Chapter 103: Something is Wrong
The emergence of ability users had started to affect not only the Korean stock market, but also the economy.
First, the black metal processing factories that had been invested by various countries announced their withdrawal from the Silla Group.
They asked for help to withdraw without any conditions, and Yu Ji-ha wanted to hear their reasons.
The only country that agreed to an interview was Canada.
The director in charge of Korea at Maple International sighed deeply.
“Do you think we want to leave? Even if there is a substitute, we have invested so far. It’s absurd.”
“Did the higher-ups decide to withdraw? You can speak freely.”
He smiled bitterly.
“That’s how it turned out. They say that the economy is inevitably dependent on politics. It’s a pity.”
He didn’t say it explicitly, but it was likely that the Canadian politicians had joined the anti-Yu Ji-ha craze.
There were also many ability users in Canada who could produce black metal products.
The decision to abandon their investment in Korea and take on a new risk meant that the anti-Yu Ji-ha phenomenon was serious.
The world’s leading economic magazines had one voice.
—He ate too much by himself. His greed caused this situation.
Arma didn’t understand what he had eaten, but anyway, that terrible misunderstanding was spread all over the world.
The director shook his head and stood up.
“I guess we can’t use the androids we bought in Korea abroad, right?”
“You can use them for display purposes.”
“That’s a shame. Anyway, Maple International officially announces its withdrawal from Korea.”
“We have received it. By the way, there won’t be such a thing, but if you want to re-enter the Korean market later, the fee will be higher.”
He raised both arms.
“I’m just a messenger. The politicians will take care of it.”
That’s how Canada withdrew, and then the other countries decided to close their factories one after another.
Arma couldn’t understand it.
“I don’t know why they need to take on the risk.”
“It means that their hatred for Master is greater than the risk. And most of the businessmen didn’t want to withdraw. The politicians decided to withdraw.”
“Well, if they get screwed from above, they get screwed. Anyway, don’t be nice to them when they try to re-enter later.”
“Should we charge three times more for the fee?”
“Also reduce the supply by half and put more in Russia and Germany.”
The two countries showed their unchanged trust in Korea despite this situation.
Russia was almost an economic ally, but Germany was impressive.
The chancellor called Yu Ji-ha and made it clear that there would be no withdrawal.
He seemed to like the nuclear fusion plant that was completed very much.
He paid a huge cost for it, but the power supplied by the nuclear fusion plant exceeded and remained after offsetting it.
Now he didn’t have to buy expensive electricity from France.
Of course, Germany also gathered ability users and tried to process black metal, but they thought it was foolish to cut off their relationship with Yu Ji-ha.
—Black metal is a scarce resource, so reducing the supply source is too risky.
—They criticize Yu Ji-ha as a dictator, but most of the countries that criticize him have done more than that in the past. History doesn’t disappear just because they don’t mention it.
—Anyway, we have to think realistically. It’s never a good thing to break up with Yu Ji-ha because of emotions.
On the other hand, Putin, the president of Russia, heard some unknown information from Yu Ji-ha’s.
“There is a problem with the black metal products made by psychers?”
“It’s a very fatal problem. It will be quite difficult to solve it.”
“That’s a relief. I almost closed down the factory.”
Of course, Yu Ji-ha knew that Putin had no such intention.
The two dictators needed each other.
“By the way, I’m looking forward to Japan building a warship with a railgun.”
“Do you need a railgun battleship?”
“There is no country that doesn’t need it. I know you promised with America, but how can it not work?”
“I can’t give you the cannon and battery technology because of the agreement. But I can help you prevent any possible defects.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s related to the fatal problem I mentioned earlier. I’ll help you so that it doesn’t happen in Russia.”
He meant that he would help them develop their own railgun independently.
If he could know in advance the major defects that would occur during development, what could be more helpful than that?
The emergence of ability users was a global phenomenon and there were many cases in Russia as well.
If they gathered them and produced railguns domestically…
Putin clenched and unclenched his fist with excitement.
