February 9, 2021, 15:30

  The Office of the President in the underground bunker of the National Crisis Situation Center in Jongro-ku, Seoul

  Though the country was still in the midst of a war, President Seo Hyun-oo was incredibly busy with the administrative work related to the restoration of each of the northern states after the process of unification. The work was so much that it seemed he would need several clones to finish it. But just when he had a spare moment to relieve the stress he had been feeling with a cup of coffee thanks to the ceasefire, the Head of National Intelligence Na Bong-il came to visit the president again about the content of a report he had given him two days earlier.

  “Come on in.”


  “I see you’re resting, Mr. President. It seems like I’m interrupting.”


  “Interrupting? Of course not. But what is this about?”


  “It is information related to the incident we reported the day before yesterday, about the important figure from the Japanese Prime Minister’s office who visited Moscow, Mr. President.”


  “Well, have you found something out, then?”


  “Yes, sir! We obtained some definitive information just a little while ago.”


  Director of the National Intelligence Service Na Bong-il drew the top-level security documents from his document pouch and respectfully handed them over to the president.

  “Of course, this is just like Japan. They’re always trying to stab someone in the back.”


  President Seo clicked his tongue as he slowly read the document he had received.

  “They’re subordinates that can’t be associated with. We’ll have to give them a taste of their own medicine.”


  “This intelligence could be very advantageous to us.”


  “Is that so?”


  “The National Intelligence Service don’t know, do they?”


  “Don’t know what?”


  “Right now, the Joint Chiefs of Staff are undertaking deception operations to trick Japan and the US.”


  “They are?”


  The president stood from his seat and looked toward one of the walls. There was a framed Corean flag hanging on it.

  “How long will our country be victimized? Isn’t it time now that we took the lead and stood above the others?” As the president spoke in a cold tone of voice, Director Na Bong-il looked on, pulled another document halfway out of a file, and fiddled with it.

  “Do you have something else to report?” The president asked suspiciously, as he found it strange that Director Na was displaying such uncharacteristic wishy-washy behavior.

  “The thing is……”


  “Hahaha, Director Na, you’re usually so precise. Why are you acting like this?”


  In place of an answer, Director Na took out yet another document from his bag and placed it quietly on the desk.

  “No matter how I look at it, this seems like such a baseless story, Mr. President. Although we tried to research all the facts behind it, I’ll report it anyway since it is still an issue.”


  The president picked up the document that was on the desk and read it, starting from the title.

  “This is the report on the details of the August 15, 2015 Pyongyang terror-bombing incident. Why bring this up all of a sudden? Is there anything new that’s come to light?” The president tossed out this question having hastily read the title of the report.

  “Please also read the content, Mr. President.”


  “I understand.”


  The president went past the first page and continued reading the content where the main subject was written. After a few minutes, the president’s face changed to show an expression of complete bewilderment.

  “Is this true?” The president asked after looking back and forth between the document and Director Na several times.

  “We’re in the midst of determining its exact factual basis.”


  “So, what you’re saying is, the person who was captured by our National Intelligence Service and confessed the details is a high-ranking official in the Japanese Prime Minister’s office?”


  “That’s correct. He is Yagumachi Genzo, an advisor that Prime Minister Abe trusts.”


  “This information is truly difficult to believe. It says that the US was the main culprit behind the Pyongyang terror bombing, and that there is a secret organization with a more powerful authority than the US president called the USSC.”


  The story was so much like something that would appear in a movie that President Seo shook his head.

  “What do you think, Director Na?”


  “The reason I hesitated to report this kind of information was because I thought it might be a plot by the Japanese cabinet.”


  “A plot by Japan?”


  “Yes, that’s correct. I had the thought that they might be intending to falsely accuse the US as the main perpetrator of the August 15th Pyongyang terror bombing, and then after worsening our country’s relations with the US, they would overtake its military power and overcome their disadvantage in the combat situation.”


  “Just as you say Director Na, I think those bastards in Japan could of course be doing that.” The president agreed eagerly with what Director Na Bong-il had said. It was then that Director Na’s face darkened, and he responded seriously to the president.

