WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 168: Alliances and Maneuvering (3)

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A frightened woman entered the room.

She was wearing a naval dress uniform. The odd part was her rank insignia. The star was a different shape. Major. Her rank was unusually high for her age, too. Even Tan Guosheng, a general's son, was only a Lieutenant Colonel at that age.

Gyeoul tilted his head. She had said she would give him something impressive...

'Is this another test?'

Before calling him here, she must have run a background check. There was no way the general did not know Kurt Lee's tendencies. That made the idea of offering him a woman difficult to understand.

More than that, the one-sided current between the woman general and the young major felt less like anything intimate and more like the dynamic between a predator and prey. The major kept her eyes lowered the entire time. Once, just once, she glanced up, and the moment her eyes met the general's, she squeezed them shut. Her trembling shoulders were almost pitiful.

"What do you think? Is she a face you know?"

The general's question was unexpected.

"Is she someone I should know?"

"Huh."

Something about the calm answer must have pleased her, because the corner of Lieutenant General Xieru's mouth twitched. She stared quietly at Gyeoul. A vague suspicion hardened into mild certainty.

"You really do not know. She won the Hundred Flowers Award for a popular film at twenty. She is considered one of China's greatest actresses. Though that fame means nothing outside the mainland, I thought you might know her since you are overseas Chinese. I assumed you would at least know her face."

"I grew up poor. After that, I was in the military."

"Good. Then strip away her background and look at her simply as a woman. What do you think? Most men I have seen lose their heads over her. Your reaction is rather dull."

"She looks like she could make a fish drown in water."

"Sinking fish? Are you comparing that to Xi Shi? Zheng Dan, perhaps."

It was a sneer that smelled of alcohol.

During the Warring States period, two women were presented to the same king: Xi Shi and Zheng Dan. The prime minister judged the former a beauty who could topple a country, and the latter a beauty who could topple a fortress. The fortress-toppling beauty paled before the country-toppling beauty and failed to win the king's favor. In the end, she wasted away from lovesickness and died alone.

That much came to mind through his Intelligence correction.

It was also part of the correction from 「Chinese」, a language in the final expert range. Language included basic culture and history. That was why it demanded so many resources to acquire. 「Chinese」, with its many dialects and characters, was even worse. If not for his talent advantage, even Gyeoul would not have dared attempt it.

"Perhaps your tastes are different because you grew up in America?"

Gyeoul denied the general's suspicion.

"No. The people I saw day after day growing up were fellow overseas Chinese. But I have already met the most beautiful woman in the world."

"I heard you can no longer meet her."

"The memories are enough."

"As expected, you are different from ordinary things."

Lieutenant General Xieru tapped the table. Tap, tap, tap. Drunk though she was, her gaze remained sharp as she looked over the prey animal. It felt more like an inspection before a transaction. It called up an old memory, and Gyeoul suppressed his disgust. The tyrant had looked at the boy with the same eyes.

"You must be wondering why I brought that out."

"Yes. You must already know that I decline women."

"Think of that not as a woman, but as an ornament."

"...What do you mean?"

"A person in power must be an object of desire. They must draw envy and jealousy onto themselves."

"Why?"

"Because those emotions always flow upward. Have you ever seen someone jealous of a person beneath them?"

The general straightened her posture. She seemed absorbed in her own words.

"A dazzlingly beautiful partner, a vast home, a splendid garden, luxurious food, lavish leisure, and extravagant waste. The moment they envy you, above and below are divided. They become inferior. I mean a hierarchy they recognize unconsciously. After that, you make them accept it consciously. You show them that between you and them lies a gap a thing like them could never overcome through talent or effort. You grant them resignation. You make the rabble long to become part of your life. You become the whole. That is the path to becoming a person in power. At least, in my experience."

"Did you choose your husband that way too?"

It was the sort of question that could have sounded pointed, but the general did not mind. She only asked back,

"What do you think?"

If she had ever truly loved anyone, even once, such a thick mask would never have formed. That was Gyeoul's private thought. The lives of the upper classes, of people with power, often seemed warped and deprived from birth on a human level. They themselves did not consider it unhappiness, and everyone assumed they were happy, but that too was probably a form of unhappiness.

Perhaps the world such people built had deepened and deepened until it became the reality outside.

"Personally, I cannot agree with that method. Still, I understand what you intend. You mean to make me into a person of power."

"Yes. A person in power is a home for many people. Become a place for your comrades. Become a pillar and a crossbeam, and watch your comrades feel at ease beneath you. I am sure it will be satisfying."

