Chapter 356
Chapter 356
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Oh Dae-seok
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Oh Dae-seok was lost in thought.
He watched Lee Seok-gyun blathering on TV and lit a cigarette.
The result of trusting and following Bae Seong-jun, who vowed to build a new Republic of Korea, had been the birth of a new dictatorial power.
What did that have to do with the people’s Republic of Korea?
Oh Dae-seok felt deep disillusionment with the current state of affairs.
Even so, he had believed Bae Seong-jun’s words about rebuilding democracy.
“The Director will keep his promise.”
He remembered the look in Bae Seong-jun’s eyes when he spoke of the Republic of Korea.
He wanted to believe in the sincerity of that gaze.
But that faith didn’t last long.
“A new era! Presidential candidate Lee Seok-gyun is with us!”
Bae Seong-jun had put forward his own puppet as a presidential candidate.
“How could the Director do this?”
It could only be the greed to swallow the entire country whole.
“Was the dream we chased just an illusion?”
Oh Dae-seok sat in his office as head of the Second Bureau, pondering deeply for a long time.
Should he continue to trust and follow Bae Seong-jun, or not?
Oh Dae-seok fondled the pistol in his desk drawer.
After a long hesitation, he headed to the KCIA Director’s office.
There sat the young power broker who sought to devour the country.
Bae Seong-jun.
A comrade who had once shared the same dream, but now a man he could no longer trust.
Oh Dae-seok let out a deep sigh and knocked on the door.
“Director, it’s me.”
“Come in.”
Oh Dae-seok hesitated for a moment before standing before Bae Seong-jun.
“What’s the matter, Director Oh?”
“Director, I’ve come to speak with you.”
“Oh?”
Bae Seong-jun treated Oh Dae-seok with the same demeanor as always.
Oh Dae-seok sat in the chair Bae Seong-jun indicated.
His heartbeat pounded louder than ever.
“Director Oh, if you have something to say, go ahead.”
As Bae Seong-jun leaned in to listen attentively, Oh Dae-seok voiced the words he’d been suppressing in his chest.
“Director, the ideal of the Republic of Korea you spoke of to me—have you truly abandoned that dream?”
Bae Seong-jun shook his head at those words.
“It’s still here in my heart.”
“But the path you’re taking doesn’t lead to the people’s Republic of Korea. All I see is the shadow of the dictator Jang Dong-yun, hungry for power.”
Bae Seong-jun gave a wry smile at the sharp words.
“You’re right. I won’t deny that. But if we allow democracy now, will Korea magically transform into a democratic nation overnight?”
“That wouldn’t be easy.”
Oh Dae-seok harbored no such romantic notions.
He knew full well the practical difficulties.
But democracy was a system that could only take root after countless trials and errors.
“Even so, we can’t give up without even trying, just because it’s hard.”
“I know that.”
“Then why are you walking that path, knowing it?”
Oh Dae-seok wanted to know Bae Seong-jun’s true intentions.
Bae Seong-jun replied in a heavy tone.
“To complete democracy from below.”
Democracy handed down from above has shallow roots.
But democracy seized by the people themselves has deep, solid roots.
Roots so strong that no storm could ever uproot it.
That was the future democracy Bae Seong-jun envisioned.
Oh Dae-seok couldn’t believe his words.
How could he trust a man who had buried the ideal of the Republic of Korea beneath his ambitions for power?
“That’s just words to justify your seizure of power, Director Bae.”
People always rationalize their actions and intentions.
Bae Seong-jun was no different.
“You can’t bring yourself to believe it.”
Oh Dae-seok showed no hesitation.
“Yes.”
With that short reply, Oh Dae-seok pulled a white envelope from his chest pocket.
For the first time, a comrade who had shared his cause was turning away.
Bae Seong-jun’s expression turned bitter as he saw it.
Oh Dae-seok placed the envelope on the desk and stood.
“Would it have been better if you’d just shot me instead?”
At Bae Seong-jun’s words, Oh Dae-seok gave a bitter smile.
“I spent too much time with you for that, Director.”
In truth, Bae Seong-jun had known Oh Dae-seok was that kind of man.
That was why he hadn’t guarded against him.
“Yes, that’s the kind of man you are, Director Oh.”
Oh Dae-seok took a few steps back and spoke politely.
“It was an honor to serve at your side all this time, Director. Be well always.”
Oh Dae-seok bowed at the waist and walked out of the office with steady steps.
Bae Seong-jun neither stopped him nor tried to dissuade him.
