The Government's Proposal
"…You're talking about an interim government?"
"Yes. The current administration is still deliberating over what to do about it… but the prevailing mood leans toward rejection."
"It can hardly be otherwise."
North Korea's constitution had formally branded the regime not as a nation, but as a pack of reactionary insurgents who had staged a coup.
Which meant that granting recognition to their interim government was tantamount to acknowledging them as a legitimate state.
The Republic of Korea had never recognized North Korea as a nation, and so doing so now would amount to a violation of its own constitution.
And yet, they couldn't very well meekly hand North Korea over to China, either.
"Rather, the opinion gaining the most traction is to eliminate the North Korean Chairman, absorb the North Korean populace, and push northward ourselves."
"Isn't that an unrealistic proposal?"
"No, it's entirely feasible. Dealing with the North Korean Chairman could be done within an hour, in fact. The only problem is that it would mean starting a war."
War, in the middle of this situation.
That was absolutely something that could not be allowed to happen.
Everyone at the top thought the same way — but even so, they couldn't simply grant North Korea's request either.
"Which leaves only one course of action available to us. You, Kim Hyunwoo, stepping forward to the front lines. A display of power, in other words."
"Denied. That's—"
"Please hear me out to the end. What the President has in mind is a proposal that benefits both the Republic of Korea and yourself. Assuming, of course, that you accept."
"So you met with Director Lee Jin-seok… The question is whether it will work out."
If one had to divide humanity into the good and the wicked, Kim Hyunwoo leaned toward the good.
But if pressed on whether he was truly a good man, no one could answer with a firm yes — he was, in the end, an ordinary man.
Still, there was no denying that he thought of the citizens, that he cared for the Republic of Korea in his own way.
"Anyone who's a citizen of this country feels that much, at least. You can't live a lifetime somewhere and feel no attachment to it."
People grow fond of a stray cat they've passed a few times on the street — how could they not feel something for the country they'd lived in all their lives?
And from Kim Hyunwoo's perspective, that was exactly the extent of it.
As if a cat that used to come around had vanished for a while, and then reappeared one day looking thin and half-starved.
In that case, you'd buy it a small bag of food from the convenience store. Nothing more.
And yet here was the Republic of Korea and its people, beside themselves with gratitude.
Because even a small kindness from him was enormous by this country's standards.
"Will he accept, or won't he… Which way do you think he'll go?"
"…I believe he will refuse. The risk is too great."
"Hmm. I think he'll accept, actually."
What had been offered to Kim Hyunwoo was nothing less than territory.
Put that way, it sounded like they were granting him autonomy — but it was something else entirely.
The Republic of Korea's greatest problem, first and foremost, was the Yellow Sea coast — and China and Russia, poised to invade from the north.
But what if Kim Hyunwoo sealed off the north entirely?
And if his efforts could even keep illegal immigrants in check — how would that possibly be a disadvantage to the nation?
The offer on the table was a hundred-year lease of the territory along the border dividing China and North Korea.
And a vast stretch of it, at that.
Present-day South Korea had neither the resources nor the technology to build a border line of that scale.
To put it precisely: the technology that existed here could not be reproduced there.
That region teemed with tigers, bears, and monsters that had yet to be put down.
China had been herding the monsters within its own borders over there, after all.
Dispatching the national army would cost South Korea far too dearly.
Even firing missiles would only compound the disaster if the land itself were left irradiated.
"Which is why we have no choice but to leave it to him. If he accepts, the Republic of Korea absorbs North Korea immediately. Unification follows after. We haven't informed the Americans or the Japanese yet… but I suppose we may as well."
From this point on, the hegemon would be the Republic of Korea.
All because of a single man.
Kim Hyunwoo.
With unification achieved, the nation's territory would expand by leaps and bounds, and with that expansion would come a whole slate of new policies.
And there was one incidental windfall on top of it all.
"The fatality rate from gate outbreaks. Daegu, North Gyeongsang, South Gyeongsang, Busan — the southeastern regions are all under one percent… heh heh heh…"
The safest place on the entire planet.
That place was where Kim Hyunwoo resided.
And with the added allure of falling under his jurisdiction, a staggering infrastructure would inevitably spring up there.
When that happened, the nation would divide into Seoul in the south and Kim Hyunwoo's territory in the north — and the regions connecting them would see explosive growth.
"The Republic of Korea will become the hegemon. That has been my life's wish. And to make it happen…"
Rrrring rrrring
Click.
"Ah, yes. How did it go?"
<…>
"I see… is that so. Then…"
Kill him.
I had heard the whole proposal from Director Lee Jin-seok.
