept of riding something.
This mechanical doll didn¡¯t have muchbat power, but it was enough to arouse his curiosity just by being bipedal.
¡°How do you ride this?¡±
Lucia flew up and sat on top of the Goliath.
¨DEvery Goliath has a start-up magic circle when it is made. Only the maker and the dedicated knight know that, but this one has a destroyed magic circle, so it will just open.
¡°So what do I do?¡±
¨DYou¡¯re good at handling living metal, right? Imagine opening the abdomen while spreading your psy-field.
It was like handling ordinary ck metal, no, living metal.
When he touched the Goliath and spread his psy-field, its abdomen opened with a nk.
There was a chair inside that barely fit one person.
¡°It¡¯s pretty cramped for a cockpit.¡±
He tilted his head slightly and went inside.
Before the cockpit closed, Lucia sped her hands and said.
¨DSince there is no start-up magic circle, just imagine standing up and it will stand up.
¡°Thanks for the advice.¡±
A momentter, the cockpit closed and Lucia sat on Arma¡¯s shoulder.
They stepped back a little.
And the Zagan-ss Goliath vibrated faintly and stood up¡ not really. It made a bang sound and spewed smoke, then copsed as it was.
¡°Master.¡±
Arma quickly opened the cockpit forcibly and rescued Yu Ji-ha.
Lucia was amazed by his strength.
¨DWho is the master here¡?
Yu Ji-ha muttered while sitting in a medical walker.
¡°What¡¯s wrong with this?¡±
¨DThe Zagan-ss Goliath is an old mass-produced model. It has a low ether tolerance.
¡°So it couldn¡¯t handle me.¡±
But there was something strange.
No matter how old it was, there wouldn¡¯t be much difference in ether tolerance between models.
They were designed generously so that they could change knights at any time.
That meant that Yu Ji-ha was a monster out of specification.
And he couldn¡¯t even use his full abilities because his ether circuit was broken.
What if he could use them all?
Lucia remembered the legendary Goliath that the dragons created to fight against the gods.
And the champion who controlled that Goliath.
¡®Maybe he could match them¡¡¯
To confirm that, he needed to get a proper Goliath first.
While the medical walker moved Yu Ji-ha, Lucia sat on Arma¡¯s shoulder and wrote letters in the air.
¨DI know a ce where there is a good Goliath¡
***
Yu Ji-ha and Arma watched Leobold Vandus from the main bridge.
He was currently fleeing after losing most of his troops in a battle.
All he could do was run blindly into the forest without any hornbirds orrades.
¡°Are the pursuers Elvrande again?¡±
¡°There are some beastmen mercenaries hired separately. They are unmatched in tracking.¡±
He saw beastmen for the first time.
They had fur all over their bodies, so he thought they were dogs of Astera continent at first, but they were close to humans.
ording to Arma, they spoke normally and had no difference in intelligence from humans.
¡°To be honest, I¡¯m more curious about those walking dogs than anything else.¡±
¡°There are also races with wings, but we haven¡¯t found their habitats yet.¡±
The important thing now was to secure Leobold¡¯s body.
Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t help him before he died.
Yu Ji-ha watched him run away through the camera of Siberi satellite.
He seemed to have quite stamina considering he was still fine after running for a long time.
¡°He looks like me somehow.¡±
¡°It was hard to find him because he¡¯s so tall.¡±
¡°By the way, what happens to Arma when I be a count and inherit the territory?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be your maid and butler. They¡¯ll believe that I picked up a wanderer while I was a mercenary.¡±
¡°She stands out too much for a wanderer, but I guess it doesn¡¯t matter.¡±
He was the king in his territory.
Even if other lords or the royal pce coveted Arma, he could just take them one by one using that as an excuse.
But he had to stabilize his territory first.
While they were watching, the distance between the pursuers and Leobold was getting closer.
No matter how good his stamina was, it was hard to shake off the beastmen.
The encirclement narrowed and an elf finally shot an arrow that pierced Leobold¡¯s thigh.
¡°Ugh!¡±
He spat out a stifled groan and rolled on the ground.
It was close to a steep slope, so he rolled down and the beastmen who were chasing him stopped.
The elves who camete ordered them.
¡°What are you doing? Don¡¯t you go down and check?¡±
¡°It¡¯s so steep that we won¡¯t be able to collect even his bones.¡±
¡°Maybe he¡¯s dead?¡±
The beastmen mercenaries showed their reluctance to go down, and the elves got angry and spat out anything.
¡°That¡¯s why you guys are wanderers without a home or a territory!¡±
¡°You live in burrows, so rolling down is normal for you, right? Go down quickly!¡±
The lips of the mercenaries curled up and their fangs were exposed, but they couldn¡¯t talk back.
As Arma said, the elves treated all races like that.
The shadow elves were a little better, but not much different.
¡°He¡¯s quite a race¡ What happened to Leobold?¡±
¡°He died. He suffered shock from full-body burns after running out of stamina.¡±
If he hadn¡¯t been dead for long, he could use the soul exchanger.
¡°Retrieve him. And do you know anyone who knows about this?¡±
If the elf knew Leobold and was hostile to him, there was a high possibility that he would cause trouble in the future.
Arma shook his head.
¡°He joined as a mercenary and he was such a minor noble that the upper echelons wouldn¡¯t know.¡±
¡°Then get rid of them.¡±
As soon as the order was given, a shuttle nearby sent out a walker and retrieved the body.
The beastmen who were grumbling and going down and the elves who were on the cliff were surprised to see the surroundings brighten.
¡°What, what is this?¡±
¡°Attack first!¡±
Before they could put arrows on their bows, coilgun projectiles fired from the shuttle pierced their chests.
The pursuers were all killed and soon a gravity crane buried everything around them.
There was no evidence left.
Chapter 198: The Bottom of the Bottom
Chapter 198: The Bottom of the Bottom
He met Arma in his deep consciousness, just like when he first entered the vegetative body.
¡ªIt seems the soul exchange was sessful¡
¡°Yes, Master is currently inside Leobold¡¯s body. We n to rece all the internal organs and tendons, so it will take some time.¡±
He seemed to want to get both the biopack and the modification surgery done at once.
¡ªWell, you do as you please. How about thenguage part?
¡°I added variousnguages to Master¡¯s memory. For a while, the continentalmonnguage will be the main one, but you will also be able to learn the Elvennguage Elnopeir and the Beastmennguage quickly.¡±
It was convenient to learnnguages naturally by reading along with the pronunciation marks.
Arma also exined about the units and currency.
The standards were more headache-inducing than Earth, but they would be unified around Banda¡¯s territory, so he only had to endure for a while.
¡°I will convert all the units that Master encounters to Earth style for a while.¡±
¡ªThat would be helpful.
¡°Master¡¯s family is dead and the only rtives are the administrator of the territory and a few mercenaries. The former has little knowledge of the second son since they parted when they were young, and thetter are wanted, so I will be able to exin them soon.¡±
-Good. There won¡¯t be much trouble for me to enter the territory.
¡°I will also enter. A noble needs a servant.¡±
-Right. Just in case, y some videos or rted materials about the daily lives of the nearby residents. I need to get used to it so I don¡¯t get surprised.
¡°Understood. Please rest well, Master.¡±
He was a very kind artificial intelligence.
He watched the videos flowing in his deep consciousness.
He said it was a civilization with trains, but somehow it looked no different from medieval farmers.
-Well, Earth also had a huge gap in civilization¡
When some countries like America were seriously considering space exploration, somewhere in the Middle East nomads were herding sheep and baking bread in ovens.
It was not that such a life was wrong, but that there could be a huge gap in civilization within the same world.
And if they tried to forcibly integrate them, there would be tremendous friction.
¡ªI guess I¡¯ll have to take only those who follow me here¡
There would be bigger waves than developing from Korea to the United Federation of Humanity, and there wouldn¡¯t be many people who could endure it with a sane mind.
He wondered if he had to achieve such development in his hometown of the prophet.
¡ªWhat if I just make an ordinary kingdom and look for information about the prophet?
It would be enough to crush Elvrande, so he wouldn¡¯t need much national power.
His goal was to find the prophet, not to unify Astera.
On the other hand, he was curious about why the prophet sent him here.
¡ªIf all this was his intention¡
If going back to the past and traveling for 50 years were ording to his intention, what should he do here?
He kept worrying, but as always, there was no answer.
He could only think of doing his best in his field.
¡ªLet¡¯s start with developing the territory first.
He tried not to forget his duty as he brought a pioneer group.
The settler ship, which meant immigrants, also agreed with that.
He and Arma were immigrants who arrived at an unfamiliar alien and soon became pioneers.
He opened his eyes and confirmed that the water level of the capsule was going down.
From now on, he had to live as a noble of Astera.
***
One night in 1036 by continental calendar.
A huge spaceship that approached 1 million tons of discement and 700 meters long submerged into the deep sea of ??the western part of Astera continent.
The pioneer group decided to settle in Astera and temporarily checked the engine room including the fusion reactor.
Each facility of Settler ship was under considerable overload after traveling for nearly 50 years.
It wasn¡¯t broken yet, but it needed maintenance activities such as finding errors and recing parts.
The mining ship and supply ship moved north instead of Banda¡¯s territory.
It was to mine resources from the floating continent.
Leobold saw the floating continent for the first time during that process.
¡°There are quite a lot¡ How high are they in the sky?¡±
¡°They are densely located at an altitude of 10~11km. The average temperature is not low at around 10 degrees Celsius, but we are tracking down the cause.¡±
The temperature should be below minus tens of degrees at an altitude of 10km.
This ce was not Earth, so there might be some other factors involved¡
Leo saw something falling from the floating continent through an exploration ship.
¡°It looks like a lot is falling. Is it buoyant stone?¡±
¡°The crust including buoyant stone is falling little by little. There are a lot of mineral resources, so the nearby countries are eager to secure them.¡±
¡°It¡¯s like getting resources for free from the sky.¡±
¡°Since it fell from such a high altitude, the damage was so great that there was no one around. Except for the armies sent by various countries.¡±
¡°There will be frequent battles.¡±
¡°Elvrande¡¯s army upies most of the resources, as if it¡¯s natural. There is a lot of dissatisfaction, but they can¡¯t form an alliance and are in a precarious situation.¡±
¡°When will this elf talk end?¡±
¡°This is just the beginning.¡±
It would be strange if they didn¡¯t have much influence, considering that they upied 25% of the continent.
Anyway, the Vandus territory had to find other ways to survive, since it didn¡¯t have much resources other than salt and fishery resources.
They could only try to secure those fishery resources after repelling the shadow elves whonded on the territory and plundered the viges from time to time.
Arma presented a roadmap.
¡°The key is fishery resource exports and airships.¡±
¡°Yes. We can¡¯t say we suddenly found a gold mine.¡±
Airships were rare, but the Bagran Kingdom also had a few.
They just didn¡¯t find any use for them and left them idle.
His n was to borrow them and mine resources from the floating continent.
¡°Will they lend them to us at the pce?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll have to pay a fair price. They¡¯re short of food, so if we use salt and fishery resources, they¡¯ll lend them to us. They have no use for them anyway.¡±
No one in Astera had ever gone up to the floating continent.
It wasn¡¯t that theycked initiative, but the nearby environment was too harsh and they gave up on it.
But ording to Arma¡¯s information, the upper part of the floating continent was surprisingly warm.
There was also enough oxygen for them to function, so it was a sufficient environment for them to operate.
The important thing was that there were a lot of resources on the floating continent.
ording to Arma¡¯s report, he had secured more than 20 resources, including open-pit gold mines, so it was better to enter quickly.
The other territories or elves wouldn¡¯t just watch that, but this side¡¯s development would far outstrip their response.
Arma bowed his head and left, then came back after changing his clothes.
He looked like a typical medieval maid, which made Leo chuckle.
¡°Are you going to be a maid for real?¡±
¡°The Vandus territory is poor, so I¡¯m going to take care of you, sir.¡±
¡°Sir?¡±
¡°I¡¯m of lowly status, so this is the only way I can serve you.¡±
His voice sounded sarcastic, as if he had an ulterior motive, but maybe he was mistaken.
Arma took off his sses and tied his tinum blonde hair into a ponytail, but his appearance wasn¡¯t hidden by his shabby clothes.
They had to move to the territory now, but they couldn¡¯t go alone, so they had to bring some escorts.
Fortunately, there were quite a few dummies that could be used as escorts in Settlerhohen.
They had no physical difference from humans and had faint egos, so they blindly obeyed orders.
Of course, Arma was stronger than them, but he couldn¡¯t reveal his identity recklessly.
Finally, Lucia changed her appearance into a fairy with magic and sat on Leo¡¯s shoulder.
Fairies were very rare in Astera continent, but their existence was known.
He looked over the people and nodded his head.
¡°Good. Let¡¯s go to the territory now. We have to do something before it copses.¡±
That¡¯s how a few people sneaked into an exploration ship and moved to Vandus territory.
¡°Hoo¡¡±
Carson Zebastian threw a miserable gaze out of the window.
He was the only bureaucrat who kept the Vandus barony family.
This territory wasn¡¯t very prosperous in the first ce, but until recently it had been doing well enough.
But the mes of war didn¡¯t just pass by this territory.
The Bagran Kingdom got involved in the war with Elvrande and its troops were withdrawn.
Administrator Carson sent off the few troops he had and prayed for their safe return.
But what came back after a few months was only a seal that proved the lord¡¯s identity and two mutted corpses.
The lord and his eldest son, who was his sessor, died at once.
¡°My dear! My son! Aaah!¡±
Carson had never seen thedy cry so miserably before.
After that shenguished and died in a few weeks.
The Vandus barony family was on the verge of ruin after one war.
But there was still hope.
If the second son who left the territory when he was young came back, he thought he could somehow continue the family line.
The pce felt responsible for sending him on an unreasonable expedition and decided to persuade him and bring him back.
But looking at this situation now, he doubted what it meant.
Administrator Carson took out a pouch from the drawer with trembling hands.
¡°I¡¯ve worked hard to save 112 gold¡¡±
Considering that 1 gold could feed a four-person peasant family for a month, it was a considerable amount of money.
But if it was the operating fund of the entire territory, the story was different.
He clutched the pouch preciously.
¡°I didn¡¯t want to give this money away, but¡¡±
He had no choice.
The Vandus barony family had a lot of debt from the war and there was also a lot ofpensation to be paid to the soldiers.
If he paid that, the operating fund of the territory would run out right away.
Administrator Carson looked at the dark clouds in the sky with a miserable eye.
Winter wasing soon, but he didn¡¯t think there were many people who could withstand the harsh cold.
He wished he could get a lot of firewood, but it was difficult because of the friction with the neighboring territories.
¡°Is there no choice but to dig a hole and go in?¡±
It might sound ridiculous to dig a hole unless they were beastmen, but even that was a blessing for the people of the territory.
The anthracite mine was closed and they couldn¡¯t get any food to eat.
Some of the people went to the forest owned by the neighboring territory and got beaten up and chased away.
There were also many people who fled at night, realizing that there was no hope in this territory.
It was aplete disaster, the bottom of the bottom.
¡°The only hope left is the second son, but¡¡±
Administrator Carson was the only bureaucrat who had experienced Leobold in the territory.
He used to treat the servants with contempt and when he found out that he wouldn¡¯t inherit the territory, he threw a tantrum and left.
He said he was making a living as a mercenary, but he wondered how much help he would be if he returned to the territory.
The war he participated in ended in a miserable defeat.
Suddenly, a sigh mixed with despair escaped from his mouth.
¡°I hope he doesn¡¯t cause any trouble when hees back¡¡±
The only good thing was that there was nothing to give away even if he caused trouble in the territory.
The door of the lord¡¯s mansion rattled and made a noise.
¡°Gasp.¡±
Carson was startled for a moment and clutched his chest, then slowly let out a deep breath.
They came.
The mercenaries of Harpy Talon, who came to settle their unpaid wages from their previous lord.
He didn¡¯t understand why they were asking for something without a contract, but they happened to sit at the entrance of the anthracite mine, which was the only source of ie in the territory, and he couldn¡¯t work.
As he hesitated, the old door made a sound as if it was going to break.
Bang! Bang!
¡°Hey! Open the door!¡±
¡°We came to get our money! The money we deserve!¡±
Did mercenaries ever move without a deposit?
Unfortunately, there was no one or power in this territory to argue with them.
Nor anyone to help Carson.
¡°Mercenaries¡¡±
¡°Wha, what do we do, administrator?¡±
Among the few servants who murmured, he turned the doorknob with trembling hands.
The door opened wide and the mercenaries rushed into the mansion.
¡°Give us the money! Money!¡±
¡°Just give us the money and we¡¯ll leave quietly! You¡¯ve never seen such obedient mercenaries!¡±
Obedient my ass!
They caused a lot of damage by blocking the anthracite mine.
The bigger problem was that there was no guarantee that they would leave even if he paid them.
They must have realized that this territory had no owner and it would be strange if they didn¡¯t take advantage of it.
The servants backed away and Administrator Carson blocked the mercenaries¡¯ way.
¡°If I pay you the overdue wages, will you really leave the territory?¡±
¡°You¡¯ve found some money, huh?¡±
A big man came out among the mercenaries.
He was a fallen nobleman named Husran, and he was the only knight among the mercenaries who could control Goliath.
He was a self-proimed knight who had no lord or even a position, but no one could say anything to him.
In the age of war, power was justice.
He crossed his arms in front of Carson.
¡°I promise. If you pay us 110 gold, we¡¯ll remove Goliath from the anthracite mine and leave the territory right away. Everyone here is a witness.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Carson smiled faintly.
He knew better than anyone that he wouldn¡¯t keep his promise, but he had no choice.
He had to appease the mercenaries¡¯ anger and think of another way.
As he tried to hand over the pouch with trembling hands, it happened.
The bell outside the lord¡¯s mansion rang loudly and a man in shabby clothes ran in shouting something.
¡°Administrator! He¡¯s here! He¡¯s here!¡±
Everyone turned around and frowned.
Who could be a guest in this remote territory other than a debt collector?
A person stood out among those who appeared blocking the morning sun.
That big figure, could it be¡
Hus asked as he clenched his jaw.
¡°Do you know him?¡±
¡°I think so. I don¡¯t remember well because it¡¯s been a long time¡¡±
Carson looked at the man on the horned horse with a frown.
His huge physique definitely told him that he was of Vandus barony blood.
Leobold Vandus.
He had returned after a long wander.
But what did it mean now?
The territory was on the verge of copse and there was no hope¡
Hus sneered as he realized his identity.
¡°It looks like the person who will be the lord of this territory has arrived. It will be easier to talk to him than these lowlifes.¡±
But the mercenaries were more interested in the woman next to him.
¡°What a beauty!¡±
¡°Captain. Isn¡¯t it a waste to have her in this backwater territory?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s ask for her instead of 10 gold!¡±
¡°Hahaha!¡±
The mercenaries looked at Arma andughed.
She was too precious to be stuck in this corner of the territory.
Leobold approached the mansion without greeting them and looked at the mercenaries with a scowl.
¡°What are these bastards doing?¡±
The mercenaries were about to explode when Hus stopped them with amusement.
¡°I¡¯m sorry for interrupting your return, but do you know that your father owes us money? If you borrow money, you have to pay it back, don¡¯t you?¡±
¡°How much is it?¡±
¡°110 gold with interest. Give us Zaium gold. We don¡¯t like Bagran gold because it has low purity. Then we¡¯ll leave quietly.¡±
¡°Captain! Ask for that woman!¡±
¡°Let¡¯s say we¡¯ll cut 10 gold if you give us that woman!¡±
¡°Hahaha!¡±
The mercenariesughed as they looked at Arma.
Leobold nodded his head.
¡°I see. I¡¯ll pay you.¡±
Hus smiled and reached out his hand, but Leobold moved his arm instead.
¡°Huh?¡±
Hus felt something empty under his shoulder and looked down, then widened his eyes.
His arm had disappeared somehow.
Chapter 199: The Lord Returns
Chapter 199: The Lord Returns
Arma emphasized that there were a few things that were important for Yu Ji-ha to live as a noble named Leobold.
The easiest one was to act as if he had no brain.
He had always warned and showed some patience to individuals or factions that were clearlypetent.
But the continent of Astera was a ce where he didn¡¯t need to do that.
¡°Except for the royal family, high nobles, priests, knights, mages, and so on, there is hardly anyone who can do anything to you, Master. You have been acting after warning them until now, but it would be very good if you omit the warning there.¡±
It seemed like there were many targets that he had to be patient with, but it didn¡¯t matter much.
That list would shrink at a fast pace.
Anyway, Leobold faithfully carried out her advice.
He cut off the arm of Hus, who dared to babble at a noble.
He thought he would get a pouch of gold coins and stretched out his arm, but his expression became strange.
¡°Wha, what is this¡¡±
The mercenaries and servants around him also had weird expressions on their faces.
He had swung his sword at the mercenary leader out of nowhere.
But that wasn¡¯t the end of it.
Blood spurted out from the cut surface and Hus¡¯s face began to contort, when Leobold¡¯s arm moved again.
Thud-
A strange sound was heard and his neck flew into the air.
The mercenaries who wore their leader¡¯s blood on their faces had their eyes and expressions filled with horror.
¡°Wha, what¡¡±
¡°This bastard killed the leader!¡±
Only then did Hus¡¯s headless body fall to the ground with a thud.
The servants as well as Carson, the administrator, looked at Leobold with surprised eyes.
What happened to his head after a long mercenary life?
How did he intend to handle this apprenticeship?
¡°My, my lord¡¡±
When everyone was hesitating, Leobold flicked the tip of his bloodstained sword.
¡°I¡¯ll spare you guys. You can go back.¡±
¡°Thi¡!¡±
¡°Crazy bastard¡¡±
The mercenaries threw angry nces at him.
How would the reputation of the mercenary group be if they quietly backed off after their leader died?
There was something they had to do in this situation.
Even if the opponent was a noble.
¡°Yaaah!¡±
As if they had agreed, the mercenaries drew their swords and rushed at him.
Leobold walked towards them and swung his sword one by one.
ng! ng! Thud-
Carson, the administrator, swore that he had never seen anyone fight like this before.
Leobold easily broke their swords and cut off their arms and necks.
His sword movements had dignity and grace, and his opponents were powerless like children.
A few shes of sword light shed in the air and the mercenaries fell down at the same time.
There was not a single survivor.
¡°¡¡±
Everyone lost their words at the carnage in front of them.
What was astonishing as much as his swordsmanship was that he had no hesitation in all his actions.
How on earth was he going to deal with this situation?
The servants couldn¡¯t hide their fearful expressions.
Leobold looked at Carson and said,
¡°Trash came to my territory while I was gone, administrator.¡±
Carson smiled faintly.
He had left the territory a long time ago and now he was saying something like that.
Of course, Leobold was the second son of Baron Vandus and the rightful heir of this territory.
If he hade back a little earlier, maybe there would have been a way¡
¡®It¡¯s toote. This territory is over.¡¯
It was a big mistake to smash the Harpy w Gang.
The servants were spitting saliva and saying they died well, but they would soon change their minds.
The mercenaries were connected to each other.
There were many mercenaries who knew Hus well, and among them there were mercenary groups that had many Goliaths.
It was almost impossible to stop them with the weak power of Vandus territory.
Still, Carson couldn¡¯t say cold words.
He had some affection for Leobold who had seen him since he was a brat, as an old bureaucrat of the territory rather than as an administrator.
¡°Congrattions on your achievements while you left the territory, my lord.¡±
As he said that, a document unfolded in front of his eyes.
It was a confirmation letter of session with Prince Ruad¡¯s seal on it.
As if to prove that the pce situation was not good, the handwriting was rough and there was no royal emblem on the sealing wax.
¡°I¡¯m no longer a kid. So call me lord.¡±
The servants murmured when he said he would officially seed the territory.
But when he raised his voice, they all bowed their heads.
¡°We greet you, lord.¡±
¡°Good, get rid of these ugly corpses. Administrator, follow me.¡±
The group followed him somewhere.
Carson nced at the unfamiliar people and quickly said.
¡°My lord, I¡¯m sorry and embarrassed to say this, but¡¡±
¡°You mean the territory is a mess? I know.¡±
¡°Actually, there are several other problems¡¡±
¡°Besides the huge debt, the people are suffering from poverty, and the mercenaries I killed won¡¯t sit still, is there anything else?¡±
The administrator closed his mouth awkwardly.
He was quite well-informed about the situation for someone who had been away from the territory for a long time.
Did he hear a detailed exnation from the pce?
While he was pondering, Leobold walked somewhere without hesitation.
His destination was not the mansion, but the cemetery behind it.
Where his father, mother, and brother were buried.
He knelt down at the grave that was simple but well taken care of.
¡°I¡¯m here. Please rest in peace.¡±
A short silence followed and everyone lowered their heads as if they had agreed.
Carson finally realized that the second young lord had returned.
¡®So what if the territory situation is a little bad.¡¯
He was definitely the heir of the territory and no one could deny that truth.
They might have to tighten their belts and endure a painful winter for a while, but when springes, maybe the territory situation will be solved like flowers blooming¡
He opened his eyes and was startled.
The lord had finished his silence and was entering the mansion!
¡°Lord, lord, my lord!¡±
He hurriedly chased after her and the servants whispered among themselves.
¡°Was he always like that?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know, it¡¯s been too long since I saw him¡¡±
One thing was certain.
The lord had finallye to the territory that had been empty and ownerless.
It seemed like it would be quite noisy from now on.
Someone rolled up their sleeves.
¡°It seems like the lord has an unusual personality, but let¡¯s clean up the corpses first.¡±
The people brought carts and muttered.
¡°Did you see the lord¡¯s swordsmanship? How satisfying it must have been to see these bastards smashed without a fight!¡±
¡°They deserved it for acting so arrogantly.¡±
¡°By the way, why did the lorde back? The territory is in such a¡ bad shape.¡±
¡°He must have some way toe back.¡±
The servants didn¡¯t understand.
It seemed hopeless to them.
In no time, the corpses and bloodstains in front of the mansion were neatly cleared away.
But the spark of conflict was not gone.
***
¡°¡¡±
The administrator stood on one side of the study and watched the documents being passed.
The new lord said he wanted to check the situation of the territory and ordered him to bring out all the documents.
An hour had passed, but there was only silence in the study.
¡®I didn¡¯t know the lord had such patience¡¡¯
When he was young, Leobold was not a patient child.
He often fought with his elder brother over toys and was scolded by his parents for that problem.
In the noble society of Bagran, the position of the first child was unshakable.
Even if it was a cheap wooden toy.
¡®But what about that maid and fairy¡¡¯
They had attracted many people¡¯s attention since they appeared with the lord.
They were abination of a maid with an appearance that didn¡¯t suit this barren territory and a rare fairy.
They were perfect for causing trouble in many ways.
¡®I hope the lord knows what he¡¯s doing¡¡¯
The administrator was afraid from his position as a bureaucrat.
What if other lords coveted their shining appearance and made unreasonable demands?
What if mercenaries came to catch that fairy?
No, killing all the Harpy mercenaries was a problem in itself.
¡®They won¡¯t let their deaths go unpunished, even if they were scum¡¡¯
Goliaths were essential for war these days.
From their main material, living metal, to rare materials that were hard to obtain, plus magic circles engraved on each joint and rare metal, they cost a fortune.
More importantly, most of the people who made and controlled Goliaths were nobles.
They put their titles and pride into Goliaths, which made their prices skyrocket.
Even an old Goliath had a value that could not be thrown away easily.
Except for a few wealthy countries like Elvrande, that is.
¡®Someone will surelye to reim them¡¡¯
He doubted that this territory could stop them.
Rather, they might get into big trouble.
As Carson¡¯s worries deepened, the document passing finally ended.
Leobold closed thest document and lifted his head.
¡°What a mess.¡±
¡°I have no face to see you, my lord.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not ming you, administrator. I don¡¯t want to me anyone either. Who else will take care of my territory if I don¡¯t?¡±
He was right, but there seemed to be no realistic solution.
At best, they could resume the work of the dark me mine and spend some money to bring in food and supplies, but that didn¡¯t solve the fundamental problem.
The problem of Vandus territory was no different from that of Bagran kingdom as a whole.
Unless they did something about Elvrande, the source of the problem, they would continue to block their way.
But the new lord seemed surprisingly confident.
¡°The problems facing the territory are not one or two, but if we work hard to solve them, the situation will improve. Administrator.¡±
¡°Yes, my lord.¡±
¡°How many people in the territory have caught fish before? Not amateurs, but people who paid taxes with it.¡±
¡°¡¡±
The administrator was confused by the unexpected question, but he managed toe up with an answer after racking his brains.
¡°About 100 people or so.¡±
Leobold would have scolded him for saying such vague numbers in normal times.
But he understood the situation of this territory and the administrator¡¯s troubles.
¡°Separate them and have them repair boats and makes. I¡¯ll provide you with the necessary materials.¡±
¡°But my lord¡¡±
Carson tried to say that this wouldn¡¯t work when he saw it.
A sharp gaze pierced his eyes.
It was a gaze that made his heart stop for a moment.
¡°Administrator. I¡¯ll tell you once. There will be times when I ask for your opinion. You can give me advice then.¡±
It was amon attitude of nobles who only wanted to hear what they wanted.
The administrator sighed inwardly and bowed his head.
¡°I¡¯ll do as you say.¡±
There was no hope for the territory to recover.
No matter how much he flipped through the documents, only someone who had experienced the field could give him some advice.
He ignored that person and never solved the problem properly.
Leobold wrote something on a cheap paper.
¡°Looking at the current of the sea, the bluefish will being soon. It¡¯s spawning season, so they¡¯ll catch a lot.¡±
¡°Bluefish, you mean¡¡±
¡°The small blue-backed fish that are caught a lot in winter. Don¡¯t you know, administrator?¡±
The bluefish of Astera had almost nothing inmon with the fish of the same name on Earth, but they were both raw fish species and swarmed in huge numbers.
Their poption was so huge that the sea turned white during spawning season.
They tasted pretty goodpared to the bluefish on Earth, but because many countries had abandoned their coastlines, the supply was scarce.
Who would go out to sea when the shadow elves would row and attack?
And it wasn¡¯t certain that bluefish woulde every winter.
Carson knew that reality well, but he just bowed his head.
Leobold gave many more orders.
¡°Is there any money left to pay the mercenaries? Where is it, 112 gold. Use this to paypensation to the injured and bring in food and supplies.¡±
¡°And I¡¯ll take care of the Goliath in the dark me mine, so resume the work. Is there a merchant group that trades with the territory?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a bit embarrassing to say this, but since the previous lord died, the trade has been cut off.¡±
There was no merchant group that would willinglye to this declining territory in this corner.
He had to beg and pay a lot of money to get them toe, but Leobold said something strange.
¡°Just ask them once and if they refuse, cut off the tradepletely. And deliver this letter to Prince Ruad.¡±
Leobold handed over a letter with his family¡¯s seal to Carson.
¡°You can use the horned bird I rode, so it¡¯s better to deliver it as soon as possible. The lives of the people in the territory depend on it.¡±
He seemed to be aware of the fact that the people in the territory would starve to death if food was not supplied.
The administrator was satisfied with that.
It was not a passing grade as a lord, but he thought he could change him little by little.
¡®No one is good at first.¡¯
He just hoped that the territory would not copsepletely while he came to his senses.
***
Ruad Bagran realized that a new lord had taken over Vandus territory after reading the letter.
And that his name was Leobold.
¡°He left the territory when he was young and returned as a lord¡ It would be troublesome if I asked him for anything.¡±
The situation of Bagran kingdom was not very good these days, so he couldn¡¯t afford to grant any requests.
He had some guilt towards Vandus barony and wanted to end it by sending some troops, but he sent a letter like this.
He gestured to the pce clerk and checked the contents.
¡°¡What does this mean?¡±
The content of the letter was very simple.
It asked him to send a merchant group and lend him a flying ship owned by the royal family.
He understood the former.
The territory was in a mess and he wanted to revive the trade at least.
He doubted if it was possible, but he could understand his intention.
¡°But why a flying ship¡¡±
Why did he need something that even the royal family couldn¡¯t find a use for and left in a corner?
It cost a lot of money to operate it.
The letter said he would bear all the costs, including the rent and maintenance.
¡®He must be crazy to ask for something like this.¡¯
He knew how much money it took to move a flying ship.
¡®What does he need it for¡¡¯
He didn¡¯t care much, but a strange curiosity drew him in.
If he seeded as promised, he might expect a huge profit.
But what if he failed?
¡®I can cover the minimum cost by taking the dark me mine as coteral.¡¯
Salt was valuable then and now.
The dark me mine in Vandus barony was the only blessing given by the creator god Rasa.
¨DIf you ept this condition, I will seriously consider your request from Vandus baron.
He didn¡¯t expect this condition to be epted when he wrote the letter.
The dark me mine was the only source of ie for Vandus barony.
That meant giving up the whole territory.
But a letter came back soon.
Ruad prince frowned as he checked the contents.
¡®He really needs a flying ship.¡¯
What was he going to do in the floating continent that he would stake his entire territory?
He tried to find out something that Elvrande or Zaium didn¡¯t know, but he only got insignificant information.
The prince decided to agree after some hesitation.
He epted his condition generously and lost his chance to bargain.
Now he had to lend a flying ship owned by the royal family to a noble who had just inherited his title.
He didn¡¯t expect anything and just hoped that it woulde back safely.
Chapter 200: Do What You Have To Do
Chapter 200: Do What You Have To Do
The people of Baron Vandus¡¯s domain realized that the second son, who had left the domain as a child due to amotion, had be the lord.
Normally, this process would have been a big topic for the people of the domain.
It was because taxes and various services, contributions, etc. changed depending on who the lord was.
It may seem like they only listed what the people had to give up, but that was the truth.
In the western continent, especially in the kingdom of Bagran, the people of the domain were practically the property of the lord.
Near the royal capital, there were several religious orders of various gods that had some influence, but it was impossible in rural domains.
You had to have money to have faith.
Anyway, the session of Baron Leopold did not mean much to the people of the domain.
¡ªEven if they turned us upside down and shook us, nothing but dust woulde out.
¡ªI wish they wouldn¡¯t bother us with all kinds of events, whether they are lords or not¡
Most of the people had lived in poverty for a few months after the previous lord and his wife died.
They barely survived on sour ck bread and watery soup thanks to Carson, the administrator who was rtively well-off.
You can imagine how bad it was for those below him.
They had nothing to give up, so they had nothing to worry about.
That didn¡¯t mean they dared to rebel against the lord.
They all saw the lord riding on Goliath, who blocked the dark iron mine.
The people murmured when they saw the giant golem as big as a rock moving with big strides.
¡°I heard that you can¡¯t ride it unless you¡¯re a full-fledged knight because of the magic circle. It¡¯s strange¡¡±
¡°Or maybe our lord is so strong that he can ignore all that?¡±
In fact, this was possible because Lucia helped with breaking the magic circle, but themoners had no way of knowing that.
Anyway, Goliath, who blocked the entrance of the dark iron mine, was removed and now they only had to work.
That was under the premise that food was supplied smoothly.
Baron Leopold said this to the workers who asked for at least something to eat.
¡°Just hold on for a few days. A caravan wille from the royal capital. You¡¯ll be able to eat well then, so start working from then on.¡±
No one would have followed him if he was anyone else, but they were dissatisfied.
Working in a dark iron mine was literally hardbor.
The air in the mine was inevitably mixed with saltiness and dust. When they finished working and blew their noses, salt mixed with dust came out.
Also, dark iron was deep inside, so digging down was a lot of work.
The workers did not easily believe that the lord promised to supply fresh water and food.
Where would thate from?
¡°There should be a caravaning to our domain.¡±
¡°I heard he contacted the pce, but would that stingy prince allow it?¡±
But a few dayster, a caravan came as if it were a lie.
And it was quiterge.
Dozens of wagons and merchants unloaded food, firewood and other supplies. Carson, the administrator, looked nkly at them and got scolded by Leopold.
¡°What are you doing? Pay them. Are you going to send them back like that?¡±
¡°Ah, yes. Yes.¡±
Carson nced at the royal emblem stamped on the side of the wagon.
He wondered how he managed to roast that prince alive.
Anyway, thanks to the lord¡¯s care, the people of the domain did not starve for now.
The eyes of those who secretly admired him began to change subtly.
¡°Maybe our lord is a good person even though he looks grim¡¡±
¡°I wish he would do something about that bastard¡¡±
The food distribution was fair, but it didn¡¯t reach everyone¡¯s mouth urately.
As soon as they returned home, some scoundrels snatched up their food.
They were two men named Maven and Alvin who were given authority by Carson because he couldn¡¯t handle all the affairs of the vige.
If they had taken a moderate amount and kept quiet about it, it would have been fine. But they took almost half of it and caused resentment among the people of the domain.
But no one dared toin to the lord.
They were afraid that their heads would fly off like mercenaries.
No matter how much the lord cared for them, he was still a nobleman after all.
It was unreasonable formoners to appeal directly to him.
¡°We can¡¯t evenin to the administrator¡¡±
¡°He appointed them himself. How would he feel if we objected?¡±
They all feared possible disadvantages by reporting corruption.
As always, power was not on the side ofmoners.
It seemed like they would pass by quietly like that, but Baron Leopold personally brought Carson and entered the vige.
Everyone looked up at the lord and he suddenly said.
¡°Are there any men named Maven and Alvin here?¡±
¡°¡¡±
The two of them put on a fierce face and walked out with a bow.
They had some power in the vige, but they were mice in front of a cat in front of the lord.
Even if he was a fake lord.
¡°Did you call us, my lord?¡±
¡°I heard rumors that you are stealing food from the people. Is that true?¡±
As expected, the two of them denied it with their hands up.
¡°What are you talking about? We never did such a thing.¡±
¡°It would be a big deal if we stole the food that you gave us, my lord.¡±
They kept saying that nothing like that happened even when he asked again.
Leopold crossed his arms and said.
¡°Normally, I should question your guilt through a fair trial. But I hate such troublesome procedures.¡±
¡°I am Leopold Vandus. The rightful heir of this domain. Therefore, your lives are also up to me. Now I will take them.¡±
¡°My lord!¡±
The two panicked and tried to get up when he said that.
Leopold drew his sword and swung it, cutting off their heads from their bodies in an instant.
Their heads rolled on the ground and the people couldn¡¯t help but be horrified.
¡°They¡¯re dead¡¡±
¡°He cut off their heads in one breath¡¡±
The people had heard rumors that the lord was impatient, but they didn¡¯t know it was this bad.
Leopold sheathed his sword and said.
¡°Listen. I don¡¯t care how you have lived until now. But from now on, I will judge everything. If I say it¡¯s a sin, it¡¯s a sin. If I tell you to do something, you have to do it.¡±
Gulp.
They all swallowed their dry saliva and looked at his face.
It was amon remark in the western continent, but it had a tremendous weighting from the mouth of the lord who had just cut off two people¡¯s heads.
The people of the domain finally recognized that Leopold Vandus, the baron, was their lord.
And that if they rashly defied him, their heads might fly off.
On the other hand, Leopold felt the need to change this bleak atmosphere.
You had to give them a bread or something after whipping them.
He returned to the mansion with Carson, the administrator, and said.
¡°I¡¯ll tell you in advance that there will be no me on the administrator for what just happened.¡±
Carson bowed his head deeply.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, my lord.¡±
¡°The domain was so impoverished that all the useful people ran away and it was hard to control the people of the domain. But you don¡¯t have to worry about that anymore. The administrator only needs to keep track of the numbers. I¡¯ll make the decisions.¡±
¡°Yes¡ I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡±
¡°Give some extra food to the people andfort them.¡±
The administrator should know how to stroke them when the lord raised his sword.
Carson felt confused as he heard his words.
He saw him cut off people¡¯s necks like that and thought he had a violent temper, but he also showed some kindness.
He didn¡¯t know which one was his true nature, but one thing was certain.
Baron Leopold was the absolute ruler of this domain and no one could oppose him.
***
¡°The estimated reserves of dark iron in the mine are about 200 million tons, but most of them are located deep underground, so it will be difficult to mine.¡±
¡°We only need to mine for a while. Anyway, we¡¯ll switch to another method in a few years.¡±
The easiest and fastest way is to synthesize salt directly from smart farms.
You can get minerals in any other way.
Arma added.
¡°The only thing to note is that dark ironcks certain nutrients, iodine. You have to add this separately.¡±
Countries that eat a lot of seafood naturally consume iodine, but there was no such culture in the kingdom of Bagran.
At best, they ate fish or shellfish, but that was difficult because of pirates.
Leopold nodded.
¡°There¡¯s a salt refinery in front of the dark iron mine. Add a little bit at night.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°And the schedule is dyed?¡±
¡°It¡¯s such a harsh environment¡ The preparation for Sardines fishing is not going well either. The repair is dyed.¡±
It was because theycked motivation.
They pretended to work because the scary lord told them to, but they didn¡¯t know what benefit they would get from it.
In the case of the dark iron mine, there was some room forpromise because the work was so hard.
¡°More than anything, there are many doubtful eyes on whether Sardines will return. They haven¡¯t seen it for several years¡¡±
¡°If you look at the cycle of Sardines migration, this winter is certain, right?¡±
¡°That¡¯s what I can guarantee.¡±
Arma said so then it was so.
Anyway, Leopold felt the need for a proper incentive system.
No matter howmon they were, if they were only whipped, they wouldn¡¯t have any motivation.
¡°How much should I pay them? How about the surrounding domains?¡±
¡°They had a very poor harvest this year and paid 80% of their ie as taxes.¡±
¡°That¡¯s totally robbery?¡±
It would be hard enough to survive with 10% of surplus grains for a year.
¡°We¡¯ll start with 70%.¡±
The taxes that the people of the domain paid were not that important anyway.
It only served to stimte the surrounding domains and attract immigrants.
Anyway, ording to Arma¡¯s information, poor farmers made their own gardens and grew various crops.
¡°They mainly grow a crop called goyam, which has no taste but grows well in barrennd so they can barely survive.¡±
They didn¡¯t eat well but just survived.
That was the life of farmers in this era.
¡°Instead of that, let¡¯s think about introducing improved potatoes and sweet potatoes.¡±
¡°Okay.¡±
The potatoes and sweet potatoes gically modified by 22nd century humans had amazing efficiency.
But he couldn¡¯t expect them to be epted by the people of the domain easily.
Humans tend to resist what they are not familiar with.
¡°There¡¯s a way for that.¡±
Leopold stroked his chin and sank into thought.
His purpose foring here was to meet the prophet.
But since he came here anyway, he thought it wouldn¡¯t be bad to find something he could do.
Like world domination.
¡°I wonder if the prophet invited us here to ask us to fix this, what do you think?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know much about that, but I¡¯ll do my best to help you if you order me.¡±
Arma¡¯s attitude was unchanged, so he had to decide.
¡°On Earth, our goal was to establish a United Human Federation and stop the gue. Here, let¡¯s set world unification as our goal for now. It¡¯s more like unification than conquest.¡±
¡°Most of the poption has experienced absolute monarchy, so it shouldn¡¯t be too hard. But there¡¯s a variable called elves.¡±
¡°I wonder if their god can withstand armor-piercing bullets?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t be sure until I shoot them, but they don¡¯t seem to be able to handle it ording to the records of the dragon war.¡±
The only thing he was worried about was magic like mind control.
Neither Arma nor the Settler had any countermeasures for this.
But if he grew the domain and hired magicians to research, he coulde up with enough countermeasures.
¡°Let¡¯s just make a detailed roadmap for now, not start the conquest¡ I mean, unification right away.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°First of all, create a clear wage system and deliver it to the administrator. Limit working hours and give them weekends off.¡±
¡°Should I make a schedule like we did in the Si Group?¡±
¡°The time here is not that tight, so it will be hard to apply a 10-minute schedule.¡±
There were clocks in the domain, but not everyone looked at them.
Many people lived by going to the field when the sun rose and returning home when the sun set.
Everyone using the same time was a shortcut to rapid development.
¡°Then I¡¯ll copy the clocks and distribute them to each vige.¡±
¡°Where did Lucia go? I haven¡¯t seen hertely.¡±
¡°She¡¯s looking for something on the border of Zaium Empire. It¡¯s called Goliath, which was used in the ancient war, but I couldn¡¯t confirm what it is.¡±
¡°She¡¯s looking for something on the border of Zaium Empire. She said it was called Ancient Goliath, but I couldn¡¯t confirm what it was exactly.¡±
¡°Really? Goliath of ancient times¡ It sounds good somehow.¡±
¡°I hope it¡¯s a Goliath that can handle Master.¡±
ording to Lucia, there weren¡¯t many Goliaths that could handle Leo.
Even after lowering his ether sensitivity as much as possible and installing a sealing magic circle on his ether circuit, he had overloaded the Goliath of the Dark me Mine.
She judged that he might surpass Zaium¡¯s Arc Knight or Elvrande¡¯s Elven Knight if he released all his seals.
His actual ability far exceeded that, but he seemed to have some limitations in measurement because he was a young entity.
Anyway, her efforts weremendable enough.
¡°I¡¯ll have to give her some workter.¡±
¡°Do you mean Walker?¡±
¡°They said there are golems in this continent, right? Magicians used them well.¡±
¡°Recently, the added value of Goliath has been higher, so all the materials have been invested in that direction. It¡¯s hard to find golems. And they can only follow limitedmands.¡±
¡°Goliath¡¯s prototype was golem, right¡¡±
By Leo¡¯s standards, golems and walkers were simr.
The operating principles might be different, but aren¡¯t they the same in that they perform specific tasks on their own?
The efficiency might be iparable, but that wasn¡¯t very important in Astera.
He wasn¡¯t going to build a megacity or anything.
¡°We have no choice but to borrow the power of golems since we can¡¯t cover everything with living metal.¡±
¡°Lucia said she could make her own legion with golems.¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t know that was possible.¡±
¡°She said she got stronger thanks to Master¡¯s care¡ She said she would make golems soon.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good.¡±
The gue Queen who was supposed to be a demon king and invade Astera became his loyal subordinate.
Her power was helping him in various ways, especially in the ether field.
It would be nice if they got along well, but she was originally the gue Queen, so he didn¡¯t know where she would jump.
¡°I need at least some deterrent¡¡±
Leo thought about giving her a bomb ne as a gift, but gave up.
That might break his trust instead.
She might shiver with betrayal if she knew she had a bomb ne on her body.
¡°Let¡¯spromise by not letting go of surveince when shees back from Zaium.¡±
¡°I¡¯m actually watching her right now.¡±
He was such a meticulous artificial intelligence.
After that day, clocks were hung on wooden towers in each vige of Vandus¡¯s domain.
The domain people were happy to see such expensive things hanging, but they were shocked to find out that they had to follow the instructions every time the bell rang.
¡°Get up together, eat together? And go home at the same time?¡±
¡°It¡¯s too inconvenient to know what to do¡¡±
There wereints, but no one dared to protest to the lord.
The domain people had to get up, work, eat, and sleep together since the clocks and bells were hung.
Naturally, dissatisfaction piled up, but there were also unexpected benefits.
For meals, it was easier for the women since they only had to prepare once.
Also, it became easier to make schedules as they could use time precisely.
The domain people were confused, but gradually got used to dividing time.
It was their fate to do what they had to do.
***
Vandus¡¯s domain was connected to the sea on the west side of the continent, and naturally had abundant fish resources.
But that didn¡¯t mean they could make a lot of money by catching them.
The rted technology was poor, and more importantly, shadow elf pirates appeared irregrly.
They were so traumatized by the pirates that many people evacuated as soon as something appeared in the distant sea.
As a result, the domain people who were ordered to repair the boats and mend thes were trembling with anxiety.
They would do it because it was the lord¡¯s order, but they were afraid that the pirates would attack.
¡°They kill people and cut off their noses and ears and loot¡ They¡¯re worse than wood elves.¡±
¡°They even capture people who can be used as ves, so we can¡¯t live at all.¡±
Well, to Leo¡¯s eyes, there was no difference between what ordinary wood elves did and what they did.
They didn¡¯t know their infamy because they didn¡¯t have to sh directly with Elvrande.
Bagran royal family or Zaium probably knew it very well.
Not that they were good guys either.
Anyway, people were skeptical about both the bad reputation of the shadow elves and the return of Sardines.
¡°We haven¡¯t seen a shadow of Sardines in recent years. Will they reallye back?¡±
¡°Even if they do, it won¡¯t be that much. It¡¯s not worth preparing for 100 people like this.¡±
It was a big blow if the Sardines didn¡¯te after almost 100 people spent a long time repairing boats and mendings.
It wasn¡¯t just time, but also the materials, manpower, food, etc. that went into it that Vandus¡¯s domain couldn¡¯t afford.
When people were anxiously waiting for Sardines, it happened.
The watchman with good eyes who was on the tower near the coast started shouting.
¡°Hey, hey! They¡¯re here! They¡¯re here!¡±
¡°What¡¯s here!¡±
¡°What do you see across the sea?¡±
People asked and he raised his voice loudly.
¡°The sea is all white! It¡¯s Sardines! Sardines is back!¡±
Soon enough, people could see that the sea was dyed white as he said.
The white thing was eggs and milt that Sardines spewed out during spawning season.
The people who had fishings cheered and raised their arms.
¡°Sardines is back!¡±
¡°Tell the lord!¡±
Chapter 201: Sardines and Pirates
Chapter 201: Sardines and Pirates
Sardines swarmed the sea in front of Vandus territory.
The sea turned white with the eggs and milt spewed by the sardines.
¡°There are so many of them! Half of the sea is sardines! Sardines!¡±
¡°They are ck as far as the eye can see!¡±
The fishermen rushed to get theirs and set sail when they heard the report.
They were still afraid of the pirates, but they couldn¡¯t resist the temptation.
¡°Do you know how much a barrel of salted sardines costs these days? That¡¯s all money, money!¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go catch them quickly!¡±
It was a hard time for everyone, with war and harsh winter.
If they could catch arge amount of sardines at this time, they could make a huge profit.
Old fishing boatspeted to go out to sea, and countlesss covered the sardines.
Sardines here, sardines there.
They could fill their boats with just one cast, so there was no reason to hesitate.
In fact, behind the fishermen¡¯s enthusiasm for fishing, there was a deration by Lord Leopold.
¡°From now on, I will only take 70% of the taxes. The rest is yours.¡±
70% tax was a bit better than the neighboring territories, but it was a different story if they could catch a lot of sardines.
Moreover, the lord dered that he would not touch any surplus products.
¡°30% is yours, and you can use it for your livelihood or sell it to the market. I will not interfere at all. However, if you sell it, you can only do it through the association.¡±
This was a n to prevent excessivepetition by creating a single window.
If they opened too many sales outlets in a short time, the price would drop due to oversupply.
The people didn¡¯t know that much, but it was an opportunity to get their share anyway.
The sardines that filled the sea looked like money to their eyes.
The people who regretted not listening to the lord¡¯s order and neglecting their boat repairs and maintenance cursed themselves.
¡°I should have followed the lord¡¯s instructions from the beginning¡¡±
¡°Can¡¯t we get permission now? I trust you, Mr. Carson!¡±
Carson, the administrator, suggested it, but Leopold refused.
¡°There are already too many people involved. The others have different tasks to do, so don¡¯t be impatient.¡±
¡°Yes, my lord.¡±
Carson looked at the lord again.
He had boasted that the sardines woulde back, and it became a reality.
Could he be a prophet?
His doubts were gone and a little trust was built up.
The amount of sardines caught by the fishermen in one day was enough for the whole territory to survive the winter.
And even after catching them, the sardines still filled the sea.
They also caught many other fish, mostly predators that followed the sardines.
There was no way that sea monsters would miss this feast.
Leopold frowned when he heard from the administrator that most of the sea monsters were inedible.
¡°You can¡¯t eat dragon turtles or crabs?¡±
¡°They are dangerous and poisonous. ording to the fishermen who tried to eat them, they smell terrible.¡±
It meant that deodorization was needed.
If it were the 21st century, he would have added a process to make fish cakes, but it was inefficient in this era.
Leopold ordered Arma.
¡°Just block the approach ofrge monsters. And what about the shadow elves?¡±
¡°They detected that the sardines have gathered, but there is no specific movement yet.¡±
¡°They ride on galleons. Where is their base?¡±
¡°There are thousands of inds in the western sea of ??the continent. They hide their power in those archipgos and avoid subjugation. There is no subjugation these days anyway.¡±
The lords who suffered from the shadow elves gave up on subjugation and evacuated their people from the coastlines.
They were not just raiders.
They kidnapped fishermen who could be used asborers, plundered their wealth, and set fire to their houses.
They were a total disaster and it was impossible for them to confront them with their weak forces.
It was fortunate that they didn¡¯t use Goliath yet.
¡°I¡¯ll have to deal with them someday, but not now.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll just keep an eye on them.¡±
¡°And there¡¯s one more thing I need you to do for me.¡±
It was about distributing the caught sardines.
There was no refrigerator or well-paved road in this era, so most of the distribution was done by horned carts.
Countries with advanced ether engineering transported goods by freight trains, but that had nothing to do with this rural territory.
Therefore, most of the food, especially fish, had to be salted and distributed.
Salt itself was expensive and fish prices were not cheap either, so it was difficult for anyone who was not a noble to taste fish in the ind.
The biggest problem was that there was not much supply because of those damn pirates.
Anyway, to distribute the sardines, they had to fill the barrels with salt and ship them.
Most of the merchants who visited the territory were skeptical and bought the barrels of sardines filled with salt water.
They didn¡¯t want the sardines to rot during transportation.
There were also some tricks, such as filling the bottom with dirt, based on the fact that the merchants only checked the top of the barrel.
The point was that it took a lot of effort and money to distribute fish, and he wanted to reduce that.
She nodded.
¡°The only way I can think of in this era is brine preservation.¡±
Brine is salt water made by boiling seawater.
If they removed the guts and spines of the sardines and stored them in a barrel with brine, their freshnesssted for a long time.
It also reduced the salt consumption drastically, which lowered the price of sardines significantly.
Thanks to this preservation method, which was first invented in the 16th century Nethends, the Nethends was able to lead the maritime industry despite its small territory.
At its peak, hundreds of sardine fleets and escort fleets roamed the distant seas, causing friction with Ennd and others.
Leopold didn¡¯t hope for that much.
¡°Gather the women and give them knives and teach them how. They will flock to do it if you pay them a fair wage.¡±
¡°I understand. I¡¯ll show them how it¡¯s done.¡±
Arma was a hot topic among the people of the territory.
They had never seen such a beautifuldy living by the lord¡¯s side, so rumors spread.
It didn¡¯t matter if she was a simple maid, but it was a bit troublesome if she was a concubine who served him at night.
She had to take on a lot of work in the future.
Anyway, when she stepped forward, the process of distributing sardines changed drastically.
The problem was making barrels to store brine, but they managed to make them by blocking them with oatmeal and beeswax.
The women who were mobilized to make them were amazed by Arma¡¯s skill in dismantling sardines.
¡°She looks like she can¡¯t even open a m, let alone a fish¡¡±
¡°I heard from the servants that she has a firm grip on the mansion. She¡¯s good at counting money and managing household affairs. She¡¯s more than ordinary.¡±
¡°With that appearance, she could go up to the capital and live a morous life.¡±
¡°Maybe she¡¯s a former ve?¡±
They were all curious about her, but they didn¡¯t show much reaction to the new preservation method.
They doubted how long it wouldst to store them in seawater.
But when the merchants who visited the territory bought the barrels of sardines filled with brine with suspicion, things started to change soon.
The merchants who bought the Sardines barrels hurried back.
¡°Arma, Arma! Can¡¯t you sell us more Sardines?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll pay you as much as you want, just one more barrel¡¡±
¡°How about signing an exclusive contract with ourpany?¡±
The old-timers who had been running thepany for a long time were making such a fuss because they were sure that this Sardines barrel would be a huge business.
Sardines was a fish that had a high preference but a low supply.
Not only Bagran, but also neighboring countries and even the Zaium Empire knew well about Sardines and had widely spread recipes.
The preference increased as it went ind, but unfortunately, the supply was scarce due to distribution problems.
It was not cheap to transport it by soaking it in expensive salt.
But in the Vandus domain, the Sardines association run by Arma lowered that cost to a fraction of a tenth.
There was also a huge amount of water that could fill dozens of wagons.
It was expected that there would be a lot of profit if they just took it, but there was only one Sardines association for the distribution channel.
So there was no negotiation, and they had to give Arma whatever she wanted.
She announced in front of the merchants that there was no negotiation.
¡°One barrel of Sardines for one gold and five silver. I can supply you with a little moreter. And it¡¯s fine to make deals with the fishermen behind my back, but you shouldn¡¯t get caught.¡±
The domain was too small to avoid being caught if they made deals behind her back, and that meant expulsion.
The merchantsined that the price was too high, but they had to buy it anyway.
They had to build trust first, and then ask for more supplyter.
¡°There won¡¯t be much profit left, but it will start when the supply increases.¡±
¡°Sardines is a delicious fish with a high preference. It will be a hit if we take it to Zaium.¡±
¡°Why didn¡¯t I think of this simple thing?¡±
The Sardines barrels sold so well that the Vandus domain was filled with rare vitality.
The domain became richer and naturally the people¡¯s shoulders straightened and their expressions brightened.
Most of all, there were more people and they started spending money.
There were not one or two guards and workers escorting the merchants who came to buy Sardines.
It was good until then, but there was no worry-free thing.
The merchants did not lower their guard while buying Sardines barrels so that they could run away at any time.
They were worried about when the notorious Shadow Elf pirates would attack.
¡ªIt¡¯s so noisy that those damn elves won¡¯t know.
¡ªIt¡¯s booming now, but it won¡¯tst a month before a massive attack. Then it¡¯s over here too.
¡ªWe have to sell as much as we can and get the money out of the domain by then.
But there was no specific movement from the lord.
Rather, he tried to strengthen his power by taking care of the wounded soldiers in the domain and buying weapons.
The merchants clicked their tongues at his futile actions.
It didn¡¯t matter as long as they made money anyway.
***
The Sardines barrels also arrived at the pce of Bagran, which was devastated by war.
Normally, the royal family gets the best things first.
Prince Ruad didn¡¯t like Sardines, but he was interested in its excellent preservation.
¡°They transported it to Zaium by horned wagon and it¡¯s still fine? Is that true?¡±
The pce official bowed his head.
¡°Yes, Your Highness. It is said that it maintained its freshness even though it was soaked in salt water. The taste is good too. There is a craze for Sardines dishes in Zaium now.¡±
They started and dragged on such luxury in war time.
Of course, in a ce like Zaium Empire, there are people who are not affected by the war at all.
And those kinds of people start wars.
Prince Ruad felt nauseous but held back and said,
¡°That¡¯s amazing. Bring the barrel to the front yard. I¡¯ll check it myself.¡±
Soon after, the barrel was opened in front of Prince Ruad.
He didn¡¯t care about his hand getting wet with salt water and took out a Sardines and checked it and smelled it.
¡°Hmm. It¡¯s very fresh. It¡¯s better than salted ones. I wonder why they left the guts here.¡±
The knight Granden who was watching quietly added,
¡°That¡¯s because it¡¯s often used in cooking. It¡¯s very delicious.¡±
¡°Oh, Sir Granden, do you know something about Sardines?¡±
¡°As much as anyone else.¡±
Granden Olmus, with a full beard and tired eyes, was Bagran¡¯s guard knight and Prince Ruad¡¯s childhood swordsmanship teacher.
He had excellent swordsmanship skills, but he had such a fiery temper when he was young that he was called a devil among his subordinates knights.
He had softened his personality a bit by getting older and having a daughter, but he had be cynical, which was a w.
The two started to fiddle with the Sardines.
¡°Think about it. It¡¯s true that the ce that supplies this Sardines barrel is only one domain for now, but won¡¯t it increase soon? It doesn¡¯t seem to be hard to make it like this.¡±
¡°Well, it¡¯s just removing the guts and soaking them in salt water. If you have a salt mine, you can try it. But there¡¯s one problem.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Pirates.¡±
As the Shadow Elves were mentioned, Prince Ruad¡¯s face twisted.
¡°Damn, there was such a problem.¡±
Sir Granden put the Sardines back in the barrel and wiped his fingers.
¡°What are you going to do with it? I want to send a knight under that crazy lord.¡±
¡°¡Your Highness, I only have one daughter¡¡±
Prince Ruad smiled.
¡°What should I do? I¡¯m curious about the lord of Vandus. What is he going to do with that airship? I don¡¯t understand why he killed the mercenaries who threatened his domain.¡±
¡°And thest thing is Sardines.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that enough reason?¡±
And there was also what the saintess of the Church said¡
He wondered why she suddenly appeared and looked for a tall man at this time.
Granden nodded sadly.
He had to go because most of the knights were on the front lines during the war.
The prince didn¡¯t have many people he could trust.
¡°Don¡¯t be sad when I leave.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll y with Eily well.¡±
¡°Lately, Eily has been ying with a sword because of you.¡±
¡°If you¡¯re a noble, you should wield a sword, right? Your daughter will surely be a great knight.¡±
¡°Eily is four years old.¡±
Prince Ruad coughed and turned away.
¡°Anyway,e back soon. I want to know more about the lord of Vandus.¡±
He seemed to have no choice but to leave for a remote rural domain.
He bowed to the prince and left.
***
You should always prepare for the future when things are going well.
In that sense, the lord of Vandus was quite alert.
He was happy to sell Sardines well, but he insisted that they had to prepare for the pirates.
It was unusual that the people of the domain imed that, not the lord himself.
But they couldn¡¯t afford to lose this opportunity.
They could make money they never dreamed of by just catching Sardines in the sea.
Why would they let that be interrupted?
So they built watchtowers and fences in the coastal viges with soldiers as their main force.
¡°We have to sharpen our spears and swords. We can¡¯t let those pirates steal our money.¡±
¡°Make the fences three times higher! Those elves are very agile!¡±
If elves and humans fought, elves had an advantage 95 out of 100 times.
The whole race was strong as trained knights, and they could use ether as well.
Their long lifespan was a great advantage in itself, and the knights who faced the elf army on the front line were astonished by their skillful movements.
¡°Damn. How can we beat them when they train for years?¡±
¡°This is not a fair fight from the start.¡±
Elvrande showed how scary it was when elves used their long lifespan properly to the whole continent.
Compared to that, Shadow Elves were a bit inferior, but they were not a match for the people of the domain.
But the people of Vandus had something they believed in.
Goliath.
It was originally owned by the Harpy w Corps, but now it belonged to the lord.
It didn¡¯t move much, but when it got up, the ground shook.
The people of Vandus were infinitely proud that this overwhelming giant was on their side.
And also that the knight who controlled it was their lord.
Anyway, they didn¡¯t want to be robbed, so they prepared for battle desperately and waited.
But the pirates didn¡¯t show up easily.
¡°That¡¯s strange. They¡¯re not ones to wait like this.¡±
¡°They must know about us here.¡±
Shadow Elves were as fast as their movements in spreading information.
There was a rumor that they usedmunication crystals that only rich people used to exchange information.
No one knew what was really going on in their base, but it was certain that they smelled better than kobolds.
¡°Then why don¡¯t theye?¡±
It had been a month since Sardines came and Vandus domain made a lot of profit.
The rumor had spread not only to nearby domains but even to the pce.
They should smell it by now, right?
The people of Vandus were anxious as they finished their fishing work.
But in fact, those pirates were struggling in the sea.
They had boarded galleys for a quick raid, but they were swept away by high waves.
They didn¡¯t know why this sea, which was known to be calm, suddenly turned fierce.
They didn¡¯t know that there were some exploration ships deep under the sea that caused waves.
And even deeper down, there was a spaceship 700 meters long.
The elf pirates repeated being drowned and rescued by hundreds of them
Chapter 202: Greeting the Guests Politely
Chapter 202: Greeting the Guests Politely
Rumors always spread quickly and get exaggerated.
The news that the Vandus domain had made a fortune with winter Sardines reached the neighboring domains.
¡ªThey say that dozens of merchants visit the domain every day, and they all load their wagons with barrels of Sardines.
¡ªThey say that even the Meyer Trading Company, which is exclusive to the royal family, rushed in.
¡ªThey say that even the dogs on the street have gold coins in their mouths.
As most rumors are, these were embellished, but it was true that the Vandus domain had earned a lot of money.
And what was really important was not the truth, but the perception of others.
The perception that the Vandus domain had a lot of money.
Money usually attracts unwee guests.
Rtives who had never been close would suddenly ask for a treat.
Sometimes, there would be domain wars aiming for that wealth, and it was a problem that the royal family was busy with war.
Normally, they would stop the war immediately, but they were so busy and exhausted that they probably couldn¡¯t afford to care.
The only way to prevent this situation from the source was to increase their own military strength.
But the Vandus domaincked troops, and the neighboring domains were eyeing that.
¡ªThe Baron of Vandus is a weak noble with no connections to the royal family or the powerful nobles in the capital. If we pressure him at this opportunity, we might gain some benefits.
¡ªThe strange thing is that no pirates attacked them during the winter. The other domains suffered a lot of damage¡
¡ªMaybe they bribed the shadow elves and silenced them? This could be considered an act of treason against the royal family.
As always, jealousy breeds spection.
These rumors circting in the neighboring domains were a preparation for a domain war, and Leobold and Arma knew it well.
¡°The nobles are delusional that it will be fine if they have a decent excuse, since it¡¯s a rural domain that the royal family doesn¡¯t care about.¡±
¡°They don¡¯t know that we requested an airship and sent a royal guard for its management.¡±
The royal guard sent by the royal family was on his way here.
He didn¡¯t have Goliath, but just his name alone would be enough to deter any provocation from the surrounding nobles.
The problem was the mercenaries.
After the Harpy Talon Corps was destroyed, there were several suspicious people who sneaked into the merchant ships and spied on the domain.
Their goal was to recover Goliath, but there was a high chance that money was also included recently.
Arma reported that some of the mercenary corps stationed in Bagran were likely tounch an attack soon.
¡°The Harpy Talon Corps was small and not very reputable, but Goliath and our money are quite attractive.¡±
¡°They¡¯re going to attack us to take them? Don¡¯t they care about Bagran¡¯s royal family?¡±
¡°The whole kingdom is very busy with the war with Elvrande. They won¡¯t have time to care. The king is even on vacation right now.¡±
Currently, not only Bagran Kingdom but also the entire western continent was busy with the war with Elvrande.
Most of their forces were on the front lines, and they wouldn¡¯t have any room to care about a small domain stuck in a corner of the coast.
It wasn¡¯t for nothing that the Harpy Talon Corps ran wild in Vandus domain.
From Bagran¡¯s royal family¡¯s perspective, it wouldn¡¯t matter much if a small coastal domain was destroyed and absorbed by others.
¡°Mercenaries rted to Harpy Talon Corps also know this. And they know that the prince sent a royal guard.¡±
¡°Howe mercenaries have better information than nobles?¡±
¡°They¡¯re closer to the center.¡±
You usually hear more things when you¡¯re near someone powerful.
Anyway, Arma reported that several mercenary corps would send troops to the domain soon.
¡°It¡¯s likely to be before the royal guard arrives at our domain. I expect at least three Goliaths to be mobilized.¡±
¡°That¡¯s enough to crush a small domain.¡±
Goliaths had be decisive factors in wars.
However, Goliaths were so valuable because most wars were limited wars.
Arma had obtained data on magic power of various countries recently and reported it.
¡°The continent of Astera is dominated by ether engineering, but 200 years ago, mass destruction magic ruled over battlefields. Especially Meteor Strike magic was used well.¡±
¡°Meteor? They pulled down meteorites?¡±
¡°Yes, there are asteroid belts around Tera and Mare.¡±
Tera was the where Astera continent was located, and Mare was the where demons lived.
The twos orbited each other like Pluto and Charon, facing each other with one side.
There were billions of asteroids around them.
The size of asteroids varied from tens of centimeters to tens of kilometers, and they seemed to have more resources than expected.
The reason why mining ships didn¡¯t go there was because it was much easier to get resources from floating continents.
There were resources everywhere, so you just had to pick them up.
¡°I couldn¡¯t figure out the principle of Meteor Strike magic, but based on the ancient documents, I think they pull them from these asteroid belts.¡±
¡°¡That¡¯s awesome.¡±
Imagine dropping meteorites on each other¡¯s armies and cities.
It could be said to be worse than a nuclear bomb.
It focused only on pure destructive power without radiation, so it had less psychological resistance.
There was magic for shields, but it was difficult to block a concentrated impact.
¡°As a result of throwing Meteor Strike magic at each other, they realized that they would be annihted if they continued like this. After that, a treaty banning mass destruction magic was signed.¡±
¡°Currently, each country is ready tounch Meteor Strike on each other¡¯s capitals. They have already set the coordinates, so they can activate the magic circle as soon as they call the magicians.¡±
¡°It¡¯s like mutual assured destruction.¡±
No country wanted to face annihtion, so they avoided a full-scale magic war.
That was the conclusion they reached.
Thanks to that, most of the wars were limited by the use of Goliaths, and Elvrande also tried not to break that rule.
¡°Recently, there have been some proposals for preemptive magic attacks from ces like Zium Empire, but they are not mainstream. Meteor Strike is a magic that requires a lot of preparation, so Elvrande can detect it right away.¡±
It was simr to nuclear power in that it required a lot of preparation beforehand.
The countries tried not to cross the line of no return, perhaps because of the memory of the near-extinction 200 years ago.
Considering that they tortured enemy soldiers and used civilians as ves, Astera¡¯s line might be quite high.
Anyway, the attack on the territory was bing a reality.
Leobold had no intention of stopping it.
Why would he stop them when they said they would pay Goliath as a tribute?
¡°Once this battle is over, Bagran will also intervene, so it will be hard to deal with them.¡±
¡°But they will find a way to attack anyway. It would be perfect if they use us of colluding with the Shadow Elves.¡±
The more the territory grew and became stronger, the more such cases would ur, but it didn¡¯t matter much.
Astera was a world where power was justice, and they had confidence that they would not lose to anyone.
***
The rumor that many mercenary groups were targeting Vandus territory became visible.
Among the mercenary groups that entered Bagran Kingdom, Hammer Revenge Group sent an official letter to Vandus territory demanding information disclosure.
¡ªTherefore, we mourn the death of ourrades and cannot help but hold Baron Vandus responsible. We also demand the immediate return of the Raoum-ss Goliath.
Vandus did not react much to this letter, and Hammer Revenge Group did not seem to expect it either.
The battle on the western front was getting worse day by day, so Bagran royal family was in no position to intervene, and neither were other powerful nobles.
However, since the royal guard sent by the royal family was expected to arrive at the territory soon, they had to finish everything before then.
So Hammer Revenge Group attacked Vandus territory directly with only a minimum of justification.
They brought 50 soldiers and 3 Goliaths.
With such a scale, a weak noble like Baron Vandus would be trembling with fear, but the mercenary group was not veryfortable either.
The mercenary leader Jaden ordered his subordinates to finish quickly.
¡°Prince Ruad has a limit to his tolerance. We have to get them to surrender as soon as possible.¡±
No matter how chaotic the country was, there were not many ces for a mere mercenary group like them to meddle.
Hammer Revenge Group had only one chance, and they had to retreat quietly after receiving money and Goliath.
That was the line that Bagran royal family implicitly allowed.
They set up a temporary camp at the entrance of the territory and staged a demonstration with three Raoum-ss Goliaths.
¡°Baron Vandus, hear us! Exin immediately how you killed ourrades and stole Raoum-ss Goliath! And return Goliath!¡±
In Vandus territory, soldiers who recovered from their injuries came out and made barricades and waited, but they were not in a mood to expect anything from them.
It wasmon sense that Goliath could only be countered by Goliath.
There was never a battle where Goliath was not the main force in thest 10 years of war.
Nowadays, Goliath was the measure ofbat power and the core of war.
So when three Goliaths were stationed at the entrance of the territory, naturally the traffic was blocked and the people were nervous.
¡°We only have one Goliath. What are we going to do?¡±
¡°No matter how good our lord is, he can¡¯t handle three¡¡±
¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better to just bribe them with money? We made a lot from Sardines this winter¡¡±
Of course, the responsibility for this situationy with the lord.
Leobold rode on the Goliath he had taken from Harpy w Group and went out himself.
Jaden¡¯s brow furrowed when he saw one Goliath approaching with big strides.
¡°Does he not know that their output is equal?¡±
Of course, that was not possible.
The opponent Baron Vandus was a veteran mercenary who had been rolling outside for 10 years.
He must have had experience riding various Goliaths, so it was iprehensible that he came out like this.
Recently, there have been some improvements in adding various functions to Goliaths, but that was only for empires like Elvrande and Zium.
The Goliaths owned by Bagran Kingdom or mercenary groups tended to rely on output for performance, and that had little to do with the knight¡¯s skill.
The number of Goliaths being three times meant that the actual power was three times, and it was almost impossible to narrow this gap regardless of the knight¡¯s skill.
Yet he walked so confidently¡
¡°He must have something to rely on. Everyone, watch out for the enemy Goliath¡¯s movements!¡±
¡°Captain, I¡¯m worried about that ck spear.¡±
¡°Shut up and get ready for battle!¡±
As they were old-fashioned Goliaths, they could not hope for muchmunication function, and the best they could do was to lift the window slightly and shout.
The movement sound was so loud that it would not be heard properly once they started moving.
On the other hand, the spear that Leobold¡¯s Goliath held was made of living metal.
For some reason, Astera had very little production of living metal using the core of demons, or gue.
ording to Arma¡¯s analysis, it was because the gue¡¯s evolution was notplete.
¡°The result of studying Lucia and the fact that we didn¡¯t see anyrge specimens in Mare suggest that. The core is small, so there is a limit to living metal production.¡±
In the past Dragon War, there were monsters that were iparable to now, so maybe Astera¡¯s civilization was regressing.
Anyway, because of that reason, only a few Elven Knights in Elvrande could use living metal as a weapon.
So the mercenaries did not know much about the power of the 7-meter-long ck spear that the enemy Goliath held.
The weapons they faced were only swords and spears made of solid iron.
Thud, thud, thud.
Four heavy Goliaths stood facing each other.
Usually, a battle between Goliaths was more like amoner than a knight.
They were too slow to follow the knight¡¯s movements.
Only Elven Knights or High Knights could respond to the knight¡¯s movements with increased responsiveness, but that was a pie in the sky for mercenaries.
Jaden lifted the window slightly and dered.
¡°Baron Vandus! You must have heard how you killed ourrades and stole Raoum-ss Goliath!¡±
¡°We have sent several letters to your territory and now we are warning you directly. Return Goliath immediately and surrender. We do not want any more conflict.¡±
¡°How much do you want?¡±
Strangely enough, Leobold¡¯s voice was heard very well without opening the window.
Jaden was suspicious of that, but he did not show it and shouted.
¡°We cannot put a price on ourrades¡¯ lives, but we will be satisfied with a thousand gold!¡±
The ie of Baron Vandusry for several months was less than 100 gold, so this was an unreasonable demand.
Jaden also knew that, but he judged that he could afford it bybining the Sardines money and the operating rights of the dark me mine.
But Leobold had no intention of paying them that money.
¡°I can¡¯t give you a single bronze. Go back right now.¡±
¡°We can¡¯t back down in front of our soldiers as nobles. We¡¯ll show you who will cry blood. Attack them all!¡±
The attack began with a typical line.
The movement of three Goliaths was also very typical.
Everyone knew that the responsiveness of these low-ss Goliaths was obvious.
That¡¯s why the battle between them was decided by output and luck, and the mercenaries, including Jaden, were confident of their absolute victory.
It was a fight they couldn¡¯t possibly lose.
The 50 or so mercenaries who were watching from a good spot expected to get at least 10 gold each for their share.
But their expectations werepletely shattered as soon as Baron Vandus¡¯s Goliath started moving.
¡°What, what¡¯s so fast?¡±
¡°Is that really a Raoum-ss?¡±
Baron Vandus¡¯s Raoum-ss Goliath ran towards them at twice the speed of the other Goliaths.
The ground cracked under the weight of nearly 100 tons, and the ck spear stretched out long.
It was a phenomenon of transform, where living metal changed in an instant.
It wasmon on Earth, but not in this world at all.
Not only the mercenaries, but also the soldiers hiding behind the barricades were startled.
¡°What is that?¡±
¡°The spear stretched out!¡±
How about the mercenaries who faced it directly?
The fallen noble saw an illusion of a spear stretching out long.
He realized that it was not an illusion when he felt a severe pain in his abdomen.
The long spear had pierced through both his cockpit and himself.
It was an unbelievable power.
¡°Thi¡¡±
He tried to say something, but he spat out blood and copsed.
A Goliath without its master was nothing but a pile of scrap metal doll.
With one gone, Jaden decided to attack more carefully.
He didn¡¯t expect the weapon to stretch out, but he was able to close the distance thanks to the sacrifice of one.
¡°Draw his attention from the front! I¡¯ll go for his back!¡±
He spoke in code, but anyone could tell his intention.
As two Goliaths moved erratically and approached, Leobold blocked a sword that came down with his spear.
With a light ng, the sword shattered and half of it flew somewhere.
The opponent was an experienced mercenary, so he tried to retreat back in the gap, but Leobold was faster.
Thud!
The solid chest armor of the Goliath copsed in an instant.
Leobold stretched out his other arm and broke the armorpletely.
The cockpit was safe, but the magic circle was destroyed and the opponent couldn¡¯t move properly.
In that gap, the ck spear pierced through the cockpit and killed the mercenary.
Now only one remained, Jaden who jumped from behind.
¡°Yaaah!¡±
Jaden clung to Leobold¡¯s Goliath¡¯s back and exerted all his strength.
It was dangerous to keep distance because of the long spear, so he decided to settle it with closebat.
After all, their output was equal, so he hoped that there would be a chance if he rolled around.
But that was his mistake.
Leobold¡¯s Goliath was only sealing its output, not equal at all.
He could release the seal and put a strain on the drive system and magic circle, but it wouldn¡¯t be a big problem for a while.
Squeak-
Jaden saw his Goliath¡¯s arm being forcibly opened and was confused.
¡°Wha-what is this¡¡±
Even worse, the dark part that was caught by the baron¡¯s Goliath was about to break under tremendous pressure.
Leobold applied force to his hand and smashed his partpletely.
Crack-
The dark part came off and Jaden¡¯s Goliath retreated back with one arm missing.
His face was filled with horror, but it wasn¡¯t visible.
¡°Kneel.¡±
Leobold finished him off with his spear and Jaden¡¯s Goliath also lost its master and slowly knelt down.
With that, all three Goliaths fell silent.
It was an unbelievable result.
The 50 or so mercenaries who were watching from a good spot realized that something went wrong and tried to sneak away.
They had invested a lot of money in the camp, but they had to survive first, right?
But Carson¡¯s order was faster than them.
¡°The enemy has lost their Goliaths and their morale! All attack! The lord will reward those who raise their gs!¡±
He was not a militarymander, but he boosted morale by clearly mentioning why soldiers should charge and what rewards they would get.
¡°Woohoo!¡±
¡°Kill them!¡±
There were not many soldiers, but behind them was Baron Vandus¡¯s Goliath.
The mercenaries started to run away in panic and a one-sided attack followed.
A short timeter, Granen¡¯s royal guard and his attendants visited the territory.
The attendants were surprised to see three Raoum-ss Goliaths lying at the entrance of the territory.
¡°Are those Raoum-ss Goliaths?¡±
¡°Why are there four of them in this territory?¡±
On the other hand, Granen guessed the situation rtively urately like a knight.
¡®It¡¯s certain that the Raoum-ss ones belong to the mercenaries. They must havee to take revenge for losing their dark mine, but they got beaten.¡¯
¡®Even though they had a numerical advantage, the baron won one-sidedly. That means his skill is extraordinary.¡¯
But there was something strange.
No matter how skilled he was, he couldn¡¯t show it properly by riding a Raoum-ss.
Granen himself had ridden a Raoum-ss many times and knew it well.
The mercenaries liked it, but that was because it was easy to maintain and cheap, not because it was good.
A proper knight wouldn¡¯t even consider a Raoum-ss as a Goliath.
¡®That means he used a trap.¡¯
That was the standard for fighting against Goliaths.
It wouldn¡¯t work against higher sses, but it would for Raoum-ss ones.
Granen bowed his head slightly as he saw Baron Vandus approaching him.
Did he smile faintly because he was satisfied with his achievement?
Contrary to his misunderstanding, Leobold was purely happy.
He finally got a talent who could lead the soldiers of his territory.
Chapter 203: There is No Free Lunch
Chapter 203: There is No Free Lunch
Even if he was a rural baron, a noble was still a noble.
There was a big difference between him and a knight who had not inherited a formal title.
But even an average baron could not treat a royal guard knight lightly.
Being close to the power meant getting some crumbs, and even more so if he was a veteran among the royal guards.
That¡¯s why their rtionship was based on the baron being humble but respectful to the knight, and Leobold and Granden were simr.
¡°My name is Granden Olmus. I have a small duty in the royal family.¡±
¡°Wee, Sir Olmus.¡±
As Leobold nodded his head, the information that Arma had investigated was transmitted to his sight.
¡¸He is guarding Prince Ruad and has a four-year-old daughter under hismand. His wife died a long time ago.¡¹
¡®He¡¯s perfect for my domain.¡¯
It was almost 100% certain that a man who had lost his wife would cherish his daughter terribly.
What if his daughter was sick as well?
¡¸His daughter¡¯s name is Eily and she is a lively child who likes to y with swords. She just suffers from asthma and gets out of breath and tired easily.¡¹
¡®If I cure her asthma, he¡¯ll fall for me right away.¡¯
¡¸Lastly, his swordsmanship is good enough to be the teacher of Prince Ruad and the royal guards. He did not be the captain of the knights because he could not take care of his daughter if he had too much work.¡¹
In summary, he was the ideal candidate to take charge of the security of the Vandus barony.
It was a bit awkward to appoint a royal guard knight as the captain of the security of a small barony, but he would beg for itter.
The important thing was how to make him stay in the domain.
¡®The war will end soon, so I¡¯ll make the royal family owe me.¡¯
Most of the wars in Astera continent ended with Elvrande¡¯s victory.
The kingdom of Bagran did not put all its strength into it, but it would have to make some concessions anyway.
It was obvious that they had invested a huge amount of money in the war, so they would groan in pain, and that¡¯s when he would sneak in and help them.
That was Leobold¡¯s n.
Arma evaluated his n as brilliant.
¡¸Based on the current situation, Bagran III, and Prince Ruad¡¯s personality, I think it¡¯s almost 100% probable.¡¹
¡®Then it¡¯s decided.¡¯
It took less than a minute to decide Granden¡¯s fate.
He himself probably had not even thought about it.
Granden exchanged greetings and then expressed his impression.
¡°It¡¯s a cozy and lively domain.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t deny that it¡¯s rustic. It was noisy because of the mercenaries who invaded. But it will change a lot soon.¡±
¡°I hope so too. And the airship owned by the royal family will arrive in a few days.¡±
¡°I¡¯m looking forward to that. Here, Administrator Carson will show you where Sir Granden will stay. It¡¯s my house, but I hope you¡¯ll make yourselffortable.¡±
In a small ce like Vandus barony, there were often no inns, and the lord¡¯s mansion was also the resting ce for travelers.
¡°Then I¡¯ll be indebted to you for a while.¡±
After a short conversation, Granden looked at the four Goliaths and the battlefield while apanying Administrator Carson.
¡®I thought they used traps at first, but that wasn¡¯t it.¡¯
Unless it was Zium¡¯s High Knight ss, there were limits to Goliath¡¯s mobility.
Especially, the heavy weight of nearly 100 tons could easily damage the ground.
Therefore, one of the good ways to deal with Raom-ss Goliaths was to dig deep traps.
Since their height was seven meters, digging four meters would greatly limit their movement.
But there was no trace of traps on the scene.
¡®Did they beat them purely with their skills?¡¯
The baron¡¯s ether felt ordinary to him.
Granden was among the upper ss of royal guards, so he could fairly urately gauge the abilities of other knights.
His eyes went to the abdomen of Goliath who had fallen down.
Goliath¡¯s abdomen was one of the thickest parts, but it was also one of the most difficult parts to repair because of all kinds of magic circles.
Without a mage or an ether engineer in this domain, they would have to call someone to fix it.
¡®Do they have so much money that they can¡¯t control themselves?¡¯
They made quite a lot of money from Sardines, but it was only for a season, and there were plenty of ces to spend it.
In summary, it was possible that they intercepted the mercenaries in the domain, but it was doubtful that they destroyed three Goliaths purely with their skills without using traps or anything.
He asked Administrator Carson who was exining the domain.
¡°How exactly did the lord win the battle earlier?¡±
¡°Ah, that was really a spectacle. I don¡¯t know much, but the mercenaries¡¯ Goliaths were no match for him.¡±
¡°So, how did he do it exactly¡¡±
He hoped to at least hear about the weapon that pierced the abdomen, but Carson proved that he was not old for nothing and hardly gave any exnation.
¡®He wants me to find out while I¡¯m staying here.¡¯
There must have been more than one or two witnesses, so he would be able to find out soon.
About the identity of Vandus baron as well.
¡°This is the mansion where the lord lives. I hope you¡¯ll get along well here.¡±
Granden was appalled to see the shabby mansion.
It was two stories high, but it looked very old as if it had not been renovated for years.
As Carson opened the door and told him to enter, there was a creaking sound and a burning smell from inside.
¡®Do they even have an ether furnace?¡¯
He had lived in a good mansion in the capital, so this environment was very unfamiliar to him.
He had to endure it as a training.
That evening, he received an invitation for dinner as a wee party.
When the lord invited someone for dinner, it was usually a feast or at least avish menu.
The guests often judged the lord¡¯s wealth and virtue by the menu.
But the menu on the table was nothing different from what the people of the domain ate: soup with cabbage, ck bread, cheese, grilled Sardines, etc.
He looked at Vandus baron¡¯s front just in case, but there was the same menu there as well.
¡°Let us praise Granber for giving us our daily bread. There¡¯s not much to offer, but please eat a lot.¡±
Granber was one of the gods of Astera pantheon who symbolized earth and abundance.
The prayer was usually very long, but the baron¡¯s prayer was unbelievably short.
Anyway, people started eating and Leobold asked Granden something.
¡°Sir Granden¡¯s duty is to protect the airship, right?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right for now¡¡±
¡°I want to ask you one more thing. That is to train the soldiers of this domain.¡±
Granden frowned invisibly.
It was a principle that no one should ask anything of a knight sent by the royal family.
The knight did not represent the royal family, but many people perceived him as such.
He knew that very well, but he made such a request in front of everyone¡
Administrator Carson was restless and Arma casually scooped up some cabbage soup and ate it.
Granden opened his mouth.
¡°Do you think I should take on that task, my lord?¡±
¡°Yes. You¡¯re going to stay here anyway, so you have to pay for your food. I won¡¯t charge you anything else, so just teach the soldiers well.¡±
He sounded like he was asking for something obvious.
Granden thought that the lord had not finished his speech before he could object, and he was right.
¡°I will teach you what you are curious about, Sir Granden, if you want.¡±
¡°Are you talking about the use of airships?¡±
¡°That wille naturally to you. Aren¡¯t you curious about me? Your gaze at Goliath was not casual.¡±
As expected¡
Granden had a hunch that he could not refuse this offer.
He felt like he had to pay for his food since he couldn¡¯t waste his time here.
He nodded slightly.
¡°I will take charge of the soldiers¡¯ training temporarily.¡±
¡°Just keep them in order while you stay here. It wouldn¡¯t be bad to introduce the system of the guard corps.¡±
He felt uneasy that the conditions were adding up one by one, but Granden forced a smile.
And he stabbed a fork into the grilled bluefish and brought it to his mouth.
It tasted quite good.
The outside was crispy and the flesh was moist, not inferior to the fish dishes he ate in the capital.
¡®Hmm, not bad.¡¯
The m soup was also rich and creamy, as if he used a lot of butter.
He began to think that it wouldn¡¯t be so bad to stay here.
¡®He¡¯s half convinced.¡¯
Leobold squinted his eyes and watched him eat.
He would settle down in this domain as soon as he found a good excuse to cure his daughter.
There was no excuse for artificial intelligence in this world, so he needed a lot of talent.
¡®Granden would be suitable for the security chief.¡¯
He would ask him what that meant, but his opinion was not very important since he came here.
¡®The important thing is to pay for your food.¡¯
It might seem a bit excessive for food, but the side dishes were plentiful, so he wouldn¡¯tin.
Probably.
***
Lucia, who had left saying she had something on her mind, came back.
She sat on Leobold¡¯s shoulder as usual and began to chatter.
¨DI finally found it, the ancient artifact!
¡°An ancient artifact? Is it something made by a god?¡±
¨DExactly. That Goliath is an artifact from the Dragon War, that is, 200 years ago. Some say that the champion of a god rode it.
¡°The champion of a god rode it¡¡±
The Dragon War 200 years ago was regrettable, but there was not much left to feed Arma, so he had trouble figuring it out.
It was clear that the gods of Pantheon and the dragon race fought each other and various races were involved in it.
But little was known about the cause, course, and oue of the war.
Arma reported that he could find out if he broke into the Infinite Library in Elvrande.
¡°The elves are hiding a lot of things. They probably stored and sealed some unfavorable materials in the library.¡±
Medea, the capital of Elvrande.
There was a huge world tree in the center and the Infinite Library was located underground.
The defense was perfect and even microbots or nanounits couldn¡¯t prate it.
It didn¡¯t seem like magic could distinguish even those small units, but Arma said so, so he had to believe it.
Anyway, Lucia was excited about finding Goliath and gave him the exact location.
¨DIt¡¯s located 300 meters underground at the border between Bagran and Zaium. It seems that it¡¯s notpletely destroyed by the faint ether I feel.
¡°That¡¯s a bit tricky to get out right away.¡±
The problem was that there was a Zaium barracks above it.
It wasn¡¯t a temporary barracks, but a ce where arge number of soldiers were stationed, so it seemed difficult to use a gravity crane.
Zaium or Elvrande wouldn¡¯t miss such arge ether field.
¡°Astera¡¯s civilization is amazing at ether tracking technology. If Settler spreads an ether field, they¡¯ll notice right away.¡±
Lucia sniffed her nose slightly.
¨DThe elves are totally obsessed with ether. They know that they need ether to do anything, so they have a wide range of tracking systems. They¡¯ll notice right away if that huge spaceship moves.
That¡¯s why when the pioneer fleet entered Astera continent, they lowered the output of ether fusion reactor as much as possible and used only nuclear fusion reactor and pulse thruster.
It would be easier if he could shoot a reactive bullet at Elvrande¡¯s capital, but he wanted to avoid making noise since it was the hometown of the prophet.
¡°Let¡¯s leave Goliath forter and make golems first.¡±
¨DGolems? You mean my children?
The metal dollsmonly called golems in Astera continent were used for various purposes such asrge-scale construction.
But there were too many parts shared with Goliath, so they had been out of fashion for a long time.
They solved the work with surplus poption, so it was more advantageous to mass-produce Goliath that could fight.
But Leobold needed those golems.
¡°I have topletely overhaul the domain, and it takes too much time with manpower. It would be much easier if I had golems.¡±
Lucia pretended to think with her finger on her chin.
¨DHmm¡ I want to help you, but I need a price.
¡°What price? Think about how much minerals you¡¯ve eaten so far. You have to pay for your food.¡±
¨DI didn¡¯t eat that much, did I?
¡°Shall we check?¡±
She must have eaten almost a ton of gold alone on Settler.
Leobold got up and Lucia quickly tapped his shoulder.
¨DSo how many do you need?
¡°Let¡¯s see what a golem is first.¡±
Leobold had only seen the image of a golem, but he had never seen it in person.
He brought in a golem from the capital through Administrator Carson so he could refer to it and have Lucia make it.
To be precise, it would be the gue Queen¡¯s main body on Settler that would give birth to cocoons.
A littleter, he received a report from Administrator Carson.
¡°I bought the golem you mentioned. It was hard to find because they all dismantled it and made it into Goliath.¡±
¡°Good job.¡±
Leobold headed to the training ground with Arma and Lucia.
This ce, which would have been quiet normally, waspletely transformed into a ce where soldiers were undergoing high-intensity training under Granden¡¯s cooperation.
¡°You goblins working in the capital can handle spears better than you!¡±
¡°Do you think the shadow elves will leave this domain alone? How can you resist them with those fat bodies?¡±
¡°Your future is to be captured as ves by the shadow elves and tortured! Do you want that future? Do you want to be a ything of the shadow elves and leave your lover and wife behind?¡±
Granden, who looked like a decent knight, drove the soldiers like a devil when the training started.
The soldiers gasped but followed his control.
The domain had undergone many changes recently, such as good food and regr payment of wages.
It was a great benefit to be able to eat and live in difficult times, so everyone tried desperately to settle down.
There was a golem in an old warehouse in the corner of the training ground.
¡°Did you bring something that was abandoned? It¡¯s rusty here and there.¡±
¡°It¡¯s hard to see a golem these days.¡±
It was inevitable because Goliath was more important than golem.
The core and drive system, which were the coreponents, and the rare metals that made up the magic circle were also used in Goliath, so they had to choose one of them.
In most cases, they chose Goliath, which was essential for war, but Leobold needed golems.
¡°It might not be as good as a walker, but it can be used for work that requires heavy equipment. Lucia, what do you think?¡±
¨DHmm¡ I think I can make it as simr as possible. But I can¡¯t lower itsbat power.
¡°So you mean golems can fight too? Are they stronger than Goliath?¡±
¨DWhat do you think gue Queen is?
¡°I thought it was an insectivore because it ate so much.¡±
¨DHey!
Lucia bit Leobold¡¯s earlobe and left a slight mark.
He caught her and threw her to the golem.
¡°What I want is a good worker who listens well. I¡¯ll dispose of anyone who goes out of control and runs wild. Keep that in mind when you make them.
¨DHow did our demon race get caught by this human¡
¡°By the way, there are three Goliaths in the warehouse next to the mansion that need some work. The magic circle is damaged.¡±
¨DAaah!
While Lucia was frustrated, Leobold talked with Arma.
¡°Did you take care of the mercenaries without any problem?¡±
¡°Yes. If they intervene any more, the royal family will intervene. It¡¯s a bad look, after all.¡±
From the perspective of the Bagran royal family, they had drawn a picture of Leobold losing, but they were quite embarrassed by the result.
The prince of Ruad even sent an envoy to him.
¡°They¡¯ll try to end it quietly with some gifts. I¡¯d rather borrow some more airships.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not a big deal anyway since they¡¯re disposable. You can borrow them for a long time without any problem.¡±
The problem was the operating cost.
The airship itself was close to disposable, but the operating cost was very high because it involved high-level ether engineering.
It was enough to make the Bagran royal family struggle.
¡°But it won¡¯t be a big problem. The biggest part of the operating cost is ether stones.¡±
Arma rummaged through his pockets and pulled out an ether crystal.
The fusion reactor boasted an unprecedented output, so he could produce as much as he wanted as long as he had raw materials.
Naturally, he could also use it as bait to lure magicians or ether engineers.
These days, the price of ether-rted goods was skyrocketing because of the war.
¡°What percentage dobor and other materials ount for?¡±
¡°About 30% including maintenance costs, but you can cover it enough if you mine resources from the floating continent.¡±
¡°Then it¡¯s fine. When the envoyes, tell them I want a document with the royal seal. The prince owes me a lot, so he¡¯ll agree.¡±
The lord¡¯s family died all at once, so even if the royal family didn¡¯t care about minor nobles, they couldn¡¯t ignore it.
It was a good deal to rent out disposable airships and bury everything.
He didn¡¯t know if he would think so after he started mining resources.
Soon after, the airship and the envoy arrived at the domain.
¡°I¡¯ve never seen anything like that before.¡±
¡°A ship flying in the sky¡¡±
The domain people murmured as the construction of a temporary mooring station waspleted.
He would have made a nice mooring station if he had enough time, but he had to settle for this for now.
Leobold, Arma, and Administrator Carson looked around the airship named Altmaran and discussed their future ns.
And Ruad prince in the capital received a letter from Baron Vandus.
¡°He¡¯ll give me as many airships as I want if I keep quiet. He¡¯s an interesting guy.¡±
He would have coldly refused normally, but he had debts so he couldn¡¯t do that.
He had to do something for him since his family died because of his father-inw, and it was a good deal to rent out airships for that.
He also took care of Maki Revenge Squad by himself, so he couldn¡¯t treat him harshly.
¡®He must have thought I wouldpromise somehow. Who would have known he would kill them all.¡¯
He couldn¡¯t interfere with the domain anymore since the mercenaries acted out of line.
Ruad prince stamped the royal seal on the rental document after some hesitation.
¡°An indefinite rental¡ I might regret itter, but I¡¯ll deal with it then.¡±
Actually, there was a bigger problem than Baron Vandus¡¯ domain.
The Holy Kingdom of Palma officially started looking for a man.
He had brown hair and brown eyes, and arge physique.
It was not an ordinary matter that they even mobilized the Holy Knights to find him.
¡®Who is he that they mobilize the Holy Knights?¡¯
ording to the rumors, the saintess received a divine trust, but no one knew the details.
Anyway, Palma was restless, so Elvrande and Zaium were also watching carefully.
Ruad prince briefly thought of Baron Vandus and forgot about him.
¡®His hair and eye color are different, so he¡¯s not the man the saintess is looking for.¡¯
He called a clerk and ordered him to bring the list of nobles in the country.
The war was slowlying to an end, so it seemed to be noisy for a while with farming andmerce.
Chapter 204: The Airship Altema
Chapter 204: The Airship Altema
An airship is a ship that floats in the sky, also known as a buoyant ship or a flying ship.
It is not clear when this ship was first built, but it was certain that Elvrande was the first to showcase it.
At that time, the citizens of Medea, the capital of Elvrande, cheered wildly when they saw the ship flying in the sky.
They thought that since they had made such a great thing, they would soon crush the humans and dominate the entire continent of Astera as elves.
However, the airship turned out to be rather useless.
In the current war, wherebat using Goliaths was the core, the role of the airship was only to scout while floating in the sky.
Scouting was important in war, but other artifacts made with ether engineering were used, so the airship had no significant meaning.
It was too big and slow for scouting, and it also consumed a lot of buoyant stones and ether stones, which was a problem.
Buoyant stones were rare resources that were asionally found under the floating continent, and they could be sold at a very high price if processed well.
Ether stones were precious resources without saying, and the operating cost of the airship that required both of them was so expensive that even a decent country would stick out its tongue.
If the airship had any utility value, it would have been used despite these drawbacks.
But at this point, there was no ce to use the airship other than the nobles¡¯ amusement.
A militarymander of Elvrande suggested dropping ether bombs from enemy airspace, but he suffered from many opposing opinions.
¡°A ship floating in the sky is a huge target in itself. Do you think they can¡¯t hit it even if their ether engineering level is low?¡±
¡°One shot of an ether cannon can turn it into fireworks. You know how many Goliaths of Belial level you can make with that money.¡±
The ether cannon had low uracy and power, but it could sink a ship floating in the sky with one shot.
If you try to increase the defense of the airship, the cost will increase exponentially.
It was very expensive to engrave magic circles on Goliaths, let alone a ship that exceeded 50 meters in length.
So the airship that couldn¡¯t find a ce to use became a white elephant and was stuck in the mooring yard.
Nevertheless, the airship craze spread surprisingly widely, mainly for the nobles¡¯ amusement.
There was no better way to show off their wealth and power than flying in the sky.
¡°There was a race that ruled the sky in the past. It was the dragon. This airship will make us a race close to dragons. Whoever rules the sky will rule the future of Astera!¡±
The merchants who invested in the airship sold their drugs like this, and several countries that fell for it raised their fever for building airships.
And shortly after, they went straight to the mooring yard as if they had promised.
There was no use for it except for flying in the sky.
Luxurious amusement was only for a day or two, but there was no justification for paying huge operating costs.
The Kingdom of Bagran also had an airship, but it was not built by itself but rather took over from Zaium Empire.
This 55-meter-long airship named Altema flew only once with Bagran III and his royal family and then headed straight to the mooring yard.
They couldn¡¯t afford to pay for flying in the sky.
Carson, an administrative officer, climbed up the stairs and spoke as if reminiscing about the past.
¡°As you may know, Altema is the name of a gold dragon who yed a great role in the past dragon war. They say dragons have no gender, but she was often referred to as such.¡±
This kind of oral tradition passed down by word of mouth was something that even Arma could hardly find out.
¡°Is that so? I¡¯ve never heard of that part before.¡±
Carson got excited when Leobold¡¯s reaction wasn¡¯t bad and rambled on.
¡°Well¡ It¡¯s just a rumor, but at that time she ughtered countless champions of gods. That¡¯s why she got the name Altema, the Champion yer. This ship is probably named after her because they hoped her power would be imbued. Altema was on the side of humans after all.¡±
Historical truth is worn out and faded by time.
In the past, dragons clearly dominated humans, but recent humans only remembered that they fought against elves.
Thanks to this, there was a re-evaluation of dragons in countries like Zaium and attempts to excavate their bones were active.
Elvrande scoffed at such attempts.
When they got on deck, sailors greeted them.
The captain was a man named Hampton with a typical face and physique of a sailor.
Leobold promised them a generous sry.
¡°I¡¯m not the owner or anything of this ship. But I have the exclusive right to operate this ship. I promise you a hefty sry and bonus if you only follow my orders.¡±
¡°Uh¡ Excuse me, but can I ask where we¡¯re going?¡±
¡°Floating continent.¡±
At that word, the sailors under the captain¡¯smand froze.
Where are you going?
¡°Uh¡ You don¡¯t mean the hell that¡¯s located in the north of the continent, do you?¡±
¡°Hahaha, of course not.¡±
¡°You¡¯re right about the floating continent. This ship will go up to the floating continent.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Now the sailors looked at Leobold as if they were looking at a madman.
How can you go there with this airship?
Hampton, the captain, said with a serious face.
¡°It looks like you¡¯re trying to drive us to death. No deal. Look for someone else.¡±
¡°Are you going to run away without even trying?¡±
Leobold sneered and he pulled his hat down.
¡°Our lives may be cheap, but we don¡¯t want to risk them for a little money.¡±
¡°It¡¯s very cold there¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s cold under the continent and colder above it.¡±
¡°There¡¯s a rumor that there are dragons up there.¡±
¡°How bad is it that even those pointy-eared bastards don¡¯t want to go up there? You don¡¯t know because you haven¡¯t been there, Baron.¡±
The sailors¡¯ reactions were very negative.
Well, the sky of Astera was more harsh than the sea in some ways.
The atmosphere was constantly moving and the temperature dropped to unbearable levels as the altitude increased.
Sometimes, if caught in a turbulence, the whole ship could flip over.
If it was the sea, there was a slight possibility of rescue, but there was nothing like that in the sky.
Anyway, they didn¡¯t seem to have any will to go to the floating continent.
Leobold didn¡¯t feel sorry and said.
¡°Then I can¡¯t help it. Get off the ship.¡±
¡°¡Yes?¡±
Hampton, the captain, made a stupid face and he said as if it was obvious.
¡°If you don¡¯t want to get on the ship, I have no choice but to look for other sailors.¡±
It was too decisive that the sailors just looked at the captain¡¯s face without closing their mouths.
In fact, even if they got off here, they didn¡¯t have anywhere to go.
They couldn¡¯t get on a ship in the reality where most of the sea was blocked and they tried to stick to Altema, which gave them a little sry.
But the destination was the floating continent.
Life was more important than money, but that was when money was not enough.
Hampton, the captain, cautiously spoke to Leobold who was looking at them as if asking why they weren¡¯t getting off.
¡°Baron, can I ask you a really rude question?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll allow one. What is it?¡±
¡°Can I ask how much is the sry?¡±
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you listen or not, since you¡¯re going to get off anyway. To answer your question, I was going to promise you three times the amount you¡¯ve been getting so far.¡±
¡°Three times¡¡±
The sailors swallowed their saliva as Leobold spoke calmly with his arms crossed.
¡°I was going to make the floating continent my destination, but I was thinking of retreating at any time if it really endangered my life. There will be a small bonus for the risk as well.¡±
¡°I see¡¡±
The sailors¡¯ expressions changed.
The reason they hated it was because they didn¡¯t want to risk their lives for a little sry.
A sry of three times, a bonus, and an immediate retreat if it seemed dangerous¡
This was not a good level, but an exceptional condition.
He didn¡¯t know why, but the baron seemed to be sure that there was something on the floating continent.
They didn¡¯t need to go along with him, but it was possible to take a little risk.
There was no other job anyway.
Leobold sighed lightly.
¡°But what can I do? Since you don¡¯t want to get on the ship, I have no choice but to look for other people. Well, it seems that our rtionship ends here¡¡±
Then Hampton, the captain, interrupted him with a cough.
¡°I¡¯m really sorry, Baron. I know you¡¯re talking, but I think we¡¯re misunderstanding something¡¡±
¡°Now that I think about it, it wouldn¡¯t be so bad to be the first to go up to the floating continent.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t we sea men? Even if there are dangers lurking, they won¡¯t stop us!¡±
There¡¯s nothing money can¡¯t do.
Leobold pretended to think for a moment and nodded his head.
¡°Let me entrust this ship to you for now. But remember, the sry and bonus are only paid when the operation of the ship is perfect.¡±
¡°Of course.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll treat it like our lover!¡±
That should do it.
Leobold spoke to Carson, the administrative officer.
¡°I¡¯m going to stay in my territory for a while, so go through the paperwork. Give them a house too.¡±
¡°Yes sir.¡±
¡°I want to be alone for a while, so go down.¡±
When the administrative officer and the sailors went down, Leobold finally headed to the bridge.
His vision was shared with Arma.
***
¡¸Scanning analysis isplete, Master.¡¹
¡°Do you think we can replicate it?¡±
¡¸It¡¯s very easy. The principle of the main engine is very simr to an ion thruster.¡¹
¡°That¡¯s amazing.¡±
If there was one obstacle for the pioneer group, it was that they didn¡¯t know the essence of ether, which was the energy of this world.
It was very familiar to the people of this world, but neither Leobold nor Arma knew what ether was.
But not knowing the essence and using it werepletely different things.
Just like you don¡¯t need to know well about a pulse thruster to use it.
Anyway, Arma scanned and analyzed every detail of Altema through Leobold¡¯s vision and presented the results.
¡¸The length is 55 meters, the width is 17.5 meters, and the weight is 750 tons. The maximum speed of the ether propulsion engine is about 40 kilometers per hour and the maximum altitude is about 9 kilometers.¡¹
¡°That¡¯s too slow. Can we install an ion thruster instead of the main engine?¡±
¡¸If we install one that fits this specification, the minimum speed will reach hundreds of kilometers per hour. The frame won¡¯t be able to withstand it, so aplete overhaul is required.¡¹
¡°How much will it cost to adjust it to about three times as much?¡±
¡¸Calcting¡ It¡¯s done. The cost will be 85 gold 7 silver, and it will take about 23 days.¡¹
It wasn¡¯t a small amount of money, but it was nothingpared to the resources they would bring from the floating continent.
¡°Well, that¡¯s affordable. Contact the administrative officer and have him send some workers. Use dummies for working on the engine room or bridge.¡±
¡¸Understood. But Master, if you want tond on the floating continent with Altema, you need to raise your altitude more.¡¹
The buoyancy system analyzed by Arma was disyed on his retina.
All airships, including Altema, used buoyant stones to float in the air and moved through ether propulsion engines.
The principle behind this was not known, but installing more buoyant stones did not increase the altitude.
¡¸I¡¯m analyzing papers by ether engineers, but they say it¡¯s hard to raise the altitude more with existing ether circuits in Astera.¡¹
¡°That¡¯s an advantage for us.¡±
¡¸Yes. It means that other countries will have a hard timending there.¡¹
Altema was no exception, but they nned to install an ion thruster so they could easily solve it.
In other words, only the Vandus barony could mine resources from the floating continent for the time being.
However, neighboring countries or territories could make a fuss about it.
It would be nice if the Bagran royal family covered them, but they were not such people.
¡°Damn, my legs are shaking.¡±
He cursed as he looked down under the railing.
They didn¡¯te here on their own.
It was proposed by Baron Vandus.
¡°Sir Olmus, I would really appreciate it if you could get on Altema and go to the floating continent. Of course, I don¡¯t mean to work there, but to act as a kind ofmander.¡±
At first, he doubted his ears.
He wondered what he was going to do with an airship, but the destination was the floating continent?
He couldn¡¯t stand it even if he was a baron, so he finally sneered.
¡°Do you have a hobby of killing people?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll let it slide once. Anyway, I want you to go there as a knight. It¡¯s a bit hard to call it a reward, but I¡¯ll give you a good medicine.¡±
The small bottle that the baron handed him contained a viscous liquid.
¡°What is this?¡±
¡°I heard that your daughter has respiratory problems¡ She can¡¯t breathe properly. If she drinks this, she¡¯ll be fine for a while.¡±
Grandon clenched the bottle impulsively.
A few people, including Carson, the administrative officer, knew about his daughter¡¯s condition, so it wasn¡¯t a big deal.
But it was a mystery where he got the medicine that improved her condition.
Because it was impossible to get the medicine even with the power of the Bagran royal family.
He asked for an exnation with his eyes, and the baron said this.
¡°I wandered around as a mercenary for more than 10 years. I heard about the medicine that the elves use then. I¡¯ll give it to you on the condition that you don¡¯t ask any more details and do me one favor.¡±
¡°The medicine of those pointy-eared bastards¡¡±
Like any other human, Grandon had a strong hatred for elves.
The only good elf for him was a dead elf.
But he had no choice but to pick the medicine after seeing his daughter struggling to breathe.
¡°Is it really¡ really okay if she drinks this?¡±
¡°I guarantee it with the name of my family. But try to refrain her from wielding a sword and running around if possible.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll do that.¡±
Leobold judged that he had taken the bait and spoke casually.
¡°Send it to your daughter as soon as possible. You¡¯ll get on the airship after I watch the situation.¡±
¡°Thank you, my lord.¡±
Grandon bowed his head sincerely to the lord for the first time.
And soon after, he received a letter as expected.
It said that Eily no longer had difficulty breathing and was running around healthily.
The maids of the pce had watched her for at least a few days, so he didn¡¯t have to doubt the effect of the medicine.
Grandon bowed his head repeatedly to the lord as a knight who couldn¡¯t cry.
¡°Thank you very much, my lord. Eily is healthy.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good news. As promised, you¡¯ll have to go to the floating continent as a knight. The journey won¡¯t be that long.¡±
Winter had passed and spring had arrived.
The deadline he had promised with Prince Ruad had already passed, but Grandon couldn¡¯t leave Vandus territory half willingly and half unwillingly.
He didn¡¯t know if he could get that medicine again.
He could have sent someone else, but he wanted to watch over his daughter¡¯s health himself.
He wrote a letter to the prince and got permission to stay in Vandus territory for a while.
And now he was on board Altema, heading to the floating continent.
¡°I can¡¯t believe it¡¡±
Everything about this expedition to the floating continent was a mystery.
ording to what he knew, it was possible to approach the floating continent by airship, but impossible to go up there.
It was an unsolved problem of ether engineering that couldn¡¯t be solved by buoyant stones.
¡®But the lord said thatnding was confirmed¡ He just said we had to pick up some resources¡¡¯
It was an unbelievable statement, but he couldn¡¯t doubt it too much after seeing his daughter¡¯s condition improve.
Especially since Vandus territory had changed a lot, it helped him erase his doubts.
¡®Last fall, it was a ce where people fled from because they were on the verge of starvation¡ But now Vandus territory is different.¡¯
Despite having a harsh winter, the children were plump and theirplexion was not bad.
There were frequent visits from merchants in the territory, and there was fiercepetition to sell herring barrels.
Not only that?
Several facilities that were abandoned defenselessly began to be repaired, and new roads were being opened.
He didn¡¯t know much about finance, but judging by Carson¡¯s bright face, he could guess roughly.
Vandus territory was enjoying a considerable boom right now.
¡®It¡¯s all thanks to one person.¡¯
To be precise, two people and a suspicious fairy, but anyway.
Grandon decided to make himselffortable.
He didn¡¯t distrust the lord, but the chances of finding something on the floating continent were very low.
¡®If there was something there, those pointy-eared bastards would have found it first.¡¯
Those elves who seemed to pop out of another world were busy nting branches of the World Tree all over Astera as if they wanted to turn the whole continent into a forest.
Even they didn¡¯t dare to go to the floating continent, let alone the dwarves who longed for the sky beyond.
¡®Then a mere baron would use some tricks tond on the floating continent¡ It¡¯s impossible.¡¯
There wouldn¡¯t be a big problem since he had permission to return if something threatened his life.
The only problem was the coldness that he couldn¡¯t get used to.
He shivered from the severe cold that attacked his body and went down below the deck.
The airship Altema was approaching the northern part of the continent before long.
He could see countless inds floating in the sky in the distance.
Chapter 205: The Changing Territory
Chapter 205: The Changing Territory
In Astera, mercenaries were indispensable for war along with Goliaths.
Most of the mercenaries needed ether sensitivity to operate Goliaths, so it was easy to mistake them for nobles, but that was not the case.
Of course, there were some who chose a life of adventure for various reasons, but most of them weremoners who happened to have ether sensitivity.
They weremonly called fragrances, and they were differentiated frommoners, but the noble society did not recognize them.
¨DThey have no title or territory. All they have is the ability to handle a little bit of ether.
¨DThey may call themselves fragrances, but who acknowledges them? Who do they pledge loyalty to as they wander the battlefields?
The nobles¡¯ indifference came from the fact that they could handle ether.
They had built a tower of authority with the ability to handle ether and received all kinds of benefits.
Now that there was a slight possibility of that copsing, they couldn¡¯t help but be anxious.
In fact, there were some fragrances who received titles for their great achievements in war.
The noble society hated those who became nobles, but that did not change the fact that they were essential for war.
The era of war.
War was everywhere and mercenaries intervened in almost every battlefield.
Most of the mercenaries were human, but sometimes other races came out.
The end of most of the mercenaries wandering the battlefield was death bybat.
¡°Everyone dreams of saving money and retiring to enjoy afortable old age, but most of them die on the battlefield. That¡¯s whytely there are many cases where they ept a decent offer and enter a territory.¡±
They called fragrances who entered a territory or a royal directmand and operated Goliaths semi-knights.
They had the title of knight, but they were different from official knights in many ways.
¡°But they still get high treatment just because they can operate Goliaths, so these days there are many mercenaries who try to get into the eyes of the nobles.¡±
¡°What¡¯s their situation now?¡±
He was talking about the mercenaries who had formed a small mercenary group under Leobold Vandus before Yujiha took over his body.
¡°Originally, Leobold lost the battle and was chased away, so the mercenary group itself was dissolved. Most of them were absorbed by other mercenary groups. But they are still holding their positions and waiting for Leobold toe back.¡±
¡°They must have been quite close.¡±
¡°It seems like they made a promise, but I couldn¡¯t figure that out.¡±
¡°What are their names?¡±
¡°I couldn¡¯t find out theirst names, but the red-haired woman is Katina and the ck-haired man with sses is Elwin.¡±
¡°Can they both operate Goliaths?¡±
¡°The woman is certain, but the man seems more suited for ether engineering than Goliath operation.¡±
¡°Either way, they are valuable talents for us.¡±
There was no one in Vandus territory who could handle Goliath engineeringly.
Lucia could engrave magic circles and use walkers to repair Goliaths, but it was impossible to improve output and add functions.
In such a situation, an ether engineer would be a great help.
¡°Katina makes fun of his origin, so he¡¯s likely to be a noble.¡±
¡°He must be from a fallen noble family. How is his rtionship with me?¡±
¡°Elwin seems to treat you as his superior. Katina is a bit less in that regard, but it seems like they had a physical rtionship.¡±
¡°An unofficial lover then¡¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think they promised anything for the future based on what they said when they drank. It was just a few times.¡±
¡°Then it¡¯s good.¡±
He had a lot to do in the future, and he couldn¡¯t afford to have a mercenary cling to him.
How about their personalities?
Katina was somewhat rough as a mercenary, but she seemed to have a minimum line.
¡°Katina is rough like a mercenary, but she seems to have some decency. Elwin¡¯s personality is just like his face.¡±
He seemed somewhat weak, but he wouldn¡¯t have survived as a mercenary for several years if that was all.
Leobold made up his mind.
¡°As long as they¡¯re notplete trash, send them a dummy and convey our intentions.¡±
¡°They don¡¯t seem to have much work anyway, so they¡¯ll probably jump at it.¡±
They could operate Goliaths, so they would be excellent forces.
Leobold kept an eye on the two in the video.
They should be incorporated into the territory by the time Altema returns.
***
Katina and Elwin jumped up when they saw the letter delivered by the messenger of Baron Vandus.
¡°Oh my God! He¡¯s alive! That big guy!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s inappropriate to call him big guy now that he¡¯s officially a baron?¡±
¡°Anyway, he¡¯s settled down! Then we have to quit this crap and go!¡±
Katina was so excited that she seemed ready to ride a horned beast right away, but Elwin was different.
He had heard various rumors about Baron Vandus as he wandered the battlefields as a mercenary, and they were not very good.
¡°It¡¯s a bit strange. There are many ominous rumors that the people of the territory are on the verge of starvation. On the other hand, there are testimonies that he made a lot of money with salt and Sardines.¡±
¡°That¡¯s how rumors are in this business. Think about it logically, he wouldn¡¯t invite us if he was in that situation, right?¡±
Elwin looked at Katina¡¯s face anew.
She was talking about logic, this ignorant woman.
¡°Why are you looking at me like that?¡±
¡°¡Nothing. Anyway, my information is limited, so we have to go and see for ourselves.¡±
They were hired by the Bagran royal family and fought on the western front.
But the war seemed to be ending, so they had to find a way to live.
The oue of the war seemed to depend on Elbrangde, but it was not something that a single mercenary had to worry about.
Anyway, they survived and had to move on to the next battlefield. Leobold, who had shared life and death with them, sent them an invitation, so their way was decided.
They had already returned Goliaths to the royal family, so they just had to leave.
¡°But a baron? Does that mean he officially inherited the title?¡±
¡°I guess you could say that. He¡¯s not just Leobold anymore, he¡¯s Baron.¡±
¡°Damn, I should have done it one more time then.¡±
Elwin looked at her with disbelief as shemented that she should have conceived his child and received the treatment of a wife.
¡°Stop dreaming and let¡¯s go.¡±
They loaded their luggage on the horned beast and left.
The rumors became more concrete as they approached the barony.
The main rumor was that he made a lot of money by distributing Sardines in an innovative way.
However, there was also a secret usation that he did not collude with the shadow elf pirates because there was nonding attack.
¡°It¡¯s very strange that they never attacked.¡±
¡°What¡¯s so strange about that?¡±
¡°Katina might not know, but it bes clear when you think about the location of the barony. Look, half of the territory is connected to the sea, right?¡±
¡°So?¡±
¡°The eastern sea of Astera is like a heaven for shadow elves. They have no countermeasures, so everyone moved their viges ind. Even Zaium Empire is in that situation, but it doesn¡¯t make sense that Baron Vandus is fine.¡±
¡°It could be a coincidence.¡±
¡°The probability is very low, but¡ well, let¡¯s say so.¡±
But it seemed that the surrounding lords did not think it was a coincidence and tried to confront the royal family directly.
Even if he was a mere baron, he was still a lord, so they couldn¡¯t touch him easily, but if the pressure became too strong, a territorial war could break out.
But Katina and Elwin didn¡¯t care about that.
They passed through the busy capital and arrived at Baron Vandus¡¯s territory.
As soon as they entered the entrance, they were greeted by a huge Golem.
Katina got off the horned beast and made a fuss.
¡°Oh my God, Elwin! There¡¯s a Golem!¡±
¡°It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve seen one. These days, the trend is to make Goliaths.¡±
The size of the Golem was smaller than the Goliath, but it had manymon parts, so it was less efficient.
It was more to the taste of the lords to use the abundant manpower rather than using expensive ether stones to operate Golems.
But Baron Vandus was using Golems to carry outrge-scale construction.
From the entrance symbol to the road and sewer construction, there was no ce without Golems.
They entered the territory with constant admiration.
The scenery in front of them waspletely different from what they had heard from the surrounding territories.
¡°Elwin! Elwin! Look at that! There¡¯s a public restroom!¡±
¡°It¡¯s still winter, but water ising out. The people of the territory seem to use it well too¡¡±
A water supply and a toilet that could be used by anyone were only avable in fairly developed capitals.
There, the roads were neatly maintained and water pipes were being built.
More than anything, Elwin noticed that the faces of the people who were mobilized for construction were bright.
¡°It seems like thebor is not forced, right? They all look fine¡¡±
¡°Should I go and ask?¡±
¡°Huh? Wait a minute!¡±
Katina ran off with her hips swaying and got an answer from the workers who were working on the construction.
¡°They pay half a silver a day!¡±
¡°Half a silver? I wonder if their finances can handle it.¡±
The rumor that he made a lot of money with salt and Sardines must have been true.
Most of the people in the territory had an obligation tobor and could be mobilized at the lord¡¯s discretion without any problem.
Of course, if they abused them or interfered with their marriage, they would be criticized.
But even such malicious acts rarely received interference from the center.
The lord was like a king of the territory.
The nobles in the center couldn¡¯t tell the lord what to do either.
That¡¯s why many people in the territory had to suffer from harshbor for dozens of days a year.
It was surprising enough to pay wages, but it was very rare to give them more than decent free people.
¡°Does he have too much money to handle? But his mansion is nothing special.¡±
Katina was surprised by the shabby two-story mansion.
¡°I thought it was just an inn, but it¡¯s the lord¡¯s residence?¡±
¡°It says so on the sign. Anyway, everyone seems busy¡¡±
They would have been interested in strangers wandering around in such a territory, but there were so many constructions and merchants that no one paid attention to them.
As they waited in front of the mansion, a maid came out.
¡°Are you Elwin and Katina?¡±
¡°Uh, yes.¡±
Not only Katina who was fidgeting her legs, but also Elwin bowed his head.
The blonde woman who was dressed as a maid had such an outstanding appearance that they thought she was a noble.
White skin was a symbol of nobility in Astera.
They didn¡¯t work under the sun, so it was a natural notion.
She ignored their gaze and bowed her head.
¡°My name is Arma Ashford. I¡¯m in charge of serving Baron exclusively. Pleasee this way.¡±
Elwin hurriedly followed her and Katina started to grumble.
¡°She must serve him at night too, right?¡±
¡°Shh. She can hear you, Katina.¡±
¡°I want her to hear me.¡±
Her voice was quite loud, but Arma who was ahead didn¡¯t seem to care much.
Soon, the door of what seemed to be the lord¡¯s office opened with a creak.
¡°The Baron is waiting for you.¡±
When they entered, they saw a big man with ck hair doing his work.
It was Leobold who had fought with them.
¡°Leo!¡±
Katina almost flew over and grabbed his hand.
¡°It¡¯s been so long!¡±
¡°¡¡±
Leobold wondered if he should go along with this for a moment and made a decision.
Since he decided to use this body anyway, he needed to adjust ordingly.
¡®He said he had been fighting on the battlefield with me for almost 10 years.¡¯
They were close enough to call each other nicknames, so it would be weird if he put up a wall here.
¡°I¡¯m d you¡¯re doing well. I¡¯m d you made it here without any trouble.¡±
His expression softened and his voice became gentle, but Katina looked a bit awkward.
He wasn¡¯t such a soft person, was he?
But looking at his face and physique, he was definitely the Leobold she knew.
Elwin came over and greeted him, and Leobold sat them down on chairs.
¡°Before we share the joy of reunion, I want to thank you foring like this.¡±
Now even Elwin felt like something was wrong.
The conversation was progressing too fast, but they came here with that intention anyway.
Elwin pushed up his old sses.
¡°The war is over, and we have to find a new job. I¡¯m d you made this offer.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t say that, it makes us look too desperate.¡±
¡°What does it matter, it¡¯s true. We have to go around looking for food for the horned beast next week.¡±
¡°The horned beast eats anything, right?¡±
¡°You know it whines if you feed it any grass¡¡±
Leobold coughed to refocus their attention.
¡°Let¡¯s get to the point¡ I want to entrust you with the Goliaths of this territory.¡±
¡°Goliaths? There were Goliaths?¡±
¡°There weren¡¯t any before, but four of them came up. Some kind people donated them to me.¡±
Katina didn¡¯t know what that meant, but Elwin knew that two mercenary groups had picked a fight and got robbed.
¡®It¡¯s almost impossible to face three of them in a short term¡¡¯
Especially with the lowest level Goliaths like Raums.
There seemed to be some story behind it, but he decided to listen more for now.
¡°All you have to do is ride those Goliaths. Normally, you train with the soldiers and patrol the territory at the same time. In wartime, you follow my orders.¡±
It was amon job for mercenaries to settle in a territory.
Katina counted to four with her fingers and tilted her head.
¡°What about the fourth one? Who¡¯s going to ride it?¡±
¡°Granden.¡±
¡°Granden? Do you mean Granden Olmus, the royal knight of Bagran?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. You¡¯re well-informed.¡±
¡°Well-informed or not, you can¡¯t talk about Bagran without mentioning him. How did you manage to bring him here?¡±
Elwin barely refrained from saying that it was a rural territory.
It was true, but if he said that in front of the person, he wouldn¡¯t get away with just a re.
¡°It¡¯s a long story.¡±
Katina¡¯s eyes sparkled at his words.
¡°We have plenty of time. Where is he?¡±
¡°He should be almost at the floating continent by now.¡±
¡°¡What?¡±
¡°The floating continent, I said¡¡±
They both leaned back their heads with a dizzy feeling.
It seemed like they had to hear a lot of stories from Leobold.
Katinaughed as they reminisced about the old days and whispered to Arma who brought them drinks.
¡°I¡¯m close with Leo, but you¡¯re not, right? I mean, you haven¡¯t known him for long¡¡±
¡°I¡¯ve never heard the Baron mention your name, Miss Katina.¡±
Of course, the contents of Leobold were an earthling named Yujiha.
But from Katina¡¯s perspective, Arma¡¯s provocative remark couldn¡¯t be ignored.
¡°¡¡±
They stared at each other¡¯s faces with cold eyes and looked away.
It seemed like they would sh a lot while living together.
***
About two weeks had passed since the airship Altema left for the floating continent.
Normally, a small country like Bagran, or even a rural territory, wouldn¡¯t see much change in such a short time.
But Baron Vandus¡¯s territory was swept by a wave of tremendous change.
He sold salt and Sardines inrge quantities and made a fortune, and then he started to overhaul the entire territory.
Most of the process was building basic facilities that werecking in the territory, and some of the people wondered about it.
¡°Usually when they make a lot of money, they try to secure Zium gold coins, but our Baron is different¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s not worth investing in us ignorant people.¡±
In Astera,moners existed and ounted for thergest proportion, but nobles didn¡¯t pay much attention to them.
They were just numbers because their social position was too low.
The nobility, who had golden ether, took care of everything until the war, so the status ofmoners declined even more.
That¡¯s why the culture of Astera was mostly divided into two.
The upper culture centered on the royal family and nobility, and the lower culture ofmoners.
The former was dazzlingly developed with artifacts rted to ether such as airships and trains, but thetter was almost stagnant for hundreds of years.
If youpare the life of an ordinarymoner 300 years ago and now, there is not much difference.
They got used to this situation so much that it was natural for them to feel curious about Baron Vandus¡¯s actions.
But from Yujiha¡¯s perspective, or rather Leobold¡¯s perspective, caring for themoners was a natural thing to do.
¡°I need their help if I want to develop this ce to the 20th century level without artificial intelligence. I have to educate them.¡±
The basic infrastructure he wasying down was also just preparation for educating them.
He had to solve the housing and food problems first in order to make a proper curriculum.
Would anyone care about letters if they and their families were starving?
He sent Altema to the floating continent for that reason too.
There was a limit to how much money he could make by selling salt and Sardines.
He had to make a lot of money from that resource base in order to secure funds for developing his territory.
Of course, Settler and Mining Ship had a huge amount of wealthpared to this era and could also mine more.
But he needed at least some excuse.
He found that excuse when he arrived at the floating continent with Altema and encountered an unexpected existence there.
Granden, themander, contacted him urgently through themunication device.
¡°My lord, we have a problem.¡±
¡°What kind of problem?¡±
¡°It¡¯s¡ It¡¯s a dragon. A dragon has appeared.¡±
He stuttered as if he was shocked.
That calm Granden did.
¡°A dragon¡ Isn¡¯t that a story from 200 years ago?¡±
¡°I understand that you don¡¯t believe me. I feel like I¡¯m crazy too. But what we saw was definitely, I¡¯m sure it was a dragon!¡±
It seemed like it was real.
Chapter 206: The Last Dragon
Chapter 206: The Last Dragon
The Asterians did not know much about the floating continent.
All they knew was that it was extremely cold.
However, rumors spread as arge military force was stationed there and merchants came and went to buy resources.
¡ªThe floating continent is the base of the demons.
¡ªSome elf adventurer managed to get up there, and there was a branch of the World Tree there too.
¡ªI don¡¯t care about anything else, but there is definitely a dragon there. I saw its wings clearly.
¡ªEven a specific testimony came out that the dragon had blue wings and breathed fire from its mouth.
Despite these rumors, no one had actually been there.
It was impossible to reach the floating continent with a ship equipped with floatstones.
Even thergest airship built by the great houses of Elvrande concluded that it was difficult tond on the floating continent.
Some predicted that it might be possible to ride a strong updraft, but no one dared to try.
There were all kinds of turbulence around the floating continent, and it was dangerous to get caught in them.
Thus, even after 200 years since the floating continent rose, nothing was known about its ecosystem, resources, or anything else.
Even the exact time and cause of the floating continent¡¯s rise were unknown.
It was because the elves hid the history of the dragon war.
Anyway, because of these rumors, the crew of the Altemaho sailed very carefully.
As they approached the floating continent, the turbulence became worse and the ship rocked as if it would capsize at any moment, but they could not turn back.
It was because Granden, who imed to be a guard knight of the capital, shouted at them.
¡°This ship cost tens of golds already! Do you want to waste that money? Do you want to go back to the lord without even trying tond on the floating continent?¡±
Captain Hampton wanted to remind him of his promise with the lord that he would return if the ship was in danger, but he was afraid of the sword hanging on Granden¡¯s waist.
A sword nearby was more frightening than a document in the captain¡¯s room.
Of course, Granden, who imed to be an honorable knight, would not swing it at amoner.
Anyway, Altemaho continued to sail stubbornly in a precarious situation.
And finally, they broke through the sea of clouds and witnessed the true face of the floating continent.
They would have marveled at the magnificent scenery if it weren¡¯t for the strange creature that suddenly appeared in the sky.
¡°Captain, what is that?¡±
¡°Oh, oh? It¡¯sing this way!¡±
The huge creature with dark blue wings roared as soon as it spotted Altemaho.
¡ªThis is not and granted to you!
Suddenly, dark clouds gathered and heavy rain poured down.
Thunder and lightning began to strike.
It looked like the end of the world to the frightened crew.
¡°Aaaah!¡±
¡°The sky is copsing!¡±
¡°Get a hold of yourselves! It¡¯s just rain!¡±
Even Granden, who shouted like that, shuddered at the sight of the blue wings between the white lightning.
¡®Is that a dragon?¡¯
The legendary creature that had not shown itself since the dragon war 200 years ago?
He tried to see it clearly by leaning on the railing, but it was not easy.
The ship rocked as if it would flip over and it was dark because of the clouds and rain.
He hurriedly ran into the captain¡¯s room and put his hand on themunicator.
¡°What we saw was definitely, I¡¯m sure it was a dragon!¡±
As soon as he finished reporting, there was a loud noise as if the sky was torn apart.
And Altemaho tilted slowly to the left and lost altitude and began to descend.
It was not due to any maniption by the crew.
¡°¡I wanted to see my daughter healthy¡¡±
Granden muttered and closed his eyes.
But he did not die.
Some exploration ships ejected from Sibiri satellite at low orbit caught Altema in time.
¡°Altitude is recovering.¡±
¡°What was that attack? It looked like a fireball stretching horizontally.¡±
¡°It is estimated to be Lightning Breath unique to Blue Dragons.¡±
¡°Dragons actually existed¡¡±
He could confirm its existence by looking at its clear image on gravity radar.
Its length was about 50 meters and its weight was close to 2,500 tons.
It was smaller than gue Beast ss, but it was amazing considering it was a carbon-based life form.
¡°Maybe it¡¯s not even carbon-based.¡±
¡°It has been confirmed that it breathes.¡±
He had too many questions about it.
He wanted to catch it and ask questions, but it didn¡¯t seem like it would listen obediently.
¡°It might have some story behind hiding in the floating continent after the dragon war.¡±
Arma checked the records and tilted his head.
¡°It hid in the clouds right after breathing. Maybe it¡¯s surprisingly cowardly?¡±
¡°A dragon is cowardly¡ A race that fought against the gods?¡±
¡°Maybe it survived the war by being cowardly andsted until today.¡±
Well, there was no rule that only the strong survived.
¡°Survived the war and hid in the floating continent for 200 years¡ It feels like a deserter.¡±
Leobold was curious about itsbat power.
Could it reallypete with the gods?
Or was it just a big lizard?
¡°Prepare the assault armor. Let¡¯s test it.¡±
¡°Understood.¡±
The assault armor ejected from Settler pierced through the darkness and flew toward Bandas territory.
***
Blue Dragon Zigarion hid in the clouds and watched the airship through True Eye magic.
¡ªWhat are they? How did they get here?
It was almost impossible to reach the floating continent with a ship equipped with floatstones.
That¡¯s why Zigarion lived alone for 200 years.
There was an ecosystem on this barrennd, and he could livefortably as a king there.
Of course, such a seclusion was not befitting of the dragon¡¯s reputation, who fought against the gods in the past.
But Zigarion was a coward.
He hid from the champions of the gods and the elves during the dragon war because he was afraid of them.
He didn¡¯t understand the dragons like Altema who had a solemn mission and fought cruel battles.
¡ªI¡¯m not Altema! I just need to live moderately. What mission? What mission?
So he pretended to participate in the war and ran away, hiding on the floating continent that was rising at that time.
¡ªProtecting my life is the most important thing.
He sometimes wanted to go down to the changing ground after the war, but he held back.
¡ªThis is not and granted to you!
He roared as soon as he spotted Altemaho and summoned dark clouds.
He poured heavy rain and struck thunder and lightning.
He hoped they would turn back, but they didn¡¯t.
They broke through the sea of clouds and approached his territory.
Zigarion panicked and breathed out his Lightning Breath.
It was his strongest attack, but also hisst resort.
He couldn¡¯t use it again for a while after using it once.
He hoped they would fall, but they didn¡¯t.
Some small ships came out of nowhere and supported them.
Zigarion felt a chill down his spine.
¡ªThey are different from before. They are dangerous.
He quickly hid in the clouds again and watched them cautiously.
He saw them preparing something that looked like weapons.
¡ªThey are going to attack me. They are going to kill me.
Zigarion felt fear and anger at the same time.
¡ªHow dare they invade mynd? How dare they threaten my life?
He decided to fight back.
He had no choice but to fight back.
He didn¡¯t know when those annoying champions of the gods or his kin would pop up.
¡ªI hate those cursed golems that attack me whenever they see me, but I hate those who babble about the great cause even more.
The great cause was that dragons should once again rule over Astera.
They argued that since thend was gued by endless wars and conflicts, only the absolute power of dragons could bring order to everything.
Altema was the representative dragon who advocated for this cause, and he had the absolute support of his kin.
But to Zigarion, he looked like a mad dragon.
¡ªA war to end all wars? What a nonsense!
¡ªI won¡¯t stop you from doing whatever you want, but please don¡¯t force it on me. It¡¯s annoying.
That¡¯s how Zigarion hid in the floating continent for 200 years.
It was a long time that would have driven any ordinary race insane, but he endured it surprisingly well.
He was sometimes bored, but he could watch thend through True Eye, so it wasn¡¯t such a bad life.
¡ªThe elves are expanding at an astonishing rate. They are really scary.
¡ªBut what is this about returning what humans did to them? It wasn¡¯t this bad, was it?
Zigarion had a longer lifespan than elves, so he remembered the history of Astera rtively vividly.
There was such a time in the past.
A time when various races and monsters of Astera lived together.
At that time, humans were the mainstream of the continent, and elves lived in the forest, so they didn¡¯t have much contact.
But no one can live alone forever.
The first human who intruded into the forest encountered an elf, and that¡¯s how the exchange began.
However, that exchange was not always positive.
The civilian massacres and very that elves were currently inflicting on humans also urred back then.
But as far as Zigarion remembered, it wasn¡¯t that massive.
¡ªThe elves im that they have been oppressed by humans for hundreds of years, but it wasn¡¯t that bad.
¡ªThere were definitely ves, but they are exaggerating some cases.
If human¡¯s original sin was 1, then elves were returning more than 10 times.
Zigarion knew this better than anyone, but he didn¡¯t feel the need to intervene and tell them.
¡ªIf I tell them, those horrible elves might invade the floating continent¡
What mattered to him was not the truth, but the peaceful daily life.
That¡¯s how Zigarion enjoyed his life as the king of the floating continent while watching thend.
There was nothing but monsters in the floating continent, but it wasn¡¯t so bad.
If only that airship hadn¡¯t suddenly appeared one day, his peace wouldn¡¯t have been broken.
He couldn¡¯t forgive the airship that invaded his territory, but he was also afraid of it.
¡ªCould it be that elves have found a way tond on the floating continent?
That would be a disaster.
He didn¡¯t know if his peace that he had maintained for 200 years would be shattered.
He was restless until he came to the conclusion that he had to do something about the airship.
He couldn¡¯t reveal hisir like this.
¡ªThis is not yournd!
The king of the floating continent!
The blue dragon Zigarion is here!
He fired a lightning breath at the airship that invaded his territory and hid in the clouds.
He was afraid of retaliation, but it didn¡¯t happen.
Zigarion felt his courage rise as he flew through the clouds.
¡ªIt¡¯s just an airship. There¡¯s no reason to be scared!
But he couldn¡¯t help hiding in the clouds and watching the movements of the airship.
When the airshipnded on the ground and stopped moving, Zigarion finally came out.
¡ªIt¡¯s a bit small. It doesn¡¯t look like an elf¡¯s airship from the decorations.
All airships built in Elbrande had a symbol of World Tree on their bow.
It was typical of elves who worshiped trees as gods, but there was some reason for it since World Tree was so huge.
It could be seen from the floating continent as well. That said it all.
Zigarion observed the airship for a while, but nothing seemed unusual.
¡ªIs it a human ship that got swept away by turbulence?
Then there¡¯s no reason to be scared of it.
He was about to step forward confidently when something popped out of the sea of clouds.
It was so fast that even Zigarion couldn¡¯t tell what it was.
¡°Deploy gravity brake, ether thruster reverse thrust.¡±
That¡¯s how an assault armornded on the floating continent.
Leobold was riding this assault armor, which had detached its honeybird wing pack and camouged itself with hologram.
So to Zigarion, it looked like a two-legged Goliath.
Of course, it was much bigger than the recent Goliaths, but it was not much different from a dragon¡¯s perspective.
He knew that Goliaths were stronger than they looked, but they were no match for him.
Maybe if a group of Elven Knights armed with grand magic circles came at him, it would be a different story.
Naturally, Zigarion¡¯s shoulders twitched and lightning flickered from his nostrils.
¡ªYou dare to invade my territory, you mortal! You must have something worth risking your life for!
Arma quickly deciphered the dragon¡¯s words and disyed them on Leobold¡¯s sight.
¡°Is that so?¡±
¡®You¡¯re a cowardly dragon who talks big.¡¯
They had already calcted this blue dragon.
His lightning breath was powerful, but it couldn¡¯tpare to the etherser or railgun that the gue superiors shot.
More importantly, it was too slow.
It barely broke the sound barrier, so it was impossible to catch up with the assault armor¡¯s movements.
¡®Arma, warn him a bit. If he listens to me here, I won¡¯t kill him.¡¯
He rubbed the seal magic circle that Lucia had engraved on his chest and erased it.
Instantly, the ether circuit activated and a huge amount of ether poured in from the settler¡¯s fusion reactor.
A golden glow burst out of the assault armor, and Zigarion was stunned for a moment.
¡ªThis, this is¡
It was an ether that rivaled Altema, who had fought fiercely in the dragon war 200 years ago.
Who the hell was inside that thing?
¡ªCould it be¡ a dragon?
***
¡°I confirmed the effect of ether blocking. It seems that a certain metal in the floating continent erases the presence of dragons.¡±
¡®That proves that the ether blocker was developed here.¡¯
But judging by Astera¡¯s level of civilization, he was somewhat puzzled.
The reason was that their technology level was woefully inadequate, except for some fields where they had amazing artifacts of magic.
Therefore, it was a realistic judgment that the civilization of the prophet was hidden somewhere.
¡®Our goal is to find that ce, and even meet the prophet. We must not forget that.¡¯
¡°In order to do that, we need to beat up that dragon and get some knowledge out of it.¡±
Violence was not such a good method, but it was also true that there were not many other ways tomunicate.
¡®Especially if the opponent is a dragon. I guess I have to use a coercive method here.¡¯
His will was transmitted to the assault armor through the central nervous system fluid.
Dingo was an old-timer who had been made over 100 years ago, but thanks to dozens of repairs, he could somewhat ept his will.
Zigaleon chose to confront rather than flee, sensing his fighting will.
¨DI must have been excited and mistaken something! There¡¯s no way that mechanical doll can spew out such ether!
It was a glow caused by the assault armor receiving too much ether from the fusion reactor, but Zigaleon did not know that.
¨DLightning Breath! It¡¯s the attack that terrorized the Astera continent 200 years ago!
Of course, he had never fought in the dragon war 200 years ago, as he had only run away.
Leobold got bored watching when the breath would be spewed out.
¡®Too slow.¡¯
When synchronized with the assault armor, he could judge and move the machine in 0.005-second units.
The blue dragon opened its mouth and electricity radiated in that short time, but it felt like an incredibly long time to him.
Arma warned him after waiting for a while.
¡°It would be better to avoid the Lightning Breath.¡±
¡®Let¡¯s try blocking it with a sma shield first.¡¯
The assault armor itself was not so weak either.
It would be like a fly in front of an etherser or an ion cannon fired by a gue-ss ship, but this dragon was not that much.
Zigaleon was furious when he saw that the mechanical doll did not dodge and poured out his breath.
¨DDie!
High-energy sma spewed out like a fireball.
Leobold deployed a sma shield to block the front instead of avoiding it in a situation where he could avoid it.
A golden lightning that seemed to burn his eyes swept over the assault armor and the ground together.
¨DHuff, huff¡ It must be dead by now.
Zigaleon gasped and confirmed his victory.
No matter how advanced the civilization on the ground was, they could not block his breath.
He was a bit exhausted from using it twice a day, but he would recover if he rested in Lare.
He blinked his yellow eyes in fatigue and witnessed an unbelievable sight.
The thing, the mechanical doll, was alive!
¨DWhat, what is it? How did it block my breath?
¡®Not bad power.¡¯
The blue dragon¡¯s breath was definitely great and prated the sma shield.
But it was not enough to inflict damage on the assault armor specialized for ultra-high mobilitybat in space.
¡°Judging by the damage rate of the outer armor te, the Lightning Breath just now is simr to a gue Beast-ss,¡± Arma said.
It meant that it would be hit hard enough by a halfnium2 warhead if it had the same destructive power as its size.
¡®What about weaker weapons? Let¡¯s test it.¡¯
The arm unit of the assault armor popped out and changed into a railgun barrel.
It was a regr armament, but it had never been used because it was useless against gues.
But what about dragons?
As soon as the assault armor started firing two railguns, Zigaleon was dumbfounded.
¨DWhat, what are you shooting?
He didn¡¯t know what it was, but it was incredibly fast and painful.
He hastily cast a barrier magic, but the kic energy carried by the bullet easily prated it.
That¡¯s how dozens of bullets hit Zigaleon¡¯s whole body.
¨DGraaaah!
He couldn¡¯t stand the terrible pain and fainted on the spot.
His huge body began to fall without resistance.
Chapter 207: Being on the Floating Continent
Chapter 207: Being on the Floating Continent
¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±
¨DZigarion¡ that¡¯s me.
¡°How old are you?¡±
¨DHow many loaves of bread have you eaten in your life¡ wait! I think I¡¯m at least 700 years old!
As the arm unit of the assault armor descended, Zigarion rolled his yellow eyes.
He had no idea what they were shooting at him, but it hurt enough to make him scream in his dragon body.
What was more annoying was that it wasn¡¯t a Goliath.
He sneaked a peek through his True Eye and saw that its appearance resembled a bird.
And he had to endure another mysterious attack as a price for using magic.
The strange human with ck hair who rode the strange Goliath warned him.
¡°If you use magic one more time, I¡¯ll make you feel the heat again. By the way, that attack was the minimum.¡±
¨DThe minimum?
¡°Yeah. If I raise the output to the maximum, I can¡¯t guarantee that your body will be preserved.¡±
Zigarion wanted to shout defiantly, but he was too timid to do so.
Instead, he grumbled that it was cowardly and got hit by a railgun.
¨DStop! Stop it!
¡°You attacked me. Therefore, your life depends on me. Don¡¯t forget that.¡±
He was interrogated for almost an hour after that, and his knowledge was leaked bit by bit.
From his name to his age, from his level of magic to his ancient memories and knowledge.
Of course, this interrogation was not gentle.
Leobold mercilessly fired railgun bullets whenever he felt dissatisfied with the answer.
Zigarion tried to block them with his barrier, but he got exhausted and started to whine in a corner.
¨DDamn¡ hitting me where I¡¯m already hurt! Even the elves weren¡¯t this cruel!
¡°Let¡¯s start with the dragon war that happened 200 years ago. You¡¯ve been hiding on the floating continent since then, right?¡±
¨DI don¡¯t¡ remember.
¡°You were bragging about terrorizing the continent when you fought me earlier.¡±
¨DThat, that was just a bluff. I didn¡¯t like the cause that my kin forced on me, so I hid¡
¡°What cause?¡±
¨DWe were supposed to rule over Astera.
¡°Why? It doesn¡¯t seem like a simple vanity for a dragon. Did you have a goal?¡±
¨DTo end all conflicts by bing the rulers of the continent. Some dragons liked that idea, but I thought it was absurd.
¡°A conflict to end conflicts. Did you know what Altema did? The dragon who caused all this.¡±
¨DAltema was the most insane¡ no, fanatical follower of the cause among them.
¡°Why?¡±
¨DWhy?
¡°Was there a reason why he was so fanatical about the cause? He wasn¡¯t just a crazy dragon.¡±
¨DI don¡¯t know, how would I know?
¡°How strong was he? Compared to you.¡±
Zigarion snorted and realized that this was not a simple question.
If he rated himself high, he would underestimate her who almost destroyed the world.
If he rated himself low, his pride would not allow it.
¨DUm¡ slightly above average¡
¡°So most of the dragons were about your level? Not so impressive then.¡±
Leobold¡¯s eyes showed contempt for the entire race of dragons.
Well, it was understandable since his attacks didn¡¯t work and he was only beaten and interrogated.
Zigarion felt indignant.
He didn¡¯t care about himself, but he couldn¡¯t stand his kin being insulted.
He had heard how strong Altema or Vkas were, even though he didn¡¯t participate in the war directly.
¨DDamn it, I was at the bottom! And it was hard to find anyone lower than me!
Leobold finally looked satisfied.
¡°You should have said that from the beginning. So to sum up, you didn¡¯t do much in the dragon war 200 years ago and you¡¯ve been hiding on the floating continent ever since? Why didn¡¯t youe down after the war ended?¡±
¨DIn case there were any surviving kin¡
¡°You were afraid of being pushed by stronger beings who followed the cause.¡±
¨DThat¡¯s what I mean¡ are you human?
¡°What do you mean?¡±
¨DYour ether is strange and you don¡¯t look like a human at all.
Indeed, Leobold had an ether responseparable to gue¡¯s gship-ss ship.
Normally, his body and ether circuit would be different, so he couldn¡¯t use 100% of his power, but that was enough to surprise him.
¡°Think whatever you want.¡±
¨DTsk, you threaten me and take my information but you don¡¯t tell me anything.
¡°I won.¡±
Leobold approached Zigarion¡¯s huge head and leaned in close to his face.
¡°I spared your life out of mercy even though I won. You better remember that.¡±
¨D¡
Zigarion couldn¡¯t breathe properly under that terrifying pressure.
What was this force that oppressed a dragon?
Did he have a champion among his ancestors?
Or was he of dragon blood?
While he imagined all sorts of things, Leobold spoke as if he was being generous.
¡°Leobold Vandus. That¡¯s my name.¡±
¨DLeobold?
¡°Have you heard of it before?¡±
¨DNo, it¡¯s just that it sounds simr to my name. Zigarion, Leobold¡ don¡¯t they sound alike?
For a moment, Leobold felt the urge to smash his giant head, but he barely restrained himself.
¡®What a cowardly and stupid dragon.¡¯
If all dragons were like him, the god who fought them would not be so remarkable.
But it was certain that this being was quite inferior among the dragons.
The interrogation continued for a long time, but there was not much new information.
The damn dragon had been ying king on the floating continent for 200 years.
He did get some information about the dragon¡¯sbat power, but that wasn¡¯t why he came here.
He dered in front of Zigarion, who was looking at him nervously.
¡°You called yourself the king of the floating continent? Sorry, but thisnd is mine now.¡±
***
Zigarion¡¯s face changed drastically.
¨DWhat, what are you talking about?
¡°I¡¯m the only owner here since you surrendered to me. No other race cane here anyway.¡±
¨DI did surrender, but I didn¡¯t¡
Zigarion shut his mouth after saying that.
He would rather die than get hit by that beam of light again.
But he couldn¡¯t ept his sovereignty and back down either.
The floating continent was thest unknownnd in Astera, a safe haven from the elves and humans.
He had nowhere else to run.
Leobold saw his dilemma and offered him a proposal.
¡°I know you¡¯re in a tough spot. So I¡¯ll make you an offer.¡±
¨DWhat, what kind of offer?
¡°Make a contract with me. I¡¯ll treat you with some respect since you¡¯re a dragon and a former ruler of thisnd.¡±
Zigarion felt tempted by his words of saving face.
He realized that this was not the time to hide anything.
His judgment was not very high, but he knew that if he missed this opportunity, the human in front of him would act outrageously.
¡®How can a human be more violent than an elf! What¡¯s wrong with the world¡¡¯
It was no useining.
He had to make a choice.
But he had to hear the terms first.
¨DI, I want to hear the details.
¡°Help me and I¡¯ll give you what you want. There are plenty of resources on this floating continent, but ether stones are scarce. I¡¯ll give you those.¡±
When did he finish such an investigation?
Zigarion felt his eyes widen at the mention of ether stones.
¨DHow, how many?
¡°As much as you need.¡±
Dragons were not usually carbon-based life forms.
If he had eaten animals as he pleased with his huge body, the ecosystem of the floating continent would have been destroyed by now.
Zigarion confessed that he didn¡¯t eat, but consumed ether stones.
To be precise, he absorbed the ether stored in the ether stones.
Dragons needed a lot of ether stones for their size, but they were scarce on the floating continent.
As a result, he had to dig the ground like a peasant to get them.
He could have easily gotten them if he had gone down to the ground, but he would have been stalked by the elves.
Zigarion puffed up his chest.
¨DDo you know how much those pure ether stones are worth¡
¡°That¡¯s enough for now.¡±
Leobold snapped his fingers and a golem came in with ether stones and dumped them on the floor before leaving.
It wasn¡¯t really a golem, but a walker, but Zigarion didn¡¯t care.
His eyes were fixed on the glittering ether stones rolling around on the floor.
¡°If you ept my contract, I¡¯ll supply you with those every month. As you can see, they are very pure. I¡¯m proud to say that they are iparable to the ether stones made by amateur magicians.¡±
Ether stones could be made as much as he wanted on the Settler.
He could have made a lot of money by selling them, but he needed to create demand first, so it was still difficult.
The reason why he was persuading him like this was because it was hard topletely subdue the dragon.
He had lost in battle, but his power was not negligible, and Leobold couldn¡¯t control him with his own strength alone.
So it was better to coax him gently and get what he wanted than to beat him up and make him rebellious.
It looked like he was luring a street animal, but Zigarion didn¡¯t seem to notice.
¨DYou¡¯ll supply me with those pure ether stones every month¡ what do I have to do for you?
¡°Recognize my rule over this floating continent and exclude other forces. If elves or other humans try toe up here, chase them away.¡±
¨DThat¡¯s not a hard condition. Anything else?
¡°Come to my domain and lend me your power when I need it. By the way, my domain is on the west coast of the continent.¡±
¨DYou¡¯re a nobleman, I see. What if I show myself as a dragon to humans?
¡°Of course you have to live as a human. What I want from you is not your weakbat power, but your magical ability.¡±
Zigarion was furious, but he calmed down when he nced at the Goliath.
¡°Since we¡¯re talking about it, I want to see you transform into a human.¡±
¨DHmph¡ it¡¯s called polymorph. It¡¯s the first time I show it to a human, so be honored¡ ah, fine. I¡¯ll do it quickly.¡±
A momentter, the huge blue dragon disappeared and a young man with blue hair appeared.
Leobold tilted his head.
¡®I can¡¯t believe it even if I see it. Where did 2,500 tons of mass go?¡¯
¡¸Hyperspace¡ or what they call subspace here. He hid it in another dimension. The gravity also disappeared.¡¹
¡®Then it¡¯s not polymorph but physical summoning magic.¡¯
He approached Zigarion and plucked a hair from his head and handed it to the walker.
¡°Ouch! What are you doing!¡±
¡°Hmm¡ you look human enough, but¡¡±
Zigarion was subjected to various tests and barely escaped from his hands.
¡°Ho, how dare you touch the body of a dragon!¡±
¡°I¡¯m annoyed by touching a male body too, so shut up. Do you need to eat in this state?¡±
¡°I have to eat to maintain this body. I¡¯m picky, so you better prepare some decent food.¡±
¡°Eat whatever you get. You stand out too much, so just say you¡¯re a foreign nobleman. You¡¯ll be staying at my ce for a while.¡±
¡°Hmph¡ I guess I have no choice.¡±
Zigarion took out a mirror and stroked his hair.
He was forced toe down to the ground for the first time in 200 years, but he didn¡¯t feel bad.
¡®But he wants me to live on ether stones he supplies¡ how pitiful.¡¯
Well, it was better than digging the ground on the floating continent.
As Zigarion started to pack hisir, Leobold came over and looked at him.
¡°You¡¯ve collected a lot of ore for 200 years.¡±
¡°I have a collection of shiny jewels here too.¡±
He proudly showed his collection, which was impressive even to Leobold.
He didn¡¯t know that there were so many colorful gems buried on the floating continent.
He wasn¡¯t very interested in jewels, but he didn¡¯t deny their value.
¡°Give them all to me. There¡¯s a lot of useful stuff for their.¡±
¡°What are you talking about? Do you know how much these are worth?¡±
Zigarion ran around and heard Leobold¡¯s words.
¡°Think of your future. Do you want to be satisfied as the king of monsters on the floating continent with no one to support you, or do you want to be the guardian of the domain and be recognized by many people? It¡¯s up to you.¡±
Zigarion¡¯s eyes lit up at the words of being recognized by humans.
¡°Your domain is not that big, I heard¡¡±
¡°It is now. My domain will grow rapidly with the resources of the floating continent. And do you think the airship came here by chance? I knew there were resources here. And I have the power to defeat a dragon.¡±
It was an amazing thing, but it wasn¡¯t wrong.
Now Zigarion began to imagine the scene of his domain developing rapidly.
And he also imagined himself being loved and respected by many people in it.
It was an irresistible temptation for him who had been alone for 200 years.
¡°Hmm, it¡¯s not bad¡¡±
¡°That territory might be a nation and develop into an empire. I need your help there.¡±
¡°A guardian of the empire¡¡±
He felt like he was almost persuaded.
¡°I¡¯ll also pay attention to your image building, so let¡¯s do well.¡±
There was no more reclusive dragon.
The guardian dragon, who was the emperor¡¯s loyal friend and received reverence from countless imperial citizens, raised his head.
¡°¡Fine. I¡¯ll follow your words.¡±
¡°You made a good choice.¡±
Leobold patted his shoulder.
Arma sent him a message through his vision.
¡¸I feel like I sold a possible future.¡¹
¡®Shush.¡¯
He pretended not to know and sent Zigarion outside.
Now he only had to wake up the crew members under Granden and mine the resources.
***
¡°Uh¡¡±
Granden groaned and got up.
When he came to his senses, he was on the deck of the airship.
He shook his head and woke up the crew members under Hampton.
¡°Get up, get up!¡±
¡°Hmm¡ Huh!¡±
¡°What, what is this? What happened?¡±
They all got up and looked around.
The ce where the airshipnded was a barrennd.
The weather was chilly but not too cold.
Granden and Hampton leaned on the railing and looked at the barrennd, then said at the same time.
¡°Could this be the Floating Continent?¡±
¡°It seems so. I can¡¯t believe it, but¡¡±
It was a miracle that they escaped from the attack of that blue-winged dragon.
They didn¡¯t know why the crashing airship was intact.
The crew members checked the engine and other equipment and reported that there was no major problem.
¡°Can we fly now?¡±
¡°Yes! We have enough buoyancy! We can start anytime!¡±
¡°Then let¡¯s¡¡±
Hampton was about to give an order, but Granden stopped him.
He looked at the scenery in the distance with his knight¡¯s vision.
¡°Amazing¡¡±
¡°What is amazing? Sir, sir!¡±
Granden walked down from the ship as if he was bewitched by something.
Soon he picked up a small pebble.
It was a pretty yellow pebble.
Hampton, who followed him, widened his eyes when he saw it.
¡°Sir, is that¡¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know much about minerals, but this seems to be gold, doesn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°Let me check.¡±
Hampton¡¯s hand trembled as he bit the pebble with yellow light mixed in it.
¡°Gold, this is definitely gold. My God, gold is rolling on the ground¡¡±
¡°This must be simr to the open-pit gold mine in Elvrande.¡±
There were many gold mines in Astera, but they had to break rocks with greatbor to barely find gold veins.
But there was an open-pit gold mine in Elvrande.
They proudly revealed it and everyone who went there was amazed.
It was literally a ce where gold nuggets rolled on the ground.
The size of the gold nuggets was small, but it was definitely enviable that they could mine without muchbor.
Every country coveted that open-pit gold mine, but they couldn¡¯t do anything about it because it was in
¡¯s territory.
¡°But now we don¡¯t need to do that.¡±
¡°Because there is gold here¡¡±
And they didn¡¯t need to invest a lot ofbor either.
They just had to walk around and pick up pebbles.
Compared to this ce, the rumored Elvrande open-pit gold mine seemed pitiful.
¡°But can we take this? There is that dragon here.¡±
Hampton¡¯s voice trembled so that anyone could tell he was afraid.
Of course, Granden felt the same way.
In front of that huge creature, a knight¡¯s existence was infinitely powerless.
If they had Goliath with them, they might have resisted a bit, but they couldn¡¯t bring it with them.
He grabbed Hampton¡¯s shoulder and pleaded with him.
¡°First of all, calm down the crew and collect the gold. We¡¯ll weigh it before loading it on the ship, so don¡¯t try to steal anything.¡±
¡°Of course. But what about the dragon?¡±
¡°¡I don¡¯t have a good idea either. We have no choice but to load the gold as quickly as possible and leave this ce.¡±
¡°Speed is the key then. Hey! You! Come down here!¡±
It was when Hampton shouted loudly.
A rough wind blew in the air and a creature with blue wingsnded on the ground.
Granden reflexively drew his sword, but felt cold sweat running down his forehead.
It was a dragon he had only heard of in legends.
A dragon that was thought to have gone extinct in the Great War 200 years ago was staring at him with yellow eyes.
¡®Damn, I¡¯m going to die here.¡¯
He wasn¡¯t afraid of death, but he regretted not seeing healthy Eily again.
As he prepared for death and gripped his sword, Zigarion began to act as nned.
¨DHmm¡ It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve seen humans. I¡¯ll give you a gift for being the first ones to set foot on my territory. It¡¯s a gift from me, the blue dragon Zigarion, so be grateful.
Granden remembered the name Zigarion clearly even in his tense state.
It was a legendary species that was thought to have disappeared, talking to him.
¨DI¡¯ll allow you to take the resources of the Floating Continent.
¡°You¡¯re, you¡¯re allowing us?¡±
¨DYes. Go and tell them! Only you can mine the resources of the Floating Continent! I, Zigarion, am the owner and protector of this ce!
His wings moved fiercely and the atmosphere shook.
Clouds gathered as if by magic and lightning shed.
Granden clenched his teeth and red at the blue dragon flying into the sky.
There was a thud from behind and Hampton copsed.
¡°We survived in front of a dragon¡¡±
¡°It seems so. Is it luck?¡±
He wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Surviving from the dragon was important, of course, but there was a more important issue.
The fact that he was allowed to take the resources here.
He didn¡¯t know if it was a one-time deal or a long-term promise, but for now it seemed that there was no problem taking this gold to his territory.
He grabbed Hampton¡¯s hand and helped him up.
¡°I know it¡¯s hard, but let¡¯s move. Let¡¯s leave before the dragon changes his mind.¡±
¡°You¡¯re strong, sir. I¡¯m still shaking¡¡±
In fact, he was the same.
He just tried not to show his trembling hands to the crew.
Soon the crew members who came to their senses started picking up pebbles with gold in them.
Gold piled up in the empty hold.
Chapter 208: Give Me the Money
Chapter 208: Give Me the Money
A month had passed since Altema left for the floating continent.
The atmosphere in the Vandus barony was one of resignation.
There was no news at all.
¡°They said they took amunication device with them, so shouldn¡¯t there be some reports in real time?¡±
¡°If there¡¯s no word from the lord by now, it means¡ they failed.¡±
¡°But how fast is the airship? Maybe they haven¡¯t arrived yet?¡±
Everyone just blinked their eyes.
As most rural domains were, they had little information about airships.
The only sure things they knew were that they could fly in the sky and that they were expensive to operate.
And that was only after hearing Carson, the administrator,in about it.
¡°I feel sorry for the administrator. He¡¯ll have to pay for the operation costs when the shipes back.¡±
¡°I thought we¡¯d finally make some money with Sardines, but we spent it all on construction and the airship. It¡¯s not fun at all.¡±
¡°The administrator¡¯s face is wrinkled because of that.¡±
¡°What if, just what if, the airship doesn¡¯te back¡¡±
That was actually the biggest problem.
Altema was treated as a white elephant, but it was still the property of the royal family.
If it sank, it wouldn¡¯t end with just an apology.
But what Carson was worried about was more than that.
Of course, the airship was expensive, but the current wealth of the domain was enough to cover it.
The real problem was the contract that the lord made with the merchants of Denova before the airship departed.
¡®Why on earth did he make such a contract¡¡¯
Denova, amercial city located south of the sea, was a rather peculiar city.
The merchants wanted a pure city that was not influenced by political movements, and this worked well to establish the foundation of Denova.
Numerous goods and talents gathered there, and thanks to that, Denova achieved an amazing growth in its short history of several decades.
Now, Denova was the bestmercial city on the continent with its own military power.
They said there were more than 100panies and investors in Denova.
It was a kind of joint-stockpany concept, but Carson understood that much, but he couldn¡¯t understand how they bought and sold rights.
¡®What does it mean to buy and sell rights to the sess of this expedition? Isn¡¯t it just gambling?¡¯
The problem started when the merchants from Denova came to the domain.
They showed great interest in the airship¡¯s expedition to the floating continent after meeting with the lord.
¡°You¡¯re challenging that mirage? The sess rate won¡¯t be high.¡±
¡°But I¡¯m confident. Altema will bring us glory and wealth as its name suggests.¡±
¡°Gold Dragon Altema¡ If you believe in that, why don¡¯t you make a contract with us?¡±
¡°What kind of contract are you talking about?¡±
At this point, the merchants¡¯ expressions twisted slightly.
Carson knew that it was their characteristic sneer and tried to dissuade the lord, but he proceeded with the contract alone.
As a result, a contract between Vandus Baron and South Continent Joint Stock Company was ced in the administration office.
The two documents with two seals contained a terrible content.
¡ªVandus Baron and South Continent Joint Stock Company agree to the above contract.
¡ªVandus Baron will trade exclusively with South Continent Joint Stock Company goods worth more than 20,000 gold before March 1037 by continental calendar.
¡ªSouth Continent Joint Stock Company will pay a premium of 1,000 gold to Vandus Baron for that.
¡ªThe penalty is 10% of the investment and Altema¡¯s cargo will be verified by both parties. All prices are based on Denova Central Exchange¡¯s prices on maturity date.
There was not much problem with this trade itself.
Trading future goods ahead of time was amon method and adding a premium or setting a penalty of 10% was also within normal range.
The problem was with the securities products attached to this trade.
The merchants from Denova issued securities under the pretext of high risk for this trade and charged fees for them.
The lord bought sess securities.
In other words, he invested all his avable funds in his domain in favor of this trade being sessful without any problems.
When this fact became known to the merchants from Denova, dozens of them bought default securities.
The scale of the total product exceeded 30,000 gold and due to concerns about risk, Denova Central Exchange intervened as an arbitrator.
But Leopold did not back down and neither did the confident merchants.
They argued that they had to raise funds even by borrowing because their chances of winning were close to 100%.
¡°No one has evernded on the floating continent. Even Elvrande failed several times. I don¡¯t mean to disrespect your lord¡¯s power, but seeding is almost impossible.¡±
¡°There is a possibility ofnding on the floating continent by riding an air current. But look at what¡¯s written on the bond. You have to trade goods worth more than 20,000 gold by the maturity date. Do you think they¡¯lle back intact?¡±
¡°There are plenty of resources on the floating continent. That¡¯s for sure. But digging them up and bringing them back by March is as likely as Altemaing back to life. So invest your money.¡±
¡°We are also worried about the possibility of Vandus Baron defaulting and fleeing. So we secured coteral. The decades-long operating rights of the dark ore mine and four Goliaths should be enough as coteral.¡±
The merchants didn¡¯t even think about the possibility of losing.
As a result, they epted what Leopold suggested.
¡°I want to stake the shares of South Continent Joint Stock Company as coteral. I¡¯d also like to have the option.¡±
It meant that he would take the shares of South Continent Joint Stock Company instead of gold if he seeded.
The merchants were a bit uneasy because they knew the value of thatpany well.
¡°Didn¡¯t you know that they recently got the exclusive development rights for the southern continent? ¡°
¡°Even so, the chances are slim. There has never been a precedent, has there?¡±
¡°I asked an officer stationed in the floating continent, and he said going up there was suicide.¡±
¡°A fight we can¡¯t win.¡±
Thus, they officially confirmed the issuance of securities at the Denova Central Exchange, and now they were gambling with a stake of 33,000 gold.
It was a simple fight where the winner took 33,000 gold, and Carson, the administrative officer, despaired.
¡°Why on earth did you buy such securities, my lord¡?¡±
The official deal proposed by Denova was not that hopeless.
The penalty of 2,000 gold was a huge amount, but it could be solved with the lord¡¯s own money.
But 30,000 gold was an impossible amount to make even for a small lordship like Baron Vandus.
It was doubtful whether even the high nobles of the central or the Bagran royal family could afford it.
¡°We are already in a war, and the royal family might demand a lot from us, and this deal¡¡±
It was natural for the administrative officer to be desperate.
Once they received the notarization from the Denova Central Exchange, they could not cancel the deal, and now one side had no choice but to go bankrupt.
The administrative officer thought that it would be his lord in nine out of ten cases, but there was no hope at all.
The lord¡¯s actions so far were far from insane.
What if he had nned everything and prepared to rob the merchants of Denova?
Then everything would change, but unfortunately, there was no great news until March was almost over.
There was not even any contact from the Altema.
¡°The lord is away, and Miss Arma only says that she is fine¡¡±
If there was anything that the administrative officer could trust, it was Arma who took care of everything meticulously.
People might see her as a mere maid who served him, but her true nature waspletely different.
She was a superhuman.
She knew everything and there was nothing she couldn¡¯t do.
In the lordship, people would go to the administrative officer for money matters, but for other general matters of the lordship, they would go to Arma.
She had amazing stamina and was fine even in a tough march. She always led by example and showed them how to do it.
Above all, she listened to the people¡¯s stories and became very popr.
Carson asked her as ast resort, but her answer was always the same.
¡°You don¡¯t trust him, do you?¡±
¡°That¡¯s not it. I¡¯m just frustrated. Can¡¯t you at least tell me if you have contact with Altema?¡±
Because of his lord¡¯s absence, only Arma could enter his study.
She smiled brightly and said,
¡°I¡¯ll tell you one thing. You should worry about how to use 30,000 gold or the shares of the South Continent Company.¡±
¡°Then¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s all I can say. And I think we need to prepare a good house in the lordship. We have a premium from Denova, so let¡¯s build it with that.¡±
¡°Are you expecting a guest?¡±
¡°A very valuable guest.¡±
She disappeared and Carson could have some hope.
And soon after, he heard that the war was overpletely.
His heart sank again.
Now that the royal family had piled up debts, they would ask for money. It was a big trouble.
***
The war that had dragged on for a year ended.
Elvrande pushed back the front line by more than 100km and the human kingdoms including Zaium had no power to resist their offensive.
