Chapter 80: Burning East Asia
“A terrible tragedy has occurred. Twenty current members of parliament have died in a violent protest last night.”
“Out of the 89 members of parliament who participated in the protest to lift the martial law, more than 50 were killed or seriously injured.”
“The police and military authorities have arrested many instigators and plan to investigate them soon.”
The news of the death of 20 members of parliament hit the media.
But surprisingly, there was not much sympathy for them.
It was because the remarks they had made at the scene of the protest had taken over the internet.
—How can a member of parliament say such things? These uneducated bastards don’t know anything.
—Wow, they totally look down on us and try to teach us a lesson.
—They deserved to die, bastards. I sincerely hope that the injured ones die in their beds too.
The public opinion was so harsh that the members of parliament who were not injured or did not participate in the protest requested protection from the police.
They felt threatened not only at the protest, but also in their daily lives.
Some cars tried to ram into them as they went to their offices, and stones and pipes flew into their homes.
There was even a murder, and all the surviving members of parliament trembled in fear.
The government asked for restraint and warned of severe punishment, but the terror continued.
Some members of parliament couldn’t stand it and declared their resignation.
One member of parliament held a press conference and put his gold badge on the podium.
“As of today, I, Jeong Hak-soo, resign from my position as a member of parliament and return to being a commoner. I hope that this will appease the anger of the people.”
Following him, several members of parliament submitted their resignation letters to their offices.
As a result, the number of members of parliament, which was barely over 100, was reduced to less than half.
The rest were either injured or lying in bed.
Yu Ji-ha, the acting authority holder, hastily held a press conference and expressed his regret over the situation and promised to prevent it from happening again.
“Violence is unacceptable for any reason. The government will not overlook this incident.”
The reporters’ reactions were somewhat lukewarm.
They had a feeling that he had been waiting for this incident.
Wasn’t it?
Yu Ji-ha had no damage from this incident.
All the attempts to remove him from power had failed, and the parliament, which had the authority to lift the martial law, was completely ruined.
Now there was no institution or force in South Korea that could check him.
Even the judiciary was nothing but a servant of power under martial law.
Some media expressed their concerns and some elders from religious and political circles declared that South Korea should not be like this.
But not many people took those declarations seriously.
They only saw Yu Ji-ha.
The artificial intelligence Lucia and his achievements so far had created a public opinion that he should lead Korea.
—It may not fit well with the constitution, but this is our only chance.
—He’s the only one who can lead unified Korea.
—Public opinion polls showed that he had achieved more than 92% support rate.
As this consensus was formed, it became impossible to oppose him.
When the atmosphere was ripe, Yu Ji-ha announced his speech to the nation.
“South Korea is a democratic republic. But what is the current situation, citizens? The war is not over yet and guerrillas are stirring up trouble all over North Korea.”
“In the southern region, there are frequent terrorist attacks and even violent protests. If we add economic problems, we can say that South Korea is in a total crisis.”
“What do we need in this situation? The solidarity of the people and strong leadership. I may not have received your votes, but I think I have received your precious support. If you allow me, I will lead South Korea.”
“As I said before, South Korea is a democratic republic. We cannot maintain martial law forever and public order will be restored soon. Please lend me your strength until then. Someday I will return power to you.”
Most of the people gave him generous applause.
There were some worried eyes, but they rationalized that it was necessary because it was wartime.
There were even some shouts that he didn’t need to give up power and just keep ruling.
They were mostly young people who had been influenced by artificial intelligence Lucia and became his followers.
-Yu Ji-ha is our only hope! So just keep ruling!
—Artificial intelligence dictatorship go!
—Brother, please release cheap androids!
That’s how the real dictatorship began.
He said he wasn’t, but anyone could see that it was a splendid dictatorship.
Amazingly, it was what the people wanted.
The countries that had been watching this situation carefully expressed their concerns.
