Chapter 75: That Time I Held an Election in South America (5)

TL: Skye

The hands of the clock in the grand conference hall of the Presidential Palace in Libertad pointed to 11:50 p.m.

The air in the room was nearly suffocating, thick with the heat radiating off dozens of telephones and the ceaseless shouts of the Senior Secretaries.

"Libertad Polling Station One, vote counting now at 94 percent! Support at 100 percent! Not one stray vote among them!"

"Polling Station Two reporting! Vote counting 97 percent complete! Support at 99.7 percent! No votes against confirmed as of yet!"

Telephones rang in a tangled chorus all across the conference hall, which had taken on the look of a central command center.

The reports coming up from the provinces were even more astonishing.

"Northeast Polling Station Thirteen, count complete! Turnout 100 percent, support 100 percent! Word is the residents are dancing in front of the polling station!"

"Same goes for the temporary station at the Highway Seven construction site! Both at 100 percent!"

Isabella stood in the heart of the bedlam with her arms folded, savoring the numbers, a satisfied smile on her lips.

To her, these numbers were no mere statistics.

They were nothing less than a measure of San Marcos's devotion to the lord she served.

Just then, the heavy doors of the conference hall, which had been firmly shut, swung slowly open.

It was Yu-jin, who had been resting in his room, run down with a fever after days of a punishing provincial campaign tour.

The moment she spotted him stepping in, dressed in a crisp suit with a slightly haggard complexion, Isabella rushed over and took his arm to steady him.

"Your Excellency! You're unwell, why have you come out? You really ought to rest a while longer."

"...I don't think I'll be able to sleep until I've seen the results. How did it go?"

Yu-jin looked at Isabella with somewhat glazed eyes.

"No need to worry. It's going very well indeed."

"How well...?"

Just as Isabella was about to fill him in, a shout came from Sergio, the Senior Secretary for Education.

"The count's finished, and they're about to put the results on air!"

"Looks like you can watch the results on the broadcast, then."

Isabella smiled with utter confidence and pointed at the TV.

On state television, the anchor began to read out the final tally in a measured voice.

"The final results of the Republic of San Marcos's first-ever presidential election have just come in. The number of nationals aged nineteen and over with the right to vote stood at 6,723,321, with a turnout of 99.98 percent, for a total of 6,709,857 votes cast. Of these, His Excellency secured 6,702,236 votes, excluding 7,621 invalid ballots. Votes against... none. To summarize once more: the final turnout was 99.98 percent, and His Excellency has been elected with an approval rating of 99.99 percent."

For a moment, Yu-jin wondered whether something had gone wrong with his eyesight.

"No way."

Turnout of 99.98 percent, an approval rating of 99.99 percent. And zero votes against.

Weren't these numbers straight out of a dictatorship?

"Congratulations, Your Excellency. This confirms, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that every last citizen of San Marcos stands behind you."

Isabella's voice brimmed with pride.

"The 0.02 percent who didn't vote were gravely ill and unable to reach the polls, and the invalid ballots are nothing more than a minor hiccup, owing to our people still being unaccustomed to voting. Spoiled ballots, where they stamped the seal twice and the like. You may take it that there isn't a single soul in this country with impure intentions."

"If anything, the result seems like the impure part..."

Yu-jin was still at a loss for words, staring blankly at the screen, when the dedicated hotline phone in his pocket began to ring.

Brrring, brrring-

"I'll just take this call for a moment."

"Of course."

Yu-jin excused himself and picked up, and a boisterous voice came booming through.

"Hey, brother! Just saw the results! 99.98 percent, wow! You're really something! What's your secret? Did you stick a magnet to the bottom of the ballot box or something? Hahahaha! Just kidding!"

It was Drump, the President of the United States.

"I'm dead jealous of those red-hot numbers of yours. Congrats on becoming a real president! As it happens, there's some urgent business to talk over about Venezuela, so get yourself over to the White House soon! I'll have my office set up a schedule! Congratulations again!"

"......"

Drump hung up before Yu-jin could so much as answer.

A moment later, Yu-jin couldn't help but understand why he'd hung up in such a hurry.

Brrring, brrring-

"My most sincere congratulations on your election. To see you prove the mettle of our Korean people so magnificently on foreign soil fills me with indescribable pride, not only as President of the Republic of Korea but as a Korean myself. I look forward to seeing the Miracle on the Han River bloom anew along the Libertad River, and I eagerly await the chance to meet with you again soon."

Next came the congratulations of the President of Korea.

"Yes, thank you. As President of San Marcos, I will hold the relationship with Korea in particular regard."

Once Yu-jin had hung up, Isabella came over to him.

"Your Excellency. This is no time to be standing around. The people are waiting."

"...What? At this hour?"

Isabella pointed out the window. Yu-jin walked over and drew back the curtain, and a spectacular sight unfolded.

Despite the dead of night, the plaza in front of the Presidential Palace was a sea of people, well over tens of thousands by the look of them, holding candles and flags.

"The results are about to be announced to the entire nation, so I think it would be only fitting for you to go out and answer them in person."

"I suppose I should."

His chest swelling, Yu-jin made his way out onto the balcony.

The instant he appeared, the crowd of tens of thousands raised their hands as one and let loose a roar fit to split eardrums.

"Viva Yu-jin! Viva San Marcos!"

Yu-jin bowed again and again and waved.

At a single gesture of his hand, the crowd surged like a wave.

The cries of tens of thousands filled the Presidential Palace to overflowing and seemed ready to tear apart the night sky over Libertad.

Just then, a heavy metallic sound rang out from one corner of the Presidential Palace garden.

RRRRRUMMMBLE!

