After putting on his powered armor in the subspace warehouse and equipping the Tempestbane Wings, he asked Rabi.
“Rabi, if I enter and exit subspace from inside a fast-moving plane, how are the coordinates determined? Do I return to the interior of the plane, or do I drop into the space at that location itself?”
If it was the former, getting out of the plane would be difficult, but returning to the cabin would be easy. If it was the latter, getting out would be easy, but returning would be difficult.
Fortunately, Rabi’s answer was even better than he had hoped.
“Both are possible. To be honest, the latter is easier from my standpoint, but on a tiny star like Earth, both are possible.”
“Okay. Then for now, when I go out, use the latter. That means I’ll appear right in the empty air where the plane just passed, right?”
“For that, the time ratio must also be adjusted. If you go out now, you will effectively be in the same position.”
“Ah, right. Then I’ll set it to about three seconds. Adjust it so I can exit around the position the plane occupied three seconds ago.”
“Understood. Adjustment complete.”
“Good. I’ll be back!”
When Suho left the subspace warehouse, just as expected, he had moved outside the plane and was floating in midair.
Far in the distance, he could see the private jet already hundreds of meters ahead, and the unmanned fighter jets flying close to its wings.
Shak—
With a sharp sound, the wings unfolded.
The Tempestbane Wings shot upward, swiftly propelling Suho’s body as it fell freely.
Shwaaaaaaak—
The Wings, capable of easily reaching Mach 4, accelerated in an instant and caught up with the unmanned fighter jets.
As soon as he got on its tail, the fighter tried to begin evasive maneuvers, but Suho was faster. Landing on the center section of one fighter’s fuselage, where the central processing unit that handled sensor data, piloting commands, and weapons control was located, Suho drew the Ethereal Blade from the back of his powered armor’s right hand and thrust it straight down.
Kagagak— Boom!
Smoke rose from the center of the fuselage, pierced through as easily as soft tofu, and the unmanned fighter exploded and plummeted.
Toward the remaining jet, which was rapidly putting distance between them, he fired the compact railgun mounted on his left forearm.
Dududududu, dududu—
The bullets of the compact railgun, fired with the tremendous electrical power of EX-grade ether, shot out at terrifying speed and riddled the fighter making a high G-turn into a beehive.
Its evasive maneuvers had been carried out with no real gaps, but in the face of railgun rounds traveling at speeds unlike ordinary bullets, it was a futile struggle.
Boom, boom, boom!
That one, too, fell downward with a long tail of flame and smoke.
The battle ended in a matter of seconds.
“Too easy.”
After briefly checking to see if any more were flying in, Suho flew quickly and caught up with the private jet.
Then he radioed the captain.
“The fighters have been eliminated. Continue normal flight as scheduled. I’ll clean up below and catch up, so just keep going.”
Shwaaaaaaaaaak—
Suho dived steeply toward the sea, rapidly increasing his speed.
Following the information displayed by the AI navigation on his visor, he searched for a few minutes and found Midway Island without difficulty.
When he zoomed in, he saw unmanned fighters lined up on the runway, apparently preparing to sortie again after confirming that the previous fighters had been shot down.
At the same time, shining dots flew toward Suho. Anti-aircraft fire.
But now that he had confirmed Midway Island and its forces, he had no intention of dealing with them one by one.
Suho took out several billion tons of Obelun, enough to generously cover all of Midway Island—Sand Island and Eastern Island—and dropped it.
Under the enormous black iron plate that fell while blotting out the sky, the incoming anti-aircraft shells, the fighters about to take off, and all the assorted organization members were reduced to a handful of dust and sank into the sea.
Since he had dropped it from a fairly high altitude, there was a risk of causing an undersea earthquake and a colossal tsunami, so Suho descended after the falling Obelun and stored it away the moment it struck Midway Island.
Even so, he could not completely offset the considerable tsunamis that surged out in every direction.
‘Still, if it’s that much... it should be okay... right?’
Tsunamis had long wavelengths and dispersed energy as they traveled, so he hoped their power and size would diminish sufficiently before reaching the coasts of various countries.
Suho flew after the private jet again, but instead of entering the cabin, he flew close beside it. Until they were as far away as possible from every large and small island in the Pacific.
“Seriously, Oppa, where on earth did you go?!”
“Mm, some flies were following us, so I went and took care of them.”
“Flies? What are you talking about?!”
