WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 272: The Season When Roses Wither

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The tyrant was waiting for Ga-eul in a garden lush with pale green. Made at his direction, the place was filled with the heady scent of roses, and until now, only one person had ever been allowed to walk through it.

Green roses had not originally existed in this world. Ga-eul, too, was the sort who had never existed in the Chairman's world.

"Ah..."

A familiar voice, a gasp filled with surprise. Hearing it, Go Geon-cheol let out a deep sigh and slowly turned around. The snake-like man bowed to his master. Bruises remained on the special secretary's face. Behind him stood a beautiful season, her gaze stolen by the unreal scenery. Against the green backdrop, Han Ga-eul's red clothing made her presence strikingly vivid. Though it was an outfit he had given her himself, or forced on her, Go Geon-cheol did not much care for that intensity. It felt out of place. Softness suited that woman.

'I tried to reject it because it did not feel like mine...'

The clothes Ga-eul cherished were Gyeoul's gift, and they were green. So the tyrant had suspected that his preference for green might be a trace of Gyeoul engraved into this body. Just like the uneconomical emotion he felt toward Ga-eul. But now even that suspicion had withered. More accurately, he did not have the energy to suspect anything.

Perhaps it was simply a color that suited Han Ga-eul. Not by some subjective feeling, but by objective standards. He decided to think of it that way. He was too tired to agonize over it any longer. It was irrational, too.

The special secretary sensed the Chairman's displeasure and bowed once more. Then he backed away as if retreating from a king. Left behind in the silent space, Ga-eul approached the tyrant with quiet steps. Somehow, the fragrance seemed to grow stronger. The distance disappeared, but the silence remained. Go Geon-cheol felt as if his tongue had been swallowed down. Anger rose inside him. Not toward Ga-eul, but toward the subordinate who had done something useless. Yet an employee's responsibility was the employer's responsibility. That was Go Geon-cheol's principle.

Thankfully, Ga-eul opened the conversation.

"It has been a long time, Chairman. And this is unexpected. I thought you would never call me again."

Her full hair spilled forward over her shoulders with the polite greeting.

Go Geon-cheol, who had been briefly entranced, agreed before it was too late.

"I did. I intended to treat the effort I had spent on you as a sunk cost."

In simpler terms, he had meant to give up on the deal. That was why this meeting had come after so long.

"It seems you changed your mind."

"It would be more accurate to say my mind never changed from the start. It would also be correct to say I could not change it."

"...Is that so?"

Ga-eul seemed a little flustered by the Chairman's honesty. But the Chairman always pursued economic efficiency. She was not someone worth hiding things from.

"First, I should apologize. My secretary seems to have caused you trouble."

"It is all right."

"Do you not resent me?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I thought it would not have been your instruction, Chairman."

"Why?"

"Because you would dislike that kind of transaction."

That was exactly Go Geon-cheol's way of thinking.

'I do not make deals that way.'

The tyrant felt satisfaction and displeasure at the same time.

'Vulgar thing.'

Once again, his anger was directed at his close aide. It was also anger at himself.

While the Chairman had deliberately withdrawn his attention, Special Secretary Kang Young-il had driven Ga-eul into financial hardship. The thinking had been that, if cornered, she would have no choice but to accept the deal.

But that was only a loyal excuse. This capable sadist had simply wanted to trample something beautiful for the sake of his own cruel tastes. That was why he stayed under Go Geon-cheol's shadow.

The cunning tool, useful precisely because of that cunning, had said this to the tyrant.

"I am sorry. But I still do not understand your standards, Chairman."

After growing fully enraged, Go Geon-cheol answered.

"Paying a fair price does not make it a fair transaction! The process of paying that price must be fair as well! If that were not the case, I would have held a knife to her throat and raped her instead! Because I have the ability to suppress any resistance and any punishment! Why do you think I pay taxes?"

Pay every tax that must be paid, and seek out and pay every tax that can be paid. That was Hyeseong Group's accounting guideline. It was the most legitimate route for paying compensation to the nation.

This was the same principle. The tyrant despised humans, but he respected them as products and as parties to a transaction. Even the most foolish, worthless human had the right to sell themselves off and destroy themselves.

