Chapter 174: Broker
A month later.
A 1-minute and 32-second advertisement was uploaded to the official Dojin Group account.
[New Smart Strike Platform ‘AGE’]
[All judgments are made within 0.18 seconds]
The KTalk feed thumbnail showed a desolate city outskirts.
The still image captured the silence just before the trigger of the AGE-01 was pulled.
The video started without a single line of dialogue.
Midnight, a city in a blackout.
A soldier holding an AGE-01 cautiously entered a building.
The sensors detected biological signals through the walls and analyzed the threat level in real time.
TGT 1 Confirmed
Threat Level: High
Reaction Protocol: Engage
From target acquisition to firing, just 0.18 seconds.
The screen showed a scene where a red line drew an orbit as it flew.
The AGE-01 was portrayed as if it were a ‘self-judging weapon.’
Then, the AGE recalculated its own route to move to the next tactical point.
The final scene.
Two lines of text slowly appeared over the black screen.
[No Delay. No Error. Just Precision.]
[AGE-01 / Powered by Dojin Frontier]
Within 2 hours of being uploaded, the AGE-01 promotional video recorded 470,000 views.
54,000 likes, 31,000 shares, and 20,000 comments.
More than half of them were comments written in languages from around the world, including English, Spanish, Arabic, and Russian.
└Is this a movie trailer?
└I thought Dojin only made things like phones and TVs. Did they also make a movie?
└The info says it’s a ‘new rifle.’
└So, does that mean a bullet fired from the rifle actually changes direction on its own?
└That couldn’t possibly be real, right?
└If it’s real… that’s amazing.
└Whoa, another video just got uploaded to Kang Tae-joon’s personal account.
└What kind of video?
└It’s him actually firing it. This is insane.
People flocked to the live-fire video in an instant.
The video was a concise 47 seconds.
A wide open space, location unknown.
The camera captured a man’s shoulder.
A man wearing a black jumper, bulletproof vest, and military goggles.
It was Kang Tae-joon.
He was standing at the firing range, holding an AGE-01.
In front of him, five iron targets were arranged diagonally.
“As you can see, the muzzle is pointing that way.”
He clearly showed with a camera close-up that the muzzle was pointing in the exact opposite direction of the targets.
And then he spoke again.
“I’ll fire now.”
Just one shot.
The moment the trigger was pulled.
Numbers appeared in the top right corner of the screen.
Target Acquisition: 0.12s
Trajectory Correction: 0.04s
Hit Confirmation: 0.02s
The bullet drew a curve as it spun through the air.
And hit the iron target at the farthest position with pinpoint accuracy.
Click-
The camera captured Kang Tae-joon again.
“This isn’t a movie. It’s reality.”
With those brief words,
the video ended.
└Whoa, this is crazy…….
└This means it’s real, right?
└Wow, what kind of technology does Dojin have?
└If this rifle is actually deployed, it’s going to be insane, right?
└It means you can close your eyes and shoot without aiming and still hit everything.
└Maybe I should have joined the military a bit later.
└……What do you mean?
└I might have been able to shoot this instead of the A2 rifle.
└But if this is real, it’s going to completely change the landscape of the weapons market.
└All the rifles currently in the field will become obsolete.
└The weapons market is going to be in turmoil soon.
└…….
The video Kang Tae-joon uploaded to his personal account surpassed 1.5 million views within 3 hours, dominating the entire feed.
The number of followers was also exploding.
CNN, NHK, Al Jazeera, and more.
Global media outlets were also urgently broadcasting Kang Tae-joon’s live-fire video in real time.
And…….
As expected, the most intense reactions came from weapons procurement officials from various countries.
＊＊＊
Israel, Negev Desert outskirts.
A luxury bungalow in the middle of the desert.
A man staring at a Quantum Pad screen unknowingly spewed curses.
“Shit…… What the hell is this?”
Gindone Ben Ari.
A weapons broker and former member of the Israeli Special Forces.
He was a ‘big shot’ who supplied weapons to various countries in the Middle East and Africa.
Two months ago, he was the first to obtain information about Dojin Frontier’s AGE-01.
His goal was to secure an exclusive distribution contract before the official announcement.
But.
Before his plan could even be executed, videos about the AGE swept across the globe.
The number of views and shares on the Pad screen soared in real time.
And tens of thousands of comments.
His contact rushed in with a worried expression.
“Weapons dealers from Europe and Africa are all making their moves.”
Ben Ari’s expression completely contorted upon hearing that.
“……Damn it. This means we have to overhaul the entire plan.”
“What should we do?”
“What else can we do? Mobilize all channels and contact Dojin before those bastards, no matter what!”
.
.
.
Dojin Frontier headquarters.
Not long after the video was released,
as expected, proposals and requests poured in from around the world.
