The Major Loses Her Reason

“I’m not close enough to Zhou Lizhi to manipulate her by whispering sweet nothings.”

I expressed my refusal to Katerfeld in a roundabout way. No matter what, at this point, urging Zhou Lizhi to vacate Huangpu is too much.

“No, she’ll listen to you.”

“Don’t misjudge. She may have given me her side, but she hasn’t given up her seat.”

“She’s closer to a wild animal. She gives up her seat to those she judges to be stronger than her. From what I see, you’ve already conquered that woman.”

“Let’s not say any more here.”

Rebecca Katerfeld bowed her head and retreated. Thanks to the efforts of various countries to prevent a second world war, the essence of the October 12 incident began to be defined faster than expected. At 7 PM, the Chinese government officially announced that this incident is presumed to be due to poor management of China’s nuclear weapons system, and there are no signs of hacking attacks from outside.

The first announcement stated that the stirring of restorationists was merely surrounding troublemakers lying that it was their doing to politically exploit this situation, and the commotion in Guangzhou could be understood in the same context.

It was an explanation that many couldn’t accept, but it wasn’t easy to openly express dissatisfaction with the government’s announcement in China. More than any other reason, it was too dangerous to carelessly suggest other possibilities now. If Japan or the Soviet Union were to be pointed out as the mastermind behind this incident, it could lead to an all-out war situation. If an all-out war situation breaks out, it’s not just China and its neighboring countries that would be involved. My homeland, the Republic of Korea, would naturally enter a full-scale war posture, but even Europe and the United States couldn’t let go of the tension.

Everyone hopes this situation will end within Beiping. The whole world can’t enter a nuclear war crisis because of such an absurd situation.

But no one would seriously believe this explanation.

“It seems they’re trying to go for a mood of mourning rather than a war atmosphere.”

Churchill briefly summarized the situation. If it’s a memorial atmosphere, we won’t have to stay underground for long. As expected, at dawn on October 13, the quasi-wartime posture was lifted, and the evacuation order within Huangpu was also lifted.

Instead, it was followed by an announcement that a two-week national mourning period was designated across China, and the Generalissimo’s 100th anniversary event scheduled for the end of October was replaced with a memorial service in Beiping. The situation was turning subtly.

The 100th birthday of the Generalissimo would be held in Beiping, not Nanjing.

Wednesday, October 14. I was called by Zhou Lizhi again.

“Eun-young.”

Zhou called me familiarly. I bowed my head to her and answered.

“Yes, Major.”

“Just call me by my name. We’ve seen all there is to see of each other. There’s no need to call me Major Zhou in private.”

Judging by her tone, she seemed very troubled. Zhou Lizhi looked very tired and also distressed. She seemed full of worries and also appeared to be struggling.

She said,

“This time they’re calling me to Beiping.”

“…To Beiping?”

“It seems the Generalissimo is making a move… Yes, to Zhonghuamen.”

“He’s going to hold a memorial service, I guess.”

“There could be a second terrorist attack. It seems all the superhumans in the country have been summoned. They want me to be the head of the guard, what should I do now?”

“The threat of a second terrorist attack could be in Beiping, but it could also be in Huangpu. You have enough excuses, Zhou Lizhi.”

“…Is it okay? Your words are weighing on my mind.”

“What words of mine?”

“Didn’t you say I would definitely make a mistake if I went to Nanjing?”

“Yes, I said that.”

“What about in Beiping?”

“…”

“Eun-young. Will China split over this? Will the regional armies rise up and the Republic fall?”

Her question was simple and heavy. I shook my head.

“It’s not time yet.”

“Then soon?”

“I don’t know, nobody knows. It’s completely unknowable, and I can’t even guess how it will turn out.”

“The dream of greatness is a heavy one!”

She slammed her fist on the desk.

“Once you dream of greatness, you can’t turn back. Neither the master nor the dog can turn back from the ambition they’ve once tasted, and a dog that has craved its master’s blood can’t return to being a loyal hound. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Zhou Lizhi, don’t try to drag me into your ambition.”

“Stay in my China.”

Zhou no longer tried to hide anything from me. She shouted at me with her eyes wide open.

