War Preparations
War was coming, and it was time to prepare.
Kim Hwang-je’s principles were simple.
He started by visiting Cho Jin-hwi’s house.
“What brings you here, Your Majesty?”
Cho Jin-hwi looked at the man standing before him as if a nightmare had crawled out of his dreams.
He was trying to ignore reality.
But that effort, of course, ended in vain.
Watching him, Kim Hwang-je calmly explained his principle.
Since war was approaching, everything would be conscripted.
“What? Everything?”
Cho Jin-hwi let out a long sigh as he stared at the cars filling the underground garage.
He hadn’t expected to be told to hand over every single vehicle.
Or perhaps he had known. He just hadn’t wanted to accept it.
Still, there was no way to refuse.
After all, the entire Cho family had tried to kill Kim Hwang-je and wipe him from existence. The loser naturally had to surrender all their possessions.
Kim Hwang-je looked around the garage.
This place was quite different from Jo Chun-ki’s garage.
“You’ve only kept armored vehicles in here.”
“That’s correct…”
“There are more than I expected.”
Cho Jin-hwi had his own grievances.
His father had given every company that handled the largest engines on Earth to his older brother, while only leaving him the distribution business.
So Cho Jin-hwi had poured his own money into filling this garage with massive vehicles.
It was his way of compensating for the giant engines his brother had taken.
“I’ll leave behind anything we don’t need. Honestly, these kinds of cars aren’t very useful anyway.”
Kim Hwang-je pointed at a few sleek supercars that were still parked there.
The roads in the royal capital were nowhere near the quality of Germany’s Autobahn. They weren’t even comparable to Korean highways. Even driving at around 200 kilometers per hour caused severe damage; the front bumpers were completely wrecked.
Of course, they could be repaired with Hangma Oil, but the fuel cost was too painful.
Instead, Kim Hwang-je’s eyes lingered on a six-wheeled Mercedes.
The Mercedes G128 AMC 6X6.
Its angular body looked like a rolling boulder. It weighed four tons, had a twelve-cylinder engine, 700 horsepower, and a staggering 90 torque.
And there wasn’t just one. The garage was packed with them.
These were vehicles that could instantly become technicals the moment you mounted a machine gun on them. In fact, they were overqualified for the role.
With Cho Jin-hwi’s eyes squeezed shut, Kim Hwang-je swept every vehicle out of the garage and deposited them all in the royal palace courtyard.
Before Cho Jin-hwi could even open his eyes, a mountain of gold larger than his own body appeared before him.
“Oh, of course I don’t plan to take them for free. I’m not that much of a villain. Use this to fill your garage with whatever you want.”
Kim Hwang-je didn’t have time to buy new cars and modify them from scratch to create his technical guerrilla unit.
This confiscation served that exact purpose.
Cho Jin-hwi swallowed hard as he stared at the gold.
Cho Young-bae’s reaction was a little more intense.
“Your Majesty, please… I beg you, spare me.”
Whether from frustration or resentment, Cho Young-bae’s eyes were bloodshot.
He stood in front of his warehouse, and for good reason. Kim Hwang-je hadn’t just stripped every decent car from his garage—he had gone a step further and demanded every single aircraft engine from Cho Young-bae’s company.
“Without these, we’ll have to start over from scratch. Couldn’t you possibly take them later? I’m begging you.”
“No. I have many uses for them, so make more later. Now, lead the way.”
But Kim Hwang-je looked at him with the sternness of a juvenile court judge.
Seeing that face which seemed impenetrable even by a needle, Cho Young-bae gave up.
Just like his cars, he had no choice but to surrender every airplane and engine inventory in his aircraft research lab.
“Ugh… The ordered goods will arrive in a week. Your Majesty, please, couldn’t you at least leave those?”
“Of course I’m taking those too. But I have my reasons. Complain one more time and it’s off to the coal mines.”
“…”
Kim Hwang-je shut Cho Young-bae’s mouth with a single sentence.
