Waving the Taegeukgi, Part 2
The people hadn’t raised the national flag because they truly adored the imperial household or revered it from the heart.
Some were sick to death of the emperor and his family’s obscene privileges and bloated budget; others were disgusted by the endless scandals and corruption of the collateral branches.
But.
No matter where they stood, everyone knew one thing: a good world did not come from armed soldiers rolling out in tanks and toppling everything in their path.
Power built on violence only gives birth to greater violence.
There was no way men who butchered people in broad daylight with guns and blades would ever go on to nurse the lives of ordinary citizens.
And yet, knowing that, they stayed still.
They had reason to be angry, but no center around which to gather that anger.
The imperial family had been wiped out. The capital had been trampled under military boots. The press was under control.
But now.
In living rooms across apartment complexes, in the front rooms of old houses, on the screens of downtown stores, there was a man on every TV.
A collateral relative nobody had even heard of until yesterday.
Onscreen, he wore combat fatigues that looked like they’d been hurriedly borrowed and barely fit him.
At the cordon in front of the broadcasting station, where the wind cut so hard it seemed to freeze the bone itself, he did not back away.
Even while the cameras were rolling, he didn’t hide.
He moved among the Marines, urging them on, and gripped the frozen hands of Army soldiers with both of his own.
His lips moved on the far side of the screen.
We cannot give up.
We will not be pushed back.
I’m here. I’ll die with you, and I’ll live with you.
That shout, and the rough gesture that accompanied it.
That crude, desperate sincerity went out over the airwaves and spread across the nation.
And so someone opened a window and hung the flag from their building’s pole.
The neighboring apartment did the same, then the one above it, then the building across the street.
That wave of Taegeukgi along the Bukseodae-ro, built like that, froze the advancing rebels in place without a single shot being fired.
Kirrrrrr… kkik… kiririririk.
The armored column of the 1st Guard Brigade had lost all momentum.
The tanks that were supposed to thunder through downtown at sixty kilometers an hour and sow terror were now crawling along at barely five.
As if they had sunk into an invisible swamp.
“……”
The brigade commander leaned out over his command vehicle and stared blankly to either side.
He couldn’t breathe.
Between the buildings.
Between the apartment blocks.
Behind the Taegeukgi hanging from every single window, tens of thousands of eyes must have been watching them down below.
Silence.
No jeers, no stones, no Molotovs came flying in.
Only cold stares and fluttering flags existed.
“Push all the way to the broadcasting station,” the brigade commander finally said through clenched teeth.
“If we can just cut down that fake emperor, we live. Capture him and beat the truth out of him—make him confess with his own mouth that he’s an imposter!”
It was a command forced out by sheer effort, but even that had already lost its certainty.
The rebels passed through downtown Ilsan as slowly as cattle being driven toward a slaughterhouse.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
In front of Ilsan IBS 2nd Broadcasting Station, Gwak Ji-hun steadied his trembling hands. He brought his tongue to the mouth of his canteen, but all that came out were a few dry drops of liquor from the bottom.
“I can hear the tanks. They’ll be here soon.”
“Weapons.”
“Only armored-car machine guns and anti-tank weapons. It’s not enough to stop a regular armored unit’s tank guns.”
Fortunately, two tank battalions had been dispatched in a hurry, but whether that would be enough to hold the enemy was another matter.
Captain Gwak clutched at his head, which felt ready to split open, and said, “If they break through us.”
“Your Majesty will be executed.”
“So don’t let them break through.”
“……”
“I will obey. Victory assured.”
The Marines scattered.
They didn’t need to win. From the moment the broadcast had gone out, it would take four hours for the mobile corps coming down from Pyeongyang to arrive.
And if you accounted for the time already lost, the real amount of time they had to hold out was even shorter.
“Enemy armored units in sight!”
“Bearing twelve o’clock! Three lead tanks identified!”
Captain Gwak shouted with a voice sharpened by fury. “Report immediately when they come into anti-tank missile range!”
Clack—!
