Chapter 38 “A Legal Bomb?” The Most Powerful Explosive Humanity Has Failed to Ban
Chapter 38 “A Legal Bomb?” The Most Powerful Explosive Humanity Has Failed to Ban
Secret Outdoor Testing Ground, Agency for Defense Development, Republic of Korea.
“Hey, be careful. If it takes a shock, we’re in serious trouble.”
Researchers in blast-resistant suits shouted nervously as they carefully moved a rectangular box.
“The specifications say it’s safe. Apparently, it won’t explode even under a strong impact.”
The Director of the Agency for Defense Development muttered as he turned a page of the report Ryu Hyesung had sent.
“Doesn’t that company have anywhere to conduct its own experiments?”
The chief researcher asked in annoyance.
“That’s a drone company. It isn’t an explosives manufacturer.”
“Then why did he suddenly make this?”
“…Probably because he could.”
The chief researcher could not understand it at all, but he accepted the director’s vague explanation and let the matter go.
“Hey, are you finished?”
When the director shouted through a megaphone, the researchers who had retreated far into the distance waved flags to signal him.
“Hurry back so we can conduct the test.”
“Director, if this performs according to the specifications… it will change history.”
“Change history? Don’t exaggerate.”
The director gave the chief researcher a disbelieving laugh.
No matter how much of a genius Hyesung was, he believed explosives were an entirely different field.
At that moment, the supervisor inside the blast-control room signaled that all preparations were complete.
“Fine. Begin.”
The countdown started immediately after the director granted permission.
“Five.”
Everyone inside the control room held their breath.
“Four.”
Some belatedly adjusted the protective tinted shields over their eyes.
“Three.”
“Two.”
“One.”
KABOOOOOM!
“Gasp.”
A heavy vibration slammed violently against the control room’s thick bulletproof glass.
The explosion’s shock wave was far greater than expected, making everyone instinctively hold their breath.
A flash that swallowed their vision and a storm of intense heat.
An enormous pillar of dust, difficult to believe had been produced by only fifty kilograms of explosives, surged upward.
It soon formed a pitch-black mushroom cloud before their eyes, demonstrating its overwhelming presence.
“Cough…. How many kilograms did you say that was?”
Dust fell from the control-room ceiling as the impact shook the ground.
The director asked in a daze.
“Fifty kilograms.”
“Hey, what VOD did we get?”
(Translator’s Note:Velocity of detonation (VOD) — The speed at which a detonation wave travels through an explosive. It is generally expressed in meters or kilometers per second and is an important measure of explosive performance.)
“The average detonation velocity from Tests One through Eight was 10.2 kilometers per second.”
“What about the RE factor?”
(Translator’s Note:RE factor — Relative effectiveness factor, a comparison between the destructive power of an explosive and the same mass of TNT. An RE factor above 1 indicates greater effectiveness than TNT.)
“2.2.”
“Cough, cough….”
The director stared blankly at the measuring equipment’s display, completely speechless.
“Didn’t you say it was CL-20, Director?”
The chief researcher stared at the results as though something was wrong.
“Perhaps it really will change history.”
The director turned toward the chief researcher with unfocused eyes.
“Send the test report to the Minister of National Defense and the President. Measure the purity of that substance immediately.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And tell Hyesung to come here. Quickly. Cough, cough.”
The institute’s staff began moving busily.
A civilian hospital on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran.
Despite the Red Crescent symbol painted on the outside, armed soldiers were talking inside.
(Translator’s Note:Red Crescent — A humanitarian emblem used by members of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, particularly in Muslim-majority countries. Like the Red Cross emblem, it identifies protected medical and relief personnel and facilities under international humanitarian law.)
“Is there anything left to eat?”
“We finished it all.”
Right beside them, a missile battery sat openly beneath camouflage netting.
Nurses hurried back and forth as though the surreal situation had become completely ordinary.
Whirrrrr.
However, far above them, one of Ryu Hyesung’s reconnaissance drones was quietly observing them.
<Inside an abandoned building fifteen kilometers from the hospital>
Soldiers from an Israeli special operations team were watching live footage of the hospital’s interior.
They were the drone’s owners.
“How does it look?”
“There are at least twenty people inside the building and approximately thirty outside.”
When the Israeli field commander asked, the operator controlling the drone stared coldly at the monitor as he answered.
An intelligence officer watching from behind then asked the field commander,
“Where did you obtain that drone?”
“It was airlifted from the United States. They said it was made in South Korea. They want us to use it in combat while collecting data.”
“Was it tested beforehand?”
“Tested? It was chilling.”
The commander turned and called to the operator.
“Hey, Hunter. Are you ready?”
The operator known by the nickname Hunter gave a brief salute.
“Begin.”
Vroooom.
Three supply drones, each the size of a compact car and carrying a dangling sack, flew toward the sky above the hospital.
“Hey, what is that?”
An Iranian soldier shouted when he saw Ryu Hyesung’s supply drones appear overhead.
“Suicide drones! Shoot them down!”
Ratatatatat!
The Iranian soldiers fired their AK-47 assault rifles wildly, but the supply drones hovered at an altitude where bullets could not easily bring them down.
Soon, pitch-black drones poured from the sacks.
Each one was a reconnaissance drone fitted with a high-performance explosive.
Whirrrrr.
Whirrrrr.
Bang.
KABOOM.
Some used the acceleration of their fall to slam directly into the building’s exterior walls.
Others flew through open windows like bees and detonated inside.
“Aagh!”
“Nurse! Help me!”
The mangled soldiers cried for help, but no one moved in the hospital, which had descended into chaos.
Whirrrrr.
