Even in that fevered mood, people didn’t casually blurt “Incheon independence.”
The weight of the words alone was enormous, and above all, few genuinely wanted Incheon to beco independent.
Common sense says a single city “seceding” from a nation ans fighting a real war to seize that status— and not many people want that.
That’s why, when Jung Mina gave her speech, I personally stepped in to lead the chant.
In any case, from then on the “Incheon independence” slogan began cropping up. As ti passed, it spread into mass scale— helped along by the shills I’d planted, the Abyss’s depravity being unearthed day by day, and the pent-up resentnt over years of neglect by the central governnt.
— Incheon citizens are flooding into the streets. They’re shouting for independence!
— We’re witnessing an unprecedented situation. Incheon— not a postwar recaptured city but land our people have inhabited for millennia— is seeing an independence struggle! What on earth is happening there?!
— The so-called “Abyss X-Files,” now spreading through the deep web, have kicked up a storm. Users who’ve seen them report shared devastation— so even fainting on the spot. The governnt issued an ergency statent strictly banning access—
The Blue House, after reeling from my sucker punch and posturing for a bit, finally caved and began acting to my tune. They proactively did things guaranteed to rub the public raw.
They drew fire by pointlessly trying to keep already-exposed Abyss information under wraps, designating it “prohibited content,” and they had a few lawmakers and cabinet mbers lob gaffes that would infuriate Incheon citizens, pouring fuel on the fire.
Thanks to that, even setting independence aside, support for Mayor Jung Mina once again hit an all-ti high.
“We’re picking up subversive motion on the continent.”
“On the continent?”
“Yes. Prestige cleanup teams are moving in force— looks like sothing noticeable.”
“Figures.”
With the spectacle so flamboyant, the shockwaves spread far and wide.
The current Republic of Korea holds vast central territories— the Peninsula proper plus Manchuria, Liaodong, and Shandong. Sentint across those regions was strongly agitated.
If Incheon— originally Korean soil— was angling to secede, there were bound to be people in the occupied zones asking why they couldn’t.
Obviously, the Group has zero obligation to indulge that too.
“Any stir from the Twenty States?”
“They’re all-in on mopping up the serial explosions and the Wuhan gaquake. They may extend token support to ethnic Chinese inside the Republic, but it won’t amount to much.”
“Man... feels like I’m standing in a page of history.”
“If Incheon is separating at all— you’ve already drawn a very thick stroke.”
“Guess I have?”
Feeling giddy for no reason, I pulled Seunghee into my arms and kneaded her.
I was physically handling Seunghee’s breasts, but what it felt like was manhandling history to my liking.
“The continent will handle itself. We don’t need to care. Keep tight watch on Incheon.”
“Yes....”
Incheon’s will to secede grew by the day.
The Group and I were working the levers from behind, yes, but it was also the product of decades of quasi-autonomy— quietly breeding a sense of otherness from [N O V E L I G H T] the ho state.
In that context, with the monstrous truth of governnt human experintation (Abyss) against Incheon surfacing, “we can’t trust you anymore” and a push to break away was, in a sense, a natural reaction.
— Incheon is no longer Seoul’s colony!
Jung Mina’s fiery speech scored massive resonance.
Everywhere you went in Incheon, flags billowed bearing a huge image of her mid-peroration, and mass marches sotis swept through downtown under those standards.
— This ti it’s Daejeon. Another heinous, lawless terror attack has struck civilians.
On the mainland, terror kept occurring.
Arms that slipped past Incheon’s screening flowed into the mainland, and assailants used them for indiscriminate attacks.
People were furious— and also acutely felt the need for a near-border-level barrier with Incheon.
— We need a wall on the border with Incheon!!
— Border?? Did you just say “border”—,
Anyway— day by day, December grew more chaotic.
At last, the “thing” I’d first heard about in Dalian ca in through the Muyeol Land port.
“Holy... shit. What is all this.”
“It would have been ideal to ship the mainfra intact, but short of an artificial island it was impossible, so we had to disassemble. It’ll take a great deal of space; I ask your indulgence, sir.”
“It’s huge, for real.”
It filled the hulls— bigger by far than the ultra-giant superyacht Hayoung gifted .
Right.
Sibyl.
“We need to move it to the research complex first. Wow... it’s even bigger than I pictured.”
The sheer scale aside, because it was disassembled, the count of parts was insane.
