Ch.196196. North Korea (2)

But as with any policy, there were inevitably side effects.

This applied to North Korea as well, and within Pyongyang—which had been made complicit—there clearly existed a young elite class that opposed the Kim family.

“Can such a man truly be called our Supreme Leader? Can he be called the leader of our nation? Absolutely not!”

Contrary to provincial prejudices that might assume Pyongyang was filled only with self-serving bastards, even in a dictatorship, one could easily find party members working in the parliament who genuinely wanted to serve the people and were driven by a mission to make the country even slightly better—or young, passionate party members full of vigor.

These were true elites who had devoted themselves to study in order to make North Korea prosperous, and consequently, they had realized that everything they had been taught was a lie.

To these idealists, the Kim family was nothing but a bunch of bastards who had abandoned all duties of leadership.

Thinking logically, how could it make any sense for a nation’s leader to sacrifice all provincial areas to slaughter just to save the capital?

“The Kim family is no longer our Supreme Leader!”

“Reactionaries! Reactionaries!”

And so, these were the very people who, before anyone else in Pyongyang, rebelled against the Kim family and staged a coup.

“Vanguard! Vanguard!”

“Oh heavens! Why do you inflict such trials upon North Korea!”

But from the North Korean regime’s perspective, these people were traitors who would collapse the government, and therefore had to be suppressed more brutally than anyone else to send a warning message against defying Pyongyang.

To maintain the sanctity of the Baekdu bloodline of the Kim family, these people had to be enemies of the people—or at least, the North Korean regime had to claim so.

“I can’t stand it anymore! The Kim family is no longer the legitimate ruling power of North Korea!”

But their resistance was not meaningless. One by one, the seeds of revolution they planted began to take root, and young elites started to defect from the North Korean regime and Pyongyang without permission.

Though the beginning was undeniably modest.

“Can only Pyongyang rule North Korea? Of course not! There are plenty of provincial areas where power can be built!”

“Yes! Let’s leave for Sinuiju!”

To resist the Kim family, many elites began leaving Pyongyang for provincial cities.

The place many sought out was none other than Sinuiju, the gateway city to China that had been responsible for North Korea’s economy.

Though Sinuiju had become a hell due to the Kim family opening the Yalu River border, its geographical advantage remained an important factor that couldn’t be ignored.

And despite the Yalu River being breached, the fact that warlords and survivors remained in Sinuiju played a significant role.

“Sinuiju is a land of opportunity! We can still trade with surviving forces in China and use that as a foundation to grow our power!”

In other words, they saw it as a land of opportunity to bring down the Pyongyang regime by establishing relations with China.

Above all, considering how important it was to maximize Awakened abilities in this apocalypse, Sinuiju—hellish as it was—could conversely become the blade to bring down the Pyongyang regime.

They intended to use the Chinese undead to maximize their Awakened abilities and challenge the Pyongyang regime.

Before the apocalypse, this would have been madness, but in the apocalypse, Awakened who survived battles could gain more power.

Naturally, Awakened on the front lines had higher average levels than those in other regions, and their quality was considerably good.

“None of them have the ability to stand independently as warlords! Even if they do, they have no strategists! No hope to see the future!”

That’s why they thought it was time for them to step up.

The warlords in Sinuiju had higher quality and levels than Awakened from other North Korean regions, including Pyongyang, after a year of struggle.

However, they were merely excellent fighters who hadn’t received proper education, and therefore lacked the ability to stand independently as warlords or envision the future.

To such people, they offered to cooperate as strategists.

“Let me devise strategies for you!”

With this logic, many elites who left Pyongyang in opposition to the Kim family became strategists for warlords established in various regions.

They knew that if they tried to raise their own forces now as latecomers, they would quickly be destroyed by existing powers.

Naturally, from a warlord’s perspective, when intellectuals came directly to them, the correct response would be to thank the heavens and accept them as strategists, but…

“You… you comrades? For us? You’ll devise strategies? Really?”

“What’s so strange about that?”

