The Tank Damper Solution
Right after Navy Chief of Staff Han, Director Park, and Chairman Song—who had done his best to hide the complicated thoughts in his head—had all left, the crushing pressure in the control room eased, and a sigh of relief rippled through the staff.
But only for a moment.
The true and far nastier problem of the supercavitating torpedo—the steering, or trajectory correction, test—still lay ahead, and the people on the ground were tense enough to step on glass without noticing.
“……”
I left that taut atmosphere behind and stripped off my cumbersome outer coat first thing.
Sending off the guests was their job. Mine was simply to focus on what I’d been brought here to do.
I took my seat at the main console, brought up the torpedo tail-fin schematic on the monitor, and started analyzing it with complete concentration.
That was when—
“S, Senior Executive Director!”
From one corner of the control room, Chief Engineer Yoon came sprinting toward me, looking as pale as a corpse.
There was a stunned, disbelieving look on his face.
“I just heard something absolutely insane… you’re actually planning to put hydraulic dampers on the steering axis? Tank shock absorbers?”
“Yes. If it can’t endure the impact with brute strength, then it has to let it pass through.”
At my flat answer, Yoon’s voice rose so high it practically shook the whole control room.
“That’s impossible! The moment the fin gets pushed back even one millimeter to absorb the shock, the steering angle will go off! Then the cavitation bubble balance collapses instantly and the torpedo destroys itself wholesale! That’s a hard rule of fluid dynamics!”
Honestly, that wasn’t wrong.
The countries that had developed supercavitating torpedoes—Russia, Germany, and the rest—couldn’t possibly have ignored dampers because they simply didn’t know they existed.
There had been a reason they’d smeared titanium all over the fins and tried so hard to lock them in place.
Even so—
“Who said to let it keep sliding back until the bubble collapses? You just have to return it to the original angle before that happens.”
“Pardon…?”
“The fin hits the water wall for exactly 0.01 seconds. During that split second, you release the hydraulics to swallow the shock, then at the 0.015-second mark—before the bubble collapses—you kick it right back up with insane rebound force. Same principle as the active suspension tanks use when they’re stepping over rocky terrain.”
At my explanation, not only Yoon Chief Engineer but even Director Kang, who had come over to stand beside him, froze with blank faces.
Their expressions were full of pure disbelief.
“Theoretically, that’s correct, Senior Executive Director. But how on earth are we supposed to calculate the timing of the impact and the random water pressure that come in during those 0.01 seconds? We’ve run our supercomputer tens of thousands of times and still couldn’t find the sweet spot!”
Sweet spot.
The optimal state that produced the best efficiency.
In this case, it meant the brief interval during which the fin could slide backward to disperse the shock.
It was something a computer wouldn’t find, of course.
If computers could find it, then America, Russia, and Germany would already have built supercavitating torpedoes that could freely change direction by now.
“The computer won’t find it. But I can pretty much estimate the timing with my eyes, so don’t worry about it.”
“Huh…?”
While Yoon was still making that dazed sound—
Vrrr, bzzz.
My phone vibrated in my pocket.
I checked the caller ID and hit the answer button, and the booming laugh that came through the speaker nearly punched my eardrum out.
“Hahahaha! Executive Director Baek!”
It was Chairman Cho.
“I just got a call from that Director Park fellow. He was practically white as a sheet, saying you were going to rework Solaris Marine’s torpedo with tank suspension technology?”
Apparently, the moment Director Park left the site, he’d called Chairman Cho and briefed him.
Was that why?
The chairman sounded absolutely delighted at the idea of turning the tables on his rival company, Solaris Marine, right in its own backyard using Hanseo’s core technology.
“Yes, Chairman. That’s what I told him.”
“Good. And the estimate? Came out all right?”
“Haha, yes. I think we can proceed without any trouble.”
“Then that’s that. I’ll trust you and let you ram it in however you want!”
By ordinary standards, it was the kind of story that would be hard to accept.
No matter how much I’d been delivering results lately, the chairman was simply agreeing so readily to me using tank parts to solve the limitations of a supercavitating torpedo? That was no missile—
The reactions from Director Kang and Yoon Chief Engineer, both wearing utterly absurd expressions up front, were the normal ones.
