Chapter 141: Integration is the Trend
Nowadays, humans use various transportation modes such as airplanes, trains, and ships to travel long distances.
However, before the Plague emerged in 2103, the long-distance transportation modes of the United Human Federation were unified into two.
Cargo was carried by cargo ships, and people by supercavitation trains.
The former was a developed version of the wigcraft that used the ground effect to float above the water surface.
Its maximum speed was comparable to the speed of sound, but because of its characteristic of sticking close to the sea level, it would experience a great shock if it hit a wave, so people were not allowed to board it.
The reason why all the cargo ships operated by the United Human Federation and Korea were unmanned was because of this.
Compared to the relatively early appearance of cargo ships, supercavitation trains did not show up until the 2060s.
This was because they required Aether cores and Aether crystals.
A process of extracting Aether particles from the core and storing them in the crystal was required, but from the perspective of humans who did not know what Aether was, it was an extremely difficult task.
The researchers had to literally find their way to the destination by closing their eyes and feeling the ground with their hands.
The conflicting interests of various countries also hindered the research, which repeated failures after failures.
The selfishness that caused this was ironically suppressed after the Plague’s attack.
Humans were able to unite as one only when they faced the crisis of extinction.
Nevertheless, they never managed to figure out what Aether was, and that was still ongoing.
Anyway, supercavitation trains were formidable platforms that replaced all airplanes, trains, and ships.
They were so fast and efficient.
They had the shape of a train, but they flew in the sky, and their maximum speed approached Mach 10.
It was almost like running in an Aether field, so despite the speed, the passengers hardly felt any discomfort.
It had some similarities with the hyperloop train that briefly gained attention and then disappeared, but supercavitation trains had an overwhelming advantage in every aspect.
If this train was commercialized, most of the platforms that carried large numbers of people would be discontinued.
It was much faster and safer than airplanes, and there was no need to lay separate rails, so it was natural.
It was perfect as a mobile platform that connected 15 mega-cities.
The reason why Yu Ji-ha did not reveal it until now was because he needed a minimum foundation to be prepared.
—Technology to uniformly extract particles from the Aether core and control the field.
—Technology to store Aether particles derived from hafnium-2 explosives.
—Technology for high-thrust ion thrusters.
These three technologies were necessary to operate supercavitation trains.
With the blueprints in Settler’s DB and Arma’s abilities, everything could be solved, but sometimes he had to pass the mic to others.
While various countries were looking at Yu Ji-ha’s mouth, President Marine Le Pen held a press conference at France’s International Aether Research Institute.
“Today, or rather yesterday, France made a great progress. We finally gained the ability to control gravity. Except for one country.”
Everyone knew which country she was referring to.
She probably wanted to point out Yu Ji-ha personally, but she restrained herself a little in front of numerous foreign media outlets.
She introduced the technology developed by the researchers with exaggerated gestures.
“Controlling gravity is not a technology that can only be seen in SF movies. It is right next to us. The researchers from France and other countries have done it. Now let’s see togAether the miracle that this technology creates.”
She seemed to be benchmarking Yu Ji-ha by announcing the technology at the press conference.
But maybe she didn’t have good communication with them, because for a while, the reporters had to look at an empty laboratory.
The experiment started when Marine Le Pen’s face showed irritation.
A loud voice in French was heard, and then several researchers operated a console connected to an Aether core.
Then a bright golden light burst out from the Aether core, and nearby equipment began to float one by one.
It was a phenomenon of gravity inversion in an Aether field.
The screen changed and Marine Le Pen’s face appeared with a bright smile.
She had been angry at Korea and Yu Ji-ha for a long time, but today she looked quite cheerful.
“I don’t know if this phenomenon is related to gravitons. Maybe the researchers at the particle accelerator will tell us. We want to share this phenomenon with researchers from other countries. As long as you have a minimum degree.”
It was a remark that seemed to criticize Yu Ji-ha who had been secretive about his research.
