WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Little Prince in the Ossuary

Chapter 105

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Influence (4)

Inside a circular formation of two-person teams, senior instructor Corporal Velasquez raised his voice.

“Mutants are physically tough. But does that give them absolute superiority in close combat? No, it does not. Those half-dead things do not take care of themselves.”

He paused for a breath, then continued.

“You might wonder why that is a weakness. Do not forget that mutants were human to begin with. Their strength may have increased, but their vital points did not disappear. Sure, they can probably endure pain better than normal humans. But unless they are enhanced types like ghouls, or even higher special types, none of them will be fine after a hit to a vital point. Watch the footage.”

The video projected by two projectors was bright enough even under the lights. It showed edited helmet-cam clips, one mutant assault after another. Many scenes were familiar from repeated use in training and propaganda, but the editing style was new. At the exact moment mutants rushed in, the footage slowed down and highlighted every strikeable vital point.

“In real combat, mutants will come at you looking this stupid. They throw both arms out and charge. That means the vital points on their whole body are fully exposed. It is only a few seconds, but if you stay calm, you can choose exactly where to strike.”

The demonstrated attack methods were varied: thrusting with a rifle, striking the jaw with a palm, smashing with an elbow, shoving and dropping the target, using sidearms like pistols and Bayonet attachments, and if the rifle got grabbed, ramming with the head and shoulder.

When practice started, Gyeoul checked the alliance members’ form. It had been a while since he had a chance to use 「Instruction」. Level 10 「Close Combat」 was the limit for a human who was not a genius, so the augmented-reality comments were precise and complete.

“Lift your arm a little more when you thrust with the rifle. Keep it level with your shoulder. Hold the rifle sideways. Think of your body lining up with the direction of force. The more your movement drifts from your center line, or the more it bends when you apply force, the easier it is to get pushed back. You can injure your ligaments too. A thrust has to be instant. Pull out immediately, then fire.”

Whenever Gyeoul corrected someone’s posture, that person clearly improved. It also made people more motivated. Sergeant Carver, the instructor assigned to the Korean side, gladly accepted Gyeoul’s help.

“You teach well. Being good at something and teaching it well are different things. Lieutenant, you really seem like a born soldier in every way. What a shame. You fit NCO work better than officer work. If you kept building your specialty like this, you would definitely have been the youngest sergeant major ever.”

His tone carried the pride of an NCO who believed NCOs were the army’s backbone. To a degree, it was true. A sergeant major at the top of the NCO ladder was rarer than a colonel. Gyeoul acknowledged that pride.

“Thanks for the compliment. But what can I do? It was decided that way for a reason.”

If he had followed a normal promotion track, he would probably have been a sergeant or staff sergeant by now. He would not have had command authority like this, but the NCO path had its own advantages.

‘Captain is probably my promotion ceiling anyway.’

The problem was that he had fought too well for too long. Captain was the highest officer rank that still fought on the line. As long as Public Affairs loved him, it would be hard for Gyeoul to move up to Major.

‘If it becomes unavoidable, they will probably make a touching story about me refusing promotion to stay in the field.’

He had no complaint, though. He intended to do that himself, and command authority mattered that much. Being an officer also helped him wield influence among the refugees.

It was not that promotion was completely impossible. In special forces, even field-grade officers could still fight on the line. But then he would be separated from the refugees.

Their private chat ended quickly. They were in the middle of training. Carver had said this was his first time as an instructor, but he was trying to do it responsibly.

During drills, a question came from Jin-seok’s squad.

“Captain, does this move not seem too risky?”

Gyeoul quietly looked at the posture he and his partner had taken, then asked,

“Could you do it again from Post?”

“Ah, yes.”

Just standing there and watching made the questioner tense up. Gyeoul was reminded again how strict the discipline was in Jin-seok’s squad. He did not usually get many chances to feel it firsthand.

To use a gun in close combat, you first had to secure minimal space. The posture system here was divided into three stages depending on the degree of approach and resistance: Post, Frame, and Hook, in that order.

‘It is basic of the basics, nothing flashy.’

Mastery was what mattered. No matter how simple the technique, it was hard to use in real combat without enough repetition for it to sink into the body. Even Gyeoul was no exception despite receiving skill correction. No matter how much correction he had, if he tensed up and his head froze, it would not turn into movement.

The questioner stepped back to a suitable distance from his partner, took a deep breath, and told Gyeoul,

“Then I’ll begin.”

The partner playing a mutant charged in hard. The questioner stopped him with an open palm. That blocking action was Post: stop with the left hand, shoot with the right, keep the gun tight along the inside of the arm and close to the body, pull it back as far as possible, and fire into the target.

