Chapter 142

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Is the supply going well? No problems?”

“Yes. As soon as negotiations ended, Russia is sending natural gas as if they’d been waiting. It looks like we’ll be able to receive supply just like before.”

Chancellor Olaf finally felt relieved.

He worried what would happen if the negotiation process hit difficulties, but it seemed Russia was just as desperate.

“What about the Eastern European countries that were receiving natural gas from us?”

“We informed them in advance. After EU negotiations fell through and they were looking for natural gas elsewhere, they cancelled all contracts in progress and say they’ll trade with us again.”

Germany’s status was restored again.

Hadn’t they been serving as the natural gas hub, delivering resources to all of Eastern Europe?

Thanks to that, they could hold onto the economy that was about to collapse.

“Did Russia bring up the war during negotiations?”

“No. Since it’s a sensitive issue for both sides, it seemed like they tried not to bring it up. War is war. They clearly separated it, understanding that both sides need to fill what they need.”

Someone might ask.

Don’t you feel pangs of conscience?

You’re doing business with a country that started a war no less.

But Chancellor Olaf could put his hand on his heart and say confidently.

He didn’t feel a single grain of remorse.

This wasn’t something done for himself.

It was done for this country and its citizens who would suffer from this situation.

If natural gas supply is blocked and the economy collapses, who would take that responsibility?

They just joined hands with Russia again to prevent that catastrophe—there was nothing to be ashamed of.

“What should we do about… Ukraine support?”

“They’d know we’re trading with Russia again too, right?”

“Yes. By now there’s probably no country that doesn’t know.”

He said there was no pang of conscience, but it was true he was worried about appearances.

Because the money Germany and Eastern European countries spent on Russia would obviously turn into artillery shells attacking Ukraine.

“We’ll have to raise the support funds a bit. What can we do? We only made an unavoidable choice.”

“Yes. We’ll discuss the support ceiling further.”

That way, he could lighten the burden on his heart a little.

But perhaps he relaxed too much.

Not long after resuming trade with Russia, an absurd report came in.

“…Wh-what did you say?”

The report was so bewildering that Chancellor Olaf’s voice came out hoarse.

“The pipeline exploded!? You’re joking, right?”

“This is footage from the scene.”

In the video the secretary general showed, the sea was covered in bubbles rising up.

“Could this be…”

“It’s the Baltic Sea. All those bubbles rising are from gas.”

His vision became dizzy.

All the natural gas that should be coming to Germany was leaking into the sea.

“What on earth would make a pipeline explode? Was there some problem?”

“No. We actually did a thorough overall pipeline inspection recently, and received a report that there were no issues.”

“Then the guys who inspected did a half-assed job?”

“No. The pipeline has no problems.”

“What? Then why is this… wait.”

If the pipeline wasn’t the problem, only one reason remained.

“Sabotage?”

The secretary slowly nodded.

“Yes. Someone intentionally attacked and blew up the Nord Stream pipeline.”

“!?”

Chancellor Olaf slammed the desk hard.

“How dare someone do this!”

“If the pipeline connecting Russia and Eastern Europe is blown up, who benefits the most?”

Only one country came to mind.

“Don’t tell me Ukraine did this?”

“There’s nowhere else that would benefit from this besides Ukraine.”

“But would those bastards be crazy enough to do this? They want to make Germany their enemy?”

This was a clear attack.

And to do such a thing against Germany!

“The Ukrainian government is completely denying it. They’re saying it has nothing to do with them and blaming all this as Russia’s doing.”

“That’s ridiculous! Why would Russia do this? They were desperate to sell natural gas to us!”

“Yes. There’s no way Russia did this. But we only have circumstantial evidence that Ukraine did it—no clear proof. It happened in the middle of the sea. Especially, it appears they came in by boat to a less guarded area and caused the explosion.”

Fury was rising to the top of his head.

But what was even more infuriating was that he couldn’t blame Ukraine as the culprit.

It was an explosion that happened in the middle of the vast Baltic Sea.

It was impossible to catch who did such a thing, and even if caught, if they said they had no connection to the Ukrainian government, there was no way to hold them responsible.

“What about the support funds going to Ukraine? They haven’t gone yet?”

“No. We’re currently budgeting.”

“Cancel it all!”

“But Chancellor. It hasn’t been revealed that Ukraine is the culprit and there’s no evidence…”

“Anyone can see it’s their doing—what evidence is needed! Withdraw everything!”

