The Weight of the Summary
When Clinton felt the substantial weight in his hands, he was slightly taken aback. “And this is the summary.” Yoo Jae-won handed over not only the bound report but also a concise summary on A4 paper containing just a few lines. The President of the United States was not the type to sit idle, nor would he read an entire report as meticulously as a university teaching assistant. Though their close relationship ensured he would show goodwill, Jae-won had not expected him to read everything to the end. That was why he had prepared the summary as well.
“Oh?” Clinton, who had been flipping through the report, could not help but brighten when he saw the summary. He then read it with far greater focus than he had given the full report. “Hmm? I didn’t understand what you meant by ‘U.S. forces in North Korea,’ but do you really think the Marines could be stationed in North Korea? Russia and China wouldn’t just sit by and watch. Hmm! Japan probably wouldn’t like it much either.”
As expected, Clinton was a perceptive man. The moment he finished the summary, he quickly identified the countries that would push back against Jae-won’s East Asian strategy. Mentioning Russia and China was only natural, but bringing up Japan as well proved that Clinton’s political instincts remained sharp.
“Yes. They’ll hate it immensely. But they’re not in a position to do anything about it beyond disliking it—especially when it’s the United States making the move.”
“Is that so?”
“Russia’s economic engine has already collapsed, and China is pretending to be a normal country because it wants to integrate into the global economy.”
Clinton asked again, genuinely surprised by the unexpected answer, and Jae-won continued in an even firmer tone.
“Hmm, pretending to be a normal country. I can’t think of a better way to describe China’s true intentions.”
Clinton seemed to like Jae-won’s phrasing and repeated it himself.
“Exactly. China attracts capital with all sorts of incentives, but it’s really just saying whatever it needs to in order to form improper relationships.”
“Improper relationships?”
Jae-won, who had been nodding along, suddenly realized his mistake. The phrase “improper relationship” was one Clinton had first used during the congressional hearings in August of that year. It had since become so famous that people all over the world used it, and it had stuck in Jae-won’s mind as well. Mentioning it in front of the man himself might have made Clinton uncomfortable.
“Improper relationship, huh.”
“Anyway, how many decades has it been since Tiananmen? That regime is still in power, isn’t it? Right now it’s accepting foreign capital while pretending to be normal, but the moment things go wrong, it’ll try to swallow not only that capital but the technology as well. Technology leaks are already a serious problem.”
Jae-won quickly moved the conversation forward, speaking in a more assertive tone to make up for his slip. If a Chinese representative had been present, they would have been trembling at the words he poured out without hesitation. Though the explanation was impromptu, it was not difficult. From fine dust to trade pressure and the North Korea issue—there were simply too many grievances from his previous life. He had clashed with China many times while doing business, and even after his business failed and he became a powerless old man, the same had held true.
“Ah, that’s right. I wanted to thank you while we’re here.”
The thanks referred to the fact that Jae-won had prevented the leakage of stealth technology applied to the F-117 and B-2 strategic bombers—technology that had nearly been stolen by China. American defense contractors were still in the process of establishing proper security awareness while rushing to digitize everything. Creating an online environment to improve work efficiency was good, but their security consciousness remained weak, so they had not built proper safeguards. With the Android operating system, simply creating login IDs and passwords would have raised the security level significantly, but they had used the classic Unix operating system, whose stability had already been verified, which ironically lowered their security level even further. As a result, it became a playground for Chinese hackers, and confidential data from defense contractors began to be siphoned away. Jae-won had been the one to stop it.
The man who had built America’s information superhighway was none other than Jae-won, and he had also established a large monitoring center to ensure smooth communication across it. That did not mean he was examining the contents of individual packets. While unencrypted data inside packets was inevitably visible, he had never deliberately looked inside or stored anything separately. Even if he had not done so, America’s intelligence agencies would have been doing it in secret anyway. Instead, by observing the flow of the global internet, he could roughly understand the overall patterns. That was how he had detected data moving from Lockheed Martin’s research facilities in the United States to China. Though the data had been routed through various virtual networks, it had been caught by ID Technology’s monitoring program. The moment he confirmed it, he notified the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies, preventing the valuable data from being leaked. However, the incident could not be made public. It would damage the intelligence community’s reputation and, by extension, put the Clinton administration in an awkward position. Already struggling with the Lewinsky scandal, the last thing Clinton needed was news that there were holes in America’s cybersecurity posture. It would also have been bad for Jae-won, who had Al Gore in mind as Clinton’s successor.