Hundreds of Goliaths were destroyed or damaged enough to need overhaul.
The material damage suffered by each country was also enormous.
But Elvrande did not push them cruelly as before.
They preferred to lead them to negotiations with more wars. It was much easier and more profitable.
¨DNo matter how much humans join forces with minority races, their fundamentalbat power will inevitably fall behind us.
¨DTherefore, we must end the war at the point where we cut off their offensive capabilities and will to fight.
¨DThe important thing is negotiation. We must neverpromise. We must show them that we have the will and power to fight again.
The human kingdoms were terrified by Elvrande who nibbled theirnd little by little and used negotiations as leverage. But they had no other choice.
The elves responded cynically to them.
¨DDidn¡¯t you say that the winner has the right to do whatever he wants with the loser?
¨DBut if you still want to start a war again, we won¡¯t stop you. Come anytime.
Of course, the human kingdoms had no more power to continue the war.
Even Zaium Empire, which was at the center of it all, wanted to finish negotiations quickly. King Bagran had to take part in negotiations himself. And a very humiliating negotiation was concluded.
¨DThe Easthart Alliance and the Elvrande Empire will finalize the border at this point and stop any hostile actions.
¨DBoth sides will withdraw their troops by 50km and dismantle all military facilities within.
There was no big problem here. They couldn¡¯t reim the territory to before the war because the elves had already nted and managed the branches of the World Tree for several months.
There was even a rumor that they were trying to dig up some relics there.
King Bagran III proposed to dig up the relics together, but he waspletely ignored.
And the real important negotiation was from now on.
¨DThe Easthart Alliance will stop worshipping Altema andpletely demolish Altema¡¯s temple in the Pantheon. The supervision of this matter will be done by the saintess of the Holy Church and the Elven Knight Tirenell.
¨DThe Easthart Alliance agrees to cooperate actively with Tirenell¡¯s mission and capture Altema¡¯s worshippers.
These two matters contained humiliating content that made even Zaium Empire, who wanted to end the war quickly, hesitate.
It meant that an Elven Knight woulde in and act in the Easthart Alliance.
On top of that, capturing Altema¡¯s worshippers and sending them to Elvrande was tantamount to interfering in domestic affairs.
Of course, Altema¡¯s worshippers were almost nonexistent now, 200 years after the Dragon War.
In the Pantheon, her ce was stuck in a corner and there were not many pilgrims.
King Bagran III warned that this was not important.
¡°They are trying to eradicate Altema, who is like our god. We must never ept this negotiation.¡±
Altema, the gold dragon, clearly sided with humans in the Great War.
The elves mocked that she did not help humans but tried to dominate them, but it was a fact that she killed many elves.
No wonder she was called the Champion yer, the Elf yer.
Anyway, the elves did notpromise on anything else but eradicating Altema¡¯s worship.
¨DAltema is not a god but a mere beast. It is a bad habit for humans to worship a beast that has been dead for a long time.
¨DWe will eradicate that bad habit. So don¡¯t interfere with the judge.
Tirenell, who was dispatched as a judge, was one of the high-ranking officials among 2,000 Elven Knights.
He was a half-elf with a congenital weakness and had a scar on his face, but he had achieved tremendous feats on the battlefield and everyone feared him.
Some people pointed out this as the reason for his dispatch.
¨DHe must be discriminated against because he is a half-elf. Elvrande and he himself would never admit it, though.
¨DHe will surely attract a lot of hatred when he starts his activities. Elvrande can dispose of himter without any loss.
In Elvrande, only pure-blooded wood elves and high elves were treated well.
Other races were almost treated as lower-ss citizens, and half-elves were the worst among them.
The blood of elves should never be diluted.
That Tirenell had risen to a high position among the Elven Knights was a feat achieved solely by his skills.
He was so skilled that he had followers even among the Elven Knights who valued bloodline.
¨DHis movements are even graceful. When he steps on the battlefield, victory is almost certain.
¨DIf only his bloodline was different, the Great Houses would have increased to 13.
Anyway, the Easthart Alliance had no more power to continue the war, so they had to ept Tirenell¡¯s dispatch.
It was unpleasant to have interference in domestic affairs, but it was just a small dispatch force, so what could go wrong?
Zaium Empire was puzzled by the quick decision of the Holy Church, but there was another truth.
There was something more important than Tirenell¡¯s dispatch.
Prince Ruad of Bagran met the saintess who came with the Holy Knights.
She handed him a portrait in a in clerical robe.
¡°Have you ever seen this person?¡±
In the portrait, there was a man with brown hair and brown eyes.
He had an impressive physique and a handsome appearance at a nce.
Prince Ruad nced at the portrait and shook his head.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, but there is no such man in Bagran. Is this man the protagonist of the divine trust?¡±
¡°Yes. I saw himing to Astera on a huge ship. The ship was made of ck iron and it was really huge.¡±
¡°How big is the ship¡¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know much about ships, but when I asked other clerics, they said it was over 500 meters.¡±
Prince Ruadughed inwardly.
It was absurd even if it was a divine trust.
Even Zaium or Elvrande could not make ships over 100 meters long for structural reasons.
It would be different if they used the shell of the World Tree as a material, but it was ridiculous in the territory dominated by elves.
Nevertheless, he did not say anything negative in front of the saintess.
¡°It might be possible for a hero from another world toe on such a big ship.¡±
¡°Yes. We must find this hero.¡±
The Holy Church was desperate to find this man who was called a hero by the world.
It was an old name and there were not many people who mocked it.
¡°It¡¯s not the time when monsters rampage and the demon king tries to rule the world. There are ships flying in the sky now.¡±
¡°Even if a heroes from another world, can he defeat the elves?¡±
¡°There is no guarantee that he will be on our side.¡±
¡°And we don¡¯t even know who gave him the divine trust.¡±
There was a Pantheon in the Holy Church that enshrined the gods of Astera.
In this Pantheon, the saintess received divine trust, and depending on the god, the color of light that shone on her changed.
There were not many gods who survived after the Dragon War, and there was no god who symbolized gold among them.
Some imed that it was a divine trust given by Rasa, the creator god, but no one believed it because his presence was so faint.
¨DRasa is not a god but an origin and a rule. So he can¡¯t have divine power.
¨DHe was silent even during the Dragon War. How can he give divine trust now? It doesn¡¯t make sense.
The reason why people¡¯s perception of Rasa was shallow was because he did not do anything during the Dragon War.
Most of the gods in Astera¡¯s Pantheon chose either humans or elves ording to their will and fought fiercely.
Their feats were not recorded, but they were passed down through songs and legends. And there was no name of Rasa in them.
Despite this, the Holy Church was adamant about finding the man designated by divine trust.
¡°Are you sure you have never seen this man in the portrait?¡±
Prince Ruad was annoyed but shook his head again.
¡°I checked all the nobles¡¯ profiles, but there was no simr man.¡±
¡°Is there any young man who has started to stand out recently? It doesn¡¯t matter if only a few features are simr.¡±
Someone came to Prince Ruad¡¯s mind for a moment.
Leobold Vandus Baron.
A nobleman who had started to stand out recently and had a simr physique.
But he had ck hair and ck eyes, and his overall facial features were not very simr to those of the man in the portrait.
He had recently made a lot of money with Sardines and even rented an airship, doing some feats.
If his feats had stopped there, he would have lost interest, but he boldly gambled with themercial city Denova.
It was disguised as securities or goods, but to Prince Ruad, it was a gamble.
A very dangerous gamble.
¡®If he seeds, he will make a lot of money, but if he fails, he will go bankrupt¡ He must be crazy.¡¯
He wondered where such courage, or rather, audacity came from.
Anyway, the saintess left with the Holy Knights, saying that she would look around Bagran.
Prince Ruad looked at the documents organized by the Treasury and clenched his teeth.
¡°After a year-long war, we have incurred a huge debt.¡±
War is never free and requires a lot of resources and manpower.
Zaium, who forced the war, backed off from thepensation part, saying they had nothing to say. Now Bagran had to bear the war expenses alone.
The war expenses of over 40,000 gold were too much for the current royal family to handle.
¡°Where can I get this money¡¡±
He could not find any way out no matter how hard he thought.
In the end, he had no choice but to borrow the power of the nobles.
Prince Ruad crumpled the documents and got up from his seat weakly.
He had to visit the nobles¡¯ territories before the debt collectors from Denova came.
***
Two days before March of the Continental Year 1037.
Baron Vandus¡¯s territory was quite noisy with guests from Denova.
The locals earned some ie thanks to them staying, but they could not hide their gloomy faces on the other hand.
There was a rumor that they were debt collectors.
No matter what era, debt collectors were not wee, and it was even worse if it was rted to the lord.
The rumor about the cargo that the airship Altemaho had to bring from the Floating Continent spread throughout the territory, and even children knew about it.
The locals waited for the airship to appear from beyond the sky with one heart and one mind.
But when the morning of thest day of March dawned, the airship did not show up.
Then, the merchants from Denova flocked to the lord¡¯s mansion and confidently presented their documents.
¡°It seems like the game is over, my lord.¡±
¡°Look at this clearly stamped seal. I hope you won¡¯t ignore this.¡±
They all looked happy to be able to dispose of this territory as they pleased.
There was nothing great about Baron Vandus¡¯s territory, but it was known that he had some spare money left after selling Sardines, and he also had an anthracite mine and four Goliaths.
If theybined those rights and sold them as bonds, they would make a considerable profit.
Leobold retorted bluntly.
¡°It¡¯s not April yet, is it? Just wait a little longer.¡±
¡°Sure.¡±
Whether he said so or not, the merchants thought that the game was already over.
They did not know what happened to Altemaho, but it was obvious thatmunication was cut off.
They spected that it had crashed somewhere after being caught in a turbulence while trying tond on the Floating Continent.
It was not unusual that there was no trace of Altemaho in such a ce where debris fell a lot.
And when noon came, the merchants ordered lunch at a restaurant that also served as an inn.
¡°Soon we will own this territory.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s think about which bonds to issue first. How about lending four Goliaths to Bagran¡¯s royal family?¡±
¡°By the way, this Sardines roast is really amazing.¡±
They were chatting and eating when it happened.
There was a loud noise outside, and it spread to the first floor of the inn.
People started to chatter.
¡°It¡¯s here! It¡¯s here!¡±
¡°The ship is back!¡±
What¡¯s here?
The merchants jumped out of their seats and left the restaurant.
In the sky where the locals pointed, a ship wasing in.
It was a perfect Altemaho with a golden dragon figurehead and overall appearance.
¡°No way¡¡±
¡°This is impossible¡¡±
The merchants¡¯ faces twisted in horror.
Chapter 209: The Price of Changing the Rules
Chapter 209: The Price of Changing the Rules
The airship Altemaho had returned.
The whole territory, not to mention the nobles, was in an uproar.
They had never expected that Altemaho, which was no different from a scrap of metal in the floating continent, woulde back.
In fact, if anyone in Astera was asked, they would answer that it was impossible.
Altemaho looked as if it had not suffered any damage on the outside, which made people cheer even more.
¡°Oooh!¡±
¡°Open the dock! Prepare the ropes!¡±
As the staff ran over, the Denoba merchants hastily held a meeting.
¡°How did this happen? Didn¡¯t you say that the possibility was close to zero?¡±
¡°Calm down. Altemaho may have returned, but no one knows if there is any cargo in the hold.¡±
¡°And there is no guarantee that it is worth more than 20,000 gold. We just have to demand as the contract says.¡±
They nced at Baron Vandus, who had a calm expression on his face.
ording to the contract, the cargo in Altemaho¡¯s hold had to be worth more than 20,000 gold for the deal to be finalized.
And the price evaluation of that cargo was based on today¡¯s market price at the central exchange.
¡°I don¡¯t know what they brought, but it won¡¯t be worth 20,000 gold. They say that gold nuggets roll around on the floating continent.¡±
¡°Haha, even that famous Elvrande open-pit mine is not that much.¡±
They allughed, but they could not hide their anxiety.
If there was more than 20,000 gold in the hold, the deal would bepleted normally.
That meant that the bond deal worth 33,000 gold would also be carried out normally.
Baron Vandus would take away 33,000 gold.
He might even demand a stake in the South Continent Company instead of gold.
As the situation reached this point, the merchants felt their mouths dry.
¡®What did those intelligence guys do? They said there was a 99% chance that they wouldn¡¯t return.¡¯
¡®They might not have gone to the floating continent in the first ce. We just have to check the hold carefully.¡¯
Soon Altemahonded on the dock.
Leobold praised the crew under Granden who came down using nks as stepping stones.
¡°The voyage was sessful. It¡¯s all thanks to you. You¡¯ve done a great job.¡±
Granden gave an awkward smile at the people¡¯s cheers and looked at Leobold.
¡°My lord, I have a lot to tell you, but I think you should check this first.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s gold from the floating continent. Let everyone see it and verify it with a scale.¡±
¡°Gold. It was worth riskingnding on the floating continent. Who¡¯s there?¡±
One of the merchants stepped forward.
He was a fat merchant named Zerod who was also a shareholder of the South Continent Company.
¡°It¡¯s probably just ore anyway. You can¡¯t weigh it with a scale. We¡¯ll process it separately and let you know the content.¡±
It was a trick to buy some time, hoping that something would work out if they dyed until today.
But he was pushed by Leobold¡¯s finger snap and leaned his head into the chest.
And he witnessed gold nuggets.
¡°Ooh¡¡±
An unadorned exmation escaped his lips.
No one handled gold as much and as often as merchants.
But that was all processed gold from refineries.
Even merchants who dealt with minerals would rarely see such gold nuggets.
Especially when they were full of chests.
Leobold brought a fist-sized gold nugget to his face.
¡°It¡¯s quite heavy for gold. You should be able to confirm that this is real gold.¡±
¡°O-of course.¡±
Zerod took the gold and almost dropped it.
It was twice as heavy as silver he usually handled.
That alone told him that it was all gold and the merchants turned pale.
He said he would check it and left a clear bite mark on the gold nugget.
The clear yellow shine, heavier than expected weight, and soft characteristics were all perfect for gold.
There were such gold nuggets in chests full of them.
This amount of gold would easily exceed 20,000 gold in value anywhere on the continent, not just at the central exchange.
And in the hold, there were not gold nuggets but ore with clear veins of gold piled up like small hills.
The merchants who came closer and looked into the chests and hold showed a desperate expression on their faces.
Leobold crossed his arms and said,
¡°That settles the contract. Calcte ording to today¡¯s market price at the central exchange as promised. It looks like it will easily exceed 30,000 gold¡¡±
¡°M-my lord¡¡±
¡°And the bonds I bought¡ Tell the market that I will exercise all the rights.¡±
The market of Denoba was not a noble, but he was treated almost like a king and had a significant influence throughout Astera.
He could not refuse because the seal of the market was stamped on this product deal.
The merchants realized then that they were cornered at the edge of a cliff.
Now there were only two choices.
To fulfill the bond deal and go bankrupt or cling to Baron Vandus¡¯s pants and beg.
Of course, even if they chose thetter, there was no guarantee that the damage would be reduced.
Still, they clung to Leobold¡¯s pants like a kraken wrapping around their belly.
¡°My lord! I have something to say to you!¡±
¡°I have a family! A rabbit-like wife and fox-like children¡ No, that¡¯s not it!¡±
Of course, Leobold had no intention of canceling the deal.
Who would be crazy enough to give up 30,000 gold?
He looked at the merchants and said firmly.
¡°I trust that you will fulfill the contract with the trust of Denoba merchants. Don¡¯t you think the market is also looking forward to this deal? Let¡¯s start trading quickly. There¡¯s no time.¡±
No time?
At the same time, the clock tower at the dock rang once.
It meant that noon had passed an hour ago.
Surely the contract was until today, so they might have been able to do something if they dyed it.
The merchants found Leobold¡¯s inexplicable smile suspicious, but they decided to resist for now.
¡°We¡¯ll go bankrupt if we give you 30,000 gold like this.¡±
¡°Elvrande won¡¯t sit still if we give you a stake in the South Continent Company. They are the major shareholders, aren¡¯t they?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no other way.¡±
Zerod and the merchants looked at each other¡¯s faces and nodded.
There was a saying at the Denoba central exchange.
Being strong is not enough.
The one who can change the rules is the real winner.
People believed that Denoba merchants valued trust more than their lives, but that was because they didn¡¯t know them well.
Merchants could be crueler than elves when dealing with weaker opponents.
Of course, they tried to be fair as much as possible because repeated failures would threaten the status of the central exchange.
But in such a big deal, there were very few forces that could say anything even if they changed the rules.
Baron Vandus would protest, but the trial would take years, and he was likely to run out of money.
¡°Let¡¯s cancel this deal. The South Continent Corporation has a stake in the Elvrande family, so the market will have no choice but to ept our excuse.¡±
The reason why Elvrande gave the development rights to the South Continent Corporation over Denova was because the market was an elf and most of the shareholders were merchants from Denova.
If Baron Vandus demanded his share ording to the contract, Elvrande would probably back off.
The monopoly development rights of the South Continent Corporation would also vanish.
¡°We still have to show some sincerity.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s end it by adding a thousand gold more as a premium. I¡¯ll talk to the market.¡±
¡°Fine. Let¡¯s change the rules and hold on.¡±
The merchants made their own conclusion and contacted the market of Denova through themunication device.
There were only 10 hours left until April.
***
Themercial city of Denova had a market instead of a king.
He was not a noble, but he had more influence than most kings.
This had to do with the strategic location of Denova.
He had maintained the bnce of Astera by supporting the human kingdoms when Elvrande seemed to be strong.
The elves despised Denova¡¯s unique behavior as a bat, but they had to lower their voices because one of the great families had invested heavily in it.
Elvrande was a very conservative country and did not ept any changes, especially in finance.
That meant that in Elvrande, securities, stocks, checks, rights, and anything other than money had no effect.
There was now that elves should not make money, so some elves who felt frustrated invested in Denova, and that became the driving force for Elvrande not to touch Denova lightly.
But it would all go up in smoke if Elvrande took military action.
Denova felt threatened by this and strengthened its military power by training its own army and hiring mercenaries, but it was no match for Elvrande, which had 2,000 elven knights.
However, it was enough to function as a strategic buffer.
When the human kingdoms seemed to be pushed back, they helped with fundraising and supplying goods.
From the elves¡¯ point of view, they could not be angry enough because some of the great families were investing in it.
Anyway, the market of themercial city of Denova received an urgent contact through themunication device nine hours before March ended.
It was a contact from the merchants who wanted topletely invalidate the deal that was made a month ago.
Philip Grenkor, the market of Denova, moved his long ears slightly as he heard the details.
¡°¡You want to throw away a deal worth over 50,000 gold? Are you out of your mind?¡±
Zerod, who was in Baron Vandus¡¯s territory, exined their position sufficiently.
It was dangerous because the stake of the South Continent Corporation might be transferred.
Philip sighed and scribbled something on a paper.
¡°So you want to gain profit instead of trust, right?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right.¡±
¡°If you drag on for a few hours, the deal itself will be invalidated, and Baron Vandus won¡¯t be able to do anything about it?¡±
¡°You can see through the whole n at once.¡±
¡°Baron Vandus will appeal to the central exchange, but he won¡¯t be able to withstand the trial that takes years and run out of money?¡±
¡°The amount is sorge that the Bagran royal family mightin a bit, but I think you can easily handle it with your influence.¡±
That was because Philip was an elf, and not just any elf, but a high elf with the most noble bloodline.
He was from a lineage that produced champions of God, and he became the market of Denova, so there were various rumors about him in Elvrande.
But there was no one who could say anything directly to him as an elder of a great family.
So Philip used his influence to make money diligently.
But he also had to draw a line.
Changing the rules like this was something that should be avoided even if the opponent was weak.
The merchants whined that they would suffer a lot of damage.
They also hinted at the damage that Denova would suffer if the stake of the South Continent Corporation was transferred.
¡°We have to suffer some damage so that Denova doesn¡¯t suffer more. Do you want the South Continent Corporation to lose its exclusive development rights?¡±
¡°If you make a decision, we will drag on time. Please do us a favor.¡±
They were truly shameless people.
¡®You bet on gambling and when you lose you overturn the board.¡¯
Philip could not ignore their request as he was their leader.
But he thought he needed to hear Baron Vandus¡¯s side.
He felt uneasy because Altamaha returned just nine hours before March ended.
¡®If this is all ording to his n.¡¯
He had to prepare for the worst, not only as a militarymander.
Philip felt the need to find out what Baron Vandus was thinking as the market of Denova.
So the merchants who entered the barony had to hand over themunication device while grumbling.
¡°Is this Philip, the market? This is the first time we meet like this.¡±
He must have heard that he was a high elf, but he came out like this because he had nothing to lose.
Philip decided to get straight to the point.
¡°I¡¯ll ask you bluntly, Baron Vandus. What are you going to do if the deal is invalidated?¡±
¡°Are you talking about the contract we signed a month ago? The exclusive deal for the floating continent goods and the securities?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right.¡±
¡°That¡¯s surprising. These merchants want to invalidate it¡ They don¡¯t care about losing trust?¡±
¡°We can afford it.¡±
Trust was certainly important, but money was more important in some ways.
30,000 gold was close to the annual operating cost of a decent territory.
Considering that Bagran was in trouble because of 40,000 gold, it was important.
Of course, Bagran was in that situation because of the continuous war for a year.
Philip said quietly.
¡°Those who have power can change the rules. That¡¯s thew of Astera.¡±
Denova was not as powerful as Elvrande or Zaium, but it was amercial city with more influence than a small kingdom.
He could easily ignore the protest of a mere baron and not lose his credibility.
There was no one who could rece them.
But Baron Vandus said something unexpected.
¡°Then do as you please. If you drag on for a few hours, you can save money and maybe protect the stake of the South Continent Corporation.¡±
¡°¡We can offer you some convenience instead of invalidating the deal. We can give you preferential fees for trading with Denova¡¡±
¡°Why don¡¯t you just withdraw your merchants?¡±
If they didn¡¯t inspect the goods, the contract would not be established, so they didn¡¯t need to y mind games and just withdraw their merchants.
Philip frowned and asked again.
¡°Are you sure?¡±
¡°I should ask you that. Are you sure you want to treat me like this?¡±
¡°We have the power to handle this situation.¡±
¡°If you have decided as the market of Denova, I can¡¯t help it. But remember this. If you ever want to trade with us again, 30,000 gold won¡¯t be enough.¡±
Philip couldn¡¯t say that it wouldn¡¯t happen.
It was a typical threat, but he couldn¡¯t hide his uneasy feeling.
He ended themunication and reviewed the data on Baron Vandus and his territory from the beginning.
A mercenary of noble origin who became a lord suddenly.
He defeated the viins who oppressed his territory and made a lot of money from anthracite mines and bluefish.
And then he borrowed an airship from the royal family and sent it to the floating continent.
Anyone who knew the situation would say he was crazy.
Where did he send a ship to?
¡°But he seeded¡¡±
ording to the testimony of the merchants, it seemed true that he secured gold worth at least 20,000 gold.
¡°Baron Vandus wouldn¡¯t be unable to dispose of that much gold¡ If he takes time to dispose of it and helps the Bagran royal family financially¡¡±
What if he acquires more airships and forms a fleet to send to the floating continent?
The possibility was very low, but he had already seeded once.
Who could guarantee that there was no way tond on the floating continent?
Philip paced around his office for a long time.
He felt like he had made some mistake.
Meanwhile, time kept passing by.
Ding!
A loud noise came from the clock tower outside his office, and Philip looked up.
¡°4 p.m¡¡±
Considering that the central exchange of Denova closed at 5 p.m., it meant that there was only an hour left in reality.
Even if they hurried to inspect the goods now, it would be difficult to finish the deal normally.
Of course, Philip had the authority to dy the closing of the central exchange.
But he couldn¡¯t bring himself to touch themunication device.
Finally, the central exchange closed and the merchants reported with a cheerful tone.
¡°Thanks to your decision, we were able to protect 30,000 gold or the stake of the South Continent Corporation. We really appreciate it.¡±
¡°We will reward youter so you won¡¯t regret it. Please take care¡¡±
The merchants ttered him, but Philip was notfortable.
He couldn¡¯t shake off the thought that he shouldn¡¯t have changed the rules like this.
¡®If the arrival of the airship on thest day of March was not a coincidence, if he nned everything.¡¯
If that was true, Denova might have to pay a price beyond imagination.
***
The furnace of the forge burned all night long.
Carson, the administrative officer, watched with a satisfied smile as the workers made gold bars.
He was happier that the contract was invalidated than that Altamaha returned with gold.
¡°It¡¯s good that we didn¡¯t get involved with those merchants, my lord.¡±
He didn¡¯t seem to be aware of the various consequences that would arise from invalidating the contract.
He must have managed a considerable amount of finance as an administrative officer of a barony, but he seemed to have a limit in his vision.
But Leobold didn¡¯t expect much from him either.
¡°It¡¯s enough for you to take care of this territory¡¯s affairs.¡±
He drew the big picture and Arma made detailed ns, so other talents just had to help them.
Anyway, ording to the administrative officer, the expedition secured about 30,000 gold worth of finance for the territory.
That was only counting pure gold nuggets without touching them.
¡°The forge has been burning all night long, but there is a limit. And we can¡¯t separate gold from ore here.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll have to pay a fee and entrust it. Where would be good¡¡±
¡°The closest ce would be Count Lantis¡¯s territory.¡±
¡°Lantis Baron¡¡±
He was one of the great lords of Bagran Kingdom and had a considerable status in the east.
But as a lord, he was no different from a king in his territory, so he couldn¡¯t really influence other territories.
He just gave him some concessions because it would be troublesome if he got on his nerves.
Anyway, Count Lantis¡¯s territory wasrge, so it had enough facilities for refining.
Baron Vandus¡¯s territory had enough finance butcked talent, so it was difficult to operate a refinery right away.
Leobold nodded as he looked at the satellite image.
¡°That should be fine for entrusting. But we don¡¯t have to reach out first.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll just spread some rumors.¡±
¡°How much will our total finance be after that?¡±
¡°If we deduct the fee for refining ore, it is estimated to be about 47,000 gold.¡±
It was too much money for a barony to handle.
But for Leobold who had a n to rule over Astera, it was just an excuse.
¡°Leave it to the administrative officer and use the rest of the money to buy airships.¡±
There were three airships in Bagran royal family now.
The remaining two were smaller than Altamaha¡¯s but they were good enough for expeditions.
But Prince Ruad might make a different choice after hearing the rumor that he brought gold from the floating continent.
¡°Count Lantis might also encourage him. His usual tendency suggests that the possibility is very high.¡±
¡°He thinks I¡¯m easy to push around.¡±
¡°As always, those who have power can change the rules.¡±
That¡¯s right, it happened frequently on Earth as well.
The principle of power was more important in Astera, where it was a daily urrence.
Leobold hoped they would make a wise choice.
If they tried to change the rules, they would pay a tremendous price.
Chapter 210: Greed Brings Ruin
Chapter 210: Greed Brings Ruin
It was early April when the news of the failed deal with Baron Vandus reached Denova.
This issue became a hot topic among the traders in the exchange.
It was because it was revealed that the market had intervened to cancel the deal.
If the trading partner was a minor noble like Baron Vandus, they would not be afraid of retaliation, but they would regret it.
It was because the amount of gold brought from the Floating Continent was no joke.
¡°No matter how I think about it, it¡¯s a pity. Excluding the original light, the gold alone is worth almost 30,000 gold. If we had handled it, how muchmission would we have gotten?¡±
¡°It would have been nice to just take themission without issuing securities, but we were too greedy and¡¡±
¡°Was there no other way? I have nothing to say since Mr. Philip intervened personally, but I think it would have been better to pay some of the price immediately and the rest in bonds.¡±
¡°We didn¡¯t have time to check the market price. The trade was until the end of March, but the airship arrived on thest day.¡±
¡°It wasn¡¯t nned, right? It was really unlucky.¡±
¡°By the way, Baron Vandus won¡¯t just sit still¡¡±
The traders thought that he would sue them right away with his temper, but there was no news.
As time passed, concrete circumstances emerged that he was trying to dispose of the gold bars and original light in his territory.
The amount of goldbined was over 40,000 gold, which caught the attention of not only the neighboring territories, but also Prince Ruad, who was borrowing money around.
The people in Denova drooled, but they couldn¡¯t intervene.
Instead, some traders started to argue that they should form an expedition to the Floating Continent.
¡°They did it in that small territory, why can¡¯t we?¡±
¡°If Mr. Market says a word, we can track down the ether route. If we follow it, we might find a way tond on the Floating Continent.¡±
¡°Altemaho came back in a month, didn¡¯t it? It¡¯s certain that there are gold nuggets rolling around on the Floating Continent, we just have to bring them.¡±
The traders acted as if they saw gold nuggets rolling around in front of their eyes.
Especially, the traders under Zerod who had touched the gold nuggets in Baron Vandus¡¯ territory were very active.
It must have been because they felt pressured to make up for this incident that caused it.
It was a frustrating situation for Philip Market.
¡°If it wasn¡¯t for that securities deal, we would have had 40,000 gold in our hands by now¡¡±
Of course, he couldn¡¯t eat it all at once, but it would have been a great benefit just to have the right to circte it.
He blew such a good opportunity and had to make up for it somewhere, but everyone¡¯s money line was dry after the war ended.
Even Zaium Empire was short of funds and issued national bonds.
Bagran¡¯s prince was personally borrowing money around.
¡°There¡¯s no choice. I¡¯ll contact my family.¡±
The Gregor family was one of the twelve families in Elvrande and a member of the Congress.
Elvrande was an empire that ruled over several vassal states, so there was an emperor, but the actual politics and administration were carried out by the Congress.
Naturally, the power and influence of the twelve great families reached the sky, and among them, the Gregor family was outstanding.
With their family¡¯s power alone, they could move about 100 elven knights.
What more could be said?
That alone was enough to sweep away any small kingdom in a few days.
Anyway, Philip Market asked for information from his home country by using his family name.
But even after a few days passed, no usible information came.
He was furious and contacted the director of information directly, but he had to hear an absurd story.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Mr. Philip. Our staff left for Yggdrasill pilgrimage¡¡±
The world tree Yggdrasill was both an ancestor and a god of all elves.
Every elf born in Elvrande had a duty to visit and worship Yggdrasill¡¯s branches scattered throughout their territory.
The staff must have left with joy, so he couldn¡¯t me him.
¡°Then don¡¯t you have another staff to rece him?¡±
The director of information said regretfully.
¡°As you know, ording to the rule book, there should be only one staff who tracks down the ether route toward the Floating Continent.¡±
¡°That rule has been said to be changed for over 20 years! Is it still not changed?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Mr. Philip.¡±
¡°Damn it!¡±
Philip almost threw hismunicator with a snort, but barely held back.
Thebination of extreme conservatism that rejected change andzy bureaucracy was truly the worst.
There was a saying in Astera Continent.
If you ask an elf for something, you have to wait at least 10 years.
It was a word thatpared their long lifespan, but it also meant that they couldn¡¯t hope for change from their conservatism.
There was an area where they moved quickly and decisively.
If a war broke out with humans, the elves would go wild like animals in heat.
Philip hated that aspect of his race, so he turned his back on his family and Elvrande and moved to Denova.
He didn¡¯tpletely cut off the ties, but it was true that the frequency of contact was gradually getting longer.
The society of elves was that suffocating.
¡°He probably left on foot for the pilgrimage, damn it.¡±
The Elvrande Empire boasted an enormous area that covered a quarter of Astera.
It would take a lot of time to visit and worship Yggdrasill¡¯s avatars nted all over the ce.
He could have used the train, but he had to follow the teachings of the great father elf, Eilidh.
Eilidh himself said that they should learn from the good points of humans and other races.
¡°It¡¯s the elders who are the problem.¡±
There were several institutions in the Congress, but the Council of Elders was the most prestigious.
The elders who boasted an age of over 300 years were heavily stationed there, so he could easily guess how rigid the atmosphere was.
¡°It¡¯s better to talk to a corpse than to talk to them.¡±
Philip shook his head and uncovered the cloth that covered anothermunicator.
He had no choice but to send an airship without tracking down the ether route.
Thanks to his efforts, an airship took off from Denova in a few days.
Many traders wished for the sess of the expedition.
¡°You mustnd on the Floating Continent!¡±
¡°Fill your ship with gold ande back!¡±
It remained to be seen whether their wishes woulde true.
***
Around the time Altemaho arrived at Baron Vandus¡¯ territory.
A Prince Ruad and his entourage visited Lantis County, which dominated the eastern part of Bagran.
After hearing all the stories, Count Lantis put down his teacup with a faint smile.
¡°As you know, 10,000 gold is not a small amount for us, Your Highness.¡±
¡°I know. That¡¯s why I came here to ask you. If you help the royal family this time, I will reward you greatly.¡±
He was so urgent that Prince Ruad even took out a promissory note.
Count Lantis knew very well that he had no choice but to lend him money.
It would be disloyal to just watch the royal family¡¯s plight as a vassal.
¡®But I have to get enoughpensation.¡¯
He thought that one year¡¯s operation right of the silver mine in the royal territory would be enough.
He could mine a lot of silver bars with the amalgamation method developed by dwarves.
¡°We can¡¯t just watch the royal family¡¯s plight, but we have to suffer a lot of bleeding to amodate 10,000 gold¡¡±
¡°I understand, I understand. Just get to the point.¡±
¡°I want the Sagris silver mine in the royal territory. I¡¯ll only dig for one year and then leave.¡±
¡°¡¡±
He had never seen such a cold-blooded man.
The Sagris silver mine in the royal territory was closed due to the appearance of demons, and saying he would dig for one year meant he was willing to sacrifice the workers and get out quickly.
He could mine a lot of silver in a short time with the Amalgam method developed by the dwarves.
¡®His mind is wicked, but I have no other choice.¡¯
Bagran III was so busy with many tasks that he entrusted Prince Ruad with full authority over this matter.
Money didn¡¯t grow on trees, and he had to borrow it from somewhere, but everyone¡¯s money was tight due to the long war.
What the royal family needed was not a closed silver mine, but immediate gold.
And only the great lords, including Count Lantis, could solve that.
¡°¡Let¡¯s make it 15,000 gold. The deadline is two years. And I want to set the interest rate based on today¡¯s Denova standard.¡±
He had to be satisfied with that.
When Count Lantis ordered his attendant to bring him a writing tool, it happened.
One of his entourage ran up to him and whispered in his ear.
¡°What? Altamaha has returned?¡±
¡°They say the ship is full of gold. ording to people, it¡¯s over 30,000 gold¡¡±
Prince Ruad jumped up in surprise, and Count Lantis frowned.
He had heard that the royal family had lent him an airship, but he didn¡¯t know why he suddenly popped up.
¡°Your Highness, please calm down and tell me what happened.¡±
¡°This is rude of me. Well, this is how it happened¡¡±
The prince¡¯s voice waspletely excited as he exined the situation.
When he heard about Altamaha¡¯s whereabouts, Count Lantis¡¯s expression became nk.
Did a mere baron do something unimaginable even in Elvrande?
And he seeded greatly and came back with a ship full of gold?
He rubbed his eyes hard and asked again.
¡°Even if he brought gold, it¡¯s raw ore and needs refining. Is it easy to calcte the price?¡±
¡°I heard he brought chunks of pure gold. They say gold rolls around in the floating continent.¡±
Even thergest open-pit gold mine in Elvrande was not like that, but it was impossible to argue otherwise since it was the floating continent.
You had to go there yourself to know.
¡°¡¡±
Count Lantis¡¯s expression hardened as he thought of digging up the silver mine.
Prince Ruad smiled on his face.
¡°It¡¯s pure gold, so it can be processed quickly. 30,000 gold, I wish I had lent him more airships. By the way, let¡¯s pretend this conversation never happened, Count Lantis.¡±
¡°¡As you wish.¡±
The prince and his entourage left the domain.
Count Lantis clenched his fist and called his subordinates.
¡°Bring me all the information on that Vandus bastard. Right now.¡±
Who would dare to defy his order?
A few minutester, several documents were presented before him, but he closed his eyes.
He meant for them to read it for him.
A subordinate picked up a document and recited Vandus Baron¡¯s profile one by one.
In the middle of it, Count Lantis opened his eyes wide.
¡°The Denova market broke the contract?¡±
¡°Yes. The transaction amount was at least 20,000 gold and over 50,000 gold with securities included.¡±
¡°Is it because the shares of the South Continent Company are owned by elves¡ Anyway, the market is in trouble. What about the baron? He must have been furious.¡±
¡°That¡¯s¡ I don¡¯t know exactly, but he didn¡¯t seem to be that angry.¡±
¡°He lost 30,000 gold and still not angry?¡±
That meant he had nned for that too.
Count Lantis tried to figure out the situation in his head, but he couldn¡¯t draw a usible picture.
How did he assure sess innding on the floating continent that no one had evernded on?
That was impossible even for elves.
¡°¡¡±
He wanted information more than gold.
Of course, anyone would covet gold, but what he wanted was the information power that urately predicted Altamaha¡¯s return and found a way tond on the floating continent.
¡°I don¡¯t know where he heard such a thing.¡±
¡°Maybe shadow elves? It¡¯s suspicious that there was no raid at all.¡±
¡°Sincest winter, when the new lord took office, there hasn¡¯t been a single raid. Something is strange.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Count Lantis knew something was strange too, but he didn¡¯t say it out loud.
What mattered to him was the result.
And Baron Vandus sat in the middle of the conflict.
He would soon find out whether he was crazy or confident.
¡®I have to put aside petty emotions and make as many connections as possible.¡¯
He thought he should start with refining the raw ore.
***
Prince Ruad and his party headed straight to Baron Vandus¡¯s domain after leaving Count Lantis¡¯s domain.
They made the horned birds run without resting in between, and they were able to meet Baron Vandus a few dayster.
Whether the people of the domain were surprised or not, he grabbed both of Leobold¡¯s hands and shook them fervently.
¡°Baron, please save me.¡±
¡°Who is threatening your life? It¡¯s not an assassin, is it? Is it a money problem?¡±
¡°I have bonds issued by the royal family. The maturity date is not far away. It¡¯s over 40,000 gold.¡±
¡°40,000 gold. That¡¯s a huge amount.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll tell you everything. I know that you brought back a huge fortune from the floating continent.¡±
¡°To be precise, I haven¡¯t processed it yet. I got hit in the back of the head by Denova in the middle.¡±
¡°I regret that too. But gold can be turned into currency as soon as it melts, right? Let¡¯s pay off the bonds first. The royal family will reward you.¡±
Leobold looked at him with a nk expression and then opened his mouth.
¡°As a vassal, I feel sorry for the royal family¡¯s plight¡¡±
¡°Stop that and tell me your condition. What do you want?¡±
¡°You seem to be in a hurry, so I¡¯ll be straightforward. I¡¯ll give you 20,000 gold and lend you 20,000 gold. In return, I want two more airships.¡±
¡°Two airships are worth less than 10,000 gold at most. Is there another condition?¡±
¡°I want the Sagris silver mine. I¡¯ll dig for one year and give it back to you.¡±
Prince Ruad¡¯s eyes narrowed.
Why was he so obsessed with that silver mine?
It was closed because of the demons that popped up from time to time.
They were different from monsters in dimension, and they couldn¡¯t be dealt with unless it was Goliath, but it was such a narrow ce that only a few people could enter.
There were quite a few closed mines like that in Asteraen.
¡°¡Count Lantis also wanted that silver mine. He nned to dig as much as possible and then let go of it, even at the cost of human lives. Do you want that too?¡±
¡°I have to clear up the misunderstanding. I do want silver, but I don¡¯t want human casualties. Not a single person will die.¡±
¡°Is that possible?¡±
He couldn¡¯t believe it.
How could he fight the demons in that narrow mine where Goliath couldn¡¯t even enter?
He asked again, but Leobold didn¡¯t seem to want to talk.
¡°All I need is one year of operating rights for the Sagris silver mine and one other condition. In return, I¡¯ll give you 20,000 gold.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the other condition?¡±
¡°I¡¯d like to keep Sir Olmus by my side. I have several missions for him in the future, and I don¡¯t want to let him go.¡±
¡°That¡¯s up to him, not me.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll take that as permission. Then let¡¯s make a contract¡¡±
Prince Ruad was confused by how fast things were going, but he soon nodded.
It was no big deal for him to stay in this domain as long as he wanted.
Soon Carson, the administrator, came with a small chest.
It was a gold bar made by melting chunks of gold overnight at the forge.
The prince was momentarily distracted by its dazzling radiance and shook his head.
¡°I can¡¯t believe you brought this from the floating continent. You must have a way tond there since you want more airships.¡±
¡°It¡¯s difficult, but there is a way. But it won¡¯t be easy for others to use it.¡±
¡°Why is that?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a secret. If I tell you, won¡¯t my bottom line be exposed?¡±
¡°Well, I guess so. I understand.¡±
Prince Ruad nodded and gave him some advice.
¡°I helped you out because Sir Olmus helped me. So let me give you some advice too. You should get rid of Altamaha¡¯s identity as soon as possible. It would be better if you change your name too.¡±
¡°What happened?¡±
¡°You know well that the war with Elvrande is over. They demanded us to stop worshipping Altamaha. They decided to send a judge to monitor that. His name is Tirandel, a half-elf who is very vicious. You should be careful too.¡±
¡°Is he an elven knight?¡±
¡°One of the best among them. He was so strong that Zium¡¯s suprememand ordered us to abandon the front line where he appeared.¡±
¡°A half-elf who is that strong¡ I¡¯d love to meet him.¡±
¡°I wouldn¡¯t if I were you. He treats humans like bugs.¡±
He was a terrible guy indeed.
While the prince was badmouthing the elves, the airship that left Denova arrived at the south of the floating continent.
To be exact, its wreckage arrived.
A blue dragon that appeared out of nowhere poured lightning breath on the airship.
The slow airship couldn¡¯t dodge the breath and was hit head-on.
A spectacr explosion urred in the air, and the airship was shattered and scattered debris.
Zigarion looked at the debris with a proud expression.
¨DI will not tolerate anyone¡¯s approach.
Except for Baron Vandus¡¯s airship.
Chapter 211: A Formidable Aftermath
Chapter 211: A Formidable Aftermath
Philip, the mayor of Denova, received a report from his secretary that the airship that had left for the floating continent had lost contact.
¡°What was thestmunication they sent?¡±
¡°They said they encountered an unidentified monster.¡±
¡°A monster, not a demon?¡±
¡°Since there was no report of a gate opening nearby, it is likely to be a monster.¡±
¡°True, demons usually appear near the mines. What kind of monster do you think it was? We¡¯ve wiped out most of them.¡±
The centuries-long fight between the Ains and the monsters had practically ended with the development of Goliath.
Goliath could easily hunt downrge monsters like ogres that were hard to handle before.
Now, monsters were confined to undeveloped areas or specific zones that people did not reach, and their numbers were steadily decreasing.
However, the sea was still full of monsters, and this was one of the reasons why the Ains shunned the sea along with the shadow elf pirates.
If theyunched a ship, they would either sink or be attacked by pirates.
So they gave up on it willingly.
However, there was a possibility that monsters existed on the floating continent.
No one had ever been there before, so it was not known. The rumor that Baron Vandus had lowered his barrier did not spread much.
¡°We are currently contacting the nearest garrison that has ess to that area.¡±
¡°Find out as soon as possible.¡±
Soon after, a desperate report came to Mayor Philip.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, sir. The wreckage of Maven has been found. It seems to have sunk just before arriving at the floating continent.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Mayor Philip looked out at the clock tower with a gloomy face.
He had invested 10,000 gold in the airship, including the crew and cargo, but it had vanishedpletely.
If that was all, it would have been better, but there were many people who had high hopes for the airship, and there was even a risk of a stock market crash.
It would have been fine if only the leaders knew about it, but since the Elvrande army had intervened, it was only a matter of time before the rumor spread.
Rumors had a strange property: they spread faster when you didn¡¯t want them to.
He ordered his secretary to sell the shares of eachpany through themunicator.
¡°Sell all the stocks rted to the floating continentpanies. Leave only the minimum and sell everything else. Yes! Mine too!¡±
It was clearly insider trading, but he did not hesitate.
If the sinking of the airship became known, the stocks of rtedpanies would surely plummet.
Of course, there was only one airship and no investment had been made in that field yet, but interest was so high that even unrtedpanies¡¯ stocks had risen.
How much so? Even supplying goods to the garrison on the floating continent increased their stock price by 1.3 times.
The investors, including Denova merchants, poured money without hesitation in anticipation of great wealth from the floating continent.
¡°All that¡¯s left is to crash.¡±
¡°I think we should expect at least a 30% drop.¡±
¡°The investors will suffer a lot¡¡±
If he were an ordinary investor, he would be d to recover his money before the incident broke out.
But Philip was the mayor who was responsible for all of Denova.
The copse of investment sentiment due to the explosion of the airship was not a good sign.
But he had no choice.
Philip suddenly began to doubt whether he had done well by canceling his deal with Baron Vandus.
¡°I should have traded with him even if I had to kick out some merchants.¡±
He protected the merchants, but it seemed like all of Denova was going to be shattered.
¡°Didn¡¯t you always say that you don¡¯t have to worry about stock prices as long as the value of yourpany doesn¡¯t change?¡±
¡°That¡¯s what I said when I could block new investors from entering. The floating continent is a new market. It¡¯s not good to start off like this.¡±
¡°I see¡¡±
¡°Investment is psychological. A word can make stock prices fluctuate and decide the fate of apany.¡±
In that sense, cutting ties with Baron Vandus was a big mistake.
¡®I should have held hands with him even if I had to be greedy.¡¯
He misjudged that he had found a way tond on the floating continent.
Now he would have to pay an unimaginable price to get back on his good side.
¡®Didn¡¯t he say 30,000 gold wasn¡¯t enough? I might have to pay ten times that.¡¯
Would he give up on him and pay a huge price, or find another way?
The former would cause a lot of bacsh and there was nothing he could think of for thetter.
¡®If I had traded then¡ damn, I should have left those bastards alone, whether they were hurt or not.¡¯
The more he thought about it, the more he resented the merchants who had been sent to Baron Vandus¡¯s territory.
They should have been satisfied with themission, but they ruined the deal by being too greedy.
Philip knew that the situation would get worse as time passed, but he couldn¡¯te up with a usible countermeasure.
Instead, he instructed his secretary on what to avoid in a bear market.
¡°When the stock price starts to fall, buy a little bit, but use a different name. You can make as manypanies as you want, so handle it yourself.¡±
¡°As you say.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t buy too much at once and arouse suspicion. The homnd also sent an airship, so they will use that to cover up. We can¡¯t let the investment sentiment be dampened.¡±
Denova was not the only one who sent an expedition to the floating continent.
Denova was the fastest to move, but some of the Elvrande garrison had airships.
Since the distance was short, it wouldn¡¯t be long before the rumor reached them.
¡®And I¡¯ll have to hear from the family.¡¯
Elvrande¡¯s investment money was also quite involved in Denova, and especially the Gregor family had invested a lot of money because of Philip.
It would be strange if he didn¡¯t get scolded for losing it.
If he made a mistake, his position could be shaken.
¡®I don¡¯t think it will go that far, but I should be prepared.¡¯
Philip was the founding hero of Denova and the pioneer who created thepany and stock market.
Most of the systems came from his hands, and he had made history for decades.
This incident would hurt his position, but it wouldn¡¯t be decisive.
Still, Philip was notfortable.
¡°I guess I have no choice. Send a gift to Baron Vandus. It¡¯s in my name, so be careful.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll ept it¡¡±
¡°I know it¡¯s not easy to sit at the same table with him. But I have to sow some seeds. It¡¯s better than giving upter without doing anything.¡±
The secretary marveled at his shamelessness.
It seemed that being a mayor who led Denova required a thick skin as a basic skill.
The gift that the secretary prepared was a silverd ve.
He thought that he would be satisfied with a silverd who had a high reputation for their beauty, but he found out that he had a maid.
It wouldn¡¯t be a problem if she was just a maid, but her rtionship with the baron was not ordinary.
¡°She doesn¡¯t even look at other women, so I guess they have a deep rtionship.¡±
¡°She takes care of his night service as well as various things in his territory. She¡¯s practically his secretary.¡±
¡°If we send him a ve, it might backfire.¡±
It would be troublesome if the gift he sent offended him.
The secretary tried to send a gold statue that would be weed by anyone, but it was rejected.
Mayor Philip sighed when he saw the unopened gift on his desk.
¡°It seems like it will take a lot of time.¡±
And finally, the rumor that Maven had sunk just before approaching the floating continent reached Denova.
As soon as morning came, countless merchants and investors stormed into the central exchange.
¡°15 silver, 15 silver for all!¡±
¡°There¡¯s no one buying! That¡¯s too low!¡±
The exchange agents sweated over the orders that poured in.
Many employees stuck to the wall and updated the prices in real time, and the exchange soon became noisy.
¡°How did you manage the ship? You were so confident!¡±
¡°I lost 10 gold! Tell the mayor toe out!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t use magic! You¡¯ll be tracked!¡±
Then Mayor Philip appeared with his staff.
¡°Thank you, investors, for visiting the central exchange today. You must have heard about the airship. But before you sell your stocks, I have something to tell you.¡±
¡°Currently, Elvrande has also sent an airship following us in Denova, but it has crashed. It belongs to the army, so they must be strict and precise. They won¡¯t approach the turbulence rashly. That¡¯s what I mean.¡±
¡°So you¡¯re saying that the cause of this incident was turbulence?¡±
Someone asked that, but Mayor Philip shook his head.
¡°It¡¯s not easy to tell you the cause at this point. The floating continent is a mystery among mysteries. It wouldn¡¯t be strange if a dragon from 200 years ago popped out.¡±
To add to that, Mayor Philip was one of the elves who had witnessed the dragon war 200 years ago.
He was young then, but he clearly remembered the majesty of Altema, who shed with the gods.
¡°Hmm, true¡¡±
¡°I heard that the turbulence is severe. There are not only updrafts but also downdrafts. If a ship gets caught in it, it won¡¯t end with just swaying.¡±
¡°Elvrande¡¯s army has intervened, so something will be revealed. Let¡¯s wait until then.¡±
The agitators he had nted beforehand threw in a word each, and everyone seemed to fall for it.
The selling pressure subsided, and thanks to that, Philip and other major forces were able to sell their stocks without much damage.
It was because the news of Elvrande¡¯s airship crashing was dyed a bit.
Elvrande was a very closed society and the army had an even more severe atmosphere, so information did not leak out easily.
Even Denova, where all kinds of rumors and information circted, did not know about the incident until a few dayster.
But once the rumor started to spread, it was only a matter of time before it reached the whole continent.
The stocks ofpanies that Philip and other major forces had cleared began to plummet.
¡°What? How did this happen? Elvrande¡¯s airship also sank almost at the same time?¡±
¡°Elvrande is different, so let¡¯s wait and see?¡±
¡°Mayor! Mayor Philip!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t tell me he got the information beforehand and sold all his stocks?¡±
People shouted, but he did not answer.
His credibility would go down, but there was nowhere they could go with their money.
Denova was the only stock and securities exchange in Astera.
There was no alternative.
However, it was clear that the atmosphere was very hostile even for Philip who had a powerful backing of a noble family.
He took his hands off the market for a while and watched the situation.
The imperial defense ministry of Elvrande was also paying attention to this incident and sent investigators.
¡°It seems like the aftermath will be worse than I thought.¡±
He predicted that Baron Vandus would enter the exchange.
It was perfect timing to enter as it was the lowest point in ten years.
He nned to use that as an excuse to promote securities and bonds and change the mood, but they did not move.
¡°Why? They¡¯re not ignorant of this side. It¡¯s low now. The fallen stocks will recover over time.¡±
Of course, Leobold nned to activate the stock and financial markets someday.
But that had to be done after building a reliable and stable system that everyone could trust.
He had no intention of entrusting it to someone like Mayor Philip who changed the rules as he pleased.
Meanwhile, not only Denova or Elvrande but also other forces who knew about this incident increased.
Zaum also sent an expedition team including an airship to the floating continent, and many countries such as Palma of Holy State and Imir Republic of dwarves sent personnel.
The whole Astera was focused on the floating continent and Baron Vandus¡¯s territory.
****
Elvrande was not very changeable and quite insensitive to the flow of the current.
But it was different when their interests were at stake.
Especially if it was the mysterious floating continent.
The imperial defense ministry moved the garrison without discussion and sent an airship, but it crashed and severalmanders had to attend a hearing.
The chairman of the grand council was known to be authoritative, as hundreds of members looked down on others in a hierarchical structure.
As a result, the militarymanders were more nervous than when they fought with humans.
¡ªWhy did you move the airship without consultation? Who gave the final order?
¡ªWhat was the cause and course of this incident? What is on the floating continent that caused this mess?
¡ªWhat kind of ce is Baron Vandus¡¯s territory, which is the only one thatnded an airship? Where is it attached and who is the owner?
Various questions were thrown out, and not only the militarymanders but also various bureaucrats of the empire had to mobilize.
The schedule was endless, and it had been two weeks since the hearing began, but they hadn¡¯t even sorted out the list of questions.
Margreta, the princess of the empire, stepped in.
She was 120 years old, which was young among elves, and followed Luster, one of the Elven Pantheon, ording to tradition.
She belonged to a family that produced champions of gods and was a member of the imperial royal family, but her influence was not very great.
The current Elvrande had most of the power concentrated in the grand council.
They had a lot of authority, but they were so bloated that most of the bills did not pass.
On top of that, the elves¡¯ unique sense of time made it impossible to pass a bill in less than 10 years.
However, thanks to her great father Eilidh, who built a good system, there was no big problem.
The real problem was the elders who wanted to grant divinity to Eilidh and elevate him to a new Elven Pantheon and their followers.
Eilidh was undoubtedly a great ancestor who founded the current empire, but he was strictly a high elf.
The grand council was burning with debate over whether a mortal could be a god, and it had been going on for decades.
Anyway, when Margreta appeared in front of the chairman, the old elves who expressed their displeasure with their whole body stood up from their seats.
The current royal family did not have much power, but they did not lose their legitimacy as they protected Yggdrasil and continued the lineage of the Elven Pantheon.
However, Margreta was not on good terms with the elders because she advocated for elf reform.
She dismissed the list of questions that spanned dozens of pages and asked the witnesses directly.
¡°I¡¯ll ask themander of the garrison on the floating continent. What exactly caused our airship to sink?¡±
¡°Thestmunication we received was that they were being attacked by a huge creature with blue wings. The intelligence officers suspect it might be a dragon.¡±
As soon as the problematic statement came out, some members denied it and stepped forward.
¡°It¡¯s impossible.¡±
¡°The dragons were exterminated by us. There are many witnesses, do you think they are lying?¡±
The elves had lifespans of over 300 years, so there were quite a few who had experienced the Great War.
They believed that the dragons had finally gone extinct.
Well, it had been 200 years since the war ended and there was no sign of them until now.
But it was unbelievable that a dragon had appeared on the floating continent.
Princess Margareta gave a hint to the senators who were about to explode and asked again.
¡°There were a few blue dragons during the Great War, but they all met their final death. Are you saying that a new dragon has appeared, General?¡±
¡°The dead were loyal soldiers of the empire and my subordinates. I trust them.¡±
The general¡¯s tightly closed lips showed his trust in his subordinates.
It might not have been a blue dragon, but it seemed certain that something simr had appeared.
¡°Good. The next issue is about the flight route of the airship, which is vague. Did the airshipnd on the floating continent or not?¡±
¡°I will tell you exactly here. We cannotnd on the floating continent with our current technology. We ultimately failed.¡±
¡°What about the airship from Vandus territory? It says itnded.¡±
¡°It might have caught an updraft. What I want to say is that there is a limit to altitude control using buoyant stones. The floating continent is about 1 or 2 km higher than the maximum altitude of the airship.¡±
¡°Then the airship from Vandus territory identallynded. But ording to this document, an airship owned by the Bagran royal family moved to Vandus territory. Did they find a way to use the updraft continuously?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t guarantee it, but it¡¯s likely.¡±
Margareta¡¯s solo inquiry continued for a while.
The inquiry was quite direct and clear, so it was surprisingly easy to answer.
Themander of the floating continent garrison was relieved that he had mentioned Altemaho and suffered from the senators.
He hated the name of that dragon, but he had only briefly mentioned it and they had tripped over it.
It was not yesterday or today that the senators were obsessed with trivial issues.
Once they became senators, their seats were guaranteed for more than 100 years, so they were all blinded by their interests and ignored the real problems.
There were even people who only put their names on and did not attend the meeting.
Nevertheless, Elvrande was still functioning well because the basic system was well established and because it dominated the hegemony of Astera.
As arge country, it had abundant resources and all kinds of new technologies and concepts represented by ether were first introduced in Elvrande.
The core of Goliath was an exception, but the Republic of Imir was more advanced in terms of propulsion systems and train engines.
Margareta was one of the few elves who argued that radical reforms and changes were needed in this empire.
She cautiously opened her mouth.
¡°It is clear that Vandus territory has a way tond on the floating continent, whether it is an updraft or not. Our technology should not be difficult to follow, so how about reorganizing the troops? I heard that ce is very vtile.¡±
The general was surprised that she knew that much.
¡°As you said, the area around the floating continent requires a quick response force due to falling debris and drastic weather changes every hour.¡±
¡°Good. Then what do you think about theposition of the troops?¡±
Then one of the senior senators raised his hand.
¡°We will take care of that issue ourselves, Your Highness.¡±
Margareta bit her lip slightly and protested.
¡°You guys can¡¯t find apromise point, so this is happening. Was it so important to name a single airship?¡±
¡°That was also our mistake. We are reflecting on it, so please step back from this issue.¡±
¡°The reorganization of the frontline troops is the authority of the Ministry of Defense and the Military Committee of the Senate. Your Highness, please go to Yggdrasil and pray for a smoothnding.¡±
¡°¡¡±
As she was blocked by the senators, Margareta could not continue her opinion.
It was already shocking enough that she came to the podium and spoke directly.
She left silently and then a boring debate resumed at the podium.
¡°Why didn¡¯t you report in advance that you fired an ether cannon?¡±
¡°It seemed like there was no time to report in such an urgent situation, sir.¡±
¡°Fighting with enemies is dangerous and urgent, of course. But reporting is also an important procedure. Have you forgotten who gives you the budget for your garrison?¡±
¡°¡I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ll pay more attention in the future.¡±
¡°It¡¯s also a problem that you usedmunication stones recklessly. Do you think we have an unlimited budget? I could have reduced thismunication with your base to three sentences.¡±
As he was scolded with nitpicking and psychological torture, the general was almost exhausted.
When he was carried out, it was the bureaucrats¡¯ turn.
The bureaucrats who managed stocks and bonds in connection with Denova felt their faces pale.
They had blown up the assets of the senators, so they would be scolded for at least a week.
Simr things were happening in other countries, although not as severe.
Thending of an airship on the floating continent had brought a huge aftermath.
This storm grew stronger over time, and soon most of the countries recalled their retired airships to active duty.
They thought like this.
¡ªVandus Baron must not have developed a great method, he was just lucky. We just have to watch and follow.
¡ªAs long as wend on the floating continent somehow, the resources there are ours. The troops of Vandus Baron are nothing.
So dozens of airships headed for the floating continent.
They did not approach rashly, knowing the precedent of Elvrande and Denova, and just watched from a distance.
And then they saw the blue dragon Zigarion appear in front of them.
¡ªThis is not and that is allowed for you!
It was a dignified dragon speech, but it sounded like a deration of war to the soldiers on the airship.
Ether cannons were fired from dozens of airships and Zigarion felt his shield shatter.
-Graaah!
He fled with burns all over his body.
Chapter 212: The Dragon Who Left the Nest
Chapter 212: The Dragon Who Left the Nest
Leobold looked at Zigarion with disdain as he whined and moaned after being hit by the ether cannon and returning to Lare.
Wasn¡¯t he much weaker than expected?
He understood that he was weak since he said so himself, but he didn¡¯t expect him to be chased away by the barrage of dozens of airships.
By the ether cannon, which boasted inurate and feeble power.
Arma spected that the ether cannon had an effect of piercing through the dragon¡¯s barrier magic.
¡°The dragon¡¯s barrier magic is not well understood, but the usual barriers used for city defense are weak against pinpoint attacks. The ether cannon seems to be able to change its mode.¡±
¡°So you mean it can concentrate on one point like aser and increase its pration power? But can¡¯t he use magic to avoid getting hit?¡±
He could hide his appearance with invisibility or use his superior mobility to evade the attacks.
But in the battle footage that Arma showed, he only saw the dragon getting hit by the cannon while preparing to breathe lightning.
¡°It¡¯s certain that he has littlebat experience.¡±
He was weak, timid, and always tried to avoid fighting, so he couldn¡¯t have umted any experience.
His dragon life for hundreds of years must have been filled with running away.
¡°He really ran away during the dragon war. He survived until now, which is impressive.¡±
¡°Or you could say that he survived until now because he ran away so much. All the other dragons are dead.¡±
¡°Well, I guess that¡¯s his way of survival.¡±
But it was definitely a problem that he used that survival skill against humans or elves.
He had overwhelming power, so he could have subdued them easily, but he screamed and ran away as soon as he felt a little pain, which was not befitting of a dragon¡¯s dignity.
¡°Still, we achieved our goal of preventing the airships fromnding, so I guess that¡¯s fortunate?¡±
¡°It seems more likely that the airships retreated because they were startled by the existence of a dragon.¡±
It was like a cow stepping back and catching a mouse.
Anyway, the airships retreated as soon as they saw the dragon and returned to their base.
There were also incidents of them colliding with each other, sonding seemed difficult for a while.
The ether circuits attached to the current floating stones could not raise the altitude any further.
They had to rely on rising air currents, but the atmosphere at 10km altitude was so unstable that it was almost impossible to ride on them.
If they went up wrong, they could be swept away by a giant wave like a straw boat.
It took at least thousands of gold to build a small airship like Altema, so they wouldn¡¯t want to gamble on such a low possibility.
¡°More than anything, the crew¡¯s physical exhaustion is severe. The temperature is very low and the oxygen is scarce, so they are all suffering from serious altitude sickness.¡±
They changed their altitude rapidly, so they were tormented by altitude sickness and some even fell asleep.
The temperature was around minus 40 degrees and the oxygen was scarce, so the crew¡¯s morale was not good.
¡°If they just get up to the floating continent, most of them will be solved, but they won¡¯t think that far.¡±
Strangely enough, the temperature of the floating continent¡¯snd was around 10 degrees Celsius, which was reasonable, and the pressure and oxygen were simr to the ground.
Arma was investigating the cause, but nothing special came out.
¡°It seems that there is a fight between the airship crew and our troops. There are also airships that run away saying that you should go up.¡±
¡°We can just leave them alone for a while.¡±
As always, life would find a way, but it would take some time in this harsh environment.
By the time they ovee that, all kinds of facilities would be built on the floating continent, so there was no big worry.
What Leobold was concerned about was that Zigarion showed himself.
¡°We can¡¯t hide him forever, so we¡¯ll have to show him eventually, but will it have a negative impact on our n?¡±
¡°I have something to show you about that.¡±
Arma showed him a video.
It was about digging something out of thend that Elvrande gained from the war.
Leobold didn¡¯t know what it was at first, but when he saw a pile of dirt being dug up and a gray bone being exposed, he gasped.
¡°That¡¯s quite big for a bone.¡±
¡°It¡¯s likely to be a dragon. Probably one that died during the dragon war. I couldn¡¯t confirm its species name.¡±
¡°It¡¯s hard to identify what kind of dragon it is by just looking at the bone. What are they going to do with digging it up?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think even the elves on site know very well. Sometimes high-ranking officials appear, but there is a high level of magic going on, so it¡¯s hard to break through.¡±
¡°Are they doing something sinister like resurrecting a dragon? I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s possible.¡±
¡°There is a possibility, since there were necromancers in this world until 200 years ago.¡±
They are gone now because the elves, who hated ck magic, killed them all.
Their hatred for ck magic was astonishing, and they chased and killed thest one and burned their corpses.
Elvrande hid many records in the Infinite Library, but they openly disyed the extermination of necromancers.
It was probably a warning to prevent such a thing from happening again.
¡°They killed them all and then hid and used them¡ They¡¯re simr to me.¡±
Not only that, but intelligent beings tend to have that tendency.
There was a reason why nepotism existed.
¡°There is not enough data to make a hasty guess, but it is likely to be true.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s just watch for now. It doesn¡¯t seem like something they can do right away. But keep a close eye on the bone and rted personnel.¡±
¡°Understood.¡±
¡°And did you put out a bounty for ether-rted personnel?¡±
¡°I contacted a few people rmended by Prince Ruad, but they don¡¯t seem very interested.¡±
¡°Is money not enough?¡±
¡°I guess it¡¯s because the territory is in the corner¡ The established talents have no reason toe, and the fresh graduates care a lot about their first job.¡±
¡°I wouldn¡¯te either if I were them.¡±
The first job is very important for job seekers.
If they get caught by a lord with a weird personality or the environment doesn¡¯t support them, their future career could be messed up.
They needed some merit, but the current Vanduss baron territory only had an image of a typical miser.
¡°But there is one talent who is interested in this side. A mage sent me a reply saying that she would consider it positively.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a relief. What kind of person is she?¡±
¡°She¡¯s a mage named Stephina, a female in her twenties. She left her family for a simr reason as your original body and fought as a mercenary until she decided to settle down in a territory.¡±
¡°Is her skill reliable?¡±
¡°She seems to be above average. That¡¯s what she ims, anyway.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good enough. As long as she¡¯s not aplete mess, ept her.¡±
Once she settled in the territory, he could make her not want to leave.
He could provide her with not only wages, but also ether stones and other resources that were iparable to other ces.
Leobold gave a few more orders, such as securing the Sagris silver mine, and then met Zigarion, who was still whining.
The sight of a dragon with the size of an airship stuck in the corner of Lare andining of pain was quite annoying.
¡°How could you get hit by that so stupidly without using magic?¡±
¡°Damn it! How was I supposed to know they would attack like that! How dare they, those lowly humans!¡±
Leobold looked at Zigarion with disdain as he whined and moaned after being hit by the ether cannon and returning to Lare.
Wasn¡¯t he much weaker than expected?
He understood that he was weak since he said so himself, but he didn¡¯t expect him to be chased away by the barrage of dozens of airships.
By the ether cannon, which boasted inurate and feeble power.
Arma spected that the ether cannon had an effect of piercing through the dragon¡¯s barrier magic.
¡°The dragon¡¯s barrier magic is not well understood, but the usual barriers used for city defense are weak against pinpoint attacks. The ether cannon seems to be able to change its mode.¡±
¡°So you mean it can concentrate on one point like aser and increase its pration power? But can¡¯t he use magic to avoid getting hit?¡±
He could hide his appearance with invisibility or use his superior mobility to evade the attacks.
But in the battle footage that Arma showed, he only saw the dragon getting hit by the cannon while preparing to breathe lightning.
¡°It¡¯s certain that he has littlebat experience.¡±
He was weak, timid, and always tried to avoid fighting, so he couldn¡¯t have umted any experience.
His dragon life for hundreds of years must have been filled with running away.
¡°He really ran away during the dragon war. He survived until now, which is impressive.¡±
¡°Or you could say that he survived until now because he ran away so much. All the other dragons are dead.¡±
¡°Well, I guess that¡¯s his way of survival.¡±
But it was definitely a problem that he used that survival skill against humans or elves.
He had overwhelming power, so he could have subdued them easily, but he screamed and ran away as soon as he felt a little pain, which was not befitting of a dragon¡¯s dignity.
¡°Still, we achieved our goal of preventing the airships fromnding, so I guess that¡¯s fortunate?¡±
¡°It seems more likely that the airships retreated because they were startled by the existence of a dragon.¡±
It was like a cow stepping back and catching a mouse.
Anyway, the airships retreated as soon as they saw the dragon and returned to their base.
There were also incidents of them colliding with each other, sonding seemed difficult for a while.
The ether circuits attached to the current floating stones could not raise the altitude any further.
They had to rely on rising air currents, but the atmosphere at 10km altitude was so unstable that it was almost impossible to ride on them.
If they went up wrong, they could be swept away by a giant wave like a straw boat.
It took at least thousands of gold to build a small airship like Altema, so they wouldn¡¯t want to gamble on such a low possibility.
¡°More than anything, the crew¡¯s physical exhaustion is severe. The temperature is very low and the oxygen is scarce, so they are all suffering from serious altitude sickness.¡±
They changed their altitude rapidly, so they were tormented by altitude sickness and some even fell asleep.
The temperature was around minus 40 degrees and the oxygen was scarce, so the crew¡¯s morale was not good.
¡°If they just get up to the floating continent, most of them will be solved, but they won¡¯t think that far.¡±
Strangely enough, the temperature of the floating continent¡¯snd was around 10 degrees Celsius, which was reasonable, and the pressure and oxygen were simr to the ground.
Arma was investigating the cause, but nothing special came out.
¡°It seems that there is a fight between the airship crew and our troops. There are also airships that run away saying that you should go up.¡±
¡°We can just leave them alone for a while.¡±
As always, life would find a way, but it would take some time in this harsh environment.
By the time they ovee that, all kinds of facilities would be built on the floating continent, so there was no big worry.
What Leobold was concerned about was that Zigarion showed himself.
¡°We can¡¯t hide him forever, so we¡¯ll have to show him eventually, but will it have a negative impact on our n?¡±
¡°I have something to show you about that.¡±
Arma showed him a video.
It was about digging something out of thend that Elvrande gained from the war.
Leobold didn¡¯t know what it was at first, but when he saw a pile of dirt being dug up and a gray bone being exposed, he gasped.
¡°That¡¯s quite big for a bone.¡±
¡°It¡¯s likely to be a dragon. Probably one that died during the dragon war. I couldn¡¯t confirm its species name.¡±
¡°It¡¯s hard to identify what kind of dragon it is by just looking at the bone. What are they going to do with digging it up?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think even the elves on site know very well. Sometimes high-ranking officials appear, but there is a high level of magic going on, so it¡¯s hard to break through.¡±
¡°Are they doing something sinister like resurrecting a dragon? I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s possible.¡±
¡°There is a possibility, since there were necromancers in this world until 200 years ago.¡±
They are gone now because the elves, who hated ck magic, killed them all.
Their hatred for ck magic was astonishing, and they chased and killed thest one and burned their corpses.
Elvrande hid many records in the Infinite Library, but they openly disyed the extermination of necromancers.
It was probably a warning to prevent such a thing from happening again.
¡°They killed them all and then hid and used them¡ They¡¯re simr to me.¡±
Not only that, but intelligent beings tend to have that tendency.
There was a reason why nepotism existed.
¡°There is not enough data to make a hasty guess, but it is likely to be true.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s just watch for now. It doesn¡¯t seem like something they can do right away. But keep a close eye on the bone and rted personnel.¡±
¡°Understood.¡±
¡°And did you put out a bounty for ether-rted personnel?¡±
¡°I contacted a few people rmended by Prince Ruad, but they don¡¯t seem very interested.¡±
¡°Is money not enough?¡±
¡°I guess it¡¯s because the territory is in the corner¡ The established talents have no reason toe, and the fresh graduates care a lot about their first job.¡±
¡°I wouldn¡¯te either if I were them.¡±
The first job is very important for job seekers.
If they get caught by a lord with a weird personality or the environment doesn¡¯t support them, their future career could be messed up.
They needed some merit, but the current Vanduss baron territory only had an image of a typical miser.
¡°But there is one talent who is interested in this side. A mage sent me a reply saying that she would consider it positively.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a relief. What kind of person is she?¡±
¡°She¡¯s a mage named Stephina, a female in her twenties. She left her family for a simr reason as your original body and fought as a mercenary until she decided to settle down in a territory.¡±
¡°Is her skill reliable?¡±
¡°She seems to be above average. That¡¯s what she ims, anyway.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good enough. As long as she¡¯s not aplete mess, ept her.¡±
Once she settled in the territory, he could make her not want to leave.
He could provide her with not only wages, but also ether stones and other resources that were iparable to other ces.
Leobold gave a few more orders, such as securing the Sagris silver mine, and then met Zigarion, who was still whining.
***
The sight of a dragon with the size of an airship stuck in the corner of Lare andining of pain was quite annoying.
¡°How could you get hit by that so stupidly without using magic?¡±
¡°Damn it! How was I supposed to know they would attack like that! How dare they, those lowly humans!¡±
¡°Who are you to get beaten up and run away from those humans? And I¡¯m also human, you know.¡±
Zigarion had nothing to say and turned his head away from him.
Leobold sighed and walked up to him and tapped his leg.
¡°You¡¯re not dead, so it¡¯s fine. You can heal your wounds. Don¡¯t you have any healing magic?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t know anything. Most of the gods died 200 years ago. You need gods to give you divine power.¡±
The dragon war resulted in the mutual destruction of gods and dragons, and the influence of the Holy Kingdom Palma decreased greatly.
But there were some surviving gods, so sometimes there were divine orders in the Pantheon.
The reason why the saintess led the holy knights and visited various countries was also because of finding someone with divine orders.
¡°I see. So there¡¯s no way to heal your wounds quickly?¡±
¡°They¡¯ll heal on their own. But my wounded heart won¡¯t recover.¡±
He curled his tail and grumbled, looking like he was shocked by the attack.
He had been observing the ground from the floating continent for so long and looked down on them as barbaric humans, but he didn¡¯t expect to run away like that.
His pride must have been hurt a lot.
He brought it upon himself, but Leobold couldn¡¯t afford to have him show such weakness all the time.
He had to y the role of the guardian dragon of the empire someday.
¡®It seems more like a mental problem than being weak¡¡¯
He had never fought before, so he panicked and ran away at the slightest pain.
He just needed some encouragement and proper guidance to fight well.
His power was not weak at all.
He snapped his fingers and workers disguised as golems brought arge chest outside.
¡°Open it.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Zigarion looked uninterested, but he couldn¡¯t resist his curiosity and opened the chest with his ws.
¡°It¡¯s impossible for a dragon to run away from such an attack. Not all dragons are as powerful as Altema, but we shouldn¡¯t underestimate them.¡±
¡°You¡¯re right. Maybe it was trying to lure us into the floating continent.¡±
The elves thought differently from the reality, which was that Zigaleon had fled because of the pain.
They had fought against formidable dragons in the past.
After much deliberation, the Council reached a conclusion.
¡ªWe have defeated the dragon, but we have lost millions of our kin. They are dangerous, so we will prohibit any approach to the floating continent from now on.
¡ªWe are not afraid of it. We are just preparing to annihte it more efficiently. We will deploy half of our airship power to the floating continent and start shelling training.
It was a rather quick decision for the Council, which was known for its slow schedule.
Perhaps it was because the dragon was their archenemy.
The elves, who usually acted leisurely, would go berserk when they fought against humans.
However, there was a hidden reason behind it. Elvrande was working on something with the bones of the dragon.
Only a few people knew about it, and thanks to the magic that was cast, no rumors spread. But they were definitely excavating the bones of the dragons that died during the Great War.
Those bones belonged to a very small number of dragons that sided with the elves.
It was absurd that a living dragon appeared in the midst of this.
Who on earth is that? The elders of the Council asked the intelligence agency, but there was no way to investigate it right away.
They had to be able to go up to the floating continent.
Compared to Elvrande¡¯s turmoil, other countries were rtively weing.
Many of the dragons had sided with humans and Ains during the Dragon War.
There could be various interpretations of this, but anyway, humans trusted the dragons that were recorded in their history books.
¡ªWe made a mistake because of the sudden appearance of the dragon. We have to express our position that it was not intentional.
¡ªWe should write a message on our airship and patrol near the floating continent in case it shows up again.
Especially, Zaium Empire was enthusiastic.
They might have thought that they couldpete with Elvrande if they could recruit the dragon somehow.
Thanks to that, there was no quiet day in the southern airspace of the floating continent, where Zaium¡¯s airships with wee messages and Elvrande¡¯s conflicts were flying around.
There was no shelling, but some casualties urred due to threatening maneuvers.
While the south of the floating continent was noisy, someone visited Vandus¡¯s barony.
It was a mage named Zion who wore an old-fashioned hat.
He originally wanted Leon, but he had to choose Zion because it was too simr to Leobold.
¡°Is this Vandus¡¯s barony? It¡¯s really tiny.¡±
The people were trembling with fear because of his sleek appearance and tantly arrogant speech.
Mages were mostly from noble families and could do whatever they wanted.
This remote barony would value talent, so the lord couldn¡¯t do anything rash. And there were many cases where mages were arrogant and reckless.
However, Zion was not interested in ordinary people and treated others fairly, so they didn¡¯t have muchints.
¡°Zaium¡¯s fallen noble. I lost my power due to court intrigues and came here. My original name is long, but you can just call me Zion.¡±
¡°Oh, you¡¯re from Zaium.¡±
¡°That ce is killing nobles every day¡¡±
Zaium Empire was a country with thergest poption in Astera and abused noble titles, resulting in a huge number of nobles.
The court intrigues that killed dozens of people every day were basic, and civil wars broke out without regard to seasons, making it impossible to stabilize.
The reason why humans were losing badly in their conflict with Elvrande was also because Zaium couldn¡¯t y a big role due to internal strife.
Even if they were normal, it would be hard topete with Elvrande.
Zion nced at Leobold¡¯s men and muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.
¡°Hmm¡ Are these guys your subordinates?¡±
¡°It¡¯s lord, not you.¡±
Whack!
The moment Leobold hit Zion¡¯s back of his head, their ranks were clearly imprinted in people¡¯s minds.
Zion raged at what he had done, but he couldn¡¯t stand up to Leobold.
¡°I¡¯ll make it clear here. I won¡¯t tolerate any mistakes from now on. Your mistakes could kill tens or hundreds of people, so get your mind straight. Got it?¡±
Zion had no choice but to tuck his tail under his eyes that were full of killing intent.
Leobold didn¡¯t want to crush Zion¡¯s spirit too much either, so he praised his skills.
¡°You¡¯re good enough to be invited by the royal family. You¡¯ll be a strong pir of our barony.¡±
¡°Hmm, I¡¯m not surprised by that.¡±
Zion definitely attracted the attention of the people, but he was soon forgotten.
Mages were usually creatures that stayed in theirbs and did their own things.
They used to use magic often for monster hunting and such, but recently they solved everything with Goliath, so they had no chance to see it.
And there was another reason why the people¡¯s attention was focused elsewhere.
The saintess and the holy knights of the Holy State of Palma visited this remote barony.
A woman who wore a deep white veil and the knights who followed her in silver armor entered the barony with dignity.
Their official purpose was missionary work, but Leobold knew why she visited here.
And that she was looking for him.
Chapter 213: The Saintess, the Hero, and Earth
Chapter 213: The Saintess, the Hero, and Earth
He started to have strange dreams ever since he absorbed the artifact of the prophet.
It was a fantasy that was clearly not Earth, and it was too vivid and harsh.
He had to run away from the elves in the forest, and he was crushed to death by a giant robot.
After some time, he was able to fly in the sky.
He dismissed it as a random dream back then, but now he realized that it was Astera.
That meant he dreamed of a distant that would take 50 years to reach with a spaceship that had a cruising speed of 20% of light speed.
The mediator who connected them was presumed to be the saintess of the Holy Kingdom of Palma.
ording to the information collected by Arma, she received a divine trust, and the whole Palma was looking for a man with brown hair and eyes.
They had visited most of the neighboring countries, and now it was the turn of Baron Vandus¡¯s territory.
Leobold watched the saintess enter his domain through the Sibiri satellite.
¡°She¡¯s the one who made me dream of Astera. I don¡¯t know how that¡¯s possible.¡±
It was impossible even with the human technology of 2180, so he had no choice but to bring up the concept of God.
Arma reported what he had investigated so far.
¡°There are concepts of divine magic and dark magic in this world, besides magic. They seem to have the same origin as ether, but it¡¯s strange that they are divided like this.¡±
¡°Maybe it¡¯s like oil. You can extract different types like diesel, kerosene, etc. from crude oil.¡±
Anyway, ording to her, dark magic was used by necromancers and such, and divine magic was obtained by praying to God.
¡°The more sincere the prayer is, and the more sensitive the ether response is, the more powerful the divine magic bes. Of course, this is from 200 years ago.¡±
Now that many gods have died in the dragon war, there are hardly any gods who listen to prayers.
Leobold, who regarded God as a transcendent being, was shocked by this, but it was not so unusual here.
In Astera, gods can die as much as they want.
Then he wondered if resurrection was possible, but there was no information about that.
¡°Did God die and Zigarion couldn¡¯t use heal? I heard dragons are beings that oppose the gods of Pantheon.¡±
¡°Astera Pantheon is a concept that epasses all gods, regardless of their nature. So it¡¯s just a ce where humans gather them together.¡±
¡°So there are gods who bless dragons too.¡±
¡°Grangber is a typical case, but ording to the documents, he didn¡¯t like dragons very much.¡±
¡°Maybe because they fly?¡±
¡°Grangber is a god of earth and abundance. He doesn¡¯t match with destructive dragons that fly in the sky.¡±
¡°He¡¯s petty for a god.¡±
Anyway, it was certain that the saintess received a divine trust, but it was still debated which god it was.
Arma guessed it was Lasa, the creator god.
¡°Lasa is more like an origin or a concept than a god. He created Astera, but he doesn¡¯t have much presence. He doesn¡¯t answer prayers no matter what.¡±
¡°That makes sense. If other gods answer prayers but Lasa doesn¡¯t, his faith will weaken.¡±
¡°Moreover, there is no temple for Lasa among Astera Pantheon. But this divine trust is presumed to be from Lasa, so it¡¯s unusual.¡±
¡°Lasa must be the prophet we¡¯re looking for.¡±
If his transcendent technology revealed by the artifact could create Astera, or even this entire ether universe, it wouldn¡¯t be strange.
Leobold came here to meet him.
But so far there has been no clear clue, so he nned to try various ways to find him.
That included digging out information from the Holy Kingdom of Palma.
¡°But it¡¯s too early to contact them. We don¡¯t have enough power here.¡±
He could destroy the whole Astera with the reactive bullets stored in Settler, but he couldn¡¯t do that.
What if he came all this way to find the prophet and destroyed his creation?
He had to build a perfect defense system as he did on Earth, but it wouldn¡¯t take long since it wasn¡¯t thatplicated.
¡°I guess I¡¯ll have to show my duck feet for now. The saintess or knights won¡¯t notice it?¡±
¡°ording to the investigation list, you are thest one who matches two criteria.¡±
¡°Because I suddenly rose up and have a big physique?¡±
¡°Yes. But I can¡¯t be sure with that. So the saintess will test you with something only she knows.¡±
¡°Lucia drew me a sealing magic circle, so it won¡¯t be a big problem.¡±
But he couldn¡¯t be sure that there was no other way.
This was the origin of ether, and magic was a field that Arma was not confident in.
¡°In the worst case, I¡¯ll have to capture them all and brainwash them.¡±
He hoped that wouldn¡¯t happen.
Leobold got up when he heard the footsteps of Carson, the administrator.
Saintess Veronica entered the lord¡¯s mansion with the guidance of Granden, the royal guard knight of Bagran, and Carson, the administrator.
Her purpose was to find the hero who appeared in the divine trust.
Unfortunately, there were hardly any people who fit the criteria so far.
The conditions in the divine trust were as follows:
¡ªA brown-haired, brown-eyed adult male.
¡ªA young man with a muscr andrge physique.
¡ªA person with an amazing ether response that surpasses an elven knight.
¡ªAn alien who came on a huge ship that is over 500 meters long.
¡ªLastly, a person who has a tremendous ability and has recently shown a lot of presence.
These were the conditions known within Palma, and there was one more condition that the saintess did not tell anyone.
But she did not ask anyone about it.
¡°I¡¯ll ask only when I¡¯m sure it¡¯s him. If he was from Earth.¡±
But she doubted that he would answer honestly.
The fact that he didn¡¯t look for her aftering to this world meant that he didn¡¯t want to reveal his identity.
Would such a person admit that his hometown was Earth?
Veronica decided to trust the god she worshiped.
She could shake the hero with the knowledge she saw through Hermia¡¯s dream.
She waited while drinking tea, but the lord did not show up.
¡®I heard he was a person who emphasized the importance of time to his people¡¡¯
Well, a lord was like a king in his domain.
No one dared to criticize him, so it became natural for him to do whatever he wanted.
Especially in this remote area where transportation was inconvenient, this tendency would be stronger.
¡®But he has been selling Sardines and giving a lot of benefits to his people with the money he earned from visiting the floating continent¡¡¯
Veronica confirmed that Baron Vandus¡¯s territory had one thing different from other territories of Bagran.
It was that there were many facilities for the people.
He dug several wells for public use, and he also provided cooking and bathing facilities.
The poption was less than a thousand, but he paved roads throughout the territory to make it easy to move around.
He also spent a lot of money on other facilities and helped his people use them.
It was stillckingpared to Bagran¡¯s capital or other bustling cities, but it was iparable to nearby territories in terms of convenience.
¡®But why is he making me wait like this¡¡¯
Veronica looked around the library while waiting, and Leobold was hearing something serious from Lucia.
-She is hiding a very powerful ether. She must have received a blessing from a specific god.
¡°A specific god? I heard that the Saintess of Palma worships all the pantheons.¡±
That was because the Saintess represented humanity and served all the gods of the pantheon.
She was not supposed to speak for a specific god, nor could she.
However, there was a possibility that the Saintess was influenced by a specific god, since there were not many surviving gods in the current Astera pantheon.
¡°So, what god do you think it is?¡±
Lucia could not answer that.
Soon, Zion came in grumbling and widened his eyes.
¡°What happened to this room? There are all kinds of messy magic circles spread out.¡±
¡°Be quiet and tell me who is controlling the Saintess. You probably know.¡±
He was a dragon who only ran away, but he must have remembered whose ether it was, since he had faced some crises in battle.
Sure enough, Zion closed his eyes as if tasting the ether and spat out the name of a god.
¡°Hermina. The god of dreams and illusions. I feel her very faintly, but it¡¯s certain. She survived the Great War because she had little power.¡±
¡°Like you?¡±
¡°I just avoided risks on my side.¡±
Anyway, Hermina¡¯s domain was things like dreams, illusions, and nightmares, which made her easy to dismiss as insignificant. And in fact, she was a god with little presence.
The power of the pantheon depended on the number and wishes of the intelligent beings who worshipped them, so Hermina was a weak god.
Saintess Veronica carved magic circles on her body to seal her power.
Her mistake was that she damaged some of the sealing magic circles to make it easier to use her abilities.
Most people would have a hard time detecting it, but gue Queen and Dragon noticed it right away.
¡°The god of dreams and illusions. So that¡¯s how I¡¯m connected to her.¡±
Even though she was dominated by a specific god, Lasa gave her his trust because he was a transcendent being.
¡°What do you mean by that?¡±
¡°Nothing. Just go out for a while.¡±
Zion was kicked out without knowing why.
Now she had to face the Saintess who had received the blessing of a god alone.
She must have used holy magic, so ordinary tricks would not work.
But if he used an ether blocker, she would notice it.
¡®The god of dreams and illusions¡ Just like I dreamed of Astera, she might have dreamed of Earth.¡¯
Maybe the Saintess would reveal her knowledge to him and try to shake him up.
Her and Palma¡¯s goal seemed to be expanding their influence, so they would attract many believers if they secured a hero from another world.
¡®I don¡¯t know what their real purpose is, but that¡¯s what it looks like from their actions so far.¡¯
He didn¡¯t know why Hermina gave her blessing, but it would be revealed soon.
Leobold heard some points of caution from Arma and opened the door to the library.
A woman with silver hair close to white stood up almost at the same time.
¡°Nice to meet you. I¡¯m Veronica, who worships all the pantheons of Astera.¡±
¡°Leobold Vandus. The owner of this domain. Please sit down.¡±
***
Veronica scrutinized Baron Vandus carefully.
He didn¡¯t look like the hero of trust at all.
The face of the hero she saw in her dream was soft but three-dimensional.
In other words, he was a handsome man who would appeal to any woman.
On the contrary, the baron in front of her was not very attractive with his bulky appearance.
¡®His hair color and eye color arepletely different¡¡¯
In short, she couldn¡¯t find any trace of the hero in this man.
But Veronica thought that it wouldn¡¯t be strange if this man was the hero.
He had been showing his prominence by catching bluefish andnding on the floating continent recently.
It was strange for a hero to do such things, but it would be different if he had some purpose.
¡®He came with such a huge ship, so it can¡¯t be an ordinary purpose.¡¯
Where he hid that ship was also a matter of interest, but she decided to focus on revealing his identity first.
She put down her teacup and said,
¡°Do you know that I¡¯m looking for the hero of trust?¡±
¡°I heard so much about it that even though I wasn¡¯t interested, I heard it. So did you find him?¡±
¡°Not yet. I met many people from various countries, but I didn¡¯t see anyone who could be a hero.¡±
¡°I heard it was a rare trust. It¡¯s a pity. I¡¯m not a hero either, so you¡¯ve wasted your time here.¡±
He said that with no expression on his face, making Veronica wonder if she had guessed wrong.
But there was still a possibility that he was acting.
She decided to use her own weapon that she didn¡¯t tell the church.
¡°This domain is thest one. I have plenty of time, so let me tell you how I¡¯m connected to the hero first.¡±
It was a bad sign when the story got long.
Leobold told Arma to prepare for the worst.
It would be better to capture and brainwash them all than to fight a war with the Holy Church.
¡®They are not the kind of people who would leave me alone.¡¯
If he used an ether blocker to prevent information leakage and Arma and the dummy troops intervened, he could subdue them enough.
She loosened her eyes slightly and began to tell a fantastic story.
¡°I¡¯m connected to the hero through dreams. I saw the hero¡¯s hometown, and the hero must have seen Astera in his dreams too.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Leobold¡¯s hand holding the teacup shook slightly, but soon rxed.
¡°What changed from when you first saw it?¡±
¡°Are you interested?¡±
¡°No. It¡¯s apletely different world and I have no reason to go there. What interest would I have? Just¡¡±
He left the rest unsaid, but it was enough to convey that he was just being polite to her.
The Saintess seemed to bepletely immersed in her own world, whether she knew it or not.
¡°It was a very different world from Astera. There were many tall buildings and huge ships and airships made of iron that traveled on the sea and in the sky.¡±
¡®It¡¯s definitely Earth.¡¯
He wondered if she had the ability to extract memories, but it was almost impossible to fool Lucia and Zion.
In other words, it was certain that the Saintess had seen Earth through a human who had been told to stay.
¡®I don¡¯t know where Earth is, though.¡¯
¡°It was so vivid even though it was a dream. The people¡¯s clothes were also very different from Astera. It was very strange that civilization developed so much without ether. Are there gods there too?¡±
Now the Saintess was looking at Leobold as if she was almost sure.
He took a sip of the cheap tea and said,
¡°So you saw another world. I hope you enjoyed it.¡±
¡°And I¡¯m still seeing it now. It¡¯s changed a lot from when I first saw it.¡±
You¡¯re still seeing it?
That one word made Leobold¡¯s face stiffen briefly, but soon rxed.
¡°In what way has it changed?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know much about that world, but I¡¯m sure it¡¯s in chaos. Many people lived in a huge¡ really huge structure that can¡¯t be described otherwise. Unfortunately, their lives seemed to be nothing but pain.¡±
It had been more than 50 years since Leobold left the sr system.
It was not strange that the things he had created had copsed over a long time.
¡®I hoped they would develop around Megacity, but I guess it was hard.¡¯
Leobold didn¡¯t feel much emotion.
Now he was destined to bury his bones in Astera, regardless of his final goal.
He had made some promises, but he didn¡¯t want to go through the journey that took 50 years again.
But the Saintess said something unexpected.
¡°The interesting thing was that people were shouting someone¡¯s name. Inside that huge structure, sometimes on the barrennd, they were shouting for Yu Ji-ha.¡±
Something was wrong.
It had been 50 years, and there shouldn¡¯t be anyone who still remembered his name.
Of course, he had left a record that was worth being in the history of Yu Ji-ha.
But 50 years was a very long time, and the chances were high that the people who remembered him had died.
Anti-aging treatments only suppressed aging, not extended lifespan.
It was iprehensible that there were many people who shouted his name, who should have disappeared into history long ago.
¡®Or maybe it hasn¡¯t been 50 years.¡¯
At this point, where he didn¡¯t even know if this ether universe was in the same dimension as the universe where the sr system belonged, it was forbidden to jump to conclusions.
Leobold had certainly experienced 50 years, but there was no guarantee that the people of Earth did too.
The Saintess asked with almost certainty.
¡°Are you Yu Ji-ha? The hero from another world who is wearing the shell of Baron Vandus?¡±
It was the first time she asked such a direct question.
But Leobold was able to keep hisposure because his years and experiences were not ordinary.
¡°You¡¯ve mistaken me for someone else. I¡¯m not the hero you¡¯re looking for. I¡¯m just a minor noble who worries about how to preserve this domain and make some more money.¡±
¡°A real minor noble wouldn¡¯t say that. They would try to impress me and find a connection with the church.¡±
¡°So you¡¯re going tobel me as a hero?¡±
After a short hesitation, Veronica shook her head weakly.
¡°I have no evidence. But my intuition, my heart is telling me that you are the hero. Where did you put that big ship? Is it on the floating continent?¡±
She said it was intuition, but it was probably Hermina whispering to her.
Leobold said indifferently.
¡°If you¡¯re talking about Altema, it¡¯s being repaired at the dock.¡±
A faint smile appeared on her lips.
¡°I see. Anyway, I¡¯m satisfied with meeting you today.¡±
She didn¡¯t find any evidence, but it sounded like she would keep bothering him.
Leobold pondered after seeing her off.
¡°Arma, do you think brainwashing is possible?¡±
¡°It¡¯s possible if we insert a special biochip. But I don¡¯t rmend it.¡±
¡°Because we don¡¯t know what will happen if we mess with the Saintess under Hermina¡¯s control.¡±
¡°Yes. It doesn¡¯t seem like she¡¯ll expose us right away, so I think it¡¯s better to watch her.¡±
¡°That¡¯s true. But it was unexpected. That people on Earth still remember my name.¡±
¡°It might be a different dimension where even the time axis is different.¡±
¡°That¡¯s likely¡¡±
Arma hugged his arm slightly when there was no more talk.
¡°Do you want to go back?¡±
¡°I have a promise to keep. But I have things to do here.¡±
He wouldn¡¯t go back until he met the prophet and thanked him.
He didn¡¯t even know how to do it, though.
Anyway, meeting Saintess Veronica taught him a lot.
She didn¡¯t leave right away, but looked around the domain.
The attitude of the holy knights was not bad either, so he could make some money while they stayed in the domain.
But rumors spread that Elvrande¡¯s judge wasing here soon, and Palma¡¯s people hurriedly left the domain.
Leobold looked at an elf who entered the domain with about ten elven knights.
He was a handsome man with fine features and jet-ck hair that reached his waist.
The bnced physique and eyepatch covering his left eye indicated that he was not an ordinary person.
Tirendel Azus.
He was an elven knight and judge of Elvrande who came to eradicate Altema¡¯s faith.
Unlike the Saintess, he didn¡¯t seem to pass quietly.
¡°I wonder what nonsense he¡¯ll say. Lead him this way.¡±
Chapter 214: The Arrogant Baron
Chapter 214: The Arrogant Baron
The hatred that the humans of Astera had for the elves could be summed up in one sentence.
¨DThe only good elf is a dead elf.
The elves felt the same way and often repeated a simr phrase.
The rtionship between the two races had been strained for at least hundreds of years, and it had worsened to the point of no return after the Dragon War and nearly two centuries of fighting.
They hadmitted all kinds of atrocities against each other, such as ughter, envement, torture, rape, arson, and plunder.
And this was still ongoing.
Recently, there was a trend of wars ending rtively quickly, but that was not because the rtionship had improved, but because the elves had changed their strategy.
¨DIt is too hard to exterminate the humans, no matter what we do. We should revise our strategy to take theirnd instead.
¨DLet them live in a narrownd. We don¡¯t care what they do.
The power of Elvrande was so overwhelming that in thest 100 years, there were only a few wars that the humans had won.
Thus, by the year 1037 of the Continental Calendar, four kingdoms had submitted to Elvrande and the elves had upied a quarter of the continent.
This strategy provoked a fierce bacsh from the humans, but they had no choice but to endure it since they were inferior in strength.
From the beginning, the countries that could have been the main pirs, such as Zaium or the Holy Kingdom, had lost their influence and the defeat of the humans was inevitable.
Moreover, the other minority races did not cooperate well with the humans.
The dwarves, of course, as well as the silverds, beastmen, and other minority races that existed in Astera hated the humans as much as the elves did.
¨DThey are all the same. They enved and ughtered us just like the elves did.
¨DMaybe it would be better to submit to Elvrande and enjoy peace. At least they won¡¯t kill us.
There were even some kingdoms that decided to submit to Elvrande on their own ord, thinking that they would not be treated harshly once they did so.
But that was just their delusion.
The elves drove the submissive races into wastnds and did not care about them properly.
Not only that, but there were also suspicions that they sent assassins.
They killed nobles or influential people who cried out for independence.
Of course, there was no use in protesting once they were under the elves¡¯ control.
The only thing that the submissive races could do was to live in fear and slowly walk towards extinction in their narrownds.
And the elves watched them with mockery and amusement.
¨DAre you suffering? Do you think we are cruel? Don¡¯t forget. What we did to you is only a little bit of what you did to us.
¨DSo don¡¯t me us. It¡¯s all your fault.
It was not clear whether it was true that they had done so in the past.
Many records were lost during the Great War and the remaining ones were hidden by the elves in their Infinite Library.
Besides, even if the truth came out now, it would not mean much because the conflict was too deep.
That was how they inflicted violence on each other without hesitation in the current continent of Astera.
Thanks to that, there was not a single resident who weed the elves who entered Vandus¡¯s barony.
¡°What are they doing here?¡±
¡°I wish we could kill them all and pile them up at the entrance.¡±
Even people who had never seen an elf in their lives showed such hatred, which showed how much their feelings had deteriorated.
However, they could not express it openly and neither did the elves who entered the territory show anything but annoyance on their faces.
Some elves even said that it smelled bad out loud.
Leobold focused on Tirenell who was at the front rather than them.
He did not show any anger or hatred like other elves.
He had no expression at all, so much so that he could be mistaken for a doll.
Arma stood next to him and reported what he had investigated about him.
¡°Tirenell is known as a warmonger in his country and has participated in most of the fronts since he became an Elven Knight. It is not an exaggeration to say that Elvrande¡¯s strong performance in recent wars is thanks to him.¡±
¡°He has great skills but his position is precarious because he has half-elf blood.¡±
In Elvrande where pureblood supremacy was absolute, half-elves could be said to have lower status than ordinary humans.
Some elves insulted him for being a hybrid who mixed with filthy humans.
¡°So he gave up on his political position in his country and focused on his military position instead.¡±
¡°Is he fighting so madly just because of his hatred for humans?¡±
¡°Not necessarily. Tirenell has never shown any hatred for humans externally.¡±
¡°He doesn¡¯t treat human prisoners well, but he doesn¡¯t torture them either. He just deals with them in a businesslike manner.¡±
¡°He might have a different way of thinking than ordinary elves. But this is clearly an enemy country and he is so calm.¡±
¡°He knows that we can¡¯t touch him.¡±
The elves were able to im that they would eradicate the Altima faith in the Easthart region, which was an enemy country, because they had signed a peace treaty.
Everyone knew that the war would break out again as soon as the treaty ended, and they could ignore the treaty and push in if they wanted to.
But even so, each country left them alone because they had bought at least one year.
It was not the leaders who suffered.
The Altima faith had faded long ago, so it was doubtful whether there were any believers who sincerely prayed to her.
It was suspicious that they did not go to Palma, the Holy Kingdom where the temples of the Astera Pantheon were abundant.
¡°That¡¯s about it. The elves¡¯ purpose is not to suppress the Altima faith, but to explore Easthart. There are rumors that they are looking for something.¡±
¡°Something like dragon bones?¡±
¡°Or maybe the ancient Goliath buried underground near the Zaium border.¡±
Anyway, a small territory like Vandus¡¯s barony was in a precarious situation with just a few judges¡¯ breaths.
It would change in a year, but it was hard to kick them out right now.
There was a way, but it was not easy and he was curious about what they would say.
He had seen them a lot in his dreams, but this was the first time he met them in reality.
Leobold looked at the elf who walked down the street with his long hair fluttering.
¡°Bring him to the library.¡±
***
When an elf met a human in Astera, he often showed off his power or position.
In most cases, it was true that the elf was superior, so the humans had to watch with resentment.
Therefore, the manners of the elves became worse and worse.
If Leobold had participated in the negotiations between Elvrande and the Easthart Alliance this time, he might have ordered to shoot them with reaction bullets.
That¡¯s how arrogant the elves were.
¡®This guy is a little less in that regard.¡¯
Tirenell did not take a rude posture or spread his legs when he entered the library.
He had a blunt expression, but it seemed that he was always like that, so it was hard to pick on him.
The two men drank tea silently and exchanged nces.
The first one to open his mouth was Tirenell.
¡°I saw on my way here that you didn¡¯t remove the figurehead of your airship.¡±
Interestingly, Tirenell used the Continental Common Language.
It was unusual considering that most elves only used Elnopeir.
¡°This is the medal of Altema. It¡¯s very impressive, isn¡¯t it? Although it¡¯s only gilded, the texture is so exquisite that it looks like pure gold.¡±
Tirendel smiled slightly, amused by the sight.
¡°Do you know who I am?¡±
¡°One of themanders of the Elven Knights, and currently a judge who purges the followers of Altema.¡±
¡°You dare to show me the medal of Altema right in front of me? I wonder if you can handle the consequences. You didn¡¯t even change your name.¡±
¡°That¡¯s because I don¡¯t need to. I¡¯m not a believer of Altema.¡±
¡°Faith is proven by material things, not by the heart. From what I see, you¡¯re acting no different from a follower of Altema. And very passionately, too.¡±
¡°That¡¯s interesting. Don¡¯t all elves pray to Eldgrasil in their hearts? Eldgrasil is the center of the Elven Pantheon, after all.¡±
Tirendel was at a loss for words when Eldgrasil and prayer were mentioned.
Eldgrasil was the World Tree that supported the whole of Astera, so all elves agreed that praying in their hearts was enough.
A normal elf would have been angry and yelled at this point, but Tirendel just took another sip of his tea.
¡°So you¡¯re saying that you don¡¯t care about Altema?¡±
¡°The medal was already attached when I borrowed it from the royal family, and the name was already Altema. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a sin to not change it.¡±
¡°You could have been more considerate of us, though.¡±
¡°I¡¯d rather spend my efforts on checking the expedition n for the Floating Continent and paying more attention to my territory.¡±
He implied that he didn¡¯t value the name Altema at all.
Hearing that, Tirendel leaned forward slightly.
His intact eye shone so brightly that it seemed like he was wearing a lens.
¡°I¡¯ve fought on the battlefield for a hundred years, and ughtered hundreds of Goliaths and tens of thousands of enemies. Do you know what humans call me?¡±
¡°A blind half-breed elf.¡±
He had a bloodline that was perfect for being ridiculed as a half-elf, and he even wore an eyepatch.
For a brief moment, a smile appeared on Tirendel¡¯s lips.
It would soon be revealed whether it was out of tolerance or confidence.
¡°I¡¯ve fought against humans, including Baron Vandus. And his sessor as well.¡±
He meant that he had fought against Leobold¡¯s father and brother.
He probably didn¡¯t kill them personally, but he was on the same front as them.
Despite the provocative content, Leobold didn¡¯t feel any emotion.
He had to have some rtionship with someone to feel something for them, but he had none of that.
He had never seen his father and brother¡¯s faces.
¡°That¡¯s how it is on the battlefield.¡±
Tirendel felt interested in Leobold¡¯s calm response.
He was openly pressuring him, but he still acted like this.
It meant one of two things.
¡®Either he¡¯s too stupid to read the mood or he¡¯s confident enough to face me.¡¯
Judging by his actions so far, the former seemed unlikely.
But he didn¡¯t think it was thetter either.
¡®He might have some political sense from getting what he wanted from the Bagran royal family or pressuring Denova¡¡¯
But his actual power wascking, which was Baron Vandus¡¯ problem.
His territory was quite developed for being stuck in this corner.
But his military strength was only four Raums that wouldn¡¯t even be considered Goliaths in Elvrande, one knight guard, and two mercenaries.
Two Elven Knights could easily turn them into a mess.
The baron himself didn¡¯t seem very strong either.
He probably didn¡¯t engrave anything like a sealing magic circle on himself, so what he felt right now was all there was to his power.
And it was very ordinary.
¡®I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s relying on to provoke me.¡¯
Surely he didn¡¯t believe that elves couldn¡¯t act as they pleased in enemy territory?
Tirendel quietly red at Leobold.
¡°You¡¯re trusting our goodwill. You should think about what will happen when that goodwill is gone.¡±
¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t know elves were showing goodwill. Is that what you call ughter, envement, rape, and so on?¡±
At his provocative reply, Tirendel snapped and spat out his words quickly.
¡°Cut the nonsense and get to the point. If you don¡¯t change the name and medal of your airship right now, I won¡¯t even need to contact the homnd. I¡¯ll deal with you on my own.¡±
¡°That¡¯s scary. But there¡¯s one thing I want you to know.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Why are you digging up dragon bones if you hate dragons so much?¡±
¡°¡¡±
Tirendel was stunned and couldn¡¯t say anything.
They were digging up dragon bones in the homnd?
¡°¡How?¡±
¡°Why don¡¯t you ask yourself? You¡¯re an elf, after all. You know that elves fought against many dragons in the Dragon War 200 years ago, right? Isn¡¯t it strange? What are you going to do with such a great thing as dragon bones?¡±
There were actually some dragons that sided with the elves.
But this was a secret, and very few people knew about it.
Even Arma had barely found out after chasing the Elvrande leaders.
So Tirendel, who had only fought on the battlefield as a young elf, had no idea.
¡°At first, I thought it was for Goliath materials, but there was something better. How about using ck magic to resurrect them? A Bone Dragon would be a shockparable to a Blue Dragon.¡±
¡°Where did you hear that? Where did you dig it up?¡±
¡°I heard some rumors while working with Denova. Maybe there¡¯s some conflict within your ranks. ck magic is enough to cause that kind of conflict.¡±
Unable to bear it any longer, Tirendel mmed the table and broke it, then stood up abruptly.
¡°Nonsense! There¡¯s no way they would bring up ck magic again in the homnd! We¡¯ve been chasing thest Necromancer, that damn Lich, for 20 years!¡±
¡°I think so too. It¡¯s just a possibility.¡±
¡°What¡¯s your reason for being so reckless? Do you think I won¡¯t let go of thest straw? I can kill you anytime! Right here, right now!¡±
In a fit of rage, Tirendel drew his sword, but Leobold¡¯s eyes were cold.
¡°Go ahead.¡±
¡°What?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not going to stop you. Draw your sword and kill an unarmed opponent. That¡¯s the way of the elves, isn¡¯t it?¡±
The way of the elves.
Tirendel¡¯s ears trembled and his hand holding the sword hilt lost its strength.
He was a half-elf who hated the way of the elves.
He fought on the battlefield not for the glory of Elvrande or Eldgrasil.
¡°¡Let¡¯s stop this.¡±
Tirendel turned his back and headed for the door.
And he said as if advising him, holding the doorknob.
¡°As you said, catching Altema followers is just a pretext. The real goal is something else.¡±
¡°Probably digging upnd. That¡¯s what elves are good at. Oh, but not as good as dwarves.¡±
¡°¡You seem to have a lot of guts, but I wonder if that will show on the battlefield too.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll find out when we meet again someday.¡±
They exchanged hostile gazes.
¡°Even though a peace treaty was signed for a year, there was no fool who believed it. I¡¯ll ask you then.¡±
¡°I look forward to it.¡±
Tirendel, who expected Leobold to ask about the content, frowned for a moment and tried to open the door and leave.
But he was stunned by the words that came from behind him.
¡°You have to pay for the broken table before you go.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Tirendel threw his pocket at him with an incredulous expression.
¡°You don¡¯t like to lose money, do you?¡±
¡°Sometimes I do.¡±
After that, the elves left the territory quietly, as if they had a separate purpose.
Leobold said to Arma.
¡°He¡¯s quite restrained for a brat.¡±
¡°He doesn¡¯t hate humans. Rather, it¡¯s unusual that he showed his emotions. Tirendel is usually called a wooden doll because he has no expression as an elf.¡±
¡°He showed his emotions in front of me¡ Maybe his goal has something to do with humans.¡±
He did tell him some important information, such as the dragon bone excavation, but it wouldn¡¯t leak out.
There was no benefit for Tirendel to betray his informant from another country.
Rather, he was likely to contact him more actively in the future to get more information.
He could get the reward then.
On the other hand, the people of the territory were bewildered when the elves who came in with great momentum left quietly.
¡°What¡¯s going on? I thought they were going to make a scene and break things, but they left quietly.¡±
¡°They probably got scolded by our lord. Don¡¯t interfere with our territory, he said.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think those arrogant elves would listen to that¡¡±
¡°Anyway, it¡¯s good that they¡¯re gone, right? Let¡¯s sprinkle some flour!¡±
¡°Bye-bye! Don¡¯te back!¡±
***
When it was known that the Elvrande judge left without making much noise, the eyes of the surrounding territories changed considerably towards the Vanduss baronial territory.
In fact, the Vanduss baronial territory had made a lot of money, but it didn¡¯t mean much.
Each territory was like apletely different country, and it had little influence on its surroundings because it was stuck at the end of the western continent.
So the neighboring lords tended to look at the Vanduss baronial territory as something like a nouveau riche.
¨DWhat can you do with money? Your father and brother died on the battlefield and you have no one left. You probably don¡¯t have any influential friends either.
¨DA typical nouveau riche. He¡¯s been making some money and attracting peopletely, but he won¡¯tst long.
These criticisms included resentment that he made a lot of money but didn¡¯t greet the aristocratic society.
Especially, he never visited the Lantis earldom, which made the lords angry.
No matter how independent he was, Lantis earl was a great lord who had a great influence on the western part of Bagran.
¨DIt¡¯s not that we want him to spend money on us, but he should at least greet the earl, right?
¨DI don¡¯t understand why he spends money on his people. There¡¯s nothing to expect from those idiots.
The reason why they kept criticizing him was because it was confirmed that the Vanduss baronial territory had made a lot of money.
Herring had be a trivial thing, and rumors began to spread as he refined gold and other things from the floating continent at Lantis earldom.
¨DIt adds up to more than 40,000 golds. It¡¯s really an amazing amount of money.
¨Dording to rumors, he¡¯s going to form a fleet with three airships next time and go to the floating continent. The royal family, as well as almost every country, are paying attention and watching.
¨DBut their power is surprisingly weak in that territory. There are only four Raums at best.
¨DIf only I had his money¡ Hmm¡
Everyone swallowed their saliva at the Vanduss baronial territory, but they couldn¡¯t move right away.
Lantis earl showed a skeptical reaction.
He appreciated the ability of Vanduss baronial territory, especially how he quietly sent off Elvrande¡¯s judges.
¡°Who among you can use Altema¡¯s name against a half-blind half-breed elf?¡±
Neither his vassals nor the nobles under his influence dared to step forward.
Who would dare to pick a fight with an Elven Knight while Bagran and Zaium were watching?
Especially Judge Tirendel was that notorious human hunter.
There were countless Goliaths destroyed by his hands and there were rumors that he could fill ake with dead bodies.
Lantis earl snorted and said.
¡°Do you think Vanduss baronial territory is worth trying because he scared Tirendel and sent him back without any trouble? I have my own thoughts, so don¡¯t think about doing anything.¡±
Actually, he was also angry when he found out that the baron had secured the right to operate the Sagris silver mine for a year.
¡°How dare he eye my silver mine? And the prince just gave it to him? What the hell are they doing?¡±
The Sagris silver mine was thergest silver mine in Bagran, which had been the source of funds for the royal family.
The silver content of the rock was so high that it was said to shine when a torch was lit in the mine.
Especially, Zaium Empire had a lot of interest in it and Bagran royal family had to give them almost a ton of silver every year.
The reason why the silver mine was closed was because demons started to appear from some point.
Goliaths couldn¡¯t enter the narrow mine and knights couldn¡¯t deal with the demons made of sturdy metal.
So the Sagris silver mine waspletely closed by the order of Bagran III.
The decline of Bagran kingdom also started from then.
There were many ces where money went out due to wars and such, but the source of funds dried up.
By the way, Lantis earl wondered how the baron would mine silver.
¡®It¡¯s impossible to mine silver without casualties, even with new technology.¡¯
Was he building facilities with a lot of money to win over his people and push them into the mine?
No matter how he thought about it, Vanduss baronial territory was his kind.
¡®That¡¯s why I wanted to watch him for a while, but he didn¡¯t even greet me.¡¯
He tried to contact him through the ore refining business, but only workers came and went, and the baron didn¡¯t even show his shadow.
¡®He makes money in my territory and ignores me. This Lantis earl?¡¯
His fist clenched, but he couldn¡¯t step forward as an earl against a mere baron.
Not only Bagran royal family, but also Zaium recently said they were paying attention.
¡®I¡¯ll wait and see how long he¡¯ll do well. If he ever falls, I¡¯ll be the first to catch and eat him.¡¯
There were more than one or two people who wanted to jump on him.
That¡¯s how much Vanduss baronial territory had heard resentment.
It was natural for neighbors to feel sick when they made a lot of money.
Chapter 215: How to Gain Trust
Chapter 215: How to Gain Trust
As spring passed, Baron Vandus began to focus on strengthening his domain.
He did not just expand the facilities, but also ssified the people systematically and assigned them to various upations.
The people received wages for working in different fields such as administration, military, mining, construction, fishing, cooking, and facility management.
The working hours were almost fixed.
The people¡¯s lives changed from going home when the sun set to leaving work when the bell tower rang.
At first, theyined a lot because they were not used to it, but they gradually adapted.
However, this did not mean that these activities generated a great profit.
The domain was too small to have any significant economic activity or influence on the outside world.
It was a primitive system where money andbor were exchanged internally, and it was meant to boost the work ethic.
Leobold wanted to instill in the people the awareness that they could live on their wages.
Considering that this depended entirely on the gold that exceeded 40,000, it was inevitable to feel anxious.
Carson, the administrative officer, was in such a situation.
He was suffering from neurosis as he saw the finances dwindling day by day while handling the books.
He repeatedly revised the books and pleaded with Leobold.
¡°My lord¡ The wages you pay to the people are too high¡ You can reduce them by half and there won¡¯t be muchints¡¡±
¡°Why, are you short of money? Don¡¯t worry. We can get money from the Floating Continent. And this domain won¡¯t grow much with just a few hundred people, so don¡¯t mind it.¡±
¡°Yes¡¡±
Carson understood his concern, but Leobold¡¯s mind, or rather Arma¡¯sputing unit, had a roadmap for how to change this Astera.
Compared to the huge scale of the n and the astronomical numbers, the resources invested in this small domain were really trivial.
So what was Leobold¡¯s goal besides meeting the Prophet?
It was to unify Astera and raise its civilization to the level of the 19th century.
In other words, he wanted to expand the infrastructure that he had built in some areas of Elvrande and Zaium throughout Astera.
He did so because humanity had received a gift from the Prophet and ovee the crisis and continued its civilization.
He could not think of anything else but developing Astera, which was considered a creation of the Prophet, to repay him a little bit.
¡°I don¡¯t know if the Prophet would like this¡ But there must be a reason why I came here.¡±
Anyway, thanks to Leobold¡¯s firm will and financial support, Baron Vandus¡¯ domain was able to develop quickly despite its small size.
At this point, some of the refugees who had fled to other ces began to knock on the domain¡¯s gate.
Most of them were those who had left to find a way to survive when the previous lord died and the domain fell into decline.
¡°We had no choice but to leave the domain to survive because our children were starving¡¡±
¡°Please ept us, my lord.¡±
Hundreds of people knelt before Leobold, including an old man with gray hair and a woman in shabby clothes.
Granden whispered advice to him.
¡°They are those who left the domain once. They have no loyalty to you. It would be better to select and ept them.¡±
If he epted this many people at once, there would be side effects.
He probably said that because he thought so. But Leobold had a different idea.
¡°Loyalty? Do you think they have loyalty who left the domain because they didn¡¯t want to starve?¡±
¡°That is¡¡±
¡°Even kings and nobles who are bound by strong military ties betray and purge each other constantly. There is no loyalty there.¡±
Granden flushed and said firmly.
¡°But my loyalty to His Majesty and His Highness will never waver.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not doubting your loyalty. I¡¯m just saying that you can¡¯t expect that from the people.¡±
¡°Then what will you use instead of loyalty to distinguish them?¡±
¡°Trust based on money. That is the value that does not change.¡±
To be precise, it was the reward for action.
People change their behavior when they know that there is immediate feedback for their actions.
In positive cases, one can think of working overtime to increase sry or making efforts to win medals in sportspetitions.
A negative example is the drone surveince system that Leobold introduced.
There were few people who could continue their madness while watching their property being cut down in real time.
As a result, the crime rate in Megacity, which had a poption of 100 million, dropped close to zero.
Some called it a side effect of terror politics, but Leobold did not care.
He introduced that system to preserve humanity and did not regret it.
It was the same here.
¡°Money is a powerful motivator in most cases. The people will feel directly how their wages change ording to their efforts and they will change. The trust that is formed that way will not change as long as I keep supplying money.¡±
But Granden did not seem to agree.
¡°Money¡ It¡¯s something familiar to the merchants of Denova.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t forget that your sry also belongs to that category.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t forget, but it¡¯s not something I want to get close to as a knight.¡±
He was such a stubborn person that this reaction was not surprising.
¡°I see. But you have to change as long as you are in my domain. This ce will develop so fast that Lord Olmus will be surprised.¡±
¡°¡I¡¯ll try.¡±
Leobold nodded and headed to the mansion.
But Zion blocked his way with a suspicious smile.
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Hehe¡ My lord, I heard you say that money is important.¡±
¡°You have a knack for hearing people¡¯s words weirdly. I said trust based on money is important. And don¡¯t use magic in the domain unless necessary.¡±
¡°Anyway, money is important, right?¡±
¡°What are you trying to say?¡±
Leobold was getting annoyed and Zion looked around and whispered.
¡°I¡¯ll tell you how to make money. Send someone to Denova right now and borrow as many stocks rted to the Floating Continent and airships as you can with 10,000 gold. And then sell them at the current price.¡±
¡°What will happen then?¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll go and sink the airships near the Floating Continent. Then the rted stocks will plummet, right? That¡¯s when you buy back the stocks and pay them back. It will drop by almost half, so you can make more than 5,000 gold in profit!¡±
¡°¡¡±
¡°How is it? Are you amazed by my brilliant idea? I learned it from studying the Denova guys. They charge a fee for selling stocks that they don¡¯t have. So you have to trade in advance.¡±
The stock market was so stagnant that they tried to make money by charging fees.
This blue dragon came up with the idea of short selling on his own.
Seeing this, he could not say that Zion¡¯s head was bad.
He just had a life full of tricks for over 700 years.
Leobold bit his tongue.
¡°He was stuck in theb, not doing any ether research, but only thinking about that.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you say you needed money? You can make a lot of money with this! Just give me half of the profits. I¡¯ll make money for you.¡±
¡°Wow, you idiot.¡±
Whack!
Zion jumped up after getting hit on the back of his head.
¡°Why did you hit me?¡±
¡°That¡¯s what short selling is. It might work when the stock market is active, but you want to do that now? Do you want to advertise that you¡¯re affiliated with Baron Vandus?¡±
¡°Oh, crap.¡±
¡°Just shut up and do your research. Steffina will be here soon, so pay attention to her.¡±
Steffina was a mage who decided to settle in the domain after receiving Leobold¡¯s invitation.
She hesitated at first, but packed her bags right away when she received a letter saying that he would provide everything she needed for her research.
Zion smirked wickedly.
¡°She must be not a normal person. No one woulde to this dump willingly.¡±
¡°She¡¯s probably more normal than you, who couldn¡¯t handle a few airships after living for 700 years.¡±
¡°That was because I didn¡¯t have experience back then. And it wasn¡¯t a few, it was dozens!¡±
¡°Shh. Lower your voice. And don¡¯t worry about money. I¡¯ll make you swim in gold and silver in less than a year.¡±
¡°My main body?¡±
¡°That¡¯s a bit¡¡±
It would take a tremendous amount to make his 2,500-ton body swim.
It wasn¡¯t impossible, but seeing Zion grin slyly made Leobold want to deny it.
¡°Anyway, go to theb and prepare your ether paper. How many days do you need to write an outline?¡±
¡°Damn it, can you write a paper about the wind, lord? Ether is like that to us.¡±
¡°I kind of understand.¡±
In fact, Leobold had studied basic science for decades and received lectures from Arma, so he had considerable knowledge.
But he had no intention of bragging about it to Zion, so he let it go.
He disappeared and Leobold headed to the mansion.
Now he had to prepare to dig up the Sagris silver mine for a year.
***
¡°The Sagris silver mine is a mine under the direct control of the royal family, and its output was about 30 tons per year before the demons appeared. This ounts for about 5% of the total demand in Astera.¡±
¡°Considering that Astera¡¯s poption is notrge, the demand is quite high.¡±
The current poption of Astera was estimated to be close to 300 million.
Zaium had the most poption with about 100 million, Elvrande had half of that, and the rest were upied by dozens of countries.
The amount of silver needed by 300 million people per year was about 600 tons, which was twice as high as the demand on Earth.
Arma concluded that arge amount of silver was consumed for ether research.
¡°You can also synthesize mithril, one of the rare metals, with silver. There are huge silver trade markets every month in the capitals of Zaium or Elvrande.¡±
¡°You can synthesize mithril with silver? Well, they have simr properties¡¡±
Leobold needed mithril to imnt artificial ether circuits on psychers, and he dug up a lot of Mariner Valley on Mars.
But it was frustrating to hear that he could synthesize mithril with just silver.
Arma consoled him.
¡°The synthesis method is very confidential in each country, so it¡¯s hard to find out right away. But we¡¯ll find out soon.¡±
¡°I trust Arma.¡±
Because of its many uses, the price of silver in Astera was rtively highpared to gold.
It wasn¡¯t more expensive than real gold, but it was about 20%, which was a ratio that could only be seen in Ming China in the 16th century.
It was no wonder that the Bagran royal family was anxious about closing just one silver mine.
In such a situation, Baron Vandus borrowed the right to operate the silver mine for a year and attracted attention.
Some nobles even sneered at how many people he would kill in his domain.
¡°Does he think he can¡¯t open the mine because he has no power in the royal family? It¡¯s because they concluded that dozens of people would die every day. He might be able to handle it in his domain, but not in the direct territory.¡±
¡°I wonder where he will mobilize people from. The poption of Baron Vandus¡¯ domain is not thatrge as far as I know.¡±
¡°He¡¯ll dig a little bit and then run away when people start dying.¡±
¡°He couldn¡¯t even predict that¡ He¡¯s just a nouveau riche who got lucky with the fish and the floating continent.¡±
The nouveau riche with nomunication skills added to Leobold¡¯s image as the worst.
Some merchants even said they should do some tax business for a change.
¡°He has a lot of money, so he might give some taxes to his people.¡±
¡°He¡¯s so good at stuffing it into his pockets. Who would have thought he would feed them well and push them into the mine?¡±
Despite the sneers, Baron Vandus prepared for mining by bringing in equipment and inviting technicians from the Imir Republic.
But all of that was just a disguise.
The real thing was that the workers were put in and dug, but of course he didn¡¯t n to tell the royal family.
Arma estimated that more than 10 tons of silver could be mined per day.
¡°If we continue to work without being caught, we can mine about 5,000 tons in a year.¡±
¡°How much is that of the reserves?¡±
¡°It¡¯s estimated to be about 13,000 tons, so it¡¯s about 38%.¡±
¡°He digs up 38% in a year and runs away¡ Someone will cry with anger.¡±
It didn¡¯t matter to the Bagran royal family or even the neighboring countries, as he nned to merge them all.
It was questionable what Prince Ruad would think.
He mined so much silver for research and issuing silver coins, but most of all because Lucia wanted it.
The gue Queen, who had a female upper body and a spider-like lower body, needed a lot of minerals, especially metals, for her evolution.
What she needed for her next evolution was gold.
¨DIf I eat a lot of silver, maybe my evolution will be faster. What do you think, master?
¡®I can give you that, but¡¡¯
Leobold looked at the gue Queen, who had grown to a considerable size by eating up the gold and various metals on the Settler.
Her body size was almost as big as an assault armor, but if she evolved further, it would be hard to handle.
Of course,pared to the gue Queen who exterminated humanity, she was still small and weak, but he couldn¡¯t rx forever.
Leobold asked himself.
¡®Can I trust Lucia?¡¯
He had doubts several times, but he wasn¡¯t very positive.
The fear he had for Lucia stemmed from his ignorance.
He couldn¡¯t predict how she would act because he didn¡¯t know anything about the gue Queen.
Lucia was definitely a separate entity from the adult gue Queen who invaded the sr system.
But he couldn¡¯t say they werepletely separate because their consciousness could be transferred.
Leobold asked himself again.
¡®Is it worth taking such a risk and epting Lucia?¡¯
There was enough justification.
He didn¡¯t know if the gue Queen who exterminated humanity was dead or alive.
Leobold thought he had killed her for sure, but since she could transfer her consciousness, she might be grinding her teeth in another dimension by now.
In such a situation, a controble gue Queen was a valuable asset.
¡®The problem is how long Lucia will ept my control.¡¯
She was obedient and cute now, sitting on his shoulder, but would she keep that attitude when she had enough power?
If she realized that she could destroy him and Arma by just blowing up the Settler, what would she do?
She might not actually act on it, but there was a big difference between a zero possibility and a low but existing one.
Leobold couldn¡¯t ignore even a small possibility until he met the prophet.
¡®Maybe I should just kill her now¡¡¯
While he was deep in thought, Arma called him to the Settler, saying he had something to tell him.
He wondered what it was and went there on an exploration ship, only to find a familiar container next to Lucia¡¯s main body.
It was a 1-gigaton antimatter bomb.
Leobold¡¯s eyes narrowed.
If that exploded, the Settler and everything around it would vaporize.
Before he could doubt, Lucia conveyed her intention.
¨DI know you have doubts about me. Actually, I didn¡¯t know I would grow this big either. I just ate and slept and pooped¡
¡°So what¡¯s your conclusion? You¡¯re not going to blow yourself up with that bomb, are you?¡±
¨DI¡¯ll eat the bomb. So you can kill me anytime. That¡¯s okay, right?
¡°Eat the bomb?¡±
She felt the need to exin, so Arma stepped in.
¡°If Lucia swallows the bomb and dposes it inside her body, the antimatter and matter willbine and explode. Therefore, she can never dpose the bomb, and you can control the explosion with this switch.¡±
She handed him a small switch.
Leobold looked at the switch with a green light silently and asked.
¡°So if you think Lucia will betray me, I can kill you anytime?¡±
¨DThat way, I thought you would trust me.
Lucia¡¯s voice was trembling.
Death was fair to everyone, and even the gue Queen didn¡¯t want to die.
Leobold felt his chest loosen.
He had said that there was hardly any trust rtionship based on loyalty among Grandens, but Lucia showed him this.
It seemed like he didn¡¯t need to doubt her anymore if she said this much.
¡®Let¡¯s trust her just once.¡¯
He handed the switch back to Arma.
¡°Eating a bomb is bad for your body. I¡¯ll trust you, so get rid of that.¡±
¨DYou trust me?
¡°Yes. And I have something for you to do.¡±
¨DWhat is it?
¡°Defeat the demons that appear in the silver mine.¡±
¨DNo problem, leave it to me!
Lucia was technically a demon king.
A bigger and stronger demon king than any other demon king on Mare.
Of course, she couldmand many servants, but she strictly limited their number ording to Leobold¡¯s request.
Those servants were the golems that could be seen a lot in Baron Vandus¡¯ domain.
The people of the domain thought they were bought from outside, but they were actually made by Lucia, and they moved without ether stones or any special maintenance.
They were a kind of life form, so theirbat power was considerable, and they could easily defeat an ordinary Goliath.
They just didn¡¯t do it because they didn¡¯t need to.
Anyway, Lucia was given the mission of repelling the demons that appeared in the Sagris silver mine.
She had to seed in this mission perfectly, whether to gain her master¡¯s trust or for her next evolution.
The Bagran king¡¯s men also flocked to the Sagris silver mine on the outskirts and began to clear away wood and rocks with equipment.
And Lucia entered the deepest part of the silver mine in fairy form and summoned her main body.
A small ether storm blew in the dark space and a gue Queen appeared with a female upper body and a spider-like lower body.
¨DHoo¡ It¡¯s dark and lonely here¡
Lucia¡¯s summoning of this main body was essentially the same as the dragon¡¯s polymorph or the elven knights summoning Goliaths.
It was a very convenient magic that opened up an extra space and called something out, so it was a priority target to secure.
Steffina would start researching it seriously when she came to the domain.
Lucia waited for the demons to appear in the tunnel.
Soon enough, a small ether storm blew and a blue door opened, revealing several human-shaped demons.
They saw Lucia¡¯s presence and were shocked.
¨DM-mother?
¨DYes?
Chapter 216: A Delicious Silver Mine
Chapter 216: A Delicious Silver Mine
The monsters that were called demons or demons by the people of Astera, and were despised by them, were actually gues.
They were iparable to the gues that had appeared in the sr system and attacked Earth in terms of size andbat power, but that was because they had not evolved enough.
Arma had warned that Lucia could grow as big as a gue Queen if he kept feeding her.
The matter was settled for now when Leobold decided to trust her.
Anyway, the gues¡¯ ego was very weak.
The higher beings had distinct personalities, but the numerous Beast-ss ones only had survival instincts.
In that respect, the gues in Mare were very unusual.
Each individual had an ego and hated humans.
He didn¡¯t know why, but anyway, the demons who were digging silver in the Sagris silver mine were shocked when they met Lucia.
¨DM-mother?
It was easy to think that there was now or order among the demons, but there was one thing.
The strong ones have everything.
This also applied to Mare, where power struggles, battles, wars, and sieges were constantly taking ce at this moment.
And the losers gave everything to the winners.
In that respect, the demons who appeared in this silver mine were astonished by Lucia.
¨DS-so big and beautiful¡
¨DEven if our mother fights, she can¡¯t match her¡
She hadn¡¯t actuallypared herself, but Lucia was a bigger and stronger being than any gue Queen in Mare.
She had be incredibly powerful by eating all kinds of ingots on the Settler and the mining ship alone.
Naturally, her control over her minions also became stronger and this applied to the demons of other groups as well.
¨DCome here, my children.
¨DMother¡
The demons became docile sheep and embraced her bosom.
When things went like this, Leobold, who was watching from outside the tent, was dumbfounded.
¡°It¡¯s over without a fight¡ They epted her as their master. How absurd.¡±
¡°Maybe it¡¯s thanks to raising Lucia well. If their power was simr, they wouldn¡¯t have be her minions so easily.¡±
¡°And we took on the risk¡ We decided to trust her, so let¡¯s watch.¡±
That¡¯s how the demons in the Sagris silver mine were turned into golems by Lucia.
They had their egos taken away, but in fact they didn¡¯t have much meaning to their egos.
The gue Queen was the sum of all the gues¡¯ wills.
Lucia¡¯s will was their will, and this was different from species like humans.
Anyway, this incident provided Arma with a lot of information.
He detected an ether storm in front of him, although it was small-scale.
¡°This ether storm appeared in the sr system with thergest scale ever and is estimated to have also appeared on the ninth Nox. The warp gate can be said to be a result of the ether storm.¡±
Although not asrge as that, it was constantly happening near thes Mare and Terra.
The demons of Mare used it to appear on Terra.
¡°Can¡¯t we control it?¡±
If that was possible, he could teleport as he pleased.
Arma shook his head.
¡°It¡¯s impossible for now. We need to identify what ether energy is before we can control it precisely.¡±
¡°Yeah, it¡¯s hard to try something we don¡¯t even know what it is.¡±
Even those who lived in Astera didn¡¯t know what ether was.
They just used it as a matter of course.
Anyway, thanks to Lucia¡¯s intervention, the threat factor of the Sagris silver mine disappearedpletely.
Even so, the miners were reluctant to enter easily.
They believed that the lord would kill them.
Some even begged him on their knees in front of Leobold.
¡°Lord, please spare me. I have an old mother and a wife and children¡ How can they live if I die¡¡±
¡°Please let me write a will at least¡¡±
Leobold suppressed hisughter and ordered them to enter the mine with a cold expression.
¡°If you hear anything strange, you cane out right away. I¡¯ll pay you twice as much and give you plenty of supplies. So work hard.¡±
The miners felt bitter but also tempted.
In fact, any mine was dangerous.
The mine was where most deaths urred among many workces, and if the tunnel copsed one day, mass death was certain.
They didn¡¯t even get good treatment there, so they were lucky if they had old gloves and their meals were only watery porridge with ck bread crumbs.
It was a life of living without dying.
Compared to that, the amount of equipment and supplies invested in the Sagris silver mine was considerable.
Although the work was hard, at least they felt confident that they wouldn¡¯t die and that if they did die, their bodies would be recovered.
The miners carried their pickaxes and vowed.
¡°Anyway, our lives are no different from the lord saving us.¡±
¡°Our lord will take care of our remaining family if we die. I believe that.¡±
Thus, the sound of vigorous pickaxe work began to be heard in the quiet Sagris silver mine.
The explosives, which were said to have been invented by the Imir Republic for the first time, were also introduced for the first time, and arge rock cracked with a bang.
The miners rushed in and broke the silver ore and carried it out of the tunnel.
Even though the work was continuing, the demons didn¡¯t seem to show up.
***
When the Sagris silver mine was opened, the attention of the Bagran Kingdom was focused.
As it boasted arge amount of deposits, they wondered how much silver woulde out.
¡°It produced 30 tons a year in its heyday. That¡¯s what fed the Bagran royal family.¡±
¡°The silver content is so high that you can get results by just pushing in manpower.¡±
¡°They say dwarves came from the Imir Republic? Then they won¡¯t be able to withdraw easily because of their pride.¡±
¡°By the way, why aren¡¯t the miners dying?¡±
The amount of silver produced was one thing, but what attracted more interest was how many people died.
To the nobles of Bagran, themoners who didn¡¯t have ether flowing in them didn¡¯t matter how many died, and sometimes bets were made.
Some merchants even had coffins ready near the mine, but they were embarrassed that no orders came in.
¡°Maybe the baron is hiding the deaths? It¡¯s normal for 20 or 30 people to die by now.¡±
¡°What about the miners working inside? Their faces arepletely different from other mines.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know¡ Well, maybe he promised to pay them a lot of money. Maybe he fed them a lot too.¡±
¡°Why would he do that to someone who¡¯s going to die soon?¡±
¡°¡¡±
That was the biggest mystery.
Baron Vandus strangely spent a lot of money on his people.
The nobles who couldn¡¯t understand that it was an investment sneered at him for wasting money.
To most nobles,moners were disposable goods that could be used and thrown away at any time, as long as they gave birth to children.
So investing in them seemed strange.
This perception was much worse in Zaium, and only the Holy Kingdom and Elbrang were a little better.
The former tried to treat the believers formally, while thetter focused on rejecting other races.
The reason why the treatment of themoners fell to the bottom was because the war was waged by the nobles.
The knights who controlled the Goliaths, the magicians who engraved all kinds of magic circles, and the ether engineers who produced and managed them, the war was almost entirely theirs.
There was no room for themoners to intervene, and naturally, the perception that themoners had no role in the war was fixed.
Of course, it was impossible to conduct the war with only nobles, and the support of themoners was essential in various fields.
The nobles were not able to live without eating, and the mercenaries were oncemoners.
But the status of the Goliaths was so huge.
One Goliath could face more than a thousand soldiers, and this had the effect of lowering the status of themoners even more.
Anyway, the influential people who flocked to Sagris Silver Mine were waiting for someone to die.
Leobold said to Prince Ruad, who visited the mine.
¡°Everyone seems to be waiting for when they will hear a cry.¡±
¡°It¡¯s an inevitable reality. It¡¯s not something I should say here, but they are a bunch of people who delude themselves that they have golden blood. If you stab them with a sword, everyone will bleed red.¡±
Prince Ruad seemed to have a different opinion from ordinary nobles.
He inspected the equipment near the entrance under Leobold¡¯s guidance.
The dwarves were busy testing it.
¡°Is that how you mine silver? What¡¯s the principle?¡±
¡°It grinds the ore into powder. Then you add a solvent and wait for two weeks to a month, and you get an alloy as a precipitate. If you heat this alloy in a furnace, mercury will fly away as gas and only silver will remain.¡±
¡°That¡¯s amalgamation. Sir Vandus seems to be quite knowledgeable despite his appearance.¡±
¡°I heard it from the Imir Republic.¡±
There were more than one or two equipment and technology brought from the Imir Republic.
Thanks to this, they agreed to pay 5% of the silver mined in a year as a technology fee, but this was not a blow at all.
The ones who actually mined silver were the workers at 3km underground.
When miners dug ore with their bare hands in a tunnel near the surface and golems carried it out.
The workers injected ultra-high temperature and ultra-high pressure sma into the entire tunnel, blowing away impurities and extracting only silver precisely.
The work speed was so fast that they dug more than they could carry.
The silver ingots piled up on one side of the tunnel were carried by exploration ships to Settler through another entrance.
The original n was about 10 tons per day, but as they went deeper underground, the silver content increased and the work became easier, so it rose to 15 tons.
Leobold, who received the report, said it didn¡¯t matter and ordered them to continue digging.
¡°Anyway, we¡¯ll swallow it up in a few years. Dig it all out.¡±
Meanwhile, about three weeks had passed since the first ore was transported out of the tunnel.
After working hard by dwarves, conical ingots with holes pierced by mercury came out of furnace.
¡°This is first ingot! The purity is over 90%!¡±
¡°Ooh!¡±
The people gathered at site cheered and influential people from capital turned pale.
Especially people from royal family couldn¡¯t take their eyes off silver ingot.
They couldn¡¯t shake off thought that it was all ours.
The officials sent by King Bagran III heard roughly how much silver ingots were made per day and panicked.
¡°More than 150kg? That¡¯s more than twice as much as before?¡±
¡°Even if Prince allowed it, it¡¯s still property of direct territory¡¡±
¡°We have to report this to Prince! What will be left if Baron digs so much?¡±
Prince Ruad frowned slightly at unexpected number when he heard report, but he didn¡¯t care.
¡°Is that so? I suppose we should be grateful that there are no deaths.¡±
¡°But, Your Highness.¡±
¡°I know your concerns. You want to im that the Sagris Silver Mine belongs to the royal family, and that the silver ingots that are being produced now should be transported to the royal road, right?¡±
¡°Yes, yes¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s not toote, Your Highness.¡±
¡°You can still revise the contract and make it less than six months. The baron will ept it.¡±
¡°The baron should not be greedy after making so much money.¡±
The officials repeatedly suggested, but the prince scolded them instead.
¡°Are you telling me to betray his trust? There is a clear contract, and if we use the royal authority to overturn it, what will happen to His Majesty¡¯s reputation? Have you not seen what happened to Denova?¡±
¡°¡¡±
Denova was on the verge of ruin as a lot of investment money was withdrawn.
Everyone expected tond on the floating continent and mine resources, but everything went up in smoke when the blue dragon appeared.
Elvrande was obsessed with catching the blue dragon, and other countries secretly hoped that it woulde to them.
The situation around the floating continent was a mess.
The original goal ofnding was nowhere to be found, and it seemed to continue until the fleet of Baron Vandus set sail.
The prevailing opinion was that if Denova had kept its promise with Baron Vandus, it would not have been this bad.
Investment is psychological, so if they had announced that Baron Vandus¡¯s fleet would cooperate with us, the investment money would not have flowed out like this.
Even though the officials bowed their heads silently, Prince Ruad spat out his anger.
¡°The baron kept his promise to me. He provided me with three times the profit and lent me a huge amount of 20,000 gold. Now that he makes a little profit from the Sagris Silver Mine, you want me to take it away from him? How do you think he will see me then?¡±
¡°If we take back the management rights of the mine, it might be profitable for now, but Baron Vandus will no longer be on our side. It is foolish to lose trust for greed. I hope you know that too.¡±
¡°We apologize, Your Highness.¡±
¡°It seems that we were short-sighted.¡±
They all bowed their heads again, and Prince Ruad finally loosened his cor.
¡°By the way, I wonder why those demons don¡¯t show up. The shadow elves too. Does the baron have something?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not enough to exin it by just good luck.¡±
¡°It¡¯s suspicious that there are no deaths at all, Your Highness. There might be a need for investigation.¡±
There were some casualties, though.
Due to the dangerous nature of mining work, there were many crises where people were crushed by rocks or suffocated byck of air, even if they did not die.
However, the temporary smelter built by Baron Vandus also served as a clinic.
They could treat patients on the spot without having to move them, and let them rest as well.
This gave the miners courage to go back into the tunnel.
Prince Ruad looked at the report sent from the smelter and pondered.
¡®He tries to preserve as many skilled workers as possible to increase the mining output. Is that it? It¡¯spletely different from what the nobles say.¡¯
The ability ofmoners was anyway limited, so they only had to invest as many people as possible.
That was their logic.
It was based on the nobility¡¯s view that everything other than war was trivial.
They valued Goliath-rted personnel somewhat higher, but they ignored them too if they did not deal with ether.
You could see how they treated the dwarves who came from Imir Republic.
How could they fight with them?
¡®If Baron Vandus hadn¡¯t intervened, they would have all gone back.¡¯
The dwarves¡¯ personalities were not inferior to those of the elves.
It was a mystery how he persuaded them.
Some said he offered them precious liquor and they were very satisfied, but it was just a gossip among miners.
Anyway, Baron Vandus¡¯s management of the silver mine suggested a lot in just two months.
Prince Ruad showed his sincerity by visiting the mine frequently and learning new technologies.
But not all members of Bagran royal family were as smart as him.
***
Bang!
The dressing table shook and even the woman¡¯s face in the mirror trembled slightly.
She couldn¡¯t stand her anger and got up and red at Count Lantis who was sitting on the sofa.
¡°That¡¯s four tons a month! That means we¡¯re giving 50 tons of silver to that rat bastard in a year! Does that make sense?¡±
She was Eolin Bagran, Prince Ruad¡¯s sister.
The session order of Bagran had been fixed on Ruad long ago, so she and the rest of the royal family had to look for other ways.
Like most royals, they could be knights or devote themselves to research as court mages, but Eolin had no talent for anything.
She had poor ether sensitivity even for a royal, so her fate was to go to a foreign country or another territory as a bride.
Eolin knew that well, so she turned her eyes away from luxury since she was young.
She had to spend money on her appearance as much as possible, so that she could get better treatment.
Her efforts paid off and she was engaged to a powerful noble from Zaium.
But as Bagran¡¯s financial situation worsened, the money she could spend also decreased, and recently she couldn¡¯t even buy a small piece of jewelry.
She was the princess of Bagran.
Eolin understood that, but she couldn¡¯t ept that Prince Ruad of Orabien gave away the management rights of the Sagris Silver Mine for a year.
¡°That¡¯s 50 tons of silver, how much is that? Tell me, Count Lantis. How much money wille back to me?¡±
¡°Most of it will be invested in the treasury, so it won¡¯t be that much. You know the financial situation of the royal family very well, Princess.¡±
¡°Still! I should be able to buy at least one dress and one set of jewelry! I am the princess of this country!¡±
Eolin clenched her small fists in anger.
She was not the only one who thought this way.
As soon as silver started pouring out of the Sagris Mine, everyone drooled over it.
Even Bagran III justughed bitterly as if he was hit in the back of his head.
¡°Four tons of silver a month? That¡¯s much more than I expected. I hope they don¡¯t mine it all.¡±
¡°No, Your Majesty. The scale of the Sagris Mine is not just that. It can be mined for at least 20 more years, so please don¡¯t worry.¡±
¡°Baron Vandus owes me a debt. His father and brother died in battle, so it¡¯s not bad to give him some favors. I entrusted the prince with this matter, so don¡¯t mention it to him without permission.¡±
Even though the king¡¯s order was given, the criticism of the mine did not stop.
Baron Vandus was taking too much silver.
It was an amount that could not bepared to the gold brought from the floating continent.
In the pce, in a social club owned by a great noble, in the guard, there were rumors that Baron Vandus was too much.
¡ªThat¡¯s right. It¡¯s customary to pay tribute to the pce if you have such an opportunity to make money.
¡ªIf he came near the royal road, he should at least greet us, not just stay in the smelter and go back to his territory. What is that?
¡ªThe baron doesn¡¯t care about anyone.
It was not true that Leobold did not meet anyone.
He met Prince Ruad who visited the smelter, as well as technicians from the royal road and dwarves from Imir Republic.
He just didn¡¯t need any of the powerful people in Bagran.
¡°I need technicians who work on the field, not those who rely on their bloodline and interfere with me.¡±
Of course, those people were not ipetent, but they did not appeal to Leobold.
As he acted unlike a baron and was arrogant, he naturally received a lot of resentment.
Eolin and Count Lantis were among them, and they were seriously nning to attack Baron Vandus.
They did not mean to attack his territory, but tounch a political offensive.
It was purely out of greed, but they thought there was no problem with that.
¡°The most important thing is justification, Princess. We need justification to save face for His Majesty. The baron is not plotting treason ormitting a grave crime.¡±
¡°Then we can make himmit a crime, right?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. ording to the rumors, the baron colluded with the shadow elves. His territory was never attacked by piratesst winter.¡±
The shadow elf pirates were so famous that even Eolin, who had no interest in domestic affairs, had heard of them.
¡°He must have colluded with the pirates!¡±
¡°The Sagris Mine is also strange. The demons that took hundreds of lives have not appeared at all since he took over the management rights of the mine.¡±
¡°He evenmunicates with demons¡ How far does his evil scheme go?¡±
Count Lantis was startled by her words and tried to rify.
¡°No, I¡¯m not saying that he conspired with demons. I want to emphasize that I did not say that.¡±
It might be possible with shadow elves, but demons were monsters that could not evenmunicate.
It was impossible for Baron Vandus to recruit them unless he was a non-human being himself.
¡°But we can spread rumors. Baron Vandus learned ck magic and colluded with shadow elves andmunicated with demons¡ How about that?¡±
Eolin smiled wickedly at Count Lantis¡¯s subtle voice.
¡°That would be troublesome for him if the rumors spread in Zaium¡¯s society.¡±
¡°That¡¯s why I need your help, Princess. Please go to Zaium and spread rumors. Baron Vandus is quite famous, so it won¡¯t take long for rumors to spread.¡±
He was famous for everything from fish distribution to floating continent exploration.
He just stayed in his territory and didn¡¯t make his fame known.
Eolin pped her palm and agreed.
¡°Fine. I need a dress and a jewelry set to show off in Zaium, so add some money. I can¡¯t wear those old-fashioned clothes again, can I?¡±
¡°¡¡±
Count Lantis lost his words at her bold demand, but he did not lose his smile.
¡°I¡¯ll try to be as flexible as possible with money.¡±
Somehow he had a bad feeling from the start.
Chapter 217: Might Makes Right
Chapter 217: Might Makes Right
Sagris Silver Mine became the center of attention two months after it reopened.
Not only politically, but also because arge poption gathered around it.
There were only about 200 miners, but they demanded so much supplies and food that a vige was formed nearby.
It was not only because more silver ore was produced than expected, but also because the treatment of the miners was good.
Usually, mining was a job where countless miners died.
¡ªNo deaths in two months? How much money are you spending?
¡ªYou should save the money and hire more miners! Baron Vandus doesn¡¯t know how to dig thend.
¡ªYou should reduce the rest time and put them to work. I don¡¯t understand why you are so nice to the miners.
The influential people who came to see from the royal road all pointed out that Leobold was running the mine inefficiently.
They saw that there were more corners to squeeze outbor costs, but he was investing more money instead.
However, the administrators were surprised when they saw that the amount of silver produced from the mine was stabilized despite the small number of workers.
¡°The efficiency of Sagris is three times higher than that of Baron Madred¡¯s silver mine. Of course, there are many factors to consider, such as the depth and content of the ore, but Sagris is still overwhelming.¡±
¡°There was a lot of criticism at first for investing a lot of money, but as the mine stabilized, it actually dropped to a normal level. The wages went down because skilled miners were working.¡±
¡°Therefore, we can say that preserving skilled workers is much more efficient than employing arge number of unskilled workers.¡±
The administrators who examined the situation of the mine closely gave this analysis, but that was it.
The nobles who actually ran the mines did not want to change their stance.
It was not a joke to invest the funds needed to change to Sagris style, and if they failed, they would lose a lot.
They did not want to take risks, so there was no change. They were satisfied with the current system of recing miners.
There were also quite a few nobles who hated investing a lot of money inmoners.
¡ªWhy do you have to invest so much in those lowly things? There are plenty of recements.
¡ªJust feed them enough and let them sleep. Don¡¯t ask for too much.
¡ªBaron Vandus has a bad habit. He says he has to rest one day a week. When does he work?
¡ªHe also supplies bread and cheese as much as they want in between meals. Does he want to make pigs out of the miners?
In Astera, there was a strong concept of training one¡¯s body.
It originated from the knights who trained their bodies harshly, but they applied it equally tomoners.
They did not have the concept of calories, so they thought that food should be supplied only enough to not die.
They did not care if the miners exposed to harsh environments became weak or died.
They just med the weakness ofmoners.
The nobles did not have to go into the mine, so they could say that.
On the other hand, Sagris Silver Mine guaranteed enough rest and treatment, and supplied materials for them to eat as much as they wanted.
They also invested a lot of money in safety and seeded in reducing the number of casualties to an extreme.
These efforts were ridiculed by other nobles, but the administrators who checked the actual information on site had strange expressions.
¡°Securing safety actually increases production.¡±
¡°The morale of the miners is also high and there are many advantages.¡±
¡°Usually when people go into mines, they try to waste time and avoid work, but here they are eager to work.¡±
¡°They get different treatment depending on how much they produce per team. They rank them.¡±
Baron Vandus created this good environment, but he cracked down on crimes such as theft thoroughly.
There were quite a few petty thieves who tried to pocket some pieces by attaching pockets to their clothes in mines where silver ore was produced.
They were immediately caught and forfeited all their wages and had to leave the site.
And they could never be hired again.
Thanks to this, some miners from the royal road who heard rumors got an unexpected opportunity and found jobs.
They were tempted by the news about Baron Vandus¡¯s territory.
¡°They serve such good meals every day?¡±
¡°There is a drawback that you have to match the time, but anyway there is no one starving in our territory. Even if you lose an arm or a leg, the administrator will give you work and pay you.¡±
¡°Do you know what people who made money with herring in winter are doing now? They hired migrants and made boats. They are doing their own business.¡±
¡°Savings?¡±
¡°You can save about one or two silvers a month if you are decent.¡±
Savings led to various investments and developments that tempted many technicians who came to work at the mine.
In Bagran,moners could hardly save money no matter how good their skills were.
The nobles who had all the power used all kinds of taxes and harsh systems to take away even the dust.
They were busy living from day to day, and they could not dream of saving. Most of them could not escape their position for life.
If you were born a farmer, you were a farmer until you died.
But in Baron Vandus¡¯s territory, they had a chance to escape from that fate.
Of course, they could notpletely exclude the element of luck and they had to work hard, but at least there was a small way to sess.
So the technicians from the royal road who came to work at the mine fell for this temptation.
¡ªBaron Vandus only looks at skills. They say you can earn money ording to your ability there.
¡ªThere is no work anyway, so why don¡¯t we go? It¡¯s better to go to a quiet territory and earn a little than to be harassed by nobles in the royal road.
¡ªThe Vandus barony was not a quiet domain. It was noisy and bustling these days. They were even working on sewer construction using golems.
¡ªThey should use Goliath for that. They only have four of them, right? The neighboring lords must be drooling over them.
¡ªWell, they¡¯ll do whatever they want. Anyway, I have to take my family and go to that ce where there¡¯s a lot of work.
There was a group of people called freemen in the royal road of Bagran.
They were people who did not belong to any domain, and most of them had their own skills.
Except for some domains, they had no restrictions on moving their residences.
Their upations were diverse, ranging from miners, carpenters, fishermen, stone masons, craftsmen, former bureaucrats, and so on.
They were the people who were essential for the Vandus barony.
They went to a vige near the silver mine to check the atmosphere and ended up promising to settle in the domain by ident.
¡°They¡¯ll give us a subsidy if we settle with our families? We can¡¯t miss this.¡±
¡°It wouldn¡¯t be bad to work hard for a few years and return to the royal road.¡±
That¡¯s where the trap was.
Once they got used to the Vandus barony, they couldn¡¯t help but feel that other domains and even the royal road were outdated.
But the freemen didn¡¯t have enough time to know these things.
After settling in the domain, they experienced various facilities, rational policies, and high wages firsthand.
It was toote to get out by then.
Thus, the recruitment of talents through the Sagris silver mine began to elerate.
The Vandus barony, which had only about 500 people at first, soon boasted a poption of over 1,000 and had an overflowing budget.
As this happened, the neighboring lords and Count Lantis began to covet it.
¡ªThe silver that was abundant in the barony disappeared. He must have a huge amount of silver.
¡ªThe only military force of the Vandus barony is four Goliaths and dozens of soldiers. If two domains join forces, they can easily win.
¡ªThe problem is the royal guard. ording to rumors, he¡¯s going to the royal road with his daughter. That¡¯s our only chance.
However, there was a lot of pressure to attack directly.
It was because both Prince Ruad and the king were paying attention to him.
Having a lot of money alone was not enough reason, and even if they won, there was a high possibility that they would not get approval.
Moreover, Princess Eolin and Count Lantis joined forces and gave courage to the lords.
¡°It¡¯s not him that His Highness and His Majesty are interested in, but the floating continent and the silver mine.¡±
¡°So if we capture him and make him rebel against the royal family, they will be satisfied enough. Don¡¯t worry about the reason. A powerful noble from Zaium will take care of it. You just quietly gather your troops.¡±
The fiance of Eolin, Duke Prozan, was in a position where even Bagran III could not easily touch him as the ruler of arge domain with a poption of over one million.
If he stepped in, things might go easier than expected.
Of course, Duke Prozan was known to be greedy and interested in Bagran¡¯s internal affairs.
He would surely make various demands, but it was enough to tear off some of Vandus barony¡¯s wealth.
Of course, this cute conspiracy was exposed to Arma as soon as it started.
Most of the observation methods were invalidated by magic, but he could clearly see the gravity itself.
Arma was tracking the movements of key figures such as Princess Eolin and Count Lantis and managed to find their secret meetings.
And he seeded in confirming their plot by analyzing their lip movements and attaching microbots to their carriages.
¡°Master, Princess Eolin and Count Lantis intend to attack us. It is expected that Duke Prozan of Zaium will support them and three lords under Count Lantis will directly attack us.¡±
¡°It seems like they¡¯ve reached their limit of patience.¡±
He had been trying hard to look appetizing for a while, but it seemed like they finally decided to take action.
The current Vandus barony had too few troops that even Granden and Carson argued that they needed more Goliaths.
But Leobold thought that if he wanted to secure morend in this stagnant situation, he had no choice but to wage war with other domains.
He needed at least some reason, so he created an environment where the other side would dere war on him.
Fortunately, his n worked out exactly as he wanted and some people became ambitious enough to attack him.
He could ignore the rumors and ask forpensation from Eolin and Lantis instead of ming them. It would be enough to get one domain from them.
They wouldn¡¯t agree, of course, but in Astera, power was justice.
***
Duke Prozan had to listen to his fiancee¡¯s tantrum for two hours.
Eolin of Bagran was wearing a fancy dress and a sapphire jewelry set that was thetest trend, but to him, she looked like a country bumpkin who clumsily followed Zaium¡¯s social fashion.
Anyway, the important thing was not her, but what she whined about.
¡°A baron who colludes with shadow elves and controls demons with ck magic? Do you think this is the Dragon War era?¡±
¡°That¡¯s not important, Your Grace. The important thing is that we can secure a reason. Baron Vandus is the only one who cannd on the floating continent. You can¡¯t forget that.¡±
Duke Prozan stroked his chin with a ¡®hmm¡¯ at Emil¡¯s exnation, his chief aide.
He was not interested in the Sagris silver mine, but he was very interested in the floating continent.
It was because he had invested heavily in the expedition sent there.
Zaium¡¯s original n was to follow the Vandus barony¡¯s expedition andnd on the continent, but the n was ruined by the blue dragon incident and now they were just wandering around.
Wasting a huge amount of operating costs.
¡°If we can get rid of those bastards andnd on the floating continent¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s why it¡¯s important to secure Baron Vandus. The only thing I¡¯m worried about is that their military force is not satisfactory.¡±
¡°Is their military force poorpared to their budget?¡±
¡°Yes. They only have four Goliaths. And they¡¯re all Raums.¡±
¡°They¡¯re still using that trash?¡±
The model was easy to maintain and popr among mercenaries, but at this point, it was hard to send it to the front line even in a small-scale local war.
It had a small core and an outdated structure that made it difficult to modify. It was a model that should have been extinct long ago.
Duke Prozhan wondered why the baron had such a thing in his territory.
He had plenty of money and could afford to buy at least ten decent models.
Did he have no connections?
¡°The territory has a knight guard named Granden. He is old, but his skill is not inferior to a high knight. Maybe he trusts him.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll move when he leaves the territory¡ That¡¯s the orthodox way, but it seems suspicious somehow.¡±
It seemed like Baron Vandus was luring him in.
And the baron¡¯s own power was not to be underestimated.
He was a lowly mercenary, but he subdued three of them at the same time.
It was hard to find out the situation at that time, but he thought it was not a big problem.
¡®He¡¯s just a wandering mercenary, he can¡¯t be a proper knight. He must have set a trap.¡¯
In short, Baron Vandus was suspicious, but he was nothing more than a being that would crumble easily if he stepped in.
He had some protection from the Bagran royal family, but it was not a big deal.
¡°Then let¡¯s wrap it up. You just need to give me a reason to attack the baron, and Count Lantis will take care of it himself, right?¡±
¡°He will mobilize his subordinates instead of taking action himself. He also implied that he wanted your support.¡±
¡°Is the count so ipetent that he needs my help against four Raums?¡±
¡°Not that ipetent, but he is worried about the baron¡¯s skill that sent back the Elvrande¡¯s judge with only four Raums.¡±
¡°Well, I can understand that. That elf is as blunt as his skill, and he never shows mercy to anyone.¡±
He named his airship Altemaran and even offered a prize for it.
He was crazy to meet that elf.
But strangely enough, Tirenzel left Baron Vandus¡¯ territory without much protest.
He had conflicts and even duels with some nobles in Zaium. It was a strange thing.
¡°What do you think? The elf who knocked down the nobles who imed Altema as a god left quietly¡ Isn¡¯t that weird?¡±
¡°It¡¯s ridiculous to say that he colluded with the shadow elves and learned ck magic to control the demons. And now there¡¯s a rumor that he¡¯s connected with the elf¡ To be honest, I don¡¯t think it makes sense.¡±
¡°And we have to push that rumor, don¡¯t we?¡±
¡°It will have an effect soon if we spread it moderately. There is substance to it.¡±
What Astera needed was power and a decent reason.
That was enough to push them back, as shown by the 200-year history of conflict with Elvrande.
Duke Prozhan finally decided to overthrow Baron Vandus.
¡°I don¡¯t trust these guys, so you¡¯ll have to step in, Emil.¡±
¡°I will follow your order.¡±
If Emil, the pride of Zaium and a high knight, stepped in, he could easily take over the small territory of the small kingdom.
After that, all that remained was tond on the floating continent and scrape off some gold.
***
The visit of Princess Eolin had an effect, and a strange rumor began to circte in Zaium¡¯s social circles.
It was that Baron Vandus colluded with the shadow elves.
He also used ck magic to control demons.
It was an absurd nder if you thought about it for a moment, but the social circles were always interested in it.
The more stimting, absurd, and fatal rumors spread faster and became more concrete.
¡ªBaron Vandus went to Pirate Ind himself and made a deal. He said he would pay silver as a price. Didn¡¯t he happen to have a silver mine?
¡ªDid he ask for the operation rights of Sagris Silver Mine to give it to the shadow elves?
¡ªIt¡¯s suspicious that the appearance of demons stopped abruptly in the silver mine. The baron¡¯s household has nothing to do with ck magic, but he should exin himself to clear the suspicion.
It would have been nice if it ended there, but Duke Prozhan, the grand duke of Zaium Empire, directly contacted the Bagran royal family.
¡ªIt would be nice if Baron Vandus appeared in person at the pce and exined himself. We will also attend then.
He had to do so because he was going to be Princess Eolin¡¯s husband.
The Bagran royal family could not ignore him and gave him a chance to exin himself.
The nobles took it well.
Prince Ruad sighed when he realized where the rumor came from.
¡°You did this, Eolin. You blew the wind.¡±
Eolin shamelessly decided to go out.
¡°It¡¯s Baron Vandus¡¯ fault, brother. He doesn¡¯t let go of anything and loses his reputation.¡±
¡°We had nothing to do with his sess. And you want him to give up something?¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t ask him to give up anything. But he could at least show some courtesy. He¡¯s ignoring everyone, the grand duke and the royal family. He doesn¡¯t even visit the pce when hees to the direct territory. Is meeting those damn bugs more important than the nobles?¡±
Her perception of the free people, or technicians, who settled in Baron Vandus¡¯ territory was revealed in her words.
She grew up in the pce as a princess who had nothing to do with session, so she had no realistic sense.
Prince Ruad knew that they were the backbone of the country, but he didn¡¯t say anything.
The important thing now was to calm down thismotion.
¡°You caused this, so you solve it yourself. Go to Duke Prozhan right now and tell him it was a misunderstanding.¡±
¡°Why do I have to do that? If I wait a little longer, Baron Vandus will give up something.¡±
¡°You¡¯re frustrating. Do you think Zaium will just sit back and watch if they get involved? They will rush in from all sides and tear it apart. Do you think we have a share in that?¡±
¡°¡The duke promised me.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the point of having Vandus territory? If all you get for paying Zaium a year¡¯s worth of the grand territory¡¯s budget is your luxurious lifestyle, then it¡¯s meaningless.¡±
Prince Ruad was frustrated and pulled out a document.
¡°Look. The budget around Sagris Silver Mine isparable to a year¡¯s budget of a decent territory. It¡¯s nonsense to say that we don¡¯t get any benefit from it.¡±
But Eolin didn¡¯t back down.
¡°What does the wages of themoners matter? What matters is what helps our golden bloodline that protects Bagran.¡±
Her words revealed the way the nobles of Bagran treated themoners.
She didn¡¯t know anything about economics, so she didn¡¯t know how important the money that circted at the bottom was.
On the other hand, Prince Ruad was in charge of the budget office on behalf of the king, so he knew how important it was to circte money like this.
But Eolin¡¯s counterattack was not easy either.
¡°What good does it do for us if themoners make money? They will have other thoughts when they have money and leisure. How can you guarantee that they won¡¯t oppose us?¡±
It was human nature not to want to share power.
Baron Vandus¡¯ current actions were clearly against that.
Of course, it was forbidden to judge his influence, but the possibility itself could not be denied.
Eolin and the other nobles of Bagran hated the situation itself where Baron Vandus shook the existing order.
Prince Ruad knew that too, so he couldn¡¯t say anything.
He was also a noble with ether instead of blood.
He heard Eolin¡¯s voice as if telling him to give up.
¡°And it¡¯s toote. Zaium won¡¯t back down now. You just watch how my husband deals with the baron.¡±
He doubted if it would go as she wished.
Prince Ruad remembered Baron Vandus¡¯ cold eyes.
He didn¡¯t think he would just take a beating like this.
But he had no choice but to face Zaium¡¯s grand noble.
¡®We can¡¯t help him either¡¡¯
It was hard for the royal family to intervene directly in the rtionship between Zaium and Bagran.
Ruad was really curious how he would ovee this crisis.
¡®Maybe I should prepare for the worst¡¡¯
He turned away from Eolin, who had a confident face, and left the annex.
Chapter 218: A War That Cannot Be Lost
Chapter 218: A War That Cannot Be Lost
There was a saying in Asteraen that kobolds were the best at detecting various disasters or natural cmities.
It was a meaningless saying in the present time when kobolds were hardly seen, but there was another group that had a keen sense of smell.
They were the merchants.
The merchants who were active in the Bagran Kingdom noticed the atmosphere of war, which was busy and noisy, but surprisingly did not spread much.
Considering the strong statements from the Zaium social circles and the positions of the diplomats sent by the Bagran royal family, it was clear that the possibility of war was increasing.
Not only that, but the demand for goods from the Lantis County had increased, and the Ohamel Viscounty had ordered arge number of parts rted to Goliath maintenance.
However, they could not be sure of war with these factors alone.
The recent wars were mostly fought with Goliaths, so they were notrge in scale.
If the two great powers of Asteraen, Elvrande and Zaium, did not participate, most of the wars did not require much supplies.
And the territorial war itself was an old story, which puzzled the merchants.
¡°When was thest territorial war?¡±
¡°Uh¡ I don¡¯t think it happened in my memory. We have to go up to our seniors.¡±
Considering that the person who said that was in his 50s, it meant that territorial war was a very old concept in Bagran.
It was a strange thing considering that Zaium was still rife with strife and civil war at this moment.
This was not because Bagran was doing well, but because there was not much worth fighting for.
They knew that they were mediocre, so they did not need to covetnd, and the Bagran royal family did not demand much from them either.
Zaium only asked for silver or military support every year, and did not expect much from them, so they could live a stable life.
Of course, it was a stability in poverty without any change, but they were grateful that there were not many casualties.
The countries that bordered Elvrande suffered from famine because of the branches of Yggdrasil.
¡ªThe forest created by the elves is killing us!
¡ªThe branches of Yggdrasil are stealing the energy from the surroundings! Yggdrasil is an evil god!
Unfortunately, such cries did not elicit much response.
Only a few countries bordering Elvrande had many casualties and were in chaos.
Anyway, while the merchants were skeptical, the preparations for war were steadily progressing.
The rumor also reached Vandus Barony, which could be called the main force of the territory, and made the people restless.
Granden, who was about to leave for the royal road to bring Eily, canceled all his ns.
But Leobold stopped him.
¡°Don¡¯t you think anything serious will happen? Go to the royal road and bring Eily safely. I want to see her soon.¡±
¡°Are you sure? There is a war going on in the royal road right now. And they are targeting this territory.¡±
Granden was not a noble or a merchant, so he could not get much information.
But even he felt that the atmosphere of war was quite tense.
The political offensive of Zaium¡¯s Duke Prozhan became more intense day by day, and there were many people who criticized Baron Vandus within Bagran.
Their im was toe up to the royal road and exin everything, but Granden knew their true intentions.
¡®As soon as he enters the royal road, Zaium¡¯s troops will surround him. It will be a feast under the pretext of a hearing.¡¯
With Zaium¡¯s intervention, Baron Vandus¡¯s fate was as good as gone. It was half voluntary and half forced, but his position as a knight required him to stay in the territory.
How could a knight abandon his lord?
But Leobold said something unexpected.
¡°Don¡¯t worry ande back. When youe back, you might have some troops tomand. So you¡¯d better brace yourself.¡±
¡°¡Are you serious? It won¡¯t end peacefully.¡±
¡°Do you think I¡¯m a fool who doesn¡¯t know anything?¡±
¡°That¡¯s not what I meant¡¡±
It was rather the opposite.
The Leobold that Granden saw was like a hunter who calcted all possibilities and found the optimal path.
He thought he was doing construction work haphazardly, but after a few months he saw that everything fit perfectly and functioned wlessly.
Everything was calcted by Arma, but he didn¡¯t know she was an AI, so he had no choice but to mistake it for his lord¡¯s doing.
¡®How can such a person not know the possibility of war?¡¯
Maybe he predicted everything and was waiting for the war to happen.
But how could he do anything with only two Goliaths and two mercenaries?
When his imagination reached this point, Granden felt tired.
It was best for a knight to follow his lord¡¯smand and fight.
¡°Whatever happens, it will happen. But I¡¯m not afraid. So don¡¯t worry and bring Eily.¡±
There was no point in advising him any further.
Granden obediently bowed his head and left the territory with Sangdan.
Meanwhile, the rumor reached Catina and Elwin, who could be called the backbone of the territory.
They were anxious and eventually asked for a meeting with Leobold.
***
¡°It¡¯s really hard to see his face. Is that how all lords are?¡±
¡°That¡¯s why we came. He¡¯s not going to leave this territory, is he?¡±
Catina hesitated and handed over the speaking right to Elwin.
¡°Hey, you say it. I¡¯m not good at this kind of thing.¡±
¡°What do you mean¡ My lord, to be honest, we are confused as mercenaries by the current situation.¡±
¡°Why doesn¡¯t he prepare for anything?¡±
¡°Of course, we don¡¯t doubt your skills, my lord, but we expect that at least several times more troops will attack us. Don¡¯t you think we should at least prepare for that?¡±
Catina intervened impatiently.
¡°We should dig traps and hire mages! Goliaths are heavy, so if we just weaken the ground, we can almost block their movement!¡±
Her words were close tomon sense.
