To Rage Trouble (13)
Yeongeun appeared at my back without a sound or the faintest stir of presence, and the first thing that met my eye was a conference room sunk in silence. Not a word, not even the rustle of paper—a heavy quiet held the place, the kind of atmosphere that would smother you dead if it lasted ten minutes.
Yeongeun sat with her head bowed, silently going over the documents.
On the wall opposite her seat hung a large panel. In it an elderly blond man in a gray suit was seated, and behind him the flag of the United States stood beside another banner—a blue field, a circle drawn in gold cord, and within the circle an eagle set among five stars. He had the look of a man whose very face suggested a rigid integrity. That would be Vice President Joe Selden, wouldn't it? He was the first to react. The moment our eyes met, his neatly trimmed yellow brows gave a twitch.
"Hm."
At that, fourteen people—ministers or vice ministers, I couldn't tell—turned expressionless faces on me. Under those stares Yeongeun lifted her head, looked them over, then turned and opened her mouth as if startled.
"Chairman! Appearing behind me without a sound—you startled me."
"I've got a bit of a knack for startling people."
I smiled and gave a small shrug, but the only thing that came back was the smile Yeongeun couldn't quite keep from forming. Unlike last time, the others watched me in mute silence, not so much as a murmur. I swept a glance over them and asked her.
"The mood in here seems awfully frozen. Is America giving you trouble?"
"Ahem."
A flick of mockery in the words, and I caught Vice President Joe Selden—presumably—clearing his throat. No anger in it, and no particular feeling at all. He didn't seem to be harboring anything negative toward me.
"Of course not. Everyone was waiting for the Chairman to arrive. This way—please, sit beside me."
Hearing Yeongeun address me with that kind of courtesy felt strange. Strange was strange; I didn't let it show. She drew out the fine hardwood chair set at her side, and I sat.
Once I was down, Vice President Joe Selden, who had been watching the whole while, opened his mouth with a face nearly empty of emotion.
"A pleasure to meet you, Chairman of Grand Blue. I am Joe Selden, temporarily assuming the duties of the fallen President Donald Trumpet. I serve as Vice President of the United States of America."
"Jeong Seoha."
So it was Vice President Joe Selden after all. He studied me for a moment, then spoke in a voice with almost no rise or fall.
"Korea does appear to be a nation situated in a truly exceptional place, from the standpoint of feng shui."
Huh? A Yankee who knows feng shui? And why feng shui, all of a sudden? Yeongeun, her face no more stirred than his, took up the thread.
"I had heard that Vice President Selden possessed a deep knowledge of geography. I did not realize that interest extended to feng shui."
"In the course of digging into geography, my eye was naturally drawn to certain fascinating techniques of the East. Feng shui in particular is a philosophy unique to East Asia, so taking an interest in the Republic of Korea—which may be called the center of East Asia—is only natural."
I had no idea why he was slathering honey on his tongue like that. At the line about the center of East Asia, Yeongeun neither confirmed nor denied it, and simply let the talk pass on.
"I read the article as well—the one concluding that, analyzed through modern science, feng shui appears to go beyond the level of folk belief. Quite an interesting subject."
"Interesting, and a discourse that demands a wide range of knowledge. A systematic approach to feng shui requires broad learning, from geology through seasonal studies, the study of customs, and on to geography. How vast a store of knowledge and insight that must take. It is far too deep and subtle a discipline to dismiss as mere superstition and folk faith."
He had opened with feng shui, and I was frowning slightly, wondering what on earth he was driving at, when Vice President Selden looked at me and spoke as if this were the line he had been waiting to deliver.
"And so it stands to reason that the Chairman of Grand Blue—possessed of a strength no one can challenge—should have been born in Korea, the center of East Asia, a land exceptional even by the principles of feng shui."
