<h4>Chapter 368</h4>


    November 17th 2023, 20:30.


    Currently, the underground bunker of the National Emergency Situation Center below the Blue House located in Jongno-gu, Seoul Special Administration City.


    All the TV stations were continuously ying the ‘breaking news’ footage of the protests taking ce in Pyongyang and various contents rted to said protests.


    Especially the event of thirty minutes ago, which was receiving all the coverage right now. And that event was the military personnel opening fire on the protesters upying the Pyeonghwa za. The citizens’ reactions after watching such a blood-filled incident split into two camps.


    First of all, the citizens that leaned to right opined that all the left-leaning bastards dreaming of overthrowing the government needed to be rooted out using this opportunity and that the country’s democracy must be defended no matter what.


    Meanwhile, the left-leaning liberals said that the military, an organization meant to protect the citizens, recklessly opened fire on said citizens to create a bloody repeat of Gwangju Incident of May the Eighteenth.


    The citizens began rebuking and criticizing the Northern Federal Government and the central government ording to their political leanings.


    The political ideology that seemed to have died along with the unification began waking back up in the hearts of the citizens, this incident acting as the necessary trigger.


    The Pyongyang terror act and the protests verging on full-on riots resulted in the conference of the NSC (National Security Council) to bleed past the eighth hour mark.


    And as more and more reports pertaining to the protests reached the ears of President Choo Un-hee, themander-in-chief’s expression grew progressively darker.


    Elected as the first-ever President of the unified Republic of Korea, Choo Un-hee faced very little challenges during her administration and even received 70% approval rating from the citizens. So this incident would be the gravest threat yet during her stay in the office.


    “I still cannot fathom why that fool chose to go to the protest sites, Madam President. What did he think he could even achieve, anyway?” National Security Director Kang Hyun-soo expressed his anger while opening calling Governor Ahn Dong-tae a fool.


    “What happened to the governor?” President Choo Un-hee asked in a tired voice while massaging her forehead.


    federal investigation bureau


    The director of the Federal Investigation Bureau, Kang Hyuk, immediately replied to her. “Ma’am. Our federal investigators have sessfully performed an emergency arrest of the governor and they have set off for Seoul not too long ago.”


    “Was there any friction with the governor’s security force?”


    “Although there seemed to have been a brief scuffle, the report states that they backed off once the investigators presented them with the emergency arrest warrant, ma’am.”


    “Understood. Does that mean the governor’s security force has withdrawn from the protest sites?”


    The Chief of the Joint Staffs, Shin Sung-yong, replied while lowering his head apologetically. He was currently participating in the conference after receiving the urgent summons from the Blue House. “We are withdrawing the security force personnel through the chain ofmand, ma’am, but unfortunately, two of the locations didn’t seem to have received the order yet, and are still continuing with the armed suppression operation.”


    “I’m sorry? What do you mean by that? If the locations in question cannot be contacted, then shouldn’t you be sending someone there directly? Do you think you can afford to be socent in this situation?!”


    President Choo Un-hee was not the kind of person to get angry often, but at least this time, she began angrily rebuking the chief while both of her brows shot up high.


    “But, madam president! We have already dispatched agents to the locations of the suppression operations. But due to the severity of the situation on the ground, the messages must have not reached them yet. If we wait for a little bit longer...”


    “We don’t have time to wait around, Minister Kang! Can’t you see that even as we speak, countless Pyongyang citizens are losing their lives?!”


    The president even ended up mming her fist down on the oval shaped conference table.


    Bang-!


    Minister of defense, Kang Yi-sik, was trying to help Chief Shin Sung-yong only to receive the president’s ire.


    “My apologies, ma’am.”


    “Why are you all responding to this situation in such acent manner?! It’s already nonsensical that we can’t contact themander on location for the operation, yet the way you’re all handling this crisis is beyond my understanding, gentlemen!”


    In the blink of an eye, the conference room of the NSC became deathly silent.


    “Chief Kim!”


    “Yes, madam president!” Chief secretary Kim Jong-won quickly responded.


    “In one hour, I n to address the nation so please prepare the stage. Also, please notify the Chairperson of National Assembly that I shall be dering the state of national emergency during the address.”


    “Yes, ma’am. Understood.”


    President Choo Un-hee was issuing new orders with a hardened expression.


    <hr />


    November 17th, 2023. Time, 21:00 (15:00 Russian Standard Time)


    Inside Kremlin, located in Moscow. More specifically, the presidential conference chamber.


