abcnovels
Chapter 72: Crossed Destinies
Chapter 72: Crossed Destinies
Chapter 72: Crossed Destinies
The 7th Army Corps, stationed near Pyongyang, resumed their northward advance.
Almost at the same time, bombers and artillery fiercely pounded the entire Pyongyang area.
The world was shocked by this move, but the United States, which had considerable information, made a different judgment.
?They must have concluded that Kim Jong-un either can’t fire a nuclear weapon or that they can intercept most of it if he does.
?The current South Korea has no intention of giving up on North Korea. They have a strong desire to achieve reunification even if they take one or two nuclear hits.
?But the real pain will start after they occupy Pyongyang.
Of course, the United States had no intention of sharing this pain.
They were not in a position to pour out a lot of budget and help as before, and they did not feel the need to do so.
? South Korea will fall into an endless swamp by starting a reunification war.
?It’s a pity that they could have pushed them ahead of Japan if they hadn’t fought.
The United States did not directly intervene in this war.
Instead, they tried to exert their influence by providing hospital ships, missiles, and shells.
They didn’t want to raise them directly, but they wanted to enjoy the fruits.
The United States changed its position because of the analysis of German reunification.
Compared to West Germany and East Germany, Korea and North Korea had too much economic disparity.
Even if they poured out tens of trillions of won for decades, they could not guarantee that North Korea would be normalized.
Most of the reports predicted collapse.
So the United States deployed only Aegis destroyers around the Korean Peninsula instead of fully mobilizing BMD.
All that was left was Kim Jong-un’s decision.
“···”
He chewed on his hatred for South Korea in the dark bunker.
They invaded with full force, claiming that the republic had launched a preemptive strike.
It was an intolerable act.
Not only that, but they also shelled Pyongyang to erase it.
Did they not care about nuclear weapons or anything?
As he thought so, the bunker shook and debris fell from the ceiling.
His country, handed down from his grandfather’s generation, was collapsing.
“South Korean bastards···”
Kim Jong-un bit his lips until blood came out.
His anger toward South Korea boiled over.
Now, if he opened the nuclear bag and followed the procedure, the Sinpo-class submarine that had surfaced in the East Sea would fire a ballistic missile.
And at the same time, the vehicles that had been hiding in the tunnels would come out and take revenge for their homeland.
“At least a million… no, two million will die. Is that what you South Korean bastards want?”
He asked into thin air, but no one answered.
Soon Kim Yo-jong opened the door and came in and reported.
“Comrade General Secretary, China’s 80th Army has urgently contacted us. They say they will form a rapid response force and rescue us.”
“So?”
“If you want to try again in China, it would be better not to fire a nuclear weapon…”
When his sister trailed off, her brother snapped at her.
“Do you mean to give up on revenge against those bastards? They are trampling on our people and this country with their boots!”
“I will follow your decision…”
She bowed her head as the whole bunker shook violently.
He couldn’t take it anymore.
Kim Jong-un inserted his security card and smiled with cold sweat as he followed the procedure.
“Watch carefully how many die. Fire all nuclear missiles!”
There was no automatic launch of missiles like a nuclear power.
Instead, two Sinpo-class submarines hiding somewhere in the East Sea received orders and opened their launch tubes.
And from various places, the TELs came out and set up their launchers.
Fifteen ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads were launched.
“North Star, Mars ballistic missiles have been launched.”
Kim Jong-un raised both arms as he confirmed the message.
“Glory to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea!”
Suddenly, the ceiling of the bunker began to collapse and Kim Yo-jong and the guards hugged him.
“Brother!”
“Comrade General Secretary! We will escort you this way!”
…
The artificial satellites of the United States, Russia, and China detected the ICBM launch flashes.
The Korean military also recognized this through Global Hawk and radar.
The most vulnerable part of a ballistic missile is this ascent stage.
The launch point and the impact point were too close, so they had to shoot at a high angle, and then the altitude would be high, so it took a long time to reach there.
However, there was no technology to intercept the ascending ballistic missiles in the current system.
The Cheongung missile and the L-SAM were both terminal phase interceptions, and the SM-3 missile deployed by the United States was only an intermediate phase interception.
Thus, fifteen ballistic missiles broke through the atmosphere in a few minutes.
