WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Little Prince in the Ossuary

Chapter 71

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After the Rain (1)

The U.S. government officially upgraded Camp Roberts. The plan was to increase troop numbers, expand the base, and improve its facilities until it became a fortified stronghold.

At that point, it could no longer remain just a camp. It was now Fort Roberts.

Conditions for the refugees changed too. Construction of row housing began in the refugee district. The buildings were prefabricated to shorten construction time, and they were designed for efficiency rather than looks, but they were still better than tents in every way.

The refugees assigned to the site were full of motivation. Men and women, young and old, everyone pitched in. Those with construction experience taught the others. They worked day and night, enough for even the supervising engineering unit to complain. The projected timeline had already been cut in half, and it was still shrinking.

Gyeoul commented.

"Everyone must be happy. They're building a better tomorrow with their own hands."

Lieutenant Colonel Capston, commander of 3rd Battalion, 160th Regiment, agreed.

"Hope is a basic necessity of life. Few things are as miserable as learned helplessness. Of course, this era is filled with misery far worse than that..."

His voice trailed off, and he glanced at Gyeoul. Gyeoul looked puzzled. The lieutenant colonel brushed it off and changed the subject.

"There are suspicions that civilian casualties in the Christmas incident were reported far lower than they really were. Did you know?"

"I had my suspicions. A few garrisons got wiped out, but the announced number was way too low."

"As expected... How are the refugees taking it?"

"Are you worried this will deepen distrust of the U.S. military?"

"Honestly, yes. Trust matters most at times like this. And there's no telling when something like last time might happen again."

Trust did matter. That night, Gyeoul's first concern had been the refugees falling into panic. In situations like that, trust was what kept chaos down. The belief that if they followed control measures, they would be safe.

At least in terms of group survival, the worst order was better than the best chaos.

Gyeoul answered with a faint smile.

"Don't worry. For a while, they won't have either a reason or the breathing room to think that way."

"I understand not having the breathing room, but what do you mean by not having a reason?"

"Isn't it obvious? Sometimes happiness comes from relative advantage."

The lieutenant colonel was no fool. He immediately grasped the point of that one sentence.

Refugees who had been at Roberts since its camp days had actually become more stable after this incident. Compared to other garrisons, they had weathered the crisis unusually well.

The decisive factor was the shattered condition of newly arrived refugees and civilians. Seeing them, the original refugees confirmed their own luck. So many died over there, somewhere else was wiped out completely. In those whispers, sympathy was rare, if present at all. Even those who seemed concerned were mostly protecting their own safety.

"It's ugly. Other people's misery shouldn't become my happiness."

As he said it, Gyeoul naturally thought of his noona. He wanted her to be happy, but she probably could not be, not while she believed the boy was miserable here. So every time she visited, he tried to look perfectly fine. He worried that effort had not been enough.

A shadow crossed the young officer's face. Misreading it, Capston spoke softly to encourage him.

"Don't dwell too much on things that can't be helped. We live in an age where even being alive tomorrow is uncertain. If the situation changes, people will get better little by little. We need to make that happen."

Gyeoul chose not to force a reply. He felt it would only deepen the misunderstanding.

At that moment, the loud sound of nearby tree cutting broke the flow of conversation. Heavy equipment set up for logging felled about one tree every ten seconds and stripped the branches too. The logs were loaded onto trailers, secured by manpower, then hauled to the sawmill.

They were at a sawmill on the foothills of Black Mountain. From Fort Roberts, you passed San Miguel and drove about 15 kilometers southeast of Paso Robles to a small town called Creston, then went another 9 kilometers south to finally reach Black Mountain.

Today's mission was Convoy Escort. In fact, they had been repeating this same mission throughout January. Air transport alone could not keep up with Fort Roberts' rate of supply consumption. The newly assigned camp commander was highly ambitious and declared that even if some construction had to be delayed, they would at least secure lumber directly.

Refugee laborers and volunteers were mobilized for the work. Restarting abandoned facilities had not been easy, but many refugees had the right technical skills. Once power was restored, everything moved quickly.

