WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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Chapter 444: Stuffed Paradise (6)

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Beside the track on the U.S. Army War College athletic field was a playground for the children of faculty and staff. Two sets of swings and two slides. Small and shabby, it had never been especially popular, but that changed a great deal once Gyeoul began staying in the nearby quarters. More and more children started perching here and there, sneaking looks toward the track and the quarters. Once Easter week began, plenty of them even came out at dawn to claim spots. It was spring break, after all, and it lasted a full week.

Spring in Carlisle had a wide gap between day and night temperatures. It was hard to pretend not to notice children waiting in the cold wind from early morning, so once Gyeoul finished his 1.5-mile run, he went over to them. At first, the children’s eyes and mouths went round. Soon, though, with the innocent friendliness particular to their age, they began peppering him with questions.

"Lieutenant Colonel! Is it true you're dating Tisha right now?"

Gyeoul wondered inwardly at the unfamiliar name.

"Who is Tisha?"

"Tisha Woodbury! Number one on this week's Billboard chart! The person who sang Eternal Bondage!"

"Ah."

Only after hearing the full name did Gyeoul remember. Tisha Woodbury was a singer who had once visited as part of a morale performance troupe when the independent company was stationed on a state university campus near Davis, back during Operation Boar Hunt.

Gyeoul shook his head.

"No. We've met, but we're not close."

"Then Victoria Williams? McKenzie Hill? Sierra Watson?"

The names of blond celebrities poured out one after another. Anne's identity still seemed to be a hot topic among people who liked Gyeoul.

When Gyeoul answered no each time, the child looked frustrated.

"Then who in the world is your girlfriend, Lieutenant Colonel...? Can't you tell just me?"

"Sorry, but I can't."

To protect Anne's modest plan, Gyeoul could not let his mouth run carelessly. As the wedding was inevitably delayed, the little plot Anne was weaving had become more and more precious to Gyeoul as well.

The child, who had been biting their lip anxiously, soon put on a solemn expression.

"Then please tell me just one thing."

"What is it?"

"The person you're dating right now. Is she pretty?"

Gyeoul almost burst out laughing.

"Of course. She's the prettiest person in the world."

It was not a lie. She really did look that way to Gyeoul.

The child nodded in admiration.

"I knew it. I'll become a soldier like you, Lieutenant Colonel, and marry the prettiest person in the world too."

Then the girl beside him smacked the back of his head.

"Hey. You're mine."

"..."

The boy rubbed the spot where he had been hit and looked ready to cry.

One of the other children, giggling nearby, held out an album and a pen to Gyeoul.

"Please sign here."

It was an album by the metal band led by Rex Gordon, a vocalist and guitarist who had been part of the morale performance troupe like Tisha Woodbury. The album was titled Ever Winter.

The title came from the 201st Independent Battalion's official nickname. Accordingly, the music video for its title track showed the band and actors wearing the Independent Battalion's snowflake crystal unit patch. Gyeoul had seen it once too. It was a bloody, thoroughly bizarre video in which they overwhelmed a mutant horde surging in like a tidal wave with piercing screams, then advanced while beating them to death with electric guitars.

The song was called Prince of Doom. A title openly dedicated to Gyeoul.

What kind of parent bought this for a child?

Even as Gyeoul wondered, he signed the album jacket as the child asked. Maybe the album's real owner was the parent, and they had sent the child on an errand.

Meanwhile, the sound of trainees running their morning cadence drew closer from the track.

「They said the coffee in the army was mighty fine.」

「Good for cuts and bruises, and it even tasted like disinfectant.」

「They said the chicken in the army was mighty fine.」

「One chicken jumped off the table and killed a buddy of mine.」

「They said the bread in the army was mighty fine.」

「A loaf rolled down and crushed my friend to death.」

「Oh, Lord, I wanna go. But they won't let me go.」

「Oh, Lord, I wanna go hooome, hooome, hooome...」

The lyrics were truly draining. Gyeoul felt a strange dissonance. The ones running as they sang sounded extremely sharp.

'I heard the competition is intense.'

Since refresher training began, the Independent Battalion officers had complained to Gyeoul more than once. They said it felt as if every cadet had them in their sights.

At first, he thought the cadets had simply been spurred on by the presence of officers from the Independent Battalion. Like ROTC's Ranger Challenge, perhaps they saw beating the officers of the famous Ever Winter as a challenge of sorts. Gyeoul felt sorry for Yura and the other officers, who had somehow become Achievement targets, but he had not considered it a problem worth much concern.

In reality, there was more to it.

All of it was effort made with Gyeoul in mind.

It was not simply an attempt to make a good impression.

Most of the officers in this class of locally commissioned officer refresher training were from refugee settlements. Naturally, each was registered under a different refugee corporation, but they wanted to use this chance to move to the Gyeoul Alliance.

"They were really desperate."

That was what Yura told Gyeoul after she happened to speak with one of them.

"At first, he was making this ridiculous pass at me, so I wondered what was wrong with him. But he kept pestering me, and when I finally snapped because it was getting annoying, he honestly admitted he had another motive and asked me to help."

"Another motive?"

"Yes. Their refugee corporation... The name was German, so I don't remember it exactly, but anyway, the mood over there seems really bad. The prospects aren't bright, and it's not clean internally either."