The anger wouldn’t subside.

He felt like sending a tank division to Ukraine right now.

To be attacked by Ukraine of all countries.

How lightly did they look at Germany!

“This all happens because our military is weak. They see Germany as a sandbag.”

Due to the atrocities of past Nazis, Germany had self-imposed military reductions and lowered its military power.

But now that the country was weak, they were being used and even attacked by all sorts of people.

Should they keep living being pushed around like this?

Or should they change starting from now?

“I’m calling an emergency meeting right now, so summon everyone. And bring me the data on military budget.”

“Military budget…?”

“Yes.”

Somehow, this felt like a message from heaven.

Perhaps it was time to return to the powerful Germany that no one used to dare look down on?

————————————————————————————————————————

“Those guys finally caused an incident.”

Aiden’s already tired face became even more exhausted.

America was a place where every day was fierce with political fighting.

Yet amidst headaches from the sudden Russia-Ukraine war, Ukraine went and touched an allied nation.

“It’s definitely Ukraine’s doing, right?”

“Yes. Didn’t we obtain intelligence about the operation in advance? They really carried out the operation exactly as it showed.”

“Didn’t we clearly convey our position? That they absolutely must not attack the Nord Stream pipeline.”

“That’s right. President Zelenkis also opposed this operation and said he stopped all related matters.”

“Then why on earth did this happen?”

“We’re viewing it as Commander-in-Chief Valery acting independently.”

The country was in complete chaos.

It was good that Zelenkis personally stepped up to ignite fighting spirit, but internally it was still chaotic.

For the military commander-in-chief to ignore the president’s words and independently carry out a military operation—in another country, that would be execution.

“If the president didn’t authorize it, he wouldn’t have received any support?”

“According to information we received, Valery received personal support.”

“Not from the Ukrainian government but someone else supported Valery?”

“Yes. It seems he carried out this operation with that funding.”

He honestly understood Valery’s feelings.

Germany and Eastern Europe broke their promise of economic sanctions and joined hands with Russia again, receiving natural gas through the pipeline.

Knowing that money would all become funds to attack Ukraine, it was enough to make anyone see red.

But there’s always a line that must be kept no matter what.

Valery crossed a line that shouldn’t be crossed.

No matter what, how could he attack an allied nation providing support funds?

“What should we do?”

“What do you mean what? If we officially announce here that it was Ukraine’s doing? Then all of the EU becomes Ukraine’s enemy.”

If America certified that this incident was Ukraine’s doing, then the EU would lose its justification to help Ukraine, and America would also have to cut ties.

“Then Russia would smoothly consume Ukraine, and furthermore, China, whose movements have been unusual, might just attack Taiwan too.”

The reason America was cooperating with the EU to stop Russia was one.

Starting a war was a problem, but by occupying Ukraine, there was a very high possibility of giving China justification to attack Taiwan.

“Then we have no choice but to blame this on Russia.”

“Yes. We can only claim that Russia was dissatisfied with the EU supporting Ukraine and deliberately blew up the pipeline trying to use natural gas as a weapon.”

This incident must absolutely not be revealed as Ukraine’s doing.

No matter what, Russia had to be blamed as the culprit.

“They should have just focused on defense—why did they suddenly do such useless things? Don’t they know this will only hurt themselves?”

“Germany also apparently plans to significantly cut support funds, convinced it was Ukraine’s doing.”

“Is there no punishment for the commander-in-chief inside Ukraine?”

“Zelenkis has already personally stated that this incident has nothing to do with Ukraine. But if they punish the military commander-in-chief here, it would be the same as officially admitting it, so it seems like they’ll let it slide.”

“Zelenkis must be laughing inside right now.”

“Yes. It was an operation he also actively supported. He might have been waiting for someone to do it.”

Honestly, he somewhat looked down on him for being a comedian, but he was absolutely not that kind of person.

After all, wasn’t he someone who openly appeared on broadcast to declare his will to resist when Russia was invading?

You can’t do that without incredible courage.

“So in the end, everyone loses. No, wait. Natural gas prices will skyrocket from this, so right now the dealers must be ec…”

That’s when something flashed through Aiden’s mind.

“You said the commander-in-chief carried out the operation with personal support instead of from the government?”

“Yes. It wasn’t money from the government, but something done with personal sponsorship.”

