Norodom looked worried as he was gazing at the visage outside his palace; around 900 people were demanding that he stepped down immediately as a monarch, banners and flags of the old Cambodian flag were seen waved; in Khmer there were many phrases and slogans, political parties and colorful characters. The most common slogans were, “Food In. Monarch Out.” and “We deserve houses. You deserve nooses”

The police hasn’t bothered to stop the movements as the entire country is paralyzed by strikes that are presented everywhere. The monarch is loosening his grip on the nation and he can feel it. What could he do?

Inside the Office of Council of Ministers, Norodom sat down in the only different-looking chair of the entire room, it was a gold adorned chair. He couldn’t stop tapping the table with his fingers as he listened to all the proposals made by his ministers, the ticking of the clock on the wall was too loud for his taste, the screaming of the mob outside certainly did not help a bit.

“What I would propose, my liege, is to assemble the National Assembly once more, even if as a symbolic gesture. We need to show the people that we are willing to reform and negotiate with them, otherwise the strikes and protests are only going to get worse, how long until word comes out and radical groups start coming at us?” Claimed Sihanouk Sen, one of the most prominent ministers and once governor of Ratanakiri.

“Bollocks I say, what we need to do is secure the country of any foreign and domestic threat and eliminate the protestors by brute force; they want to remove you from power and end it. We should end their lives, not sacrifice yours for an even bleaker Cambodia!” The minister of state security claims.

The King ordered a cigarette to be brought to him, which he promptly smoked nervously; in the end he breathed deeply and said: “I have made my choice, a spokesperson will proclaim it later today.”

Ratanakiri province, a few hours later.

In the depths of the jungle was the RGC, plotting once more; after the foiled attempt at seizing the friendship of the population, the shadowy leader of this secret revolution, was thinking of the other effective ways of seizing more power and influence for the group, although they themselves had admitted that it was not time to spark attention, what other time to strengthen themselves if not when the country is frozen and in chaos.

The only police force present in the area was out of supplies and extremely weak; if power was seized in the area, nobody could stop them. A map had been brought from the storage tent at the far right of the camp and was brought to Serip. There he drew on the map and calculated the area; 120 km² of control in the province of Ratanakiri, there wasn’t even much to rule other than two villages that were close to each other, most of the area was jungles and rural fields. Three groups of 30 were going to leave in order to seize these two villages, the last group of 30 was supposed to seize the police department that was present around the area; there were 16 police officers inside the PD, they were mostly equipped with batons and horses, the roads around the area were mostly too narrow or too deep into the jungle for cars to pass properly.

When it was 4:00 P.M. sharp, Sarip gave the order to seize the villages, supposedly there wasn’t much resistance, although the last attempt at garnering even popular support didn’t go very well, or well at all in fact.

Phnom Penh, 6:00 P.M.

It was time for the proclaiming of the King’s concessions. The spokesman was shaky and afraid of the mob in front of him, they were looking quietly at him but at the sound of the first unpleasing word he was sure that they would try their best to grab him and probably turn him into mincemeat, regardless, he proceeded.

The king has ordered me, his humble servant, to bring these wise words to thee:

1. The reforms will not proceed and the use of the money will be spent on the construction of new schools for the population.

2. The King has started planning with his ministers the implementation of the National Assembly as a new organ for legislative measures once again.

3. There will be a salary increase of 2.39% for truckers and general government workers.

[M] First roll is for the communists that are attempting to form some kind of insurrection in the middle of Cambodian nowhere.