Breath of The Interferer - Chapter 1
Only Noblemtl
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#1 – Breath of the Interferer_Key – 1631789
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Antarctic monster
No matter how much you look around Antarctica, there is only snow and ice. Sometimes when you look up at the sky, you get the illusion that it is not an open sky, but a thin layer of ice. Peter, who has been working in Antarctica for three years, felt the urge to launch a rocket into the sky. He briefly imagined that the rocket would break the ice in the sky and make a sound like breaking glass.
The daily life at the Antarctic base is very dull. Every day, various data is collected and entered, and the remaining time is spent in the base. There are no visitors except for the helicopters that drop off items regularly and the large transport vehicles that visit once every few months. Only on days with good weather do we go on expeditions far outside the base under the command of the head of the base.
Peter, who lost the lottery, had no choice but to stay at the base with his mouth pouting. Peter, who spent his thirtieth birthday at the Antarctic base, was nicknamed the Boy. This was because Peter always dreamed of adventure and did not try to hide it. At that moment, the satellite phone rang and pulled Peter out of his gloomy mood.
“Hey, Peter, our dreamy, unhappy boy. Power up your receiver to the max.”
Peter turned up the power of the base station receiver to the maximum. Since satellite communication carries the risk of being eavesdropped on and tracked, important work is done through the base station receiver. The receiver, which normally has a coverage range of about 20 kilometers, can be turned up to 50 kilometers when the power is turned up to the maximum.
The sled’s top speed is only about 20 kilometers per hour. With four people and a considerable amount of stuff loaded on it, it must have been about 30 kilometers away after four hours since they set off. Since they had explored all areas within 30 kilometers of the base, they suspected that the leader was being unreasonably excited.
As the receiver power increased, Peter temporarily cut off the base station and all external networks. As we enter the 21st century, the problems of new power and environment are known to be the main concerns of scientists. However, that is only the media’s opinion. The world believes that the key to breaking the current deadlock and standing tall as a superpower to replace the United States lies in Antarctica.
Peter applied to the Antarctic base not because of the salary that was several times higher than that of a famous company or the annual allowance that increased exponentially with each year. It was because of his love for his country and his sense of adventure in the unknown world. In fact, Peter watched the output screen connected to the receiver, admitting that the latter was more important.
The head of the observation base sent four photos. One overall photo, one close-up of what was presumed to be the head, one close-up of what was presumed to be the torso, and the last photo was so small that it was hard to tell whether it was part of the body or just a crack in the ice. The head probably thought it was the tail and sent that photo.
At that moment, the public phone rang. This phone, connected to a receiver, is used to contact people going out when the weather is too bad and satellite communication is cut off. The furthest data collection point is about 3 kilometers from the base, so it is carried in case of any danger. Since it is for internal use, there is absolutely no risk of wiretapping.
“Hey, Peter. You saw the picture? It’s a monster that appears to be an Oriental snake dragon. Report it to your superiors with the highest security level.”
“Chief, shouldn’t you come back and report? I don’t want to say something wrong and have my score lowered in my performance evaluation.”
The captain chuckled slightly at Peter’s complaint. It was difficult to laugh out loud outside the base.
“Our satellite phone conversation earlier was probably tapped. Soon, other countries’ Antarctic bases will be snooping around. We absolutely must finish the excavation and announce it. The first country to get here with the excavation equipment ready is the winner. I hope that’s our country, the UK. Boy, let’s end the call and get to work quickly.”
After the call ended, Peter reduced the power of the receiver to normal. He then used the three minutes to restore communication with the outside world. Taking a deep breath, Peter tried to relax and made a call to England.
“Elisa, my love, I have good news for you. I’m thinking of taking a vacation to England this Christmas. Will you accept my proposal this time?”
“Sorry, Peter. I have a new boyfriend.”
When the call was abruptly disconnected, Peter immediately requested a VPN connection with the highest security level. While a regular VPN connection takes less than three seconds, the connection with the highest security level took five minutes.
Even after the VPN connection was established, Peter waited. Soon, a VPN connection request came from the UK to the Antarctic base. After Peter accepted, it took another five minutes. After confirming that the two VPNs were connected normally through a simple test, Peter first sent four photos.
The first VPN channel sent encrypted data, and the second VPN sent encrypted information about the encryption method and the code used to encrypt it. All data from both places must be intercepted to restore the photos Peter sent. It is no exaggeration to say that there is almost no chance of leaks because the two VPNs use different communication satellites.
Even though the transmission was completed and ten minutes had passed, Peter waited without getting impatient. He knew very well how inefficient his superiors were. They were probably inputting data into an analysis program right now to analyze how much this would help his political achievements. Most of the time, the superiors’ brains are worse than the analysis program.
After thirty minutes, the video call finally came. Since the two VPNs were still encrypting, you could hear the words and see the other person’s mouth move ten seconds later. Peter tried to keep his face as solemn as possible, vowing to hold back his laughter.