One suicide drone entered a hospital corridor, briefly scanned a crouching civilian with its camera, then turned away and headed elsewhere.
It detonated only against previously identified armed soldiers.
The AI perfectly distinguished unarmed civilians and avoided them.
KABOOM!
KABOOOM!
“Those bastards bombed a hospital.”
“Aren’t they afraid of the international community?”
“Uuugh.”
Contrary to the fallen soldiers’ claims, however, the suicide drones had swiftly and brutally neutralized only the men carrying weapons.
The incident became known to the international community, and voices began arguing that only Korean drones should be permitted in warfare.
Office of the CIA Director, CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia.
The Director of Analysis carefully placed a neatly printed classified report on the CIA Director’s broad desk.
“How was the combat data?”
“They distinguished armed soldiers from civilians with one hundred percent accuracy.”
“How many drones were shot down?”
“Only four of the eighty deployed.”
The director clicked his tongue in disbelief at the extraordinary performance figures confirmed in actual combat.
“In addition, their decision-making speed against targets is increasing with every engagement. The drones appear to be sharing data with one another in real time.”
“Wasn’t the AI already fully trained?”
“It does not appear so. It seems to be using combat data for real-time learning.”
“The contract clearly described it as ‘maintenance data.’ But what that thing is collecting seems far beyond the level of maintenance….”
The director’s suspicion was correct, but there was no way for him to verify it.
Then again, data collection was something every American giant such as Google and Meta already did.
The CIA Director could not help worrying about battlefield data from foreign countries being drawn into the server of a single South Korean high school student.
“What did they call the AI made in South Korea?”
“Hermes.”
“…I’m more worried about that than Ryu Hyesung.”
“The AI?”
“I only hope this is nothing more than my personal concern….”
High-Energy Materials Precision Analysis Laboratory under the Agency for Defense Development.
The air inside the laboratory was cold.
The moment the heavy lead-lined protective door closed, all outside noise was completely cut off.
Only the rough breathing of the ADD researchers in protective suits and the rhythmic pumping of an Agilent 1260 Infinity II HPLC system in the corner could be heard.
(Translator’s Note:Agilent 1260 Infinity II HPLC — A product line of liquid-chromatography instruments manufactured by the American company Agilent Technologies. Such systems are used to separate, identify, purify, and measure compounds in chemical mixtures.)
“Injecting now.”
One researcher’s fingertips touched the equipment’s injector.
A minute quantity of “Blue CL-20,” dissolved in a solvent, was drawn into a thin glass tube.
The status light on the front of the machine blinked green as data collection began.
Tick, tick, tick.
Every time the precision pump increased the pressure and pushed the liquid forward, the researchers’ eyes turned toward the monitor.
Their gazes were filled with doubt.
“It obviously contains copper.”
“There’s no way a blue substance like this could have high purity.”
A long baseline began forming across the monitor’s white screen.
However—
A single peak shot into the air without hesitation, making their doubts look foolish.
[Purity: 99.75%]
“Yes!”
A young boy watching the results through the soundproof wall outside the laboratory clenched his fist and cheered.
Meanwhile, the researchers stared speechlessly at the impossible level of purity.
If impurities had been present, numerous smaller peaks should have appeared.
That result meant it was an almost perfectly pure substance.
After staring blankly at the result for a long time, the director turned to Ryu Hyesung.
“We need to talk.”
<Secret Conference Room, Agency for Defense Development>
The director and I were alone.
“How did you do it?”
“The manufacturing process?”
“We can manufacture it too. But producing it at the same price as TNT—be honest. That part is a lie, isn’t it?”
“It’s true. It can be mass-produced.”
“So… how did you reduce the cost to one-hundredth?”
“I used genetically modified E. coli.”
“I thought that method was only now entering the experimental stage.”
“I edited the DNA so that it would produce a precursor with nitro groups—NO₂—attached.”
“You made it the way insulin is produced?”
“Yes. Although the difficulty is much higher.”
“I doubt ‘higher’ even begins to describe it….”
The director appeared to have no end of questions.
“Why is it blue? Is there copper mixed into it?”
“Yes, a small amount.”
“How can it be this pure and stable when it contains copper?”
“Because the copper has been fully incorporated into the molecular structure.”
I drew the molecular formula on the whiteboard as I explained.
Tap, tap, tap.
“The CL-20 precursor molecules form coordination bonds around a central Cu²⁺ copper ion, like beads arranged around a necklace….”
“You’re saying even the copper is a component….”
“…They are bound together extremely tightly in this structure.”
“That explains why its explosive power is so high relative to its weight.”
The moment I finished explaining, the door opened and the President entered.
“I heard the purity exceeded 99.7 percent.”
The director and I rose from our seats.
“Yes. More precisely, it was 99.7598 percent.”
The director spoke calmly with a disbelieving smile.
“What level of purity is that?”
“Well… strictly speaking, it is difficult to even call it ordinary CL-20.”
“What? It is CL-20. The color is simply different.”
When I became flustered, the director corrected his misleading statement.
“To put it simply, producing it at up to ninety-five percent purity is somehow manageable. But beyond that, every additional one percent doubles the price.”
“What did you say?”
The President’s eyes widened.
“The purity Hyesung achieved… if produced through conventional methods, would strictly speaking cost five hundred times as much as TNT.”
As I proudly straightened my shoulders, the director shook his head.
“And while ordinary CL-20 has an RE factor of 1.9… the blue material this boy created produced a measured value of 2.2 today.”
“What does that mean?”
“In practical terms, the only explosive force greater than this comes from nuclear weapons.”
The director stared at the blue powder before him with a chill in his eyes.