"..."

"That girl is nothing more than a suggestion shaped like a person. She has no real value in herself. Some fools do place value on her, but I have no need to deal with such men to begin with."

The general might have seemed to be granting him favor without a plan, but there were many barbs hidden in what she had said so far.

Lieutenant General Xieru had tested Kurt Lee. His resolve to remain on the battlefield with his comrades. She had confirmed that resolve would not waver for money, and that his pure devotion to his dead wife would not waver even before a fortress-toppling beauty. Therefore, to a man like Kurt Lee, power would be nothing more than a lubricant that made his occasional rest more comfortable. He would not easily betray his loyalty to the lieutenant general, either.

'There is more to gain than to lose.'

Gyeoul calculated the benefits and losses the general would take on by placing Kurt Lee as her second-in-command.

The fact that it looked, from the outside, like pure favor was where the woman general's, and by extension the Chinese, way of managing affairs stood out. Power was not something one casually shared even with one's own child.

There had to be other circumstances as well.

The young major's fear was more than the fear of a woman being sold.

"What happens if I do not accept?"

"Why? You dislike her?"

"It feels like betraying my wife."

"It is only a formality. What matters is the heart, is it not?"

"I also dislike treating a person as an object. I had enough of that treatment from my superior."

"It seems I made you recall bad memories. I apologize."

Gyeoul looked at Lieutenant General Xieru as she lowered her head to his lie. He judged that he must have made a decent impression. The general let out a short sigh. She muttered that the U.S. military seemed to have its share of rotten ones too.

"What happens if you do not accept... Now that I think it over, that has a subtle ring to it. Why ask that?"

The navy lieutenant general asked. Gyeoul answered.

"Because I felt that you despised that major, General. I apologize if I was too quick to judge."

"No, no."

The general waved a hand, then asked again,

"Was it that obvious?"

"Yes."

"You are sharp."

It is not much of a story, she said.

"I do not know whether you recognized it, but that is a fake soldier."

The woman general briefly explained the background of the People's Liberation Army Song and Dance Troupe, then frowned.

"When Corpse Plague (Morgellons) began spreading, the mainland was truly a living hell. The ports were overflowing with people. You would have been shocked if you had seen it. People kept drowning. Strangely enough, watching it made me think of a beach."

At peak season, Chinese beaches had no visible water. It was an intuitive comparison.

"We could not save everyone. Shameful as it is, even I was terrified."

Lieutenant General Xieru recalled that her mind had gone blank and she had been unable to think at all.

"The order I barely managed to give was this: rescue my people, my subordinates, first. But how could those below me have had any presence of mind? If someone wore a military uniform, load them first. If they had a party membership card, load them first... From the reports I heard later, that was apparently how it went."

It was testimony from someone who had witnessed the beginning of the end. Cases where the beginning of the setting matched the beginning of the end in both time and place were rare, so Gyeoul listened carefully.

"And in the middle of all that, this girl slipped in."

Cynicism colored her words.

"She put on a uniform she normally would not even glance at, dragged along her family and friends, and stole seats from real soldiers. I hear she threw her rank around. Hm? Asking if they knew who had her back. To soldiers already frantic from trying to deal with a terrible disaster..."

Gyeoul studied the major being sliced apart by the general's gaze. He understood why she looked so haggard. It had been a full year of being hated by someone who held the power of life and death over her. Even simple ostracism could make someone think of death. How much worse if she was an outsider who had fallen out of the general's favor? She must not have felt alive even while living.

'The people she brought must have depended on her completely too.'

Gyeoul did not think they were bad. Weakness was not a sin. It should not be. If helplessness, the inability to exert any influence over one's own fate, was that person's fault, then Gyeoul was a sinner too. People had to be generous toward things effort could not change, toward violent inevitability approaching from beyond human limits. For their own sake. And for the boy's sake.

"There is no room in my fleet for unnecessary people."

Lieutenant General Xieru crossed her arms.

"Everyone must play a role. That useless burden is no exception. If you do not accept her..."

"Would she not be suited to boosting morale?"

"She only caused trouble."

"Even my son, of all people." The passing mutter was quiet, but fierce.

Of course, with a beauty of that caliber under her command, Tan Guosheng must have wanted her too.

'And the other men whose heads are below their waists.'

Perhaps the proportion of such men was about the same as the proportion of people with personality disorders among ordinary people. That was Gyeoul's personal experience.

