Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense - Chapter 101:

Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

The day after the intense battle between Myung-jun and Leviathan in the deep sea 2,000 meters below the Pacific Ocean’s surface.

The flagship of the Liberal Clan, the Liberator, was still floating in the same area, wounded.

Despite taking a single blow, the Liberator, which was severely damaged to the point of needing extensive repairs, was in a state where it needed to be surfaced for repairs, even at the risk of exposure.

Of course, it wasn’t as if all the former members of the Liberal Clan were diligently welding plates in work clothes.

Since hundreds of ECVs made by Soo-jeong were constantly shuttling in and out, automatically repairing the ship.

As the Liberator was basically classified as a ‘factory ship’, most of the ship’s interior was filled with equipment for processing and producing various materials, so it wasn’t difficult to procure the materials needed for repairs.

Since it was simply a matter of removing the damaged parts and replacing them with materials constantly pouring out from the production facilities inside, while the ECVs were diligently repairing the ship, clan members were spending leisurely time.

Some were engrossed in their hobbies in their cabins, while others enjoyed fishing near the gaping holes.

However, unlike the ordinary clan members enjoying such leisurely time, Awakener clan members who had to participate in battles or had to withdraw from battles due to the balance of power were deeply shocked by yesterday’s battle.

Except for Lee Soo-bin, who was originally known for spending most of her day sleeping, most members had confidence in their abilities, so this battle in the depths, which rendered most of their abilities useless, served as a good opportunity for them to reassess their skill levels.

And among them, the most noticeable change was Han Soo-jeong, who was not only one of the two pillars of the Liberal Clan along with Myung-jun but also known as the backbone within the Liberal Clan.

‘Just a Rank 9 monster causing this much havoc… Even though it was a battle in the deep sea, it was an unacceptable battle.’

In front of her stood Myung-jun’s ‘Knights’, with its internal frame fully exposed, hanging on a giant hanger, and pieces of Knights’ external armor scattered around from the battle with Leviathan.

The sight of the crumpled and torn armor greatly disturbed her.

‘Just how strong is it?’

Based on the information she currently had, listing the strongest defenses on Earth in order, it was as follows:

1. 1. [Ho-chang Mk-2], the shield exclusively for Ho-chang, reinforced to the maximum durability by his ability.

1. 1. The external armor of the [Guardian] suit, also reinforced to the maximum durability by Ho-chang ability.

1. 1. The external armor of the [Abyss Knights], infused with crystal energy to the maximum by dedicated cables.

1. 1. The external armor of the [Knights], a giant robot obtained by Myung-jun opening Cain’s legacy ability.

And among them, the Knights’ external armor, made from the strongest ‘material’ without any additional abilities, was indeed the strongest.

Although it could be said that the Knights’ external armor, made from the strongest material in existence, Leviathan’s attack had the power to crumple it like a piece of paper.

At that moment, Myung-jun, who was observing the Knights being repaired next to Soo-jeong, spoke up.

“If it wasn’t for the techniques I learned from Mr. Ho-chang, I might have been the one to fall.”

“Even though it’s just a difference of one rank, the gap is huge. Banara’s attacks weren’t this fierce.”

“Whether it’s a monster or an Awakener, the higher the rank, the stronger they become. So, we need to prepare ourselves firmly. When D-Day comes, at least the remaining Heavenly Lords, who reach up to Rank 10, will rush to take over this planet.”

“Are you saying that, except for the two Heavenly Lords we already defeated, the rest of the ten will attack simultaneously?”

Myung-jun nodded.

“In fact, those who were defeated earlier will recover and rejoin since their main bodies are in the outer universe. So, there will be twelve of them.”

“Can we stop them?”

Looking worriedly at Soo-jeong, Myung-jun smiled.

“If my senior helps.”

“…Could I be of any help?”

“If it weren’t for the equipment designed by you, we wouldn’t have been able to confront Leviathan and would have surrendered to the sea. Because of senior’s equipment, we can hold onto one of the most important cards for humanity to fight against the monsters.”

Myung-jun considered three keys to victory for humanity in the war against the monsters, communication, logistics, and air superiority.

Smooth communication systems needed to be established so that Awakener forces worldwide could coordinate to respond to monster attacks, and a maritime distribution route capable of delivering large quantities of logistics needed to be secured to prevent the collapse of the world economy.

