WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 394: Change (11)

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“That did happen. It was unexpected. Someone as high up as the vice president suddenly came to see me, made a rather odd remark, and went away. But pressure? I don’t quite understand...”

“The root cause is the gender imbalance.”

Anne answered as she opened the food packaging.

“Despite the steady losses so far, the numerical gender ratio hasn’t tilted to a truly fatal level. But citizens are bound to feel it differently. For one thing-”

Gyeoul accepted the fork she held out.

“First, Shangjiang Yang Yongbin’s nuclear terrorism left a powerful shock behind, and 26 percent of the young population between nineteen and thirty-four is deployed to the front. People think the soldiers on the quarantine front are dying constantly. Which is true, of course, but what I mean is...”

“They feel it as being much worse than the actual number of combat deaths?”

“Exactly.”

The conversation broke off naturally. The chicken, fried once and stir-fried in a dark red sauce, was surprisingly not greasy. The heat and moderate aroma, mild enough for Americans to enjoy without much resistance, cut through the oiliness typical of Chinese food. The first bite was strongly seasoned, but it went well with the tender, clean white meat and the rich juices. The fried rice under the chicken was good too. Seeing the change in Gyeoul’s expression, Anne looked pleased and asked,

“Do you like it?”

“This is really good. I can see why you come here often.”

“That’s a relief. I was worried Thanksgiving might end with food you didn’t want to eat.”

“My palate isn’t that picky. You know that, don’t you? If anything, I’m closer to someone who eats rough food.”

“Ah, that’s a relief too. Considering the future.”

After wondering why that was a relief, Gyeoul became a little embarrassed. Anne, who had been watching him eat with obvious pleasure, picked up the thread again.

“To continue what I was saying earlier... As the holiday-heavy end of the year approaches, more people have started feeling the absence of those who went to the front. Our workload has increased that much too.”

“Protests?”

“Yes. The so-called 「Bring the Men Home」 movement. The actual name varies a little from group to group, though. Some people even drag last month’s coup into it, saying this happened because all the useful men were sent to the front.”

“That would be pretty upsetting for the women fighting on the front lines to hear.”

“It would, but... it’s also true that relatively few women volunteer for combat branches. Especially in the Army, where the casualties are concentrated. The situation is different from the Air Force or the Coast Guard.”

At the mention of the Coast Guard, Gyeoul thought of Ensign Violeta Escamilla, who had escaped San Francisco with him. She had been an officer worthy of trust. Perhaps she had been promoted, like Lieutenant Barker. No, she certainly had been. Her prospects had to be bright too. The time she spent in Olema was a rare career credential.

‘I wonder if she’s doing well these days. She was capable and had a good personality.’

She should have returned to shipboard duty, so at least she was probably not dead. Unless the situation was abnormally unfavorable, a proper warship should not normally face a crisis against Melville Rays. The losses from the early appearances of Melville Rays had happened because they were ambushed before anyone knew a new monster existed.

In that context, the popularity of the Air Force and the Coast Guard made sense. The Navy was also relatively safe, but unlike the Coast Guard, whose activities were limited to the North American coast, the Navy often conducted blue-water operations, so it was less popular. Relatively speaking, at least. Either way, it was preferred over the Army.

For that reason, Gyeoul’s Independent Battalion was quite an exception. From the Department of Defense’s perspective, it was a model case. The traits of the refugee zone and the Gyeoul Alliance were not issues to consider for publicity.

Gyeoul, who had been lost in thought, shifted his gaze.

“It sounds like Vice President Sanders’s goal isn’t just to divert the public’s attention.”

“How and where you and I met. That alone could be used as a political message to send into civil society. Mm, I mean that’s how it will look to the people involved.”

“...”

“They probably considered the effect it would have on soldiers too. Even the greatest war hero plans for the future... Gyeoul is as famous as anyone can be, and the actions of celebrities easily become trends.”

“Like copycat suicides. I’ve heard of that in passing. Was it called the Werther effect?”

“Similar. Though that’s a negative example.”

Anne scratched her cheek and let out a light sigh.

“To be honest, refugee hatred is tangled up in this too.”

“...Refugee hatred? How?”

“If I borrow the words of slightly insane or deficient potential criminals, the incitement usually goes something like this. 「While the war against the plague destroys American families and murders generations not yet born, endlessly immoral and promiscuous Chinese are breeding like pigs and increasing their numbers. If things continue this way, our beautiful homeland will one day be occupied by the Chinese. We shed the blood, and shameless communists reap the fruit. Therefore, we must protect our families and our future children. This is another war for the survival of humanity.」”

“My God.”

Gyeoul let out a hollow laugh. It reminded him of a cheap article from some yellow press outlet that had raised suspicions over whether he was a communist. He had simply laughed it off at the time, but looking back, it seemed there had been a background to it. They must have suspected Gyeoul’s leanings because he had accepted Chinese people under his command. His usual behavior would not have helped either.

“Here. Drink this. It’ll make you feel a little better.”

Anne handed Gyeoul a bottle of beer.

Alcohol did not actually help much. No matter how finely reproduced the drunkenness was, he did not enjoy the sensation itself, and because 「Toxic Resistance」 had grown stronger, it was hard for him to get drunk unless the liquor was fairly strong.

But Gyeoul paused when he saw the label. Blue Moon.

“This...”

“What is it?”

“This is the beer you said you drank that day.”

“That day?”

Anne looked puzzled, as if it did not come to mind right away. She did not seem to be playing innocent. Feeling a little more at ease, Gyeoul pushed through even greater embarrassment than before and said,

“The day I said that I... hoped I would come to love you.”

“Wow.”

