Chapter 355
Chapter 355
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Throne
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I relentlessly hammered the Grand Assembly from the shadows.
I showed no mercy to my former subordinates who had once pledged loyalty to me.
Serves them right for taking the money.
As I pounded the Grand Assembly, I welcomed those who defected with open arms.
"Cross over, and I'll spare you. Surrender while you have the chance."
The Grand Assembly weakened, and the Republic Party swelled in power by leaps and bounds.
This shift in the legislative balance was enough to spook the regime.
"If this keeps up, we'll end up with a legislature where the opposition outnumbers the ruling party. Prime Minister, check your assemblymen's loyalty first."
The Grand Assembly flailed desperately, but it was futile.
"You know investigative authority is in our hands, right? Think carefully about whose side you're on."
We easily bought off the Yushin assemblymen too.
With the balance between the Republic Party and the Grand Assembly crumbling, I decided it was time to climb the final step.
January offered the perfect opportunity.
As planned, Prime Minister Choi, acting as proxy, was set to run unopposed at the National People's Conference and assume the role of interim president.
His term would be one year.
I had no intention of waiting even that long.
'Why wait a full year?'
I attended the regular cabinet meeting and requested the floor.
Prime Minister Choi frowned at my request.
Considering how I'd built the Republic Party to crush the Grand Assembly, he probably didn't even want to give me a chance to speak. But what could he do?
I was a cabinet member with speaking rights.
With a displeased expression, Prime Minister Choi granted me the floor.
"Director Bae, go ahead."
"Thank you, sir. The reason I've asked to speak is to suggest we put forward one more candidate for the upcoming National People's Conference."
"One more candidate?"
Under the Yushin regime, the National People's Conference always featured a single candidate who would win with over 90 percent of the vote.
This time was no different.
In the previous cabinet meeting, most members had agreed to Prime Minister Choi's solo run.
For me to challenge that now left everyone looking uncomfortable.
"You're not saying you plan to run yourself, are you, Director Bae?"
People, honestly.
Did I look that reckless?
"How could I run at my age?"
Not that I couldn't, but appearances mattered.
"Then you have someone else in mind to recommend?"
Of course I did.
"There's Dr. Lee Seok-gyun."
Everyone's bewilderment was plain to see.
Who was Lee Seok-gyun?
The Republic Party's public face.
In short, my puppet.
Pushing him as a presidential candidate left them all dumbfounded.
"Director Bae, that's..."
I cut them off before they could launch into their objections.
"The Republic Party is, broadly speaking, part of the ruling bloc. Since we're holding an election anyway, wouldn't it look better—and foster unity within the bloc—if both parties jointly produce the president?"
It sounded reasonable enough.
But the cabinet members and Prime Minister Choi knew exactly what tricks I might pull behind the scenes. They couldn't accept it.
"We already have consensus on this. Upending it now would cause chaos. I can't agree."
"Does everyone agree with Proxy Choi?"
I swept my sharp gaze across the room.
Several flinched under my stare.
Soon, the Home Minister chimed in with subtle support from the side.
"Director Bae has a point. Broadly, the Republic Party is the ruling party. Nominating a candidate from just the Grand Assembly doesn't seem right."
"Minister Hae!"
"I agree with Director Bae as well."
As ministers voiced support one by one, the mood flipped in an instant.
With KCIA holding leverage over the cabinet members who raised their hands, there was no burying this agenda.
I looked at Prime Minister Choi.
After hesitating for a long while, Proxy Choi finally spoke.
"Let's discuss it again tomorrow."
I went along with it smoothly.
A day's delay changed nothing.
Proxy Choi made calls trying to sway the ministers, but their positions held firm.
They'd die if they didn't heed me from the start.
At the next day's cabinet meeting, sensing his defeat, Proxy Choi accepted my proposal.
He had no choice.
"It seems many favor Director Bae's idea, so let's go with that."
With that, Lee Seok-gyun's candidacy for the National People's Conference was locked in.
Back at Kumsusan, I summoned my subordinates and issued orders.
"From now on, every minute counts. Start the buyout operation the moment you confirm the delegate list for the National People's Conference."
