:40, 24th of November, 2023,

  The East Sea, north latitude 43° 1’17.06″, east longitude 139°23’53.69″, international waters (The Maritime Task Flotilla Seven)

  “The Far East Fleet Flagship! Confirm the attack on Admiral Lazarev (CGSN-181)! Confirm the attack on Admiral Lazarev (CGSN-181)!””


  when the symbol of the Admiral Lazarev (CGSN-181) flashed several times on the monitor and then disappeared from the screen, an operator at the Gwanghae Ship (DDG-1001) battle command room shouted “Hooray!”.

  Then the other crew members burst out cheering. But the cheers of joy soon ended.

  The anti-ship missiles of the Far East Fleet, which broke through the long-distance anti-aircraft defense line of the Maritime Task Flotilla Seven and broke through into the close defense system range, this was because about 90 various anti-ship missiles and about 10 additional anti-ship missiles from the Far East Fleet, which were still flying at 400 kilometers away.

  “The ship of king Myeongjong the Great, the ship of king Hyojong the Great, and the ship of king Yeongjo the Great will be turned into a proximity defense system.”


  The operator in charge of the situation of the automatic interception system reported.

  The supercomputer of the Hokula destroyer created the best interception environment by exchanging data between the ships. Accordingly, three Hokula destroyers were in charge of the proximity defense system and the other three were in charge of long-distance interceptions.

  Several Shield-M short-range anti-aircraft missiles from three Hokula destroyers got out of the launching tube with a sound of fire.

  The Shield-M short-range anti-aircraft missile, 120mm in diameter and 2m in length, soared into the sky making a U shape and colliding head-on with the anti-ship missile of the Far East Fleet, making a pop-up maneuver.

  Bang! Baaang! Boom! Bang!

  A series of colorful fireworks blew up in the sky.

  “KH-35 Uran anti-ship missiles are all intercepted successfully! six P-700 Granite anti-ship missiles are intercepted successfully!”


  “Now what is left are six P-700 Granite supersonic anti-ship missiles!”


  The operator who reported the interception result, swallowed his saliva nervously.

  Clink clink clink clink clink ~! Clink clink clink clink clink ~!

  When the short-range anti-aircraft missile broke through the anti-aircraft defense line, the last defense measure of the proximity defense system, the 22mm last shot Vulcan six cannons laser, automatically operated.

  The 22mm last shot Vulcan laser, with one each installed at the top of the center of both sides of each Hokula destroyer, aimed for the anti-ship missile, it went flying according to the supercomputer’s error-free navigation calculations.

  A total of six laser beams poured non-stop as if they were cutting through the sky on the P-700 Granite anti-ship missile, which was just aiming for the bridge of the ship of king Myeongjong the Great (DDG-1002), and it exploded in the air.

  And the remaining five P-700 Onyx anti-ship missiles were also all intercepted without completing their final mission.

  If Admiral Valerie Carpin of the Far East Fleet knew this result before he dies, he would not have been able to comfortably leave our world.

  Meanwhile, as for the remaining three Hokula destroyers, the KH-47M2 Kinzal air-to-ship missile, which ranked first in interception according to its level of danger, flew at Mach 10 and entered the long-distance anti-aircraft range of 400 km, and at the 68-cell K-VLS (vertical launch pad), GTAS-300 Haecheonryong surface-to-air missiles soared into the sky, igniting blue lights one after another.

  “The most dangerous one, KH-47M2 Kinzal! They are 40 missiles! 120 seconds until they reach their target!”


  “The second most dangerous one, KH-22S Burya!” They are 24 missiles! 125 seconds until they reach its target!”


  “The third most dangerous one, P-800 Yakhont!” They are 24 missiles! 142 seconds until they reach their target!”


  “The fourth most dangerous one, P-800 Oniks!” They are 11 missiles! 131 seconds until they reach their target!”


  The four missiles had different speeds and ranges as well as launching points, but the arrival time was almost at the same time slot.

  ‘Well, why are these missiles detected when the Far East Fleet has been completely destroyed?’


  Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun was lost in thought as he was watching the operators’ constant reports and dizzying tactical screens.

  At that moment, the unidentified missile came to his mind.

  ‘Is it that? The missile’s purpose is to be used for a something other than the normal attacking……’


  When his thoughts got to this point, Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun rushed toward the communication console and asked the communication officer.