With the wave approaching and his nerves already on edge, he had no tolerance for such trivial obstacles.
Kim Hwang-je then collected every remaining ship and airplane as well.
“Just what… exactly are you planning to use all this for…?”
Taking airplanes and ships made sense.
They would clearly be useful somewhere.
But why take airplane engines that weren’t even fully assembled?
“Because there’s someone who will modify them for me.”
Kim Hwang-je gave only a brief explanation.
“And this is an advance payment. Use it to gather as many more ships and planes as you can.”
Kim Hwang-je bestowed another generous gift of gold upon Cho Young-bae.
Seeing the heavy lump of gold, Cho Young-bae had no choice but to swallow again.
Of course, the responsibility for the modifications fell on Jeong Han-taek.
“I must have misheard.”
Jeong Han-taek wore the expression of a seventh-year reservist who had just been told he was being recalled.
Standing between Kim Hwang-je and the many mages who had followed him, he carefully opened his mouth again.
Hoping what he had just heard was a lie.
“Um, Your Majesty… that’s not something that can be done so easily…”
“Hmm, I think it should be possible. Why don’t you listen to what these mages have to say?”
Kim Hwang-je introduced the ten mages from the Magic Tower to Jeong Han-taek.
“Do not worry, Armor Artisan. We are quite familiar with creating flying armor.”
“Excuse me? Familiar with what?”
“We are masters of gravity magic. With sufficient resources and the help of the Magic Tower, we can create excellent landing armor. The Royal Guard’s armor already uses such magic. If His Majesty wishes, we can produce them in giant sizes as well.”
The burning look in their eyes was unmistakably that of mages.
Jeong Han-taek thought he was beginning to understand.
So they weren’t talking about regular armor, but armor that could survive a fall.
He blinked as he studied their faces, but barely managed to suppress the urge to scream.
These people clearly had no idea what they were saying.
It wasn’t magic to make objects lighter. What Kim Hwang-je had brought was completely beyond common sense.
Instead, Jeong Han-taek spoke carefully.
“Y-Your Majesty… let me make sure I understood correctly. You’re asking me to make jetpacks with these?”
“Yes. If necessary, I’ll need to use them to escape to certain places.”
Kim Hwang-je was planning to meet the King of Beasts.
It was best to prepare everything possible.
Thanks to the ‘genius’ he could wear, he was able to come to the kingdom like this. But if the genius tore, everything would end.
Therefore, the first person who needed to wear the powered suit was Kim Hwang-je himself.
And ‘this’ was a part for that powered suit.
This.
The shadow cast by what Kim Hwang-je referred to as “this” covered Jeong Han-taek and stretched far behind him.
Indeed.
It was a CFFM International turbofan jet engine installed on large aircraft.
It was 5.5 meters long, 2.4 meters high, weighed four tons by itself, and produced 18,000 kgf of thrust.
In other words, it was an engine meant to lift entire large airplanes into the sky.
“…On your back?”
“Yes. On my back.”
A jet pack.
Yes, a jet pack.
Jeong Han-taek knew that some extremely expensive powered suits had jetpack functions.
Because he was the president of a powered suit company.
And not just any company—the president of White Solar, a company that prided itself on cutting-edge technology.
A man who had come to a new land to build new powered suits and attempt another reversal of his life’s fortunes.
Jeong Han-taek couldn’t hold back any longer.
“How on earth do you make a jetpack out of an aircraft engine…!”
“Oh dear, it seems I’ve made an unreasonable request.”
Kim Hwang-je shook his head.
In truth, that hadn’t been his primary goal from the beginning.
“Actually, that was the second request. It would be nice if it works, but if not, it can’t be helped.”
There was a technique in persuasion: first demand something impossible, then ask for the next thing.
After hearing such an outrageous story, the next request would sound far more reasonable.
And indeed, Jeong Han-taek was now ready to listen.