He gathered his family, who had been in an uproar over his disappearance, and briefly recounted the events that had taken place.
At the news that a terrorist group had attempted to hijack the private jet, Suji trembled, and his father frowned in displeasure.
“It would have been good if our side had sent fighter escorts as well. Did they say nothing of the sort?”
“They did, actually, when we said we were going by private jet. Fighter escorts are usually only attached to people at nearly the level of heads of state, but they said they’d assign them to us. I said it was fine because I thought I could respond to most problems myself, but they insisted they would provide support.”
“Is that so? But they didn’t come.”
“Apparently fighter escorts don’t accompany you along the entire flight course. Since fighters have a short operational range, they attach to key sections, certain stretches. They said the airspace over the west coast of the United States was expected to be the most dangerous, so they would come there. They said there are a lot of illegal arms dealers and smuggling organizations around that area.”
“Tsk. In the end, they barked up the wrong tree.”
“Who knows. Maybe that area really is more dangerous.”
Contrary to their concerns, however, the rest of the flight was smooth, and the private jet landed safely at LaGuardia Airport.
* * *
A black limousine stopped in front of the United Nations Headquarters, and Suho stepped out of the car along with South Korean President Choi Yunseong, the prime minister, the minister of foreign affairs, aides, and the rest of the entourage. Naturally, a large security team accompanied them as well.
Seeing the flags of countries from all over the world fluttering in rows, he finally felt it sink in that he had truly come to the United Nations Headquarters.
It was a new and profound feeling.
There had been days when he had prepared for employment in a single-room apartment, despairing over a pitch-black future, and now here he was at the UN General Assembly.
And he was not here for a field trip or sightseeing, either. He had come as a special envoy to make a major proposal.
Living long enough really did bring all sorts of experiences.
Somehow having obtained information about Suho’s attendance, a group of international reporters had been waiting for him and latched on.
Camera flashes went off nonstop, and the reporters quickly followed, showering him with questions, but Suho calmly smiled and lightly passed them by.
In truth, he could not understand a single word they were saying.
‘Oh, right. I’m not wearing the simultaneous interpreter...’
Only then realizing it, he pushed the in-ear translator into his ear.
On one side of the UN General Assembly Hall, where hundreds of representatives from various nations had gathered, a specially prepared seat awaited him.
A nameplate reading “Special Envoy for Sustainable Energy Innovation” shone there. When Suho looked at the president, President Choi Yunseong gave a slight nod.
Feeling a considerable burden, Suho took his seat.
He did not know how much they had been told in advance, but the representatives of each country were watching him with sparkling eyes full of expectation.
Before long, the meeting began with the solemn opening remarks of the UN secretary-general.
“Today, we have gathered here to respond to the most urgent challenge facing the entire world: climate change. Bearing the responsibility of passing on a better Earth to future generations...”
After the conventional opening speech ended, the secretary-general asked the delegations from each nation to listen attentively and introduced the keynote speakers one by one.
The chair presided over the proceedings, and in accordance with official procedure, representatives from each country began to speak. Heads of state and environment ministers from various nations went up to the podium in order and presented their countries’ policies and climate response measures.
After some time passed, the chair finally called the name of the specially invited Suho.
“For the next order of business, we have invited a special guest. Today, we have with us as a special envoy Admiti Jeong Suho of the Republic of Korea. Admiti Jeong Suho will present on ether power generation. Many are placing great expectations on the possibility that this technology may have a significant impact on the climate crisis we face. Please welcome him.”
Amid loud applause, Suho let out a deep breath and stood before the podium.
A stage watched by representatives from all over the world—despite having hardly ever felt nervous since the Cheonyangwon subspace incident, Suho’s heart pounded.
He was so nervous that the world seemed to turn yellow. It was a feeling he had not experienced in a very long time.
Thinking he simply could not do it, he entered the subspace warehouse.
“Hoo, hoo...”
As he clutched his pounding chest and exhaled, Rabi flew over, looking as though a question mark had appeared above her head.
“Has something happened? Are you under attack from somewhere?”
“Hoo... No, it’s not that anything major happened. I was just in an incredibly nerve-racking situation. A place where I have to say something in front of really important figures from around the world...”
“Hmm...”
Rabi tilted her head with her short neck and said,
“That isn’t like you, Suho-nim...? Even if they are important figures, aren’t they just feeble humans? There should be no being who can compare to you in terms of ability or possessions...?”
