WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 396: Change (13)

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Judging by their reactions, it was probably true. The soldiers could not meet the now-silent Gyeoul’s eyes. They could barely breathe, their faces ashen, as if they had run into a mutant while unarmed. Gyeoul gave up questioning them, let out a sigh, and turned back to Jin-seok.

“So... me and Captain Park were, well... like that?”

Jin-seok held out the booklet he had been gripping like a club.

“See for yourself.”

He looked desperate to share every bit of his outrage. Gyeoul accepted it with a rare sour look. The cover alone was ominous. When he opened it, he saw himself drawn in a dramatic comic-book style. It could not look exactly like him, of course, but it captured enough of his features that anyone would recognize it as Gyeoul. Whoever had drawn it was undeniably skilled. And after only a few pages,

Gyeoul shut the book.

“...?”

Gyeoul blinked in silence, then opened the book again. He had not seen it wrong. He skimmed through the remaining pages. The part with Jin-seok was only the first half. After a baffling plot and scenes that were almost frightening, 「Lieutenant Colonel Han」 on the final page was pinning down a Trickster that had been beautified to a bizarre degree.

「I cannot stand a mutant that looks like this!」

At the bottom was a to be continued. Gyeoul closed the book and returned it to Jin-seok. After thinking for a moment, he spoke with the expression of someone chewing on a lemon.

“Wow.”

It took him a while to clear the afterimage from his mind. A sniffle came from nearby. Jin-seok glared in that direction, a wordless accusation asking what right they had to cry.

“Fine, those two aside, what did the last one do wrong?”

Gyeoul asked while indicating the only male enlisted soldier with his eyes. Jin-seok looked even more displeased.

“That son of a b... bastard has woman trouble.”

“I cannot even imagine.”

“He was two-timing. One was a Major from the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the other was the daughter of the Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Defense. He says he met both of them before the coup in Washington. Then today, the office of the Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Defense contacted us. They found out while checking the visitor logs at the quarters. They confirmed it through closed-circuit footage. Apparently, they also asked the Defense Intelligence Agency Major.”

“Ah...”

Gyeoul pressed a hand to his forehead. From the senior advisor’s perspective, of course it would matter what kind of man the daughter was dating. Checking the visitor logs would have been nothing. The Major was one thing, but a mere enlisted soldier had been marked by a high-ranking Department of Defense official, someone at assistant secretary level, or around Major General rank in military terms. How awkward must this have been for Jin-seok, caught in the middle?

Gyeoul beckoned to Jin-seok.

“Come here for a second.”

After putting a suitable distance between themselves and the three guilty soldiers, Gyeoul glanced at them and asked Jin-seok in a low voice.

“What are you planning to do with those three?”

“...I do not know. What disciplinary cause does this even fall under? Insulting a superior? Conduct unbecoming? Punishing them for that is awkward enough, and even if we do, would it be anything more than a reprimand? Their step increase would only be delayed by about half a year. Personally, I want to throw them out of the unit altogether, but would that even be possible?”

“You do not mean that, right? You would discharge them from the unit over something like this?”

“Of course I mean it.”

Jin-seok was firm.

“This is a matter of order and discipline. I can barely stand my subordinates looking at me or Little Captain and thinking strange things, and one bastard causing trouble for several people because he could not control himself must never happen again. I need to take decisive action and bring the rest under control.”

Gyeoul let out a dry laugh and shook his head.

“That goes too far.”

“Then what should I do?”

“Look at those three.”

Jin-seok’s sharp gaze slid toward them. Every time the soldiers felt his eyes on them, they reacted as if pricked by needles. Their faces said they were going mad with anxiety. When Jin-seok looked back at his superior, Gyeoul said,

“Just us talking separately and glancing over already has them like that. Tell them their punishment will be decided in about a week. Work them hard until then. I guarantee it will probably be the most sleepless week they have had since they enlisted.”

“...”

“After that, give them a reprimand, with the sense that you are letting it slide just this once. Unless they do something pretty impressive, they will keep receiving less pay than their peers. Every time they miss that difference, they will remember today. Even if it is not a large amount.”

“And that is the end of it?”

“What more punishment are you going to give them? You too.”

Jin-seok flinched. As he looked back with suspicion, Gyeoul spoke slowly.

“I know you have not been sleeping. The medical unit sent up a report. It even included a recommendation for psychiatric treatment as a preventive measure.”

