WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Little Prince in the Ossuary

Chapter 55

──────

#Worth Doing (4), Camp Roberts

Back from the Triad, Gyeoul called his two vice-captains together.

"You should stay quiet for a while, sir."

That was Min Wan-ki's opinion.

"Other organizations are watching. Ahem! The Gyeoul Alliance has grown this fast, and now it's gone and joined hands with the Triad on top of everything, kuhk. Joined hands. Even if the dispute was with a Chinese organization, the others will feel seriously threatened. Right now is the time, hrm! To consolidate from within."

"Are you all right?"

Min Wan-ki nodded.

"Don't worry about me. Thanks to Little Captain's efforts, everyone has been getting enough medicine. I'm just, kurrhem. Just age catching up with me. You'll understand when you reach my age, Captain."

If he said he was fine, he probably was. Min Wan-ki wasn't the type to push himself.

Jang Yeon-cheol spoke next.

"I agree. It's not just other organizations we need to worry about. With so many unfamiliar faces suddenly appearing, people are getting anxious. Rooting out the drug trade is urgent, but if a conflict breaks out, the unrest inside the alliance will spiral out of control."

Gyeoul nodded.

"If both of you think so, then that's how it is. I'm out in the field so often that I'm less attuned to the alliance's mood than you two are."

Half true. Kang Yeong-sun had been faithfully passing him Lee Hoon-tae's notes. He simply didn't trust them a hundred percent.

"But, Captain. Did you already have a method in mind?"

"What do you mean?"

"A way to take down the An Liang Chamber of Commerce."

Even through his persistent coughing, Min Wan-ki couldn't hide his curiosity about what was going on in the little captain's head. Gyeoul answered yes.

"Not sure if it'll work, but... yes, I have something."

Uneasy, Yeon-cheol cut in.

"You're not planning to sneak off alone in the middle of the night and go after them yourself, are you?"

Too naive an idea. Gyeoul let out an unguarded laugh.

"Nothing like that. I was planning to bring in a third party."

"A third party? You're saying there's someone in this camp who doesn't fear the Chinese in the Chamber and doesn't care about Captain Markert's protection?"

"The police."

Gyeoul's answer left Yeon-cheol completely baffled. Min Wan-ki too. Both of them worked at puzzling him out, and it clearly wasn't easy. Gyeoul went on.

"That's their job, isn't it? We just need to make them do it."

The military and the police didn't mix well. In most respects, the police bent to the military's will. A difference of roles, of scale, of firepower. The shared security arrangement was surface-level at best.

The police cared only about keeping refugees from breaching the civilian district, attempting to overthrow the camp, or triggering uncontrollable riots. All those unsolved murders were proof enough of their indifference toward everything else.

"They can't ignore Little Captain entirely, but they'll dodge anything that's a nuisance. They won't want to help."

Something else ran beneath Yeon-cheol's words. He was worried Gyeoul was getting overconfident. At his age, with what he'd accomplished, hard to blame him. Gyeoul decided to say more.

"Actually, it's the other way around."

"Pardon?"

"They won't be helping me. I'll be helping them."

Yeon-cheol looked lost. Min Wan-ki, though, seemed to be putting something together.

"Kuhk, you're going to make the Chinese strike first. Go after the police themselves."

"Exactly."

"Would the police really mobilize over something that minor?"

"They're sensitive about refugees carrying weapons. That's hard to ignore."

"Weapons? You can't mean just knives and clubs..."

"A strong hunch, but I think they've been making bows. Sling bows, that kind of thing. If they turn lethal weapons like those against police, do you think anyone stays quiet?"

Min Wan-ki laughed between coughs.

"My, my. Kuhk. I'm genuinely curious how you intend to maneuver them into that. If you're this confident, you must already be sure, but I'll save that, kurrhem! As something to look forward to. Then let me ask something else. What if the police still don't act? After all, kuhk, kurrk... haah. The military has more say than the police at the end of the day."

"There was a state senator I met at my Meritorious Service Medal ceremony. If it comes to that, I'll pull him in."

Gyeoul thought of the California state senator who had made himself a nuisance at the recent ceremony, pestering him for no particular reason. What was his name? He hadn't paid much attention then, but the man could probably be put to use. A politician starving for attention would gladly take a war hero's request to advocate for the police. He'd have almost no understanding of the tangle of interests tied to the refugee zone.

