Chapter 91: The President’s Terminator
The commotion subsided overnight and the news broke that Yu Ji-ha had seized control of the Blue House and the government agencies.
Most people did not believe it.
They had seen his corpse on TV.
But as urgent reports flew in from dawn, Yu Ji-ha’s survival was confirmed as a fact.
Journalists hastily formed teams and headed to the Spring and Autumn Hall of the Blue House, where Yu Ji-ha stood as if nothing had happened.
“It’s been a while. I’ll hold a press conference right away, so get ready.”
And soon after, his image was broadcast live across the country.
People realized then.
He wasn’t dead.
They didn’t know how it happened, but one thing was certain.
The gang that had seized power and run amok for 45 days was finished.
Yu Ji-ha delivered a speech without a prompter.
“Citizens, how much hardship have you endured from the tyranny of the incompetent forces? You don’t have to worry anymore. From this moment on, I will take charge of the Republic of Korea.”
That day, there was probably more sighs of relief on the Korean Peninsula than ever since its founding.
His return to power meant tighter control, but everyone desperately wanted that.
For the past 45 days, Korea had been a hell of chaos, to say the least.
Someone had to take responsibility for this situation, and Yu Ji-ha was the only one who could.
He declared to the people in a confident tone.
“Korea has been stagnant for 45 days. No, it has regressed over and over. Crime rates soared, foreign countries ignored Korea, and there was a crisis of bankruptcy due to lack of funds.”
“But it will be different from now on. I have already arrested 261 masterminds of this incident and reactivated drones and artificial intelligence. It will take some time, but it will soon stabilize.”
“I have settled things with the Russian Pacific Fleet that entered the East Sea. We will maintain a good relationship with them from now on.”
As soon as his words ended, dozens of Russian warships retreated in a row.
The people who were listening to the broadcast raised their arms in unison.
In some apartment complexes, shouts like this were heard one after another.
“Long live President Yu Ji-ha!”
It was probably a joke, but it was clear that they welcomed him warmly.
Yu Ji-ha’s announcement continued.
“Regardless of what promises the masterminds made, I declare them all null and void. Korea will go back to 45 days ago. All plans that have been underway will be resumed.”
“The artificial intelligence surveillance system, including the citizen score system, will also be applied, of course. And I heard some surprising news. The Japanese Self-Defense Forces are on Dokdo. It’s fortunate that there were no casualties except for a few injured.”
From then on, Yu Ji-ha’s face hardened and his expression disappeared.
“They took advantage of my absence and occupied Dokdo. I want to praise them for their boldness. I won’t tell them to get out right away.”
But no one thought he would let it go.
He didn’t bother to warn them because he had already taken action.
He raised his voice at last.
“But Japan will pay for attacking and occupying Dokdo. That’s all for the press conference.”
As soon as the press conference ended, artificial intelligence Lucia activated and began to take over the internet network of the whole country.
When drones appeared on the streets again, people felt that Yu Ji-ha had returned for real.
Now the public’s attention was focused on two things.
The punishment of the masterminds of this incident and the countermeasure against Japan’s occupation of Dokdo.
The former was expected to be severe by everyone.
―At least some of the masterminds will be sentenced to death.
―They can’t kill them, so maybe they’ll lock them up without parole?
―Well, if it’s Yu Ji-ha, he might really kill them.
―He has to consider EU’s opinion too. Well, Yu Ji-ha doesn’t care about others’ opinions, but realistically he can’t ignore FTA…
The majority opinion was that it wouldn’t go as far as death penalty.
However, there was no clause about death penalty in the FTA agreement with EU.
And Yu Ji-ha didn’t need to care about EU’s opinion either.
As everyone’s attention was focused, a trial that skipped most of the procedures began.
A trial site opened on the government website and artificial intelligence judged one by one.
「Defendant: Han Seungjae, member of National Assembly」
「Charge: Conspired with masterminds to usurp power and manipulate state affairs」
「Verdict: Death」
Evidence was listed on the monitor and Han Seungjae, who was held by two androids, began to struggle.
“Let go! You’re the one who usurped power, Yu Ji-ha! Where’s the court? I want a fair trial!”
His vigorous resistance, which did not match his age, ended as soon as the androids shocked him with electricity.
