WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 353: A Splendid Invitation (5)
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The next person scheduled for an interview was Li Ailing. Because Gyeoul had deliberately packed the schedule tight, she had arrived early and ran into the White Paper Ship trio as they left the battalion commander’s office. She froze for a moment, but Sun Xian and the other two gave her a slight nod and passed by.
“......”
Ailing returned the nod, conscious of Gyeoul’s gaze from inside the open door. A faint resistance and confusion showed on her face. It was a scene that said plenty about their usual relationship.
Unlike the three before her, who had worn Dress Blue, Ailing entered in combat uniform with a weapon on her. The fingertips she raised in salute trembled slightly. So did the long breath she let out. Fierce desire burned in her eyes. Gyeoul greeted her in an easy tone.
“It’s been a while since we had a proper talk. Have you been well?”
“Yes. Thanks to your concern.”
Her tone was stiff. It felt very much as though she were making a point of acting like a soldier. At the same time, that attitude defined her relationship with Gyeoul. The person standing before you is not that sickening Triad Incense Master, but Ensign Li Ailing of the Army.
After a pause, she said, “I’m glad you returned safely.”
“Well, I was lucky.”
There had been plenty of moments when he might have died. When he was stranded on Alameda Island, when he was trapped on the secret deck of the Pequod, when he escaped across a night sea where countless ships collided and monsters prowled beneath the waves, when he went north again from there to gather the defeated soldiers...
After surviving all those crises, the fact that Gyeoul’s afterlife still continued was surprising enough.
In the past, all he had felt was the fatigue of showing consideration for the living. But these days, now that he had begun to think existing a while longer with Star Child might not be so bad, the crises he had already overcome sometimes took on new meaning.
Gyeoul repeated it.
“I really was lucky.”
“......”
“Let’s leave the formal greetings there and get to the point. Ensign Li Ailing.”
“Yes!”
“I don’t know if the personnel officer gave you advance notice, but as of today, your volunteer platoon will be incorporated into Bravo Company’s 2nd Platoon under the 201st Independent Battalion. You will be the platoon leader.”
There was no way she had received advance notice about the change in assignment. Gyeoul had controlled the delivery.
“I’ll leave the platoon’s organization primarily to you. Remove anyone you need to remove, and accept anyone you need to accept. Get Captain Murray’s approval. Unless there’s a major problem, it should be approved as is.”
The reason Murray, the intelligence officer, was also handling the personnel officer’s role was, in the end, the chronic shortage of officers. Murray was hardly going to object to the composition of a Chinese platoon they barely knew.
In other words, Gyeoul was giving Ailing a chance to sort people out. Merely holding the authority to organize a platoon that would belong to a standing unit gave her considerable leverage.
Ailing asked, “Then what about Changlong... no, Ensign Pei?”
This question mattered.
“Pei won’t be included in this organization.”
Gyeoul made no promise about next time.
‘There really is a difference in attitude.’
A person’s true feelings showed in the first question they asked. The three who had just left were wary of Li Ailing, the Triad Incense Master, but Ailing was more wary of Pei, her father’s person, than of those three. That meant a psychological gap that large had opened between them. Exactly as Min Wan-ki had said.
Ailing’s next question did not stray from the expected course.
“Who will be taking command of the company?”
“They’ll assume the post in the near future.”
“So you’re saying it won’t be someone who was already here.”
“That’s how it turned out.”
Gyeoul recited the new 2nd Company commander’s background. He emphasized that the officer was capable and had real combat experience, going into more detail than he had when Sun Xian asked. He wanted to see a particular reaction, but Ailing’s expression did not change at all. She could have shown at least disappointment, if not ambition.
After thinking quietly for a moment, Gyeoul called to Ailing.
“Ensign.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll give you a chance. Become one of my people.”
It was exactly like what Lieutenant General Xieru had once said to Gyeoul. This offer, dropped without context, finally left Ailing flustered.
