55 episodes
– Japan has been completely dependent on foreign resources as it is a wasteland of resources.
A Japanese government spokesperson said to reporters.
– But not now! For Japan, an island nation, the most abundant resource, the sea, was the answer. We have finally succeeded in mining this seafloor mineral, which the Earth has accumulated and accumulated for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years under the seabed!
A government spokesperson said in a confident voice.
-It is also the rare earth that Japan has been longing for!
Japanese reporters also continue to watch the government spokesperson’s announcement with excitement.
Since then, a spokesperson who continues to emphasize how precious rare earths are and how much it means to Japan, and at the same time, talks about how hard the government has worked to achieve this.
After the long bragging time was over, the spokesperson said.
– Now let me ask you a question.
Then a reporter raised his hand and said,
-I heard that this rare earth mining was jointly promoted with the development of Ceron, is it true?
-you’re right. Ceron Development is in charge of mining and Japan is in charge of refining.
-Can you tell us more about the contract?
Then the spokesperson was silent for a moment and said:
– Regarding the contract, we will notify you individually after the arrangement is complete. Next question.
The spokesperson seemed reluctant to comment, and this time another reporter raised his hand and said:
– What are the environmental problems caused by radiation?
– You don’t have to worry about that. Undersea rare earths have a high content and low radioactivity, and the Korean government is already preparing for it and refining it. You can rest assured all citizens.
After that, a spokesperson who continued to answer questions kindly except for the details of the contract with Ceron.
As soon as the inquiry was over, the spokesperson said:
– I will only accept questions from here. In the future, the Japanese government will do its best to alleviate the scarcity of rare earth supplies due to modernization by actively supplying rare earths to the world as well as being self-sufficient by further expanding the production of rare earths. thank you
The official press conference of the Japanese government ended with the spokesperson’s greeting.
The man who was watching the Japanese government press conference in real time threw the remote control and said,
“Han Ji-hyuk, you motherfucker!”
That man is Yu Longqi, the head of the Commerce Department of the Communist Party of China.
“Nothing else, touch the rare earth!?”
The Ministry of Commerce is a government department similar to Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and was responsible for all resources and trade produced in China, as well as the rare earths mentioned at the official Japanese press conference.
Naturally, from the perspective of Yu Rung-chi, the chief executive of such a ministry, the press conference in Japan was nothing short of a nightmare.
Yu Rung-chi, who had been vigorous for a while, bit his lip and said.
“shit.”
Yu Rongqi, who imposed high tariffs on Korean copper and zinc at the request of Hwaryeong Mining, the largest zinc mining company in China linked to the Communist Party.
China is a country with the world’s largest zinc and copper smelters, so I thought Ceron would take care of it, but after cutting prices and announcing an increase in production, now even rare earths are mined.
“This is a different matter from copper and zinc.”
China, under the leadership of the Party, has actively increased the production of rare earths, taking the risk of environmental pollution caused by radiation.
Of course, money is money, but the purpose was, of course, to maintain the status of exclusively supplying rare earth resources.
Just as oil-producing countries use oil as a weapon, China also uses rare earths as a strategic resource to wield it against countries that are wary of China’s growth.
Thanks to this, even though the US and Australia have worked hard to increase the production of rare earths, they have boasted of overwhelming production by still maintaining an 83% share.
Yurunchi looked at his subordinate and said.
“Did you know?”
Then a subordinate, who was instructed to investigate the rare earth material under the sea, said:
“That… the content of the rare earth under the sea is estimated to be over a hundred times higher, and it is said that refining is much easier because of its low radioactivity.”
“Is it economical?”
“That’s right.”
“Production is.”
“It depends on how many skeletons are used for subsea mining, but now the Japanese government is actively trying to increase the number of subsea mining vessels, and Cerondo has its own shipyard, which is building six ships every month, so I guess it will increase as time goes on. It’s possible.”
Ceron has already achieved a global market share of 6% for copper and zinc with only a few dozen ships.
