WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Little Prince in the Ossuary

Chapter 100

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Spark (3)

“Either way, I decline.”

Gyeoul turned down both options cleanly. Even so, the regimental commander could not let it go. He stroked his chin, then sighed.

“When I was a brand-new Ensign, I wanted to become someone like you. After serving as a Company commander and a battalion commander, I wished for a subordinate like you. Truth is, I felt that way right up until I came here. But now that you are actually under me, my thinking has changed.”

“What do you mean, sir?”

“Hmm... Since you are set on taking the hard road over the easy one, I will be frank too. A subordinate like you can be a burden to a commander. That does not mean I dislike you. Do not misunderstand.”

The regimental commander asked another question.

“Can you guess how high this incident has gone?”

“I am not really sure.”

“You came back yesterday afternoon. The Department of Defense Public Affairs Office follows your movements closely, so before we filed the formal report to command, I sent them a copy of the combat record first. Then this morning, we got a direct call from the Presidential Secretariat. They asked about your condition. Said they needed to verify it and report back.”

“......”

“I get it. That place is the command center for managing public opinion. Keeping the public calm matters. The rear has to stay stable so the front can fight without looking over its shoulder. But think about my position too. You are a war hero, yes, but first you are my subordinate. And now the White House is watching my subordinate’s safety. From a commander’s standpoint, that is bound to be awkward.”

Gyeoul nodded.

“I understand why you called it a burden. Thank you for being honest with me.”

“No need to thank me. Frankly, saying this to you is wrong in itself. A soldier only needs to do his best on the battlefield. You have no reason to worry about anything beyond that. That is what people like me are here for. Even so, I had a reason for saying this.”

The colonel pointed to himself.

“I am worried that I might treat you unfairly someday. How should I put it... you know, unconscious bias. In a good direction or a bad one.”

“Just hearing you say that makes me think I do not need to worry.”

“No. Look at me.”

In the dim room, the regimental commander’s dark skin nearly blended into the shadows around him. Only the whites of his eyes stood out.

“I am Black. In the Army, there are only two Black colonels in combat units, counting me. Which means I have had my share of unfair treatment. Of course, no one was openly discriminatory. Every case came with a rational reason.”

Command responsibility for getting a war hero killed could become one more rational reason. Gyeoul thought for a moment, read the man’s attitude with 「Perception」, weighed it, then answered directly.

“So you are actually worried that you yourself might be treated unfairly.”

“That was a little too direct.”

The dark-skinned colonel showed mild displeasure. Light, social displeasure that vanished quickly.

“Even in this world, I am still shallow enough to want stars on my shoulders. But I do not enjoy stories where the victim becomes the perpetrator. If this had been a deep and serious fear, I could not have laid it out like this. This talk is my own kind of resolve. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

He meant that other people’s eyes helped him keep himself in check.

“Good. Then you will keep serving under me. I will report it that way upstairs.”

“It may go without saying, but I look forward to working with you.”

Gyeoul gave a small bow. The colonel leaned across the table, patted the young officer on the shoulder twice, then sat back and settled into his chair. He looked less tense than before.

“If you ever change your mind, tell me. I will send you off with mixed feelings. They are waiting for you up there too.”

“I am sorry. I do not think that will happen anytime soon.”

The colonel smiled.

“One more thing before we get back to business. Be a little more careful. People say humans live on hope, and you have already become that hope for many people.”

Gyeoul heard the last line as something poetic.

The regimental commander pulled out a new document from his desk. It was an operations report written under Gyeoul’s name. He held it out without a word. Gyeoul read it quietly, then nodded.

“So I just need to edit this?”

Colonel Laughlin looked pleased.

“You catch on fast.”

“This was not a good incident. You said the administration might change. If the next administration is likely to come after this, should we not leave the record very carefully?”

“Huh.”

After a short sound of admiration, the colonel asked back.

“Do you see anything that needs changing?”

Gyeoul recalled Black Mountain in the dark. On the left side of the road, an ashen-white body had sunk into a puddle. The mutant had been deliberately dormant, woke at the boy’s touch, thrashed, then died.

“I want to submit one recommendation to higher command.”

“Let me hear it.”

