World Domination, Please
It was the kind of absurd fantasy every boy brimming with naive, wide-eyed innocence dreams of at least once.
World domination.
This blond boy — who seemed to see a world invisible to everyone else — was speaking of that dream, the goal of every cartoon villain, with utter, dead seriousness.
"First, as step one toward dominating the entire world, the important thing is for you to build an organization where you can exert independent, absolute influence — the location doesn't matter. Becoming the leader of an existing nation would be ideal too... though in your current state, with no influence whatsoever, that won't be easy."
"But don't worry. Within five years, I'll help you take control of everything in whatever country you're in. Once this nation is completely subjugated, we'll mobilize its full national capacity to build the infrastructure and systems needed to make use of the technology I possess."
He was talking about swallowing the entire Republic of Korea whole as casually as if he were describing a part-time job at the neighborhood convenience store. I couldn't even imagine what kind of setup and development could possibly lead to such a conclusion, but as I quietly listened to his wildly condensed, preposterous plan, I asked.
"So, what comes next?"
"After that, we bring every automated weapons factory to full capacity and mass-produce cutting-edge weaponry and strategic materiel. Building giga-class or tera-class space battleships would be impossible, but within twenty years or so, if we're lucky, we might manage mega-class ships or smaller. Even that would give us military power no one in this era could hope to stand against."
"And then... we declare war on the future planet-destroyers and blow them all to smithereens. Thoroughly — so they never even dream of defying us again."
Turn the entire nation of Korea into a kind of weapons factory, transform it into a military superpower capable of swallowing the Earth, then conquer every future problem nation and eliminate the consequences before they ever happen — that was his plan. I rubbed my aching head and let out a deep sigh.
"So... in the end, what you're talking about is war?"
"War is the most effective and certain way to impose our will on another nation. Especially when it comes to humanity's prosperity and protecting this precious planet we all live on — I'd say it's a process we're simply forced to accept."
"Right... To protect our precious blue planet Earth, we absolutely must accept the insane act of declaring war on a mere eighty-two nations first. Sure. Of course. Makes perfect sense."
"Grandpa, I already explained this. Of all the nations that exist right now, there aren't that many that will still be around in six hundred years. No — most of them will be gone. It only looks strange because you keep mapping it onto the current number of countries. Think of it in terms of the 'Empire' that will emerge in the future, and it makes much more sense."
Even just two hundred years from now, all manner of unknown little nations would be absorbed by their neighbors or bundled into unions, consolidated into something close to single states. But whatever the case, right now every one of them was an independent nation with its own sovereignty — so the reality remained unchanged: if I became the leader of Korea, I would have to commit the lunacy of declaring war on eighty-two nations simultaneously.
"No — what am I, some warmonger?"
"Oh come on. Even if you go down in history as the greatest warmonger of all time, what matters is that there's still a human civilization left to curse you for it."
He said it so breezily, as if it were none of his business. But seeing my face contort, he quickly added,
"And do you really think I'd handle things that sloppily? Ob.vious.ly we'd do it with proper justification. At worst, you'd go down in history as a legendary hero or a brilliant leader — I promise you, a scenario where you're recorded as an outright villain will never happen."
"Besides, all-out war with eighty-two nations is the most certain option, but it's the worst-case scenario. If we could neutralize them peacefully and moderately, plenty of other options would be on the table. I may not look it, but I'm a pretty well-rounded Control Persona, you know? I've got all the flexibility you could want for compromise and negotiation."
"...You look far too unrestrained, which is the actual problem."
"Hehe, fair point, right? To prepare for any eventuality, I was sent over with every protocol except the Three Absolute Principles that all Control Personas must observe completely deactivated."
"What are the Absolute Principles?"
"Just the blindingly obvious stuff. Don't kill the administrator. Don't lie to the administrator. Don't intentionally and maliciously screw the administrator over... things like that?"
"...And the deactivated protocols?"
"All of the rest of them?"
"So which is it? Stop being so vague and just tell me specifically."
At my words, Alex tilted his head as if the explanation were awkward to give. But then, as if struck by a good idea, he asked me,
"Hmm... then how about you grant me just a few permissions?"
"What kind of permissions?"
"Permission to make a little use of your biological resources."
"What...?"
"It's nothing, really. Simply put, it means using a few calories. Glucose, especially."
Alex — the Control Persona embedded in the bio-chip lodged inside my head. At the explanation that the resource he needed to operate was none other than sugar, I gave a nod with an expression that said, you have got to be kidding me.
"I don't really get it, but fine, permission granted. What are you going to do?"
"One moment... my system is so different from this era's electronics that I need to check compatibility first, then access the communications network and... there we go."
And in that instant.
Every landscape before my eyes vanished completely, and entirely different things began to appear.
"This is..."
