Chapter 326
October 2nd, 2023, 19:30
The South State, Seoul, Jongro-ku, the Blue House (the president’s office)
When President Choo Un-hee heard about the ACS report, it was late at night and past everyone’s working hours, but she concluded this was an emergency and called for a meeting with every leading government official related to the intelligence departments. The meeting started in the late afternoon but continued throughout the night.
“Madam president! How about we arrest all of them immediately based on the recordings we got?” National Security Director Kang Hyun-soo said with a dark look on his face.
“That’s right. This is treason, ma’am. The party’s chairman, senators, all of them must be put in jail.”
Director Kang Hyuck from the central investigative bureau, a conservative, spoke in a slightly rough tone and supported the national security director’s suggestion. After the unification, the Corean police was also changed to have local departments under the state governments. The central investigative bureau was founded to investigate illegal activities against federal law, collect intel by intelligence agencies, or conduct missions under the president’s orders. In short, it was a similar organization to the FBI.
“We are not the 1980s military government, arresting senators left and right,” Chief Secretary Lim Jong-won expressed his disagreement.
“I’m aware, but this is a matter of national emergency, is it not? If left unchecked, our nation could be in chaos after being unified for only three years.”
“That doesn’t mean we can arrest senators. The evidence we must provide was obtained illegally as well. That could come back to hurt us later.”
Chief Lim Jong-won’s realistic suggestions made the room fall completely silent. However, the silence did not last for long.
“I also agree with Chief Secretary Lim Jong-won. I think it would be wise to keep an eye on things first and plan out a response after,” Senior Secretary of Civil Affairs Jo Hyun supported the chief secretary.
“Oh great, Jesus!” When the Senior Secretary of Civil Affairs also expressed his disagreement, Director Kang Hyuck glanced at the ceiling and sighed.
“Director Kang! Everyone is giving suggestions so we can take care of the matter. Don’t be so devastated.”
“Ah, of course not, madam president!”
President Choo Un-hee, who had only been listening to everyone, calmed Director Kang Hyuck down and looked at Director Lee Young-jin from the NIS.
“Director Lee, what do you think we should do?”
“Madam president! I would like to also arrest them immediately, but that would be unrealistic. Therefore, I would like to expand our surveillance to gather more evidence and then move in to arrest them,” Director Lee Young-jin answered the president carefully.
“Yes. I also agree. I think it would be unwise to move in based on illegally obtained evidence. However, I would like everyone to work together to figure out when and how they will try to overturn the country so it can be stopped.”
“Yes, madam president. We will now start mobilizing all operable forces besides the ACS teams.”
“Yes. Please do. Oh, and one more thing.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I would like to let you know since you are here, Director Kang Hyuck. The ACS is also surveilling Deputy Director Kim Hyung-chul from the central investigative bureau.”
Director Kang Hyuck was shocked and asked the president, “Deputy Director Kim Hyung-chul is also involved, ma’am?”
“Not yet. However, everyone who visited Kim Jong-un has been put under 24-hour surveillance. Therefore, you must not share any information about the meeting today when you return to the bureau.”
“Hmm, I see. I understand, madam president.”
There was heavy opposition to the appointment of Kim Hyung-chul as the deputy director of the central investigative bureau due to his previous position of deputy director of North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau. However, his expertise in the field and the need to maintain a balance for hiring individuals from both nations resulted in the Blue House nominating him for the deputy director position.
“Yes. The central investigative bureau also has many agents from North Korea, so please be vigilant about confidentiality.”
Director Kang Hyuck nodded and answered President Choo Un-hee, “Yes, ma’am. Understood.”
* * *
October 2nd, 2023, 19:50 (Kurdistan Standard Time 13:50)
The Republic of Kurdistan, West Azerbaijan, Maku, 5km east of the Azerbaijan Park
The 311 armored vehicle started to kick up dust and move along the desolate pains while the SI-Q (Super eye Reconnaissance Drone) was flying 3km above them watching the area 5km in front of it.
Lieutenant Kim Un-gyu, the 311 armored vehicle’s commander and the platoon commander, was watching the footage being data-linked from the drone to his screen. Despite Staff Sergeant Ahn Kang-man’s concerns, there were no Iranian military forces or militia being detected by the drone.
After moving around the wide plains for an hour, the vehicle commander of the 312 armored vehicle alerted the lieutenant that they were now moving into the village of Honduras.
Lieutenant Kim Un-gyu from the 311 armored vehicle finished scouting the area 5km away from Bozark and alerted his men through the radio.
“We continue for another 10 minutes and rendezvous with the 312 vehicle at Honduras.”
That was when an explosion rang out across the Bozark skies.
“Ah! Damn it! Sir! I think Super Eye 1 has been shot down.”
Private First Class Kim Won-hun, the operator of the squad drone, attempted to control it with his console, but the display only cracked up and did not respond.
“What do you mean? How will the Iranians shoot down a target the size of our palm 3km above the surface?”
“Sir, I don’t understand either, but we are not getting anything back,” Private First Class Kim Won-hun answered sheepishly.
“Are you sure you didn’t fly too low over the city?”
“No, no, sir. The final altitude we got before the signal got cut was 2800.”
“Damn it, there goes our drone, then.”
