Chapter 206

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Our department has somewhat jumbled work hours.

Often we don’t come in at all, and when there’s a special issue like today, we have to rush in early morning like this.

“No, this is really…”

With shocking news breaking one after another, the employees and I were all stunned.

“The news that Li Jinping and his faction were all executed is shocking enough, but the Kim family was wiped out too? On the same day?”

“Yes. Not much information has been released to the news yet, but looking into it in detail, coincidentally both sides seem to have been executed on the same day.”

Everyone was talking about how the Chinese and North Korean regimes had collapsed, but they hadn’t actually completely fallen.

China still had Li Jinping and his loyalist forces, and North Korea also had the army protecting the Kim family.

“Weren’t they all hiding safely in bunkers?”

“There had been news of Li Jinping’s disappearance for a while, but the consensus was he was hiding in a bunker. Same with the Kim family. But it seems both were captured.”

We can’t know how they were captured and horribly massacred.

But because of this, global circumstances were about to change dramatically once again.

It started with America.

[Dear citizens.]

Not long after the news about Li Jinping and Kim Jeongun hit the media.

Aiden issued an emergency statement.

Saying he would replace Hillis as the Democratic candidate and run for reelection.

“Aiden’s stock had already been rising significantly due to the civil war in China. But now with news that those two leaders died, his approval is exploding.”

Even before, there had been many predictions that if Aiden returned, he could catch up to Trent who was leading.

“But even when our Chairman went with the Floor Leader to persuade him, he refused to run again using justification as an excuse. Yet suddenly the justification forcing him to run again appeared.”

Aiden had been checking China and North Korea through strong sanctions.

His top campaign priority was even suppressing those two forces from expanding.

So Aiden couldn’t refuse.

Because this moment when China and North Korea completely collapsed was precisely when a red light flashed on global security.

That’s why the American people also wanted to entrust the presidency to Aiden, who had stably maintained peace, rather than unpredictable Trent.

“Honestly, if Aiden really didn’t want to, he would have refused this too. His term isn’t ending immediately, so he could have just cleaned things up well before retirement and handed it off to the next administration.”

Whenever Aiden had made statements about retirement, he always had a relieved expression.

Anyone could tell he looked like someone preparing to retire.

He seemed to have no lingering attachment to politics.

“But suddenly changing his mind means one of two things.”

“One of two?”

“Either he’s full of patriotism for America, or he actually wanted to run for reelection.”

Wanting to run for reelection, huh.

“I don’t think he has burning patriotism, but there was definitely desire for reelection. Being president of America for two consecutive terms is an honorable thing. Plus, before the China situation happened, wasn’t President Aiden’s approval ratings serious? He probably didn’t want to end things this way.”

So the justification the Floor Leader mentioned wasn’t just an excuse to push Gwangwoon around—they really needed justification.

Aiden also wanted to run for reelection, but was anxious without proper justification, and when these incidents conveniently happened, he came back whistling.

“Rather than ending with the dishonor of a puppet administration, he must desperately want to become a hero who protected America’s peace by resolving the China and North Korea situation.”

So that’s why Aiden came back.

To restore his honor.

As expected, saying he would retire wasn’t sincere.

Watching Aiden’s interview footage, I thought he had really made up his mind to retire.

Politicians’ true intentions really are unknowable.

***

“…Was this our doing?”

“No. This has nothing to do with our Sentinel.”

The news that the Kim family and Li Jinping’s loyalist forces were simultaneously wiped out shocked Sentinel too.

“Then how did this happen?”

“According to the information we’ve gathered, both the Li Jinping side and Kim Jeongun side seem to have died from betrayal.”

“They were hiding in bunkers, but internal strife broke out inside?”

“Yes. We can’t know the detailed circumstances, but it seems there was bloodshed inside the bunkers too. Li Jinping’s side seems like someone joined hands with Cheongang, and Kim Jeongun’s side also seems like someone colluded with a specific force.”

Nothing is more fatal than betrayal by close aides.

Probably, watching their lord who enjoyed absolute power suddenly flee to a bunker, their loyalty must have completely evaporated.

“But you’re sure it wasn’t our side?”

Two leaders were betrayed on the same day.

Could this really be called coincidence?

“It’s too strange to call it coincidence. How can two people be betrayed and die on the same day?”

“Director, are you saying you see it as an operation?”

“Yes. Someone pulled strings.”

If not, it would truly be an astonishing coincidence.

“But it definitely wasn’t our side. When UN peacekeeping forces and US military entered North Korea and our foundation staff were deployed together, Sentinel also sent many agents, but we hadn’t formed an intelligence network capable of finding and killing Kim Jeongun.”

“Wasn’t China the same? We couldn’t even confirm Li Jinping’s life or death.”

“Yes. We were also searching for Li Jinping’s side with our eyes lit up, but confirming his status was difficult.”

“So someone found what even we couldn’t find and simultaneously destroyed both?”

“Or it really might be an astonishing coincidence.”

Could that really be it?

But Anthony doesn’t believe in coincidence.

“What if it wasn’t coincidence but actually Gwangwoon’s doing?”

“Are you saying Gwangwoon is running another operations facility besides our Sentinel?”

“Yes. Our Sentinel is inevitably well-known externally. Outwardly we’re a private company escorting ships, but countries know well that we’re spreading agents everywhere gathering information and conducting operations.”