With Russia’s current power, it was unrealistic to enter the Pacific Ocean.
He thought it would be better to leave Korea alone and exert his influence in places like the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea.
He could do that if he had a railgun battleship.
“I’ll reward you greatly if you help us this time.”
“I’m looking forward to it. I’ll send someone soon.”
“By the way, can you tell me roughly what kind of defect Japan will face?”
“It’s nothing big, it will just break apart.”
“Do you mean the cannon will break apart?”
“If you’re lucky, that’s what will happen.”
Then what will happen if you’re unlucky?
…
Japan had put a lot of effort into installing a railgun on the Atago-class.
They maintained extreme security and deployed the best expert group to speed up the modification work.
They also planned to have many EU defense ministers attend the test.
They were very conscious of Yu Ji-ha.
He didn’t seem to care much, but anyway, the preparations for the test were going smoothly.
There was a very excited atmosphere in Japan, as they finally had a railgun battleship, and Korea was criticized for being far behind, but they couldn’t hide their anxiety.
—Even if they improved the Atago-class, it can’t beat a dedicated platform. Even America abandoned the Zumwalt-class and built a new railgun battleship.
—But Japan seems to have high expectations for this experiment. They said they would declare rearmament and amend Article 9 of the Constitution as soon as they succeed.
—When will they amend that damn Article 9? It’s been a mess for 20 years.
—This time it’s real. The Japanese kids are determined to get back Takeshima at all costs.
—Honestly, occupying Takeshima is crossing the line.
—Japan crossed the line first. Who tried to occupy Dokdo when Arma was absent?
-Judging by Japan’s reaction, they want to block any interference from us thoroughly this time.
-That conspiracy theory that we interfered with their nuclear test is really persistent.
-It’s like Japan’s legendary 1-gun. There’s no substance to it.
-I wish their railgun would explode when they fire it… But that won’t happen, right?
-The Navy has prepared very hard for this. They got data from America and tested the cannon and battery perfectly.
-America is too much. We gave them that data in the first place.
-To be precise, Jihyeong did.
-The Democratic Party is trying to step on us these days. They sent a special envoy and offered to withdraw US troops, but they got rejected.
-I appreciate America, but we’ve done a lot for them too. Let’s go our separate ways at this point.
The date of the railgun test was approaching.
It was decided to fire from the Kyushu coast toward the Pacific Ocean, and not only EU defense ministers, but also major officials of the US Navy were going to watch it.
Matsuda, the secretary-general of the New Japan Restoration Association, emphasized to the Navy repeatedly.
“There must be no interference from Korea. Get cooperation from the US Navy or whatever, but block any interference from the source.”
They wouldn’t dare act rashly when the US Navy was next to them.
In fact, Yu Ji-ha didn’t even bother to interfere this time.
It was obvious that they would fail anyway, so why give them an excuse?
“It’s impossible for dozens of alpha-class psychers to overcome their limits.”
If they gathered like that and made a railgun cannon, they would face two problems.
They were cracks in the cannon and its lifespan.
Black metal changed its shape by forming a small-scale ether field through the psycher’s responsiveness.
This was called transform, and the implementation scale was strictly divided according to the psycher’s grade.
Low-grade psychers were sketchbooks from the beginning.
To overcome the scale, connecting sketchbooks was like mobilizing many psychers.
In that case, they could draw a picture, but there would be a lack of unity and mismatched parts.
For example, if they made a railgun cannon, cracks could occur due to different implementation sizes.
Black metal was an incredibly tough metal, but it could break apart if exposed to ultra-high voltage.
To prevent this situation, they needed either a psychokinesis network or a mentalist’s help, but the former was not even researched by the United Human Federation and the latter was with Yu Ji-ha.
“It’s just a doomed test.”
There was also a problem with lifespan, and the representative one was transform release phenomenon.
Most psychers couldn’t maintain transform for long.
