Translator: Dreamscribe
"Chairman-nim. The test results are in."
"How do they look?"
"We ran a detailed examination, but as before, there are no abnormalities."
With my headaches growing steadily worse, I had undergone a thorough medical examination.
But just like a few months ago, the results showed nothing wrong.
"Then why do the headaches keep coming?"
"There are many possible causes. Tension headaches, migraines, sleep issues. Chairman, aren't you famous for working around the clock? It's possible you've developed chronic migraines from overwork, and irregular sleep patterns are also a likely trigger."
If that were the case, it would be a relief.
In all my years of work, I had experienced headaches more than a few times.
Just as the doctor said, headaches from overwork and fatigue had been frequent visitors.
If it had been that kind of pain, I wouldn't have bothered with a detailed examination.
The problem was that the headaches I was experiencing now felt deeply unsettling.
They were on a whole other level compared to anything I had felt before.
It was an unpleasant, horrific sensation, as though someone were driving an awl into my skull and then twisting it around inside.
"For now, I'll prescribe you something a little stronger."
"Yes. Please do that."
"Of course. And our medical team monitors your vital signs around the clock, so please don't worry too much. If anything is wrong, we'll be the first to know."
My wife insisted it was all because I never rested and worked nonstop, and she put me on a forced month-long vacation.
[And yet here you are, still holding video conferences.]
[Exactly, Chairman. You really should get some rest...]
"There's a mountain of work piling up. I need to handle at least some of it before I can rest. Don't worry. I plan to take my wife's advice and rest properly for the full month. How are things going on the security front?"
[Activity from terror and criminal organizations has dropped noticeably. Each country is tightening security through its satellite surveillance systems, and preemptively arresting people who haven't received biochips seems to have played a major role in blocking criminal activity.]
Biochips were mandatory for everyone on Earth.
People misunderstood it as the world government's attempt to monitor and control the population around the clock, but the reality was otherwise.
I myself had a biochip and was under 24-hour medical care because of it, living a better life than before.
On top of that, payments were processed through biochips, so people no longer had to worry about being mugged.
And even when murders or assaults did occur, the biochips made tracking possible, so crime had decreased worldwide.
And that wasn't all.
Diseases were diagnosed in advance, dramatically lowering mortality rates.
Contrary to everyone's concerns, biochips were being used in ways that improved human life.
[And... for the past year, terror organizations like Contra Mundium have been found dead en masse under mysterious circumstances, haven't they? This time as well, hundreds of criminal organization members were reportedly wiped out with no identifiable cause.]
A year ago.
Mysterious deaths had begun occurring frequently among Contra Mundium operatives who had been rampaging across the world.
According to autopsies, they had died from some unknown shock that caused all their organs to stop functioning at once, but I hadn't looked into the matter any further.
"They were definitely criminal organizations, correct?"
[Yes. When we searched the surrounding areas, it appeared they had been preparing bomb attacks.]
My guess was that Sentinel was involved, and while the methods were violent, I understood it completely.
If someone hadn't stopped them, the terror attacks would have caused far greater damage.
As long as no innocent people were harmed, that was enough.
"Please confirm there were no innocent victims. If there weren't, then don't concern yourselves with it any further."
[Ah... understood.]
A strange silence followed, but I ignored it and moved on to the next item.
"The migration of residents to Mars is proceeding well, I trust? No notable issues on the Mars side?"
[Yes. So far it's going smoothly. Also, GAIA is partnering with NASA this time and plans to begin terraforming other planets as well. Not for residential purposes, of course, but to establish bases.]
"Bases?"
[Yes. Launch facilities would be built there. So we can move beyond our solar system to other places. They also say the intent is to carry out future dangerous experiments in those remote locations.]
Since the Mars terraforming, civilians had been sent en masse starting a year ago, and space development had been progressing explosively.
Now they were planning to terraform other planets too, and build launch pads and research facilities on them.
GAIA had originally been established to solve global warming, but at some point it had shifted its focus to space development.
"..."
But before long, my intuition sent a positive signal.
"Provide all the investment funding they request. If momentum is building, we should back them strongly."
[Understood, Chairman.]
But shortly after that, the splitting pain came rushing back.
"Shall we end today's meeting here?"
[Ah, yes. Please rest. We'll handle the rest ourselves.]
"Thank you. I appreciate it."
I hadn't even pushed myself today, and yet this was happening. It seemed I really did need to spend the whole month doing nothing and resting properly.
"But this couldn't be from something other than overwork, could it?"
My intuition, perhaps.
And right at that moment.
"...!"
As if to confirm that suspicion, my intuition was sending an intense signal.
* * *
"How is the research coming along?"
These days, Anthony seemed to visit GAIA more often than Sentinel.
And for good reason. Every time he came here, there was always something fascinating to see.
"Yes. Thanks to Sentinel's cooperation, we've made considerable progress."
The Super Soldier Project, being conducted in secret at GAIA.
On the surface it was described as cell regeneration and neural response research, but a closer look inside revealed that hundreds of human experiments were currently underway.
