NIS Agents Tearing Up the Japanese Empire - Chapter 177



Only Krnovel

NIS Agent Tears the Japanese Empire Episode 177

The famous snake (5)

Kwaaaaaaaah!

Late at night.

The moment when the people of Heungnam were slowly eating dinner and preparing to go to bed.

Suddenly the eastern sky brightened, and a loud explosion ripped through the cold air, followed by an unexpected winter storm that swept over Heungnam.

Eeeeek!!!

The strong wind that swept through Heungnam Port shattered all the windows of the buildings and ripped off all the draft paper. However, it was still so angry that it even roughly pushed a young man who was sitting on the street smoking a cigarette.

“… … ?”

The young man, who was pushed by a sudden gust of wind, stared blankly at the eastern sea where flames were rising.

“What is this… … .”

A huge fireworks display took place over the eastern sea.

It wasn’t yet New Year’s Day, but the Japanese had gotten the date wrong and were already setting off firecrackers.

However, this is a little different from the usual fireworks display in that while the usual fireworks display shows small fireworks flying into the sky, here a giant battleship turret flies into the sky.

“and…….”

That wasn’t all.

As the battleship’s turret flew away, seawater rose up in the shape of a large mushroom, swallowing up the other battleship next to it.

No, as if that wasn’t enough, the aftermath reached Heungnam.

“Uh… … . Huh???”

Suddenly, people who came outside at the loud noise were startled by the large waves crashing into the harbor and ran away in a hurry.

Fortunately, the waves became weaker as they approached the port, so no major casualties occurred, but not the sailors.

“Oh my… … . Oh my! What should I do with that!”

“That big ship is just sinking.”

“Well, you see a lot in life.”

The battleship, which had snapped in half due to the aftermath of the explosion, quickly began to sink into the sea.

It wasn’t quite night yet, but it was already quite late, so it was time for those with nothing else to do to go to bed.

Perhaps because of this, not many sailors were able to escape the rapidly sinking battleship.

At most, there were only a few dozen people.

“Doesn’t someone need help?”

“Then, why don’t you go and see for yourself?”

“I don’t have a stomach.”

“Why? Did you lose it gambling again?”

Although countless sailors were struggling on the sea, the port residents just looked on with indifferent expressions.

This was not because they were evil or obsessed with anti-Japanese sentiment.

“What nonsense is that! The Japanese confiscated all our ships just in case people like us got close to their warships!”

“That’s right.”

There were no ships in the harbor.

There might have been at least one or two fishing boats, but the Japanese Navy was worried that the Koreans might do something foolish to their warships, so they confiscated all of their ships.

“But what is this… … .”

“Why did a perfectly healthy stomach burst and cause chaos?”

“Did someone set off a bomb inside?”

“Oh, is that the guy from Gyeongseong?”

“Isn’t that guy dead?”

“Ah… … Then, who are you?”

As a result, the residents of Heungnam had to stay far away and watch as large battleships sank and sailors floundered in the cold winter sea.

“But… … . I don’t know about anything else, but they say that the best thing to see among all the sights is watching fireworks… … . I think there’s nothing wrong with that saying.”

“Hahaha. I agree with that.”

“Tsk tsk tsk… … A lot of young people have died.”

“They are such vicious Japanese.”

“But if someone died, you will be punished for behaving so badly.”

Some people were saddened by the young man’s death, some were delighted by the untimely pyrotechnics, and others were worried that the sparks might fly to them.

While so many people gathered in the harbor, they watched the battleship quickly sink completely beneath the water’s surface.

Some people just stared blankly at this.

“Why is that suddenly… … .”

* * *

Admiral Hara, the captain of the battleship Mutsu, the pride of the Empire of Japan, and commander of the provisional battleship squadron, also shared the same thoughts.

Late evening.

While most of the others had gone to bed, Admiral Hara, who still had work to do, was finishing up the remaining work in his private room.

But then suddenly there was a tremendous noise and the ship shook violently as if it had been hit by a bomb.

“What is this!?”

Admiral Hara left the shaking captain’s cabin and headed straight for the bridge.

Although soldiers were seen bumping into things and falling over here and there as they were unable to overcome the rocking of the battleship, Admiral Hara climbed up to the bridge without even swaying once, whether it was because of his sturdy lower body or his sense of crisis that things were going really wrong.

“What’s going on? Report it!”

And as soon as he entered the bridge, he shouted to let people know he was there.

Then, the officer who had been barely holding on to the wall quickly saluted.

“You’re here… … . Eww!”

When the officers and soldiers tried to salute the captain, they all rolled on the floor in an awkward manner.

Admiral Hara clicked his tongue slightly at the sight of such foolish sailors and turned his head to look around.

Then, the pride of the Empire of Japan, the battleship Nagato, came into view.

“… … ?”

Nagato, a new battleship built several years ago and one of the most powerful battleships in the world…

“It split in half… … !”

To be exact, the front part was torn off, but it was meaningless to consider that in this situation.

Even while I was having these useless thoughts, the pride of the Empire of Japan quickly subsided, and the proud warriors of the Empire of Japan turned into water ghosts.

“Save Nagato! Save the soldiers!”

Admiral Hara, who recognized the seriousness of the situation, immediately gave the order to rescue, but it was impossible for that to be carried out properly on the ship which was shaking in the aftermath of the explosion.

“Move quickly! The soldiers are dying!”

“Oh, I understand!”

The officer relayed orders to the crew on board, but there was no way of knowing how much of the chaos had spread.