“I...”

“To begin with, I am not exactly spotless either. I am being called to the White House tomorrow too. It is the opposite of what I wanted, but what can I do? It is already out of my hands.”

The White House event tomorrow was none other than the Medal of Honor award ceremony. Like Lieutenant General Xieru’s trial, Gyeoul had wondered if this event would be left as a gift for the next administration, but perhaps to create a festive mood for Christmas Eve, it had been scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday the 24th.

Of course, Gyeoul was not receiving a third Medal of Honor. Instead, the President had informed him that he would pin two Crosses on him there. There would be no separate promotion. Gyeoul thought he understood the picture the man wanted.

Gyeoul said,

“So the Captain’s punishment will also end with a reprimand. The reason will be failure to follow orders. That has been decided.”

“Is that so?”

Jin-seok let out a troubled sigh, his expression complicated. This was an unavoidable compromise too. As Anne had advised, the Department of Defense did not want to leave an official record of excessive suppression against the rebels. Someday, when the world was ready to accept it, Gyeoul himself could give separate testimony.

“Separately, there is one thing I am worried about.”

Gyeoul pointed at Jin-seok.

“Your condition.”

“...”

“How do you judge your own state? Will you be able to perform your duties for the time being without problems? I have always been worried you looked like you might break. Even more so lately.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Assuming you can, I would like you to hold on a little longer. At least until we return to Fort Roberts. As you know, this is an awkward time to change the Company commander. Still... if it is really too hard, tell me honestly. I will not demand that you force yourself to endure it. We also have Lieutenant Lee Yura.”

After thinking it over, Jin-seok answered.

“I can do it.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am sure.”

Gyeoul watched Jin-seok, then nodded. Jin-seok asked,

“If I say later that I cannot do it after all, what happens to me then? Do I move to a staff position? There should be no vacancy there.”

“Well. First, I was planning to give you a period of rest.”

Since he had received a related proposal, Gyeoul brought it up.

“You know there is a National Defense University here in D.C., right? We received notice that they will run enhanced training for locally commissioned officers there. It was an official memo from above. Even if you step down as Company commander, if we treat it as a necessary stepping stone for promotion, it is not bad, is it? The other officers and I plan to complete it little by little as part-time training starting next spring, but I think it would be good for at least one person to go through a better curriculum. For you personally, and for our battalion and the alliance.”

There was no rule saying an officer from the alliance had to serve only in Gyeoul’s Independent Battalion.

“Think it over without pressure.”

“...Understood. Thank you for your consideration.”

Just as they were about to end the conversation, a familiar voice came from behind them.

“Huh? Little Captain? Company Commander? What are you two doing here? And why are they like that again?”

It was Yura, back from patrol. She approached while cautiously reading the room, looking back and forth between Gyeoul, Jin-seok, and the soldiers with deathly faces. Seeing sparks flare again in Jin-seok’s eyes, Gyeoul held back an awkward smile. This was not a time to show even a hint of laughter.

After hearing the whole story from Gyeoul, Yura walked over to the soldiers with a crease between her brows, put her hands on her waist, and spoke with rare ferocity.

“I am disappointed in you...”

Usually, when Jin-seok intimidated them, Yura played the role of comforting them, but this time even Yura did not cover for the soldiers. When someone like her, who rarely got angry, truly lowered her voice, the soldiers froze just as hard as they did when Jin-seok was at his most furious.

For the soldiers, this was going to be a very long week in more ways than one. It would be even more unfortunate for them because that week included the Christmas holidays.

As the night deepened, Anne called Gyeoul out by phone. These days, even after work, she made sure to see Gyeoul, if only for a short time. Since Gyeoul could not stay in Washington forever, he understood how she felt. The problem was that Gyeoul could not go far from the station, so they always met either inside the quarters or somewhere close to the White House. Today, it was south of the Treasury Department building, in front of the statue of General William Tecumseh Sherman. Around here, it was one of the less noticeable places.

“You came.”

Anne greeted Gyeoul. Even at that late hour, she wore large, lightly tinted sunglasses. After they shared a light hug, she asked Gyeoul,

“Nothing happened after you went back, right?”

“Mm... nothing...”

