NOVEL NEXT
Chapter 132: Changing Trends
Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense
132 – Changing Trends
After the announcement of the Second Plaza Accord, the Liberal Clan began delivering the modified Strikers to the promised countries one by one.
Instead of delivering the entire quantity to one country at once, the Strikers were supplied to the market in sets of three, each set consisting of an assault, universal, and support unit. As soon as they were deployed for gate subjugation for practical testing, their usefulness was proven.
The overwhelming firepower of the support unit, capable of eliminating large numbers of monsters from a distance without significant risk.
The overwhelming defensive power of the assault unit, protecting the user from most of the dangerous situations encountered in gates, such as corrosive acid that melts rocks, spiked bones that pierce through tank armor, and bio-suicide attacks that penetrate reinforced concrete bunkers in a single strike.
And the strategic flexibility of the universal unit, which could cover the gaps of the support and assault units and be utilized in various ways depending on the situation.
The distribution of the Striker series, which could safely clear a grade 7 gate with just three units without additional Awakeners, prompted governments to intensify their gate subjugation efforts.
Groom Lake Air Force Base, located in the Nevada desert.
Known to the public as “Area 51,” this place was one of the top-tier military bases directly managed by the U.S. Department of Defense.
And there, the U.S. military was conducting performance tests on the Striker series, the second to be delivered after Japan.
From the CTOs of the top five global defense companies—Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics—to the technicians from the Gate Technology Research Institute under DARPA, where Soo-jeong’s mother, Lee Jeong-hee, was affiliated.
The objective of these ‘monsters’ at the forefront of U.S. defense technology was very simple.
To develop additional equipment that could surpass the Striker series supplied to other countries by any means necessary.
As they watched the Strikers demonstrate their equipment one by one, the experts participating in the analysis began to jot down notes on their boards.
“It’s incredibly agile for its weight. It seems to be made of a material lighter than titanium alloy, with much higher strength.”
“Can we see the status of the main generator?”
“You can check it on the status board provided with the unit.”
“600MW… The reactors on a General Ford-class aircraft carrier are 700MW each, so this one robot has almost half the output of an aircraft carrier. But that’s an enormous output for powering a 60-ton robot… Why did they install such a high-output crystal reactor?”
“If you look at the armaments provided with it, you’ll understand.”
When the soldier standing next to Lee Jeong-hee sent a radio signal, the support-type Striker detached the 12-barrel micro-missile pod from its back.
It then replaced it with a long cannon-like piece of equipment set up behind it.
“That is…”
“A beam weapon.”
“A beam weapon… you mean a laser?”
“I’m not sure if you can call it a laser… but you’ll see.”
Soon, the massive cannon mounted on the back of the support Striker began to heat up intensely.
Then, with a thunderous roar, it fired a massive beam of light forward.
“A beam!?”
Seeing the beam, which looked like something out of an animation, Lee Jeong-hee couldn’t hide her astonishment.
Typically, laser weapons fire in a straight line towards the target, not in a beam-like structure.
Seeing her reaction, the soldier smiled and said,
“Now you understand why we call it a ‘beam’ weapon instead of a laser?”
The surprising thing wasn’t just the form of the weapon.
A 4-meter-thick tungsten block, which has the highest melting point among all metals, literally ‘evaporated’ the moment it was hit by the beam.
The massive tungsten structure, which melted instantly like a heated chopstick thrust into styrofoam, couldn’t withstand the excessively high temperature and collapsed.
“The measured central temperature of the beam exceeds 40,000 degrees. The output is nearly 200MW at full charge.”
An output of 200MW was almost 400 times that of the 500KW-class laser weapon the U.S. military aimed to develop by 2025.
Lee Jeong-hee began to feel fear, not because her daughter had developed such a dangerous weapon, but because this level of weapon was being distributed to other countries without hesitation.
If the specifications of a mere ‘mass-produced’ unit were this high, it meant that the ‘premium’ units possessed by the Liberal Clan were overwhelmingly powerful enough to neutralize all these weapons.
‘I usually try not to interfere with what Soo-jeong does…’
Putting down the board she was holding, she spoke to the soldier.
“It seems I need to meet my daughter.”
Her instincts were telling her that this was a moment to handle something far more important than creating another toy to match this new one.
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“Is this all we got in return for distributing 200 Strikers? It’s too little.”
Taylor grumbled as he rummaged through the monster materials and crystal stones sent by the U.S. government in exchange for the Strikers.
Soo-jeong, who was calmly checking the received quantities beside him, spoke in a composed voice.
“Well, not everything has arrived yet, and what we received is only for 50 units.”
“Isn’t it a loss to distribute 200 units and receive materials for only 50? No matter how high the market price is, the production cost is no joke.”
“That’s right. It takes about 500 billion won worth of materials to make a single Striker worth 1 trillion won.”
“Doesn’t that mean the Liberal Clan is losing at least 50 trillion won? Why did the leader make such a decision?”
“Myung-jun saw it as a long-term investment. Currently, no country dares to subjugate gates above rank 7 recklessly, so the prices of high-grade crystal stones and monster materials are excessively high, aren’t they?”
Soo-jeong explained.
If the distribution of advanced equipment worldwide could significantly raise the level of gates that could be subjugated, it would be possible to receive a large quantity of materials at a cheaper price.
To achieve this, Myung-jun signed contracts to receive compensation based on the market price at the time of delivery, rather than at the time of the contract.
