Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

137 – You, Be My Comrade

“I’ll get straight to the point. Please keep silent about the existence of the soldier who was imprisoned in the underground facility of the Ministry of National Defense.”

With the situation progressing as it was, Nam Joon-woo, the Minister of National Defense, attempted to employ the Ministry’s patented method of ‘covering up the incident’ against Myung-jun.

However, Myung-jun shook his head and immediately rejected Minister Nam Joon-woo’s request.

“No.”

“At least negotiate the terms…”

“Sorry, but I’m not the one you should be negotiating with. The ones who deserve an apology are the soldier unjustly imprisoned in the underground facility, his mother, and the soldiers who were killed to hide his existence and were falsely recorded as having died during gate operations, along with their families.”

“Are you seriously going to make an issue out of that as well?”

Myung-jun spoke in an infinitely cold voice.

“For some reason, those in higher positions tend to use the word ‘sacrifice’ too easily when their own lives aren’t at stake. Sometimes, a sacrifice for the nation may be noble, but it is only noble when it is voluntary.”

“They are soldiers who swore to give their lives for the country.”

“Don’t talk about oaths when you forcibly throw them into cells the moment they refuse to swear.”

“Do you perhaps have some bad memories from your military service?”

“It would be harder to find a South Korean veteran without bad memories of the military, but since you’re curious, I’ll answer.”

Myung-jun briefly explained the situation during his discharge.

He recounted how, during a mission, all his company members, including Second Lieutenant Kim Hak-won, were annihilated except for him, and how the entire unit was falsely recorded as having died in an accident to conceal information about the monster and the gate under information control at the time.

He even mentioned that he had to sign a confidentiality agreement before being discharged. Minister Nam Joon-woo couldn’t say anything in response.

The way Myung-jun described the ‘method of handling matters’ was exactly how the South Korean Ministry of National Defense had always operated.

At this point, Yoon Se-ah, the director of EDA, urgently intervened and spoke to Myung-jun.

“If there are any requests you have, we will try to meet them as much as possible. We can also provide maximum compensation to the soldier and his parents who were imprisoned underground. And before that, we will withdraw the EDA agents deployed in the area to respond to the situation.”

Yoon Se-ah had issued a full mobilization order to all EDA agents near the research facility the moment contact was lost with the Gate Research Facility.

With Myung-jun, the strongest force of the Liberal Clan, being in Japan, she thought that mobilizing all the remaining agents might prevent any potential emergencies.

It was a proposal considering Myung-jun’s tendency to avoid combat as much as possible, which he had often shown in previous standoffs. Unfortunately, the current Myung-jun was taking a different stance.

“EDA agents? Well, if things go south, we can just wipe them out. Even if it’s not me, Lee Soo-bin alone has enough power to sweep them away.”

“Even if it means going to war with South Korea?”

“Feel free to try if you’re confident. But I can’t guarantee the outcome. If any of our clan members deployed at the facility are put in even the slightest danger, I’ll step in personally.”

“In relations between nations, negotiation and compromise should come before war…”

“Do I look like a diplomat or a president to you? I’m a clan leader. I’m not a CEO, nor am I the president of any country. The most important thing to me is protecting our precious clan members, and the second most important thing is doing what we want. If anyone gets in the way of that, whether it’s the U.S. government or the South Korean government, we’ll crush them.”

“No matter what, your words are too extreme.”

As Park Moon-chan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, interjected after listening to Myung-jun, Myung-jun replied,

“In this situation, we’ll see who’s being too extreme once the imprisoned soldier arrives.”

At that moment, Myung-jun’s phone rang.

Without asking for permission, Myung-jun immediately took the call from Byung-tae.

[Boss, the rescue is complete.]

“Good job. Was there any trouble?”

[During the rescue, Soo-bin brought back a soldier with severed ankles as a prisoner. She administered first aid and promised that the Liberal Clan would provide treatment. We have the soldier on the Shadow Hawk.]

The astute Myung-jun quickly grasped the situation just from Byung-tae’s mention of the word ‘prisoner.’

Given that an operation requiring someone of Lee Soo-bin’s caliber wouldn’t necessitate taking prisoners, Myung-jun understood the context.

Approving Soo-bin’s plan, Myung-jun gave further instructions to Byung-tae.

Myung-jun tapped the documents he had shown to Yoon Se-ah’s group earlier with his fingers.

The list of soldiers who were dispatched to the Gate Research Facility and were recorded as having died in accidents.

No matter how much they tried to hide it, the truth would naturally come to light the moment Park Seung-ho, who would arrive shortly, saw the photos of those soldiers. Realizing this, Yoon Se-ah gave up on making any more baseless claims.

“No matter what I do, it will be difficult to clean up the mess left by my predecessor. Tell me what you want.”

“Official acknowledgment and apology from the government for all actions committed by Director Moon Hee-cheol against Sergeant Park Seung-ho and the soldiers killed to maintain security. Immediate discharge and guaranteed freedom for Sergeant Park Seung-ho. And respect for Sergeant Park Seung-ho’s free will, regardless of his choices.”

Minister Park Moon-chan, looking bewildered at Myung-jun’s demands, which included no favorable conditions for the South Korean government, said,

“That’s not conceding anything…”

Myung-jun, looking at Park Moon-chan with an incredulous expression, replied,

“When did I say I would concede?”