“Do you know the source of that money?”

“We… can’t determine that. It was sponsored through Bitcoin, and it’s highly likely one of the Ukrainian oligarchs continuously supporting the government.”

When news of war broke, Ukrainian oligarchs fled the country at the speed of light.

But seeing their homeland hold out better than expected with the will to resist, perhaps feeling a bit guilty, they were donating funds to support the government.

This operation was also likely from their donations.

But who benefited most from this incident?

“Gwangwoon was about to sign a natural gas contract with the EU, but Eastern Europe suddenly changed their attitude and the contract fell through, didn’t it?”

“Ah, yes, that’s right.”

“And in that situation, someone sponsored Commander-in-Chief Valery with Bitcoin?”

“…That’s also correct.”

The situation was strangely coming together.

“I’m not the only one who finds this suspicious, right?”

————————————————————————————————————————

The pipeline explosion in the Baltic Sea was causing a huge shock worldwide.

Amid worries it might escalate to other areas, all stock markets were even shaking.

“They say 3 out of 4 total pipelines were destroyed. The remaining one had already stopped operating long ago, so in effect Eastern Europe can no longer receive natural gas through the pipeline.”

The news was talking about this incident all day.

Experts tried to somehow restore the damaged line, but the only conclusion was that restoration was impossible no matter what.

“Has it been revealed whose doing it is?”

“America is saying it’s Russia’s doing. But Russia says Ukraine and America conspired to deliberately blow up the pipeline. Right now, who the culprit is hasn’t been revealed.”

Europe also dispatched several teams saying they would thoroughly investigate this incident, but the problem was that even dispatching many people, finding the culprit was close to impossible.

It was something done by a small number of people in the middle of the sea.

They couldn’t know who the mastermind was, or who actually detonated the bomb, and they expected even determining the type of explosive would be difficult.

“Manager, who do you think did it?”

“I don’t know. I wonder if Ukraine would be crazy enough to do this. Maybe it was radical forces supporting Ukraine, not the government?”

America said one thing, Russia, Ukraine, and Europe all said different things.

That’s why people like us couldn’t possibly know who did such a crazy thing.

“War is scary indeed. To do such things without hesitation.”

“Yes. It’s terrible. This incident is expected to cause significant environmental damage to the Baltic too.”

“Then should we send donations to the environmental groups in the Baltic area?”

“That’s a good idea.”

Indeed, war is truly terrible.

Blowing up a perfectly fine pipeline to put countless countries in difficulty, and the environment was already in chaos—now this massive natural gas leak would cause even greater damage.

“But President. The EU contacted us again.”

“What?”

“About our natural gas. With trade with Russia completely cut off, Eastern Europe is apparently facing a major crisis. The natural gas they need to use immediately has run out. They need urgent supply, and currently we’re the only ones holding volume.”

Our Gwangwoon and various countries that were trying to sell natural gas to Eastern Europe after trade resumed with Russia had been taking losses.

But following my intuition, I had imported and stored even the natural gas other countries were holding.

In other words, the only one holding natural gas in large quantities right now is our Gwangwoon.

Moreover, we have storage near Europe, so we can quickly provide wide distribution through shipping anytime.

“With the pipeline in that state, natural gas prices are soaring significantly right now. Already 5 times higher than the original price.”

What we were originally trying to sell to the EU was triple.

But now the price changed.

“How much does the EU say they’ll buy for?”

“Triple, same as before.”

Then my intuition shook me lightly.

It felt like it was mocking them—you’re trying to haggle for just that price now?

“That won’t work, will it?”

“Right. It won’t work just out of spite. It was the EU who made a deal with us then stabbed us in the back. So I think we should set a higher price than now. Matching current market rate at 5 times, or up to 7 times.”

I nodded and wrote prices in my notebook.

But even as I kept writing prices, my intuition wasn’t triggering.

After raising it for a while—

“…”

My quiet intuition shook me at that amount.

But this price.

Is it okay?

“How about this much? Raising the price a bit.”

“Yes. Even with a moderately raised price, they’d have no choice but to accept our propo—*gasp*.”

The manager who confirmed the price I handed over gasped.

“P-President, you’re asking for 11 times?”

“A bit much?”

I smiled awkwardly.

I also thought I might be overcharging.

But if they stabbed us in the back first, shouldn’t they naturally compensate for it?