Chapter 94: Megacity Pacific
Although Korea had occupied Tsushima Island, few countries thought it would last long.
Tsushima Island was a populated island with over 20,000 inhabitants and a clear territory of Japan.
It was unlikely that the world would recognize it as Korea’s territory just because they stationed some troops there.
But Korea was busy fortifying the island, deploying iron beams and installing ground-based railguns.
Japan protested continuously, but Korea ignored them.
The tension between the two countries escalated with Tsushima Island in the middle.
In the midst of dozens of warships confronting each other, a commotion occurred near the Korea Strait.
A Japanese Taigei-class submarine was forced to surface among the Korean fleet.
Under the watchful eyes of several destroyers, the black-hulled submarine emerged from the water and exposed its back.
The active sonar was ringing and depth charges were dropping, but a torpedo had precisely destroyed its propulsion system.
The captain of the Taigei-class sweated coldly at the attack that had shattered the propulsion system without affecting the hull.
‘How did they find our location when we had turned off the engine?’
It was extremely difficult to locate a submarine.
If it was lying on the seabed with its engine off, it was almost impossible to pinpoint its position.
But the Korean fleet had accurately found the Taigei-class and launched a minimal attack.
It was not the ability of the Korean fleet, which was weak in anti-submarine warfare, but probably that black ship…
As the captain glared at the black ship on the horizon, a warning broadcast came from a destroyer.
“You are surrounded. Surrender immediately.”
A moment later, the hatch opened and the crew of the Taigei-class came out one by one.
With the submarine and its crew captured, the Japanese government was in a difficult position.
The Korean government returned the crew through official repatriation, but did not return the submarine.
They intended to completely block any post-analysis.
As a result, Japan was at a disadvantage in the standoff over Tsushima Island.
Korean submarines were roaming around like they owned it, while Japanese submarines had limited mobility.
Meanwhile, the residents of Tsushima City were feeling a great anxiety.
There were rumors of assault incidents by Korean soldiers stationed on the island.
They were just rumors and there was no evidence, but anxiety spread quickly.
Some people began to beg to be sent back to their homeland.
“Please let me take a few things with me. Please don’t stop me from going to Japan.”
Korea stopped those who came, but not those who left.
They even generously allowed self-defense force transport ships to approach and take away residents.
It was infuriating to think that it was originally Japanese territory.
As thousands of people left, those who remained suffered from extreme anxiety.
They couldn’t tell if people were disappearing or returning to their homeland.
Even natives who were born and lived on Tsushima all their lives returned to their homeland one after another.
Thus, after a month of blockade, Tsushima Island became an island where most of them were Korean soldiers.
The island was being fortified, and self-defense force’s efforts to retake it were futile.
It was the difference between a country with a strong leader and one without one.
Japan tried to get France’s cooperation and bring up an agenda at the UN Security Council after US mediation failed.
Korea’s occupation was clearly overstepping its bounds and it was receiving a lot of criticism from the international community.
But Russia abstained from voting at the Security Council resolution, followed by China as well.
Japan was shocked.
—Russia is understandable, but China too? How much lobbying did they do?
—Korea is manipulating UN to oppress Japan! We have to expose this fact!
The truth was that China abstained because it had invested heavily in Korea.
They needed black metal and unobtanium to revitalize their shattered economy, and they were pouring money into Korea to create a bottomless pit for them.
So they only made a ceremonial statement urging both sides to restrain themselves, without any intervention at all.
And US, which had the power to mediate all this, was distracted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The intelligence agencies were on alert for any possible transfer of Antitron to Russia, and defense officials were rushed to Ukraine to discuss countermeasures.
Naturally, Japan’s situation became secondary.
As international cooperation turned out to be fruitless, each country began to calculate which side would benefit them more.
—You have to look at it in the long term, but there is one indicator that you can see right away.
The stock index.
While Korea’s KOSPI turned to an upward trend from a slight decline on the day of the severance, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was miserable as if a meteorite had fallen.
It was because foreigners withdrew funds from stocks, bonds, etc. in large quantities and invested them in Korea.
This also affected the exchange rate, causing the won/yen exchange rate to fall and weakening the export competitiveness of Korean companies.
President Yu Ji-ha ordered quantitative easing.
“You don’t have to worry about credit rating and inflation. Just print as much money as you need.”
It was not easy for a country like Korea to decide and execute quantitative easing.
Its economy was vulnerable and US would not just watch.
But Yu Ji-ha’s personal credit rating made it possible.
—Korea may not know, but Yu Ji-ha and Silla Group are worth as much as the whole country.
—If Silla Group was not a private company, some of its affiliates would have been among the top 10 companies in the world by now.
