Chapter 22

The Storm Strikes Twice

Detroit.
The city of steel.

The man who had just finished speaking with Yujin Kim returned to the company to deliver his report.

“I was flatly rejected. He did listen carefully to the conditions we offered, but the moment I finished, he refused outright, saying he intended to remain in the military.”

“But I still don’t understand. Was it really necessary to invest that much in a mere cadet—an Asian at that? We don’t even know if such equipment will be needed, and even if it is, couldn’t we simply develop it when the time comes?”

The older man, who had been quietly listening, slowly rose from his seat.

“Think bigger. Much bigger.”

“…Pardon?”

“In this land of freedom and capitalism, human labor can be bought with wealth.”

He gazed out the window—
at the fortress of steel and brick he had built,
a magical crucible endlessly producing new creations even at this very moment.

“Yes. That’s why I had to meet him. If labor can be bought, then I must buy it before anyone else gets their hands on it.”

“Well… now that we know he can’t be bought, doesn’t that settle the matter?”

At that foolish remark, the man’s eyes sharpened.

“What are you talking about?”

“…Didn’t you just say he couldn’t be bought?”

“My dear fellow. Yes, there are things in this world that money cannot buy. But something being not for sale is entirely different from something that requires more than money to purchase.”

“So in his case… it’s the latter?”

“Of course. If he truly had no interest, he wouldn’t have even listened to our offer. But we tried to tempt a man who desires something more valuable than money with nothing but paper bills—of course we were rejected. Remember this: things that can’t be bought with money are usually the most precious.”

He turned to the secretary standing silently beside him.

“Clear my schedule for June 12. I’ll go myself.”

“Where to?”

“New York. United States Military Academy at West Point.”

He valued diligence as a virtue.
He was neither a pretentious European aristocrat nor a bloated corporate pig dulled by success.

Henry Ford was a man of relentless effort.

June 12, 1915

Thankfully—truly thankfully—I was assigned to the infantry.

Until the very end, the Engineers kept beckoning to me, and the Artillery kept calling out, “Why not just fire cannons instead?”
But even if it killed me—it had to be infantry.

The U.S. Army would continue expanding endlessly, and when it came to competing for positions, infantry was the best choice. Cavalry? How many years would it take before they turned into armored units?

Either way, you’re risking your life in trenches—but no matter how I thought about it, charging trenches on horseback only to be shredded into neat star-shaped pieces by machine guns didn’t sound appealing.

Besides, with my background, infantry was practically my destiny. Yes—if I die, I die as a ground-pounder.

The graduation ceremony proceeded smoothly.

I could go on for 5,700 words describing the grandeur of the moment, the magnificent scene, and the swelling pride in my chest—but I’ll spare the details.

The problem was—

There were far more guests than I expected.

“Yujin, hurry up! We need to take a picture!”
“Yeah, yeah.”

We finished taking the obligatory graduation photos with friends.

Even if I end up as a corpse rotting in the trenches, as long as this one photo is preserved at home, my family will never starve. Just counting the number of stars in this picture—wow.

As I was about to introduce my friends to my parents, things started to go wrong.

“Congratulations on your graduation, dear.”
“Uh… th-thank you…”

“…”
“Son. Don’t you have something to say?”
“Uh… well, that is—so—”

Of course my parents had come.

Their son was graduating—and not just that, but as the first Korean to do so. There was no way they would miss such a historic moment.

And of course, Dorothy had come too.

I had mentioned her in letters—said, “There’s someone I want to marry.”
At first, my father reacted with, “Shouldn’t you marry another Korean?”
But eventually, realizing there were no suitable Korean women my age, he conceded, “…Well, better than a Chinese or Japanese daughter-in-law.”

The problem was—I had only described her as “a modest young lady.”

The moment she actually showed up, the graduation ceremony instantly turned into a formal family meeting.

“Hello. I’m deeply grateful for everything your son has done for me.”
“Ah—yes. Thank you for thinking highly of my son.”

