WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 447: Stuffed Paradise (9)

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At last, the time he had been waiting for arrived.

「Gyeoul.」

"Anne."

Today's Anne wore long-sleeved pajamas on the screen. The luxurious silk caught the warm white light of the table lamp, giving the room a gentle, cozy glow. Needless to say, this video call was coming from home, not the office. Gyeoul felt himself drawn in by the ease of it.

"I'm glad."

「About what?」

"It seems like lately, you've been spending fewer late nights at the office, or staying up all night in the field... I used to worry so much that you might collapse from overwork."

He had also worried she might get into an accident. Anne was the life Gyeoul wanted to live.

「It's true that the sheer amount of work has gone down.」

Anne nodded, then added with a sour look.

「The problem is that every single task I do have to handle has become unbelievably important.」

After saying that, she put on a deliberately sulky face.

「But isn't it a little mean to say you're glad? If I hadn't become deputy director, my name would already be Joanna Han.」

"..."

「Well, it was unavoidable...」

Anne slumped onto the desk with a pout and let out a long sigh.

In the silence, only the second hand of the wall clock ticked.

The two of them kept stealing glances at each other, until smiles rose to their lips at almost the same time.

「What? Why are you laughing? I'm being serious.」

Anne protested, but dimples she could not hide had already appeared at the corners of her mouth.

"Ah, sorry. I just thought I was the only one who gets to see this side of you."

At that, Anne's face, holding back laughter, moved a little closer to the camera.

「If that's why, I suppose it can't be helped. Here, look as much as you want. I'm your Anne.」

The phrase had a double meaning. The ID Gyeoul used on the flower delivery site was My_Anne. The gift cards printed that ID instead of his real name too.

「By the way, don't I look a little different these days?」

"Well..."

「Look closely. I'm not wearing makeup right now.」

Anne turned her head slightly and poked her cheek a few times, as if giving him a hint. Her fair skin looked softer than the silk under the same light.

"Your skin, maybe?"

「Correct.」

Once he noticed it, it really did seem different.

「It does, right?」

Anne looked satisfied.

「I guess spending around twenty thousand dollars on skincare was worth it.」

"Wow."

Gyeoul was a little surprised, then quickly understood. Excluding pensions, Anne's salary was probably higher than his. By military standards, someone would have to be around a major general to receive a similar amount.

Even as an investigator, she must have earned over a hundred thousand dollars a year. Since Anne had spent so long living for nothing but work, there was a good chance she had far more money saved than the average American.

Still, regardless of how much money she had, he wondered whether that kind of spending was necessary.

"You're already more than pretty enough without any of that. How much prettier are you trying to get?"

At Gyeoul's words, Anne gave a short laugh, then turned serious.

「I know you truly think that, but this is something I need.」

"Something you need?"

「Don't you see? I'm preparing for our wedding.」

"Ah..."

「If I wait until it's right in front of me, it'll be too late. I don't know when it will happen, but when the chance finally comes, if we're going to hold the ceremony without delay, we need to prepare everything we can in advance. At least for that one day, I want to stand beside Gyeoul and shine without a flaw.」

"..."

「Besides, I spent a long time rolling around in the field. I was exposed to harsh environments for far too long. And because I'd sworn never to love anyone again, there were ways I treated myself harshly too. Looking back now, I was such an idiot. As if I could avoid love. In the end, I was destined to meet the most wonderful man in the world.」

Anne said it like a joke, then changed her tone.

「More than anything, I'm marrying you. Not just anyone, but the famous Lieutenant Colonel Han Gyeoul. And you'll be taking the current FBI deputy director, and beyond that, a strong candidate for the next director, as your wife. You understand what I mean, right?」

She meant she wanted to minimize pointless rumors.

As Gyeoul looked at Anne, his worries suddenly deepened. He did not know how she would look objectively, but to him, she was almost too attractive. So the sigh slipped out naturally.

"I understand, but now I'm worried other men will fall for you, Anne."

Eek. Anne burst into laughter. After laughing herself breathless for a while, she hiccuped as she spoke.

「Who in the world do you think should be saying that? Gyeoul, since the topic's come up, be honest with me. Don't you get all kinds of temptations in your daily life?」

Gyeoul was glad there was no anxiety in Anne's question. It meant she trusted him that much, and it also meant he had given her that much reason to trust him. Of the two, the latter made him happier. Gyeoul nodded.

"I'd be lying if I said no."

「How much?」

"So much that it feels burdensome to walk around with my face uncovered."

