WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 385: Change (2)
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「That day, there were people who stirred up chaos to make us hate and distrust one another. Half of the information they spread consisted of lies they had created themselves, and the other half was made of past events, cleverly edited. And in the confusion those lies created, other villains revealed their filthy nature. All of them will pay the proper price for their crimes. I offer my respect to the investigative authorities working to uncover the truth and arrest the culprits. I also offer my deep gratitude to everyone who trusted me on that street that day.」
The fingers that had been tapping the keyboard slowly and carefully stopped. Gyeoul stared at the blinking cursor for a while, decided there were no more sentences to fix, and pressed the button to finish the post.
Well over a hundred million people were watching Gyeoul's SNS account. The response to the message was immediate, and it grew at a tremendous speed. Even choosing which comments to answer was work. As he read down the list, a somehow familiar profile picture caught his eye. The comment said this.
「Timothy_Williams: I am very angry that those bad people used our pain, and that we were used exactly the way they wanted. I think all of America must reject discrimination with one heart so this kind of thing never happens again.」
There were occasional spelling mistakes, but it was clear he had tried hard to write politely.
When Gyeoul looked at the picture more closely, the sense of deja vu he had felt was not mistaken. It was the leader of the group that had lynched the White Cell agents and two police officers. When they had crossed paths, half the man's face had been covered by a gas mask, so Gyeoul had been slow to recognize him. His group had shouted this: Black lives matter too.
After turning it over in his mind, Gyeoul began writing a reply.
「You are right. I thought about it several times that day too. The traitors were digging into America's weakness. That weakness was the hardened mass of prejudice, grief, and anger we failed to resolve long ago. It was a weakness that might already have disappeared if we had acted more wisely and spoken to one another with more warmth. That is why I agree with you once again. We must overcome this weakness. We must trust one another and stand firmly together. We must make sure no one and no crisis can break this solidarity. I believe we can do that. I believe in the citizens of America. I believe in the strength of this country.」
He fixed it, then fixed it again. It took ten minutes to write this short post. A problem might arise from some small detail. Only after reading it several more times did Gyeoul finally move on to the next part.
「But even in pursuit of that goal, actions against malice must not be stained by malice. I mean that we must not create new victims. Violence is the end of dialogue, and hatred is the end of understanding. Without dialogue and understanding, a tragedy like this can happen again at any time. I hope all of you will look back on yourselves as well. This is my small request.」
He finished the post there.
Timothy Williams did not act shamelessly. Perhaps he had spent a long time thinking, or perhaps he had struggled to polish his sentences the way Gyeoul had, because his reply came a little late.
「Timothy_Williams: I know. My friends and I were at fault too. We should be punished for this too. We plan to turn ourselves in. I want to tell the police officers my friends and I hurt that I am sorry.」
Compared to the impression Gyeoul remembered, this politeness came as quite a surprise.
He would not receive heavy punishment. The primary cause had been the traitors, there was no need to provoke the public, and more than anything, this was a good case to turn into a heartwarming story. A light punishment could also lead to a virtuous cycle. If more people admitted their own mistakes, perhaps the mood would improve that much.
「Deborah_Carter: Han, my hero! Thank you for saving Kramer! He said he would never forget your help! I saw the picture you took together. Are you two close in private too? If you support him, he and I would both be so happy! I love you!」
"...."
It had absolutely nothing to do with the post Gyeoul had written, but many other people besides her were asking similar questions. Half of it was Kramer's fault. He had made a habit of saying he would definitely repay Gyeoul for saving him. In other words, he was gathering support from people who liked Gyeoul and wanted Gyeoul to be rewarded.
It could easily have looked transparent, but not many people resented him for it. A closed-circuit camera had captured him beating up a terrorist and taking the weapon away. After that footage was released, public goodwill toward him had shot up sharply. Some were even saying that emphasizing his relationship with Gyeoul was nothing more than locking in an already favorable image. Americans liked heroes.