But Chairman Cho, who had risen from a mere engineer to build the defense empire called Hanseo Defense, was on a different level.
“Chairman. You’re really not bothered at all by me taking dampers meant for tanks and sticking them onto somebody else’s precious torpedo? The doctor-types on that side all looked at me like I was a lunatic.”
At my joking question, Chairman Cho’s hearty laughter boomed from the other end of the phone and filled the control room.
“Looked at you like a lunatic? Hahaha! Of course they did! What would desk-bound paper-pushers know about the terror of field-grade steel?”
“……”
“Don’t worry about anything else. Even if you told me you were making soybean paste out of red beans, I know better than anyone that you’re the one who’d still somehow pull it off. Go and show those Solaris bastards just how vicious Hanseo technology can be in their own front yard! Need anything?”
His voice was full of the satisfaction of an old engineer and seasoned merchant who knew exactly how sweet it would be to knock a rival company’s nose into the dirt.
I smiled at that cheerful trust and answered,
“Actually, there is one thing I’d like to ask for.”
“What is it? Say the word. I’ll launch my private helicopter if I have to—parts, tools, whatever you need!”
I tapped lightly on the narrow torpedo drive-shaft drawing.
The hydraulic release timing was something I could take care of with my own eyes.
But to machine and weld a brutal high-pressure damper into this cramped little space with no margin for error, I needed the hands of real aces—people who had actually eaten steel dust for a living.
“Chairman. Please send Department Head Maeng Giyong and Chief Researcher Jo Seokhun down to Geoje with the core components and tools for the K2 active suspension.”
“Hah! Good, very good! I’ll have a helicopter waiting on the rooftop in Pangyo right away!”
The call ended with a click.
The moment I put my phone down, Yoon, who had been sitting there in a daze, jumped in alarm and blocked me.
“S, Senior Executive Director! This is Solaris Marine’s highest-level restricted zone! You want outside personnel coming in to work on our torpedo? That’s an outright security violation and technology leak!”
There were lines that had to be maintained, no matter how urgent the project was.
Yoon had just started to flare up in protest when—
“I’ll take responsibility for the security. I’m the ADD overall officer for this project.”
Director Kang Dong-wook of the Agency for Defense Development, who had remained on-site instead of returning with the VIPs, stepped forward with heavy authority.
Whether it was the pure technical curiosity stirred up by my idea of “0.01-second damper control,” or something else, his eyes were gleaming strangely.
“I’ll report directly to the director and get written temporary security clearance.”
Director Kang fixed Yoon with a hard stare and snapped,
“And you, Chief Engineer Yoon. Is this really the time to worry about some flimsy competitor tech leak? Executive Director Baek solved in one day what your team had been banging its head against for three years. Right now, shouldn’t you be throwing away your pride and worrying about how to borrow whatever tech you can to get this project finished?”
Yoon’s face reddened at that painful rebuke, and he fell silent like a man with his mouth stuffed full of honey.
I watched the whole thing with interest and smiled quietly.
The board was being set perfectly.
* * *
At the same time. Hanseo Defense Research Institute in Pangyo.
“Damn it, seriously! Even after getting promoted to senior executive director, Baek Gunwoo still works people to death.”
Department Head Maeng Giyong of the Powerpack TF slammed his toolbox shut with a rough bang and grumbled in irritation.
“I mean, why would you put tank shock absorbers on a torpedo’s tail? Is he out of his mind? Dragging us all the way to another company’s backyard just to tell us what to do—what the hell is he thinking?”
Even as he freely hurled profanity while still calling Baek Gunwoo “our executive director” with casual familiarity, Maeng’s hands were already packing the K2 Black Panther’s key damper components with faster precision than anyone else in sight.
Beside him, Chief Researcher Jo Seokhun was checking the drawings while packing up as well, and he gave a small laugh.
“Still, Department Head, he is our executive director now in name as well. Please be careful with your words. What if he lets it slip exactly as you said it?”
“Then I’ll say, ‘Oh dear, I’ve committed a capital offense. Please forgive me just once.’ What else am I supposed to say?”
Maeng snorted with laughter.
Jo Seokhun watched him and shook his head repeatedly.
“But Department Head, I really don’t understand this at all.”
“What don’t you understand?”
