36. What’s in the East Sea. (1)

“Stop right there!”

A young U.S. soldier shouted.

Everyone had their guns aimed at us.

The Special Forces members stopped in their tracks.

Special Forces Leader Sung Gyu-hyuk extended his hand and said,

“Lower your guns. We’re not the enemy. We just want to talk.”

Sung Gyu-hyuk slowly lowered his palms.

“Hey guys. Listen to me. Lower your guns. Let’s talk like gentlemen, shall we?”

…I have no idea what he’s saying.

He’s telling them to lower their guns, right?

Damn, I really regret not learning English at all.

Well, I barely studied anything in the first place.

The U.S. soldiers looked at each other.

They slowly lowered their guns.

It seems Sung Gyu-hyuk’s words had an effect.

A U.S. soldier stepped forward and spoke.

Sung Gyu-hyuk turned to me.

“He’s asking what you want to talk about.”

I nodded and said,

“First, let’s ask why they’re not giving weapons to the people.”

Sung Gyu-hyuk nodded and relayed my message.

The U.S. soldier’s face hardened and he said something.

Sung Gyu-hyuk translated,

“We’ve seen what happens when we give out weapons. They turn into looters. We entrusted our weapons to them, and now they’re pointing them at us. How is that any different from robbery?”

I put my hands on my hips.

Ah…

This is really a mess.

I can feel the deep-seated animosity between the U.S. forces and the local residents.

I said,

“They’re just trying to protect themselves. You could have given them more. That would have solved the problem, right?”

The U.S. soldier, hearing Sung Gyu-hyuk’s translation, bared his teeth and said something excitedly.

Sung Gyu-hyuk translated,

“That’s not our decision to make. It’s up to the commanding officer. We can’t just hand out weapons without his permission. Besides, if we give out weapons, what’s next? They’ll ask for more guns, then everything we have. You must have seen from the helicopter that they were pointing the guns we gave them at us.”

Sung Gyu-hyuk spoke calmly, but the young U.S. soldier was not.

The tone of voice was quite confrontational, creating a tense atmosphere.

And I get the gist of what he’s saying.

I shook my head and asked,

“How many of you are left?”

Sung Gyu-hyuk translated.

“Why? Are you planning to overwhelm us and take everything by force? Is that why you’re asking?”

I shook my head.

“No. If we wanted to overwhelm you, we wouldn’t need numbers. I could handle it alone. …Don’t translate that.”

“Ah, okay.”

I sighed.

“You said the commanding officer makes the decision. We were sent by the South Korean government. We want to meet your commanding officer.”

Sung Gyu-hyuk glanced at me.

I shook my head and said,

“It would be a bit much to massacre them and take everything, right? Besides, these are just soldiers. We need to talk to the commanding officer. Talking to these guys all day would be a waste of time. Let’s meet the commanding officer first.”

Sung Gyu-hyuk translated my words and then relayed the U.S. soldier’s response.

“Our commanding officer has already heard the helicopter. He’s curious about who you are. He’s willing to talk, but first, you need to put down all your weapons. Don’t think about meeting him with weapons.”

What the hell is he saying?

I chuckled.

“I can go alone. And one person to translate. Just the two of us. The other team members will stay here. How about that?”

The U.S. soldier hesitated and stopped speaking.

He seems to have no counter-argument.

There are more U.S. soldiers in front of us right now.

But our Special Forces team is not inferior in combat power.

The U.S. soldier pointed at me and said something.

Sung Gyu-hyuk looked at me.

“He says you need to disarm.”

I nodded and, without hesitation, removed the Ingram submachine guns, quiver, and arrow case from the loops on my lifting belt.

As I stood up, the U.S. soldier pointed at my waist and said,

“And sword.”

Hmm.

I can understand that.

But these swords are practically part of my body.

…Damn.

I shrugged and removed the scabbard from the loop on my right waist.

Then I said,

“One sword is fine, right? Human beasts are running rampant. It’s a bit much to go unarmed, isn’t it? You have guns. I’ll just keep this one.”

The U.S. soldiers looked at each other.

The young U.S. soldier frowned and said forcefully,

“No. You should put down the sword.”

From the way he said “sword,” it seems he wants me to remove this too.

Sung Gyu-hyuk started to translate, but I held up my hand.

Ah, damn.

Why is he being so picky about this?

I understand they’re on edge due to conflicts with the locals, but we haven’t done anything.

I sighed and pulled out the sword from the scabbard.

Then I handed the sword to Sung Gyu-hyuk.

I held up the scabbard and said,

“This is fine, right? It’s not a weapon. I’m unarmed. Can’t you see?”

I plan to use this to stab someone if needed, but they don’t need to know that.

