Chapter 217
February 10, 2021, 04:00 (15:00 on the 9th, US time)
The White House, Washington, D.C., USA
Bang~ Crash~
After finishing his phone call with Prime Minister Abe, President Donald Trump just completely threw his phone against one side of the wall. It then collided with the frame of a painting that was hanging on the wall, and shards of glass cascaded to the ground.
“That arrogant bastard! He dares to threaten me, the President of the United States?”
President Trump sat on the sofa with a thud and closed his eyes, pushing down the rage that was welling up inside him.
Prime Minister Abe had called him without warning on the hotline, and in his anger at the sudden aerial invasion by the Airborne Division of Corea, he poured out extreme language that went way over the line. In particular, President Trump couldn’t take that he had mentioned the USSC and threatened to reveal the whole story of the August 15th Pyongyang terror bombing to the international community.
“We’ll have to put an end to this crazy bastard before he bites the hand that feeds him.”
He remembered what the head of the USSC had said at their last meeting, where he referred to Abe Shinzo as the “crazy bastard,” and gnawed on his lower lip.
Knock, knock.
“Mr. President, is anything wrong, sir?”
His secretary was asking if he was alright, as if he had been shocked at the sound of breaking glass from the Oval Office.
“It’s nothing. What’s more important is that you call Senior Advisor Robert.”
“I understand, sir.”
A moment later, Senior Advisor Robert entered the office after giving a knock.
“You called for me, Mr. President?”
Robert, a man with a burly frame and a sharp face, bowed down to his waist as he spoke.
“You’d better get to Building X right away. Get everything ready, and be sure to contact the Leader in advance.”
“Will you be meeting alone with the Leader?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll get your vehicle ready.”
* * *
February 10, 2021, 04:00
The private building of Japan’s cabinet, Adachi, Tokyo, Japan
With the appearance of the Airborne Division of Corea which had invaded Japan beginning at 03:00 that morning on the heels of the news that Yagumachi Genzo’s whereabouts were unknown from the day before, the cabinet of the Abe government had been turned completely upside down. In particular, Prime Minister Abe’s shock was very serious. Having become quite angry at the thought that he had been solely trusting the US government and had now been stabbed in the back, Abe had called President Donald Trump over the hotline, and like someone who had temporarily lost their sense, touched on the embarrassing areas that could be called the weak points of the US, after which he sat panting on his wide couch.
Knock, knock.
“Come in.”
“Mr. Prime Minister! The high-level advisors of the cabinet and the generals of the Joint Staff Office have all met in the conference room.”
“I see.”
The prime minister left his office, and as soon as he stepped into the conference room, the 30 or so advisors and officers of the Joint Staff Office rose from their seats.
“Sit down. Let’s start by examining the current situation.” Prime Minister Abe propped his chin on his hand as he spoke, since he was sitting at a crooked position.
Then, Chief of Staff of the Army Takitayo Ojiro got up and stood next to where the screen was.
“According to what we know so far, we have confirmed that a part of the Corean battalions that have currently invaded our territory by air are troops of the former 8th Special Forces Unit of North Korea that was reorganized and newly attached to the Airborne Division of their Headquarters of Special Forces.”
“Just how many troops are you saying have invaded?”
“Well sir, we estimate there are close to 20,000 troops.”
“Did you say 20,000? And that means all of them are members of the Special Forces Unit?”
“Yes, that’s correct, sir. They are called special forces in Corea, sir.”
“What’s the status of our response?”
“Aside from a few major cities where the army units of the Self-Defense Force are stationed, in the remaining cities, we are responding just with police forces.”
“Can we hold them with just the police forces?”
“Truthfully, Mr. Prime Minister, it will be difficult, sir. While part of the special strike force possesses heavy weaponry, the remaining police officers only carry a Minebea New Nambu M60 pistol at most.” Minister of State Nishikori Kei, who was also Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission in charge of managing police for Japan’s public safety, gave this answer.
“At this time the order has been given to the cities that fall under all five of the regions under the purview of the Inspectorate General of the Army, the Western, Central, Eastern, Northeastern, and Northern areas, to mobilize their troops.”
“So, we’re out of the frying pan and into the fire, then! Will we be able to dominate those bastards with just our Army Self-Defense Force?”
In response to this, Chief of Staff of the Army Takitayo Ojiro hesitated for a moment, and then hardened his expression and answered forcefully.
“Don’t worry, Prime Minister Abe. We’ll round up those bastards from Corea, no matter what happens!”
“Remove them as quickly as possible. If we let them strut around in our territory while our citizens are fully agitated due to the airstrikes, the problem will become much worse.”
“We will keep that in mind, Mr. Prime Minister! In that case, we will go on and begin our detailed briefing about the status of the response in each region now.”
* * *
February 10, 2021 04:30 (15:30 on the 9th, US time)
The White House (country house of the USSC), Washington, D.C., USA
After finishing his phone call with Prime Minister Abe, President Donald Trump had a private meeting with the Leader of the USSC, Victoria.
“He says that airborne divisions of Corea have invaded the entire area of Japan, and they’re putting up a hell of a fight. He’s so angry about it that he’s going over the edge.”
“Over the edge?” Victoria, who wore a black mask even in the context of a private meeting, responded with a question rather than an answer.
“He’s threatening me with the August 15th Pyongyang terror bombing situation.”
President Trump made a face, and his bulging jowls twitched, his anger still not fully released.
“It seems those Japanese bastards have become self-conceited and are getting unruly. We will have to pull the work forward.”
“Yeah, looks like we’d better. You never know when they might go crazy and start rebelling against us. But look, that’s Japan, but don’t you think we should take some action about Corea, also?”
“We will have to be very careful about that. As with the recent loss of our military satellites, the power of Corea’s defensive capabilities seems very unusual, Mr. President.”
