After the Divorce, I Found a Thousand Bitcoins - Chapter 197

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Got Divorced and Found a Thousand Bitcoins Episode 197

Ring-ring-ring-!

2 AM. The research director’s office at the silent Ulsan R&D Headquarters.

Dr. Nathan, who had been buried in monitor light, cheerfully picked up the receiver.

“Hello! Ulsan R&D Headquarters, this is Nathan! What brings you to call at this dawn hour, Chairman?!”

-This is Choi Kang-hyeon.

Even with the voice coming through the receiver, Nathan’s voice was full of excitement.

“Aha! I can tell from your voice! You’ve seen my proposal?! The deep space resource capture project!”

-I just confirmed it.

“As expected! The headquarters executives were horrified asking if I was writing science fiction, but I knew you would recognize my idea! How does it look to you?!”

-It’s an insane plan. That’s why I’m calling.

The sound of Kang Hyeon flipping through documents came through the receiver.

-Let me ask briefly about the core operating method. Instead of scooping dirt from someone else’s land, the method of dragging an entire mountain from space.

“The target is M-type Asteroid Auman-354! A 1 billion ton chunk of iron and titanium! Sending mining robots there to extract it is impossible fuel-wise, so we’re dragging the entire rock like cargo!”

-Please explain the specific method.

“We send three massive unmanned tugboats equipped with Astra’s plasma engines! After approaching the asteroid, we slam dozens of giant harpoons made of ultra-high-strength carbon nanotubes into the bedrock!”

A delightful madness began to rise in Nathan’s voice.

“After securing it tightly with harpoons, we simultaneously ignite three plasma engines! Since there’s no friction in space, that brute propulsion force can twist the orbit. We drag it all the way to low orbit near our Orbital One! Nereid calculations confirmed zero orbital error rate!”

-How long will it take?

“From tugboat construction to launch and deceleration capture, generously 3 years! No matter how much we rush, you need to give us 40 months!”

-That takes too long.

Kang Hyeon firmly cut off Nathan’s words.

-One year. Can you bring that asteroid next to my space station within that time?

“One year?! Come on, Chairman! As a former Nereid founder, I’m confident in calculations and efficiency, but cutting parts and assembling the hull requires physical time! Even grinding up all the world’s engineers, 14 months would violate the laws of physics!”

-Nathan.

Kang Hyeon asked in a firm voice.

-Would it be possible if I set the budget limit for that project to unlimited?

“…What? Unlimited?”

-I mean I’ll give you a blank check. Go sweep up all the aerospace engineers in the world’s markets by offering five times their salary. If there aren’t enough subcontractor factory lines making tugboat parts, buy entire factories, and deploy Orbis robots 24 hours a day.

Nathan’s breathing became rough through the receiver, then a hollow laugh burst out.

“Oh my God! You’re really going to buy time with money?!”

-This project is important enough to be responsible for KH Group’s present and future. If we can’t solve this problem, we’ll be leashed by China. I don’t want that.

“Hahaha! If it’s unlimited budget, that’s a completely different story! Damn physics laws, I’ll smash them with money! I’ll definitely deliver within one year!”

-Good. From now on, I’m appointing you as the chief officer of Project Auman. You can proceed with urgent matters without reporting directly to me.

“Okay! Thank you! I’ll prepare to shoot my pretty babies into space right away!”

Just before Kang Hyeon hung up the receiver, he added calmly.

-I’m counting on you alone.

[One month after China’s export control activation]

“This is breaking news. The London Metal Exchange completely suspended trading of copper, titanium, and nickel this morning. Core raw material prices have skyrocketed by over 300 percent in just one month.”

The CNN economic anchor’s voice urgently echoed through monitors worldwide.

“China’s indiscriminate raw material sweeping and export controls are strangling the global supply chain. Red alerts have been raised across industries worldwide.”

Wall Street also poured out articles about this issue.

[Corporate production cost explosions are directly leading to immediate inflation. Consumer prices for smartphones, electric vehicles, and even general appliances have jumped over 30 percent. The suffering of ordinary people has begun in earnest.]

[Three months after China’s export control]

White House regular briefing room.

The U.S. government spokesperson took the podium with a stern expression.

“The U.S. government strongly condemns China’s unreasonable behavior of weaponizing resources and holding the global supply chain hostage. This is clearly an act of destroying the world trade order, and we have delivered an official protest letter to Beijing demanding immediate lifting of export controls.”

But that protest was futilely ignored as soon as it crossed the Pacific Ocean.

China’s Foreign Ministry regular briefing room.

“We express regret over America’s unreasonable claims. Resource export control is merely a legitimate measure at the national security level to meet domestic high-tech industry demands. We firmly reject America’s interference in internal affairs regarding other countries’ legitimate exercise of rights.”

Chairman Zhao Qian lightly mocked even America’s direct warnings and locked the global raw materials market valve even tighter.

