95. Neon Ninety Nine
monday.
Ikoma County, Nara Prefecture, Japan.
The place In-cheol found was a small cemetery located in a quiet countryside, and there was a sign at the entrance saying that the cemetery was managed by Ikoma-gun.
When In-cheol knocked on the door of the management office, the cemetery manager opened the door.
“(We are looking for the place where a person named Tomohiro Kanemoto is buried.)”
At Incheol’s words, the cemetery manager shook his head.
“(This is a place where the remains of the deceased are buried. So it is difficult to find them by name alone. What year did the deceased die?)”
“(The record is July 1985.)”
“(In the case of an unrelated deceased, the ashes are kept at the hospital of the county government for about 6 to 9 months. So it must have been 86 years since they were enshrined here….)”
The cemetery manager raised his hand and pointed to the uphill road inside the cemetery.
“(In 1986… Follow the road this way to the end, and there will be monuments to the right of the end of the road. The names of the deceased are written on the front of the monument, so check it out.)”
After a while, In-cheol was able to find a tombstone with the date of February 1986 at the place the cemetery manager said, and he was able to find the name Kanemoto Tomohiro among the 50 or so names written on the tombstone.
Incheol took a seat in front of the tombstone, and after a while he opened his mouth in a low voice.
“(Uncle Kanemoto, Chinatsu and Aunt couldn’t come here, so I came instead. They are both doing well in Korea… Chinatsu is now using the Korean name Ji-eun.)”
Incheol took the ring out of his finger and set it down in front of the tombstone.
“(And this ring… I heard that this is actually Mr. Uncle. Now I will return it to the original owner.)”
Incheol paused for a moment, then opened his mouth again.
“(And Chinatsu asked me to tell you this. It was said that Chinatsu was five years old. I can’t remember what happened back then, but there is only one thing I remember. They said it was a book my uncle read to me before going to sleep…) ”
Incheol smiled slightly and continued.
“(They say it’s a story about a cat family. The story is fuzzy now, but they still remember the voice of the uncle who read the book clearly. So….)”
“(Later, if you come to your dream… ‘My pretty kitten, sleep well, Chinatsu,’ please.” Just like back then.)”
Yoon Sung Soft.
“The office is clean and the staff is very friendly.”
Seok-yi Yun said to the praise of Eun-young Seo, a secretary from the Ministry of Unification.
“I had an important guest coming today, so yesterday I had a hard time cleaning with the staff. Ha ha ha ha ha—!”
After such brief introductions and greetings, the full-fledged meeting began.
“You know the story of Jessica Regan that was aired a while ago?”
Jessica Regan is a woman who was adopted to Canada 16 years ago. A documentary about her birth mother moving to Canada to meet Jessica was aired recently.
In particular, before meeting Jessica in person, the broadcasting station crew showed her birth mother what Jessica is currently expected to be.
Seo Eun-young, secretary general, continued to say that she had conceived this project after watching the broadcast.
“To be honest… I was hired this year, and this is the first project I’ve been working on myself. So, I am greedy to try to sew the first button well.”
She looked at Officer Kim who had come with her, and Officer Kim took out the documents from his bag and handed them one by one to Yun Seok-yi.
The document was titled ＜Finding Dispersed Families (Gan)>, and the features of the program were simply and clearly arranged.
“Basically, it is the same as the missing child search program developed by Yunseong Soft. With one difference, it’s not predicting the face of a child as an adult, but predicting the face of an adult as an adult.”
Kim’s explanation followed.
If there were any family members lost when they were young, the plan was to predict the current state of the lost person’s picture and use the predicted image to find separated families.
After his explanation, Yoon Seok-yi hyung opened his mouth.
“Then if we develop a program, will it be used in North Korea as well?”
In response to his brother’s question, Secretary Seo Eun-young shook her head and said.
“It’s not.”
“then… ?”
“Did you know that there is a plan for the reunion of separated families next month?”
“sure.”
“There are a total of 24,179 applicants for family reunions. That’s a really great number. We’re working on applicant verification right now, and we’ve noticed an interesting fact.”
