WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 317: The Season When Roses Wither
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For once, the weakened tyrant spoke to the bright flower.
“There isn’t much time left.”
Gaeul stared quietly at the gaunt tyrant, her gaze filled with pity and melancholy. The Chairman of the past would have flown into a rage, but now he lacked even the strength for that, and for some reason, he did not seem angry. If anything, he seemed to feel a moment of peace. After that, a deep fatigue and resignation drifted over him. It was a truth Go Geon-cheol himself would never admit.
After a few dry coughs, he continued with a fed-up grimace.
“Until recently, I thought it would be enough once the clone body finished growing. Looking back now, that was an optimistic lie I told myself. Foolishly.”
“......”
“To you, it has no meaning unless it is this body, does it? No matter how identical the appearance may be.”
The tyrant still regarded Gyeoul’s old body as an anchor. He believed he could not keep Gaeul by his side without this body. Gaeul had grown familiar enough with Go Geon-cheol’s deep-rooted distrust of people, and the self-hatred beneath it, that she swallowed the sorrow that came with that familiarity.
“You won’t believe me even if I tell you that isn’t true, will you?”
Go Geon-cheol sneered at Gaeul’s words.
“A person’s tongue is not worth trusting. There is no need to hear opinions when the facts are clear.”
He had changed, but he was still a tyrant. The trauma that formed the basis of his certainty was far too solid.
‘The certainty that he will never be loved as he truly is......’
Gaeul had kept trying to persuade him. If he returned as Go Geon-cheol, not with Gyeoul’s body or some other third party’s body, then perhaps they could start over in the truest sense. But once one knew him, the tyrant was like a hedgehog curled in on itself. He believed that relationship would surely end in failure. Gaeul knew why as well. It was because he hated and loathed his past self.
And yet he still wanted to regain what he had lost. It was quite the contradiction.
When that point was brought up, the Chairman had answered with a scowl.
“I am simply trying to become the me I have decided on.”
To Gaeul, that had sounded like a childish excuse.
The mind was influenced by the body. As his health worsened, Chairman Go Geon-cheol had become even more stubborn and blind. His attitude toward Gaeul alone was the exception, but the problem was that he himself was not exempt. As time passed, his psyche traced nothing but a downward curve.
The current Chairman said,
“I have never tired as quickly in my life as I do these days. I have never acted so uneconomically either.”
“Yes......”
“Maybe it is because this is my first time holding on to a deal with such a bleak outlook. Normally, this would be the point to cut my losses. This is why monopolies are powerful.”
It was not a remark that needed an answer. Gaeul simply understood what Go Geon-cheol was implying.
“Do you remember those soldier bastards you saw not long ago?”
Gaeul quietly nodded at the question. The soldiers who had accepted body modification for the purpose of being deployed to the border were foreigners who had enlisted in hopes of gaining Korean citizenship, and beyond that, Afterlife Insurance. They were one of the horrible faces of the human world the tyrant had promised to show Gaeul, and they were pitiful people as well.
She had seen them occasionally on broadcasts, but only as rare, passing scenes. Now that she knew the reality, she felt she understood why they were never covered in depth.
The Chairman asked again.
“When they first began distributing bodies that had left humanity behind in order to strengthen combat power, the Department of Defense initially tried to remove their sexual desire. Why do you think that was?”
Gaeul fell into thought for a moment. Not about the question itself, but about why the Chairman was asking such a thing. For now, however, nothing came to mind.
“To prevent incidents with civilians?”
“Judging by that obvious answer, your body must be quite worked up.”
Gaeul stayed silent. The tyrant gave her a twisted, tired smile and told her the answer.
“First of all, it was for their sake. Something about how human reproductive urges coexisting with bodies that were no longer human made it easy to develop mental illness.”
“I... see.”
They said it was for their sake, but in reality, it must have been nothing more than a desire to use the tools for longer.
“But that measure had to be lifted before long. From the moment their sexual desire was removed, those bastards started going insane in other ways.”
