Chapter 19: You must shed blood

Hapil, Gojong happened to be wearing a formal suit, thinking he could blend in.

He had brought his military uniform as well, but to make his escape easier, he had simply thrown on the suit instead.

And yet, that choice ended up bringing disaster upon him.

Gojong, who had been riding ahead on horseback, began to tilt to one side.

At first, I thought it was nothing, but then—he didn’t just fall off the horse.

His body went limp and collapsed straight onto the ground.

“Shit.”

Even the way he fell was bad—his head slammed straight into the dirt.

No matter how I looked at it, he didn’t seem alive.

He may not have a dick anymore, but this was truly a dick-level disaster.

For a moment, my brain failed to comprehend the situation, and I gave up on thinking altogether.

The imperial guards, Choi Jaehyung, the officials—everyone was in shock.

Even the Japanese soldiers who had been fighting the guards fell into momentary silence.

***

Let’s sort this out.

While we were heading north, something unfortunate happened.

The emperor, of all people, was shot and killed by the Japanese army.

Out of all the possible victims, this unbelievably unlucky chestnut-head got shot and went down.

It was as if the scenario I had written had played out exactly as the Japanese had planned.

‘The troops under Kuroki’s First Army pursued us and ultimately assassinated Gojong.’

“You insane bastards! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

At that moment, the picture I had in my mind shattered.

Unable to contain my rage, I charged at the enemies like a madwoman, screaming like a lunatic.

I slashed with my saber, hacked down with the hatchet at my waist, and fired back at anyone who aimed a gun at me.

“Aaaargh!”

“What the hell is with this woman?!”

“She won’t die! It’s an oni!”

“You sons of bitches! You’ve never done a single useful thing for my life!”

“Wait—would it be weirder if they had helped me? Whatever.”

There was no forgiving them.

I stabbed wildly with my saber, shot them to death, and repeated the process.

Until my rage subsided.

Even as my body became drenched in their blood, even as the air reeked of iron, the distance between me and Kuroki’s pursuit squad grew wider.

“Die!” — Bang!

“Is that the best you can do? This is how you fire a gun!”

One of them shot me straight in the forehead, but of course, my body had no intention of dying.

I put a bullet through the bastard’s neck in return.

Clutching his bleeding throat, he collapsed onto the ground.

“She… she really is an oni, isn’t she?”

“A… a monster.”

Oni, monster—it didn’t matter.

They were all dead anyway.

***

“What the hell are the imperial guards doing? Are they just going to stand there?!”

At last, the guards snapped out of their daze and started shooting.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bangbang!

Kuroki’s pursuit squad, having shown a moment of weakness, was mercilessly slaughtered by the imperial guards and the Imperial Intelligence Agency.

Some time later, after the chase was over, I returned to the scene to find Lee Yongik and Min Yeonghwan collapsed in front of that damn chestnut-head’s body, sobbing.

“Your Majesty!”

“Emperor!”

“Huuuuhh!”

Even the members of the Imperial Intelligence Agency had started crying.

Now was not the time for this.

“This is seriously fucked.”

Luckily, I had taken care of the pursuit squad by myself.

But that wasn’t the real problem.

The real issue was that the emperor was dead.

‘If this operation had been premeditated, then the main Japanese forces in Manchuria might already know about it.’

“What… what do we do now?”

“If His Majesty has ascended to heaven, isn’t it all over?”

“We’re doomed!”

Even the imperial guards who had followed behind us screamed in despair, and I fell silent.

This wasn’t the time for this.

At any moment, more Japanese troops could come after us.

Kuroki wouldn’t just stop here.

I was certain he would keep sending pursuit squads until we crossed the Yalu River.

‘Think, Ok Jinseo. Crises can turn into opportunities.’

“…Ah.”

‘No, this was actually an opportunity.’

‘The emperor had died at the hands of the Japanese army.’

‘Wasn’t this one of the scenarios I had planned from the beginning?’

“We could pin everything on Japan and brand them as a barbaric nation that murdered the emperor of an allied country.”

“Does the emperor’s death mean it’s all over? No. We still have something left.”

“The righteous army.”

“Even if the emperor was dead, we could still summon the righteous army.”

