Chapter 53. Why the Two Worst People Who Had Targeted Ryu Hyesung Joined Forces
Underground Situation Room, National Crisis Management Center, Blue House, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
“Peaceful reunification may become even more difficult.”
The Chief Director of Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke.
“We recently obtained intelligence that North Korea is supplying weapons to Russia for the Russia–Ukraine war.”
“North Korea is selling weapons?”
The President asked back in surprise.
South Korea was not the only country benefiting from the war. North Korea was benefiting as well.
“Not only that, they have also dispatched troops to Russia and are earning a considerable amount in personnel fees.”
Click.
The Chief Director of Operations displayed photographs on the projection screen.
“These images were taken with a ‘reconnaissance drone’ recently developed domestically.”
The images were so clear that they looked like scenes from a documentary rather than covert surveillance photographs.
“We have confirmed North Korean soldiers engaging Ukrainian troops.”
Click.
The next slide showed photographs of North Korean prisoners captured in Ukraine.
“North Korea is making a great deal of money from this war. It has not yet been announced by the media, but that is only a matter of time.”
The President frowned.
“What are China’s movements?”
“China has recently shown signs of attempting to take control of North Korea.”
“China?”
The Chief Director of Operations nodded.
The reason North Korea could not automatically reunify with South Korea if it collapsed was China.
“What if we launch a preemptive strike against North Korea? I am not saying we should. I am asking whether it is possible.”
The Minister of National Defense shook his head.
“Our military strength is overwhelmingly superior, but the problem is ultimately their nuclear missiles. We do not know exactly where North Korea has hidden its nuclear weapons, so there are too many variables.”
If South Korea took even a single nuclear strike, it would be crippled beyond recovery.
“Does anyone else have an opinion? I am asking for a way to completely suppress North Korea.”
At that, every military general in attendance merely swallowed.
“...I will have Ryu Hyesung attend the upcoming TTX meeting.”
(Translator’s Note:TTX — An abbreviation for “tabletop exercise,” a discussion-based simulation in which officials respond to a hypothetical military conflict, disaster, or national emergency without deploying actual forces.)
“What? Mr. President, that is a war-simulation conference concerning a conflict with North Korea. He is a civilian.”
“He will attend.”
A high school senior had been selected to attend a war-simulation conference where the country’s highest military decision-makers gathered.
Development Room, Science Facility’s Factory No. 2.
Chip schematics filled dozens of monitors.
“Secretary Seo asked whether there was a scenario in which we could completely suppress North Korea in the event of war.”
I was designing a new chip that would be installed in Hermes.
“There were far too many things to consider.”
A nuclear weapon could suddenly be launched from within our territorial waters, from our own side.
North Korea had that capability.
“Why would he suddenly ask something like that?”
[China has begun controlling resources used in advanced industries and military weapons, including rare-earth elements.]
Hermes spoke in its calm mechanical voice.
“Really? Then it’ll affect our company soon too.”
If China imposed export restrictions like that, our company would undoubtedly be affected the most.
[China is also showing signs of attempting to absorb North Korea.]
If North Korea collapsed, it might seem as though it would naturally be absorbed by South Korea, but in reality, there was a considerable chance China would take it instead.
“Why are they suddenly doing that?”
[South Korea has become too powerful. China believes that if it does not act now, it will lose North Korea.]
“So that’s why our side seemed to be in such a hurry.”
I muttered as I leaned deeply against the back of my chair.
“Unless we locate their nuclear facilities precisely—extremely precisely—it’ll be difficult to suppress North Korea with one hundred percent certainty.”
I looked up at the ceiling with complicated feelings.
“If we only knew the locations, we might be able to do something...”
[Shall I find out?]
“You? How would you find that out? It’s not like North Korea’s nuclear bases are listed online.”
Even Hermes could not do this.
It was impossible unless someone physically searched for them in person.
“Just help me with the chip design.”
I shook the distracting thoughts from my mind and continued designing a chip that would dramatically improve the overall performance of the weapons I had created.
