Chapter 176
Chapter 176
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Payback (1)
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“Lee Seong-jun seems to be in perfect health, doesn’t he?”
“Even just the fact that he’s fathered a child at his age proves he’s taken excellent care of himself.”
Stalin, the dictator of the Soviet Union, wore a complicated expression upon hearing that Lee Seong-jun was in good health.
He still firmly believed that communism would triumph in the end, but Korea’s growth was accelerating far too quickly.
At this rate, the entire light industry market of the Union could be devastated by an onslaught of Korean products.
‘If Lee Seong-jun holds out for another ten years, this is going to give me one hell of a headache.’
No, calling it a headache was too mild.
There was even a possibility that the Korean economy could surpass the Union’s.
Before that happened, the Union needed to accelerate its own economic growth to match Korea’s.
And to do that, they first had to end the pointless, costly war.
The problem was that no exit strategy from the Italian War was in sight.
The bureaucrats offered their opinions for a long while, but none of them pleased Stalin.
“All of you, get out.”
Stalin dismissed the bureaucrats and sank into thought.
What could he expect from those brainless fools who only rolled their eyes and watched his every move?
The Union’s bureaucrats were worthless idiots not worth banking on.
With that in mind, the Union’s future didn’t look all that bright either.
Stalin lit a cigarette to help organize his thoughts.
Unlike Lee Seong-jun, who favored foreign cigars, Stalin preferred cigarettes made in the Union.
As the General Secretary smoked, a fierce debate raged in his mind.
‘Let’s make a bold concession and end this.’
‘What are you talking about? If we give ground once, the Western imperialists will demand even more.’
Stalin wrestled between the desire to back down and his paranoid fear that showing weakness would invite the West to tear him apart.
After agonizing for a long time, the General Secretary reached a decision.
“Don’t budge on the territorial issues, but accept the Western demands substantially in the POW negotiations.”
The West had proposed granting anti-communist POWs among the communist forces the right to choose their nation.
The communist regimes thought this was absurd, but Stalin saw it differently.
Those guys were hostile elements who’d likely engage in anti-communist activities even if they returned anyway.
It was regrettable not to make an example of them, but abandoning the traitors would make the territorial negotiations more favorable—no loss in that deal.
The West seriously considered Stalin’s proposal.
“Accepting the reds’ offer wholesale is out of the question, but negotiating some adjustments doesn’t sound bad.”
Negotiations between the West and the Soviets began to gain momentum.
With both sides showing strong commitment, the one getting anxious was Italy’s Umberto II.
‘If it ends in division here, what happens to my dignity?’
As a king who’d been humiliated multiple times since the war began, he desperately needed the feat of ‘reunification.’
Failing that, he needed some security achievement on par with it.
Like joining NATO.
But Italy had zero bargaining power.
They couldn’t even get a seat at the table, let alone add their voice.
After much deliberation, Umberto II came up with an idea.
“How about releasing the anti-communist POWs to make our presence known?”
If they ignored Italy, there’d be no negotiations.
Umberto II wanted to plant that notion in the West’s mind.
“Your Majesty may want this, but it’s not right.”
The cabinet decided to reject the king’s idea.
Releasing anti-communist POWs would obviously provoke a fit from the West.
The incident nearly fizzled out as a mere blunder, but the West caught wind of it.
The Western Allies were outraged upon learning the facts.
“What the hell? These war criminal spawn should just shut up and take the handouts, but they’re trying to sabotage the talks?”
“Teach that bastard a lesson.”
The Allied Supreme Command immediately pressured the Italian government.
“From now on, the Italian king is to be a figurehead. He’s not to express opinions publicly or even privately. Understood?”
“Y-Yes, understood.”
With the obstacle to negotiations removed, talks between the two sides sailed smoothly again.
Of course, progress in negotiations didn’t mean the war stopped immediately.
If anything, it intensified.
“We need to seize even one more inch of land before tomorrow’s talks, for our descendants’ sake against the communist red menace.”
