I Became Stalin?!

Chapter 188 (Side Story) I Became a Battalion Commander?!

He was happy.

He had been the leader of a band of outlaws once, but thanks to his connections, he had managed to climb up to this position. Sure, some of his comrades had died along the way, and he had gone through a lot of hardships.

But being a battalion commander of the occupying army was no small feat.

Especially if he was a battalion commander of the Soviet army, the world’s strongest and invincible force, stationed in Tokyo, the heart of Japan that had once colonized the Korean peninsula!

Tokyo was a metropolis where hundreds of thousands of people still lived, even after being hit by several nuclear bombs. The buildings and land might have been damaged, but the wealthy people who lived in Tokyo did not all die or lose their fortunes.

“Hmm, harasho, harasho.”

“Ha ha, etto… Mr. Jin, I would like to ask you when the Soviet policy will be implemented…”

As he looked at the Japanese man’s bald head, dripping with sweat and grease, the battalion commander leaned back on the soft sofa.

He could not have enjoyed this luxurious life if he had been a soldier in the mainland. But as an occupier, he could enjoy it as much as he wanted. 

Japan was still a rich and glamorous country, even after its destruction, and he could confiscate the ‘goods’ that the ‘capitalists’ had exploited from the workers.

And, to figure out how the Soviet military administration would work, the people who had a lot to lose tried their best to get on his good side.

Maybe they thought he would understand them because he was of the same race, but even the Japanese tycoons lined up to see him and tried to get a word from him, offering him all kinds of precious gifts.

The Japanese man who had just come in had done the same. He had brought a box of fancy pastries, but he would not dare to bring such a snack to a man who had absolute power.

The battalion commander picked up the box and chuckled at the unexpected heaviness.

“Oh? Ohoho! Ha ha… You are very generous, aren’t you?”

“Hehehe, I have always admired the soldiers, so I wanted to show you some respect, please! Please accept it.”

The heaviness was not from the money, or the military notes. When he pushed away the pastries with his rough fingers, he saw two shining gold bars underneath.

“Ho ho… This…”

When he asked about the gold bars, he saw teeth marks on them. The battalion commander laughed with satisfaction. The Japanese businessman also laughed servilely.

“Wow! Did you bite this? They say pure gold leaves teeth marks…”

“Hahaha, it suits your dignity, sir.”

He was a smooth talker, as if he had oil on his tongue. But the battalion commander did not mind, and he laughed and put the gold bars under the pastry box.

With his rough hands, he tore off the pastry wrapping like he was stripping off the clothes of fairy geishas, and he bit the manju with a loud noise, arrogantly putting his military boots on the table.

“So, what do you want to ask me?”

“Ah… How the distribution policy of the military administration will proceed…”

“That? Hehe, that’s too important to ask for a little more sincerity…”

“Hehe, I might be able to get you a few more of these heavy things tomorrow, or maybe not…”

As they looked at each other, the battalion commander burst into laughter.

He loved this situation. Was this what power was?

He felt like he understood why the high-ranking people coveted power.

The people who he could not even look up to when he lived as a colonized peninsula man, now rubbed their hands and feet to bring him bribes.

Wasn’t this patriotism? Taking back ‘our’ things that the bastards had plundered. Even though ‘our’ things went into his personal pocket, it was still in the name of the nation, hooray.

“Hahahahaha! Alright. Alright. Then let’s see you in a few days. Make an appointment with my subordinate.”

“Thank you! Thank you!!”

The old subordinate of Jin Soviet came out with a smile and wrote down the next meeting date. His notebook was full of Japanese names.

The Japanese president wiped his sweaty head and glanced at the names in the notebook. 

Some of them might not have survived, and some of them might have lost their fortunes to protect themselves.

He thanked Amaterasu Oomikami… no, the great Stalin of the Soviet Union for this luck, and he retreated with a quick step.

Jin Zhichen (Jing Zhichen), a Soviet colonel and the current battalion commander of the Soviet army stationed in Tokyo, Japan, looked at him with satisfaction. His comrade and subordinate Kim Chaek, who had been with him since his Manchurian outlaw days, was fiddling with a thick notebook.

“Gold bars, two pure gold. How much do you think this is worth?”

“Hehehehe, does that matter?”

Well, no. Power came from the barrel of a gun, and the vote was decided by the one who counted it. 

The one who had the force in his hand could decide how much to sell it for, regardless of the actual value of gold.

Already a pile of Japanese people had come and gone. Kim Chaek, who had been spitting and making noise while eating the pastries, sorted out the bribes he had collected.

“Gold bars, gold calves, gold toads, we could make a twelve-section whip with this gold, right?”

“Hahahahahaha! Ah, should we make a sickle and hammer with this gold?”

“Hehehehehe, that would be nice.”