Naturally, over time, the production of rare earths will increase exponentially, and it is certain that China’s share will be cut down.
“Why the hell did such an awakened person come to Korea?”
It is Han Ji-hyeok and his skeleton that have caused all these problems now.
It is because of the skeleton that they took away the Chinese footwear industry and absorbed the companies that invested in China by building SR Electronics into Korea.
It was Skeleton and Han Ji-hyeok, who were creating tremendous synergy throughout the industry.
“SS-class?”
“Yes.”
But even the power is strong.
“I’ll be back.”
Although the ripple effect of the SS class on society is great, Han Ji-hyeok was truly unique among them.
Although there are awakened people who use their abilities to run a business, Han Ji-hyeok’s abilities were really at the level of cheating in the modern industrial structure.
Yurunchi said with a cold expression.
“Should I remove it?”
The problem now is Han Ji-hyeok’s ability to summon skeletons.
In other words, if Han Ji-hyeok was removed, all the worries he was dealing with would disappear neatly.
The moment Han Ji-hyeok dies, all the skeletons will disappear.
However, Yu Rung-qi was well aware of this fact, but it was because of the aftermath that caused him to worry about handling it.
“If he had become an S-class, he would have dealt with it right away.”
Ji-hyeok Han, who has only six SS-level members in Korea and is currently receiving a lot of attention as a rare earth element.
If such a Han Ji-hyeok suddenly dies for an unknown reason, of course, all countries have no choice but to suspect China.
No matter how much the Communist Party was about to leave, it was definitely a burden to kill Han Ji-hyeok, who had already received a lot of attention.
Besides, killing itself is a problem.
I’m also an SS-class, and there might be an S-class bodyguard skeleton, so at least two SS-class people are required to deal with it.
Naturally, there will be a battle in the process, and maybe other Korean SS-classes may intervene and fail to deal with it.
It is a problem even if it succeeds in handling it, a problem if it fails, and it is a situation that cannot be left alone.
Han Ji-hyeok was literally a cancer that was useless to China.
Yurunchi said after thinking about it for a long time.
“What is the most important item Ceron imports from China?”
No matter how much he thought about it, Yu Rung-chi decided that it would be unreasonable to try to assassinate right now, so he went looking for another card.
In my mind, I would like to impose sanctions on South Korea as in the time of the Korean War, but then there was a clear reason for China’s security, but this time, there is no law requiring only China to produce rare earths, so the justification is weak.
In the end, the only thing Yu Rung-chi can do is to ban the export of items that can cause damage to Seron.
“We import a lot of cotton fabric from Ceron shoes.”
“Other than that?”
“The rest is nothing. Recently, Ceron has drastically reduced the amount of imports from China…”
The Seron group has continuously reduced its dependence on China following Han Ji-hyeok’s decision to de-sinicize.
So now the only card left in China was cotton.
“Is that the only one?”
“Yes.”
“Damn it.”
Cotton is the only countermeasure against the strategic resource of rare earths.
In the end, Yurungqi sighed and said.
“Stop that at once. The reason is the lack of domestic supply.”
*
“The Seron group is like a blessing in Korea. haha.”
I shrugged my shoulders at the words of Commissioner Lee Jin-young.
“What.”
“How can the United States succeed in achieving self-sufficiency in rare earths like this? Thanks to this, all Korean companies are welcome.”
China has already imposed sanctions on South Korea through the Korea-Korea Order.
How anxious would it be for companies to have to rely entirely on rare earths from such a China?
But it’s welcome that Ceron has taken care of it.
“You’re not yet self-sufficient, are you?”
Jinyoung Lee said with a smile.
“It’s not a matter of time anyway.”
“It is.”
Japan’s obsession with rare earths was so great that it almost ran out of boats to rescue and sacrifice them.
“By the way, China has stopped exporting cotton… Are Ceron shoes okay?”
China, the world’s largest producer of cotton, decides to suspend exports.
