Translator: Dreamscribe
[Today, Project 'Eden' was officially announced at the UN. Eden, the artificial intelligence developed by Kwangwoon, is being cited as the only method to unify the entire world under a single leadership and resolve the most serious climate change problem we currently face. Furthermore, through the mandatory implantation of biochips worldwide by 2040…]
There was something I had been steadily pushing forward by mobilizing all of Kwangwoon's resources.
That was the resolution of the climate change problem.
What was the greatest issue humanity currently faced?
It was climate change.
One of the reasons Milon Tusk, who had now been pushed out of the front lines and was working as an employee of our Kwangwoon, had so desperately advocated for Mars terraforming was precisely climate change.
Of course, he was also driven by the singular ambition of escaping wars and conflicts between nations and the control of those in power to build a new state, but there was also the intention of fleeing to another planet rather than solving climate change.
"Eden will analyze data gathered from around the world and show exactly which regions need to reduce carbon dioxide, and by how much. As we reduce carbon worldwide, Eden will simultaneously direct groundbreaking research aimed at drastically lowering temperatures."
Kwangwoon Group in 2035.
Just five years ago, I had still been at the securities firm, playing the role of CEO.
But once tens of quadrillions of won began flowing into global stock markets, from that point on there was really nothing much for me to do.
I knew that if I moved that money carelessly, world markets would be thrown into turmoil once again.
Perhaps that was why.
Hyung-nim suddenly announced his retirement, tossed the chairmanship onto me, and walked away.
He said that the time had truly come for him to step down.
"Starting tomorrow, Eden will manage each nation's systems, regulate carbon emissions, and oversee all industries."
"There must be companies strongly opposed to this."
"Yes. But as you know, Kwangwoon holds controlling stakes in most major corporations, so even if they have complaints, there's nothing they can do once we approve it. On top of that, this is a matter serious enough that the UN itself has endorsed it. Now is the time to set aside corporate profit and consider the future of humanity."
I don't believe it's right for a single company to monopolize the world's stock markets.
That's why antitrust laws exist.
Nevertheless, the reason nations don't move to rein us in is that no one can predict what kind of Great Depression would descend if what we currently hold were broken apart incorrectly.
Not only that, with the fact that the Earth was literally cooking red becoming palpable, government and business had to unite more than ever before to stop humanity's end, which was why I myself was deliberately not stirring the pot.
Perhaps that Great Depression back then had played a decisive role in preventing humanity's extinction.
With unprecedented solidarity in history, we were now confronting climate change through the AI system called Eden.
"If Eden operates normally and nations and corporations continue to cooperate well, when do you project the climate problem will be resolved?"
"Well… according to the calculations Eden has produced so far, without a groundbreaking breakthrough, it's essentially just putting humanity on life support and buying more time, nothing more."
No matter how much humanity advanced, overcoming the power of nature was never easy.
The United States and European countries did not want an artificial intelligence taking control of their systems.
Yet the reason they had approved this project was because they truly realized that if things continued as they were, a great extinction of humanity was imminent.
That's why, as if fires had been lit under everyone's feet, they had all approved Project Eden.
"Even so, we can't solve the root problem, just extend the time…"
"Yes. Even if Eden reduces carbon emissions to the extreme, the climate change that has already accelerated can't be stopped."
Global warming in itself wouldn't cause humanity to simply go extinct from heat.
The problem was food.
With just a 2 to 3 degree rise, the yields of humanity's staple crops like wheat, corn, and rice would drop by as much as 40%.
Typhoons and floods would strike without warning, an ice age would arrive, and harvesting crops would become even more difficult.
Humanity would then choose war to survive, and the scenario ended with us fighting among ourselves until we destroyed ourselves.
"Still, please don't worry. Eden is a super AI built by elites from all over the world. Even now, it is continuously running calculations to find solutions. It's also participating in various research efforts."
So it came down to the singularity having to arrive, then.
Looking at the numbers alone, things seemed grim, but like our executives, I resolved to hold on to hope.
Trusting that the AI humanity had created would resolve it.
"How are things going with the biochip?"
"Through the UN's mandate, the goal is to have all of humanity implanted with biochips within three to five years."
I had never drawn up a plan to distribute biochips to all of humanity.
My first goal had simply been to distribute them in countries lacking medical infrastructure so illnesses could be detected in advance, and through mandatory implantation in the elderly and infirm, to ensure that governments could immediately dispatch paramedics when problems arose. That was my intention.
But as the biochip gained popularity in African nations and among the elderly, the unsettling image of inserting a chip into the human body vanished.
