Service Termination

I was the president. Only the barest sliver of time had passed since the game began.

What had already happened could not be undone. I needed to assess the present with cold clarity and design the future from there.

...

Wait. Did I have one of those?

"Status window?"

"Yes! There's no law that says I have to die!"

A translucent window had floated up before my eyes, displaying my perfect, magnificent ID along with a handful of miscellaneous details. It looked less like a status window and more like a comprehensive system panel, but that was how trash games always worked.

Once the happiness circuit started burning at the sight of that translucent window, I rattled off every command I could think of — shop window, help menu, the works — but unfortunately, this was all there was.

"...Better than nothing, I suppose."

All right. Forget that and think seriously. This game was a world-conquest game. World War III. And my playable nation was Korea.

A garbage country hemmed in on all sides by nations stronger than itself. Precisely because of that, it had been fun to play. When it was a game.

Now that it was reality?

Without save and load, it was impossible.

And those did not exist.

...Fine. Maybe I should just kill myself.

Was there a rope around here somewhere?

I was hunting for rope in a full retreat from reality when I barely managed to hold my mental fort together. This was the moment to borrow the wisdom of the great sages who came before!

What was studying for, if not for crises exactly like this one?

Follow the successful precedents history had left behind. All that hard studying was finally paying off!

"Starting today, I'm becoming a traitor!"

Yeah! Sell out the country and live well! Plenty of people had done it in real life, so I could too!

I came first, not the nation! I was not going to devote myself to the fatherland only to get thrown away like a worn-out shoe!

"No, no, no — that went too far. Even I couldn't do that."

I loved Korea!

Because even traitors needed competence. I did not have the ability to sell off a country and live comfortably afterward. Somewhere along the line I would catch a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bullet or a bomb, get assassinated, or simply get squeezed dry and discarded.

"Right! I'm a patriot, so I have to lead the fatherland to victory!"

Exactly! I was a president ready to devote himself to the nation!

Even without selling the country, I could still skim a mountain of slush funds and then live out my days in the countryside with a solemn expression, sipping wine!

Until the Earth died and took me with it.

...

Nonsense!

I was trying to stay ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠calm, but the confusion was still leaking through.

Slap, slap! I gave my cheeks a few light smacks and steeled my resolve.

"Get a grip! Me! There is definitely a path to victory!"

Yes! There was definitely a path to victory...

Hmm. Did Korea have a path to victory against the Soviet Union, the United States, and Nazi Germany?

It did not!

Worse, the moment the game started I had already laid down a casus belli against China. In other words, war with China was coming soon, and I was expected to win it.

In the game I could hammer save and load, string together miraculous victories one after another, and eventually win the war. There was no way that would work now.

"Don't act like a coward! Everyone else is just an NPC! I'm the only player!"

Hadn't the someone who threw me into this game said it? Your own world!

Only I was the player!

.

.

.

Which meant I still couldn't win!

If the others were players too, maybe I could manage it — but they were all NPCs. How was I supposed to beat the superhumans who actually ran their nations?

"...I'm the president. A king doesn't have to be good at everything! As long as he has outstanding subordinates!"

The Korean generals in this game were garbage. Rank was decided by political clout, defense-industry corruption was layered on top of that, and as a result the soldiers' combat power scraped the floor.

When war broke out, deserters poured out in droves — thanks to the setting that the military was treated like trash.

And it didn't even stop there. Amazingly, a dud-shell event always triggered, cutting ammunition stocks in half.

Real Korea was nothing like that!

Korea was an all-volunteer force with excellent military pay, where rank was determined by ability — a great nation! Every citizen respected the soldiers! Merchants in garrison towns gave military discounts, and people gave up their seats on public transit!

When an accident happened in the military, the entire country rushed in to fix it. That was the great nation Korea was!

Sadly, Korea Version 2 was not. True to its trash-game nature, the historical accuracy was an absolute mess!

"Haaaaah."

I had been trying to win through pure mental fortitude. Now I covered my face with both hands and let out a deep sigh...

"What if I just form good alliances?"

The three great powers in this game did not cultivate alliances with nations beneath their weight class. They cultivated slaves. Exactly the way America cultivated Britain!

And the primary duties of those poor slaves? Shell sponge, meat shield, and stepping stone.

The moment war started, the miserable slave nation was immediately drowned in missiles and artillery, and its territory was reduced to a wasteland.

"Maybe I should just hand everything over to someone else..."

Come to think of it, this game's Korea was crawling with traitors. If the player lost power, there was a ninety-five percent chance of a country-sold ending.

Hmm.

Five percent, huh...

That was an absolute steal, wasn't it?

Should I just roll the dice?

...Ha! I almost fell for the temptation without thinking.

"Still, this is a fantasy. Who knows what might happen."

Right! I must not escape from reality. Even if I lost, I had to at least try.

I hardened my resolve.

With me as the player and Korea as a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reasonably high-tier nation, we could do this! I didn't need anyone's help!

I would overcome everything with my own power alone!

...This was my power!

My eyes spun. I stretched a finger toward the mode options, and in my excessive excitement the trembling fingertip landed on the lower option — [ Auto Progress ].

Stay calm.

Count the primes!

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine.

Perfect! I was calm!

First things first: figure out who was who and where was where. All of this had to be handled quietly and quickly.

I whipped my head around the room. Expensive-looking furniture of some kind, and a spacious chamber. On what was probably a work desk sat a small Taegeukgi... and a strange red button.

