WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 166: Alliances and Maneuvering (1)

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After returning from Alameda, Gyeoul received more overtime pay than he knew what to do with.

"I still can't make sense of Chinese people's taste in beauty. Does that woman look pretty to you, Lieutenant-nim?"

The question came from Corporal Wolf. He stood with his arms crossed, staring at the temporary stage. They were on the deck of a decaying cruise ship. The abandoned facilities had finally been put back to use after a long time. It was a morale performance prepared for the members of Black Tiger Security, Orca Black.

The crowd cheered for the woman onstage. Was it because entertainment was so rare? The audience was packed tight, with no room to step, and even the singer's smallest gesture sent them boiling over with excitement. Each time, the American soldiers serving as supervisors, the corporal included, laughed as if they could not believe what they were seeing. The song was almost impossible to hear.

Gyeoul waited for the noise to settle before answering.

"Yes. She's beautiful. Even to me, as someone of Korean descent, she's an incredible beauty."

The female singer's long, straight, rich light-brown hair left a strong impression. So did her double eyelids and long eyelashes. Dimples appeared whenever she smiled. It was a relief to see that the haggard look she had worn when they first met was gone. Her name was Zhou Wei. Until recently, she had served under Lieutenant General Xieru as a Major in the People's Liberation Army.

"Is that so? Hmm..."

The corporal did not seem convinced. He muttered to himself that her lips were too thin, so something looked off.

"I heard that woman used to be a soldier. A field-grade officer, too. Apparently that kept the CIA busy for a while."

This time, it was Corporal Noah Wright, the demolition specialist. Gyeoul tilted his head.

"Yes and no. I heard that ambiguous status was what made Lieutenant General Xieru dislike her in the first place. Though there were other reasons too."

"Ambiguous status? What does that mean?"

"Her assignment was the People's Liberation Army song-and-dance troupe. Even if her rank was Major, that only meant she was equivalent to one. Strictly speaking, it would be more accurate to call her a grade-six performer."

"Song-and-dance troupe? What is that, like civilian military staff or an honor guard?"

"If I had to compare it to something, it would be closer to an honor guard. In China, they apparently grant military ranks to famous entertainers and artists. I only learned that this time too."

That made it distinct from honorary ranks in other countries, since in China they were active-duty in the strict sense. Since they started at officer rank, it was also different from Korea's entertainer soldiers, who were serving mandatory military duty. They received pay and uniforms, and promotions followed a separate process based on performance evaluations and seniority.

As Corporal Wright said, she had briefly thrown the CIA into confusion. Though the song-and-dance troupe was a regular formation under the General Political Department of the People’s Army, it was not considered a combat organization, so the CIA had not kept much information on it.

The China branch had also vanished.

Not all CIA intelligence went up to headquarters. Low-priority information was often handled locally. The China branch had been in Beijing. Now it was gone.

The General Political Department, the song-and-dance troupe's parent organization, had been the headquarters of the Communist Party's political officers. The Mass Work Department, which handled civil affairs and psychological warfare, had also belonged to the General Political Department. Rear Admiral Lei Yanlie, who controlled one of the major Factions in the Chinese military, was living proof that the General Political Department was not a powerless organization.

So it was only natural that some had speculated Zhou Wei's identity was actually a cover, and that Lieutenant General Xieru had noticed, or at least suspected, Orca Black's true nature.

As if.

Gyeoul had brought her because he was afraid she would die.

"I prepared decent liquor. Have a drink."

Not long ago, on April 5th. One day had passed since they survived and returned from Alameda Island.

At a private meeting held to commend him, Lieutenant General Xieru personally poured Gyeoul a drink. It was not something he wanted to drink, but he did not refuse. Nothing good would come of irritating her.

She filled the fairly large cup until it was just short of overflowing. Full wine shows respect, full tea shows contempt. The strong liquor, poured with such careful delicacy that it swelled with surface tension, was the heart of a mother rejoicing at her son's safe return.

As a mother, as a soldier, the general who looked older than her years spoke.