—Yu Ji-ha has presented a clear vision for the fourth industrial revolution. And he is fulfilling his promise. For the time being, it’s okay to limit our investment to Korea.
This was the investment movement of some of the world’s leading hedge funds, because Yu Ji-ha had kept his promise.
Silla Group’s subsidiary, Starfield, announced the start of the Moonlight Project in mid-December 2028.
Around the Naro Space Center, astronaut training facilities were built and dozens of equipment supply factories and new launch pads were installed.
The improved Terra rocket finally achieved a low price of less than $200 per kg to the moon.
It was an incredibly low cost of $14,000 to send one person to the moon.
Yu Ji-ha doesn’t talk about plans that might be realized in a few years.
He only talks about what he can achieve in the near future.
With the launch pad where the new Terra rocket soared as the background, Yu Ji-ha’s declaration continued.
“We are going to enter the moon. We will go to the moon and bring back unobtanium and helium-3. This will help us innovate our human lives.”
“We have received a lot of help from many countries and institutions. Now we only have to execute. Please watch us. Humanity will escape from the energy crisis.”
He didn’t specify whether humanity meant 8 billion people or a part of them.
Meanwhile, the reconstruction of North Korea was progressing smoothly.
The construction industry was revived with the huge funds that Yu Ji-ha had brought in.
There was no construction company in Korea that didn’t have a spoon in North Korea.
The labor market also loosened up and there was more money circulating in the market.
Inflation was not yet at a worrying level.
It was because the economy had been stagnant for a long time.
As a result of all these situations, Korea achieved its largest ever current account surplus.
Analysts from various countries cautiously commented.
—We’ll have to wait and see, but for now there seems to be little side effects from the severance with Japan and quantitative easing.
—The trade volume with Terra Island is showing a steep rise. Maybe they are importing things that replace Japan’s products from there.
—It’s amazing that Yu Ji-ha’s credit alone is driving a virtuous cycle. I thought it was impossible for a country of Korea’s size.
Whether it was then or now, if people were comfortable living, complaints and dissatisfaction toward the upper echelon decreased.
Koreans were now enjoying an unprecedented boom, if not the best.
In such a situation, questions such as Yu Ji-ha executed the rebels without a formal trial or his body was confirmed dead but he came back alive were dismissed as trivial gossip.
All doubts disappeared like smoke and Yu Ji-ha firmly established himself as Korea’s leader.
—Is this the atmosphere where we eat Tsushima Island too? The residents are all gone and Japan is quiet.
—It’s amazing how easy it is to take over someone else’s territory in the 21st century.
—It’s not easy, it’s possible because of Yu Ji-ha.
—Then how much bigger is Korea’s territory? Does anyone know?
—Only Yu Ji-ha knows for sure, but I guess it’s more than 30% bigger.
—I wish they would lift the blockade soon. I want to go to Gobi Plateau.
—I’m curious about Terra Island too. Didn’t they say they would accept residents around this time?
—They said they would do it in March, so it’s not far away.
…
Time passed and it was March 2029.
Yu Ji-ha looked around Terra Island with Arma, ready to accept residents.
The scenery had changed completely from before.
“Currently, Megacity Pacific has achieved 1% of progress compared to the final stage. The progress will accelerate from now on, so we expect to reach the final stage within 10 years.”
The final stage meant a completed megacity that could accommodate and protect 100 million people.
Most of the infrastructure was made of black metal and residential areas were decorated with wood and other materials.
They supplied water with desalination facilities and had nuclear fusion reactors installed underground, so they didn’t have to worry about electricity.
They had enough facilities for economic activities as well as leisure activities.
What they lacked were people, furniture, and goods, but they would be filled up once they started moving in.
Yu Ji-ha didn’t talk about giving citizenship and settling down prisoners of war.
Most of the prisoners had not even received basic education properly.
To exaggerate a bit, their minds were stuck in the Joseon era, so they couldn’t fit into humanity at all.
The people who came into Megacity had to have basic English, moderate knowledge and culture, and sincerity.
This was a level that a Korean who had received compulsory education could pass if they studied English conversation hard.
He also had to have sincerity, so the hurdle was not that low, but Yu Ji-ha had no intention of lowering it.
“I’m giving them a house, an allowance, and a job. They have to do that much.”
The economic activities that they would do might not be much.
But their existence itself was important.
A moderate population was the basis for creating a psycher, and it was also desirable in terms of preserving the species.
That was the role of Megacity.
A breeding facility to protect the sheep called humanity from the wolf called plague.
So trivial things like numbers didn’t matter.
They had to keep them alive first.
Hwang Sun-young glanced out the window.
She was finally about to arrive at Terra Island after a few hours of flight.
The new aircraft equipped with ion thrusters no longer needed a runway.