The young U.S. soldier looked back and forth between me and the sword Sung Gyu-hyuk was holding, looking conflicted.

I rolled my eyes and said,

“If you want me to remove this too, why not just have me strip naked? This is just a scabbard. It’s not a weapon. I’m unarmed. Can’t you see that?”

Sung Gyu-hyuk translated.

The U.S. soldier looked back and forth between me and Sung Gyu-hyuk, then slowly nodded with a dissatisfied expression.

Whatever.

I said to Sung Gyu-hyuk,

“I’ll go with Ga-yeon. You stay here and keep an eye on things.”

“Seong-hun, are you sure it’s okay for just the two of you? My brother…”

He couldn’t finish his sentence.

He’s worried about sending his brother into a potentially hostile situation unarmed.

I patted Sung Gyu-hyuk’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, stay here.”

Sung Ga-yeon was already handing her rifle to a nearby team member and passing her ankle-mounted greatsword to another.

…I just noticed she has a greatsword on her ankle.

She’s thorough.

Sung Ga-yeon raised her hands and turned in a circle.

“I’m unarmed too.”

She’s wearing skinny jeans and a tight T-shirt.

There’s nothing to hide.

The young U.S. soldier looked back and forth between me and Sung Ga-yeon.

Then he slowly nodded and gestured for us to follow him.

We followed the young U.S. soldier to a large building next to the runway, which looked like a barracks.

Two U.S. soldiers escorted us from behind, more like surveillance.

If anything happens, they’ll shoot from behind, I guess.

Sung Ga-yeon looked slightly tense.

I said,

“It’s okay. Just translate properly.”

“Yes, Seong-hun.”

The U.S. soldier led us up the stairs to a large conference room on the third floor.

The conference room had a large table and several chairs. Two middle-aged U.S. soldiers were standing by the window.

They turned to look at us.

The young U.S. soldier and the middle-aged U.S. soldiers exchanged a few words.

Of course, I had no idea what they were saying.

But, the commanding officer, right?

He’s quite young.

Maybe mid-40s?

Or late 40s.

Seems a bit young to command a U.S. military base.

The young U.S. soldier walked behind us, and the three of them stood in a line with their guns lowered.

The middle-aged brown-haired U.S. soldier looked back and forth between me and Sung Ga-yeon.

Then he pointed to the chairs at the table and said something.

Sung Ga-yeon looked at me.

“He says you came to talk, so let’s sit down and talk. I have some questions too. That’s what he said.”

I nodded.

“Let’s do that.”

The two middle-aged U.S. soldiers were already seated.

As I sat down, Sung Ga-yeon sat next to me.

The middle-aged U.S. soldier spoke.

Sung Ga-yeon translated for me.

“First, let’s be clear about one thing. We, the U.S. forces in Korea, are here to jointly defend Korean territory. However, the Korea we need to defend no longer exists. You mentioned government forces, but there is no government in Korea. There is no government in any country in the world. Do you agree?”

I started to nod but hesitated.

“…Is there no government in the U.S. either?”

The middle-aged U.S. soldier shook his head solemnly and said something.

Sung Ga-yeon translated,

“We don’t know. All we know is that communication with the government has been cut off.”

…Hmm.

I nodded, and the middle-aged U.S. soldier continued.

“Before you speak, I want to make something clear. We understand what the local residents want. However, we cannot provide what they want. We have a mission.”

“Mission? What mission?”

In this situation?

Didn’t he just say there’s no government?

Sung Ga-yeon translated the middle-aged U.S. soldier’s words.

“On the day everything started, D-Day, we lost our commanding general, General Smith. I had to shoot him myself. Since then, I’ve been in command of this base. The purpose of this base, Camp Humphreys, is to fulfill one mission.”

The middle-aged U.S. soldier placed both hands on the table and leaned forward toward me.

“This is your country. Even though the concept of a country no longer exists, you must have a desire or a sense of duty to save your people. We feel the same. We are soldiers who have sworn to defend our country under our flag.”

I tilted my head.

My eyebrows furrowed.

What is this guy trying to say?

The middle-aged U.S. soldier continued.

“D-Day was during a joint U.S.-South Korea military exercise. There is a U.S. Navy nuclear aircraft carrier, the USS Lincoln, in the East Sea. We will secure the USS Lincoln and return to the U.S.”

My mouth slowly opened.

…An aircraft carrier group?

I had no idea such a thing was happening, let alone that it was anchored off the east coast of Korea.

The middle-aged U.S. soldier continued.

“Now you understand why we don’t give weapons to the local residents. It’s not that we lack compassion. We have a duty to protect and rescue our own citizens. That is our top priority. Therefore, we cannot give our weapons to the local residents.”