WeTried Translations
Translator: NEET_Romulus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Dropped into the Ending of a Trash Show as an Extra ◈
Chapter 6: Royal Voice
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Armored vehicles crossed the Han River and appeared in the heart of Ilsan.
Screeeech!
With the ear-splitting grind of their tracks, the armored vehicles came to a halt, completely surrounding the forecourt and nearby roads of IBS Second Broadcasting Station.
The station's night-shift security guards panicked at the intimidating sight.
"All personnel, dismount!"
"Set up a perimeter around the building! Don't let even a single ant get near it!"
Captain Kwak leaped down from an armored vehicle and roared, his face flushed red.
Why was he so worked up?
The Marines moved in perfect coordination and seized the station's main entrance in an instant.
Barricades went up, and the armored vehicles' machine guns were trained down both sides of the road.
"Your Majesty! The approach is secure!"
Captain Kwak rushed over, pounding on my car window as he shouted.
I nodded stiffly, opened the door, and stepped out.
"Secretary Seo. Let's go."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
My guards formed an ironclad wall around me.
The broadcasting station lobby was already in an uproar.
The staff, who must have been scrambling to handle every report of a coup as though they were on a battlefield, froze as if doused in cold water when armed soldiers suddenly stormed in.
Someone who appeared to be in charge shouted.
"W-who are you?! This is an Imperial Broadcasting Station! Soldiers cannot simply barge in here!"
Very brave. For all they knew, we could have been rebels.
Seo Yu-jin stepped forward, her heels clicking against the floor.
"We are from the Imperial House."
She raised her imperial civil service ID, followed by the usual confirmation procedure using the State Seal to establish that, yes, this was now the situation.
Perhaps thanks to the fearsome Marines, the process went much faster than before.
"Summon the Director of News and the person in charge of broadcasting immediately. Every second counts."
"Y-yes! I will arrange it at once!"
He bent at the waist so sharply he nearly folded to the floor, then screamed into his radio like a madman.
The station staff were extraordinarily respectful.
It was an Imperial Broadcasting Station, after all. The heir to the Imperial House, whom they had thought wiped out, had arrived in person with the military. It made sense.
I was already standing awkwardly in an elevator someone had held open for us when the staff members following to receive instructions stopped a step away, heads lowered.
For fuck's sake.
I didn't even want to think about it anymore. They probably thought they couldn't dare ride in the same elevator as the chairman, no, the Emperor. I really couldn't bring myself to like this setting.
"Enough. Ride up with us. Get all the Marines in."
Throughout the ride to the floor with the news studio, the accompanying staff pressed themselves against the elevator walls with their heads bowed.
"We've arrived. This is VIP Waiting Room One."
The Director of News, who had led the way, cautiously opened the door.
The first thing I saw upon entering was a red, black, and gold outfit hanging in the middle of the room.
"...What is that?"
"The official ceremonial attire of the Emperor of the Republic of Korea. You must change into it immediately."
Seo Yu-jin closed the door behind us as she spoke.
"Why does a broadcasting station have imperial ceremonial attire?"
Seo Yu-jin carefully inspected the fabric.
"IBS keeps the highest-grade imperial ceremonial attire on hand in case of emergencies during imperial reenactment programs or official events. It was made and delivered by the same workshop that produces garments for the Imperial House. However, given the circumstances, it was not tailored to Your Majesty's measurements. Please forgive us in advance should it not fit properly."
"Forget it. Who'd make a fuss over something so stupid?"
I threw off my old clothes.
Then again, going on live television dressed like this would be way too ridiculous. This was no time to worry about changing in front of someone, either.
...Were these buttons decorative? Why wouldn't they fasten?
"I'll fasten them for you."
Seo Yu-jin stepped close enough to reach beneath my chin and secured the hooks at the front of the ceremonial attire.
"Secretary Seo. What about the speech?"
When I asked, Seo Yu-jin answered at once.
"Fortunately, because IBS is under Imperial Broadcasting, it has a court drafter from the Office of Royal Drafting permanently assigned here. I instructed him to prepare a draft of your national address immediately."
