The Poisoned Apple
"Nice to meet you. I'm Kang Gun, CEO of Limitless."
"Meeting the man behind the rumors in person is an honor. I am……"
"Koo Hoe-jin, Chairman of KG Group."
Koo Hoe-jin, chairman of KG Group, had arrived at Limitless headquarters in a crisp suit, of all places.
His unexpected appearance threw the office into utter chaos.
Amid the commotion, I quietly moved into my office and handed a cup of tea to the man with the pleasant face.
"Well, this is a surprise. I'd asked to meet with someone from KG Energy, and instead the chairman himself shows up…… If I'd known, I would have come to see you."
"Hahaha. Not at all. If it's me who wants the meeting, then I should be the one to come. I'd been hoping for a chance to meet you in person, Mr. CEO — I just didn't expect it to come this soon."
"I'm a personal fan of yours, actually. That optical semiconductor technology you developed jointly with Ontel…… It was truly remarkable. If it reaches commercialization, the world will be transformed. And if we can link it with the products we're developing……"
Seemingly a little excited at meeting me face to face, Chairman Koo went on at length about the changes the future would bring, his face flushed, pouring out one genuine exclamation of admiration after another for what I had achieved.
It was the first time anyone had praised me so openly to my face — the kind of situation that could easily have been cringeworthy. But his praise didn't feel like empty flattery; it sounded sincere. I smiled faintly and thought:
'Well…… it's not bad, actually…….'
So I simply listened to him talk for a long while. Then, suddenly realizing he'd been the only one speaking, Chairman Koo froze for a moment before looking slightly embarrassed.
"Haha…… forgive me. I got carried away and started rambling. I majored in computer science back in the day…… I went overboard."
"Not at all. It was all very pleasant to hear."
When I accepted it with a grin, he visibly relaxed and nodded. Only then could I finally bring up the real reason I'd requested this meeting.
"And what's this……?"
"A new material I recently developed. I named it Veratian."
"A new material?"
Gray crystalline fragments inside a small plastic cylinder. He picked it up and studied it closely, murmuring the name to himself several times.
"I ran a few tests on this material, and the results were quite interesting. The confirmed properties of Veratian, at a basic level…… make it an ideal material for batteries."
"This is…… a battery material?"
"To be precise, it's a next-generation energy medium. It has roughly five times the energy density of the sulfide-based electrolytes used in the solid-state battery systems currently being commercialized."
"Excuse me……?"
Chairman Koo asked again with a blank expression, as if he'd misheard. But I paid it no mind and continued my explanation of Veratian.
"Veratian is inherently ion-conductive, and even when coupled directly with a lithium metal anode, no dendrites form. So there's no need for complicated processes like protective layers or interface coatings. And industrially, it's remarkably efficient — it contains no rare earth metals at all. The raw materials are minerals and elements you can source easily anywhere."
"No…… no dendrite formation at all?"
Chairman Koo's face gradually filled with shock as he listened. And no wonder — dendrite formation was the single greatest challenge facing the battery industry today.
Instead of an inefficient material like lithium, using Arbenin would amplify efficiency dozens of times over…… Ugh, honestly, the problem with this era is that there are so many technologies it just can't make use of.
In truth, Robotoby's EB-32 battery boasted efficiency hundreds of times higher. But its performance was so far beyond the realm of what this era could produce that we'd downgraded it again and again until only Veratian remained. By Alex's standards, its performance was hopelessly inadequate — but in Chairman Koo's eyes, this much was more than enough.
"F-five times……"
Chairman Koo kept muttering to himself. His hand was trembling slightly.
"Energy density aside — what about heat generation? Charging speed?"
Uncharacteristically for the head of a major conglomerate, unable to hide his emotions, he set Veratian down and fired back a question immediately.
"Heat generation is nearly nonexistent. Thermal degradation is 0.001% or less at room temperature. Charging speed is theoretically 100% in eight minutes. The experimental cell I tested stabilized in around ten minutes."
"……"
To put it simply, the performance of a battery built on Veratian was this:
Charging capacity ten times that of existing batteries.
Charging speed slashed to a fraction.
Battery lifespan increased more than twentyfold.
A monster that would render every existing battery — no, even the solid-state batteries that corporations around the world were pouring trillions of won into developing as the next generation — nothing but relics of a bygone age.
That was why Chairman Koo couldn't easily accept what I was telling him.
"……"
He fell silent, his face pale, at a loss for words. But I smiled and spoke with quiet confidence.
"If you don't believe me, I'll give you samples as a gift. Take them to KG and test them yourselves — chew them up, tear them apart, taste them, enjoy them to your heart's content."
"……"
Even at my joke, meant to lighten the mood, he didn't smile. He kept frowning gravely, deep in thought, and only after a long while did he manage to speak.