“No, we could even use this as justification—saying they were rising to avenge the military.”

“Now wasn’t the time to be sitting around crying like fools.”

“Everyone, calm down. Is there a military force stationed in Pyeongan?”

“This depended on whether we had any troops left in Pyeongan. Kuroki’s First Army would start moving in earnest soon. Even if we had to use them as meat shields, we needed to hold out until the war in Manchuria turned against Japan.”

Judging by the emperor’s last orders, it seemed like some of the royal guards were still around.

So, not all of the northern army had moved to Gando.

“Do you think we can afford to calm down?! More importantly, just who the hell are you?”

“I’m just a woman who’s good at dodging bullets. If you don’t pull yourselves together, are you planning to sit here crying over the emperor’s corpse all day? We’re in the middle of a war.”

‘I didn’t care if they wanted to cry. Just don’t get in my way.’

“What did you just say?”

“Japan has already revealed its true colors. Our troops in Manchuria could be in danger too. It’s tragic that His Majesty has fallen, but we cannot stop here.”

The guards, soldiers, and agents who had been in disarray slowly began to regain their composure at my words.

“There are still some royal guards left in Pyeongan, but only a few hundred at most.”

“But His Majesty was killed by the Japanese! That’s—”

“What do we do now?”

“What do we do now, you bastards?”

Gojong had never been fit to be emperor in the first place, and Sunjong, sitting in the palace, wasn’t exactly royal material either.

Uichin was a bit of a concern, but ideally, he’d get killed by the Japanese too.

Honestly, Sunjong, who had been acting weird ever since he drank that coffee, was the most useful pawn.

There was no reason to drag around any royal family member with half a brain.

“Is this really the time for this? This was clearly premeditated. The entire peninsula is now in danger. The remaining men should spread the word and encourage the righteous army to rise.”

Luckily, we had soldiers from the imperial guards and the emperor’s personal escort.

“We can say that His Majesty was planning to lead his troops personally, but the Japanese army went berserk and assassinated him. That should be enough.”

This alone would be enough for the Japanese army to treat me like an idiot.

***

“You… what are you planning to do?”

“What do you mean? I need to return to Manchuria immediately.”

“I have to arrive before Oyama Iwao or whatever his name is realizes what’s happening and attacks.”

“If this continues, the Japanese army in Manchuria might already be aware of this. The Sapo Corps could be attacked.”

“Die!”

So, there was still one more left.

I grabbed the head of the charging Japanese soldier and twisted it.

With a sickening crack, his neck turned 180 degrees, and he collapsed.

“Long live the Emperor!”

“There’s still one more, huh?”

As another soldier rushed at me with a bayonet, I pulled out the hand axe from my waist and struck his head.

His skull split open, sending blood and brain matter flying.

I may have died in a ridiculous way in my past life, but once a fight started, I never lost.

I turned my blood-splattered face toward the court officials following behind me.

They stood frozen, mouths agape at the sight.

“Any objections?”

I asked with a bright smile, casually shaking the blood off my axe.

If anyone dared to oppose me, I’d crush their skulls next.

As if they understood the implication, they all nodded in unison.

“Ah… I-I understand. We’ll do as you say.”

They should’ve done that from the start.

Rather than being helplessly devoured, it was better to be of use like this.

Now, we need to move quickly.

We’ll send the Imperial Intelligence agents to Pyeongan to buy us time.

The real problem is figuring out the current state of the war.

“First, we should bury His Majesty around here.”

“But still…”

“Are we really going to hold a funeral in this situation? I never intended to, and we don’t have the luxury for it anyway.”

“It would be difficult to evade pursuit if we tried to transport His Majesty’s body all the way to Manchuria.”

The only combat forces we have right now are the royal guards, the escort troops, and the Imperial Intelligence agents.

With this many people, it’s hard to avoid being tracked by the Japanese.

But in a way, that’s also working in our favor.

“Th-Then… do as you will.”

They didn’t really have a choice but to follow me.

After all, I was the strongest one here.

I had just twisted a Japanese soldier’s neck and casually split another one’s skull with a hand axe.

The sight of the officials hesitating before scattering in different directions was almost amusing.

