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Chapter 177
Chapter 177
Chapter 177
January 12th, 2021, 23:00, an old building in the suburb of Washington D.C, U.S.A
The USSC council members were holding a meeting this morning to discuss last night’s negotiations with Prime Minister Abe.
On the surface, the meeting was about the approval of the sale of weaponry, but in reality, it was about ‘America’s support of the war by proxy of Japan.’
The rest of the world may not be fully aware, but it was safe to say that most of the wars that occurred within East Asia happened through the intervention of the USSC. The organization held a lot of power and influence in the region. Its strength mainly derived came from its financial assets. The organization used its money to maintain its power, and capitalized it to make even more money. The cycle continued endlessly, and while the organization remained hidden in the shadows.
However, as time passed, the perfectly planned events that the USSC had laid out suddenly began to go awry. It started with Kim Young-chul’s failed assassination attempt. Then, the failing East Asian policies that they had set was temporarily stabilized through Japan. The USSC had attempted to use the sudden outbreak of the Korean-Chinese war as a way to increase their influence within Korea, but the nation’s unexpected victory had caused their plans to slip once again.
Now Corea had become a powerful nation that could stand up against both Russia and Japan. This situation called for an economic and military intervention on their part. As such, Prime Minister Abe’s offer had come to them at the right time.
Loaning military weapons to Japan and starting a vicarious war was the topic of today’s discussion. The USSC was given a prime opportunity that would allow them to intervene within East Asia while profiting from the war. Additionally, there would be no concern about the leaking of their military technology.
“Thank you for all your input.”
The two-hour-long meeting was coming to an end.
“We will now officially approve the lending of weapons to Japan.”
Victoria looked at the 12 black-masked council members sitting around her and commenced with the final votes.
“Those in favor of weapons loaning to Japan, please raise your hand.”
Many of the men in black masks raised their hands. The number of men in favor was counted, and the results were announced.
“By nine votes in favor, the loan has been approved. Mr. Mars!”
“Yes, Chairman Victoria.”
“Please delegate the approval to President Trump and the leaders of both parties.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Now! The next item on the docket is the vicarious war against Corea through Japan. All in favor, please raise your hand.”
Just as before, the black-masked figures raised their hands, with six who voted in favor. As such, the voted were tied at six to six. Chairman Victoria raised her hand, making a majority that voted in favor of the vicarious war.
“The vote is seven for. This is truly an important event, so please have each council member conduct their roles silently and swiftly.”
Now that both items have been approved, Japan was able to have a full-on war against Corea, with the support of the American military.
<hr />
January 13th, 2021, 10:00, NIS Foreign Intelligence office meeting room, Kangnam-ku, Seoul
Since the nation was in the midst of a war, the NIS was busy collecting every minute detail and intelligence about Russia and Japan. When they uncovered the news about Prime Minister Abe’s unofficial visit to America, the Foreign Intelligence Unit 2’s 1st team was deployed to America as well.
The team was on a mission to find out about Prime Minister Abe’s goals for visiting America, the contents of the summit between President Trump and Prime Minister Abe, and who else the Prime Minister would meet during his time there. When the agents from the Foreign Intelligence Unit returned after completing their mission, they organized all of their data and was about to report their findings to Director Yoon Ho-il.
On the meeting room table was a document detailing the contents of President Trump and Prime Minister Abe’s conversation, along with a USB that contained videos of the meeting.
The NIS agents had succeeded in the nearly impossible task of breaking through the American security. Thanks to their special equipment, the agents managed to wire-tap the conversation. However, manager Kang Gi-won from Unit 2, who was writing up the report, did not seem pleased.
“We tailed Prime Minister Abe and collected information on his whereabouts for two days and three nights. But yet, we couldn’t determine his location for three hours during the last night of his stay, sir.”
“Three hours... So we have no idea where Abe was for three hours? And we don’t know who he met up with?”
“Yes, sir, precisely.”
“My my! How could you have lost him despite being able to break through the White House’s tight-knit security?”
