21st century Goguryeo - Chapter 543

Chapter 543: Season 2 Book 22 Battle of Life or Death – 2-1 The 2nd Round

January 23rd, 2024, 07:35
‘The Chiyoda Ward Central Hall’s Underground Bunker (the National Security Conference Room), Tokyo, Japan

An hour ago, Minister of Security Forces, Mike Takashi, arrived at the Central Hall underground bunker while grinning from ear to ear with the good news that the security service force and the special forces of the U.S. had succeeded in taking control of the Tokyo region. Currently, however, he was
sitting at the side of the underground bunker, which was filled with a gloomy atmosphere as if the sky had fallen, without being able to say anything.

This was because news that the industrial regions in the Shikoku region had been destroyed had been reported while he was moving to the Central Hall bunker from the situation room of the Central Headquarters bunker.
“W-what should we do? Japan is done for. It’s done for,” Minister of Welfare Labor, Konno Yasuyuki denounced, tapping the table.

“Speak, Minister Ishihara! Speak with your own mouth. What is the current state of the industrial regions?” Minister Konno Yasuyuki shouted, glaring at the Minister of Economy and Industry, Ishihara Shintaro with bloodshot eyes.
“Stop, stop, Minister Konno!”

“aren’t you being too rude here?”

Some of the ministers that voted for the ‘Declaration of Independence ‘ tried to stop him. But Minister Konno Yasuyuki, his anger reaching its peak, turned to them to point his finger and shout.

“You are all the same! You’ve ruined Japan.”

“Haha! What a sight. Is that the only way you can speak?”

Minister Ishihara Shintaro, who couldn’t stand it anymore, sprang up from his chair and flung his jacket off as if he was getting ready to fight.

“Yeah! Bring it on! You idiot!”

“Everyone, please stop. This isn’t the time. We need to plan countermeasures. Shouldn’t the ‘Declaration of Independence’ end as a success?”

Prime Minister Uchida, who had been sitting silently, opened his mouth when the National Security Conference Room of the underground bunker was on the verge of becoming a fighting arena.

“Prime Minister! How can we plan countermeasures in this situation?” asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kurosawa Kiyoshi. He was on the side of the Minister of Welfare Labor, Konno Yasuyuki.

“What do you mean? What countermeasures? We need to make Japan an autonomous country together with the U.S. and the direction of Japan in the future…”

<bang!></bang!>

The long table vibrated for a moment, then stopped, along with a dull thud. It was because Minister of Foreign Affairs Kurosawa Kiyoshi had hit the table hard with his fists. At this, the two ministers who had been grabbing each other’s collars and fighting, as well as Prime Minister Uchida and all the
other ministers, looked toward him.

“What countermeasure? Our economy has been destroyed. The Korean Air Force has been bombing our middle-sized companies’ factories indiscriminately. What countermeasures are you saying we can plan? All 120 million of our citizens are about to starve to death! Will we be magically able to provide
for them if we just become an autonomous country?”

Kurosawa Kiyoshi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, shouted loudly enough that his voice rang throughout the whole meeting room. He sprang up from his chair and said one more thing to Prime Minister Uchida.
“Tm resigning from the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs from this moment forward.”

“Ah! Minister Kurosawa! What can we do if you step down so irresponsibly? We need to keep our relationship with the US…”

“Find someone else.”

<slam!></slam!>

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kurosawa Kiyoshi, spoke one last word, as if he had no more regrets, and left the room, slamming the door hard behind him. At this, some of the ministers who had stood on the other side together with Minister Kurosawa and the Minister of Welfare Labor, Konno Yasuyuki,
followed suit.

At that point, the atmosphere in the National Security Conference Room became heavier. The ministers that were left also kept their mouths shut.
<‘Did I have to veto that then?’> Prime Minister Uchida, who was momentarily filled with regret, knew that regrets after the situation had passed, were futile. He shook his head and snapped out of it.
“Minister Mike Takashi!”

“Yes, Prime Minister!”

“Are you able to communicate in real-time with the commander of the U.S. special forces?”

“Yes, sir. We have a communication line open. We can communicate with them at any time.”

“Is that so? Then, please contact them now so that we can know the status of the landing operation before the Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs arrives.”

“Yes, Prime Minister!”

Regardless of what was happening, they had to try their best to protect the industrial regions that held Japan’s economy up from the U.S. forces that were to land.

keK

January 23rd, 2024, 07:40

‘The B2 Bunker (the Digital Information Center of the Intelligence Headquarters of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Namju

About 30 minutes ago, after the X-119P had been successfully mounted on the second satellite of the Hubble Telescope, Namgoong-won and other members of the Digital Information Center had moved busily. In addition, the specialists of the Aerospace Force Information Command, who had been in
charge of the data extraction project, along with the satellite researchers of the Olympus base, totaling up to 100 researchers, were working hard to connect to the second satellite of the Hubble Telescope.

Easily put, since they had succeeded in attaching the backdoor software equipment to the second satellite of the Hubble Telescope. The only thing that was left to do now was to connect to it. However, this wasn’t an easy task.
Because the attaching of the equipment had happened through the outer shell and connected with an unknown electronic board and not the main electronic board of the second satellite, there wasn’t a 100 percent chance that they would succeed.

If the operation that they were working on were to succeed, and if technology moved a step further in the future, then the Republic of Korea would be able to develop this into a fearsome military technology that could take any satellite in the world and control it or get rid of it by breaking the system, not
to mention steal the satellite’s data.

