NIS Agents Tearing Up the Japanese Empire - Chapter 26



Only Krnovel

Shanghai Romance – 4

The transaction went smoothly without any problems.

My wife, impressed by the dollars and designer watches that filled her briefcase, handed me the deed to the house, and I became the building owner, right under the Creator.

The funny thing is, I didn’t even tell the Provisional Government that I had bought this house, but Kim Gu, Lee Si-yeong, and other members of the Provisional Government came to see me early in the morning to say they were going to move into the house.

“Wow… The house is so grand~”

“I want to live in a house like this one day too···.”

The provisional government officials who came as representatives walked around the house, chatting noisily, or sat down in the house or yard and ate the food they brought.

“Ugh… The alcohol tastes good!”

“Of all the drinks, the best is daytime drinking.”

Among them, Lee Si-young and Kim Gu sat right next to me and discussed the price of the house among themselves.

“So how much did you pay for it? $500? $700?”

“Hey! This guy, if he’s not a worthless guy, why would he spend that much money on such a shabby building?”

“······?”

“If I had bought this land and built the building myself, it would have only cost me $500.”

“Then it would be around $300 now.”

“That would be a reasonable price.”

“······.”

I thought I had just gotten away with a cheap, flashy counterfeit watch, but it was me, not my wife, who knew the ways of the world all too well, who was the one who got cheated.

“So how much did you pay for it?”

“Can’t you see it? Of course I would have beaten it to within 500 dollars.”

“Well… Koreans are good at haggling over prices.”

“Hehehe, Mr. Lee! You must have saved a lot of money, so how about throwing a big party with it?”

“······.”

I was a little upset at the thought of being ripped off, but I consoled myself with the thought that I paid a fair price for a house like this, as it would be hard to find another house like this in Shanghai.

“Teacher, what are you thinking that makes you speechless?”

“I was thinking about starting a new business.”

“Business? What kind of business are you going to do in Shanghai? This place is half filled with Chinese businessmen from the old days, and the other half are evil Japanese.”

“Baekbeom is right. I don’t doubt your ability, but trying something new here and succeeding is as difficult as standing nine needles and threading them together at the same time.”

Kim Gu and Lee Si-young expressed their concerns about my business venture.

As they said, Shanghai is now full of businessmen from Europe and Japan, and their businesses are well-established.

In that situation, if I, who has no support, interfere, it would be like throwing an egg at a rock.

‘······You must be thinking.’

My intention to start a business is, without a doubt, to distribute supernotes.

Originally, the goal was to establish a company in Gyeongseong and grow the business from there, but things got worse due to the unexpected involvement of the Black Dragon Society.

Because of the activities of that damn Black Dragon Society or Black Earthworm Group, I had to throw away everything I had achieved in Gyeongseong and barely escape to Shanghai with only the necessities.

‘It’s a bit of a shame to leave things behind in Gyeongseong, but… I’ll just start over in Shanghai.’

Now that the building was secured, it wasn’t too difficult to get a business permit, as long as he bribed the French ambassador who controlled the French Concession and the warlord who controlled Shandong.

Since I could just register the income I earned there, I could start earning money as soon as I started working.

“It seems like it would be easier to succeed in business in Shanghai than to thread a needle.”

“What? That’s some great confidence.”

“Do you have any business ideas in mind?”

“Yes.”

Even though it was a business of copying money out of thin air, the business items that were visible on the surface were also important.

The business idea was to be something that wasn’t too grandiose, but could generate a decent amount of revenue.

So the business item I chose is.

“I’m thinking of selling my weapons.”

“You’re selling weapons?”

“Are you thinking of becoming a military contractor?”

“Yes, I heard that in China today, just like the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in the distant past, many generals are fiercely competing to divide the land and unify the world. I will sell weapons to them and make a fortune.”

Kim Gu and Lee Si-young stared blankly at each other for a moment, then made serious expressions as if they were worried about me.

“I regret to say this to you, a man full of dreams… The warlords who are said to be flying high in China these days are importing weapons from the Mosel Company in Europe.”