So that was the speech he'd wanted to make. Something to puff me up. Flatter me a little, smooth my mood—that was the idea, apparently. Not a chance. I stared at Vice President Selden with a blank face. He stared back, then dipped his head slightly and said:
"First, on behalf of the fallen President Donald Trumpet, allow me to offer you an apology. Properly, I ought to meet you in person to apologize, but the present circumstances being what they are, I ask you to understand why I cannot."
He bowed his head again. I watched him, unimpressed. Fallen? More like I felled him. Or he was only pretending to fall. As if he had guessed the thought, Vice President Selden smiled faintly and went on.
"You would be justified in suspecting that President Trumpet's collapse was suspiciously well timed. However, it is a fact that President Donald Trumpet collapsed of acute hypertension immediately after receiving the report that the second Muscle Bear raid had ended in failure. He was, in truth, advanced in years, and he fell in a poor spot—he struck his head on the corner of a desk and suffered a concussion. As secondary damage a stroke followed, and he is currently unconscious."
"A healer's recovery couldn't fix that?"
Come on. Even the Blue House keeps a D-Class healer on staff. The White House, where the president of the United States lives, doesn't have one? That doesn't make any sense. Wondering if this was some trick because he simply didn't want to apologize, I looked at Joe Selden with open reproach. He smiled bitterly and answered.
"I understand that you find it absurd. Immediately after President Trumpet collapsed, a C-Class healer waiting in the next room came running. But between the repeated psychological shocks and the infirmity of age, even recovery and healing could do nothing."
Yeongeun added it like a footnote, leaning in to whisper at my ear.
"President Donald Trumpet turns eighty-two this year."
Eighty-two? He hadn't looked that old the first time I saw him. Did the sorry bastard really just trip and crack the back of his skull?
"Of course, words alone will hardly suffice for you to accept our apology—for plotting to kidnap your lover, Grand Blue's First Boss. So will you not tell us? What the United States must do, and how, before you will accept that apology. If you will say so, the United States will do its utmost to accord with your wishes."
Vice President Selden never said he was begging forgiveness. He framed it as asking us to accept the apology they were offering, and then he went on—meaning, in short, that if we named what we wanted, they would grant it, and that would count as the apology given and received. And he had only said they would do their utmost. He had not said they would grant it unconditionally. It still felt as if he were brushing me aside, and I didn't like it. Was this how an apology between nations was supposed to go?
The more I turned it over, the more absurd it got, and my face kept tightening. Yeongeun, seated beside me, opened her mouth as if to soothe me.
"They say politics is not conducted on emotion. But the Chairman is not a politician. So there should be no problem if you act on emotion, should there? Vice President Joe Selden is surely well aware of that much. If there is something the Chairman wants—if there is something that dissatisfies you—I think it would be best to say so plainly, so that no resentment is left behind."
Vice President Selden seemed to agree. He gave a small nod.
"Quite right. Only when unfavorable feelings are set aside, and both sides stand as equals, can there be trust. If a transaction is struck for the sake of a firm reconciliation, I believe you will be satisfied as well."
So instead of an apology in words, we were supposed to count it as given and received once each side had pocketed whatever benefit it could grab? Ha. This was how political hacks thought? Keep your face and your pride, and settle the rest by trading material gain? I really didn't like it. And what was I supposed to do with something like America's trust at this point? Still, if I clicked my tongue and walked out in front of everyone, I would put Yeongeun in a bad spot. I asked, my voice edged with irritation.
"Since you're putting it that way, I'll ask plainly too. If I didn't mishear what I was told earlier, it sounds like you're trying to play down what America did wrong and pretend to meet the conditions I set. Did I misunderstand?"
"Ahem. It was certainly a manner of speaking where, depending on the ear, a hair's difference turned one meaning into another."
With Yeongeun's assist, Vice President Selden's complexion darkened a shade. I confirmed it, then pressed him with what Lydia's message had said.
"The second Muscle Bear raid failed too, and on top of that Muscle Bear is moving toward Washington, D.C., isn't it? If it reaches the coast and starts north, America's capital is right there, they said. Isn't that why you rushed to set up this little conversation?"
