Remodeling (1)
"I'll delete the data for both of you as well."
Jason had transferred all the data up to yesterday onto another hard drive, then wiped it completely with a full initialization. Overflow. It was a 32-bit integer system, so the raw number had surpassed 2.1 billion, looped around into the negatives, punched through zero, and climbed back into positives. In other words, the real figure was roughly 4.3 billion.
The all-time high until yesterday had been 24,000. Yulia's measurement had clocked in at 50,000. And now, out of nowhere, 4.3 billion? Jason felt a throbbing headache pulsing in his temples.
Ability user ratings were known to spike exponentially—sometimes by tens or hundreds of times—but 4.3 billion crossed a line that felt outright absurd.
But are these two really at that level?
Every time he saw them, he thought they were monstrous—monstrous—but was it really to that extent? A doubt crept in.
Sure, both of them possessed physical capabilities no other ability user could touch, but it still felt like they hadn't quite breached the final limits of humanity. There were ability users whose skin morphed into something like body armor, others who fired electromagnetic waves from their heads to function as living radars. By comparison, enhanced reaction speed and muscle power seemed almost quaint.
Yet a "simple" ability like that was spitting out these unreal numbers? It was hard to swallow.
Wait. What if this isn't the end of it?
Come to think of it, hadn't David Min and Yuri Min been shattering their own peaks of insanity ever since they first appeared? What if the true potential of their abilities hadn't even surfaced yet? What if this reading wasn't measuring current utility, but future potential—or the raw capacity of their powers?
The moment that thought hit him, Jason felt chills race down his spine.
If his hypothesis was right, then the Min couple would grow far, far, far stronger than anything they'd shown so far—making their current monstrous selves look like a joke. They were already plenty freakish. How much more powerful did they plan to get...? His vision blurred.
"Director, about this brainwave input/output device. Could you introduce me to the manufacturer?"
"Ah, of course. Happy to."
Cheol-woo fiddled with the headset gear used for the tests as he spoke. It wasn't exquisitely crafted—rushed production, no doubt—but it was undeniably functional. Not just reading brainwaves, but inputting signals in a similar waveform directly into the mind. Tech like that used to require implanting chips in your skull. This was a tangible reminder that the rifts had ushered in a tech revolution.
"Why the interest in the brainwave I/O? Planning to use it somewhere?"
"You remember? John Friedman used one too. When he turned Yulia into a missile guidance radar."
"Hey! You aren't thinking of using Yulia for...!"
"What? We brought her along to make use of her, right? Or did you plan to raise her all cutesy, marry her off someday, and have a tearjerker family reunion?"
"Well... that's true, but..."
"John Friedman shoved her into a radar amplifier and exploited her. We'll use the massive antennas at the radar base as our amplifier instead. We're buying anti-air missiles anyway—we'll need radar and software to fire them. But buying all that on top? Our 100 billion won't even scratch it. So we make do with what we've got."
Yuri bristled a bit at the idea of using the kid as a human radar, but as she listened, she started to nod along. Yulia understood her own abilities well enough, and she'd followed them in exchange for using them. Deploying a child in a lethal system didn't sit right, but the world wasn't kind enough to care. At least as a radar operator staying out of the direct fighting, she'd be relatively safe in this messed-up era.
"Let's head home for now. The residential area at the radar base has had decent remodeling progress—Kim Mi-young said she's already living there."
"Kim Mi-young? Who's that?"
"One of our employees."
"Daddy, you're the boss!?"
"You'll get paid too. Long as you do good work."
"Okay. I'll work hard."
Yulia showed real enthusiasm, which was great—Cheol-woo ruffled her hair.
Cheol-woo and the group left Secret Intelligence Agency headquarters and headed for the airport. Jason offered to fly them all the way to the radar base, so there was no reason to refuse.
"Maybe we should get our own plane. Or a helicopter if planes are too pricey."
"What about a pilot?"
"I'll learn."
"Ugh, no thanks. I'm not riding in a plane you fly."
"Let's see... prices... Hmm. No dice."
Having to hit the airport every time they came and went was a hassle. Should they just buy a dedicated bird that flew straight to the radar base? Cheol-woo mulled it over, searched online... and gave up clean. It was a world beyond what a 100-billion-won net worth could touch. They'd thought they were loaded, but the world was vast, and the realm of the truly rich was beyond imagination. Time to stay humble.
Soon the plane touched down. Yulia shivered as they stepped out—the wind was biting cold.
"Doesn't Newcastle usually get chilly around now? It's still July..."
"No, this is unusually low temperatures."
"Climate anomaly?"
"No. Just the global average dropping. Meteorologists blame the rifts—looks like this winter will be long and brutal."
"..."
Earth's temperature falling since the rifts opened... They might scrape by this winter, but next year? The year after? It'd just keep getting colder. To what extreme? If it dropped to levels hostile to organic life, Earth was done for.
In the end, we have to close those rifts?
Cheol-woo glanced up at the familiar black rift snaking across the sky and clicked his tongue. Everything causing this disaster poured out from there. So closing them had to be humanity's top priority, right? The thought struck him, but he couldn't voice it. The bigger issue was how. They didn't even know what the rifts were—shutting them was pure fantasy.
"It's daunting."
"Yeah..."
Sighs escaped in heavy bursts. Good thing they'd built the bunker—Cheol-woo felt a sliver of relief. Even in the worst case, they wouldn't freeze to death. Small modular reactor for the win.
"Huh? Oh, hey?"
"Yeah?"
"Boss...!"
No sooner had they arrived at the radar base than a high-pitched squeal rang out. Kim Mi-young, glasses and all, came sprinting up, screaming. She lunged at Cheol-woo for a hug but got clotheslined by Yuri's arm with a yelp.
Big round glasses, messy bun, black hoodie—pure cram-school student vibe.
"You guys hadn't come back, I thought you were dead!"
"What? It's only been a month. For a deployment, that's crazy early."
"Still... I was so worried left here all alone. If you didn't come back, I'd get kicked out, drop med school, end up broke on the streets with no paycheck... I was scared to death."
"Wait, you got into med school? It's not even exam season."
"Hehe. Shortage of medical staff—unis started emergency two-year programs for grads. Nailed it first try."
"English?"
"Crammed enough for reading and convo."
"What...?"
Learned English in under a month? And passed the med school entrance? Cheol-woo's gaze sharpened on Kim Mi-young. This woman was a genius? Then why had she wasted time manning counters for that hack Han Si-yeon? Mystery. No wonder that incompetent couldn't spot talent.
"Good work. Two years isn't too late. But you were a college grad? Where from?"
"Tsinghua University, engineering."
"..."
"..."
Impressive pedigree. Him and sis were high school grads—thank god they had one elite. She'd come in handy for brainy stuff later.
"But who's the kid? Oh my, so cute."
"Yulia. Her abilities are useful, so we adopted her."
"Gulp... Doesn't that feel weird?"
"What?"
"The couple act. Adopting now means you can't back out easy."
"So what? Find someone to marry later, divorce, done. It's just paper anyway."
"Aha..."
Mi-young swallowed hard, vowing not to pry further. Yuri's glare boring into the back of Cheol-woo's head from behind was razor-sharp—too sharp. With a sister-in-law like that looming, plus a kid now, no woman would ever sign up to marry the boss.