George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 209

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“Destroyers can be replaced. But you can’t reuse someone who caused an accident. Investigate the right and wrong thoroughly. And absolutely no disadvantages to those who are unrelated, not that collective responsibility nonsense.”

“Understood.”

Most unimportant matters were verbally ordered to those who could be trusted. One might ask if a destroyer was something to be handled verbally rather than with documents, but it could also be said that there were more important matters than destroyers.

“That damn Kim Jong-il. He gave me a huge middle finger as he died.”

That guy was a nuisance until the very end. I thought he would quietly pass away in a gold-adorned room, but he made sure to stab me in the back as if it was his way of repaying me.

“I’m realizing once again that there’s no such thing as karmic justice in this world.”

“At least there’s some good news, isn’t there?”

We can finally start extracting the black gold [oil] hidden in the shale layer in earnest. It was truly a time of perseverance and patience. The same goes for the government and the oil company CEOs. Thanks to that, we can build a hegemony that will never collapse for at least the next 50 years, no matter what happens in the future.

“Still, it’s not good to rely too much on oil, but we live in an era where we can’t live without it.”

People often overlook something when they say we should use clean alternative energy instead of oil energy: oil is also used to create that alternative energy. To be precise, almost every product in the device that generates alternative energy contains oil. This world really runs on oil.

“The first drilling is tomorrow. There will be a big change in the schedule.”

The change is just that some of the documents to be processed will be pushed back, but that’s the president’s story, and it’s a really big change for those who have to receive and act on those processed documents.

“I think the President should make a statement himself regarding the revision of the Japanese constitution. If we stay like this, there may be a misunderstanding that the United States is condoning or remaining silent.”

In fact, silence was the most diplomatically correct answer, but the President, as the Chief of Staff knew him, didn’t seem likely to remain silent for diplomatic reasons. Specifically, he seemed likely to swear out loud in public.

To prevent that from happening, a script was needed.

“You take care of that. Or do you want me to write it myself? If so, I can write it for you anytime. It’ll only be one page, though.”

The impromptu speeches he had given so far flashed through the Chief of Staff’s mind like a panorama, ringing alarm bells in his head. He said it would be one page, but it was likely to be only one or two lines. The content also came to mind specifically.

‘It’s war! You axes of evil!’ Thinking about it now, it seems like it was one line, not two.

“···My capable aides and I will write the best speech. Please wait just one day.”

Bush turned his eyes back to the North Korean documents.

“Good. Evacuate the people living in North Korea to South Korea or their home countries using chartered planes and troops, and have the military protect their property.”

“Can we protect it all?”

“Since the people’s target is the current government, the Communist Party, most of them will flock to Pyongyang. It’s fortunate that our capital is concentrated in Nampo Port.”

The area around Nampo Port was almost like an American autonomous territory. Even if it was an autonomous territory, it was just like extraterritorial rights, but there was no better option than this in an emergency.

“It’s not bad considering we’ve just been watching the situation sluggishly for three days.”

There were so many things that couldn’t be decided right away that the passage of time was necessary. The slow uprising in North Korea was due to the fact that the living standards in that neighborhood remained in the 1950s. Except for Pyongyang, the only proper means of communication was word of mouth, so it took a long time for people to gather and go to Pyongyang. Many Americans in North Korea had already evacuated to Nampo Port and were just waiting for approval.

“There’s nothing I can do about the Kurds. I’m sure they’ll take care of it themselves. First, I need to put as much pressure as possible on the surrounding countries to minimize the war even if it happens. Shall we try to move Afghanistan and India, which are now somewhat livable?”

“Are there any additional measures you would like to take regarding West Sudan?”

Upon hearing those words, Bush pondered for a moment, then opened his mouth with a determined expression.

“Let’s watch it for at least a month. It’s difficult to change it right away. In an emergency, we may have to replace the government. I’ll get some flak for it, but I can’t just sit back and watch. Most of the UN member states will remain silent anyway. I guess it doesn’t matter.”

However, he was a little worried about his successor. Bush had started a lot of work, but his successor would have to clean it up. But frankly, wasn’t that someone else’s problem?

‘As long as it’s not me!’

He solved most of these urgent problems and really breathed a sigh of relief. But that didn’t change the mountain of terrible documents. That’s why even if he occasionally suggested taking a break, Bush would never listen.

In particular, when the Chief of Staff was so tired that he brought it up, he would say, ‘It’s absurd that America is being held back just because of you and me. Absolutely not.’ and he wouldn’t even think about resting. Of course, he volunteered for this life, but volunteering and getting through it were two completely different things.

However, the Chief of Staff couldn’t take a vacation because he was afraid that ‘that incident’ would happen again. The news he heard while on vacation still made his heart flutter. Goodness! News was coming in, but he couldn’t do anything but make phone calls!