    The ministers of various departments had been urgently summoned to the presidential conference chamber. With grave faces, they were holding a conference of their own.


    Director Evgeny Lebedev briefed the others on the SVR’s n to destabilize Korea.


    On the ministerial level, only the ministers of foreign affairs and defense department were privy to the existence of this n. That’s why the rest of the ministers were making all sorts of expressions as they paid attention to Director Evgeny Lebedev’s exnation.


    A short whileter, the briefing came to an end, setting off hushed murmurings between the ministers.


    They had already heard about the news of a terrorist attack a few hours ago, which resulted in the deaths of dozens of northern politicians including Kim Jong-un. However, they were all deeply shocked by the revtion of their own nation’s SVR being the culprit behind the attack.


    This attack was on another realm of seriousnesspared to the assassination of Minister Kang Kyung-hee in Tehran. If this n was sessful, it’d greatly destabilize Korea’s politicalndscape. And ording to the contents of the briefing, one could even say that the n was already halfway sessful.


    One unfortunate misstep was Jo Myung-rok’s arrest. He could be seen as the key man to this n so his capture by the Korean intelligence agents could potentially expose Russia as the culprit in this attack.


    However, Director Evgeny Lebedev was adamant in his deration that Jo Myung-rok would never confess to anything that might jeopardize the safety of his family still in Russia.


    Unfortunately for the director, however, he wasn’t aware of one thing, the fact that Korean intelligence agents possessed a special drug that made their captives confess.


    Whatever the case might be, Director Evgeny Lebedev guaranteed everything in a loud and proud voice, then settled down on his chair at the end of the briefing.


    President Putin wordlessly scanned the ministers present during the conference, then slowly opened his mouth. “And so, everyone! I must tell you that I have never given up on Hokkaido.”


    When the word ‘Hokkaido’ suddenly leapt out of their president’s lips, the ministers quickly guessed what the uing topic of discussion would be.


    “As you all are aware of, Hokkaido was historically a Russian territory. Our territory. I believe now would be the most optimal timing to reim our formernd. But what say you,rades?”


    Before the Second World War, the ind of Hokkaido, plus the southern part of Sakhalin Ost and all of Kuril Inds belonged to Japan.


    Starting from the end of the 18th century, both Japan and Russia gradually explored thesends and eventually conquered the natives living there, like the tribe of Ainu. And then, the two nations began confronting each other.


    But on 1855, the peace treaty between Russia and Japan, the Treaty of Shimoda, was signed into effect, which gave Japan the annexation rights to the four southern Kuril inds while Russia walked away with everything north of them.


    As for Sakhalin (Karafuto Prefecture in Japan), it was designed as a shared territory for the citizens of both Russia and Japan. The four Kuril Inds Japan annexed were then became a part of Hokkaido.


    But, thanks to the immense pressure from Russia’s ambition to expand east, a new agreement had to be reached in St. Petersburg on 1875.


    The result of this agreement was that Japan would hand over the entirety of Sakhalin to Russia in return for all of Kuril Inds. And from that moment on until the end of the Second World War, Kuril Inds were considered as a part of Hokkaido.


    The Russo-Japanese War broke out before the First World War, with Japan emerging as the victor. For the warpensation, they demanded all of Sakhalin back, but in the end, the ind was split in half again, with the southern part ending up in Japan’s hands.


    The southern part of Sakhalin was ruled as Karafuto Prefecture, an overseas territory by Japan until 1943, when it was fully incorporated into the Japanese maind.


    During the closing stages of the Second World War — year 1945 — Japan came up with the idea of installing Resident-Generals in preparation for the so-called ‘deciding battles of maind’. The Northern Region Resident-General was then installed in Sapporo to oversee both Hokkaido and Karafuto Prefecture.


    But with Japan’s defeat at the end of the Second World War, the south of Sakhalin and Kuril Inds ended up under the rule of USSR, the predecessor to the current day Russia.


    The USSR even demanded the shared rule of Hokkaido. Not stopping there, they even tried to annex Hokkaido in its entirety but failed in the end.


    Even so, Soviet Union still walked away with the south of Sakhalin as well as the central and northern Kuril Inds they lost during the Russo-Japanese War.


    And now, Japan was demanding the return of the four southern Kuril Inds from Russia since they used to be Japanese territory since 1855. The whole area was still a focal point for the territorial squabbles even to this day.