“But negotiations…”

“I didn’t call you here for any deals or negotiations. It was to give Sergeant Park Seung-ho, who was imprisoned and exploited under the guise of serving the country, a choice. If Sergeant Park Seung-ho decides to stay in South Korea and work at the Gate Research Facility, I will respect his decision. Of course, for that to happen, the conditions you offer must be better than the ones we offer.”

Seeing Myung-jun’s statement about ‘offering conditions,’ Director Yoon Se-ah’s face turned pale.

Myung-jun’s words implied that the Liberal Clan would make a recruitment offer to Sergeant Park Seung-ho.

At this, Minister Nam Joon-woo of the Ministry of National Defense urgently spoke to Myung-jun.

“I’m sorry, but his status is still under the South Korean Ministry of National Defense! You can’t just arbitrarily…”

“That’s why I included the condition of immediate discharge. And I’m almost 100% certain that he has already completed his 18 months of military service. So, in reality, it’s only his reserve duty that would be lifted.”

“But in an emergency, the state has the legal authority to delay a soldier’s discharge…”

“After committing all sorts of illegal acts, you now talk about legality when it’s inconvenient for you. Is the position of the Minister of National Defense in South Korea reserved for those without a conscience?”

Myung-jun firmly drove his point home to the government officials trying to secure Park Seung-ho’s custody for the sake of the Gate Research Facility’s continuity.

“If the South Korean government has no intention of granting Sergeant Park Seung-ho his freedom, I will ensure he gets it by force if necessary. So, if you want to keep him, you better think about what conditions you can offer to persuade him. He’s in a psychological state where he won’t accept just any conditions.”

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Still feeling dazed, Park Seung-ho disembarked from the Shadow Hawk and, escorted by Soo-bin and Kei, moved towards the café where Myung-jun was waiting.

As he looked at the citizens walking around with carefree expressions in the outside world he had missed so much, he took deep breaths, savoring the scent of freedom he had finally regained.

“Is it hard to breathe? Why are you taking such deep breaths? The air isn’t even that good in the city.”

When Kei asked the question, Park Seung-ho scratched his head awkwardly.

He then answered Kei’s question in a slightly embarrassed voice.

“I missed the smell of smoke and people.”

“To him, this smell probably feels like the scent of freedom. But save it for now. The smell you truly want to breathe in isn’t this one.”

“What do you mean…”

“You’ll understand when you get there.”

When Park Seung-ho arrived at the café, he immediately understood why Soo-bin had said that.

Under the outdoor table in front of the café, the person he loved most in the world was sipping coffee, waiting for someone.

With a trembling voice, Park Seung-ho spoke to the woman sitting at the table.

“M-Mother…”

“Oh… Oh!?! Seung-ho?! Is it really you, Seung-ho?! How is this possible?!”

“Mother!!!”

Park Seung-ho ran to his mother and embraced her.

For over ten minutes, the two of them clung to each other, crying uncontrollably.

Their emotions were so intense that their conversation became almost unintelligible to those nearby.

“Sob… Mother… I… wasn’t dead… Sob… I was imprisoned… for the country… I need to be discharged…”

“Sob… I see… Those wretched people… I thought… you were dead…”

Watching the two of them, Soo-bin, who couldn’t help but shed tears herself, gestured to the waiter to order some drinks.

Myung-jun had given strict orders not to interrupt their reunion, whether it took 10 minutes or 3 hours.

Watching the two, who looked like a scene from a family reunion of separated families, Kei also had tears welling up in her round eyes.

“It’s so touching.”

“Indeed. To tear apart such a loving family and lie that their child was dead… I should have been harsher earlier.”

“But it wasn’t the EDA agents who did that. It was that scumbag Moon Hee-cheol who deserves to be blamed.”

“There’s no way he could have done it alone. Someone must have given him permission. At this point, the value that man Park Seung-ho holds is no joke.”

“Because of the ability-enhancing drug?”

“No, it’s not just because of that.”

Soo-bin handed Kei a small piece of metal.

It seemed to have been melted by a strong chemical, with a hole melted through the middle.

Kei, picking it up with a nonchalant expression, soon realized what the metal piece was and couldn’t hide her shock.

The metal piece that Soo-bin handed over was a special sample obtained by the South Korean government with the cooperation of the Brazilian government from the Amazon Overflow region.

It was a fragment from Ho-chang’s relic-grade giant shield.

“They melted this?!!”

“Shh. We might disturb them.”

Kei lowered her voice as Soo-bin pointed out.

“Where did you get this?”

“I found it in a corner of the room during the rescue. I noticed a familiar metallic sheen, and it turned out to be a piece from Ho-chang’s shield. It probably broke off during his fight with Banara.”

“The fact that they melted this means…”

“That’s right.”

Soo-bin continued,

“It means that Park Seung-ho is someone the Liberal Clan must either secure or, in the worst case, eliminate. It also means he’s someone the South Korean government absolutely cannot afford to lose.”

“What choice do you think he’ll make?”

“Who knows? It depends on how good the conditions the South Korean government offers are. But no matter what conditions they propose, they won’t be able to beat ours.”

Soo-bin’s smile carried a deep conviction that Park Seung-ho would never choose South Korea.

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