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Chapter 117: Surround Korea
Chapter 117: Surround Korea
There was a time when the Artemis program was in full swing, when everyone was launching rockets into space and even planning to go to Mars.
That trend was led by an ambitious entrepreneur who had no problem executing his vision.
It was a time when reusable launch vehicles became common and moon base construction plans were discussed casually.
Some argued that the technology was not mature enough and demanded a cautious approach, but the entrepreneur showed his gambler’s spirit and succeeded in launching one spacecraft after another.
Thus, the Artemis program and the Mars colonization project proceeded almost simultaneously.
While NASA took charge of the former, the latter was entirely the entrepreneur’s hobby.
Mars was different from the moon in that it required a tremendous amount of time and investment to travel back and forth.
The orbital problem meant that one had to wait for the closest relative position between Earth and Mars, which occurred every 26 months.
That meant that using conventional fuel, one could only send a spacecraft to Mars every 26 months, and the same for returning.
The travel time was also an issue, as it took at least six months for a long journey.
A few people had to share a cramped spacecraft, which could easily cause mental problems.
Of course, that was part of the astronaut training, and the entrepreneur also completed a short course.
However, those in the space industry claimed that there were many problems with the Starship program as a whole.
—It takes at least six months to get to Mars, and the entire exploration plan will take at least two years to finish. You seem to want to be the first human to land on Mars, but what about your company during that period?
—The technology is not mature enough. The Starship launch vehicle looks good, but it has not been sufficiently verified. The orbital calculations for the moon and Mars are different in dimension.
But despite all these concerns, the Starship launch vehicle took off to Mars with the entrepreneur and eight astronauts.
It was a year before Yu Ji-ha crashed into the East Sea with Settler.
The original plan was to return by 2026, but the Starship launch vehicle failed to ignite for landing and fell down, completely destroyed.
Nine astronauts died, and the Mars manned landing project was scrapped.
The Artemis program also failed to progress properly due to various problems.
Many people questioned the idea of spending a lot of money to enter space when the economy was difficult.
By 2030, Korea was the only country that showed enthusiasm for space exploration.
Almost the whole world was looking at Korea’s mouth.
NASA, which had led humanity’s space science and technology, became a financier who invested money in Naro Space Company and Starfield.
The Democratic Party of the United States criticized this point, but their own measures were not much different.
—It’s good to reduce dependence. But how are you going to do that? It’s not written at all.
—It is important to increase the thrust of ion thrusters and the resolution of black metal decomposers. We know that too. But what about psychers?
—There are very few psychers registered in Korea. They seem to be hiding data.
Psychers could not be artificially cultivated.
It was natural since they did not even know what ether they used was.
Eventually time would solve it, but the United States was impatient.
At this rate, they would lose their leadership in space exploration and be dragged along.
They were flustered when Yu Ji-ha announced Mars exploration, development, and base construction.
—Why are you interested in Mars? Wouldn’t it be better to use black metal hulls for Venus exploration? It should withstand Venus’s atmosphere without any problem with its durability.
-If you want to follow that entrepreneur’s footsteps, I want to stop you. There is no economic value on Mars. If it’s purely for research purposes, let’s cooperate. We have a lot of data collected over time.
But Yu Ji-ha rejected the US proposal.
“The Mars base will be carried out with the power of United Human Federation. We will not accept any investment or disclose any information.”
The space industry officials were outraged by his uncooperative attitude.
—When you started the Moonlight project, you asked us for a lot of help. What happened?
—The situation has changed now. He made a lot of money and accumulated enough know-how. He doesn’t need to care about us anymore.Fịndd new updates on
—Well, having money is never bad...
In fact, there was a good reason for him to proceed with Mars colonization independently.
He had a good reason to focus on Mars in the future.
Starting from the summer of 2031, more than 20 relics would arrive on Mars, which accounted for 50% of the relics that humanity secured.
Among them, there were some that could not be disclosed at all, so it was better to build a base and research them there.
Also, there was an important resource on Mars.
It was a metal named mithril by the former United Human Federation, also known as tin.
This silver metal was used to draw artificial ether circuits, so it was indispensable for future ether-related industries.
The reserves were also quite abundant, and the closest mining site was Mariner Valley on Mars.
It was expected that there would be a lot on the ninth planet, Nox, but that place was guarded by the Plague.
Did they resent humanity for being called by the Pioneers?
‘Nox...’
It was a place he had to go someday when Yu Ji-ha achieved his goal.
By then, he would have prepared a proper pioneer team.
The solar system would be peaceful, and the United Human Federation would have a proper government.
Taking the pioneer team to the home of the Pioneers.
That was Yu Ji-ha’s second goal.
‘I wonder if it will go well.’
Yu Ji-ha thought so and finished his announcement in front of the people with astonished eyes.
“I’m going to Mars.”
This crazy bastard wants to die there too.
