Chapter 18 - Old Families
Chapter 18 - Old Families
The day after the President visited MIT, quiet movements were beginning in the old mansions of the United States.
The news didn't know everything yet.
Reporters kept harping on the fact that the President had visited MIT, and the White House kept repeating that it was a private matter, but there were people in the world who moved faster than reporters.
Old banks, boards of defense companies, private meeting rooms of energy tycoons, families who had sat at the same table as senators for decades—they already knew.
That the US government had approved an industrial project worth 1.2 trillion dollars.
That at the center of it was a ten-year-old boy named Yoon Siwoo.
And even that what the boy had created was a superconductor.
Edward Rockwell was reading a report in his study after finishing breakfast.
The old man, with his gray hair neatly combed back, turned the pages one by one, and on his desk lay an unofficial summary that had leaked after the presidential meeting.
[Superconductor] [30 Production Hubs] [30% Government Stake] [Siwoo Yoon needs to set the structure alone]
Edward stopped his hand at the last line.
"Only he can make it, huh..."
The secretary standing next to him spoke quietly.
"It appears the government has reached the same conclusion."
"And the fact that the government received 30%?"
"It is known that Yoon Siwoo proposed it."
Edward chuckled briefly.
"A ten-year-old?"
"Yes."
"He knew he couldn't protect it alone."
Edward closed the report.
The child who solved the Hodge Conjecture, the genius called Humanity's Intellect—that alone was already special.
But the superconductor was different.
Mathematics creates honor, but superconductors change industry.
When industry changes, money moves, and when money moves, politics follows.
When politics moves, even the world order is shaken.
And at the starting point of that stood a ten-year-old boy.
"Send an invitation."
The secretary looked up.
"To Yoon Siwoo, sir?"
"To both Yoon Siwoo and his parents."
"I will prepare it in the form of a party."
"It shouldn't be too blatant."
"But it shouldn't look light, either."
Edward thought for a moment and added.
"Call Astor, McMillan, and Lawrence, all of them."
"All of them, sir?"
"Yes."
Edward smiled quietly.
"The time has come for the old houses of America to welcome a new era."
That afternoon, Yoon Siwoo's mailbox contained thicker envelopes than usual.
FBI bodyguard Ethan Ross was standing in front of the door, and inside the living room, Kim Hyejin was placing the envelopes on the table one by one.
"What is all this?"
Yoon Taesik picked up one of the envelopes.
It was thick paper. It had a seal stamped on it, and the names of families he had never heard of were written on them.
Rockwell, Astor, McMillan, Lawrence.
Hyejin opened an envelope carefully.
"It looks like a party invitation?"
"A party?"
Yoon Taesik laughed as if it were absurd.
"What kind of party would we go to?"
Just then, Ethan approached the living room, and after scanning the invitations, his expression became a bit serious.
"These are not ordinary invitations."
"Do you know these families?"
"Yes. They are very old families in the United States."
"They have significant influence in finance, politics, defense, and energy."
Kim Hyejin blinked.
"Why would people like that invite us?"
Ethan looked at Yoon Siwoo for a moment.
"It's because of Siwoo."
Yoon Taesik turned to look at Siwoo.
"Siwoo, did something happen?"
Siwoo looked down at the invitations for a moment.
He had to tell them eventually.
From the moment he made the superconductor, he couldn't keep his family in the dark anymore.
Even the President had moved, and security had increased; it was actually more dangerous for his parents to know nothing.
I took a breath for a moment. It was a bit daunting to figure out where to start explaining this.
The situation was different from when I solved the Hodge Conjecture. Superconductors involve money, industry, and the state, all tied together.
What I made was just one small sample, but behind it followed factories, jobs, and even a government stake, and from my parents' perspective, it would feel like hearing too big of a story overnight.
"I made a superconductor."
The living room went quiet.
Yoon Taesik had a face that didn't quite understand at first.
"A superconductor?"
"Yes..."
Kim Hyejin asked cautiously.
"That... the thing where electricity flows without resistance?"
"That's right."
Yoon Taesik looked at Siwoo with a blank face.
"You made that?"
"Yes. To be precise, I didn't create a new material, I changed the structure."
"Structure?"
"The path the electrons travel. I redesigned that path."
His parents couldn't say anything, and Ethan stepped back quietly.
