Kim Dong-sik hurried back to the construction site with several trusted executives.
"Director Kim, what happened so suddenly?"
"Why are we being called out at this hour?"
It was already deep into the night.
But Dong-sik had thrown on a hard hat and was running toward the site where work for the day had already ended.
As he ran, memories resurfaced—advice once given by consultants dispatched from Daesung Group.
"In Korea, subcontractors sometimes quietly omit portions of construction materials during a project in order to cut costs and increase profit margins.It's usually done on apartment buildings. Few would dare attempt it on factories or industrial plants.But factory structures endure heavy loads. If poor construction occurs, the results could be irreversible. It must never happen."
After reviewing the ledgers, Dong-sik had found something undeniable.
The amount of reinforcing steel recently delivered to the site was clearly below what should have been required at this stage according to the engineering plans.
This was exactly the sort of issue that site supervisors were supposed to catch.
Yet no report had ever reached him.
That alone was suspicious.
Even Dong-sik—who lacked experience leading a project of this scale—had noticed the discrepancy after comparing material logs with the blueprints.
How could professional inspectors, whose careers were built on monitoring sites, have missed it?
It was impossible to believe.
If they truly hadn't noticed, they were incompetent.
If they had noticed and said nothing—
Then they had almost certainly been bribed.
There's almost no one left I can trust.
That was why he had brought only trusted Luktic personnel with him.
Soon, the skeletal lower structure of the massive factory came into view.
Dong-sik turned to the executives.
"Check whether the work matches the design plans."
"Especially verify the rebar usage."
The moment they heard the word rebar, their expressions hardened.
Night had already fallen.
Only moonlight illuminated the construction site.
Steel bars, steel plates, and unfinished concrete reflected silver light in cold silence.
No way, Dong-sik thought.
I've been walking this site every day. Would they really dare do something this bold?
He still wanted to believe otherwise.
One executive flipped a switch.
Huge floodlights roared to life, flooding the site in orange light.
The lights had originally been installed for night work.
Now they served another purpose.
The executives spread out across the site.
Dong-sik personally entered deep into the unfinished structure and examined a section where concrete had not yet been poured.
At first glance, everything visible from the outside looked normal.
But the deeper he went inside—
The more abnormalities appeared.
In hidden interior corners where visibility was poor, the rebar layout was shockingly sparse.
Any trained eye could tell.
"My God…"
Dong-sik stood frozen.
This wasn't minor corner-cutting.
The building's durability had been significantly compromised compared to the approved design.
If this were a small warehouse, perhaps it wouldn't matter much.
But this was one of the largest industrial facilities in South Korea.
Some sections even used multi-level structural designs.
With heavy machinery and raw materials constantly moving through the plant, weak structural zones could result in total collapse.
Voices rang out from around the site.
"Missing rebar here!"
"Same here! Hidden sections have almost none installed!"
"Confirmed! This area is definitely below design specification!"
Dong-sik gathered everyone back together.
"As of today, all construction is suspended."
"We will determine full responsibility, terminate contracts with the companies involved, and pursue legal action."
"I'll report everything to the CEO immediately."
A grim silence settled over the site.
Artificial orange light mixed with pale moonlight across the empty structures.
No workers.
No machines.
Only stillness.
***
I had just returned to the first floor of the research institute after working with the quantum computer when I finally received Dong-sik's call.
The underground chamber where it was stored had no signal reception to prevent eavesdropping.
His voice was heavy with guilt.
"Si-woo… I'm sorry."
"It looks like the contractors omitted rebar during construction to pocket extra money."
"We'll need to halt the project, investigate responsibility, select new builders, and restart."
"…What?"
"This is the kind of thing you only hear about on the news."
"I'm really sorry," he continued."I should've caught it sooner. Now the entire schedule will be delayed because of me."
But strangely—
My first feeling was relief.
If the factory had been completed without discovery, we would have entrusted Luktic's future to a time bomb.
A single collapse during operations—
Like the apartment wall failures and underground parking garage collapses recently reported in the news—
Could have happened in our own plant.
The thought was horrifying.
Later, after hearing the full explanation, I learned that the inspectors had effectively colluded with the contractors and deliberately concealed even obvious issues visible in the paperwork.
Yet despite that, Dong-sik had uncovered the fraud before the main structural construction was completed.
That meant he had done his job.
I sighed and said:
"It's okay, Dong-sik."