“I’m not sure what you mean... by that.”
“I mean exactly what I said. Here, as a soldier, make a new start with me.”
“......”
It must have been what she wanted to hear. Gyeoul recalled something.
“When I went to San Francisco, I met an old general of the former People’s Liberation Army out on that sea. Because of the circumstances, I can’t reveal the exact rank or name... But anyway, that person told me something memorable. Why Chinese people emphasize private loyalty and trust.”
That had been Lieutenant General Xieru’s understanding of human limits.
“In short, it was a means of self-help.”
“......”
“China was such a huge country that the order within it could never be delicate enough to look after every single person. Even chaos that would have been minor in another country becomes overwhelming in scale in China. The number of people sacrificed to each bout of chaos is never small, but at the national level, it amounts to no more than minor damage. If you blindly trust and depend on society alone, you’ll drown in a sea of people. So not for some particular gain, but first of all to survive, people had to build fences of private relationships. That was how I understood it. The wording was a little different, though.”
It had come from another Chinese person. The perspective might be unfamiliar, but the concept would be familiar. Ailing replied.
“That person was probably talking about guanxi.”
“More precisely, it was an explanation of why guanxi was necessary.”
“The reason you’re telling me this is......”
“You know. I’m telling you to come out of your old fence completely.”
If you want to enter my fence.
The words he swallowed were more effective left unsaid.
“If your position were the same as before, I wouldn’t have made this offer.”
Ailing seemed suspicious of his intent and held back her answer, so Gyeoul continued.
“I would have quietly appointed you and left it at that. As a signal that Lieutenant Colonel Han Gyeoul doesn’t care about a person’s original nationality or affiliation when using them. The refugees here need to receive a message like that... But I would have ended it right there. Your career in the U.S. military would have ended at Ensign.”
“...Then do you think differently now?”
“I heard what happened while I was gone.”
After hesitating, Ailing asked another question.
“If I say I’ll come out, can you believe me?”
“I told you. I’ll give you a chance.”
“......”
“I heard there’s a saying in China that a deal without a written contract is the real deal. It means you don’t just give and receive exactly as agreed and then end it, but value a long-term relationship built on trust... I’m not sure if I understood that correctly.”
Gyeoul looked straight at Ailing.
“Anyway, what matters is that this is how I’ll act from now on. Still, shouldn’t we have at least this much of a promise to reduce unnecessary worries and conflict? You’ll have plenty to suffer over from now on.”
Just because it was called the alliance did not mean only good people had gathered there. There would be territorial behavior, and there would be contempt. Her relationship with the White Paper Ship faction, who had been on edge with her from the start, would be uncomfortable, and there was no way she would feel emotionally at ease with the Japanese company, which was still in the early stages of organization.
Patching up all those conflicts was Gyeoul’s role as the sole and powerful center of gravity.
‘There also isn’t any other option.’
This was why he was paying attention to the organization work. He would inevitably be away for another long stretch, and he was worried someone might fail to hold back and explode in the meantime.
He would find out how effective it had been after returning from D.C.
Leaving the selection of platoon members entirely in Ailing’s hands also meant telling her to build a new fence. For the time being, there did need to be a small fence inside the alliance’s larger one. Otherwise, loneliness alone would make it hard to endure.
“Thank... you.”
Ailing spoke slowly.
“I’ll do my best... to repay your trust.”
Gyeoul nodded.
“Yes. That much is enough.”
For now, receiving her resolve was enough. In any case, she was in a position where she herself would want to break free.
Gyeoul continued the interviews after that, but he did not worry much about the Japanese group. Those who had acted viciously because of the cannibalism incident had been swept away, so checking the internal atmosphere was enough. Whatever they felt inside, they showed a tendency to follow their superiors’ orders thoroughly. The training instructors were highly satisfied with their overall performance, and Major Singh also gave them a positive evaluation.