—It’s hard to believe that the South Korean people, who fought for their freedom with their own strength, are longing for dictatorship again.
—He said he would give up power, but no one knows when. It’s not easy to do that by the nature of dictatorship.
—Yu Ji-ha, who started as a businessman and transformed into a dictator. Where will his rampage stop?
Russia praised him as a strong leader who would lead the unity in wartime, and Germany was careful with their words.
But most of the countries were very negative about this situation.
Especially Europe was shocked.
—The timing was too good. The vulnerability in security and the fear of terror made people support him.
―Even though it was a war, too many of the leaders had died. One by one, the obstacles were removed and he finally ascended to the throne. Perhaps he was the one who planned everything from the start.
―A second Hitler might emerge. The UN should sanction Korea.
The most important country, the United States, took a step back and said they were carefully watching the situation.
They seemed shocked that South Korea, which had achieved a democratic political system, wanted dictatorship, but it was not very important to the current leadership.
President McKinley hastily convened a meeting and urged caution in their statements.
“We need him. So don’t provoke him recklessly. This is an order.”
He tightened his lips because of the shocking results from the antitron experiment.
Several research institutes reported that the nuclear reaction was completely suppressed.
It meant that they could stop all the nuclear power plants in the world and invalidate nuclear missiles if they wanted to.
Of course, antitron was a difficult material to produce and Korea’s missile technology had its limits, so it would be hard to dominate the world.
But it was enough to make the United States nervous just by having that possibility.
For the bureaucrats of the United States, antitron was more important than Korea accepting a dictator.
“Let’s just watch for now. They said they won’t leak it. Cancel the boycott and form a delegation to send to South Korea.”
It was a plan to help rebuild Korea after the war in exchange for controlling antitron production.
But he refused to accept the visit of the delegation.
“I will manage all antitron. The United States has no right to interfere.”
It was a principled statement, but there were few people who could say that to the United States.
President McKinley decided to back off for now.
He could upset him if he gave him too much pressure when he had a lot of things to worry about.
Instead, the United States mobilized its intelligence agencies and satellites to monitor Solar Fusion’s research facilities, which were suspected of producing antitron.
And he gave practical instructions to Arma for ruling South Korea.
The mining ships in space moved.
…
At this point, the number of mining ships working in the asteroid belt had increased to three.
They were now enough to be called a mining fleet.
The mining fleet mined countless resources and stored them in cubes somewhere in space.
These stacked resources were converted into construction plants and other things.
Unbeknownst to the earthlings, a space station was being built as Arma paid close attention.
Most of humanity’s exploration was deep space and Arma was careful enough not to be caught yet.
The space station had been producing something for months.
It was a million drones.
These drones boasted superior maneuverability than before by mounting micro ion thrusters.
They were simplified in armament because they were for maintaining order, but they could handle various functions as Lucia controlled them directly.
As soon as the plant announced the end of production, Arma immediately sent a signal.
「Drop」
Hundreds of pods detached and entered the atmosphere one by one.
Their destination was Terra Island.
The facilities on Terra Island were hidden by fog, making it easier to make excuses for now.
After the drones, it was time for androids.
Thousands of androids without synthetic skin were loaded into pods and arrived at Terra Island as well.
They had the same structure and performance as Lucia, which Boston Dynamics planned to release soon.
They had several times more strength than an average adult male and their operating time was close to 20 hours.
They had no reproductive function, but they were connected to the server of Metaverse and had tremendous computing power and judgment skills.
They received synthetic skin transplants at a plant prepared on Terra Island.
Except for their slightly pointed ears and unnatural skin, they had almost no difference from humans.
From now on, they would be deployed in North Korea with drones and take charge of security.
Given Korea’s current situation, it was impossible to handle all of North Korea.
There would be some backlash, but he was in a position where he could handle those things enough.
He looked at the final model of Lucia and nodded his head.
“That’s good enough. Skip the showcase and release it right away.”
“Yes.”