In reality, after the sinking of the Sandong, maritime logistics worldwide were paralyzed, causing import prices in some countries to skyrocket uncontrollably. Some countries even went into chaos due to underwater cables being attacked by monsters, causing their internet to be cut off.

The victory Myung-jun achieved in the battle with Leviathan meant that humanity regained control of maritime dominance, which was the most critical key to securing communication and logistics.

“But this won’t be the end. Even though we defeated the lord, the momentum may wane, but that doesn’t mean the threat from the sea has completely disappeared. Gate incidents will continue to occur in the deep sea, and the sea will become a dangerous place where it’s not as easy to cross as before.”

“We’ve accumulated a lot of information needed for designing new equipment from the data obtained in the previous battles. In the future, we’ll be able to produce many high-efficiency Abyss suits or monster-specific equipment that even civilians can use. We’ve also gathered plenty of crystal stones and materials, so all that’s left is to sell them to those in need.”

“Is Liberal Clan going to release a new equipment series? It’s going to cause another frenzy.”

“It will, right? But we need to think about the sales method and routes.”

There was plenty of demand.

With maritime transportation accounting for over 85% of global trade volume, maritime transport was one of the essential means for maintaining the system built by humanity. Moreover, if one could overcome the environmental challenges such as water pressure, the rank of deep-sea monster crystal stones was excellent compared to the difficulty of capturing them.

Compared to surface monsters that emit EMPs or launch corrosive gastric acid that melts tank armor in one shot, which significantly increases the difficulty level depending on the type, deep-sea monsters mainly used simple ballistic charges or biting attacks.

Myung-jun believed that now that Leviathan was eliminated, with the supply of newly developed equipment, countries’ naval forces could control the monsters occurring in the sea at the level of each country’s naval power, even without the Liberal Clan.

“Then, now that the sea has been somewhat cleared, is the next step back to land?”

If Myung-jun’s original plan had been implemented, focusing on supplying Awakener equipment worldwide from the stronghold in Sejong City, Republic of Korea, humanity could have raised the overall level of Awakener forces it possessed. However, the plan was completely thwarted due to conflicts with the South Korean government.

Although there was no ground base, thanks to the massive facilities of the resilient Liberator, there was no discomfort for clan members to live in. However, if the current situation persisted in the long run, there would inevitably be incidents somewhere beyond the reach of the Liberal Clan.

At least until D-Day, Myung-jun, who hoped that the current situation would be maintained, began to seriously contemplate where to place the Liberal Clan’s ground base.

At that moment, Soo-jeong approached Myung-jun, who had a serious expression, and asked, “What are you thinking?”

“As good as the ship is, I think we still need at least one ground base.”

“Why not just make contact? There would probably be many countries willing to accept the Liberal Clan’s terms.”

“It’s because I don’t want to compromise. I don’t want to show any dissatisfaction on our side. Ideally, I’d like them to make the first contact from their side… but.”

“Is that what you want?”

Myung-jun nodded in response to Soo-jeong’s question, and she smiled lightly and said to Myung-jun.

“Well, if that’s what you want, there’s a simple solution. Why not just drop the disguise?”

“Disguise? You mean expose the repairing Liberator to satellite cameras?”

Myung-jun asked, and Soo-jeong nodded in response.

“If we do that, the country with the most surveillance satellites, probably the United States government, will probably be the first to notice our existence. A ship that suddenly appears in the Pacific Ocean, which wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the Liberal Clan. And if they see the ship being repaired…”

“They’ll probably think we’ve been through a significant battle.”

“Right. And they’ll probably be curious about the outcome of that battle. If they think there’s something that can cause this level of damage to a ship of this size, they’ll probably think it’s the only one who can sink the Sandong in one shot. Plus, on the surface…”

Sharp-minded Myung-jun immediately caught onto her hidden intent in her words.

“It’ll be the first time our ‘weakness’ is exposed to the public.”

“Exactly. When the world’s most valuable clan, which didn’t even budge for money, power, or any other proposal, is in a crisis, don’t you think we should be the first to approach faster than anyone else?”

“That’s a good idea. Let’s do that.”

