Republic of Korea in Yeokcheon - Chapter 252



Only Krnovel

#252. I’ll try to borrow it.

The Liberty Democratic Party headquarters in Yeouido.

“… … .”

“… … .”

“… … .”

A heavy silence weighed on the shoulders of those attending the meeting.

All you can hear is the occasional sigh and the sound of cigarette smoke being exhaled.

No one expected the Republicans to win, but no one expected a defeat of this magnitude.

Lost.

That too was a complete loss.

“Whew! We really lost badly.”

Song Jin-woo broke the silence and opened his mouth.

“Oh my god! How did this happen… … .”

Yoon Chi-young accepted Song Jin-woo’s words.

He also had a bad expression on his face because he had lost the election.

“25 seats? Is this possible?”

“It already happened.”

“This, is it possible that the government is rigging the election… .”

“Dongsan! Be careful what you say! It was a clean sweep! There is no evidence of election fraud anywhere, so what are you talking about! Do you intend to get cursed at more here?”

“no…….”

“Oh! But still!”

“… … .”

When Yoon Chi-young turned his head with a stinging look, Kim Seong-su, who had been silent, opened his mouth.

“Look here, Goha. Dongsan is also frustrated and is complaining. Please don’t get so upset.”

“Hey! Tsk!”

Since Kim Seong-su and Yoon Chi-young were in-laws, Song Jin-woo found it difficult to say anything more.

“Dongsan is the same. I understand how frustrating it is, but in the current situation, such words are of no help at all. Please refrain from saying anything.”

“Oh, I understand. Brother-in-law.”

“Oh my! In-laws at an official party meeting! Be careful what you say!”

“… … .”

In the end, it was Yoon Chi-young who was criticized one way or another.

Although he felt wronged inside, he chose to remain silent this time because neither Song Jin-woo nor Kim Seong-su were his opponents.

Kim Seong-su, who was glaring at Yoon Chi-young, opened his mouth again.

“Anyway, it happened. We lost this election. The Republicans have 251 seats, and we only have 25. No, that’s not right. The Progressives are also considered the ruling party, so to be exact, it should be 271 seats to 25 seats.”

“… … .”

The Progressive Party was founded by Cho Bong-am, but was effectively treated as a quasi-ruling party.

The very reason Cho Bong-am founded the party was that it was obvious that the Republican Party would win a landslide victory, and that the ruling party would become too large, so he founded his own party to monitor the huge ruling party from the outside.

In other words, he was originally a supporter of the current government, and those who joined the Progressive Party with him also joined for the same reason.

Therefore, the Republican Party also respected his wishes and did not nominate candidates in the districts where key figures such as Cho Bong-am were running, or only nominated candidates in a formal manner.

This is why not only the Liberal Democratic Party but also public opinion treats the Progressive Party as almost the ruling party.

But then Jang Deok-su came forward and started spitting.

“To be more precise, it’s not even 25 seats. Four of our elected candidates have been accused of election fraud by the election commission. And they probably won’t be able to enter the House of Representatives.”

“This is driving me crazy… … .”

As someone’s grumbling said, even 25 seats are not complete.

“Still, it’s 21 seats. The only good thing is that it met the requirements for a negotiating group, didn’t it? Even though it was a crushing defeat, there is hope.”

“Yes, it is said that a good start is half the work. The House of Representatives election is in four years, so let’s learn from this defeat and prepare for the next election.”

“That’s right, as Seol-san said, opportunities will come again. Let’s look forward to the next time.”

Anyway, it’s a real election.

If we continued to act as if we were in mourning after losing an election once, the very existence of the party would be in jeopardy.

“Whew! That’s right. Anyway, congratulations to those who were elected in this election. You all worked really hard. Especially Goha, you worked hard. And congratulations on your election.”

“Ugh! Why are you acting so embarrassing?”

“Hahaha! Is that embarrassing? In fact, who supported the other candidates as enthusiastically as you did?”

“Stop it. I don’t have the face to face my comrades in the Senate.”

There were few big names like Song Jin-woo who ran for the House of Representatives.

This was especially true when considering his age, which was what Lee Kang-cheol had intended when he created the Senate.

It created an atmosphere in which the elderly, prominent figures in independence were treated with respect and did not get involved in real-world politics.

So, regardless of whether they were domestic or overseas, there were almost no cases of a big shot like Song Jin-woo directly running for the House of Representatives elections, but Song Jin-woo had no choice but to run in accordance with the party’s line of trying to somehow secure at least one more seat.

Even the Republican Party was surprised and did not field a candidate in his district as a courtesy to Song Jin-woo, a prominent independence fighter.

This is why Song Jin-woo feels embarrassed.

Of course, there were also those who ran for office who were no less influential than Song Jin-woo, such as Park Heon-yeong from the same party and Kim Won-bong and Lee Gwan-sul from the Republican Party, but they were in their 50s and had a bright future ahead of them, so the situation was different.

“Haha! Still, an election is an election. And congratulations to the other elected officials. Mr. Park Heon-yeong, Mr. Jang Taek-sang, Mr. Jo Byeong-ok… … .”

Kim Seong-su congratulated each of the elected officials one by one.

“Thank you. I will work hard to fulfill the other comrades’ share as well.”

“thank you.”

“I will work hard.”

“Hahaha! Yes. I hope you will run hard with the mindset that one against a hundred is better than another. What about Mr. Woonam?”

“You seem to be very upset. I heard you were very upset.”

“Whew! Well, there’s nothing I can do about it. It’ll subside with time.”

“I guess so.”

Kim Seong-su and Song Jin-woo were able to confirm the power of Woonam in this election, but they were also able to feel its limitations.