  “Did you send the unidentified missile detection information to naval operations command?”


  “Yes, I sent it as soon as you ordered.”


  “Did you get an answer?”


  It was greedy to expect an answer within a few minutes of sending it, but Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun asked just in case.

  “There’s no answer yet. It will take time to be analyzed even in the naval operations command……”


  “Right, I guess so!”


  Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun, who was being slowly convinced, immediately turned around and instructed the tactical control officer.

  “Tactical control officer!”


  “Yes, admiral!”


  “Can you check where exactly was impact point of that unidentified missile that was fired from the marine patrol?”


  “Yes, it’s possible.”


  Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun, who got lost in his thoughts once again at the response of tactical control officer Kim Hyuk-min, thought of something while going back and forth from and into the battle command room.

  “Yeah, that’s right. I’ll have to check it out myself.”


  Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun flicking his fingers came up with a way, and immediately gave instructions to the tactical control officer.

  “Is the spy satellite that supports our ship Apollo 5?”


  “Yes, that’s right. It is Apollo 5.”


  “Good!” You have to send me the coordinates of the impact points right now and also send me the footage; I mean of all six places.”


  “Why is that? Admiral! If it had impacted with the sea, it would have fallen into the inside of the sea or would have exploded.”


  As the tactical control officer Kim Hyuk-min tilted his head at the incomprehensible instructions, Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun looked with a serious look at a small screen showing the point of impact.

  “That’s possible. I don’t know if our destroyer is being detected because of that unidentified missile or not.”


  “What?”


  “That’s right. Since this missile has fell and our ship is being detected. Why didn’t I think about this before? ····.”


  “Oh! That is possible.”


  Only then did tactical controller Kim Hyuk-min understand, and he immediately gave orders to the communicator.

  “We don’t have time! Tell them to send me the video as soon as possible!”


  In the meantime, reports on the interception status from the battle command room operators continued, and the remaining three Hokula destroyers that had switched to a close-defense system switched to long-range interception defense, and six Hokula destroyers aimed at the anti-ship missiles that survived the first interception. And once again, the GTAS-300 Haecheonryong surface-to-air missiles flew off, emitting white smoke.

  It’s a battle with time now. If all intercepts were successful at a one-on-one ratio to enemy anti-ship missiles, it would be possible to defend with the anti-air defense system of the Hokula destroyer. However, no matter how much the artificial intelligence of Hokula’s supercomputer calculates everything without any error and performs the interception missions with the automatic interception system, the difference is that the command system and procedural time according to the commander’s decisions in an emergency situation are quickly performed by arbitrary calculations of the supercomputer, and the interception performance of existing anti-aircraft missiles did not increase.

  Moreover, all anti-ship missiles flying toward the Maritime Task Flotilla Seven were flying at a tremendous speed exceeding supersonic speed. It was very different from the era when subsonic anti-ship missiles were unrivaled a few years ago.

  Anyway, Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun was more confident and proud of the performance of the Hokula automatic interception system than anyone else, but he did not want to even think about being hit because of even one Hokula destroyer due to a failure to interception.

  While waiting impatiently in front of the tactical screen imagining this happening, a happy report came from the operator.

  “Screen no.3! The video was sent from Apollo 5.”


  As a result, all eyes in the battle command room were focused on screen 3.

  Screen 3 showed a HUD-class high-resolution video.

  “What, what is that?”


  An operator who was watching with them pointed his finger and muttered.

  There was something flying above the sea with a wave height of 2m. It was roughly estimated at a length of about 10 m, and was a pillar with a width of about 20 cm on one side of the quadrangle.

  “What’s going on? Why is that thing floating on the ocean?”


  “This is the first time you see this?”


  “Russian guys make all sorts of weird things.”


  Everyone threw a word out of doubt.

  “Admiral! Wouldn’t that act as a radar?”


  Tactical control officer Kim Hyuk-min inadvertently dug into the core of Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun’s suspicions.

  “Yeah! That’s definitely a radar. It detects our ships and sends the detected information to the Russian army. Is the other video ready?”


  When Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun asked, the third screen was immediately turned into a split screen, and the remaining five videos lit up.

  It was the same thing they saw in the first video.

  “Of course! It’s because of them.”


