Philippine Cabinet meeting.
President Melchor announced his plan to suppress the rebels at the Cabinet meeting.
“No.”
“We can’t even begin to estimate how great the damage will be.”
“We don’t even have a proper grasp of the rebels’ size.”
“I ask that you reconsider this once more.”
“What are you talking about? Are you suggesting we leave Mindanao like this? Mindanao is unquestionably Philippine territory as well. How long are we going to let the rebels run rampant?”
“It’s something that has to be done eventually. We should do it now.”
“It’s absolutely necessary.”
“We’re not saying it shouldn’t be done. We’re saying we should prepare a little more first. We’re completely unprepared right now, aren’t we?”
“And how long will that take? What if information leaks out in the meantime? We need to catch them by surprise.”
The Cabinet members’ reactions to the plan to suppress the rebels were sharply divided.
Most of them opposed the operation.
The reason was that the damage would be too great.
More precisely, they lacked enough information about the rebels to plan an operation properly.
They had no clear idea how large the rebel forces were or what weapons they used.
And they were supposed to charge blindly into a place like that?
They couldn’t even predict how many casualties there would be.
Naturally, this operation had to be called off.
Those in favor, on the other hand, wanted to stop the rebels’ influence from continuing to grow in Mindanao.
Even now, the rebels wielded tremendous influence throughout Mindanao.
The citizens of Mindanao also had an extremely positive response to them.
Unlike the old rebel groups, Damaya was highly pro-people.
Rather than kidnapping, assaulting, imprisoning, and smuggling, they operated legitimate businesses and created jobs.
They provided insurance and paid salaries.
Many Filipinos were moving to Mindanao.
Mindanao was growing.
It was unsettling to think that Mindanao might actually declare independence at this rate.
So they had to nip it in the bud before that happened.
Various opinions were exchanged at the Cabinet meeting.
But President Melchor, who held the final authority, was resolute.
“A week from now. The operation will begin at 06:00.”
*****
Simon had recently been extremely bothered by the frequent sightings of unfamiliar people near the rebel base.
The rebels’ headquarters in Darapanan lay very deep in the interior.
It was not a place anyone could easily reach by accident.
And yet unfamiliar people were being spotted there.
They certainly didn’t look like they had come to spread the good word.
Simon had a bad feeling about it.
Just in case, he informed Alex and Patrick.
He told them to be careful, since unfamiliar people had been appearing lately.
.
.
.
A kimchi stew restaurant in Zamboanga.
I’d said kimchi stew wasn’t my soul food, but I suppose there really was some Korean DNA in me after all.
This kimchi stew was delicious.
Well-ripened kimchi and generous chunks of pork.
It was spicy yet refreshing—a truly incredible combination.
And it even came with rolled omelet on the side.
But why was Patrick eating more enthusiastically than I was?
He was already working his way through his second bowl of rice, sweating as he ate.
Simon and Dennis were right beside him, struggling with the spiciness but still eating diligently.
Patrick ladled some stew into his rice bowl.
Then he stirred it thoroughly with his spoon.
It was somewhere between mixing it and pouring the stew over it.
He scooped it up with his spoon and ate it skillfully.
He even blew on it before eating, huffing and puffing because it was hot.
Maybe this bastard was Korean.
After finishing his meal, Patrick drank some water and casually brought up a subject.
“There’s a chance a war may break out.”
Huh?
Why was this bastard talking about a war breaking out in the middle of a meal?
“A war?”
“They’re probably going to send the Philippine military here to Mindanao under the pretext of suppressing the rebels.”
“Seriously?”
“Judging from the information gathered through several channels, it seems almost certain. The military’s movements are strange as well.”
“That’s right. I kept seeing strange bastards near our base too. They must have come to spy on us. So I deliberately took out some old weapons we don’t even use and left them lying around.”
Simon backed up Patrick’s statement.
Unlike me, who was flustered by the shocking news, Patrick calmly continued drinking his water.
“Have these bastards lost their minds? They need to act rationally.”
“It is a serious matter, but it’s not necessarily something to worry about that much.”
“Why not?”
“Didn’t the boss supply the rebels with enough weapons? You even provided them with training. Besides, we’re on the defensive, which makes things much easier. Above all, the Philippine military isn’t all that strong.”
“Even so, this isn’t right. It’s a war. A war where people will die. If we can stop it, we should.”
“That’s right. We should stop it. Preventing it is our top priority, but even so, I’m saying we need to prepare.”
“That’s true. We need to prepare. But whose idea was this?”
“I heard President Melchor is personally pushing it through.”
“Melchor? Why?”
“I assume it’s because of the results of the recent election.”
“Isn’t this a single-term system anyway? He can’t be president after this term ends. There’s no reelection.”
