Money Likes Me Too - Chapter 234



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Episode 234.

“Whoa!”

Mark Lindbergh arrived in Hwapyong just before the end of the year. The atmosphere was full of Christmas.

It was amazing.

Even the United States, the birthplace of Christmas, isn’t like this.

The same was true of Seoul, the capital of South Korea.

As I went towards Hwapyeong, it became surprisingly bustling. The streets were filled with carols. If I may exaggerate a bit, it was a sight I had never seen before.

“Is this really the city we should live in?”

His wife, Jessie Lindbergh, was equally as surprised.

“You’re surprised to this extent. There’s still a long way to go.”

Towards those two, the two-time winner of the Cocoa Driving Award, Executive Director Kim Woon-taek, who came to the airport to pick them up, was full of cuteness.

Of course it was in Korean. He still doesn’t speak English very well.

But don’t let your guard down, because the car already has Inex’s perfect interpretation system in place.

Thanks to this, the two people in the backseat were able to fall into the illusion that they were talking to a native speaker. Inex was not only installed in Executive Director Kim Woon-taek, but in all taxis of Hwapyung. Of course, the cost was free.

“Do you think there’s anything left to surprise us?”

“sure.”

Oh my god!, two exclamations burst out at the same time. Kim Woon-taek, who heard them, continued speaking.

“All the things you brought from America have been perfectly installed in your new home. Nothing has changed, so it won’t even feel like you’ve moved. So you’ll quickly adjust to Korea.”

His voice sounded pleasant.

“Of course, our Mark – he was calling his name naturally – will be going into space soon, so he won’t be able to enjoy it for long.”

“Fortunately, I won’t have to adapt to the entire universe. I’m an expert.”

“What about space? Isn’t it fun?”

“······yes?”

Mark Lindberg was speechless at the sudden question. Executive Director Kim continued his chatter.

“I don’t know what it’s like to live in space for over a year. Of course, when my wife is noisy and squeaky, I want to run away to somewhere farther away than space. But she’s still my wife. Whether you’re attached to her or not, she’s still my wife, so you have to keep living with her. Isn’t that right?”

Thanks to this, the Lindbergs realized that perfect interpretation is not necessarily a good thing.

‘Ugh, it’s noisy.’

‘Are all Koreans like this?’

‘No, I don’t think Chairman Kang was like this.’

Mark and Jessie talked with their eyes.

“Now, we are entering the city of Hwapyeong.”

But Director Kim didn’t notice anything.

“Look at those skyscrapers towering over the sky. And the majesty of Nexus One, a massive residential complex that will eventually house over 100,000 people. I’ll take a spin around all of this before I head into the office. Mark and Jessie want to see it too, don’t you?”

Eventually, they had to endure Executive Director Kim’s endless nagging and TMI until they finished the tour and arrived at AC.

How many hours had passed like that?

It was almost evening when I finally arrived at the chairman’s office after dropping my wife (Jessie) off at home.

Chairman Kang welcomed him warmly.

“Why are you so tired? Was the trip difficult?”

Mark Lindberg nodded weakly.

“Yes, it was a very difficult journey.”

“If Lindbergh had a hard time on the longest mission in space, it must have been a tough trip.”

I didn’t even have the strength to answer.

“Let’s talk about work.”

I was so happy to hear Chairman Kang say this. I wanted to finish everything quickly and go back to my nice house to rest.

Mark Lindbergh looked strangely tired. He had the most haggard face I’ve ever seen, even in space.

‘Did something happen?’

Even when I asked, there was no real answer.

Anyway, I explained to him again the plan to station personnel on Nexus Two for the Mars colonization project.

“Everything is good.”

He knows this much. He even signed a contract in the United States.

Lindberg even recruited colleagues with astronaut experience. No one was more suitable than them to lead the Cocoa staff, who were still rookies, even though they had passed the AX mission. Mark is their representative.

He asked.

“They are all veterans.”

“I guess so.”

“It costs a lot of money to hire that many people. If you spend as much as you did on me, the company’s finances will be in trouble.”

He was already doing a great job as the president even before taking office. There was no one like him.

“Where on earth does this money come from?”

“Jae-won?”

You can put those worries aside. My mouth opened slowly.

“We will invest in Cocoa entirely. It is our subsidiary. Don’t worry and focus on your research. Do you understand that we are prepared to fail even if our Cocoa fails?”

