Dictator from outer space - Chapter 03

Vegetable Man

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A hospital in Gangnam, Seoul.

A middle-aged woman is guarding someone’s bed in a single-occupancy room.

She held and released the bedridden man’s hand, muttering.

“Yu-Jia… why don’t you open your eyes now? If you just wake up, I will do everything you need.”

“I won’t nag you anymore, okay?”

Her pleading voice was filled with longing for her son.

But he didn’t respond at all, and she buried her face in her bed and sobbed.

How much time had passed?

Embarrassed for herself, she changed his clothes and wiped him down with a towel.

A reconnaissance microdrone landed on the window of the single room.

「Subject’s biological mother. She has been taking care of her son, who is in a stage 7 coma, for three years」.

-Three years? What a waste of time.

「Women in this era give birth to their own children. The bonds are very strong」

-Bonds… .

Yu-Jia was born in a biobag and raised in an orphanage in a megacity.

His biological parents existed, but he didn’t know who they were, so he had little awareness of them.

But he sensed something in his mother, who cared for him with the utmost devotion.

-“She would be sad if she knew he wasn’t really her son.

「That will never happen」.

-I suppose so. I’m feeling a bit dizzy, by the way.

「Updating data, should be done in five minutes」

Currently, Yuuzha’s consciousness is stored in the Soul Exchanger.

If it were uploaded to the subject’s brain now, it would know nothing.

Therefore, it was necessary to update the information that Arma had gathered.

Meanwhile, Yu-Jia looked down at the man, puzzled.

He was tall enough, but his body was so lanky that it looked like it could break if he hit it.

-Maybe it’s because he’s been in a coma, but he looks so frail.

「Looking up historical records, it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference; he had a fairly short mouth, but that’s partly because he was Asian」.

The citizens of the Humanity Federation, on the other hand, were usually large, and Colonel Yu Jiha was no exception.

Standing at six-foot-four, his muscular build made him stand out wherever he went.

-I’ll have to work out when I wake up.

「A physical enhancer is currently being prepared, which can be administered as soon as you recover your health」.

-Okay, but what was this guy… what kind of person was he?

「It’ll take me a while to tell you」

-It doesn’t matter, I have nothing to do anyway, so might as well learn about him, to get used to.

Arma gave me a summary of Korean Yu-Jia.

「He’s the heir to the Silla Group, or the third generation of chaebols, in Korean, chaebols being corporate control groups organized by blood」

「When he was younger, he was called a genius and had high expectations, but as he grew up, he hit a wall, realized he wasn’t a genius, became frustrated, and started to go astray」

「He joined his father’s company and worked on various research projects, but nothing seemed to be working. In the meantime, his fiancée seduced him. Falling into alcohol, drugs, and women」

– Some people get frustrated when they realise they’re not great. What’s his personality like?

「He was known for his easy-going but self-righteous personality, and after a drug case and sex scandal, he was given the title of Silla Group bully」.

-What led to this situation?

「According to media reports, at the time, he was driving a vehicle drunk and caused an accident – maybe it’s a good thing he did it alone」.

Colonel Yu-Jia’s verdict was simple.

-An idiot.

「Until he entered university, he seriously expected to become the first Korean to win the Nobel Prize in science..a prize given to a person or group of people for outstanding achievements」

「But once he entered university, his genius faded, and the media interest cooled… politicians and scientists stopped coming to him」

-He must have despaired when he thought the world was his and realized it wasn’t.

「There are a few signs of suicide attempts related to this; he was persuaded by his mother to stop, but instead indulged in pleasure」.

He literally seemed to carry the cares and worries of the world on his shoulders.

I could not understand him, who had been commissioned as a soldier at the age of 15 and had been fighting since then.

When you are born into a good family in peaceful times, with a brilliant mind, you should be satisfied.

But I must try to understand.

His life will be mine from now on.

Arma reported.

「Preparation is complete. I, I’ll transmit the composite once she’s gone」

-So the people at this treatment facility will see a composite instead of the procedure.

「But I’m short on time, so if you’ll allow me, I’ll add some noise to the surrounding traffic to buy some time」.

-As long as it doesn’t cause too much of a fuss.

「Yes」

***

“Please take care of my son.”

“Don’t worry, Ma’am. We’re always watching over him.”

