Chapter 86: Citizen Points and Mega City Aspirations
Most of the citizens didn’t pay much attention to the drones scattered around them.
They had become accustomed to seeing them so often.
It didn’t matter to them that the administrative and public institutions had been destroyed, or that the drones behaved quietly on the streets.
They looked rather cute with their round shapes, like fish swimming in an aquarium.
However, these drones were very different from the ones that High-Tech had shown before.
They had been greatly improved compared to the drones that were deployed in North Korea’s urban warfare, especially in terms of output.
Four drones could lift and fly away with a decent-sized vehicle, and they could also extend robotic arms to carry people.
It was all thanks to the ion thrusters.
As a result, the price of the drones skyrocketed, but that was not a problem at all.
Yu Ji-ha’s goal was not money, and he could produce as many drones as he wanted with the resources he mined from the asteroid belt.
It was a creepy thing to think about.
Military drones were roaming around with no restrictions among the civilians.
And there were a lot of them.
It was reported that almost 400,000 drones had been spread across Seoul and Gyeonggi Province.
As always, Silla High-Tech remained silent, and people muttered, “Is it Terra Island again?”
Whenever something strange happened, they suspected President Yu Ji-ha and Terra Island first, and they were right 95% of the time.
The facilities there belonged to Yu Ji-ha and were not open to the public.
It was a place where he could make hundreds of thousands of military drones without any trouble.
Anyway, Koreans were used to living with drones and artificial intelligence.
Foreign media criticized them for not understanding this.
They saw them all as armed soldiers.
They were armed with anti-personnel weapons and grenades, so they were not wrong.
The correspondent of Euro News, a French media company, who stayed in Korea wrote an article like this:
—There are nearly 200,000 drones scattered in Seoul. These drones are everywhere and they watch over people… I am no longer surprised by the peace of mind of Koreans. And also by the dictator who planned all this.
Even relatively friendly American or other countries’ media outlets published negative articles saying that they reminded them of Big Brother.
The intellectuals who warned about the dangers of drones in the early days strongly criticized President Yu Ji-ha’s behavior.
—Look. This is what happened when we ignored our warnings. Now drones will try to replace the role of police.
—It’s not human judgment that catches you, it’s artificial intelligence. Can you trust it?
—In the case of the military, artificial intelligence judges in one second. The courts will soon be like that too.
—How is this different from China’s terrible surveillance system?
Whether they liked it or not, Koreans were too familiar with artificial intelligence and drones.
—It’s not so bad because security has improved.
—The number of reckless drivers has decreased a lot. Delivery motorcycles have also become quieter.
—It feels like CCTV without blind spots. We ordinary people have nothing to fear.
—I wish Lucia was the judge instead. At least there would be no rubber band sentence.
There was no big backlash yet.
But Yu Ji-ha caused a lot of controversy when he introduced CP, which means Citizen Points.
“From now on, CP will be introduced to all Koreans. This CP starts at 100 points and can go up or down. It is a score based on your behavior. The drones will take care of that.”
The reporters gathered at the press conference were speechless.
A reporter who barely regained his senses asked:
“So… it’s a score given to people?”
“That’s right.”
“And drones judge that?”
“Exactly. It’s artificial intelligence connected to drones that judges. For example, like this.”
-···
The press conference room was quiet because it was such a shocking idea.
He had spread so many drones for this purpose.
He had created artificial intelligence and took over the internet for this purpose.
Yu Ji-ha leaned his upper body forward with his arms on the podium.
His sharp eyes scanned the reporters and they all shrank their heads.
“Everything is judged by artificial intelligence according to the public interest. If you commit a crime or cause trouble to society, CP will be mercilessly cut. On the other hand, if you work diligently and live without problems, CP will rise. It’s simple.”
But its impact was not simple at all.
This was worse than thought control or total surveillance.
“I won’t cut CP just because you speed a little bit. Drones watch you normally and start counting when they think you’ve crossed a line. So your usual behavior is important.”
“What’s the benefit of having a lot of CP? You will get a lot of benefits when you move into the mega city in the future. This mega city is a huge city that is being built in various places in Korea…”
At Yu Ji-ha’s signal, buildings rose and facilities were installed.
Finally, the entire screen showed the image of a huge city.
Everyone opened their mouths at the amazing scale.
“Wow… that’s amazing.”
“Judging by the lack of cars, did he put them all underground?”
“It’s a completely planned city, isn’t it?”
It was a scaled-down version of the mega city of the United Human Federation.
It was impossible to cram 100 million people into one city.
Instead of building a reduced mega city in various places, he planned to connect all the logistics organically.
But the real shocker was something else.
“If your CP goes down, your salary will be cut in the short term. No one gets paid in cash these days, right? Lucia will monitor your transactions and deduct your salary. The recovered amount will be used as the state tax.”
Someone who couldn’t stand it asked.
“So… if I keep violating the signal, my salary will be reduced?”
