WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 319: Return (2)

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The Company’s road back to its station was also a trial for the military police, regular police, and vigilantes of many nationalities. Crying spread like a contagion through the crowd they held back. Every sound Gyeoul heard carried no meaning beyond emotion raised to its limit.

“Lieutenant Colonel! Lieutenant Colonel! Thank you for your hard work! You worked so hard!”

“Everyone! Here! Hic, please look this way!”

“Lieutenant Colonel Han Gyeoul! Your hand! Let me hold your hand!”

The calls came from men and women, young and old. Nationality did not matter either. Their faces were a mess from wiping away tears. Among the men, though, most were middle-aged or older. The younger generation had been steadily spent.

Gyeoul thought their clothing looked strange.

‘It feels like the ages are all mixed together.’

Some still had the shabby look particular to refugees, but most stood out for how much neater they had become since he left. The strangest of them were dressed in retro fashion. Classic suits, autumn coats with cinched waists, A-line and H-line silhouettes. Even in the world of Days after Apocalypse, they brought to mind mid-twentieth-century America, the sort of scene one only saw in movies.

Aside from that, highly mobile, survivalist clothing and ordinary twenty-first-century clothes were mixed in at a high ratio. They simply did not stand out because they were familiar.

After they reached the station and he was unpacking, Min Wan-ki came by, listened to Gyeoul’s impressions, and smiled.

“It is an interesting phenomenon once you break it down.”

“Is it?”

“It is a trend that began on the mainland, but I see two main starting points. The first is the spread of religious conservatism, and the second is nostalgia for the Greatest Generation.”

“The Greatest Generation?”

“The people who overcame the Great Depression and World War II, then laid the foundation for the world’s strongest nation. There is a certain common ground with this age. We, too, will overcome it as they did... It is retro style with that kind of meaning. Ah, of course, that is only what the designers must have had in mind. At this point, there are probably far more people who wear it simply because everyone else does. Is that not how trends work?”

After saying that much, he wiped the smile from his face, composed himself, and bowed to Gyeoul.

“You have finally returned. You have been through so much. I offer my deep gratitude for everything you have accomplished. And... shameless as it is to say, I hope you will continue to look after us.”

Jang Yeon-cheol, who had been quietly damp-eyed, followed his example.

“Welcome back, hic, welcome back. More than anything, I’m glad you are safe.”

Gyeoul stopped them.

“Please don’t do this. If it hadn’t been for you two, this place would have worried me the entire time I was away.”

Min Wan-ki straightened and smiled again.

“It is still a worry now. Though it is enjoyable enough to handle from one angle and another.”

“You haven’t changed. Not in that way.”

Gyeoul shook his head lightly and looked around.

“Anyway, this place is a little grand. More than I deserve.”

For a single officer’s office, it was a very large space. The layout had been arranged so he would work with the sunlight at his back, and outside the east-facing window lay a wide-open parade ground. The window frames looked thick, and when he tapped the glass, it returned the dull echo unique to bulletproof glass. From the third floor, he could see quite far.

‘It’s the spot I saw back then.’

Though the memory was already old, Gyeoul had once seen this station’s location on a map. It had been the day he met Superintendent O’Connor while cracking down on drugs in the Chinese residence district. The plan to create the independent company must have begun in earnest from that point.

Even if the unit expanded to battalion scale, the station for one Company would still be here. It was spacious enough to hold battalion headquarters too.

Jang Yeon-cheol sniffled with swollen eyes and said something oddly like Min Wan-ki.

“Sniff. With this much visible authority, it should be easier to handle strange people too. More than anything, you will be the highest-ranking person on this base now, so we need at least this much formality.”

“This feels late to ask, but I suppose everyone already knows?”

“What do you mean?”

“That I’m the next person in charge of this base.”

“Ah.”

The younger department head nodded eagerly.

“If you work in the military government office, there is no way not to know. Talk of the handover began even before Little Captain arrived. Now both Department Head Min and I are receiving grade 9 treatment, and it was not exactly a secret either...”

As Yeon-cheol trailed off, Gyeoul perched on the corner of the desk.