Jeong Hye-won thanked the nurses and left in her car.

In fact, in her position as owner of the Silla Group, she could afford any number of nurses.

However, due to an accident caused by a nurse two years earlier, Mrs Jeong was anxious to leave her son in anyone’s care.

She didn’t want to see her precious son harassed by a stranger again.

“Go home.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She sat in the back seat of the car, lost in thought as always.

It had been three years since her son had been like this, and there was no sign of improvement.

The doctors said they weren’t sure when he would wake up, and every day was hell.

“haa… ”

If I pestered my mum enough, she’d open her eyes.

I didn’t even want him to be as healthy as he was before.

Even if he was bedridden for the rest of her life, I was confident I could take care of him.

As long as he woke up.

Jeong Hye-won looked at the night view of Seoul with wistful eyes and noticed something strange.

It had been a long time since they left, and they weren’t even at Yangjae-dong yet.

“… It’s a bit late tonight?”

“It’s not this time of night, but there seems to be a lot of traffic, I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about. Anyway, please be careful.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

It was half an hour later than usual when she arrived at the Hannam-dong residence.

The mansion was rather simple for a chaebol, with no employees.

Her belief was that a home should be a comfortable place for her family to live.

But why did the house feel so unfamiliar these days?

The smell of alcohol wafted through the house with no lights on.

Her husband must have been drinking again.

Normally, she would have ignored it, but today, she felt irritated.

Someone came home to change clothes instead of taking care of their son, and he was drinking.

She flung the door open and berated him.

“Do you have an idea or not? My son is lying there like that!”

Yoo Gyeong-seok, her husband and Yu-Jia’s father, stared at her with bloodshot eyes.

“… I don’t know why you’re suddenly yelling like this, but stop today.”

“What do you mean stop, Is the alcohol moving down your throat? Someone who clearly knows why my son become like that!”

Yoo Gyeong-seok’s face contorted.

His son, Yu-Jia, was drunk and had an accident that turned him into a vegetable.

The root cause was likely a severe reprimand from his father.

Especially if the reprimand was of the “I shouldn’t have given birth to you” variety.

“… I just told him to get a grip. You know what he was doing. You know how he… .”

He went in and out of the detention center as if it were his own home.

He was so out of control that his behavior even affected the group’s stock price.

It was only thanks to Silla Group’s money that he was not jailed.

As a businessman and father, he couldn’t let his son get away with such behaviour.

However, he admits that his reprimand was a bit harsh.

He was already being counseled for severe depression, and to add fuel to the fire.

But she didn’t care about any of that.

All that mattered to her was her son.

“If you have to get a grip, you should have just told him to go out and die.”

“Come on, you know that’s not how I feel.”

“I don’t know. Oh, I do know this one thing. That you were greatly disappointed by my son. Did you think whatever if he was the same son who was smart as a child? Did you feel like he was not your son anymore as he grew up and stray a bit off?”

The way she spoke, releasing all her frustration, made Yu Gyeong-seok stand up, almost crying.

“Are you done talking?”

“What if I’m not?”

The atmosphere turned grim and they both glared at each other.

It has always been like this for some time.

Even when Yu Jiha was going let loose, they were not on such bad terms.

But when he became a vegetable, the couple’s relationship deteriorated.

They did not want to find out from themselves why their son had become like that.

This atmosphere has even led to the management of the company, and the Silla Group has recently faced a major crisis.

It was for this reason that Yu Gyeong-seok drank at home today.

“I don’t want to be in this house anyway.”

Yoo Gyeong-seok walked out, and the remaining Jeong Hye-won collapsed on the bed and cried.

Clearly a tragedy, but there were people, who were happy about this.

***

Arma.

She took control of the microdrones and cut the wiring so that Jeong’s car wouldn’t start.

Of course, there’s more than one car in this house, but it should buy us a little time.

「Action complete. Procedure started」

A walker entered the hospital room where Korean Yu-Jia was lying.

[Master, are you awake?]

I met something in the depths of my consciousness.

She was a slim, beautiful woman with cream-colored hair.

She stood up from her chair and bowed politely.

[I’ve added a number of languages to the Master’s language circuitry, including Korean. For the time being, we’ll be using only Korean. For practice, just follow what you see on your retina]

Is the procedure over already?

