Chapter 391
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Setting an Example
In July 1990, as the Libyan War dominated headlines at home and abroad, an incident erupted within the Korean military.
Every July, Korea held events commemorating the victory in World War II (the timing due to the troops' repatriation schedules back then), and the navy was no exception.
The navy hosted the Tailhook 90 Symposium at the Nampho Hotel.
High-ranking officials attended in droves, including the Navy Minister, Vice Minister, and Chief of Naval Staff.
After the banquet ended and the key guests had left, the party continued.
Pour it out, drink up.
The naval aviators got thoroughly drunk on the endless flow of alcohol.
It doesn't take long for drunken men to turn into beasts.
And before long, trouble broke out.
"Hey, Park Hyun-jeong. Come over here and pour me a drink."
"Pardon?"
"If a bitch is told to pour a drink, she pours it—what's with all the chit-chat!"
Unlike the air force, the macho navy culture kept female pilots in supporting roles, flying helicopters at best.
As a result, naval aviators dismissed female pilots not as equal colleagues, but as worthless bitches.
"N-no, I don't want to."
"Hey, look at this slut throwing a tantrum. Grab her."
The party venue turned into a frenzied crime scene in an instant.
Amid the nonstop screams and shouts, Captain Park Hyun-jeong barely escaped, tears streaming down her face.
If she hadn't bitten the tongue of the man forcing a kiss on her, something even more humiliating might have happened.
Captain Park Hyun-jeong rushed down the stairs and reported the horrific incident to her superior, Colonel Ma Young-jun, who was sleeping in a bedroom on the lower floor.
Colonel Ma Young-jun gave her a look of utter disbelief.
"Why'd you stick around with a bunch of drunk pilots? You gave them the wrong idea, didn't you?"
"Pardon?"
"Don't stir up trouble for no reason—just go sleep it off quietly."
Colonel Ma Young-jun ordered her not to make a fuss and shoved her out the door.
*This can't be real.*
Captain Park Hyun-jeong couldn't just let it slide.
She went to the Navy Personnel Director and the military police, but no one would listen.
"Don't spout nonsense—keep your mouth shut. Naval aviation is the strongest faction in the navy. Don't you want to get ahead, Captain Park?"
This was a crime she was reporting—yet they talked about promotions?
Captain Park Hyun-jeong was at a loss for words.
Were all the navy's top brass like this?
The proud image of the navy she loved was nothing but an illusion.
Behind the glamorous facade lurked a rotten, pus-dripping corrupt organization.
She couldn't expect self-correction from such a decayed group.
After hesitating, Captain Park Hyun-jeong picked up the phone.
The recipient was the most powerful, unchecked authority in the country.
She pressed 1 three times.
Soon, the dial tone connected, and a female operator answered.
"Report spies at 111. National Intelligence Service Citizen Complaint Office."
National Intelligence Service.
The sheer weight of the name momentarily overwhelmed Captain Park Hyun-jeong.
An ordinary person might have felt the pressure and hung up.
But she took a few deep breaths and spoke.
"I have something to report."
Captain Park Hyun-jeong's report was logged with the NIS.
The NIS wasn't the Board of Audit and Inspection or a Defense Ministry oversight body, but Bae Seong-jun was qualified to handle it.
Minister of National Defense.
Among his many hats, Bae Seong-jun also commanded the Defense Ministry.
"This is Defense Ministry-related—should we forward it there?"
"What are you talking about? It came through the NIS—why send it to the Defense Ministry? Send it straight to the Director."
The NIS swiftly escalated the report to Bae Seong-jun.
It wasn't an issue for internal handling, so he had to review and decide personally.
Bae Seong-jun scowled as soon as he read it.
"These bastards have some guts."
A sex scandal might be trivial in some contexts, but times had changed.
This could explode and topple the regime if mishandled.
Bae Seong-jun immediately picked up the phone.
"Have the Navy Minister, Vice Minister, and Chief of Naval Staff come to my office."
"Understood."
Bae Seong-jun smoked in silence.
His eyes alone revealed the depth of his fury.
Thirty minutes later, the Navy Minister and other top brass entered Bae Seong-jun's office, faces tense.
They sensed from his cold gaze that this was a tribunal.
Bae Seong-jun smoked quietly before tossing the complaint onto the desk.
"Read it."
The minister picked it up gingerly and read.
