WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 255: Valley of Death (1)

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Gyeoul sat lost in thought, tapping his lips. The rocking of the Humvee barely registered. He was back in the world of the apocalypse now, yet the conversation he had shared with the child still lingered.

Someday, I hope you swim out of the water.

That was what he had told the starlight child. He hoped it would get what it wanted and break free of its limits. The designers of Afterlife Insurance had entrusted it with an impossible dream. Making every person happy... The child's reason for existing was nothing more than a restraint forced on it by others.

Who had said it? That humans were beings thrown into the world. Gyeoul searched through distant memories of Ethics and Thought classes, but in the end, he could not remember the source. Whoever had said it was not the important part. What mattered was that the child, too, had been thrown. Into the middle of an absurdity for which it bore no responsibility.

The inertia of deceleration brought Gyeoul back to himself.

"We have arrived, Company Commander."

Rattle. As the company driver set the parking brake, Gyeoul let out a soft sigh. It carried an emotion he could not quite name. The driver took it another way and looked worried.

"Are you tired?"

"No, no. I just had something on my mind."

Don't worry about it. Gyeoul gave him a small smile, but it was not enough for the concerned soldier. The driver said nothing more, but the worry remained in his eyes. Gyeoul patted the soldier's shoulder a few times, then opened the Humvee door. Hot air rushed in at once.

It was still only May. But the sea was close, the humidity was high, and the landscape shone white. Soldiers with their sleeves rolled up sought out shade whenever they had a spare moment. How bad would the height of summer be?

Even for Gyeoul, who had strengthened 「Environmental Adaptation」 as a reward after San Francisco, it would be hard to bear. The audience from other worlds could fine-tune their synchronization settings in detail, but Gyeoul did not want to do that. Pain was the most realistic sensation of all.

Gyeoul entered the division's stable. Xcel recognized his master and greeted him with happy movements. When Gyeoul came closer and stroked his forehead, Xcel gently closed his eyes. As Gyeoul scratched his neck and looked him over, he saw that the horse had been cared for well enough that his coat and mane shone. The same went for the other horses curling their lips in his direction.

"How is it? I looked after them with the utmost car... cough. With the utmost care."

"Hayes."

The man who hesitated timidly in front of Gyeoul, tongue tripping over itself, was Manuel Hayes. He was one of the death-row inmates brought from the civilian stronghold near the Russian River, and the half-and-half man from the letter written by the little lady who had promised to meet again after a hundred nights and her friends.

"Have the others not arrived yet?"

"Yees. Aside from the reporter folks, Major is the firsht... first. You came early."

When they were mentioned, a familiar face among the filming team in the corner of the stable waved happily. Leaning against the wall outside the camera's frame was Gilbert Martineau. He had a healthy complexion, neatly swept-back hair, and casual but tidy clothes. There was no trace left of the living corpse he had once resembled.

After a light nod, Gyeoul continued his conversation with the death-row inmate he had not seen in some time.

"It has been a while. I am glad you are alive. Though I doubt you have been well."

His eyes flicked toward the shackles on Hayes's ankles. The chain bound both ankles and, as if that were not enough, stretched out long and was nailed to the stable floor. Hayes gave a laugh that was not quite a laugh.

"I am satisfied just not being dead."

The prisoner's body trembled slightly. Only a few days had passed since the other prisoners had been executed. The method had been firing squad. To minimize the psychological shock, Major General Rogers had announced the prisoners' crimes and recruited volunteers from across the entire division. Each volunteer had been selected after counseling with their direct superior.

David Task Force had produced a volunteer as well. It was Jin-seok, the second platoon leader. Naturally, the counseling had fallen to Gyeoul. During that counseling, Jin-seok said his motive was neither a sense of justice nor public outrage.

"Um..."

Manuel watched Gyeoul's face, then spoke.

"The fact that I am alive is thanks to you, Major. Really, sincerely, thank you!"

Gyeoul shook his head.

"Wrong, Hayes. I am not what saved you. Your good deed did."

"But... still, I heard Major spoke to the Division Commander... that... separately..."

"If you had not saved those children, I would never have defended you. So."

Gyeoul held the prisoner's arm and continued.

"Live kindly from now on. I want you to believe that if you do good things, someday you will be repaid. Of course, more often than not, that will not happen. But you came back from the brink of death, didn't you? If you think of the value of your life, then no matter what losses you take from now on, you still come out ahead, don't you?"

"So think of this as having been paid in advance." Only then did Gyeoul loosen his grip. The prisoner's throat tightened with emotion from somewhere deep inside him. He nodded fervently and shed heavy tears, one after another.

After crying for a long while, the prisoner brought out the tack for Gyeoul and the officers who would soon arrive, bowed again, and left. He had many horses to look after. It was work too wasteful to assign soldiers to. Without it, Major General Rogers might have reached a different judgment.

A presence approached from behind Gyeoul. The camera filmed him putting tack on Xcel. Once he finished quickly, Gyeoul gestured to Martineau, asking him to turn off the camera for a moment.

"This is not live, is it?"

Martineau looked as though he wished it were.

"Unfortunately, censorship by the public affairs office is still in place. It is not strict, but it is troublesome, and as a journalist, I find it rather regrettable. Still, being able to cover you at all is more than enough, Major."

Then he introduced his unfamiliar colleagues.

"These friends were very eager to greet you, and since you are so diligent, the opportunity has presented itself. The cameraman is Leroy Kaa, and the microphone operator is Jay Klein. They are field staff newly dispatched from headquarters, and both are passionate fans of yours, Major."

Gyeoul held out his hand to the two of them. Leroy Kaa quickly rubbed his palm on his pants, while Jay Klein, who had plump cheeks and a beard, looked almost dazed when they shook hands. They reacted less like media workers meeting a war hero and more like teenage girls meeting a pop star.

Martineau said, "What you said just now was quite good. I think the viewers would like it too."

Gyeoul tilted his head. He had assumed that was only preliminary coordination before the real filming began. He had thought the reporters' work would begin around the time Major General Rogers arrived.

"You are not planning to broadcast that, are you?"

"Would you rather we did not? Because it was a private conversation, perhaps?"

"It is less that I dislike it and more that it seems dangerous. I do not think permission would be granted in the first place."

"Dangerous? Dangerous, dangerous... Ah. Are you worried the issue of prisoner treatment might become a controversy?"

"Yes. This is not the time for controversy over government policy to grow."

Less than half a year remained until the November presidential election. If the morality of the current administration came into question, it would likely become a vulnerability for refugee policy as well. The reporter realized what Gyeoul was worried about and laughed.

"I had not thought that far, but well... From where I stand, I think it will be fine."

"Why?"

"Because people will remember this less as an issue of prisoner treatment and more as a heartwarming story about Major Han Gyeoul. Because that is more enjoyable. How much the same incident can change depending on the angle from which it is viewed... Someone like you, Major, must already know that."

"..."

"Still, as someone who has grown old in this field, let me say this. Public attention has a maximum capacity it can handle at one time. As long as you, Major, are the greatest object of attention above all else, it will be difficult for people to spare much interest for the prisoner side. Even if they do, that interest can only be shallow."

The reporter who said this looked like both an adult plotting a scheme and a mischievous boy. He did not feel like the same person who had once sobbed in fear and isolation. Yet he was the same person.

"To begin with, in this country, which once made up five percent of the world's population while holding twenty-five percent of its prisoners, prisoners were never treated well. If we had caught the firing squad execution on camera, that might be another matter, but I find it hard to believe public sympathy will form just because a man was shackled and made to work as a groom... Even before the plague spread, were people not too busy trying to save themselves first?"

In the concrete jungle. Having finished speaking, the reporter looked over Gyeoul's shoulder.

"Oh, it is time. We will step aside."

The cameraman and microphone operator withdrew with Martineau, both looking deeply disappointed.

"You arrived early, Major."

Major General Rogers, the division staff, and the other officers and soldiers who had just entered saluted Gyeoul. Gyeoul returned the salute in proper form. The confined horses pricked up their ears and focused on the many signs of people.

As Gyeoul calmed Xcel, who was shaking his head, Major General Rogers asked, "How long have you been waiting?"

"About ten minutes."

"Hmm."

After staring at him for a moment, the Major General turned his gaze away. The soldiers accompanying him brought out the right number of horses from the riding hall. Except for Xcel, all of them were fine horses, either gold or a metallic brown with a golden sheen.

"I was a little surprised when I received the notice."

At Gyeoul's words, Major General Rogers narrowed one eye.

"I cannot ignore instructions from above. If they tell us to play the clown, then we play the clown. Everyone, mount up."

The officers who had tacked up their horses put their feet in the stirrups and climbed into the saddles. The number of officers was smaller than expected, probably because those who could not ride had been excluded.

Aside from the makeup of the group and the fact that they were mounted, the purpose was an ordinary patrol inside the base. The soldiers' response to seeing a cavalry unit whose lowest rank was Captain was quite favorable.

"I do not see what meaning this has."

The words came from the commander of a task force that, like Gyeoul's, would be assigned to a power plant. A little ahead of them, the Division Commander answered without even looking back.

"Are you questioning an order?"

"I would rather not, but honestly, I do not understand it. This is an important stage, is it not? I think even using this time to familiarize ourselves with the changed operation details would not be enough."

Nods passed among the officers. Perhaps because of the pressure that this operation absolutely could not fail, all kinds of changes kept being delivered right up to its start. The White House and Department of Defense were probably trying to make everything perfect, but for field commanders, it was a difficult situation.

'The failure of Operation Manifest Liberation really was that great a shock.'

Had Manifest Liberation not been considered an operation that could not possibly fail even if they wanted it to? Across the entire quarantine front, excluding rear service support units, they had sent in ten million combat personnel alone. Gyeoul felt it would not be strange if all of Washington DC was suffering from collective paranoia.

"The psychological effect on soldiers and civilians from maintaining and expanding the image of the cavalry."

After a short silence, Major General Rogers's dry voice suddenly flowed out.