That was, of course, true.
Wasn’t Suho the one who possessed a subspace filled with Cheonyangwon’s wealth, vitality that was nearly infinite, and even the ability of an EX-grade Crafter?
“If you were to drop any random item from the goods you received, worth one yangwon, onto Earth, wouldn’t Earth be finished?”
“That’s true...”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to think of it as briefly playing along with the make-believe games of ants? That is the truth, after all.”
“Mm...”
It definitely helped.
Just as Rabi said, the moment all of reality began to look like a game stuffed full of cheat codes, the tension that had been hammering at his chest vanished as if washed away.
“Thanks, Rabi. Wow, there are times when you’re actually helpful.”
“Eek...!”
“Haha, I’ll come again!”
After joking around with Rabi, he came back out of the subspace. In reality, not even 0.001 seconds had passed.
Before the platform where hundreds of representatives from around the world were gathered, Suho took out the speech and materials he had prepared and grabbed the microphone.
“Honorable representatives of each nation, I stand before you today to declare an energy revolution for humanity. Having detected the climate crisis facing Earth, the world has worked for decades to reduce the use of fossil fuels, but those efforts have not been properly rewarded.”
In an instant, everyone’s gaze gathered on him.
“Climate change is accelerating faster than every climatologist predicted, amplifying in a nonlinear manner. As a result, certain tipping points within the climate system are also being reached and surpassed sooner than expected.”
Suho began carefully introducing the same ether power generation he had proposed at the meeting in Korea.
At the same time, he thoroughly explained the effectiveness of ether power generation as a permanent replacement not only for thermal power generation, but also for internal combustion engine vehicles, nuclear power generation, and even solar power generation, whose waste panel disposal was such a headache.
Even though his explanation was based on various data, the story was so unrealistic that the entire assembly hall stirred.
Questions poured in, asking how, even as an S-grade item collector, Suho could possibly handle the minimum tens of millions of tons of E-grade Etherium that would be needed to cover the entire world’s electricity production with ether power generation.
It was a question he had expected, so Suho immediately materialized about five tons of E-grade Etherium inside the transparent case prepared on the stage, showing them that it was not difficult.
In truth, Suho was not making the claim blindly.
Based on the fact that the world’s annual electricity production was around 30,000 TWh, he had done his own calculations.
If all other power generation on Earth were stopped and ether power generation alone were used to supply as much electricity as the Earth currently produced, then 37.5 million tons of E-grade Etherium would be required each year. That much could be supplied for 3.112 billion years with the E-grade Etherium Suho possessed.
It was unlikely to happen, but if he ever ran short of E-grade Etherium, he could use D-grade. The D-grade Etherium, already rotting away in his subspace at 41.67 quadrillion tons, could produce ten times more electricity than E-grade for the same weight. C-grade was a staggering hundred times more.
Seeing Etherium fragments pile up in less than a second, countless representatives present were so shocked they sprang to their feet. The sight of mouths opening and closing wordlessly, eyes widened to the point of splitting, seemed to be universal across all nations.
Suho’s presentation ended well, and afterward, the meeting continued with other agenda items.
Each country said they would conduct serious reviews regarding ether power generation and respond later before returning.
On the way back to the hotel they had reserved, Suho hummed as he tapped at the calculator on his phone.
He had decided to charge the proper price rather than the cheap rate he had given Korea, but for now, it seemed some low-cost supply would be necessary.
Ether power generation was safe, clean, and highly efficient, but if even this was considered too expensive, there would be plenty of domestic opposition within each country, and decisions would be delayed.
Though, more than reasons like that, the truth was that the urgency of quickly resolving Earth’s climate crisis was greater.
He did not know how many countries would apply, but since accepting was unconditionally in their interest, he expected a considerable number of countries to contact him.
In that case, even if he calculated it as charging only just a little more than Korea, he arrived at the conclusion that around 1.18 quadrillion won would be deposited into Suho’s account every year.
And that was only the cost of providing Etherium, excluding the fees for handling the nuclear waste produced by each country’s nuclear power plants.
“Good. That’s enough.”
If he generously released E-grade Etherium to produce and supply unlimited electricity to the entire world, while also solving Earth’s climate crisis, then an annual salary of 1.18 quadrillion won was a bargain, wasn’t it?
It was quite a reasonable price.