「I knew it.」

Anne rested her chin on her hand with a smile, looking perfectly relaxed.

「I feel sorry for those people. Gyeoul is already head over heels for me.」

"True."

After exchanging that foolish conversation, Gyeoul and Anne laughed aloud once more. Both of them had grown used to hiding the longing that inevitably slipped through now and then.

The conversation continued in fits and starts. The topic and content did not matter. What mattered was the time itself, spent looking into each other's eyes and talking. So it was fine when the flow broke from time to time. If they simply looked at each other in silence, one of them would always end up smiling. Because it made him happy that she smiled while looking at him, he smiled too, and that smile spread back to the other side.

Then Anne asked as if it had just occurred to her.

「Is anyone making things hard for you, Gyeoul?」

"...?"

「If there is, I was thinking I'd scold them.」

It sounded playful, but it was still coming from the deputy director of the FBI.

「I'm not asking for no reason. After you helped Judge Ellsworth get elected, more people started paying fresh attention to you.」

"Ah..."

「In some corners of Washington politics, people are saying you may have started testing your own political influence. If you combine the donations flowing into the Gyeoul Alliance with the public support for you personally, you could have more impact than most super PACs in any election.」

PAC stood for Political Action Committee, an organization that gathered supporters' funds and delivered them to politicians.

Super PACs referred to the groups among them that mobilized overwhelming amounts of money. They were the reason American elections had come to be criticized as a festival for money worshippers. How many people would hand over huge sums of money without wanting anything in return? If a candidate owed a super PAC, they would have to repay more than that after being elected.

「As I said before, I don't want you to make enemies.」

She corrected herself.

「Of course, it's impossible to have no enemies at all. Even if you only do the right thing, there will still be people who dislike you. Still, I want you to remember that the power you've been given can also hurt you. Can you guess how many people must have started drooling over you because of this?」

"A lot, probably. A huge number."

「This judge election wasn't that major an incident, but from now on, when you make decisions about matters like this, I want you to consult me. Two heads together will lead to better results than thinking alone. Anyway, I'm going to be Gyeoul's wife, aren't I?」

Here, Anne showed a hint of hurt. Thinking about it, the agency primarily responsible for vetting candidates for federal judgeships was the FBI. Gyeoul apologized without arguing.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think that far. Like you said, I think part of me treated it lightly because it wasn't a major incident. It couldn't have been that simple... And I also thought someone as exemplary as Judge Ellsworth naturally deserved to become a judge."

「Next.」

Anne was not finished yet.

「I heard you also conveyed a personal request to the House Refugee Leader Review Committee.」

"Yes."

「I understand why. Given the situation... But apart from that, I got the sense that you were rushing for some reason. You must have known that kind of action would make people wary. Am I wrong?」

After thinking for a moment, Gyeoul shook his head.

"No. I think you're right."

「Why? What reason does Gyeoul have to feel anxious?」

It was a difficult question. Until she pointed it out, he had never dug deeply into the issue. Yet in another sense, he already knew the answer. Gyeoul slowly opened his mouth.

"Mm, first of all, I thought that even if it made people wary, it would only be temporary."

「Temporary meaning...?」

"You know roughly about the corruption in the refugee corporations, don't you, Anne?"

Anne did not deny it.

「Given my position, yes. It's very serious. So serious I don't even want to put it into words.」

Gyeoul continued.

"Once that breaks open, my position won't be able to stay the same as it is now, right? They won't leave the related laws as they are. They'll reduce the refugee leaders' authority, or maybe separate them from the corporations entirely... I think the latter seems more likely. What do you think, Anne?"

「...I agree.」

Whether or not there was corruption in the Alliance, it would be swept up in the aftermath.

"These days, I often find myself thinking that maybe this is as far as I can go."

「...」

"Of course, I'll keep living while protecting my heart, but the range of action I can take will keep narrowing. People's trust and affection for me will fade little by little with time... As with Judge Ellsworth's case, taking someone's side means becoming an enemy to the other side. Unless I live as a bystander, my enemies will keep increasing."

So Gyeoul's popularity and influence could only be at their peak right now.

「Gyeoul, you're not a god. We've done our best as people, and we can keep doing our best from now on too.」

"I know."

Gyeoul smiled at Anne's comfort. As for Gyeoul himself, he saw this as the process of breaking away from the boyhood that had been stuffed and preserved, and being reborn as an adult.

"Even with regrets like that, as long as you're by my side, I'll be happy."

Footnotes:

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