…
August 2028
Large-scale battles disappeared from within the Korean Peninsula.
The war was not over, but North Korea’s organized resistance had completely vanished and South Korean forces extended their influence to Rason City.
Rason Special City, which was the most prosperous place in North Hamgyong Province, was an important place as a trade hub connecting Russia, China and others.
If they only occupied this place, South Korean forces could practically be seen as having completely occupied North Korea.
Small-scale guerrilla warfare would continue, but that was only a matter of time.
「Drone-mounted cruise missiles have been launched」
Now, combat drones were launched on modified cruise missiles.
Even the work of loading containers on transport planes and attaching parachutes was omitted.
It was small, but it helped with rapid deployment, so it had its pros and cons.
And so drones were deployed in Rason City.
Of course, the North Korean guerrillas hiding in the last city did not have decent weapons to counter these drones.
They believed the wrong information that they would be executed if they surrendered to the Korean forces and vowed to resist.
The fighting began after a warning broadcast and the situation was no different from other North Korean cities.
Russian President Putin, who was watching this battle through a reconnaissance plane, groaned.
“Those drones seem to be improved every time I see them.”
The deputy prime minister and defense minister explained next to him.
“The improvement point this time is to install a miniaturized ion thruster and minimize the drawbacks. Until now, those drones…”
“Ultimately, they couldn’t escape the drone’s inherent drawback of relying on propellers for maneuverability.”
“Yes. But by installing ion thrusters, they solved that problem as well. Now I doubt if there are any drawbacks to those drones.”
They improved not only maneuverability but also durability by reducing the bullet area and eliminated noise and vibration.
It was expensive, but it offset the advantage of saving troops in urban warfare.
Russia, which had consumed a lot of troops in places like Chechnya, was dazzled by it.
If only they had that…
President Putin thought of the Soviet Union.
Now that China had sunk, political research institutes and others were paying attention to Russia again.
Now, the only country that had a chance to stand against the power of the United States was Russia.
Of course, that didn’t mean that Russia could fight the United States head-on.
The economic and military gap between the two countries was already too wide to close.
Russia’s goal was not to oppose the United States either.
‘The Soviet Socialist Republics…’
That majestic name echoed in his chest.
It was difficult to challenge the United States, but it seemed possible to restore the glory of the Soviet Union.
The problem was his age.
Putin had taken good care of his body, but he was now at an age that could be called elderly.
He wanted to rebuild the Soviet Union by merging the former satellite states before it was too late.
For that, he needed full cooperation from Yu Ji-ha.
They had agreed to become partners beyond economic cooperation, but that was not enough.
The micro-ion thruster was not included in the practical consultation.
He needed a new type of drone that could be mounted on cruise missiles, even if antitrons were difficult.
President Putin watched the urban warfare in Rason for a long time.
The drones deployed were few, but only the North Korean guerrillas were dying.
“It’s overwhelming.”
“Those drones have achieved an overwhelming combat ratio in every battlefield they have been deployed. Even the US military would have a hard time gaining an advantage over them.”
“With just a few hundred of them, you could take over any city.”
After deploying 20,000 drones in the first Pyongyang urban warfare, the drones had been continuously improved and reduced to a few thousand in Hamhung.
Now, only 500 drones were deployed in Rason.
There was a difference in the size of the city, but the number of guerrillas who fled and gathered was similar.
In the end, they were confident that they could replace 20,000 with 500, and that was actually happening.
President Putin asked as if consulting.
“What do you think he really wants?”
“Land, isn’t it? He showed interest in Kamchatka Peninsula and according to our intelligence network, he had a conflict with the United States over Manchuria.”
“It doesn’t seem like he’s just greedy for land. He must have another purpose.”
He had succeeded in destroying North Korea after telling him to leave it alone.
Now he had a rough idea of what his goal was.
He wanted to establish his own solid power in East Asia.
