Chapter 137: You, Be My Comrade

Chapter 137: You, Be My Comrade

Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

137 – You, Be My Comrade

“I’ll get straight to the point. Please keep silent about the existence of the soldier who was imprisoned in the underground facility of the Ministry of National Defense.”

With the situation progressing as it was, Nam Joon-woo, the Minister of National Defense, attempted to employ the Ministry’s patented method of ‘covering up the incident’ against Myung-jun.

However, Myung-jun shook his head and immediately rejected Minister Nam Joon-woo’s request.

“No.”

“At least negotiate the terms...”

“Sorry, but I’m not the one you should be negotiating with. The ones who deserve an apology are the soldier unjustly imprisoned in the underground facility, his mother, and the soldiers who were killed to hide his existence and were falsely recorded as having died during gate operations, along with their families.”

“Are you seriously going to make an issue out of that as well?”

“The dead cannot return. Minister.”

Myung-jun spoke in an infinitely cold voice.

“For some reason, those in higher positions tend to use the word ‘sacrifice’ too easily when their own lives aren’t at stake. Sometimes, a sacrifice for the nation may be noble, but it is only noble when it is voluntary.”

“They are soldiers who swore to give their lives for the country.”

“Don’t talk about oaths when you forcibly throw them into cells the moment they refuse to swear.”

“Do you perhaps have some bad memories from your military service?”

“It would be harder to find a South Korean veteran without bad memories of the military, but since you’re curious, I’ll answer.”

Myung-jun briefly explained the situation during his discharge.

He recounted how, during a mission, all his company members, including Second Lieutenant Kim Hak-won, were annihilated except for him, and how the entire unit was falsely recorded as having died in an accident to conceal information about the monster and the gate under information control at the time.

He even mentioned that he had to sign a confidentiality agreement before being discharged. Minister Nam Joon-woo couldn’t say anything in response.

The way Myung-jun described the ‘method of handling matters’ was exactly how the South Korean Ministry of National Defense had always operated.

At this point, Yoon Se-ah, the director of EDA, urgently intervened and spoke to Myung-jun.

“If there are any requests you have, we will try to meet them as much as possible. We can also provide maximum compensation to the soldier and his parents who were imprisoned underground. And before that, we will withdraw the EDA agents deployed in the area to respond to the situation.”

Yoon Se-ah had issued a full mobilization order to all EDA agents near the research facility the moment contact was lost with the Gate Research Facility.

With Myung-jun, the strongest force of the Liberal Clan, being in Japan, she thought that mobilizing all the remaining agents might prevent any potential emergencies.

It was a proposal considering Myung-jun’s tendency to avoid combat as much as possible, which he had often shown in previous standoffs. Unfortunately, the current Myung-jun was taking a different stance.

“EDA agents? Well, if things go south, we can just wipe them out. Even if it’s not me, Lee Soo-bin alone has enough power to sweep them away.”

“Even if it means going to war with South Korea?”

“Feel free to try if you’re confident. But I can’t guarantee the outcome. If any of our clan members deployed at the facility are put in even the slightest danger, I’ll step in personally.”

“In relations between nations, negotiation and compromise should come before war...”

“Do I look like a diplomat or a president to you? I’m a clan leader. I’m not a CEO, nor am I the president of any country. The most important thing to me is protecting our precious clan members, and the second most important thing is doing what we want. If anyone gets in the way of that, whether it’s the U.S. government or the South Korean government, we’ll crush them.”

“No matter what, your words are too extreme.”

As Park Moon-chan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, interjected after listening to Myung-jun, Myung-jun replied,

“In this situation, we’ll see who’s being too extreme once the imprisoned soldier arrives.”

At that moment, Myung-jun’s phone rang.

Without asking for permission, Myung-jun immediately took the call from Byung-tae.

[Boss, the rescue is complete.]

“Good job. Was there any trouble?”

Under the outdoor table in front of the café, the person he loved most in the world was sipping coffee, waiting for someone.

With a trembling voice, Park Seung-ho spoke to the woman sitting at the table.

“M-Mother...”

“Oh... Oh!?! Seung-ho?! Is it really you, Seung-ho?! How is this possible?!”

“Mother!!!”

Park Seung-ho ran to his mother and embraced her.

For over ten minutes, the two of them clung to each other, crying uncontrollably.

Their emotions were so intense that their conversation became almost unintelligible to those nearby.

“Sob... Mother... I... wasn’t dead... Sob... I was imprisoned... for the country... I need to be discharged...”

“Sob... I see... Those wretched people... I thought... you were dead...”

Watching the two of them, Soo-bin, who couldn’t help but shed tears herself, gestured to the waiter to order some drinks.

Myung-jun had given strict orders not to interrupt their reunion, whether it took 10 minutes or 3 hours.

Watching the two, who looked like a scene from a family reunion of separated families, Kei also had tears welling up in her round eyes.

“It’s so touching.”

“Indeed. To tear apart such a loving family and lie that their child was dead... I should have been harsher earlier.”

“But it wasn’t the EDA agents who did that. It was that scumbag Moon Hee-cheol who deserves to be blamed.”

“There’s no way he could have done it alone. Someone must have given him permission. At this point, the value that man Park Seung-ho holds is no joke.”

“Because of the ability-enhancing drug?”

“No, it’s not just because of that.”

Soo-bin handed Kei a small piece of metal.

It seemed to have been melted by a strong chemical, with a hole melted through the middle.

Kei, picking it up with a nonchalant expression, soon realized what the metal piece was and couldn’t hide her shock.

The metal piece that Soo-bin handed over was a special sample obtained by the South Korean government with the cooperation of the Brazilian government from the Amazon Overflow region.

It was a fragment from Ho-chang’s relic-grade giant shield.

“They melted this?!!”

“Shh. We might disturb them.”

Kei lowered her voice as Soo-bin pointed out.

“Where did you get this?”

“I found it in a corner of the room during the rescue. I noticed a familiar metallic sheen, and it turned out to be a piece from Ho-chang’s shield. It probably broke off during his fight with Banara.”

“The fact that they melted this means...”

“That’s right.”

Soo-bin continued,

“It means that Park Seung-ho is someone the Liberal Clan must either secure or, in the worst case, eliminate. It also means he’s someone the South Korean government absolutely cannot afford to lose.”

“What choice do you think he’ll make?”

“Who knows? It depends on how good the conditions the South Korean government offers are. But no matter what conditions they propose, they won’t be able to beat ours.”

Soo-bin’s smile carried a deep conviction that Park Seung-ho would never choose South Korea.