Director Yoon Ho-il shook his head since he could not understand the situation.
“The thing is, sir. After 8 p.m, we tailed Prime Minister Abe as he left his hotel. But it turned out to be a fake lead to get us off his tail.”
“Are you saying a simple trick fooled you?”
“I am sorry, sir. We are still trying to figure out where we slipped up.”
“All right, well... I suppose there’s nothing we can do now. Anyhow, we have the contents of the conversation between Abe and Trump, don’t we? That’s enough. Great work, Manager Kang!”
Director Yoon Ho-il seemed pleased with the data the foreign intelligence department had brought him, and spoke with a bright expression.
“It wasn’t me, sir. I can only give credit to our skilled agents on the field for accomplishing our mission so easily. The wire-tapping was all Assistant Manager Park Gi-oong’s work.”
“Oh, is that so? Manager Park, you’ve always been so skilled!”
Assistant Manager Park Gi-oong was the same man who had brought Kim Soon-hee safely back from China with team leader Ji Dong-chul. After completing his mission, he took a month-long break in China. Upon his return, he was promoted to Assistant Manager and transferred to the Foreign Intelligence Department Team 2, where he had continued with his activities.
The reason Park Gi-oong was on a month-long sabbatical after recovering from his injury was to find the Chinese men that had taken Kim Un-hee’s money and sold her off to human traffickers. He had searched every corner of Shim-cheon province for the past 10 days, and finally found the bastard at a mahjong table. Park Gi-oong recovered 600,000 yuan from the 1 million that was stolen. He then broke the guilty men’s arms and legs before returning to Corea and giving the money back to Kim Un-hee.
Park Gi-oong went to such great lengths because he wanted to fulfill the final wish of Team Leader Ji Dong-chul , who had fallen in the war. Ji Dong-chul had heard about Kim Un-hee’s predicament, and he talked about wanting to return the money that was stolen from her. Those words rang in Park Gi-oong’s head while he was recovering from his injuries, and he decided to follow through.
“No, sir! All I did was carry out Manager Jeon’s orders.”
“Ha ha ha! Is that so? Are you and Ms.Kim Un-hee getting along well?”
Manager Kang Gi-won abruptly brought up Kim Un-hee’s name, even in the presence of the Director.
“Assistant Manager Park, are you and Ms. Kim dating?”
Director Yoon Ho-Il’s interest in Manager Park’s personal life was a surprise. Assistant Manager Park Gi-oong waved his hands and answered:
“What? That’s not how it is, sir!”
“What do you mean that’s now how it is? Everyone in the office knows, Mr. Park!”
The other agents sitting beside Assistant Manager Park Gi-oong playfully elbowed his ribs. He smiled and answered:
“Really, sir. I’ve only met her a few times, and it’s always regarding business.”
“What kind of official business does it take for you to meet Ms.Kim Soon-hee in person? Come up with a better excuse next time. Ha ha ha!”
“Young men and women have the right to see each other. That’s great. Ha ha ha.”
Although they were not a couple, Director Yoon Ho-il seemed to believe that the gossip was the truth. Park Gi-oong gave up trying to convince him otherwise and simply shook his head.
“Anyway, I’m going to head back to report our findings to the secretary. So everyone can go on a break until tomorrow. Assistant Manager Park, you should go visit your girlfriend.”
“Sir!”
<hr />
January 14th, 2021, 14:30, National Emergency Center cabinet meeting, Blue House, Jongro-ku, Seoul
At the National Emergency Center, the first cabinet meeting since the war with China was over, was being held. In attendance was Vice President Kim Yeo-jeong, Governor of the Northern state Kim Young-chul, as well as 18 ministers and vice ministers from each ministry. The meeting was a large scale one, with 60 people attending in total.
“We will now begin the security council meeting for the new year.”
Under Prime Minister Lee Young-ho’s lead, the council meeting began. The first item on the docket was the ongoing war against Russia and Japan.