It remains true that Woonam is the face of the Liberty Democratic Party.

But the problem was his age.

No matter how healthy he was, there was nothing he could do about his age, being in his early 80s.

Even with just a little bit of campaign support, it was obvious that he was having a hard time, and towards the end of the election, he stopped even the little bit of campaign support he had been getting.

It’s like this now, and by the next presidential election, it’ll be in the mid-80s.

How can we endure that difficult election process?

No, it doesn’t seem like there’s much hope right now, but it’s still a problem if he gets elected with bad words.

Would someone of that age be able to handle the arduous task of being president?

No matter how much I thought about it, it seemed like it would be difficult.

That may be why the executives of the Liberal Democratic Party began to distance themselves from Lee Hwa-jang little by little.

Even just showing up during the general elections would have been a great help, so until the general elections, I visited Ihwajang and bowed my head to ask for support for the campaign, but now the general elections are over.

“As you all know, this doctor is the foundation of our party. However, since he is old, if possible, let’s refrain from visiting the funeral home.”

“… … .”

“… … .”

There was no one who did not know what Kim Seong-su meant.

As the party leader, I will treat him with the utmost respect, but from now on, we will not discuss politics as much as before.

“Everything is good, but there is one problem.”

“What is it? Seol-san?”

“What are you going to do about the debt you owe in this election?”

“Rain, debt?”

“Yes.”

“… … .”

“… … .”

When Jang Deok-su brought up the topic of money, everyone kept their mouths shut as if they had made a promise.

“No, why are you all suddenly keeping your mouths shut? The debt owed by our central party is a debt, but the debt owed by individual candidates is astronomical! What are you going to do about this?”

“… … .”

As the name general election suggests, it is an election with 300 candidates in 300 constituencies.

The amount of money spent by the central party and individual candidates is officially astronomical.

At least the central party received political party support funds, and each candidate could receive full election funds from the government if they received more than 10% of the votes, but this was not enough.

The biggest problem, of course, are the candidates who didn’t even get 10% of the votes.

These are almost a third of them, and they will not even get their deposits back.

“ha…….”

“Whew… … .”

“… … .”

The atmosphere that had been brightening slightly turned gloomy again.

***

June 15, 1956.

Imperial Palace, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, Japan

An old man, dressed formally, kept nodding to the young man.

“Your Majesty! Please forgive my disloyalty! However, given the circumstances, I had no choice but to pursue such disloyal actions!”

“… … .”

A young man was being addressed as Your Majesty at the Japanese palace.

This young man was none other than Emperor Akihito, who had recently ascended to the throne of Japan, replacing Emperor Hirohito of Showa, who had abdicated as emperor to take responsibility for the war.

Due to strong claims from South Korea, the Emperor was officially demoted to Emperor of Japan, but within Japan, he was still referred to as Emperor.

And the person who kept bowing his head to Akihito was the current Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida.

But why is the Prime Minister praying to Akihito so earnestly?

There was only one cause.

“Do I really have to do that?”

“Yes! Your Majesty! This is absolutely necessary if our Japan is to rise again! Keuheuk!”

“Huh! Right!”

Akihito clicked his tongue.

I completely understood what the Prime Minister was saying, but honestly, it was something I didn’t want to do.

But the worries didn’t last long.

Although he did not commit the war, responsibility for it was passed down to him.

And, although nominally, he is still the Emperor of Japan.

As the Emperor, he must do whatever he can to benefit the people.

“Understood, Prime Minister. I will personally go to South Korea and apologize. I will bow my head and bow my waist, and once again deeply apologize for the past atrocities committed by Japan against South Korea. And I will pray. Is that okay?”

“Your Majesty! Keuheuk!”

Tears poured from Shigeru Yoshida’s eyes.

***

July 4, 1956.

It has been more than two months since the first general election and the opening of the House of Representatives.

The term of office for the House of Representatives began on May 1, 1956, but the first two months were spent in various training sessions conducted by the government.

This is because the members of the House of Representatives, which is effectively in charge of the legislature, were elected in the first general election in the history of the Republic of Korea, regardless of the ruling or opposition party, and so they could not just begin their duties as members of the House of Representatives.

Lee Kang-cheol’s official residence at the Blue House.

“Are the House members starting to act properly now?”

“Yes, after two months of hard training, I now look like a member of the National Assembly.”

“That’s fortunate.”

The person reporting is Kim In-sik, the Republican Party’s secretary general.

As the head of the ruling party’s office, he was the most prominent figure in South Korea when it came to party affairs, and was in charge of overall education of all members of the House of Representatives.

“Anyway, Director Kim, you’ve had a hard time.”

“Yes, because I hardly ever went home.”

“Hahaha! Don’t be too resentful. This is an order from the party leader. Now that you’ve caught your breath, take a vacation for about two weeks.”

“Huh! Really?”

“Am I the kind of person who only lies?”

“That’s not it, but… … .”

“Haha! Then hurry up and go on vacation with your family. I’ve even arranged flights and accommodations.”

“Yes? Where are you talking about?”

“Hahaha! It’s hot season now, so I booked a vacation spot in Hokkaido.”

“Oh! Hokkaido! Let’s go! Let’s go!”

“ha ha ha!”

Director Kim In-sik left his office in excitement.

and.

dripping!

“Yes, please come in.”

“I’m going.”

“Oh, Mr. Usagi. What’s the matter?”

“Excuse me, they say the Emperor is coming?”

“Who is it?”

“I am Emperor Akihito.”

“The Emperor is coming to our country?”

“yes.”

Lee Kang-cheol wondered what kind of nonsense this was.