Kim Kiwoo had many things going on in his family, but he put them aside and focused on his work.
Finally, the thing he had been longing for was within reach of success.
“Wow. This contains the vaccine.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Kim Kiwoo looked at the transparent glass syringe.
Inside the syringe was a liquid that was presumed to be a vaccine.
In fact, it was quite difficult to make such a thin needle with the current technology.
Therefore, these glass syringes were very precious.
‘I have no choice but to sterilize them with alcohol fire.’
In the absence of disposable syringes, the so-called fire injection was the alternative.
Of course, fire injection was painful and left marks on the skin, but this was unavoidable.
He organized his thoughts and looked at the vaccine experiment data.
The vaccine was mass-produced through eggs, but there were many twists and turns at first.
As a result, countless death row inmates suffered and died from diseases.
But by improving the vaccine through the accumulated data, the number of victims decreased significantly.
‘This is amazing for this time.’
As time passed, more know-how would be accumulated and the side effects would gradually decrease.
“Good. Now we can move on to the next step. Let Algo proceed with that.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
“A little more effort.”
He bowed.
As soon as Kim Kiwoo’s order was over, the dark flame bowed his head and left the office.
It was to create a system that could quickly mass-produce vaccines in case of emergency within the empire.
‘Finally, it’s time.’
He had already prepared enough for the biggest disaster, the plague of smallpox.
As time passed, at least a considerable number of imperial citizens on the mainland had been vaccinated against smallpox, and even at this moment, they were being vaccinated.
At this rate, even if smallpox landed on the mainland, it would not wipe out all the imperial citizens in vain.
And he also prepared for other plagues by producing vaccines for them.
Kim Kiwoo announced this fact at the imperial meeting as a surprise.
Then, the faces of various ministers turned pale with shock.
“Did you already succeed in mass-producing vaccines?”
“Huh… I thought it would take longer.”
“Hahaha. This is the prosperity of the empire!”
But shock was only for a moment.
The atmosphere in the meeting room soon turned into joy.
The danger of plagues from other continents was already widely spread.
Kim Kiwoo emphasized it so much that the imperial citizens had a vague fear of these plagues.
In this situation, it was great news that a fundamental countermeasure against plagues from other continents had been established.
Kim Kiwoo looked around at the happy ministers and smiled brightly.
“I will continue to establish a system that can quickly mass-produce vaccines within the empire in case of emergency. If this plan is completed, we will surely be freed from the fear of unknown plagues. Isn’t that right?”
“Your Majesty’s words are all right!”
After the response of the hygiene minister, Kim Kiwoo continued to speak.
“But still, unknown plagues are across the sea. To make vaccines for plagues, we have to bring them back. Isn’t that right?”
“That is certainly true.”
“So I plan to send a second expedition to the new continent to do this. But this second expedition will be much more dangerous than the first one.”
“Why is that?”
Kim Kiwoo immediately answered the question of the interior minister.
“The goal of this expedition is to collect unknown plagues and come back.”
“Um…”
The expressions on the heads’ faces hardened at Kim Kiwoo’s words.
It seemed very likely that they would be infected by the plague in this process, no matter how careful they were.
In other words, Kim Kiwoo was no different from forcing the expedition members to sacrifice themselves.
‘The situation is a bit different from last time.’
The first European expedition was relatively ignorant of the danger of the plague.
They only knew that they had to minimize contact with the Europeans to survive and return.
But the second expedition members would know how dangerous the plague was in the new continent across the sea.
To ask them to collect the plague in this situation.
It was no different from risking their lives.
“When you select the second expedition members, make sure to inform them of this. Choose those who are willing to sacrifice their lives for the empire. That’s what I mean.”
Kim Kiwoo’s remark brought a heavy silence to the conference room.
“I swear by my name. I promise you this. All the members who participated in this expedition will be given great honor and wealth. I will never forget the noble sacrifice of the members. Do you all understand?”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
***
The news of the second expedition recruitment hit the empire hard.
“Wow… This is like throwing away one’s life. I wonder if people will apply for the expedition.”
When this news was first published in the Imperial Newspaper, many imperial citizens had doubts about it.
Even if they were loyal to the empire, they thought they couldn’t easily risk their lives.
But there were also many imperial citizens who had opposite opinions.
“There are plenty of heroes who would throw their lives away for His Majesty’s word. The recruitment will surely be closed soon.”
They thought that the competition for the expedition recruitment would be very fierce.
