WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Little Prince in the Ossuary

Chapter 109

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Journal & Je-jung

General Schroeder, commander of the Army Blockade Command, visited Fort Roberts. He pinned a Distinguished Service Cross and a Silver Star on me, and awarded Jeffrey and Corporal Liberman the Distinguished Service Medal. Many others in the platoon were decorated too. There were so many medals it almost felt excessive.

"It means the fallout from the Captain Harris incident was that serious."

That was Major Bliss, the public affairs officer, explaining it. He had come as part of the general's entourage and was busy with the usual work, controlling reporters and drafting or distributing press materials. Unlike before, he was not walking around in a gas mask anymore. Thankfully, he seemed used to things now. I said it was good to see him again after a while, and he gave me an incredulous look.

"After a while? I would say we have the opposite problem, we see each other too often. We may be obsessed with getting a good story, but Lieutenant Han, you are still more than we can handle. Do you know how much debate there was over your decorations this time?"

It did feel strange, getting two medals from one operation. When I asked about it, he shook his head.

"It is not typical, but it does happen. Different phases of one operation get evaluated separately and awarded as separate merits. The real problem is this."

He sighed.

"You had more than enough merit, but they could not give you another Medal of Honor."

That made me think about how unusual the Medal of Honor was. It was the only decoration that required congressional approval. Sergeant Pierce had pointed out the political meaning behind that. Objectively, he said, I should have received the highest honor earlier.

Was this the same thing again? I wondered, but Major Bliss gave a simpler explanation.

"It is what they call tradition. Since the end of World War I, no one has received the Medal of Honor twice. Even receiving it alive was treated as a miracle. The surest way to get one was to throw yourself onto a grenade headed for your own men."

He stressed he was not joking. In the Iraq War, for example, three of the four recipients died for exactly that reason. The fourth also received it posthumously.

"Good thing the Afghanistan War happened. For the first time in 32 years after the Vietnam War ended, someone finally received the Medal of Honor alive."

His sarcastic tone carried quiet frustration. It was not aimed at me. He was talking about the people who opposed my award.

"I do understand their side to a point. Looking at what you keep doing, no matter how I think about it, this does not seem like your last time. Then what, do we give you the Medal of Honor every time? If we hand it out that freely, do recipients who got only one start to look cheap? Would that hurt public opinion instead? Would troop morale drop? Those are the concerns up top."

He counted them off on his fingers.

"On top of that, you are already blowing past every regulation and unwritten code about time in grade. If you got another Medal of Honor this time, that would mean another one-rank jump promotion. Then you would be a captain, right? Less than a year after commissioning. People who care about tradition do not like that either."

Every reason sounded plausible. No matter how merit-based the U.S. military was, it could not be completely free of the inertia of the past. Then again, maybe discipline could not exist without tradition. At least that was my thought.

Major Bliss, speaking as a practical working officer, had a different view.

"My point is, if they felt that way, they should have buried this quietly. They wanted a human drama, blasted it nationwide, and now they say they cannot give a Medal of Honor. Who is supposed to accept that? You cannot catch both rabbits."

So the compromise was to split the merit and replace it with a Distinguished Service Cross and a Silver Star. Still complaining that this lowered the prestige, he mentioned other recipients in this round too.

"Ensign Jeffrey... no, he is a Lieutenant now. It is rough for him and his platoon too. One of them might have ended up with a Medal of Honor..."

In other words, because I was clearly the top contributor, no one else could receive an award above mine.

Later, I told Jeffrey that story myself, and he answered like it was nothing.

"Do not worry about it, sir. Just think our score got docked because of the three guys who already crossed over."

He did not look happy about his new medal or promotion. His jokes were bad and his manner was light, but he was still a model platoon leader.

#Journal, Page 132, Fort Roberts

The blockade commander's visit apparently was not just for encouragement. It was more like a field inspection before full-scale operations. At the regular Monday briefing, Regimental Combat Team Commander Colonel Laughlin delivered startling news. A large military operation would begin soon.

Operation 「Manifest Liberation」.

