WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 312: Greek Islands (12)
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After a brief moment of thought, the Major tilted her head but nodded.
“I think I can make the time, but what is this about?”
“It’s difficult to discuss here. For now, I’ll just say I need help.”
Gyeoul’s answer only left the Major looking more confused. What help could an Army Lieutenant Colonel possibly need from an Air Force Major he had only just met? Especially with something that required him to be wary of prying eyes.
They were exchanging contact information when Rosemond hurried them along.
“What are you two doing, not coming out? We’ll feel left out if you exclude us.”
Pelletier scolded him.
“This guy has no tact. Are you happy getting in the way like that?”
“Huh? Was I getting in the way?”
Captain Rosemond, playing along with the misunderstanding, awkwardly stopped spinning his knife. Gyeoul lightly denied it.
“It’s nothing like that. Did you already forget what we talked about earlier? You were the one who asked.”
“What I asked... Ah. That you had someone you were seriously thinking about.”
After fumbling for a moment, he accepted it. To be precise, Gyeoul was keeping a promise, but there was no reason to explain that much. As Gyeoul got up and loosened his body, Pelletier smiled.
“You said you aren’t even dating yet... You’re rigid in a very good way. Plenty of married bastards take off their rings before they go into a bar.”
“I’m sure there are plenty of people like me somewhere.”
“Isn’t that place usually called heaven?”
She said it herself, then giggled to herself. She was lightly tipsy.
A disgruntled voice came from the Rangers’ side.
“How long are you going to make us wait? Let’s start already. The losing side pays for all the drinks.”
Among those brimming with enthusiasm, one person looked especially unwilling. Their Company Commander. It was pointless competitiveness, but that was also the person who had run for several days in full gear because of Gyeoul. Even now, the Company Commander seemed to have been swept along by subordinates. It was like Marine commanders acting like tough guys even if they had to put on a show. Few people of a certain age would enjoy a nickname like 「Mad Dog」.
“No matter how I look at it, this is unfair.”
A Ranger officer who seemed to be around platoon leader rank offered the opinion, outwardly to a superior.
“Over there, all but one of them are noble lords. If we just go at it, we’ll win one-sidedly. It may be a bet, but wouldn’t winning too easily be boring?”
Wow. Someone turned this way and let out an interested sound at the provocation. From there, attention around them grew sharply. Pelletier jeered at the Rangers. Even if it was true, hearing it said like this was another matter. It would be better to simply lose.
As Major Strickland’s eyes narrowed, Lieutenant Sandover on their side asked, “Do you have a proposal?”
“Hmm, what would be good as a penalty for our side...”
“Instead of a penalty, how about the highest-ranking person on each side has their score doubled... no, tripled outright?”
“...Sir?”
When the Ranger officer looked back, their Company Commander nodded at once. Looking closely, the Company Commander almost seemed fed up. The position did not allow for showing pressure in front of subordinates.
‘I feel a little bad, but this isn’t bad either.’
From Gyeoul’s perspective, the more people who saw and experienced Lieutenant Colonel Han Gyeoul in small ways, the better. Someday, somewhere, they would be able to testify that Han Gyeoul was a real person. There was enough reason to be careful. Even the quarantine war Tactical Support Group, which had once tried to recruit him, had been a group of exaggerated war heroes propped up by staging.
So Gyeoul, going first, held nothing back with 「Throwing」. Even muddled a little by alcohol, the skill still belonged in the realm of genius. Three Bayonets, one person’s share, struck vertically in a row. Because of where the highest-scoring point was, the target, drawn as a monster but still human in shape, became strangely obscene.
Woo!
Joyful applause burst from the people around them. Watching money naturally change hands among them, Gyeoul took out his wallet and held it up.
“Over there. I’ll bet too. One hundred dollars on the Rangers’ victory.”
He placed five twenty-dollar bills on the table that had instantly become a gambling board. As the people in the same pot murmured, he gave the dumbfounded Rangers a deliberately troubled look.
“What should I do? Looks like I’m about to lose money.”
That one sentence set off fierce laughter from every direction. Damn, that was strong! they said. Yura, who had spotted Gyeoul late, watched with her eyes round. Major Strickland seemed to have moved past her earlier confusion and was quietly amused, and Captain Pelletier was much the same. Amusement colored Pelletier’s words.
“You’re surprisingly good at provoking people.”
“When I need to be. I should give back what I get.”
“As expected of someone who can make even mutants kill themselves.”
By now, few people did not know about that incident.
The match stayed close. The pilots’ skill was unexpectedly decent, and the Rangers were, quite literally, the real thing. In the quarantine war, killing with Bayonets was highly valued because it made little noise. Practical use was another level, but special forces would naturally have reinforced that kind of training.
