January 23rd, 2024, 05:55

  At sea, (battle command center of the Taejong the Great(DDG-996)) 100 kilometers from the east end of Katsuura, Chiba prefecture, Japan

  Admiral Kim Lee-won had used his great tactics to destroy the eight Zumwalt-class destroyers. He now focused on the big match—the fight against the main body of the Pacific Fleet.

  40 CA-11P Phoenix fighter jets had taken off from the Bukju (LHD-6202) and two Ganghwado-class multipurpose amphibious assault ships that had tumed off their TCS (Transparent Camouflage System). They had been dispatched just moments ago to face off against the dozens of F-35C fighter jets

  flying toward this fleet from 330 kilometers away.

  Also, the AI of the Cha Yi-suk (CG-1105), Hocula M21, had calculated the risk levels of the AGM-158S SRASM flying toward the fleet and had given each ship its designated targets. The Cha Yi-suk (CG-1105) was the cruiser assigned to the left, out of the two Hocula cruisers placed on each side of the

  formation.

  As a cutting-edge AI should, the Hocula M21 finished analyzing the missiles in only a few seconds and assigned targets to each ship. Blue light scattered as dozens of anti-aircraft missiles rose from 20 warships’ vertical launching system.

  The sight of dozens of anti-aircraft missiles being fired all at once was a scene to behold.

  “Admiral! We’ve completed launching the first wave of anti-aircraft missiles at the intercept targets. We’re expecting to launch the second wave of missiles after confirming the results of the interception.”


  The procedures of fighting were all taken care of by the Hocula M21 AI. Because of this, there wasn’t much to do in the combat information center (CIC). All they had to do was to receive reports about the current situation in real-time and only intervene to give orders when decisions needed to be made.

  “Admiral! Anti-warship missiles have been fired from the Pacific Fleet, as well. Currently 55, and increasing as we speak! Assigning targets to the missiles that have been fired first!”


  Admiral Kim Lee-won, who was watching the various tactic symbols that were appearing and disappearing on the widescreen monitor, answered with a nod at the tactical control officer’s report.

  It was true that this was the same terrible war as three years ago, with everyone’s life on the line, but as computers took over a lot of the procedures, it became a rather boring fight.

  “Admiral! Attempting intercept of the first target in five seconds.”


  The tactics screen in the CIC showed dozens of red dots heading toward the fleet, creating red trails behind them. From the opposite side, a blue dot, with a blue line trailing behind it, headed straight for the red dots and was about to make contact with one of them. At that moment, the red dot suddenly

  sped up. The blue and red dots had crossed each other, but both were intact.

  At the failure of the first attempt to intercept, the tactical control officer’s trembling voice rang in the CIC. “1st target! Failed to intercept!”


  The first attempt to intercept had failed, but Admiral Kim Lee-won wasn’t surprised, as the interception rate couldn’t be a hundred percent. When it was reported that the second attempt had failed, however, Admiral Kim-Lee won sprang up from his chair.

  It was because he felt that something was wrong. One failure could have been a coincidence, but he couldn’t stop thinking that something was wrong when two failures occurred in a row.

  “Has the reason for interception failure been analyzed?”


  At the surprise question of Admiral Kim, the tactical control officer, who was just about to report the success of the third attempt to intercept, ran to the other side of the console and briefly spoke to the operator in charge before going back to Admiral Kim to report. “According to the analysis, the reason

  that the intercept missiles missed their timing to strike the targets was that the target’s speed suddenly increased to Mach 2 or more.”


  It was a report that was hard to believe.

  “You mean that the target anti-warship missile suddenly increased its speed to more than Mach 2?”


  “Yes, sir. The current results of the analysis say so.”


  Just then, the tactical status operator, in place of the tactical control officer, announced the delayed reports.

  “Targets 3, and 4, interception success! Target 5 interception failure! Target 6 interception failure! Target 7 interception success…!”


  While there were unexpected interception successes reported, it was a relief that the interception success rates kept increasing as the intercepting operation continued.

  The reason for this was that the anti-aircraft missiles that had missed their first targets had been set to the next target, which meant that the anti-aircraft missiles that had initially failed were directed at the later targets. With this, the chance of a successful interception had gone up.