The Marines’ armored vehicles and the tanks rushed up from the 17th Division and 60th Division all turned their turrets at once.
The infantry prone behind the barricades could not even breathe properly, fingers hooked on their triggers.
And in the middle of it all,
Lee Jin stood there in his uniform with Seo Yu-jin.
“Your Majesty. You really must withdraw now.”
Seo Yu-jin grabbed at Lee Jin’s sleeve with unusual force.
Even in her usually icy voice, there was no hiding the fear in it now.
The instant the rebel tanks opened fire, this courtyard in front of the broadcasting station would turn into a hell so utterly ruined there wouldn’t even be bones left to gather.
As Seo Yu-jin dragged him toward the protective wall, Lee Jin said, “Do those bastards look impressive to you?”
He spat to the side from his scratchy throat.
Seo Yu-jin was speechless, but this was not the time to argue.
Lee Jin pointed ahead with a jerk of his chin. “For men who started a rebellion, they’re awfully sluggish. Means they’re scared shitless.”
“In front of tanks, bravado doesn’t matter. If Your Majesty’s sacred body is harmed, all of this righteous cause falls apart.”
“It’s fine.”
Lee Jin’s eyes were calm to the point of terror.
“I’ve entrusted my life to them.”
Whether you believed it or not, dead was dead if they broke through. If that was the case, there was no reason not to trust the people who had gathered to protect him.
Rrrrrrr—!
At last, the armored column of the 1st Guard Brigade reached the broad boulevard in front of the station.
Dozens of tanks and armored vehicles belched exhaust and came to a halting stop.
Gun barrels and gun barrels stared each other down, and a suffocating standoff began.
“Based on the broadcasts up to this point... the self-proclaimed emperor appears to have remained inside the station.”
The brigade commander, seated inside the command vehicle, stared at the scene in the station courtyard shown on the monitor.
Layer upon layer of barricades.
Marines and Army troops packed tightly behind them without a single gap.
And beyond the soldiers, the man who had just moments ago been standing stiffly in that clumsy uniform and glaring this way.
Lee Jin.
“……”
A dry laugh spilled from the brigade commander’s mouth.
It was truly a laugh of helplessness, of loneliness.
“So it was real.”
It’s easy to play the brave fool. Easier still if you have underlings willing to dress up that foolishness as courage.
Like the crown prince in fairy tales, who had the palace guard seize his woman and then charged off in noble fury, leading his soldiers like some heroic legend to rescue her.
The empress, the crown prince, none of the imperial household had ever risked their lives for that farce.
The only ones whose heads had rolled were the guards brigade and the Capital Defense Command troops who had been dragged into carrying out the order.
So he had assumed this man would be the same. A so-called emperor with nothing but a mouth, someone who’d wet himself and run before a barrel was even pointed at him.
That would have made capturing him difficult, sure, but the brigade commander honestly wished he would’ve run.
Then why.
Why was there such force pouring out of the body of a mere collateral relative?
The emperor who stood at the very front instead of fleeing.
The emperor who gripped the soldiers’ hands and urged them on.
Just that one thing.
Something inside his heart was collapsing like a sandcastle.
So the real emperor finally showed up…
The brigade commander swallowed bitter saliva.
“Too late.”
If that man had been emperor yesterday, the Guard Brigade might have sworn loyalty to him.
But not now. They were already traitors who had burned the palace and butchered countless bloodlines.
They had already climbed onto the tiger’s back.
Get off here, and its teeth would tear them apart. There was only one way to survive: shoot the tiger in front of them dead and keep running until the end.
The killing intent returned to the brigade commander’s eyes.
“All units, listen up.”
His voice went out over the command net.
“The men in front of us are enemies of the revolution. They are enemies who are trying to plunge the nation into chaos by placing a fake emperor at the top.”
An order he had to spit out even though he knew it was a lie.
“Objective is the fake emperor Lee Jin. Anything that blocks our path…”
“B-Brigade Commander!!”
That was when it happened.