“Putting tank dampers on a torpedo? In terms of the control logic, the moment the angle shifts by even one millimeter to absorb the shock, the cavitation bubble will burst because of the water pressure. I have no idea what Executive Director Baek intends to do with that damper.”
It was exactly the same dilemma Yoon Chief Engineer at Solaris had pointed out.
Seeing that, Maeng Giyong let out a snort.
“Hey, Jo Seokhun. If your brain could calculate it, why the hell would that man have called us? Just pack the toughest, most responsive parts you can find. Once we get there, we’ll see what that crazy bastard is trying to pull off.”
There was a faint anticipation in Maeng’s words, contrasting sharply with his grumbling tone.
And a little later,
a helicopter carrying the two aces lifted off toward Geoje.
* * *
Right after I received word that the two of them had departed from Pangyo, I spoke to Yoon Chief Engineer, who was standing guard in front of the main console.
“Let’s run a steering test before our people arrive.”
“What? What do you mean all of a sudden? We haven’t even attached the damper yet, and you want a steering test?”
Of course Yoon panicked and practically leapt in place.
“If you try to change course now, the fins will never withstand the water pressure and they’ll snap for sure. If it slams into the tank wall, that’s one prototype gone. Do you know how much that costs? Hundreds of millions—hundreds of millions!”
He wasn’t wrong.
But what I needed was clear supporting data, a procedure that could convince Maeng and Jo.
I couldn’t just say that I could see it with my eyes and expect them to accept it like some kind of psychic trick.
Yoon, who knew nothing of that, stared at me with the expression of a man ready to go mad on the spot.
“If you need data, we already have mountains of failed simulation and test data stacked up! Why would we waste money on a test that’s obviously going to fail one hundred percent of the time…?”
“Let’s use the spare No. 2 unit scheduled to be fired this afternoon.”
At my firm words, Yoon’s mouth fell open.
“All that mountain of data you keep talking about? It’s all fluid dynamics data measuring the flow of water from outside. What I want to know isn’t the water hitting from the outside. I want to know about the chunk of steel breaking apart from the inside.”
“……!”
“Turn off all the external sensors, attach only stress sensors around the root of the tail-fin drive shaft, and fire it. We need the exact threshold where titanium screams under water pressure so our people can come in and set the hydraulics properly.”
At my relentless pressure, Yoon was just about to bite back when—
“Let’s use spare No. 2 exactly as Executive Director Baek said.”
Director Kang of the ADD, who had remained silent the whole time, drove the final nail in with heavy calm.
“I’ll take responsibility for everything that needs to be explained in calculation terms under ADD’s name. Chief Engineer Yoon, please turn off the external sensors and prepare the launch with the strain gauges, exactly as Executive Director Baek said.”
“Director Kang! This is really absurd… haah, fine.”
Once Director Kang had said he would take responsibility, Yoon no longer had a leg to stand on.
He ran a hand through his hair in irritation and barked at the main console operators.
“You heard him! Open launch tube number two! Turn off all fluid flow sensors and link the stress-measurement sensors to the root of the drive shaft!”
The elite researchers in the control room began hammering their keyboards with rigid expressions.
Moments later, beyond the thick blastproof glass, a heavy mechanical sound rolled through the giant tank as the torpedo launch tube opened.
A grotesque, oppressive tension weighed down the control room—the kind that came from forcing expensive equipment to march into certain failure, even while knowing it would fail.
“Stress sensor link confirmed. Tank clear.”
“Countdown. 3, 2, 1. Fire!”
Swoooosh—!
Spitting out an enormous plume of bubbles, the No. 2 supercavitating torpedo shot from the tank like it was trying to rip the water apart.
The result was obvious.
The moment the launched torpedo extended its tail fins to change course toward the virtual target—
Crack—!
With a terrible snapping sound, the titanium wing bent like cooked noodles.
At the same time, the cavitation bubble lost balance and burst, and the torpedo slammed into the tank wall.
“Ahhh….”
Yoon clutched his head again, as if another few hundred million won had just vanished into thin air.
But I was able to smile to myself while looking at the stress graph on the monitor.
The instant when the red energy had erupted in the failed video from before matched the 0.012-second peak on the graph exactly.