"When you say it's not clean, do you mean the executives are misusing support funds?"

"Probably."

She went on to explain that the vague answer was because the person in question had avoided putting it plainly. As someone who still belonged there, it would not have been easy to reveal specific facts. Even so, the fact that he brought it up showed just how anxious he was.

Gyeoul realized President MacMillan's prediction had come close to reality. He had always thought it would happen one day, but actually experiencing it was another matter.

'It's about time to set it off.'

The isolationism of the Kramer administration was moving into the realm of polished colonialism. Refugee populations would be placed in each newly secured island region, and eventually those regions would be made to function as economic colonies in practice. The same process would be repeated in Central America in the future. Russia stepping forward to share the refugee burden was being pushed in a similar context as well.

But forced migration would look bad. The best structure would be for refugees to roll up their own sleeves in search of a better future. To steer things that way, refugee treatment needed to become worse than it was now.

Few tools were as useful for that as exposing the corruption of refugee leaders.

As he had foreseen long ago, certain refugee corporations, including the Gyeoul Alliance, would be highlighted as honorable counterexamples and successful cases of the refugee leader support policy. In any case, they could not present a policy President Kramer himself had devised as a complete failure.

Therefore, the alliance was at once the reward given to Gyeoul, the limit of his range of action, and a trophy to show the citizens.

'A paradise to be stuffed... is that it?'

At the end of his recollection, Gyeoul felt a trace of bitterness. Still, this was the most positive conclusion they had reached after twenty-seven apocalypses. Even if a long time still lay ahead, Gyeoul's fame and influence were unlikely to rise higher than they were now.

After sending the children from the playground away at an appropriate point, Gyeoul began eating alone in the cafeteria. Yura and the other Independent Battalion officers gathered at a table a short distance away.

This was what Gyeoul wanted. On ordinary days, it was obvious that simply eating together strengthened their sense of belonging. Once they became aware of the envious gazes around them, they naturally developed a desire to show off the fact that they belonged to this group, and that made them exchange even one more friendly word.

"Let's sit separately today."

At Gyeoul's words, Yura immediately understood his intention and smiled softly.

"Yes. Try talking with them yourself. I'll keep our kids settled down."

From the standpoint of the Chinese or Japanese officers, approaches from officers of different backgrounds would not be welcome.

Nominally, they were all taking part in the same refresher training program, but the training received by field-grade officers and company-grade officers did not overlap. So the refugee-born officers, most of whom were lower-ranking, did not miss their chance to speak to Gyeoul within their tight schedules.

"Excuse me, Sir. Would it be all right if we sat at this table?"

Gyeoul nodded at the question, which was full of obvious tension.

"Sit. The seats are empty anyway."

"Thank you, Sir."

Five Ensigns set their trays down stiffly. In truth, they were not one group. A group of three and a group of two, each with different unit patches, had been heading this way separately before awkwardly merging. Gyeoul also noticed others who had stood up to move seats, only to sit back down with sour expressions.

But once the five had actually seized this good opportunity, they could not bring themselves to say anything until Gyeoul had thoroughly chewed and swallowed a piece of toast. They seemed lost as to how to bring up their business. Of course, it was probably also because they were so nervous they looked like statues. The gap between an Ensign and a lieutenant colonel was what it was, and that lieutenant colonel was none other than Lieutenant Colonel Han Gyeoul.

Gyeoul picked one of them and pointed at the still-untouched tray.

"Are you going to throw all of that away?"

"Sir?!"

"It'll be hard to train on an empty stomach. Even if you don't have an appetite, you should eat a little. For a soldier, meals are orders too."

"Ah, yes! I'm sorry!"

Gyeoul had no idea what he was sorry for, but the Ensign apologized first anyway. He seemed to begin eating right away, but he must have shoved it in too fast, because he choked badly on the first bite. Watching him cough until his face turned bright red was nothing if not pitiful. Even while coughing over and over, he looked nearly ready to cry as he tried to apologize to Gyeoul again. This time, it was because food had sprayed out of his mouth.

"I'm sorry, Sir!"

"No, you don't need to be sorry... Drink some water first."

"Yes! Cough, cough!"

It took quite a while for him to calm down. Just when it seemed his coughing had settled a little, he choked again while drinking water. His face turned the color of someone crushed by shame and self-loathing, as if he wanted to die on the spot. His colleagues glanced at him resentfully too.

"Well."

Gyeoul laughed quietly. He did not take pleasure in watching someone suffer, but in this situation, he could not help letting out a small laugh.

"Now I'm the one feeling sorry. I was trying to help you relax, in my own way."

"No, Sir. Cough! I'm the one who's more... sorry."

Gyeoul waited for the coughing to settle again, then spoke calmly to the five Ensigns.

"I know you came because you have something to ask of me. I won't get up first just because I've finished eating, so for now, eat slowly and tell me what each of you wants to say. If we run out of time, we can make an appointment and meet separately later."

"An appointment... Do you really mean that, Sir?"

"Why would I lie? I have many things I want to ask too. Maybe there's a press blackout, but lately, news from other refugee zones hardly appears on broadcasts either. But..."

"But?"

"I want to say in advance that I probably won't be able to grant all of your requests. I will need to hear other people's stories too."

At Gyeoul's realistic warning, shadows fell over the faces of the five Ensigns.

Footnotes:

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