I Will Stage A Coup D’état - Chapter 107



Only Krnovel

EP.107 Kim Il Sung

I landed at Hansong Airport instead of my usual Pyongyang Sunan Airport.

I felt the need to inspect Seoul (Hansung) at least once.

As I was walking along the military review line prepared at Hansung Airport, an impressive name caught my eye.

When I stopped, Kim Seong-ju asked.

“Do you know this officer?”

“I think I know.”

My name is Kim Seong-ju.

He has the same name as the Army Minister next to me, but he is known to us by a slightly different name.

Kim Il-sung.

It was a name that any Korean could not help but know.

But just in case, let’s check.

“Hey, tell your friend to come closer.”

As soon as Kim Seong-ju gave the order, the fake Kim Seong-ju, or rather Kim Il-sung, came running in a hurry.

“Chu, loyalty. Major Kim Il-sung of the 1337th Unit, I meet the respected leader, His Excellency Lee Song-jun.”

“Take a rest.”

Even though I made his posture comfortable, Kim Il-sung’s expression was still stiff.

“Hey, by any chance, where is your hometown?”

“I am from Pyongyang, Your Excellency.”

“When were you born?”

Instead of making a face as if he was asking a bunch of questions, Kim Il-sung answered in an even more nervous tone.

“I was born in 1912.”

It seemed like the Kim Il-sung I knew.

I would be 140% sure if there was a lump, but I haven’t seen it yet.

“You’re in the airport unit?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Are you in the Air Force?

When I asked if that was true, he said no.

I had a brief conversation with Ilseong and got into the car.

Kim Seong-ju said on the way in the car.

“If by any chance you have any connection with Your Majesty, I will take care of it.”

It meant that he would be pushed to become a member of the National Salvation Military Committee.

No, why are you pushing Ilseong like that?

I was immediately impressed.

“That’s not it. Why would I push that guy? There’s nothing I like about him.”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I have offended you.”

“Okay. It was a misunderstanding, so let’s stop talking about it.”

I stopped liking Kim Il-sung there.

But I should have thought carefully.

A single word I uttered could have a more powerful impact on someone than a typhoon.

*

“Your Majesty, you have confirmed my name and even asked about my origins. This is proof that you are interested in me. I am done now.”

Kim Sung-ju, no, Kim Il-sung, was very excited.

Now that I had caught the eye of the highest authority in the country, my tedious airport life was over.

Where will the next position be?

Security Service?

Central court?

Capital Defense Command?

Anything was fine.

Let’s only walk on the flower path to success.

Kim Il-sung was intoxicated with splendid dreams.

“Major Kim Seong-ju. This is an interview with the unit commander.”

Has any action been taken already?

Kim Il-sung went to the deputy commander’s office naked.

When he went to the deputy commander’s office, the deputy commander Park Jeong-su was waiting for him with an indecipherable look in his eyes.

“Did you make a mistake when serving His Majesty?”

“How could that be? You saw it too, Commander?”

Park Jeong-su remembered that too.

Although Kim Il-sung was a bit nervous, his actions themselves were not faulty.

So what happened then?

Park Jeong-su tilted his head and then handed over the personnel order.

“Hey, what is this?”

“It’s a transfer order, what could it be?”

Kim Il-sung read the order with trembling hands.

Army personnel orders.

Major Kim Seong-ju is appointed as the commander of Unit 684, the Aoji Coal Mine management unit.

“Ah, the Aoji Coal Mine?”

Kim Il-sung felt an indescribable fear in those words.

Only then could I understand the mysterious look in the captain’s eyes.

Why me anyway?

What crime did you commit?

Kim Il-sung read the order over and over again.

I must have seen this wrong.

There was no way His Majesty, who asked about my origins after seeing my name, would do that.

But no matter how many times I rubbed my eyes, nothing changed.

“Oh, why?”

Ilseong sent a letter of resentment to His Majesty.

“Your Majesty, I have been treated unfairly. Please take a look at it. It is truly unfair.”

But there was no reply.

A few days later, Kim Il-sung had to head from the large city of Hansung to the remote Aoji area.

Aoji was a terrible place, reeking of the smell of the wilderness from its very name.

“Hello, Director. Congratulations on your appointment. However, the official residence looks like this. Still, I hope you are doing well.”

When we arrived at the 684th Unit’s post, we were told that the official residence was a tent roughly pitched in a building that hadn’t been built yet.

I was amazed.

The unit itself was ridiculous, as most of its members were former military officers who had committed serious crimes (treason).

