Chapter 137: The Gangster Who Hid His Power
If there was a regular guest at the UN Security Council meetings in the past few years, it would be Yu Ji-ha.
He had earned a bad reputation in the international community by occupying almost 30% of the agenda.
—The Merchant of Death.
—The Worst Dictator Who Surpassed Hitler.
—The One Who Made 40% of Humanity His Enemies.
There were various epithets, but none of them were good.
The only thing that could be considered positive was that he had absorbed the troublesome North Korea and brought a brief peace to East Asia.
Considering the risk that North Korea posed to the international situation, it could be seen as a significant achievement, but the countries that disliked him suspected that he had some ulterior motive.
—Wasn’t it something he had to take care of by accident, not by his intention? I don’t think it can be counted as an achievement.
—Isn’t he surprisingly controlling it well? Despite taking in 20 million refugees who were uneducated, violent, and in the worst condition of nutrition and hygiene, there was no discord.
—The real problem is whether there is anything wrong in the North Korean region, but no one can enter because he declared a 10-year blockade.
—It looks like there are facilities similar to Terra Island being built from the satellite images. Necessities such as food, medicine, and other supplies are also being properly delivered.
—Anyway, just by resolving the risk of North Korea, he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.
—But he has no interest in the Nobel Prize, and he seems to be skeptical of the UN itself.
—He has enough reason to think so. Countless emergency Security Council meetings have been held in the past few years, but no proper resolution has ever been made.
That was the biggest problem.
Under the current Security Council decision-making system, if one country opposes, it cannot be passed at all.
The East Asian War also showed that pattern.
As soon as China and Japan were shattered at the beginning of the war, Britain and France declared a meeting, but the United States declared neutrality and Russia firmly expressed its opposition as always.
“I’ll say this here. The cause of the war lies with China and Japan, and the United States who controlled them behind the scenes. Korea only waged a preventive war.”
“A preventive war… Shall we look up the requirements for that?”
“It’s meaningless to look at the requirements under international law. We have to discuss immediate and practical issues.”
“The war must be stopped.”
The person who spoke was the French Minister of Defense.
He mentioned the injustice of this war and the negative impact it would have on the world economy.
“Ten major cities along the Chinese coast have completely stopped. There are more than a million tons of cargo stuck in Bohai Bay. Korea is killing the world economy.”
“I don’t see how that’s connected to the world economy. Many countries have already reduced their dependence on China a lot.”
It was because China had wielded its exports as a weapon since the 2020s.
The United States, which had learned from China’s misbehavior, created a global supply chain centered on Western powers.
The Yangtze War also contributed greatly to reducing dependence on China.
Therefore, China was not playing the role of the world’s factory as much as before.
But Europe, including France, still relied heavily on China.
Especially rare metal were like that, and supply was cut off due to the East Asian War.
Even if they tried to diversify their sources, most of the supplies from India and Australia were allocated to Korea.
The fire fell on EU’s feet because of this war.
—The car industry, not to mention manufacturing and aviation sectors, came to a halt.
—I never thought China would be pushed back so badly…
That was the biggest problem.
The EU’s economic department and each company thought that even if a war broke out, China and Japan would suppress Korea.
The Earth Fleet was certainly amazing, but Korea was several levels lower in terms of overall power.
But as soon as the war started, both countries’ fleets were literally shattered by Korea’s surprise attack, and China was currently in chaos with dozens of nuclear power plants stopped.
While France and Britain were in a hurry to stop the war, Russia was relatively relaxed.
“Didn’t you welcome China and Japan’s pressure before? It seems like you changed your mind.”
“I didn’t want a war.”
“Really? I think I saw you say in an interview with a prominent media that war is not necessarily evil.”
He obviously didn’t dream that China and Japan would be pushed back like this.
They all boasted that they had electrified railguns and caught up with Korea quite a bit.
Especially France had poured a lot of money into railguns and iron beams, so they must have been shocked by this war.
“Ahem.”
