Chapter 175

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Ugh!”

Ah. It was a dream.

Eileen let out a sigh of relief.

She looked around at the unfamiliar scenery.

This was a hospital.

“Are you awake?”

“Wh-why am I here…?”

“You collapsed suddenly while receiving reports coming in from Turkey. So we rushed you to the hospital.”

Only then did she recall what happened yesterday.

“How did things go… in Turkey? Is there really no survivor?”

At her trembling voice, the secretary quietly nodded.

“No. There isn’t. An explosion occurred inside the building as the earthquake struck, and everyone died.”

“Explosion?”

“Yes. We’ll need to investigate whether the explosion was caused by the earthquake or if someone deliberately set off explosions taking advantage of the earthquake. But even without the explosion, everyone would have died buried under debris anyway…”

Did they deliberately set off explosions to make sure all evidence was destroyed?

This confirmed it.

Gwangwoon knew this earthquake was going to happen.

No. It’s clear that they caused the earthquake.

“What about the other people?”

“They’ve all left.”

“Le-left?”

“Yes. After hearing the news, most disappeared without a trace. Now there’s no one left in Congress who shares the Director’s will to check Gwangwoon. Even the few people on the Republican side who cooperated with us have all fled to other countries.”

In other words, Eileen was now alone.

“…”

But she couldn’t blame them.

If Eileen hadn’t fainted, she would have made the same choice.

“On top of that, Gwangwoon is distributing compensation to everyone who died in this earthquake. Even to our side.”

“Everyone?”

“Yes. And they sent this to you, Director.”

It was a message from Gwangwoon to Eileen of all things.

“They’re asking to reschedule.”

“Re-reschedule?”

“Yes. Since this natural disaster prevented proper investigation in Turkey, they say if you set a new date and let them know, they’ll fully cooperate then.”

“…!”

What could it mean to ask her to reschedule?

The moment she sets a date, they’ll do the exact same thing as now.

This was a threatening message saying they would kill everyone without leaving a single survivor.

“Ah…”

“D-Director!”

The sentences looked polite on the surface, but the hidden meaning was terrifying. Eileen’s eyes rolled back and she collapsed again.

***

“A-are you serious?”

“Yes, I’ve made up my mind.”

“B-but…”

John Hamilton was flustered by Aiden’s sudden declaration.

The person who despised Gwangwoon so much now saying he would join with Gwangwoon.

What did this mean?

“I know too. That my political life ends here. If I hadn’t opposed Gwangwoon, the current administration would have run smoothly, and I too would have maintained my presidential life well. But as you know, the Democratic era is over. And that’s the price for defying Gwangwoon.”

So Aiden had deliberately pretended to have dementia and acted foolish.

But after this Turkey incident, he realized such things were utterly useless.

“You heard about this Turkey incident too, didn’t you?”

“Yes. A major earthquake struck, and all the American people who went to investigate headquarters died…”

“Right, the media is praising Gwangwoon for taking responsibility despite the unfair investigation and distributing compensation to the affected families. SNS is also consoling them saying pointless people died and Gwangwoon only lost money due to the government’s missteps.”

The world had already lost its mind.

People’s thoughts were changing according to Gwangwoon’s taste, which had conquered the media.

“Things like this will only get worse from now on. Gwangwoon is trying to change children’s thinking in advance and brainwash them now that they’ve even taken Wizny.”

“…”

But there was no one to stop it.

If someone criticized it, society had become one that condemned them as another crazy conspiracy theorist.

On top of that, hadn’t Anti-trust Bureau Director Eileen, who was holding the last line of defense and resisting, resigned taking all responsibility just yesterday?

The resignation was said to be taking responsibility, but Eileen too had run away in fear.

“Gwangwoon knows I gave final approval for this operation. No, they probably already knew I would do that. And they probably knew all along that I was acting like a foolish old man.”

“Are you afraid of retaliation?”

“Yes. Gwangwoon already turned my administration into a vegetable. But if I take one more step from here, what happens?”

“Impeachment…!”

“I don’t want that disgrace, even if I’m just the head of a vegetable administration.”

The only thing that could deal a fatal blow to Aiden’s career was impeachment.

Because in American presidential history, no one has ever been actually impeached and removed from the presidency.

Aiden was afraid of becoming that first.

“I hear you’ve been meeting various politicians from both the Republican and Democratic sides these days.”

“That’s just routine…”

“You don’t need to hide it from me. Well, it probably really is just routine meetings. But the people who met with you would think differently, right? They don’t see you as my former Chief of Staff. They just see you as a messenger who came on behalf of Gwangwoon.”

John had been intentionally meeting more people even without orders from above.

This was because of an ingrained fear that if he didn’t perform well here, he might be purged at any moment.

“I heard you’re recruiting people into some organization.”

“Ah, that’s…”

“Can I join that organization too?”

“You, Mr. President?”

“Yes. That organization was created by Gwangwoon, wasn’t it? Joining it means receiving Gwangwoon’s protection.”

“That’s true, but…”

“Tell me. What is that organization’s name?”

John thought for a moment before answering.

“Trinity.”

“Hm. The name reeks of conspiracy. Who’s leading it?”

“The Secretary of Commerce.”

“Ha. That friend was on Gwangwoon’s side too? No wait, finding someone who isn’t on Gwangwoon’s side would be harder now. Anyway, can I join there too?”

“If I bring it up to the Secretary of Commerce, you probably can. But there’s one condition.”

“A condition. I’m mentally prepared for anything.”

Such secret organizations require some kind of ritual before joining.

