The Living National Treasure
The New Frontier approached far too quickly. The driver of that car seemed to think he was Michael Schumacher and his vehicle an F1 machine. The road conditions were hardly suitable for racing. Today was December 1st. A cold wind howled outside the window. After last night’s rain, the temperature had dropped below freezing, leaving a thin layer of black ice on the road. Had it been the twenty-first century, the morning traffic report would have surely warned drivers to watch out for black ice.
“Slow down.”
Once the pursuers closed in, Kim Dae-seok instinctively accelerated, trying to shake them off. But on a highway that was essentially one-way, escaping them was impossible. Revenge could wait. For now, letting them take all the photos they wanted was far safer for the car.
“Yes, sir!”
Kim Dae-seok obeyed Yoo Jae-won without hesitation. He eased off the accelerator and dropped to a safe eighty kilometers per hour. The first paparazzo who had caught up cheered and began snapping photos. The car that had sped up from behind did the same.
Yoo Jae-won paid no attention to the cameras. He opened his notebook and began planning the days ahead—how to handle the media, the direction of future investments, and the optimal timing for the upcoming software release to maximize synergy.
Honk! Honk!
The blaring horn shattered his concentration. Who honked on the highway? He turned his head and immediately understood. The paparazzo who had claimed the first position refused to yield even after taking his fill of photographs. The car behind him accelerated and closed the gap. When Yoo Jae-won slowed to avoid an accident, the reporters began competing with one another.
“Good grief. What a mess… Slow down even more.”
“Yes, sir!”
The car that had been cruising in the mid-seventies dropped into the sixties. Driving slowly on the highway was a major nuisance, but with light traffic and poor road conditions, it was manageable—except for the reporters.
When Yoo Jae-won’s car slowed further, the reporter driving alongside should have simply pulled ahead. Instead, their hunger for an exclusive photo proved demonic. They matched the reduced speed. The car behind accelerated while the one in front decelerated, shrinking the gap between them in an instant. It was a game of chicken played at highway speeds. One of them needed to brake first—and lose.
Yoo Jae-won would have chosen to be the smart loser rather than the foolish winner. After all, a person only had one life. But the reporters obsessed with covering him were all fools.
Crash!
Neither slowed down. The result was a collision.
“Huh—?”
In the chaos, words failed. It was a two-lane highway. Yoo Jae-won’s Grandeur occupied the outer cruising lane while the reporters’ vehicles, high-performance zoom lenses at the ready, occupied the inner passing lane. At seventy kilometers per hour on an icy road, control was lost in an instant. The lead car spun violently after being struck. It would have been fortunate had it slid toward the central guardrail, but no such miracle occurred. Instead, it slammed straight into the side of Yoo Jae-won’s Grandeur.
Kim Dae-seok instinctively reached for the brake.
“Accelerate!”
Yoo Jae-won’s urgent shout made him stomp on the accelerator instead. The car sliding toward them was not the only threat; another vehicle behind it was also careening after being hit. With traffic backed up from their slow crawl, the only clear path was forward.
The Grandeur’s 3.0 V6 engine roared as it surged ahead. Among domestic cars, nothing offered better power. They almost cleared the danger, but not quite. Just before they escaped, the sliding reporter’s car clipped the left rear of the Grandeur.
The heavy sedan lurched. Though the Grandeur was a solid mid-size and the reporter’s Excel a compact, the impact at speed sent it fishtailing violently. Kim Dae-seok cried out and fought the wheel, but the sudden acceleration on black ice made recovery impossible.
The world outside the windows spun. In reality, it was the car itself sliding across the ice. Tires screeched as brakes were applied. Then the concrete median in the center of the highway filled Yoo Jae-won’s vision. He curled his body, bracing for impact.
Crash!
A heavy jolt ran through the vehicle, yet it was far milder than expected. He opened his eyes to find they had struck the median almost parallel to it, dispersing the force. Even the windows remained intact. Had the car rolled, the damage would have been catastrophic. Instead, it had merely spun.
“Ugh—sir! Are you all right?”
Kim Dae-seok shouted. Yoo Jae-won felt shaken but unhurt.
“Watch out!”
Before he could answer, he saw the Excel still sliding toward them. The Grandeur had spun 180 degrees and now faced the oncoming wreck. The second impact followed. The airbag burst from the steering wheel in what seemed like slow motion.
“Mother, I’m fine. …Yes, the television report exaggerated quite a bit. Secretary Kim only has a few bruises. …No, you don’t need to come up. It will only add to the confusion.”
With the television still broadcasting urgent updates about his accident in the background, Yoo Jae-won spoke on the phone. He still wore the suit he had left in, and he had not a single injury. Even after striking the median and then being hit again, he was unharmed. The seatbelt and the Grandeur’s excellent crash absorption had done their job. He checked his Memory Palace as well—no memories had been lost. The countless rooms and the books lining their shelves remained perfectly intact.