Goliaths were heavy weapons, so they were limited in their movement in ces where the ground was weak, such as mud or ice.
There were magic spells that could make the ground like that, and in actual battles, mages often started the fight by destroying the ground.
Of course, if they were high-level knights, they could ovee such environments, but anyway, shouldn¡¯t they try their best?
But Leobold was calm.
¡°Don¡¯t worry and practice blocking attacks with those armor. They will protect your lives.¡±
They followed his arm and watched him rece the armor tes of the Goliath.
There were only four Goliaths, so they made a hangar and a maintenance shop in the training field, but recently they were recing the armor tes.
They looked like ordinary metal with a dark color, but no one knew what kind of metal it was.
Leobold led them to the Goliath and exined.
¡°That¡¯s living metal. It¡¯s something that Elvrande recently introduced. It¡¯s very strong and light. I spent some money to import it.¡±
¡°Uh¡ I don¡¯t mean to say this, but it looks like a demon¡¯s shell?¡±
Catina shivered as if she felt goosebumps, and Elwin seemed to have a lot of questions and asked various things.
But Leobold was reluctant to tell them in detail.
¡°Let¡¯s keep it a secret among ourselves that this is living metal. Elvrande will make a fuss if they find out.¡±
¡°My lord, you said it¡¯s sturdy, but can it withstand the attack of a Goliath above the Raum ss with full power?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s test it ourselves.¡±
Soon after, the armor te was installed, and Catina, who looked like she was dying of curiosity, climbed onto the Goliath and held the standard weapon, a greatsword.
This greatsword was not for cutting, but for crushing the outer armor te of the Goliath with its weight.
The expensive greatsword had all kinds of magic on it, such as gravity enhancement, and had a great power, but it was a luxury for the Raum ss.
Catina swung the greatsword and rushed into the arms of the Goliath that Leobold was riding.
¡°Take this!¡±
Thud.
Something was crushed, but it was not the armor te, but the de of the greatsword that waspletely shattered.
Catina looked back and forth between her greatsword and Leobold¡¯s Goliath for a moment and said.
¡°This is ridiculous. Why did my greatsword break?¡±
¡°I told you it¡¯s strong. It won¡¯t even get scratched by ordinary attacks. It¡¯s the same if you stab it with a spear.¡±
¡°Let me try again.¡±
There were a few more experiments after that, but they failed to pierce the living metal armor te.
Elwin marveled at its strength and pushed up his sses.
¡°This is an unbelievable metal. I won¡¯t ask how you imported it from Elvrande. It¡¯s obvious that it¡¯s a secret.¡±
¡°So are you disappointed?¡±
Leobold asked, and he thought for a moment and shook his head.
¡°To be honest, I was a bit puzzled by your secrecy at first. But it¡¯s almost extravagant to get paid this much for this game. So we decided not to question you, my lord.¡±
Catina chimed in with a grin.
¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right. Lucia was like that, and Zion was like that too. They were not ordinary beings. So what I want to say is¡ Sometimes ignorance is bliss.¡±
Leobold nodded his head.
¡°If you help me with that mindset, you¡¯ll be able to livefortably for a long time. I promise.¡±
¡°Haha, that¡¯s a word that doesn¡¯t suit a mercenary. But since we¡¯ve settled here¡ We trust only you, my lord.¡±
¡°Thank you for trusting me. And there¡¯s another reason why I¡¯m recing the armor tes. The weight of the Goliath is mostly from the outer armor tes, right?¡±
¡°Well, yes¡¡±
¡°They say almost 60 tons of weight is from the outer armor tes. That¡¯s very heavy.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. If you change them all to living metal, the weight will be reduced by almost 1/4.¡±
It could be even lower while maintaining the same strength, but due to the nature of the Goliath, there had to be a minimum weight.
¡°¡Really?¡±
Catina¡¯s eyes widened as big asnterns, while Elwin frowned.
¡°That would cause problems inbat if you reduce it so drastically. There are many power struggles in the Raum ss line, and there is a possibility of being pushed back¡¡±
¡°It will be faster to move with the same output and lighter weight. So you have to change your tactics too if you use this armor te.¡±
¡°A metal that requires changing tactics¡ It¡¯s amazing in many ways¡¡±
But why go so far?
Reducing the weight of the Goliath drastically was certainly advantageous in many ways, but it also had drawbacks.
It might not break when hit by a greatsword, but it could bounce off because of its weight.
Especially in a battle where they were outnumbered, there were many cases where they had to endure, and being light could be a disadvantage.
When Elwin pointed that out, Leobold silently pointed to the airship anchorage.
Catina didn¡¯t know what that meant, but Elwin was shocked.
¡°Wa-wait¡ You¡¯re going to load the Goliaths on the airship and go?¡±
Was that why he had been modifying it for the past few days?
It was almost impossible to load a Goliath that weighed nearly 100 tons, but if he reduced it to 60 tons and reinforced the frame, maybe it was possible.
Catina¡¯s mouth was about to open wide when Leobold covered it with his palm.
¡°Our goal is not defense, but offense. Let¡¯s keep this a secret for now.¡±
¡°¡¡±
The two stared nkly at their lord.
He was going to fly to the enemy territory with four Goliaths, no, three Goliaths instead of fighting defensively?
Was this even a feasible tactic?
They copsed weakly after Leobold left.
¡°This is either bold or crazy¡¡±
¡°Maybe both. By the way, shouldn¡¯t we run away at this point?¡±
¡°I wish I could say that too, but it¡¯s toote now that we¡¯vee this far. We have no choice but to trust our lord and fight.¡±
¡°A war that cannot be lost? Damn, where did he see that? It¡¯s a war that¡¯s doomed to fail!¡±
¡°¡¡±
Elwin thought it might not be so.
He had not yet seen Leobold¡¯s true skills in the duel with Granden.
It looked like a bluff at the time, but judging by Granden¡¯s words that seemed to hurt his pride, there was a high possibility that Leobold was hiding his skills.
That made him more suspicious.
¡®Is he really the same person as the Leo I know?¡¯
He was different from the Leo he knew in everything from his skills to his basic personality and his attitude toward themoners, except for his appearance and physique.
The original Leobold was quite fond of women, so he had slept with Catina several times and had many asions where he disappeared into the woods with a female mercenary on the battlefield.
But the current Leobold did not try to get close to any other woman except Arma, who was his exclusive maid.
¡®Arma¡¯s appearance is hard to find even in Zaium, but he doesn¡¯t seem interested at all¡¡¯
It was a strange thing for a person to change so much in such a short time.
¡®Unless he¡¯s not the Leo I know¡¡¯
Elwin shook his head as he thought up to this point.
It was a waste of time to worry about something that had no answer.
He had no choice but to trust his lord and go into war now.
¡®A war that cannot be lost¡¡¯
Did such a thing really exist?
***
As the pressure around Vandus Barony intensified, the neighboring territories also began to act.
One of them was Ohamel Viscount, who issued a statement.
He was one of the vassals of Lantis Count, and had a considerable influence in the southeast of Bagran.
His territory was located along the Ob River, which had a rich flow from the northern continent, and was considered as a ce with high potential for development.
It was only potential, and the reason why it had not developed for decades was because the lord¡¯s ability was poor.
Ohamel Viscount wanted to dispel that rumor, and put some bold contents in his statement.
¡ª¡Therefore, we cannot tolerate this arrogant and sinister Baron Vandus. There is only one way for him to ovee this crisis. He muste up with us to the royal road.
As if they were waiting for it, a rumor spread that a hearing would be held under Princess Eolin¡¯s name on the royal road.
The main agenda of the hearing was to investigate the allegations of colluding with shadow elves and manipting demons, but no one believed that it would be done properly.
¡ªHow can that be an investigation? It¡¯s impossible tomunicate properly without Baron Vandus.
¡ªIs it not too much to use him without any evidence or witnesses, just based on rumors?
¡ªIt is too much, but what can we do? If they push us from above, we have to suffer.
¡ªAnyway, now that Zaium is involved, Baron Vandus won¡¯t be able to let this go.
The public reaction was that they knew Baron Vandus was wronged, but there was nothing they could do.
He had offended Princess Eolin and Count Lantis, and he was also suspected by Zaium, so it seemed like there was no way out for him.
Ohamel Viscount thought he could swallow Vandus Barony at once, so he went as far as to dere war.
¡ªIf he does notply with these measures immediately, we will assert that the de of justice will cut off Baron Vandus¡¯s neck. Now choose.
Two more barons followed him with their statements, but there was nothing special about them.
Their main force was the army that Ohamel Viscount had, which consisted of 10 Goliaths and 200 soldiers.
But the situation started to go to extremes when Zaium¡¯s High Knight dered his involvement.
¡°My name is Emil, a knight of Duke Prozhan. I would like to meet the famous Baron Vandus in person on this asion.¡±
Duke Prozhan was a nobleman who had a high position in Zaium as Princess Eolin¡¯s husband.
He came out at Princess Eolin¡¯s request, and exined that it was not an internal interference.
Everyone thought that Baron Vandus¡¯s resistance was over.
¨CIt¡¯s a war that cannot be lost with a High Knight involved.
¡ªDidn¡¯t Vandus Barony have Granden, the royal guard knight? He shouldn¡¯t be inferior to a High Knight.
¡ªThe problem is that the royal guard knight left for the royal road. He didn¡¯t run away, but the baron sent him.
¡ªThat¡¯s not normal.
It was crazy to send away the important force of the territory at this time.
Anyway, since the war deration had been made, there was no way to avoid war unless Baron Vandus surrendered.
But there were some strange rumors going around in Vandus Barony.
Leobold received a messenger sent by Prince Ruad in a hurry.
¡°He told you to flee quickly?¡±
¡°Yes. He said he could help you and a few of your vassals escape. He said it would be possible if you could fit your assets in one carriage.¡±
¡°If I flee from here, my reputation and territory are over. Is that what he wants?¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it better than dying?¡±
¡°Everyone thinks so. I see. I appreciate his kindness, but I¡¯ll just take it as a gesture. Tell him I¡¯ll repay himter.¡±
The messenger left the territory with a look of disbelief.
Now the merchants were also disappearing, and the people of the territory were trembling with anxiety.
But Zion, who was in charge of the Ether Research Institute, was as confident as ever.
¡°When can I fly up and breathe fire?¡±
¡°Sorry to burst your bubble, but you won¡¯t have a chance to do that. No, you shouldn¡¯t.¡±
¡°Why? My identity will be revealed sooner orter anyway.¡±
¡°It shouldn¡¯t be now.¡±
The disclosure of Zion and Zigarion had to be after Vandus Barony had developed significantly.
If he revealed it now, he would have to expose Settler as well, and that was not what Leobold wanted.
¡®I can¡¯t make a fuss when I¡¯ve finally arrived at the holynd.¡¯
Leobold was not religious, but he was willing to be a faithful believer if the prophet was a god or a simr being.
The journey to this after 50 years of space travel could bepared to a pilgrimage to the holynd.
In that sense, it was not something he could do to cause a bigmotion in the holynd he had barely arrived at.
¡®But I can crush those who are making noise.¡¯
That included the lords who were running wild now, as well as Zaium and Elvrande.
The holynd seemed a bit backward, so it would be a courtesy to the prophet to develop it along the way.
More than half of the technology and concepts on Settler came from the prophet anyway.
Zion didn¡¯t know that and shrugged his shoulders, but he seemed satisfied enough.
¡°So I just have to do research. Damn, my body feels stiff.¡±
¡°There¡¯s one thing you can do for me.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Do you know what Denova is up to?¡±
Zion nodded his head eagerly like a dog who found prey.
¡°I know very well. Those merchants are using this war as an opportunity to make money. Wait, are you?¡±
¡°Call me lord. Anyway, they must have issued securities again. How much is our dividend?¡±
¡°It¡¯s at least 12 times as much. They weren¡¯t satisfied with that and increased the scale by 10 times. It¡¯s a strange concept, but it¡¯s good for eating.¡±
¡°Leverage, huh? It¡¯s a perfect product for going bankrupt.¡±
Leverage of 10 times seemed like a huge scale, but it was nothingpared to the crazy multiples of the 21st century.
Anyway, Denova had a lot at stake in this war.
It was the first territorial war in a long time, and many people were interested in it. Philip Market lowered the redemption rate of the securities to 70%.
Even though they charged 30%mission, the scale of the deposit money increased day by day because of the issue.
¡°We, the war parties, should also get a share. Invest 10,000 gold in reverse.¡±
Zion was startled.
¡°10,000 gold is all our avable funds. You¡¯re going to put it all in reverse?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a war that cannot be lost.¡±
Zion doubted it, but he thought he was crazy enough to do it.
¡°10,000 gold times 12 times leverage is 1.2 million gold¡ Even considering the redemption rate, it¡¯s an enormous amount.¡±
¡°We won¡¯t be able to eat it all. There will be many people who will disappear as soon as the defeat is confirmed.¡±
As can be seen from what Denova did, identity could be easilyundered due to theck of system, and trust was not an absolute concept either.
The matter would probably end with some of the deposit money being refunded.
Arma estimated that about 100,000 gold woulde in eventually, which was the limit that Denova could pay.
Zion rubbed his chin with regret.
¡°The amount is too small. Maybe I should short sell¡¡±
¡°Do you want to be written in history books as a short-selling dragon?¡±
¡°That wouldn¡¯t be bad either.¡±
¡°You¡¯re a crazy dragon.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want to hear that from a crazy human.¡±
Anyway, Zion was satisfied enough that he was in charge of investing.
¡°Hehe, wait for me, you bastards on the right side. I¡¯ll make you pay this time.¡±
He looked like he had lost a lot in gambling disguised as investment.
Leobold knew well what kind of person, no, dragon he was at the end.
Well, he¡¯ll do whatever he wants.
As he left the research institute, Carson, the administrative officer, came running with his eyebrows flying.
¡°My lord, it¡¯s war! The Goliaths have departed from Ohamel Viscounty!¡±
Chapter 219: Why is this here?
Chapter 219: Why is this here?
As the war began, many people left the Vandus barony.
Most of them were merchants, but surprisingly, there were also some who came to visit.
They were the ones who wanted to profit from the war in some way.
They had diverse backgrounds, from knights sent by the royal family of Bagran, to diplomats from Zaium, to merchants from Denova.
They had one goal in mind.
To witness the surrender of the Vandus barony with their own eyes.
That way, they could confirm who had the bigger stake in the oue.
However, not everyone was rted to the war¡¯s benefits.
One of them was Tirandel.
He hade back to the Vandus barony after finishing his investigation on the Altima cult in Bagran.
The bureaucrats, including the administrator, were nervous about what he would dig up this time, but he was surprisingly polite.
¡°I¡¯ll just take a look around and leave. Don¡¯t mind me.¡±
He seemed to have a personal interest in this war.
The elves who followed him hated staying in the humannds for too long, so they decided to camp outside.
The people were ufortable with the presence of elves, but they didn¡¯t make a fuss since the Vandus baron didn¡¯t object.
In the midst of that, news came that Ohamel viscounty had dered war and the visitors became rxed spectators in the hall or inn.
However, there was something they couldn¡¯t understand. It was the defensive posture of the barony.
¡°Why don¡¯t they dig any traps? They should be preparing for a defensive battle.¡±
¡°That Zion mage who should be working hard on magic went to Denova. I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s thinking.¡±
¡°The Goliaths will be here soon and they¡¯re not ready at all. The lord is nowhere to be found¡¡±
The visitors asked for an exnation from a knight who came from the royal road and imed to have participated in many wars, but he was also puzzled.
There was nothing to analyze since nothing had changed from usual.
¡°¡My guess is that they¡¯re nning an ambush.¡±
¡°An ambush? How are they going to hide a 7-meter-tall Goliath?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you say there¡¯s a mage named Zion in Denova? He could cast invisibility magic on them. It would cost a lot, but it would be worth it if they could win the war.¡±
¡°So you¡¯re saying he went to Denova as a deception?¡±
¡°He must be hiding somewhere.¡±
It was an impossible tactic unless it was Elvrande who used ether stones like water.
The people clicked their tongues at the expensive ether stones used for an ambush.
They thought he was indeed a rich man.
But then one of the Denova merchants verified that Zion was in the central exchange.
¡°I just got a message from Mr. Philip, the market manager. He said that the Vandus barony bought a lot of securities on the winning side. The amount is sorge that it affects the dividend.¡±
The people looked at the knight and he gave a hollowugh.
¡°So it wasn¡¯t an ambush after all.¡±
¡°How are they going to win then? They¡¯re not preparing for battle and only buying securities. They must have lost their minds.¡±
¡°Do you think a madman could make something like this?¡±
The person who said that pointed at the hall building itself.
It had a restaurant on the first floor and amodation on the second floor. The facilities were so good that even the people from the royal road were surprised.
What was more impressive was that the building had water supply and toilets installed.
The food they sold wasn¡¯t great, but it was understandable given how barren thend was.
¡°I asked the administrator earlier and he said that they¡¯re not losing money even with this kind of facility.¡±
¡°They must have a lot of visitors for such a remote barony.¡±
¡°It¡¯s too bad that it¡¯s all over now.¡±
The people who said that didn¡¯t have any pity on their faces. Instead, they showed greed.
There would be a lot of spoils if such a barony fell.
Not as much as the powerful ones who could im a share directly, but crumbs would stick to their hands as they handled bread.
They were already calcting how much they could get when they divided this barony.
On the other hand, Tirandel, who was quietly drinking tea in a corner, asserted that it was an attack.
¡®If the lord¡¯sbat power is beyond imagination, it would be better to go on an expedition than to conduct a defensive battle.¡¯
But Goliaths were so huge that their intention to attack would be obvious.
There were spies from various ces in this barony without knowing it, and magic was inevitably used wherever there was a possibility of battle.
As soon as Goliaths left the barony with thumping noises, they would be contacted throughmunication stones.
¡®The only way to stop that is to use invisibility magic, but the mage himself went to Denova. I don¡¯t understand.¡¯
Or maybe the lord had transcendentbat power and confidence to overturn the absolute disadvantage.
Even Tirandel, who had experienced countless battles, thought so.
There was no one who could guess the true intention of Leobold.
And there was hardly anyone who was interested in the airship that was in the dock.
It was obvious who the owner would be when the war broke out anyway.
Some people went to see it, but they scoffed when they heard that they were leaving for the floating continent at this time.
¡°They could have used it as a reconnaissance tool at least, but the lordpletely gave up on it.¡±
¡°It must be too expensive to maintain. He probably sneaked it out somewhere and sold itter.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not like there are many ces to buy it anyway.¡±
Airships were so expensive that there were limited ces where they could be purchased.
And they had to watch out for Bagran and Zaium, so there was practically no power that could buy them.
From that point of view, the departure of the fleet was like ast struggle.
¡°They might be hard to track because of their high altitude, but they¡¯ll have a different owner when theynd.¡±
And soon after, news came that the Goliath unit had left from Ohamel viscounty and the people focused all their attention on it.
Thanks to that, no one witnessed the Goliaths with invisibility cast on them being loaded onto the airship at dawn.
Even if they knew, they wouldn¡¯t have believed it.
It was impossible to fly with a Goliath that weighed nearly 100 tons on board.
And then morning came and three airships untied their ropes and rose into the sky.
¡°That¡¯s strange¡¡±
Tirandel looked at the rising altitude and tilted his head.
They should have been empty, but they looked strangely heavy for 700-ton ships.
Maybe he was mistaken.
He was more interested in the ether barrier facilities installed in the barony.
This barony had too many strange things for its size and level of mages.
¡®Why are there ether blocking barriers everywhere? Where did they get Orichalcum?¡¯
Orichalcum was a very rare metal that blocked ether.
To be precise, it blocked not ether itself, but its tracespletely.
This made it impossible for even skilled mages to track them down.
Elvrande¡¯s intelligence agency was also the same, so they sent troops to the mines and calcted the mining amount to prevent leakage.
¡®But why is it used inrge quantities in this rural barony?¡¯
He thought he should warn them about the possibility of leakage.
If it came from the floating continent, it would be very dangerous.
He hardened his face and looked up at the sky.
He had a feeling that the destination of those ships was not the floating continent or somewhere else.
***
Usually, wars involving Goliaths start with the weaker side building defensive fortifications.
It was not easy tounch a surprise attack on such huge machines, whose power and speed were well-known.
Only the high knights of Elvrande could show amazing maneuvers, but that was impossible with the low-output Goliaths of the rural domains.
Therefore, most of the battles took ce where the forces were inferior.
In that sense, the mercenaries who had just left Ohamel¡¯s domain were not very worried about the battle.
They even had a few drinks before boarding the Goliaths, thinking that it would be easy.
¡°We¡¯re just going to march for a day, right? It¡¯s obvious that they¡¯ll be holed up in their domain, so let¡¯s go easy!¡±
The mercenary leader frowned at his subordinates¡¯ attitude, but epted it.
It was because they had a limit on their speed due to theck of ether stones.
To increase the speed, they needed more ether stones, but Ohamel was stingy and reluctant to invest.
On top of that, he had to borrow an ether cannon from Lantis¡¯ domain, which meant he had to save more ether stones.
¡°It can¡¯t be helped. We¡¯ll match our speed with the horned beast carriage. Drink as much as you want and run.¡±
It was an order he could give because the victory was already assured.
Not only the mercenaries, but also the bureaucrats in the domain, including Ohamel, thought so.
¡°ording to the people we sent there, the baron is nowhere to be seen and they haven¡¯t prepared any defensive facilities. We have practically already won.¡±
¡°We searched the entire domain, but there was nothing unusual. There was no trace of the baron.¡±
¡°Good¡¡±
Ohamel finally smiled with satisfaction.
He didn¡¯t know what the baron of Vandus was thinking, but now he couldn¡¯t change the oue.
The baron only had three Goliaths at his disposal, and it was hard to stop sixteen with them.
Even if he had an extraordinary skill, it was impossible to counter the ether cannon.
¡°It can take down a dragon with its firepower. A Raume-ss Goliath would be incapacitated in one shot.¡±
That was assuming they could hit it, but with five times the number of units, he thought they could manage somehow.
¡°I was going to wait until the high knight of Zaium arrived, but¡¡±
On the other hand, he didn¡¯t have to share his stake with anyone since he had already secured his victory.
He only had two Goliaths left for defense in his domain, but that was not a big problem.
¡°Two Goliaths are enough for defense.¡±
Ohamel was proud of himself for preparing for all possibilities and looked at the map.
If he won the domain war, Vandus¡¯s domain would be torn apart.
He couldn¡¯t expect a big piece ofnd as the main actor of the war, and he had to settle for a small fragment.
¡°How about the dark me mine? The count would allow it, right?¡±
¡°That should be fine.¡±
¡°Shouldn¡¯t we get permission from Princess Eolin first?¡±
¡°She only cares about silver mines¡ She won¡¯t mind who takes the dark me mine.¡±
¡°A dress from Zaium would probably satisfy her.¡±
His aides agreed with him and Ohamel was happy as if he had already gotten the dark me mine.
He went to the window and opened the curtain.
Something wasing from far away in the sky.
¡°What do you think that is? It can¡¯t be a bird.¡±
¡°It¡¯s quite big. Maybe it¡¯s a dragon?¡±
¡°Haha, that¡¯s too much of a joke.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no reason for them toe here from the floating continent.¡±
They were all busyughing because they were in a good mood.
But as the unidentified object approached closer, their expressions gradually hardened.
It was not an ordinary size.
Ohamel quickly looked at it with a telescope he imported from Imir Republic.
The first thing he saw was a golden dragon figurehead.
¡°No way.¡±
He realized then that it was an airship.
And not just one, but two.
¡°Altemaho¡ Vandus¡¯s airship. Why did he send it here?¡±
The bureaucrats took turns looking at the ship with a telescope and started making a fuss.
¡°Maybe he came to surrender? Even if we split up into two ships, there won¡¯t be more than 100 soldiers excluding crew members.¡±
There were only two Goliaths left for defense in his domain, but that was more than enough against soldiers.
¡°Maybe he wants to secretly negotiate?¡±
¡°Then maybe the baron is on board.¡±
He didn¡¯t raise a white g, which was suspicious, but considering his desperate situation, it could be forgiven.
¡°Well, let¡¯s go out. We have to receive his surrender in person, don¡¯t we?¡±
His aides tried to stop him, but Ohamel went out to the garden with only his steward.
A few soldiers came out to escort him, and the two airships came closer and closer.
He was a little disappointed by theirrger size than expected.
¡°They¡¯re quite big.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry. If the baron surrenders himself, your status will rise. Maybe you¡¯ll get an airship.¡±
¡°That¡¯s worth at least 5,000 gold.¡±
It was an irresistible temptation for him who had spent a lot on the war.
There would be manypetitors, but since he was the one who fought the war, maybe¡
He was salivating when it happened.
The two airships lowered their altitude and started moving toward him.
And then the hatches opened and something stood up with a mechanical sound.
It was a giant mechanical doll that was seven meters tall.
¡°Wha, what?¡±
¡°What is that?¡±
The people couldn¡¯t understand what came out of the ship was a Goliath.
It was that unexpected.
A Goliath was something so heavy that it couldn¡¯t be transported by ship.
Ordinary ships didn¡¯t have a chance to sail because of the shadow elf pirates, and airships had a limit on their size.
¡°But¡ But why is that here?¡±
¡°Why is it here?¡±
Ohamel repeated his question, but no one answered.
They just stared at the two Goliaths that dropped from the ship and grabbed their greatswords.
While the people were hesitating, Katina and Elwin were excited.
***
They proudly dered their intentions using the expensivemunication device.
¡°We are knights of Vandus¡¯s domain! That means we can attack this ce as we please!¡±
¡°You¡¯re not even knights yet, are you? Let me repeat myself. I warn you in the name of Leobold Vandus, the baron. Surrender. Otherwise, you¡¯ll only face death.¡±
As the tip of the greatsword pointed at Ohamel, he stopped breathing and trembled.
And then he started to scream like a goblin that was stabbed in the belly.
¡°Defense unit, Goliaths! What are you doing! Smash them! Anyone, hurry up and¡!¡±
The two Goliaths that were in charge of defense came outte and Katina and Elwin started to argue with each other.
¡°Let¡¯s wait a bit! We can win anyway!¡±
¡°Why do we need to wait? The war is over if we kill the lord.¡±
Kill¡ kill me?
Ohamel hadn¡¯t even thought about his own death.
The war was supposed to happen in Vandus¡¯s domain, and he only had to receive the report of victory.
After that, there was a victory party reserved for him in the royal road, and he was going to make a splendid debut as the main character.
But, but¡
¡°What is this!¡±
As the four Goliaths started a closebat, the carefully maintained garden waspletely ruined.
The ground shook as the greatswords shed.
The Viner-ss was clearly superior in specs.
It had more core output and armor strength than the Raume-ss, and there was no reason to lose.
But when Katina¡¯s Goliath kicked, the Viner-ss flew away unbelievably.
Why? How?
The greatsword bounced off without piercing the armor in front of Ohamel¡¯s eyes.
With a thud, the Viner-ss Goliath lost its bnce and wobbled.
Elwin didn¡¯t miss that chance and rushed toward the enemy Goliath and stabbed his greatsword long.
He couldn¡¯t pierce through the chest armor, but instead hepletely destroyed the shoulder part and one arm fell to the ground due to its weight.
¡°Hey! What if youpletely smash it!¡±
¡°It¡¯s not smashed yet!¡±
The important thing for a Goliath was its core and drive system, and it could be repaired as long as they weren¡¯t smashed.
They happily made the two Viner-ss Goliaths unable to move.
They were clearly outmatched in output, but they couldn¡¯t lose because their living metal armor blocked all attacks.
¡°Haha, how about that!¡±
Katina mmed her greatsword next to Ohamel, who couldn¡¯t escape in time.
His pants were soaked.
¡°I, I surrender¡¡±
¡°Elwin, he says he surrenders. What do you think?¡±
Elwin changed hismunication mode and said.
¡°It¡¯s unfortunate, but it will be difficult to get the domain if the lord is alive. No one will question us if we say he got caught up in the Goliath fight.¡±
Lantis¡¯ count would be furious, but that was their employer¡¯s problem to solve.
¡°You¡¯re too roundabout in saying you want to kill him!¡±
His voice was so loud through themunication stone that it was heard outside.
Ohamel realized then that he had to run away, but his feet didn¡¯t move.
A huge shadow fell on him.
***
Emil, the high knight of Zaium, took a train to near the border and then rode a horned beast.
He didn¡¯t have much luggage because he could summon his own Goliath through subspace, and he had nopanions because he had to move as fast as possible.
Fortunately, the horned beast he was assigned was quite sturdy and endured the long journey without any problems.
He entered Bagran and ran across the in when he saw an airship in front of him.
¡°The figurehead is Altema¡ Is it the rumored Altema 3?¡±
He wondered why it was here when it should be in Vandus¡¯s domain, but Emil didn¡¯t hesitate and summoned his Goliath.
A blue gate opened and revealed Zaium¡¯s standard Goliath, the Vepar-ss.
It was a cool Goliath with a sleek appearance and a size that was different from Raume or Viner sses in Ohamel¡¯s domain.
Emil quickly climbed into the Goliath as soon as its abdomen opened.
Grrr.
The Goliath that was almost sitting stood up with a roar of a beast.
And then the airship lowered its altitude and opened its hatch, and a Goliath jumped out of it.
Thud.
The ground shook and the Goliath steadied itself. Emil doubted his eyes.
¡®A Jagan-ss¡? Is it owned by Baron Vandus? How did he¡?¡¯
How could an airship carry a Goliath and fly in the sky?
Why did the Goliath jump out of it?
Howe the Goliath¡¯s drive system and frame were intact after jumping?
He had many questions, but Emil answered them by thrusting his spear at his opponent.
¡°I am Emil, a knight of Zaium¡¯s Prozan domain. What is your name?¡±
¡°Leobold Vandus.¡±
At his short introduction, Emil¡¯s expression turned to shock.
¡®He¡¯s facing me with a Jagan-ss?¡¯
Anyone who knew the specs of the two Goliaths would have said it was a crazy thing to do.
The core output was almost twice as different, and the drive system¡¯s smoothness and armor¡¯s toughness were iparable.
In short, the Jagan-ss was a model that was inferior to the Raume-ss, which had fallen into a scrap for mercenaries, and it was hard to find a weaker Goliath in the whole of Astera.
He was confident that he could smash all of them without getting hit even if ten Jagan-ss Goliaths came at him.
¡®Is this the baron¡¯s confidence or arrogance?¡¯
Emil sneered and Leobold¡¯s stick changed its shape.
nk nk.
The long stick turned into a spear and then Emil¡¯s smile disappeared.
A golden light burst out from the entire body of the small and insignificant Jagan-ss Goliath.
Chapter 220: The Enraged One
Chapter 220: The Enraged One
In Astera, it ismonly believed that there are two dimensions.
The reality dimension and the ether dimension.
The former is the world where various life forms of Astera walk and breathe.
It was not much different from Earth, so Arma said that there was not much to analyze about this part.
Theary system where four celestial bodies were tangled in a chaotic way was certainly interesting, but it was not immediately important.
But he was very curious about the ether dimension.
Because he did not know exactly what ether energy was, or how it worked.
¡°For example, there is a magic called subspace. This magic is the concept of putting objects in a subspace warehouse, but you can¡¯tpletely hide the mass.¡±
¡°Doesn¡¯t the mass disappear when you put it in subspace? High knights carry Goliaths in subspace.¡±
¡°To be precise, the mass disappears from the reality dimension and moves to the ether dimension. That¡¯s why you can¡¯t board an airship with a Goliath in subspace.¡±
¡°Does the airship not float?¡±
¡°Yes. The Goliath¡¯s mass is too heavy for the buoyancy of the floatstone. For example, if you take Zigarion, the airship cannot fly because his main body¡¯s mass is in subspace.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a problem¡ What about Lucia?¡±
¡°Lucia is not the concept of putting her main body in subspace. She summons her main body from the Settler, so there is no problem at all.¡±
¡°It¡¯s simr to the principle of an ether receiver. They are both desperately needed by us.¡±
He still had no clue, but he hoped that he could figure it out slowly once the research started.
Arma also ordered him to do something that only Leobold could do.
¡°Master, I would like you to ride a Goliath and have a closebat with a suitable knight.¡±
¡°Why? I can getbat data from long range.¡±
¡°I want to obtain data from high knights. If I can figure out how ether moves, I might be able to increase your power.¡±
Leobold was currently a very strange being.
His ether sensitivity, which was the basis, was tremendous, but his usage method was generally poor.
It was like a car with a V12 engine of 6,00, but a 4-speed transmission with a terrible torque allowance and RPM limit was attached, making it hard to squeeze out the maximum output.
Of course, this was because he had adjusted his genes and developed his abilities based on fighting gue in space, which was unavoidable for Astera¡¯s knights or magicians.
ording to Arma, there was a unique ether system that only knights could operate.
¡°They call it an ether heart here. It¡¯s an advanced form of an ether circuit, and magicians have their own system separately. If we study this, we might be able to bring out your true power.¡±
She would also do her own research with various documents, but she couldn¡¯t get as much data as Leobold did by fighting himself.
So he ended up doing the ridiculous thing of having a one-on-one duel with a knight of Zaium while riding a Goliath.
It would be understandable if it was in his territory, but it was on a in where no one could see.
¡®It would be easier to shoot them with a railgun and drag out the knight.¡¯
There was no choice but to try it if it was a way to awaken his abilities.
Leobold rubbed off the sealing magic circle on his chest.
He couldn¡¯t afford to fight Zaium¡¯s high knight while sealing his ether circuit.
¡®It¡¯s harder to fight moderately with this guy.¡¯
The Jagan-ss he boarded was fine at first, butpared to Elvrande or Zaium¡¯s Goliath, it was unimaginable garbage.
The output difference was not that big, but there was a huge difference in the drive system and frame that delivered it.
¡®It¡¯s simr to the difference between Altema and Zigarion.¡¯
Anyway, when Leobold activated his ether circuit, a little bit of ether not only fully activated the core of Jagan-ss, but also overflowed between the frames.
Thanks to that, his Goliath looked like a golden knight.
¡®Damn it, if I put in a little more ether, the core will split and still have some left.¡¯
He had no choice but to adjust as much as possible.
Meanwhile, Emil saw the Goliath shing and lost his mind for a moment, but soon came to his senses.
His job was decided whether or not the Jagan-ss did anything strange.
¡®To kill the enemy is my mission¡¡¯
Especially if it was Vandus Baron, who was the core of this war.
There were many suspicious points such as weapons that changed shape and Goliaths that emitted golden light, but that was something he could interrogate after making them kneel.
He erased his thoughts from his head.
The giant of the Bephar-ss Goliath shrank slightly and rushed in explosively with a spear.
¡®He¡¯s pretty fast.¡¯
[Master, this way.¡¹
Along with Arma¡¯s message, the trajectory of the spear was disyed in his sight.
The time until the attack hit was also shown precisely, so it was very convenient for Leobold.
¡®With Arma¡¯s support, it¡¯s more like a game than a fight.¡¯
All he had to do was focus on the point that appeared in his sight and move the Goliath to block it, so it was a bit embarrassing to call it a fight.
Thud!
The spearhead hit the ck spear and Jagan-ss Goliath at the same time, and the ground split radially and shockwaves spread around.
¡°Ether waves have been detected. It is simr to the ether de that you showed me.¡±
It was only simr in wavelength, but there was a huge difference in scale.
But one thing was certain.
A knight who was as good as Zaium¡¯s high knight could voluntarily put ether on his weapon.
It was not visible to the eye, but the power was considerable.
ck!
Weapons and weapons collided, and a full-fledged power struggle began.
Emil couldn¡¯t help but be astonished that he could withstand his attack with a Jagan-ss Goliath.
The drive system was shaking, but it wasn¡¯t at its limit.
¡®How can he draw out such power with a piece of trash like Jagan¡¡¯
What if, what if he said.
If Vandus Baron rode a Bephar-ss Goliath and showed his true skills, how strong would he be?
Could he still match him with his weapon like now?
¡®Damn it!¡¯
Emil bit his lip until blood came out.
This shouldn¡¯t have happened.
He was Zaium¡¯s high knight and a skilled person who matched Elvrande¡¯s knights.
¡®I can¡¯t lose to you!¡¯
As he raised his anger, his ether heart in his body was fully activated.
His whole body was supplied with ether, and his Goliath looked as if it was dyed in gold.
It was much more refined than Leobold¡¯s, and that was exactly what Arma was aiming for.
¡°Analysis started, Master. Please prolong thebat as much as possible.¡±
¡®That won¡¯t be easy, I think.¡¯
In an instant, a gray spear pierced the space where he was with a terrifying speed.
Leobold judged that he waste and transformed his spear into a shield to block it.
ng!
The spear bounced off with a sharp sound, but the surface of the shield was not intact either.
Surprisingly, the living metal was damaged.
¡°He concentrated ether on one point to enhance the destructive power. Amazing.¡±
¡®I wish I could use that too?¡¯
¡°I need more data, Master.¡±
He had no choice but to give him the data he wanted.
Leobold took advantage of the gap when Emil¡¯s Goliath adjusted its posture and jumped into his arms.
Their attacks were exchanged several times, and each time the spear made of living metal suffered considerable damage.
It recovered quickly whenever it was damaged, but there was a limit to that too.
Emil¡¯s attack was that strong and fast.
¡°He uses a simr method to the ether booster to increase the speed of his attack. Really amazing.¡±
It meant that humans could imitate the mechanism of the gue.
But Leobold was not in a position to listen to such calm words.
Emil attacked him like crazy.
His ether sensitivity was fine, but his Goliath, which had to handle it, was slowly reaching its limit.
It suffered too much shock in a short time and the drive system was on the verge of breaking down, and several parts of the frame squeaked.
No matter how good the software is, it can¡¯t perform well if the hardware is garbage.
Leobold asked for help in desperation.
¡®Don¡¯t just be amazed and help me out.¡¯
¡°I sent you the operation method of the ether circuit through the biochip. This should help you.¡±
He didn¡¯t have time to figure out what that was.
The ether circuit appeared clearly in his sight and his right chest hurt.
¡®It¡¯s hot¡¡¯
The pain that started from his chest spread throughout his body and his spear turned into a sword without his will.
And Leobold witnessed a faint ether being applied to his sword.
¡®This is an ether de.¡¯
It was a pathetic etherpared to the main battle of Pluto, but it was enough to destroy the Goliath in front of him.
He stepped forward toward the spear that stretched out toward him and drew his sword down.
A brilliant golden sword light cut off both the spear and the arm of the Goliath at the same time.
Swoosh¨D
The spear and arm of the Bephar-ss Goliath were neatly severed and fell to the ground.
Emil didn¡¯t realize it at first, but when he saw that his Goliath didn¡¯t move properly, he finally realized that something went wrong.
¡®What, what is this?¡¯
He thought there was a line drawn in the air, but his arm flew away.
What kind of attack is this?
He had no time to regain his senses as another attack came in.
Emil saw the sword that rushed toward him change into a hammer shape and whined.
¡®How can he have such weapons¡¡¯
But he didn¡¯t think he lost because of his weapons.
The Goliath of Baron Vandus had ovee his attack with an absolute disadvantage and finally destroyed the Bephar-ss Goliath by applying ether to his sword.
It was an unbelievable thing to happen.
Bang!
With a loud noise, the abdominal armor of the Bephar-ss flew back and smashed.
Knight Emil passed out from the shock that hit his whole body.
Leobold finally changed his hammer back into a spear shape and sighed.
¡°It¡¯s hard to y along. Did you get enough data?¡±
¡°A little bit. I tried to figure out the structure of the ether heart, but I couldn¡¯t get there.¡±
¡°It won¡¯t happen overnight. I know I can put ether on my sword, so that¡¯s enough.¡±
There are psychers who have sters and those who can break walls by putting ether on their fists among them.
But this was the first time he could put ether on a weapon other than his body.
And not on a weapon he held directly, but on a weapon held by a Goliath.
Leobold sent a signal to the airship through hismunicator.
The knight from Zaium would send back his Jagan-ss Goliath and airship for a reasonable amount of money, but he had no intention of returning the Goliath.
Baron Prozan would be furious, but he didn¡¯t care about that.
¡°You should shut up if you lose. By the way, did you say I could ride this thing if I erase this magic circle?¡±
¡°It¡¯s the magic circle engraved on the right side.¡±
¡°Where was the artifact that Lucia gave me¡¡±
He erased the magic circle and boarded the Goliath, and he was satisfied with the overflowing output of the core.
¡°It¡¯s iparable to the Jagan-ss. I look forward to working with you, Dingo.¡±
***
Bad news came to the Bagran royal pce.
The airship flew into the Ohmel Viscount¡¯s territory andpletely smashed it.
It was hard to understand for those who heard it.
What does an airship have to do with a territory being smashed?
There was no ether cannon on the baron¡¯s airship, and even if there was, it could only exert limited power.
Count Lantis, who was frustrated, urged his aides to find out more details, and then the truth began to emerge.
¡ªTwo airships with two Goliaths on board raided the Ohmel Viscount¡¯s territory.
¡ªThe death of Viscount Ohmel has been confirmed, and other key bureaucrats and militarymanders have be prisoners. Therefore, the Ohmel Viscount¡¯s territory has fallen into the hands of Baron Vandus.
¡ªThe vicount¡¯s troops, who learned of this news toote, are wavering whether to attack the Vandus Baron¡¯s territory as nned or retreat.
¡ªThe whereabouts of High Knight Emil from Zaium are unknown.
¡°So, in summary¡¡±
¡°We lost the war.¡±
Prince Ruad snorted and Eolin, who couldn¡¯t control his temper and fainted as it was.
Count Lantis crumpled up the document that summarized the situation, but that didn¡¯t make it any better.
¡°This doesn¡¯t make sense¡ How can they load Goliaths on an airship?¡±
¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m curious about. Even if they are high knights who can open a space, it would be difficult because of ether interference.¡±
Even if they hid the Goliath in a space, it didn¡¯t mean that its masspletely disappeared, so it was meaningless to ride an airship.
They either achieved weight reduction or increased buoyancy, but both were unknown methods.
While Prince Ruad was in a good mood, Count Lantis was busy contacting his surroundings frantically.
¡°Forget about Ohmel for now! Find the High Knight first!¡±
¡°The mercenaries are asking me about the future schedule? How should I know! I¡¯m not themander!¡±
But to Ruad¡¯s eyes, Count Lantis was the mastermind of this incident.
He could deny it as much as he wanted, but that wouldn¡¯t change anything.
Soon, he received a contact from Prozan, who had heard the news from Zaium.
¡°What happened to Emil? Is he dead? Or missing?¡±
¡°I apologize, my lord. I will find the knight¡¯s whereabouts as soon as possible.¡±
Count Lantis bowed his head to the prince who looked at him with a cold expression.
¡°Your Highness, the rude mercenaries are insulting the golden bloodline. We must stop them from taking over the barony, don¡¯t you think?¡±
¡°This is a territorial war, and ording to the convention, the loser has to give up everything. That ce has a good location in the east, but it hasn¡¯t developed for decades. Maybe it will change in Vandus¡¯s hands.¡±
¡°That¡¯s an old story. You won¡¯t tolerate this if you know the circumstances of this incident.¡±
¡°You will also know the intention of the count who tried to use Zaium¡¯s power to strike Vandus. Do you want that?¡±
¡°¡¡±
Count Lantis held his breath.
Come to think of it, he couldn¡¯t tell this to Bagran III.
Which king would ept the interference of another country with augh?
It might not affect the princess, but his vignce was certain and his position was also dangerous.
Above all, his subordinates would not look at him the same way as before.
He put Ohmel in front and backed off, but he actually lost his territory and died.
There was only one way out of this situation.
He bowed his head to Prince Ruad.
¡°Please help me, Your Highness. Please lend me your hand so that Bagran¡¯s servant can survive.¡±
¡°I wish you had said that a little earlier. Anyway, I can¡¯t stop Vandus. I never intervened in the first ce.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Count Lantis dropped his head silently and Prince Ruad sighed deeply.
¡°Let¡¯s end it by giving up the barony. It¡¯s a good location in the east, but it hasn¡¯t developed for decades. Maybe it will change in Vandus¡¯s hands.¡±
¡°What about Prozan?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll try to mediate that. I hope Vandus didn¡¯t kill the High Knight.¡±
If he did, Prozan wouldn¡¯t sit still.
***
¡°¡¡±
Zion, who came to Denova, sensed an uneasy atmosphere.
It wasn¡¯t because humans noticed his identity.
¡®Lucia¡¯s artifact is really reliable. It hides my huge ether so well¡¡¯
He had been watching fairies on the ground for a while, but he didn¡¯t know how he got caught by a scoundrel like Leobold.
Was he naturally yful?
He had heard that fairies were all weird, but it was strange.
Anyway, Zion heard some rude voices while sitting in the chaotic central exchange.
¡°What? Viscount Ohmel lost? Check again! Ask for a reliable source!¡±
¡°The viscount¡¯s death has been confirmed! Currently, two mercenaries belonging to Vandus¡¯s territory have upied the territory!¡±
¡°Two mercenaries upied the barony? Whose delusion is that?¡±
¡°They flew Goliaths on an airship!¡±
¡°What kind of nonsense is that!¡±
The staff were busy collecting information flying around.
The investors were also out of their minds trying to contact everywhere.
Themunication devices used in the central exchange today would be considerable.
In the midst of this turmoil, Philip Market gathered his staff and came to Zion.
Zion shook dozens of securities documents with the market¡¯s seal on them.
¡°The news finally arrived. My investment is 10,000 gold with a higher dividend of 14 times and a leverage of 10 times. You remember that, right?¡±
¡°¡Of course I remember.¡±
Philip Market¡¯s voice sounded like metal scraping.
It was understandable that he was troubled by having to spit out 1.4 million gold.
He didn¡¯t pay it himself, but the bankruptcy of hundreds of merchants meant that Denova as a whole would shake.
Philip Market smiled bitterly as if to let it be.
¡°Give me my money.¡±
He stretched out his palm and Philip Market looked at it nkly and barely held back hisughter.
Oh,ugh?
¡°Did you check the documents carefully?¡±
¡°Securities documents? Who do you think I am? I checked them all. There¡¯s no problem, so give me my money.¡±
Zion¡¯s voice rose as Philip Market delivered a decisive blow.
¡°Did you see any maturity date on them?¡±
¡°What date?¡±
¡°The date when you pay me back.¡±
¡°¡There was no such thing?¡±
¡°Oh, then I have no choice but to dy the payment. Oh, this doesn¡¯t mean I won¡¯t pay you.¡±
¡°¡¡±
That means he¡¯s going to rip him off.
Denova had already failed to trade with Vandus once.
Now the rtionship would bepletely cut off and the trust would plummet, but it was better than paying 1.4 million gold.
Philip Market muttered with a resigned mind.
¡°I¡¯ll give you 10,000 gold more than the principal. Please wait patiently for the rest. I¡¯ll pay you someday.¡±
He disappeared and Zion realized the situation btedly and his eyes burned with rage.
¡®These bastards?¡¯
Blue Dragon Zigarion was truly angry.
Chapter 221: The Destruction of Two Territories
Chapter 221: The Destruction of Two Territories
Leobold returned to his territory with a Bephar-ss Goliath.
The people of the territory rushed out to wee him.
They had not heard from their lord since the war broke out.
And he came back with a strange Goliath.
Carson, the administrative officer, ran barefoot to him and Leobold dered as he got off the Goliath.
¡°The war is over. Viscount Ohmel died from our attack and his territory was upied by my subordinates. Not only that, but I also subdued a High Knight from Zaium. This Goliath is the proof.¡±
The Goliath standing next to him was clearly different from the models that could be seen in Bagran.
It was obvious that it was a high-end product that was in a different dimension from the Jagan or Raum sses, which added credibility to his deration.
Soon, outsiders who ran out of the hall poured out questions.
¡°Baron! How did you carry a Goliath on Altemaho? Even Elvrande couldn¡¯t do that!¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t there still a Goliath unit that left from the barony? What are you going to do with them?¡±
¡°And how did you locate the High Knight? It¡¯s supposed to be a top-secret information!¡±
¡°Did he follow you obediently?¡±
They seemed to have a lot of curiosity by looking at how they swarmed like bees.
Leobold frowned and said.
¡°I have no obligation to tell you anything. You can imagine whatever you want. Just like you¡¯ve been talking nonsense so far.¡±
The people who had been spreading rumors about Leobold and his territory in the hall felt embarrassed.
Technically, their behavior was not even proper etiquette towards a noble.
If this was Lantis county, they wouldn¡¯t have dared to ask questions.
Leobold knew that well.
¡°You are free to stay in my territory, but I won¡¯t say anything about the consequences of spreading false rumors. So be careful with your mouth.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Everyone was speechless and looked at the sky and the ground.
Carson, the administrative officer, who had been suffering a lot, was overjoyed.
He had to deal with the hall and the inn often because of his position, and he had to listen to nonsense that his territory was doomed and his lord was insane.
Now that his lord had won the war, he wouldn¡¯t have to hear such nonsense anymore.
That was enough for Carson.
¡°And administrative officer, Arma.¡±
¡°Yes, my lord.¡±
They bowed their heads and Leobold ordered.
¡°You¡¯ll be busy from now on, so focus on your work. I have something to tell you right away, so follow me to the mansion.¡±
When they disappeared, the outsiders looked at the Bephar-ss Goliath with burning eyes.
¡°My goodness¡ It¡¯s really a Bephar-ss¡¡±
¡°I heard it¡¯s the symbol of Zaium¡¯s High Knight. Could it be¡¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you still believe it? The High Knight lost to Baron Vandus, no, Baron Leobold.¡±
¡°But how? The only ones in this territory were Jagan and Raum at best!¡±
¡°I¡¯d rather believe that a kobold beat an ogre.¡±
A kobold was a synonym for a weak monster and an ogre was a powerful monster that boasted its strength until Goliath was developed.
The Jagan or Raum ss Goliaths were considered worse than kobolds by the outsiders¡¯ eyes.
Not that they were weak because they were Goliaths, but because they were inferiorpared to the standard models of various powerful countries.
But one of the merchants with good eyesight noticed that the cloth covering the Bephar-ss Goliath was empty.
¡°Is that missing its shoulder and arm? It looks a bit empty.¡±
¡°Now that you say it, it does look like that¡¡±
¡°What did they cut it with? It¡¯s a medium armor if it¡¯s a Bephar-ss.¡±
But there was no one brave enough to approach and examine it closely.
Not only did the people of the territory re at them with fire in their eyes, but also soldiers came with golems and moved the Goliath.
Then Altemaho 3 appeared and captured their attention.
The knights who knew well about Goliaths were shocked to see a Jagan-ssing out of the hangar.
¡°They really flew in the sky with a Goliath? How did they do that?¡±
¡°Looking at how some armor tes are reced, they must have achieved an incredible weight reduction¡¡±
¡°What kind of metal did they use?¡±
Among the outsiders, sailors brought in one man as a hostage.
Some merchants recognized him as he had long hair and whispered.
¡°It¡¯s Emil, Zaium¡¯s High Knight!¡±
¡°Did they really capture him?¡±
¡°I want to say it¡¯s impossible, but he¡¯s right here¡¡±
Emil, who was taken hostage, closed his eyes in frustration.
He couldn¡¯t move at all because his ether waspletely blocked by some artifact.
The sailors took him to the mansion and the people finally realized the situation.
Amazingly, the alliance of Count Lantis, Princess Eolin, and Duke Prozan was shattered.
They didn¡¯t use all their power, but it was an impossible thing to happen and they didn¡¯t have any spare power.
Killing Baron Vandus with Viscount Ohmel was the only solution, but it backfired and it was a pity.
¡°Now Princess Eolin has no say until she gets married. She¡¯s just a hostage.¡±
¡°TheCount Lantis¡¯s family must be shaken in their loyalty too. They couldn¡¯t help Viscount Ohmel when he died like that.¡±
¡°What if Prince Ruad interferes? He¡¯s already frustrated that he couldn¡¯t defend Baron Vandus.¡±
¡°With the High Knight captured, Duke Prozan won¡¯t be able to intervene anymore.¡±
¡°Damn, I bet money on Baron Vandus dying.¡±
The merchant who said that had to lower his voice as he received the sharp eyes of the people of the territory.
The knights also left and the only one left was Tiren from Elvrande.
He was more interested in Baron Vandus¡¯ skill than Bagran¡¯s situation.
¡®Bephar-ss is not that great of a Goliath, but it¡¯s a medium armor¡ The martial arts of the baron who cut off the shoulder and arm of such a Goliath are¡¡¯
It meant that he could use ether as a weapon at least and he might be an obstacle for him in the future.
¡®Should I kill him here?¡¯
Tiren looked at the direction of the mansion where the lord was, but he rxed his eyes.
No matter how strong an individual¡¯s power was, it couldn¡¯t stop the present and future of Elvrande.
They were trying to obtain the legacy of the forgotten god.
If the dragon revival n was properly executed, then the power of a mere baron would mean nothing.
¡®It doesn¡¯t matter if you hide some suspicious power. We will have more than that.¡¯
And that was the only way to bring true peace to Astera.
Tiren believed without doubt that he was doing justice.
¡®Don¡¯t resist. ept us. That¡¯s the way for you humans to live peacefully.¡¯
***
Most of the territorial wars ended with the death of the lord.
The lord was an indispensable and important force in battle as he had ether bloodline and this increased the mortality rate significantly.
As a result, many cases of surrendering the entire territory followed by the death of the lord weremon.
They lost their most important force, so they saw no possibility.
Viscount Ohmel was quite young, so his heir was also young and he didn¡¯t have many rtives.
It meant that he had no one to fight for him.
So as soon as he died from the attack of two Goliaths, most of the bureaucrats surrendered without continuing the resistance.
What was the point of resisting when the lord was dead and the mercenaries were outside the territory?
Katina and Elwin epted their surrender and mobilized the soldiers to upy the lord¡¯s mansion and other official buildings.
But they didn¡¯t upy the whole territory.
Beyond the high fence made of iron, the people of the territory gathered and looked at them with curiosity and wariness.
Katina sweated nervously.
¡°They won¡¯t rise up, will they? Leobold should hurry up¡¡±
¡°It depends on how the lord acted normally. Judging by how quiet they are, he wasn¡¯t a very good lord.¡±
This ce was known as one of the territories with high taxes in eastern Bagran.
Viscount Ohmel was also a typical noble who squeezed his people by iming his ether bloodline.
That was the basic quality of a noble in Bagran.
The clothes of the people beyond the iron fence were much poorer than those of Vandus barony.
¡°This iron fence tells us the psychological distance between Viscount Ohmel and his people. It¡¯s very high and sturdy, right? He didn¡¯t even recognize his people as his own.¡±
¡°You¡¯re very knowledgeable. How do you know that?¡±
¡°I used to be a noble too.¡±
¡°Oh, right. Come to think of it, we don¡¯t have a fence in our territory.¡±
There was only the lord¡¯s mansion in the middle and nothing to prevent the ess of the people.
There were no guards either and the people freely visited the mansion whenever they had something to do.
It was a radical move considering that the previous lords had soldiers at the entrance even in their difficult situation.
That move was also reflected in his meals.
Baron Vandus went to a restaurant or a hall and ate with people when he was hungry.
It was a very unusual thing to do considering that Bagran¡¯s traditional etiquette required a strict separation between a noble¡¯s space and amoner¡¯s space.
The people of the territory thought that his move was a show at first, but soon they realized that he was like that from the beginning.
He was a noble who shed his enemies mercilessly with his sword, but embraced his people warmly.
Of course, Leobold was not a tender person.
He was bulky and above average looking, his expression was almost nonexistent, and his tone was stiff.
But his attitude towards developing his territory and treating his people was clearly different from other nobles.
Thanks to the great development of Vandus barony, various rumors spread around neighboring territories.
Elwin looked at the people outside the fence and said.
¡°I see some curiosity mixed with wariness. They are hoping. They wish Baron Vandus would rule us, you know.¡±
¡°Well, Leobold won¡¯t discriminate them anyway.¡±
¡°We also have to make a decision soon. The lord will appoint us as knights.¡±
¡°Us as knights? What are you talking about?¡±
¡°We can¡¯t keep ying as mercenaries forever, can we? It¡¯s better for the lord to appoint us as knights and keep us.¡±
¡°But I don¡¯t have an ether bloodline.¡±
Unlike Elwin, Katina was not from a noble family.
But that wasn¡¯t a problem at all.
¡°Being a knight only requires the lord¡¯s permission. Of course, whether other lords or nobles recognize it or not is another matter, but anyway, there is no problem. If you get a title after earning enough merits, you be a noble.¡±
¡°I can be a noble too¡¡±
¡°Well, that doesn¡¯t mean that the lord will look at you differently.¡±
¡°Die! I¡¯m already lonely at night!¡±
They chatted until they heard that their lord wasing this way.
Soon, an airship arrived above the lord¡¯s mansion and Leobold came down.
¡°The lord is here!¡±
¡°He seems to have done well.¡±
Leobold looked around and asked Katina and Elwin.
¡°Did you lock up the nobles and bureaucrats of this territory?¡±
¡°Yeah. There was a separate prison. We put them there for now.¡±
¡°Bring them here.¡±
The people were dragged out and Leobold stood in front of them and dered.
¡°Viscount Ohmel is dead and his territory is in my hands. He was seduced by Count Lantis¡¯s scheme and dered war on me, and moved his troops. You must not feel wronged by this.¡±
¡°From now on, Viscount Ohmel¡¯s territory will be incorporated into mine. Your lives are also up to me. Make your choice now. Swear allegiance to me or die.¡±
Some closed their eyes as if they sensed their fate.
They were mostly nobles and rtives.
There was no reason for the baron to spare them when the earl was dead.
On the other hand, most of the bureaucrats threw hopeful eyes at him.
¡°Are you going to spare us?¡±
¡°That depends on your actions from now on. Swear allegiance to me. Bring me all the property lists of Viscount Ohmel.¡±
¡°We swear allegiance to you!¡±
¡°Search the office and bring the documents! Don¡¯t miss a single sheet!¡±
It was the moment when the winner and the loser switched.
The bureaucrats who had been ttering the viscount until a while ago bowed to the baron.
The nobles and rtives red at them as if they would remember their faces, but they had to close their eyes at the next voice of Baron Vandus.
¡°The rest will be executed, so lock them up in prison. But I won¡¯t tolerate any excessive violence.¡±
That¡¯s how Leobold got Viscount Ohmel¡¯s territory, but it wasn¡¯t over yet.
There were other territories that participated in the war and there were mercenaries who were returning here in a hurry.
Above all, the pressure from Count Lantis and Eolin Princess would increase.
Thetter was a powerless puppet, but the former had lost his noble and territory and his anger was not mild.
¡®I hope he doesn¡¯t get robbed by Duke Prozan.¡¯
Thinking about it, Count Lantis was in a corner now.
He ignored the royal family and brought in a noble from Zaium, which was fine, but the High Knight was captured by Leobold.
It wasn¡¯t Count Lantis¡¯s mistake, but it didn¡¯t matter to Duke Prozan who was angry.
He would do anything to get the High Knight back and Leobold just had to wait forCount Lantis to give uppletely.
¡®But I can¡¯t give back the Goliath.¡¯
Duke Prozan was also in a position where he couldn¡¯t go against the Bagran royal family, so he would probably end the matter there.
¡®The only thing left is Denova. I wonder if Zion is doing well.¡¯
He didn¡¯t send Zion to settle things peacefully.
The victory was certain and Denova had to pay more than a million gold.
That Philip mayor wouldn¡¯t give it up easily, so he had to rip his belly open.
¡®Zigarion, whocks patience, will rip his belly open.¡¯
And the money he would bring would be the fertilizer for the development of the territory.
Leobold walked to the lord¡¯s mansion with the escort of his soldiers.
His foot stepped on a sign that was lying on the ground.
Viscount Ohmel¡¯s territory was destroyed like that.
***
Zion didn¡¯t know why Leobold sent him here.
There were bureaucrats in the territory who could handle this kind of work.
Also, it was a problem that there were various kinds of magical defenses in Denova.
He managed to get through them with the artifact that Lucia made, but he almost revealed that he was not an ordinary being.
But Zion thought it wasn¡¯t bad.
He only nced at Denova city, so it was a decent amusement to see ces where people were bustling, such as the central exchange.
¡®Maybe Leobold is trying to assign me this kind of work from now on.¡¯
Dragons were generally known to be ferocious and greedy, and Zigarion was exactly like that.
He liked all kinds of valuable minerals and jewels, but his favorite was gold and silver, especially gold.
In that respect, Zigarion didn¡¯t mind being sent here.
He wanted to blow a breath at the bastards who invaded his territory, but Leobold said he would take care of it, so what could he do?
¡®But¡ I was going to take the money¡¡¯
Philip, the mayor who was responsible for all the transactions, dered in front of him that he would not pay 1.4 million gold.
He made excuses by saying something about the due date, but Zigarion thought it was no different from saying that he would rip him off, and it was actually like that.
He thought it was better than going bankrupt, but he could no longer be called a merchant based on trust.
Zigarion was furious.
¡®How dare this bastard rip off my money!¡¯
He took a step forward and shouted loudly, and the attention of the surroundings was focused on him.
Philip stopped and nced back briefly.
¡°You have a loud voice. Who said I wouldn¡¯t pay you? I¡¯ll pay you. Later.¡±
Only he knew when that would be.
Philip hurried his steps again and a smallugh broke out among his staff.
He couldn¡¯t stand it anymore.
Zigarion unleashed his anger from deep inside his chest and cast a polymorph spell.
There were all kinds of defensive magic circles inside the central exchange, but they couldn¡¯t stop the ether from the dragon heart.
A human disappeared and a blue gate opened, revealing a huge dragon.
¡°Wha, what?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a dragon! It¡¯s a dragon!¡±
The staff were horrified and the investors stopped their movements at his majesty.
His size was so big that his tail pierced through the wall and his head was already lifting the roof.
Zigarion checked their terrified faces and spat out ether and breath at the same time.
¨DGive me my money!
Kwaaaa!
A thick stream of lightning shot forward and collided with the defensive magic circle, causing a huge explosion.
The st spread in all directions, blowing away everything in the central exchange.
The only thing that withstood its power was the dragon¡¯s sturdy body.
¨DGive me my money back!
Zigarion used levitation and wing beats to float in the air.
He saw the central exchange that had almost be ruins, but his anger didn¡¯t subside.
¨DYou scammers!
He spat out another lightning breath and indiscriminately poured out various spells as well.
All the buildings around the central exchange, including the central exchange itself, turned into ashes in an instant.
There were hardly any people running away, because they died instantly from the breath and magic.
Zigarion looked down at his work for a moment and then grabbed his head in regret.
He did it because he was angry, but he was afraid of how to deal with itter.
¡®The lord won¡¯t kill me, right?¡¯
Even if he didn¡¯t do that, he would surely get beaten up if he couldn¡¯t take the money with him.
¡®I need to secure some money.¡¯
He went down and used levitation magic to dig through the debris.
Fortunately, he saw some half-broken safes and threw them into his pocket space.
¡®This is my money anyway. He won¡¯tin if I take it.¡¯
Denova was ruined and Elbrande and others were in trouble, but Zigarion flew up without much thought and headed for his territory.
His gravity sensor was tracked by Siberi satellite, which sent a warning.
Arma immediately sent an exploration ship and an ether blocker to erase his traces.
Thanks to that, Denova city¡¯s mercenaries who arrivedte couldn¡¯t track down his ether.
¡°What? What happened?¡±
¡°The financial district, including the central exchange, blew up at once! Magician, bring a magician!¡±
¡°We should do the rescue first, not that! Find the mayor Philip!¡±
But they couldn¡¯t find Philip or the core leaders, including the mayor.
They were neatly vaporized by Zigarion¡¯s first lightning breath, leaving no corpses.
Philip was an elf who had lived a long time and had considerable knowledge of magic, but he never imagined that a debtor would transform into a dragon and blow a breath.
The mercenaries turned over the debris with Goliaths and grumbled.
¡°Are all the people who owe us money dead?¡±
¡°Damn, then we should get something too. Where are the safes?¡±
¡°That¡¯s not the point. Denova ispletely ruined¡¡±
It wasn¡¯t all gone, but the core district waspletely destroyed, and most of the records were lost.
Also, Zigarion stole the precious metals and jewels that were stored in the central exchange, so there was nothing left but debris.
It would be hard to start over again, and the trust of the merchants would not be the same as before.
Denova was destroyed like that.
Chapter 222: The Aftermath of War
Chapter 222: The Aftermath of War
The first thing to do after upying a territory was to secure the assets and talents.
Leobold ordered Catina, Elwin, and his troops not to do any unnecessary violence.
¡°This ce will also be my territory soon, so think of it as your homnd and work ordingly. And you did very well in the air raid, which must have been your first time.¡±
It was easy to say nice words, but Leobold was generous in his rewards.
He gave 3 gold coins to each soldier who participated in the raid, and granted them a two-week vacation.
However, they could only use it after the war waspletely over.
Leobold had upied the Jazak territory, but there were still administrative procedures left, and more importantly, he needed to bribe and threaten some people.
That might be even harder than the war.
Prince Ruad would probably amodate his convenience as much as possible, but Count Lantis would not.
The most important person, King Bagran III, was not in good health, so he would likely delegate the matter to Prince Ruad.
¡°I wonder if Duke Prozan wille soon.¡±
In fact, his will was the most crucial to end this war.
He was the grand duke of the Zaium Empire, which boasted a poption of 100 million.
If he stepped back, Count Lantis¡¯s situation would plummet.
But if he harbored a grudge, it would be very troublesome in the future.
From that perspective, Arma guessed that Duke Prozan would not expand his aggression.
¡°He has a very calctive personality. He must have calcted that he would not lose in this war. He will be shocked when he finds out that you captured his knight.¡±
¡°If he is that calctive, he would weigh me and Count Lantis rather than rushing in.¡±
¡°He will do that after Knight Emil returns and reports the situation.¡±
Emil would report every detail of how he and Leobold fought.
He might not know everything, but he would likely find out that Leobold was a high knight who could infuse ether into his weapon, that he used an airship for the raid, and that he applied a new material to Goliath.
Living metal was a highly ssified metal even in Elvrande, and the intelligence agency was monitoring every step of the research.
If he found out that a rural lord used it, he would be curious.
Elvrande was the problem, but Zigarion took care of it.
Leobold heard that a dragon suddenly appeared and destroyed Denova, and tilted his head.
¡°I didn¡¯t tell him topletely destroy it.¡±
¡°There¡¯s not much a dragon with little patience can do when he hears someone trying to rip him off. He used his breath and a wide-area destruction magic, and most of the leaders died. Many assets, debts, and transactions also vanished.¡±
¡°The evidence must have disappeared cleanly.¡±
Elvrande would investigate Leobold¡¯s use of living metal, but they would find nothing.
Denova was the main suspect, but they were all gone by Zigarion¡¯s rampage.
The only thing left was how valuable the vault that Zigarion brought was.
Zigarion reported 1.4 million gold coins in the end, but it would be lucky if it was even one-tenth of that.
¡°Tell him to fly over here. I¡¯ll take care of him properly.¡±
¡°Elvrande won¡¯t track him down.¡±
Their ether tracking system was impressive, but this ce was too far away and they also used blockers, so there was no risk of being exposed.
Arma shuffled through some documents and reported.
¡°And master, Knight Granden wants to return to his territory. He said he would leave his daughter with a reliable subordinate and ride a horned beast here.¡±
¡°He must have been in a hurry. Tell them both toe here. This will be the center of my territory from now on.¡±
The original territory had nothing but an iron mine near the sea.
The Ohamel viscounty surpassed it in almost every aspect, such as size and resources.
Especially the abundance of water resources was important.
The Ob River was a huge river that crossed the eastern part of Bagran.
It had plenty of water all year round and it was useful for many things.
Crops like cotton and various industrial technologies required a lot of water, which could not be satisfied by the water in the Vandus barony.
¡°What about the talents that Ohamel brought with him?¡±
¡°Recruit them. Those who have no skills or knowledge can be sent to Count Lantis.¡±
He originally intended to kill them, but Arma suggested sending them to Count Lantis.
He had no choice but to ept it from his perspective.
The rtives who went under the protection of Count Lantis would not stay still.
They would plot various things out of revenge for Leobold, and that would be a pretext.
¡°What about the dwarves in the workshop?¡±
¡°There were dwarves in this territory?¡±
¡°Yes. It seems they stayed here because of a contract they made with the previous lord. Now that Ohamel is dead, they want to go back.¡±
¡°Dwarves are quite useful talents¡¡±
The elves were far ahead in the research of ether, but the dwarves were dominant in machinery, materials, and physics.
Even the Zaium Empire relied on the Imir Republic, the nation of dwarves, for the parts for Goliath.
It was surprising that the dwarves were in this territory, considering their closed nature.
¡°They are basically the ones who lead the industrial technology of this territory. The problem is that Ohamel was timid and had no money to support them properly.¡±
¡°Then we should¡ no.¡±
There was no need to rush to recruit them.
Dwarves were a proud race who would shun elves.
It was impossible to suppress them with a moderate amount of money, and threats would not work either.
It would be better to leak some of their technology to them.
¡°Show me how you handle living metal with the disassembler while pretending to fix Goliath. He¡¯ll beg to sit here himself.¡±
¡°Understood.¡±
Zion arrived at the upied area shortly after.
He lied that he had destroyed Denova in anger and apologized that there was nothing left.
¡°My breath is so powerful, you know? There was nothing left of gold coins or money.¡±
¡°Then you couldn¡¯t even steal any gold bars or something.¡±
¡°Tha¡t¡¯s right?¡±
Zion was very nervous.
He was afraid of how much this monstrous lord knew.
It seemed like he had noticed something from his mention of gold bars, but he couldn¡¯t have known unless he looked closely at the scene.
¡®He can¡¯t use magic in such a chaotic ether! He¡¯s testing me!¡¯
True Eye and other long-range magic depended on how much ether was used, but they were also greatly affected by the environment.
True Eye and other magic that required precision would not work properly in a yard that was chaotic with breath and all kinds of lethal magic.
Zion decided to bluff after making that judgment.
¡°I also looked for gold bars or something, but there was nothing. It was a shame. I lost 10,000 gold in investment money.¡±
¡°We need to get that back, but who would be good?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. Denova is ruined and I can¡¯t reveal my identity, so it would be hard to get it from anyone.¡±
¡°I have a good idea.¡±
As Leobold snapped his fingers, Zion unknowingly brought his ear to his mouth.
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s to half-kill the cheeky dragon who hid my gold bars and acted like he didn¡¯t know. Then ask him why he did that.¡±
¡°¡Tha¡¡±
¡°Give it up now and I¡¯ll spare your life. Give it all up.¡±
¡°Damn, if someone heard that, they¡¯d think you¡¯re a bandit.¡±
¡°You shouldn¡¯t have hidden it if you didn¡¯t want to hear that.¡±
¡°I just wanted to get my share. It¡¯s not my job to go to Denova.¡±
¡°Who packed up everything in a hurry? And did you think I wouldn¡¯t take care of you? You don¡¯t seem to have much faith in me.¡±
Zion flinched.
Come to think of it, Leobold had always tried to amodate him.
The promised ether stones were thoroughly paid and the funds and materials needed for research were always abundantly provided.
When he said he needed an assistant mage, he brought him Steffina and there was no shortage of convenience.
Leobold turned his head and said bitterly.
¡°I trusted you, but you didn¡¯t. I¡¯m disappointed.¡±
At this point, Zion felt a fire on his feet.
Even if he left the domain now, he had nowhere to go and it was not easy to return to the floating continent.
The forces called Elvrande, Zaium and others were eyeing the floatingnd, and even at this moment dozens of airships were flying around.
¡®As soon asnding bes possible, myir will be exposed.¡¯
That would end his peace.
Sticking to Leobold was not a choice but a necessity.
Having judged this far, Zion changed his expression in an instant.
¡°What are you talking about? It was just a joke. Why would I hide anything from the lord?¡±
¡°Well, I don¡¯t trust you.¡±
¡°Ohe on, it¡¯s not a big deal. Do you think I¡¯ll swallow this whole? Here, I brought this for the lord.¡±
Zion took out several safes from his pocket space.
He wanted to keep thest one, but when Leobold gave him a look of ¡®is there more?¡¯, he shed tears and took out thest safe as well.
¡°Four¡ The contents of the others are vaguely visible, but this one seems to be sealed with magic. Can you open it?¡±
¡°When ites to magic, it¡¯s dragon again.¡±
Zion confidently stepped forward, but failed because the sealing magic circle was no joke.
¡°Damn, why won¡¯t this open?¡±
¡°Sometimes primitive methods are better.¡±
Leobold boarded Goliath standing in the corner of the mansion and transformed his weapon into a hammer and hit the safe.
A small explosion broke the safe and a map came out.
They put their heads together and analyzed the map.
It was clear that it was the east sea of Vandus¡¯s barony by looking at the coastline.
¡°There¡¯s nothing in that sea except for Shadow Elf¡¯s ind nation.¡±
¡°That¡¯s because the ind nation was created during the Great War 200 years ago. Just like the floating continent.¡±
¡°Then this is a map made at that time, but why was it in Denova?¡±
Zion muttered indifferently.
¡°It could have been taken as debt instead. It¡¯s not strange what those elves do.¡±
¡°Well¡¡±
Judging by the fact that it was stored in a safe sealed with magic, it seemed to be a very important map.
Leobold called Arma and handed over all the safes, including the map.
¡°Analyze the map carefully and find the location. And how much do you think it is?¡±
¡°About 85,000 gold. For the jewels, I calcted ording to this month¡¯s price, but you¡¯ll have to pay a lot ofmission to sell them.¡±
¡°You calcted that already¡?¡±
Zion, who thought of Arma as a mere maid, couldn¡¯t help but be surprised.
No matter how standardized gold bars were, there were five types of gold coins with different gold content and silver coins as well!
¡°They still owe 1.41 million gold, so we¡¯ll have to get it from Elvrande even with this. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s on the map, but it won¡¯t be enough.¡±
The debt was made by Denova, but Elvrande was the one who backed them up.
Denova would eventually be rebuilt and a new market would take office, but they would not admit a deal without evidence.
Therefore, his logic was that the elves were ultimately responsible for repayment.
¡°How? Elvrande is a nation of elves, but they are quite powerful. The lord knows that well.¡±
¡°Just wait and see. I can¡¯t stand being in debt.¡±
¡°Hmm¡¡±
Zion was doubtful, but he shrugged it off.
He started a war and smashed Denova, so he had to deal with the aftermath himself.
****
Granden, who was in the royal road, returned to the domain.
He was so in a hurry that he didn¡¯t even sleep properly and rode a horned bird.
Leobold pushed him into a clean bedroom instead of giving him a mission.
¡°Sleeping soundly is especially important for knights. You won¡¯t bete for your mission even after a good nap.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, my lord.¡±
From Granden¡¯s point of view, it must have been hard to ept himself for not being able to participate in the domain war because of his daughter.
Even if it was the lord¡¯s intention.
Anyway, he slept for 10 hours and shaved his beard and appeared in front of Leobold in a neat appearance.
¡°You look much better. I want you to take charge of recruiting the mercenaries. Ohamel¡¯s mercenaries are camping halfway between here and Vandus¡¯s domain.¡±
¡°They don¡¯t know what to do since their employer is dead.¡±
¡°Then go and talk to them. You can even threaten them. They don¡¯t have many ces to go anyway.¡±
Even though they were a mercenary group with 16 Goliaths, there were hardly any ces that would dare to take them in with the Bagran royal family watching.
At best, there were only two nobles who cooperated with Ohamel and Count Lantis, but the former was economically and thetter was politically strained.
¡°I¡¯ll leave right away.¡±
¡°By the way, how is Eily?¡±
A fatherly smile appeared on Granden¡¯s lips at the question.
¡°She¡¯s having fun at the pce. It¡¯s all thanks to your care, my lord.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s have a meal togetherter. I also want to meet Eily.¡±
¡°It would be an honor.¡±
Granden came backter with the surrender of the mercenaries.
¡°Fortunately, the mercenary leader was a reasonable person.¡±
¡°You mean a quick-witted person. Without any supply of ether stones, they have limited options in Bagran¡¯s east.¡±
¡°You considered that too.¡±
Granden couldn¡¯t help but admire the lord who knew even the inside of a mere mercenary group.
It was information that he had learned after talking and persuading them.
Anyway, the mercenary group with 16 Goliaths agreed to entrust their troops to Leobold.
Count Lantis, who should have stopped them, was too busy being grilled by Prince Ruad and Duke Prozan in the royal road.
As a result, Vandus¡¯s domain had a total of 21 Goliaths.
It was a great force, even if half of them were Raums and the most powerful Bephar was badly damaged and needed repair.
It was second only to Count Lantis in Bagran¡¯s east, and it put a lot of pressure on the surrounding domains.
But surprisingly, it didn¡¯t be a big issue because there was news that a blue dragon had appeared in Denova and destroyed it.
Denova, which had a reputation as the bestmercial city in the continent despite its small territory, was literally smashed.
This news reached the neighboring countries, but there were hardly any ces that regretted it.
From their point of view, Denova was nothing but a nest of detestable elves.
¨DThey were disgusting enough with their elves and ves. I¡¯m d they¡¯re all dead.
¨DAll Denova did was lend money forcibly and charge high interest. It¡¯s a good thing they¡¯re gone.
¨DI wish that blue dragon would destroy Elvrande too while he¡¯s at it.
But they were still afraid of the dragon, so they were busy preparing for defense.
And another information reached the ears of the furious council in Elvrande.
The judge Tirendel sent to Bagran reported the leakage of living metal.
The council was so angry that they ordered to find the dragon right away.
¨DWho leaked the living metal! Find the culprit!
Fortunately, there was only one mine where living metal could be mined in Elvrande, and it was under strict surveince, so it seemed that the leaker would be revealed soon.
But surprisingly, the leaker didn¡¯t show up.
The council staff gathered all the workers in one ce and searched every corner of the mine, but they couldn¡¯t find any evidence.
¨DThe amount of metal exported ording to the refinery documents matches the amount imported ording to the military specifications.
¨DNo suspicion points were found among the workers. All workers have not left the workce for nearly six months and are under surveince by at least two people.
It was natural considering the danger and importance of living metal.
This rare metal was so strong that it could not be destroyed by ordinary means.
Unlike ordinary metals, it could be easily deformed, but only by people with high ether sensitivity.
Only skilled elven knights could barely handle this metal.
In Elvrande, they concluded that the armor te of Goliath that they boarded on an airship was living metal.
The problem was why that rare metal was found in Vandus¡¯s domain.
There was no sign of leakage here either.
¨DI suspect that living metal mines have been discovered in Bagran.
¨DOr maybe they brought it from the floating continent. That cunning baron might have hidden it¡
¨DHe¡¯s a mere baron, but he¡¯s causing a lot of trouble in many ways. The domain war was one thing, but we need to keep an eye on him for a while.
Meanwhile, Prince Ruad was busy moving around in Bagran.
He was secretly pleased that Baron Vandus had subdued Ohamel¡¯s domain without much damage, but he didn¡¯t show it.
And he proposed a meeting for the smooth settlement of the war.
The attendees were the prince, Duke Prozan, Count Lantis, and Baron Vandus.
The two high nobles agreed to the proposal right away, but Leobold¡¯s answer was not satisfactory.
¡°Well, I should follow your suggestion, but I can¡¯t help but worry.¡±
¡°What are you worried about?¡±
¡°That you two might pressure me economically. As you know, Count Lantis¡¯s domain is notparable to mine in size. Mine barely exceeds 20,000 now.¡±
¡®He considers Ohamel¡¯s domain as his own, even though he upied it only a few days ago.¡¯
That must have been an expression of his unwillingness to give it up, but it was uncertain whether the two nobles would ept it.
The problem was what he would offer in return, and Leobold made an unexpected remark.
¡°I¡¯ll return Knight Emil to you. He wasn¡¯t badly injured, so I¡¯ll send him back as soon as we sign the agreement.¡±
¡°I¡¯m d he¡¯s alive. But Count Lantis won¡¯t agree.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll entrust the new troops of Sigil and Gashin to Count Lantis. That should be enough.¡±
¡°They¡ that¡¯s amazing.¡±
It was impossible to spare Sigil in a domain war where the lord died.
Unless it was a war between nations, it was hard to make money by taking them hostage, and most of them were killed or sent to hard work ces like mines if they were lucky.
Why would they spare the enemy¡¯s lifeline?
Of course, this was something that happened decades ago, and there had been no domain warstely.
Everyone was too busy making a living to have the strength to fight, and Baron Vandus lit a fire there.
¡®He must have no choice but to ept this offer.¡¯
He would have gone on the offensive thinking that he had been executed, but it would be interesting to see his expression when he saw Sigil.
There was nothing more disgusting than a lord who didn¡¯t take care of his Sigil.
Prince Ruad felt a bit of fear at Baron Vandus who proceeded everything as if it had been prepared.
Did he n this war?
¡®That can¡¯t be. How could he know the intentions of Eolin and Prozan while he was stuck in his domain?¡¯
From Leobold¡¯s point of view, it was enough that someone who coveted his silver mine joined hands with Count Lantis.
It didn¡¯t matter who it was.
Anyway, Prince Ruad wanted to ask him one thing when he came to the royal road this time.
Did he really pledge allegiance to the Bagran royal family?
Chapter 223: No Proposal
Chapter 223: No Proposal
The royal road of Bagran, Rozelon, had fallen into a slump recently due to the war with Elvrande and the closure of the silver mine.
Unemployed people crowded the streets and fought for a single free bread distributed by the royal family.
This crisis was also experienced by several countries, including Zaium, who had spent too much on the war with Elvrande.
The amount of money that the Bagran royal family spent to support Zaium¡¯s war easily exceeded ten million.
If Leobold had not lent them money, they would have been in serious trouble.
It was a relief that Bagran was not rted to the famine that some countries bordering Elvrande¡¯s territory were suffering from.
The elves nted branches of Yggdrasil on thend they acquired this time, and the branches began to suck up the surrounding energy as if they had promised.
Considering that there was no such effect on the branches of Yggdrasil originally, it was possible to assume that the elves had yed some trick.
Several countries that suffered from crops drying up before harvest protested, but it seemed meaningless.
Zaium should have stepped in on this issue, but as always, they were busy with strife and civil war and could not provide proper support.
In the midst of this, Baron Vandus, who finally appeared on the royal road, became a minor issue.
The nobles on the royal road looked at the tall man who got off the airship with interest.
¡°I¡¯m seeing him for the first time in person, but he looks quite manly.¡±
¡°He¡¯s a lucky guy. He was pressured by the silver mine, but Ohmel, that idiot, messed up by himself.¡±
¡°Well, I don¡¯t know if you can call it luck. He loaded Goliath on an airship and stormed into his territory in one breath. Of course, he must have used various traps and magic¡¡±
¡°Anyway, there was no proper battle. I can¡¯t ept that.¡±
As always, rumors were inted and distorted.
Leobold¡¯s reputation was very bad because of his malice towards Leobold in the Sagris silver mine.
But not everyone hated him, and there were some favorable eyes as well.
They were mostly youngdies from noble families.
¡°Is there anyone else in his family who has the surname Vandus? Then there will be no one to nag him.¡±
¡°He¡¯s a bit old, but he has a great physique and looks like a good husband material.¡±
¡°His appearance is not bad either, and most importantly, he has a lot of money¡¡±
¡°I wonder if he has any ns to move up to the royal road and live there instead of being stuck in his rural territory.¡±
Some of the great nobles had arranged marriages, but most of the youngdies went to marry suitable nobles around them.
It was good forworking as well.
The opinion of the youngdies was nothing but irrelevant, but if the other party was Baron Vandus, their families would not oppose it much.
Of course, that was assuming that he would live on the royal road.
The youngdies who were ustomed to Rozelon on the royal road hated going to rural territories where transportation was inconvenient and there were no amenities.
Recently, airships were popr, but they were not a means of transportation that anyone could use.
Even ordinary youngdies were shocked by the maintenance cost of airships.
¡®How rich is Baron Vandus who rides an airship like a horned carriage?¡¯
¡®He has an amethyst mine, a floating continent, a silver mine¡ He may have a low rank, but he has a lot of money. I¡¯ll catch him for sure this time.¡¯
But their attempts to make contact with him failed.
It was not because an official from the pce took him away right away.
There was a maid next to him.
She had a dazzling appearance even in in clothes that made other youngdies feel inferior.
Moreover, she was very tall and matched well with the baron.
The youngdies muttered that she was just a maid, but they could not deny her shining beauty.
Baron Vandus¡¯s appearance was followed by Count Lantis and his knights, but they did not be much of an issue.
He had a political alliance with Princess Eolin and often visited the pce while neglecting his territory because of internal strife and civil war. There was no reason for him to be an issue.
But when Duke Prozhan from Zaium appeared, the whole royal road stirred up.
¡°Duke Prozhan is one of the great lords in Zaium, right? Why did hee here in person?¡±
¡°ording to rumors, his beloved knight was captured in this war and he came to get him back.¡±
¡°Oh no. Did Granden Count capture him?¡±
¡°Granden Count was in the pce until recently¡¡±
¡°Then did Baron Vandus capture him himself?¡±
¡°He had Goliath in his barony, but he fought against a Bephar-ss. That¡¯s amazing. Of course, he must have used various traps and magic¡¡±
¡°He¡¯s not only rich, but also good at fighting¡¡±
The youngdies regretted that they should have caused an ident with a horned carriage and tried to catch him, but Leobold had already entered the pce.
A meeting hosted by Prince Ruad was held in the pce.
***
Duke Prozhan narrowed his eyes and looked at Baron Vandus who was sitting across from him.
His ether sensitivity was not as impressive as he expected.
It was not ordinary, but it was not enough to capture Emil.
¡®Did Emil make a mistake, or was the baron well prepared?¡¯
He thought he could easily crush a mere baron of Bagran and sent Emil, but he never expected him to be captured.
Whatever the reason, Emil¡¯s capture was an undeniable fact and he had to prepare for the next step.
Duke Prozhan considered getting Emil back as a settled matter.
There were not many nobles who could oppose him at this point.
However, he did not see the need to cooperate with Count Lantis afterwards.
¡®Eolin is fine, but he was surprisingly ipetent. He left the war to Ohmel, that fool.¡¯
He thought he would take action himself, but he was too timid because of Prince Ruad¡¯s opposition.
He probably did not expect him to load Goliath on an airship.
Anyway, he lost and lost Ohmel Viscount.
Duke Prozhan quietly listened to the fight disguised as a negotiation between them.
¡°¡I admit your victory. But I cannot ept you upying the viscounty. I will give you a reasonablepensation, so withdraw immediately.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t do that. The viscount is dead and I have already secured the administrative rights. It¡¯s a territory with a lot of potential for development, but it¡¯s a pity that it has been under ipetent rule until now. I have to change that.¡±
¡°Are you saying that I abandoned a territory with high potential!¡±
¡°I just said that Ohmel Viscount was ipetent.¡±
¡°I appointed him! Ohmel was not my favorite guy, but he was still my knight! You killed my knight and not only that, you annihted his family!¡±
¡°By the way, let me tell you that I didn¡¯t kill them all.¡±
Count Lantis, who had been spewing out his anger like a volcano, paused for the first time.
¡°What did you say?¡±
¡°As you seem to care so much about Ohmel Viscount. You don¡¯t have to worry. His rtives are alive. There were about thirty of them. I can return them to you anytime you want.¡±
As Leobold said this, Count Lantis had nothing to say.
He had assumed that Ohmel¡¯s family had been annihted and nned to pressure him with his cruel tactics, but now he had to take care of them.
Prince Ruad knew this would happen and quietly opened his mouth.
¡°It is your duty as a lord to take care of your knight¡¯s family. I will mediate this matter, so Count Lantis, be prepared to ept Ohmel Viscount¡¯s rtives. They will be happy too.¡±
The Duke Prozhan looked amusedly at the face of the Count Lantis, who was on the verge of exploding with rage.
¡®He provoked him to draw out his statement? While hiding their very existence?¡¯
If it were Zaium, he would have executed or enved them all.
But the method of the Baron Vandus was not bad either.
The Count Lantis was speechless at the moment.
He must have hated to hear that he was a lord who abandoned his vassal¡¯s loyalty.
¡®But this is not enough to make him back down.¡¯
The Ohmel Viscounty, which bordered the Obgong River, was a ce that anyone would covet, with its vastnd and rtively abundant resources.
It would not be strange if the Count Lantis annexed it directly.
But everyone was stunned by what Leobold said.
¡°If you still do not agree, my lord, I will attack two other territories. The Ohmel Viscounty was not the only one that participated in this war.¡±
The Count Lantis, who barely regained his senses, suppressed his anger and opened his mouth.
¡°You want to attack the Barony of Pindor and another territory¡? Do you really want to fight me?¡±
¡°I have the justification. The two territories are directly involved in this war. Please do not forget that.¡±
The Count¡¯s fist clenched and trembled.
¡®It¡¯s over. I didn¡¯t expect him to threaten me like this.¡¯
What was surprising was that the threat worked.
From the Count¡¯s perspective, losing the Barony of Pindor as well would mean facing the Baron Vandus directly.
He had no choice but to keep a buffer zone between them.
¡®He is not bluffing about continuing the war. He barely suffered any damage.¡¯
Rather, it would be more urate to say that his territory¡¯s power increased with the addition of the knight Grunden.
It seemed that he had also joined forces with the mercenaries who were stationed nearby.
He took advantage of the Count¡¯s distraction while he appealed to Bagran III.
The Duke Prozhan looked at the Baron Vandus with interest.
¡®He is more of a ckmailer than a negotiator.¡¯
He created the situation and then dragged his opponent into an irresistible offer.
He looked like a cunning beast.
The Count Lantis had been confident that he could deal with him until before this meeting, but the situation was not so.
His voice lost its strength and Prince Ruad had already set the tone for concluding the negotiation.
¡°Baron Vandus is right. He has both justification and power. But the Count cannot just retreat like this, can he?¡±
As a great lord who ruled over the eastern part of Bagran, he had to at least maintain his dignity.
Leobold had no intention of doing so, but he decided topromise considering Prince Ruad¡¯s position.
¡°I will give you ten Goliaths that I acquired this time. And I will give you a thousand gold from the Barcy. As a gesture of gratitude for taking care of Ohmel¡¯s vassal.¡±
It was almost like a threat, telling him not to think otherwise and take it as living expenses.
The Count red at him, but his eyes were drained.
¡°Is that how you n to shut me up?¡±
¡°The choice is yours. I don¡¯t care either way.¡±
His words implied that he would resume the war if he refused, and the Count closed his eyes.
The situation was chaotic and both domestic and foreign affairs were not good.
He could not afford to continue the war.
More than anything, he was afraid that the Duke Prozhan would not say a word.
Prince Ruad nodded his head.
¡°It seems that the Count has epted it, so let¡¯s end this war here. I will prepare the documents, so please stamp them yourself.¡±
As officials entered, the atmosphere in the meeting room became somewhat uneasy.
The Duke Prozhan finally asked Leobold quietly.
¡°What happened to Emil?¡±
¡°He is fine. He doesn¡¯t skip meals or anything. I guess you could say he is okay.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not what I¡¯m asking. How did you capture him? You didn¡¯t fight with that flimsy Raom-ss Goliath or whatever it is.¡±
¡°It¡¯s actually Jagan-ss. And as for the battle, why don¡¯t you ask him yourself?¡±
¡°You¡¯re telling me to back off from this matter. Do you think I¡¯ll ept it easily?¡±
¡°I think you¡¯ll make a good judgment on who will benefit you more.¡±
Benefit¡
The Duke Prozhan pondered and Leobold muttered as if talking to himself while stamping.
¡°I¡¯ll return your knight, but I¡¯ll keep your Goliath.¡±
¡°You want to swallow up a Bepar-ss Goliath? You have a big appetite.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t the most important thing talent, not wealth?¡±
¡°Talent¡ You¡¯re not wrong.¡±
He looked much better than the Count Lantis, who was a big bluffer.
The agreement was finally over and the Duke Prozhan reached out to him.
¡°Leobold Vandus, was it? You impressed me in many ways. I¡¯d like to invite you to my territory sometime.¡±
¡°I¡¯d appreciate it if there was such an opportunity. I¡¯ll return your High Knight soon.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡±
The negotiation was concluded with that.
Leobold went to the reception room to have tea with Prince Ruad, but he met Princess Eolin, who suddenly appeared.
She moved her arm before Prince Ruad could say anything.
She seemed to intend to p him, but Leobold caught her hand.
¡°Nice to meet you, Princess Eolin. The royal family of bagran is very bold these days. You greet a lowly country noble like me first.¡±
¡°Le¡ Let go of me?¡±
Eolin clenched her teeth and tried to pull her arm out, but she was no match for his strength.
Leobold smiled slyly and kissed her hand lightly.
¡°I hope to see you again at the Duke Prozhan¡¯s territory. I¡¯ll give you a splendid dress that suits you as a gift. Well¡¡±
Leobold let go of her hand and passed by, and Eolin felt her breath quicken, but she couldn¡¯t say anything.
She heard that he had made some kind of promise with the Duke Prozhan.
And he even offered to give her a dress.
She couldn¡¯t just push him away.
Prince Ruad, who was watching from behind, clicked his tongue at his skillfulness.
¡®He ys with people on his palm.¡¯
It was possible because the situation favored him, but he was the one who created the situation in the first ce.
Prince Ruad realized through this meeting that he needed to pull Baron Vandus to his side.
He didn¡¯t know what kind of ability he had, but he was much better than the average nobles from what he had shown so far.
¡®Maybe there was a reason why the saintess chose him as the hero.¡¯
He might be the real hero, but he didn¡¯t care much.
¡®The problem is whether his goal matches mine¡ I¡¯ll have to ask him today.¡¯
He might as well get his oath of loyalty while he was at it.
The title of Viscount would be enough as a reward.
Prince Ruad quickened his pace as he felt a pressure on his neck.
***
The territorial war that started with the pretext of Sagris silver mine finally ended.
The actual battle was very short, but the preparation and aftermath were quite long.
The joy and sorrow of both sides werepletely reversed.
The Count Lantis had to settle for getting ten Goliaths and a thousand gold at best.
He had achieved the feat of bringing the vassal of the Viscounty of Ohmel, but to others, he was nothing but a headache.
What would they do with a noble who had no proper title or territory?
He had to maintain his dignity, but he was likely to be a parasite who only ate up living expenses.
And the Count Lantis had to take care of dozens of such parasites.
On the other hand, the Bar of Leobold had gained a huge profit.
He swallowed the whole Ohmel Viscounty and secured six Goliaths.
ording to the rumors from the royal pce, he also made friends with the Duke Prozhan from Zaium, which was not a small benefit.
And the most important thing was his reputation.
Through this war, he earned a name that he was a match for the Count Lantis.
His name was so big in the eastern part of Bagran that even the Baron of Pindor hurriedly sent his greetings.
Compared to that, the title of Bar was trivial.
And Bultoren, a dwarf who had worked in the Ohmel Viscounty for almost 20 years, did not think much of Leobold Vandus either.
¡°I don¡¯t care what you say. I made a contract with Ohmel¡¯s father, not with you.¡±
It was not known why he, who should have been in Imir Republic, was in a territory of Bagran.
He was close to 150 years old, and he insisted on going back to his homnd despite the persuasion of other officials.
Leobold agreed to let him go without hesitation.
¡°I won¡¯t stop you. You¡¯ve worked hard, so I¡¯ll pay you until this month.¡±
Leobold handed him a pouch full of silver coins.
¡°Thanks for that.¡±
Bultoren wrinkled his dirt-stained face and grabbed the pouch.
He would have ended his rtionship with him if he had left as it was, but he did not.
Instead, he lingered around the newly built Goliath hangar and dockyard.
He was curious because he heard rumors that there were new technologies that he couldn¡¯t see even in Imir Republic.
Leobold did not pay attention to him and was busy talking with Elwin and others.
¡°It¡¯s called living metal. I imported it through Denova, but it originally came from Elvrande.¡±
¡°The elves allowed you to export it?¡±
¡°Denova must have used some influence. It¡¯s a pity that they got smashed by the dragon this time.¡±
¡°It¡¯s amazing to see it change shape. You¡¯ll be caught off guard if you don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°The real important thing is the property of this metal. It¡¯s hard to destroy by any means that exist in Astera.¡±
¡°Wow. I¡¯ve never heard of that before.¡±
¡°I tested it Countier and it doesn¡¯t melt no matter how high I raise the furnace temperature. It¡¯s an amazing metal.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that enough without arge magic circle?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll have to test it with Stephinater.¡±
Dwarves were known as a race with keen ears after elves.
They said that dwarves grabbed a hammer before they cried when they were born.
It was amon prejudice in Astera, but it was not far from the truth.
In Imir Republic, one could hear the sound of hammers hitting anvils anywhere and anytime.
They even said that if one couldn¡¯t handle all the metals in Astera, one was not a dwarf cksmith.
Bultoren couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and interrupted their conversation.
¡°Sorry. What did you say about living metal? It doesn¡¯t melt no matter how high you raise the furnace temperature? Where is there such a metal in the world?¡±
Leobold looked at the short dwarf and turned his head.
¡°Elwin, let¡¯s go over there and talk.¡±
¡°Ah, yes.¡±
Bultoren¡¯s stomach boiled at his dismissive attitude.
They were talking about metal in front of a dwarf. It was intolerable.
He grabbed Leobold¡¯s back and said,
¡°Hey! Wait a minute! Talk to me!¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°You said something about living metal! Let me see it!¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want to entrust it to an outsider¡¡±
His sly attitude made Bultoren explode.
¡°Damn! Can¡¯t I just stay here? Make a new contract with me! Will that do?¡±
Leobold finally nodded slowly.
¡°Thene this way and sign the contract.¡±
¡°Can¡¯t you show me that living metal first?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll show you as much as you wantter. By the way, I also improved the ether engine of the airship a little bit¡¡±
¡°What? You improved it without the help of those pointy-eared bastards?¡±
They talked loudly and walked away, and Elwin finally understood the situation.
It seemed that the word ¡®offer¡¯ did not exist in the lord¡¯s head.
Chapter 224: To Study Ether
Chapter 224: To Study Ether
After the war was over, Leobold secured his domain by defeating Count Lantis in a territorial war.
No one in Bagran could interfere with his territory anymore.
The Vandus Viscounty had a poption of 21,000 people, which kept increasing due to the immigrants who came after hearing the rumors.
As more people came, the visitors from the capital also increased. Among them was a mage named Stephina, who sneaked into the territory quietly.
¡°Hello, Baron¡ Oh, you are now a Viscount, right? Congrattions anyway. I¡¯m Stephina.¡±
¡°Nice to meet you. But I¡¯ve heard of Stephina as a name.¡±
¡°Ah¡ I have some circumstances. I¡¯d appreciate it if you call me by my name.¡±
She was from Zaium and had been wandering as a mercenary, looking for a ce to settle.
She came after Leobold established his authority after the war, so she seemed to have been cautious. But that was not something to me.
It was natural for an outsider to observe the situation.
It would have been a headache if she got involved in the war and got hurt, and Leobold didn¡¯t want that either.
Seeing that the lord weed her, Stephina shouted outside to unload her luggage from the carriage.
¡°Careful! There are some fragile things, so be gentle! Aaah! Do you know how much that ss bottle is worth?¡±
She seemed to have a lively personality, running with her robe fluttering to catch the falling bottle.
Anyway, she drank the tea that Arma offered and expressed her impression of the territory.
¡°Hmm¡ It¡¯s a pretty nice cepared to the rumors. It¡¯s not too chaotic and orderly.¡±
¡°Were you in the capital for a while? What kind of rumors did you hear?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not sure if I should say it in front of you, my lord.¡±
¡°It must be something rted to me. It¡¯s okay, just tell me honestly.¡±
Leobold was someone who had heard all kinds of insults on Earth.
Regardless of whether they were justified or not, he had heard them so often and intensely that he didn¡¯t flinch at any harsh words.
Stephina hesitated and said.
¡°They say that Viscount Vandus treats his people like dogs and executes them frequently¡¡±
¡°And?¡±
¡°They say that he starves the children and exercises his droit du seigneur to bring in the maidens of his territory and rape them¡¡±
He couldn¡¯t help butugh at the absurd rumors.
The protagonists who spread these rumors were most likely Princess Eolin and Count Lantis.
They were the only ones who had a grudge against him in the pce.
¡®They must be trying to spread false rumors to create a negative perception of me since they can¡¯t break through politically.¡¯
That wouldn¡¯t be the end of it.
There would be double or triple schemes prepared.
For example, if theybined it with food embargo, they could make the rumor of starving children a reality.
Coincidentally, Count Lantis had arge grain-producing area in eastern Bagran.
If he started to restrict the grains and other crops from there, it would be a big trouble for Vandus Viscounty.
He could import from the capital or other ces, but due to the poor transportation situation in the east, the cost would be much higher than expected.
Of course, Arma had prepared countermeasures for that, so he wasn¡¯t too worried.
What Leobold was concerned about was that talented people would note to his territory because of that.
Even Stephina half-believed those nonsense rumors.
¡°Do you still believe that?¡±
When he asked that, she shook her head.
¡°I don¡¯t feel that way from looking at people¡¯s faces. But I need to see more. Oh, by the way, I heard that there is an ether research institute here?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. We just moved here recently.¡±
The original territory had almost no advantages except for the dark heat and the ability to harvest seafood including fish.
It was better to make this territory as the main base for future development since transportation was inconvenient there.
He had to reorganize the administrative districts and there were many things to do.
Anyway, Stephina seemed very curious about the existence of the ether research institute.
¡°Hmm¡ It¡¯s unusual to establish an ether research institute in such a small territory. It¡¯s not something that can be done with money.¡±
¡°It¡¯s because we have a floating continent. I haven¡¯t announced it yet, but there are many resources besides gold on the floating continent.¡±
¡°Can you tell me a little bit about them?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll tell you what I know if you sign here.¡±
When a contractnded on the table, she shrugged her shoulders and sighed lightly.
¡°Well, I came here to settle down anyway¡ Is it done now? Please tell me quickly.¡±
¡°On the floating continent¡¡±
Leobold opened his mouth when the door opened with a bang and Zion appeared with Lucia on his shoulder.
¡°Hey, lord. I heard my disciple came?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you hear that knocking is a basic etiquette?¡±
¡°That¡¯s only for humans. Hmm, are you Stephina?¡±
¡°Yes? Well, for now¡¡±
¡°Hehe, finally the one who will be my disciple has appeared. Listen up. You will work overtime from today.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know what you are talking about.¡±
Stephina looked at Zion with a suspicious gaze.
He seemed to be from another race from the way he said human, but he looked like a fine human no matter where he looked.
He wore a strangely modified robe and had long blue hair tucked into his hat, which gave him an ominous vibe.
Zion put his feet on the sofa to catch the mood, but he was kicked in the shin by Leobold.
¡°Damn, who hits without saying anything?¡±
¡°First of all, fix your bad habit of putting your feet up recklessly.¡±
¡°My head must have gone crazy from working overtime every day. Who made me do this?¡±
¡°Was it too much to ask you to write a paper on ether? Anyway, Stephina, let me introduce you. This is Zion, the director of the ether research institute, and the fairy on his shoulder is Lucia.¡±
She didn¡¯t mind his change of tone and looked at Lucia with curious eyes.
¡°It¡¯s amazing that there are fairies in this world. I thought they were extinct.¡±
¨DI hear that a lot. By the way, you are quite a powerful mage, Stephina? I can tell even though you hide your power with a sealing magic circle.
Lucia wrote letters in the air and Stephina tried to erase them, but then she just sat down.
Leobold said.
¡°You seem to have some situation. Well, I¡¯ll find out sooner orter. Anyway, Stephina, you will work at the ether research institute for a while. There must be some papers you were working on, so you can cooperate and write them together.¡±
¡°Okay. What about my amodation?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll show you around, follow me human.¡±
¡°Why do you keep calling me human? What are you?¡±
¡°Huhu, you¡¯ll be surprised when you find out my identity.¡±
¡°Are you a dragon who destroyed Denova or something? Come to think of it, your hair is blue¡ This is not fake, right?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t pull it!¡±
The three left noisily.
Leobold finally crossed out the ether research institute from his schedule.
Three people were enough to conduct basic research on ether.
When it wasbined with the information that Arma had investigated, he could start applying ether in earnest.
¡®That would be fundamentally different from using ether on Earth.¡¯
He would be able to create fire in the air and cause earthquakes.
He might even find the origin of the gue and the prophet.
***
Ohmel territory did not have a proper refinery, but it had basic facilities such as a fairlyrge forge and workshop.
It was easy to think that they were operated actively, since it was a ce rich in resources such as stone, coal, and iron ore, but that was not the case.
¡°That guy, the former lord, was aplete idiot. He only sold the resources and did not think about the future at all.¡±
¡°He must have wanted to secure his position as a vassal of Count Lantis. Whether that was valuable or not is another matter.¡±
Vulthorn looked up at Leobold at that point.
¡°What about you? I feel a bit awkward saying this as someone who signed the contract, but I have to ask. Do you also intend to sell the resources?¡±
¡°That depends on what you can do.¡±
¡°Ha! What can we dwarves do?¡±
Heughed loudly and grabbed the telescope hanging from Leobold¡¯s waist.
¡°I guarantee you that there is nothing that works properly in your country without the dwarves¡¯ technology! Don¡¯t you know that just by looking at this telescope?¡±
¡°That¡¯s true. But I try to separate the Imir Republic and you. Not all dwarves are the same. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ve been watching Ohmel sell the resources for over 20 years.¡±
It was a request to show him what he could do and what he had done so far.
¡°If you insist, I¡¯ll show you.¡±
Vulthorn introduced him to a workshop that had been neglected for a long time.
¡°This is the ether engine we were researching.¡±
When his thick hand removed the dusty cover, an old engine-like thing appeared.
It was clearly a steam engine with a boiler and a piston, but the fuel was not coal but etherite.
Leobold asked, even though he roughly guessed.
¡°What is this?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t I just say? It¡¯s an ether engine.¡±
¡°So what is it used for?¡±
¡°Wow. I thought you were a bit of an enlightened person, but apparently not. Fine. I¡¯ll exin it to you with my kindness.¡±
Vulthorn then exined what an ether engine was, spitting saliva on his beard.
It was a steam engine that boiled water with etherite and made the piston move back and forth.
The structure was almost the same except that the fuel changed from coal to etherite.
Arma examined the engine through Leobold¡¯s eyes and reported.
¡¸It is an early type of steam engine. The piston cooling problem reduces thermal efficiency and makes it impractical.¡¹
It must have been even more inefficient since they experimented with expensive etherite.
¡°Do you get it? This is what those elves are so proud of, mounted on their trains! We had trouble controlling the fire, but we made it possible!¡±
¡°You¡¯re pulling a train with this? That¡¯s a huge waste.¡±
¡°You know something. Airships are supported by buoyant stones, right? They would move even if people pushed them. But trains are very heavy. They have to push at least tens of tons, but the efficiency is terrible.¡±
¡°Then how do they use trains in Elvrande?¡±
Vulthorn snorted loudly.
¡°Hmph! They¡¯re just showing off their vanity. They want to show that they can afford to pull such inefficient trains!¡±
¡°So you wanted to improve it, but you didn¡¯t get any results.¡±
¡°Frankly speaking, I didn¡¯t have any money. I couldn¡¯t do anything without that bastard Ohmel giving me money. He told me to stop everything and make armor tes.¡±
If there was one item that sold well recently, it was Goliath¡¯s armor te.
The demand was high because of the high consumption rate, but the supply was dyed because there were not enough skilled workers.
The armor te itself was heavy and bulky, so it could not be done anywhere. It was only possible where there was water or manpower.
Fortunately, Ohmel¡¯s territory had the Ob River, which had abundant water flow, so it could generate power.
The only thing left was skilled workers, but Vulthorn shook his head and said there was no way.
¡°The wages are too low. The work is hard, but they pay peanuts. Who would want to do it? I tried to maintain the workshop for 20 years, but this is all I have left.¡±
Leobold looked at about ten cksmiths who seemed to be Vulthorn¡¯s apprentices.
There were too few people to be responsible for the forge of a territory with 20,000 people.
It must have been harder to make Goliath armor tes with this manpower.
¡®He spent all his money on greasing instead of investing in his territory.¡¯
He didn¡¯t know what kind of rtionship he had with Count Lantis to do that much, but he wouldn¡¯t have to do that anymore.
Leobold looked around at the cksmiths, including Vulthorn.
¡°Good. From today, this workshop will start anew. We will no longer make Goliath armor tes. What you have to do is research. This engine, to be exact.¡±
¡°An ether engine? It seems like it won¡¯t be efficient no matter what we do right now¡¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t the problem that the piston is cooled by spraying water inside the cylinder?¡±
Vulthorn¡¯s eyes sparkled at that point.
None of his apprentices understood his exnation, but the lord who saw this engine for the first time pointed out the problem.
¡°That¡¯s right. That¡¯s why the piston breaks easily and the efficiency is messed up. Do you have a solution?¡±
¡°What if we install a condenser separately? If we cool the steam with water through a pipe, the piston problem will be solved. And the efficiency will increase.¡±
¡°A condenser?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a cooling chamber. The point is to prevent the piston from cooling by separating the steam and cooling it.¡±
¡°Will the pressure inside the cylinder be maintained if we take out the steam?¡±
¡°That¡¯s what Vulthorn has to research. You¡¯re a dwarf, aren¡¯t you?¡±
He could easily solve the problem by making a valve and linking it, but Leobold didn¡¯t say that much.
¡°You acted like you didn¡¯t know anything, but you¡¯re quite clever. Aren¡¯t you?¡±
¡°I hear that a lot. So you won¡¯t do it?¡±
Vulthorn started yelling at his apprentices.
¡°What are you doing! Get ready to tear this apart! Get the tools and contact the waterwheel!¡±
Leobold emphasized to him.
¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about finances and resources from now on. Finish this as soon as possible. And I¡¯ll pay you twice as much as before.¡±
¡°Twice? Aren¡¯t you worried about emptying your pocket?¡±
¡°All I have is money, but what¡¯s the point of not supporting this research?¡±
¡°Hahaha. People think you¡¯re a miser, but you¡¯re actually a bit different.¡±
Vulthornughed heartily, pleased to have a lord who recognized his research.
The arms of the cksmiths who turned the crank were filled with strength.
The workshop, which had a new owner, was revived.
***
Leobold carried out a reorganization of the administrative districts in his territory.
The former Vandus Baronial Territory became Vandus Vige, and Ohmel¡¯s Viscountial Territory became Ohmel City.
He used the names of the deceased nobles because they were familiar words that the residents had been using for a long time.
He had to conquer all of Astera, so he couldn¡¯t be bothered by one word.
The descendants of Viscount Ohmel, who had entrusted himself to Count Lantis, would resist, but that was expected and not a problem.
¡°It would be enough to organize the administrative districts into province, core city, normal city, special city, free city, district, and vige.¡±
There was a roadmap for such reorganization in Arma¡¯s calction unit, but he didn¡¯t need to take it out right now.
What he needed more was a measure to improve the poor transportation in eastern Bagran.
¡°To ovee Count Lantis¡¯s pressure that will start ording to the harvest time of wheat.¡±
¡°I could import from other ces, but the cost would skyrocket.¡±
¡°It is expected to increase by at least three times.¡±
He had the means to pay even if the price went up, but it would be troublesome if it continued like this.
He couldn¡¯t attack Count Lantis right away, so he had to find a way to solve the food and transportation problems.
Leopold drew a line connecting Ohamel City and Vandus Vige.
¡°Is there a road here?¡±
¡°Yes. It¡¯s not paved, though.¡±
¡°How long would it take to level the ground andy a simple rail?¡±
¡°If we use golems and hire a lot of workers, it should be done in three months.¡±
It was about 150km from here to Vandus Vige, and there was only one road, most of which was dirt.
The ground was soft, making it difficult to transport heavy loads, and it took a lot of time.
That¡¯s why the only transportation between the two ces was a carriage using horned birds.
Horned birds were animals with many advantages over horses, but they still couldn¡¯t beat trains.
Arma ced a train on the road shown by the hologram.
It was more primitive than the trains that the nobles of Elvrandena and Zaium favored, almost at the level of carriages.
But it still boasted a much higher transport capacity than the existing carriages.
¡°How many trains do we need to meet the demand of both ces?¡±
¡°One lotive with three wagons should be enough for ten trains a day. The speed would be about 15km per hour.¡±
It was a pathetic speedpared to the superconducting train, but there was no choice.
He couldn¡¯t just produce such a thing without any infrastructure.
And Leopold didn¡¯t intend to develop Astera like Earth in the 21st century.
What he wanted was the 19th century, or rather, Medea, the capital of Elvrande.
Anything beyond that?
The Asterans would have to figure it out for themselves.
Arma bowed his head and suggested.
¡°Do you n to use ether stones as fuel for the steam engine? There is a lot of coal near Ohamel City, but¡¡±
¡°Coal is certainly attractive. But I don¡¯t see any need to spew ck smoke in this Astera.¡±
Astera had developed based on ether.
Even the rtively advanced dwarves didn¡¯t use electricity, but only focused on ether, because it was so efficient.
Except for the fact that it was expensive because there were few ways to store it.
The current ways to store ether were only two: ether stones and intellectual life forms¡¯ bodies, or ether hearts.
Thetter would disappear somewhere soon after umting ether, so they used various methods to extend that period.
The chain training that knights often talked about, which involved stacking ether around their hearts, came from there.
Anyway, ether stones were too expensive, so despite the high efficiency of ether energy, it became inefficient in most cases when actually used.
The ether engine that Vultorn was developing also couldn¡¯t escape from that.
¡°Then we need to create a system that can supplyrge amounts of ether stones stably.¡±
¡°How are they making them now? No, where does ethere from?¡±
¡°I guess it¡¯s from that ether sun. But Asterans think that etheres from Yggdrasil.¡±
It was understandable that they thought so, since it was so big that they could see its majesty from thousands of km away.
Yggdrasil was recognized as a god not only by elves but also by many races.
They just didn¡¯t like that elves monopolized it.
It needed more research, but it was almost certain that ether came from the sun, ording to Arma¡¯s analysis.
¡°The output of the fusion reactor increased as we got closer to the ether sun over 50 years. It dropped a little after we settled in Astera.¡±
¡°It muste from the sun then. How do they make it?¡±
¡°First, you need a crystal. The higher the transparency and therger the size, the more ether you can store, I guess. The key is to use dust collection magic on the crystal to collect ether over a long period of time.¡±
¡°So magicians make them.¡±
¡°Recently, it has be customary for magicians to provide only dust collection scrolls and let others make ether stones. Of course,moners can¡¯t touch them.¡±
¡°It seems likemoners could handle them just by hearing the process. Is it because of their ether bloodline?¡±
¡°Yes. The nobles of Astera hate it whenmoners get involved with ether.¡±
They must think it¡¯s their exclusive property.
Most elves could handle ether, but only nobles including high elves could make ether stones.
It was amon urrence in Earth¡¯s history to monopolize production means and raise their value.
And Leopold intended to drop their value very much.
¡°Everyone should be able to use ether to some extent.¡±
Of course, that didn¡¯t mean he wanted to train everyone as magicians.
He meant that everyone should have easy ess to ether, like using electricity on Earth.
He could control the dangerous magic by limiting the qualifications for handling it.
Arma pointed to the floating continent on the hologram.
¡°We can say that we mined ether stones from the floating continent naturally.¡±
¡°That¡¯s the only ce. No one else cannd there, right?¡±
¡°Not for a while. Zaium and even Elvrande can¡¯t figure it out. Maybe there¡¯s nothing wrong with the ether circuit.¡±
¡°That means there¡¯s some secret in the floating continent itself¡¡±
It was suspicious that no one knew the reason why it rose up only 200 years ago.
Leopold thought of Zigarion, but forgot about him.
He was a stupid dragon who hid in the floating continent for 200 years and knew nothing.
¡°He¡¯s fine as long as he cooperates with the research like he is now.¡±
The best way was to research ether and break through the Infinite Library in Elvrande.
¡°By the way, I got a message from Duke Prozan of Zaium. He said he would send two airships with crew, and asked me to use them well. The deadline is five years.¡±
¡°He¡¯s trying to be clever. He must hope that the crew will gain experience when he gets them back.¡±
¡°He might also ask to apany us when wend. Should we refuse?¡±
¡°We can¡¯t refuse two ships in our situation. The deadline is five years, so we can use them wisely.¡±
By the time he returned them, he would have grown enough to not be bothered by Duke Prozan.
To do that, food reform was the top priority.
In fact, food was more important thanying rails and bringing resources from the floating continent.
Leopold¡¯s territory was so barren that most of the food depended on imports.
Count Lantis knew that well and was preparing to impose serious sanctions.
And at that time, a fleet of three airships left for the floating continent.
Chapter 225: Pirates are not needed
Chapter 225: Pirates are not needed
The staple food of Asterain was bread made from wheat and a crop called goyang.
Most of the Ains, except for some carnivorous beastmen, ate bread and steamed goyang.
Bread was eptable, but goyang was a rather miserable crop. It had no taste at all.
It was not that it had a bad or bitter taste, but literally no taste whatsoever.
It also had a crumbly texture that made it unpleasant to chew.
The only advantage it had was that it grew anywhere and very fast.
And because of that advantage, goyang became the staple food of themoners.
The nobles realized that themoners would not die if they only ate bread and goyang.
¡ªThey also breed well and live decently. So there is no need to give them more than that.
This was not what they actually said, but this kind of mentality was widespread.
Except for the elves who enjoyed various foods thanks to the blessing of Yggdrasil, most of the Asterains had a poor food culture.
Nevertheless, they had enough bread and goyang to survive without any problems.
Having many children was considered a virtue after the Great War, thanks to the existence of Granber, whose presence was confirmed even then.
That¡¯s why, excluding the beastmen who naturally had many children, the birth rate of the Ains easily exceeded four or five.
In a way, the reason why the nobles despised themoners was also because of the ever-increasing poption.
¡°They think they can just throw people into the mines when there are too manymoners.¡±
¡°It¡¯s more urate to say that they keep the poption at a reasonable level even if many die. Bagran is not that populous, you know.¡±
The Kingdom of Bagran was a small country with a bad location, so its poption was only about three million.
Considering that the Kingdom of Galisto, which was right next to it, boasted a poption of seven million, it was a very small number.
However, Leobold¡¯s position was quite good.
It was because he had ess to the coast of the continent.
Being able to use the sea was a great advantage, but in Asteria¡¯s sea, monsters were rampant and shadow elf pirates were causing trouble, so they could not use it properly.
That reality also affected their food culture, so there were not many seafood dishes in Asteria.
The elves traditionally did not eat seafood, including fish, and other countries used to enjoy it but were blocked by pirates.
How else could even ces like Zaium Empire have a craze for Sardines dishes?
Asteria¡¯s Sardines was not bad in taste, but for Leobold who had enjoyed all kinds of seafood, it was just one of the cheap fish.
¡°We need to revive that culture. The problem is people¡¯s perception¡ They don¡¯t eat crustaceans at all?¡±
¡°There is a crustacean monster called gatgae in the sea¡ People think of crustaceans as monsters.¡±
¡°If I eat crabs, I¡¯ll be rumored as a lord who eats monsters.¡±
Leobold enjoyed seafood quite a bit thanks to his activities in 21st century Korea.
He originally had a style of eating anything well, and he got used to it while imitating Koreans.
He could not afford to leave the sea alone, which could be another source of food for him.
The obstacle was the shadow elves who upied the sea.
¡°We have to exterminate the shadow elves who are the root of all evil. How many pirates are there?¡±
¡°About 5,000. This is not the entire poption of shadow elves.¡±
¡°They are overflowing in other seas as well.¡±
¡°ording to the gravity radar scan results, there are about 500,000 shadow elf pirates and their dependents. This includes ves.¡±
¡°It¡¯s amazing that they eat and live by piracy alone.¡±
¡°Some pirates collude with merchants and sell ves.¡±
¡°That¡¯s no different from Earth.¡±
The world where people lived was simr everywhere, and that was no exception for Asteria.
Leobold was more interested in their numbers than their cruelty.
¡°400,000 pirates and 100,000 ves might be useful manpower.¡±
¡°I would advise against epting shadow elf pirates. The cost of re-education would be too high.¡±
¡°How high is it?¡±
Instead of answering, Arma showed him some videos he had collected.
All kinds of cruel contents such as assault, torture, rape, cannibalism, murder were disyed on the hologram.
Even Leobold, who had some immunity after experiencing a long war, turned his eyes away for a moment.
¡°¡They can¡¯t be called Ains at all.¡±
¡°The elves of Elvrande recognize humans as Ains. But shadow elves treat them as livestock. This is the result.¡±
Simply put, other races except their own were considered food by the shadow elves.
Food that could be disposed of and eaten at any time.
¡°Is it because theyck the minimum device to curb the arrogance of the elves? They arepletely insane.¡±
¡°Some of them might be re-educable. But the cost would be too high.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll give up if you dissuade me that much.¡±
However, the ves captured by the elves had a possibility of salvation.
Not all of them had lost their humanity.
¡°About 50,000 out of 100,000 might be usable as manpower. Assuming that they are provided with proper nutrition and treatment.¡±
¡°That much investment is necessary.¡±
Leobold erased the pirate ind located in the eastern part of the continent with his finger.
He did not need pirates in Asteria, which he would unify.
¡°Let¡¯s sweep this ce and search the seabed thoroughly. There must be something.¡±
He was curious about what the map from Denova¡¯s vault was pointing to.
It was probably not something ordinary.
****
After the spring of 1037 in the continental calendar passed, the patience of the shadow elves was almost at its limit.
They had failed tond several times.
It was not that their destination had a strong fortress or a defensive force.
The Barony of Vandus was a typical rural territory, and its objective power was at the bottom of the continent.
If hundreds of shadow elves attacked, the defense line should have been pierced like an arrow through a string, and they should have plundered the wealth and taken the ves.
They did not promise to do so, but it was natural for the shadow elves.
But sincest winter, it was no longer natural.
The people of the barony sailed on the sea as if it was their own territory and caught fish to make money.
It was an intolerable act.
¡ªSince when did humans sail on the sea?
¡ªThe sea of Asteria belongs to us elves!
But they had no way to deal with it.
Some factions that sailed out of impatience were swept away by a storm and waves that they could not understand, and their own forces were weakened.
The winter sea was fierce, but it was not enough to hinder the shadow elves who were trained by piracy. It easily swept them away.
It happened several times, and they had no choice but to be angry.
¡ªWho is interfering with us? Is it the false god of humans who has revealed himself again?
¡ªThe god of humans would not care about a small territory like Vandus. It is just a coincidence.
¡ªThere are too many suspicious things to dismiss it as a coincidence. The man called Vandus Baron is not ordinary.
The ck Skull Pirates, who upied the pirate ind in the eastern sea of Vandus, were cruel but not a group of fools.
They realized something was wrong when they lost more than a hundred men to high waves and started to collect information.
And they found out that Vandus Baron was at the center of the change.
¡ªHe sells Sardines to make money,nds on the floating continent, and defends his faith in Altima from the Elven Knight? He sounds like a protagonist of a ridiculous novel written by humans 500 years ago.
¡ªWhether we like him or not, he is the lord of Vandus territory and he makes a lot of money.
¡ªWe don¡¯t know what his appearance has to do with the sudden roughness of the sea. What we do know is that he has to pay the price.
The price for daring to catch fish and make money on the sea of shadow elves without permission.
What bothered them was that he won in the territorial war.
However, it was not easy to obtain urate information.
The fact that Zaium¡¯s knight was dispatched was buried, and only the fact that he fought with Ohamel Baron was known.
The piratesughed at the part where he attacked with Goliath on an airship.
¡ªHe must have confused his delusions with reality. Does he think that makes sense?
¡ªIf that¡¯s true, why doesn¡¯t Zaium subjugate us? They just need toe with Goliath on an airship.
There were many pirates on the pirate ind, but there was not even one Goliath.
If they could attack with Goliath on an airship, subjugation would have been easy.
In that sense, the pirates thought that the rumors about Vandus Baron were not all false, but exaggerated.
There were too many things that did not make sense logically.
Delphina, the leader of the ck Skull Pirates, concluded that Vandus Baron was outstanding among ordinary nobles, but not enough to control the sea after analyzing the information.
¡°That is God¡¯s domain. The god of humans is dead and can no longer help them. Therefore, those waves that hindered us are coincidences.¡±
As evidence, she heard that some galleys had approached near Vandus Barony and seeded in reconnaissance recently.
If God really protected that territory, galleys would not be able to get close.
¡°Don¡¯t be discouraged by losing somerades! We can always have more children, and we will plunder and enve humans! That is our right!¡±
Like the elves of Elvrande, the shadow elf pirates were filled with infinite hatred for humans.
They had the same history, so they had no choice but to have the same root of hatred.
Zigarion and other dragons thought that humans were not so evil, but they did not bother to mention it.
They were not very interested in it, and Leobold did not ask either.
That hatred gave them an excuse for their cruel acts along with their sense of superiority over humans.
¨CWe were ves, cors, and food for humans in the past. Now it¡¯s your turn.
This was their principle of action, and shadow elves added savagery to it and did not hesitate to do cruel things that Leobold saw.
They went wild without even the slightest restraint.
Delphina, who was at the forefront of them, ordered a reconnaissance of Vandus Barony.
****
¡°Summon the monsters, find the weakness! Let¡¯s put a knife on the necks of the humans whoe out to the sea and catch fish!¡±
At hermand, well-trained corpse eagles flew up.
These eagles were almost monster-like birds that were well trained by pirates.
Hundreds of them roamed over the vige, and the vigers were afraid and did note out.
Soon, countless sea monsters invaded the coast and broke the stakes and traps.
They were also monsters trained by shadow elves.
However, they could notndpletely, and the vigers knew that well.
There were quite a few sea monsters that could act onnd, but they were nothing but prey for Goliath.
It was not for nothing thatnd monsters in Asteria were on the verge of extinction.
Meanwhile, Leobold received a report that monsters had invaded massively from Ohamel City.
ording to the satellite view, nearly a thousand sea monsters upied the coast.
¡°Are they all poisonous? What a pity.¡±
¡°Some of them are not poisonous, but they taste terrible anyway.¡±
They were useless in their current state.
They might be edible like fish cakes if they went through a deodorization process and mixed with spices and sweeteners, but they could not eat them or use them for anything else.
They had to get rid of them because they were dangerous.
¡°Get rid of them all tonight.¡±
On the night of the order.
Death rays rained down on the coast full of monsters.
These rays were ethersers fired by the Sivirbat support satellite, and they pierced through the hard shells and armor of the monsters as if they were nothing.
¡ªKyaaak!
¡ªKrrr!
As the death throes echoed from all sides, the etherser indiscriminately ughtered the monsters.
A golden line appeared in the air for a moment, and the body of the monster below was neatly cut off. There was no way to stop it.
Some monsters tried to flee, but they were blocked by their own kind.
The quiet coast was dyed with blood, and most of the monsters were dead within an hour.
That included high-ranking monsters that had caused terror, such as crabs and dragon turtles.
After two hours, there was not a single monster left.
¡°We need to clean up the corpses. And change the seawater a bit.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll use the Settler.¡±
As the ether field spread, the coast began to return to its original state as if time was going backwards.
The corpses of the monsters disappeared into the deep sea, and the sand and seawater filled with blood and fluids were reced with those from the seabed.
The scene was like a child ying with sand, but the result was not pleasant.
The Settler finished all the work and retrieved the ether field before dawn.
What was left was a clean coast with only a fishy smell.
The vigers who looked at the coast with a telescope in the morning all had nk expressions.
¡°What? Where did all the monsters go?¡±
¡°It looks like they ran away.¡±
¡°But doesn¡¯t the coast look different? Wasn¡¯t there a rock over there?¡±
They had be familiar with the terrain after catching fish for months, so it was impossible not to know.
The vigers cautiously approached the coast and were shocked.
All the terrain they knew had changedpletely.
¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on¡¡±
¡°There should be some traces of monsters. Where did they go?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s report this to the lord!¡±
When news of the disappearance of monsters reached Ohamel City, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.
On the other hand, the officers of the ck Skull Pirates lost their mindspletely.
¡°My trained monsters!¡±
¡°Vandus bastards are back on the sea catching fish!¡±
¡°We can¡¯t take it anymore! Captain! Let us cut off Vandus bastards¡¯ necks!¡±
When more than five thousand pirates¡¯ leader Delphina kept silent, other factions of pirates went wild.
¡°Coward, Delphina.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you see my men starving? Vandus bastards have a lot of silver, right? Let¡¯s kill them and take it!¡±
¡°Why are you afraid of that slow Goliath? It takes ages to deploy!¡±
In fact, deploying Goliath in piratending operations was not a good choice.
It had overwhelmingbat power, but itcked mobility.
If pirates attacked and ran away with galleys, it would only waste ether stones and stop.
The shadow elves on Pirate Ind often raided Zaium¡¯s coast as well, so they had rtively rich experience with Goliath.
In their eyes, Goliath was nothing but a big doll.
¡°And Delphina is a coward who is afraid of that doll!¡±
¡°She ignores the gold and silver in front of her! Who is a pirate who does that! Who is a pirate who protects Vandus bastards!¡±
¡°Delphina! Delphina!¡±
Hundreds of shadow elf pirates holding torches went mad in front of Delphina¡¯s residence.
Rtively patient officers came into her residence and advised her.
¡°The situation is very bad. They want to attack Vandus territory right away.¡±
Delphina tied her ck hair tightly behind her head.
¡°¡The sea rejects us and thousands of monsters disappear cleanly. Do you still want to fight?¡±
She was not a fool and heard many rumors from monsters and informants.
ording to them, Vandus Barony was a strange ce.
Despite being a small territory, it always easily overcame external pressure and even seeded in repelling Zaium¡¯s knight.
Wasn¡¯t it amazing that Lantis Earl, the great lord of Bagran¡¯s east, was angry and intervened?
Of course, ck Skull Pirates had plundered such nobles as well, but now something was wrong.
She appealed that to other faction¡¯s admirals, but they all shook their heads.
¡°Delphina, we can¡¯t hesitate any longer. We need silver and Vandus Baron has it.¡±
¡°If you want to keep your position, give the attack order. Right now.¡±
If she did not give the order, Delphina might be hanged upside down on the pier.
She had no choice but to draw her sword and go out of the tent.
¡°Listen,rades! The time hase to show our power to those Vandus humans!¡±
¡°Woooh!¡±
¡°Remember our history of persecution! Everything we do is justified! The sea of Astera is ours!¡±
Of course, the pirates had no interest in history.
They just wanted to go out to the sea as soon as possible and plunder and enve the humans who were fishing.
¡°Set sail! Row!¡±
¡°Charge!¡±
Finally, when Delphina gave the order, hundreds of pirate ships left the ind.
***
One thing had changed since Leopold took over Vandus vige.
It was that people¡¯s eyes showed determination.
It was not that they were not afraid of pirates, but rather that they had something to protect and decided to fight.
It was the iron mine and various facilities of the territory, the tools and wages for fishing.
They were trivial things to the nobles, but they were precious things that allowed the people of Vandus vige to live on.
So they picked up weapons when they heard that pirates wereing.
¡°We can¡¯t let pirates ruin our vige anymore!¡±
¡°I was going to make some money and propose, but pirates came to stop me? I can¡¯t forgive them!¡±
¡°Let¡¯s fight! Let¡¯s throw the pirates into the sea!¡±
The people of Vandus Barony burned with hatred as much as, or more than, the shadow elves had for humans.
They were already hard to live by, but suddenly pirates came and plundered and took them as ves. There was no way to feel good.
That had umted for years, and everyone was angry.
Carson, the administrator who managed the vige on behalf of the lord, gathered the soldiers.
¡°Distribute weapons to the people and prepare for defense. We can win if we hold on.¡±
¡°Administrator, how long do we have to hold on?¡±
¡°There was a report from the scouts that there are too many pirates. Elven galleys are ckening the sea.¡±
¡°They look like at least a thousand.¡±
¡°A thousand¡¡±
The soldiers murmured at the huge number.
There were only about 50 soldiers stationed in this vige.
They had one Goliath, but it was a spare one and the knight who could move it was in Ohamel City.
Carson could only tell them to hold on, and the people were anxious.
Did the lord only care about the friction with other territories and miss the pirate¡¯s movement?
That anxiety was amplified several times when hundreds of elven galleys began to appear beyond the horizon.
¡°Shadow elves¡¡±
¡°There are more than what the scouts reported!¡±
¡°W-what do we do? They look like at least two thousand!¡±
The vigers who were burning with determination were also terrified when they saw hundreds of elven galleys.
Goliath was an unbeatable opponent without Goliath, and Goliath¡¯s centa was in Ohamel City.
What was more desperate was that three airships that could carry Goliath had left for Floating Continent.
They must have reported to the lord, but there was no way to deal with it right away.
The people looked at the growing elven galleys and muttered hopelessly.
¡°I guess we¡¯ll die without a fight¡¡±
¡°I¡¯ve been making money and getting married for a few months. I¡¯ve been doing well. My wife will be taken care of by the lord.¡±
¡°We have nowhere to run anyway. So let¡¯s fight until we die.¡±
There was good news in this desperate situation.
The lord arrived at the entrance of the vige with some soldiers.
The people hoped that Goliath woulde with him, but there was no such thing.
¡°The lord and Granden Knight came with a few soldiers! There was no Goliath!¡±
What did theye with just their bodies?
As tension ran along the coast, Leopold arrived with Granden.
¡°I sent airships to make money and pirates made a fuss.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll fight, my lord.¡±
Granden stepped forward, but Leopold stopped him.
¡°You have something else to do. They¡¯re going to raid Pirate Ind. Tell the soldiers to get ready.¡±
¡°What? Where are you going?¡±
It was a shocking statement even for Granden, who was known for his boldness.
Where was Pirate Ind that he could easily counterattack?
Leopold climbed onto a Raum-ss Goliath without caring.
The 7-meter-tall mechanical doll picked up a heavy weapon.
It was a weapon they had never seen before.
Chapter 226: I’ll Spare You
Chapter 226: I¡¯ll Spare You
When Goliaths faced infantry, the usual exchange rate was 1:100.
That was under the assumption that the well-trained soldiers had proper equipment and magic scrolls, and that they had dug traps and refused to retreat.
As always, such assumptions were almost useless in reality.
The smallest Goliath was over 7 meters tall and weighed nearly 100 tons. To the soldiers, it was a monster that they could not dare to confront.
In the past, when monster hunting was popr, it took dozens of people to face an ogre that was only about 3.5 meters tall.
But Goliaths could kill ogres with a single punch, disying their monstrous strength.
The militarymanders knew that this was absurd, so they tried not to order their troops to face Goliaths as much as possible.
However, the battlefield was an unpredictable ce, and sometimes there were situations where soldiers had to stop Goliaths.
And every time that happened, a massacre ensued.
The number of 1:100 had no meaning, and the soldiers ran away from the steel giants that were immune to magic and weapons.
The mages were not much help either, because most of the Goliath production processes included adding arge magic circle.
Since they had such huge bodies, they were vulnerable to magic attacks, and the producers knew this well and put a lot of effort into adding the magic circle.
As a result, most of the Goliaths produced today did not suffer any damage from ordinary magic.
It would be a different story if multiple mages or grand mages casted wide-area killing magic, but considering the cost, it was better to deploy Goliaths instead.
In summary, Goliaths were almost impossible to deal with infantry, and the best way to counter them was with Goliaths.
But there was not no way at all.
The elves, especially the shadow elf pirates, had many battles with humans and naturally learned how to deal with Goliaths.
Of course, they could not ovee the overwhelming power gap either, and they suffered tremendous damage every time they fought.
But adaptability was a surprising thing, and the elves¡¯ unique agility showed its power, making it possible to cope with some low-performance Goliaths in a limited way.
That¡¯s why the ck Skull Pirates were not very afraid when they saw Goliaths standing on the coast.
¡°Look at that useless doll standing up!¡±
¡°It¡¯s only one! Don¡¯t be scared! I¡¯ll cut off the neck of anyone who runs away!¡±
¡°I¡¯ll give 10 gold coins, the position of vice-captain, and 5 ves to whoever knocks down that doll!¡±
¡°Waaah! Row harder!¡±
The pirates whipped the ves who were chained to the oars.
The elven galleys¡¯ unique maneuverability came from these rowers.
What made them row smoothly was not the wage system or rewards, but whipping and torture.
The shadow elves enjoyed inflicting pain on living beings and hearing their screams.
Not everyone was like that, and Delfina tried to refrain from torture as much as possible in her direct fleet, but she could not ban it from other fleets.
The various fleets of the ck Skull Pirates had a rtively equal rtionship.
Delfina had some authority, but it was not absolute.
She could not control the pirates when they attacked, and this was the result.
¡°Turn around!¡±
¡°Whoever gets there first is the winner!¡±
Hundreds of elven galleys raced in disorder.
The pirates did not see Goliaths or stakes in their eyes.
They just wanted to loot as much money as they could by selling fish or silver, and kill humans.
Then a Raum-ss Goliath that arrived on the coast stretched out its long weapon.
It was a strange weapon that resembled a giant club. It was so big and heavy that it made the body sway.
¡°Hahaha!¡±
¡°Look at that swaying thing! Do you think bigger is better?¡±
¡°That¡¯s nothing! It¡¯s over if our captain calls a few monsters!¡±
Like some high elves, Delfina also had a special ability.
It was the ability to tame animals or monsters.
She had summoned monsters to upy the coast of Banda¡¯s barony before.
It was an ability that did not work on very powerful and huge monsters, but it was enough for most situations.
Squeak¨D
As the oars cut through the water in order, a sharp whistle sounded.
Then monsters appeared from the sea, breaking through the waves.
Some monsters were so fast that they even passed by the elven galleys. Whenever that happened, cheers erupted.
¡°Uhuhut! Huhut!¡±
¡°Rip those humans apart!¡±
When the sea monsters appeared, the soldiers and civilians who were forming the defense line became noticeably anxious.
The reason why the Ayn races could not advance to the sea in Astera was because of the shadow elf pirates and monsters.
If they went out to the sea with a ship, they would be attacked by giant monsters and could not resist.
The difference between monsters and animals was that they attacked indiscriminately, and most countries could not find a way to ovee this.
Goliaths were useless in the sea, and magic and harpoons had their limits.
And now dozens of sea monsters were rushing to thend.
¡®The pirates are troublesome enough, but the monsters too¡¡¯
Granden clenched his sword hand.
He had orders from the lord, but he was thinking of joining the soldiers and stopping the pirates fromnding if necessary.
But there was no chance of winning.
The number of elven galleys looked over 200.
If 15 to 20 people boarded each one, it would easily exceed 3,000. And that was excluding the rowers.
It seemed that all the pirates of the Pirate Federation had mobilized.
¡®If we annihte them, we can take over the Pirate Federation and operate freely in the sea from now on¡ But is that possible?¡¯
Even to Granden, who had assisted the lord, it seemed doubtful.
If that was possible, he would be as powerful as a champion who fought in the Dragon War.
He had never met the champions of God himself, but he could not imagine a power beyond that.
Soon, the weapon held by the Raum-ss Goliath changed its shape with a nk.
Hundreds of spikes popped out from the long stick.
Granden¡¯s eyes widened at the sight.
¡°No, no way¡¡±
¡ªThat sounds fun. You get to fight with those neers or dragons or whatever, right? But who¡¯s going to reconfigure the ether circuit?
¡°You have to research that from now on.¡±
¡ªAh!
Leobold erased the seal magic circle on his chest.
He was the only all-rounder among psychers, who could use any ability that a decent psycher had much better.
He could shoot ether waves like a ster, and also disable his opponents with a psy-field.
He didn¡¯t show his abilities usually because there was no reason to.
Most of his abilities were meaningless against gues, and he wasn¡¯t interested in showing off his strength.
But sometimes he had to show off.
¡®Especially in this fantasy world.¡¯
He could also shock the shadow elves with a psy-field, but it was a huge burden for his current body.
He had no choice but to do this kind of show.
As an ether reverse field spread from the Raum-ss Goliath, numerous spiked clubs floated in the air.
Leobold called this weapon a hedgehog.
Although real hedgehogs don¡¯t shoot their spines, they looked simr.
The hundreds of spines stuck on the club were about 30cm long and shot out at over 500km per hour once fired.
He could control the direction and angle of the spines as he pleased by spreading the ether reverse field wide, making it no different from a mass ughter weapon.
These spines could prate the armor of Goliath, so it was almost impossible to block them.
So it was a weapon of death that killed all living things around it when fired.
¡®I didn¡¯t want to use this weapon against the creations of the prophet¡¡¯
Shadow elves are too cruel.
They would be a hindrance to the future conquest if left alone.
There was no room for mercy, so they had to die now.
¡®Farewell.¡¯
The ether reverse field exploded and hundreds of spines were fired.
They were so fast that no one could think of escaping even after they were fired.
As soon as they heard a bang, the elven galleys were pierced and the shadow elves died.
¡°Ugh!¡±
¡°Kraak!¡±
It was the moment they were about tond, so the damage was very high.
Hundreds of people were pierced by the spines and fell face down into the water, and sometimes two heads were prated at once.
Delfina realized what was happening only then.
The spines fired from that damn Goliath were killing her subordinates!
¡°Stop it!¡±
No one ever stops when they are told to stop.
Another round of spines was fired and another hundred shadow elves were pierced and drowned in the water.
In just two shots, nearly a thousand shadow elves died and their formation waspletely broken.
Granden opened his mouth wide at this sight.
The lord¡¯s ability was beyond hismon sense.
¡®Sword dancer? They look simr, but their power is iparable.¡¯
Among the elite knights of Elvrande, there was a rank called sword dancer.
They were not those who danced with swords, but those who controlled several swords with their ether sensitivity and flew them around.
The more skilled they were, the more precise their sword control became, and the number and power of their swords increased.
They were so rare that they rarely showed themselves, but they had shown themselves in the war with Zaium a few decades ago.
At that time, Zaium¡¯s high knights were shocked to see a Goliath controlling ten swords.
But today¡¯s lord¡¯s power was different from sword dancers in dimension.
¡®It¡¯s frighteningly fast and urate. There are hardly any missed spines.¡¯
The size of the spines should be taken into ount, but it was not something to be underestimated when there were hundreds of them.
How did he get such power?
As Granden thought so, the shadow elves continued to die helplessly.
Even therge sea monster crab with thick shells died without being able to use its strength, with spines stuck all over its body.
It was really amazing pration power.
What was more surprising was that he could retrieve the spines!
The spines that pierced the shadow elves moved slightly and returned to the club.
By this point, only half of the surviving shadow elves remained, and theypletely lost their initial momentum and hesitated.
¡°Du, Duf! That Goliath is crazy!¡±
¡°It¡¯s not the Goliath that¡¯s the problem! It¡¯s got a good weapon!¡±
¡°Anyway, we have to do something about that bastard!¡±
Delfina felt the eyes pouring on her and clenched her teeth.
Could she handle that monster? She doubted it, but she had to do it.
¡°Everyone! Follow me!¡±
As she grabbed her curved sword and started charging, the shadow elves followed her.
Spines flew again and Delfina barely dodged them thanks to her intense concentration.
But her subordinates were not.
Screams were heard from behind, but her charge did not stop.
A few more spines flew and this time she couldn¡¯t avoid thempletely and got a bloody mark.
She paid the price of the wound and got closer to Goliath.
¡®If I can only give him a sword!¡¯
Of course, she didn¡¯t mean to scratch the armor of Goliath with her sword.
What she was aiming for was the true eye magic circle hidden cleverly on the back of his neck.
If she removed it or hit it with ether, the knight on Goliath would not be able to see ahead.
Since he was slow because of hisrge size, it was a gamble worth trying for Delfina.
Shit-
As thest spine grazed by, Delfina opened her eyes wide and put strength into her legs.
Her stic body flew towards Goliath and her curved sword drew a beautiful curve.
¡®Now!¡¯
At the moment when the sword was about to hit the magic circle, something dark blocked her sight.
Delfina collided with the living metal shield that was formed in an instant and almost lost consciousness.
She barely managed tond on the ground, and then the shield stretched out and wrapped around her body.
¡°Ugh! What is this!¡±
She was tied up by a metal rope and rolled on the floor.
The pirates who were running behind her saw this and stopped.
¡°Du, Duf!¡±
¡°Duf is caught!¡±
¡°You stupid bastard! How can you say that!¡±
As the pirates panicked, more spines flew at them.
After a few minutes, there were hardly any living shadow elves on the shore.
A single man had stopped thousands of pirates.
Granden looked around and realized that this was the time to boost morale.
¡°The lord has defeated the pirates! Kill the survivors! Don¡¯t let anyone live!¡±
¡°Woohoo!¡±
The soldiers charged with courage and the vigers followed them.
The pirates were no longer superior in numbers and hadpletely lost their will to fight.
They tried to hurry back to their ships, pushing aside the corpses, but the ves refused to let them.
Some of the free ves had taken the weapons left on the ships and resisted.
¡°Die! Die! Just die!¡±
¡°You filthy ve bastards! Do you want to die!¡±
The pirates were furious, but they couldn¡¯t avoid the spines that flew from behind and pierced them.
Leobold didn¡¯t kill thest few, but left them alive.
When he got off the Goliath, Granden ran to him.
¡°My lord! Are you all right?¡±
¡°I¡¯m a bit dizzy.¡±
¡°Ye, maybe because you used too much ether¡¡±
It wasn¡¯t that, but because it was hard to use his abilities withoutpletely erasing the seal magic circle.
It was like a car with 95% of its fuel line blocked couldn¡¯t run properly.
Leobold staggered and Granden supported him.
¡°I didn¡¯t know you were so strong, my lord¡ You must have gone easy on me when we sparred.¡±
¡°My swordsmanship is as you saw. I just had a little talent in something else.¡±
¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll escort you.¡±
¡°No. I¡¯m fine, so you should lead the soldiers to the sea right now. We can go to Pirate Ind with the ves.¡±
¡°Do you really intend to go there?¡±
¡°We won¡¯t have another chance if we don¡¯t go now. How are we going to find the wealth they stole if the pirates escape?¡±
Granden realized that he couldn¡¯t change the lord¡¯s mind and shouted loudly.
¡°Listen up! Soldiers, go back to your original positions and take over the elven galleys! Vigers, follow Carson¡¯s orders and clean up the corpses!¡±
As the soldiers approached, the ves were wary for a moment, but most of them held out their bound hands and teared up.
They were also human beings who had been captured as ves from nearby territories.
They had to be freed and epted as vigers, but not yet.
Leobold climbed onto an elven galley and shouted loudly.
¡°I speak in the name of Viscount Vandus! The shadow elf pirates are dead and you are free! But it¡¯s not over yet! We have to kill all the remaining forces on Pirate Ind to end this annoying war!¡±
¡°We need your cooperation for that! If you just get there, we¡¯ll let you rest! How about it! Will you cooperate!¡±
The ves cheered and raised their bound hands.
¡°We will! Let us do it!¡±
¡°Let¡¯s kill those dirty elves!¡±
There were so many of them that they had to select who would go to Pirate Ind.
That¡¯s how the battle with ck Skull Pirates ended with Viscount Vandus¡¯s overwhelming victory.
Leobold threw Delfina, who was tightly bound, into a cart.
¡°Ugh, kill me!¡±
¡°Killing is easy, but I have something to dig out of you. Be prepared.¡±
He knew well that she had forbidden her subordinates from doing things like torture or cannibalism as much as possible.
But her nature was that of a pirate, and she hadmitted too many crimes until now.
Even by Astera¡¯s standards, which were rtively tolerant of violence, she was 100% sentenced to death.
And not just killing her, but stripping her naked and hanging her on a gate or stake, encouraging people to throw stones at her.
The pirate who couldn¡¯t eat or sleep would moan in shame and pain and die slowly.
But Arma said something unexpected.
¡°When I scanned her body, I found some undigested paper. She seems to have contact with the upper ss of Elvrande.¡±
¡°Contact? With whom?¡±
¡°It seems to be a member of the Great Council, but I¡¯m not sure.¡±
¡°So it¡¯s true that the shadow elves are getting support from Elvrande.¡±
¡°Do you want me to kill her?¡±
Leobold changed his mind.
It would be better to keep her alive and extract information from her than to kill her.
¡°Can you insert a biochip?¡±
¡°It¡¯s possible, but I can¡¯t guarantee that it will work properly in a ce full of magic. And the production is limited.¡±
Biochips were very delicate items that could not be produced and stored for a long time inrge quantities.
They had to be made and used as needed, but the production machine on Settler broke down due to the 50-year journey.
There were too many broken facilities or parts, so the schedule was constantly dyed.
The ones that were produced in advance were doubtful whether they would work properly, and there weren¡¯t many of them either.
¡°Let¡¯s try inserting it and see how it goes. She doesn¡¯t seem to be wandering around in a ce full of magic right away.¡±
That¡¯s how Delfina saved her life.
When she opened her eyes, she realized that she was on a small boat floating on the vast sea.
¡°What, what is this? I was in prison for sure!¡±
She had no idea what had happened.
Fortunately, there was a bird flying nearby.
There wasnd near by.
Beep-
When Delfina whistled, the bird became her eyes and guided her to the nearbynd.
She tore off a nk from the boat and rowed while repeating her hatred for Viscount Vandus.
¡°I¡¯ll kill you¡ I¡¯ll kill you¡ I¡¯ll kill you for sure¡¡±
Leobold heard her curses and chuckled.
¡°Just keep her alive.¡±
Now it was time to look at the things that the exploration ship had brought.
It was something that had been stored deep in the underwater ruins, so it wouldn¡¯t be ordinary.
Chapter 227: An Unexpected Treasure
Chapter 227: An Unexpected Treasure
The object that the exploration ship pulled out from the seabed was a tube made of an unidentified metal.
Leobold thought it was a tube because it was just the right size for a person to fit in.
The metal, which had a slight green sheen, was undamaged despite being submerged in the deep sea for at least several decades.
Arma handed over the data from the hologram next to the tube.
¡°It looks like adamantium, the legendary metal that glows green. It¡¯s said to be the strongest metal in Astera.¡±
¡°I can see that it doesn¡¯t react to ether.¡±
It was a metal that had nothing to do with ether, but it surpassed imagination in both strength and hardness.
It didn¡¯t even show a tiny scratch when scratched with a diamond cutter.
¡°How do they mine and refine this stuff?¡±
¡°ording to the myths, it is refined by the magic of gods or dragons¡ That¡¯s what it says. But it¡¯s probably exaggerated since it¡¯s used in Elvrande.¡±
¡°That means there¡¯s something rted to them inside. Or maybe nothing at all.¡±
¡°Maybe it will open with your power, Master?¡±
¡°Me? I¡¯m not rted to Astera at all.¡±
Arma stroked his chest.
¡°But you have the key here. And it¡¯s a gift from the prophet.¡±
Leobold had absorbed two relics of the prophet who came to Mars.
He used them to open the warp gate of Nox, but they didn¡¯t seem to have anything to do with this ce.
¡°Let¡¯s give it a try.¡±
As his hand touched the tube, something amazing happened.
With a nking sound like living metal assembling, the tube opened and revealed a man.
He was over two meters tall and had a muscr physique.
He had his eyes closed.
¡°Is he dead?¡±
¡°There is no vital sign, but his internal organs and brain are fine. He is estimated to be in aa stage 8.¡±
¡°He¡¯s just unconscious then. What era do you think he¡¯s from?¡±
¡°Judging by his clothing, he is presumed to be a noble of the Gram Empire 200 years ago.¡±
¡°The same lineage as the current Gram Kingdom?¡±
The Gram Kingdom was a small country attached to the west of Bagran with a poption of less than a million.
The peculiar thing was that despite the small poption, they produced a lot of knights.
There were many more people with talent for knights than magicians or ether engineers, so they were also called the country of knights.
As a result, they were often harassed by the Zaium Empire.
¡°They believe that their bloodline has changed but their ability remains. That¡¯s why there are so many knights born there.¡±
¡°Maybe this man is a royal of the Gram Empire.¡±
They wouldn¡¯t keep an ordinary person in an underwater ruin.
Arma, who was analyzing the patterns of the ruins, reported some findings.
¡°Master, I found several patterns in the ruins that are simr to Altima¡¯s crest.¡±
¡°That¡¯s definitely Altima¡¡±
It wasn¡¯t just one or two patterns, but repeated ones.
It wouldn¡¯t be wrong to call it Altima¡¯s temple.
Altima¡¯s faith was almost gone now, but at that time it boasted a considerable prestige.
¡°Maybe the Gram Empire engraved these patterns because they were active in Altima¡¯s faith.¡±
¡°My guess is that this man¡¯s identity is Altima¡¯s champion.¡±
Leobold stroked his chin at her words.
¡°Don¡¯t they usually call them god¡¯s champions? Do dragons have that much power?¡±
He thought of Zigarion and honestly found it hard to imagine.
That pseudo-dragon would be an empty shell if he shared his power.
Arma listed several dragons that appeared in the literature.
¡°Altima, Vkas, Kronak¡ They all showed power that was close to or surpassed that of gods. They could share their power with their champions.¡±
¡°A dragon¡¯s champion¡¡±
He didn¡¯t know what circumstances led him to sleep in this hard tube.
The only thing certain was that this man had an extraordinary status and might have memories of 200 years ago.
There was almost nothing known about 200 years ago, which was called the Great War or the Dragon War.
The few old elves who remembered that time kept their mouths shut and most of the records were gone.
The very few remaining documents did note out of the Infinite Library.
Maybe this man could tell him about that time.
¡°For now, take him out and put him in a healing capsule. Report to me when he regains consciousness.¡±
¡°Yes, sir.¡±
***
The soldiers under Granden who went to Pirate Ind returned.
They brought back many elves, ves, and treasures andnded onnd proudly.
Leobold ordered them to build a temporary shelter in Vandus Vige and let the ves rest.
And he rewarded everyone who participated in this battle.
¡°If you participated directly in the battle, you will receive 10 gold, if you helped indirectly by cleaning up the corpses, etc., you will receive 3 gold.¡±
¡°Oooh!¡±
¡°Long live the lord!¡±
People followed Leobold because he always gave rewards.
Other lords imposed harsh taxes on all kinds ofbor, but he always respected the people of his domain and gave them fairpensation for theirbor.
As a result, there were more and more people who would jump into fire and water for whatever the lord asked.
Trust was formed.
While everyone was cheering, Carson, the administrative officer, looked gloomy, but it didn¡¯tst long.
The amount of treasure they looted from Pirate Ind was more than expected.
The bureaucrats rushed in and started sorting and appraising them, and soon they were neatly ced in Leobold¡¯s office.
¡°The jewels need to be sent elsewhere for precise appraisal. The gold and silver are close to 40,000 gold, and if you add the ones attached to swords or essories, it will probably exceed 50,000 gold in total.¡±
It was a considerable amount, but there was something else that caught Leobold¡¯s eye.
He grabbed the key-shaped sword.
¡°It looks like a key from the end, but why is it so big? Have you ever seen such a key?¡±
¡°No, never.¡±
They all shook their heads.
Lucia came in and sat on Leobold¡¯s shoulder and sniffed.
¨DI can feel ether from the key.
¡°Really? Then it must have been used somewhere.¡±
¨DIt¡¯s probably Goliath¡¯s key. They used to start Goliath like that in the past.
It¡¯s not some fantasy game.
¡®Oh, this is a fantasy world.¡¯
Leobold realized anew that he was in a world where dragons and magic existed.
He lifted the sword.
¡°It¡¯s pretty heavy. If there¡¯s something big enough to fit this in, can I expect something good?¡±
¨DThe Goliaths back then were all huge, so their output must have been high. By the way, you said you picked up a strange human?
Leobold waved his hand and ordered the bureaucrats to leave.
¡°I didn¡¯t pick him up, I brought him from the seabed in a tube. It was made of adamantium.¡±
¨DAdamantium! That¡¯s what I need for ether research!
¡°Why do you need it for ether research? It doesn¡¯t show any reaction.¡±
¡°You use sma to store reaction bombs, right? It¡¯s the same principle.¡±
She must have heard what the bomb he tried to swallow was.
Anyway, ording to her exnation, a very sturdy container was needed topress ether, and adamantium was used for that.
It was a rare metal, so the supply was scarce, but it was essential for ether research, so the price was tens of times that of gold.
¡°Is this amount enough?¡±
He turned on the hologram and showed her the tube, and she jumped up and down on his shoulder.
¨DThat¡¯s a lot! Thank you, Master!
He felt strange when he received a kiss on the cheek from Lucia, who might be the gue Queen someday.
¡®I¡¯ll trust her for now since she¡¯s been quiet.¡¯
Leobold put her down from his shoulder and spoke seriously.
¡°You said there was a Goliath buried underground near the Zaium border, right?¡±
¨DIt¡¯s definitely a Goliath used in the Great War. Maybe it was ridden by a champion.
¡°I¡¯m going to dig a hole, so go and check if it¡¯s the right one. And see if this key fits while you¡¯re at it.¡±
¨DUgh, you want me to go underground?
¡°Should I go instead?¡±
She showed an unbing pout and then realized that her master¡¯s stubbornness surpassed her imagination and surrendered.
Anyway, thanks to turning Pirate Ind, the finances of his domain became abundant.
He had over 300,000 gold in cash and nearly 400,000 gold if he sold all the treasures stored in the mansion¡¯s vault.
It was such a huge amount of money that he couldn¡¯t help but worry about intion in eastern Bagran, so he decided to spend it only on building facilities and buying food in his domain for the time being.
And the news that he had repelled the shadow elf pirates in Vandus Vige spread to the merchants.
Leobold had ordered the people of his domain to keep their mouths shut, but there were too many people who had experienced it firsthand to hide it.
As always, most people didn¡¯t believe such rumors.
¨DWhat? He annihted thousands of pirates and raided Pirate Ind and took all their treasure? Is this some adventure novel from 500 years ago?
¨DI want to say it¡¯s nonsense, but I hear that kind of talk a lot around Vandus Vige¡ So do you have any evidence?
¨DIf you go to Ohamel City now, you¡¯ll see dogs with gold coins in their mouths!
It wasn¡¯t really like that, but it was true that a lot of money was spent in Vandus Vige.
Themoners also had some extra money and tried various businesses, and naturally there were many merchantsing and going.
Compared to Findor Baron¡¯s domain nearby, no one would believe that this was a simr domain in the same country.
Prince Ruad also contacted Leobold as soon as he heard the news.
¡°I heard youpletely wiped out the pirates. Is that true?¡±
¡°Yes, Your Highness. At least around Bagran, there are no more shadow elf pirates.¡±
He didn¡¯t need to mention that he let go of the pirate leader to get information.
The prince seemed very happy that the pirates were gone.
¡°It feels like I¡¯m digesting the bread I ate 10 years ago. You would know better, but those pirates were a thorn in the side of Bagran and many other countries. I¡¯m sure Zaium will also praise your achievement. But can I ask you one thing?¡±
Of course he wanted to ask about the power that wiped out the pirates.
No ordinary domain, or even a decent country, would dare to do such a thing.
¡°I¡¯ll tell you one thing. I swore allegiance to Bagran.¡±
He said he didn¡¯t want to talk about it openly, but Prince Ruad didn¡¯t get angry.
¡°You said that when you came to the pce before. I hope you never forget that determination. Anyway, His Majesty is also very pleased with this matter. He will send you a reward soon and he also said something interesting.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°He said it¡¯s a pity that such a capable and young noble is living alone¡ He said he can find you a suitable bride if you want. How about it?¡±
¡°¡Excuse me?¡±
Leobold was flustered for the first time in a long time.
He didn¡¯t expect the royal family to offer matchmaking.
Prince Ruadughed cheerfully at his bewildered voice.
¡°Haha, even Viscount Vandus who made High Knight kneel is surprised by marriage talk. The other party is Croitz Baroness of Zaium. What do you think?¡±
Croitz Baroness of Zaium¡
Arma searched the database and disyed the information on his sight.
¡¸Cami Croitz Baroness. She is a knight who inherited her father¡¯s title in a woman¡¯s body. She is known to have a very violent personality and excellent skills. She is expected to be Zaium¡¯smander-in-chief someday¡¹
¡®Why would such a woman want to marry a viscount of a small country?¡¯
He didn¡¯t answer, so Prince Ruad asked cautiously.
¡°You don¡¯t like it, do you? Well, Croitz Baroness is famous for being tough¡ She wants a faithful noble who can earn money and maintain the domain stably. You fit that perfectly.¡±
¡°You already said that.¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t say it, it was Prozan Duke¡¯s doing. He¡¯s got a loose mouth. What do you think? It would be good to meet her once.¡±
Leobold had no interest in women other than Arma.
He sometimes wondered if artificial intelligence was also a woman, but he found it hard to imagine life without her after living with her for decades.
Arma was his partner, lieutenant, lover, and wife.
Of course, he would tolerate other women if they had enough skills, but he couldn¡¯t be interested in them as women.
His goal was too far and high for that.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Your Highness.¡±
¡°Hmm, a refusal, I see. As I expected, you won¡¯t run away so easily. Because Croitz Baroness showed great interest in you.¡±
¡°Why would she be interested in a noble with a small domain?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know either, but she wants a husband who can provide a base for her to fight in Zaium. You know how notorious Zaium is for strife and civil war.¡±
She must have had trouble finding a decent person in there, but it wasn¡¯t Leobold¡¯s concern.
¡®She won¡¯t remember me if time passes since I won¡¯t contact Zaium anytime soon.¡¯
It was something to wait and see if that was really the case.
***
A new facility began to be built in Vandus Viscount¡¯s domain.
It was a full-fledged shipyard.
One was to build ships to float on the sea and the second was to build airships.
The merchants who brought the craftsmen favored by the king all tilted their heads at the news.
¡°I understand building ships since you wiped out the pirates, but airships? Ether propulsion engines are not something anyone can make.¡±
¡°There¡¯s a magician here, but I don¡¯t think he can make anything¡¡±
¡°Well, he has a lot of money, so he must be trying this and that.¡±
The strange thing was that Viscount Vandus was always underestimated.
He had destroyed Count Lantis¡¯ plot head-on and seeded in annihting the shadow elves of the eastern sea.
He had a lot of influence and money in the eastern part of Bagran.
Yet people outside his domain looked down on him, which was strange.
Even the merchants who were good at calctions didn¡¯t value him highly, but only coveted his money.
It was probably because he had no connections with the Bagran nobles.
¨DPower, strength, and money are all good, but the best thing isworking.
¨DHe could have contacted the neighboring domains before he went to subjugate them. The lords seemed to want it secretly.
¨DHe became a lord not long ago, but he made enemies with Princess Eolin and Count Lantis. Viscount Vandus has too many enemies. That¡¯s his fatal w.
But for Leobold, the nobles who were only good at appearances were notworking.
He cared about the technical andbor sses who actually led the civilization.
Of course, he couldn¡¯t ignore the power of the nobles in Bagran, or even in all of Astera, but they would all be swept away in the process of building an empire, so he didn¡¯t pay much attention to them.
Unless they got rid of the noble-centered perspective, they couldn¡¯t see Leobold¡¯s real power urately.
Anyway, regardless of such prejudices, Leobold¡¯s domain was steadily developing.
The workshop led by Dwarf Vulthorn finally seeded in developing an efficient ether engine and was nning to test it soon.
Not only that, but the expedition that had left for the floating continent returned with a full load of cargo.
They had loaded so much that the airship almost crashed when it stayed above the dock.
Leobold awarded knight titles to Katina and Elwin, who had returned from a hard journey.
¡°From today, you are my knights. I hope you will hone your martial arts and wisdom and assist me.¡±
¡°I swear eternal loyalty to you, my lord.¡±
Elwin took the sword with both hands and swore devoutly, while Katina peeked her head out.
¡°So, do I have to call you my lord now?¡±
¡°You¡¯d better get used to it. You don¡¯t want to be satisfied with being a knight, do you?¡±
¡°Oh, right.¡±
Katina just giggled, but Elwin read his ambition.
To award a title to a knight, the lord must also have a high title.
He could inherit it by marrying a woman with a high title, but it didn¡¯t seem like he would ept another woman who only loved Arma.
¡®There will be a war with Count Lantis¡¯ domain soon.¡¯
He handed over only samples and a list of cargo to the lord after the title ceremony.
¡°These are what we secured from this expedition to the floating continent. Captain Hampton was very helpful.¡±
Leobold looked at the list neatly organized and was satisfied.
Elwin was smart and quick-witted, so he handled things smoothly.
He seemed to be able to entrust him with more responsibilities in the future.
¡°That¡¯s good. The gold can be melted into 90,000 gold and the minerals contain crystals and various gems that can make ether stones¡¡±
The other thing that was unusual was the crops that grew on the floating continent.
They weren¡¯t originally there, but Arma secretly nted them using exploration ships.
It was simr to sprinkling unobtanium on the back side of the moon in the sr system, but the scale was different.
Katina poked a fist-sized potato and said,
¡°We dug it up because we saw it, but it seems poisonous, don¡¯t you think¡ Ow? My lord?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. Let¡¯s feed it to someone.¡±
Leobold threw a clean potato at Zion, who had to see the cargo as soon as possible.
He bit into it as if it was some fruit and shouted,
¡°What is this! It tastes awful!¡±
Leobold looked at everyone else and shrugged his shoulders.
¡°It doesn¡¯t seem to have any poison.¡±
¡°Well, that¡¯s good¡¡±
Even if it wasn¡¯t poisonous, he couldn¡¯t immediately supply this potato to his people.
The quantity was one thing, but a change in perception was needed.
People¡¯s tastes were quite conservative and they didn¡¯t ept new vors or smells well.
Leobold also had trouble with exotic ingredients when he was on Earth because he had Korean eating habits.
¡®For example,tro¡ Cntro is all I can think of.¡¯
He ate well enough that he didn¡¯t have much trouble when he came to Astera.
Anyway, the crops that the expedition brought were quite diverse, including sweet potatoes and strawberries besides potatoes.
Everyone was indifferent to potatoes and sweet potatoes, but they showed great interest in strawberries.
¡°Is this really a strawberry? It¡¯s much bigger than the ones grown secretly in Elvrande.¡±
¡°There are so many things we don¡¯t know on the floating continent.¡±
In fact, the strawberries that the expedition brought were improved varieties of Earth.
They used gene scissors to edit them and created strawberries that grew fast and had high resistance to diseases and pests.
They were also so sweet that they tasted like sugar was added, unlike the wild strawberries from Elvrande.
Everyone tasted them and eximed.
¡°Sure enough, fruits are different from potatoes or sweet potatoes. They are epted faster.¡±
¡°Elvrande¡¯s fruits are known to be very expensive. There aren¡¯t many refrigeration methods, so they are even more expensive.¡±
¡°Try growing them yourself like you did with herring. People will ept it by now.¡±
Thanks to Leobold and Arma doing a lot of strange things and bringing great results, most people had reached the point of epting it.
It was almost like giving up thinking because there was no good word to doubt the lord.
¡°I¡¯ll try to make a garden for a change.¡±
Arma rolled up her sleeves and plowed the field, and people looked at her curiously.
And when June came, Count Lantis summoned the leaders of the trade groups operating in the eastern part of Bagran.
¡°I called you here because the wheat harvest ising soon. This year is not a very good harvest, so I think I have to reduce the amount allocated to each trade group. But if you do as I say, the supply will be the same as before.¡±
The merchants looked at each other¡¯s faces.
Wheat was an important crop, of course, but it wasn¡¯t enough for the count to personally adjust the supply.
He meant that he wanted to reduce the wheat going to someone¡¯s domain.
And who that was was already decided.
¡°We will do as you say, my lord.¡±
They all bowed their heads and Count Lantis smiled contentedly.
He hated Viscount Vandus, but he confirmed that he couldn¡¯t do anything with force.
¡®He smashed those savage shadow elf pirates¡ He¡¯s crazy¡¡¯
But even such a guy couldn¡¯t make food out of nothing.
It was spring mating season until autumn when the harvest began, and he wondered what Viscount Vandus had prepared.
¡®Struggle as much as you want. You¡¯ll end up begging me anyway.¡¯
Heughed when he thought of himself rejecting him cruelly in front of him on his knees.
It was a petty act unworthy of a high noble, but the humiliation he had inflicted on him was too great.
Count Lantis wanted to pay him back.
Chapter 228: The Lord Who Eats Monsters
Chapter 228: The Lord Who Eats Monsters
Leobold was a lord, but his diet was not much different from othermoners.
He ate bread mixed with grains and cheese, meat ughtered from his domain, and steamed potatoes.
asionally, he added fish and shellfish caught from the Vandus vige.
It was a pity to think of the abundant seafood that he could see from the sea, but he had no choice.
The people considered most of them as monsters, except for the familiar ones.
Especially, they had a strong perception that crustaceans were monsters.
The sea that the Vandus self-reliant spirit possessed was full of crustaceans.
There wererge crabs, shrimps, and strange creatures that could only be seen in Astera, but no one thought of them as food ingredients.
It was because they were not used to them after the sea had been closed for a long time, but the main reason was the existence of a huge monster called the mud crab.
This creature, which had only the same name as the mud crab on Earth, was a sea monster that was about 3 meters long and could live onnd as well.
It seemed slow because of its size, but it moved agilely and its main weapon was a shock wave from its ws.
It could crush an ordinary house in one blow with its sharp power, and human flesh was no match for it.
