Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 2761 A Different South Korea (Second Update, Please Subscribe)

Life is full of choices, and a single choice can often change a person's life.

It wasn't until he was inside the fish hold of the fishing boat, filled with the smell of fish, that Xu Liang finally realized... what he had done.
I'm going abroad.

A few days ago, he and Wei Dong arrived in Jiaozhou with three or four hundred yuan in their pockets and found Wei Dong's comrade-in-arms from when he was sent to the countryside.

Subsequently, with the help of their comrades, they boarded a fishing boat in a fishing village near Jiaozhou. The fishing boat then took them and a dozen other people to another fishing boat—a South Korean fishing boat.

They were now huddled in the cargo hold of the fishing boat, where the air was thick and the pungent smell of fish was suffocating.

This small space, used to store frozen fish, was now packed with people. Men and women were huddled together, shoulder to shoulder and leg to leg, and even the slightest movement would result in bumping into someone else.

Some people covered their mouths and coughed in suppressed spit, while others sat silently on the ground with their heads down.

"Wei Dong, how much longer?"

Wei Dong shook his head, then said:
"Didn't we say before that it would take a day? If we calculate the time, it should be about right."

As Wei Dong finished speaking, someone nearby said:
"If everything goes smoothly, we should arrive at our destination in about three or four hours."

The speaker was a man sitting in the corner, who, unlike the others, wore a watch.

Xu Liang originally owned a watch, but he had already sold it to raise money.

"Wait a minute."

And so, the fishing boat tossed and turned on the vast ocean, the roar of the diesel engine mingling with the sound of the waves.

After countless hours, the rocking of the ship gradually subsided, the engine noise slowly decreased, and the sounds of seawater lapping against the dock, mechanical collisions, and a few unintelligible Korean conversations could be faintly heard outside the cabin.

Suddenly, the heavy iron door above them creaked open, and someone shouted to them:

"Quickly, get off the ship... Now, move fast!"

The South Korean fishermen spoke with a somewhat stiff accent, but communication wasn't a problem.

But clearly, the other party wasn't communicating with them. Soon, they disembarked. Unlike the others, Xu Liang and Wei Dong didn't stay in the small fishing village; instead, they took a small truck and left.

About half an hour later, it was dumped on the roadside. Before the driver left, he specifically instructed:
"Alright, you all need to be careful. There was a military coup in Seoul a few days ago, so don't go to Seoul recently, understand?"

Finally, the driver looked at their clothes again. Although they were outdated, they were still acceptable, but he still reminded them:
"When you're waiting for a car on the roadside, make sure to let the smell dissipate from your clothes."

"Thank you, thank you—"

Several tens of minutes later, they took a passing bus to Incheon.

Throughout the journey, the two men remained silent, listening to the conversations of the other passengers with questions in their minds. When the car arrived in Incheon, looking at the signs lining both sides of Incheon Road, their surprise deepened.

"They're all Chinese characters!"

The people in the carriage all spoke Mandarin, but their intonations were slightly different.

Listening to the music playing in the roadside music store, looking at the signs on both sides of the road, and hearing the words spoken by passersby, Xu Liang and Wei Dong had some questions.

Is this really South Korea?

This must be South Korea. Many shops along the roadside are displaying South Korean flags.

"When did Koreans start speaking like us?"

Xu Liang had this thought in his mind, because Feng Lei's father had fought in the peninsula before, so he naturally knew that the people here spoke differently from them.

But now?
"What's going on?"

Wei Dong was also filled with questions, and so they walked on in a daze, occasionally glancing at the shops along the roadside. They saw the familiar Chinese characters and heard the familiar language.

Everything was different from what they had imagined.

They had initially assumed the people here spoke a foreign language, and that it was a completely unfamiliar country. But now?

What they see and hear is without any obstruction.

Even finding a job was incredibly easy; he simply strolled around the streets and found a job as a waiter in a hotel.

The two of them were worried that the other party might ask for their ID cards, but to their surprise, not only did they not need anything, but the other party seemed to be able to tell at a glance that they came from the countryside.

The hotel provides room and board, and the monthly salary is 40000 Korean won.

How much is 4 Korean won worth?

It was probably only 100 yuan, but in any case, they finally had a place to stay for the time being.

"In at most two years, we'll be able to save enough money to go south."

And so, the two of them began their life adrift in South Korea.

But just as they were envisioning the future, the appearance of military police on the streets that evening made them both tense. "What... what's going on? Why are they all soldiers?"

Having just arrived in South Korea, they were unaware that a new military coup had taken place just over a month earlier.

In fact, the past few months have been turbulent in South Korea.

