WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 136: Trial (1)
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Shaaaaa-
Hot water poured down. The shower room, barely one pyeong across, quickly filled with steam.
Gyeoul looked at the mirror through the vapor. It would not come into focus. When he wiped it with his hand, an unfamiliar boy appeared. Gyeoul tilted his head, and the boy tilted his with him. He was different from when he had been alive. It was not his appearance. It was the borrowed emotions and the borrowed expression. The play was still going on. To the audience in another world, Gyeoul as he truly was would only be a dull clown.
The handprint on the mirror faded. The unfamiliar boy became a silhouette. Gyeoul lost interest. He closed his eyes. The feel of the water striking him was pleasant too.
He had plenty of time. It was not a meaningless break. This was advance preparation for a disguise. He was scheduled to receive special makeup, starting with his face and continuing down to his upper body. The person in charge had come early, given him the cabin number, and left, telling him there was plenty of water and electricity, so he should take his time and enjoy it.
The only tools were soap and a shower sponge. The soap smelled like used cooking oil. Most supplies dropped into the waters off San Francisco were probably about this quality.
He scrubbed his entire body carefully with the sponge. His body was firmer than before, thanks to the muscle added as correction when his combat power was strengthened. Different combat power meant different senses. He still needed time to adjust.
After finishing his shower, Gyeoul put on a new uniform. It was the combat uniform of 『Orca Black』, the fictional private military company created by the CIA. He picked up his weapons and left the changing room.
The entire corridor was cluttered. Wires left hanging at random crawled everywhere. The corridor had walls in some places, then none, then walls again. It looked as if the interior work had been stopped halfway through. But on closer inspection, the structure favored defense. Anyone unfamiliar with the layout would be easy to attack from every side. He spotted obstacles arranged with gunfights in mind, inactive traps, and gun ports hidden from sight.
When Gyeoul reached his destination, he knocked on the door. Tap, tap.
“This is Lieutenant Han Gyeoul.”
“Come in.”
A rough voice answered. Gyeoul went inside. The room was set up almost like a hair salon. Strange, though it did suit the purpose. The man in charge put down the book he had been reading and smiled as he offered him a seat.
“You’re earlier than expected, Lieutenant. I thought I’d be waiting a little longer... First, please sit. Leave your top over here. I need to check your skin before we begin.”
After disinfecting his hands, the man sprayed some kind of mist over Gyeoul. Then he began kneading Gyeoul’s face with his large hands. If one ignored the purpose, it was a rather strange sight.
After measuring several spots on his skin with a few pieces of equipment, the man looked regretful.
“Well, now. Skin this good is rare... It’s almost painful to ruin it.”
Even so, he did not hesitate. Whirrrrr. A machine sprayed chemicals. Like painting on a canvas, he rapidly changed Gyeoul’s impression. At the same time, he explained the precautions.
“This makeup won’t come off under most conditions. It isn’t permanent, though, so you’ll need maintenance once every ten days. Permanent makeup is possible, but I can’t ruin your face completely, Lieutenant. The higher-ups wouldn’t let me off for that either.”
He laughed and continued.
“If you fall into the sea or otherwise get soaked in seawater, come see me that evening. When you wash, don’t use too much soap. Think of it as rinsing yourself clean with water as much as possible. Fortunately, we aren’t short on water, so you shouldn’t have to feel too grimy... Would you like me to repeat that?”
“It’s all right. I remember.”
“Good. Next, do you have any allergies?”
As he asked, the man picked up a thin syringe. A small amount of clear liquid filled the cylinder. Gyeoul checked the self-settings displayed through his Intelligence correction and answered.
“No. Nothing like that.”
“Excellent. This drug causes skin irritation. It’s perfect for making someone look like they’ve done their share of drugs. Usually makeup is enough, but you’re so well-known that I was concerned, Lieutenant.”
He brought the needle closer. “This will sting.” A subcutaneous injection in the face was unpleasant. It felt like being bitten by an insect. It did not end with one shot. He divided several more injections between the nape of Gyeoul’s neck and his body. The amount injected was tiny, but the reaction was immediate. Gyeoul felt an itch spreading.
The man in charge took a photo. He seemed to tap a few times and send it to several people. With Gyeoul’s changed face, it would not be strange if someone mistook him for an enemy.
The man declared the work finished.
“There. Now you can go to the briefing room. You probably don’t know the way, so I’ll guide you.”
Gyeoul picked up his top and weapons as he asked.
“I haven’t asked yet. What is your position and name?”