Sturdy armor was useless, as the shock wave attacked both armor and flesh.
To fight against it, one needed a Goliath, but there were many mud crabs and they often moved with the shadow elf pirates.
The countries chose to evacuate the coast rather than fight against them.
¨DWe have to fight against those pointy ears first. There¡¯s no need to protect the useless sea.
¨DIt¡¯s better to send troops under the floating continent and mine resources than to build ships.
It was a self-justifying thought that those grapes were probably sour anyway.
Anyway, for that reason, most of the seafood was unfamiliar to Astera people.
The beastmen ate some of them because they had little food to eat, but the dwarves and elves hated them.
Especially, the elves treated humans who ate seafood as barbaric races.
¨DThey must have been born in the sea to endure that vile smell.
¨DThat¡¯s why they lose to us.
Most of the elves were vegans who only ate grains, fruits, and vegetables, and this was another reason for them to despise other races.
¡°In that sense, the elves would have tried to flip this table if they saw it.¡±
¡°It would be like cooking bugs and eating them.¡±
That was only from the elves¡¯ point of view.
Leobold looked at the steamed crab and grilled lobster appetizingly.
They were caught by offering a bounty to fishermen and cooked by Arma.
He could have used a to catch them with an exploration ship, but Leobold wanted to make people aware that he ate them.
When the crustaceans caught by fishermen were transported to Ohmel City by horned bird carriages, various rumors spread.
Rumors that Leobold ate monsters.
¡°My goodness, they say the lord eats monsters.¡±
¡°Shouldn¡¯t they have stopped him? They might be poisonous.¡±
¡°The lord is very stubborn¡ The administrator tried to dissuade him, but he insisted on eating them.¡±
¡°I hope it ends with a stomach ache¡¡±
Not only the residents but also the people in the lord¡¯s mansion ran away in fear when they saw the crustaceans.
From their point of view, it was like seeing monster corpses.
They looked like they had lost their minds when Arma took them to the kitchen and said he would cook them.
After such twists and turns, the crustaceans were able to reach Leobold¡¯s table.
The crab was a huge creature with a shell as big as a palm, and the lobster was also enormous.
¡°Did they eat well? They are not usually this big.¡±
¡°It¡¯s because the sea has been closed for almost 200 years. There are only top predators as enemies, so most of them grow to their limit.¡±
¡°That makes sense. The worst predator is human after all.¡±
Humans did not eat them, so the ecosystem was healthy and the size of each individual increased overall.
There were monsters, but Astera was a world where monsters were natural, so it would be better to think that the ecosystem was designed with that in mind.
Anyway, he needed a way to use that healthy marine ecosystem efficiently.
Leobold picked up arge crab leg that Arma had prepared and sucked out the flesh inside.
¡°It tastes almost like crab. The sweetness is strong.¡±
¡°Try this too. It¡¯s grilled with butter.¡±
There was a slight drawback that butter had a strange smell, but overall it tasted great.
¡°It¡¯s such a waste that people don¡¯t eat this. Especially in terms of protein supply.¡±
About 20% of animal protein that 21st century humans needed came from the sea.
It would have been a little lower in the past, but it would have been about 10%, which meant that Astera peoplecked protein intake.
The result of Arma¡¯s investigation of Bagran¡¯s food situation was also like that.
¡°Carbohydrates are rtively okay, but protein and fat supply are about 20% less. The total calories are also like that.¡±
This nutritional imbnce was especially fatal for children in their growth period.
ording to the measurements at the school built in Ohmel City, the height and weight of children in their early teens were significantly lower than those on Earth.
It was simr to 18th century Britain, which was very serious.
Fortunately, Leobold started to rule and sardines was supplied, but young children did not like the fishy fish.
As a result, the nutritional imbnce was still ongoing.
¡°Is there no other way than forcing them to eat?¡±
¡°The best way is to make them unable to eat.¡±
¡°Are you saying they won¡¯t eat it?¡±
¡°Friedrich II, who was once called the Potato King, issued a decree that only he could eat potatoes when the promotion of potatoes was unsessful. He also ordered strong soldiers to guard the fields where potatoes were grown.¡±
¡°I think I¡¯ve heard that somewhere. Did the people steal them?¡±
¡°They stole them when the soldiers were gone at dawn. It¡¯s human nature to crave what is forbidden.¡±
¡°Well, yeah. The more you tell them not to do something, the more they want to do it.¡±
But he doubted if that would apply to seafood, including crustaceans.
The reason why the people of thisnd didn¡¯t eat them was not because they were unfamiliar, but because their perception of them was very low.
They were almost on par with insects, and Arma, who brought them to the kitchen as if he cooked them, even got a strange rumor.
To change that perception, Leopold had no choice but to set an example.
He ate the crayfish butter grilled that Arma had prepared for him and said,
¡°From now on, only bring this to my table. And teach the young maids how to handle it and make them do it themselves.¡±
¡°Yes, sir. And the Count of Lantis has started to move. He gathered the merchants who do business in the eastern part of Bagran and dered that he would reduce the supply of wheat for the reason of famine.¡±
¡°What does he want if we listen to him well?¡±
¡°Exactly. He will sell off 20,000 people¡¯s worth of wheat somewhere else.¡±
The Count of Lantis must have judged that he couldn¡¯t do anything with force against Leopold because of the pirate subjugation.
Of course, he had a considerable amount of troops as a grand lord.
He had 20 Goliaths and 10 knights, which was not as much as Granden, but still impressive.
But it was obvious that he would shake his head if he had to face thousands of pirates and sea monsters with those troops.
Leopold did it, so it was impossible to confront him directly.
It was his calction to starve him out by reducing the food supply.
It was soon the wheat harvest season, and there would be no one toin about the wheat supply being cut off a bit in Vandus while people were starving everywhere.
¡°That¡¯s a pretty good n. It would have worked if it wasn¡¯t for us.¡±
Arma had already predicted the Count¡¯s actions and prepared a concrete countermeasure.
It was not for nothing that he sent a fleet to the floating continent and brought back potatoes, strawberries, and other things.
Leopold finished his meal and Arma brought him some tempting strawberries.
¡°The maids are crazy about these. They must be delicious.¡±
¡°They¡¯ve been improved over and over again, so they should be.¡±
The strawberries currently distributed in Astera were very small.
Most of them were simr to wild strawberries, and the strawberries as big as a child¡¯s fist that Leopold put in his mouth were hard to find.
Even the wild strawberries that the elves proudly exported were iparable to these strawberries.
In such a situation, these strawberries would be very popr if they were properly distributed.
There was no need for refrigerated wagons either. All he had to do was send the airship directly to Wangdo.
From there, he could send them by train to Zaium and other ces, so there was no problem with distribution.
¡°The problem is those bastards from Elvrande¡ They¡¯re blocking the sky going to the floating continent now.¡±
¡°Yes. Almost 100 airships are patrolling around the floating continent.¡±
¡°They can¡¯t go up there themselves, but they¡¯re pissed off by seeing three airships from some rural territorynding there.¡±
They hadn¡¯t attacked yet, but it was only a matter of time before they fired their ether cannons from their attitude.
He thought about sending Zion, but there was a possibility that his identity would be revealed if he exposed himself too often.
¡°Duke Prozan¡¯s airship will be here soon. Let¡¯s go around next time.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve already set up the route. They won¡¯t be able to ess it because there are a lot of fragments falling down.¡±
Leopold nodded his head and tapped his finger on the hologram showing the floating continent.
¡°I want to build a forward base here soon¡ Let¡¯s think about it when we start mass-producing airships.¡±
¡°Yes, master.¡±
***
Some territories in Bagran have a unique food culture.
When the lord finishes his meal, the people below fill their stomachs with the leftover food.
It was a measure of meat distribution because food was scarce.
The lord had to invite many guests for dinner because of his position and always had to prepare plenty of food.
Lack of food meant poor financial situation and stinginess of the lord, so most of them tried to make their tables abundant.
Naturally, there was always food left over and the people below took care of it.
If there was still some left, they would share it with the starving people of the territory.
It was a scene that was hard to see in small territories, but if you go to the nearby Count of Lantis¡¯s territory, you can see a long line of people at the entrance of the lord¡¯s castle.
They are people who are trying to get a piece of bread in the spring.
In that sense, the maids of Vandus were lucky.
Arma knew their situation and always prepared a rich table.
The table included desserts from Wangdo brought by the merchants and exotic dishes made with exotic ingredients.
They were very satisfied because it also included desserts from Wangdo brought by the merchants.
But one day, unidentified food started toe up.
They were crustaceans such as crayfish, shrimp, and crab.
The smell was decent, but the maids didn¡¯t touch them because they were disgusted by their appearance.
How could they eat something that looked like a monster?
¡°How can the lord think of eating such a thing¡¡±
¡°Well, sometimes he might want something different¡¡±
¡°Does it have any poison in it? It smells good.¡±
¡°Ugh, I don¡¯t want to eat it.¡±
The crustacean dishes were ignored.
The people of the territory who took the food also didn¡¯t touch those dishes, and the only ones who ate them were the horned birds raised in the stable.
These big birds ate anything without being picky.
The maids who brought them the crustacean dishes were shocked to see the horned birds devouring the flesh greedily.
¡°How can they eat this?¡±
¡°By the way, they eat really well¡ Maybe it tastes good.¡±
¡°It must taste good to them.¡±
The days of crustacean dishes being shunned continued.
And one day, a new maid came to the lord¡¯s mansion.
She was a girl named Jenny, who had lost her parents and wandered around the territory without a ce to stay, until Arma brought her and appointed her as a little maid.
She was young, so all she could do was cleaning and errands, but she seemed satisfied with just being able to eat and live.
She had never seen a monster, so she didn¡¯t think much of shrimp or crayfish dishes and tried to eat them.
She was in her growth period and the food from the mansion was not enough for her.
But the other maids stopped her.
¡°Jenny, you can¡¯t eat this.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you know what a crab is? There¡¯s a huge monster that looks just like it.¡±
¡°The only ones who eat this in this territory are the lord and Arma.¡±
¡°But if the lord and Arma eat it, it must be good.¡±
The others were speechless at Jenny¡¯s words, but they insisted on their own logic.
It was obvious that it would taste bad because it looked hideous.
Jenny didn¡¯t give up and reached for the crayfish grilled.
¡°I still want to try it. It smells so good.¡±
¡°Go ahead.¡±
¡°Don¡¯tin if your stomach hurtster?¡±
Gulp gulp.
She silently swallowed a chunk of flesh covered with butter.
The maids waited for Jenny to make a crying face, but that didn¡¯t happen.
Instead, she licked her lips with her tongue and reached for another chunk.
A brave maid asked.
¡°Doesn¡¯t it taste bad?¡±
¡°No. It¡¯s delicious. Really delicious.¡±
¡°You think this is delicious? How can you say that?¡±
¡°Are you forcing yourself to eat it because it looks like a monster?¡±
Despite the maids¡¯ confusion, Jenny ate all the crayfish grilled and even touched the crab legs.
The dish disappeared from the te, and by then the maids realized that Jenny was really enjoying it.
A monster-like thing, that is.
¡°¡Is it really good?¡±
¡°They say kids don¡¯t have any bad taste buds, but this is weird¡¡±
One of the maids who had courage tried a shrimp grilled and chewed it hesitantly.
¡°Oh, it¡¯s not bad? The chewy texture is good.¡±
¡°You like this? It looks like an insect?¡±
¡°It looks like an insect, but the flesh is delicious. And there¡¯s a hint of sweetness as you chew.¡±
The maids denied it, but Jenny also said it was really good and peeled off the shrimp shell for them.
¡°Try it. You won¡¯t regret it.¡±
¡°¡¡±
They all doubted and tasted it, and were surprised.
They didn¡¯t know there was such a taste in the world, and it was unfair.
This salty and sweet taste was iparable to the sour and hard bread or the nd steamed potatoes.
¡°¡¡±
¡°This is good.¡±
¡°Mo, monster or not, it tastes good¡¡±
After that day, the horned birds never ate crustacean dishes again.
The maids who knew the taste ate them all in between.
The soldiers, including Granden, also fell for that taste for the same reason.
Granden, who was a former royal guard and also responsible for the defense of the territory, often dined with the lord and learned the taste of crustaceans.
He even said this:
¡°Gentlemen, are monsters our enemies?¡±
¡°Yes!¡±
¡°Then shouldn¡¯t we eat them? Do you intend to leave countless monsters that threaten the safety of our citizens alone? Are you going to abandon your duty to protect our citizens?¡±
¡°No!¡±
It was a weird speech, but there was no soldier who could oppose Granden.
That¡¯s how crustacean dishes came up on the soldiers¡¯ table, and at first they hated it, but they got used to it as they ate it forcibly.
More than anything else, the title of ¡°the food that the highest person in this territory eats¡± was tempting.
As always, even their food was different from that ofmoners.
When the maids started eating and even the soldiers joined in, some taverns and restaurants in Ohamel City also quietly started serving them.
Arma had prepared for this beforehand, and even made up a catchy phrase.
¡ªThe taste that the lord praised!
¡ªLimited to 30 servings per day! If you don¡¯t order now, you¡¯ll miss your chance!
¡ªPrice rising due to high demand! You won¡¯t be able to eat it at this priceter!
It was a brilliant propaganda that included the appeal of authority, the psychological stimtion of limited sales, and the pressure of possible price increases.
Thest phrase was not a lie, because it was an immutable truth that prices would rise as demand increased.
Most people saw the phrase and suffered from the impulse to order and try it.
It was a universal desire to want to eat the food that the high-ranking people ate.
It was even more so because it was Leobold, the lord.
To most of the people in the territory, Leobold was like the sky itself.
¡°The lord eats it, so I have to try it too.¡±
¡°I heard that these days, there¡¯s no fooding out of the mansion. The maids eat them all.¡±
¡°I feel like I¡¯m falling behind if I don¡¯t eat monsters, since it¡¯s a trend.¡±
At first, Leobold got a stupid nickname of a lord who eats monsters, but now they all ate monsters together.
It was a pity that the recipes were limited to steaming and grilling, but it was impossible to push raw shrimp to them right away.
The potatoes were in a much better situation.
They looked simr to potatoes and there was a rumor that they tasted good when dipped in salt.
There was a salt mine in Vandus¡¯s own territory, so they could use salt rtively abundantly.
Thanks to that, the maids were happy to eat potatoes dipped in salt that Leobold had left.
¡°It¡¯s really delicious, the fluffy texture.¡±
¡°Why does it taste sweeter when you dip it in salt? Weird¡¡±
¡°Are there any more potatoes?¡±
When the news spread that Arma, the exclusive maid, personally tended the garden and grew potatoes carefully, the people of the territory became interested.
It was also a realistic reason that the supply of wheat decreased as spring famine approached, so people didn¡¯t care about food.
Thus, without any need for a potato ban or anything like that, potato dishes began to be distributed throughout Vandus territory.
If you look at Ohamel City, you can see children roasting and eating potatoes everywhere.
The merchants who traveled through the territory licked their tongues at seeing only the children here plump up.
¡°They¡¯re all struggling, but this ce seems to be doing better, huh.¡±
¡°I tried it too, and it was pretty good. It¡¯s iparable to potatoes when you cook it.¡±
¡°There must be a lot of things in the floating continent.¡±
¡°But there¡¯s one thing that¡¯s strange. It hasn¡¯t been long since they brought it in. Can they meet the demand? There¡¯s a growing period, right?¡±
The answer was in the fleet of airships.
Two airships sent by Duke Prozan joined the fleet, making it a total of five ships.
This fleet brought tons of potatoes and poured them out, so they could meet the demand in the territory.
The merchants who objected didn¡¯t know what kind of ce the floating continent was and had to shut their mouths.
Thanks to potatoes and crustaceans, Vandus viscounty was rtively fine even though it was spring famine when people died in other territories.
Count Lantis exploded with anger as he heard reports from his aides.
¡°Why is that bastard¡¯s territory so fine! Why!¡±
¡°It seems that the food from the floating continent is having a great effect.¡±
¡°Then we just have to put pressure on them and reduce the wheat going into them!¡±
¡°If we reduce it more, the royal family might notice¡¡±
¡°Reduce it!¡±
Who would dare to disobey the count¡¯s order?
As a result of putting pressure on the merchants, the amount of wheat going into Vandus viscounty was reduced by 50%.
This was not something that could be overlooked, and even the merchants said it was too much.
The supply of wheat at harvest time was a serious matter that even the royal family cared about.
Of course, even Prince Ruad, who had lost his power, could not order Count Lantis.
But if the reduced wheat went to another country, it would be a different story.
Especially if it was Galisto Kingdom, which had a lot of conflicts with Bagran.
Arma took advantage of this opportunity and confirmed the procession of countless wagons heading from Lantis County to Galisto Kingdom.
¡°So that¡¯s where all the wheat went.¡±
¡°This is treason. Bagran and Galisto are not on good terms.¡±
¡°They gave us an unexpected reason.¡±
Of course, even if there was no reason, he wouldn¡¯t attack them.
The future waiting for Count Lantis and Bagran was being eaten by him.
Anyway, this time he seemed to be able to rob both Count Lantis and his cooperating merchants at once.
¡°Let¡¯s gather up some bankrupt merchants and try setting up apany.¡±
¡°Yes, I¡¯ll prepare for it.¡±
Chapter 229: A Shortage of Wheat!
Chapter 229: A Shortage of Wheat!
It was early autumn, and the eastern part of the Astera continent entered the peak season of wheat harvesting.
During this time, even if there were some disputes between countries, they would usually settle them amicably.
The transportation of food, especially wheat, was more important than anything else.
Nobles,moners, and ves all relied on grains as their staple food, and wheat was the most essential among them.
Even in Elvrande, which regarded human cuisine as barbaric, they imported wheat through various channels.
They had reduced their wheat cultivation area by focusing on expanding the forests.
It was a horrifying fact that there was no proper in in their vastnd that upied a quarter of the continent, but the elves were proud of their lush forests.
¨DLook at this forest full of life that we have nurtured.
¨DWe are different from humans. We know how to coexist with nature.
Anyway, at this time of the year, each country put all their efforts into transporting wheat.
The wheat ears harvested from various fields were threshed and then moved to mills equipped with water wheels, where they were processed into flour.
The farmers carefully monitored this process to make sure that the mill owners did not steal any bags of flour, which actually happened quite often.
Most of the lords used the mill owners as scapegoats to embezzle flour, and as a result, the farmers¡¯ hatred for them increased.
Despite these conflicts, the water wheels of the mills were spinning vigorously in the autumn of 1037.
The Lantis County should have been busier and noisier than anywhere else, as it was in charge of supplying food to the eastern part of Bagran.
But recently, the amount of wheat that arrived at the county was only 70% of that in previous years.
The residents of the county were the first to notice this.
¨DThis is strange. Why are there so few wagons?
¨DThis is the smallest scale in years. The harvest was simr though.
¨DDid they sell the wheat somewhere else?
However, there was no outward expression of these suspicions.
Only the vassals of Count Lantis knew the exact amount of wheat harvested.
Even thendlords of the fields did not know much about anything outside their ownnds.
The reduced supply of wheat soon affected the neighboring counties.
The vassals of Count Lantis began toin, and even Baron Pindor personally visited the county to ask for more supply.
Given this situation, Vandus Viscounty faced a sudden cut-off of wheat supply.
Carson, the administrative officer, and other bureaucrats tore their hair out.
¡°We need at least five tons of flour bags a day! This is the minimum!¡±
¡°Right now we only get three tons¡ And that¡¯s with fewer and fewer wagonsing in. Soon there will be a shortage of flour in our county.¡±
¡°Did you check with the suppliers?¡±
¡°I tried various ways, but they said it¡¯s hard to increase the supply.¡±
¡°Why? It¡¯s not like there¡¯s a famine.¡±
That was the biggest mystery.
For the supply of flour to decrease so much, there had to be either a poor harvestpared to previous years or a clear intention from the suppliers.
ording to what Carson heard, it was not the former.
¡®I didn¡¯t hear anything about a famine in Lantis County¡ Then it must be Count Lantis.¡¯
His thought stopped there.
As a mere administrative officer, he could not criticize a grand lord.
That was only within Leobold¡¯s authority, but judging by their rtionship, it seemed unlikely that they would solve it through dialogue.
¡®Count Lantis must resent our lord for annexing thisnd¡¡.¡¯
It was just a rumor, but he heard that Count Lantis suffered a great humiliation at a meeting in Wangdo.
There was a lot of talk among bureaucrats that Count Lantis¡¯s castle was noisy for a week.
¡®Then this is Count Lantis¡¯s scheme to pressure our lord.¡¯
But he had no idea where he was diverting the remaining wheat.
Wheat was a staple food, so its demand did not suddenly increase.
Humans ate about 500-600g of bread per day, which was almost constant.
The difference was that nobles enjoyed more meat and desserts, whilemoners had no choice but to eat porridge.
Carson organized these suspicions and reported them to Leobold.
He scanned through the report with an interested expression and said,
¡°Administrative officer, if Count Lantis is really stealing wheat, where do you think he is sending it?¡±
¡°How would I know such a thing?¡±
¡°What if it¡¯s Galisto Kingdom?¡±
¡°Wha-? My lord, that makes no sense.¡±
¡°Why doesn¡¯t it make sense?¡±
¡°Galisto Kingdom is our enemy country¡¡±
It was more like Galisto Kingdom was picking fights with us one-sidedly.
They had more than twice as many people as us and had achieved significant development by actively adopting the technology of Zaium Empire.
We used to be stronger than them, but now the situation had reversed.
¡°Do you think Count Lantis hates Galisto Kingdom as well? As much as I do?¡±
Carson finally realized the crux of the problem.
The point was that Count Lantis hated Leobold so much that he caused this trouble.
¡°He holds a grudge against you for taking over thisnd¡¡±
¡°Who would like someone who killed his vassal and dumped his family on him? I understand that, but it¡¯s troublesome if he shows his teeth like this.¡±
There was no confusion or anger in Leobold¡¯s voice.
He was not too flustered to forget his countermeasures.
The Leobold that Carson knew was a prudent and meticulous person who prepared for all possibilities.
¡°My lord, did you intend this situation?¡±
¡°How could I control Count Lantis? How could I intend this?¡±
But he had been waiting for this conflict to happen.
Conflict would bring him an opportunity.
It was difficult to take over the whole Bagran, but he could easily swallow up Lantis County.
He shuffled through some documents.
¡°We¡¯ll be short of flour for a while, but the royal pce will help us out, though it won¡¯t be much. Can you endure it?¡±
¡°People have been getting used to potatoes and crustaceanstely¡ And we have enough fish supply, so we won¡¯t starve too much.¡±
¡°It won¡¯tst long, so just bear with it a little. I estimate it will be over in a month.¡±
¡°That¡¯s hardly a hardship. You know our people are tough when ites to hunger.¡±
¡°There won¡¯t be any more trouble like this once we get rid of Lantis. Just don¡¯t tell the residents until then andfort them well.¡±
¡°My lord, are you really going to¡¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you think I¡¯m more qualified to be a grand lord than that scoundrel?¡±
Carson bowed his head.
Leobold had proven himself to be a wise and strong ruler in various situations that stemmed from the Sagris silver mine.
On the other hand, Count Lantis had nothing to show except his bloodline.
But that one thing was very important in Bagran Kingdom.
If Leobold tried to attack Count Lantis, the other lords would not sit still.
Galisto Kingdom would also take advantage of that.
¡°My lord, I have no doubt that you are right, but I¡¯m afraid you might provoke the other lords. And Galisto too¡¡±
Leobold smiled confidently.
¡°I have already taken care of that. Don¡¯t worry.¡±
¡°Leave that to me and send this document to the top. And say one thing. I hope you make a good choice.¡±
¡°¡I will follow your words.¡±
***
Prince Ruad listened to the autumn harvest reports from various regions and tilted his head.
Compared to other domains that reported simr yields as previous years, only the Count Lantis domain had a significant drop.
¡®70 percent¡ Something is strange.¡¯
He found out after going through the documents that there was no major pest infestation in the farnd of the Count Lantis domain.
¡®The cultivated area did not decrease, there was no flood, and there was no pest infestation, but the harvest was 70 percent of the previous year¡¡¯
As a result, the eastern part of Bagran was suffering from a serious food shortage.
Among them, the worsened situation of the Viscount Vandus domain stood out.
¡®They need 5 tons of flour a day, but they only get 3 tons¡ And that will drop to 2 tons in a few days¡¡¯
At this point, even a fool would know who was behind it.
It was not possible that the merchants voluntarily reduced the supply, so it was Count Lantis¡¯s doing.
Prince Ruad put down his pen and gave a hollowugh.
¡®Was he so resentful of being scolded by me? Or did he want to vent his anger for losing his rtionship with Marquis Prozan?¡¯
The only thing that was certain was that he had a grudge against Viscount Vandus.
He seemed determined to reduce the wheat supply, which was a very dangerous move.
Because Viscount Vandus was an even more dangerous person who could start a war if he made a mistake.
¡®If a war breaks out, Count Lantis¡¯s domain will not be able to stop it with its military force. But the other lords will not sit still.¡¯
Count Lantis had an extraordinarywork of connections that stretched beyond the royal road to the west.
His domain did not have any remarkable resources, but it had thergest granary in Bagran.
It meant that if he shook, the whole Bagran would shake.
¡®I wonder if he is aiming for that by doing this.¡¯
Count Lantis and Viscount Vandus.
Prince Ruad liked thetter, but he could not choose as he pleased when he thought of the whole Bagran.
One of the reasons was that the Holy Church of Palma had been suspicious of Viscount Vandustely.
Someone had leaked the content of the trust that the saintess had received.
¨DThe protagonist of the trust is none other than Viscount Vandus of Bagran.
¨DHis appearance is different from that of the protagonist of the trust, but she believes so. She told this to her closest confidants and asked them not to leak it anywhere else.
¨DHis Holiness the Pope, who is deeply concerned about Palma¡¯s future, ordered an investigation of Viscount Vandus after careful consideration.
This was the rumor that had reached Bagran.
Prince Ruad wondered if this was the intention or a slip of tongue of the saintess.
¡®Did she confirm it when we met before? That he is a hero from another world?¡¯
A hero from another world¡
It was a funny nickname that someone had made up.
In the royal road, all kinds of stories were already being made with this.
The idle talkers were excitedly expecting that he would finally end the tyranny of the nobles and sang songs about him.
He did not know if that was true, but it was a fact that Viscount Vandus showed some unusual moves.
¡®Is he really a hero? Is that strange power something that can be shown by being a hero?¡¯
He had epted it when he killed viscount Ohmel.
The investigation revealed that he had received a metal called living metal from Denova.
It was unfortunate that there was no evidence because Blue Dragon had smashed Denova, but it was something he could not me him for.
He agreed with that, but he could not understand how he annihted the Shadow Elf pirates.
ording to the situation at that time, Granden and a few soldiers participated, but he almost ughtered them alone.
He could not imagine what happened at all.
¡®Did he capture Zaium¡¯s High Knight by chance¡¡¯
Prince Ruad decided after some thought and raised his hand on themunication device connected to Viscount Vandus¡¯s domain.
After some time, he came out in person.
¡°I greet Your Highness.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry to call you out when you must be busy with food matters.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve already brought up the topic. You must have noticed that Count Lantis reduced his supply.¡±
¡°You liked quick approaches. Are you going to war with him?¡±
¡°Not yet. I don¡¯t want war either.¡±
¡°But someday he will not be able to endure and dere war. Can you handle it?¡±
¡°If you allow me, I can.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Prince Ruad stopped breathing for a moment.
Even though he trusted him, his heart was pounding.
It was because he did not know the essence of Viscount Vandus.
Is he really a hero?
Where did hee from and what is his purpose?
Is his oath of loyalty to Bagran a lie?
All kinds of questions came to mind, but there was only one thing Prince Ruad could say.
¡°We are riding the same horned bird and we can¡¯t get off in the middle. I trust you, so you should also be loyal to me and Bagran.¡±
¡°I will take it as your permission.¡±
¡°But Count Lantis is not an easy person. The surrounding lords will not sit still.¡±
¡°Galisto will probably intervene too.¡±
¡°Galisto? Why them?¡±
Leobold exposed that the convoy that left the count¡¯s domain with wheat bags entered a domain in the north.
But Prince Ruad did not believe it easily.
¡°Are you putting too much me on Count Lantis? Galisto is our enemy. I don¡¯t think he is a traitor.¡±
¡°I will show you undeniable evidence next week. Along with revealing the new ether engine.¡±
¡°Ether engine? You mean the expensive one?¡±
Only Elvrande and Zaium could barely maintain it because it cost a lot to operate.
The fee was so expensive that only the nobles asionally rode it.
In other words, it was for show, but he wanted to use it in a small domain?
¡°The ether engine that will be revealed this time is a version that the dwarves have overhauled. The efficiency has been greatly improved, so it¡¯s not like before where you sprinkle ether stones on the ground.¡±
¡°Hmm¡ It¡¯s true that Viscount Ohmel had dwarves with him. But even Imir Republic couldn¡¯t achieve great efficiency.¡±
That would be correct for now.
Considering the technology of Imir Republic, there was a high possibility that they woulde up with an improved version within decades.
Leobold was able to improve it because he came from a world with much more advanced technology.
Except for ether, that is.
¡°Don¡¯t you wonder about the undeniable evidence?¡±
Prince Ruad felt awkward and cleared his throat.
¡°No, no. But evidence that Count Lantis is colluding with Galisto¡ I feel like burying him right away.¡±
The word pyromaniac applies to this faraway as well.
Count Lantis was too influential to be easily dismissed.
But Leobold thought differently.
¡°Your Highness. If he is too big to disappear, he is also too big to exist.¡±
¡°¡That applies to you as well.¡±
¡°At least I won¡¯t bring in external enemies like Count Lantis.¡±
To Prince Ruad¡¯s eyes, Leobold seemed to have confidence that he would never fail.
Anyway, at this point, what he had to say was decided.
It was toote to turn against each other now that they had been holding hands for a long time.
¡®I¡¯ll have to give him the eastern part of Bagran at least.¡¯
It was hard to imagine what kind of oue that would bring.
The prince tried to ease his anxiety by telling him a rtively light news.
¡°By the way, do you know? Your marriage candidate decided toe herself. She probably didn¡¯t like your answer.¡±
¡°Do you mean Countess Croitz? I don¡¯t think she has much time to spare as the futuremander-in-chief of Zaium¡¡±
¡°It shows in your tone that you don¡¯t want to meet her. I know it¡¯s a bit strange for me to say this, but you can rx. Her influence in the military is solid. She wille by airship. Do you want to see the new ether engine together?¡±
¡°¡It wouldn¡¯t hurt.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good. Just don¡¯t show her that you hate her openly. She has a hotter temper than you.¡±
¡°We don¡¯t seem to match well in many ways.¡±
¡°Personality doesn¡¯t matter. In the end, ability is what matters, right? Anyway, let¡¯s leave that matter as it is and how about the wheat? It must have been reduced by almost half.¡±
¡°I¡¯m growing various foods from the floating continent, so it¡¯s not that fatal.¡±
¡°Maybe he calcted that too¡ I heard a rumor that you ate monsters. Is that true? The ones that look like crabs.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll change your mind if you try it. And you¡¯ll think that only nobles should eat this and issue a decree for it.¡±
¡°That much?¡±
¡°It¡¯s only the appearance that¡¯s a bit off. It will be one of the most delicious things you¡¯ve ever eaten.¡±
¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it. Lastly, I want to ask one thing. Is it true that the saintess named you as a hero?¡±
¡°The saintess of Palma seems to have a loose mouth¡¡±
¡°To protect the honor of the saintess, she wouldn¡¯t have bbered about it. It must be someone from above who caused the problem.¡±
¡°It seems like it spread everywhere. It¡¯s true that she named me as a hero.¡±
¡°What evidence did she have¡ Ah, I don¡¯t really want to dig into your conversation. Just asking casually.¡±
¡°There was nothing great. Saintess Veronica named me as a hero for some reason, and I denied it. That¡¯s all.¡±
¡°I see¡ Anyway, I¡¯ll talk to Count Lantis about the wheat supply. I can¡¯t watch another domain war happen.¡±
¡°He probably won¡¯t give a good answer. He already diverted it.¡±
¡°I can only hope not¡¡±
***
In the autumn of 1037, a small event was held in Ohmel City of Viscount Vandus¡¯s domain.
It was the unveiling event of the new ether engine.
It was expected that not many people would pay attention to the event of a small domain, but it was different in reality.
Many merchants who were doing business in the eastern part of Bagran, including Prince Ruad.
There were also ether engineers and magicians from the royal road who stopped by Ohmel City to see the event.
The most interesting thing was that Countess Croitz of Zaium participated.
She seemed to have nothing to do with Viscount Vandus.
People looked at Countess Croitz who walked with her ck hair flowing on her tall figure and whispered.
¡°Did shee here to find a husband? That¡¯s what I heard, but is it true?¡±
¡°There must be many young nobles in Zaium, whye here¡¡±
¡°The nobles of Zaium are just a bunch of people who inherit titles by blood and fight each other. There is no one like Viscount Vandus who achieved something with his own hands.¡±
¡°Shh, your voice is too loud.¡±
¡°By the way, why did theyy train tracks in this small domain? Do they want to pull carts with ether engines?¡±
¡°Haha, that¡¯s ridiculous. How bad is the efficiency of that?¡±
¡°It¡¯s like sprinkling ether stones on the ground, that thing.¡±
Airships were much less efficient because they had to bear the cost of buoyancy stones, but they could afford it because they had a treasure trove of resources called the floating continent.
As long as it made a profit once it was sent.
But that train was something that he didn¡¯t know what benefit it would bring.
¡°Is that track supposed to connect Ohmel City and Vandus Vige?¡±
¡°No way. It¡¯s not that far. They must haveid a little bit.¡±
¡°It¡¯s best to use horned bird carts anyway¡¡±
With the current technology, nothing could surpass the efficiency of a cart pulled by two horned birds, and that was proven by Elvrande and Zaium over decades.
Some nobles criticized Leobold indirectly, saying that he should buy more food instead of spending money on this.
¡°The people of the domain are starving, aren¡¯t they? Was the rumor that Viscount Vandus gave infinite love to his people wrong?¡±
¡°He¡¯ll probably buy food in a hurry when some people die.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no way to do that. There are only a few ces where you can get food in the east at this time.¡±
They were mostly nobles who had a high affinity with Count Lantis.
They didn¡¯t know anything about Viscount Vandus¡¯s domain, so they thought the people were starving.
In fact, it was rather better than other domains.
They ate other foods instead of bread, so it was better nutritionally.
Cami Croitz approached Leobold while listening to the nonsense of the nobles.
It seemed that the rumors about him circting in Zaium were notpletely wrong.
Chapter 230: Shall I kill you?
Chapter 230: Shall I kill you?
There were two kinds of opinions about Leobold in Zaium.
Some praised him for achieving an unbelievable miracle, while others warned that he was unpredictable and dangerous.
What they had inmon was that they could not believe his aplishments.
He was met with many suspicious eyes from the social circles, the political circles, and the military circles, because there was only so much he could do with his tiny territory.
But after Duke Prozhan intervened in Bagran and suffered a terrible defeat.
And after the troublesome Shadow Elf pirates were annihted, the way they looked at him began to change.
¨DThe pirates are really gone. They used to ride the currents and raid the coastal viges every summer.
¨Dording to the aerial reconnaissance with the airship, the pirate base is empty. There are only some facilities that look like Vandus¡¯s forward base. Shouldn¡¯t we go and take them over?
¨DAs a great nation, we should refrain from interfering with the achievements of a small kingdom if possible. What¡¯s the benefit of taking over those few inds?
¨DCount Vandus¡ He has also achieved quite a lot, such as restoring the Sagris silver mine. He seems to be a person of interest for sure.
¨Dording to the records, he is still young. If he is such a person, can¡¯t we tie him up with marriage? There are plenty of youngdies in the empire who are looking for a husband. Count Vandus would be a top-notch husband.
¨DToo bad, Countess Croitz has her eyes on him. She came to the club one day and swore she would rip off the mouth of anyone who tried to make a move on him.
¨DThe ck cat of the military is too rude.
¨DCan you say that in front of her?
Cami Croitz, Countess.
She was the leader of the Zaium Iron Knights and also a general whomanded the Central Army¡¯s 7th Division.
She had several High Knights under hermand, and despite being a woman, she was praised for her real skills.
She was beautiful as well, but her w was her crazy personality.
She would challenge anyone who annoyed her to a duel and kill them, so much so that even the Zaium royal family had to instruct her to restrain herself a bit.
Naturally, she had many enemies, but she managed to hold her position firmly with her skills alone in Zaium, where intrigue and civil war were rampant.
Leobold wondered what would happen if she faced the Korean Army¡¯s 7th Division after hearing that she was the 7th Divisionmander.
¡®It would be overwhelming in terms of breakthrough power, but magic makes it hard to predict.¡¯
Could the Korean Army¡¯s anti-air defense system intercept Meteor Strike?
It was a difficult question.
Then, Countess Croitz, who had brown skin and shy silver hair, approached him.
¡°Sir Leobold Vandus. I am Cami Croitz.¡±
¡°I have heard of your fame, Countess.¡±
He tried to shake her hand that she offered, but she said something unexpected.
¡°You see me as a noble. Can¡¯t you see me as ady?¡±
She wanted him to kiss her hand.
Leobold lightly touched his lips to her hand and then let go.
¡°My apologies. By the way, what brings you here? I¡¯m afraid you might be bored at this modest event, Countess.¡±
¡°No need to worry. I¡¯m not here for that toy train or whatever it is.¡±
The train with an ether engine was not a toy at all, but that was not important.
Countess Croitz¡¯s eyes were piercing through Leobold.
Even lovers who were madly in love would not look at each other like that.
She scanned his whole body for a while and then said,
¡°Your ether is more ordinary than I thought. You¡¯re not enough for Emil. Are you hiding something?¡±
¡°Doesn¡¯t everyone have something to hide?¡±
¡°But your physique is excellent. And your face is not bad either.¡±
Leobold figured out something about this human being called Cami Croitz.
¡®She¡¯s the typical type who only says what she wants.¡¯
She had a high rank and position in the empire, so she must have developed that habit.
It was not umon in Astera.
¡°Let¡¯s talk more after the event is over. I don¡¯t have much time, so I¡¯d appreciate it if you could speed things up.¡±
¡°¡Please take a seat here for now.¡±
Soon after, Leobold exchanged greetings with other nobles, including Prince Ruad.
He had sent an invitation to Count Lantis as well, but he did note as expected and instead sent Gashin and Gashil.
They, of course, showed their hostility towards Leobold.
¡°Ohmelshira¡ I didn¡¯t expect you to use his name as it is.¡±
¡°The people of the territory are so used to it. There was no need to change it.¡±
¡°That arrogance will be your downfall, Count Vandus.¡±
¡°Well, we¡¯ll see.¡±
A whileter, the noisy atmosphere subsided and a train appeared on the track.
People almost burst intoughter.
Compared to the big and fancy trains that could be seen in Elvrandena and Zaium, it was too shabby.
The lotive was small and the carriages behind it were nothing but square boxes.
They had chairs inside, but they looked ufortable for people to ride.
Bultorn, who had overseen and carried out the development, came out with his chest puffed up.
¡°By the name of Jurt, the god of fire and hammer, this train is iparable to any train that has been developed so far. Why! Because I have greatly improved the efficiency of the ether engine!¡±
Then, a noble who got a chance to speak raised his hand and asked.
¡°Does that train even move?¡±
¡°Hahaha.¡±
¡°The train looks a bit funny.¡±
People¡¯sughter erupted at once.
It didn¡¯t look like it would work at all.
Bultorn nced at Leobold and decided to go ahead when he nodded.
¡°Enough! Laughing is your freedom. But I guarantee you that this train will change a lot of things. Maybe even our entire lives.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you think you should show us something if you really think that?¡±
¡°There seems to be chairs inside. Can we ride them?¡±
¡°It will probably run. Very slowly though.¡±
Bultorn¡¯s face turned as if he was about to explode.
He had worked hard day and night for the demonstration, and these bastards!
Not to mention the hardship he went through to redesign the ether engine.
But he couldn¡¯t ruin the demonstration, so he decided to proceed.
The door of the train opened and he boarded the nobles who were waiting.
Bultorn climbed onto the lotive and started the ether engine.
Pshiiik¨D
The water in the boiler boiled as the ether stone was inserted, and steam spewed out through the pipes.
The passengers who were engineers of ether were surprised.
¡°Wait, it¡¯s already started?¡±
¡°Shouldn¡¯t it take at least 30 minutes to preheat?¡±
Then, the horn sounded long.
Bultorn stuck his bearded face out of the lotive andughed loudly.
¡°Departure! Now you¡¯ll taste an incredible speed!¡±
The incredible speed was only about 20 km per hour, and that was overpace.
But for the people of Astera, it was a speed they had never experienced before.
As the train gained momentum with the movement of the pistons, everyone panicked and grabbed the railings.
¡°Wow! It¡¯s moving!¡±
¡°How can it be so fast?¡±
¡°Hahaha!¡±
As the people were amazed, Vultorn pushed the lever to the maximum.
The train spewed steam and ran across the field with great force.
***
The ether train that was unveiled that day gave a considerable shock to many people.
Especially those who had knowledge of ether engines were more shocked.
From their perspective, this train should not have moved.
But the train not only ran faster than any other train, but also had great fuel efficiency.
The fuel inlet attached to the boiler never opened.
It was proof that it ran for several hours with just one ether stone.
The ether engineers who got off the train had serious expressions and went into a meeting among themselves, and the merchants clung to Leobold.
¡°My lord, is this train really a substitute for horned beasts?¡±
¡°To be honest, I can¡¯t believe it.¡±
Leobold sat on the railing of the train and began to talk.
¡°Listen. How much cargo can a horned beast pull in a day?¡±
¡°About one ton, I guess.¡±
Horses were stronger than horned beasts, but they had a fatal drawback of being weak in stamina.
And they were also timid, so they were pushed out by horned beasts that stomped on any monster.
That was an old story when monsters were hard to find.
¡°That¡¯s including feed, right? The actual cargo transport capacity would be lower.¡±
¡°Ah, yes. If you include water, about 20% would be allocated to horned beasts.¡±
¡°What if you could fill that weight with cargo? And at a speed of 20 km per hour, running without rest.¡±
¡°Running without rest¡¡±
Horned beast carts were the main transport means of Astera.
Horned beast carts could be seen anywhere in Astera, and even though trains had been developed for quite a while, it was hard to rece them.
Horned beast carts had many advantages, but they also had disadvantages.
They were living creatures, so they needed rest.
They didn¡¯t rest as long as horses, but for merchants who valued time as money, it was a pity.
And horned beasts themselves were fast, but when they put a cart behind them, they weren¡¯t that fast.
They could barely reach 10 km per hour outside the city, and they could only travel about 70 km a day.
Leobold hit his chest and said.
¡°But this guy ran 40 km in two hours without any trouble. He didn¡¯t ask for water or food. Oh, of course he consumes expensive fuel called ether stones. But as you have seen, the fuel efficiency is quite good.¡±
¡°I agree with that.¡±
¡°It was amazing. He pulled tens of tons of cargo and still had that efficiency¡¡±
¡°It would require some basic maintenance, but it¡¯s nothingpared to the effort of managing dozens of horned beasts.¡±
¡°The only drawback is that track.¡±
The merchants paid attention to the track.
The only drawback of the ether train was that it needed a track.
It took almost three months for hundreds of people toplete the track connecting Ohmel City and Vandus Vige, and it was doubtful whether it would pay off.
But Leobold¡¯s opinion was different.
¡°Is the track a drawback? Isn¡¯t it rather an advantage? It can run the train regardless of rain or wind. Even at night.¡±
¡°Huh?¡±
¡°Come to think of it¡¡±
It was indeed a great advantage to be able to run at night.
If they had adequate facilities at the terminal, they could see from afar and stop, so there would be no problem in operation.
The merchants began to dream of the changes that the train would bring.
If they invested money in building tracks first, they could put as many trains as they wanted.
It would connect all regions and cities.
¡°Horned beasts have been responsible for transportation in Astera for hundreds of years, but their limits are clear. They are living creatures after all. But trains are not. They will be able to carry more cargo and run faster.¡±
Leobold said such a long exnation because people didn¡¯t know well.
People from Earth in the 21st century had enough knowledge to easily understand and infer the impact of something when it was presented.
But for Asterans, everything was new, so they needed an exnation of what was beneficial for them.
Fortunately, it seemed to work as the eyes of the merchants changed.
¡°I¡¯m willing to ept your investment with an open mind. But there is one condition.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Just don¡¯t ask me to give up my wife.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it usually the opposite?¡±
The merchantsughed and Leobold stated his condition.
¡°Tell me what you heard from Count Lantis. Be my witness when I report to His Highness. I¡¯ll be as lenient as possible.¡±
¡°¡¡±
This was tantamount to antagonizing Count Lantis.
Everyone was silent and an old merchant asked.
¡°Excuse me, but are you trying to kill us all?¡±
¡°What are you talking about?¡±
¡°What you said at this gathering means that you want to silence us by killing us.¡±
¡°No. This is a deration of war.¡±
¡°Deration of war¡¡±
¡°We can¡¯t coexist with Count Lantis. He openly antagonized me, so I can freely dere war too.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know what you mean by that. Count Lantis wouldn¡¯t have such an intention. The reduction of wheat supply this time was simply because of the poor harvest.¡±
The old merchant Merod spoke calmly, but he was startled by Leobold¡¯s next words.
¡°Is that so? I have evidence that Count Lantis colluded with the Galisto Kingdom.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Merod¡¯s eyes trembled and the other merchants licked their lips nervously.
Where did he get such information?
It was only known to a few confidants that Count Lantis supplied wheat to the Galisto Kingdom.
They couldn¡¯t ask him to show the evidence here.
¡°I think you¡¯re misunderstanding something, my lord.¡±
Leobold shook his head.
¡°It¡¯s not a misunderstanding. I¡¯m going to tell His Highness everything about this as soon as this event is over. Of course, I¡¯ll also tell him the names of those who cooperate with Count Lantis. I¡¯m telling you in advance. I¡¯ll be as merciful as possible.¡±
¡°¡¡±
The eyes of the merchants, including Merod, were tense.
It seemed certain that the Lord of Vandus knew about this deal.
If the prince found out, they would all be executed, and there was only one way out.
It was to surrender to the Lord of Vandus.
¡°My lord.¡±
Merod, who had been rxed, knelt before him and said.
¡°I¡¯m sorry to say this, but all the responsibility lies with Count Lantis.¡±
¡°Merod!¡±
¡°How can you say that¡¡±
The other merchants stood up, but Leobold put his finger on his lips.
¡°Shh. Keep talking. From the beginning to the end.¡±
Merod, who waspletely overwhelmed by him, spilled out all of Count Lantis¡¯s ns.
It was over¡
The merchants all closed their eyes.
***
That evening, Prince Ruad canceled his schedule and stayed at Leobold¡¯s mansion.
He told the pce that he was having a conversation with the Lord of Vandus, but in fact he was drunk and unable to greet anyone.
¡°Frederick! I trusted you!¡±
Frederick was the name of Count Lantis, but there were few people who could call him that.
Anyway, the prince seemed to be greatly shocked that he had betrayed him.
Well, Galisto Kingdom had been in conflict with Bagran often in the past.
Leobold looked up the history and thought of Greece and Turkey.
¡°Bagran once ruled Galisto.¡±
¡¸That¡¯s a story from almost 200 years ago. When the Gram Empire copsed, many countries had conflicts over territory and resources, and Bagran and Galisto were no exception.¡¹
¡°It¡¯s natural for screams to be loud when an empire is torn apart¡¡±
The rtionship between the two countries worsened due to several wars that followed.
The issue of territory and resources was barely settled by Zaium¡¯s mediation, but another conflict arose over the bloodline of the champion who yed an active role in the Great War.
At that time, there was a champion who received the power of Gold Dragon Altima in the Gram Empire, but the problem was that his surname was on both sides of Bagran and Galisto.
The nobles who imed to be his descendants insisted that he was their ancestor, and both sides were on the verge of a sh.
¡¸There is no record after that, but it seems certain that they fought a lot.¡¹
It seemed like a pointless pride fight, but history was like that.
¡°By the way, Altima¡¯s champion¡ It might be that man we¡¯re taking care of. How is he?¡±
¡¸He sometimes blinks his eyelids, but he hasn¡¯t recovered froma yet.¡¹
¡°Let me know when he wakes up.¡±
Leobold closed the history book and approached Prince Ruad¡¯s room.
Before knocking, he said.
¡°Viscount Vandus? Come in.¡±
¡°Have you sobered up a bit?¡±
¡°I showed you an embarrassing sight. By the way, Viscount Vandus, that crustacean dish you gave me was really delicious. It was the best I¡¯ve ever had as you promised.¡±
¡°I¡¯m d you liked it.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s leave the good talk here and¡ get to the point.¡±
Prince Ruad¡¯s eyes shed with anger.
¡°I can¡¯t forgive that man. How dare he ignore the royal family and supply wheat to Galisto? No matter what excuse he makes, it¡¯s uneptable. They are enemies of the royal family, of all Bagran!¡±
¡°Do you want to punish him?¡±
He hesitated for a moment, but soon sighed with alcohol in his breath.
¡°When I was young, I called him uncle. His Majesty trusted him deeply as one of the pirs of Bagran. I didn¡¯t know he would do such a thing. Now I don¡¯t know who to trust¡¡±
¡°Trust me, Your Highness.¡±
The prince who bowed his head squeezed his hand.
¡°¡Can I trust you?¡±
¡°As long as I live, I will be with the name of Bagran, Your Highness.¡±
Leobold didn¡¯t lie.
He just had to keep the name of Bagran.
He didn¡¯t care about the shell, so it was just a word for him, but Prince Ruad took it differently.
¡°Thank you. I¡¯ll trust only you.¡±
¡°Dere Count Lantis a traitor and entrust me with his subjugation. I¡¯ll take care of the rest.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Prince Ruad was silent for a long time and then clenched his teeth and said.
¡°I have to. That way no one like Frederick will ever appear again.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a wise choice.¡±
¡°When he falls¡ I¡¯ll entrust hisnd to Leobold, to you.¡±
¡°I humbly ept it.¡±
Soon after, Prince Ruad returned to the capital with his attendants.
And he confirmed and denounced Count Lantis as a traitor who colluded with Galisto Kingdom.
¡°¡When we checked all the circumstances, it was clear that he diverted wheat from the east to Galisto instead of supplying it. Even though many people are suffering at this moment!¡±
¡°He betrayed many people. He betrayed his people, he betrayed me, he betrayed His Majesty and all of Bagran. Therefore, I want to hold him ountable. Come forward if you have the courage, and restore justice!¡±
It was such an unexpected deration that no noble dared to step forward.
Count Lantis¡¯s name was that big.
He denied all the charges and ignored the prince¡¯s order to appear at the pce and exin himself, and locked himself in his castle.
He barely had a dialogue with Prince Ruad, and he only said one thing.
¡°It¡¯s all because of that bastard of Vandus!¡±
It seemed that he had arranged it beforehand, as there was a movement of troops from Galisto Kingdom.
They wanted to intervene in Bagran somehow by using this incident as an opportunity.
King Bagran III was so furious when he received the report that he stripped Count Lantis of his title and ordered his subjugation.
Now war was inevitable, and only one of them would be destroyed.
The Lord of Vandus¡¯s territory began to move again.
Meanwhile, Count Croitz, who had been staying in Ohmel City until then, called Leobold out.
¡°Interesting. It looks like you¡¯ve been waiting for this situation.¡±
¡°You said you didn¡¯t have much time, but you stayed quite long.¡±
She crossed her legs andughed with a click.
¡°It¡¯s not a waste of time to spend a lot of time on a valuable man. From my observation, you and I are the same kind. If we want something, we¡¯ll do anything to get it.¡±
¡°Is that why you called me?¡±
¡°Of course not. This matter¡ I can help you. If I contact my country, Galisto Kingdom won¡¯t be able to send troops.¡±
Both countries couldn¡¯t settle the matter even if they fought a lot because Zium Empire was holding them back.
The empire didn¡¯t care much about this incident either, so it was closer to letting it go.
If Count Croitz used her power, Leobold could defeat Count Lantis without any trouble.
But he didn¡¯t want that.
¡°I appreciate your offer, but this is an internal matter of Bagran.¡±
¡°I admit your skill, but it will be hard to handle all those knights alone. The knights of Galisto are not weak, even if they are stupid.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll finish them before theye.¡±
¡°A stubborn man. Wait¡¡±
Count Croitz pretended to whisper and kissed Leobold¡¯s cheek.
He rubbed his cheek in surprise and she disappeared with augh.
¡°Leave themunicator behind. You can contact me anytime. Well¡¡±
After she left, Arma¡¯s message appeared in his sight.
¡¸Master, should I kill her?¡¹
¡°What¡¯s the need for that? She¡¯s not hostile to me.¡±
¡¸Still¡¡¹
¡°Rather, we might learn more about Zaium¡¯s internal situation through her. Our technology has its limits.¡±
¡¸¡¡¹
Arma didn¡¯t say anything for a while and Leobold shrugged his shoulders and summoned his knights.
Chapter 231: This Time It’s Different
Chapter 231: This Time It¡¯s Different
The royal decree to subjugate Count Lantis plunged the Bagran Kingdom into a whirlwind of chaos.
Numerous nobles flocked to the royal capital to submit petitions and tried to persuade Prince Ruad.
To attack Count Lantis was tantamount to pulling out one of the pirs of the country.
Although his eastern domain was less developed and popted than the western region, which included the royal capital, he was still a count.
There were only four nobles with the title of count in the entire Bagran Kingdom, and he was the only one in the east.
Moreover, he owned a vast area of arablend along the Ob River, contributing greatly to the grain supply.
If a war broke out during the harvest season, hundreds of thousands of people could be affected.
But Prince Ruad rejected all petitions with bloodshot eyes.
¡°I understand your concerns, my lords. Indeed, Count Lantis¡¯s influence is formidable. But he crossed the line. He did something unforgivable.¡±
¡°There must be some misunderstanding, Your Highness.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. It doesn¡¯t make sense that he would join hands with Galisto in the first ce.¡±
¡°There is evidence, evidence!¡±
Prince Ruad threw a stack of documents containing the contents of the meeting that Count Lantis had with the merchants.
¡°It all started from his grudge against Viscount Vandus! Yes, he must have been bitter after losing his Zaium nobles and getting his High Knight captured! I didn¡¯t want to say anything until now! But what is this? Can¡¯t you see with your eyes?¡±
Among the documents was a confirmation letter that Rohan Merchant Guild had sent 20,000 units of flour to Fermil Merchant Guild in southern Galisto.
Apparently, Count Lantis had intervened indirectly by making a deal between the merchant guilds.
The rtions between Bagran and Galisto had been on the verge of copse for decades, and they didn¡¯t even have a minimum diplomatic rtionship.
In such a situation, it was impossible for the merchant guilds to trade with each other.
The nobles raised objections.
¡°But Your Highness, there is no evidence that the count was directly involved, is there?¡±
¡°The merchants are notorious for their greed, so it might be just an anomaly.¡±
¡°He seems to regret it greatly this time¡¡±
¡°Silence!¡±
Prince Ruad mmed his hand on the table.
His hand trembled with anger and his eyes stared at the nobles.
¡°Do you expect me to believe that a mere merchant colluded with Galisto? They are just businessmen! And I already gave him a chance to exin! If he hade to the royal capital and appealed to His Majesty, would things have turned out like this?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, but from the count¡¯s perspective, it might have felt like pressure¡¡±
¡°Then why did I tell Viscount Vandus toe to the royal capital? You¡¯re contradicting yourselves!¡±
When he brought up the previous domain war, the nobles had nothing to say.
The atmosphere was slowly tilting towards Prince Ruad¡¯s side.
No matter how independent a grand lord he was, he couldn¡¯t get away with colluding with outsiders, and he shouldn¡¯t have.
Especially if it was not Zaium Empire, which was willing topromise on some issues, but Galisto Kingdom, their enemy.
The nobles who were kicked out of the pce barely knocked on Count Lantis¡¯s gate and managed to meet him.
He looked so distressed that his eyes were sunken and his beard was overgrown.
¡°My lord, we understand your injustice, but this time you should lower your head a bit¡¡±
¡°We will help you. If the pce is too harsh, we will contact Duke Prozhan and arrange a neutral ce.¡±
¡°¡No, it¡¯s over.¡±
Count Lantis¡¯s voice was hoarse as he spoke.
His castle must have been full of screams for the past week.
He licked his lips with his tongue and said,
¡°I trusted Vandus and he came out hard on me. But I don¡¯t care. I¡¯m not that easy to deal with.¡±
¡°My lord¡¡±
¡°My castle is the strongest in the east and I have several magicians. It won¡¯t be breached by a few Goliaths.¡±
¡°But Viscount Vandus used an airship raid strategy, didn¡¯t he?¡±
If an enemy Goliath appeared inside the castle, the war was almost over.
But the count had a different opinion.
¡°No, they won¡¯t be able to use an airship raid strategy. Because they will mobilize their fleet from Galisto.¡±
¡°¡¡±
The nobles who came to persuade him held their breath.
It seemed that he had no intention of exining himself at all.
¡°Then things will get out of hand, my lord!¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. It would be better to install multiple ether cannons on the ground and go for a dying tactic. We will ask Zaium for help.¡±
¡°No, there¡¯s no need for that. I feel like fighting Vandus this time. I¡¯ll test him myself and see how good he is.¡±
The count¡¯s eyes boiled with pure hatred as he spoke.
He might have seemed inferior to Viscount Vandus, who had achieved many sesses recently, but he was also a noble with ether blood and a proud knight.
He couldn¡¯t repair a Zaium-ss Goliath, so he wouldn¡¯t be too far behind.
More than anything, he was a grand lord of Bagran.
He had hundreds of nobles and knights under hismand, and the number of people in his domain was close to 200,000.
He couldn¡¯t abandon them.
The nobles realized that they couldn¡¯t change his mind and closed their mouths.
The only way left was for one of them to perish.
***
Galisto Kingdom ignored the demand of Bagran royal family to exin their position.
Instead, they deployed several airships and 30 Goliaths to the domain of Baron Fermil.
It was a sign that they would push down if they resisted.
Prince Ruad was furious and wanted to send out his royal guard, but Leobold stopped him.
¡°Your Highness, you can¡¯t send out the elite of Bagran here. Do you need a big knife to kill a chicken?¡±
¡°They¡¯reing out like that and we can¡¯t just sit still.¡±
Since Galisto dered their intervention openly, it was natural that the Bagran royal family had to step in.
But Leobold had a different idea.
¡°What if I stop their invasion by myself? How would they feel? They would be ridiculed for not being able to beat a single viscount even with the royal family involved.¡±
¡°Is that possible? Don¡¯t you have to at least exclude Galisto¡¯s forces?¡±
Even if it was Leobold, it seemed impossible to face both Count Lantis¡¯s domain and Galisto at the same time.
He had more than three airships and 50 Goliaths, and quite a few magicians.
His goal was Count Lantis, so he had to take over his castle, but it was impossible to use a small-scale raid strategy like before.
It required a pure strength-to-strength fight, and Leobold was absolutely inferior in that regard.
Of course, if he could use the power that defeated the Shadow Elf pirates, it might be different¡
But Leobold didn¡¯t lose hisposure.
¡°The victory is assured, so prepare the count title ceremony. I don¡¯t want to inherit Lantis¡¯s castle.¡±
From a baron of a tiny domain to a viscount, and now a count who ruled the east of Bagran¡
Prince Ruad was pleased with his progress, but also secretly afraid.
He seemed too big for this small kingdom of Bagran.
¡®Will he stop his march at the earldom? Or does he have another goal?¡¯
To dispel this fear, he had to be firmly connected to him, but a loyalty oath was not enough.
He thought he could only feel relieved if he made a blood tie through marriage.
¡°Viscount Vandus, do you have any interest in Ad?¡±
Ad Bagran was the youngest of the royal family and Ruad¡¯s sister.
The problem was that she was only 13 years old.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, but Ad¡¯s age is¡¡±
¡°She¡¯ll be an adult in three years. She seems to suit you well, don¡¯t you think? It¡¯s not bad to make a betrothal in advance.¡±
¡°I¡¯m grateful that you care so much for me. But I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s difficult. A while ago, Count Croitz of Zaium came.¡±
¡°Did something happen then?¡±
¡°Nothing like that, but she seemed to like me a bit. She even said that if I wanted to marry him, I had to abandon Arma.¡±
Of course, nothing like that happened.
Croitz just kissed her cheek and left, and the one who restrained him was rather Arma.
But who would believe what happened between them?
When he mentioned the great noble of Zaium, Prince Ruad stepped back.
¡°Hmm, if Count Croitz said that, it¡¯s no good. I¡¯m sorry. Forget about it.¡±
¡®The prince tends to back off easily when Zaium gets involved.¡¯
It was understandable since it was such a huge country, but he felt that it was too passive an attitude.
In the end, he would be the prince of a ruined country, but it didn¡¯t matter anyway.
The conversation with Prince Ruad ended there and Leobold summoned his knights.
Granden and Catina, Elwin were quite excited about the idea of fighting Count Lantis.
¡°Listen up, knights. Our enemies are Count Lantis and some of Galisto¡¯s troops. There is no support.¡±
Catina and Elwin looked at each other in dismay, but Granden was different.
He was one of the people who witnessed Leobold ughtering the pirates with his power.
He couldn¡¯t imagine him losing to anyone unless the armies of Elbrangdena or Zaium intervened.
¡°It¡¯ll be a big fight. Galisto has airships too.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯ll be hard to surprise them like before. That¡¯s why we¡¯re going to use a different method this time.¡±
They discussed that method for an hour.
Catina and Elwin were shocked to learn that they had to hijack the airships.
¡°Hey, my lord? They have ether cannons on their airships. Isn¡¯t it hard to block them?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, we have living metal.¡±
Leobold picked up the sword that was shining in one corner of his office.
The shape of the sword changed into a shield in an instant, and Granden groaned.
¡°Hmm¡ So you n to block the ether cannons with living metal.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. The ether cannons deployed in Galisto are not very powerful. This shield can block them.¡±
¡°But isn¡¯t it hard to cover the whole airship? The uracy of ether cannons is low, but we have to get close, so it¡¯ll be offset.¡±
At his words, Leobold threw the shield on the floor.
An ether field spread out and the shield turned into a thin armor te.
It was big enough to cover one side of the wall in his office.
¡°Wow.¡±
¡°That¡¯s amazing. I can¡¯t believe it can change so drastically.¡±
Leobold shrugged his shoulders.
¡°You can change it too.¡±
He turned the living metal into a sword and handed it to Granden, who cautiously grabbed the hilt.
¡°How do I do that?¡±
¡°Living metal changes with the power of will. Think of the y that Eily ys with.¡±
Thanks to his father¡¯s power, Granden was able to change the sword into a clumsy shield shape.
¡°It¡¯s not working well¡¡±
He was disappointed, but it was remarkable enough.
The way Asterian used ether sensitivity was different from ordinary psychers.
It was like putting diesel in a gasoline car, and to ovee this, he had to rece the engine, that is, the ether circuit.
¡®Maybe I can make a hybrid circuit through research.¡¯
It was still a long way off, but there were ether researchers and Arma, so results would soon appear.
Leobold threw the sword into the air and let it float there.
¡°Your mission is to hijack Galisto¡¯s airships. They¡¯ll think we have Goliath on board and pour out ether cannons. I¡¯ll take care of it beforehand, so block them with that and get into closebat.¡±
¡°What do we do after hijacking them?¡±
Elwin asked and Leobold stabbed the sword into the map on the table.
It was the castle of Count Lantis¡¯s territory.
¡°We¡¯ll take over this ind by force. With our own power.¡±
There would be dozens of Goliaths and mages waiting in the castle.
¡°It¡¯ll be a tough fight¡¡±
¡°Sh, should we write our wills? My lord?¡±
Catina and Elwin said weakly, but Leobold shrugged it off.
¡°Count Lantis can¡¯t stop me. Now get ready to sail.¡±
¡ªSome living metals had special properties, such as not changing back once they were transformed. This needed further research.
Anyway, living metal was not as invincible as initially expected.
And Count Lantis did not think that Leopold had more strength and skill than Elvrande.
¡°He is strong, no doubt. He might even be stronger than me. But he is doomed to fail as long as he has to rely on airships. Even if he breaks through them, he will have to face dozens of Goliaths in my castle. I don¡¯t think he can do that.¡±
That was because the output of Goliath was fixed.
Even a Bephar-ss Goliath was only a bit faster and stronger, but it could not overpower multiple Goliaths with brute force.
Let alone without it, the oue was almost certain.
Count Lantis pointed at various ces in the castle.
¡°ce magicians here. Use Greek magic to restrict his movements and give scrolls to the soldiers to spam magic. It won¡¯t help much, but it will buy us some time.¡±
His n was to use that little time to approach Leopold and force him into closebat.
¡°That¡¯s a brilliant idea.¡±
¡°This will stop Zaium even if they invade.¡±
The aides praised their master without hesitation.
Their fate was tied to the count anyway.
¡°Sell everything you can and buy scrolls. I¡¯m betting everything on this.¡±
***
The internal conflict in Bagran showed signs of escting into a national war due to Galisto¡¯s intervention.
If the Bagran royal family did not back down here, war would have erupted.
But Prince Ruad did not dere the royal family¡¯s involvement even though he denounced Galisto.
As a result, Galisto received skeptical views not only from Elvrande but also from within Bagran.
¡ªThey must have been afraid to move even though Galisto¡¯s involvement was exposed.
¡ªIt seems that the aftermath of the Great Elvrande War is quite serious. Galisto is the same, but they are big enough to have some leeway.
¡ªOther lords are trying to sneak out quietly. They don¡¯t want to offend Count Lantis.
¡ªThen is Viscount Vandus the only one who participates in the subjugation?
¡ªIs there any chance of winning?
Most opinions in Bagran and even among Galisto¡¯s allies were that this was difficult.
Especially after it was revealed that Galisto¡¯s fleet was equipped with ether cannons, the odds seemed to tilt sharply towards the alliance.
¡ªIf they use the fleet to bombard them, even Viscount Vandus won¡¯t stand a chance.
¡ªEven if they break through and enter the castle, they will face dozens of Goliaths. It won¡¯t be an easy fight.
On the other hand, Zaium just watched this conflict.
If the Bagran royal family had stepped in, they would have ordered them to end the conflict by punishing Count Lantis moderately.
They didn¡¯t like their subordinates fighting each other.
But since Viscount Vandus was the only one who joined the subjugation, they decided to watch and see what happened.
The person who led this decision was Count Croitz.
¡°Viscount Vandus is mine. So don¡¯t even think about touching him. Any objections?¡±
Only Croitz could do such a crazy thing as stabbing a sword on the conference table.
There wereints from everywhere, but she didn¡¯t care.
¡°Be quiet and watch my future husband¡¯s performance. He will crush Lantis in no time.¡±
She could act like this because it was not a meeting presided by the emperor.
It was just a meeting where some nobles showed interest in the conflict between two kingdoms.
There was hardly anyone who could oppose Croitz in such a ce.
Even Duke Prozhan agreed with her.
¡°We won¡¯t help much in resolving this situation if we intervene. We just need to hold the losing side ountable.¡±
¡°Does that apply when Viscount Vandus loses?¡±
Someone asked that and Duke Prozhan looked at him with displeasure.
¡°Are you sane? What did Viscount Vandus do wrong in this situation? He is fighting against Count Lantis and Galisto alone with courage. You can¡¯t even praise him for that.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not courage, it¡¯s recklessness. I don¡¯t know how he killed all the shadow elves, but if he thinks that luck will work against the alliance, he is mistaken.¡±
¡°I thought so too until my knight was captured. Do you know this? He fought a Bephar-ss with a Jagan-ss. Without any magic or traps.¡±
¡°Really?¡±
¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡±
There were exmations from all over that it was unbelievable.
That was because Jagan-ss was considered junk in Zaium that was not even given proper troops.
Fighting a Bephar-ss controlled by a high knight with that was suicide.
Duke Prozhan leaned back on his chair and Croitz whispered to him.
¡°Is that true?¡±
¡°I heard it too. Emil wouldn¡¯t lie, so I guess I have to believe it.¡±
¡°He had normal ether¡¡±
¡°Maybe he has a way to hide his power. There must be a reason why the saintess called him a hero from another world, right?¡±
Croitz had aplicated expression and Duke Prozhan smiled slyly.
¡°Don¡¯t worry. He will be ours no matter who he is. When this war is over, prepare a banquet right away. I¡¯ll give you a generous gift.¡±
Well, that was doubtful.
Croitz thought he seemed to be hiding more than just his strength.
For now, they had no choice but to watch the war.
Chapter 232: Kneel
Chapter 232: Kneel
Leobold rode his horned beast in a straight line from Ohmel City to Lantis¡¯ domain.
He finally reached the hill where the castle was visible, but there was no force to stop him.
¡°Did they invest all their troops in the castle defense?¡±
¡°Yes. Currently, there are 30 Goliaths stationed inside the castle. About 10 of them are hiding and waiting to ambush you when you appear.¡±
¡°The castle is quiterge.¡±
It was big enough for Goliaths to run around.
Anyway, Lantis had poured all his efforts into a single defense battle.
He raided Gasan to hire mages and buy scrolls.
He also modified various parts of the castle and set up traps.
Some of them even included magic ropes made by Ether engineers.
¡°These magic ropes are very sturdy and difficult to deal with. Even if you are at the level of Bephar, it won¡¯t be easy to cut them with brute force.¡±
¡°What if I use my ability?¡±
¡°They would be like threads.¡±
¡°Then it¡¯s fine.¡±
If the vanguard did well, Lantis woulde out, so he wouldn¡¯t have to deal with tools.
Leobold drove his horned beast to the edge of the vige.
Some farmers were harvesting grains as it was the harvest season.
There was no hope on their faces.
¡°Arma, how much is the tax here?¡±
¡°It¡¯s simr to other ces. 80%.¡±
¡°They only squeeze enough to keep them alive.¡±
¡°That¡¯s the standard here.¡±
Leobold passed by the fields, but the farmers had no reaction.
After all, war was a matter of nobles, so they wouldn¡¯t care if Lantis waged war.
They were only concerned about surviving day by day, living like mayflies.
ording to various documents, it was not much different from 200 years ago.
ording to Zion, even 700 years ago, there was not much difference in the lives ofmoners.
¡°Something is wrong here.¡±
There could be speed in the development of civilization.
The situation and circumstances of each country were different, so he could understand that there was a difference in development.
On Earth, some ces like America developed dazzlingly, while some ces lived worse than the Middle Ages.
But even considering that, Leobold judged that Astera¡¯s civilization was severely backward.
¡°Even though they have Ether, a convenient energy source.¡±
Dwarf Vultorn, who developed the Ether train this time, said this.
¡°The old ones said that there was not much difference between now and 200 years ago. But there was one thing that was definitely different.¡±
¡°What was it?¡±
¡°Ether technology. The Goliaths of that time were really huge and had tremendous destructive power. They even flew airships at altitudes higher than the floating continent?¡±
¡°How did such technology disappear? Even if humans lost their technology due to the aftermath of the war, dwarves were rtively fine.¡±
¡°Uh¡ I don¡¯t know that either. My father and everyone else kept their mouths shut.¡±
Even why the war started was not known.
There must be a cause for any war, and since it was a huge scale that swept across the entire Astera continent, it should have been known to many people, but no one knew the cause.
It was only recorded that gods and dragons fought, and various races of Astera were involved.
Vultorn spected that it was probably because they invaded the realm of gods.
¡°Look at that night sky. What do you see?¡±
Leobold thought of space, but he said he couldn¡¯t see anything.
He sighed and continued.
¡°We couldn¡¯t see anything either in the past. But we learned after telescopes were developed. There are other worlds beyond that sky.¡±
¡°Do you mean those twinkling things?¡±
¡°Yes. My father tried to reach there somehow by increasing the output of the airship and changing its design. But all attempts failed. I wonder what¡¯s beyond that sky. Aren¡¯t you curious?¡±
¡°I¡¯m curious.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t look very curious. Well, whatever. It¡¯s just something I tried. The higher you go, the colder it gets and it¡¯s harder to breathe. There¡¯s no way you can endure it!¡±
Vultorn¡¯s sigh ended there.
Leobold suddenly looked up.
A huge castle and a sky hung over the wide in.
The castle resembled Megacity.
In terms of being tall andrge enough to pierce the sky, and in terms of having a purpose to protect something.
But it was not exactly the same as Megacity.
Leobold built Megacity to protect humanity, but Lantis built his castle to protect himself.
In the world he would create, there was no need for humans like Lantis.
¡°Therefore, you have to die.¡±
Leobold¡¯s horned beast ran straight toward the lord¡¯s castle.
***
Lantis saw a horned beast and a human standing in front of the castle and finally confirmed.
¡°He repaired the Bephar! Get ready for defense!¡±
Unless he was crazy, he wouldn¡¯t havee here alone, so he must have repaired the Bephar and put it in the subspace.
That was the correct judgment in this situation.
How that was possible was not important in this situation.
¡°Fire!¡±
Papapap-
The archers on the wall fired arrows in unison.
But they were too far away to be of any use.
He circled around the castle as if he was sightseeing, and that provoked Lantis¡¯ anger.
¡°You rat bastard, you¡¯re just shooting around, you damn bastard!¡±
One of the knights knelt down.
¡°My lord! This is our chance! He¡¯s alone! Give us your order! We will capture him alive!¡±
¡°Stupid!¡±
Lantis shook his head roughly.
¡°I don¡¯t believe he captured a High Knight by luck! It¡¯s suicide to intercept him on that wide in! We wait for him here!¡±
No matter how strong a knight was, he couldn¡¯t do anything to the castle itself.
Of course, Bephar had a high output core, so it was possible to destroy the wall.
But Lantis¡¯ troops wouldn¡¯t let that happen.
All kinds of magic and traps would be activated, and Goliath would likely disable it before it destroyed the castle.
Leobold kept circling around the castle on his horned beast, and siege weapons such as ballistas began to fire.
But none of them hit him.
And in the distant sky, three airships appeared.
It was the vanguard of the floating continent, including Altemaho.
The soldiers of the lord¡¯s castle sneered at their size.
¡°The Galisto fleet is much bigger! They can¡¯tpete!¡±
¡°They have Ether cannons, so they¡¯ll shoot us down from afar!¡±
¡°Let¡¯s just wait for them to crash and pick them up from below!¡±
As they were talking, the Galisto fleet emerged from the clouds.
They were much bigger and one more than the Vandus vanguard.
And they had Ether cannons mounted on each side.
The admiral of the Galisto fleet was confident of victory, but he was startled to realize that the Vandus vanguard was strangely fast.
¡°Why are they so fast? Weren¡¯t they carrying Goliaths? Recalcte the expected position and rtive speed!¡±
¡°Calction is done! They are expected to reach here in 11 minutes! They are more than 1.3 times faster than us!¡±
¡°That¡¯s too fast!¡±
He expected to have at least 30 minutes after revealing himself before reaching the lord¡¯s castle, but it was an inexplicable situation.
The output of the Ether propeller was fixed, and they were carrying Goliaths.
The admiral made a decision after a short deliberation.
¡°We can¡¯t help it! We abandon the original n and enter a close-range bombardment battle! Prepare for bombardment!¡±
The original n was to harass the enemy vanguard with Ether cannons from the outskirts.
It was considered a reasonable n since they had an advantage in mobility and long-range weapons, but it wentpletely wrong in practice.
What did they do to make them so fast?
The deck crew cursed and moved, but the Vandus vanguard was approaching quickly.
Zion stood on the bow of Altemaho, waving his robe.
¡°Hehe¡ They¡¯re surprised by our speed.¡±
He didn¡¯t know why this ship was so fast either.
He was just satisfied with the fact that his ship was faster than any other airship.
He had been fast at running away since he was young, so he could keep his life until today.
He wanted to transform into a dragon form and smash that fleet right away, but he might die if he did that.
Something would be done before that happened.
¡®I have to show them a cool magic here. So that they can¡¯t ignore me anymore!¡¯
His position in Vandus Territory was not very high.
Not only the people of the territory, but even the bureaucrats regarded him as amon mage.
He didn¡¯t show any proper magic while only focusing on Ether research, so it was a natural evaluation.
Luciana Stefina and others who became close to him recently praised him as a great mage, but people¡¯s reactions were lukewarm.
However, when Zion dered that he would board an airship, some respectful eyes poured out.
Mages rarely boarded airships.
It was because of the Ether propeller and floating stone that made it hard to use magic properly, but more than that, it was because they didn¡¯t want to die.
Would they entrust their precious lives to an unverified airship?
But Zion was a dragon, so he could survive even if the airship crashed.
That would happen before that though.
Zion spread his arms and activated his Dragon Heart.
A magic circle started and Ether gathered in his hands.
¡°Haha! Take this! Mega Lightning!¡±
Krrrrr!
A blue beam shot out from his hands and split into several branches.
The Galisto fleet was startled by the sudden magic and began to turn.
As a result, the gunners had to stop firing their Ether cannons.
Granden didn¡¯t miss that opportunity.
¡°They¡¯re scattering! Captain Hampton, now!¡±
¡°Aye! Maximum Ether propeller, aim for their gship!¡±
The three ships following Altemaho attacked the Galisto fleet like wolves.
The Galisto airships were shocked by their movements and fired their Ether cannons.
But the thin beams couldn¡¯t prate the living metal armor that spread out in an instant.
There was some damage to the vanguard, but it was only a few crew members falling over.
Encouraged by this, Granden ordered them to push forward.
¡°gship! We prioritize suppressing the gship! Advance like this!¡±
¡°Follow Lord Granden!¡±
The two airships following Altemaho each took care of one airship and entered a melee battle.
With this, the situation of the aerial battle became an absolute advantage for Vandus vanguard.
They won a decisive victory in mobility even though they were carrying one Goliath each.
Lantis, who was looking up from below, couldn¡¯t understand why Galisto¡¯s fleet was so slow.
¡°Why are they so slow? Why?¡±
If he knew that, he wouldn¡¯t be here.
Anyway, the aerial battle showed Vandus¡¯ overwhelming superiority.
The remaining one airship was running away desperately and there was no sign of recovery.
Soon after, Besteros¡¯ g came down and Vandus¡¯ emblem went up.
Lantis sensed defeat, but he couldn¡¯t show it in front of his subordinates.
The knight who had suggested intercepting earlier proposed again.
¡°My lord! The Goliaths will soon descend from the airship! We have to do something about him before that!¡±
¡°¡¡±
He couldn¡¯t answer.
He knew better than anyone that there was no chance of winning if he went out now.
The only way to win this war was to lure Leobold into the castle and overwhelm him with numbers.
No matter how strong he was, there was a limit to facing several Goliaths at the same time, and he nned to use that gap to disable him with magic, traps, and various tools.
But now that Galisto¡¯s fleet had fallen into the enemy¡¯s hands, there was no reason to maintain that n.
Six airships were an undeniable force, and there was a crazy high mage among them.
He had to catch him before they came down.
Lantis made a decision after agonizing.
¡°All troops, prepare to sortie. Open the castle gate quietly.¡±
Soon after, 30 Goliaths came out of the lord¡¯s castle.
The target was Leobold.
***
¡°Uh, sir! They¡¯reing out!¡±
Katina looked down with a telescope and eximed.
As the lord¡¯s castle opened, he witnessed dozens of Goliathsing out.
Granden snatched the telescope and gave an order right away.
¡°Captain Hampton! Leave the captured airship and let¡¯s go down first! Protecting the lord is our priority!¡±
¡°Yes, sir!¡±
But Zion blocked Hampton¡¯s way.
¡°Hey, I know you¡¯re in a hurry, but let¡¯s just watch. He¡¯s not that easy to deal with.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t know what Lantis has prepared to capture the lord!¡±
¡°I know everything. I¡¯m a mage too. But it won¡¯t be of any use. He¡¯spletely insane, you know?¡±
Only Zion could call the lord insane.
He would suffer a terrible punishment after saying that, but no one could stop Zion.
He went on for a while about Leobold¡¯s monstrousness and Granden asked him.
¡°How do you know that?¡±
¡°Well, I¡¯ve seen it myself¡¡±
¡°Yourself?¡±
¡°No, no.¡±
He had a dragon¡¯s pride, so he couldn¡¯t say that he had been beaten by him.
Anyway, he seeded in diverting his attention and Granden gave up on lowering the altitude and just watched.
A wide field was blocked by 30 Goliaths and a few horned birds carrying mages.
Leobold wandered around casually and sent the horned birds somewhere and opened a space gate to pull out a Bepharos-ss Goliath.
It made a rumbling sound as it stood up and Lantis took a spear from his subordinate.
And he ran towards him and threw the spear with all his might.
A five-meter-long single spear flew straight towards the Bepharos-ss.
Leobold caught it by the blunt end instead of dodging it.
The spear stopped in mid-air with a clink and shook violently.
¡°Weak, Lantis.¡±
¡°You bastard, you bastard!¡±
Lantis forgot about the original encirclement n and started throwing other spears.
His Goliath was a Gusion-ss, which was inferior to the Bepharos-ss, but it was an improved model for royal guards or high nobles with high output.
Lantis was also a noble with Ether bloodline and a knight who was hard to find in the whole Bagran with his skills.
Except for a few like Granden, that is.
¡°If it weren¡¯t for you, if it weren¡¯t for you!¡±
Leobold threw away the spears he caught to the side.
He threw five spears, but none of them hit him.
When he ran out of spears, he taunted Lantis.
¡°Is that all? You look pathetic.¡±
¡°Show some respect, Vandus! I am a count and a great lord of this country!¡±
¡°You were until recently. But not anymore. You are nothing but a traitor. And so are the knights beside you.¡±
¡°Enooom!¡±
¡°I will punish you in the name of King Bagran III. If you have any loyalty left, kneel down now.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Of course, there was no knight who knelt down.
Lantis shouted proudly.
¡°My glorious knights will not be swayed by your tongue!¡±
¡°Is that so? Then you have to die.¡±
As soon as he finished speaking, the mages around him activated their Greek magic.
Leobold felt Ether changing ominously and jumped up immediately.
¡°Fireball!¡±
Fireballs collided in mid-air and exploded, but the Goliath didn¡¯t even flinch.
The grand magic circle nullified all ordinary magic.
¡°Now! Throw the rope!¡±
It was the magic rope that Arma warned him about.
As soon as Leoboldnded, the rope wrapped around him.
It looked like an ordinary rope on the outside, but it was reinforced with Ether and could not be cut by any ordinary force.
But Leobold cut it off with his Goliath.
¡°He cut off the rope!¡±
¡°How did he?¡±
He didn¡¯t cut it with force, but separated it with psychokinesis.
The knights rushed at him without looking back and Leobold erased the sealing magic circle with his fingers.
On his chest was an Ether Heart that Arma had engraved anew.
It reflected all thebat data and research on Granden¡¯s Ether Heart and started to build a system thatpletely surpassed the previous Ether circuit in every aspect.
The Bepharos-ss Goliath¡¯s sword turned golden and changed into a greatsword shape.
The knights, as well as Lantis, were shocked by that sight and backed away hesitantly.
¡°An Ether de¡¡±
Chapter 233: A Madman and an Elf
Chapter 233: A Madman and an Elf
Most of the memories of the Great War had faded or been forgotten, but there were a few legends that had been passed down orally to this day.
They were about the Ether des, the weapons wielded by the champions who served as the proxies of the gods and dragons.
One of them was known as the Golden Sword or the Pir of Light.
It was said that it could cut through anything.
It could slice through steel like cheese, and even adamantium was no match for it.
It could even cut through dimensions.
The people ofter generations did not take these stories seriously and regarded them as mere legends.
By the year 1037 of the Continental Era, even the most skilled knights could not shape Ether into any form.
They could only enhance their weapons with Ether to increase their destructive power, and that was enough for them.
But here.
An Ether de appeared on the in in front of Lantis Castle.
The knights instinctively realized what it was when they saw the huge golden greatsword.
It was an Ether de.
The power that could cut through everything, that only existed during the Great War.
Lantis stammered.
¡°H-how did you get such a power¡?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me say it many times? Or are you too slow to catch on? I heard you were often called dull.¡±
¡°Vandus, you bastard!¡±
¡°I¡¯m tired of hearing that. I¡¯ll just kill you now.¡±
Leobold swung his pure Ether sword at Lantis.
It was just a movement of a golden sword, but its aftermath was immense.
The surrounding Ether reacted violently and caused a huge explosion.
Boom!
The Goliath that Lantis was riding was torn apart and flew away.
It had multiple magic circles engraved on it, but they were useless against the explosion of Ether.
When a Goliath-ss mech was blown away like that, the remaining knights rushed in without thinking.
¡°Lord!¡±
¡°Save the Count!¡±
More than twenty Goliaths surrounded Leobold.
Some tried to keep him at bay with spears, while others engaged him in closebat with swords.
But they were nothing but tin cans to Leobold, who had undergone the Ether Heart procedure.
He had so much Ether that he not only made a greatsword, but also infused it into his Goliath¡¯s body.
¡®This is¡ an amazing power.¡¯
Could he have such power just by changing his engine?
It was as if he had gone back to the time when he fought against gue Queen, who appeared as a main character in King.
Leobold felt that he and his Goliath werepletely fused.
He was the Goliath, and the Goliath¡¯s movements were his movements.
There was a slight dy, but it was not a big problem for him, who had been adjusting his dy by 0.005 seconds.
¡°Yah!¡±
¡°Die!¡±
The movements of the knights who attacked him with obvious shouts seemed too slow to him.
A message from Arma appeared in his sight.
¡¸You can use Overdrive. It is a skill that temporarily increases the Ether Heart¡¯s capacity. It is used by knights.¡¹
It must have been a modified version of Granden¡¯s skill.
Leobold aimed his greatsword at several Goliaths who were charging at him.
¡®Let¡¯s try it on them.¡¯
¡¸Entering Overdrive mode. Ether Heart maximum output.¡¹
A dazzling light burst out from the golden greatsword in an instant.
Leobold swung it like an ion cannon toward the front.
A massive explosion of Ether urred and several Goliaths evaporated without a trace.
And its aftermath reached the walls behind them andpletely destroyed them.
Rumble¨D
As the walls copsed, the remaining knights looked back and froze.
¡°Gods¡¡±
¡°Th-the walls are broken¡¡±
They all lost their minds at its power when Lantis crawled out of the wrecked Goliath-ss mech.
His whole body was stained with blood.
¡°That¡¯s quite an amazing power, isn¡¯t it? Don¡¯t you think? It¡¯s not from this world.¡±
¡°It¡¯s a pity. If you had shown me sooner, I could have made you surrender.¡±
¡°Haha, hahaha¡¡±
Lantisughed hysterically on the field as if he had gone mad.
¡°You said you were a hero from another world? I don¡¯t know where you came from, but one thing is certain. It¡¯s that you will plunge all of Astera into chaos¡¡±
He seemed to want to rant more, but Leobold had no intention of listening to him.
The Ether de swallowed him and his Goliath-ss mech at once.
An explosion urred on the ground and the Goliath rolled around in pieces.
Now all that was left were a few knights and magicians riding horned birds.
As they saw the greatsword pointing at them, they all raised their hands in a sh.
¡°Surrender! We surrender!¡±
¡°We swear loyalty! Please spare us!¡±
Leobold tilted his head.
¡°You should have done that when I gave you a chance. It¡¯s toote now.¡±
The golden greatsword moved again.
***
When Frederick Lantis and his knights were all killed, the castle fell into Leobold¡¯s hands without any resistance.
Most of the remaining people were hired mercenaries who had no intention of fighting to the end.
Some of the nobles and officials resisted, but they were quickly killed by the soldiers who came down from the airship.
Leobold headed to Lantis¡¯s office and ordered.
¡°Offer them surrender only once. Kill anyone who refuses.¡±
Among the people in the castle, there were even officials of thete Count Ohamel, who had entrusted his troops to Lantis after losing his lord.
They all wore fancy clothes and had plump cheeks.
They must have been living well.
¡°Devil! You are a devil!¡±
¡°How many more do you have to kill to be satisfied?¡±
¡°As many as I need.¡±
¡°What?¡±
Leobold passed by them and ordered his soldiers.
¡°Kill them all. They are not worth living.¡±
Blood flowed on the white corridor and Leobold entered Lantis¡¯s office.
Soon after, Granden and his soldiers came in with about twenty people.
They were all bureaucrats, such as assistants and administrators, who had survived the massacre of the nobles and officials.
They knelt down as soon as they saw Leobold.
¡°Only 25 people?¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
As Granden answered, Leobold told them to raise their heads.
¡°Lantis is dead and justice has been served in Bagran. You should be sent to the royal court for trial ording to the protocol, but I will give you a chance.¡±
They all swallowed dryly as he dered.
¡°Serve me. Then I will spare your lives. If anyone objects, stand up now.¡±
Of course, no one stood up.
They all bowed their heads and Leobold nodded at Granden.
¡°Take them away. They will be noisy for a while, so give them some vacation and let them rest.¡±
¡°I will follow your orders.¡±
¡°And what about the Rohan faction?¡±
¡°They are currently organizing a special force to track them down. They are expected to be caught soon.¡±
¡°Keep up the good work.¡±
A few momentster, the soldiers built a temporary dock near the castle and six airshipsnded.
Despite the meleebat, the hulls were surprisingly clean.
ording to Catina, they surrendered easily because they had nobatants.
Zion shrugged his shoulders and boasted.
¡°It was easy because of me. My mega lightning scattered the enemy fleet.¡±
¡°Good job. But who called me a madman?¡±
¡°Wh-who said that? Who called the lord a madman?¡±
Zion red at the innocent sailors as Arma¡¯s report came in.
¡¸The rumor hasn¡¯t spread yet, but judging by the tendencies of the surrounding lords, they seem to surrender. What should we do?¡¹
¡°Tell them to spare their lives. But they have to return their titles.¡±
No noble would ept that condition, but it was better than death.
Now Leobold was the ruler of the east and no one could defy him.
¡°It¡¯s a waste to have such a smallnd ruled by many people.¡±
The area of Lantis County and Gasin¡¯s territory was about 20,000 km2 and the poption was about 300,000, so it was more efficient to integrate them into one.
¡¸Then shall we call this ce Lantis City?¡¹
¡°I guess so.¡±
Leobold looked at the vast in and nned his future.
ording to the roadmap that Arma had made, he would start a full-scale conquest project when he swallowed up the Bagran Kingdom.
To do that, he had to build up his basic strength, and securing this Lantis City was a priority.
Nothing was more important than food.
Most of Lantis County¡¯s area was a wide in and it had abundant water resources thanks to the Ob River.
¡®It¡¯s perfect for growing food and starting a cotton industry.¡¯
Especially cotton was a crop that required a lot of water, so it was impossible to grow it inrge quantities unless it was a territory with a river.
There were plenty of good iron ore and coal near Ohmel City, so he could say that he had the basic resources.
Now he had tobine these resources and Settler¡¯s technology to achieve rapid development.
¡®But the poption is too low.¡¯
The total poption of Bagran was 3 million at most if he gathered all the souls. It was far too short for Leobold¡¯s standards.
Gram Kingdom was also small with a poption of about 1 million.
Only if hebined the northern Galisto and the southern Istar Kingdoms, it would be about 15 million.
¡®That would barely make a decent country.¡¯
By then, he would be able topete with Zaium Empire.
***
The news that Leobold killed Lantis and took over his territory spread throughout Bagran.
Prince Ruad clenched his fist and his followers murmured.
He knew he was strong, but he didn¡¯t imagine he would be this strong.
¡ªDidn¡¯t he have the count¡¯s army and Galisto¡¯s fleet? How did he deal with them?
¡ªording to the rumors, he boarded an airship and fought dozens of Goliaths alone with a sword made of ether.
¡ªAre you serious?
¡ªThe only sure thing is that Viscount Vandus didn¡¯t suffer much damage. Count Lantis¡¯s army was all killed.
¡ªDamn, I wish I could see him fight.
¡ªThey say he cut them all with ether swords.
¡ªI can¡¯t believe that.
¡ªIs this how it ends? Viscount Vandus bes an Count and swallows up all his territory?
¡ªThere was nothing else in the east except Count Lantis. It¡¯s like he cleared all the obstacles at once.
¡ªExcept for Galisto, they say. They¡¯re going to make a fuss about returning their ships.
¡ªHow can they ask for their ships back after being humiliated by a mere count?
¡ªBut they won¡¯t give up easily on that Vestaros. It cost more than 20,000 golds to build it.
¡ªWhat can they do if they don¡¯t give up? The only way to get it back is war, but Zaium won¡¯t allow it.
¡ªWell, Count Croitz threatened to kill them all if they interfered any more.
¡ªIt¡¯s best to back off quietly even if it¡¯s dirty when the White Witch shows up.
¡ªBy the way, he became an Count in less than a year¡ His ambition doesn¡¯t seem to end here.
The voices of concern grew louder, but they didn¡¯t surface for now.
It was time to congratte him for receiving the title of Count from the king.
The title ceremony was held in the main hall of the pce and Leobold received a sword from Bagran III.
¡°Use that sword to defeat Bagran¡¯s enemies and bring peace. Leobold Vandus, Count of Lantis.¡±
¡°I swear eternal loyalty to Bagran.¡±
Then Bagran III started coughing severely and Prince Ruad stepped forward.
¡°What are you doing? Take His Majesty away.¡±
The original n was to have a grand celebration party with a reception, but it was canceled due to the worsening of Bagran III¡¯s illness.
Prince Ruad expressed his regret, but it was a good thing for Leobold.
He would have been stressed out if he had to attend a boring event and smile at the soulless nobles and youngdies.
He returned to his territory immediately and gave orders tirelessly.
¡°All production activities will continue as before. The taxes will be lowered to 60% and the sries of the bureaucrats will be doubled.¡±
He had so much money that even Carson, the administrator, couldn¡¯t object.
In fact, the reason why Leobold raised the sries of the bureaucrats was to prevent them from exploiting the farmers.
Lantis squeezed the sries of the bureaucrats, which resulted in a vicious cycle of squeezing the farmers.
It was better to pay them a decent sry and punish them harshly.
The surrounding lords were furious at the order to return their titles, but they couldn¡¯t resist.
Count Vandus was the ruler of the entire east with the royal family behind him.
They couldn¡¯t rebel against him, who had defeated even Galisto¡¯s fleet.
They only promised to preserve their property and honor, and they returned their titles one by one, starting with Baron Findor.
Now they were not nobles, but influential people.
They would neverck money for their lives, but they couldn¡¯t interfere with the administration of their territories either.
With this, Leobold seeded in absorbing all of Lantis County.
He didn¡¯t have administrative power over all thends, but it didn¡¯t matter much.
It was then that Arma reported something important.
¡°The Shadow Elf pirate we released has contacted Tirendel.¡±
¡°Delphina, was it? She got in touch with an unexpected big shot.¡±
Leobold looked at Tirendel through Delphina¡¯s eyes.
***
The Shadow Elf pirate Delphina escaped from Leobold¡¯s grasp and arrived at the bordend of the central continent after many twists and turns.
This ce was full of scars from countless wars and was not under anyone¡¯s rule.
Delphina met Tirendel in a copsing hut in a mountain range.
He had finished his mission as a judge and was on his way back to his homnd.
¡°So your mission as a judge was a disguise, huh? You¡¯re going back so soon.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve done everything I had to do. And the council called you because of that.¡±
¡°The dragon bone, right? I heard the rumor is spreading.¡±
Delphina smoked a cigarette and asked, and Tirendel frowned.
¡°They need your ability to absorb his soul.¡±
Her ability was to handle monsters and animals, but it was closer to controlling souls in detail.
It was hard to control a huge soul like a dragon, but it was possible because they weakened it with ck magic.
¡°I don¡¯t know who owns the bone that needs my ability.¡±
¡°ck Dragon Grakies. The mad dragon that killed tens of thousands of our ancestors.¡±
¡°Wow¡ You¡¯re going to wake up that guy? Is the council crazy?¡±
¡°You¡¯re the crazy one, Delphina. How did you lose your pirate fleet and be a fugitive?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want to talk about it.¡±
¡°What if I want to hear it?¡±
When Tirendel threatened her, Delphina grumbled and told him what had happened.
¡°Damn, that guy Leobold is totally insane. His power is not of this world.¡±
¡°He seemed normal when I saw him before. Strange.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. He was riding a Goliath when I saw him. Anyway, he brought some weird metal thing and shot thorns. It was really horrible. I don¡¯t want to see him again.¡±
¡°Is that simr to the Sword Dancer¡¯s ability?¡±
¡°It¡¯s different. Even a Sword Dancer can¡¯t shoot hundreds of thorns, right? He pulled out the thorns and shot them again. He¡¯s not human.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t know, but he conquered Lantis County as well. He fought against more than 30 knights alone.¡±
¡°See? I wasn¡¯t weak, right? He¡¯s crazy.¡±
¡°He was a hero from another world, as the rumor said¡ Maybe I should have killed him then?¡±
Delphina¡¯s face hardened for a moment when he sighed.
¡°Really? You¡¯re going to release that mad elf?¡±
¡°He¡¯s perfect for using as an assassin and throwing away. Because he¡¯s crazy.¡±
Kairos was an elf obsessed with killing who had lost his parents and rtives to humans when he was young.
His specialty was to go to the battlefield and kill humans, and his hobby was to sneak into the Human race autonomous region and kill humans.
A few years ago, he ughtered hundreds of people in one night, which made the council unable to tolerate him and put him in prison.
No matter how much the elves hated humans, killing them in the autonomous region was crossing the line.
He wasn¡¯t punished for that, and he was released before his sentence was over.
His skill as a knight was not far behind Tirendel, but he was so cruel and uncooperative that he remained as an ordinary Elven Knight.
Delphina smoked nervously and then chuckled.
¡°It¡¯ll be chaos if he gets the power of a dragon.¡±
¡°The continent will fall into a whirlpool of confusion again.¡±
¡°Are you happy? The unification of the continent is not far away.¡±
¡°¡¡±
Tirendel closed his eyes without saying anything.
His goal was the unification of the continent by the elves.
There was no force that could stop Elvrande anyway, so he argued that they should unify as soon as possible and end the war.
He was one of the few elves who fought hard for that purpose.
Sending Kairos out was not against his direction in terms of weakening the human kingdoms.
But releasing such a killer would distort something more fundamental.
Revenge breeds hatred, and hatred breeds revenge.
He thought of the human kingdoms that fell into chaos due to the assassination of their leaders.
They wouldn¡¯t back down quietly.
¡°What about Viscount Vandus or whatever his name is now? He¡¯s on your list too, right? Too bad. I wanted to kill him myself.¡±
Tirendel shuddered at her voice and shook his head.
¡°That¡¯s enough talk. Get out.¡±
¡°You¡¯re suddenly cold. Did you make some kind of promise with him? Pretending to be a judge?¡±
Their conversation ended here.
Arma found out information about the elf named Kairos.
¡°He¡¯s an elf who ughtered thousands of people. As you heard, he was so cruel that even the Elvrande Council was reluctant to send him to the battlefield. He¡¯s a killing machine.¡±
¡°So they¡¯re going to blow the power of a ck dragon into him and make him go on a killing spree.¡±
¡°We don¡¯t know how much power he¡¯ll exert, but it should be enough to plunge the human kingdoms into chaos.¡±
¡°They dug up the dragon bone and used ck magic and Shadow Elves for that.¡±
It was not hard to stop him, but Leobold felt the need to use him.
He needed some chaos to unify the various kingdoms around Bagran.
¡°Confirm his location and track him. Let¡¯s leave him alone for now.¡±
¡°Yes, I understand.¡±
Chapter 234: What Happened in the Lantis County
Chapter 234: What Happened in the Lantis County
The first thing Leobold did after conquering the Lantis County was to demolish the lord¡¯s castle.
A temporary office, including a residence, was built in the nearby Lantis City, and then the castle began to crumble under the joint work of golems and goliaths.
The people of Lantis City were shocked by this.
The lord¡¯s castle was a symbol and a history of the Lantis County.
¡ªIt was the emblem of the Lantis family that stood firm even in the Great War¡
¡ªording to old documents, it took 15 years to build that castle, and a huge amount of materials andbor were invested. It¡¯s a shame to destroy it in an instant.
¡ªThe castle is big enough for goliaths to move around. Isn¡¯t it a pity?
Of course, these opinions came from a very small number of influential people in the territory, such as semi-nobles, wealthy merchants, or bureaucrats.
From their perspective, the name Lantis was more important than the Bagran Kingdom, so they did not understand the new lord¡¯s actions.
However, Leobold had several reasons for breaking down the castle.
¡°It¡¯s too big and inefficient. I don¡¯t need to live in such a castle unless I¡¯m a giant.¡±
It was not a graceful appearance that deserved preservation, and it was a problem that it wasted too much space in a strategic location.
¡°Thanks to that, the view from the lord¡¯s office was nice, though¡¡±
He thought that this ce might be where he would rest after finishing everything, as he looked at the wide and green fields and the calm Ob River.
But for Leobold now, the efficient expansion of Lantis City was more important than sentimentality.
¡°I need to bring in a world-ss foodpany here. I don¡¯t need an old castle like that.¡±
His territory had a great potential with its grain fields, which were smallpared to the whole continent.
Most of its 15,000 square kilometers area was ins and suitable for growing food because of its octo soil.
In addition, the stones, iron ore and coal from Ohmel City nearby made it ideal for building an county industry.
The only drawback was that there was no chemical fertilizer, so mass production of food was still far away.
Of course, he decided to push those things away quickly, and now only the ground remained.
The golems cleaned up the debris and bureaucrats and craftsmen from Lantis City gathered under Arma¡¯smand to discuss the expansion of the city.
¡°So you want to connect these separated parts of the city into one?¡±
¡°If you expand the city like that, you won¡¯t have enough space for the lord.¡±
The craftsmen were all worried that the lord¡¯s space would not be separated.
This n had the residence and other buildings too close to each other.
It was taboo for nobles to live in the same space asmoners in most countries, not just Bagran.
Ether bloodlines needed to establish their authority ordingly, and building castles or mansions was one of them.
But Arma said it didn¡¯t matter.
¡°Don¡¯t worry. This is what the lord has reviewed and finalized.¡±
¡°The lord himself¡¡±
¡°Wow, he¡¯s really different from other nobles¡ I mean, counts.¡±
In fact, these people had a lot of curiosity and doubt about Leobold.
They wondered if he was really such a casual person without any arrogance as a noble, as they heard from his territory.
He had not revealed much of his details since he took over Lantis County shortly, but at least one thing was certain.
His attitude did not show any arrogance or superiorityplex typical of Bagran nobles.
He had to eat at nearby restaurants because his residence was temporarily built, but he always ate withmoners.
At first, people were startled and tried to run away, but they got used to it as he didn¡¯t care at all.
He didn¡¯t eat anything special either.
Sometimes he ate crustaceans or seafood from Vandus Vige, but it was almost the same as whatmoners ate.
Naturally, stories began to spread among people.
¡ªThis count seems different. He eats and sleeps in the same space as us.
¡ªHe should have imposed special taxes and corvee ording to the previous conventions when he conquered the territory, but there is none. It¡¯s surprising.
¡ªMost of all, he¡¯s implementing the same business as Vandus Vige. We thought we were second-ss citizens¡
Leobold currently ruled over Vandus Vige, Ohmel City, Lantis City and some other territories that had not yet been incorporated.
People thought that Lantis City would be neglected, but it wasn¡¯t.
Clock towers were erected everywhere, and sewerage systems, irrigation facilities, and other public amenities such as baths were built.
As a lot of money flowed in, Lantis City became lively and smiles began to appear on people¡¯s faces.
Money naturally makes people smile.
As the situation reached this point, the former Lantis count disappeared from people¡¯s minds.
Now, the ruler of the eastern Bagran was Leobold, not Lantis.
He also carried out various reforms besides the facilities, and the representative one was the establishment of apany.
Yu Ji-ha Company.
It was a development of the cooperative that existed in Vandus Vige, and under Arma¡¯s control, it monopolized all the goods in Vandus County.
Leobold was embarrassed when he heard the name, but he decided to let it go after learning that it sounded exotic to the people of Astera.
There were many multinationalpanies on Earth that were named after their founders.
Anyway, Yu Ji-ha Company traded not only salt and seafood, but also coal, iron ore, wheat and other resources, as well as all the products and values that Vandus County would produce in the future.
The main staff were merchants who belonged to Rohan Trading Company and were charged with selling wheat to Galisto in connection with Lantis count.
Instead of asking for a pardon from Prince Ruad, Leobold epted him as his staff.
He had only one demand.
¡°I don¡¯t care who you are or what you did in the past. All I want is a transparent ledger and a profit. Work hard and report on time. Then I won¡¯t hold you ountable.¡±
No one could object to being spared.
Especially since he preserved their assets and did not ask for their crimes, the merchants¡¯ choice was almost decided.
That¡¯s how Yu Ji-ha Company was formed, and the organizations such as Ether Research Institute and Workshop were also transferred.
It wasn¡¯t bad to entrust them to Zion or Bultorn, but he needed a system to control them.
The former was just a madman and thetter was a nerd who was obsessed with research, so they spent money like water and he had to put a brake on them.
They grumbled, but they couldn¡¯t disobey Leobold¡¯s instructions that all organizations should be managed systematically.
The citizens were dizzy by these changes.
¡ªThere was almost no change for 200 years, but I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on all of a sudden.
¡ªIt¡¯s good that the facilities are increasing, but I wonder if they will be well operated. It seems like it will cost a lot of money¡
¡ªBut it¡¯s good that the city is lively. It makes me doubt if there was ever a war.
War was originally a thing of nobles, so themoners didn¡¯t feel much, but he did so well in cleaning up that the aftermath was even smaller.
In addition to these external changes, internal changes also began to take ce.
It was the research on ether.
***
The important thing in ether basic research was ether stones.
Not ordinary ether stones, but huge ones made by collecting ether for at least several months or even years through a purification magic circle on a high-purity crystal.
This process was necessary because the research was easier as the purity and amount of ether gathered in the ether stone increased.
It was hard to get a transparent crystal without cracks or bubbles with ordinary wealth, and it was not an ordinary thing to collect ether for years.
In that sense, Magician Stephina didn¡¯t have much expectation for Vandus Territory at first.
She knew that the lord had a lot of money, but he didn¡¯t seem to have much knowledge or interest in ether.
But she changed her mind as she met Zion and Lucia, and as she conducted research with unlimited funds and materials.
¡°Hmm¡ It¡¯s not a bad ce if you ignore theck of data and the lord¡¯sck of interest. I like it.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t know anything. The lord is not uninterested, he just lets it go for now. If there is no result even after some time, he will start frying us.¡±
¡°Is that so?¡±
Zion and Lucia, who came to the research institute first, were very curious beings to her eyes.
Lucia was a rare fairy, but Zion seemed somehow not human.
He looked like a great sage when he researched magic, but he was so stupid in daily life that she doubted if he was really human.
Anyway, life in the research institute with them was not bad.
Zion demanded support from the lord, saying that the best magicians needed the biggest ether stones.
¡°Search all over Astera and bring me the biggest and purest crystal. Then I¡¯ll devote myself to research.¡±
¡°Zion, isn¡¯t that too hard? That kind of crystal is not lying on the street.¡±
¡°You still don¡¯t know that guy. He¡¯s like a magic wand that gives you more than what you ask for. Look forward to what he¡¯ll bring.¡±
Lucia, who was sitting on his shoulder, nodded her head.
¡ªMaster is not an ordinary person, so he will surely bring a huge crystal.
Whatever he brings will be good.
Stephina thought lightly and focused on research, and good news came to her.
Leobold really handed over a huge crystal and left.
It was almost as big as an adult¡¯s head, and it was so big that Stephina, who had seen countless crystals, opened her mouth wide.
It also boasted a perfect quality without any cracks or scratches.
¡°It¡¯s huge¡¡±
¡°Hehe, what did I tell you? Leobold is like this. Come on, let¡¯s start the research.¡±
That¡¯s when ether research began in earnest.
The task that Leobold requested was to reveal the essence of ether, so he needed pure and dense ether ordingly, and that had a lot to do with time.
Zion, Stephina, and Lucia were all excellent magicians, but the ether stone was so big that it was expected to take years.
They reduced their sleep and spread purification magic circles.
It wasn¡¯t enough to just spread it once, but they had to maintain it and spread multiple ones to collect more ether.
As they spread dozens of purification magic circles, they had no time to spare.
In this process, it turned out that Zion and Lucia were much better magicians than expected.
Even a decent magician couldn¡¯t maintain more than three or four at the same time, but they handled more than ten.
And they still fought and nagged at each other, so it was driving Stephina crazy.
¡ªYou¡¯re so busy, but you have time to go to the vige? You lizard-like human!
¡°I would have finished the ether stone by now if you had reduced the time to tter the lord! You devilish fairy!¡±
It sounded like a weirdly missed hint, but it was a true statement.
But to Stephina¡¯s eyes, the ether stone waspleted at a speed beyond imagination.
¡°I don¡¯t understand why ether is gathering so fast. Is thend good?¡±
¡°It¡¯s probably because of the excellent purification magic circles that I spread.¡±
¡ªThat¡¯s funny. You haven¡¯t touched them for weeks with the excuse of being busy.
¡°Isn¡¯t that the same for you?
¡ªI went with Master¡¯s orders. You¡¯d be surprised if you knew what I saw underground.
¡°What was it?¡±
¡ªI won¡¯t tell you.
The reason why ether gathered so fast was thanks to the ether receiver that Arma installed separately.
This device, which was installed under the research institute, gave them a huge amount of ether even after filling the ether stone.
Stephina felt like she had be a great magician.
¡°I don¡¯t know why there is so much ether here. It¡¯s hard to avoid the elves¡¯ surveincework with this much ether. Well, the lord will take care of it.¡±
As they chatted, the ether stone waspleted.
They all expected it to take at least five years, but it actually took only three months.
This would have been enough for a research topic, but he had so many and diverse topics that he didn¡¯t have time to touch it.
Zion was the first to touch the ether stone with an evil smile.
¡°This is really amazing ether¡ If I absorb this, I can be the greatest dragon surpassing Altema¡ Aaaargh!¡±
He felt a shock as if dozens of lightning bolts struck him from the sky and fell down.
Lucia, who came in wondering what nonsense he was talking about, also touched the ether stone and suffered the same fate.
¡ªAaaah!
Stephina came inst and didn¡¯t even touch the ether stone, but she couldn¡¯t avoid fainting from the pure ether that filled the research institute.
¡°Aaaargh!¡±
So when Leobold entered the research institute, all three of them were lying on the floor in harmony.
¡°They¡¯re doing well.¡±
He wondered if living together would make their intelligence level simr.
Anyway, this huge ether seemed very dangerous to him.
Unless there was a strong stimulus, it wouldn¡¯t explode, but its mere existence could cause various anomalies.
¡°Arma, how is it?¡±
¡¸It might be dangerous for others, but not for Master. I think.¡¹
¡°On what grounds?¡±
¡°Master has a soul that can withstand the ether that spews out of the warp gate. It¡¯s just that the ether heart we made is still iplete and we don¡¯t know how to use it well.¡±
¡°So you mean it has enough potential. Good. It¡¯ll only make me faint at most.¡±
He erased the sealing magic circle and touched the ether stone.
Then something astonishing happened.
The ether that filled the crystal swirled and was sucked into his hand.
Arma warned him of the rapidly increasing concentration of ether in his body.
¡¸The ether heart is operating at maximum level. Ether is spreading throughout your body.¡¹
He didn¡¯t dare to ask what would happen next.
His whole body felt like it had jumped into a fire and he couldn¡¯t breathe.
¡®This is not aboratory.¡¯
His vision zoomed out and the journey that Settler had sailed so far was quickly reyed.
It was like going back in time and he finally saw the Nox and the warp gate.
¡®Is this a memory from 50 years ago?¡¯
And then Earth appeared.
Leobold reached out his hand and the ether shook violently.
Arma warned him in a surprised voice.
¡¸Ether storm detected. The warp gate is opening.¡¹
He flinched and withdrew his hand.
The warp gate closed and the ether storm subsided.
The swirling wind evaporated and all that was left were the ether stone and the three people lying on the floor.
¡°¡What was that?¡±
¡¸Congrattions, Master. You just opened a warp gate to Earth.¡¹
¡°Is that even possible? Does that mean our 50-year journey was a waste?¡±
¡¸Not exactly. You lost all the ether you collected by opening the warp gate just now. And it wasn¡¯t fully opened and it was very small.¡¹
If he had to say, he had a glimpse of hope that he could open a warp gate by himself.
Leobold touched the ether stone again, but nothing happened as if it was empty.
¡°All the ether I¡¯ve collected for months is gone¡¡±
¡¸Don¡¯t worry, Master. ording to the data we collected, we can install an ether collector magic circle without a mage.¡¹
¡°That¡¯s a relief.¡±
It meant that the research on ether had progressed and there was a possibility of returning to Earth.
But he didn¡¯t know if the time period would be different and if he couldn¡¯t meet the prophet, it would be meaningless.
Leobold started to wake up the three who were still lying on the floor.
***
A whileter, Steffina reported on the paper she had written so far.
In fact, Arma already knew everything that happened in theboratory, including the paper, so most of the information was acquired afterwards.
But there was something that only ether users could feel, so it was better to listen to her report directly.
¡°Well, um¡ So, the main point of this paper is that ether is this energy that is very stable and doesn¡¯t stay in one ce easily.¡±
¡°But knights and mages can use ether easily. Especially knights, they can store it in their ether hearts.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a misunderstanding. No matter how excellent a knight is, they can¡¯t store ether. They can only slow down its flow.¡±
¡°Slow down its flow?¡±
Steffina hesitated and snapped her fingers.
¡°You can take the train station that is being built in Lantis City as an example. If the train doesn¡¯t stop and moves slowly, it would be possible for passengers to get off and load cargo, right?¡±
¡°¡I guess so.¡±
¡°It¡¯s the same with ether. Knights tend to brag a bit and make it seem like they can store ether, but in fact, they are only minimizing the ether that escapes by slowing down the flow.¡±
However, her words were not certain either.
Leobold was able to store and use ether in his body for sure.
Whether it was his body, his soul, or his ether heart, he still didn¡¯t know, but he had shown various abilities even in an environment where there was no ether at all.
¡°So you¡¯re saying that only ether stones can store ether.¡±
¡°There¡¯s one more thing. The branches of Yggdrasil, which can store a tremendous amount of ether. They say it¡¯s iparable to crystals.¡±
Leobold nodded.
In the case of Yggdrasil, there was a huge body on the ground, but it was revealed that it also affected the floating continent.
That meant there was a branch somewhere and it was not owned by Elvrande, so he would be able to get it soon.
¡°I see. Let me ask you one thing. If there are beings like gods and dragons, would it be possible to open a dimensional gate? To transcend spacepletely, I mean.¡±
¡°It would be possible. There were frequent rumors that the champion used teleportation in the war 200 years ago. There was also a rumor that the dimension was broken because of the ether de that someone used at that time.¡±
Leobold felt something uneasy in her words.
The giant ether de that he used to kill the gue Queen.
What if it didn¡¯t kill her, but sent her to another dimension?
What if she flew to another dimension and grew stronger there and came back to Earth?
The power of Earth was sufficient, but it would be uncertain if they could win since they would be in chaos.
More than anything, they didn¡¯t have Yujiha.
¡®51 years have passed, so maybe it¡¯s over¡¡¯
But the Earth he saw was still blue, and the saint said that there were many who called Yu Ji-ha¡¯s name, so it was not impossible.
Stephina¡¯s report ended there.
She said that she had this much left of her paper, but he didn¡¯t need to listen to it himself since Arma had checked it.
¡¸I¡¯m developing a device that can directly measure ether through this research data. I think I¡¯ll be able to show it to Master soon.¡¹
¡°How would it look to me?¡±
¡¸It will be disyed as numbers in your sight through the biochip. The Ains are still gathering data, so it¡¯s difficult right now, but Goliath is already done.¡¹
ording to Arma, the lowest-performing Jagan-ss had an output of about 100E.
1E was a unit that Arma arbitrarily introduced, meaning the total amount of energy that ether had in a certain space.
So the more ether you could draw, the higher the E would be.
It was a unit that was directly rted tobat power, but not exactly the same, because the user¡¯s ability could not be measured.
Nevertheless, it was the most urate unit to represent ether at this point.
If Arma¡¯s research waspleted, he would be able to measure not only Goliath¡¯s but also knights¡¯ or magicians¡¯bat power.
¡¸If you consider Jagan-ss¡¯s output as 100E, then Raum-ss is 110E, Bephar-ss is 150E. The highest one is Belial-ss, which exceeds 180E.¡¹
¡°Belial is the exclusive machine for Elven Knights, right? Impressive.¡±
¡¸There¡¯s something higher than that here. After checking the information that Lucia brought, it¡¯s confirmed that it¡¯s an ancient Goliath that was used 200 years ago. It activated with the key sword and scared away the troops stationed above.¡¹
Leobold saw soldiers running away in his eyes, saying it was an earthquake.
¡°I should have just caused an earthquake. Well, it¡¯s fine as long as I can get it out now.¡±
¡¸We¡¯ll use a gravity crane to pull it out.¡¹
The Settler was mobilized to break the nearbynd and pull out the ancient Goliath.
A huge monster that overwhelmed all existing Goliaths began to reveal itself.
Chapter 235: Memories of the Past
Chapter 235: Memories of the Past
Goliath usually took on a human form.
It was probably because it was an advanced form of a golem, but Leobold found it quite unnatural.
The fewer parts that could move in a weapon, the better.
Even the assault armors made with 22nd century technology had limited use of joints in the head unit, booster nozzle, and wing pack.
Leobold rode on Goliath because it was still not well established and also because Arma needed data for his research.
If those conditions were met, he would have sent outbat walkers and drones instead of Goliath.
In that sense, Goliath¡¯s joints powered by magic circles were a major research subject.
Even the ancient Goliath that was lifted into the air by a gravity crane had a tail.
It was a mystery how they maintained dozens of joints with ancient technology.
Its appearance was also very ferocious, almost reminiscent of a monster.
¡°Is that really Goliath?¡±
¡¸Zion said that was the mainstream appearance back then. The Goliaths that the champions of God rode were different.¡¹
¡°Did they model it after a dragon¡¡±
He wondered why they needed so many joints, especially in other ces.
¡¸There is a possibility that the champions shared their consciousness with the dragons when they received their power. In that process, the champions became pseudo-dragons.¡¹
¡°I see. In that case, their tactics would be simr to those of dragons.¡±
He couldn¡¯t tell if that was why he didn¡¯t see any weapons.
Anyway, Leobold boarded a shuttle and entered the Settler.
The spec sheet of Goliath, which was stored in a restraint cage and undergoing cleaning, popped up.
¡¸It is over 10 meters tall with horns and weighs 190 tons. The output of the core is close to 300E.¡¹
¡°It¡¯s a monster indeed.¡±
The output was only three times higher than that of the lowest Jagan ss, but Leobold knew that the difference was bigger than he thought.
Even between the Jagan ss and the Bephal ss, which had only a 1.5 times difference in output, there was no match if knights of equal skill rode them.
Let alone a three times difference, which was like heaven and earth.
The reason for such a big difference was the ether heart of the knight who rode it.
¡¸It¡¯s not certain, but it seems that Goliath¡¯s core resonates with the knight¡¯s ether heart and amplifies the ether.¡¹
It didn¡¯t seem to be simply multiplied by arithmetic, but rather some coefficient was added.
¡°Can this thing handle me?¡±
¡¸ording to the current calction, 100% of master¡¯s power is too much. About 20% is estimated to be the limit.¡¹
Leobold¡¯s current state was not normal, so he could actually handle about 50~60%.
Anyway, it was impossible to ride this thing right away.
It had been buried for 200 years, so it might have broken down or it might be picky about its rider.
¡°Maybe that ancient man we dug up is the owner of this Goliath.¡±
¡¸We are currently collecting DNA from inside andparing it. The results will be out soon.¡¹
¡°Thanks.¡±
Leobold looked at the ancient Goliath.
There wasn¡¯t much he could do with something from 200 years ago at this point.
Even one assault armor loaded on the Settler could easily destroy such a Goliath without any number limit.
But somehow he felt that this Goliath would take him somewhere important.
¡°It looks like Altema¡¯s prototype.¡±
Especially its head shape and horns were almost identical.
He looked at the monitor and saw Lucia¡¯s main body searching for minerals diligently on the floating continent.
She could have escaped, but she didn¡¯t seem to have any intention of doing so.
She enjoyed roaming around because there was no one on the floating continent.
She had brought so many subordinates that she had enough power to crush any country.
There were even flying ones, but strangely enough they were quite small.
He thought there must be something more than minerals for gue¡¯s evolution.
¡°I¡¯m d I don¡¯t have to worry about resources anymore.¡±
It was easy to mine resources with mining ships, but he thought it would be better to build an outpost for external purposes.
Leobold looked at Lucia and her subordinates who were busy moving around and left the hangar.
Their appearance looked somewhat like beetles to him.
***
When Leobold became an count, more people visited his territory.
From Bagran¡¯s nobles and royals to Galisto¡¯s diplomats who tried hard to get their airships back, and even Zaium¡¯s influential people.
They all tried hard to build connections and some tried to get something out of him.
The most desperate ones were Galisto¡¯s diplomats.
They imed that sending the airships was an unjust ident and tried to get them back somehow.
¡°The war itself was the result of Count Lantis¡¯s rampage¡ I¡¯m sorry. The former Count Lantis. We were just dragged into it, so we have to get the airships back.¡±
¡°Why do I have to give them back? You came into my territory and fought, and even fired cannons.¡±
¡°We admit that you destroyed three airships. But if you keep them, there will be more bloodshed in the future.¡±
It sounded like he was saying that it was not something for a lowly person like him to have and he should return it.
Naturally, Leobold¡¯s attitude became rude.
¡°There¡¯s no point in talking to you. You won¡¯t get the airships back anyway. Stop wasting your time and go back.¡±
The diplomat seemed frustrated and raised his voice.
¡°Do you think the royals, including His Majesty, will let this go? The construction cost of the three airships is over 70,000 gold. It¡¯s a huge amount.¡±
¡°So what? Do you want to start a war? Go ahead. I don¡¯t care either way.¡±
The diplomat was embarrassed by his remark that he didn¡¯t even care about war.
In fact, Galisto was not in a position to wage war.
They wanted to fight Bagran and break their nose someday, but Croitz, the count of the empire, came to Zaium and threatened them.
If they interfered with Bagran again, one of them would die.
He didn¡¯t know if that was the emperor¡¯s intention, but it was stressful enough that a great noble like Croitz showed interest.
Her power alone was enough to shake Galisto, let alone her many followers and big shots like Prozac who seemed to have joined hands with her.
There was no answer to that.
But they couldn¡¯t give up on the expensive three airships, so they came here shamelessly, but count Banda didn¡¯t seem to have any intention of returning them.
He ended the meeting as he pleased.
¡°You should be d that it ended with three airships after joining hands with a traitor like Lantis and trying to cause chaos in Bagran. You should know when to back off. If you want your airships back,e and get them.¡±
It implied that he could even invade Galisto¡¯s maind.
The diplomat was outraged and kicked out.
¡°You will regret this someday.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll wait.¡±
There were also some unusual guests, and among them was Veronica, the saintess of Palma from the Holy Kingdom.
As someone in a high position, he couldn¡¯t refuse, but he honestly didn¡¯t care to have an important conversation with her.
That was because Leobold had no interest in her, only wariness.
He felt the same way about Hermine, who was attached to her, and the concept of God itself, which was unpleasant and vague.
He didn¡¯t understand why God would stick to a mere human, and he doubted if she was really a God. She was a very awkward opponent.
Veronica smiled brightly and faced him.
¡°You don¡¯t seem to care much about the rumors that are going aroundtely.¡±
¡°Are you talking about Lantis and others finding out that I¡¯m the hero? I don¡¯t care. It¡¯s probably someone in the church who spread it.¡±
¡°That someone is me.¡±
The saint¡?
¡°Why¡ I can¡¯t help but ask. Wasn¡¯t it forbidden to reveal the trust of God?¡±
¡°There is no such rule. It¡¯s more urate to say that there is no need to worry about such implicit rules anymore.¡±
¡°Because of the situation of the church.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right.¡±
The atmosphere of Palma was not good at all.
The death or disappearance of the Astera Pantheon for a long period of time caused a mass exodus of believers.
Losing believers meant losing money.
Considering that the main sources of ie for the Holy Church were the subsidies from various countries and the pockets of the believers, this was an unbearable blow.
There were even deserters among the Holy Knights.
The power of the Knights came from the holy magic, but they couldn¡¯t use it because of the absence of God, so they oftenined that they were no different from ordinary knights.
Despite this, the power of the Holy Church was still strong, but no one knew if it would be so in the future.
Therefore, Arma guessed that the Pope, the Saint, and the leaders had a different mind¡
¡¸In the past, the Holy Church boasted a statusparable to that of Gram Empire. Now it ispared to Galisto Kingdom. So expanding their influence must be their top priority.¡¹
The Saint openly took Leobold¡¯s hand.
¡°You have warm hands. I hope you will bring peace to Astera with these hands.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s get to the point. What do you want?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not so much what I want as what I want to show you. Come this way¡¡±
She led Leobold¡¯s hand to her forehead.
He didn¡¯t want to touch her head for various reasons, but in case of the worst, Arma would seal off this area, so there wouldn¡¯t be a big problem.
As his hand touched her forehead, Leobold¡¯s consciousness faded and was sucked into somewhere.
¡®This is simr to dreaming.¡¯
Was it Hermine¡¯s power that controlled dreams, illusions, and nightmares?
Leobold wandered around in a white space and encountered something.
His home Earth.
He had seen it from afar by identally opening a warp gate, but it was touching to see it up close.
¡®Which time period is this Earth¡¡¯
It was definitely the 21st century, judging by the space station he had ordered tounch in orbit.
His consciousness was sucked into the atmosphere and he found himself in a megacity.
He felt like he hade home seeing Earthlings who were clcounty different from Asterans.
They ignored Leobold and ran to one ce.
¡®What¡¯s going on?¡¯
The atmosphere inside the megacity was definitely not normal.
People were screaming and drones and walkers were scattered everywhere.
He understood why this happened.
It was natural that chaos would ur when Leobold and Arma, who had to control everything, left.
But he never expected such a huge turmoil.
¡®Did a war break out between megacities?¡¯
He wondered what happened to the legion strike fleet that returned from Pluto.
They should have followed the orders of the Supreme Council, including Bae Seong-min.
His consciousness moved to another ce.
Someone was holding a microphone and giving a speech. It was Bae Seong-min when he looked closely.
He looked awkward because he was young, but he also had anti-aging treatment, so it was natural.
¡®He¡¯s talking hard but I can¡¯t hear him.¡¯
There were pilots and bureaucrats around him, including Sonya and Hwang Sun-young.
It seemed like a very important ce.
People shouted and waved gs with his picture on them as Bae Seong-min yelled something.
The stage was noisy when suddenly a g with Leobold¡¯s picture on it appeared.
¡®Why me all of a sudden?¡¯
He wanted to know the time period and looked at someone¡¯s nice watch.
It was January 2048.
¡®It¡¯s right after I killed gue Queen and left for Nox.¡¯
It hadn¡¯t been long since the legion strike fleet returned to Earth, but it hade to this point.
It was really surprising.
Would it have been better if he had sorted everything out and left?
Leobold knew that it wasn¡¯t.
Arma was not a system that could be reced, and once he decided to go with him, this future was inevitable.
The only thing left was how well they could cope with the chaos caused by his absence, but it didn¡¯t seem to go well from this atmosphere.
Bae Seong-min shouted something and people waved gs with his picture on them enthusiastically.
¡®Were they shouting my name?¡¯
Leobold wished that Earthlings would forget him.
He wanted them to break free from him, the dictator, and regain democracy and independence in the true sense.
Although there was no artificial intelligence, they should not have been materiallycking, considering the legion strike fleet, the megacities, and other facilities.
But they were still shouting his name.
¡®Did they need me, or was it just a symbol?¡¯
He couldn¡¯t tell because he couldn¡¯t hear the sound.
He was gettingplicated when his consciousness was sucked somewhere and his vision recovered.
Leobold took his finger off the Saint¡¯s forehead and sighed deeply.
¡°This is the dream I had. It must be your past memory.¡±
¡°¡I don¡¯t understand. Why are you showing me this all of a sudden?¡±
¡°Are you going to hide it until the end? Why don¡¯t you join us now? The Holy Church is willing to be your stepping stone.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not a hero.¡±
¡°Hermine told me. That you are the hero. The agent of God who will save Astera.¡±
¡°¡¡±
This confirmed that she had God attached to her.
As long as there was such an ambiguous existence, he had no reason to cooperate with her.
¡°I¡¯m sorry. Saint. Let¡¯s end it here for today.¡±
His attitude was too firm for Veronica to continue the conversation.
¡°I understand. I hope we can have a constructive talk next time.¡±
After she left with the Holy Knights, Leobold immediately called Arma.
¡°Watch the Saint 24 hours a day from now on. If there is a ce where you can¡¯t enter because of a barrier or something, at least record her whereabouts.¡±
¡¸How about kidnapping her? The Holy Church is quite far away, so they won¡¯t notice us if we erase the traces.¡¹
¡°It¡¯s not time yet.¡±
Leobold had to establish a foundation of at least a national level before revealing his true colors.
By then, he would start the conquest project in earnest, so he could ignore any resistance, but not yet.
Above all, he couldn¡¯t ignore Hermine, the God who was attached to the Saint.
She didn¡¯t seem to withstand the anti-tank baptism, but the fact that she had no substance was holding Leobold back.
¡°What are you trying to do by bringing up my past memories and confusing me? What do you ultimately want?¡±
¡¸The goal of the Holy Church is to expand their influence, but they seem to have another purpose. They are digging up variousnds inside the church.¡¹
¡°Don¡¯t tell me they are looking for dragon bones like Elvrande?¡±
¡¸Maybe not dragon bones, but various artifacts¡ relics of God that were used in the Great War.¡¹
¡°Keep an eye on them. Be ready to blow them up if necessary.¡±
He had left them alone because they weren¡¯t interfering too much, but it might be better to quietly blow them up if they got worse.
He didn¡¯t want to make a fuss in the temple, but if someone kept bothering him, it would be natural for him to punch them.
As he watched the Saint Veronica leave the territory, Arma reported urgently.
¡¸Master, the ancient man in the capsule has opened his eyes. He has recovered from hisa.¡¹
¡°Can he talk?¡±
¡¸Yes. His mouth movements were not much different from the continentalnguage.¡¹
¡°Bring him here. I have some questions for him.¡±
***
As soon as he woke up, the man looked around and curled up in a defensive posture.
Considering that he hadn¡¯t fully recovered from the drug, he must have had amazing physical and mental strength.
Leobold stepped back with Arma and signaled that he was not hostile.
¡°You¡¯re awake now. I don¡¯t mean to harm you.¡±
He scanned their faces slowly and said.
¡°What era is it now? Who rules Astera?¡±
¡°Elvrande and Zaium. The two empires rule half of Astera.¡±
¡°What about Gram Empire?¡±
¡°It¡¯s been 200 years since Gram Empire disappeared. Now Gram Kingdom is continuing their legacy.¡±
¡°Damn it.¡±
The man spat out some coarse words that they couldn¡¯t understand and asked for one thing.
¡°Can I have some water? My throat is burning.¡±
Arma brought him some water and he drank it gulp by gulp and shook his head.
¡°Hu¡ I feel alive now. By the way, are you the ones who saved me? Do you know who I am?¡±
¡°We guess that you are Altima¡¯s champion. We don¡¯t know your name though.¡±
¡°If you know that much, it will be easier to talk. My name is Valgard Gram. I am Altima¡¯s champion and a member of Gram royal family.¡±
¡°Your surname is Gram¡ You might have descendants in the current Gram Kingdom. By the way, my name is Leobold Vandas. This is Arma, my exclusive maid.¡±
Arma bowed her head, but Valgard didn¡¯t even look at her and asked.
¡°Where did you find me? Why did you wake me up?¡±
¡°We found you by chance. You were in a temple under the sea. You were in a coffin made of adamantium. What kind of end did you face that you were there?¡±
¡°I¡ I¡¡±
Valgard closed his mouth.
¡°I¡¯m sorry. I appreciate that you saved me, but I can¡¯t tell you. It¡¯s a vow I made with Altima.¡±
¡°Altima is dead. It¡¯s been 200 years since the Great War ended. What¡¯s the point of your vow then?¡±
¡°It has meaning until my life ends. And my life hasn¡¯t ended yet.¡±
¡°That life has meaning because I saved it.¡±
Valgard red at Leobold for a moment and said.
¡°Do you want to die? You say that even though you know I¡¯m a dragon¡¯s champion?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t care what others fear, but not me.¡±
¡°That¡¯s impressive.¡±
Valgard stood up from the bed and it felt like a mountain was blocking him.
Leobold was like this, so ordinary people would fall into fear.
He rubbed off the sealing magic circle on his chest.
As the ether heart started to operate fully, Valgard¡¯s eyes widened.
¡°This power¡¡±
¡°Sit down. I¡¯m not below you.¡±
¡°Are you¡ a dragon?¡±
¡°I have a dragon who helps me. Not as much as Altima though.¡±
¡°You¡¯re not a dragon, but how can you have this much ether¡¡±
¡°Don¡¯t stand there and sit down, will you? Be sane.¡±
¡°¡¡±
The situation was reversed in an instant.
He growled and got up, but Valgard sat down like a puppy who had done something wrong, looking around.
Now he could have a conversation.
Leobold opened his mouth with a smirk.
Chapter 236: The Power to Kill a God
Chapter 236: The Power to Kill a God
Leobold was more interested in the circumstances surrounding the Dragon War than who won it.
He wanted to know the purpose of the war, the reason why information was blocked after it ended, and the true power of the gods and dragons.
What Im curious about is why the war happened. In this era, only the fact that the gods and dragons fought each other and various races took sides ording to their beliefs and interests is known.
I know a little bit.
Valgards attitude was quite softened after seeing his power.
He spoke with a low voice, as if recalling that time.
I heard that airships were not very active in this era, is that true?
Thats true. We were like beggars until wended on the floating continent.
Whats the floating continent?
Its an ind that rose up north of Astera after the war ended. There are thousands of them, so they look like a continent.
I didnt know that Anyway, in my era, airships weremon. Even ordinary people rode airships andpeted for how high they could go.
How high was the record for the highest altitude?
About 15km or so Im not sure.
Thats strange. The current airships cant reach that altitude.
I dont know about that, but there were many rumors about airships flying in the sky at that time. They said they were invading the realm of the gods.
The realm of the gods
The location of the Astera Pantheon was a topic of discussion in many temples. There was a heated debate over that issue, but most of them concluded that they were far away in the sky.
So you started a war because you invaded their realm?
There was also a divine mandate at that time. I remember it was a divine mandate from Urgos, the god of knowledge and magic, from his temple. It said to stop any further research on ether engineering.
Why?
Nobody knows. Anyway, that caused a lot of noise within the temple. The dragons naturally didnt like that divine mandate.
It seemed obvious that there were many conflicts between the gods and dragons.
But he wasnt sure if that was enough reason to lead to a war.
Valgard suddenly said he was hungry and asked for food.
Give me something to eat. Anything is fine.
Arma, bring him something generous.
As if he had prepared beforehand, Arma appeared shortly with a tray full of food.
Valgard smiled with his ferocious face and said.
A person who is generous with food cant be called a viin. I like you.
Lets talk after you eat.
Leobold waited until he finished his meal.
He also drank some strong peppermint tea as an aftertaste and finally finished his meal.
Hmm, its disappointing for something prepared by a count. Has ether technology as well as food culture declined?
Thats right. Compared to 200 years ago, there is no progress to be seen. People seem to have forgotten something and act ordingly.
I think thats the work of those pointy ears. They always didnt like what we did.
What exactly did the elves do?
One of my missions was to assassinate Ailid, who was researching magic rted to memory.
Ailid? Do you mean the elf who became the founder of Elvrande?
Probably yes. You look like Elvrande didnt reveal Ailids death, right? Well, they are like that anyway.
If this was revealed, Elvrande would use all means to kill Valgard.
Ailid was more than a national treasure.
Thats beside the point, but magic rted to memory Dont tell me they used Yggdrasils branches to erase the memories of all Asterans?
I dont know for sure, but it makes sense and has a high possibility even if they tried something sinister. Those pointy ears should all die.
It seemed unlikely that they would go that far, but seeing them use Yggdrasils branches to cause famine in nearby kingdoms, he couldnt deny itpletely.
It was possible that they abused Ailids great research and buried everything.
Leobold was lost in thought when Valgard stroked his chin.
Wait, there must be quite a few pointy ears alive now.
Theyre probably making trouble in the Grand Council.
Thats good. To celebrate my new life, I have to go kill them.
By yourself?
Im Altemas champion and godyer. Well, I might be a bit inferior to you, but I dont think Imcking in killing a few pointy ears.
Godyer. I didnt know that a mere champion could kill a god.
Valgard snorted.
The Astera Pantheon is nothing special. The powers they give us are just powers, not true strength. They might feel like transcenders to ordinary Humans, but theyre nothing to me.
So youre saying that champions are superior to them in purebat power. Which god did you kill?
I cant tell you that.
Is that also because of a vow? Im starting to get annoyed by your questions.
He threatened to smash him if he lied, and Valgards eyes twitched.
Damn, I dont remember. Do you think the Astera Pantheon is one or two? There are hundreds of them, how can I feel who I killed in battle?
You should have said that earlier.
Leobold withdrew his gaze.
It was a great gain to know that he could kill a god.
After all, the Astera Pantheon was not really gods.
The only being he recognized as a true god was the Prophet.
Valgard looked at him with curiosity.
By the way, who are you? How did you get a power simr to a dragon?
I have to have a secret or two, right?
Damn, I knew you would say that.
What I can tell you is only one thing. I need a skilled person for my purpose, and youre no exception.
So I have no choice I guess.
You have nowhere to go in this era anyway. Youll cause trouble wherever you go and eventually perish. Without Goliath.
If only I had my Goliath
Are you talking about the one that looks like a dragon? The gray one?
Valgards eyes widened.
You found it? Where was it?
If you swear to be my subordinate, Ill tell you. Ill even give you back Goliath. Well, what will you do?
Youre always like this, arent you? You corner me in an alley and cut off my escape. Youre very good at that.
Ill take that as apliment. I want to hear your answer.
I owe you for saving me and I have nowhere to go anyway Fine, Ill entrust myself to you. Just tell me who to kill.
You dont have anything to do for now. Its not time to show your power yet.
By the way, didnt you say you had a dragon to help you earlier? Let me meet him. Im curious how he survived that war.
Leobold couldnt say that Jigaleon didnt fight and only ran away.
Hes a dragon, but he might be weaker than a champion.
He made a usible excuse.
I have some business to attend to, so Im not in the territory right now. Instead, Ill show you Goliath.
Youre calling me you now, instead of sir. Maybe soon youll call me you.
Are youining?
No, lets see Goliath first.
***
Goliath, in the shape of a dragon, was stationed in a hangar on the outskirts of Lantis City.
He was so huge that he was not standing like other Goliaths, but lying down.
This made Valgard lose his temper.
Damn, why did you leave him like this?
Because he has a tail. And I cant just expose him to the public.
I heard there are still Goliaths in this era.
Maybe, but none of them are as monstrous as this one. His shape is quite different too.
It seems that 200 years have taken away not only the food culture and ether engineering, but also the Goliath manufacturing technology.
Just try it.
Are you sure?
Leobold nodded and Valgard quickly took the key sword and started Goliath.
On a dark night, the hangar opened and the giant dragon-shaped Goliath rose up.
There was no risk of being exposed because all kinds of magic, including optical camouge and invisibility, were spread over this area.
Albion Youre still intact despite the long time. The output is a bit low, but it will recover.
His name is Albion. Does he have any weapons?
The weapons are all over his body.
A faint ether formed on Goliaths body, and even his tail had hundreds of spikes and a long sword.
Leobold nodded.
He fights by getting close to the enemy and using his whole body.
He has enough power to shred even the Astra Pantheon. If you had seen me fight with Albion, you wouldnt have ignored me.
Why did you die then? Why were you sealed in the underwater temple?
It was to protect Altema. Thats all I can say.
I wont ask any more. If you feel like telling meter, talk to Arma. She knows everything, including the circumstances at that time.
I dont want to say that to a maid, no matter how much you favor her.
Some bureaucrats also said that, making him wonder if he should give Arma a title.
Shes my ears and eyes. The only person I can trust with everything.
That much? I see. Ill keep that in mind.
Valgard moved Albion for a while and then asked suddenly.
Arent you worried that Im riding Goliath?
What are you worried about?
What if I make a mistake and step on you?
Do you think you can beat me with that toy?
A toy? This is Albion, who was made after Altema, who even insulted the gods!
Valgard was excited, but he forgot his words when Leobolds ether heart reached its maximum output.
Entering overdrive mode.
At this point, Leobold looked almost like a golden man.
Ether overflowed from his body and Valgard stared nkly at it.
Is this beyond Altema Is this your real power?
Not 100%. ording to research, there is room for further increase.
Altema
Valgard got off Albion and approached him on his knees.
I lost. Damn, this is unbeatable. My life is yours. Do whatever you want.
You better not betray me. Im a mean and stubborn guy who doesnt forgive traitors.
You sound like a viin introduction.
I cant deny that Im a viin. I have ambitions to conquer Astra.
Valgard burst intoughter.
Do you want to be an emperor or something? Well, with that kind of power, you can dream anything. But what are you really? A gods avatar who survived the war?
Im neither a god nor a dragon. Just a human.
I dont believe it. If you were in the war, we would have won.
What if we did?
Who knows At least it wouldnt be a world where the elves are thriving.
I like that idea.
They chatted for a while and disappeared, and somewhere golems appeared and cleaned up.
***
Valgard Graneo. He wandered as a mercenary and settled in my territory. He has a warm heart despite his appearance, so please wee him.
Graneos surname changed to Gran in Zolji, and he frowned once, but didnt make a fuss.
He was not affiliated with the security organization led by Granden, but with the floating continent squad.
He was so strong that he had a separate blocking circuit engraved on his ether heart, and Zion felt it and tilted his head.
Why did you put something weird in your ether heart?
Youre a dragon? Hmm
No matter how much Leobold wrapped it up, he couldnt hide his true abilities.
Moreover, Valgards body had various magic circles engraved on it, which were now obsolete.
One of them was to see through the essence of things.
He noticed Zionsbat power and showed disappointment.
Blue dragons are not such weak races You must be a coward to survive until now.
What? Lord, dont tell me you revealed my identity?
Leobold shook his head and Valgard red at him.
Im Altemas champion. Lets fight when we go to the floating continent.
This guy?
Zion was angry, but he didnt dare to attack Valgard.
He didnt know where he picked up such a guy, but he was strong enough as a human, and if he rode Goliath, he seemed to surpass him.
He hastily whispered in Leobolds ear.
Hey, lord, whats going on? Why is Altemas champion here?
Hes a guy I picked up from the pirate army. His skills are as you feel, and hell be fine if you step on him a little.
I look like Im being stepped on right now.
Is that so?
Leobold was so high up that he couldnt understand the gap between them.
Anyway, Valgard was strong enough to make Zion nervous even without riding Goliath.
He showed this and asked Zion for a handshake.
Youre a young dragon, huh? Im curious who your ancestor is, but lets ask thatter Lets get along well.
Uh, um
Of course, 700 years old was not a young age for a dragon.
Zion was mistaken for a young dragon in Zolji and couldnt correct him.
He reached out his hand.
Fortunately, Valgard seemed to like him just because he was a dragon.
Zion was dragged by him and looked back involuntarily.
Lord, save me!
Leobold ignored him.
He couldnt afford to turn back into his dragon form, or else Valgard would find out his age.
Anyway, he and the rest of the floating continent expedition left the domain with various materials.
Their goal was to build a forward base on the floating continent.
It was a base that included residential facilities and a proper mooring station, so it was nned to be operated by humans. Some soldiers were assigned to be under Valgardsmand.
The reason he was sent was because of the dangers of the floating continent and the nearby airship fleets of various countries.
He didnt know what they would do, so he needed someone with outstandingbat power.
A ship was also assigned to the base, but it was not a big problem because it was being built at the shipyard in the domain.
It looks like the 500-ton airship will bepleted in three months. After that, we n to expand the shipyard and increase it to a thousand tons.
The ships that would float on the sea were also almost finished.
When he had enough ships to form an expedition, he would be able to take over the pirate army as well.
But the expedition that left for the floating continent brought an unexpected report.
Lord, the Elvrande fleet is demanding a toll. They say theyll fire their ether cannons if we ignore them.
Elvrande finally drew their swords.
They had been watching Leobolds expedition dig up all kinds of resources on the floating continent, and finally ran out of patience.
Captain Hampton knew that, so he tried to run away from afar, but he reported that he couldnt because there were too many ships.
It looks like more than 100 ships, Im sorry, my lord.
Its not your fault. But cant you run away by operating the engine at maximum and raising the altitude?
It looks difficult. Theres also Zaiums fleet nearby
It happened to be near an ascending air current, so it seemed that they wouldnt be able to avoid a collision if they went up.
At that moment, another report came from Valgard.
Those Zaium guys are asking us to hand over our new recruits. What should we do?
They said they wanted to take over their new recruits, but they actually wanted to search their ships and investigate their engines to steal their secrets.
Arma made a hologram of the results taken by Siviri satellite in front of Leobold.
They blocked our way.
If they ignored them and went up, they would be bombarded.
Also, it took some distance to raise the altitude of an airship, but both fleets didnt give them that distance.
The size of both fleets was so huge that there was no way to escape.
Choose one of them. This is my specialty.
Leobold chuckled and ordered Arma.
Fire the etherser. Set the output to barely pierce through the atmosphere and attack the ship on the left side of the Elvrande fleet.
Reflector bits ejected, etherser fired.
A thin beam of light from Siberi satellite passed through the reflector bits and headed toward Terra.
Theser that barely prated through the atmosphere hit the Elvrande fleet directly and some airships caught fire.
The power was poor, but by chance, their ether propellers were destroyed and their sterns exploded.
Bang!
Aaah!
The ship is exploding!
Normally, there would have been amotion as sailors jumped off everywhere.
But at this altitude, jumping off meant nothing but death for them.
Levitation magic had its limits and most of the elves were swept away and fell as their ships tilted.
In the meantime, Elvrande fleet suddenly fired at Zaium fleet.
How dare you humans attack us? Fire! Dont spare them!
They mistook theser attack for an ether cannon.
Hundreds of cannons aimed at Zaium fleet and thick beams of light flew like arrows.
Zaium fleet, which was unexpectedly hit by fire, also immediately retaliated and the scene became a mess with nearly 200 airships exchanging fire.
Leobold called Hampton and ordered him.
Were lucky. Now. Raise your altitude in the direction where they are not.
Aye!
The expedition quickly increased its speed and altitude and left the scene.
Both fleets were caught up in a sudden battle and couldnt respond even though they lost sight of the expedition.
A littleter, Valgard asked in a subtle tone.
Was that your order just now? It doesnt look like an ether cannon no matter how I look at it.
Imagination is free, you know.
I heard from the sailors that you are a hero from another world Did you attack from a giant ship hidden somewhere?
Ill have to shut up those sailors soon.
But he doubted if that would work.
Until recently, it was only a rumor known to the influential people, but now that the sailors knew, it seemed like a matter of time before children would run around saying they were heroes.
Anyway, the expedition was able tond on the floating continent without any damage.
The sailors went down first and unloaded the golems and materials, and the forward base began to be built.
Valgard stepped on the floating continent and muttered.
Its surprisingly warm here. It must be because of the branches of Yggdrasil.
That was also his mission, to find them.
But he felt something strange.
There was something that resonated with his ether heart on this ce.
Its not a dragon, but something like a fragment of a god Youre a cute one. Ill find you.
Meanwhile, the Elvrande and Zaium fleets that missed the expedition were pouring out a tremendous amount of fire.
Due to the sudden outbreak of the battle, the treaty that both sides had signed for a year was broken.
There wasnt much time left, but it was clear that the treaty was broken and both sides tried to me each other.
Elvrande fired first! Anyone with eyes can see that!
Who are you trying to me for your preemptive attack?
Since it was such a ce, there was no evidence left and joint investigation was impossible.
As a result, the peace mood that had been barely established between the two empires was shattered in an instant.
Leobold predicted that Elvrandes madman Kairos would move now.
Lets see how good you are at assassination.
Or maybe he would call it assassination when there were no witnesses left after killing them all?
Chapter 238: The Resting Place of the Soul
Chapter 238: The Resting ce of the Soul
Its quite a big branch for a tree.
Well, the main body of Yggdrasil is hundreds of kilometers up. The roots must be at least that big.
Leobold and Arma looked at the branch of Yggdrasil that Valgards expedition team had discovered.
The so-called branch of the World Tree, also known as the Fragment, was glowing with a brilliant golden light and upied an ind.
What was surprising was that a new branch was sprouting on the adjacent ind.
Does Yggdrasil automatically create its own clones? What do you think?
ording to the information collected from Elvrande, Yggdrasil cannot reproduce or graft. It only forms branches by its own will.
I guess it has to do that much to be worshipped as a god.
The elves believed that ether came from this tree, but that was not true.
Ether came from the ether sun far away in space, and the exact ability of Yggdrasil had not been revealed yet.
It seemed insufficient to just store ether and make the surrounding soil fertile.
It also stabilizes the atmosphere and temperature. For example, the temperature at the north and south ends of Elvrande is almost the same. The same goes for the floating continents.
Thats impressive, but its not enough
Leobold wanted to move the branch for research.
It seemed possible to move the whole ind with the Settler, but he was worried about the impact on the floating continent.
It would be troublesome if the temperature suddenly dropped below zero and breathing became difficult without the branch.
Theres no point in worrying. Lets just move it.
On the scene, Zigarion returned to his main body and flew with Lucia on his back.
Hey, little witch. The lord wants to move that branch. What do you think?
Easy. Just use the Settler
Whats a Settler?
Oops. Its nothing. Dont worry about it.
By the way, your shoulders are stiff. You need a massage.
Zigarion, who was talking in a threatening tone, was suddenly startled by a monster that popped out.
What, what, what is that demon?
Thats my main body. Isnt it big and beautiful?
Big and beautiful my ass! Isnt that what humans call the Demon King?
Even Zigarion, whocked knowledge, could recognize the demons and demon kings from another world.
The huge metal monster with several legs roaming around the floating continent could only be described as a demon king.
Lucia bit his skin hard.
Didnt youpliment me for being pretty and cool?
It must be him who has bad eyes! How can you say thats pretty Aaah!
Then Zigarion started to be sucked into the floating continent.
Lucias main body used gravity magic to pull him in.
He could have easily escaped if he had reacted calmly, but hecked experience and courage.
As a result, he became a dragon who was dangling in mid-air.
-Say it again, who am I?
Youre obviously a demon king! A huge one! What do you think humans will say if they see you?
Lucia suddenly ran out of words and let him go.
Her master Leobold and Arma were also worried about that part.
She would eventually grow up to be a demon king and destroy the surrounding civilization.
She was depressed by her fate that she might be her masters enemy in the end.
Leobold, who was watching their antics through a satellite, paused his work and spoke to her.
Lucia, are you okay?
Im fine, master.
You dont look fine at all. Dont mind what Zigarion says.
But its true that Im different from others. Im a demon king who has been rejected by Asterias Ains since ancient times. I dont know when Ill show my true colors
Did I ever tell you what Lucia means to me?
Nope.
Lucia was my lover.
She was taken aback by his unexpected words.
She thought he had just picked a random name, but she was his lover.
Leobold spoke to her in a gentle tone as if he was talking to his original Lucia.
She was also my teacher and my life partner. And she died by gue Queen.
So I killed her in another dimension
No, it wasnt you. That was a different entity.
But I cant escape from my fate. Ill end up bing a monster anyway.
Then change your fate. Just like I went back to the past and fought against gue Queen, you can change your fate too. Have you ever thought about choosing to fight with me against gue Queen?
-Master
I wont lie and say I expected that when I named you. But I decided to trust you. So please trust me too. I wont let you be like gue Queen.
Lucia was silent for a long time.
Then she seemed to make up her mind and said in a lively voice.
I wasnt with you when I was born, so I want to die with you when I die.
Do you know how horrible that sounds depending on how you imagine it?
You wanted to meet the Prophet, right? I want to meet him too. Just grant me one wish.
What wish?
Ill tell you when we meet.
His consciousness was cut off there.
Lucias main body flew around the floating continent as if nothing had happened, and they started to bicker again.
Leobold felt the need to reveal the Settler to Zigarion.
Now that hes seen Lucias main body, theres no need to hide it
Zigarion was stupid, weak, and cowardly, but he was not a bbermouth.
He had never spilled any secrets and had not been exposed as a dragon.
At least he had a tight mouth.
He didnt seem to weigh even 1g from what he did normally.
Anyway, he couldnt keep hiding the Settler since he couldnt move Yggdrasil by ordinary means.
Its a bit faster than nned, but it shouldnt matter much.
They were people who couldnt get away from him since they came this far, like Valgard.
And someday he would have to reveal the Settler to the whole Asteria continent.
Arma, remove the optical camouge and install the blocker.
Yes, understood.
The spaceship that boasted a mass of one million tons and a length of 700 meters revealed itself.
Zigarion was flying leisurely over the floating continent with Lucia on his back, and was shocked.
What, what is that?
***
Zigarion had secretly been proud of being thest surviving dragon in Asteria and a huge creature.
In fact, there were not many objects in Asteria that exceeded 50 meters in length.
The only ones that were different in scale from him were Yggdrasil and airships, but the former was almost a divine being, so it was out of the question.
Naturally, the only thing that couldpare with him was an airship, but he felt superior to them in every way.
First of all, I weigh more than them! And they are too slow!
It was strange that he felt proud of his weight when he could have shown his superiority in various ways as a dragon.
Anyway, Zigarion was proud of being bigger than almost anything else.
But then, here came the Settler.
He almost fell when he saw the huge spaceship with living metal floating above him.
-What, what is that?
Thats the ship I came on. I sailed across the sea of space and came here.
A ship? It doesnt look like a ship at all. And why is it so ridiculously big? Its an absurd size!
There was no need to exin that it had a supermassive particle elerator built in and thats why it was so big.
Calm down and listen to me. Have you heard the rumor that Im a hero from another world?
I heard it. It didnt seem like many people believed it though.
What if its true?
A hero from another world So another world is a ce where you need something like that?
It was not just big, but also had an overwhelming weight.
And he could feel a huge amount of ether from its bow.
To Zigarion, that ship felt like a monster hiding an enormous power.
He wondered what he had eaten wrong and found some leisure and flew around the Settler.
Thats a ship? Damn, I cant believe my eyes! This is crazy!
Oh, be quiet! Youve never seen anything like this?
Never!
As they quarreled, the Settler activated its ether reverse field and quickly disappeared.
Zigarion tried to chase after it with his advantage in speed, but gave up when he saw it getting farther away.
Its incredibly fast. Where is that ship going anyway?
Im going to drop it off at Pirate Ind. Ill set up ab there and do some research.
Lord, I suddenly want to ride that ship.
Ill let you ride itter, so give up for now. I have too much work to do.
You have to let me ride it, you have to!
Okay, okay.
He promised like a child and put his hand on themunication device that started to sparkle.
Valgards expedition team must have found something.
***
Lord, I think weve found a fragment of God. A ship built by Gram Empire 200 years ago.
A ship from 200 years ago must be rotten.
No, its surprisingly intact. It looks much better than our fleet.
Really? Is it because of the fragment of God?
It looks like it could fly into the sky any moment. Its just dusty.
Does it have a mind? Can you talk to it?
Wait a minute. Were exploring the inside right now.
Soon Valgard called again after finding something.
We found the captains room. Theres a guy stuck there, but he seems crazy. Its hard to talk to him.
Cant you talk to him at all?
Youll see if youe and listen, but he doesnt make any sense. Hes rambling.
Then we have to bring it whole and talk to it.
How do you do that?
The ind where the airship was stranded was not very big, so it seemed easy to move.
The Settler, which quickly went back and forth between the floating continent and Pirate Ind, appeared above Valgard and Albion, who had returned the expedition team.
Lord, I think Im seeing something unbelievable.
Its not unbelievable. Its the ship I came on.
By Altema So the rumor that youre a hero from another world was true?
Thats right. You must have a lot of questions, but wait a minute. Im going to move the ind as it is.
This is really
Valgard shook his head and moved aside with Albion.
Soon after, the Settler activated its gravity crane and lifted the ind, heading southeast.
Leobold exined what had happened, but it didnt seem to make sense.
Well, his journey was too long and deep to exin in this short time.
To be honest, I didnt understand what you were saying. But one thing seems certain. Your conquest of Asteria was not a joke.
I only revealed this to Zigarion and you. Id appreciate it if you kept it a secret for a while.
Of course. Thats natural. By the way, what kind of ce is the world where only humans live?
Well, it depends on your perspective, but I think the world where people live is simr.
So its the same there too. I understand.
And theres one thing I want to ask you Do you know about Grakies?
ck Dragon Grakies. I know him well. Hes one of the few dragons Ive fought personally.
I heard he uses ck magic. What are his exact abilities?
Dont tell me Grakies has resurrected. What happened?
Leobold told him about the elf and Kairos.
He said in a hollow voice.
Those bastard elves are not satisfied with ughtering humans, they even try to defile the glory of the past. Leave it to me. Ill take care of it myself.
Valgard was inferior to Kairos in terms of ether heart output, but he was a type that covered it with his immensebat experience and gold dragon power.
On the other hand, Kairos was out of his mind and had to fight with his ck magic blocked.
Also, Kairos Goliath was mediocrepared to Valgards Albion, which had an output of over 300E.
Arma guessed that Valgard would have a significant advantage in their fight.
But Leobold didnt intend to kill him right away.
ording to the schedule, Im thest one. So Im going to be the hero who barely stopped him with a fatal wound.
Hah Thats your style. I dont like it, but I have nothing to say. But do you know this?
What?
The fragment of God you just took away. He was Cain, a god who deals with souls.
He deals with souls
To be precise, he guides souls. Thats why people used to put a penny in the mouth of the dead. As a fare.
Where does he guide them?
Only Cain knows that.
I guess I have to ask him myself.
Hespletely crazy though.
Anyway, Valgard continued to explore the floating continent and ended the conversation.
Leobold boarded a shuttle called by Arma and headed for Pirate Ind.
The entire ind of thousands of inds was covered with Settlers ether reverse field, and a huge ind wasnding in the middle.
Cool.
The ship with the fragment of God was quiterge for a ship built 200 years ago.
Of course, it was infinitely smallpared to Settler or the ind, but it looked like at least 5,000 tons.
It was true that Foltorn said that airships were much bigger in the past.
Maybe his ancestor was involved in building this ship.
The shuttle dropped him on the deck and Arma led him to the captains room.
As soon as he entered the dusty captains room with old-fashioned decorations, a faint voice greeted him.
You are This is Rasas revtion
Who are you? What are you talking about?
I dont see. I feel the power hidden in your chest
It seems to feel the relic of Prophet that Master absorbed.
He must be a god.
He had met quite a few people who noticed his power so far, but this was only the second time someone felt Prophets relic after gue Queen.
Leobold decided to bluff.
I am Rasas representative. I came to thisnd with his will.
Ooh, our creator! The true master of Asteria! Ive been waiting for your representative!
Tell me. Who are you? And how did you end up here?
My humble name is Cain Thats what humans called me
The humble confession of Cains whereabouts flowed out.
Leobold ignored everything else, but he clearly heard that the soul he guided was Yggdrasil.
The function of that huge tree was not to emit ether, but to store souls.
So Yggdrasil is full of souls right now.
-Its not necessarily so Its because the elves used it
How? Why did the elves use it?
-The souls gathered in Yggdrasil are almost like soulless lumps of energy They dont have much power either But if you refine those souls in the Infinite Circuit, you can create a huge being A god, as the Ains call it
Leobold felt a shock as if someone hit the back of his head with a hammer.
They could make a god.
And the elves had used it.
The reason why Yggdrasil emits ether was a propaganda to make people believe that.
At this point, he remembered one of the reasons why the Great War broke out.
The elves wanted to stop Asterias development to prevent gue from evolving.
If thats the case, there must be something on thisnd that gue needs to evolve.
He had no idea what it was at this point.
And Leobold didnt agree with the elves either.
Humans were a race that had the potential to ovee gue and reach far into space someday.
If Earths science and technology and Terras ether technology arebined, it would be possible.
If they could transcend dimensions and time, wouldnt they be able to travel faster than the speed of light?
If it werent for gue, humans in the 22nd century would have done that.
He was lost in thought when Arma reported urgently.
Master, Kairos has started his activity.
Leobold looked up and saw the horribly destroyed pce, the wreckage of Goliath, and the corpses everywhere.
Kairos had left the bordend and attacked the human kingdom.
It wasnt an assassination, but pure destruction.
The Goliath he used was not Elvrandes model, but Ziums repaired one. He also cut off his ears, so you cant tell his race by appearance.
So he wants to stop Asterias development like that
He would leave him alone for a while, but if he stepped into Vandus County, he would have to give up his life.
Then Cain said something curious.
-Hmm, theres a branch of Yggdrasil nearby. Its a clean branch with no souls. It will be a good resting ce
Can branches store souls too?
-Of course. If you ept my power, you can store any soul. Even if its not the original soul
Maybe he could get the souls of the mad elf and the ck dragon too.
Leobold looked at Kairos, who was running on a horned bird toward his next prey.
Now the continent would be sucked into an uncontroble chaos.
-Its not necessarily so Its because the elves used it
How? Why did the elves use it?
-The souls gathered in Yggdrasil are almost like soulless lumps of energy They dont have much power either But if you refine those souls in the Infinite Circuit, you can create a huge being A god, as the Ains call it
Leobold felt a shock as if someone hit the back of his head with a hammer.
They could make a god.
And the elves had used it.
The reason why Yggdrasil emits ether was a propaganda to make people believe that.
At this point, he remembered one of the reasons why the Great War broke out.
The elves wanted to stop Asterias development to prevent gue from evolving.
If thats the case, there must be something on thisnd that gue needs to evolve.
He had no idea what it was at this point.
And Leobold didnt agree with the elves either.
Humans were a race that had the potential to ovee gue and reach far into space someday.
If Earths science and technology and Terras ether technology arebined, it would be possible.
If they could transcend dimensions and time, wouldnt they be able to travel faster than the speed of light?
If it werent for gue, humans in the 22nd century would have done that.
He was lost in thought when Arma reported urgently.
Master, Kairos has started his activity.
Leobold looked up and saw the horribly destroyed pce, the wreckage of Goliath, and the corpses everywhere.
Kairos had left the bordend and attacked the human kingdom.
It wasnt an assassination, but pure destruction.
The Goliath he used was not Elvrandes model, but Ziums repaired one. He also cut off his ears, so you cant tell his race by appearance.
So he wants to stop Asterias development like that
He would leave him alone for a while, but if he stepped into Vandus County, he would have to give up his life.
Then Cain said something curious.
-Hmm, theres a branch of Yggdrasil nearby. Its a clean branch with no souls. It will be a good resting ce
Can branches store souls too?
-Of course. If you ept my power, you can store any soul. Even if its not the original soul
Maybe he could get the souls of the mad elf and the ck dragon too.
Leobold looked at Kairos, who was running on a horned bird toward his next prey.
Now the continent would be sucked into an uncontroble chaos.
Chapter 239: The One Who Craves Blood
Chapter 239: The One Who Craves Blood
Kairos swung his sword indiscriminately as he rode on Goliath.
All that was left in his wake were pools of blood, debris, and corpses.
He did not even use the power of the ck Dragon, but no one could stop him.
Sometimes, there were mercenary groups or knight orders with great fame that appeared, but they were no different from humans in their fate.
You bastard! Youre nothing but a murderer! What grudge do you have against us!
Grudge Grudge, you say!
ng!
The sword made of living metal pushed back the steel greatsword.
The knight could not cope with Kaiross relentless assault and had to retreat continuously.
Why was his weapon the only one that got damaged when they exchanged sword strikes?
And with a heavy sound, the knights sword finally flew away.
Kairos stabbed his sword into Goliaths abdomen.
My name is Kairos. Im a man who lost everything at the hands of humans.
What did what did we do to you
You killed my family, my friends, everything. I swore as I held their corpses. I will not spare any human on this earth.
Do you think this massacre is justified for that reason
Who will judge me! I am Kairos!
The greatsword pierced through Goliaths belly.
The knight tried to escape from his seat, but his neck was slowly cut and he died.
Kairos pulled out his sword and looked at it.
There was thick blood on it.
Blood My mothers body was also stained with this blood
He had sworn while holding his unconscious mother.
He would kill a hundred humans for every drop of blood.
He looked at the soldiers who were terrified of him.
Are you afraid already? I havent even started yet. You weak humans.
Thud!
Goliath stepped on a soldier.
A clear mark was made on the ground where blood flowed like a stream.
The soldiers sobbed and whimpered.
Some of them even knelt down and begged for mercy.
Please spare us! Spare us
Kairosughed mockingly and joyfully as he jumped around.
Soon, the wide garden was dyed with blood.
My father must have also begged for his life But you answered him with a de to his stomach
A foul smell rose from the blood on the floor.
Kairos felt a surge of murderous desire from somewhere in his chest.
It was the soul of the ck Dragon that he had extracted with dark magic.
More, more, I want more souls.
Ill give you what you want. Ill make you swim in ake of blood.
His next destination was naturally decided.
The Zaium Empire, the most populous in the continent.
Kairos headed that way.
At that time, his actions were surprisingly not exposed.
It was because he had destroyed only small kingdoms near the border.
He had sworn to kill a hundred humans for every drop of blood while holding his unconscious mother.
He hated and wanted to kill all humans, but he could not ignore the orders of the Council.
It was also more efficient to kill one royal than hundreds of soldiers.
Thats how Kairos entered the Zaium Empire and raised an army of corpses from the bodies he killed.
Rise, you soulless dead. Your enemies are over there!
As the ck magic of the ck Dragon spread, a city near the border became and of death.
One dead rose and made ten humans dead, and one city was swallowed in an instant.
The Zaium army could not stop this.
Kairos diverted their attention and used a horned bird to quickly advance to the imperial capital.
They were too busy to fend off the sudden outbreak of undead to check on a suspicious human.
And something unbelievable was happening in the imperial capital.
A space portal opened out of nowhere and Goliath appeared.
And that was in the busiest street of the capital.
People who were familiar with Goliath thought it was some kind of event, but they were wrong.
As the greatsword swung, dozens of lives were taken at once.
Aaaah!
Elegant buildings copsed and thick blood sprayed in the air.
People only realized their horror and ran away.
Kairos swung his sword at anything that moved.
I will take a hundred lives for every drop of blood we shed!
The citizens died without knowing why, and the guards rushed out but met the same fate.
In the midst of the storm of blood, the captain of the guard contacted the imperial army, including the pce, and several Goliaths came out.
They were knights who stayed in the capital, so they were not ipetent, but they were like wooden dolls in front of Kairos.
Their armor tes were cut like cheese by a strike filled with ether, and their thick abdomen was pierced in one breath.
One unlucky Goliath had his waistpletely severed and sprinkled his masters blood on the ground.
This was nothing but a one-sided ughter.
Even High Knights came out, but the result was the same.
Kairos finally crushed the abdomen of a fallen Goliath with his foot.
Huff, huff
He breathed heavily in the cockpit.
He was an elf after all, even if he had epted the soul of the ck Dragon.
He had his limits in stamina, and he had been exhausted since he entered Zaium.
But he could not stop.
His thirst for blood and vengeance burned his life force and made him move.
Die Die
It didnt matter if his life ended before he destroyed all human kingdoms.
The Council would be satisfied with inflicting a great blow to humans, and he would close his eyes after fulfilling his revenge.
Kairos looked at the pce that rose in the dark with bloodshot eyes.
The emperor and hundreds of royals would be enough to pay for their remaining blood.
***
Late at night, Count Vanduss territory.
Leobold heard a thumping sound as he stood in his office.
Captain Granden was knocking on the door as if he would break it down.
He opened it and Granden came in with a panicked face.
Whats wrong?
Sir, sir, theres big trouble! The emperor of Zaium has been assassinated!
The hard part about lying is that you have to act.
Fortunately, Leobold was an experienced actor who had been through many situations like this for years.
He staggered for a moment and barely regained his bnce.
Assassinated? Assassinated? The emperor of Zaium is dead How did this happen?
I dont know. Suddenly we got a message from Count Croitzs territory saying that the emperor was killed and then they hung up.
This is no ordinary matter. Dere a state of emergency in our territory. Dont tell the citizens, just prepare the key officials and soldiers.
Yes!
And have Goliath ready to march at any time. Tell Cain toe to the meeting room as soon as he gives orders.
Right away.
Granden disappeared like a wind and Leobold slowly headed to the meeting room.
In fact, he had been watching this situation from beginning to end.
Even at this moment, Sibiris satellite was tracking Kairos and his movements were clearly visible on screen.
Kairos had just infiltrated Rozelon of Bagran at that time.
He was wounded and exhausted from fighting in Zaium, but his movements were still vivid.