Since the sudden assassination of the South Korean president on October 26, the situation in South Korea has undergone tremendous changes.

After nearly two weeks of turmoil, on November 10, Acting President Choi Kyu-hah delivered a "special statement" on the current situation, announcing that a presidential election would be held in accordance with the new constitution.

Faced with this situation, the group that originally held power would naturally not give up easily. They were determined not to let the opposition party seize the presidential seat, and on November 12, they unanimously nominated veteran Kim Jong-pil as president to participate in the election.

Unexpectedly, the emergence of Kim Jong-bi, the nephew-in-law of President Park Jung-woong, sparked a wave of struggle across South Korea to "completely destroy Park Jung-woong's reform regime."

They also put forward their goals: national unity should begin with the complete abolition of Park Chung-woong's "Yushin System"; the Democratic Republican Party, the pillar of the Yushin regime, and the "Yushin Association and the National Assembly for Unification" should immediately dissolve themselves; and they demanded the punishment of the remnants of the "Yushin System".

“These are not the most crucial things… The most crucial thing is to refuse interference from external forces.”

Inside the SEA representative office in Seoul, Sun Changli, the representative, was washing tea while speaking.

"What external forces are they referring to? Is it the North? Washington? Or us?"

"Everyone is."

Sitting across from him was Li Mingyu. The head of the Seoul station of the investigation department took the small teacup offered by the representative, took a sip, and then said:

"To them, we are all external forces."

Then he put down his teacup:
"That's South Koreans for you. On the one hand, they verbally oppose external forces, but on the other hand, they can't live without external protection."

Sun Changli nodded slightly and said.

"However, we can see that these calls have received a wider response from the entire society in South Korea. Faced with enormous pressure, Kim Jong-bi had no choice but to withdraw from the election for transitional president."

Although Kim Jong-bi withdrew from the election and gave way to Choi Kyu-ha, he made organizational preparations for the latter to run for president.

As acting president, Choi Kyu-hah, utilizing his position, skillfully navigated internal and external pressures to consolidate and ultimately seize power. For example, he released two high-ranking opposition figures, a move that garnered praise from many in the opposition.

Li Mingyu shook her head, then said:

"What Choi Kyu-ha did was not to consolidate his power or to use public opinion to force the military to remain neutral in this incident. The military... Jung Seung and his group—that group of steady pro-Americans—keep claiming to follow the historical trend..."

Lighting a cigarette, Li Mingyu sneered:

"However, they disregarded the realities of South Korea, abolished the reformist system, and even purged it, which will inevitably provoke opposition from conservatives and within the military."

Sun Changli nodded in deep agreement with Li Mingyu's opinion.

Since the incident occurred, the representative office has been using various channels to understand the development of the situation and has maintained a high level of attention to the incident from beginning to end.

The reason for such intense attention was that it was not yet certain who would ultimately become the master of South Korea.

Of course, the representative office maintained a delicate neutrality throughout this process, which was unavoidable because all sides were opposing interference from external forces.

Appropriate neutrality is the best option to ensure that the relationship between the two parties does not reach a stalemate.

"So we all saw what happened in the end. Those who had vowed to abolish the new regime were dealt with, and now the new military has control of everything."

Sun Changli took a sip of tea, squinted his eyes, and then said:
"For us, Zheng Shenghe and his group are not the best choice. After all, they belong to the pro-American faction... But the new military headquarters is inclined to us, so the elimination of the 'moderate faction' within the military is not a bad thing for us."

In fact, this is SEA's true attitude in this incident. After all, between countries, it is always about interests. As far as Chang'an is concerned, they do not want to see Seoul controlled by the pro-American faction.

Looking up at Li Mingyu, Sun Changli said directly:

"Zheng Sheng and his colleagues have a long history of dealings and contact with the U.S. military, and have even fought alongside each other. They are pro-American."

However, the vast majority of the new military commanders are division-level officers who have been promoted in the past 10 years. In the past decade or so, we have had more contact with South Korea, and there is a wide pro-South Korean faction among them.

The old military leadership chose Chang'an because of self-interest; generally speaking, they were pro-American. But what about the new military leadership?

It's not just a choice based on economic interests; there's also the reality of long-standing relationships. This is precisely the biggest difference between the new and old military headquarters… Therefore, we welcome this debate…

Hearing the representative's answer, Li Mingyu nodded and then said:

"Representative... does that mean Chang'an already feels support for him?"

Faced with Li Mingyu's question, Sun Changli was silent for a moment before saying:

“If that’s the case, things will be much easier. Don’t forget, this was a solo operation… and it was done behind our backs, so…”

Sun Changli took a sip of tea, shook his head, and then said:
"The time is not right yet!"

(End of this chapter)