WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 326: Return (9)

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The booklet did not record a first name, but it felt wrong to dismiss the person as someone else who simply shared the same surname. Campbell was a common surname, but only a tiny fraction of people with that name would be called a doctor and have access to military bases inside a contaminated zone.

Of course, it might have been nothing more than pointless speculation. Still, Gyeoul probed his intuition a little further.

When they met in the sequoia preserve, Major Elijah Campbell of the Public Health Service Corps had been there to secure acid baby samples. In other words, Campbell’s mission was specimen collection. Considering that the transport aircraft Campbell rode in, the V-22 with the callsign Hospital Nine, had been modified inside like a mobile laboratory, Dr. Campbell’s mission had likely remained the same for some time. It was also unlikely that the person in charge had been replaced. The sighting date written in old Kang Yeong-sun’s booklet was only about a month and a half after Campbell’s meeting with Gyeoul.

What if that visit had been part of the mission?

'That would mean there were specimens to collect at Fort Roberts.'

After Yang Yongbin Shangjiang’s nuclear strike, active military operations had unfolded here as well. Campbell might have stopped by to recover captured specimens from outside the base. It also would not have been strange if Campbell had looked around the refugee zone while there. The Gyeoul Alliance was already known across the United States.

But Gyeoul had a suspicion, and it was worth checking.

It was a shame the booklet’s records did not include aircraft takeoffs and landings. If they had, he could have judged more clearly whether this was the same person.

Scratch, scratch. Old Kang Yeong-sun wrote. The rough texture of the low-grade recycled paper common in the refugee zone made a surprisingly pleasant sound. Its one flaw was that it tore easily.

「Is something troubling you?」

Gyeoul read the question, thought a little longer, then asked the old woman’s permission.

"Could I borrow that notebook for a moment?"

The old woman readily handed it over. Then she silently raised the pen and tilted her head.

"No, it’s all right. I’ll use my own pen."

Gyeoul drew a picture. He had no relevant skill, so it was a poor amateur sketch, but Hospital Nine, the subject he was trying to draw, had such distinctive features that it was not hard to recognize. As far as Gyeoul knew, only one transport aircraft operated by the U.S. military could perform vertical takeoff and landing. At the very least, there was no chance of confusing it with another aircraft.

Below the drawing, he wrote the date when Dr. Campbell had been seen. The old woman took back the notebook, turned the page, and wrote a question.

「What is this?」

"A transport aircraft with propellers on both sides that bend at right angles. It takes off like a helicopter, and once it’s in the air, it flies like an ordinary plane. I’d like you to find out whether anyone saw it around the date written below. And for the person who said they saw this Dr. Campbell in particular, please check whether they heard Campbell’s full name."

Gyeoul pointed to the relevant passage in the booklet. The old woman, who had written it and likely read it several more times during review, nodded without difficulty. Her pen moved again.

「This person must be important.」

"If my guess is right, this is a fairly sensitive matter, and I’d like to be as certain as possible before checking with Brigadier General Laughlin. If my guess turns out to be true, Laughlin will likely try to gloss over it..."

「Understood. But please do not expect too much. That record was brief because it was only a chance encounter. Also, there are not many disabled people who work where they can see the runway.」

"Yes. You don’t need to feel pressured. I’m only asking just in case. I’ll look into it through other routes too. Someone should know. They may keep quiet, though."

Whether he was certain or not, he would try. Whether he hit a wall was a problem for later.

'Looking back now, the name Elijah feels a little strange too.'

The prophet Elijah. In Christian cultures, it was a common name like Peter or John, but in American usage it should usually be pronounced Elijah. Just as the callsign often attached to Gyeoul’s task force was David, as in the biblical David. Yet Major Campbell had clearly pronounced it as Eliyah. His memory was not certain, but he thought there might have been a faint h sound at the end.

The spelling could be entirely different. Once suspicion took root, even trivial things could start to look plausible, so Gyeoul guarded himself against seeing patterns where there were none.

The conversation moved in another direction.

Every sentence Kang Yeong-sun wrote showed deep preparation. Incidents and people as seen through her eyes. The old woman’s perspective, earned from years she had not wasted, was useful even to Gyeoul.

Among it was testimony about the situation in the Chinese residence district. At some point, Min Wan-ki had declared an intent to drive Li Qinzhen and his daughter apart, and while Gyeoul was gone, that plan had actually been put into action. Since that section of the booklet was still in draft form, the old woman wanted to add an explanation.

「In my view, it was part of a larger plan.」

Gyeoul had not yet heard the details from Min Wan-ki directly. The timing had made that impossible. Still, it would not hurt to read old Kang Yeong-sun’s view first.

「Because you gave them a chance, the Triad’s standing among the Chinese refugees rose over time until it surpassed even their former prosperity. Naturally, they regained leadership of the Black Society as well. From then on, they also stopped trying to use the name of a criminal organization. They had realized they could not move forward without changing. But from the beginning, there was a great deal of room for conflict over what to change, and how much.」

"That’s remarkable. That you understood even this much, I mean. It must have been hard for the eyes and ears of the disabled people to cross the walls of the residence district."

「There were several routes. First, a few people selected as Ensigns from among them came diligently to see Department Head Min Wan-ki and Department Head Jang Yeon-cheol. Next, there were complaints from Chinese refugee laborers who worked with us on outside jobs. Lastly, the Chinese people on our side also tended to share what they saw and heard there. Those things would go around and eventually reach us. Above all, there are a few disabled people serving as civil affairs committee members in the military government office, are there not?」

"The Chinese people on our side..."

「I heard they were originally Triad too. I was told Little Captain took them in.」

"Ah, the White Paper Ship faction."