“Infected mutants cannot cross water, but they can suppress metabolism and delay drowning. You know this if you watched my recorded footage. I am worried they might use metabolic suppression as a way to cross water. If that happens, maritime refugees are the first to be at risk, and places like San Diego North Island that rely on water as a barrier will be at risk next.”

“That is true. But we do not need to add it separately.”

“Why not?”

“The Department of Defense is not sitting idle. A staff officer raised the same point before you did. You have heard there is a separate department that reviews every possibility, right? Maritime refugees have probably already been notified. We were planning to include it in our regular briefing soon anyway.”

“Then that is good news. I worried for nothing.”

“No worry is pointless in this era. Never hold back from submitting opinions.”

“Yes, understood.”

The rest of the report was decent. It showed signs of filtering provocative wording at the word level. Still, nothing contradicted the facts. It was probably written with verification in mind. Gyeoul read it through once, skimmed it again, then finally set it down on the table.

“I have fully reviewed what is written under my name.”

“...Honestly, are you not too mature for your age?”

The colonel folded the report and slipped it into an envelope.

Gyeoul decided to ask one thing.

“Regimental Commander, may I ask a question?”

“Go ahead.”

“What happened to the special mutants specimen that Hernandez’s squad and I killed at the end?”

“Ah, that one. I was going to include it in the regular briefing too... but since you hunted it yourself, I can see why you are curious.”

The colonel went on in a casual tone.

“The Department of Defense gave that mutant the code 「Humpback」. Unfortunately, you were not the first to spot it. There were several sighting reports before yours came in. Since it always moved with a large mutant group, nothing was certain. Still, as far as I know, this is the first kill record.”

“So it is not confirmed.”

“Cannot be helped. With all the back-to-back typhoons lately, some garrisons are hard to reach. Some Rangers sent to infected-zone reconnaissance went after a Humpback for Tracking and are still out of contact. Those guys have muscles where their brains should be, so they are fearless. One platoon even cut comms after being told to withdraw, saying they could not hear. I wonder if they really could not.”

Gyeoul thought of the Ranger platoon in Santa Maria. The moment they found civilians, they rushed in first and got approval after. Could it be that same platoon again? He covered for them with a safe answer.

“It is probably Ranger pride mixed with a sense of duty.”

“Collecting intel on new mutants is important. Even so...”

From the regimental commander’s position, it would be hard to view that kindly.

Still, the U.S. military tended to respect field commanders’ judgment. Disobeying orders to advance was better than disobeying orders to retreat.

More than anything, well-trained officers knew when orders could be broken and when they could not.

That was only possible when even ordinary soldiers understood the operation objective. When the enemy forced a retreat, Marines were the classic example, shouting, “Retreat, my ass. Oorah!” and charging. Even then, they judged their odds in their own way and chose attacks they believed had meaning.

The conversation had drifted. Gyeoul brought it back.

“Has the yellow bodily fluid been identified? The soldiers were worried about a biochemical attack.”

“Hahaha. You are rushing it. It has only been one day since the Medical Service Corps recovered the body. There is no way the results are out already.”

“Rumors may spread from witnesses.”

“We already warned them. It will not be perfect, but we threatened to interrogate everyone who took part in the operation if stories leak, so they will watch themselves.”

Would that be enough? Gyeoul was sure the substance was not toxic. But for the soldiers, that was not easy reassurance. The Salinas River was Fort Roberts’s water source. That dirty liquid running down the slope was enough to leave an ugly possibility in their minds.

Of course, that location was not one where runoff into the river was likely. Still, once people imagined it as a method of attack, some of them would have trouble drinking water for a while.

“Come to think of it, I heard something unusual.”

The regimental commander laced his fingers under his chin.

“That liquid you said you saw, when they checked the site, very little was left. Very little compared to the huge amount on your helmet camera. The recovery team asked for GPS coordinate reconfirmation.”

“It died on a slope. Could it have flowed somewhere?”

“Maybe. But from the footage, the liquid looked pretty viscous. Even if it flowed, there should have been plenty of traces. Did it evaporate? I have no idea.”

Gyeoul had no guess either.

Before long, quite a bit of time had passed.

“It will be dinner soon. Let us wrap up the remaining business quickly.”

Remaining business? There was more? At Gyeoul’s puzzled look, the regimental commander slid an envelope over.