In fact, Yu-jia was stunned when he heard Arma report that the procedure was about to begin.

He asked nervously.

-Was the procedure–successful?

[I’m sorry, I should have said that first. The procedure was successful and the Master is currently in the Korean Yu-jia body. Yet to wake up from the coma]

-That’s good— I can’t wake up as I am, though, I lack the knowledge.

It’s the knowledge of common sense and family relations, that he can act like a Korean Yu-jia.

Even in a new body, that knowledge doesn’t come naturally.

Luckily, Arma seemed to have a plan.

With a snap of her fingers, a video began to play in Yu-jia’s vision.

It’s a compilation of all the information she’s gathered about the Koreans, organized like a film.

It gave me a better understanding of how he was in life.

-He had a nasty temper. He was in and out of law enforcement a lot.

[He must have been spoiled when he was a child, since he was the only child of his parents].

-If I wake up, am I going to be cursed?

[When Master shows a different side of himself, the evaluation will be reversed. Thinking that finally the dog has changed for good.]

-Don’t suddenly use difficult Korean.

During this exchange, I was constantly absorbing new information about Yu-Jia.

It was a massive amount of information, from the way Yu-Jia speaks, to his habits, to how he treats his family.

It was impossible to take it all in and use it right away.

-I’m sure it’s going to be awkward, but what can I do?

[It’ll be fine. No one can be too hard on a former vegetable, and there are reports of partial amnesia].

-I told you not to use hard words. What are the reports of imputation?

[It’s a solution that can be used at any time. People tend to be lenient when a vegetable person claims amnesia].

[People won’t be too suspicious if the Master is acting like his usual self. After all, people change after major accidents]

-And that’s good for me.

At that moment, a strange video played.

It was a video of Yu-Jia having s*x with a woman.

The conversation reveals that their relationship is anything but ordinary.

[She is his fiancée. She’s pretty much responsible for the original leading a life of debauchery. She taught him the pleasures of a woman’s body and drugs when all he knew was studying]

-That’s self-destruction, a man with his head on straight should have been able to resist such temptations.

[Apparently the original had a very sensitive and delicate heart. He’s desperate and broken, and when a woman shows him the pleasures of the flesh and drugs, he completely breaks down]

-So what is the woman doing?

[Information is scarce and I’m gathering it, but it’s clear that she’s someone in a position to match the original]

-She’s his fiancée, isn’t that weird, because if she’s a rich person, there’s no way you wouldn’t know.

Arma is an artificial intelligence that specializes in processing and calculating extremely large amounts of data.

By now, she’s probably scanned every newspaper article about the entire business world, so there’s something going on.

[Possibly an illegitimate child–I’m currently infiltrating the telecom company to find their call data]

-Never mind, the engagement would have been off anyway.

No woman would stay engaged to a man who turned into a vegetable.

After watching the video for a while, Yu-Jia finally understood the original.

-He’s just a big kid.

[That’s why if you show even a bit of maturity, your rating will go up as if you’ve grown up].

-If you doubt me, I must teach you until you do. Is this enough?

[Enough for someone who just woke up from a coma. By the way, the master’s mother is in the car, she should be here in an hour at most].

Yu-Jia and Arma chatted for an hour and finished practicing his character.

And by the time Mrs Jeong Hye-won entered the hospital room, everything was back to the way it was before.

“…so sorry son. Mum and Dad had a little fight.”

She sat at the bedside, as usual, and rambled on.

Arma, who was watching them through microdrones, signaled.

[Are you ready, Master?]

-Ready, begin.

[Administering stimulant—]

The stimulant that was capsulated in his body woke him up.

Yu-Jia’s fingers moved slightly.

But even though she saw it, she didn’t give it much thought.

The doctor had told her it was a normal reaction.

In fact, over three years, her son has had many other reactions besides his fingers.

Maybe this was one of them.

As she held his thin hand, she could hear his heartbeat.

“How long are you going to keep mum waiting—”

That’s when Yu-Jia opened his eyes.

His pupils moved, and when she saw them, her mouth dropped open.

“Y-you can’t be—”

“Ahh, you—”

It was the voice of the son she longed for so much.

Yu-Jia, who had been a vegetable for three years, was now awake.