studiobondurri Chapter 73: A Second-Best Option
Chapter 73: A Second-Best Option
Chapter 73: A Second-Best Option
The joy of intercepting all the nuclear missiles was short-lived, as the government agencies, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff, received a tragic news.
Many of the cabinet members and lawmakers, including the prime minister, had died in this chaos.
It seemed that hundreds of thousands of people who had tried to flee Seoul had met their doom.
The people were more busy cursing than mourning.
—How dare those public officials try to escape? They deserved to die.
—A lot of lawmakers died this time. Almost 200 if you count the ones killed by the radiation cannon.
—They didn’t do anything useful anyway. As long as Yu Ji-ha is alive, it’s fine.
–But who is Oh Guk-jin, the prime minister? I’ve never heard of him before.
—Didn’t Buk-jin ajusshi take away all his authority?
—Well, it makes sense after what happened with Park Hyun-gu.
—Oh Guk-jin is almost 90 years old. He probably died of natural causes.
—Does it matter as long as we have the president?
—I heard a rumor that the president is not in the bunker right now.
—Where did he run off to?
—He went to Pyongyang to take a picture.
—Jo Hyung-geun has finally gone crazy.
—That old man was always crazy.
The whereabouts of President Jo Hyung-geun were circulating among the people.
Someone had leaked it, and the media asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff bluntly.
They indirectly admitted it.
“So you’re saying that at this moment, when a nuclear warhead is falling on Seoul, the president went to Pyongyang?”
“He went there to encourage the soldiers on the front line...”
“Do you really think the soldiers would welcome the president when there are still explosions in Pyongyang?”
“...”
The spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff cut off the interview and the people protested.
President Jo Hyung-geun knew that too, but he ignored it.
He believed that everything would be solved if he captured the Kim family, who were behind this incident.
—President Jo Hyung-geun puts handcuffs on Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong himself!
How cool would that be?
He would go down in Korean history forever.
But they had somehow escaped from Pyongyang with China’s help.
Korea quickly chased them with armored vehicles and K151 tactical vehicles.
The reason they couldn’t deploy fighter jets or helicopters was because they were getting support from the Chinese military.
If they made a mistake and caused a war with China, it would be a huge headache.
The best option was to stop their vehicle and take them only.
For that purpose, unmanned reconnaissance aircraft were deployed and drones without weapons were loaded on the pursuit team.
But the chase was not easy, because there was no occupied area north of Pyongyang.
The regime itself had collapsed, but there were still many remnants who hid in nearby cities and villages and continued to resist.
They even fired from nearby artillery units, making the pursuit team nervous.
“Artillery fire incoming! Lower your posture!”
An armored vehicle might survive, but a tactical vehicle would be destroyed by one shot.
Boom, boom!
The pursuit team ran fast, but the highway was damaged by continuous shelling and they were getting farther away from their target.
Then they received a message from the corps headquarters.
“We have a report that a Chinese transport plane is waiting at 70km ahead.”
They planned to load their vehicle on the plane and send it to China.
The condition of North Korea’s highway was terrible, but they could still take off.
Kim Ju-yeol, a lieutenant colonel and the commander of the pursuit team, clenched his teeth.
If he let them go, his military career, no, his whole life would be ruined.
And Korea’s future would not be smooth either.
‘I’d rather kill them than let them go...’
It would cause friction with China, but it was better than handing them over.
He made up his mind and contacted the corps headquarters.
The corps headquarters received an order from the president and called in a squadron of F-15K fighter bombers that were waiting in the air after refueling nearby.
“Target confirmed. We will eliminate the target.”
The squadron fired Taurus cruise missiles in unison.
Six missiles aimed at the Chinese military vehicles.
And coincidentally, artillery fire started from a nearby unit, or so it seemed.
The highway became a mess with fleeing Chinese military vehicles, pursuit team, missiles and shelling mixed together.
Dust filled the air and it was hard to tell what was what.
A gunshot rang out among them and the pursuit team urgently radioed the corps headquarters.
“China is attacking! We need support ASAP!”
Meanwhile, President Jo Hyung-geun, who heard the radio at the corps headquarters, was furious.
He thought he had finally caught the Kim family, but he couldn’t let them go here, could he?
“You have to kill them, at least! I won’t tolerate any escape! Do you understand?”
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The officers tried to contact the site, but it was not easy because of the mess.
“Alpha team, this is headquarters. Report your situation.”
Crackle-
“Aaargh!”
Noise and screams were mixed and no proper report came through.
President Jo Hyung-geun walked around the headquarters, making the officers nervous.
He occasionally swore, but that was not directed at the officers.
But they couldn’t help feeling tense.
There was no report from Alpha team for a long time.
“Is this how the special forces that were mobilized for the beheading operation are supposed to be? I’m going crazy.”
President Jo Hyung-geun looked at the operation map with bloodshot eyes and perked up his ears at the report that came in.
