WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 398: Change (15)

──────

After receiving Gyeoul’s polite bow, Kramer turned back to face the crowd. Dressed in a black coat, he gripped the podium with both large hands and resumed his stirring speech.

“The fact that a fair election and a peaceful transfer of power can still take place in times like these shows me the greatness of this nation and its citizens. How astonishing is that? How remarkable is that? And it was you who made that astonishing, remarkable thing happen.”

Kramer pointed at the citizens, stabbing the air with his finger.

“So if you wish to see today’s victors, do not look at me standing here. Look at the family, friends, and fellow citizens beside each of you. It does not matter who you voted for. Those who voted for Edgar Kramer, and those who voted for Gerald Burns, all contributed in the end to preserving this nation’s noble spirit, its history, and its democracy.”

He paused for half a beat, then went on.

“The conspiracies of villains and their cowardly terror could not break your hearts. They only lit a fire beneath a will that will never, ever bend. That will is something we inherited from our forefathers, who won faith and peace in the face of tyranny and discrimination. And so the America I see is still one. As one, you are gathered here before me, are you not? I, Edgar Kramer, pay my respects to you, citizens. From the bottom of my heart, I pay my respects.”

He broke off and began to applaud slowly toward the foot of the podium. His clapping could be seen, but not heard. It had been buried beneath the vast plaza’s thunderous response. The sight of his supporters waving thousands of American flags looked like countless maple leaves swept along by the wind.

“You endured. You endured so well.”

The speech resumed.

“I now intend to take you as my witnesses and declare the goals of the new government I will lead. So, respected citizens, please remember the words I speak to you today. In doing so, you will be able to draw new strength every time I keep my promises. Strength to protect today, dream of tomorrow, and move toward the future. The name of that strength is Hope.”

Kramer smiled confidently.

“The first promise my administration makes to you is the restoration of the family. I will raise up once more the American families destroyed by disaster. To do that, there are people who must first return to the homes they miss so dearly. Yes. I speak of the tens of millions of disaster refugees who have still not recovered their homes. Of course, the previous administration’s excellent relief policies have sustained their livelihoods and provided them shelter, but they could not protect their self-respect. Disaster refugees sinking into the swamp of welfare have only grown more worn down and powerless by the day, much like the Native Americans we once treated with complacency.”

Before Native tribes were granted the right to operate casinos, every reservation had been full of alcoholics and drug addicts. They could receive aid money and maintain a bare minimum standard of living, but jobs were hard to find, and adapting to life outside the reservation was difficult. It had been an individual problem and a social problem at the same time. Back then, subtle discrimination existed no matter how much people pretended it did not.

That was the past Kramer had used as his example. Even so, mentioning the government’s failures toward Native Americans in an inaugural address was unusual. Especially for a Republican Party president. If even that was calculated, it had to be understood as an indirect appeal to Democratic Party supporters. As if to say, he was not a president bound by party lines. To be fair, that was true. His relationship with the party mainstream was strained.

Viewed another way, it also sounded like a declaration that he would use his high approval ratings to crush party doctrine, or anything else, if it stood in his way.

“Things must change now.”

His voice calmed the frenzy.

“Within the first one hundred days of my term, I will pass a strengthened Western Three-State Recovery Project bill. If the budget falls short, I will pour in my own fortune if I must! By doing so, disaster refugees will be able to return home sooner than originally planned. Those who have already returned will have less hardship before them. Their houses will be repaired. Their workplaces will operate again. Their families will be harmonious once more. At last, they will recover their self-respect.”

At that point, Gyeoul remembered what Anne had told him on Thanksgiving night. The calls to send the men home were growing louder, she had said. If Kramer was going to proclaim the restoration of the family, it would be hard to leave that unanswered. As soon as Gyeoul thought that, Kramer brought it up, as expected.

“At the same time, I will make every effort to return America’s sons and daughters on the front lines to their families. About one year from today! Before next Christmas comes! America’s southern border will extend to the Isthmus of Panama. When that time comes, millions of service members will be able to return to the homes they miss. When that time comes, my administration will reduce the size of the Army to thirty percent of its current level.”

Gyeoul was slightly taken aback.

‘What was that?’

He could not say it was impossible, but it was not something to promise so lightly. It was encouraging that Kramer had expressed his intent to continue advancing south regardless of public opposition, but considering Central America’s mountains, swamps, and jungles, clearing the entire region within a year would be difficult. That was why the original plan had been to sever the Isthmus of Panama through the Continental Partition operation, then slowly clear Central America after blocking the inflow of mutants from South America. To finish all that within a year, they would need a great deal of luck.

As Gyeoul thought about it, one possibility came to mind. To confirm it...

‘Should I ask directly?’

Surprisingly, that might be fine.

Kramer cleared his throat.

“Next, Edgar Kramer’s second promise is Unity. President MacMillan also said this not long ago. Hope and Unity are important. I agree. Therefore, there will be political unity in my administration. For positions such as the Secretary of Military Governance, Secretary of State, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture, and Secretary of Energy, I will either retain the existing officials or actively appoint people from the Democratic Party. Especially in the field of refugee administration, President MacMillan’s humanitarian will shall continue through the people who stood with him. I will trust them and listen to their advice.”