“You can think of it as an immediate fine. The fine is proportional to your property. If a chaebol keeps violating the signal, he will pay a huge fine. If I did the same thing as three years ago, I would donate tens of billions.”
He sounded like he was joking, but no one laughed.
It was an idea that only a dictator could imagine, to evaluate people with points and give them real feedback.
It might be good for now.
All kinds of behaviors that harm the public would be eradicated.
But it was too much to let an artificial intelligence judge that, not the social consensus called law.
And that artificial intelligence was a personal property.
In fact, Yu Ji-ha was going to judge everything.
“This is Big Brother.”
Someone muttered and Yu Ji-ha nodded.
“That’s right. Big Brother of the 21st century. I heard some people say that my rule is not so dictatorial, but it will change from now on.”
He raised his voice.
“Behaviors that are designated as crimes in the existing system will massively deduct CP. If your CP falls below a certain level, you will be treated as a criminal and thrown into Terra Island. This is a separate measure from the judicial judgment.”
“1 million drones will watch over the streets. So from now on, you can only do a little bit of bullshit.”
The real reign of terror began.
Koreans were quite familiar with the state control such as fingerprinting and resident registration.
Almost half of the population had experienced the military and tended to follow the hierarchical order.
But even they were shocked by the concept of CP (Citizen Point).
Artificial intelligence evaluated people in real time, cut their salaries and even punished them.
How could this happen?
Even those who had absolute support for Yu Ji-ha backed away a bit.
The idea of controlling the whole society was that dangerous.
Nevertheless, Citizen Points were inevitably introduced.
No, it would be more accurate to say that they had been applied in some way.
The 1 million drones spread across the country showed different movements than before.
They patrolled every corner of the alley and monitored the roads to crack down on reckless driving.
If someone or a vehicle committed a minor offense, such as paying a fine, they flew over and displayed a warning window on the monitor.
Like this:
「Warning: CP of citizen number MC-S-372218 is deducted. Reason: Reckless driving. Current CP: 99」
“···What is this?”
Shin Jaehoon experienced a ridiculous thing in his supercar.
He violated some signals and sped up a bit at dawn, and a strange drone flew over him.
His girlfriend told him that it was one of those drones that everyone was talking about lately, but he got angry.
“What the fuck are you doing? You’re not even human, so don’t mind me.”
He thought he would feel better if he drove along Olympic Boulevard at ease.
He ignored his girlfriend’s dissuasion and stepped on the pedal hard.
The 12-cylinder supercar roared and raced along Olympic Boulevard at dawn.
But his frantic run that exceeded twice the speed limit didn’t last long and stopped.
A drone flew over again and made a loud noise.
「Warning: CP of citizen number MC-S-372218 is deducted. Reason: Reckless driving. Current CP: 97」
“What the hell is citizen number? What kind of bullshit is CP?”
“Hey, stop the car!”
Unable to bear it, his girlfriend tried to open the door, but Shin Jaehoon accelerated out of spite.
“What are you doing?”
“You can’t get off. Watch what I’m doing now.”
“Are you crazy?”
“Yeah! I’m crazy! Human Shin Jaehoon! I’ve been like this since I was beaten by my grandfather when I was young!”
They argued while the supercar’s speed exceeded 170km/h.
It was 2 a.m., but there were quite a few cars on Olympic Boulevard, and every time he cut in, a dangerous situation occurred.
But at some point, the steering wheel didn’t work properly.
“Uh, uh?”
“What’s this!”
It felt like something lifted the car.
Shin Jaehoon was so dumbfounded that he let go of the steering wheel.
Whether he did or not, four drones lifted the supercar into the air and sounded an alarm.
「Notice: The vehicle of citizen number MC-S-372218 is confiscated. Reason: Continuous reckless driving. Since CP has been sharply deducted, property will be deducted」
What kind of nonsense is this?
He was stunned, but his girlfriend clicked her tongue.
“You’re doing great. Check your account. Money must be flying out.”
“They’re taking money out of my account? Who says so?”
“Yu Ji-ha or whatever, that dictator!”
Then an alarm rang on his phone.
Shin Jaehoon saw tens of billions of won flying out of his account and doubted his eyes.
“No, fuck who says so… Where is the car going?”
“This is a limited edition, right? You’re in big trouble now.”
“Why, what’s wrong?”
“You’ll see.”
Soon after, they and the supercar arrived at a deserted scrapyard.
「Get off」
Chased by the drone’s instructions, Shin Jaehoon got off and saw a 1.5-ton iron ball hanging from a crane crushing his car.
“Ah!”
“20 billion gone like this… I don’t know. I’m leaving.”
His girlfriend disappeared and the iron ball continued to crush the supercar without hesitation.
Was this real?
Could this happen in a rule-of-law country?
He was stunned and the supercar turned into a pile of garbage.
That was it.
There was no one to protest in the scrapyard, only unmanned machines and drones.
Everything was automated.
A drone guided him to the exit.
「A taxi will be here soon. It’s prepaid, so you can go anywhere in Seoul」
Was this kindness?
