Chapter 21. Probability of Killing Ryu Hyesung
Chapter 21. Probability of Killing Ryu Hyesung
Science Facility Factory No. 1 Office
“I think Ian’s upset about something.”
When I slumped over the desk and groaned out my complaint, Taeju cackled like he was about to stop breathing.
“No, seriously, how did a message like that pop up at exactly that moment?”
Apparently finding it unbearably funny, he clutched his stomach and even wiped tears from his eyes. Then he pointed at the enormous object sitting in the corner.
“No, but seriously, what’s with the stroller? Why did you buy it? Are you insane?”
“By the time I came to my senses, I’d already paid for it.”
When I muttered the words like an excuse, Taeju clicked his tongue in disbelief.
“You’re seriously not just an ordinary lunatic. Forget all this and just ask her out. What the hell is this?”
“What if Ian doesn’t like me? Then we won’t even be able to stay friends.”
Of the tens of thousands of simulations I had run through my head, the scenario in which I could never see her again was the most horrifying, absolute worst-case outcome. According to my calculations, avoiding that single variable was the ultimate conclusion.
“Then why the hell did you buy a stroller if you’re going to say that?”
[Would you like to reserve a daycare center as well?]
“No, damn it!”
I shouted as I hammered the cancel button on the screen hard enough to break it.
“Stop doing that and tell me how to clear up this misunderstanding.”
How in the world did people date? How were you even supposed to start?
“You really fucking suck at everything except the things you’re good at.”
Beep, beep, beep—
An alarm rang from the smartwatch around my wrist with a shrill, grating sound.
“Haah... I need to go to Factory No. 2.”
It was the final setup day for the HPM drone mass-production equipment. The chief researchers from each company were supposed to contact me when they arrived.
“Right now?”
I gathered the blueprints and tablet from the table as I answered Taeju.
“They just got here. I’ll be back soon.”
Science Facility Factory No. 2.
Perhaps because it had previously been used as a semiconductor plant, it was currently the largest and most respectable building our company possessed, both in name and reality.
“Ah, CEO Ryu Hyesung. You’re here.”
As soon as I entered the factory, Chief Researcher Kurozaki Ren of Japan’s Fanuc, who had arrived early, was waiting for me.
“You’re early, Mr. Kurozaki.”
“We’re at the final stage now, after all. Ah, but CEO Ryu, there is something important I need to discuss with you in private.”
Mr. Kurozaki’s expression turned markedly serious as we exchanged brief greetings. It was obvious that he was watching the people around us.
“What is it?”
“Our chairman...”
Fanuc was one of Japan’s leading conglomerates and a dominant force in robotics worldwide.
“He wishes to invest fully in your company.”
“Invest?”
“Yes. To be precise, he wishes to purchase roughly half of your shares.”
“Ah... I have absolutely no intention of selling my shares.”
At my firm answer, he furrowed his brow and stepped closer.
“Even if we offer ten times their current market value?”
“Ten times?”
Just as I repeated the number in surprise, someone opened the heavy cleanroom door behind me and strode inside.
“Our chairman said he would pay twenty times the value.”
It was Chief Researcher Kim Sangtae of LK Hynix, who had been helping with my equipment design.
“What?”
“He also said he wanted to reward you handsomely for dramatically increasing our semiconductor yield the other day.”
Reward me for that? I had seen and memorized all of their confidential information with my own eyes. Its value could not even be measured in money.
“Our chairman wants to buy you.”
A truly bizarre spectacle unfolded in the middle of the factory floor as giant corporations representing Korea and Japan began bidding against each other to buy my company.
Science Facility Factory No. 1 Office
“Two and a half trillion won?”
While Hyesung was away at Factory No. 2, Taeju found himself facing a group of unexpected visitors in the empty conference room.
“Yes. We would like to purchase your thirty-percent stake for that amount.”
The men in neat suits had introduced themselves as members of a major Japanese law firm.
They had previously emailed to say they intended to visit, but they had not specified a date. Then they suddenly appeared and set up a negotiating table.
“Why, all of a sudden?”
“The reason is confidential.”
Taeju leaned deeply into the plush backrest of his chair. Two and a half trillion won.
It was a figure that easily exceeded even the wealth of his chaebol father, who had oppressed him with money his entire life.
If he signed the papers and exited the company right now, he would immediately rank among the fifteen wealthiest people in South Korea.
At the mere age of a high school senior, he would stand shoulder to shoulder with the chairmen of HYBE and Kakao.
“But... two and a half trillion is far too close to fair value at this point.”
The lawyer sitting opposite him visibly flinched at Taeju’s relaxed response. He apparently had never imagined that a high school brat would know the exact value of his own company.
“We aren’t publicly listed, so there aren’t any official indicators, though.”
“Then we will double it.”
The offer jumped to five trillion won on the spot. If he exited at that price, he would become the eighth-richest person in South Korea.
“I was always jealous.”
“Of what?”
“When Hyesung turned down that offer of ten billion yen. Watching him from the side, I thought it was romantic as hell.”
Honestly, he had been jealous. Faced with an unimaginable fortune, Hyesung had snorted and rejected it for the sake of his convictions. Taeju had envied that audacity.
