American: Native Empire

Meanwhile, the field that showed the most remarkable growth during this period was none other than electricity.

Thanks to the telegraph, information was transmitted much faster than before across the continent. 

Seeing this, the scientists felt the potential of electricity on their skin.

“Electricity has infinite possibilities. How can we use it?”

Countless scientists worked day and night to apply electricity. 

Wide Bowl was one of them.

He was a promising scientist who had participated as a researcher when Kim Ki-woo made the generator and the telegraph.

And after successfully completing the research on the telegraph, Kim Ki-woo’s words changed his life completely.

“With this, we conclude the research on the telegraph. You all did a great job.”

“It was an honor to conduct research with Your Majesty!”

“We are grateful for your grace!”

The surroundings were filled with joy. 

The researchers could not hide their happiness from the rising sense of accomplishment.

‘It’s really over…’

Wide Bowl felt drained. 

It felt like the time until now was like a dream.

‘Ah…’

On one hand, he was very sorry. 

Meeting Kim Ki-woo like this might be the last time, and he felt anxious about it.

But it was inevitable since the research was already over. 

As he was struggling with his complex emotions, Kim Ki-woo continued to speak.

“The research on the telegraph is over, but I think this is just the beginning. Electricity is still in its infancy. I am sure that electricity will be used in countless fields in the future.”

“Is that so?”

“That’s right. I hope you will continue to do your best for the development of electricity. I hope you will leave a great mark on the history of the empire.”

The faces of the researchers were touched by his words.

“Is there anything else you want to say?”

“May I ask you one thing if possible?”

“Go ahead.”

As Kim Ki-woo gave his permission, a researcher who raised his hand spoke up.

“I also researched electricity and saw its endless potential. But I still don’t have a good idea of how to use it. What do you think, Your Majesty?”

“Someday, there will be a world where it will be hard to find something without electricity around.”

Computers, TVs, smartphones, etc. 

There will be a day when electricity is used everywhere. But Kim Ki-woo knew well.

It will take a long time before that time comes.

“But that might be too early for now. First of all, we should start by lighting up the world with electricity and making communication more smooth than now.”

“What do you mean by…”

“Haha. Think about it carefully. Maybe the answer is closer than you think.”

Kim Ki-woo smiled as he looked at the researchers who were puzzled. 

He had given them a lot of hints.

Because he had worked with them for quite a long time.

***

“Light up the world with electricity?”

The researchers who were there tried hard to figure out what he meant by that.

But Wide Bowl interpreted it intuitively.

“What if we can make light with electricity? It seems possible…”

He looked at the oil lamp. 

The lamp that made bright light by burning oil was not only a product that brightened up the dark night, but also an essential item in deep mines.

But it also had clear drawbacks.

 It had to be constantly refilled with kerosene.

“If there is a lamp that emits light by just supplying electricity, these drawbacks will also disappear.”

With this thought, he plunged into research. 

If it had been before, he would have needed more experience.

 But thanks to his experience of participating in Kim Ki-woo’s research, he was able to open his own research at Imperial University.

Of course, it was a small-scale research with only five people including himself, but Wide Bowl did not care and devoted himself passionately to research.

But soon he hit a wall.

“How do I burn electricity? How?”

At first, he tried to obtain light in the same way as a lamp. 

Of course, he soon realized that this method was not feasible and changed his direction.

“What should I do…”

The wide bowl stared at the lamp all day long, imagining how he could get such a bright light.

Then, a thought crossed his mind.

‘Come to think of it, when electrons pass through a material with high resistance, it quickly becomes hot… It’s easy to get heat from electricity, right? Can’t I use this?’

His thoughts led to another. 

And he began to investigate whether he could produce light from heat.

And not long after, he found many examples of this. 

The fire itself was bright because of the hot heat, and he could easily see it from the molten iron in the steel mill.

“It’s worth a try.”

He briefed his research team on this and started the research in earnest. 

He applied electricity to metals with high resistance and observed the changes.

“Wow!”

“This is it!”

And soon after, the wide bowl was convinced that this approach was correct. 

The light flowed from the metal and softly illuminated the dark room.

Joy filled the faces of the wide bowl and his research team. 

And they continued to conduct the research.

Of course, there were many twists and turns along the way. 

But with the sole determination to succeed, they did their best to create a brighter and more stable light.

This eventually led to the invention of an incandescent bulb using a filament, which they announced to the academic world.

“Wow! You can make light with electricity!”

“If you can commercialize it, you’ll make a fortune!”

The incandescent bulb was introduced to the world faster than expected, but it took more time to commercialize it.

“Hmm. How can I stabilize this…”

The early incandescent bulb had many problems. 

