WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 325: Return (8)

──────

The next day, Gyeoul woke an hour before sunrise and quickly skimmed the documents he had been reviewing before he fell asleep. Among them were petitions from refugees, compiled by the Civil Affairs Bureau. Each residence district’s way of life came through vividly between the lines, which made them interesting in their own right.

A few requests caught his eye. One, for instance, asked for godparents and godchildren to be formally recognized as an institution. The godparents in question only borrowed the term from religious custom, Godfather and Godmother. In practice, the role was closer to a designated guardian. The difference was that they wanted the guardian chosen through advance registration, not through a guardian’s will. They also wanted cancellations to be allowed. In short, they wanted the military government office to manage the system officially.

In other words, it was a kind of insurance. Parents anxious about the future wanted to name, with certainty, a third party who would protect their children if something happened to them. Naturally, the third party’s consent would be required as well.

At the current point in time, it seemed to be a common phenomenon. Two married couples might exchange such promises with each other, or they might ask someone with influence. In the latter case, the person being asked seemed to accept not only for the honor, but also because it meant increasing their own people. That was Gyeoul’s guess, but it was hard to see it any other way. The person described in the most positive terms in the investigation report was Baek San-ho. He had already taken in seventy-five godchildren.

After Baek San-ho, the person with the most godchildren was, unexpectedly, Song Ye-kyung. She was apparently still grinding her teeth over her husband’s betrayal and the 「Damul Promotion Association」. Jang Yeon-cheol and Min Wan-ki followed her by a considerable margin. Considering the influence held by the two department heads of the Gyeoul Alliance, the ranking was surprising, but after turning it over for a moment, Gyeoul realized it was only natural.

‘They’re not the kind of people who would accept requests like that out of greed alone. They must have thought each one through seriously... And neither of them would be desperate for more people anyway.’

Baek San-ho and Song Ye-kyung, on the other hand, had to be seen as clinging to this method because they needed it.

So Gyeoul withheld approval. As acting commander, all he had to do was sign, but while the intent was good, he saw too much room for abuse. It would be a problem if children became tools for pursuing profit.

Most of the issues the base commander had to handle were like this. Approve them carelessly, and they could turn into future trouble. Unlike Gyeoul, who understood the inner workings of refugee zones, Brigadier General Laughlin seemed to have handled the work like a blind man feeling an elephant’s leg. Who was the brigadier general supposed to trust? Laughlin irritably recalled getting burned many times after accepting opinions that seemed plausible.

After organizing his thoughts across several documents, Gyeoul checked the clock. There was still a little time before his first meeting of the day. It was an awkward interval, not really enough to review unread documents, so he picked up the remote he had set aside on one corner of the desk and turned on the TV.

A movie channel had been airing a Korean film since dawn. In a fighting arena where the crowd roared with excitement, a man lay collapsed in the center of the ring, covered in blood. His young daughter saw her father’s terrible state and cried out in grief.

「Dad! Daaad! Get up! Get uuuup!」

“...”

He had not been watching from the beginning, so the emotion did not reach him. Still, Gyeoul had recently started wondering if Korean subject matter was appearing on broadcasts too often. No matter how popular it was, some people might end up resenting it.

When he changed the channel, a National Geographic documentary was playing. Its content, however, left Gyeoul a little flustered.

The narrator said,

「This is footage of mutants engaging in sexual intercourse.」

By human standards, it was an orgy, a brief but extremely explicit scene. Lumps of flesh warped by immune rejection tangled together, collided, and separated over and over.

「This is Abraham Gonzalez International Airport, south of downtown Ciudad Juarez. To secure this short video, it took sixty filming drones, seven film crews, and five months. The active cooperation of the Department of Defense was also a great help.」

“...”

「Some say these monsters’ ecology is animalistic, but strictly speaking, that is incorrect. As you can see, there is no competition for mates. Mutant reproduction is extremely efficient. If they need to do it, they do it. Their acts also end within ten seconds at the longest. Sometimes they last only one second. Experts have pointed out the possibility that special mutants specialized for reproduction may exist. Meanwhile, the military has stated that it once considered dispersing toxic substances that would induce infertility. The plan was put on hold over concerns about environmental disaster, however.」

The scene was strange, but after watching a little longer, he did not think any information he did not already know would come up.

‘Well, of course the information I can access as a lieutenant colonel would be richer.’

Details on the Humpback were still classified. It had long since become an open secret on the front lines, but the government was taking into account the effect it would have on society at large. Apart from whether mutants could reproduce, the fact that their growth could also accelerate was something they would treat as sensitive.

Though recently, many mutants afflicted with progeria had been discovered.

Gyeoul changed the channel again. As the screens flicked past, a vaguely familiar face appeared. It was Staff Sergeant Halloway, whom he had met at the ranch retreat near Russian River. The hard-bitten soldier who had blown off one shin to stop infection was proudly testifying about meeting Lieutenant Colonel Han Gyeoul, who had been a Major at the time.

「He asked my name. He was full of admiration.」

“...”

