Chapter 374: The Beginning of the War (1)

“

Keuk

!”

“

Cough

!”

Kang Chan, the two security guards who had gotten tangled up with him, and the security guards who had pointed their pistols at him struggled on the floor, their pain evident in their expressions.

Hiiiiisssss!

Jeon Dae-Geuk, whose face was now red, pulled Moon Jae-Hyun away. Kang Chan moved with them, firmly covering Moon Jae-Hyun’s mouth and nose. Soon, they got out of the reception room.

“The stairs! Go!” Kang Chan yelled through held breaths.

He felt so much discomfort in his chest and throat that they seemed about to explode. His head burned as well.

Hiiiiissss! Bam! Bam!

Once Moon Jae-Hyun had gone down the stairs, Kang Chan removed his hand from Moon Jae-Hyun’s face.

“

Haa

!”

The three breathed heavily.

“

Huff

!

Huff

!”

Kang Chan had been covering Moon Jae-Hyun’s mouth and nose so firmly that he had left a clear imprint on his face.

“Bring him downstairs!” Kang Chan shouted.

Nobody had time to question Kang Chan speaking informally to them. Following his order, Jeon Dae-Geuk ran down the stairs with Moon Jae-Hyun on his back.

After taking a deep breath, Kang Chan ran back into the reception room, finding the security guards, attendants, and interpreters shaking in pain on the floor.

“

Ugh

!”

“

Urgh

!”

Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

Muritaka’s cigarette had fallen to the floor, but it continued to burn. Hence, Kang Chan ran toward it, picked up a cup of tea on the table, and poured it on the cigarette.

Chkkk.

He then dragged away the agent closest to the entrance by the shoulders.

Kang Chan was already running out of breath, and he felt as if his eyes were about to explode. Still, he couldn’t stop. he hoped to save everyone in the room—or even just one more life.

“Ugh.’

By the time Kang Chan pulled the second agent outside, the agent’s eyes had already rolled into the back of his head.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t really much he could do to save the others since they were further inside the room. With his lungs seemingly being torn apart, he was left with no other choice but to stay outside.

‘I’m sorry! I’ll make sure to get revenge for this!’

Bang!

Kang Chan closed the large door of the reception room. He then ran toward the stairs again, finding Kim Hyung-Jung and a few agents running up.

“Go back!” he yelled. Still holding his breath, his face was now red, and his eyes glinted with spite.

Swish! Swoosh!

He took off his jacket and shirt as if he was ripping it off his body, then threw it toward the reception room.

“I said go back!” Kang Chan shouted.

Upon seeing Kang Chan taking off his pants, Kim Hyung-Jung and the agents immediately went down the stairs.

Only when Kang Chan had taken off his pants did he go down the stairs.

“

Haa

!

Huff huff

!

Huff huff

!”

Kim Hyung-Jung took off his jacket and wrapped it around Kang Chan’s waist. From outside the building, they heard ambulance sirens and agents’ vehicles quickly leaving.

Weeeooo. Weeeooo. Weeeooo. Weeeooo.

Go Gun-Woo couldn’t hide his surprise. Fortunately, he chose to trust Kang Chan.

He believed that no matter the circumstances, they had to prioritize keeping Moon Jae-Hyun safe. Hence, he believed in Kang Chan’s capabilities, which Kang Chan had shown everyone at the presentation hall for the Eurasian Rail.

Nevertheless, he never imagined that something like this would happen. If Kang Chan hadn’t been around to intervene, this incident would have thrown South Korea into chaos. Moreover, they would’ve found it difficult to know what was going to happen next.

Kang Chan still had wounds on his face, and his body was riddled with bruises, stitches, and old scars.

‘It doesn’t matter to him if he returns home with wounds like those. He never hesitates to go on an operation to prove South Korea’s strength!’

Go Gun-Woo thought.

Go Gun-Woo felt ashamed. While he was going around yelling that he would make South Korea more powerful, soldiers returned from faraway battlefields covered in injuries or body bags.

He couldn’t believe that he had been such an idiot. Even though Kang Chan had just gone back home from the frontlines with wounds all over and the death of his men weighing heavily on his heart, Go Gun-Woo still found the gall to suggest gathering evidence.

For the first time in his life, he felt a surge of hostility toward their enemies. He remembered Kang Chan saying that they were at war and that the law should only be enforced according to evidence when their citizens were the ones being questioned.

A security guard brought over a shirt and a suit for Kang Chan. They seemed to have prepared extra clothes for emergencies like this.

