Chapter 176: The Identity of the Dictator
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January 23, 2034.
Vice President Evans signed the surrender document.
With that, the short war between the United Human Federation and the United States came to a complete end.
The United Human Federation promised a generous treatment for the defeated country and kept its word.
Only a few of the US leaders, including James and some soldiers involved in the kidnapping, were sent to the space prison.
The trial process was also very simple.
According to the United Human Federation’s custom, an artificial intelligence judge announced the charges, evidence, and sentences on the spot.
Those who were involved in the kidnapping of Yu Ji-ha were all loaded onto the Settler and flown into space.
In the process, the space prison was revealed for the first time.
People were shocked and horrified to see a bland platform floating in the desolate space.
―Wow. That looks really shitty.
―I’d rather kill myself than rot there.
―They say there is gravity there. And they do get proper food, but it’s hard to endure.
―Why?
―They can see the Earth from their cell windows. And it’s so sad that they can’t bear it.
―They must feel abandoned in space…
―They say that people who experience the space prison once never commit crimes again.
―I get goosebumps just thinking about going there twice.
Anyway, after sending a few people to prison, Yu Ji-ha did not punish anyone else.
The politicians who had opposed the artificial intelligence trial also withdrew their hands when they were sure they were safe.
It was not good to raise their voices too much as a defeated country.
Yu Ji-ha did not seem to act like an occupying army.
Despite tens of thousands of deaths, there was not much resentment against Yu Ji-ha in the US.
He was a victim and an enemy at the same time.
Instead, those who had opposed the United Human Federation and Yu Ji-ha until the end and caused conflicts were under public scrutiny.
―Yeah, thanks to you guys who wanted war, this happened. What are you going to do now?
―Wasn’t it you guys who incited people to kill or kidnap Yu Ji-ha? Where are you hiding like rats?
―Now you’re complaining about why we surrendered. If we had a nuclear war, there would be no such thing as Americans, you idiots.
There was no voice against Yu Ji-ha online or offline.
Of course, not all those people disappeared and they would raise their heads again someday.
But for now, they had to keep quiet and hide.
The voice that we needed to cooperate with the United Human Federation grew louder.
The world’s finance was shattered by the war between the two countries, and there was a demand for restructuring the economic system.
―What’s the point of inflating bubbles with all kinds of number games? They all evaporate in one war.
―We can inflate them again, but they will fly away again when the Plague invades. We can’t repeat our mistakes anymore.
―Look at the United Human Federation. They may have some advantages as a victorious country, but they are not affected by the war. We need that kind of economic structure too.
But it was hard to collapse the financial system right away.
The economy and finance of modern countries were too complexly intertwined to separate them.
It might be faster to create a new country from scratch.
Anyway, at the point where the US surrendered, most of the leaders who were not dragged to prison resigned en masse.
Their place was taken by Richard Bernstein, who reappeared by showing off his connection with Yu Ji-ha.
He visited Seoul and had a meeting with Yu Ji-ha despite some suspicious eyes.
“Honestly, I still can’t believe it. It hasn’t been long since you said that…”
Yu Ji-ha decided to change the minds of Americans and actually did it in less than a month.
He used war as an extreme method, but anyway it was hard to find anyone who opposed him in the US now.
Bernstein thought it was meaningless to mention the possibility of a self-made drama now.
‘The US lost and Yu Ji-ha is now the ruler of Earth.’
In a normal world, even a dictator of a superpower would not have such a big influence.
But Earth in 2034 was a precarious world where no one knew when it would be attacked by the Plague.
According to Yu Ji-ha’s foresight, things would get worse rather than better in the future.
So America had to change too, but Bernstein didn’t know exactly how.
He drank a cup of warm tea to cool his head and opened his mouth.
“People in our country also recognize the need for change. But they are confused about the direction. They all ask what we need to change.”
“It’s nothing special. The US is a huge country and I know it’s impossible to change everything at once. All I want is clear cooperation.”
“Clear cooperation…”
“The entire US military must have been devastated by this war.”
He nodded his head.
There were still a lot of troops left, but strategically it was no different from annihilation.