Alexei Mikhailov, the Russian deputy prime minister with white hair, smiled faintly at Pierre Minister’s cough.
“Let’s talk openly. We all know that no proper conclusion will come out of this meeting. It seemed like we were the only ones who were bombarded before, but today is a bit different.”
It was because the United States showed a neutral position.
The current president was clearly from the Democratic Party, but strangely enough, he had an isolationist and nationalist tendency.
He said he would tolerate Yu Ji-ha as long as he didn’t cross the line, since he brought benefits to the United States.
Britain and the EU tried hard to persuade him, but failed.
There was a mood within the Democratic Party that they had nominated the wrong candidate, and he was out of sync with the current UN atmosphere.
Lambert, the US Secretary of Defense, reiterated that he had no intention of intervening in East Asia.
“The Pacific Fleet will not move. We are conducting normal reconnaissance activities, but we have consulted sufficiently with each country.”
“Does that consultation include giving up on Japan?”
The British minister sneered, and he shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, they didn’t use Hafnium 2 warheads.”
“Instead, they mobilized robots called Combat Walkers and turned Tokyo into a sea of fire. More than a million citizens fled to the evacuation routes, and the Japanese government is currently paralyzed. Can you say that the United States has no responsibility for this situation?”
It was the result of the United States pushing China and Japan to pressure Korea.
It was good that they prepared hard for the pressure, but the United States pulled out and left both countries in a precarious position.
Lambert Minister smiled lazily.
“If there is a role for the United States in post-war recovery, we will do our best.”
It meant that he would suck honey as a mediator without taking any responsibility.
As the United States pulled back its chair, France and Britain became desperate.
They had to stop the war somehow, but it was not an atmosphere at all.
Both countries suffered great damage, but especially their leadership was confused.
China had heard ominous news that the Guard Division had mobilized and detained the Rocket Army commander, and Japan’s prime minister was missing.
According to the media, the prime minister of Japan disappeared while Korea attacked the official residence with Combat Walkers, and his life or death was not even confirmed.
Without proper instructions from the leadership, the frontline units were only being hit one-sidedly.
They wanted to end the war, but there was no one to negotiate with.
And the Chinese leadership did not seem to want to end the war either.
Around the time the Russian deputy prime minister opened his mouth, news came that China had fired ballistic missiles.
“Ballistic missiles, that’s all they have.”
“Our satellites detected more than 50 launch flashes. They are trying to turn the Korean Peninsula into ashes.”
“Well, let’s see who will become ashes.”
The emergency Security Council meeting that was formalistic was suspended and the ministers stood up to contact their countries.
As always, without any conclusion.
***
105 Dongpung ballistic missiles fired by China’s Rocket Army flew into Korea.
They completely excluded the North Korean region and only targeted Gyeonggi Province including Seoul, each metropolitan city, and Changwon.
Korea originally had no reconnaissance assets to detect them, but not now.
Reconnaissance satellites in geostationary orbit detected the launch flashes and contacted the Korean leadership, and immediately the fourth-level air defense network was activated.
The United States informed them before that.
President Baldwin called when Dongpung missiles reached their apogee.
“There are 100 in total. If you recognize the United States as a mediator after the war, we will cooperate fully with interception, not to mention location coordinates.”
Yu Ji-ha’s answer was simple.
“I don’t need it.”
The phone was cut off abruptly, and President Baldwin was confused while thinking that he should have just told him.
There were few places in the world that could stop China’s ballistic missile attack.
At best, it was the United States and Russia, but he couldn’t guarantee a missile attack of more than 100.
It was not an easy task to stop a warhead that fell to the ground at a speed of more than Mach 20 with various deception measures.
But Korea had already blocked North Korea’s ballistic missiles during the Second Korean War.
They also blocked most of Pakistan’s nuclear attacks in the Indian Ocean.
It was the power of iron beams, but it was uncertain whether it would work on China’s ballistic missiles.
“I’m worried that ballistic missile defense is not perfect.”