  “Mr. President, if there’s even a one-in-a-million chance that this is true……”


  Director Na trailed off at the end of this sentence. At this, the president also tried to think of what would come next if this story was real, but couldn’t imagine it. That was the extent to which it could cause huge ripple effects if it were true, not just on the relations between Corea and the US, but on the international community as well.

  “I can’t quite imagine what that would mean, either. For now, it would be important to figure out the facts, whether it is true or a scheme of the Japanese cabinet. I would like you to report to me again once you’ve carefully investigated it.”


  “Yes sir, Mr. President! I will investigate the exact details of this once Yagumachi Genzo is escorted back here.”


  * * *

  February 10, 2021, 00:20

  The private building of the Japanese cabinet, Adachi, Tokyo

  “Are you saying that my aide Genzo didn’t board his plane? What about his bodyguard?”


  Prime Minister Abe, who had become nervous once he couldn’t make contact with Yagumachi Genzo since that afternoon, had contacted the Cabinet Office of Intelligence to check on it. The time was late, but the Head of the Office of Intelligence Hirochi still came directly to see the prime minister to give him his report.

  “Contact has also been cut off from his bodyguard, sir.”


  “Has he had an accident of some kind? Did you try getting in contact with the embassy in Moscow?”


  “Yes sir, we did get in touch with the Moscow embassy as well as our intelligence officers there, and gave them orders to figure out the circumstances of your aide Yagumachi Genzo.”


  “What on earth is going on?”


  Prime Minister Abe rubbed his face up and down, as if he wanted to smooth out his increasing wrinkles, and murmured to himself as if he had made something out.

  “Could it be……”


  “What is it?”


  After removing his hands from his face, as if his body had become heavy from his mental and physical exhaustion, Prime Minister Abe leaned on the backrest of his chair.

  “Sir, I just thought that this could be a plan that the Russians laid.”


  “Russia? But why? They already consented to our requests without any unusual conditions. You’re the chief officer dealing with intelligence, and you can’t think of anything besides that? That’s pathetic.”


  At the constantly uncomfortable talk of Head of Intelligence Hirochi, the wrinkles at the center of Prime Minister Abe’s forehead were etched in even further.

  “Another guess would be that this could have been the doing of Corea.”


  “Corea?”


  “That’s correct, sir. Did I not report to you that after the Sino-Corean War, they had deployed a large number of intelligence officers here in Japan and also in Russia?”


  “You did report that.”


  “The number of confirmed intelligence officers of Corea here in Japan is currently over 30. I think that the amount in Russia is probably similar.”


  “If that’s the case, then what you’re saying is that the Corean intelligence service found out about Yagumachi Genzo’s visit to Russia and they concocted this scheme?”


  “It’s certainly within the realm of possibility, Mr. Prime Minister.”


  “Head of Intelligence Hirochi, if these actions came from Corea’s intelligence office, then this problem becomes even more serious, doesn’t it?”


  “Yes, Mr. Prime Minister.”


  “I want you to immediately deploy every available intelligence officer to Moscow and have them find the whereabouts of Advisor Yagumachi Genzo. If it’s as you say and this was an act of the Corean intelligence service, that would mean that even the greatest secrets that only we possess could trickle out.”


  “What does that mean? What ‘greatest secrets’ are you talking about? Is there some secret that even I, the Head of the Cabinet Office of Intelligence don’t know about?”


  “That’s not important now! I’m telling you to take those steps, immediately.”


  “Yes, sir, I understand.”


  * * *

  February 10, 2021, 01:30

  The Airbase of the Fifteenth Special Activity Wing, Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do

  One by one, the troops of four Airborne Divisions that had been newly put on reserve were boarding large military air carriers painted to look like civilian aircrafts.

  There were almost 20,000 members of the forces of just these four Airborne Divisions. Five hours earlier, the order to conduct airborne operations over Japan’s entire territory had finally been conveyed from the president to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and now they were pushing ahead with this mission in secret while avoiding the watchful eye of the US military’s intelligence satellites.

  An hour later, once the almost 20,000 troops of these Airborne divisions had all boarded, the 32 CC-502 military air carriers and the 16 CC-503 military air carriers followed the directions of the marshaller soldiers and appeared on the runway to make their preparations for takeoff. Also, before taking off, they began to emit powerful electronic waves known as SECM (Super Electronic Counter Measures.) This was done to avoid being intercepted by any persistent air searching radar that remained despite multiple air attacks on Japan’s territory that had already destroyed the Japanese Self-Defense Force’s land-based radar stations, or any airborne warning and control systems or air searching radar of the US military forces that were stationed throughout Japan’s entire area.

