WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 349: A Splendid Invitation (1)
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Late in the afternoon at Fort Roberts, Gyeoul received an invitation from California State Senator Talton Brennan. As the senator had mentioned on Gyeoul’s first day back at the base, he wanted to discuss something that would benefit them both. Reconstruction projects in the retaken contaminated zones were already gaining momentum, so if Gyeoul went to D.C. first, it would be too late. In other words, he meant to offer Gyeoul some kind of concession.
After hesitating over what to wear, Gyeoul settled on the Dress Blue. Wearing combat fatigues to a dinner invitation felt awkward. His relationship with the senator was still shallow, and he did not want to make a bad impression for no reason.
He carried only his pistol and Bayonet. There was little need to maintain full firepower. Ever since the Saints Church residential district had been destroyed, there had been no real potential threat to speak of. Out of concern for 「The Silent One」, two divisions were still searching the radio reception range around the base, but all they had found were a handful of variants that had been isolated and left behind.
Still, he packed plenty of magazines. He only had to carry them without ruining the line of his clothes.
When he left the office that doubled as his quarters, he heard a dog barking. Looking over, he saw Yura in personal combat gear, playing with the King of Spain. She clapped her hands and called out.
“His Majesty! Present arms to the front!”
Arf! Arf!
“His Majesty! Grenade in the foxhole!”
Yelp!
The dachshund leapt with a dying squeal. The dog was so startled that it reacted as if a real grenade had rolled nearby. Gyeoul felt a little baffled.
“Good boy, good boy... Huh? Little Captain?”
Yura spotted her superior drawing closer, planted her feet, and saluted in proper posture. She smelled of sweat that had not yet cooled. Her combat uniform still showed traces of dirt having been brushed off. Gyeoul returned the salute and asked,
“You came back early. Did tactical training end ahead of schedule?”
“Yes. For our platoon. Joseph’s platoon and So-min’s platoon are probably still rolling around. Captain Park is cutting everyone off by results.”
“Hmm...”
“Don’t worry. I’m sure Captain Park isn’t still grinding them down over what happened before... probably.”
“That ‘probably’ makes me nervous.”
Yura smiled brightly.
“It’s just your imagination, Captain.”
She was half joking, but it was also true that Seonwoo Joseph and Ensign Cheon So-min had lost points even with Yura, generous as she was. If they wanted to regain the trust they once had, they would have to work hard for it.
‘Though it isn’t only a problem with those two...’
Similar suspicions hung over the U.S. military as a whole. Taking valuables such as watches, rings, and necklaces from first-generation variants that had once been human was only the mild end of it. It was an open secret that soldiers fighting urban warfare took trophies. Cash was nothing special; small, valuable items like smartphones were preferred. If caught, they were punished, of course. But many commanders turned a blind eye as long as it stayed within a certain line.
In a way, it tied into General Schroeder’s concerns as well.
The dog wagged its tail and circled noisily around Gyeoul. When Gyeoul carefully stroked it so fur would not get on his clothes, it flopped over, showed its belly, and panted happily.
Yura looked over Gyeoul’s clothes.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you in Dress Blue. Are you going somewhere?”
“I have an important appointment.”
“Mmm, I see.”
For an instant, disappointment crossed Yura’s face. Then came a brief flicker of panic, as though she had failed to control her expression. Gyeoul asked,
“You don’t look good. Is something wrong?”
“Uh, no, that, wrong... isn’t really the word... hahaha. Don’t mind me. This time it’s my imagination too. Just my imagination.”
“That’s obviously a lie. Tell me. Are you upset that you didn’t get to be Company commander?”
“No way!”
Yura’s face turned serious at once.
“There’s no way I’d be unhappy with a decision Little Captain made after thinking about it for so long. You really, really don’t have to worry about that. Besides, Captain Park is careful around me. Since becoming Company commander, Captain Park has never raised a voice at me once. When I make suggestions, most of them get accepted. It’s so careful that it’s almost uncomfortable...”
“Then what is it?”
“...”
Gyeoul had thought she might be disappointed about the appointment of the senior Company commander for the Independent Battalion, but judging by the mood, that really did not seem to be it. Yura had no talent for lying. She hesitated as if she wanted to leave, then finally grew embarrassed and said what was on her mind.
“Since we’ve been moving without you these past few days, Captain, it’s like... I can feel the empty space. It feels lonely, and it feels like the distance between us has grown... And I’m not the only one who feels that.”
“Is the mood in the Company bad?”
“Not at all. The kids are fine. They like the new unit mark, and the training is tough, but they’re also looking forward to going east soon... It’s just that, from time to time, something feels missing.”
The unit mark Yura mentioned, the Distinctive Unit Insignia, had a fractal Snowflake design inside an indigo shield, quite different in form from the Snowflake knots that symbolized the alliance. The unit members had come up with the idea, but in practice, the public affairs office had made it.
‘We earned the qualification.’
Promotion to an Independent Battalion meant more than simply increasing the number of troops. If an independent company, a Company team, had the strong character of a temporary formation, an Independent Battalion, a Separate battalion, was a proper permanent formation. It was also formally given a unit number and name.