Naturally, the reason was Seron.
But it doesn’t matter.
“Don’t worry, we already have six months’ worth of inventory and we have diversified our import routes.”
I have decided to de-Chinese and have steadily reduced dependence on China, and at the same time, I have been continuously checking what cards China can take out.
Of course, I knew from a long time ago that the cotton of Ceron shoes, a core affiliate of Ceron, would be the target.
“Although China is the world’s largest cotton producer, India is no different and the United States produces quite a lot, so there is no problem.”
Of course, that didn’t mean there wasn’t any damage.
“However, the next question is……. Ceron shoes are expanding recently by signing contracts with top-tier manufacturers. So we need more cotton in the future, and I don’t know if this will be covered by the US and India alone.”
Cotton production in India and the United States is certainly great.
But the problem is that all of these quantities have owners.
Since there is demand for cotton, they must have been growing cotton for a while, but Seron suddenly appears and you can’t just take over the supply.
That is why, while we have been calling for de-China, we have not been able to reduce our dependence on China for cotton at once.
“It is possible to maintain the status quo, but further expansion will be difficult for the time being.”
“Then why don’t you ask the U.S. government? The U.S. is very pleased with the production of rare earths in Japan right now, so if you ask for an increase in cotton production, I think they will do it.”
“Then it’s good, but I don’t like something. Minerals seem to be self-sufficient, but in the end we have to depend on other countries for cotton.”
After having fun with undersea minerals, something doesn’t bother me.
Shouldn’t I be able to do it my own way?
Then Jinyoung Lee said with a bitter smile.
“There is no way I can help you more than this.”
Korea has the worst conditions for farming because it is too narrow and there are not enough mountains.
“Lack of land, land.”
However, it is not possible to grow cotton under the sea.
“ah. There is no land left.”
As long as there is land, they will spread all over the skeleton and farm it on a large scale.
From then on, it would be possible to become self-sufficient in producing and selling everything from head to toe.
But in the current situation, it sounds like a dream.
At that time, Jinyoung paused for a moment and said.
“Is it the remaining land?”
“Yes, the remaining land. uh? Do you know any land?”
Then, after thinking about it for a while, Jinyoung said.
“Something comes to mind, but…”
“Oh oh! Where are you?”
“As you know, the gate vomits out monsters after a certain period of time and disappears. Korea has a response system and it is handled systematically, but there are countries that do not. Especially in countries where the land is large but the population is small and poor.”
You can’t deal with all the monsters that pop out of the gate?
So you’re saying that monsters roam here and there?
“Of course, the International Awakened Federation sends Awoken to such countries to help, but it is nevertheless impossible to completely deal with it. Especially when the Unstable Gate appears, the monsters are already scattered all over the place before the Awoken arrive. There are some abandoned lands where monsters that cannot be dealt with in that way have settled down.”
“Is that perfect?”
Lands abandoned by monsters.
Of course, normal people wouldn’t even have access to the death threat, but that’s not a problem for me.
After all, my workers are skeletons who don’t care if they die, and only when monsters come out will they become the materials needed to make my skeleton.
Besides, if the land was abandoned that way, the price wouldn’t be cheap!
“Somewhere, there?”
“Africa.”
“Africa? Isn’t there a desert there?”
“It is North Africa, and Central Africa is different. Central Africa is rich in water resources and the land is fertile. However, it has been neglected because there is no country or person capable of deploying the Awoken on a large scale to try out farming. That too······.”
Jinyoung Lee also twitched the corners of his mouth to see if he was looking forward to it.
“The Great Plains greater than South Korea and North Korea combined.”
this is it
A land abandoned and abandoned by monsters roaming around.
This is perfect for large-scale farming!
The price will be cheap too!
“If that’s enough, can we not only produce cotton, but also grow all kinds of miscellaneous things?”
I jumped up from my seat and said.
“Chief, please connect me right away. Now that the road to a great mineral power is open, let’s go to a great agricultural country.”