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The Prime Minister left the palace, deep in thought.

“All I can think of is how foolish this all seems.”

It was incomprehensible to him.

He couldn’t understand it at all, so he thought, and thought, and thought some more. He tried to grasp it, like a herbivore endlessly chewing on grass.

Yet, despite such arduous efforts, he could only arrive at one conclusion.

It was incomprehensible.

“Sending competent people without even considering alternatives? If they had succeeded, that would be one thing, but instead, they all went missing? This makes no sense, just no sense!”

If it had been children, he might have understood.

They probably wouldn’t be thinking straight yet.

If they had been young adults, he could have rationalized it.

It is that age when all sorts of desires swirl around but their abilities are extremely limited, so it’s plausible they would make mistakes.

But hearing the story made it even more ridiculous.

Children?

Young adults?

Not at all.

He had been told it was the aristocrats who did this.

Even more surprisingly, it was the people running companies.

What kind of creatures are these entrepreneurs?

Cold-blooded individuals who would throw lives away like flies if it meant saving a buck, living day and night focused solely on making a dime.

It was said they were far beyond just being good at profit-loss calculations; they were steeped in capitalism to their very bones.

What does that mean?

Well, it means they’re at least of an age where they should possess basic intelligence and experience.

Of course, there are plenty of foolish businesspeople who ruin their own enterprises, so it’s not wise to jump to conclusions, but it should generally be reasonable to expect they’re not as clueless as kids or young adults who barely have their wits about them.

But what conclusion do such people come to?

Let’s attack Korea?

Let’s threaten them into handing over goods?

Let’s sneak in competent people to steal things?

What is this…

“This isn’t some movie or cartoon.”

Even a filmmaker stuck in a rut wouldn’t come up with such a notion.

This isn’t some spy movie from decades past, does it even make sense?

No, fine. They could have thought about it.

Thinking is free, after all.

But they executed it.

“No matter how foolish they are, those idiots couldn’t have acted alone. There must be something they believe in to have done this.”

Even if they succeed, there’s hardly anything to gain, and if they fail, they must brace for a fall.

Would entrepreneurs accept such a mad bargain?

Any sane person would avoid making such a crazy deal.

Thus, from the Prime Minister’s perspective, this incident was…

“This must absolutely involve the Emperor.”

Otherwise, it simply doesn’t add up.

Unless those profit-sensitive entrepreneurs have been drugged en masse, there’s no other explanation.

“Damn it. If it’s a symbol, it should stay in place quietly; it seems the time spent in the palace has driven him insane, engaging in such nonsense….”

Once the Prime Minister got some distance from the palace, he spat on the ground.

He couldn’t restrain himself any longer.

It was infuriating that, at his age, he had to clean up after the foolish Emperor.

“Emperor, you better prepare yourself. Once this is over, I’ll do whatever it takes to slash the Imperial Household Agency’s budget. And you and your family better brace for embarrassment too.”

Whether it was inviting them to an event without informing them of the dress code or drastically cutting the budget causing them to wear the same few outfits repeatedly, or unleashing rude journalists on them…

There were endless ways to torment them discreetly.

With that bitterness in his heart, the Prime Minister took his steps.

To somehow clean up this damned mess.

Not using that foolish method from before, but a more sophisticated approach to resolve this.

And with that, he moved quickly.

He lodged complaints through unofficial diplomatic channels and expressed regret via official diplomatic routes. He applied pressure through trade and attacked Korea using media that faithfully followed the government.

The Prime Minister’s protests were subtle, indirect methods of speaking, and thanks to that, Korea became embroiled in chaos, clueless as to why Japan was suddenly stirring trouble. Even when asked through diplomatic channels, they only indirectly hinted, ‘Isn’t this something you should know better?’, without revealing the true reasons.

From the victim’s standpoint, it was infuriating.

Knowing the reasons behind their beatings might be better, but being beaten down blindly, only to be answered with ‘Don’t you know what you did wrong? Are you really that clueless? How could you not know!’ was maddening. While subtly instigating the surroundings to blame the one who messed up, not him.

It was genuinely maddening.

Moreover, the Prime Minister’s timing for striking and retreating was exceptional.

He stopped attacking right before his opponents’ eyes began to glaze over.

“If I keep it like this, they’ll have to heed quite a few requests.”