The president's collapse had an effect too. Voices calling for unshaken order and a strong president were growing louder.
'I don't know how sincere he is.'
Gyeoul was not naive enough to take the goodwill Kramer displayed at face value. Not because he was Kramer, but because he was a politician. Still, when they had met before, Kramer himself had said this. I am a man who keeps clear accounts. I never forget a friend in hard times.
Naturally, Gyeoul did not answer Deborah Carter's comment.
"10%."
Two days after the rebellion was suppressed, an unfamiliar Major from the public affairs office had come to see Gyeoul and left him with those words.
"At this point, we estimate your influence at 10%. That is a minimum figure."
"Sorry, but I don't quite understand what you mean."
"I mean your influence on the presidential election, Sir. At least 10% of voters will change the candidate they support based on your opinion. Some are even calling you the third running mate."
"...."
"For that reason, I ask you again. Please be careful with your words and actions from now on."
"...Is that all? No other measures?"
"None."
"Why?"
At Gyeoul's question, the Major answered with a restrained smile.
"Because we have decided it would now be inappropriate to control everything you say and do. This is a time when sincerity is needed more than ever, is it not? The public affairs office will trust Lieutenant Colonel Han Gyeoul."
Now, as he chewed over that conversation, Gyeoul sank into slight skepticism.
'It doesn't look like keeping my mouth shut will help.'
Kramer was freely riding on Lieutenant Colonel Han Gyeoul's popularity. Thanks to excellent image-making, many people saw him as Gyeoul's friend.
But Gyeoul was in no position to do anything about it. Only silence was allowed. The more Kramer's victory felt like inevitable fate, the more uneasy he became. He did not think Kramer was necessarily a bad person, but the prophecy of the Star Child who had awakened as Bom bothered him. He wondered whether the future the child had foreseen included Kramer's election too.
Maybe it was an empty worry. Yet the presidential election was more than important enough to become a major turning point for this world.
Knock knock.
Just as his thoughts were about to deepen, a knock sounded, and the door to the hospital room opened carefully. Seeing the person entering, Gyeoul closed his laptop and pushed it aside. Then, after receiving a salute from the visitor, he spoke to the police officer who had entered with Jin-seok.
"If it's all right, could you step out for a moment? I want to talk with this officer alone."
The officer hesitated.
"That violates escort regulations...."
"This is my subordinate officer. Nothing will happen. I guarantee it."
After hesitating, the officer gave a short bow and stepped out. Only then did Gyeoul look at the visitor.
"It feels like it's been a very long time. I'm glad you're safe, Captain."
It had been a long time since he had spoken Korean too. Perhaps guessing that Gyeoul was aware of the listening ears outside, Jin-seok, who stood at attention, also answered in Korean.
"I am relieved that you look all right as well, Battalion Commander. I was very worried when I heard you had been badly hurt."
"That is just how things turned out. At ease."
Jin-seok changed posture at Gyeoul's words, but the stiffness did not disappear. Why would Gyeoul be mindful of listening ears? Because the conversation they were about to have was sensitive. Jin-seok already knew what it was.
Where should he start? After thinking for a while, Gyeoul slowly opened his mouth.
"First, I want to tell you that you worked hard. You did well. Truly. Aside from the combat results, I think the fact that nobody died was an incredible achievement. But...."
A short sigh.
"While I was visiting the hospitalized soldiers, I heard something that bothered me a little."
Among Alpha Company's wounded, the severely injured patients had been transferred here, to the Eagle's Nest where Gyeoul was staying. They were people who were practically certain to be disabled, so Gyeoul had asked Anne for permission and taken time to meet and comfort each of them.
That was when several soldiers carefully confessed something they had never told anyone. Gyeoul read pain and guilt in their expressions.
Gyeoul asked about the cause.
"They said they shot enemies who had lost the ability to resist, one-sidedly. Several times."
"That is true. I gave the order."
