Chapter 186
Chapter 186
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 186
Chapter Title: Disaster Approaches Like a Tsunami (8)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"It's real! Princess Hina is over there!"
In front of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, the broadcast crew from the station rushed over with their cameras after hearing from a senior reporter.
Was it because they'd just listened to President Nakamura's nonsense?
The camera, no bigger than a small mortar, didn't seem heavy at all to them. They were burning with reporting zeal.
"Uh... but who are those people with her?"
"Hold on, isn't that Watanabe Section Chief in the middle? No way—what's he doing here? Doesn't he know his boss is badmouthing him right now?"
From what they'd heard from fellow reporters at the viewing site, President Nakamura had been droning on with his speech for a full hour already.
For now, Watanabe Section Chief looked so intensely focused on the screen that the reporters thrust their mics toward Princess Hina standing nearby first.
"Excuse me, Princess Hina? We're from 'Tokyo Hot Journal'..."
"Ah, things are hectic, so shut your mouth and stay quiet for a bit. You gonna babble at a time like this?"
The interview cut off before it even started.
Faced with her response—brushing them off like peddlers with a flick of her hand—the reporters had no choice but to step back.
With nothing else to do, they turned their eyes back to the screen they'd skipped earlier.
"What the hell is going on... Huh? What is this!"
On the tiny screen of a handheld phone, barely 3.5 inches across...
Was footage of the inside of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.
And it was moving in real time, the angle shifting continuously.
"The reactor interior must be a radioactive mess—someone actually went in there? Who the hell?"
It didn't take long for an answer to that question.
After a long stretch of silent transmission, a man's voice emerged from the feed.
-Ugh, this sucks. Can you hear me?
"Chairman Han Seo-jun!"
The taut tension snapped loose, and sighs of relief erupted from everyone.
"Thank goodness. He's alive..."
"Uh... could someone explain what's happening?"
To clarify for the baffled reporters, Kim Won-cheol, the chief secretary, stepped forward.
"Heh, she told you not to interrupt. You guys are reporters, right?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Hmm, perfect timing. What's the point if he's struggling alone and no one even notices."
Followed a brief explanation.
Like threading thin bamboo straws with clay beads, one impossible detail after another filled in, and the reporters' jaws dropped wider and wider.
Finally, the exclamations burst out.
"Han Seo-jun! The Ammunition Group chairman went inside himself? No way...!"
"That's exactly how I reacted when I first heard."
"No, how could the head of a chaebol do something like that..."
"That's why, reporters. I've got a great idea."
With a chuckle and a scratch at the back of his head, Kim Won-cheol leaned in and whispered something into the ear of the reporter holding the camera.
"You think you can air this live footage right now? Nationwide broadcast in Japan."
* * *
"The red wire."
A simple task of connecting the red wire.
But this straightforward job hit a wall with my practical color blindness.
"Watanabe Section Chief, this... you can't tell the color from the black-and-white feed?"
-I'm sorry... yes. We should have marked it separately. Our management was clearly inadequate.
"No. I'm not trying to assign blame right now. The real issue is..."
Exactly.
Who cares about blame in this situation? That's not what I'm expecting.
Just solving the problem at hand comes first.
The red wire. Confirming that insignificant little snippet of cable.
A very simple task...
But to do it, one thing is absolutely necessary.
Risking my life.
"Whether to exit the armored vehicle or not. That's the question."
The brief silence that followed didn't last long. Watanabe Section Chief immediately cried out in fierce opposition.
-No! Absolutely not! The reactor situation is worsening—radiation leakage is getting too severe!
"That's why we need to fix it before it gets worse. Mark it with a marker pen and connect it with the robotic arm quick."
The radiation detector beeped again.
I covered the hole emitting the mechanical sound with my gloved palm and continued with my resolved words.
"Then retreat immediately. What other option is there?"
-Even so, this is—no, it's really not!
"Any later, and we won't even be able to do this. I know what choice Japan's disaster control tower brass will make."
Bureaucrats steeped in risk aversion and turf wars.
If I back off here, and the radiation leaks so badly that neither man nor machine can enter...
They won't decide anything. Not even flooding it with seawater to render the plant unusable forever.
Because... history proved it.
"Time... is not on my side. Or the people's here. So we need a quick decision. Right now."
My final words, spoken with resolve. Silence filled the line beyond the comms gear.
As if running calculations, the sound of a pen scratching roughly on paper several times, then Watanabe Section Chief spoke in a hardened voice.
