WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Little Prince in the Ossuary

Chapter 133

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Angel Island (3)

Their stay on Angel Island was brief. Gyeoul and Joanna boarded a submarine right away.

After they were shown to their cabin, Joanna was strung tight, like she might snap at the slightest touch. Tap, tap, tap. Her fingertips kept drumming on her holster. She had already checked the pistol inside twice. She could not take her eyes off the cabin door, so Gyeoul spoke softly.

“Please calm down. Nothing will happen.”

Joanna frowned.

“How can you be so sure? The captain and crew were clearly acting suspiciously.”

“Well...”

His answer stalled. He could not tell her the truth: that when he faced them, neither 「Survival Instinct」 nor 「Combat Sense」 had reacted. If he said that, he would trigger a rollback for a Situational Computation error judgment. He would not be penalized all at once, but the rollback itself was unpleasant. He knew the limits of a virtual reality setting, but knowing and being reminded were very different things.

So he searched for another reason to give her. What should he say?

“It did feel like they disliked me, but I do not think it was hostility. Just a feeling.”

“A feeling...?”

“I am sorry. That sounded strange, right?”

“No, not at all. You cannot ignore instincts in the field. Especially your instincts, Gyeoul.”

She said that, but the crease between her brows stayed, and her tension did not ease. He had not convinced her. She simply did not want to dismiss him. Gyeoul gave a faint smile and thought some more. Why would the captain dislike me? We only met today.

As he thought, he tossed out a question to buy time.

“Looks like you did not know what ship would be waiting either, Ann?”

Joanna said that was right.

“U.S. Navy submarines are all large, no exceptions. They are nuclear submarines. In a shallow bay with a complicated seabed, they cannot maneuver efficiently. And right now San Francisco Bay is very noisy. There are plenty of other risk factors too. In a place like this, you need a conventional submarine. At least, that is the view from above. Though I still find it questionable.”

She went on to say that this was why they were receiving cooperation from surviving allied fleets.

“Still, I was never informed which country’s submarine we would board. Patrol duty is rotated, but because of the undersea standoffs, timely handovers are rare. For your sake, I had hoped we would get a Korean submarine...”

She glanced at Gyeoul.

“As far as I know, Korea and Japan are historical rivals. Do you think that is why?”

The submarine they were riding was Jinryu of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. When Captain Umehara Atsu, a Commander, saw Gyeoul, he had not hidden his dark emotions. The reaction had been so intense it could easily be read as hostility.

“No way.”

Gyeoul shook his head. To a boy used to reading people, the darkness the captain showed felt different.

Maybe it had some influence. In the vein of the past that made up 「Days after Apocalypse」, ethnic resentment had carried into the present. Back when he was alive, Gyeoul had thought it was pointless. Others had not. People who hated someone for being Japanese, and people who hated someone for being Korean.

Naive, or cunning.

One or the other. The cunning ones kept stoking hatred, because they profited from the hatred of the naive. Mostly politicians. Sometimes businesspeople. Sometimes scholars or religious figures.

Hatred was also a feeling that fed itself. Even without outside provocation, once you started hating, it only grew. You searched for reasons to hate with a hateful heart. And each time you found one, it felt good.

The satisfaction of hating. Gyeoul knew how addictive it was. Lately, he had realized it was impossible to set down his hatred of the world. The stone only kept getting heavier.

Still, what he felt from the captain was far from that kind of hatred.

I could feel self-hatred.

How was he supposed to explain that? Language was never enough to hold a heart.

As he was thinking, Gyeoul heard footsteps in the corridor. They stopped at the door. Knock knock. Someone rapped on it. The clock on the cabin wall said it was still too early to arrive. About twenty kilometers remained. It was a short distance, but they had said it would take time because they were traveling slowly for safety.

Joanna tensed like a blade. So much for distracting her with conversation. Gyeoul gestured for restraint and spoke in Japanese.

“Who is it?”

“The captain.”

“Are we there already?”

“Not yet. But I had something to tell you.”

“I see. Come in. It is your cabin anyway, Captain.”

The door opened slowly. The captain stepped in carefully, like someone who knew he had raised suspicion. True to a seasoned investigator, Joanna kept her tension hidden behind a calm mask. Her face stayed composed. Even so, the captain watched her closely. More precisely, he watched her tensed hand.

He clasped his hands, bowed, and spoke in English for Joanna’s sake.

“I came to apologize for my rudeness. If not now, I thought there might be no chance to clear this misunderstanding.”

“It is fine. I did not misunderstand.”

The captain raised his head and gave her an odd look. If you watched closely, the FBI investigator’s posture was clear. Her hand stayed close to her pistol. Every movement was a silent warning that she would fire if needed.

Gyeoul shrugged.

“I did.”

Joanna shot him a sharp side glance. The captain murmured, “I see,” then bowed again.

“You must have felt uncomfortable because of me. I am sorry. It is embarrassing, but I will be honest. I, and this vessel’s crew, felt jealous of you.”

“Ah.”

The vague feeling snapped into focus. Jealousy. The sort of feeling soldiers from a fallen nation might harbor toward a boy officer turned war hero. The captain sighed, fell silent, sighed again, then confessed almost as if reciting.

“Fifteen days after the final order from the Maritime Staff Office, we realized the country called Japan had disappeared. But our ultimate duty did not disappear with it. The reason the Self-Defense Forces exist is to protect the Japanese people. I chose to cooperate with the United States. I believed that by doing so, we could improve the treatment of our people who had lost their country.”

Joanna’s tension softened. The captain continued.