“Sir, we’ve received an official request from the Bangladesh Defense Procurement Agency.”
Director Cha Dong-hyuk’s face showed signs of fatigue.
“What kind of request?”
“It’s an inquiry about the actual specifications and contract conditions of the AGE-01.”
“Anything else?”
“A video analyst from the Romanian Ministry of Defense requested a direct call, and the purchasing bureau directly under the Saudi King also made a similar request.”
In addition, contacts were received from a total of 21 countries, including Belgium, India, Poland, Colombia, and Argentina.
“Clearly, with this, we can sell the AGE at a sufficiently high price.”
“Sir…… it’s not all good news, is it?”
“Are you worried about pressure from the U.S. Department of Defense?”
Director Cha Dong-hyuk nodded.
“Both the DSCA and DTRA under the Department of Defense have raised issues because of the video release.”
“What’s the rationale?”
“The possibility of the proliferation of uncontrollable, unauthorized weapon systems.”
“And the risk classification?”
“‘Strategic Unbalance Risk’…… The official term has been issued.”
Just as expected.
The U.S. government, recognizing the danger of the AGE, immediately imposed restrictions on weapons sales.
Park Cheol-jin, standing nearby, cautiously spoke up.
“Sir, I understand that information was leaked to the U.S. Department of Defense before the video release, but did you also intentionally leak information to the Israeli weapons dealer?”
I raised the corners of my mouth and answered.
“It’s not so much leaking information…… I set up the board so Ben Ari would have no choice but to move.”
“What…… do you mean?”
“The U.S. starting pressure through official channels means it’s already uncontrollable unofficially. That means……”
“You needed someone who could handle things through unofficial lines? And that person is ‘Gindone Ben Ari.’”
I nodded.
“Ben Ari is an Israeli-American dual citizen with connections in both countries’ military intelligence lines, and he has a pretty extensive lobbyist network.”
“Perhaps…… do you think the pressure from the Department of Defense is not just about restricting weapons sales, but also about securing the AGE?”
“Of course.”
You could tell just by looking at the reactions to the video uploaded to the KTalk feed.
Everyone was seeing the AGE as a game-changer in the rifle market.
And the U.S. was viewing it as a ‘dangerous element beyond control.’
“So……”
Park Cheol-jin paused for a moment before cautiously asking,
“Was bringing in that Ben Ari meant to serve as a buffer to avoid a head-on collision with the U.S.?”
“If we can bring up refined voices from within the U.S. through Ben Ari, we can turn the Department of Defense’s pressure into a controllable negotiation.”
Listening, Director Cha Dong-hyuk muttered in a quiet voice,
“……To prevent the U.S. from forcibly taking control of the weapons we possess, we need an alternative.”
I added with a smile,
“At this point, one of the few players who can put that alternative on the board is Ben Ari.”
At that moment.
The intercom rang through the secretary’s office.
“Sir, Gindone Ben Ari has arrived.”
The atmosphere in the conference room subtly changed.
I answered with my finger still on the intercom button.
“Don’t take him to the conference room, guide him to the underground lab.”
“The lab?”
I answered Director Cha Dong-hyuk’s question with a serious face.
“He’s come a long way, so we should show him the real thing first.”
＊＊＊
Underground lab.
As the middle door at the entrance opened,
Gindone Ben Ari appeared with two attendants.
He wore dark sunglasses, a white linen suit, and a half-unbuttoned shirt revealing a shiny gold necklace.
He looked like a typical Middle Eastern broker, but his eyes retained the sharp gaze of a military man.
He glanced around lightly before making eye contact with me.
“Mr. Kang, you’ve prepared a much more interesting welcome than I expected.”
Maybe because it was in English, his tone was lighter than expected.
I responded to him in the same manner.
“Since you’ve come a long way, I thought showing you the real thing would be better than just a video.”
“Hmm, I feel like we’ll have a lot in common.”
After a light handshake, I guided him to the lab area where the AGE-01 was displayed.
“Is this the AGE?”
Ben Ari exclaimed upon seeing the black carbon fiber-bodied AGE-01 under the lights.
He slowly scanned the AGE and carefully picked it up as if handling an old lover.
“The balance is very good. The weight distribution is ideal, and how much recoil does it have?”
“0.9g. Even for urban warfare, no additional stabilizer will be needed.”
I pointed to the side switch and added an explanation.
“This is the core of this rifle, the calculation module. It calculates and controls the target’s movement and bullet trajectory in real time.”
Ben Ari raised the corners of his mouth.
“A rifle that thinks for itself and hits the target on its own……”
He lightly picked up the AGE-01 and took an aiming stance.
“Can I try it out?”
“Of course.”
That’s why I brought him here.
It was also a necessary procedure for the negotiation.
Without hesitation, Ben Ari switched the AGE to [FULL AUTO] mode
and pulled the trigger.