The platoon commander glared at the private as if there were lasers coming out of his eyes, but soon, he made a face that said it couldn’t be helped and turned around.
Sergeant Kim Tae-un started to tease Private First Class Kim Won-hun while poking at his sides, “Hey! You’re going to go through the detention center at least. He he he.”
“Sir! You’re so mean. Is it fun making fun of your subordinates?”
That was when the platoon commander’s urgent voice rang across the vehicle. “Wha-! What the-? Are those drones?”
Dozens of drones were detected on the anti-air display. Twelve small objects that seem to be drones emerged from the skies above Bozark, and they started to fly towards the 311 armored vehicle at high speeds. Lieutenant Kim Un-gyu manipulated the console to confirm that drones were flying towards them. Each one was about 1m long and were equipped with two rounds of rockets each.
“We’re fucked. Corporal Oh! We’re heading back to Honduras village. Step on it! Everyone, hang on!” The lieutenant gave an order to the driver in an urgent tone, pulled out the anti-air weapon’s console folded below the main console, and grasped the handle.
When he saw one of the drones enter into the crosshairs of the tactical display, he pulled the trigger and hit the drone with a round of 40mm GTGAS-40 Black Dragon missile.
Vroooooooooooo~
The 311 armored vehicle made a sharp turn and kicked up a large dust cloud. Two minutes later, when they reached the Koamaku road, another drone had reached within a 500m vicinity of them, and the lower part of the drone sparked up. Then, two rockets started to fly towards the 311 armored vehicle, the white smoke outlining their trajectory.
“Ro, rockets!”
Woosh~ Woosh~
Boom! Boom!
Two black and red pillars of flame rose from both sides of the 311 armored vehicles when Lieutenant Kim Un-gyu screamed.
It was either the skilled driving of Corporal Oh Kang-ho, or the low performance of the rocket rounds from the drone, but the 311 armored vehicle luckily survived the blasts. However, the remaining drones launched their own rockets and they started to fly towards the 311 armored vehicle.
“Corporal Oh! Go into the S maneuver! Staff Sergeant Ahn, take down the drones with our cannon.”
The unexpected appearance of armed drones with rockets could have made him panic, but Lieutenant Kim Un-gyu calmly gave out more orders and pulled the trigger on his tactical console to fire another round of rockets.
The 4-round MLRS launch tubes on both sides of the turret fired the Black Dragon missiles at the skies, and they flew off towards the enemy drones.
The Black Dragon missiles and the rocket rounds all flew across each other and explosions that shook the sky and ground continued.
* * *
October 2nd, 2023, 20:00 (Iran Standard Time 15:00)
Iran, Tehran 3rd district, the Shariati streets
The NIS foreign intelligence department had detected the suspicious activities between Russia and Iran, and in order to collect information from the field, the organization had sent in eight agents to Iran a week ago.
The NIS agents disguised themselves as staff members from the Corean embassy and entered the country. After they arrived in Tehran, they infiltrated the areas where the Russian embassy staff were most active to collect intelligence.
As they were Asians, the agents would stick out easily from the crowd. Therefore, the agents wore traditional Arab clothing and a white turban so only their eyes could be seen and moved in groups of two.
The scorching heat was over 40 degrees Celsius, but the protective suit the agents were wearing underneath the traditional clothing made the heat bearable. However, the clothes that they were wearing for the first time and the turban restricted their movements.
At Shariati street, the main street within the city of Tehran, two men awkwardly dressed in traditional clothing were talking to each other at a street-side cafe.
It was Assistant Manager Lee Ja-sung and Chief Youn Ho-hyun from the foreign intelligence department. After their performance at Washington during the East Asian War, the two men went around the world and led missions successfully. Their excellent performance in the field got Lee Ja-sung promoted as manager of the foreign intelligence department. Lee Ja-sung’s first mission as manager was here in Tehran, Iran.
“Our 2 o’clock, the Caucasian man.”
Manager Lee Ja-sung glanced around him and picked out the Caucasian man sitting behind them from the 4 o’clock direction. The man had a thick beard and was reading the paper while drinking his coffee. Based on his appearance, he seemed like a normal businessman.
“I’ll go check, sir.”
Chief Youn Ho-hyun zoomed in on his face using his shield glasses to take a picture of the Caucasian man’s face. After he took the picture, he pulled out a tablet PC and manipulated the PC for a while. He then looked at Manager Lee Ja-sung and nodded.
“He seems to be the one, sir!”
Chief Youn Ho-hyun turned the tablet PC around to show Manager Lee Ja-sung and whispered to him. The tablet PC had detailed personal information about the man and it showed that the picture taken by Chief Youn Ho-hyun was a 100% match to the one in the database.
“We finally found him after 5 days!”
Manager Lee Ja-sung turned off the tablet PC and used the silent communication device to alert all agents near the field.
“This is diamond! Ruby, sapphire, emerald, rendezvous at the second block of Shariati street,” Manager Lee Ja-sung gave an order to his teammates and drank his coffee after smelling its aroma as if nothing happened.
The Caucasian man who did not notice and was enjoying his morning coffee was the director of the Russian SVR (Foreign Intelligence Agency) Middle Eastern branch, Ruslan Nigmatullin.
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