October 28th, 2023, 10:30

  The North State, Pyeongan-do, the suburb of Sinuiju metropolitan city.

  After reunification, the Sinuiju metropolitan city and West Manchuria were selected to become economic zones, and the city and state grew rapidly. The Sinuiju metropolitan city that had a population of 350,000 had now grown to 2 million.

  Thirty-story buildings and industrial complexes started to rise at every part of the city, and corporations from Russia, the New Republic of China, and other nations had built their facilities here as well waged their trade wars.

  The city that was on the bank of the Amrok River was old, hideous, and shabby compared to China’s Dandong on the other side, but now it was developed to the point where it could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Dandong.

  A group of men with backpacks were walking down a quiet street away from downtown Sinuiju. Judging by their tan and rough skin, they must have been laborers. However, the men were suspiciously checking their surroundings and pacing.

  “Captain Oh, comrade! Is this really the Sinuiju that we knew?” The large man who was leading the group turned around and called the skinny man Captain Oh. The man seemed to be in disbelief.

  “I am shocked as well! I can’t believe the city has changed this rapidly within a few years.”


  “I still can’t believe it even though I am seeing it with my own eyes.”


  “Team Leader Kang! According to the route, headquarters told us this is Sinuiju!”


  The two men continued their conversation in a hushed tone so other people could not hear them. Soon, they stopped in front of a motel that was in an alleyway.

  “This seems to be the place,” Captain Oh compared the address to the motel with a gaudy neon sign and nodded.

  Team Leader Kang took the lead and the remaining men entered the motel.

  Captain Oh was now alone. He took one more look around the motel before going in as well.

  Based on their actions and appearances, they looked Chinese, but they used a North Korean dialect. These men were the State Security Department’s Foreign Intelligence Unit 1 agents who fought against the NIS agents on October 14th, 2019 to stop them from taking Kim Un-hee back to South Korea.

  These agents heard the news about Directors Kim Won-heung and Lee Byung-chul’s arrests on February 20th, 2020 for treason, following which they went into hiding in China.

  After the two nations were unified, the NIS identified them and attempted to give chase, but searching for them in a large nation like China was difficult. Team Leader Park Gi-oong, ridden with survivor’s guilt due to being injured first, attempted to find them whenever he had the chance to avenge Assistant Manager Kim Hyun-jun and Team Leader Ji Dong-chul. However, China’s political circumstances became unstable and the nation had split into three from the civil war. The cooperation from the Chinese police stopped and Team Leader Park Gi-oong couldn’t find them.

  The men Team Leader Park Gi-oong had been dreaming about finding had walked into a small motel in the suburb of Sinuiju after three years.

  * * *

  October 28th, 2023, 16:00 (Local Time 11:00)

  The Indian Ocean, N22°50’3.93″ E62°46’30.04″ (the 12th carrier strike group’s location)

  Corea’s 12th carrier strike group was now 270km away from Iran’s southern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, and it had finished the nighttime flight training exercises before arriving at the Gulf of Oman 10 hours later.

  A single aircraft carrier, three heavy cruisers, and four Super Hocula submarines seemed to be small in number, but looking at their power, it packed a punch that was more than enough to wipe most nations off the map.

  The Iranian Navy did not make any movements despite Corea’s powerful 12th carrier strike group arriving at the Gulf of Oman. The 12th carrier strike group’s vessels were equipped with powerful stealth capabilities so the Iranian military could not detect them on their radars. Even if they did, the Iranian Navy only had six Mowj-1 (1,400t) class destroyers and three Mowj-2 class (2,500t) destroyers from 2010, three Kilo-class submarines, and two new Patel class submarines. With a measly force like this, they could not attempt to take any action against the 12th carrier strike group.

  The depths within a 300km radius were free from threats at the surface, depths, and the skies. Only commercial freighters and oil tankers were detected on the radar. The waves were calm and only four sailing routes were being outlined at the Gulf of Oman, and those were soon wiped away by the waves.

  “Admiral! We will reach our destination within an hour, sir,” Colonel Na Sang-sun, the captain of the Baekbum Gim Gu, came up to Admiral Kim Ki-young and spoke to him quietly.

  Admiral Kim Ki-young checked his watch and asked a question, “What’s our distance from the submarines?”


  “The submarines are 80km away from us at our 4 o’clock, sir,” the bridge’s operations officer answered him.

  “Great! Let’s close the distance to 50km.”


  “Yes, sir. I will relay the order.”


  Admiral Kim Ki-young ordered the Super Hocula submarines to return from being on watch for enemy submarines when they got closer to their destination.

  The four Super Hocula submarines sailing 150m below the surface in a rhombus formation adjusted their speeds and azimuth when they received the order and started to approach the Baekbum Gim Gu’s (CV-001) position that acted as the lead for the fleet.

  “I should return to my vessel.”


  “You could just command the fleet here too, admiral!”


  “This ship is larger and it has nicer things, but I like the Lee Sun-shin. Ha ha ha.”


