21st Century Goguryeo

February 10, 2021, 11:00 (15:00 on the 9th, US time)

The Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia, USA

On the third floor of the Pentagon, the center of the nervous system of the US military, the absolute top leaders of the US intelligence services piled into the conference room.

Under the influence of the ODNI which was directly attached to the office of the president, every intelligence service had gathered: the CIA, the FBI which was part of the Department of Justice, the I&A which was under the Department of Homeland Security, the INR of the State Department, and those under the Department of Defense including the MCIA, AFIRSA, ONI, MI, NSA, NRO, NGA, and DIA, three of which were only involved in domestic operations, while the rest dealt with both domestic and international intelligence.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Ron Sanders, the Director of National Intelligence for the ODNI." The Director of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), who was sitting squarely in the middle of the dais, brought the microphone close to his mouth and spoke.

The ODNI was instituted with the passage of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act by the Senate on December 7, 2004, after the need to overhaul the intelligence services was raised in the wake of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, and it was the top intelligence agency that took the lead of all the others.

"You are all aware that we are currently in an A-level situation, and have met on the emergency orders of the president."

Director Sanders looked around at the heads of each of the other intelligence agencies who were present at the meeting as he continued.

"Although currently the various intelligence agencies are cooperating to collect intelligence under the leadership of the DIA, from now on the ODNI will take on the collection, summarization, and analysis of all intelligence."

"What are you talking about?"

Rosie Mathieu, Director of the CGI, couldn't wait and threw out this question due to her hasty personality.

"All information related to defense technologies that are currently in service in Corea, their level of defense capabilities, and any other information about Corea's military strength. Director Michael T. Joshua."

"Yes, Mr. Sanders."

"We'd like you to transmit all intelligence data you have currently gathered to the S-class database of the Main Center of the ODNI. Besides, we will make sure you are all granted authority to access the S-class database. In other words, from now on you will be sending all gathered intelligence and analysis data to the S-class database in the Main Center in real-time, and also making it so they are accessible to all other officers. Whatever you have will be fine. Even if it is a single bullet that is used in Corea, we hope you will collect all the information and data you can figure out on its performance, the defense company that developed it, that company's production facilities, and so on."

"What acceptable level will be possible for on-site intelligence operatives?" Antonio Rooney from the agency in charge of intelligence satellites, the NRO, raised his hand and asked this.

"We will allow anything you need to collect intelligence. Just keep in mind that our relations with Corea are currently not doing well and that we need to move as carefully as possible."

* * *

February 10, 2021 16:00

The private building of Japan's cabinet, Adachi, Tokyo, Japan

Secretary to the President for International Strategy Randy Johnson, whom on Friday had quarreled with Minister Kim Jae-hak, had received emergency instructions from the White House to meet with Prime Minister Abe and returned to Tokyo. In addition, the car which was prepared to go to the private building of Japan's cabinet where the prime minister was stopped to meet a man who was rushed over from the White House, who then got into the car.

"What group do you belong to?"

Secretary Johnson tossed out this question to the unfamiliar man whom they had met at Haneda while they were driving. The man responded to this briefly, in a slightly cold tone of voice.

"That's classified."

"So, you're not here to protect me, unlike the rest of my entourage."

Secretary Johnson lightly blurted this out, but he was unable to imagine the incredible events that would soon transpire.

"We've arrived." A member of Secretary Johnson's entourage who was sitting in the passenger's seat told him this.

"Please come right in. Prime Minister Abe is waiting for you."

"I see you're not the same person who came out to meet me last time?"

"You must be thinking of Advisor Yagumachi Genzo. He's currently on a business trip. Please follow me."

Advisor Dogo Shigenori, who had come out to meet Secretary Johnson's entourage in place of Advisor Yagumachi who was still missing, greeted them courteously. Upon arriving to the eighth floor as they did last time, they now stood outside the doors of Prime Minister Abe's office. Whether it was due to the appearance of the special forces of Corea, the prime minister's security detail had been strengthened: throughout the long corridor, there were bodyguards in black suits standing close together.

"I apologize. We will have to frisk you quickly before you see the Prime Minister. We ask for your cooperation."

One of the bodyguards, a middle-aged man who appeared to be the most senior, approached them and said this carefully.

"Let's do it, then. We'll cooperate, the situation being what it is now."

At this, Secretary Johnson raised both his hands, with a face that showed he understood. One by one, Secretary Johnson, along with all his advisors and bodyguards who had come together with him and even the man they met at the airport, all underwent body searches.

"It is illegal to carry firearms in our country, but we will briefly take this for you."

One pistol was removed from inside the jacket of the stranger.

"He's a bodyguard sent from the mainland, I guess for my safety. He's a special agent, so unavoidably, he had to carry a weapon."

Secretary Johnson answered tactfully.

"What's this, then?"

Apart from the pistol, a small tablet not unlike a smartphone was pulled out from the agent's jacket. The agent gave a dispassionate explanation.

"It's nothing special. Just a necessary item for my security duties."

"Well then, we will also temporarily keep this…"

Snatch.

In an instant, the agent snatched the tablet that had been in the hand of the Prime Minister's bodyguard away from him.

"For security reasons, I cannot give this to anyone else even for a moment."

"That won't work. According to our rules, no one can enter with a suspicious item."

For a moment, a scuffle broke out between the young bodyguard performing the search and the agent.

"Look, we've come here with authority as emissaries from the US on a very important issue. Our safety is also important."

