21st Century Goguryeo

15:40, 24th of November, 2023

The East Sea, 43° 1' 17.06" north, 139° 23' 53.69" east, international waters (The locations of the 7th Maritime Task Flotilla)

"The Far East Fleet flagship! Confirming the attack on Admiral Lazarev (CGSN-181)! Confirming the attack on Admiral Lazarev (CGSN-181)!"

When the symbol of the Admiral Lazarev (CGSN-181) flashed several times on the monitor and then disappeared from the screen, an operator at the Gwanghae Ship (DDG-1001) battle command room shouted "Hooray!"

Then the other crew members burst out cheering. But the cheers of joy soon ended.

This was because about 90 various anti-ship missiles and 10 additional anti-ship missiles from the Far East Fleet that had flown in from 400 kilometers away were still flying towards them. The anti-ship missiles of the Far East Fleet had broken through the long-distance anti-aircraft defense line of the 7th Maritime Task Flotilla and the close defense system range.

"The ship of King Myeongjong the Great, the ship of King Hyojong the Great, and the ship of King Yeongjo the Great will now switch to proximity defense system," the operator in charge of the situation of the automatic interception system reported.

The supercomputer of the Hocula destroyer created the best interception environment by exchanging data between the ships. Accordingly, three Hocula destroyers were in charge of the proximity defense system and the other three were in charge of long-distance interceptions.

Several Shield-M short-range anti-aircraft missiles from the three Hocula destroyers were fired from their respective launching tubes with a loud sound.

The Shield-M short-range anti-aircraft missile, 120mm in diameter and 2m in length, soared into the sky, making a U shape and colliding head-on with the anti-ship missile of the Far East Fleet, making a pop-up maneuver.

Bang! Baaang! Boom! Bang!

A series of colorful fireworks blew up in the sky.

"KH-35 Uran anti-ship missiles are all intercepted successfully! Six P-700 Granite anti-ship missiles are intercepted successfully!"

"Now what is left are the remaining six P-700 Granite supersonic anti-ship missiles!" the operator reported the interception result and swallowed his saliva nervously.

Clink clink clink clink clink ~! Clink clink clink clink clink ~!

When the short-range anti-aircraft missile broke through the anti-aircraft defense line, the last defense measure of the proximity defense system, the 22mm last shot Vulcan six cannons laser, was automatically activated.

The 22mm last shot Vulcan lasers, installed at the top of the center of both sides of each Hocula destroyer, aimed for the anti-ship missile, started shooting laser beams according to the supercomputer's error-free navigation calculations.

A total of six laser beams poured non-stop as if they were cutting through the sky, aiming at a P-700 Granite anti-ship missile, which was just targeting the bridge of Myeongjong the Great (DDG-1002. The missile then exploded in the air.

And the remaining five P-700 Granite anti-ship missiles were also all intercepted without completing their final mission.

If Admiral Valerie Karpin of the Far East Fleet knew of this result before he died, he would not have been able to comfortably leave our world.

Meanwhile, the KH-47M2 Kinzal air-to-ship missiles, which ranked first in interception according to their level of danger, flew at Mach 10 and entered the long-distance anti-aircraft range of 400 km. the three Hocula destroyers fired the GTAS-300 Sea Dragon surface-to-air missiles to intercept them. From the 68-cell K-VLS (vertical launchpad), the GTAS-300 Sea Dragon surface-to-air missiles shoot into the sky, blue lights igniting one after another.

"The most dangerous one, KH-47M2 Kinzal! There are 40 missiles! 120 seconds until they reach their target!"

"The second most dangerous one, KH-22S Burya! There are 24 missiles! 125 seconds until they reach their target!"

"The third most dangerous one, P-800 Yakhont! There are 24 missiles! 142 seconds until they reach their target!"

"The fourth most dangerous one, P-800 Onyx! There are 11 missiles! 131 seconds until they reach their target!"

The four missiles had different speeds and ranges as well as launching points, but their time of arrival was almost at the same time slot.

"Well, why are these missiles being detected when the Far East Fleet has been completely destroyed?" Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun was lost in thought as he listened to the operators' constant reports and watched the dizzying tactical screens.

At that moment, the unidentified missile from earlier came to his mind.