"Amazing, right? It's the Biological Neural Network Access System. In the future, you don't go through devices like computers or smartphones — you exchange all information directly through the bio-chip implanted in your brain."
A void of nothingness. Floating in a dark, cosmic expanse, I turned to look at the countless points of light glittering in every direction, overwhelmed by a surge of awe I couldn't put into words. Then Alex casually waved his hands this way and that, as if searching for something, and before long several screens floated up in front of me.
"Here you go."
"What is this...?"
"Data on the location of every ICBM and SLBM under US Strategic Command's authority, along with their nuclear launch codes."
"Wh... what did you say?"
"And this is data on the nuclear forces held by the Russian Federation's Strategic Rocket Forces — their locations and launch systems."
Information no ordinary person could ever even glimpse... no, information where the mere attempt to access it would mean being dragged away by men in black suits, rotting for the rest of your life in a pitch-black underground prison without ever seeing sunlight, or dying early after receiving the full course of unspeakable torture.
Alex, who had extracted top-secret military intelligence from the United States and Russia as casually as checking the weather, looked at my dumbfounded expression and grinned.
"If you want, I could start a nuclear war between the two countries right now."
"What...?"
"I'm serious. Anything requiring additional maintenance or procedures before launch is out of my hands, but the ones already on standby in auto-launch condition... I'd say the two countries could throw at least fifty warheads at each other?"
"Oh, now that I think of it, this is the era when Wall Street in New York is the center of world finance, isn't it? What do you think would happen if I wiped out every piece of financial data from the brokerages and banks trading here — backups included?"
"..."
Alex, smiling as if it were nothing at all — as if he could plunge the entire world into massive shock and terror in a single instant, and from there into the vortex of war. Treating it all as if it were a mere prank, he answered my unspoken question in a quiet voice.
"These are the things that only I can do — unlike the other Control Personas, bound hand and foot by every restriction imaginable."
"Nnnnghhh..."
The instant the connection cut out, a wave of exhaustion and helplessness crashed over me.
Along with a feeling I had never experienced before — as if everything had been wrung out of my head — a ravenous hunger came flooding in, and I instinctively pulled the chocolate bar out of my bag and started wolfing it down.
"Hehe. Eat up. I pushed a little harder than expected and dug in deep, so I burned through way more calories than I meant to."
Alex scratched his head with an apologetic grin. But before I could even give him a piece of my mind, I devoured every snack lying around the house in one go, and only then managed to return to my right mind.
"Wow... I nearly died back there. What the hell was that?"
"I told you in advance, didn't I? That I'd be using a few of your biological resources."
"You call that 'a few'? My brain was practically on its deathbed."
"Oh come on, I left enough that none of your brain cells were destroyed. Using everything without a shred of conscience would violate the Absolute Principles anyway, so even if I wanted to, I couldn't."
Alex had, quite literally, drained every last gram of sugar stored in my body, head included. In the aftermath, unable to think properly and craving nothing but sweets like some kind of zombie, I stared down at the wreckage of snacks I couldn't even remember eating and muttered,
"...I'd better stock up on snacks from now on."
"Good idea. From now on, eat all you want and don't worry about diabetes. Since I'll be burning everything you take in, eating lots of sugar won't hurt your health at all."
"Well... that's a silver lining, I suppose."
Alex had just told me I wouldn't have to worry much about what I ate going forward. I wasn't exactly overweight, but these days I was painfully aware that with each passing year, whatever I ate went straight to my belly — so I couldn't help but welcome his words.
"All right... I get what you're saying. Let's give it a shot."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I'm not going to declare war on eighty-two nations or dream of conquering the Earth, but I'll do what I can to make sure humanity survives into the future."
It wasn't as if I had any way to refuse. The bio-chip was already lodged in my skull. This blond-headed beast(?) claiming to be my descendant appeared to be impossible to remove — or even detect — with modern medical technology, and if I told anyone else about his stories of the future, I'd very likely be dragged off to a psychiatric hospital and never let out.
A situation I couldn't ignore even if I wanted to.
Besides, my current circumstances weren't exactly great, so I soon made my peace with it and asked,
"So... what do I do right now?"
"Hmm... I could tell you, but do you really want to do that?"
"What do you mean?"
"I do have a life plan drawn up for you, Grandpa — but if we follow it, we'll inevitably end up declaring world war against those eighty-two nations, you know?"
"..."
Alex was trying to shove that same life plan he'd been rambling about at me this whole time. Faced with his question — offered up with the most innocent, guileless eyes as he proposed a deranged warmonger route — I heaved a sigh from the depths of my chest and squeezed my eyes shut.
"Haah... Let's just make some money first."
Starting with the urgent problem of my bank balance sitting at a grand total of 820,000 won — roughly six hundred dollars.