WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 241: Suspended Sentence (13)

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Quarters were assigned to the temporary Company that had made it this far. Officers, noncommissioned officers, and medical staff were waiting.

“What should we do with these prisoners?”

Gyeoul answered the search platoon leader’s question with a question of his own.

“Do you have a detention facility?”

“There is a military police unit. Would it be all right to leave them there for now?”

“Yes. Their disposition will be decided after I make my report.”

While the exhausted soldiers were sorted under supervision, several people hugged Gyeoul after he dismounted. Each embrace had its own depth and temperature. Yura’s was the most unusual. Along with the warm scent of a person, there was the distinctive chemical smell of treated leather. The fur was very soft.

Her mouth opened and closed several times, but no sound came out. With a sigh, Yura gave up on speaking.

“We finally met again. It’s been such a long time. Hasn’t it?”

Gyeoul patted Yura’s back as he spoke to everyone. The people overcome with emotion laughed, cried, or, in a few cases, stood awkwardly. Some of the awkward ones were unfamiliar, too, and when he looked closely, there were faces mixed in that even Gyeoul had never seen before.

It was also strange to see all five of the stateless adoptees who had come to the Gyeoul Alliance. When his eyes met Gyeoul’s, Benjamin Meyer, who was Chinese-American, gave him a smile drawn tight with nerves.

In the middle of that surge of emotion, Jin-seok greeted Gyeoul with an oddly alien calm.

"I am glad you returned safely. I have a lot to tell you, but there is too much, so I cannot."

The challenging air he had once had was gone, replaced by a somewhat dispirited mood. Gyeoul wondered if something had happened while they had been apart, but that was something to look into separately another time.

“By the way, Yura, what exactly is that cloak...?”

Gyeoul asked only now, but Yura was still choked up. Jin-seok answered for her.

“A man-eating tiger appeared in the mountains east of Fort Robert a while ago.”

“A man-eating tiger?”

“Yes. It killed survivors who were on their way to the base. At first, we thought it was a mutant attack, but later we found out it was a tiger that had gone feral. When Ensign Lee Yura shot it, there was a name tag attached to its collar, so it seems it was originally someone’s pet.”

“...”

“Department Head Jang suggested making its hide into a cloak. The thought was that it might help when dealing with people who looked down on the Ensign because she was a woman...”

“Department Head Jang?”

“When I first heard it, I thought it was an absurd suggestion. Department Head Min laughed too. But it really did work on old bastards who ate their years through their assholes, and gangster sons of bitches with nothing but semen filling their skulls. Especially the gangsters who liked putting on airs. Before that, they picked fights with her all the time. Now I think Department Head Jang just understood the minds of childish men very well. Though I’m sure they did something else behind the scenes too.”

“I see. But Ensign... Jin-seok, you must have been promoted too.”

“Yes.”

“Congratulations, first of all. That’s good. I thought the two of you would become noncommissioned officers and that officers would be sent in separately.”

“Yes, well.”

Jin-seok’s response was lukewarm. Gyeoul looked at the cloak again and said,

“I more or less understand the circumstances, but is there any reason to wear it even here...?”

Yura, who had managed to get her emotions under control, complained in a sulky voice.

“I hate this too. It’s hot and embarrassing. The reporters and Major McGuire’s people keep bothering me, so I don’t have a choice. Can’t you do something about them?”

Judging by her frown, this had been bothering her for some time. If it was Major McGuire, Gyeoul was familiar with the Department of Defense public affairs office officer as well, and it seemed the Major was still in Olema. Gyeoul remembered the meeting with the civilian aircraft pilot that had marked a turning point after he left San Francisco. The Pararescue veteran had gotten Gyeoul to sign a strange comic book, saying it was for his grandson.

‘So that’s why they drew Yura like that in the comic book...’

The public affairs office had to be encouraging it on purpose. He wondered if they were treating the quarantine war too lightly, but then again, many people feared the plague too much, so perhaps it could not be helped.

“Hmm. I’m friendly with the war correspondents here, so I might be able to do something about them, but Major McGuire belongs to a different organization... And he’s probably following separate orders too.”