Kang Chan wordlessly put them on. Once he had buttoned up his shirt, Go Gun-Woo walked up to him.

“What happened?” Go Gun-Woo asked.

“Right as I entered the reception room, I heard the end of President Muritaka’s cigarettes crackling. When I saw his nose, mouth, and the pain in his expression, I judged that it was poisoned.”

Dumbfounded, Go Gun-Woo failed to respond immediately. Kang Chan gathered all that just by looking at President Muritaka and his cigarette?

Agents in hazmat suits rushed into the building through the entrance while the security guards quickly secured the surrounding areas.

Go Gun-Woo informed Kang Chan that he had issued an anti-terrorism emergency decree and that Jeon Dae-Geuk had gone to the hospital with Moon Jae-Hyun.

After reporting to Go Gun-Woo, the agents received an order from Kim Hyung-Jung to clean up the area.

Thanks to Go Gun-Woo’s anti-terrorism emergency decree and his initiative to quickly set up a command structure, the terrorist attack in the Blue House was quickly contained. He had done everything at such a perfect time that it seemed as if God had played a part in it.

After a brief lull, one of the agents assigned to the President’s security detail approached Go Gun-Woo.

“We’ve determined that President Muritaka’s cigarettes are poisoned. I’ll report back as soon as we have definite results from the analysis, but we think they had potassium cyanide capsules in them.”

“What about our casualties?” Go Gun-Woo asked.

“We lost sixteen men, including the interpreters, the attendants, and the bodyguards.”

“Have you heard from the President?”

“Not yet, no.”

After giving his report, the agent returned to his post.

Go Gun-Woo stared at the stairs that led to the reception room. Soon, the Chief of Staff walked over to him.

“We’ve just been informed that the President is fine. He’ll be discharged as soon as they get results from a thorough medical checkup.”

Go Gun-Woo heaved a loud sigh of relief. “

Phew

!”

“The President wants to see you and the assistant director, Director,” the Chief of Staff added.

“We’ll head over right away. I’ll leave the scene to you,” Kim Hyung-Jung said.

“Yes, sir.”

Go Gun-Woo walked away. Kang Chan and Kim Hyung-Jung followed him.

***

Thanks to the police escorting them, it didn’t take them long to reach the National Police Hospital.

Armed soldiers from the 35th brigade had been positioned near the hospital, tightly guarding its vicinity.

Some of the agents who had been guarding the entrance guided Go Gun-Woo, Kang Chan, and Kim Hyung-Jung to the seventh floor.

Rattle.

Once they opened the door and entered the suite reserved for VIP patients, they immediately saw Jeon Dae-Geuk and more than fifteen bodyguards.

The room was quite spacious. It even had an enclosed space, where Moon Jae-Hyun was sitting in his bed with his upper body raised. An IV had been attached to his arm.

“What happened to the attendants and agents in the reception room?” Moon Jae-Hyun swiftly asked.

“We’ve received a report that a total of sixteen people have been killed. Among them were the agents and attendants.”

Moon Jae-Hyun groaned through gritted teeth. Kang Chan had seen his eyes full of determination a few times, but this was Kang Chan’s first time seeing him look so angry.

“If I hadn’t quit smoking, then...” Moon Jae-Hyun looked down and shook his head.

If he had taken the cigarette that Muritaka offered him and lit it up, he would’ve died as well.

A heavy and sharp silence filled the room. After a while, Moon Jae-Hyun broke it.

“How did you know that the cigarettes were poisoned, Assistant Director?”

Kang Chan reiterated what he had told Go Gun-Woo—that he figured it out by looking at Muritaka’s face.

They were all aware of Kang Chan’s capabilities. Hence, although it was so unbelievable that they were rendered speechless, they had no choice but to accept his explanation.

“How should we take care of this situation? This incident is grave enough for us to be in an international conflict with Malawi,” Moon Jae-Hyun asked no one in particular.

Kang Chan was the first to speak. “The President looked like he didn’t know that his cigarette contained poison.”

He even noticed that in that short moment? Does this make sense?

Nevertheless, again, they felt inclined to believe him. After all, he did figure out what was wrong just by seeing Muritaka’s expression and the cigarette spattering.

Kang Chan continued, “Someone killed the President of Malawi in hopes of killing you as well, Mr. President. Taking that into consideration, anti-government forces are likely waiting in Malawi right now.”