“China was bound to try something like this eventually. And that’s not all. Ignoring intellectual property rights is routine for them.”
Jae-won slipped in a mention of intellectual property rights at this point. China was the country that went beyond simple illegal copying to produce and sell counterfeits in packaging identical to the originals. Consumers bought what they thought were genuine products, only to discover they were fakes in countless cases. Having suffered from counterfeits, Jae-won had attached hologram stickers to Android 98 packages starting from that version to verify authenticity, and he had also placed hologram borders on the CDs themselves so they could not be easily replicated. Even so, counterfeit versions of Android 98 were still being produced. At least they had not managed to copy the hologram stickers, but sales volume had not changed much.
“Haha, you really have a lot of grievances against China.”
Jae-won nodded. He did have many grievances—and there would be even more in the future.
“Understood. I’ll think about it as positively as possible.”
“There’s a Korean saying that the beginning is half the battle. It means striking while the timing is right!”
Jae-won emphasized the importance of taking the first step, even quoting a proverb.
“Do you have dinner plans? If not, why don’t you stay and eat before you go.”
Clinton was still holding the summary and nodding to himself, clearly quite taken with Jae-won’s East Asian strategy. As someone who had risen to the highest position in politics—the presidency of the United States—he seemed to have already calculated exactly how spectacular an event he could stage around a declaration ending the war. The fact that he had even suggested an unscheduled dinner meant Jae-won’s schedule at the White House had been a success.
The next day.
Although Yoo Jae-won had finished all his business in Washington DC, he did not return to San Francisco. Instead, he headed farther east toward New York. However, the first place he visited upon arriving in New York was not ID Investment in Manhattan or the Time Warner headquarters at Columbus Circle. It was the home of Remington, Chairman of Time Warner Nextcom and Vice Chairman of ID Group.
“Woni oppa!”
The moment he rang the doorbell, the door flew open and a little girl came running toward him with quick footsteps. It was Emma Sting, born to Remington and Shannon. Though Remington and Shannon cherished her dearly, Jae-won knew better than anyone how precious Emma’s existence truly was. That was why he took special care of her, and as a result, Emma followed Jae-won more closely than anyone except the Remington couple. Still young, she had trouble pronouncing “Jae,” and “Won” was simply the comfortable nickname she had given him.
“Our Emma, how many inches have you grown since I last saw you? I won’t even be able to lift you up anymore.”
Contrary to his words, Jae-won happily lifted the girl who had thrown herself into his arms.
“This much!”
Praise about height was the most effective with children. Emma proudly showed how much she had grown using her thumb and index finger. It was not an exaggeration—having inherited Remington’s physique, Emma seemed to have grown every time they met. This time was no different. Fortunately, she had also inherited a great deal from her mother Shannon, so there was no rough or rugged impression about her. If she continued growing like this, calling her a natural-born idol would not be an overstatement.
“Boss, I heard you hit another jackpot in Texas?”
“Welcome, Chairman.”
Remington and Shannon followed behind Emma to greet Jae-won. They soon guided him inside. Though it was not as grand as the penthouse on the top floor of the ID Global Headquarters Building in Seoul, the Remington couple’s home was more than spacious and luxurious. The living room offered a direct view of Central Park. With its three-story structure, rooftop, and garden-style balcony, it was practically a mansion. The Remingtons had originally been modest people, and they still were. Even so, the reason they now lived in such a house was, of course, largely due to tax considerations. Remington was the second-in-command at ID Group and now also Chairman of Time Warner Nextcom. They had not simply given him a high title; his compensation had been aligned with that of Time Warner’s chairman and vice chairman. As a result, his income was enormous, and so were his taxes. It made more sense to simply live in a nice house. New York had plenty of luxury apartments designed for high-income earners, and Remington had chosen one of the best among them.