  Usually, if the anti-aircraft missiles were faster than the target, it would turn around and immediately attempt to intercept the same missile once again. However, in the current situation, the target and the anti-aircraft missiles were going at similar speeds. Thus, the Hocula M21 AI selected the second

  option of directing the missiles to the next target at a speed of 0.0001 seconds. If the operators had to set the targets manually, the second option wouldn’t even have been attempted.

  While each side’s missiles connected and exploded in the dark sky, the 32 F-35C Lightning II fighter jets that had been dispatched on a guarding operation met up with the 62 F-35C Lightning II fighter jets from the Navy and 46 F-35B Lightning Il fighter jets from the Marines. In no time, a total of 140

  F-35B and C Lightning II fighter jets began a spectacular dogfight with the CA-11P Phoenix fighter jets.

  In addition to this, naval warfare at the Pacific Ocean had begun with both sides firing the massive amounts of weapons they had on hand. It was a battle that would be remembered for a long time to come.

  keK

  January 23rd, 2024, 06:00

  Inner-city, Tokyo, Japan

  Sounds of explosions and gunshots started at 5 a.m. 40,000 soldiers from the security force and around a thousand American special force soldiers gathered in Tokyo. As planned, they struck public facilities, infrastructure, and the garrison of the 1st marine division’s subordinate units in a surprise attack.

  “Move faster! Faster!” Otto Hideyoshi, who had a security officer badge on him, shouted at the security force soldiers coming out of the transport truck.

  Their task was to suppress the garrison of the 1st marine division’s subordinate unit in the center of Tokyo.

  Around 200 soldiers from the security forces, armed with personal firearms, exited from dozens of transport trucks and surrounded the garrison.

  But strangely enough, there was no reaction from the Marine garrison. There wasn’t a guard at the front entrance and it was strangely silent.

  It seemed like a vacant garrison with no one in it.

  “Why’s it so silent?” muttered the commander in charge, Otto Hideyoshi, as he looked over at the entrance. There was no sign of anyone or anything inside the base, even though they were surrounding it.

  But they were mistaken. The marines had already activated TCS mode and were waiting outside the garrison. In actuality, the marines were the ones surrounding the security forces that surrounded the marine base.

  “Suppress them first. Move forward, platoon 1!”


  Looking around, Otto Hideyoshi raised his hand and waved the soldiers forward. A group of soldiers from the security forces ran toward the front entrance. As they were about to enter, laser beams started raining on them from behind.

  According to the surrender agreement, the places where the Korean Army was garrisoned were Korean territories and was equivalent to an embassy. Therefore, when they invaded, armed with personal firearms, it was a forceful provocation toward the territory of the Republic of Korea. Naturally,

  according to the specifics of the agreement, the Marines were given the right to fire.

  At the sudden attack from behind, dozens of security force soldiers that were only looking at the front each screamed and fell to the ground.

  “They’re behind us! Behind us!”


  keK

  January 23rd, 2024, 06:00

  ‘The Blue House (Chunchugwan – Press Center), Jongno-gu, Seoul, Namju

  The entire world’s attention was focused on Japan since they had announced the ‘Declaration of Independence.’ In the midst of this, the Blue House of the Republic of Korea announced its position regarding Japan’s declaration.

  President Choo Un-hee came up to the podium, spread the documents she had brought with her, fixed her gaze on the broadcast camera, and began reading with an expressionless face.

  “Citizens whom we respect, and citizens who are living overseas, just one hour ago, Prime Minister Uchida of Japan has attacked our proud Marine force base in Tokyo, Japan, without provocation, under the excuse of the ‘Declaration of Independence.’ In addition to this, the cabinet of Japan has requested

  cooperation from America regarding the ‘Declaration of Independence.’ The American government has accepted this, and the Pacific Fleet, which was training at the Pacific Ocean near the east end of Japan, has attacked our Navy. It was a truly disastrous and preposterous military provocation.”


  The contents of the announcement were so shocking that the reporters at the Chunchugwan Press Center exclaimed in surprise.

  “Twould like to earnestly speak to the leaders of both countries. First, Prime Minister Uchida! Have we, the Republic of Korea, suppressed Japan using politics or the economy? Or have we forced you to merge and colonized you to the point that you felt a declaration of independence was necessary? Or do

  you just not understand the meaning of the word ‘colony’? We, the Republic of Korea, know very well about colonies. In the past, we were forced to merge and forced into colonization for 35 years by you, Japan. Young girls, who were just beginning to bloom, were dragged to the battlefield to be made into

  sex slaves for your soldiers. Numerous Koreans were lied to and forced into labor. In addition to this, historically significant cultural heritages were destroyed or plundered. You exploited everything from our land—from humans to resources. This is when you can use and declare the word ‘colony,’ Prime

  Minister Uchida!”