"Understood."
I planned to ascend to true supreme power through this National People's Conference.
My model for seizing power was Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's de facto leader.
When the military blocked her presidential bid, she ran a proxy in the election.
Once her proxy won, she took the title of presidential special advisor and became the real power.
This matched exactly what I sought.
Rule from the shadows with the president as my puppet.
As I mobilized my subordinates, I kept a close eye on the democratic camp's movements.
Sure enough.
The name Bae Sung-jun was popping up frequently in their circles.
"The shadow power broker Bae Sung-jun. Pyongyang will never see spring until he's brought down."
The public wasn't foolish.
They saw the shadow I cast and quickly grasped that Bae Sung-jun was a dangerous power player.
They didn't know the full extent of my strength or how solid my foundations were, but even that much made me no one to ignore.
The reports from the Planning and Analysis Office confirmed it.
"Student movements are openly targeting you as the main enemy."
"And the politicians?"
"Opposition politicians are watching you closely too. The Young Lady's faction has even issued statements about you."
"About me?"
Curious what Lee Se-eun had called me, I checked the censored articles.
"I saw the three letters 'Jang Dong-yun' in Bae Sung-jun's eyes."
Pretty sharp, huh?
Though 'Jang Dong-yun' was a bit off.
Not that it mattered.
I brushed aside the idle thoughts and issued orders to my key subordinates.
"From what I'm hearing, we need to preempt the student movements."
"You're thinking ahead to the academies reopening in spring?"
"Yes."
Once my puppet became president, cries to topple the dictator Bae Sung-jun might erupt. Better to act first.
Reacting after the fact turns one hand's work into ten.
What kind of waste was that?
"So, I'd like the Domestic Security Bureau to craft a scenario."
"Director, what kind of scenario should we prepare?"
The Domestic Security Bureau chief asked politely.
"Let's keep it simple."
I ordered them to slap them with morals corruption charges.
"Morals corruption?"
"Secret societies have secret initiation rites, right? Slap that image on the cell-based student movements to make them seem sleazy—wouldn't that work?"
This idea was straight from King Philip IV of France, who crushed the Templar Knights with morals charges.
"We'd need to arrest students first for that."
"Handle that through the 1st Deputy Director's office."
"Understood."
Then the Grand Public Security Office piped up.
"We'll handle the investigation."
"No need for that."
I didn't plan to treat the framed students too harshly.
"Just toss them in holding cells moderately, then release when the time comes."
"Will do."
I issued preemptive measures against the student movements and other enemies.
With the academies neutralized, the politicians wouldn't stand a chance either.
I worked furiously behind the scenes, feverishly preparing for my ascent to the throne.
And so, in January 1981, the National People's Conference convened at Pyongyang's Rungrado Stadium to elect the Yushin president.
Amid 60,000 spectators filling the stadium, 12,000 delegates cast their votes into the ballot boxes.
The voting ended swiftly in a tense atmosphere.
As the tally began, I watched the screen without a hint of anxiety.
The initial back-and-forth quickly turned into a widening gap.
"Huh?"
"Is Dr. Lee going to win?"
The victor was my candidate, Lee Seok-gyun.
Prime Minister Choi's camp and the Grand Assembly stared in disbelief, but this was the inevitable outcome.
They'd rigged votes in their own way, but they couldn't match the KCIA's thoroughness.
We bought votes with money, and if that failed, we seized them with threats.
With votes secured like that, how could we lose?
Proxy Choi stood in stunned silence before finally shaking hands with the approaching Lee Seok-gyun.
As the new president exchanged greetings with Prime Minister Choi, I approached Um Ji-won, who had moved to presidential chief of staff.
"Chief Um, you look right at home there."
"Thank you, Director."
Most of the president's close aides greeting him were familiar faces.
Lee Seok-gyun had never truly been his own man.
The curtain of humanity around him consisted entirely of my people.
The soon-to-be-appointed chief of staff for civil affairs, economy, and inspections were no different.
Lee Seok-gyun had won the election on this stage.
But the true victor was me.
I, Bae Sung-jun, was the power of the Republic.
Before tens of thousands of spectators, I silently declared my victory.