WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 242: Suspended Sentence (14)

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Was there another reason? Judging by the order to skip the report and the partitionless command headquarters, Rogers did not seem like a rigid stickler for procedure. Gyeoul thought it over and chose his words.

“I was told that unlike other animals, dogs and cats are designated as evacuation-eligible companions even during a Noncombatant Evacuation Operation, NEO. As members of the family, they are not to be abandoned.”

“People always come first. And?”

“I think that means dogs and cats are universal pets, ones many people can empathize with. That shared feeling will help the soldiers here as well. Interaction with animals is also used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, isn’t it?”

“Was that truly your judgment as a commander?”

The Major General, fingers interlaced, gestured with his chin.

“I’m talking about your previous mission, Major. When you took in that dog, the operation was still ongoing. Regardless of whether the mission succeeded or failed, secrecy was required for the safety of your subordinates. Did you not take an unnecessary risk out of misplaced pity?”

“It was a controllable risk.”

“Why did you take it in?”

“One of the team members was showing signs of psychological instability.”

“Was it urgent?”

“No. But if we had abandoned or killed the dog, there was a strong chance a problem would have arisen then. It was a dog we had already abandoned once, and it had followed our scent back to us.”

As expected, the dog itself had not been the issue. It had taken less than a year for Gyeoul, who had started as a volunteer soldier, to make Major, so his combat ability aside, his qualifications as a commander were bound to be questioned. They could say he had put his young sensibilities ahead of his responsibility as a commander.

The General gave a slight nod.

“I understand.”

“Thank you.”

“Then now it’s the turn of the humans worth less than dogs. Did you spare them for the same reason?”

“If you’re asking whether I didn’t kill them because it might become a psychological burden on my team members, then yes and no.”

“No?”

“I couldn’t simply kill them just because they were death-row inmates.”

“Why not?”

“A death-row inmate is someone who has been sentenced to death. Execution doesn’t mean you can simply kill them by any method, does it? Whether for the person dying or the person killing them, I judged that an execution carried out at a field commander’s discretion would be wrong. Forgive my presumption, but I understand that both the division commander and I have a duty to refuse inhumane orders.”

The duty he mentioned at the end was one that had come into being after Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

They were going to die anyway. That logic was exactly what Team Leader Chadwick had been spewing.

Major General Rogers, who had seemed like a talking machine, fell silent. The conversation had been dry and brisk, and it had been hard on Gyeoul too, even though he had fully expected these questions before coming here. This was probably the General’s own way of forcing honesty.

“You speak well.”

“I prepared.”

“I imagine you did.”

For the first time, Major General Rogers showed emotion.

“I hate that order too. But right now, I hate wasting manpower and resources managing criminal trash even more. We already have plenty of soldiers who need managing as it is.”

“I understand.”

“They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

“……”

“Good intentions you cannot bear alone are evil. Even more so for a commander. The lives of your subordinates hang on every decision. In war, no matter how good the process was, it means nothing if the result is bad.”

“You learn that when you write letters to the parents of dead unit members,” Rogers said.

Gyeoul agreed. People had limits. The reason he had said otherwise to the Alliance people was because their relationship had been one where they leaned on Gyeoul one-sidedly. If you want something from me, accept me as I am. Only come to me if you are confident you can do that. I will protect my own heart. I will not hold on to people who leave.

“If the manpower assigned to managing prisoners is put into the operation, the chance that even one more person survives increases.”

The General adjusted his posture.

“So I cannot leave them alive. If you have any objections, I would like you to say them now.”

“Haven’t you already made your decision?”

“You are an important asset of the U.S. Army. If this will make you lose your will to fight, it would be better to avoid it.”

Somehow, the wording made it sound as if he did not treat Gyeoul as a person, but from the start, it had also felt as though he treated each and every one of his subordinates’ lives with absolute objectivity. It was hard to call that good or bad.

Even if he avoided it, Gyeoul’s credibility in the General’s eyes would probably be a separate matter.