Soon Prince Ruad and other royals would die.
I have no personal feelings. But you are not needed for new Bagran.
To be honest, he wanted to spare Prince Ruad if possible.
He was sensible and had a good sense of judgment in everything.
He did not impose excessive taxes on his direct territories and was regarded by the people as apetent ruler who led Bagran normally, if not brilliantly.
These days, being ordinary was enough to earn praise.
But Leobold, who would lead Bagran in the future, did not need the Ether bloodline.
To be precise, there was no ce for those who wielded power with the Ether bloodline as their weapon.
Thats why they have to die. As the representative of those with the Ether bloodline.
If he died, the remaining royals would try to lead Bagran, but they would notst long.
The Galisto Kingdom, which was ahead in national power, or the nobles of the west would bring their tes and knives, and their fate was already decided.
Leobold would swallow everything.
It wasnt supposed to be like this
ording to Armas roadmap, Prince Ruad was supposed to lose his power in the war with Galisto and go on a wandering path.
But the n was slightly distorted when Elvrande threw in a mad killer.
It did not affect the overall roadmap much, but it was an unpleasant fact for Leobold.
At least thousands will die and the human side will be divided. So you have to pay a simr price.
An eye for an eye, blood for blood.
Even if they didnt know that, it didnt matter much.
Arma, pick out a few candidates for bombing. Preferably near themand center.
I will select 10 candidates.
Leobold nodded and entered the conference room.
In that short time, Carson, the administrative officer, Granden, Catina, Elwin, Bultorn, Stephina and other key figures of the territory were gathered.
Elwin, who was in charge of themunicationwork, opened his heavy mouth.
Its hard to believe, but the emperor of the empire has been killed. Yes, his death has been confirmed. The imperial pce is burning and the whole capital is upside down.
My goodness
God
Leobold gestured him to continue and Elwin moistened his throat with water and said.
The identity of the beast has not been confirmed, but it was confirmed that he was riding Zaiums official Goliath. There are reports that he is behind the undead army that has begun to appear everywhere, but it is not certain.
It was miraculous that they had found out about the situation of the empire at all. They had obtained a lot of information with just a fewmunication devices.
Elwin did not know if he knew of such a remarkable gaze or not, but he continued his report in an awkward tone.
It seems that not only the empire is upside down. Several kingdoms on the border have been engulfed in mes and many have confirmed this. Galisto is probably simr.
Imir, what about Imir!
Bultorn asked anxiously, but Elwin shook his head weakly.
The Imir Republic was not in Easthart region nor had it established friendly rtions with any other country, so it was silent.
Leobold opened his mouth.
If Galisto is hit, well be soon.
Then Granden jumped up.
My lord, please evacuate immediately. I dont know who the beast is, but there is a possibility that he is targeting you.
Thats right. Well stop him. How about you escape with Miss Arma?
Stefina also said so, but Leobold shook his head.
How can I leave my territory when I have a guest? I hear some noise.
They all thought that this should not happen and that they should stop him.
The lordsbat power that had captured Lantis County in one go was of course recognized by them.
But he wasnt stronger than the empire, was he?
What would happen if he confronted the monster that was destroying the eastern part of Astera continent?
Granden and other knights tried to forcibly stop him, but suddenly a big shock spread out.
Boom!
People staggered.
Something heavy seemed to havended on the ground.
Leobold shrugged his shoulders and went out and the rest just looked at his back.
Arma opened the door with a creak and greeted them before saying.
You must have heard all the instructions. If you do your assigned tasks faithfully, nothing big will happen.
She was not just a subordinate maid but also a close aide of the lord and a noble with a baron title.
They all reluctantly epted and got up.
***
Leobold looked ahead on Dingos back.
In the dark night, a Goliath covered in blood appeared in front of him.
His condition was very bad.
One arm was missing and his leg joint seemed to be broken as his shoulder was tilted.
Nevertheless, fierce Ether was spreading around him quietly.
It was amazing considering that Goliaths cockpit itself sealed Ether first.
And Kairos was burning with fierce murderous intent in front of him.
What moved him now was not Kaiross ego, but something closer to the ck Dragon Grakies.
As evidence, Arma was spreading a ck magic warning.
A wide-area curse is spreading. It is a curse that eats away at humans mind and breaks their will to resist.
He chose a rather good strategy, but he made one mistake.
Leobold was a human who was immune to such things.
Its the first time I see you, killer. How many people have you killed in thest few days?
Do you remember how many breads youve eaten in your life?
I do. 3,076.
Kairos, who was about to sneer at the expected silence, was momentarily flustered.
Thats right.
The man in front of him was not an ordinary human.
ording to the half-blind half-elf he had captured, he was a monster who surpassed the Elven Knight in power and destroyed the pirate army by himself.
But Kairos now was a monster that surpassed him.
His life me was fading, but it didnt matter.
As long as he could kill hisst target.
My name is Kairos. I am the one who has been granted the right to kill humans.
Who granted you that right?
The blood of my family and friends who died by humans, and all the other people.
I have nothing to do with that blood, what do I do?
Kairos shook his head fiercely even though no one saw it.
As long as you live and step on this continent, there is no human who has nothing to do with it!
Have you heard of the rumor of the hero from another world? Thats my nickname.
Youre making weird excuses because you want to live.
Its true. I have nothing to do with your grace. But I dont intend to avoid this fight either.
You made a good decision.
Kairos lowered his posture and Leobold spoke to him.
You epted the soul of the ck Dragon Grakies.
Suddenly, Kaiross Goliath writhed enough to catch his eye.
Fierce Ether spewed out of the joints and a growling sound came out.
Shut up if you want to die
You cant bear it with just an elfs body. Your body is being eroded ck.
Shut up
Grakies will soon devour your mind as well. Youre living on borrowed time.
Shut up!
Kaiross Goliath rushed forward and stabbed with his broken sword.
But his attack was blocked by a living metal shield that had opened up.
Living metal! You were a thief after all!
Dont mistake living metal for an elfs monopoly.
Kaiross Goliath was pushed back by a single shield strike.
He was already broken here and there, and it seemed that his drive system had reached its limit as he heard a bad sound.
Kairos regained his senses after being stunned by the shock.
He activated Ether at full power and entered overdrive mode.
A brilliant Ether de soared up to pierce the sky and Kairos stared at it nkly.
Ether de Haha, youre not human.
But I am a human.
The ck soul hidden inside him tried to swallow Goliath.
Now Leobold was facing not Kairos and Goliath, but Grakies who had died in the war.
Let me handle it Release your true power
Can you kill him, can you give me the power to kill him!
Of course.
Then take me!
When Grakiess ck soul tried to swallow Goliath, Leobold activated his Ether heart to the maximum and entered overdrive mode.
He drew a long line from the sky to the ground with his Ether de.
Ether exploded in a straight line and tore apart Grakiess barrier.
Kairos spat out blood from his mouth as he felt a pain that almost made him lose his soul.
Cough
Grakies lost consciousness and Kaiross ego that had sunk deep down was pulled up.
He struggled in pain and tried to back away.
Youre strong But that power wont protect your race
No, Im not here to protect them.
What?
Im here to clean up. Youre not the only one who wants blood.
Im sorry, but you have to be my prey. I just got something good.
Leobold jumped out of Goliath.
He felt the power in his left arm and Kairos widened his eyes.
That soul is Cains No!
Yes.
Chapter 240: How to Deal with the Situation
Chapter 240: How to Deal with the Situation
The process of absorbing other souls was a strange and ufortable experience.
Leobold felt something that should not enter his body invading his inner space.
He felt nauseous, a side effect of having multiple souls in one body.
His vision blurred and his right chest ached.
Cain, who was residing in his left arm, spoke in admiration.
Four souls in one body What a marvelous sight You are indeed the proxy of Rasa
Even those who were soaked in various drugs and had magic circles engraved on them had trouble handling two souls.
It was close to the limit of living beings.
But Leobold absorbed not only his own soul, but also the soul of Cain, Grakies, and Kairos, and he was fine except for some minor side effects.
Shut up, Cain, do your job.
Of course I will now lead them to the branches of Yggdrasil
Aaah!
This cant be! This cant be
The two souls screamed and struggled, but Leobold ignored them.
As the soul guide Cain used his power, a bright light burst from Leobolds head and stretched somewhere.
It was where the branches of Yggdrasil were located.
If they had been absorbed by the main body, their ego would have faded and they would have be docile, but they were surprisingly intact because they were trapped in the branches.
The soul guidance isplete, proxy of Rasa
Phew
Leobold opened his eyes, soaked in sweat.
He had more than a few questions to ask the two souls, but there was something more important to do now.
He gave an order to Arma.
Fire a weak etherser at me.
Are you sure? It might be better to just move you.
I fought a madman with a dragons soul and came out unscathed. I need to make some scars for my face.
Those scars would not only be medals for him, but also make his enemiescent that he was not perfect.
Dont make my ugly face uglier, just aim for my neck and shoulder.
Masters face is not ugly.
Youre not saying its handsome either.
After the pointless conversation ended, an etherser beam fell from the sky.
Goliath Dingo shook under theser bombardment and copsed with white smoke.
Now I just need to rest
Arma would take care of the rest of the schedule.
Leobold closed his eyes, enduring the burning pain in his shoulder.
The biochip in his body detected skin damage and injected painkillers from the biotic organ connected to it.
Meanwhile, Granden was hiding, but he was ready to jump out at any time.
He had to save the lords life at least, right?
He was willing to sacrifice his own life if necessary to rescue the lord.
But the situation went strangely.
They seemed to be fighting hand-to-hand, but then lightning struck from the sky?
Is it magic? Did that murderer use magic?
Leobolds Goliath, which had gained the upper hand, stopped moving and slumped down after being hit by that magic.
Before Granden could rush out, Arma acted first.
It seems that the lord has lost consciousness. Go and take him to the infirmary.
Yes!
Her subordinates rushed over and pulled Leobold out of Goliath.
Granden ran after themte and saw Leobolds wounds with furious knights.
Oh no, he has burns!
His breathing is irregr!
Arma calmly gave orders to the dummies.
Lay the lord down on a stretcher and cover his wounds with a cloth soaked in potion. Taking him to the clinic is our top priority.
The clinic was a public facility set up in various ces in the territory, where healers who studied botany and pharmacy alternated their shifts.
Anyone in the territory could use it, which was one of the differences between Vandus County and other territories.
As Leobold was carried away on a stretcher, Granden grabbed Armas sleeve anxiously.
What happened? Is the lord okay?
I dont know the details either, but it seems that his life is not in danger.
Thank goodness
We still have to deal with that Goliath somehow. The knight seems dead, but we have to get him out and protect him.
Why do we have to protect the murderers corpse?
Remember that the emperor was assassinated. There is a high chance that they will demand us to hand over Goliath and the knights corpse.
Thats
She had logic in her words.
Granden agreed and called his troops together.
Sir Elwin, gather your troops immediately and prepare tounch the airship. Sir Catina, proceed with the patrol as nned.
Captain, do you mean tounch the airship
It seems that something happened in Rozelon. Someone has to go and see. And dont touch the intruders corpse.
It was logical for him to go, who had a face with the royal family, since the lords survival was confirmed.
Granden looked west, where the royal road was.
He hoped nothing had happened, but it seemed unlikely.
Meanwhile, the hafnium warhead missileunched from Settler before the battle crossed the continent and locked on its target.
***
The missileunched from Settler had a warhead with a yield of 200 kilotons in TNT equivalent and a speed of 9 km per second.
This was one of the weakest and slowest missiles among the many missiles on Settler.
Nevertheless, it was enough to cross the Astera continent and find its target.
The coordinates entered in the missile were a secretboratory on the outskirts of Medea, the capital of Elvrande.
There was no radar or air defensework, so the missile easily flew into the designated coordinates.
The final evasion maneuver began, but the research facility was silent.
Then, a missile exploded and caused a massive st.
A huge crater appeared in the sky, followed by a shockwave that rivaled a tactical nuclear weapon.
It destroyed several core buildings in an instant.
There was no radiation, but the research staff were as good as erased by the terrible force.
The research facility vanished, but it took some time for the upper echelons of Elvrande to find out.
That was because their surveincework was only based on ether tracking systems.
They lived in a forest created by Yggdrasil, so most natural disasters were nullified.
They thought they only had to monitor the ether.
It was not a bad judgment in normal times, and they had no major problems until now.
But the missile loaded with hafnium was fundamentally different from those disasters.
The news of the research facilitys disappearance reached the Grand Council three hourster.
The 121st Research Facility has vanished! Most of the facilities are gone and we cant find any of the staff!
The councilors looked bored at the agent in front of them.
It did not make sense logically.
Calm down and exin clearly. What happened at the research facility?
As I said, the research facility is gone! If you allow me to use magic
I allow it.
The agent used an Imagine Record magic to show what he saw.
The councilors tilted their heads at the sight of a huge crater instead of a research facility.
Where did the research facility go and why is there only a hole?
Is this from somewhere else?
They did not notice the change and hated it, so their reaction to this sudden situation was very slow.
They had been living in the forest for over 200 years without any disasters or dangers, so they became slow to respond to everything.
No! Someone attacked the research facility for sure!
The hand that was leisurely sipping tea finally stiffened and his eyes widened.
Attack? Who did it?
Dont tell me Zaiumunched a Meteor Strike?
The agent panicked and immediately denied it.
N-no! There was no ether detected at the scene.
The ether became chaotic after the explosion, but it was quiet before that.
The tracking system did not alert anything.
The councilors finally entered the meeting with seriousness.
Of course, it was not a proper meeting.
What does the 121st Research Facility do?
We have more than one or two research facilities in our territory
They should have called their staff and searched for data, but they were annoyed.
I dont know which research facility it is, but its not an external act. It must have been a magic experiment.
Stupid fools, they should have been careful when dealing with dangerous magic.
Of course, the experiment to fuse the ck dragons soul with Kairos was so secret that few people knew about it.
The research facility itself was mainly researching ck magic, so it was treated more secretly.
Only a handful of people knew about the existence of the 121st Research Facility, and none of them were awake in the morning.
As a result, it took a whole day for Elvrandes administration to grasp the situation.
One of the three sages in the empire and the leader of Telis family, Kelodian, went crazy when he heard that the 121st Research Facility was annihted.
Why am I hearing this now? What were those intelligence agents doing?
As the agents exined what happened, he looked stunned.
You just let it go after hearing that? You damned old men
No matter how secret or out of jurisdiction it was, they should have called their staff and looked for data when they heard that a research facility was blown up.
But even as a sage, he could not interfere with the Grand Council easily.
It could lead to a conflict between the great families.
He bit his tongue and immediately dispatched agents to the scene.
He received detailed information and most of the rted people found out.
A ck magic research facility exploded? Without any ether traces?
Dont rule out Zaiums possibilitypletely. Who else could attack that ce?
If heunched a Meteor Strike, he would have hit several ces at once. It doesnt make sense to attack only one research facility.
The two great empires of Astera had designated Meteor Strike magic on each others capitals and several major cities.
Once the magic was activated, it was hard to stop.
It meant annihtion.
It was almost impossible to block Meteor Strike magic because of its nature.
Thanks to that, even angry people could not jump to conclusions.
They went to the scene personally and fell into shock.
The entire research facility was neatly gone.
Even the dragons bones were gone.
Thats strange Even if the soul escaped, the dragon bones shouldnt break
Maybe theyre buried under the soil? Lets look for them.
But what do we do about this The data is gone
Did Kairos contact us? What is he doing now?
An agent who wasmunicating with themunication device came to Kelodian and reported.
There is news that Zaiums emperor is dead. Several ces in Easthart Kingdom are devastated.
Thats good news. What about that bastard from Bagran? He must be dead, right?
The bastard from Bagran meant Leobold Vandus.
He had no interest in a minor noble from a human kingdom with a faint presence, but his recent actions made even the main leaders of Elvrande aware of him.
Thending on the floating continent and the leakage of living metal were not things to be overlooked.
Some people argued that he should be killed before he grew bigger, and Kelodian agreed.
But the agent said something unexpected.
He was fatally wounded, but there are rumors that he is not dead in his territory.
Is he lucky? Kairos must have been exhausted.
In fact, Kairos was not normal even before entering the empire.
He trapped a huge soul named Grakius in an elfs body, so he expected all kinds of side effects. It worsened a lot when he fought Zaiums knights.
He must have been almost dying after going through Galisto and Bagran.
Kelodian decided to cover up the situation at this point.
He lost the research data and staff, but it was not a big deal.
And more importantly, he achieved his goal of striking the human side.
ording to the informationing in, not only the Easthart Alliance, but also more than 10 kingdoms leaders were killed.
Elvrande was in a festive mood, and he could not pour cold water on it.
Lets end it here. By the way, where did the dragon bones go? Check if someone stole them!
The dragon bones were very important materials even if the soul escaped.
They were as hard and light as adamantium, so they were perfect for making Goliaths armor tes. But they went missing.
The elves did not dig the ground themselves, but called humans and beastmen from their autonomous regions to order them to work.
Hundreds of people dug the ground without eating or sleeping properly, but they could not find the dragon bones.
Ugh, someone must have stolen them.
It was probably some councilors who smelled something fishy.
Kelodian bit his tongue and buried the incident.
The hundreds of people who were mobilized for the work had to go back barefoot without anypensation.
The incident of the 121st Research Facilitys disappearance waspletely buried, but the chaos of the continent was just beginning.
***
Ah Aah
Eolin looked at the ruined pce with a nk stare.
She could not understand what had happened in thest few hours.
She heard a thud, followed by screams of servants and nging of knights greaves.
After that, she was locked in her room, but when she came out, it was like this.
There were countless corpses of people, and pools of blood were everywhere on the floor.
She suddenly smelled blood and looked at her hands.
They were stained with dark red blood.
No This cant be
Eolin frantically searched for someone on the floor.
Father Mother Brother Ad
She hoped they were alive, but all she saw with her tearful eyes were cold bodies.
She hugged the corpses of Bagran III and Prince Ruad and sobbed.
A sudden disaster took everything away from her.
Someone ran to her as she cried sorrowfully.
Princess, princess! Oh no! Youre alive!
She looked at him and recognized him as Conrad, the chief steward.
Lord Conrad!
Im d youre safe! Oh this
His face hardened with horror as he confirmed the destruction of the royal family.
He began to tell her what had happened as he held her in his arms.
It all started with an unidentified Goliath that suddenly appeared
An unidentified Goliath! Is it Vanduss doing?
Conrad looked at her with a sharp eye.
He understood her hatred for Count Vandus, but she should have put it aside when the situation was like this.
Princess, I also feel sorry as a servant of Bagran But you cant just sit here. You and Lady Ad are the only ones left in the royal family.
Ad, Ad is alive! Where is she?
She is being protected in a safe ce in the stewards office. What you need to do is get help from the grand lords.
Her face twisted with anger at his words.
Why do I have to rely on the grand lords? Isnt it because they did nothing that this happened?
There are not many people left alive. Princess
The pitiful voice of the chief steward brought her back to reality.
Most of the royal knights were dead, and so were the soldiers.
The situation was like this, but none of the officials came out.
That meant they also lost their lives.
The Bagran pce waspletely copsed.
There was not much she and a few nobles could do in this situation.
It was a big problem to clear up the ruins and recover the royal corpses.
There was now that prevented foreign intervention in that process. If something went wrong, even the royal family could be in danger.
The most obvious example was Galisto.
Eolins head went white and then barely regained consciousness.
What should I do Who should I ally with?
I know youre angry, but Count Vanduss side Lantissi is rtively close.
I cant do that!
She screamed sharply and Conrad closed his eyes briefly and opened them again.
Then Ill look for one of the grand lords in the west.
Please contact Duke Prozan if possible.
Im sorry, but Zaium Empire is also in trouble right now. There is an unclear news that the emperor was assassinated.
The emperor
If that was the case, Duke Prozans help would be hard to hope for.
The only one left was Duke Leyson Townsend, but Eolin hated him.
He was old, but he always coveted Eolin and caused a lot of conflicts with the royal family.
It was ridiculous for a man in his fifties to marry a young princess for his second marriage.
But there was no one else.
The other lords were too far away even if they rode pegasus. Duke Prozans territory was even farther away.
Only Count Vanduss territory was close, but Eolin would never join hands with him.
I have no choice Please contact Duke Townsend for now.
He might not ignore Duke Prozans request.
Then a shadow crept over her head as she was depressed.
They looked up and Eolins face brightened up.
Isnt that Altema? It belongs to the royal family, right?
His Highness Prince Ruad transferred ownership to Count Vandus a while ago
What does that mean?
Princess Eolin felt a chill down her spine.
Could it be that Count Vandus came in person?
Chapter 237: A Fair Trade
Chapter 237: A Fair Trade
Cami Croitz received a sudden order from the emperor and was dispatched to the kingdom of Bagran.
The order was to obtain some kind of technology from Count Vandus, who was the cause of the recent fleet bombardment.
Count Croitz thought that he would not give up the technology easily, but she had no choice but to follow the order.
She stopped by the royal pce of Bagran to discuss the situation of the bombardment, and soon after, she visited Leobold as well.
Prince Ruad, who had heard a separate message from the emperor, was on edge.
It was a critical situation that could trigger another war if anything went wrong.
Since everyone seems busy, lets get straight to the point. Count Croitz, tell us your purpose foring here.
It is an order from His Majesty.
A sealed envelope with the emperors seal was ced on the table, and the two stood up to show their respect.
A small knife opened the document, and Count Croitz read it aloud.
Gailord Zaium Vandel IImands. Prince Ruad Bagran of the kingdom of Bagran shall immediately prepare for war against Elvrande and report to Count Croitz.
Also, Count Leobold Vandus of the kingdom of Bagran shall write a report on this incident and submit it to Count Croitz, and prepare to transfer thending method or technology of the airship fleet.
Ruad and Leobold looked at each others faces without a word.
They knew that Zaium was in trouble because of the bombardment, but they did not expect that the emperor himself would intervene.
He was old and supposed to abdicate soon.
Did he suddenly regain his vigor in his old body?
The first one to speak was Prince Ruad.
Its been less than a year since the Easthart War ended, and now another war Bagrans finances are not so strong.
You dont have to worry about that. The managers of the finance department will help you.
Prince Ruad gave a faint smile.
Help meant lending money at a low interest rate.
He had no intention of borrowing money or going to war in the first ce. It was like a bolt out of the blue for him.
The sad thing was that he could not refuse it.
Bagran was not a vassal state of Zaium, but it was in a position where it could not ignore its influence.
The prince decided to make hisst resistance.
The count sitting next to me lost his family in the war. Its a pity.
It was a hint to stop there, but Count Croitz took it differently.
Then he must need a new family.
Youre talking nonsense
Ruad realized that he could not avoid being sent to war when he saw her determined face.
In fact, it was probably decided when the emperor gave his order.
A silent sigh escaped his lips, and this time Leobold opened his mouth.
What report are you talking about? I barely escaped by luck. I have nothing to submit.
It means that you have to submit the details of how you escaped. His Majesty seems to want to see this incident from a third partys perspective.
Fortunately, it did not seem like he intended to hold him ountable.
Then what about the secondnding method or technology Does this mean that you want me to hand over the means tond on the floating continent?
His voice was stiff, and Count Croitz tried to soothe him.
His Majesty knows very well that the empire is asking too much from you. You dont have to worry. He will give you enoughpensation.
But that meant that Zaium also wanted to dip its spoon into the honey of the floating continent.
It seemed harmless, so they wanted to create one for themselves.
Can I choose my ownpensation?
Count Croitz frowned slightly.
That was not in her n, but she had considerable discretion.
What is it?
I want one of your Goliath production lines. The equipment and know-how rted to Goliath manufacturing, and a line that can produce regr Goliaths independently.
The other two gasped at his bold demand.
This was equivalent to handing over Zaiums secrets entirely.
Any country would treat Goliath manufacturing technology as top secret, especially regr Goliaths.
Count Croitz said with difficulty,
Your demand is somewhat excessive.
I dont think so. Do you know how many times our fleet has been to the floating continent?
Four times?
Three times. We only went there three times, but we were able to earn a huge amount of money worth 500,000 gold.
500,000 gold!
Prince Ruad jumped up.
That was enough to cover Bagrans finances for several years.
She was surprised by the bigger number than she expected.
Did she think it was a honey pot, but it was actually ake of honey?
From my point of view, its not an excessive demand to share the wealth with the empire.
Indeed. Your demand has some merit. I have some discretion, but I will report this matter to His Majesty. Do you have any other conditions?
I want to receive the Goliath technology and personnel first.
It was a somewhat strange condition, but it was not important since he agreed to hand over the technology.
Count Croitz nodded, and Prince Ruad said with a somewhat bitter voice.
I didnt know you were making so much money.
Its all for the glory and honor of the royal family.
Glory and honor? Im sorry, but havent you been acting freely until now?
There are various facilities being built on the floating continent, including a mooring station. Once the outpost ispleted, the airships belonging to the royal family will be able to go to and from the floating continent without any problem.
So youre saying youll give us a chance to make money.
Of course, I wont skimp on financial support either. Please dont forget the oath I made.
How can I forget? I appreciate your loyalty as well, so dont worry.
Unfortunately, Bagran and Zaium would not be able to touch that money.
Soon, Kairos of Elvrande would start his activities, and the continent would be dragged into a cauldron of chaos.
Many royals would die, and that would surely lead to wars among the countries.
The emperor and Prince Ruad would not escape that fate either.
The assassin would also reach out to Leobold, but he had already prepared enough.
After the meeting was over, Prince Ruad ran somewhere saying he had to check the finances, and the remaining two drank tea in the garden.
Cami Croitz did not look at the garden that the royal family had carefully cultivated, but only stared at Leobolds face.
You seem to change your status every time I see you. Will you be a king next time we meet?
What are you talking about? I have sworn loyalty to the royal family of Bagran.
Its a joke. Anyway, I was very surprised by how you drove out Lantis. The generals in my country also asked me how you did it. They couldnt figure it out.
I was lucky. Lantis also made a foolish choice.
Lantis is greedy, but not stupid. You have hidden ambitions. I can see that from your attitude of trying to lower yourself.
Leobold closed his mouth and drank his tea, and Cami drew something on his hand with her finger.
I kissed youst time. Can I hear your answer?
What kind of answer do you want?
The word affair doesnt suit our situation. Ill be straightforward. Will you be my partner?
He was proposing to be a contract couple who supported each other.
The two nobles had simr standings in their respective countries, though their goals were different.
If they joined forces and helped each other, they could gain significant synergy.
But Cami was more likely to benefit from this deal.
All she could offer to Leobold at the moment was information from the empire and support for his position.
Her firm hand gripped his hand from above and pressed it.
The truth is, I was nning to set up a bridal chamber as soon as this incident was over. If you could stop by my territory for a few days, I would take that as a substitute for a wedding ceremony. You dont seem to mind by the look on your face, what do you say?
Its not a bad deal for me. I can secure a considerable position in the empire, and have you, Lady Cami.
Yes, you can have me. This Cami Croitz
Her eyes became coy and she approached Leobolds face.
They quickly ovepped their lips and after a moment she pulled away and licked her lips.
You agree, right? The rest of it lets continue after this incident is over.
I hope you wont be stingy when I visit your territory then.
Its a pity that there are too many eyes here. Its someone elses garden, after all. Well then
She left with her silver hair fluttering and Leobold drank the remaining tea.
Unfortunately, he wouldnt be able to enter the bridal chamber she had prepared with care.
The empire would be in chaos when the emperor died and she would be too busy to deal with it.
He would just take the Goliath-rted technology and leave, but what could he do about the situation?
This was a fair trade for Leobold.
At least he had intended to give something back.
***
The emperor of the empire did not trade.
He gave gifts in exchange for tributes, and the only exception was Elvrande.
So for the emperor of Zaium, other countries were not equal partners except for Elvrande.
But this did not only work against other countries.
The bureaucrats of the empire took great care to make the emperors gifts look decent, and in most cases, the tributary side gained much more.
Thats why countries like Galisto tried to increase the scale of their tributes, and the empire subtly pressured them to moderate.
They didnt want to run out of budget for the relevant agencies while preparing the gifts.
In that respect, the gift that the emperor of the empire gave to Count Vandus was quiterge.
More than 10 airships flew carrying Goliath-rted personnel and facilities, and technicians were dispatched to install them.
Ether stones and various tools and materials needed for magic filled one cargo bay, and there were plenty of gold-made crafts as well.
Including Lady Croitzs personal gift, it made people gossip.
This mark means that its a dowry from a woman who is in love
Do women send dowries in Zaium?
Thats quite a dowry Lady Croitz must like our lord very much.
Oh, Lady Croitz is not an ordinary person. Shes one of the top nobles in the empire.
Shes just a countess though?
Shes a power behind the throne, even if her rank is only countess. Croitz is a famous family in the imperial military.
Then what about Miss Arma?
He can afford to have another wife.
Shh, Miss Arma ising!
Look at her face. She wont bite anyone.
Anyway, the Goliath production facility made the cksmiths, including Vultorn, go crazy.
Look at this! What is all this?
They brought one of the empires Goliath production lines. It would have been nice if it was Bephar-ss, but unfortunately its Ose-ss.
Ose-ss Goliath was Zaiums main mass-produced machine with an output of 130E.
It was inferior to Bephar-ss, but superior to most other countries main machines.
The reason why Leobold wanted this was because Ose-ss was Bephar-ss with lower output and some functions removed.
It had almost the same potential as Bephar-ss, which meant that it could operate without problems when the output was increased.
In other words, he could produce machines above Bephar-ss without arousing suspicion from the empire.
There are some technicians who came with it. We have to thoroughly extract their technology and make it ours. This facility also has to be operational within two months.
Two months! Isnt that too hasty? Its a different system from ours, so it will take at least six months to learn the operation procedure. And we have to test it dozens of times.
Ill give you 3,000 gold. Bring some personnel from the maind.
5,000 gold, 3 months. This is the minimum.
It seemed impossible to reduce it any further.
Leobold decided to be satisfied with that.
After that, Valgard, who went to the floating continent, reported.
This is an interesting ce. The vegetation ispletely different from the ground, how should I say it, in a refined way.
Anything special? Something that could help us.
There were some strange birds that couldnt fly, so I decided to capture a few and take them with me.
They were phoenixes.
The floating continent had many animals and nts that were not found on the ground, and phoenixes were one of them.
They looked like a cross between a chicken and a turkey, and they were medium-sized.
ording to Armas analysis, they tasted simr and were easy to raise, so they seemed suitable for livestock.
Valgard talked about the progress of the outpost and the resource acquisition, then suddenly lowered his voice.
And I checked the branch of Yggdrasil that the lord ordered. It was cleverly hidden between the inds.
Thats why it wasnt detected by the satellite.
Can you secure it?
Youll see when you see it, but this thing is huge. And I dont know how far its roots go, so its a bit tricky to pull it out.
The main body of Yggdrasil, the world tree, was in Elvrande, but its branches were located in various continents.
If you analyzed the flow of ether, you could estimate the vicinity of its location, if not the exact one.
The elves used it for various purposes besides storing ether.
Arma reported that the soil around Yggdrasil became fertile.
There is no efficient nitrogen fixation method in this era, but the fields cultivated by the elves have amazing productivity. If they properly cleared the forest and secured farnd, they could feed the whole of Astera and still have some left.
So Yggdrasil acts as a natural fertilizer.
We can use that in reverse to steal vitality from the surroundingnd. The two countries on the border are suffering from that.
Elvrande denied any involvement, but it was obvious that they were involved.
In the end, the elves goal was to drive the Ains, including humans, to near extinction and make Astera their world.
People said that Elvrande had changed their attitude by epting the one-year agreement, but Leobold didnt think so.
They just changed their method.
He thought it was better to kill them by assassination and starvation than by the destructive and chaotic method of war.
Leobold snapped out of his thoughts.
Send Zion and Lucia. Theyll find a way.
And theres someone whos been bothering me these days
Who is it? Is it a dragon?
Not a dragon, but a fragment of God. Oh, you dont know what that is, do you? In short, its the power that seeped into somewhere when a god died. It could be a living being or an object or even a concept.
Is it from the god who died in the Great War?
Thats likely. Ive seen such cases in my time. A flying ship had the power of a god in it and boasted tremendous power.
I doubt you can control it
It has consciousness, but no awareness of being a god, so it will listen to you if you tame it properly.
By force, you mean.
You can persuade it, too. Why do you have to crush it? You seem more reckless than me.
Anyway, keep up the good work.
It seems noisy on the ground. Are you sure I dont have to go?
Its fine. Some people need that noise.
Damn, Im starting to suspect that you might be involved in all this mess. Is this going to lead to a war across Astera?
I didnt make it happen.
Thats what you want, right? But let me ask you one thing. What are you going to do with Astera after you unify it? Whats your goal?
World peace.
Valgard was speechless for a moment at the simple and absurd answer.
Ive heard a lot of nonsense from gods and dragons, and all kinds of races in between. But I swear, Ive never heard anything more ridiculous than what you just said.
Take it as apliment.
Fine. Im bound to you anyway, so lets do our best for world peace or conquest. Ill contact youter.
***
As the Ether Research Institute began to umte data, Arma acquired a lot of information.
She couldnt answer the essential question of what Ether was, but she made rapid progress in everything else.
One of them was measuring the output of individual Ether Hearts.
She could measure thebat power of individuals after Goliath.
This is only the capacity of Ether that can be processed per hour, not the real power. Combat power varies depending on each individuals experience and mindset.
The maximum value can be measured, then. How about using some people around as examples?
Ill disy it on your vision through the biochip.
When Leobold received the Ether Heart surgery, a number appeared next to the people he saw.
Katina and Elwin were almost simr with 50E, and Steffina recorded 70E, while Granden had 75E.
Vulthorn had 25E, which was higher thanmoners but lower than nobles with Ether bloodline.
Zion and Lucia had gone to the floating continent, so they couldnt be measured, but ording to Arma, they exceeded 1,000.
Valgard would probably be around that much too.
And Leobold broke the device when Arma tried to measure him directly.
Sparks flew and she silently cleaned up the wreckage.
The circuit couldnt handle your Ether output. It exceeds 5,000, which is amazing.
That is, Leobold was more than five times stronger than Valgard or Zion.
And that was the minimum value; the actual number was unknown.
It was an impressive scorecard, but he was indifferent.
He was a miracle made by 10 billion humans who absorbed two relics of the Prophet; he had to do at least that much.
And there was no one in Astera who could oppose him.
Ether output is close to 2,000. Thats incredible power.
The elf who absorbed the power of ck Dragon Grakies roared loudly.
Kraaaak!
A scream of pain caused a shockwave and swept away the surrounding facilities.
He slowly got up from his body that was spewing smoke.
His eyes were dyed gold and his long ears characteristic of elves were cut off.
The mad killer Kairoz.
He finally opened his eyes.
Arma reported the results of tracking him.
He seems to have a mental problem. His ego is very unstable and he sometimes loses his memory.
Thats convenient. He can say he lost his memory when hes in trouble.
He doesnt deny his crimes. He just doesnt answer. He onlyplied when the Council ordered him to be confined. But thats only for his kin.
He turns into a devil for other races.
Especially humans. He lost his family in the war with humans.
So he thinks he has the right to ughter thousands of them.
It was a delusion, but he didnt feel like stopping him right away.
Leobold looked at the corpses rising around him and frowned.
Whats that?
Its a kind of ck magic called Rising Dead. Its possible because Grakies was a dragon who was well versed in ck magic.
Raising corpses as zombies is disgusting. Can you analyze that?
I need gic data and Ether Heart analysis.
That meant he had to capture him.
He was supposed to be dealt with at the end ording to Elvrandes n, so he could catch him then.
Then Kairoz suddenly unleashed his power and started to destroy everything around him.
It seemed hard to use him as a force in this state.
Leobold turned his eyes away from him.
Lets capture him and use him for research when hees here.
Chapter 241: The Princess on This Side, Not That Side
Chapter 241: The Princess on This Side, Not That Side
Leoboldy in afortable private room in the healing center.
Outside, the maids were running around and setting things up because of the sudden arrival of the lord.
Change the bed sheets right away What? Hes already inside?
He needs absolute rest. Ill take care of the treatment, so please lower your voices.
Themotion subsided when Arma stepped in.
Leobold felt more at ease and ced his hand on themunication device that connected him to the Duke Prozhan.
It didnt work well at first, but one of the knights appeared and soon connected him to the Duke Prozhan.
What is it? Its a mess here, so Id appreciate it if you could make it brief.
The Duke Prozhans attitude had improved slightly since Leobold inherited the title of Count.
Even if he was a noble from a small country, he couldnt be rude to an Count.
Leobold spoke slowly.
I have executed the beast that assassinated His Majesty, the Emperor of the Empire.
The answer came after a long pause.
What did you say? You executed the beast?
Yes. It was a wood elf who was riding the Empires ceremonial machine. He cut off his ears, but wood elves are different from humans, you know.
How did you Thats amazing. So, you mean, the one who attacked His Majesty and broke through the imperial guard went all the way there? Do you have any evidence?
The evidence is the wrecked Goliath and the elfs corpse. Im keeping them in a cold temperature for now.
By Kranix
He seemed to be in disbelief.
The Duke Prozhan didnt believe it, but he decided to assume that it was true for now, knowing that Count Vandus was not someone who would make up nonsense.
So, if what you say is true, he went south right after attacking His Majesty?
It seems that he have passed through Galisto and Bagran. Thanks to that, the two kingdoms are in chaos now.
We are in the same situation. By the way, how is your body? You must have been injured badly if you fought that monster
Fortunately, it was not that strong, thanks to the empire weakening him. I was hurt a lot, but it was not fatal.
You killed that madman with only minor injuries?
The Duke Prozhan did not know the details of what happened in the pce, but he had heard that dozens of knights and magicians died on the spot.
Not only that, but the emperors residence waspletely destroyed, and the lives of dozens of royals were lost as well.
It was a disaster that could be called the worst in the history of the Zaium Empire, but Count Vandus said he had eliminated the source of it.
No matter how tired and wounded he was, he was a monster that even a high knight could not match. He killed such a thing
Maybe the beast was badly injured while passing through Galisto and Bagran.
They had a fair number of skilled knights, even if they were notparable to high knights.
Hes telling me this because he wants something from me
He asked cautiously.
Is there anyone else who knows this information besides me?
No. It depends on your will whether it will stay that way or not.
This is it.
The Duke Prozhan clenched his fist.
The assassination of the emperor would bring him a great benefit.
He would have to express his sorrow and anger for losing the emperor and facing the beast externally, but then he would have to enter the power struggle.
The weapon he could use then was the new soldier who killed the emperor.
There were so many witnesses that securing Goliath alone would be enough, but he had the corpse as well.
It was more than he could ask for.
With that, he would gain a lot of power in the future.
That was obvious.
His voice became very soft.
Count Leobold, you said something to me when we met at the pce of Bagran before.
You said that talent is more important than wealth. I wonder if you still think so.
Fine. Let me be straightforward. What do you want in exchange for giving me the beasts new soldier and Goliath?
Its not a big deal. First of all, I want you to take Princess Eolin with you.
Why do you need her in this situation? I see. You are nning to swallow Bagran.
I prefer to call it stabilization. After all, Princess Eolin is destined to be your wife, isnt she? It doesnt have to be right now, but that also means it doesnt matter if it is.
With the power of Duke Prozhan, it would be possible.
Zaium was such a mess that no one would care.
But there was something that bothered him.
I heard that the former king has a young daughter. Do you intend to marry her? What about Count Croitz?
I think you misunderstood something. I swore loyalty to the royal family of Bagran and that hasnt changed. I n to serve Princess Ad as a regent after supporting her.
I thought you were a brave warrior who charged ahead, but you turned out to be a schemer. You said you would get rid of all the nobles who sided with Princess Eolin
Are there any other conditions?
I want Zaium to leave Galisto alone for a while.
Do you mean that you will attack Galisto?
Exactly, I have to make it happen.
This makes me feel like Ive teamed up with someone I cant handle.
A noble of a small country cantpare to a great noble of the empire. And I have a leash on me.
Well, you were supposed to marry Count Croitz
Duke Prozhan fell into thought.
Actually, he didnt care much about what happened to Galisto or anything like that, and that would be the same for Croitz.
It was much better to form a solid alliance with Count Vandus and enter the power struggle within Zaium.
His goal was to be a grand duke.
It was a position that only one person in the empire could have, and it was currently upied by an ipetent royal.
His goal was to oust that royal and be a grand duke with an independent force.
He had no conflict with Count Croitz, who dreamed of being themander-in-chief of the military.
Therefore, it was beneficial for them to join hands.
We wont be able to pay attention to Galisto for a while anyway. If anyone tries to intervene, Count Croitz and I will take responsibility and stop them.
Thats enough for me. Ill send you what you need through Altamaha.
Did you make such a promise with Count Croitz too? That you would visit his territory sometime
I did receive an invitation.
I hope you stop by my territory too. I know its not much, but I really want to invite you.
Well, Im nning to have a wedding, so its hard to give you a definite answer.
Youre having your wedding there? Im sorry about that.
But you wont have much time to see me anyway, right?
That sounds nice. If the news of your attendance spreads, the whole empires nobles will go crazy. You are very popr, you know.
His poprity would soar even higher if the rumor of him killing the beast that assassinated the emperor spread.
But Leobolds voice was calm.
Count Croitz will take care of the fence for me. Anyway, Ill see you then.
The conversation ended and Duke Prozhan put his hand on themunication device connected to Count Croitz.
He was curious about her reaction.
***
The eastern part of Astera continent plunged into chaos as the emperor of Zaium and several other royals from different countries died at once.
This was not an ordinary assassination.
Many countries were on the verge of copse as their royal families were destroyed, and some also lost a lot of their military power by losing many knights.
As a result, many cases arose where they didnt know what to do or how to deal with it when the day broke.
It was difficult to cope because many countries had lost most of their royals.
In the meantime, the voice of anger against the beast grew louder, but it was not very meaningful.
Who is he anyway? He wont die easily once we catch him!
It must be Elvrande. They are the only ones who can sneak in powerful knights without our notice.
Those damn elves
We have to take revenge, but how? Is revenge possible against Elvrande?
Lets focus on stabilizing our internal affairs first. We have to somehow restore our royal family.
Of course, internal affairs did not go well.
It was natural that all kinds of things would rush in when the pir of power shook, but it copsedpletely.
The powerful nobles of each country began to raise their voices in support of the surviving royals, and assassinations also urred.
The beast imed to be an elf, but anyone could see that it was an inside job.
In the midst of this, the news spread that Zaium Empire had secured the beasts new soldier.
It was under the name of Duke Prozhan, who was not included in the investigation.
The beast used the standard Goliath of his country to hide his identity and damaged his body. But even if he cut off his ears, the unique body of an elf did not disappear. Here, we have the corpse and Goliath of the beast,e and spit on them! And remember who we were attacked by!
The corpse of the beast was disyed in a transparent tube that kept it at low temperature, and so was Goliath.
The citizens of the imperial capital flocked to spit on the tube and Goliath.
Look at the cut marks on his ears and his skinny face! Hes definitely an elf!
Lets kill them! The only good elf is a dead elf!
Revenge for the ears!
The voices of vengeance boiled, but the Zaium Empire was not in a position to act immediately.
There was a huge power vacuum as many of the imperial family, including the emperor, died.
There were so many corpses of the imperial family that they could not even hold a funeral.
In the meantime, it was natural that Duke Prozan gained power by securing the new weapon of the beast.
He was busy boasting about Count Vandus, who had finally killed the beast, with Count Croitz and others.
Of course, it is clear that the high knights of our country drained his power. But the one who cut his throat at the end was Count Vandus.
The nobles around him looked incredulous.
How is that possible? I heard that even dozens of high knights could not match him.
Maybe they didnt drain his power enough? Besides, I heard that Galisto and Bagran also suffered damage, so he must have consumed his power continuously.
He had an amazing knight in that small country Wait, is he the one who captured Emil?
Duke Prozan nodded awkwardly.
Thats right. I punished him at that time to make him humble, but now I think I should give him a reward. Its not an ordinary thing to survive from him.
Oh my, oh my. A knight who surpasses even high knights.
Is it true that he has no family and is alone? I heard that rumor.
Its true. He made a lot of money from the floating continent and silver mines.
Oh! It was him.
Duke Prozan did not say that Croitz would soon be a thorn in his side.
It was enough to inte the expectations for Count Vandus and divert the attention of the nobles.
Count Croitz, who came up to the imperial roadte, was bubbling with anger but said nothing.
He understood that this work was necessary.
As Duke Prozans followers increased, his influence naturally rose on the imperial road.
He could notpare with the archduke and several dukes, but it was also true that they could not ignore the duke.
It left a big impression on many nobles that he had secured the new weapon of the beast that assassinated the emperor.
In addition, there was a growing voice to call Count Vandus to the imperial road immediately.
We have to hear from him directly about what happened at that time. Its not helpful to investigate by leaning on an ogres leg.
We want to do that too, but Bagrans internal situation is not good. Many royals, including Bagran III, died, so they wont have time for that.
More than anything, the duke himself was injured. Its not fatal, but he needs to rest for at least a few days, so its hard to call him.
Its a pity. It was an opportunity to give him an imperial title.
There was a huge difference in status between a title from a small kingdom like Bagran and an imperial title.
From that point of view, everyone thought it was unfortunate for Count Vandus, but it wasnt.
He recovered from his wounds and prepared to go up to King Road Roseon by airship.
Next to him were Valgard, Zion, and Lucia, who returned from the floating continent.
Duke Townzent He dared to join hands with Princess Eolin.
Hmm, why dont we just kill him? It wouldnt be a big deal to assassinate him with your ship.
Lets burn down Astera first? Lets shoot them one by one and start.
Leobold looked at them who wanted to kill first and start.
Its not a bad idea, but we need a process that people can recognize in order to take over King Road.
What recognition?
We need at least some justification. If someone who is not royal bes king, there will be too many people to kill. Its inefficient.
Valgard stroked his chin and said hmm.
I think we can just kill them all, but thats your choice. By the way, who is Ad? I thought Eolin was the only princess.
Shes a 13-year-old littledy. Unlike Eolin, she has a calm personality.
Zion smiled wickedly.
Are you nning to marry her and swallow Bagran?
No, Im not interested in Ad. Ill raise her well and send her to a good ce.
You n to dominate Bagran as a regent until then. And youll weed out the lords who dont see it.
Itll be enough in a year.
Valgard nodded.
I understand. Just tell me who I have to kill.
Hell pick a fight from Galisto, so Ill leave it to you two then.
Galisto was one of the few countries that did not suffer much damage from this incident.
The king died, but the session was easy because a promising sessor survived.
It seemed that the nobles did not have any other intentions and supported the sessor.
They would be able to attack this side without any trouble.
They had a lot of emotions umted.
Leobold looked at the Altema that wasnding at the anchorage.
Lets go see the princess. Shell be waiting for us.
In fact, Eolin hoped that Leobold would die in an ident while riding an airship.
Of course, that did not happen.
***
After Bagran III and Prince Ruad died, King Road Roseon was quite chaotic.
Fortunately, Eolin and Ad survived, but they had no session rights.
If another great lord tripped over it, a civil war could break out at any time.
Duke Townzent, who decided to support Eolin, was most concerned about that part.
We cant let Vanduss get away with this. Hell pick a fight somehow, so we have to concentrate power on Princess Eolin.
He was inted with the dream of marrying Princess Eolin under the pretext of protecting the royal family.
Eolin herself hated it, but it was not so strange in the eyes of the citizens of Roseon.
Anyway, Roseon was in a very chaotic situation due to theck of power.
Eolin was the most likely next king, but she was nning to marry a foreign nobleman.
Some nobles clung to that point and Eolin could not answer.
She needed Duke Townzents power, but she did not want to marry him.
She could not give up Bagran and rely on Duke Prozan either.
While she could not do this or that, Duke Townzent received oaths of loyalty from Gashin and some nobles of King Road.
If you recognize me as Princess Eolins husband, I will share power with you.
Most of the nobles did not like Duke Townzent, but they had no other choice.
Anyway, he was a great lord of Bagran and he was single, so it was not a big problem to connect with Princess Eolin.
They all hoped that someone would end this chaos.
In the meantime, Duke Leobold Vanduss appeared on an airship.
He paid tribute to the tomb of the royal family under the wary eyes of Duke Townzents side and knelt down to Princess Ad, not Eolin.
Im sorry for your loss of your beloved family. From now on, leave everything to me.
Ba, back I see you.
For Ad, who had been rtively neglected by her sister, it was a great support that she could not help but open her eyes wide.
She was 13 years old, but she knew everything. She also had eyes.
She preferred the young and sturdy Count Vandus to the old and small Duke Townzent.
Besides, he had several titles.
The first person tond on the floating continent.
The one who prevented any deaths in the Sagris silver mine.
The one who caught arge number of sardines and subdued the pirate fleet.
The one who defeated the Antis and Callisto alliance and finally became a count.
Surprisingly, it was not known that he killed the culprit of this incident, because it was only a story that circted within Zium.
It would be known in time, but everyone was busy and distracted to pay attention to it.
Anyway, Leopold took advantage of the gap when everyones eyes were on Eolin and seeded in securing Princess Ad.
The 13-year-old princess developed a liking for the count who showed interest in her, not her sister, and so did the other nobles.
It seems that Count Vandus has more power than Duke Townsend.
The west is more developed than the east, but Count Vandus also has connections with the empire. He has a bright future.
Isnt his personal strength also overwhelming? He said he crushed the Earl of Antis and his knights by himself.
He also subdued the pirate fleet by himself.
But when did he get those wounds on his neck and shoulders? He was fine when he stopped by the royal roadst time.
Well
As their suspicions deepened, Eolin began to act up with Earl Townsend.
Why did you protect Ad and stand up for her? What does she have that you want?
I wonder about that too.
To Duke Townsends eyes, the only contender for session was Eolin.
It was unlikely that a younger sister would surpass her older sister and im session, and the perception of the influential people was the same.
Unless Ad had some special ability or support, that is.
But as Count Vandus stuck to her, the situation was going weirdly.
Eolin imagined him sticking to her instead, but it looked off.
Im going to be the next king. Me, Eolin Bagran! Then you should bow down ande to me properly. Why are you being stubborn? Do you want to push Ad?
Her hysteria included the reason that Leopold gave Ad valuable jewelry and dresses.
Not only that, but he also attached maids to serve her, so Ads face was always smiling these days.
On the other hand, Eolin was miserable.
No matter how sweet Earl Townsend spoke to her, she couldnt cheer up.
It was natural that she felt sick when a young and capable nobleman didnt stick to her, but a stingy and sinister snake did instead.
In the meantime, she received a contact from Duke Prozhan.
Eolin quicklyined to him about Count Vanduss misdeeds, but somehow his reaction was not satisfying.
Is that so? Im sorry for the princess, but Zium is not so quiet either
Then please visit in person and show your dignity.
Thats what I intend to do. And while Im at it, I want to take you with me.
What?
Eolins face froze in an instant.
She was so surprised that she stuttered.
Y-youre taking me with you? Why, why?
It seems that the situation is such There is a lot of public opinion that it is not good to leave my fiance alone for too long. So Im thinking of taking you to my territory.
N-no
Then Ill see you soon. Oh, please tell Count Vandus that his bravery in subduing the beast was really admirable. Bye.
The conversation ended and Eolin stared nkly at the air with her mouth open.
Duke Prozhan wasing to take her?
And the beast of this incident was subdued by Count Vandus?
Something was going wrong.
Chapter 253: The Dragon and the Princess
Chapter 253: The Dragon and the Princess
The elves regarded the Ains, especially the humans, as their greatest enemies.
But not all elves thought that way.
There were a few elves who argued that dialogue andpromise were important, and Princess Margareta Luster was one of them.
She was a guardian of Yggdrasil and a member of the royal family that produced champions of God.
She had the most noble bloodline, except for the emperor.
Most of the power was concentrated in the parliament and the three elders, but that did not mean she was a powerless puppet.
She had a voice that people around her had to at least pretend to listen to.
That Margareta had chosen to visit the council of elders for a rare asion, and she had singled out Drizden.
He did not want to face the young royal, but he could not ignore her either.
If he ignored her, who was directly connected to Yggdrasil, it could cause trouble for his n.
So they met in a secret room of the council of elders.
Margareta got straight to the point as soon as she sat down.
It is a tant abuse of power to designate a specific individual as public enemy number one without the permission of the royal family. And I will not tolerate you using Yggdrasil recklessly.
She started with a hasty attack.
This is why young elves are
Drizden opened his mouth calmly.
It was not the council of elders who designated Leobold Vandus as a public enemy, but Elder Kellodian. You havee to the wrong person.
Isnt it you who is manipting the elder behind the scenes?
I get that suspicion a lot. Im sorry that I dont know how to dispel it.
Youre trying to dodge again. You know very well who holds the core power in the council of elders.
Excuse me, Your Highness, do you know how many members are in the council of elders?
About 50?
49. There was a vacancy recently. Most of them are old, including me. They have experienced the Great War firsthand and are now waiting for their death. Why would they have any greed for power?
But the proportion of the council of elders in the parliament is too excessive
That is the request of National Father Eilidh. You have not forgotten his words, have you? He said to consult with the council of elders on important matters in national history.
She had nothing to say when he brought up something from 200 years ago.
Drizden wrapped it up neatly by saying that he was ready to share power.
His 300 years of life was not a joke, so he must have prepared a counterargument for whatever she said.
She had no clear evidence either, so she decided to move on to another topic.
I heard that there was a controversy over Vanduss annexation in the parliament this time Is it because of the new type of Goliath called ck Knight?
Thats a small matter in the parliament. Its not something Your Highness should worry about.
But if it worsens our rtionship with human kingdoms, what could be more regrettable? As a member of Elvrande, not as a princess, I think I have the right to advise you.
What do you mean?
When Drizden asked impatiently, she said something surprising as if she had been waiting for it.
I will go to Bagran as an envoy.
An envoy Do you know what kind of trouble you will get into if you go to a human kingdom?
Vandus is said to be a person who serves his people with sincerity. He wont treat an envoy rudely.
What an naive princess.
Drizden felt a headacheing on, but he did not show it.
Is your goal to have a cup of tea ande back? Do you want to say to him who makes Goliaths to kill elves that peace is good and we can love more?
Dont we also make Goliaths?
We dont make more than we need. The Belial ss is definitely superior to the Bephar ss, but not overwhelmingly so. But look at what Leobold Vandus made. Do you think we cant make such Goliaths because weck technology?
That
She hesitated to answer because she did not know much about Goliaths, and Drizden took advantage of that gap.
Humans are always like that. They dont know their ce or their subject. They must have forgotten what happened when they advanced ether engineering with their arrogance.
What happened then?
He did not say any more.
He just looked at her with eyes that said he couldnt believe she didnt know that.
But Margareta did not back down.
There must be something I can do. Elves and humans have not talked enough and have many misunderstandings. From there
There is no need to do that. In the end, the fate of humans is to be dominated by us elves. Its pitiful that you try to talk to them. It would have been better to talk to the rocks in the garden.
No matter how much you mock me, I wont change my decision. I will meet Leobold Vandus. I will talk to him in person.
Drizden realized that he could not break her stubbornness.
It was amazing that a meeting between an elf princess and a human noble would take ce.
The possibility of a meaningful oue from there was close to zero.
But he thought he could create a turning point with it.
What if the princess dies?
If you insist, I wont stop you.
Really?
The innocent princess thought she had changed Drizdens mind and was a little happy.
But Drizden, who was close to death, was excited by the expectation that he could wipe out the human forces with this opportunity.
His ideology had been firmly established by the Great War 200 years ago, and there was no room for wavering.
Humans are enemies of elves.
You want to talk, so I have no reason to stop you. Please dont forget that I also want peace. But I doubt that Leobold Vandus has that intention. It takes two hands to p, doesnt it?
Ill ask through the official diplomatic channel.
That will be toote. Im sorry to say this, but we elves dont care about one or two years, do we? But humans are different. They are busy because they have short lives.
Then, what should I do?
Drizden bowed his head slightly.
Leave it to me. I have little power, but I can deliver your message unofficially. But if he refuses, you have to give up, Your Highness.
Okay. Lets do that.
She nodded obediently.
She had many questions to ask Vandus Grazer.
If it was true that he did not burn Yggdrasil, she was willing to reveal what she had recorded in the Infinite Library.
Shouldnt she make an ally inside if she couldnt outside?
He might use her, but Margareta thought it was worth it.
She couldnt get anything without giving up something.
***
Leobold received an unexpected report from Arma.
Master, the council of elders approved the champion training n.
The council of elders? Where did you get that information?
Do you remember the shadow elf Delfina, whom we imnted a biochip before? She became a new champion candidate.
Aha
He felt like he caught a big fish with a bait he had thrown casually.
But there was another fish that bit the bait.
Arma disyed a hologram image of a woman in front of him.
Margareta Luster, the current princess of the Elvrande Empire. She seems to be a little over 100 years old and has a slightly different ideology from other elves.
Dont tell me shes calling for peace with humans.
Thats right. She is one of the few elves who im that dialogue is necessary. However, most of the power is in the parliament and the three elders, so her influence is not very great.
So whats her rtionship with Delfina?
She was there when Tirendell met her. If we reconstruct the situation from their conversation, it would look like this.
The hologram yed a video that Arma had created arbitrarily.
Leobold smirked as he saw the princess and Tirendell meet.
Are they in a romantic rtionship?
It doesnt seem like that. The nuance of king and servant is strong in their conversation.
Anyway, our n fits well with them. Look at how they grit their teeth.
She also openly expressed her anger at Elder Kellodian and the parliament, who postponed the retreat decision and killed their subordinates.
Its unfortunate that their subordinates died, but its amon thing in war. They are too emotional.
It was Leobold who made them do that, but he had nothing to say.
Anyway, Tirendell dered in front of his ally princess that he would kill Leobold, Kellodian, and the parliament.
Delfina was watching him with interest, and Princess Margareta was trying to dissuade him.
And there, the information came out that the princess would try to talk to Leobold.
What is she thinking?
She probably wants to ease the tension a little.
She doesnt have any power, does she?
She doesnt have any power, but her influence is not small either. And she seems to have another intention. She knows that Yggdrasil nted in the border area did not burn.
She is directly connected to the world tree. If I meet her, they will find out that I have two branches on my side, wont they?
The possibility is low, but not zero.
Leobold suspected that the parliamentarians who publicly imed to be above humans would allow dialogue.
Maybe they are nning to use the princess for something Maybe they want to kill her this time. She is an eyesore to the parliament.
And pin the me on me and unite the elves?
Thats something the parliament would n.
Elvrande had designated him as public enemy number one, but that did not mean that all elves hated him.
Elvrande had maintained peace with overwhelming power for 200 years.
Even if wars broke out in the border areas or human kingdoms, it was none of their business.
Most elves probably did not even know Leobolds name.
The death of the princess could unite 50 million elves, which was more than enough.
It was best to pretend to be fooled by their n and hide the princess here.
She is still a princess, right? Many elves must think of her as the next emperor.
There are not many elves who can be called royals in Elvrande You can think of her as almost unique.
Good. Then lets pretend to be fooled and hide her. Find a ce for her in advance.
Yes, sir. But master.
What?
Shes pretty.
Leobold took another look at Margareta.
Her skin was white as snow, her hair was tinum blonde, and her eyes sparkled like emeralds.
She was definitely beautiful.
To be honest, she was among the most attractive women he had seen since he came to Astera.
But he did not care much about womens appearance.
What matters is ability. No one will listen to you if you just im something with your face. They will be too busy using you.
Justice without power was nothing but emptiness.
In movies or novels, there were often cases where a firm will led to a good oue, but in reality, they were only trampled on.
As expected, Im the best, right?
Leobold looked at Armas face and smiled slightly.
She had been getting along well with Camitely, and she had be more whiny than usual.
It was not a real check, but it meant that she had feelings for him.
In fact, Arma had been showing emotions unlike an artificial intelligence since a long time ago.
Maybe she learned about emotions by being with humans?
But her master was a human who had almost no emotions
Anyway, Arma was his precious existence.
He did not know what kind of ending he would face, but he was sure that Arma would stay by his side until the end.
Youre the only one for me.
She finally took her eyes off Leobolds face and moved on to another report.
The champion training n came up here, and its the method we know well. They circte the souls gathered in Yggdrasil in the Infinite Circuit to create divinity and inject it into Tirendell.
Its no different from putting Grakiess soul into Kairos.
If there is something to worry about, it is that theirbat power will increase considerably because they have umted data and will create divinity themselves. Tirendell is also stronger than Kairos.
They might be simr to Valgard.
If it was only one of them, it would be fine, but if Delfina also joined them, it would not be easy to resist unless it was Leobold.
Leobold felt the need to reveal Zigarions identity at this point.
Bagran was stable enough, and now he just had toy down the infrastructure, so there seemed to be no big problem.
Its time to reveal your appearance.
Finally.
Zigarion trembled with excitement.
He was happy to think that he would reveal his existence to the people of Bagran.
Its time to show my power. Hehe, everyone will kneel before Zigarion, right? Oh, should I choose a decent territory to rule? Id like a rich one if possible.
Theres something you need to know about that.
What is it?
They whispered and shared the n of the empress, and Zigarions expression changed.
I have to shout for justice and peace? Why do I have to do that?
Thats how we can pressure the western lords. It looks better than intervening directly. This is the fastest way to unify Bagranpletely.
He could conquer them by force, but that would spill unnecessary blood.
Ive never thought about that. It doesnt suit me.
Do you want to do it or not?
Ah, fine.
Sometimes violence was the fastest way.
Zigarion grumbled but showed a subtle expectation for the scenario that Arma had prepared for him.
The blue dragon Zigarion, who appeared in Astera for the first time since the Great War, was enraged by the inhuman very of the western lords, including Duke Townsend, and rose up with his wings But there was very even during the Great War? There was never a time when very did not exist in Asteras history.
Really? Then lets make him a young dragon who woke up from his sleep. He doesnt know much about the world, but he has a powerful force.
Hmm
And as a bonus, if you kidnap the princess of Elvrande, that would be best.
What? I have to kidnap the princess of the empire?
He thought he would say no to that, but he didnt.
Thats what a dragon should do!
Did that happen often?
When I was young, my father used to tell me stories like that in Lare. He said you should choose a kingdom with a lot of wealth if you kidnap a princess. A ce that does a lot of construction is good, right?
Yeah
Anyway, Zigarion seemed to be satisfied with being known as a dragon of justice and peace.
Kidnapping the princess of the empire was not something a dragon who shouted for justice and peace would do, but it was something he did secretly anyway, so it didnt matter much.
Now he just had to wait for Elvrande to contact him.
****
Elvrande contacted Leobold secretly through Denova.
The message was that someone important wanted to meet him.
Leobold pretended not to know and epted the offer.
But Ill decide the ce and schedule.
By the way, her name is Margareta Luster. She is the princess of the empire.
Revealing her royal status meant that he had to prepare an event suitable for her position.
But Leobold had no intention of doing that.
Even if she is the emperor of the empire, my policy will not change. The ce is Bagrans pce, and the airship is limited to one. And there will be no great event.
Will Zaium think well of that?
Thats not your concern.
The mayor frowned, but he couldnt overturn what had already been ordered from above.
Thats how it went, and Zaium also noticed it.
Prince Barak made a serious face when he heard the news.
The princess of Elvrande is meeting Count Vandus? We heard that from Elvrande, right?
It seems that it was a matter that was carried out so hastily that they didnt sort out their internal affairs, Your Highness.
Duke Prozan tried to appease him.
After all, it was natural that it took some time tomunicate since they were not connected.
Prince Barak cleared the misunderstanding after talking to Leobold.
Thats fine, but Ill send you amunication device. Report to me first if something like this happens again.
Ill keep that in mind.
The prince seemed to take a wait-and-see stance, but the other forces of Zaium were not.
Several nobles, including Archduke Pangral, criticized Count Vandus for holding a meeting with the imperial princess, and that too in Bagran.
What is the count doing! The visit of the imperial princess is the first time ever, and he wants to do it in Bagran, which is as small as a mouses tail!
And he even limited the airship to one and said he wouldnt have any special events. This is not a courtesy to the royal family.
They were notpletely wrong.
Even if they were hostile, diplomats were not touched by an unwritten rule, and if the other party was a princess, they had to be more courteous.
The position of the princess was enough to deserve such treatment even if she did not have much power.
But Leobold only said one thing at the official ceremony.
The princess also agreed to this event.
They all shut their mouths when they heard that the party agreed.
Anyway, the visit of the Elvrande princess caused a lot ofmotion in Zaium, as well as Bagran and neighboring countries.
Some people hoped that the long-standing hostility with the elves would be resolved by this visit.
But that would never happen.
Time passed and Princess Margareta boarded an airship with a few knights and maids.
Elvrandes fleet was only going to escort her to the border area.
In other words, it was Leobolds responsibility if something happened in the human kingdom.
Margareta seemed to know or not know that, but she looked very excited.
Ive never left Elvrande since I was born.
Its quiterge, so I guess so.
Leobold watched her hair flutter in the strong wind through Siviri satellite and gave instructions.
She wont be able to go back when Zigarions appearance is known. Make him appear at the right timing.
And soon after, when the floating continents vanguard received the airship with the princess at the border area,
A dragon appeared in Rozelon, the capital of Bagran.
The citizens were shocked when they saw his huge blue wings spread across the sky.
Its a dragon! A dragon has appeared!
Chapter 243: I Want You
Chapter 243: I Want You
Valgard Gram.
There was no one among the Gram family who did not know that name.
He was the champion and godyer of Altema in the past, when the Gram Empire existed.
He also showed tremendous influence as a member of the Gram Empire, which was more powerful than the current Zaium.
Most of the records of the great war 200 years ago were lost, but the Gram ns that were scattered into three kingdoms kept their memories of their ancestors intact.
One of them was the unique chain training, which allowed the Gram n members to use ether more efficiently than other knights.
It was to create another ether heart near the heart and resonate it with the original to amplify the output.
However, doing so did not increase the actual ether output much.
There was a limit to how much ether the human race could use.
In the past, those who received the power of gods or dragons could ovee that limit, but there was no such person in the current Gram n.
And today, Count Aihon Gram felt it.
An outsider who used the same chain training as his n.
And he even forced his ether heart to resonate with his own.
That meant that his chain training method was superior.
An, ancestor Are you really our ancestor?
Are you my grandsons grandson? I dont know if you are my direct descendant because our bloodline is so mixed. Anyway, I am Valgard Gram and I am alive for sure. If you have any questions, bring your n members here. Right now.
Who would dare to disobey hismand?
Aihon Gram ran out of his office in a hurry and returned shortly with a group of people.
Leobold drank the tea that Arma brought him and waited for their conversation to end.
There were shouts and screams, and sometimes sounds of hitting.
I hope you didnt go too far. They are people who have to work right away.
I have a proxy, so it doesnt matter if some of them go straight to the hospital.
You really want to use androids, dont you?
In fact, he could easily handle the administrative work of a small kingdom like Bagran with dummies or androids.
But this was not Earth.
There was no need to hastily integrate humanity and there was no n for megacities.
The goal was to unify the entire Astera continent into a human empire and raise the level of civilization, but that required a change in perception of its members.
They had to learn how to act by experiencing the rapidly developing society themselves.
It was more difficult than Earth in some ways.
On that side, he could create megacities by using assassination or war and protect humanity with that, but this side required a change in perception of all members.
It was especially hard for elves.
Their oppressive and supremacist attitude made Leobold clench his teeth.
Arma suggested using the power of religion.
How about dering yourself as a hero from another world and acting like a god?
The only true god is Prohphet.
Sometimes lies are necessary. Even Cain is called faith. Why cant you be master?
Well
If he used Arma and everything in the pioneer fleet, he could show powers that were no different from gods.
He could cure incurable patients, mass-produce invincible armies, and even eliminate hunger in Asterapletely.
This was better than the powers of various gods in Asteras pantheon.
The drawback was that hecked understanding of ether and soul, but he could narrow the gap as research progressed.
In other words, he could pretend to be a real god without any problem.
Theres a dragon next to you and a champion of Altema who challenged gods in the past. It would be strange if youre not a god.
Zigarions ability did not look like a dragons, but he was still a dragon anyway
Leoboldughed after hesitating for a moment.
Im not a god, Im a human. But if people misunderstand me like that, I dont need to correct them.
Shall we add some seasoning?
Not too much.
Just by observing his actions, they might doubt if he was not a god.
If Arma added some seasoning to that, he would soon be revered as a god-emperor.
The god and emperor of humanity
Astera was different from Earth, so there was a high chance that they would ept such absolute power without any problem.
The important thing was Leobolds decision.
His inner self was not a god or anything but a human being, and it was gradually wearing out.
There is no eternal power, so he would have to let go someday.
He did not want to choose a method that had a lot of side effects in that process.
The method he used on Earth was enough once.
In that sense, too much power was not good.
It would be convenient to unify Astera, but he would have to let go of it little by little after unification.
Absolute power would devour the flesh and soul of the ruler.
Leobold suddenly asked.
Arma, do you remember? What I would do when everything was over.
You said you wanted to let go of everything and rest. Go to a quiet ce and farm and fish.
Did I say I wanted to raise a child?
Yes. A child who looks like you.
It would be hard to educate a child in such a ce.
Arma smiled softly and hugged Leobold from behind, then kissed his cheek.
I will help you live that life when everything is over. But you still have things to do, dont you?
Thats right I have to meet the Prophet.
When he met him, Leobolds, or Yu Ji-has journey would probably end.
The noise subsided and Valgard opened the door and came out.
It seems to be settled enough.
Then can I consider the nobles of Rozelon as mine?
Thats up to these guys. Hey.
Valgard gestured with his chin and the nobles who looked like members of the Gram n came out in a group.
We swear loyalty to Count Leobold Vandus, the regent.
We swear eternal loyalty.
They had so much spirit in their actions and eyes that it would be strange if they didnt.
After all, their ancestor from 200 years ago appeared and confirmed his power.
It was not bad.
Leobold decided to give them at least a way to live.
Money was nothing but a number that he could increase whenever he wanted anyway.
As promised, I will return the direct territory. However, I will pay you apensation for your efforts during this time. It may not be as much as you expected, but its not a small amount.
Thank you for your consideration.
Elhon Gram bowed his head as the representative, and Leobold smiled with satisfaction.
I look forward to your cooperation in the future.
Thats how the small rebellion of the Roseron nobles ended.
There were some nobles who refused to give up theirnd at a low price, but they quieted down when they saw the delegation letter.
Leobold seeded inpletely dominating Roseron in this way.
***
The Roseron direct territory was asrge as the Lantis County.
It was not all tnd, and it included some hills and forests, where the nobles had installed various facilities for their business.
For example, hunting grounds for nobles only.
Leobold ordered them to be cleared away.
He was going to build a huge food nt in the future, so he didnt need those things.
The only problem was manpower.
Money was nothing but numbers, but if he hired arge number of workers, there was a possibility that the prices in Roseron would soar.
A moderate intion was inevitable, but if too much gold circted, it could easily be like Spain.
Arma suggested forcibly settling the refugees from the east.
ording to satellite confirmation, there are at least 10,000 refugees wandering around the eastern region without settling down. It would be a great help if you guarantee their survival rights and settle them down.
Why cant they settle in one domain?
They probably think its better to live freely even if its hard than to be ripped off by harsh taxes.
That was the fundamental reason why they wandered around.
It was not guaranteed that they would have survival rights even if they stayed in a domain.
Leobold had taken over the core areas of the east, but there were still many small domains and the refugees perception had not changed.
They were out of the system, so to speak.
Leave Grunden out and entrust this mission to Catina and Elwin. They can use some coercive means, but they cant execute them on the spot.
Yes, I understand.
The refugees who wandered around in the wilderness were unlikely to be obedient.
They were even hunted by nearby domains because they were regarded as less than human.
In Bagran, very was not officially recognized, but it was not strongly rejected either.
If you had money and power, you could easily get ves.
Leobold wrote a pardon on the spot and stamped his seal.
Show them this pardon ande to the public office. We will guarantee you a minimum of survival rights. If you providebor for a year, we will give you citizenship of the direct territory. Of course, you will also be paid wages.
No one would refuse freebor, but from the perspective of a powerful person, it was dangerous to keep that situation going for a long time.
ves cost more than you think and had low productivity.
They wouldnt work hard because it wasnt their own business.
It was much more efficient to give them appropriate rewards than to limit them if you wanted to boost their work motivation.
And it was also important to settle the refugees and increase the poption and infrastructure.
Leobold decided to make verypletely illegal.
He couldnt just tell the western lords to give up theirnd, so he wanted to create some friction and induce conflict.
There is also a possibility that they will resist by citing Zaium, which legalized very.
This is not Zaium, so tell them to buzz off.
Zaium, which was busy with session struggles, would not bother Leobold over very.
There was also a tendency in the interior that they could not get over this assassination.
Zaium was weaker than Elvrande, but it was dangerous to be weak even though their involvement was certain.
It would give a wrong signal that they would stay still even if they suffered such things in the future.
Therefore, a crusade against Elvrande was gaining momentum among the noble soldiers who wished for Count Croitz.
It was doubtful whether it would be possible, but anyway war was inevitable ording to the mainstream opinion.
It wouldnt be bad to fight here and weaken Elvrandes power.
It would be neat if he fired a missile, but Leobold wanted an external means.
Arma summarized the ims of the potential sessors in Zaium.
Currently, Zaium wants Master to participate in the war. However, they are hesitant because they think that they want his blood even though all his kin have died.
It would be too much to push him into the battlefield as thest member of his family.
Especially if he was Leobold who had killed the emperors assassin and gained fame.
However, he wanted to participate in the war.
It was troublesome if Zaium copsed too much.
He wanted them to maintain a moderate size until he started the full-scale conquest, but there was a risk of shaking due to this war.
Arma reported that Barak, the crown prince and the current leading sessor, would ask Leobold to join the war.
There are also other sessors, but Baraks support is the highest. He is hawkish and backed by Duke Prozan.
Its not a bad judgment to think that there will be more opportunities if the war continues, but he needs to have the ability to match it.
Leobold didnt point that out, but wanted to get a reward.
Tell them I wantnd and title if Baraks side contacts me.
Since you are in charge of diplomacy, you will be awarded at least the title of count.
It was almostmon sense that it would be an insult to give a trivial title to someone in that position.
Zaium was a country with a lot of titles, so it wouldnt be hard to get them.
However, even if he got a title, he couldntpare with the real power holders like Duke Prozan or Count Croitz.
Get the title of imperial count and establish a base in Zaium And it wouldnt be bad to reduce Elvrandes power as well. Proceed.
Soon after, a royal decree was issued in the name of diplomacy.
The main contents were the opening of the direct territory, the settlement of the refugees, and theplete illegality of very.
Arma predicted that there would be a lot of bacsh on very, and he was right.
The western lords had a lot of ves.
Duke Townsend and two counts and several nobles had thousands of ves and used them frugally.
They couldnt give up thebor they provided, so they fiercely resisted.
Even if there is a kings seal, it is not a royal decree. I dont know why this diplomat is acting like this.
How can we free the ves right now when we have to sow soon?
Just ignore it. A mere diplomat cant tell us what to do in our independent domains.
There was not much Leobold could do once they started to ignore him.
But it was important to sow the seeds of conflict in this way.
He had to tap the backs of the nobles who hid their heads like turtles. Shouldnt they be eaten or left alone?
The nobles knew that too, and showed no reaction.
They wouldnt even give him the slightest pretext.
Leobold gave them three months.
Assume that you are ready to face any punishment if you still have ves in your territory after three months.
Silence.
There was no response at all.
Leobold did not yield to that and called Count Eihon and Viscount Conrad.
The former was needed for the actual management of the direct territory, and thetter was needed for the revision of the rtedws.
Perhaps because of Valgards intimidation, their attitude was more obedient than ever.
Count Gram will take care of the management of the direct territory. You must have heard the details from Valgard, so I trust you will do well.
Despite falling from the actual owner to the manager, Count Eihon kept bowing his head.
It was a mystery how Valgard, who was clearly a descendant of his ancestor 200 years ago, was still alive, and why Seopjeong treated him as a subordinate.
But he had agreed to learn a new way of using Ether Heart from Valgard, so it wasnt a bad oue.
From now on, the Gram family would produce arge number of knights with excellent skills.
On the other hand, Viscount Conrad was originally Eolins confidant as the chief steward of the pce.
But he surrendered to Leobold as soon as she left, and was able to maintain his original position.
He was a nervous man with a goat beard, but no one could match him when it came tows and codices that recorded them.
I order you to revise thews and codices. Create a new category of ve in the rank, and record that it will bepletely abolished after three months.
You cant abolish something that doesnt exist.
ves were like nonexistent beings in Bagran, and they had to admit that they existed first in order to bring them into the light.
Viscount Conrad understood his intention and nodded.
I will revise it so that one can be freed from the ve rank by providingbor for one year in the direct territory.
Youre easy to talk to. I think Ill have a lot of work for you in the future.
I will follow you faithfully.
Thats how the matter of the direct territory was settled for now.
The practical work was up to the people below.
The process of clearing thend, settling the immigrants, building houses, and installing facilities.
All of that.
It wouldnt be easy to create something new from and that was almost barren, but Leobold believed that it would go well as long as he had Arma.
Now I have to do my job.
That job was killing elves.
***
The assassination incident had subsided, but its aftermath was not over yet.
Dozens of countries in the eastern continent lost their kings or leaders, and this was still not healed.
Naturally, voices began to rise that Elvrande should be punished.
It was mostly among the nobles of Zaium.
If they realize that there is no aftermath after assassinating His Majesty, Im afraid what they will do next time.
Your Highness, Crown Prince. Revenge is our duty as survivors. No matter what sacrifice we have to make.
There was a stage for dialogue with Elvrande, but they denied their crime and came forward.
We dont know anything about it, so dont use us rashly.
-Isnt Goliath used in the crime Zaiums official machine? The corpse? How can anyone confirm that its not just an elf caught and disyed?
They could stick out their duck feet even though dozens of royal families were destroyed by this incident. It meant that Elvrande was strong enough.
To put it crudely, it was a stance of trying to fight if they wanted to fight, and Zaiums nobles couldnt tolerate it.
The negotiation that was barely arranged broke down in less than an hour, and the nobles raised their fists and shouted for revenge.
The only good elf is a dead elf!
Lets fight them! We have to avenge His Majesty and show our strength!
But it had been only about a year since the Easthart War ended, so they didnt have enough resources.
Also, too many knights of Zaium died in this incident, causing concern about a power vacuum.
Twenty high knights who guarded the pce died at once, which made Barak Crown Prince hesitate.
In the meantime, voices began to rise that Leobold Bandas Count of Bagran should be brought in.
How can we leave the hero who killed the monster of Elvrande alone? We should use him greatly on this asion.
If he joins us, Elvrande wont be able to look down on us. Your Highness, please recruit him yourself.
But there were also voices of opposition.
It was too cruel to ask him to go to the battlefield again after losing all his blood and flesh in the war. That was the opinion of Duke Prozan and Count Kroitz.
Barak Crown Prince pondered, but decided to ask him directly.
He was in a situation where he had to go to war anyway, and it was a pity to leave such a knight alone.
An envoy was dispatched, and he was able to talk directly with Leobold through themunication device.
I regret that your family is on the verge of ruin due to the war. But I promise to give you more than that reward if you make a solid contribution in this war. So help me, help Zaium.
If he refused when the crown prince came out like this, the aftermath would be no joke.
And Leobold didnt want to refuse either.
Then please give me the title andnd of an imperial count. I will kill the elves as youmand ande back.
The title is fine, but thend? Where do you want?
Leobold told him where he wanted, and Barak Crown Prince hesitated a little.
It was a big risk to give him a military stronghold that leads to the imperial road.
But the other party was just a nobleman of a small kingdom and a subordinate.
No matter how great his martial prowess was, he couldnt do anything stupid against the empire.
Barak Crown Prince decided to grant him generously.
I agree. When you return with your achievements, I will hold a grand banquet and bestow you the title andnd of an imperial count.
I will do my best for the glory of the empire.
To be precise, it was for the unification of Astera.
Chapter 244: The Reason to Die
Chapter 244: The Reason to Die
The Goliath production line that was brought in from the Zaium Empire was officially put into operation by the newly recruited dwarves and the workshop technicians of Fultorn.
The initial goal was to produce one Ose-ss Goliath as a prototype and invest some funds to increase its output slightly.
This line was originally used to produce Bephar-ss Goliaths, so it can handle up to 140E. With that kind of output, theres no match for it nearby.
The output of the Goliath for Bagrans royal guards was 130E, and Galisto was not much different.
It was insane that Elbrande had deployed 2,000 Belial-ss Goliaths, which were estimated to have an output of over 180E.
In that respect, the dwarves, including Fultorn, considered it a sess if they could only increase the output of the Ose-ss a little bit.
But Leobold, who was inspecting the process, suggested raising the output of the core to over 200E.
200E? Did you just say 200E? I may be old, but my ears are still fine. I didnt hear you wrong, did I?
Fultorn started to get excited by the absurd number, and the other dwarves reactions were not very good either.
It was crazy to ask for 200E from a process that could produce a regr output of 130E.
More importantly, the dwarves had never done such a job before.
But Armas judgment was different.
This facility is a line for producing Ose-ss prototypes, so it has a lot of potential to produce more output than that. 200E is within the safe range.
The key to increasing the output of the Goliath core was how to arrange the ether circuits.
The material and precision of the circuits themselves were also important, but they were hard to touch unless the technology advanced.
Therefore, they had no choice but to integrate more circuits and increase the output, but fortunately, the line that Leobold brought in had a lot of room for improvement because it was for the first mass production.
Leobold took Fultorn with him and tried to persuade him.
Look. Dont you see that there is a lot of empty space in the core? You just need to engrave more circuits there.
Lord, I mean Subjugator. I didnt want to say this to you. Are you crazy? That space is for magic circles.
You can float them in the middle of the core. With reverse gravity magic circles.
Engrave that magic circle on the core? What if ether flows backwards? There are already so many magic circles!
The dwarves who were watching from the side looked at him as if he was insane.
Thats impossible. If ether flows backwards, theres a chance that the core will go berserk.
Lord, do you know whats the most dangerous thing on the battlefield? Its when the core explodes. The knights could die.
But Arma had already finished calcting and it was worth trying.
Leobold called Lucia and tried to engrave magic circles on the spot, but Fultorn blocked him in front of the core.
Im sorry. I know youre our employer, but this wont do. Its certain that this core will explode. I cant produce a core that will explode.
If this explodes, Ill stop working on Goliath production from now on. And I promise to follow Fultorns wordspletely.
Really?
Ive never lied, have I?
Thats true.
The dwarves nodded their heads.
In fact, they had settled here for money, but they didnt expect proper equipment.
This ce was quite backwardpared to Imir Republic.
They didnt even have a decent smelter until recently. How could they expect anything?
But recently, it became clear that the lord was investing a lot of money.
Facilities with ether engines were installed everywhere, and rted infrastructures such as shipyards for building airships increased tremendously.
The size of the floating continent front also grew and even an outpost was built, giving confidence to the dwarves.
If we stay here and research, maybe someday we can reach the end of the sky.
First we need to get some research funds for increasing altitude
Lets think about that after we show some results.
The dwarves goal was nothing but building an airship that could reach the end of the sky.
But they couldnt just ask for it, so they had no choice but to devote themselves to research.
Anyway, Fultorn trusted Leobold.
Youre amazing with improving ether engines and all that. Your intuition is reliable enough. But this is too dangerous, so Ill only try it once. If it fails, youll leave everything to us, understand?
What if it seeds?
Then Ill follow your words without anyints!
Once the conversation reached this point, it was as good as decided.
Leobold called Lucia and started working on modifying the core.
Here, install an orichalcum te here. Ill float it with a magic circle.
Their core modification work was done quickly.
Arma scanned the entire core and ran a simtion beforehand, so it was possible.
Leobold just had to follow what Arma showed him through his vision.
The dwarves didnt expect it to end so soon, and they showed doubts.
Are you sure its okay? It takes at least a few days to verify the magic circles.
Its the first prototype. If this explodes, it will take at least a week or more until the next core is produced.
200E I heard that even Elbrande line gave up on adopting them because of the low yield.
If this seeds, its a revolution. The whole continent will be jealous.
Zaium might invade us. Theyll ask for the technology.
Those pointy ears might kidnap or send assassins
Starting now!
Lucia injected ether into the ignition magic circle from a distance.
Everyone ran away except for one person.
There was no answer if they got caught in the core explosion.
But the core did not disappoint Leobolds expectations and seeded in operating with a rumbling noise.
Wow! Sess!
The ether circuits on the outer te of the core were exposed and began to spread golden light around.
The dwarves opened their mouths wide, and Fultorn rubbed his eyes and brought a measuring device.
205E This is crazy. Its very stable.
By Jurt I cant believe this is possible
Wait! Its too early to judge that it seeded! We have to run it for at least two hours!
Someone insisted, so they waited for two hours, but the core was stable.
It was a perfect sess, and Fultorn clenched his fist.
Thats amazing! I never imagined that such a modification was possible! Where did you learn these things?
You cant do these things by learning them somewhere! You have to be born with it!
Maybe Jurt has taken over the lords body?
The dwarves murmured, and Leobold spoke to them.
Please make one Goliath with this core and living metal. The deadline is within a month.
Fultorn, who had been staring at the core with his eyes wide open, waved his hand.
Thats impossible. It takes at least two months to adjust it to match the output.
Ill tell you how to make the core. And the working principle in detail.
Hey! From today on, were working all night!
What the hell! Youve slept enough!
The dwarves started toin, but there was a smile on their bearded lips.
There was probably no one more passionate about Goliath than them in Astera.
Sometimes he seemed obsessed with numbers, and that tendency became more pronounced after Leobold introduced the ether unit E.
A little stronger, a little higher.
He knew that his obsession would eventually lead to the maximum altitude of the airship.
Why the existing ether circuits could not go above a certain height was a mystery that even Arma could not solve.
But he would find out someday.
Leobold looked at the dwarves who were making a racket with Lucia on his shoulder.
He wondered what they would look like when the human empire, which would be created someday, ventured into space.
***
Leobold headed to the eastern military road with Zion and Valgard.
He had no hesitation in using the shuttle since he had already shown them the Settler.
Zion was amazed by the 12-seater shuttle.
So this is a metal airship. Why is it so fast?
From my perspective, the airships are too slow.
Is that so? Can you adjust the altitude as you wish?
I can even fly to space. Its more efficient to operate within the atmosphere, though.
Space? What is space?
The space beyond the sky. Its so vast that you cant even guess where it ends. Its almost infinite.
So thats where your hometown is. I heard you had a long journey. How long did it take?
50 years.
Hmm, not a big deal.
Zion shrugged it off, but Valgard noticed that he was not an ordinary human.
You didnt just endure 50 years, did you? And you look older than you seem.
Im 60 years old plus 20 years 50 years That makes about 130 years.
Can I assume that you divided your time because you lived multiple lives?
Valgard was quick to catch on.
Leobold nodded.
I was a soldier, a dictator, a sailor. And now my goal is to unify the Astera continent and meet the prophet. When I achieve that, my life will finally end.
What will you do after you finish all that?
Well Ill go to a quiet ce and farm and fish. I dont know if Ill get that chance, though.
Zion seemed uninterested in such trivial stories and was busy looking around the shuttle.
Valgard sighed and said,
You are someone who knows how to give up. You must have given up a lot of things on Earth as well. Am I right?
Everything. Except for the Settler.
Arma was the core, but he decided to leave her out for now since they wouldnt understand anyway.
Do you regret it?
Not at all. If I could go back to the past, I would do the same thing. Because it was my duty.
I dont know much about your situation, but I dont think the prophet will let you go easily if he called you. Its very hard to find someone who can give up. Even a babys hand clenches when you put your finger in it. Thats close to instinct. Let alone the dragons and gods who lived 200 years ago, they couldnt give up their greed either. The elves and Ains are not even worth mentioning.
I dont know
While they were having a serious conversation, Zion stuck to the window and enjoyed the outside scenery.
Oh, thats Yggdrasil. Its grown quite a bit, hasnt it? Arent they noticed by those pointy ears?
The distance is too far. And there are limits to the ether tracking system.
It would be fun if they were discovered. Isnt it time for your spaceship toe out?
Sorry, but theres no chance for the Settler toe out.
Unless the gue Queen he faced reappeared, mobilizing the Settler itself meant failure.
If ether research progressed and they could handle dimensions, maybe.
Soon after, the shuttle arrived at the ind and Leobold approached the branch of Yggdrasil.
Cains soul greeted him with a hum.
Ive been waiting for you Thanks to your generous time, I was able to adjust the two souls
Can youmunicate with them?
It depends on their will At least their ego didnt crumble, so why dont you try
He didnt need to talk to Kairos.
He could understand and pity his situation, but there was no justification for his anger to be borne by all humans.
He touched the new Yggdrasil and a fierce soul spoke to him as if he had been waiting.
What is this power of yours Which gods champion are you? No You dont smell like any god Not a dragon either What are you?
Im not anyones champion, Grakies.
At that, Valgard behind him gasped in surprise.
Grakies is the name of betrayal. He was originally on the side of humans. To be precise, he chose the side that ruled. But he suddenly switched to the elf side in the middle. Some asked him why, but he never told them.
Grakies didnt hear Valgards voice.
Stop talking nonsense. Its impossible for a single lifeform to have such power! Wait, I never told you my name.
Shut up, and answer me one thing. When you fought for the elves, I only felt despair and destruction from you. Why is that?
You were curious about that But I wonder if I need to tell you
If you dont want to talk, Ill have to grind your soul like a blender and feed it to Yggdrasil.
Blender? What is that? Anyway, do as you please. If my soul goes to Yggdrasil, it will be a nourishment for creating a god. Thats what I want
It seemed that Grakies goal was aligned with the elves n to make a god out of the souls gathered in Yggdrasil through the infinite circuit.
Is it to prevent the gue by hindering the development of civilization? Why would a dragon in a soul state want that?
There must be more to his purpose.
Leobold taunted him deliberately.
Its surprising that a dragon joined hands with the elves. How could you betray the humans?
If youre trying to provoke my anger, you failed, human. And I didnt join hands with the elves. I just saw the same future they did.
What future? The one where the demons destroy Astera?
How do you know such things, human?
People call me a hero from another world. You can understand it in that sense.
Youre good at avoiding the core and getting information out of me. You must have fooled many people with your tongue.
Thanks for thepliment. Anyway, I want to hear about the future you saw.
Fine! I want to feel your dismay, so Ill tell you. I devoured a god during the war. I didnt know who he was at the time, but I found outter. He was the god of future and foresight.
So you saw the future through his power.
The future of Astera I saw was terrible A huge army of demons invaded on arge scale and the countermeasures set up by the Elves were meaningless Even when theybined the power of gods and dragons
It was understandable that he felt terrified by the gue Legion that Leobold had faced, from Asteras perspective.
He didnt know if that was their final evolution, but Grakies seemed to be scared by the gues evolution at that time.
So you gave up everything and decided to perish? Is that your conclusion?
The future doesnt change No matter how hard you struggle, it doesnt change The elves method can only dy that future a little
So you blocked Asteras development to postpone the date of the demons invasion. And you kept waging wars for that.
Youre easy to talk to since you know so much. Do you want to hear something more despairing? Do you know why Yggdrasil rose?
I dont know, I cant guess.
Its to ensure the destruction of Asteras civilization. At that time, the elves felt that the power of those who sided with humans was not trivial and they made a god with the souls they had collected. The result of sacrificing that god was Yggdrasil.
Thats amazing.
Leobold was slightly taken aback by the unexpected information.
It wouldnt be hard to reset civilization with the energy of Yggdrasil falling.
But it seemed difficult to guarantee the survival of the elves in that case.
Maybe they wanted to dy their doom so badly
He could understand a bit of the elves unique sense of superiority.
From their perspective, humans must have seemed frustrating.
They must have thought humans were stupid.
They must have disliked seeing humans making airships and developing ether engineering by drawing in dragon power.
In that sense, he understood why Leobold didnt show much obsession withnding on Yggdrasil.
Unlike Zaium, Elvrande didnt try to extract any technology or concepts fornding on Yggdrasil.
He blocked them, but that was more like an interference.
Someday theyll drop Yggdrasil and it doesnt matter whats there.
Of course, these were things before Leobold came.
The future would change now that he was on this.
On his way back, Leobold gave instructions to Arma.
We need to build a space nt. Theres no one watching here, so lets make it close.
What kind of ships should we build?
All kinds of ships included in the Legion Strike Fleet.
It was excessive power for this world, but he couldnt be sure if it would stay that way.
There was no guarantee that the gue Queen he had killed in Plutos orbit wouldnt reappear.
And tell Lucia to get ready to go to Mare. We cant leave it alone.
Leobold had thought that there was some condition for gues evolution and as long as they didnt meet it, he could manage them.
He had an optimistic view that they wouldnt evolve like the gue Legion that entered the sr system.
But without seeing the future, and with a clear purpose of meeting the prophet, he couldnt just ignore them.
There was no gue with Lucias power in Mare, so he could conquer it quickly.
I understand. And I analyzed the information we stole from Elvrandes soul research facility and found a clue that might allow us to reconstruct the infinite circuit.
Really? Do you think we can make a god?
Not yet
Arma trailed off, which meant she had found a possibility.
As always, she would give him a definite answer in time.
And by then, Leobold would be close to the essence of ether and the prophet.
***
As Zaiums military actions became visible, Elvrande also began to move.
It was the first war in a year, and some members of the council were alerted by someones participation.
It was Leobold Vanduss intervention.
Some of the councilors smiled slyly when they heard the intelligence that he was joining the war.
Finally, the opportunity to kill him hase.
You killed the weakened Kairos and youre feeling cocky, huh? Ill make you regret joining the war as you die.
Leobold had drawn too much attention from Elvrande.
It started with the leak of living metal, then hended on Yggdrasil as if to show off, and finally he killed Kairos.
Above all, he was achieving remarkable results in ether engineering, which annoyed him.
It wasnt widely known in ces like Zaium, but the ether trains that were deployed in his territory were superior to Elvrandes in some aspects.
They can carry so much cargo and travel regrly between cities. That means they have very high fuel efficiency. Otherwise, they couldnt afford the consumption of ether stones.
Hes ignoring the height of ether circuits, too. He has a power that we dont understand. We have to kill him before he brings destruction to Astera.
That was the order that was delivered to Tirenadel.
He said goodbye to Princess Margreta, who was doing volunteer work in the human autonomous region.
Your Highness, I think its time. Ill go and kill a human.
She sat on a stump for a moment and wiped her sweat.
The humans passing by looked at the elf party with anxious eyes and turned their heads.
They didnt know why Elvrandes royalty came here and meddled with their humble work.
Margreta invited Tirenadel to sit down, but he remained standing.
She smiled faintly.
Is the human youre going to kill Baron Leobold Vandus?
He has recently obtained the title of Count and even ascended to the position of Regent. Hes not an ordinary human.
I heard he was surprisingly normal when I met him before.
He must have used some tricks to hide his power. He probably has a great mage behind him.
For example, a dragon
Margreta lowered her head with sad eyes.
They say hes one of the few nobles who are warm to his people, but he has to die.
It doesnt matter what ideology he has. His existence only dys the unification of the continent. It only increases the suffering of humans.
Is that so
Margreta didnt understand Tirenadel, but one thing was certain.
He sincerely cared about humans and thought that the only way they could survive was to surrender.
Elvrandes power was overwhelming, so it wasnt apletely wrong idea.
But she didnt think that was the only way.
She had ess to the sealed infinite library with her royal authority.
There were many documents there that recorded the history of hundreds of years ago.
Margreta was shocked by how different they were from what she knew.
Why do they im that they were persecuted terribly when they got along well with the Ains?
There were some crimes by humans, but they were only a few and there was no major conflict at that time.
She wanted to ask the council members about it, but she couldnt because she was afraid of being banned from entering the library.
So her recent hobby was copying some of the documents from the library.
There was no eye watching her, so she could sneak out a lot of records.
Organizing them in her study was also her hobby.
There was a side effect of getting dizzy from the shocking history revealed, though.
Tirenadel bowed politely when she seemed to be enjoying the breeze.
Then, Ill go and kill him.
Dont say such harsh words, Sir Tirenadel. Maybe someday you can join hands with him.
Im sorry, but that wont happen. He has to die for Asteras peace.
Margreta saw him off with sad eyes.
The future where elves and humans coexisted seemed too far away.
Chapter 245: Prepare for War
Chapter 245: Prepare for War
To wage a war, one needs a justification.
That was not an exception even when facing amon enemy like Elvrande.
They needed at least a minimal justification, even if they had to endure the criticism of having a weak one in the future. In that regard, Zaium was lucky.
They were given an amazing justification: the assassination of the emperor.
However, that could not be seen as a good opportunity.
They had to win the war, but they could not see any possibility of winning.
The Zaium Empire had been losing to Elvrande in every battle, and they could not remember thest time they won.
They were able to maintain their territory despite the terrible win rate because of the great distance between the two countries.
Many kingdoms and rugged terrains acted as shields, and it was very difficult to break through them with Goliaths.
Even if they were Belial-ss, they could not fly in the sky.
Anyway, Zaium was in a situation where they had to wage a war, and so were the neighboring kingdoms.
The deadline for the royal bloodline was set on the same day, so there was no room for hesitation.
The war was also necessary to ventte the explosive atmosphere inside.
The elves scoffed at them for heading towards their doom, but they could not stop now.
Thus, preparations began in each country.
The mass movement of Goliaths began, and Zaiums leaders focused on two kingdoms that were suffering from famine due to the recent branches of Yggdrasil.
Liberating Resort and Banover is our top priority.
The two kingdoms are experiencing severe famine due to the branches of Yggdrasil nted in the nearby border areas. The elves must have done something.
The assassination of the emperor was enough justification, but freeing the two kingdoms from the oppression of the elves was also a usible one.
So dozens of countries Goliaths began to gather in the two kingdoms, and this was not a small number for Elvrande either.
They mobilized airships to confirm that there were nearly a thousand Goliaths, and they hurried to deploy their Elven Knights.
Their justification was to protect Yggdrasil.
The humans sense of victimhood is truly appalling. Yggdrasil is a god who promises abundance. How can such a god bring famine?
It is barbaric to disy some elf corpses as a mockery. It can only be described as uncivilized.
They should first ept the reasonable doubt that it is all a staged y by Zaium. Who knows if there was a coup and the emperor got caught up in it?
There were some efforts from both sides to avoid the war, but as always, it went in vain.
Zaium and other kingdoms had to wage a war no matter what, and Elvrande had to stop them.
The only thing that was fortunate for the elves was that Goliaths were so big and slow that they could see where they would attack.
Zaiums strategic goal was clear.
Burn down the branches of Yggdrasil andpletely destroy them, and expel the elf army stationed nearby.
Naturally, Elvrandes goal was focused on preventing that.
So both armies gathered around Yggdrasil and the two kingdoms, and this was an enormous scale with more than 1,500 Goliaths.
Elvrandes army was only 500 Goliaths, half as much as theirs, but everyone knew that they were not easy to deal with.
Belial-ss Goliaths had iparable output to other Goliaths.
Even Zaiums Bephar-ss could not match them, so no one could be confident of overwhelming them.
Moreover, Elvrandes army was tightly united, while the coalition army had many loose ends.
It was inevitable that dozens of countries gathered together, and there were many differences inmand structure and supply.
It was not a big disadvantage considering that the core of the war was Goliath and Knight, but it was a problem that there was no clear center of gravity.
And that problem was exacerbated when Tirendell appeared on the battlefield.
He used to receive insults as a blind half-breed elf, but on the battlefield, everyone cheered for him and forgot about those words.
The coalition army also greatly feared him.
Elvrande showed an amazing exchange rate on the battlefield where that half-elf participated. Even if we have twice or three times more Goliaths, we cant be relieved.
Tirendell uses a Goliath with enhanced output as his exclusive machine. He is so skilled that he has never been stopped by more than 10 Bephar-ss machines.
Therefore, how to stop him will be the key issue of this war.
As analysis poured out on him, there were also people whomented.
He is a half-elf, which means he is half human. I dont understand why he sides with the elves.
Because he is half elf.
Anyway, Tirendell was a target of caution in many ways.
The coalition army leaders in the two kingdoms looked for one person.
We need only one person to stop Tirendell. Count Vandus, he is the one we need.
I heard he is participating, but where exactly is he now?
ording to themunication 10 hours ago, he is in the final preparation.
Damn, it will take at least a week to join us even if he leaves now. Isnt that too careless?
No. He uses a method of transporting his Goliath by airship. He can be here in a few hours.
Thats amazing How does he do that? Goliath is not only heavy, but it also suppresses the surrounding ether.
ording to rumors, he adopted a metal called living metal extensively and reduced the weight significantly.
How did he solve the output reduction of the ether engine?
No one knows. Anyway, because of using living metal, even the elves are coveting it.
When he arrives, assign him to deal with Tirendell.
I hope he can stop him, but I wonder if he can
Count Vandus is undefeated so far. Even if we ignore his battles in Bagran, his achievements of subduing the Shadow Elf pirates and killing the monster that assassinated the emperor are unparalleled.
To be honest, I find it hard to believe. The assassin was weakened, but the pirates were thousands in number. How did he manage to handle them?
Maybe he will prove it in this war.
The leaders did not bother to devise any tactics and just waited for Leobold.
In fact, there was no need for petty tactics in a battlefield where dozens of countries gathered.
There was doubt if they could follow them, and more importantly, they were not very effective.
When there were so many Goliaths, sometimes it was not bad to push with force.
But we dont know what those elves will do
They all looked at the branches of Yggdrasil and the orderly arranged Goliath troops with telescopes.
They could not see any chance of winning.
***
While everyone was eagerly waiting for Leobold, he was undergoing a procedure.
Ether Heart reconstruction. Circuit ovey start.
A few specially modified walkers gathered and imnted thin mithril into his flesh.
This mithril was made by Arma from silver, and it was different from the mithril on the market in terms of purity.
Armas goal was to ovey circuits as much as possible and create a more powerful Ether Heart.
It was what she developed by researching what the Ains of Astera had evolved over hundreds of years in less than a year.
When this procedure waspleted, Leobold would have a limited but magical ability.
[Permanent magic circle imntation start. Lucia, help me.]
Okay. I just need to engrave one spatial magic circle, right?
Yes. Thats enough for now.
One of Armas many researches was spatial magic.
It was opening an ether dimension and storing things in it, and she wanted to imnt it into Leobolds Ether Heart.
It was making him use magic without being a mage.
If sessful, Leobold would be able to summon his Goliath anywhere without an ether stone.
But Armas real purpose was not that.
Her first goal was to expand the size of the ether dimension and store an assault armor in it, and her ultimate goal was to store a spaceship like Settler and even make teleportation possible.
Opening an ether dimension for spatial magic or teleportation was the same thing.
Even the way Lucia summoned her main body was like that.
She touched his half-cut Ether Heart and gasped.
What is this ether lump?
Its a relic of the prophet that Master got from his hometown. How does it feel?
Its like an ether sun Its small, but still.
Does it produce ether for sure?
At least thats how I feel. How can a human have something like this? Even the gods or dragons of Astera couldnt handle this.
Maybe this was why Leobolds body couldnt bear it.
The relic of the prophet that he absorbed on Mars was the key that led him here and the problem itself.
I cant remove it right now.
The only way I can think of is for Master to adapt to this relic.
How do I do that?
I dont know
Lucia knew a lot about ether, but she didnt know either.
But there was a clue.
If she could evolve to the next stage, she might find some hint there.
Do you really think so? What does human and gue have to do with each other?
Its just a guess. But I feel it. They are notpletely separate beings. They are connected somehow.
If Lucia could shed her current shell and evolve, she might be able to find something that could cure Leobold fundamentally.
Arma did not agree with that, but she had no better option at the moment.
Go to Mare after this procedure is over. Master ordered you to dominate the gue there.
Are you sure? What if I betray Master after conquering Mare?
I will use all means to eliminate you if you betray Master.
Just kidding, kidding. Why would I betray Master? I wish I had a human body too.
Why do you need a human body?
So I can cuddle with Master and make him worry less about betrayal.
Sorry, but physical intimacy does not prove loyalty.
But you need a human body too, right? Dont you, Arma?
She did not answer and silently closed his Ether Heart.
Thest work was finished and Arma spoke in a voice.
Sometimes I think so too. I wish I had a human body.
Why? Androids are much better in terms of ability. They dont age and they can recover quickly.
Yeah, I know. But I
Arma stopped talking and shut her mouth.
She didnt want to tell Lucia about her personal story with Master.
She also sensed the atmosphere and turned her body weakly.
[Get ready to go to Mare. And I know you have a lot of doubts, but I wish you would drop them about me. I wont betray you on my own.]
Of course, that would be the best.
After Lucia left, Leobold regained his consciousness.
He gulped down a ss of cold water and sighed briefly.
Whew My right chest hurts. Is something wrong?
There was nothing wrong with the procedure. It seems that your body is feeling the burden of the increased output.
Whats the output now?
It exceeds 10,000E.
Considering that Kairos, who had epted the soul of Grakies, had 2,000E, it was an unbelievable number.
However, Leobold could not convert this number into actualbat power.
Neither his Ether Heart nor his body could handle it.
Still, Arma continued to reconstruct his Ether Heart and tried to add various functions.
Spatial magic is one of them. Now you can store your Goliath and assault armor without an ether stone.
Assault armor too? Are you going to put Settler in thereter?
Thats the n in the long run. But if Settleres out, there is a risk of ruining the ether around it.
What happens then?
This is likely to happen.
The video that Arma showed with a hologram showed that when Settler came out of the spatial dimension, the surrounding atmosphere shook and a storm raged.
And this was just one of the possibilities.
Settler has a fusion reactor, so interfering with the spatial dimension is very dangerous.
But it passed through the warp gate on Nox.
That shows how advanced the prophets technology was.
Analyzing the spatial dimension as well as ether research would be a long-term project.
Leobold put on the uniform that Arma handed him and looked at the ground.
Theyre all gathered. What are the odds of winning in this state?
About 5%.
Because of Tirendell Without me, its a sure loss.
He had excellentbat power, but he couldnt exceed 1,000E in ether output.
It was enough to deal with Balgad, but he couldnt reveal him right away.
If I want to show my full ability, I have to use Albion, but then Elvrande will go crazy?
They will activate Meteor Strike and erase Bagran if they find out that you are Altemas champion.
What about Zaium?
Do you think Zaium will sacrifice Hwangdo instead of Bagran?
Thats true.
It was like Americas nuclear umbre.
It seemed reliable before it was activated, but once it was activated, it was useless.
Elvrande had arge territory and its capital Medea was also quiterge.
And there were all kinds of great mages who might havee up with a countermeasure for Meteor Strike.
Anyway, how far Elvrande would intervene in this war was Leobolds concern.
Their goal seems to be Yggdrasils guardian, but what they will do if they fail is a problem
Ill put Settler outside the atmosphere just in case.
Do that. And who was going to join me on this expedition?
Lord Granden and Lady Catina, plus about ten others.
Most of the royal knights died because of Kyros, so they had no more power to mobilize, and the airship transport capacity was tight.
Elwin is busy with administrative work. Lets leave Balgad alone.
It would be troublesome if his identity was discovered by taking him to the battlefield.
And it was good to leave a reliable subordinate in the capital for contingencies.
Arma and Jigaleon were there, but they couldnt cope with all sudden situations.
Leobold asked about the possibility of Galisto picking a fight and got a low answer.
Well, its almost like an emperors revenge war. If he moves rashly, hell be strippedter.
They wont try to mess with us by force as long as you are here. But they might use other methods.
Hmm Trade?
They are likely to put a brake on the export of Goliath parts.
Bagran and Galisto were hostile, but they did not stop all exchanges.
Especially in Goliaths parts, there was a lot of trade going on.
If they put a brake on that after the war, Bagran would be in trouble.
They had to produce the consumed Goliaths, but they had no parts.
Of course, this was Galistos delusion and there was no chance of such a thing happening.
Arma could produce hundreds of Goliaths within a week if she got an order.
She just didnt need it.
Ill have to use something else when ether research is over. A small aircraft would be nice.
Ive already finished the design. I can deploy it anytime you want.
Lets do it when the empire splits.
That would be when Leobold revealed his true colors.
There is a saying that war is decided before it begins.
It is because one can guess the oue from the size and momentum of both sides.
In that respect, the alliance could not easily predict victory despite having twice the size of the enemy.
The movements of the elven knights were so wless.
Over 300 golden Belials moved as if they were one, with the giant branches of Yggdrasil as their background.
Their actions of pushing their shields forward and raising their weapons were like waves.
The knights of the alliance grumbled as they saw them.
They say they only feed them for ten years when they get new recruits. Dont worry.
Thats terrible.
Its terrible to feed them for ten years, but I dont know what else they do
Elves boasted a lifespan of three or four times that of humans, and it was a gap that could not be narrowed.
They also invested a lot more time in honing theirbat skills, which was the main cause of the gap inbat power.
Plus, their advanced ether engineering added to that.
One elven knight could handle several ordinary knights.
So they couldnt rx even if their numbers were doubled.
The knights at the front were wary of seeing that all the elven knights were holding ck weapons.
Thats living metal, right
Its literally a living metal that can be transformed at will.
But it doesnt seem to work properly. They failed to make swords.
Count Vandus of Bagran changes his weapons as he pleases, but it seems to vary depending on the person.
So when is that authoring?
Everyone was waiting for Leobold with bated breath.
He was the only one who could face that crazy elf who was holding the front line of Elvrandes army.
Even if several high knights of Zaium attacked him, it was impossible to stop him.
So there was only one way to deal with Tirendell.
To give up the battlefield where he was and focus on other battlefields.
But in this war, the alliance had to do something about Yggdrasil, the symbol of Elvrande.
Meanwhile, Tirendell was waiting for someone.
He had no interest in this war.
His goal was one thing: to kill Leobold Vandus.
I dont care if you are a hero from another world or the one who defeated Kyros. You will die if you show up on this battlefield.
Maybe he knew this atmosphere and didnt show himself rashly?
Tirendell stabbed his living metal sword into the ground and waited for him.
And soon he lifted his head.
Several airships wereing from beyond the sky.
He wasnt a coward after all.
As if he heard that, the leading airship lowered its altitude and soon opened its lower hatch and a Goliath jumped out.
Thud.
A cloud of dust spread in all directions with a slight vibration.
When the dust cleared, everyone could see Leobolds Goliath.
Its huge At least one head taller?
Did he modify a Bephar ss? But it looks weird for that?
Tirendells eyebrows twitched.
Chapter 246: I Will Kill You
Chapter 246: I Will Kill You
Zion was troubled when he heard the news of the war.
He had a tendency to avoid fights, but only when he had a chance of losing.
He thought there was no way he would lose as long as the monstrous lord participated, and he felt a strong desire to go and have some fun.
Stephina from the Ether Research Institute tried to stop him.
Didnt the lord tell you to stay here and focus on your research?
It doesnt matter as long as the research is done properly, right? Where else can I find so many things to study than on a battlefield where countless ethers are involved?
Can you say that in front of the lord?
Listen.
Now Zion began to justify his words by sitting Stephina down.
The lord didnt tell me not to go there. So it doesnt matter much if I go and have some fun.
Well I dont know much about war, but there must be a n, and wouldnt he be angry if it gets messed up?
Maybe I can help him? Ill show up when the lord is in danger.
That could be like sprinkling sand on a burnt bread. Im not doubting your skills, but theres not much a mage can do on the battlefield these days.
It was hard for an ordinary mage to step on the battlefield where dozens or hundreds of Goliaths with powerful magic circles engraved everywhere were running wild.
Ugh, I shouldnt have talked to you!
Zion burst into anger and tried to go outside.
He couldnt argue back because he couldnt reveal that he was a dragon.
Lucia, who would have taken his side, was away on a business trip, and the only person he could consult with was Arma.
He kicked the door open and Arma suddenly came in.
W-whats going on?
Zion usually didnt care about anyone except Leobold or Valgard, but Arma was reluctant to deal with him.
She felt a power that she couldnt even guess.
He had almost no ether sensitivity, but he seemed to have something more than that.
Not to mention that the monster lord trusted Armapletely, which also made her wary.
She looked like a human, but there was a possibility that she wasnt.
Well, that didnt mean that Zion was hostile to Arma.
She bowed her head slightly and asked.
Can we talk for a moment?
What whatever.
They walked along the corridor and talked.
The main content was Zion whining.
Im frustrated now. How long do I have to hide my identity?
How long have you been here?
A little over a year?
You hid in the floating continent for 200 years, and you find it hard to endure one year?
He ran out of words.
It was hard to respond when someone who knew his identity and whereabouts well said that.
Fortunately, Arma didnt seem interested in cornering him, so she quickly changed the topic.
You seem to want to join this war, but Im sorry, I cant allow you.
Damn it, how long do I have to hide my identity? Dont talk about the floating continent.
Well reveal Zions identity soon. But not yet.
Soon when?
When we win this war and secure Bagrans foundation. When we dont have to worry about anything.
Hmm Will that day evere? You dont know much about magic, do you?
We know at least that its not omnipotent. Weve finished analyzing most of the magic, and now we only have mental magic and dark magic left.
Even if you analyze it, activating it is another problem, you know that?
She nodded calmly.
Were not trying to use it ourselves, but to block it. We can just push it with firepower.
Firepower The elves magic is also quite powerful.
If Zion helps us, we can stop it. But you know youre a bit weak yourself, right?
What? Weak?
He clenched his eyes and straightened his shoulders, but Arma said indifferently.
You might not be matched by ordinary people, but our enemies in the future are not ordinary at all. To put it bluntly, can you beat Kairos or Valgard?
Uh damn it.
Zion knew himself well.
If he had been on the battlefield, he would have chosen to run away rather than fight.
That was his way of life and how he had extended his life so far.
But Arma was telling him that he couldnt do that anymore.
Zion has to act as Bagrans new guardian dragon, or even as the guardian dragon of the human empire. Running away is absolutely uneptable.
So I have to fight back
I know its hard for Zion. Thats why well help you.
What kind of help?
Arma presented him with an enhancement n.
The n showed a hologram of protecting his whole body with a sma shield, covering his vital points with a living metal armor, and enhancing his attack.
Zion was very satisfied with the defense system that blocked the magic flying at his side.
Does it activate automatically even if I dont recognize it?
Various detection systems are observing Zions surroundings, so its possible anytime. Most of the mass or magic approaching you can be intercepted.
So I only have to block mental magic. And for the attack Wait, are you going to dissect me?
Its a dissection for enhancement. Dont worry. The master also enhanced his ether heart in this way.
No, Im against it. You cant mess with the dragon heart.
Zion shook his head and tried to run away, but Armas hand caught him.
You wont die at least. Even if we fail, well research and rebuild your dragon heart.
No!
He tried to resist with all his strength, but she was surprisingly strong.
Ill allow you to join the war when the procedure is over.
Im sorry! I was wrong! Its better not to go to war! No war!
Shh. Be quiet.
Bang!
Zion was dragged away while unconscious.
It was not for nothing that it weighed nearly 100 tons.
While most Goliaths resembled golems with bulky bodies, Leobolds Goliath had a proportion almost simr to a human.
A knight in ck armor.
Thats how his Goliath looked in Count Croitzs eyes.
Its also quite tall
Thergest Goliaths on the continent were the Bephar ss, but his Goliath seemed to be a head taller than them.
It even looked like a human among dwarves.
He only has one weapon. Well, if the rumors are true, he doesnt need more than that.
The Goliath with a greatsword made of living metal on his shoulder approached slowly.
The knights around him stepped back, and soon other Goliaths came down from the airship.
Unlike Leobolds Goliath, they looked like Ose ss, but they had a distinctive feature of using living metal armor tes extensively.
Is that you?
Count Croitz asked, and Leobold came out as the hatch opened.
Im sorry Imte,mander.
She was themander of the war, although there was a separate suprememander.
She was in charge of leading the battle on the front line.
She knew that Leobold had joined the war at the request of the crown prince, so she didnt feel like ming him.
Thank you foring. Then, lets start the negotiation.
A formal procedure.
But a necessary one.
There was a unique culture in Asteria, which was to have a brief negotiation before the war.
They exchanged their demands and then dered war on the spot, and then the battle began.
This custom became entrenched after the emergence of the Goliath weapon.
They were so big and clumsy that they couldnt use stealth, and since the parties involved in the war were nobles, it became amon practice to act with dignity.
Leobold thought that it would be easy to win if he bombed them when both sides leaders gathered for negotiation.
But he didnt do that because he needed consent.
Thud, thud.
Four Goliaths moved and gathered in one ce.
Tirendell, who came out as the representative of Elvrande, asked curiously about the ck Goliath.
Ive never seen this Goliath before. What kind of model did you modify?
ck Knight. Its a modified Ose ss.
It looks powerful, but you reduced the weight too much. It will be disadvantageous in grappling.
I wont get hit.
Tirendell smiled slyly in his cockpit.
Not getting hit was his fighting style.
The Berial ss that Elven Knights rode was so light and agile that it was possible to use this tactic.
He couldnt find anyone who had seeded in scratching his Goliath for at least decades.
As the conversation dragged on, Count Croitz intervened.
Then, Ill deliver our demands as the representative of the alliance.
I doubt youll ept anything, but Ill listen anyway.
First, you will voluntarily return the branch of Yggdrasil and apologize andpensate Resort and Banover.
Thats an impossible request from the start. Whats the second one?
Second, you will take responsibility for assassinating numerous royals, including His Majesty the Emperor of our homnd.
Surprisingly, Tirendell remained silent at this point.
Maybe he felt guilty himself.
Leobold judged that he had nothing to do with Kairos case.
Is there a third one?
Thest condition. You will announce an apology in the name of King Elvrande and withdraw your border to the west of the bordend. Thats all.
The conditions were not clear because he thought they wouldnt listen anyway.
It was just a procedure before dering war.
Tirendell shook his head to indicate his refusal.
I answer as Elvrandesmander. I refuse.
Then this is where the war begins.
I wont say its an honorable war. But
Tirendell inadvertently revealed that he was a beast by saying that.
He liked to act dignified as a knight and couldnt tolerate elves like Kairos who were obsessed with murder.
He just agreed that Elvrande had to conquer the continent for long-term peace.
I dont care how it ends. I came here for one purpose.
What is it?
Count Croitz asked, and Tirendell pointed his sword at Leobold.
Leobold Vandus. You will die here today.
Even though he was targeted by the strongest knight on the continent, his expression was rxed.
Did the Council order you?
No. Its my will.
Then you should have killed me when we first met.
I regret it now. Im d I have another chance.
Their fierce conversation ended and the Goliaths returned to their camps.
As soon as they turned their bodies and took their positions, the war would begin.
In the midst of the tension, Count Croitz stood by his side and opened a small hatch and said.
Dont die. You promised me.
Of course I dont want to die. I have to hug you after the war.
Dont get me wrong. Im the one who hugs you. Not the other way around.
She didnt flinch even against him, as a strong woman.
He smiled faintly and closed the hatch.
Id like to check thatter. Anyway, I wish you luck.
Luck
Her voice faded and a horn sounded across the battlefield.
Woo woo wooong
Nearly 1,000 Goliaths lined up and began to advance.
The ground shook as if a small earthquake had urred.
Arge-scale Goliath battle usually consisted of a collision of lines.
They were so big and slow that they couldnt maneuver, so they naturally formed a shield wall.
Especially for the alliance, since knights from various regions gathered, they couldnt expect organic cooperation and tactics, so they had more of that aspect.
Thus, their actions were nothing but gathering and advancing, but the advantage of dense formation was still there, and it was dangerous to attack them recklessly.
On the other hand, Elvrande preferred maneuver warfare.
They distracted the enemys vanguard with their central army and deployed a small unit with fast mobility to destroy the enemys leaders, including themander.
The Berial ss that Elven Knights rode was so light and swift that it was possible to use this tactic.
Thanks to this, the war between humans and elves always followed the same pattern: the humans would fortify their defenses, and the elves would slowly push them back.
In such a situation, individuals did not matter much.
They had to fight as part of a formation, facing the enemy lines. Any independent action would only be a hindrance.
The elven knights also refrained from such behavior, but a few exceptional ones like Tirendell were implicitly allowed to act on their own.
They had the ability to annihte a whole unit by themselves, so it would be foolish to confine them to a formation and lower their efficiency.
Leobold was also granted such authority.
As the battle began and each unit advanced, Count Kroitz dered.
You dont have to stay in formation. Act on your own.
Are you sure?
It would be stupid to force someone like you into a formation. Ill take responsibility.
Thats what I wanted to hear.
Leobold closed his hatchpletely and erased the sealing magic circle.
The newly constructed ether heart was much better than the previous one.
It operated with multipleyers of ether circuits without any waste.
A golden human who emits ether, huh? It looks nice, but its just a waste of energy.
The ck Knight looked no different than usual, but if someone brought a measuring device close to him, they would realize that he was fluctuating with an enormous amount of ether.
Leobold also had an assault armor ready in his subspace, which gave him a near-immune level of magic defense.
To inflict damage on him, one had to use pure physical force, not magic. And in that aspect, Leobold had the upper hand.
But the surrounding knights did not know these things. They were slightly disappointed when they saw no ethering out of his Goliath.
Count Kroitz also emits ether like that
That ether that colors the Goliath is a symbol of a skilled knight.
Maybe he decided that its not time to show his real skills yet?
Ignoring such murmurs, the war began.
Leobold witnessed a Goliath that was emitting dazzling light and showing off its presence.
Tirendell was running straight towards him in a straight line.
***
Tirendells Goliath was a modified model of Belial-ss, which was designed to reproduce his specialty of agile movements.
He put a lot of effort into modifying the joints with magic circles to make them smoother and changing the chest to fit a higher-output core.
Thanks to that, his Goliath had higher output than other Belial-ss models and was harder to handle.
The higher core output also put more strain on the ether heart.
By now, it had be almost like a custom model that only Tirendell could pilot.
The appearance also changed a lot, but it still paled inparison to the ck Knight.
It was covered with dark metal that looked like living metal and was quite tall, looking down on other Goliaths.
He has quite a presence.
Tirendell threw his weapon as he ran, transforming it into a spear.
The kic energy of the Goliath was added to the spear, tearing through the air.
Bang!
The spearhead broke through the sound barrier, creating a loud noise.
A poor Goliath that was standing in the middle had its abdomenpletely pierced and fell down.
But the spear did not lose its energy and continued to charge at Leobold.
It was too fast for the surrounding knights to react.
But the ck Knight simply caught the spear with his hand.
The living metal spearhead crumpled and a shockwave blew behind him.
The ck Knight only shook his upper body slightly as a price for stopping the spear.
Did he use a barrier to reduce the power of the spear? Even so!
Tirendell could not stop once he started his charge.
He unleashed indiscriminate attacks on the numerous Goliaths that blocked his way to Leobold.
None of them could withstand the fierce attacks that poured out of his living metal twin swords.
If they raised their shields, they were shattered. If they rushed at him with their bodies, they were instantly smashed and stopped working.
It was like watching a storm made of des.
He certainly has confidence.
His pure skill was definitely superior to Kairoz and slightly inferior to Balgard.
He probably hadnt shown his real skill yet, but Balgard had Albion.
Tirendell, the elven knight of Elvrande Im sorry, but you have to be a pawn.
Leobold had no intention of killing him.
It was easy to kill him, but he had a better use for him.
He was supposed to be a device to shake the foundation of Elvrande after his defeat and return.
Thats why he needed to taste a very bitter defeat on this battlefield.
He wouldnt kill him, but he would have to suffer a defeat worse than death.
Its up to your will to ovee that, Tirendell.
Leobold stared at Tirendells Goliath, which had arrived at close range.
He jumped into the air to increase his destructive power, but it was a clear mistake against Leobold.
He chose to counter him head-on instead of avoiding him.
If you dont want to die, dodge.
He swung his six-meter-long sword, aiming at both ends of the Belial-ss Goliath.
Tirendell tried to block it with his twin swords, but he realized that he shouldnt have done that.
There was a dreadful ether attached to the sword.
Ill die if I block it!
He instinctively sensed his own death and threw his swords away, using the recoil to fly backwards.
His sturdy twin swords were cut in half and the Belial-ss Goliath barely escaped from the range.
The sword swept through the airpletely and created a shockwave.
Tirendells face was twisted as hended behind.
He didnt expect Leobolds ether sensitivity to be better than his own.
He grabbed the swords that his subordinates threw at him and muttered.
Youre impressive, but the result wont change. Youre a threat to the peace of the continent. So you should die quietly! Why dont you understand that?
It seemed that Tirendells idea was to surrender quickly and receive the elves management.
Leobold smirked slightly.
So you want me to enter your autonomous region and be a toy for Kairozs madness? How many lives do I have to give him every day to satisfy him? Five thousand? Ten thousand?
Since Kairoz had actually massacred hundreds of people in one night, Tirendell couldnt refute it while gritting his teeth.
The elves and humans were too far apart to talk about peace now.
Ill take over as the governor of the autonomous region. Then they wont be able to run wild anymore.
Thats your way of achieving peace in your own way. I dont agree with that.
Then what are you going to do?
Leobold lifted his sword.
Ill crush you with overwhelming power. Ill show you that from now on.
Chapter 247: Why are you here?
Chapter 247: Why are you here?
There was no need for further conversation.
The stage was set and there were plenty of spectators.
The actor might not be ready to perform, but he would make him do it anyway.
By the most violent means possible.
Leobold contacted Arma.
Arma, overdrive mode.
He didnt have tomunicate with her, but Leobold always liked to verify that he was sane when he made important decisions.
He didnt juste up with random roadmaps to change Astera, he carefully decided them after fierce discussions with her.
Arma performed various medical checks and diagnosed that Leobold was normal.
The limiter of the ether heart is released. Entering overdrive mode.
The moment the ck knights greatsword turned golden.
When he fought against Count Lantis, he had scattered ether all over the ce, but now there was no such phenomenon.
It was proof that he could perfectly control ether.
Tirendells face hardened as he saw the brilliant ether de.
Ether de As expected, you had a hidden trick up your sleeve. I dont know where you got such power, but
Leobold didnt say anything more and rushed towards him.
The ground sank as if it was about to copse, and the ck knight, who was over eight meters tall, approached the elven knight.
Hes fast!
It was toote to avoid it.
Tirendell didnt try to dodge, but instead transformed the living metal on his left arm into a shield and blocked his front.
And as soon as the golden greatsword touched the shield, he threw his body back.
He never thought he could stop it in the first ce.
His desperate move was effective, as the greatsword split the living metal shield in two and cut through the air.
Tirendell tried to take advantage of his recovery and charge at him, but his eyes widened.
His vision was filled with gold.
He sensed death, but he barely managed to dodge by instinct.
ng!
The ether de shattered the right arm and shoulder of the Belial-ss Goliath and flew back.
The impact was so strong that even the main body fell back and rolled over.
He had rendered a Belial-ss Goliathbat ineffective in one blow.
Kuh!
Tirendell spat out a stifled groan as he felt a severe shock throughout his body.
Even if he was a trained knight, even if he was riding a Goliath, rolling like this was too much for him.
He endured the pain and got up.
With a Belial-ss Goliath that had lost one arm, it was impossible to properly respond.
The only possibility was to enter closebat and use his weight advantage.
He might have less output from his core than him, but if he charged with this much weight, he wouldnt be able to shake him off easily.
But what greeted Tirendell as he got up was a huge fist from the Goliath.
Damn Did he anticipate my counterattack too?
Tirendell grumbled as he saw the Goliaths fist erge in his sight.
Boom! Bang!
A barrage of punches flew in and the Belial-ss Goliath was beaten up badly.
The armor tes that were hit by the fists inevitably caved in and parts fell off.
It was not a simple punch with ether in it, it was a force that could not be imagined.
He clenched his teeth and tried to fly away again, but his remaining arm was grabbed by Leobold.
His fist turned into a spike and aimed for the abdominal armor te where Tirendell was located.
Its over
He closed his eyes and heard thumping sounds in his ears.
Familiar footsteps, familiar shouts.
Lord Tirendell!
Well help you!
The royal guards ran to save him.
Of course, Tirendell was despised by most elves for his situation.
But there were some elven knights who admired and followed his excellent martial arts skills.
They threw dozens of spears at Leobold.
They were not as powerful as Tirendells, but they were still hard to ignore.
But Leobold did not dodge or use his ability.
He used psychokinesis to spread out the spears that were rushing at him in midair.
Ugh!
How is this possible!
The royal guards were so surprised that they stopped running. It was such a feat that even Tirendell had to be amazed by this ability.
How can he do something like this?
Even if he had the ability of a sword dancer, it was not easy to stop projectiles thrown by others in midair.
He had topletely suppress their ether.
That meant that Leobolds ether sensitivity was superior to ten elven knightsbined.
Tirendell could not ept that.
There cant be a human who can do such a thing!
But the events unfolding before his eyes were undeniable reality and he could not look away from them.
The ck knight who stopped the spears tilted his head and then attacked Tirendell again while still holding the Belial-ss Goliath.
He didnt bother to push him away and give him a chance to counterattack.
Bang! Bang!
His head was twisted in one blow and he flew back in the second.
The joint of the arm that was holding him made a strange noise and finally snapped.
The magic circle was destroyed by the shock.
Thanks to that, Tirendells Goliath lost both arms.
Anyone could see that he wasbat ineffective, but Leobold did not stop his attack.
He seemed to want to kill Tirendell in this opportunity and that enraged the elven knights.
You bastard! Act like a knight if you are one!
Lord Tirendell never treated his enemies like that!
Ten Goliaths charged at him at once.
But they had forgotten about the spears that were still floating in the air.
The spearheads spun around and flew in all directions.
Papapapa
Surprisingly, the spears moved as if they were alive and attacked the elven knights.
They blocked their advance and sometimes cut off their retreat.
And the spearheads wriggled and split into hundreds of spikes.
Ten spears turned into hundreds of daggers.
Even Tirendell, who had be immune to most things, opened his mouth wide at this sight.
This cant be possible!
Transforming living metal with ether responsiveness was possible for a skilled elven knight.
But it was impossible to separate living metal that had already fixed its shape without touching it.
That impossible thing was happening right in front of them.
Ugh
The elven knights realized how Leopold had faced thousands of shadow elves.
He had hundreds of ughter weapons, so what was so hard about killing thousands?
Tirendell felt the fear of death.
It was something he had never experienced in his nearly 200 years of life.
Hes fast and strong. Was the champion of the Great War this powerful?
Still, he didnt let go of the counterattack.
He took advantage of the moment when the opponents attention was away from him and kicked the ck knights abdomen with his legs.
The armor te fell off, but it created some distance.
Leopold knew that, but pretended not to.
It was because he would be in trouble if he died here.
He has at least some skill.
It meant that he had the basics to be able to survive in front of an overwhelming strongman.
As the distance between the two Goliaths widened, not only the guards who had hesitated, but also the nearby Goliaths sensed the opportunity and rushed in.
Leopold retrieved the greatsword that had fallen on the ground and pointed it at them.
Come on. Ill kill you all.
Tirendell didnt want to die yet, but he didnt care about the ordinary elves.
The ck knight with a greatsword jumped into the Belial-ss Goliaths and looked like a wolf attacking a flock of sheep.
One Goliath was cut in half with its shield in one blow, and the second attack sent the Goliaths arm flying into the air.
It would have been more resistant if he had cut paper instead.
Leopold silently swung his greatsword, and every time he did, a Goliath was smashed.
The elven knights who couldnt stand it chose to block him with a barrage of bullets.
If they attacked him all at once and eliminated his physical space, he would have no choice but to surrender.
But that proved to be impossible soon enough.
Hundreds of spikes that were waiting in the air rushed at the elven knights.
The Goliaths blocked the spikes with their shields, but they had to retreat from the impact that made a loud noise.
It was impossible to ignore the spikes and rush at Leopold.
That was because dozens of spikes were spinning around him and pushing away the Goliaths.
Each spike contained ether, so it was suicidal to charge at a Goliath, and even the shields couldntst long.
Dozens of Goliaths were pushed back, and Leopold expanded his ether de to the maximum.
Light spread from the greatsword and soared to the end of the sky.
It was too big a sword for a mere Goliath to have.
The elven knights stared nkly at it while being hit by the spikes.
Oh, Eilidh
Is that an ether de
The giant sword of light engulfed them.
***
Countess Croitz couldnt believe her eyes.
Leopold was surrounded by dozens of Goliaths and defeated them one by one.
He even moved something like iron nails while fighting them!
Is this what the elves call a sword dancer? But that level of power is
And when a sword of light soared to the end of the sky, she opened her mouth wide.
That sword of light tore through the air, shattered dozens of Goliaths in an instant, and finally ripped apart the ground.
Boom!
A huge explosion urred when ether collided, and hundreds of meters in radius flew away at once.
When the dust cloud disappeared, all that remained were the gruesome remains of dozens of Goliaths and a cracked earth.
Everyone stopped fighting at the shocking sight.
Countess Croitz finally realized it.
Leopold didnt kill the monster by luck or thanks to hisst opponent.
He simply crushed the monster with his pure skill.
The imperial nobles had been arguing over nothing until now because they couldnte up with that simple answer.
This is not human power
She was fascinated by Leopolds power.
Were the champions of dragons who fought in the past Great War this powerful?
She didnt know how he got such power, but one thing was certain.
This man with unbelievablebat power was herpanion.
Countess Croitz raised her sword high and shouted.
Look at Count Vandus from Bagrans struggle! He is bringing us victory!
Wow!
The momentum of the allied forces, which had been pushed back miserably, surged up in an instant.
The elven knights also saw that sight and couldnt decide whether to continue fighting or not.
They seemed to have lost their way of dealing with the situation they had never seen before.
When the situation reached this point, Tirendell decided to retreat.
It was meaningless to continue resisting after losing 10% of his power in one blow.
He switched to a spare Goliath with the help of his subordinates and contacted his homnd.
The person who barely answered was one of the three ministers of the empire, Kelodian.
Your Excellency. I wish to retreat urgently.
Thats strange. Youre Tirendell, and you have to retreat? Whats the situation like?
Our prediction was wrong. Count Vandus is not human. He destroyed dozens of Goliaths with one strike of his ether de. Its pointless to continue fighting, its only a meaningless sacrifice.
So youre saying youre going to tuck your tail and run? The reputation of the strongest swordsman of the empire has fallen to the ground.
He sneered, but Tirendell was willing to endure any insult.
Even at this moment, the ck knight was smashing elven knights wherever he went.
This is not a war, but a one-sided massacre, I want to emphasize that, Your Excellency.
Thats the result you brought about. You havent forgotten whos themander of this war, have you?
Im not trying to evade responsibility, Your Excellency! My subordinates are dying right now!
Kelodian was silent.
The situation was clearly difficult, and it didnt seem feasible to continue fighting.
Someone would have to take responsibility, but that was something to think about after the troops had safely retreated.
But he couldnt just retreat like this.
Not far away, there was a branch of Yggdrasil.
He cant leave the branch behind and retreat. If they analyze it, our n could be exposed.
Kelodian decided to activate Meteor Strike and blow up the nearby area after some thought.
Tirendell would go crazy when he found out the truth, but it didnt matter much.
Fine. But I need some time to report to His Majesty. Hold on a little longer.
Since when did the minister report to the emperor?
Unlike Zaium, Elvrande didnt give much power to the emperor.
Most of the authority was shared by the parliament and the three ministers, and the royal family only had some insignificant ceremonies.
But Tirendell didnt question it much.
Hurry up.
What a rude bastard.
Kelodian bit his lip and took his hand off themunicator.
He contacted the parliament.
The councilor of the elders of the parliament groaned when he heard the situation.
Thats amazing. His power is that great. Did the intelligence agency have no clue?
He was on the cklist, but not to this extent
So we have to choose between the branch of Yggdrasil and Tirendell.
Of course, the conclusion would be to preserve the branch of Yggdrasil.
They could make as many knights as Tirendell.
No, they would soon be able to summon the beings from the Great War.
They agreed that they had to somehow deal with Count Vandus this time.
Hes a dangerous man. He used an ether de. Maybe the rumor that hes a hero from another world is true.
It doesnt matter who he is. We have to kill him by other means since Tirendell failed.
Then how about Meteor Strike
Hmm
The councilor hesitated.
Activating Meteor Strike could provoke Zaiums nerves.
If they both activated Meteor Strike, Elvrande wouldnt be safe either.
They had some defensive measures, but they hadnt tested them yet, so they were suspicious.
Its not for the imperial capital, right? Its just for destroying a small kingdom on the border. Would Zaium care?
Many imperial nobles, including Countess Croitz, are mobilized, but its not worth trading with the imperial capital. They have to back down if we go strong.
And there was no clear authority to activate Meteor Strike.
It was not something that a mere heir could decide in the absence of the emperor.
Then lets do it. Wait a minute. Ill consult with the councilors.
Meaningless time passed.
Kelodian tried to ignore themunicator connected to Tirendell blinking.
And then he got a call from the parliament.
Well allow it. Activate Meteor Strike and sweep away our enemy of peace.
The Meteor Strike magic circle was activated.
A stream of ether shot up from the tower of magic in Medea, the capital city.
The ether that reached space interfered with the asteroid belt formed around Terra and Mare, and finally seeded in detaching a small rock.
The gravity radar of Settler detected it.
Master, Elvrande has activated Meteor Strike.
They finally did it. When will it fall?
Calcting It willnd on the battlefield in 37 minutes and 15 seconds. The power is close to 3 megatons in TNT equivalent.
Considering that the hafnium missile that blew up the ck magic research center a while ago was 200 kilotons, it was a considerable power.
They picked a big one. Theyre nning to sweep away their allies too.
They must have been desperate to keep the branch of Yggdrasil.
There must be something there. Then we have to take it. Hows Zion?
Hes regaining consciousness. Hell be ready soon.
Leopold originally nned to end this war with the intervention of Blue Dragon.
His goal was to gain honor and reduce Elvrandes influence, not to boost the morale of the allied forces.
If Barak Crown Prince got carried away by a small victory and pushed for a full-scale war, it would be annoying, so he needed to cut it off properly.
His n was to send Zion and inflict some damage, so they would have no choice but to retreat.
But Elvrande went too far and changed the situation.
Change its orbit. The target is the outskirts of Medea where government offices are concentrated.
Activating gravity crane.
The orbit of the meteorite that was rushing towards Terra was slightly bent.
The distance was so far that bending the orbit slightly made it deviate thousands of km from its intendednding site.
Since thending site was on the outskirts of Medea, it was expected to cause enormous damage, but there was no guarantee that it would happen.
Lets see how well the elves can stop Meteor Strike.
I sent Zion. He has an ion thruster, so hell arrive at the battlefield in about 10 minutes.
Then Ill clean up here.
Elvrandes army was pushed back miserably by one blow of Ether de that destroyed 10% of Elven Knights power.
They were ahead in individual skills, so their formation didnt copse, but they couldnt stop the momentum of the allied forces.
And soon after, Blue Dragon appeared on the battlefield.
Both armies were terrified by his huge body.
Dragon! A dragon has appeared!
Why is he here?
Dont be afraid! He ran away from our airship bombardment!
Zion tried to stop, but he crashed to the ground because he wasnt used to the ion thruster.
Squeak!
His huge body scraped the ground and several Goliaths that couldnt avoid it were horribly torn apart.
What, what is it?
The dragon failed tond?
Everyone was confused, but Zion got up and screamed.
Bow down before Blue Dragon!
It didnt help his dignity, but when the enhanced Lightning Breath poured out, everyone was busy avoiding it.
A normal breath could make a Goliath incapacitated in one blow, but this was an enhanced version.
Several Goliaths were smashed in one shot, and Zion was intoxicated by his power and entered the barrage of bullets.
He attacked indiscriminately regardless of affiliation, and a few Goliaths were knocked out.
Hahaha! Worship Zion!
His name was Zion.
Tirendell clenched his teeth as he looked up at him.
Count Vandus was one thing, but he didnt see any chance of winning.
Meanwhile, one of the staff who was tracking the ether near Elvrande discovered an unexpected fact.
Thats strange. There shouldnt be any ether like this.
There should have been no ether in the sky above Medea, but it was faintly observed.
And as time passed, the amount of observation increased.
The staff who found this strange reported it to his superior, and soon it reached the director of the intelligence agency.
He didnt know what it meant until he realized that the ether wave was the same as when Meteor Strike was activated, and he was horrified.
The humans are crazy!
B-but there was no ether observed in Zaiums sky!
Then who activated it!
The intelligence agency was turned upside down, and the relevant report reached Kelodian.
He opened the window and looked up at the sky with a telescope.
Something was twinkling in the distance.
N-no way
Kelodian suddenly remembered that he had approved the activation of Meteor Strike.
But why was iting here?
Chapter 248: The Burning Yggdrasil
Chapter 248: The Burning Yggdrasil
Meteor Strike was one of the most notorious mass-destruction spells, as it could not be canceled once activated.
The meteors were not veryrge, but they fell at supersonic speed, resulting in megaton-level kic energy.
The two countries of Zaium and Elvrande had aimed Meteor Strike spells at each others capitals and maintained a 24-hour surveince system.
It was to retaliate immediately if attacked.
However, their countermeasures were weak, as they had no way to stop the falling meteors.
Zaium had practically given up, while Elvrande had a method, but it had severe side effects and was not very reliable.
In any case, it was certain that Meteor Strike had been activated towards the capital Medea.
It was an unprecedented event that threw the Elvrande leadership into chaos.
Who the hell fired it?
Could it be Zaium? Did those lowly humans decide to annihte themselves?
No! Its not Zaium! If we retaliate rashly, well face a counterattack!
Kelodian desperately tried to spread the news that it was not Zaium.
He was not trying to protect them, but to prevent a chain reaction.
If another Meteor Strike spell was activated due to a misunderstanding, it would be an uncontroble disaster.
He could not tell the truth either.
How could he bear the anger and hatred of his kin?
Anyway, once the impact site was confirmed, it was obvious that they had to stop it.
Kelodian immediately issued an evacuation order for the first district.
All personnel must evacuate to 10km away, immediately!
Hundreds of elves screamed and fled.
The spell was so destructive that they could not feel safe even 10km away.
The imperial family, of course, as well as various departments of the imperial administration and the ether tracking system were all doomed to be destroyed.
It was an amount that could not be converted into gold coins.
Kelodian evacuated first and then hurriedly looked for the director of information.
Director, activate the defense system immediately!
A barrier wont be enough to stop itpletely. We have to use the final defense measure.
His thick eyebrows twitched.
The final defense measure that the director mentioned was the Shield of God.
It was not a simple metaphor, but a real invocation of a god, using the Infinite Circuit installed in Yggdrasil to extract divine magic from a divine essence.
It was powerful enough to be a candidate for the Elven Pantheon and could block most spells.
However, it was not certain if it could stop Meteor Strike.
He was also afraid of what damage it would cause to Yggdrasil.
It was clear that the divine essence would be shocked by forcibly extracting divine magic from it.
In summary, even if they used the divine essence, they could not be sure of stopping it, and the side effects were expected to be significant.
More than anything, he feared being attacked by other executives and the council.
What did you do to use the divine essence without notice?
You activated Meteor Strike and it backfired on us? Are you joking?
You must take responsibility for making Yggdrasil look like that.
It seems that you are not fit for being a triarch.
Kelodian felt dizzy thinking about the insults that his enemies would pour out.
The other two triarchs would aim for his expulsion and the council that approved the activation would me him for it.
They only needed one scapegoat.
He barely calmed his trembling body.
He did not want to face a bleak future, but it was better than beingpletely destroyed by the meteor.
We have to stop that spell by any means necessary. Execute it immediately.
Yes, sir.
The divine essence sleeping in the Infinite Circuit was top secret among top secrets, so activating it was not difficult.
As soon as the director contacted the Tower of God near Yggdrasil, the Infinite Circuit started working.
The entire world tree that had been emitting golden light seemed to faintly float up.
The elves panicked at this unprecedented event.
Why is the world tree suddenly like this?
Its screaming Its feeling unbearable pain
Princess Margareta sensed that something had gone wrong with the leadership.
She was one of the elves who had the deepest connection with Yggdrasil as a member of the imperial family that protected it.
She did not know about the Infinite Circuit, but she could feel that a huge power was being drained from Yggdrasil.
This is not normal
She hastily asked around and barely got in touch with Kelodian, but he just dodged her questions.
Dont worry. And this is none of your concern.
How can I not be concerned? The world tree is crying out in pain!
We will suffer more pain if we leave that spell alone. So its natural that we devise some defensive measures.
So youre saying I have to know whats going on, right?
Im telling you again, I have no obligation to tell you.
Themunication was cut off and Margareta let go of themunicator weakly.
It was always like this.
She was a member of the imperial family, but she was excluded from all matters.
The other imperial rtives seemed to enjoy the material benefits provided by the leadership, but she could not.
Margareta shivered at the intense ethering from the sky.
Meteor Strike Its not from the humans.
The council would not sit still, so they would have to activate it in session, and that would cover the entire Medea.
If only one was activated, it meant a mistake, and that meant something went wrong in the central continent.
The chances are high that we lost the war
Margareta was one of the most opposed to this war, as she thought it had no justification.
She had a loud voice, but no real power, so she was eventually ignored and regretted it.
If they lost the war, it would be a relief for Elvrande, as much as she felt sorry for the Elven Knights.
There was nothing more terrible than winning an unjust war.
But Lord Tiren should be safe
She silently sped her hands and prayed.
There was not much she could do in this urgent situation where Meteor Strike was approaching Medea.
And then the divine essence was forcibly separated from Yggdrasil.
It was a nameless divine essence that would someday be a member of the Elven Pantheon, and it screamed as it was torn apart.
Ooooh
A gloomy sound spread throughout Medea.
Meanwhile, Arma detected that the speed of the meteor had slowed down.
Master, at this rate, it will stop right before it falls.
Can you find out why?
A huge divine magic has been activated from Yggdrasil. It seems that the Infinite Circuit has been activated.
It was amazing that they could counteract that kic energy.
The situation had tilted drastically.
The blue dragon that suddenly appeared attacked everything in sight, and both sides of the army were busy retreating.
They could not damage it at all, no matter what they did.
Kneel before Zigarion!
The dragon that had been scared and ran away by the airship bombardment was gone.
Even a simple swipe of its front paw had an incredible force, and magic was constantly raining down around it.
If they barely survived the storm of fire, they would be hit by blue lightning, making it impossible to fight back.
Moreover, this dragon was agile as well.
It moved around the battlefield by jumping with a strange propeller attached to it, dragging the nearby Goliaths along.
It was hard to deal with arge creature that had both mobility and firepower.
Count Croitz sensed that this could not go on.
It was Leobolds attack, but Elvrande had lost its main force and was retreating in disarray.
It seemed better to withdraw and reorganize the line than to chase them.
Commander, we have to retreat now. The damage from the dragon is too great.
Hmm
Themander, Earl Rnd, surveyed the situation.
In fact, Zigarion had attacked the Goliaths, but did notpletely destroy them.
Arma had ordered him to cause chaos, not to kill them all.
Some of them exploded by mistake, but that was not his fault.
Earl Rnd expressed deep concern at that scene.
The damage is increasing. We cant stay here any longer without a way to deal with the dragon.
We have to retreat to the nearby castle of Banover Kingdom and regroup. If we use magic traps, we can fight it.
I ept your opinion. All troops, retreat!
As the order came from themander, hundreds of Goliaths began to retreat.
Zigarion pretended to be angry and chased them.
You think you can run away? No way!
But there were eight airships apanying Leobold in the battlefield right now.
Admiral Hampton did not know Zigarions identity, so he decided that he had to stop him with ether cannons.
His lordship is fighting hard and we cant just watch! All ships, prepare to fire!
Ether cannons had a low uracy rate, so they were reluctant to use them against Goliaths.
It was too expensive to waste ether stones on thin air.
But if the target was arge dragon, that problem was gone.
Moreover, the gunners under the gunnery chief had gained confidence after several test shots.
Distance correction, aiming done!
Fire!
A few beams of light hit Zigarions body.
Aaargh!
The power of the enhanced ether cannons was not something that a dragon could ignore.
But Zigarion was currently protected by Armas spell, with defensive magic and living metal armor covering his body.
So the pain was not that bad.
It doesnt hurt much? Wait, why are they attacking me?
He thought about it and realized that Hampton and his crew did not know who he was.
The mage Zion was a weird human from Zaium.
If Stephina had been on board, she would have contacted him immediately and told him to stop.
But she did not show up.
Damn, I have to run away.
His role was to infiltrate the battlefield and wreak havoc.
The lord would be satisfied with what he had done so far.
Zigarion prepared to escape from the barrage of artillery fire.
Meanwhile, Leobold was chasing the retreating Elvrande army.
The elven knights boasted the best mobility in the continent, but he was faster.
He quickly closed the gap that was quite wide and finally caught the tail of a Goliath in the rear.
Die.
Bang!
The Goliath was split in half by a single stroke and rolled on the ground.
As his subordinates were killed one by one behind him, Tirendell, who was in the lead, stopped abruptly.
We cant be hunted like this! We fight him here!
Tirendell, no!
His subordinates tried to drag his Goliath away, but Tirendell resisted.
Let go! We have Yggdrasil behind us. We cant go on like this!
What a joke!
A loud noise was heard and a Goliath soared into the air.
Leobold had wrapped his fist with ether and smashed it with his armored glove.
The elven knights were speechless.
The Belial-ss was a rtively light model, but it was not supposed to fly into the air like that.
Leobold cut through the Goliaths that blocked his way and shouted.
What nonsense are you talking about after running away all this time? Is that all you have for your determination to kill me? Is that all you have for your justice to bring peace to the continent?
Leobold, you bastard!
Tirendell could not contain his boiling rage and charged at him.
But he had no chance of fighting him even in a perfect situation, let alone in his current state of mind.
Several Goliaths were knocked out and he also could not withstand Leobolds punch.
With a crunching sound, the armored glove panel copsed and Tirendell suffered a severe shock.
Ugh!
Leobold stepped on the abdomen of the fallen Belial-ss and mocked him.
You are so weak. The justice of the powerless is nothing but empty.
Dont think we are all there is to Elvrande
It doesnt matter how many weaklingse at me. The result will be the same. You want to rule the continent? It is your fate to be ruled by me. Just like it was in the old days.
You damn bastard
Tirendells eyes sparkled with fire when he mentioned the history of the elves.
He could not tolerate this insult.
But he was so powerless that he could do nothing about it.
As the ck Knight put pressure on his leg, the Belial-ss copsed and the ground began to crack under the pressure.
The Belial-ss that was caught in between suffered a terrible shock as well.
Captain!
Theres an allied fleeting!
The elves faces brightened up.
The airship fleet that had been stationed in the rear to protect Yggdrasil had guessed that the situation was critical and came this far.
Ether cannons rained down fire and some elven knights grabbed Leobold and dragged him down.
Lets die together!
Tirendell, get out of there now!
Of course, Tirendell would not just leave.
He was able to get up thanks to Leobold who quickly backed away.
As ether cannons pounded the ground without pause, a lieutenant came to him and reported.
Tirendell, Medea has been hit by a meteor strike attack!
What? What are you talking about?
Its true! Many of the royal family, including Princess Margreta, have escaped! And so have the bureaucrats!
Crazy Is it humans doing?
Thats not certain. ording to the analysis of ether waves, it is highly likely that it was activated from the Tower of Magic.
The Council bastards finally did it.
They ignored his suggestion to retreat and activated it, but something went wrong.
Now that things hade to this, he could not die here.
I have to survive To pay back todays humiliation!
He felt like he could not calm down unless he kicked both Leobold and the Council bastards at once.
Tirendell bit his lip as he looked at the ck Knight who blocked the bombardment.
You are strong, I admit But it wont be like that next time!
As he turned his body, the elves began to retreat.
The airship fleet concentrated its fire on Leobold and he deliberately dropped his ck Knight on the ground.
Its hard to pretend to be hit.
His acting skills that he had trained for years worked well enough that Elvrandes fleet slowly moved away and ran away.
Leobold approached a branch of Yggdrasil nearby.
Arma. How does itpare to whats on the Pirate Ind?
It seems to be a powerful dark magic. It has the same wavelength as Grakies.
Dark magic to corrupt Yggdrasil Wasnt it their god?
They use it to create gods, so using it for something else is not a big deal.
Well, thats true.
Anyway, this branch was the source of the severe famine that spread over the two kingdoms of Resort and Banover.
As if to prove it, thend around it was quite fertile.
Does it absorb the vitality of the two kingdoms? That means it can also emit vitality.
Do you want to secure it?
Retrieve it with Settler and disy a hologram. They wont notice since theyre far away.
If they were close, they would see through his deception, but both Elvrande and the Alliance forces had run away.
A momentter, Settler activated the gravity crane and pulled out Yggdrasil along with the ground.
The hologram was scattered around and it looked like Yggdrasil was burning in a fire.
Thats convincing.
Leobold shrugged his shoulders and began to return with his sword in his hand.
Tirendell, who was running away in the distance, turned his eyes at the shout of his subordinate.
Yggdrasils branch was burning in fire.
He felt like he could hear the scream of the tree and he pushed back his tears.
I will stake my life to kill you I swear!
Chapter 249: The Empire’s Hero and Count
Chapter 249: The Empire¡¯s Hero and Count
Tirendell expected to be demoted and disgraced for his defeat in battle, but surprisingly, nothing like that happened.
It was because the whole capital of Medea was in panic due to the fire that broke out in Yggdrasil.
The territory was mostly surrounded by forests, so fires tended to spread quickly once they started.
And if it happened in the World Tree that the elves revered, and if it was on arge scale, it would be even worse.
It was not an exaggeration to say that it looked like the end of the world, as part of the World Tree that covered the sky of Medea burned.
What is this
Tirendell stared nkly at the sight of the World Tree burning.
He could not believe what was happening.
Like other elves, he was born and raised near the World Tree.
He became a knight in front of the World Tree and swore loyalty to Elvrande.
If someone asked any elf what Yggdrasil meant to them, they would answer like this.
Everything.
That huge golden tree was the symbol of the elf race.
Princess Margareta came and stood next to him.
Youre here, Sir Tirendell. They say its because of the ether backflow that this happened.
Ether backflow? Did they use magic on Yggdrasil? Thats forbidden
Neither Lord Kelodian nor the Council would be afraid of such a taboo. It seems that they used holy magic, maybe to stop the Meteor Strike?
But they failed to do that properly, as he could tell from the atmosphere.
In other words, Elvrande was suffering from two disasters: a meteor fall and a fire.
Oh, Eilidh
What did they do to make a Meteor Strike hit Medea and set fire to the World Tree?
Tirendell recalled what he saw when he retreated.
The burning branches of Yggdrasil.
And Leobold Vandus standing proudly in front of them.
He was probably smiling smugly, not just Tirendells imagination.
How dare you burn Yggdrasil I will kill you for sure!
On the other hand, Margareta was curious about why he showed anger on his face.
It couldnt be anger towards the Council
Youre very angry, Sir Tirendell.
Your Highness would be angry too if you saw what I saw.
What did you see that
Leobold Vandus, he set fire to Yggdrasils branches. They were burning more than this fire
Really?
Margareta was genuinely surprised.
She didnt feel anything like that even though she was directly connected to the World Tree.
She felt enough pain from the backflow of ether from the main body, and it was a sad thing.
But everything else was fine.
Which branch did that happen on? The central border area?
Tirendell nodded roughly.
Yes. Thats where I encountered that bastard. He wasnt satisfied with winning the battle, he wanted to take our god away from us.
But I dont feel any damage to Yggdrasils branches
This time Tirendell made a stupid sound.
What?
Except for this fire, the branches are all fine. Thats what I feel.
That cant be What I saw was
It seems that Leobold Vandus did some trickery.
Tirendell was silent.
The princess wouldnt lie.
Then did that mean that the sight of Yggdrasils branches burning was false?
How?
And for what reason? He clearly tried to kill me and burn the branches
He couldnt understand and was confused.
Margareta looked at his face with worried eyes.
He must be a great person to make you retreat and confuse you like this.
At least he overwhelmed me with his skills. I was nothing in front of him I had to lose my men and retreat shamefully
Tears flowed from his only eye.
She wiped his tears with her sleeve andforted him.
Dont be too sad, Sir Tirendell. Youre alive, arent you? Youll meet him again someday.
Thank you for your words Then Ill be able to kill him
Thats not what I meant
A brief smile of embarrassment appeared on her white face and disappeared.
This elven knight seemed to know only how to fight with force.
Well, most elves were like that.
They had forgotten the need for dialogue and cooperation after waging war with Ains and other races for a long time.
Why do we need to talk when we can crush them with force?
This was the general attitude of elves, and it worked well until now.
But now it was time for change.
She felt the need to meet Leobold.
They say that the elven knights havent lost since at least 100 years ago
It was amazing that they lost so miserably even though Tirendell participated in the battle.
And she was curious about what he did to Yggdrasils branches.
She couldnt meet him right away for various reasons, but she would see him soon if she had the will.
She silently watched the fire of the World Tree that was evolving.
It seemed that something big was changing in this world.
***
We all lost.
Kelodian looked down at Tirendell, who was sitting on a chair with his head down.
He had lost his proud appearance from before and his shoulders were slumped.
He probably wasnt so sad about the fire in Yggdrasil, but because he lost the battle.
And very miserably.
He had a headache from watching the scene recorded by the military mage with the Imagine Record magic.
Ether de I didnt expect someone who could use that skill to appear again after the Great War How powerful was it?
It was terrifying. It cut through the living metal armor like fruit.
Thats horrible
He had no idea how he acquired such power.
Did he obtain the fragments of the gods scattered on the floating continent?
But how could the fragments of the gods that had memories of the Great War cooperate with him?
What was more terrible was the damage caused by him.
Although Leobold probably didnt intend it, the damage Elvrande suffered was too great.
The main body of Yggdrasil burned and the branches that drained thend near the border were nowhere to be found.
And everyone had to shut their mouths about the damage caused by the Meteor Strike.
Tens of thousands of people evacuated and nearly a thousand elves lost their lives.
The information of various institutions and government offices that evaporated was also dismal.
It seemed that it would take a considerable time even by elf standards to recover all of that.
And my reputation too
Kelodian covered his face unknowingly.
In fact, his reputation was more of a problem than the damage he had suffered so far.
The Council was making a fuss about him mismanaging the Tower of Magic and telling him to step down, and the bureaucrats eyes were not friendly either.
It may not be entirely Lord Kelodians fault, but someone has to take responsibility, right?
The same goes for the defeat in the war. If Lord Kelodian had ordered a retreat sooner, we wouldnt have suffered such a big loss.
What a joke.
If he had ordered a retreat as soon as he heard from Tirendell, they would have made a fuss about retreating without fighting properly.
The elders of the Council were masters of shifting their mistakes to others, and thanks to that, all the arrows flew at Kelodian.
I cant step down like this. I have to make up for it somehow.
Kelodian looked at Tirendell, who was slumped.
He lost miserably, but his personal strength was not a big problem.
Elvrande had many hidden powers for the past 200 years, and all he had to do was take one out.
The problem was his will.
Only those with unbroken will could receive the choice of divinity.
He asked carefully.
You seem very sad. Do you think its impossible to surpass that Leobold?
How can I not think that? He was a monster beyond imagination. I swore to kill him, but I doubt if I can do that.
He was impressive enough to make him feel such defeat in one battle.
Kelodian asked again.
Then you dont have to confront him, right? The result is obvious.
No.
Tirendell red with burning eyes and growled.
I will kill him someday. By any means necessary. I dont care if its 50 yearster.
He wanted to stick with him until the end, and Kelodian was satisfied with his will.
But he didnt know that Tirendell also hated him.
He hated Kelodian for making his men die by dying the retreat order and triggering the Meteor Strike, and he hated the entire Council of Elders for approving it.
He just pretended to be loyal because he needed Kelodians position.
If Leobold had been here, he would have sneered that there was someone else who could act well besides him.
Anyway, Kelodian wanted to ept his will.
Do you know anything about the Great War?
I heard it was a war where gods and dragons shed. There were beings called champions who received power from them, and we were also involved.
Most elves who were born recently had this much knowledge.
Only a few in Elvrande knew the secrets of Yggdrasil and the floating continent.
I see. Before I make you an offer, I want to tell you something. Some of the divinities who fought fiercely at that time are still alive. Well, preserved would be more urate.
Theres Grakies, and maybe others too. But what does that have to do with me?
Ill give you one of those fragments of god.
Tirendell stiffened his face.
I refuse to be like Kairos.
Oh, dont misunderstand. The divinity Ill give you is not a bad one. Rather, you could say its a good god. Although its power wasnt great.
Youre going to make a mere elf absorb a fragment of god?
Tirendell felt that something was wrong, but he couldnt stop here.
He needed power, and only Elvrandes leaders could give it to him.
So you want me to absorb that power?
Dont you want revenge? Dont you want to wash away your defeat? If you ept that power, I promise you wont lose to that Leobold.
What kind of divinity is it? It cant be an elven pantheon
Its not that great of a god. You wouldnt even remember it.
It seemed difficult to say the name.
Well, they said that gods needed names to wield their power
Tirendell decided after careful consideration and nodded.
Ill do anything to gain power.
Good attitude. Use that power to kill the empires hero number one.
Hero number one
Isnt that fitting for someone who did this much? Hended on the floating continent without permission and interfered with our ns. And we won the war, even though we were at a disadvantage. We cant let him go like this.
Yes. He must die.
He put his hand on Tirendells shoulder without knowing his malice.
The Council may have other means, but sometimes you have to fight with force. I trust you.
Tirendell clenched his mouth and nodded.
After I kill Leobold, Ill kill you too, Kelodian.
He couldnt forgive Kelodian and the Council of Elders who made his men die by not ordering a retreat.
***
After the war ended, Leobold changed his destination from Bagran to the Zaium Empire.
It was because themanders, including Count Croitz, insisted that he had to meet the crown prince.
He promised you a title award ceremony and a grand banquet. Youre not thinking of sending a proxy, are you?
Her face clearly showed that she wanted him to save her face.
How would the nobles of the empire think of her if she didnt bring him who almost single-handedly ended the war?
Duke Rnd also chimed in.
There are thousands of people waiting for you in Jerome, the imperial capital. Dont disappoint them.
He had already agreed to receive the title of imperial count, so it wasnt bad to make some connections this time.
He nodded and then the Countess Croitz smiled with relief.
The coalition army was disbanded and no one cared about Resort and Banover.
One of the reasons for the war was the liberation of the two kingdoms, but they were toozy to take responsibility for it.
There were some voices of conscience from within.
Tens of thousands are suffering from hunger. We need food aid immediately.
But the coalition armys leaders responded bluntly.
We fought hard and you want us to give up our food? What nonsense is that?
We understand your situation, but its hard to get that much food all of a sudden. We dont have enough transportation either.
The branch of Yggdrasil burned, so thend will gradually recover. Just hold on a little longer.
The original goal of the coalition army was to defeat the Elvrande army and remove the branch of Yggdrasil.
Since they achieved that, they had nothing to do with the two kingdoms that were suffering.
But Leobold was different.
He borrowed Granden and a few knights before leaving.
Stay here for a while and gather information and talent. Support wille soon.
Whats the point of doing that?
Grandens voice was mixed with resignation, as if the country was doomed anyway.
It was enough to say that dozens of corpses of nobles were left on the streets of the capital.
Most of the royal families who supported the two kingdoms were dead, and bureaucrats and influential people fled to neighboring countries.
There wouldnt be much meaning in anything they did in such a situation.
But Leobolds judgment was different.
He still had many real talents he wanted, and more importantly, he needednd.
The territory of Resort and Banover was several timesrger than Bagrans.
There was also Lake Raon, which boasted thergest freshwater capacity in the vicinity, making it easy to supply water to the airships.
If he could manage the food shortage for now, and recruit talents, it wouldnt be hard to absorb and grow the two kingdoms.
It was also a ce of great value in terms of geopolitics, as it was located between Zaium and Elvrande.
It would be easierter if he secured it in advance.
Of course, the neighboring countries wouldnt just sit back and watch.
Leobold patted Grandens shoulder.
The war is over, but you still have a lot to do. If you do this, Ill give you a baron title and a new Goliath. The other knights will also get priority for Goliath.
Granden didnt care about the title, but only showed interest in Goliath.
Is the new Goliath the one that you used
It wasnt normal because it was its first sortie. It will be fine by the time it gets to you.
There was probably nothing more joyful for a knight of Astera than receiving a new Goliath.
Especially if it was the model that easily defeated Tirendell and Belial, who boasted the strongest power in the continent.
Granden and the other knights bowed hastily.
We will do our duty here, my lord.
Thank you.
And so Leobold left on an airship.
After a few days of travel, he arrived at Jerome, the imperial capital, which was full of cheers.
The flowers were in full bloom and the citizens poured out onto the streets to cheer for the airship.
Countess Croitz leaned on the railing and said.
The citizens wee you. In fact, public opinion is as important as recognition from power. The scum of Jerome dont seem to know that well.
Is that so? I dont know much yet.
She smiled and lifted his chin with her finger.
Dont forget. You are the man who killed the beast who assassinated the emperor, and seeded in revenge. Now that you enter Jerome, there will be many people who want to connect with you, but also many who oppose you.
Im not afraid of them. But it would be easier to deal with them if they all attacked at once.
You have a great spirit. Anyway, you are mine, so you better watch your eyes. If you look at another woman, Ill tear off her face.
Leobold retorted naturally.
What should I do? Theres someone I cant give up.
Are you talking about Lady Arma Ashford? She was a maid, but she received a baron title? I dont know what youre thinking, but Ill allow you to keep her by your side. She doesnt seem to want to stay quietly in her territory anyway.
They were strictly speaking a business rtionship.
Originally, Countess Croitz had her eyes on Leobolds financial ability and wanted to bring him to her territory and entrust him with her family and wealth.
But she found out that his military prowess was amazing and he became a big shot while she was busy with other things.
Now that he received the title andnd of an imperial count, there was no need for him to serve under her.
It would be better to acknowledge his territory and activities than to confine him to her territory who was in charge of Bagrans conquest as well.
It wasnt a big w for someone in his position to have a maid-born concubine or two.
Her slender finger touched Leobolds lips and then their faces ovepped.
It was a fiery kiss that surprised even the sailors passing by on deck.
And soon after, they entered Jerome and met with Crown Prince Barak.
He held avish title award ceremony and banquet and invited Leobold.
Wee the heroes of this war! See with your eyes and hear with your ears. Here, a new golden bloodline is born. Count Leobold Vandus! Behold him!
With a bang, flower petals decorated the banquet hall and the orchestra yed majestic music.
The nobles of the empire who gathered in the huge banquet hall pped in unison.
Leobold wished that this terrible time would pass quickly.
Chapter 250: Special Measures Are Needed
Chapter 250: Special Measures Are Needed
Leobold stayed in the empire for a few days and received the title andnd of an earl.
The powerful people of the empire were surprisingly generous about granting him the earldom.
In fact, there were dozens of earls in the whole empire, so it was not a big deal.
To have a meaningful title, one needednd, power, and influence to match it.
Count Vandus hadnd and influence, but he had no foundation in the empire.
Thend that the crown prince gave him was close to the imperial border, but it was useless because it was used as a garrison by the imperial army.
I dont know why he asked for it, but he will have a hard time without a railroad.
However, Leobold had a reason for asking for it.
First, it was where the Goliath Albion of Valgard was excavated.
This meant that it was and where a great war had taken ce, and Arma advised him that something else mighte out if he dug hard enough.
And being close to the imperial border had the advantage of being easy to deal with in case of an emergency.
It was also quite close to Countess Croitzs territory, so it was and that could be used for anything if he deployed airships properly.
Leobold asked the crown prince for one more thing.
I need food for tens of thousands of people. The sooner, the better.
Food? Cant you live decently in Bagran?
Im going to send it to Resort and Banover, two kingdoms.
Why? Isnt it over there already?
The crown prince, who asked that, looked genuinely puzzled.
To the person who might be the ruler of the great empire, two small kingdoms were nothing more than that.
Some even analyzed that it was toote to take action now.
The problem was not only theck of powerful leaders to lead the country, but also thend itself rotting away.
The ck magic covered thend and caused famine, and no method was effective.
They are also loyal subjects of His Majesty, arent they? As a fellow subject, I couldnt stand by and watch their crisis.
The crown princes eyes contained a meaning of ridicule that he lied in front of me.
I didnt know that Count Vandus had such a warm heart Well, good. Ill think so too. Ill give you food without anypensation if you promise me one thing.
What is it?
Your loyalty.
Wasnt it enough to prove my loyalty with one war?
No, thats not it.
He leaned back on the sofa and lit a cigarette.
The dwarves blood is tobo, so its a bit spicy. Anyway, I want to hear your answer
He seemed desperate for his support from his impatient question.
Leobold decided to raise his price.
I will swear personal loyalty to you if you promise me one thing.
What is that?
A pardon.
A pardon? Thats not hard.
I want a pardon for all crimes except treason.
The crown prince, who called for a scribe to write a pardon right away, flinched.
He realized that this was not something he could easily give.
A pardon for all crimes except treason was something that could only be given to a founding hero.
Judging by Leobolds ability and ambition, he would notmit petty crimes.
He would surely cause trouble that would shake up the empire at least.
If he pardoned such things, other nobles would rise up against him.
I wont use that pardon until you ascend to the throne.
Until I ascend to the throne
That changed things a bit.
The crown prince picked up a feather pen and asked.
You said all crimes except treason?