"...A court drafter from where?"
I asked, wondering if I had heard right.
"A court drafter from the Office of Royal Drafting. He is one of the officials responsible for composing imperial edicts, decrees, and various statements."
The Imperial Palace Secretariat wasn't even called the Royal Secretariat. It was just a modern secretarial system. So why did the document-writing department have to keep the whole Joseon-era vibe of the Office of Royal Drafting?
Could it be because “secretary” sounded more sophisticated than “royal secretary”?
This damned melodrama world.
While I mentally tore into the writer and savored every bite, the door to the waiting room outside the studio opened.
"Your Majesty! Choi Sanghyeon, court drafter of the Office of Royal Drafting, pays his respects!"
An old man threw himself flat onto the floor.
Having come from a Confucian republic, I couldn't leave someone so much older than me bowing like that.
More importantly, we didn't have time for this.
"Get up. The speech?"
"H-here it is! When I received word that Your Majesty had arrived, this humble servant hastily drafted it with a grief-stricken heart!"
He held out a tablet with trembling hands.
The court drafter used a tablet too? He looked fairly old.
I pressed my fingers to my brow and looked down at the speech.
[The Emperor, who receives Heaven's mandate, decrees:
Alas, alas!
The Way of Heaven has fallen into disorder. A band of traitors has risen and invaded the Imperial Palace, bringing the calamity of the brutal severing of the Imperial bloodline, including His Late Majesty.
Therefore, with a heart torn asunder, I receive Heaven's mandate[1] and inherit the great succession. Let all soldiers and civilians of the realm hear this.
Having received the grace of our ancestral sovereigns generation after generation, you must reflect on the duty owed to sovereign and father, and rise in righteous anger. Let all subjects urgently rise in loyalty and filial devotion, slaughter these vile rebels, and help restore the ancestral shrines and the state[2]...]
"..."
I gave a wry smile and turned off the screen.
Then I quietly set the tablet on the desk.
"Secretary Seo."
"Yes."
Without hesitation, I tore apart even the printed speech in the drafting official's hands.
Riiip!
"Y-Your Majesty! The edict...!"
Ignoring the appalled old man from the Office of Royal Drafting, I pushed open the studio's soundproof door and spoke to Seo Yu-jin.
"We don't need this crap. I'll do it my way."
Seo Yu-jin sighed and called outside.
"Is the studio set up?"
"Yes! We can go live immediately!"
The Director of News shouted urgently from beyond the door.
"Let's go."
Without looking back, I headed into the studio.
* * *
The camera lenses all turned toward me.
Blinding lights poured down.
Cold sweat ran down my back.
Until this morning, I had been a farmer on Ganghwa Island. Now I was about to address the entire nation live?
It would've been strange not to be nervous.
My heart pounded as though it would burst through my ribs.
But if I lost my nerve, Seo Yu-jin, who was protecting me, and Kwak Ji-hoon, who was risking his life outside guarding me, would all die.
The producer in the booth gripped the microphone with trembling hands.
[National broadcast link ready. Stand by! Ten seconds!]
[9, 8, 7...]
I took a deep breath.
I repeated it to myself.
I wasn't an extra now. At least for this moment, I was the protagonist of this country.
Let's turn it all upside down.
[3, 2, 1. Cue!]
The ON AIR lamp lit red.
I looked directly into the camera lens and opened my mouth in the calmest, steadiest voice I could manage.
* * *
"Hello. I am Lee Jin, Emperor of the Republic of Korea."
What came from Lee Jin's mouth was utterly ordinary language.
"As a member of the Imperial House, and as the sole successor to the Imperial House following the terrorist attack at Deoksu Palace, I hereby proclaim before the people that I have succeeded to the imperial throne as of this moment, in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Korea."
"To all of you, the name Lee Jin will be unfamiliar. I myself never once imagined that this heavy position would be given to me.
"However, now that an unprecedented rebellion threatens the nation, I will not run from the responsibility left to me."
It was far too plainspoken for an imperial voice broadcast.
The Director of News and the staff transmitting the broadcast watched from outside the booth in confusion.