Han Seungjae was dragged out limp and Colonel Jang Ik-hwan received the same verdict.
It took less than a day for the verdicts of 261 people to end.
The verdict was death for all.
The people who watched the broadcast were shocked.
―All death sentences, is this for real···
―They can’t really kill them, right? Even if Yu Ji-ha is ruthless···
―I saw Lee Hyungseok among the masterminds… He’s Yu Ji-ha’s uncle…
―He must have been very angry at his nephew for not changing the battery. Tsk tsk…
The judiciary was flustered and contacted Yu Ji-ha, but they only got scolded.
“Aren’t you accomplices too? You just watched them break into Silla Group without a search warrant and rummage around?”
“···I have nothing to say.”
The Minister of Justice had to bow his head in front of the young dictator.
Who knew he would come back.
The judiciary had always been a servant of power and had decided that it was better to focus on self-preservation than to be swept away by the recent turmoil.
They announced externally that they were neutral, but only fools would believe that.
As a result, the judiciary’s influence was shrinking.
It was fortunate that Yu Ji-ha didn’t try to abolish the judiciary as well.
No matter how much artificial intelligence and androids there were, they couldn’t replace that huge system right away.
“Anyway, this verdict will proceed as it is. Just know that and do the paperwork.”
“Mr. President, that will cause friction with EU…”
“What the hell is that friction? EU has FTA with Southeast Asian countries that maintain death penalty. And I’m seriously being called Hitler right now, but has trade with EU ever stopped?”
That’s excluding Shilla Group.
In fact, there had been a long-standing argument in the legal community that reviving death penalty would not cause much friction with EU.
Korea was classified as a de facto abolitionist country for death penalty because the politicians did not want to take the risk associated with it.
Why would they make trouble for themselves when they could just postpone it indefinitely and avoid responsibility?
Of course, they must have considered human rights and life ethics in their own way, but those were irrelevant words to Yu Ji-ha.
The Minister of Justice could not argue and backed off.
The judiciary’s influence had been shrinking ever since Yu Ji-ha took power.
It seemed that it wouldn’t be long before artificial intelligence made all the judgments.
Meanwhile, the international community tried to stop him when they heard that death sentences were handed down to all 261 people.
Normally, they would have hoped for a reduction of sentence, but this vicious dictator was not that kind of person.
―A trial without a prosecutor, a lawyer, a judge, or a procedure is invalid from the start.
―We hope that Korea will regain its reason and hold a formal trial.
―If they execute the death penalty until the end, they should be prepared to sever ties with us.
The country that criticized and confronted him most directly was France.
They were the happiest when Yu Ji-ha was reported dead.
They didn’t care who took power after him.
As long as Korea preserved freedom and human rights, that was enough for them.
They celebrated that justice had been achieved, even though the new regime was more stupid than they imagined and their disgrace was exposed.
Yu Ji-ha acted before their interference became concrete.
…
One day in November 2028, the executions of 261 people took place on Terra Island.
This happened before the resolution was passed at the UN General Assembly.
The ambassadors were confused and murmured, and the leaders of each country who received the notification cursed him as a real madman.
But there was no adviser who suggested severing ties with Korea or excluding Yu Ji-ha.
The projects that would be carried out with Yu Ji-ha were much more important than the lives of 261 people.
As soon as Yu Ji-ha appeared, the world’s stock markets stabilized and then began to rise sharply.
He was a necessary existence for the world in many ways.
The families of the executed masterminds cried and came out to the streets that evening. Yu Ji-ha received a call from Ozawa, the Japanese Prime Minister.
…
“I regret this, Mr. President.”
“Do you intend to say that it was another unilateral action by the Maritime Self-Defense Force?”
“I won’t make excuses this time. I will dismiss all ranks above Rear Admiral of the 3rd Fleet and…”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“···Pardon?”
“What will I get out of it?”
He thought of a land related to Dokdo and suddenly had a bad imagination.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to…”
“You’re thinking of the right place. There’s no other place that matches Dokdo’s symbolism.”
“If Korean troops enter there, it will be war! I won’t be able to stop it!”
“Didn’t you prepare for war when the 3rd Fleet attacked Dokdo? Can you tell me that you didn’t condone it?”
He would have stopped the fleet by any means if he hadn’t condoned it.