“Ah, that’s right. Finally, I’m going to condemn and criticize Iran’s statement. I’ll write this myself. There won’t be any problems, right?”

“Yes? Uh···maybe?”

It was okay to swear directly. It would be a lie to say that there were no problems at all, but there was more to gain than to lose by doing so. All he would lose was his reputation in the Third World, but he didn’t have that from the beginning, and he had to gain popularity at home. The presidential election was just around the corner. He had to scrape together as much popularity as possible by any means possible.

Experts all agreed that his re-election was certain, but they also said that there was no such thing as certainty in the world, right? So he had to get as many votes as possible. And publicly criticizing a country like Iran, where freedom is suppressed, was actually a very effective strategy.

“Hmm, this is a report from the Deputy Chief of Staff.”

“Already? I thought I gave them a week to spare?”

“The report says there are no errors and that it’s still running smoothly. In fact, some parts are even exceeding expectations.”

“Really? I can’t believe it.”

Bush received the documents and quickly scanned them with a puzzled expression. He ruthlessly dismantled and savored the graph that the Deputy Chief of Staff had compared with the report from a week ago. Then, Bush’s gaze stopped at the note that the Deputy Chief of Staff had written himself.

“Ah, there are more unreported unofficial volunteers?”

“The more people there are, the higher the work efficiency will inevitably be. Isn’t this the advantage of the human wave tactics that you mentioned, Mr. President?”

“Then this overachievement makes sense and is truly a happy thing. I hope the forest will be green again as soon as possible.”

“It wouldn’t be bad to package this part and promote it.”

It was common for the government to create video media to enhance and inspire national character. It was a time-honored method that had been used since newspapers began to be used as an effective political tool by the government in Europe, and the posters used to conscript soldiers in World War II were also similar items.

“Don’t stir up trouble and just leave it alone. If you’re going to make it, make it a complete documentary.”

“Why is that?”

“Because there’s nothing more unsightly than packaging the people’s efforts as the government’s achievements.”

And at the same time, these were the things that were done in dictatorships. Maximizing the government’s achievements to secure the legitimacy of its rule. That’s why Bush was uncomfortable with these things. And these videos would be quite embarrassing to watch 10 years later.

Isn’t it true that the same event can be perceived completely differently depending on the angle from which it is covered? All the videos produced by the state were of that kind. If you can’t imagine it well, you can recall the videos you watched to death during military education.

“If that’s your wish, Mr. President, I’ll try to get a grasp on that direction.”

“Anyway, we can just protect Nampo Port, but Korea will have a hard time. So, how is the situation going roughly?”

Pyongyang. The capital of North Korea and the city where all the infrastructure is concentrated. Pyongyang was the only city in North Korea that was lit up at night when viewed by satellite. Nampo is included now, but that was the case until at least a few years ago.

Anyway, Pyongyang was originally deserted, but it was even more deserted today. Elite soldiers in military green uniforms were armed with live ammunition and guarding the entrance. The bunkers and fortresses that were originally intended to be used to prevent the invasion of South Korea were occupied and used to prevent the advance of the people.

Elite among the elite means, in other words, that the most soldier-like people have been gathered. The virtue of a soldier is obedience to orders, and nothing else. To die if told to die, to fight if told to fight. That was a soldier.

The most ideal direction for the people was for the soldiers to lay down their arms themselves, but that seemed like a very distant prospect.

In other countries, the act of firing live ammunition itself is seen as a big deal, and at the same time, it is recognized as a coup or revolution, but in North Korea, nothing changes just because they shoot at the people. It was originally a common occurrence for a few trivial reasons. Still, most of them went to correctional facilities, but anyway, it meant that people were often shot to death.

The problem was that they couldn’t respond to everything like this. It was hard for the Communist Party to handle even a few thousand, let alone tens of thousands. Perhaps it wouldn’t have been a big problem a few years ago, but now it was a chaotic time of regime change. If they forcibly established a new government, they would be filming a Three Kingdoms period [a period of division and warfare in Korean history].

“What should we do?”

“South Korea has expressed its intention to send troops.”

“To protect whom? The people? Or us?”

“Officially, they say both, but we will most likely be ousted in the process.”

“This is bullshit!”

The inside of the Communist Party was truly a melting pot of chaos. Their plan was to slowly gain an advantage and merge with South Korea, but now they were about to go bankrupt, so all sorts of opinions came out. Some of them were really saying that they should just push everything away, or that they should defect to South Korea. All sorts of bizarre stories were coming out.

“We have to do something right now. Let’s establish a leader.”

“Even if we put forward a new leader with the Baekdu bloodline [referring to the Kim family’s claim to legitimacy], the residents will still resist.”

“The leader we establish should first shout anti-Americanism and nominally revive some of the reorganized army. It will be a big problem after the merger, but isn’t that a problem for the unified government to solve?”