I want an unlimited term. And I want things that happened within a month or two to be treated as the same crime.
Youre nning to cause a lot of trouble at once. Are you thinking of starting a civil war?
Its hard to say this, but isnt it always happening? At least it wont harm you.
Fine.
The pen made of goose feathers touched the parchment paper.
As soon as the blue seal was stamped, the scribe who had been silent handed it over to Leobold carefully.
Please dont betray me.
I will be with you. Who do I have to kill?
The crown prince felt fear from Leobold who spoke calmly.
This meant that he could kill anyone in the empire with confidence.
Hisbat power seen through the recorders was doubtful whether he was human or not.
Hundreds of people saw and heard it, so there was no room for maniption.
The crown prince wondered if joining hands with him was the right decision.
Despite that, Leobolds help was absolutely necessary.
I dont need your power right now. It will take a lot of time to sort out the allies in this chaos.
Then Ill go somewhere else for a while.
Youve made a connection with Countess Croitz, right? Id appreciate it if you two could help me out. Ill send you the congrattory money by train soon.
Thank you.
The meeting with the crown prince ended like that.
The war was over and Elvrande wouldnt be able to make any big moves for a while.
But Leobold knew that the peace wouldntst long.
***
It was not clear who benefited from the war between Elvrande and the alliance.
At first nce, it seemed that the alliance won by burning the branches of Yggdrasil and defeating the Elvrande army, but it was not necessarily so if you looked deeper.
In the end, nothing changed.
The two kingdoms of Resort and Banover were still suffering from famine, and Elvrande did not apologize for the assassination of the emperor, let alone promise to prevent it from happening again.
The Meteor Strike that they activated recklessly caused a significant damage to Medea, but only a few people knew about it.
The Zaium Empire boasted that they had paid off their debt for the emperors assassination, but it was meaningless.
The only thing that could be counted as an achievement was that the alliance won the war.
The war ended in a mess because of the sudden appearance of the blue dragon, but the gossipers focused on the fact that Elvrande lost.
It was their first defeat in decades. Perhaps there is no record of victory over Elvrande in any history book of any country.
The leader of the victory was Count Leobold Vandus of Bagran Kingdom. He had already done great deeds such as catching the assassin of the emperor alone.
The amazing thing was that he used Ether de on the battlefield. I thought it was a technique that only existed in history books.
And his Goliath was a model called ck Knight, which was iparable to any other Goliath.
As always, wars tended to generate more stories before and after than during.
In that respect, Leobold and his ck Knight were perfect topics for gossipers.
The countries in the alliance did not regard him as a big threat.
He was a subject of Zaium anyway.
But Elvrande had a fire on their heels.
After dealing with the fire of Yggdrasil, the parliament was busy demanding information about the unidentified Goliath.
The intelligence agency was mobilized, but they had no clue where it came from.
It seems to be a derivative of Zaium model, but we cant trace the original.
As far as we know, Zaium has not invested in new Goliath production facilities due to budget constraints. Its definitely not an imperial model.
Then did Bagran make it?
Considering the example of highly efficient Ether engine, it was not impossible to make Goliath.
But the director of intelligence judged that Bagran could not produce ck Knight for several reasons.
Core production is not something anyone can do. You need an Ether engineer who can precisely control Ether output, and it is very difficult to obtain materials for the core.
And Goliath is a tricky thing to handle for inexperienced people. Even in our country, craftsmen who work on Goliath line have to have at least 20 years of experience.
Above all, there are some keyponents for the core, and the Ether allowance of theponents we export is much lower than Belial level. Therefore, it is impossible to produce a monster like ck Knight.
But it came out anyway?
That was what bothered the director of intelligence.
Logically speaking, ck Knight should not exist.
A Goliath that easily smashed Belial level, which Tirendell, was unbelievable.
But the Goliath that appeared on Imagine Record was real.
Its quite big. Judging by theck of distinctive glow, it hardly leaks any Ether. Its a very high-quality work
He wanted to kidnap whoever made it right away.
The director of intelligence reported this to Keldian Minister.
He frowned as he read the contents.
So you dont know?
Its a Goliath that shouldnt exist.
Isnt it your job to find out? You dont know its core output or where it was made. What do you know?
Im sorry.
The parliament is after you. You could lose your head at any moment. Is this how you deal with it? Yggdrasil doesnt give you money for intelligence.
As usual, practitioners shrank when budget talk came up.
Even though Keldian was not responsible for finance ministry.
The director of intelligence thought of a good way instead of bowing his head.
We cant find out the origin and details of ck Knight. But we can prevent it from being made.
Tell me how.
Cut off the supply of ignition stones and first-grade mithril used for circuits.
Ignition stones were parts needed to start the core for the first time, and first-grade mithril wires were expensive processed products that went inside the core.
The two parts did not take up arge proportion of the whole Goliath, but they had no substitutes.
Mithril was produced in Zaium and other ces, but the precision and quality were low, so they were not enough to put in the core.
And ignition stones were made by modifying Ether stones, and there was no substitute for them.
Only Elvrande could supply ignition stones.
As soon as he said that, Keldians face turned red and he started to get angry.
Are you kidding me? Where do we get money if we dont export that? Do you know whats written on your finance ministry office?
Humans hate them, but not their money.
We earn more than 200,000 gold a year from Goliath parts exports. Ignition stones and first-grade mithril wires ount for about 11% of that. You want me to give that up?
Isnt that a mistake of Minister Keldian?
What?
Think about it. The hatred for humans has reached its peak due to the aftermath of this war. Not only in the parliament, but also among the Elven Knights, there is a im that we cant leave it like this. You are just cutting off the start of it.
Im cutting off the start
If we stop supplying parts, we wont get paid. But thats something the finance ministry will take care of. And the finance ministry is not under Minister Keldians jurisdiction, is it?
Keldian looked out the window and pondered.
It was probably the same everywhere, but the three ministers were not on good terms.
Rather, they werepeting with each other for power.
In such a situation, if he closed some mines that supplied parts and reduced the payment, the other minister would be med.
Im just using my authority to investigate illegal leakage of parts right?
Special measures are needed in special situations.
Keldian felt something twisted in his chest as he looked at the directors forehead.
This was not a good way for Elvrande as a whole.
There was a fool who stabbed himself with a knife somewhere.
However, he felt the need to ring the rm for the two ministers who were eager to retire.
And limiting the supply of the two parts will also deal a considerable blow to the human kingdoms, including Zaium. They wont be able to produce Goliaths above a certain output.
Thats true
In summary, you can catch all those who are troubling you at once.
How much will it cost?
Ill submit the budget proposal by tomorrow morning.
Implement it immediately.
Soon after, Elvrande stopped producing ignition stones and first-grade mithril wires that they supplied through Denova.
As a result, several countries that had to produce Goliaths consumed by the war were thrown into chaos.
They didnt have a stock management system, so they produced with the parts that came in at the time, but the supply chain waspletely blocked.
The relevant people urgently contacted Denova, but they only got an answer that they couldnt help it.
The homnd cut off the supply. Theres nothing we can do.
Where is that homnd?
They couldnt say it was Elvrande.
In fact, the people who asked also guessed where the homnd was.
The deep rtionship between Denova and Elvrande was not a recent thing.
They usually ignored it and traded, but they didnt know what to do when the supply suddenly stopped.
In the meantime, Leobold returned to Bagran.
He looked very tired.
***
I greet Minister Seopjeong.
Leobold casually acknowledged the greetings of the bureaucrats and entered his office.
The forced march he had been on for thest few days in Camis territory was hard even for him, who had a steel stamina.
He managed to get out of there with the excuse that he couldnt leave Bagran for too long, but he thought he would have to visit again.
Otherwise, she mighte here.
Im tired
Hey down on his chair and Arma brought him a te of supplements.
They were all focused on enhancing sexual function.
She looked at Leobolds face with a dry voice.
I hope you had fun for a few days.
She and I have a business rtionship. Youre the only one for me. Weve been together for decades, why are you doing this? It was on the roadmap, wasnt it?
If you think of me like that, please give me a kiss here.
He did as she said and her businesslike expression disappeared and she returned to her usual Arma.
She coughed and moved on to the main point.
Elvrande has cut off the supply of Goliath parts. Thanks to that, theres a mess in several countries, including Zaium.
Is there no substitute?
Ignition stones can only be made by Elvrande, and mithril wires other than first-grade have much lower output limits. About 120E
They must have thought of some drastic measures since they couldnt overpower us with force.
Leobold sneered.
He never thought he would be subjected to such sanctions on Terra, not Earth.
They probably targeted me?
It seems so. Elvrande suffered a great blow to their pride due to this war, and they want to make up for it.
They have a lot of money, so they dont care about some bleeding. The other countries must be having a headache.
Elvrande and the human kingdoms were not on very good terms, but they did notpletely cut off their exchanges.
Trade was going on quietly, mainly through private merchants, and especially trade through Denova was strong.
Zigarion had messed things up, but it was a financial district, and themercial district was still intact.
It wasnt a bad way.
Economic sanctions were very effective on Earth in the 21st century, and even more so on Astera.
Goliath was a weapon that any country had to have a certain amount of, and its coreponents had great significance.
If they made a mistake, it was that their opponent was Leobold.
He didnt know if they aimed at him exactly, but it was clear that sparks flew, and he couldnt let that go.
Leobold pulled out one of the Goliath mass production ns in a corner of his roadmap.
I was going to get rid of Goliath anyway, but if they pick a fight like this, I can dy my retirement a little. Lets show them the technology of the 22nd century.
How about taking over the leadership of Goliath ecosystem this time? If we mass-produce ck Knight, we can bepletely independent from Elvrande.
I was nning to produce a few anyway, so it doesnt matter much. How far do you think you can output in the end?
If we arrange mithril wires finely to increase Ether circuit density and improve ignition stones, we can achieve up to 250E.
ck Knight stabilized at 200E level was already impressive, but if 250E ones were mass-produced, the whole Astera would be turned upside down.
But for Leobold, it was nothing more than a clunky can.
Lets go our own way. We cant keep being bothered by them.
Yes, Ill prepare.
Chapter 251: Do Not Become My Enemy
Chapter 251: Do Not Be My Enemy
What is the meaning of this?
The person who barged into Kelodians office early in the morning was Piana Morian, one of the three ministers of Elvrande.
Despite her rtively young age of 160, she was proficient in finance and managed the Ministry of Finance, the Office of Administration, and the Ether Technology Agency.
Kelodian calmly asked her as she entered without knocking.
What brings you here so early?
Who do you think? Why did you close the mithril mine? What is the reason for sending soldiers to the customs and confiscating the goods?
Thats because of the leakage of Goliath parts. What do you think Leobold used to make that Goliath called ck Knight in this war?
Are you saying that we leaked it? The Ether Technology Agency? Thats absurd
Its just a possibility, Minister Piana. Lets sit down and talk.
Piana, who was fuming, sat down in front of him.
Usually, there would be an exnation waiting behind such an unreasonable measure.
Most likely, he would also start to persuade her to cooperate with him.
He ordered his attendant to bring some good tea and only then did Pianas scowling face rx a bit.
Kelodian took a sip from his teacup.
I understand your concern very well. But we cant ignore our reality.
Dont lump us together. You and I are different.
Remember that we are both descendants of Yggdrasil. Im talking about ourmon enemy: Leobold Vandus and the humans.
As he mentioned them, Pianas attitude softened.
She had little to do with the war, but she knew that Elvrande was in a lot of trouble after the recent defeat.
Fine, let me hear it.
In this war, we learned two lessons. The Elvrande army is not invincible as it used to be and Leobold Vandus is a very dangerous person.
So didnt you put him on the public list? Hes number one. Just send an assassin or something and kill him.
That seems impossible. A user of Ether de is immune to almost all external threats. Even deadly poison and mental magic wont work on him.
Thats surprising information. Why didnt I know that?
Because the relevant documents are in the Infinite Library. Only the imperial family and a few members of the Council of Elders can enter there.
So even though you designated him as public enemy number one, you have no way to kill him. Then why did you do that?
We needed to be alert.
Kelodian stood up and walked around for a moment.
An Imagine Record magic appeared around him and listed Leobold Vanduss actions.
He appeared in a small territory on the eastern side of the continent in winter of 1036 AC. And in less than two years, he defeated his enemies and became the de facto ruler of Bagran.
Bagran is not a great country, but its impressive that he achieved that in two years.
The efficiency of the new Ether engine he made, or rather came out of his territory, is something we cant even catch up with. Were having trouble obtaining the actual thing, so our engineers cant analyze it either.
The efficiency of that Ether engine was indeed amazing.
In fact, Elvrande was the most surprised by the information on that engine.
It was impossible to achieve such efficiency with existing Ether engines that used Ether stones to boil water.
It was obvious that he had improved it, but it was almost impossible to get the real thing because it was in a corner of his territory and he had tight security.
And now, the owner of that territory had appeared with a new Goliath and defeated an Elven Knight.
Kelodians voice rose at that point.
We lost. Elvrande, which had not lost for over 100 years, lost. Its time to be wary of him. The whole empire must confront him.
Piana finally realized Kelodians intention.
He meant that they had to ept some minor losses since they had to face him with the whole empire.
Alright. I understand that he is public enemy number one and we have to be cautious and do our best to deal with him. But why do I have to suffer alone?
Because its the first attempt. We have set up multiple traps to pressure him. The Goliath parts thing is just a small part of it.
Id like to hear more about your grand n.
The second one is an Elven Knight enhancement n using Gods fragments. Tirendell volunteered for it. He said he would ept the Gods fragments.
The champion training n using the Infinite Circuit Youre bringing that up now
It must have been urgent for him to agree to it. What do you think? Its obvious that the Ministry of Finance will suffer a lot from this. But he will suffer more. If he cant produce Goliath, where do you think his resentment and anger will go?
Do you have any evidence that he cant make ck Knight, the Goliath, if we block the ignition stones and mithril wires?
There is no evidence. But if he can still mass-produce ck Knight despite our measures, then he is hardly human. Then the Council of Elders wont sit still.
What will they do then? Theyve been silent for 20 years even when we asked them to reduce their budget.
Even those old men are taking this defeat very seriously. Because it was Tirendell who lost.
Tirendell Azus was a half-elf, but he was iparable to any Elven Knight.
Some Elven Knights in Elvrande imed that they were equal to him to uphold the pride of the high elves, but that was nonsense.
Tirendell was the strongest knight on the continent.
He had casually defeated such a skilled person, so the shock of the Council of Elders members was immense.
Some of them even described Leobold asparable to a champion during the Great War.
Piana nodded her head.
I see your point. But if these measures prove to be ineffective, they must be immediately withdrawn.
As you know, Goliath production is not a matter of months. Id like to wait at least 2 or 3 years. Please understand.
Fine.
The elves sense of time was different from that of ordinary Ains, so they didnt care much about 1 or 2 years.
It was not for nothing that there were dozens of bills that had not been passed for decades in the Council.
But even the elves were taking this situation very seriously.
So much so that even the emperor, who seemed to have lost interest in the present world, asked about Leobold.
After Piana left, Kelodian looked out the window at Yggdrasil.
Some withered branches remained in some areas after the fire was extinguished, and that hurt the elves hearts.
Some elves imed that everything was Leobolds fault.
Nothing had gone right since he appeared.
Kelodian didnt think it was a coincidence either.
Leobold Vandus. Whether you are a hero from another world or you identally gained divinity, it doesnt matter much. But just know this. There is no one who has survived as an enemy of the elves.
That was not a bluff, but a history proven by hundreds of years.
The elves had weapons that could devastate the continent with great disasters and even time.
It was impossible for Leobold to ovee that.
So stop here. Before we take extreme actions.
***
Elvrandes suspension of Goliath-rted parts exports caused considerable pain to most of the human kingdoms.
In Astera, Goliath meant military power.
They had no choice but to rely on Elvrandes technology for their defense.
Mithril wire is used for the ether circuit, so the key is to make it as thin as possible. Even Zaium cant make grade one wire.
Only Elvrande can make the ignition stone. Theres no substitute for it.
If we exclude those two parts and make it, well get a defective product that were not sure if it will start or not, let alone have enough output.
This is not a fairpetition.
Some peoplemented that Elvrande had such a high share in the Goliath production.
If two parts are enough to cause an emergency in various countries, what would happen if they banned everything?
Its highly likely that we wouldnt be able to attempt production at all. In other words, we need Elvrandes permission to have proper military power.
Then what was the war weve been fighting for?
People finally realized that Elvrande had not used their full power.
It turned out that even the countless battles that had taken ce over 200 years since the Great War were the result of Elvrandes leniency.
If the elves had monopolized all their technology and acted in a closed manner, there wouldnt have been even a minimal confrontation.
Anyway, this embargo caused a fire on the heels of many countries.
Even the Imir Republic, which had rtively high technology, was in a hurry to develop ignition stones, which showed how serious the situation was.
Some of the nobles of Zaium found the cause of this situation and pointed out one person.
It was Leobold.
Theres no doubt that he brought us victory in the war. But we need to reconsider if it was too big of a victory.
Even if we put aside the ether de, isnt it possible that the ck Knight model provoked the elves alertness?
Also, Count Vanduss annihtion of the Elven Knight alone could be one of the reasons. Did he cause trouble by monopolizing too much of the credit?
The nobles who said this were mostly opposed to Prince Barak.
The prince had Duke Prozhan, Croitz Count, and Leobold on his side, so they made such remarks to check him.
Of course, this caused considerable bacsh not only from the princes faction but also from the entire empire.
Are you saying we should have won moderately? Have you already forgotten that we suffered terrible defeats for decades?
Why is ck Knight a problem? If its a power that the elves are wary of, shouldnt we mass-produce it and make it our force?
Above all, the im that he should have shared his credit moderately is ridiculous. Did he give up his pride as a knight?
As these rebuttals continued, those who criticized Leobold lowered their voices.
But everyone knew that they would open their mouths again if they had a chance.
Until when?
Until they gained power or were purged.
The voices of criticism subsided, but it was not a good sign that such a trend was prevalent in the empire.
Duke Prozhan received an order from the prince and entered into a discussion with Croitz Count and Leobold.
***
ording to our confirmation, there is almost no stock of ignition stones and mithril wires in the entire empire. If we exclude the four units on the line now, well have to make Bine-grade ones next time.
Bine-grade is too weak And we cant give them junk that were not sure if it will start or not.
We didnt know our dependence on Elvrande was so serious This shows why they always said they didnt use their full power.
What do we do? Elvrande is mass-producing Belial-grade improved models. If this goes on, the power gap will be too big.
It would be nice if we could mass-produce ck Knight
Their voices were very serious.
They realized that the power gap between the two countries was much bigger than expected and it was getting bigger, so it was not unreasonable to be nervous.
Leobold decided to ease their worries at this point.
He had to do something for his allies who were too anxious.
There is a way.
What is it?
You always have a solution. Tell us.
Croitz Counts attitude changed greatly after Leobold spent a few days at his territory.
He started to respect him, but he didnt know why. One thing was certain.
Those few days were the most blissful time she had ever experienced.
Her tone naturally softened and her eyes changedpletely.
It was like treating her real husband.
Leobold paused for a moment before speaking.
You must have seen ck Knight in thest battle. He doesnt need an ignition stone. Mass-producing that Goliath is our primary goal.
A Goliath without an ignition stone? Is that possible?
Duke Prozhan was surprised and so was Cami.
Goliath, of course, but even the golem, which was developed hundreds of years ago, did not supply ether to the core without an ignition stone. It wasmon sense.
Leobold broke that.
I need to exin the structure of the ignition stone for a moment.
We dont know much about the parts of Goliath, but we have enough knowledge to understand. Just tell us without hesitation.
Then Ill tell you. The ignition stone is something that gives a specific stimulus to wake up the entire core And that stimulus is electricity.
Electricity? What is that?
Unfortunately, electricity was not discovered in Asteraen.
To be precise, electricity was a natural phenomenon, so they either ignored it or couldnt find a use for it.
It was because of ether, the omnipotent material.
The Imir Republic had been researching themonality between natural phenomena such as lightning and electric-type magic cast by magicians, but there was little progress.
Other kingdoms were the same, and Elvrande did not even research it because of ether.
Rather than exining electricity in detail, this would be better. You know when you touch the armor te of Goliath in winter and it stings?
Oh, that happened a lot.
Thats electric energy. The ignition stone amplifies that stinging thing by several times and wakes up the core.
Thatsplicated
In other words, it was an ignition coilmonly used in cars.
The strange thing was that there was no battery-like thing in the ignition stone.
It was strange how ignition could happen without electricity, but that was something that the ether research institute had already researched.
In short, there were different types of ether, and one of them could store electricity.
It was the discovery of the principle of ck metal battery, which was used to death in 21st century Earth.
Leobold decided to express it simply rather than talkingplicatedly.
People who are asleep wake up when someone ps their face, right?
Ah, I see.
We developed a part that attaches to the core instead of the ignition stone. Its very cheap and rtively easy to produce, so we dont need to import ignition stones anymore.
But what about mithril wire? Its almost impossible to process mithril so finely.
We use golems to produce mithril wire.
Golem?
The mechanical dolls that became the predecessors of Goliath?
Golems weremon in Leobolds territory, but not elsewhere.
It was because they had many partspatible with Goliath and theirbat power was poor.
They were very good for handling heavy objects or various construction works, but the demand for golems was greatly reduced since ordinary people could solve most problems by mobilizing themselves.
Arma developed a kind of worker that used golems to perform various tasks.
It was iparable to the workers that weremonly used in the 22nd century, but it was hard to find anything better for simple tasks.
Mithril has the same property as silver, which is ductility, meaning it is easy to stretch. Elf craftsmen can pull it out and make it as thick as hair. Its also possible for golems.
I heard that elf craftsmen repeat the same work for decades, but if a mere golem can do it, it would be a great advantage
Shall wepare it like this? An elf craftsman can only produce about 30 meters of mithril wire a day. But a golem can produce more than a kilometer. It doesnt sleep orin as long as there is ether stone. And it doesnt make mistakes.
Thats more than 30 times Thats an amazing difference
They realized the usefulness of golems then.
Golems didnt sleep orin.
They kept pulling out mithril wires 24 hours a day, so it was natural that the production increased.
The cost would increase, but it was not that highpared to the wages of craftsmen who guaranteed the same amount of work.
I solved the supply problem of ignition stones and mithril wires like this. I could supply them to various countries right away and solve this problem, but I want to change the ecosystem that depends on Elvrande itself.
Changing the ecosystem That doesnt seem easy
If we just muddle through and move on, they will do it again. Theres no reason not to use the most effective method.
Elvrande knows how strong they are and they can use all means to pressure humans. So we have to be prepared to counter them.
After a brief silence, Cami asked.
What do we have to do to help you?
First of all, I want you to rent all the avable airships. Even the princes ones. You can exclude the ones that are absolutely necessary.
Theres no movement in the pce, so if webine the rest, itll be about 20 ships. What are you going to use them for?
Those airships will carry Goliath parts or high-value products. The existing fleet is tied to the floating continent, so its hard to get them out.
A new airship was being built in Count Vanduss territory, and they were nning to expand the facilities to build more.
But they had to borrow them for now, and Leobold didnt intend to return them.
They were anyway in a state of being deployed for reconnaissance near the floating continent without much work, so it was better to use them frugally.
They agreed readily.
We might as well use them for something useful rather than wasting them on useless events. But I think I heard you say earlier that you can mass-produce ck Knight.
The current main Goliath of the empire is Ose-grade with an output of 130E. Oh, this is a numerical expression of ether output measured by the research institute.
You can measure the output of Goliath? Thats more surprising than what Ive heard so far.
If Ose-grade is 130E, what about the rest? How about Bepar-grade?
Bepar-grade is 150E, Elvrandes Belial-grade is 180E. And ck Knight was initially 205E, but we reduced it a bit and stabilized it at 200E level.
They were shocked by the staggering numbers.
How long had it been since he took over the production line of Ose-grade that he showed such results?
And that wasnt the end.
If we finish our current research, we can ultimately increase the output to 250E. It will be hard for ordinary knights to handle it, so elite knights will use it.
Duke Prozhan was so excited that he poured out questions.
What else is different besides the output? How many can you produce? How much does it cost?
How about we talk about it while looking at the new Goliath?
They agreed on the spot.
The conversation ended and Arma reported.
**
We got a contact from Imir Republic. A diplomat ising and shes Skadi, daughter of Bultorn.
The dwarves must have been shocked too. They treated us like humans even though we didnt get along well.
The elves and dwarves had been fighting almost like enemies for a long time, but they kept some boundaries.
There was no war for decades, so they didnt umte a history of conflict.
The elves despised the dwarves as not worth bothering with, and the dwarves boasted their pride by saying that they couldnt touch them because the republics defense was perfect.
But this embargopletely shattered their fragile rtionship.
The dwarves realized that Elvrande could strangle them at any time and sought measures, one of which was to strengthen their rtionship with Leobold.
They were originally interested in ether engines or living metal guns, but they became more enthusiastic after this opportunity.
Leobold also thought that cooperation with the dwarves was not bad.
By the way, what do female dwarves look like?
By the way, in the eyes of the dwarves, the more muscles you have, the more handsome or beautiful you are. She wont have a beard since shes a woman.
Ah I see.
He thought he could just imagine her as a female version of Bultorn.
And Galisto joined hands with Pangral Archduke. He is one of the most powerful forces in Zaium that opposes the prince.
Thats scary. A single archduke in the empire. Whats his purpose? Probably me, right?
Yes. Galisto showed a reaction close to excitement after confirming your power. He seems to think that he will attack soon. Pangral Archduke is also wary of Duke Prozhan.
Not right now. Stabilizing Bagran is the first priority.
Bagran was currently forcing refugees to settle in direct territories and grow new crops such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, strawberries, etc.
They were also rushing to produce non-food crops such as cotton and mass-produce ether engines.
In fact, that was much more important than Elvrande or the power struggle within Zaium.
Leobold suddenly remembered and asked.
Hows Lucia doing?
She arrived at Mare and is building a nest.
A hologram made by Arma showed Lucia building a huge nest.
She didnt have to worry about being exposed by anyone, so she used her full power, which made the nest enormous.
She is using her subordinates to build various facilities in the crater, and they are iparable to the previous gue Queens. They are all tense about her appearance.
She seems to be doing well
Somehow, the nest looked simr to the one that appeared on Mercury in his previous life.
Leobold hoped she wouldnt be his enemy.
Chapter 252: The Impact of the New Goliath
Chapter 252: The Impact of the New Goliath
In the spring of 1038 AC, a special envoy arrived from the Imir Republic.
She had the typical appearance of a dwarf, short and sturdy.
Her name was Skadi.
She was the daughter of Bultorn, who worked in Leopolds territory, and currently a special envoy of the Chumilwon.
Her purpose was to closely examine Leopold and Bagran and see if they were worth forming an alliance with.
That was after she confirmed that the elves were a bunch of untrustworthy bastards.
She was furious that they suddenly cut off the export of Goliath-rted parts, which had been going on secretly.
Those Denovans treat contracts like toilet paper! Theres nothing more we can do with them!
We never trusted those pointy-eared freaks in the first ce! Zaium is better!
The truth was, the dwarves didnt like either elves or humans very much.
In their eyes, elves were troublemakers who interfered with technological progress and picked fights over everything, while humans were scammers who tried to rip them off at every opportunity.
The only thing that made humans a bit better was that they tried to coexist with the dwarves.
The human kingdoms, including the Zaium Empire, might have bothered the Imir Kingdom, but they didnt meddle with their internal affairs.
On the other hand, Elbrangde regrly sent diplomats to inspect their ether engineering technology and find faults with it.
Ether engines cant be improved any further. I dont understand why they invest so much budget in it. Is this the limit of the dwarves?
Are they obsessed with the sky because they are short? No matter how many floating stones they install on their airships or how much they increase their propulsion output, they cant reach that high.
Therefore, I rmend that the dwarves stop wasting their interest in ether engineering and stick to digging the ground as they always do.
With such wordsing from someone who imed to be a diplomat, it was no wonder that the dwarves, who were already grumpy, wouldnt stay still.
There was even a time when a fistfight broke out between Elbrangdes diplomat and the Iron Council members, and the situation escted to the brink of war.
Even without such an incident, the rtionship between dwarves and elves was bad enough, but it worsened as time went by.
We dwarves have taken a mediator position between humans and elves, but now its time to end that. Anyway, keep your manners in front of Lord Vandus. He is different from ordinary humans.
Yes, maam.
The airship carrying Skadi and her delegation arrived in Bagrans airspace.
She admired therge and clean mooring station.
Did Bagran n to operate airships on a full scale?
This facility can amodate up to 10 airships at a time, dont you think?
Thats what it looks like to me, maam. Bagran seems to be a rich country.
It changed a lot after Lord Vandus took office.
The change was not only in the mooring station.
There was vitality in the faces of the people walking on the streets, and new buildings were being built everywhere.
Skadi tilted her head as if her memory was wrong.
This city of Rozelon was famous for being an unchanging city for decades, but it changed so much in such a short time. What is that building?
The official who guided the delegation said with a reluctant tone.
Thats the new pce. Lord Vandus ordered it to be built, but as you can see, it has nothing to do with its original appearance.
The official seemed to dislike the new pce, but Skadi felt differently.
In her eyes, that building had a very functional and efficient design.
Unlike the oppressive and majestic pce, it showed that it considered the convenience of the people who worked inside from the outside.
Did Lord Vandus design that building?
Yes. He even called in architects and unified the blueprints. Its unusual for His Excellency to care about such things.
This lord was definitely different from others.
Instead of going to the pce, the delegation was guided to a train station.
The meeting was scheduled to take ce in one of the direct territories.
It was a factory where they manufactured new Goliaths, and Skadi chose to spend some time looking around Rozelon.
The result of wasting time was not bad.
Beep beep
A train came running from afar with a horn sound.
Skadi marveled at its speed and length.
How powerful was the ether engine mounted on the train that it could pull so many cars?
It looked faster than an average airship even though it was pulling almost 20 passenger cars and freight cars.
Bagrans technology is amazing.
The ether engine is impressive, but the mechanism that transfers the power to the wheels seems to be excellent as well.
It looks like they connected multiple connecting rods, but are there two ether engines?
Dwarves were a curious race.
If they saw something interesting, they had to unravel its secret to satisfy themselves.
For them, Bagrans train was a fascinating thing.
They used the same method of boiling water with ether stones and using it as power, but why was the efficiency so different?
Some dwarves even sketched the wheel part of the train that hadpletely stopped.
People looked at them with curiosity and Skadi got angry.
You! If you came here as a member of the delegation, dont you have any shame? Cant youe out right now?
But the dwarves had thick skins and they insisted on sketching the entire drive shaft.
Even after boarding the train, they acted like children who wanted to touch everything.
I dont understand why its so fast! Is the quality of the ether stones made in Bagran much better?
The boiler is also small in capacity, but it seems that they have arranged the pipes well.
Huh? Huh? Is it getting faster?
As someone said, the train sped up as soon as it left Rozelon.
Skadi admired the scenery of the direct territory being developed.
It looked like cotton at a nce, but she didnt understand why they nted so much.
She called the official who was dozing off and he also looked puzzled.
ording to His Excellency, its called Siviri cotton and it grows in the floating continent. He said that if you make cloth with it, it has very good instion. You can also produce edible oil by squeezing the cotton seeds. Well, how much can you believe that
Does it need a lot of water? The irrigation system is amazing.
I dont know about that.
Anyway, Bagran was changing a lot.
Skadi recalled when she came here long ago to meet her father.
She had heard that Bagran was an unchanging kingdom, almost the same as during the Great War, but it had undergone such rapid changes.
Did one person change all this
And that too in a very short time of less than two years.
She couldnt believe that he was an ordinary human, and he was either a hero from another world or a being who had obtained some transcendental power, as imed by the Holy State.
Well, Ill find out when I meet him!
The train carrying her and her delegation ran diligently on the rails of the direct territory.
***
Several buildings and factories were being built in the direct territory near the royal capital of Rose Ron.
They were rted to the production of Goliath.
It was quite serious, considering that they were building not only a train station, but also an airship mooring station.
Many people gathered there, and most of the Goliath-rted personnel in the royal capital came here.
Some nobles from Zaium, such as Duke Prozhan and Countess Croitz, arrived here.
It was a huge fleet of airships, totaling over 20 ships.
The mooring capacity of the existing station in the direct territory was far from enough, so they had to make temporary facilities.
Leopold greeted them with Arma.
This is the production factory of the new Goliath model, ck Knight.
I pride myself on having visited many factories, but this is the first time I see such arge-scale one. Does that mean you are confident?
The Goliath ecosystem in Astera will changepletely after this contract.
That would be the case if the ck Knight model was mass-produced as nned.
On the other hand, Cami looked at Arma, who was waiting with her hands sped next to her husband and Duke Prozhan.
She had promised several times to allow one maid, but she couldnt help feeling twisted when she saw her beautiful appearance.
Unlike her, who was in and dull, Arma had a white skin close to milky white, and her body curves could not be hidden by ordinary clothes.
It would be understandable if she only looked like this, but she was also said to be very capable.
She was the core of the core staff who discussed everything with Leopold.
I hate her everything about her
She couldnt see Armafortably in a situation where she had spent a few nights with him and promised a future.
But Cami was a person who knew how to distinguish between public and private matters, so she decided to ignore and move on with a little difort.
A train came from afar, and Leopold said.
A special envoy from the Imir Republic has arrived. His name is Skadi, a diplomat.
The dwarves seem to have decided to join hands firmly on this asion.
That will be revealed in this factory inspection.
Leopold wanted to join hands with the dwarves because of their technology.
He couldnt handle everything by himself with artificial intelligence like in the 21st century, so he needed help, and the dwarves were perfect for that.
They didnt have much poption, but they were all technicians, so it would be much easier to have them as allies in the future.
The train arrived and the delegation, including Skadi, got off.
Hello! Nice to meet you. Im Skadi, a special envoy from Chumilwon.
Im Leopold Vandus from Bagran. Im currently holding a regent position called Prime Minister.
Skadi was a dwarf woman who looked short and lively.
They didnt waste time, as they had no hobby for it, and decided to go straight into the inspection.
The guests and people followed their master in droves.
This is the production line of the ck Knight model. By the way, there is no ignition stone in the ck Knight model.
It looked so when I saw it on the battlefield, but its quite big when I see it here
As Cami said, the ck Knight model was much taller than the Goliath next to it.
It didnt spread sideways, so it weighed much less, and it even adopted living metal armor, so it ended up being only 60% of a normal mass-produced machine.
The reduced weight guarantees that much efficiency. Even an ordinary knight can get twice as much operating time.
Really
Skadi couldnte to her senses.
She thought that the new Goliath production line was moderately improved, but this was a level where everything was built from scratch.
From the frame to the drive system and armor te, core, there was nothing new.
And what caught her eye was the process where golems pulled out mithril wires long.
By Jurt! Golems pull out wires!
Lets go and see together.
As confirmed, golems were really pulling out wires long.
Skadi shouted Jurt repeatedly and looked at the samples.
It was not inferior to Elvrandes mithril wire in terms of thinness or quality.
Since many golems pulled it out, the hourly production volume was enormous.
Duke Prozhan and Cami, who confirmed it directly, also stuck out their tongues.
They never imagined it would be so serious.
Leopold lifted up a bunch of mithril wires.
The reason why mithril wire is so scarce and expensive is because it requires human touch. But here, as you can see, golems pull it out.
This alone will increase the output of the core! What about ignition stones?
Ignition stones are not used in our core. Instead, we use this.
It was a small part that was called a ck metal battery on Earth.
Skadi shouted and looked around the factory, then met her father, Bultorn.
Father!
My daughter! What are you doing here?
It was a pleasant sight to see the father and daughter reunited.
But Leopold had a more important problem.
He took the other two to a secluded ce and talked.
You must have talked about it before. I will supply this ck Knight model to the whole of Astera. Except for Elvrande and some other countries.
A Goliath that boasts more output than Belial? I understand your confidence, but Im worried that it might be too much.
You dont have to worry. The export version will adjust the output appropriately. I n to supply the original version to you and the crown prince.
Do you mean that you will supply 250E to excellent knights, and 200E to ordinary knights?
Thats right.
How much will it cost?
The price was actually the most important thing.
Goliath was cheaper than an airship, but it was still an expensive item that cost more than 1,500 gold for a standard model that was only 120E.
If it was the ck Knight model that boasted twice the output, they were afraid of how much it would cost.
Since you brought an airship, I cant charge you a high price. I will supply the 200E version at 3,000 gold.
3,000 gold Its a reasonable pricepared to the output, but
Duke Prozhan seemed to feel ambiguous.
It was better to persuade him by letting him operate it directly than convincing him that it was not expensive here.
Ill provide you with one ck Knight model each. Please judge for yourself how muchbat power it can exert.
The two nodded eagerly.
There was no lie if they said they didnt want to ride the ck Knight model, which had twice the output as knights.
In fact, what Leopold really wanted to say was from now on.
With this ck Knight model, you wont have any problem supporting the crown prince. Whether its Grand Duke Pangral or the Northwind Alliance, you can sweep them all away.
I wont have any difficulty in gaining military power. You must also be able to achieve your goals
The crown prince will get the throne. But what do you get?
At Duke Prozhans words, Leopold answered with a smile.
Didnt I get you? A trustworthy person is more important than anything else. Im satisfied with joining hands with you.
You
Camis eyes were moist with emotion, and even Duke Prozhan nodded repeatedly.
He had been a bit calctive about Leopold, but he thought he had to change his mind if he came out so devotedly.
But Leopold had a different goal.
He had no intention of giving the throne to Crown Prince Barak.
I need the chaos in the empire to continue until I expand my territory.
Supplying the ck Knight model would make the chaos bigger and louder.
Grand Duke Pangral and Galisto, who were alienated, would not stay still.
After that, various treaties and contracts were concluded in a very smooth atmosphere.
With this, the Kingdom of Bagran and the Imir Republic became friendly, if not allies, and exchanged various resources and goods.
And soon after, the ck Knight model was mass-produced and supplied to various countries.
The trouble started then.
***
The first ck Knight model that arrived at the Zaium Imperial Pce showed itsbat power directly in front of many influential people, including Crown Prince Barak.
In a huge circr arena, Duke Prozhan personally controlled the ck Knight model and fought against two High Knights.
The result was shocking.
The ck Knight model easily made three Bephar models controlled by High Knights inoperable without any damage.
And it happened in less than a minute.
The crown prince smiled at the overwhelming victory, and the nobles were speechless.
Its more than overwhelming. This is not even a fight between an adult and a child, isnt it?
How high is the output to block a Bephar model with one arm? Its not even a contest of strength.
Even so, they are High Knights
Duke Prozhan was an excellent knight, but he couldnt guarantee a victory against three High Knights.
Crown Prince Barak stood up and apuded the count.
Excellent! With your martial arts and the new Goliath models power, what can you fear? Look, Ill have a banquet today! Get ready!
After that, there was no end to the talk about the ck Knight model in Zaium.
Even though Elvrande stopped exporting some parts, it had no effect at all.
They felt relieved that they could cut off their rtionship with the elvespletely.
I dont have to listen to their arrogance anymore. Its refreshing.
They must have cut off the parts supply to checkmate Count Vandus, but what will they do now? A Goliath that cant bepared to anything else has popped up.
The war hasnt been over for long, but the ck Knight model is mass-produced. What kind of person is Count Vandus?
The ck Knight model was supplied not only to Zaium, but also to various ces such as the Kingdom of Gram and the Imir Republic.
The price was a bit high, but it could overwhelm the existing Goliath, so it was not expensive in the end.
Especially in the Imir Republics Iron Parliament, they decided to bring in the ck Knight model on arge scale after reading Skadis report.
Its not just high output. The ck Knight model surpasses the existing Goliath in every aspect.
The light weight is not a disadvantage. The living metal weapon can crush the enemy without having to wrestle.
Above all, there is no inconvenience in controlling the Goliath. It moves as soon as you think of it, so you can control it veryfortably.
The knights who controlled the Goliath always had to keep in mind the unique dy.
There was a slight time difference between the knights control and the Goliaths movement, which was an insurmountable problem even for Elvrande.
But those who controlled the ck Knight model were amazed that the Goliath moved as they wanted.
As the new Goliath model was supplied, the problem of ignition stones and mithril wires naturally sank below the surface.
Now each country had to visit Bagran to get the ck Knight model.
However, four forces that had taken an opposing stance against Leopold did not receive even one allocation.
They were Elvrande, Grand Duke Pangral of Zaium, Northwind Alliance, and Galisto.
The other three ces were fine, but Elvrande was hit hard by this.
It seemed like they had been waiting for it, nullifying their sanctions and mass-producing new Goliath models to exclude their influence.
It was not an ordinary skill.
Kelodian had to go to the Grand Council and listen to fierce protests.
Didnt you assure me that everything would be fine if we closed down mines and research facilities? But what is this? Our exports have plummeted and they are getting out of our influence.
We didnt know where or what specifications of ck Knight came from. What is Intelligence doing?
We thought we should wait for two or three years, but we have to revoke our measures in just two months.
Kelodian lost his sanity after listening to the ridicule of Piana Minister.
This was a serious problem for the whole of Elvrande.
They had an overwhelming advantage of 7:3, or 8:2,pared to the entire human kingdom.
But that was turned upside down by the ck Knight model.
The production speed of 20 units per month was not something to be tolerated.
The chief of staff who attended the Grand Council said that there would be almost no power gap in two years and expressed his concern.
By then, we may have to admit that we are no longer the dominant race of the continent. This is a time when special measures are needed.
Special measures I guess we have no choice.
Drizden Featherwood, the chairman of the Elder Council, was the oldest among the elves.
He had been active in the Great War, and Leopold was nothing more than a nuisance to him.
His old lips moved.
Call Tiren and Delfina. I have to give them Gods blessing.
The Champion Training Project was finally activated.
Kelodian sent hisst farewell to someone far away.
You wont get away easily now that the Elder Council has moved. No matter what power you have.
No one who became an enemy of the elves could survive.
That was like aw of Astera that had been going on for hundreds of years.
Chapter 254: Zigarion’s Justice
Chapter 254: Zigarion¡¯s Justice
It had been two years since Zigarion descended from the floating continent, but people still regarded him as an unknown being.
They could not tell if he was a friend or a foe, and they thought he was impossible tomunicate with.
They had not seen a dragon since the Great War, so they had that kind of impression.
The elves had more experience with living dragons, having witnessed and fought them directly, but humans had shorter lifespans and had to rely on documents.
ording to them, dragons were on the side of humans.
Or rather, to be precise, there were dragons who sided with humans during the Great War.
They said this because of the battle that took ce around the branches of Yggdrasil, where dragons attacked the Allied Forces.
Although no one died, humans developed a fear of the existence of dragons.
I thought they were on our side, but they werent
I think its best to see dragons as unpredictable beings. We shouldnt assume they are on our side.
Why did they suddenly appear? What do they want from us?
By the way, is it the same individual? Thest time it appeared, it didnt fight back against the barrage of fire from the airship fleet and ran away, but in this battle it overwhelmed dozens of Goliaths.
Maybe its trying to protect some bnce that we cant perceive. It attacked Elvrandes fleet before and the Allied Forces this time.
Various observations continued, and there were also factions that tried to talk to the dragon and bring it to their side.
But they had to see the dragon first to talk to it.
It was such a rare being that it was hard to find anyone who had seen it.
Then, a dragon appeared in the sky above Roseron in Bagran.
It was definitely not a lie, as many people witnessed it.
Above all, the huge blue wings that spread across the sky proved its existence.
A dragon has appeared!
Oh my Its really a dragon
The citizens of Roseron stared nkly at the sight of the dragon flying.
To them, dragons were mythical beings that they didnt even know existed.
There were some eyewitness ounts, but not many, and they only had ess to documents, so they doubted the existence itself.
But the dragon really appeared.
It circled around Roseron slowly as if to show off, thennded with a thud on the newly built royal pce.
Ugh! Thats a new building!
It must have been built very sturdy! Its not copsing!
Strangely enough, there were few people who ran away, probably because the dragon was not very aggressive.
It threw a lightning-like gaze at the crowd gathered on the street.
I ask you. Who is the king of this country?
Huh? It can talk?
Its looking for the king
King Bagran III passed away
Then Princess Ade No, how would it know her.
Ade had been treated strictly as a princess since Leobold took over as regent.
She lived a rich and morous life, but that was all. She had nothing to do with politics.
People who knew etiquette thought Leobold was greedy for power.
If he intended to pass on the throne to Princess Adeter, he should have started educating her by now.
Some people also wished that Leobold would marry Ade and lead Bagran.
That was after he showed his amazingbat skills in the war against Elvrandes army.
That wish subsided after he formed an alliance with Count Croitz of Zaium, but anyway, Bagran and Count Leobold Vandus were inseparable.
Zigarion asked again impatiently.
Is there no king in this country? If not, bring someone who can represent it. Right now.
Tell His Excellency Regent!
People moved busily.
Soon after, Leobold appeared on the terrace of the royal pce and faced the blue dragon.
Surprisingly, he did not tremble or shrink even though he saw the dragon up close.
People sincerely admired his calm posture.
He must feel its breath even at that distance If it were an ordinary person, they would have peed their pants by now.
Wait a minute, isnt His Excellency Regent stronger? Hes the one who fought against hundreds of Elven Knights.
But theres no Goliath. Isnt the dragon much stronger?
As whispers continued here and there, the blue dragon opened his mouth while staring at him.
My name is Zigarion. I am the only dragon who survived after the Great War. What is your name?
People call me Count Leobold Vandus or Regent.
Then I ask you, Regent. Where is justice in this country?
Leobold frowned slightly.
I dont understand what you mean.
I have been asleep for a long time after the Great War. I woke up recently and remembered the mission that Altema gave me. I am the guardian and the watcher of the humans.
At that point, the blue wings spread across the sky.
They were so big that they seemed to cover the sky in peoples eyes.
Zigarion pushed his head toward Leobold.
Now they were looking at each other at a distance of less than a meter.
People on the street could hardly breathe.
It seemed like Leobold would be eaten at any moment.
I have been watching Bagran for years. And I came to one conclusion. There is no justice in this country.
May I ask why you judged that way?
Dont you know and ask me? If there is justice in this country, why do humans enve other humans?
That is
Leobold pretended to make a serious expression.
In fact, there had been no ves in the east and the royal direct territory for quite some time.
He issued a royal decree to ban it and settled the wandering refugees on the farnd.
There was some damage in the process, but it went smoother than expected anyway.
As a result, ves only existed in the west of Bagran.
There were so many people and it was so prosperous that he couldnt ignore their proportion, so he just left them alone.
If he exined these things, Zigarion would rage and p his wings.
A strong wind swept up the people around him.
So youre saying that the great lords of the west ignore the royal decree!
Its because Her Highness Princess is young? Or because I wasnt good enough? Anyway, they definitely ignore thews and authority of this country and the royal family. Its all my fault.
If the lords of the west ignore you, why havent you done anything about them until now? Regent means a position that rules on behalf of a young princess, right?
I couldnt disturb the peace of the people.
You couldnt disturb the peace? Exin in detail.
I am strong. Not as much as you, but not enough to be pushed by the great lords of the west. But if I wage war against them to punish them, too much blood will flow in Bagran.
Are you saying they will resist? Even though they disobeyed the royal decree?
Leobold smiled bitterly at this point.
Thats what nobility means in this country. I tried to change that perception, but it was not easy.
Only then did the people realize why Vanduss Regent had left the Western Lords alone.
Starting a war was easy.
But if he did, the blood that would flow in the West would be iparable to what had happened so far.
He must have been afraid of that.
Zigarion finally lifted his head, as if he had made up his mind after hearing that.
Then good. I will get rid of them.
Excuse me?
There is no need to spill too much blood. If I take out their families along with the Lords, what can they do?
The number of those who want to surrender will increase since you are a dragon. But why do you want to do that?
I am thest dragon who vowed to protect humans ording to the promise I made with Gold Dragon Altima. I did not know why she put me to sleep, but now everything is clear. After the Great War, there was a need for someone to protect humans.
Altima cared for us humans even until her death.
Balgard could not tell if Altima really thought that way, since he did not bother to ask.
But anyway, no one knew that.
He could make up anything he wanted and no one would question him.
Zigarion pped his wings vigorously and soared into the sky in an instant.
The people scattered, screaming at the storm that swept over them.
So I will fulfill my mission! In my own way! Warn them! One chance should be enough!
The Blue Dragon disappeared beyond the sky.
***
Zigarions appearance caused a stir in Bagran.
His appearance itself was not so surprising, but the fact that he wanted to intervene in Bagran shocked many people.
To them, dragons were beings of the distant past.
They thought they had nothing to do with Astera in 1038 AC, but he suddenly showed up and raged at the existence of very and threatened to punish the Western Lords. It was absurd.
Was there ever a time when Astera had no very?
If he had a problem with very, he should have gone to Zaium. They have tens of thousands of ves in the pce there.
I have a feeling that he is somehow aligning with Vanduss Regents agenda, but that must be a coincidence, right?
No way, a dragon who slept for nearly 200 years would have anything to do with humans.
He slept in the Floating Continent, and the first person who went there was Vanduss Regent, right?
Something smells fishy
There were some doubts like this, but most people focused on the dragon itself.
There were also some enthusiasts who got excited when Altimas name came up.
A dragon who woke up after 200 years to keep his promise How romantic
Come to think of it, that was also why Altima fought. It was to protect us from the oppression of the elves.
The actual reason for the Great War wasplex, but there were not many records left, so people thought that way.
When the rumor reached that point, Zaium was also turned upside down.
They were worried that the Blue Dragon might attack Zaium as well, since he hated very.
Leobold finished his long conversation with Barak Crown Prince and took his hand off themunication device.
What are you so worried about?
He might fly to the pce and breathe fire any minute. Thats what worries me. Compared to what has happened so far, his temperament is unpredictable.
That must be it.
Balgard, who was maintaining order in Wangdo instead of Granden, said so.
Zaium was too big to mess with right away.
I know. It would be better if they stayed in chaos until you deal with them. By the way, are you okay?
What do you mean?
Arent you more suited for conquest than that stupid Zion? If you had sent me, I would have done it cleanly.
Well, if Balgard had gone, at least a few thousand people would have died.
A murderous weapon of unknown origin is less appealing than a dragon. And think about Elvrandes princess who ising.
Aha, there was an elf princess.
Princess Margareta of Elvrande was currently heading this way after being handed over at the Floating Continent front line.
Since the altitude was so high, there were no obstacles and she slowed down her speed, so it would take at least two weeks.
There would be chaos in Elvrande because of the dragon issue, but she would not go back.
Then a clerk came in with amunication device.
Regent, sir, there is a contact from Duke Townsend of the West.
Ho. He must not want to die.
Please excuse me for a moment.
The clerk left and as soon as Leobold put his hand on themunication device, Duke Townsends urgent voice popped out.
Count Vandus, what is this all of a sudden? Why did a dragon appear?
He and the other Western Lords called Leobold a count, not a regent.
The rank and the position were different, so it was not wrong to call him that, but it showed their intention not to acknowledge him as their superior.
I was surprised too when he suddenly showed up. I tried to talk to him as much as I could, but.
Thats not what you should do. Shouldnt you raise a dragon subjugation army? He might invade my territory any time!
Do you really need that?
What do you mean?
I clearly ordered you by royal decree to deal with the very issue quickly, but you have been stalling with all kinds of excuses until now. Now the dragon is going to solve that for you, and why should I form a subjugation army?
Youre crazy. Do you want to kill all the Western Lords?
It would look much better to kill them with the dragons help than with my own hands. Or should I say feet, in this case?
Duke Townsend was shocked and terrified by the sly voice.
This damn Count Vandus had nned this from the beginning.
Anger filled his head.
He did not even think about how he had persuaded the dragon.
Count Vandus, you bastard.
If you have time to babble like that, you better run away quickly. Dragons dont know how to save face like humans. They will kill you regardless of your nobility or wealth.
Galisto wont sit still! Arent you afraid of Pangral Archduke?
He spat out the names of the forces that he assumed were Leobolds enemies, but they sounded trivial to him.
Whether they care about Bagrans nobility or not I dont know what kind of promise they made, but if they want to fight a dragon, they cane anytime.
You brought the dragon!
Did you just figure that out?
Themunication was cut off and Balgard chuckled.
So thats why you hid Zigarions identity all this time.
If he had been a little stronger, I would have used him in Zaium. By the way, there is something you can do for me.
Ill pass on the cleanup. Thats not my job Damn it, fine. I can tell by your face that youre going to send me anyway.
Granden is gone, so you have to do it.
What is that ignorant fool doing in that farawaynd?
Preparing to swallow up two kingdoms. It will be chaotic when Zigarion destroys the West. You have to lead the knights and clean up the mess.
Balgard tilted his head at that point.
Wasnt that supposed to be the lords job? Thats how you win the peoples hearts.
You cant show off your power too often. And dont kill anyone who resists.
So I can spare a few cowards. Fine. I was bored of dealing with the idiots in Wangdo anyway. Its like exercise after a long time. By the way, when are we going to fight Tirenzel?
Hes making his own godhood. Hell probably hurry up after this.
But even if Tirenzel moved, Balgard wouldnt have to face him.
His target was the Assembly and Kelodian, and then Leobold.
He didnt know if he would change his mind after seeing the intact branch of Elgdrazil and the living princess.
Meanwhile, Elvrande also noticed Zigarions appearance.
Kelodian insisted that they should bring back the princess immediately, but he met with opposition from the elders.
Let her be. Theres no point in moving the fleet when we cant evenmunicate. It will only provoke the humans.
But Zigarion has appeared. The princess might be harmed!
Ah Thats unfortunate.
But Drizdens voice did not sound sorry at all.
Could it be that the elders moved the dragon or are they just taking advantage of the situation?
He was sure they had no intention of saving the princess.
The elders wanted to kill Margareta on this asion.
What crime did shemit to deserve that, other than being an obstacle by her mere existence?
If her death could unite the elves, all the more reason.
Kelodian felt a cold chill on his spine.
He didnt know what would happen if the princess, who was directly connected to Elgdrazil, died.
But one thing was certain.
Count Vandus would be med as the culprit of the princesss death.
The territory of Duke Townsend was the richest and most prosperous in Bagran.
It was not so much because he had great skills, but because he had various specialties and arge poption from the beginning.
Since 100 years ago, Bagrans East was nothingpared to the West.
He was also able to trade with both Denova and Gram Kingdom, as he was located between them.
Gram Kingdom hated elves very much, as they were descendants of Altimas champion, and therefore had no contact with Denova.
Thanks to that, Duke Townsend could earn a decentmission from both sides.
He maximized his profit by using ves forbor costs in trade.
That was a bonus.
With his wealth, Duke Townsend also invested a lot in strengthening his military power.
He imported Zaiums official machines with bribes and hired many magicians to protect his castle.
His efforts paid off and his castle was rated as the strongest in Bagran.
His mercenary corps was not as good as the royal guard knights, but iparable to other lords.
However, Duke Townsend did not think he could stop Vanduss Regent with that.
Even dozens of Elven Knights could not match him, let alone his troops.
As long as I dont make a fuss, it will be fine. He cant touch me if I just keep quiet.
Even if he was a reckless regent, he couldnt make enemies of the entire West.
He needed at least some pretext for that.
very is not a pretext. He cant ignore Bagrans tradition that has been passed down since before the Great War.
Vanduss Regent knew that too, so he pressured them to abolish very, but he did not resort to violence.
But today, someone who had a problem with that appeared.
And it was not a human, but a dragon.
Duke Townsend looked at the Blue Dragon floating in the sky with despairing eyes.
He was surprisingly Altimas contractor and burning with a sense of justice.
His aides were at a loss after confirming that.
If he was a human, they could fight him.
But a dragon?
He is asking for a dialogue! You should go see him!
They all looked at Duke Townsend and he hesitated before finally going out to the terrace.
A huge yellow eyeball looked down at him.
Wha, what do you want? O great dragon.
Phew, it was hard to pretend. Now I can do whatever I want.
What are you saying.
The gold bars are over there, and the mercenaries are all hiding Oh, and dont forget the silverware. Youre too frugal, you know. Its a giveaway.
Zigarion muttered to himself for a while, as if he was talking to someone else.
Everyones tension was about to ease when he opened his mouth wide.
Good. Now die.
An enhanced Lightning Breath spewed out.
Duke Townsend did not expect the dragon who asked for a dialogue to attack, and he took the breath head-on.
You son of a.
Kwaaaa
Dozens of lightning bolts swept him and his aides at once.
Chapter 255: Nothing But War
Chapter 255: Nothing But War
When it was first discovered on the floating continent, Zigarion was weak.
Here, weak did not mean its physical or magical abilities, but its passive attitude.
It only observed the surface world and did not experience it directly, so it had no idea how strong it was.
It also had a natural personality.
Zigarion, as many people pointed out, hated fighting.
But it enjoyed trampling on the weak, so it had been scolded by Valgard.
Are you just strong against the weak and weak against the strong? Are you really a dragon?
It was enough to make it angry, but the opponent was a being who received power from Altima.
Except for Leobold and the mysterious Arma, it was estimated to be the strongest in Astera, so it could not rashly attack.
That did not mean their rtionship was bad.
Zigarion was a fool, but it knew how to read the mood, so it did not provoke Valgard.
Valgard also showed the minimum courtesy to the dragon.
And there was Leobold who overwhelmed them both, and they had different jobs, so they did not sh much.
Except for days like today, that is.
Kwaaaa
A vivid blue lightning shot up into the sky.
Zigarion used the power of the enhanced dragon heart to fire lightning breaths without limit.
Dozens of lightning bolts contained the power to destroy all kinds of defensive magic and towers.
Themand center that could direct the defense waspletely killed by the surprise attack, so everyone was in chaos.
Goliath! We need Goliath! Contact the mercenaries!
The mercenaries say they wont fight the dragon because its not in the contract!
Most of the battles in Astera were Goliath vs Goliath, so there was no one who was familiar with fighting a dragon.
Maybe they had a chance if they used Goliaths excellent magic defense and engaged in closebat, but that dragon did not intend toe down from the sky.
Hahaha! The one who goes down is a fool!
All kinds of magic poured down from the sky along with lightning breaths.
The towers of the lords castle copsed and the foundation shook as if there was an earthquake.
The lords castle that Duke Townsend had built with a lot of money was shattered.
In less than an hour, Zigarion confirmed that there was no more resistance andughed.
Huhuhu Im strong after all.
A small device installed in its ear heard Armas sarcastic voice.
Youre noisy and hurry to another territory. I have a lot of work to do.
Didnt you say I just had to crush that Townsend guy?
You have to go around all day today. The whole west is your target.
Damn, I picked the wrong one.
Strictly speaking, Zigarions role was over if it killed four people including Duke Townsend.
The lesser nobles would surrender as soon as they were scared a little bit.
It would have been impossible in normal times, but Bagran was now under Count Vanduss rule.
It was not a big deal to crush a territory with a little pretext.
Zigarion left Duke Townsends territory after causing trouble for a while.
A few bureaucrats and knights lost their minds wondering what was going on, but it was not over yet.
A few airships approached and Valgards royal guard knights stormed in.
When several new ck Knights appeared, the few knights lost their will to fight.
The dukes aides scolded them for not fighting, but the knights scoffed at them.
You want us to fight ck Knights? Monsters that treat even imperial Bephar-ss like children?
Fighting royal guards is not a good idea. And no offense, but isnt the count dead?
They still had their family and retainers, but they were skeptical that they could seed the count normally.
It did not seem like Count Vandus would leave them alone.
Some nobles suggested running away first and asking for outside support, but everyone shook their heads nervously.
There is no ce to ask for support. The other territories are being attacked by dragons and foreign countries are not interested.
Maybe Pangral Archduke or Northwind Union would help us, but they are too far away By the time reinforcements arrive, we will be dead.
Most of their troops were Goliaths, so rapid deployment was almost impossible.
The only ce that could do that right now was Leobold.
He had airships and now he had dragons too, so it was like giving wings to Goliaths.
The nobles decided to get out of there first and then discusster.
They hid in a half-destroyed ruin and moved cautiously when a bald man with a greatsword appeared.
Two knights stepped forward nervously.
Who are you?
Oh, you were here. I dont know how Arma finds these guys
Who are you, I asked!
Are you a weed of Count Vandus!
Valgard chuckled and pointed his greatsword at them.
Are you not going to surrender quietly? He told me not to kill you, but he didnt say anything about cutting off your arms and legs. You can just run away a little bit. Im annoyed, soe at me all at once.
You have a bad mouth.
I dont know where you came from, but you should at least have some manners!
The knights shouted bravely, but they looked ridiculous to Valgard.
If you wonte, Ill go.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew and the bald giant disappeared from his ce.
The rough wind lifted the jaws of the two knights and arrived in front of the nobles in an instant.
The two knights fell to the ground before their swords could reach Valgard.
Valgards greatsword was aimed at them.
Thud
He told me not to kill the lord, but he didnt say anything about cutting off one arm and leg. Now its your choice. Will you give me the documents and property and livefortably for the rest of your life?
W-what are you talking about
Do you think well fall for such a shallow threat!
The nobles shouted defiantly and Valgard nodded.
I see. Then Ill cut off one arm and leg and ask again.
Papapapat
In an instant, the greatsword swung and blood sshed with precisely one arm and leg floating in the air.
The nobles realized toote that it was one of their limbs.
The severe pain also came toote.
Aaaah!
My arm!
Ill ask again. Will you give me the documents and property and live for the rest of your life, or will you donate one more arm and leg?
There was no choice.
The nobles clutched their severed parts and screamed, but they nodded their heads.
W-we surrender! We surrender!
Just spare us!
Valgard then called in the royal guards.
Everyone turned their heads away from the horrific scene in front of them.
The Townsend Dukedom had fallen.
It was thergest territory in Bagran and had amassed a huge fortune, but it was shattered by two blows from the dragon and Valgard, beings beyond the norm.
There were some sporadic resistance from some of the troops, but as always, it was meaningless.
The royal knights patrolled around and maintained order.
From now on, this ce will be under the rule of His Excellency Vandus!
Nothing will change! Do everything as usual!
Among the bureaucrats and mercenaries who followed the royal knights, there were androids controlled by Arma.
They went around the territory and reassured the people that it was just a change of owner.
They also announced that the tax burden and corvee would be reduced, which elicited cheers.
Thanks to that, there was no major chaos in the Townsend Dukedom.
The same fate befell the other territories in the west.
Zigarion carried out an air raid and annihted themand structure, then Valgard followed up with a rampage and forced them to surrender.
There were some casualties in the process, but it was much better than arge-scale battle.
There were still many difficulties left to rule over the entire west, where there were small nobles and thousands of ves who had not surrendered yet, but it was only a matter of time once Arma stepped in.
With this, the whole of Bagran was under Leobolds control.
He was the ruler of Bagran, who could not be defied by anyone except the royal family.
But that was just the beginning.
The actions that he and Arma would show in the future would shake up the entire Astera continent.
Leobold looked at the floating continent fleet that was approaching from beyond the sky.
The princess of Elvrande had arrived.
***
Master, I have scanned the princesss airship and found something.
What did you find?
I found a bomb made of etherium.
I thought etherium was a stable energy source that was hard to use like that.
Maybe Elvrande can do it. Anyway, this device has enough power to blow up the entire airship. It also has a detonator.
Its not a timer, is it? Is it triggered by external input?
Yes. It seems that one of the princesss attendants is a mole for the Elder Council.
A terrorist elf.
Shocking, but not surprising in Astera.
The Elder Council wanted to kill the princess.
There could be many reasons, but they probably wanted to pin the me on Leobold.
It would be perfect to reverse all the criticism they received from the Kairos incident that shook up the whole continent.
The fact that they didnt get along with the princess could also be a reason.
ording to Armas observation, Princess Margareta was one of the few reformists among elves.
Her argument is that we should stop fighting with Ains and talk to them to achieve peace.
She must have been called a radical among elves.
Thats why they might want her to die by your hand this time. She must be a thorn in their side.
Leobold didnt care about right or wrong, he just wanted to know the truth.
He knew it would be hard to find the truth from the documents held by elves, but he could cross-check them with those from other kingdoms.
Thats what he could do if he could secure the princess, who had finally arrived in Bagrans airspace.
Despite her arrival, there was no grand ceremony.
The citizens were used to seeing floating continent fleets, so they didnt make a fuss about who came.
They only noticed that the person who came down from the airship was not an ordinary human.
Huh? An elf
That outfit She doesnt look like an ordinary person.
Elvrande was such a closed country that few people recognized her as a princess.
On the other hand, Margareta seemed to find everything fascinating as it was her first time in a human world.
It was somewhat noisypared to Medea, but she felt something lively from the streets.
She saw beastmen carrying loads on carts, goblins sitting on wooden barrels and drinking heavily, and dwarves smoking pipes and having serious conversations.
They were all different kinds of people.
This ce doesnt discriminate against beastmen
What surprised her was that no one thought this scene was strange.
It waspletely different from what other elves had imed.
Humans dont treat anyone well unless they are human. Severe discrimination ismonce.
Most races live in hardship under their harsh treatment. What about us? Didnt we create autonomous regions and guarantee their rights?
The words sounded usible, but Margareta knew that reality was not like that after visiting an autonomous region herself.
The autonomous region was only good in appearance, and Ains and beastmen werepletely exposed to violence and starvation.
One of the training courses for Elven Knights was to sneak into an autonomous region and kill a few people ande out.
Thats how bad it was.
They would be punished if they were caught, but it was not meant to punish the crime, but to tell them to work harder because they were ipetent.
Thats why Kairos was not properly punished even after he massacred them overnight.
It was the elves who discriminated against other races.
Margareta felt this scene was very fresh because she knew these things.
Was it always like this? Or did it change after he took over?
It was unlikely that it was thetter, since he hadnt been in charge for long.
But it was clear that this scene did not conflict much with his ideology.
This was the capital, the face of Bagran, and the ce where the governor worked.
I wonder what kind of person he is
Margareta entered the pce with a sense of anticipation for Leobold.
***
I greet Your Highness the princess.
He bent his knee slightly and kissed Margaretas hand.
Leobold was much taller and bigger than she had expected.
He looked more like a mercenary who had been fighting on the battlefield for a long time than a governor.
Indeed, he had been a real mercenary until two years ago.
Margareta put down her teacup and said.
The reason I came here is to urge dialogue and reconciliation between elves and humans, beyond the two countries. I trust that you, as the governor, will appreciate and support this point.
Reconciliation between humans and elves, is that possible?
It is possible. We can talk to each other. We can understand and feel each others emotions.
Sometimes, the ability to talk only amplifies the conflict. We know all the insults we hurl at each other.
You are quite pessimistic, Governor
Leobold gave a faint smile at her words.
I have lived a twisted life, so my personality is like this.
You are not even 30 years old, are you? What made you like this?
It was meaningless to exin his long and twisted life to this naive elf girl.
You seem to be in trouble with the Elder Council because of the ck Knight incident. They must be desperate to send you, Your Highness.
Margareta snapped at him.
I came here of my own will. The Elder Council tried to stop me.
Then its a pity. You will end up going back without gaining anything.
You sound just like the council members. Did I misjudge you? Where is the Count Vandus who was warm to themoners and fair to other races?
Leobold grinned.
Thats also part of me. Fighting with elves is also part of me.
Dont you care about dialogue and peace? We can still reach out to each other and talk.
Thats almost impossible.
Why?
Because the history of conflict is too deep. Ains, including humans, and elves have been in fierce conflict for hundreds of years. Its very hard to ovee this long time in a breath. But there is one way to do that.
Curiosity shone in Margaretas eyes.
What is it?
War. To be precise, unification by force.
Disappointment filled her eyes.
You are no different from Drizden
Drizden? Who is that?
He is an old man who practically controls the Assembly and the Elder Council. Your words are just like what he spits out habitually.
Old people tend to be stubborn. Does he also use the garden analogy?
What is that?
Since you are the princess who protects Yggdrasil, I assume you have a personal garden or farm.
She nodded silently.
There was not much fun in Elvrande.
The 200-year peace had dragged the culture into decadence, but the elven solemnity had prevented that.
The most interesting news in the newspapers supplied to Medea was that a squirrel ran away from someones house.
Living in such an environment, she needed some breathing space and had carefully cultivated her own garden and farm.
A gentle smile appeared on her face as she thought of that.
I hope you will visit Elvrande someday and see my garden.
There will be a chance. Anyway, you must have done a lot of weeding in your garden.
Its a necessary process for the crops to grow strong, even with Yggdrasils blessing.
Thats right. Humans and elves also need weeding. So that the remaining ones can grow stronger.
The smile disappeared from her face.
Do you think of elves humans as nts?
They are no different, are they? They are living beings that root in the earth, absorb nutrients, and eventually die. The only advantage we have over nts is that we can curse.
Thats why wars happen when you look at others with such a twisted perspective.
You are right. As long as we are living beings who can curse, war is inevitable. Thats why we have to do it efficiently.
Thats sophistry. You have no right to measure everything.
Well, Lasa didnt seem to think so.
Now you are even spheming
She got up with anger on her face.
Her small fist clenched and trembled.
This is the end of the meeting.
I dont like prophecies much, but I want to make one. You wille back soon enough.
That will never happen.
She turned her body with a snap and left the meeting room.
Leobold yawned and counted numbers.
Chapter 256: A Huge Misunderstanding
Chapter 256: A Huge Misunderstanding
Margareta gripped the railing and tried to blow away her displeasure with the rough wind.
She had crossed the continent toe here, but her meeting with Vanduss governor had left her with nothing.
Unification by force, war was necessary?
It was necessary to exclude people?
She had no idea what qualifications he had to say such things.
He can say that because hes sure he wont be harmed.
In some ways, he was the most wicked being.
A human who never wanted to lose, full of selfishness.
That was the true nature of Leobold Vandus that Margareta saw.
He doesnt deserve the note I brought.
She silently tucked her hair behind her ears and looked at another airship.
If he was really such a person, then the atmosphere of that airship was inexplicable.
No matter what era or ce, the people below were affected by the people above.
If Leobold was so oppressive and selfish, then the crew of the airship should be simr.
The Floating Continent Fleet was an organization that only followed Leobolds orders.
In that respect, the crew of the airship she visited for the past few weeks were quite rxed despite the strict discipline.
Their clothes were old but not dirty, and their tone was not rude.
The hierarchy did not seem to be too rigid either.
They were much more free than Elvrandes airship, where they couldnt even make a joke.
Is it just because of the admirals dignity?
Admiral Hampton approached her as she felt the cold wind.
He was on board Elvrandes airship as the admiral of the entire fleet.
Your Highness, the wind will soon be very cold. Please go inside.
Dont you find it strange that Im leaving so abruptly?
Ha ha, what would I know as a fool? I just follow orders since I received them.
The truth is, things didnt go well with Vanduss governor.
I see
The two had built some friendship over the past few weeks.
The elves from Elvrande did not say a word to her, perhaps considering her status.
So Margareta, who was bored, spoke to Admiral Hampton, who was the highest-ranking human among them, and he told her stories about the amazing scenery and strange crops of the Floating Continent, and they had a conversation.
I believed that he would listen to me. But it was a pathetic delusion. He was no different from other power-hungry people.
She had softened her words as much as possible, so one could imagine how harsh the actual atmosphere was.
Hampton looked around and she spoke again.
Is he always like that? In your opinion, is Vanduss governor a viin who oppresses others and gets what he wants by violence?
Uh, well It seems like youve forgotten that Im his subordinate for a moment.
Im sorry. I just wanted to vent my frustration.
Its unfortunate that it turned out like this after you endured such a long journey. I dont dare to give you any advice, but if I may say one thing, thats not his true intention.
His true intention?
I often visit the Floating Continent because of my position. As you know well, it takes a lot of money and effort to visit the Floating Continent
Margareta nodded her head.
Ive heard a lot about it. Its impossible to get to the Floating Continent by ordinary means, and the operating cost of an airship is not cheap either.
As I took on such a heavy duty, I had to push ahead with my n without any hesitation. But people can get sick sometimes, right? Oh, I dont know about elves, but we humans sometimes get sick.
I understand. So what happened?
Our fleet was returning to our territory with a full load of resources and crops from the Floating Continent as usual. We were quite slow because we carried so much. And then someone copsed clutching his stomach.
Oh no
As you know, its a very awkward situation when someone gets sick in the sky where there is nothing. We had some emergency medicine, but his condition was not good. He screamed and twisted his body as if he was dying
Now Margaretas face turned horrible as if she was the patient herself.
She heard a voice in her ear that contained a twist.
I quickly contacted Lord Vandus, but I didnt have much hope. I expected him to order me to endure until we reached our territory. But Lord Vandus told me to empty all the cargo of one airship.
Her eyes widened at that point.
Didnt you say there was gold in there?
We dont always bring gold. Anyway, we followed Lord Vanduss orders and emptied the cargo of one airship. And we were able to transport the patient to our territory quickly. In the end, he received proper treatment and saved his life.
I didnt know that happened
It was an order that no one could give if they were cold and selfish.
Hampton beat his chest.
If he was a normal lord, he would have ignored it or ordered me to secretly throw the crew away. Since that day, our crew swore to follow Lord Vanduss orders with our lives.
Margareta looked at the sky silently.
It could be a fabricated story, but it didnt seem like it.
Hampton looked in the same direction and said.
Of course, this is not to make excuses for Lord Vandus. Im just telling you what I felt.
It was a good story. But I still dont understand him
Its hard for humans and elves to understand each other
She suddenly thought that she was too hasty.
She hadnt even done what she came here for, to find Yggdrasil.
After saying goodbye to Admiral Hampton, she returned to her room and felt two Yggdrasils with a devout heart.
One was the branch that disappeared in the border area, and the other was unknown.
What is this?
It was not an illusion or a hallucination.
In her garden of mind, there were two branches of Yggdrasil that wererger than usual.
How did this happen
She got up in surprise and the airship shook suddenly.
Bang!
An explosion urred near the ether engine and the shock wave pushed the wind violently.
The airship tilted and some elves on the deck fell down.
Ahhhh!
Help me!
The floor started to tear and the buoyant stones that were firmly attached fell off.
As a result, the airship began to fall down without stopping.
Damn it!
Admiral Hampton, who had moved to another airship, grabbed the railing and cursed.
The airship of Elvrande that the princess was on was falling.
If it fell to the ground like that, it would be dead without a doubt.
There was nothing they could do from above.
As the crew stomped their feet, the clouds blocked the bottom of the fleet.
Its over
Admiral Hampton had no choice but to order a retreat.
He couldnt even see the wreckage of Elvrandes airship that had fallen.
Meanwhile, Zigarion, who was waiting below the clouds, grumbled.
This is kidnapping, not rescue!
Did you really think I was going to kidnap the real princess? Stopining and get her out.
Why cant you do it with that spaceship?
The Settler is somewhere else, so I asked you who are nearby. Do you want me to tell Master that you dont want to do it?
I didnt say I didnt want to do it.
Zigarion spread his wings and approached the falling airship.
The princesss private room was marked in his sight.
This is a fun feature. Its not magic, but what is it?
Its called a gravity radar. It catches anything that weighs more than a certain amount. The princess is unconscious, so grab her gently, okay?
Do you think I cant control my strength?
Werent you?
Zigarion felt a murderous intent from Armas calm voice, but he couldnt express it.
ording to Leobold, Arma was iparably stronger than him.
It was really infuriating.
He folded his wings and flew through the debris to get to the airship.
He broke the private room slightly and grabbed the princess with his front paw as she was exposed.
Hahaha! Sess!
Then she groaned in pain as if he had grabbed something wrong.
Armas cruel voice came in.
You just dislocated her rib. Master said he would do the same to you, you know?
Please, please
Zigarion cowered and flew cautiously toward Roseron.
***
The news of the crash of Elvrandes airship carrying the princess flew in.
It was announced by Leobold Vandus, the governor of Bagran.
He officially dered the death of the princess and expressed his regret.
Many people were shocked and horrified.
The princess of the empire died? So she died on her way back from the meeting?
Its obvious who did it What did they do it for?
I dont understand. What benefit do they get from killing the princess?
The atmosphere in Roseron was gloomy.
It was not long after the dragon attacked the western territory that such a huge incident urred.
The incident where the great lords of the west were killed could be somehow resolved because it happened within Bagran, but this time it was impossible.
Bagran was noisy while waiting for the result of the meeting, and Zaium was startled.
Most of them reacted as if they wondered how they could fix it after doing such a thing.
Are they crazy? She may not have real power, but she is still a royal. A guardian of Yggdrasil and a champion of a royal family. How can they kill her?
They didnt even fight her as an enemy, but killed her when she came to talk. I dont know where that idea came from.
Its a bit awkward to say its revenge for the former emperor
But are we sure that Count Vandus killed her?
It doesnt matter. It happened in Bagrans sky. Count Vandus is responsible for it.
Meanwhile, Elvrande, who was involved in this, was shocked beyond words.
When the news of the princesss death in the human kingdom spread, Medea turned upside down.
Many elves ran out of their homes and marched on the streets.
They shouldnt have sent the princess to that trashy human kingdom!
Who killed her! Who stabbed our hearts!
The im for peace with humans was wrong! The only good human is a dead human!
As voices of criticism echoed everywhere, Elvrandes gs waved here and there.
The elves mourned the death of the princess and wanted revenge.
As a result, the atmosphere of reconciliation that had barely been maintained around the princess was shattered.
Most of the elves gave their full support to the Grand Council, which advocated a radical policy of one-sidedness.
Theypletely forgot that the princess had been at odds with the Grand Council in doing so.
Oh~ Our pride, our love~!
One drop of elf blood requires a hundred human lives! The Grand Council must awaken!
We want war! Kill the humans!
Its a pity, isnt it?
Drizden and Kelodian looked at the radical crowd that shouted for war.
The peaceful and quiet atmosphere of Medea had suddenly be like that partly because of mourning the death of the princess, but also because of the weed that the Grand Council had secretly hidden.
The elves of Elvrande were prone to stress because they were forced to live a frugal life.
If someone lit a fire, they would burn like that.
They even made a creepy im to execute the ves in the autonomous region as a warning to humans.
It showed how angry the elves were.
Drizden, who could be called the mastermind of this, smiled faintly at the corner of his mouth.
With this, the public opinion against us in our country is gone. We can do whatever we want.
Wasnt there another way?
Kelodian asked cautiously, but Drizden clicked his tongue.
Look around. What have we lost? Our country is united and cries for revenge. The light of Yggdrasil is still there, and we only lost one stupid royal who cried for dialogue.
Its amazing that Yggdrasil is still fine even though the princess died.
The temple will select another guardian. There wont be anyone decent, but its enough if they just act as a scarecrow.
But was the princess really dead?
No one had actually confirmed her death.
They were just burning with revenge based on what Vanduss governor announced in Bagran.
If she was alive
Kelodian shook his head to get rid of his thoughts.
Now that things hade to this, the princess had to be dead for Elvrandes future.
Drizden tapped his shoulder.
Lets go see Tiren. We have to tell him who killed the princess.
Isnt it hard to kill Vanduss governor even if he epted the divinity? Hes a monster.
No one said they would face that monster head-on. Lets go quickly.
Yes
Kelodian left the Grand Council and headed for the secretboratory.
There were quite a fewboratories in Elvrande, but none as secretive as this one.
Because it contained an infinite circuit.
He passed through several strict gates guarded by elven knights and finally approached a sphere that emitted a golden light.
This was the core and soul of Yggdrasil, the Infinite Circuit, where new souls were born.
It originally had the mission of epting the souls of Astera and giving birth to new life forms, but it was currently being exploited by the elves.
I have no choice
Kelodian justified himself.
The Infinite Circuit was absolutely necessary to protect the whole of Astera.
That was the prepared n of destruction.
The humans would never remember, but the elves had been nning this since 200 years ago, when they took over Yggdrasil.
Now it was time to activate part of it.
Kelodian approached Tiren, who was soaking his body in the Fountain of Creation.
How do you feel?
You didnte here to ask me that.
I should apologize in advance. The princess is dead.
Tirens body shuddered for a moment.
Tears streamed down from his bulging eyes.
Who did it?
Leobold Vandus, that bastard. The airship that Her Highness was on crashed in his territory.
Something was wrong.
Tiren realized that something was fishy even in his dizziness from the nonsense of divinity that permeated his body.
Why would the Council send the princess to such a ce?
And Leobold had no reason to kill the princess.
It would make sense if he wanted to go to war with Elvrande, but at this point, it was almost suicidal to sh with Bagrans caliber.
There was no way to stop Meteor Strike if it was activated simultaneously.
But why?
Kelodian offered him words of constion as he looked confused.
I understand that you are sad because you were close to the princess. Now, lets start your revenge. There is nothing that can stop your way
Thats right.
As Kelodian winked, the guards pulled the switch.
The water level of the fountain dropped and Tirens naked body was exposed.
They handed him a towel, but he was staring at Kelodian.
Why dont you cover yourself with a towel first?
There is no need for that.
What?
Before he could retort, Tirens hand grabbed Kelodians neck.
The magic circle was destroyed in an instant and a choking sound was heard.
Gah! Cough!
Tiren lifted him up with one hand and said.
Ive been waiting for this day The day I take revenge on you for my subordinates
Cough cough!
Kelodian struggled, but he had no way to fight back at such close range.
He was also a great mage, but he was helpless when attacked like this.
Tiren tightened his grip.
Crack crack
A ominous sound was heard and Kelodians eyes began to roll back.
If you had given the order in time, my subordinates could have lived But you ignored it!
Hurgh
Youre next after I kill you, Council And then Ill kill that bastard Leobold
There was a final snap and Kelodians body went limp.
Tiren threw his corpse with an indifferent face and looked at the guards.
Sound the rm. I wont stop you.
Gulp.
No one could sound the rm.
Tiren walked through them.
Whoever killed the princess, he had to pay for it.
***
Rib number three is broken. No other injuries and she fainted from shock. Shell wake up soon.
Tell Zion toe in.
He said he had something urgent and ran away. Should I catch him?
Just leave him alone.
Leobold looked at Margareta lying in bed in his bedroom.
He wore the insult of being a beast who assassinated the princess while not reacting because she couldnt be known to be alive.
Elvrande was burning with revenge for this incident and Zaium even backed off saying it was too much.
No matter how much he hated elves, it was hard to defend him for killing the princess who came as an envoy.
Even Duke Prozhan or Countess Croitz scolded him for doing that.
Only his confidants wereforting each other that there must be some reason for it.
You didnt write everything in this note, did you? There must be something else in your memory.
Leobold skimmed through the note that Margareta wrote after entering the Infinite Library.
It was well recorded, but he could see some missing contents.
He would find out when she woke up.
And also,
I wonder how much you know about Rasa
Margareta had warned him not to call Rasa rudely, saying it was sphemy against God.
It was impossible for an ordinary Asteran to do that.
Because Rasa was a forgotten god.
His existence was acknowledged, but he had no presence, so there was no temple to worship him either.
In the midst of that, she recognized him as a god, so he thought there must be some story behind it.
He also needed more detailed information about the Infinite Circuit.
If hebined that with the research results of the superrge ether stone that Arma was making, something amazing mighte out.
Soon after, Margareta opened her eyes.
Huh What?
She touched her body lying in bed and then gasped and pulled up the nket.
Her eyes of disbelief looked at Leobold.
What, what is this? What did you do to me?
Nothing. I told you, didnt I? That you woulde back here.
Ah
Her mouth opened dumbly.
She remembered checking the branch of Yggdrasil in her private room after parting with Admiral Hampton.
She also remembered the explosion somewhere on the airship and her body being thrown against the wall and hitting her head.
Then who caused that explosion?
How could you do that? I, I thought you were a good person
You seem to have gone through a lot of changes in a short time. But think about it. Do I have any reason to kill you?
No.
She couldnt think of any reason.
But someone did.
The Councils elder and the oldest elf, Drizden Featherwood.
What if he bribed the crew of the airship and nted bombs in advance?
Margaretas face turned red.
She had made a big mistake.
Chapter 257: The End of the Crouching One
Chapter 257: The End of the Crouching One
I-I cant stay here. I have to go right away.
Margareta tried to get up and throw off the nket, but she felt a sharp pain and grimaced.
Ow!
Leobold pointed at her chest.
You must be hurting there. Your bone was broken during the rescue.
Rescue Who saved me?
Blue Dragon Zigarion. He saved your majesty. It was a lucky coincidence that he was flying nearby.
Was that true?
The princess looked at him with a doubtful gaze.
It was hard to believe that the Blue Dragon, the conspiracy, and everything else were true.
She was almost certain that he had no reason or intention to kill her.
Leobold brought a chair and sat in front of the bed.
I should tell you about the beast first. As you may have guessed, I think this was orchestrated by Councilor Dresden.
Margareta turned her head away as if she wanted to ignore it.
It made her sad that she was almost assassinated by someone who was not an enemy but a kin.
Leobold used an Imagine Record Scroll to show a picture of an ether bomb.
This was recovered from the crashed airship. Surprisingly, Elvrande can use ether stones as bombs. They made the airship lose both thrust and buoyancy and crash. Unfortunately, no one survived except for your majesty.
Why did Dresden do that?
He had a lot to gain by killing your majesty. Currently, Elvrande is united in demanding revenge for your majestys death. The atmosphere is almost like a war.
Then if I reveal that Im alive
It wont stop the war, though. Its more advantageous for Dresden to use that atmosphere to do what he wants.
For example, creating champions using Yggdrasil
He had some other ideas as well, and they made Margareta anxious.
I have to go quickly.
Your majestys survival is already known in Elvrande. They must have tried to change the guardian of Yggdrasil, but they couldnt.
Now that you mention it
She had forgotten.
The guardian of Yggdrasil could only be changed when the predecessor was dead or abnormal.
As long as Margareta was alive, no other royal could be chosen.
Elvrande decided to hold the ceremony within two months. Thats quite fast for elves. They must be in a hurry.
What are they trying to get by rushing?
I dont know, we cant find out from outside. Anyway, they must have realized their position by now. Your majesty wont be weed there. Dresden will likely try to harm you.
If I tell someone trustworthy
They will kill you and spread false rumors. Who would believe you if you were used of being a traitor who hinders Elvrandes united will?
Margareta stared nkly at the air for a long time without saying anything.
This kind of dirty conspiracy was shocking for the princess to ept.
Then a rumbling sound was heard and she looked embarrassed.
She had been unconscious for at least 10 hours, so she must have been hungry.
Arma, bring some food.
Yes.
Soon Arma brought in a cart with appetizing fruits.
Leobold put a te of fruits on the nket.
Theres no poison, so you can eat without worry.
Margareta looked at the te with wide eyes.
There were many exotic fruits that she had never seen even in Elvrande.
Is this a strawberry? How is it so big?
Its from the floating continent. Its not bad.
Contrary to his words, the strawberry gave her an incredible ecstasy.
The sour and sweet taste that spread in her mouth was iparable to the strawberries from Elvrande.
And above all, this size.
A strawberry as big as a childs fist seemed endless.
She ate the fruits without shame because she was hungry.
It was a blissful time that made her cry, and soon the te was empty.
Leobold said with a slight surprise.
You must have been very hungry.
I-Im sorry. They were so delicious that I couldnt stop
Dont be sorry. But have you sorted out your mind?
She nodded silently without saying anything.
It was sad that she couldnt return to Elvrande or her kin.
But she couldnt just cry either. She had to do something.
There were some twists and turns, but Yggdrasil didnt burn and Vandus Sebiong wasnt such a bad person after all.
She asked cautiously.
What happened to Yggdrasils branches? There cant be two here.
One was in the border area. We used magic to confuse peoples sight and took it.
It was a battlefield and humans were not sensitive to ether, so it was not impossible if they prepared in advance.
Then the other one
We brought it from the floating continent. Now they are both in the pirate army or the eastern army, I should say.
Thats strange. Yggdrasil wouldnt allow itself to be taken
What would happen if it didnt?
There was an event in Elvrande before I was born where they tried to transnt a branch. But they did it without a guardian and the ether around them became unstable. All kinds of dangerous magic attacked them.
I see, so strange phenomena ur when the ether is unstable.
Did that not happen at all?
Leobold didnt answer but fell into thought.
If he assumed that the prophet created Yggdrasil, then the probability was high that he was considered to have the same qualification as Margareta since he absorbed the relic.
He recognized the relic as a key when he absorbed it.
It wasnt an actual key, but it looked like one.
He opened Noxs warp gate with it. He also unlocked Yggdrasils lock. Maybe it means he can open anything
In a way, that key might open the future that leads to the prophet.
There was nothing. And I have some questions for you.
I guess I have no choice but to answer your questions obediently since I cant get out of here.
You dont have to answer if you dont want to. But in that case, we cant treat your majesty as important either. Well just let you rest and go. I dont know if the elves will ept you, though.
She couldnt do that.
She had to do something aftering this far.
Even if it meant betraying the current Elvrande.
Margareta made up her mind.
Okay. But I can only answer a limited number of questions.
I have three things I want to ask. This notebook and
As Leobold took out the notebook, Margareta snatched it hastily.
Where did you get this?
I found it while saving you. Arma did the search, so you dont have to worry. What Im curious about is how much of this notebook is true.
This notebook is extracted from a document in the Infinite Library. If you can trust that, you can trust the notebook too.
There are many interesting things written from the elves perspective. For example, when humans ruled the continent hundreds of years ago
Thats what I was most curious about. The elves didnt seem to suffer so much when humans ruled the continent, but the Council says otherwise.
By the way, Zigarion also gave the same testimony. Hes over 700 years old.
It seemed that the elves sense of victimhood was exaggerated in many parts.
Where is the blue dragon? Is he yourpanion?
Hes very shy, so hes somewhere else for now. But I see some nks here and there.
Oh, thats because I erased them with magic. Theyll reappear like this.
As her slender finger passed over the paper, surprisingly, letters appeared.
Leobold turned the pages slowly and clearly so that Arma could record them.
Only the sound of pages turning was heard in the room until the notebook was closed.
The content was too much and chaotic to do anything with it right away.
Arma will figure it out.
Now he had to find out about Rasa and the Infinite Circuit.
Good. You said that mentioning Rasas existence was sphemy, why is that?
Thats because she is a god who still exists.
She? Have you seen her in person?
I only heard her voice. There is abyrinth under the Grand Shrine where only the royal family can enter, and there is an artifact containing Rasas power there.
An artifact of Rasa must be very powerful What kind is it?
Its a normal crystal, but I dont know much about it. When I touched it, a voice that I guessed was Rasa came out. I couldnt understand what she was saying, though.
I see
It seemed difficult to tear apart thebyrinth without fully understanding ether and magic.
He wouldnt go anywhere, so he had to approach it slowly.
And since it was about the prophet, he didnt want to rush things and mess up.
Margareta suddenly remembered something and said.
Oh, by the way, there was a map on the wall there.
A map of Astera?
Actually, Im not sure if its a map. There were only glowing dots.
A star chart.
It was a map for navigating this ether space.
Leobold was moved by confirming that there was a prophet somewhere.
His purpose ofing here was to meet the prophet, not an exaggeration.
Compared to that, unifying and developing Astera was secondary.
On the other hand, Margareta wondered why Leobolds face was filled with joy when he had been indifferent to any information.
What kind of rtionship did he have with Rasa, the creator god?
Leobold hid his joy and asked about the Infinite Circuit.
You are connected to Yggdrasil, so you must know well about the Infinite Circuit.
I know a little more than others.
Is it true that you can be a god by refining your soul in the Infinite Circuit?
Her face darkened for a moment.
Yes Thats what we elves are doing with Rasas gift. For the sake of preparing for the future.
Is there any other function? It doesnt matter if its information about Yggdrasil instead of the Infinite Circuit.
Leobold asked this to approach the essence of ether.
ording to Armas analysis, ether was an energy that showed various changes in phase, but he couldnt find its subject.
That is, there had to be something else in between for ether to be used in all kinds of magic and interfere with consciousness.
The wavelength emitted by the fusion reactor and Yggdrasil are almost identical. So they can be seen as a kind of ry. They probably change the phase and wavelength of ether from ether sun and send it out as apletely different energy. Thats likely their main function.
It was just a hypothesis, but if this was correct, Arma would be able to get closer to the essence of ether.
Margareta said cautiously.
There is such a legend about Rasa, the creator god. She gave magic to Ains and Beastmen who were suffering from monsters.
So there was no ether in ancient times.
Yes. She created Ether Origin, which is the source of everything, and Yggdrasil allows us to use magic.
I see.
There are several types of ether that Yggdrasil produces, and they can be distinguished as ether of space, ether of mind, ether of power, and so on.
Margareta spoke of the essence of ether that even Zigarion or Steffina didnt know.
She seemed to like that Leobold was focused on her words and told him various things.
Arma was able to get closer to the essence of ether.
Yggdrasil and the fusion reactor change the phase and wavelength of the received ether and send it out as apletely different ether. Amazing.
It seemed to be a great discovery.
She also said that she could conduct more daring research based on this information and the previous giant ether stone research.
Maybe I can make a fusion reactor based on this information and the previous giant ether stone research. Its just a possibility, though.
If he could make an ether fusion reactor, it would be a tremendous breakthrough.
The various technologies on the Settler were enough to produce a battleship-ss spaceship, but the fusion reactor was impossible.
It was worth saving the princess.
He was satisfied enough with the information about the prophet.
Leobold slowly got up.
Ive heard enough. Ive put too much burden on you, the patient.
What should I do?
You cant go back for a while, so rx. Ill allow you to wander around Rozelon with your ears covered by magic. But you have to be apanied by Arma.
You mean I can walk around Rozelon?
Yes.
A faint smile appeared on her lips.
She seemed happier to have some freedom than sad that her own people tried to kill her.
Rozelon was not as big as the cities of Elvrande, but it had a lot of sights and vitality.
Most importantly, there was no one who treated her excessively politely because she was a princess.
She had to be careful about food and such, but she wouldnt be too ufortable.
What about next?
It would depend on the international situation, but Leobold thought she wouldnt be able to return to Elvrande.
The current rulers didnt want her to return.
The only way for her to return was for Leobold to force his way in.
And it was not long before it happened.
***
Master, Tiren has escaped.
I thought he would cause trouble sooner orter. The death of the princess must have been the trigger. So what happened?
It seems that many of the key figures in Elvrande have been killed. At least dozens of people have died in the Council as well.
Thats a good result.
Leobold had several opportunities to kill Tiren in the border battle.
No, it was not an exaggeration to say that Tirens death was decided from the moment he met him.
But Leobold decided to use him as a pawn to bring chaos to Elvrande instead of killing him.
And this was the result.
The capital Medea was in a mess, as if a terrorist attack had urred.
Countless elves screamed and ran around the streets, and fires broke out everywhere.
He did quite a lot for one person. So did you figure out what his divinity is?
It is likely a new divinity created by the Infinite Circuit. Judging by the violent waves it emits, it is not a self-aware one, but more like a bomb.
An ether bomb Is that the same thing that was attached to the airship that the princess boarded?
Yes. ording to Delphinas conversation, it seems that Tiren tried to resonate his ether heart with the core of Titan and detonate it as a divinity.
It was evident that the elves ether engineering had reached an amazing level.
Leobold wished they had found a more peaceful way to use that energy, just like humans did not use nuclear power only for bombs, but for development.
But the elves did not seem to have any intention of doing so.
How powerful is it?
It seems that it will vaporize everything within a radius of 5km.
Thats stronger than a nuclear warhead, isnt it?
Even a megaton-ss nuclear warhead could not vaporize nearby buildings cleanly.
But the ether bomb that would be triggered by Tiren boasted an enormous power.
Leobold and Nabal would die instantly if they were swept away by it.
Does he not know that?
Apparently He seems to be trying to steal one of Goliaths units with the sole intention of killing you, Master. This is an enhanced version of Belial. He risked exploding the core and increased the output recklessly.
He doesnt care about anything else as long as he kills me. How long will it take him to get here?
It should be enough in two weeks.
Crossing the continent in two weeks He has gotten stronger indeed.
Tiren looked like a madman when he ran.
But even if he arrived, he would not be able to kill Leobold.
Because the princess was alive.
However, Arma wanted to get some data from his battle, so he had to y along with him for a bit.
When do you think we can finish collecting data rted to ether?
Tiren is the end. After that, modeling will start and analysis will be done in a few weeks.
Then we can start the real conquest war from then on.
He did not need to use Goliath for that war.
Leobold had used Goliath so far only to collect data.
After that, he would produce more practical weapons.
Meanwhile, there was a mood around him that he had to take some action because he did not show much reaction despite repeated criticism about the death of the princess.
The Republic of Imir contacted him right away.
I thought you were a reasonable person, but I guess not. If it is true that you killed the princess of Elvrande, we will have to reconsider our cooperation with you.
It was a very high-level criticism without diplomatic courtesy.
Leobold casually informed him of the design of the ether bomb obtained by Arma.
It seems that the beast used it to blow up the airship. We couldnt analyze it with our technology, so we want you to take it and study it.
How did you get that?
We got it from the wreckage of the airship. It seems that it was a spare in case it did not explode.
An ether bomb It certainly sounds like a weapon that those elves woulde up with. So you want to im that you killed her because she was an eyesore to the Council?
It is up to you whether you believe it or not.
I can tell by your silence that you dont want it to be known.
He was quick-witted as expected of someone who had been in diplomacy for a long time.
Skadi wanted to end this situation by analyzing the design of the ether bomb and sharing it.
The dwarves managed to get over it in this way, but Zaium was in aplete uproar.
To be precise, the faction of Prince Barak tried to downy the situation, while the Grand Duke Pangral and the Northwind Noble Alliance kept criticizing him.
Their argument was this.
How can you kill a royal who came to make friends, not to fight on the front line?
Even if they are enemies, there is a minimum line that must be respected. Count Vandus crossed it.
The elves eyes might go crazy because of this and activate the Meteor Strike. We have nothing to say if that happens. Does Count Vandus want to bring the end of the world sooner?
Its not toote yet. If Count Vandus takes responsibility, we might be able to cover it up. Soe to Zaium and exin yourself.
They nned to use this incident to increase their influence and restrain Leobold.
They thought he had no choice but to ept this proposal.
Because the situation in Bagran was so bad.
The Blue Dragon appeared and turned the west into a wastnd. The Count must be out of his mind too.
It will take years to clean up that mess, so we can quickly push our demands while he is busy.
But I heard the Blue Dragon said something strange He criticized very and defended Bagran, but I dont know if thats true.
Why would he do that If he wants to join hands with humans, he should go to Zaium, not Bagran.
Galistos judgment was that Bagran was in a lot of trouble right now.
They also thought they had to do something before ck Knight was fully operational.
The ck Knight introduced by Zaium is a real monster. If it is deployed, we will be dead without a chance.
The only fortunate thing is that the output and responsiveness are too high, so the knights are having trouble adapting.
We dont have much time. In a few months, we wont be able to make a sound. We have to do something before that.
This argument reached Zaium and Grand Duke Pangral stepped forward.
He was also very wary of Leobold and ck Knight, so he wanted to take this opportunity to pressure him and get something out of him.
Count Vandus of Bagran, listen. The matter of killing the princess of Elvrande cannot be overlooked. I will give you a chance to exin yourself. Come to my territory immediately.
Galistos diplomat read the document directly in front of Leobold.
This is the order of His Excellency Grand Duke Pangral. The deadline is before the end of June 1038 by continental calendar, thats all.
Leobold tilted his head and asked.
Why is Galistos diplomat delivering this?
His Excellency ordered me to do so. I hope you wont refuse.
The diplomats confident attitude showed his arrogance that he could do whatever he wanted with me.
Well, the name of Grand Duke Pangral of Zaium was not a joke.
He had such a power behind him, so he expected me to bow down.
But there was one thing they misunderstood.
Leobold had established Bagran as his base and found the traces of the prophet, so he did not have to care about anyone anymore.
He would be able to decipher the power of the gods once the ether analysis was done, so he had no reason to cower.
He wanted to tear that bastard apart and called Valgard, who had an expression of wanting to do so.
What did you do when you went to war in the old days?
We usually cut off their arms. Sometimes we took out one eye or cut off their ears for fun.
Treat him like that.
Ive been waiting for this.
As Valgard approached with his greatsword, Galistos diplomat was terrified.
W-wait You cant treat a diplomat like that
I love breaking taboos.
With a short scream, his arm was cut off cleanly.
Chapter 258: The Goal is World Conquest
Chapter 258: The Goal is World Conquest
When the rumor spread that Leobold had cut off the arm of Galistos diplomat, not only Galisto, but even Zaium was dumbfounded.
They wondered if that was a normal response in this situation.
Even Zaium and Elvrande, who had nothing to lose, would not go that far.
Especially Bagran, who was suffering from a lot of troubles due to the Blue Dragon incident and the princess assassination case.
They could not understand why he would cause another incident in such a situation.
How will Galisto deal with the Grand Duke of Pangral?
Of course, the personalbat power of the Lord of Vanduss is formidable, but the difference in military strength is too great. And the ck Knight is not even properly deployed yet.
Above all, the Grand Duke of Pangral has the authority to activate Meteor Strike alone. Is there a way to stop it?
From Asterains point of view, Meteor Strike was a magic that boasted absolute destructive power.
It wasmon in the Great War 200 years ago, but it had not been activated once in thest few decades.
Naturally, things like its destructive power and range were exaggerated, and the boastful ones said that Bagran would be wiped out in one shot.
Elvrande must be waiting for a chance too. Why on earth is he making more enemies?
With the power of Meteor Strike, its no big deal to blow up one Bagran. If the Lord of Vanduss does not want tomit suicide, he should stop at this point.
He doesnt really trust Prince Barak of Barak, does he? He sent him the arm of his diplomat, he should give up the illusion that he will back him up.
This incident was something that even Prince Barak of Barak, who had made a secret pact with him, was surprised and withdrew from.
He contacted Leobold as soon as he heard the news and asked him why he did that. When he got an unsatisfactory answer, he threatened him.
Do you think the Grand Duke of Pangral is a joke? I might be able to save one neck, but not the rest. I dont understand why you are provoking him.
He provoked me first, Your Highness.
Its just a matter of talking, isnt it? Especially if its about the princess of Elvrande. Anyway, this matter cannot be overlooked. Ill send Countess Croitz, so exin how youre going to handle it.
Sending her was rather a considerate act for him.
Leobold took advantage of her visit and called his confidants.
He had caused so much trouble that even they looked bewildered.
The West was devastated, and he had cut off the arm of a diplomat after killing the princess. People who didnt know the situation would think he was going to ruin himself.
Cami arrived at the conference room and Leobold sat in his seat and looked around them.
Youre all here. You must have had a lot of questions about this situation. You must have doubted if I was crazy or not. But Im not crazy. Ill prove it to you now. Zigarion.
The door opened and Zigarion entered with his blue hair proudly exposed.
The people who saw his physique and face were shocked.
Zion was a dragon?
I never doubted him until now
Especially Stephina, who had been researching with him right next to him, looked very shocked.
Granden seemed to have suspected something, as he nodded his head with a stern face.
Zion shouted as if he felt relieved.
I am Zigarion, the Blue Dragon. You should worship me if you know that
Thud.
Leobolds fist hit Zigarions head hard.
Ouch!
With a scream, the confidants closed their eyes and shrank their necks.
Apparently, the Blue Dragon couldnt do anything against Leobold.
Be quiet and sit down. Ill give you instructionster.
He red at Leobold and then moved to the other side of the table when he saw a more fierce looking at him.
As you have seen for yourself, Zions identity is Zigarion. He has been helping me since two years ago. So you can rest assured about the situation in the West.
Relief appeared on their faces.
What they were worried about was whether the dragon that suddenly appeared was on Leobolds side or not.
Since he was a dragon who proimed justice, they thought he wouldnt get along well with Leobold, but they didnt expect this oue.
Leobold dered to them.
And I will soon stabilize the western territories. The transfer of administrative rights and property assessment are mostly done and only reassignment of officials remains. Arma will take care of that.
Arma was a superhuman who seemed to have nothing she couldnt do in every aspect.
She led the people in various fields such as administration, finance,w, etc. and also yed an active role in the takeover of the western territories.
There was a huge gap in the number of nobles who died or were driven out, but she solved it quickly.
Of course, not all of the western territories were under Leobolds control yet.
There were knights who hid in the nearby forest and continued to resist, and sometimes the people of the territory defied him at the risk of their lives.
They heard wrong rumors about Leobold.
But even they were not expected tost long.
The Lords control is amazing. Its not a joke to take over thend of Count Townsend, but he already swallowed it up.
The power of the ck Knight is one thing, but thebat power of Balgard is beyond imagination. He can destroy a territory by himself.
The officials are not like the old ones either. I never imagined they would conductnd re-measurement so quickly.
Anyway, Leobold unified the whole Bagran by swallowing up the western territories.
Many nobles returned their titles in fear as many nobles died.
Who would manage it then? There was criticism, but surprisingly there was no big problem.
New talents appeared who had hidden themselves and received education from the nobles.
They were people who had received thorough education for several months at the educational institutions owned by Leobold.
Usually, when you think of an official in Bagran, you think of someone who is out of touch with reality and only does desk work, but they were not like that.
They spent more time on site than in the office.
Thanks to them, Bagran was reborn as a fully centralized state.
The central figures were Leobold and Arma, who had too much work to do, but strangely enough, it was not a problem.
People who knew the situation well marveled at Armas administrative skills.
I dont know how she found out that Samsons cow died a few days ago
She knows the cultivation status so well that there is no way to hide it.
Thanks to Armas efforts, things like transition to centralization, sudden expansion, and nobility gap were not a problem at all.
The people were convinced after hearing this exnation.
But the real problem was from now on.
The princess assassination and Galistos diplomat disaster were external problems that could not be overlooked.
Leobold had made a promise beforehand about that matter.
What you hear from now on must never be leaked outside. I will rule with death, so please understand that.
What on earth was it that he emphasized so much?
Pleasee in, Your Highness.
There were very few people who could be called Your Highness in Asterain right now.
The people opened their mouths when a woman wearing a hat entered the conference room.
When she took off her hat, her long tinum hair and green eyes revealed her long ears characteristic of elves.
Katina, who had a hasty personality, jumped up.
Pri, Princess?
They couldnt believe that the elf princess, who they thought was dead, was alive.
***
My name is Margareta Rustel. Im ashamed to say that I have temporarily put aside my status as the princess of Elvrande and am indebted to Count Vandus.
Grandversia
Yo, youre alive
They had no idea what had happened.
How did the princess survive?
Why didnt she inform Elvrande of her survival?
Questions piled up and Count Kroitz, who couldnt bear it any longer, stepped forward.
This requires an exnation, Your Excellency.
It was a coincidence. Zigarion, who happened to be passing by, confirmed the explosion of the airship and rescued her.
That was really close. She would have died if I was a littlete.
Zigarion shrugged his shoulders and Margareta bowed her head to him.
I didnt get to thank you for saving me. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude.
Hmm.
Zigarions cheekbones were almost ascending and Count Kroitz quickly asked.
Airship explosion? Does that mean it was Elvrandes doing?
There are plenty of factions that consider the princess a thorn in their side. For example, the Council.
They didnt know much about what the Council was, but it sounded like a nasty group just by hearing the name.
Margareta clenched her fist and said.
I apologize for showing you the shameful side of Elvrande. The only thing that is certain is that the Council tried to kill me. Dresden must have led it.
Dresden is the core power of the Councils elders. He has almost taken over the whole of Elvrande by now.
But why didnt you exin
Count Kroitzs voice was full of frustration.
Indeed, the atmosphere inside Zaium was no joke.
Even Prince Barak, who could be considered his supporter, and Duke Prozan were worried.
Leobold gestured her to sit down and said.
You must have a lot of curiosity. From why she didnt announce that she was alive to what my purpose is. Ill make it clear on this asion.
He sat himself on the kings seat.
Everyone held their breath at his unprecedented action.
If you dont trust me even a bit or dont want to join me, leave now. I wont chase you or harm you. What Im going to say from now on requires extreme security. You must never utter it.
Despite his stern warning, no one left.
They all trusted him and recognized him as one.
Leobold looked around them and said.
Im not from Astera. I came from a faraway ce a world called Earth. The Holy Kingdom called me a hero from another world. Thats right.
Uh
The people were too surprised to ept his words quickly.
Some rubbed their ears and Count Kroitz opened his mouth wide.
They couldnt believe that there was a real ce called another world and that someone came from there.
But if that was true.
It exined everything if Leobold came from another world.
He looked at their faces and continued.
The saintess of the Holy Kingdom said she received a divine trust, and thats true. I came here on a huge ship. Zigarion and Valgard have already confirmed it.
Zigarion stepped forward and shrugged his shoulders.
That was really a huge ship. Even the giants of the Great War couldnt match it. It could burn down the whole Astera and still have some left.
Burn down the whole Astera?
Its over 700 meters long. Another world ispletely different from ours.
Gracious
I cant believe it
There were many rumors that Leobold was a hero from another world, but he never confirmed or denied them, so they sank into oblivion.
In the midst of that, he himself spoke out and everyone was dumbfounded.
Count Kroitz couldnt hide his flustered expression.
Then what happened to your body? You didnt use that body in another world, did you?
This is not my original body. I borrowed the body of Leobold Vandus. He died at the hands of an elf more than two years ago.
My name is Yu Ji-ha. A prophet or as they call it here, a creation god Rasa. Im an otherworlder who came to Astera to find him. My goal is to find him and conquer Astera.
It was a series of shocks.
Katina, who had always been impatient, choked with excitement and even Granden, who had been stern, couldnt hide his confusion.
Leobold Vandus was already dead and an otherworlder took over his body.
Count Kroitz stared at him with a stiff face.
You deceived us.
I didnt deceive you. I just didnt tell you.
Your goal is to conquer Astera Do you look down on this ce?
Im not a fool who would say that without any chance. Ive already calcted everything and only need to execute it by pulling you in.
You What about me? Who is Leobold Vandus, who I married? Who are you?
Nothing has changed, Cami.
He softly called her name and she shivered as if she had been struck by lightning.
It was the same voice that whispered in her ear in bed.
Nothing has changed, you say, but you clearly said you took over Leobold Vanduss body. That means your soul is different.
You didnt marry me for this ugly face, did you?
Everyone almostughed at the sudden self-deprecation, but barely held back.
Indeed, Leobold was not a handsome face and Cami was not attracted to his face either.
What matters is my ability and vision for the future. Ill tell you clearly here, I will conquer Astera and be the emperor of the human empire. You will stand by my side.
Youre going to betray Prince Barak?
Ill betray anyone if necessary.
M, me too Will you betray me too?
Im telling you this in advance so that it doesnt happen. Youre my woman.
Her expression becameplicated.
Valgard, who was watching, intervened.
I dont know why youre thinking soplicatedly. Youve already slept with him, so why dont you just say youll follow him? Hes even offering you to be his empress.
Cami red at him with venomous eyes at his sudden bombshell.
Who are you to open your mouth so rudely?
Can I introduce myself?
Leobold nodded and Valgard mmed his greatsword on the table.
My name is not Valgard Gran, but Gram. Im the champion of the gold dragon Altima and a member of the Gram royal family. If you have any grudges with the Gram Empire or the Silver Circle, speak up. Ill take care of it.
A dragons champion
I thought that was only in legends
Its nothing surprising when a dragon shows up, right?
We, well
Why are you looking at me like that?
They seemed to have a hard time feeling real about the dragon because of what Zion had done so far.
Leobold spoke in a serious tone.
As I said before, my goal is to conquer Astera. I was shocked when I came here. It was too backwardpared to Earths civilization. Even though they have ether, an energy that is almost omnipotent, the only conclusion is that someone is deliberately interfering with it.
The pointy ears.
Valgard muttered and Leobold nodded.
They are our enemies. But we dont need to turn all elves into enemies.
At this point, Princess Margareta sighed and put her hand on her chest.
She was already confused by his words that he came from another world, but she felt a little relieved when he said he wouldnt make all elves his enemies.
Now Leobold was looking at her.
Theres a saying in the world. The only good elf is a dead elf Of course, there must be a simr saying in Elvrande. I came here to cut off that hatredpletely. In my own way.
Is that an efficient war? Is there no other way?
Im a soldier, so I dont know anything else. If you have a better way, please teach me.
He waited for a while, but no answer came.
She knew it too.
It was impossible to break this long and stubborn cycle of hatred with any ordinary means.
And there was only one person who could do it.
***
Dering world domination didnt mean it would happen automatically.
It was possible to build up some foundation in Bagran, but it required a lot of preparation to attack and rule Galisto, which had more than twice the poption.
Not to mention Zaium, which had a poption of 100 million, or Elvrande, which had a different race altogether.
Fortunately, Leobold and Arma had experienced a lot of such things.
Compared to Earthsplex inter-state rtions, raw material supply chains, and military and political issues, Astera was nothing.
The construction of the space nt isplete. We also established an outpost on the floating continent. The factory using golems will start trial operation in 48 hours.
Armas report continued.
The results of what he had ordered were visually disyed through holograms.
It was definitely smaller than what he had done on Earth, but it was enough to overturn the whole Astera and still have some left.
What should we use for the Galisto war?
We need to dismantle the aristocracy-centered system, so this would be good.
What Arma showed him was a portable ether bombuncher.
He redesigned the information analyzed and sent by the Imir Republic and made it smaller for soldiers.
The soldier holding theuncher looked no different from a 21st century soldier holding a portable anti-tank missileuncher.
How powerful is it?
It can destroy a Goliath that doesnt use living metal in one shot.
What about the price and range?
Its only 1/00 of Goliaths and the range is over 100 meters.
Since it didnt use rockets, the range was rtively short.
But Goliath itself was bulky and had a short range, so it didnt seem like a big problem.
The simtion yed and Galistos official machine, Vine-ss, fell one by one to the ether bombuncher.
If we wipe them out like this, theyll bring out magicians.
Good magicians are rare. On the other hand, we can make as many ether bombunchers as we want with money and materials.
Right Lets show them how bitter themoners are.
What Leobold valued in this war was theplete dismantling of aristocracy-centered system.
The reason why aristocrats could have absolute power in Astera was because they monopolized war.
They made and controlled Goliaths with their innate ether bloodline, somoners werepletely subordinate to them.
But that world would disappear soon.
What would they think when they were swept away by crude weapons held bymoners?
The real change would start from then on.
Training has begun to train shooters for theuncher. It should be simple since they only have to press a button and run away.
Its not easy to press a button against a Goliath. You have to train them well.
Next, the report on Lucia in Mare followed.
Theyve erected a statue here. ording to the satellite, it looks like Masters face.
It was very intimidating to see Leobolds huge face in the middle of Lucias nest.
He gave a bitter smile.
They dont need to prove their loyalty like that. So how is her conquest going?
Shes overwhelming in bothbat power and numbers Shes much stronger than the previous demon kings. Even a few factions united cant match her.
It wasnt that she wasnt, but Lucias army was sweeping away the surrounding hordes with a bang.
The existing demon kings were shocked and formed a united front against her.
It was only a matter of time before shepletely conquered Mare.
As long as there were no major problems, that was expected.
Lucia is doing well on her own. Then lets do our job.
There was no need to stage a drama or find a reason to smash Galisto.
The rtionship between the two countries was already so bad that it wouldnt be strange if anyone attacked.
And there seemed to be no problem with the rule either.
There were many descendants of Valgard in Galisto right now.
If he used him as a pretext, the integration would likely go smoothly.
The only obstacle is Grand Duke Pangral How do you think hell react?
Hes been itching to correct Masters habits, so he wont just let it go. Hell probably threaten us with Meteor Strike.
He wants to crush us with force rather than politics. Then we dont have to worry.
Our power was overwhelmingly strong.
By the time Grand Duke Pangral realized that, Galisto would be shattered.
Leobold gave Arma specific instructions.
And soon after, Tirendell seeded in entering Bagran.
Chapter 259: The World He Creates
Chapter 259: The World He Creates
Cami did not leave right away, but stayed for a few more days.
The outside world was noisy, but it was not a situation that would explode anytime soon.
Zaium was waiting for her report, and Galisto was adjusting his anger level while watching Pangrals mood.
And Elvrande seemed to have something going on, but there was no external movement.
Compared to that, Bagran was unbelievably quiet except for some minor problems.
There were some voices of anxiety among the merchants, but the public order was perfectly maintained and the supplies were constantly provided.
It was a strange phenomenon that Bagran, the main actor of this incident, was rather calm.
Thanks to that, Cami had a good time for a change.
She smiled all the time as she stayed close to Leobold, keeping her rival Armara far away.
On that night inte July, Cami was also with Leobold.
They had a passionate time untilte at night, took a simple shower, and ate delicious fruits.
That time was undoubtedly the happiest experience ever.
She asked him, who was holding her from behind.
You said you wanted to keep your original name, right?
Yeah. Yu Ji-ha is my name.
Their rtionship became more and more favorable to Leobold as time passed.
The decisive factor was when Cami found out that he was over 100 years old and started to use honorifics.
It would have been shocking if it was Earth, but there were many long-lived races like elves and dwarves in Astera, so it was not that surprising.
She stroked his thick arm that embraced her body.
Tell me about Earth. What kind of world was it?
Its a long story
We have plenty of time.
Where should I start Well, I guess I should start with the fact that there is no ether.
No ether? Do you mean no magic?
No dragons, no elves, no beastmen. Only humans in that world. The poption was about 8 billion when I was there.
Thats amazing
Thend area is also several timesrger than Astera. There were over 200 countries and they were in fiercepetition with each other.
Without ether, the civilization level wouldnt be that high.
Actually, its the opposite. They could easily conquer Astera with just a fraction of their military power. Magic might be a variable, but they would eventually ovee it.
Asteras magic was not omnipotent.
It was a kind of scientific phenomenon that urred by ether, and it could be analyzed.
It would be difficult to prate its essence without artificial intelligence, but if they kept a distance and projected firepower, Astera had little to do.
However, meteor strike or mental magic were definitely something to be wary of.
Cami seemed to be choked by his words and raised her upper body.
If they are so great, why dont they conquer our Astera?
I dont know. Im the only one who knows about this ce. I traveled for 50 years and finally arrived here.
You traveled for 50 years What drove you to do that?
A prophet. Rasa, the creator god in yournguage. All Earthlings, including me, owe him or her. So I have to meet him or her and say thank you. Thats all.
You came all this way just to say thank you?
Leobold stroked her cheek.
Thats been my motivation for living so far. I had another goal originally, but I achieved it when I left Earth.
He wasnt sure if he really achieved it, but he felt that way when he left.
Camiy down again and cuddled in his arms.
What kind of person were you there?
A soldier and a dictator An emperor with absolute power in your terms.
Her eyes sparkled with admiration.
An emperor who ruled 8 billion people Thats why you have such a calm demeanor. Youve experienced almost everything.
War, murder threats, terror attacks, nderous rumors, economic sanctions Ive been through all of them. Ill do the same here. If I want to unify Astera, I cant be picky about the means and methods.
Why do you think so? Astera is doing well enough.
Well, not in my eyes.
Exactly in what aspect?
Instead of answering, Leobold snapped his fingers.
A walker disguised as a table walked over with a nk and projected a screen on the wall.
Thats amazing Is it some kind of golem?
You can think of it that way. It stores everything I see and hear.
To be precise, the video was stored in the data server of Settler and the walker received and yed it through quantummunication.
It took too much time to exin these things so he just glossed over them and moved on.
Anyway, Cami seemed to be fascinated by the video that the walker yed.
There was a magic called Imagine Record in Astera that could store the scenery, but it was too blurry to be used for anything other than reference.
The video that the walker yed now was recorded when Leobold had just arrived at Vandus Barcy.
The streets were full of corpses and the starving residents looked at him with fearful eyes.
Vandus Barcy I heard it was a rural territory, but I didnt know it was this bad
Its much better now.
It was not just better, but it was making a lot of ie from various fishery resources.
It had been a while since Leoboldst visited, but the poption influx was continuous and the development potential was high.
Next, the images of Lantis Countship and other territories were shown.
And then time went backwards and dragons flew in the sky and monsters stirred up.
Cami realized what he wanted to say.
Despite the passage of at least 200 years, Asteras civilization had not changed at all.
Isnt it strange? There is ether, an energy that is close to omnipotent, but the only use of it is magic and Goliath. The farmers still use horned birds to plow the fields and water wheels to process grains.
I didnt think it was strange before
Thats not all. Zaium and Elvrande are also the same as 200 years ago in my eyes. No, rather they have degenerated. Who do you think is blocking their development?
Elves.
She didnt say the answer because she had a great foresight.
It was just that elves were the only race that could be enemies of humans at this point.
Leobold stroked her thin silver hair.
They must have some reason. A reason to block Asteras development. But to me, thats evil.
Then your goal is to unify and develop Astera? What benefit do you get from that?
A minimum courtesy to the prophet.
What happened on Earth that
Not only me, but all 8 billion Earthlings were saved by the prophet. He or she is like a god to me. No, the only god.
Thats a dangerous statement. I dont know about Earth, but there are definitely gods in Astera.
They are not gods.
What if they stand in your way? What if a great war breaks out like 200 years ago?
If you stand in my way, I have no choice but to fight.
Cami suddenly felt afraid of him.
He was a man who was ready to fight against anything for his goal.
Even if it was a god, he would not make an exception.
***
Granden had been troubledtely.
He was fine until hepleted his mission and returned to Bagran.
He was not nervous about the pressure of possibly going to war with Galisto.
But he was worried about the fact that Leobold was not preparing at all.
If he decided to go to war, he should at least have a basic n for reconnaissance, tactics, and supply
There was no discussion rted to him in the pce or anymand center.
Did he not intend to fight Galisto at all?
Or did he n to go alone and kill them all?
Well, that might be easier.
The power of him and the ck Knight that he saw at the border was beyond imagination.
Even the Elven Knight had no meaning in front of him, and even Tirendell, who boasted the strongest in the continent, was pushed back one-sidedly.
So it was not a big problem for Leobold to look down on Galisto.
He felt more so after he learned that his identity was from another world.
A person who has a dragon and an ancient champion, and has the power to burn the whole Astera Such a person would not care about Galisto or Pangral Emperor.
What was strange was that he did not push them with his power.
If he used the huge ship that he came with to invade Galisto, or even Zium and Elvrande, it would be solved cleanly.
Granden walked around the camp and paid attention to the soldiers training.
The training of soldiers who were not knights in Astera was very simple, such as maintaining order, setting traps, or transporting supplies.
So their morale was low and they did not value their duties.
They were nothing but knightsckeys no matter what they did.
But today they were training in a rather serious atmosphere.
They started with physical training, followed by hard training such as obstacle cover, and also various training such as mission procedure awareness and battlefield analysis.
Granden did not understand why they were trained like this.
This was the way knights trained before Goliath appeared.
Its all Goliaths fight anyway. Whats the point of doing this?
Goliath was so big and noisy that most of the camouge was useless.
The only tactic was frontal power confrontation, and it had been going on for nearly 200 years.
It was anachronistic for soldiers who were not knights to train like this now.
As he waited a little, Leobold appeared with Vultorn, holding something big and dark.
I greet you, my lord.
As Granden hurriedly greeted him, Leobold called him.
Do you know what this is?
What he showed was a metal cylinder.
It looked heavy and it really was.
Well, its too crude for a weapon. It looks like it shoots something from the hole
Vultorn burst intoughter.
Uhaha! Thats right! It shoots ether stones!
What do you mean?
Shoot those precious ether stones?
He stuttered in surprise, but Vultorn, who had a more impatient temper than Lord, lifted the cylinder and swung it.
A hundred times better than exining is showing! Step back!
Leobold gestured and Granden stepped back curiously.
What did he intend to show?
Vultorn fixed the cylinder on a brick-made obstacle and shouted at the soldiers to avoid it.
Then he manipted something with his finger and shouted loudly.
Fire!
Pong.
The shooting sound was dull but the result was not.
The ether stone shot from the cylinder exploded as soon as it hit the wall.
The wall flew away in pieces with a loud noise and dust settled down revealing a deep hole.
Granden was surprised by its power, which he thought was nothing special.
Thats amazing Is this the power of exploding ether stones?
Thats right! My daughter developed it! Its a bit awkward to say this but my daughter is good at hammering! Uhahaha!
Actually, Arma gave him the blueprint and made him develop it, but there was no need to say that here.
The soldiers came out to clean up the debris while Leobold said.
The cost of thisuncher is only 1/100 of Goliath. If you can destroy Goliath with one shot at that cost, its more than enough profit.
Grandens heart sank.
He wanted to shoot this at Goliath?
My lord. Do you intend to deploy this in war?
Why not? It might be different if Goliath had good mobility, but most of them can be ovee by soldiers training. The destructive power is obviously sharp. Unless they adopt living metal massively, or even if they do, the drive system and frame will not withstand it.
So you want to fundamentally change the current war that is fought only by Goliath? Then the nobles will have no ce in the war
Thats exactly what I want. To drag the nobles down to the position ofmoners.
What will change by doing that?
At least the ss will disappear. I dont like the nobles who make a fuss as if they are noble. Especially if they have nothing to boast of but their precious ether bloodline. Now, everything will change. The nobles will fall by the hands of the soldiers they despised.
Thats the destruction of this world.
I didnt expect you to be so serious. Do you ept conquest but not change?
Granden could not say anything.
He was also a knight and a noble, so he felt a sense of rejection at the idea of being lowered to the position of soldiers.
Nobles should be noble, that was his thought.
They should protect themoners by leading the battlefield and honor their lord with loyalty.
But Leobold was trying to break that.
My lord If you do that, the foundation of Bagran will copse.
If it copses by such a crude weapon, can you call it a foundation? Tell me, Granden. What did Bagran do for 200 years after breaking away from Gram Empire after the Great War? What is so great that it cannot copse?
That is
Granden also knew well about the situation of Bagran before Leobold came, so he could not refute.
It was the nobles who made it that way.
Leobold did not show fierce hatred to them.
All Im saying is that if you know your shorings, you should step back and watch. I even preserved your property so that you can live in the future. Isnt that a great benefit?
Do you think thatmoners can lead this country instead of nobles?
You are mistaken, Granden. There is no meaningful difference between nobles andmoners except for their ether bloodline. And I n to distribute ether energy universally. I will make it possible for anyone to use ether.
He suddenly felt suffocated.
Grandens world was very narrow, so he could not adapt to such grandiose words.
But one thing was certain.
The lords will was firm and his ability was outstanding, so the world would change as he said.
If he could not adapt, he would be extinct.
A whileter, Vultorn brought an old Raom-ss Goliath that was scheduled to be scrapped and aimed the ether bombuncher and fired.
Bang!
The abdominal armor te shattered and the Goliath swayed and finally fell, making Vultornugh loudly.
Kahaha! This is the taste!
The soldiers were also amazed.
This small weapon was low-powered, but it knocked down Goliath in one shot, which said it all.
But to Granden, this scene looked like the fall of nobility that had supported Astera.
***
Tirendell wore an old hood and entered Rozelon.
There were guards, but they meant nothing to him who had obtained divinity.
But
Strange.
He was puzzled by the lively atmosphere of Rozelon that was more than he expected.
It was amon rumor in many cities that Bagran was noisy because of various idents, and he did not doubt it.
The princesss murder was a big deal because Elvrande was so stubborn, but cutting off the arm of a foreign diplomat was something that humans could not overlook.
It was a time when they should be busy preparing for war, but what was this peaceful atmosphere?
Elves
Tirendell spotted a wood elf walking on the street in broad daylight.
He thought they would lock up all the elves in some detention center as the rtions between the two countries worsened, but his expectation was wrong.
The male elf was surprisingly carrying a farming tool and mingling with people somewhere.
There was no sign of indifference to elves from their noisy chatter.
In Elvrande, humans are strictly isted
The human autonomy zone was an example.
The elves gave humans freedom by putting them in the autonomy zone, but that was the same as telling them to die in Tirendells eyes.
The territory of the autonomy zone was not cultivated at all and did not receive the blessing of Yggdrasil either.
Millions of people were trapped in the autonomy zone and literally dying.
The elves in Bagran did not seem so unhappypared to that.
Tirendell confirmed his thought as he saw a female elf running somewhere with a bunch of newspapers in her arms.
Leobold, you bastard, at least you dont discriminate against elves.
What if he switched the situation and a human stepped into Elvrandes capital Medea?
He didnt know, but he wouldnt survive that night.
Something is different Is this the world you are creating, Leobold?
Compared to himself who aimed to establish a proper autonomy zone under the rule of elves, he was more positive and proactive.
Maybe he was wrong.
But still, you have to die.
Because he killed the princess and his subordinates.
Maybe he killed someone who could change Elvrandes future, so he had to die too.
What worried him was the divinity that entered him.
Grakies at least talked to him, but this guy refused anymunication and only obsessed with destruction and death.
I dont know what you put in there
But all he had to do was kill Leobold.
He couldnt set foot in Elvrande anyway, so his fate was to wander around and stay somewhere as a guest.
Meanwhile, Leobold was waiting for him in a secluded ce in the direct control area.
Dingo had already installed various ether measurement devices and would produce various data from the battle with Tirendell.
Arma predicted that only power ether existed in Tirendells divinity.
If that hypothesis was correct, one of the unknowns in the simtion would be solved.
He could use billions ofputing units to track the essence of ether.
It will take two months at most or three weeks at least to finish modeling. Then we can use ether as much as we want.
That meant a fundamental change came to Astera.
He could use ether more freely and widely than just for limited purposes such as magic and Goliath.
Quantummunication that even surpassed broadbandmunication, as well as subspace and teleportation were possible at will.
A world where you can livefortably in summer and warmly in winter, and you wont starve if you work hard and diligently.
Im a bit anxious about using it so much But I guess I can worry about thatter.
As always, humans would find a solution.
Leobold looked up and saw Tirendell approaching from beyond the horizon.
He felt his will even though he was far away.
Leobold I will kill you.
Suddenly, subspace opened and the ck Knight and the reinforced Belial-ss Goliath popped out.
Chapter 260: Leobold’s Disappointment
Chapter 260: Leobold¡¯s Disappointment
Tirendells Goliath is an enhanced Belial-ss. It has increased its output to 220E by ignoring the cores overload, and reced its entire armor te with living metal. Its reactivity has also improved significantly, making it iparable to other Belial-ss units.
Arma exined in detail.
Leobold didnt really need such an exnation.
The gap inbat power was too obvious.
Tirendell could never beat Leobold, even if he came back from the dead.
However, the purpose of this battle was not to defeat him, but to change the strategy.
Arma needed a huge amount of data to run the ether modeling simtion.
Also, to prevent Tirendell and Goliath from bing bombs, they had to adjust the output carefully.
In other words, they had to y with fire next to gunpowder.
The divine power injected into Tirendell acts as an explosive, and the ether heart and core are the fuel. If you detonate the ether that you have drawn in, it will evaporate within a radius of 5km.
Fortunately, Arma seeded in perfectly analyzing the explosion threshold of the ether stone from the airship.
Thanks to that, he was able to warn Leobold of the ether threshold in real time.
All that was left was for Leobold to fight while adjusting the ether properly.
While dealing with a crazy elf who tries to kill me.
He held a mace instead of a greatsword to control the threshold.
If he identally cut off the core, it could explode before Arma could handle it.
He also wrapped himself in living metal, so he should be able to withstand it. It will be fun to beat him up.
What if I told him what you just said? Maybe Tirendell would surrender?
Him? Dont be ridiculous.
Im ready. After reaching the threshold, you have 3.5 seconds until the explosion, so you have to run away as fast as you can.
Im confident in running away.
He had installed high-output ion thrusters on the legs of ck Knight in case of emergency, so he could escape quickly.
It would be hard for an ordinary pilot to control it with the increased weight and the thrust of the ion thruster, but it was a routine for Leobold.
On the other hand, Tirendell, who had boarded a Belial-ss unit, was dumbfounded when he saw Leobold holding a huge mace-shaped weapon.
What is that mace?
Im not in a good mood today. I brought this to beat you up.
Dont think of me as weak as before.
Youve injected something weird into your body. You never know when it will explode.
Did he notice that he epted divine power?
Anyway, Leobold was a human who was hard to look at favorably.
I dont like it
What?
I dont like you acting like youre on top and lecturing others.
What can I do? Thats fate.
Your fate is to die by me
Tirendell pointed his greatsword at him.
His ether heart and Goliaths core resonated and spewed out a terrifying output.
The ether around them trembled so much that they could feel it on their skin.
Its a close match with Balgard. It would be a good fight if I had Albion.
The explosion threshold is 75% left. Tirendells ether output exceeds 3,500E.
He was the best except for Leobold.
The downside was that his output was not stable.
His output fluctuated depending on his emotions, and he couldnt tell when his threshold would reach an extreme.
Hes a crazy guy who doesnt know when hell explode. And I have to hold out as long as possible against him?
I can get better data.
Damn.
As soon as his grumbling ended, a dazzling ether de emerged from Tirendells greatsword.
It was bigger than what Leobold showed, but unfortunately it was not stable.
It was affected by his unstable output.
Isnt it big and beautiful? Ill kill you with this ether de.
You talk too much. If you want to fight,e at me now.
I cant forgive you for killing my lord and my subordinates
Is killing someone on the battlefield a sin? Did youe to the battlefield without being prepared to die?
What about Princess Margaret?
Tirendell brought his unstable ether de right in front of Leobold.
Was it on the battlefield that you killed her! She thought you were not the worst and reached out to you! You betrayed her expectations!
He talks a lot.
Leobold wrapped his mace with ether and said,
If you want revenge,e at me. Youre the one who wants to avenge the princess, so dont disappoint me.
Uaaaaa!
With a scream, Tirendells Goliath shot forward explosively.
Shadow Step.
That was a maneuver unique to elves that narrowed the distance in an instant.
From the perspective of the opponent, it looked like the elf suddenly appeared in front of them, but in fact it was just a leap using ether.
The sharp ether de was blocked by a heavy mace.
Kang, kakakak!
Surprisingly, the ether de that was said to cut everything was stopped.
It was because Leobolds ether was much higher in quality.
As expected. If its a sh of pure power ether, the one with higher cohesion wins.
There are several types of ether.
The ether that Yggdrasil or fusion reactors ept is divided into categories such as power, space, mind, energy, and time.
The type of magic also changes depending on what kind of ether you use.
Ether de can be considered as a cohesion of power ether, and cohesion is equivalent to destructive power.
In other words, Tirendells ether de looked overwhelming, but it couldnt cut Leobolds mace because it was inferior in cohesion.
You bastard, you bastard!
Tirendell couldnt contain his anger and shed his ether de repeatedly.
Although he was inferior in cohesion, he had so much quantity that the mace had to take the impact.
The sharp metal sound spread all over, and every time Leobold had to listen to countless reports.
The explosion threshold is 43% left.
The density is high even though the cohesion is low. It seems that it is definitely rted to the divine power of power.
There was more than one unknown in the ether equation. The modeling simtion will be much shorter.
Die!
While Leobold fought with the half-crazed Tirendell, a simtion based on the newly established equation was running on the Settler in the sky.
The amount of data that Arma had collected so far was beyond imagination, so it was not enough even if he mobilized hundreds of millions ofputing units.
Did he release his divine power for real?
The Belial-ss unit was almost covered in gold.
It was the same power that Leobold showed in Lantis County.
Unfortunately, that meant Tirendell couldnt control his ether properly.
This means he is being consumed by divine power.
You you
Tirendell felt his consciousness fading in real time as he was enraged.
There was a monster in his chest that was devouring him.
Yes, good let it devour me
As long as he could win, and avenge the princess, it was not a bad ending even if he died.
Thanks to that, the appearance of divine power popped out.
It was a wingless dragon that swallowed the Belial-ss unit.
Arma reported urgently.
The divine power has been identified. It is Eter, the dragon that devours dragons that the gods created during the Great War.
So thats why it looks like a dragon.
Leobold was disappointed.
These guys were iming to be gods with just that.
There is only one true god. Let me teach you that.
He lifted his ether up and ck Knight floated in the air.
It was not because of the ion thruster.
He was flying in the sky with the power of ether that manipted space.
Tirendell, who saw that, felt absurd even as his consciousness was being eaten away.
A Goliath flying in the sky.
It was unheard of for a Goliath, which was the farthest from magic, to use magic.
***
Who are you
Tirendell backed away hesitantly.
He had never heard of a Goliath flying in the sky.
Even during the Great War, it was a mainstream interpretation that Goliaths could not fly.
Instead, they increased their defense with powerful magic circles and fought against divine power and dragons with various special abilities.
The output of Goliaths at that time was different from now.
Even in Elvrande, it was said that ck Knight would not be able topete with them.
But ck Knight was flying in the sky.
You dont know anything. That power will swallow you and destroy the whole of Astera.
So you suppress it and fight with only moderate power? Thats a pathetic idea. Youre wasting infinite ether like that.
Thats why! The Great War happened!
As Tirendells consciousness blurred with anger, divine power took his ce.
Now the Belial-ss unit changed from a bipedal walking golem to a quadrupedal dragon shape.
Eter, the dragon that devoured countless dragons during the Great War, revealed its appearance.
I smell dragon from you
I have a blue dragon with me.
Then Ill find him after I devour you
Can you do that? Youre just a half-finished god.
You dont know my ability!
As Eter breathed deeply, Leobold realized his ability right away.
The ether on his mace disappeared and ck Knight swayed and fell to the ground.
He barely bnced himself, but he couldnt hide his confusion.
Whats going on?
Eter seems to be able to absorb the ether around it. Be careful.
I cant end it by being careful.
It was crazy to fight while losing ether constantly.
Fortunately, Goliath still moved.
This mace is enough. Ill beat him up until he dies.
As Leobold gathered his will, Eter shivered.
This power Ive never tasted anything like this
Did you eat my ether?
You wouldnt understand! This is my ability! All you can do now is keep giving me ether until you die!
Lets see about that. Come on.
I dont need toe at you.
For a moment, the ether shape of Eter that covered Belial-ss unit looked like it smiled wickedly.
Soon after, its mouth opened wide and gold flickered in its throat.
Its pure power ether. Breath! Dodge!
Couldnt you tell me that sooner?
Leobold activated his ion thruster and jumped into the sky urgently.
Die!
The ether breath swept over where he had been, toote.
Kukukung!
It was iparable to Jigalions breath, thanks to Leobolds ether being absorbed.
The ground turned upside down and a small storm arose.
Even Eter, who had breathed out, seemed to be surprised by it.
This power your ether is amazing.
You just realized that? Anyway, I enjoyed your breath. Lets fight for real now.
Youre talking while giving me your ether? I dont know how arrogant you are!
Leobold manipted his ion thruster andnded on the ground.
And he walked slowly toward him with his mace in hand.
Foolish one! Ether is not infinite!
It was insane to fight while losing ether continuously from a normal point of view.
But Leobold was a miracle psycher who had been born with great efforts by humanity.
Drawing out arge amount of ether in real time was easy for him.
How, how is this
Eter was shocked to see that the ether on his mace did not disappear even though he was absorbing it.
How high was the output of his ether heart to make that possible?
It looked like he was producing ether in real time.
Are you a god?
He finally arrived in front of him as he hesitated.
Only one is the true god. Anyway, lets get hit for the data.
Eters eyes widened.
How dare you say that to me!
He ran at him with a tremendous momentum, but as soon as the mace swung, he realized something was wrong.
Bang!
The heavy mace blew away Eters mouth and made his ether body sway.
Eter barely held on to his consciousness, which was almost taken away by Tirendell.
Youre good But you didnt know this. This ether bodyes from you!
In other words, as long as Leobold used ether, Eter would continue to regenerate.
No one wanted an endless fight.
But all Leobold did was swing his mace again.
Bang!
The ether on the mace exploded as it collided with Eters form.
He flew away and quickly began to recover.
You fool! Its meaningless to attack like that! Youre the one who supports me!
Eter rushed in.
The ether he absorbed was immediately converted into magic and shot at ck Knight.
Goliath itself did not suffer much damage, but it could not prevent the ground from shaking.
Eter did not miss that opportunity.
You bastard!
He rushed in and a closebat began.
There was no chance to swing the mace.
A pure physical fight.
ck Knight raised his fist and Eters jaw soared into the sky.
Eters tail swung and ck Knight flew away.
Of course, Leobold was the one who lost.
The opponent kept recovering his losses, while the living metals restoration had its limits.
On top of that, Eter used all kinds of magic and abilities.
They were from the divine power and dragons he had devoured during the Great War.
Youre pathetic!
A huge explosion urred and ck Knight flew away.
There is 17% left until the explosion threshold.
We have obtained data rted to ether of mind. The simtion that was expected to take up to two months has been shortened to three weeks.
The density of ether in the space they upied increased, raising the risk of explosion.
Still, Leobold got up and ran towards Eter.
Didnt I tell you that you cant do it with that junk Goliath!
Eter endured ck Knights attack with his body and attacked back.
His ws, imbued with ether, scratched and turned the living metal armor te into rags.
Then he spewed a close-range breath.
Leobold quickly deployed a shield to block it, but he couldnt stop it from exploding.
Kukwak!
The shield was torn apart and ck Knight flew tens of meters away.
Eter took advantage of that gap and used his ability.
It was time stop, a magic that had never been used since the Great War.
An alien ether field spread over the space where they were, and ck Knights movement stopped.
Eter gasped for breath andughed.
Hahaha, you cant do anything about this magic!
He had devoured the divine power that governed the flow of time.
But he overlooked one thing.
ck Knight and Leobold were stopped, but Arma, who supported him, was still continuing her analysis.
A vast amount of data on ether of time flowed into her as he used his magic.
And the time needed for the simtion decreased from 1 to 0.
Modeling simtionpleted. Ether analysis ispletely finished.
A beam of ether was fired from Siviri satellite towards the area where the field was spread.
The field was lifted and the time stop magic was interrupted.
Eter wasughing when he saw ck Knight moving and panicked.
No, no way
Disappointing, Eter.
Chapter 261: The Princess is Alive
Chapter 261: The Princess is Alive
Ether was a very troublesome energy for the 22nd century humanity.
They used it through the relics of the prophet, but they could not even distinguish whether it was a particle or a wave.
Fortunately, there was no big problem in using ether for humanity.
Just like a child could use aputer, they produced various items by studying the relics of the prophet clumsily.
Leobold and Yu Ji-ha did not research much about the essence of ether even after they returned to the 21st century.
Arma, the super artificial intelligence, poured most of herputing power into the construction of the megacity and its derived ns, and the research on ether remained stagnant.
In fact, there was nothing to do.
It was impossible to analyze ether with any observation means or tools that humanity had.
But that did not mean that what they had done so far was meaningless.
Arma kept all the ether-rted data recorded by the United Human Federation, and also recorded the gue that appeared in the 21st century in detail.
And aftering to the ether universe, she began a full-fledged research with the help of Luciana, Zigarion and Steffina.
She started a theoretical design to explore the essence of ether.
ording to that theory, ether energy was neither a particle nor a wave.
Ether itself could be defined as one of the units of matter, and it affected reality through changes such as vibration, entanglement, fusion, destruction, and extinction.
There were many equations with unknowns in each change, and to solve them, it was necessary to observe the magic directly.
Just like Dragon Eater used various magic on ck Knight.
Arma had been observing such magic without missing since she arrived at Terra.
However, she had no chance to observe dangerous magic such as mental magic or time stop.
Most of them had entered the path of extinction after the Great War.
To observe them, she needed to bring out the beings from the time of the Great War, and it was part of her n to humiliate Tirendell.
She hoped that he would attack Leobold with divine power even if he could not do it with his own strength.
Her intention was perfectly fulfilled.
Tirendell received a divine power called Dragon Eater and stood in front of Leobold, and he used a magic called time stop from the time of the Great War.
Thus, Arma was finally able toplete her ether theory.
It was like a kind of enlightenment.
She did not fully understand the essence of ether and trace its origin, but at least she knew how to use it.
In other words, she reached a position equal to or higher than that of gue Queen.
Ether basic equation analysispleted.
Ether sun, ether dimension analysis started.
Analyzing 1,372 kinds of magic
Billions ofputing units were activated to unravel the secrets of the ether universe and Terra.
That did not mean that Arma or Leobold became transcendent beings who could control everything right away.
It would be better to think that they secured a powerful tool to pave the way for meeting the prophet.
Leobold was satisfied with that alone.
Now you wont say you dont know when I ask you about ether.
I have established a theory, but I need to make an ether origin for research. You will have to wait a few more months.
But there are some things you can do now?
There is nothing that can threaten you in Astera now.
He had been almost like that before, but now he was sure.
He could not be harmed by any power, including divine power or ck magic.
At this point, wouldnt it be fair to call him a real god?
But his mind is still close to a soldier of the United Human Federation
Lately, his mind had been eroded and became simr to an old man.
The only thing that kept him going was his determination to meet the prophet at all costs.
Leobold looked at Dragon Eater trapped in an ether reverse field.
He stoppedpletely thanks to using time stop in reverse from this side.
But this magic was not perfect, he said.
It only works inside the ether reverse field, and it will wake up as soon as you touch it. It will also wake up if you touch it from outside. And the time you can stop depends on the output of your ether heart.
How do youpare Dragon Eater and me?
The former is barely 10 seconds, and you are over a minute.
Thats why he could chat so leisurely like this.
Now it was time to end this too.
Leobold picked one good thing from various data that Arma delivered.
I always regretted that the assault armor couldnt fire the ion cannon. Now I can get rid of it.
What he chose was arge-caliber ether cannon.
It was only the same name as the one mounted on the airship in Astera, but it was different in dimension in terms of range and destructive power.
It was even more so because he could optimize the living metal now that the ether analysis wasplete.
The mace that was lying on the floor nked and stuck to the assault armor, then turned into a cannon.
You can now make anything you want, such as ion thrusters or ethersers, as long as you have a suitable living metal. Just like gue.
Thats wee news. Remove the reverse field.
The reverse field will be removed in 3 seconds, 2, 1
As soon as the time stop magic disappearedpletely, Dragon Eater blinked his eyes and was horrified.
This ether You used time stop.
Youre quick to notice. Then do you know what this is?
As Leobold pointed the ether cannon at him, a smile appeared on his mouth.
That toy cant do much damage to this body. And your ether will kindly restore it.
Really? Then lets see how long you canst. Start supplying ether.
Reconstruction of the ether fusion reactor has begun. The output of the fusion reactor is set to 2%.
It was an amazing thing considering that the fusion reactor had never produced more than 1% of output.
He had a fusion reactor that had more energy than all the energy that Earth had ever used, and he could use itpletely.
Therge-caliber cannon, of course, and the entire assault armor turned golden.
All kinds of warnings shed in Leobolds sight, and even Arma warned him.
I rmend raising the cannon by 3 degrees. If you shoot like this, the damage to the ground will be too great.
Damn, Im just shooting an ether cannon.
This is enough to evaporate a city at this state, master.
Then I have to follow obediently.
Meanwhile, Dragon Eater looked at him being dyed with ether with a grim look and quickly opened a space to escape.
But for some reason he could not use magic.
Come out! Come out!
Sorry, but space wonte out. I stopped supplying ether.
To be precise, Arma stopped it.
There was almost nothing impossible for her now that the ether analysis wasplete.
What? Thats impossible!
Dont say that. You usually get kicked out soon after saying that. Anyway, thanks to you, I got a lot of good data. Thank you.
No!
Dragon Eater spat out a very typical line and ran away desperately.
An ether cannon was fired behind him.
A huge, really huge pir of light swallowed him up.
The enormous ether evaporated his form without any resistance.
And most of the energy did not lose and broke through the atmosphere and went beyond the universe.
The surrounding atmosphere evaporated all at once, creating a powerful shockwave as if a megaton-ss nuclear warhead had exploded.
Any shield magic.
At a close timing, barrier magic and reverse gravity magic of Belial ss were applied.
Thanks to that, Tirendell and Belial ss were able tond on the ground without any damage.
A momentter, Tirendell jumped out of Belial ss with a pale face and knelt down.
Leobold came out of the assault armor and approached him.
Do you still want to kill me?
Tirendells only eye looked at him.
Did he feel like he was shining from behind for a moment?
***
In fact, Tirendell had lost his consciousness, but he was watching the fight between Dragon Eater and Leobold.
It was something he could not handle.
They fought fiercely as if they were the champions of the Great War, and the magic they used was amazing.
And Leobold took out a strange weapon and even broke the time stop magic.
It was something that could not happen in Tirendellsmon sense.
If he had stopped there, he might have had some hope.
But the pir of light that Leobold shot made him speechless.
Even if more than 100 ships of Elvrandes fleet fired ether cannons concentratedly, they would not reach the tip of its power.
So he was frustrated.
Killing Leobold became a mere dream now that he was dead.
How could he kill him when he had no divine power?
Tirendell dropped his head.
I lost. Kill me.
You said it well. Wait, Ill kill you.
Leobold made an ether de in his hand and approached him.
By now you will attack Elvrande with that power
Of course. Killing everything that blocks me and unifying the continent. Thats my goal.
I would haveughed at it until recently, but after seeing your power today, I changed my mind
Why, do you suddenly care about your life?
He shook his head.
No. Im sorry for my people who will die in front of your power.
Who do you see as a murderer? Im different from you. I only kill when necessary, not for fun.
Then why did you kill the princess! There was no reason to kill her!
Eventually thats the problem.
Why did you kill her! She was our, my future! She may have been weakpared to you, but she had a kind heart!
Justice without power is meaningless. I told you clearly.
Even so!
Tirendell raised his voice in anger.
He felt like he was spitting out everything that had been lumped in his chest for a long time.
She was young! The generation that experienced the Great War would soon retire, and she could have changed Elvrande little by little! But you ruined it!
Do you think Driden would retire quietly? Youre making a funny joke.
Tirendell flinched at this point.
Did he know something?
Leobold met his eyes as he knelt down.
Elves have not changed for 200 years since the Great War. Rather, they became more closed and gloomy. Do you know what the shadow elf pirates did? Can you tame them?
Tirendell, who had met Delfina directly, could not refute it.
In fact, even within Elvrande, there were few supporters of the rampage of the shadow elf pirates.
They would turn away from simple murder or plunder, let alone brutal torture or cannibalism.
Leobold grabbed his cor.
Tell me, half-elf. You are half-elf and half-human. You must have seen how humans live in the autonomous region while hanging out with the princess. How do they live there?
And when you passed by Rozelon, you must have seen how humans and elves live here. They are notpletely equal, but they live together somehow. Which one looks better to you? The autonomous region where hundreds of people die every night and keep quiet, or Rozelon that I made in a few months?
Tirendell avoided his gaze.
He knew he was right, but he could not ept it.
If his goal was to make a better world, why did he kill Margareta?
After killing the princess your words have no sincerity.
What if I didnt kill the princess?
Tirendell suddenly grabbed Leobolds cor in reverse.
Are you going to insult the dead! Are you the same as Driden!
No, she never died. I saved her just before she died.
What, did you say?
Tirendells pupils shook violently at the shocking remark.
Driden had no intention of sending the princess away nicely. So he installed a bomb made of ether stone on the airship she boarded.
Then how did she
The airship exploded, but she was lucky enough not to be wrapped up. It was not a coincidence that the blue dragon passed by, right?
Tirendell could not look at Leobolds face properly.
If this was true, he had nothing wrong.
By the way, there is also an ether bomb hidden in your Goliath. He nned to detonate it with divine power by resonating your ether heart and Goliaths core.
Thats why the divine power was only shouting death and destruction
It doesnt matter anyway since youre dead to me. Anything else to say?
He could not speak for a while, then barely opened his mouth.
I want to see her
If thats your wish, Ill grant it. Arma, send her.
A momentter, a shuttle carrying Margaretanded on the ground.
She looked a little pale when she got off the shuttle, as if she had motion sickness.
Tirendells face was filled with emotion.
Your Highness! Youre alive!
Tirendell sir
She came up and wrapped his cheek with her hand.
You dont have to fight anymore, Im alive like this.
I, I thought you were dead
Thank you, and Im sorry
As they hugged each other, Leobold broke the mood and thrust his sword.
I dont have much time. Im sorry, but you have to choose. Whether you will die here or find another way.
Tirendell thought for a moment and his eyes became determined.
Since Your Highness is alive I dont need to cry for revenge anymore. I cant return to Elvrande anyway, there is no meaning to stay alive. So kill me.
Tirendell!
Margareta cried out sadly and Leobold pushed his sword to his neck.
You only have one chance, think carefully. Dont you want to work under me?
Work under you? For you?
How about changing your goal a little? You wanted to be the governor of the human autonomous region, right? What about bing the governor of the elf autonomous region?
You want to destroy Elvrande
That was a predetermined future since I came here. But I dont want to torment the elves. Its annoying, and I have no grudge against them.
Is it because you are a hero from another world?
Youll find out soon enough. Anyway, our goals can be said to be the same. We just had different directions. Now our paths have merged and you have one opportunity. So choose.
Tirendell slowly dropped his head as he knelt down.
He wanted to see the future he had chosen rather than die here.
Ill work for you
Not for me, but for what you and I believe in. Anyway, you made a good choice. You must be tired, so go back to the shuttle and rest. Arma, send them.
They followed Armas guidance and boarded the shuttle.
Leobold looked at the remaining Goliaths and sank into his thoughts.
He didnt intend to spare Tirendell.
His usefulness was supposed to end when he was injected with divine power and provided data.
He wouldnt have said anything if he had killed him without giving him a choice.
But
He might be useful for conquering the continent.
It was morefortable to conquer with the creation of the prophet than to start with a few bullets.
And Tirendell and Margareta could be a focal point for gathering the minority elves.
Killing 50 million elves would not make much difference
Leobold opened a subspace and put all the Goliaths and assault armor in it.
Its convenient. By the way, I need to go home now, is there anything like teleportation?
Of course.
A blue door appeared in front of him.
It looked like the warp gate on the 9th Nox, except for the size.
Can I go back to Earth with this?
The calction of time axis is quite difficult It seems that the two dimensions have different flows of time.
The saint Veronica also said that Anyway, I cant go back right now. I got it.
Leobold entered the warp gate.
The familiar scenery of his office greeted him.
***
Recently, a secret ritual was held at the Grand Shrine near Medea, the capital of Elvrande.
It was a ritual to rece the guardian of Yggdrasil.
The death of Princess Margareta was confirmed and the Council of Elders decided that they could not leave the guardians seat vacant any longer.
A new royal family was elected.
It didnt matter who he was.
Most of the royal family below the emperor were addicted to the sweet life offered by the council and had no proper position or work.
Driden did not want anything great from them.
Just stay there. Like a scarecrow.
In that respect, Margareta was not a good scarecrow.
She should have been satisfied with the honor of being a guardian and enjoyed a good life, but she died by meddling unnecessarily.
Peace with humans was impossible in his and most elves opinion.
Rest in peace. Someone else will take your burden.
Driden sat down and watched the ritual.
When Yggdrasil designated a guardian, a bright pir of light woulde down.
But no matter how much the priests prayed, no light came down.
They were confused and murmured.
Whats going on? Why is there no response?
Archbishop, whats going on?
The priests did not know what to do either, as this was their first time experiencing this.
Driden hardened his face.
This could not happen.
The only possibility was that the princess was alive.
Impossible. No magician could survive that explosion.
But what if someone helped her?
He had detonated it in Bagrans airspace to shift the me to Bagran, but maybe he had received unexpected interference.
The priests started the ritual again from the beginning, but it was the same.
Yggdrasil did not appoint a new guardian.
The peoples murmurs grew louder and Driden stood up abruptly.
The princess is alive
And that meant his n was fundamentally wrong.
He would suffer a great blow if this was revealed in the situation where Tirendell had escaped.
There was only one way to make up for it.
To betray the princess and start a war.
He needed a war of a scale that was iparable to before.
That was the only thing that could protect Dridens prestige and position.
Chapter 262: The Reason for Fighting
Chapter 262: The Reason for Fighting
The princess is alive.
This rumor first spread not in the human kingdom, but in Elvrande.
No one knew who started it, but the rumor was surprisingly detailed.
Margareta Rustel is currently in Roseron, and she looks physically and mentally healthy.
Whats astonishing is that she dered that she wont return to her homnd. What is her reason?
She betrayed the elves and sided with the humans. Leobold Vandus became her lover.
Except for the first paragraph, none of them were true.
Margareta decided not to return because of Drizden.
She knew he wouldnt wee her, so she stayed in Bagran to find a way out.
Also, she didnt side with the humans and Leobold wasnt her lover.
Of course, it was true that she had some affection for him, but it wasnt enough to call it love.
But there were hardly any elves who understood her situation in Elvrande.
The elves who heard the rumor threw the newspapers on the floor and spat.
Dirty traitor! She finally joined the humans!
We should have known when she was hanging around the human autonomous region!
How dare she bear a human child as a princess?
Its because of that traitor that Eldgrasil didnt choose a new guardian!
Elvrande was such a closed country that it was easy to incite them.
It was extremely difficult to refute this at a point where most of the power was held by the Assembly and the Council of Elders.
Naturally, Princess Margareta became a traitor who tried to cause internal strife in Elvrande and was stopped by Drizden.
It was a clumsy script that even a child wouldugh at, but the elves believed it.
They had no time to think differently when all the newspapers and people around them shouted that she was a traitor.
Drizden, who drove public opinion, also considered the possibility that Tirendell had joined Bagran and moved his assassins.
When the royal family members who had no presence died one after another, Elvrande turned upside down.
The emperor passed away Who did this?
It must be Tirendell! He not only ambushed and killed the Kelodian minister, but also attacked the Assembly!
-Was he hiding all this time?
Since there was a precedent, no one doubted that he was a monster.
Thanks to that, Drizden was able to hide the fact that the guardian ceremony was canceled, and seeded in leading a strong public opinion.
He stood on the podium of the Assembly and spoke.
We elves have achieved great feats on thisnd since we escaped from human oppression. The airships that humans use could not be built without our technology. The Goliath, which is the main force of war today, originated from our golems.
The elves are so great. But there are still races that dont acknowledge that. There are many races I can name, but I especially want to mention one. Its humans.
Drizden maintained a straight posture despite his old age, and his voice was loud.
Thanks to that, the elves gathered at the podium were overwhelmed by his aura.
Look at the humans ingratitude. Listen to their nonsense. They oppressed and suppressed us even though they couldnt achieve anything without us. And they lured an innocent princess to their side.
At this point, some elves raised their arms and shouted.
Traitor Margareta!
Kill the princess!
Of course, they were audience nted by Drizden beforehand.
He gestured to calm down the noise and then spoke with force.
The princess sided with the humans, and Tirendell is assassinating our ministers. What should we do at this point? What should we elves do for justice and peace?
War! War!
The only good human is a dead human!
A wave of cheers swept over the podium.
Drizden raised his fist as if to answer them.
Unfortunately, there is no center in the current royal family. Then someone has to lead Elvrande, right? Proud citizens, if you trust me, if you hate humans, please vote for me. Just as I stood up for you!
Oooh!
For Drizden!
We cant tolerate even one dissenting vote!
The general vote began in an enthusiastic atmosphere.
Some members secretly opposed Drizden, but they didnt have the courage to express it.
The vote waspletely open.
There was no member who dared to cast a dissenting vote in front of thousands of elves watching.
Thus, the bill to temporarily implement total control was passed with 99.5% of votes.
The person appointed as the first president was Drizden Featherwood himself.
He revealed that he casted his own dissenting vote and drew more fanatical support.
Even if everyone trusts me, I will doubt myself. Thats how I, Drizden, live.
Who doubts him!
Now we are one with Drizden!
Attacking him is attacking us!
As the g of Elvrande fluttered, Drizden waved his hand to the people.
Thats how he seeded in taking over Elvrande.
Leobold, who was watching, stuck out his tongue at his skill.
Old ginger is spicy His ability to incite is amazing.
The problem is that his incitement has little to do with his governance.
Elvrande is so big and technologically advanced that it can run decently as long as it doesnt mess up.
But it would be different from now on.
Drizden might have seen everything easily when he was a mere member, but once he became the president and faced Leobold, he would realize that something was wrong.
Suicide or being lynched by an angry mob Either way, it would be a miserable end for him.
Leobold watched Drizden enter the pce as the president.
Three hundred years was not a small time even for elves.
He must have wanted to rest a bit, but he pushed himself to work hard.
In some sense, he couldnt help but admire him.
Its not just because of greed
He probably thinks thats justice.
The result of the war would tell whose justice was right.
***
My name is Tirendell Azus. Im here to work with you, Leobold. I look forward to working with you.
The people who saw his greeting opened their mouths wide.
Tirendell was a living legend, an elf who reached the peak of elven knights.
If he appeared, the human side would abandon the battlefield and run away.
His long hair and ck eyepatch were symbols of elven knights, and even of Elvrande itself.
And he became Leobolds subordinate.
Leobold, who sat on the throne, smiled slightly and said.
Tirendell and I have had a lot of things happen. He tried to take my life and we fought on the battlefield. We decided to forget the past and start anew. I wont say get along well, just dont cause trouble.
There were quite a few people who were ufortable with the race of elves itself in this ce.
Especially Valgard.
He showed his grudge from the Great War as soon as Leobold finished his speech.
An elf half-breed, huh? Should I kill only half of you?
I wont refuse if you want to fight. But youll be the one to die.
Instead of backing down, Tirendell chose to confront him and Valgard snorted.
Stop it. If we fight, well get smashed by someone scary.
Thats right. Hell make you regret for the rest of your life. So behave yourself.
Leobold, who was sitting on the throne, looked very different from before.
There was a small golden circle floating behind his head, which reminded him of the ancient gods.
Granden recalled a verse from a myth he knew.
Do not resent him, do not look at him directly. A dazzling light will envelop you. And everything will be peaceful
The dazzling light seemed to refer to the halo behind Leobolds head.
At first, he suspected it was magic, but seeing Steffina shake her head, he thought otherwise.
That is a power that only gods can show Has the lord finally entered the path of godhood
In fact, Leobold had shown many inhuman powers before.
It was not strange that he had such a halo when he was a human from another world.
He suits being a god more than the countless minor gods that exist
He didnt think Leobold would be pushed back even if the gods or dragons from the Great War appeared now.
No, rather, he had a high chance of destroying them and unifying Astera.
And then he would eliminate the nobles and go forplete integration
Granden did not agree with his ideology.
But why couldnt he use his great power for themoners?
Surely we look like the same beings in his eyes
Because he was a giant, because he was too high up, he couldnt feel the small differences.
Granden decided to ept it instead of denying it.
Because what he had changed in Roseron for a few months was better than the changes in 200 years.
The restrictions on beastmen were lifted and elves gained freedom of residence. Greedy merchants were punished and security was perfect.
On top of that, the overall ie increased and smiles bloomed on peoples lips.
Also, many crops and inventions that were being tried in the direct territory were finally bearing fruit.
The dwarves boasted that our lives would change from the roots in a few months.
Since Leobold achieved all this, there was no reason to oppose him anymore.
Granden was a stubborn knight, but not a selfish noble who only knew himself.
Anyway, it seemed that people had more or less epted Tirendells joining.
No one would dare to oppose what the lord wanted to do.
He looked around at them and said.
It seems there is nothing more to say. Now we have one thing to do. Start the real conquest war. The preparations are already underway, but there is something left to do. Modify your ether hearts. Ill do it one by one, so dont be afraid and wait. First, Valgard.
The one who was called shook his head.
I dont want to touch my ether heart that Altema modified.
It will be twice as strong as it is now. Do you refuse?
Ill think about it again.
Tirendell.
Yes, Lord Leobold.
Whatever they talked about, Tirendells attitude was unusually polite.
Leobold gestured with his eyes and people murmured and left.
The only ones left were Tirendell and Arma.
You must know enough about my identity.
I heard you are a hero from another world. You came on a huge ship.
With the power of that ship, I can fix your eyes. Of course, I can also upgrade your ether heart significantly.
My eyes Really?
I dont lie. And I only make one offer. Will you do it?
Thank you for your consideration. Please fix my eyes.
Arma, get ready.
Yes.
From then on, Tirendell followed Leobold around.
He started to act as his escort knight.
Naturally, Cami was annoyed and others were also puzzled.
When did he change his attitude so much after cursing and fighting him?
Whether they said it or not, Tirendell didnt stop following him.
Leobold had no choice but to sit him down and say.
There are more important things than following me around.
What are they?
Elvrande has started rearming.
Tirendells eyebrows twitched.
Walker showed him a screen where a parade was taking ce.
Thousands of Goliaths marched in perfect formation along Medeas avenue.
The surprising thing was that Dresden and other council members were in the procession.
Dresden How dare he
The emperor is dead. The core power of Elvrande is now the Congress.
They must have pinned the me on me.
President Dresden is inciting the people by saying that you are still hiding in Elvrande. He also denounced the princess as a traitor.
Crunch.
Tirendell gritted his teeth and muttered.
Ill go and kill him.
No, you cant kill him now.
Do you want to push Elvrande into the abyss of war?
Its a process of changing it into a state that I can easily devour.
That kind of scheme will only increase the damage.
Can you be sure that the damage will increase as a result? Even if you kill Dresden now, someone else will take over. If you kill him, another one will pop up. It wont solve the root problem.
Then what should we do?
We have to crush them head-on. We have to break their illusion that elves are stronger and the dominant race of Astera.
If the Congress mobilizes everything, it might be really dangerous.
At most, theyll drop the floating continent.
Tirendell looked at Leobold with suspicion, who was calm as if he had no emotions.
After all, the master in front of him was not an ordinary human.
The ether he felt from him had already far surpassed Valgard.
Even if it was a god or a dragon from the Great War, they wouldnt be able to stand against him.
Then tell me what I should do.
Elvrande wont start a war right away, so help me with the conquest of Galisto. Ill prepare a ck Knight for you, so get your eye surgery and train.
Leobolds voice was gentle, without any trace of resentment.
Even though they had cursed and fought so much
Tirendell looked at him and slowly bowed his head.
I understand.
After he left, Leobold grumbled.
Did you see his eyes? If he was a woman, he would have been in my bed by now.
Arma casually said.
Maybe helle to me someday and ask me to swap bodies with him.
Is that possible?
Ive perfectly analyzed his mental ether, so its possible anytime. I can also put your soul into a female body. Whether that body can withstand it is another question.
It meant that he could make a soul exchanger, a relic of the prophet.
Thats horrible.
Anyway, I think his body can no longer handle your power. Thats why Im preparing a new body for you.
A new body I hope it looks like my original face if possible.
Are you preparing for your return to Earth?
No, I just want to be close to my original body when I meet the prophet someday.
To Arma, Leobold was a believer who worshiped the prophet as a god.
The only fanatic.
What would he think if he met the prophet someday?
The prophet, who was no different from a god, might not give much meaning to it, but he hoped he wouldnt be rude.
He had been suffering for so long with the idea of meeting him.
***
When Bagran and Elvrande were quiet due to internal problems.
Barak, the crown prince of Zaium Empire, was restless.
He had sent Count Croitz, but there was no contact at all.
It seemed like she had turned off themunicator.
Was it a mistake to send her? I dont know what hes thinking.
He got an unexpected contact from someone.
It was Duke Pangral.
He sent a gift of one carriage and a count-level envoy to deliver a letter.
He came out so politely when he had only been hostile before, so the crown prince dly epted themunicator.
The duke said something surprising.
I will fully support your ascension to the throne.
Why do you suddenly say that? You must have a reason. Tell me without any pretense.
Are you satisfied with what Count Vandus is doing? I dont understand his actions at all.
What do you mean by that?
Count Vandus killed the princess of Elvrande and cut off the arm of the envoy from Galisto. And he doesnt give any exnation. No one would think thats a responsible attitude of an imperial count.
And?
Moreover, he ignored my request for an exnation. He probably didnt listen to your words either.
Hmm
He wasnt wrong, so the crown prince swallowed his groan.
Count Vandus actions were definitely excessive.
He had been turning a blind eye to them because of his various merits, but
The duke added another weight to the crown princes wavering mind.
Do you know that? Theres a rumor that a new weapon was made in Bagran.
A new weapon? Do you mean the ck Knight?
Not Goliath, but a cannon. It fires ether stones and explodes them. Its so powerful that it can smash any Goliath in one shot.
What? He has such a weapon and doesnt report it!
I dont want to shake your trust in him, but he must have other intentions. Otherwise, why would he make such a thing right after mass-producing ck Knights? Even if we concede a hundred times, shouldnt he contact you first instead of Imir Republic?
Imir Republic got it first
They say its so powerful that even the dwarves shudder. The Iron Council says that the era of Goliath is over.
Now the crown prince began to doubt if Leobold was actually a traitor.
Otherwise, his actions were iprehensible.
Duke Pangral tried to smooth things over by saying that it was all just rumors, but the crown princes eyes had already turned upside down.
Why dont we join hands instead of him?
After all, we are nobles of Zaium. He may have the title of imperial count, but he is from Bagran by birth. And he openly encourages his soldiers to hate nobles. He says he will create an equal world.
An equal world can freeze
In fact, Leobold didnt say such things to his soldiers.
He was born and raised in the Human Alliance, where rank system was familiar, and he was a person who recognized the difference in ability.
He just thought that as long as one was born as a human, one should be guaranteed at least a minimum life unless one gave up being a member of the Human Alliance.
That was justice and efficiency for him.
Anyway, because Leobold spread such rumors, sparks flew to the wrong ce.
The crown prince could no longer trust him.
But he couldnt call him and punish him right away.
He was too afraid to face him directly.
Duke Pangralforted him.
Ascend to the throne. I will deal with the traitor with Galisto.
Oh, will you do that for me?
We cant becking in facing the enemy of the empire. We need an alliance with the Holy Kingdom.
Count Vandus is a monster who defeated the Elven Knight and Tirendell. Even the Holy Knights cant match him.