“Crackle... Secured... Requesting support...”
“Are you sure you secured the target? And is there any pursuit from the Chinese military? Please transmit.”
“Target secured... No pursuit from the Chinese military at this point, they seem to have given up!”
Jo Hyung-geun checked their location and urged the corps commander.
“There’s also the vice prime minister...”
Lee Kang-hoon, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, laughed awkwardly.
“Haha, I was thinking that it would be nice if you could take over the emergency authority... You know so much.”
He had a close relationship with Russia and was familiar with many leaders.
There was not much regulation in the constitution about the authority delegation, so he was not bound by age either.
But Yu Ji-ha refused with a gloomy expression.
“It’s so unfortunate that he died when unification was just around the corner. What we have to do is not fight over power, but mourn.”
His voice rose and everyone in the bunker paid attention.
He felt a bit embarrassed and coughed.
“Ahem...”
“And I’m a lawmaker, so I can’t go to the administrative branch. Let’s wait and see. There will be someone who can handle this situation.”
“I’m just saying this out of frustration. As you know, the situation is...”
“I understand.”
Yu Ji-ha sat down in his original seat and an army general brought him a map and explained how the president died on the helicopter.
“What happened to Kim Jong-un?”
“The 1st Corps is currently conducting a large-scale search operation.”
Bae Seong-min, the chief of staff, frowned but didn’t say anything and made another phone call.
His tone changed as he explained the situation.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t know if I’m qualified.”
“The minister of finance is not...”
“You should understand what I’m saying if you’re at least a chief of staff. I heard there was some friction with China? The fiscal deficit is astronomical and who can take responsibility in this situation?”
“Minister, this is not something you choose...”
“Then I’ll resign.”
He hung up abruptly.
The chief of staff held his phone and stood blankly.
The country was in crisis, but no one stepped forward.
Emergency presidential authority delegation
“Minister, let’s discuss the authority delegation...”
“Is it up to me now? What about the Ministry of Education and Science?”
“They all resigned or died...”
“As you know, diplomacy is usually controlled by the Blue House. What do I know?”
“You can just come here and talk about it.”
“Hold on, I have something urgent right now...”
What could be more urgent than discussing the presidential authority delegation?
The foreign minister hung up the phone shamelessly and Bae Seong-min, the chief of staff, sighed deeply without anyone noticing.
He understood.
It was not a normal time, but a war.
At this point, when the war with North Korea was not over, there was hardly anyone who could take responsibility for that.
President Jo Hyung-geun did not trust even his close aides and interfered with everything, and as a result, most of the senior bureaucrats became yes-men.
A minister of a ministry should be able to carry out their work autonomously, but there was hardly any of that in this administration.
Whenever they did something, they had to get permission from the Blue House...
The Blue House didn’t like it...
This was all President Jo Hyung-geun’s masterpiece.
There was no problem when he was alive.
There were many disadvantages to having power concentrated in the president, but there were also quite a few advantages.
But after he died, the problems started to explode.
No one wanted to take responsibility for what he had done.
‘I should have written the will properly...’
What’s the use of regretting it now?
The presidential emergency authority delegation was not a poisoned chalice, but a deadly poison for the ministerial-level bureaucrats.
How could they take responsibility for all these things that the former president had done?
At best, they would get a lot of abuse and pressure from neighboring countries and hand over their seat to the next president.
And they would never be able to hold public office again.
‘If it’s him...’
Bae Seong-min, the chief of staff, naturally thought of someone’s face.
Yu Ji-ha, the chairman and now lawmaker, who had gained popular support from the people.
There was hardly anyone in Korea who didn’t know his name.
He was more famous than the president, as they often said.
He showed an innovative future as an entrepreneur, and he was also quite savvy as a politician.
He never made any controversial remarks.
He knew how to turn a crisis into an opportunity and gained the support of the people even in the worst situations.
He was more than a seasoned politician who had been rolling around Yeouido for decades, judging by what he said in the bunker.
‘There is no one who can deal with this situation better than him...’
Unfortunately, that was true.
He was so similar to President Jo Hyung-geun in his way of doing things that they had a lot of conversations.
He even drank with him on the night when rockets fell on Seoul.
At this point, there was no one who could continue President Jo Hyung-geun’s policies as well as Yu Ji-ha.
‘The problem is his position...’
A first-term lawmaker could not take over the authority delegation.
They couldn’t choose the head of the executive branch from the legislative branch.
But there was a way.
It was far-fetched and absurd, but it was wartime and an emergency situation.
They could overlook some things.
The important point was that they couldn’t leave the seat of the head of the executive branch and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces vacant.
‘This is a second-best option.’
The best option was for the ministers, including the defense minister, to take ove
r the authority delegation.
He didn’t expect much though.
The chief of staff started making phone calls again.
Fortunately, Kim Chul-woo, the defense minister, said he would take over the authority delegation.
“But I have one condition.”