Chapter 110: Coup (3) |
Bilon had shared Kang Tae-seong’s location with me.
I timed it and warped there.
The heart of downtown Pyongyang.
I’d come out a little off the mark, so I borrowed the Demon King’s power and flew the short distance that was left.
Far off, between the low buildings, I could see military hardware and people gathered together.
It was the Climbers, including Park Gwang-jin, North Korea’s new leader.
‘…?’
Something about the mood…
Still under Concealment, I watched the scene from the rooftop of a nearby building for a while, then entered the Tower.
Maybe people had come to watch; the crowd was thicker than usual.
When the appointed time arrived, I saw Kang Tae-seong come out through the portal with the Security Corps. Section Chief Shin Su-jin was there too.
Concealed again, I moved over beside Kang Tae-seong.
He exchanged farewells with the Security Corps members and exited the Tower.
I exited right behind him.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out.
…What?
The moment we were out, Park Gwang-jin fired at Kang Tae-seong.
It was an attack that shouldn’t have done a thing.
Was he about to break the deal?
But Park Gwang-jin didn’t follow up. He just flung the gun aside.
And the two of them began to talk.
Kang Tae-seong demanding the reason for the betrayal, Park Gwang-jin answering with a sneer.
From the way he spoke, Park Gwang-jin was no different from any ordinary dictator.
As I listened, the conversation took a strange turn.
“Cut the crap. You never meant to let me go, did you?”
“Figured it out, huh?”
…Ah, shit.
No wonder the mood had felt off. And here I’d been hoping I was wrong.
North Korea had never intended to let Kang Tae-seong leave safely, not from the very start.
The gunshot, then. Was it to flag him with Combat Status so he couldn’t return to Floor 5?
“I won’t let you slip away a second time. Let’s end this here.”
Park Gwang-jin and the North Korean Climbers radiated killing intent.
The instant a fight was about to break out.
I stopped time.
‘What do I do.’
What do I do, indeed…
Wasn’t this exact situation the reason I’d come all the way out here?
Should I step in and reveal who I am?
He’d already broken the deal, so I had no idea whether he’d actually listen even if I stepped forward.
There was no need to take pointless risks.
Better to subdue all of them first, except Kang Tae-seong. Those military weapons included.
‘Demon King, would you freeze all of them for me? Everything but Kang Tae-seong.’
Rather than my own skills, letting the Demon King freeze the lot would neutralize them cleanly, all in one go.
– Rotten brat. Coddle you a little and you keep trying to put me to work.
‘I’m counting on you here. And don’t kill them.’
I handed my body over to the Demon King and released time.
The Demon King grumbled, but he moved.
He flew into the very center of where Kang Tae-seong and the Climbers stood…
FWOOOOOOSH-!
And burst cold out in every direction.
People, tanks, the drones circling the sky.
All of it froze solid. Everything but Kang Tae-seong.
The Demon King’s magic wasn’t technically a skill, but using too much power did break the Concealment.
“Wh… what is this…”
“What the hell…”
The North Korean Climbers fell into a panic.
Since I’d asked him not to kill them, only their heads had been left unfrozen.
I took my body back and dropped down to land.
Kang Tae-seong stared at me, stunned.
Of course, I was wearing a mask.
Before I could say a word, he spoke first.
“Are you… Person123?”
I nodded.
Kang Tae-seong let out a long breath.
He turned his gaze toward Park Gwang-jin.
“P-Person123…?”
Park Gwang-jin, too, was staring this way with a thoroughly bewildered expression.
“You didn’t keep your promise.”
At my words he seemed to gather himself, his eyes darting around before he spoke.
“…Of course I did. I believe there’s been some misunderstanding.”
The man was quick to read a situation.
In any case, I had no wish to tangle things up further.
‘Demon King, when will that lot thaw out?’
– I froze them lightly, so they’ll thaw on their own in about an hour.
It rankled, but I had no intention of doing anything more to them.
I’d just get Kang Tae-seong out as planned.
“I’ll escort Kang Tae-seong out myself. That’s fine with you, isn’t it?”
“…”
Park Gwang-jin nodded slowly.