“As you all know, Corea is now a unified nation. We need to discuss the project to expedite the recovery of the Northern state. We also need to set the policies to manage the Western state and the three Manchurian states. However, our nation is at war with Russia and Japan.”
The Prime Minister took a moment to catch his breath. He took a quick glance at the 60 high ranking politicians listening intently to him, and continued with his council meeting topics.
“We will begin the council meeting by discussing the topic of the war with Russia and Japan as the first item.”
Considering Corea’s current state of affairs, this was the heaviest and most important topic. Since this was directly related to national security, Minister of National Defense Kang Hyun-soo started off.
“I am in the position to protect our nation’s security and to keep the peace. As of right now, Russia is using its ‘Russian-Chinese territory transfer agreement’ as a basis to claim the three Manchurian states as its own. It’s making military movements into the territory. At the same time, Japan has had two major naval battles against our nation and is now importing numerous American weaponry to bolster their forces.”
Minister Kang Hyun-soo spoke in a calm and disciplined tone.
“Corea has won the war against the G2 nation, China. The world is now looking at our nation with a different point of view. Therefore, we must make a firm stance, both against Russia claiming territorial rights under a treaty that is now null, and to Japan that is still under its imperial delusions while not admitting to its past wrongs in history. I believe we must use this opportunity to punish Japan, a country that is still making attempts to invade other nations.”
As the Minister of National Defense, this statement was quite a bold and risky one. Minister of Labor Joo Il-tae spoke into this microphone to make his retort.
“Minister Kang, Corea has just ended the war against China. We are only 13 days into the reunification that our people have longed for years. Engaging in another war, instead of making peace treaties, will not be helpful to our nation’s future. Especially in the state that we’re in.
“I agree with Minister Joo as well.”
Minister of Industry Kim Hyung-soo spoke up in favor immediately as the Minster of Labor finished speaking.
“Our nation’s economy has been growing at a record pace and has been growing every day. But ever since the war, our three-year-long economic growth has been heading to a recession. More importantly, no matter how many high-quality products we produce, it will be useless if our export routes are blocked off. Our nation is not like China, where the domestic market can meet the supply alone. Continuing the war will affect the profits of our companies and corporations even further.”
The ministers of labor and industry were both responsible for Corea’s economy. It was understandable that they were against the war as they did not want it to affect the nation’s economic growth.
“Are you suggesting we simply hand over the ancestral lands? The lands that we have finally reclaimed after 1,400 years?”
The Minister of Land and Infrastructure responded sarcastically.
“I am not saying that we simply hand over the ancestral lands. I am suggesting that we handle the situation in a manner that’s as peaceful as possible.”
“And how are we supposed to handle things peacefully? If you have the solution, please share it with the council.”
Minister Go Jin-seon was not backing down.
“Well... I suppose we must think of a solution.”
Minister Kim Hyun-soo coughed a few times awkwardly and moved away from the microphone. He could not come up with an elegant solution.
“Before our first battle with Russia, we had attempted to resolve this peacefully through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, the Russian government still made the same claims it had made before. Don’t we all know by now? President Putin is a warlike brute.”
When the Minister of National Defense made this statement, Minister Lim Tae-yeon of the Ministry of Next-Generation Technology responded.
“Russia holds the most nuclear weapons in the world. Just looking at nuclear missiles alone, it holds 4,650 operable nuclear warheads and 12,000 operable launch rockets. Is it a good idea to go into a head-on war with this nation?”
“Why shouldn’t we?”
Vice-Minister of National Defence Nam Won-il, the former army commander of the previous North Korea’s People’s Liberation, spoke loudly in a confident tone. His voice rang clearly throughout the room.
“Did China not have nuclear weapons too? They may not have had as many as Russia, but China had more than enough to destroy our nation. Why should we be afraid this time?”
This sudden statement from Vice-Minister Nam Won-il left the room in silence. Normally, the vice-ministers would just listen quietly, speaking up to answer only when given a chance to talk. Nam Won-il, however, spoke up confidently, living up to his reputation as the former army commander of the People’s Liberation Army.