“Hey, Peter. If you need to take a dump, go ahead and do it first. This conversation might get long.”
The president spoke with a solemn face and without moving his lips. After he finished speaking, a few more seconds passed before the president’s face changed into a playful one and his mouth began to move. If you synchronize the words and the screen, it will match, but it will take more time to talk.
“Your Excellency, this is an urgent matter so I will skip greeting you. According to the information the leader has given me, it is an Oriental snake dragon. We must prepare the excavation equipment and head there immediately.”
“Mr. Peter, the preliminary analysis of the photos has already been completed, and the excavation equipment is in the shower room shampooing in preparation for boarding the plane. Don’t worry, it will arrive within two days at the latest. First, delete the four photos on the hard disk immediately. After deleting them, remove the hard disk from the main unit.”
Peter deleted the photo files from the hard disks under the watchful eyes of the association president and then separated the hard disks from the main board. The four photos were stored in three hard disks, so only three had to be discarded. The association president nodded while looking at the three hard disks in Peter’s hand.
“Please wait a moment. I will check the system remotely.”
The idea was to remotely check for residual data or traces of hacking in the photos. Peter relaxed as the task turned out to be simpler than expected, and the curiosity that had been suppressed by the tension slowly began to surface.
“Your Excellency, Your Royal Highness the President, His Majesty the Queen’s Order of the British Empire, is the Snake Dragon an oriental dragon?”
The chairman of the association is very proud of his title. He had omitted the title earlier because he thought it was urgent, but now that he had some free time, he filled in the missing greetings. Otherwise, the narrow-minded chairman might remember it and take revenge on him.
“Yes, it’s a dragon that is revered as a divine spirit in China, Japan, and Korea.”
“Your Majesty, I heard that China is a communist country, and most of its people are atheists. Do they also believe in dragons?”
“There’s no way that thousands of years of tradition could collapse under an ideology like communism that ignores reality. You don’t know how many citizens are suffering from spiritual starvation as faith disappears in China.”
Peter grumbled to himself, saying that he had never been to China before. But if he left it like this, the president of the association might start lecturing about how socialism and communism were nonsense, praising capitalism.
“Then what about North Korea? I heard that it’s a communist, dictatorial country with no religion at all. Do they worship the snake dragon as a deity there too?”
“North Korea is an evil that must disappear from the face of the earth. They are pouring their faith, which should be directed toward God, into a single human being, just as the Chinese people once directed their faith toward Chairman Mo. I am astonished at the fact that such a regression of civilization, which is unimaginable in the 21st century, is taking place on earth. If I were the president of South Korea, I would immediately request the UN to mobilize the military and conquer North Korea. If China interferes, I would wipe out China at once and bring back to God the nearly 25% of humans on Earth who have strayed from the embrace of the one and only God.”
The chairman of the association, who was spitting out spit while speaking, suddenly realized that now was not the time to say such things. He was so excited by the thought that if he succeeded in this, he would at least be granted a countship, and he could not control himself. The chairman of the association, who was a man of the ‘old days’, was very proud of the countship awarded by the queen. Now that his sexual desire had completely disappeared, his only dream was to be granted a countship before he died.
“Speaking of Korea, I heard there is a Korean Antarctic base about 100 kilometers away. Is there any way to find out what they are up to?”
“Your Majesty, last time we tried to hack you, we got caught and lost half of our hard drives. You guys are always fighting an intelligence war with North Korea, so you’re world-class when it comes to hacking and security.”
Last time, Peter tried to hack the South Pole base in Korea and was counterattacked. The virus infiltrated the system, so we had to turn off the power and check each hard disk one by one. We had no choice but to discard half of the hard disks that were infected with the virus.
“System check is complete. There are no problems. Then, let’s end the communication and request a secure connection again when the commander returns.”
### I am the refreshing demarcation line ###
Inside the South Korean Antarctic Observation Station, three men frowned and looked at four photographs. It had a long body like a snake, scales similar to carp scales, and six legs. It had no horns, but it had several whiskers, very similar to the dragons of legend.
“Are you sure you took it out without getting caught?”
“Boss, I thought the tail was small, but the liver is really small. Didn’t your sister-in-law say anything?”
“Oh my, it’s because it’s cold here in Antarctica. It expands when heated and contracts when cooled. Don’t you know the basic laws of physics?”
“After catching the satellite call, the connection was lost. As soon as the connection was reestablished, I took out four photos and erased all traces. There may be traces left on the hard disk where the photos were taken, but if you remove the hard disk first and check, there are no traces.”
“This matter should be known only to the three of us. If we report it to the higher-ups, the news will immediately leak to Japan, the United States, or China. We may not be able to intercept the item that Britain discovered, but if we just find out what it is, it will be of help to our country.”
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