Chapter 161: A New Cold War
Usually, after a summit meeting, both countries would announce some achievements, even if there were no concrete results.
At the very least, they would pay lip service to the enhancement of mutual friendship.
But this time, neither country made any announcement.
The public wondered if there was a reason for that, and soon they found out.
The largest channel in the US aired a special program about Yu Ji-ha.
It covered his life from his childhood to the present, spanning over 40 years.
They even included cute pictures of him as a kid, which they somehow obtained, and showed his brilliant feats as a child prodigy.
But the tone changed when Yu Ji-ha became a college student.
The cozy background color turned gloomy and the narration became dry.
“This boy, who could calculate the orbital path of the ninth planet, had his life completely changed. It was because he realized that he was not as much of a genius as he thought.”
Yu Ji-ha was amazed by the US’s intelligence, which did not miss such a detailed part.
It was not something that the broadcaster had obtained on its own.
It must have been influenced by the intelligence agency.
“I expected it, but they prepared more thoroughly. Are they trying to wage a war of public opinion?”
Arma had prepared various sources for him, but Yu Ji-ha did not intend to use them.
It would not change the US’s stance even if he ousted a few politicians.
He had to either change the consciousness of all Americans or make them regret it.
Yu Ji-ha chose the latter.
He did not feel the need to change the Americans’ consciousness.
“I’m not their teacher… They’ll bend or break if they need to.”
He also had no reason to choose an extreme method like war for the latter.
Time was not on Yu Ji-ha’s side, but it was not on the US’s side either.
Soon, a new relic of the prophet would arrive on the moon and the frequency of plague outbreaks would increase as time passed.
Anyone would feel the need for change if they saw their country decline in real time.
Arma mentioned the possibility of kidnapping in that regard.
Yu Ji-ha was the cause of all conflicts, so they might think that kidnapping him would solve everything easily.
“How many times do they have to fail before they give up?”
「It’s not that the US failed. They might think that they can kidnap anyone if they use their full power.」
That’s what the US thought.
In fact, Yu Ji-ha did not have a great security force externally.
At most, he had a security office, a few drones, and one combat android.
He had to reduce his security to a minimum because it was awkward to show such a rigid image as a dictator.
But the essence of his security was Sibir’s combat support satellite, Settler’s gravity laser radar, and Arma.
This system could block any impure threats approaching Yu Ji-ha in advance.
The reason why Yu Ji-ha had been attacked by terrorists so many times was because he needed it.
It was convenient to pretend to be attacked and beat them up.
「They’re not going to use that method right away. It’s just one of the possibilities.」
There was no rule that they couldn’t use that method if they were cornered.
But that would lead the US to ruin.
The special program about the original Yu Ji-ha was quite entertaining, even for the impostor Yu Ji-ha who was watching it.
He thought they did a good job of highlighting his youthful sensibility, not just criticizing him.
He felt even more so when they showed his romance with Shin Hayoon, whom he had sent to the US.
“Ah, I wonder how she’s doing in the US.”
「According to our investigation, she married a financial executive three years ago.」
He guessed that was a happy ending for her.
Yu Ji-ha didn’t mind watching until then, but he frowned when alcohol and drugs started to appear.
He had to admit that the original Yu Ji-ha on the screen was a total loser.
“That part where he gets arrested by the police while high on drugs in broad daylight is just disgraceful.”
The narration compared his face then and now, and pointed out that they didn’t look like the same person at all.
“There are only 15 years between the drug-addicted youth and the greatest dictator of all time. Are they really the same person? If not, when did he change?”
Then the screen switched.
The original Yu Ji-ha had been in a vegetative state for three years after a tragic car accident.
And when he woke up from that state, he was a completely different person.
Even Yu Ji-ha could see that his eyes were different.
“His original eyes were so dull.”
Some people had packaged it as a look of ambition, but it was true that he looked like a different person.
The narration began to focus on his changed appearance from then on.
They brought in his parents and even Kim Dohyung, the former president, and dug into the details of what happened at that time.
“What I can be sure of is that he changed completely. I couldn’t see him as the same person from his usual habits or trivial behaviors.”
He was Yu Ji-ha’s confidant, so he would have noticed the strange things better than anyone else, a caption said.
“They’re really persistent.”
But the real persistence was yet to come.
The program recalled that there was a clash with Japan when Yu Ji-ha took his parents to eat crab on the east coast.
They mentioned that it was likely a coincidence, but they also said that it might have been the start of a bad relationship.
From then on, it was as well-known as ever.
They showed Yu Ji-ha’s achievements that turned the world’s opinion upside down with his black metal battery.
And then the narration began to raise questions.
“Yu Ji-ha was in trouble with Japan over trade disputes, but he got out of it with an earthquake. Japan has frequent earthquakes, so we can’t blame Yu Ji-ha for that. But the timing was too convenient.”
“Something similar happened when he had a conflict with China. He was kidnapped, but he escaped with amazing skill. And then China’s downfall began. It started with being excluded from the black metal ecosystem, and then a plane crashed into Beijing. This plane changed China’s fate.”