Therefore, there was no blackmail. Of course, that was by the tyrant's standards. Demanding that Ga-eul make a choice in exchange for saving children in the same situation as Gyeoul and treating children with incurable diseases had been blackmail from Ga-eul's position, but to Go Geon-cheol, it had been a normal transaction. In any case, no one was being harmed, and he was merely paying money. Were those little things not destined to die anyway?

"My thinking was shallow. Please forgive me. I will make sure this never happens again."

The special secretary begged the Chairman for forgiveness. Since this was a man whose cunning was his usefulness, the tyrant withdrew his anger there. Pretending not to know was repulsive, but where in this world was there any human worth trusting? If a blade was stained with blood, the fault lay with the person holding the hilt. Negligent management was no different.

In this age, where people were indifferent to other people, it was truly a pleasant world for beasts that ate people.

The flatterer must have been drunk on his own performance. Satisfaction at pretending to be foolish and allowing the one he served to feel superior. It was not yet time to throw that away.

Ga-eul's words brought the Chairman back.

"You have lost a lot of weight."

Then came her concerns as she stared at him.

"Are you eating properly? Are you sleeping well?"

Tak! The old boy struck his cane against the ground in displeasure.

"Cough... ahem. Which side are you worried about?"

"Would you believe me if I said I was worried about you, Chairman?"

"Ridiculous."

Go Geon-cheol took the lead.

"Let us walk a little. I told them to prepare a meal."

Tak, tak. The titanium shaft struck the stone floor with an irritable sound. His body, weakened by insomnia and an eating disorder, could barely walk without a cane.

His attending physician had diagnosed the eating disorder as being caused by stress. An obsession with confirming control over himself. An impulse to gain confidence that he could control himself by starving, by suppressing the most primal survival urge. The Chairman had accepted that explanation easily. The attending physician, who had been trembling in fear of being beaten like before, acted stunned when the tyrant did not grow angry.

'Something like that is nothing. I can just make a clone body for this body.'

He had no aversion to clone implantation. It only could not be his old body, the Go Geon-cheol of the past.

He would simply have to endure his current state until the spare body was complete. He did not want to preserve his brain through Afterlife Insurance.

A faint aversion was added to that. When that time came, what would Ga-eul say to him? What kind of expression would she make? The body that had originally belonged to her younger brother would be discarded.

Without turning his head, Go Geon-cheol said, "I will compensate you."

"Pardon?"

"I said I will pay compensation for the unfair treatment you suffered. I will give you one hundred times the difference between the wages you should have received and the amount you actually received. It should be enough to forget what happened."

"...Is that not too much?"

Go Geon-cheol stopped walking and turned around at the question.

"You will need it, will you not?"

"That has nothing to do with my circumstances."

"Are you saying you will not accept a price that is not upright by your standards?"

"This may offend you, but there must be another reason you are giving me such a large sum. I cannot pretend not to know when I do."

"Really? It should be enough to pay off the entirety of your child-raising loan. Then you will still have some room left after taking care of your younger brother, who is still alive. Enough that it would be fine to send money to that Han Gyeoul. If you can help him, you will have the face to go see him."

Ga-eul looked at the Chairman with a pained expression. Yet still, there was no hatred in it. She had hated him once, but not now. What she had said before had been the truth exactly as it was. The sight troubled the Chairman. The deal had already been one he could not give up on.

'I will remain as myself. For my dead younger brother, I want to protect the self he remembers...'

He felt as though he faintly understood. Go Geon-cheol suddenly wondered. Did that fool Han Gyeoul feel the same way?

"I know what you are worried about, but this is a matter unrelated to the deal between you and me. If you cannot believe it, then accept it for my sake. Whether you understand or not, I must pay the price I owe."

The Chairman repeated it to himself. Do not dare saddle me with a debt. Especially over something this trivial.

"...I understand. I will accept it gratefully."

With this, the deal became even more difficult. Go Geon-cheol had no intention of giving up his exclusive right to use his current body in physical reality, while Ga-eul, whose position would not change, had gained financial breathing room.

But it was only natural. The tyrant did not regret it in the slightest. Ga-eul's workplace was a Hyeseong affiliate, so the tyrant was her employer. Was this not truly, truly an obligation unrelated to the deal?