The objective was the complete recapture of the U.S. mainland. Sweep contaminated areas, rescue isolated civilians, and push to the Pacific coast. Planned mobilization was over ten million troops. The operation was set to begin in April. That meant the U.S. military, which had still been around eight million as recently as last December, would expand past ten million in only four months.

Canada was also sending two divisions. It was not a large force, but the fact they were sending any was surprising in itself. I had heard they secured safety by rejecting refugees almost brutally because their population and military were small... but without U.S. cooperation, that would still have been risky.

Anyway, now I understood why reinforcements had been so limited. Command was probably planning this operation since last year. Maybe that was why they conserved manpower.

Fort Roberts' role would be as a supply base. They said logistics stockpiles would be established along the main force's advance route.

Later in the briefing, there was new information about mutants too. The colonel said:

"This is only a hypothesis, so treat it as reference. A suspicion has been raised that Tricksters always move in pairs. While one engages in combat, one circles quietly nearby. If that is true, the quiet one's role is likely information preservation. That would mean at least one stays silent even when they move in packs. It keeps distance while staying within signal range, and if the group is wiped out, it withdraws to a safe area and relays accumulated information to another group."

Hearing that, I remembered the Trickster I killed with a trap at Santa Margarita Lake. The death cry that lasted more than ten seconds right after the trap detonated. How much information had been in that cry? If another Trickster had been there, the same method would never work again.

"The Quarantine Strategy Institute named this hypothesis 'the Silent One.' It is based on only a single witness report, but it is threatening enough that future operations should treat it with caution. Any questions?"

After several people asked theirs, I raised my hand too. But what I wanted to ask was not about the Silent One. It was about the monster I had seen near the lake, the Humpback. There was still no detailed information on that creature. Colonel Laughlin had previously said Rangers were Tracking one. When I asked, he shook his head.

"That single witness report I just mentioned came from that Ranger platoon. They said they lost the prey they were originally tracking."

That meant a mutant group with multiple Tricksters had blocked a Ranger platoon... hard to call that a coincidence. The Tricksters must have moved to protect the large hunchback, the Humpback.

When I fought too, the Humpback stayed in the rear the whole time. What kind of monster was that thing, exactly?

#Je-jung, Fort Roberts

The second Monday of February. On the lunar calendar, it was the first day of the first month. It was a special day for Chinese and Korean refugees, but no one had room to celebrate. Even so, the mood in the refugee zone was better than before. Pre-training had begun for prospective civil affairs committee members ahead of the Military Government Office's establishment.

As Gyeoul stepped out of the briefing room, he saw would-be committee members gathered in small groups near headquarters. He checked his wristwatch. Training could not be over yet, so this was probably break time. Everyone looked upbeat. Voices rose and fell across the area.

One alliance group spotted their young leader and approached with bright faces.

At the front was An Je-jung, one of the three who had helped Gyeoul in Paso Robles. In the alliance, people seemed to call Yura, Jin-seok, and Je-jung the original three. The title sounded childish, almost tacky in its forced coolness, but there was an awkward backstory to it.

'Je-jung-ssi came up with it himself...'

While Yura and Jin-seok were assigned as combat group leaders, Je-jung had felt slighted because he had no role. Based on that, Min Wan-ki recommended Je-jung as Self-Defense Corps Captain and Grade-5 Civil Affairs Commissioner in the Military Affairs Bureau. He would do his work, but he was not someone people naturally respected. Since he could not build influence on his own, he had to lean on someone else, and who else was there but Gyeoul.

At a comfortable speaking distance, Je-jung gave a quick nod.

"Well, if it is not our captain. What brings you here? Did you come to see us?"

Gyeoul shook his head.

"No. I was at the regular briefing. Where are the vice-captains?"

"They are probably still inside. Want me to call them?"

"No, that is not necessary. Is the training manageable?"

"Whew. Since it is all in English, it is a bit much. I like to think my conversation is decent now, but written text still gives me a headache. To be fair, Korean books are hard for me too."

He joked it was his age, but he did not look particularly worn out.

"You are juggling this with Self-Defense Corps work too, but you look better than expected."

"Well, this is what I used to do in the Marine Corps Veterans Association. Patrol with like-minded people, volunteer, contribute to the local community, that sort of thing. It is rewarding. Hahaha."