That’s how it was in all the movies and dramas he’d seen.

And this was an organization far bigger than anything shown in those media, wasn’t it?

So he was prepared to perform any ritual.

Even if he had to offer this blood to the devil!

“Mr. President. Do you by any chance…”

Aiden swallowed dryly and waited for John’s next words.

“Know how to play games?”

“…What?”

***

“Really?”

“Yes. There are no plans for additional investigation. They expressed gratitude for Gwangwoon’s consideration in even compensating the agents who died despite being wrongfully investigated. And Anti-trust Bureau Director Eileen has resigned.”

Media was criticizing Eileen and the US government for carrying out the investigation recklessly without evidence, resulting in this tragedy.

It seemed they withdrew the investigation due to that public opinion.

“This is bittersweet to call a relief. Our people died, and so did people on the US government side.”

“Yes. Compensation has been delivered as you instructed, and we’ll hold funerals according to the bereaved families’ wishes.”

“Yes. Good work. And please tell them to rebuild the Sentinel headquarters. This time so it can withstand earthquakes.”

“Yes. I’ll relay that.”

It was such a terrible accident that I didn’t want to discuss it further. Compensation was done well, and aftermath was clean, so now it was time to move on.

“What about other matters?”

“There seems to be some trouble in shipping.”

“Shipping?”

“Yes. From last year to this year, there’s been record drought, hasn’t there? Climate change damage, and it seems to be affecting the Panama Canal.”

There are two places called the world’s great canals: the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal.

They’re the busiest shipping routes, and if either one gets blocked, it’s devastating for shipping.

That’s because if you can’t pass through and have to go around, delivery takes over a month longer.

So these two canals must absolutely not be blocked.

“The Panama Canal draws water from the artificial Gatun Lake. It’s used as freshwater for passing through the locks, but the worst drought since 1950 has caused the Gatun Lake water level to drop.”

“Is it that serious?”

“Yes. Sending one ship requires 200 million liters of freshwater. The current situation can’t handle that. So they’ve announced they’re cutting traffic by half.”

For shipping, this was news as shocking as a bolt from the blue. All existing schedules were thrown into chaos.

“So which company is getting hit the hardest right now?”

“The two places taking the most damage if this schedule gets delayed are Kangsung and Ample. Their crucial raw materials are on those ships, and if they can’t pass through the Panama Canal, they can’t get to the factories.”

“Then production will be delayed.”

“Yes.”

“Is there a solution?”

“For now, the only option is to urgently pull supplies from elsewhere and send them by air. But air is very expensive, and current air capacity is also full, so it’s hard to send to both Kangsung and Ample. Even sending to just one won’t be sufficient quantity.”

So who should we send to?

Actually, this didn’t need asking intuition.

It had to go to Kangsung, for the sake of our national company and Chairman Kang Seong-ho, who is practically like a sworn brother to me.

***

“Yesterday it was Panama Canal blocked, so why is there chaos at Suez today?”

Chairman Kang Seong-ho had already called an emergency meeting yesterday when news came that the Panama Canal was blocked.

Fortunately, he was relieved when Gwangwoon said they would pull together all available supplies and send them by plane.

But today, another piece of news came in.

This time, Suez was blocked.

“Last month, wasn’t there a war between Israel and Hamas? Because of that, Yemeni Houthi rebels are attacking ships suspected of heading to Israel.”

“What!? Don’t tell me our shipping was attacked too?”

“Yes. These bastards use Israel as an excuse to attack, but their real purpose seems to be the goods on the ships. They want to plunder and use them. Our Kangsung goods were on a ship that got attacked.”

“Damn!”

Production was already delayed due to Panama Canal blockage, and now Suez too!

This was a critical situation.

“Wasn’t Sentinel supposed to be protecting that area?”

“Yes. But with the Turkey headquarters collapsing from the earthquake, their command structure and systems over there seem somewhat broken. Plus, there weren’t many pirates operating near Suez Canal originally, so security was lax. And these are actual rebels with an army.”

Kang Seong-ho was racking his brain.

He had no idea how to respond to this.

“But Chairman, putting aside Panama Canal, isn’t there something strange about the Suez Canal situation?”

“What?”

“This Turkey earthquake. There’s a lot of talk about it right now.”

Kang Seong-ho knew about this too.

That the American government people who went to Turkey to investigate died the moment they entered Sentinel headquarters when an earthquake suddenly struck.

So conspiracy theories were circulating that Gwangwoon had technology to cause even earthquakes.

“But what does that have to do with this?”

“There’s one company that suffered major damage from this earthquake.”

“Which one?”

“Our biggest competitor, Ample.”

“…”

The smartphone champion, Ample.

They’re the major victim of this earthquake?

“Ample originally had many factories throughout Asia, but as Gwangwoon and Kangsung’s power grew, we’ve been blocking Ample’s factory expansion.”

“That’s right.”

“So Ample chose Turkey. After their president did something crazy and barely survived with Gwangwoon’s help, inflation was controlled. Plus, with their declaration to accept all foreign business investment, Ample entered taking advantage of the cheap labor and development costs.”

“Wait, then could it be…”

“Yes. This earthquake swept away all the factories Ample had spent astronomical costs building. The core smartphone components were being made there, and with that collapsing, their new product launch has become uncertain too.”

On top of that, with Panama and Suez canals blocked, Ample’s supply had become even more difficult.

In other words, the Suez Canal attack might not be coincidence.

“Chairman, if this earthquake was really caused by Gwangwoon…”

The reporting executive’s voice trembled.

“It might not have been simply to protect Sentinel headquarters.”

End