Chapter 70

The Presidential Palace.

Built by Kim Il-sung, the building had served a symbolic purpose under Kim Jong-il’s rule.

However, after the Mega Shock, Kim Jong-un had made the Presidential Palace the center of his power, and it was no exaggeration to say that all authority in North Korea originated from it.

Yet, this very Presidential Palace was now shrouded in an aura of death.

‘What on earth is this…?’

Kang Yuseong furrowed his brow.

The situation was incomprehensible.

He stepped inside the Presidential Palace.

Among the countless corpses lay soldiers, officers, and even civilians.

Some faces Kang Yuseong recognized were among them, sprawled with expressions of horror.

‘General Kang Jong-mun.’

General Kang Jong-mun, the deputy commander of the Red Star Unit, who had once fought Kang Yuseong, was also there.

Ri Jeong-hwan, the head of North Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, lay fallen, and Gwon Geun, the Minister of People’s Armed Forces, was also sprawled, his face ashen.

Kang Yuseong gazed at them intently.

More precisely, he was looking at the wounds on their necks and chests.

‘A single… strike!’

The bloodstains were minimal.

It meant they had been instantly killed by a sudden, penetrating blow.

The faces of the deceased had long since hardened into a pale rigidity, but the sparse bloodstains indicated the assailant’s extraordinary skill.

‘Who… who was it?!’

Even Kang Yuseong shivered at the sight of those wounds.

Even if it were the current Kang Yuseong, fighting the person who had done this would result in certain defeat.

Their level was simply on a completely different plane.

But why had they come to North Korea, and why attack the Presidential Palace?

Judging by the state of the bodies, this horrific massacre seemed to have occurred while Kang Yuseong was fighting the men of the Viper Squad, and in that short span, all life within the Presidential Palace had been extinguished.

“Hoo…”

Kang Yuseong let out a long breath.

Truly, a terrifying individual.

If this person had targeted Kang Yuseong instead of the Presidential Palace…

Thump, thump.

Kang Yuseong moved deeper into the Presidential Palace.

As he went further, the number of corpses gradually decreased.

However, even at a glance, he could see that those who lay dead were clearly powerful individuals.

Yet, without exception, they too had died instantly from a single blow.

Not a single person had escaped that fate.

Whether it was the neck or the heart, a single strike had inflicted a fatal wound before the assailant vanished.

“…”

And the next moment, Kang Yuseong’s eyes snapped open.

Before him, sitting on a lavish-looking chair, was a person.

Dressed in black, with a relatively well-groomed hairstyle.

And a corpulent man.

The moment he saw the man, Kang Yuseong’s eyes widened dramatically.

The man sitting in that chair was the symbol of North Korean power, the true authority.

And he was staring at Kang Yuseong, his eyes wide in a fixed gaze.

“Kim… Jong-un.”

Kang Yuseong uttered his name in a trembling voice.

But there was no reply.

“How could this be…”

Kang Yuseong clenched his fist, having spotted a tiny hole in the center of Kim Jong-un’s forehead. A trickle of blood had run across Kim Jong-un’s face, leaving a visible trail.

The supreme leader of North Korea, dead not long ago, judging by the blood that hadn’t yet dried.

*Fwoosh!*

Kang Yuseong immediately activated Thieving Eye.

Thieving Eye scanned in all directions, searching for life.

But all he saw were countless flickering patterns, precariously close to vanishing.

The killer had vanished.

Kang Yuseong looked at Kim Jong-un.

Five patterns floated above his head.

He too had been a Hunter of considerable skill.

Judging by the patterns, he seemed to have mastered unarmed combat.

Kang Yuseong grimly closed his mouth as he looked at the five flickering patterns, then selected one.

A pattern of a leg intertwined with a tiger.

Chakra, Tiger’s Strike.

*Fwoosh!*

As he selected it, the pattern above Kim Jong-un’s head vanished, and Thieving Eye closed.

The killer who wrought this scene was no longer here.

No one knew where they had gone.

Even Kang Yuseong, an expert in tracking, couldn’t find any clue to pursue the killer. They had vanished completely.

“Is he dead?”

At that moment, Kim Do-jin’s voice came from behind him.

Kang Yuseong slowly nodded.

“A terrifying individual…”

Kim Do-jin seemed to have understood everything.

“Yes. Truly… terrifying.”

“Let’s go back.”

Kim Do-jin asked no further questions.

He knew that asking more would yield no satisfactory answers.

Kang Yuseong nodded.

“Alright.”

The objective was complete.

Though it felt unsettling not to have achieved it by his own hand, North Korea was effectively shattered.

This meant the threat from the north had largely disappeared.

Someone would likely succeed Kim Jong-un, but it would take a long time for them to stabilize North Korea’s situation.

Kang Yuseong and Kim Do-jin exited the blood-soaked Presidential Palace.

And behind them, as they departed, Pyongyang was engulfed in flames.

“Breaking News! Pyongyang has been completely engulfed in flames, and we have received reports that North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, has been assassinated! We will now speak with Professor Song Se-won, an expert on North Korean affairs, to discuss what has happened.”

