American: Native Empire

Meanwhile, the development of gun cotton inspired many chemists.

“Nitroglycerin…”

“What kind of principle makes it explosive when two acids are mixed?”

They were interested in the mixing of nitric and sulfuric acids itself, while other chemists were busy improving gun cotton.

They thought that maybe through this, they could make a better gunpowder than gun cotton.

And among them was Warm Hat.

“Hmm. I was curious what kind of topic you wanted to research, since you’ve been reading books for a long time… Unexpected. Why do you suddenly want to study nitroglycerin?”

The head of the Department of Chemistry at the Imperial University, Red Bowl, asked Warm Hat, who shrugged his shoulders.

“There’s no special reason. I just felt embarrassed for only reading books for a long time. And the potential of nitroglycerin is very high, so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone…”

“Ha ha! The famous Warm Hat feels embarrassed?”

“Tsk. I have that much sense.”

“Well then, do a lot of research. Don’t just read books all the time.”

Red Bowl teased him, but Warm Hat just smiled it off. 

Then Red Bowl clenched his jaw and said seriously.

“I see. I have to support your research. I’ll open my own lab for you, so submit what you need in writing. But, as you know, nitroglycerin is a very dangerous substance. So be careful as much as possible.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you as always.”

“Don’t mention it. If you’re done with your business, get out.”

“Yes, sir.”

As soon as Warm Hat left the office, Red Bowl clicked his tongue.

“Tsk tsk. Anyway, he has his own research topic. He has to think about studying such a dangerous substance.”

Warm Hat was one of the best scholars in the Department of Chemistry.

When other scholars were digging deep into their own fields, he had mastered various fields since he was a librarian.

“Sigh. He won’t listen even if I stop him.”

But Red Bowl soon gave up. 

He was glad that he was in the Department of Chemistry.

Red Bowl wrote a paper on photosensitivity and was deeply involved in the research of the camera that resulted from it.

He was recognized for his achievements and finally became the head of the Department of Chemistry.

So he was very grateful to Warm Hat. 

If he hadn’t been a librarian and thought of the principle of the camera, he wouldn’t have been able to become the head of the department.

“Ah, let’s stop thinking about it. He’ll do well on his own.”

The only way he could show his gratitude now was to give Warm Hat a lot of support for his lab.

On the other hand, Warm Hat headed to the Central Library.

“Oh, that’s him…”

“Do you see him for the first time? Well, you haven’t been enrolled in the Imperial University for long. But if you came to the library often, you would have seen his face at least.”

“Ha ha. It’s hard to catch up with my studies… And I’m busy with research too.”

“You’re so new. Hehe.”

When Warm Hat entered the library, the passing scholars whispered to each other.

‘I can hear you, guys.’

Warm Hat smiled bitterly to himself and quickened his pace.

In fact, he didn’t really want to enroll in the Department of Chemistry at the Imperial University and become a chemist. 

He was happier reading books than doing annoying experiments.

But his life was shattered when the camera was invented.

‘Ugh…’

He shuddered as he remembered that time.

The impact of the camera was tremendous. 

After Kim Ki-woo’s portrait was taken for the first time, the trend became even more intense.

As a result, people became very interested in the camera, and various behind-the-scenes stories related to its development were introduced.

The fact that a librarian at the Imperial University designed all the basic principles of the camera and that it was actually implemented by the Department of Chemistry at the Imperial University.

This story became a big issue throughout the empire. 

It meant that a librarian at the Imperial University had built all the foundations for such an amazing invention as photography.

‘I couldn’t do my librarian job since then.’

After Warm Hat’s story echoed throughout the country, countless scholars came to see him.

Even the Minister of Education personally visited him. 

As a result, Warm Hat couldn’t read any books. 

He had a lot of trouble doing his librarian job.

Being deprived of his reading time was a great pain for him. 

It was a terrible time.

And around that time, Wide Lid, who was then the head of the Department of Chemistry, came to see Warm Hat.

“Are you okay?”

“…No, I’m not okay. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have gone to see you that day.”

“Hehe. What a scary thing to say. It’s because of you that the camera was invented.”

“That’s why I’m suffering.”

He was under so much stress that Warm Hat’s words were full of sharp thorns.

His next words were also very harsh.

“So, what are you doing here?”

“I came here to tell you something and to make you an offer.”

“What is it?”

“Heh. You must be feeling old and sore.”

“Huff. Come this way.”

“Thank you.”

The two of them sat down facing each other and continued their conversation.

“Now, tell me what it is.”

“You’re in a hurry. Here, take this.”

“What is this?”

“It’s an account that contains the royalties you’ve received for your camera invention.”

“…!”

The eyes of the Warm Hat widened at the sudden words.

“Why are you so surprised? You are the first inventor of the camera, aren’t you? So, of course, you should get the royalties.”