Two lines of barbed wire. That was all the boundary, yet citizens and refugees lived in completely different worlds.

"A state senator... Good, good. They're technically under federal authority right now, but National Guard officers won't want to fall out of favor with a state senator. Kluhk, ahem."

Min Wan-ki looked as if he wanted to say more, but the effort got the better of him and he closed his mouth.

In peacetime, the governor held command authority over the National Guard; in wartime or a national emergency, that passed to the federal government. That was Min Wan-ki's point.

Hard to think about the future in times like these. Harder still to stop thinking about it entirely. Even stranded here under quarantine procedures, a state senator could personally petition the federal government. And if that push came from the nation's youngest war hero, the ripple effect would be considerable.

Gyeoul added.

"And if he drags his feet too, then it's the citizens' turn."

At that, Min Wan-ki clapped his hands and laughed, for all the world like a man who'd forgotten he was sick.

"Right, right. Ha ha. You're America's hero, after all, Captain."

Jang Yeon-cheol, who had been listening with poorly hidden sullenness, shifted to an expression of admiration.

"I hadn't thought that far. You always see the wider picture."

"I just don't forget what I have."

Gyeoul spoke again.

"If possible, I'd like to use this chance to knock Markert out for good. He rubs me the wrong way."

"If anyone else said that, I'd take it for a joke."

That from Yeon-cheol. Min Wan-ki followed right after.

"Little Captain, kuhk, if history were to remember your name... you'd go down as the finest exemplar of Bonapartism."

"Bonapartism? Is that related to Napoleon?"

Gyeoul tilted his head, and Min Wan-ki offered an explanation.

"Yes, exactly. There are many layers to it, but at its core, think of it as 'order built on force.' That should, hrm! Cover it well enough."

His 「Intelligence」 correction filled in what Min Wan-ki's explanation left out. Gyeoul understood it thoroughly and let a quiet smile settle on his face.

"Thank you for the compliment. I'll make sure not to fall like Napoleon."

"That's all I ask. Ha ha. Kuhk, kuhk, ahem! Watching you work, Captain, you're clearly not someone who gets drunk on power and tries to solve everything through force alone... kuhk... I've really boarded a fine ship."

"That's enough flattery. I might capsize."

Yeon-cheol was drifting sullen again. Gyeoul caught it in time.

"That's why you don't need to worry either, Vice-Captain Jang. What I have in mind doesn't have an expiration date. For now, focus on stabilizing the alliance. Is there anything I can help with?"

"What? Oh. Well, even with how busy you are, if you could just show your face a bit more often, that would make a huge difference. Tomorrow happens to be Christmas Eve. Just having you around would make everyone incredibly happy."

"Won't it make things awkward instead?"

"How could it!"

Yeon-cheol pushed back hard.

"Honestly, if circumstances allowed, I'd love to throw a big party. Invite the people from our allied organizations too, and make a real show of it. We could build unity not just within the alliance but across the whole coalition. This is something we can't even attempt without you, Captain! Little Captain is the center of everything! Who in the world would feel uncomfortable!"

"Right, okay... Calm down a little."

Gyeoul waved him down. Good sign.

"Circumstances..."

He mulled it over.

"Actually, I've been preparing something for Christmas. I talked to the DFAC and borrowed a bit of warehouse space. I spent some of last month's pay on ham, bacon, candy, snacks -- about a thousand dollars' worth... but it's going to fall short, I think."

A thousand dollars wasn't a small sum, but it was nowhere near enough for the expanded Gyeoul Alliance. Factor in all the allied organizations, and the numbers cleared a thousand people easily. Less than a dollar per person.

"Oh, well, then maybe we could just keep it within the alliance... since you've already prepared something..."

He said this, his eyes quietly asking permission in a way that had no business appearing on a man his age. That was probably exactly what had earned him people's trust. Gyeoul gave his approval.

"Then set something up. I'm looking forward to it."

"I'll make it the most fun day possible!"

Yeon-cheol was overflowing with energy, as if the last ten minutes hadn't happened. Beside him, Min Wan-ki wore a small, slightly flabbergasted smile.

With both vice-captains sent off, Kang Yeong-sun drew closer. As always, she had come to deliver her notes. Gyeoul thanked her, took them, and read through them on the spot. Not the kind of thing to leave lying around. Read it, handle it, move on.