“You know what? This wasn’t started by me, it was started by Chiang Kai-shek, that fucking bald bastard! Do you know how many school staff members that bastard has replaced over the past three years? All of them, every single one, completely replaced, leaving only this Zhou Lizhi in her position! Do you know how many times I’ve rejected governors’ requests for meetings before that old man replaced the teachers here and filled them with his own people? It must have been more than ten times. No matter how many times they asked, I refused, saying I’m not a person who does politics, so leave me alone!”

“Lizhi. Calm down.”

I dropped the honorifics completely when addressing Zhou Lizhi. But Zhou showed no interest in whether I spoke informally to her or not. The situation was serious.

“The Generalissimo, that old twisted geezer, is driving me crazy. It’s because that son of a bitch first thought about boiling the dog that I’m responding. If it wasn’t for him, I would have accepted a promotion to colonel last year and gone to a staff position. If he hadn’t blatantly tried to keep me in check, I wouldn’t be staying in the position of a major instructor, but would have received the rank of lieutenant general and been playing house with my own unit. Right?”

“So what are you going to do?”

“Join my China, Eun-young.”

“You seem to be misunderstanding something, but I’m not Chinese, and I’m even less of a Chinese person who would join your China. Calm down and cool your head. You’re under too much stress right now.”

“Now he’s even bringing in a Soviet woman and placing her next to me to monitor me!”

“…You’re saying Tikhonov is Chiang Kai-shek’s monitor?”

“He creates an incident where someone dies right in the middle of the academy where I’m managing security and tries to pass the responsibility to me! The response from the Presidential Office when I couldn’t catch the culprit was quite something! They said they would hold me accountable for this. They’re going crazy wanting to impeach and crush me! Why don’t those bastards understand? Why don’t they know that what they’re doing is creating ambition where there was none! Why!”

Zhou Lizhi was losing her self-control in a rare display. She was shouting as if she had started to spew out all the anger she had been desperately suppressing until now. The pistol, military sword, and pocket knife placed in her office floated up into the air on their own, responding to her anger.

It was evidence that the awakened one was losing her reason to the point of not being able to control her own ability.

“What should I do? What should I do? Should I do something? If this old man is so persistently aiming for my neck, should I offer it up? Or should I go and cut off the Generalissimo’s head? Should I raise an army now? If I expose Chiang Kai-shek as the mastermind behind the Beiping incident, there’s enough justification for a military uprising. Should I say that Chiang Kai-shek detonated an atomic bomb in Beiping for his own staged drama? Should I send messages from Guangdong to Sichuan to gather troops? Should I blow off Nanjing’s head with a Northern Expedition?”

“Then nuclear missiles will fly!”

“Let them shoot! Tell them to shoot! Do you know how vast China is? Even if they detonate all those damn nuclear warheads, they can’t even kill 500 million people! China’s population is 1.5 billion! China won’t fall even if just a third dies! Even if 500 million people die in our country, it’s still more than 10 times your country’s population! It’s a number that someone like me doesn’t even need to bat an eye at, understand?”

“I love you!”

I shouted. At that moment, the weapons floating in the air clattered to the floor. Zhou Lizhi blinked and looked at me.

“…What did you say?”

“I said I love you.”

The wrinkles on the Major’s distorted face smoothed out. At the same time, her face began to turn bright red with an emotion other than anger.

“Uh… that’s… It’s the first time I’m hearing this. From your mouth.”

“Had I never told you before?”

“Um, well. We’re not the kind of relationship that… exchanges bodily fluids… while talking about such things, are we? It’s embarrassing. That.”

“Haven’t you heard it from other women?”

“I’ve heard it occasionally, but…”

“Anyway, I love you. Even if you’re not the only person I love, that’s my sincere feeling.”

“Geez, ruining the mood with unnecessary add-ons.”

Zhou Lizhi sighed deeply and slumped back in her chair. Anyway, we’ve passed the crisis. She seemed to have succeeded in suppressing the stress and anger that had been welling up to some extent.

“Why are you suddenly saying such things out of the blue? I was in the middle of an important conversation.”

“Major, listen to me.”

“Don’t be formal. Do it like you were doing earlier.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt. Sincerely. Don’t say things that will hurt yourself so easily. Let’s think more calmly. First, whether it’s okay to go to Beiping.”