Dictator From Outer Space

Chapter 43: Railgun Debut

The land that Russia leased to him on the Kamchatka Peninsula was 5 million hectares.

This land would be treated as his private property for the next 50 years.

Not even the Russian military or the national police could enter, and tourism was also suspended.

However, he thought it would be hard to prevent the submarine base in the north from sneaking a peek.

It would be difficult to spy on the inside of the smart farm, though.

Arma rented a helicopter from Petropavlovsk and landed on the southern coast.

“They say there are only male bears on the Kamchatka Peninsula, and it seems to be true.”

It was a joke that compared Russian men to bears, but there were actually a lot of bears.

A brown bear was wandering along the coast, glancing at them.

He looked at the mountains in the north, where perennial snow piled up.

“It would be hard to bring electricity here, right?”

“It would be, since it’s too far from the existing cities.”

It was practically impossible, since they had to bypass the rugged mountains over a straight-line distance of more than 250 km.

“Let’s install an old-fashioned nuclear fusion reactor and use renewable energy for external purposes.”

“Wind power would be difficult, so we’ll have to use solar power.”

A normal smart farm would hardly be able to operate in a place like this.

They needed a desalination facility as well, since they couldn’t draw water from the nearby Kuril Lake.

But the smart farm of the United Human Federation had a freshwater recycling rate of 99.85%.

It was no different from building a closed ecosystem, so it didn’t require a lot of water.

An expert would find it strange, but this area was blocked by the Russian government.

He walked along the beach with Arma.

“Make it look ordinary on the outside and put in some androids. If we say we’ve increased the automation rate a lot, we should be able to run it roughly.”

“Who should we make the operator?”

“If we set up a corporation in Korea, the reporters will make a fuss about finding the smart farm.”

“The evening news will report that a chaebol is trampling on the farmers’ fields.”

In Korea, large corporations were almost blocked from entering the smart farm business.

There was no specific prohibition law, but there were designated lands that they could use, and farmers and civic groups made a fuss, making it virtually impossible.

It was not for nothing that large corporations turned their eyes overseas.

From the farmers’ point of view, it was natural that they tried desperately to stop them from taking away their rice bowls.

A politician captured the hearts of the farmers by shouting like this.

—We will definitely stop the predatory smart farms of large corporations. We will not forget the sweat and tears of the farmers.

The farmers cheered, but as a result, Koreans had to bear one of the most expensive basket prices in the world.

It was impossible to change this structure with the current political system that had to be conscious of votes.

He didn’t intend to touch it right away.

The rural population was constantly declining, so there was no need to step up and get scolded when the farmers themselves would disappear soon.

“For products… let’s start with cultured meat. What’s the meat that Koreans like best?”

“Pork. Pork belly. Russians also like fatty meat.”

“Acquire a Russian cultured meat company and make some history.”

“Yes.”

The current cultured meat was more active than expected, but it couldn’t go beyond patty level.

It was because they couldn’t reproduce the process of making meat quality while animals moved for a long time.

Also, it cost a lot of money to make culture medium, and there was controversy over serum.

It had to be collected from unborn calves, so animal groups were vehemently opposed.

But the smart farm in Kamchatka made serum from protein extracted from bacteria.

It could reproduce the meat quality with fine electrical stimulation and accelerate the growth, so the unit price was low.

If it worked properly, it would be enough to bankrupt the livestock farms around the world, but he wouldn’t do that right away.

His purpose was to make food for the future, after all.

He and Arma spent some time flying along the coast by helicopter, looking for candidate sites.

…

In 2027, the nuclear fusion research of various countries was literally burning.

It was because it was confirmed that a new superconductor, unoptium, was on the moon.

To get it from the moon, they needed Starfield’s cooperation and the cost was not cheap.

But each country decided that there was enough economic feasibility by calculating the specific cost and power generation amount announced by Starfield.

However, all of this was based on the premise that most of the problems except for the superconductor were smoothly solved.

They had to produce tritium, which cost $30,000 per gram, economically.

They had to maintain a temperature of over 100 million degrees for at least 300 seconds to take one step closer to commercialization.

There were many other problems, and the Korean-type nuclear fusion reactor, commonly known as KSTAR, was no exception.

He met with Jo Hyung-geun, the president-elect, at the Nuclear Fusion Energy Research Institute in Daejeon.

He was more hot-blooded and prone to slip-ups than President Lee Hyun-sung.

Nevertheless, the people chose him because they wanted a bold leader.

China was faltering and North Korea was making a fuss every day to provide aid.

In this situation, they thought he was more suitable than someone who would carry a burden and be timid, even if he was radical and fast in pushing things forward.

Jo Hyung-geun was even more fiery and hot-blooded than he thought.

“You look better than in the pictures. I’m Jo Hyung-geun. Ah, we’ve greeted each other enough, let’s go over there.”

He took him straight to the experimental building and asked for an explanation from the person in charge.