“Right, Mr. Leader.”
“I would like you to fully mobilize all intelligence agencies to reassess Corea’s present military power.”
“Yes, sir. Even without you saying that, I have all four intelligence agencies currently researching Corea’s weapons.”
“The four intelligence services will not be enough. Be sure to fully activate all available intelligence agencies. We have to know our enemy exactly before we can undertake a military strategy to counter them, wouldn’t you say?”
“Yes, sir, of course.”
President Trump concluded the private meeting and returned to the White House, and Victoria, who was now alone, made a call to someone.
-This is Victoria.
-Yes, Mr. Leader! This is Seven Star.
The voice of a member of the USSC who went by the nickname Seven Star came through the receiver.
-How is the project you are working on now progressing?
-I’m planning to execute it within the next three days, sir. All the preparations are complete.
-You will have to pull it ahead as early as possible.
-Is that so, sir?
-Our plan has become a bit warped due to some rebelling by Corea.
-I see. I understand, sir. I will do so.
-Good, I await the results.
-Yes, sir, Mr. Leader!
* * *
February 10, 2021 09:00
The Foreign Office, Jongro-ku Borough, Seoul
The moment business began, the Secretary for the President on International Strategy, Randy Johnson, strode to the door of the Foreign Office with an enraged expression on his face.
Bam~
Randy Johnson smashed open the door and entered swiftly, and the moment he saw Minister Kim Jae-hak, he spoke angrily.
“What on earth is your government thinking? Are you trying to say that you’d even go to war with the US?”
Secretary Johnson’s behavior was quite rude for a space of diplomacy between nations and showed disrespect for his opposite.
“What on earth could you be so agitated over, Secretary Johnson? First of all, won’t you please take a seat?”
Pretending not to know what he was talking about, Minister Kim gestured as an invitation for Secretary Johnson, who was acting like a hooligan, to sit on the sofa.
“Minister Kim! Don’t pretend you don’t know. Didn’t your government have the troops of your military’s Airborne Divisions cross into Japan and invade their entire territory early Friday morning?”
“Ah, so you’ve come because of that. I just received the report about that, also.”
“Is that really your answer now? Didn’t we agree at the time of our previous meeting to extend the time by a week?”
“It was really more of a one-way demand from the US than an agreement.”
“Minister Kim! Are you trying to play word games with me right now? My government is deadly serious.”
Smack!
As he finished speaking, Secretary Randy Johnson brought down his fist and hit the table.
“Calm down, Secretary Johnson. Aren’t you being quite rude? As for our government, the point of view of the US is altogether incomprehensible. Why does the US only side with Japan like this?”
“Don’t try to muddle the point. Right now, I’m asking about the reason your government broke its promise and attacked Japan.”
“That’s what I mean. I’m wondering why after war broke out between Corea and Japan, the US claimed it would observe from a neutral position, but once Japan’s defeat was in sight, your government changed its attitude and inserted itself in the middle of the war?”
“You keep trying to distract from the main subject, and after all, aren’t the US, Japan, and Corea all allies? This means that our three countries have to give up this war and solve this peacefully, for the security of Northeast Asia.”
“Corea is not allied with Japan. We are simply adversaries.”
“I see you’re continuing to try to play innocent. Since it would just become an argument to try to discuss this any further, I’ll just get to the point. Please, recall the members of the special forces units that have invaded Japan’s territory.”
Minister Kim Jae-hak then said something meaningful to Secretary Johnson, who had consistently displayed a high-minded attitude. “It seems as though Japan has caught one of the weak points of the US. That must be very embarrassing.”
“A weak point? You’re saying that Japan has caught one of the weak points of the US, the world’s superpower?”
“If that is true, then it will come out eventually, but in any case, our special forces brigades that have invaded Japan currently are not prolonging the war, but rather have been deployed as part of an operation to recover cultural properties that were seized by Japan in the past, so you needn’t be concerned.”
“Are you deploying tens of thousands of soldiers throughout Japan merely to collect a few cultural artifacts?”
“Yes, that’s the extent to which Japan continually extorted our precious cultural properties. Nearly 40,000 of them.”
“Well, about that. Was there really a need to so foolishly go back on your country’s promise like this for something that could be resolved peacefully?”
“Peacefully? Could we really peacefully recover these cultural properties from Japan, which seized them illegally, and has ignored multiple requests for their return? That is absurd.”
“Minister Kim! This is the final time I will ask you. Please, recall your special forces at once. The US Pacific Fleet is moving towards the peninsula as we speak.”
“Is that so? How would the US be able to know the sorrow of the people of Corea? Or will you understand it? Tell the military to send however many forces they want, whether they be the Pacific Fleet or even the Fleet Forces Command. The president will never step back with regards to the collection of cultural properties.”
“You will regret this, Minister Kim.”
“There’s no other choice, even if I will regret it.”
At the sight of Minister Kim spreading both his hands and saying this, Secretary Randy Johnson stood from his seat, as if he had decided that it would be no use to speak anymore.
“I fully understand what this means. Whatever happens after this between our two countries will be because of the government of Corea. Please remember that.”
After tossing out his final words, Secretary Johnson moved towards the door. Just then, Minister Kim Jae-hak also stood up and said something.
“Secretary Johnson! Please take this with you.”
Having walked close to the door, Secretary Johnson looked behind him as Minister Kim Jae-hak came close and handed him a single file.
“What is this?”
“Please take it and see for yourself. Though it seems the justification of Corea will be granted with just this alone.”
Secretary Johnson snatched the file and immediately exited the office. At this, Minister Kim Jae-hak put his hand to his forehead and quietly closed his eyes, as if he couldn’t get a measure of whether he was doing well or making a mistake right now.
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