“Some of them even bring in permits from the other side and produce locally. So, what you have to deal with is not just the companies of Deokguk in Guju, but also the various armories in China.”

Germany, which had suffered a terrible defeat in the previous Great War, had fallen, and the Treaty of Versailles restricted its weapons development and military possession.

But our lovable villain Germany, with its wicked habit of trying to do whatever others tell it not to do, went to great lengths to circumvent the treaty.

When they were prevented from developing tanks, they helped the Soviet Union develop tanks while also developing tanks. When they were prevented from possessing submachine guns, they developed submachine guns while lying that they were for police use.

The current Mauser craze in China could also be seen as part of Germany’s struggles.

After the defeat in the last war, all that remained for the German military industry was a miserable collapse.

No matter how much the government helps them, how much can the Weimar government, which cannot even take care of itself, help them?

The Chinese people in the distant east, busy fighting among themselves every day, were the ones who brought a little rain to the German military industry that was dying day after day.

The Chinese people could tolerate others arbitrarily borrowing their land and plundering their treasures, but they could not tolerate the fact that the next village’s lord declared himself the master of the world. So they fought every day.

And as these passionate fighters fought every day, they needed weapons, and the weapons that happened to be on sale in the market were the ones used by the German Empire during the Great War.

Many Chinese people, who realized that the quality of the used weapons they bought unintentionally was better than they thought, started buying Mauser’s products without exception, leading to the present.

Thanks to this, the current Chinese arms market was dominated by Germany’s Mauser, which was the ultimate synergy of Germany’s excellent mechanical engineering, enormous population, and inexhaustible resources.

Their popularity was so high that most of the pirated weapons commonly seen in China were Mauser products.

That’s how much the Chinese preferred German-made weapons.

Mauser already had a firm grip on the rifle and pistol markets.

In this situation, no defense industry in Europe or the US could break China’s love for Mauser, but then a young, greenhorn suddenly declared that he would break it.

So the provisional government people were worried about me too.

Kim Gu and Lee Si-young were not supporters of the provisional government or independence fighters who stirred up a stir in Gyeongseong, but simply tried to prevent young people from going down the wrong path.

“Your bold ambitions are commendable, but even that requires careful consideration of your opponents.”

“Baekbeom’s words are right a hundred and a thousand times over. No matter how good your business acumen is, China is a much bigger place than you knew.”

“Please don’t worry so much about it. I have a plan for everything.”

At my words, Kim Gu shook his head, and Lee Si-young let out a deep sigh.

“So, what is the plan you came up with?”

“It’s simple. It’s about digging into the areas that the Mouser couldn’t reach.”

“What part of Moselle Saga couldn’t dig into?”

Mauser was responsible for all small arms of the Republic of China, including rifles and pistols for the Chinese warlords.

That means, nine out of ten soldiers in the Republic of China use genuine, licensed, or illegal copies of German Mauser guns.

However, during the First World War (then called the Great War) that took place in Europe, a new weapon that left its mark on the history of weapons appeared.

“Are you trying to make and sell a machine gun or something?”

“Hoo… If it’s a machine gun, then it’s possible.”

“No?”

Of course, the last great war had brought with it a new type of weapon called the light machine gun, and many warlords in the Republic of China also took an interest in this new weapon.

Even now, the continent was divided between light machine guns made in Denmark and light machine guns made in Britain.

But that’s not what I wanted.

“A light machine gun is an attractive business item, but… it requires too much technological skill for a start-up company that is just starting out.”

“Hmm. I see.”

“That’s too bad.”

The fledgling machine gun market was overflowing with demand from all over the world, and once produced, they sold.

However, it required too high a level of technology (by the standards of the time) to make it blindly.

In order to start a business, I needed a product that I could at least show to others, but I didn’t have the talent to make something fancy like a machine gun.

I was used to taking apart and assembling guns, but making a new one was a different matter.

“That’s why I chose the submachine gun.”

“A submachine gun···?”