Naturally, I hadn't given him an answer on the spot, and he told me to take my time deciding — saying he'd appreciate a reply before my scheduled return.
With every minute counting, all I could say for now was that I understood.
Ultimately, everything now hinged on my decision.
First, wanting to take stock of the situation before committing, I headed to the guild building instead of home.
I'd already texted my parents that I was back, and since the first day of any return was always a madhouse, I'd warned them I might be a little late.
The moment I arrived at the first floor of the guild building, a guard who recognized me greeted me with a bow.
They were trained to a standard that rivaled the Association itself.
As I walked in past their salutes, the civilian staff greeted me as well — no returnees had arrived yet.
Every corner of this guild building had been raised by Pitasha herself, directing the combat engineers personally.
From the basement to the top floor.
The guild building stood twenty stories in total, and the Guild Master's office occupied the entire twentieth floor.
Ding!
The instant I reached the twentieth floor, the system scanned and identified me in a heartbeat and let me through.
Once inside, the ordinary floor layout fell away behind me, and — just as it had that first time in the elevator — the system verified me again, and a new space unfolded.
Something about spatial expansion, apparently. I didn't really understand the details.
In any case, when I stepped inside, Belzer — who had taken my keys from me in advance — was already harvesting information through banks of cutting-edge equipment.
"Ah, there you are, Master. Will you be accepting the proposal?"
"How far have you hacked into— you know what, never mind. So what do you think?"
Belzer's lips curled into a faint smile at my words.
"We exist solely to follow your will, Master. Whatever you choose to do."
"That's not what I'm asking. Give me your read based on the intelligence you've gathered."
"First, the risk is enormous. But the conclusion, in short, is that you should accept it. Without question."
"On what grounds?"
"See for yourself."
What he pulled up on the screen was nothing less than classified Chinese documents.
Files containing everything — intelligence on China's current military strength, and the full roadmap of where their government intended to go from here.
Belzer, having scraped together the overwhelming majority of their classified materials, spoke.
"Unlike South Korea, China currently mistreats its returnees. To put it precisely, they regard them as property. Most of them have grown numb to it and stay quiet… but not all of them."
Belzer brought up photographs of a number of people on the screen.
And beside them, their full personal records along with every trait the government had catalogued.
"There are others, but these are the ones who will take part in the coming coup."
"What? A coup?"
"Yes. In their own words, these people are 'awake.' They hunger for freedom. Roughly five hundred returnees will spark the coup, and they enjoy overwhelming popular support within the country."
Chinese citizens always spouted the same lines for the cameras — that China was good, that China was fair, that the great Chairman deserved endless praise.
But the moment hidden-camera influencers asked them for their honest opinions, they were buried without ceremony.
Which was why they never spoke of it to outsiders, never showed it — but most of their young yearned for freedom.
And the high officials at the top had all sent their children to study abroad in places like America and Australia, so they knew about freedom too.
What was right.
What was wrong.
But they were the ones doing the ruling, and so they had no complaints whatsoever.
"Which is why you should accept. And then, Master, you accelerate it. That's right — you support it."
"…If we get caught, the risk would be anything but a joke."
"Hardly. Handing them artifacts would be foolish, of course. But what we have to give them is right here, is it not?"
These mountains of classified documents.
The weaknesses of the very Chairman they'd been brainwashed their whole lives to believe was great and infallible.
The plan was to hand every one of China's countless vulnerabilities over to the coup plotters.
And naturally, those classified documents included China's military secrets as well.
"Odds of getting caught?"
"Effectively zero percent. It would be another matter if the returnees counted a patron with precognition among their backers — but even then, it hardly matters. By that point, China would already have begun to collapse."
And so Belzer's position was this:
Accept the government's proposal and secure jurisdiction over the whole of North Korean territory, free of charge.
Then, once funds accumulated, buy it outright.
Or else set the terms so that ownership transferred to me after a hundred years.
Either way — once the proposal was accepted and the President made the official announcement, we would stoke discord to provoke a coup in China during the window before the plan was set in motion.
And while China lay bleeding out, the government would rush in and swallow North Korea.
Unification would follow — and without lifting a finger, we would claim the vast territory of the North for ourselves.
"Not bad. You think it'll play out that smoothly?"
"I couldn't say without trying… but it is entirely feasible."
"I believe so as well. From what I can see, there are several individuals who could stand comparison with that Ju Hwan fellow we observed before. Their overall level is high, too."
"Well, it's not like signing a contract with an evil god is a prerequisite for staging a coup."
And with Rune, too, raising her hand for the high-probability outcome, the decision was made.
We would accept the government's proposal.