“No, I just wonder if I did something good somewhere. The heavens I’ve been resenting seem to be getting better now.”

From the warlords’ perspective, this was an incredibly sudden and unexpected gift falling from the sky.

If not for the apocalypse, they would never have even seen the faces of Pyongyang’s elites, who were now voluntarily becoming their strategists, giving them the brains to assess situations.

‘To think that heavenly elites would bow their heads to a poor man like me!’

The reason these powerful Awakened hadn’t grown into warlords capable of opposing Pyongyang, despite forming their own forces, was precisely because they were uneducated, poor people.

Due to North Korea’s policy of keeping the populace ignorant, these people who hadn’t received proper education couldn’t maintain themselves as warlords because they lacked the logic or eloquence to persuade survivors remaining in the provinces.

But with the elites joining them, their lives changed dramatically.

“Listen, everyone! Pyongyang is trying to abandon us! The Supreme Leader… no, the pig-like Kim family is preparing policies to exploit us just to save themselves! Of course, you all already knew that the Kim family acted for themselves, not for North Korea. But now they’ve thrown away even the pretense they maintained and are driving our people into the mouths of the undead! They intend to take our lives!”

It started with having the eloquence to persuade the people.

The elites began operations to incite and persuade local people who were dissatisfied with the Kim family, incorporating them into the warlords’ forces.

“Can you, the people, tolerate this outrage? Can you overlook the atrocity of those evil pig-sons trying to take your lives? I cannot tolerate it! Because I cannot tolerate this outrage, I threw away my promised position and wealth in Pyongyang and came here to Sinuiju! To be with you all!”

The logic to persuade them was very simple.

They dramatically proclaimed the current reality, declared themselves traitors to their class, and expressed empathy and anger at the people’s situation.

“So to overthrow this reality, I ask for your precious support for my lord! Our lord has a vision to make Sinuiju a new paradise! Some of you may be disappointed, thinking he’s just like the Kim family! Some think my lord’s actions are no different from the Kim family’s. Those feelings, those doubts—I truly apologize for them! I bow my head here in apology!”

Moreover, unlike the Pyongyang regime that constantly preached party-first politics…

“But unlike the incompetent Kim family who couldn’t even provide meat soup to the people for decades, our lord will definitely create a country where you can eat meat soup once a day like in South Korea!”

They were essentially advocating populism that encouraged public participation.

To be honest, one could ask how this logic differed from what the Kim family had proclaimed.

After all, it was just inflammatory rhetoric—promises that no one could guarantee would actually be fulfilled.

“I will support you!”

“We will join you too!”

But to North Korean residents who had suffered under the Kim family’s dictatorship for so long… these were words as addictive as a drug they couldn’t quit.

The young elites’ incitement scratched exactly where the people itched, while also apologizing and putting forward what seemed like realistic promises.

How could they not follow in this apocalypse to survive!

“Is this really okay?!”

“Yes. If we use the geography of the gateway city Sinuiju well, we can trade not only with China but also with the Republic of Korea.”

Moreover, this wasn’t baseless incitement.

They were developing plans to normalize North Korea’s ruined economy by utilizing Sinuiju’s geographical conditions to trade with China and South Korea.

Of course, they needed a way to enter the market somehow.

“We’ll need to negotiate with the warlords established in China, but don’t worry. The guanxi network connecting us to China is still intact.”

“If it’s guanxi, it’s trustworthy! But can that guanxi network function properly?”

“Don’t worry.”

They had an incredibly reliable guanxi network and could use it to access the Chinese market.

The remaining issue was South Korea, but they thought they could make contact through China to reach Seoul.

Thus, the defection of the North Korean regime’s elite was truly devastating and essentially created a new force that could end the North Korean regime by their own hands.

Above all, contrary to the North Korean regime’s expectations…

“In China, several self-proclaimed kings have already emerged.”

After a year, China too was emerging from the shock of the apocalypse and was about to enter a state of warlordism.

China’s warlords were all calling themselves kings and becoming representatives of their regions.