A Gate Opened On My First Day As A Politician - Chapter 9: A Surefire Strategy for the New Era (1)

As soon as I got on the helicopter, Yeo Do-yeon grabbed me by the collar. Through my blurred vision, I saw her angry face, thoroughly furious.

“-!! -! -!”

Her voice, muffled by the engine noise, echoed in my ears. Her fierce expression, which most would only find terrifying, held a hint of concern in her eyes.

As usual, I accepted her worry with a satisfied smile.

* * *

To survive, we had left one student behind.

Or maybe “left behind” isn’t quite accurate.

We hadn’t rescued her.

Fate has a way of being cruel, and it just so happened that the one we did save was also a student. At least she was in a different uniform.

With a slight smile, I extended my hand to the student who had narrowly made it onto the helicopter. She beamed, clutching my hand tightly with both of hers.

She looked around with tear-filled eyes. The sight of the soldiers seemed to ease her, and she burst into sobs.

From the way she clutched her chest,

it was clear she had lost someone.

Tap, tap. Assemblyman Yang Pan-seok tapped my shoulder and handed me a headset with a microphone. Only then could we finally speak.

“Regardless of the intention, you saved a life.”

“…I’m sorry.”

If there had been a monster behind that door or if dozens of survivors had come flooding out, the helicopter could have crashed.

“Emotional gambles are dangerous. You’re smart enough to understand that.”

“…Yes. I’ll remember that.”

“No need for an apology. Stand tall.”

Should a door open when it’s knocked on, or should someone have to open it? I still didn’t know.

“We’re on our way to the martial law command center in northern Gyeonggi Province. Seems like a lot of important people are gathered there.”

“Is it safe?”

“The monster portals, those… holes, seem to be confined to the center of Seoul. The south, particularly Gangnam, has been hit the hardest, but things are relatively under control up north.”

Relieved, I exhaled and looked out beyond the helicopter.

We were climbing higher, rising into the morning sun.

Then I collapsed onto the floor of the helicopter as if I’d passed out.

—

“Hey! Get up!”

I woke to Yeo Do-yeon’s voice, tapping my cheek. The helicopter was on the ground. I let myself lean into her steady grip.

Without a care for others watching, Yeo Do-yeon hoisted me onto her back. She probably enjoyed the chance to tease me. I tried tapping her on the head, but she didn’t budge.

Damn it. I got a few odd looks from the soldiers as I was carried off. One of them even draped a blanket over me. So this was what power felt like.

From the rooftop helipad, I looked out over the world.

Smoke rose from distant cities, and the occasional boom of large explosions echoed through the air.

“It’s like a war…”

“Stating the obvious.”

With an exasperated grunt, Yeo Do-yeon adjusted me on her back and trotted inside.

I drifted in and out as she carried me into what looked like a break room.

Yang Pan-seok was speaking with a soldier, and the others were slouched in chairs, exhausted.

The rescued student, who had been sitting with a dazed expression, shakily stood up.

“Hello.”

She greeted me in a shy voice, then cautiously took my hand, shaking it gently.

“I’m… Pi Chae-won. Thank you so much for saving me.”

“It was nothing. Are you hurt?”

“…No, really, thank you so much. Because you opened the door…”

A sharp headache pulsed at my temple, making me sway slightly. The world spun around me.

“A-are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah. I’m fine, just sleep-deprived…”

“Is it because of me, maybe…”

“It’s not, so don’t worry about it. You and I both barely made it out alive.”

As the student fumbled, Yang Pan-seok’s voice called out to me.

“Seung-moon.”

“Yes?”

Yang Pan-seok gestured to a soldier and motioned toward me.

“Help him over here, will you? His leg’s giving him trouble.”

Soon, a soldier was at my side, offering a steadying hand. Seeing his rifle slung over his shoulder reminded me that we were indeed in a war zone.

“Thank you.”

“Oh, no problem. Here, hold on.”

With the help of two soldiers, I managed to get to my feet. Half-supported, I made my way down the hallway.

The man Yang Pan-seok had been speaking with approached us and greeted me.

“Good to meet you, Assemblyman. I’m Deputy Defense Minister Cha Jae-kyun.”

“Oh, I’m Assemblyman Han Seung-moon. Thank you so much for helping us, Deputy Minister.”

Cha Jae-kyun led the way, briefing us as we walked.

“The President has designated the Capital Defense Commander as the emergency martial law commander for Seoul… and then he passed away.”

It was quite the opener. Deputy Minister Cha scowled, striding forward with purpose.

“The Commander of Capital Defense is also deceased. The Prime Minister, too, is gone. The next in line, the Minister of Strategy and Finance, is technically acting president, but we’ve lost contact with him. We haven’t been able to reach anyone further down the line, either.”

In other words, the country was without a president.

“Likewise, we’ve lost contact with the Defense Minister, who was supposed to oversee the martial law commander. For now, I am acting in his stead.”

At this moment, this man was effectively the Defense Minister.

And he was overseeing the martial law command.

In other words, with the President and Defense Minister gone, he was the commander of the South Korean military.

Propped up by the soldiers, I struggled to keep my tone respectful. This was a good time for some flattery.

“This is no time to worry about protocol.”

“Yes. The President’s position is vacant, and I am the acting Defense Minister. The martial law commander is…”

Cha threw open a door.

“It would ideally be Lieutenant General Jang Gang-myung, commander of the 1st Corps.”

He gestured for us to take seats at an empty desk.

“But as he is also deceased, I have assumed the role myself.”

Things were moving fast.

Cha Jae-kyun, Deputy Defense Minister, was acting as both the military commander and martial law authority. He gestured for us to sit down.

Once we were seated around the large table, Cha signaled for the soldiers to leave. As the doors closed, the room became a secure space.