“It’s not easy.”
Colonel Lee Yeon-jae, who was the head of the project and the one to bring up the idea of data extraction, moved the remote control lever this way and that, shaking his head.

It seemed that the part that the X-119P was attached to the second satellite wasn’t stuck together with the internal electronic board.

Because it was possible to break the sensitive electronic board with movements from the control load pack, which was shaped like an endoscope, it required cautious control.

Looking at the video provided by the tiny camera, they looked around the inside of the satellite, looking for the electronic board that had the main CPU attached.

After a bit of time had passed, one of the researchers from the Olympus base who had been monitoring pointed at the monitor and shouted, “I-It’s that! The part that’s lit up with blue LED light. If we attach to that, we’ll be able to connect to the internal network.”
At the researcher’s hurried explanation, Colonel Lee Yeon-jae moved the control lever carefully, moving the control load pack.

Everyone in the Digital Information Center watched, holding their breath. Soon after, the edge of the control load pack touched the part that the researcher had pointed to, and a strange transparent substance trickled out. The substance hardened, and the control load pack was successfully fastened to the
part.

“Phew!” Colonel Lee Yeon-jae sighed in relief as he took his hands off the control lever.

“Thank you for your work, Colonel Lee!”

While there were encouraging words going about everywhere, Namgoong-won stretched his hands forward. Now, it was time for Namgoong-won to do his job.

‘The sound of the keyboard keys rang out. About 10 members of the Digital Information Center also went through the same connecting attempt that Namgoong-won was working on.

keK

January 23rd, 2024, 07:40

‘The B2 Bunker (the Operations Meeting room of the Headquarters of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Namju

The situation room of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had gotten a report from the combined fleet that they had retreated to reload. The results of the battle seemed slightly disappointing compared to what they had expected.

However, the combined fleet’s main mission was to keep the Pacific Fleet from landing until the bombing of Japan’s industrial regions had been finished, so if they were to look at the current situation, they were doing their job well enough.

But some hard-liner commanders had hoped, since the fight had already started, to crush the cheeky U.S., so the atmosphere in the situation room was a bit tense.

“It couldn’t be helped since they ran out of missiles. But, once we’re done reloading, shouldn’t we attack them without hesitation once again?” said one of the hard-liners, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Youn Gi-youn, balling his hands into fists.
“Yes, that’s right. We need to make the Pacific Fleet unable to come back with this chance so that they won’t act only based on what they want for 10 years into the future in the Pacific Ocean.” Army Chief of Staff Lee Eun-hyung added to Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Youn Gi-youn’s opinion.

“We’re currently still at war with Russia, so there isn’t anything to gain from an all-out war with the Pacific Fleet. I believe we should, following the plans established before, stop the landing and pull out of Japan completely.” Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Kim Yong-hyun, one of the moderates
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave an opposing opinion.

“Talso believe the same as Vice Chairman Kim,” added Chief of Space Operations Choi Jin-guk to the opposing side.

Suddenly, there was a lot of tension in the operation meeting room. But even though the chiefs of each part of the military had rights to state affairs, they didn’t have the right to order forces. In other words, their opinions were something to refer to, but they weren’t able to directly affect what orders
would be given to the forces.

“We’ll decide that after we look at the Pacific Fleet’s movements when we’re done reloading!”

In an attempt to lighten the mood of the meeting, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Shin Sung-yong intervened. Each of the chiefs of each part of the military accepted this decision and nodded.
keK

January 23rd, 2024, 07:45

Underwater (the battle information center of the Columbia (SSBN-901), 99 kilometers from the east end of Katsuura, Chiba prefecture, Japan

The captain of the Columbia (SSBN-901), Captain Emerson Hyndman’s gaze wavered. He had gotten a security telegram from the vice-captain.

The contents of the security telegram were as follows: It was a simple order to rise and attack the combined fleet as soon as the telegram was received. In addition to this, it was learned that the two Chungmugong Lee Sun-shin-class cruisers, which were the trickiest to face, had broken out of the
formation and that their anti-submarine defenses were low because of this.

Captain Emerson Hyndman read the contents of the security telegram quickly. He folded it and handed it back to the vice-captain, giving him orders, “Maintain the silent submerge and rise to 800 feet!”
At the simple order, the vice-captain replied with a nod instead of repeating the orders back and personally relayed the orders after walking to the pilothouse.

The Columbia-class nuclear submarine had three times as much submergence capability with its four-layered wall system and with its maximum safe diving depth of 2,000 meters. Three of these Columbia-class nuclear submarines were silently moving along the Mariana Trench to the north of the
Chichi-jima island at the maximum depth of destruction, 3,000 meters underwater, a week ago.

The crew were in a state of fear from the extreme environment of the outer wall being crushed, as well as the silent submerge. Even though the crew were experienced in life on the submarine, they were trembling from the fear and anxiety that they had never experienced before. When the submarine
slowly rose from the sea, the color in their faces returned.

Meanwhile, the remaining two Columbia-class nuclear submarines, the Henrique (SSBN-902) and the William Penn (SSBN-903) began rising underwater with the Columbia (SSBN-901). It seemed that they too had gotten a security telegram from Admiral Rubin Scott.

On the Columbia-class nuclear submarine’s upper VSL (vertical launching system), which was as big as 200 meters, there were not only strategic-level nuclear missiles, but also 20 super-cavitation Heavy Weight Torpedoes loaded on it..