But this was training. They were assuming a situation where he could not handle the speed and mass, and his arm got bent. At that point, Frame was the stage where he had to stop the target once more at the now-collapsed distance. Gyeoul pointed out one mistake and one rough transition.

“Your hand came out too early at first. Then a mutant will try to bite your hand first. You have to gauge distance better. Think less about blocking and more about striking, as fast as possible.”

“Understood.”

“Do not force yourself to hold too hard either. You are not trying to overpower a mutant, right? If you feel your arm getting bent, let it bend. You should already have it slightly bent from the start, accounting for that. It works better when you have to absorb a full-body charge.”

“So from the beginning, I should not think about stopping it completely, and just be satisfied with slowing it down?”

“When a full stop is too much, yes. Your name is Do-yoon, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Frame is not just passive bracing. It is one attack by itself. When you move from Post to Frame, you also need to push your upper body forward. Why do you think that is?”

“To strengthen the strike?”

“That is half of it. The other half is center of gravity. The moment you collide with a mutant, you are bound to be pushed back. If your center collapses, it gets harder to put your weight in, and you are much easier to knock over.”

In the afternoon they would learn exactly what to do when they fell and got pinned. It was a curriculum that reflected real combat flow.

“I understand what you mean, but honestly this posture feels extremely dangerous to me. If a mutant bites you, it is over. So planting your hand or elbow under the jaw and holding it... the mutant will try to tear into you no matter what...”

“Close combat itself is already an extremely dangerous situation. You have to accept some risk. And if you do it correctly, it is fine. You do not even need to hold for long. You only need enough time to shoot. Want me to show you directly?”

Since many people were already watching and listening, Gyeoul decided to demonstrate himself. He had Do-yoon play the mutant. Do-yoon took training protective gear from his original partner, put it on, and stood facing Gyeoul from five or six steps away. Gyeoul removed the magazines from his rifle and pistol, checked the empty chambers, and then nodded.

“Come at me full speed.”

Full speed? Do-yoon hesitated, then, with another team’s permission, widened the distance further. He set his stance like a sprinter. Gyeoul waited with his arms down.

Do-yoon rushed straight in. He did not forget to imitate a mutant. Gyeoul struck his chest with an open palm. He held. But no matter how much correction he had, he could not fully absorb speed and mass.

‘In a real situation, I would have shot already.’

The muzzle was already aimed at the heart.

Training skipped that step. The moment he felt himself getting pushed, he bent his arm, dropped his upper body, and struck with his elbow.

THUD!

The impact sound was loud. The elbow hit the chest protector, and the length out to the wrist pressed against the neck. Hard to bite like this. Another shooting window opened there. Clack! The hollow sound of a firing pin hitting an empty chamber. The second death of the mutant Do-yoon was acting out.

Then Gyeoul shoved Do-yoon away. Using the elbow as a pivot, he rotated the arm, grabbed the side of the face, and flung him hard to the left.

Because he had hooked the leg, trying to hold on and brace did no good.

Aiming his pistol at the fallen Do-yoon, Gyeoul asked,

“Do you understand how you got taken down?”

“Uh, mm, yes. I think I do.”

“If your body gets grabbed, do it like I did. Pull the back of the head and send it through, or pass through completely. Your free hand is not free for nothing. If that is still not enough, ram it. Just like Post and Frame connect, every posture and movement Corporal Velasquez demonstrated is one connected flow.”

On the other side, Sergeant Carver was showing the same kind of demonstration.

Gyeoul rotated people and practiced with them.

Morning training ended at 11:30. Lunch was combat rations brought into the Gymnasium. The refugee volunteers sighed. Next time they tried to line up even faster, just to avoid the worst menus. Like the cheese-vegetable omelet Gyeoul ended up with.

An instructor supervising distribution suddenly asked,

“...Are you really okay with that? It would be better to switch to another menu.”

“Someone has to eat it. Is this inventory disposal? One menu looks noticeably overstocked.”

As Gyeoul pointed out, the mix of delivered combat rations was extremely unbalanced. It was packed with menus U.S. soldiers hated. This was still the level of treatment given to refugee volunteers. Gyeoul was the only exception outside the standard.

‘At least the alliance combat groups had regular military status. That helped.’

Maybe it bothered the instructor too, because he sighed and swapped out his own ration.

Meal time was an hour and a half.

The omelet, the main item, only smelled decent. Even Gyeoul, used to rough meals, had trouble liking this one. It looked like something someone had chewed and spat out, and the taste was even worse than the appearance. Every swallow was unpleasant. At this point, even the Energy Pack he used to eat while alive felt better.

