Dictator From Outer Space

December was the month of annual personnel changes at Silla Group.

All the executives of Silla Energy, including the CEO, resigned.

The anonymous corporate app, Whisper, was buzzing with speculation about the successors.

―Who will take over the vacant positions?

―They’ll probably promote some internal candidates.

―But with the prototype battery failure and the lack of growth prospects, they’ll be short-term executives.

―I wouldn’t want to be an executive for just a year. I’d rather stay as a manager.

ㄴYou don’t get to choose.

ㄴWe have to follow the chairman’s lead.

―But isn’t the chairman responsible for the energy slump? He was in charge of the headquarters for two years before he quit.

ㄴThat’s true, but he had to deal with his son…

ㄴHis son has been working hard at the research lab lately. The chairman must be pleased.

―Don’t be naive. I heard his son will be the next CEO of Silla Energy.

ㄴWhat?

ㄴIs that true?

ㄴIs he bored of working at the research lab?

–Silla Energy is doomed. Brace yourselves.

The reactions on Whisper were negative.

Just showing up at work and eating at the cafeteria didn’t prove any management skills.

He didn’t even start from the bottom like other chaebol heirs, even for show.

How could they entrust the CEO position to their son who only caused trouble?

Their fears were confirmed when a notice was posted on the internal bulletin board a few days later.

It announced that Yu Ji-ha, the director of the Strategic Development Department, would be appointed as the CEO of Silla Energy.

Everyone sighed at the official announcement stamped with the chairman’s seal.

–Silla Energy is finished.

–The shareholders won’t let this slide.

–Maybe they’ll summon the wrathful lion messenger of Mount Gwanak at the next shareholders’ meeting.

–That lion messenger doesn’t appear just anywhere. Besides, they know they won’t get any dividends.

–The stock price is crashing~! Get ready for a market meltdown!

As soon as Yu Ji-ha’s inauguration as CEO became public, the stock price plummeted.

The stocks had already hit rock bottom, and panic selling worsened.

Institutional investors, including pension funds, dumped their shares, leaving individual investors in despair.

However, it took a few hours for the public to recall who Yu Ji-ha was.

―Who is Yu Ji-ha?

―Oh… The drug addict…

―Wasn’t he in a coma? When did he wake up?

―That’s old news. He’s been working at the research lab in Pangyo.

―Wow, what a miracle. Not many people can recover from a coma.

―His recovery is a curse for humanity.

―Is You Kyung-seok insane? Why appoint a drug addict as CEO?

―But I heard from some employees that he’s totally changed.

―A guy who almost got arrested for drug use must have gone through a lot of changes.

Even notorious murderers would have received less criticism.

On the internet, people were thrilled to have something to gossip about. They posted information with the title “Yu Ji-ha’s Dark Past.jpg.”

His name topped the trending searches, and journalists scrambled to write articles.

―The prodigal son of Silla Group returns.

―A miraculous recovery that no one expected.

―How long will it take for Yu Ji-ha, the chaebol heir, to land in jail?

These were the headlines that flooded the online news.

None of the journalists had ever met or talked to Yu Ji-ha.

He was busy meeting with the employees of Silla Energy, ignoring the rumors about him.

“From now on, all approvals will go through me. I will make the final decisions.”

The middle managers who were summoned looked stunned.

He had fired all the executives and then claimed that he would handle the approvals…

It was practically impossible for one person to do the work of several people.

Maybe there was someone who could pull it off, but not this clueless young master.

“This may seem drastic and confusing. But don’t worry and submit your approvals.”

‘This isn’t drastic; it’s crazy.’

That’s what everyone thought, but they kept their mouths shut. It was the fate of a corporate worker.

Especially if the other party was the chairman’s only son.

After making his brief announcement, he dismissed them and called Arma.

“How are the stocks doing?”

[Institutions, including pension funds, are still selling.]

“What if I buy stocks under my name?”

[There is a 90% chance of prosecution. The remaining 10% is a hypothetical scenario where the government intervenes when the battery is announced.]

“I need to use different names. Create at least 100 fake identities and keep buying until there is no more supply.”

[By the way, some shareholders are planning to sue you, Mr. Yu.]

“My father deliberately put me here to lower the stock price?”

[It’s unlikely, but possible.]

“When they sue me, the stock price will soar, causing a frenzy.”

[And Master, we have detected a Plague Core near Fukuoka, Japan.]

This news made Yu Ji-ha tense up.

The Metallic Life-form Plague was real.

Only the core had been found so far, but in about 70 years, it would invade the solar system.

“What is the core’s class?”

[It is a Goliath class.]

Goliath class was what humanity called the Plague entities.

They weren’t very big, about 70 meters at most, but they had strong armor and phase barriers that resisted most conventional weapons.

They were like tanks with active defense systems.

“A Goliath-class entity must have eroded the nearby land.”

[As you said, local newspapers have reported a sharp drop in fish catch.]

“If we recover the core, the catch volume will recover. And have we found any Aether Crystals?”

[We have searched the East Sea region, but only found Black Metal.]

“It should be somewhere nearby…”

[Without Aether Crystal, we can’t start the engine even if we fix the Settler.]

“Maybe someone found it and turned it into a gemstone?”

[That’s possible. I’ll scan the media database for any gemstone-related information. Also, mark the areas where Black Metal is distributed.]

The areas where Arma had investigated Black Metal appeared in Yu Ji-ha’s vision through the biochip.

Luckily, it wasn’t a mining site, so it would be easy to get the deep-sea resource development rights.

There was nothing else in that area except for some fish.

Yu Ji-ha called the company that owned the development rights.

“Is this Samcheok Ocean Development? I’m interested in buying your rights…”

He offered a fair price, but the CEO insisted on meeting him in person.