[Six months after China’s export control]

The world economy showed no signs of improvement.

No, rather, Bloomberg, a specialized economic journal, presented an even gloomier outlook.

[World economy trapped in a dark tunnel. Global big tech’s endless screams.]

“Currently, not only Silicon Valley headquarters but also the secondary data center construction in Nova Smart City, India is in complete shutdown. We can’t obtain high-purity copper for core cables even with money.”

The Apple CEO attending the global tech conference continued the interview as if coughing up blood.

“It’s not just us. Big pharma companies like Pfizer have also stopped their new drug factory expansion lines. Unless China provides the materials, the global IT and bio ecosystem in the second half of this year cannot avoid shutdown. This is the worst crisis.”

The victims of this situation weren’t just companies.

As raw materials were blocked, prices naturally skyrocketed.

Rising prices led to damage for ordinary people, and media outlets went directly to the streets to capture citizens’ voices on microphones.

“Following oil prices, manufactured goods prices have doubled! My salary stays the same but what I can buy at the mart has been cut in half! What the hell is the great American government doing behind the scenes?!”

As such complaints grew, the U.S. Department of Commerce spokesperson finally stood at the briefing room podium to continue the briefing.

“As of today, the United States will impose a punitive tariff of 500 percent on Chinese high-tech products and consumer imports as economic retaliation for China’s unfair trade practices.”

The entire world raised voices of criticism toward China and drew swords of economic sanctions, but the red dragon’s curtain holding soil and resources stood firm, pushing forward the fight against the entire world.

[Seven months after China’s export control]

CCTV’s prime time special dialogue, China’s state broadcaster.

“Chairman Zhao Qian declared this at the National People’s Congress held at the Great Hall of the People today: ‘No matter how excellent Western capital and technology may be, the soil and iron that ultimately build civilization and establish frameworks come from our China’s vast land.'”

Thorough self-praise through state media poured out daily.

This ruthless chicken game, backed by China’s vast territory and enormous China money, seemed to solidify perfectly as Chairman Zhao Qian’s victory.

[Eight months after China’s export control]

At the moment when all economic indicators were plummeting and global stock markets were screaming in red panic.

KH Group, which had maintained silence, distributed a single global press release.

And immediately, regular broadcasts worldwide were interrupted as breaking news hit the airwaves.

[Breaking News! KH Group announces surprise Project Auman demonstration test!]

KH Headquarters press room.

Amid hundreds of camera flashes bursting, General Manager Kim Ha-ryul took the podium.

“I’ll take questions first.”

“This is John Brown from Reuters! Project Auman? This is the first time I’m hearing about this project! Is it an additional module launch for Orbital One? But wasn’t the launch completely suspended due to raw material depletion?”

Amid the barrage of questions, Ha-ryul pulled the microphone closer and read the prepared script in a calm voice.

“Project Auman is not a space station expansion. It’s a Phase 1 demonstration test to capture M-type (metallic) asteroid serial number Auman-354, with a diameter of 800 meters and mass of 1 billion tons located in deep space outside Earth’s orbit, into low Earth orbit.”

The venue instantly froze as if cold water had been poured over it.

Reporters’ mouths hung open blankly and even typing sounds stopped.

“Tonight at 11 PM. Three massive unmanned tugboats equipped with Astra’s plasma engines will depart for deep space via Falcon 9 Heavy launch vehicles. We will drag this entire asteroid to dock humanity’s largest space mine next to Orbital One.”

Three seconds of silence.

Then the press room erupted in ear-splitting pandemonium.

“D-drag an entire asteroid?! KH is bringing a space mine to Earth?!”

“Insane! This is Chairman Choi Kang-hyeon’s declaration of war to smash China’s raw material control on a space scale!”

News desks worldwide were turned upside down.

[CNN Emergency Programming: KH Group harpoons 1 billion ton metal asteroid in space!]

[Bloomberg Main: KH Group’s insane declaration to end Earth’s dirt-digging wars. Space mine capture project launches tonight!]

[Wall Street Journal: If China won’t sell dirt, KH will drag mountains from the sky. Global capital markets shocked!]

An aerospace engineering authority called as an emergency panelist on global news channels shouted into the microphone with an excited face.

“This isn’t simple science fiction! If plasma engines’ overwhelming propulsion combines with Nereid’s quantum computation, forcibly twisting an asteroid’s orbit in deep space to dock it in Earth’s gravitational field is a physically feasible calculation!”

Economic experts also raised their voices, spewing excitement through the screen.

“The amount of high-purity iron, titanium, and rare earth elements buried in that one asteroid vastly exceeds 10 times China’s entire reserves! The moment that vault arrives above Earth, China’s raw material hegemony built on controlling soil will meet its eternal end!”

This announcement immediately shocked the markets.

[Raw material prices begin falling across the board.]

All raw material prices began dropping rapidly.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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