If the Earth Fleet had mobilized all its power, they would have really been wiped out.
Fortunately, Yu Ji-ha’s goal was not to destroy the US military, so many of them survived.
“Pay condolences and pensions to the families of the deceased. It will cost a lot of money, but it will be less than maintaining all those weapons.”
It was a painful reality, but it was true.
Many of the US weapons were gone in this war.
As a defeated country, there was no reason or power to restore them.
Now the US had to divert the huge funds that went into defense somewhere else.
It was not Yu Ji-ha’s pocket, as some conspiracy theorists claimed.
“Use that money to secure resources and advance into space. Go further and build a base on Mars and construct spaceships. The United Human Federation will help you.”
“Do you mean to create a new Earth Fleet?”
Yu Ji-ha shook his head.
“The Earth Fleet will be disbanded. There is no need for war anymore.”
Bernstein wanted to tell this remark to the conspiracy theorists who said that Yu Ji-ha himself was the cause of war.
In the end, he was right.
“The war with humans is over. Now all that remains is the war with the Plague.”
Of course, it was impossible to eliminate war completely from Earth even with the power of the United Human Federation.
There were still conflicts over national, religious, racial, and other issues at this moment, and Yu Ji-ha’s goal was not to stop them all.
“I can’t make all 8 billion people peaceful. I originally thought about 900 million, but it doesn’t matter if it increases a little more.”
“The population that can be accommodated in megacities? Is that enough to stop the Plague?”
“According to the artificial intelligence calculation, yes. I don’t care about the people outside the megacities.”
“You said you can see the future. What happens to them?”
“They all die.”
“…”
Bernstein fell silent.
The fact that he could say such a scary thing as if it was certain meant that Yu Ji-ha was not an ordinary human being.
He moistened his burning throat with water and asked cautiously.
“Many people have been curious about your identity for a long time. Now that there is no force on Earth that can oppose you, don’t you think it’s time to reveal yourself?”
Strictly speaking, there were still hostile forces, but they were insignificant.
What could a single nation or a terrorist group do against him, who had brought the United Human Federation, Russia, and even the United States under his influence?
“It wouldn’t be bad, I guess.”
The reason he hid his identity and the Settler was to prevent a great chaos.
What he feared was that the whole world would turn hostile and an unbearable population would flock to the Megacity without enough preparation.
But now he was ready.
It wasn’t perfect, but the Megacity had accepted many people and had a sufficient defense system.
There was no reason to hide his identity anymore, since there was no force that opposed him.
He couldn’t reveal it to the public, but it would be okay for key figures like Bernstein.
His family had become citizens of the Megacity, so there wouldn’t be any problem.
‘It’s time to consolidate my regime and create the Supreme Council.’
His goal was to eradicate the Plague and leave for the Prophet’s homeland when he achieved it.
The roadmap that Arma had planned also included the establishment of the Supreme Council.
He couldn’t monopolize power forever, could he?
“I’ll tell you in person after inviting a few people.”
“Sounds exciting. Is it like the conspiracy theories say? Are you going to pop out a spaceship or something?”
Unfortunately, he had to keep the Settler hidden.
A few days passed and politicians from various countries, including Mikhailov, the Russian president, and Bae Seong-min, the chief of staff, gathered in the presidential office of Blue House.
He revealed his identity to them.
“I came from the year 2180.”
“…Excuse me?”
Everyone’s faces stiffened.
***
“In 2103, the invasion of the Plague began. Hundreds of millions of people died, and humanity united to create the Megacity. This is the history of the time I was in.”
“Humanity tried to resist the Plague with the Prophet’s relics and the Megacity as their base. They made many spaceships and weapons, and sent psychers to fight on the front lines.”
“Despite that, humanity lost the war. In 2177, humanity became extinct, leaving only one person behind. He was a soldier of the United Space Force who wandered in space and barely survived with the help of an artificial intelligence.”
He omitted the rest of his words, but everyone could guess.
He was the last survivor of humanity.
It was a future that hadn’t happened yet, or should he say a different timeline?
Maybe the world he was in was a parallel Earth.
The politicians tried hard to interpret his words while blinking their eyes severely.