“But today, I have become the man who rejected five trillion won. Thank you.”
“I’m sorry, but our company isn’t for sale.”
“But we haven’t even given you a specific figure yet...”
Chief Researcher Kurozaki of Fanuc and Chief Researcher Kim of LK Hynix simultaneously looked deflated.
“You don’t need to tell me. I’m not selling anyway.”
“Why on earth not? You could take that enormous sum of money and start a new company however you pleased.”
“The acquisition terms would include a clause requiring me to remain as CEO for seven years, wouldn’t they?”
“Of course. The value of this company is you yourself, CEO Ryu.”
“I would much rather live however I want and do whatever I want than have money. And...”
No matter how many times I calculated it, my conclusion was always the same. It was why I always rejected enormous sums of money.
“I think that as long as I’m with Taeju, we can take this company all the way to the edge of the universe.”
I firmly cut off the pointless discussion about acquiring the company right there.
“Shall we finish what we came here to do?”
We began the final inspection to ensure the completed mass-production equipment operated properly.
A few minor errors appeared, but I immediately revised the code and resolved them on the spot.
At last, the enormous chambers and automated robotic arms began operating together seamlessly.
It was the moment a perfect, fully automated military-supply production line requiring almost no human intervention was born into the world.
“This factory... is like a single living organism. It amazes me every time I see it.”
Kurozaki spoke with genuine admiration.
“Ten years... No, even twenty years from now, there won’t be another factory with this level of automation.”
Chief Researcher Kim Sangtae also shook his head in amazement and agreed.
“I only did it because everything else was a pain.”
After spending days and nights assembling things by hand, I had merely taken the thought I had often grumbled to myself—I should have just built the factory like this from the start—and turned it into reality.
Late that night, Science Facility Factory No. 1 Office.
“Slurp—”
Taeju and I sat across from each other at a small table, slurping down cup noodles.
“What about the mass-production equipment? Is it working properly?”
Taeju paused while chewing his noodles and picked up some kimchi.
“Yeah. It ended up pretty different from the original design, but I’m satisfied.”
“Nothing unusual happened?”
He asked casually, still holding his wooden chopsticks.
Well, aside from some ridiculous nonsense, had anything worth mentioning happened today?
“No. What about you?”
“...Me neither.”
Slurp—
Only the lively sound of noodles being sucked up echoed through the silent office.
“Ramen really does taste best when you eat it at the office.”
“Yeah. Agreed.”
Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Russia.
The deserted main lecture hall was devoid of people, and its blackboard was completely covered in bizarre equations that were impossible even to decipher.
“Heh, heh, heh. So this is how you made this part. Hehehe.”
Professor Artemy Sokolov, once praised as Russia’s greatest genius, muttered senselessly into the empty air.
His hair had turned even whiter than before and now stuck out wildly in every direction. His cheeks were drained of color, and only his sunken eyes remained, emitting a strange glow.
“Professor Artemy Sokolov.”
The heavy thud of military boots echoed from the upper part of the tiered lecture hall.
Officer Alexei descended with a cold expression.
“I heard rumors that you had gone mad after spending every day staring at the designs Ryu Hyesung created. It seems they were true.”
“...?”
At the sound of his name, Professor Sokolov irritably folded the paper he had been staring at with bloodshot eyes.
For months, he had lost all sense of day and night while dissecting the designs. Yet the deeper his understanding became, the more he felt not admiration, but bone-chilling jealousy.
“If your mind is still intact, can you answer my question?”
“What do you want to know?”
The professor asked back in a dry voice. Alexei looked coldly down at him and spoke.
“I want to kill Ryu Hyesung.”
“Ha.”
A brief chuckle escaped Professor Sokolov’s lips.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Hahahahahaha!”
As though he could no longer contain himself, the professor clutched his stomach and erupted into hysterical laughter.
The eerie sound echoed chillingly throughout the empty lecture hall.
“Have you gone mad, Artemy?”
“How could I not laugh when a man who claims he will kill God stands before me?”
“God? Ryu Hyesung is human. He’s just a student.”
Alexei growled without concealing his displeasure.
Rustle—
At those words, Professor Sokolov roughly spread open the blueprints he had been holding against his chest.
The paper’s edges had been worn ragged from being handled countless times.
“A human could not have made this.”
“Artemy, have you truly gone mad? Tell me the probability that an operation to assassinate Ryu Hyesung would succeed.”
When Alexei pressed him intimidatingly, the vacant smile abruptly vanished from Professor Sokolov’s face.
His sunken eyes flashed coldly for an instant.
“Do you think I haven’t calculated it, Alexei? I’ve done it dozens of times every day.”
“Tell me the answer.”
Alexei stepped closer and demanded an answer. But what he received was—
“Hehehe.”
A low, ominous laugh.
“Alexei, has Russia not already failed once?”
“That was because we weren’t properly prepared. This time, we will make every possible preparation—”
“Ahahahahaha!”
At the officer’s answer, Professor Sokolov clutched his stomach and burst into uproarious laughter.
“Artemy...”
“Haha... Haa... How could I not laugh when you say something so stupid?”
Then he stared directly at Alexei with his sunken eyes and spoke quietly.
“Neither was he.”