"Honestly, it's fortunate we found it now."
"You did well."
As always, I was reminded how corrupt the world could be.
Those people knew full well that if a poorly built factory collapsed, countless workers could die.
And yet they still did it—
Bribing supervisors to increase their margins.
They would be held fully accountable.
***
The very next day, Dong-sik hired a new inspection company and launched a full audit.
He promised large bonuses for every defective section they uncovered.
The new team worked furiously, using scanning equipment to inspect concrete that had already been poured.
The results were worse than expected.
Even in completed sections, hidden internal zones throughout the structures contained far less reinforcing steel than specified.
Next came identifying which companies were responsible.
Luktic's second factory was one of the largest construction projects currently underway in Korea.
Naturally, many contractors were involved.
Including subcontractors, the number of participating companies was enormous.
Dong-sik worked with the new inspectors and trusted executives to trace responsibility.
The most shocking discovery came at the largest central building of the project.
Its structural deficiencies were severe.
And the subcontractor responsible was led by the same man who had previously told Dong-sik:
"Director Kim, I understand your passion, but if you keep walking the site all day, it may have the opposite effect. Workers become nervous when management watches constantly."
The man who had discouraged constant inspections—
Was overseeing the worst fraud on site.
Dong-sik suppressed his rage and summoned all field managers from the implicated firms.
Then he spoke coldly.
"As of today, your contracts are terminated."
"The agreement clearly states that confirmed fraud allows immediate cancellation."
"I trust anyone with the slightest conscience will not object."
The men exchanged panicked glances.
Their eyes said everything.
What happened? Didn't you say the inspectors were already bought?
You said the young director had no experience and Daesung Group wasn't involved this time!
Dong-sik continued.
"After determining full responsibility, we will claim all demolition costs, reconstruction costs, and losses caused by project delays."
"Formal notices will be sent to your headquarters."
The site managers immediately protested.
"W-Wait! That's too much! You're trying to destroy us!"
"The general contractors barely paid us anything! How were we supposed to build to full specification?"
Dong-sik laughed in disbelief.
"We closely monitored payment flows to prevent exactly that excuse."
"The budgets were sufficient."
"Your margins were already guaranteed."
"You simply wanted to multiply them by stealing materials."
He was right.
Subcontractors were guilty—
But the main contractors who allowed it were equally responsible.
Dong-sik intended to pursue everyone.
He grabbed a thick stack of documents from the nearby table and threw them forward.
"We'll be filing civil lawsuits immediately."
"If you have complaints, make them in court."
Then he glared at them.
"You said we're trying to kill you?"
"If that defective factory had collapsed someday, what then?"
"Workers dead."
"Workers injured."
"Luktic destroyed by public outrage."
"So your companies deserve protection—but our workers can die?"
Now fully understanding the situation, several men turned pale and begged for mercy.
Dong-sik remained unmoved.
"After legal review, criminal charges will also be pursued."
"Prepare yourselves."
***
Normally, fraud of this scale did not happen on factory projects run by major conglomerates.
Large corporations monitored construction aggressively because accidents during operations would be catastrophic.
Subcontractors usually didn't dare attempt this.
But this time, they had underestimated a young startup—Luktic—and a young project leader.
They even bribed the inspectors.
That arrogance cost them everything.
Soon, the second factory project underwent a massive replacement of contractors and supervisors.
Fortunately, reinspection confirmed that the foundational groundworks themselves were sound.
Only compromised structures had to be demolished and rebuilt from scratch.
Construction resumed.
This time, properly.
***
After the scandal, progress became smooth again.
I chose to trust Dong-sik and wait.
Six months passed.
Construction of the second factory on the Gimhae Plain was nearing completion.
And six months earlier, I had also ordered the quantum computer to decode the Hyper Battery technology.
Required decoding time:
180 days.
Now I truly understood what it meant when the system warned that future knowledge would become exponentially harder to decode.
If I failed to upgrade the quantum computer soon, future technologies might require years—
Perhaps decades.
Still, after a long 180 days, the manufacturing method for a monster battery that could reshape the global energy industry was finally about to appear.
[Time Remaining: 1 second]
At last—
The six long months ended.
[Knowledge Decoding Complete!]
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This was the moment the formula for the Hyper Battery—with twenty times the efficiency of lithium-ion batteries and ten times the performance of solid-state batteries—would be revealed on Earth for the first time.