A Futile Rescue Attempt

I was at a loss for words at her brazenly shameless request. I sighed deeply and asked her.

“Do you dislike Catherine Duey that much? You two are close enough to call each other by nicknames.”

“I like Katyusha. I like her personally.”

“Then why on earth…”

“Unfortunately, we were born in different countries, and in countries that represent opposite values. Her values and mine cannot be reconciled. I feel like I have to kill her.”

“I don’t want to get involved in that issue for that reason.”

“I’ll do the killing. You and Zhou Lizhi just need to look the other way.”

“Don’t you understand? The moment you tell me this, I’m already implicated as an accomplice. I can’t allow it. Let’s proceed according to our original plan. Let’s not create unnecessary victims. Besides, a French officer isn’t someone we should be targeting…”

That’s when it happened. A sudden chilling presence was felt around us two, though no one had approached. I instinctively tensed up and quickly turned my head around, and Tikhonov also frowned, sensing the presence, and tilted her head.

A woman emerged from the opposite corner and said:

“The conversation is getting long. What are you talking about so interestingly?”

It was my roommate, Briar Churchill. I let out a slight sigh of relief and said:

“Ah, Bri. What brings you here? I thought you had something to do today.”

“That’s why I’m here. Why don’t you wrap it up? It doesn’t look good to spend too much time with a friend of poor quality.”

When Briar Churchill growled, Tikhonov bit her lips tightly with a genuinely tense expression. The Soviet colonel seemed so eager to avoid conflict with Churchill that she lost her usual composure and hurriedly got up from her seat, brushing off her behind.

“Uh, ah, then I think we’ve said all we needed to say, so I’ll be going. I was joking around today, but I didn’t mean any harm, so please don’t be too angry, and you too…”

The moment Tikhonov raised her head to look up at Churchill, Briar Churchill glared at her and let out a low sigh. Tikhonov instinctively lowered her head and stepped back.

“Well, that’s it, I’m off!”

I laughed watching the colonel flee in haste, then turned to look at Churchill. When I had glanced at her earlier, there was no problem, but this time I was so startled I almost fainted on the spot.

Bri was Bri as usual. Her appearance, her looks, her attire, were no different from usual. But the aura she emitted. That indescribable aura that only superhumans could sense made my heart pound.

Only then could I understand why that confident soldier had fled in a hurry upon seeing Churchill, as if possessed. The current Briar Churchill was radiating such vigor that it seemed she could pulverize ten Zhou Lizhis while seated.

“…Are you angry?”

“Angry? Well.”

“Look, this is scary, so please explain something…”

“I’ve made up my mind.”

Churchill strode over to me and sat down, almost throwing herself into the seat where Colonel Tikhonov had been sitting. I awkwardly moved a little closer to her.

“What… decision?”

“You don’t think news of the Chinese situation will only circulate within China, do you?”

“…With two nuclear bombs going off in China, how could the whole world not be in an uproar?”

“Right. Already, our caring parents are eagerly trying to evacuate their subordinates or family members back to their home countries, don’t you think? Though only a very few of them would actually be able to make contact. Those with strong backing, lots of money, that kind of support. For example, those in military organizations, or from noble families. Or from intelligence agencies.”

“Yet I’ve hardly been able to contact the outside…”

“That’s because you’re not trusted enough. What’s important is that my father has plenty of money, plenty of honor, and is quite capable of resorting to dirty tricks. I don’t know how much bribery was involved, but I received a letter. Read it.”

Briar Churchill tossed me a note written in English cursive. Unable to write at length, only one line of text remained on the note.

‘Unless you have something absolutely essential to do, come sail on a yacht to Hong Kong. You can manage that much on your own, can’t you?’

“An evacuation advisory.”

“Although Hong Kong is no longer our territory, British influence is still deeply ingrained. It’s only about 100km from here, so it’s not that far…”

From a Korean perspective, 100km is quite a distance, but from an American viewpoint, it’s relatively close. Anyway, the content of this note was correct. She wasn’t being asked to swim all the way to England, but to escape from the Guangzhou school to Hong Kong, which Briar Churchill could accomplish without much difficulty. After all, she is called the strongest awakened one of her generation.

“…So, what did you reply?”

“I told him I’ve fallen in love with someone at school and can’t leave them behind. It seems my father himself is in Hong Kong. When I said I wanted to write back, the messenger who delivered the letter said he could pass it on.”