  As soon as the clocks of the 15th Special Activity Wing pointed to 03:00, the CC-502 military air carrier at the very front of the runway completed the necessary warming up of the four C-PTZ-1000 engines attached to its wings, spewed out a huge blue flame without a very loud sound, and began to spring forward following the glowing red lights that lined the runway.

  Also, the planes which had taken on the escort assignment for the military air carriers that were now leaving one by one (24 Red Phoenix fighters of the 17th Air Wing, 48 Red Phoenix fighters of the 38th Air Wing, and 24 Black Phoenix fighter-bombers of the Suwon 10th Air Wing) had moved out and circled the 50-kilometer radius outside the Seongnam Air Base, and they then each began to slowly make their way in the direction of Japan with the air carrier they were assigned to protect.

  On the other hand, the 21 CC-501 military air carriers that had moved out from the Kimpo Air Base also received the protection of Red Phoenix fighters and split up, each following their pre-determined route, and flew towards Kyushu.

  * * *

  February 10, 2021, 02:40

  The B2 Bunker, Yongsan-ku, Seoul (The Situation Room in the Combined Command and Control Center of the Army)

  “We just received a report from the Air Force Operations Center that the military air carriers that have been deployed for the upcoming mission have all successfully taken off and are flying towards Japan.”


  Lieutenant General Kim Yong-hyun, Director of the Operations Center, approached Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Kang I-shik, who was looking at the main screen of the situation room, and gave this report.

  Truthfully, if one looked at the digital military system displayed on the screens in the situation room of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, there was really no need to report every single development like this. Detailed information about every division of the Corean Army appeared in real-time on the huge main screen, and with the tablet PC he held, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs could confirm the information he wanted wherever and whenever he wanted. Even the travel situation of not just the military air carriers that had taken off from the 15th Special Activity Wing air base in Seongnam and the Kimpo Air Base, but also the fighters that had taken on the escort mission for these air carriers were now displayed with multiple points of notation with words of explanation on the screen.

  The first assignment of the current airborne mission was a lump collection of Corean cultural properties, and the second was an assignment to destroy the buildings of war criminal enterprises, as well as the varied production facilities that their factories provided. The squadron leaders of the Airborne Divisions had received lists that had been gathered with great effort from the national intelligence service of cultural assets from Corea in Japan, as well as information about all the war criminal enterprises that worked with the Japanese imperial government during the Japanese colonial era to commit many different kinds of brutality.

  * * *

  February 10, 2021, 03:30

  The skies above Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan

  Once the three CC-501 military air carriers had crossed into the Kyushu region and reached the airspace above Kumamoto, each of their rear hatches opened, and the officers of the First Airborne Special Forces Brigade flung themselves out without hesitation. After this, once they had reached a certain level of altitude, their black parachutes opened and they began to slowly descend. The members of this brigade, 540 officers in total, had been given the mission of recovering 280 different cultural properties, as well as blowing up the industrial facilities of war criminal companies in four places.

  Due to the ceasefire in the war between Corea and Japan, for a brief moment, people were moving about on the main streets of the city center of Kumamoto even though it was so late (although not as many as before). But the sudden appearance of special forces troops wearing black berets and invading the city here and there on parachutes was even more shocking to the citizens of Kumamoto, and they were thrown into complete confusion. An airstrike brought the potential for parts of buildings or people to be affected by the falling bombs, so the shock of an incoming air raid was similar to the aftereffect of the earthquakes that Japan’s citizens dealt with frequently. But, actually seeing soldiers not from one’s own country’s military but the soldiers of an enemy nation in the heart of a city was a shock greater than any other.

  Having received reports of the appearance of Corean special forces troops in several places in the city, Japan’s police forces mobilized and were taking on the First Airborne Special Forces Brigade in teams, but they were hardly worthy adversaries in gun battles with these special forces, which were equipped with the latest weapons technology, and even carried different kinds of laser rifles as their personal weapons. In response to this, the police merely shot a few bullets from a distance and made themselves busy in running away.