The admission was too quick and concise.
"Let's hear your explanation first. Why did you do it?"
"We had to."
"I am asking why you had to."
Before Gyeoul, whose voice gradually lowered as he pressed the question, Jin-seok stood rigid with tension. Even so, Jin-seok straightened and answered calmly.
"There were too many enemies to take prisoners."
"...."
"We were only one Company. The situation was urgent, we had no proper means to restrain them or place to detain them, and it was impossible to pull separate personnel for prisoner management while combat continued. The unit also had to keep moving, so we could not scatter our forces here and there, could we? If we had done that, many more would certainly have been injured, or even killed. Lieutenant Lee Yura also agreed with my judgment. She was distressed by it, but she agreed that it was an unavoidable choice in order to save more people, including civilians."
"I guessed that much."
Gyeoul answered.
"Before calling you, I read the reports and other materials closely. When I overlaid the routes and the map, I got a rough sense of it. Why you made one decision here, why you moved that way at the next road. I know most of it was unavoidable. Even so, the reason I called you here was that I simply could not accept the Company's final offensive."
Chronologically, this had happened after Gyeoul was evacuated. In other words, it was after the rebels had begun to collapse in earnest. From that point on, Jin-seok's explanation lost its persuasiveness. It would have been fine to call on the cornered enemies who had lost their will to resist to surrender. The rebellion had failed anyway.
Yet Jin-seok chose to kill them all to the end. Through cross-checking the materials, and with the help of the link between 「Combat Sense」 and 「Insight」, the final fight reconstructed in Gyeoul's mind was too cruel and one-sided to call a battle.
"Maybe."
Gyeoul voiced a charitable guess.
"Maybe it was a simple mistake. No one can always make the right call. I thought Combat High, fear, or anger toward the enemy might have paralyzed your thinking, and you might have simply kept doing what you had been doing."
Then he asked, as if confirming it.
"What do you think? Was that it?"
Jin-seok did not answer.
Gyeoul sighed and nodded.
"So you were greedy for achievements after all. Because you hated being held up even for a moment.... Before the situation ended completely, you wanted to rack up even a little more combat success."
But the battle had ended there.
At last, Jin-seok opened their mouth in a low voice.
"I am sorry. At the time, I thought it was the best choice for the Company."
"The best choice for the Company?"
"Yes. The enemy had not explicitly stated an intent to surrender, so I judged that even if the truth became known, there would be no room for criticism. Everyone would see it as bastards who obviously deserved to die having died, as them receiving the punishment they deserved.... Like that. More medals and more opportunities for promotion. And the reputation of the unit itself. It was hard to give that up. For myself, for the Company members, and for our allies."
"Doesn't it occur to you that this sounds like an excuse for your own greed?"
"It does."
"...I asked you, didn't I? I asked you to pay attention to the fact that the soldiers would be stressed by killing. Even so, you ordered unnecessary killings. I really, really don't like that."
"...."
Seeing Jin-seok make no defense, Gyeoul let out another sigh.
"There is no point talking any further. Go rest. I will decide your disposition later."
Jin-seok left after giving a precise salute.
Left alone, Gyeoul propped up his chin and sank into thought.
He had said he would decide on a disposition, but as Jin-seok had said, people would not see that decision as wrong. Just as they viewed Gyeoul's torture. Who would call it a crime to torture or kill unprecedented villains who blew up bombs to massacre civilians, brought in living variants to weaponize necrotoxin, and finally raised a rebellion that devastated the capital?
So it would be difficult to impose any real punishment.
Gyeoul, who had made Jin-seok a Company commander while knowing Jin-seok's tendencies, could not say he bore no responsibility at all. A subordinate's wrongdoing was also a superior's wrongdoing. More than anything, the fact that every member of the unit had survived meant the choice of Company commander had not been a failure. At least in that respect, Jin-seok had done better than expected.
Gyeoul thought for a long time.
Footnotes:
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