Shin Jaehoon glared at the drone and realized it was meaningless and walked along the road.
He lost 50 billion won today.
“Fuck! This fucking world!”
He wouldn’t stay like this.
He swore that he would make his father or grandfather pay for this, no matter what.
A drone was watching him scream.
…
The hasty introduction of Citizen Points caused a lot of side effects.
Many people had their salaries deducted, and some even experienced the miracle of their monthly income turning to zero in just 30 minutes.
There were complaints and criticisms from the news that this was absurd.
But the Blue House, or rather Yu Ji-ha, didn’t blink an eye.
“It’s nothing but giving penalties to those who harm public safety and benefits to those who protect it.”
—Don’t try to gloss over it like that! How is this different from China?
—Even China didn’t deduct salaries indirectly!
There were voices of dissatisfaction that this was a terrible policy.
Some people tried to smash the drones out of anger, but most of them failed.
Artificial intelligence Lucia predicted most of the risk factors.
The drones were not separated, but very closely connected systems.
They had algorithms to identify illegal elements around them, and it was easy for them to distinguish those who harmed them.
And they were very sturdy, so they didn’t suffer much damage from hitting them with sticks or something.
In this way, while there were many complaints, there were also people who didn’t care and lived their lives as usual.
Hwang Sunyoung of Silla Energy was one of them.
“I don’t see anything bad, only good things?”
“I think so too, but the atmosphere is…”
“There are so many drones that I feel like they’re watching you everywhere.”
“I feel like I’m shrinking for no reason.”
The employees of Silla Energy were all fans of Yu Ji-ha, albeit to varying degrees.
Even they felt uneasy, which showed how crazy this policy was.
But Hwang Sunyoung was fine.
“Rather, it’s good for someone like me. When I go to the convenience store at dawn, the drones watch over me.”
“You had a reason to go out…”
A male employee teased her and she pretended to hit him.
“You! Anyway, listen. There’s a point in accumulating points related to moving into the mega city?”
“What happens when you accumulate points?”
“In my case…”
She showed an app installed on her phone and the colleagues gathered around.
“Wow! CP 110 points!”
“I’ve never seen anyone with 110 points.”
“How did you get such a high score? I don’t understand.”
“I have a permanent residency in the United Human Federation. That’s a bonus. And I live quietly, well? Dull. I work hard too.”
They agreed.
Hwang Sunyoung was someone who anyone would think was harmless.
She had never been to a police station except for sightseeing from afar, and she only went back and forth between home and work.
The most she went out for was a mart or convenience store or restaurant, a homebody.
If the media had to pick a good citizen, there would be no better choice than her.
She explained with spit flying,
“Once you get 110 points, one of the benefits related to the mega city is unlocked. What is this?”
“Oh, free transportation? Click on that.”
“Wait a minute…”
As the item unfolded in detail, they all tilted their heads.
“Super high-speed train? What is this?”
“I don’t know. Maybe something like Hyperloop Train?”
“Hey, that was scrapped a long time ago.”
They all marveled at the video of the train running on the sea.
“I don’t know how it runs on the sea without maglev or anything.”
“There are more than one or two things that we can’t explain properly in our group. Starting from Anttron.”
“Well, yeah.”
At least Unoptium was somewhat scientifically explained, but it was still a mystery how it appeared in an environment like the moon.
It was even worse with Black Metal and Antitron.
Now there were emails from foreign researchers requesting data sharing in Yu Ji-ha’s mailbox.
Hwang Sunyoung pointed to the next item.
“This is unlocked one by one as you accumulate points. 115 points is free communication.”
“120 points is free electricity too…”
“That’s doable, right?”
“What are you talking about? It’s not doable, it’s awesome.”
They changed their minds about the mega city being a mediocre city.
If this item was accurate, it would provide significant benefits.
And 120 points wasn’t even the end!
“I can’t go up now, but I’ll see more when I get 120 points? It’s fun to accumulate points.”
“You have to avoid accidents.”
“We don’t have any accidents, do we? We’re stuck in the lab every day.”
“Then the score will naturally go up and we can get these benefits, right? Like Sunyoung.”
She emphasized one thing.
“English. You have to know English. If you know English, you have an advantage in applying for permanent residency.”
“Lucia translates for us, can’t we just get by with that…”
“You still have to be able to live with it.”
“Well, we’re not the only ones applying.”
There were all kinds of nationalities in the application status for the mega city on Terra Island.
When all those people gathered together, it was natural that English became the common language.
They all calculated in their heads and decided that they had to do it.
—If you get a permanent residency, you get a house, a bonus, and free transportation and stuff…
—It’s not that hard, you just have to add English to what you’ve been doing.
It was not difficult for them at all.
There was a downside of having to move to the mega city, but what if there were jobs there?
The mega city they saw through the app was truly huge.
It would be strange if there were no jobs at that level.
They all came to that conclusion and bought the English learning add-on of Lucia Premium.
“Wow, you really built a wall with English. How did you graduate from college?”
Her nagging began.
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