The Tyrant’s Ivory Chopsticks

“Then the reason you associate with Barbara Tikhonov is…”

“Because we’re roommates. Roommates should get along well.”

I was at a loss for words hearing that answer. Duey chuckled and raised her upper body again, sitting at the edge of the pavilion.

“It’s a joke. Your guess is right. It’s clear she’s up to something, so I’m following her around. Lieutenant. The flames of desire don’t flare up fiercely when working for an organization. They flare up when you have to work for yourself. So when I see someone who has devoted everything to an organization, that flame is dim or almost invisible.”

Her words pierced my heart coldly. Then the reason she said I looked like a soldier when she first met me…

“That was you. You seemed like someone coming to this school for others, not yourself. That’s why I thought you were unusual. You looked like someone doing something you didn’t even desire yourself, because you were ordered to. A normal student wouldn’t be like that, right? Crystal, Demetria, Hoang. They all have their own desires. They’re women who plan to return to their home countries with the title of having studied at China’s best superhuman school and do something. But what should I say… Isn’t studying at Huangpu a great title from Korea?”

“Just graduating would probably get me an instructor position in Kaesong.”

I smirked.

“But you didn’t seem to have come for personal advancement… Then I couldn’t help but wonder if you weren’t a foreign student to begin with.”

“Let’s stop talking about me here. I want to hear about Barbara Tikhonov. If what you say is true, then Tikhonov’s coming to this school was largely influenced by personal ambition rather than the Communist Party, but is there a way to determine whether it’s a desire for promotion within the Soviet Union or some other kind of desire?”

“I can’t know that far.”

“Didn’t Tikhonov show any reaction to Chen Yayuan’s death?”

“She acted like a completely unrelated person. Even if she were involved, I can’t think she’d be the type to let someone like me catch on…”

“I heard the Chinese mainland students are whispering. I’m worried there might be a fight. There are quite a few among the Chinese who show excessive nationalist tendencies. Especially for girls who’ve entered Huangpu, there are many female students full of the desire to serve their country as soldiers…”

“Don’t worry about the Chinese issue,” Duey said.

“Have you forgotten that Barbara Tikhonov charged at a tank riding just a unicycle? If that tank hadn’t been a ‘living’ tank controlled by a Weapon Master, Barbie would have won. Barbie is no ordinary talent. The Russians don’t just give colonel ranks to any ability user in their 20s.”

“Is she stronger than you?”

“We’d have to fight to know. Maybe the opportunity will come someday.”

“…I think it would be better if such an opportunity doesn’t come, if possible.”

“I did have that kind of conversation with Barbie once. The topic was what it would be like if war broke out in Western Europe and the Soviet Union started moving west.”

…Isn’t that too heavy a topic for soldiers from two countries to joke about, even if they are roommates? While I was just rolling my eyes, Duey continued speaking without hesitation.

“Barbie said she would completely destroy Paris. She boldly declared that she would turn the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, France’s brilliant heart into a wasteland and make it disappear into history forever.”

“And your answer?”

“I told her to do her best if she could, while Moscow and Leningrad were burning.”

It’s a chilling atmosphere just to imagine. But Duey tilted her head with a grinning smile as if recalling a pleasant past.

“That’s enough about Barbie. I don’t know more about her, and since I don’t know, I have nothing more to tell. Let’s talk about you. How about it?”

“…Did you agree to this nighttime walk because you wanted to ask about me from the start?”

“What on earth is there in this closed girls’ school at the edge of this continent that made a flame ignite in your chest? What on earth is there in this school that made a soul take residence in a soulless human?”

“…It’s nothing special. My midterm exam results came out better than expected. Plus, being a lieutenant, I had many personal meetings with Zhou Lizhi. She said that if I continue to achieve excellent grades like this, I’ll have many options when I return to Korea. After all, I refused the officer commission offer in Korea and came to China. Like you, Lieutenant, I could join the army directly as a second lieutenant, but a second lieutenant is the lowest-ranking officer. I thought about how it would be to adapt within the military organization…”

“Hmm…”

“I started to feel a bit ambitious. If I graduate from Huangpu with excellent grades, I might be able to return to my homeland and be appointed directly to a field grade rank. In an era where we don’t know when Japan might provoke us, they wouldn’t hesitate to give a major position to a student recognized as an elite in China. I thought that would be better than starting as a second lieutenant at least, so I started to be a bit ambitious…”

“You had sex, didn’t you?”