「As an aside, thanks to them, many Chinese people have hope that they can transfer to the Alliance. Even more so these days. That made some things easier as well.」

There had once been two Triad factions Gyeoul had protected. Li Qinzhen had handed them over to Gyeoul as if sending away troublemakers. Of course, on paper, it was still likely treated as lending manpower. To Gyeoul at the time, this had been a safety device. It implied they could be cut loose if necessary.

So even while Gyeoul was gone, the two factions, the groups from Wo Shing Wo and Shui Fong, would not have been able to act recklessly. It could also be called a period of adapting to discipline.

The old woman wrote that they had often been dispatched to the Chinese residence district. Sometimes as public security assistants, sometimes as other labor personnel. In other words, there had been enough paths for news from beyond the district to cross over.

The writing, interrupted by the questions and answers, returned to the main topic.

「I will continue what I was saying. Their leader, Li Qinzhen, seems to have thought it would be enough if they looked clean on the outside. There were many complaints from refugees in other residence districts about the Distribution Bureau, where many of them had settled in. In truth, the Chinese people complained too. It seems they discriminated even among themselves.」

「This is only a circumstantial guess, but Ensign Li Ailing seems to have hated that father of hers. I often heard that they shouted at each other, her expression was always dark, there was even a time when her face was bruised, and there were rumors that she was not being given opportunities because of her father. Not simply because she was Chinese.」

In reality, that would have had some influence. Brigadier General Laughlin’s ill will could not have been entirely Yang Yongbin Shangjiang’s fault. So Li Ailing was held back beyond the limits of her own career by her father, and by the small society that belonged only to them. Loyalty, trust, and all the other old shackles that only sounded respectable on the surface.

'At Bradley, she was seriously worried about her future.'

She was tied down because she had no other alternative, but if she had any long-term plans, it was only natural that she felt trapped.

「In that situation, Department Head Min Wan-ki helped Li Qinzhen, while Department Head Jang Yeon-cheol seemed, by contrast, to side with Ensign Li.」

The old woman added that it had been easy to tell because the people coming and going were always the same.

「The Alliance people were completely fooled too. The two of them were pretending to be on bad terms.」

Gyeoul made a troubled face.

"You noticed?"

There was no need to deny it, considering the role he had left to the old woman.

The handwriting of her answer grew slightly uneven.

「From where I was watching, it was extremely entertaining. I thought worldly affairs were more thrilling than books.」

Kang Yeong-sun placed a period, covered her mouth, and laughed. Though her attitude toward others differed, there was something fundamentally similar to Min Wan-ki in her. Was it a trait of wise people?

"Then what did you mean earlier, when you said it was part of a larger plan?"

The old woman rubbed her hand for a moment after receiving the question, then picked up the pen again.

「Was this not also preparation for Little Captain?」

「They are no longer a solid whole. They are easy to shake, and easy to shake loose. You can divide and accept them however you wish, or attempt something beyond that. Also, speaking as an old person and as a woman, Ensign Li Ailing must already have been enduring many things even before this happened.」

Kang Yeong-sun’s view of scoundrels also resembled Min Wan-ki’s.

「The reason groups like Li Qinzhen cling to empty formalities is because, without even that, they truly have nothing at all. It would have been no different at home. Parents with strong authority have both strengths and weaknesses as guardians, but parents who cling to authority can never be good parents. How much more so when that authority is fundamentally unjust?」

「And how fairly could Ensign Li have been treated under such a father? I imagine there is an angry, wronged child inside her. Department Head Min Wan-ki likely focused on that very point. I think it was wise.」

Gyeoul read the long passage and smiled.

"If Department Head Min or Department Head Jang were here, they would probably be quite unsettled. They must have been trying to be careful so they wouldn’t get caught."

The old woman glanced out the window, turned the densely filled page, and wrote something new.

「The eastern sky is bright. The sun must be about to rise. There are many other things I wish to tell you, but unfortunately we have little time.」

Gyeoul nodded. In a few minutes, the next person hoping for an interview would knock on the door. In fact, a little while ago, he had sensed someone arrive outside. There had been the scrape of a chair being pulled out before someone sat down, for example.

Gyeoul spoke quietly enough that his voice would not carry.

"It’s probably Song Ye-kyung, which is awkward. I heard the baby still doesn’t have a name."

Song Ye-kyung was, so to speak, a leader figure of the Third District. Min Wan-ki had helped that happen as well, saying it was better than letting things splinter in every direction. Or perhaps there had also been concern that someone more harmful might gain a foothold. Still, Song Ye-kyung was not an entirely positive figure.

Kang Yeong-sun watched him quietly, then wrote something serious.

「Regarding the way Ye-kyung treats the child, there is something I have wanted to say for some time. But I think it would be better if Little Captain said it rather than me.」

"What is it?"

「It is something Plato said. Life is losing in order to gain.」

「This is what I think. Even after losing everything else, the one thing a person must gain is another person. Those who do not have it simply collapsed under the wounds left by failure. Even if they say they hate people, somewhere in the deepest part of their hearts, they are bound to long for people. There is no such thing as a person who does not need people.」

「Ye-kyung has already lost many things. Yet now, Ye-kyung is trying to lose even the heart for that child. Even if it has not happened yet, it soon will. The coldness of not giving the child a name is proof. I wonder about it. Each time Ye-kyung revisits hatred toward the former husband, is Ye-kyung stripping away feeling for the child? Is the fact that the child carries that man’s blood eating away at Ye-kyung’s heart?」

「There is a life in which simply not losing something is a gain. What is the thing one must truly have? What is the bond one must truly never give up? I hope Ye-kyung thinks about that.」

Footnotes:

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