16. Go Min-ji's Night
+++ It took a total of 36 hours to manufacture the RK-99 sample. There were quite a few tedious steps in between, and I had to keep adjusting the temperature every 12 hours, so I ended up hovering around the chemistry lab the whole time. But hey, it was my own house, so I didn't get bored. If I felt like it, I could just roll around with the secretaries in the next room, or head over to where Danto was and mess with her, or watch the collab between Ha Eun-young and Ma Yeon-ju, or get reports on how all the various messes I'd stirred up were unfolding. There was no shortage of things to do.
Anyway, after killing time like that, the final process finally wrapped up. I pulled the pre-shaped and fired RK-99 out of the kiln. The shape I'd given it was a round cylinder about the size of a soju bottle cap.
Ssssss.
It was scorching hot, belching out white steam like dry ice doused in water. I carefully set it down in a dish.
"…Ah."
But there was one massive problem. I had no idea how to verify the superconductivity. I knew how to make it, but testing it and proving it? Not a clue. Total disaster.
Uh… negative temperature or something? I vaguely remember hearing about that.
At times like this, just hit up one of the competent girls nearby. Probably.
"Baekseol, you know how to test if this is a superconductor, right?"
"Yes."
Luckily, Baekseol knew how.
"We start with measuring electrical resistance using the four-point probe method, then check the Meissner effect and AC magnetic susceptibility. If superconductivity is confirmed during testing, we measure the critical magnetic field and critical current as well. It's a test to see how much current and magnetic field it can handle while maintaining superconductivity."
For some reason, she explained it in exhaustive detail. This girl didn't notice I had no clue about testing methods, did she?
"Good. Do it."
"Right now? Without letting it cool?"
"Yeah. That's the point."
Baekseol tilted her head slightly.
"…We'll need equipment."
She rummaged through the lab for a while. Fortunately, it was a fully equipped space with all the basics, and the tests didn't require anything too exotic, so it didn't take long.
"This is the resistance measurement setup using the four-point probe method."
"Yeah, okay."
Baekseol grabbed the RK-99—which looked insanely hot—with her bare hand and placed it in the sample holder of the measurement device. Then she made contact with the four probes.
"Two are current electrodes, and the other two are voltage electrodes."
"Got it."
Baekseol fiddled with the settings on the power supply.
"Normally, superconductors only exhibit their properties near absolute zero. Even minus 130 degrees is considered a high-temperature superconductor. Of course, apply over 100 gigapascals of extreme pressure, and you can get superconductivity even at much higher temperatures."
"Higher like what?"
"Minus 30 degrees. That's what's used in eighth-gen mechs right now."
"Ah."
Minus 30 degrees as "ultra-high temperature"… And what the hell was a gigapascal?
"But this thing's surface is around 80 degrees. At ambient pressure, no less. If it shows superconductivity anyway, it's exactly as you said, Master—a discovery that could rewrite human history."
For someone thinking that, Baekseol's expression was pretty flat. Her eyes showed zero excitement. Did she think it'd fail, or was she just stone-faced?
Judging by how she explained it all to me in detail, she figured out I don't know jack about this.
She probably didn't believe it. No way something made by a guy who doesn't even know what a superconductor is could actually be one. Cheeky bitch.
Even if I didn't know shit about superconductors, the recipe was legit. You faithless girl.
"If resistance is zero, then V=IR means no voltage drop even with current flowing."
"What's that?"
"V is voltage, I is current, R is resistance. With R at zero, V naturally drops to zero too."
"I see."
"In a lab setting, it might not read exactly zero due to equipment sensitivity or external factors. Accounting for that…"
Baekseol fiddled with the panel again. Her eyes widened slightly.
"…Voltage is zero. At this current, resistance reads zero."
"Oh."
But her reaction was more subdued than I'd expected. Zero resistance didn't mean superconductor?
"Hm."
Baekseol poked at the measurement device for a good while. She tilted her head, ran current multiple times, jotted down results, then suddenly pressed her finger hard against the RK-99's surface.