“Arma, what’s the current market price of Black Metal?”

[It’s only around $300 per ton. For reference, copper is over $10,000.]

Scrap metal would be more expensive than that.

It was hard to extract, but it had no practical use, so it was cheap.

But once the new batteries were announced, Black Metal would skyrocket in price.

“Manager Kim, I need some trucks for two weeks. I’ll pay you well, but keep it quiet.”

They could work at night in a secluded dock in Samcheok and transport the materials to Pangyo.

Yu Ji-ha entrusted this task to Kim Do-hyung, the manager.

“We’ll load in Samcheok and unload in Pangyo. I need someone to oversee this. Can you recommend someone?”

He seemed to understand and spoke carefully.

“It sounds like you need me for that.”

“If you do it, I can trust you. Let’s go to Samcheok together.”

“What? No, I don’t have to go…”

“We need to check the goods first. Think of it as a winter trip.”

That’s how Manager Kim was dragged to Gangwon Province, against his will.

While Yu Ji-ha was traveling around Korea, small but significant events were happening on the sunken Settler in the East Sea.

First, the Aether Fusion Reactor of the old Assault Armor was connected to the power system, providing energy.

It wasn’t enough to power the entire Settler, but it was enough to detach the mining plants and charge the survey vessels and walkers.

With a clunking sound, several mining plants separated from the Settler at 1,500 meters underwater.

[Lock the position and start mining.]

The mining plants on the Settler could mine and process most metallic resources.

The cargo walkers carried the ore to the Settler’s cargo hold.

Everything was automated, without any human intervention.

And the Settler began to slowly regain its original shape.

“Repair progress: 4%…”

The Settler was the Battleship of the pioneer fleet, built to establish a settlement in outer space.

The Supreme Council ordered its construction to ensure that even if it was the only surviving vessel, the pioneer fleet could be rebuilt.

With enough resources and time, they could rebuild about 30 colonization fleets.

It was also connected to the long-awaited reconstruction of the United Human Federation.

[Plague Core Deployment.]

A walker brought the plague core into the cargo hold filled with metal ores.

This metallic sphere, about 3 meters in diameter, only reacted to ether.

Luckily, Arma had a program that mimicked Colonel Yu Ji-ha’s Aether circuit.

It was the result of humanity’s research against the plague.

[Aether Circuit Program Activation, Commencing Erosion Phase 1.]

A golden glow erupted from the cargo hold, and the iron ore turned black.

It was a reproduction process that the Plague Legion used after occupying a planet, but the United Human Federation copied it.

The iron ore in the cargo hold became black metal, but it didn’t affect Arma’s stronghold.

[Erosion speed reduced, higher risk of core damage.]

They had to endure since they only had one core.

The United Human Federation learned a lot from the Plague, but they couldn’t make a core.

If they had cracked that secret, they would have wiped out the Plague.

And that secret was hidden in the warp gate of Nox, the 9th planet in the solar system.

One of Master Yu Ji-ha’s goals was to reach there.

While Arma was producing black metal,

On the sea surface, Yu Ji-ha and the CEO of Samcheok Ocean Development talked.

“Maybe you should think again. I feel like you’re scamming me.”

The CEO resisted Yu Ji-ha’s acquisition of the company.

“I gave up on this place long ago. There’s nothing here, no mines or anything.”

But Yu Ji-ha thought differently.

“What about Black metal?”

“Ah, that thing. But it’s useless. It’s just a rock. That’s what they said in a presentation.”

“It may be a rock to you, but it’s important to us. That’s why you have three-year exclusive mining rights from the first extraction, right?”

“Yeah, but there’s no market for it.”

To promote private ocean development, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs had some policies. 

One of them was the three-year exclusive rights. 

Companies that found mineral resources in non-major areas could mine them exclusively for three years.

But with Korea’s limited waters and small companies, no one had enjoyed the benefits lately.

“Let’s sign the contract.”

Yu Ji-ha wrote the contract for buying Samcheok Ocean Development and its mining rights on the rocking ship.

The CEO, who ran squid fishing fleets, looked puzzled.

“These Seoul chaebol are so calm. The waves are so high today that most people would be sick. Like him.”

He pointed to Kim Dohyung, who was holding the railing and feeling nauseous.

He was an attendant of Silla Group, who had handled many tasks, but he couldn’t handle seasickness.

The contract was done, and Yu Ji-ha became the CEO of Samcheok Ocean Development.

He gave the tasks to Kim Dohyung, who had recovered a bit.

“You must be bored with nothing to do. Can you help us with some black metal mining near Ulleungdo?”

Kim Dohyung stared at the East Sea.

“…There must be a reason for this. Understood. I’ll do my best.”

It would be hard for someone who had lived in Seoul all his life to work on the sea and land. Yu Ji-ha cheered him up.

“It may not seem like much now, but the world will change soon. Your position, Director Kim, will also rise. By the way, have you bought Silla Energy shares?”

Kim Dohyung bowed his head.

“They say you shouldn’t catch a falling knife.”

“I’m sorry, but this is an order. Please invest in Silla Energy as much as you can without being investigated by the FSS. If nothing changes by the end of this year, I’ll take responsibility.”

Kim Dohyung’s face was complicated. 

He thought, How will I fix this mess later?

That’s how it was.

He became the CEO of Silla Energy without any experience or skills.

He bought a small ocean development company and mined a black metal that was useless.

What was the point of all this?

“Samcheok Ocean Development should change its name later. I trust only you, Director Kim. I’ll go back to Seoul.”

Kim Dohyung watched Yu Ji-ha leave from the boat, deep in thought.

He remembered a provocative headline on a news website.

–Idle life ruined him, now he’s ruining a company.

While he worried about the group’s future, black metal production was happening at 1,500 meters underwater.

…