My father’s awkward lip movements clearly meant: Who is this person?

The moment Charles Curtis appeared, the cheerful atmosphere vanished. Even my so-called “friends” read the room and quietly slipped away. I’ll break their necks later.

My father’s hand trembled as he accepted Curtis’s business card. He had finally realized just what kind of family he might be marrying into—and was now in full panic.

While my parents whispered rapidly in Korean—“Isn’t our family too low-status for this?”—the congressman approached me.

“Did you perhaps… not tell your father?”

“There’s a fly buzzing around my father. I didn’t want to bother everyone, so I didn’t mention it… but it followed me here anyway.”

Damn it.
Yeah. The fly had arrived.

“Yujin. Congratulations on your graduation.”
“You’ve grown into a fine man. Continue to devote yourself fully to your country and people.”
“Thank you, Ahn Chang-ho. Thank you, Park Yong-man. I can’t believe you came all this way.”

Their presence was truly meaningful—they had come all this distance just to congratulate me. Especially Park Yong-man, who had traveled all the way from Hawaii to New York.

For that same reason—

I hadn’t expected that fly to come all the way from Hawaii either.

“Hm. To think that young Yujin has already grown enough to be of marriageable age… remarkable.”

Syngman Rhee.

Did I really have to see him today?

No—of course I did. That’s exactly why he came.

For once, even Rhee couldn’t maintain his composure.

“I am Charles Curtis.”
“Syngman Rhee. I’ve long heard of your reputation, Congressman. I have been organizing Korean communities in Hawaii and San Francisco—”

From my whisper and expression alone, Curtis seemed to figure out exactly who the “fly” was. Why are you gripping his hand so hard during that handshake, Congressman?

Amid all this chaos, Dorothy remained steadfast.

After greeting my parents, she stuck close to my side and showed no sign of letting go.

And I knew exactly what she wanted.

“Now?”
“If not now, when?”
“Well… I should greet my future mother-in-law, and we should take my parents to Kansas, and—”
“Can’t we do that after you give me what you owe me? I’ve been waiting for today.”

Anyone would think I was returning something I had borrowed.

But it wasn’t really mine to begin with.
Its owner had already been decided. The only question was when.

I took a breath, steadied myself, and slowly knelt on one knee.

“Dorothy.”

“Stop posing and just give it to me. I’m in a hurry.”

…Wait, this isn’t what you wanted?

You just wanted me to hand it over?!

“You made me wait for years, and now you want me to wait even longer? That’s a bit much, don’t you think?”

Yes. You’re absolutely right.
As a cadet who couldn’t even get married, I’m clearly the guilty one here.

I quickly took the commissioned fiancée ring out of a small case and slipped it onto her finger.

Dorothy’s face lit up brighter than I had ever seen before. No—she looked exactly like Thanos after getting his hands on the Infinity Stones. Don’t smile like that. I don’t want to turn to dust!

Thankfully, she didn’t snap her fingers.

The guests who had been watching the scene with bated breath all burst into applause, and I stood up with a trembling heart.

Meanwhile, the muscles in Syngman Rhee’s face twitched uncontrollably.

He must have realized it by now.

He could no longer manipulate me. That uncanny nose of his, always sniffing out power, must have caught the scent of real, living influence surrounding me. If he wanted to make a move now, he’d have to risk a great deal himself—and he knew it.

Of course, he had no way of knowing about things like the “Armageddon Report” or the other preparations I had made. But even just losing control of what he thought was a piece he could freely use was enough to sour his mood.

Truly, a troublesome man.

“L-let’s move somewhere else. I’ve prepared a fine place for our future son-in-law, who will soon go out into society and serve the United States. Haha!”

“Son-in-law? My unworthy son receiving such a precious daughter from your esteemed family—ack!”

“What nonsense are you spouting at a time like this?!”

For a moment, I saw my own future in my father’s Ford 3-Ton Tank.

No. That must be an illusion. There’s no way I’d end up like that—unable to move a muscle in front of my wife despite achieving great fame.