To be exact, it’s not ‘even if it fails’. It has to fail.

It has to be that way.

It was my true heart. Now I can say it proudly.

This is where all my money should go, this is where I can definitely spend all my money.

To go to Mars.

Here, ‘hwa’ is the character for fire. It is the perfect planet for burning money.

“Whoa, my goodness.”

Mark Lindberg exclaimed. He thought.

‘There are so many things to be amazed about today. I wonder if I’ve ever exclaimed ‘Oh my God’ more than twice in one day in my life.’

I couldn’t help but laugh. That’s how the day was coming to an end.

* * *

The year 2024 has arrived.

A lot has happened since the new year.

[Nobel Peace Prize winner Elon Musk, Musk University establishment in full swing. ······ ‘It will be a university like no other in the world.’]

[ Cocoa also accelerates investment in education infrastructure. ······ ‘Not only Cocoa University, but also Nexus Colony will have a strong education infrastructure.’ ]

Elon Musk’s momentum is extraordinary.

‘We’re losing from the start.’

Money is something you spend whenever you want, but it doesn’t feel good to lose from the start. There’s a problem.

But I wasn’t just sitting there. We didn’t give up and pushed forward by publishing articles.

Oh, and Cocoa’s International Space Station Management Company, also known as Space First, was founded in 2024.

The name is Kokoa International Space Station, or KISS for short.

[Starship launches 100 times already achieved. ······ ‘Now, Earth-Low Orbit Travel is as Comfortable as a Neighborhood Bar.’]

[KISS CEO Mark Lindberg, ‘I’ll be back.’ The scene of him kissing the hand as he leaves the Earth. (Photo)]

“······.”

When I say representative of Kiss, it feels a bit strange.

Anyway, he was satisfied and left Earth. His family had all adapted to Korea and were doing well.

They were considerate enough to allow me to have video calls several times a day. I also frequently contacted the headquarters in Cocoa while working remotely. It was almost like working in Korea.

AI Open employees working at Cocoa Brain also had high satisfaction levels.

Some of them even immigrated to Korea.

‘Is this Chairman Kang’s country?’

‘Oh, wonderful.’

Their reactions were also consistent.

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As cocoa workers began to want to come and live in Korea, the population of Hwapyong was soon approaching one million.

Discussions were underway, starting with the promotion to a special city and then to a metropolitan city.

Here, Rep. Cho Wang-beom, who is considered a senior figure in the party, is leading the way. Choo Gil-tak, who is running for the next Gyeonggi Province governor, also joined.

‘It’s a metropolitan city······.’

It doesn’t matter to me whether Hwapyeong remains as a city or becomes a metropolitan city.

The problem is the Nexus One.

It is clearly part of Hwapyung. However, since it is a closed ecosystem, once Nexus One starts operating, its 100,000 population will be completely separated from Hwapyung City. Can that be considered the population of the city?

100,000 is one-tenth of a million. It is by no means a small number.

To put an end to this problem, all the people related to Hwapyong City, including Jo Wang-beom, the member of the National Assembly for Hwapyong City, gathered in one place.

“welcome.”

I’ve been called to ACIT several times, but this is my first time entering the chairman’s office. Assemblyman Cho came in first, hesitant. He still couldn’t forget the trauma from the past.

“It was such a nice place.”

After that, four more members of the National Assembly followed in. They were the members of the Hwapyeong City Eul, Byeong, Jeong, and Mu constituencies, respectively.

That’s a given.

As the population of Hwapyeong increased, the number of electoral districts increased by one every time a general election was held. Before long, there were five electoral districts.

“It’s spacious.”

“It looks expensive. Hehe.”

They were Rep. Do Cheol-gon (Hwapyung-mu constituency) and Rep. Chae Poong-deok (Jeong constituency). Rep. Do responded to Rep. Chae’s remark.

“Of course, Representative Chae. Isn’t this the office of the chairman of Cocoa, the world’s best company?”

“Do you think that I said that because I didn’t know? Representative Do?”

In the end, Vice Chairman In had no choice but to step in due to the sudden, not-so-sudden, fight.

— Members, please do not fight here. This is not the Capitol. If you raise your voices one more time, I may suspend all of your Cocoa accounts.