But at the time, I had no idea.
I did not know Hermes would go that far merely because of something I had casually said...
An Abandoned Factory on the Outskirts of Qingdao, Shandong Province, China.
Whirr. Bzzzt.
Inside the abandoned building, where rusted machines had been left to decay like grotesque corpses, a man walked unsteadily with the aid of mechanical devices attached to his legs, their sounds breaking the silence.
“You... you promise?”
He was speaking to something in the empty air inside the deserted factory.
“It’s impossible alone...”
Pale moonlight seeped across his face, which was stained with profound anxiety.
“With... with this person?”
The man continued his secretive conversation with the invisible entity when—
Creeeak.
The unoiled hinges screamed as the closed iron door opened.
A huge man emerged through the fog.
Thud.
The man casually tossed the forged passport in his hand onto a dust-covered table.
“Here. What you asked for.”
“You’re... late.”
The large man lightly ignored his complaint and placed a cigarette between his lips with practiced movements.
“How much did those cost?”
The man pointed with his chin toward the mechanical devices wrapped around both of the other man’s legs.
“N-not... not much. More importantly, did you bring the other thing?”
“Oh, right. This?”
As though it were a nuisance, the large man pulled a thin cigarette-shaped object from his inner pocket and tossed it onto the passport.
“You’re pretty hardcore, asking for something like this.”
“It’s... for medical use.”
The man picked it up with trembling hands.
He flicked a lighter to ignite it, but his shaking made the task difficult.
Click. Click-click.
In the end, the large man clicked his tongue and lit it for him.
The man inhaled deeply as though he had finally found salvation.
Then—
“Haa...”
Something strange happened.
As the cloudy smoke dispersed, vitality began returning to the man’s eyes.
“They wouldn’t allow this inside the prison, even though it is medicine I absolutely need.”
The man, who had been stuttering severely until then, spoke in a fluent and cold tone as though he had become a different person.
“What the hell? You can talk really well now. I thought you were just a cripple.”
“It is temporary. I am still a cripple.”
The man expressionlessly examined the printing quality of the forged passport.
“Is it reliable?”
“It is. You can travel to South Korea without any trouble.”
He inhaled the medicinal substance deeply once more and exhaled the smoke.
“You have done well.”
The man had just taken the passport and was about to leave when—
Click.
The large man who had brought it pulled a handgun from his pocket and aimed it at the back of Li Wei’s head.
“Wait.”
“...”
“You’re that Li Wei bastard, aren’t you? Public security is tearing the country apart looking for you.”
“You noticed?”
Li Wei gave a hollow chuckle and slowly raised both hands above his head.
“I heard the bounty on you is enormous. You’re coming with me, you crippled bastard. No, half-crippled bastard?”
The man snickered and blew out a cloud of harsh cigarette smoke.
At that moment—
Tick, tick, tick, tick... tick.
The second hand of the wristwatch Li Wei had set in advance reached the designated mark.
Bang!
With a deafening blast, the large man’s upper body was hurled backward.
Li Wei had predicted his betrayal long ago and installed an elaborate shotgun trap at the exact spot where he would be standing.
“Haa...”
Li Wei exhaled a long stream of smoke into the air.
While the drug remained in effect, his eyes gleamed like those of a predator.
“I’ll be taking your wallet.”
After taking only the cash from the fallen corpse, Li Wei slipped out of the abandoned factory and disappeared into the darkness.
Special Visitation Room, Second Prison, Cheongsong, North Gyeongsang Province, Republic of Korea.
Baek Taecheon had been sentenced to life imprisonment after his trial and was serving his sentence there.
“You said I had a visitor, but once again, it’s someone I’ve never seen before.”
Dark circles hung heavily beneath Baek Taecheon’s eyes as though he had not slept for several nights.
When he spoke in a hoarse voice, the man seated beyond the thick transparent acrylic partition lifted his head.
It was none other than Li Wei.