As Secretary Johnson displayed his anger, the bodyguard took a step back, shocked.

"May we enter?"

Secretary Johnson now looked to the senior middle-aged bodyguard as he said this.

"Well then, just leave the gun and go in."

At this, the agent nodded his head, indicating that he would cooperate willingly, and handed the pistol over.

The doors of the prime minister's office opened, and Secretary Johnson and the security detail, including the agent, all entered the room. Prime Minister Abe, who had been seated, stood up and spoke.

"Did you bring some good news for us?" Prime Minister Abe had skipped over the formal greeting and got straight to the point. That was how uncomfortable of a mood he was in.

"Hello, Mr. Prime Minister. If you hear what I have to say, you can tell whether it's good news or not."

"Is that so? Please sit down, first."

Prime Minister Abe pointed to a chair in the reception room.

"Sure, thank you."

At that moment, in a park outside Toneri-Koen station 1.2 kilometers away, a member of a group who had been acting strangely the day before was walking quickly to hide himself in the dense forest he had looked over the day before, wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses. There was a bulky bag like a cello case strapped to his back.

On the other side of the park, another member of that group, a husky man, sat on a scooter by the roadside without moving, as if he was waiting for someone. He was the one who had worn a beanie the other day, and like the man in the sunglasses and jacket, had been taking pictures here and there on a camera equipped with a telephoto lens.

- Codename MKH125, location secured! Request transmission of scan data from the interior.

- Codename GFD587, retreat route secured! Can depart anytime.

As soon as the man in the leather jacket and sunglasses arrived at his predetermined destination a moment later, he scanned the area to confirm that it was unoccupied, and then quickly opened his bag and busily assembled something. When he was finished, he sent a message to someone.

After finishing this communication, the man in the leather jacket took off his sunglasses and fixed his eyes on the screen attached to the gigantic heavy gun he had just assembled. It had the exact appearance of the kind of huge gun that could show up in a science fiction movie, with a folding monitor screen on its left side.

Back in the office, the voices of the man in the leather jacket and sunglasses and the man on the scooter came into the head of the agent who had followed Secretary Randy Johnson into the prime minister's office as clearly as if they were speaking next to him. But the other people inside the office couldn't hear them.

This was because the voices were being transmitted to him not by his eardrums, but rather by a communications microchip that was embedded inside his head.

He looked slowly at his surroundings.

Secretary Johnson and Prime Minister Abe were distracted by their conversation, and what caught his attention were the two bodyguards from the prime minister's office who stood by the doors. In response, the agent stepped slightly to the side, and as he crossed his body with those of the other members of the entourage that Secretary Johnson had brought with him, he pulled the small tablet out, the one that had just caused the scuffle before, and after covering it with his entire palm, he pointed the screen face-up and pushed a small button.

Several kinds of light that are not visible to humans poured out of the tablet and spread throughout the prime minister's office. A moment later, a message appeared on the screen indicating that the scan had been completed.

The screen attached to the heavy gun that the man in the leather jacket was looking at flashed on, and the inside of a room, as well as everyone inside it, appeared clearly. This was, in fact, the inside of the prime minister's office, which the agent had scanned and then transferred.

- Codename MKH125, successfully confirmed the scanned data.

After completing this brief message, the man in the leather jacket showed a slight smile and strapped on the gun. He shouldered the weapon, which weighed about 20 kilograms, and grasped the front part with his left hand. Then the index finger of his right hand, which was holding the handle, touched slightly on the trigger.

Next, he looked at the screen and aimed towards one point on the eighth floor of the building that was his target. Although all the windows were covered by blinds, a dotted line on the screen directed toward the single target that the gun was aiming for. The target point moved around slowly before stopping on one section of a person. It was the head of Prime Minister Abe, who was seated on the sofa.

- Codename MKH125, carrying out my mission in 10 seconds.

The man wearing the jacket once again sent a short message, then took in a long, deep breath, and tried to minimize the movement of the target point. Then, he immediately focused his strength on the index finger of his right hand, and pulled the trigger.

Pheeew~

The heavy weapon let out a massive sound, and the dark red laser beam that shot out at an instantaneous speed easily penetrated into one side of the wall of eighth floor of the cabinet building. The hole it left was about the size of an adult fist.

Booom~ Pop! Pop!

Just as he was really getting into a heated argument with Secretary Johnson, Prime Minister Abe's head was crushed like a watermelon, and the content spilled out. Dark red pieces of flesh and brains shot out in all directions.

Aaah~ Cough cough! Cooough!

Secretary Johnson, who witnessed this surreal and grotesque sight in real-time at the closest possible distance, instinctively began pulling off the pieces of flesh that had sprayed onto his whole body, beginning with his face, let out a scream, and immediately fell to the floor and retched.

"Mr. Prime Minister, what's the matter??"

The senior bodyguard smashed in the doors of the office, yelling as he entered. But he immediately stopped and stood where he was unable to move, as if he was frozen by the piercing wind of Siberia. The sight which was reflected in his eyes, so much like a horror film, was of a body without a head, sitting in a chair, with dark red blood spraying out of it.

"How-how did something like this…"

The man in the leather jacket left the prime minister's office, which had become utter chaos, and after hurriedly disassembling the gun, he put it in his bag and immediately ran to the man waiting on the scooter. Within a few minutes, the two shady men on the scooter disappeared into the outskirts of Tokyo.