“They must have reinforced it. Or maybe they deliberately showed their weaknesses.”
“You seem to think that Korea is behind every conspiracy…”
“That’s not me, but the party’s judgment. You’ll find out in 300 seconds.”
“Even if Korea blocks them all, my administration’s policy will not change.”
What’s the use of pressuring Korea, who had destroyed China’s last bastion?
It was better to recognize his hegemony and leave East Asia to him.
But the Democratic Party wanted to treat Korea like the former Soviet Union or China.
He may look easy because he is small, but President Baldwin thought he had to be more careful considering his technology.
Guerrero, the security adviser, looked at the back of his head with pity.
He could have been re-elected if he had listened well.
His successor was rumored to be a congressman who ordered a tough policy against Korea every day.
He argued that Korea should be treated as a country that could challenge US hegemony.
“We can no longer leave Korea’s hegemonic behavior alone. Korea is trying to transform into a rogue state, which is very threatening to world peace.”
As this hawkish argument showed, the mainstream of the Democratic Party was ultra-hardliners.
But President Baldwin stubbornly resisted until his term ended, so they had no choice but to wait.
Time passed and finally more than 100 warheads separated from the reentry vehicle entered the atmosphere.
Korea’s high-altitude air defense network was activated, but Dongpung’s warheads lowered their detection rate by activating decoys as well as cooling systems.
Thanks to that, more than 40% of the warheads succeeded in descending to medium altitude despite being equipped with Antlion warheads.
At this point, the speed of the warheads was 8.5km per second, which was impossible to respond with any ordinary air defense network.
But Korea mobilized Cheongung 3 missiles and intercepted them one by one.
Hundreds of anti-aircraft missiles fired from each air defense unit exploded a few hundred meters away from them.
As a result, most of the warheads became scrap metal and fell down here and there on the Korean Peninsula.
Some citizens testified that they saw dozens of them falling in Seoul, which was the main target of the warheads.
Amidst loud sirens and mobilization of engineering units, finally the remaining 50 or so warheads pierced through clouds and entered low altitude.
In the dim dawn light, traces of warheads and golden lasers from iron beams mixed together to create a colorful picture in the sky.
There were thumping explosions everywhere.
But the mushroom clouds that China had been waiting for did not appear.
They had blocked all 105 Dongpung ballistic missiles.
“Ballistic missile interception successful. You can relax now.”
The people who were holding their breath heard Yu Ji-ha’s voice on the radio and cheered in unison.
“Yay!”
“President is the best!”
While Korea cheered, the Chinese leadership, who had failed, was literally dying.
Hou Zhongsan, the lieutenant general who gave the launch order, repeated the failure report in a daze.
“They all failed…? All 105…?”
“Yes. There was not a single warhead that successfully exploded…”
“…Then what do we do now?”
If you don’t know that, who would?
As the leadership bunker was wrapped in silence, someone barely spoke.
“We have no choice but to surrender.”
“Surrender? Surrender?”
“We can never surrender!”
“Then I want to hear other opinions. But you have to come up with a way to deal with the 7th Army that has entered the second ring.”
The 7th Army of Korea had completely entered Beijing and was fighting with the public security forces.
Of course, it was impossible to face a tank unit with public security weapons, and the battle was not long.
A general groaned as he saw hundreds of drones mounted on armored vehicles flying up.
“With those drones, urban warfare is completely screwed.”
If it was the Guard Division, they could have bought some time, but they were mobilized to occupy the Rocket Army headquarters near Beijing by Hou Zhongsan’s order.
They fired Dongpung missiles, but Korea intercepted them all and China’s last card flew away.
Now all that was left was Korea’s retaliation.
—What would be the equivalent of hundreds of nuclear warheads?
It was not unreasonable for the leadership in the bunker to be tense when they thought about it.
Beijing was almost occupied and nuclear power plants across the country stopped operating.
China’s major cities were in total darkness and even the fleet could not move properly.
Hou Zhongsan was almost out of his mind.