“That’s true.”

He was surprised because he hadn’t thought about the royalties, but it made sense.

“There’s much more money in there than you can imagine. But this is just the beginning. As the camera becomes more popular, a huge amount of money will be deposited into that account. You won’t run out of money even if you live a lavish life for the rest of your life.”

“…”

The Warm Hat looked down at the account he received with a blank expression.

“Congratulations on becoming a rich man. Thanks to you, I became rich too. Hahaha!”

“Do you care about money too, Dean?”

“Of course I do. Do you think I have no desire for money? I deserve to be rewarded for my efforts.”

The Warm Hat nodded at his words. 

There was nothing wrong with earning a lot of money legitimately, not by doing something corrupt.

“With that money, you don’t have to work as a servant anymore. You can buy countless books and just read them. You can live the life you dreamed of.”

“Haha…”

The Warm Hat laughed bitterly at his words.

The Wide Pot Lid looked at him and leaned forward with his fingers crossed.

“But no matter how many books you buy, they won’t compare to this vast central library of the Imperial University. Right?”

“That’s true.”

He was right.

Even if the royalties from the camera were tremendous and would continue to grow, it was impossible to buy as many books as this library.

It was something that even the huge corporations would find burdensome.

“So I have one suggestion for you.”

“Join the chemistry department, right?”

“You know well. If you want to stay at the Imperial University, there are only two ways: either enroll as a scholar or get a job as a staff member like a librarian. But it would be very hard to commute from outside the Imperial University to the central library. It would take a lot of time too. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

He knew very well how hard it was to work as a staff member.

“But…”

“I know what you’re worried about. But I can promise you one thing. Even if you join the chemistry department, I won’t interfere with anything. You can research when you want to research, and if you don’t want to… You can just borrow books from the library and read them like now.”

As he continued his words, the pupils of the Warm Hat dilated. It was such a radical offer.

That’s why he was curious.

“Why are you doing this much for me?”

“As I said before, I think very highly of you. And this was proven by your invention. It’s good for the chemistry department to have you as a member. It’s good for you and good for the chemistry department. How great is that? Don’t worry about the exam either. I’ve already got permission for special admission.”

“Permission…”

“Well, even though you’ll make a lot of money from the royalties, the salary from the Imperial University won’t be bad either. And you can also do your own research on things that come to your mind like this time.”

This was almost giving him everything.

It showed how much the Wide Pot Lid cared about him.

So after hesitating for a while, the Warm Hat finally nodded.

“Huff. You win. You’ve done so much for me that I can’t refuse.”

“You made a good decision. I sincerely congratulate you on becoming a chemist of the Imperial University’s chemistry department.”

“I look forward to working with you, Dean.”

“Me too.”

***

The Warm Hat recalled his past memories.

After borrowing some papers related to his acid research, he came out of the central library and found that it was getting dark.

He looked up at the sky and thought of the Wide Pot Lid’s face.

‘I miss him.’

The Wide Pot Lid was no longer in this world. 

He retired after serving as dean for several years and passed away two years ago.

He was a benefactor who gave him many things, so he still thought of him sometimes even after two years.

‘For his sake, I can’t give up on research completely…’

For Wide Pot Lid, the Imperial College of Chemistry was his home. 

He felt a duty to maintain his home in a sturdy condition.

And indeed, he had accomplished some significant researches in the past, fulfilling some of Wide Pot Lid’s expectations.

It was quite unpleasant to have his reading time taken away by research, but it was something he had to endure.

Afterwards, Warm Hat prepared his research by reading papers related to nitric acid. 

And as time passed, he finally opened his own laboratory.

“Warm Hat’s research? Then it must be worth participating.”

“But the research topic is a bit… dangerous, isn’t it?”

“Is backing out because of danger something a chemist should do? I’m willing to take the risk and join.”

Although many chemists were reluctant to study explosives, Warm Hat’s reputation was enough to recruit enough chemists.

“From now on, we will use nitric acid to react with various substances in various ways. So please prioritize safety when conducting the research.”

“Yes!”

His short speech ended and the research began in earnest. 

And in his laboratory, he synthesized nitroglycerin using nitric acid and glycerin, and even developed TNT by reacting toluene with high temperature.

Of course, he poured his blood and sweat into making each of these.

‘These things could explode at any moment.’

He thought this and handled them carefully for a long time, and thanks to that, he found out that they were very sensitive like the early cotton powder.

And he solved this problem step by step. Here, too, the official document containing Kim Ki-woo’s advice was very helpful.

‘In the end, the important thing is stabilization.’

With this in mind, he started experimenting on stabilizing nitroglycerin.

As a result, he succeeded in developing a stable dynamite by mixing nitroglycerin and diatomaceous earth.

It was the moment when dynamite was born.