An Unconventional Minister

It was nearly midnight. The Prime Minister sat alone in his office, reading a long memorandum, but his mind was completely blank, and he had no idea what it meant.

He was waiting for a call from the president of a distant country.

On one hand, he wondered whether that unlucky fellow would actually call. On the other, he was trying to suppress the many unpleasant memories of the long, exhausting past few days, leaving little room in his mind for anything else.

The harder he tried to focus on the words on the paper before him, the more clearly he saw the gloating face of his political rival.

This rival had appeared on the news, not only listing the suspected nuclear explosion that had occurred several days ago and the negative news that followed, but also giving a well-reasoned analysis of how the explosion and its aftermath had all been caused by the government's failures.

The Prime Minister's pulse quickened whenever he thought of those accusations, because they were deeply unfair and completely untrue.

How could his government possibly have prevented a suspected nuclear explosion that had come without any warning?!

Immediately after the explosion, his government had dispatched a large police force to seal off the site, minimizing the negative impact of the Great Explosion as much as possible. That was already the limit of what he could do.

And yet? That damned political rival had blamed the questions and pressure from other countries on his government's inaction!

"The whole country is in a state of panic."

That was how the opposition figure had concluded his news appearance, barely bothering to conceal the smug smile on his face.

Unfortunately, it was true. All across England, people were panicking.

The Prime Minister could feel it himself. People truly seemed