“Even if we insist on that explanation, we will have to take full responsibility for this situation. If things go wrong, this can cause a misunderstanding and make people think that we’re blaming the President of Malawi for our failure to provide adequate security.”

This had never happened before. Still, they needed to sort out this incident.

Moon Jae-Hyun and Go Gun-Woo were definitely flustered. They didn’t even know how they should officially announce the incident and take care of the aftermath.

“How about we ask the UN to investigate this incident?” Kang Chan suggested.

“The UN?”

“Yes. They should be able to contact the United States, Russia, the UK, France, and China. Fairness won’t be a problem if the UN itself announces the results of the investigation. We should also send the Jeungpyeong special forces team to Malawi as a peacekeeping force and have them find the culprit.”

Moon Jae-Hyun looked at Kang Chan as if he was asking for more explanation.

“We’ll have to find and protect the President of Malawi’s successor until he assumes the position. However, if he’s connected with the anti-government forces, then...” Kang Chan trailed off.

Noticing Moon Jae-Hyun nervously waiting for him to continue, he finally added, “We’ll have to kill him and choose someone we’ll benefit from to succeed President Muritaka instead.”

Moon Jae-Hyun exhaled softly, finding Kang Chan’s proposition shocking.

“If we do that, then we’ll be interfering in the domestic affairs of another country,” he replied.

“Someone has just used cigarettes in an attempt to kill you and the President of Malawi, Mr. President. We need to find the culprit and kill them. We need to show people that those who attack South Korea will never be forgiven.”

Moon Jae-Hyun nodded unknowingly.

“In Africa, hesitating even when we have the power to act means death. We need to at least instill the belief that Africa’s administrations won’t need to worry about anything once they start depending on us,” Kang Chan added. “That way, the countries that follow us will know that we have the power to take action, which in turn will prevent them from being swayed in the future. If those countries are ever in danger, they’ll ask us for help before they ask anyone else.”

“Like what people do with France, huh?”

“Yes, sir.”

Kang Chan could confidently answer because he was well aware of how powerful France’s control was over the African countries.

“Won’t the Jeungpyeong special forces team have trouble figuring out the local situation in Africa?” Moon Jae-Hyun asked.

“Do you remember Gérard de Mermier, the commander of the Foreign Legion’s special forces?”

Looking straight into Kang Chan’s eyes, Moon Jae-Hyun nodded.

“We can send him to Malawi. Gérard and the Jeungpyeong special forces team should be able to completely dominate the country. If needed, I’ll have France’s Foreign Legion stand by in a neighboring country as well.”

Moon Jae-Hyun nodded again. “I keep having to ask you to do difficult things for us. For now, let’s wait how the five countries you just mentioned respond before we decide if we should send the Jeungpyeong special forces team. Right! Director, you wanted to see me?”

Although only a short moment had passed, Moon Jae-Hyun finally looked like he was somewhat back to normal.

“Mr. President.” Go Gun-Woo paused to look at Kang Chan. He then continued, “We believe that South Korea is currently at war with terrorists. To that end, I’d like to ask for your permission to kill Alman Bin Jibril, whom we presume to have played a major role in the terrorist attacks on the International Building, Director Hwang, and Director Song. We also suspect that he’s one of the people that assembled the UIS in Afghanistan.”

Moon Jae-Hyun was naturally surprised. Kang Chan and Kim Hyung-Jung exchanged surprised glances as well—but for a different reason.

“Did we find evidence that he played a major role?” Moon Jae-Hyun asked.

“Judging crime with evidence only applies to our citizens. We believe that wasting time looking for evidence to kill our enemies’ leader while we’re in the middle of combat is exactly what leads to dangerous situations like the incident today.”

Once again, Moon Jae-Hyun looked at Go Gun-Woo as if he was dumbfounded.

“That sounds like the Assistant Director’s opinion, no?” he asked.

“You’re right. It

is

his opinion.”

“Does that mean you agree with him? Even if you’ll be the one facing the consequences if we fail?”

“Yes, sir.”

Moon Jae-Hyun nodded, then looked away from Go Gun-Woo. “Do you have anything to add, Section Chief?”

“When the President of the United States visited us last time, I found the requests of their security service disrespectful. However, I learned a lot today. I’ll do my best to prevent something like this from ever happening again.”

Moon Jae-Hyun briefly nodded. He then looked Kang Chan in the eyes. “Assistant Director.”

“Mr. President.”

“Are you certain that you’re proposing this for South Korea’s sake, not to take revenge?”