This conversation was something the family had to have.
Siwoo continued.
"The government verified it, too."
"And we decided to build a production hub worth 1.2 trillion dollars."
"How much?"
Yoon Taesik's voice cracked strangely.
"1.2 trillion dollars."
Kim Hyejin put down the invitation she was holding.
"Siwoo."
"That... how much is that in Korean money?"
"It's so big that it's better to think in dollars."
Yoon Taesik opened his mouth and then closed it.
He seemed to want to say something, but no words came out.
"And I decided to give the government a 30% stake."
This time, Hyejin reacted first.
"Why give them that?"
"Because I can't protect it alone."
The living room went quiet.
"I can make the superconductor, but I can't stop the people surrounding it."
"Companies will rush in, and other countries will move, too."
"Someone might target me, and Mom and Dad could be in danger too."
Hyejin's face turned pale, and Taesik clenched his fists without a word.
"That's why the government needs to be involved."
"If they have a stake, it becomes their job to protect their own asset."
"That's better for protecting me, and Mom and Dad, too."
Hyejin looked at Siwoo.
When they first came to America, Siwoo was only eight years old, a child standing at an unfamiliar airport pulling a small suitcase.
In those two years, that child had solved the Hodge Conjecture, adapted to MIT, and now he was calculating his own safety against the President and the government.
Kim Hyejin's eyes turned red.
"When did you grow up so much..."
Yoon Taesik also bowed his head and then slowly let out a breath.
"Dad still thinks of you as a kid who comes out to eat while playing games."
"I still do that, though."
Yoon Taesik finally burst into a dry laugh, and Kim Hyejin also wiped her tears and smiled.
Ethan said cautiously.
"The invitations came from that background."
"These families are closer to wanting to invite you into their network rather than trying to take Siwoo's work away."
"Network?"
Siwoo nodded.
"Even if the government protects me, enemies will appear, and I can't stop all of that with just security."
"It's better to have more people in the US who won't be hostile toward me."
Kim Hyejin asked cautiously.
"So, are we going to the party?"
"Yes. It's good to get close to these people."
"If we enter the upper-class network, the number of enemies can decrease."
"At least within the US."
Yoon Taesik looked at the invitations for a while and then nodded.
"Let's go."
Kim Hyejin looked at her husband in surprise.
"Honey..."
"It's scary, but it doesn't seem like something that will be solved by avoiding it."
Yoon Taesik looked at Siwoo.
"If you did that to protect us..."
"We should be by your side."
Siwoo looked at his father for a moment, and one side of his chest felt warm.
A few days later, luxury vehicles were lining up in front of a mansion on the outskirts of Boston.
In the large garden, lights were set low, and staff in black suits were quietly guiding the guests.
They called it a party, but there was no loud music; it was closer to a quiet social gathering.
Yoon Taesik adjusted his tie slightly in front of the door.
"Do I look weird?"
Kim Hyejin looked at her husband and smiled.
"You're fine. But it's obvious you're too nervous."
"Is that okay?"
Siwoo looked at the two of them from the side.
"You can just act like you usually do."
"I don't think I can act like I usually do..."
The door opened, and the three of them went inside.
Gaze naturally gathered, but no one stared blatantly.
The people in the mansion knew how to package even curiosity with politeness.
The first to approach was Edward Rockwell.
He walked over slowly and greeted Siwoo's parents first.
"Mr. Taesik Yoon, Ms. Hyejin Kim, thank you for coming."
Yoon Taesik shook his hand a bit awkwardly.
"Thank you for inviting us."
Kim Hyejin also bowed cautiously.
"This is our first time in a place like this, so I'm worried I might make a mistake."
Edward smiled softly.
"People who don't make mistakes are boring."
"Actually, people who are too perfect are more tiring."
Kim Hyejin seemed to relax a little at those words and smiled.
"Then I should be fine."
"Because I'm confident I'll make several mistakes today."
Edward chuckled, and Yoon Taesik straightened his shoulders beside her.
His parents were adapting better than he thought.
After that, Henry Astor approached.
He was a member of an old-money family representing Wall Street, and he naturally brought up baseball to Yoon Taesik.
"I heard you are staying in Boston."
"Have you become a Red Sox fan?"
Yoon Taesik hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"I'm not sure yet."
"Seattle is good, and New York is fun, too."
