Chapter 43: “It Looks Like South Korea Is Preparing for War.” Why Japan Misunderstood as South Korea’s Military Strength Continued to Rise
Situation Room of the Underground Crisis Management Center beneath the Blue House.
The Chairman of the State Affairs Commission and the President spoke for quite some time.
The Chairman soothed the furious President as though placating an older brother.
“Then... is there perhaps anything you would like, Mr. President?”
“Let us reunify. The Republic of Korea will take the lead.”
“Th-that is not possible.”
“Then it will be full-scale war. I’ll hang up now.”
At the President’s firmness, the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission instinctively realized something.
This bastard is no ordinary man.
“W-w-wait a moment, Mr. President!”
He shouted urgently in alarm.
“We will pull the long-range artillery and frontline units far back from the border.”
“That is not enough. Forget it. We’ll simply go to full-scale war—”
“W-we’ll also open a route so the Russian natural gas pipeline can connect directly to South Korea!”
“A gas pipeline?”
At last, the President’s tone changed.
A direct pipeline from Russia had long been one of South Korea’s most cherished national projects. If gas could be brought overland directly from Russia without being transported by ship, electricity and heating costs for the entire population would fall dramatically. Even consumer prices would drop.
“Mr. President, Russia also wants this project. Let us proceed with it.”
“...Very well. We will let this matter pass on those terms, but there will not be a next time. Do you understand?”
The President warned the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission as though addressing a subordinate.
“Yes, I understand.”
Since Ryu Hyesung’s appearance, the international order in East Asia had already begun to shift and convulse little by little.
Office at Science Facility’s Factory No. 2.
“You want us to increase Blue’s annual production by two hundred times?”
I had no choice but to ask again in shock after hearing the official in charge from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.
“Yes. We plan to load Blue into every conventional weapon South Korea produces from now on.”
“Then we would have to produce two thousand tons a year....”
“Have you decided on the sale price?”
“Taeju said he would decide that.”
He tapped away at a thick stack of documents and a calculator.
“For domestic sales, Hyesung told me not to charge too much because of the defense budget. So I set it at exactly five times the price of TNT.”
TNT cost five dollars per kilogram, or approximately 6,500 won. Considering its performance, the price was astonishingly low.
“Thank you.”
The DAPA official bowed his head with genuine gratitude.
“However, for exports to strategic allies, we’ll charge ninety times the price of TNT. The government can decide which countries receive allied status.”
“That will also greatly benefit the national interest. Thank you very much.”
“Lastly, for other friendly nations, the price will be one hundred seventy times that of TNT.”
The DAPA official nodded. Considering the weapon’s power, he seemed to think even that price was perfectly reasonable.
“Taeju, one Factory No. 2 won’t be nearly enough to produce two thousand tons. We’ll have to build several factories and spread them out.”
“Really?”
“If we produce two thousand tons here and even one missile hits us, the surrounding cities will be blown away as though a nuclear bomb went off.”
It would mean concentrating an unimaginable amount of energy in a single factory. If it exploded, the resulting disaster would be enormous.
“Got it. I’ll handle finding the sites for the new factories.”
“Sorry I keep making you do this.”
“Why apologize over something like that? It’s all money, and it’s company business.”
At my words, Taeju waved his hand as though telling me not to worry about it.
I turned toward the DAPA official and added,
“Director, producing this on a large scale will require enormous quantities of urea and sugar. Could the government help us import them?”
“Understood. We will treat it as a top national priority and do everything possible to ensure that the supply of raw materials is never interrupted.”
Seoul Detention Center, Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province.
It was afternoon exercise time. In accordance with the strict policy of keeping them separated, the twenty spies had been confined to solitary cells in different wings. However, because there were so many of them, two or three inevitably crossed paths in the exercise yard.
“South Korean facilities even have excellent exercise equipment.”
“I think I could live here for the rest of my life.”
The men sitting on a bench in the corner by the barbed wire seemed conscious of the prison guard standing some distance away, so they barely moved their lips as they whispered to one another.
“Director Baek, what is that?”
Director Baek Taecheon had repeatedly read the crumpled note he had received during the visit “that day.” He had already memorized every single word without error, but obsessively kept rereading it in case he had overlooked some hidden meaning.
“Pass this on to the other team members.”
Baek Taecheon spoke in a low, cold voice.
“We’re getting out.”
“What? From here?”
“All of us are getting out. Don’t worry. They say these people don’t shoot at human beings.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means we have nothing to lose. Do you still not understand? Those South Korean bastards are idiots who can’t shoot criminals because of their laws.”
“Director, are all of us getting out?”
“All of us. Tell the others tomorrow morning. Do not let the prison guards notice.”
The men swallowed and nodded.
“Getting out is only natural. I will explain the operation now, so listen carefully.”
Under Baek Taecheon’s piercing gaze, the two spies nodded once again.
“We will leave in the morning. Apparently, Ryu Hyesung will be at school around that time.”
“Are we targeting Ryu Hyesung again as soon as we escape?”
Baek Taecheon nodded heavily.
“We enter the school and stab him until he stops breathing.”
“Understood, Director. But how exactly are we supposed to get out of this place?”
“When we are transported to court. Whether it is for a detention review or something else, an outside collaborator will help when we board the transport bus. Five of us? No, I think even ten may be able to escape.”
“What happens to those who fail to escape and are caught again?”
“Don’t worry. Even if they catch us again, the worst they can do is put us back here.”
Everyone nodded in relief. Even if they received the maximum sentence in a South Korean court, it would merely be life imprisonment, which at least spared their lives. They truly had nothing to lose.