“Yes, sir,” Kang Chan answered swiftly.

“I know that it has only been three days since you returned from Afghanistan, which makes this even more difficult for you to do. But for South Korea and our dream to make it stronger, I’m going to ask you to...”

A heavy and sharp nervousness brushed past the table.

“I’m going to ask you to make sure that the UN does a fair investigation into today’s incident. Please have the UN send a peacekeeping force to Malawi with our special forces team as its key member, too. Have them protect Malawi’s administration and kill our enemies’ leadership,” Moon Jae-Hyun firmly requested.

“Yes, sir,” Kang Chan answered with determination.

“Hearing the director say that we’re currently at war made me realize a lot of things. After you’ve discussed the fine details with him, you have my permission to proceed with this plan. As the President of South Korea, I hereby approve this National Intelligence Service operation.”

Moon Jae-Hyun giving his permission—with an unprecedentedly determined expression—completed the due process.

“I’m truly grateful for what you did for me today. Personally, you saved me. For South Korea, you saved its President. I will never forget this for as long as I live,” he said.

Kang Chan simply bowed instead of answering.

***

Approximately ten minutes later, Go Gun-Woo, Kang Chan, and Kim Hyung-Jung left the room.

“How about you have coffee with us before you leave, Director?” Kang Chan suggested.

Go Gun-Woo smiled strangely at Kang Chan, who had clearly noticed that Go Gun-Woo was starting to feel exhausted as he finally got to relax.

Now that he had confirmed that Moon Jae-Hyun was safe, he could afford to spend about ten minutes having coffee with Kang Chan.

“Well, I suggested coffee, but I’m not really sure if there’s anywhere we can go to for that,” Kang Chan said.

“You can use your position at times like this, you know,” Go Gun-Woo commented.

Heeding his suggestion, Kang Chan called over the agent closest to them.

“I need a place where the director and I can have coffee and talk in private,” he said.

“This way, please.”

Following the agent, Go Gun-Woo smiled meaningfully again. It was strange—nowadays, he kept finding himself forgetting about Kang Chan’s age.

There were even times when Kang Chan seemed like a veteran with a lot of experience on the battlefield. However, during moments like this, Go Gun-Woo always felt as if he was looking at someone who lived in a completely different world.

They walked past the elevator and reached a room that looked like a waiting room or a lounge for the agents.

“We only have instant coffee here,” the agent said.

“It’s fine. Please make three cups for us. Put two packets in each one,” Kang Chan responded.

“Yes, sir.” The agent bowed and then went outside.

“You’ll feel a bit better once you’ve drank something sweet,” Kang Chan said.

Go Gun-Woo nodded in response. His hair, which had always been tidy, was now disheveled. He was clearly exhausted.

“I was only an administrator until recently, so incidents like today still catch me off guard and make me nervous. I just never know what to do or how to respond,” Go Gun-Woo said.

Rattle.

The door opened, and an agent brought over three mugs on a tray.

“Thanks,” Kang Chan said.

“Not at all, sir.”

These agents guarded the President. Perhaps it was because Kang Chan saved Moon Jae-Hyun today, but they were especially polite to him.

“Please drink it while it’s still hot, sir,” Kang Chan suggested.

“Alright. You have a mug too, Manager Kim,” Go Gun-Woo said.

“Yes, sir.”

The three sipped their hot instant coffee.

“I didn’t expect you to immediately issue an anti-terrorism emergency decree at the Blue House, Director,” Kang Chan said afterward.

“I trusted the look in your eyes. I also believed in the capabilities that you’ve shown us time and time again.”

As the three thought about different matters, a brief silence fell upon the lounge.

“Director,” Kang Chan called. “I made a promise to the agents and the attendants that were killed today.”

Go Gun-Woo turned to him with a heavy expression.

“Today, we begin waging war against the enemy who dared target the President,” Kang Chan declared.

Go Gun-Woo looked up from the mug in his hands. “Assistant Director.”

“Sir.”

“I know it’ll be strenuous and difficult, but I ask that you take command of this war. In your hands, I’m sure South Korea will emerge victorious.”

Judging by the look in his eyes, Go Gun-Woo seemed to have perked up again.

“If the God of Blackfield himself leads our men to battle, this war is as good as ours,” Go Gun-Woo added.

Kang Chan never imagined this man to say something so embarrassing. Nevertheless, Go Gun-Woo remained stoic before Kim Hyung-Jung, who was looking back at him.