Chapter 95

EP 16 - Minister of the Portrait Management Department, Han Seung-moon (1)

It was a very old house.

It wasn't small, but it wasn't a house that looked nice either. The red brick wall had been eroded by time, making it more fitting to describe it as dark red, and the cheap blue-green paint on the gate, which was half-peeled off, made a particularly grating sound of metal scraping.

“Should have oiled it a bit more......”

He opened the door and went in.

The lawn in the small yard was yellow and dead, and next to the old doghouse was a small mound of earth, presumably the remains of its owner.

Yang Pan-seok dismissed the guards on both sides with a small gesture and calmly entered the house.

“Hmm.”

Yang Pan-seok took a breath, but there was nothing alive inside the house.

Dust, mold, and rotten wood.

The common smell of a typical rural house.

Things that were once alive but had now stopped. Remains that couldn't be discarded, clutched in a death grip. Among the remnants left behind, Yang Pan-seok moved his steps to the center of the graveyard.

He himself was no exception, so he wasn't disgusted. This is politics, and life eventually stops, doesn't it, after all.

Thus, this withered old man grinned and looked around the house.

"Anyone home-?"

On one of the wooden walls, a frame containing what appeared to be a wedding photo was hanging. Since the upper half of the photo was torn, it was impossible to make any further guesses.

A small sound came from the second floor, so he headed there. The sound became clearer as he climbed the creaking stairs.

In the old, large TV, an anchor was reading from a script, and the back of a head sticking out from the sofa in front of it was clearly at an angle to watch the TV.

[Candidate Shin Su-gwang has withdrawn from the presidential race, forming a two-way race between Yang Pan-seok and Won Ok-bun. Experts predict Yang Pan-seok's victory, but the outcome is becoming increasingly uncertain...]

“What are you watching that’s so interesting?”

“Shouldn’t you greet me first if you’re here?”

“It’s been a while, senior.”

A backroom deal.

The moment when the election blooms its final flower.

* * *

Contrary to the perception that politicians live by their tongues, Won Ok-bun was a politician who couldn't speak well. It wasn't that her eloquence was lacking, but rather that half of her facial muscles were paralyzed due to surgery, making it difficult for her to speak.

Moreover, her pronunciation had always been a bit off, and as she entered her mid-70s, her speech became even more slurred. Her voice was hoarse and cracked. As a result, speaking became difficult, and she didn't even like hearing her own voice. Therefore, Won Ok-bun practiced in front of a mirror all night before speaking in public and tried to keep her words short in private.

Thus, she responded to Yang Pan-seok's greeting.

“Shit.”

“Hey......”

Yang Pan-seok, as usual, sat down opposite her without hesitation. The old sofa creaked.

“Why did it get so hot all of a sudden? It’s really acting like summer in April. What do you think, senior?”

“Shit.”

He untied his tie and took off his suit, draping it over the sofa.

“After all, we were in the same boat as judges and prosecutors. The training institute, the National Assembly, and everything. You were my senior, right?”

“Shit.”

“Come on, if you don’t want to be treated as a senior, just quit. What do you think?”

“Hey.”

There are two main ways to speak briefly. One is to omit honorifics, and the other is—

“Where did I make a mistake?”

—to get straight to the point.

The sudden question didn't faze Yang Pan-seok, who maintained his smile and answered without hesitation.

“You shouldn’t have let the National Intelligence Service (NIS) director commit suicide so easily.”

“Park Byung... was it him...”

“Proud people break at the first hit, you know?”

Immediately after Cha Jae-gyun's suicide, the overseas faction of the NIS, who had been involved in biological experiments, was purged. During this process, many people, including the NIS director and the head of the Counter-Terrorism Information Bureau, were forced to commit suicide.

Instead, Won Ok-bun appointed the domestic faction. She controlled the domestic faction to purge the overseas faction.

More precisely, she induced internal conflict within the NIS to control the agency in its state of chaos.

Divide and rule.

A strategy of inducing internal conflict among the subjugated to control them. It was a tactic typically used by invading countries to control colonies.