Of course he didn’t care at all and just looked at Marine Le Pen’s excited face and said,
“It’s time to bring out supercavitation trains.”
“The design is already done. If you give the order, we can produce them at the smart factory.”
“We have to produce quite a lot. There will be a lot of requests from various countries.”
He wondered a little bit these days.
The two bastards from Russia seemed to be showing signs of demanding a renegotiation.
It was understandable that they would be upset after giving up land that was dozens of times larger than the Korean Peninsula.
They must have thought about the resources that were buried in that land.
But it would take a lot of courage to break the promise that President Putin made.
It would mean that Russia would no longer receive the 1-tier treatment.
Russia was currently introducing technologies and concepts such as nuclear fusion plants and mass drivers at a low cost.
If they tried to reclaim the land, they would be treated worse than the United States.
They had secured enough land to build several mega-cities, so there was no reason to give it up.
Yu Ji-ha didn’t covet the Japanese archipelago either, because Siberia and Manchuria were enough in terms of area.
Arma displayed the blueprint of the supercavitation train on the wall screen.
“There are 70 seats in one car, and basically one power car pulls 20 cars.”
Supercavitation trains boasted a considerably larger size than the existing ones.
Probably because they didn’t need to rely on the specifications of the track.
They were wide enough to fit a lot of seats.
The body could be made bigger, but considering the size of the auxiliary facilities and the volume of the Aether field, this was just right.
Yu Ji-ha looked through the specs and asked,
“How long do you think it will take to get to America with this spec?”
“If we connect Seoul and San Francisco, it will take about 45 minutes.”
“That’s good.”
The emergence of supercavitation trains would bind the earth into one living area in a true sense.
It was incomparable to passenger planes that wasted a lot of time on immigration procedures and landing and taking off.
There was hardly anything shocking among the technologies that Yu Ji-ha had shown so far, but supercavitation trains would be felt quite directly.
Because it greatly reduced the travel time.
Of course, this meant the bankruptcy of many airlines.
Yu Ji-ha contacted Baeseongmin, his chief secretary.
“Tell the president of Korail, the president of the Railroad Corporation, and the representatives of the airlines to come. Yes. Just explain that it’s a very important matter.”
On the screen, President Marine Le Pen was boasting that she would not share this technology with Korea.
They should have learned their lesson by now after being fooled so many times.
***
The announcement from France caused a huge shock in the academic world.
It was because they had evidence that they could control gravity artificially.
Although it was through an alien artifact called the Aether Core, the scholars showed great interest and applause.
—France is definitely different from anyone else. They said they would share not only the paper but also the future research.
—Although there are certain conditions, being able to control gravity will bring more results than we can imagine. I’m so excited that I can’t stand it.
—It’s a pity that there are not many Aether Cores. They are the things that will bring innovation to humanity.
They might faint if they knew that it was originally one.
Anyway, the whole world was stirred by France’s announcement.
Numerous people visited the Aether International Research Institute in Paris, and leaders of various countries sent declarations of support.
They announced that they would start a research to prove the relationship between Aether particles and gravitons at the LHC, the largest facility in Europe, and the EU declared that they would not spare any investment.
Korea was completely excluded from all these events.
There were some who sneered at them for being pathetic, but most of them held their tongues, saying that they had been fooled once or twice.
—They must be close to the practical stage by now.
—They must be choosing what to reveal from a list.
But they seemed to focus on maintaining their status quo rather than making any moves.
In the meantime, a case occurred where thousands of Ethyl processors produced in the United States were stolen.
People who didn’t know would think that some big robbers had done something, but the intelligence agencies of various countries wrote reports that it was a joint product of the EU and the United States.
—To reveal the relationship between Aether particles and gravitons, a comprehensive upgrade of the LHC system is required. Ethyl processors are suitable for handling such huge data.
—But US semiconductor companies can’t export Ethyl processors to the EU. So they just passed it off as being stolen.
—Yu Ji-ha must have known that. He probably turned a blind eye because he felt bad about rejecting academia so far.