At that moment, a prison guard making his rounds shouted toward them.
“Inmate Number 4012!”
That was the number attached to Baek Taecheon’s chest. He slowly stood up.
“You have a letter.”
“A letter? Who sent it?”
“I don’t know. Open it.”
Baek Taecheon accepted the envelope and arrogantly glared at the prison guard.
“Hey, prison guard.”
The guard, who had been about to leave, stopped and looked back at him.
“Don’t speak informally to me unless you want to die by my hand.”
“...S-sorry.”
Having realized how distorted South Korea’s system of protecting criminals’ human rights was, Baek Taecheon had begun enjoying the situation and intimidating the prison guards.
After sending the guard away, he examined the letter. His eyes narrowed when he checked the postmark on the envelope.
“This was mailed three days ago.”
The envelope had already been roughly opened. That meant the detention center’s security division had inspected it for prohibited items.
He slowly unfolded the letter and began to read.
[Mr. Baek Taecheon. Despite my warning, I have confirmed that you did not listen.]
“What the hell is this...?”
A chill ran down Baek Taecheon’s back. He understood immediately. It was a message from that ghostlike entity.
[As warned, I attempted to strike your Supreme Leader. However, I have determined that doing so would still not stop you. Therefore, I will change the target of my warning to you.]
The letter had arrived three days ago.
That was when he had made contact with the North Korean operative.
He had only just resolved to carry out the instructions written on the note she had given him. He could not understand how it had predicted his decision and sent a message like this.
Then it happened.
“Die!”
“Urgh! Guh, guh!”
A massive scream suddenly erupted behind him as blood sprayed through the air. A prisoner who seemed to have appeared from nowhere was frantically stabbing a sharpened piece of metal into the neck of another spy standing nearby.
“Die, Baek Taecheon!”
There was no time to stop him. The prisoner’s eyes had rolled back until only the whites showed, and he looked as though he were suffering a severe psychiatric episode.
“Guard! Prison guard!”
As his comrade collapsed while spraying blood, another spy screamed in terror. In an instant, one corner of the detention center’s exercise yard became a horrific sea of blood.
“Guh... guh....”
The spy who had suffered a fatal wound to his neck fell sprawled across the ground, bloody foam bubbling from his mouth.
“Die, Baek Taecheon! Die!”
Even as the crazed prisoner was pinned down like an animal and dragged away by prison guards who had rushed over at the sound of the alarm, he continued screaming with his eyes rolled back.
“You bastard! This man isn’t Baek Taecheon! Snap out of it!”
When a prison guard slapped the crazed prisoner across the face and shouted, the prisoner shrieked as though convulsing.
“He’s not Baek Taecheon? No! I have to kill Baek Taecheon! No!”
At that moment, Baek Taecheon, who had witnessed the horrifying scene firsthand, felt every hair on his body stand on end. It could not have been a coincidence.
Someone—or rather, something beyond anything words could fully express—was now taking aim at him.
“What the hell is wrong with that bastard? Director, what in the world is happening?”
The other uninjured team member beside him asked in bewilderment, trembling.
However, Baek Taecheon’s jaw muscles had gone rigid.
“What in the world did we provoke...?”
His hand trembled faintly.
Laboratory of the Defense Intelligence Headquarters, Tokyo, Japan.
Researchers analyzed the South Korean blue CL-20 with tense expressions.
The Japanese Prime Minister anxiously bit his fingernails.
“Are you certain? Its RE factor is 2.3 times that of TNT?”
The Minister of Defense stared at the report in disbelief.
“Yes. That is the result measured using Japan’s ultra-precision engineering.”
“How high did they raise the purity to achieve a result like this?”
He stared incredulously at the blue explosive in front of him.
“At least 97.3 percent. We estimate that the final product manufactured in South Korea is probably even purer.”
“South Korea will apply this to every newly manufactured weapon, won’t it?”
“They certainly will.”
The Prime Minister, who had been listening in silence, rubbed his face and asked,
“South Korea is clearly... preparing for war.”
The Japanese Prime Minister began laboring under an enormous misunderstanding.
As South Korea’s military strength suddenly increased at an abnormal rate, he became firmly convinced that the country had some other scheme in mind.
“They must have been extremely angry with Japan all this time....”
“We have had many political conflicts, but they are hardly a country that would suddenly do something like—”
“Minister of Defense, have you run a simulation of what would happen if Japan entered a full-scale war with South Korea right now?”
“Yes.... The latest results indicate that South Korea would win overwhelmingly, with a probability of 82.3 percent.”
“What? That much? Weren’t the two sides almost evenly matched at around fifty percent before?”
“Yes. I regret to say....”
The Prime Minister began biting his fingernails again.
“Secretary, what is the schedule for the Takeshima provocation?”
“You are scheduled to give a speech in the Diet next week.”
“Cancel it.”
“What?”
“Cancel it for now. Cancel every scheduled event that might provoke South Korea.”
“What should we do about the visit to Yasukuni Shrine?”
“...Cancel that too, for now.”
It was unprecedented. Never before had national events supported by the right wing been canceled all at once.
“For the reason, just make up something about health problems or whatever.”
The sole reason Japan made such a humiliating decision was the butterfly effect created by a single person.
“Prime Minister, would it not be better to propose a military alliance with South Korea instead?”
The Minister of Defense made an extraordinary suggestion.
“A military alliance? Japan and South Korea have historically never had a particularly good relationship. Would that even be possible?”
“Prime Minister, forgive me, but would that not be better than becoming their colony?”
“...I will consider it.”