1979, Manager Kim is Inheriting Dictatorship! - Chapter 2



Only Krnovel

Episode 2

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And then a little while later, a text message came to my phone from an unknown number.

[System: You must seize power to survive.]

‘Seize power?’

As I was blankly reading the text message that had arrived, a man with fierce eyes next to me looked at me and spoke in an urgent voice.

“Boss! Now is not the time to be looking in the mirror. Right now, all the staff members are waiting for your orders!”

The man looks at me with anxious eyes.

Then he grabs the shirt I was wearing and says:

“Let’s go down first, sir!”

The man goes down, half-dragging me while protecting me.

When I went to the first floor, it was already a bloody scene.

And then a little while later a middle-aged man wearing a suit approaches me, completely drunk.

“Director Kim. What happened? Did you really kill Director Choi Cheol-gi?”

“Ah… no. I didn’t kill him….”

“Your Majesty! What is your Majesty’s condition?”

“that···.”

‘But who is this person···.’

Clearly, he was not a well-known face like President Lee Jung-hwan or Presidential Security Service Chief Choi Cheol-gi.

I seemed to remember seeing it once or twice, but I couldn’t remember exactly who it was.

“Chief Kim! Are you okay? Speak up!”

A middle-aged man in front of me shouts at me loudly as I hesitate and say nothing.

‘Wait a minute… the smartphone just now…’

“Excuse me.. I.. need to go to the bathroom for a bit.”

“No… Right now, in this situation, what kind of bathroom…!”

“I’m in a hurry. I’ll be back soon.”

“Manager Kim! Manager Kim!! Ha… Seriously..”

I left the man behind and ran to the bathroom.

And as soon as I entered the bathroom, I immediately took my smartphone out of my pocket again.

I touched the chrome with a longing heart.

“Please.. please..”

‘It’s possible!’

Fortunately, the smartphone connected to the Internet without any problems as usual.

There were more than one or two questions, but first of all, as mentioned in the text earlier, in order to survive, one had to seize power.

Otherwise, just like Kim Jong-guk in history, I too will disappear like the dew on the execution ground.

And to seize power, they need detailed information about what happens next.

“10/26 incident···.”

I logged onto my usual Muna Wiki and quickly skimmed through the content about the situation right after 10/26.

‘see..’

[After the assassination of President Lee Jung-hwan, Chief of Staff Kim Jung-guk asked Chief of Staff Jeong Se-won to handle the aftermath, and after that, Chief of Staff Jeong Se-won carried President Lee Jung-hwan on his back and took him to the Armed Forces Capital Hospital.]

“Secretary Jeong Se-won?”

I immediately searched for Jeong Se-won in the search bar, and information and photos about Chief Secretary Jeong Se-won appeared.

‘That… drunk man earlier…’

The photo at the very front was taken when he was a bit older, so he looked a bit different, but he was definitely the drunk man from earlier.

‘That person earlier was the chief secretary.’

[Chief of Staff Jeong Se-won was a person recommended to President Lee Jung-hwan by Kim Jeong-guk, and was close to Kim Jae-gyu as if they were brothers.]

‘Are you on Director Kim Jung-guk’s side…?’

However, this thought changed 180 degrees the moment I read the next line.

[After confirming the death of President Lee Jung-hwan at the Armed Forces Hospital, Chief of Staff Jeong Se-won went to the Prime Minister’s Office and informed Prime Minister Choi Hyun that Kim Jung-guk had murdered President Lee Jung-hwan. Kim Jung-guk then went to the Army Headquarters, failed to seize power, and was later arrested.]

‘I have to be with this person no matter what…’

And the last line, as expected from Muna Wiki, also included personal opinions on the October 26 incident.

[There were many who said that if Vice Minister Kim Jong-guk had gone to the Central Intelligence Agency instead of the Army Headquarters, he could have taken power. People say that his biggest mistake was going to the Army Headquarters after assassinating President Lee Jung-hwan.]

That made some sense.

At that time, the power ranking was President Lee Jung-hwan, Chief of Security Choi Cheol-gi, and the third in line was the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Kim Jung-guk, whom I had been talking to.

If only Kim Jong-guk had made the right decisions, he could have easily seized power.

‘I guess I’ll have to go to the courtyard first.’

Just when I was thinking that it was time to go out, I heard a voice outside.

“Boss!!”

It was the voice of the fierce-eyed subordinate who had dragged me down from outside earlier.

I quickly put my smartphone in my pants pocket and went outside.

“Oh.. I’m sorry.”

“Boss! You have to tell us what to do now! Everyone is just waiting for your orders.”

“.. .. .. Um.. what is your name?”

“Yes..? Director… I’m Young-ho, right? Oh Young-ho. I feel bad. We worked together for several years···.”

A look of genuine regret appeared on his face for a moment.

“Youngho. Can I trust you now?”

Youngho answers in a calm voice without a moment’s hesitation.

“Of course. Not only me, but all the staff members of the central office will follow any order given by the manager without a moment’s hesitation.”

There wasn’t a single tremor in his voice.

His words seemed to be sincere.

Kim Jung-guk seemed to be a leader who was quite trusted by the Jungjung staff.

“Then, Mr. Youngho, along with several other Jungjung staff members, move President Lee Jung-hwan’s body, no, His Excellency’s body, and Director Choi Cheol-gi’s body to the Jungjung.”

“Your Majesty, are you saying that the body should be taken to the inner court?”

“Can you do it?”

Youngho thinks for a moment and then answers in a calm voice.

“.. .. .. All right.”

Before going out with Youngho, I have one more request.

“And one more thing.”

“Yes, go ahead, sir.”

“From now on, the person who assassinated President Lee Jung-hwan is Chief of Security Choi Cheol-gi. Do you understand?”