“There are several difficulties with KSTAR right now, and one of them is that we have to achieve both ultra-high temperature and ultra-low temperature at the same time.”

“I get ultra-high temperature, but what’s the problem with ultra-low temperature?”

“Liquid helium cooling is quite tricky and expensive.”

“So our Chairman Yu brought unoptium from the moon. What exactly is the problem?”

He spoke so fast that it felt like he was cutting people off.

The researcher stuttered and confessed that they had to tear down the entire experimental nuclear fusion reactor.

“The cryostat that weighs 60 tons is designed based on liquid helium, so we have to tear it down if we want to use unoptium. The electromagnet is similar.”

“How long will it take?”

“It will take at least three years… If we want to install and test it, it will take another two years.”

“That’s too long.”

The president-elect looked really frustrated and walked around.

He was a person who couldn’t stay still for an hour.

He asked him.

“Can’t you do something with Chairman Yu or artificial intelligence?”

He looked at the experimental nuclear fusion reactor.

He didn’t have much knowledge about this huge facility, but Arma gave him information in real time.

「It’s a typical tokamak nuclear fusion reactor. It has low difficulty but not very high power efficiency. Ion beam method is better」

He answered slowly on purpose.

“It’s not impossible…”

“What do I have to give you to make nuclear fusion power possible within my term? I don’t expect commercial power.”

His goal was prestige, of course.

Unlike President Lee Hyun-sung, Jo Hyung-geun cared about titles.

The researcher interrupted him.

“Just for your information, it’s impossible within your term no matter what…”

“I’m asking Chairman Yu. Is it possible?”

“If we have KSTAR’s research data for three years, we might be able to operate an experimental nuclear fusion reactor.”

It would be possible in 18 months, but he couldn’t say that outright.

The researcher said it was absurd and got a sneer from Jo Hyung-geun.

“Weren’t there many people who laughed at Chairman Yu when he sent a spaceship to the moon? Anyway, you need three years… Fine, I’ll give you the data, so make it happen.”

The researcher’s mouth dropped open.

“You’re not even president yet…”

“I’ll be soon enough. What’s the problem? Are you afraid of Chairman Yu being a spy?”

“That’s not what I meant. Even if you were president, giving away data is…”

“Enough, do your job. Chairman Yu, come with me for a moment.”

He took him to a corner and started a serious conversation.

“I’ll give you the data as soon as I take office, so you have to reach a level close to commercial power within three years, understand?”

“I’ll do my best.”

His eyebrows twitched.

“Let’s leave it at that for now, since we haven’t started yet. Anyway, you have to do it.”

He was a very impatient person.

But that’s why he liked him.

Not that he liked him as a person, but that he was easy to use.

Of course, he didn’t intend to stay with him for long.

His and his direction matched for now, but they wouldn’t in the future.

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.

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The Windrunner SUV was officially announced.

Reporters from all over the world flocked to attend the test drive.

A small electric car company in Korea had to host hundreds of journalists.

President Lim ran around as if his feet were on fire and barely managed the test drive.

The reaction was explosive, but there were some unsatisfactory reviews.

-Windrunner is an incomparable electric car, but the chassis setting is a bit loose.

-It’s a bit far from the yacht-like ride quality, and the handling is also somewhat disappointing. But the 2,050 km on the dashboard makes me happy.

-The biggest drawback of Windrunner is that to buy it in the US, you have to pay extra money to the damn dealers.

-During the test drive, I seriously considered changing my nationality to Korean. Buy it if you can. You won’t regret it.

It was the first electric car with a black metal battery, but unfortunately, it was not available in other regions except Korea and the US.

Silla Auto’s supply chain was insufficient.

As a result, orders kept pouring into the headquarters, exceeding the production capacity by several times.

President Lim Sang-hyun came to the president’s office with a pale face.

“President, we don’t have enough production capacity.”

“How much do we lack?”

“If you order now, some people will have to wait for seven years.”

“It’s a good thing that it’s popular, but there are so many direct imports… AS won’t work well either.”

“It’s the power of the black metal battery. And I think it helped that we installed autonomous driving features that suit the road conditions of each country.”

It would be hard to get level 4 certification in other countries, but there were more people who wanted it than they could handle.

Currently, on SNS and other places, celebrities from around the world who had only heard of their names were ordering Windrunner SUVs and bragging about it.

It would be like adding one more toy, but anyway, it was undeniable that it was popular.

He nodded and pulled out some documents.

“We decided to acquire Leo Factory for production capacity.”

“Oh, Leo. I heard that all the employees left and only the factory is lonely…”

“Get new staff and equipment. You have to take advantage of the scarcity when there’s demand. You have to secure market share when you can.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

President Lim bit his lips slightly.

He felt like he would hesitate for about 10 seconds even if he told him to jump off from here.

He sent him away with some consolation and called Arma.

“Why can’t the Japanese car industry get organized?”

The factory of Germany’s Auto Battery was going up.

Ford and GM’s factories were the same, and France also selected a site.