"For now…… I'll believe everything you've said, Mr. CEO."
Chairman Koo didn't think I would sit here in front of the chairman of KG Group running a scam built on lies that would soon be exposed.
It hadn't been easy, but he accepted that this moment was all real — and with that, the calculations in his head grew far more complicated.
"But this technology is…… more dangerous than you realize, Mr. CEO."
Chairman Koo was warning me that the Veratian battery was dangerous. And then he said:
"The moment KG Group releases this to the world, we stop being a simple battery manufacturer. We become a corporation standing at the pinnacle of global energy hegemony. But at the same time…… we become a target for the entire world."
"What drives the world today is resources. Oil majors hold countless nations' industries and economies in the palm of their hands through petroleum, and the few countries that monopolize rare earth production wield it as a weapon of political and diplomatic influence. Look no further than Russia recently squeezing Europe with natural gas — that alone shows how enormous the power of resources is."
Unfortunately, thanks to a poor hand of geography, South Korea was a resource-poor nation. Dependent on imports for nearly every essential resource, I understood exactly what he was getting at.
"This technology…… will shatter that order."
Koo Hoe-jin lightly tapped the plastic container holding the Veratian sample with his fingertip as he continued.
"Put this in an electric vehicle and the internal combustion industry collapses. Drones and robots fly surveillance missions around the clock. Even military weapons can operate without refueling. If anyone tries to monopolize this, they won't shy away from war."
"If KG mass-produces this, neither America nor China nor Europe will sit still. Patents? Treaties? All useless. Its very existence is a threat — this is an era where technology itself becomes a weapon."
Batteries were indispensable to every advanced industry, without exception. A technology that could raise battery performance dozens of times beyond the current standard wasn't merely something you coveted. It was something you had to secure by any means necessary — even at the cost of war. That was why he looked at me with the most serious expression I'd seen from him yet.
"Mr. CEO. This is not a decision to be made lightly. Even a nation like South Korea isn't prepared to handle this technology. If it hits the market…… you and I could go down in history as the most assassinated figures of all time."
Chairman Koo was coolly assessing both the potential and the danger of the technology I'd unveiled, painting a very large picture. It was a moment that made clear the chairmanship of a group with a dozen-plus affiliates was not a seat anyone simply stumbles into.
Of course…… it wasn't as though I'd pulled this out without considering the dangers either.
"So?"
"Excuse me……?"
"It might be dangerous. So what. America, China, Japan, or Europe could throw a fit and scream at KG Group or the Korean government to hand the technology over."
"……"
"Or someone might decide, 'If I can't have it, I'll destroy it all!' and one day send an armed assassin to your house, Chairman."
"But…… do we really have to hide the existence of such an innovative, high-performance material for reasons like that?"
Chairman Koo reacted a beat late to my words, and instead of answering, he pressed his lips together and lowered his head. During that brief silence, I studied him slowly.
"Not confident, perhaps? Chairman?"
His eyes flashed as he looked up at me. Knowing full well I was being rude, I didn't back down — I kept going with a bright smile.
"Of course it can be frightening. But if that fear means invention, progress, and innovation all have to stop……"
"Is that really the attitude of a leader who drives industry?"
Chairman Koo's eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly. I took a sip of tea and continued calmly.
"You said this technology has destructive power so great that other nations would go to war over it. Yes. Correct. I know perfectly well it's that kind of technology. That's exactly why I'm the one reaching out to KG Group first with this proposal, isn't it?"
I lightly tapped the Veratian on the table.
"I believed KG Group was more than capable of commercializing this technology despite the competition, the checks, and outside interference. But if you, Chairman, hesitate because you think it's too dangerous……"
"Then I'll have to look elsewhere. What choice do I have?"
"……?"
"Ahsung? BATL? Or perhaps a state-owned energy company in America or Europe? If I set my mind to it, I could find a partner capable of replacing KG Group within a week."
My tone was still polite, my smile unchanged — but Chairman Koo understood my meaning perfectly. This was not a proposal. It was a threat.
"Th-that's……!"
Chairman Koo drew a sharp breath. Tension spread across his face.
"Fortunately, you came yourself, Chairman — not some manager or executive, but the one man with full authority to decide. So we can wrap this up quickly. I want your choice, right here, right now. What will it be?"
I leaned back in my chair and asked slowly.
"This board I've set up…… will KG take it and run with it? Or just watch from the sidelines?"
I had just pulled a full "Scared?" on the chairman of KG Group, ranked third in Korean business.
But the effect of this crude provocation was potent.
"……Trust me with it. I'll do my utmost to take that board and run."
And so Chairman Koo accepted the apple I held out.
An apple so sweet — and yet, a poisoned apple that might well prove lethal.