“But I keep worrying that other people are pointing fingers at me.”

“Still, I doubt anyone is saying anything bad.”

“No. They’re one hundred percent laughing at me! I can’t even sleep properly these days because of it.”

It was less a complaint than outright anger. Hmm, even Alejandro had not sounded like they were mocking her when they mentioned Tiger Wonder Woman. Still, Gyeoul understood. It would feel very different to the person involved.

A Captain watching from a few steps away cut in.

“Ensign Lee. I don’t know what you’re saying, but your current attitude is unbecoming of an officer. Maintain your dignity.”

A low, rough voice. Yura flinched and instinctively stepped back. Gyeoul stared at the Captain. He had a sturdy build, a copper-brown face, large eyes and thick eyebrows, and a beard so dense his mouth was barely visible. Unusually, a full-sized sword more than one meter long hung at his waist. No matter how Gyeoul looked at it, it was neither decoration nor ceremonial equipment. Gyeoul asked,

“And you are?”

“My apologies. Captain Bahadur Singh. I have been assigned as the Major’s staff officer since the Company was established. My post is deputy company commander. I have been looking forward to meeting you.”

“Ah, nice to meet you. I’ll be in your care from now on. I’m lacking in many ways, so please help me.”

“I should be the one saying that.”

Judging by Yura and the others’ reactions, he did not seem like a bad person. From what he had said, he did not appear to know Korean, but English was a survival skill for the people of the Gyeoul Alliance, so communication would not have been much of a problem. There must have been qualification requirements when creating an independent company, too.

In any case, deputy company commander. Seeing that they had placed someone with the rank of Captain there, they clearly had expansion in mind. Since the independent company formation itself was unfamiliar from the U.S. military’s perspective, there was a good chance this would become a stepping stone toward creating a higher echelon. At minimum, they could probably aim as high as a battalion.

“I will report the unit’s current status as soon as you arrive at the Company garrison. You must be very tired, so how about receiving the proper handover tomorrow?”

“Let’s do that. I’ll finish my report first.”

Two soldiers had been waiting at parade rest for a while now. They had not said anything yet, but their business was obvious.

Gyeoul brought the reunion to an end by lightly hugging the reluctant ones one more time. There would be a better moment later. Up to now, it had also been a performance for the reporters, so Colonel Rogers would understand, but dragging it out too long would not be good either.

“The base has grown a lot. How large is the stationed force?”

The soldiers acting as his guides looked troubled by Gyeoul’s question. One of them had seemed like a block of wood from the start, too.

“We don’t know exactly either. It has only been three days since the 240th Division was reestablished here, and we heard there are many unorganized troops as well. According to the officers, troops are still joining in real time, so they don’t know how long it will keep growing.”

Since they called it reestablished, it seemed they had revived one of the divisions that had evaporated when the front collapsed. How many of the people who had originally made up that division remained was another question. Either way, inheriting the unit number had meaning in itself.

“Then, by any chance, has Colonel Rogers been promoted too?”

“Colonel Rogers...? I think you mean the division commander. I suppose he was still a Colonel before Major Han was deployed for the operation. Yes, he is a Major General now.”

The other soldier added,

“We joined recently, so we thought he had been a Major General from the beginning.”

A conversation followed between the soldiers.

“What? Looking at it that way, the division commander’s promotion speed is no joke. It must be a temporary rank, right?”

“Even if it is temporary, it’s incredible. I heard plenty about the shortage of senior commanders, but I never imagined it was this bad...”

Gyeoul understood it, though. The U.S. military had swelled past ten million in a short time. And that was only counting the Army. Junior officers could be trained somehow. But things were different for the senior officers who had to stand above them. Even after pulling retired officers back in, they must have been nowhere near enough.

Even taking that into account, Colonel Rogers’ promotion was definitely unusual. Thinking a little more, there was a good chance that even before he had been assigned here, he had already been a general-grade field officer confirmed for promotion to Brigadier General. His rank might have been Colonel, but as a kind of adjustment period, he had effectively been treated as a Brigadier General.

The division headquarters was the same building they had once used as a base, but it had expanded a great deal around it. The soldiers stopped walking and turned around.

