Chapter 34 “The Specs Are Better Than Advertised?” Why Poland Was Flustered When the Performance Exceeded What South Korea Had Reported
Chapter 34 “The Specs Are Better Than Advertised?” Why Poland Was Flustered When the Performance Exceeded What South Korea Had Reported
Office of the Minister of Defence, Kyiv, Ukraine.
“Minister.”
Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Defence rushed in, breathing heavily.
“What is it?”
The deputy minister handed him a USB drive.
“R’s weapons have been spotted in Poland.”
At the deputy minister’s words, the minister hurriedly tried to plug in the USB drive. In his haste, he inserted it the wrong way, flipped it over, and then discovered that the original orientation had been correct.
“I’m in a hurry, so why the hell is this damned USB giving me trouble?”
After somehow managing to play the video, footage of weapons testing currently underway in Poland appeared on the screen.
The moment he saw Russian suicide drones dropping from the sky one after another, the minister lost all reason.
Bang.
He struck the innocent table.
“They made one excuse after another when we asked, yet they’ve been happily selling them to other countries.”
As the minister flew into a rage, the deputy minister merely watched his mood.
“We’ll lose the war if we don’t obtain those immediately!”
“….”
The minister was so furious that he could barely continue speaking.
“The Dokdo issue and the Yasukuni Shrine visits… Did we apologize to the South Korean government?”
(Translator’s Note:Yasukuni Shrine — A Shinto shrine in Tokyo founded in 1869 to commemorate those who died in service to Japan. Visits by Japanese political leaders are controversial because the enshrined dead include convicted Class-A war criminals from World War II.)
“Yes, we did.”
“How did they respond?”
“South Korea… does not appear to care about our apology.”
The Ukrainian deputy minister sank into despair.
They should never have done anything that might offend South Korea in the first place.
“What about Japan? How are Japanese weapons?”
“They quoted prices ten times higher than South Korea’s. Their performance… falls far short.”
Bang!
“Do something immediately!”
“What exactly should I do?”
“I don’t know! Find some way to do something!”
Even the minister knew there was no real solution.
With no other choice, the Deputy Minister of Defence posted a message on social media criticizing South Korea.
He accused South Korea of refusing to help even though it was capable of doing so, but the post was soon deleted after drawing international backlash condemning Ukraine for its shameless behavior.
Several days before Hermes received approval for the OmegaFlow Project.
Office at Science Facility’s Factory No. 2.
We had received proposals from companies offering to sell Hermes to consumers on our behalf.
In the end, we tentatively decided to partner with Google.
Of all the courtship offers from the countless Big Tech companies, Google’s terms were overwhelmingly superior.
Excited by the fact that we could sit still and rake in trillions of won from a single AI we had already created, I said,
“At this rate, couldn’t we establish a semiconductor company within five years?”
At my words, Taeju rested his chin on one hand and thought carefully before speaking.
“Would you do it if we could establish one sooner?”
“Sooner? Is that possible?”
“Of course.”
Taeju brought over the whiteboard and rapidly wrote on it with a marker.
“There are three ways. The first is to sell equity and raise capital.”
“Pass.”
“Right. Then we’ll skip that one.”
Taeju drew a large X through the first option.
“The second is a PF loan.”
“A PF loan?”
Taeju grinned at me.
“We tell them we’ll make this much money selling semiconductors in the future, then use those projected earnings as collateral to borrow the money now.”
“That’s possible? Isn’t it fraud?”
“That fraud-like thing is exactly what a PF loan is. Of course, we’ll need contracts to prove the projected revenue.”
Receiving an astronomical loan by selling something that did not yet exist in advance.
From the perspective of someone like me, who knew nothing but engineering, loans might well have been the true magic of the modern age.
“What’s the last method?”
“Government guarantees. The government tells the bank, ‘This company is trustworthy, so lend them the money.’”
“Would the government guarantee us?”