"Surface at nearly 80 degrees, yet zero resistance… Critical current's high too… This alone guarantees a Nobel Prize."
"Yeah?"
"Yes. If it's reproducible."
"Of course it is."
Baekseol struck a detective pose, chin in hand, and stared at the sample for a long time.
"…How did you make it?"
"You watched me. You know how."
"No…"
She picked up the sample for a closer look. Her face was still blank, but her eyes were wider now.
"Grind copper, sulfur, and lead, bake it, and you get zero resistance?"
"Yeah."
"…"
She couldn't believe it even after seeing it.
"No way it's this simple… It feels like physics is getting outright denied."
"Anyway, voltage is zero, right? Next test."
"…"
Baekseol bit her lip, cleared the measurement setup, and prepped for the next test.
+++
"Voltage clear, Meissner effect clear…"
"Meaning?"
"It's a superconductor… for real…!"
Baekseol was visibly rattled now, a far cry from earlier. Confusion and shock flickered across her face. She picked up the RK-99, which had started cooling a bit.
"This simple thing… a superconductor…"
"Good. Tests done. Now for the real goal."
"Pardon?"
"That was just a side product. The goal was making material for a necklace to give Min-ji noona."
"Room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductivity… as a side gig…?"
"You take that one. It's the first superconductor I ever made. For you."
"Your first time making one?"
"Yeah."
"…"
She looked even more baffled. Couldn't wrap her head around it. Honestly, I'd probably react the same, but I couldn't exactly say I was possessed. No way to convince her. Just let it slide.
Baekseol probably thought I was some once-in-a-millennium genius now.
"Truth is, I've known the recipe forever. But I couldn't make it before. No power. Whip something like this up back then, and it'd be game over."
"…True. Not something to make lightly."
She clenched her fist around the RK-99 in her palm.
"So you think you can protect it now."
"Because I've got you."
"…!"
"You're still a bit green, but with my Seol here, I can breathe easier. You have no idea how much my mouth's been watering all this time."
"Y-Yes…"
"Anyway, timing's not right yet, so keep it between us. We'll release this new material with the necklace, set up a chem company off that. Building the foundation step by step."
"Understood. I'll study up and prep what I can."
My Seol had a ton to study. Med stuff too.
+++
Making the necklace material for Go Min-ji took another full day.
"Whoa… Th-this is…"
"Yeah. This is the new material, RK-77. Pretty insane, right?"
"It's so beautiful…"
Im Sua clutched the round object like she was entranced. It was made the same way as RK-99—ground copper, lead, sulfur, baked—but turned into something totally different. Like a gemstone.
Physically, it made no sense. Grind and bake those, get a superconductor; tweak the ratio, temp, time a bit, and out pops a gem?? Total nonsense. But it's a game world, so whatever.
Anyway, RK-77 was a gem that held the universe inside. Similar natural stones existed, but in this one, the cosmos flowed. Staring at the real thing sucked you in endlessly, hypnotic and eerie. Like brainwashing.
Not that it had any actual function. Just a pretty rock. But that's what makes a gem, right? A pretty rock.
"We'll process this into a necklace."
"This'll have an effect, for sure."
"Recipe's dead simple. Easy to automate, so if it catches on, we mass-produce and start a company."
"It'll blow up. I want one already."
Im Sua was hooked.
"What's it called?"
"RK-77."
"…"
Her face soured at the name.
"Does it have to be… that name?"
"What else? Call it Im Sua?"
"Eep…!"
Oh. Thinking about it, not a bad idea? RK-99 had tons of derivatives. I could name them after my favorite jotjip.
RK-99 for Baekseol? RK-77's for Go Min-ji anyway, so name it after her… something like that.
"M-My name feels a bit much… It's a gift for the young miss…"
Im Sua squirmed bashfully. She was into the idea, though.
"See? Let's name this one Go Min-ji."
"…"
Disappointment. Cute little thing.