When Gyeoul glanced aside, the Democratic Party figures he could see did not look pleased.

“The third and final promise is quality of life. The America of my administration will pursue ultimate victory in the quarantine war, but we will not allow that victory to destroy your lives. Because, naturally, the reason we seek victory is that we are trying to protect life. To that end, I will make safe zones safer, secure more islands as production bases, and systematize the distribution of industries and materials, all so that you may regain the lives you had before the plague. I will place greater abundance on the tables of the families you will restore. You deserve to enjoy that life. Because you are citizens of America.”

The speech was now entering its final stretch.

“Enjoying a sufficient life does not mean laziness or carelessness. We are Americans. We are people prepared to defend ourselves at any time. Therefore, amid abundant comfort, we will steadily and fiercely prepare for complete and flawless victory. America’s productivity will grow day by day within stable borders. With the overwhelming power and righteous anger we build over time, we will defeat the enemy once more. The future I promise you will be neither the right path nor the wrong path, but the only path!”

His powerful cry dyed the cold season with burning heat. From the plaza below the podium, across the reflecting pool before the Capitol, and all the way to the east side of the National Mall, the vast open space was packed with citizens who had come to watch the inauguration. Kramer raised a clenched fist toward the crowd.

“Thank you! May God bless me and all of you! Thank you!”

After finishing the speech, he and the First Lady exchanged brief greetings with the people in the VIP seats one by one. Naturally, Gyeoul was among them. It was a good chance to ask a question.

“Mr. President!”

Kramer, who had been hurrying past, looked back from a few steps away. After confirming that no media microphones were nearby, Gyeoul stepped closer and asked.

“Has that weapon been completed, by any chance?”

Since the handover of duties had already been completed, Kramer would know what he meant.

Kramer thought for a moment, then grinned instead of answering and gave him a thumbs-up. He looked full of confidence.

The weapon Gyeoul referred to was the chemical weapon that used Pastor Park Tae-sun’s partial immunity. Judging by Kramer’s reaction, Elijah Campbell’s idea seemed to have produced a concrete result.

‘I wasn’t sure how practical a weapon could be with only stage-one immunity...’

Park Tae-sun’s constitution was immune to only one of the pathogens that made up the Morgellons complex. Gyeoul had expected that even if weaponized, it would be difficult for it to prove fatal to mutants. At most, it might increase the number of mutants suffering minor illnesses, slightly reduce the ratio of special mutants, or slightly increase the number of incomplete deformed mutants. 「Insight」 had affirmed that prediction.

Thinking about it another way, though, the current United States had the capacity to secure an entirely new level of strategic superiority even if it shaved only a few percent off the mutants’ combat power. This was the kind of difference created by the reality of a state still functioning normally.

Put differently, even if they found someone with an incredibly high level of immunity, that immunity would have been useless if the state capable of researching and weaponizing it had already collapsed.

Then again, who knew? If 「Plague Immunity」 reached the realm of a superhuman or a god, perhaps it might become a biological weapon capable of driving away plagues all by itself.

Gyeoul actually had a way to learn that answer. Ever since he had repaid his policy loan in full, the stars coming in from the outside world had only been piling up untouched in the night sky that belonged to Gyeoul alone. The biggest factor was that one Russian had gifted him more than seventeen million stars.

If he spent them, it might be possible to obtain a high-level 「Plague Immunity」. Or there was the indirect method of strengthening Talent Benefit. Since it was a method that permanently affected him regardless of the cycle as long as he remained in this world setting, the cost would rise sharply, but still.

He was reluctant.

Not only because the Russian who had given him so many stars had left behind suspicious words.

The question from the Star Child, now Bom, weighed on him.

The child had said there was some conclusion Gyeoul had to reach in this world. If Gyeoul solved the end of this world through transcendent means despite that, the child might accept that act itself as the conclusion Gyeoul had reached, in other words, as the answer to the question. Whatever words he added then would not be as persuasive as the action he had already taken.

Of course, that would not directly lead to affirmation of Gyeoul’s heavy stone, sour grapes, or hatred. But it could be interpreted as affirmation of transcendent interference in the outside world.

Gyeoul did not know Bom’s abilities. But he had encountered plenty of views describing a fully autonomous artificial intelligence beyond the singularity as a godlike being. As Bom had said, humanity had long been wary of the completion of artificial intelligence. That meant there had been a reason to be wary. That completion had taken place somewhere humanity did not know. Only Gyeoul knew.

Bom had declared that Bom would swim out of the water and become a whale flying through the sky for Gyeoul’s sake. Even at this moment, Bom was surely expanding that existence into unknown territory. So perhaps Bom’s abilities had reached a level better called divine authority.

That authority would probably be more than enough to take revenge on the whole world.

So Gyeoul had no choice but to be careful. Answering starlight Bom’s question was as important as obtaining a future with Anne. In truth, if someone asked whether Anne or Bom was more precious, Gyeoul was not confident he could answer.

At least for now, Gyeoul was a faint possibility of a human being. Even after receiving many corrections, he was still trapped behind the walls people had built and had not escaped human limits. A machine that had gained a mind had asked a person a question, so the answer, too, had to be the effort of a person.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried