The Thing in the East Sea (1)
"Stop right there!"
A young U.S. soldier shouted. All of them had their guns trained on us. The Special Forces team halted. Special Forces Captain Seong Gyu-hyuk raised his hand and said,
"Lower your guns. We're not the enemy. We're just here to talk."
Seong Gyu-hyuk slowly lowered his palm.
"Hey guys. Listen to me. Lower your guns. And let's talk like gentlemen. Shall we?"
...I had no fucking clue what he was saying. Telling them to lower their guns, maybe? Shit, I regretted never bothering with English. Hell, I barely studied anything.
The Americans glanced at each other. They slowly lowered their weapons. Guess Seong Gyu-hyuk's words had worked.
One soldier stepped forward and said something. Seong Gyu-hyuk turned to me.
"He's asking what we want to talk about."
I nodded and said,
"First, ask why they won't give weapons to the civilians."
Seong Gyu-hyuk nodded and relayed my words. The soldier's face darkened, and he spat something back.
Seong Gyu-hyuk translated. "Haven't you seen what happens when we give them guns and they turn into rioters? Should they dump all their weapons on us? If everyone demands guns, do we have to hand them out? We barely contained the zombies inside our base, and now the locals we armed are turning those guns on us. What's the difference between that and robbery?"
I rested my hands on my hips.
Ah... this was fucked up bad. I could feel the bad blood between the U.S. forces and the locals—it had boiled over completely.
I said, "They're just trying to protect themselves. They could've given out a few more. Wouldn't that solve it?"
The soldier bared his teeth in agitation after hearing Seong Gyu-hyuk's translation.
Seong Gyu-hyuk relayed it. "That's not our call in the first place—it's up to the commander. You think we can just hand them out without approval? And even if we did, then what? First they'd ask for guns. Then more guns. Then everything we've got. You saw it from the chopper yourselves—people we armed pointing those guns right back at us."
Seong Gyu-hyuk spoke calmly, but the young soldier was heated. The contrast felt off. And I could guess the gist anyway.
I shook my head and asked, "How many of you are left?"
Seong Gyu-hyuk translated. "Why? Planning to overwhelm us with numbers and steal everything? Is that why you're asking?"
I shook my head. "Nah. If I wanted to overwhelm you, I wouldn't need numbers—I could do it solo. ...Don't translate that part."
"Got it."
I sighed. "You said it's the commander's call, right? We're from the Republic of Korea government. We want to meet your commander."
Seong Gyu-hyuk glanced at me. I shook my head and added,
"Slaughtering these guys and taking their shit feels off. Besides, they're just grunts. If we wanna talk, it's gotta be with the commander—wasting the day on these idiots is pointless. Let's meet the boss first."
Seong Gyu-hyuk translated, then told me the soldier's response. "Our commander heard the chopper too. He's curious who you are. He'll talk, but you gotta disarm first. No meeting him armed."
What kind of bullshit was that? I smirked.
"Just me and an interpreter. We go alone. The rest wait here. Deal?"
The soldier froze after the translation, then fell silent. No comeback. They had the numbers right in front of us, but our Special Forces wouldn't lose in a fight.
The soldier pointed at me and said something. Seong Gyu-hyuk turned.
"Disarm."
I nodded and unhesitatingly unclipped the Ingrams from my thighs, the quiver, and the bow from my lifting belt hooks. Standing up, the soldier pointed at my waist.
"And sword."
Hmm. That one I understood. But these swords were practically part of me.
...Fuck it. I shrugged and unclipped the sheath from my right hip.
"One sword's fine, right? Human beasts are everywhere—going in empty-handed's suicide. You guys keep your guns; I'll keep this one."
The soldiers exchanged looks. The young one scowled and insisted,
"No. You should put down the sword."
Something about "sword"—another demand to disarm. Seong Gyu-hyuk started to translate, but I held up a hand.