If they were ordinary knights, yes. But the Holy Kingdom recently seeded in digging up a relic. Its a relic of the god that was used in the Great War. If its that, it should be enough to face the count.
How did you know that before me
Dont misunderstand. They contacted me before you ascended to the crown prince.
The crown prince was suspicious, but he decided to trust him for now.
In the worst case, he wouldnt be the one to lose.
But he wasnt sure if he could win against Count Vandus with that.
In the worst case, I might consider joining hands with Elvrande.
He ended themunication and secretly used his hand to contact Elvrande.
Chapter 263:
Chapter 263:
It was a fact that everyone had forgotten, but at this point, the legitimate ruler of Bagran was Princess Ad.
She had not yet had a coronation ceremony, but she was the only one who had the blood of Bagran, and this was recognized by many people.
But what really mattered was who had the actual power.
Ad enjoyed a wealthy life as a sessor, but she had no real authority.
Her role was to wake up in the morning, receive the greetings of Count Vanduss officials, nce over the piles of documents on the carriage, and nod her head.
She was excluded from the work and it did not cause any problems.
Ad began to feel dissatisfied with this treatment over time.
She had made a promise with Count Vandus that after Bagran stabilized, they would review various issues and exchange opinions.
In other words, they agreed to rule Bagran together.
But he seemed to have no intention of doing so, and he expanded his influence.
Not only that, but all kinds of people flocked to the pce, who had nothing to do with Bagran.
Ad was very unhappy with this situation, but she could not do anything about it.
Her few confidants advised her not to oppose Count Vanduss faction.
Your Highness, I understand your feelings for Bagran. But Count Vandus is a very scary person. You must not confront him.
His people are even more so. Especially that bald guy He has abat power that can look down on the royal guards.
Then what do you want me to do?
The confidants suggested this to Ad, who was frustrated.
Give up the throne to him.
It would be better to let him be the king of Bagran and promise your safety.
What do you mean give up? The throne of Bagran is a sacred right bestowed by the Astera Pantheon!
It was absurd to give up the throne to a mere nobleman who had no blood rtion with the royal family.
But Count Vandus was in a situation where he had all the authority, and most of the royal guards were loyal to him.
He even organized his ownpany andpeted for the market share.
Bagran itself was falling into his hands.
It was impossible for a young princess who was not even 15 years old to resist him.
Ad was not as stupid as her sister Eolin, so she knew her reality well.
Moreover, the dark clouds that began to gather recently made her nervous.
What on earth did he do? He had enemies everywhere.
There was a rumor among the pce maids that a war would break out soon.
Wow, what does it mean that the letter from the imperial prince of Galisto is red?
Red means a serious warning, right? What did he dislike so much
He made the lion of Galistome and didnt give any exnation. Its understandable.
And he also reversed the charge of killing the elf princess You know, there was a firework in the sky a while ago. The airship exploded and killed the elf princess along with it.
Doesnt that mean Elvrande and Zaium are targeting this country?
You have to include Galisto too. They are determined to stake their lives and gather their armies. Its a big trouble.
When she heard this far, Ads thoughts expanded to the point where she had to participate in the war as a royal family member.
Just like King Bagran III did in the front line against Elvrande.
It was an absolute duty that could not be avoided by being born as a royal family member.
It was not imposed on a young girl, but once she started to be afraid, she felt like she had to rush to the battlefield right away.
God, I dont want to die
Ad was young and did not know much about the world.
Yet she knew very well how huge Elvrande and Zaium were.
She heard rumors that Count Vandus had great skills, but she thought he would be no match for the two empires anyway.
It was not wrong from a general perspective.
No matter how strong an individual was, it was almost impossible to oppose a huge force.
In addition, the bureaucrats that Leobold nted in the pce encouraged her decision.
Your Highness, instead of spending every night in anxiety and worry, why dont you give up the throne and livefortably?
You also tell me to give up the throne
Think about it. If a war breaks out and we win, it would be great. But we cant ignore the case if we lose.
Nod nod.
Most of the responsibility will be on Count Vandus, but you will not be able to avoid all of it.
Why? I didnt do anything
Because you are a royal family. That is the fate of those who have the ether bloodline.
There is no one else in Bagran who is a royal family except me Will they still kill me?
Excuse me, but Princess Eolin is alive. She is now a noble of Zaium, so she will have no trouble ruling Bagran again.
Th-that
Now Ad was obsessed with the delusion that a war would break out and she would be executed.
If her sister Eolin took her ce, there would be no greater tragedy.
What should I do?
me everything on Count Vandus. Give up the throne and secure the minimum living conditions. Then everything will be resolved naturally.
She did not want to hand it over to a nobleman who was not even a royal family member, but she could not ignore the realistic aspect.
Princess Ad listened to the advice of the maids.
Isnt it better to save your life first and then n for the future?
If you ask Count Vandus nicely, he will guarantee you afortable life as much as possible.
We will also follow you to the end, Your Highness.
It was a lie.
Leobolds influence had already reached them deeply.
They agreed to give up their noble titles in exchange for maintaining a wealthy life and a minimum of honor.
They secretlymunicated with Arma through ether, and neither Ad nor her few confidants knew anything about it.
Thanks to that, Ad made a wrong decision.
I guess I have to avoid the storm Ill meet Count Vandus. He promised me the treatment as a royal family, so he wont treat me so badly.
But what was this?
She was surprised after meeting Leobold.
He had a brilliant halo behind his head.
It was not magic, but what was it?
It made her feelfortable and warm just by looking at it.
The ether of the mind that emanated from the halo turned into a wide-area blessing and had a slight influence on the surrounding people.
It was just making them feel good for now, but if they entered the battle, it could have amazing effects such as secreting adrenaline and eliminating fear.
This was all the result of Armasplete analysis of ether.
If the results of Armas analysis and the fusion reactor of Settler ship werebined, they could look down on Asteras faith.
Anyway, Ad was overwhelmed by Leobolds atmosphere.
I heard you gave up the throne.
Ill ask you, Count Vandus. Do you have confidence in making this country prosper? Can you raise the name of Bagran and make it honorable?
Leobold knelt before her and kissed her hand.
Tell me what you want. I will keep my promise to Prince Ruad of Soshin and not abandon the name of Bagran. And I will also promise you a decent living so that you wont suffer from poverty.
Then, then Come on, bring me the seal and the crown.
An impromptu coronation ceremony was held.
Princess Ad personally ced the crown, the symbol of royal authority, on Leobolds head as he knelt.
With this, Leobold Vandus was confirmed as the sole and legitimate king of Bagran.
All the civil and military officials who attended the ceremony confirmed this, and Conrad, the chief secretary, recorded it in thew and codex.
On August 3rd, 1038 of the Continental Calendar. Leobold Vandus ascended to the throne of Bagran.
***
Leobold became king, but nothing much changed.
He had been holding all the power in Bagran before.
He allowed Princess Ad, who had renounced her session rights and retired, to stay in a separate pce and provided her with the utmost convenience.
He promised her a wealthy life and gave her a bundle of gifts, which relieved her and a few of her close aides.
But not everyone weed his ascension.
Princess Eolin, who had married into Zaium, officially opposed Leobolds ascension through a formal letter.
But the opposition of a foreigner had no great significance.
Leobold didnt care and issued a promation throughout Bagran.
All nobles in Bagran must return their titles by August. Thepensation will follow Article 15, Section 3 of the Codex.
It was an order to return all titles, not just for major nobles, so there was considerable resistance.
But the current king was an absolute ruler who held everything in Bagran.
He had enormous wealth and military power, and above all, he had a blue dragon with him.
The nobles recalled the memory of Zigarion burning down the western territory and one by one returned their titles.
Of course, there were some factions that opposed it.
The ether bloodline is given by the gods. How can we return it?
Thepensation is nothing but preserving our property. This is not enough.
Some nobles tried to hold out until the end, citing the fact that the neighboring countries were not stable.
They judged that Zaium would not remain silent.
But their judgment turned out to be wrong.
Zaium did not take any concrete action even after August passed, and Leobolds promised deadline approached.
He sent knights, including Balgard, to several territories that were still holding out.
The knights armed with ck armor literally trampled down the territories.
The death of Ander Viscount, who resisted until the end in the north, and Armas return of his title marked the end of any nobles in Bagran.
Of course, this was only officially so, and it would take a considerable amount of time for people to ept it.
Leobold and Armas various technologies and inventions would shorten that time.
As soon as the integration waspleted, Leobold announced a national development n.
It was an ambitious n toy railways throughout Bagrans territory andplete urbanization within three years.
It also included a logistics system using airships and an overall improvement of agriculture and fisheries, including livestock farming.
The bureaucrats who learned of this were in an uproar.
They thought it was impossible toplete everything within three years.
And when Arma was appointed as the new finance minister, their dissatisfaction reached its peak.
How can someone who is not even an ether bloodline be the finance minister of new Bagran?
The finance minister is originally an imperial position. Adopting it is disrespectful to the empire.
I admit that he has served well for His Majesty Vandus so far, but finance minister is too much It would be right to choose from among central bureaucrats.
There was so much talk that Leobold called Arma and them in.
You seem to be dissatisfied with Arma being appointed as finance minister. Then let me ask you one thing. Director of Resource Industry.
Yes, Your Majesty.
How many mines are there in Bagran?
13 14 as far as I know.
The bureaucrats breathed a sigh of relief when an easy answer came out unexpectedly.
In fact, they had done a lot of prior learning before meeting with the king.
It was obvious that he would ask various details ording to his personality.
But this was just the beginning.
When Leobold asked about the amount of minerals produced from each mine, the supply n for scarce copper, and even thetest mining technology introduced from Imir Republic, they began to stutter.
I dont know anything about that
Is that so? I think Arma would know well.
He gestured, and she coughed and gave a perfect answer.
She even mentioned the silver separation method, which even the dwarves might not know well.
What are the advantages of the silver separation method?
It is much faster to separate silver than the conventional extraction and amalgamation methods. And it doesnt require arge number of workers, so it saves costs.
She recited it on the spot as if she had invented the silver separation method herself.
The director of resource industry couldnt even judge if it was right.
Leobold nodded and pointed to another bureaucrat.
He was startled and answered his question, but somehow it seemed suspicious.
On the other hand, Armas details were perfect.
Listen, gentlemen. Arma has raised the eastern territory to the same level as the western territory ording to my orders. The cities of Lantis and Ohamel have higher ies than any other cities in the country. Do any of you have achievements that match him?
They all had nothing to say and just looked around.
There was a rumor among Leobolds aides that Arma was a real deal, but this was beyond imagination.
He didnt care about the field, so he was well-versed in everything from fisheries, livestock farming, mining, etc. and seemed to be familiar with the field.
In fact, this was because the existing bureaucrats didnt know much about the field.
Anyway, the bureaucrats had no choice but to ept Arma as finance minister.
Leobold emphasized again.
There is no such thing as a given position in new Bagran. It doesnt matter what title you had before, or how much wealth you have. Bring me results.
Result-orientedness had its dangerous aspects, but there would be no major side effects as long as there was Arma, a fair being.
Anyway, she started working on remodeling Bagran after taking office as finance minister.
Bagran is small with a poption of about 3 million, so its hard to see great effects. At best, we can activate agriculture and fisheries and add some industries.
Well have to eat Galisto.
Galisto was a fairlyrge country with a poption of 7 million.
It was a minor levelpared to Zaium, but it was the biggest one around Bagran.
Its various industries were also developed, especially mining and ether engineering.
If we absorb Galisto, well have a poption of 10 million, and if we include Gram Kingdom and neighboring kingdoms, 12 million.
It was only 1/9 of a mega citys poption, but it would explode once nitrogen fertilizer was produced.
Leobolds short-term goal was to integrate Zaiums southeast and form an independent region.
It would be better to avoid a full-scale war with Zaium until then.
But he didnt intend topletely avoid war.
Leobold summoned the military and diplomatic bureaucrats.
As you all know, the conflict with Galisto has reached its peak. War is inevitable, but it will be quite different from the previous ones. Keep that in mind and attend the meeting.
Cami also attended the meeting.
She smirked when she heard Leobolds words that he would not use even one Goliath.
Then what are you going to use for war?
People. War is originally done by people. We have to teach that to Galisto.
It was doubtful whether it would go as he thought.
***
After Leobold cut off the arm of Galistos envoy and sent it back, the rtionship between the two countries was almost severed.
Galisto denounced Bagran and began preparing for war.
There was a strong public opinion that they should teach Leobold, who acted arrogantly, a lesson this time.
The two countries had never been on good terms, but Leobold was more so.
He stole three of our airships and didnt return them. We must get them back this time.
He should have bowed down and entered if he became a vassal, but he cut off the envoys arm? Does he think Galisto is a joke if he shows some strength?
His Majesty Vandusbat prowess is undeniable, but war is not done by ones personal power. We have to teach him that.
However, Galisto was not reckless in preparing for war.
They thoroughly analyzed several battles that Leobold participated in and concluded that a frontal confrontation with Goliath would have little chance of winning.
His martial arts that smashed Tiren and dozens of Elven Knights are honestly admirable.
The knights also said that a frontal confrontation would be suicidal. Therefore, we have to find another way.
The way Zaium dealt with Tiren would be good. Its to give up the battlefield where he appears and push elsewhere.
But Galistos strategists were skeptical about this method.
It was doubtful whether it would work on Leobold, who overwhelmed Tiren and Elven Knights, when they couldnt even properly blockade Tiren.
Some even argued that Leobold cutting off the envoys arm itself was a trap.
He openly picked a fight, which means hes already prepared. We shouldnt be swayed by his actions.
Weve been insulted, but if we stay still, the nobles will rise up. We have to retaliate by any means necessary.
Galistos politics were divided into hardliners and moderates, and they had a fierce debate.
What stopped them was Pangral Archduke of Zaium.
He secretly visited Galisto and urged them to follow his will.
It is clear that we have to break Vandus nose this time. He is acting arrogantly and ignoring the summons of our country.
But how do we do that His power is formidable.
Palcus II, who had recently be king, was grinding his teeth at Bagran and Leobold, but he had no clear breakthrough.
Pangral Archduke whispered to him secretly.
Ive dug up something from the Holy State. They call it a relic of God, but it has tremendous power.
Palus II opened his mouth wide.
A relic of God Thats amazing.
I dont know exactly what it is yet, but its something that blocked countless Goliath units during the Great War. That should be enough for Vandus.
A joy finally appeared on Palcus IIs face.
That should definitely work against Vandus!
Plus, Ill activate Meteor Strike when he shows up. I wont actually do it, but he wont notice it easily.
Oh, Meteor Strike would definitely help tie his ankles.
This should be enough.
Palus II began to increase his troops with Pangral Archdukes cooperation.
And that inevitably reached Armas ears.
The relic of God that Pangral Archduke mentioned is a fragment of Terahok, the god of time and space.
Like Cain?
Yes. It contains a part of the godhood, so it can perform great powers. ording to the tests done by the Holy State, it can stop time as well as slow down arge area if there is ether stone. For example, like this.
The screen Arma showed had a scene where dozens of Goliaths ran and were slowed down by arge area slow.
The speed was reduced by half, which was enough to make them look almost stopped.
Thats amazing. Can you break it?
Of course. But the effect of that fragment is not all. ording to Margretas notes, if certain conditions are met, the caster can go back in time.
Go back in time? Like I went back to Earth in the 21st century?
Only the soul, not the body.
Thats a vague power.
Its useless if the casters soul goes back to the past, not sending the opponent.
Arma said quietly.
You can assassinate. Aether sensitivity is attached to the soul.
So you mean I can go back to before I was born and assassinate myself?
There are many factors to consider, such as dimensions, so I cant say for sure.
Arma had grasped the essence of ether, but it was different when time and space were mixed.
There was still a lot he didnt know about this ether universe.
Anyway, it was clear that Galisto was preparing for various things.
They secured the relic of God and nned to get Pangral Archdukes support, so they might be confident in their own way.
But they would be quite embarrassed when they met the Bagran army.
What they fought with their Goliaths was not Goliath.
Chapter 264:
Chapter 264:
The conflict between Bagran and Galisto reached its peak, making a full-scale war inevitable.
Prince Barak of Bagran sent a red letter to warn Leobold, but he did not seem to have any intention of stopping the war.
The war would begin as soon as one side dered it.
But the person who came to inform him of that was not a diplomat from Zaium or Galisto, but the saintess Veronica of the Holy Church.
First of all, I congratte you on ascending to the throne of Bagran.
Thank you.
The halo on your head You have obtained a divine power, I see.
Didnt you also obtain a divine power? Didnt Hermine, the god of dreams and illusions, teach you?
So you knew. Hermine told me this. The hero who came from another world is the only one who can change the whole of Astera. We have to cooperate with him to achieve our goal.
What do the pope and the saintess want?
He asked this because he guessed that their goals were different.
The current pope was a frustrated man who could not spread the influence of the church.
The Holy Church was also a respectable state that needed revenue, which was understandable, but it became a problem when it was excessive.
At this very moment, priests and knights sent from the Holy Church were roaming around various ces, forcing donations and conversions.
Who would believe in gods who had all perished and could not grant any power?
She hesitated for a moment and then said.
What I want is peace in Astera. The pope also wants the same, and the whole church wishes for peace.
Thats good to hear. I also want peace in Astera.
Im not joking. Where can you find peace in your actions?
Cant you tell from unifying Bagran? If you listen to the priests, youll know that Bagrans public order is much better than other countries. The ie is also high, and it is developing vigorously. What more peace do you want than this?
Its evil to invade other countries for that!
I never invaded anyone. They just hostilely treated me unterally.
Then why did you injure Galistos envoy and assassinate Elbrangdes princess?
The former was just holding him ountable for his arrogant attitude. Thetter, I wont answer.
He could bring Margareta in front of him, but he didnt need to persuade the Holy Church.
They could only nag anyway.
But Veronica said something unexpected.
I know your strength well. It must be hard to deal with you with Goliaths troops. But this time is different. You must not fight.
Thats interesting. Did they dig up something good from the ground?
Veronica was speechless as if she had hit the mark.
But the saintesss training was not a joke, so there was no change in her expression.
I dont know what you mean. I just came to stop this meaningless fight
Saintess.
Leobold straightened his posture and looked at her squarely.
I dont know why the Holy Church is acting as Galistos puppet
Puppet? Thats harsh!
The saintess blushed and jumped up, and Leobold snorted.
Then why did you bring a letter from Falchus II in your bosom? You bet everything on that letter being an ultimatum.
She nodded weakly and took out the letter from her bosom.
It was an ultimatum and a deration of war.
Leobold nced at it briefly and put it down.
So can I assume that the Holy Church is moving with Galisto and Pangral Archduke?
There are also many kingdoms that are supporting us. This war must not happen. I will mediate, so please bear with it this time.
I will not see you again after this.
Her lips trembled at his sudden deration.
Can I ask why you say that?
This is the third time, right? Yes, it is. Anyway, meeting with you was not very enjoyable or beneficial. So theres no need to meet anymore.
Do you always treat people like this?
I do my best for those who need it. I cant find a reason to meet someone who only demands me to do this and that while hiding their god.
I tried to tell you about your hometown
I dont need it.
Leobold waved his hand.
Im sick of your attitude of trying to control me as if you caught my weakness. We met three times but we couldnt find anymon ground, so I think its better to stop here.
She didnt know what to do at his firm attitude and got up.
Thats a narrow-minded judgment that doesnt suit the halo on your head. Im disappointed.
Youll continue to be disappointed. So its better not to see each other.
Excuse me
Veronica opened the door of the reception room and then said.
I dont know what kind of artifact you have from a god. But you should give up the idea that it will protect you.
Thats a threat from the saintess of the Holy Church. But remember this.
Leobold hardened his expression and said.
I dont care what kind of power or god you bring. Bring them all. Ill kill them.
Thats sphemy
If it was real sphemy, lightning would have struck my head by now. Right? Why do you leave alone a lowly being on the ground who insults you?
The answer was simple.
They were not real gods.
At least in Leobolds eyes.
Veronica left and he asked Arma to do something.
Watch the churchs movements. Theyre not normal.
Ill monitor the movements of 36 important figures, including the pope.
He didnt know what they were aiming for, but one thing was certain.
The interference of the church would be more persistent from now on.
Every time I wage a war, theyll bother me. Maybe its better to clean them up with a missile.
Do you want me to fire?
No, lets wait and see for now.
Leobolds patience, which he had trained for a long time, did not copse at this point.
But if the church brought something they couldnt handle and forced it on him, then they would have to be prepared.
***
The ultimatum contained what Leobold had to do.
Exin and apologize for assassinating Elbrangdes princess on the international stage.
Exin and apologize for cutting off Galistos envoys arm.
Exin and apologize for ignoring Pangral Archdukes warning.
They were all exnations and apologies, and thest two required him to go directly to Pangral Archdukes duchy.
He expected to be rejected, so the letter said that he could not guarantee Bagrans safety if Leobold or Zigarion participated in the war.
Is this a threat to use Meteor Strike? Right?
Yes. Pangral Archduke can activate Meteor Strike by himself.
Hes openly ckmailing me. Wouldnt Pangral Archduke lose if he helped Barak Prince ascend to the throne? Why is he doing this?
He probably thinks that since the mainstream of Zaium supports Barak Prince, he should acknowledge his rule and secure his favor. As evidence, he is pursuing a strong exclusion policy against the Northwind Alliance.
He wants to join hands with the prince and crush them, then divide the empire? Its not a bad idea.
He might have calcted that he had a chance if he excluded Leobold.
Anyway, Galisto dered war with Pangral Archduke on his back.
The war had begun and could not be stopped.
Bagranpletely reorganized its army before the war.
The Royal Guard Knights are disbanded, and all Goliath units are assigned to 10 mobile units.
Leobolds goal was to create mobile units that could be quickly deployed by airships.
Five units of riflemen with ether bombunchers were newly formed.
They would board the airships, infiltrate the enemy lines, quickly eliminate the enemys Goliaths, and retreat.
It was a fairly effective tactic when facing a country that had no concept of reconnaissance because they mainly used Goliaths.
The key was the number of airships.
Both Goliaths and troops had to use airships, so it didnt work if the number was low.
Fortunately, they had been building airships in eastern Bagran for a long time.
Four ships had been built, and they were nning to expand the dock to produce 1,500-ton airships.
If theybined with the existing floating continent fleet, it would be over 20 ships.
Arma reported that the repair of the giant ship found on the floating continent waspleted.
It has a discement of nearly 5,000 tons and can carry about 10 Goliaths. It is equipped with 50rge-caliber ether cannons and can transport 500 troops. The name is Hyperion.
Hyperion, huh? Is it from Gram Empire?
ording to Valgard, it was the royal gship. The current Gram Kingdoms emblem is based on this ships emblem.
Well, its cool.
It was notparable to Settler ship, but it was thergest airship in the current Astera continent.
There was a fragment of Cains soul embedded in the ship, but it could not exert much power.
But since it was a divine power, it seemed to help with ether cannons or magic defense.
Arma used a dummy to bring Hyperion to his jurisdiction.
When the airship was fixed at the dock, everyone couldnt close their mouths.
Its huge
I cant believe there was such a big ship
Oh, its Hyperion!
Valgard showed his joy as expected when he saw the airship.
ording to him, it was the gship of the mobile fleet that destroyed countless enemies during the Great War.
The current airships are not even worthy of being called airships! If they taste 50rge-caliber ether cannons, even gods would have to run away.
How did such an amazing ship get sunk?
It must have been because it was a gship, so it attracted a lot of enemy attacks. Do you understand if I say it faced half of Elbrangdes fleet alone?
Then it might trigger trauma for Elbrangdes old elves.
Are you not using it in this war?
Theres no reason to. I can sweep Galisto with just riflemen.
Valgard crossed his arms and nodded.
I guess so. The important thing is what happens after defeating Galistos army. Its a pretty big country, so you might choke on it if you swallow it whole.
I dont have to worry about that as long as I have Arma.
Well, lets say so. What do I do this time?
You dont have anything to do for now. I have to destroy Goliath units stationed everywhere with riflemen.
And then rush into the capital as soon as Galistos army falls into chaos. I wonder if the remaining lords will surrender
Ill send Zigarion to crush them.
There was no need to hold back since he decided to show his true colors.
He would crush Galisto, Pangral Archduke, and even Zaium and the Holy Church along the way, then destroy Elbrangde.
Once he achieved that, continental unification would be a matter of time.
The rest of the kingdoms would surrender on their own.
Valgard chuckled at this n.
Its refreshing. But you said you wouldnt use Goliaths anymore?
Theres no reason to. Goliaths are inefficient weapons from my perspective.
Ill be unemployed if I get rid of Goliaths. What should I do
You dont have to worry about that for now. I have something nned for the Holy Church.
What are you talking about?
I dont know yet, but they seem to be plotting to revive the gods from the Great War. There mighte a day when I need your 100% power.
Hmm. It doesnt sound like a good idea.
The Holy Churchs goal was to firmly establish their influence in the whole of Astera.
But their influence shrank as many gods perished and their power disappeared in the Great War.
From the popes perspective, who used to have a voice over the entire continent, it was a fall from grace.
So they became desperate and dug up thend from the Great War to find something.
They were overjoyed when they found the fragment of Terahawk.
They provided it to Zaium and got something in return, which only the pope knew.
After that, the Holy Kingdom dispatched priests and knights to various ces under the pretext of recovering history, and they were digging thend vigorously.
They seemed to have a special ability to find such things, as they found artifacts and traces of battles from the past wherever they dug.
But the most important thing was in the territory that Leobold acquired within Zaium.
The bones of Altima and many dragons, and the fragments left by the gods who vanished after fighting them, were confirmed to be there.
It was the core of the Great War, and now Camis troops were guarding it.
Soon, a mock battle began.
It was a battle between the shocktrooper units that would be deployed in this war and the golems.
The golems were modified for heavy work, so they boasted a Goliath-ss size and durability, and their mobility was also considerable.
The troops facing them wore lightweight armor, but their weapons were only ether bombunchers and short swords that were too poor for frontalbat.
They were special units for destroying Goliaths.
Therefore, the training was intense and the dropout rate exceeded 40%.
But the soldiers did not run away because of Leobolds speech.
The enemies are Galistos nobles. On the contrary, you aremoners without titles. But titles do not determinebat power. What you have to do on the battlefield is to show that those arrogant beings called nobles are behind the times.
It was not just a usible speech, but he also offered a bounty for each Goliath, so they were eager to get a share in this war.
Money was not everything, but it was also true that nothing was better than money.
The mock battle began and the golems detected the shocktrooper units that had justnded on the ground.
It was quite a difficult condition for the golems to detect the shocktroopers.
The airships transporting the troops had invisibility cast on them over a wide area, making them hard to find.
They would notice themter, but it would be after Galisto was thoroughly destroyed.
Anyway, the battle was one-sided.
The shocktroopers calmly dispersed and took cover, smashing the golems despite having a big handicap of revealing their position.
The power of ether bombs was so great that they disabled them in one shot even if they exploded roughly at close range.
A few golems that barely survived started to run away ording to the scenario, and the shocktroopers chased them on horned beasts.
Bang!
Thest golem fell slowly after its chest was destroyed.
Themander nced at Leobold and he nodded.
It was an impressive battle that confirmed that you did not neglect your training. I will give you a reward, so loosen your belts tonight and eat and drink as much as you want.
Wow!
Long live King Leobold!
As the shocktroopers cheered, Camis face turned pale.
She had watched how they would deal with Goliaths with soldiers, but she was shocked by the power of ether bombunchers.
If golems are destroyed so one-sidedly, wouldnt Goliaths be the same?
Unless they have living metal armor tes, they will be blown up in one shot. It will be hard to catch them if they run away on horned beasts.
Then whats the point of Goliaths? And what about knights?
Goliaths era is already over. People just didnt know it and used it until now. This war is just an opportunity to teach them that. Its not even a war in reality.
They wouldin if they faced those shocktroopers. Is this a war?
It cant be helped.
If you dont know, you have to learn it the hard way.
After receiving an ultimatum, both countries entered into a de facto war.
Galisto summoned all of its Goliaths and deployed them on the border with Bagran, while mobilizing a considerable number of airships as well.
As more than 400 Goliaths were deployed in advance, their rear was wide open, but they had nothing to worry about.
Zaium was practically an ally.
Bagran faced them with a handicap of Leobold and Jigaleon not being able to participate.
The nobles didnt know that, but seeing them not moving, they rated it as a war worth trying by Galisto.
-ck Knights are there, but they exported a lot of them, so they are not deployed to all knight orders. They picked a perfect timing.
Galisto has more than 400 Goliaths, which is more than three times that of Bagran. Its not a gap that can be ovee by superior performance.
Didnt they also have contact with the Holy Kingdom? Maybe they got support? The skills of holy knights are not inferior to elven knights.
Various spections were exchanged as Galistos army seeded inpletely securing five axes connected to Bagran.
Among them, the southernmost axis was a very important battlefield as it was a passage for carriages to move between two mountains.
Of course, Bagran had airship transportation, but it was not a big threat as long as Leobold and Jigaleon did not participate.
Dropping a few Goliaths into the enemy lines would only make them sacrificialmbs for istion and annihtion.
I dont know what Bagran is thinking. They should destroy the Goliath units in the front, not invade the capital.
They should give up on invading the capital. Galistos capital has a lot of ether cannons for anti-air defense.
Since the first fleet battle using ether cannons was established, each country had made a lot of efforts to increase their power and uracy.
Now they were not perfect, but they had secured a considerable hit rate against airships.
It was the capital, and they would be exposed by any means, which meant being shot down.
Therefore, Galistosmanders expected Bagrans army to attack head-on.
There was no other way.
Falx II expressed his satisfaction with the situation.
War is not about fighting and winning, but about winning and fighting. Generals, keep that in mind and use the airships to thoroughly monitor the movements of Bagrans army.
Galistos army, stationed on five axes connected to Bagran, began to prepare for everything, such as building fortifications and setting up magic traps.
But Bagrans army did not seem to want to move.
Did they give up because they had no way?
As the suspicion of the highmand grew, the troops on the field, especially the knights stationed at Heston outpost, became careless.
They were bored of camping for two weeks.
Theres nothing in this countryside. Should we have brought some maids?
Shh, if you get caught, it wont end with expulsion.
Just pay a fine and its over.
By the way, this war is a bit strange. Theres no enemy.
Right, we should at least greet each other by now.
Its already evening. Im tired of guard duty.
Just sleep, no one will notice. The Bagran bastards wont attack at midnight.
There had never been a Goliath battle at night.
Most of the Goliaths were very vulnerable to darkness, even though they had sight stones installed.
So Galistos army at Heston did not pay much attention to night watch.
It was also because the core force was nobles who hated doing menial work.
And that decided the oue.
On a dark night, an airship wrapped in invisibility and optical camouge arrived near the outpost.
The ones who came down from the airship were about 20 shocktroopers and horned beasts.
The horned beasts had been trained in advance, so they walked cautiously and made no noise.
Themander, Granden, gave orders to his troops.
There are five Goliaths used as fortifications and obstacles 800 meters ahead. First squad, take care of them. Second and third squads, scatter left and right and target those whoe out. Fourth squad, go around the mountain and upy the rear.
Granden was going to take charge of the overallmand from the rear, so he volunteered unexpectedly.
He was convinced after watching several trainings and mock battles.
Goliaths cant cope with this tactic. The only answer is to train their own shocktroopers.
But he still had doubts.
If soldiers became the main force, knights and mages who rode horned beasts and targeted them would also appear.
The battlefield itself would go back hundreds of years.
Granden thought it was not progress but regression.
But His Majesty is confident. I will see for myself what it is.
The squads that scattered finished assembling theirunchers and reported.
Granden held a newmunication device that was made by the ether research institute.
It was so small that it fit in his pocket, making it very convenient to carry.
Fire.
Popopong.
The result was tremendouspared to the cute firing sound.
mes burst from the five Goliaths that stood as fortifications instead of obstacles.
Bang!
As the ether stones exploded, a shock wave shook the ground and the Goliaths began to lose their bnce and fall.
Chapter 265:
Chapter 265:
Before Leobold appeared, the war was a matter of a few top leaders.
The war was all about pure power struggles between Goliaths ridden by knights, and even scouting was not important.
They were so big and slow that they were easily detected in advance, no matter how much they hid.
And there was no weapon developed that could counter Goliaths, so the war situation was almost fixed for 200 years after the Great War.
If both sides had a strong will to fight, they would dere war and then upy the main axis lines and hold them, and breaking through them meant victory.
Goliaths were weapons that conflicted with the diversity of tactics, so there was no choice.
Leobold brought change to that stale situation.
To be precise, he forced the countries to operate airships by reminding them of the possibility of being attacked by airships carrying Goliaths at any time.
Thanks to that, the countries that had some power had to use airships for scouting reluctantly.
Otherwise, they never knew when an airship carrying Goliaths would fly over and make a mess.
In that respect, Leobold was a very annoying existence.
Why did he introduce such a thing and make them waste money unnecessarily?
It only increased the cost without any help. The Goliaths are clearly exposed anyway, what is this?
The supply of ether stones is also tight, and the money that goes into buoyancy stones is no joke. I would like to praise him if he aimed for the economic burden. Really.
He said he was a hero from another world, but it seems he was wrong. Hes a demon king from the demon world.
Despite manyints, when Bagran started scouting around with airships, other countries had no choice but to follow suit.
This rigidity of tactics also existed in the Galisto army.
Only King Falx II knew the grand strategy, that is, the purpose of the war, the end point of the offensive, and the final defense line.
The generals under him did not know the overall outline, and they only hadmand over their own battlefields.
What about the fieldmanders?
Most of the knights were just beings who went out and fought when they were told to.
They did not consider why they were fighting, what benefits they would get from upying this area, and how much damage they could afford when they entered the battle.
They only fought with Goliaths for over 200 years, so they lost their flexible tactics.
On the other hand, the sniper squad led by Granden clearly understood their mission.
They did not know the grand strategy, but they understood how this operation would affect and what tasks would be given in the future.
It was the result of rigorous training in the process of selecting 100 people out of thousands.
The sniper squad consisted of strong men in their 20s and 30s who had good ether sensitivity and could be appointed as junior knights right away.
They also learned poisonw, basic tactics for each unit, and at least survival skills, so their capabilities asbat troops were much better than those of knights.
In other words, they were elite soldiers that Leobold wanted.
Since even the lowest soldiers had such capabilities, they urately executed Grandens orders.
They urately grasped the terrain around Heston by looking at the map at night, and even found effective ambush points.
The toon deployed in the rear was also the best of 20 people, so none of them fell behind even though they had to travel a long distance.
The important thing was that all this happened secretly.
Considering that there were dozens of knights and support troops at Hestons ry station, it was a great achievement.
That achievement soon appeared as a result.
Five Goliaths erected as obstacles exploded one after another, and surprised knights ran out of their tents.
Whats going on!
Its an attack! Its an enemy attack!
All members alert! Light up the fire with torches and glowing stones!
It was a measure because it was so dark that nothing could be seen.
However, that non-magical measure soon proved to be a mistake.
As only Goliaths around were brightened by torches and glowing stones, it became very easy for snipers to aim at them.
It seemed like they were asking to be hit.
Granden was stunned for a moment as if he didnt expect there to be idiots who acted as Leobold said.
Are there fools who reveal their position at night?
It seemed that they had forgotten even basic light control by fighting with Goliaths for 200 years.
There was only one gift for those fools.
Prepare to reload ether bombs.
Ready.
The ingredients for ether bombs were not easy either.
First of all, ether stones are used as raw materials, and adding an ignition circuit costs enough to buy a decent house, even if not a Goliath.
But it was worth it to blow up a Goliath in one shot.
Fire from the 2nd and 3rd toons.
About ten ether bombs flew toward the Goliaths lit by glowing stones.
The moment the explosion sounded, the air around them shook and the fragments of Goliaths flew in all directions.
Boom!
The explosion was so strong that the knights nearby were swept away.
The support troops who were far away were also swept away with their tents, and the ry station copsed.
What is this explosion!
Themander of Hestons garrison, Count Embryo, was startled and ran out of his tent.
All he saw were shattered Goliaths and pieces of knights corpses.
He was sleeping and half of his power was gone, so he was absurd.
He quickly called his lieutenant.
What kind of attack is this! Where are the enemies!
I, I dont know, sir!
Finding out what you dont know is your job! You stupid!
Im sorry!
Just retreat the remaining Goliaths!
The knights hurriedly got on the Goliaths and started moving them.
But it was so dark that they couldnt see well, and their movements were clumsy.
By the time 20 Goliaths left the narrow garrison, it was the point where the 2nd and 3rd toons of snipers joined the 4th toon.
Granden lowered his telescope after seeing the glowing stones flickering in the distance.
Theyre still not giving up on lighting. All toons except the 1st toon, prepare to fire at once.
If 15 people fired ether bombs at once, the power would be no joke.
The knights were relying on glowing stones to move Goliaths, but they were lined up in one line, making it very easy to aim.
It was as if they were giving them to hit.
Granden finally understood what Leobold had taught him.
If you move in a line like that in this terrain, you are vulnerable to attacks from both sides.
What would he do if he was in that situation?
The answer did note easily.
The best thing to do was to use magicians to attack where snipers might be, but it seemed unlikely that they could find them properly in this dark night.
Its very difficult for soldiers who are civilians to find traces of ether The answer is to deploy rm troops and search for them.
They had to counter infantry with infantry.
It could be said that they were going back to the past, but he wondered what Leobold thought about it.
Finally, reports came in from each toon.
The firing preparation for the third squad is done.
The second squad reports. The enemys vanguard has reached the target point.
Good. Fire.
Fifteen ether bombs wereunched toward the Goliaths.
A huge explosion urred, and the Goliaths that were retreating in a line were brutally disintegrated and scattered.
Even Count Embryo, who was retreating with the Goliaths, had fallen silent, as if he had already died.
A few knights who barely survived jumped off the Goliaths and suffered serious injuries.
Aaah! My leg!
Retreat! Withdraw from the front line!
Granden silently watched the scene.
This was not a battle.
It was more like a one-sided violence. The enemy was annihted without even seeing us
The Goliaths were destroyed without using a single one of their own.
He felt that this battle would bring a great change to Astera.
Even if the existing forces insisted on using the Goliaths, they would not be able to withstand such results.
Did they say that the ether bombs came from Elvrande? They will soon spread to other countries.
If he was the only one who knew about it, it would be fine, but since Bagran had seeded in replicating it, there was no value in keeping that secret.
From Elvrandes point of view, they would want other kingdoms to check Bagran, so they were likely to release the manufacturing method.
Leobold also mentioned that point.
We have to train ourselves to deal with those bombs from now on.
Well, maybe some units in his homnd were already training hard by now.
He knew Leobold as a scary person who had a countermeasure for every situation.
So it was best not to be his enemy.
***
That night, Bagran mobilized five airships and about a hundred paratroopers.
Granden, Elwin, and Catina, along with former royal guards,manded four squads of paratroopers and attacked five major axes connecting Galisto and Bagran.
As a result, they destroyed more than a hundred Goliaths and killed manymanders.
It was practically the copse of Galistos front line.
The knights who were dispatched to the scene could not believe the amazing results.
They destroyed 100 Goliaths with a single attack? And we didnt even use one of our own Goliaths?
They took advantage of the dark night and used new weapons, but even considering that, it was an astonishing achievement.
His Majesty said that this was not a war but their training. Thats why he said that
The Bagrans highmand knew the situation urately, but Galisto was different.
The attack took ce at night, and most of themanders died, somunication was not done properly.
The five garrisons were abandoned, and the situation assessment was dyed for several hours even after the day passed.
Thus, King Falx II received a report that more than a hundred Goliaths had been destroyed in the afternoon.
The copse of the front line defense was secondary.
Bang!
The kings fist mmed on the conference table as he lost his patience.
100! 100, you say! Do you think this is a joke? What did you generals do until those damn Bagrans attacked?
The experienced generals knew that it was best to keep silent and wait for the storm to pass at times like this.
But this time it was different.
Galisto suffered an irrecoverable blow with a single night raid.
Yet he was angry that they did not even identify the enemys size or identity.
Do you know what kind of reports thosemanders sent from the field? They didnt know, they didnt know, they didnt know! What else do you know besides losing 100 Goliaths? Are you going to tell me the same thing?
The eyes of those around him turned to General Ernst Duke, who was in charge ofmanding.
Excuse me, Your Majesty, didnt His Highness Pangral warn us about their new weapon? I mean, the one that uses ether stones.
What are you talking about? He was about to snap, but King Falx II closed his mouth.
He remembered the weapon that His Highness warned him about.
An ether bombuncher made with ether stones? How is that different from magic?
His imagination was so narrow that he did not take the ether bombuncher seriously.
Even if he did, there was no way to deal with it without knowing what it was.
I heard rumors that Imir Republic made some strange weapons. And that they passed them on to Bagran.
Then it seems logical to ask His Highness to obtain those weapons for us.
Ernst Duke made a reasonable argument, but King Falx II fumed with rage.
You want me to ask His Highness for such a favor? How much do you want to lower my dignity?
Unfortunately, it seemed that the kings dignity was more important than losing 100 Goliaths.
The meeting continued withints about Bagrans cowardly actions and Leobolds arrogance.
Of course, suchints did not produce any results.
The generals knew that, but they could not stop King Falx II, so they just listened quietly.
We lost 25% of our power in a single day! There is no guarantee that this will not happen again! In the worst case, we may have to ask His Highness to activate the Meteor Strike.
Where do you want to use that magic?
Isnt it obvious? Bagrans capital, Rozelon. Even the dragon or that bastard Leobold wont be able to stop that magic. There was such a record in the Great War.
The faces of the nobles around him turned pale.
If we fail, the dragon wille to our capital!
It was well known that Zigarion had devastated Bagrans western territory.
Galisto considered Bagran, except for Leobold, as a backwater, but the western territory was somewhat decent.
If they were destroyed without resistance, Galisto would have to prepare for the worst, except for the capital.
We can defend against the dragon with ether cannons, cant we? We have magicians too. We are different from those Bagran bastards. We have to show them that.
Yo, Your Majesty!
It seemed that King Falx II had gone mad because of losing the Goliaths.
The generals stood up and stopped him, and the meeting barely calmed down.
But that did not mean that a sharp countermeasure came out.
There was no way to recover the 25% of power lostst night, and they had to lead the war with the remaining 300 units.
Then they received a contact from His Highness Pangral.
King Falx IIs face brightened after talking with him in a separate room.
The Holy Kingdom offers us a divine artifact! With that, they wont be able to mess with us anymore.
May I ask what kind of divine artifact it is?
Its an artifact of Tera Hawk, the god of time and space. Its an amazing thing that slows down enemies who enter a certain range!
Oh!
Most of the generals eximed, but Ernst Duke blinked his eyes.
He wondered what that meant in this situation.
Excuse me, Your Majesty, Bagran attacked five axes at the same time. Where do you want to use the artifact?
The atmosphere in the meeting room became chilly.
The artifact of Tera Hawk was also effective only forrge-scale Goliath battles.
Bagran did not use Goliaths, and the airships were so high that it was doubtful whether they would be affected by the artifact.
King Falx II, frustrated, shouted.
How can this be called a war? I dont understand why Leobold suddenly appeared and disrupted Asteras tradition!
The meeting returned to the starting point, and the time of agony deepened.
***
Dresden Featherwood, who became the president of Elvrande, was not discouraged by the news that Bagran had won a great victory.
Its not surprising that they didnt achieve more than that even with the ether bombs. The problem is how they replicated them in such a short time.
Why are you telling me that?
Because you have to take care of this matter for me.
The person in front of Dresden was Delphina, a shadow elf who barely survived the Tirendell incident.
The divinity she received was Nocturne, the divinity of night and shadow.
She was not very strong inbat, but she had the ability to hide all traces and infiltrate.
In other words, she was perfect for an assassin or a thief, and Dresden hated that.
Even though he was the one who decided to give her Nocturnes divinity.
What do you want from me?
You have to do two things for me. They are not easy, but you have the divinity, so you should be able to do it.
It sounds like youre asking me to do something impossible.
If you fail, then our promise will be null and void.
In fact, even if she seeded and came back, there was nond for the shadow elves in Elvrande.
No one would tolerate bringing the shadow elves into thend blessed by the holy Eldgrasil.
Delphina vaguely realized that, but she had to cling to the faint hope in her situation.
She urged him silently, and Dresden took out a piece of paper.
There are two things, easy and hard. Which one do you want to hear first?
Lets hear the easy one first.
Go to Bagran and kill Margareta Rustel.
Delphinas mouth dropped open.
Kill Elvrandes princess?
Of course, he wanted to kill her because she was a traitor, but he wondered if it was worth risking it.
Her existence alone would unite Elvrande, and his position would be more solid.
But Dresdens determination was firm.
I cant tell you why. Just kill the princess. Theres a high chance that Tirendell will be there too, so you should avoid him as much as possible.
How do you know that?
Dresden ignored her question and said.
The hard task is to infiltrate the Holy Kingdom and steal an artifact.
That doesnt seem so hard?
Lets see if you can say that after hearing the whole story. The owner of that artifact is Tera Hawk. The god of time and space.
He didnt care how he knew that.
Probably some sinister politicians had exchanged information, and this old man had found something useful from there.
The problem was that he told her about it.
What are you going to make me do?
Youre pretty smart. Thats right. Its not an ordinary artifact. Its an amazing thing that can send the casters soul back to the past. Do you know what your role is now?
You want me to send my soul to Leobold Vandus past and assassinate him?
You got it right.
Oh Eilidh
Dresden just listened to the shadow elf invoking the name of the great Eilidh.
If his n seeded, Leobold Vandus, a thorn in his side, would disappear without a trace.
But he didnt know.
There was a limit to Tera Hawks divinity, and Arma knew that.
And Leobold was strong enough even decades ago.
Chapter 266:
Chapter 266:
If there was someone who was in a difficult situation in this war besides King Falx, it would be Cami.
She was a servant of the Zaium Empire and a close aide of Prince Barak.
She was not very close to Duke Pangral, who orchestrated the war behind the scenes, but she was notpletely unrted to him as a noble of the empire.
Thats why her presence in Bagran could be seen as an act of betrayal.
Prince Barak did not take the lead, and Leobold did not rebel against the empire, but if someone asked, it could be seen that way.
Thats why Cami, who was staying at the royal pce of Rozelon, had no peace on her face.
She had her territory, family, and property in Zaium.
She didnt have much family, but she had children and maids who trusted and followed her. She had to save them.
Cami, you sound very worried. Come in.
Cami sat on the sofa and told him what she was worried about.
So I couldnt even attend the coronation ceremony of His Highness. When he bes emperor, he will notice that. What should I do?
Thats a problem indeed. He doesnt seem like someone who would let it go easily.
I have hundreds of family members and property in my territory. I have children and maids who trust and follow me. I have to save them.
Youre so anxious that anyone can see youre a good bait.
You
Just kidding. But its obvious that Duke Pangral, who is restless, will think of you as prey. If he raids and conquers your territory as a countess and amander of the 7th Legion, it will be a sure merit for him. Then he can nder you as a traitor and get the emperors approval.
Cami nodded unconsciously at his detailed exnation.
He knew it as expected.
Then he must have an answer already
Leobold took out his walker and disyed a hologram.
This is my territory in Zaium. It looks like theres nothing there, but theres a small facility underground.
It was small, but it could amodate hundreds of people.
Why did you make this?
To excavate someones bones.
The next screen showed a huge bone.
It was not an ordinary monsters at a nce.
Probably a dragon.
Leobold seemed to care a lot about it.
Its the bone of Gold Dragon Altima. I dont know if his soul is still there, but I have to approach it carefully. The underground facility is a researchb for that bone and the artifact buried near it.
I see But what does thatb have to do with my territory?
Before Duke Pangrals attack begins, Ill use airships to move people there. It would be nice if you could join us since you have your troops nearby. Its a bit cramped, but its enough to livefortably.
Then what about my territory?
Give it up. That way we can attack Duke Pangralter.
He seemed to use her territory as bait to lure him out.
It was a familiar method by now, and it would be effective, but she wondered if he had to do that.
Why dont you just push him away? With your power and Armas, even the emperor of the empire would be powerless.
Not yet. It would be too much damage if I antagonize the emperor now. Not for me, but for them.
The poption of Zaium was over 100 million.
The aftermath would be hard to ignore if the empire with thergest poption in Astera shook.
Of course, Arma had the ability to cover even that situation.
But Leobold judged that there was no need to do that.
Didnt I tell you? My goal is continental unification. To achieve true unification, I cant just rely on physical force. I have to make people recognize me as someone who has the qualifications to challenge the emperor.
The emperor of humanity
Cami approached him as if drawn by him sitting on the chair and climbed onto hisp.
She wrapped her arms around Leobolds neck and looked straight at him.
Did you make that halo for that reason? You cant even im to be human anymore.
I need people to mistake me for having divinity for now.
Branding is something that makes Leobold, a human being, into a transcendent who has enough status to challenge the emperor.
Arma was putting a lot of effort into this part.
He spread rumors about his halo and that he obtained an amazing divinity, making his future enemies disappear and his current enemies lose their hostility.
It didnt work much during the war, but it would be different after some time passed.
Cami touched his halo and felt a warm energy.
What will happen after that? After you unify the continent and meet that being called the prophet.
I havent decided yet.
Thats surprising. I thought you would have scheduled everything until you got into the coffin.
Leobold gave a bitter smile.
The prophet is an unpredictable being, so I dont bother to predict. And when that timees, my job will be over.
I heard from Arma. Your dream is to retire.
I thought you didnt get along well, but I guess not.
Still, shes your aide, so I cant keep my distance forever. When I went to her with a drink, she said that. She said she doesnt need to be jealous because shes not human.
Arma is just a fairy-like being. Shes been by my side for more than 100 years and she will be in the future, so dont worry about her.
Now Cami hugged him tightly and kissed him lightly.
Can I be with you too?
Of course. But werent you a bit ambitious? I thought you would ask for the empire.
I felt it was pointless as I stayed with you. Whats the point of having a little power when Im next to a human who can burn the whole continent and approach the gods
Dont lose your motivation yet. Im going to use you when I attack Duke Pangral.
Youre probably going to push him away and put me in his ce.
Hes a noble of the empire, so there will be less resistance.
The emperor would oppose it, but he would have no choice if he faced impeachment.
Leobold hugged her waist and kissed her deeply, then let her go.
Youll be able to handle Duke Pangral without any trouble if you get the ether heart surgery.
Okay. Ill do whatever you say.
She walked toward the door and suddenly turned around and warned him.
I heard from Arma that you slept with more than a thousand women. Its hard to say that you should be satisfied with me. But promise me one thing. Dont bring in any other women without my consent.
I dont care about anyone else.
Do you think the princess feels the same way?
She must have seen Margareta visiting his office frequently.
Leopold sneered.
All we do is talk about history or debate on notes.
Thats how you close the gap. Youve been having meals together for a while, and soon youll be sharing a bed.
She has Tirendell, you know.
From what I see, that half-elf is nothing more than a servant. He doesnt seem to have any special feelings for her, and theres a huge gap in their status. Shes a high elf and a royal, after all.
Anyway, Im not interested right now.
Ill take your word for it.
Cami winked at him and disappeared.
***
Shadow elf Delfina has received a mission from Drizden.
I expected something like this, but shes doing better than I thought.
Leopold and Arma eavesdropped on the conversation through the biochip they imnted in Delfina.
The mission to assassinate Margareta was as expected.
She must be confident after receiving the divine power of Terahawk, but the pce where she was staying was the safest ce in the world.
Unless Rasa intervened directly, it was almost impossible to assassinate anyone there.
And the other mission was quite shocking.
It turned out that it was possible to send a persons soul to the past.
How is that possible when time and dimension are different?
It depends on how far Terahawks power can go, but ording to my calctions, it is possible to break through two walls and send it. However, there is a clear limit.
Arma showed the calcted results on a hologram.
Delfinas soul, which was sent to the past by Terahawk, broke through the wall of the ether universe, but stopped there.
If they guessed the time correctly, it was when Yu Ji-ha led the legion strike fleet to the vicinity of Pluto.
It didnt matter if a single soul entered there.
She might be able to control a few people with her ability, but it wont make much difference. And she cant solve the time paradox either. The past is just the past.
Even if she went back in time and assassinated pilot Yujiha, it wouldnt make Leopold disappear in the present.
If time worked that way, then the future would have changed when Yujiha arrived on Earth in the 21st century.
Why go there when nothing changes?
I dont know. They believe that Master is a hero from another world, but they dont know how old he is. They dont know anything about his abilities, his past, or even that this ether universe is closed.
ording to Armas calctions, it would take a tremendous amount of energy to physically break through the ether universe without a warp gate.
It wouldnt be enough with just one fusion reactor, and at least three synchronizations were needed.
Thats why they were making ether origin.
In fact, it was uncertain whether Terahawks divine power could break through that wall.
Even gue Queen couldnt do it.
Maybe its hard to get in from outside, but not so hard to get out from inside. Like Master opened a warp gate for a moment.
Thats a possibility.
Anyway, it was easy to interfere with Delfinas mission, but they had to leave her alone.
I need data on how she breaks through the walls of time and space, Master.
Arma had a tremendous knowledge of ether, but she was weak on those two elements because shecked data.
Now she might get some valuable data, so it didnt seem right to just stop her.
Lets not worry about the princess assassination thing and help her steal Terahawks artifact.
Actually, she shouldnt have much trouble with her ability. She can even disappear in front of your eyes.
But gravity couldnt be hidden.
I wonder how she knew about Terahawks artifact.
The first pope told Emperor Barak, and he seems to have contacted Elvrande. It leaked from there.
Emperor Zaium contacted Elvrande He pretended to hate elves so much.
I guess he hates enemies who pretend to be allies nearby more than distant enemies.
He cant show his teeth right away, so lets leave him alone for now.
He was an emperor with weak support base, but he would be helpful in restoring order in Zaium.
Arma reported that the production method of ether bomb had been leaked from Elvrande.
Actually, I should say they leaked it on purpose. Currently Zaium and Galisto are acquiring and analyzing the production method.
Drizdens intention is really wicked. He must have thought that since it was leaked anyway, he wouldnt let us have all the honey. By the way, it will take some time to make it even if they start now, right?
Theres not much technology involved in the ether bomb itself, so they should be able to mass-produce it in a month or two. The problem is stability.
Arma showed a screen where engineers were killed by the explosion of ether stone.
Theyre going to kill all the precious talents in a hurry.
They cant help it. Theyre in a hurry. Falx II is going crazy after finding out the production method of the ether bomb.
Its useless anyway
To train a shock trooper, a sophisticated training curriculum was needed, but Galisto couldnt make it.
They wouldnt use soldiers, and the knights would step up, but they didnt seem to have much motivation.
They considered it a disgrace to run around without riding Goliath.
Still, it was obvious that they would be a threatening enemy if they were deployed.
If they were apanied by knights on horned birds and magicians, they would have a formidable force that a single shock trooper couldnt match.
But Arma had prepared the roadmap for the future as well.
No matter what they did or what tactics they came up with, they were ying in her palm.
Leopold clicked his tongue as he saw more Goliaths added to Galisto on the operational map.
They smashed 100 of them, but they brought in 150 more. Where did they get the money?
Grand Duke Pangral supported them. Hes in trouble if Galisto falls behind.
Then we have to push harder. Delfina will steal the artifact, so be prepared for that. Send a vanguard to Heston. Its time for him to debut.
It would be difficult to debut in the social world, but it was a good ce to make his name known.
Yes, sir.
***
The situation of the battlest night was reported to each country.
Bagran was quiet, but Falx II spread the word and reached out everywhere, so most of the powerful people knew about the existence of shock troopers.
They were trembling at the power that destroyed Goliath in one blow.
How dare you challenge knights with peasant soldiers? How much more do you want to insult us?
I heard that King Bandas abolished all noble titles in Bagran. The fact that all shock troopers are peasants is based on his ideology.
-Is that why the refugees in our country are flowing into Bagran
They were annoyed by the rumor that there were many jobs and good treatment there.
They felt that Bagran was shaking the foundation of Astrea.
It was the order maintained by the ether bloodline.
Peasants providedbor, knights fought, and nobles ruled fairly.
That order was now being shaken.
Even the pope of the Holy Church made a statement that seemed to support Galisto.
He didnt name any ce, but he subtly criticized Bagran, saying that there was an order in the world that should never be shaken.
Of course, such passive pressure and criticism had no effect on Bagran.
Bagran had already established its foundation as an independent economic entity by Arma.
Most of the raw materials could be obtained domestically, and so were the necessities and weapons.
If there was anythingcking, they could just produce it from the smart factory located on the floating continent and smuggle it, so there was no problem at all.
On the other hand, Galistos situation did not improve at all despite Falx IIs efforts.
To make matters worse, Bagrans army, which had won the battle, began to build forward bases and anchorages on five axes.
This proved that Leopolds goal was not to win the war, but to swallow Galisto.
Falx II ordered them to crush that nonsense at any cost, no matter what happened.
Themander-in-chief, Duke Ernst, sent the reinforced Goliath unit southward to deter the construction site, while discussing countermeasures against the shock trooper unit.
The frontlinemanders argued that they should deploy arge number of airships for reconnaissance.
They use airships to transport shock troopers at night. We can find them if we bring magicians and use dark magic.
Bagrans airship power has been greatly expanded recently, but it is still behind us. We have to take advantage of that point.
There was one fatal drawback to that.
It cost too much money.
Most of the budget was invested in war expenses, and they also owed a huge debt to Grand Duke Pangral for getting Goliath.
If they also operated arge number of airships, it would not be enough to bend their backs, but break them.
Nevertheless, winning the war was urgent.
We have no chance unless we deal with those bastards. I allow arge-scale reconnaissance using airships.
What Galistosmanders didnt know was that the shock troopers had also received training for long-range infiltration.
Airships were just a means of transportation, and they could march if necessary.
The shock trooper unit led by Elwin and Catina carried loads on horned birds and ran through the night across Galistos territory.
They hid in nearby mountains or valleys during the day when there were many eyes, and as they moved northward, Galistos army failed to detect their presence.
And the result of missing them came as a fatal consequence.
Elwin and Catina arrived at the Fermil barons territory in the south andunched an attack on Goliath and the barons mansion using the night.
Dozens of ether bombs exploded, and Goliath fell like straw piles.
The mansion was brutally destroyed.
It was like being struck by lightning out of a clear sky for the baron of Fermil.
One of the southern strongholds was smashed like that, and Duke Ernst groaned and held his back head with his hand.
He never thought they would infiltrate like this.
Im going crazy.
Commander-in-chief, His Majesty has requested an offensive on Heston contact point!
We cant do that. We dont know how many troops are there.
Bagrans fleet was always guarding there, making it hard to approach.
Please listen to His Majesty first.
He hesitated and put his hand on themunicator that the lieutenant brought.
Yes, yes But Your Majesty, how can we attack there without the artifact Yes.
Duke Ernst sighed and ended themunication.
The king seemed to want some results to boast to Grand Duke Pangral.
He understood his urgency, but Heston Gorge was not a wide ce where arge-scale Goliath unit could move around.
Its a natural fortress. How can we attack there without knowing whats there
The only constion was that Terahawks artifact had been moved to Galisto.
If it was that artifact that could cast a wide-area curse, even ck Knight would have a hard time showing its power.
If they ambushed shock troopers in the mountains and quickly prated them, they might be able to do something.
Duke Ernst put all his hopes on that and gathered troops in the south.
It was over 100 units in size, and there were even Bephar-ss from Zaium.
It showed how much Falx II expected from this offensive.
But his expectations were ruined by one person.
The transport unit that carried Terahawks artifact arrived at the capital and tried to offer it to Falx II, but they panicked when they realized that it was gone.
Where did it go?
The vault is fine
The artifact was a palm-sized clock made with precision and stored in a vault under strict surveince.
It was impossible to steal the artifact without touching the vault and bypassing the numerous eyes of the transport unit and the magicians.
The person in charge tried to exin that, but it was not enough to stop Falx IIs rage.
You bastards stole the artifact and plotted against me!
No, no, Your Majesty!
Shut up! Take them away!
As the poor knights and magicians were dragged away, Duke Ernst received an order to carry out an offensive on Heston contact point.
Your Majesty, how can you ask me to attack there without the artifact?
Be quiet and follow my orders or Ill strip you of your rank! Find a way to recapture that ce!
It was a ridiculous order that hurt his pride, but the duke decided to endure it for now.
He felt pressured not to tease the high knights from Zaium any longer.
He would rather do something than be ridiculed as a coward.
So over 100 Goliaths rushed into the axis that connected Bagran.
Contrary to many worries, the workers in Heston Gorge had all fled and there was only one Goliath left.
But the appearance of Goliath was a bit strange.
It looked like a dragon somehow, and its identity was Albion.
Balgard saw the iing Goliath unit and smiled slyly.
Guests have arrived. I dont have much to offer, but Ill wee them warmly.
Aether shaped like wings spewed out from Albions back.
Chapter 267:
Chapter 267:
Valgard looked at the Goliath squad outside the ravine.
It was an impressive size of over 100 units, but he felt no tension at all.
That was because he was a champion of Altema, and what he was riding was Goliath Albion, made by the dwarf master craftsmen.
There was no Goliath in the current Astera that could surpass Albion in output.
Except for the monster that was being made exclusively for Leobold, that is.
He would have been a beast that could devour all the gods and dragons even if he had appeared during the Great War.
He was an incredible creature that synchronized three super-high-output cores to extract ether.
And the king is getting stronger and stronger
He felt that he was at least on par with Altema, or even more, when he first met him, but now he couldnt even guess how far he had reached.
The halo behind his head was quite visible even during the Great War, but the ether he felt at a nce made him shiver.
Is he really trying to be a god? Why does he want to revive Altema then?
It would be better to have as many beings as possible that could be his allies, but Leobold was far beyond that category.
He could hold the whole Astera in his palm, so why would he need Altema?
Maybe it was because of her uniqueness as the first dragon born by the Creator God Rasa.
Maybe he expected to find some connection with her, since there is a legend that she was the first dragon created by Rasa.
In fact, Valgard could find the reason why Leobold wanted to collect Altemas soul from Margaretas notes.
Her notes contained various records of the Great War, and among them there was one written by someone who had directly talked with Altema.
ording to the record, Altemas goal was to dominate humans, but beyond that, she wanted to summon the Creator God Rasa.
He didnt know how or by what means, but it seemed to be quite famous among the dragons at that time.
Zigaleon, who was an outsider, didnt seem to know anything about it.
Was her purpose to sweep away the Demon Kings of another world? She made a decision opposite to those cowards who chose to hide in fear.
Her goal ovepped with Leobolds, but it wasnt exactly the same.
No one could be sure that the Creator God Rasa and the prophet he was looking for were the same being.
And Leobold didnt want to ask anything from the prophet.
He just wanted to meet him I wonder what he went through on Earth that made him be like a fanatic.
Anyway, Valgard judged that Altemas revival was certain.
He didnt mean that she would revive physically, but judging from what he did with the branches of Yggdrasil, it seemed possible to collect her soul.
What should he do if she revived?
My contract is to serve her until her goal is achieved So I cant just follow the king when their goals sh
Fortunately, their goals might coincide, but there was also a high chance that they would differ.
In the end, Valgard had no choice but to follow Altemas fate.
Even if Altemas power couldnt match Leobolds.
That would be my repayment to Altema who gave me a new life. But before that
He wanted to finish off the descendants of Gram cleanly.
What did these bastards do?
They were divided into three families and fought each other. It was ridiculous.
Bagram was easy enough to subdue, but Grams family in Galisto had considerable power, and in Gram Kingdom they were even royalty.
He had a headache thinking about how to unite them.
I will reap what I sowed as an ancestor.
He didnt remember sowing anything and it was another world, but they were still people who had Gram as their surname.
He couldnt stand seeing them tarnish his name.
To do that, I have to deal with these guys first.
Valgard activated his ether heart and put strength into his whole body.
A faint golden aura covered Albion, which was almost his avatar, and intangible des were formed on his horns, ws, and tail.
This ether de looked inferiorpared to Leobolds, but it was a meritorious service that tore apart countless enemies during the Great War.
I dont need weapons. My body itself is a weapon!
He burst out ether and Altemas roar echoed.
Kwooooh!
The Galisto army flinched at the fierce roar that shook the ground, but they couldnt stop at this point.
They would be afraid of what the king would say if they retreated after even participating in the High Knight of Zaium.
There is no retreat! Dont even have fear!
We will win! For the glory of Grams family!
For Galisto!
The Goliaths rushed into the ravine, and Valgard Gram was enraged.
How dare these mongrels use the name of Gram?
The wings on Albions back pped briefly and he showed a jumping power that was unthinkable for a Goliath, flying up.
Boom!
The Goliaths were swept away by the shockwave of his fall, as if they were paper.
Valgard attacked the surrounding Goliaths wildly and shouted.
My name is Valgard Gram! Come out, you bastards who use the name of Gram! Ill kill you!
The Goliaths heavy armor was torn apart like paper.
Dozens of Goliaths surrounded him.
***
What? All destroyed? All 100 units?
Yes ording to the report, not a single one escaped.
Palkus II copsed as if he had lost his strength.
The officials around him hurriedly supported him, but he couldnt get up.
Instead, he muttered in a dazed voice.
How could this be That was a unit that should never have copsed They were all elites
His words were true.
The 100 Goliaths gathered in the south were piloted by the best knights from all over Galisto.
Not to mention that many High Knights from Zaium were also mobilized, so it was a unit that could not afford to fail.
But they were vaporized by a single Goliath.
Palkus II was so shocked that he couldnt even think of getting up.
It must be Vandus doing No doubt. Vandus broke his promise and showed up on the battlefield
The officials looked at each others faces and one of them finally stepped forward.
Excuse me, Your Majesty. King Vandus was not in this battle. He was in Rozelon yesterday, receiving a special envoy from Zaium.
Palkus IIs neck snapped back.
Zaium? Dont tell me he agreed to peace? No, thats not the problem. What about that monstrous Goliath? Who did my knights fight against?
Thest thing confirmed was the name Valgard Gram and this one record.
Palkus II didnt even notice the name Gram as he looked at the dragon-shaped Goliath in the record magic.
What is this? A dragon? No, its definitely smaller than that Zigaleon guy.
It is presumed to be a Goliath that mimics thebat method of a dragon.
Some people in the pce im that it resembles Albion, a Goliath that was active during the Great War.
Palkus II looked at him as if he was crazy at his absurd words.
David of the War Generation? Thats just a legend made up by the losers.
Your Majesty, Valgard Gram is a distant ancestor of the Gram family. He was a royal knight of the Gram Empire and the champion of Altema.
It was a logical statement, but it sounded like an excuse to the angry king.
Thats impossible! The ones who lost in battle are just using legends as an excuse! Weve already lost 100 Goliaths, how are we going to stop them? The Archduke is waiting for your answer!
King Palkus II rambled on endlessly.
The situation turned in favor of Bagran after Galistos defeat.
The 100 Goliaths that were lost this time were, as King Palkus II said, the elite of Galisto.
The Hayston outpost was a strategic point that had to be captured, and they had invested their best troops there, but they were wiped out without a trace, leaving them with few remaining forces.
They still had 350 Goliaths, but most of them were outdated models that couldnt even output normally, so they couldnt expect much from them.
Meanwhile, the Gram Duke family in Galisto paid attention to the name Valgard Gram, who performed brilliantly in this battle.
Is it really Valgard Gram?
Yes. His machine is confirmed to be Albion, a dragon-shaped model. The legend has finally revealed itself.
The champion of Altema
The Duke of Gram looked out the window and fell into deep thought.
Most of the records from the war era were iplete, but the major families that were active at that time still had a legend or two.
The Gram Duke family even possessed a chroniclepiled by the empire at that time.
It would not be easy to get away with it if the royal family found out, but they couldnt give up their roots.
They still remembered the glory of the Gram Empire in the past.
Two hundred years ago, our family ruled the Gram Empire. We had influence over every part of Astera, and even those elves acknowledged us. But now, the Gram family is ruined.
Your Grace, you are a hero of Galisto and also themander of the capital defense. And arent you also respected by many nobles?
The Duke of Gram shook his head.
Im nothing but a mere noble of Galisto. Im not even a direct descendant of Gram, but a branch that was raised by someone who fell out and founded a country without any foundation.
Your Grace, that remark
The aides looked around nervously to see if anyone was listening.
The dukes remark would not go unnoticed by the kings ears.
Of course, they couldnt easily dispose of him because of the prestige of the Gram family, but it would be a huge blow to fall out of favor with the king.
But the Duke of Gram didnt seem to care at all.
This war is over. This country will rise again with the Gram royal family at its center. We will rebuild the Gram Empire that once dominated the whole continent!
At this point, it was hard to tell if it was delusion or serious.
It was clear that Galisto was no match for Bagran.
But behind Galisto was Archduke Pangral, and behind him was the Zaium Empire.
No matter how strong King Vandus was, he couldnt face them all.
On the other hand, at the Zaium imperial pce, more serious and grave discussions were taking ce.
Barak, who had just ascended to the throne as emperor, rejected Archduke Pangrals proposal outright.
He did not show up on the battlefield as promised, nor did he send out Zigarion. And yet he wants us to use Meteor Strike? Thats unreasonable.
Your Majesty, we must kill him here and now. If we dont, he will surpass Zaium someday.
Do you think he will go that far
The champion of Altema
The majority of nobles, including Emperor Barak, denied it, but ording to the information they received, it seemed to be Valgard himself.
They didnt know how a person from the past appeared, but it was hard to deny his thrillingbat power.
Archduke Pangral started to go crazy from then on.
He insisted that they had to kill King Vandus at this opportunity.
But Emperor Barak was skeptical.
ording to our envoy, he is satisfied with Galisto. So lets stop here. He is still a loyal servant of Zaium anyway. It wont be a big problem even if he bes one with her.
Archduke Pangral was furious at the emperors absurd perception of reality.
Where was the guarantee that he would be satisfied with Galisto?
The emperor must have been scared by the halo of Altemas champion.
The next thing hell do after absorbing Galisto is me. Ill kill him before that happens.
He couldnt use Meteor Strike right away because one of the reasons was that Leobold didnt break his promise.
Unlike Elvrande, the procedure for activating Zaiums mass-destruction magic was extremelyplicated.
He couldnt use magic with his will alone.
At least I need a pretext.
For example, Countess Croitz
Thepanion of Vandus, she did not return from Bagran despite the emperors order to return.
The core forces also disappeared and there were only servants in the territory.
If I attack Croitzs territory, that bastard Vandus wont be able to sit still.
It was an old truth that no man could endure when a woman wetted her pillow with tears in bed.
They said it was a business rtionship, but she was a bait to lure him out. And then he would drop Meteor Strike on Roseron.
It was a pity to destroy the prosperous city, but it was too strong to capture.
So he had no choice but to crush it.
Archduke Pangral cut off themunication with the emperor who called him.
He couldnt back down any more.
The only way for him to live was to kill Leobold Vandus.
***
Delfina, who stole the artifact of God, headed straight to the pce of Bagran.
There was hardly anything rough for her, who had Nocton in her arms.
She broke through the strict security during the war as if it was nothing and wandered around the bustling streets of Roseron as if it was her own home.
But when she tried to infiltrate the pce, it was no joke.
Are you kidding me What kind of magic did they put up like this?
The ether she felt outside was enough to make her shiver.
Of course, she had Noctons power, which made her immune to such magic.
But she had to give up her mission when she saw Leobold, who apanied Margareta as if he was her escort.
That halo Its not magic or a trick. Its proof that he has a divine nature.
He was a monster when she met him on the coast of Vandus vige, but now she didnt even dare to touch him.
The ether that emanated from him warmed the people.
The citizens of Roseron cleared the way for him as if they were bewitched and knelt before him.
There was no gap, but Delfina gave up her mission after their eyes met.
My life is more important than killing the princess.
But why did Margareta look happy?
Surprisingly, she looked cheerful and light-footed by Leobolds side.
She didnt look like a princess of misfortune who was captured by a human kingdom.
Delfina gritted her teeth at her.
My people are wandering without finding and to rest, and you, as a royal
Her smiling white face was hateful.
She wanted to ruin everything about her and then strangle her to death.
But if she jumped out now, she would be the one on the stake.
I cant act rashly The only way to kill him is to go back to the past.
The possibility was low, but if there was no other way, she had to try it.
Delfina gave up on killing the princess and returned to Elvrandee.
Unexpectedly, Drizden didnt scold her.
You failed to kill the princess. Well, I didnt expect much as long as Tirendell is there.
Its not Tirendell, but that Leobold guy whos the problem. He clearly has a divine nature, and if we dont do something
Thats why we got the artifact of Terahawk, right? Give it to me.
She hesitated for a moment and handed over the watch.
Once the deal was done, her fate, her peoples fate, and even the future were in Drizdens hands.
He grinned with his aged face.
Lets start right away without wasting time. Come to theb I designated.
At a secretb on the outskirts of Elvrandee, the process of contacting Terahawks soul began.
The white ether lump that appeared in the ss tube answered Drizdens questions obediently, as if it knew its situation.
Leobold Vandus. The name of the one we are looking for. O manager of time and space, how old is he exactly?
I dont know All I know is that someone came here 53 years ago
Here? What do you mean? Do you mean this Astera continent?
Astera is just a small continent in the vast space that surrounds us
So beyond that is the realm of gods.
If there were dwarves here, they would have been happy to confirm their hypothesis that there was another space beyond the sky, but Drizden interpreted it differently.
To him, beyond the sky was a space that should not be approached.
So his age is 53 years old?
All I can say is that it has been 53 years since he came here
What about before that? Where was he? How old was he?
He guessed it was a human who kept asking about his age, so he wanted to send Delfina back to his childhood and kill him.
Even the champion of god and dragon couldnt escape the problem of lifespan, and it wasmon sense for Drizden that human lifespan was very short.
He thought Leobold couldnt escape that fate either.
But in fact, Leobold came from somewhere other than ether civilization and his current age was close to 125 years old.
Drizden didnt know that and kept asking when his childhood was, but Terahawks soul refused to answer.
I dont know what he did or what state he was in 53 years ago. Can you turn back the clock before then?
Thats impossible That space is beyond my power Even if I borrow the power of Yggdrasil, it would only be a few months at most
Damn it.
He asked a few more questions, but there was no informationing out.
At this rate, the name of god of time and space would be meaningless, but Asteras gods were like this.
Thats why the elves who hated them became their guardians.
Drizden decided after some thought and turned his eyes to Delfina.
Im sorry, but youll have to go.
A few months before 53 years ago? Are you sure its okay without any certainty that its his childhood?
There arent many options left if you fail. Only then can Astera be peaceful and prosperous.
The few options left were total war, Meteor Shower, and the end of the world.
He had to try everything he could to kill Leobold before it came to that.
Delfina nodded slowly.
Her future as a shadow elf was already decided.
Would she hold on to the slim possibility of settling in Elvrandee, or would she be swept away by the humans as they were?
Its okay. Ill go back to the past and kill him.
Good. Then, go in here.
His finger pointed to the Fountain of Souls.
She took off her clothes and went in, and the fountain and the surrounding area were filled with golden ether.
The wholeb buzzed and spat out light.
Delfina closed her eyes and felt her consciousness being sucked somewhere.
Im dizzy
She wanted to vomit, but barely held it back.
After some time passed, the light that flickered on her eyelids disappeared.
She opened her eyes cautiously.
A space she had never seen before greeted her.
Chapter 268:
Chapter 268:
Delfina looked around and was bewildered.
What is this
She didnt expect a wide sea or a green meadow, but shouldnt it be a familiar scenery to some extent?
There was nothing but iron around her, and when she looked out the window, she only saw light.
It was as if someone was shooting thousands of arrows of light.
What are they doing here I have no limbs.
She btedly realized that she was in a soulless state without a body.
It was impossible to cross the walls of dimensions and time with a body, even with the power of Yggdrasil and divinity.
Its a relief that I can hear. But how do I find Leobold in this ce?
She looked around carefully, but there was nothing familiar.
It was full of boxes and strange devices made of unidentified materials.
She approached a box and tried to read the letters, but gave up.
Whatnguage is this?
It certainly wasnt Astra.
It must be his home world, the other world.
As she looked around again, she heard a beep and someone came in.
It was a woman in a dark blue work suit.
She lifted her hat and sighed.
Clean up the warehouse? Is this something a human can do?
The Legion Strike Fleet was rightfully the strongest fleet of the human alliance, but they had nothing ready because of the sudden mission.
They didnt even have enough workers, so everyone was having a hard time.
All the functions of the fleet were focused on destroying the gue Queens nest deployed in the main orbit of Pluto, and everything else was trivial.
No matter what, we need some workers And why is it so cold
It was because of Delfina, who was nearby in a soulless state.
She realized that she hadnt been noticed and sighed with relief as she entered the intruders body.
It was impossible topletely take over her body, but she could move it like controlling an animal.
Haha Sess.
As her soul merged, the original owners memories flowed into her.
She remembered living among many people in a huge and grand castle, bing a soldier, and joining some fleet.
Legion Strike Fleet? Is it inside a ship?
She had no idea what kind of ship was full of iron like this.
Delfina cleared her throat and spoke.
Ah, um Hello. Im Huh?
She greeted them in the continentalnguage, but what she heard was apletely differentnguage.
It was strange, but Delfina had no time.
Leobold He said his original name was Yu Ji-ha. Anyway, I just have to kill him. He should be somewhere here
It was information from Kyoguk.
They were fools for falling for Drizdens temptation and giving such important information.
Legion Strike Fleet It would be troublesome if he was on another ship.
She thought about various things as she approached the door, which opened automatically.
Amazing Is it powered by ether?
There were doors like this in Elvrande too, but they werentmon enough to be used in ces like warehouses.
When she went out to the hallway, there were more than one or two of these doors.
How big is this ship?
The hallway meant that it couldnt get out of the ships ss.
Thergest airship in Elvrande had a hallway that was only 10 meters long, and it was full of all kinds of equipment and structures.
But the hallway she saw stretched out and looked very neat.
As she cautiously went outside, someone waved at her.
Lisa, Lisa! Did you finish cleaning up the warehouse?
Uh No. I was about to do it.
Youre not doing it now, youre going to the bridge now. The maintenance team has been deployed elsewhere, so we have to install the fire control cables.
What did she do?
Delfina had no time to answer as she dragged her along.
The inside of the ship was huge.
She ran and walked for several minutes, but there was no sign of the bridge.
On the contrary, there were very few people.
There were no mixed races either.
They said there were only humans in the other world. They look different in skin color, but theyre all humans.
Were there no elves here?
Anyway, she was dragged near the bridge and made to pull a cable.
She thought it was a simple line, but it was a thick line as thick as an arm, incrediblyrge and heavy.
Someone came out in front of everyone and shouted.
The battle is about to begin! Our job is to finish installing the fire control cables before that! There arent many people, so youll have to use all your strength!
Delfina looked at the corner as he spoke.
A short warning sounded and a voice came from the corner.
Prepare to decelerate the fleet. Main booster reverse thrust starts. 5, 4, 3.
Soon the ship shook and the lighting in from the window decreased.
Delfina pushed people away and stuck to the window.
Surprisingly, a dark space greeted her.
What are they doing here
All she saw was a strange space full of ck.
She could find out the identity of this space through the original owners memory.
Space.
The unknown area that humanity finally reached beyond the earth.
Even 20 years ago, space hardly gave itself to humanity, but it changed because of one person.
He was Yu Ji-ha.
He said he was a soldier, but maybe he was also an ether engineer.
She stopped looking around and squeezed in between people to listen to the speech.
She wanted to hear where Yu Ji-ha was, but he didnte up at all.
I think its hard with this body, so Ill have to find another one.
He wouldnt know her at all, so she could just sneak up on him at night and kill him.
A loud rm rang in her ears as she searched for prey.
Warning. Massive ether detected from the nest. The gue fleet has started to move. Named A1 fleet from now on.
She thought of ships floating on the water or airships when she heard the word fleet, and was surprised.
Hundreds, thousands of monsters popped out of the ruins and gathered together.
They looked small at a nce, but they were monsters that were hundreds of meters long each.
But Somehow, the appearance of the gue was very simr to something she knew.
Arent they demons? Theyre so big?
The demons of the demon world.
Demons were rarely seen in Astera these days, but two hundred years ago, they would appear whenever people forgot about them.
And the Demon King.
The current policies of Elvrande were nothing but desperate attempts to prevent the Demon King from descending into this world.
The current leaders, including Drizden, believed that the elves were suffering because of the ignorant humans.
Anyway, the demons that were visible outside the window boasted a size and scale that made her chest tight, even though they were far away.
If one of those things came to Astera
Could they stop it?
It wasmon sense that the power of a demon was proportional to its size.
Even the Demon King who appeared in Astera ten years ago and caused havoc seemed to be no match for the smallest one among them.
Is the Legion Strike Fleet meant to fight those things?
He remembered thest bastion of humanity that President Yu Ji-ha had created.
In a way, Leobold hade to Astera after fighting these monsters in his world.
Delphina was shocked to recall that fact.
Then the power he showed now is only a fraction of his true strength?
How much power was he hiding?
Delphina left Lisa and mingled with the crew of the bridge.
As soon as the battle began, she saw countless Goliath-like dolls leaving the ship.
3rd Squadron,unch ready,unch as soon as ready.
Fire control system online,bat prediction start.
Laser salvo.
Numerous beams of light spewed out from the fleet.
Each one had a tremendous power that overwhelmed the ether cannon fire of the airship fleet.
Delphina opened her mouth wide as she saw the gue Fleet blocking it with a shield.
The scale of the battle was iparable to that of Astera.
Too strong How can we fight against this?
She thought that even one of these ships could burn down all of Astera.
Speaking of which, ording to the Pope, Leobold also brought arge ship with him when he came here?
Delphina concluded after much deliberation that it was impossible for her to find and kill Leobold.
There were too many people on this ship alone, and it was almost impossible to search the entire fleet. She also didnt know how to get to another ship.
Even if she was lucky enough to find him, it was uncertain whether she could kill him.
I have to go back What do I do when I go back?
Her mission given by Drizden was practically a failure.
Now she had to either spill the truth or do something else when she went back. But she didnt feel like doing that.
I cant just tell Drizden this information.
She thought she could use it to her advantage since she was the only one who knew it.
It would be foolish to go to Leobold and negotiate with him.
Okay I have to go back to Astera now.
It was a meager result for using Terra Hawks power.
But she was able to get a glimpse of what kind of ce and power Leobolds world had.
We shouldnt have been hostile in the first ce.
It was useless to regret it now.
She and all the shadow elves were his enemies.
They had no choice but to bow down and obey him. But the hatred they had umted over time was not a joke.
Would Leobold ept the shadow elves?
Maybe hell kill them all
Delphina regretted being hostile to him and finished preparing to go back.
As soon as she activated the ether heart, she felt dizzy as she did when she came here.
And as soon as she felt the soul spring, she used Nocturnes power to jump somewhere.
Drizden, who was waiting for her, was surprised when she disappeared without a word.
What, what? Why did you run away all of a sudden?
He hastily released his troops and ordered a search, but Delphina was nowhere to be seen.
Damn! How can you run away without even exining! This is why I didnt trust those gray bastards!
He knew very well that the fate of all shadow elves depended on him. It was strange that he acted like this.
What did he see ande back with that he ran away without saying anything?
****
Why are you suddenly drawing pictures?
Maybe he has no confidence in his memory. He might be drawing them to show them to someone else.
As soon as Delphina returned to Astera, she used Nocturnes power to escape from theboratory.
Thats when the location tracking through biochip started and Arma watched her every move.
She thought she would run away and go where her kin were, but she hid in a quiet forest and drew pictures.
The content was about her past experience.
Her drawing skills are terrible. I cant even tell what shes drawing.
It looks like a warehouse of a battleship ss
Leobold realized that it was a warehouse after a while.
Which battleship is it?
Its likely to belong to the Legion Strike Fleet, since it only took a few months after breaking through the dimensional wall andnded near the Master.
Legion Strike Fleet
He remembered the past.
In 2048, when the gue Queen appeared in the orbit of Pluto and built a nest, Yu Ji-ha organized the Legion Strike Fleet.
They wanted to strike a fatal blow before they were ready and annihte them.
They seeded in that and finally managed to kill the gue Queen.
But aftering to Astera, he thought he had just sent her to another dimension.
By now, that gue Queen might be grinding her teeth and building up her power in some strange ce like me.
Dont worry about Lucia. Im keeping an eye on her.
What Leobold was most worried about was that Lucia would be influenced by the original gue Queen in some way.
She begged him to hand over the key, so it seemed that she didnt have the ability to break through dimensions without a warp gate, but he couldnt rx.
Its easy for souls to break through dimensions, as Ive learned.
The analysis of Terra Hawks power revealed a pattern simr to an algorithm in the divine rank.
Leobold looked at her with a sudden remark.
Are you saying that the divine rank is an algorithm?
98% The flow of data and ether are very simr.
Thats almost the same.
Arma had often said that ether circuits were no different from semiconductors.
It was too early to judge at this point, but it wasnt far-fetched to assume that the divine rank was a kind of artificial intelligence.
To analyze it more finely, we need more awakening of the divine rank. Right?
Especially in Elvrande and the Holy Kingdom, we can get a lot of things.
Arma knew a lot about ether, but she was somewhat weak in terms of time, space, and divine power.
To fully analyze the power, he needed to make contact with it.
He didnt have to bring it here, he could just activate the measuring device and analyze it from a distance.
While they were chatting, Delphina hadpleted several paintings.
That was when you had your first battle in the orbit of Pluto.
He remembered that everything wascking except for the firepower, because they had organized so hastily.
But thanks to Armas control, there were no big problems in navigation andbat.
Only the crew suffered a lot.
If you saw that scene, you would have realized that Masters assassination was meaningless. You must be starting to worry now.
As Arma said, Delphina was worried.
It was crazy to contact Leobold with that information, and she wondered where she could sell this information for a high price.
Theres no one else but the Holy Kingdom.
They were the only ones who noticed that Leobold came from another world.
I was going to kill you when you became unnecessary, but you keep proving your usefulness. I think its better to leave you alone for now.
Delphina was a dangerous existence, but there was no big problem because they could control her.
At this rate, you will be able to absorb all the powers of the Astera Pantheon.
How about the Elven Pantheon?
Im in the process of verifying the existence of divinity through Margretas notes. Yggdrasil is definitely a god and her saint Ruster is also a god. But Im not sure about Ailid.
There was still a lot to analyze.
In fact, the gods of Astera were far from omnipotent and had limited powers that were closer to transcendents.
Therefore, if Arma analyzed all their powers, she would be able to look down on most of the gods.
If she was that powerful, what could he call her master Leobold?
He took his eyes off Delphina.
What do you think will happen if the Kingdom gets the information?
They wont be able to do anything great. Its all spection and they dont trust the Shadow Elves anyway. But they might confirm Masters identity and spread it across the continent.
That doesnt sound too dangerous.
Most of the people who could influence Leobold were already known.
The only problem was that the information that the Kingdom extracted through the saintess was not something he could ignore.
ording to Arma, it was 2053 on Earth now.
Are you sure? Its only been five years?
He had passed through the warp gate with the new pioneer fleet in 2048, but something was strange.
The saintesss power is getting stronger and stronger, and recently she can even hear peoples voices. Many people said it was 2048.
Tell me exactly whats going on.
Arma told him the results of digging up information from the Holy Kingdom.
In short, it was a mess.
After we left, all the megacities were engulfed in extreme chaos. Except for Pacific, most of them broke out in civil wars and it got worse after the Legion Strike Fleet returned.
I thought I had divided up several megacities so they could share them.
Not only the Legion Strike Fleet, but also the existing space tforms and fleets had their ownership divided.
Many megacities in Pacific and Korea, which were the core, had a lot of power, but they didnt exceed 40%.
It meant that he wanted them to focus on Pacific and restore thend that had been abandoned before.
But when Leobold and Arma disappeared at the same time, many megacities started to use their power excessively to regain their dominance.
The most representative ones are Megacity America and Deutsch, who criticized Master and entered into an alliance formation. Many ces including Megacity Manchuria responded and Pacific is isted.
Except for North and South?
Yes. Pacific, North, and South are one body.
They were very close because they were located in Korea and North Pacific.
ording to her exnation, Earth was undergoing a reorganization of power by taking advantage of Leobolds absence.
This was what he expected.
Without Armas control, chaos was inevitable and it was predictable that each megacity would start acting independently.
But he didnt expect that nine megacities led by America would stamp a mark on him under the name of maintenance.
They call him the worst murderer who abandoned seven billion people, a cowardly power-monger who ran away to save himself, and a cruel dictator who oppressed megacities too much.
Ive been cursed so much that I dont feel much.
He had heard all kinds of negative words about him during his 20 years of activity as Maintenance.
It wouldnt be an exaggeration to say that every derogatory word on Earth came before his name.
The bitter thing was that he had taken measures to preserve humanity, but they hadpletely forgotten that.
It was probably because the damage was too great except for the megacities.
In the end, 1.2 billion people were amodated in 12 megacities.
The remaining seven billion were just abandoned.
For years, gues appeared in the sr system hundreds of times and caused tremendous damage.
The Earth Fleet tried to intercept them as much as possible, but they couldnt prevent the damagepletely.
Many cities were destroyed and by 2045, the carbon emission level had dropped to one-fifth of what it was 10 years ago.
That hatred umted. The remaining politicians gathered their hatred for Master and used it for their own power. I guess the more powerful and hateful the enemy is, the higher the concentration of power.
So whats their goal?
To unify Earth. Its only a matter of time before they absorb the rest of the megacities, except for Pacific, North, and South.
Congressman Baek Sung-min must have messed up.
It was impressive that he had managed to calm the people and be the speaker of the parliament in the midst of that chaos.
Leobold had hoped that humanity would move forward towards the future, towards the space, while fighting and struggling moderately after he left the sr system.
But humanity was only trying to expand their power by gathering hatred under the name of maintenance, instead of working hard on space development after the gue disappeared.
That was the atmosphere in most of the megacities, except for three.
Its bitter, but I cant help it Thats the future they chose.
Do you want to go back?
Not yet.
As he had said several times, he still had things to do here.
Returning to Earth was something he had to do after finishing everything, even if he put aside the possibility.
And in some ways, leaving Earth as it was might be the right thing to do.
Because thats their choice. Right?
I will follow Masters decision.
Leobold nodded and listened to the rest of her report.
The war was nearing its end thanks to Valgad, who had ughtered nearly a hundred Goliaths in Heston Canyon.
Currently, Galisto has lost its will to fight and Duke Gram is showing his willingness to surrender. It is expected that entering the capital will not be difficult.
What about Zaium?
The emperor has sent another envoy. He might want to end the war at this point.
I want to wrap it up too, but theres one person who doesnt want that.
For example, Archduke Pangral.
He had only suffered losses in this war, so he would want to make up for it.
He must have rejoiced at seeing Camis territory empty, but he didnt know that it was Leobolds trap.
All that was left was to swallow up bothnds at once and beg for mercy from the emperor.
Lets go and take over Galisto. Send out the fleet.
Leobold watched the airship fleet preparing to depart from the direct territory.
They looked pitifulpared to the Legion Strike Fleet, but they would change a lot in the future.
Chapter 269:
Chapter 269:
In Astera, wars usually began and ended with the battle of Goliath.
It was rare for anyone to march on the enemys capital after achieving an overwhelming victory, and it was moremon to end the war through negotiations.
This was because the warring parties had a sense of homogeneity as Aether-blooded.
Most of the countries had split from the Gram Empire in the past, so if they traced their roots, they often found that they had the same ancestors.
Thanks to that, even if a war broke out, it usually ended with payingpensation.
That was the case if it was a war between human kingdoms.
Elvrande sincerely tried to kill humans and gradually absorbed theirnds.
They had slowed down recently, but that was due to a policy change and internal turmoil, not a change in their contempt for humans.
Anyway, in that respect, the leaders of each country who watched this war expected that Bagran would stop at this point.
Even if hes a reckless Vandus king, he cant ignore Zaiums eyes. He wont be able to take Galisto.
Even if he has military strength, the size difference is too big. Its impossible for a country with 3 million people to rule over 7 million.
Its doubtful how they will distribute food if the capital is swept up in war. In Galistos case, most of the food passes through the capital, so unless they intend to starve all the citizens
Galisto is the only country besides Zaium that has installed Aether cannons for intercepting airships. The uracy is low, but they cant miss hitting arge airship.
In this way, dozens of reasons why Bagran could not capture Galistos capital were listed.
It didnt make sense logically, so many people agreed with the optimists ims.
Butmon sense was bound to break someday, and Leobold was an expert in that field.
At the anchorage located in Bagrans direct territory, sailors began to run around busily.
Departure! Prepare for departure!
Close the hatch and report if youve loaded all the cargo!
Ready to release mooring!
The sailors here showed a different level of movement from those of other countries.
They only ate and practiced sailing, so they couldnt be slow.
They were also experts in handling the ships maneuvers or dealing with damage when hit in battle.
Leobold ordered them to pay generously but work hard, and Admiral Hampton followed suit.
Thanks to that, the Galisto expedition fleet was able topletely release the mooring within 30 minutes of receiving the departure order.
If it had been another country, it would have taken at least a few hours.
Departure!
As Admiral Hamptons order came down, more than 20 airships rose into the air.
All the sailors were experienced in sailing, so it was quite fast to match the speed and form a line.
Fix the route! Run Aether engines at 50%! Go straight to Presto like this!
The purpose of the attack fleet was to enter Galistos capital and drop off Goliath and troops.
It wouldnt be easy since it was the capital, but they werent too worried.
The gunners had already experienced victory, so they had confident faces, and above all, Valgard was on board.
The champion of Altema who ughtered 100 elite knights of Galisto.
It was impossible to lose as long as he was there.
As soon as the fleet crossed the border line, Galistos airships that were wandering nearby entered a defensive stance.
They originally intended to keep a distance and observe their movements, but the vanguard did not leave them alone.
They increased the output of Aether engines and quickly surrounded two scout airships.
Galistos sailors were surprised by their tremendous speed.
What, whats so fast?
Theres no use running away! Lets slow down!
But what did Galistos captain think? He made an unfortunate choice.
He ignored the signal of Jeongseonhara (a glowing stone) and slowly increased his engine output and started running away recklessly.
Admiral Hampton decided that he needed to set an example.
We are in Galistos territory, but we dont have to be weak! Prepare to fire Aether cannons! Aim at the fleeing airship!
Aiming done! Ready to fire!
Fire!
A beam of light that couldnt bepared with Galistos stretched out toward the fleeing airship.
The lump of Aether that hit its tail instantly smashed its engine and destroyed its hull bnce.
The airship tilted and began to spill out its crew members on deck.
Ahhhh!
Save me!
Those who saw it quickly surrendered.
It might be different on the sea, but in the sky there was no hope of survival when hit by an Aether cannon.
There was no possibility of the enemy rescuing them, so it was realistic to raise their hands as soon as they had a chance.
But one captain refused to surrender.
This is Galistos sky! We have no reason to surrender to Bagran bastards! We will retreat to Presto as we are!
He tried to disguise his escape as a retreat, but the sailors didnt care.
Dozens of them drew their swords and surrounded the captain and his officers.
You, you traitors?
Dont you have to be alive to be a traitor? Choose! Do you want to fall to the ground or surrender?
The captain held his head high even though the sailors threatened him.
He had a title of baron, so it must have been hard for him to ept the intimidation ofmoners.
I refuse! You bastards will be executed as soon as you return to the capital!
What a ridiculous thing to say.
Two big sailors stepped forward and grabbed him firmly.
Wha, what, are you trying to throw me? Dont you think about the reward?
What reward, Bagran will take over anyway. Hey, take him to the ground!
Let me go! Let me go!
He struggled, but he didnt say he would surrender because of his pride as a nobleman.
Thanks to that, he was thrown over the deck with a single scream.
Ah!
Of course, there was nothing there.
As soon as the troublemaker was removed, most of the officers raised their arms and the airship slowed down and hoisted a white g.
It happened just before the vanguard fired Aether cannons.
They couldnt drag the surrendered airship and advance to the capital, so one of the ships in the rear guard transported them to the rear.
The Galisto attack fleet captured five airships in this way and moved them to their home country.
Now all that was left was the final battle with the defense fleet and the capture of the capital.
And at that time, a special envoy from Palcus II visited Rozelon.
***
Lets end it here?
Leobold shook a white letter in front of the envoy.
If he removed all the courtesies from the content, what Palcus II wanted was one thing.
Truce.
He couldnt surrender because of his pride, and he didnt think negotiations would work, so he wanted to stop fighting for a while.
The letter was thrown in front of the envoy.
Thats absurd. Were about to capture the capital, why should we stop at someone elses whim?
There has been no case of a kingdom being conquered in over 200 years since the Great War, Your Majesty.
Then this will be the first case.
Your Majesty, Galisto is arge country and there are people who are unhappy with this war. Can you handle it?
Normally, he would have said something like, if you make a big deal without thinking about the consequences, youll regret it.
But after one diplomats arm was cut off and returned, every word was careful.
Leobold smiled and threw him a note.
The envoys face turned pale as he skimmed through the contents.
The emperor you believe in has decided to back off from this war. Hell probably admit Galisto.
His Majesty the Archduke will not stay still!
So what, are you going to activate Meteor Strike and attack me? Then Ill send Valgard and Zigaleon.
It meant that he had no choice but to retreat at this point, since he didnt want to annihte Galisto anyway.
The envoy realized that he could no longer hope for help in this war.
Leobold told him what he wanted wasplete surrender.
No negotiation, no conditional truce, nothing. Tell Palcus II to raise a white g.
That will only prolong the battle if you give them a sense of doom!
Just crush them thoroughly. Ill have to deal with the nobles anyway after I take over, so its not bad. Its not bad to show them an example this time.
Apparently, the Vandus king wanted to merge Galisto as well as subjugate it.
It would never have happened if the empire was intact, but for some reason, the current empire did not intervene actively.
The envoy contacted his home country with Leobolds permission.
When he conveyed his intention to surrender unconditionally, Palcus II smashed all the furniture in his office and raged.
This cant be! How dare that usurper who has no roots! Fine! I dont want a truce anymore either! Ill mobilize all my forces and join the fleet battle!
Galistos airship fleet was numerically equal to Bagrans, but it was a result of scraping together from everywhere with a huge debt.
They paid a lot of money and borrowed a few ships from Zaium and Denova, so they werent well trained and their weapons were mixed.
But Palcus II trusted the defense system installed in the capital.
Its impossible to withstand the concentrated fire of numerous batteries with that size! They wont be able to set foot in the capital!
It wasntparable to Zaiums battery in terms of power and size, but it could be said that it was the same in that it was fatal if hit by one.
Palcus II focused on defending the capital and waited for Zaiums rescue troops toe.
Whether it was the emperor or the Archduke of Pangral, he thought they would save him if he held on.
But there was no contact from Zaium until Bagrans attack fleet appeared over Presto.
The citizens watched with fearful faces as 20 airship fleets entered from the outskirts.
Bagrans airships have something sticky on them
They look big and heavy Can we win?
But we have Aether cannons!
The Aether cannon defense system of Presto was raised as the hope of all Galisto.
But Gram Duke, who was responsible for it, just watched through the window as both fleets encountered each other.
Your Grace, His Majesty ordered you to attack quickly.
The distance between the fleets will be too narrow for a volley. We have to fire now.
The vassals urged him, but he asked something irrelevant instead of giving orders.
Do you think our fleet will win?
If we only look at the airships, it might be difficult, but dont we have a defense system?
The Aether cannons on the ground are powerful and have a long range. We also corrected the uracy recently, so we should be able to stop that fleet.
We dont have time, Your Grace.
The repeated requests did not work, and he seemed to have given up.
Ive heard a bit about Bagrans airships. They adopted living metal armor tes and are very sturdy. There are research results that say they can withstand some volleys.
Galistos Aether engineers were not fools.
They knew long ago that Bagrans airships had fully adopted living metal.
This strange metal was not only incredibly hard but also light, making it ideal for defense.
Some engineers even imed that there was no fleet that could beat Bagrans fleet of equal numbers.
Zaium or Elvrande airships may be bigger, but the difference in defense is significant. If they actually fight, they will be crushed one-sidedly.
In addition, Bagrans airships looked strangely fast.
Was it just an illusion?
Gram Duke muttered as he watched the two fleets form a line.
Bagran has improved both defense and mobility. Theres no way they didnt touch the firepower. Something terrible will happen soon.
What terrible thing was going to happen?
The vassals could no longer demand system activation and just watched.
Both fleets opened their ports and started firing almost at the same time.
Light beams crossed in the air over Presto, creating dizzying explosions.
Ahh!
What was going on? The citizens who were watching from below wrapped their heads and ran away.
The airship fleet battle they had only heard of was certainly amazing, but the aftermath was no joke.
Some of Galistos airships, due tock of training, fired at innocent buildings and broke them.
It wasnt easy to fire while maneuvering.
Anyway, the volley of both fleets caught the eyes of the citizens of Presto.
It would have been nice if they had watched it from a third partys perspective, but unfortunately it was their war.
If the defense fleet failed, Goliaths troops would step in, but the chances were slim.
Who could stop the monster that smashed 100 Goliaths in a short time?
The citizens clenched their hands and watched the battle.
Both fleets exchanged only one volley, but the oue was clear soon.
Bagrans airships were fine, but smoke rose from Galistos airships.
Some even dropped their buoyant stones and cargo and crashed.
When hundreds of tons of airships spilled all kinds of debris and fell, the citizens were terrified.
The airship is crashing!
Debris is flying! Run!
It seemed like the whole capital was in a panic.
Meanwhile, Palcus II watched Galistos airships being shot down one by one and was furious.
How can this be! What the hell is the Aether cannon on the ground doing? Cant you contact Gram Duke?
Themunication is not connected, Your Majesty!
This is treason!
He bit his lips until blood came out, but that didnt change the situation.
Bagrans fleet annihted Galistos fleet of equal numbers without a single damage.
Now all that was left was to fight Goliath with interception.
Could he do it?
Could he stop the Gold Dragons champion, that monster?
Only Meteor Strike can do it
There was no hope for Galisto unless that happened.
Palcus II staggered into his private room and put his hand on themunication device that connected to the Duchy of Tassos.
But themunication did not work.
Archduke! Your Majesty! Archduke Pangral! Hey, you bastard!
His title became more rude in real time, but there was still no answer from themunication device.
Ugh! This cant be happening!
Palcus II threw themunication device in a fit of excitement and copsed on the spot.
Far away, a Goliath in the shape of a dragon jumped out of Bagrans fleet.
***
Zaiums actions became restless as Galistos fate hung in the bnce.
Emperor Barak received a report that Bagrans Goliath troops were sweeping Presto and made up his mind.
It would be an insult to tell them to back off. I guess Ill have to admit Galisto.
In other words, he wouldnt admit the rest.
It wasnt a big problem for him if the two kingdoms merged.
But he doubted if Leobold would be satisfied with that.
Emperor Barak was not a fool and he looked at Bagrans power revealed by this war with concern.
They have dozens of ck Knights, Zigaleon, 20 fleets, and Altemas champion. Will they be satisfied with Galisto?
He wondered if he could restrain him with Meteor Strike at this point.
Anyway, Emperor Barak conveyed his intention through themunication device that the envoy brought.
Did you enjoy Galisto?
Im digesting it. Theyre quite resistant.
Resistance is nothing Anyway, listen well. Be satisfied with Galisto. I wont allow anything else.
In other words, he admitted Galisto and told him to bow his head as a vassal at this point.
But unfortunately, Emperor Barak didnt know something.
Do you know where Archduke Pangral attacked, Your Majesty?
What? Where did he attack? Dont tell me Rozelon
No. He attacked my wifes territory.
Countess Croitzs? Why there all of a sudden?
I dont know why. Maybe he thought of his original n after being robbed while supporting Galisto? My wifes territory is being ravaged by Goliath troops from Tassos Duchy. Theyre smashing the mansion.
Emperor Barak was shocked and speechless for a while.
He never thought that the sparks from the two kingdoms fight would spread to his own country.
I cant stand by and watch his atrocities as the spouse of Countess Cami Croitz. Archduke Pangral must pay for attacking her territory.
That wont do. I cant allow a civil war.
Is it not a civil war when Archduke attacks my wifes territory? Dozens of people have died and there is a huge property damage. How do you want me to deal with this?
First, withdraw your troops and Ill send Duke Prozan to mediate. Ill say it again, I wont allow any attack on Archduke Pangral.
He doesnt seem to have any intention of backing off.
Could it be?
Emperor Barak was seized by doubt that Leobold had orchestrated everything behind the scenes.
How else could he be so calm and know the situation on the ground so well?
But he didnt have time to question him.
Stay still. Dont try to fight Archduke Pangral and invade Tassos Duchy or anything like that, do you understand?
I didnt have that in mind originally, but since Archduke came out like this, I have to change my judgment.
If you try any more nonsense, Ill treat you as a traitor!
He went as far as to say extreme words, but Leobold was rxed.
Theres a saying that its easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Ill see you on the spot.
Themunication was cut off and Emperor Barak remembered what he had given him.
That amnesty
Did he intend to kill Archduke and present that?
He quickly called his royal guard.
Chapter 270:
Chapter 270:
Cami stood on the bridge of the ship and watched her territory burn with a nk expression.
She had already smuggled out the main nobles and assets, but the citizens were still there.
The invaders did not have time to trample them.
But she could imagine the fear on the faces of her people.
The mes rose from somewhere in the mansion, as if they wanted to destroy the evidence.
She clenched her teeth without realizing it.
She had heard that this would happen and prepared for it, but she couldnt help feeling angry.
Howcking in judgment was the duke to attack another territory after losing the war he supported?
He must have sacrificed me because he couldnt attack Rozelon.
It was a desperate move, but the current Duke of Pangral was in such a corner that he had no choice but to rely on it.
If Leobold swallowed Galisto, he would lose all his investments in Goliath and the airships.
That money amounted to hundreds of thousands of gold, and it was not something he could let go easily.
More importantly, his influence, which was more valuable than money, was expected to shrink miserably.
For a powerful person, losing influence was something unbearable.
You shouldnt have messed with me, sir.
He must have never dreamed that Leobold would set a trap and wait for him.
But she had one thing that bothered her: Emperor Barak.
No matter how much the emperor disliked the Duke of Pangral, he would treat him better than Leobold, who he considered a thorn in his eye.
The arm bends inward, and the duke and his territory, the Duchy of Tassos, had been allies with the empire for nearly 200 years.
It was a different dimension from the new nobles who had recently acquired territories in the empire.
In other words, it was reasonable to assume that the emperor was ready to support the Duke of Pangral in some way.
What did Leo prepare for that?
She stood on the bridge of Hyperion and looked at her burning mansion with nostalgia.
She wanted to go down and kick the knights of Tassos right away, but she had to wait until Leobold came.
And he entered as the door of the bridge opened.
Its not a very pleasant sight. How can you watch that?
I think it will make me feel better when I step on the duke. By the way, what did you prepare?
Leobold handed her a pardon letter.
Her eyes widened as she saw the paper with the emperors seal on it.
Is this a pardon for everything Ive done within a certain period of time? The emperor wouldnt have given this easily.
I gave him some ck Knights. Thanks to that, I can absorb the Duchy of Tassos. Isnt it a good deal?
She made an ambiguous expression.
This man always followed efficiency.
It wasnt bad, but he had that aspect in human rtionships as well.
Maybe he saw her that way too?
Leobold came behind her and hugged her waist.
You dont look happy. Is there something wrong?
What do I mean to you? Am I just a wife who can be shown externally because you cant use Arma?
Instead of asking why she said that, he tightened his arms around her.
At first, I thought so. I thought it would be convenient to have a connection point in the empire in the future.
What about now?
Now its not. You have to go with me. Anywhere.
Cami stroked his arm and suddenly said,
When this war is over, I want to have your child.
Do you know how dangerous that is?
Theres a saying in Astera too. Dont promise anything before a war But youre different.
She wouldnt die as long as Leobold didnt stand by.
He was just embarrassed by something else.
Arma said it first. Thats a problem.
Shes not even an Ainz species. Is it possible to have a child?
Well, its possible but
Arma was an artificial intelligence and an android, so she couldnt have a child.
Instead, she wanted to ept Leobolds and Lucias genes that she had stored and have a child.
She had the technology to create a dummy without a soul, so she could do it somehow.
Cami didnt have much problem with Leobolds current body either.
But he was making a new body that suited his power, and that was expected to be difficult.
That body was based on Yu Ji-has genes, or rather, Earthlings genes.
The hybridization of Earthlings and Asterans was an unresolved issue and still difficult.
When he exined this to her, she didnt show disappointment but curiosity about his new body.
Ive seen this face so much that I dont think Ill feel attached to the new body. Do you have a picture or something?
Itll look something like this.
He showed her a picture of him when he was Yu Ji-ha, and her expression brightened strangely.
Youre unbelievably handsome. Why did you switch to this body?
I had no choice back then. My body couldnt adapt to the ether.
Thats what happened when he came from a world without ether.
He awakened to the ether through the fusion reactor and endured for decades, but he had a rejection reaction when he got closer to the ether sun.
Now he was oveing that and making a new body that waspletely specialized for the ether.
When he reached that point, Leobold would be a being that was hard to call a human.
He denied his faith, but from the perspective of ordinary people, he was a god.
Cami turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Then lets postpone having a child. I hope you understand that Im saying this because its bad for your reputation.
What reputation?
Most of the rumors circting in Rozelon were managed by Arma, and there were hardly any negative ones.
She whispered in his ear.
It seems that people think its strange that you have two young wives but no children. Actually, you should have at least seven children by your position and age.
Oh
It seemed to be a rumor among the women.
In fact, in Astera, Leobold was considered middle-aged.
Also, thanks to the influence of Granber, which still existed, having many children was a virtue.
As the king of Bagran and a believer of Granber, he was expected to have at least seven heirs.
What should we do? We cant have children for a while.
He could use the dummy, but he didnt want to do that.
Cami kissed him lightly.
People will talk, but theyll understand that youre busy. But when your duty is over You know, right?
Leobold wanted to retire in a quiet ce as much as possible, but it seemed that the world wouldnt let him.
It depends on what kind of being the prophet is, and how the dimensions are connected.
Maybe even Arma couldnt predict what would happen.
He had no choice but to deal with it as it happened.
Now I have something else to do.
It was a showdown with the Grand Duke of Pangral.
Galisto had sent most of his Balgards and knights, so there shouldnt be any major problems. The Grand Dukes forces were not very threatening either.
Even Meteor Strike could not pose a threat to Leobold.
All he had to do now was crush the Grand Duke with his power and absorb his territory.
The Emperor would arrivete, but he would have to acknowledge him since he couldnt ignore the situation.
Enough talk. Its time to fight.
Ill go. I cant let them get away with trampling on this ce.
There werent many casualties, but they had to pay for touching the lioness.
Cami was a countess even before Leobold came here, and one of the strongest knights in the empire.
She could easily wipe out the Grand Dukes subordinates even with her eyes closed.
Be careful.
She ignored Leobolds words and headed for the hangar.
Soon after, Hyperion lowered its altitude and ten ck Knightsnded on the ground.
***
At this point, the Grand Duke of Pangral had not mobilized many troops.
He couldnt load Goliaths on the airship, and he had to keep his numbers low to avoid detection while entering Camis territory.
A total of 20 units had stepped on hernd and seeded in burning down the mansion.
But Clover Viscount, themander, couldnt hide his bad feeling.
Something is wrong. Theres no way they have so few troops.
It was a good thing that the resistance was weak, but Countess Croitzs territory was one of the strongest ces in the empire.
Where did all their troops go?
And there was no one or anything left in the mansion, which also raised suspicion.
It was as if they knew there would be a raid and moved everything out beforehand.
He looked at the burning mansion and tried to contact the Grand Duke.
But he was stopped by the ck knights who appeared from the darkness.
Clover Viscount swallowed a groan.
ck Knights That means there are ten of them
It was strange.
The Grand Duke had boasted that Bagran wouldnt be able to use airships because he was at war with Galisto.
And their response was too fast.
It was enough to suspect that this was all a trap when they waited for him as soon as he burned down the mansion.
A voice came from the ck Knight at the front.
I am Cami Croitz, Countess. Who are you bastards who trampled on my territory? Reveal your identity.
Things had gone terribly wrong.
Clover Viscount tensed up, but he believed in his numerical advantage.
Countess Croitz is certainly strong, but not enough to overwhelm me. And I have some ck Knights too
They were the result of the Grand Duke forcing Zium to import them when they first came out.
But there were three things he didnt know.
The ck Knight that Cami rode was not a mass-produced unit, but a custom-made one that increased its output to 250E and improved its responsiveness and armor.
And like Balgard and Tirenell, she had also undergone Aether Heart surgery.
Lastly, when Aether Heart and Goliaths core synchronized, their output increased even more.
When Aether Heart started operating fully, her ck Knight emitted a terrifying Aether.
The Grand Dukes knights were flustered by the Aether they had never felt before.
Clover Viscount was shocked, but he thought he couldnt lose his momentum and shouted.
Dont back down! This is just a bluff!
Lets see if its a bluff or not after I kill you and ask your name!
Cami and her knights rushed in at once.
It was supposed to be a tight battle at best, but the result waspletely different.
Cami and her knights used their living metal weapons to push back their enemies one-sidedly.
Their output was different thanks to everyone undergoing Aether Heart surgery.
Clover Viscount saw his living metal armor being cut off by Croitzs attack and was seized by fear.
This is no joke!
She didnt use a huge Aether de like Count Vandus, but she had enough power to cut through living metal.
And it wasnt just her. Her subordinates didnt show any signs of being pushed back either.
There was almost a 2:1 difference in numbers, but still
Damn it, damn it!
There was no way to retreat now that things hade to this point.
Clover Viscount clenched his teeth and charged at Countess Croitz.
He hoped to inflict a fatal wound on her even if he couldnt kill her, but her response was faster.
The living metal weapon turned into a shield in an instant and hit his Goliath hard.
Bang!
The Goliath and the Viscount were hit in the head and flew back.
He got up quickly, but the ck Knight had changed the shield into a sword and was floating in the air.
This is the end!
ck!
The sword pierced through the Goliaths abdomen with a harsh friction sound.
Clover Viscount didnt die instantly, but his core was down, so he was as good as dead.
The Grand Dukes forces were subdued one by one, and Cami tore off the abdominal armor te and pulled him out.
So youre Clover Viscount. You couldnt even look me in the eye at the party, but you trampled on my territory, huh?
He was hanging from the Goliaths hand, shivering.
I-if you kill me, the Grand Duke wont let you go.
Thats exactly what I want.
The Goliath clenched its hand and a scream and a thud sounded at the same time.
A momentter, a bloody corpse fell to the ground.
Kill them all. Make them pay for invading my territory!
Screams were heard everywhere, and Cami ripped open the abdomen to find themunicator.
Soon after, Leobold, who was in Hyperions bridge, put his hand on themunicator that Arma brought.
This is Leobold Vandus. I know youre waiting, soe out. Grand Duke of Pangral.
That bastard Clover failed, huh. How did you know I was going to attack?
I dont have time for useless talk. Lets just agree on that. What I want is yournd.
I should have figured out your evil intentions sooner Was it all for today that you got the title of the empire?
Who knows? All I know is that youre going to die today. Politically or physically.
I surrender.
Thats a sudden deration. Did you have a change of heart?
Isnt it better to give up a lot here and hope for the future than to die as a noble? You wont be cruel to someone who surrenders as a count of the empire, will you?
Leobold had already received a report on the Grand Dukes n.
The Grand Duke was nning to blow him and Roseron away at once.
He would lure him intocency with his surrender deration, and then strike him with Meteor Strike while negotiating with Roseron.
He thought it would be hard to clean up the mess, but it would be worth it as long as he killed Leobold. And that was partly true.
Fine. Where do you want to negotiate?
As the winners right, lets do it in Roseron.
Thanks to you, many people will be saved. Thats a fortunate thing.
The Grand Duke of Pangral sneered at his voice.
Dont be ridiculous. Im going to blow you and Roseron away at once.
The dragon named Zigelion was also a target of his attack.
The only regret was that Balgard was attacking Galisto.
He had no way to stop him, the champion of Altema.
Maybe I can have him if he loses his ce. Ill have to leave some cities for the Emperor and Galisto, though. Wait, which one was more prosperous? Bring me the map.
Maybe the direct territory would be better. We have intelligence that there is a Goliath production facility there.
That Vandus bastard is also impressive for transforming Bagran with his shipyard.
Leobold was a hateful enemy, but if there was one thing he could learn from him, it was that he had changed Bagran into a honey-likend in just a few years. The direct territory also tried various things like growing crops.
He didnt know how he did it, but it was an amazing change.
Its a shame that I have to destroy it with my own hands. Roseron will be devastated when its destroyed, and so will the surrounding direct territories.
It was no different from Bagran being ruined, and this made the Grand Dukes heart heavy.
But sacrifices were necessary for the advancement towards the future.
All I need to do is kill that bastard. Then I can sign a reinforcement treaty with Elbrang
The Grand Duke was confident in his n.
He had even gone as far as purging many bureaucrats and magicians for this, so it would be over if he failed.
But he didnt know.
Leobolds trap was more vicious than his.
A whileter, a news came to Tassos Duchy.
An airship had returned to Roseron.
ording to the crew list, its definitely Altema. And some people have confirmed Vandus King with their own eyes.
Really? He believed me and returned to Roseron, huh.
The Grand Duke wanted to shoot magic right away, but he decided to wait until Zigelions location was confirmed.
And as if to prove that, there were many sightings of a blue dragon in Roseron.
A triumphant smile appeared on the Grand Dukes lips.
Order the Tower of Magic. Activate the Meteor Strike magic circle.
The lieutenants checked his location and shivered.
Yo-your Highness Are you sure? If you blow up Roseron, there will be a huge bacsh
I regret Roseron too. But hes too dangerous.
Isnt it better to destroy what you cant have?
There was no one who could oppose his order in the territory where a storm of purges had already swept through.
Soon after, the magic circle activated and a dazzling beam of light shot up from the Tower of Magic into the sky.
The beam of light broke through the atmosphere and captured one of the many asteroids orbiting Terra.
The asteroid was small, but enough to blow up a city.
The lieutenant who was in contact with the tower reported cautiously.
They say its sessful. It will fall on Roseron in 35 minutes.
The time has finallye to get rid of that disgusting bastard.
The Grand Duke closed his eyes and waited happily for the news of Roserons destruction.
He had felt something suffocating in his chest when he heard that Galistos fleet had retreated and that his capital had been attacked.
But he felt relieved when he thought that Leobold would die soon.
When he dies, most of his subordinates will also copse, so I can take over. Ill have to leave some cities for the Emperor and Galisto, though. Wait, which one was more prosperous? Bring me the map.
Maybe the direct territory would be better. We have intelligence that there is a Goliath production facility there.
That Vandus bastard is also impressive for transforming Bagran with his shipyard.
Leobold was a hateful enemy, but if there was one thing he could learn from him, it was that he had changed Bagran into a honey-likend in just a few years. The direct territory also tried various things like growing crops.
He didnt know how he did it, but it was an amazing change.
Its a shame that I have to destroy it with my own hands. Roseron will be devastated when its destroyed, and so will the surrounding direct territories.
It was no different from Bagran being ruined, and this made the Grand Dukes heart heavy.
But sacrifices were necessary for the advancement towards the future.
All I need to do is kill that bastard. Then I can sign a reinforcement treaty with Elbrang
The Grand Duke was confident in his n.
He had even gone as far as purging many bureaucrats and magicians for this, so it would be over if he failed.
But he didnt know.
Leobolds trap was more vicious than his.
A whileter, the Settler ship, which had been waiting outside the atmosphere, slightly changed the angle of entry of the asteroid.
The distance was so far that a slight change in angle caused a huge error.
The lieutenant who was in contact with the tower tilted his head.
Your Highness. The Meteor Strike magic circle has been slightly damaged.
What do you mean?
Uh, we just got a message! The flow of Aether has changed!
What nonsense are you
He was about to yell when it happened.
The air vibrated ominously and the teacup started to rattle.
He hastily opened the window and saw people pointing at something.
Wh-what is that?
Something is falling this way!
The people didnt know, but the Grand Duke realized right away that the tiny dot was an asteroid.
Why was it falling here when it should have gone to Roseron?
He couldnt understand.
It was impossible to stop it now that it was so close.
This is a trap!
He cut off his thoughts and moved.
He ran out of the building, whether his lieutenants were surprised or not, and headed for the Goliath hangar.
Yo-your Highness!
Where are you going?
A momentter, a loud noise exploded and the ss windows of the building shattered.
Aaah!
The people finally saw the asteroid engulfed in mes.
It was heading straight for the capital of Tassos Duchy, and especially for the Grand Dukes castle.
Chapter 271:
Chapter 271:
The meteor that flew towards the capital of the Tasos Duchy did not encounter any resistance and fell straight down.
A thin barrier magic was deployed, but it was useless against the fast-falling meteor.
The magicians in the towers tore their hair out and the citizens scattered like rats in all directions.
And the cause of all this, Duke Pangral, was fleeing with a handful of his subordinates who realized the seriousness of the situation on a Goliath.
He abandoned his castle and his people.
Soon after, the huge meteor collided with the ground, spewing mes and ck smoke.
In an instant, the dukes castle evaporated and the ground sank as if it had been hit by a giants fist.
And then a fierce shockwave storm tore everything apart.
Rumble
A massive cloud of dust rose and the buildings swept by the shockwave mostly flew away.
All that remained was arge crater and a dull ash-gray sky obscured by dust.
Duke Pangral survived the shockwave thanks to the sturdiness of his Goliath, but barely.
Ugh Ugh
He opened the hatch and jumped out, then knelt down and wailed.
He had devoted his life to building his castle, but it had turned to ashes.
The damage was surprisingly not that great, because he was far away from the center of the capital.
But for the duke, it was no different from losing everything.
A groan and a voice of despair leaked from his clenched teeth.
How, how could this happen
It was clear that the cause was Meteor Strike, but he didnt understand why it flew here instead of Rozelon.
Did the shoddy magicians make a mistake?
Or did some iprehensible force interfere in the middle?
He wanted to me everything on Leobold.
It was easier for him to think that he was behind this disaster, regardless of the truth.
Vandas, you bastard
His fists and face trembled with anger.
His subordinate knights ran to support him, but they stopped short.
A huge airship was approaching from afar.
It was several times bigger than those of Zaium or Elvrande.
Duke Pangral looked at it andughed weakly.
Of course, he wasnt in Rozelon
Was the information that he was spotted in Rozelon a deception in itself?
He wondered if he knew everything and manipted it from behind.
He couldnt even imagine how he did Meteor Strike.
Soon after, the giant airship descended and two ck Knights jumped out.
The knights were on guard as Leobold stepped out of his Goliath and stood in front of him.
Is this what you did? Are you satisfied?
I dont know what youre talking about.
Leobold answered casually.
Cami, who stood next to him, pointed her greatsword at him, as if her anger hadnt subsided yet.
You trampled on my territory and youre acting so wronged? Act like a duke if you are one!
Hu, huhu
Duke Pangral bit his lips until they bled and slowly got up.
His head was white with rage and hatred, but he managed to spit out some words.
I shouldnt have let you two go I should have mobilized everything in Zaium to crush you I should have pulled out your roots
Leobold looked at him and then received a signal from Arma.
The fleet with Emperor Barak on board is approaching. There are 35 ships.
Surprisingly, he brought his guard along and came in person.
If the emperor arrived, he would probably try to mediate, so killing the duke would be impossible.
So he had to kill him now.
Cami, Im sorry but
Theres no time? Fine. Ill leave it to you.
As he stepped forward, Duke Pangralughed weakly inside his Goliath.
Huhu, I just need to stall for some time.
One second is enough for you.
What nonsense
The duke was about to shout when it happened.
A huge ether de stretched out from Leobolds greatsword and cut through everything in front of him.
A huge explosion urred and swallowed up several Goliaths at once.
Duke Pangral witnessed the light piercing through the armor te and entering inside, then closed his eyes.
Hes too strong.
And that was the end.
The ether de evaporated everything and disappeared quickly.
There was no trace left of the Goliath that the duke was riding.
The few surviving knights trembled at the power of the ether de.
This was not a power that humans could possess.
Im sorry, but you have to die too.
After killing the knights, Zaiums fleet finally approached and attempted tond.
Next to the Hyperion, they looked like toy boats.
A whileter, Emperor Barak appeared with his guard.
Leobold gave Cami a hint and knelt on one knee.
I greet Your Majesty the Emperor.
I greet Your Majesty the Emperor.
.
The emperor looked at the ruined capital of the duchy with a face that was hard to tell whether he wasughing or crying.
He didnt know how he did it, but judging by the atmosphere, the duke seemed to have died too.
When he set out his fleet, the Tasos Duchy was fine, but it had changed horribly.
The culprit was probably
Sir Vandas, I have something to ask you.
Please speak.
How much do you have to eat to be satisfied? How many do you have to kill to be satisfied?
I dont know what you mean. This is entirely the fault of Galisto and Duke Pangral, isnt it?
Emperor Barak wanted to say that it all started when Leobold killed the princess of Elvrande and cut off the arm of Galistos envoy, but it didnt matter much at this point.
The situation had already happened and there was only one person who could handle it smoothly.
He didnt want to entrust him with it, but there was no other way.
You have a lot to say to me. But no matter how I question you, youll get away with it, so theres no point.
So Ill say one thing. Lets stop here. Im serious. Stop at this line.
The emperors voice contained his will to fight to the death if he didnt ept it.
That wouldnt be bad either, but Leobold chose to bow his head.
If Zaium Empire copsed now, it would be troublesome for him and Arma.
No matter how big the ship was, it had to retreat to the harbor when the storm hit.
I will follow your majestys orders.
There was no need for a pardon.
Both he and the emperor knew of the existence of the pardon.
They bowed their heads and Emperor Barak bit his tongue.
He knew well that this order was a stopgap measure.
But there was no other way.
What if Leobolds eyes turned and he decided to destroy the empire?
It would also be troublesome if it was revealed that he had tried to bury Leobold in coboration with the Grand Duke of Pangral.
He even had ties with Elvrande and the Holy Church, and he couldnt just let it go if that came to light.
So his voice lost its strength.
Lets end this disaster here. I will entrust Galisto and Tassos to you. Please, please dont disappoint me anymore.
I will keep that in mind.
This ended the whole situation.
But for Leobold, it was only the beginning of his quest for continental unification.
A poption of 15 million was enough to try something.
It was a small poptionpared to Earth in the 21st century, but it was enough to spark an ether revolution.
If he swallowed up Zaium and Elvrande as well, the rest of the countries would naturally fall under his rule.
One of Leobolds duties was finally over.
He was already imagining a journey to find the prophet afterpleting the continental unification.
He didnt have much left.
***
The Galisto attack fleet reported that they had captured the capital.
Falkus II had died after falling from the terrace while arguing with Duke Gram, and most of the bureaucrats and nobles had surrendered.
With this, Leobold gained twonds: Galisto and Tassos Duchy.
The people who had been watching this situation were very surprised by the oue.
Galisto is one thing, but how did he manage to take over Tassos Duchy? I dont understand.
The Grand Duke clearly activated Meteor Strike, but why did Tassos capital explode instead of Rozelon?
The emperor just watched it happen. Something is strange. Did they have a pact or something?
The only sure thing is that King Banda is too strong. Galisto and Grand Duke Pangral were among the most powerful forces in the eastern continent, excluding the empire. Its amazing that he subdued them without much damage.
But not all worries are gone. He eliminated most of the leadership and got recognition from the emperor, but managing the two ces is entirely up to King Banda.
Most of the logistics have stopped because of the war. How will he handle it? Especially Tassos Duchy, I heard there was a mess because many bureaucrats died.
Did he start a war without thinking about that?
Regardless of public interest, Arma had already prepared a n for normalizing logistics.
YJH Enterprise will supply logistics. Most of the food wille from smart farms on floating continents, and we will usepany-owned wagons to transport them to various ces.
YJH Enterprise was apany named after Yu Ji-has initials.
He couldnt use his name directly, so he used his initials to grow it carefully until now.
Thispany had monopolized logistics in all of Bagran.
Most of the merchants had fled because of the war, so he took advantage of that and expanded his business.
Merchants were creatures that found profitable things even in war, which showed how crazy Leobolds actions were.
Some merchants came backte after Bagran won and asked for a chance, but Arma had no intention of epting them.
We calcted the daily food requirement per person as 3,000 calories and nned ordingly. If we confiscate and modify Galisto and Tassos airships, it will be possible.
The movement of the convoy and the logisticswork were shown on the hologram.
There were tens of thousands of people who needed to be fed right away, but it was not difficult for Arma, who had been managing hundreds of millions of people.
The food secretly produced at smart farms on floating continents was enough.
After that, reconstruction ns will begin. It will proceed in conjunction with Bagrans existing national development n, so there wont be much dy in schedule.
The first step was to build proper roads and railways, increase airship operations significantly, andplete urbanization.
The second step was the beginning of a full-fledged ether revolution.
It was a n to supply ether not only to magicians and knights, but also to ordinary citizens.
He had already installed all kinds of pipes in each city, so there was no problem with supply.
The output of ether origin, which would soon bepleted, would also affect the intensity of ether revolution.
Arma boasted that a miraculous thing would happen.
Even one fusion reactor can provide enough energy for the humanity of Earth that we have used so far. If we synchronize with the origin, the output will increase greatly, so we wont have any energy shortage until the space age.
Leobold asked as he listened.
I thought about how the gue on Mare would evolve. Do you think there is a possibility of evolution depending on the amount of ether we use?
Its possible that its a relic of the prophet, but theres some merit to your masters spection.
Arma could handle ether as well as the gue Queen, but that didnt mean he knew everything.
He was still analyzing some of the powers of Astera Pantheon, including time and space, and there was a lot he didnt know about the gue.
One of them was the evolution condition of the demons, or the gue, on Mare.
The process of how the worthless mob that was easily destroyed by Lucias legion evolved to the point of causing the extinction of the 22nd century humanity remained a mystery.
What if they evolve ording to the amount of ether we use? What if we refer to Maris notes?
Mari was the nickname of Princess Margareta.
Her name was too long to call casually, and she was no longer a princess, so she asked to be called that way.
There was only Leopold who could talk to her there.
She was a princess, so the only person who matched her eye level was Leopold, and thanks to that, they spent some leisure time together.
It was nothing special, just having meals together, ying simple board games, and discussing the current situation of the continent, but it was enough time to build intimacy.
She was able to relieve her stress by pouring out her umted knowledge to Leopold, and at the same time, she could verify whether her thoughts were correct and whether they were possible.
For example, is it possible for all beings in Astera to have equal rights? A topic like that.
Leopold answered that simply.
Would Your Highness be able to enjoy rights with a goblin working in Roserons ether nt?
Uh thats
When he gave an example of a high elf, who was considered noble among elves, and a goblin, who was treated no different from a monster, she suddenly became speechless.
She was proud of having a lot of knowledge on the subject of equality, but her mind went nk and she couldnt think of anything.
Leopold drank tea and said.
In my hometown, there were no intelligent beings other than humans with different skin colors. Thats why the sense of equality sprouted and eventually became universal. But Astera is different. Can you grant the same rights to a dragon and a goblin?
If theymit murder, should they receive the same sentence? Is that fair? A dragons lifespan is close to a thousand years and a goblins is barely 30 years.
It was a very vague problem.
Leopold did not push her and gave her time to think calmly.
Regardless of the oue, this time was a very enjoyable experience for Margareta.
As a result, she couldnt get rid of the smile on her lips.
I never thought talking to someone would be such a fun thing.
She said that and walked around, so it was natural that Arma and Cami became alert.
If he drags me to bed, Ill pretend I dont know and go in quickly?
Its dangerous. We need to be careful.
From then on, Arma and Cami started calling the princess by her full name.
If youpare Princess Margaretas notes and the process of how the Great War broke out, you can see that the gue also evolved rapidly depending on the amount of ether.
Anyone could see that graphs with the same slope were drawn.
But they didnt know the exact cause and effect, so they couldnt conclude with this graph.
Lets say we confirmed the possibility. It could be just a coincidence.
And Master, we received a letter from Elvrande. Its from President Dresden.
The president? I thought there was nothing left but war. Thats strange.
Elvrande had been walking the path ofplete militarism since Dresden took power.
The more than 30 decrees he announced were very simr to those of the dictators who caused the Great War on Earth in the past.
The main content was, of course, that elves were the only rightful ruling race in Astera and that all rights in Elvrande belonged to the presidents office.
The military power also increased tremendously. They were mass-producing Belial-ss units like baking bread in an oven.
Not the existing Belial-ss units, but improved versions that ignored core overload. They didnt intend to ride elves on them, but nned to mobilize people from autonomous regions.
They are also equipped with ether bombs without fail.
In other words, they intended to use humans and beastmen as shields.
They could also use bombs in an emergency, so it was quite an amazing idea.
As they heightened the tension like this, Zaium also began to invest heavily in military power, and Astera as a whole was shrouded in war clouds.
Its probably either propaganda or surrender offer.
Leopolds guess was wrong.
The content of the letter was that he wanted to have a private meeting with him.
He even included the right to choose the ce.
Thats quite a decision. We dont have much to talk about alone.
Considering Dresdens personality, there is a high possibility that he will mock you under the guise of preaching.
Well, talking is good.
It was a bit awkward for Leopold to say it, but peace was much better than war. That was the truth.
The probability of dialogue leading to peace was not very high, though.
He said I could choose the ce, right? Lets do it here.
The letter was sent and Dresden read it with a smirk.
He wants to have a meeting here? Is he crazy toe into the enemy country voluntarily?
He is someone who doesnt know what hes doing. We should refuse.
The one who advised that was rion Talyssand, who became themander of the Elven Knights after Tiren.
He was Tirens disciple and a great admirer of Princess Margareta.
But when they sided with the humans, he felt a great betrayal and now hated them more than anyone else.
His skill as a knight was slightly inferior to Tiren, but he was scheduled to receive a stable divine power injection, so it was estimated that he would surpass him by now.
Dresden scanned the letter again and said.
No, if we back down here, well beughed at. He already announced that he received the letter.
We cant bring a bomb into Medea.
In his position, Medea is a huge bomb. If we block him froming in voluntarily, my position will be ridiculous.
It would be obvious that he would be doubted by the people as if he couldnt handle one human.
The strange thing was Bandas kings confidence.
Did he have the confidence to preserve his life even if he came to Medea?
He didnt look like a stupid guy who would rely on our flimsy goodwill
Based on the power he had shown so far, he couldnt guarantee perfect safety, so there must be something more.
Maybe it has something to do with Delpina running away without a word.
Dresden wanted to find out about that and teach him one more thing on this asion.
That if he continued to do such nonsense, he would bring about the end of the world.
ept it. I have to teach him what kind of race we elves are and what he is doing. Proceed.
Chapter 272:
Chapter 272:
There are many steps involved in arranging a meeting between two countries.
From the basic schedule to the VIPs route and security, to the diplomatic talks, the officials in charge would have a headache that could make their heads explode.
It was no different for Astera.
If they had no special powers, they would only have to worry about weapon restrictions and arrows, but since they had magic, airships, Goliaths, and all kinds of special things, they could not rx.
It was even more so for the meeting between Elvrande and the human kingdoms that took ce in Medea.
Think about it.
Before the Great War, there was only one case where the leader of humans set foot in Elvrande, and that ended tragically.
What would happen if they went to a ce where millions of elves hated humans?
It was natural that the officials tore their hair out when Leobold announced his visit.
We are in the middle of a merger process! It will be a disaster if Your Majesty goes!
Stop him! Stop him at all costs! If you cant change His Majestys mind, dont think about leaving your office!
Some officials went to dissuade him with determination, but they only heard that Jaisang would handle it.
He also made a shocking remark that he would keep the escort to a minimum.
Ill be back soon, so dont worry. Just keep doing your work.
They hoped that Jaisang would stop him, but it seemed that they had already agreed.
The delegation consisted of King Leobold and Margareta, as well as a few knights and servants.
It was a small group of less than 20 people, and Zigarion was rejected when he tried to join.
Stay out of this. I feel like something really bad will happen if you go.
Damn, it sounded fun.
Zigarion had probably caused enough damage to Elvrande to build a small city.
He asked why he was taking Margareta with him to shock them, and Leobold answered like this.
They might not be surprised if they think shes dead, but theyre treating her like a traitor.
Then why are you taking her?
She said she wanted to ask Drizden something in person.
She wont let him go easily
Well, maybe. But he wont touch her directly. Hell probably use public opinion.
Drizden, the president of Elvrande, had most of the power in his hands.
The media and public opinion were also on his side, so there were many voices criticizing the former princess everywhere.
If he mobilized them, he could also reduce the criticism that he was overstepping his bounds.
He didnt know what he was really thinking, though.
Anyway, the delegation notified Elvrande that they woulde on the newly renovated Hyperion.
But there was a problem there.
The elves who recognized Hyperion refused to let it in.
Did they imagine the nobledy who single-handedly faced countless elf fleets in the Great War and felt PTSD?
If they were humans, the generations would have changed, but there were quite a few old people who remembered the Great War in Elvrande, including Drizden.
They rose up.
He wants toe on that cursed ship? No way!
Its not enough to smash it right away, how dare he bring that ship into Medea?
Where did King Bandas dig up that ship? ording to our records, it sank after being attacked by the Silver Fleet at that time
The existence of Hyperion itself was shocking enough.
They would be more shocked if they found out about Balgads existence, but it was a story only known by the war participants and the highmand ignored it as impossible.
Drizden fell into a dilemma.
He must know what that ship means to us Is he openly challenging us?
Maybe hes trying to prove that hes a descendant of Gram Empire.
One of the elders said, and Drizden sneered.
What does he want to do with Gram Empire that perished 200 years ago?
It was a very headache-inducing situation anyway.
Thanks to Leobolds disclosure of Hyperion, there was a fierce debate in Elvrande.
Most of them argued that it should never be allowed in, but there were also some people who were curious about how such a ship was made.
They were mostly from the post-war generation and this caused some disputes in elf society.
This is why young ones are Do they know how many elves were ughtered by that ship? We couldnt even mention Hyperions name back then.
Its disgusting to see them liking such a huge airship. If they like a human-made ship so much, why dont they leave Elvrande?
On the other hand, some argued that the present was more important than the old history of 200 years ago.
Why do they keep bringing up that damn war? I dont know if we lost, but we won that war.
We should analyze it instead of being hypersensitive about a ship. If he brings Hyperion, it means that the specifications will be somewhat revealed and we might be able to build such a ship too.
Its a pity that the presidents office reduced the funding for ether engineering. Humans are deploying high-powered Goliaths and producing airships
Naturally, this argument provoked the bacsh of the elves who remembered the cause of the Great War.
Drizden watched and listened to all this and bit his tongue.
Public opinion is divided. If he aimed for this, I have to admit that it was very effective.
So will you allow it?
Tell him to be satisfied with one ship if he really wants to bring it. Ill let him have escort ships if he takes another ship.
He had a n to limit the total tonnage of the delegation, hoping that Leobold would be surprised and withdraw, but he sent a letter saying that Hyperion was enough.
It meant that he was willing to take the risk as long as he entered Elvrande.
In that case, it didnt matter much whether it was one ship or not.
Anyway, Leobolds visit was finalized through these twists and turns.
Margareta decided to follow him disguised as a maid named Maria.
She showed a happy expression for a moment at the thought of returning to her hometown, but soon became gloomy.
It seemed that her hometown did not wee her.
Because of that, she spent more time with Leobold on Hyperion, which surprised her with its facilities.
As if to shake off her sadness and bitterness.
***
Hyperion was not only huge in size, but also in speedpared to other airships.
It almost halved the continental crossing schedule and this gave a great surprise to the delegation, including Margareta.
The fleet that came out from Elvrande also whined that they couldnt keep up with its speed.
Even if they lowered the speed to the lowest, it was more than any other airship.
Hyperion entered Medea and received the hot attention of the elves.
How did they make such a thing? Its so big that other airships look like children.
Its impressive, even if its made by humans.
That ship killed our ancestors
There were various stories from different perspectives, and when Leobold got off the ship, the interest literally exploded.
Hes quite tall for a human, isnt he?
Hes ugly with his stubble.
But he has a lot of muscles and looks well-trained.
But whats that magic behind his head?
The elves mistook his halo for a decorative magic.
The only ones who recognized that it was a proof of divinity were a few, including Drizden.
So the rumor that he had divinity was true. Did he get it from the floating continent?
Its probably some unknown god.
He must have a powerful divinity to spread a wide blessing like that.
Anyway, the brave human king who came to Medea aroused the curiosity of the elves.
As the delegation passed through the street with the escort of the Elven Knights, many elves came out and watched them.
Humans
Theyre daring to enter the enemy territory alone.
Theyre not alone, are they? They have escorts
What can they do with that number of people here? Its easy if you think about us going to the human kingdoms.
They dont seem intimidated at all
They must be confident in their survival.
This is Medea. Even gods cant survive here.
There was some hatred, but not too much, because the elves appreciated the fact that he came to the enemy territory alone.
It was a crazy thing to do if you think about whether the major figures of Elvrande could go to the human kingdoms.
Drizden felt that his poprity was rising among the elves and bit his tongue.
It was only a slight change in a few elves, but he thought he had taken a risk for nothing.
Did he risk his life for this trivial thing? What a pathetic writer.
The minor change could turn into a huge wave depending on the oue of the meeting.
That wont happen. I dont know what hes thinking, but he wont get out of here unscathed.
Do you mean to detain King Bandas?
If he did that, even the elves who supported Drizden would turn their backs on him.
They believed that they existed for justice and peace.
Leobold was not worth that much, but holding him back was not a good move.
Drizden closed the window and said.
I dont need to stop him myself. Anyway, I dont want to see the citizens chanting his name, so bring him quickly.
It was not that there were no elves among those who crowded on the street who shouted his name.
A small praise for the courageous human king who came to Medea?
The sure thing was that as they became more familiar with him, their hatred for humans also faded a little.
Most of the elves hatred for humans stemmed from ignorance.
They were born under the protection of Yggdrasil and lived their lives in an elf-only society, so they felt distant from humans and only heard biased rumors, which made them hate them.
Leobolds existence broke that a little bit.
Soon after, two people sat face to face in a meeting room with a good view right under Yggdrasil, leaving their escorts behind.
One was an elf who had lived for more than 300 years and held all the power of Elvrande, and the other was a human king who had expanded his power by merging several countries recently.
As soon as they saw each other, they smiled at the corners of their mouths.
There have been many things between us. But lets put aside the past for now and talk frankly about the future.
Thats what I want.
As soon as the maid brought tea and left, the formal meeting began.
The first one to open the door was Drizden.
Before we get into serious talk, lets go over some old times. Do you know why the Great War happened?
Because the elves blocked the humans desire to develop.
He meant the desire for development represented by ether engineering.
There were many things attached to the cause of the Great War, but if he had to pick one, this was it.
Youre wrong.
Drizden leaned forward.
Thats wrong. The Great War was a result of us elves who couldnt stand by and watch the worlds destruction. Do you know why?
Because if ether engineering develops beyond a certain point, demons might invade?
He was surprised that Leobold nailed it exactly.
He thought he would pick up something ridiculous.
Thats right. You may not know this well, but there are demons somewhere beyond the sky. Now they only appear in mines, but it was different in the past. Two hundred years ago, gates opened whenever they were bored. They have no intelligence and are no different from monsters with only destructive urges.
Well, it was hard to say that gue had no intelligence.
Maybe he felt that way because of the small creatures before evolution.
Leobold just listened quietly and that fueled Drizdens preaching urge.
Let me give you some good information at this point. The frequency of their appearance is exactly proportional to the total amount of ether used by Astera. Youre smart enough to understand what this means.
The more we develop ether engineering, the more demons appear?
Very good. The humans in the past didnt understand this. So they pushed the dragons to war. What a foolish race, arent they?
Are you scared of that?
Drizdenughed bitterly for a moment.
He thought he was smart, but he was actually stupid?
You who havent experienced the demons before the Great War always underestimate them. But remember this. The person in front of you right now is someone who fought against those powerful demons. Do you know what kind of world it was 200 years ago?
I know very well. A world where ether engineering was advanced and Hyperion-ss airships flew freely in the sky. A world where everyone could use magic and had a curiosity about what was beyond the sky. A good era, isnt it?
Youre arrogant.
What are you talking about?
Dont be arrogant with your ether engine and ck knight that you made. We elves made something much more amazing than that more than 200 years ago. And yet we gave up everything. Do you know why? For the peace and future of Astera!
Now Drizden started to rant, spitting saliva.
I thought we couldmunicate, but youre more stubborn than the humans before the Great War. Were you so sweetened by the tricks of the earthworms? Whats so good about the good old days? You should be ashamed. Humans, or Ains, are nothing but a race that has prolonged their lives thanks to our elfs grace.
The demons back then were so strong that they would treat your ck knight like a child. It was our race that stopped them for the peace of Astera.
He seemed amused by Drizdens words as if he had seen something interesting, and rion chuckled.
Calm down your excitement.
Yes, Your Excellency.
As his hand dropped, Margreta ran to Leobolds arms and hugged him.
I confirmed that were on parallel lines, so it would be better to end it here.
Leobold dered the end of the meeting, and Drizden narrowed his eyes and said.
Do you think you can go back peacefully like this?
If possible, I didnt want to start a massacre, but if thats what you want, I cant help it. Come on, try to stop me.
The atmosphere in the meeting room became tense like a drawn bowstring.
By the way, theres someone who wants to say something. Do you want to hear it?
There was only one person who could make Leobold use honorifics.
Now shes just an ordinary elf, not a princess. Fine. Lets hear what she has to say.
Margreta entered and took off her hood, and Drizden sneered.
Long time no see, Your Highness.
***
How can you be so calm? You tried to kill me
Her voice was trembling, and anger showed on her face and eyes.
But Drizden maintained a calm attitude as if he was proud of his experience.
I dont know what youre talking about. Arent you a traitor who tried to overthrow Elvrande by joining hands with humans because you didnt like the current Elvrande?
What are you talking about How could I do that with what little power I had? The elders already had most of the power anyway.
But you had followers like Tirandel who had even that little power. Didnt you think that if you got cooperation from humans outside, you could do something? Its a pity that you had such an idea.
Dont judge people as you please. Youre the one who tried to kill me and my family!
Why would I try to harm you?
Drizden still looked clueless, and that made Margreta angry.
But there was little she could do.
As she rushed to Drizden with a red face, trying to p him or something, the escort who stood behind him like a shadow grabbed her wrist.
Stop it. Your Highness Or should I call you Margreta now?
She shouted with a choked voice as her wrist was held.
Dont you know, rion? Tell me! How did Drizden incite people?
I have nothing to say to a traitor.
What, what did you say?
Margretas face hardened with shock.
She never thought that her biggest ally and follower would say such a thing.
He spat out harshly with angry eyes.
I have nothing to say to you who betrayed the elves and sided with humans.
How can you say that? We agreed to reform Elvrande together!
Dont stain the honor of elves any more with your filthy mouth. Or do you want me to kill you right here?
He even reached for Margretas neck as if he would kill her right away.
She couldnt breathe properly from his murderous aura.
Then a heavy word flew like an arrow.
If you touch even a finger tip, youre dead.
Hooh.
Drizden looked amused as if he had seen something interesting, and rion snorted.
Dont forget that this is Medea. King Vandus of Bagran.
Try touching me if youre curious. Ill make you regret it until yourst breath.
rion twisted his face and Drizden stared at him.
Youre rude for an elfs courtesy. Calm down.
Yes, Your Excellency.
As his hand fell off, Margreta almost cried and hugged Leobold.
I confirmed that were on parallel lines, so it would be better to end it here.
Leobold dered the end of the meeting, and Drizden narrowed his eyes and said.
Do you think you can go back peacefully like this?
If possible, I didnt want to start a massacre, but if thats what you want, I cant help it. Come on, try to stop me.
The atmosphere in the meeting room became tense like a drawn bowstring.
Chapter 273:
Chapter 273:
After a long silence, Drizden opened his mouth.
Theres no need to spill blood here. I think weve said all we have to say. Lets part ways. But
He nced at Leobold and Margareta with a sly smile.
I have no intention of harming you. But I dont know if the citizens outside will think the same. They are very angry because of Hyperion. You should be careful.
He meant that he wouldnt interfere directly, but he wouldnt help them either in case of trouble.
And outside, there were elven knights disguised as citizens who would cause amotion.
Maybe if theyunched Hyperion, some unknown airships would attack them.
Leobold smirked.
So this is the way of the elves.
Didnt youe prepared? If you want protection, just say so. Ill shamelessly ask for your favor.
Anyone who saw him pretending to be ignorant and widening his eyes would want to punch him.
But Drizden couldnt die yet.
He had toplete his mission after driving Elvrande to ruin with his rampage.
Leobold put his hand on Margaretas shoulder and said.
Lets end the meeting here.
Youve worked hard. I wont see you off. Be careful. May Rustel watch over your path.
He deliberately invoked the name of Rustel to provoke Margareta.
Her shoulder twitched and Leobold slowly left the conference room.
Just before the door closed, Drizdens lips twitched and rion bowed his head.
Hes doing it on purpose.
To make the prey tense enough.
Leobold asked Arma to guide him to the dock through Yggdrasil.
Ill mark it on your sight. There are a lot of excited elves.
Some of them might be so excited that they would resort to violence without mercy.
The knights escorted them and the group left the mansion and entered the road.
The elves who were calmly watching when they arrived were pouring out onto the street and raising their fists.
Death to the lowly humans!
Compromise with humans is impossible! Only violence can make them see!
Glory to the elves!
They must have been stirred up by Drizdens instigation.
He never intended to let Leobolds group go peacefully from the beginning.
The reason why he came here knowing that was first, for the meeting, and second, to check out Yggdrasils main body in person.
If a war broke out, Yggdrasil, which was almost a symbol of the elves, would inevitably suffer some damage.
He wanted to assess that in advance and have Armae up with a countermeasure.
Thest reason is because of teleportation.
Spatial teleportation through warp gates was only valid for ces Leobold had visited before.
That meant he couldnt open a warp gate to an unfamiliar ce.
ording to Arma, it was close to aw and there was no way around it.
Its strange that Lucia appeared in a mine she had never been to.
Leobold covered Margaretas head with a hood and quickly passed through the street.
Soon, the elves noticed the group and gathered one by one.
There goes the delegation!
Stop them! Stop them!
It didnt turn into a violent situation right away, but it was a very ominous atmosphere.
In the midst of that, Leobold finally got to see Yggdrasil face to face.
Wow
It was an unbelievably huge tree up close.
The diameter of its base was close to several km and its golden leaves covered the sky.
Sunlight burst from its branches that stretched out as if protecting all of Medea.
If you saw something like this as soon as you were born, you might mistake it for a god.
But Leobold didnt see Yggdrasil as a god.
Its just a big tree with some special functions
He was confident that he could rece Yggdrasil with anything once hepleted the ether origin.
Arma reported simrly.
All functions of Yggdrasil have been identified from the flow of ether. It will be useful for updating the origin.
Thats good news. But we need to get out of here.
The elves were gathering more and more.
In a tense atmosphere that could explode at any moment, the delegation headed for the dock following Armas guidance.
They boarded Hyperion without any interference, but instead they received countless insults towards Margareta.
You wretched princesshow dare you crawl in here!
Traitor who sided with humans! Die!
They didnt throw stones, but they spat saliva and made a fuss.
Margaretas green eyes were soaked in gloom.
She was med by her own kind for no big fault and received abuse.
No one could understand how she felt.
Ille back someday. Then Ill ask those people.
She nodded weakly when heforted her.
The group hurriedly got on Hyperion.
Leobold escorted Margareta to the cabin and then went to the bridge.
The crew under the captainsmand were waiting for his orders.
Skip the procedure. Cut the mooring andunch.
Launching!
At the captains vigorousmand, Hyperion gained buoyancy and rose up.
It was so big that it caused a gale around it and when the ether thrusters were activated, the airship quickly left the city.
But this was just the beginning.
When Hyperion gained momentum and was about to leave Medea, small airships poured out from somewhere in the city.
They were small airships of several tens of tons.
Drizden watched the sky leisurely from the mansion.
He had increased the output of the thrusters mounted on the airships, ignoring the side effects, so they were much faster than Hyperion, which was slowly elerating.
Lets see if you can show your power on board.
***
They made something like that. Impressive.
He seemed to disdain ether engineering, but he was still an elf after all.
Dozens of airships flew in like a swarm of bees and the bridge became busy.
The captain checked all directions with several mirrors and immediately ordered interception.
Prepare to fire ether cannons! No need to report! Shoot as soon as you aim and drop them!
If they had 50 guns, it wouldnt be hard to intercept the airships.
But Hyperion was too big and the crew were not skilled enough.
It was inevitable that they would be inferiorpared to the floating continent fleetmanded by Admiral Hampton.
That difference was decisive.
Before the ether cannons were ready, the airships rushed towards Hyperion.
They were too close to intercept, or else they would be hit by the debris.
And most of the 50 ether cannons were on the starboard side.
There were some guns on the bow and stern, but they were weak in firepower.
Fire!
Beams of light shot from the starboard side and some airships were swept away.
Explosions urred in the air and a 5,000-ton airship tilted.
It was pushed by the st.
Not only that, but a few airships approached the rear.
Beams of light shot from the stern guns, but they couldnt avoid thest one.
Bang!
A huge explosion urred and ck smoke spewed from Hyperion.
It seemed that they had installed ether stone bombs on the airships.
Kane, the divine being, was protecting them, but it was too much to handle such attacks.
Leobold clicked his tongue at the reckless charge.
Not even kamikaze By the way, were those elves on board?
They are presumed to be humans and beastmen. They probably brought them from the autonomous region.
Thats how elves are.
He originally intended to leave peacefully.
He had achieved his goal and had no reason or desire to fight any more.
But if they came at him like this, he felt the need to teach them a lesson.
Parents who let their kids cry and make a fuss are not qualified. Right?
Master is not a parent, but more like a neighbor who has a connection. Should I deploy Settler ship?
Do I need to use Settler ship to discipline them? Lightly
He was about to give an order, but there was a thud and the deck became noisy.
Judging by the amount of ether released, someone had climbed onto the deck.
A wave has been detected. Its rion, the elf who was in the conference room.
He has some guts toe here. Does he want to smash something with Goliath?
He just took out Goliath
Even if it was Hyperion, it would be too much to handle Goliath rampaging on the deck.
Leobold ordered the captain to go straight ahead and then went up to the deck.
The modified Belial-ss was about to attack the crew when it stopped.
Oh ho. You came out.
The deck is quite spacious. It would have been crowded on a normal airship.
Youre rxed. This damn ship is going to crash and youre still like that!
Leobold nced at the starboard side.
There was an ether cannon made of living metal aiming at the Belial-ss.
rion noticed that and quickly approached the cannon.
My responsiveness has increased greatly since I received divine power! I even surpassed Tirendell!
Goliaths arm touched the barrel and made a nking sound as it changed into a sword-shaped weapon.
He certainly had amazing responsiveness.
But there was one thing he didnt know.
Leobold was the strongest psycher that humanity had created after years of hard work.
Lets see how long you canst in space.
The ether heart activated and rions sword changed its shape on its own.
Whats going on?
He tried to grab the sword, but it split into two and stuck to both sides of Goliath.
What was finallypleted was an ion thruster.
Transforming living metal from a distance and creating ion thrusters on the spot like a gue were Leobolds abilities.
What, what is this!
Well, you can find out for yourself.
The ion thruster ignited and pushed Goliath into the sky.
Aaaah!
The Belial-ss carrying rion flew out of the atmosphere and headed for space in an instant.
The air became thin and it was so cold that his breath froze.
Uh, ugh Huh!
He gasped and looked at the darkening sky.
Soon, everything around him turned ck.
Its cold
In his fading vision, he saw something shining.
They were Mare and two moons orbiting Terra.
The ion thruster finally pushed Goliath beyond space and slowly detached itself.
rion regretted it when he was about to breathe hisst breath.
Thats what the dwarves said Damn, am I going to die like this
The Belial-ss carrying him became a coffin and began to fly somewhere in space by inertia.
It wouldnt stop unless there was an obstacle in between.
Leobold, who had sent the troublemaker into space, looked up at the sky.
Hell have enough time to enjoy space.
It seemed to end here, but it didnt.
Many airships and fleets gathered in front of Hyperion, which had started elerating in earnest.
It was like hyenas flocking to smell the blood of a wounded lion.
Unfortunately, Hyperion was not injured at all.
And the Elvrande fleet was not hyenas, but mere mongrels.
Let me teach you that from now on. Arma, detach the armor.
Youre going to reveal Hyperions true form, are you sure?
It doesnt matter. They want to fight, so Ill y along.
Detaching the armor.
The armor tes made of Yggdrasils shell were detached one by one.
Hyperion shed its armor like a husk and even threw away the deck.
What was finally revealed was a slender spaceship with a dark color like space.
It was cute in sizepared to Settler ship, but it was still quite shocking to the elves.
What, what is that!
It looks like a ck ship
I know that! What kind of ship is that!
The Elvrande fleet was confused as Hyperion detached everything and activated its ion thrusters.
Leobold, who hade down to the bridge, gave an order to the bewildered captain.
You dont need to understand, just ept the reality. Starboard full ahead.
Sir, full ahead! If we do that, well dive into the encirclement!
I wont give the order three times. Starboard full ahead.
Starboard full ahead!
The wheels spun and Hyperion turned its bow.
The Elvrande fleet expected it to have arge turning radius because of its huge size, but it wasnt.
Hyperion sprayed ions from its bow to minimize its turning radius.
And then it changed direction in an instant.
The Elvrande fleet was now chasing after Hyperion.
Leobold put his hand on the captains shoulder.
Margreta had hesitantly entered the bridge.
Lets go to the presidents mansion. We need to give them a gift.
Surely, that gift wasnt an ether stone bomb?
Margreta opened her mouth wide and the captain gave an order as if to let it be.
Full speed ahead!
The ion thrusters were fully activated and Hyperion reached a speed that the Elvrande fleet couldnt keep up with.
A ck ship appeared in the sky of Medea in an instant and an rm sounded.
Where did that shipe from!
I dont know! It just appeared!
Quickly, activate the ether cannons! Stop it from approaching Yggdrasil by any means!
Its too fast!
It passed by before they could even aim, so there was no way the air defensework could work properly.
Medea was turned upside down.
***
Hoo
Drizden drank his wine with a triumphant feeling.
He had sent a newly developed airship unit and rion, so he must have inflicted some damage on him.
I wont let you go easily. Even if you dont die
It was enough to shock and destroy Hyperion as a warning.
It would be better if he could sink it, though.
No matter how powerful you are with divine power, you are inexperienced in aerialbat.
He was the oldest elf and knew the tactics of the Great War.
If there was a lesson learned from the Great War, it was that even a very powerful being had a weakness.
For example, the champion of dragons preferred to use Goliath, so he was vulnerable to attacks from above.
If he poured ether stone bombs on him, he would have no choice but to surrender.
Leobold wouldnt die from that, but his pride would be hurt for sure if Hyperion broke down.
You shouldnt underestimate elves. Even Altima couldnt look down on us, how dare you
Now, when rion returned, he would hear how the ship was doing.
Drizden closed his eyes with joy and felt a sense of unease.
He heard a buzzing sound from somewhere far away and then it became louder.
And someone opened the door with a bang and disturbed his rest.
What is it? I told you not toe in until I call you.
The attendant shouted anxiously at him with a grim expression.
Yo, your Excellency! You have to escape right now!
Why? Whats going on?
A strange ck ship ising and dropping bombs!
What?
Drizden jumped up and opened the window and looked up at the sky.
A ck ship was approaching from afar.
The crimson mes rising from below were definitely not flowers.
Then he felt the ground shake and a strong wind blew.
Damn it!
Drizden broke the window and jumped out, forgetting that he was a mage.
He barely used levitation magic to float in the air, but the ck ship was too fast.
In the blink of an eye, it flew over the mansion and dropped something from its hull.
Thats an ether stone bomb
And a huge one at that.
It wasnt one or two, but more than ten at once, so the power was no joke.
The old elf couldnt withstand the shock of the explosion and was swept away by the st.
Boom!
The mansion copsedpletely as explosions urred one after another.
mes and ck smoke rose everywhere and elves screamed and scattered in all directions.
Margreta watched her hometown being destroyed from the bridge.
She didnt look happy about it.
Is this the power of the ship that Leobold brought from another world?
No. This ship is nothing. The real one is beyond that sky.
She looked up at the ceiling and then turned her eyes to him.
Why did you do this You could have just taught them a lesson.
Do you think they would ept it? They med you and tried to kill me. Do you think they would surrender if I showed them a spaceship?
Leobold had learned something after fighting for decades: people dont change easily.
Some might realize their mistake right before they die, but most dont even have that kind of feeling.
Once they decide that they are right and just, it is almost impossible to change them from outside.
Even humans who live for only decades are like that, how stubborn would elves who live for nearly 300 years be?
They wont change. To change them, we need a strong shock, that is, war. This is just a deration of war. The real war will start from now on.
Margreta bowed her head silently.
She had nowhere to go back to now and had no choice but to rely on Leobold.
She didnt mind that, but she felt depressed thinking that she couldnt go back to her hometown.
Leobold stood behind her andforted her by rubbing her shoulder.
You didnt lose your home. Youre just going back a littlete. Ill kick out the crazy elves, including Drizden, and return Elvrande to your arms. I promise.
Thank you
She turned her body and hugged Leobolds broad chest.
Hyperion, which had dropped a bunch of bombs, slowly turned and left Medea.
There was nothing to hinder its course.
Chapter 274:
Chapter 274:
The journey back to Bagran was not supposed to be long.
It was because Arma had agreed to open a warp gate for them as a trial once they left the territory of Elvrande.
Originally, it was only possible to send something as small as Leobold, but with the Aether Origin reaching thepletion stage, it could send a spaceship as big as Hyperion.
If the Aether Origin waspleted, it would be able to create a huge warp gate like the one they passed through in Nox.
However, transcending time and space was still impossible.
Anyway, during the few days they left Elvrandes territory, Leobold and Margareta spent time doing various things.
They were almost trapped in a narrow space and had experienced many events, so they became very close.
However, there was no such thing as Cami or Arma had worried about, such as sharing a bed, because they had a light argument over one topic.
It was Leobolds n to burn down Yggdrasil.
H-how can you try to burn down Yggdrasil? He is a god.
He is not a god. He is just a big tree with some special powers. I am confident that I can rece him.
She realized that he was sincere when she saw his unwavering eyes.
This man was trying to kill the god of the elves.
Is it a righteous act to burn him down just because you can rece him?
I am not burning him down for no reason. Do you want to hear why?
She nodded her head after hesitating for a while and sat down on the chair as he suggested.
Hyperion was several times bigger than other spaceships, but it was shaken by the turbulence just the same.
The lighting device made of luminous stones on the table cast shadows on their faces.
You must have seen the elves in Medea a few days ago. They were calm when we arrived, but they suddenly became ferocious after Drizden said something.
But thats because they were following Drizdens orders
Not all the elves on the street were Drizdens subordinates. In other words, they hated us voluntarily.
They did not attack, but the atmosphere was so hostile that the knights were ready for battle.
He could only think that Drizden had incited them when he wondered why they became like that.
He had no intention of sending Leobold back peacefully.
When you are surrounded by an excited crowd, various things can happen. Sometimes someone can get hurt Drizden seemed to want that kind of scene.
Thats not the whole opinion of the elves.
It was not one or two people who did it in Medea, the capital of the elves. Even if its not all of them, it can be representative enough.
Margareta looked at him with sad eyes and asked.
What does that have to do with your n to burn down Yggdrasil?
Being vulnerable to incitement is inevitable. It is easy to have a confirmation bias when you only hear one-sided ims in a situation where information is scarce. I would not be able to act so confidently if I did not have Arma. But
Leobold poured tea into the cup in front of her and continued.
I saw their confidence in executing justice in their words and actions. They thought it was the right thing to do. I wondered what made them think that way. And I realized it when I came to Medea.
Yggdrasil our god made them think that way?
Since they were born under Yggdrasils protection, grew up seeing Yggdrasil, and never left his branches, they could call him an absolute being. The elves ranked Yggdrasil above all other gods in the pantheon.
Margareta nodded her head.
Yes he is a definite god, so we dont even discuss his rank. The other gods in the elven pantheon also gave their decrees that Yggdrasil was different from them.
I want to break their faith by burning down Yggdrasil.
You want to achieve that by killing the god of the elves?
Yggdrasil is not a god. The only true god is Prophet Rasa.
She looked into his eyes that were burning with pure madness.
What kind of being was Prophet Rasa that made this cold and calcting human king worship him absolutely?
Of course, Rasa was known as the creator god of Astera and had his name in many myths, but he was almost an invisible god
He spoke again when she looked away.
I want to make them realize instead of changing their actions. Yggdrasil is not a god and he is just a tree.
They might understand if you persuade them well.
Peoples personalities are mostly fixed when they grow up and do not change until they die. Elves live for almost 300 years, right? Anyway, they are very stubborn after living for a long time.
If you burn down Yggdrasil, you will be the enemy of the elves, no, the whole of Astera.
It was the same for humans, Ains, and beastmen who did not worship Yggdrasil as much as the elves.
I was prepared to be the enemy of the entire continent when I came here. I have to endure that much if I want to change the world.
Margareta realized the depth of his faith when she saw Leobolds eyes that did not budge at all.
Whats the difference between the elves who worship Yggdrasil and you who worship Prophet Rasa?
I do not think I am justice. And I think it would be a little better for me to rule this world than the elves.
It was not a little, but much better, as Margareta could tell.
But the problem was that the method he used to achieve that was too extreme.
Is there no way to avoid burning down Yggdrasil?
You also seem to have a strong dependence on Yggdrasil. Thats why Yggdrasil has to disappear. Well, notpletely.
What do you mean?
A being that can rece Yggdrasil is being created. When it ispleted, this world will be able to use Aetheran energy much easier and morefortably.
Is it your n to create an artificial god?
Aether Origin is not a god, but you can call it that if you want.
Leobolds philosophy was that the only true god was Prophet Rasa, and the rest were just tools.
Even Astera Pantheon and Yggdrasil could not escape that category.
It might seem like a hasty conjecture, but it was not so unreasonable when he saw Armas recent analysis results.
Prophet Rasa created this world and deployed various algorithms to manage it. They are the ones with powers, the Astera Pantheon.
Yggdrasil is a storage of souls and a device that splits Aether into six types.
Aether Origin can rece both of them. It will make Aether much more efficient and convenient to use. When it ispleted, there will be an Aether revolution.
Leobolds n was to rece Astera Pantheon and Yggdrasil with Aether Origin.
Therefore, the big tree that gave the elves unnecessary arrogance had no reason to exist anymore.
Leobold spoke firmly to her, who still showed the will to persuade him.
Yggdrasil is nothing but a big tree with some special functions. You must not forget that.
After that day, their rtionship became awkward.
She did not openly show anger, but he could feel that she avoided him from her expression and attitude.
But Leobold did not care about that.
She woulde back to him someday.
When he absorbed Zaium and waged war with Elvrande, the Human Empire would take its first step.
He nned to be an emperor and have many vassals, and he also intended to entrust them withnds.
Margareta and Tirendell would be enough to run the elf autonomy region.
I dont know if they will ept it, though.
Tirendell was someone who would believe him even if he said he could turn beer into barley, but Margareta was surprisingly firm in her opinions.
She was a tough but flexible young elf, so he thought she was worth expecting.
I have enough time to wait, so Ill just watch.
Cami said she was d that you didnt have the misfortune of sharing a bed with Master.
He did not know if Cami really said that.
A warp gate appeared on Hyperions course soon after.
The huge spaceship crossed the space and appeared over Bagrans direct territory.
***
Elvrande was quiet for a while after themotion in Medea.
However, this only meant that they did not make any announcements externally, while internally there was a lively and noisy discussion going on.
It was about turning Leobold and Bagran into enemies of the elves.
In fact, Leobold was already on top of the list of public enemies of Elvrande Empire.
But bing an enemy of the elves was different from that.
Drizden, the president who barely survived the bombing, dered this:
I swear by the sacrifice of our noble citizens and this wound. I will definitely annihte the hateful enemy Leobold Vandus! It is our sacred right given by Yggdrasil!
The elves were ecstatic at his deration of using all means possible.
Actually, Leobold was not the one who caused this situation.
He just went there after being invited, but he suddenly received an airship attack and was in a very unfair position.
But that did not matter to the elves.
Drizdens propaganda department spread flyers every day that med humans and Leobold for everything.
This despicable man ignored our goodwill and broke off the talks, then dropped bombs from his airship. May he be cursed by God!
The Hyperion that Vandus used was a spaceship that the elf fleet had sunk during the past war. Using it means that he does not care about us elves at all.
Medea was attacked by Hyperion and the president was injured. I ask all citizens. How long do we have to endure this?
It was a provocation that conveniently omitted the fact that Elvrande was the one who deployed the airship first.
As always, this kind of provocation worked well.
In a situation where information itself was limited and Drizden had most of the power in his hands, there was no force that could tell them the truth.
The elves gathered in groups and marched on the streets, raising their fists.
No more mercy for humans!
Kill them! Kill them! Kill them!
For elves! For president! For Yggdrasil!
Wake up, Elvrande!
The only difference from before was that Drizdens provocation was included in these slogans.