In other words, Sentinel is too exposed.

To proceed secretly, Gwangwoon would have needed something new.

“But anticipating that, our side should have a very tight surveillance network? If Gwangwoon was operating with another organization, it definitely would have been caught on our radar.”

“But it wasn’t?”

“That’s because Gwangwoon wasn’t doing anything…”

“No. Was mighty Gwangwoon ever simple enough to get caught on our radar? We still haven’t figured out how Gwangwoon caused the earthquakes and intentionally created the great famine to induce food shortages. Right?”

“…”

As Anthony said, Gwangwoon is still a place shrouded in numerous secrets.

Everyone thinks Gwangwoon has grown too big to be opaque, but it was actually the opposite.

The bigger they get, the more you look, the deeper into the maze it feels.

“We all know Gwangwoon caused the artificial earthquake, but we’ve found nothing about how they did it, who’s helping Gwangwoon—we veterans who worked at the world’s best intelligence agencies. Even while working for Gwangwoon!”

That was something that greatly wounded Anthony’s pride.

You’d think Gwangwoon would scold them for not figuring out even that, but headquarters said nothing about it.

As if they already knew it was absolutely impossible for them to figure out with their abilities.

“Director, you seem certain there’s another operations agency besides our Sentinel.”

“Yes. So dig into that intensively. I have no idea what kind of monsters work there that we can’t even find a shadow.”

An organization where even shadows cannot be found.

A place that Sentinel couldn’t find even a thread of despite mobilizing all intelligence resources.

The fact that such a place could exist was sending chills down Anthony’s spine.

That’s why he desperately wanted to find them.

Desperately wanted to know.

What exactly was their identity?

Then suddenly a thought occurred to him.

What if all of this was really coincidence?

The earthquakes, the famine, the massive purge that just occurred?

“…”

Anthony unknowingly let out a small laugh.

All of that being coincidence.

There’s no way, right?

“What the hell is this mess!”

Trent rushed to the White House with his face beet red.

Staff initially tried to stop Trent who barged into the White House without prior appointment, but Aiden let him in.

“You said you were completely retiring from politics, that you absolutely had no intention of returning! And then you stab me in the back like this!?”

“That’s just how politics is. Besides, aren’t we supposed to be stabbing each other in the back every day? When even members of the same party shamelessly do it.”

“Aiden!”

Trent raged furiously, but it didn’t last long.

Because no matter how much he cursed and shouted, Aiden barely reacted.

How should I put it?

A resigned expression?

“Let me be clear—I didn’t want to return.”

“What? Someone who didn’t want to does a candidate replacement with one day before the deadline?”

“Because I don’t know what kind of retaliation I’d face otherwise.”

“…!”

At those words, Trent made a surprised expression.

“Do you know how Kim Jeongun and Li Jinping died? They were betrayed by their own close aides. That part is fine. That can happen. But coincidentally, both were eliminated on the same day. Isn’t that strange?”

“Someone intentionally killed those two…?”

“Yes. I don’t need to say who that is, do I?”

“Don’t tell me Gwangwoon? Why?”

“Shouldn’t you know the answer to that?”

“What?”

Trent tilted his head.

“Gwangwoon was definitely supporting you, Trent. Then suddenly they changed their mind. Do you really not know why, or are you pretending not to?”

“That’s…”

Then suddenly Trent remembered the conversation he had with his aides the other day.

They were planning to destroy Gwangwoon as soon as this election was over.

“Even without you being honest, I can tell. You and your aides were preparing to weed out Gwangwoon as soon as you got elected. But didn’t I say before? If even I know, there’s no way Gwangwoon doesn’t know.”

“W-Wait. Is that really why Gwangwoon changed their mind?”

“Circumstantially, yes. What other reason would Gwangwoon suddenly have to change their mind? They saw your actions and gave us another chance. So they gave me justification that forced me to return.”

Only then did Trent realize why things had come to this point.

“Ah…”

So he let out an empty sigh without realizing it.

“I was almost there. I really almost made it, why couldn’t I have held out a bit longer? Why were they so desperate to reveal their intentions? I really wanted to retire too!”

“Th-Then do it now!”

“With China and North Korea in that mess right now, how do I retire here? And if I really ignore everything and retire now? This is Gwangwoon who completely killed off the Li Jinping and Kim Jeongun families whose whereabouts even America couldn’t track. You think taking care of an old man like me would be hard? Your ear got pierced by a bullet and you still don’t know Gwangwoon?!”

“…!”

Hearing those words, pain returned to the ear he had forgotten about.

“This is all your fault. If you were going to bow your head to Gwangwoon, you should have kept it bowed at least until the election ended. Why did you mess everything up and then come complain to me? Strictly speaking, I’m a victim too! I wanted to enjoy a happy retirement life, but because of you Trent, I’m stuck rotting in this horrible place for another 4 years!”

“…”

“If you have nothing to say, get the hell out. And worry about how you’re going to keep your head instead.”

After satisfyingly shouting and kicking Trent out, Aiden slumped deep into his seat.

“Ah—.”

He covered his face with both hands.

As he had told Trent, he had to spend another 4 years in this hellish place.

Gwangwoon.

These relentless bastards.

He had prepared everything for retirement.

But these demons wouldn’t let Aiden go free until the very end.

End