“We must reclaim even one more centimeter of the People’s Republic’s sacred soil. You plan to hand it over to the reactionary scum?”
Both sides dumped massive quantities of chemical weapons on each other’s positions daily.
As a result, their combined military and civilian casualties reached a truly horrific level.
Total deaths approached three million.
Stalin’s eldest son, Yakov, had survived two years in this hellish battlefield.
All for his father’s honor.
Still, his efforts fighting for his father hadn’t been in vain.
At a young age, Yakov had earned the rank of army colonel.
It was tougher than his younger brother Vasily, who rose through the ranks lounging in the rear with women, but this hard work was the way to earn their father’s approval.
‘When I get back this time, he’ll give me some praise at least.’
Stalin didn’t show it, but he quietly favored Yakov.
As his eldest son, and because he made efforts to meet his father’s expectations.
Yakov was scribbling a letter to his wife when an Italian People’s Army officer approached stealthily.
“Comrade Yakov.”
“What is it?”
“Here, eggs. I brought one for you to try.”
“Eggs?”
Yakov had been craving eggs badly.
He’d even dreamed of cracking one into a pack of Korean instant ramen.
Delighted, Yakov took the egg.
He added boiling water and the egg to the instant ramen pack.
That was the smell.
But intermittent shelling on the mountain ridge kept sending dirt crumbling from the ceiling.
Yakov decided it’d be hard to eat the ramen in the cave like this.
He didn’t want dirt flavor ruining his rare egg ramen.
“Comrade Yakov, it’s dangerous to go outside if possible.”
“I’ll just sit at the entrance for three minutes to savor it.”
Yakov knew to assess risks.
Enemy shells were hitting the ridgeline, never once the cave mouth.
Yakov sat at the cave entrance and began devouring the ramen deliciously.
Just as he was about to slurp the last noodle, a bomb dropped from an airplane plummeted from the sky.
“Huh?”
Yakov was pulverized on the spot by the blast.
The shocking news was immediately reported to Stalin.
“Comrade General Secretary, you mustn’t be too shocked. Comrade Yakov has died in an air strike.”
“W-What?”
Stalin was dealt a tremendous blow by those words.
If it had been a child he’d cast aside like Vasily, he wouldn’t have been so stunned.
But Yakov was different.
Yakov was an object of both disappointment and joy for him.
Stalin recalled the moment Yakov was born.
‘This one needs to grow up strong too.’
He remembered blowing cigarette smoke on his newborn son.
“I must have misheard.”
“Comrade General Secretary, please calm down.”
Stalin clenched his teeth and ordered everyone to leave.
Even in the agony of his son’s death, the Man of Steel controlled his emotions.
He could never show weakness to his subordinates.
That one precept forced the strong leader’s mask onto Stalin’s face.
“Yakov, you foolish boy.”
Only after everyone left did Stalin mournfully voice his grief.
“How did you go and die like that?”
The Man of Steel hadn’t considered hereditary succession, but he’d inwardly felt secure with Yakov there.
The son he valued so dearly had died pathetically.
Yet the General Secretary shed not a single tear.
Having suppressed human emotions for so long, even the Man of Steel couldn’t properly express his sorrow.
Stalin took out a photo of Yakov from his desk drawer and caressed it tenderly.
Yakov.
Stalin repeated his son’s name countless times.
The General Secretary stroked the photo for a long while before putting it back in the drawer.
Only after losing Yakov did the Man of Steel realize a crucial truth.
Yakov had been the final piece keeping Stalin human.
Stalin spent the day alone in his office, quietly.
The bureaucrats worried the General Secretary might scrap the negotiations over this.
But unexpectedly, Stalin showed rational composure.
“Continue the negotiations.”
Yakov’s death had no impact on the talks.
However, Stalin engraved the event deep in his heart.
Unfortunately for the Western world, Stalin was the type who couldn’t rest until he’d exacted payback, no matter how trivial.
And Yakov’s death was too grave for him to let slide.
Stalin vowed that when the opportunity came, he’d land a solid blow on the Western imperialists.