At some point, the development of the new flying machine had devolved into a full-blown rivalry between Area 51 and Area 52.

“We have the Emperor Emeritus!”

“So what! We have the Grand Emperor!”

“Oh, really? Are you claiming you don’t know how incredible the Emperor Emeritus is?”

“You bet! Do you have any idea how singularly devoted the Grand Emperor is to flying machines?”

This argument comprised nearly eighty percent of the private letters exchanged between the artisans of the two facilities. And whenever the Area 52 artisans emphasized just how serious Grand Emperor Wan was about flight, the Area 51 artisans found themselves at a slight loss for words.

It wasn’t that Emperor Emeritus Hyang wasn’t brilliant, but his attention was… divided. He had his hands in everything. Even now, whenever he got bored, he would dream up some new, ludicrously clever contraption that would, without fail, shove the artisans into a fresh new pit of suffering.

“That lighter was a prime example of that.”

***

The metalworkers had gone through hell trying to manufacture the lighter that Hyang had designed in imitation of a 21st-century Zippo. The mechanism itself was brutally simple, but the quality standards demanded by the tiny component parts were anything but.

“Even the wick… it wasn’t just a matter of twisting cotton threads. We had to weave copper wire into it…”

But the lighter that emerged from all that suffering became an unprecedented blockbuster hit, second only to the fountain pen. The ability to create fire, simply and reliably, was an enormous advantage, regardless of East or West. The wide range of price points also played a major role. You could get anything from the cheapest, plain-bodied version to a high-end luxury model featuring gold and silver metal-inlay work, allowing people to purchase according to their means.

But this success was impossible based on convenience alone. The people who truly needed a portable, instant-fire tool were housewives, pilgrims, soldiers, and traveling merchants, and this demographic had no need for expensive, inlaid lighters. It was another new cultural item, one that started in the New Frontier, that truly opened the wallets of the wealthy.

It was tobacco, which the natives called tabaco. As this plant spread not only through the Empire but also to Ming, Japan, Southeast Asia, and even Europe, the lighter became an unbelievable cash cow

“Well… it would be weirder if it didn’t spread…”

Hyang, upon receiving the report that tobacco was taking root, wore an expression of pure resignation.

***

Military doctors had reported that coca leaves, which the natives of the Mexica region chewed for pain relief and other purposes, exhibited powerful hallucinogenic effects and addictive properties on par with opium. The Imperial court immediately banned the practice of chewing coca leaves. It wasn’t just a simple prohibition, either; they instituted a severe punishment: anyone caught breaking the law would be sentenced to forced labor alongside the Mexica people.

The mere thought of being treated the same as the Mexica, their mortal enemies, was enough for the other native populations to abandon coca leaves instantly. Besides, the Empire was already supplying excellent alternative medicines for pain relief, and, more importantly, they now had tobacco.

Of course, tobacco also possessed significant addictive properties, which sparked a debate within the Imperial court.

“It has its downsides, but it also has its upsides. And, above all, is it not far better than coca leaves?”

Following the decision by Wan, who was Emperor at the time, the use of tobacco was permitted. As time passed, it grew in popularity not just among the natives but also among Imperial citizens in the Motherland and the Northern Territories. The Imperial government or, more accurately, Lim Sunwook, moved swiftly. The sale of tobacco was turned into a state-run monopoly.

“Grow it if you want, but I control the procurement, distribution, and sale!”

Faced with tobacco’s explosive spread, Hyang simply gave up. “…In the end, this, too, was inevitable, I suppose.”

Instead, he added his own “MSG.” He pushed Wan to legislate the creation of designated smoking areas.

“For every person who enjoys tobacco, there is another who detests it. We cannot simply pick one side. Therefore, we will create separate spaces where one can smoke! Anyone caught smoking outside of those designated areas will be punished!”

The very first smoking areas were established in administrative buildings, starting with Gyeongbok Palace. These were places overflowing with paper, packed with all manner of state secrets. If a stray spark were to cause a fire, it would be a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions.

“Just try smoking outside a designated area in the palace. I will have you buried in the Archives, no questions asked!”

***

It was during Hyeon’s current reign, as tobacco went global, that Hyang had finally released his new lighter. And as its sales figures shot through the roof, bootleg copies naturally began to appear. But the Empire was not about to let that slide, and after getting severely burned, foreign merchants chose a different route. They would borrow the mechanism of the Imperial lighter, but house it in a completely different-looking body.

“The principle of striking flint to create a spark is an ancient one! The Empire does not own it!”

This was the loophole they chose, one that had already been upheld by the Empire’s own tribunals. Hyang, however, was not the least bit concerned.

“This is just the ‘printer manufacturer’s’ business model. And,” he’d smirked, “there’s a reason I waited until now to release this.”

What Hyang truly considered the money-maker was the fuel that went into the lighter.

***

Years ago, back when Hyang was the Crown Prince, he had already built a lighter once before. Due to the limits of technology at the time, it was large and clunky, but it had enjoyed a brief period of popularity. That popularity did not last, all because of the fuel.