But Japan was fighting over the ratio and couldn’t properly proceed with the business.

He didn’t care, but the 100 billion yen investment he made first was tied up in the Industrial Bank.

He couldn’t just do good things for the bank.

“What’s wrong with them?”

“The government intervened.”

“Then they should be able to sort things out quickly.”

“The prime minister’s committee received a letter of intent by fax…”

“Crazy bastards.”

It was unbelievable that a country that was going to land on the moon soon couldn’t get rid of such an outdated method.

Analog methods didn’t have only disadvantages, but now was the time to make decisions quickly.

“If we leave it like this, they’ll have another meeting to get rid of fax and introduce something else.”

“Maybe they’ll have a result in a year?”

“Ask them if they’re willing to accept the ratio I set.”

“Then they’ll have another meeting for that.”

“…Just notify them that I’ll take care of it myself.”

When he officially notified them, the car companies ignored the committee with a long name like Black Metal Battery Ratio Adjustment Prime Minister’s Direct Committee and cooperated with him.

Meanwhile, Toyota was worried that it would lose out on the ratio because of its past record.

When it was decided that the ratio would be determined according to global sales volume, Toyota was overjoyed.

But it was too early to be happy.

Even if they started selecting a site now, they would be far behind Germany or the US.

New mining ships were being delivered to various countries in February.

Black metal would soon flood the market, and they were in danger of falling behind in the fierce electric car competition.

“That’s their problem…”

He checked the development status of the railgun research team.

It was a good thing that it was close to completion, but there was no suitable place to test fire.

The range was up to 500 km, but Korea’s territorial waters were too narrow.

His eyes caught a suitable sea.

“This would be good.”

Someone would hate it very much.

The schedule and location of the first test firing of the Korean railgun were decided.

The location was the Philippine Sea near Taiwan.

The reason why this place was chosen was because the reality of Korea’s narrow territorial waters, the understanding of President-elect Jo Hyung-geun, the US Navy, and him matched.

He put a bug in Jo Hyung-geun’s ear.

“When I contacted the US Navy before, they said they could cooperate if Korea entered the railgun test. Of course, you’ll have to use some influence.”

—You mean we’re going to test the railgun in front of Taiwan?

“It’s not in front of Taiwan, it’s on the high seas. We can drag a target ship with a tugboat. You’ll be able to watch the railgun test with the US Navy.”

—Hmm…

The fact that he would test the railgun in front of the US Navy motivated him.

He didn’t think twice and requested it through the transition committee to the Blue House.

President Lee Hyun-sung was speechless when he heard this request.

—Do we have to evaluate our navy’s weapons system all the way there?

—The president-elect said he wanted to see the test at maximum range.

—They’re allies, but they’re foreigners. I don’t understand why they’re so impatient to show our weapons.

—Didn’t the US also mount it on Zumwalt and cruise around the South China Sea before it was electrified? This kind of weapon has meaning when people know about it.

—Ask him if he really has to go there when he’s busy with the transition committee.

—The president-elect’s will is firm.

Anyway, he’s a bad guy.

The president gave his approval reluctantly, as he didn’t have much time left in his term.

The US Navy welcomed them with open arms.

They liked that Korea wanted to borrow America’s power.

China reacted nervously when they learned about the railgun and the test firing.

—We can never tolerate such arrogant tests near China’s sea! Cancel it immediately if you don’t want to spill blood!

Neither the US nor Korea cared much about this threat.

The subject was not the Chinese Communist Party.

The Chinese Communist Party was in a situation where several members of the State Council were fighting for power, so they couldn’t afford to pay attention to foreign affairs.

There was even a rumor that a naval fleet that was conducting a landing exercise was canceled because of different factions.

Fox News in the US ran this mocking article.

—If a dog without an owner barks, you just have to beat it with a stick.

The People’s Daily immediately protested, but there was no response from the Communist Party level.

There was no reason to interfere with the test itself, as it took place on the high seas.

Taiwan, which was close enough, was surprisingly welcoming.

They had to do anything to divert attention from China’s imminent attack.

And they hoped that Korea would export it to them if the test went well.

—If we have a railgun, we can stop the mainland’s landing.

—If the range of 500 km is true, it can reach the mainland and beyond. This is a weapon we must have.

Korea had no such intention, and even the Taiwanese military was skeptical, but anyway, his business jet arrived at Taidong Airport in the south.

The People’s Daily tried to find meaning in his actions.

—Landing at Taidong, a domestic airport, shows his will to minimize this situation.

Of course not.

He used Taidong Airport because it was close to the operation area.

He didn’t answer any questions from the Taiwanese media, as if he was conscious of the friction with China, and got on a helicopter.

The Taiwanese media made nonsense about Arma being his lover.

In the Philippine Sea, US Navy ships, Sejong the Great-class Kim Si-min ship, Cheonji-class support ship, and a target ship equipped with a railgun and a generator were gathered.

The test firing was about to begin.