This was the sophisticated method.

Not the brute force of using armed forces, but rather an art performed with the finesse of politics.

Confident that Korea would take heed of his words, he was sure they would comply with his requests under ordinary circumstances.

* * *

“I have no idea what kind of madness this is. You are claiming we have kidnapped and are holding Japanese citizens? To release them? Do we seem like Somalia or something to you? Stop babbling nonsense and quit this madness immediately.”

The Prime Minister’s plan had half succeeded.

Korea had indeed taken his ‘request’ to heart.

But that was as far as it went.

Korea firmly denied any involvement in kidnapping Japanese citizens, instead looking at the Prime Minister as though he had lost his marbles.

It was absurd for him.

Competent people sent to Korea had gone missing.

The sole survivor even claimed the others had disappeared during the operation.

Then, isn’t it obvious Korea is the culprit?

Yet the culprit insists on not being the one.

They even treat him like some madman.

“Hahaha.”

Is there no shame in people?

To act in such a blatant manner when the circumstances are so glaring?

“Wow, Korea has really grown so audacious….”

But while the Prime Minister felt incredulous, Korea was equally incredulous.

“What kind of madness is this? Claiming we’re holding someone captive? Has that old man gone out of his mind….?”

After throwing every sinister trick in the book into pressure, just when they thought they should take active countermeasures, he shows up saying such things.

What nonsense is this?

“There are records of Japanese travelers entering, but what does that have to do with us? They haven’t even roamed around our country, nor are there records of agents clashing with them…. No, why did they even come to Korea in the first place?”

From Korea’s point of view, this mad Prime Minister seemed to be asserting some political agenda against Korea, offloading responsibility for an incident onto them.

“It looks like they used Korea as a stepping stone to send competent people somewhere…probably China or North Korea. If those idiots ended up dead there, that’s their problem, why take their anger out on us?”

The more they thought, the more ridiculous it became.

Competent people entered Korea?

Not just one, but a group of competent people?

If that were the case, it most likely means their purpose would do nothing to benefit Korea’s national interests.

Yet they shamelessly dropped such people into Korea and now want Korea to take responsibility because they went missing?

Korea isn’t some pushover, what nonsense is this?

And the missing persons case was no different.

Since records of those competent individuals’ activities in Korea couldn’t be found, they likely traveled through the coast to China or moved to North Korea….

So how is it Korea’s fault that they sneaked into such dangerous places and went missing?

It’s the foolish competent people’s fault and their own incompetence.

“If you fail, at least have the decency to keep quiet.”

Korea immediately responded to this mad talk.

The response from Korea was intense.

Given that there were already territorial disputes and tensions running high with Japan, and only recently there had been a commotion about monsters appearing across the mountains nationwide, tempers were already flaring.

The government suspected this damned terror was perpetrated by Japan, and just when they were voicing protests about the terror, Japan suddenly started mentioning a nonsensical claim of kidnapping.

It was beyond Korea’s ability to suppress their rage.

They judged these actions to be maneuvers for Japan to return to being a typical nation.

“Do they think we wouldn’t know? We are aware of the lobbying while pouring money to the US, and that they want to amend the constitution using us as an excuse. This incident is probably one among their build-up efforts.”

Korea shouted through unofficial channels, “Shut your nonsense and stop this crazy act immediately, or we will have to take strong measures. If you raise the tensions, which of us will suffer more? Should we mobilize the army? Do you want to see the yen plummet and stocks turning to dust?” Meanwhile, in official channels, they released statements assuring measures would be taken to prevent such occurrences in trade from reoccurring, accompanied by a polite protest, and requested mediation from the United States.

As the situation escalated, the Prime Minister grew suspicious.

“This is strange. This isn’t Korea’s usual reaction…?”

It was an atypical response.

Wasn’t it too intense…?

As if some deep-seated negative feelings had accumulated and exploded…?

“…I’m getting a sense of incongruity. It’s probably best to retreat for a moment.”

His experience was telling him so.

Now was the time to step back and observe for a bit.

But the Prime Minister couldn’t act upon the warnings of his instincts.

“Japanese ambassador to South Korea has died.”

“Cause: Traffic accident.”

As the Prime Minister attempted to duck for cover, danger loomed over him.

With a chilling evil intent.

 

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