Inside the room, which must have stood empty for at least several months after completion, a layer of dust had settled. Each time he moved his feet or put a hand somewhere, he left marks of a different shade behind. Gyeoul watched dust motes drift and glitter, then opened the window to air the room out. As the wind came in, the four flags hanging in the empty spaces on either side of the desk fluttered. The Stars and Stripes, the military flag, the military government office flag, and the Medal of Honor recipient flag with thirteen stars. It created an atmosphere that would make any visitor cautious.

Gyeoul swept a fingertip across the desk and shrugged.

“Someone said something similar.”

“What do you mean?”

“That it’s easier to handle people when there’s something visible. Recently... no, it was when I was in San Francisco.”

At the word San Francisco, Yeon-cheol showed intense curiosity. Min Wan-ki also reacted with an intrigued “oh.” Of all Gyeoul’s movements, the time he had spent there was the one stretch still hidden in many places.

Yeon-cheol leaned in, absorbed.

“Who was it?”

“A general from the former Chinese navy... She said the moment one person envies another, one ends up above and the other below. So those in power have to eat luxuriously and waste lavishly, I think? She said it was important to make people feel a gap they could never overcome through effort, so they would eventually give up... Then they would cling to me. This isn’t exact, but that was the general idea.”

“Huh...”

As the young department head looked sour after hearing Gyeoul’s recollection of Lieutenant General Xieru, the department head nearing the end of middle age looked thoroughly amused.

“Resignation is good too. I think we would have understood each other well if we had met.”

“She’s probably dead.”

“Oh dear.”

Min Wan-ki clicked his tongue, then nodded.

“The wording is unpleasant, but it is mostly correct. Even more so if the other party is ready to accept it. A belief that has already been created is better put to use.”

“Belief?”

“You saw them on your way here, did you not? Those people in a frenzy. That is the process by which belief is born.”

“...”

“I told you before. Politics and religion are the same at their root. In those people’s hearts, Lieutenant Colonel Han Gyeoul is no longer a person like them. He is something superior, something beyond human limits.”

“That isn’t true in reality.”

“They know that in their heads. But what rules people is always emotion. Only a tiny few exceptions manage to put the reins of reason on it. Geniuses, hard workers, or psychological deformities.”

The former professor smiled cynically, as if still in the habit of standing at a lectern.

“Once they begin to believe, their thoughts follow their belief. Unless they go through something substantial, that bias will keep working... Fortunately, this city currently has only one belief. Before this belief, even the distinction between conservatives and progressives disappears. So all you need to do, Captain, is show yourself as they believe you to be. That alone will make everyone mind their place and show respect.”

Instead of answering, Gyeoul gave him a troubled smile. Seeing it, Min Wan-ki made the same face.

“You remain unchanged as well, Little Captain.”

“Maybe it’s because I’m still young.”

“That joke goes too far.”

Jang Yeon-cheol sighed.

“Whew. Department Head Min would be such a good person if not for this side of him.”

He did not seem to realize that he himself was slowly coming to resemble the man. In any case, one could not be purely positive or purely skeptical.

“Now that I think about it, it really has become a city.”

Gyeoul brought up the expression that had been mixed into Min Wan-ki’s words. It looked that way even from here. The scene outside the window was, quite literally, a city with a military base attached. Then again, American military hubs often included residential areas, shopping districts, middle and high schools, and university campuses, making them no different from ordinary cities.

Judging by the divisions between districts, refugees no longer seemed to live on the land that had been military facilities before the plague. The residence districts had been separated more clearly.

‘Taking in refugees was only ever a temporary measure. Considering the future, this is right.’

Fort Roberts, back when it was still a camp, had been a training facility meant to accommodate a regiment.

Yeon-cheol looked proud.

“I really wanted to show you that. That it grew this much because of you, Captain. That everyone is living well. Though these days, the population has grown so much that it has become a headache.”

“The population is growing?”

“A lot of people were sent from other shelters. To the point where I wonder if they’re trying to shove all the Asians in here... Thanks to that, separated families? Uh, it sounds strange when I put it that way, but anyway, families and relatives who had been separated got to meet again too.”