Private Kushinada Setsuna had changed a great deal. Her head was shaved close, she had grown thin, and small scars had appeared on her face. With dark marks under her eyes, she said she was satisfied with who she was now. Even in the battalion commander’s office, she kept checking her weapon. It was an unconscious habit of her hand.
It was unfortunate.
The next day. At dawn on the last day of September, Gyeoul was aboard a large transport aircraft, a C-130. After the personnel check was complete, the former independent company members boarded two military aircraft. Though they were large, they had less passenger capacity than civilian airliners. The scholarship students in question were added on top of that.
“Come on, why are you crying on a good day like this! Just go and study hard! There, there!”
Yura was soothing a scholarship student who was sniffling and thanking her. But no matter how many times she wiped the tears away, they kept flowing.
Arf, arf! A dog’s bark joined in. This was at the request of the public affairs office. They said he might be needed for staging. As long as it was not classified, even small details of Gyeoul’s movements had been made public. There would certainly be citizens who wanted to see the short-legged King of Spain.
“Hmm... Right! Do you like candy, by any chance? Should I give one to each of you too?”
Because she had to cut through the rumbling noise of the turboprop engines, even her gentle words came out loud. Yura took colorful fruit-flavored candies from her pocket. She carried so many of the candies that came in strips inside combat rations that even after passing them out to the scholarship students seated in a row, she still had a handful left.
On the scholarship students’ faces were anticipation, excitement, and fear of the future. Going to the eastern United States, the so-called last bastion of human civilization, was clearly something to be happy about. But when they thought about living away from their families for a long time, they could not simply enjoy it. All the more so when riots based on anti-Chinese sentiment had been common until recently.
In the middle of that, most of the students kept glancing at Gyeoul. They were close in age, but their social standing was completely different. Their interest was only natural. Even the seating arrangement had followed the students’ wishes.
“Excuse me! Could I ask you for just one autograph?”
Gyeoul readily accepted one male student’s request.
“Sure. Where should I sign?”
“Here, in my notebook......”
The student held out a notebook with a camouflage-colored hard cover. There was nothing strange about it. In a refugee zone renting space inside a military base, military supplies were treated as common daily goods.
Gyeoul found it oddly fitting.
‘If he puts it up on an auction site or something... would it help when he’s short on money?’
From the student who wanted the autograph, he could see another desire beyond simple goodwill. Considering his situation, it was natural. First, it would help as a prop for building early relationships, and if things became difficult, he could sell it and put the money toward living expenses.
Unlike with the cook Meng Donglu before, the public affairs office had also set guidelines for this.
The students who saw this all raised their hands at once.
“Me too! Please do one for me too!”
“Lieutenant Colonel! You’re so cool! I’m a fan!”
“Our Little Captain! Please marry me! I’ll make you happy for the rest of your life!”
Laughter spread at the last shout. Even the student Yura had been comforting until then ended up wiping the corners of their eyes with the back of a hand and letting out a small laugh.
After landing, they took a group photo before leaving the transport aircraft.
Yura, who had taken the picture for them, returned the Net Warrior terminal and smiled.
“Captain, you’re supposed to start doing SNS seriously now. Upload it there.”
“Hmm... I’m doing it because they told me to, but it still feels a little unfamiliar.”
From today onward, he was to write at least one post a day if possible. That was the instruction Gyeoul had received, and a separate salary had even been set for it. The evaluation criteria were the number of posts, the richness of the content, and how much attention people paid to it. In other words, the military’s publicity effect.
“Haha. Don’t think too hard about it. If you just say, Hello! tens of thousands of people will share it.”
“That’s a burden in its own way......”
“Isn’t the really burdensome thing over there?”
After coming down the transport aircraft’s sloped ramp, Yura pointed at the sky beyond the city. An advertising airship floated there, trailing a giant banner.
「We welcome the visit of Lieutenant Colonel Han Gyeoul, the greatest hero of the quarantine war.」
Footnotes:
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