“I will follow whatever decision you make. But before that, I would like you to look at this.”

Gyeoul took a few steps forward, placed the children’s letter on the desk, and stepped back. A crumpled piece of pink paper lay on top of the tactical map. The Major General looked at it with narrowed eyes, then carefully unfolded the letter.

After reading it all, the Major General sighed and asked.

“What is this?”

“It’s exactly what you saw. I suppose I should call it a petition from the children. When I went to confirm whether civilians were still alive, a prisoner named Manuel Hayes was protecting the children.”

“……”

“I heard his story from him... He said he was hungry, and that he killed someone over a hamburger. Of course, even if that is true, there’s no room for sympathy. He also killed the wife and children, trying to eliminate every witness. But if it hadn’t been for this man, the children at the civilian stronghold I visited would already have been infected or eaten by variants.”

Major General Rogers read the letter one more time. Then he folded it neatly and put it away.

“I will review this matter further.”

He had told Marie, the girl he had pinky promised with, that he would do his best, but there was nothing more Gyeoul could do here. With someone like Rogers, it would backfire.

“You have done a lot of hard work. I will give you two days of rest.”

Those were the words the Major General used to wrap up the conversation.

“A new operation is scheduled soon. A full-scale offensive. As part of your rest, take control of your independent company within two days. They are soldiers you know, so I don’t expect it to be difficult. Any questions?”

“None.”

“Good. The company staff should have prepared what you need to take over and operate the unit.”

That was the end of it. Major General Rogers gestured for him to go. Gyeoul saluted and turned away.

By the time he went outside, dusk was falling. A Humvee was waiting for Gyeoul, with Jin-seok in the front passenger seat. Unlike when Gyeoul had seen him a little earlier, he was wearing a regular combat uniform instead of personal combat gear. He still carried a weapon, though. The mere fact that working hours and off-duty hours were distinct showed how stable this garrison was.

“I was waiting.”

“Please get in.” Jin-seok opened the rear door for him.

“This feels pretty new.”

At Gyeoul’s words, the driver laughed.

“Until Little Captain... no, until the Company Commander left, we didn’t have anything like vehicles we could operate ourselves. In a way, this is thanks to the Company Commander too.”

Everyone in the vehicle was from the Gyeoul Alliance. The soldier who ended up sitting next to Gyeoul froze like stone. Holding the rifle diagonally, the soldier stared forty-five degrees upward. It was hard to tell whether they were even breathing.

Casey Blackwell sat in the machine-gun position. She was the Korean adoptee whose forehead scar had left an impression on him. Now she seemed to be one of Jin-seok’s platoon members. Her face was expressionless, but it was not as dark as before.

“Jin-seok. Is the garrison far from here?”

Jin-seok frowned at Gyeoul’s question.

“Company Commander, you cannot call me that in front of the soldiers.”

“Mm, all right. Ensign Park Jin-seok. This feels pretty awkward too.”

“Ensign Lee Yura and I were the same. It was nothing major, but it was hard to get used to.”

Now that they had been commissioned as officers, the title of combat group leader in the Gyeoul Alliance no longer meant anything. It would not be needed anymore either. With an independent company made up entirely of Alliance members, other organizations would not pick pointless fights with them.

“The company garrison is close by. Even if the garrisons of each unit are separated from one another, they are still within range of crew-served weapons. We were taught that it comes from lessons learned during the Vietnam War. They said the bunkers on the blockade line were arranged the same way.”

Crew-served weapons meant heavy machine guns or high-speed grenade launchers. If each garrison kept the others within range of its crew-served weapons, they could provide fire support in an emergency, and it also made securing maneuver routes easier.

“But, Company Commander. I heard you brought death-row inmates with you.”

This again. Gyeoul nodded.

“Yes. They were at a civilian stronghold. I guess they fled when the front line collapsed.”

“Did you happen to discuss that matter with the division commander?”

“Mm, how did you know?”