Since they were people who had been colonels or generals in the past, they didn’t even show any respect when they saw Kim Il-sung.

“Are you the director? Your head is shiny and shiny, as if you haven’t dried any blood yet. Is that a lump behind it?”

It was also the nobleman who passed by, scratching his head as if in a reluctant salute.

Most of them didn’t even do that.

“A major like you wants to receive a salute? This kid is completely lost in this.”

This wasn’t the unit I was sent to work for.

It was a place of exile, no, a tomb where he was sent to write a letter of resignation.

“X, X foot.”

Kim Il-sung had a curse on his lips.

I wanted to throw away the military and everything, but I couldn’t do that.

With my eldest son, Jeong-il, and a string of children running around, how will I manage the household if I put down my spoon?

Ilseong was also calculating to that extent.

From that day on, Kim Il-sung’s Arduous March began.

“Quota! We have to meet the quota. So please cooperate.”

“Oh, then bring me some alcohol. Then I’ll do it. Okay?”

“No, if I get caught giving alcohol to a prisoner, I’ll be in trouble.”

“If you don’t like it, then don’t say anything. We won’t have any regrets.”

Ilseong felt his insides boiling as he brought the liquor to Aoji.

The generals(?) drank the wine in turn and gave Ilseong half of the quota he had asked for.

“No, I kept my promise, so why are you guys doing this?”

“We only drank half of it. If you don’t like it, I’ll throw it back up. Throw it up?”

Those guys named Muban were not people you could communicate with at all.

His Majesty would have cracked his head at these guys.

“What are you guys doing? If you don’t listen to me, I’ll have to beat you up.”

Ilseong vented his anger by manipulating the easy-going privates and non-commissioned officers.

But these guys weren’t easy either.

“Hey, put it on.”

One night, while Ilseong was sleeping, non-commissioned officers and privates came in, covered Ilseong with a blanket, and beat him.

“Is it okay to step on this?”

“Just step on it. He came all the way here anyway, he doesn’t have any support, so what does it matter?”

Ilseong begged for his life, but was beaten all night long and suffered fractures to his arms and legs.

A week after the announcement of the appointment, when Ilseong fell asleep in bed, an investigator came from above.

In cases like this, it was common to severely punish the soldiers who had messed with the officers.

Ilseong also expected that.

But in Aoji, the story was a little different.

The only officers who were assigned to the Aoji area were those sent by the military to strip them of their uniforms.

So the investigator just did a rough and tumble investigation and cleared it up.

“So, you found the director in the morning after he fell out of bed while sleeping?”

“That’s what I said.”

Everyone testified in unison that it was so.

“I said no! They covered me with a blanket.”

Ilseong tried to shout something more, but he kept his mouth shut when he saw the soldiers’ murderous gazes.

It wasn’t like the atmosphere was such that he would mind if the investigator took his side.

“Do you have anything else to say? Then we will conclude the investigation here.”

After the investigators left, Ilseong’s position fell further.

Now even the new soldiers ignored Ilseong.

When Ilseong limped and walked with crutches, people just laughed and didn’t even think about saluting him.

I was so embarrassed and angry.

Why do I have to end up like this?

Ilseong thought about how he came to be here several times, but he couldn’t figure out why.

Nothing really happened between you and Your Majesty.

However, it was clear that this unfortunate incident had occurred because someone had been offended that day.

It certainly won’t be you, there will be someone else.

A dog like a dog.

Ilseong chewed on the curse and vowed that one day he would get revenge on the guy who had thrown him there.

But Ilseong’s determination only grew duller day by day.

Prisoners and soldiers who ignore him.

Pressure from above to meet quotas.

A repetitive, horrible routine.

Finally, Ilseong became dissatisfied with His Majesty.

That son of a bitch, Lee Sung-jun.

If he had been paying attention, would he have ended up in a place like this?

It was all his fault.

Ilseong couldn’t control his anger and acted impulsively.

Success and all that stuff was out of the question anymore.

“Do you really want to join our Communist Party?”

As the times became more and more corrupt, even the communists looked upon those who joined their party as strange.

Ilseong said firmly.

“I want to join the party because I want to start a revolution. Is that a sin?”

“If that’s what you want, comrade, then let’s live while looking at each other’s faces.”

The Korean Communist Party accepted Kim Il-sung’s entry into the party.

Kim Seong-ju, an army officer who was once loyal to Korea, disappeared like that.

In his place was a revolutionary burning with anger, Kim Il-sung.