The British used this strategy to control India, and the Japanese cultural rule was also a form of divide and rule. Politicians who use regional sentiments to gain votes also fall into this category.

“Well, it’s a standard approach...”

In Korean politics, it’s called a divide-and-conquer strategy, a time-honored tactic. The unknown two-term legislator Yang Pan-seok used this method to split the Republican Party and set up Yu Jae-gwang as president, earning him the nickname "Kingmaker."

However,

“Ultimately, they’re just colleagues. People who risk their lives for work have a sense of camaraderie.”

The master of election strategies, Yang Pan-seok, grinned.

“Closed groups don’t respond to divide-and-conquer tactics. If you give them ammunition to fight internally, they’ll shoot it outside.”

“......”

Won Ok-bun tried to divide and rule the NIS, but ultimately, Yang Pan-seok successfully contacted the internal opposition forces, and the most crucial information flowed to him.

[Won Ok-bun failed to recover the nuclear weapons.]

And because Yang Pan-seok knew this information, Won Ok-bun couldn't attack him.

Killing him would have solved the problem, but she didn't particularly want to sit in this position.

Now that everything was over, she could only sigh.

“Tsk......”

“Why didn’t you act decisively?”

“I did, cough! ...but it didn’t work.”

“Tsk tsk...”

Yang Pan-seok sighed lightly. It was more of a monologue than a taunt. It was genuine, and the recipient took it as such.

The wins and losses in politics were not eternal, and both knew this.

One couldn’t casually mock a loser, or else they should cut off their means of survival completely.

Thus, Yang Pan-seok mocked her in a friendly manner, and Won Ok-bun just looked at him with a sullen expression.

They couldn’t read each other. Won Ok-bun didn’t understand the meaning of Yang Pan-seok’s smile, and Yang Pan-seok couldn’t read the cloudy look in her eyes.

So, they could only exchange light small talk.

“Hey, you’re just sitting here trying to get a nomination, aren’t you? Don’t you know what’s happening elsewhere?”

“This is my way.”

“Fighting with communists and show parties?”

“It’s not a show party...”

“Hey, you.”

Of course, it was small talk only by their standards.

“Giving a girl from the Baekdu bloodline and pretending to take the nuclear bombs.”

“It’s not pretending.”

“How many?”

“Four large ones, nineteen small ones.”

“What’s left on the other side?”

“Two large ones.”

“Two strategic nukes... is that enough?”

“Isn’t it enough to blow up Busan and Gwangju?”

“Just right for a final threat. Anyway, they can’t use them recklessly, so they’re just vulnerable to our air strikes, right?”

“It’s not a monopoly since we’re dealing with the Americans.”

“True.”

In exchange for stabilizing the North Korean regime, they received a large number of nuclear weapons and suppressed North Korea’s use of nuclear weapons. In return, they increased air support to the North, but shared the burden with the U.S. The U.S. originally didn’t want to, but Korea brought them in by mentioning China.

Furthermore, under a trilateral agreement, everything was packaged as a military victory for Korea and used for domestic propaganda.

The result was as follows:

North Korea, having lost all but two strategic nukes for their final threat, successfully stabilized their regime and attracted foreign aid—

The U.S. allowed Korea’s nuclear armament and, in exchange for supporting North Korea, used Korea’s political weaknesses to check China and Russia—

Korea cleanly obtained 23 nuclear bombs, handed over the troublesome Kim family remnants to North Korea, and successfully raised Won Ok-bun’s approval rating to 57% through propaganda. Won Ok-bun’s diplomatic skills could be said to have reached a pinnacle.

When the big deal was finalized, the chief of foreign affairs and security and the foreign minister raised their wine glasses, praising it as a perfect tightrope-walking diplomacy. It was indeed almost perfect.

If it hadn’t been exposed to Yang Pan-seok.

Yang Pan-seok pretended to stroke his chin thoughtfully.

“...Is Lee Chul-jin dead?”

“Only the defectors are left. The Kaesong rebels were sent back to the North.”

“Alive?”

“Did I tell them to walk to their execution site? I took everyone except Lee Chul-jin.”