Korea was in chaos without Yu Ji-ha, so it was a good opportunity to sneak Dokdo and black metal into their hands. They didn’t mind watching that happen.
But that plan went completely wrong when Yu Ji-ha returned.
Ozawa Prime Minister felt puzzled.
What does he mean by getting it himself?
“Besides, Korean troops won’t go in there.”
“Huh?”
Then whose forces would he use?
The United States had promised to protect Terra Island for a year through an agreement.
The deadline was January 2029, which was not far away.
In fact, President McKinley wanted to keep observing Terra Island and had the intention to extend the security agreement.
But Yu Ji-ha had said before he died that there would be no extension.
He didn’t need to entrust the defense of the island to the US Navy anymore.
Currently, Terra Island had facilities for prisoners of war and prisons as well as facilities for a considerable population to reside in.
They were built by black metal, walkers, and workers brought from Russia.
The shipyard was also completed, but interestingly, it was located in a place where it was difficult to see from outside because it was dug into a cliff.
It was impossible to observe what kind of facility it was from artificial satellites.
The US Navy destroyer approached and was chased away by an unmanned surface vessel.
There was such a precedent.
In fact, this shipyard was where they built warships for the United Human Federation.
It was not fully unmanned, but the places where manpower was needed were occupied by androids, so it was practically an unmanned facility.
The ships they mainly built were unmanned surface vessels for defending Terra Island, but recently they started to produce 4,000-ton-class warships.
Earth Fleet Project.
A plan to make cheap and low-performance warships for use in the Earth’s seas.
This was from the perspective of Yu Ji-ha or Arma, and the actual performance was better than the railgun destroyers built in Korea.
They installed an ion thruster with no limiter and a nuclear fusion reactor from the old assault armors that were rolling around on Settler.
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As a result, they could fire two railguns at maximum range in rapid succession by extracting some of the thermal energy from the nuclear fusion reactor as electricity.
They could also operate iron beams simultaneously, so their effective performance was close to two Kim Gu ships.
If the United States had confirmed this spec, they would have seriously tried to occupy Terra Island.
It was not time to fight with the United States at this point, so Arma sealed off a large part of their combat power.
As a result, a warship with half the performance of Kim Gu ship was born.
Yu Ji-ha watched the launching of the first ship from the dock.
“Did you use Russian radar for this?”
“Yes. It’s cheap, but the performance is inferior to the American or Israeli ones.”
“It can’t be helped. They are behind in electronics.”
Korea and Russia had jointly developed a next-generation unmanned fighter, and a lot of Russian parts had entered Terra Island.
The Jastron radar was one of them, but it was just for decoration, so it didn’t matter much.
The actual combat would be based on the information from the graviton radar sent by Settler.
Settler’s graviton radar covered the entire Earth and could detect even the slightest gravitons, so there was no blind spot.
Soon, the second ship was launched and quickly sank below the surface.
Unlike the warships of this era, these ships could become submarines if needed and could also fly in the sky.
It was possible because they were unmanned and had ion thrusters with no output limiters.
However, their armament underwater was limited to supercavitating torpedoes, so they usually operated on the surface.
The last one to be launched was a large one that weighed nearly 10,000 tons.
“That’s a landing support ship.”
“It carries a large number of androids and drones. It also has missiles with ion thrusters.”
Unlike Earth’s missiles, which were divided into anti-ship missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, etc. according to their purpose, this missile solved everything with one.
It was because there was no limit to its range and propulsion.
The mission of the landing support ship was to land troops on land and occupy it after the warship destroyed the enemy fleet.
The troops consisted of androids without skin and drones.
They lacked anti-tank firepower, but it was not a big problem because the warship would provide landing support.
Three ships formed a small fleet and carried out operations.
This was the most basic configuration of the Earth Fleet.
In the future, this shipyard would produce more improved and powerful ships.
But these things were only part of the power before humanity advanced into space.
The real thing was the space station that would be built on various planets in the solar system.
Yu Ji-ha spoke to Arma as he watched the three warships submerge under water.
“Start the occupation as soon as the system check is over.”
“Yes. You want me to occupy Tsushima, right?”
“Yeah.”
Japan had swallowed Dokdo, so he had to take a big bite too, didn’t he?
The size was different, but he thought that it had to be that much to balance it out.
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