…Probably.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Just then, an instructor approached briskly.

“There’s someone who wishes to meet you privately.”

“Uh… couldn’t they just come here?”

“Well… it’s a bit awkward for me to say this, but… that guest is… a very big figure.”

A big figure? Who now?

No matter how I thought about it, the biggest person who might come looking for me would be Congressman Curtis—and he was already here.

This was getting strange.

If I just went off to meet some unknown “big shot,” my future father-in-law might not take it well. Whether it was because I was being treated poorly—or because I was abandoning his precious daughter to go meet someone else—I wasn’t sure which would annoy him more.

“Instructor.”

“Aren’t you going? It’s not polite to keep them waiting—”

“The person over there is a U.S. Senator. What do you think will happen if I leave him to go meet this ‘big shot’?”

The instructor’s mouth snapped shut like a nutcracker.

“I… I’ll go explain.”

Yes. Do your job properly as a messenger.

Leaving behind the hall prepared by the congressman, we gathered in a small room.

Me.

Congressman Curtis.

And… Henry Ford.

I had been wrong.

Even Curtis would have let it slide. If someone had told him, “Mr. Henry Ford has come all the way to West Point to see you,” he would’ve told me to go immediately out of sheer curiosity.

“I never imagined we would meet like this here, Congressman.”

“Haha, nor did I. To think you would come all this way to meet my future son-in-law. Had I known in advance, I would have prepared a proper reception—this place is rather modest.”

The atmosphere was intense.

Without missing a beat, both men lit cigars, and soon the room was filled with smoke.

“I came to invest in that young man’s future, but I didn’t expect there to be another guest.”

“Ah, there seems to be a misunderstanding.”

Curtis remained completely relaxed.

“Unlike in our time, young men and women these days meet and fall in love on their own. My daughter found someone she couldn’t live without, so I simply gave my blessing.”

“How fortunate for you. Then I suppose there would be no issue if I were to purchase that young man?”

“Oh, that wouldn’t be a problem at all. However, I believe it’s only natural for someone with experience to offer a word or two of advice to a young man just starting out in society.”

“Advice from an elder… these days, young people tend to call that ‘interference from an old man.’”

This is suffocating.

Why don’t you just draw pistols and settle it with a duel already?

“Mr. Kim.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

“Chairman? You’re not even my employee. That’s too stiff—‘Mr. Ford’ will do.”

No, no, no. If I call you that, I feel like I’ll be found dead behind a factory in Detroit the next day.

“As you’ve likely heard, among the various weapons you envisioned, I’m particularly interested in that ‘combat tractor capable of maneuvering through rough terrain.’”

“You mean a tank?”

“Tank? Is that the name you came up with? Very well, I’ll call it that too. In any case, I’d like to develop it.”

“Then why not have your excellent Ford employees develop it?”

Nice assist, Congressman.

Ford seemed slightly uncomfortable at the sudden jab, exhaling a thick cloud of smoke.

“Of course they can. My employees are the best. But a wise businessman always seeks a variety of perspectives. Unlike politicians, who have no need to listen to those who won’t vote for them.”

“Hahaha!”

“Hahahaha!!”

At this rate, they might actually conclude, “Let’s split him in half and share.”

Of course, Curtis was trying to negotiate in a way favorable to me—but I also wanted to leave a good impression on this great American figure.

“As you know, I merely laid out some personal ideas. Whether they’ll actually be useful is another matter.”

“What are you talking about? If they weren’t useful, this distinguished gentleman wouldn’t have come all the way here.”

“…The congressman is right. I place great value on your ideas.”

I paused to think.

What would I gain—and lose—by helping Henry Ford develop a more practical tank more quickly?

Changing history… I don’t know. If I could predict the butterfly effect, I’d already be a god of the new world. If I were afraid of it, I wouldn’t have been making bold predictions in the first place.

Which meant the conclusion was simple:

Negotiate in a way that benefits me the most.

So what should I demand?

And at that moment—

An absurd idea crossed my mind.