"I get the reports from time to time. You've accomplished something truly remarkable. Giving new bodies to soldiers who lost arms or legs during operations, giving them the hope that they can return to the battlefield."
"That's because they endured the experiments well. And it's not as if we've given them perfect bodies. They're entirely mechanical."
Artificial Bodies.
Everything was made of machinery.
But even so, the soldiers who had participated in the experiments were grateful.
"But there seem to be bigger limitations than expected. The restriction that they have to receive periodic drug injections or they can't maintain their bodies."
"That's by design."
"By design?"
"Yes. Think about it. They're not complete yet, but they already possess far greater strength than regular soldiers, even more than androids. Without a means of control, how would you stop them? There's no guarantee they'll remain on our side forever."
"That... makes sense."
In other words.
They could create a body capable of sustaining the Super Soldier state without any pharmaceutical assistance.
"But isn't the heart of this project cell regeneration? A body that can regenerate without the help of machines. I thought that was what you were trying to create."
Jung Se-yoon nodded at Anthony's question.
"That's correct. Perfect cell regeneration. But as I said, this kind of power isn't something we can give to just anyone. It would be difficult to control. And difficult to kill. That's why we have to be careful. We also have to consider the side effects if something goes wrong with the experiment."
"So completion is still a long way off?"
"Who knows."
The truth was, the project was nearly complete.
They just needed to run more tests to check for side effects.
What was the reason Jung Se-yoon was trying to create a body as close to a god's as possible?
It was to offer that power to his father.
So it had to be thorough.
So that nothing could possibly go wrong.
But even if the project were completed, there was one more problem.
How could he convince his father?
How would his father receive this project?
Would he, as his son wished, accept this body and seek to reign as a god?
"But Team Leader, why are you so devoted to Super Soldier and superhuman research? With Helios complete, there's practically no one left on Earth who could threaten Kwangwoon, is there?"
"That's because enemies don't only exist within."
"What? What do you..."
It seemed an interesting conversation was about to unfold, but a sound cut through the moment.
It was the ringtone that only sounded in emergencies.
"One moment. My apologies."
As Anthony answered the call, his face twisted sharply.
"T, Team Leader."
"Yes?"
"The, the Chairman has collapsed."
* * *
It seemed the executives had heard the news too, as they were all gathered at the hospital.
"Has anything leaked to the press yet?"
"No. Everyone has been kept tightly under wraps. And even if something did slip out, it wouldn't make it to the media. We have control over that."
"Haah. What on earth happened..."
As soon as Jung Se-yoon arrived at the hospital, he was briefed on his father's condition.
"So... you're saying you don't know the cause?"
"Yes. We sincerely apologize. No matter how many tests we've run, we can't determine why he collapsed, or why he still hasn't regained consciousness."
These were the world's finest doctors.
If even they couldn't identify the cause...
"The Chairman was in a meeting before he collapsed?"
"Yes. It seems he collapsed immediately after the video conference ended. But... before he collapsed, he wrote this in his notebook."
Two characters his father had written just before collapsing.
[Intuition]
No one, including the Secretary, understood what the word meant.
Only Jung Se-yoon, who knew his father's secret, grasped its meaning.
'Could it be...'
Had he collapsed because of that ability, his Intuition?
Was that why even the doctors couldn't identify the cause?
'Has Father's body reached a stage where it can no longer withstand the Intuition?'
Jung Se-yoon had seriously studied, in his own way, where his father's ability and his own had come from.
Unfortunately, he hadn't discovered much.
If he had to guess, his father's ability was the reading of information.
Hadn't Einstein said as much?
That everything happens simultaneously.
When the world was seen not as three-dimensional but as four-dimensional.
When it was viewed through the lens of spacetime.
Everything that happens in the world happens simultaneously.
Nothing in this world can cross spacetime, nothing can travel backward in time, but there is one thing that can.
Gravity.
Gravity is the only thing that can traverse spacetime.
His father had the ability to read the information contained within that gravity.
Of course, this was all just theory.
'But why didn't Father's intuition foresee this situation?'
His father's intuition had saved him from countless dangers.
It had also played a central role in building this vast empire called Kwangwoon.
And yet such a power had failed to foresee this situation?
Why on earth?!
Jung Se-yoon tightly gripped the hand of his father, who was hovering between life and death.
"...?"
Right at that moment.
Jung Se-yoon felt a faint tremor.
It was a familiar sensation.
Not as strong as his father's, but he, as the son, had inherited a weak version of that intuition.
And it was now activating.
"...What if it already foresaw this?"
What if his father's intuition had been preparing for this day even before he started working at Kwangwoon?
"What if he met Mother at the company, built Kwangwoon into what it is today, had a son who inherited his ability, and that son happened to be running a project to create an immortal body?"
Was all of this mere coincidence?
No. It had been designed from the very beginning.
Building the empire as it existed now. Laying the foundation so that his son could be given the power and wealth to carry out any project, whatever it might be.
And the purpose was only one.
"To make Father into an immortal body. No. Into a god."
And Jung Se-yoon could feel that this was the final stage of a plan that had stretched across decades.