Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Loyalty Training (2)
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Loyalty Training was a military drill aimed at protecting the regime.
There was one feature that set this training apart from other military exercises: it imposed strict controls on all troops' leaves and outings.
So why control the troops' leaves and outings?
It was to ensure that the Loyalty Units could be mobilized immediately if emergency forces were needed.
As a result, units participating in Loyalty Training had to maintain full readiness, no exceptions.
This meant the soldiers in the mobilized units suffered immensely.
They underwent intense riot suppression drills every day on the training grounds.
This was because the current Loyalty Training was ostensibly preparing for riot suppression.
"Speak louder!"
"Loyalty Training! Loyalty Training!"
The veteran soldiers gripped large batons and shields, readying themselves for suppression.
The rookies hurled stones and jeered at their seniors.
"Oooooh!"
"Advance!"
The suppression troops silently pressed forward toward the rookies playing protesters, enduring the barrage of stones.
Then a whistle blew.
Tweet!
"Charge!"
As the suppression troops roared and charged, the protester troops scattered like ants.
The veterans chased down the fleeing juniors, tackled them, and mercilessly swung their batons.
Naturally, injuries were commonplace during training.
Fatigue and frustration among the troops reached unprecedented levels compared to normal.
Yet hardly anyone voiced complaints.
'At least we're stuck in the capital doing Loyalty Training. If we got transferred to the front lines up north, we'd be worrying about life and death.'
Of course, a few bold souls grumbled about the Loyalty Training among themselves.
Mostly, it was the junior officers who followed Lee Seong-jun.
"A country at war doing Loyalty Training? The top brass has lost their minds."
"If it were up to me, I'd gun down every bastard on that podium, but I held back, sir."
Voices of discontent bubbled up within the military like a boiling pot, but the upper echelons refused to set an end date for the training.
In their minds, Loyalty Training would end when the empire achieved a clear political victory over China.
Once they extracted a surrender from Nanjing, public support would recover, and they could station enough troops around the capital to safeguard the regime.
The military regime planned to drag out the Loyalty Training until then.
But what if the war with China dragged on?
Park Han-jin and the cabinet he controlled had a Plan B for that.
Namely, peace negotiations mediated through Germany.
The Korean government had quietly sounded out Herbert von Dirksen, the German ambassador in Seoul, about whether Berlin could mediate the Korean-Chinese War.
Germany responded positively.
That made sense—Germany saw both China and Korea as key trading partners and had no desire to see conflict drag on between Pyongyang and Nanjing.
With Germany's enthusiasm, the three-way talks in Berlin were progressing smoothly by November.
As such, the Park Han-jin regime had no worries about prolonging the Loyalty Training.
'At worst, the war ends in 10 weeks. The troops might gripe until then, but that's just par for the course in any job.'
The Army truly believed that.
Which was why the intensity of the Loyalty Training showed no signs of letting up over time.
If anything, it ramped up.
"From now on, we'll combine this with emergency mobilization drills for civil unrest. We have to complete troop movements by the timelines reported to the War Ministry, so daily march speed is 60 kilometers."
"Sir?"
It sounded insane, but it was an order from above.
Beyond riot suppression, the troops now had to conduct maneuvers for what the upper echelons truly wanted: 'coup suppression.'
"Fuck this shit."
Stress among the troops hit rock bottom.
Yet no one dared suggest dialing back the intensity of the Loyalty Training.
"Louder!"
"Loyalty Training! Loyalty Training!"
The troops bellowed in fury.
And in their hearts, they thought:
Whatever protesters or whoever crossed their path, they'd kill them.
*
"Loyalty Training, huh."
I sipped my coffee, lost in thought.
The academy district was quiet, so the reason for running Loyalty Training was obvious.
It was preparation to mobilize forces in an emergency.
And that emergency?
Almost certainly a coup contingency.
I racked my brain for any coup attempts in the military at this time.
'From the webtoon I remember, there weren't any.'
Even if there were, they'd be in '39.
Of course, they could be happening earlier, but if so, I would've known.
I had eyes on the key players who led the '39 coup.
I set down my coffee cup and called for Kim Jeong-gil.
"Adjutant."
"Yes, General."
"Are those Security Command bastards still tailing us?"
"Affirmative."
"Leeches."
A few days ago, we'd spotted soldiers in civilian clothes shadowing us.
We knew they were military because of their shoddy, obvious disguises—like chopping board heads shaved without flair.
Only one outfit in the army could tail a senior general in plainclothes.
Security Command.
"Direct contact with my Unity Council friends will be tough now."
"For the time being, yes."
Of course, I'd prepared for situations where contact was cut off.
My method: the newspapers.
On set days, I conveyed my intentions to the Unity Council members through my op-eds.
The trick was simple.
Reading specific letters in a diagonal pattern or aligned by date revealed the message.
"In case those Security Command pricks round up our Unity Council people, check on their status daily."
"Yes, sir. I'll confirm via our network."
Jeong-gil had his own channels to the junior officers, enough to track the Unity Council officers' whereabouts.
"But, General."
"Speak freely."
"What if one of our Unity Council guys gets arrested?"
Obvious, isn't it?
"Troops must be swift as gods."
Move before the captured one spills.
In a coup, speed is everything.
If they grab our collar, we stick the knife in their throat first—or they do ours.
Fail, and we're all dead.
"Why's that?"
"Rumors say Security Command is investigating Unity Council officers in the Correctional Brigade."
"Correctional Brigade?"
The Correctional Brigade was the key combat unit for our uprising.
Its name suggested training or prisons, making it seem weak, but its actual strength surpassed the 16th and 17th Reserve Divisions combined.
Because the Correctional Division included a tank regiment.
I'd learned in Spain just how crucial tanks were on the battlefield.
Even outdated ones could still kill.
"Yes, sir."
"The Correctional Brigade, hmm."
The Correctional Brigade was notorious for sticky fingers.
Equipment inevitably went missing in handling, and by custom, officers sold it off for living expenses.
Hardly admirable, but given their meager pay—no combat or hardship bonuses—it was understandable.
If Security Command investigates embezzlement in the Correctional Brigade?
'The Unity Council guys I've been courting could get nabbed.'
I realized Security Command saw me as a bigger threat than I'd thought.
Investigating just my acquaintances?
That meant they were watching me closely.
"You there."
"Yes, General."
"We need to accelerate our schedule."
Whether playing a game or fighting a war, people always say one thing.
Strike first, victory is assured.
Sure, counterexamples like the Japanese Empire's Pearl Harbor preemptive strike exist, but even that's not wrong on closer look.
How else could a lightweight like Japan hold its own against the U.S. for a year?
By landing a sucker punch first.
Same for me.
I wasn't waiting for Security Command to put a knife to my throat.
"When's the promotion review for flag officers across the services?"
"December 9th, as far as I know."
"Then we strike on the 8th, during the review."
I'd target the moment when commanders were away from their units.
Without their commanders, our Unity Council senior officers and junior reformists could seize the units easily.
"Sounds good, sir."
It sucked not being able to hash out details with the Unity Council's brains, but no choice.
When pressed, improvise.
I signaled the coup decision to the Unity Council officers through my newspaper op-ed.
"The General has whispered under the starlight."