Someone called out to Gyeoul in Korean.

"Captain! I think you need to come for a second!"

It was one of the combat group members from the 「Gyeoul Alliance」. She was breathing hard, as if she had run the whole way. Gyeoul got Lieutenant Colonel Capston's permission and walked over to her.

"What happened, Han-byul-ssi? Why didn't you call me on the radio?"

"It's not the kind of thing we could do that for..."

It probably was not mutants appearing or anything like that. The context suggested otherwise, and so did the mood. She was out of breath, but there was no urgency or fear in her. She just looked troubled.

Han-byul checked her surroundings, then whispered.

"Team Leader Yura and Team Leader Jin-seok are fighting. I came because I hoped you'd stop them."

"Fighting? Those two?"

"Yes. They've had arguments now and then lately, but I think it's getting worse. Oh, and please keep it secret that I told you. Okay?"

Now he understood why she had not used the radio. They would have heard it too. Neither of them would want to show their conflict to Gyeoul, and they would not appreciate being tattled on. They might even have already told the members not to report it. The woman in front of him gave that exact impression.

'I knew their relationship was getting worse...'

He had been reading the atmosphere through memos passed on by the Disabled Community. But there were limits to tracking things through disabled members. They simply did not have enough people.

If this were an argument that would blow over quickly, she would not have come. Gyeoul reassured Han-byul.

"You did the right thing by telling me. Don't worry. I'll keep your secret."

"Haa, that's a relief."

"Head back first. If we show up together, they'll get suspicious."

"Okay! Please come quickly!"

Her face brightened, and she ran back the way she came.

Gyeoul walked off in a slightly different direction. Soldiers and volunteers guarding the outer perimeter of the worksite gave him somewhat surprised nods.

"On patrol, sir?"

"Something like that. Keep it up."

As he went on, he could finally hear them arguing. Both sides were fully raising their voices now. They seemed to think no one farther away could hear over the logging noise.

Gyeoul approached from outside both of their blind spots. Nearby unit members could plainly see him. The boy quietly signaled them to stay still and pretend they saw nothing.

Yura stood with both hands on her hips, confronting Jin-seok.

"...I'm saying, why are you meddling in someone else's unit?!"

Jin-seok answered with frustration and irritation all over his face.

"How many times do I have to say this?! If your duty posture is poor, I can call it out! That's how the military works! What are we doing here right now? Standing guard! Protecting people! If you let your guard down and a mutant shows up, are you going to take responsibility? Huh?"

"Who let their guard down exactly? Were we sleeping? Were we fooling around? What's wrong with leaning on a tree or sitting on a stump for a bit? As long as we're watching properly, that's what matters! Is there some rule saying guard duty has to be done in perfect posture? We're people, not mannequins!"

"It's a mindset issue! We're in the middle of a contaminated zone! Shouldn't we stay alert at all times? If your posture collapses, your discipline follows, is that really so hard to understand? This is probably your first time with military structure, so maybe you don't know, but discipline matters! I'm not trying to enforce some abusive old-school culture!"

"Do you ever think about stamina? If it were just an hour or two, I'd let it slide too. But this is all day! Do you know how exhausting it is to stand through the entire daytime? If we actually have to fight, wouldn't it help to have even a little more strength left? Same with concentration. I think people focus longer when their bodies are comfortable. Mind and body aren't separate!"

"Ha, seriously! At least think about how this looks to other people! Are we the only ones here?"

"So now we're just trying to save face?"

"It's partly about face, sure, but it's also about the workers' morale! Those people cutting trees over there are working because they trust us. If we look sloppy, you think they'll feel safe? Making them feel safe is part of our job too!"

It was a trivial issue in one sense, but both of them had valid points. Yura emphasized efficiency. Jin-seok emphasized discipline and role responsibility. He had always been the kind of person who could not tolerate burdening others.

More than the content of the argument, Gyeoul found it surprising that this argument could happen at all. Jin-seok being strict with others, as he was with himself, made sense. But Yura, with her gentle personality, standing her ground like this was unexpected.