Taking him back by warp would have been simple, but the Warp Device was single-passenger.
I’d have to fly with Kang Tae-seong as far as somewhere near Panmunjom.
It was about a hundred kilometers from here to Panmunjom, so it would be quick. Not far enough to push me into overload yet.
“Let’s go, Kang Tae-seong.”
I said to him.
But Kang Tae-seong was watching Park Gwang-jin with a strange look in his eyes.
He opened his mouth.
“…I won’t be leaving.”
What?
“I have to kill that man, Park Gwang-jin.”
Now what was this…
When I just stared at him, Kang Tae-seong spoke urgently.
“I will! I’ll kill Park Gwang-jin right here and take control of the Republic. So long as Park Gwang-jin dies, I can do it!”
“…”
“If things go on like this, nothing in this country will ever change. My one wish is to strike down those in power and save the suffering people, nothing more. I’ll change it. Please, believe me, Person123!”
He looked desperate.
…This was throwing me off.
What Kang Tae-seong was asking me to do, right now, was to stand aside.
To strike down those in power and save the suffering people.
Thinking back on the conversation the two of them had just had, it wasn’t as though I couldn’t believe Kang Tae-seong was sincere.
I stopped time and thought it over for a moment.
…Was there any reason to stop him?
Whether he could truly change North Korea, there was no telling.
But at the very least, I could hope for a far better future than one with a man like Park Gwang-jin holding power.
The truth was, leaving things as they stood didn’t sit right with me either.
What if Park Gwang-jin, sore over my meddling, ended up nursing a grudge against my country for no good reason?
I released time.
I asked Kang Tae-seong, as if to confirm.
“If Park Gwang-jin dies, will you be able to seize power?”
Kang Tae-seong answered without hesitation.
“The military was reduced to a puppet long ago, and right now every scrap of the Party’s power is held by the Climbers. If I just remove Park Gwang-jin and the inner circle gathered here, I can rally the remaining Climbers back together with myself at the center. I can promise you that.”
“…That’s absurd!”
Park Gwang-jin, who’d been listening, cut in frantically.
“Person123! You can’t actually believe that nonsense!”
“…”
“What, what do you think the first thing I did was, after my revolution succeeded? Securing the former chairman’s nuclear briefcase, naturally. If I die, a nuke launches at Seoul.”
…What did he just say?
At the word “nuke”, my face hardened into a frown.
“Don’t go sticking your nose into another nation’s affairs for nothing. Just take Kang Tae-seong and leave, exactly as we agreed. That was the deal, was it not? Then nothing happens.”
Kang Tae-seong spoke.
“He’s lying. It’s true he secured Ri Hyeok-cheol’s nuclear briefcase, but Ri Hyeok-cheol had to be killed at once, which means the authorization was never even transferred to him.
Technicians may well be working to reset the briefcase’s codes, but it’s nowhere near done. To reset the codes and fully transfer the authorization would take three months at the absolute minimum, even at the most optimistic estimate. The state’s top cryptography experts said as much, every one of them.”
“…Heh heh. Can you really be so sure, Tae-seong? While you were holed up on Floor 5, it was cracked open ages ago.”
Park Gwang-jin looked at me and said,
“Person123, you’re a South Joseon man, aren’t you? If you’d like to know whether my words are true or false, go right ahead and test it, with the fate of your homeland on the line.”
The Demon King asked,
– What is this “nuke” you’re all in such a fuss over?
‘…It’s like a bomb that can wipe out a whole city without breaking a sweat.’
It really did seem like he was just bluffing, but…
Still, there was always the chance.
– Hand the body back over.
‘Huh?’
– I just make the wretch confess whether he’s bluffing or not. Simple, no?
‘True enough, but… what are you planning to do?’
Was he going to torture him?
‘You can’t kill him.’
At the Demon King’s order to quit yapping and just hand it over, I went ahead and did.
The Demon King stepped up in front of Park Gwang-jin.
“What…”
He laid a finger against his forehead.
At that, his head began to shudder.
“Grraaagh…!”
Park Gwang-jin’s eyes rolled back as he loosed a convulsive, inhuman shriek.
The Demon King drew his hand away.
