Seoul, Seoul Special City Administrative Zone, Republic of Korea

June 8th, 2022 (May 8th, 2022 Lunar Calendar), 99 Days until "D-Day"

"Repeat that one more time, Director," President Lee Nak-yeon of the Democratic Party monotonously stated.

Korean Aerospace Research Institute Director Lim Cheol-ho shook nervously as he repeated his earlier statement, "An asteroid, Mr. President. An asteroid the size of Taiwan is on a collision course with Earth. To set a comparison between that and another large asteroid, the asteroid that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs was estimated to be around ten kilometers in length. This asteroid is nearly forty times larger, and our agency estimates that we have approximately three months before it lands. If it lands, all of humanity will likely perish in the aftermath."

A heavy silence befell upon the room as the State Council of the Republic of Korea, that was compromised of all the senior ministers and advisors in the Korean government, looked at the president. President Lee had been in the Blue House for exactly a month, as he was elected back in March and was sworn into office in May. This was only the second time that the entire State Council had met together in the Blue House bunker, but it was already facing a crisis. He wasn't politically inexperienced, yet his hands were visibly shaking due to Director Lim's statement, "Why wasn't this asteroid spotted earlier?"

"Space is a vast place," Director Lim answered as he slumped into his designated seat, unable to stand due to the immense pressure on his shoulders, "Even with all the telescopes and observatories, we can only watch a very tiny fraction of it at a time. Unless we are looking in a specific direction, it's very difficult to spot a specific object that is hundreds of millions of kilometers away from Earth. Moreover, the asteroid is coming from the direction of the sun, which made it more difficult for our ground observatories to locate. It was actually due to a stroke of luck that we managed to locate the asteroid at all. Asteroids generally come from the main asteroid belt in our solar system, and almost all of them are too small to cause an extinction-level event. Only a small number of them venture towards Earth, let alone hit Earth. This asteroid, which we call "Jin-1," is moving far too fast for a "domestic" asteroid. It has never been spotted in the inner or outer asteroid belts as well. We have theorized that it is most likely a foreign asteroid after it was cast out of a double-star system and entered our solar system by pure chance, as that is the most logical explanation considering the speed and size of this asteroid."

The president's expression darkened as he contemplated his advisor's words, "How far is this asteroid?"

"About 330 million kilometers away from Earth. It is currently passing through the main asteroid belt and it is moving at a rate of around 140,000 kilometers an hour."

"Is it possible that the asteroid may slow down or halt completely after going through the asteroid belt?"

"Unfortunately no, sir. Most of the asteroids in the main asteroid belt are very spread apart, and almost all of them are far too small to deflect Jin-1. Unless that asteroid hits Ceres, which is the biggest asteroid in the asteroid belt, then it will continue its course for Earth. KARS estimates have shown that the chance of the asteroid hitting is above 80%. It is heading towards the position of where Earth will be before the September equinox."

"Which is?"

"September 22nd."

After another moment of silence, the president asked the question that was in everyone's mind, "Can it be stopped?"

That was when Director Lim's face fell, "No, Mr. President."

To his credit, President Lee remained a bit more composed than everyone else in the room. Instantly, the members of the State Council began to speak all at once and it took nearly five minutes for the room to calm down before the Korean executive could speak, "Why can't it be stopped? Can't ICBMs deflect or destroy this asteroid"

"Destroying asteroids with ICBMs is fiction, completely fabricated by Hollywood," Director Lim whispered as he wiped his glasses, "A nuclear explosion from an ICBM would do absolutely nothing to deflect an asteroid that size, especially since it is moving five times faster than the average speed of an ICBM. Even if it's possible to carry out a surface detonation directly on Jin-1, which is highly unlikely, it would be counterproductive as it would create a "shotgun-effect." This means that only a few pieces will be broken off and the main "body" of the asteroid will continue its course. Additionally, Jin-1 is a large asteroid with a viable core, which means that even if the asteroid fragments from our attempts to dismantle it, it will continue to hold together. In the end, it would just create multiple impact points and shower Earth with radiation from the nuclear bombs."

"But if we can lend any assistance to the United States or other nations..."

"We are simulating multiple American Minuteman ICBMs, with bigger payloads and improved rockets, detonating near and on the asteroid," Director Lim grimaced, "It isn't looking good. There is only so much time to retool and repurpose some ICBMs for the task, and the calculations for the route of the ICBMs will take some time as well. Earth may have tens of thousands of nuclear weapons, but all of them are effectively useless unless the asteroid is directly above Earth. Off the top of my head, the only other way that the asteroid can be halted is if a large explosion happened directly in its core, fragmenting the asteroid permanently and redirecting the pieces away from Earth."

"Like that one American movie," One of the ministers mentioned quietly.

"Precisely. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if the Americans, the Chinese, or the Russians can pull that off in three months. And that asteroid is coming very fast. KARS mainly focuses on low-orbit launch vehicles and our rocketry lags behind the other nations, so we will be unable to offer much assistance. As such, if the major powers fail to find a solution..."

President Lee sighed and crumpled a piece of paper, "Then we and the rest of the world will be going down with them."