“He must have a lot on his conscience. Didn’t our Akbayan achieve an enormous success in this election? He must have thought that if things continued like this, it would be difficult for him to maintain his administration in the election three years from now. And if he fails to retain power, it’s obvious Melchor will end up in prison. So he needs to eliminate Akbayan, his greatest threat. And wasn’t Mindanao Akbayan’s birthplace? He’s going after Akbayan under the pretext of crushing the rebels. He wants to destroy its support among the people.”
“Haaah~ He’s starting a war just to hold on to power?”
“Officially, it’s the suppression of the rebels. It’s a good title, too.”
“This really pisses me off. Simon. Can we stop them if they come?”
“Of course. We won’t let them set foot in Mindanao.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Dennis, can we really do it?”
“Yes. I believe it’s possible. There’s a certain lunatic, you see. Someone who enjoys this sort of thing.”
I had a pretty good idea who that lunatic was, which irritated me.
Even so, we had to minimize the casualties.
“First, send the Daeyeon Development and construction workers back to Korea, or at least evacuate them to Bohol. They came here to work; they can’t end up getting shot and killed.”
“Yes.”
“And have the citizens of Zamboanga conduct evacuation drills or something.”
“It’s already being planned.”
“What about the troops stationed in Mindanao?”
“I looked into that. They said they would pull out and wouldn’t do anything.”
“Wouldn’t they be disciplined for disobeying orders?”
“They’re already half-rebels themselves. Government support has nearly been cut off. In fact, we probably provide them with more support. So they say they won’t take either the government’s side or ours. They’ll just stay put.”
“Really? That’s actually fortunate. And Patrick.”
“Yes.”
“Try to establish a line to Melchor’s side. If there’s any chance of solving this through words, we should try.”
“I’ll make contact.”
“Simon and Dennis, prepare in advance for whatever situation might arise.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t worry.”
.
.
.
After the meal, I called Chairman Wei Zhonglin.
I’d always been the one receiving his calls. This was the first time I’d called him.
“Brother?”
- Oh~ Alex is calling me? What’s the occasion? Is it my birthday today? Hahahahaha!
Why was he so happy over a single phone call?
“Ah. It’s not that. I have something important to tell you.”
- Something important? Is it serious?
“A little.”
- What is it?
“It looks like it may become difficult to supply Asend in the future. And we have no way of knowing how long it will last.”
- What? What do you mean, it’ll be difficult to supply Asend? Are you saying you won’t send us any more Asend? Why? Are the prices no longer right? Are you short on electricity? Should I send more solar panels?
“No, it’s nothing like that. I heard the Philippine government is planning to suppress the rebels. Naturally, I think our factory may be affected as well, so I wanted to tell you in advance.”
- What???? What kind of lunatic would do something like that?
Wei Zhonglin’s voice rose.
A lunatic, huh?
Wei Zhonglin also seemed to be preparing a military operation to reclaim Tibet and Xinjiang after their independence.
Was this a case of double standards?
“I’ll send you everything that’s already been produced. After that, I think we’ll have to wait and see when the war ends.”
- No. That won’t do.
“You have a sufficient stockpile, don’t you? Try to get by with that for now.”
- It’s not enough. Do you have any idea how much Asend sells? Forget that. We’ll send troops to you.
“Brother. They’re coming to the Philippines under the banner of suppressing the rebels. If you send troops, things will get complicated. It would constitute interference in internal affairs and a declaration of war.”
- Oh~ You’re thinking of your big brother? How touching. But who cares about a little war? Should I turn the whole place back into the Stone Age, excluding Mindanao?
“No, it’s all right. We’ll handle our own war. I called to let you know that the supply of Asend may not be entirely smooth from now on.”
- Then I’ll at least send you some weapons. Take them and use them. You mustn’t get hurt.
“All right. I’ll accept them gratefully.”
- Good. Take care of yourself.
After hanging up, I couldn’t hide the smile at the corners of my mouth.
Even if war broke out, the Asend factory would not be affected.
According to Simon and Dennis, the enemy wouldn’t even be able to make it as far as Darapanan.
Even so, I had called Wei Zhonglin and whined because I wanted to obtain weapons.
I had been planning to ask him for some, but since he offered to send them first, there was no reason to refuse.
What a jackpot.
******
The waters off Zamboanga.
The rain continued falling throughout the night.
The overcast weather made visibility extremely poor.
Lakambini, who would be commanding today’s landing operation, looked pleased as he watched the rain fall.
It seemed as though the rain was helping him.
The rebels would never expect them to land on a day like this.
The overcast sky and falling rain would make it extremely difficult to identify the enemy with the naked eye.
They wouldn’t even know we were coming.
Lakambini went over his mission once again.
