The Korea-China War — Foreign Eyes
When it came to the war between Korea and China, the media of every nation initially ran pieces like this:
The inflammatory headline came paired with an illustration of a tearful elf woman fleeing a massive hand.
Anyone could have predicted the comments that followed.
Whenever a comment defending China appeared, it was dogpiled into oblivion and buried under a flood of reports until it vanished.
That, right there, was justice. It meant the numbers were on your side.
Even so, the world's once-unilateral goodwill toward Korea began to shift as time went on.
The atmosphere that had once cheered Korea without reservation began to change, little by little.
There were simply too many things that didn't add up, and one by one, people whose heads had been cracked open started to reappear with the seams stitched shut.
But the cracked-headed still outnumbered everyone else by a crushing margin, so these minor doubts were casually crushed underfoot.
What had looked like endless support for Korea began to wobble in earnest once China itself stepped in at the national level and launched a campaign to reverse global opinion.
As articles like these poured out, public opinion began to tilt, slowly but steadily, toward China.
"Now this is more like it!"
In China, they crowed over the turn and set about surveying support for both countries.
Which side do you support — China or Korea?
Korea: 70%
China: 30%
Reality was cold.
"…You have got to be fucking kidding me!"
The Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party spat curses and could not make sense of the numbers at all.
"What the hell is the problem? We're the ones getting beaten to a pulp!"
Most people even recognized that fact. China had never fully shaken the stigma of having struck first, but the casualty tallies for both sides — dead, wounded, and captured — had been circulated as well.
China's losses were overwhelmingly higher.
"So why the hell are we only at thirty percent?!"
The answer was simple.
Do you like China? → NO.
Do you like Korea? → YES!
When a greasy thug and a beautiful woman get into a fight, who do you want to root for?
The thug → FUCK YOU!
The beauty → YES! YES!
From a national standpoint, which outcome was more profitable — Korea winning, or China?
Germany → Not interested.
United States → Supports Korea.
Soviet Union → Korea is an excellent nation.
Everyone else → We should follow those three → We should root for Korea!
It was already over. Hemmed in by the United States and the Soviet Union, Germany could not simply ignore the two of them and stretch a hand all the way to East Asia.
So it took little interest in a war between China and Korea. Its considerable sense of superiority also made it easy to dismiss an Asian brawl.
What, your population tops a billion? So what. You've got top-tier industrial capacity? As if every "top-tier" is the same.
We are the Greater German Empire!
That was the pride the Greater German Empire carried. Having won the Second World War, they were thoroughly, fatally high on their own supply.
Had it been a war involving the Soviet Union or the United States, they would have intervened at once — but Korea and China were not threats worth watching.
Plenty of German citizens were friendly toward Korea as well.
If this had been Earth-1, where China was the world's factory, things might have been different. Unfortunately, this was not Earth-1.
Communist states are eyed with suspicion by nations of other ideologies. So wouldn't fellow communist states invest?
"The Soviet Union? Greater China does not bow to the Soviets!"
Mao Zedong had bellowed that with absolute confidence. He knew full well that the Soviet Union, sharing a border with Germany, could not afford to move.
You shift troops our way and you go under — you know that, right?
To Stalin, it was an extremely unpleasant country. Because the Soviet Union — the homeland of the ideology itself — disliked China, China was simply the outcast.
They bought only the truly indispensable resources, rare earths and the like, and those could still be purchased even if Korea took the territory. Prices would rise a little, but it was manageable.
"You know whose side you ought to be on, don't you?"
The United States, eyes glittering.
"Korea is a pro-Soviet nation."
The General Secretary's words, which from any angle amounted to an order to take Korea's side.
"I don't care. Do as you like."
Indifferent Germany.
A 0–2 show of support from the three powers contending for hegemony. To ignore that and side with China — was that not sheer madness? Distant nations simply decided to watch the show.
"People are dying in droves!"
Human rights groups shrieked. They would never dare raise such a cry against the Greater German Empire.
Because those who had tried had seen their countries half-wrecked, or people had simply gone missing. Even American organizations had people vanish.
Still, a selective handful of human rights groups wanted to use this chance to parade their own virtue.
To the states involved, it was thoroughly repulsive. These people could have kept the dying among themselves; instead they were trying to drag entire populations into it.
"They are not an ally, and they are not our people."
That was the states' answer. No matter how loudly human rights groups or prominent figures ranted, they were ignored completely.
Anyone who went so far as to hurl deliberately inflammatory words at Korea and move toward action was even detained.
No nation on Earth existed that would hurl its entire citizenry into a pit of ruin for the sake of morality. Still less when the politicians' own lives were on the line.
And China was not moral either. It only looked like a victim because it was getting beaten.
Distant countries could look away, deciding it was none of their concern or that the damage was tolerable. But what about the neighbors?
"The second you badmouth Korea, a fist comes flying."
"China attacked them — what do you think they'd do to us?"
"Serves them right. That's what you call karma."
They split into countries that simply hated China, and countries that had no desire to provoke the mad dog that had been snarling and swinging its fists in every direction and thereby invite a war of their own.
Or countries that had already slammed the neutral gear into place from the start.
"Ah… we invested so much in China…"
A few nations swallowed tears, then fell in with the majority. Had anyone held a knife to their throats and ordered them to invest in a country that was obviously going to go to war?
No one had. They had simply judged it a sure bargain and taken the risk.
A bomb that was always going to go off had gone off.
There was not a single country that hadn't known it might detonate.
"Joseon has lost its mind!"
Except for the island nation that formed one of the three pillars of East Asia. The Japanese government savagely denounced Korea.
"Boo! Stupid government, crawl back in your hole!"
"We ought to smash every last one of your damn shrines too!"
"Do something about the economy for once!"
"How long are you going to keep saying 'Joseon'? It's Korea now!"
"I love Koreans!"
The Japanese people, who had rebuilt a nation smashed by the clubs of the United States and the Soviet Union and lived through it, did not agree with their government.
Everything their idiot government did was pure garbage. They simply left it alone because they could not overturn a system that had been forced on them.
Korea was a global tourism powerhouse, and among its visitors the largest share came from neighboring Japan.
Go to Korea → become friendly toward Korea.
That was practically a formula. Naturally, every Japanese tourist who went came back loving Korea.
The most fanatically Korea-obsessed, thoroughly cracked-headed nation on Earth was Japan.
"Cat ears are the best!"
"When elves are around, you can feel the freshness of the forest."
"Have you seen the dwarves? They're so cute!"
"The dog beastfolk are so gentle it actually worries me."
"Magical Girl Violet is super kawaii!"
People with heads cracked open like this believed Japan ought to "reflect forever." There were even activists who tried to go to Korea and join the fighting.
Had Korea not politely refused, a multinational volunteer force of considerable size would already have gathered by now.
"Let's raise funds and support Korea!"
Whether their own government frothed at the mouth or not, the Japanese people gathered money with sincere devotion and sent it to Korea.
"I want to go travel again… I wonder when the war will end."
They watched Korea with faces dripping with regret. People dying? They didn't know who those people were and didn't care.
Relations with China had always been bad. Unlike Korea, which hit every preference dead-on, there had never been any reason for things to improve.
Ah — there were anti-Korean factions too. The Japanese who lived on small islands and occasionally received a clubbing from the Korean Navy hated Korea with a passion.
But having been beaten in person, they kept silent. From ancient times, the rod had always been the best medicine.