His face turned pale.
*Tailhook.*
Sexual assault incidents happened periodically at every Tailhook Symposium, but they'd never blown up before.
Because the victims always kept quiet.
In macho, Confucian Korean society, a woman's chastity was paramount—no victim ever spoke up and ruined her own life.
How many women had that kind of courage?
But this time, one unlucky case had surfaced.
As the minister's eyes darted around, Bae Seong-jun tapped the desk with his finger.
"When did this start?"
The dictator's question cut straight to the core from the outset.
Could they deny it and get away?
No chance.
He was the man who held all the nation's secrets.
If he wanted, he could dig up ten years' worth from his chair.
The minister hesitated long before speaking.
"I'm aware it was an issue even before my tenure."
"Do the Vice Minister and Chief know too?"
They nodded reluctantly.
"Yes."
"Hah."
Bae Seong-jun stood, hands clasped behind his back, and paced slowly.
As he approached, they involuntarily swallowed.
It felt like facing an enraged tiger up close.
"I'm starting to get a little pissed off. Any idea why?"
"We failed to manage the troops properly and disturbed the Director's peace."
Bae Seong-jun kicked the minister's shin.
"Urk."
As the minister crumpled, Bae Seong-jun scoffed.
"Minister, spare me the bullshit. Vice Minister—you answer."
"We let military discipline slacken. Urk."
"Hah."
Bae Seong-jun kicked the Vice Minister's shin too, then turned to the Chief.
"Chief, you get it?"
"I-I'm sorry."
"Sorry ends your military career?"
The Chief staggered after his shin kick.
Bae Seong-jun tsked at them.
"There's one reason I'm pissed. Something happened in this country that I didn't know about. Something this Bae Seong-jun didn't know."
Only then did they grasp his rage.
This wasn't about justice or oversight.
The managers had arbitrarily buried the reports.
Nothing infuriated Bae Seong-jun more.
"S-sorry, Director."
"Enough. I won't work with people who see me as a pushover. Director of Secretariat!"
"Yes, Director."
The NIS Director's chief of staff rushed in.
"Escort these people out."
"Yes. This way, Minister, Vice Minister, Chief."
Bae Seong-jun's word made them tremble.
"Director, spare us!"
"Who's killing you?"
Not killing—just making life worse than death.
Despite their pleas, the NIS staff showed no mercy.
Once they were dragged out, Bae Seong-jun picked up the phone.
"Mr. President? We have a problem. Yes. The Navy Minister, Vice Minister, and Chief of Naval Staff need replacing. I'll explain later. Yes."
Bae Seong-jun lopped off the navy's top brass from his desk.
"Looking at this mess, time for a thorough cleanup."
As Minister of National Defense? No—Bae Seong-jun viewed it through a politician's eyes, deciding on harsh military punishment.
Repeating and covering up a scandal lethal to the regime warranted a death sentence for the military.
The dictator's verdict struck the military like lightning.
With NIS, prosecutors, and police probing, generals dared not cover it up.
Soon, the Tailhook scandal's truth emerged.
150 naval aviators involved, 6 generals in the cover-up.
The fallout was massive, sparking military opinion:
"Naval aviators are the navy's core strength. Punishing them all weakens our forces."
Valid point.
But to the dictator, something outweighed military power.
The example.
"They committed atrocities thinking themselves irreplaceable. Let that slide, and what's to stop repeats?"
The dictator ordered all involved aviators disciplined.
Perpetrators got sentences fitting their crimes.
Overnight, a quarter of the naval aviation force vanished, but Bae Seong-jun didn't blink.
"In my Daehan, no one is irreplaceable."
If the nation's absolute ruler Bae Seong-jun was just a replaceable part, what were these flies?
Bae Seong-jun's hardline response left one vital lesson in Daehan.
Even precious, hard-to-replace assets like naval aviators faced the iron fist for 'crimes.'
Before 'crime,' nothing mattered—not nation, nothing.
The incident slashed rampant sexual violence in Korean society.
Especially in the military.
But to truly change Korean society, the biggest criminal syndicate needed reckoning first.
The silver screen's master: the NIS.
Bae Seong-jun signed off on the incident report.
*Someday, the NIS will face punishment too.*
Himself included.
Gazing at the megacity Pyongyang he'd built, Bae Seong-jun lost himself in thought.