The Grandeur, however, was a total loss. The right front and rear doors were crushed from the median impact, and the engine bay was destroyed in the head-on collision with the Excel. Highway patrol officers and Korea Expressway Corporation workers who arrived to clear the scene stared in shock at the wreckage, then stared again when two men stepped out unharmed.
Kim Dae-seok, who had been driving, suffered a greater impact than Yoo Jae-won, but the timely deployment of the airbag saved him from serious injury. His face bore a bruise from the inflating bag. A smart airbag would have prevented even that, but it was still infinitely better than striking the steering wheel directly. The doctor said the bruise would fade in a few days.
The reporters who caused the crash, however, suffered fractures and other serious injuries. Though their vehicles were far less damaged than the Grandeur, their injuries were far worse.
Yoo Jae-won had no intention of letting the matter rest. The paparazzi who had caused the accident—and the newspapers they worked for—would face not only ordinary damages but also claims for emotional distress. ID Technology would retaliate with every resource at its disposal.
The only regret was the Grandeur itself. It had history, and he had driven it well after buying it cheaply. Now it was beyond repair.
“It’s a shame to see the Grandeur scrapped. It was my first car…”
Perhaps, as Kim Dae-seok had once joked, the car had chosen to save its owner and go first. Yoo Jae-won hoped that, like him, the Grandeur would be reborn in a better form after the furnace.
“Did you not say the accident was serious? The special report is still running. I was about to visit the hospital where you were supposedly admitted.”
Chairman Jeon Myeong-heon’s eyes widened as he examined Yoo Jae-won from head to toe. As he said, the television continued to air updates about the accident. Yet here Yoo Jae-won stood, perfectly fine, inside the chairman’s private office at Mirae Group headquarters. The chairman, who had half-doubted the report, looked genuinely astonished.
“Your car must be exceptionally sturdy. I’m completely unharmed.”
“Do not be overconfident. Car accident injuries often appear a day later.”
“I was examined at Seoul National University Hospital. They found nothing wrong. No dizziness, no nausea, no swelling.”
Chairman Jeon nodded at Yoo Jae-won’s words.
“Go to the hospital regularly, just in case.”
That was advice Yoo Jae-won wished to give in return. The chairman still appeared vigorous, yet he would die of pneumonia the year after the new century began. Only ten years remained. If he could be persuaded to manage his health more diligently, perhaps their parting could be delayed.
“Still, seeing you in person is a relief. And knowing our automobile protected a living national treasure makes me proud as well.”
“A national treasure?”
“Haha, you have not heard? The Blue House has taken to calling you a living national treasure. You brought in 8.8 billion dollars, did you not? That is slightly more than the trade surplus Korea recorded with the United States this year. A single young man appears and doubles the foreign reserves overnight. If that is not a national treasure, what is?”
“I only stopped by to settle accounts. After taxes, the remainder will be reinvested. Precisely fifty billion dollars. ID Investment will report roughly twenty-one billion in corporate tax. Of the rest, seventeen billion will stay in Korea for domestic investment and reserves, while fifty billion will be directed overseas.”
“Does it matter? The money that has already arrived is still money. And the thought of you investing it excites me. With one billion you returned 8.8 billion. What will fifty billion bring? The man at the Blue House will likely lose sleep from anticipation once he hears this.”
“Oh, surely not.”
“You will see in time. In any case, I was worried because of the car accident, but seeing you in person puts me at ease. Ah, I will have a car prepared for you—far sturdier than the one that was scrapped.”
A far sturdier car? The second-generation Grandeur was not yet due, so was Mirae Motors planning something better? In any case, Yoo Jae-won was simply grateful. As ID Technology handled large government software contracts, openly driving a foreign car was impossible. With domestic options limited, he had no reason to refuse a vehicle superior to the Grandeur 3.0.
“You reported twenty-one billion dollars in taxes? Are you not being excessively honest?”
When the conversation turned to taxes, Chairman Jeon’s face creased with two additional wrinkles.
“I come from construction. Do you know how much is siphoned off there? Keeping half is considered a success. They draft the budget from the start with such leakage in mind.”
He clearly harbored deep resentment toward taxes. He repeated almost the same story he had told before.
“Still, you need a budget before any project can begin.”
Yoo Jae-won gave a similar reply. The difference between doing nothing and at least starting was obvious. Though the village elders grumbled that the mayor had taken a large cut from the new road project in Deokjin-ri, the road’s utility was undeniable. It was far better than having none. Even if many thieves existed within the state, Korea was clearly advancing. Those who preyed upon the nation could be dealt with later.
Confirming that Yoo Jae-won’s resolve remained firm, Chairman Jeon shook his head but made no further attempt to persuade him.
“By the way, you mentioned you had a good proposal?”
Yoo Jae-won smoothly changed the subject to match.