Secretary Eun-Young Seo continued with a smile with a slight smile.
“I applied because I thought the lost family was in the North, but the person I was looking for turned out to be another applicant. In other words, they were both in the South.”
Me and Yoon Seok-yi nodded, and she continued.
“And I don’t think it’s that rare. There are more than 10 confirmed cases now.”
“… !”
“So now our plan is to start working on rechecking the application documents for 24,000 as soon as the reunion is over in August.”
“then… Are you saying that the finished version of the program to find separated families should be ready by mid-August?”
Yoon Seok-yi hyung’s question, Seo Eun-young, secretary-general, said with an apologetic expression.
“yes that’s right. Time is very tight… Is it possible?”
Yoon Seok-yi hyung looked at me, and I opened my mouth carefully.
“In the middle of next month, there are only three weeks left… To be honest, it is very difficult.”
In response to my answer, Secretary Seo Eun-young said with a regretful expression.
“okay. After all, it will take a lot of time to program, right?”
“Programming itself is not that complicated. Before that, we need to build a sufficient database, which will probably not be possible in three weeks.”
“If it’s a database… What data are you talking about specifically?”
When we created a missing child search program three years ago, a total of 629 face images were used.
These are all children who have been with me for 6 years in elementary school, 3 years in middle school, and 9 years in total.
Over the course of nine years, we analyzed the children’s face changing patterns, and based on this analysis, we were able to formulate a sophisticated image change algorithm.
In the same way, in order to predict how people age, image data in which the faces of many people change over time are needed.
The Korean War broke out in 1950, 50 years ago.
A child who was 10 years old at the time of the war would be 60 years old, and a 20-year-old man would be 70 years old now.
“I need photos of young people in their 60s and 70s at their present age.”
At my words, Secretary Seo Eun-young nodded and said.
“How much photo material do you need?”
For the missing child program, 629 face images were used to predict facial changes over 9 years.
But now we have to go back 50 years.
It will not be too early with the images of about 600 people.
“I think we need at least 1000 images. The more, the more, the better.”
“Do you need that much?”
“yes. We have to find a common pattern that changes the face over time, but it’s hard to know for sure with just one or two people.”
There was a moment of silence at my words, and then Secretary Kim, who was accompanied by Secretary Seo Eun-young, opened her mouth.
“What if I ask the Ministry of Health and Welfare for cooperation? The Senior Support Division will be able to contact senior welfare facilities across the country.”
“ah… ! is that so? That’s a good idea.”
Secretary Eun-Young Seo nodded and continued talking to me.
“Then, if all the image materials are ready, how long will it take to complete the program?”
Assuming 5 to 10 photos per person… .
You have to repeat the work of putting in about 5,000 to 10,000 images in your head and analyzing them countless times.
“About a month… It will take time.”
At my answer, she opened her mouth with a look of disappointment.
“Can’t we just go a little faster? Any necessary expenses or materials can be supported.”
To be honest… It was possible in two weeks.
But this is too hard.
Do you feel like your body is broken and your lifespan is shortened?
The energy consumption was enormous because the images were quickly turned over in my head and compared to numerous other images over and over again.
In other words, you have to eat a huge amount of food, which is well tolerated for three or four days.
However, if this life continued for more than a week, there was no choice but to strain the body.
Besides, if it’s such a chasing job, you’ll definitely have to cut down on your sleeping time, and then you may have to lie down for a few days after the job is done.
Secretary Seo Eun-young continued speaking with a serious expression.
“actually… This is a highly anticipated business from upper management. So that’s why I came all the way here. So, please review it in a good way.”
After she had finished speaking, the official Kim handed out a piece of paper with the specific terms and conditions of the contract and handed it to Yoon Seok-yi hyung.
By the way… Terms of this Agreement… .
It’s really outrageous.
Although it was a short-term contract, first of all, if you look at the amount presented, it was nearly ten times the one-year fee for the missing child search program paid by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, and the advance payment paid at the time of the start of the project reached 90% of the total contract amount.