“This is the recommendation letter for a civil affairs committee member in the Military Government Office, the one I mentioned earlier. Normally this would go to the base commander, but when it comes to choosing someone from the refugees, you are better than me.”

Gyeoul judged immediately. It was not pure goodwill. The gains and losses from using this would both be his to carry. It would strengthen his position, and at the same time...

People who thought it unfair would direct their resentment at him.

Could the selection process really stay secret all the way through? Once people saw the final picks, they would read right through it with 「Perception」. Even so, Gyeoul accepted the envelope without resentment. The upside was greater.

“You do not look happy.”

“Rights come with responsibility.”

“Is that so. People keep saying you are precocious, and I felt it many times today. I am glad I got to know you better.”

“Was this your decision, sir?”

Was it the regimental commander, or an instruction from higher up? The regimental commander answered easily.

“Of course not. U.S. foreign policy has always worked this way. Back one reliable leader decisively. In Afghanistan, they chose the wrong person and bled heavily for it. But you are already a U.S. citizen, so higher command probably did not feel much burden.”

Gyeoul remembered reading related material before. Probably in the early journals.

Colonel Laughlin added one more line.

“If you had accepted the inspector role, you would not have received this recommendation. They judged that choosing to stay on the battlefield proved your purity. That was guidance from above too.”

For the colonel, sharing even this was likely a show of trust. Gyeoul chose a formal, safe reply.

“I will do my best not to betray those expectations.”

“Impressive. Was there still room for more effort there?”

The regimental commander smiled faintly, then adjusted his posture.

“Now for the final notice. This is also an order from above.”

Gyeoul tilted his head slightly.

“Is it a combat order?”

“I told you when I called, it was not.”

The colonel denied it quickly, then continued.

“One of the soldiers killed in this operation has family staying in the civilian district of this base. I want you to attend the memorial ceremony and fold the flag.”

Here, the flag meant the one that had covered the fallen soldier’s coffin. In U.S. military memorial services, there was a tradition of folding that flag and presenting it to the bereaved family. Gyeoul asked:

“Is that not the chaplain’s role?”

“In some cases, the commanding officer performs it.”

The answer was not enough. Gyeoul objected again.

“I heard that procedure carries religious meaning. I am not a believer. It would not be respectful to the deceased, and it might hurt the family as well.”

“Do not worry. A chaplain will stand across from you. The family agreed, and I do not think Private Page, who died, would have disliked you either.”

Gyeoul understood.

“So this will be broadcast too.”

“They probably want you and the Stars and Stripes in the same frame. There are still idiots claiming you are a fake American, even with everything you have done for the refugees. Understand. On foul days, we have to keep the spark from going out.”

It was an order anyway, so he had no right to refuse. Still, he asked this much:

“I need to practice beforehand. Who can teach me?”

“The chaplain will contact you.”

The colonel stood up.

“All right, that is everything. Thanks for sitting through a long talk. Let us get up. If you do not have plans, how about we eat together?”

“Understood.”

Gyeoul gathered the documents and left the command post with the regimental commander.

It was not raining on the way out, but the sky was damp gray.

The wind was turning rough again.

============================ Author's Afterword ============================

#Tunguska

There have been many guesses about the author. Since this is the 100th chapter, I will answer them one by one as true or false.

-It must be written by a KATUSA or a former U.S. military member.

False. I served in the infamous 22nd Division. Comments saying this felt like a novel written by someone from KATUSA made me happy, because it meant the research came through well.

-The author must live in the U.S.

False. The farthest place I have ever flown is Jeju Island... kind of sad...

-The author must be popular with women.

False. Are you trying to get me in trouble?

-The author must be from the 486 generation.(...)

False... Do I look like I am in my 50s? I just turned 30...

-The author must use Ilbe.(...)

False. I hate conflict, so I do not use SNS or online communities at all.

#Q&A

Q. hendell: When the protagonist introduced his age to Principal Hamill, it sounded like Korean age. Was that a mistake? Also, besides the Rangers, what are the other special forces doing right now?

A. I just said he was 17. Did I leave any clue that it was Korean age?

As for the other special forces... well...

Q. rumen: @If human economic and social activity stops, I heard hazardous and toxic substances spread worldwide without control. Chemicals from factories, power plants, and so on... How is that handled in this setting?

A. Some places were properly cleaned up during withdrawal, and some were not, so those became contaminated zones.

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