“…”

“Don’t try to play dumb. You say you started to feel ambitious because you thought you could become a field grade officer when you only expected to be a company grade officer? I, Catherine Duey, may be a junior officer and look naive, but I’m still an officer of the Republic in my own right. The difference between company grade and field grade is nothing. You can’t adapt to military life? I’ve been watching you live for a month with my own eyes, do you think that makes sense?”

“But the difference between company grade and field grade is certainly…”

“That might be true for non-awakened cadets. We are awakened ones. Superpower users, superheroes! Are you really saying this without knowing that our promotion is not based on military personnel evaluation but on national policy direction?”

“What on earth are you trying to say?”

“You had sexual relations with Zhou Lizhi, right? That’s a turning point, isn’t it? When the flame in one’s chest goes out completely, it’s often because of love. It’s not common for that fire to go out completely due to frustrated ambition. But love is different. If you get burned by love, if you get hurt by love, that desire doesn’t recover. Of course, there are individual differences, but that’s often the case.”

How many people have to babble about Mayumi in front of me before they’re satisfied? I instinctively clenched my fists and glared at Duey. Duey nodded with sparkling eyes, seemingly not threatened at all. She licked her lips and said:

“That anger. That anger that can’t come out without desire. I’m curious. Purely curious without any other reason. What could it be? Was Zhou Lizhi’s female body that attractive? Or was it her character? Her boldness? For whatever reason, did you fall in love? Did you find a new love to cover the wounds of an old love, creating an opportunity for a new desire to bloom? I’m curious. The reason why the flame has returned to your head.”

“Is it your job to dig into other people’s hearts for your own interest?”

“My job? No. It’s not my job. It’s our job.”

“Our, who exactly? The French Army?”

“No. Us superpower users. All our abilities come from our hearts and minds. We constantly dig into each other’s hearts, defend, hurt, and recover. Among them, those who are particularly good at influencing the mind are called mental ability users, but in fact, we are all mental ability users. It’s mentioned in papers too.”

“You’re a creepy human.”

“A woman, right?”

“…”

“Me, I’m pretty, aren’t I?” Catherine said. She is actually pretty. In terms of beauty alone, she might even be a notch above Briar. Though her chest might be a bit smaller.

“You prefer me more than Julia Kerr, don’t you? I know you often look into my eyes. I always get compliments on my eyes wherever I go. They say they look like waves sometimes, like flames other times.”

“Aren’t you embarrassed to recite praises about yourself like that?”

“Do you think you could lust after me too?”

“…What?”

“Do you have the confidence to violate me? If what I say is shocking, and sometimes even hateful, can you turn that anger into desire and pour it towards me? Do you have the guts for that? Ah, how cute. Don’t look at me like that. No, I misspoke. Keep looking at me like that. Keep looking at me with that expression that says ‘What is this crazy bitch?’ Feel the flame burning in your chest. And, decide. Whether you harbor desire towards me too.”

“That’s enough, Lieutenant Duey. I don’t want to be seduced in that way by a woman who said she admires rapists.”

“Lesbian Queen.”

“What?”

“You want to, don’t you? You’ve come to want to. The desire that’s awakened in you now is sexual desire. Looking at Zhou Lizhi, haven’t you come to dream? Of wanting to beat Zhou and eat her. Of grasping, licking, sucking, burning the women Zhou can’t touch. Of wanting to have your own harem here like that. Like that Zhou Lizhi did. You want to try it, don’t you? It’s an excellent desire. The foundation of all desires, the desire among desires.”

“Even if I admit as fact that I harbor lust towards women.”

I trembled my hand.

“Why does that become your concern? Right now, this school is overflowing with women harboring much larger ambitions, why should you be hung up on such mere arousal?”

“They say King Zhou of the Shang dynasty in China made chopsticks out of ivory.”

Duey suddenly brought up an ancient Chinese story.

“Seeing that, Jizi lamented. He said, ‘Since he made chopsticks out of precious ivory, he’ll make cups out of jade too. Since he made utensils into treasures, he’ll seek only expensive wine and food. If the wine and food are expensive, the dishes will become expensive too, the dining place will become luxurious, and the clothes worn while eating will become luxurious.'”

“I know it’s a passage from Han Feizi. So what?”

“You’ve started to covet the most outstanding women in the world, excellent in both talent and appearance. The day your ambition grows bigger is not far off. Right now, you’re sowing bigger sparks than anyone else in this school. How could I not be interested?”

Duey slightly loosened her collar, revealing her cleavage.

“So, are you interested in me too?”

Just as I was about to answer something, with a clanging sound, a large sonic wave rushed towards the pavilion. Duey was flung by the sonic barrier and flew to the other side of the pavilion.

I was startled and turned my head to look in the direction the attack had come from.