The Human Chain
Yoo Jae-won could sense the prickly undercurrent in Frederick’s question about electric vehicles. Even if the man was Tiffany’s grandfather, he remained the owner of a vast oil empire. The sector that consumed the most petroleum was transportation and power generation. Gasoline, diesel, and bunker C fuel were the simplest, highest-value products refined from crude. It was only natural that a man like Frederick would view a 100-percent electric car with discomfort. The same oil companies had long organized resistance to alternative-energy research. While the media only raised vague “suspicions,” Yoo Jae-won knew the truth from his previous life. He had pored over declassified U.S. government documents and seen the lobbying records and misconduct of the major oil firms. Chevron had never been an exception.
Still, the fact that Frederick had kept his silence until now suggested he had grown quite fond of his granddaughter’s husband. At the same time, the fact that even the patient Frederick could no longer hold his tongue confirmed that the LV-F1 was an exceptionally well-made machine.
Public interest in the LV-F1 that Yoo Jae-won and Tiffany had been joyriding around Jeju Island was enormous. A fully electric car with such striking looks had never been seen before. Inspired by an F1 machine yet reinterpreted with a forward-looking design, the LV-F1 possessed an instant magnetism for anyone who loved cars. The dedicated page Lightning Bolt opened alongside the vehicle’s unveiling was flooded with global netizens, generating traffic so heavy that it occasionally consumed nearly thirty percent of the bandwidth at the Korean data center.
Yoo Jae-won fully intended to leverage that attention to expand Lightning Bolt’s business dramatically.
“Well… if I’m being honest, I’d like to see a 100-percent electric car commercialized worldwide.”
Frederick’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Hmm?”
The answer clearly did not please him. Then, sensing something odd, he made a questioning sound. He had immediately caught the implication that the technology was not yet ready. His judgment was accurate.
“There are still too many problems,” Yoo Jae-won said.
In his heart he wanted to flood the world with LV-F1s immediately, but he could already picture the avalanche of complaints and service requests that would destroy ID Group’s reputation. The current generation of 100-percent electric vehicles had too many drawbacks. The biggest issue they had discovered while testing the LV-F1 on Jeju Island was the air-conditioning problem. In a gasoline car, running the AC caused only a minor drop in performance, but an electric vehicle drew its climate control directly from the main battery, causing a sudden spike in power consumption. That led to abrupt power loss and overheating from excessive battery use. The design, ride quality, and convenience features were excellent, yet the most fundamental function—driving—was still unreliable. Mass commercialization was out of the question.
“We’ll need at least another ten years of research. Until then, taking the car off Jeju Island is impossible.”
Without a revolutionary leap in battery technology, Lightning Bolt’s electric vehicles would remain confined to the island for the foreseeable future.
“At least that’s one piece of good news,” Frederick said, his expression visibly relaxing. “Truth be told, I didn’t want to bring this up. But my friends have been making quite a fuss.”
By “friends,” he clearly meant the owners of the other major oil companies that stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Chevron. Yoo Jae-won nodded in understanding. No matter how much the oil industry protested, the future belonged to electric motors. Superconducting motors could deliver tremendous torque with minimal power, and sodium-graphene batteries had solved both capacity and fast-charging issues. Once AI-driven autonomous driving was added, the gasoline and diesel cars would naturally become obsolete.
“Is that so? You’ve been worrying for nothing,” Yoo Jae-won replied lightly. He would continue to tread carefully until both the technology and the infrastructure were ready, but once preparations were complete, even the strongest oil cartel would be shattered.
“Grandfather! What’s this?”
Right on cue, Tiffany reappeared only seconds after the electric-car conversation ended. In each hand she carried a carefully wrapped gift—one from Yoo Jae-won, one from herself.
The joyful Thanksgiving holiday came to an end, and people returned to their routines. Yoo Jae-won and Tiffany left Frederick’s mansion and went home. Jacob and Tiffany’s aunts remained cool, yet they no longer dared to show open hostility. Frederick’s presence helped, but Yoo Jae-won’s current stature was far beyond the level where anyone could treat him with contempt. His influence in America was enormous, and the upper class—Jacob included—knew it better than anyone. Unable to vent their displeasure, Jacob had arrived at the mansion last and left first, clearly frustrated.
Frederick had said nothing, but his disappointment was obvious. Later, Yoo Jae-won learned the real reason Jacob had disliked him, and it was almost laughably petty: every major oil-industry owner had attended the wedding. Jacob could not understand why they had come for a man who had nothing to do with oil. The oil executives, however, had shown great interest in Yoo Jae-won and had tried hard to speak with him—especially about geological data analysis. Jacob’s own presence had been negligible by comparison. He had even muttered that he would see how many guests showed up at his own wedding. Frederick had clicked his tongue at such pettiness. Of course the bride and groom would draw attention; Jacob simply refused to accept it. The result of being spoiled was all too clear. Still, Yoo Jae-won had no intention of meddling in Frederick’s family affairs, so he pretended not to hear.
Back home, Yoo Jae-won immediately turned on his computer. Frederick’s mansion now had internet, and every room was equipped with iWorks or Newegg 3 units, but he never conducted company business there. Security-conscious as ever, he refused to access ID Group’s internal network over an external connection. He used the internet only for light browsing and gaming; all important instructions were issued through his T-Touch Phone.