So even if they gathered such psychers and made a black metal battery, it wouldn’t last long and transform would be released and the battery would decompose.
“I can already see the future.”
They should have just produced under his management, but they had to be greedy and mess things up.
Well, greed was also linked to ambition, so it wasn’t all bad.
They would learn more about black metal and ether by failing repeatedly.
But the current humanity didn’t even have a little room for failure.
Arma received a report from Jihyeong.
「Master, the nuclear fusion plant and mass driver in the South Sea have been completed. We can operate them as soon as the cleanup work is done.」
“Let’s go soon.”
…
Matsuda, the deputy director, looked at the newly launched Atago-class ship with a proud expression.
Instead of the usual guns and VLS of a destroyer, there was a long and black cannon that seemed to pierce the sky.
The cannon was as impressive as the railgun cruisers of Korea, which did not fall behind at all.
“Finally, the day has come…”
The day when Japan would have a railgun ship.
He had coveted the railgun cruisers of Korea for so long.
Their combat power was no joke, as they had chased away escort fleets with a single ship and even made the US quite headache.
Of course, one ship could not change the tide of war.
But Matsuda thought that Japan had to have what Korea had.
‘We will secure everything, whether it is railgun or ion propulsion.’
And their goal was to wage a war of revenge against Korea, along with the New Japan Restoration Society and the Maritime Self-Defense Force.
The final battle would be the landing on Tsushima.
On that day, the New Japan Restoration Society would officially seize power and pursue the normalization of Japan.
In other words, today’s event was not just a simple weapon test, but a ceremony that would determine the future of Japan.
‘So no one should interfere.’
He doubted that Korea would dare to do anything when the US Navy was nearby.
He glanced at the defense officials from the EU who were standing next to him.
Many EU countries also had a lot of interest in this test.
Especially France, which had many opportunities to project its military power abroad.
In fact, railgun was a weapon that any country that operated a navy would desire to have.
Matsuda hoped that Japan would become a leading country in railgun technology.
‘We may have started a bit late, but we just need to keep moving forward. Heaven and Earth, please watch over Japan.’
Soon after, an announcement was heard from the ship.
“We will now begin the railgun test. Aligning the cannon.”
The railgun was not integrated with the CIC system, so separate parameters had to be entered for firing.
In that respect, Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force was ahead of Korea’s Navy by a few steps.
When the firing parameters came out, the gunner quickly entered them into the control computer.
“Railgun firing ready!”
“Fire!”
Soon after, blue arcs formed on the railgun cannon and then red flames spewed out.
The projectiles flew past the target ship in succession.
“Firing successful.”
The announcement declared success and the naval officers clenched their fists.
“Let’s keep up this momentum!”
“Japan will not lose!”
The original schedule for today was supposed to end here, but Matsuda decided to be more ambitious.
“Let’s test it at maximum output. We have to exceed 500km.”
“Deputy director, that’s too risky for the first attempt.”
“The cooling capacity is currently insufficient. And the temperature of the cannon is high.”
Some people tried to dissuade him, but Matsuda waved his arm.
“Didn’t we already confirm that black metal is the best insulator? It doesn’t matter how hot it gets, just fire.”
If it had been an event within Japan, he wouldn’t have pushed it so hard.
But knowing that the US Navy and EU defense officials were watching made Matsuda impatient.
‘It’s not enough to just succeed in the test. We have to achieve results that match Korea.’
And so, the power plant on Baji Island started to supply maximum power.
The CIC of Atago-class warned that the temperature of the cannon was too high, but Matsuda did not order to stop.
“It doesn’t matter! Fire towards the Pacific!”
It was when the gunner had just entered the firing parameters and pressed the switch.
Blue arcs formed on the railgun cannon and then spread all over it.
No one understood what was happening as it was their first time seeing it.
And by the time they realized it, it was already too late.
A scream-like report came from CIC.
“Current backflow! The capacitor can’t handle it!”
“Rapid temperature rise inside the cannon! If this continues…”
It was then.