At my words Yeongeun's brow twitched—so faintly that only I, watching through Spatial Perception, could have caught it—and Vice President Selden's face darkened further.
"...I cannot answer that it is not."
"And the backpack nuke didn't work either, I hear. You don't even know whether firing a strategic nuclear missile at your own country would work, and you're still waving your pride around and scraping at my nerves? Didn't U.S. intelligence tell you what kind of personality I have? If they didn't, I don't know why you keep a pack of incompetents like that around. And if they did, I don't understand why you're coming at me like this."
"..."
Unable to answer, showing nothing at all, Vice President Selden's face was like a mask. I had a feeling that no matter how many times I said it, I would get the same stone silence. Negotiations really were irritating. I let out a long sigh, smoothed my expression, and spoke.
"My emotional range sits low, and it runs narrow. Understand that part, and answer me."
"...Please. Speak."
"Whose head did the plan come out of—the one to kidnap my lover and take her hostage?"
"It was a plan initiated by the directors of the Homeland Security Bureau and the Federal Emergency Management Bureau, authorized by President Donald Trumpet, and carried out with the consent of Vice Admiral Robert Phillips, commander of the Pacific 7th Fleet, and Major General Altron Benner of the Ability-User Covert Prosecution Bureau under the National Defense Security Command."
He must have had the answer prepared. Homeland Security Bureau, Federal Emergency Management Bureau, National Defense Security Command, Ability-User Covert Prosecution Bureau—names that would tie a tongue even if you tried to say them plainly came spilling out in a string.
"Whoa. Vice Admiral Robert Phillips said he never meant to attempt the kidnapping?"
"We were surprised by that as well. After he was urgently seized and transported, interrogation and questioning produced a confession: once he learned that the Chairman's ability was abnormally powerful, he grew afraid and abandoned the plan."
Watching Vice President Selden answer without a hitch, face blank, that old sickness of suspicion started flaring up again. I set my hand on the table and began tapping a rhythm with my nails. Yeongeun turned to look at me, and Vice President Selden watched as if committing the sight to memory.
Two choices, from where I sat. One: give America a single chance, and let them build the same kind of friendly relationship with me that Britain and Russia had. The other: do what I had been planning all along, and dispose of every ringleader and accomplice in this kidnapping plot. I was weighing which one actually benefited us when Yeongeun, beside me, rested her elbow on the table as if it were the most natural thing in the world, laced her fingers, and covered her mouth.
Covering her mouth? On a hunch, I fixed Spatial Perception on the shape of her lips, and soon they began to move. I read them at a glance.
"I pressed them before you got here, but all I got was the same answers they're giving now. The vice ministers in Diplomatic Intelligence figure America means to pin the whole crime on Trumpet, Robert Phillips, Altron Benner, and the two directors who floated the kidnapping plan. Five people, all told."
Figures. So they were going to cut the tail off and be done with it. Outwardly she was the picture of someone lost in thought—eyes closed, chin propped on her hand—but the mouth hidden behind her fingers kept moving.
"However we play this, I don't think we can stay on good terms with America anymore. We won't get the kind of friendly response from them that we get from Russia or Britain. Rather than chasing better relations with America at this point, better to strip them of whatever we can strip, let our Seoha get his anger out, and then keep America in check with Britain and Russia at our back."
Listening to her, I finally felt the traffic in my head sort itself out. I pretended to think for a moment, then spoke.
"So the directors of the Homeland Security Bureau and the Federal Emergency Management Bureau proposed the plan, President Trumpet authorized it, and Vice Admiral Robert Phillips and Major General Altron Benner carried it out. That right?"
"That is correct."
"Then what punishment are you planning to give those ringleaders, and the people who actually carried it out?"
Vice President Selden seemed to consider for a moment, then accepted a document from someone beside him. He looked it over briefly and, as if he had forgotten, turned to me and spoke.