“Here, this is for Emma. A present.”
Once inside, Jae-won handed Emma a gift wrapped with a pretty ribbon.
“Wow! Woni oppa is the best!”
Emma unwrapped it on the spot—the opposite of Korean custom. Inside were various items: a black stone, a glowing goblin club, a miniature of Hallasan, and a Mimi doll. It was only natural, since the Mimi doll Emma loved was the baseline gift, while the rest were Jeju Island souvenirs. Jae-won was not sure how a glowing goblin club had become a Jeju souvenir, but it was clearly a suitable toy for children.
“This is called a dolhareubang. It’ll keep bad dreams away.”
The black stone was a dolhareubang, a handmade piece crafted by a Jeju artisan rather than something made in China. In reality, dolhareubang also served as talismans to ward off ghosts and bring good fortune, so the explanation was not wrong.
“Wow!”
With the Mimi doll tucked under her arm, Emma showed strong curiosity about the dolhareubang and other exotic items. As expected of a child, she liked the goblin club more than the dolhareubang, and Jae-won naturally faded into the background.
He had also brought gifts for Remington and Shannon—Hallabong, a specialty of Jeju Island. Though the variety had originally come from Japan, the naming made it seem as though it were a Korean tangerine. Since it was a living plant, it required separate quarantine, but for Jae-won, who had many people willing to help, it had not been particularly difficult.
“It looks like the stem on this orange is a bit swollen. You’re saying this is a tangerine?”
He had selected only the highest-grade Hallabong. Remington and Shannon would have liked anything Jae-won gave them, but a fruit that was both interestingly shaped and delicious made for an excellent gift anywhere, so their reactions were especially positive.
A little later, while Shannon prepared dinner, Jae-won and Remington began talking on the terrace. Jae-won first recounted most of what had happened from North Korea to the White House without holding anything back. It was so that even if he were ever absent, things could continue running smoothly through Remington. Beyond that business-minded approach, Remington was one of the very few people with whom Jae-won could speak openly about his true feelings.
“As expected of you, Boss. A new Cold War, huh. That’s getting properly grandiose.”
Remington had been born around the time the Cold War was in full swing and had witnessed its end as well. Hearing Jae-won say that China would replace Russia in a new Cold War with the United States, he found it hard to fully grasp. But since Jae-won said so, Remington accepted it.
“Hmm, but wasn’t Japan originally your target, Boss? President Vincent is there too. Yet you didn’t mention Japan to Clinton at all.”
Remington was sharp as always. He questioned why Japan had been left out of the story about the White House meeting.
“Well, I may be close with President Clinton, but that alone isn’t enough to overcome the traditional friendly relationship between the United States and Japan.”
Japan, defeated in World War II, had become an actively pro-American country, and America’s East Asian strategy had been built around Japan. Over fifty years had passed since then. A relationship that had grown so solid could not be overturned with nothing more than personal friendship with President Clinton. Jae-won wanted to handle the Japan operation entirely with his own abilities.
“Even if it’s an impossible task, I’m going to try.”
“Ah.”
At Jae-won’s resolute words, something seemed to occur to Remington.
“So this is what they call Eastern humility.”
Huh? Humility, all of a sudden?
“Is there any mission that’s impossible for you, Boss? I could go on about everything you’ve done so far until my mouth hurts, but didn’t you just strike oil in Texas a few days ago? If you’ve decided to take on Japan, you’ll definitely succeed.”
Remington offered his full support with genuine enthusiasm. This was clearly more than simple trust—it had grown into genuine faith. It was a burden, but at the same time, it was the greatest encouragement. With Remington’s support, Jae-won shook off the small seed of anxiety that had remained in a corner of his heart. To others, the Japan operation might seem impossible, but he had decided to give it everything he had. With his resolve firm, Jae-won immediately took out his Tiffany phone.