  President Choo Un-hee glared furiously at the camera as if she was speaking to Prime Minister Uchida face to face.

  “Next, the president of the United States, President Trump! You seem to have prepared many things ahead of time, seeing that you’ve attacked our Navy with the Pacific Fleet right when Japan announced its declaration of independence. I won’t speak long. You’re prepared to put your life on the line,

  right?”


  The reporters started buzzing all at once.

  It was because President Choo Un-hee’s statement was extremely provocative. Which country would dare to threaten the president of the United States? Considering the current state of affairs, it was only Korea that could openly provoke the president of the United States.

  “You seem to have forgotten your memories from three years ago. I’ll do my best to have you relive that memory.” President Choo Un-hee spoke indirectly about when the U.S. mainland had been attacked three years ago.

  “Lastly, Japan has announced a declaration of independence with a ridiculous reason. Thus, we announce that the surrender agreements have been nullified, and therefore will revert to three years ago, to when the surrender agreements didn’t exist.”


  President Choo Un-hee strengthened her voice and finished her last statement. She glanced at her watch and fixed her gaze on the camera once again. “The time now is 06:12, 8 minutes left until Japan will revert to how it was three years ago. I hope there are no innocent sacrifices. That is all.”


  President Choo Un-hee ended her speech and disappeared behind the stage. The reporters, confused at the last statement, muttered among themselves. At this, the Presidential Secretary for Public Affairs Kim Jun-hong came up beside the podium and calmed the reporters.

  “Reporters, as you can see how the current situation is, we’ll only be accepting three questions.”


  As soon as Secretary Kim finished speaking, all the reporters raised their hands in unison. Secretary Kim pointed to a reporter among the crowd. “The reporter at the far back in blue!”


  “Thank you. I’m Reporter Oh Eun-min of Kookje Daily News. Others are probably curious about this as well, but I would like to know what exactly the president meant by her statement that Japan will revert to three years ago.”


  “Yes, this part is related to classified military information, so I can’t speak about the specifics, but the president intends to make Japan into the state it was three years ago, just before the end of the Korean-Japanese war.”


  “Then, should I understand it as launching a military attack on Japan?”


  “Til leave it at that for that question. I’ll be answering the next reporter’s question. There, the third reporter wearing a royal blue sui

  “Tm Reporter Lee Won-sam of SCN News. It was said that the Pacific Fleet of the U.S. has attacked our naval fleet. Does this mean that we’re going into a full-scale war with America?”


  “That kind of tragedy shouldn’t happen again. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is currently contacting the U.S. government first to see if we can resolve this peacefully. However, if the issue is not effectively resolved, we are prepared to go into an all-out war with America.”


  “Then, has the damage to our Navy been confirmed?” asked Lee Won-sam in a follow-up question.

  “T’ve heard that the fight is going on as we speak. There hasn’t been a consolidation of all of the damage or battle statuses. We will furnish all reporters with the details in the future.

  “Aren’t we, the current Republic of Korea, not the old Republic of Korea anymore? Even if war with America moves ahead, I believe that we, the Republic of Korea, will be able to overcome it. Now for the last question.”


  The last reporter that the Presidential Secretary for Public Affairs Kim Jun-hong pointed to was one of the foreign reporters, an American reporter at that.

  “Tm Reporter Robert Chandler of CCB News. You say that you’re prepared to go into an all-out war with the United States, but isn’t the Republic of Korea currently at war with Russia? If you go into an all-out war with the U.S. in this situation, wouldn’t that lead to a national crisis? Do you really think that

  you can win against the U.S.?”


  “Haha! You’re an American reporter, right?”


  “Yes, that is correct.”


  “Mm, did you happen to forget the events from three years ago, as well?”


  “If you’re speaking about the events from three years ago, are you referring to the incident when Korea attacked the United States mainland?”


  “Yes, that’s correct. I’ll simply answer with that.”


  “But that was three years ago. Wouldn’t the situation be different now?”


  “Could the situation be different? Yes, it could be different. Three years ago, it was only a part of the United States mainland, but this time, it could be the entire are: