Chapter 125. North Korea.
Chapter 125. North Korea.
At the mention of his "human days," everyone stared blankly at Terion. After all, he looked exactly like a distinguished European model.
"You... you mean that's really you, Sir Terion?"
"Indeed. I fashioned this body with a little help from the 'Disaster.'"
"You made a body...? But, with modern science..."
The President started to ask something else, then shook his head and muttered to himself.
"With magic in the picture... well, I suppose nothing is that strange anymore."
"Yes. I wanted to give you all a start, appearing in a human form for the first time in a long while."
"You certainly... gave us all a start."
As if agreeing with the President, the rest of the party nodded. Then, as if remembering why they had gathered, the President shook his head and brought up the subject.
"In any case, the reason we assembled today concerns North Korea."
"..."
"Their command structure is still alive. We, for unification..."
The President let out a short, bitter chuckle at the word 'unification.'
"My apologies. The absurdity of discussing unification in a situation like this made me laugh in disbelief."
— This is East Sea! This is East Sea!
While the mood was being lightened with a mild joke, a sudden radio transmission rang out. Normally we kept all radio channels shut off except one. That single channel was an emergency line we maintained at the Yongdo outpost for urgent contact.
And now, for the first time since the village was established, the radio for that emergency channel was going off.
"Yes, go ahead. Reading you loud and clear."
"We have engaged unidentified personnel."
"What? Engaged?"
"Engaged? What do you...!"
Hearing that people who had been on leave to rest their weary bodies had suddenly become engaged in a firefight threw the entire party into confusion.
"What do you mean by that...!?"
"The majority of the personnel have been killed or subdued, but some have escaped. We also have multiple wounded on our side, several critically. We need reinforcements immediately!"
They couldn't be survivors. When we went there last time and checked the surroundings, we found no traces of survivors. Even if they were survivors by some off chance, they had no reason to attack us. And even if they did attack, they wouldn't be capable of wounding our reasonably strong Awakened.
If they were truly strong Awakened, I would have noticed them. That meant they were figures from the outside...
"Understood, we're heading out immediately!"
The President promptly summoned special operations agents skilled in small-scale missions along with a pursuit team to hunt down the escaped attackers, and issued departure orders. Then he looked at me, still seated calmly, and asked.
"Are you not going, Mr. Cheon?"
"No."
My reply, given without a moment's hesitation, drew puzzled looks. Our village had progressed too smoothly, without any real crisis. Honestly, if I intervened, resolving everything would be simple. But that would make the people belonging to the village rely too heavily on me alone. Once I explained that, the party seemed to understand to some degree.
"They need to stumble, break down, and get chewed out while developing on their own and feeling a sense of belonging to the village. I mustn't intervene forever. How would that be any different from pet animals who simply eat whatever they're given?"
'Of course, I make no compromises when lives are at stake.'
"Don't assume I'll be stuck in this village for a thousand or ten thousand years."
I deliberately used strong wording to drive a sense of urgency into them. Even as it was, looking around the village, people had become far too indolent and lax because of the powerful, stabilizing force that was 'me.' The mindset of, 'If something happens, the Representative will take care of it.'
'I need to fix that with this opportunity.'
Well, I wasn't asking people to develop some bizarre mindset like the samurai spirit or something. But relying on me too much was a problem in its own right.
"Do you know what this village's greatest strength is?"
"..."
"It's that I am here."
"..."
"Then what do you think the weakness is?"
"That 'only' you are here..."
"If another case like me, a Returnee, appears, I will help immediately, of course. But our village is now at a level where we wouldn't bat an eye even if a horde of survivor groups came swarming."
The days of being warmly coddled are over. If they've been living more comfortably than other survivor groups, then they should do the work that comes with it.
"Go, and come back safely."
"Yes, we will do our best not to disappoint you."
I remained in the village while everyone else left for the operation, and the mission concluded without additional casualties, making my worries seem needless.
* * * * * * * *
"Huh. So you're saying, except for the ones currently tied up, the rest committed suicide the moment they were in danger of being captured?"
"Yes. After seeing them commit suicide, we quickly searched the bodies of those who were knocked unconscious and found small capsules—suicide pills, essentially."
"Tough bastards, aren't they."
"We also checked their belongings, but found no clues to identify their affiliation."
'Hmm... Do I have to go squeeze some brains out of someone again...'
At that moment, Terion, who had been listening quietly with his arms crossed, spoke up.
