21st century Goguryeo

Chapter 30

December 1st, 2016 15:05. Choongbook Chungju-si Outskirts Mountains.

Two men wearing thick jumpers were laying down on the cold surface of a large rock. Their breath was visible. The men were on the mountain that had Chungju-si on its left and the 17th Fighter Wing on the right; the entire 17th Fighter Wing could be seen from the distance. One of the men held a camera with a telephoto lens and pressed the shutter of the camera repeatedly.

The African American man, Louie, asked, “Steven, did you see any special movements today at all?”

Steven, who pressed the shutter a couple more times, answered grumpily as he put down the camera. “Damn it! There’s nothing new. There’s nothing different from yesterday. I think it’s going to be another day with no results. Louie, how’s the wiretapping going for you?”

Louie answered Steve angrily also. “It’s not working because of all the signal disturbances, considering it’s a military base! I think my eardrums are going to explode from all the static I’ve been hearing!”

Louie and Steven were both upset and dissatisfied with their work; however, they had to follow the orders of their superiors, so all they could do was spend their time working at a mountain in the middle of the freezing cold winter.

Steven, who started taking photos again, complained with a grumpier tone. “I don’t know what we’re doing in this cold. What does Director Arnold want us to find, anyways?”

“Yeah, you said it. If it wasn’t a military base, at least we’d be able to infiltrate the place. This is just stifling, truly.”

Louie put the wiretapping headphones on his ear, pointed the receiving antenna the size of a watermelon towards the direction of the 17th Fighter Wing, and typed away on his keyboard. Unfortunately, all that came from the headphones were the buzzing sounds of static. None of the wiretapping contents from the Fighter Wing came through.

“Steven, I’m thinking of just retiring after this mission and opening a small bar in my hometown.”

“Really?”

“I’m sick of dealing with this job. I can’t even date because we’re overseas every year.”

“Ha, ha, ha. I understand.”

Louie, who was complaining the whole hour, took off his wiretapping headphones and spoke. “Steven! It’s getting colder. Why don’t we head back?”

Steven nodded immediately at Louie’s words, quickly began disassembling the camera and lenses, and put them in the camera bag. He said, “We’re almost freezing to death already, so what’re we going to do if it gets colder? You and I are both in for a rough time, a rough one! Let’s go, Louie.”

“Yeah! Let’s go back.”

The sun was setting in the west into the crest of the mountain, and it was getting dark. Steve and Louie promptly put their equipment into their bags and walked down the mountain path they came from quickly and quietly. They boarded their black sedan parked on the shoulder of the road, found the interstate, and headed to Seoul.

* * *

December 2nd, 2016 11:50. Choongbook Chungju-si 17th Fighter Wing Underground Research Facility X-2 Lab (Namgoong-won’s Lab).

Namgoong-won began developing a more convenient interlocking protocol program since he was able to mutually interlock with and receive help from Hocula, the main system of the unidentified spacecraft. If development for this program could be finished, then it could mean Korea will have a high-spec supercomputer that would be 20 times, no hundreds of times faster and better than the current supercomputers in America, China, and other western countries.

It would be a supercomputer that would be able to mutually interlock and sync data rather than just simply have fast calculation abilities. Right now, the Hocula system is only capable of operating at 32% capacity due to the system error. If the error could be fixed, then based on the technological advancements they could make, it would be able to display new technological developments that humanity had never thought of before. It meant Korea would be the leader in new high technology development with their new research.

Knock, knock, knock!

“Yes! Come in.”

The laboratory’s door opened, and Assitant Manager Lee Hye-jin entered. “What’re you doing? It’s lunchtime. Let’s get some food!”

“Is it lunchtime already? Time flies, doesn’t it?”

Namgoong-won glanced at his wristwatch, looked at Assistant Manager Lee Hye-jin with a surprised look on his face, and then he changed his expression to a smile. As Namgoong-won sat, Assistant Manager Lee Hye-jin felt worried and asked, “Do you know you’re too focused on work these days? You need to take care of yourself and your health when you work, okay?”

“Well you’re here, Assistant Manager Lee. I’m doing exciting work, so I’m having fun, you know? I’m not having a hard time, so don’t worry.”

“Alright, fine. Let’s go eat lunch.”

“Ooh, ooh! Wait.”

Namgoong-won seemed to have remembered something as he got up from his chair and grabbed a stack of papers from a pile of documents on the left of his computer.

“What kind of documents are those?”

“Remember the serum we found on the alien spacecraft? Dr. Lee suggested I ask Hocula about it, so this is the data.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! If I do a good job, I think it’ll be a great piece of data we can use.”

When the first Achilunia Expedition ship’s three alien crew members arrived on Earth 76 years ago, they were collecting data, but they unexpectedly got infected by Earth’s viruses and died. However, they sent data regarding the harmful elements, such as Earth viruses and Earth bacteria, back to Splith.

The scientists on Splith developed a vaccine for the various Earth viruses and pathogens. They intended to administer the vaccine to the four Splith crew members on the Rose Ferry three days before their arrival to earth, but the capsule’s malfunction caused them to die. The vaccine was left behind unused.

