Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Minor Tips
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Na Gang-in raised Iron Man Engineering's Hawkeye sight to eye level. Next to it floated a translucent Speedstar sight rendered by his AR Lens. Naturally, only he could see the Speedstar.
He compared the two side by side and spoke up.
"The aiming reticle is a thin crosshair, right? How about making it a cross shaped like a dart? We could display extra info by changing the color and shape of the reticle."
The sight development team leader tilted his head.
"Pardon?"
Na Gang-in drew a cross on the shooting log sheet with a record-keeping pen. What he drew had a thick center that tapered outward. It didn't look like a crosshair so much as a cross-shaped dart.
He drew a small star next to it.
"Marking the prediction point like this with a star shape on the side would be good."
"Prediction point? What are we predicting?"
"Adding a prediction point like this boosts your hit rate against fast-moving enemies."
"Fast-moving? Oh, you mean for shooting drones?"
"Uh... yeah, sure."
"But do we really need to add that kind of feature to a rifle sight?"
Na Gang-in shrugged. He'd tossed out the upgrade tip to screw over the guy who'd trashed the Gangwon Province set, but if they didn't get it, oh well.
"I'm just making suggestions. It feels like this'll be essential on future battlefields."
The team leader looked flustered.
"Future battlefields?"
Na Gang-in quickly backpedaled.
"Tomorrow's the future from today's perspective, right?"
"Fair enough. Time keeps marching on. We'll take your points into consideration."
The guy was being cooperative. Na Gang-in figured he might as well explain a bit more about the differences from the 2040 Speedstar sight.
"How about making the outer shape a bit more angular? And for this hologram module, the current design isn't bad, but what if it projected from two angles—left and right on the bottom?"
"Pardon? From two diagonal directions?"
"Yeah, like this..."
Na Gang-in had no clue about the technical details.
"Wonder if a drawing would help them build it?"
"I don't know the exact build steps, do I?"
"Fine, let's just draw the exact shape outright."
Na Gang-in sketched the 2040 Speedstar sight on the back of the shooting log sheet. Jeon Ji-in assisted with his hand movements, allowing for a precise depiction.
While he was at it, he drew the hologram module's shape, mounting position, and projection direction. He couldn't detail the internals, but the assembly angles were spot-on.
"If you project from both sides like this with dual emitters, and angle the reflector like so, it'll look even better."
What exactly improved, Na Gang-in had no idea.
'It's a model from 18 years in the future, so something's gotta be better about it.'
The sight development team leader kept tilting his head.
If it had been anyone else offering these ideas, he'd have laughed it off as a joke. But he couldn't do that with Na Gang-in—the guy known for developing the Dragon Plate.
The team leader knew how the Dragon Plate deflected bullets, but he couldn't even imagine designing it himself.
'If the Dragon Plate team leader's suggesting it, we'd better check it out.'
"Got it. I'll have our guys test it."
The new sight tests wrapped up. Now it was time to test the freshly made Dragon Plate body armor. That was his real reason for coming here.
The tests involved firing single shots at the armor, then using precision instruments and microscopes to assess damage. The dummy wearing the armor was loaded with impact sensors.
They methodically fired until the Dragon Plate's defenses were fully depleted and destroyed.
Iron Man Engineering had run into snags while making the Dragon Plate and asked Na Gang-in for help. Jeon Ji-in would point out the root causes, but they'd have to figure out the fixes themselves.
The Dragon Plate developed weak spots if even a single part was off. But this armor had no major issues.
Na Gang-in told the team,
"This'll do for production."
"If the defense is weaker than what we tested, that's on the client for bad measurements. Send them today's results and make sure to emphasize that."
Dragon Plate design team member Cha Ji-hee nodded vigorously.
"I'll report that to the division head."
Before leaving after the tests, Na Gang-in met with division head Lee Tae-seong again.
Lee Tae-seong asked,
"I heard the talk. Tests went off without a hitch?"
"Your production process has stabilized. The product's solid."
"Thanks for the help. But listen—the Dragon Plate accounts for some body shape changes, right?"
"Yeah."
"And defense drops if the measurement data's off. We'll tell clients that."
Lee Tae-seong brought this up because he had another idea.
"So, couldn't people with similar builds share the same Dragon Plate blueprints?"
"Hm..."
"Different builds?"
"Fair point."
Na Gang-in answered Lee Tae-seong.
"Defense would drop a lot."
Lee Tae-seong's eyes lit up.
"It'd still block at least one bullet for sure, right?"
"If the build difference is small, yeah."
Lee Tae-seong grinned widely.
"That's why we've got mass-production plans."
Na Gang-in had already said mass production was impossible. But Lee Tae-seong had his own scheme.
"We'll split Dragon Plate into custom high-end models and mass-produced ones. The current method's obviously for high-end."
"How do you plan to mass-produce?"
"For clients whose builds match existing high-end users, we sell pre-made units from those blueprints at a discount. That's the mass-produced line."
"Hm... Think that'll sell?"
"Plenty of civilian demand if it blocks at least one bullet for sure. The closer the match to the original build, the more bullets it'll stop."
"Won't people complain about performance varying on the same product?"
"We guarantee one bullet. Market it as 'with luck, you might block more.'"
Na Gang-in pondered.