Henry Astor raised an eyebrow.
"Playing both sides, I see."
Yoon Taesik was flustered but soon laughed.
"I haven't been an immigrant for long."
"America is too big to pick just one team."
Laughter flowed from the surroundings, and the atmosphere, which seemed like it would be stiff, loosened up a bit.
Kim Hyejin was already chatting with a few wives.
Food, children, life in America—they were getting along better than expected, and the faces that had looked unfamiliar at first were gradually becoming more natural.
Siwoo watched that and felt a little relieved.
He thought his parents would be completely overwhelmed in this place, but they weren't.
The two had entered an unfamiliar world, but at least they didn't back down.
Edward approached Siwoo's side.
"Your parents are good people."
"Yes."
"They were nervous, but they didn't run away."
"Dad seemed to be debating whether to run away or not, though."
Edward laughed lowly.
"Most people can't even debate it."
A moment later, Charles McMillan and Victor Lawrence joined them.
Charles was a figure with strong influence in the defense sector, and the McMillan family's name was always mentioned in the history of war and the defense industry.
Victor Lawrence was an energy tycoon.
He was one of the people who could move the most if the superconducting power grid became a reality.
Henry Astor looked at Siwoo.
"Siwoo, your name is already being mentioned all day on Wall Street."
"I haven't listed it yet, though."
Henry laughed.
"That's why it's even more chaotic."
Charles McMillan said in a low voice.
"A superconductor... It's inevitable that the defense sector would be interested."
Siwoo looked at him.
"I'm only going to make the superconductor."
Charles laughed.
"I heard that. That's why it's even more interesting."
"If you had tried to monopolize everything, the atmosphere in this room would have been much colder."
Victor Lawrence put down his glass.
"The energy sector will take a hit."
"If the power grid changes, existing energy companies will have to redraw their strategies."
Siwoo thought for a moment.
"Oil won't disappear right away, will it?"
"Even if the power grid changes, demand in the chemical industry, aviation, and military sectors will remain."
"If we push too fast, existing industries will be shaken, too."
Victor's eyes changed.
"Do you know that?"
"Roughly. Because if you change the structure of one side, the other side could collapse."
Edward watched Siwoo quietly.
A ten-year-old boy was talking about the shock of industrial transition.
His tone was cautious, but his thoughts had already passed through several stages.
Edward opened his mouth.
"Siwoo, you are going to make enemies in the future."
Siwoo looked at him.
"I know."
"Do you really know?"
Siwoo looked around the party hall for a moment.
People laughing, people clinking glasses, people quietly exchanging information—it was a soft setting on the outside, but there was a clear flow of power inside.
"I don't know everything. That's why I came here."
A faint smile appeared on Edward's lips.
"Good answer."
He paused for a moment and then said in a slightly lower voice.
"A person doesn't necessarily need to make many enemies."
"But when you have to fight for yourself, your family, and what you need to protect, you must not avoid it."
Siwoo listened quietly.
"The government will protect you."
"But the government cannot build all the relationships."
"In this country, there are things older than the law, and relationships deeper than money."
"If you enter that, the enemies will decrease, and people who try to mess with you carelessly will be more cautious."
Siwoo thought for a moment.
What Edward was saying wasn't advice; it was closer to the invisible structure of the country called America.
If the government was the official power, these people were the unofficial flow.
Relationships that move outside of laws and systems—you shouldn't ignore that.
"Then what do I need to do?"
Edward looked at Siwoo.
"You must learn."
"Who is a friend, who is a calculator, and who hides a knife while smiling."
Charles McMillan laughed from the side.
"Edward is telling such scary stories to a child he just met."
Edward didn't take his eyes off him.
"This child is a child who can handle hearing scary stories."
Siwoo nodded quietly.
"I understand."
Edward only then raised his glass.
"To the new era of America."
Henry Astor raised his glass.
"And to Novis."
Victor Lawrence also raised his glass.
"I look forward to the day the power grid changes."
Charles McMillan looked at Siwoo and said.
"Someday, we will talk about defense, too."
Siwoo held juice instead of a glass.
"I'm still ten years old."
Laughter erupted around them.
"That's why it's even scarier."
The party went more smoothly than expected.
His parents adapted faster than anticipated, and the old-money families didn't make blatant demands.
The people of the old houses knew how to wait.