"I thought about handing her over to another general, but come now. No fool would change his position over one mere woman, and even if there were such a fool, how could I trust him? If he were so incapable of judgment, he would be worse than King Fuchai of Wu with Xi Shi in his arms. He would bury himself in her skirts and listen to every piece of slander she whispered about me. So if I give her away, I will give her to someone who leaves no room for trouble. Or to some people."

The last part was meaningful. It was also an expression of trust in Kurt Lee.

"Then it would be better for me to accept."

"You changed your mind?"

"You may consider me one of your people, General. But until I have settled in properly, I want to remain beside my companions. There are people who grow uneasy when I am not there..."

Even if only to replenish the special makeup and voice-altering tablets that would wear off over time, he needed to go in and out of Orca Black's headquarters, the Pequod, on a regular basis.

'There is no need to worry about later.'

When the time came, Kurt Lee would vanish like a ghost. If necessary, they could even list him as missing in action during an operation.

As if dissatisfied with Gyeoul's answer, the general toyed with the liquor bottle.

"Well, fine. In any case, you mean you will accept no work from anyone but me from now on, yes?"

"There is no need to call it work. I have already received more than enough payment. Just call me when you need me."

"Hm. Is that so."

After thinking it over, the lieutenant general nodded. She ordered the young major to go out and wait for her new master, then resisted the temptation of the alcohol and said,

"It is insolent of you, but I also like the boldness you keep showing. Understood. I have no other option anyway."

"Is that so?"

Were the losses among her guards that severe? Gyeoul found it strange, but her next words answered the question.

"Before long, there will be a meeting of the generals and senior party members."

Another reason she wanted Gyeoul so badly had emerged.

"They are pathetic bastards who have done nothing but engage in childish brawls, but even those turtle spawn know there is not much time left. Time to decide where they stand..."

The meaning was clear. It was a prediction that had been raised in the CIA's regular briefings as well. Once Manifest Liberation succeeded, meaning after America recovered all of its territory, the Chinese forces surrounded from both sea and land would have no choice but to surrender. If they wanted to try something, it had to be before the U.S. military recaptured San Francisco.

"It will be a stage for alliances and maneuvering. I have no choice but to go, but it is extremely dangerous. Especially because of the dogmatists and fanatical patriots. That sort usually overflows with drive, do they not? I need a way to get out alive even if things go wrong. I must fill my limited number of attendants with the greatest combat power possible. Their judgment in an emergency must be proven as well."

Of course, she would thoroughly inspect the meeting site, but when staking one's life, even a one-percent chance could not be ignored. Kurt Lee's judgment on Alameda Island, his ability to handle danger through quick thinking, must have moved the general's heart. It would be worth not one percent, but easily ten percent. Gyeoul nodded.

"So that is why you chose me."

"I intend to test you lightly once before then. That much should be all right, yes?"

"Of course."

"I like your confidence."

Only then was the general satisfied.

This was how Major Ju Wei came to the Pequod.

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

#Full-time Writer

Sometimes people ask me for advice on becoming a full-time writer.

Whew. What ability do I have to give that kind of advice?

Still, if I had to say one thing, just sleep a lot.

Sleep really is important. Especially when things are hard mentally.

#Q&A

Q. Jingado-nim: @I was debating whether to spend on Noble or not, and in the end I did... You know why I did it, right?

A. Why, of course it was to read The Wind and Star Cluster. I offer up coupons every time I spend too. WhiteBean-nim, have a beer. Beer.

Q. svjk-nim: @Thanks for the chapter! But with Gyeoul thoroughly hiding himself in the current situation, what is he doing publicly? Public attention on Gyeoul has risen so much that even a presidential candidate mentioned him, so they should at least say what he is doing.

A. It will be mentioned briefly.

Q. BlitZkrieG-nim: @It makes me sad that it feels like you are having such a long and enjoyable holiday... I want you to stop having an enjoyable holiday now.

A. If someone locked me up and fed me nothing but dumplings, I would like to live doing nothing but breathing.

Q. stoury-nim: I finally caught up to the latest chapter. It was so fun that I read only this for three days. @But near the start of chapter 160, the phrase theta ghoul appears. I know Greek has zeta and delta, but I do not think I have heard of theta... I just wanted to jot that down...

A. The theta I use is theta. In Greek pronunciation, it seems to be detha or tetha, but conventionally it seems to be written as theta, so I wrote it as theta.

(Added at 11:28) I put in Greek letters and the Author’s Note got erased. I noticed late and edited it. A site that lives on text cannot display one special character... Joara viewer... Is this really okay as is...

Footnotes:

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