"People of the Republic of Korea, let me briefly explain the situation we now face."
But Lee Jin continued without concern.
"At approximately two o'clock this afternoon, an explosion at Deoksu Palace killed His Late Majesty the Emperor, the Crown Prince, and all members of the immediate Imperial Family."
"I offer my deepest condolences to every victim of this terrible tragedy."
Lee Jin bowed his head in a brief moment of silence.
It lasted barely five seconds, but such a heavy silence filled the studio that not even the sound of someone swallowing could be heard.
When Lee Jin raised his head again, the look in his eyes had grown far calmer.
"At the same time, certain military units have broken away without authorization and seized key facilities in Seoul by force. The rebel forces led by Song Haksu call this a revolution and are misleading the public."
Lee Jin paused for breath.
"But this is a clear insurrection, a treasonous act that destroys the constitutional order.
"Real soldiers do not turn their guns on the people.
"They are nothing more than rebels blinded by power, rebels who have destroyed the Imperial House."
Then, at that very point, Lee Jin lightly tapped his chest and said,
"However, the Imperial House still stands here."
The air in the studio tightened.
"As commander-in-chief, I, Lee Jin, will devote every effort to suppress this crisis immediately. We will never compromise with the rebels, and we will not yield a single step!
"At the end of this treason, all they will gain is infamy in history, and all they will hold in the end is the noose of the gallows!"
Then the Emperor issued an order.
"From this moment, I declare a national state of emergency throughout the country and issue my first imperial edict.
"All armed forces are to mobilize under the Emperor's command, with the suppression of the rebels as their highest priority.
"All personnel of the Armed Forces are to immediately break from rebel command and return to their original units.
"Rebel troops are to reject any unlawful order from their superiors to open fire. Those who side with Song Haksu and the rebel forces will be considered traitors. However, those who lay down their weapons and change sides immediately will not be held responsible in any way."
Lee Jin's words, which had been directed at the Armed Forces, turned back to the people.
"This filthy bloodshed must end tonight.
"People of the Republic of Korea, do not be shaken. I will not run. I will remain here and bring this crisis under control.
"I will prove myself what it means to be Emperor."
The broadcast ended.
The studio's red light went out.
A quiet silence settled over the station.
Even the usual sounds of the city outside seemed to have vanished.
For that moment, it was a complete silence, as though the entire city had sunk beneath a heavy weight.
* * *
Seoul, Capital Defense Command Headquarters.
[...I am Lee Jin, Emperor of the Republic of Korea.]
The moment the broadcast aired, the coup command erupted like a stirred-up hornet's nest.
"Emperor? Did he just say Emperor?"
"Where did this imperial relative come from now?"
"That cannot be. We wiped out the entire Imperial House today. And now an imperial relative is alive and broadcasting?"
"Let's shell the Ilsan station immediately! Cut off the broadcast!"
Then, amid the uproar, Song Haksu, the revolutionary commander, slowly raised a hand.
As calm as an old tiger, Song Haksu set down his teacup.
"Quiet."
At Song Haksu's single word, the command room fell silent as a grave.
"Marshal, that is a fake. We certainly dealt with every imperial relative who attended the imperial wedding."
"Of course. Seo Yu-jin disappeared with the State Seal."
Though the chief of staff explained urgently, Song Haksu gave a bitter smile.
"After the Empress, now even a mere secretary girl is trying to seize and shake the Imperial House."
Just how far did they intend to humiliate this country?
Song Haksu stared out the window at Seoul's distant nightscape.
"The people follow only the flag in front of them. Today, we proclaimed that we would cut away the corruption of the Imperial House. But if another Emperor appears over there and starts waving a flag, the people will hesitate over whom they should follow."
"Then immediately...!"
"That hesitation itself is poison to us."
Song Haksu waved a hand indifferently.
"Have it politely swept aside."
Footnotes:
[1] Heaven's mandate: In the traditional idea of the Mandate of Heaven, a ruler's legitimacy comes from Heaven and can be forfeited through failed rule.
[2] ancestral shrines and the state: A traditional expression for the dynasty and the state, named for the royal ancestral shrines and state altars.
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