Click.

I pressed it carefully, cautiously, and relaxed. Not a trap!

Click. Click. I pressed it a few more times. For some reason the button had a demonic allure that just kept drawing a person in!

Knock knock!

A sudden knock from outside the door proved that my judgment of "not a trap" had been wrong...!

This was a trap!

Damn button!

Dammit!

I clamped my mouth shut and pretended not to be there.

Knock knock knock!

No, why did they keep banging on the door?

"There's nobody here!"

Whew. Perfect response!

"Excuse me?"

A vacant voice drifted in from outside. Must have been a friend with bad hearing.

So I yanked the door open. To communicate, via body language, that there was nobody here.

"I've brought the hamburger you requested... but may I ask what exactly you're doing?"

The assassin, watching me thrash my arms and legs around, asked a question.

"I was conveying the message that nobody is here."

"...Yes."

The assassin made an artistic face, then backed out through the door. My body language had gotten through perfectly!

I had easily fooled a stupid assassin!

Nom nom.

While eating a hamburger of unknown ownership, I surveyed the room and confirmed a fact: I was the only person in here...!

Good! Now I needed to figure out who I was.

"Who am I?"

I asked the mirror with careful solemnity. The me beyond the mirror did not answer.

Why?

Because he didn't know who he was?

Impossible. There was no way a person wouldn't know who he himself was.

He simply didn't want to answer?

Then what was the reason?

As I tossed the hamburger wrapper into the trash, the realization finally struck.

"I ate your hamburger. I'm sorry. Will you stop being angry and tell me who I am?"

I apologized politely to the mirror and asked again. No answer came.

"Hey, buddy. Don't be such a cheapskate over one hamburger!"

I roared and shook the mirror violently. Clamming up over a single stolen hamburger — what a bastard!

Rattle rattle!

Even a thief has human rights!

Speak up this instant!

Crash!

Unable to contain my fury, I kicked it. The mirror shattered and toppled over.

Was it because of the racket?

Bang! Black-suited men violently threw open the door and poured into the room.

"Is something wrong, sir?"

One of the suits, carefully scanning the surroundings, approached and asked me a question.

...Who were these guys? I would ask these friends.

"Who am I?"

"Excuse me? Mr. President, are you all right?"

A black-suited gorilla examined me with a grave expression, then whispered softly to the suit behind him.

'The secretary who went in earlier said he looked unwell. Seems it was true.'

'Looks like he kicked the mirror.'

The black suits were openly ostracizing me. Even so, deploying my outstanding social skills, I patiently asked again.

"I'm the president?"

"Yes... that's correct."

I see. So I was the president?

!

Good God! The moment I recognized who I was, I realized what I had just done...

This was bad! That red button I pressed earlier might have been the nuclear launch button! Had I started World War III?!

"Hey, gorilla! I pressed the nuke button! How do I cancel it?"

"Excuse me? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Our country doesn't have nuclear weapons. And I am not a gorilla..."

The gorilla's remaining words never reached me. I had fallen into a colossal shock.

...No nukes?

Was that even a country?

A nation without nuclear weapons wasn't a nation — it was a nation-aspirant. Wait. The answer was right in front of me.

A gorilla in a black suit, speaking.

Aha! I should have known the moment I saw the gorilla. This was clearly a nation of gorillas. Which meant I was a gorilla too! Me, a gorilla president — first in the world! Truly an honor!

I would raise this gorilla nation to the level of a human nation! Someday, gorillas would overwhelm humanity!

"Ooh! Ooh-ooh-ooh!!!"

So I spoke in gorilla. Just in case they couldn't understand, I waved my arms left and right in great sweeps. Sometimes I pounded my chest with both hands.

"...Requesting medical personnel."

The gorilla looked at me with a devastated face and spoke toward somewhere in the language of humans.

No need to speak another species' tongue, but what a diligent friend!

"Hey, what's that? A radio?"

I asked with a serious face, but the gorilla ignored me. Why? Ah — I'd used human speech. I should have used gorilla!

"Ooh! Ooh-ooh!"

"His condition is critical. Move faster!"

The way he pressed a hand to his ear and shouted, he might well have been a gorilla with superpowers.

Did I have superpowers too?

For example...

"Status window!"

A cheerful chime rang out, and I came to my senses...

"Please lie down right here, sir."

Bodyguards with thick voices soothed me as carefully as if I were a baby. The low murmuring of the medical staff who had come swarming in pricked at my ears.

With a clear mind, I recalled with perfect clarity what I had been doing until just a moment ago.

I was fucked.

Everything was over. After a stunt like that, there was no way it wouldn't spread. Nobody would listen to my orders.

Korea's service was terminated.

My life was over too...

A man's hot tears rolled down his cheeks. O my fatherland, why must you fall to ruin.

"Mr. President? Are you crying?"

Yeah, you bastard. Start preparing to get annexed by some other country.

"What should we do?"

"I'm not a psychiatrist, so... uh, it looks like infantile regression. Peekaboo! Peekaboo!"

A man who appeared to be a doctor repeatedly opened and closed both hands wide right in front of my eyes.

...You son of a bitch!

I surrendered my body to the blazing rage and threw a punch.

Thud!

"Argh!"

At the sight of the doctor tumbling across the floor, the bodyguards came swarming in.

"The president is going berserk! Tie his arms!"

"Aaaaaah!!!"

I was restrained. I had fallen victim to the schemes of vile traitors! The traitors had poisoned the status window!