"I have spent more than a year burning away my worries with liquor, but today I have a fine guest. For the first time in a long while, I can drink in joy."

Gyeoul stood and received the cup with his right hand. Then he emptied it in one breath. A strange light appeared in the general's eyes. She seemed surprised that he did not spill a single drop.

"Yesterday was too chaotic, so I should say it properly now. Thank you for saving my son, Li. I heard your performance was remarkable. They say you crossed the line between life and death several times. I have never seen that child so taken with anyone other than women. I was worried he might say he loved you."

Even as she joked, her expression did not change. She looked like someone whose years had hardened into a mask she could no longer take off, even if she wanted to.

"I was simply lucky."

At Gyeoul's modest answer, the general shook her head.

"No. I know my son well. I can at least tell what was exaggerated and what was true. Even while he was ashamed of how disgraceful he had been, his testimony about you was consistent and reasonable."

"So," the general said, sincerity showing through her light drunkenness.

"Will you come under my command?"

"...What do you mean?"

"Yes, I know it must be startling. Trying to recruit you into the military in the middle of all this."

Gyeoul looked at Xieru. She was a large, imposing woman. Her sagging cheeks were covered in stubborn wrinkles. Her fierce eyes brimmed with strength. There was pressure in her gaze. It was not deliberate. It was simply ingrained. The natural air peculiar to someone who had spent years ruling over countless others.

"Do you like that watch?"

Aside from the compensation specified in the contract, the general had given Gyeoul many things. The general's treasured possession, something better called a luxury good than a watch and a work of art than a luxury good, was one of them.

"Of course. I've never seen anything like it in my life."

Not in any of his attempts until now.

"Foreign devils in the past believed watches symbolized divine providence, didn't they? Intelligent design and so on. Laughable delusions, nothing more... But when I saw that watch, I thought perhaps it might truly be so. Its structure, its precision, were almost mystical. It felt as if time itself was inside it."

Then the general asked how much he thought she had paid for it.

Gyeoul examined the precious gift carefully. The watch hands had stopped. It was a luxurious mechanical watch, the sort whose mainspring one did not wind carelessly. Jewels had been scattered across a night sky showing some constellation, forming the Milky Way. The blue background had to be sapphire powder.

He could not even guess. Watches made by craftsmen carving each individual part were worth whatever price was asked. It was hard even to see one in an ordinary shop. Bidding at auction was the norm.

"Sixty-four million yuan. At the exchange rate then, roughly ten million U.S. dollars."

"That's incredible."

More than the price itself, what surprised him was the general's wealth, which had made such luxury possible. In China, soldiers often ran companies, and corruption was common enough to be routine, but even so, it was surely rare for a mere general officer to spend ten million dollars on a luxury item.

Or perhaps the general's family had that much real power. She might have had political backing within the Communist Party.

Gyeoul held the watch out to the general.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Please forgive my rudeness. Though you gave it to me as a gift, I feel an object of this value should stay with someone who understands its worth. The other compensation I received was already far more than I deserve."

"I see, I see..."

The general did not take it. She told him to put it away.

"I was half-convinced and half-doubtful, but you truly do not waver."

Had it been a test? Gyeoul's guess was correct.

"Apart from my son's testimony, I wondered whether the person he saw in you was real. Ah, I was not doubting your achievements. But there is such a thing as character. The camaraderie you supposedly spoke of is not such a common disposition. I only wanted to know whether it was true."

She said that was why she had given him the watch.

"America is still intact, isn't it? You have citizenship, and you can go back whenever you wish."

"..."

"Even if you received only one-tenth of that watch's value, it would be one million U.S. dollars. Though destruction is right before our eyes, there must still be plenty of people eager for luxury even in times like these. No, perhaps they are even more desperate than usual, since they have so little time left to indulge."

The general's insight was correct. Gyeoul had seen countless people enjoy unprecedented feasts at the edge of civilization. Inside the splendid walls they built around themselves lay everything rare and scarce.

In some cases, the resulting social conflict had even hastened the end.

She must understand it better because she is the same kind of person.

