Chapter 31. “We Need to Ask South Korea for Help.” Why Japan Went Wild Over Korean Technology
Chapter 31. “We Need to Ask South Korea for Help.” Why Japan Went Wild Over Korean Technology
It was during Ryu Hyesung’s middle school days.
The languid classroom after school, once everyone else had left.
Ian happened to see Hyesung’s profile as he sat by the window, engrossed in scribbling something in his notebook.
As she stared silently at him as though entranced, the friend beside her casually remarked,
“He’s always drawing things like that.”
“Huh? Really?”
Had she been staring too openly?
Startled by her friend’s sudden interjection, Ian became so flustered that she accidentally blurted out what she was thinking.
“He’s cute.”
Unfortunately, throughout all their years in middle school, the two of them never spoke to each other even once.
Hyesung spent every day doing nothing but drawing things.
Then, one day several years later.
Science Facility Headquarters (Shipping Container)
“Hello. I heard you were hiring a part-timer. Is the owner not here?”
“Oh, I’m the owner.”
Ian was startled by the unexpected revelation, but she did not let it show.
“What? But aren’t you the same age as me?”
“Huh? How did you know?”
“We went to the same middle school.”
The two of them happened to meet again.
Office of the Second Deputy Director, National Intelligence Service Headquarters, Naegok-dong, Seoul.
A video was playing on the projection screen.
“These are test recordings of weapons that various countries have produced in an attempt to replicate the VIP’s weapons as closely as possible.”
The man in the suit continued his briefing.
The drone’s movements in the video looked unbearably awkward.
“As you can see, the model made in China has significantly lower straight-line speed, among other deficiencies….”
Click.
The next slide displayed footage of a weapon made in Russia.
“The performance of its onboard AI is inferior, resulting in poor evasive maneuvers.”
“What about the cost?”
Second Deputy Director Jang Seokjin asked.
After all, the greatest advantage of Ryu Hyesung’s weapons was their absurdly low price compared to their overwhelming performance.
“They have been confirmed to cost at least ten times, and in some cases as much as fifty times, more than the Korean models.”
“So even copying the VIP’s weapons is difficult for other countries….”
Second Deputy Director Jang Seokjin stared intently at a blueprint lying on the table.
It was Ryu Hyesung’s sketch of reconnaissance-drone mass-production equipment, casually drawn on scratch paper during the KMO—the Korean Mathematical Olympiad.
The National Intelligence Service had been none other than the buyer behind the thirty-billion-won winning bid that had recently set the black market ablaze.
The NIS was currently sweeping up every fragment of Ryu Hyesung’s work circulating on the black market.
“These days, every country is practically foaming at the mouth to buy even the VIP’s rough blueprint sketches from the black market.”
After all, whichever nation secured priority access to his weapons would effectively seize global hegemony.
“Deputy Director, what should we do with this blueprint?”
When the man asked, the Deputy Director answered as though it were obvious.
“Keep it somewhere secure. It may be worth thirty billion won now, but there’s no telling how much it will be worth later.”
He added with a businessman’s mindset,
“Make absolutely certain that confidential information belonging to my son-in-law… No, the VIP, never leaks outside.”
“Yes, sir.”
When the professor known as Russia’s greatest genius visited South Korea, the media went into an uproar.
“Professor Artemy Sokolov, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist hailed as the scientist of the century, has arrived in South Korea.”
On the television, the white-haired old man silently endured a barrage of camera flashes so bright that he could barely open his eyes.
Microphones thrust toward him from every direction, but he kept his lips tightly sealed as he walked out through the airport gate.
“Why have you come to South Korea?”
The greatest intellect in Russia, who had not so much as flinched at any of the reporters’ persistent questions, abruptly stopped walking.
“God lives in South Korea.”
His absurd declaration caused everyone present to misunderstand him.
Was this man part of some cult?
Breaking the silence, one dumbfounded reporter asked as though hypnotized,
“What would you like to do when you meet God?”
“I would like to play a game of chess.”
His expression was completely serious.