“Other ways, meaning......?”
“Humans are animals that desire. One of the most powerful urges was erased, and even their bodies were no longer human. If it was short-term service, perhaps, but it would be difficult to expect their minds to stay sound during long-term deployments. The conclusion of Paradise Group’s body modification report was roughly this. Since the universal target of sexual desire is people, it can serve as a psychological motive for them to remain people themselves. Do you understand what that means?”
“......Yes.”
“What I am trying to regain, and the deal I want from you, is that base. Except for cases like you and me, who are not in our right minds, people are not noble.”
“......”
“Remember what I said about this body not having much time left. My waiting ends there as well.”
After saying this much, the Chairman pointed outside.
“You may leave for today.”
“But...... my work hours aren’t over yet.”
“Do not say things you do not mean...... No, are you afraid?”
Gaeul closed her mouth. Today was finally the day she had decided to meet Gyeoul, but her fear of finding resentment toward herself in her younger brother had grown stronger than before. She had been looking at the clock often, building her resolve bit by bit, and when he suddenly told her to go, her feet could not move right away.
Seeing her gaze quietly lower, Go Geon-cheol tossed out the words brusquely.
“Go quickly. Do not waste the opportunity I paid for.”
Visits with Afterlife Insurance subscribers involved complicated procedures, so the times were strict as well. But today’s Gaeul was free from those restrictions. She was visiting as a person related to Afterlife Insurance. The matter had been processed through Paradise Group under Chairman Go Geon-cheol’s order.
Gaeul made up her mind and bowed her head.
“Then I’ll go. Thank you for helping me.”
After coughing several times, the Chairman responded in a displeased tone.
“Cut the thanks. Did I not tell you? I paid a price. Whether it succeeds or not, this is part of the deal. I am saying it is not unconditional goodwill.”
This was the only way he could speak.
Reunion
Gyeoul patted the back of Gaeul, who was crying sorrowfully. The tears that had burst out the moment she saw Gyeoul had already gone on for thirty minutes. He had spent a long time wondering what expression he should make at his reunion with his sister who knew him better than anyone, and what words he could say so she would not hurt. Right now, all that time felt pointless.
“Older sister. Stop crying. Please?”
Huu, huu, huu...... Gaeul clutched Gyeoul’s shoulders and sobbed through clenched teeth. She wanted to stop too, but this was not an emotion that would obey her no matter how hard she tried. Even Gyeoul’s warmth, the same as when he had been alive, brought sadness beyond joy. Because in the end, this too was not real.
As he rubbed his cheek against his older sister’s hair, Gyeoul felt a sad satisfaction. All the exhaustion he had felt while deciding on a passive suicide, yet extending his afterlife only for his older sister, seemed to melt away in this moment like sugar poured into warm black tea.
‘If it had not been for that child, I think it would have been hard to endure this far.’
The conversations with Star Child had been a comfort that soothed Gyeoul’s weary heart. If he had only shut himself away in his own darkness whenever he needed rest, he might have been crushed by the sound of stones rolling inside his chest at some difficult breaking point.
Only after a long while could the two seasons properly face each other. Gyeoul smiled at his older sister without a trace of shadow.
“It’s been a while, Older sister. You changed quite a bit while I couldn’t see you. You look more mature than before.”
“......You haven’t changed at all.”
With wet eyes, Gaeul engraved her younger brother’s face into her vision. Gyeoul, preserved by death at the edge of boyhood, still held the exact form she had last seen. After a silence that was far from awkward, Gaeul clenched her fists and apologized.
“I’m sorry I came so late.”
“It’s okay. I understand why.”
It was not that he felt no hurt, but a rose only needed to bloom in autumn. Gyeoul did not think poorly of the limits of the only flower that had bloomed in his life.
“I had so much to tell you, but now that I’ve actually met you, I’ve forgotten it all.”
Gaeul made a bitter face with that self-reproach, almost like a monologue, then suddenly brought up augmented reality as if remembering something.
