The Little Prince in the Ossuary-Chapter 113 : April Vengeance, vandenberg Air Force Base (2)

April Vengeance, vandenberg Air Force Base (2)

Once, a psychotherapist asked. According to your 「After the Apocalypse」 records, it seems like you want to fight the world. After thinking it over, the boy answered like this:

I've never thought about it that way, but now that you mention it, I suppose you're right. I must be dreaming. Here.

Now, Gyeo-ul replayed in his mind the words he hadn't spoken back then.

"In the end, it's a dream of hating the world..."

He had tried not to hate. Wishing happiness for the two people he loved. But looking back, just because one person, Han Gyeo-ul, didn't hate, the world wasn't going to change. It wasn't that he didn't hate; he was just giving up on hating. Because it was something that went beyond the limits of a person.

So here, he dreamed. He dreamed of surpassing those limits. Enjoying a fantasy in which he became more than human, fighting things that people couldn't fight.

But knowingly indulging in that illusion didn't make it enjoyable for long. Now, he lived for a single reason. Holding onto a thorn he couldn't let go, protecting what was left of his heart.

"What are you thinking about?"

Gyeo-ul was snapped back to reality. The first thing he saw was his own combat boots. Looking up, he saw Agent Gibson staring curiously at him. Gyeo-ul was startled by how deep he'd fallen into his memories. He hadn't fallen asleep, yet it felt as if he had just woken up. That had never happened before.

"No, it's nothing. I just remembered someone from the past, that's all."

Depending on how she interpreted that answer, agent Gibson made a regretful expression. Gyeo-ul was familiar enough to read it in her. Even after confirming with 「Perception」, he didn't bother to correct her misunderstanding.

Vrooom—

He felt a sense of movement from his seat. A vibration, like the wind, transmitted through the backrest. The cargo plane shook. It seemed they hit light turbulence. Gyeo-ul noticed the agent's anxious reaction. Her neck was tense, and her fists were clenched. It was unusual for a seasoned investigator.

Gyeo-ul and Joanna Gibson were on a transport plane bound for Vandenberg Base. The lighting in the cargo hold was dim. It wasn't reserved just for them, so it was full enough with cargo that a sense of claustrophobia crept in.

Gyeo-ul asked naturally.

"Is it all right to ask now why the Intelligence Bureau needs me?"

"Ah."

The agent's response was more like a groan. She seemed to catch herself, flustered. Ahem, ahem. She cleared her throat with a few unnecessary coughs before speaking.

"Come to think of it, I haven't explained the mission yet. The objective of this operation is to gather intelligence from inside San Francisco Bay, and eliminate any security threats present there."

"If it's San Francisco Bay...is this an operation among the sea refugees?"

"That's right. The reason the Intelligence Bureau requested your dispatch, first Lieutenant, is exactly that. The qualifications they wanted in a combatant are as follows: First, excellent combat ability. Second, the ability to make sound judgments in unexpected situations. Third, fluency in Chinese at the native level. Fourth, east Asian ancestry. There are only a handful in the United States who meet all these criteria. Actually, you're the only one, first Lieutenant."

Even just hearing the qualifications, it was possible to guess the nature of the operation. However, Gyeo-ul still had questions.

"I'm the only one? I don't quite understand."

The agent shook her head.

"I'm not joking. It's extremely rare to find someone with both special forces-level combat skills and fluent foreign language abilities. How many people do you think can speak Chinese at a native level? Even among CIA agents, there aren't many left. The China branch has essentially disappeared."

There's a famous anecdote that, at one time, out of the whole Intelligence Bureau, there were only three people who could handle Arabic dialects. She muttered. Her voice grew quieter due to the shaking cargo plane.

"Then let me ask something else. What exactly is this security threat?"

No matter how qualified Gyeo-ul was, he virtually had no experience in special operations. His military training was only the bare minimum. Moreover, his life or death was a matter for the White House. Yet if they decided to deploy him anyway, it meant the security threat was quite serious. After a moment's hesitation, the agent spoke.

"Nukes."

"..."

Gyeo-ul recalled the warships he'd seen in journals. Soldiers cut off at the port, having left their perished homelands behind to fight a war for their fellow countrymen without a nation.

'But that can't be all.'

Circumstances test a person's nature. Corruption is always a possibility for everyone. Just as the outside world's conditions were demanding for all, just as the spectators of that world only desired pleasure without empathy.

The agent continued.

"According to intelligence from the Bureau and the Navy, there are five nuclear submarines lurking in San Francisco Bay. We know the locations of four of them. They can be sunk at any time. The problem is the remaining one."

Gyeo-ul raised another question.

"I'm not sure, but aren't they ultimately surviving on American support? Even if they have nukes, I doubt they would use them recklessly. Not unless they want to starve to death."

Nuclear submarines can operate for long periods without resupply—but only if properly prepared in advance. The Morgellons pandemic was an unforeseen disaster. It started in China. If the submarine in question belonged to the Chinese Navy, they probably couldn't prepare properly. That was Gyeo-ul's reasoning. The agent nodded.

"You're right. But national security can't leave even a 1% threat unchecked. Just like when our Investigation Bureau warned of the worst terrorist attack in history, but it was ignored everywhere."

She spoke as if the boy officer would know of course. There was pride in her voice. But it belonged to a different era. Only after seeing the AR overlay info did Gyeo-ul grasp her meaning: the collapse of the Twin Towers. The incident that drove America into the War on Terror. He'd seen it in textbooks. In the era the boy was born, it was already a chapter in history.

"In any case, this is an operation that cannot fail."

The United States had staked its fate on "Manifest Liberation."

The agent nodded at Gyeo-ul's words.

"The concern is heightened by rumors spreading inside the bay."

"Rumors?"