In fact, few people were not in that position. Now that he had even acquired Paradise Group, more than half of this nation's economy was the tyrant's territory, and he also exercised indirect control over the smaller remainder.

Therefore, his invitation was an extension of work for Ga-eul. At least on the surface.

As they continued walking, different fragrances overlapped. Servers appeared at the exact time and prepared the table. Silverware gleamed on the pure white table. Even by the standards of the past, when every human meal had been physical, it was an extraordinarily luxurious dinner.

"Sit."

A shadow fell over Ga-eul's face as she was waited on.

"This is my first time having a meal like this."

That shadow was the commodity value the Chairman had expected. By human standards, it was bizarre. In terms of commodity value, it was rare.

"Eat."

The tyrant did not wait for her. He stirred the bœuf tartare with chopsticks. The mound of raw beef loosened, and the broken yolk mixed in. There was a light scent of pepper and butter. He placed the scattered raw meat on crisp bread and took a large bite. Crunch, crunch. A bright saltiness of vinegar and salt was followed by the savory, crisp texture of meat. It was close to the soft inner taste of a very tender steak. Each chew was rich with meat juice. After swallowing, the tyrant waited for the reaction that should have come.

There was no nausea.

"Hmph."

Should a stronger urge to vomit than usual not have surged up instead? Mocking himself, Go Geon-cheol resumed eating at a slower pace.

"If you do not eat, it will be trash."

He tossed the words out without even looking at her. Hearing them, Ga-eul sighed faintly. The hands she had kept on her lap finally rose onto the table.

Her diet was poor even in Virtual Reality. She ate in reality and starved in Virtual Reality. Her meals in reality were always Energy Packs. Her purchase history did not even include the common ramen.

In this age, saying someone lived only on ramen did not mean they ate meals in physical reality. It meant they filled the calories their body required with Energy Packs and ate ramen in Virtual Reality. That was the minimum culinary pleasure enjoyed by Koreans of this era.

Every virtual meal was cheaper than a meal in physical reality, but that did not mean it was simply cheap. As the price of physical meals, which had become a symbol of wealth, soared, virtual food prices had climbed along with them. Cheapness only had to be relative. The food service industry collected royalties from food that was nothing more than electrical signals. It was intellectual property for reproduced taste.

This was the same even after death. Grade F paupers still had to pay royalties. Even after dying, they had no choice but to make their own food. All to soothe a hunger that was likewise nothing more than an illusion.

To tell the truth, modern Koreans' food expenses relative to income had not fallen at all compared to the past. The government treated the world's lowest level of obesity as proof of successful welfare.

That made Ga-eul's passive eating all the more striking. The possibility that her sorrow was false was vanishingly low. One of the forces that had raised the Chairman to his current position had been his eye for desire.

When the appetizer was cleared away, Ga-eul asked, "Did you call me today only for a meal?"

"For now."

"What is the other reason?"

"I will tell you after we finish eating."

Because it would make eating uncomfortable.

Yet in the end, a great deal of food remained. The tyrant, for whom an easy meal had been rare for a long time, could not eat much, and Ga-eul had shown no appetite from the start. Having wiped her lips early with a napkin, she silently waited until Chairman Go Geon-cheol's meal ended.

"Will you tell me now?"

The Chairman put down his silverware and looked at Ga-eul. Even now, every time he saw her, his vision was sharply pulled in.

"I will make you a proposal separate from the deal, but related to it."

"What kind of..."

"Work by my side starting today."

Weakened, drowsy from his first real meal in some time, and trying to steady the breath made short by his irregular heartbeat, the Chairman spoke like a feverish patient.

"In my view, you still do not know the world people live in. You will want to say that is not true, but you have never seen it from the same height as I do. So I will show you myself. I will show you that morality and norms are, in truth, nothing more than tools for pursuing profit. That the public good is only public benefit, and society is nothing more than a system that creates that benefit. And sin is the profit of the minority that steals the profit of the majority. That is why the idiots who commit sins never disappear."

"What are you..."

"Do you know what profit is?"

"..."

"Profit is everything that satisfies desire. Money, pleasure, and all the other elements that satisfy desire."

To Ga-eul, who was staring quietly, Go Geon-cheol showed a twisted smile.

