Tremors 6
Honestly, I hadn't expected to hear back anytime soon from the man called Colonel Shin. The contact came just four days after we'd sent that sergeant on his way.
And not only that—he came with the bold proposal that he wanted to meet face-to-face and talk.
We sat across from each other inside an abandoned café near the apartment complex where we'd previously run into those recon soldiers.
"Pleasure to meet you. Colonel Shin Seok-woo, Operations Staff Officer of the 50th Division."
"Seo Yeong-chan."
The man called Colonel Shin, seated with his subordinates lined up behind him, gave off the immediate impression of a solidly built, textbook soldier.
"First of all, I want to offer my sincere thanks for saving our recon team previously."
He rose from his chair and bowed his head to me with full formality. Having no desire to stand myself, I stayed right where I was and merely tipped my head a fraction in return.
The six soldiers standing at his back didn't look pleased with my rudeness.
Well, I didn't care. I wasn't particularly fond of them either.
"So what's the business? As we discussed before—are you offering to help us deal with the Vice Division Commander?"
"...That is, for the moment, impossible. No matter how far out of line he's gone, if the Vice Division Commander who's been forcibly crushing every complaint with his rank suddenly dies, no one can predict what insane things the units clinging to him might do."
(Then why the hell did he ask to meet?)
Yeong-ju's voice came over the suit radio, and I answered for both of us.
"Then why exactly did you call us here?"
Yeong-ju, standing behind me in her Walker Suit, seemed to share the same thought; she stepped slightly forward and leaned toward Colonel Shin. At the pressure of her presence, every soldier behind him put a hand on his weapon at once.
Even in that atmosphere, Colonel Shin studied us for a moment, then let out a hearty "Haha" and spoke.
"Those 'armors' of yours... the intimidation is far stronger in person than anything I'd heard. If you wouldn't mind stepping back just a little—my men are rather worried."
Pretty composed, isn't he?
Yeong-ju must have thought the same; she looked at the colonel a beat longer, then withdrew behind me again.
"In truth, I heard from the recon team leader that there had been... unpleasantness involving Lieutenant Colonel Seo Guk. That was our division's failure, yes—but the root of everything was the Vice Division Commander, who ordered Seo Guk into an impossible operation and then abandoned him."
"So we offered to handle that Vice Division Commander for you, and you said no. What's the problem, exactly?"
At my words, Colonel Shin shook his head.
"I said it was impossible right now."
He glanced down at his own uniform for a moment, then continued.
"Do you understand that the military is not an organization that moves on complicated logic? Inside the army, rank itself manufactures all sorts of absurdities and irrational situations."
"What are you trying to say? Get to the point."
"Even if the Vice Division Commander disappears, if there is someone of higher rank ready to take his place, the chaos can be minimized."
Colonel Shin drew a steadying breath, rose from his seat, and bowed far more deeply than before.
"I have a request."
The words left a sour taste. It felt like someone who'd come to pick a fight and was now trying to stick around instead.
"...Our Division Commander of the 50th Division has recently shown signs of regaining consciousness. Please... rescue the Division Commander."
Shit. I came looking for intel on killing the Vice Division Commander, and now he wants us to save the Division Commander instead?
The situation was twisting into something far more tangled; I let out a deep sigh before I could stop myself.
I told the still-bowed Colonel Shin to sit first.
"Have a seat for now."
Once he was settled again, I asked,
"Two questions. First—why do we have to rescue this Division Commander? Can't you people do it yourselves?"
"If we attempt the rescue ourselves, the Vice Division Commander's people will notice immediately. They would almost certainly strike first—at our remaining resistance, and at the Division Commander. That is why we desperately need help from the 'outside'—help they would never expect."
"Fine. Second question. What possible benefit is there for us in rescuing the Division Commander and killing the Vice Division Commander? Honestly, with Lieutenant Colonel Seo Guk dead, we considered the grudge more or less settled."
"If the only thing you're after right now is the Vice Division Commander alone, then yes. But... from what the recon team told me, neither of you seemed particularly fond of that 'Cleaning Day' operation. If you help us, we can stop Cleaning Day."
...Now that is tempting. A colonel knows how to negotiate.
"May I ask one more thing?"
After my questions were answered, Yeong-ju spoke from behind me.