The fuel for that first-generation lighter was high-proof alcohol (or spirits). To ignite reliably from a small spark, the spirits had to be of extremely high purity. This required repeated distillations, which in turn required a lot of raw material—namely, alcohol. And that meant it required a lot of grain.

“It is already a struggle to secure enough grain for the people to eat! Wasting so much of it just for lighters is unacceptable!”

The opposition was significant, and their reasoning was sound. King Sejong, who was on the throne at the time, had ordered the sale of the lighters to be halted.

But now, years later, they could distill petroleum. With a viable (and non-food-based) fuel source now in mass production, Hyang had taken his second shot at the lighter, and this time, it was a staggering success.

***

As Hyang had predicted, foreign merchants eventually began to produce and sell their own lighters. However, they were still forced to use Imperial-made fuel. Using high-proof alcohol was just as unprofitable for them as it had been for Hyang. And they couldn’t just use other oils, as they either wouldn’t light or, if they did, would produce billows of thick, black soot.

No matter how ornate or beautiful the lighter’s body, the wealthy clientele would never buy a product that stained their hands and faces with soot. Because of this, even though they had created their own “razors,” they were all forced to buy the Empire’s “blades.”

***

It was because of Hyang’s… colorful… track record of being distracted by these side-hustles that the Area 51 artisans had no good comeback when the Area 52 artisans boasted about Grand Emperor Wan’s pure, unwavering dedication to flight. In the end, whenever they were backed into a corner, the Area 51 team just had to resort to “stubbornly insisting” that their man was better.

But the more pragmatic artisans, in both Area 51 and 52, all muttered the same thing under their breath.

“Whether we have the Emperor Emeritus or the Grand Emperor, the one unchangeable fact is that we’re the ones who have to do all the suffering.”

Despite the fierce rivalry, the projects shared several common starting points. First, and most importantly, both sides had adopted the new external combustion engine (Stirling) as the primary power plant. At this point in time, it was the only engine available that had a decent thrust-to-weight ratio.

“…Well, ‘decent’ isn’t just an accident,” Hyang sighed to himself, looking over a schematic. “I drove da Vinci and the artisans half-mad optimizing this thing’s efficiency… but still… haaah.” He looked at the drawing with a deep-seated frustration. “But if you’re talking real efficiency, it’s a fact that it can’t hold a candle to an internal combustion engine. But to get an internal combustion engine running properly, you need a laundry list of other technologies, starting with a reliable electrical system…”

Hyang’s thoughts grew heavy as he wrestled with the problem of power plants. “We have turbines, but gas turbines or jet engines are still impossible. We just don’t have the alloys to withstand those kinds of temperatures yet. Haaaah.”

He let out another long sigh and began drafting a document to submit to Hyeon. “And so, the pile of new problems for the Challenge Records just keeps growing…”

The new engine wasn’t the only commonality.

• The fuselage “skeleton” was constructed from steel tubes and wood.
• The fuselage “skin” was made of plywood.
• The engine, fuel tank, and cockpit were separated by a steel plate to ensure a minimum of safety.
• And finally, the pilot was to be issued a parachute.

The parachute had been co-developed back in Hyang’s Crown Prince days, alongside the first airship and self propelled airships. What was interesting was that Hyang hadn’t ordered its development; the artisans had recognized the need and started the research themselves. It was a project born purely from their own survival instincts.

“Look, we built that thing,” one of them had said, “but can you honestly guarantee it’ll land safely one hundred times out of one hundred?”

“Nope.”

“Right. So, what happens if things go wrong and we just… fall out of the sky?”

“It’s ‘goodbye, cruel world,’ that’s what.”

“We need a solution.”

And so, research into the parachute had begun. The moment Hyang learned of it, he gave it his full, immediate approval.

The use of plywood for the fuselage skin was a lesson learned from the Challenger-class battleships.

“We found that layering planks with the wood grain crossed, either vertically or diagonally, massively increased its defensive strength.”

“So, even if the airplane’s skin is thin, if we layer it like that, it should be much stronger than one single, thick plank, right?”

That wasn’t the only lesson from the battleships. To prevent the spread of fire or flooding from a hull breach, the Challenger-class was divided into numerous bulkheads and compartments. The artisans, remembering this, applied the same logic to the flying machine.

“We might not be able to protect every part, but we must seal off the engine compartment from the cockpit. If things go wrong, we have to at least buy the pilot the minimum time they need to react.”

They were faithfully adhering to the “survivability-first” philosophy that Hyang had drilled into them until they were sick of hearing it.

***

At the end of this fierce competition, several designs were finally completed. Three different types came from Area 51, and three from Area 52. This diversity was a direct result of both Hyang and Wan allowing it. For Wan, a lifelong flight fanatic, this was to be expected. But for Hyang, it was somewhat surprising. After all, he had only given da Vinci a single concept drawing to start with.

Da Vinci himself, however, had been slightly dissatisfied.

“Your Highness, forgive my audacity,” he had said, “but I have… a concept of my own. I beg you, please allow me to research it alongside yours.”

“Oh? Is that so? Then by all means, do it. Ah… and since we’re at it, if anyone else has a different design they’ve been thinking about, tell them to bring it forward.”

“Yes, Your Highness?”

And just like that, a whole variety of new designs “popped out.”