The five voices were completely absorbed in those bright words. Since you can’t ask the humanoid about his age or career, you can’t naturally start an argument.

“Everyone, be quiet.”

Eventually, their conversation ended with the mediation(?) of Jo Wang-beom, their senior.

After we sat down, I was the first to speak.

“The reason we gathered here is to solve the Nexus One problem.”

This is the crux of the matter.

How do we deal with Nexus One, which is as large and complex as any other administrative district and is home to people of various nationalities?

We need to come up with a concrete plan by this year (2024). Once it starts operating, the system that runs inside it should not be changed at all. This is the most important principle of an artificial ecosystem.

If people come and go, isn’t it a closed ecosystem?

“So we’re asking you to make a big decision.”

My words continued.

“Is this a big favor?”

“yes.”

“What do you want?”

“Please enter Nexus One.”

A look of surprise passed through them like waves, as they did not immediately understand what I was saying.

“yes??”

Starting with Jo Wang-beom, the voices of Do Cheol-kwon, Chae Poong-deok, Kwak Man-geol, and Masu-do rang out loud.

“It’s just a favor. I’m asking you to take on a bigger role inside.”

“So when will it come out?”

“The plan is for two years. It can be extended, though.”

“Then the general election······.”

I winked at them, who were speechless.

“Of course you can’t come out.”

They seemed unable to find an answer to my confident words right away. In the end, I never heard the answer.

On the way back,

“Does this make any sense?”

The lawmakers leaving ACIT were unanimously denouncing Kang Si-hyeon.

“Please calm down.”

“Is this really true? Isn’t this a plan to send us into exile? Does this guy have any intention of going into politics?”

“I don’t think so.”

That’s true.

Jo Wang-beom was from Party A, Chae Pung-deok and Masoo were from Party B, and Do Cheol-kwon and Kwak Man-geol were from Party C. Excluding these three parties, there were no other parties in Korea. So it was clear that this was not an action that was instigated by any party.

“Then what on earth is the reason?”

No matter how much he got angry, nothing changed. Jo Wang-beom waved his hand.

“I don’t know. I’ll go first.”

He got into the car. The rest of the members could only glare at Jo Wang-beom’s departing vehicle.

Do Cheol-kwon returned to his office with some surprising news.

“What do we do? We’re really in big trouble.”

It was the secretary’s plea.

“What is it? What’s going on?”

“I just got a registered mail from an unknown source. It has a bunch of photos inside.”

picture?

At that moment, Docheolkwon felt embarrassed. He had gone to too many places where he shouldn’t have been.

‘Is this a photo of me playing golf with the new chairman of Jeolpung Group? A photo of me being entertained by that bastard Yang Song-chul from the Yang Song-i faction? Or a photo of me buying a doctorate with 5000 won from President Kim of Cheonhwa University? What the heck is this? Which one is it?’

The secretary brought a package. It was thick. I looked at it one by one.

There were all three.

Even things I couldn’t remember were recorded vividly in it as if they happened yesterday.

“shit.”

It was the last word.

“What should I do?”

“What should I do? Let’s just wait and see.”

But there was nothing I could do but sit still. Just then, a suspicious text message arrived.

[No caller number] Did you receive the photo I sent?

“This kid!”

[Me (Do Cheol-kwon)] What the hell are you? What kind of kid are you?

[No caller ID] You probably don’t know that, but you met with Chairman Cocoa Kang today, right? Our provincial assemblyman?

cocoa?

[Me (Do Cheol-kwon)] But why?

[No caller ID] Do as you are told. Don’t waste your time and go to Saturn instead of Mars.

[Me (Do Cheol-kwon)] You little punk, are you a cocoa weed? Why are you doing this to me?

[No caller ID] I don’t know about that. Listen. Don’t try to find out too much. You’ll get hurt.

It felt like a gentle voice was being conveyed even through text.

[No caller number] No answer.

[No caller ID] Then I understand that you are going to do it. If you change your mind in the middle, then you know what? If you don’t want to see these photos printed side by side on the headlines of major Korean newspapers, then do what you want.

You guys know?

So are you saying that other members of the National Assembly are also receiving this bullshit?

“What is it, Senator?”

He didn’t respond to his secretary’s urging.

It was already inevitable. He had mentally prepared himself to become a resident of Nexus. The next general election was over.

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