The oxidation problem of the filament due to heat generation, the lifespan problem, and the stability problem, etc.

There was also a problem with electricity itself.

They had to increase the efficiency of the generator, and it was important to send electricity along the wires so that they could use it. 

And the current supplied to the bulb had to be constant.

Many problems were identified, but the scientists did not give up. 

They believed that they would surely succeed if they had the potential of the incandescent bulb and pushed ahead with their research.

Thanks to this, the problems were solved one by one, and finally they accumulated enough technology to commercialize the bulb.

***

‘Communicate smoothly with electricity…’

If the wide bowl focused on Kim Ki-woo’s words that he brightened the world with electricity, then the tough bag that was there focused on the words that followed.

‘How can you communicate smoothly from here?’

How can you develop anything from sending electrical signals over long distances through wires?

All kinds of negative thoughts flooded his head. 

But he shook his head hard and erased his doubts.

‘No. His Majesty wouldn’t have said anything in vain. There must be something I don’t know yet.’

Convinced of this, the tough bag read and reread related materials, trying to find clues.

In doing so, he read a paper on electric wave signals that was recently published.

‘Wave signals… Something smells here.’

The tough bag smelled a great success here. 

And he actually researched on this.

His persistent efforts paid off at some point.

‘What if I can send voice with electric signals? Then I can talk to someone far away, right?’

As this thought came to his mind, his chest burned with passion.

And as time passed, he established the basic principle of a telephone using electromagnetic induction.

When you speak into a transmitter, an internal magnet converts your voice into an electric signal. 

And this electric signal travels along the wire to the other person’s receiver.

Then it converts the electric signal back into sound.

“Is it done…?”

The tough bag swallowed his saliva as he looked at the finished phone.

“Let’s try an experiment.”

He was sure that his theory was perfect. 

But theory and reality could be different. He had to actually do it to see if it would succeed.

After that, the tough bag connected a wire about 200 meters away and connected a phone.

“Whew…”

When all the preparations were done, his heart beat fast. 

He couldn’t calm down easily.

He tried to calm his pounding heart and handed a note to his assistant.

“You go to the other phone and talk into the transmitter. Got it?”

“Yes!”

The assistant answered cheerfully and ran to where the phone was.

After confirming this.

Click!

The tough bag picked up the receiver and put it to his ear.

‘Please… Please…!’

One second, one second felt like eternity. He closed his eyes tightly and waited for the sound of a voice.

At that moment.

-Can you…hear me?

“…!”

It was slightly cut off and the sound quality was not very good. 

But what was certain was that he heard a voice.

“It worked!”

After successfully conducting an experiment to transmit voice through a wire, he clenched his fist.

***

“Wow…”

One day, after successfully finishing the international conference.

Kim Ki-woo received a report on the history of electricity and his eyes sparkled with interest.

‘As expected, they make it quickly with just a little hint.’

He didn’t give them much of a hint, but they were such brilliant scientists that they quickly made these inventions of the century.

Of course, both the incandescent bulb and the magnetic phone had their drawbacks. But this was something that the government could easily solve.

“Director of Communications. This means you’ll have more work to do.”

“I’ve had too little work compared to other departments, so it’s rather a good thing.”

Kim Ki-woo chuckled at his words.

‘I wonder if his subordinates feel the same way.’

The Ministry of Communications had been quite a cushy job until now. 

It would change when the phone and incandescent bulb started to be distributed. 

For the time being, the Ministry of Communications was going to take care of everything from supplying electricity.

Then there would be sure to be complaints from the Ministry of Communications staff.

“Especially if you want to use this magnetic phone properly, you need to build a proper communication network. It will be easier if you use the telegraph system you’ve built so far.”

When he made the telegraph, he also considered the phone communication network and the transmission and reception of electricity.

Of course, he had to establish a communication network that covered the continent, and create a central system that managed this network. 

And he also needed continuous management of the system.

“This is something that will be entrusted to the Ministry of Communications, so brighten up the night of the empire with incandescent bulbs and build a good phone system.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I will do my best!”

The Director of Communications bowed his head with a solemn expression.

From that day on, construction began in earnest. 

The Ministry of Communications, with the help of the Ministry of Construction and Industry, built temporary facilities.

Finally, when the phone and incandescent bulb were commercialized.

“Wow! It’s light! It’s light!”

“Wow… I can’t believe I can talk to someone so far away.”

“Is this really real?”

People cheered at the bright light of the incandescent bulb that pierced through the darkness, and were shocked by the fact that they could talk to someone far away.

These two inventions later improved the quality of life of the imperial citizens very innovatively.

Thus, Wakan Tanka Empire achieved another leap forward.