“Don’t you remember? The President previously told us to ask whenever we needed anything.”
That was true.
I remembered the President telling us to ask if we ever needed anything.
“A loan…. But what if something goes wrong?”
At my cautious question, Taeju dropped back against his chair, leaned deeply into the backrest, crossed his legs, and answered,
“If an ordinary person takes out a one-hundred-million-won loan and something goes wrong, it is entirely that individual’s responsibility….”
A cold smile spread across Taeju’s lips.
“But surprisingly, if you borrow around thirty trillion won and something goes wrong, it becomes the bank’s responsibility.”
At Taeju’s indifferent remark, I once again wondered whether he might be a money-making machine reincarnated as a human.
Presidential Office, Blue House.
“Mr. President, CEO Choi Taeju has requested assistance.”
Secretary Seo Dojin held out a document.
“What does he want?”
“He says they require a government guarantee to construct a non-memory semiconductor foundry.”
(Translator’s Note:Non-memory semiconductor foundry — A factory that manufactures logic, processing, communications, sensor, or control chips designed by other companies. Unlike memory chips, these semiconductors perform calculations and specialized functions.)
A disbelieving laugh escaped the President.
When something was too absurd, laughter sometimes came out automatically. That was exactly what was happening to the President now.
“They must intend to take out a loan. I asked them to localize weapons production, and those students are starting with semiconductors….”
“Yes. They say it is essential because of security concerns.”
The President remained silent in thought for some time before Secretary Seo cautiously asked,
“Should I tell them it will probably be difficult?”
“…No. This is what I wanted. South Korea’s brightest students entering engineering. I believe this could be the first step.”
The President intended to prepare the stage for them.
Several days later.
Presidential Office, Blue House.
“Mr. President, this is preposterous!”
It was the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy.
“Minister, can’t you simply sign it?”
“Mr. President, no matter what, this is a project on which the country’s survival depends. It is thirty trillion won! No, it will require even more than that. You also said the government would provide all the surrounding infrastructure.”
The government would be responsible for everything required to operate the factory, including electricity, water, and roads.
“And tax credits on top of that…. Mr. President, this truly cannot be allowed.”
The minister shook his head and placed the approval folder back on the table.
“Minister, they are trustworthy people.”
“How can we trust them? They are merely high school seniors. Even experts who majored in semiconductors and have spent decades in the field cannot casually win a thirty-trillion-won national project.”
The minister’s objections were reasonable.
He simply did not yet know how exceptional the students were.
“I absolutely refuse to approve this.”
“Minister!”
The President raised his voice.
“Getting angry will not change anything. I do not want history to remember me as a traitor.”
At that moment, the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs arrived late and opened the door.
He glanced between the two hostile expressions and immediately understood the situation.
“Minister, please calm down first.”
“Deputy Prime Minister? The person who needs to calm down is not me, but the President.”
The minister replied in disbelief.
Had it not been the President who had just roared at him?
“I fully understand how you feel. I also underestimated those students at first.”
“Then you understand reason. Please stop the President.”
“No. I came here to persuade you.”
Until recently, the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs had been shouting, “What are you doing to those students?” Yet now, he had come to persuade the minister instead.
“What? What did you say?”
“If this goes wrong, I will accept full responsibility.”
The President quickly joined in after the Deputy Prime Minister’s explosive declaration.
“I will also accept responsibility. I guarantee that none of the consequences will fall upon you.”
“No, what is so special about those young students that everyone is acting this way?”
After persistent persuasion from the President and the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy called the Vice President of LK Hynix.
“The President told me to ask you about someone named Ryu Hyesung.”
The minister was greatly shocked by the vice president’s answer and ultimately approved the proposal.
Office of the Minister of State Security, Beijing, China.
“Comrade Minister!”
The Director of the Overseas Intelligence Bureau under the Ministry of State Security rushed into the minister’s office.
“What is it, Director?”
“South Korea is establishing another non-memory semiconductor foundry company.”