…No matter how prestigious the Duke of Marlborough may be, isn’t his infiltration capability better than even the CIA? Though perhaps being overtly famous actually makes him less suspect…

“Um… did you get a response after that?”

“He sent back a furious reply saying ‘Despite never having a boyfriend in your hometown days, you’ve fallen in love with some inferior Chinese junior officer?'”

“Oh.”

Seeing my surprise, Briar Churchill covered her mouth with her fist and chuckled.

“He thought I’d fallen in love with a man. Well, the only men to make contact with in this school are straggler soldiers, so he had reason to be angry. So yesterday I explained again. A classmate, I said. And that there was an incident I got involved in, so I couldn’t go to Hong Kong. This morning, the final letter arrived. Want to read it?”

Without thinking much, I took the letter from Churchill, supposedly from her father. Surprisingly, the letter was long, and written in a casual tone without aristocratic formality.

‘Damn it all, homosexuality? Well, I suppose that’s possible for someone like you. You’re not the only genius who burned with artistic passion and turned gay. Am I never going to see grandchildren from you in my lifetime? Or is there still a possibility you’re bisexual? Probably not important. Before talking about the rest of my life, we don’t even know if you’ll survive.

I’ve done everything I could to get you out. I was afraid the yacht owner would just take the money and run, so I went ahead and bought one. Damn, it was expensive. But the cost of sending you these few lines is greater than what I spent on buying the yacht. It’s not about money. Somehow His Majesty the King also helped to get you out of Guangzhou. Since you’ve decided not to come, if you ever return alive, you’ll have to repay the debt to the royal family yourself.

Anyway, I suppose I’ve fulfilled my duty as your blood relative. As a father, I’m sorry, but even if you change your mind after reading this letter and rush to Hong Kong, the boat has already left. You’re not the only British person suffering from the Chinese crisis. In a situation where civil war could break out at any moment, please understand that I had no choice but to have the newly purchased boat requisitioned to evacuate locals. So you’ll remain there, and whether you survive unscathed with your new girlfriend, or fight hard when crisis comes, that’s up to you. But there are things I must tell you.

First, this is the last letter. Partly because I’ll be leaving Hong Kong soon, but even if I were to stay in this city, I can no longer send letters to Guangzhou. It’s not about money. The Generalissimo’s surveillance has become stringent, and no messengers will travel between Guangzhou and Hong Kong anymore, even for large sums of money. Looking into it further, it seems Shanghai gangsters have entered Hong Kong in large numbers yesterday, which is unusual. It’s an open secret that the Shanghai faction isn’t just a gang but loyal to the Chiang regime. That’s how things have turned out. I can barely send this last letter, but now you won’t be able to send replies, and I won’t be able to send more.

If you were to die in some unfortunate accident, though I don’t think that will happen, it might actually be fortunate. I don’t want to say that, but that’s the situation. It seems His Majesty is worried that you might act on your own and do something directly against the Chinese government, seriously damaging Sino-British relations. The Foreign Secretary is also desperately urging me to stop messing around in Hong Kong and return to London, and while I’ve hung up on all the calls so far, I don’t think I can do that anymore. So I’m warning you.

As a father, I’ve given up trying to stop you. That would be impossible, not to mention futile. So I’ll just explain what might happen, and if you anger General Chiang and get arrested by Chinese authorities, the British government won’t be able to make efforts to rescue you, and this father, without the power of the nation, can do nothing to save you. Just know that. Damn it all, if you were a girl who understood reason, you would have been in Hong Kong two days ago. Do whatever you want, damn daughter. I never had a daughter like you.’

The last sentence was scrawled as if written in haste. I silently returned the note to her, and she accepted it wordlessly. About three minutes of heavy silence passed. Briar spoke.

“So I’ve decided.”

“May I ask what you’ve decided?”

“I need to increase the success rate.”

Once again, I felt an unapproachable energy from Briar. I slightly moved away from her and cleared my throat.

“Briar. You’re strong. Whatever happens, I don’t think you’d fail to make a way out for yourself. Besides, even though the content of this letter is a bit pessimistic, Chiang Kai-shek won’t want to severely damage relations with Britain either. There’s no need to worry too much…”

“My only path to survival is for all your damn coup business to succeed.”

“Bri…”

“So, when things happen. If there are things I must do, tell me. If there are people I need to kill, tell me. Don’t think you’re saving me by keeping blood off my hands. If you’re planning to push me to the sidelines, change that thought. I’m strong. If used well, I can be helpful.”

I didn’t want to.

But is that the only choice?