WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Little Prince in the Ossuary
Chapter 90
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Night by the Lake (8)
After the radio exchange ended, the platoon officers gathered for a final meeting.
The perimeter Jeffrey set ran across the riverside hills. Troops were positioned along the ridgeline divide. Even with the higher risk of lightning strikes, they had no better option. They had to take the high ground. From there, spotting the enemy would be easier, and they could secure a safer rear area.
At the center of that rear area stood the engineer office. Protecting the civilian survivors came first.
With a waterproof tactical map spread out, Jeffrey voiced his concern to Gyeoul.
“The problem is Captain Harris’s force... no, the enemy detachment appearing on the west side across the river. If that happens, our rear is fully exposed. The civilians will be the first to die.”
“Is that possible?”
“If they use the forest to bypass our defensive line to the north, they could cross through the dam, right? We do not have the manpower to deploy that far.”
“Jeffrey, you did not listen to the briefing before we moved out, did you?”
“Huh?”
“The Salinas Dam. There is no passage over the diversion channel. They cannot cross there. That is why we came around this side in the first place.”
“Ah. Damn. I forgot.”
“Still, there is a possibility.”
Corporal Liberman pointed to the south side of the lake on the map.
“This lake is not a popular summer destination, but there is one marina here. I cannot be sure, but there should be a few boats left at the dock. They could use one to cross the lake and land on the opposite shore.”
Gyeoul shook his head.
“I do not know. Cross the lake by boat in this storm? The waves must be rough. And even if they cross, there is still a problem. They would have to circle the lakeshore to get here. There is a mountain in the way, about four kilometers. When we do not even know where a mutant group might appear from, would they really split their forces like that?”
The sergeant thought for a moment, then pointed to a bend farther upstream.
“They might try a rope crossing like we did. This is upstream, after all. If they look for a crossing point, they will find one. Now that I say it out loud, this seems more likely than crossing the lake. It would also take less time.”
“So, Sergeant, what do you think we should do?”
“You are the key, Lieutenant-nim.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Lead the reserve squad and attack.”
Jeffrey grimaced at Liberman’s proposal.
“Huh? No, Sergeant. We are already short on men, so the gaps between squads are too wide. If the platoon were at full strength, maybe. But we need at least one reserve squad. They have to plug a breach if the perimeter breaks. They also have to guard the rear. What if the civilians slip out of control?”
The sergeant did not agree with his platoon leader.
“Lieutenant Han’s combat power can match an entire Company, depending on conditions. To use that power properly, offense is better than defense. What do you think, Lieutenant-nim?”
“You are right. We should go on the offensive.”
Gyeoul spoke not about tactics, but about the enemy’s mindset.
“Captain Harris’s soldiers are probably in terrible shape, physically and mentally. They have gone over a month without supplies, massacred civilians, then hunted down the remaining survivors to kill them too. Why do you think they are still following that captain, and with what mindset?”
Jeffrey asked, “You mean their morale is low?”
“Yes. They probably had only one hope this whole time: wipe out every witness and join another garrison. I think that one thought is all that kept them going. Then suddenly things got worse. Now they are fighting fellow U.S. troops.”
“We do not feel good about this either, but their stress must be much worse.”
“Exactly. One more thing. They are not fighting out of duty like we are. They just want to erase evidence of the crimes they got involved in. Can people like that fight aggressively? I say absolutely not.”
After hearing the boy officer, Corporal Liberman let out a long breath.
“You are right. We cannot expect sacrifice for mission or comrades from men like that.”
“Yes. If we do this right, we can turn the whole engagement around.”
At that point, Jeffrey changed his position too.
“Since this is a night battle, they could misjudge our numbers. If they get hit first, they will panic. Ah, right, Meerkat. They know Meerkat exists, but they do not know what it is, so they might think another unit joined us.”
Gyeoul pointed at the map again.
“I will move here first. I will block their expected crossing point, then once fighting starts or we spot them, I will push east and cut in. Jeffrey, just hold this line.”
“Understood. Let us do it. But do not take too long.”
“I will try.”
“Damn. How did this turn out like this.”
The meeting ended with Jeffrey grumbling. Using Jeffrey’s tactical map as reference, Gyeoul marked trap positions on his own map. After only a few looks, he could get support from the augmented reality UI.
Before departure, he switched radio frequencies. Then Gyeoul said:
“Either way, the Trickster has already locked our direction, so we do not need radio silence.”
Jeffrey nodded.
“We should only use it at decisive moments. We cannot use it carelessly and let the enemy learn our frequency. I think we should change frequencies once more at midnight.”
“Okay, then.”
Gyeoul memorized the frequency Jeffrey mentioned.