  “Sir? Ha ha ha, very well.”


  * * *

  October 28th, 2023, 20:30,

  The North State, a motel at the suburb of Sinuiju metropolitan city

  The men who arrived at the motel a few hours ago started to bathe and shave. After cleaning up, they looked suave and were now all dressed in suits they brought in their backpack.

  If they seemed Chinese from their shabby appearance before entering the motel, they now looked like clean-cut businessmen. However, the look on their eyes was horrifyingly piercing.

  “Captain Oh, comrade! Do you really think we can do this?” Kang Tae-woo asked Oh Ji-wan, who was watching the Sinuiju skyline through the curtains. His face reflected his anxiety, despite him not batting an eye when he killed people before.

  “Does it matter if it’s possible or not? We must get this done. How long will we live being on the run in China or Josun? Don’t you remember Team Leader Kim Dong-gyun who fell from the construction site since we couldn’t find a proper job?”


  Oh Ji-wan closed the curtains and started talking about the past that he did not want to remember with Kang Tae-woo. Oh Ji-wan and his men from the Foreign Intelligence Unit 1 waited for additional orders while avoiding the Chinese police after their gunfight at the Chongqing Motel while trying to stop Kim Un-hee’s return to South Korea. However, they heard through the news about Directors Lee Byung-chul and Kim Won-heung’s arrests for treason through the help of the Corean government. When 200 secret police agents from the State Security Department were deployed to China in an attempt to take them down, they went on the run to save themselves.

  The men and Oh Ji-wan had to throw the Chinese police, the State Security Department’s secret police, and NIS agents off their trail. When they had spent all of their money, they had to work manual labor jobs to live day-to-day. Once the Corean-Chinese war broke out, the construction and manual labor jobs vanished, and they had no choice but to hide in the countryside and stole from and robbed people to survive.

  Two years had passed, and there were now only twelve agents left after eight died from the shoot-out, but now, only eight agents were left. As Oh Ji-wan had said, Kim Dong-gyun, the leader of Team 3, died from falling on a construction site, Oh Sung-tae, the leader of Team 2, and Park Dong-jin, the leader of Team 3, all died from an easily treatable disease due to the lack of treatment, and Agent Na Dong-gyun died after being beaten by the Chinese police after he was caught stealing.

  “Apologies. I just can’t seem to shake off the ominous feeling,” Kang Tae-woo answered as if to scold himself while standing still.

  Oh Ji-wan tapped Kang Tae-woo’s shoulder and spoke calmly, “Comrade Kang! Stay strong! We must think about the agents who had followed us until the end, shouldn’t we? Operation ‘The 16th Typhoon!’ If we pull this off, we will be able to live an affluent life anywhere. Just think about that for now.”


  “Yes, Captain Oh, comrade!”


  “Go and see if our agents are ready to go.”


  “Understood,” Kang Tae-woo answered the captain and started checking around the room.

  All the agents answered loudly and stood up, “Captain Oh Ji-wan, comrade, we are all prepared, sir.”


  “Is that so? Let’s move.”


  The eight men dressed in suits all started to move to an unknown second destination covertly and swiftly.

  * * *

  October 28th, 2023, 21:40

  The North State, a building somewhere in Pyeong-yang, Hyungje Mountain-ku

  An old 4-story building was nearby Shinmi-dong, south of the Sun-an air force base, and north of the heart of Pyeong-yang. The city was also rapidly developing from the enormous amount of capital coming in. Most of the old buildings were now gone, and apartments and shops were taking their places. This 4-story building was scheduled to be demolished in December and be replaced by a department store.

  Security for this building was quite significant despite it being only a month away from being torn down. The main door could only be opened after a fingerprint scan and using a smart key, while the hallways and parts of the building had dozens of thermal imaging cameras. People could only move up the levels via the stairs after they went through a retinal scan while being escorted by security agents as well.

  Judging by its appearance, the building was old and ready to collapse, but its interior was like a government intelligence agency.

  “Have the men headed out?” A low voice speaking in the North Korean dialect rang out across the 4th-floor room.

  “Yes, director! The men just got aboard the KHT at 09:30,” a man in his mid-40s who was sitting across from him said in fluent Seoul dialect.

  “I see! Now, let’s leave things to comrade Jo Won-jin, and I would like you to stop coming here. We wouldn’t want you to get caught slipping, would we?”


  “Yes, I will go hand off a few things and return.”


  “Great work. I’ll see you after our plan comes to fruition.”


  “Yes, director!”


  The man in his 40s stood up, bowed, and moved down to the 3rd floor after leaving the room.

  “I will make them all pay for all the things I had to go through……,” the man whispered to himself while grinding his teeth. It was Jo Myung-rok, who had been abandoned by both the South and North for his previous position in the reconnaissance general bureau, unlike the rest of the North Korean government officials.

  He had received support from the People’s Labor Party Chairman Kim Hyung-won and now managed to return to power. Jo Myung-rok was now preparing to start a plan that would sow the seeds of chaos within the nation.