+++++

Choongju, North Chungcheong Province, Republic of Korea

June 10th, 2022 (May 10th, 2022 Lunar Calendar), 97 Days until "D-Day"

Jong-eun stirred as a ray of sunshine warmed his face, causing him to open his eyes. The last thing he remembered was being surrounded by a bright flash of light and collapsing near the Namhan River before his consciousness faded away. As his vision cleared, the first thing he saw was the clean, white ceiling that was directly above him. He shifted his head to check his surroundings and discovered that his head was on a very soft pillow, unlike the hard, buckwheat-filled pillow he was used to. In fact, his entire body was on something soft and comfortable. Looking to his left, he saw a row of foreign furniture with blankets, pillows, and legs. There were a few people in each fixture and all of them were sleeping while dressed in strange clothing. He looked down to see that he was also in the same situation, lying down on one of the units and wearing white robes with unfamiliar patterns. Jong also noticed that something was on his left hand and lifted it to see some sort of odd tube going directly into his skin. Before he could rip out the tube and escape from the room, a young woman dressed in clean blue clothing walked up to him with a smile, "You're finally awake! How are you feeling?"

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"Am I in the afterlife?" Jong asked with a hoarse voice. He still wanted to run away, but the sight of the calm woman soothed his mind a bit. Besides, he also felt fatigued and weak despite his long sleep. The woman wasn't trying to kill him, which was already an improvement from the last time he was conscious.

"No, you're at Konkuk University Hospital," The woman replied with a soft chuckle, "A police officer found you bleeding from a cut on your left shoulder near the Namhan River. You gave us quite the scare when you first came in, but thankfully, the cut missed the major arteries and we managed to patch you back up. I'm Min-ji, Park Min-ji. I'm the nurse taking care of all the patients in this room."

"What's a byung-one? And what's a kyungkwan and a khan-hosa?'"

The question earned a worried look from the lady as she sat down next to him, "Are you having trouble remembering things? That's strange... The reports didn't mention anything about a head injury. What's the last thing you remember?"

Jong nervously glanced at the strange tube on his left hand and scratched his chin, "I was being chased by two Japanese soldiers with swords when a ray of light appeared and guided me to this... strange gate in a cave."

"I'm sorry, but are you an actor for that new historical time travel drama? That would explain the clothing you wore when you first came in!"

"Time travel? Drama?" Jong asked as he tilted his head in confusion, "No, I don't know what those are."

"Huh. Do you at least remember your name?"

"Jong-eun."

"And your last name?"

"Ah, my master's last name is Ji, so that is also my last name. He is a very prominent yangban in the Choongju Ji Clan."

Min-ji looked puzzled as she wrote his information down on a piece of paper using a strange device that bled out ink. Jong watched in fascination the woman continued to write with the device without dipping it in any plate of ink, "So Ji Jong-eun. Do you have any family members that you remember?"

"Both of my parents are alive, and they are the senior housekeepers of my master's house. I also have a younger brother and a younger sister."

"Were you possibly..." The 'nurse' hesitated before speaking as she stood up, "a noye?"

"Nobi, not noye," Jong corrected, "My family has worked in my master's house for three generations."

"Nobi? Like the nobi in the Joseon dynasty? From history books?"

Jong let out a small snort, "Even I know that the current dynasty is still Joseon."

The woman looked more confused than before, "The current 'dynasty' is Daehanminguk."

The nobi's blood ran cold as he contemplated his surroundings and the nurse's words. She was speaking odd Korean words that he had never heard of before and he was in a foreign place. And she claimed that Joseon was "from the history books."

Was she a Japanese spy trying to extract information from him? Was he being treated well for the time being, only to be executed later on?

A strange noise filled the air and the nurse pulled out a thin, metal device from her pocket, "Give me one second, I need to take this call."

Shortly after she left the room, Jong roughly pulled out the tube and winced as blood seeped from the small hole in his hand. With no time to waste, he quickly ran out of the room and blew past his female captor, who started shouting at him as he ran away. None of the people he faced were armed, so he ran past them as fast as he could in search of an exit. After climbing down a flight of stairs, he finally managed to reach some sort of large area with a set of glass doors that led him to the outside world.

Before he could open the door and run outside, a man wearing a bright vest and a grey undershirt stopped him by hugging him tightly. Jong tried to escape the man's grips, but the uniformed man tackled him onto the ground and pinned him. However, Jong continued to struggle as his captor loomed over him, "Where do you think you're going?"

"You're Japanese collaborators, aren't you?" Jong spat.

"Japanese collaborators? What? You're in an ordinary hospital in the middle of Choongju."

"Makes sense, since the wae-nom have probably occupied the town already! You're working for them, aren't you?"

"Japan hasn't occupied Korea in decades!"

Jong stopped struggling for a moment and looked up at the man nailing him onto the ground, "Are you blind? They're invading as we speak!"

Min-ji arrived on the scene while gasping for air. She bowed quickly to the man on top of Jong, "I'm sorry, officer. I was making a quick phone call outside of the room the patient was in, but he ripped out his IV tube and ran away."

"Why did he run away?"

"I have no idea! He seemed so calm before, though a bit strange."

"Like mentioning some 'Japanese occupation' or something like that?"

"I think he mentioned something being attacked by Japanese soldiers, so I thought he was an extra from a historical drama. They're filming one of those cheesy historical time travel dramas nearby, so..."

"I think he may have some... mental conditions. Or maybe some trauma that is causing him to believe that he's in the Joseon era. It might be good to check up on that."

"I'll get the doctor right away. For now, we'll move him into a separate room."

"Wait," Jong said as he cut into their conversation, "What is today's date?"

"June 10th."

"I've been sleeping for a month?"

The nurse shook her head, "No. You've been asleep for about three days."

"But the year!" Jong shouted, "The year is still the 20th year of the Wanli Emperor, correct?"

"20th year of what?" The uniformed man asked as he continued to sit on top of Jong.

"The Wanli Emperor, the current emperor of China. My master told me he was fleeing to the Wanli Emperor the last time I saw him."

"I... I think I need to speak to Inspector Kim. He was the one that found him and he might know something... For now, you should probably isolate him before he causes anymore trouble."