Oh Dae-seok submitted his resignation to the KCIA and spent the following days at home, doing nothing and resting.
Bae Seong-jun made several offers of new positions to him.
Plausible titles like president of a public corporation, board member, or advisor to a major conglomerate.
Offers that would be hard to refuse outright.
Oh Dae-seok turned them all down.
He felt that accepting any would shatter even his own aspirations for democracy.
And so, Oh Dae-seok wandered in seclusion for several months.
Then came the news that the puppet Bae Seong-jun had propped up had become president.
“So you’ve gone down that path after all.”
The moment Oh Dae-seok heard of Lee Seok-gyun’s election, he felt a sense of mission—that he had to do something.
He bore no small responsibility for the launch of this abnormal regime.
Now, there was only one thing left for him to do.
“I’ll meet the Young Lady. And tell her everything about the dark path we’ve created.”
It didn’t matter if it led to his own ruin.
A man of conviction harbored no hesitation.
The moment Oh Dae-seok dressed and left his home, shadowy figures began tailing him discreetly.
“Director Oh?”
When his steps led to a deserted area, someone called out to him.
The instant Oh Dae-seok turned, a fist struck his face, and a handkerchief clamped over his nose.
“Shh. Stay quiet, and it’ll be over soon.”
Oh Dae-seok struggled for a while but soon went limp.
When he opened his eyes, he was in the middle of the West Sea.
The salty sea air surrounded him, the water shrouded in dark hues.
Oh Dae-seok realized at once that he had been kidnapped.
Looking around, he saw about a dozen burly men.
The one who seemed to be the leader spoke to him.
“Director, it’s a call from the boss.”
The man handed him a radio, and Oh Dae-seok took it.
“This is Oh Dae-seok.”
There was silence on the other end.
But he could tell Bae Seong-jun was there from the faint breathing.
After a long pause, Bae Seong-jun spoke.
“Director Oh. Why did you turn down my offers?”
Bae Seong-jun wanted to keep his old comrade alive if he could.
Those job offers had been his final gesture to save his former subordinate.
Yet Oh Dae-seok had rejected them all.
Bae Seong-jun found it profoundly regrettable.
“A man has his pride. How could I resign and then accept your favors, Director?”
“That wasn’t a favor. It was a silent plea for you to keep quiet.”
“I know.”
That was precisely why he hadn’t accepted.
Oh Dae-seok’s firm words carried unwavering resolve.
“Director Oh, how did it come to this between us?”
“Our paths diverged.”
Bae Seong-jun fell silent for a moment before speaking.
“Is that really all?”
“Yes.”
At Oh Dae-seok’s reply, Bae Seong-jun called to the leader.
“Director Lee.”
“Yes, Director.”
“Give Director Oh a pistol.”
“Yes? Oh, yes. Understood.”
The man pulled a pistol from his coat and handed it to Oh Dae-seok.
Oh Dae-seok gripped the pistol and stared eastward toward Pyongyang for a long time.
Finally, he pressed it to his temple and left his last words.
“Long live the Republic of Korea.”
With the gunshot, Oh Dae-seok collapsed.
The man spoke into the radio.
“Director, he’s dead.”
There was no subject, but the meaning was clear.
“Did Director Oh leave any last words?”
“Long live the Republic of Korea.”
Bae Seong-jun fell silent for a long time at those words.
“Handle it as per procedure.”
“Understood.”
The man ordered the body stuffed into a drum and filled with cement.
As he lit a cigarette, he thought the dead Director Oh was pathetic.
“If he’d just stayed quiet, he could’ve risen high as one of the boss’s inner circle. What a pointless stunt.”
“Director, it’s full.”
“After the cement sets in an hour, clean it up.”
“Understood.”
And so, Oh Dae-seok vanished from the world.
That silent death was akin to the signal flare announcing the start of Bae Seong-jun’s silent dictatorship.
Bae Seong-jun could openly order Oh Dae-seok’s killing over the phone because he was backed by overwhelming intelligence power.
“The nation’s intelligence has been managed inefficiently until now. Rivalries and checks among agencies prevented them from achieving results commensurate with their budgets. Such wasteful operations will no longer be tolerated. From this moment, all intelligence agencies will operate under KCIA oversight and supervision, moving as one body—that is the new principle.”
By taking on the role of “Intelligence Minister,” consolidating all intelligence agencies, Bae Seong-jun had seized control of the nation’s intelligence in one hand.
The dictatorship began with the completion of intelligence power.
Thus dawned the era of Bae Seong-jun, reigning at the pinnacle of the Republic through his intelligence apparatus.