Usually, if they had ripped off this much money, they would have had to pay tribute to the higher-ups, but surprisingly, the regiment commander was a clean person and did not accept any tribute. 

And yet, he let his subordinates take a big share, which made them wonder what he had.

Without any restraint, they had amassed a considerable amount of wealth. Now they were thinking of how to offer it to the higher echelons of the Soviet Union.

“Where should we take this?”

Pyotr Tolbukhin, the Japanese military governor and a general, was not someone that a mere lieutenant could bribe. 

They needed to find a good connection to get promoted to colonel, and then general, but the Soviet army had become quite clean after the purge of terror in the early war.

The high-ranking generals were especially under the intense surveillance of the NKVD, which was known enough to be announced. Of course, there was no direct purge of them yet.

As he pondered for a while, Colonel Jin Zhichen complained.

“I wish we had gone to Korea, we could have lived there with a bang…”

“Hey, don’t say that. How much did we get here?”

Most of the Koreans had joined the Korean armored division and headed to the peninsula. If they had secured their positions in the division that would become the backbone of the new ‘Republic of Korea’ (it was strange that it was neither a Soviet republic nor a people’s republic), they might have easily become generals.

But they might not have scraped up as much wealth as they did in Japan, and they might have been overshadowed by a ruthless commander who fought bloody battles on the front lines of the Great Patriotic War.

There was no point in worrying about the past.

As he was thinking about his future prospects, the phone in his office suddenly rang.

“Huh? What’s this about…?”

There weren’t many people who would call him in this chaotic situation. It was very likely that it was someone higher than him in rank. So Jin Zhichen hurried to answer the phone.

“Yes! Colonel Jin! Zhi! Chen!”

“Ah, Colonel Jin, this is Major Pavlov. I have something to tell you…”

“Please speak, sir!!”

He was a high-ranking officer, a regiment commander. Jin Zhichen took the phone as if someone was watching, like a private with a stiff posture.

Even if he had been a general, a high-ranking officer who had been purged and sent to a penal regiment, a general was still a general. Especially to his direct regiment commander, he couldn’t show a relaxed attitude. He had to be flawless in the eyes of the higher-ups, as one of the few authentic Soviet officers in the Tokyo garrison, which was mostly composed of German fascist prisoners.

“Um, I’m sorry to say this… but I got a call from the infirmary. They said your son is not feeling well and he’s been hospitalized. Yuri, was it? Anyway, you should go and see him as soon as possible today.”

“Wha?? Thank you! Thank you, sir!”

Even Kim Chaek, who heard that, widened his eyes. Yuri was sick?

***

“Yuri, no, Jung-il!”

“Ah, you’re here?”

The medical officer in charge of the infirmary was a kind-looking old doctor. 

He must have been conscripted again because of the Great Patriotic War and came all the way here, as he only had a colonel’s insignia on his age. Jin Zhichen greeted him briefly and looked for his son first.

“What happened here?”

“Daddy…”

“My son, my son…”

The old doctor put on his glasses with a serious face and rummaged through the chart.

“Um, Colonel Jin Zhichen, is that right?”

“Yes, I’m Jin Zhichen.”

“Yes, yes. Well, there’s nothing to worry about. The child seems to have been tired from adapting to the new environment. There’s nothing wrong with his health… and I prescribed him some good supplements, so please don’t worry and rest well.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Young Yuri was only two years old. He had a cold towel on his forehead, as if he had a fever, and he covered his nose with a rag.

“Did you have a nosebleed?”

“Yes, I did. I also had some bruises… and a slight fever. I’ll get better after taking the supplements and resting.”

The doctor smiled warmly and answered him. Jin Zhichen, who had been tense and then lost his strength, slumped on the sofa next to the bed where Yuri was lying.

“Phew, thank goodness… But, sir?”

“…Yes? What is it?”

The medical officer, who had been writing something on the chart with a fountain pen, looked up when Jin Zhichen called him. He had a cold look in his eyes. He thought so, but he asked anyway.

“Come to think of it, I’ve been feeling a bit tired lately and I’ve had a few nosebleeds. Is this okay?”

“Hmm… similar symptoms, huh?”

He said that, and examined Jin Zhichen with a stethoscope around his neck. The doctor’s eyes shone behind his thick glasses.

“I’ll prescribe you some supplements. Do you want to get them now?”

“Yes! Please. Thank you.”

The medical officer nodded and wrote something else on the chart, muttering to himself, and then walked away. He had a strange feeling, but he didn’t know what it was. Jin Zhichen leaned back on the sofa again.

“Huh…?”

He felt something hot running down his nose and touched it with his hand. He had another nosebleed. Was this because he was too tired?

‘I need some supplements…’

He had been running too long without resting, blinded by his ambition. He felt like he needed a break. He covered his nose with a handkerchief and closed his eyes.