-The hazmat suit... offers minimal protection. At current levels.
Followed by his words with a sigh.
-10 seconds. Finish the marking in just 10 seconds, then get back inside the armored vehicle. And of course, escape the plant as fast as possible. So...
"So...?"
-I... absolutely do not recommend it. No, I'm begging you not to, Chairman.
He could only slump, burdened by the task he should have shouldered himself.
The faint sob seemed to stir emotions in those around.
Then came shouts from Princess Hina and Uncle Kim Won-cheol.
-Get out now! You trying to make your fiancée a widow?
-Oh man, Chairman. No matter how I think about it, Princess Hina's right. You gotta give up and come out. Too dangerous.
Everyone wanted to chime in. Yoo Se-na the aide and the bespectacled guy shouted desperately too.
-Chairman... please come out. This isn't right.
-Chwajnim has done enuff! You could die! Expert opinion.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't shaken.
A single life, one returned through regression—I know how precious it is.
But... I also know this is the only moment to play my hand.
Weighing the immediate risk against the potential payoff on the scales in my mind.
Not emotional judgment, but pure rational logic: which choice is more justified.
"The path forward is clear. Can't turn back now."
The decision I now had to make. With a small nod, I took a deep breath and gave my answer to everyone.
"Have an ambulance on standby. I'll finish everything and get back as fast as possible."
* * *
"So! Who the hell is this Han Seo-jun guy! Jetting around the world poking here and there... a total loose cannon!"
"President, President Nakamura. Just a moment, this..."
The endless tirade continued. No, the risk-averse fool's drivel.
Just as the boredom had reporters ready to pack up, a Tokyo Electric Power secretary approached him from behind and whispered.
"President, this is really important. Please."
"What is it? With all these reporters here."
The two stepped down from the podium.
Checking around with shakes of his head to ensure no one overheard, the secretary spoke softly.
"Oh god, the Prime Minister is at Fukushima now. He wants to see you right away."
"What! Why tell me now!"
-Slap!
A frustrated backhand.
Then, straightening his clothes, Nakamura President hurried off.
Watching his back, the unjustly struck secretary cursed him out.
"Rotten bastard, squeezing me so I can't even speak. Ptui! Hope you get the same!"
And so, Nakamura President bolted off clueless toward where the Prime Minister waited.
"Heh heh heh. This is my chance for sure. His Excellency must be moved by my speech."
Entertaining some bizarre hope, he had no idea.
About the slap he'd dealt in frustration.
That he'd soon receive one far sharper and more painful.
"Oh, Prime Minister, sir! Tokyo Electric Power's Nakamura reporting! Haha, I hope you've been well?"
-Slap!
"Uh... sir?"
"You madman. Out of your damn mind!"
Nakamura President lost for words at the stars suddenly bursting before his eyes.
The Prime Minister's icy rebuke followed immediately.
"You dare insult the hero who stepped up alone to do what no Japanese citizen would? Right in front of the media cameras?"
"No, I mean—what are you talking about...?"
"Shut up! Now look closely. See what the man bearing your cross is going through right now!"
As if not worth another second, the Prime Minister left.
To Nakamura President standing there slack-jawed, the Prime Minister's aides silently handed over a tablet PC.
Current footage from inside the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant...
Of one man fighting valiantly.
In a hazmat suit, dashing out of the armored vehicle—that image was airing on every Japanese broadcast.
"Ah...!"
The coward finally grasped the situation, staring blankly in despair.
Paying no heed to such trivia, the Prime Minister issued orders to the two men beside him.
"Metropolitan Police Superintendent, Fire Commissioner."
"Yes, Prime Minister, sir!"
The two chiefs, now leashed by compromising videos, finally listening.
With a stern face, the Prime Minister commanded them.
"Mobilize every possible support to the Fukushima plant immediately. Go all out, covering even the worst-case scenario."
"Yes, sir! We'll do our utmost!"
In the tent serving as temporary quarters.
Without even windows, the half-destroyed Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant from the tsunami was visible at a glance.
Gazing at the desolate sight, the Prime Minister muttered to himself.
"Chairman Han Seo-jun... In that short time, he's saved my neck over and over. I thought him just a mere merchant, but this is something else."
Letting out a sigh of admiration, he uttered words that hadn't crossed his mind before.
A single word perfectly fitting the moment.
"A hero... wouldn't even do him justice."