“Okay, I’ll make sure my employees are disciplined as well.”

“Thank you. Remember, Youngho. I am never one to forget a favor.”

“I know, sir.”

His voice was filled with boundless trust in Kim Jong-guk.

“Let’s go out. People will be waiting.”

_________

When I came out of the bathroom, there was one more man besides Secretary Jeong Se-won.

And the figure was a familiar face.

‘Chief of Staff of the Army Lee Hwa-seong.’

He was a very important figure in Korean history, so there was no way I wouldn’t know.

Although he is a good person as a soldier, this person tells Kim Jong-guk to go to the Army Headquarters, and Kim Jong-guk ultimately fails to seize power.

“Director Kim. What on earth was that gunshot just now! Is Your Majesty okay?”

“Let’s talk while we’re moving. President, Chief Secretary, let’s get in the car first.”

“Please tell me what happened..! What on earth happened on the second floor!”

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s voice becomes louder.

“I’ll tell you everything on the way! Just get in the car!”

I also answered with a raised voice so as not to be pushed around as much as possible.

From the beginning, Kim Jung-guk was not a person who was inferior to Lee Hwa-seong in terms of career or power hierarchy.

In fact, if we only look at the hierarchy of power, Kim Jong-guk was superior to him to the point that the comparison itself was embarrassing.

President Lee Hwa-seong hesitates for a moment, then nods.

“Ha.. Okay, sir. Let’s get on.”

“Me… want me to ride too?”

I looked at the chief secretary and said.

“In an emergency situation like this, can we move separately?”

“Ha.. I see..”

The president gets into the car, and Chief Secretary Jeong also gets in next to him with a complicated expression.

The car starts and a while later, the president asks.

“Manager Kim. So what the hell happened?”

I swallowed once and spoke calmly.

“Your Majesty… has been murdered.”

“Yes..?? Your Majesty was murdered!! Who on earth murdered you!”

The president asks back in anger.

Secretary Jeong, as if he had expected this, simply closed his eyes and groaned.

As planned, I covered up all the crimes with Chief of Security Choi Cheol-gi.

“That bastard, Chief of Security Choi Cheol-gi, assassinated His Excellency. The Jungjeong staff and I somehow managed to immediately take out our guns and subdue Choi Cheol-gi and his men, but… His Excellency…”

I held back my emotions as best I could, and my voice trembled as I cried.

“Ah.. no.. why did Director Choi.. Your Excellency..”

The president can’t forget the words as if he finds it hard to believe.

“Don’t you know? That bastard Choi Cheol-gi’s personality. In the end, he must not have been satisfied with his current power. Or maybe that bastard Choi Cheol-gi was really a hidden spy.”

When the topic of personality came up, both the president and the chief secretary nodded as if they understood to some extent.

Choi Cheol-gi was known for his violent temper and his tyranny when he had power.

These people probably don’t know that either.

The Chief of Staff closes his eyes, ponders for a moment, and then opens his mouth.

“I understand what happened, Chief Kim. Let’s go to Army Headquarters first. Let’s go there and handle this situation.”

If Kim Jong-guk goes to Army Headquarters, he will lose all command authority.

Right now, we must head towards the central government unconditionally.

In particular, these two must be taken to the central court without fail.

The fact that you asked me this in the first place was proof that I was the one with the decision-making power in this situation.

Since both President Lee Jung-hwan and Chief of Security Choi Cheol-gi were dead, it was natural that Kim Jong-guk, who was third in the power hierarchy, had the decision-making power.

And the person who was driving and the person in the passenger seat were both Jungjung employees, and most of the vehicles following behind were also Jungjung employees’ vehicles.

“Sir, shall we take you to the Army Headquarters?”

The driver asked me,

At least it proved once again that I am the decision maker in this car.

I spoke to the clerk who stopped the car for a moment and waited for my answer.

“No. Let’s go to the courtyard.”

“Wait a minute… No, Chief Kim! I told you we have to go to the Army Headquarters first!”

“Yes. Chief Kim. For now, let’s go to the Army Headquarters.”

Chief Secretary Jeong also tries to change the destination by interfering with President Lee’s words.

‘In a time like this… if it were Kim Jung-guk···.’

I shouted, recalling Kim Jung-guk’s character in a movie I had seen a few hours ago.

“That bastard Choi Cheol-gi assassinated Your Excellency! In an emergency situation like this where Your Excellency is absent, we must head to the central headquarters where we can properly control the nation’s information! General! Is there a unit in the military that can properly control information right now?”

“If it’s information, isn’t there also the Army Security Command?”

The Chief of Staff asks if there is no Army Security Command, a modern-day version of the Military Intelligence Command.

“Do you really think that the Security Command can match our intelligence capabilities? Have you forgotten that I was the commander of the Security Command in the past? Do you really think that I, who was also a commander, wouldn’t know which side has better intelligence capabilities?”

“That.. that..”

At that moment, Chief Secretary Jeong Se-won, who had been quiet, intervenes.

“Then let the two of us get off here. What good would it do for us to go to the central government? Shouldn’t we each go to the Army Headquarters and the Prime Minister’s Office and find a way to handle this situation on our own?”

“I’m sorry, brother, but that won’t do.”

Based on the information that the Chief Secretary and Kim Jung-guk were usually like brother and sister, I spoke to him using the more comfortable title of “hyung” rather than “chief secretary.”

“In an emergency like this, it is too dangerous for key national figures to be alone. Let’s go to the central government and set up an emergency headquarters. Also, Your Excellency’s body has been collected and brought back by our staff. Are you planning to leave Your Excellency and go somewhere else?”

Neither man can offer any further rebuttal to President Lee Jung-hwan’s story.

“Then, I will run straight to the courtyard.”

The driver stopped asking questions after those words and started pedaling harder.