Crack!
The Ranger Company Commander’s knife throw was full of raw strength. The blade punched through the target and made the wall vibrate too. Even if it had been a real mutant, it would have pierced bone. Every knife thrown tested the limits of visual tracking. Though not as precise as Gyeoul, the throws never left the scoring circles, and they felt so practical that they drew applause every time.
Because of that, the bet tilted more and more in the Rangers’ favor.
‘Good.’
If the target had been farther away, Gyeoul would have won, but this result was not bad for him either.
“Ha, we’re losing after all.”
Lieutenant Sandover sounded disappointed. Their turns were not over yet, but since they were still behind even after Gyeoul and the Company Commander’s final turns, the chance of a comeback was practically gone.
“I am ashamed, Lieutenant Colonel. You perfectly did the work of three people.”
“So what if we lose? If everyone had fun, that’s enough.”
“True, but you still won money.”
“I’m going to use what I made to help cover their drinks.”
The Lieutenant burst out laughing. With that conversation passing between them, the remaining players softened too. When Captain Rosemond’s turn came, he looked toward Major Strickland instead of throwing his knife.
“Would that be all right?”
The flight leader gave silent permission. After asking his superior’s consent, the Captain raised a hand.
“We lost.”
Ye-ah! Cheers rose from the Rangers’ side. The Company Commander’s armpits were soaked through. The smell of sweat mixed with deodorant reached them. Gyeoul held out his hand.
“That was fun, Major.”
The Ranger Company Commander roughly wiped a hand on the pants, straightened up, and accepted the handshake.
“Thank you for the drinks. If we meet again someday, we’ll buy then.”
“Is that so? I should remember your name.”
After withdrawing the handshake, the Ranger asked as if the thought had just occurred.
“My name... Do you happen to remember Lieutenant Colonel Emmert? His name is Ray Emert. If I remember right, you met him in Santa Maria.”
“From 2nd Battalion, Delta Company?”
“He should have been, at the time.”
“Of course I haven’t forgotten. It seems he’s become a Lieutenant Colonel already.”
In Gyeoul’s memory, Emmert remained furious. My men died trying to save petty thieves like these, he had said. The last news about him had been that he was tracking a Humpback. Gyeoul had thought they might meet near San Francisco, but in the end, they had not.
Perhaps Lieutenant Colonel Emmert, who had been a Captain then, and his subordinates were the ones who had uncovered the true nature of the Humpback, which the authorities were keeping secret but Gyeoul could roughly guess. With an achievement like that, it would not have been strange if he had received repeated special promotions. His promotion date would have been earlier than Gyeoul’s too.
Gyeoul asked back.
“But why bring him up?”
“It’s nothing much. I had a chance to meet him recently, and he spoke well of you, Lieutenant Colonel Han. He said he expected to meet you again soon, and that he was looking forward to it.”
Meet again? It probably did not mean their stations overlapped. There was no chance the Rangers would be assigned to Fort Roberts. It had been a training facility in the past, but its role had changed now. So there was only one certain reunion Gyeoul could think of. The triumphal ceremony.
“I’m looking forward to that too. Thank you for telling me.”
“Not at all. Have a good time.”
After receiving the farewell and sending the Ranger back to their table, Gyeoul collected his winnings, including the extra, and returned to his original seat. Everyone else was already seated, and Pelletier sounded regretful.
“Looks like the payout wasn’t very big.”
“Of course not. The opponent was the Rangers.”
The difference came to less than twenty dollars.
Gyeoul shifted position and tapped the table.
“Losing can’t be helped, so let’s turn over the rest of the cards. I still haven’t fully learned this game.”
Changing the mood was courtesy toward Major Strickland, from whom he would soon be asking a difficult favor. At least this gathering needed to look like he was simply enjoying it for what it was.
“Was your given name taken from your father’s favorite liquor?”
At Gyeoul’s question, asked while he lifted the queen of diamonds, Major Strickland put on a sullen look.
“It was.”
I thought so. On the day Gyeoul first met General Strickland, the General had shown himself drinking tea mixed with brandy.
Apparently, the squadron members had not known at all, because they burst into loud laughter.
“Is that true? You’re not joking?”
At Rosemond’s question, the Major, who normally would have kept her mouth shut, seemed to have grown talkative from just the right amount of drink and answered with a sigh.
“Yes. He said he thought it would be even nicer if he thought of his daughter every time he drank his favorite liquor. Usually, though, he looks at me and thinks of alcohol.”
“Did your mother not stop him?”
“Please. Mother likes brandy too. In fact, the place where the two of them met was a bar Father often visited. Mother worked there as a bartender.”