Colossal pieces ca off the ship by crane without end; no exaggeration— just moving and assembling would take months.
Han Chae-young’s and Rachel’s lab might actually be finished before that monster.
Just what kind of atrocities do they plan to commit with this...!
“You’re telling sothing this size runs off a single support ship?”
“Thanks to the latest process incorporating R, we’ve driven power draw and heat down to the extre. At this degree of modularization, a single support ship is sufficient to operate it.”
Even with Kang Hye-young’s explanation, it beggared belief.
“RK-99 really is obscene.”
It’s already been eight months since I briefed Min-young on RK-99.
Quietly, RK-99 has been applied across Koryo Militaris.
For a black, ga-scale project like Sibyl, it would, of course, be top priority.
The outco is this extre(?) modularization.
“And most of the volu is auxiliary apparatus, so strictly speaking, if we can power the core, research is possible even now.”
“Really?”
“I wouldn’t recomnd it— for stability.”
“Anyway, got it. This’ll take ti.”
I stared blankly at the endless tails of trucks for a while.
My innermost cadre— knowing none of the why— stood in sober formation as always, doing their jobs.
Co to think, they don’t know about Sibyl— and not even RK-99 yet.
“It’s about ti... I told the secretaries.”
It doesn’t have to be today, but I can’t hide it forever.
“If possible... I want Soo-ah to be the first among them to know.”
The world-tour concerts that kicked off in November.
Soo-ah’s first ga-project after taking the helm at Koryo Entertainnt— outperforming forecasts.
These days the rest of my companies are so massive it feels trivial, but Koryo Entertainnt is my origin and my history.
Everything began with one billion won in Koryo Entertainnt cash.
If she’s successfully piloted that company’s first ga-project, then even a rootless Soo-ah has earned the minimal legitimacy to be entrusted with weightier charge.
“I’ll summon her for the New Year’s Day personnel shuffle.”
New Year’s is right around the corner.
There’s no better ti for personnel moves; I’ll bring Soo-ah back to my side then.
The empty chair at Koryo Entertainnt... we can give to Kang Emilia.
“Let’s head in. Lots to do.”
There were two pitched battles just in early December.
On the approach from Bucheon into Incheon’s Seo District, a fight turned thirty apartnt towers into wasteland, and at the corridor from Siheung Baegot toward Incheon Nonhyeon, Incheon’s City Defense and the national army smashed into each other— embers flying as far as Songdo, one of Incheon’s busiest quarters.
Siheung didn’t get off unscathed either.
And because the protesters in Incheon were uniformly ard, the effort to hold back those who looked ready to spill into the mainland exploded into war-level bloodshed.
The single fact that we were “one people” was the only thing keeping it from indiscriminate bombardnt— but it couldn’t prevent casualties in the hundreds and thousands, and staggering economic losses.
With major battles erupting between the sa people one after another— and voices for separation and peace rising on both sides— Incheon’s City Defense and the national army signed a ceasefire before the fighting spread further.
The governnt pulled the army back and, for the mont, rescinded its dismissal of Jung Mina; Jung Mina, in turn, stepped City Defense and police back a pace and personally toured the civilian protests to calm them.
— Fratricide among one Korean people is a grief beyond words. This must not repeat. I feel great responsibility for all of this—
December 17.
After several days of peace, the governnt began formal separation procedures in earnest.
A ceasefire was concluded over video with Jung Mina, and a foundational bill to administratively sever Incheon passed; the executive began expediting the necessary procedures.
And Jung Mina visited the Incheon City Council and, with so three hundred councilors, proclaid a Declaration of Independence.
In the blink of an eye, Incheon actually declared independence.
The road ahead is still long.
But the crucial point is that the heads of both governnts resolved on separation and executed it.
The public— which had been quiet— finally erupted: “What kind of bullshit is this?”
They hadn’t imagined it would really happen.
Hardliners shouted to crush the rebellion at once and, while we were at it, to confiscate the countless weapons loose in Incheon.
But the scenario’s path was already decided.
“Too late to rise now. You should’ve moved earlier.”
— Long live Incheon independence!!
— Long live Incheon independence!!
— Long live the Republic!!
— Long live the Republic!!
On the broadcast, Jung Mina waved with a grave face as the crowd roared support.
A stark contrast to the Republic of Korea, whose cabinet had taken responsibility for everything and resigned en masse.
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