“There were quite a few people like that?”

“Yes, well. It was so chaotic when they evacuated people from Korea. Some of the people who had been living on ships until now are like that too.”

“Ah, maritime refugees.”

Gyeoul understood. Since America had recovered the West Coast, it was time for the refugees who had been living aboard ships to come ashore. Rather than making separate camps for them, they seemed to plan on housing them in existing facilities.

“I’ll say it again. You two must have had a hard time.”

Yeon-cheol looked embarrassed at Gyeoul’s words.

“It feels a little... coming from anyone else, maybe, but hearing that from you, Captain...”

Min Wan-ki adjusted his glasses.

“The new arrivals only needed to be scattered. People change according to the stage they are placed on.”

“...”

There had, once again, been someone who said something similar, but Gyeoul did not bother mentioning it. Instead, he checked on something that had been bothering him for a while, pointing at a cross far beyond the window.

“That district. Is it the Full Gospel Saints, by any chance?”

“Huh. How did you know?”

“The church is at the center, and it’s strangely isolated.”

Just as Gyeoul said, that district’s entryway was limited to a single route, and barbed wire and a checkpoint blocked that path.

Of course, other residence districts were also divided by barbed wire, with checkpoints controlling entry and exit. In an emergency, isolation and quarantine had to be carried out. But they had several entry routes prepared, and there were differences in district scale as well.

“It’s strange that they haven’t caused trouble until now.”

Gyeoul still remembered the eeriness of Hwangbo Esther, who had clung to him. He also remembered the miracle of Pastor Park Tae-sun that the girl had spoken of. But according to what he had heard through Jin-seok, their outside activity had dropped so sharply it was practically nonexistent.

There were few signs stranger than fanatics refraining from missionary work, but that, at least, was not trouble.

‘If there had been something more than that, of course I would have heard about it too.’

Min Wan-ki narrowed his eyes. Unlike before, he was wearing glasses with intact lenses, but even so, with his eyesight, it was hard for him to see as far as Gyeoul could.

“I heard they requested a certain level of autonomy from the military government office for religious reasons. Among cults, some types naturally want to isolate themselves. Especially once practices too shameful to reveal take root... Offering sexual favors to the cult leader would be a representative example. In any case, the more that is true, the warier they become of other people’s eyes, no?”

It was a reasonable observation, but there was still a gap between that and Gyeoul’s concern.

‘It will be soon anyway...’

Whatever existed inside the fanatics’ district, once he inherited Brigadier General Laughlin’s duties and authority, he would be able to grasp it more clearly.

“Hmm. In truth, I did not come here to talk about these things.”

Min Wan-ki spoke.

“The alliance has prepared a welcoming ceremony. If your schedule allows, how about attending?”

At that moment, a “waaa” came from somewhere. The Company members were probably in the middle of proper reunions now. Wherever they went, the mood was welcoming, but there were bound to be people left out.

“If it’s a welcoming event... Mm, I’m worried about the adoptees.”

Jang Yeon-cheol understood Gyeoul’s words a little slowly.

“Uh, did they perhaps feel out of place in the unit too?”

“Not exactly, but there won’t be anyone here to welcome them properly. There are language issues too.”

“Ah.”

“Would Ms. Amalia Flemens still be in the citizen district, by any chance?”

“I’m not sure about that...”

Amalia Flemens, whom he had first met in Paso Robles, had been a public school child affairs liaison and the person who had asked Gyeoul to take in the stateless children with nowhere to go. She had an altruistic personality, and they already had a connection, so she would make a good conversation partner for lonely soldiers.

Even if the mainland recapture was nominally complete, the residents of the citizen district probably had not left the base yet. Fighting was still ongoing in many cities.

“Department Head Jang, please check for me, even if it’s a bother. If she hasn’t left yet, tell her we would like her to attend our welcoming ceremony.”

“Yes! I’ll go right away.”

Yeon-cheol happily accepted Gyeoul’s order.

Footnotes:

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