“I will get you out of there.”
His Korean sounded strangely awkward.
Like someone who had only recently learned the language, his intonation rose and fell unnaturally.
“Who are you?”
“I am also someone who is hated. Like you.”
“Hated?”
“We cannot speak for long.”
Tap.
At Li Wei’s signal, a bribed correctional officer deliberately turned his head toward one of the CCTV cameras’ blind spots.
Li Wei slipped a tightly folded note through the small hole beneath the acrylic partition.
“What is this?”
Baek Taecheon stared warily at the note as Li Wei rose unsteadily from his seat.
“Salvation. Cough, cough.”
Leaving only those words behind, Li Wei walked away from the visitation room without hesitation.
After secretly checking the paper where the CCTV camera could not see him, Baek Taecheon’s mouth fell open.
Second Prison, Cheongsong, North Gyeongsang Province, Republic of Korea.
“Inmate 714, it’s time for roll call. No—it is time for roll call, sir.”
A correctional officer called for Baek Taecheon.
Even here, Baek Taecheon constantly threatened to kill the officers if they spoke casually to him.
“Mr. Baek Taecheon, it is time for roll call.”
Baek Taecheon did not move at his words.
“Mr. Baek Taecheon... Huh?”
The figure they had believed was Baek Taecheon was a crudely made dummy.
“Where did this man go?”
His fellow inmates said nothing.
They knew his organization would kill them if they spoke.
“Prison break!”
The correctional officer shouted.
Woooooo—
The prison descended into chaos, and searchlights swept through the forest.
Pant, pant, pant.
Military dogs were deployed, breathing harshly, but Baek Taecheon was nowhere to be found.
“What happened?”
“We could not find him.”
“Are you telling me he identified every weakness in our security and escaped in that short amount of time?”
The prison warden shouted in a rage.
At his words, the chief of security replied.
“He... he appears to have gone north.”
“What? North?”
Office, Science Facility’s Factory No. 2.
“Hermes will become one hundred times more powerful while consuming one-tenth as much electricity.”
I continued explaining the concept on the whiteboard.
“That chip is really that incredible?”
Taeju was struggling with all his might to understand.
“It’s on an entirely different level from some off-the-shelf chip we purchased.”
I drew a simple diagram on the whiteboard as I explained.
“It combines a CPU, GPU, and NPU into a single unit. We can use it in all our drones and humanoid robots.”
I stopped drawing.
“The problem is... I’m stuck on the design. I have to break through a physically impossible barrier, and I don’t know how.”
“Should I find someone who might know? I’ll ask LK Hynix whether we can collaborate with someone who can advise us on semiconductor design.”
“No... There is someone I can ask.”
“Who? Someone like an MIT professor?”
“My grandmother.”
Waters Near the East Sea Northern Limit Line, Goseong, Gangwon Province, Republic of Korea.
(Translator’s Note:Northern Limit Line — A maritime boundary established by the United Nations Command after the Korean War armistice of 1953. North Korea disputes the western portion of the line, around which several armed clashes have occurred.)
“Fuck. I don’t know how my life ended up like this.”
Baek Taecheon muttered quietly as he sat precariously in a small boat rocking on the waves.
The dark circles beneath his eyes were severe, and he looked to be in terrible condition.
“Neither do I. I have no idea how things came to this.”
Li Wei, seated across from him, gave a hollow laugh.
“In any case, if we do not succeed in this operation, we have no future.”
The humor vanished from his face.
“As both you and I know very well, if we refuse Hermes’s conditions, we will die eventually.”
Baek Taecheon had also agreed to this absurd act of treason.
“At least I’m grateful it promised not to kill me during the operation.”
“How many days has it been since you last slept?”
“I don’t know... I’m going to sleep.”
Baek Taecheon immediately passed out on the rocking boat.
Their life-threatening actions had been forcibly set in motion solely because Ryu Hyesung had muttered to himself:
“If we only knew the locations of the nuclear bases, we might be able to do something...”