“My God.”
The Strickland family seemed fairly interesting, just quiet. To Gyeoul, who had grown up in a cold household, it left an impression.
The game continued afterward and ended only when the fourth king card was turned over. The people who had turned over the previous three kings had each poured their own alcohol into the 「king’s cup」, and the finale came when the fourth and final player was stuck drinking the whole thing. Coincidentally, that too fell to the Major. Red-faced, she drank down the glass full of sloshing whiskey as if it were cold water.
The next day, Gyeoul met Major Strickland again in the officers’ mess after mealtime and first checked whether her stomach was all right.
“If your hangover is bad, we can put this off until later.”
“I’m fine.”
She had arrived first and had been waiting. She moved aside the drink she had been drinking and asked, “Sir. Is the consultation you wanted about my father?”
It was a direct way of speaking that suited her few words. In fact, there was probably nothing else she could think of. Since her gaze was not especially guarded, Gyeoul readily confirmed it.
“Yes.”
“Is this a request for influence?”
“No. I want to prepare for a coup.”
“...”
The Major closed her mouth in bewilderment. In an even tone, Gyeoul explained the background. Some parts of the Army officer corps, whose quality had declined as it expanded in quantity, might be plotting something suspicious. The person who had warned him of this was none other than General Schroeder, the blockade commander.
Major Strickland seemed to struggle to keep up with the story, but since it was plausible enough, she eventually showed signs of accepting it. She even muttered, “So that was why you asked about the Air Force’s ground forces yesterday...”
Gyeoul continued.
“But he isn’t completely free of suspicion either. That’s why I want Major General Strickland’s help. As for why I judged the Air Force more trustworthy than the Army in this situation... I think you already understand.”
The content was so far from what the Air Force Major had expected that she stammered a little.
“Uh, um, are you sure that’s all right?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, well, you probably don’t know very well what kind of person my father is.”
“That’s one of the things I want to consult you about. In your view, Major, is your father the sort of person who would join that kind of conspiracy?”
“If I say he is or he isn’t, can you trust that?”
“Why do you think I brought this up in the first place? Trust aside, objectively speaking, the truth is that Major General Strickland looks safer than General Schroeder. He’s Air Force, and he has no combat units under him. If I also take your opinion as family into account, I can feel more at ease. We only met yesterday, but you don’t seem like a bad person, Major.”
This was more than a simple feeling. It was an evaluation based on 「Insight」 and 「Perception」, both of which had improved from before. Since his combat skills had hit their limits, Gyeoul had chosen to strengthen other areas. He had enough room for it. Although battles where he fought directly had decreased, both direct and indirect interactions were evaluated.
“Nothing is certain anyway. Even so, I judged that simply sitting still and waiting would be the worst choice. In a card game, the more cards you have in your hand, the better. Even if you discard them when the time comes.”
In other words, separate from the CIA or FBI, it would be a problem if General Schroeder were the only person within the military organization whom he could ask for cooperation in an emergency. That sort of path was likely to end in a dead end.
“So, Major, please speak freely and tell me what you think.”
After thinking it over, Major Strickland slowly shook her head.
“My father... isn’t someone who would step into needless trouble. But what kind of help do you want? As you said, Mobility Command mainly handles troop transport and moving supplies, so it doesn’t have units with combat power.”
“Anything. A contact network is fine, and simple advice is fine too. Even if it’s only a word, it would still be a General’s advice. He should be able to see things I can’t.”
It was what was known as the so-called general’s underlying strength. People who reached the peak of an organization always had something beyond the official structure or authority on the surface. Knowledge and methods only high-ranking officials could access, or the authority and connections gained from a long career.
And Mobility Command had its own advantage too. Even if it lacked combat power, its jurisdiction covered the entire mainland.
Major Strickland still looked troubled.
“I never imagined this consultation would be about something like this. I’m surprised you’re telling me this too.”
“Assuming General Schroeder’s words are true, isn’t this a problem that anyone in a position to know would already expect? The same goes for Major General Strickland. It would be different if I were worried you had a loose tongue, Major, but unless that’s the case, there’s no need to hold back. I have no choice but to accept unavoidable risks.”
After hearing that much, the Major took several breaths to think it over, then finally nodded with difficulty.
“Understood. First, I’ll try passing the message along. But this isn’t a matter suitable for the phone. I think it will take some time.”
“Of course.”
“I’m also not sure how I should contact you again later.”
“If the Major General has something to tell me, I believe he’ll find a way somehow.”
“Hmm. Somehow...”
After thinking for a long while longer, the Major nodded again and let out a small sigh.
Footnotes:
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