“I am moving out. Jeffrey, good luck.”
“You too, Lieutenant-nim. The more skilled and brave a person is, the more careful he has to be.”
Jeffrey sent Gyeoul off with a salute.
Elliot and six men from the reserve squad followed the boy officer. It was very small, considering a standard U.S. infantry squad had nine men. Reinforcements had not come for a long time.
The squad moved down along the river. Near the bend, close to where the remains of a bridge still hung, Gyeoul raised his fist. The squad spread out and took cover. He held up two fingers and pointed south. Seven gun barrels turned south.
‘Faster than expected.’
Seventeen soldiers were moving north from that direction. They were not careless. Half covered while half bounded forward, proper tactical movement. Even rotten, they were still U.S. Army, Gyeoul thought. But otherwise, they looked bad.
‘Their movements are sluggish.’
Every bound looked painful. Some did not even have rain ponchos. Left alone, they looked like they might die of hypothermia. He glanced back at his squad. As expected, everyone looked pale. Seeing how exhausted the enemy was had shaken them.
“Elliot.”
At Gyeoul’s call, the squad leader looked at him with a storm-cloud face.
“Captain Harris will not be among them. I will urge surrender first.”
“...Sorry.”
That one word spoke for the whole squad. Gyeoul gave his order.
“This is the last courtesy. Once I fire, join in immediately.”
“Understood.”
Gyeoul low-crawled a little away from his men. Then he leaned against another tree and took a deep breath.
“Stop!”
The northbound soldiers jolted in fright. Some dropped flat, the rest hid behind trees. Rat-tat-tat. Someone on their side pulled the trigger. A full volley followed. A broken branch fell over Gyeoul’s head.
On a riverbank thick with water mist, gunshots sounded even colder.
A wind-tearing hiss brushed past. Thud, thud. Heavy rounds slammed into the ground.
Beam-like streaks rushed in. Tracers. Burning trails that showed a shooter’s line in the dark. Gyeoul watched one long streak bounce off the water.
The firing did not last long. Maybe they found it strange that this side did not return fire.
‘They probably also want to conserve ammo.’
Either way was fine. The intermittent gunfire thinned, then finally stopped. In the sharp silence, Gyeoul shouted again.
“I am Lieutenant Han Gyeoul! Who is in command there! State your rank and name!”
After a short pause, a cracked voice came back.
“God damn it, are you really him?!”
“Rank and name!”
“...Linska, Sergeant Walter Linska!”
In truth, Gyeoul needed no proof beyond his voice. The boy officer’s combat record, and footage of Atascadero and Santa Maria, were already being used as training manuals.
Thunder without light rolled from the office direction. Gyeoul shouted quickly.
“Sergeant Linska! Drop your weapon! I do not want to fight you!”
The sergeant screamed back.
“If we drop our weapons! Then what! Court-martial and life sentence?!”
Hearing that, Gyeoul felt disgusted. The sergeant did not seem to think he would be executed. And he was right. The U.S. was a country that did not sentence even soldiers who massacred civilians to death. Which meant he knew he would live, yet still wanted to kill more people because he did not want prison life.
Gyeoul confirmed the sergeant’s position.
He was not used to speaking down to someone this harshly, but he kept shouting.
“No matter what punishment you get! It is better than dying here right now!”
“Fuck! Bullshit! We will see who dies!”
“So you are willing to risk your life and kill every comrade here too?! If you are so confident, then do it!”
Right then, a chill swept through every nerve ending. Even with warnings from 「Survival Instinct」 and 「Crisis Detection」, Gyeoul did not move an inch.
Boom!
The answer came as a grenade round. But it exploded far away. The aim was clumsy, and the slow round got dragged by the gale.
“Fire! Fire!”
Elliot shouted the return-fire order like he was spitting blood. Muzzle flashes stood out in the dark.
The firepower gap between the two sides was clear. Using that advantage, Sergeant Linska pushed part of his men forward. Gyeoul aimed instantly. Nine rounds in four short bursts, seven hit.
The soldier among the very front leaders took two rounds to the head and dropped. Then he got back up. He sat there unable to balance, blood pouring through the gap in his helmet.
Then he collapsed again. This time he did not rise.
Even the unhit soldiers flattened themselves. They crawled desperately for cover.
Gyeoul did the opposite and left cover. He ran while aiming diagonally. A soldier just about to begin Throwing a grenade fell into his sight line. Dududuk. A scraping three-round burst slammed into the man’s body armor. The enemy fell from the impact and dropped the grenade. He grabbed at it with both hands in panic.
Explosion.
Both arms tore away in opposite directions.