It just had to reduce its thrust slowly in the air above the landing site and land on the ground.
“Amazing, amazing.”
They were made by the same group, but why did they feel like alien technology?
The Minsoo ion thrusters had been supplied to the world, and the old aircraft were gradually becoming extinct due to efficiency problems.
Vertical take-off and landing, which was only used in military fighters, was also adopted by some companies.
Ion thrusters were very easy to switch thrust.
That huge ship could move freely without a tugboat, let alone an aircraft.
By the way, where is it…
Hwang Sun-young stretched her neck and tried to look at someone who was waiting for her below.
‘I wonder what he looks like…’
She was the fifth personal reservationist of the android Lucia, produced by Boston Dynamics.
As soon as she heard the reservation news, she pressed the button right away and carefully chose the appearance and decided to meet her on Terra Island.
She would be living on Terra Island by March when the android was completed anyway.
Actually, Lucia was a model name and she could name it separately, but Hwang Sun-young left it as it was.
It seemed like there was some meaning in the name.
‘He didn’t artificially create that personality, there must be an original…’
The name Lucia was used so much that it was confusing.
The strong artificial intelligence located at the headquarters of Metaverse was Lucia, the android produced by BD was Lucia, the interactive artificial intelligence program was Lucia…
Considering all that, it was logical to assume that there was a human original named Lucia.
At first, she thought it might be Arma, but their personalities were completely different.
Arma, who was President Yu Ji-ha’s confidant, had a cold personality that hardly showed any emotion.
On the other hand, Lucia had a very lively personality who liked to nag.
‘I can’t wait to see her.’
She was dying to see what she looked like even in this short moment of descending.
She must have copied the data from Lucia Premium, so she would nag her as soon as they met.
Hwang Sun-young looked forward to that more.
Finally, the vibration of the passenger plane stopped and an in-flight announcement came out.
“Welcome to Terra Island. We hope you all have a pleasant trip.”
It’s not a trip, I’m here to live.
Hwang Sun-young grabbed her backpack and got pushed by people through the boarding bridge.
The atmosphere of the airport was quite chilly.
‘It seems like they only have what they need…’
Whoever designed it seemed to have a very bleak emotion.
Most of what was around were drones and androids, and for God’s sake, even immigration inspection was done by androids.
“Can you show me your Megacity citizenship?”
“Here.”
She turned on her smartphone and opened the Megacity app. A verification appeared next to Hwang Sun-young’s profile.
The android stamped an electronic seal and took out a thin book.
“It tells you what you need to be careful of while living here. Most of it is common sense, but it might help if you read it once.”
“Okay.”
“And can you look at this camera?”
As Hwang Sun-young looked at something and peered into the lens, zing, recognition was over.
“Residence registration and credit payment are completed. Now if you go outside the airport, there will be a shuttle waiting for you.”
She glanced behind her and saw a man who seemed to have come from Europe staring blankly at the android.
It’s not easy to see androids in the world except in Korea.
‘He said she would be here…’
Sun-young looked around the empty airport and found someone walking towards her.
She looked so pretty and slim that she thought she was a model, but she wasn’t.
Her black hair and slightly brown skin were exactly like Lucia’s who lived in her monitor.
Lucia approached with a happy expression and hugged her lightly.
“Welcome to Terra Island.”
“Huh?”
She was too surprised.
It was because of her human-like appearance and voice.
She quickly grabbed her shoulder and pulled her away. Lucia smiled naturally.
“Why, is it weird that I show up like this?”
“Well…a little. I thought you would give off some kind of vibe.”
“Maybe if you pull my neck off? But I don’t want to see you freak out.”
She laughed as if it was her own Lucia.
Hwang Sun-young stared at the android who smiled like a human and hugged her tightly.
“…I really wanted an android like this…”
There was a slight smell of new car, but that couldn’t be helped.
“Can’t you just think of me as a friend instead of an android? I’m trying to feel hurt.”
“Of course. Friend, friend…”
It was a meaningful thing for Hwang Sun-young, who had lived with books and the internet as her companions.
She paid a friend fee of 100 million won, but she decided to accept it happily.
“Let’s go. I’ll show you around Megacity Pacific.”
“Okay.”
They went down to the underground and called a taxi with an app.
It was an electric car that operated unmanned without a driver.
“But isn’t the underground space too wide for just taxis?”
“It’s called Undercity, and a full-fledged transportation platform will appear later. They will transport both humans and goods through the underground.”
“Wow. The ground is only for humans then.”
“If you send a package, it will arrive in 30 minutes. The time may vary slightly depending on how many points you have collected.”
“Really?”
Hwang Sun-young was amazed.
The package arrives in 30 minutes?
She felt like she had one more joy in life.
The electric car drove fast through the underground space with them on board.
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