“Please go in this way.”

“Thank you for guiding me.”

“Um, Major! If it’s all right, could I ask for an autograph?”

The nervous enlisted soldier looked quite young despite holding the rank of Sergeant. This was a world where ordinary soldiers had to be promoted as quickly as officers. They had to fill the empty places left by the people who died.

Above all, even before the plague, America had already been a country with many teenage enlisted soldiers. It was common for people to enlist right after graduating high school, or even to drop out and join with parental consent. At recruitment offices everywhere, it was easy to see banners like, Teenagers, the U.S. Army Wants You.

In other words, even before, it had been perfectly possible to become a Sergeant as a teenager if you had the ability. To begin with, it was a country that had fought so many wars. Manpower shortages were never an unfamiliar problem for the U.S. military.

‘If that weren’t the case, they wouldn’t have used convicts as soldiers either.’

Prison or the army? There had been a time when convicts with light sentences were actually asked that question. Supposedly, even police officers had been recruited that way. Something about people who had committed crimes understanding the minds of criminals best.

“Your name?”

Gyeoul took the notebook and asked for the soldier’s full name.

“Timothy Lynch, sir!”

Even standing stiffly, the enlisted soldier could not hide his smile. His freckled face flushed red.

The form of Gyeoul’s signature actually reflected instructions from the Department of Defense public affairs office. They had requested that he include his surname, Han, in Chinese characters. Clearly enough that anyone could tell it was Chinese characters. Since it would be an image often exposed to the public, they wanted a form that reminded people he was from East Asia. Gyeoul did not find that ridiculous. He could feel their sense of crisis, the fear that the country would be finished if it split apart.

None of that had anything to do with Sergeant Lynch’s joy at receiving the signature.

“Thank you! I’ve always respected you very much, Major!”

“Thank you. Though I wonder if I deserve respect.”

“If Major Han doesn’t deserve it, then who does?”

“Hmm. What about the President?”

“...”

Sergeant Lynch made an unnecessarily troubled expression. Gyeoul had heard that even the factions criticizing the current administration over refugees, minorities, and international material support could not deny President MacMillan’s achievements.

Gyeoul said farewell to the two enlisted soldiers.

“I’ll go in now. Good work, both of you.”

“Yes sir!”

Inside the door, the scene looked less like a military unit and more like a company in the middle of a busy workday. Desks were packed with documents, communications equipment, and operations maps, while officers and administrative soldiers hurried between them. It seemed they had knocked down the walls between guest rooms to widen the space. The division commander’s office was not set off separately. Gyeoul could see Major General Rogers sitting at the far end. He was working while wearing personal combat gear and carrying weapons. It was a field command post in the literal sense.

Gyeoul passing through, however briefly, caused work to freeze for a moment. Regardless of rank or gender, everyone looked at him at least once.

Major General Rogers was on a call with someone. Gyeoul stood in front of him and waited for about five minutes. A short while later, Rogers ended the communication, set down the satellite phone, and gave him an emotionless look.

“You’re here.”

“Major Han Gyeoul, returning after completing my mission.”

“...”

After silently staring at him, the Major General said,

“There is no need to report separately on the operation. We had a real-time grasp on most of it. You were deployed relatively late, but your results were the best. Excellent work.”

“Thank you.”

“Separate from that, there is one thing I’m curious about.”

The general asked with a mechanical sort of puzzlement in his voice.

“Why did you drag useless things all the way here?”

Gyeoul had already expected this. To make certain, he asked back.

“Are you referring to the death row inmates?”

“Yes. Though I should add one dog to that.”

The dog was a little unexpected. Gyeoul looked at the general. Major General Rogers was sitting so straight that the back of the chair looked awkward behind him.

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

#Q&A

Q. Pare: Since there was no related news, I wondered if they had not done it, but they did carry out nuclear retaliation.

A. They did. It happened earlier than scheduled, and it was very different from the plan, though.

Q. Gwangak: USCGC Eagle? How on earth do you find materials like this? It is honestly amazing.

A. The English web has a lot of materials that the Korean web does not. It is just a question of how much time you invest.

Footnotes:

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