Bae Seong-min, who was among the younger ones, regained his senses first.
“Excuse me. So according to what you said… The last survivor of humanity… You came back to the past from 2177? From 2177 to 2025?”
“Actually, it’s 2180. I was stuck in an assault armor… I mean, a small spaceship for three years before I was rescued.”
“The artificial intelligence that saved you… Is it Lucia?”
“It’s Arma. She was an artificial intelligence of the United Human Federation who originally had no body, but she made an android here and used it as her body.”
Arma, who was typing at her desk, stood up.
Why did she suddenly stand up?
Everyone looked at her with wide eyes as if they were surprised.
No matter how common androids were, they thought she was human.
Bernstein opened his mouth wide and dislocated his jaw joint.
He had to suffer for a while to fix it.
The most surprised one was Bae Seong-min, the chief of staff.
He didn’t know she was an android even though he watched her from right next to her.
Arma casually put her head back on and sat down at her chair and continued typing.
“Uh, um… I can definitely see that she’s an android…….”
When the atmosphere calmed down, he opened his mouth again.
“The identity of the strong artificial intelligence Lucia is Arma. Arma is a collective of billions of computing units that designed all the technology I’ve shown so far. It’s originally a legacy of the United Human Federation.”
The people were curious about how he came back from the future, but they didn’t bother to ask.
They just realized that he was definitely a future man when they looked back at his actions so far.
He came from the future to this era.
Bernstein sighed deeply.
“The analysis by our intelligence agency was right. Do you have a huge spaceship hidden somewhere? There was a small tsunami near the Korean Sea around the fall of 2025.”
There were conspiracy theories that sprouted from the assassination of numerous politicians.
But there was no one who could bring up that topic in this place.
He dodged the question about the spaceship.
“What matters is not the past, but what we do in the future. Humanity is extinct. I’ll say it again. Humanity is extinct. I came back to the past to prevent that from happening again.”
“I created the United Human Federation and the Megacity, and gathered the psychers. Now all we have to do is gather all the resources to make spaceships and train the pilots. I can’t do it alone. I need your cooperation.”
“…….”
The people looked at each other’s faces.
From the president of the United Human Federation to the next presidential candidate of the United States, the president of Russia and the chancellor of Germany, they were practically the people who led humanity.
Their decision would affect the future of all humanity. It was not an exaggeration.
He emphasized again.
“Humanity in the future was destroyed by the Plague. But that future will not come. I came here, you will help me, and most importantly, history has changed. In the future, the Plague invaded Earth for the first time in 2103. But in reality, they arrived more than 70 years earlier.”
Everyone nodded at his words, but they had one question.
“But how did humanity in 2103 manage to lose billions of lives?”
“I don’t know much either. Because when I was born, humanity had erased the records of that time. But it’s clear that it was much worse than now. Only some countries had the Prophet’s relics, I suppose.”
If some countries had monopolized them, then the situation at that time was obvious.
They would have gained superpower and treated other countries as colonies, creating a severe bubble economy.
They would have indulged in pleasure and luxury without any serious preparation for the Plague.
He also monopolized the Prophet’s relics, but he was willing to share them as long as they promised to cooperate.
Mikhailov, the Russian president, sighed and took out a cigarette.
“Can I smoke one? I’m feeling dizzy from hearing such shocking stories.”
“Feel free to smoke. Do you want me to bring you a glass of vodka?”
“No, I’m fine with alcohol.”
The leaders continued their serious conversation in the smoky air.
It contained the future management of the world.
Mikhailov wanted to integrate into the United Human Federation as soon as possible.
“Megacity Russia will be the true beginning of integration.”
He nodded his head.
He wanted to tell them why he cared about Russia while revealing his identity, but he gave up.
There was no reason to stir up trouble when the integration was going smoothly thanks to the Russians’ favor for him.
Bernstein clenched and unclenched his fist as if he was excited.
“I wondered how we would deal with the war, but a bigger problem came up. This is serious.”
“It’s simple. Just split it in half.”
“…The United States?”
“There are still people who hate me and dislike my way of doing things. They just lowered their voices. It’s more efficient to pay attention to those who agree to cooperate instead of trying to persuade them.”