  “Then how do we deal with this······. We will prepare anti-ship missiles.”


  “No, no. It’s not efficient to shoot with an anti-ship missile! Naval artillery! Set up the warhead with cluster bombs to solve it with the naval artillery!”


  “Yes, sir.”


  Tactical control officer Kim Hyuk-min said it so loudly that the battle command room rang at the moment he answered.

  “Assign one target to each ship of the six coordinates, numbered from 1 to 6. Tell them to take care of it and shoot!”


  Due to simple and clear orders, operators started using their hands faster.

  Meanwhile, the anti-aircraft operator’s report on the interception status continued.

  :45, 24th of November, 2023,

  Downtown at Siam, Bangkok, Thailand.

  A middle-aged man wearing rimless glasses was looking around nearby shops on the streets of downtown at Siam District, Bangkok.

  The middle-aged man’s name was Woo Jin-gil, 53 years old, has been widowed for 10 years and has an only daughter, who lives in Hong Kong with her Korean husband. He had a son and a daughter.

  Professor Woo Jin-gil from KAIS, who was in charge of plasma research for many years at the X-19 laboratory at the time, which is now called the Parthenon Research Center but was formerly only called the 17th Fighter Wing’s underground research lab, contributed greatly to the development of plasma amplified bombs by helping Professor Park Jin-woo while conducting plasma research. He is currently working as a senior researcher in plasma-related research in the X-19 laboratory and as a full professor at the Academy of Space Sciences.

  Professor Woo Jin-gil, who traveled alone to Bangkok to cool off after achieving the first results on the research he had been immersed in for the past year, had to buy various gifts for his relatives, fellow professors, and his only daughter, which is why he was walking around shopping malls in downtown Bangkok.

  And behind Professor Woo Jin-gil, there were two bulky men who kept a distance enough not to disturb him.

  They were bodyguards that belonged to the Secret Service, who were in charge of guarding the Parthenon Research Center for the personal safety and confidentiality of Professor Woo Jin-gil, who is a first-class national security target. In the past, agents of the National Intelligence Service performed bodyguard duties, but two years ago, the Secret Service was established unofficially, performing 24-hour close security missions for all subjects of National Security Level 2 or higher.

  Currently, Professor Woo Jin-gil is a first-degree national security target, and two bodyguards quietly followed him anywhere in the world to provide close security.

  Whether he found the store he was looking for or not, Professor Woo Jin-gil entered the world-famous luxury bag store that anyone could recognize just by saying his name. Then, he took a red bag out of several bags in the display case and asked the clerk in English.

  “How much is this?”


  “This one is $2,800.”


  “Hmm, isn’t there a different color for the same model?”


  “Yes, there is. There are green and blue colors. Which one would you like?”


  “The blue would be nice.”


  “Yes, sir, please wait a moment and we’ll bring it.”


  “Okay, I’ll wait.”


  Professor Woo Jin-gil, who had a lot of sweat on his forehead despite the cool air-conditioned store, pretended to look at another bag and then looked at the bodyguards who kept him safe.

  And then, avoiding the guards’ eyes, he put something in the red luxurious bag.

  It was a small case that contains microchips the sizes of little nails.

  After a while, the clerk brought the blue luxurious bag of the same model and held it out.

  “Sir! How about this? Do you like it?”


  The clerk handed professor Woo Jin-gil the blue luxurious bag with a friendly tone, but he received the red one from the professor who laughed in a friendly way.

  “Well, this is okay. Let’s go with this.”


  “Yes, sir, I’ll help you pay.”


  “Okay. Here’s the card.”


  Professor Woo Jin-gil said, taking the credit card from his wallet and handing it out to the clerk.

  “Let’s do a 3-month installment plan.”


  “Yes, I understand. I’ll pack your bag. Sir!”


  After a while, Professor Woo Jin-gil, who bought a luxurious bag in a natural way, approached the bodyguards and spoke to them.

  “Deputy Kim, Chief Oh! I’m done shopping today. Let’s go to the hotel right away. You suffer so much because of me, so let’s have a cold beer at the hotel. Let’s go.”


  “Yes, Professor, we’ll take the lead.”


  The security guards of the Secret Service, who did not notice Professor Woo Jin-gil’s suspicious behavior, left the store keeping their eyes on the surrounding situation as usual.