Chapter 42: Why Both North Korea and Ukraine Ended Up Begging, “We’re Sorry”
Underground Crisis Management Center beneath the Blue House.
“We must launch a Hyunmoo missile into North Korean territorial waters immediately!”
The Minister of National Defense raised his voice, unable to contain his anger. The President, seated at the head of the round table, was also frowning deeply.
“We still haven’t confirmed whether China ordered it, but you’re certain North Korea was behind it?”
At the President’s grave question, Jang Seokjin, the Second Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service seated beside him, replied.
“Yes. The captured North Korean agents refuse to say anything, but the circumstantial evidence makes it certain.”
“Did they know what kind of figure the person they targeted was in South Korea?”
“They were only told that he was a developer of new weapons. They claim they did not know he was a Class One national security asset.”
“Not knowing does not make this something we can overlook.”
The President slammed the report he was holding down onto the table.
“Can we contact the North Korean leadership?”
“They have cut off all communications equipment. Even the hotline is completely unresponsive.”
“How many Hyunmoo-5 missiles currently contain Blue CL-20?”
“Exactly one, assembled for testing.”
The President closed his eyes and sank into deep thought. This incident was clearly a preemptive attack by North Korea.
The Minister of National Defense spoke urgently.
“Mr. President, if you give the order right now, we will fire the Hyunmoo-5 loaded with Blue as a warning shot near North Korean waters in the East Sea.”
But that could trigger a localized conflict—or even a full-scale war. The President slowly raised his head.
“How powerful is the Hyunmoo-5 loaded with Blue?”
“Comparable to a small tactical nuclear weapon.”
Deputy Director Jang answered while looking at the report. The Hyunmoo-5 loaded with Blue had reached the point where it could hardly be regarded as a conventional weapon.
“If North Korea does not personally provide an explanation by six o’clock this evening....”
After a long deliberation, the President spoke in an icy voice.
“Send them a notice stating that we will fire the Hyunmoo-5 at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun.”
(Translator’s Note:Kumsusan Palace of the Sun — A mausoleum in Pyongyang containing the preserved bodies of North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. Originally built as Kim Il Sung’s official residence in 1976, it was converted into a mausoleum after his death in 1994 and received its present name in 2012.)
“What? Are you serious?”
Even the Minister of National Defense, who had been the most belligerent person in the room, asked with a startled expression.
“Whether it becomes serious depends on them.”
Science Facility’s Factory No. 2.
“Is this for real? This many countries want to buy it?”
I spoke while flipping through the thick stack of letters of intent piled on the desk. After the Zero Report System adopted by El Salvador proved tremendously effective at reducing crime rates, inquiries began pouring in from all over.
“Ecuador and Honduras are showing enormous interest too.”
Taeju spoke while looking over the organized report.
“Because they have so many gangs?”
“They’re building a huge number of prisons too. Sweden, Chile, and Costa Rica have also shown interest.”
“Why them? Aren’t those peaceful countries?”
“Apparently, they accepted a lot of immigrants in the past. But many of the second-generation immigrants became gang members.”
“Really?”
“They say bomb attacks are practically an everyday occurrence in Sweden now.”
“The world changed that much all of a sudden?”
“But Hyesung....”
Taeju suddenly fiddled with the smartwatch on his wrist and asked seriously.
“What happens if someone who has never committed a crime gets assigned a high probability of committing one?”
“That person will probably commit a crime.”
“But they might not.”
“...True.”
“Then they could suddenly end up in prison. Is that really okay?”
“...”
“If a child’s parents were suddenly imprisoned because of an AI, would that child understand?”
“Probably not....”
A brief silence settled over the laboratory after my answer.
“They’d end up hating the developer.”
Top-secret weapons analysis room in an underground bunker in Kyiv, Ukraine.
A recently manufactured South Korean missile had been disassembled.
“The United States has also instructed us not to use this under any circumstances.”
“Why?”
“It was not originally meant to be sent to us. They claim it was a shipping mistake.”
“They don’t want us to win. They see us as nothing more than some simulation machine for testing their weapons.”
Ukraine’s Minister of Defense flew into a rage. The United States had always sent weapons in frustratingly limited amounts under the pretext of preventing escalation.
“They apparently rushed to issue instructions over the hotline regarding this missile too. They said never to use it.”
Such things happened from time to time during wartime, when supply inventories were mixed up.
“Is the test report still not ready?”
The minister spoke impatiently, and at that very moment, the report arrived.
“Here it is.”
The contents were shocking.
“It’s twenty-one percent more destructive than ordinary CL-20?”
“At this level, it is no longer CL-20. It is practically an entirely different substance.”
“Was there any commercially available explosive more powerful than this, Analyst?”
“Yes. Nuclear bombs.”
“You stupid bastard!”
The minister roared.
“That means this is currently the most powerful conventional explosive on Earth!”
“What should we do? If we could receive supplies of this South Korean weapon, we could win the war.”
“Would South Korea allow it?”
The minister sighed and furrowed his brow.
“Immediately... change every map in Ukraine that labels it Takeshima to Dokdo!”
“Yes, but will that be enough to win them over? There is also the issue of visits to Yasukuni Shrine.”
“Then set fire to Yasukuni Shrine, you bastard! Show them our unwavering resolve!”
Laboratory at Science Facility’s Factory No. 2.
Atop enormous cultivation equipment, humanoid robots slowly poured in urea and sugar with mechanical precision.
