The Debate
It was, in truth, a rather predictable question.
Whether it was a local election, a general election, or a presidential race, candidates were always asked about economic policy. Questions like how they would create jobs for the youth, or how they would secure future growth engines.
Naturally, Hong Gi-beom had anticipated this very question, and his campaign team had prepared a response polished in clean, political language.
"At the end of 2023, we all witnessed the AI revolution. The emergence of a powerful conversational AI called ChatGPT rang the opening bell of the Fourth Industrial Revolution."
Hong Gi-beom began delivering his prepared remarks.
"Mir City must also ride this wave to build an intelligent industrial ecosystem based on AI, big data, and cloud computing. I will establish a specialized AI development zone right here in Mir City. Mir City will possess its own AI, much like ChatGPT, allowing us to compete beyond Pangyo, beyond the nation, and on the global stage. I will secure the development budget from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups by cooperating with the central government. As a former Blue House administrator, I understand how the central government operates better than anyone. I will transform Mir City into the city leading South Korea's AI industry."
It was a plausible, well-crafted answer. It opened with a highly publicized social trend like ChatGPT and naturally highlighted his background as a former Blue House administrator.
His boast about securing budgets would naturally serve as an implicit attack on his rival, an independent rookie. After all, the rookie would inevitably face the question: How are you going to secure the budget?
"Understood. Next, Candidate Seong Ha-jin, please give us your response."
The moderator turned the floor to Seong Ha-jin and Park Du-sik, the candidates from the minor parties.
Similar talking points followed.
Something about creating high-tech clusters, how AI was the future, establishing cloud-based industries, and so on.
They sounded impressive, but they were ultimately pie-in-the-sky ideas.
"Candidate Lee Yun-hyeok, please explain your policy."
Yun-hyeok picked up his microphone.
"Does any of that actually hit home for you, everyone?"
Frankly, there was no way the audience could easily digest the concepts mentioned earlier.
In fact, the candidates themselves probably didn't fully understand them either. In 2023, AI was still in its infancy.
Of course, the story was different for someone who had actually lived in a future where the Fourth Industrial Revolution had fully blossomed. A candidate who had lived through three previous lives could offer a far more concrete explanation.
Especially when that explanation came from a man who, in his second life, had run a massive investment firm in the United States and driven the NASDAQ. His vision went far beyond what ordinary citizens could even imagine.
"I believe this question is not merely about fostering industries. It is about the elderly in our primary and secondary industries who have no successors, the youth who commute all the way to Pangyo due to a lack of tertiary sector jobs, and the fundamental survival crisis of a city decaying in between."
"Currently, twenty-nine percent of Mir City's total administrative area is classified as agricultural. In particular, vast farmlands exist in the Doma-myeon and Hawol-myeon areas. These are even registered on the municipality's list of 'underutilized idle land.'"
"I will actively utilize these lands first. I plan to establish an ICT and BT-based Smart Farm complex in these regions. Smart Farm technology scientifically optimizes crop growth. By using nutrient solutions instead of soil and water, and artificial lighting to provide optimal illumination, this technology drastically increases both the convenience of agricultural labor and crop yields."
"Developed nations are already actively researching this, leading a trend toward modernizing and urbanizing traditional rural areas. While research in South Korea has been sluggish so far, Mir City will stand at the forefront."
"To be more specific, I will attract three carbon-reducing plant factories to these two regions, designing them to achieve an energy self-sufficiency rate of over fifty percent. We will also establish a Smart Farm operations training program to attract a younger population back to the countryside."
"At the same time, through rural redevelopment, we will pave roads and renovate buildings, creating an environment that retains the countryside's green spaces while offering the sophistication of a new town. In doing so, we will solve the succession crisis in our farming communities and build an urbanized countryside where children can grow up."
"New technologies like AI are not just meant for smartphone apps or drones. Mir City's rural areas are a precious resource, and they are vital to the nation's food security. The introduction of new technology will transform our undervalued primary industry into a fourth-generation industry."
"My second initiative is the intensive redevelopment of the dilapidated industrial complex in Durim-myeon."
"First, we will remodel the metalworking factories, cold storage warehouses, and cosmetics manufacturing plants that have closed down and been left abandoned after being purchased by the city hall. We will use these spaces to attract startups. I will personally hit the pavement to headhunt talented entrepreneurs."
"The reactors used in cosmetics manufacturing can also be repurposed to produce new plastic materials. While these vast factory sites and facilities are currently toxic inventory for the city hall, they will represent golden opportunities for passionate scientists."
"In fact, this method benchmarks a business model currently trending in the United States. A popular business strategy among founders from Harvard, MIT, and Stanford is not building a new business from scratch, but acquiring existing, small, and struggling businesses. This is known as an SMB Tech Takeover."
"It is a strategy that creates added value by innovating the inefficiencies within existing businesses, redesigning them with a tech-based approach, or shifting and upgrading their product lines."
"Durim-myeon is packed with plumbing businesses, laundromats, carpentry shops, metalworking shops, repair shops, and small-scale logistics operations on the brink of closure. We will actively utilize them to restore the former glory of our old industrial complex."
"My third and final point is IT innovation. You might ask, with Pangyo right next door serving as the heart of South Korea's IT sector, and with our country already being an IT powerhouse, why Mir City needs to start a new IT industry."