The Aegis ships deployed in the East Sea fired SM-3 missiles, but only five were intercepted.
The remaining ballistic missiles activated their boosters and separated the multiple reentry vehicles from the rocket.
Decoys and chaffs were scattered around, and 40 warheads excluding them began to fall.
From now on, it is the terminal phase where THAAD, Cheongung missiles, and L-SAM intercept them.
As soon as the warheads entered the atmosphere, the South Korean military’s radar detected them and sounded an alarm.
At this time, the roads in Seoul were suffering from all kinds of vehicles.
People were going down south as soon as they heard that North Korea had fired a nuclear bomb.
In the midst of this, people panicked when the alarm rang out.
“We’re all dead!”
“What should we do! Why did they start a war like this!”
“Let’s get out of here! The car won’t move anyway!”
People who came out of tens of thousands of vehicles with their luggage started running south.
They witnessed it.
Small explosions in the air.
At first they thought it was a nuclear bomb exploding and screamed, but it wasn’t.
As soon as a missile flew from somewhere and exploded, the warhead became scrap metal and fell as it was.
Bang!
When something dark fell on various parts of the city, buildings broke and roads were damaged, but that was it.
When a warhead fell in front of Gwanghwamun and formed a crater, people were startled and ran away.
But nothing happened.
“Why doesn’t it explode?”
“That’s strange. Don’t nuclear bombs usually explode in the air…”
“What’s going on?”
While people were murmuring, the military leaders including JCS tried to figure out what was going on.
“All nuclear warheads failed! Not one exploded!”
“How could this happen! Check again!”
“People are flocking to the warheads!”
“Send the military police to drive them away and keep anyone from coming near!”
“Where is the president?”
The army generals looked for the president, but he was not in the bunker.
They were dumbfounded when they heard that the chief of staff had left for a frontline inspection by helicopter.
“Why now of all times…”
“What does the president have to do by inspecting Pyongyang at this time!”
“The chief of staff should have stopped him!”
They all got excited and suddenly thought of something.
Could he have run away because he didn’t want to get hit by a nuclear bomb?
Of course, the bunker of the JCS was capable of enough protection against a nuclear attack.
But if he didn’t trust that and ran away…
“…”
A strange atmosphere hung over the bunker.
The chief of staff couldn’t bring himself to say that he went to take a picture.
And then.
Kim Jong-un, who had received the news of the nuclear warhead failure from China, trembled as if he had been struck by lightning.
“Ha, not one exploded…”
“It must be true that no explosion was observed. Come this way.”
He was carried like a sack to the back seat of a Chinese military vehicle and moved somewhere.
A soulless murmur came out of his mouth.
“This can’t be, this can’t be…”
The republic had endured decades of sanctions and humiliation to have nuclear weapons.
But all of that turned into bubbles.
Kim Yo-jong, who was sitting next to him, asked about the situation again, but only got an insincere answer.
“Seoul is fine. It’s a shame.”
It was more than a shame.
Kim Jong-un sincerely wished that the people of South Korea would die in large numbers when he gave the order.
It was a natural retribution for the monster who started the war.
But they didn’t suffer any damage.
All that was left was his own destruction.
A warehouse full of liquor and piles of dollars, and the naked bodies of beautiful women flashed through Kim Jong-un’s mind.
All of that was disappearing.
“Ku…huk!”
He couldn’t contain his extreme anger and fainted with his eyes rolled back.
Kim Yo-jong supported him and asked him.
“Please take us to China as soon as possible.”
The Chinese soldiers who glanced back at them snickered.
“As you wish.”
The vehicle sped up and left the noisy Pyongyang.
The Korean military belatedly obtained information about them and formed a pursuit team.
President Jo Hyung-geun, who had arrived in Pyongyang before he knew it, raged on.
“Don’t let them go! Catch them quickly!”
“Who can tell me? What is the possibility that all 40 nuclear warheads failed to explode?”
“I can’t be sure, but it’s close to 0%.”
“Then it must be South Korea’s doing.”
President McKinley used the word ‘doing’ because he was so surprised.
What kind of power could have nullified 40 nuclear warheads?
North Korea had clearly fired 15 ballistic missiles, and five of them were intercepted in the intermediate stage.
If you subtract the decoys and chaffs from the 10 reentry vehicles, you get 40 nuclear warheads.