"Could it be that? The missile's purpose is to be used for something other than the normal attacking..."

When his thoughts got to this point, Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun rushed toward the communication console and asked the communication officer, "Did you send the unidentified missile detection information to the naval operations command?"

"Yes, I sent it as soon as you ordered."

"Did you get an answer?"

It was greedy to expect an answer within a few minutes of sending it, but Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun asked just in case.

"There's no answer yet. It will take time to be analyzed even in the naval operations command..."

"Right, I guess so!"

Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun, who was being slowly convinced, immediately turned around and instructed the tactical control officer, "Tactical control officer!"

"Yes, admiral!"

"Can you check where exactly was the impact point of that unidentified missile that was fired from the marine patrol?"

"Yes, it's possible."

Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun, who got lost in his thoughts once again at the response of tactical control officer Kim Hyuk-min, thought of something while going back and forth from and into the battle command room.

"Yeah, that's right. I'll have to check it out myself."

Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun flicked his fingers when came up with a way to find out for sure and immediately gave instructions to the tactical control officer.

"Is the spy satellite that supports our ship Apollo 5?"

"Yes, that's right. It is Apollo 5."

"Good! Send me the coordinates of the impact points right now, and also send me the footage; I mean of all six places."

"Why is that? Admiral! If it had impacted with the sea, it would have fallen into the sea or exploded."

As the tactical control officer Kim Hyuk-min tilted his head at the incomprehensible instructions, Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun looked with a serious look at a small screen showing the point of impact.

"That's possible. But I want to find out if our destroyer is being detected because of that unidentified missile."

"What?"

"That's right. Since this missile fell, our ship had started to be detected. Why didn't I think about this before?"

"Oh! That is possible."

Only then did tactical controller Kim Hyuk-min understand, and he immediately gave orders to the communicator, "We don't have time! Tell them to send me the video as soon as possible!"

In the meantime, reports on the interception status from the battle command room operators continued, and the remaining three Hocula destroyers that had switched to a close-defense system switched back to the long-range interception defense, and six Hocula destroyers aimed at the anti-ship missiles that had survived the first interception. And once again, the GTAS-300 Sea Dragon surface-to-air missiles flew off, emitting white smoke.

It's a battle with time now. If all intercepts were successful at a one-on-one ratio to enemy anti-ship missiles, it would be possible to defend with the anti-air defense system of the Hocula destroyer. However, no matter how much the artificial intelligence of Hocula's supercomputer calculates everything without any error and performs the interception missions with the automatic interception system, the difference is that the command system and procedural time according to the commander's decisions in an emergency are quickly performed by arbitrary calculations of the supercomputer, and the interception performance of existing anti-aircraft missiles does not increase.

Moreover, all anti-ship missiles flying toward the Maritime Task Flotilla Seven were flying at a tremendous speed exceeding supersonic speed. It was very different from the era when subsonic anti-ship missiles were unrivaled a few years ago.

Although Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun was more confident and prouder of the performance of the Hocula automatic interception system than anyone else, he did not want to even think about being hit because of even one Hocula destroyer failing to intercept the missiles.

While waiting impatiently in front of the tactical screen imagining the pessimistic possibility, a happy report came from the operator.

"Screen no. 3! The video was sent from Apollo 5."

As a result, all eyes in the battle command room turn to focus on screen 3.

Screen 3 showed a HUD-class high-resolution video.

"What, what is that?" an operator who was watching with them pointed his finger and muttered.

Something was flying above the sea with a wave height of 2m. It was roughly estimated at a length of about 10 m and was a pillar with a width of about 20 cm on one side of the quadrangle.

"What's going on? Why is that thing floating on the ocean?"

"This is the first time you're seeing this?"

"Russian guys make all sorts of weird things."

Everyone commented on the object.

"Admiral! Wouldn't that act as a radar?" Tactical control officer Kim Hyuk-min inadvertently dug into the core of Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun's suspicions.

"Yeah! That's definitely a radar. It detects our ships and sends the detected information to the Russian army. Is the other video ready?"

When Admiral Ahn Hyung-kyun asked, the third screen was immediately turned into a split-screen, and the remaining five videos lit up.

It was the same thing that they saw in the first video.