The fact that Professor Sokolov had a chess rating of no less than 2,654, as well as his record as one of the world’s highest-ranked players, was repeated endlessly on television news throughout the day.
Office at Science Facility’s Factory No. 2.
The white-haired Russian genius professor I had seen on the news several days ago was seated before me in a suit, with a cold wooden chessboard between us.
“You are Ryu Hyesung.”
He offered me his hand.
When he said he wanted to meet me, the government had gone so far as to conduct a full background check on him before sending me a report stating, “He is safe.”
“Professor, I heard you especially wanted to see me.”
“Yes. Do you know how to play chess?”
Professor Sokolov spoke while gazing steadily at me with his deep-set eyes.
His gaze contained an indescribably strange mixture of curiosity and reverence.
“I know how, but it’s been quite a while since I last played.”
I answered casually as I arranged the white chess pieces in their proper places.
“I see. To tell you the truth, chess is merely an excuse. I simply wanted to see you.”
He gave a faint smile as he used his wrinkled hands to set the black pieces in position one by one.
“Me?”
“If I have the chance to see God while I am still alive, what wouldn’t I do?”
I knew strange rumors about me were circulating in the underworld because of my weapons business, but I was beginning to worry that I might now acquire the title of cult leader as well.
Tap.
I moved the pawn in front of my king forward two squares—e4. It was the most fundamental yet aggressive opening move.
“God is a bit much…. I suppose another strange rumor must have started.”
Tap.
As though he had been waiting for it, he responded by advancing a pawn diagonally opposite mine—c5.
The shape of the Sicilian Defense formed across the chessboard.
(Translator’s Note:Sicilian Defense — A major chess opening beginning with 1.e4 c5. Instead of directly contesting White’s central pawn, Black creates an asymmetrical position that frequently leads to sharp tactical play.)
He had rejected my control of the center. It showed his fierce determination to drag the game into a bloody melee rather than play defensively.
“You are extremely famous among our professors. Of all of them, I am the one who believes you are a god.”
His blatant worship was making me increasingly uneasy.
Is this man mentally sound?
Instead of answering, I advanced my pieces into positions that applied intense pressure against the right side of his kingside.
“Some people call me a deranged psychopath, so I suppose that’s a little better.”
Without the slightest hesitation, the professor captured my pieces one after another while launching a sharp counterattack.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Our hands crossed over the board like bolts of lightning as we exchanged moves at a breathless pace.
In stark contrast to our casual conversation, the battle on the chessboard rapidly heated into a shower of sparks.
“Do you know that genius engineers around the world are holding their breath, waiting to see what you will create next?”
Tap.
Before he had even finished speaking, my queen slipped into his blind spot and positioned itself directly in front of his king, as though seizing him by the collar.
Checkmate.
For an instant, the professor’s hand froze in midair.
His pupils trembled faintly.
Even if he tried to capture my queen, my knight and rook had formed a perfect defensive line.
It was a flawless checkmate with not a single square left for him to escape to.
“That’s a lot of pressure. What I’m making next is fairly large.”
After all, my next weapon was based on a concept that had only recently emerged in modern warfare.
Every country was desperate to build one.
“I have lost…. Are you certain it has been a long time since you played chess? There are very few people in this world capable of defeating me.”
He quietly withdrew his hand from the chessboard and gazed intently into my eyes.
The professor’s pupils were trembling faintly.
“I was lucky.”
After acknowledging his complete defeat, Professor Sokolov let out a brief sigh and stared at me with even deeper reverence.
“Ryu Hyesung.”
“Yes?”
“If you were to establish a missile-launch-vehicle research institute….”
The fingertips of the hand I had just been using to play chess twitched.
That was the next plan I had been keeping in my head, intending to pursue someday.
“I would like to help. I want to work with you.”
A Russian genius scientist who had won the Nobel Prize in Physics wanted to help the company I planned to establish?
“…Thank you for the offer. I’ll think about it.”
However, my thoughts were too complicated for me to accept readily.
Is this man really all right?
On the road to Science Facility’s Factory No. 2.
It was the same familiar route Taeju always walked, but a random thought suddenly occurred to him.