“Soon, an enormous enemy attack will be launched toward this castle and the harbor. I’ve gathered everything that could be obtained. First, I brought several of these engines. If we mount them on the ground and use their thrust to spin blades or create gusts of wind, we could blow the enemies away.”
This idea was just as insane, so Jeong Han-taek swallowed hard again.
“You want to make rotating saw blades using aircraft engines?”
“You’re not going to say that’s impossible too, are you?”
“Good lord, it would be the largest electric saw in the world.”
Park Jo-woon clicked his tongue.
But this was far more reasonable than asking to make jetpacks out of aircraft engines.
Wasn’t it?
Jeong Han-taek gave up on thinking.
He simply answered.
“Fine. Let’s give it a shot.”
“Thank you. Then let’s mount the engines on the castle walls. In return, I will lend you the entire budget for the factory with zero interest.”
Kim Hwang-je brought up the words he had prepared in advance.
He planned to attract the most advanced and successful companies to Adel in the future.
And the funds for that attraction would naturally come from the money Kim Hwang-je, the emperor himself, earned by hunting in dungeons.
Jeong Han-taek’s face, which had been listening quietly, brightened completely.
The cost of relocating the factory was no small sum. Was he really offering to cover all of it with zero interest?
“Of course, the relocation itself is free. I can handle that personally. The funds I’m talking about are the total amount needed to turn this factory into the largest in the world.”
Jeong Han-taek heard the words but could hardly believe them.
The largest powered suit factory in the world?
He felt both thrilled and terrified.
They were going to build a factory that massive in a place like this?
“By the way, how many employees did you say you had?”
“We don’t have that many. Twenty-four in total. As for them staying…”
“I permit it. Hire and train people from the Adel Kingdom as well. However, since this location must remain secret from Earthlings, they will need to sign strict confidentiality agreements. Vacations will be allowed once per year, but only when accompanied by a guardian. In return, we will pay generous wages. Bring whoever you want.”
“Then, sir, do you plan to export these products from here?”
“Well, for now I intend to issue this powered armor to every single person in the royal capital.”
Jeong Han-taek looked at the countless people bustling about.
He was stunned by how enormous it was to say he would equip every single one of them with powered suits.
Watching Kim Hwang-je speak like some Dubai royal, Jeong Han-taek was genuinely shocked.
“Let’s move the factory immediately today.”
At Kim Hwang-je’s words, Jeong Han-taek nodded.
Moving the factory wasn’t particularly difficult.
Kim Hwang-je had already moved an entire steel mill before.
That afternoon, he relocated Jeong Han-taek’s entire powered suit factory to the hill above Adel’s royal castle.
He then visited the steel mill and brought several light fairies with him.
“Alright, everyone! Bless it as much as you like!”
As soon as he finished speaking, the bald light fairies happily ran around inside the factory, singing songs.
The sight of the entire factory sparkling and shining was both mystical and slightly terrifying.
One of the employees who had followed Jeong Han-taek muttered.
“President, I’m so glad you’re alive… But where the hell are we, and who are these people?”
Jeong Han-taek hesitated, unsure how to answer.
“They’re the spirit neighbors from the factory next door who love swimming in molten iron. You’ll probably have to get along with them from now on…”
Look at that face.
The employee was staring at him with an expression that said he understood absolutely nothing.
Anyway, Kim Hwang-je connected power from the steel mill’s generators.
The factory lights came on brightly.
As he was leaving, Kim Hwang-je added one more thing to Jeong Han-taek.
“If you’re interested in the jetpack, please let me know.”
“…Yes.”
Jeong Han-taek nodded reluctantly.
But the wild imagination that they might actually create such a thing was already galloping through his mind like an unruly foal that had broken free of its reins.
A giant wearing a colossal powered suit, with an aircraft engine turned into a jetpack on his back and a sword that could transform into a dragon in his hand.
Jeong Han-taek almost pinched his own cheek but stopped himself.
No matter who the enemy was, they were going to be pitiful.