Yoon-seok-hyung, who checked the documents, opened his mouth with a questionable expression.
“I know there are government guidelines for software veterinary contracts… Is such a contract possible? I’m not betting on anything else, I’ve heard stories about it when I signed a contract with the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs, so I’m asking to confirm.”
In response to his brother’s question, Seo Eun-young nodded and said.
“actually… last week… A BH order has been given to carry out the reunion according to the separated family reunion schedule.”
“BH… ?”
“The Blue House, the Blue House.”
“… !”
I think I know now.
This is the reason why high-profile civil servants, Nara, directly visited Yunseong Soft here.
After the meeting, when Seo Eun-young and Kim left the Yunseong Soft office, I said to Yun Seok-yi hyung.
“Hyung, this is the Ministry of Unification’s business. Is it okay if I decide on my own?”
“Anyway, the missing child program is actually your own business, so I might intervene. But why? do not want to do it?”
I shook my head and said.
“no.”
“Then why?”
“The reason is… Well… .”
I smiled at my brother and continued.
“I will tell you the details later when the contract is signed.”
That evening.
It was on the way home from Yoon Sung Soft’s office.
I took the phone out of my pocket, entered the number, and pressed the call button.
-Yes, I am Seo Eun-young of the Exchange and Cooperation Office of the Ministry of Unification.
“hello. This is Chae Jeong-ho from Yunseong Soft.”
-ah! Mr. Chae. hello. Perhaps… Have you made a decision?
“Yes, it is, but… There is one thing I want to check.”
– Where are you now?
“yes?”
-I think it would be better to talk face to face.
“no… Well, do you need it?”
-no. There is a story I couldn’t tell you earlier this morning, but I want to meet you in person and explain it to you.
A coffee shop near Namseo-dong.
When I entered the coffee shop, Secretary Seo Eun-young was already seated and waiting for me.
Unlike when we met at Yunseong Soft in the morning, she was wearing a short skirt, and it seemed that she even had light makeup on her face.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty.”
“Oh! Really? So, did you graduate from high school this year?”
“yes.”
“Wow! You didn’t go to college, did you just start a venture company?”
I shook my head at her question.
“I’m going to college.”
“ah! Yes? What school do you go to?”
“Korea University.”
In response to my answer, Secretary Seo Eun-young smiled broadly.
“Oh! Then you are my junior! Public class?”
“yes.”
“Wow! I’m a freshman at university, and I’m the director of a venture company… . Really cool!”
Secretary Seo Eun-young was exclaiming with exclamation at every word I said.
I wondered if it was the same person I met at Yunseong Soft this morning.
I told her to change the subject.
“actually… I just called because there is one thing I want to check.”
“ah! right. But looking at his face, I don’t think he’s saying no… Right?”
I nodded, and she continued with a smirk.
“Actually, this afternoon, a group official was sent to national and public nursing homes and welfare facilities for the elderly across the country.”
“Announcement… huh?”
“Yes, face database!”
“ah… ! Is it possible that quickly?”
She smirked at my question.
“You said it before. BH instructions.”
I grabbed a glass of water, moistened my mouth, and opened my mouth carefully.
“But there is one condition on our side as well. Actually, it’s not a condition, it’s my personal request.”
“What is your request?”
“One of the things the secretary said in the morning… You said that you manage the documents for the reunion of separated families yourself, right?”
“yes that’s right. Actually, I should be working overtime right now, but I ran away with this as an excuse.”
She smiled broadly at me, and I said still with a serious expression.
“I heard that the Ministry of Unification prepares a preliminary list of about 300 people and sends them to the north.”
“Right. The list isn’t complete yet… .”
She let out a short sigh and continued.
“I don’t know what this means.”
“What do you mean?”
“Anyway, the final decision is… They say that in the north, only people who fit their taste are selected and selected, is there any need to work so carefully here…? Well, that’s what I’m thinking.”
I nodded, and she continued.
“Oh! Did you say you wanted to ask me a favor?”