During the Chinese assassin incident… the stroller got blown away in the explosion… and yet there’s another stroller in the Factory No. 2 office.
Amazingly, Hyesung had bought another stroller.
Sometimes, rather than when Hyesung abruptly created some insanely powerful weapon, it was moments like this that made Taeju sincerely wonder whether he was an actual lunatic.
Creak.
When Taeju opened the office door without thinking, he came face-to-face with a sight he had never expected.
“Huh?”
“Oh? Taeju, you’re here?”
A foolish sound escaped Taeju before he could stop it.
Hyesung and Ian were sitting so close together on the sofa that their breaths could touch.
“Long time no see. Hi.”
As though they had been caught doing something they should not have been doing, the two of them flushed and hurriedly sprang apart to opposite sides.
“What the hell? Are you two dating?”
“…It hasn’t been long.”
Hyesung scratched the back of his head and answered hesitantly.
Despite being an infamous arms dealer, his ears had turned bright red.
“It’s already pretty late, so I’ll get going first.”
Ian’s face turned as red as a tomato in an instant. Apparently unable to endure the awkward atmosphere any longer, she grabbed her bag and hurriedly stood up.
A short while later.
Breaking the awkward silence, Taeju questioned him as though conducting an interrogation.
“No, seriously. When did you two start dating?”
Under Taeju’s relentless questioning, Hyesung continued avoiding his gaze as he hesitantly replied,
“Since… last weekend?”
“I can’t even imagine what you said. How the hell did you confess to her?”
“I was worried I’d say something weird, so Hermes helped me a lot.”
“Hermes did? What did it tell you to say?”
Taeju’s brow furrowed at the revelation that a deranged AI that knew absolutely nothing about romance had given him dating advice.
“It… told me to say I’d already reserved a daycare center.”
“What? That insane line actually worked?”
“Insane? Wasn’t it romantic?”
“No….”
Taeju felt as though the basic common sense of human society, which he had firmly believed in his entire life, was crumbling around him.
“S-So, what did Ian say when she heard that?”
“She looked really shocked. It must have been something she wasn’t expecting.”
“Who the hell would expect that?”
“And then I told her I’d already bought a stroller.”
“You really are an alpha male. I thought you were an estrogen man.”
Taeju thought that even tough Russian men would not court women like this.
“Really?”
“Didn’t she slap you?”
“Huh? Why would she slap me? That was the first day of our relationship.”
“Hiss….”
Clutching the back of his neck, Taeju decided not to think any more deeply about it.
Whether Hyesung confessed with a stroller or a daycare center, what did it matter how they did it when the two people involved liked each other?
At that moment, Taeju understood.
For two people already properly flirting with each other, a confession was merely an excuse.
Cabinet Office Conference Room, Tokyo, Japan.
The Chief Cabinet Secretary let out a disbelieving laugh as he read the report.
“Are sales of Japanese weapons truly this disastrous compared to Korean weapons?”
An aide answered with a tense expression.
“Yes…. Minister, people are even saying that whichever country buys Korean weapons will become the next hegemonic power.”
Just then—
“Minister!”
The Chief of Staff, Joint Staff rushed inside, gasping for breath.
“What is it?”
“At the nuclear power plant in Kawasaki City….”
The Chief of Staff’s opening words were shocking. A nuclear power plant was a Level-One national security facility.
“A foreign reconnaissance drone reportedly flew in and out.”
“What?”
The Chief Cabinet Secretary froze.
How were they supposed to shoot down a drone hovering over a nuclear power plant?
A missile? Out of the question.
A gun? That was dangerous too.
“What in the world are we supposed to do…?”
“Minister.”
The Chief of Staff spoke with a tense expression.
“South Korea says it has a way to resolve the situation.”
A severe headache rose within the Chief Cabinet Secretary as though his blood pressure had suddenly spiked.
Depend on another country for Japan’s national defense?
And South Korea, of all countries?
“…We need to ask South Korea for help.”
Japan now faced a situation that might force it to make a decision unprecedented in its history.