"Ah—this is the United States Federal Criminal Sentencing Guidelines table. Crime grades run from Grade 1, the lightest, to Grade 43, the heaviest. Grade 43 is life imprisonment: a grade under which one cannot be released on parole, on bail, or for any other reason, and must live in prison until the day one dies."
With that, he turned the face of the document toward us.
Federal Criminal Sentencing Guidelines Table
Eagle Seal · The Stars and Stripes
"President Trumpet is currently comatose and unable to perform his duties. Having broken the oath he recited upon taking office, impeachment proceedings ought to be pursued; however, as he is unconscious due to an accident, the articles of impeachment will be deferred. For that reason the presidency will be left vacant. The other officials will be expelled from public office under the procedures for removal, their immunity from prosecution withdrawn, and they will be stood before a federal court to receive the judgment of the law."
It was a complicated speech, but what it came down to was this: President Trumpet had been hurt in an accident and hospitalized, and in the meantime they would leave him be. Everyone else would be stripped of office and punished in their own country's courts. Was that the most a monster the size of America was willing to concede? The most?
"American officials committed a crime against me, and they don't face the law in our country—they face it in America?"
"The offenses they committed are charges pertaining to national security, and under the federal constitution they are to be judged in their own country."
Politics. It really was infuriating. Every sort of law was tangled up in it, and if I kept listening, the headache would turn into anger. My face twisted, the anger showing clearer, and Yeongeun reached over and kneaded my shoulder. Vice President Selden was visibly drawn tight with tension. I decided I would take the four items I had talked over with Franc and Hwayeon, revise them a little, and lay them out. First I ought to ask Yeongeun.
"Madam. May I set the conditions however I want?"
"Of course. The victim is the Chairman, after all. Sadly, our government lacks the strength to help you... All we can do is support you from behind, so please do as you wish. Whatever follows, the government will support you with everything it has."
A faint look of concern crossed Vice President Selden's face at her words, and he waited to hear what would come out of my mouth.
"All right. First: every person involved in devising and planning this kidnapping is to be brought before the IWO Ability User Tribunal. Second: a complete list of the ringleaders and every accomplice is to be provided. Third: this incident is to be fully acknowledged and apologized for, and that apology announced to the entire world by public broadcast. Fourth: Korea, Britain, and Russia will oversee compliance with the first and second conditions."
Hearing my four short conditions, a slight frown appeared on Vice President Selden's emotionless face.
"The first and the second strike me as reasonable requests—"
"Listen carefully. These aren't requests. They're demands. If you fail to meet even one of the four, I will never set foot on the American continent again. The same goes if anyone connected to this kidnapping plot dies in some inexplicable accident, or in a way that smells like murder."
Selden seemed to be working a calculator in his head, staring at me without a word. Then, as if there were nothing else for it, he nodded.
"Very well. I will accept your demands in full."
I had half expected him to try to revise the conditions. He accepted them with surprising cleanliness.
"Then, so long as it does not become a burden upon the Chairman of Grand Blue, might I ask you to raid the aberrants?"
"..."
It was... going the way I wanted. And yet, because he folded so readily, I felt oddly as if I were the one taking the loss. Was the other side just too docile? I kept my mouth shut and gave no answer, and Yeongeun cut in from beside me.
"Chairman? I recommend that everything related to this be conducted in the open, and kept on video as evidence. The raid as well—please record that too."
If she was recommending it, then by the measure of Yeongeun, who had spent decades in politics, this was a situation well worth accepting. My goal from the start had been punishment for the bastards who had tried to kidnap Hwayeon. I would take it, and leave it here.
"All right."
"Thank you. How do you intend to prepare for the raid on the two aberrants? If you require it, the United States will ready a special transport aircraft."
"First I'll have a word with our President. I've got a few things to prepare myself."
"Yes... I would ask only that it be handled as quickly as possible."