That mention of the Marine Corps Veterans Association bothered Gyeoul a little. Was he trying to enforce pointless military-style discipline? Gyeoul believed Je-jung's marine service history was half fabricated, but he also knew forced rank culture had little to do with actual service records.

No, Min Wan-ki would keep that in check. He was the kind of person who found work on his own. If problems came up, elder Kang Yeong-sun would report them. Thinking that, Gyeoul let it pass.

Je-jung went on.

"Come watch us at the range sometime. If you are okay with it, please give us a demo too. Everyone wants to see your skills in person."

"Have they not already seen enough on TV?"

"Come on, seeing it live is different."

"All right. But do not focus only on shooting. Pay attention to other training too. Someday, the U.S. military might allow the Self-Defense Corps to carry firearms."

"Huh? Is that even possible? They would give weapons to refugees? Just recently they were raiding Chinese, Japanese, and Korean gangs one by one and confiscating illegal weapons."

"Those were illegal weapons. I mean Self-Defense Corps activity itself might be officially authorized."

Je-jung held his breath.

"Did something like that come down from up top?"

"No, not exactly... it is my prediction. The U.S. has always been lenient toward militias. If trust keeps building, at least for our alliance, I think it could happen."

A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. It was, after all, language from the U.S. Constitution.

'There is an interpretation that militia there means state militia, though...'

Either way, countless militias were active in the U.S. And militia or not, their equipment and training could rival regular militaries. They recruited veterans.

Sometimes even police requested militia cooperation.

That was America.

Je-jung, however, had never lived there, so he interpreted the U.S. military's regular training demands on refugee self-defense units, including shooting drills, as little more than a preliminary process for selecting volunteers.

"Any trouble with training?"

When Gyeoul asked, Je-jung said he was fine.

"Jin-seok and Squad Leader Yura look after us. Whenever we train, one of them always comes along and helps. Heh."

"That is good."

"Earlier, Jin-seok gave a shooting demo, and wow, he was really good. He is such a logical guy that even his gunfire sounds logical. Do you know what I mean?"

"Not really..."

"The sound of a logical person shooting is, 'valid-valid!' Hahahaha!"

Gyeoul rejected the viewer quest telling him to kill Je-jung.

============================ Author's Note ============================

#Noblesse, Premium Simultaneous Serialization

I have said this several times already...

Joara is a place that ranks works by performance. If I did something like Noblesse Premium simultaneous serialization, a niche novel like Ossuary would sink straight to the bottom. Scary thought...

#A signed book too ominous and filthy to describe

I knew readers had unusual tastes, but I did not think you would want an occult item like the author's signed book this badly...

A first-print limited edition is not realistic for now. I can probably sign author giveaway copies and mail them out.

As for the event... hmm... should we do it through reviews for Wind and Star Cluster? I could pick about five people by most recommendations and send them out.

#Q&A

Q. RGZ95-nim: @ The time to fill up childlike innocence is coming! Ehehe

A. You will need to wait a little longer. Hehe.

Q. EpKna-nim: @ It is time for a new kind of childlike innocence. Or maybe a rebellion?

A. I am preparing childlike innocence for many different phases. I think novelty is one of the ingredients of enjoyment.

Q. Nertus-nim: @ Support coupons feel a bit wasteful, and a Donation Account goes 100% to the author, so maybe that is what people want. (middle omitted) Still, if opening a Donation Account makes you uncomfortable, maybe readers who want to support you could also buy Ossuary elsewhere? Maybe the ratio is better there... and if sales rise there, would that help when you finish Ossuary and release your next work? (later omitted)

A. First, I apologize for the middle omitted and later omitted parts. Some people dislike long afterwords, so this was a practical compromise... hehe. Yes, that would probably be better. If I accept support and disappoint you later, that would hurt even more.

Q. Mulrin-nim: @ What is the definition of childlike innocence!!! A lowly being like me cannot understand great childlike innocence... Is childlike innocence when my heart fills up reading this childlike-innocence book! Or is childlike innocence that thing that takes something away from me!

A: It fills you up, and it takes from you too. Your SAN points dropping is normal, and your heart feeling full is normal too.

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