“What?”
It was absurd.
South Korea was already overwhelmingly dominant in memory semiconductors.
Now it intended to establish another non-memory semiconductor foundry?
“Wait…. That means….”
“Yes. It appears they intend to domestically produce everything, including radar and other advanced weapons systems.”
It was a field monopolized exclusively by the United States.
That absolute fortress was now about to rise on South Korean soil.
“China pours tens of trillions of won into that field every year in an attempt to succeed…. Establishing another one will not be easy even for South Korea.”
“The thing is….”
The director hesitated while sweating.
“Is there some unusual detail?”
“Ryu Hyesung will be in charge.”
The Minister of State Security’s legs briefly went weak.
If it was him, he might actually succeed.
“Ha…. The Director of the Equipment Development Department should have killed him properly back then….”
“Comrade Minister, why don’t we use any means necessary to kill him now?”
“Would that even be possible? According to intelligence, Ryu Hyesung’s company alone currently possesses greater military strength than North Korea.”
Assessments differed among intelligence agencies, but rumors were already openly circulating that the asymmetric capabilities possessed by Ryu Hyesung’s company alone exceeded the total conventional military strength of Cambodia or Thailand.
“Even so, shouldn’t we at least try?”
“Directly?”
“The thing is….”
At the director’s words, a smile appeared on the minister’s lips.
“So there was such a method.”
Military Training Ground near Warsaw, Poland.
Together with field officers, Poland’s Minister of National Defence was conducting tests on the asymmetric weapons recently purchased from South Korea—Ryu Hyesung’s drones.
Whirrrrr.
The minister and an officer observed the movements of the drones through binoculars.
“That reconnaissance drone is difficult to track even through binoculars.”
“Yes. I heard there was even an incident in South Korea where it was mistaken for a UFO.”
In the distance, a soldier was attempting to shoot down the reconnaissance drone with a shotgun.
Bang.
Bang.
Yet somehow, the reconnaissance drone changed position every time the trigger was pulled and effortlessly avoided the shots.
“How does it perform evasive maneuvers like that?”
“According to the developer, the onboard AI performs them using only the vision camera.”
“Without any other sensors?”
“Yes.”
Unable to believe it, the minister looked through the binoculars again and said,
“It feels like trying to catch a fly with your bare hands.”
“It does. It always seems as though it is about to be caught, yet somehow slips away….”
Just then—
“Minister.”
The Deputy Minister of National Defence ran toward them from the distance.
“Is the interim report complete?”
The minister accepted the document and examined it.
“Yes, but the results are strange.”
“Strange? Just from what we can see, the performance is already overwhelming.”
“No. The results are better than the specifications South Korea provided.”
“What?”
It was strange.
It was extremely common for manufacturers to falsely exaggerate specifications.
Everyone quietly accepted that practice to some degree.
But the opposite?
“In range, speed, accuracy, and every other category, the results are ten percent—and in some cases more than twenty percent—better than the performance figures South Korea provided.”
Upon hearing their conversation, the officer beside them spoke.
“I have seen companies falsely advertise better performance than their products actually possess, but this is the first time I have seen the opposite.”
“Why would they deliberately do that?”
The deputy minister who had brought the report then said,
“It is not limited to the drones. The K9 self-propelled howitzer, the Chunmoo multiple-launch rocket system, and even the K2 tank all perform better than their stated specifications.”
(Translator’s Note:Chunmoo — A South Korean multiple-launch rocket system developed by Hanwha. Poland contracted for K9 howitzers and Chunmoo launchers in 2022, and the system has since gained additional European customers.)
“Does any other country know that their actual performance exceeds the figures in the catalogues South Korea provided?”
“It appears they do not know yet.”
A meaningful expression appeared on the minister’s face.
“Contact the South Korean side immediately.”
“What should we tell them?”
“We need to purchase more. All of it. If they have none left, ask them to sell us the units they are already using.”