Anne did not hide her surprise.

“You remember even something that small?”

“It was an important conversation to me. So I thought about it often.”

“...Wow.”

Anne was silent for quite a while. Then she looked at the bottle in her hand, hesitated, and brought it to her lips. She looked like someone drinking an unfamiliar beverage for the first time. After slowly rolling it around in her mouth, she swallowed the mouthful of beer, opened the eyes she had briefly closed, and let out the breath she had been holding.

“It’s good.”

Deep satisfaction could be felt in that single phrase. Gyeoul opened his bottle too. It was a wheat beer that went down smoothly. It smelled like orange. There seemed to be a hint of coriander mixed in too, almost without him noticing. His mouth filled with a nutty flavor and sweetness that resembled milk. The aftertaste after swallowing reminded him of caramel made with less sugar. Gyeoul had never tasted a better beer.

“I really do feel better.”

At Gyeoul’s words, Anne pressed the back of the hand holding the beer to her forehead and chuckled.

“That’s a relief.”

After savoring another sip, Gyeoul mulled over the conversation they had shared so far with a lighter head.

“They only need to hold out a little longer.”

“Hm?”

“The people you mentioned, Anne. Once the Continental Partition operation succeeds, many soldiers will be able to return home before long. Then the country can build up its strength and push back out again.”

Anne looked doubtful.

“What if the occupation of the Isthmus of Panama fails?”

Gyeoul swallowed the answer that almost came out. Because of the loosened atmosphere, he had nearly spilled classified information. Even if Anne was a senior official of the Bureau, he could not share information about Esther with her. The same went for the chemical weapon likely being developed based on Pastor Park Tae-sun’s partial immunity. It was not only Gyeoul. If things went wrong, Anne might suffer for it too. If word leaked somewhere and someone seized on it, the sentence would be at least ten years in prison. In the end, Gyeoul spoke as if it were a baseless conviction.

“It will succeed. Without fail.”

Had something shown in his voice? Anne, who had tilted her head, gently narrowed her brow.

“There’s something I’m not supposed to know, isn’t there?”

“...Aren’t you a little too sharp?”

“It’s my job. Still, don’t worry. This isn’t an interrogation room.”

Gyeoul gave a small laugh at Anne’s joke and took another sip of Blue Moon. After taking a deep breath, he slowly turned the bottle as he spoke.

“I understand the situation, but honestly, I don’t like what Vice President Sanders said.”

Anne shrugged.

“I understand. It must have looked like he was trying to use even your private life. But that’s what politics is. One bad photo can cut approval ratings in half, a single word said in private can endanger an administration, and one scene from daily life exposed to the press can end a senator’s term... Vice President Sanders has gone through something similar too.”

“What was it?”

“His comment, 「Politics is vulgar. Because it is the work of people,」 became controversial. The press strongly criticized him, asking if the vice president considered citizens vulgar.”

“It certainly sounds easy to interpret that way. How did Vice President Sanders handle it?”

Since he had overcome that crisis, he was still the vice president.

“He explained himself.”

Anne ate a dumpling and continued.

“「People have noble sides and vulgar sides. Politics is the vulgar half of people. Those who interpret my words only in the worst way should think of the country that fought a war because of soccer and the country that achieved a ceasefire thanks to a soccer player. In both the former and the latter case, what was dirty was politics. But the latter shows that one person’s nobility can stand against that vulgarity. Every citizen of a democratic nation must strive to become such a person. You must not look away from half of yourself because it is vulgar. That was what I meant...」 My memory isn’t exact, but the general content should be similar. It stuck with me.”

The country that fought a war because of soccer, and the country that achieved a ceasefire thanks to a soccer player. Feeling as though he had vaguely heard of them before, Gyeoul searched through blurred, old memories. Anne seemed to notice and added with a soft smile.

“In 1969, El Salvador and Honduras went to war because of the World Cup qualifiers. Of course, plenty of emotions had built up before then. Soccer was only the fuse. Still, it’s true that a mere soccer match triggered an all-out war. Honduras even lost its administrative capital within five days. If America hadn’t intervened, neighboring countries would have been caught in the flames too.”

“...”

“I think Gyeoul has heard of the soccer player who stopped a war, at least temporarily.”

“Who was it?”

“Didier Drogba. You don’t know him?”

“I think I’ve heard the name.”

Since a slight 「Intelligence correction」 appeared, it seemed that in the reinterpreted past, considering Gyeoul’s background, he was someone Gyeoul should have known.

Anne spoke lightly.

“Anyway, I wanted to tell you that you don’t need to worry about it so much. Just think of it as the nature of that ‘vulgar’ world. So what if he’s the vice president? He’s someone who’ll be stepping down soon anyway.”

“Were you okay, Anne? After hearing that from me.”

At Gyeoul’s question, Anne looked puzzled.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“The reason I was a little angry wasn’t because I disliked him trying to use something as private as marriage. I was worried that someday, when I made an, um, important request... to you, you might misunderstand the background.”

Anne’s eyes widened slightly, as if she had not guessed that far. Gyeoul nodded carefully.

“Seeing you now, I’m glad it seems like needless worry. But since the topic has come up, I’ll make it clear. My feelings are mine. The way I treat you will always be sincere too. So I hope you never worry about anything unnecessary, even by some tiny chance. That’s the only thing that bothers me.”

Anne stared at Gyeoul with a strained, unreadable expression. After a delay, she formed a weak smile.

“Do you know that? That was quite dangerous just now.”

A little later, the NFL game began. The Washington Redskins against the Dallas Cowboys. Anne cheered passionately and celebrated without holding back. It was a side of her Gyeoul had never seen before.

Footnotes:

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