In a sense, Gyeoul had been impressed. Halloway had survived after doing something like that. Escaping death by shock alone had been lucky. The person in question had probably felt something like, I’d rather die than become a monster!

The reporter asked the retired staff sergeant,

「Mr. Halloway. What kind of person was Lieutenant Colonel Han Gyeoul when you met him?」

Wearing a prosthetic leg, the staff sergeant crossed both arms and answered.

「What is there to say? He was there. He had just finished the most dangerous hunt with only a small cavalry force. He is a hero, literally.」

Halloway looked intensely proud. Though they had not spent much time together, Halloway seemed proud of the very fact of being able to testify about Gyeoul.

Other channels were airing programs about Gyeoul as well. It was the time of day when reruns were common, but that meant it might reflect public interest all the more.

The Host of a program called Apocalyptic Dinner introduced the dish.

「This is today’s main dish, salted meat airlifted from Olema. From the hunt to the preservation, Lieutenant Colonel Han Gyeoul’s hand is in this supremely luxurious food.」

Gyeoul felt a different sort of disbelief from earlier. Why was that there?

A chef famous for a foul mouth cooked the salted venison. The chef did the best possible with it, but the ingredient was poor to begin with, so there was no way it would taste good. After tasting the result, the chef’s face twisted into a deep frown.

「It tastes horrible.」

“...”

「But at the same time, it is the taste of survival. It helps me imagine how difficult Lieutenant Colonel Han Gyeoul’s circumstances must have been. For that alone, some people would find it worth paying ten thousand dollars.」

Unlike the Host, the chef had no trouble pronouncing Gyeoul’s name.

Knock knock.

When Gyeoul heard the knock, he turned off the TV.

“Come in.”

The person who quietly entered had no voice. Gyeoul pulled out a chair for the old woman, his first visitor of the day. Looking healthier than before, the old woman bowed her head in thanks before sitting down. Then came the soft scratch of neat handwriting.

「It has been a long time.」

“It really has. I didn’t think it would take this long. I wanted to come back sooner, but things didn’t go the way I wanted.”

Kang Yeong-sun smiled warmly and wrote a long reply filled with gladness.

「That is life, is it not? We are thrown into a world we never asked for, in a form we never wished for, and though we suffer trials we cannot help and losses we cannot avoid, we still keep walking, bend after bend, through harsh times for the things we cannot bear to give up.」

“I see.”

A world she never asked for, in a form she never wished for. Coming from an old woman who represented disabled people, the words carried more weight. Gyeoul, having lived through the outside world, could sympathize more than enough.

The old woman put care into her writing.

「Still, my joy is boundless now that you have returned in good health. I am also sincerely grateful that you made time for me despite your busy schedule.」

“No. I should be the one apologizing. I asked you to meet me before the sun was even up. There’s a lot of work, and a lot of people want to meet me, so I couldn’t help it.”

「It is all right. When one grows old, one sleeps less at dawn. First, I will give you what I owe you.」

“What you owe me?”

「These are booklets in which I organized, in my own way, the various events that took place while Little Captain was away. I am sure the two department heads have already told you everything well enough, but they may help if verification is needed. More than anything, some things can only be seen from low places.」

Gyeoul accepted the several spiral notebooks she held out. When he opened them, the contents were not merely written in elegant handwriting. She had recorded events in chronological order, then reorganized them by person and group. Notes frequently pointed to which volume and page contained related material. Her own evaluations were included, of course, and even the person each account had been collected from was written down without omission. Even at a glance, the descriptions were extremely objective.

“Organizing this must have been a tremendous amount of work.”

At Gyeoul’s words, the old woman gave a shy smile.

「The later parts are still rough drafts.」

「I tried to finish organizing them before you returned, but I ran out of time. I wanted to give them to you after polishing them properly, but they will be most useful now, so I brought them unfinished.」

Flip, flip. Gyeoul skimmed through the pages quickly. The records were relatively thin where they had little contact with disabled people, but even those parts were not inadequate.

“This is good enough that I think you could select the right parts and publish them in English. People interested in the refugee zones would find it fascinating. I heard Song Ye-kyung is also earning income from her music?”

Gyeoul had heard this from Jang Yeon-cheol. It was about the profit-making projects underway within the alliance. Song Ye-kyung, who had always had a good voice, had apparently worked as an unknown singer in her youth. A song she often sang caught the attention of a reporter covering the refugee zone, and in the end, she registered the track online.

Kang Yeong-sun shook her head and wrote.

「For now, helping Captain comes first. And I am not in urgent need at the moment.」

“Mm... I’m only asking this now, but were things difficult while I was gone?”

「Department Head Jang looked after everything so carefully that I was fine.」

Judging by her healthy complexion, she did not seem to be lying.

Gyeoul kept turning the pages until the seasons inside the booklets changed twice, then stopped when he found a name he seemed to have seen somewhere before.

‘...Dr. Campbell? Why does that sound familiar? Where did I hear that name?’

The booklet did not contain detailed information. It only added that the person had been called Dr. Campbell and had seemed important, so she had recorded the date and name.

After racking his memory for several minutes, Gyeoul barely managed to recall Major Elijah Campbell.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried