NIS Agents Tearing Up the Japanese Empire - Chapter 172



Only Krnovel

NIS Agent Tears the Japanese Empire Episode 172

Dawn is Coming (8)

December 25th.

It’s Christmas.

Today was also a day when the church people who usually bothered me became quiet.

However, this was only the case for some people who believed in Christianity or people who came from the West, and for most Koreans or Japanese, it was only about three days after the winter solstice.

That’s why the battlefield scenery didn’t change or anything.

Japanese soldiers who had lost their place to sleep a few days ago dug into the ground to sleep in this cold winter or built huts to spend the night.

When they blew up the food storage there, they must have also blown up all the firewood, because there was no smoke from cooking rice at mealtimes, so it was like they were chewing on frozen potatoes.

“What poor seeds, aren’t they?”

“Who wouldn’t? It would be a pain to eat something frozen like that in this cold winter.”

“Tsk tsk tsk… … It looks like we don’t have any fuel to make a campfire anymore.”

On the other hand, the independence army spent the cold winter huddled together in warm trenches, near the stove, eating freshly cooked rice with kimchi.

There, on Christmas Day, Mr. Kim from Gyeongseong brought mackerel as a special meal and fed it to the soldiers one by one, and they all smiled with satisfaction.

“I never imagined that Mr. Kim would be such a brat.”

“What is a rascal?”

“Ahem… … Excuse me. I didn’t know you were a Christian.”

“Oh, just doing this kind of work, I naturally had many opportunities to become close to the church.”

I’m not a devout believer.

To be exact, since it is a job that deals with human lives, it is natural to feel uneasy every time a human life is taken.

In the past, it was such a serious problem that I seriously considered giving up on it because of such a trivial matter, but not anymore.

Because once you send one up, heaven will take care of the aftermath.

At least thinking that way makes me feel a little better.

Instead, I had to attend mass or worship at a church or cathedral on every anniversary, and I had to pay tithes regularly, but it was all bearable.

Rather, every time I attend a service or Mass, I think to myself that I won’t feel guilty if I give more people a chance to judge tomorrow.

“Mr. Kim, don’t you think the Japanese army is too quiet considering how badly they were attacked by our own forces in the past?”

“What are we going to do if they don’t keep quiet?”

“It’s suspicious that those who can stand being hit on the back of the head by someone else but can’t stand being hit by someone else are just sitting there and saying this.”

General Kim Kyung-Cheon asked me if I knew anything about the Japanese military situation, but since the last night raid, Japanese security had been strengthened and I couldn’t go outside either.

That’s why I was completely unfamiliar with the news from that side.

“That’s true. They’re not the type of people to just sit still like that.”

Originally, no matter how secure a bureaucratic society was, those who failed to achieve results and continued to cause problems were bound to be eliminated.

That is why it was said that bureaucrats had to struggle at least to keep their positions, like swans on a lake.

But what about General Kanno?

From the internal conflict with the Governor-General until now, he has never shown a good side.

Of course, there are many excuses.

Perhaps he had little support from his main force, or the enemy was much stronger than he expected, or his subordinates simply wouldn’t listen to him.

However, as the saying goes, excuses are the excuses of the incompetent, and the competent prove themselves with results instead of making excuses, General Kanno’s past actions naturally made one doubt his abilities.

That is to say.

“It seems like they’re up to something… … .”

“Do you know what that is?”

“Well, I don’t know.”

“Um… … . If this teacher had been here… … .”

“… … ?”

I was speechless at the sight of General Kim Gyeong-cheon speaking as if he was missing his departed comrade, right in front of me.

“No, even if he had been there, I don’t think anything would have changed.”

“Hmm… … But if it was this teacher, he would have brought us exactly what we needed before we needed it.”

“… … .”

I was confused as to whether I should be happy or angry at General Kim Kyung-cheon’s overestimation of me.

“Ah! That doesn’t mean I want to compare you to this teacher. It’s inevitable that a student will be inferior to his teacher.”

“… … .”

“Just think of it as the grumbling of someone who feels sorry that a good person has left first.”

“… … .”

-Whewwwww… … .

As I was being compared to another me by General Kim Kyung-cheon, I heard a sound of something falling and tearing the air apart.

“What does this mean?”

“… … It sounds like a shell, but it’s not ours.”

“yes?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the ground shook.

-Kwaaaaang!

It wasn’t just the ground shaking a little and then stopping, but it felt like laundry was being washed in a washing machine, and the space-time around me was being distorted.

The problem was that this started off a bit shaky and never ended.

-Bang! Bam!

The shelling continued without pause.

It was a tremendous artillery barrage that was hard to believe was from the Japanese military.

“Ugh… … .”

“Bow your head, Mr. Kim!”

“What is this?”

I lost my center of gravity and fell to the ground with such an impact that it felt like the axis of the earth was shaking and the entire building was being uprooted. My wrists were sore, perhaps because I fell incorrectly.

I lay on the ground like that for a long time, waiting for the shelling to pass, and after about ten minutes the shelling stopped.

“Ugh… … . I almost died.”

After confirming that the shelling had stopped, I carefully got up and looked out the window. Hamheung City, which had been peaceful until just a moment ago, was completely destroyed.

The houses on the outskirts of the city, whether Western-style or Korean-style, were devastated by the bombardment and none of them were left untouched. The buildings in the city were the same.

The situation was no different for the buildings downtown.

However, the difference was that many of the buildings in the city center were built sturdily with reinforced concrete, so not many buildings completely collapsed.

“Didn’t that artillery unit lose its function and become unemployed last time?”

“That’s what happened!”

“Then what is this?”

“… … .”

It seemed that General Kim Gyeong-cheon also did not know.

No, no one in Hamheung city knew where the shells came from.

“The Japanese army camp is quiet?”

“Yes, there hasn’t been an ounce of movement over there all morning.”

“… … Okay, I guess I can go now.”

The Japanese army across the river did nothing.

Nevertheless, shells flew into Hamheung.

This means only one thing.

“They are enemy reinforcements.”

“Support… … That thing Mr. Kim mentioned last time?”

“Unless the enemy suddenly appeared out of thin air, that is.”

Even if the ground forces went straight from Busan to Hamheung, it would take at least a week because there were many things to prepare and a lot of administrative procedures to deal with.

Looking at the damage from the shelling, it looked like it was a train cannon that had been dragged in from somewhere.

But if that many trains were moving around here… …. No, if such a train cannon had entered the Korean peninsula, there’s no way I wouldn’t have known.

So the conclusion is one.

“I heard that two battleships are coming into Wonsan Port. I think it’s them.”

“Battleship… … . When you say battleship, do you mean a large ship that floats on the sea?”

“Yes.”

“But it’s a little strange… …. The battleship is located in Wonsan Port, so how could it fire its cannons all this way?”

The straight-line distance from Wonsan to Hamheung was approximately 100 km, so even if it was a battleship, it was nearly impossible to drop shells here.

So the most reasonable inference is.

“They probably came all the way to Heungnam.”

“Heungnam… … Even if it’s Heungnam, it’s at least three or four hours away from here. So they’re going to attack here from there?”

“Isn’t that the most likely possibility?”

“hmm…….”

I don’t know much about battleships, but based on the current results, I can’t help but think that the battleships that had anchored at Heungnam were indiscriminately firing shells at Hamheung.

“Then we’re in trouble… … . We don’t have the means to intercept the battleships, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then, you’re saying that we have no choice but to be exposed to shelling like this… … . If the damage piles up like this, we won’t be able to defend this place… … !”

General Kim Kyung-cheon exploded with anger.

It was only natural that the momentum they had gained by driving the Japanese into a corner was overturned by a single cannon shot.

“It was a place that couldn’t be protected from the start.”

“… … .”

“A week is a long time. The main force of the Korean Independence Army in Nanam will probably be ready to cross the river again, so General Kim, please come to Gyeongseong with me.”

Anyway, my only plan was to infiltrate Gyeongseong with them, announce my return at the New Year’s speech at the Government-General a few days later, and at the same time destroy the newly built Government-General building.

“This can’t go on.”

“yes?”

“Battleships! If we leave the battleships behind, they will go straight up to Nanam and make it like this place. No, there is a port right next to that place, so if that happens, the damage will be incalculable.”

“hmm…….”

That certainly makes sense.

The fact that the Japanese Empire mobilized the battleships it had cherished and cherished for so long for the operation to subdue these pirate ships meant that it had properly drawn its sword.

The Japanese are the type of people who hesitate and waver when it comes to drawing their swords, but once they do, they turn their eyes and cut down everything they see.

“So what do you want to do?”

“… … .”

General Kim looked at me silently.

It seemed like he had something to say, but he seemed a bit awkward about saying it directly.

General Kim hesitated for a while, trying to say something, but then shook his head.

Then he added one more thing.

“Wow… … If it were this teacher… … .”

“… … .”

This was something I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry about.

“Huh… … . Okay, let’s hold out here for a few more days and then retreat.”

“What do you want to say?”

“… … .”

“Did you want to ask me to sabotage the battleship in Heungnam?”

“… … .”

General Kim neither confirmed nor denied.

He just looked at me quietly.

“Oh my… … .”

When I laughed out loud, General Kim said with a very serious face.

“It’s true that I thought that way, but on the other hand, I thought that there was no need to risk your life for something like this. We’ve already lost this great teacher.”

“… … .”

“That’s why I thought it would be better to just accept the loss rather than risk my comrade’s life for something that may or may not work out. That’s why I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to burden you unnecessarily.”

“Heh heh.”

General Kim was a very old-fashioned person in many ways.

I didn’t mean to insult him, I just meant that he was an upright person.

“General Kim.”

“… … .”

“Isn’t war originally about risking one’s life? And many comrades are ready to risk their lives for this cause.”

It’s no different for me.

“So if there’s something you want, don’t act so stuffy. Just tell me, like it’s an order or something.”

“… … .”

“Nagato and Mutsu are the pride of Japan.”

General Kim hesitated again, then spoke to me with a firm expression as if he had made up his mind.

“Mr. Kim, I have a favor to ask.”

“As much as you want.”