Tyranny of Steel

A young Korean boy in his adolescent years clutched the stock of his Mp-3008 submachine gun to his shoulder. His arms were shaking from anxiety as he aimed down the barrel towards the face of a middle-aged man who was pleading for his life and that of his family.

Cha Jong-Su had been a member of the Joseon Resistance for some time now, narrowly avoiding a cruel fate at the hands of the Japanese Army by virtue of being a young child. In fact, he had committed many attacks against the Japanese occupiers over the past few months, and had gotten away with them all. 

Now, under the orders of their German backers, Jong-Su and his squad of insurgents had invaded the home of Princess Yi Min-Ah's adopted family, and taken them hostage. All across the Korean Peninsula, attacks on collaborators and their families were taking place as an act of revenge against the Japanese Empress for sending a potential assassin into the home of the Kaiser. 

Hwa Jin-Sang was a middle-aged man who was a wealthy merchant within the southernmost tip of the Joseon Dynasty. For many years, he had ties to the Royal Family, and as a result, was selected to be the foster father of Yi Min-Ah when she was just a little girl. 

He did not know why his family was being targeted by the Joseon Insurgents, as he was entirely unaware of his daughter's misdeeds. In fact, he himself had supported the rebels' cause by aiding them with intelligence on the Japanese Army, and plenty of resources. With tears in his eyes, the man begged for himself and his family to be spared. 

"Please, boy, I beg of you. Just walk away, and I will pretend like this never happened. I will even continue to provide your people with the support I have given them since this occupation began. You're a freedom fighter, not a terrorist! You don't have to do this!"

A cold light existed in Jong-Su's dark eyes. He had witnessed far too much cruelty to have the sense of innocence a boy his age should normally have. There was not a hint of mercy on the boy's face. Instead, there was only disdain. 

Though Hwa Jin-Sang may have been an avid supporter of the resistance movement. His daughter, Hwa Min-Ah, was among the worst traitors. Rumor had it the Japanese Empress Itami Riyo had ordered her to assassinate the Kaiser and his family. Though this was a foreign matter, the very idea of attacking an innocent man and his family filled Jong-Su with disgust. 

For a man who had raised his daughter to be such a horrible human being, Jong-Su could only surmise that Jin-Sang was supporting the resistance for the sake of monetary value. Thus, he was nothing more than a merchant taking advantage of the Joseon people's crisis to make himself a hefty profit. War Profiteers were not allies, only useful tools, and Jin-Sang had lived out his use. 

With a heavy sigh, Jong-Su lowered his submachine gun for the briefest of moments, the act of which caused a slight bit of hope to emerge on Jin-Sang's face. However, it lasted for a but a mere second before Jong-Su raised his weapon once more, and spoke the last words that Jin-San and his family would ever hear.

"I'm sorry, but I really do..."

With this said, Jong-Su pressed the trigger, and held it down as he sprayed Jin-Sang and his family full of lead. The bullets effortlessly tore through the family's flesh, and turned them into a bunch of bloody sieves. 

Once they were dead, he took a deep breath to calm his heart before reloading his weapon. While this happened, the members of the boy's squad gazed at him with a bit of dread in their eyes. No matter how ugly the task was, Jong-Su would handle it and without the slightest bit of hesitation. 

The boy had earned himself quite the fearsome reputation among the members of the Joseon Resistance. Though they were thankful that he was on their side; it did not mean that his ruthless actions did not scare them. Ultimately, it was the deadpan childish voice that was completely devoid of any joy which woke the grown men from their stupor.

"What are you waiting for? This was just a sideshow. Our real target is the Kempeitai headquarters. Hurry up!"

With this said, the guerillas quickly disregarded the corpses that lie in the home, and bailed from their current location. They stalked through the alleyways for some time while making their way to their target. 

Once they were about fifteen meters out from the Kempeitai headquarters, the guerillas halted their advance and gazed upon the entryway of the building that was more akin to a stronghold than an actual office area. 

Despite the attacks occurring across all the Korean Peninsula, where collaborators and Japanese spies were being eliminated left and right. The soldiers of the Kempeitai had not been dispatched away from their headquarters to deal with this ongoing crisis. Instead, they hunkered down, waiting for further orders. 

Jong-Su took command of his unit, and waited for the Japanese sentries to pass, before stealthily leading his troops through the fencing that blocked off the headquarters from the outer world. To silently make their way into the enemy stronghold, these men needed more than just luck on their side.

With some bolt cutters, they were easily able to cut through the chain-link fences and make their way through the compound. Though they were very careful in the way they moved. If one agent of the Kempeitai spotted them, then the entire compound would be on their asses, like butter on toast. 

Luckily for the guerillas, Jong-Su had planned extensively for this operation, and thus he was able to successfully navigate the Japanese defenses without him or his men being spotted. Once they had made their way to their target, the guerillas sighed a breath of relief.

The target of the Guerilla's attack was the munitions storehouse located within the compound. If they applied a couple pounds of thermite to the munitions, it would cause the entire stronghold to light up in flames. Which is exactly what the guerillas did after breaking open the lock. 

Jong-Su and his men stacked a pack of thermite grenades onto the largest pallet of explosive munitions. After doing so, the boy held one of these grenades which had been supplied to him by the reich, and ordered his troops to withdraw.

"Alright, this is it, boys. Once I pull this pin, completely disregard stealth, and run like hell, because we only have so much time before this whole place is consumed by fire. On the count of three... One, two, three!"

After his brief countdown, Jong-Su pulled the pin on his thermite grenade and threw it onto the pack which contained the other grenades. Once he had done so, he bolted out of the storehouse like a bat out of hell.

He and his men quickly came under notice of a nearby squad of Japanese sentries, but before these men could bother with the fleeing insurgents, the munitions storehouse exploded in a massive blast. Its fire rapidly spread across the stronghold, consuming everything in its path.

Rather than fight one another pointlessly in a compound filled with flames, the Japanese sentries took flight, and ran alongside the Joseon insurgents. Completely afraid of being caught up in the flames, which were spreading at a rapid rate. 

As if competing with one another in an Olympic sprint, the Joseon guerillas and Japanese Soldiers ran side by side until they were far enough away from the compound to ensure their safety. After the group caught their breath, they realized that they were both hostile to one another.

Before the Japanese could raise their semiautomatic rifles, Jong-Su had hip fired on them at a distance of three meters. Unloading his entire magazine into the five or so men, which killed them on the spot.  Once they were well and truly dead, Jong-Su spit on their corpses before giving the order to his men to retreat. 

"Withdraw to the rendezvous point. There is nothing left for us to do here."

With that said, both Min-Ah's adopted family and the Kempeitai headquarters in Busan were utterly annihilated by the Joseon guerillas. Thus concluding Berengar's brutal retaliation against Empress Itami and her most beloved agent. 

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