“But in this pus-like bay, there was little this vessel could do. We only rot there with everything else. Look at this. One of the best conventional submarines in the world, and all we are given is liaison duty. When will we prove our worth? When will we be of help to our people...?”

“...”

“While staying at the quarters, I see your achievements every single day. It fills me with self-loathing. Lieutenant Han Gyeoul, you alone are worth more than the sixty-five crew members aboard this ship. No, in political influence, you are worth more than the entire Japanese fleet cooperating with America.”

“That is not true.”

This time, it was Joanna who offered comfort.

“The American coastline is vast. Without the Self-Defense Forces, a maritime blockade like this might not have been possible, at least in the Pacific theater. The government knows your value.”

From what she had learned in April Pacific, U.S. Navy fatigue was severe, almost at the breaking point. Allied naval power must have felt like rain after drought.

“I came to apologize, and now I am the one being comforted. I am truly lacking.”

The captain gave a short laugh, then darkened again.

“Anyway, that is how it is. Call it an inferiority complex if you like. I had built up too many emotions on my own, and the moment I saw you, I could not hold them back. It felt as though I myself was being denied. I am sorry. I must have looked quite ugly to you.”

Gyeoul nodded.

“To be honest, I can still feel that even now. I guess you still dislike me a lot.”

Captain Umehara went silent.

“That is why I am saying this... You are a very good person.”

How hard was it to take a humble stance toward someone you outranked in rank, age, and emotional standing? How much shame came with such a blunt confession?

The captain’s apology was his duty. A kind of thoroughness that would not allow even the smallest chance of harm to his people. So even if his apology lacked sincerity, that itself was not a problem for Gyeoul.

He seems strict with himself.

The captain would likely be strict with himself about this too. Gyeoul felt he could afford to expect something. If sincerity was absent now, perhaps it would be there later. If not, it could not be helped. People had limits. Gyeoul made a smile for the captain.

“Stay strong. Japan will rise again, if people like you do not give up.”

Not people like Tadaatsu Ryohei. The yakuza boss who demanded to be called a national leader. The more men like that ran wild, the darker it became for the people dragged along behind them.

Captain Umehara rubbed his upper stomach with a bitter expression. He seemed to be in pain.

“Truly, I did not come to be comforted... I have no excuse. My selfishness keeps causing you trouble.”

“Everyone is having a hard time. And with me, I hope you can speak freely. You outrank me, after all.”

Commander was equivalent to lieutenant colonel. Even across different organizations, it was a rank that deserved respect. In some ways it was sad that the captain could not treat Gyeoul casually. Gyeoul had heard that in Korea, long ago, even senior field-grade officers could not casually slight a U.S. Ensign.

“Difficult.”

The captain shook his head.

“Please rest a little more until we arrive. I will inform you when it is time.”

Avoiding eye contact, he quietly withdrew.

Click. The door shut. After waiting for his footsteps to fade, Joanna looked at Gyeoul.

“Did you expect this?”

“Vaguely?”

“Hmm...”

She pressed her fist to her mouth and thought for a while.

“I see. Since you are in a similar position, it was easier for you to empathize than for me. I am almost getting tired of being impressed by you.”

Gyeoul did not correct her misunderstanding. Satisfied with her own conclusion, she adjusted her posture.

“This is a different matter, but now that I think about it, the quarters assigned to those people were quite ironic.”

“Quarters?”

The sudden topic shift made Gyeoul tilt his head. Joanna nodded once and explained.

“Think about where we boarded this ship.”

“It was on the north side of Angel Island.”

“Yes. That facility was actually an old immigration building that had been closed. And the water in front of it, the bay where the temporary pier was set up, is called China Cove. Do you know why it was given that name?”

“Not really...”

“This was where the Chinese Exclusion Act played out. One of this country’s shameful chapters.”

She explained that anti-Chinese hatred had not only blocked immigration, but also actively pushed out Chinese people who were already there. It had been effectively legalized racial discrimination.

“It makes me uncomfortable. It feels like this country was declaring it would not accept those people.”

“It is just a coincidence.”

“It would not feel that way to the people involved.”

Since the building itself was used as an exhibition hall, it would have been hard not to know the history.

The conversation ended there. Both of them had things to think about.

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

#Contest

I think many people reading this novel are also aiming to become full-time writers.

This time, a place called Punchline is holding a contest, but strangely enough, not many people seem to know about it.

Even if you search the free board, not a single post comes up...

The prize money is quite large. And with CJ as a partner, it does not look like it will fold anytime soon.

If you are interested, take a look.

#Q&A

Q. Atlaknacha-nim: @Writer-nim I love you, gyaaaak, if you give me just one spare leg I will bite it, suck it, and massage it, lick lick

A. Really? My legs are radioactive food... are you a fusion life-form?

Q. GwangSSINdo-nim: @A criminal organization... Does this mean we can now see delinquent or thug Gyeoul?

A. Probably? Haha. In a different way, it will be a high-difficulty mission for Gyeoul.

Q. PAM-nim: @StarTrekWhatever. I prefer Doctor Who more!

A. I am very interested in Doctor Who too. I tried to watch it through KT's monthly subscription, but they started from Season 2. Seriously, where did Season 1 go?...

Well, now I do not even have time to watch it anyway.

Q. Guaaaaak-nim: @Is it okay for a mere Ensign to drive a Ferrari? Wouldn't that make his superiors dislike him? Maybe the rank system is a bit different from ours?

A. It is a country where even lieutenant generals drive themselves to work.

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