The program pointed out that the flight path of this plane was strange.
They didn’t mention any connection with Yu Ji-ha, they just said it was coincidental.
And then they continued to talk about Yu Ji-ha’s whereabouts.
They also doubted that an asteroid played a decisive role in the war between both sides, and pointed out that Yu Ji-ha was in the Blue House bunker at the start of the second Korean War and that there was something odd about the North Korean artillery unit’s movements.
“Let’s go to a cold war, as you wish.”
Of course, that cold war wouldn’t last long and would end with the US’s downfall.
***
The program caused a huge uproar after it aired.
The US was not the only one, but especially China and Japan reacted strongly.
They felt as if all the pain that the Chinese had suffered until now was caused by him.
They completely believed the hypothesis that Yu Ji-ha was behind the Zhongnanhai plane terror incident.
—Yu Ji-ha killed the Communist Party leaders!
—Explain yourself! You are the enemy of the people!
Protests broke out all over China, but President Wang Xian suppressed them thoroughly.
He was someone who couldn’t hold his position without Yu Ji-ha’s support.
He was bringing in one technology after another with a lot of money, and who would lose if that stopped?
But the protests grew too big and it became difficult to suppress them.
The peasant workers who roamed the city in groups looking for trouble joined the protests.
They didn’t care who died, and they just wanted to pressure the government to get what they wanted.
This peasant worker problem had been plaguing China since the Yangtze War.
They were close to 100 million in number and very ferocious, so China’s major cities had to come up with some relief measures.
That created a vicious cycle of encouraging their actions.
—Look at this, they give us food when we move.
—The only answer is to stab the rich with spears. Let’s kill those who drive foreign cars!
It started as an anti-Yu Ji-ha movement, but soon turned into a riot against the rich.
President Wang Xian tried hard to suppress them to keep his seat.
And in Japan, stories began to emerge slowly.
—Come to think of it, it’s strange. Why did the Fukuoka earthquake happen during the gold embargo?
—The waveforms were exactly the same as when Terrasum was created. And he claimed ownership of that island as soon as it was made.
—It’s suspicious that he can control gravity with an ether core. What if Yu Ji-ha had that technology from the beginning?
—You guys don’t really believe that Yu Ji-ha caused that earthquake, do you?
—That’s nonsense.
—What if it’s true? What if Yu Ji-ha has been killing Japanese people all this time?
—We should rise up.
—Rise up and get beaten again? It’s best to just ignore it and move on.
Various rumors circulated, but the Japanese kept quiet.
They realized that they were no match for the United Human Federation.
The Japanese had regarded Korea as a disobedient younger brother or subordinate, but the balance shifted after they went through the East Asian War and introduced the supercavity train.
They lost all the islands in the southern part of Kyushu, including Tsushima and Okinawa, but they didn’t feel much resentment because their exchanges with the United Human Federation were surprisingly enjoyable.
Yu Ji-ha passed on various technologies to them as if to prove that he had no feelings for them.
Of course, it wasn’t free, but from Japan’s perspective, which had been a barren land of initial skills, it was a welcome thing.
—The supercavity train is awesome… I wish it was connected to more routes. I want to go sightseeing in Korea.
—I wish they brought in Russia sooner. It’s been a while since I saw the showcase and it still hasn’t come in. That doesn’t make sense.
—Damn, I feel like I’ve been NTR’d by Russia roaming around Korea.
Most Japanese didn’t mind losing Tsushima and Okinawa.
They were just backwater places that were good for school trips or foreign-like places anyway.
They were more busy enjoying all kinds of initial skills that came in from the United Human Federation.
When the battle cruiser appeared, they secretly hoped that Gundam would come soon too.
They now regarded the United Human Federation as something like a companion.
Of course, there was some public opinion that hated Yu Ji-ha after watching the broadcast.
But the Japanese tendency to cover up things that smelled bad led them to deny all suspicions.
—Yu Ji-ha was actually a good guy.
—Don’t mess up the mood just because you like good things.
Anyway, Yu Ji-ha’s special program was broadcasted in various countries around the world, but it didn’t cause as much impact as the US expected because of its conspiratorial content.
More importantly, France, which had chewed on Yu Ji-ha like gum, turned completely around.
The regime was overturned by citizens who rose up shouting revolution, and pro-Yu Ji-ha leaders entered the Elysee Palace.
—You want us to side with you and criticize Yu Ji-ha and the United Human Federation? What can you do for us?
After Germany and France came out like this, the US’s position in Europe became awkward.
Other countries, including Italy and Spain, were slowly leaning towards the United Human Federation, and there were rumors that Britain was contacting them from behind.
They had to make a huge sacrifice to turn their hearts around, but the US’s situation was not so easy.
As the United Human Federation rose, the dollar weakened, and the tax revenue began to fluctuate.
There was a lot to import but little to export, so it was inevitable.
The US did not want to lose its leadership to Yu Ji-ha, so it decided to pursue a more daring policy.
It was unlimited quantitative easing and withdrawal from the UN.