Her suggestion about using the eyes and ears of the disabled community hadn't been idle talk. Not just Lee Hoon-tae, but others were cooperating as best they could. Intelligence from multiple people had come in handy in more ways than one.

"Nothing unusual today."

Anything important was marked separately and moved to the front.

Even so, people's everyday conversations held more than he expected.

'No need to deliberate any further on the third combat group's formation.'

He had actually been considering An Je-jung as the squad leader. Whether the man had really served in the Marines, Gyeoul couldn't say for certain, but he had been one of the three who'd shown genuine courage back in Paso Robles, when everything was still uncertain.

Watching him day to day, though, it seemed like a mistake. He wasn't a bad person. He just lacked weight. From the notes, he had been endlessly recounting his exploits from the Paso Robles trip, with considerable embellishment to boot.

People's reactions were recorded too. Immense fascination at first, and now outright weariness, people visibly avoiding him.

'Not someone who commands respect or trust.'

Gyeoul's gaze lingered on one passage, and Kang Yeong-sun leaned in with her notebook and pen.

「I think it's best not to send him outside, sir.」

"You're right. It's a shame. Courage like his isn't easy to find."

If he used An Je-jung as a squad member rather than a leader, the man's pride would take a severe blow. The other two who'd gone to Paso Robles had both become squad leaders. Only he would be a regular member. He was probably quietly expecting it by now.

"I'll need to find him something inside that he can be responsible for."

「You know how to use people.」

"Stop with the compliments. I've been hearing too many lately."

A small joke, and the old woman smiled. Gyeoul flipped through the notes in order and found one with an emphasis mark. It was about Park Jin-seok.

"This isn't great..."

Jin-seok had exceptional physical ability. The problem was that he applied his own standards to others without any filter.

In the US military, soldiers who fail the PT test have to take an additional test, an Extra PT. When his group's failure rate turned out higher than Yura's, Jin-seok had apparently taken it as a personal affront.

He had scheduled physical training sessions from Christmas Eve all the way through Christmas Day itself.

"It would look bad if I spoke to him directly, so I'll have to go through Vice-Captain Jang."

The old woman nodded. Jang Yeon-cheol was well suited for exactly this kind of thing.

Her neat handwriting drew Gyeoul's eye.

「It may not be my place to say.」

「But I noticed you in a long discussion with both vice-captains earlier.」

「If something is weighing on you, I'd like to hear it too. Wisdom only grows when more people gather around it.」

After a moment's thought, Gyeoul shared only the beginning of it. He had decided to hold off on necessary actions for a while, to avoid alarming other organizations. In the meantime, the conclusion was to strengthen the alliance's foundations from within.

「All three of you are certainly wise. But I don't think staying too quiet is good either.」

"Why? Worried the other side will take us lightly?"

「Yes.」

「Let me tell you a story from long ago.」

「I grew up in Pyongyang. I was sixteen when the Korean War broke out.」

「As the Allied forces pushed north, I thought the war would end just like that. But when the Chinese forces entered, everything changed. The retreat moved faster than the rumors. The Allied forces abandoned Pyongyang far too hastily.」

Gyeoul waited quietly while she wrote.

「I heard the story later. The truth was that the North Koreans and the Chinese had no will to fight the Allied forces again.」

「They were going hungry and watching nervously, and it was only after the Allied forces abandoned Pyongyang on their own that they finally came down.」

Gyeoul understood what she was getting at.

"So you're saying, when you're weak, don't show that weakness."

「Yes.」

「Of course, it's true that the people of the alliance are anxious.」

「So within reason, make a demand that other organizations would find acceptable.」

「Make them feel this: we gave them what they asked for, so they probably won't want anything more. The Gyeoul Alliance side will be safe for a while.」

「If they're making demands like this, their internal stability must be better than we thought.」

"Good advice. Thank you." A pause. "While I'm asking -- did you have something specific in mind?"

The old woman gave another gentle smile.

「As I mentioned before, what about bringing the good people from other organizations over to our side?」

"That's a good idea."

A deal where he offered fair compensation while coming out slightly ahead, something other organizations would accept willingly. It would have the added effect of stabilizing those relationships as well.

'Vice-Captain Min's workload is going to pile up. And his cold still hasn't cleared.'

Working through new safeguards in his mind, Gyeoul asked Kang Yeong-sun to compile profiles on the people to be recruited.

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