No matter how kind Yura was, her relationship with Jin-seok, who constantly said unpleasant things, was bound to sour. But that alone was not enough to explain this. In Gyeoul's view, if Yura had only been speaking for herself, she would have avoided the fight.

'Maybe it's responsibility.'

When he first appointed her as a combat group leader, she had said she would do her best not to disappoint him. Maybe now, true to those words, she felt responsibility for her members too.

He considered stepping in, then decided to watch a little longer. Both were already upset enough, and he wanted to hear what they were really holding inside. People tended to be honest when they were angry.

Of course, anger also brought distortions born of malice, so he had to filter what he heard carefully.

As he watched the argument continue, Gyeoul realized two things.

First, Jin-seok respected Yura more than expected. If he had held onto his first impression from Paso Robles, he would have either given up talking or gone straight to personal attacks, calling her a woman who only caused trouble. But he did not. Even while angry, he kept trying to communicate his position to the end.

Second, Yura had grown more confident. Before, she often shrank back, largely because she blamed herself for not pulling her weight. Now she was different. The training had paid off.

"Both of you, that's enough."

At Gyeoul's voice, both Jin-seok and Yura jolted in shock. Jin-seok stammered.

"W-when did you get there?"

"Is that what matters?"

The brief question flustered him again. The boy reassured him with a smile.

"I listened carefully to both team leaders. I think both sides made points that are right to a degree. In that case, there's only one conclusion. Jin-seok-ssi's combat group will do things Jin-seok-ssi's way, and Yura-ssi's combat group will do things Yura-ssi's way."

He said both were right, but in practice the conclusion favored Yura. Jin-seok opened his mouth, clearly unconvinced.

"But..."

"It's my decision."

At that one line from Gyeoul, Jin-seok closed his mouth. He did not push back the way he used to.

It was an attitude that respected authority. Gyeoul had the authority to restrain him, and he had the duty to comply. The rigid attention stance Jin-seok took made that unmistakable.

============================ Author's Note ============================

1. What in the world am I even doing this late... hehe...

2. It almost never happens, but subtitles can sometimes be part of the novel's storytelling device too. So don't skip them. You never know when the author might be plotting some nasty scheme.

3. In the last chapter's note, I joked that if writing a review in Korean was hard, people could try writing it in English... and NasaPpajin-nim actually wrote a review in English. Good lord.

You should all go check it yourselves. It's truly terrifying.

4.

Q. Is that Ca-mo Gyeoulie's rose?? Also, it's hard to understand that only two months have passed for Gyeoul in-game. Isn't this his 27th run? Is time in the game different from time in the real world? Thank you for serializing such a great work.

A. Read the subtitle. It says #Past (5), Psychological Therapy (1).

Yes, it's a story from the past. There is no timeline error. :)

Q. MasterKalsolum-nim: @If it's hard to write a review in Korean, would you also accept things like Cthulhu letters or Sanskrit? (joking) So the fox and the prince have met. Great chapter. Stay safe in the heat. Your legs might cook and curl up.

A. Sanskrit is fine, and Cthulhu letters are even better. The latter is the author's native language.

Thank you for worrying about my health. Have a cool summer with some cosmic horror.

Q. Mupeulleo-nim: @If you paint the author red, do they go three times faster?

A. Yes, faster. The aging speed, I mean.

Q. Tomma-nim: @With Noble's quality dropping more and more, Ossuary is a ray of light. So here's a manuscript-fee coupon Throwing. I do want one Q&A though. How much does the author get per coupon from here on?

A. If you paid before July, I get 250 won. If you paid after August, I get 350 won. Other author-support coupons pay 70 won.

Q. DohwaWon-nim: @I was talking about watches or LoL, but anyway... so Eunseol was a doctor. And her father was one of the founders of the industrial complex...

A. Who is Eunseol?! W-wait, does that mean there's a character even the author forgot...

Q. ※RedFox※-nim: @No hands?! Then how many feet do you use when writing? Do you maybe have several brains too?

A. I use all my legs, and half a brain.

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