In fact, Yu Ji-ha ignored it because it didn’t mean much.
Humanity in the 22nd century also used all kinds of means to elucidate Aether particles.
Nevertheless, they hardly found out anything.
Lucia, the original disc, lamented this.
“We don’t know anything about Aether. We probably don’t know much more than children.”
It was difficult to elucidate Aether by colliding particles and observing them, so they had to use other methods, but the United Human Federation did not have enough leeway to do so.
Anyway, EU and LHC’s attempts were futile but ultimately doomed to fail.
Yu Ji-ha tried to approach more realistically.
“I will push for a merger of Korail, Railroad Corporation, and each airline.”
“…”
The representatives who were invited to the Blue House looked at him carefully.
There must be a clear reason why the president said this.
Baek Sung-min, chief secretary of secretary office, threw a topic to break the awkward atmosphere.
“Except for the basic point that trains and airplanes carry people and cargo, they don’t have much in common. But there seems to be something worth integrating.”
“That’s right. It’s called a super-vacuum train.”
The officials who saw the model were surprised.
Isn’t this Hyperloop Train, which was scrapped due to lack of realism?
The idea was plausible, but maintaining a vacuum inside the tube was a huge obstacle.
There were also many other problems, and it was completely forgotten when the main advocate died.
But this was quite different from Hyperloop Train.
“When we saw it, it felt like flying in mid-air… I mean in the sky.”
“The propulsion is an ion thruster, but there is no tube.”
“It’s literally a train running in a vacuum. It creates an Aether reverse field and runs inside it.”
“Aether reverse field?”
“Let me give you an example. You know about Transform phenomenon?”
The participants nodded unanimously.
It’s been on the news so much and talked about so much that even children know it.
The transformation phenomenon of black metal itself.
“When Transform phenomenon occurs, an Aether reverse field spreads. The existing physical laws do not apply inside it. That means you can partially exclude gravity.”
The people wanted to ask if that was possible, but barely held back.
He must have brought it up here because it was possible.
According to Yu Ji-ha’s explanation, they store Aether particles and create a reverse field when the train moves and run inside it.
Since gravity is almost excluded, they can run as if there were rails in the air.
“The maximum speed is up to Mach 10, and the passengers hardly feel any acceleration. It can carry more than a thousand passengers at a low price.”
Baek Sung-min, chief secretary of secretary office, summarized.
“According to your words, most of the long-distance transportation platforms except for super-vacuum train will be obsolete.”
“Cruise ships or some special-purpose ones may survive. But it will be hard for platforms that value efficiency.”
The officials realized why Yu Ji-ha called them.
He meant to prepare for integration because they would all go bankrupt.
If super-vacuum train was introduced in earnest, it would be hard to survive except for urban platforms such as subways or trams.
Platforms like KTX might be better off, but airplanes would not be strange to be completely extinct.
They were much faster and cheaper in terms of efficiency and ion thrusters.
A president of an airline asked cautiously.
“If you run at Mach 10, the noise will be no joke. I wonder if that’s also taken into account… And I’m curious about the safety.”
“Has anyone here heard the sound of a railgun firing?”
Baek Sung-min, chief secretary of secretary office, raised his hand.
“It was definitely smaller than a cannon.”
“That’s because an Aether reverse field occurs in the black metal barrel. Only the sound of the bullet tearing the air is heard.”
“Ah…”
“Aether reverse field ignores most of the physical laws, right? There is no sonic boom. It just runs through the air. Don’t ask me how that’s possible. I don’t know either.”
The prophet would surely know.
Yu Ji-ha also mentioned the safety of the super-vacuum train.
“According to the simulation, the accident frequency is much lower than that of airplanes. And even if the worst accident occurs, you can decelerate with the ion thruster, so the probability of mass casualties is low.”
The result of operating it for decades by the United Human Federation was that it was much better than airplanes.
It wasn’t that there were no accidents, but the efficiency was overwhelming, so it pushed away the disadvantages.