The adjutant who had opened the hatch to check the situation outside stumbled back into the command vehicle, his face chalk-white.
“What are you doing! The fire order is about to—”
“The troops behind us! The rear units have stopped!”
“What?”
The brigade commander’s brow twisted sharply.
“Stopped? What do you mean stopped? The 1st and 2nd Capital Defense tank regiments are backing us up!”
The armored and mechanized units of the 1st and 2nd Capital Defense Divisions under the Capital Defense Command, following behind to cover the Guard Brigade’s advance.
That long column had come to a complete stop in the middle of Bukseodae-ro, hundreds of meters short of the station approach road.
Like a wall of stone set in place, they would not move forward any farther.
Peeep— peeeeep—
Then the command vehicle’s external communications line shrieked sharply.
It was the tank regiment commander from the 1st Capital Defense Division.
[...Guard Brigade. This is 1st Capital Defense Division.]
“1st Division! Why have you stopped? Move forward and cover our rear immediately!”
The brigade commander shouted in a panic, but the answer that came back shattered every expectation he had.
[...I’m sorry.]
Along with a deep sigh over the comms.
[We’re ending it here. We can’t shoot the emperor with our own hands.]
“You bastards! You think you’ll get away with this after all of it!”
The brigade commander howled as if vomiting blood.
But even as he screamed, another sound rolled in from outside the communications net.
Kiiiiiing— thud, thud!
The tanks of the 1st and 2nd Capital Defense Divisions, which had stopped in place.
Their turrets began to rotate in unison.
And the direction they pointed was none other than the rear of the 1st Guard Brigade, which had been leading the way.
Now it was the Guard Brigade that had become the rat trapped inside the jar.
“Brigade Commander…”
The adjutant called out in a tear-choked voice.
All the staff inside the command vehicle were staring only at the brigade commander’s mouth.
Should he fire?
Should they die in a glorious blaze within the encirclement?
Death wasn’t frightening.
But for what?
Blood seeped from the brigade commander’s clenched fist.
Slowly, he closed his eyes.
“...All vehicles, lower your barrels.”
“Brigade Commander!”
“It’s over. Turn off the engines and get out to surrender.”
The brigade commander let the radio slip from his hand and hit the floor.
With that, the rebel tide that had surged forward like a flood shattered and collapsed.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
At the same time.
Inside the underground bunker of the Capital Defense Command.
A command and control room filled with nothing but silence.
Across the huge screen covering one wall, the Guard Brigade troops were being shown live as they threw down their weapons and walked out to be bound by the Marines.
“The Capital Defense Command... is withdrawing.”
“Their target?”
“It looks like this place.”
The command staff was as still as the dead.
Some had collapsed with both hands clamped over their heads, while others stared into empty space with desolate expressions.
“Marshal. It’s not too late yet! Gather the remaining troops here, withdraw, and make plans for the future…”
“Shut up.”
At Song Hak-su’s curt dismissal, the room fell silent again, as if a mouse had died.
His own eyes were fixed on one corner of the screen as well, on the young man standing there in combat uniform.
“Was I wrong?” Song Hak-su muttered low.
He did not regret it.
He believed his actions had been a decision made to save the nation.
But the people—and more than anything, the national army—had chosen to lift up the hand of the young emperor throwing himself into the line of fire before them, instead of his decision.
Then the outcome had already been decided.
Song Hak-su slowly rose to his feet.
“Chief of Staff.”
“Yes, Marshal.”
“Release the Capital Defense Commander we’ve detained.”
Song Hak-su adjusted the collar of his uniform as he gave the order in a calm voice.
“And all of you, go outside and surrender. The crime of rebellion can rest on my head alone.”
“No, sir! We’ll go with you to the end—”
“You’ve all done well.”
Song Hak-su cut him off, leaning back deeply in his chair.
After everyone had gone out, only a teacup of cold green tea remained before him.
Song Hak-su slowly lifted the cup.
Reflected in the tea’s surface was his expression—
He was smiling.
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