“I thought Little Capt... I apologize. I thought the Company Commander would do that.”

Gyeoul gave an awkward smile. Jin-seok, on the other hand, stiffened. He had never been the smiling type to begin with, but now he looked even drier. The other soldiers seemed even more tense.

“To be honest, I’m worried.”

At Jin-seok’s words, Gyeoul tilted his head.

“Because I might fall out of favor?”

“Something similar. So many people are betting their lives on you, Com... Company Commander.”

So this part of him had not changed. Jin-seok had always wanted him to put the Alliance people first. To borrow Lieutenant General Xieru’s expression, he believed Gyeoul had to protect his own fence first. The world was too big, and one person could not take responsibility for it. It was a world beyond human limits... or something like that.

“Don’t worry too much. Major General Rogers didn’t look displeased.”

“I’m not saying this only because of this incident.”

At least Jin-seok’s attitude had become more polite than before.

“While Little Captain was gone, many dirty things happened at Fort Roberts. Especially when people heard that you had died, it was truly...”

Jin-seok trailed off. Gyeoul had guessed some of it.

“I couldn’t do anything.”

“……”

“It has to be you, Little Captain. Alliance or whatever else, without Little Captain, everything turns into a damn mess. Human trash wasn’t something that existed somewhere else.”

Gyeoul did not correct the title. These were words Jin-seok had been holding in for so long that he had not even noticed. Gyeoul felt like he understood why Jin-seok had looked so bad since their reunion. Looking at him now, he could sense a helplessness in him too.

“So this is my personal wish... I hope the Company Commander will be just a little more selfish.”

It was not a statement that needed a reply. Some feelings were satisfied just by being let out.

He would be able to hear much more during the reunion. No, he would have to hear it.

The independent company’s garrison could be identified even from a distance, thanks to the soldiers’ skin colors. There was still sunlight left. When the soldiers noticed the Humvee approaching, they stopped what they were doing and began gathering.

Only now, at last, did Gyeoul feel as if he had returned to the story he had been making.

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

#Q&A

Q. Calpis: @How long did it take Gyeoul to go from Private to Major?? One or two years?

A. As stated in the main story, it took less than a year.

Q. Age of the Phoenix: I’m having trouble following the flow... Did Yura and the others come find him, or did Han Gyeoul return to his original garrison??

A. No. Earlier, the President said he would send an independent company made up of Gyeoul Alliance members to FOB Olema and asked for Gyeoul’s opinion.

Q. PleasePickUpSoap: Author, are you a full-time writer???

A. I am. I make a living through novels.

Q. Ronaf: What would be the survival rate of the troops deployed in Manifest Liberation? I guess it will be sorted out after this chapter ends, but I’m curious. After Manifest Liberation ends, they’ll probably have to be deployed overseas, so I’m looking forward to seeing what development follows.

A. Survival rate... Since the number of troops deployed from the start was so large, it’s not that low in percentage terms.

Q. rumen: Bahadur... Is he Ethiopian?

A. No. The surname Singh is from somewhere else.

Q. GhostChar: @I understand the point of emphasizing the East Asian cultural sphere when signing, but did it have to be written in Chinese characters? The protagonist is Korean-American by setting, and given the recent nuclear incident, I think views toward China wouldn’t be good... I feel like Hangul wouldn’t fall behind Chinese characters when emphasizing the East Asian cultural sphere.

A. It’sTimeToBurrow: Korean is used only in Korea, but Chinese characters are officially used in China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, while North Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore are also recognized as part of the Chinese character cultural sphere. Considering that the reason to emphasize him as East Asian in the first place is the U.S. authorities’ policy of trying to calm rumors about the nuclear incident or the plague’s Chinese origin theory, choosing the more broadly inclusive option seems natural.

It’sTimeToBurrow’s opinion is correct. To add a little more, please think from the perspective of Americans. Most of them don’t even know where the East Asian countries are located. Hangul is just as unfamiliar to them.

Footnotes:

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