“Ah, did we not introduce ourselves? My apologies. It felt as if this wasn’t my first time meeting you, Lieutenant Han.”
He shrugged.
“Oliver Talbot. Here, I mainly handle tactical planning, but sometimes I take on odd jobs like this too. Makeup is a side business. It’s a specialized skill in its own way, so I even get extra pay. Haha.”
The easy humor did not match his build. Gyeoul exchanged a light handshake with him.
“I’ll be in your care for a while, Agent Talbot.”
“Not at all. Everyone has high expectations for you, Lieutenant. I’m sure there will be plenty of difficulties, but please do your best until the end.”
In the briefing room they moved to afterward, Joanna was flipping through documents. It was not that no one else was there, but she seemed isolated. Her blank expression looked natural, but her shoulders were stiff. She examined the two new faces that entered, then returned to reading the papers with no apparent interest.
‘Strange. Did she not receive the photo?’
Gyeoul glanced sideways at Talbot. No, it was too early to decide it had been intentional. Gyeoul and Joanna had only arrived yesterday. It would not be strange if Joanna was not in Talbot’s contact network. Of course, that also meant Team Leader Chadwick had not done his job.
Since there were no assigned seats, Gyeoul took the seat beside the FBI investigator. Joanna glanced at him suspiciously, read the documents, then tilted her head and looked again. Gyeoul smiled.
“Am I that hard to recognize?”
“Good heavens, Gyeoul?”
The composure she had been maintaining broke all at once. Her face filled with delight and surprise.
“You’re already in disguise. You look truly dirty and sleazy!”
“...”
Quiet laughter broke out from across the table. Joanna belatedly fixed her expression. The nape of her neck turned red.
Team Leader Chadwick was asleep facedown. He was snoring softly. Nobody woke him. There seemed to be time left. Talbot approached and gave Gyeoul the same documents Joanna had.
“This is information you need to learn as quickly as possible. It includes brief personal profiles on the agents deployed in the operation, the distribution of forces inside the bay, the results of operations carried out so far, and the deployment status of friendly units you can request cooperation from in an emergency. You may carry it on the same floor as the briefing room, but you may not take it anywhere else. Once you’ve learned it, please return it to the operations information room next door. We’ll shred it immediately. Do you understand?”
Gyeoul nodded. If the same floor as the briefing room was allowed, that included the lodgings too. Talbot, who had been about to return to his seat, paused and spoke to him again.
“Let me see that for a moment. I’ll mark the pages you should read before the briefing starts.”
“Thank you. That’s kind of you.”
Talbot moved his thick hands with surprising agility. When Gyeoul paid attention to the callused spots, 「Insight」 activated. There was a high chance he was skilled in knife fighting. There were also signs that he had trained his grip strength.
Flip, flip, flip, flip. Pages folded mechanically. The sorting took little time.
As Gyeoul received the file, he examined the others. There did not seem to be any full-time combatants. Most of them were probably CIA agents. Even so, the Threat Level his senses picked up was fairly high. The only exception was the team leader, Nathan Chadwick. It was possible that this was also a disguise produced by correction.
‘There’s no way someone incompetent would be team leader.’
How much was he hiding, and what?
After Talbot returned, Gyeoul turned through the pages one by one. The first folded section contained a broad overview of the bay’s internal situation. He saw information on the Golden Gate blockade. The United States had deployed five nuclear submarines here. It would no longer allow any submarine to leave or enter. But there was an unfamiliar term mixed in.
“Anne. What is SOSUS? It says there’s one at the Golden Gate.”
Joanna turned her head at the question.
“You know what sonar is, right?”
“Yes.”
“To put it simply, they laid that out in lines on the seafloor.”
“Ah.”
Sonar was what replaced radar underwater. The difference was that it used sound waves instead of radio waves. There were active types that fired sound and caught the echo, and passive types that only collected sounds they heard.
Joanna continued.
“Originally, a SOSUS line was installed on the seafloor around the Golden Gate, along the coastline, and inside the bay to defend San Francisco in an emergency. The problem was that the control station was in Monterey. Right now, only the part blocking the bay entrance has been restored. The rest has been abandoned. There’s no power supply for it.”
Monterey was a city one hundred kilometers south of the San Francisco metropolitan area. It had also fallen during the early stages of the western infection spread.
She said the same surveillance network had existed along the entire American coast, in waters near Canada and islands that were dependent territory of the United States, and even in the waters of major allies such as British overseas territories and Japan.