Now, on the contrary, inquiries were pouring in from people demanding that the biochip be made mandatory and distributed as soon as possible.
"Even countries with poor public safety are welcoming the biochip. Now that all currency is embedded in the chip, robberies will decrease, and anyone who commits a crime can be arrested immediately through location tracking."
The very idea of forcing all of humanity to receive a biochip had made me uncomfortable too.
But as time passed, I came to see that the advantages far outweighed the disadvantages, and I had now given my approval.
"Of course, there are still dissenting voices. But they are a minority. Criminal organizations in particular are fiercely opposed to the biochip, so the UN plans to coordinate with our Sentinel to form a peacekeeping force and completely eradicate criminal organizations first."
For the first time in history, we were becoming one unified humanity.
Didn't everyone know that for survival, we all had to stop fighting and come together?
The only ones opposed to that were criminal organizations.
They would be punished for the crime of threatening humanity's peace.
* * *
"…"
Chairman Kang Sung-ho of the Kangseong Group no longer found company work as enjoyable as he once had.
Back then, he had grown his company fiercely with the heart of a David confronting Goliath, every moment a war, but now the situation had changed greatly.
"Everything belongs to Kwangwoon now, and nothing can be done without going through Kwangwoon."
Competition had lost its meaning.
Wasn't Kwangwoon already dominating the world?
There was no need to scrape and struggle to win customers' hearts either.
If Kwangwoon went viral through the media it controlled, that product would become a trend.
The world had become simple.
Only what Kwangwoon chose would receive the world's attention.
Whether it was a person or a product.
"Starting with Japan, Korean-descended politicians have risen to prime minister, and in the end, even the President of the United States is a Korean-descended figure."
The U.S., Japan, other Asian nations, and even Europe.
Politicians of Korean descent backed by Kwangwoon had taken over the global political scene.
There had once been a conspiracy theory that the Jews ruled the world.
But that kind of talk had completely faded.
K-pop, K-dramas, K-animation, K-games, K-politics, K-economy, and so on.
Korea was ruling the world.
And at its center was Kwangwoon.
"It's past the point of being called a conspiracy theory now. Korea really does dominate every field."
"Yes. Kwangwoon is backing it so openly, there's no way to resist. Just as America was once the center of humanity. And Chairman. These are the directives that have come down to our Kangseong Group this time."
"That Eden thing, or whatever it's called?"
Chairman Kang Sung-ho flipped past the document his secretary handed him without even reading it.
"Do as they say."
"Pardon? Bu-but if we follow this document, it will significantly affect our factories and corporate profits. We'll have to reduce production and manufacture all kinds of new things as well."
"So what? Are you daring to defy Kwangwoon's orders? Can you handle that?"
"…"
"Get a grip. This isn't some official letter asking for cooperation. It's a command. Look at the news right now. They're making biochips mandatory and saying anyone who refuses will be classified as a potential criminal and punished."
The world now had become far more terrifying than any movie.
The percentage of people refusing the biochip was still substantial.
Just stepping outside, one could see truckloads of people holding up picket signs, insisting the biochip was the devil's number 666 from the Bible's prophecy and that no one must ever accept it.
Yet none of that ever made the news or was mentioned in the media.
Because Kwangwoon was censoring it all thoroughly.
Instead, influencers appearing in the media were advertising how the biochip had transformed their lives and why everyone absolutely had to get one.
People exposed to that 24 hours a day had gone from initial revulsion toward the biochip to being eager to get it as soon as possible.
"It's impressive, really. Making biochips mandatory and treating anyone who refuses as a criminal to be hauled away. Who wouldn't get one now? And on top of that, using global warming as a pretext, they built a super AI and took over almost every national system too."
Could Kwangwoon really bear no responsibility for global warming?
Building a nuclear facility in the Amazon and destroying nature had, if anything, accelerated warming, certainly not lessened it.
Yet Kwangwoon had pushed that responsibility onto every nation and seized control of world governments with honeyed promises of salvation.
"Still, they aren't wrong, are they? Kwangwoon is pouring overwhelming capital into developing nuclear fusion technology, and they keep investing in research to solve warming too."
That much was true.
It was also something no one but Kwangwoon could do.
"Because Kwangwoon knows too. Right now, Kwangwoon has truly seized control of the entire world. Just as Qin Shi Huang unified that vast Chinese land under one rule, Kwangwoon is doing exactly the same. Spreading Korean culture across the world, ruling humanity through Korea, and making people fail to even notice it."
One humanity.
One Korea.
All of humanity becoming Korean.
Just hearing it was enough to make one shudder.