And now, as Myung-jun had anticipated, materials from gates above grade 7 were starting to appear in the market one by one.
Of course, the current overwhelming demand meant that it wasn’t significantly affecting the market price yet, but Soo-jeong explained that once the distribution of Strikers increased, the prices would stabilize to some extent.
“Moreover, the truth is that the more you use the Strikers, the more they become money-eating monsters.”
“Huh? Why is that?”
“Because the ultra-hard exterior armor used in the assault units, the beam cartridges used by the universal units, and the ammunition-based weapons used by the support units can currently only be manufactured by the Liberal Clan. We are already receiving inquiries from around the world about the supply of consumables.”
“In other words, it’s like selling the printer machine cheaply to sell the printer ink, right?”
“Exactly.”
“In reality, there are multiple factors, such as securing the status of a major supplier of key equipment worldwide, but if you simplify it, that analogy is correct.”
After organizing the materials sent by the U.S. government using the ECV, Soo-jeong approached Henry Holmes, who had come to Japan to hand over the materials.
Handing over the organized list, she said,
“Roughly speaking, it’s worth about 2 billion dollars at the current market price. To be precise, it’s worth 1.986 billion dollars, so the remaining amount is 1.014 billion dollars.”
“It was worth 2 billion dollars when it left the U.S.”
“As I mentioned, the value is based on the market price at the time we received it.”
“Well, once the Strikers you provided start being actively used for gate subjugation, we should be able to repay it quickly, even considering the potential price drop. By the way, we would like to request the supply of ammunition-based weapons and beam cartridges for the support-type Strikers.”
“Please provide the required quantities, and we will deliver them according to the production schedule. We also need to fulfill the quantity requested by the Japanese government.”
Expressing his gratitude to Soo-jeong, Holmes looked around.
Noticing that Myung-jun was not present, he said to Soo-jeong,
“I don’t see Myung-jun. I was hoping to suggest that we have a meal together while I’m in Japan.”
“Sorry, but we haven’t brought the equipment used to prepare the meals you had at the Liberator yet. Let’s do it next time.”
“Is Myung-jun currently engaged in gate subjugation?”
“No, all the high-level gates in Japan have been completely cleared, so he will likely go on an overseas expedition soon. Right now, he is in a meeting with the South Korean government for the next Striker delivery.”
“With the South Korean government?”
“Yes, there’s something we need to receive from them.”
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Since Liberty City was still under construction and completely off-limits to outsiders, Myung-jun chose an ordinary café in downtown Kyoto as the meeting place.
It was a place that did not suit a meeting with a diplomatic representative visiting the Liberal Clan on behalf of a nation, but Myung-jun did not care at all.
After all, he was a civilian, not a diplomat.
However, unlike Myung-jun, the negotiation team representing South Korea felt a subtle sense of displeasure as they looked around the café, which seemed more fitting for a dating couple.
“If you order a drink here, the cake is free. I tried it, and it’s quite good. If I had to recommend one, I’d suggest the matcha-flavored cake.”
Seeing Myung-jun leisurely recommending cake, regardless of what the others thought, Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Moon-chan felt a surge of anger and struggled to maintain his composure.
However, unlike Park Moon-chan, Minister of National Defense Nam Joon-woo, who had also come to Kyoto, directly addressed Myung-jun.
“We came because you said there was something important to discuss, but haven’t you chosen the wrong place for the meeting? We are ministers representing the nation of South Korea.”
‘This damn fool!’
Hearing Nam Joon-woo’s blunt remark, Park Moon-chan’s face turned pale.
In a situation where the entire world was in an absolutely subordinate position to the Liberal Clan, expressing dissatisfaction with the meeting place chosen by the other party would naturally be offensive to Myung-jun.
And as expected, Myung-jun wiped the smile off his face and looked at Nam Joon-woo with a cold, cynical expression.
“Whether the meeting place is well-chosen or not is not for you to judge, Minister Nam Joon-woo.”
However, Nam Joon-woo, a former general, steeled himself, resisting the intense pressure from Myung-jun.
‘As expected, he’s an insolent brat with no manners. And he’s so young…’
If Myung-jun had been a soldier under his command, Nam Joon-woo thought he would have reformed him from the ground up through security education. He then spoke.
“If my remark offended you, I apologize. I only judged that having a meeting in an environment where conversations could be overheard would not be beneficial for either side.”
“What I’m saying is that whether it becomes a problem or not is also my judgment. If you don’t like it, you can return to Korea immediately. However, if that happens, the South Korean government won’t receive a single Striker that was originally promised.”
“But that’s already been agreed upon…”
“It’s a free gift, so whether to cancel it or not is up to me. So, don’t irritate me and just answer my questions. The reason I called you here today is because there’s something I need to ask directly.”
Myung-jun had called not only the Minister of Foreign Affairs but also the Minister of National Defense, Oh Joong-sik, the head of the Gate Research Institute, and Yoon Se-ah, the acting director of the EDA.
He believed that at least one of them would have the information he needed to answer his question.
Myung-jun took a small glass vial filled with liquid out of his pocket.
“Do you know what this is?”
The glass vial Myung-jun took out contained an ability enhancement serum made by Sergeant Park Seung-ho, an Awakened with the ‘Alchemist’ ability, who had been secretly confined in the underground of the Gate Research Institute by Hee-cheol just before his discharge.