“That feels unpleasant. I don’t think I should say this as someone in the U.S. military, but did this country want to control every sea in the world?”
The FBI investigator smiled bitterly.
“Because nuclear war was that frightening. Until the Great Plague, it was considered the most likely apocalypse scenario. A single submarine could launch enough nuclear missiles to wipe out every major city on the East Coast and still have some left over. That’s why they clung to it so obsessively. Doesn’t that feel familiar to you, Gyeoul? People becoming selfish when their lives are on the line.”
“Mm... Now that you say it, yes.”
“So that’s why we need to catch those fucking Chinese submarines and beat them to death.”
The one who cut in at the end was Team Leader Chadwick, who had woken up. Joanna closed her mouth.
The Intelligence Agency team leader looked at Gyeoul with sleepy eyes and smiled. He groped around in his chest pocket, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it. He did not seem inclined to consider anyone else. After inhaling until the ember burned red, he puffed the smoke into the air in front of him. Haa... His expression was rapturous.
‘No, that isn’t tobacco.’
Gyeoul narrowed his eyes. The smoke Chadwick breathed out had a strange smell. It was acrid like tobacco, but there was something closer to a stench in it. cannabis.
“Team Leader Chadwick.”
“What is it, Lieutenant?”
“Smoking cannabis is your personal preference, so I won’t interfere, but I’d like you to refrain indoors. You’re forcing it on other people.”
As he spoke, he looked around. Other than Joanna, no one seemed especially bothered.
“Oh.” Chadwick let out a meaningless exclamation. He looked mournful.
“It seems you’ve never burned herb before, Lieutenant Han. Mm, first, allow me to apologize. I’m sorry. Haha. Everyone does it here, so I suppose it became a habit. I haven’t had many chances to mind my manners.”
But he did not put it out, only stalled. After smacking his lips, he asked in a subtle tone.
“But Lieutenant, this is better than you’d think. Better than smoking tobacco, at least. They say it’s amazing for stress relief. Why not try it once while you have the chance? I’ll give you one of mine.”
“I refuse. It makes the body sluggish.”
“Oh dear.”
The other Intelligence Agency agents laughed quietly. Chadwick finally pressed the joint into the desk. Since it seemed to be the seat he always used, countless similar marks had been left there.
At that moment, new people entered. Solidly built combatants. The man in front examined the room, then fixed his gaze on Gyeoul and Joanna. His expression twisted.
============================ Author’s Note ============================
#SOSUS
The control station mentioned in the story is attached right above Monterey Regional Airport. If waiting for the next chapter is boring, look for it on the map. It might help with the sense of realism... maybe?...
#Q&A
Q. SaramiDA-nim: @There is a limit to love. That’s the opposite opinion from the Millaesian... Certainly, since the Millaesian are such an absolute minority, maybe they could even be called mentally ill...
A. In a statistical sense, I do think it counts as mental illness. It is just that because it is beautiful and beneficial, it is not categorized as mental illness. :)
Q. svjk-nim: @I always feel this, but that place really is a mess... But it’s bitter to think that reality is also being ruled more and more by materialism, where money can do anything.
A. Money is opportunity cost and power. Capitalism seems to be a system that inevitably commodifies people. Of course, I’m not saying other systems are better. Haha. That is why the author tends to prefer social democracy. Though if you look at Sweden’s internal situation, it seems even that is not necessarily all good.
Q. Rasiaian-nim: @It looks like something pretty huge happened in outside reality too, with people losing their countries and flocking somewhere else... I thought it would be a cyberpunk dystopia full of megalopolises that had reached the peak of capitalism under corporate rule while overpopulation continued... I can picture it, so I’m looking forward to it. What kind of dystopia is tormenting humanity... hehe...
A. No disaster happened in outside reality. The workers just came to earn money. Korea simply keeps luring them in with Afterlife Insurance as bait. More precisely, it includes Afterlife Insurance benefits in exchange for low wages.
Q. Nesstor-nim: @These days, I’m recharging childlike innocence in reality... Inertia, maybe? Anyway, I guess I’m starting to get used to the childlike innocence here. T_T Humanity is already in a state where I think the phrase “enough to drive you mad just by looking” fits better...
A. Strange. I don’t think a situation enough to drive you mad just by looking has appeared in this novel.
Q. RGZ95-nim: @Wow... Heroes of the Storm pregnancy bet is too much... I like the restaurant, but hmm... I think that’s a bit too much 8.8
A. Then how about doing it with Sudden Attack 2?...
Footnotes:
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