Time passed so quickly.

The crew of the Mutsu hastily launched a rescue boat to rescue the sailors drifting in the cold East Sea, but the rescue was difficult due to the violent winds that were churning the sea off Heungnam, where the aftereffects of the explosion were still present.

“Me! Burn me first!”

“Get on quickly!”

“Hey! I haven’t gotten on yet, where are you going!”

Mutsu’s boat alone was not enough to rescue all of Nagato’s crew.

The other destroyers that had been far away came one by one to help with the rescue, which relieved the sigh of relief, but it soon became dark.

The accident occurred in Hamgyeong Province, known for its coldest winters on the Korean Peninsula, and on the East Sea, known for its rough weather, as night fell and it became dark.

In this situation, all warships, including battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and supply ships, gathered together, turned on their searchlights, and went out to rescue, but they could not save everyone.

“… … All but 133 survivors are missing.”

“… … .”

“after…….”

A search was conducted until the morning after the incident, but no additional survivors were found.

The corpses of sailors who had not been rescued were floating in the sea, and oil leaking from the battleship was coloring the sea.

“How are the survivors?”

“There are many people showing symptoms of hypothermia, perhaps because they are all out in the cold winter sea, but they are being treated by being distributed to each ship, so I don’t think there will be a major problem.”

“Um… …. The captain?”

“… …Unfortunately, it seems like I couldn’t get out.”

“I see… … Then what about the other officers?”

“It seems that the gunner and cook escaped safely, but I haven’t been able to confirm the rest of the personnel. I’ll contact each ship and investigate.”

“No, first of all, I think everyone must have had a hard time, so if possible, please make sure they can rest comfortably.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Of the Nagato’s crew of over 1,300, only 133, or one-tenth, returned alive.

The rest all became fish food.

That wasn’t the only problem.

One of the destroyers, caught in the aftermath of Nagato’s incredible self-destruction, was left so damaged that it could no longer sail under its own power, and suffered considerable damage there as well.

‘Nagato… … . Nagato… … . Nagatooooo… … !!!’

One of the few 16-inch battleships in the world has disappeared.

It did not sink after a brave fight against the enemies of the Empire of Japan, but rather due to an unknown self-destruction.

This incident occurred in the midst of an already difficult economic situation and internal turmoil.

‘Who is it? Who is the culprit?’

In fact, since Nagato exploded on its own, if we were to point out the culprit, it could be said that the Nagato’s crew members, who were the victims of this incident, were the culprits.

But if you end the case like that, the responsibility for this incident will naturally fall on you.

‘That won’t work.’

He feels a great sense of responsibility for this incident.

But responsibility is responsibility, and promotion is promotion.

How much effort did Colonel Hara put in to be promoted to Major General?

After all that hard work, I was finally promoted, but then this major accident happened.

‘I can’t just turn this around by myself.’

Director Hara (Jin) felt a heavy sense of responsibility for this incident.

But at the same time, I felt the most intense sense of crisis.

‘Should we just blame the dead Takahashi for everything? Yeah, if we say that the problem arose because of his failure in managing his soldiers, that’s it… . . . ‘

If we do that, the arrows of criticism that will be poured on Director Hara (Jin) will be reduced somewhat, but that does not mean that they will completely disappear.

An entire battleship sank.

It was not just any battleship, but the sinking of the battleship Nagato, which was the pride of the Empire of Japan.

Nagato is one of the few 16-inch battleships in the world and one of the most powerful battleships possessed by the Japanese Navy!

Such a great weapon was sunk not by a fierce artillery battle with an enemy battleship, or even by a torpedo attack from a submarine, but simply by self-destruction.

Although no proper investigation has been conducted, the fact that the massive battleship sank so quickly and that Nagato’s gun turrets were high in the sky when the explosion occurred suggest that the cause of Nagato’s sinking was an explosion in her ammunition magazine.

But what could possibly happen if an ammunition magazine exploded on a ship that was safely anchored?

‘You said he was the ghost of Gyeongseong? If he were alive, we could have just arrested a few Koreans at the port and beaten them up, saying it was his work… ‘

This wasn’t something that happened as a result of someone’s special attack.

There was a high probability that one of Nagato’s sailors was causing trouble in the ammunition depot.

The Japanese Navy had already almost blown up the battleship Mikasa, Admiral Togo’s flagship and the soul of the Japanese Navy, in a similar incident before.

‘Fuck… … . Fuck… … . Fuck… … .’

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t think of a way to get out of this situation without getting hurt.

‘Is this the end…? Is it just going to end like this?’

When I first came to Joseon, I felt resentful of myself for simply supporting the army while they were beating up the rebels and thinking that I would just receive one more medal.

At that time, I thought this position was just adding to the achievements without doing anything, but who would have thought such a major accident would happen!

Director Hara (Jin) was on the verge of going crazy from the frustration.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”

“what!”

That’s why he responded more nervously than usual to the call from the guard on duty who was looking for him.

“That, that… … . They say they just rescued a new survivor.”

“So what! Are you bothering me over something like that?”

Being a survivor was no longer important to him.

This was because he felt more sorry for himself, who was drying up and dying in the equally cold military and political arena, than for the sailors who were freezing to death in the cold East Sea.

“Oh, no! That’s why… … .”

“Do you have anything else to say? Then speak clearly, and if not, get out of here.”

“The survivor said he was in the ammunition depot at the time of the incident!”

“what?”

At that moment, a ray of light descended upon Admiral Hara.