Anyway, the imperial citizens all waited and waited for the second expedition recruitment to begin.
And many young people who were loyal to the empire and Kim Kiwoo began to move actively.
They thought of the glory that the first expedition received, and Kim Kiwoo’s promise, and decided to apply for the second expedition recruitment.
“Although I couldn’t participate as a first expedition member, I will definitely join the expedition this time, even if I have to give up my life.”
They told their families about this with a burning passion in their hearts.
Some of the families who heard this said,
“That’s right. I respect your will. A man with a big ambition should not look back. Don’t worry about your family and pursue your dream.”
“Thank you… Sob!”
They praised his noble spirit of sacrifice, but most of the families immediately opposed it.
“No! How can you go and throw away your life!”
“This is the way to repay the grace we have received from the great spirits and His Majesty. Please allow me, father!”
“Grace is enough by contributing as an imperial worker!”
“I have already made my decision. This will never change.”
“You really…”
But since only adults who had grown up could be expedition members, there were not many fathers who broke their children’s iron wills.
After that, the recruitment of expedition members finally began.
And the recruitment situation that followed was a little closer to the latter than the former.
“Wow… I didn’t expect it, but so many applicants came.”
“They are really amazing. It must have been a hard decision.”
People looked at the men who lined up long at the security office and clicked their tongues.
The recruitment application took place for a week in major cities across the country.
As a result, a high competition rate of about 4:1 was formed.
Considering that they increased the scale from the first expedition, and that they were men who risked their lives, it was a lot.
After hearing this, Kim Kiwoo also felt a deep emotion in his chest.
‘I thought it would be lucky if we filled up the quota… I’m grateful and sorry to them.’
He was grateful that they followed his will, and he was sorry that he pushed them into death.
The final selection of the second expedition team began.
The competition was fierce.
“I will definitely pass!”
They were all people who were prepared to risk their lives.
So they all clenched their teeth and showed strong will.
But not everything could be done by will alone.
Especially since the ratio of applicants to spots was 4 to 1, but the actual competition was even higher.
They prioritized applicants who had experience as sailors.
No matter how strong their will was, they had to hire some veterans who were familiar with sailing in the open sea.
Thanks to that, the men who survived the fierce competition were all outstanding.
After the recruitment was finished,
Kim Kiwoo invited them all to the palace.
He looked around the expedition members and raised his voice.
“I have no face to look at you. I beg you to forgive me for sending you to death for the sake of the empire.”
“Forgive you? Don’t say such a thing!”
“If we can repay your grace, we don’t mind giving up our lives!”
“That’s right!”
Wow!
Kim Kiwoo heard their huge passion and warm cheers and felt more sorry for their sacrifice.
But the decision had already been made, and they were all heroes who voluntarily stepped into death.
Asking for forgiveness any more was not what the second expedition team wanted.
“I hope you will return alive and enjoy this glory for a long time. May the great spirit bless you…”
***
The second expedition team was formed, but they lacked a lot in many ways.
Of course, there were very few people in the empire who had never been on a boat, but the real work of a sailor was harder than they thought for those who were not sailors.
But they were people who were ready to throw away their lives.
They were clumsy at first, but thanks to their efforts with a life-or-death attitude, they quickly became sailors.
But there were things that tormented the expedition members.
“It’s hard, it’s so hard…”
“Ugh. I feel nauseous just looking at these squiggly letters.”
The first one was none other than learning languages.
They had already learned many languages of Europe during the first expedition, and each ship had already decided where to land before departure, so they only had to learn the language of that region.
But learning a strange language that they had never seen before in a short time was very exhausting.
Blech!
“Ugh!”
“You’re too slow! Can’t you open your eyes? How can you complete this noble mission like that?”
“I’m s-sorry!”
And the second one was intense martial arts training.
The expedition members received rigorous training from the masters of the empire.
No matter how passionate they were, they could not beat the human weapons who had devoted their lives to martial arts.
The expedition members were beaten and rolled on the floor every day, living with bruises and muscle pain all over their body.
“…Are we going to die before we even leave?”
“Ugh…”
Sea training, language acquisition, and martial arts training.
The members went through a very hard schedule and gradually became exhausted.
But they never gave up in the face of hardship.
As a result, when their training was finally over,
The members had become completely different people from when they were first recruited.
And soon after,
“Depart!”
The sails of the ship carrying the expedition team opened wide.