The former was criticized by many institutions, including the Fed, but it was not a big problem.
Quantitative easing had been done several times before, but the US had overcome it without any trouble.
Now that the United Human Federation had emerged, there were voices of concern that it would not be the same as before, but the US started to print dollars unlimitedly.
And President Bernstein held a press conference.
“There have been many historical events in the past few years. And the UN failed to play its role. We realized that some of the UN members were uncooperative and even openly hostile to the US.”
Russia and China were among them, but recently the United Human Federation had come to the fore.
This alliance of nations had united around Yu Ji-ha and caused a lot of trouble for the US.
Their technology was so transcendent that it was not easy to use military options or infiltrate culturally.
Nowadays, technology was culture itself.
The artificial intelligence Russia had become more and more powerful in computing power over time, and recently it had reached the point of providing computing power for CG movie production even to individuals.
Hundreds of high-quality CG movies were produced every day in the megacity.
As these movies leaked out, even Hollywood’s film industry went downhill.
It was not going bankrupt right away, but the movies from the megacity were so good that they started to lose their competitiveness.
The lack of regulation from the Management Bureau also made it possible to use all kinds of imagination.
The US film industry criticized the proliferation of pornography, saying that it caused total chaos and deterioration, but the United Human Federation did not even pretend to listen.
Anyway, the United Human Federation was a tough opponent for even a superpower to deal with.
So the white-Anglo-Saxon-Protestants who represented the US decided on one thing.
It was the start of a new Cold War that divided the world in half.
President Bernstein declared it.
“We will leave the UN and we will not pay any dues. And we will overcome this situation with our true allies of America.”
As soon as the press conference ended, the shocked UN criticized and confronted the US.
It was a matter of time before it collapsed completely, as the UN debate was already a major issue in many countries.
This stemmed from the fact that the UN had played no role in the major events that had occurred in recent years.
Of course, it was not that they had completely given up, such as supplying food to North Korea after the war.
But people paid more attention to the achievements of the United Human Federation than those of the UN.
—They absorbed North Korea, which was a headache in East Asia, and even stabilized Afghanistan. What more do you need?
—They completely incinerated the garbage crisis of several countries with mass drivers. The garbage island in the North Pacific must have disappeared too?
—The US criticizes Yu Ji-ha for killing many people directly and indirectly, but he saved a lot more people.
Even after a special program on Yu Ji-ha aired, this reaction showed that the US plan did not work well.
The US panicked and officially withdrew from the UN and began to woo its allies.
But Europe’s reaction was lukewarm.
—What can the US do for us? It’s better to expand our exchanges with the United Human Federation.
—Russia is also on the side of the United Human Federation and has been quiet. They don’t assassinate or pressure us with natural resources like they used to.
—The US tells us to make our line clear, but how many countries can do that? The best thing is to introduce as much technology from the United Human Federation as possible and sell it to the US.
Not only Europe, but also Australia and New Zealand, which had been long-time friends of the US, took a neutral stance.
They had been quietly taking advantage of their situation since Europe was fighting with Yu Ji-ha.
They didn’t benefit as much as Russia or Germany, but they didn’t openly antagonize either.
In such a situation, when the US suddenly asked them to join their side, they were all embarrassed.
—We understand where the US is coming from, but we have no reason to be hostile to the United Human Federation. We have so much to introduce from walkers to hafnium warheads.
—Shouldn’t they tell Britain and Canada to make their stance clear first?
The two countries were somewhat supportive of the US position.
Their race was mostly white and their culture was similar.
But it was not enough for them to push for something meaningful in international society with three countries.
Thanks to leaving the UN, they could pursue their business without worrying about others’ eyes, but they lacked momentum when they actually did so.
The US, in desperation, started to sprinkle dollars on Europe with quantitative easing.
Europe, which had shown a tepid attitude, welcomed the dollars that were sprinkled under the name of the Bernstein Plan.
There was nothing better than money in the world.
But the US’s attempt to buy allies with money was frustrated from the start.
A war broke out in the Middle East.
It was caused by nuclear weapons that had leaked from Iran and Pakistan and had been scattered to various countries in the Middle East.
The countries had been wary of this, but it had been ignored when Yu Ji-ha passed on the manufacturing method of hafnium-2 warheads.
Since most countries had firepower comparable to tactical nuclear weapons, it was meaningless to try to stop nuclear proliferation.
The Middle East did not belong to those countries, and they succeeded in bringing in nuclear weapons by all means.
And they attacked Israel, their mortal enemy.
Israel had been acting like a bully in the Middle East by bringing in drones and combat androids from the United Human Federation.
—Stop killing our brothers with drones! Stop using machine dolls that insult God!
—Israel has nuclear weapons, but so do we. We have nothing to fear.
—Allahu Akbar! God is watching over us!
Egypt’s attack was followed by Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan and six other countries.
The fifth Middle East war broke out not long after the Cold War began.
The US hastily suspended the Bernstein Plan and sent officials to Jerusalem.
They wondered if Yu Ji-ha’s breath had touched this war too.
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