The presidents of Korail and Railroad Corporation showed curiosity about the new business, while the presidents of the airlines were gloomy.
They had already lost a lot of cargo plane demand because of cargo ships…
Due to the preference for cargo ships in Korea and around the world, Boeing and other aircraft manufacturers had reached a point where they could no longer receive orders for cargo planes.
But now they were in danger of losing passenger plane demand as well.
Yu Ji-ha said as if to comfort them.
“It will take some time for the super-vacuum train to be introduced, so please wrap up your business by then. I’ll give you a generous price for the land.”
Should they be grateful that he told them in advance?
After that, the talk continued about the integration of Korail and Railroad Corporation and the jobs that would disappear.
“There are plenty of jobs other than Railroad Corporation. You can learn quickly, so don’t worry.”
Korea originally had a weak concept of lifelong employment, but it almost disappeared after Yu Ji-ha took power.
The instability of work increased, but the possibility of finding a new job also increased significantly.
They could get a job through Lucia Premium, and the government and Shilla Group were constantly hiring people.
They didn’t care about anything except the conditions for working, so the unemployment rate didn’t increase much despite automation.
In addition, new industries such as resource exploration and mining, which were rare before, created a large number of jobs.
It had enough strength to absorb any unemployment crisis in society as a whole.
Of course, countries that openly opposed Yu Ji-ha and Korea recorded especially high unemployment rates, which was a bonus.
The trend would worsen when super-vacuum train was introduced, but Yu Ji-ha didn’t care.
They would take care of themselves.
***
Many countries in the world raised their antennae at Korea’s sudden change of direction.
It was understandable that airlines reduced their passenger plane lease scale, but it was incomprehensible that they did a large-scale restructuring.
In 2031, foreign visitors outnumbered Korea’s population excluding North Korea.
It was amazing considering that there were no special tourist attractions.
As foreign visitors to Korea increased every year, restructuring was an absurd policy.
Korea even canceled the project to remove all railways in North Korea and lay new ones.
Railway maniacs asked a lot of questions, but they only posted that there was no scheduled project.
Of course, they had to wonder about this.
-Even North Pyongan Province is slowly normalizing. Are they not going to lay railways?
—Even if they introduce a public autonomous driving system because it’s a megacity, they should be connected to other places.
Something is strange.
While this was going on, super-vacuum train’s body was being made at Smart Factory.
As soon as the test schedule was over, they would be able to connect the Korean Peninsula and Terra Island.
Then they would connect all the land that Korea had acquired anew.
But two Russians who claimed to be Putin’s successors seemed unwilling to hand over that vast land easily.
Borchenko, a senator, contacted Yu Ji-ha.
“I want to renegotiate the land that you promised to Korea.”
“Do you mean to break what President Putin promised?”
“That land is too wide. Do you know how much resources are buried in East Siberia? It’s too much to swallow without touching it…”
“Didn’t I give you enough things so far?”
As Yu Ji-ha’s voice rose, Borchenko seemed flustered and said after a moment of fumbling.
“I don’t mean to fight. Honestly, isn’t the land that former President Putin promised too wide? I mean we have to look at it carefully.”
“From Lake Baikal to Novosibirsk in the north and Chukotka in the east. Of course, including Sakhalin Island.”
“My God. Korea boasts the fourth largest territory in the world after Russia, Canada, and the United States. Don’t you think it’s too much?”
“Not at all.”
Just mentioning a few of the technologies or concepts that Russia introduced would offset that and more.
Yu Ji-ha stayed close to Russia and didn’t argue about those things because he planned to absorb them in the long run.
It’s never too much to invest in my own child.
But Senator Borchenko was whining that he didn’t get enough snacks.
His voice lowered.
“Then I have one suggestion.”
“Let me hear it.”
“Marry my daughter.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Marry my daughter and acquire Russian citizenship officially. Help me become president. Then my daughter will become president, and you will be able to exert your influence. How about it?”
Is this something to say?
Yu Ji-ha began to doubt Borchenko’s intelligence.
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