Curiosity, maybe. Or maybe pure coincidence. Yura had drawn the same menu as Gyeoul. She gagged at the first bite and never touched it again. She got through the meal on dessert and drinks alone.

After eating, Gyeoul headed to where Li Ailing was. As the boy officer approached, the operatives who had been picking at their unpleasant food hurried to their feet.

“Han dage, what brings you here?”

They were wary of Gyeoul. At the same time, they seemed intimidated. He put on a gentle smile.

“It has been a while, Kuntao. Have Zeguang and Gangchuan been well too? Sorry for interrupting your meal. I want to speak with Xiangzhu Li for a moment, could you pass that on?”

It was a formality. Kuntao looked back at the female executive. She was sitting close enough to hear everything already. Eyes on Gyeoul, she signaled with her chin for the operatives to split and make space.

Ailing stood up and welcomed him.

“Good to see you, Mr. Han. I saw you today but could not greet you. Please forgive my rudeness.”

“Not at all. If anyone should ask forgiveness, it should be me.”

“...I do not know what you mean.”

She quietly looked away, and Gyeoul spoke.

“Really? Mm, not bad. If you are willing to let it pass as if nothing happened.”

A moment later, Ailing sighed.

“Sir, is it not too late to bring this up now?”

The complaint was clear. The Triad and the Gyeoul Alliance were partners, so he should have warned them before the police crackdown. Gyeoul pressed into her concern.

“Were you not worried Chinese people would become political scapegoats, sojeo? You may have suffered immediate losses from the police operation, but at least your biggest fear should weigh less now.”

Ailing’s face turned gloomy. Gyeoul continued.

“Crime is a bomb that only grows the more it piles up. How long were you planning to hold it? If events had flowed the way you feared, one day the U.S. government would say this: Chinese people are all drug-addicted murderers, wipe them all out. Do you want to see people cheering for that?”

“So you are saying this was for our sake?”

“For your sake and mine. I do not think all criminals should be killed. If things cross beyond my limits, then killing becomes unavoidable.”

A warning not to cross his limits.

“...I said this once before, but it is hard to tell whether your personality is good or bad, Mr. Han.”

She sighed even longer than before, straightened herself, and asked,

“So, what did you want to tell me?”

“Please tell Old Master Li Qinzhen I will visit this evening.”

“Could you not just send someone to deliver that?”

“I wanted to confirm whether sojeo was still worried about that matter, and how you accepted what happened.”

At his blunt statement that he had tested her, Ailing quietly frowned. Before she could ask anything more, Gyeoul left his greeting.

“Then I’ll be going. Get some rest. Train well in the afternoon too.”

Even with questions still lingering, Ailing did not stop him.

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

#Per-Chapter Payment

The Naver N Store launch was originally scheduled for the last week of September, but it was delayed due to internal circumstances. I would appreciate it if you could wait a little longer.

#Q&A

Q. asa2289-nim: @Has your love cooled down these days... Or is your childlike innocence running out..? It is getting harder to see you often...

A. Half innocence depletion, half stamina depletion. When I write, it is easy to stay up until dawn, but there are many construction sites near my house, so it gets noisy from 6 a.m. Haha. Makes me want to set something on fire.

Q. GaonuiByeol-nim: @...Author-nim, you were really startled by my accidental comment spam last time, right? T_T Me too. The page froze so I kept pressing and that disaster happened lol. You can wr...wr...write slowly if needed, sniff

A. I was not startled. I only felt my heart drop about five times. And thank you. Slowly, sl...sl...owly, I will write.

Q. SpinMeat-nim: @By any chance, is that second thing that punches a hole in the stomach related to my nickname?

A. Of course not. Please ask healthier questions from now on. :)

Q. Echi-nim: @Author-nim, I have a question. Zombie babies showed up, so is a half-human half-zombie also possible in this setting?

A. Even the author has never thought about that problem... Well... something similar is possible...

Q. PiguwangDambae-nim: @Later, when I buy the paper book, I hope the bonus is a swimsuit bromide of the author. If I stick a life-size full-body bromide on my front door, thieves will stay away, my broken washing machine will fix itself, and I feel like I might even grow double eyelids.

A. Report thieves to the police, call a repair technician for the washing machine, and go to a plastic surgery clinic for eyelids. It is true that the author’s bromide has effects so ominous they are hard to describe, but I cannot sell it for only the price of a book.

Q. Sowol (PlainMoon)-nim: @Author-nim, is this your first commercial work?? If you have previous works, I want to buy and read them even if they were published.

A. Ossuary is my first one. I submitted to publishers several times before without serialization, but I got rejected every time.

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