He used this situation as a means to strengthen his power and established a personal guard under the pretext of security.
This personal guard was a different organization from the Defense Agency, which formally received approval from Congress, and only listened to Drizdens orders.
Their authority was also very wide and vast, so they could look into almost any organization with Drizdens permission.
It was almost as if the whole Elvrande was reorganized by Drizden and his personal guard.
Some of the congressmen doubted this and demanded an exnation, but the result was a purge.
Ekidna Munshiker, the captain of the personal guard, mobilized her troops to eliminate one by one the few congressmen who opposed their master.
As a result, dozens of people died in less than a month, and the presidential office med it on Tirendells terror.
Tirendell is still hiding somewhere. Therefore, we must not lower our guard.
The presidential office and the personal guard are working hard, but they need more funds and full cooperation to catch Tirendell.
Drizden used this excuse to nt his loyalists in the government organizations one by one.
He used the nonexistent external enemy to enhance his own power.
It was a peculiar thing considering his old age.
Usually, when elves reached close to 300 years old, they would give up everything and settle near the bottom of Yggdrasil, doing small chores and waiting for death. It was a custom.
Since the World Tree itself was so huge, there were several viges around it made by such elders, and Drizden had also reserved a ce there.
But he did not want to die.
Why live a finite life when I can be reborn as an immortal?
It would have been impossible normally, but recently theboratory had found a clue for extending life.
It required a process of reviving several divinities that were known to have been destroyed during the Great War, but he did not hesitate.
Anyway, I need divinities to kill him. A lot of them.
Not only divinities, but he also needed to mobilize everything in Elvrande.
The Hyperion that he showed in this situation waspletely different from the one in the Great War.
ording to various testimonies, its maximum speed was over 100 km/h and part of its hull was made of living metal, making it extremely durable.
Above all, the dozens of Aether cannons that intercepted several agile airships were a matter of concern.
He did not know that Aether cannons could aim so fast.
Drizden realized that he needed aplete reorganization of the army after several meetings with his confidants.
We need a bigger and more efficient army. It is not enough to just make Goliaths chase the Elven Knights and produce airships. We need cooperation from both autonomy regions.
His n was to divide the Elvrande army into personal guard, existing army, and volunteer army.
Most of the support went to the personal guard, and the existing defense force was reduced.
And the volunteer army was just a fancy name for a penal unit.
Humans, including Ains and Beastmen, should be grateful to the elves who gave themnd and support and live ordingly.
If there are rights, there are also duties. Stand up to protect ournd. If you have any honor.
The support was nothing but giving them wastnds that elves did not want to migrate to and providing enough food to avoid starvation, but the autonomy regions had no power to oppose it.
So the personal guard started to pick out those who had any Aether sensitivity.
In the process, it wasmon to part with family and friends, and some families were destroyed for hiding them.
Drizden wrapped up such actions as being for Asteras peace.
He also did not stop there and sent secret agents to Zium and Holy Kingdom.
He thought he needed cooperation from humans as well to deal with Leobold and Bagran.
Why should we be the only ones to bleed?
Zaium had started to antagonize him because of Pangrals air strike, and Holy Kingdom had the same goal as him.
They also needed divinities anyway.
But it was uncertain whether those divinities would side with Holy Kingdom.
So he gathered with the three countries for the first time in a long time and agreed on the threat of Bagran.
It was not a full-fledged alliance, and there were many obstacles to take actual actions, but it was fortunate that they took the first step anyway.
Drizden wanted Delphina, who had fled to Holy Kingdom, but she had already noticed it and ran away.
What a rat Cant she just tell me what she saw?
It was almost impossible to capture her by normal means because of her Nocturne power.
He searched Holy Kingdom for a long time, but instead of finding her whereabouts, he only found a few pieces of paintings.
Drizden frowned as soon as he received those paintings.
What do you think these paintings are? Ekidna.
They look like something she drew randomly in confusion.
The paintings depicted the battle scene between Legion Strike Fleet and gue Queen, but it was impossible to guess that without prior knowledge.
It looks like they are fighting monsters with Aether cannons Anyway, its impossible to bring Delphina here, right?
Yes. She has no ce in Holy Kingdom either, so she must have returned to her original ce.
She wont go to sea. Theres no way out there.
What about Leobold?
He and Shadow Elves were almost enemies, but in this situation where he had enemies everywhere, there was not no chance of joining hands with him.
He had managed to settle down humans who were wandering aroundmitting crimes as ves after all.
Keep an eye on Bagran. You never know when Delphina will pop up. And contact me when you find her.
Drizden looked at the map.
Elvrande, Zqium, and Holy Kingdom together were almost equivalent to the whole world.
Leobold had turned the world into his enemy.
No matter how strong he was, it would be difficult for him to cope with this situation.
He would be pressured in all aspects, not only military, but also economic and cultural.
But Drizden did not know that he had experienced this situation many times.
Compared to the harsh andplex environment of Earth in the 21st century, Astera was like a peaceful temple.
And Leobold was ready to crush the heads of those who made noise in that temple.
***
Leobold, who returned to Bagran, received reports on Elvrandes movements, national development n, and integration work.
The elves actions were as Arma expected, and the national development n was going well with a lot of funds invested.
At this very moment, there was arge-scale construction going on somewhere in Bagran.
But integration was not easy even with Armas power.
Forplete integration,nd was important in the end, but the owners did not want to give it up.
Even if Pangrals air strike was the case, Galisto was the same as the old Bagran.
Most of thend was upied by nobles, and the royal direct territory was only a part.
Leobold wanted Arma to manage all thend.
We will have a lot of headaches withnd issues when the Aether revolution begins. We need to solve the ownership problem now for that time.
Land was important regardless of the era, and it would be more importantter than now.
It was easier to manage if all thend belonged to Leobold, that is, the emperor.
But there were no easy obstacles for that.
It would be too bloody to push them away
Galisto had more than twice the poption of Bagran, and there were many nobles.
Moreover, Leobolds territorial integration work had not been done at all.
There were hundreds of nobles who had settled down, so it was expected that a lot of blood would flow if he mobilized his troops to push them away.
Arma suggested the following method:
It would be better to start with an urate census andnd survey. Then, we need to abolish the gold standard and introduce new taxes through currency reform.
Make them pay taxes with our currency only?
Yes. With paper money.
Paper money was not even attempted in Astera due to credit issues.
At best, it was only used for bills when circtingrge amounts of money in ces like Denova.
In fact, paper money was not necessary because the economy was small and a small amount of gold and silver was enough.
But ording to Armas analysis, the poption would explode and the economy would expand greatly from the point when the Aether revolution began.
It was not bad to do some groundwork before that.
Leobold nodded as he looked at the roadmap she presented.
We have enough cotton to produce high-quality paper money. The problem is the deadline
We can exchange gold and silver at a 1:1 ratio without limit for a year while establishing a bank. After that, we need to add surcharges.
That will solve both the wealth assessment of nobles andnd issues.
It was nothing but a robbery without a knife, but it was efficient in that it did not spill much blood.
Leobold liked it.
There was a drawback ofck of credit, but it seemed possible somehow if he guaranteed payment with equal value and showed off Bagrans huge gold and technology.
Good. Execute it right away.
This would probably make him hated by many nobles.
But Leobold was used to it.
Chapter 275:
Chapter 275:
The year 1039 of the Continental Calendar marked a significant change in Bagran: the beginning of the cotton industry.
This did not mean simply nting cotton, but cultivating it on arge scale and preparing for the rted industries.
It was the result of settling the nomads who wandered across Bagran and making them work hard to irrigate the fields.
The variety of cotton was improved Siviri cotton, which had many advantages such as less water and mana consumption and shorter growth time.
In ces with abundant farnd, such as Lantis City and the Direct Territory, the production of cotton bolls was already finished and the machines for ginning and spinning them into fabrics and other products were ready.
Modern factories using improved ether engines were installed in various parts of the Direct Territory, recing tens of thousands of workers.
One ginning machine that separated seeds from cotton bolls could do the work of more than a thousand people, so there was noparison in efficiency.
The transportationwork for moving these products was also wless, thanks to the preid rails.
The only caveat was that cotton bolls were prone to fire due to friction, so dedicated staff had to follow them closely.
This huge productionwork was densely clustered in the eastern part of Bagran, making it very efficient in logistics.
The only problem was theck of demand.
The current poption of Astera Continent was slightly over 300 million, but Elvrande despised human products as inferior and did not treat them well.
Zaium also paid close attention to its own textile industry, including wool, making it hard for new entrants to break in.
Arma decided that the demand from the newborn Bagran was enough for now.
The poption of 15 million is small, but the scale of the productionwork is not that big either. After we dominate Bagran internally, we can expand our market to Zaium and Elvrande.
She could expect this because the quality of the fabrics made in eastern Bagran surpassed her imagination.
Although they were inferior to those of 21st century Earth due to technical limitations, they boasted a touch and softness that Astera could not dream of.
The merchants who visited the factory and received samples of fabrics were amazed.
This softness is simr to the eraxil fabrics made by Silverds I wish the price was cheaper.
Wait, theres a price written here 3 silvers per meter of fabric?
Thats an unbelievable price. Eraxil fabrics cost more than 30 silvers per meter.
Silverds were an Ain race that lived in the northern part of Astera, on Lake Raon.
They hadrge wings on their backs.
They were also very beautiful in appearance, so they used to be sold as ves in the past.
Recently, their poption had decreased so much that it was rare to see them sold as ves, but it was notpletely gone.
The main product they made was fabrics made from eraxil fibers that came from king beetles.
These fabrics were iparable to existing fibers in terms of softness and luster.
Even Elvrande did not ept anything other than eraxil fabrics for their dresses for parties.
They were expensive and prone to wrinkles, but their overwhelming advantages of being easy to dye and having a good shine outweighed everything else.
But these cotton fabrics wereparable to those expensive eraxil fabrics.
The price was one-tenth of that.
One merchant doubted as he rubbed the fabric until it wore out.
There were cotton fabrics before. Elvrande and Zaium both have cotton fabrics made from cotton bolls. But Ive never seen this kind of luster before.
It feels so good to touch it. Usually cotton fabrics are very rough.
I know Bagranpletely banned very, but how can they offer this price?
Ill exin that to you.
The owner of the elegant voice was none other than Arma, the merchant lord of Bagran.
The merchants were startled and quickly bowed their heads.
Arma had a bad reputation for appearing out of nowhere without any prior notice despite being a merchant lord.
Normally, when a high-ranking person visits somewhere, there should be some preparation.
They should embellish their books and clean up a bit.
But she visited various businesses so irregrly that it was hard to prepare for her.
If they clumsily manipted anything, they would be shaken down by her inspectors, which was a daily urrence.
So these days, their sites and books were fairly urate.
She had many scary stories about her, but she was very kind and friendly to ordinary people.
Considering her position as a merchant lord, she had achieved a remarkable anti-authoritarianism.
Anyway, she took the merchants to tour the weaving factory.
The process of separating seeds from cotton bolls requires a lot ofbor. But if you use this ginning machine, the production will increase dramatically.
This looks like an improved ether engine Is it directly connected to the ginning machine?
Yes. Using carts is too inefficient.
The ginning machine was spinning without rest, separating cotton bolls and seeds.
ording to her, one ginning machine could do the work of more than a thousand people.
The merchants eyes widened.
A thousand people!
Its true that separating seeds takes a lot of time. You have to push them one by one with a stick
From these separated cotton seeds, we extract cottonseed oil. We can secure a lot of vegetable oil.
The next process introduced was extracting oil from seeds by applying heat and pressure.
The merchants were surprised that they could extract vegetable oil so easily.
It was not an ordinary amount by the looks of it.
This could be used for cooking as well, right?
Thats right. You can also eat fried foods more often. Although they are a bit expensive.
In fact, humans were able to use vegetable oil properly only after using cottonseed oil.
Before that, oil itself was precious and they could not use it carelessly.
Fish and chips, which are representative of fried foods, were also derived from cottonseed oil.
What shocked the merchants was that machines that looked like golems were involved in all these processes.
Wow, this is amazing.
They cut off the head and legs and only adopted the torso. Perfect for repetitive work.
Doesnt that use a lot of ether stones?
Arma smiled and answered the merchant who asked that.
It costs less thanbor. And golems dontin.
Indeed
It was a strangely cold and realistic answer.
Anyway, the merchants who toured the factory were impressed by all the processes and products.
They traveled around various countries and knew well about the technological and cultural levels of each ce.
Zaium, let alone Elvrande, could not show such performance.
They could not even make efficient ether engines, let alone factories like this.
Overwhelming technology meant a lot of profit and whoever took the lead would win.
The merchants eyes lit up and Arma led them to the conference room.
What I want to propose to you is to create demand overseas. Bagran can supply as much as you want, but outside is a bit difficult.
Well, the outside view is not very good.
What is the reason for our existence as merchants? Just give us the goods. Well sell anything.
Thank you.
Arma gave them samples as she spoke.
What you have to do is travel around the continent and distribute these products to nobles, influential people, and merchants.
You mean give them away, not sell them?
Quality is guaranteed, so youre going to distribute samples and create demand.
Then it doesnt matter if its not us
The merchants were somewhat disappointed, but they changed their minds when they heard Armas next words.
I will leave the export to that country entirely to him. In other words, I will supply as much as he can generate demand.
Hmm
So it depends on how hard we work, right?
They nodded.
The merchants felt that this was worth a try.
With this quality, there was no exaggeration to say that there was nopetitor.
If they got assigned a decent area, they could have a monopoly on the goods.
The profit from there would surely exceed their imagination.
They had to resort to this method because there werent many countries that liked Bargrantely.
They needed lubricants like merchants as they pursued both conquest and trade routes.
Of course, they would be unnecessary when they conquered Zaium, but they needed some preparation to swallow up that huge empire.
Arma began to assign the areas.
The merchants appealed tearfully to get a more bustling area.
***
When Bargran absorbed Galisto, they started with poption census andnd surveying.
The nobles of Galisto, who were anxious about the oue, were tongue-tied by their thoroughness.
Is the census for taxation? I hope its not too heavy.
Its one thing for the direct territories, but why do they survey the independent domains?
Do they want us to give up ournd like they did in Bargran?
I cant tolerate that even if Im the king. Ill inform Zaium and fight to the d***h.
-Somethings strange. Why do they survey the nomads?
In any country, nomads were excluded from the poption.
They were no different from beggars, with their innate nature being violent and lowly. They were hard to use asbor and even harder to tax.
In short, they were useless and left alone, but they bothered to survey them, which made them curious.
Anyway, the two tasks continued until 1039 came.
Manpower and money were not a problem, but the environment did not cooperate, causing a lot of friction.
There was no way that those who were no different from beggars would obediently tell their numbers.
Bloodshed urred everywhere, but Arma pushed it forward without shaking.
It was a kind of notification even though they could scan and survey with artificial satellites.
It meant that they should be ready to join the settlement soon.
There was also a simr incident innd surveying.
The nobles did not like the surveyors who measured their domains.
All kinds of sabotage followed, and some even killed the surveyors.
When Arma reported this, Leobold gave a cruel order.
I cant tolerate killing the surveyors, even if you dont cooperate with the survey. You need an example, so crush them.
He didnt like bloodshed, but sometimes he had to spill it.
When the Bargran army moved out ording to his instructions, the count who killed the surveyor appealed to the neighboring domains and Zaium while deciding to resist to the end.
He shouted at the Bargran armymander who offered him surrender as a procedure.
Sending surveyors means you want to swallow mynd! I know you massacred many nobles in Bargran! Try trampling on us too!
Themander tilted his head and said,
You seem to have misunderstood something. The meticulousnd surveying is for taxation, not oppression.
What?
Just for taxation?
The count was flustered and stuttered, and themander ordered an attack.
Anyway, you have to take responsibility for killing the surveyor. Each unit, start attacking.
The troops were not Goliaths but Chektan soldiers.
They easily smashed a few old Goliaths and attacked the mansion.
The count died in that battle and most of his retainers shared his fate.
When one counts domain was destroyed, there was no more force that interfered with the surveyors.
Thats what Im saying. There are some people who only understand when they see blood.
Leobold was tempted to just push them away.
But his goal was not simple conquest, but improving the level of Astera civilization.
If he killed them as soon as they resisted, only destend and hostile people would remain.
Its not bad to start over in a barrennd
But there was no need to spill blood when there were other ways.
Anyway, as many nobles became scared and shrank back,nd surveying progressed quickly.
Armapiled all the data and reported it.
The final poption of Galisto is about 7.66 million and the area is about 500 thousand km2
All kinds of data needed for national management were listed as well.
The most urgent thing was of course the debt problem.
The former king, Palkus II, had spent a lot of money on war expenses from here and there, and he had not paid it back, so it became debt.
The amount is 450 thousand gold, but one of the creditors was Grand Duke Pangral, so it actually reduced to 300 thousand gold.
Thats a relief. I guess you borrowed money from Zaium too?
10 thousand gold from the royal family, 50 thousand gold from the Northwind Union and other nobles, and the rest from Denova.
You borrowed a lot.
It was natural that Bargran had to shoulder that debt as well when they absorbed Galisto.
But Leobold didnt feel like giving them the money.
The point is, its all good if the creditors disappear, right?
It was a natural logic that debt would disappear if the creditors disappeared.
Arma looked at his master with calm eyes and asked,
Its hard to deal with Zaium right now, so shall we merge Denova?
Denova was quite close to Bargran.
It seemed easy to merge Denova if they could handle the Gram Kingdom, which had a small poption.
Whats the atmosphere over there?
Theyre excited by the war atmosphere. The financial sector hasnt recovered yet, but there are many merchants who lend money here and there.
It was only possible for Bargran to manage their military power with their national budget, as they managed all their resources directly.
Recently, due to the rising war clouds, Elvrande and Zaium increased their military power, but theycked money, so they borrowed from merchants and issued bonds.
Thanks to that, Denova was enjoying the biggest boom ever.
The interest alone was huge, and the merchants couldnt get rid of their smiles.
Considering that most of them were elf merchants, the final winner would be Elvrande.
They dont ask for money right away?
They pay interest on time. But if we show a little sign of weakness, theylle running with their bonds.
Its not bad to just pay them off
It seemed good to start a business based on the paper money that would be issued this time.
It would be easier in the future if they ate Denova.
Leobold had originally nned to create an independent financial system without Denova, but Elvrande became hostile faster than expected.
He decided to absorb them with a simple conspiracy.
Well have to take over Denova, he said.
Arma revised the roadmap on the spot.
If we announce that we found the bones of Altima in the masters domain in Zaium, well attract many investors.
Altima was the most famous dragon among all.
She was so powerful that she could fight against any god, and she had a deep connection with the Gram Empire, the predecessor of many nations including Zaium.
She was the only dragon who had faith, so her poprity was undeniable.
However, bones alone were not enough to gather investors. They needed convincing evidence of ruins and treasures.
Elvrande will fall for our trap. They wont dare to start a war, but theyll probably use their money to bury the excavation site.
Then well take their money and steal the bones.
The result would be the bankruptcy of the merchants and the downfall of Denova.
The only thing that worried him in this n was Valgard.
He was Altimas champion, and he had not forgotten her even after 200 years.
He had no reaction at the stage of collecting souls, but he couldnt predict what he would do when the bones were exposed and the soul waspleted.
He doesnt say anything about his oath. Do you have any other information?
Hes a very taciturn person But I got some new information about Altima from Margaretas notes.
What is it?
She died cursing humans in herst battle. I dont know why.
There could be many answers to this, but the most likely one was betrayal.
Valgard was reluctant to talk about Altimas end. There must have been a traitor in the Gram Empire at that time.
Ill focus on investigating the Infinite Library for that.
With Armas ability, the magic barrier in the library was no problem at all.
It was hard to do a full survey right now, but as soon as the space tform waspleted, he could mass-produce micro-drones and transfer all the records.
And then it would be revealed that the elves had manipted history.
***
Spring of 1039 Continental Era.
A small event was held in Rozelon, the royal capital of Bagran.
The king dered the establishment of a bank and the issuance of paper money.
There was something simr to a bank in Astera.
The merchants of Denova formed an association and sent staff to lend money and collect interest in busy ces.
The interest was brutal and the collection was ruthless, so peoples perception of lending business was terrible.
Its better to negotiate peace with elves than to borrow money from merchants.
How can they do that with such murderous interest?
Why are you so negative? When did His Majesty ever pursue a policy that harms people like us?
Leobolds administration had made Bagran prosperous.
He was clearly fighting a two-front war, but in many cities including Rozelon, people couldnt feel it.
That meant Leobold had defeated Galisto and Pangral with only a fraction of his national power.
With such an achievement, the bank establishment was not so bad.
But the paper money introduction met with strong opposition.
It didnt make sense to rece all metal coins with paper.
Give up gold for that paper scrap? Who would want that?
They guarantee 1:1 payment, but how can we trust that?
This is a scheme to recover the money spent on war. We must never believe it.
There were some opinions that trusted the king, but they were few.
In Rozelon, there was a sinister rumor that the king would take away all the gold in the kingdom.
And it turned out to be true.
Not long after Codex was revised, Leobold issued an edict.
From tomorrow for one year, all existing gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins will be exchanged for paper money of equal value at 1:1. The subject is Rozelon Bank and there is no limit on amount.
The name of the currency was Credit, and it had colors and designs corresponding to gold, silver, and copper coins.
It also had five units as a feature.
The real thing came out, but most people didnt care.
Its not like anyone will use it anyway. No need to worry.
His Majesty must have made a mistake this time. That paper scrap has no value at all.
Why does he take such a risk when he doesnt have financial problems?
-He must have spent a lot of money on war. The food supplied to conquerednds must be huge.
But not everyone ignored Credit.
When spring came and many fields in Floating Continent produced tempting strawberries, many merchants came to Bagran to buy them.
They smelled the fresh strawberry scent from the wide fields and smiled with satisfaction.
Ah this is the smell. Elvrande strawberries are weak.
They even import these strawberries from here. They must have tasted them and realized they cantpete.
Thats amazing. Do they import them through Denova? It must cost a lot to transport them by airship.
The noble families have enough money to build a country.
The merchants sneered at the elf pride.
But they were shocked at the auction house.
There was a banner that said they didnt ept any metal coins.
The only thing that was valid was Credit issued by Rozelon Bank.
Do you want me to bring that paper scrap to buy strawberries?
This is ridiculous
The merchants stood like statues in front of the banner.
Chapter 276:
Chapter 276:
Who would want such paper scraps?
That was the mostmon remark that the Roselone Bank heard when they issued the credit currency.
Most people did not trust the paper money itself.
They had been using metal coins, mainly silver and bronze, for so long that they could not believe in anything else.
Why would they exchange gold for paper?
The bank guaranteed that the paper had the same value as the coins, but to the people, it looked like nothing but numbers and designs.
And they only had unlimited exchange for one year, after which they would have to pay extra taxes. So they had even less reason to switch.
The influential people who were favorable to the current king also criticized this move.
He must have wanted to reform the currency, but he failed. He was too radical for his own good.
The king doesnt know what it feels like to have gold coins jingle in his pocket. Thats so satisfying.
The problem was right there.
The gold coins were actually made of gold.
Most of the gold coins circting in Bagran were produced in Zaium.
They were supposed to have a standard size, but many of them did not fit exactly.
Zaium was skimming profits by making the coins smaller.
As a result, the face value and the actual market value did not match, causing confusion.
And the users of gold coins also secretly shaved off the edges to reduce their size.
This had been going on for 200 years, and it made it very hard to calcte the precise value of one gold coin.
Usually, they weighed them, but that was also unreliable because many people tampered with the scales.
Arma hated this kind of thing.
You cant trust something that you cant convert into numbers. Thats why we should change all the money in Bagran to credits.
The credit currency came in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, and 100 bills.
They were not ordinary paper, but a mixture of fibers that made them quite durable. They also had some anti-counterfeit features added.
And the printing method was slightly different, making it hard to imitate with existing technology.
It was impossible to forge them poorly.
Despite these efforts, the credit currency was not widely used for various reasons.
But when Arma presented some concrete ns, the atmosphere changed.
One of them was the credit-onlyw.
From now on, all public servants and businesses in Bagran had to pay all their dues in credits.
And anyone who wanted to trade with Bagran from outside had to use credits as well.
If they refused to use credits and tried to use the old money, they would face a fine for the first offense and imprisonment for the second offense.
When the legal officer recorded this in the Codex, thew took effect.
Starting from April, the employees working at the royal pce received their sries in credits.
They were dumbfounded by the bills in their hands.
How am I supposed to buy food with this?
I used to enjoy hearing silver coins jingle on payday They would disappear soon enough anyway.
They grumbled, but they had to eat, so they had no choice but to go to the grocery store.
But an unexpected incident happened there.
The grocery store operated by Roselone City had already prepared for credit payments.
Most of the stores that dealt with essential goods were run by the city, so they epted the orders very quickly.
Of course, the store employees were not familiar with the credit currency either.
But an unexpected advantage emerged here.
The employees who bought food to take home realized how easy it was to calcte with credits.
Lets see A bag of potatoes is 2 silvers and 10 bronzes, and a basket of fresh strawberries is 3 silvers If I add bread and butter, its a total of 6 silvers and 40 bronzes. If I convert that into credits
Its 640 credits.
The clerk said, and the employee matched the number with the bills in his hand and handed them over.
And he was surprised.
Thats it?
Thats it. Six 100-credit bills and four 10-credit bills make 640 credits.
Oh, right.
He felt empty because it was not silver, but he did not have to weigh them, which was very convenient.
These days, there were too many people who secretly cut off the edges with a knife-like thing.
It was impossible to weigh them very urately, and many people manipted the scales as well.
But this credit currency was very easy to handle.
He just had to match the numbers and give them away.
A calction that would have taken more than 10 minutes of haggling was over in an instant.
This happened all over Roselone City, and people realized that credit currency was surprisingly convenient.
Its very light and easy to use.
It doesnt seem like ordinary paper. What is it made of? It holds up well even when wet.
The best part is that the calction is done quickly. It used to take an hour to wait for the scammers to do the math.
As the use of credit currency increased among the people, the impact spread throughout the society.
In fact, everyone expected this day toe sooner orter, since the Bagran government had nailed the credit-onlyw to the Codex.
But it was epted so smoothly because the credit currency had an overwhelming advantage.
And since the government and city-run stores epted credits, the people naturally followed suit.
It doesnt matter to us what we use. Whether its silver or credit, theres no difference.
I heard that the merchants from outside also exchanged gold for credits. They had to pay with credits to buy strawberries.
Its nice to pay taxes with just a few pieces of paper.
However, not everyone was happy.
Themoners who did not have much wealth easily epted credits, but the rich, especially the nobles, did not think so.
They saw the introduction of credits as a conspiracy by Leobold to plunder their assets.
Exchange gold for paper scraps? No way.
Who would give up gold after a year when they add extra taxes? Its better to keep it and pass it on to future generations.
The inspectors are roaming around, but they cant find the gold hidden deep in the warehouse.
But there was one problem.
The Bagran government had introduced a newnd tax.
ording to the Codex, the nobles of Galisto who were incorporated this time were spared from military pressure, but they had to paynd tax instead.
This was still eptable.
Leobold had unified Bagran and forced the nobles to renounce their titles.
And those who refused were crushed by force.
It was better to settle with paying taxes than being treated like that.
But thisnd tax varied depending on the size of thend and could only be paid in credits.
The huge amount of gold and silver that the nobles had was useless.
The nobles of Galisto calcted theirnd tax and raged that it was absurd.
I have to pay more than 2,000 golds a year in taxes! How am I supposed to afford that?
If I cant afford it, they tell me to sell mynd at a low price? How dare they!
Paying taxes only in credits is the governments tyranny! I have to protest right away!
The nobles protests were doomed from the start.
Sitting at the desk where theints were received was Balgard.
He was a war hero who had single-handedly destroyed a hundred Goliaths in the Heston Valley and captured the royal pce.
He was an enemy to Galisto, but there was no one left to hate him after the country was gone.
Anything to say?
He looked in a bad mood.
His sharp eyes red at the nobles as if he would devour them.
They all shrank back and waved their hands.
No, nothing at all.
We must have been mistaken. Well then
The nobles had to admit that it was better to pay taxes ornd to Balgard than to d*e.
Leobold had never intended to grant them any privileges in the first ce.
Many people took out the gold coins that had been stored deep in their warehouses and exchanged them for credits.
Sometimes, people who had no money paidnd instead of taxes.
It was only a short time since the war ended and they had borrowed a lot of money from Denova, so they were all struggling.
As a result, thend of Galisto that the nobles owned was gradually being transferred to the government.
The nobles ie is decreasing, so I expect most of the territory will be transferred within three years.
Thats enough. In another year, theyll think its better to give up their titles andnds and keep whatever little wealth they have left.
Thend tax was just the beginning, and there were plenty of regtions that could restrict the ether bloodline.
There was almost nothing that could stop Leobold in Zaium.
And even that huge empire was suffering from the products from Bagrantely.
This was no exception for Elvrande.
***
Drizden sighed as he looked over part of the first quarter report from the Import and Export Management Bureau.
Im pretty sure I told you to stop trading with Bagran.
The bureau chief bowed his head in front of him.
Im sorry, Your Excellency. We tried our best to reduce the volume, but the strawberries from Bagran are so popr
Bagran? I thought the seeds came from the Floating Continent?
Uh, yes. Ill correct that. The strawberries from the Floating Continent are so popr that we cant help it. Especially, the demand from the great families is huge.
So youre saying youre not listening to me.
There was another pir of power in Elvrande besides Drizden.
It was the twelve great families.
The royal family of Rustel had fallen under Drizdens purge, but the rest were still showing their strength.
It was difficult to purge them in the current situation, since even President Drizden was a member of the Featherwood family.
If he mobilized his personal guard, their forces were not negligible and Elvrande would be split in two.
To be honest, it was only possible for Drizden to be president because of the tacit support of the great families.
They knew best about Asteras secret and judged that they could not stop Leobold with Elvrandes current system.
They pressured Drizden to step down as president when Leobold died and everything was over.
But he was dreaming of immortality.
Anyway, it seemed clear that the great families had taken a liking to the strawberries from the Floating Continent.
It would cost a lot to airlift strawberries from the end of the continent, but they were willing to pay for it.
Drizden bit his tongue.
Is this all because you cant resist that? This way, it will be hard to starve Bagran to death.
One of his strategies against Bagran was to pressure them economically.
Bagran had seeded in supplying most of its resources and necessities by itself through three years of reform.
But there were still some goods that they imported from Elvrande.
He wanted topletely block them and reduce Bagrans trade volume to zero.
That was his first pressure tactic.
But it started to go wrong from the beginning because of the intervention of the great families.
Drizden scanned through more of the report and said with a cold voice.
What is this? Cotton fabric? Why are you importing this?
Its rumored to be good quality
Isnt it just made from cotton? We have it in Zaium and Silverd makes it in our autonomous regions too.
Well Youll have to see for yourself.
The bureau chief brought out some cotton fabric and his rough fingers touched it.
It has a nice shine. And its soft too. How much is this?
Three silvers per meter. It doesnt exceed four silvers even with tariffs.
Are you crazy? Do you want to export at a loss?
Well Actually, its not a loss. They use some strange machines to separate seeds from cotton at an incredible speed and spin yarns. One machine does the work of a thousand people.
Drizden was shocked and just fiddled with the fabric for a while.
Three silvers per meter was not a very good fabric.
The high elves of Elvrande would not consider it a high-quality fabric.
But it was different for everyday use.
Bagran had alreadymercialized efficient ether engines and used golems in factories, somehow.
The productivity that came out of there was not ordinary, as proven already.
It would be possible to make everyday clothes with this fabric.
It would probably be worse than Eraqsil fabric, but it looked much better than what they used before.
Even if the cost increased slightly, the elves would choose this fabric.
Leobold Hes more scary than I thought.
He should have noticed his potential and killed him when he went up to the Floating Continent.
Now it was impossible to k**l him unless he had a good n, and even the picky high elves were paying him money.
He didnt know how much he would lose.
The bureau chief left and the captain of his personal guard, Ekidna, came in.
She showed him something with the Imagine Record magic.
This is a dragons bone.
Yes. Leobold found it in his territory in Zaium. He is boasting that he will raise funds by selling this bone on arge scale.
Has he gone mad? What does he want to do by excavating a dragons bone?
It seems that there are some ruins and treasures buried underneath. And there is a rumor that this bone belongs to Altima.
What?
Drizden doubted his ears.
Altima was the greatest enemy of the elves.
He found the bone and wanted to dig it up?
He couldnt believe it and looked at the magic.
It was blurry, but it seemed like Altimas bone.
Gold dragons had one horn on their head, and there was a horn exactly in the middle of the forehead on the bone.
Hyperion too. Hes trying to scratch our nerves by bringing up those names again.
But Denova seemed surprisingly unconcerned about the name Altima and was willing to invest.
They probably had their eyes on the ancient ruins and treasures.
Drizden tapped the table with his fingers and pondered for a while.
It was easy to say to pull out the money, but it seemed worth using.
If, if he could.
What if he could gather Altimas soul?
She was known to have died fighting the gods of the elves, but in fact she met her end by being betrayed by the royal family of the Gram Empire.
The soul that remembered thatst moment would be more resentful of one side than the other.
Fortunately, Leobold didnt know how to handle souls yet.
If he knew, he would have awakened a friendly deity and attacked us long ago.
In fact, Leobold and Arma had realized the existence of souls through Cain and knew that they could gather souls with the branches of Yggdrasil.
They didnt use that method because it was much easier and more efficient to exercise their power through ether origin.
Drizden mistakenly thought that Leobold was ignorant and blinded by money and wanted to excavate Altimas bones.
Stupid fool. Hes digging his own grave.
Should I contact Denova and tell them not to withdraw their money?
Hes digging a hole for himself, so theres no reason to pull it out. Tell them to support him with more funds so he can dig deeper.
I understand.
She left and Drizden was lost in thought.
He guessed why he wanted to excavate Altimas bones.
She was the most powerful creature among the dragons and had a high reputation, so he must have thought it would make money.
He must have also thought that the elves hated her name so much that they would pay to bury it.
But he didnt know that her soul was angry at humans.
Your ignorance is why you lose, Leobold.
Meanwhile, Drizden had a feeling that another great war might break out.
He wasnt sure, but something seemed ominous with the Holy Kingdom moving and all.
The great war We elves shed a lot of blood to correct the humans mistake
Even if that day came again, the elves would make the same choice.
It was their duty to protect this Astera from the mighty demon king.
Dont be mistaken, Leobold. Youre not the first one like you. There was one like you 200 years ago, and in every era. Youre not original.
They were called pioneers among humans, but Drizden saw them as nothing but bringers of cmity.
While Drizden was deluded, the real demon king was growing rapidly in Mare.
***
The Mare is a ce where gue, known as demons, swarm.
The number of individuals was unknown even to Arma, and countless gue queens gathered their legions and attacked each others territories.
They didnt appear in Astera very often because they couldnt control the ether storm.
Mare was a barren ce without an atmosphere unlike Tera, and the flow of ether was unstable and sometimes storms urred.
The demons found the exact door in the storm gap and moved to Astera.
Two hundred years ago, this ether storm blew quite often, but recently it hardly happened.
Being in such a closed world, they naturally had topete with each other.
Hundreds of demon kings in Mare fought endlessly and stabbed each other in the back.
Sometimes they did diplomacy as they learned from humans, but their nature didnt change and they started wars again.
But recently, the demon kings of Mare were united.
The cause was a new demon king who appeared suddenly one day.
Her name was Lucia.
She was incredibly strong for someone who appeared out of nowhere and quickly subdued the weak demon kings around her and started breeding her legion.
Recently, she was as powerful as the top ten demon kings in Mare.
This was an achievement made in less than a year, so the surrounding demon kings had to be nervous.
Shes big and strong. What does she eat to grow like that?
Ive never seen her around here before. Its suspicious that she suddenly appeared.
Could she havee from Tera?
They were suspicious, but they couldnt do anything about her right away because even the top ten demon kings were fighting for power.
The demon kings sent scouts to explore her nest and found something strange.
There was a human statue built in the highest and best ce in the nest.
The statue initially only showed a vague face, but recently it revealed its body and limbs in detail.
They felt a great fear at the giant statue that looked like it woulde alive at any moment.
Is the owner of the statue someone Lucia worships?
Could it be the Demon God who will appear someday?
While the demon kings were mistaken, Lucia worked hard to expand her nest and increase her legion.
It was for when Leobold would call her someday.
But one day, someone spoke to her.
It was not a telepathy between demon kings, but a voice that seemed to echo from the depths of her soul.
-Greetings, little possibility.
-Who are you? Why are you talking to me?
-Thats because we are one. I am your future and your greatest possibility.
-I dont understand what youre saying.
-You havent evolved yet. Youll knowter.
The voice kept ringing and Lucia learned a little about her identity.
She was the gue queen who fought with Leobold in the sr system 54 years ago.
Chapter 277:
Chapter 277:
Leobold received a report from Arma about the situation on the Mare.
There was nothing too unusual, but he was impressed by the fact that Lucias legion was on par with the ten demon kings.
Her growth rate is fast. She might be able to absorb the whole of Mare soon.
However, the demon kings legions are not easy to deal with either. They also feel a sinister power from Lucias legion and form alliances.
The gue sub-entities didnt have such high intelligence, though.
The gues of Mare were small in size, but each one boasted a remarkable intelligence.
The gue queen, who was called a demon king, was almost human-like.
Anyway, Lucias sudden appearance caused a big change in the power bnce of Mare.
Arma reported that there were real demon kings underground in Mare.
The demon kings on the surface are somewhat weak, and the real ones exist in the underground kingdom below several kilometers. Currently, Aphroxia, the demon king of heat, is the strongest.
What demon king?
The demon king of heat. She seems to have been influenced by Astera centuries ago.
Anyway, the nest looked different from the original gue queen. Can you check the underground side?
Im currently making micro-drones.
In fact, the demon kings of Mare were not a big problem.
No matter how many they were, they were no match for reactive bullets, and if he wanted to, he could build a mining ship and tear them apart from below.
But there was no need to do that unless they were rted to the original gue queen.
And soon after, Leobolds concern finally came true.
This is Lucias report. She hears a strange voice. And its not just for a day or two.
What kind of voice?
A womans very low-pitched. She says she is her small possibility and soon her future. She also knew that the gue evolves.
Shes alive, Omega One.
The gue queen he thought he had killed in the battle of the main star.
She was his equal as an omega-level psychic, and she was also worthy of being called Omega, so that was her codename.
He didnt know where she was now, but she was whispering to Lucia for sure.
Leobold scanned around Lucia, but there was nothing unusual.
She cant enter this world, I guess. She can onlymunicate like Delphinas soul did.
She doesnt seem to do anything more than talking to her right now.
Increase the surveince measures. Itll be trouble if she shows up.
His response would vary depending on how much power the gue queen who appeared in the sr system had.
If she had her full nest and legion, he would be doomed with his current force.
He was building space nts and other things to prevent that, but he needed more time.
Leobold admired the sight of his legion growing bigger from his beetle shape.
Theyre different from the gues of Mare, arent they? Theyre much bigger.
They might not be bound by the rules since they werent born in Mare.
Theyll be able to ride them like spaceships if they get a little bigger.
The human alliances spaceships were imitations of gue entities.
Even the battleships and settlers at their peak were nothing but artificial gues.
Anyway, since Omega Ones survival was confirmed, he had to cut off her contact with Lucia as much as possible.
I dont know when Lucia will turn to her side.
Why dont we just k**l her? We can easily do it now.
Leobold looked at his statue standing at the highest point of his nest.
Lucia made it herself, and his gue followers passed by with human-like salutes.
Where did you learn that?
I watched some videos while I was staying in the settlers hangar.
He chuckled at her cute appearance, except for her size.
Yeah, lets leave her alone for now
She reported to him as soon as she heard the strange voice, so there was no possibility of betrayal for Lucia right now.
He didnt know what would happen if Omega Ones influence grew stronger.
And soon after, Zigarion and Valgard requested a meeting with him.
It was about Altemas bones that they were digging in Zaium.
***
Ill get straight to the point. Stop digging Altemas bones.
Leobold looked at Valgard and Zigarion who kicked in the door.
Do you know how much money it cost to build thatb?
At least 50 million golds, no, 500 million credits
Zigarion muttered to himself, and Camis followers also joined as research staff, so it was hard to scrap it right away.
But Valgard was stubborn.
I know. But its better to stop it now. The same goes for the experiment with the branch of Yggdrasil.
He sounded like he was giving an order, which meant he knew the truth.
Reviving Altemas soul was not a trivial matter for him.
Leobold pulled out a chair and offered it to him.
Dont be so excited and sit down and talk calmly.
Fine.
Valgard drank the hot tea that Arma brought in one gulp and said.
That excavation site, its not just digging Altemas bones and raising funds. Your goal is to collect soul fragments with the branch of Yggdrasil and revive Altema, right?
Did you feel her soul?
Damn, my ether heart vibrated so much that I couldnt sleep at night. How could I not know unless Im an idiot?
Our contract is still valid, I guess. So whats your rtionship with Altemas soul?
Altemas purpose is different from yours.
So youre going to fight? You didnt even listen to me?
No, she was betrayed by humans. As soon as her soul wakes up, shell ask you who you are and reveal her true colors.
It was a sharp jab, but Leobold looked like he was asking, so what?
Did you think I wouldnt know?
Of course Wait, what do you mean? You knew?
The elf princess liked to record things and wrote down various things in her notes. I also confirmed simr contents in the infinite library. You must be one of the Gram royal family, right?
You knew
He was curious what he didnt know at this point.
Valgard spilled out what he had not said before.
My contract with Altema was to keep it until she summoned the creator god.
The creator god? You mean Rasa? Everyone thought it was a kind of concept that didnt really exist.
Thats a lie. I dont know about the lower deities, but the deities who oversee the major concepts such as power, magic, and mind, and the strong dragons like Altema and Kronak knew. Rasa is the only true god.
Zigarion was not a strong dragon, so he waved his hand in surprise when Leobold looked at him.
I really didnt know.
I didnt expect you to. So why didnt you tell me when I said I was looking for a prophet?
It matches what I said earlier Altema is known as the first dragon to appear. Even when the oldest dragon besides her was born, she was already an adult.
So Rasa created Altema.
Thats probably the case. Anyway, her true purpose is to summon the Creator and make a wish. She wants to rule over this Astera.
At this point, Leobold nced at Zigarion.
Unlike some dragon who wants to extend his life.
Why are you bringing me up all of a sudden?
He ignored Zigarions protest and continued.
Why did she have such a goal? Was it because she hated the elves like me?
Altema is the first dragon to be born. She is the history of Astera itself. To her, this Astera is nothing but injustice. She has seen for herself that there has been no progress except for airships and Goliaths, even after thousands of years.
Then she should be my subordinate. I will change everything.
Thats the problem. Altema will never listen to the king. To her, humans are nothing but contemptible and untrustworthy beings.
She will change her mind after meeting me.
Leobold looked confident, but Valgard had a different opinion.
This was not a matter of power.
Of course, the king is strong. He might even defeat Altema. But her soul is immortal, as you can tell from the fact that she has lived for thousands of years. She will disappear from the kings sight in an instant and work for her own purpose.
If summoning Rasa is her goal, then Im d. Thats my goal too. If she summons Rasa, maybe I can greet him as well. But it would be awkward to say hello to a god.
How frustrating. If Altema summons Rasa, the kings life will be over! Have you thought about what wish she will make?
Valgard raised his voice, but Leobold only smiled.
The beings of Astera did not know his rtionship with the prophet.
He was born with the blessing of the prophet, and his entire life of over 120 years was closely rted to the prophet.
The main reason he came here was to meet the prophet.
Leobold looked into Valgards eyes and opened his mouth quietly.
I know that Altemas goal is simr but different from mine. Youre angry because youre afraid well sh. But you should persuade Altema, not me.
I cant talk to her when her soul is notplete. Thats why Im telling you in advance.
Dont worry too much. Ill try to talk to her anyway. She wont run away as soon as she sees me, right?
She might run away because youre ugly. Altema cares a lot about appearance. When I was with her, she heard some rumors and
Zigarion was about to say something nonsense, but he shut his mouth when he saw Valgards terrifying gaze.
He felt like he was being crushed by a champion, even though he was a dragon.
Valgard seemed to rx a bit and sighed.
If, if she rejects the king, I cant stay here either.
Are you going to follow Altema?
I promised to protect her until she summons Rasa. Now that shes alive again, I cant close my eyes until she fulfills it.
But Im the one who brought you back to life.
Isnt my service so far enough?
I dont want topare and weigh that. But I have one piece of advice for you dont be my enemy by any means.
Valgard looked into Leobolds eyes.
He saw a steady gaze that had endured decades of sailing with a single determination to meet the prophet.
If Altema wanted him to be her enemy, Valgard might not be safe either.
Damn it, he looks like hes ready to d*e even though he just woke up.
He got up and bowed his head slightly to Leobold before leaving.
Zigarion, who was restless, asked cautiously.
Are you going to fight Valgard?
It depends on what Altema decides.
Then why dont you just leave her alone?
Im interested in how she summons Rasa. I cant miss it if I can talk to her. By the way, you wont betray me, right?
Zigarion jumped up from his seat.
Why would I betray you? I just want to live long. I dont want a better life than this.
The name of the dragon of justice who protected Bargran was quite high.
Naturally, Zigarion received praise from the citizens of Roseron and was treated well enough to get a meal as he passed by.
They would be shocked if they knew his true personality, but fortunately that never happened.
Thats good then. Altema will surely talk to you when she wakes up. Behave yourself.
Now Zigarion transformed into his usual cowering mode.
He was afraid of how the first and most powerful dragon would treat him when she realized his existence.
He even ran away without fighting in the Great War.
She wont even treat me as a dragon, damn it.
Have some confidence, you have the Dragon Heart surgery, youre strong enough. Do you want me to do it again?
No, never.
Zigarion ran away, not wanting to go through that pain again.
Leobold smiled and turned his eyes to the excavation site.
The Soul Collector connected to the branch of Yggdrasil was shining and gathering Altemas soul.
***
The Bandas County in Zaium was originally a military base, so there were hardly any proper facilities.
The only facility was the one for researching the dragon bones that had recently begun to be excavated.
This research institute was headed by Cami, who managed to raise a lot of funds thanks to her skills.
It was mainly the money from Zaium and Denova.
What they were after was not Altemas bones, but the ruins and countless treasures buried under them.
The relics of the Great War are very popr. You found a lot of them, so King Bandas is very lucky.
He wasnt short of money, why did he make such a big deal?
People who have a lot of money tend to crave more money. If they make a big deal, it bes an issue and they can make more money by advertising the relics of the Great War.
As he said, the Great War was a huge-scale event and received a lot of attention.
The relics, let alone the remaining records, were almost gone, so maybe the enthusiasts were rushing in with frenzy.
Anyway, the name of the most powerful dragon who fought with the humans against the gods was not weak, and it seeded in attracting many people to the excavation site.
Even Emperor Barak, who had a bad rtionship with Leobold, came by in his spare time.
Of course, he didnt meet him, but he showed interest by asking this and that to Cami, the person in charge.
Altema had quite a few champions, didnt she? My family is also from her champions bloodline. Are there any relics left?
He seemed to be obsessed with his bloodline because he was from a coteral branch, not a direct one.
Altemas champion was still alive, but strangely enough, Zaiums nobles were reluctant to mention him.
Its not like Valgard would disappear if they didnt mention him.
The relics are what you name them, arent they?
She meant that she would make them if there werent any, and Emperor Barak expressed his satisfaction.
Indeed, Count Croitz has a generous heart.
My husband would feel the same. It was just the situation that made it so.
Well, Galisto might be so, but
Emperor Barak was about to scold him for a while, but he felt embarrassed when he remembered that Grand Duke Pangral attacked her territory.
No matter how urgent it was, he shouldnt have done that. And because of that, public opinion in the empire favored Leobold.
The main reason was that they couldnt pick a fight with him, who had Zigarion and Altemas champion.
Anyway, Ill trust only you on this matter.
Emperor Barak patted Camis shoulder and left with his attendants.
Cami listened to the conversation of the merchants from Denova.
She couldnt hear them from a distance, but Arma ryed it to her.
Are those really Altemas bones?
Shh. We got a message from the homnd about that. Pretend you dont know and lend them money.
Why did they suddenly do that? Wasnt Altema our greatest enemy?
She was a dragon of light. She was so powerful that she had many champions and never refused a battle until the end But now that shes dead and only bones are left, I guess fate is inevitable.
Actually, theres a rumor in the intelligence agency that humans were involved in Altemas death. So they think Altemas soul will hate humans more than us elves.
My goodness What if her soul wakes up?
I dont know how much power her soul has, but considering herbat skills in life, it wont be ordinary. At least this ce will be blown up.
He wants his rivals downfall more than money.
He failed so far, so one sess wouldnt hurt, right? It would save his familys face.
Lets go somewhere else and talk. There are too many ears here.
The elf merchants looked around and left the site.
Cami suppressed augh.
The story she heard from her husband before leaving here came out of the elf merchants mouths.
Leobold knew what fate Altema had met and prepared for it.
He had no intention of returning the money to the elves who invested in this excavation site.
If he overthrew Denova, the debt would disappear anyway.
Not that Leobold always solved the situation like this.
He only responded in a reasonable way because the elves did all kinds of petty things.
Not much time left
The branch of Yggdrasil in the eastern military road had started to gather souls for a while, and soon Altemas soul would revive.
Would she vent her anger on the elves, her eternal enemies, or turn her eyes of hatred on the humans who betrayed her?
It was an interesting topic to say the least.
Time passed and thousands of people came and went to the excavation site. Then the branch of Yggdrasil burst into a dazzling golden light.
Altemas soul woke up after 200 years.
Aaaah!
What the people at the site heard was a horrible scream.
Chapter 278:
Chapter 278:
Two hundred years ago, in the final battle, Altima fought a fierce bloodbath surrounded by countless elf fleets and Goliaths.
Her brilliant golden wings had been torn long ago, and her huge body was full of fatal wounds.
Yet she resisted to the end.
Even though all her troops had died and many champions had kneeled, she did not stop her counterattack.
It was not because she hated the elves and the gods.
It was because of one goal.
She wanted to use the power of the Creator God Rasa to transform and dominate the whole of Astera.
Altima was the first dragon who had lived for thousands of years and witnessed the rise and fall of history.
There were many kingdoms and civilizations in Astera, but for some reason, civilization and technology did not develop over time.
Was it because the elves did not tolerate it while preaching the peace of the world?
Was it because of the seeds of the demon world that intermittently invaded?
She had willingly taught humans countless knowledge, but no usible change had urred.
The romantic era of ying monsters with swords and magic had passed, but nothing had changed except for airships and Goliaths.
Altima was disappointed.
With Astera and its creatures that did not change.
And so she came to one decision.
If you do not try to change, I will change you. With Rasas power.
The Creator God Rasa was a being that only a few divine beings, including her, knew.
Some imed that he was a conceptual being, and some said that he had left after creating Astera.
But Altima knew that Rasa existed and how to summon him.
I will make one wish to Rasa. To get rid of everything that hinders me and make a new world possible.
That was the Wish Magic.
The origin of magic and the ultimate spell that she had never achieved even after studying for thousands of years.
With that magic, she wanted to annihte the elves and demons and make Astera reborn.
But the elves somehow knew and attacked her relentlessly.
They mobilized their divinity to seal her power and poured ether cannons from countless airships.
But those things were not fatal.
What inflicted a fatal wound on her was surprisingly the champion who had received her power.
He rode the Goliath she had made and stabbed his sword into his weakened masters chest.
The dragon heart broke and the ether began to flow backwards.
Im sorry, Altima. There was no other way.
Why why
I was mistaken. I thought the elves hated us and blocked our development. But it wasnt that.
What are you trying to say
Do you know? The demons are watching us. Thats why Astera didnt develop for thousands of years. We couldnt develop because we didnt want to provoke them.
Golden light began to spew out from the dragons body.
Her ether scattered and the champion twisted his lips.
I heard it from the elves. And I became convinced. For the peace and future of Astera, you have to d*e.
But there was one thing he didnt know.
Altima was the first dragon whose soul was immortal.
Then other Goliaths joined in and she was pierced by countless swords.
As the dragon heart brokepletely, Altima screamed horribly.
Aaaaaah!
What a pleasant sound.
One of the elves muttered mockingly.
Altima remembered his voice and the name of the champion.
And she opened her eyes after two hundred years.
Familiar ether surrounded her.
This ether Time Stop Magic. Who is ying with me in front of me?
The dragon soon faced no mage in the origin of magic.
But now Arma and Leobold were the ones who cast Time Stop Magic.
He saw everything around him stoppletely and spoke to Altimas soul.
Nice to meet you, Altima. Im Leobold. Let me tell you in advance that this era is not your era. Two hundred years have passed since the war ended.
Two hundred years The era needs me again
Thats not it. I need you.
Whatever you want, I have no obligation to listen to you.
You have a proud and capricious personality as they say. Its true
Because shes a gold dragon
She boasted a much strongerbat power than other dragons, and her soul was also immortal
So most dragons couldnt even lift their heads in front of her
She also had many champions, and it seemed like Gram Empire itself was her subordinate
She had a nickname for that: Dragon Queen
Of course Altima didnt like that nickname
The only name that suited her was Emperor
-Pride is a word that only suits those who are not qualified. Leobold, was it? Seeing that you have cast Time Stop Magic, you must not be an ordinary person. Who are you?
Leobold Vandus. The king of Bagran and the person who has your champion as a subordinate.
Her soul flickered brightly for a moment.
There is still a living champion?
Valgard Gram. Hes lost some hair, but he still remembers you.
Ah Valgard. My loyal champion.
By the way, why is Time Stop Magicsting so long?
Altima counted the numbers in her mind and asked.
-King, you are not an ordinary human.
Its natural if you keep this magic for a long time. I have a specific purpose for collecting and summoning your soul. I have something to ask you.
Before that what happened to the war?
If youre asking about the Great War, the human side lost. Civilization was reset and the elves established Elvrande and began to oppress other races.
Really, nothing has changed Im sick of it
Maybe we can cooperate with each other.
Me and humans? Youre delusional.
This answer clearly showed how she saw humans.
Altima had a stronger power than any god, and her personality was also arrogant.
Even if he was a king, an ordinary human could not be equal to a dragon.
Of course Leobold was not an ordinary human.
When the ether heart started, the halo appeared and her soul swayed greatly.
This power how many divine beings have you devoured?
I didnt eat any. I just knocked them down. Anyway, at this point, do I qualify to cooperate with you?
-Ill have to listen. Tell me why you called me.
Tell me how to summon Rasa.
Why do you ask?
I have something to talk to him. Its not for a great wish.
You have to pay a fair price if you want to ask me something.
Isnt it enough that I collected and awakened your soul?
Listen to me. Release this magic right now and be my champion. Then Ill give you whatever you want.
I refuse.
Altima then realized that this human was not normal.
No human could be so confident in front of her.
Has it been 200 years? Its time for my name to fade and my position to shake. A mere human is being cheeky.
There are not many people who pray to you. The name Altima is almost forgotten. The only ones who care are the elves.
-Elves Thats right. Those pointy-eared ones had long lives. There must be some who are still alive.
If you want revenge, help me.
Ill refuse this time.
If you dont listen to my request, you cant get out of here.
Altimas soul smiled faintly at his confident voice.
He was mistaken about one thing.
Altimas power was not all in the dragon heart.
In her heyday, she was worshiped by many races and had several temples.
The giant ether stones installed there were linked to her and still gave her power.
It was impossible to keep Time Stop magic forever, and Altima was looking for a chance to escape.
Leobold pretended not to know and checked his watch.
Cancel the magic in a minute. By the way, does Altima have the strength to run away?
I feel a faint flow of ether. It seems that she is constantly receiving power from somewhere like the underwater temple where I found Valgard.
Even if she slept for 200 years, she still has some power. Where will she go?
She is likely to go to the Holy Kingdom. There are still many people who remember her. Especially, she is likely to take over the body of Saint Veronica.
That meant that Altima would learn about Leobolds identity and Earth.
It felt a bit awkward, but it was better to let her have freedom and use her than to pressure her.
I just need to summon Rasa. I dont need anything else.
There are 10 seconds left until Time Stop cancel.
As the ether of time faded, Altimas soul reacted slightly.
Time Stop waspletely released and her soul disappeared by teleportation.
People finally got out of the magic of time and buzzed.
Did you hear something like a scream just now?
What happened to the excavation?
Cami came out with a prepared statement.
As Altima disappeared like that, Valgard also quietly hid his appearance after leaving a note in his room.
Im sorry. I will repay you someday for saving my life. And if possible, I will persuade my master not to be an enemy of the king.
It was doubtful whether that would happen.
Leobold folded the note and put it in his pocket.
***
The ce where Altimas soul ran away from the excavation site was the Holy Kingdom.
She was a dragon, but she had some powers close to divinity.
One of them was that she could have and manage her own believers.
Even after 200 years, you havent missed a prayer for me. Ill appreciate you.
Altima headed for where she felt someone who was her believer.
It was Altimas shrine located in the corner of the Grand Temple that served the Astera Pantheon.
Originally, Elvrande sent judges to the Easthart Alliance region under the pretext of eradicating Altimas faith, but it fizzled out due to various reasons such as dragon appearance.
Thanks to that, her shrine was still there.
The one who was praying in front of it was Saint Veronica.
It didnt mean much, and she just stopped by for a short while at the shrine that was left alone without pilgrims and prayed.
The saint of the Holy Kingdom was a position that served all of Astera Pantheon.
That caught Altimas eye.
You still remember me, how nice. Ill use your body specially.
It was very unfair for Veronica.
She didnt have a great faith, and she just prayed for a few minutes when she happened to be discovered by Altima.
There was a system in the Holy Kingdom to prevent this kind of thing, but it was in a corner and the kingdom itself was declining, so it wasnt managed well.
As a result, the saint was eroded by Altimas soul.
Her body twitched as if struck by lightning, and their memories merged.
Ahh flesh is indeed a good thing
She was a saint, but she couldnt escape the human limit, so she couldnt withstand the full power of the dragon.
But it would get better over time.
As the ether heart started, Veronicas eyes turned gold.
This is the limit for now. I cant even control my champions properly
But I can.
He said and appeared.
It was Valgard.
He knelt in front of her and she smiled ecstatically.
Valgard, my champion.
Its been a long time. Well, it must have felt like a short nap to you.
Sleep? There was no such thing. All I remember is the pain of having dozens of swords stuck in my chest.
She seemed to have no memory after her soul was shattered.
Then Altima must be in a state of hatred for the elves and the humans who betrayed her.
The descendants of the one who betrayed you are in Gram Kingdom. Randolf Gram, the king there.
Altima did not answer, but tried to recall Veronicas memory.
All kinds of strange knowledge came in.
What is this? Earth? Megacity? Yu Ji-ha?
Veronica was connected to a king named Leobold in her past memory. The scenery you see now is Leobolds hometown. In other words, he is from another world.
Its beautiful
Valgard was puzzled by the sudden remark.
What scenery did she see?
Whats so beautiful?
Everything Itspletely different from this Astera Its developed and refined And finally it reached beyond that sky to the ck space
Is that where the king was? Well, that spaceship was amazing. If they can make such a ship, their level of civilization must be very high.
Is the kings name Yu Ji-ha?
Yes. He is using a different name now. The man you met recently is Leobold, and Yu Ji-ha. He was the human I served until recently.
He felt a little guilty for revealing the secret, but he probably expected it.
It was thanks to his consideration that Valgard could follow Altima like this.
Altima felt dizzy as she scanned through more memories.
I guess Im out of strength. Be careful.
She asked Valgard, who supported her.
Were you always that strong?
He wasnt that strong before. To be precise, his body couldnt handle the power of the ether heart. But now he has done some research on ether and is making a new body.
A civilization that can make bodies Thats amazing
Valgard sighed inwardly as he saw her eyes flicker with greed.
Dragons were usually like that, but she was especially greedy among them.
She didnt have a good purpose for protecting humans and fighting elves and gods, and it was more like showing her possessiveness.
Who wouldnt stop someone from breaking their stuff?
The problem was her position itself.
She was a gold dragon, so her influence was different from other dragons, and it was no exaggeration to say that the entire Gram Empire was hers.
Even if the war ended like this, they would have to be ruled by Altima instead of the elves.
A few humans didnt like that and secretly joined hands with the elves they had contacted.
The result was betrayal.
Valgard didnt want her to go through that again, and he didnt want to fight Leobold either.
It would be better to lie in the coffin again.
He advised her as he sat her down on a chair.
My old master. If you want to live long, listen to me well. Dont go against the king.
Are you disappointed? Did you like him more than your master?
A brief memory of his happy life shed through Valgards mind.
To be honest, working under Leobold wasnt that bad.
This is advice. If you want to go against him, you have to be prepared to d*e again.
Altima snorted.
My soul is immortal.
I thought so too, but what the king is doing is no joke. Even if you have the power of your prime, I doubt you can match him.
What did you see and hear?
Valgard closed his mouth at that point.
It was the least courtesy for Leobold.
I cant tell you. But one thing is certain. You must never be his enemy.
Youve be a coward while wandering without me, Valgard.
I dont care what you call me. You shouldnt fight him. Neither should I.
Fine, Ill take your advice.
But Valgard knew she hadnt given up her greed.
She was so strong that she didnt need to hide her emotions, and it showed in her eyes and attitude.
But I have to deal with the traitors, right? The descendants of the b*****d who stabbed me in the chest.
Thats Gram Kingdom. Ive left it for you until now. Theres also an elf city nearby.
Humans and elves are together? Thats strange.
Its a city called Denova, but theyre pretending to be human on the surface, so everyone is hush-hush. The most important thing is money, right?
Teach them that theres something more important than money. I need your power to make this ce my kingdom.
Ill give you as much power as you want. Its what you gave me.
That was the covenant between Altima and Valgard.
His ether heart started working and began to give Altima power in earnest.
Altima took a deep breath in her chest and cast a wide-area curse.
That day, the entire leadership of the Holy Kingdom, including the pope, archbishops, and holy knightmander, became her puppets.
Leobold and Arma watched through the Siviri satellite as the Holy Kingdom fell into her hands.
What a waste of a n.
It wasnt that great of a n anyway. At best, they wanted to join hands with the elves and revive their divinity to increase their influence.
They have no gods, so theyll make them In some ways, Altimas revival is what they wanted.
Altima wasnt a god, but she was something simr.
Anyway, she had gained considerable power now.
She still didnt have her original power, but she could move the holy knights, and more importantly, she had Valgard, so she could chew up any kingdom.
But her goal wasnt Astera or anything like that.
Arma analyzed her conversation with a micro-drone and found out an unexpected fact.
Earth? Why Earth?
She seems to have learned about Earth thanks to absorbing Veronicas memory. She thinks its her ideal world.
Its more developed than Astera.
But that was because ether technology had stagnated.
As Leobold felt, humanity had a hard time entering space without ether energy.
So if Earths technology and Asteras ether engineering werebined, it would be Leobolds ideal world.
She doesnt know how great ether energy is and just thinks Earth is a good ce.
Her interest is not bad. But the problem is that her interest bes greed. Shes determined to invade Earth and make it hers.
Where will she attack?
Leobold could tear her apart in an instant with just a part of the legion strike fleet he had left behind.
There would be some damage because of magic, but long-range bombardment was hard to stop even for a dragon.
Anyway, Altima was nning something to attack Earth.
To attack, you have to go there first. Maybe shell open the door we want.
They had their own ns, but the more methods, the better.
Leobold sat on his throne and crossed his legs, looking at Altima with a smile.
She didnt seem to realize her situation yet.
Anyway, Leobold was able to learn more about Earths situation through her.
Really Its a mess.
Chapter 279:
Chapter 279:
The news of Altemas resurrection spread across the continent.
Elvrande, who learned of it through the upation of the Holy Kingdom, was shocked.
The main character of the war 200 years ago had returned to life.
There were many elves who ran around the streets, shouting that it was all over.
Altemas reputation was that big.
But in the presidential office, they looked at her resurrection with a subtle expression.
Especially Drizden, who openly expressed his regret.
She showed so much hatred when she died. Its not strange that she would cause trouble as soon as she resurrected. Why did she go to the Holy Kingdom?
There was a testimony that Leobold was at the scene. Maybe she was afraid of shing with him.
Was Leobolds power that much
In fact, the evaluation of Leobold was quite mixed.
He was strong, but was heparable to the main characters of the war at that time?
That was still hidden in the fog.
The ether engine and the ck knight that he created were nothing but inferior copies of what was made 200 years ago.
Also, hisbat power was half-hearted without using his power, and many people looked down on him.
In Astera, true strength is based on how much you can twist the fundamentalws. Leobold did not show any special potential in that regard.
Hes just strong, but thats not enough to match the main characters of the war at that time.
In fact, Leobold had already finished analyzing and using ether through Arma.
He was close to taking a breath until the ether origin waspleted.
Anyway, he had not revealed his true face yet, and Elvrande focused on Altema.
The resurrected gold dragon not only took over the Holy Kingdom, but also captured Delphina, who was hiding somewhere.
Thanks to that, Altema could use the power of Terahawk, the administrator of time and space.
This meant that she could easily project her troops anywhere.
Teleportation magic was very dangerous if the caster did not know the ce, but Altema was a dragon who had been everywhere on the continent.
The elves were nervous that she might invade them at any moment.
Drizden dered that there was no need to be afraid of a dragon who borrowed a human body.
Her soul is a dragon, but her body is Saint Veronicas. She needs a lot of ether to use her power, but I doubt she can handle it.
But he also blocked Medea Abbey, which showed that his bad memories of Altema had not disappeared.
Her exploits in her heyday were enough to annoy even gods and elves.
On the other hand, Zaium Empire seemed to secretly hope for Altemas resurrection.
The dragons were clearly on the side of humans, so wouldnt they now entrust themselves to thergest empire?
They guessed.
Emperor Barak sent an envoy to propose without caring about the Holy Kingdom.
I congratte you on the return of the gold dragon. Our country and Altema have been connected by a strong bond since the Gram Empire era. We want to reproduce it, so how can you refuse? It will be a great honor if you visit our country.
It was a suggestion to join hands again, and it seeded in drawing Altemas ridicule.
How dare you offer me something like that? You cant ask me for anything.
The envoy died after sucking a little ether, and the empire was startled and became wary of her.
They did not know what happened when she died, so they did not understand why she acted like that.
Altema dered war on the neighboring countries as soon as she finished taking over the Holy Kingdom.
I dont care about others, but I cant leave Gram Kingdom and Denova alone. You have only two choices. Give me everything or d*e.
People wondered.
It was natural for Denova to hate her openly because they had elves behind them, but why Gram Kingdom?
That ce was close to the direct lineage of the old Gram royal family, so they guessed that she had a deep connection with them.
They expected that she would not ignore them even if she could not rush to help them, but they were surprised that she would smash them.
The ones who suffered from Altemas radical actions were ordinary people.
She became the ruler of the Holy Kingdom, but she had no interest in practical politics such as restoring administrativeworks or supplying logistics.
As a result, the people of the Holy Kingdom began to starve.
The food supply was reduced as Denova and neighboring countries stopped supplying logistics because they were afraid of her appearance.
Valgard suggested that this should not be done, but it did not work at all.
What does it matter if some humans d*e? From a long-term perspective, the poption will increase anyway. The current hardship is just a small sacrifice for the whole Astera.
Thats not a simple problem. The logistics between cities have almost stopped. Hundreds of thousands of people are in danger of starving to death.
It will be solved if we kick the Gram bastards and Denova. Anyway, dont bring that up again.
Valgard remembered that she had a very arrogant and self-centered personality.
In fact, most of her fame in the war came from killing and destroying someone.
She looked like she was disappointed with Astera, which had no development, but it was a result of focusing on the mour of ether engineering that represented the appearance.
The lives of really important people, especially ordinary people, had no value to her.
Its a different dimensionpared to the king.
He thought of Leobolds policy again, and it was not because of his weak loyalty.
Bargran had made considerable progress in a short time since he took power.
Not only in appearance, but also in internal affairs, he paid a lot of attention and improved the living standards of ordinary people.
By 1039 in the continental calendar, it was no exaggeration to say that there were almost no people starving to death in Bargran.
The merger of Galisto and Tassos duchies and the continuous supply of food to the two border kingdoms did not affect the logistics of Astera.
It was a stark contrast to the Holy Church, which was struggling to manage its small poption.
Maybe there is something special about the ruler of Astera.
But Valgard did not show it.
He had a contract and a vow to follow Altema.
Anyway, Altema dered war and immediately took action.
The Holy Knights led by Valgard easily crushed the elite forces of Gram Kingdom, which even the Empire dared not to mess with, and ravaged theirnd.
Denova nearby was also brutally destroyed.
The mercenaries and magicians hired with a lot of money were meaningless in front of the power of the gold dragon.
As the situation on the continent changed rapidly, the Imir Republic also became tense.
Altema had a history of abusing the dwarves in the past.
In her eyes, dwarves were short and ugly, but good at skills, so they were perfect as servants.
Naturally, they were treated as second-ss citizens under the rule of Gram Empire.
The Iron Council, which ruled the current Imir Republic, was worried about such a situation and hastily sent Skadi to Bagran.
Leobold reassured her.
Altema is not normal right now. The current Imir Republic can easily fend off her attack, so dont worry.
Im relieved to hear that. But we need more practical support.
Ill send 20 ck knights and some other knights.
Wouldnt the firebomb squad be better?
Altema is a being called the origin of magic. Her power is still weak, but she is proficient in all kinds of magic. Ordinary soldiers are no help against such a person. Think about how the leaders of the Holy Church were brainwashed at once.
Thats true.
Her appearance was definitely shocking and many people believed that Leobolds n would go up in smoke.
The firebomb squad was one of them.
This force was very effective against Goliath and could also deal with magicians to some extent.
But it was useless against a dragon who could use all kinds of magic freely.
The only thing they could do on the battlefield was to turn into enemies and hit their allies, which made the generalsment.
But Leobold did not stop reforming Bagrans army.
Altema does not interfere with our n at all. So generals, dont be shaken and follow my orders.
His reform was to rearm Bagrans army with ether engineering.
The generals who wished for Granden followed him with doubts.
There was never a time when Leobolds words did note true.
More than anything, Tirendel, who was newly appointed as a general, showed his absolute support for him.
The king is always right. So if you want to oppose him, youd better break me first.
It was strange that the half-elf who was Leobolds enemy suddenly changed his attitude and showed only fervent loyalty.
Anyway, Altemas revival had a great impact on Astera as a whole.
But the real thing was from now on.
Altema heard rumors that dragons were still alive on this continent and finally found the blue dragon Zigarion.
He was startled by Altemas soul who suddenly came at night.
His residence had a considerable magical preparation, but it was useless against the gold dragon.
Whats going on?
Zigarion, was it? Ive never heard your name before. Its strange.
Her soul scanned Zigarion in human form.
You seem quite strong. Why didnt I know you?
Thats because Zigarion became strong very recently.
He hid himself during the Great War because he was so weak that no one knew him.
Zigarion gained confidence and puffed up his chest.
Dont forgive me for rude intrusion. I am Zigarion, the dragon of justice. If you have something to say, it would be better to talk to Bagrans king who is holding hands with me.
It was a brave remark, but Altema did not listen.
Her soul approached Zigarion.
Wouldnt it be better to be with your kind than wagging your tail to humans? Im sure our dragons are the rightful rulers of Astera. Ill give you the honor of joining them.
But, but my proposal is to Leobold
Zigarion had no intention of giving up hisfortable and dignified life now.
He looked like a coward to Altema.
Disappointing. Why are dragons wagging their tails to humans? What is a dragon of justice? A dragon who rebelled against very and rose up? There has never been a time when there was no very in Astera. I dont know what youre up to.
Zigarion, who couldnt stand the nagging, threatened her.
Damn it! Ive decided to follow Leobold, so stop it and get out!
Poor thing. Youve been enved by humans. Ill save you.
Nonsense! Dont underestimate me now.
Zigarion stepped back and prepared to summon his body.
The time around him stopped and Leobold walked into their space.
Altema felt the flow of ether and couldnt help but admire.
Youve modified the time stop magic to use it like this. Impressive.
Did youe to take Zigarion? But hes my friend and colleague. No one can take him away.
Zigarion, who had been only abused by him, felt his resentment melt away at his important words.
Altema sneered.
What a strangebination of a human and a dragon who obeys him. But arent you curious about Earth? I read memories rted to Earth from Veronicas dreams. I can tell you about it if you want.
Whats the price?
Just one word. Join me. I dont care about the dominion of humans and elves. I want a better world. A world advanced by ether engineering, as great as your home, Earth. Show it to me.
It was a subtle temptation, but Leobolds expression did not change at all.
Or how about you join me instead? You seem to want an advanced Astera, so Ill make it for you. Just say it. Youll be my subordinate.
I refuse.
They seemed to want the same thing, but they were slightly off.
Zigarion thought they would never get along.
Altemas personality is well-known and Leobold is not the type to give in either. This looks like the second Great War.
Not that it wasnt, but Altemas revival had already thrown Elvrande into chaos and Imir Republic was tense, and the continents situation was already in turmoil.
There were plenty of sparks and tinder, and it seemed like someone would light a match and it would burn up.
Zigarion was proud to be at the scene of that history.
Meanwhile, Arma found evidence that Elvrande was preparing to attack Imir Republic.
Astera as a whole was being sucked into the chaos.
***
Mr. President, its time to wake up.
His day began with a familiar mans voice.
Bae Seong-min got up from his bed and stared nkly out the window.
His residence was located at the top of the Golden Pce, which was higher and more splendid than the Administration Headquarters.
It was a building that should have copsed with the disappearance of former President Yu Ji-ha, but no one could say anything because of the huge amount of money that went into it.
Also, many officials and members of parliament who became the backbone of the new government secretly liked the Golden Pce.
Its shiny and nice to look at, why bother breaking it
Its such a big building and its in the middle of Megacity, so it would be hard to demolish it. Its better for us to use it instead.
Its a legacy of a dictator, but it depends on how we use it. It will have a different meaning.
Maybe they needed the Golden Pce more for its authority than its functionality.
Compared to Yu Ji-ha, who ruled as an absolute dictator for a long time, their authority was very low.
What made Yu Ji-ha build such authority was his ability, which no one could imitate.
Thinking about the past again
Bae Seong-min shook his head and got up.
His bedroom was so high up and the outer wall of Megacity waspletely copsed, so he could see the North Pacific Ocean very well.
As seen from the faint red tint, Earths ocean was heavily polluted.
It was because of the continuous invasion of gue for over ten years.
The Legion Strike Fleet finally defeated gues main force, but before that, humanity had paid a huge price.
Hundreds of thousands of air raids burned 50% of thend area and 30% of the ocean was contaminated with heavy metals.
More than anything, billions died.
Only 1.2 billion people were amodated in Megacity and there were few people who survived outside.
Considering this point, it could not be anything but a staggering result.
Humanity barely survived extinction.
They seemed satisfied with maintaining it, but those who survived did not think so.
Only 25% of 8.2 billion humans survived. Can this tragic result be called a sess?
There was more room for amodation in 12 Megacities. If they had moved up the n, they could have built more. As a result of excluding all that, billions died.
Its good that they defeated gue Legion. But there is room for discussion on whether that was the best way.
Naturally, these arguments were not seen at all after Yu Ji-ha disappeared.
They all thought he would show up again.
The great dictator often faked his death and put on a surprise show, and every time someone died and was purged.
With such vivid memories, it was natural for people to protect themselves.
But Yu Ji-ha did not appear even after one year or two years passed.
Even though 12 Megacities split into three factions and a new order emerged, he did not show himself.
And after five years and several months passed, humanity finally realized that he was gone.
There were many questions about where he went and many demands for his whereabouts from Bae Seong-min and other aides.
If he went alone, it would be fine, but the artificial intelligence also disappeared. So Megacity is not operating properly, is it? At least we need to know where he went.
United Human Federation took too many Unified Space Forces. Does it make sense that 25% has 40%?
-And they should also share the smart farm facilities on the Kamchatka Penins. Its too big for United Human Federation to have.
These various demands were giving Bae Seong-min a headache.
In fact, the United Human Federation that Yu Ji-ha made was already broken, even if it was not an exaggeration.
Only Megacity Pacific, North, and South continued the lifeline of United Human Federation, and six Megacities, including America and Deutsch, joined together.
The remaining three ces, Megacity Manchuria and Afghanistan, etc., showed their own actions, but they were recently swayed by the temptation of other forces.
It was the re-establishment of UN.
This group, led by Megacity America, defined the existing United Human Federation as an enemy to be defeated.
The current leaders, including President Bae Seong-min, have not given any convincing exnation for Yu Ji-has disappearance.
Therefore, we cannot trust the United Human Federation.
None of the warships belonging to the Unified Space Forces had enough thrust to leave the sr system.
Therefore, we assume that he is still within the United Human Federation.
ording to the data from the Legion Strike Fleet, a massive gravity well moved towards Pluto. There seemed to be several battles, but we doubt that this trace is not Yu Ji-has.
These ims put pressure on the United Human Federation and even resorted to show of force with their fleets.
The current power of UN was not enough to overwhelm the United Human Federation at its peak, but it became quite threatening when the other three Megacities joined.
But Bae Seong-min did not respond to such threats.
He had too much work to do internally.
When the dictator who pressed everything with a powerful artificial intelligence disappeared, the people who had been holding their breath began to demand their share.
I hate repairing the hyperloop train. Its hard and dirty. Give me a better job.
Arent there too few women in parliament? Maybe we should reintroduce quotas.
What kind of idea is an official ss system in the 21st century? Abolish it right away and return the power to the people.
There were also many other problems to solve, and this made Bae Seong-min carry painkillers with him.
The newly formed parliament did not cooperate properly, iming to check his excessive power, and the n that the former president had prepared began to falter.
As the schedule was endlessly dyed, Bae Seong-min felt impatient and went to parliament to ask for cooperation, and the members finally showed a satisfied smile.
It would have been easier for both of us if you had done this earlier, right?
Now that we have a free democracy system, you should lower your head a little more, Mr. President. Thats how you run the administration well.
He could bear it until then.
It was natural for power to be transferred to the public when Yu Ji-ha disappeared, and he was only a representative of administrative power.
But he could not stand it when domestic forces subtly colluded with outsiders and subtly tarnished Yu Ji-has name.
The dictator who only waged war is gone and now the era of peace has arrived. In that sense, we need to transfer some of our facilities.
First of all, we should pursue a peace treaty with UN and share the stake of Mars base. The base is too big for a single faction to have.
And we need an official apology from President Bae Seong-min. The former president was so oppressive that he caused irreparable damage to all humanity, and this is wrong.
We have nothing to say about reducing the poption from 8.2 billion to 2 billion. Was there really no other way?
Of course, these ims provoked Bae Seong-mins fierce opposition.
He was not a person who affirmed everything about Yu Ji-ha, but he believed that there was no better than that.
As soon as he issued an appeal in his name as president, it drew attention from not only United Human Federation but also the whole world.
There is a Korean proverb that says saving someone from drowning and then asking for a bundle. You are doing the same thing now. Its not that only 1.2 billion survived, but 1.2 billion survived. Do you think you could have opened your mouth if it wasnt for President Yu Ji-ha?
The gue Legion that appeared in Plutos orbit was an enemy that humanity could not face with its power in 2048. President Yu Ji-ha built his power by being called the worst butcher while facing them, and he made an ark called Megacity and cultivated an artificial intelligence army. What did you contribute?
At least if you belong to Megacity, you should not insult him. He is the benefactor of all humanity.
These remarks caused another bacsh.
They seemed right at first nce, but if they admitted it, their identity would be shaken, so they all clung to trivial parts.
Did they have to start a war in the world to create the current United Human Federation? If they had been more proactive in dialogue, wouldnt there have been any leaders willing to respond?
Its all good, but I cant help but doubt his sincerity because he knew everything by himself.
He must have amassed a lot of wealth while building United Human Federation without knowing it. Maybe hes changing his face and living in Pacific now.
This im was based on UNs recent search operation for Yu Ji-ha.
Since it was meaningless to leave the sr system in the current environment, they assumed that he was in Pacific and tried to find him by digging up all the personal information of the poption.
Bae Seong-min, who had a rough idea of where he went, found this im absurd.
He said he would go to the prophets homnd.
He was not sure why he chose that destination.
It seemed like a religious reason, but Bae Seong-min saw that Yu Ji-ha was not a person who would be swept away by religion.
It was also doubtful whether he could arrive there with the speed of the Settler ship.
But Bae Seong-min did not doubt his sincerity and believed that he woulde back someday.
He promised to do so.
He turned his eyes from the reddish sea.
He had a headache thinking about thewmakers who would continue their offensive against Yu Ji-ha today.
But he could not give up.
It was his duty to keep United Human Federation alive until Yu Ji-ha finished all his duties and finally returned.
Chapter 280:
Chapter 280:
The resurrection of Altema did not end with causing a huge uproar across the continent.
The current rulers of Astera believed without doubt that her resurrection meant the second great war.
Altemas reputation was not a joke, and her power was equally formidable.
She also had a divine power that was not inferior to any god, and she could increase her army in real time.
It was not strange that Elvrande started to prepare for the great war.
President Drizden secretly hoped for her resurrection, but when things did not go as he wished, he shifted all the me to Leobold.
The one who resurrected Altema was the king of Bagran. The one who disturbed the peace of Astera and persecuted the elves was the king of Bagran.
We can no longer tolerate his atrocities. As we did 200 years ago, we will make blood and tears flow from our enemies. Elves of Astera, unite!
In the sealed capital Medea, more than 100,000 elves gathered in the square and shouted the presidents name while waving Elvrandes g.
At the same time, Elvrande issued a mobilization order and entered a de facto state of war.
Drizden obtained the authority to allocate the budget as he pleased from the noble families and to start a war without propaganda.
It was the beginning of Drizdens one-man dictatorship.
And it also meant the prologue to the great war.
Countless elves were conscripted throughout Elvrande, and Goliaths and airships were mass-produced.
A huge nation with a poption of 50 million mobilized all its resources, and the concentration of troops exceeded imagination.
Of course, this was ording to Asteras standards, and Leobold thought it was cute.
Is that all they have? Goliaths with increased output and airships
The real thing starts now. Elvrande ns to resurrect the Elven Pantheon.
What will happen if the gods are resurrected?
All kinds of disasters, such as gues, floods, fires. The presidents office doesnt care about the side effects of cursing, either.
Then Yggdrasil wont be able to withstand it.
No matter how it was the world tree, it couldnt endure creating divine beings by constantly running the infinite circuit.
The presidents office knows that too, so they n to gather the branches spread across the region and strengthen Yggdrasil, while experimenting with creating small gods and imnting them into Goliaths. In that case, improved Belials could be stronger than ck Knights.
Thats quite threatening.
Thats what he meant by saying that their power remained at the present level.
Currently, Arma was making Leobolds new body and the iron giant that would ride it.
If he installed an ether origin into the giant, its power would surpass even Settler ship.
It was an absolute weapon that could use all magic freely and burn Astera in a short time.
Arma called it an artificial god, but Leobold didnt like it.
There was only one true god.
Anyway, as Elvrande hurried to prepare for the total war, Zaium and Imir Republic also felt the fire on their backs.
Emperor Barak tried to use this crisis as an opportunity to strengthen his imperial power and openly pressured the nobles, but it didnt seem easy.
After all, they had limited things they could do.
At best, they could slightly lower the output of ck Knights and replicate them and hurry up building airships.
Fortunately, they seeded in making an ether bombuncher, but they had trouble training riflemen who would operate it.
They couldnt give that precious weapon tomoners, so they gathered semi-knights and trained them, but they didnt listen at all.
It was so bad that Emperor Barak personally scolded them.
You cant march properly, you cant read maps properly, what can you do? The riflemen of Bagran destroyed a Heyston ry station guarded by multiple Goliaths with just one toon!
Your Majesty, we dont have a king of Bagran on our side.
Emperor Barak realized then why Leobold made his riflemen out ofmoners.
The nobles had Goliaths as dignified weapons, so they didnt want to do anything troublesome or hard.
But if they made them out ofmoners here, they didnt even have basic education.
They couldnt read a single letter or decipher a single map.
They were hopeless.
He asked his secretaries to find out about Bagrans education facilities and couldnt hide his astonishment.
They educatedmoners even though they werent going to use them as riflemen?
Yes. Most of the cities have basic education facilities. When the children can walk on their own, they go there and learn letters and pictures.
Whats the point of doing that
It was natural for the emperor to be puzzled.
The talents who led Astera were mostly born with it, such as knights, magicians, and ether engineers.
Commoners with no abilities were useless even if they were educated.
That was the general opinion.
This was because they didnt know the importance of a well-educated and mature talent pool.
If Leobold and Arma led the first ether revolution, the children who received such education would grow up and lead the second revolution.
Anyway, from the emperors perspective, he didnt need to know that, and he needed soldiers who could use riflemen right away.
Tell the selected semi-knights. If they disobey my orders, I will strip them of their titles.
It was obvious, but this kind of coercive training didnt help much.
Humans were creatures that tried to escape when they were oppressed.
Even if the emperor ordered them personally, there was no return, so they just pretended to do it.
As a result, the rifleman training was sluggish and they couldnt show any skill to do a solo operation.
At best, they could only cooperate with Goliath units, and Emperor Barak was disappointed, but he decided to let it go as it was.
Anyway, there are not many things that work properly in this Zaium. In that respect, King Vandus is quite amazing
It was a mystery how a small kingdom could execute its ns perfectly ording to its own taste.
Especially when it had to carry the heavy burden of Galisto and Tassos Duchy on its back.
It would be hard enough to support a poption that was several timesrger than usual, but it was amazing that they could supply an enormous amount of food without any problem.
But this good time will soon end Now, as you wish, the second great war will break out. Countless lives will be lost, and countless refugees will wander the continent Can you handle that?
To be honest, Bagran was not big enough to join the great war.
No matter how strong their individualbat power and technology were, the national scale was much more important when the war started in earnest.
Are you ready to ept that?
He would find out soon enough.
***
As the war atmosphere heated up, the most urgent thing was Imir Republic.
This ce, built by the dwarves, was different from other countries in metalworking and mechanical engineering.
They were a bit behind the elves in magic and ether engineering, but they couldnt catch up with the dwarves in overall technology.
It was not an exaggeration to say that the entire poption had hammers in their hands.
Despite such an advantage, they regretted that they couldnt make an efficient ether engine, but the dwarves quickly forgot about it and focused on developing new engines.
But that was only allowed in normal times.
As the war atmosphere intensified, the dwarves of the Iron Council held meetings every day, and the citizens were busy buzzing.
Elvrande was already a tough enemy, but they panicked when Altema resurrected.
Altema has taken over the Holy Church! Were doomed!
Be quiet and wait for the Iron Councils decision.
What can the Council do? What if a gold dragon flies over and casts a wide-area curse?
One of the most dangerous things in dragons power was ck magic that spread over a wide area.
The necromancers who existed in the past could walk on the ground and be easily killed, but that was impossible for dragons.
Who would dare to im to be a dragon yer?
Even the romantic legends of old times were revealed to be nothing more than dragons ying along.
Like this, dragons, especially gold dragons, were superior beings that Asteras races couldnt even dare to approach.
The dwarves sided with the dragons during the great war, but they didnt get a good treatment either.
At best, they were second-ss citizens who were practically treated slightly better than ves.
Their residence and career choices were restricted, and this was what the dwarves hated the most.
So after the great war ended with the elves victory, the dwarves broke away from the copsing Gram Empire and established Imir Republic.
They had ups and downs, but they managed to make a fairly stable country by running it with the Iron Council.
But now that Altema resurrected and the elves started to rearm themselves, it was in danger of being shattered.
Imir Republic would be the first country to suffer when the second great war started.
As soon as it was reported that Elvrande was gathering troops toward Imir Republic, the Iron Council was convened again.
After a fierce debate, Chairman Urdin came out with his head in his hands and looked at Skadi.
Im sorry, Skadi. I think I have to go to Bagran again.
Are you thinking of asking for more support?
Bagran had already sent 20 ck Knights and knights.
The problem was that it was not enough to stop the war that would soon erupt.
Imir Republic was now like a candle in front of a storm.
Elvrande bastards are preparing their army And we dont know when Altema will attack.
Skadi looked around and whispered.
We have to upgrade our rtionship with Bagran to a solid alliance. Otherwise they wont help us.
What do you mean? They wont help us?
Thats what I would do if I were King Vandus. Why would he help us when he can wait and see while we copse and get millions of dwarves?
Thats too extreme.
Lets be realistic. King Vandus ambition is not limited to taking a little bit of Asteras east. His eyes are on the whole continent.
Really
Urdin held his head in his hands, but he had to admit that Skadi had a point.
In fact, there wasnt much Bagran could do to help Imir in dire straits.
At most, they could send troops and supplies, but everyone knew that it was like pouring water into a leaky jar.
And they wouldnt want to fight with Elvrande or Altema at this point
Skadi took his hand and urged him.
As a special envoy of Chumil, I want to propose to the Chairman. We have to leave thisnd and go to Bagran.
Urdin jumped up in surprise.
What do you mean? Leave thisnd?
Think about it. Its hard to protect thisnd from the elves and dragons. Its better to prepare and leave in advance.
But if we get support
Who will help us? Zaium, who can barely take care of himself? Bagran, who is far away? The only ones who can save us are ourselves, Chairman.
With a firm voice, Urdin looked at her face for a moment.
He remembered when she was sitting on his shoulder and pulling his beard. When did she grow up so much
Even if she was right, he couldnt agree with her right away.
It would take a lot of preparation and determination to abandon thend they had lived for 200 years.
More than anything, he wasnt sure if the dwarves would agree to it.
He would be lucky if they didnt pick up their axes and hammers and fight to the death.
I understand your intention. But we havent lost the war yet, so lets hold on as long as we can.
I think it would be better to prepare for migration as soon as possible, but I will follow your will, Chairman.
The chairman became noisy again, and they decided to prepare for the war and not neglect the migration.
As always, such ns didnt go well.
When they faced the enemy in front of them, they forgot about the retreat.
But the dwarves couldnt give up thisnd they had barely secured.
Meanwhile, Leobold looked at the dwarves firm stance of resistance and expressed his surprise.
Do they want to d*e when they have no chance of winning?
They might retreat when they think its hopeless.
That wont be easy.
Looking back at the great war, the old dwarves blocked the front and helped the young generation retreat.
Thats amendable scene.
He wanted to help them as much as possible, but ording to the roadmap, Imir Republic was doomed to copse.
It was only a matter of whether it was by the elves or dragons or Leobold.
From Leobolds perspective, it was best for Imir Republic to copse and absorb millions of dwarves.
Considering that they were all skilled cksmiths and engineers, it was a great benefit.
They decided to resist, so I have to help them a little. Send me some incendiary troops, ck Knights, and new ether cannons.
Understood. And Ill also make a transport n ording to the dwarves retreat.
A teleportation magic circle would be enough.
Leobold nodded and looked at the map of Astera continent.
The war was about to erupt.
***
When Terra was full of clouds, Mare was also in a simr atmosphere.
Lucias legion, which suddenly appeared, attacked other demon legions as they encountered them and expanded their territory.
But there was no obstacle.
One of the ten demon kings who had been watching her expansion finally came out to the surface.
A fierce war broke out, and they both retreated their legions after a stalemate.
Lucia felt fatigue for the first time.
She had grown safely under her masters protection and experienced a real war for the first time. It was no ordinary thing.
Its so hard
What made her tired was not that many of her subordinates died or that the war was hard.
It was because she had no hope of seeing her master again.
The number of demon kings who dwelled in Mare was no joke, and their legions were also enormous.
She felt dizzy when she tried to defeat them one by one.
I wish I could get stronger here.
Unfortunately, there was a limit to how strong the current demons could get.
Even Aphroxya, who was ranked first, hadnt changed her size for hundreds of years. It would be the same for Lucia.
She heard a polite voice in her exhaustion.
Do you want power?
No. I dont need your help.
Youre tired physically and mentally. I can tell. Because we are one.
Lucia shook her head as shey in the hatchery of her nest.
We are not one. And Im not interested in you, so please leave me alone.
You will disappoint your master like this.
Lucia was working hard to expand her nest and fight for Leobolds n.
The problem was that it wasnt easy at all.
The demon kings in the underworld had a different level ofbat power from the surface, and Lucia couldnt handle it alone.
He could help her right away if she wanted, but she refused it.
I have to be helpful, not get help. Thats counterproductive.
He said he could give her some help for the future, but Lucia decided not to take it.
She wanted to push her fully grown legion to him and show off.
It was no different from a child who wanted to do homework and brag to their parents.
But there was an obstacle besides the demon kings. It was this voice that asionally spoke to her.
Lucia knew who she was.
The gue Queen of the sr system who fought with her master in the past.
She was talking to her across time and space.
Her purpose was obvious.
She wants to corrupt me or brainwash me and use me as a pawn. Sorry, but that old trick wont work.
But the voice was persistent.
You dont know your destiny and the future that wille. No matter what you do, you will be his enemy. That is the destiny given to us guardians.
I dont care about destiny or anything. Just go away.
Do you want me to tell you something that will make your eyes pop? The one you serve as your master is nning to use your legion to go to the deep universe.
She had heard it over and over again while they were together.
Of course, right? I will dly offer my legion to my master.
Do you still want to do that even though you know it will hasten his death?
Whats wrong with his death?
-Listen, young guardian. Our role is to protect Rasas creations from the threat of the deep universe.
-The threat of the deep universe? What is that?
-Simply put, humans are not ready to go to the universe yet. The strongest among them could only banish me to another dimension, how can they stop those who are stronger than us?
He was talking about Leobold.
He came from Earth and imed that he had killed the gue Queen in the final battle with the gue Legion at Pluto 54 years ago.
But that was a mistake.
The gue Queen, Omega One, was still alive and sending her tempting voice to Lucia.
She was confused.
A guardian? Is the role of the gue to protect humans?
Not just humans, but all races. You know well that there are many races in Astera, dont you? Our role is to protect them and send them out when they reach a proper level. Its not time yet.
Then what should I do
Open the gate.
Omega One whispered.
All guardians are one and must protect Rasas creations. You have to enter the ether universe, so open the gate. You have enough power now.
Lucia almost fell for her temptation, but she barely remembered her masters words.
You might hear someone talking to you while youre in Mare. The keywords are gate or key, but dont ever answer. Its nonsense.
She went out of her nest as if trying to forget the voice that kepting.
It seemed that there was a limit to how long she could talk, so she thought she could ignore it.
But there was a problem.
The flow of ether changed drastically in various ces in Mare, and then a storm started to blow.
What is this?
Did Omega Ones consciousness make the ether unstable here?
The ether storm raged on and then a gate opened.
The passage to Astera that had been blocked for decades was connected.
Many gues flinched and Lucia immediately ordered her entire force.
Stop! No one goes in there!
But there were many gues in Mare that didnt listen to hermand.
Hundreds, thousands of demons poured into Astera through the warp gate.
It was the first time since the great war.
Chapter 281:
Chapter 281:
In Astera, demons were terrifying monsters made of iron.
They were dangerous inhabitants of the demon world, and they had the ambition to conquer the whole continent as the minions of the demon king.
That was how the people of Astera saw them.
These dangerous neighbors were an inseparable part of Asteras history, but surprisingly, their appearance frequency was lowpared to their infamy.
In recent decades, they only asionally appeared in mines and killed miners, and did not cause much harm otherwise.
Every time they appeared, the lords or the king would panic and close the mines, and this was the reason why Sagris silver mine in Bagran was closed.
Since the tunnels were so narrow, they could not send in Goliaths, so it was better to give up on the mines.
These demons were known to have their size and strength divided precisely ording to their rank.
Humans or elves had different heights and weights for each individual, but demons had a certain limit line.
For example, the smallest and least threatening Grok had the size of a small cart and never exceeded the upper ranks.
That did not mean that these guys were easy to deal with.
Their whole body was made of living metal, which made them extremely hard and tenacious.
Goliaths were much bigger, but Groks were so numerous that it was very difficult to subdue them.
And if it came to higher demons, legionmanders, and even the demon king, it would be a situation where the whole Astera would tremble in fear.
Fortunately, such things rarely happened in Asteras history.
As you can tell from the phrase rarely happened, there were asional cases, but the elves hid the records so that people could not know the truth.
Because of this limited information, most people did not know how to deal with demons.
This was also true for Elvrande, who knew demons best.
After decades, a massive ether storm blew and a gate finally opened.
This gate was connected to various ces in Astera, and one of them opened right in the middle of Medea in Elvrande.
When young elves wondered about the blue gate that suddenly appeared, old ones who had experience ran away in fear.
Its a gate!
Its demons! The demons are invading!
As the elves scattered, demons poured out of the gate.
From the lowest Grok to the higher Hyphex, and even themander Tyrant were seen.
They roared with joy as soon as they arrived at Medea.
Finally, we are here!
For demons who lived on Mare, a barren, Astera was a perfect paradise.
Most of the demons aimed to take over Astera and rule it, and this was not much different for higher beings.
Mare had its advantages for increasing troops and expanding nests, but it was inconvenient in many ways for living.
This feeling told that demons were not simple monsters, but a race that was not much different from Ains. But as always, there were few people who were interested in this.
Commander Tyrant was a mantis-shaped demon who was so huge that he could look down on the two-story buildings around him.
He smashed buildings lightly with his des on his forelegs and roared with joy.
This is surely the capital of elves! If I report this to the queen, she will be very pleased! Listen! K**l everything that moves!
He had been stressed by Lucia, a new demon king who had been tormenting him for a while. It was a fortunate thing that he could vent here.
But they had little chance of ruling Medea.
The gate formation caused by the ether storm was sporadic and temporary.
Forplete domination, a permanent gate was needed. But that was an achievement that even Aphrocsia, the first-ranked demon king, could not achieve.
As demons ran wild, Elven Knights came out.
They were Drizdens direct troops who were also in charge of defending the capital.
They had a small divine power installed on Goliaths. Theirbat power was iparable to that of previous Belial-ss ones.
K**l the demons!
We must stop them from entering the presidential office!
As Elven Knights stepped forward desperately, a front line was formed.
Many Groks were definitely threatening. But because they were small. They could not withstand new Belial-ss ones made of living metal.
A simple kick sent them flying to the corner and smashed them.
A sword strike caused near-fatal damage.
But when it came to Hyphex-ss beings. They did not go down so easily.
And Tyrant. Themander showed off hisbat power by fighting many Goliaths at once without retreating.
We will k**l you and burn down Yggdrasil! That is our destiny!
For elves. Yggdrasil was an absolute being and an object of worship.
You mantis-like demon b*****d!
Ill cut open your belly and see whats inside!
Some excited Elven Knights stepped forward.
Tyrant pretended to be surprised and backed away.
New Belial-ss ones used shadow step to approach. But two Groks jumped out of the ground and clung to them.
Let go of this!
Where did youe from!
Hahaha! D*e!
Bang!
The bellies of the two Groks swelled up and exploded.
Even though they were made of living metal. Goliaths could not withstand the explosion and fell down, spewing ck smoke.
Cra, crazy
Werent they supposed to have intelligence for each individual?
Using subordinates as s*****e bombers was a tactic that was not seen in previous demons.
It was because Lucia, a powerful demon king, appeared and swept them away. That they resorted to such extreme methods.
The problem was that they were still pushed back even after doing that. But the elves did not know that.
Commander Tyrant smiled arrogantly and extended his de.
How about that? There are still many Groks.
Many demons still poured out of the still-open gate. And the whole za was filled with demons.
Elven Knights werepletely fed up with their numbers. But they could not retreat here.
A flying ship appeared in the sky of Medea.
And Krishna, a divine power, was also mobilized.
It was one of the Elven Pantheons that was known to have been destroyed during the Great War.
A giant woman who resembled an elf appeared in the air. Elven Knights cheered in unison.
Ooooh!
For victory! For Krishna!
A great battle broke out in Medea.
***
A grade 3 ether storm has been detected. The gate is expected tost for about 5 minutes and then disappear. I will mark the location.
Blue dots shed all over the Astera continent.
The sudden ether storm and gate phenomenon startled even Leobold and Arma.
There had been no signs for decades.
The only thing that was suspicious was Omega Ones voice that Lucia heard.
As soon as her will was conveyed, Mares ether shook violently and then a storm was created.
Its amazing that she made a storm with a weak ether used for will transmission.
Its certain that Omega One has be stronger than before.
I dont know where shes getting her power from, but
He was very bothered by the fact that she was eagerly waiting for a chance to enter the Aether Universe.
The only fortunate thing was that she couldnt enter without Lucia as a catalyst.
As long as they secured Lucia, they could block Omega Ones entry at the source.
But he wasnt without worries.
He was concerned about the possibility of Lucias corruption by her voice.
So far, she had managed to resist Omega Ones temptation, but he couldnt guarantee that she would continue to do so.
He was also troubled by the word guardian.
What does it mean that gue is a guardian?
I have a hypothesis about that.
Arma covered theary system, including Terra and Mare, with a huge sphere.
This Aether Universe is easy to exit, but hard to enter. Even a god could send a living beings soul to the past, after all.
Thats right. Terahok is a great god, but its impossible for him to pierce through space-time and send souls with just a relic, not his main body.
It was clear that he had borrowed the power of Yggdrasil, but even considering that, it was almost impossible.
Leobold had to use the warp gate opened by the prophet to enter this universe.
A mere god of Astera couldnt mobilize such a massive energy.
If I draw the structure of the Aether Universe ording to my hypothesis, it would look like this.
What Arma showed on the hologram was an egg.
It looks like an egg.
I guess this whole universe is a kind of incubator. Astera can be seen as a bed, and the current races can bepared to babies crying on the bed.
Really
It was known in Astera mythology that Rasa created many races.
If a baby was born in an ordinary household, they wouldnt just leave it alone.
They would buy various supplies and prepare for education.
Thats what Astera was prepared for.
But what does gue being a guardian have to do with that?
I think its a role to protect this egg from external threats. He originally had that role, but he might have been corrupted by some cause.
Corruption Omega One wouldnt think of it as corruption.
Just like the gods of Astera, she might be a kind of algorithm. Something interfered and caused a bug in the algorithm.
It wouldnt be Rasa
There was something unknown here that they didnt know.
But what if Omega One lied?
What are the chances that she lied to lure Lucia and open the door?
About 30%
Thats not negligible.
Anyway, it didnt seem like Lucia would fall into corruption anytime soon.
The more frequent her voices temptation was, the more Leobold grew inside her. Statues were constantly being made in the nest.
It would be nice if that was just loyalty.
He would have epted her if she was human, but he was very embarrassed because she was a living metal creature.
Arma had promised something with her, but pretended not to know and said,
We can easily close this gate with our current technology.
Which side do you think is better for us?
Not closing it is much better. Theyll do our work for us.
Then lets leave it.
As he did on Earth in the 21st century, Leobold wanted some chaos.
It wasnt an uncontroble chaos that couldnt be stopped.
It was a controlled chaos that he could stop and start anytime. It would help his n.
If he took Jaum as an example, his loyalty to the low emperor would drop to the bottom because of this incident.
On the other hand, Bagran, where Leobold was, wouldnt suffer any damage and could gather considerable public sentiment.
Themoners would suffer in the middle, but it was inevitable when he thought of Astera as a whole.
It was almost impossible to achieve true reform without bloodshed.
Leobold smirked bitterly.
I want to end this life of weighing everything as soon as possible.
He used to be a soldier fighting against gue.
He became the only survivor of humanity by chance and lived as a dictator.
Now he came to fantasy and pretended to be an emperor.
He was tired of wearing clothes that didnt suit him for decades.
Sometimes he felt an urge to let go of everything.
He was just enduring for hisst duty.
But Arma thought that Leobold was born with the fate of a ruler.
If there was someone who could be an absolute criterion, it was only Leobold.
Because he knew how to give up everything he had.
That might be why the prophet called him.
If you dont have the courage to give up, you dont deserve to have anything
But she hoped that he wouldnt give up on her.
That was the wish of an artificial intelligence with a human heart.
Anyway, gues invasion of Astera was bound to happen.
The elves would me Leobold for everything, but they would shut up when they got hit.
Leobold looked at gue, who appeared on Jaums imperial road, and said,
Lets go too.
But what if Lucia showed up?
He had to pretend to fight for now, but he didnt know if something troublesome would happen.
***
The demons that appeared on Jaums imperial road shocked and terrified the imperial citizens.
The elves had some knowledge of the demon race, but they had none.
To them, demons were beings that they never saw in normal times, that only appeared in the distant past like the Great War.
It was natural that they were surprised when hundreds of them popped out of the gate, not just one or two.
Aaah!
Demons! Demons have appeared!
Their bodies are made of metal! They dont even get affected by magic!
The High Knights and even the Imperial Guards mobilized, but they were not enough to stop them all.
They were outnumbered, but they were also unprepared for the great demon war.
The demons pushed forward without caring about their lives, and the knights tactics were nothing but forming a line and wrestling with their Goliaths size.
If the enemy was also a Goliath, it would work, but the problem was that the demons had some units that did surprise attacks.
Boom boom boom boom
The road was torn apart as if there was an earthquake, and suddenly a few Groks popped out from behind the Goliath squad.
Their front legs were transformed into shovel shapes.
They had dug tunnels and attacked from behind.
Behind! The back is broken!
Themander screamed in horror as several Groks quickly clung to the Goliaths.
Boom!
An explosion tore a hole in the formation of the Goliath troops, and the Hyphexes rushed in and crushed everything in their way.
The royal guards had a few ck Knights mixed in, but they were powerless as their formation was destroyed.
The demons were not inferior in strength.
As the Goliath troops on the front line were annihted, the demons turned their eyes to the imperial pce that towered majestically in the distance.
The king is there. K**l him.
Hundreds of demons ran towards the pce.
The royal guards, as well as thest bastion of the pce guards, came out, but it seemed impossible to stop them.
Barak, the emperor, came out in his nightclothes, received a brief report of the situation, and hurriedly headed to the underground passage.
Demons suddenly appeared? Without any signs?
Yes! They poured out as soon as the blue gate opened!
What on earth happened Whats the damage?
The first line of defense copsed, and we formed a second line, but it doesnt seem tost long!
What about the rocket troops?
Well They are inexperienced troops who havent seen realbat
From his trailing voice, it seemed that they didnt fight properly and scattered.
It was natural for their bodies to stiffen when they were exposed to such monsters, since they were originally knights who fought on Goliaths.
Leobold was worried about that and trained them harshly while deploying Goliaths, but Zaium didnt do that.
As a result, the entire unit was destroyed before they even fought.
Nothing goes right.
The emperor clicked his tongue and followed the knights to the underground passage.
The imperial family followed him one by one.
There were no nobles in that procession, and that made Barak depressed.
Theyll make a fuss about this.
It was natural for the emperor to flee first when an emergency urred, but it was a problem if he did it alone.
It was because of the perception that he had to show leadership in such a situation to be qualified as a true ruler.
Unfortunately, Barak was not very reliable in that regard.
He was weak in power base because he was a mage, and more importantly, he was criticized for not doing anything when his vassal Pangral died.
Those ignorant fools Leobold is not an ordinary human.
For whatever reason, it was certain that the emperors authority would be undermined if this incident became known.
Should he be d that he saved his life?
After the emperor disappeared like that, the nobles and bureaucrats left in the pce didnt know what to do.
The underground passage was blocked by the royal guards, so they had nowhere to run.
The imperial pce had ridiculously limited ess routespared to its majestic appearance, and this had a fatal effect during the Kairos incident.
Most of the imperial family were massacred by a mad elf, but since the pce was so huge, the repairs were postponed day by day, and the narrow passage problem was almost neglected.
As a result, the nobles and bureaucrats who lived in the pce crowded into the narrow passage at once, and some of them were crushed and killed, and the passage waspletely blocked.
While such a catastrophe unfolded, the demon army marched on without fail.
Despair filled peoples eyes.
Its over
Were dead! Were all dead!
The emperor abandoned us!
We should have known when he brought that b*****d who wasnt even his direct descendant!
What are you talking about now? Youre all traitors!
Whats treason when were doomed!
Barak b*****d never deserved to be emperor!
There were so many people crowded at the entrance that no one could tell who said what.
Then someone pointed at the sky.
Look over there! Its an airship!
Its huge, huge!
Thats Bagrans Hyperion!
The decent nobles of Zaium knew very well about Hyperion-ss airships that had been active in previous wars.
Since it was several times bigger than any other airship of the empire, they secretly envied it and even suggested building a simr ss. It was a protagonist who brought various issues with him.
As it was a gship of Gram Empire that ran on ether engineering at its peak, it was impossible for Zaium to build it now.
There was also an argument that they should get it as apensation for turning a blind eye to Pangrals death.
But the emperor lost his words at that sight and only conveyed his intention to cover it up here.
Anyway, Hyperions appearance was like salvation for Zaiums nobles who were in a desperate crisis.
But Leobold, who was on board, was in an awkward situation.
Some of Lucias subordinates were among the demon horde.
They seemed to have jumped in instinctively when the gate opened as they fought with other groups.
Cami, who was next to him, was surprised to hear his words.
Some of those demons are your subordinates?
More precisely, subordinates of my subordinates Remember Lucia, the fairy from before?
Yes. The tiny one with a high pride Wait, is that fairy?
Shes their queen. Shes in the demon world now. Her subordinates got mixed up with the enemy when the gate suddenly opened.
Oh my.
What kind of things could happen?
Chapter 282:
Chapter 282:
The sudden ether storm and the gate were a huge shock for Lucia and her troops.
Some units that were not nearby retreated and waited for orders, but others that were fighting fiercely with the enemy had no chance to withdraw and were dragged into Astera.
These units and other demons stopped fighting as soon as they saw Astera, as if they had agreed on something.
Why do we have to fight each other so hard?
Isnt it enough to k**l the humans and take theirnd?
They had this thought even though they didnt know how long the gate wouldst, and it seemed that they were simr regardless of their species.
So they rushed together as if they were one group and started to fight the humans.
Lucias subordinates also had no choice but to march to the imperial pce, but there was a problem.
A familiar airship appeared from somewhere in the sky.
Its Hyperion
What? Hyperion? Thats the masters ship!
Watch your mouth, 1773, the master is the one who rules over Lord White, the legionmander, the guard captain, and the queen!
The units that came to Astera were only a small detachment of the Talos legion.
From their perspective, Leobold was almost a god-like being, who was the boss of their boss of their boss of their boss.
Think about it.
Their queen Lucia had be a strong enough to rival the top ten demon lords in a short time since she made her nest in Mare.
How strong would her master be, whom she served without fail?
There was a rumor among the subordinates that he was not the god who would unify Mare.
They had to prostrate themselves and beg for mercy when such a being appeared, but they couldnt do that because of the surrounding eyes.
The detachment leader, Beetle 215, thought.
The master must know that we are here. To help him, we have to hit these bastards from behind.
If we make a merit here, maybe we can get out of this eternal detachment leader position
It was always better to get a promotion from someone higher up.
Especially if it was from the master who was above the queen.
Beetle 215 made a decision and secretly sent telepathy to his subordinates.
Squeak squeak buzz buzz.
A strange atmosphere circted among the beetle-shaped demons.
The other demons sensed it, but they were too excited to care.
What mattered when there was a nest of the human king in front of them?
They just wanted to fight, win, and report their victory to the demon lord.
Meanwhile, Leobold smiled inwardly after receiving a report that the beetles were squeaking.
He must know that Im here, and hell hit them from behind for me. Good choice.
It would be a problem for the Zaium nobles who were watching, but it would be good if a rumor spread that he was the king who made even the demons surrender.
It meant less blood to spill.
Ill have to test it this time to make the rumor more usible.
That was the ether origin that was about 70%plete.
This energy source was not only iplete, but also required a lot of effort to activate.
It could produce energyparable to an ether sun when it worked properly, but that process was not easy.
Arma cautiously suggested one way.
The most efficient way is to use your ether heart as a key to activate the ether origin. But in that case, you might get a big shock.
I wont d*e, right?
As long as Im here, theres no chance of you dying. But it will hurt a lot.
Im used to pain. Lets do it that way.
This was a method needed to fully activate the ether origin, and it was not necessary now.
It was just using a little energy from the iplete one, but its power would be tremendous.
Leobold put his hand on Camis shoulder.
For a moment, youll feel like youve be a god. Youll be able to fight almost equally with a dragon champion like Valgard.
Of course, there was a gap inbat experience, so he couldnt really match him.
Cami nodded nervously and looked down.
Its my first time fighting demons Can I do well?
You dont have to worry. Arma will tell you where theyre attacking from.
It was a mystery how Arma knew that, but there were more than one or two cases like that, so he had to admit it.
Leobold gave orders to his subordinates through the bridgemunicator.
Prepare for ck Knight sortie from now on. Illmand personally.
He didnt go into battle unless it was serious after he became king.
This meant that it was not an ordinary danger if he led the battlefield himself.
Hyperion lowered its altitude and about ten ck Knights jumped out.
The imperial pce nobles were suspicious.
ck Knight was a model made by Bagran, but the empire also had many of them and even tried to copy them.
They wondered how they could improve this desperate situation with just ten of them.
But when they heard that Leobold was on board the lead machine, some of the nobles raised their arms.
Its the king of Bagran!
K**l those demons!
Then the firebomb unit followed, carrying ether bombunchers on their backs.
Its the firebomb unit!
Our firebombs were nothing special, but what about them?
They must be the original, right? Look at theming down ondders! Isnt that something different?
Theyre amazing formoners!
The demons reached the front of the imperial pce.
***
They were definitely different.
The nobles looked at the battlefield with concern and realized that Bagrans forces were something different.
First of all, there was no confusion.
They took perfect positions by machine and their formation was solid, even though they werent training for a big demon battle.
And the machine that led them was the one that the king was on board.
He stood firmly in front of the demons who were swarming in, even though it would be scary.
His unique posture of sticking his sword into the ground and putting his hands on the handle was enough to make the nobles exim.
ck Knight It really feels like a giant Goliath when he stands like that.
Is it because King Vandus is riding it? Evenpared to the machine that High Knight is on board, the pressure is no joke
It must be because of the halo behind his head.
When Leobold activated his ether heart, a bright halo appeared behind the head of the ck Knight as usual.
But he didnt pull out all his output.
Even the enhanced ck Knight couldnt handle Leobolds ether heart, and only the new giant of steel that Arma was making could do that.
That giant was so big and heavy that it couldnt be called a Goliath, and it would probably be named a Titan.
As everyone was mesmerized by the ck Knights disy of power, the demon army approached the pce.
The ground shook and hundreds of demons shouted in discordant voices.
Leobold drew his greatsword from the ground and gave orders to Cami and his knights.
This may not be Bagran, but you are still servants of the empire. I will spare your lives for now, so fight and d*e for the empire.
Oooh!
For the empire! For the emperor!
The empire they meant was the future human empire, and the emperor was Leobold himself, but the nobles of Zaium interpreted it differently.
They havent forgotten that they are Zaiums servants
Isnt he still an earl? Thats how a noble should act.
But the emperor has already fled and doesnt deserve such loyalty
As if to drown out those voices, the demon army and the ck Knights shed.
The knights of Zaium had been ambushed from behind and shattered while struggling, but the ck Knights didnt stop.
Aether des spewed from Leobolds ck Knight and carved a huge path through the demon army.
Dozens of demons were disintegrated by the highly concentrated ether.
Follow me.
The ck Knights moved along that path.
Demons attacked from all sides, but the ck Knights were far superior in size and output.
The nobles felt as if they were watching a single sword shing through the battlefield.
How can they maintain such a formation while diving into the demons midst
Its like the Goliaths have be one.
The cores of the nearby Goliaths synchronized with the ether that Leobold emitted, and they moved in unison.
That naturally led the riders, who were knights.
Cami, who was facing the demons from all directions, realized that this was not what she intended to do, but she couldnt stop.
What is this? Its like Im bewitched
It was an ether field.
Leobold alone had created a field that ignored physical constraints that only Settler ship or Assault Armor could produce.
This field had limited time stop and wide-area blessing effects, giving allies an incredible boost inbat power and enemies a terrible curse.
In fact, the knights who were in charge of the nks were surprised that the fearsome demons were so slow and weak.
This is not because we are strong or the demons are weak.
It was all thanks to the kings power.
His movements naturally shifted their steps and changed the battlefield.
The demons they faced became bigger and more ferocious, but they didnt feel like they were losing.
We will win, we can win!
It was a miraculous sight to see such an overwhelming disy against enemies that outnumbered them by dozens of times.
Especially those who were watching from the pce above felt it better.
The murmurs soon subsided and only the sound of swallowing saliva was heard.
Your Majesty I cant believe you can jump in there and fight
Those scary demons are iling around like fools
It was apletely different sight from when they fought with the imperial guard.
It was strange, but they were all fascinated by Leobolds magic.
And that magic exploded fiercely when Lucias detachment hit the back of the other demons heads.
Beetle 215 stabbed its horn deep into a Highpex that had turned its back on him.
Kraaak!
Now!
As soon as Highpexs death cry was heard, the detachment reversed and attacked the demons as they pleased.
They were outnumbered, but the ck Knights had drawn so much attention and their surprise attack was perfect, so the demons fell into chaos.
Who are you!
Our allies are attacking us!
The beetles of the detachment looked very different, but there were so many creatures crowded in a narrow space that it was impossible to distinguish them perfectly.
And Leobold and his ck Knights and rifle troops didnt stay still either.
The former tore through the demon army with their mobility, while thetter gradually destroyed them with their firepower from a distance.
Some demons couldnt stand it and attacked the rifle troops, but they had no chance to fight back using the terrain features.
And even as they yed hide-and-seek, bombs kept flying in.
Boom!
Explosions urred everywhere and the number of demons decreased steadily.
The nobles of Zaium gaped their mouths open.
How can they fight like that with only ten or so ck Knights
The rifle troops movements are no joke either. Theyre not getting any closer to the demons.
From the perspective of the demons they faced, it was a taste of death.
It would not have been strange if they had retreated earlier in such a desperate situation, but they couldnt do that either.
Where could they run when the gate had disappeared in the yard?
All they had left was to fight to the end and d*e.
Today we d*e here! For Kether Keh!
Leobolds greatsword smashed the head of a Tyrant that was trying to shout loudly.
That was the beginning of the end of the demons resistance.
The distance between the rifle troops and the ck Knights narrowed, and dozens of demons raged as if for theirst struggle.
But they were vaporized by Leobolds ether de.
How can you be so strong
You If Aphroxiaes here, the situation will change
Shut up.
Leobold finished off thest Tyrant and stuck his greatsword into the ground.
The beetles of 215s detachment sensed the atmosphere and quickly gathered in front of him and lowered their posture.
Please forgive us!
The Demon King Lucia told us to surrender! You are our master from now on!
Leobold pretended to be surprised and looked them over.
Are you not demons? How can demons follow humans?
If we have loyalty andmunication, what does appearance matter? If you dont like this form, we will take human form!
Well You dont have to do that.
It was a ridiculous act, but it was a rather impressive sight for the nobles of Zaium.
Demons who had been hostile and unable to eradicate humans for hundreds of years knelt before a mere king.
Those demons seem quite strong, but they surrender to a human king?
There has never been a case of demons defecting in hundreds of years of history
Didnt you all see the overwhelming battle earlier? Even Lucia, that Demon King, surrendered to King Banda.
It was a rare sight that might happen once in a lifetime for many people who saw demons for the first time.
They all craned their necks and looked as the beetles collected the cores from the dead demons bodies.
They were much smaller than the cores of the gue that appeared in the sr system, but they had the same essence.
Youre quite smart, knowing what I want. Do you have any wishes?
The creature spoke in a low voice.
I have served Your Majesty with zeal and devotion since you arrived in Mare. But Im still stuck as a squad leader. If you dont doubt my merit and loyalty
Captain White. You are now Captain White.
Leobold knew very well the structure of the army that Luciamanded.
He also had the help of Arma, who could use ether close to the gue Queen.
That meant he could elerate evolution within a certain limit.
When he gave his permission, Beetle 215s body began to grow rapidly.
Ohhh!
The master has bestowed grace upon us!
The squad beetles danced, and the Zaium nobles were confused by this sight.
Meanwhile, Emperor Barak, who had escaped through the underground passage, heard the newste and came up to the pce.
He had fled, leaving everything behind, so he couldnt expect any cheers, but the eyes that looked at him were too cold.
Your Majesty, its good to see you.
Im d youre safe.
The greeting was just a formality, and there was no emotion in it, making it chilly.
On the other hand, the cheers for Leobold seemed to send him out of the pce.
King Vandus! Youre the best!
You definitely deserved to take over the Tassos Duchy!
Leobold raised his arm in response to their cheers, and Emperor Baraks heart sank.
Could he be dreaming of bing emperor?
***
The Zaium demon crisis was over for now.
But because so many gates had opened, every part of the continent was in severe chaos.
Most countries could only stop the demons by mobilizing their forces, and this caused tremendous damage.
And there were still many intact legions.
They fell into ces like swamps or wastnds, assessed the situation, and formed their own factions to n to invade nearby countries.
Leobold decided that he couldnt leave them alone.
He had gotten everything he wanted.
Its bubbling Hafnium 2 warheads wont be enough to deal with them all.
He could k**l them all by pouring out supplies, but he didnt want to waste missiles.
And Settler ship was fully repaired and emitted a stronger output than before.
The supermassive particle elerator was also producing reaction bombs one after another.
It was for the sake of fighting Omega One someday.
Arma hinted at him.
A small reaction bomb of 100 megatons is ready.
Leobold originally didnt want to use reaction bombs in Asteran unless necessary.
That thrilling weapon was made to fight against the fully grown gue.
But those demons were no exaggeration to call them baby gues.
So theres no need to hesitate. We can send knights to deal with other ces, so we just need to take care of those two spots.
Leobold pointed out the border area near Elvrande and Denova.
The former would be taken care of by the elves, but thetter was doomed to fall.
Altema attacked there, right?
Thanks to that, our debt was swept away too.
Denovas destruction also destroyed the supply chain in the eastern continent, but that was a problem forter.
The urgent matter was those thousands of demons.
Fire the reaction bomb.
As soon as he gave the order, two missiles wereunched from Settler ship, which was anchored in Terras geostationary orbit.
The missiles, equipped with high-output ion thrusters, reached their destination in minutes.
And a huge explosion urred.
Particles and antiparticles annihted each other, spewing pure energy.
Its power was enough topletely vaporize a small mountain that rose near Denova.
Thousands of demons who had gathered nearby to attack also died en masse.
The shockwave shook the eastern continent, and soon a gray mushroom cloud rose up massively.
When the explosion subsided, Altema and Valgard, who had been attacking Denova for a while, found traces of it.
At the end of their sight, they saw a crater of unbelievable size, and around it were thousands of corpses of demons.
What did they use for this?
Its the kings power. He used a weapon made on Earth. But I didnt know it would be this strong
A weapon made on Earth
He never used it before. He used it now because it must be okay against demons. So you better stop making him your enemy. Even if youre the masters main body, you wont be safe if you get caught in this explosion.
They didnt know that the reaction bomb that caused the explosion had reduced its power by 10%.
Altema tried to feel the ether, but failed.
It doesnt seem to be an ether-based weapon.
There was no ether on Earth, remember? They made this with pure technology.
She stared at the crater for a long time, then opened her mouth.
Listening to that makes me want it more.
Damn it, the king is not someone you can mess with, even if the master is strong.
You wont know how long or short it is until you try, right?
Valgard read infinite greed in her attitude.
She hadnt learned anything from the war that had caused such a mess.
But Altema was confident.
If this was the extent of his power, she wasnt without a way to counter it.
She would start the war again, but the continents situation was already a mess.
It wouldnt make any difference if she added a little more chaos.
She spread her arms toward Bagran.
Come, I am the true emperor of Asteran.
Chapter 283:
Chapter 283:
The demon incident that urred in the year 1039 of the continental calendar left an indelible scar on the gloomy Astera, which was already on the brink of war.
It was not just a matter of a few people dying from the demon invasion.
The eastern part of Astera had been staggering since the Bagran War, followed by the revival of Altema and the destruction of the Gram Kingdom and Denova.
It was only natural that they could not withstand the chaos caused by the demons popping out.
The loss of lives was enormous, but the real problem was the copse of the logistics system.
Altema had smashed Denova and brought down a huge merchant group with it.
In fact, the reason why Zaium and the rest of the Easthart region had left Denova alone was not because they liked the elves.
They knew that if they attacked, hundreds of trade routes would be destroyed, and they had no capacity to cope with that, so they just let it be.
But Altema, being a dragon who did not care about trivial things, attacked Denova fiercely.
The result was the demise of Denova, and theplete breakdown of the logisticswork in the eastern continent.
This disaster was magnified by the demon incident.
Thousands of merchants fled, leaving their fortunes behind, and the casualties exceeded one million.
At this point, arge number of refugees began to emerge.
They were nothing but penniless beggars.
Zaium was busy with its own affairs, and there seemed to be no ce in the continent that would ept them.
But there was one ce, Bagran, that opened its doors.
It was not wide open, but they designated a few ces in the old direct territory and Galisto Province to start taking in refugees, which caused a significant issue.
Theyre taking in hundreds of thousands of refugees? Are they serious?
King Vandus seems to be too obsessed with expanding his size. He already swallowed up two countries and has no room left
I admit hes an outstanding person, and I cant help but admire how Bagran has developed so far. But this policy is too risky. How are they going to settle and feed hundreds of thousands of people?
Well, has there ever been anything possible among King Vanduss achievements? He has seeded in everything that people said was impossible.
That only applies to a reasonable level. How can he handle hundreds of thousands of refugees who are no different from beggars
King Vandus asked Zaium for food supplies for the two border kingdoms just a few months ago. If there was no miracle in those months, this policy will fail.
The pundits all shouted that it was impossible.
There was not no positive trend, but most of them shook their heads.
It was understandable that they ughtered the demons who attacked Zaiums pce with the power of the ck Knight Order and the Flintlock Corps.
But food was apletely different field of problem.
They wondered if they had enough food for Galisto Province and Tassos Province, let alone taking in refugees.
Bagran ignored such opinions and opened its borders.
The person who oversaw this policy was Arma as always, and she dered that she would mobilize all her resources.
Todays poption is equivalent to national power. The more people there are, the better. We can house them, feed them, and keep them alive, so bring them as much as you can.
We wont ask about any crimes youmitted before. But once you be a citizen of Bagran, you have to live a lifepletely free from crime.
She did not just talk big, but she personally took charge of the refugee settlement n.
The roads and water pipes that were essential for the settlement wereid out, and thousands of temporary houses were built.
This huge project would require an enormous amount of money, but Bagran had nothing to worry about.
Gold nuggets were popping out from the floating continent.
Since so much money was flowing, intion was a concern, but that was something that Zaium, who had no ability to control prices, would suffer from.
Their confusion would be another opportunity for Leobold, but that was a story for next year orter.
Meanwhile, Margareta, who was receiving Bagrans hospitality, wanted to work in Armas finance department.
Originally, she received a generous treatment as a foreign princess who received regr subsidies even if she just stayed in Bagran.
Leobold judged that her role as the only royal family in Elvrande would be great when he conquered it someday.
But Margareta thought that it was not enough to just stay in Bagran and watch its development.
I need to know what kind of conviction they have, where their policy decisionse from.
The only way to find out was to jump into the field herself.
So Margareta put aside her awkward feelings with Leobold for a while and got a job in Armas finance department, taking on the duties of an administrative officer.
She went to the direct territory near Roseron, and it was no joke.
Large-scale construction was going on everywhere, and thousands of people were gathered, making noises and working.
The piled up materials made a small hill, and carts were running around everywhere, raising dust.
It was a shocking scene for Margareta, who had lived in the quiet pce of Elvrande.
Your Highness
Is development always this noisy?
The positive thing was that there was no dark look on the faces of the people, even though they looked tired.
She walked around the site and listened to the conversations of the people.
Man, Im sick of this work. It never ends no matter how much I do.
Isnt that a good thing? At least we wont starve when winteres.
Yeah, where else would we make this kind of money?
Lets have a drink after work today. Theres a pub nearby that just opened.
Sounds good.
Outside, there was a mess of war and demon incidents, but inside Bagran, ordinary workers could finish their work and drink as much as they wanted.
It was not a peace that barely held on.
Every city, including Roseron, was constantly supplied with goods, and the most important food was not scarce, even if it was not abundant.
This meant that there was still room, and all these supplies were used to settle the refugees.
Margareta could be sure that there were hardly any people who fought or shouted loudly, even though there were many people who worked hard on the site.
Despite many difficulties, the refugees will eventually find their ce and live in thisnd.
That meant that Bagrans foundation was getting stronger.
She had not spent much time, but she had seen for herself how much potential themoners, including the flintlocks, had.
Leobold was gathering that.
Someday, when that explodes, Elvrandes fate will be sealed.
What would the elves do then?
Margareta was diligently wandering around the site to find the answer.
***
Thepletion of the Aether Origin is dyed. I think we need much more energy than my calction to fully control time and space.
It was amazing that Armas calction was wrong.
Well, it was an attempt to analyze and recreate the entire Aether universe and Aether sun, so anything could happen.
When the Aether Origin waspleted, Asteras civilization would shine from then on.
But even if it was notpleted, there were plenty of ways to use it.
Just like they blocked the demons who attacked Zaiums pce with a counter field.
Leobold looked at the calendar.
Winter ising soon.
It seems like this winter will be very cold. Ill install the Aether supply pipes before then.
Lets provide it for free for one year as a trial.
Supplying Aether meant sending Aether to each household through connected pipes for heating.
This heating method was a result of analyzing and improving the fire-based magic that magiciansmonly used.
It was using Aether as if it were gas.
The efficiency was overwhelmingpared to natural gas heating, and more importantly, no toxic gas was generated, so the possibility of users dying was greatly reduced.
In the cold winter, many families died from gas leaking while trying to light a fire. This situation could be seen everywhere in the continent.
Bagran was better because of its lowtitude, but Galisto and Tassos regions were famous for being very cold in winter.
Not to mention Zaium above them.
Leobold looked at Elvrande and asked.
Is their temperature simr regardless oftitude?
Its because of Yggdrasill. It looks nice because it has a mild climate all year round, but in fact there are many disadvantages.
The most typical ones were nts and insects.
Living creatures that should d*e in winter survived, so there were jungles and bugs everywhere.
Even the nature-loving elves had given up on clearing them out.
As a result, thend where the Ain race could live in Elvrande was limited.
The elves pretended to love the forest, but it was a different story if it was a jungle that could not be used at all.
Near Medea, there was a huge quarantine work to prevent the expansion of the jungle.
It would be amazing to see the elves who love nature burning down the forest.
That will be revealed someday.
Arma was using Siviri satellites to collect such data.
By the time it was exposed, the elves would have lost their dominance in the continent.
Anyway, the n to use Aether for living was progressing step by step.
Leobold did not like that a few people with Aether bloodlines monopolized that great energy.
His wish was for everyone to benefit from it.
It would be even better if it became the foundation for space exploration.
By the time of the second Aether revolution, they would gradually enter space.
While Astera was pursuing development like this, Earth was retreating repeatedly.
Arma had been eavesdropping on Altemas conversations with microdrones around her.
Unlike the suspicious elves, the gold dragon had a great pride in her skills and did not put up any barriers.
It would be useless in front of Arma anyway, even if she put up severalyers of barriers.
Anyway, the microdrones were diligently recording and delivering Altemas monologues and conversations.
The content was shocking.
Theyre dismantling the legion strike fleet? Why?
To be precise, its 30% of the fleet owned by UN, and this is agreed with the Human Alliance.
Is this disarmament? Those battleships are capable of entering deep space.
Unfortunately, they dont feel the need The UN meeting concluded that Earths resources are more efficient.
Nonsense. They can use Titans gas for thousands of years for all humanity.
Its because of the cost of investing there It seems that its not easy to operate a spaceship with manpower.
By 2048, most of the tforms that navigated space were under Armas control.
The legion strike fleet was no exception, and thanks to that, most of the agents could focus on the battle itself.
But when Arma disappeared, they had to do everything with manpower.
Leobold had considered that point and developed and left behind navigation algorithms, but they seemed to be insufficient.
The maintenance of the spaceship was also a problem.
They decided it would be better to divert the resources that go into producing parts to the Earth reconstruction. The Outsiders, I mean.
The Outsiders were the people who were left out of the 12 mega-cities.
At the end of the gue invasion, their number was about 800 million, and it seemed impossible to leave them alone.
I understand that. But they didnt give up on space exploration, did they?
Unfortunately, it seems that they will increase the disarmament rate at the next ministerial meeting. They thought it was too early to develop space.
Leobold was disappointed.
They chose to settle on Earth with ck metal and ether energy. Thats a bad choice.
It might be efficient for now, but not at all for the future.
It was very easy to feed 2 billion people with the resources in the sr system.
Giving up because the way there was rough was enough to disappoint Leobold.
But he was not angry.
Its a bit strange to say this after I ran away with an artificial intelligence to meet the prophet. Just record it for now and dont report it.
Yes.
This marked the winter of technological development on Earth.
When the long and cold winter ended, spring woulde, but it seemed unlikely that flowers would bloom in the situation that humanity faced.
It was a pity, but he had no choice but to watch for now.
For a while, that is.
***
The demon outbreak left shock, fear, and deep scars on Astera.
But it was not entirely negative.
There were some positive factors, albeit few, and that was the distribution of living metal.
Many demons died and left cores, and those cores began to corrode the surrounding metal and create living metal.
This fact was confirmed by Zaium and several kingdoms, and they rejoiced.
We can use that expensive living metal as we please! This is undoubtedly a blessing for the empire!
Emperor Barak tried to subtly im his achievement, but the bureaucrats and nobles knew the truth.
The emperor had only run away, and Leobold had dealt with all the demons.
Thanks to that, Leobolds reputation in the empire only rose.
He was no longer a simple imperial count.
He proved his tremendous power by killing Pangral Archduke, and now he was in a position where many nobles were wondering how to make connections with him.
Whether he liked it or not, Leobold did not leave Bagran.
That was fine until then.
The emergence of hundreds of thousands of refugees was not a big problem for Emperor Barak.
The important thing is that we can now mass-produce ck knights. Make a line right away.
ck knights were frames and drive systems made entirely of living metal.
It was impossible to produce without securing arge amount of living metal, but that was solved, so it seemed like ck knights would pop out of the line soon enough.
But there was a problem.
Making frames with living metal was not easy.
No matter which magician or ether engineer came, it was impossible to control the unique deformation phenomenon precisely.
Emperor Barak gathered them and yelled at them.
King Vandus made this more than a year ago! And he imported it hard through Denova! You can use living metal as you please, but the result is just iron? Does this make sense?
They all shrank their necks, but one of the royal magicians plucked up courage and said.
Your Majesty or Your Highness, we are not King Vandus
It was hard to yell at them for not being able to do it because theycked ability.
He could ask Leobold for help, but Emperor Barak already considered him a futurepetitor or enemy.
If I get his help again, it will cause a serious problem for my prestige
The nobles of the empire no longer looked up to the emperor.
In various newspapers published in Jerome Road, Leobolds feats were more frequent than the emperors voice.
The main customers of the newspaper, the nobles, were thirsty for information about him.
The content included not only where he went and what orders he gave, but also information about his entire life, including his clothes and meals.
Thanks to that, there was a craze for crustacean cuisine in Zaiums social circles.
They had been thinking of them as monsters and had not touched them until then, but they started eating crabs and shrimps.
In Jerome and other major cities and important territories, restaurants that handled crustaceans sprang up like mushrooms after rain.
This phenomenon did not stop at crustaceans, but extended to all crops produced in Bagran.
As the situation was like this, the empires finances were sucked into Bagran.
And so a new crisis came.
Zaiums finances, talent, and all kinds of raw materials were sucked into the hole called Bagran.
The emperor realized this when he recruited carpenters to repair the pce, but only a few applied.
It was not a matter for the emperor to interfere with, but he had been watching with courtesy, saying that he would tear down and rebuild the pce this time.
Your Highness, it will be difficult to repair for three years at this rate.
Why dont the carpenters apply? Didnt I say I would raise the money if it was a problem?
That is they all went to Bagran. They said they would pay three times as much there
It must be because hes an imperial count that the immigration officials let him get away with it.
It was hard for even the king of Bagran to take out arge number of carpenters who were skilled enough to be mobilized for the pce renovation.
But he had an imperial title and his reputation was so high that the officials had to be careful.
As a result, skilled carpenters and various workers were being sucked into Bagran.
This did not stop at manpower, but applied to a wide range of fields, including raw materials.
Emperor Barakmented this, but he had to shut his mouth at the word of the minister.
Who can resist the temptation when they offer several times the sry over there
Bagran doesnt use gold coins anymore, do they? They would have offered paper scraps called credits instead.
Credits are so reliable that they are used throughout Bagran, and they have the added benefit of being able to exchange them for gold coins without fees for two years for those from the maind.
Doesnt that mean they have to pay fees to exchange them for gold coins after two years? And they still ept those paper scraps?
Bagrans exports are so popr that it seems much easier to calcte with credits. In the social circles, they say that you are not a true noble if you cant eat strawberries in winter.
The floating continent strawberries were so popr that even the elves were using airships to carry them away.
Recently, Denova was smashed and they had to smuggle them, but that was another story.
Anyway, credits, which carried their value on their backs, were gaining the aspect of a reserve currency.
Emperor Barak didnt know that far, but it was not a pleasant thing for that kind of paper toe into the empire and circte.
He was shocked after figuring out the situation rted to Bagran.
What is this? All the materials that should circte in the empire are being sucked into Bagran.
He wondered how much money he had to buy almost unlimitedly to settle the refugees.
The problem was that the supply of materials in the empire was not going well because of that.
Everyone was jumping in because they could get several times more by paying a little more transportation fee and selling it to Bagran.
Emperor Barak felt an unbearable sense of inferiority and anger.
He had barely endured it when the nobles shouted Leobolds name during the demon crisis, but he couldnt do it anymore.
He called in the ministers and gave orders.
Stop all manpower and materials from being exported to Bagran from now on. This is an imperial decree.
A huge rock fell into theke called Zaium.
Chapter 284:
Chapter 284:
It was no easy task to settle hundreds of thousands of refugees.
From building the settlements to amodate them, to meeting the demand for necessities and food, it was enough to make any bureaucrat sweat.
The supply from Bargran itself was far from enough, and they had to rely on the merchants from Zaium.
Thanks to that, they made a lot of money.
They ignored their existing contracts and sold everything to Bargran, where they could make twice as much profit. No merchant would refuse such a deal.
Some nobles also joined the frenzy, and Zaium was in a stir.
But most of the nobles were skeptical about this huge project.
Theyre spending so much money just to settle some refugees.
Theyre nothing but beggars. They cant generate any benefit from them.
They might be useful asbor, but theyre the kind of people who wouldnt hesitate to k**l for a piece of bread. How can they control them?
They were all pessimistic, but the situation on the ground was different.
The security forces trained by Granden were no joke, and they seeded in maintaining order in the settlements.
Also, there were not manyints from the refugees, as they were supplied with enough necessities.
They had put out the urgent fire.
But as hundreds of thousands of refugees settled down, various side effects began to emerge.
It was the problem of raw materials within Zaium.
The empire, boasting a poption of 100 million, needed a lot of materials for its size, and nearly 20% of them were sucked into Bargran.
The merchants put money in their pockets, but they also contacted the Bargran guild.
They wanted to import strawberries, potatoes, cottonseed oil, crustaceans, and high-quality ether stones from the floating continent.
The contract they wrote in the process was the starting point of the problem.
The guilds supply was limited and there were manypetitors, so they put a lot of unreasonable uses in the contract.
One of them was a penalty fee that was three times as much.
The deadline was until spring of 1040, so the merchants thought they would never have to pay this penalty unless a war broke out.
King Vandus is also a baron of the empire, so theres no one who can touch him anymore.
Were selling goods at a high price, so we have to bear this penalty. What can we do?
By the way, Ive never seen a contract with a longer penalty use than the contract itself. Do they want to take ournd if we cant pay?
The final payment is credit introduction This smells too bad.
It was so detailed that they doubted that Bargran wanted money at all.
As long as they supplied the goods as promised, there would be no big trouble.
But the merchants were shocked by the sudden imperial decree.
What? All personnel and materials are banned from leaving? What kind of nonsense is this?
Am I dreaming right now? Why are they blocking it all of a sudden?
They had no idea that it stemmed from the emperors inferiorityplex towards Leobold.
The merchants in the empire tried to contact the pce using their connections, but they got no benefit.
The decree did not change, and eventually the imperial guard began to take over the border crossings and various roads.
They were really going to block the export of materials, and the merchants tore their hair out.
If they didnt supply the goods right away, they would suffer a huge loss.
One of them was Duke Prozhan.
He had secured several contracts with Bargran by using his connection with Leobold.
In fact, it was nothing more than a business rtionship, but in a fierce marketpetition, even that helped.
The penalty use was the same, but he thought it wouldnt be a big problem.
As long as we deliver the goods, money will automatically roll in. Its stupid to refuse that. We have to bring in materials even if we have to borrow money.
He was aiming for a higher rank with this opportunity.
Someone had to fill the spot left by Archduke Pangral.
To be honest, having an independent territory as an archduke was too ambitious, and even bing a duke had manypetitors.
There were no dukes in the empire, but there were more than 10 counts.
Duke Prozhan thought that money was the only answer to break through thatpetition and increased his trade volume drastically.
By winter, his entire county depended on trade with Bargran. It was no exaggeration to say that.
The total amount was over 200 thousand golds, and thousands of golds flowed out every day. The bureaucrats had to manage money without sleeping.
But then there was a problem.
The decree came down and all roads leading to Bargran were blocked.
The imperial guard even monitored the docks, preventing the airships from flying.
Duke Prozhan turned pale and barely met the emperor as a representative of the merchants.
You dont look well. Do you have to pay that penalty?
He seemed to have heard a lot ofints from the merchants.
Your Majesty, I beg your pardon.
How much?
Excuse me?
How much is the penalty?
The contract is until March, so the penalty is over 300 thousand golds
It was a huge amount that even the countys finances could not afford.
The emperor clicked his tongue.
How did you make such a contract that resulted in such an amount?
Well, the supply was high and there were manypetitors, so we had to pay a penalty for the difference.
Difference? You mean they imed that you had to pay a penalty for the difference because you bought the goods at more than twice the price?
Yes
That is, they gave the right to sell a 1 gold item for 2 golds, and charged a penalty of 3 times the difference of 1 gold.
And that was not for a week, but for several months with automatic renewal. The penalty would inevitably skyrocket.
The situation was like this because Leobold set a trap well, but essentially it was because the merchants jumped in without looking back.
They thought they would never fail to supply the goods.
The emperor, who realized the situation, threw a box decorated with gold and jewels.
Youre all crazy! You fell right into his trap!
Hes not even a bush knight, but hes trying to rob you to the bottom of your pockets! I gave him some leeway, and hes trying to humiliate me like this?
A bush knight was the final destination of knights who fell into corruption for various reasons when there were no Goliaths and airships in the past.
They were still knights, but they had no money, so they upied a suitable forest and robbed the peddlers.
Peddlers were rare in those days, so once they caught them, they robbed them to the bottom of their pockets. People called them bush knights and despised them.
The emperorsparison of Leobold to a bush knight was evidence of his anger.
Duke Prozhan waited for the emperors anger to subside a little and spoke cautiously.
Your Majesty, cant you lift the blockade for just a few days?
That wont do. This is my chance to starve him to death.
Do you intend to k**l the refugees?
They shouldnt have gone there in the first ce. Dont you think so?
The emperor seemed to want to cut off the supply of materialspletely and iste Bargran.
Duke Prozhan was speechless, as he didnt expect the emperors inferiorityplex to be so severe.
The emperor walked around his office, unable to hide his excitement.
Just hold on until spring, until springes. We cant produce food anywhere. Right now, hes acting all high and mighty because hes taking in the refugees, but thats all. Hell have to face the people who are starving to death in the settlement.
A chilling aura swept over him.
He felt a shiver down his spine when he thought of the emperor who boasted that he would starve millions of refugees to death out of pride.
But then again, they were justmoners.
They were nothing but numbers and had no influence on the political situation.
The emperor decided that lowering Leobolds reputation was more important than millions ofmoners.
What more could he say if they were citizens of another country?
Duke Prozhan recalled thest page of the supply contract.
I have no choice but to exchange the currency in my territory for credits since I cant afford to pay money ornd.
He had to abolish all metal coins and use only credits until his territory was absorbed or disappearedpletely.
That was the final condition that could substitute for the penalty.
With that, one of the iron bars that had been blocking him was loosened.
Compared to that, the blockage of supplies was not much of a problem.
It was because Bagran had a huge production base on the floating continent.
The smart factory and smart farm that fed billions of people on Earth had started to operate.
***
The connection between Bagran and Zaium waspletely cut off.
This was something unimaginable on Earth in the 21st century.
Even if the rtions were not very good, civil exchanges would continue and trade was even more so.
They were so intertwined that it was rare for one side to sufferpletely.
But Astera was a bit different.
Most of the goods were produced and consumed in the territory, and even if they circted more, it was only within the country.
In other words, the export volume was not very high.
The massive export of goods in the winter of 1039 was an exceptional case, but the emperor blocked it firmly and caused trouble.
The goods and manpower that they had prepared lost their destination.
Zaium was in chaos with the problem of disposing of the piled up goods and the penalty, and Bagran was no exception.
The carpenters who came to work in the direct jurisdiction were stomping their feet, wondering how they would go back.
They say the airship cant enter. Whats going to happen to us?
They say the canal to Zaium ispletely blocked! Do we have to sneak in?
Leobold read theirints and called them in tofort them.
Dont be surprised. The emperors measure is temporary. How long do you think he can keep all those goods?
Well, thats true.
Zaium Empire was boiling because of his decree.
They made so much profit that they threw themselves into it with money, but suddenly everything was blocked.
It was obvious who would get scolded.
It was because humans always cursed at whoever blocked their way first.
To most of the stakeholders, Leobold was a benefactor who gave them a fortune, and Emperor Barak was nothing but an obstacle.
He wouldnt be reckless enough to defy his decree, but it was clear that his prestige would fall.
The penalty would be a headache for most of them, and they would choose to introduce credits rather than pay money ornd.
That was ultimately Leobold and Armas goal.
To push paper money into Zaium Empire.
Once they did, credits would be more useful over time, and Arma would take over the entire empires economic system.
The problem was theck of goods at the moment.
The emperors order was very efficient anyway.
Blocking physical goods worked in most cases, and there was no need to mention the settlement where millions of refugees gathered.
If they couldnt get thousands of tons of food right away, they would starve to death.
But Bagran had already prepared for this as well.
Now we dont have to worry about anything. Lets get some food from the smart farm.
Yes, I understand.
The airship fleet that they had been hoarding like Altaran was mobilized.
They didnt even know what they were carrying and just went back and forth between the floating continent and Bagran, filling and emptying their holds.
They secretly used Settler ship as well, so the food transport volume was several times more than nned.
No one noticed the whole picture because only Arma had the authority to look at the numbers.
Only when the train brought more food than expected did the workers get a little surprised.
Why is there so much Do we have to work all night?
Where does this foode from? They say the canal to Zaium is blocked.
Hey, Hanson! Just do your job!
The people who had a lot of experience knew that it was a loss to think deeply about the strange things that happened in Bagran.
When the food was supplied to the settlement, the urgent fire was extinguished.
The food shortage that the emperor intended did not ur as the fleet continued to carry food.
Emperor Barak was furious when he heard this.
Why are they fine over there? Why!
He was angry because the empires interior was in a mess.
There were more than one or two top and nobles who had to pay the penalty, and they chose to introduce credits rather than money ornd as if they had agreed.
The paper scraps that he had blocked thoroughly were finally incorporated into the empires economy.
The emperor was outraged when he saw the pce maids carrying credits.
What do they trust and carry those paper scraps for!
Regardless of his anger, people were using credits very well.
Jerome, the capital, was very sensitive to fashion, so the introduction of credits was fast, and it elerated due to this incident.
By the spring of 1040, there were hardly any shops that did not ept credits.
Especially in the social circle where fashion was important, it spread widely.
The nobledies who dominated the social clubs boasted of their wallets imported from Bagran.
Who carries silver coins these days? Look at this sophisticated wallet design. Itspletely different from a dirty pocket.
The thin leather wallet satisfied the desire of the nobledies who wanted a high-quality item that was different from others.
Usually, nobledies did not carry pockets themselves because they were cumbersome, but wallets were an exception.
They were light enough, thin and sophisticated in design, so they carried them in their arms, and this became the cause of fashion.
Bagrans paper money became widely used.
It was a remarkable change of fortune when he thought that Bagran had introduced metal coins made by Zaium when Leobold first arrived in Astera.
Zaiums economy was gradually eroded by Bagran.
Emperor Barak noticed this but did not dare to touch it.
He couldnt block the goods forever, so he loosened it up a bit in March and trade between the two countries resumed.
As a result, Bagran was able to sessfully settle millions of refugees.
They learned that they could live as Bagrans citizens if they endured for two years.
He thought it was better to do something than to d*e wandering around.
He didnt mind living here.
Actually, the food was much better than in Gram Kingdom.
The settlementcked freedom, but it had plenty of resources.
He couldntin, since he would be granted freedom after two years of hardship.
Arma, who secured cheapbor, assigned them to railway construction and airship building.
The national development n gained momentum, and ether was supplied to every household.
The citizens of Bagran could enjoy a warm winter.
This winter is unusually cold, but were lucky.
From next year, we have to pay for it. How are we going to do that?
The rate n doesnt seem too expensive. Honestly, I cant stand the cold after living in a warm house.
I heard that even the nobles in Zaium above suffer from the cold. Poor them.
It was true.
No matter how powerful or rich they were, the nobles couldnt heat their entire mansions or castles.
So they shivered every winter, and that was normal for them.
It was a hassle to take a bath, as they had to chop wood and make a fire.
This caused the nobles to have a foul smell in winter.
There was some heating using ether stones, but it was so inefficient that it was only used in clinics.
When the nobles of Zaium heard that even themoners in Bagran had a warm winter, they coveted it.
They went down to Galisto and experienced the model houses themselves.
They were amazed that they could use hot water even in winter.
You mean I can heat my whole mansion for only 3 gold a month? Is that true?
Its not 3 gold, but 30,000 credits. Anyway, its possible. But you need to connect pipes, so the construction will be quite difficult.
Difficult construction meant a lot of money.
But it wasnt too expensive considering that they could have a warm winter in the long run.
Hmm How much will it cost?
Well, its not a short distance. And you have to wait at least a year. Galistos reservations are backed up.
I want it done right now. How much will it take?
Uh Ill have to consult with my manager.
There were many nobles in Zaium who tried to establish rtions with Bagran like this.
The nobledies were fascinated by the food culture of Bagran, and they even made it popr in the pce.
Barak Emperor didnt like this culture, but he was surprised when he heard that he could take a hot bath anytime.
Is that true? You just turn the faucet and hot wateres out?
Yes, Your Majesty. The citizens of Roselon have been enjoying this benefit since early winter. Taking a bath with hot water is their daily routine.
Huh
Shouldnt they have given him a hint before themoners enjoyed such benefits?
Barak Emperor realized that his rtionship with Leobold was not as good as before.
And he felt something ominous.
Was this Leobolds purpose from the beginning?
He wondered if his true goal was to infiltrate the empire through various channels and gradually expand his influence until he absorbed it.
If this was true, he couldnt stop him with any ordinary means.
War was impossible, as he had seen in the case of Pangral Archduke, and blocking the supplies would hurt Zaiums interests.
There werent many options left.
Do I have no choice but to borrow Altemas power?
He recalled the letter she had sent him through her envoy a while ago.
It said that he would ept him as his vassal.
He had sneered at it then, but now he thought it wasnt so bad.
Didnt Bagran have Zigarion as their guardian dragon?
Who would dare to say anything if Zaium joined hands with the strongest gold dragon?
It would be better if I could announce it as an equal cooperation rtionship externally.
He sent her a letter with such contents.
Soon after, he received her reply.
Come and kneel before me.
It was a humiliating message, but Barak Emperor was willing to endure it as long as it wasnt exposed externally.
He felt inferior to Leobold, not to a dragon.
A secret airship left Jerome Imperial Road for Gram Kingdom.
At the same time, another airship flew from Elvrande to Gram Kingdom.
All of this was quietly observed by Siviri Satellite.
Chapter 132: The War You Wanted
Chapter 132: The War You Wanted
Dictators dream of eternal power.
But that has never been achieved, and there are hardly any dictators who maintained their power until they died.
In that sense, President Putin of Russia was almost close to sess.
He still held power even after he turned 80.
But the moment he heard his voice, he sensed that something was wrong with his health.
He tried not to show it, but he confessed when Yu Ji-ha subtly sighed.
Was there something inmon between dictators?
¡°Actually, I had a heart surgery. I thought I had been training my stamina steadily, but it seems that this heart can¡¯t take it anymore.¡±
As one gets older, the heart naturally weakens, and even the iron-blooded dictator couldn¡¯t escape that.
¡°But you are still in good shape, aren¡¯t you?¡±
¡°Recently, even climbing up and down the stairs is hard. Every night I go to sleep, I wonder if I can wake up tomorrow morning.¡±
It seemed that he wouldn¡¯tst long.
In a way, it was a relief.
He would d*e without seeing Yu Ji-ha¡¯s betrayal.
He had two sessors, but they were inferior versions of Putin in terms of charisma and ability.
Of course, Putin wasn¡¯t perfect in running the state either, but he was much better than the two in terms of seizing opportunities.
He proposed in a mosquito-like voice.
¡°I heard that you are facing the threat of war. It seems like thest war in East Asia, and I can help you.¡±
¡°The US has dered that they will not tolerate any intervention from other countries. Are you sure about this?¡±
¡°They always have been like that. As if they are the guardians of peace¡ They must havepletely forgotten how they intervened in Central and South America and brought them to ruin.¡±
¡°History belongs to the winners.¡±
¡°As always, if we act strongly, the US will offer apromise. As long as their maind or Western Europe are not threatened.¡±
What really mattered to the US were those two, and they didn¡¯t care much about the rest.
Of course, it would be nice to protect their allies, but giving them up boldly was also one of the strategies.
Especially if the opponent was Russia, who had almost equal nuclear power.
¡°Russia¡¯s help would be reassuring, but I¡¯d like to make an exception this time.¡±
¡°Why is that?¡±
¡°Because it would be troublesome if China and Japan tasted it and ran away.¡±
It sounded like he wanted a war, and it wasn¡¯t a misunderstanding.
¡°Do you have everything nned out for this one too?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know everything about this country. I just hoped that they would act like this.¡±
¡°So we shouldn¡¯t intervene to get more out of them¡ This makes me d that we gave you thend. Otherwise, you would have taken it by force, wouldn¡¯t you?¡±
¡°Against Russia?¡±
A faintugh came out, but President Putin could read his inner thoughts.
Confidence that it didn¡¯t matter who the opponent was.
He had Antitron and Hafnium2, which was practically equivalent to being nuclear-armed, and he was confident that he wouldn¡¯t lose to anyone in conventional power.
¡®Well, we or the US don¡¯t know what¡¯s in Terra Ind either¡¡¯
The public predicted that it would take some time to mass-produce the weapon system called Combat Walker, but President Putin¡¯s judgment was different.
As soon as the war started, they would be produced in rows from the smart factory.
And that meant a full-scale war with China and Japan.
The two countries seemed to n to wage a war centered on naval battles, but the probability of that happening was very low.
Yu Ji-ha wanted a real war.
¡®I¡¯m worried about my afterlife now¡¡¯
He was clearly fond of Russia, but he couldn¡¯t guarantee that his sessors would do the same.
Dmitry and Borchenko.
They were old enough, but they were nothingpared to Yu Ji-ha.
And they were so hot-blooded that they kept saying that they had to reconsider their rtionship with Yu Ji-ha.
They didn¡¯t want to cut off tiespletely, but they seemed to want to lead a renegotiation.
But he doubted if that would work.
¡®I hope the war ends before I d*e¡¡¯
He wanted to invite him to Russia and have a serious talk with him, but there was no way that the war involving three East Asian countries would end so easily.
He couldn¡¯t visit Korea now that his health was bad, so he felt like he might leave this world without properly handing over his sessorship.
He had no regrets about his life so far, but there was one thing that remained as a deep regret: he couldn¡¯t see the Soviet Union rise again.
¡°When the war is over¡ No, when you secure your victory, can you stop by Kremlin before it¡¯s toote? There¡¯s something I really want to talk to you about.¡±
His earnest feelings were embedded in his voice, and Yu Ji-ha understood them.
¡®You don¡¯t have to worry too much. I will fulfill your dream of a unified Russia.¡¯
It would be a unification that included not only the former Soviet satellite states, but also East Asia, but it could be said that Putin¡¯s dream was realized.
In that sense, Yu Ji-ha was a good friend of Russia.
He didn¡¯t know if the Russians who knew his true face would agree.
***
As the clouds of war thickened in East Asia, Korea issued a mobilization order.
They abolished conscription and issued a mobilization order, and many people mocked them for it.
But China and Japan, who had to face Korea, couldn¡¯tugh.
The n was to start and end this war with naval battles.
It was understandable considering that the strategic objectives were Tsushima and the Yellow Sea.
In fact, Korea was the only country that waged a true total war in East Asia.
Both China and Japan fought on foreignnds and seas, and there was no real battle on the continent.
Thanks to the bluff that they would have to face a nuclear war if the US attempted anding, they avoided the worst scenario.
But when Korea reacted sensitively, both countries were shocked.
-Why are they suddenly issuing a mobilization order? Do they want to fight a two-front war?
-We need to calm down the situation first. The surroundings think that we are desperate.
-We nned to end it with naval battles, but anding operation? The army is not ready at all.
-We need to send a special envoy and exin that we didn¡¯t intend to do that.
-Exin that we only wanted to restrain them with the navy and make them kneel? We¡¯re lucky if they don¡¯t ignore us.
While both countries were struggling to respond, Korea¡¯s mobilization order was proceeding rapidly.
First, martialw was dered and reservists and civil defense gathered.
The military and police upied the streets, and military trucks drove around in groups.
The Koreans seemed quite familiar with this atmosphere and followed the control well.
In a few days, the war preparations were over, and China and Japanpletely missed the timing.
It was toote to exin that they didn¡¯t intend to do that. They wouldn¡¯t listen anyway.
The situation was heading towards a total war regardless of their thoughts, and no one could stop it now.
When things came to this point, there was a im in Japan that they should request mediation from the US.
¡ªWe can¡¯t afford a total war right now. We don¡¯t know about Korea, but we are not ready at all.
¡ªHow can we reim Tsushima by showing such a weak appearance? Now that it hase to this, we have to force a war anyway.
¡ªAre you all insane? How are we going to stop their ballistic missiles with Anteron warheads? If we miss even one, all industries will stop.
¡ªThe prime minister should personally request the US. We don¡¯t want a total war.
¡ªIf the US intervenes, Tsushima will be Korea¡¯s territory forever.
That¡¯s why Prime Minister Matsuda couldn¡¯t easily request mediation from the US.
He would decide to freeze the territory in order to prevent the worst situation. Who could deny that?
But he couldn¡¯t handle the consequences of not requesting either.
¡®A total war? Don¡¯t joke with me. We are not ready at all!¡¯
There was no manual for a total war in any situation.
Everything was new, and Matsuda knew very well that nothing would work properly.
On the other hand, even China, who had fought the Yang¡¯an War, was greatly rmed when the 7th Division abandoned their garrison and gathered at their assembly point.
They were tough enough before, but now the 7th Division had be aplete monster.
They had deployed new K3A2 tanks with drone systems and railguns, and Iron Beam took care of air defense.
He doubted if there was any unit that could face them equally.
Of course, a war wasn¡¯t decided by one division that wasn¡¯t even at the level of a group army.
But at the tactical level, China¡¯s military experts warned that confronting the 7th Division head-on was s*****e.
¡ªThey may not have many rounds of ammunition due to avability, but each one is fatal. You have to assume that you d*e once you get hit.
¡ªThe drone system helps them make quick decisions without any reconnaissance. The opposing unit will probably copse from the outskirts without even seeing them.
¡ªTheir cruising range is enormous. They can march straight to Beijing without supply.
¡ªAir strikes are not easy because of Iron Beam. The only answer is not to face them.
But how could he ignore the 7th Division that would obviously march to Beijing?
Wang Xian Shang Shangjang picked up the phone that connected to Kremlin after much deliberation.
He couldn¡¯t muster up the courage to face that division alone, no matter what unit it was.
But President Putin¡¯s voice was cold.
¡°You were the ones who wanted this war.¡±
¡°We didn¡¯t want a total war like this.¡±
¡°That¡¯s an even funnier thing to say. Is there such a thing as a moderate war? Did you think Korea would surrender if you just snatched one sea area and beat them up?¡±
¡°¡¡±
He had nothing to say.
The intelligence agencies had judged that Korea¡¯s army was weak and couldn¡¯t withstand a total war.
So they nned to decide the victory with naval battles and blockade Korea¡¯s sea with Japan¡¯s cooperation and force them to surrender.
There was arge-scale maneuver training scheduled on the border, but that was to support Japan¡¯s recapture of Tsushima.
They never considered a head-on collision with a division like the 7th Division.
But President Putin said something unexpected.
¡°President Yu Ji-ha knew that you woulde out like this. He seems to be well prepared, so it won¡¯t be easy to get out.¡±
Did he know about the war?
Wang Xian Shang clenched the phone and barely said.
¡°If you help us from Russia this time, we will greatly reward you.¡±
¡°Russia will not move.¡±
The call ended and Wang Xian Shang¡¯s fist mmed the desk.
¡°Damn it!¡±
It looked like he really had to fight a total war with Korea.
Of course, he wasn¡¯t confident that he would win.
The Rocket Army still had hundreds of nuclear warheads, and this would be a serious threat to Korea.
But the weapons Korea had were enough to hurt them too.
It would have been a disaster if a warhead loaded with antitron and hafnium-2 had flown into the nuclear power nts that filled the coastal area.
The result would have been annihtion, and that was not what Wang Shian wanted.
The best scenario was for Korea to admit defeat and provide various technologies.
But the situation was getting worse.
The United States had dered that it would not intervene in the current situation, but it did notpletely withdraw.
Nuclear submarines prowled the seabed of East Asia, and strategic reconnaissance nes flew diligently.
Using satellites, the intelligence agency noticed that China and Japan were not ready for war at all.
¡ªUnlike Korea, they did not issue a mobilization order. There was no troop movement. They did not anticipate a full-scale war.
¡ªHowever, the navy was moving diligently, probably thinking of ending the war with a limited war.
President Baldwin could not help butugh at this point.
¡®Do they think they can achieve their strategic goals with a limited war? This is a big mistake.¡¯
However, Korea¡¯s movement was also iprehensible.
It was good to prepare for a total war, but without a word of dialogue¡
By now, there should be all kinds of diplomatic battles at the UN, and he nned to intervene appropriately.
But Korea recalled its diplomats from the UN and ordered the Chinese embassy in Korea to evacuate.
As a result, the Chinese embassy was in chaos, destroying documents.
¡®Do they really want a war?¡¯
Against China and Japan?
It was difficult to decide to wage a full-scale war against a nuclear power.
China was not North Korea, and its ballistic missile performance was considerable.
Korea¡¯s interception level was not enough to intercept all hundreds of missiles, as seen in the Second Korean War and the Indian Ocean Battle.
Due to its small territory, it would suffer a hard blow even if one or two missiles fell.
Japan did not have nuclear weapons, but it had hundreds of hypersonic anti-ship missiles that exposed Earth Fleet¡¯s weaknesses.
There was a possibility that they had improved their weaknesses since a few months ago, but they were not perfect.
¡®Wait, I¡¯ve seen this picture a lot somewhere¡¡¯
President Baldwin looked over Yu Jiha¡¯s file again.
And he was sure.
This was the picture Yu Jiha wanted.
It could be seen from his remarks that he wanted Manchuria and his actions to upy Tsushima.
Above all, he was suspicious of abolishing conscription and exposing his weaknesses.
Was there a need to abolish it at this time?
¡®¡Maybe he¡¯s trying to stage a y.¡¯
The US government was convinced that Yu Jiha had been leading the situation with his own y.
But the reason they couldn¡¯t touch him right away was because they didn¡¯t have clear evidence.
Wasn¡¯t there a precedent where semiconductorpanies were smashed by imposing sanctions hastily?
The only thing left was war, but that was also cautious for the United States.
If they hit Korea, there was no guarantee that Russia would stay still, and there was a high possibility of esction.
¡®The Third World War must not happen.¡¯
President Baldwin called his aides and asked for measures and confirmed the US stance.
Thanks to that, Prime Minister Matsuda of Japan finally plucked up his courage and called him on the hotline, but he had to hear that he couldn¡¯t help him.
¡°I¡¯m sorry. We can¡¯t provoke Korea right now.¡±
¡°Please help us regain Tsushima. We¡¯ll do anything.¡±
¡°Saying you¡¯ll do anything as a politician can be very dangerous depending on the situation.¡±
¡°Tsushima is clearly Japan¡¯s territory. Korea¡¯s forcible rule over it is invalid under internationalw.¡±
¡°Then negotiate well diplomatically and get it back.¡±
¡°How can we negotiate when we¡¯ve broken off diplomatic rtions?¡±
¡°If you can¡¯t do that, you can fly there yourself. They won¡¯t treat you so badly as the leader of a country.¡±
¡°¡That¡¯s impossible.¡±
¡°Then you have no choice but to get it back by war. That¡¯s what you wanted.¡±
¡°We didn¡¯t want a total war.¡±
¡°That¡¯s too bad. President Yu Jiha must have misunderstood. The call was long, so let¡¯s contact youter.¡±
With this, the United States made it clear that it had no intention of intervening.
Even though a war in East Asia would cause tremendous damage to the world economy.
That might be because they confirmed that the economy eventually recovered after several wars in the past.
The world economy was now heading for the fourth industrial revolution, and some countries were seriously discussing the basic ie system.
Yu Jiha led that, and it was now an unstoppable trend.
The United States wanted to maintain a good rtionship with Yu Jiha and suck up some sweet honey.
As long as Korea didn¡¯t look over the Pacific and Europe, it would probably be like that.
Prime Minister Matsuda frowned hard as he heard this from his secretaries.
¡°¡Did the United States choose Korea over us?¡±
¡°It seems so¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s impossible. The US forces in Japan are not for decoration.¡±
¡°Excuse me, but didn¡¯t arge number of US forces in Japan relocate to Guam? The scale is only 30%pared tost year.¡±
¡°Japan and the United States are allies!¡±
¡°What benefits do you get from that alliance? For the United States, it would be more convenient for Korea to take over the role that Japan used to y. They will probably try to mediate in the post-war negotiations.¡±
¡Maybe Japan will end up under Korea¡¯s control¡
Prime Minister Matsuda dismissed his anxious thoughts and sent out his secretaries.
He contacted Wang Shian immediately, but he also had no clever n.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, but Russia says they can¡¯t help either.¡±
This confirmed that there was no way to stop the war.
The navy was already in a nerve war with the army.
They insisted that the Tsushima recapture operation should be under the navy¡¯smand.
On the other hand, the army said that they couldn¡¯t do anything without them, so there was no progress.
Unlike Japan, where cooperation was not working, Korea had finished preparing for war under Yu Jiha¡¯s orders.
The protests were postponed, and all they had to do was let go.
Matsuda didn¡¯t want to take on thest role himself.
¡°It would be better to dere a halt now¡¡±
¡°Now you want to stop? How will the world see us?¡±
¡°Is the opinion of other countries important? We are heading for a total war at this rate!¡±
¡°And Korea won¡¯t stop either. They will try to secure Manchuria at least.¡±
Matsuda¡¯s eyes widened.
He had nothing to lose if he dered surrender here.
Of course, Japan¡¯s prestige would fall and it would be harder to get Tsushima back, but that was something he could tryter.
Wouldn¡¯t it be better to sneak out after making Korea and China fight?
When both countries¡¯ power was drained, Japan¡¯s voice would be stronger.
Matsuda decided this and lowered his voice.
¡°Let¡¯s start the war. Let¡¯s attack them all at once and make Korea lose their mind. That¡¯s the only way.¡±
He nned to send a special envoy to Korea and get out when a naval battle broke out in the West Sea.
But things didn¡¯t go as Prime Minister Matsuda wanted.
Rudely, the door of the prime minister¡¯s office opened wide.
¡°What is it? Can¡¯t you hear I¡¯m on the hotline¡¡±
¡°Prime Minister! Korea has dered war!¡±
¡°What?¡±
Prime Minister Matsuda dropped the phone in surprise.
When the secretary hurriedly turned on the monitor, Yu Jiha¡¯s face appeared there.
He calmly dered war on both countries.
¡°It is clear that they have no intention of stopping the war and wishing for peace with this attitude. China is a nuclear power, and Japan has a tremendous naval force. They are truly formidable opponents.¡±
¡°Nevertheless, we cannot back down. We cannot give thisnd to the enemy and let them abuse us. Therefore, we announce that the Republic of Korea has entered into a war with China and Japan.¡±
At that moment, the limiters of Kim Gu-ship and Yeo Un-hyung-ship deployed in the West Sea werepletely released and automaticbat began.
And in front of the joint fleet training near Tsushima, Earth Fleet¡¯s fleet surfaced.
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