What was even more chilling was that someone was actually making that delusion a reality.
Jung Jin-ho.
That very man.
"Humanity, once steeped in Korea culturally and linguistically, won't feel much resistance even when the moment comes that their own countries disappear and they fall under Korea's rule. Young children have been exposed to Korean culture through media since infancy and are learning Korean before English."
That was why cultural conquest was so terrifying.
Knowing this, Kwangwoon had been pouring vast sums in that direction for a long time.
"But didn't the Qin dynasty collapse shortly after Qin Shi Huang founded it? The same thing applies here. They understand that even if they unify the entire world, if they can't properly solve global warming, it will collapse in the end."
Kwangwoon knew, however, that unless it solved the intractable problem of global warming, this vast empire was destined to collapse in the end.
The chaos at that point would be the first and last great upheaval in human history.
"They can solve it, right? If it's Kwangwoon?"
"If it's Kwangwoon, I don't know. But if it's Jung Jin-ho…"
One thing Kang Sung-ho was certain of.
The Jung Jin-ho he had come to know always found a way.
As he always had.
* * *
"…"
If we couldn't completely resolve global warming, tremendous chaos would descend upon the world.
The time of having to simply wait until the AI solved it was agonizing to me.
Because this was something that money alone couldn't solve.
That was why I was in such agony and fear.
If we couldn't solve the problem now, all our future descendants would have to bear that pain.
When I arrived home with such heavy steps, my wife rushed into my arms as if she had been waiting. In that moment, all my anguish and worry seemed to vanish.
"You're home?"
Coming back home after work to the warmth of my wife's embrace waiting for me.
That had become one of the most important driving forces of my life.
"Yeah. Anything happen today?"
"Well, there is one thing…"
"Dad!!"
When my son ran over after my wife and clung tightly to me, I became the happiest man in the world.
"Was Se-yoon a good boy today?"
"Yes!"
While I was ruffling my son's hair, my wife tapped my shoulder lightly.
"Honey. Can we talk for a second…"
Lee Hye-rin was the person I had first met at the securities firm, fallen for at first sight, and ended up marrying.
She had always been cheerful, but today her expression was peculiar.
"What's going on?"
"It's about… our Se-yoon. His learning ability has been extraordinary, so at the teachers' recommendation we had him tested, and the results came back saying he's in the top 0.001%, a genius."
"!?"
"They said his intelligence is at the level where he figures out the answer to any problem quickly, and even for things he hasn't been taught, he works them out and understands them on his own."
I'll be honest.
I'm not particularly bright.
If I were, I'd have graduated from a good university like my wife.
'Could it be… because of that ability?'
In that case, what about our son?
I already knew from a few experiments that Se-yoon had the same ability I did.
But from what my wife was saying, it seemed he wasn't just arriving at answers through intuition. He seemed to actually understand why those answers were what they were.
"…"
I quietly watched my son reading a thick book.
Reading a book, in this day and age.
Wasn't this the era when anything one didn't know could simply be asked of an AI, with real-time interpretation and translation available?
"Se-yoon."
"Yeah."
"Is the book fun?"
I glanced over to see what kind of book it was.
"…"
It was a book filled with formulas that looked like some kind of alien language.
"No. It's not fun."
"Right. It must be difficult, after all…"
"No."
"Huh?"
"It's boring because it's easy."
"…"
Should I be grateful that Se-yoon took after my ability but got his intelligence from his mother?
"It's easy?"
"Yeah. It's way too easy."
I closed the door and sat down in front of Se-yoon, then asked carefully.
"Se-yoon. You remember what Dad told you before? About that ability."
"The one that's only for the two of us to know about?"
"Right. By any chance, is that ability helping you?"
"Yeah."
"How?"
"It's just… when I look at a problem I need to solve, formulas like this pop up in front of my eyes. And then it's like they get sucked into my body like a vacuum cleaner."
Sucked in like a vacuum cleaner, huh.
"And then you understand why it works out that way?"
"Yeah!"
At that moment, I felt it.
This child had an ability far more developed than my own intuition.
"So, does our Se-yoon want to be a scientist?"
"Yeah. I want to be someone who invents all kinds of things. Someone who can make the world even better than it is now, like Dad said!"
I smiled and stroked the head of my sweet-hearted son.
"Yeah. I really hope my son grows up to be a scientist who can save this world."
It was right then.
"…!"
A powerful intuition suddenly struck me, and the hand that had been stroking my son trembled violently.
"Dad?"
I met the gaze of my son, who was looking up at me with bright, sparkling eyes.
The scientist who would save the world.
That light of hope was right here before my eyes.