Namgoong-won obtained this information last night with the Hocula system’s help and began organizing the analysis data about the alien virus vaccine’s effects and data.

“I see.”

“I think I’ll stop by Dr. Lee Su-jin’s lab on my way to the cafeteria.”

“Yes, I’ll go to the cafeteria first and get lunch ready for you.”

“Will you? Thanks a lot.”

“Don’t mention it. Let’s go!”

* * *

December 6th, 2016 16:00. South Korea.

After the national security conference, the Ministry of Economy and Finance requested for an additional emergency budget to Congress under the guise of a need for a technological development hub for overseas work that could recover Korea from its economic crisis. Some of the opposing party members opposed the request, but most members of Congress agreed, and an additional budget was obtained quite easily.

The next-generation technology development hub was to be built near Chungju, a strategic point for traffic, so inquiry for participating corporations began immediately. However, the true purpose of building a research facility for the alien spacecraft and application of the new technology was labeled as an SS-ranked national secret dubbed ‘Olympus.’ It was to be built by engineering corps from the army, navy, and airforce, along with a few construction companies. The preparations for purchasing land and starting construction were making progress in secret.

A new governmental department, The Ministry of Next-Generation Technology, was announced to prevent leaks, guard secrets about the results, and promote cooperation between corporations and government. The founding of The Ministry of Korean Medicine that would one day fund the governmental budget became a top priority.

The process of selecting small- to middle-sized enterprises to be bought out by the government to satisfy the need for manpower was being held jointly by the Ministry of Science, ICT, Future Planning, the Ministry of Industrial Aid, and the Food and Drug Administration. They were to set the criteria for integrity and potential for improvement. They were also meant to fully aid the 17th Fighter Wing’s underground research facility by selecting professional biologists and chemists from within the country to develop new medicines based on the data from the alien vaccine. It was not long before many new medicines, which would surprise the global medical community, would be coming from Korea.

* * *

December 7th, 2016 09:00. Seoul Mapo-gu Hapjeong-dong CIA Korean Branch Building.

There were ten burly men seated in the conference room. After awhile, the man seated in the middle of the room threw photos on to the table as if to scatter them.

Director Arnold questioned, “Louie, Steven, are these all the photos that you could bring?”

“I’m sorry, sir. We’re spying on a military base, so it’s not like we could just infiltrate the area.”

“Do you think I assigned you two to this mission just to hear excuses like that?”

All that Louie, as a Strategic officer, could do to Director Arnold’s scolding was look at the ceiling and sigh. Steven, who was also in the same position, carefully chose his words and spoke. “Well how about we request for aid from higher up and survey the area with a spy drone?”

A spy drone named SPY-X was currently being tested. A development from the CIA, it was the size of a human fingernail and was designed to survey buildings or terrain people could not infiltrate into.

“Spy drone? You want to use equipment still under development in the field?”

“If there’s no other way, I believe it’d be a good opportunity to test the drone by sending it out into the field.”

A Caucasian man, who was sitting on the left side of Director Arnold, took out a stack of documents from a briefcase and handed it to Director Arnold when he asked the question. “If that’s the only way, then we have to give it a shot. Alright, I’ll send in a request to headquarters. How are things looking on Strategy Team 2?”

“There’s a list of the high-ranking Korean bureaucrats who are deeply involved in the suspicious policies the Korean government has been making. I believe this man would be the best candidate to confer with from this list.”

The document the Caucasian man pointed to had a photograph and profile of Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Ahn Sang-tae.

“Minister Ahn Sang-tae from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport? I know this guy. He’s one of the pro-American figures.”

“Yes. He’s also a current member of the National Security Council, so there’s a high chance we can obtain the information we want.”

“Good, let’s go with him. Use any means necessary to make contact and get anything you can out of him. However, you must approach him with caution. If the Korean government finds out about our operation, then the US-Korean relationship will be impacted heavily. You must keep this in mind.”

“Don’t worry, Director Arnold, sir.”

“Good. I want Team 3 to aid Team 2, and I want Team 4 to aid Steve and Louie from Team 1 when the spy drone equipment arrives from the mainland. The pressure from the brass is getting out of hand. We must find at least a shred of proof before the year is up and report it back, understand?”

“Yes, understood, Director.”

Director Arnold received the mission directly from the Chief of the CIA himself, but could not get any results, so he resorted to a tactic of bribing and conferring with pro-American Korean government bureaucrats. In response, Team 2 selected the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Ahn Sang-tae.

When the meeting was over, Director Arnold was alone in the conference room. He took out his smartphone and dialed 1.

“Chief, this is Arnold, sir.”

“How’s work going?”

“I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t have any definitive results.”

“Director Arnold! This is a prime chance for you to return to your home country.”

“Yes, I’m aware, sir.”

“Use any means necessary to take this chance.”

“Yes, we’re currently using multiple methods for the mission. Please give us more time.”

“Alright. I’l wait for you to bring me some good news.”