“Are you talking about something like the Thompson that the criminal group of Miriken uses?”

Lee Si-young seemed to have no idea, and Kim Gu seemed to know to some extent, but did not seem to know exactly what it was.

“Yes, it’s similar. To put it simply, it’s a weapon specifically designed for a fearless soldier to charge into enemy lines and spray bullets into the air.”

“Who would buy a weapon like that?”

“Hey, don’t talk nonsense. I heard that in the distant Siberia, you made a great contribution during the last great war, and many countries are interested in you.”

“What? The nations of the world are interested in things like bullets and things that scatter in the air?”

Lee Si-young still looked like she didn’t understand English.

“They say the world is so complicated and bizarre… Do those guys find money by digging the ground?”

“I don’t know for sure, but seeing that you’re interested, I think there must be something outstanding about it.”

“I guess so… But it’s still difficult to understand.”

Perhaps the high-ranking officials of the Republic of China will have similar thoughts to Lee Si-young and Kim Gu.

Some will discount the value of the submachine gun, while others will be interested in the interest shown in Europe.

“But isn’t it equally difficult to make a machine gun or a submachine gun?”

In my situation, where I was starting from scratch with nothing, it was equally difficult to use a machine gun or a submachine gun.

But who am I?

He is a man from the future.

I have information about the future in my head.

Among them, there is information about a very excellent weapon that will be active on the battlefield in the near future.

“This is the rough blueprint for the new submachine gun I have developed.”

Kim Gu and Lee Si-young tilted their heads and asked me a question after seeing the impressive new gun with a long cylindrical barrel without any particular curves and a straight buttstock and pistol grip.

“This is just a pipe.”

“Who would call this a gun? It’s just a pipe you see on the street.”

“It’s a gun.”

“???”

The name of the object that looks like a trigger and magazine attached to a pipe that you can commonly see on the street is…

“This is Gyeongseong No. 1.”

“It’s a pipe, isn’t it?”

“Who would want to use such a worthless thing?”

Kim Gu and Lee Si-young tried to soothe me with kind words while holding back laughter after seeing my blueprint.

“Don’t do that, just close down this business. There are plenty of other things you can do besides this…”

“How much do you think this gun cost to make?”

“······?”

I held up two fingers.

Kim Gu smiled and acted coquettish.

“20 won? It’s definitely cheap, but considering the appearance, it’s not that cheap either…”

A sack of rice cost 20 won.

A sack of rice was considerably cheaper than a whole bag of rice, but unfortunately, I shook my head because that wasn’t the right answer.

Then Lee Si-young was startled and asked me.

“200 won?! It costs 200 won to make something like this?!”

In Gyeongseong, a house with two or three rooms and a yard was rented for about 200 to 300 won.

Of course not, since this amount was almost on the level of a scammer.

I shook my head again this time.

Then, both Kim Gu and Lee Si-young shuddered at the same time, and their cheeks began to tremble.

“S, no way···.”

“It wouldn’t be 2, 2 won, right···?”

Only then did I nod.

For reference, at that time, 1 won was worth one month’s tuition for a primary school created by the Japanese Government-General of Korea, which was working hard to divide Koreans through cultural rule, to provide educational opportunities to Koreans.

And a pair of leather shoes made by a skilled craftsman cost about 3 won, and that was the amount of money that the lucky Kim Cheomji earned in one night.

If you look at it simply by value, guns end up being cheaper than shoes.

Oops! Guns are cheaper than shoes?!

“You can make a limited edition for just 2 won. If you go into mass production, you can make it even cheaper than this.”

“It’s getting cheaper…?!”

“Then···. 1 won···?!”

“The moment this gun is released to the market, the world will enter a new era. A world where everyone can have a gun in their home, the era of mass-produced firearms has arrived.”

“Then doesn’t that mean you can make a profit no matter how much you sell it for? How on earth is that price range possible?!”

“Isn’t that because of my special skill (counterfeiting money)? Hahaha.”

Is the world about to enter a new era?