Park Gwang-jin gasped for air as if his last breath were leaving him.
It had been only a few seconds, yet his eyes were brimming with terror and dread.
“Speak. Are your words true?”
“Ngh, uh…”
Park Gwang-jin shook his head like a man out of his mind.
“N-no. It isn’t true… it was all a lie…!”
Out it comes, smooth as anything.
‘What did you do to him?’
‘I touched his soul a little. The terror of a soul freezing over is not something a lowly creature can endure.’
Now that’s terrifying…
In any case, the upshot was this: no nuke would be launching at my country.
I looked at Kang Tae-seong.
Kang Tae-seong, who had been staring blankly this way, spoke.
“…In all his time in power, Ri Hyeok-cheol never even completed a protocol to pass on nuclear authority in the event of his death. As things stand, no one in the Republic holds the authority to launch a nuclear weapon. It’s the truth.”
“All right.”
I asked one last thing.
“You really can do it, can’t you?”
Now that it had come to this, Kang Tae-seong absolutely had to take power in North Korea.
Kang Tae-seong gave a firm nod.
“Trust me. I will see it done, without fail.”
I nodded too.
As I stepped back from Park Gwang-jin…
Kang Tae-seong came striding straight toward him.
The shock must have run deep; Park Gwang-jin still hadn’t come back to his senses.
Kang Tae-seong raised his fist.
For a moment he looked at Park Gwang-jin with something complicated in his eyes, and then…
SPLAT!
Just like that, he burst Park Gwang-jin’s head.
Kang Tae-seong looked around at the rest of the Climbers.
White with fear, they cried out.
“C-Comrade Kang Tae-seong! Spare us, please…!”
Kang Tae-seong didn’t kill them right away.
After he’d pried out a rough picture of how things stood inside, he killed every one of them without mercy.
“I’ll head straight for the headquarters building. They say everyone’s gathered there, so I’ll rally the remaining Climbers and purge those who need purging on the spot.”
Park Gwang-jin’s head gripped in one hand, Kang Tae-seong bowed his head to me.
“Thank you, truly. I owe you a debt I could never repay in a lifetime.”
“Let’s go together.”
“Sorry?”
“You never know what might happen. I’m already involved, so I’ll help you see it through to the end.”
Because now that it had come to this, Kang Tae-seong absolutely had to seize power in North Korea.
I’d watch with my own eyes to make sure it ended well.
*
US intelligence had been watching the situation unfold in real time by surveillance satellite.
They’d fully anticipated the chance that the North Korean side would break off the negotiation.
But a sudden third figure was something even they hadn’t imagined.
“What in the world is going on?”
“Well… it appears everything’s frozen over, sir…”
The footage beamed down through the satellite.
With the arrival of a single figure, the North Korean Climbers and even the military equipment, an entire wide swath of ground, looked to have frozen solid.
It was a Climber.
If they had to name a person capable of something so preposterous, only one came to mind.
“…Person123.”
Person123 had appeared.
The staff sprang into action.
The satellite footage had its limits in resolution, but this was the first time Person123 had directly shown himself in the real world.
The Secretary of Defense, watching, swallowed hard.
‘What in the world is that…’
What kind of skill is it?
Some ice-attribute magic skill?
It had neutralized a force that size in a single instant.
Predicting Person123’s capabilities had long since become a meaningless exercise, but to think he had not only the black line of destruction but an AoE skill like that as well.
No… more to the point, how in the world had he turned up in the heart of Pyongyang out of nowhere?
It had been the same during the Sub-Tower Incident, but could Person123 truly be capable of teleportation across the entire globe?
The figure presumed to be Person123 and Kang Tae-seong appeared to be conversing.
Then, before long, Kang Tae-seong began killing off the North Korean Climbers, Park Gwang-jin among them, one by one.
“…”
Those watching held their breath.
What in the world was happening?
Kang Tae-seong and Person123 soon moved off somewhere, fast.
“…Heading in the direction of the Central Committee headquarters.”
The beating heart of North Korean power.
Something far from ordinary was unfolding.
If they could only venture a guess.
It seemed North Korea’s head was about to change once more.
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