Something snapped with a loud noise and then the cannon disappeared.
The micro-crack that was hidden by the maintenance worker could not withstand the tremendous arc and turned into a large crack.
And then, the backflowing current exploded the capacitor and destroyed the circuit breaker and reached even to the anti-ship missiles in the ammunition depot that had not been removed yet.
Bang!
A shockwave and a wave spread from Atago-class in an instant.
Before the nearby ships were swept away by the wave, Atago-class broke in half and exploded.
“Uh…”
Matsuda could not see that scene.
He fell over by the shockwave and hit his head on the railing.
Fortunately, he was wearing a helmet and avoided injury, but his body was sore all over.
Some officer helped him up.
“Deputy director, deputy director! It’s a disaster!”
“…What is it?”
“Atago is… sinking!”
“What?”
He quickly got up and looked forward, only to see that Atago-class was slowly sinking with only the bow and stern visible.
Matsuda could not accept this reality and opened his mouth dumbly.
“…”
The sea was filled with only the waves and the loud alarms caused by Atago-class sinking.
There was a lot of noise around him, but he could not hear anything.
‘Why, how?’
What went wrong?
The preparation was perfect and the test was smooth.
He did push it a bit in the middle, but it was hard to imagine that the ship would sink because of that.
Could it be, Korea?
He hurriedly looked for Colonel Ofield, the defense official of the US Navy.
“Colonel Ofield, could it be…”
Before he could finish his question, the colonel shook his head.
“There is no one else in this area besides us.”
“There must be something we missed. The ship can’t just explode like that.”
“I saw it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears. The cannon cracked and the current backflowed, causing the ship to explode. Maybe there was a detonation in the ammunition depot.”
“…”
Colonel Ofield calmly declared the failure and pulled his hat down.
“I have to report to my country, so I’ll take my leave. Oh, and I’m sorry for what happened today.”
Sorry?
Matsuda clenched his teeth.
Today’s test was something that had to be successful at all costs.
To show those arrogant Koreans, and to make Japan’s presence known to the Western world, including the US.
And most importantly, to speed up Japan’s normalization.
But the test not only failed, but also sank Atago-class.
Who would take responsibility for this?
Matsuda unconsciously thought of the names of the naval officers who could be blamed.
Rescue ships were flocking around the sinking Atago-class.
…
The news of Japan’s railgun test failure spread across the world.
The countries that were watching with interest did not worry much at first.
It was common to fail a new weapon test.
Especially if it was a system like railgun that had never been done before.
It was strange that Korea had succeeded in one shot and quickly deployed it.
But as the US revealed the details of the incident, the atmosphere started to change.
Japan originally wanted to cover it up, but the US insisted that they had to find the cause, and finally salvaged Atago-class and analyzed it thoroughly.
And then, the reason for the test failure was revealed in a hundred days.
‘Black metal cannon surface crack caused discontinuous arc discharge that capacitor and cannon could not withstand and current backflow.’
It accurately pinpointed the cause of the disaster and Japan fell into a great shock.
There were too many problems.
The most serious one was that there was a crack in the black metal cannon that was made by many hypermen.
The joint investigation team pointed out the first crack.
“You could have found it if you had looked carefully. Someone must have covered it up.”
“I understand that you want to hide something smelly, but you should have cross-verified several times for such an important test.”
“It’s also a problem that you didn’t empty the ammunition depot completely.”
Japan did not humbly accept these criticisms, but instead forced a retest.
All schedules were moved up and this time, Maya-class Aegis destroyer was mobilized.
And then, a shocking fact was revealed.
The cannon that was made this time also had a crack.
It was inevitable to conclude that there was a structural flaw unless the hypermen had done some tricks.
Also, France and Canada reported similar news.
—We concluded that it is difficult to create a large shape like a cannon with many ability users.
—The black metal battery that we made for the first time also collapsed over time. It is impossible to release it as it is.
People realized then.
Something went terribly wrong.
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