I was staring intently at a blood sample I had secretly taken from Baek Taecheon at a table in one corner of the laboratory.
“What’s with the blood?”
Taeju asked curiously.
“Oh, it’s from a North Korean soldier named Baek Taecheon. There were some strange rumors about him.”
“Rumors?”
“Something about him being a human weapon developed by North Korea.”
“So, did you find anything?”
“He’s ordinary. No traces of drugs or anything like that. Looks like the rumors really were nonsense. Though I haven’t done genetic testing yet.”
[Here is your iced Americano.]
Tap.
At that moment, a robot approached carrying a tray and placed a cold drink beside me.
“Thanks.”
Whirr— Whirr—
“Hermes makes coffee now too?”
Taeju looked surprised as I casually took a sip.
“I didn’t ask it to, but it tastes fine.”
[Would you like a cup as well, CEO Choi?]
“No, I’m fine.”
Taeju recoiled from the robot and waved his hands.
“If robots that precise perform all the labor, won’t human employees become unnecessary eventually?”
“Someday, maybe. Robots were created to replace human labor in the first place.”
“You really seem like you’ll do it.”
“Hm? Do what?”
“That thing you always used to talk about. You said you were going to build a weapons factory on the surface of the Moon.”
“Oh, right.”
The real reason I had been so obsessed with creating Blue CL-20 was not for missiles, but to use it as fuel for space rockets.
I had also created humanoid robots superior to humans so that they could work in the vacuum of space.
“If humans go themselves, they need extremely complex spacesuits and a continuous supply of food.”
I took another sip of my Americano as I spoke.
“Then now that you’ve developed ultra-efficient fuel and unmanned robots, all you need to do is build the rocket to launch them?”
“I had to build one anyway.”
“Why?”
“Because it can also be used as an intercontinental ballistic missile.”
I took another sip of coffee and spoke calmly.
“Everyone pretends on the surface that they are building peaceful space rockets, but the core of the technology is ultimately an intercontinental ballistic missile.”
“So in the end, it’s technology aimed back at Earth.”
Office of the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission, Pyongyang, North Korea.
“Director, you heard the news, didn’t you?”
The only conspicuously overweight man in the office—the North Korean Supreme Leader—spoke while scanning the report with a cold gaze.
“If the operation failed, they should have blown themselves up and died. Instead, I hear all twenty were captured alive by South Korea.”
“They will never talk. Their families are already being held hostage here.”
The Director of the Reconnaissance General Bureau spoke while lying flat against the floor, trembling.
“Wasn’t your operational plan simply stupid and sloppy? Otherwise, how could twenty members of the Republic’s most elite special forces all fail together? Baek Taecheon was there too.”
“I-I’m sorry!”
“Those South Korean bastards sent a warning that if I don’t personally call and explain myself by six o’clock this evening, a full-scale war will break out.”
“What? South Korea is taking such a hard line? Then we should retaliate with a nuclear launch—”
“You stupid bastard!”
The fat man roared.
“Don’t you know that if we launch a nuclear weapon, the United States military will intervene and I’ll die in the end?”
He let out an incredulous laugh.
“Why can’t you understand the simple fact that all of you can die, but I cannot?”
“I-I’m sorry, Supreme Leader!”
Snap, snap.
He snapped his fingers and summoned an official standing nearby. The stone-faced Commander of the Guard Command approached him.
“Yes.”
“Drag this bastard out and execute him.”
“Comrade Chairman! Please, anything but that! I did my best for the Republic! I have a family!”
“Kill his family too.”
“C-Comrade Leader! I have worked like a dog, day and night, for you my entire life!”
He slammed his head against the floor and screamed, but the man did not even pretend to listen.
“Sniff... sniff.... You fucking pig!”
The Director, who had been begging for his life, apparently crossed the limits of his stress. Giving up on everything, he screamed through a face smeared with tears and snot.
The man turned around at the sudden torrent of abuse. Such things occasionally happened at the very edge of power. He was not particularly surprised.
“Die, you filthy son of a bitch!”
Click-click-click-click.
The Director drew a pistol he had secretly prepared from inside his clothes and pulled the trigger, but—
“...Fuck. It’s broken.”
A round had jammed in the chamber, leaving the slide completely stuck.
“Damned fucking North Korean junk....”
The Director wept helplessly as agents from the Guard Command dragged him away like an animal. It had nearly been a historic assassination attempt that might have changed the course of North Korean history, but it ended pathetically because of a defective pistol.
“Hey, didn’t you search him?”
At the fat man’s irritated shout, several people in the room trembled like aspen leaves.
“He was always so loyal that we never imagined he would dare prepare something like that....”
“Drag out the people responsible for searching him at the door and execute them too.”
“Y-yes, understood. But Supreme Leader, it is now 5:55. Will you be calling the South Korean President?”
The Commander of the Guard Command asked with a deathly pale face, trembling.
“What? It’s already that late? Ha... what should I do?”
“You should apologize, shouldn’t you? Otherwise, we will all die.”
North Korea apologizing? And the Supreme Leader himself?
The North Korean leadership did not even know that South Korea had developed Blue CL-20, much less that a Hyunmoo-5 loaded with that horrifying explosive was aimed at their heads. Even so, they feared a full-scale war.
“Haa... the hotline.... Ha, those bastards.... Bring me the hotline now!”