“I need your help, gentlemen.”

With dark circles under his eyes and a hard glint in his gaze, Cha got straight to the point.

His speech was rapid, the words of a man pressed for time.

“I am aware that my actions are somewhat extra-legal.”

“With communications down, finding an acting authority rather than losing Seoul sounds like a wise decision.”

“Uh…”

“Han Seung-moon, sir.”

“Yes, Assemblyman Han, you put it well.”

Cha Jae-kyun, acting as the Defense Minister, explained himself.

“You may wonder why I’m taking over the 1st Corps command, but the fact is, I was appointed Deputy Minister less than six months ago, and before that, I was Lieutenant General Cha Jae-kyun, commander of the 1st Corps.”

Basically, he was saying he was just retaking his old position for the emergency.

Was it patriotism or dictatorship? It was a bit blurry.

“While another is formally listed as the martial law commander, in reality, my former subordinates follow my orders. In legal terms, there’s no issue.”

Apparently, everything was by the book. Blinking tiredly, he asked us a question.

“What’s the state of the National Assembly?”

“The National Assembly building has collapsed, and most representatives are missing.”

“From what I’ve confirmed, there are at least dozens of dead. We managed to escape north, but as for the others…”

Cha Jae-kyun’s voice lowered, resonating with the weight of the situation as he briefed us.

“In light of the national emergency, I’ll be direct. I need your approval to destroy Seoul.”

I didn’t ask for his reasoning. It was now his job to explain.

“The enemy takes no prisoners. The monsters have already spread among ten million citizens.

I believe we need to establish a containment perimeter to prevent further spread, evacuate civilians, and deploy heavy weaponry.”

In other words, he wanted to evacuate people from Seoul and then obliterate it with tanks. I was beginning to grasp his personality.

Intelligent-looking but hard as nails.

“The Ground Operations Command wants to retake Seoul with infantry, claiming it’s more humane to keep civilians sheltering at home. But do you think bullets are going to work against those creatures?”

It was a fair argument. I summarized his position.

“So, Deputy Minister, you’re proposing that we abandon Seoul, evacuate people, and level it with tanks.”

“Exactly.”

“The Ground Operations Command wants to keep the city intact and only use infantry.”

“Correct.”

“You’re definitely acting as the Defense Minister now, so you have military command authority, right?”

Yang Pan-seok quickly cut to the chase.

“So it’s a mutiny, then.”

Cha nodded solemnly, and Yang rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“They don’t want to carry the stigma of destroying Seoul.”

“They’re opposed to my orders, insisting on securing Seoul by having civilians shelter at home and sending in infantry. I don’t know if bullets will even hurt these creatures…”

I asked the Deputy Minister,

“You’re asking us to back you up to persuade Ground Operations Command?”

[Interpretation: You want us to share the blame for destroying Seoul?]

“In short, yes.”

Damn. We’d escaped one hellscape only to be thrown into another political one. Different setting, but equally as exhausting.

Yang Pan-seok pressed further.

“Is abandoning Seoul truly necessary? This could spell the beginning of the end for our country. We’d be abandoning effectively half our territory…”

“I’m not proposing we abandon Seoul entirely. It’s just that, in the process of killing these monsters, the city will be destroyed. Besides, these creatures—”

“No, no. We didn’t come here after a few days of peaceful hiding. We were chased by monsters three times, right to the edge.”

Yang Pan-seok rested his head on his hands.

“I just think it’s an extreme measure.”

“First,”

Cha began listing reasons bluntly.

“We don’t know their numbers. If monsters continue pouring out indefinitely from the portals, we could be in a never-ending battle of attrition.”

“……”

“Second, with civilians mixed among the monsters, we can’t apply effective firepower. Evacuating civilians from the combat zone is essential.”

“And?”

“Lastly, we should prioritize saving lives over preserving buildings and infrastructure.”

Cha Jae-kyun handed us an operational consent form.

“Instead of ‘recapturing’ Seoul and ‘rescuing’ citizens, I propose that we ‘contain’ the city and ‘evacuate’ civilians.”

I’d only been a assemblyman for three days, and already I was facing all sorts of ordeals. Cha Jae-kyun gestured to the document, his bitter smile showing.

“Please, help us.”

He even bowed deeply.

Abandoning Seoul… Evacuate the people and destroy everything with tanks and artillery.

I asked a rhetorical question to buy time.

“Signing this makes us traitors who abandoned Seoul, doesn’t it? This is an extremely drastic and hasty plan.”

“Then what would you propose?”

Cha Jae-kyun was, at this moment, the head of the military. With all the top brass gone, he held the guns.

Even in zombie movies, the one holding the gun in a survivor group has the highest authority. This truth applies at the national level as well.

Whether the Seoul evacuation operation succeeded or not, Cha Jae-kyun had a strong chance of consolidating power.

If we lent him our support, helping him secure complete control over the military…

My decision didn’t take long.

“We’ll sign it. We’ll start by saving lives.”

Yang Pan-seok knew this too.

“If it has to be done, I’m willing to do it.”

—

Cha Jae-kyun collected our signatures and left. Yang Pan-seok and I were being guided to our quarters by soldiers.

The conflict between Cha Jae-kyun and the Ground Operations Command.

The power struggle over the destruction of Seoul.

The mutiny.

“Assemblyman Yang.”

“Hmm?”

“You don’t think he only got our signatures, do you?”

“Likely not.”

Two congressmen wouldn’t be enough to placate rebellious subordinates. He probably collected signatures from other high-ranking officials they’d rescued.

Not quite enough to be one of the pillars of power.

“…I think I know what you’re planning, but didn’t I tell you to quit gambling?”

“This one’s a rational gamble.”

“Well, that does make sense.”

If we were going to support him, we might as well make it definitive.