Hmmmmmmmmmm.
The engines' quiet drone sounded almost like music.
They'd said they'd worked hard on the soundproofing, and there was barely any noise.
Like any long-haul airliner, it was big, and it didn't bounce around.
Exaggerating only a little, it was like a flying hotel.
The food was satisfying too.
Two chefs worked the galley.
Privately hired flight attendants handled the service.
Everything ran smoothly.
Now I understood why successful people hurry to buy their own jets.
For athletes, comfort helps them stay in peak condition.
For CEOs, time is money.
For the super-rich, it's about showing off their wealth.
And for people used to comfort, there's no better toy.
You didn't even have to fight jet lag.
And, like me right now, you could hold a secret meeting on the move.
"Is the campaign money being managed perfectly?"
"We're keeping it well balanced. We're using super PACs aggressively, and at the same time spreading political money across the board, to Democrats and to the Republicans we need too, picked one by one. We're also using legitimate lobbyists. We've budgeted about fifty million dollars a month."
This was the part I was putting the most into.
However much money I had, one word from the world's bully-in-chief, the American president, could crush me.
So I didn't skimp on the bait.
Against the people itching to eat me alive, the best shield is the President of the United States.
The magic of his power reaches the whole world.
"Any word from the inner circle?"
"We've been promised a generous bonus, verbally. They want to keep the connection going through the reelection."
I was looking forward to that generous bonus.
The campaign money, a bottomless pot of treasure, was doing its job beautifully. (TL Note: The Korean is 화수분, the folktale pot that refills itself with whatever is put in it—an endless supply.)
Support for Obama, once nothing more than an unknown local newcomer, was catching fire everywhere.
I'd enjoyed following his run in the online news.
In America, too, people had had it up to here with career politicians.
The Republicans…
Oh how he was wrong about solar. No matter how good solar power gets, it will never push out oil until solar becomes convenient, reliable, and cheaper. It’s already 2026 and solar is still less reliable, more expensive, and produces more pollution upon production and maintenance compared to burning oil. Oil won’t be going away any time soon. Solar would only be viable once the oil runs out. Even China is still primarily using coal despite all their hyping up of solar. It’s all performative.