"I shall go."
"Hm?"
"I must earn my keep."
Terion's trip to visit the captured men did not take long. They had come down on orders from the North Korean command to observe the situation in the South. Furthermore, their objective was to destroy the government of the Republic of Korea if it was still alive, and to eliminate as many surviving groups as possible.
And so, we gathered again and received additional reports.
"We have several people in critical condition..."
"Those damned North Korean bastards...!"
They had always been a headache in the past, and hearing that North Korea was behind this, people trembled with rage. The anger was likely amplified because someone who had been directly harmed was standing right there. We were holding a meeting about North Korea, and as if by some coincidence...
"What do you want to do?"
"I want to put them in their place right this instant. However, given the international situation, we need justification to detain them, control them, and interfere."
There was no real need to consider international reputation right now, but his boiling rage seemed to have left him too agitated to make a calm judgment.
"Mr. President, isn't our justification sufficient?"
"They will deny everything unconditionally. They are shameless scum who have always done so."
"What do you want to do?"
"No, the question was wrong."
"...?"
"How do you want to judge them?"
It was a similar but different question. But the President, a man who had clawed his way through the political arena and climbed to the highest seat, caught the meaning of what I said.
The Korea of old, which was pushed around here and there, always conscious of others, no longer existed. All we had to do was render our judgment and notify them of our disposition.
"There's no need to accept it with an 'Is that so?' if they deny it. The important fact is that they ultimately came down here and inflicted harm on us."
"Then the judgment regarding that..."
"Is ours to make freely. Isn't that the right of the strong?"
Just as the superpowers had acted against weaker nations until now under the name of being the world's police.
* * * * * * * *
There were a few facts Terion uncovered while interrogating them. First, they indeed came down under orders from the Party, but North Korea had also been instigated by someone somewhere.
"Clearly... I believe he was called Comrade Chairman's teacher...?"
"Yes. I heard it clearly during the interrogation."
It was a bit odd that someone who held a king-like position in North Korea had a teacher.
"It's true... historically, even kings had teachers, they say..."
There was no way that greed-driven tyrant would acknowledge someone's standing as a teacher and follow their orders. I looked at the President and asked, but he also shook his head in denial.
"I've met him a few times at summits, but I can guarantee absolutely that he is not that kind of figure."
"Then is there anyone who might be presumed to be this 'teacher'?"
"We have a close alliance with China, sharing the ideology of communism... but it's not a relationship where they would revere him with a title like 'teacher'..."
"Hmm... I will go personally this time."
"You, Representative?"
"Yes. I intended to avoid intervening as much as possible, but this feels a little off."
It was one of two things. Either there was an Awakened with brainwashing abilities strong enough to flip ideologies and beliefs, or something had crossed over from Titan.
'In the latter case, beings crossing over from Titan don't pick and choose locations.'
"That aside, the troublesome part is that I know nothing about North Korea's terrain."
"Representative, that is something our side can provide."
"Pardon?"
"We do dispatch agents for intelligence in the North, after all."
"In that case, I suppose we have to deal with Pyongyang first?"
"Yes. Virtually all significant facilities are concentrated there. They will most certainly be there."
"Infiltration by helicopter would be difficult, wouldn't it?"
"With communication from our agents lost, we have no idea what's in North Korea right now. Rather than causing unnecessary noise, you should enter on foot starting from the Military Demarcation Line."
Our plan was to take a helicopter from Gimpo to Paju, then proceed overland through Kaesong, and finally head to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun located in Pyongyang.
"Assuming we walk about 40 kilometers a day, it's roughly a week—estimated at two weeks with a generous margin."
'It'd be convenient to go alone and come back quick, but I've already made that speech about dependency and all...'
"You have no intention of cooperating with anyone else, I presume?"
"No. No matter how much of an ally they are, in the end, they are nothing more than competitors. There's no need to create pointless discord."
For the smooth execution of the operation, we packed without shortage: small mini-car-like drones, tactical drones, various weapons, heat-detecting sensors, and the like. Transporting them wouldn't be an issue since I could just use the subspace anyway.
"The top priority is for everyone to reach the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun safely, without anyone getting hurt. The Representative will decide how to handle any people we meet along the way."
The civilians were probably mostly dead by now anyway. I'd have to quietly deal with any soldiers I encountered while gathering information.
"Then, we will depart the morning of the day after tomorrow."