"Therefore, everything about people always becomes meaningless before greater profit. The world calls that progress. The process of updating norms and systems to match greater profit."

Now Ga-eul understood the Chairman's meaning.

"You think my mind will change if I see the same world as you, Chairman."

"Yes. What makes you hesitate is precisely those worthless norms, is it not?"

A physical relationship without love. And the taboo against incest. Ga-eul shook her head.

"My mind will not change."

"Are you making a prophecy without even experiencing it?"

"It means that whatever the world is like, and however other people live, it has nothing to do with me. It has been that way until now, and it will probably stay that way."

Rather than avoiding what was not upright, she was avoiding what would make Gyeoul despair. The two had something in common, but they could not be called the same.

"So you are saying you will refuse?"

Facing Go Geon-cheol, who openly showed his displeasure, Ga-eul shook her head once more.

"I will accept the proposal."

"Why?"

"Because you look like you need a caregiver right now, Chairman."

So in the end, it was this body. The tyrant snorted.

========== Author’s Note ==========

#Difference

Many people offered words of encouragement about the previous Author’s Note. First, thank you.

But beyond encouragement, I also saw many comments criticizing the people who had presented those opinions.

This is my fault. It is not as if I have no experience. I should have expected it... I was careless.

I apologize to those who must have been hurt by this.

After all, they only left their impressions and ended up being criticized for it.

As I have said several times before, opinions can differ from person to person. It is not right for a minority opinion to be met with criticism from the majority.

#The Reader’s Domain

Just as writers have a writer’s domain, readers have a reader’s domain.

Presenting impressions and opinions is a reader’s natural right.

That said, when the writer has confirmed the writer’s position on an issue through several answers, repeating the same opinion on that issue can easily look like coercion.

And please do not think your opinion is the correct answer.

For example, there was someone who commented on Chapter 1, "The reality parts are unnecessary, so I recommend skipping them." Whether they are necessary or unnecessary should simply be left for the reader to judge. If you simply leave the impression, "This is how I felt," people can take that into consideration well enough.

Opinions like, "I felt this way, so fix it and write it like this from now on," are also difficult. Suggestions like, "Most readers seem to feel this way, so how about fixing it and writing it this way?" are fine.

Lastly, an opinion filled with ill will is no longer an opinion. Because what you are trying to express is emotion rather than an opinion.

#Q&A - I will choose only three today. :)

Q. Nemon Corner: @(omitted) Author, do you think the world needs guidance from such a good superhuman in order to change in the right direction, or do you think it needs many people who affirm change, like the verbal habit of the protagonist from your previous work? Of course both are necessary, but I am curious which side you think is more important.

A. I think the latter is more important. Because the human world is other people, and affirming change means that other people affirm someone who is trying to bring about change.

Q. Nyar: @This is honestly an unnecessary comment, but I think the reality parts are extremely necessary in terms of this novel's many contexts and the development of foreshadowing toward the ending... and honestly, I wonder whether the reality parts were reduced because of absurd comments instead... (omitted)

A. It is true that I reduced the reality parts, especially the comments. The original plan was for them to appear more often, inserted here and there. In fact, that was how it was at the beginning. But I accepted opinions that they interfered with immersion and changed the format so they would be gathered all at once after an episode ended.

In other words, I did not ignore the opinions that became the issue. I accepted them within the limits that I could accept. It was only difficult because the same opinions kept coming in afterward.

But this time, I am seeing opinions saying it is sad that an entire chapter is chat.

I cannot accept any more than this, so it is difficult.

Q. TradeWagon: @I just suddenly got curious, but what happened to the astronauts who would be on the space station? They would need to rotate shifts and receive supplies.

A. I do not know whether they will be mentioned later, but in the author’s plan, they are still alive. That is because Vandenberg Base, where rocket launch facilities are located, still remains in U.S. military hands, and Houston is fine too.

The reality is that America does not have any space launch vehicles immediately usable right now and is relying on Russia, but the story changes when you get into military matters. Even apart from ballistic missiles, they have many spare launch vehicles stockpiled for satellite launches in preparation for nuclear war. If they decide to do it, supplying the space station is not difficult.

Footnotes:

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