The possibility of all of them failing to explode was as close to 0% as the aide said.
It meant that there was something in the missiles that South Korea fired.
President McKinley looked at the scene where the nuclear warheads fell and stuck to the ground in Seoul.
It wasn’t all 40, but seeing more than 10 do that made him want to laugh.
“This is crazy. If they can nullify North Korea’s nuclear warheads, they can do the same with China’s.”
And Japan’s failed nuclear test…
The aides all imagined a grim scenario.
If it was revealed that South Korea had somehow interfered with Japan, they wouldn’t be able to sit still.
Maybe the United States would have to intervene fully.
Humphrey, the national security adviser, hinted.
“President Jo is not answering our calls, and neither is Chairman Yu.”
“They’re not deliberately ignoring us, are they? Where are they?”
“President Jo is in Pyongyang, and Chairman Yu’s location has not been confirmed.”
“They must be in Seoul. Find them. But why did the president go to Pyongyang?”
“He probably wanted a picture of himself entering Juseong Palace.”
“In the middle of a street battle?”
“Yes. He probably had drones escorting him.”
“He went into Pyongyang trusting that… He’s not normal.”
It wasn’t reasonable for the president to go to the battlefield risking his life.
He looked down on the South Korean people who elected such a person.
He must have felt good starting a war and entering Pyongyang, but what about the future?
He would have to pour a huge amount of money into North Korea for decades.
The problem was that there was a high possibility of failure even after doing that.
The international human rights groups demanding immediate restoration of human rights in North Korea and the debt pressure from various countries were minor things, and the real thing happened inside.
Would North Koreans accept being discriminated against by South Koreans?
How would they deal with guerrillas who would riot everywhere?
How would they correct the outdated ideology of 20 million people?
Was there a plan to feed and comfort 20 million refugees?
What would they do with more than a million soldiers who had been embraced by North Korea?
There were countless problems to face, and more would pop up as time went by.
South Korea would sink with North Korea if it failed to solve them.
Of course, the United States didn’t have much intention of relieving that burden.
Wasn’t it enough that they spent $1 trillion on Afghanistan and $33 billion on Pakistan?
President McKinley ordered.
“Let’s seriously consider our military entering North Korean territory. Where would be good?”
“Gangwon-do, where Wonsan Port is located, wouldn’t be bad. However, South Korea is having difficulty fighting in the mountains, so we need to take over some parts.”
“We have enough troops, but let’s find a way to project our influence in Gangwon-do by supporting them with night vision devices or supplies.”
“South Korea might not accept it…”
They wouldn’t welcome the US forces re-entering after waging a war to absorb North Korea.
But President McKinley knew that South Korea would eventually have no choice but to accept it.
“They will have trouble ruling over North Korea without our help. Press them hard, including the matter of nullifying nuclear warheads.”
The United States didn’t want to go back to being allies as before.
But they didn’t want to completely let go either.
They just wanted to exercise some influence and look for an opportunity to get Chairman Yu out.
The pressure on him would increase as his situation became more difficult, and he would become more skeptical about the country called South Korea.
“When will Chairman Yu give up his South Korean citizenship?”
“He will give it up soon. He has a lot of money to take from him.”
“We will also reclaim the Black Metal mining rights. It’s bad news for him in many ways.”
Could he endure it?
The US leaders were willing to bet their entire fortune that he couldn’t.
“By the way, what happened to Rocket Man?”
“China seems to have succeeded in taking him out. They are currently being pursued by the South Korean military.”
“He’s not worth much after losing North Korea, but South Korea must want to catch him badly.”
“They are pursuing him, but it looks difficult. Should we intervene?”
“No. Wouldn’t it be better for us to leave him alone?”
President McKinley slumped on his chair with a sigh of relief. He had just received the news that North Korea’s nuclear facilities had been destroyed by South Korea’s surprise attack.
He knew that Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong would flee to China and plot their revenge for years to come.
He also expected that South Korea would face backlash from the UN for violating the armistice agreement. But he didn’t care much about that.
As long as North Korea’s nuclear threat was eliminated, he felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest.
The only thing that bothered him was South K
orea’s ambition to unify the peninsula under its rule.
He didn’t like the idea of having a powerful ally turn into a potential rival.
He wished he could get rid of that thorn in his side somehow.