“Hey, a guy who can teleport, you never know when he might get a knife in the neck, so did you at least let him walk?”

Won Ok-bun, after coughing twice into a tissue, managed to answer.

“There’s a guy among the soldiers who can nullify abilities. He’s stationed underground in Jirisan and is monitoring. He’s also being studied to learn the art of teleportation, and once the results are out, they’ll be used.”

“Is there a chance of escape?”

“Have you ever seen a plant walk?”

“True.”

Yang Pan-seok confirmed their mutual understanding in the matter of self-preservation.

Instead of sending all the Baekdu bloodline and Kaesong rebels back to the North, the North pretended to have lost all the nuclear bombs, and Lee Chul-jin was in a vegetative state, undergoing biological experiments on teleportation in the underground of Jirisan.

“Well, it’s roughly similar to what I heard. I’ll take your advice into account for the country.”

“Is the election over?”

“Do you plan to continue?”

Won Ok-bun smiled. Yang Pan-seok’s desire for power was truly laughable. No, it was amusing.

“I... couldn’t last even a year. Do you know how many people have died in that time?”

“......”

Yang Pan-seok had a strange expression and remained silent for a long time.

When Won Ok-bun, who had been watching him, finally spoke,

“Roughly...”

“Wait, wait.”

Yang Pan-seok waved his hand in annoyance.

“I’m counting.”

“...This guy, still holding onto his old habits from the protest days...”

“Just wait a moment! Let me see...”

“It’s a mess...”

Yang Pan-seok grinned and started counting on his fingers.

“Kaesong rebels executed, 3; monsters released in Hwanghae, 70. Rescue abandoned in Seoul, 32; in the Gyeonggi area, 56...”

“Are you counting them again?”

“You asked, so I’m doing it. Anyway, roughly 12 million people died during your term, 880,000 directly by you, 730,000 communists, totaling around 1.6 million, right?”

“Knowing that, do you still want to do it?”

“......”

The tone of the question was the same as before, but the weight was immeasurably heavy. Yang Pan-seok also began to ponder the meaning of this question.

The reason for power.

“Do you really want to do this dirty work?”

The price of 1.6 million lives.

The reason a man who had spent his life looking up to the top was half-disgusted with being president. It was not a light matter.

The defectors sent back to North Korea. The isolated citizens deemed impossible to rescue. The large-scale deaths caused by guiding the monsters north.

The bloody routine of deciding the fate of thousands with a single stamp after lunch.

Red politics.

“Getting dirty and getting blood on your hands feel different. Don’t you know that?”

“I have children. Children.”

Won Ok-bun mocked Yang Pan-seok’s answer.

For the sake of future generations?

“Taking drugs. Embezzling company money. Sleeping with other men’s children?”

“Oh, come on. I know my kids are all sorts of troublemakers. Why are you so interested in other people’s families?”

“To deal with them when the opportunity arises.”

“Scary...”

“Is there any value in that?”

The next generation merely repeats the mistakes of the previous one. Humans are not animals that learn from the past to understand the future, and Won Ok-bun could only mock this. However, Yang Pan-seok shook his head.

“Suddenly being called out like this is a shock. Anyway, I admit I failed as a parent. Heaven knows, earth knows, and the prosecution knows, but does the senior not know?”

“Yeah.”

“But even among the rotten ones, I still stand out.”

Won Ok-bun twisted her lips again.

“Are you talking about your granddaughter? How much did you cherish her?”

“Yeah. My little puppy. I have to make a world where I’m not ashamed to see her. How many people died? Isn’t it our responsibility to make a safe world?”

“You know she’s not your blood, right?”

“I know.”

“...!??”

For the first time, Won Ok-bun lost her composure. Her mouth even opened. If she had been drinking orange juice, it would have spilled.

Yang Pan-seok answered calmly.

“So what if she’s a child from an affair? She considers me her grandfather.”

“......”

“You, who have no children, wouldn’t understand.”

“......”

“Ah, right. Thinking about it, you’re a lonely old man, aren’t you? Should I send you a caretaker? My youngest son-in-law is a hospital director.”

“...Damn.”