The split-second sweet spot I had seen with my own eyes.
With this data, I now had the physical excuse needed to fully convince those stubborn elites, including Jo Seokhun.
* * *
And after a little more time had passed, the thick blastproof door to the observation room was shoved open roughly.
“Sir! Department Head Maeng Giyong of the Powerpack Team, reporting as ordered!”
Maeng Department Head strode into the control room with a broad grin, carrying a heavy toolbox and torpedo parts in both hands.
He couldn’t bring himself to swear in front of me, so he was forcing a smile, but his eyes were still clearly grumbling about what kind of insane thing I planned to do in some other company’s backyard.
Chief Researcher Jo Seokhun came in behind him and gave me a polite bow as well.
Without any long explanation, I brought up the fresh stress graph I had just extracted and showed it to Jo.
“Chief Researcher Jo. Don’t look at the water—look at the metal. 0.012 seconds. That’s the exact critical point where titanium can’t take it anymore and screams.”
“T-this is…!”
“At that timing, you only release the hydraulics to absorb the shock, then at 0.015 seconds, use the accumulator’s rebound force to snap it back up. Set it in increments of 0.001 seconds.”
At my order, Jo’s pupils shook as if an earthquake had hit them.
What he was seeing in his mind, I was sure, was this:
The random water-flow calculations that had defeated so many fluid-dynamics doctors.
And then me, back-solving the destruction mechanics at the point where the machine broke apart, and deriving the sweet spot from that impossible feat.
Was that why?
Jo stared, mouth hanging open, as if someone had struck him over the head with a hammer.
“Wow… Executive Director. That’s insane. How did you think to extract the data in reverse from here…? Understood. I’ll start setting it up right away!”
From that point on, everything moved at full speed.
While Jo connected his laptop and shaved down the hydraulic release timing of the K2 tank damper, Maeng started tuning the torpedo drive shaft’s valve spool and accumulator in a mad blur, down to the 0.001-second range.
“All right, setup’s done! But who’s machining and welding this cramped titanium drive shaft? I’m a hydraulics guy. I can’t do this kind of precision work.”
At Maeng’s words, Yoon jumped.
“What? Then you’re saying some outside company employee is going to cut our torpedo drive shaft however he wants?!”
That was when—
After watching the whole situation without saying a word, Chief Factory Manager Go threw off his coat and stepped forward.
“Move aside. Machining and welding this cramped titanium is Solaris factory’s specialty.”
Fwoosh—!
Blue sparks flew in the middle of Solaris Marine’s highest-level restricted zone.
A competitor’s employee had brought in the tank parts for the setup, and Solaris Marine’s veteran field manager Go began transplanting them with immaculate skill.
The elite researchers at Solaris Marine, who had been staring at the collaboration of these steel-eating monsters without even daring to breathe, looked completely dazed.
Then Director Kang called out in a hurry.
“We don’t have time to clean up the wreckage that sank to the bottom of the tank, so we’ll collect it later! The target net is empty anyway. Open the spare launch tube for the damper-modified No. 3 unit right now!”
* * *
And then the second steering test began.
The supercavitating torpedo, now with a tank’s heart transplanted into it, tore through the water with ferocious force.
Three hundred kilometers per hour.
The moment the tail fin shot beyond the cavitation bubble on its way toward the target—
The concrete-hard water wall slammed into the titanium fin without mercy.
Bang—!
It was the kind of timing that should have shattered everything.
But the hydraulic damper, the one Chief Factory Manager Go had machined and Maeng and Jo had tuned to perfect timing, slid back a few millimeters with a soft hiss.
It swallowed that destructive water pressure whole.
Then, 0.015 seconds after releasing the shock, the damper spit out a beastlike rebound force and shot the fin straight back into place.
Shoooow—!
The torpedo neither snapped nor burst its cavitation bubble. It simply twisted the water cleanly and drove itself straight into the center of the virtual target net.
“……”
Not even cheers burst out.
Only a heavy, bone-chilling silence settled over the control room.
The moment when a dilemma that had devoured hundreds of billions of won over three years was smashed to pieces by a crude tank part and a reverse-engineered data set.
“I-it actually….”
Yoon stared at the log stamped onto the monitor, then slumped to the floor as if his legs had given out beneath him.