"Of course! It's because of them."

"Then how do we deal with this? We will prepare anti-ship missiles."

"No, no. It's not efficient to shoot it with an anti-ship missile! Naval artillery! Set up the warhead with cluster bombs to solve it with the naval artillery!"

"Yes, sir!" Tactical control officer Kim Hyuk-min said it so loudly that the battle command room rang at the moment he answered.

"Assign one target to each ship of the six coordinates, numbered 1 to 6. Tell them to take care of it and shoot!"

Due to simple and clear orders, operators started moving their hands faster.

Meanwhile, the anti-aircraft operator's report on the interception status continued.

* * *

15:45, 24th of November, 2023

Downtown Siam, Bangkok, Thailand

A middle-aged man wearing rimless glasses was looking around at the nearby shops on the streets of downtown Siam, Bangkok.

The middle-aged man's name was Woo Jin-gil, 53 years old. He had been widowed for 10 years and had a daughter who lived in Hong Kong with her Korean husband. He had a son, too.

Professor Woo Jin-gil from KAIS, who was in charge of plasma research for many years at the X-19 laboratory at the time, which was now called the Parthenon Research Center but was formerly only called the 17th Fighter Wing's underground research lab, contributed greatly to the development of plasma amplified bombs by helping Professor Park Jin-woo while conducting plasma research. He was currently working as a senior researcher in plasma-related research in the X-19 laboratory and as a full professor at the Academy of Space Sciences.

Professor Woo Jin-gil, who had traveled alone to Bangkok to cool off after achieving the first results on the research he had been immersed in for the past year, had to buy various gifts for his relatives, fellow professors, and his only daughter, which was why he was walking around in shopping malls in downtown Bangkok.

And behind Professor Woo Jin-gil, two bulky men were following him, keeping a distance enough not to disturb him.

They were bodyguards who belonged to the Secret Service, in charge of guarding the Parthenon Research Center for the personal safety and confidentiality of Professor Woo Jin-gil, who was a first-class national security target. In the past, agents of the National Intelligence Service performed bodyguard duties, but two years ago, the Secret Service was established unofficially, performing 24-hour close security missions for all subjects of National Security Level 2 or higher.

Currently, Professor Woo Jin-gil was a first-degree national security target, and two bodyguards quietly followed him anywhere in the world to provide close security.

Whether he found the store he was looking for or not, Professor Woo Jin-gil entered the world-famous luxury bag store that anyone could recognize just by saying its name. Then, he took a red bag out of several bags in the display case and asked the clerk in English.

"How much is this?"

"This one is $2,800."

"Hmm, isn't there a different color for the same model?"

"Yes, there is. There are green and blue colors. Which one would you like?"

"The blue would be nice."

"Yes, sir, please wait a moment and we'll bring it."

"Okay, I'll wait."

Professor Woo Jin-gil, who had a lot of sweat on his forehead despite the cool air-conditioned store, pretended to look at another bag and then glanced at the bodyguards who were keeping him safe.

And then, avoiding the guards' eyes, he put something in the red luxurious bag.

It was a small case that contained microchips the size of little nails.

After a while, the clerk brought out a blue luxurious bag of the same model and held it out to him.

"Sir! How about this? Do you like it?"

The clerk handed Professor Woo Jin-gil the blue luxurious bag with a friendly tone, but he received the red one from the professor who laughed in a friendly way.

"Well, this is okay. Let's go with this."

"Yes, sir, I'll help you pay."

"Okay. Here's the card," Professor Woo Jin-gil said, taking the credit card from his wallet and handing it out to the clerk.

"Let's do a 3-month installment plan."

"Yes, I understand. I'll pack your bag, sir!"

After a while, Professor Woo Jin-gil, who had just bought a luxurious bag in a natural way, approached the bodyguards and spoke to them.

"Deputy Kim, Chief Oh! I'm done shopping today. Let's go to the hotel right away. You suffer so much because of me, so let's have a cold beer at the hotel. Let's go."

"Yes, Professor, we'll take the lead."

The security guards of the Secret Service, who did not notice Professor Woo Jin-gil's suspicious behavior, left the store while keeping their eyes on the surrounding situation as usual.