“Ah, right...... Will you accept this?”
What she had prepared was 50,000 stars. It was the entire amount of her salary as the tyrant’s secretary, excluding only necessary living expenses. This amount was possible because she had received compensation for the special secretary’s independent action incident, allowing the repayment of Gaeul and Parang’s share of the child-rearing cost loan to be completed. She was in a much better position than ordinary people, who had to spend more than ten years just paying back the cost of raising themselves.
Gyeoul looked at the sparkling string of characters and wondered how Gaeul had earned this money, but he glimpsed relief and satisfaction without shadow in her, so he accepted the transfer for now.
“Thank you.”
“......There’s nothing to thank me for. It’s only natural.”
Gaeul’s eyes wandered through empty air after receiving his thanks. She knew well that Gyeoul had been steadily paying back his Afterlife Insurance secured loan.
Gyeoul easily read his older sister and gently shook his head.
“I mean it. Thank you for coming, and thank you for these stars too. They’ll be a big help. Where did you get so much money?”
“I happened to get a job at a good place.”
“A good place?”
“I became secretary to Chairman Go Geon-cheol of Hyeseong Group.”
“......Nothing bad is happening, right?”
“No...... The Chairman is a better person than people say. He treats me well too.”
Gaeul answered while slightly tense. It was not a lie, but to Gyeoul, it would look unnatural in many ways. Worried that she might burden her younger brother with a new concern, she had planned to prepare a great deal before coming. Because the Chairman had considerately moved up the schedule all of a sudden, that had come to nothing. It was another reason she could not help hesitating earlier.
Before the suspicious silence could stretch on, Gaeul took out new data.
“Here, this is a letter from Parang. Parang couldn’t come with me this time.”
“I see...... Can I play it right away?”
“Of course.”
Gyeoul opened the letter. It was a holographic format saved in the shape of paper.
「Hello, brother! It’s been a long time!」
At the innocent greeting of a lower-grade elementary school student, Gyeoul felt complicated emotions. Parang had grown a lot in the meantime. Of course, Parang was still far too young to have grown up mentally.
「You’re having fun in heaven, right?」
Gaeul panicked.
「My teacher said brother is really lucky! You went to heaven waaaay faster than other people! Was it B-grade? It was B-grade, right? Teacher said that made you soooo enviable!」
“......”
「Hee. I do miss you a lot, brother, but you’re in a really good place! Wait for me! Next time, I’ll go with older sister Gaeul too! Until then, I’ll study hard, eat well, clean well...... Later, I’ll go to heaven like you too, brother!」
The video that continued afterward was not very long, and no particular shadow hung over it. After watching the whole thing, Gyeoul folded it and stored it in a folder, then smiled softly.
“Since Parang can talk to the teacher, I guess Parang goes to a good school.”
“Ah, yes. I wanted at least Parang to be different from us...... And the company provides support too......”
Gaeul, who had not known the contents of the letter, carefully watched Gyeoul’s expression.
Gyeoul reassured his older sister.
“You don’t need to make that face. Parang must have learned it that way at school. It’s better than knowing the truth at that age and being sad. My heart feels easier too.”
Parang was too young to become a warm season like Gaeul. Gyeoul loved his youngest sibling, but he did not expect comfort from Parang.
Seeing that Gaeul was still uncomfortable, Gyeoul brought back a memory.
“Older sister, should I sing for you?”
“A song?”
“You used to like my songs.”
Gaeul reacted awkwardly. She had liked them a lot and often asked him to sing, but that was a long time ago. After the stone grew heavy and his songs grew heavy too, both the singer and the listener had avoided them.
That was exactly why Gyeoul wanted to sing. If he let her hear a song that was not heavy, he thought Gaeul might go back with less burden on her heart. The notice that she was coming had been sudden, so he had not had enough time to prepare, but fortunately, there were songs he had practiced for Star Child.
“Here, listen like you used to.”
Gyeoul pulled his older sister close and began to sing a simple song.
Footnotes:
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