After hesitating, Gyeoul told her about the three soldiers. When Anne heard it, she bent forward and chuckled until she nearly lost her breath. Oh, my. Goodness. She kept muttering as she tried to stop laughing. Gyeoul did not know what was so funny, but since she was laughing, he felt good too.

“What about you, Anne? How was your day?”

“I want to say it was fine, but in reality, I was busy preventing a second and third Waco disaster.”

“The Waco disaster... That one, right? Where a cult group and the FBI clashed.”

“That is right. Though the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, ATF, went in before our Bureau did.”

It was a famous incident, so Gyeoul had heard quite a bit about it, and his Intelligence correction supplied information as well. A Christian extremist group called the Branch Davidians had stood off against law enforcement for dozens of days, and in the end, more than a hundred people died in the tragedy. It got that name because the confrontation took place near Waco, Texas.

“I remember hearing that responsibility for it was not exactly clear.”

Anne nodded.

“The initial cause was the Branch Davidians refusing to comply with the warrant, but it is true that many parts of what happened afterward remain unclear. The field records were lost. There are also conspiracy theories that the ATF destroyed some of them on purpose. There was a lot of criticism that law enforcement was too aggressive. Thanks to that, the anti-federalists were thrilled.”

“If you were trying to stop that disaster from repeating...”

“It means not only the 「Unholy Alliance」 directly involved in the rebellion, but other cults and religious militias are getting hit hard too. Militias are even fighting each other, and when the military and police, who are all fired up, join in, excessive suppression is bound to happen. The problem is that Southern public opinion, which changed rapidly because of the rebellion, the mutant smuggling, and most of all the necrotoxin issue, is actually encouraging excessive suppression...”

Anne stopped mid-sentence and looked up at the starry night. After letting out a blank plume of white breath, she lowered her gaze and gave a bitter smile.

“I am done talking about work. It is Friday, with Christmas Eve coming.”

They could not actually be together tomorrow, on Christmas Eve. Gyeoul had to attend the medal ceremony, then a White House dinner, then his unit’s own event. Neither Gyeoul nor Anne would be free on Christmas Day either. Of course, Anne would have a harder time than Gyeoul, who would mostly be on deployment standby.

They linked arms and walked along the quiet paths and lawns. Since it was late, and since Gyeoul was wearing sunglasses too, the occasional civilians they passed paid them no attention. As the Christmas tree in The Ellipse drew closer, Anne softly sang along with the faint carols.

Had about thirty minutes passed? Her phone vibrated. Anne frowned slightly, but when she saw the screen, her expression changed.

“Wait a moment. I think I have to take this call.”

After asking for his understanding, she stepped a few paces away and pressed the call button.

“Yes, Mom. What is it?”

Mom? With senses like his, Gyeoul could hear the voice leaking past Anne’s ear. He also grew curious. Anne’s mother wanted to know if her daughter could come home tomorrow. Anne gave an apologetic smile.

“I am sorry, but that will be difficult. I have work tomorrow and the day after.”

「Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. How can they do that? Frank’s third keeps asking about you. Henry, your high school classmate. You remember him, right? He was hoping he could finally see you again after all this time.」

Anne looked at Gyeoul with an oh no expression.

“Mom. I am not interested in him. And I am not alone right now, okay?”

「Hm? Are you seeing a man?」

“Probably.”

「What is with that unconfident answer?」

“Well...”

「You are nervous, aren’t you? You have such terrible taste in men.」

“...This time is different. He is a really good person.”

「I have heard that several times already. You said you would never date again about as many times too.」

Gyeoul began laughing silently. Even in the dark, he could tell Anne’s neck had flushed. Embarrassment made her speak faster.

“Please stop embarrassing me. I am with him right now.”

「Really? What is his name? What kind of useless husk is he?」

Anne squeezed her eyes shut.

“I cannot tell you yet.”

「If you cannot tell me, he must be another secret agent nobody. I have never seen a man with lots to hide do his job properly.」

“Please, Mom...”

「If he really is a good man, bring him home one day. Your father and I have had a shotgun ready since last year. Bad men are more harmful than zombies.」

“I am sorry, but I am hanging up now! Love you, Mom!”

At the sight of Anne rattling that off and hanging up one-sidedly, Gyeoul finally burst into laughter. Anne asked with the face of someone having a nightmare.

“Do not tell me you heard all of that.”

“Yes.”

“...”

Anne did not speak for a while.

Footnotes:

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