"Yes. I'm sure you're already familiar with domestic gossip. That the pandemic was actually a Chinese bioweapon... Among the sea refugees, though, an even more advanced rumor is circulating: that Morgellons is actually an American biological weapon, used to destroy China, but then got out of control."

"Hmm... Sounds serious."

"It is. Even though it's baseless, the sea refugees from China seem to believe it blindly. The Intelligence Bureau is worried that the nuclear sub crews might be fanatically believing such things."

After a brief consideration, Gyeo-ul asked,

"Don't tell me the Bureau wants me to find that nuclear submarine's location? How?"

"As you mentioned, everyone inside the bay survives on aid from the United States. The sub crews are the same. According to intelligence, the Chinese subs periodically surface to receive supplies from Chinese-registered ships. First Lieutenant Han Gyeo-ul, your job is to find those locations."

The sea refugees were surviving on U. S. aid and supplies from distant-water fishing vessels. The soldiers must be splitting those supplies among themselves. As time passed, there would be fixed procedures and locations.

If the location was always the same, there'd be no need for this request. They must be changing it by some kind of arrangement. Still, how was he supposed to discover it? If it could be solved with a drone, there'd have been no need to come this far. Gyeo-ul tilted his head.

"You said to identify the locations... Do I have to infiltrate myself?"

"Mostly, it'll be interception, but yes, at times, it may require infiltration. I am worried, since First Lieutenant Han Gyeo-ul is so well-known... But the Bureau's agents will help with your disguise. That's their area of expertise."

Gyeo-ul tried to picture the conditions inside the bay. The image of soldiers and civilians from a fallen nation sharing limited supplies. Since power came from the barrel of a gun, naturally the soldiers would hold dominance. Civilians would have to get by with the bare minimum.

"A hungry person is the first to gnaw away at their own conscience."

Even so, if the submarines had to surface periodically, that meant one thing. Gyeo-ul asked,

"Did you intentionally cut down on the supply amount?"

"That's right. When supply is plentiful, a nuclear submarine can hold out for months without surfacing. I think the people above made a rational decision."

Agent Gibson acknowledged the cold strategy of the White House and the Department of Defense. They'd starved the refugees, cutting the food supply trickling into ex-nation militaries. In exchange, the resupply period was shortened, forcing the subs to surface for provisions.

"When people get hungry, they get sharp. Wouldn't they have fewer complaints if enough food was supplied?"

Extreme environments bring out the extremes in people. Gyeo-ul recalled the history he studied for this worldview. If interwar Germany had been prosperous and stable, could a man like Hitler have ever gained support?

In this worldview, the most necessary resources were ammunition and food. And the United States dominated food production. The world's mightiest power was also the world's largest agricultural nation.

But Gyeo-ul's argument was quickly refuted.

"Cutting supplies is easy, but increasing them is hard. As you know, the homeland's airlift capacity is maxed out, and the seas are filled with pirates. Without an escort, we can't send a cargo ship."

"Pirates, huh... That makes sense."

"Now that the Panama Canal is unusable, to get a ship to the West Coast it has to go around either the Strait of Magellan or Cape Horn. A route over 25,000 kilometers. There are far too many pirates along the way. Fleets without a country, at that."

She talked of pirates forming flotillas with submarines and destroyers, firing naval guns and anti-ship missiles. Limits don't only apply to individuals, but also to nations.

"The Navy is already stretched thin just maintaining the East Coast blockade. There's no extra force to spare for convoy escorts. And when supplies are insufficient, it always produces consistent dissatisfaction, no matter the shortage."

The Straits of Magellan and Cape Horn were at the southern tip of South America. Gyeo-ul pictured the shipping route from the North American East Coast, down around the bottom of South America, and back up to the West Coast. And imagined how much force it would take to sustain that route.

Gyeo-ul was partially convinced. He didn't entirely agree with Joanna Gibson's position, but she was only an individual in the end. Nothing would change by arguing.

"We've arrived. That must be Vandenberg Base."

Her words called him back. Relief was audible in her voice.

Through a small window, Gyeo-ul glimpsed the approaching ground. A runway lit with the minimum guiding lights. An Air Force base close to the ocean. Since it wasn't that far from Fort Roberts, a short conversation was enough to bridge the gap.

According to the plan, they had to wait for a cargo ship here.

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

#SignedBooks

1,500 signed copies... Yes, I can do it. But what if, a year from now, there are still signed books unsold and left over...?

I'll probably want to die from embarrassment. Hahaha.

#Q&A

Q. PAM: Was there an R-rated section...?

A. Yes, there was. The part where the chairman does something he shouldn't to his daughter.

Q. 어진광대: What you admitted here will be remembered for a long time. Keep your focus and charge ahead, writer, it's too late to walk.

A. Huh? Admitted...? What exactly did I admit...?

Are you pointing out where the chairman called the people 'cattle'? Or the part of the narrative reflecting Ah-young's feeling of helplessness?

Well. After reading this novel, I doubt there will be many readers who view the chairman positively...

Q. RIIIN: Your sense of humor as a writer feels unnatural—it reminds me of "dad jokes" from someone in their forties... Especially in the viewer chat scenes. Like seeing an awkward joke in a math textbook or a dictionary.

A. One comment would be sufficient. It's a bit overwhelming getting five of them. :)

Some readers find the chat childish, others want more of it.

I'm too lacking to satisfy everyone. If only I had more talent...

I'm sorry.

Q. realrosty: Even without graphic depiction, you could have conveyed the chairman's cruelty. I skipped it on a reread—I think more dryness and brevity would still express his character.

A. That scene wasn't meant to portray the chairman's character as much as to convey a sense of repulsion toward treating humans as commodities. So as a writer, I regret it too. The idea that it has to be edited...

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