The possibility was faint, but if that was true, it was welcoming for Russia.
Russia had traditionally valued the western part that bordered Europe.
The western satellite states that were close to Moscow and St. Petersburg were much more important than the rugged land of the underdeveloped east.
Merging those satellite states and rebuilding the Soviet Union was not only Putin’s wish, but also the aspiration of all Russian people.
He made a decision.
“Use all our intelligence network to find out what he really wants. Make a list of what we can give him and what we can ask him for.”
“I will make sure to sort it out and report it to you before the meeting.”
He nodded and watched the urban battle.
It seemed like a declaration of unification of the Korean Peninsula would come out in August.
…
A new material called antitron announced by Korea shocked and terrified many countries.
Especially China and Japan tried hard to get information about antitron with great interest.
It was because they were neighboring countries and operated many nuclear power plants.
If one missile could stop those nuclear power plants, it would be strange if they were not interested.
All kinds of connections and information networks within Korea were mobilized, but no proper information came out.
All they knew was that if it exploded within 500 meters, all nuclear reactions would stop.
China fell into extreme fear.
If they could mass-produce those antitrons, dozens of nuclear power plants located on the east coast of China could fall into concrete lumps.
Nuclear missiles were not a problem at all.
―Since Korea chose war without hesitation, it is likely that they were electrified before.
―By now, they must have produced enough numbers.
Some argued that the Korean War itself was a bluff by Korea, but the possibility was low.
It was a fact that North Korea attacked first with massive radiation guns.
Now North Korea was no longer treated as a country on international stages such as UN.
Since Korea’s unification was certain, there was no need to cause conflict again.
Wang Xian Shang tried to keep in touch with Korea diplomatically from this point of view.
He was a soldier and pursued realistic aspects rather than restoring the glory of China in the past.
In the current situation where Yangtze War failed completely and riots in major cities worsened.
What China needed was not a conflict with the outside, but a reconciliation within.
From this point of view, he concluded that changing China’s name was not a bad idea.
‘Yu Ji-ha said he would never deal with China, that is, the People’s Republic of China. If we change our name, he might listen to us.’
He hinted at his intention to his faction, but met with considerable opposition.
“Change our name? Who would recognize a name other than China?”
“If we bow to a small country first, our dignity will be greatly damaged.”
“Taiwan is laughing at us, and if South Korea joins them, who will follow us?”
“Why don’t we mobilize the army and attack South Korea? If we can get that antitron, we can rest assured for the next 100 years.”
They were all absurd words.
“Are you sane to attack South Korea? There are more than 10 railgun batteries on the west coast!”
“If we go south by land like the 80th Army, there is a possibility.”
“If we fail, it’s not us, but China that’s over!”
“Then what do you suggest? We’ve already spent all our money and the factories are stopped. There’s no place to make money.”
“That’s why we have to reach out to Korea and make money!”
“…”
The conference room became quiet.
They realized that the only way for China to survive was to cling to South Korea.
As Wang Xian Shang said, changing their name might give them a little chance.
If they liquidated Kim Jong-un’s hidden assets and gave them as a gift, Yu Ji-ha might not ignore them…
But in this case, the central control would be very weakened.
Especially Xinjiang Uyghur, Tibet, and the three northeastern provinces.
They were already short of troops and facing a series of riots.
The three northeastern provinces were an unpredictable area if Korea’s influence increased.
But Wang Xian Shang’s faction decided to accept all this.
The important thing was the central government that valued the coastal cities.
‘If you try to grab all the sand with greed, you will end up spilling it.’
They needed to add water and harden it firmly, and that was Yu Ji-ha’s cooperation.
He sent a special envoy to South Korea after synthesizing all this.
He ordered them not to act arrogantly, so the d
elegation had to cringe at the airport.
Yu Ji-ha received his report and said calmly.
“I don’t need to meet them. Maybe if they change their name first.”
When his words were reported through the media, China started to burn.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om