Ah, fuck. Just trying to talk, and it's this goddamn picky. I got the tension from the civilian clashes, but shit, we didn't do anything.
I sighed, drew the sword from its sheath, and handed it to Seong Gyu-hyuk. Holding up the empty sheath, I said,
"This okay? It's not a weapon."
If shit hit the fan, I'd ram it through their skulls—but no need for them to know that.
The young soldier eyed me and Seong Gyu-hyuk with the sword, conflicted. I rolled my eyes.
"If this has to go too, might as well strip naked. It's just a sheath. Not a weapon. I'm unarmed. Can't you see?"
Seong Gyu-hyuk translated. The soldier looked between us, clearly unhappy, but slowly nodded.
Good enough. I told Seong Gyu-hyuk,
"Ga-yeon and I will go. You gauge the vibe here."
"Sung-hoon. You sure just the two of you? My sister..."
He trailed off. Sending his sister into potential enemy territory unarmed must've gnawed at him.
I clapped his shoulder. "Don't worry. Stay here."
Seong Ga-yeon was already handing her rifle to another operative and pulling a massive sword from her ankle sheath.
...Ankle greatsword. Now I knew. Thorough as hell.
Seong Ga-yeon raised her hands and spun once. "I'm unarmed too."
Skinny jeans and a tight tee—nothing to hide even if she wanted to. The young soldier eyed us both, then nodded and jerked his head.
Follow him. We trailed the soldier past the airstrip toward a large barracks-like building. Two more Americans escorted from behind—more like guards. Ready to shoot if we twitched.
Seong Ga-yeon looked a bit tense. I said,
"Relax. Just translate right."
"Yes, Sung-hoon."
Inside the barracks, he led us up stairs to a spacious third-floor conference room. A big table, several chairs. Two middle-aged Americans stood by the window, turning to face us.
The young soldier chatted with them. No clue what they said, obviously.
Commander, huh? Pretty young for it—mid-forties, maybe late. Seemed too fresh to command a base.
The young soldier moved behind us; the three lined up, guns lowered.
The middle-aged brown-haired one eyed me and Seong Ga-yeon, then pointed at the table chairs.
Seong Ga-yeon turned to me. "He says if you've got business, sit and talk. He's curious too."
I nodded. "Sure."
The two middle-aged guys sat first. I took a chair; Seong Ga-yeon sat beside me.
The middle-aged soldier spoke. Seong Ga-yeon translated.
"First things first: we're U.S. Forces Korea, here to jointly defend Korean soil. But the Korea we were supposed to protect doesn't exist anymore. You say you're government forces, but there's no government in Korea. Or anywhere in the world. Agree?"
I started to nod, then paused. "...America's government gone too?"
The soldier shook his head grimly. Seong Ga-yeon translated. "We don't know. Only that contact's cut off."
...Hmm. I nodded, but he continued.
"Before you speak, let me say this. We know what the locals want. But we can't give it. We have our mission."
"Mission? What mission?"
In this mess? Didn't he just say no governments left?
Seong Ga-yeon translated his words. "D-Day, when this all started—we lost our USFK commander, General Smith. I had to put a bullet in his head myself. After that, I took command here. And Camp Humphreys has one purpose: one mission."
He planted both hands on the table, leaning toward me.
"This is your country. Even if countries are gone now. You probably feel some duty—or desire—to save your people. We do too. We're soldiers who swore an oath to our flag to defend our nation."
I tilted my head. My brow furrowed. What was this guy getting at?
He said, "D-Day was during the joint ROK-U.S. exercise. There's a U.S. Navy nuclear carrier strike group—CVN Lincoln—in the East Sea. We're securing the Lincoln and heading back to America."
My jaw slowly dropped.
...Carrier strike group? I had zero interest in military exercises, had no idea something like that was docked off our East Sea.
He went on. "Now you get why we won't arm the locals. It's not lack of charity. We have a duty to protect, rescue, and safeguard our own people first. Above all else. So we can't hand over our weapons to civilians."