    And President Putin was thinking of ending the territorial dispute by simply conquering Hokkaido in full.


    “Currently, the defense of the Japanese maind, including that of Hokkaido, is the responsibility of Korea,rade president.” The minister of the Justice Ministry, Viktor Onophko, exined the situation that everyone present were already aware of.


    “Who doesn’t know that here? ording to their words, didn’t Korea already promise the handover of Hokkaido?” President Putin retorted in a voice containing a trace of annoyance. His mood must’ve been affected by the minister’s negative opinion.


    “T-that is... because of the Tehran incident...”


    “Minister Onophko! You think I called you here to listen to what happened in the past!”


    “M-my apologies,rade president.” Minister Onophko immediately lowered his tail and shut his mouth.


    “Because of this incident, Korea will be swept up in internal chaos and won’t be able to respond normally to foreign issues for a good while. So, I think this might be the best opportunity to attack Korea, and so...”


    The end of President Putin’s sentence trailed off as he scanned the gathered ministers.


    “You’re correct,rade president! Currently, the Eastern Districts have already finished their preparations and are ready to wage war at any moment!” The quick-witted Minister of Defense, Mikhail Ivanov, cottoned onto what his president was thinking of, and began buttering up to his boss.


    Only then did President Putin’s expression revert to something resembling satisfaction.


    “Comrade president! Are you thinking of attacking Korea right away?” Igor Semshov, the current minister of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, stared at President Putin with surprised eyes.


    “Of course not right now... But, it should be soon! Korea will surely fall into greater and greater unrest given more time. And that’s whrn we should make our move. Also, we should definitely shake things up in the Middle East, too.”


    Despite his small stature, President Putin was overflowing with charisma as he sank even deeper into his couch.


    He continued on. “Minister Semshov. You are hereby ordered to issue a secret mobilization of all personnel and cooperate with all the rted department as quietly as possible. Your task now is to prepare for the uing war.”


    “Understood,rade president!”


    “And you, Minister Ivanov!”


    “Yes,rade president!”


    “You shall now give your all to inspect the military strength of the Eastern Districts. If you discover any districts that need assistance, order the other military districts to aid them immediately.”


    “Understood,rade president.”


    The moment defense minister finished his reply, President Putin got up and looked behind him at the massive map of Russia hanging on the wall. His gaze locked on a certain part of the map as he murmured quietly. “While Korea is unable to deal with the foreign affairs, we must end it in an all-out blitzkrieg.”


    His gaze was on none other than Japan’s Hokkaido.


    <hr />


    November 17th, 2023. Time, 21:30 PM.


    The location, the Blue House located in Jongno-gu, Seoul Special Administration City. Specifically, the press center in the Chunchugwan.


    President Choo Un-hee, who addressed the nation to make her apology regarding the terrorist incident earlier, had to hold her second press conference only a few hourster.


    The contents of this address consisted of two topics. One, to announce the results of the ongoing investigation rted to the terrorist incident and two, to apologize to the nation regarding the bloodbath that resulted from the armed suppression of the protests.


    President Choo Un-hee entered the press conference venue with a stiff expression. But that’s because, ten minutes before the press conference, she received several important reports rted to the terrorist incident from the current NIS director, Lee Young-jin.


    They contained valuable information acquired from Jo Myung-rok. Division Chief Lee Ja-sung of Foreign Intelligence first division was tasked with interrogating Jo Myung-rok.


    However, the unyielding refusal to cooperate with the investigation by Jo Myung-rok forced Lee Ja-sung to resort to the truth serum. No matter how tough one’s willpower was, this magical drug was capable of making anyone confess as soon as being injected with it.


    But it came with a side effect. There was a very low chance of one’s optic nerves being destroyed after the injection, causing the subject to be crippled or even worse, die.


    And that’s why Director Lee Young-jin was reluctant to use the serum, but after recognizing the severity of the current situation as well as Jo Myung-rok’s continued unwillingness to cooperate, he had no choice but to greenlight the usage of the truth serum.


    With the help of the drug, Jo Myung-rok finally confessed to several things. However, he still disyed a fearsome willpower despite being not being fully conscious by not revealing everything, probably to protect the lives of his family still stuck in Russia.


    President Choo Un-hee stepped up to the press conference stage with a heavy heart. She ced the contents of the announcement on the rostrum, then sucked in a deep breath.


    With her eyes locked on the camera in the middle, she finally began her second address to the nation today.