That’s what people thought.
***
After the United Human Federation declared its entry into Mars, space-related organizations and officials unanimously opposed it.
What they were worried about was the United Human Federation’s exclusivity over Mars.
—Why are you suddenly doing this when you involved multiple countries in the Moonlight project?
—Mars is not owned by an individual or a specific country. It is a precious celestial body that humanity should cultivate and research together.
—The United Human Federation is not affiliated with the UN. But that doesn’t mean they can monopolize Mars.
Yu Ji-ha asked just in case.
“I assume you won’t ask me to return the land I gave you before.”
“China is big. I can accept that.”
“But you must have lost a lot by losing Xinjiang Uyghur and Tibet.”
When he scratched his nerves openly, Wang Xian from Shangjang was silent for a while.
Then he opened his mouth quietly.
“I know what you want. You want to provoke us into a war.”
“Did you hear it from the US?”
“Korean tank units entering Liaoning Province, helicopters invading our airspace, I have been patient until now, but I can’t tolerate it anymore.”
“So you want to solidify the border line at this point?”
“Let’s talk about that issue separately later. Don’t cross the Yalu River and the Tumen River again. We have our own plans.”
“What did the US promise you? We are willing to give you more than that.”
“Do you think I would believe that?”
Was it because of the stress he had received from home and abroad?
Wang Xian Shangjang’s voice began to crack.
“Didn’t I ask you to let me introduce one nuclear fusion plant? But what I got was a formal letter from the secretary’s office, not from the president.”
“That’s strange. I thought I told you to think carefully.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Didn’t I tell you to think and propose what you would give in return for introducing a nuclear fusion plant? Or did you think you would get it for free?”
“I will pay the order fee, of course.”
“That’s not the problem. I mean the cost of improving relations. Don’t you really know why EU, except Germany, is getting no benefits at all?”
In other words, he meant to prepare a generous pocket and poke him.
That was exactly what was causing Wang Xian Shangjang’s stress.
He couldn’t stand it and raised his voice on the phone.
“I invested 100 billion yuan in North Korea! I gave them Mount Baekdu and land! What more do you want?”
“My life value.”
“What?”
“It’s very cheap compared to what threatened my life.”
“So every time I introduce your technology, I have to pay a corresponding price?”
“Isn’t that obvious? Where do you find free things in this world?”
When he heard laughter from the other side of the phone, Wang Xian Shangjang bit his lips until they bled.
Yes, this was his fate after all.
The claim of some that they could get technology by getting along with Korea was nothing but a delusion.
They put price tags on every technology they maintained, and coldly refused if this side’s proposal did not meet the standard.
It was natural from a business perspective, but Wang Xian wanted more national cooperation.
Naturally, his voice became low.
“I understand your and Korea’s intentions well.”
“Don’t forget. It was you who tried to kill me.”
“It wasn’t me, it was the previous regime.”
“Do you think the actions of the previous regime are neatly discarded just because the leadership has changed? That’s a very convenient logic.”
“...”
Silence always follows when each other’s arguments are parallel.
Wang Xian Shangjang didn’t say anything for a long time and suddenly ended the call.
Yu Ji-ha called Arma in the presidential office.
“It seems like the siege network is being formed. What do you think will come next?”
「The military means will be left to China and Japan, and the US will impose economic sanctions.」
“Economic sanctions... They can’t use anything too great.”
The US was also in the ecosystem created by Yu Ji-ha in a broad sense.
But they could always create indirect sanctions.
For example, taking over the leadership of memory semiconductors produced by Hansung Group...
「In the early 20s, the US formed a semiconductor triangle alliance with Japan and Taiwan. They thought Korea was unstable.」
“They won’t use the same method as then.”
「They will do it in parallel. The US also directly protected TSMC in the Yang’an War. If they expand their supply chain and control the supply of semiconductor production equipment, Hansung Electronics will surely not be able to withstand it.」
Silla Group was too dominant, but Hansung Group was also a fairly large company ranked second in business circles.
Although they lost their foundry industry completely to the US and even lost their dominant position in memory, their sales were still considerable.
“Isn’t that too indirect? It seems like it will take years for the results to show up.”
「As you said, it is difficult for the US to completely break with Master. They need to proceed carefully.」
“Then let’s proceed with breaking their siege network completely.”
The semiconductors of this era were too slow and inefficient to be used at all.
He also had to continue the research on ether and black metal at the artifact analysis agency Ark, so the development of a new operation unit was essential.
“This should do it.”
He pulled out one of the blueprints from the DB of the Settler.
When this semiconductor enters the market, the existing infrastructure will fall into trash.
They couldn’t compete with it in terms of efficiency and power consumption.
Above all, this semiconductor was a shortcut to quantum computers.
He instructed Arma.
“Let’s start taking over the semiconductor market. Start building from the theoretical data.”
「Yes, I understand.」