Some of them would probably try to cooperate with Japan again, but if even one of them raised an army, everything would change.

Now, before we move, I should check on some things—like the current state of Manchuria.

‘If the Korean Empire’s army is still part of the Japan-Korea alliance, it’s dangerous. Not only for us but also because it could lead to an attack on our forces. Let’s see what the alternate history forum is saying.’

***

[User: Jinwi Possession]
[Title: Urgent! Need answers ASAP!]

—”Gojong is dead. What’s happening with the Japanese forces in Manchuria? Did the Sapo Corps get attacked?”

[Comments]

[Dabungi01: ‘Nnn. Oyama Iwao was in Manchuria at the time, leading Nogi Maresuke to besiege Lushun and advancing toward Fengcheng to defeat the Russian army. Btw, Park Seo Sangmu was leading the 80,000-strong Korean Empire army, but only as a numbers filler, since they were allied with Japan.’]

[Dabungi02: ‘This guy is really a possessed person, isn’t he?’]

***

“Oh, I see.”

It looks like history has already started changing.

Because I warned the Russians to defend properly, the enemy’s operational plans seem to have shifted.

In the original timeline, Park Seo Sangmu was supposed to die, but now he has joined the Japan-Korea allied army.

If Park Seo Sangmu is leading the Korean Empire’s army, maybe I can recruit him.

It shouldn’t be too difficult.

If I can bring his army to our side, we could wipe out the Japanese forces in Manchuria and then invade the Korean Peninsula.

Even if our navy is weaker, in the end, wars are won by the army.

Thanks to my interference, Russia isn’t following Japan’s naval strategy.

That means Japan will have a harder time in naval battles.

Unfortunately, in terms of fleet quality alone, Russia will still lose.

Japan’s navy is supported by Britain, which has the most powerful fleet of the era.

They’ve equipped their ships with the latest rangefinders, and even if there are performance differences, they already know how Japan’s fleet will move.

But if Russia is well-prepared, they can still fight back against the Japanese.

Wait a minute.

‘History has changed.’

‘What will happen to the naval battles now? Do I need to check on that too?’

[Dabungi02: This guy is seriously possessed, isn’t he?]

‘Since people are already suspicious, I’ll have to be careful with my questions. If I ask the wrong thing, I might get banned, and I can’t afford to lose this ability. I need a different approach. ‘

‘I can’t always rely on the alternate history forum. It’s unfortunate, but I’ll have to leave the naval battles to Russia. At least I prevented their morale from dropping after an early defeat, so they should manage on their own. As long as we drive the Japanese out of Korea and wipe out their army, they won’t be able to come back for a while.’

‘That time will give us the chance to grow stronger. Russia, for its own sake, will become our ally. In fact, they might even help us strengthen our forces.’

‘Whether Russia wins overwhelmingly or just moderately in the Russo-Japanese War will determine how harshly Japan gets punished in the post-war negotiations. Of course, our friendly neighborhood pirates, Britain and the United States, won’t just sit back and watch.’

‘But as long as Korea gains independence and Japan suffers enough damage to never rise again, that’s all that matters.’

‘To be honest, if someone like Bezobrazov had successfully pushed for Korea’s annexation by Russia, Japan and Russia might have destroyed each other.’

‘That would’ve been the best outcome. If that happened, Britain might rethink its stance and use Korea to counter Russia instead. But I made sure to keep Alexei alive and turn him into a competent ruler, so even if Japan gets crushed, things should be fine.’

***

“You, the emperor is dead. This wasn’t part of the plan, was it?”

While I was deep in thought, calculating the future, Choi Jaehyung spoke beside me.

Yeah.

This definitely wasn’t part of the plan.

I was going to kill him myself, but the fact that he actually died at the hands of the Japanese was unexpected.

“On the contrary, we can use this as justification to raise an army.”

“A lot of blood will be spilled.”

That’s the whole point.

“For a hundred years, even a thousand years, we cannot reason with them through words alone. To drive Japan out, blood must be spilled.”

If only I had possessed someone during Heungseon Daewongun’s time.

Though he wasn’t perfect, at least Korea wouldn’t have ended up like this.

The time for negotiations has long since passed.

If the country is to be rebuilt, blood must be shed.