Steel Rain 2: Summit

A covert meeting between Song Shikai of MSS and Shinzo Mori of the Yamato Foundation takes place aboard a sea vessel. Mori unveils Operation Kagemusha, a US-backed scheme to topple China by staging a false flag against a Japanese submarine near the Senkaku Islands. He also presents an alternate version involving Dokdo, leaving Song to choose between the two targets.

South Korea is invited to join the tripartite naval exercises around Senkaku. President Han Kyeong-Jae declines the invitation. In a briefing, Han learns of a Coast Guard captain who was honey-trapped and pressured to attack a Japanese ship near Dokdo, exposing the covert manipulation behind the plan.

The U.S. State Department postpones a peace summit with North Korea because South Korea refuses to participate in the exercises. Han learns that the Yamato Foundation is funded by the Chinese government, tying Tokyo’s maneuvers to Beijing’s interests. The revelation deepens suspicions about foreign influence driving the crisis.

In Tokyo, Shinzo Mori lays out a plot to pretend to engage in war with China as per American wishes. The scheme is designed to provide Japan with a pretext to regain lost territories in Korea, leveraging the distraction of a broader conflict. The plan foregrounds deception as a tool of national strategy.

Han Kyeong-Jae flies to Wonsan to meet North Korea’s supreme leader Jo Seon-sa and US President Smoot. The meeting is framed as a chance to push for diplomacy amid escalating tensions. Trust is fragile as competing agendas loom over the talks.

Peace discussions stall over technicalities concerning North Korea’s nuclear program. Jo Seon-sa expresses willingness to abandon nuclear ambitions in exchange for diplomatic normalization. The stalemate highlights the fragility of the peace process amid strategic rivalries.

The Supreme Guard Command chief Park Jin-woo launches a coup to prevent the handover of leadership in the crisis. He holds the three visiting leaders hostage aboard Paektu, turning the submarine into a high-stakes political prison. The operation escalates the crisis beyond diplomacy.

With the leaders in custody, the US vice-president assumes command and launches a conventional ICBM attack against North Korea. The strike is meant to force a quick resolution, but it risks triggering a wider war. The action complicates any immediate path to peace.

Onboard Paektu, President Smoot is drugged and confesses the truth of Operation Kagemusha. The revelation is transmitted to the Chinese president, who demands an explanation from the US. Faced with pressure, the US is compelled to stand down and reevaluate its position.

Park reveals that Japan had requested him to torpedo its own patrol ship near Dokdo and fire an SLBM at South Korea to ignite a wider war. The maneuver is calculated to force China’s entry and reshape the regional balance in Japan’s favor. The plan shows how far the conspirators are willing to go.

Jang Ki-sok, former submarine command head, launches a mutiny that leaves many dead. He escorts the three leaders toward a rescue sphere that has room for only two, creating a brutal choice under siege conditions. Loyalties are tested as the escape becomes a matter of survival.

Han decides to stay behind to help the other two leaders escape, sacrificing his own safety. President Smoot is rescued and orders his cabinet and military not to involve the US in either plot. The act reshapes the political dynamics aboard the submarine.

The Japanese government sends the JMSDF to hunt Paektu, attempting to cover up Tokyo’s ties to Park and the North Korean coup. Jang and Park’s uneasy truce begins to crumble as Park prioritizes attacking Japan itself. The conflict widens beyond the initial conspiracies.

A JMSDF submarine fires a final torpedo to destroy Paektu, but a counter-torpedo volley from South Korean submarines repels the attack. The Paektu surfaces off Dokdo as Han and Jang watch a sunrise, signaling the collapse of the Kagemusha plot. The regional crisis ends in uneasy stalemate.

Shinzo Mori is killed on orders from the Japanese prime minister, removing the architect of the plot. Smoot and Jo Seon-sa sign a peace treaty, officially ending the Korean War. The survivors face the consequences of a failed conspiracy and a fragile peace begins to take hold.