Once the system booted, he habitually opened the Nextcom news page and searched for articles related to ID Group.
- Thanksgiving Winner: GTA3!
- GTA3 Surpasses One Million Units Sold During Thanksgiving Week!
- Xbox Sales Rise in Tandem. Global Cumulative Sales Reach Four Million Units!
Good news. As expected, the GTA3 that had already proven itself in his previous life was displaying formidable power once again. Graphics had been enhanced, and gameplay had been further refined. Because the game was an Xbox exclusive, many people bought the console just to play it. PlayStation 2 had also launched events for the American Thanksgiving season, releasing Dynasty Warriors and Gran Turismo, along with a special North American bundle. The company had even mounted an aggressive media campaign, claiming that the console’s powerful hardware could be misused by terrorists to build missile-guidance chips and that exports to certain countries had therefore been banned. It was not entirely fabricated—both the U.S. Department of Commerce and Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry had indeed requested export restrictions to China and Iraq—but the notion that PlayStation 2 in terrorist hands would threaten global security was absurd. The Emotion Engine CPU inside it had limited general-purpose applications. The AMD dual-core CPU in the Xbox was far more dangerous; its x86 architecture could be removed and installed in a PC motherboard. Although Xbox CPUs had a slightly different pin layout and were soldered to the board to deter tampering, the risk was still much higher than with PlayStation 2.
Despite the flashy media campaign, PlayStation 2’s slightly declining sales showed no sign of recovery. It lacked compelling games and its online support lagged behind Xbox. Meanwhile, Xbox continued to deliver a powerful one-two punch with Halo and Doom 3, and the release of GTA3 had given its sales fresh momentum.
“Thanks to this, I can head back to Korea with a lighter heart,” Yoo Jae-won murmured.
He planned to return to Korea once the U.S. presidential election picture became clearer. He would not be traveling alone; Tiffany and Dr. Lisa Su’s M-AP design team would accompany him. Tiffany was coming as his wife, but the real purpose was the design team. They needed to assess whether ID Electronics’ semiconductor lines could mass-produce the next-generation mobile processor. The trip’s meaning was simple and clear: ID Group was about to enter full-scale smartphone production.
- Presidential Candidate Approval Rating Report
- Al Gore 48%, Bush 41%
- Leading in every region except the Rust Belt
Before departing for Korea, Yoo Jae-won received the U.S. election report compiled by ID Group’s intelligence team. Unlike before, Al Gore now held a statistically meaningful lead over Bush. The attached data showed him ahead even in regions where he had previously trailed, including the once-controversial state of Florida. The figures came from ID Group’s own polling and remained within the margin of error, yet they were still better than earlier numbers. More importantly, when the distribution of electoral votes was considered, Al Gore’s chances of winning were significantly higher even if he lost Florida. If he carried Florida as well, the victory would be decisive.
The strong polling numbers, in Yoo Jae-won’s view, owed much to the robust U.S. economy. In the original timeline, Al Gore would have taken the full brunt of the IT bubble’s collapse. Thanks to Yoo Jae-won’s intervention, however, the bubble had burst earlier and the economy was already recovering. Real economic indicators were far healthier than before, and both the Nasdaq and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were climbing aggressively toward previous highs.
“It feels like it’s heating up too fast,” he thought. The recovery was so rapid that he was almost worried. If a double top formed and the market reversed, the fall could be even more severe than before. Yet Wall Street and global financial markets paid almost no attention to warnings from Yoo Jae-won or ID Investment. Many claimed the firm had lost its touch simply because it had invested in oil and gold. Although those assets were also rising and ID Investment had not lost money, their returns were far lower than equities. Regardless of what others said, Yoo Jae-won had no intention of changing ID Investment’s portfolio. After all, September 2001 would bring a terrorist attack that would shake the world. The market’s dismissive reaction only reassured him; he quietly continued buying safe-haven assets and expanding put positions in the futures market.
The couple returned to Korea on November 30, 2000. The moment they arrived, they witnessed an extraordinary scene.
“You can’t come through here, you bastards!”
“You ignorant fools! Just step on me and go!”
A group of people had formed a human chain, shouting at the top of their lungs. Human chains were usually the desperate act of the powerless against overwhelming authority. The chain before them, however, had nothing noble about it. It had been formed in front of the palatial residence of the Daehan Ilbo chairman, and the people making up the chain were none other than Daehan Ilbo reporters.
As Choi Kang-wook had reported, the newspaper’s assets—including the chairman’s residence—had been seized for unpaid fines and penalties and put up for auction. After several failed bids, ID Group had won the property at fifty percent of its appraised value and immediately demanded that the occupants vacate. ID Group announced plans to demolish the building and construct a digital cultural complex. The announcement had been met with cheers. Residents near Heukseok-dong welcomed the prospect of rising property values, and Seoul City was glad to see an eyesore removed and a new public space created.
Only one party objected: Daehan Ilbo itself. The chairman’s family had quietly moved out to avoid further trouble, but the newspaper’s reporters had taken their place, staging a sit-in. Forced eviction had been requested, and today was the day. Choi Kang-wook had brought in a large number of burly security personnel, and a standoff was underway.
“Get rid of them!”
At someone’s command, the muscle moved, and the real confrontation began.