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“Let’s eat while talking.”

Viktor said, pointing at the dining table.

The table was filled with all kinds of dishes, each one more extravagant than the last. At the center, there was an enormous roasted animal, which was completely unrecognizable.

“They say Koreans love rice, right? So, I prepared Pilaf.”

Viktor slid one of the bowls over towards Jinseong. It contained what looked like fried rice, but unlike the typical Korean rice, it was made from long, light grains that appeared delicate.

In Russia, this rice is called длинный рис (long rice), a variety known as indica.

“And since we had meat served at the amusement park, I prepared meat too. Last time, I mentioned that it was Capybara cuisine, right? I thought about making the same thing, but then…”

Viktor chuckled.

“This Viktor, with a king’s destiny, thought it would be too stingy to only return what I was given. The Russian blood flowing in this body won’t allow for such pettiness. So, I roasted a whole sheep and carefully filled it with a special dish made from its innards.”

With that, Viktor grabbed the roasted sheep’s head from the table and twisted it off. Then, in a swift motion, he sharpened the bones and stripped the flesh clean within seconds, tossing the skull towards the kitchen.

“Let’s start with the head. In Mongolia, it’s customary to serve the head to esteemed guests. Of course, you aren’t a Tatar, and neither am I…”

Viktor grinned as he shared half the meat with Jinseong, his expression suggesting that it was something anyone could understand without words.

Jinseong smirked at the sight and picked up the meat. Both of them simultaneously took a bite. It was a gesture indicating that Viktor was aware of his duties as president, and it foreshadowed the tragedies that would undoubtedly come once he assumed office.

Mongolia.

The embodiment of destruction and conquest.

Rewards for the obedient.

Terrible retribution for the defiant.

Before his regression, Viktor seemed to tread the path of a khan. With ambitions to resurrect the glory of a great past and revive Russia, he commanded countless troops to seize lands from neighboring countries and ruthlessly enacted horrific massacres on those who wouldn’t bow down. Those who submitted were recognized as Russians, while any hint of rebellion invited ‘special management’ and enforced ‘special education’ to ensure complete assimilation.

And if insurgents rose or revolutions occurred…

He utterly leveled cities.

Just as the old Mongolian khans had done, he eliminated the seeds of rebellion entirely.

And his methods were nothing short of brutal.

Nukes.

He unleashed massive nuclear warheads created during the Soviet era as if he were determined to dispose of them completely.

Of course, he didn’t use them right away. At the beginning of the war, he hesitated, wary of America’s eyes and reluctant to play chicken with the ‘Red Alliance’ that was stockpiling biological weapons. But when the Red Alliance used germ warfare to incapacitate Russian special forces, Russia promptly unlocked the seals of its nuclear arsenal without a second thought.

And then….

Boom.

Gigantic mushrooms began to sprout across the Earth.

Military encampments?

Nuked.

Massive rituals being held?

Nuked, obliterating altars, materials, and shamans alike.

Demonology research institutes?

First, he’d send in a spy, and if the security was too tight to even dip a toe, he’d simply dispatch a special unit to detonate a nuclear bag.

Naturally, such actions should provoke sanctions from other nations.

But sanctions require leisure, and meddling with others is only possible once one’s own problems are solved.

At a time when the whole world was engulfed in madness, there were no strong nations left to intervene with Russia.

Japan was preoccupied with its war against Korea, China had launched its conquest amid the chaos while proclaiming a return of the Mandate of Heaven, Germany saw a resurgence of Nazism in East Germany, and in France, a lunatic group demanding the restoration of a king was turning the country into a complete mess.

In Belgium, a racial incident sparked a civil war, and in Italy, a declaration of independence in the north plunged the country into turmoil. Meanwhile, the UK was ransacking its own territory in a desperate attempt to reclaim its past glory, leading to numerous sparks of conflict.

The United States had no bandwidth to meddle in Russia’s affairs either.

Some insane wizard believed, “Humans lack hearts and must be controlled by machines that regard only law as truth. If we could merely have a machine above our heads, humanity would unite, wars would cease, and a peaceful world of immense progress would emerge!” and began to seize Massachusetts.

Texas, Alabama, and South Carolina withdrew from the United States and established a new Southern Confederacy, while racial incidents erupted everywhere.

A self-proclaimed royalty in Hawaii declared independence after capturing the islands with a secret army trained for a restoration of the monarchy and made contact with China.

Moreover, terrorists in the U.S. attempted attacks daily, boasting of how they could manipulate American emotions.

Surely, there was no time to reach out to Russia.

And this frenzy only escalated with time instead of abating.

Wizards, utterly devoid of ethics or morals, conducted heinous biological experiments; horrific results of which either failed or leaked, impacting the world at large. Some lunatics attempted to create armies of Humanzees by crossbreeding humans and chimps in a mad grab for power, and the souls of those who perished in the tide of madness coalesced into evil spirits, haunting the land.

Later on, shamans in Antarctica and the Arctic aimed to bring ice ages upon the Earth, while visionaries advocating a return to primordial nature schemed to drop all satellites back to Earth, and someone stirred up a ruckus claiming they would resurrect mythical creatures like dragons and fairies from historical records, resulting in creation of monstrous beasts.

It was literally hell on Earth.

And amid this inferno, Viktor clutched power for a long, long time.

In the chaos of war, charismatic leaders often rise.

Viktor had ample charisma.

His nearly reckless demeanor was dressed up as decisiveness, and his authoritarian air became an attraction that captivated people amidst turmoil. While a zest for war could be seen as a flaw, it transformed into a virtue as he expanded territories and enriched the pockets of ordinary citizens.

But….

“Nukes may be omnipotent, yet they destroy ruins and wipe records clean.”

What might be a benefit for one could turn into a burden for all.

To Jinseong, the very existence of nukes was profoundly loathsome.

All the ruins and records that could have contained knowledge about magic, now utterly obliterated—he could only lament their loss.

“And not just any nuke, but one designed to flip the very ground that burrows deep underground.”

Had it simply been a standard nuclear explosion, the records and ruins buried deep could have at least survived. They might not have remained untouched, but enough might have been left to somewhat appease his obsession with magic.

However, regrettably, the nukes used by Russia were custom-made.

They were designed as bunker busters to target a communist state accustomed to operating from deep underground.

The nuke lobbed by Russia struck the ground deep and detonated, flipping the very earth itself. In the process, real underground bunkers were destroyed, and innocently existing ruins were obliterated as well.

Yes.

Shattered into pieces.

Without a trace.

“You will be a great president. And if you follow my advice, you shall once again make Russia stand tall with vast territories, many people, and abundant wealth.”

Jinseong wished for that terrible fate to never reoccur.

The loss of ruins and magic needed to be prevented.

Absolutely.

 

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