With that, Gyeoul was the commander of the 201st Independent Infantry Battalion.
“What can we do?”
Yura shrugged.
“You’ll keep rising from now on, Captain, so we have no choice but to adapt.”
“I feel kind of sorry.”
“Don’t. I always say this, but everyone came this far because of you, Captain.”
Then she picked up the King of Spain.
“You should go before you’re late. You said you had an appointment.”
“...Yes. Let’s make time and talk again later.”
He was not saying it just to say it. He might not have room to make time right away, but once they crossed the former blockade line, he would have plenty of spare time one way or another. Yura added a smile to her salute.
Gyeoul walked. The citizen district where Senator Brennan would be staying was close enough to reach on foot. Some of the refugees now held citizenship too, but that was no reason to change the name of the citizen district.
As he walked, Gyeoul replayed his conversation with Star Child. He was not doing it deliberately. He simply did not stop it from happening on its own.
The child had confirmed the upper limit of sensation a human could feel. Pleasure that would never end as long as Afterlife Insurance was maintained. Surely it was a realm most drugs could not even imitate.
Leaving the end of a person’s existence to that person’s own choice could not be called wrong. Had Gyeoul not once tried to give up on life himself? Because the world beyond his limits had only ever taken things from him, and the stone rolling inside his chest had grown heavier by the day.
But after the child’s starlight, searching for a heart in its lonely darkness, deepened, Gyeoul began to want to live again.
Wasn’t there a complete difference between choosing to walk one path among many and choosing whether or not to walk the one path that was, in practice, being forced on you?
Before he knew it, he had reached the checkpoint.
The double barbed wire around the citizen district was the same as before, but security was not as tight as it had once been. At least now, the possibility of riots caused by shortages and discriminatory distribution had almost vanished.
Inside the section, empty buildings stood out here and there. As clearing operations in various regions were completed one after another, some of the disaster refugees staying here had returned to their hometowns. Of course, there might still be variants hiding somewhere across that vast land, but that would not be a major problem for armed citizens with their nerves on edge.
Some described it as the return of the frontier era.
When Gyeoul arrived at his destination, he knocked on the door of a residential trailer.
A moment later, Senator Brennan personally welcomed him.
“Oh, Lieutenant Colonel. You’re a little early.”
“Yes. Thank you for inviting me.”
“You treated me before, didn’t you? Anyway, come in. My wife has been looking forward to this too.”
The senator led Gyeoul inside with the warmth of someone greeting an old friend.
The camping trailer was filled with warm light, warm air, and an appetizing smell. The interior was not especially spacious, but the furnishings were luxurious and clean. Judging by the vehicle price alone, it felt like it would easily cost several hundred thousand dollars.
The senator’s wife welcomed Gyeoul in a simple apron.
“My goodness, to meet you like this... Today really is a happy day.”
“It’s an honor, ma’am.”
A light hug and introductions followed. Her name was Stacey. Stacey C. Brennan.
“Sit down. I’ll bring the food out soon. If you’re going to do important work, you need a full stomach first. I hope it suits your taste.”
The last part came as a playful whisper with a wink. After seating Gyeoul and her husband, she disappeared into the kitchen beyond a single wall.
On the TV directly across from the table, a Democratic Party candidate’s campaign rally happened to be playing. Gyeoul found the timing curious.
‘Does it have something to do with what we’ll discuss today?’
If the senator had turned it on deliberately to match Gyeoul’s arrival time, it might.
Or maybe it was only a way to start a conversation naturally between people who might otherwise feel awkward. Either way, both the senator and Gyeoul were in positions where they could not help being interested in the approaching presidential election.
Senator Brennan smacked his lips.
“Well, that man doesn’t have much impact today either. It wouldn’t hurt for him to put forward some new strategy by now. He seems too focused on playing it safe... Don’t you think so, Lieutenant Colonel?”
“I’m not sure...”
“A former Marine should have a little more punch.”
The Democratic Party candidate, Gerald Burns, had served as a Marine Major during the Gulf War. Yet the Republican Party candidate, Edgar Kramer, was also a former Marine. The only difference was that Kramer had been an enlisted man. Both had combat experience.
There was no way that was a simple coincidence. It meant citizens wanted a strong president that badly.
For the Democratic Party, with its conciliatory policy line, that image must have been even more urgent.
Before his cheering supporters, Candidate Burns thundered.
「Never before! Never in any age has humanity been as united as it is now. We must face the end as a unified force. Not divided into the strength of America, the strength of Britain, the strength of France, and the strength of South Korea and Japan! Not fighting while calculating how to use one another! We must be reborn as the one and only strength of humanity! The League of Nations failed, and the United Nations failed, but I, and we, will succeed! I, Gerald Burns, promise you the future of the United States of Humanity!」
This was the pledge that most sharply divided American citizens’ likes and dislikes. Progressive citizens actively supported it, while conservative citizens pointed out that it was too idealistic and lacked clear substance. Naturally, that included the issue of how refugees would be treated.
Footnotes:
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