"That assumption is incorrect. Our country is no longer an IT powerhouse. The proof lies in the fact that almost a year after the debut of ChatGPT, at a time when the AI singularity is right before our eyes, South Korea remains dead silent."
"We witnessed the arrival of the internet and the smartphone in the past. Back then, even amidst the fear of the dot-com bubble, countless internet portals and companies sprouted like mushrooms after rain, and thousands of smartphone apps flooded the market."
"But why is it so quiet now? It is because our domestic IT industry has been severely broken."
"The reason is that our IT sector has ossified into an ecosystem centered around a few conglomerates. Regulations on personal data utilization, AI training, and open-source usage are either excessive or ambiguous, causing many startups to perish in legal gray areas. Furthermore, government-level R&D is severely lacking, and there is a critical shortage of specialized talent."
"Plagued by these issues, our domestic IT industry has fallen far behind global trends. Revitalizing this ecosystem is an urgent matter."
"Therefore, I will intensively foster an IT startup corridor stretching from Yeogdong to Jungang-dong."
"Within this zone lies Mir City's old municipal library. Due to its dilapidated facilities, citizen usage is extremely low. We will remodel this building and open it to entrepreneurs."
"Furthermore, by securing a total budget of approximately ten billion won through three billion won from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's regional culture revitalization fund, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's youth settlement subsidy, and the regional balanced development fund, we will implement aggressive R&D policies and startup support measures, as well as designate a regulatory sandbox in this area."
"Instead of working for the giant IT firms in Pangyo, ambitious youths dreaming of starting their own businesses, and veteran developers who have left their corporate jobs to find a new path, will experiment with innovation here in Mir City."
"They will develop the systems needed for Doma-myeon, Hawol-myeon, and Durim-myeon. The urbanized countryside and the remodeled industrial complex will become their immediate consumers, sparking a boom in B2B business. The employees of the newly born IT hub and their families will eat tomatoes grown in Doma-myeon's smart farms and use plastic cups manufactured in Durim-myeon."
"In an era of advancing AI, primary industries like agriculture and secondary industries like manufacturing complexes are not obsolete relics to be discarded. They are foundational resources that can generate powerful synergies through innovation."
"When they unite to become a single brand representing Mir City's economic ecosystem, I guarantee you, this city..."
"...will become the city of the future."
In the devastated debate hall, one candidate still remained to speak.
"C-Candidate Lee Gyeong-yeol, please speak."
The moderator's stuttering alone was enough to convey the sheer shock that had gripped everyone in the hall.
Hong Gi-beom tried his best to maintain a straight face, but cold sweat glistened on the back of his neck.
His eyes practically screamed, Is this crazy bastard preparing for a presidential election or something?
"I, I..."
Pitifully, Candidate Lee Gyeong-yeol, who had to take the microphone right after Lee Yun-hyeok, was so shaken that his eyes darted around in sheer panic.
"Just like... Candidate Lee Yun-hyeok said, yes. We will provide subsidies to revive the industrial complex in Durim-myeon... and support youth startups..."
Let's address a bitter truth.
But an important one nonetheless.
Most of the people running for the leadership of Mir City have no genuine interest in its development.
This is because their loyalty lies not with the region of Mir City, but with their political parties.
Hong Gi-beom was no exception.
Even if Mir City was his hometown, he was a man from the Blue House. In reality, he had spent almost his entire life living in Seoul.
How much affection could such a person truly have for Mir City?
They all wanted to advance into central politics. Mir City was merely a stepping stone for them.
Consequently, it was rare to find a candidate who deeply analyzed, researched, and prepared strategies tailored to the actual conditions of Mir City.
Naturally, they had no idea what resources Mir City possessed, the exact scale of the farmlands in Doma-myeon and Hawol-myeon, or the state of the dilapidated facilities in Durim-myeon's industrial complex.
They merely chanted trendy buzzwords like AI, clusters, and big data like magic spells.
But Yun-hyeok had staked his life on Mir City. This was not a figure of speech; his life was literally on the line.
Mir City would serve as the pilot project for national reform. Using this as a model, he had to overhaul the entire country.
Of course, it wouldn't be easy.
The power of a local government head was only strong within the city limits; outside, they were the ultimate underdog.
The Gyeonggi Provincial Office, the National Assembly, and every ministry of the central government—enemies surrounded him on all sides. Just trying to rezone the agricultural land in Doma-myeon or Hawol-myeon would draw interference from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. To establish an IT regulatory sandbox in Jungang-dong, he would have to battle the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The National Assembly might pressure him with budget cuts, and the provincial office would look askance at Yun-hyeok's policies that clashed with their own projects.
He would have to fight tooth and nail, negotiating and threatening his way through. It might prove even more difficult than his clash with Baek Hyeong-guk back when he was unemployed.
But what choice did he have? He had to do it. Besides, it was still far easier than fighting the Youth Revolution Party in a low-birth-rate dystopia. Seriously.
"We will now have a brief Q&A session between the candidates, followed by open questions from the citizens. First, Candidate Hong Gi-beom."
The moderator gave the floor to Hong Gi-beom.
His throat burning, Hong Gi-beom gulped down water from his plastic bottle.
A monster who played politics with his life on the line had prepared far too much, turning the situation completely against him. Hong Gi-beom was filled with a mounting sense of dread—the dread that this debate was about to turn into a one-man show starring Lee Yun-hyeok.