Fire concentrated on Gyeoul. Among those rushed firing lines, a few were dangerous. He rolled. Thump, impact against the ground. Even while rolling, dirt kicked up around him from bullet strikes. A ricochet that bounced off the ground smacked his helmet too.
Gyeoul sprang up from the roll and sprinted twenty meters. He slid to one knee. Sshrrrk. He shoved dirt aside, twisted his body, and put his back to a tree. Two grenade rounds exploded along his footprints. The nearby blasts rocked him. Tiny fragments flew. Small cuts opened on his arms and legs. Two on his face as well. Two thin streams of blood ran down his right cheek.
Gyeoul fired back.
Dudududuk. Duduk.
Metal rang. Ejected casings stabbed into the wet ground.
The enemies were panicking. Because Gyeoul had flanked to the side, their cover was unstable. They were too busy protecting themselves from fire coming from two directions. Their formation collapsed as soldiers shrank back. One man stayed put while forcing others forward.
‘Sergeant Linska.’
Gyeoul returned to cover. He pulled off the grenade clip and yanked the pin. He waited for a gap in the rain of fire, then stepped out hard, put spin into the throw, and launched it. The grenade flew straight.
Smack. It hit the sergeant. Then came the blast. Inside the blast radius, a human body broke apart. A red-skinned torso flew up.
He hoped that would shock the soldiers.
Their resistance collapsed in real time. It was pure flailing to survive. They looked like they were dumping every bit of firepower they had left. Even then, the only weapons stronger than rifles were grenades and a grenade launcher.
“Cease fire! Cease fire!”
Gyeoul shouted at the top of his voice, hoping the enemy would follow.
The gunfire did not stop.
============================ Author's Note ============================
Q. qoewh: @As the story goes on, I feel more and more swallowed by it. Instead of feeling like fiction, it feels like the author is somehow transcribing events that really happened in another world onto Joara. So Gyeoul’s actions never feel like “it is a novel so whatever.” They feel like real events I am watching from the side. That is why I feel sorry for the soldiers who died in traps, and why even the medic who calmly cared for a pregnant woman felt amazing, even if they are extras in the novel. These days I feel like I am not that different from the viewers inside the story. Gyeoul is also a subject who creates and shows a story, so in that sense he connects with the author too. That led me to a realization. I will send 100,000 won worth of support coupons, so please write a steamy scene where Gyeoul gets put through it like last time!! Please write it!!!
A. That swallowed-in feeling came up in the viewer chat too. And I am reflecting that in the narration style as well. From a certain point onward, did you not feel that system-style descriptions inside the game became less frequent?
And Gyeoul’s chastity cannot be bought or sold with money. :)
Q. MasterKalsolum: @Oh dear... you are eating out while receiving FSM. As an honorary believer and chef, I can receive Spaghetti-nim even in rough facilities like a Homo sapiens home kitchen. The cost for six servings is around 10,000 won. Blessings upon you.
A. I cook for myself too, but... somehow ingredient costs get high, and it is hard to make. Haha.
Q. Cheongnyuryeon: @Thank you for another great chapter today! The weather forecast says three typhoons are ignoring Korea and charging into Japan, is this the effect of the Great Old Ones?
A. Who knows. There are many kinds of Old Ones effects. Progressive electricity rate tiers, North Korea nuclear tests, readers failing in romance, things like that...
Q. twking5008: @Author-nim, if I offer you a sacrifice (early recommendation coupon), what blessing do you grant? I heard people like Chigutoa next door give out pretty generous ones.
A. I am currently out of childlike innocence, so it is hard for me to grant blessings... if there is one, maybe publishing more than five times a week.
For my abilities, three times a week is really the proper line... hehe...
Q. Quiet: @Does Gyeoul’s story end with just this “Days after Apocalypse” + “reality”? Or are you planning beyond that? It is hard to ask without spoilers.
A. It is really hard to answer without spoilers. For now, yes, that is correct. Though it will probably be different from what you expect.
Q. Dohwawon: @Han Gyeoul the alpha male. Author-nim’s childlike innocence must be overflowing now.
A. No way. The author’s childlike innocence dried up long ago. Right now I am borrowing private loans. Dreamland innocence loan...
Q. MartialNovelFan: @You dream of childlike necrophilia, so I thought you would like getting cursed at too, but I am disappointed. Tsk... I should praise you then. Cool Han Gyeoul.
A. My mental is glass, so if you poke it, it shatters all at once. Fragile. Handle with care.
Q. RGZ95: @So an innocence-filled event is being prepared! I wonder what kind of event it is @[email protected] Could it be related to refugees?
A. That is a later story, and it is on a bigger scale.
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