“Across the globe, nations are featuring this event on their front pages, expressing shock and astonishment. With Kim Jong-un’s assassination, North Korea’s internal situation has plunged into an unpredictable vortex of chaos. Reporter Park Ji-su has the full story.”

North Korea.

The massacre in Pyongyang, its core, was enough to send shockwaves across the world.

The prevailing narrative reported that a subordinate unit, discontent with Kim Jong-un’s rule, had staged a coup, occupied Pyongyang, and ignited a deadly civil war between the two factions.

This was due to information accurately captured by military satellites from the United States, China, and Russia.

It was clear that a group of men, dressed in Korean People’s Army (KPA) or Red Star Hunter uniforms, had entered North Korea, leading to armed clashes.

“Huh… what in the world happened? Kim Jong-un assassinated!”

“Well, I’ve lived long enough to see everything! There was a coup in North Korea!”

The news of Kim Jong-un’s assassination ignited fervent discussions domestically and internationally, with people talking of little else but this monumental event.

The South Korean government was equally bewildered.

Not long after receiving reports of armed clashes near the armistice line, further reports poured in about significant battles erupting across North Korea, followed by the news that Pyongyang had been occupied by coup forces, culminating in Kim Jong-un’s assassination.

All of this unfolded with lightning speed, leaving the South Korean government struggling to grasp the full situation.

“Was it truly a coup?”

President Kang Tae-seok asked Acting National Security Advisor Gu Jae-hwan.

The Cabinet Meeting that day was held behind closed doors, attended by prominent figures such as the Minister of National Defense, the Director of the National Intelligence Service, the Acting National Security Advisor, the Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces, commanders, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Kim Jong-un’s assassination was an event of such immense shock.

Gu Jae-hwan answered the President’s question.

“According to intelligence obtained from the U.S., it’s true that a contingent of Korean People’s Army troops and Hunters entered Pyongyang. However, there’s something strange…”

“What is it?”

Gu Jae-hwan spoke again, his expression grave.

“Yes, it’s incredibly difficult to believe that Pyongyang was completely seized and the Presidential Palace occupied by a force of barely a hundred troops. Furthermore, the assassination of Kim Jong-un is even harder to credit.”

“But it’s already happened, hasn’t it?”

It was General Jang Dong-hwa, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Gu Jae-hwan nodded silently, but then opened his mouth again to reply.

“Yes, that’s how it turned out, but there’s something even stranger. As you all know, the coup forces have also completely vanished.”

“It seems we have to consider it a case where both factions fought until they were annihilated. We’ve also acquired intelligence, and while it’s an extremely unlikely scenario, there’s no other way to explain it.”

President Kang Tae-seok gravely nodded at the words of Moon Gyeong-seok, the Director of the National Intelligence Service.

The event had already taken place.

But the process itself was utterly preposterous.

Even the U.S., Russia, and China didn’t fully understand what had transpired in Pyongyang.

The sight of the coup forces entering Pyongyang had been captured with great difficulty, but afterward, pillars of fire erupted across the city, and thick black smoke enveloped everything, making it impossible to ascertain the situation within.

“Hoo…”

Kang Tae-seok let out a long sigh.

In truth, this incident could have had significant repercussions for South Korea.

If Kim Jong-un had survived, he would surely have pointed to South Korea as the mastermind and launched a fierce offensive.

In fact, many nations in the international community had viewed South Korea as being behind the series of events.

However, because the coup forces were caught on satellite, South Korea barely escaped suspicion.

Ultimately, it had turned out to be extremely advantageous for South Korea.

For decades since the division, North Korea had constantly threatened our northern border, forcing the public to live with a sense of crisis, but now that situation had been overturned.

With North Korea, which had used actual military force to threaten Seoul, suddenly taking a fatal blow and collapsing, it was an opportunity for South Korea to breathe a sigh of relief.

However, several unresolved issues continued to vex everyone gathered at the Cabinet Meeting.

Meanwhile, Kang Yuseong had returned to the factory.

The journey back had not been difficult.

But Kang Yuseong’s expression remained grim.

‘Who… who on earth was it…?’

The clean, single strike he had witnessed in Pyongyang simply wouldn’t leave his mind.

An attack executed without a shred of hesitation.

And observing the way the bodies lay, Kang Yuseong concluded that the assailant had used swordsmanship and displayed incredibly nimble movements.

If a heavy sword or a blunt weapon had been used, the bodies would never have been so cleanly dispatched. Judging by their state, they must have met their end instantly, without even realizing it.

A terrifyingly swift sword and frighteningly fast movements.

How many individuals could truly deliver such a shocking impact?

Even now, let alone in the past, there were very few.

One of them was Kang Yuseong himself in the past, and the others were…

Kang Yuseong thought deeply, then shook his head.

‘No, they couldn’t be…’

The people he knew wouldn’t possibly intervene in North Korean affairs.

Moreover, their current skill level was, at best, similar to Kang Yuseong’s.

No one could display such flawless skill.

Kang Yuseong bit his lip.

‘Who was it…?’

Someone had intervened with clear intent.

That much was certain.

And this person, though unknown, clearly seemed to have tried to help Kang Yuseong.

But an unknown ally could be more frightening than an enemy.

Kang Yuseong’s eyes blazed with a sharp intensity.