Yu-jin turned to look, and the tank that had been guarding the Presidential Palace was growling its massive engine to life.

"It's a parade vehicle we prepared in advance. Ride it through Libertad."

"That's... a tank, though?"

"To show off your stature, Your Excellency, we have to go at least this far. We'll be keeping to the main roads anyway, so it won't be any trouble at all. Now, come along!"

"......"

Yu-jin took Isabella's hand and climbed aboard the tank.

As the steel treads ground into the earth and began to roll forward, the crowd's cheers took on a frenzied edge.

"Yu-u-jin! Yu-u-jin! Yu-u-jin!"

Standing tall atop the tank, Yu-jin crossed through downtown Libertad, meeting the eyes of each and every citizen chanting his name and greeting them one by one.

People came running out toward the tank, crying out Yu-jin's name and sobbing.

"Boohoohoo! Your Excellency!"

"His Excellency looked right at me!"

"Please, take me, Your Excellency!"

That night, the skies over Libertad filled with fireworks toasting the victory and with blind, fervent cries for Yu-jin.

***

Meanwhile, on the far side of the globe, news of the San Marcos election turned Korea's morning on its head.

[BREAKING] San Marcos Presidential Election: Choi Yu-jin Elected! Shocking 99.99% Vote Share.

[World News] First Democratic Election in Thirty Years? The Miracle, or Mystery, of Zero Votes Against.

[KCC News] The First Korean-Descended President in History Is Born.

The morning news on the major networks, not to mention YouTube and every kind of online community, was plastered top to bottom with three little syllables: Yu-jin Choi.

That was because, to Koreans, a figure like 99.99 percent was the kind of number that stirred a certain nostalgia.

[Trending Now] South America's San Marcos Election Results, Summarized.txt

Turnout 99.98%, 6,709,857 votes. Vote share 99.99%, 6,702,236 votes. Invalid ballots 0.01%, 7,621 votes.

Is this for real?

Anon (112.14): Whoa, 99.98%? Isn't this rigged? Even North Korea doesn't pull numbers like this lmaooo

Anon: Heard that if you cut out the invalid ballots it's basically 100%? Rumor is even those were just people who loved him so much they stamped the seal twice kkk

Anon: Isn't this a straight-up dictatorship? What was the opposition even doing?

Anon: There is no opposition, apparently.

HistoryMajor: Hmm... I'm catching a whiff of you-know-who from somewhere? (This comment has been blocked.) [TL: "You-know-who" is a reverent euphemism Koreans use for a former South Korean strongman whose era was notorious for suspiciously lopsided, near-unanimous election results.]

ParkFanClub: At last, an heir to you-know-who has appeared on the far side of the world! Your Excellency, are you watching!

MilGeek: Anybody catch him parading around on a TANK? The sheer presence is unreal, I swear...

Public opinion split down the middle in an instant.

Praise for a Korean-blooded hero squared off neck and neck against fears of a brand-new twenty-first-century dictator.

With Yu-jin's image at risk of hardening into that of a dictator, Chairman Jung of Hyunhwa stepped in.

"Bunch of folks so fat and happy they've got nothing better to do than spout nonsense."

To Chairman Jung, Yu-jin was far more than a simple business partner.

He was a beachhead for Hyunhwa's push into South America, and a comrade who shared his philosophy.

Chairman Jung could not sit by and watch a man like that be branded a dictator back home in Korea.

"Director Choi."

"Yes, Chairman."

"Get on the phone with the networks. Tell them we'll pump in a fat ad budget, so they'd better show everyone, loud and clear, exactly what His Excellency has accomplished over there."

"Yes, understood."

The power of money was a fearsome thing.

In a mere two days, a documentary about Yu-jin was airing in prime time on national broadcast.

[Special Feature: The Miracle of Libertad, How Yu-jin Choi Saved San Marcos]

Handed the materials by Hyunhwa, the networks drew a stark contrast between San Marcos's wretched past and the transformation that followed Yu-jin taking office.

They even rounded up things that could hardly be called Yu-jin's own doing, like Drump Field and the Nickel Mine, and lumped them all together as if Yu-jin had pulled them off single-handed.

On top of that, YouTube of every stripe began singing Yu-jin's praises.

[SHOCKING] 99.9% Approval? Not North Korea! The Truth About 'Yu-jin Choi', the Korean Who Conquered South America.

[Dr. Knowledge] Drump's Emergency Call Leaked? 'Yu-jin, Let Me In on the Secret Too!' The Approval Rating That Stuns America and Has Japan Quaking.

[The Scoop Daily] The Tortilla Miracle: How GDP Tripled in Just Three Years After He Took Office.

[SugarLime LIVE] 99.98% Approval? Is a Number Like This Even Economically Possible?

And just like that, public opinion flipped on a dime.

JobHunter: Man... after watching the doc, yeah, 99% checks out. He's putting food on the table, handing out jobs, and locking up every last criminal, so who's gonna vote against that?

Anon: If I lived there I'd hang up a portrait of Yu-jin Choi and bow to it every morning too. The weird part is that it WASN'T 100%.

ProfessionallyOffended: Where'd all the "oh it's a dictatorship" crowd run off to? Quit your spoiled whining and go watch the documentary. Over there it was a matter of survival.

LethalDoseOfPride: Gives 'em jobs, sends 'em to school, puts food on the table... is there anything the man hasn't done? Your Excellency Yu-jin Choi, any chance you'd come be president here in Korea too, please?

And just as the far side of the world was burning hot with Yu-jin's name.

Yu-jin, now president, made the National Cemetery in Libertad the very first stop on his schedule.

*****

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