“Splitting the United States in half…….”
“I’m not saying to split the territory or the system in half. I’m saying to prepare to leave the city. What if hundreds of Plague creatures stronger than Gamma Five invade New York?”
Bernstein shook his head without thinking.
“That’s impossible to stop.”
“The Megacity and the United Human Federation can. So be ready to leave the city at any time.”
“We need to identify and select people who meet the criteria, even if we have to use some illegal methods. Anyone who is suspected of having Aether sensitivity… I mean, black metal factor gets a free pass.”
“Can’t we make Megacity America?”
“Ten Megacities… That wasn’t in the plan.”
He pretended to hesitate and Walter, the German chancellor, joined in.
“From what I heard, this is not the time to talk about democracy or freedom. Survival is the priority.”
“We don’t know when the Plague will invade on a large scale. But we can tell from what happened so far that it’s not far away.”
“I agree. In that sense, why not Europe?”
“There’s something I want to show you first.”
A walker disguised as a drawer under his desk transformed with a clank and projected an image on the wall.
Everyone was not surprised by this anymore.
“That’s an Aether core from the Plague…….”
“You all know that core corrodes nearby metals. But its corrosion ability tends to be proportional to the grade of the Plague and the size of the core. The ones that visited Earth so far were very small creatures. They were like privates or corporals in military terms.”
The leaders swallowed their dry saliva as they looked at the size of the core.
How big would a general-level creature’s core be?
The picture on the wall changed and a huge Plague core appeared.
He and Arma were standing next to it, so they could guess how big it was.
“That’s huge…….”
“How big is the Plague body that has that core?”
“It’s a Plague Leviathan-class. It’s one of the largest among regular Plagues and easily exceeds 1km. All the weapons that the United Human Federation showed so far were made by studying that monster. Railguns and Aether lasers, even ion beams.”
The image on the wall showed a Plague Leviathan that had been destroyed by the United Human Federation.
It was a gigantic monster that made ordinary buildings look pathetic.
Did humanity in the future fight hundreds of such monsters?
The people realized why he was so oppressive and coldly dictatorial.
He had been fighting those monsters and became extinct, so he had to be cruel.
Of course, there might have been other ways, but they were likely to have many disadvantages such as taking a lot of time and being inefficient.
He pointed at the screen and said.
“The only way to kill a Plague like that is a reaction bomb. I’ll take care of that, so you just select the people who will enter the ark. You can’t relax the conditions. I don’t want to see any trouble in the Megacity.”
“It would be dangerous if there was a commotion in such a densely populated area.”
“I understand. I’ll do my best.”
“We’ll proceed with the additional Megacities after consultation. And today’s matter is…….”
They all shut their mouths as if they were satisfied with one thing. He nodded his head.
“Thank you for listening to this boring story. I trust you. So please trust me too. Everything is for humanity.”
He had often said that everything was for humanity, but he was lucky if he didn’t get ridiculed or ignored.
They thought he was a cruel dictator who deceived and joked with the masses.
But the leaders who attended today’s meeting believed in his identity and true purpose.
The last survivor of humanity who came back from the future of 2180 to the past of 2025.
He was the dictator.
“That’s it for today. I’ll see you next time.”
The meeting ended and they all left Blue House.
He sent Arma away and looked at the garden of Blue House.
He felt relieved to have revealed his secret to some people.
The chief of staff, Bae Seong-min, stood behind his chair.
“Mr. President, I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“If you came from the future, you must be much older than I thought, right?”
“If I hadn’t failed my first love, I would have had a son as good as you.”
He was startled by the sudden joke and he smiled faintly.
“I’m kidding. If my children were alive, they would have been slightly younger than you.”
If they were alive……
He looked back and asked.
“Was it a bit uncomfortable to serve a young president?”
“No, no. I just thought that you had to be this calm to be a president.”
“Calm? I was running around like crazy. Arma did all the work.”
Even if that was true, the burden he carried on his shoulders was not light.
Bae bowed his head behind his back.
He was not a mere dictator, but a person who deserved to be the leader of all humanity.
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