"If it is something I can answer, I will."
"That 'Cleaning Day' operation. Exactly when does it start?"
It was the same question we'd put to the recon team before. Colonel Shin hesitated a moment, then answered.
"Roughly a month left, I believe. The exact date is still unknown, but I understand they intend to execute it before this winter ends—before spring arrives. The pretext is striking at scavengers weakened by the cold."
"Does the Vice Division Commander set that date himself?"
"No."
Colonel Shin shook his head.
"Right now, every operation and every important matter inside the division is being handled by a Major Kang—the intelligence chief—using the Vice Division Commander's name. He's been intelligence from his first posting onward... an extremely capable man."
I almost asked why that capable friend was helping the Vice Division Commander, then dropped it and spoke to Yeong-ju over the private channel.
(Yeong-ju, what do you think? We set out to kill one guy and the job keeps getting bigger.)
(Tell me about it...)
"...We'll help. For now."
That was the conclusion Yeong-ju and I reached after a short exchange over the suit's private comms.
"Thank you! Truly, thank you!"
Colonel Shin's face showed genuine relief.
"As you said—first we rescue the Division Commander, then we talk again."
"Understood."
"...And there's one more thing I want a firm answer on."
At my words, Colonel Shin looked as if he'd already anticipated it.
"Once the Division Commander is safe, we will hand the Vice Division Commander over to you. In any case, he was going to be the first person the Division Commander dealt with upon his return."
"Good. Then until this is finished, we'll work together—temporarily."
With that, one of the soldiers behind Colonel Shin stepped forward and held out a file folder to me.
"This contains a detailed map of the building where the Division Commander is currently isolated, along with the location where we will be waiting to take custody after the extraction. Use it as reference when you move."
While I examined the documents carefully, Yeong-ju spoke.
"There may be casualties among your soldiers during the rescue. Are you truly all right with that?"
"...If the sacrifice is necessary, we must accept it. We only ask that you do everything possible to keep those losses to a minimum."
He rose once more, bowed deeply toward us again, and said,
"Please carry out the extraction two days from now, in the morning hours when our intelligence indicates the fewest guards will be present. We will be waiting at the agreed location. Once again—we are truly grateful to both of you."
Then he lifted his head slowly and disappeared out of the café with his men.
I looked down at the file they'd left behind and spoke to Yeong-ju.
"Yeong-ju... we set out to stop Cleaning Day and somehow ended up in the middle of a 50th Division power struggle. Is this really the right move?"
Yeong-ju looked at me for a moment, then only shook her head as if she didn't know either, and said nothing.
Back at the Shelter, I gathered everyone around the support-room table and explained every detail of the conversation with Colonel Shin from beginning to end.
"...In that case, on the day itself it would be best not to assign the security robots any other tasks—pull every one of them in around the Shelter."
When I finished, Yang Jin-ju was the first to speak, carefully. Kang Po-gyeong nodded in agreement.
"Yes. Given that we are dealing with the military, thorough preparation for any contingency would be advisable."
"Right! And just for that one day, let's tell Unni Sim Geum-a's people not to come near at all! If they get caught up in it and someone gets hurt, it would be a disaster!"
At Nam Jin-ju's words, Yeong-ju nodded as well.
"Agreed. This isn't simply rescuing one person. If things go wrong, we could take a full military counterattack head-on. We need to prepare properly."
I opened the status window for a moment and checked the current number of security robots we possessed.
Security Robot SP-1: 65 units currently operational
The number of security robots had grown considerably by now. Feeling a solid confidence in that figure, I said,
"All right. Just as Yang Jin-ju said—on the day of the operation, every security robot except those already assigned to Sim Geum-a's side will stand by around the Shelter. With numbers like this... even if the 50th Division counterattacks, we won't be pushed back easily!"
Tension showed on every face at my words, so I added,
"Don't worry. I'm only talking big. All we have to do is extract one person from a building far away. How could it possibly turn into something huge?"
Maybe those words jinxed it.
The next day I received an urgent call from Colonel Shin.
"The Cleaning Day operation has been moved up—to three days from now! Whether they cut us out of the information loop or not, we only learned of it after the troop assembly was already complete."
Fuck... it turned into a big deal after all.