She was someone who had bought a watch like this. Gyeoul looked deep into the general's eyes.

"Yet you tried to return it to me without the slightest hesitation. That means your camaraderie weighs more than at least one million U.S. dollars. You set aside a life of splendor that could last until the moment the world ends, and chose comrades who can no longer live anywhere except on the battlefield... Good. You are a truly fine man."

At least one million, and perhaps more than ten million. Money was a power that ruled people. How much had the boy's own price been?

Even an Intelligence Agency agent in Gyeoul's place would have agonized over it.

For the first time, the general showed something like a smile.

"Put it away. It also carries my apology for carelessly testing my benefactor. I am satisfied. I never thought I would discover the soul of China in a place like this."

"The soul of China? I don't understand what you mean."

"Righteousness."

After that brief answer, the general fell silent for a while and stared at Gyeoul. Since she was collecting her thoughts, Gyeoul stayed quiet and waited for what came next.

"Righteous loyalty is no different from the soul of the Chinese people. Perhaps I should say you truly are a descendant of China... It shines all the brighter in times like these. Though as a second-generation overseas Chinese, that may be difficult for you to accept."

She paused and filled the glass. The pour took a long time, with the same care as before.

A toast. The harsh scent passed down his throat. Gyeoul felt his sense of balance dull.

"When did righteousness become so important? I think it may be because China in the past was too vast."

"Is that so? I didn't expect to hear you say that."

"Ah, of course it is a proud history. Any country, any people, stand a step below China by comparison. At most, perhaps Rome could be considered comparable. Every nation in the world owes China a debt."

The general's voice grew more and more drawn out as she continued. Leaning against the backrest, she let the words out like sighs.

"To return to the beginning of the story... Righteousness. Yes, righteousness. People in the old days could not have lived without righteousness. Since ancient times, China has been the center of the world, a unified continent. Even when dynasties changed, in the end, it was one China. The Central Plains were far too vast. State administration alone could not possibly care for every commoner. Isn't that so? A single commandery or county was larger than most countries."

The last sentence carried a little too much pride, but Gyeoul nodded along to please her.

Was she saying this because she wanted to, or did she have a point she meant to reach?

"What I mean is, life in that era... may have been a stage where state rule and the chaos of anarchy coexisted. Hmm, a war of all against all? My view is that a moderated version of that was precisely the life of the Chinese people."

"You mean everyone needed some measure of self-help?"

"You understand. Did your parents teach you history?"

"No."

She laughed and picked up the bottle again. A bold old habit showed through. When she asked if he wanted more, Gyeoul declined this time. Saying, "That, too, is just as I heard," she poured herself several cups in a row. Judging by how it had felt going down, the liquor had seemed to be around forty percent alcohol. Her capacity was impressive.

============================ Author’s Note ============================

#KakaoTalk

Programmer friend: Hmm...

Programmer friend: 'w'w'w'w'

Programmer friend: 'w'w'w'w's's's's's's's's's's's

Office worker friend: oWoWoWoWoWoWoWoWoWoWoWoWo

Programmer friend: oWoWoWoWoWoWoWoWoWoWoWoWoWo

Tunguska: I can't believe this is a chat between guys over thirty...

#Q&A

Q. kaley-nim: @Author-nim, childlike innocence scares me so much...! Oh, and I finally finished the first run of Halkeginia, and I finally saw the hiatus notice. I will keep rereading Ossuary for my 2n-th readthrough haha. Was it Quillen-nim? I miss them...

A. No, why would you miss that person...? They're practically the leader of Satan...

Q. NoblesseBuffer-nim: @... Excuse me? You're saying there are no bad endings among Hentai Makoto's works? Then what on earth is 5 Centimeters per Second...

A. Compared to the vast and beautiful natural world, human life is nothing more than a small disturbance. The backgrounds were pretty, so it was a happy ending.

Q. Tomma-nim: @It's because readers noticed long ago that the author's childlike innocence had been traded away for taffy.

A. What an irreverent thing to say... I could not write a novel like this without childlike innocence.

Footnotes:

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