"That is the reason. During this operation period, we cannot use cavalry scouts. It is too hot. But the higher-ups want to preserve the image of the cavalry as a tool for civil affairs and psychological warfare. So we need to build up as much of that image as possible before the operation begins. It seems they also expect a positive effect on the soldiers. I hear there is a task force of psychotherapists inside the Pentagon dedicated to this place."

"I guessed that much. But is this not a failure to weigh priorities?"

Major General Rogers looked back at the same officer as before. His eyes were like glass beads.

"Every war in history was decided not by who did better, but by who made fewer mistakes. It is ordinary for the upper ranks to fail to weigh the importance of their work or to issue faulty instructions."

"..."

"All of that inefficiency included is what makes it a system. If one part is efficient, another part is bound to be inefficient. A perfectly efficient system cannot exist. Unless a machine or a god takes over."

"Still..."

"In any case, I made the same recommendation as you, and it was not accepted, but I do not feel much regret. This is the best we have right now. I think this country, as it currently stands, is closer to a miracle."

Gyeoul agreed with that too. The current government and command structure were doing surprisingly well.

The Major General, who had seemed finished speaking, added as if the thought had just occurred to him.

"People have limits. We cannot become gods, can we?"

============================ Author's Note ============================

# @

Future developments, whether certain characters survive, whether certain topics will be used, and so on would all be spoilers, so even if you ask, I cannot answer.

I have said this several times...^^;

# Q&A

Q. Hinea: @Little Prince! Is it not the Little Prince! Hyah-ha! True heroine Control AI-chan.

A. The control personality is cute. I think it is the cutest character I have made.

Q. awkawr: @The virtual personality has gone from artificial intelligence to a brutal fact-checking thug.

A. The child had no malice. No malice.

Q. SummerMagnolia: @I think the awkwardness felt by Afterlife Insurance subscribers expresses the phenomenon of virtual personalities becoming closer to humans as the Control AI changes, but somehow the subscribers seem to dislike it... Is it because the personality generation is neither here nor there and incomplete, so it actually feels repulsive? Was the title Uncanny Valley written with this in mind too?

A. That is right. Uncanny valley originally refers to appearance, but I thought the same phenomenon could certainly occur with humanity as well.

Q. Baekwoosasin: @The uncanny valley is a phenomenon that grows stronger the closer something comes to being human. Does this show them properly learning more and more human behavior, but because of that, the people who dislike humans pull farther away? Here, take my coupon!!

A. I think it is fine to interpret it that way. Thank you for the coupon.

Q. PersonOfBlackLight: @Really, if they take just one more step, they might be called human.

A. As the two people who asked earlier said, I used the subtitle Uncanny Valley with that intention. :)

Q. BlueCrystal: @Author, I am enjoying the story. Buying Noblesse just to read Ossuary felt burdensome, so I moved to Naver. If you have a signing event or any other schedule, will you post an announcement on Joara? Could you also post it on Naver?

A. Considering that I do not look like Won Bin, I think the possibility of actually holding a signing event is low, but if I do, of course I will make an announcement. I am not sure about Naver. For announcements there, I have to contact Naver separately... If that is difficult, I will at least leave it in a comment.

Q. UnlimitedOne: @In a way, this hints at a very bitter situation. Other people reject the humanity learned from Gyeoul in the process of imitating it. If you think about what lower-grade subscribers' content interactions through Virtual Reality and virtual personalities were like... Well, reality was also a dystopia no less than Gyeoul's reality. Viewers often envy Gyeoul's reality.

A. It is bitter now, but it will become sweet later. This novel will end with a happy ending.

Q. Kimnyagi: @Hmm, honestly, the talk about TOM's writing skill feels forced, and I do think you are criticizing erotica fantasy to some extent. Among the current ranking novels, it is hard to find ones that are not sex from start to finish.

A. Since questions like this keep repeating, it is getting a little tiring.

As I once said in an Author's Note, this novel was influenced by Human Zoo. Just as a monkey trapped in a zoo performs abnormal forms of masturbation, the sight of people obsessed with sex hints at a social environment so poor that they need immediate, primal stress relief.

The novels you mentioned would fall into the same context. It is hard to call that itself a problem.

Q. Lizad: @XXXXX Somehow I feel like I cannot breathe... I understand. And the last sentence... The moment I read it, my throat went tight... My throat... I'm thirsty.

A. If you think about what it means that the control personality does not understand the process by which it reaches its own conclusions, I think you will feel less suffocated.

Q. PleasePickUpSoap: @Romance destroys the childlike innocence of single people, so the less of it there is, the more full of childlike innocence the writing becomes.

A. Then it will be solved if the readers stop being single. Of course, I am writing this novel to interfere with all of your romantic prospects.

Q. MasterKalsolum: @Found a typo on the middle page where "manager" appears as "manger." 15/35 Manger: kiss...

A. Confirmed. Thank you. I will fix it. :)

Q. TrickOrTreat: @Author, Author, are you not thinking of using the Joara cover art for the physical book volume 2 instead of volume 1?

A. I will do that by today.

The Author's Note has become too long, so I will omit some answers.

Footnotes:

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