'Hold up—this way, I don't even have to design the mass-produced ones. They'll generate themselves?'
No loss for him either way. He got royalties on sales regardless.
Na Gang-in added a caveat.
"You'll need tons of tests to set similarity criteria."
"We'll make prototypes in various sizes. Lend us a hand plenty. Haha."
"Sure thing."
Na Gang-in drove Shin Eun-ha's car toward the fabrication outpost.
Shin Eun-ha stared at his face from the passenger seat.
"You're gonna burn a hole in my face. What?"
"What are you, really?"
"Huh?"
"You got a PhD or something?"
"Nope."
Shin Eun-ha had searched online to see if anyone else like Na Gang-in existed.
"I heard in America, special forces guys become doctors or get PhDs. That you?"
"Not special forces."
"What's your IQ? Like, over 150?"
"Let's grab food. I made money today—my treat."
Consulting fees would hit his bank later, but he'd earned it today.
"Food?"
Shin Eun-ha hesitated.
Nice restaurants had better vibes than the workshop in the converted smithy.
But Na Gang-in's cooking at the workshop was tastier for sure.
Then an idea hit her.
"Wait! You said you'd remake what we ate earlier after Iron Man Engineering, right?!"
"I'll make it after we eat. Pack it to go."
"Yes!"
Na Gang-in treated Shin Eun-ha to a meal, then headed back to the workshop to cook.
Shin Eun-ha packed a big sealed container full of spicy stew loaded with meat and well-balanced veggies, then headed home.
Shin Eun-ha's family home was in the same neighborhood as Na Gang-in's apartment. She was on hiatus lately, so she spent more time there.
She set the container on the dining table.
Her mother asked,
"What's this? You didn't make it, and it's not takeout from a restaurant."
"Spicy braised meat and veggies—super tasty."
"Why name it like that?"
"Forgot to ask the name."
Her younger brother, Shin Young-seok, chimed in.
"Mom, let's have this for dinner. If picky noona approves, it's gotta be good."
Her mother agreed.
"Sounds good. Wasn't looking forward to cooking anyway."
Shin Eun-ha asked,
"Where's Dad?"
"Said he had plans—running late. Probably drinking somewhere."
"Dad misses out on the good stuff again."
Shin Eun-ha had already eaten. Her mom and brother set out simple sides and rice, then dug into the braised dish.
Her mother tasted it and marveled,
"Oh my, this is delicious."
Her brother took a bite, then grabbed a huge bowl, piled in rice and heaps of the stew, and mixed it up.
"Ahh, that's the stuff! Calling for soju... Nah, Mom, just an exclamation. Exclamation. No booze when I'm eating your cooking."
Shin Eun-ha asked, knowing full well what the answer would be.
"Taste okay?"
Her mother laughed.
"It's really good. Where'd you get it?"
Shin Eun-ha boasted,
"A friend made it for me."
"He a chef? That guy from your show before...? What was it? Oh, Chef Oh Gyu-cheol?"
"Nah, not some old dude."
"Not that big an age gap, then?"
"Uh? Yeah, not really."
"Good."
Her mother narrowed her eyes.
"Still, no sleepovers."
"It's not like that!"
Shin Young-seok shoveled rice while giving a thumbs-up.
"I'm pro brother-in-law who owns a restaurant."
"He doesn't own a restaurant."
"Still brother-in-law material?"
"Want me to cut your allowance? You good with just what you get at home?"
Shin Young-seok tucked tail immediately.
"Shutting up and eating."
Three days later, Iron Man Engineering's conference room held the president, division head, lab director, and a few executives.
Team leader Jo from the personal firearms sight development team was briefing in front of the large screen.
The screen changed. Team leader Jo explained,
"To sum up what we've covered: Na Gang-in's suggestions boil down to four big ones. Hologram reticle shape change, auxiliary aim point for fast-moving targets, extra hologram module, and exterior redesign."
Director Yoon Joo-seong asked,
"You test 'em?"
"We ran computer sims on the hologram reticle shape first, but saw no real benefits."
Yoon Joo-seong tilted his head.
"Then why brief all the way up to the president?"
"The physical prototype tests told a different story."
The screen showed Na Gang-in's drawing on the shooting log.
"We couldn't dismiss the Dragon Plate developer's input based on sims alone."
Team leader Jo pointed at the screen.
"So we followed his suggestion: doubled the hologram emitters and positioned them exactly as drawn."
"Damn, he draws real good."
"Yes. The precision made module placement easy—just match the angles in the sketch."
"How much for the test prototype?"
"We skipped the fast-moving target prediction aim point—too costly to develop, and it'd jack up unit price even if we succeeded."
Jeon Ji-in had said current tech could handle it, but reality was harsher.
"The rest—adding the spare module and tweaking hologram software—our team handled. But the test model we built..."
The screen shifted.
The hologram reticle reflected on the sight's transparent plate looked fully three-dimensional.
"The depth is insane."
"Nothing fancy tech-wise. But once implemented, it changed the impact of his initial reticle shape suggestion."
"How so?"
"No difference up to level 3. But scores improved significantly on level 4 and 5 shooting tests."
"Wait, level 5?"
"Yes. Just this tweak boosted hit rates on fast-moving targets."