‘How powerful was Korea’s power…’
Korea didn’t even use all its strength.
The most threatening Earth Fleet was roaming around Japan and beating up the fleet, and Combat Walkers were turning Tokyo into a wasteland.
It was natural that there was nothing to say in a war against Korea in such a situation.
The general who first suggested surrender proposed again.
“Let’s surrender. If we bring in the United States, we can negotiate on better terms. If the main force that departed from Shenyang is defeated, there will be no hope left.”
“But most of our forces are still intact…”
“Those forces are useless! What’s the use of dozens of ships that can’t even enter Bohai Bay because they are afraid of the Korean fleet! Can you even launch fighter jets?”
The war was over when China confidently presented its railgun battleship and the 7th Army reached Beijing.
It was only dragged on by the stubbornness of the leadership, including Hou Zhongsan.
There were various opinions, but surrender was the mainstream.
“Let’s preserve our forces and plan for the future. China can rise again.”
“Do we have a future? We’ve been retreating for almost 10 years?”
“If we don’t, we’ll die right now. Do you think Korea will leave us alone after blocking hundreds of nuclear warheads? They will surely divide us into several pieces.”
That was the biggest fear.
China was too big a country from Korea’s point of view.
Now that they had a chance, they would surely tear it apart so that they wouldn’t have to worry about it ever again.
Why, wasn’t there such a joke in Korea?
—We like China. So we would like it more if there were more of them.
That joke became reality and came close to them.
Hou Zhongsan suddenly remembered Wang Xiangzhang.
‘Maybe it would have been a better choice to give him Manchuria…’
He cautiously suggested calling Wang Xiangzhang, but the generals opposed it.
“Let’s not kill Wang Xiangzhang twice.”
“This plan was entirely initiated and promoted by Hou Zhongsan. It is only natural that he takes responsibility.”
“Besides, all this discussion is meaningless. Do you think Korea will just let us go?”
But there was hope.
If only the United States intervened early, Korea would have no choice but to back off.
If they added Manchuria, which they coveted so much, things might go smoother than expected.
Hou Zhongsan discussed with the generals for a long time and concluded that there was no other way.
And he picked up the handset in the secret room, but he couldn’t hear the other side’s voice.
The aide checked the communication network and said helplessly.
“It seems like the line is cut off.”
“What about satellite communication? Is that not working either?”
“The relay satellite is broken and we are receiving severe radio interference.”
“Of all times, it breaks now!”
Meanwhile, there was a rumbling noise from above the bunker and pieces of stone began to fall down.
The generals panicked.
“It must be tanks from the 7th Army!”
“How did they find this place…”
“We have to let them know our intentions by flying drones or something! We’ll all die if we stay like this!”
How many times had they killed their opponents’ leadership by using the excuse that they couldn’t hear their orders?
If they were soldiers, they might be able to convince them of their importance and capture them alive, but androids and drones wouldn’t care about that.
The intermittent vibrations suddenly stopped.
And there was an explosion somewhere in the bunker and an alarm went off.
The aide tried to guide the generals to a safe room, but the blast door exploded faster.
Bang!
“Argh!”
As people fell to the floor, unable to withstand the blast pressure, a general got up and shouted in clumsy Korean.
“Ha, surrender! We surrender!”
Something came in through the debris.
It was a robot covered with black armor on a metal frame.
The generals felt extreme fear at its orange lens.
Maybe it was the Combat Walker that Korea recently announced?
Hou Zhongsan slowly raised both hands.
“We surrender. Tell your leader.”
This scene was delivered to Yu Ji-ha through a Combat Walker and a communication satellite.
Arma reported to him.
“We found where Wang Xiangshang was detained.”
“I only need one person to negotiate. Kill them all.”
The lens of the Combat Walker turned red.
Hou Zhongsan looked at the shaking barrel and grumbled inwardly.
He should have fired those experts who said mass production was impossible.
‘They hid this power so well. I shouldn’t have messed with them…’
Bang!
His death marked the end of China’s fate.
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