He had been assigned the operation of transporting troops and heavy equipment from the naval base at Mactan, Cebu, to Zamboanga in Mindanao.
Traveling by ship from Mactan to Zamboanga was not a particularly good choice.
Even so, it was the only option.
All of the Philippines’ major naval bases were located in the northern part of the country.
They had been positioned there to respond to China.
There was only one naval base in the south.
The Zamboanga Naval Base.
But the Zamboanga Naval Base had declared that it would not participate in this operation.
They had shouted that such behavior was absurd and amounted to disobedience of orders, but the other side had not even responded.
They had immediately threatened to cut off supplies and forcibly discharge all the commanders for disobeying orders, but since they had hardly been providing supplies in the first place and the commanders’ ranks were little more than hollow titles, it was not much of a threat.
They had no choice but to decide to depart from Mactan, the naval base closest to Zamboanga.
The distance from Mactan to Zamboanga was 700 kilometers.
Traveling by landing ship would take at least twenty-four hours.
It took far too long.
Wouldn’t it be better to travel by plane?
There had been plenty of opinions to that effect, but transporting a large force together with armored vehicles and trucks required the use of landing ships and transport ships.
Departing from Mactan was their only option.
And so they had arrived in the waters off Zamboanga.
The steady rain concealed Lakambini’s forces.
They had planned to arrive at Zamboanga at 06:00, and it looked like their timing would be perfect.
They couldn’t see it through the rain, but the GPS indicated that Zamboanga lay somewhere ahead.
All they had to do was bring the ships alongside the shore and unload the troops and armored vehicles.
The operation itself was not difficult.
And the rebels did not possess any powerful weapons, either.
That was what the agents already dispatched there had discovered through several rounds of cross-checking.
According to the information confirmed at the rebel base, they were still using old AK-47s.
There was no need to fear men who used weapons like that.
“Fifteen minutes to arrival. Three kilometers remaining.”
The helmsman spoke.
“Reduce speed.”
“Reducing speed.”
From this point on, they had to gradually slow down as they entered Zamboanga.
So they reduced their speed.
That was when it happened.
Boom!
An enormous spray of water crashed over the ship with the sound of an explosion.
The landing ship rocked violently.
“W-We’re under attack. The enemy is attacking!”
The helmsman reported in a panic.
The helmsman was not the only one startled. Every soldier, including Lakambini, was shocked.
The soldiers inside the ship stuck their heads out through the doors to see what was happening.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Dozens of shells came flying in.
The shells struck the landing ship.
The radar snapped off, and the antenna was damaged.
A shell exploded on the deck, blowing a hole through it.
“All personnel, take up combat positions.”
Lakambini had brought one escort ship and three patrol boats to protect the four landing ships on their way here.
But they were under attack now.
They needed to respond with an attack rather than focus on protection.
They had to counterattack.
“Prepare the naval guns.”
“What?”
“Didn’t you hear me? Prepare the naval guns.”
“That’s a civilian residential area. There may be civilian casualties.”
“Civilians? How can bastards who fire mortars at soldiers be civilians? They’re all rebel bastards. Prepare to fire!”
“Yes. Preparing to fire.”
Lakambini ordered them to prepare to fire, then used his binoculars to locate the source of the mortar fire.
There, a man was operating the mortars while giving orders to dozens of people.
He was standing in the rain, getting soaked.
Even his face was smiling.
He looked genuinely excited.
A chill ran through Lakambini when he saw the sight.
The man looked like a lunatic.
A genuine, certifiable lunatic.
Seeing that lunatic strengthened his resolve to counterattack.
They had to get rid of him.
That man was the problem.
He was about to order the naval guns to blow the place away when—
“Captain. An unidentified boat is approaching us at high speed.”
“What?”
“It’s probably a suicide boat.”
“Open fire with the machine guns.”
Machine guns began firing at the boat from the deck.
The boat approaching the patrol ship was struck by machine-gun fire and exploded.
More precisely, the explosives loaded onto the boat detonated.
But more boats were approaching in a line behind it.
“What are you doing? Keep firing. Keep shooting!”
Every machine gun opened fire on the boats, but the small vessels were difficult to hit.
Then one of the boats slammed into the hull.
Boom!!
It exploded with a deafening roar.
It wasn’t enough to blow up the ship, but it tore a hole in the hull.
Water began pouring into the ship.
“Starboard compartment three is flooding. Close the watertight door!”
“Closing!”
But this was not the end.
More boats kept coming.
Lakambini once again assessed the enemy’s condition through his binoculars.
What the hell?
The lunatic was looking this way.
It seemed their eyes had met.
The lunatic’s smile grew even wider as he stared at them.
Gooseflesh spread across Lakambini’s entire body.