As soon as Myung-jun gave permission, Soo-jeong recalled all eight drones deployed for the camouflage field that hid the Liberator under repair from satellite surveillance back to the ship.

“Senior.”

“Yeah?”

“Since we’re at it, why not make it public on the internet too? There’s a risk that only the US government will know through satellite information. If we naturally spread it on the internet as if someone leaked it, won’t something interesting happen?”

Soo-jeong, who heard Myung-jun’s idea, smiled widely.

“That would be interesting.”

Immediately, Soo-jeong used several untraceable accounts to simultaneously release numerous videos and photos through various social networks, making them appear as if leaked from a US government agency.

“It won’t be long before we get a response, probably by tomorrow.”

Her prediction was spot on.

Not even a day passed since she posted the content, an emergency meeting was convened at the White House, with the President in attendance, upon confirmation of satellite images of a massive ship suddenly appearing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

It happened precisely 20 minutes after she lifted the disguise.

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Situation Room, located in the West Wing basement of the White House.

Officials urgently summoned were bustling around in a frantic atmosphere. Normally, preparations would have been completed before the President took his seat, but given the gravity of the situation, there was no time for such formalities.

“Are these images fake?”

“We’ve cross-checked with five different satellites, and all confirm the ship’s position from different coordinates. The likelihood of it being fake is close to zero.”

“What evidence do we have that the ship belongs to the Liberal Clan?”

“Take a look at the photo.”

Displayed on the monitors in the Situation Room basement were images of the massive ship undergoing self-repair in the Pacific.

Seeing those images, everyone present couldn’t help but be convinced that the ship belonged to the Liberal Clan. There was no other organization on Earth that would openly build and operate a ship resembling a space battleship like that.

“It’s the Liberal Clan.”

“No one but the Liberal Clan would design a ship as insane as that.”

“Alright. Block all related information immediately and dispatch the nearest US fleet.”

Upon receiving the President’s instructions, the face of the CIA director turned pale.

“Sir… Mr. President…”

“What’s the matter?”

“It’s already too late.”

As he spoke, he handed over his phone.

On it were photos of the Liberator, which had become the top trending topic on Twitter in just a short time, with provocative tags.

“Updates on the Liberal Clan? Sea Monster? Disappearance of the Sandong? What are these insane tags?”

“We’re doing our best to confirm the source.”

“Damn it! If it’s spread this far already, then…”

“Videos have already been uploaded on other platforms like Twitter and Instagram. Information about the unidentified giant warship floating in the middle of the sea receiving robot repairs has already spread like wildfire across social media worldwide.”

“Wait, when did we confirm the Liberal Clan’s location using satellite images?”

“About 10 minutes ago.”

“What’s the timeframe for the spread of this information on the internet?”

“We need to confirm for sure, but it started spreading rapidly about 6 minutes ago.”

“Are there any civilian ships near the target area?”

“We’ve scanned several hundred kilometers around the target with satellite cameras, but there wasn’t a single ship nearby.”

It was strange. Even if the Liberal Clan was receiving attention from the public, it was impossible for data to spread so quickly without any trace of the photographer. This meant that the one disseminating this data was none other than Cha Myung-jun himself.

Realizing this, Biden gave a serious command.

“Contact the Liberal Clan as quickly as possible. Mobilize the fleet to prevent other nations’ warships from approaching the area.”

“But engaging in armed action in international waters could lead to diplomatic disputes…”

“Are you kidding me? This is not the time for such considerations. Last time, we missed an unexpected opportunity, but this time, we must bring the Liberal Clan under the control of the US government. If the ship being used as their headquarters is in such a damaged state, it must be in a difficult situation.”

“But hastily moving warships could be risky. Besides, that area is exactly where the Sandong sank. If we send a large fleet and get attacked…”

An aide summoned the courage to express his opinion, but all he received was the President’s incredulous gaze.

Joe Biden, the President leading the United States, sighed deeply with an expression of disbelief after hearing the aide’s opinion.

“Sigh… Are you kidding me?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t you see that broken ship? Why do you think it’s broken? It’s because it fought with that monster that sank the Sandong, right? And if they’re still floating on the sea like that, it means the Liberal Clan defeated that huge sea monster like crazy! So, stop talking nonsense and send out the aircraft carrier immediately! We must make contact with them before they finish repairs and return to the sea!”