Chapter 174
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 174
Chapter Title: Union and Hegemony, San Francisco (9)
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“Why wouldn’t there be? I don’t know the details, but there must be plenty. Probably.”
The woman, her face wrinkled as firmly as an old tree trunk, did not deny the accusation.
“I told you before. Flaunting wealth is also a means of maintaining power. Seeing that overflowing riches, some people will think: I’m envious. I’d be happy to become that person’s dog, just to get a taste of it. I want to live more comfortably. I want to earn that person’s favor…”
She let out a short sigh.
“Those ordinary folks—Zhang San and Li Si—who lack the courage to overthrow society, the ability to rise above the ordinary, or any real purpose in life… that’s their limit. Even those who stubbornly deny it change their tune once they benefit themselves.”
Zhang San and Li Si. The third son of the Zhang family and the fourth of the Li family. A term for common, unremarkable people.
“You must have seen that baseness in ordinary people yourself.”
“Yes.”
Winter answered immediately. How commonplace it had been in online spaces. Whenever a post about some Arab oil tycoon or billionaire popped up, the comments would flood in. I’m jealous. I want to be friends with that guy. Friends? I’d settle for being a butler. Give me just a billion. It’s pocket change to you. I’ll do anything you ask.
“Such simple desires are a force stronger than conscience. I was no exception.”
The major general evaluated herself coldly, calling herself one of those Zhang San and Li Si types.
“There might have been other ways. But they were impossible for me. I’m not that great a person. What made me who I am today was a bit of skill and mostly luck.”
“You seem overly humble.”
“No, no. The old me just wanted to succeed. Think about it logically. In a country rife with corruption, in an unfair society, how could a purely clean person possibly succeed? Every ladder leading upward was inside someone else’s fence.”
A ladder beyond the fence. The metaphor struck Winter easily. She could express it so concisely because it was wisdom gained from experience.
“I, too, started by desperately knocking on others’ fences. Let me in. I’ll pledge my loyalty. As if there was any noble conviction in that. I was just a shameless woman barging into power struggles. I had no luxury to pick and choose between cold or hot water. Sometimes my conscience twinged, but a cat’s color doesn’t matter as long as it catches mice, right?”
There were no other paths for me. That was the general’s unspoken sentiment.
“Still,”
Her tone shifted.
“At least after I built my own fence, I pride myself on upholding a minimum line.”
She gazed indifferently at the watch that now belonged to Kurt Lee.
“Of course, I satisfied my own desires first. But among ordinary people, there are those who become decent only after their desires are fulfilled. Like those Westerners who built their fortunes plundering colonies and then pretended to be good once they had no more needs… Even someone as average as me had that much conscience.”
Winter responded to her words.
“I understand. Like Schindler, who only learned compassion after getting rich by collaborating with the Nazis. The people he saved were a tiny fraction compared to the total slaughtered, but that held meaning beyond numbers.”
Schindler saved 1,200 Jews from the Holocaust. An insignificant number compared to the six million who died, yet no one—assuming sane—denies its nobility.
The general, compared to the world’s righteous, let out a faint chuckle.
“You’re quite mischievous yourself. It’s a similar case, but I’m not that remarkable.”
“That’s the expectation I have for you.”
“Expectation… I’ll try to live up to it. It’s that kind of era, after all.”
The Chinese officers listening to the conversation showed varied expressions. Sierru’s fervent supporters were especially easy to spot, though their numbers were few.
Like them, Winter hoped the general’s words were true.
He had felt the same expectation when meeting Captain Umehara Atsu of the Jinryu. The higher such people rose, the better the future of this world view would be.
Sierru seemed like she could be a rational partner. At least among the Chinese Winter had met, she was the most decent. If the operation ended successfully—regardless of Kurt Lee’s involvement—she would secure the position she desired. Perhaps someday, a connection might form between her community and the Winter Alliance.
“You asked what makes me different from them.”
Winter followed the general’s gaze to the condemned prisoners. He saw eyes hollowed by the weight of their crimes. One pair begging for sympathy, one radiating injustice, one burning with anger, one deep and inscrutable, one avoiding his gaze, one empty of all feeling…
“Fundamentally, there’s no difference. Or rather, there couldn’t be.”
She crossed her arms.
“But there’s a difference in whether one becomes human at the moment they should.”
“I think I get it.”
“Really?”
“When circumstances are harsh, people inevitably become ugly. If others turn ugly first, it’s even harder to stay clean amid them. Who should we blame? It’s just the environment. No one chooses to be born, and no one picks their birthplace.”
“Good, very good.”
A faint satisfaction spread across the general’s stern face.
“I felt some despair myself. Even after gaining power, my great homeland was too vast. Staying clean alone was mere self-satisfaction, but changing the world? There were too many knives pointed at me. Looking back, I felt powerless then. It wouldn’t be wrong to say I lacked courage.”
It could have been mere rationalization. But Winter decided not to dwell on that possibility. What mattered was that she believed it.
‘Even truth can start from a lie.’
If nothing else, human hearts worked that way. Who knows what’s in a locked box? Is that person’s love genuine? Does it match your own? People can’t even open their own boxes.
What you thought was false might be real, and what you believed real might be false.
So perhaps meaning lies in the process of building oneself.
That’s why Winter kept his heart intact even in this world view.
“I’ve talked too long, but it boils down to this: I’ve only done what I could. Within those limits, I was conscientious; within them, loyal; within them, honorable.”
“Few can do more. Most with the ability choose not to.”
It was a question Winter often pondered: the limits of humanity.
The general nodded deeply.
“I’ll keep doing what I can going forward. It’s chaos not made by human hands. A hero would be ideal, but since that’s not possible, even a crafty schemer must step up. I wasn’t a wise minister in peaceful times, after all.”
Wise minister in peace, crafty schemer in chaos. Words originally for Cao Cao. Winter recalled Elder Kang Young-soon, who had urged him to liken himself to Liu Bei to win hearts. What advice would the old man give if he heard this? He wondered. She, who wielded words like weapons, was no ordinary figure, much like Min Wan-ki.
This world was a mirror reflecting the past of the physical reality. Here, Winter felt his understanding deepen day by day—of how his original world had come to be.
That was why he found such rare interest in his conversation with the major general.
Her self-defense, laced with ambition, concluded.
“So, what’s your impression after peering into my heart, as you wanted?”
Winter didn’t say much.
“When does the test begin?”
Sierru chuckled softly. She gestured for her adjutant. Not one of the fervent supporters Winter had noted earlier. His gaze toward Winter carried a hint of disdain: Why this guy?
‘I can guess why she’s showing off like this.’
Though called a test, the format was odd. At first, it seemed like mere entertainment. People can’t live without pleasure. Words from April Pacific’s madman, but truth from a flawed source is still truth.
Sierru, coveting Kurt Lee, wouldn’t turn him into spectacle without purpose.
The members of her guard were likely products of connections. The more they provided, the more favor they received from the general, perhaps.
“Choose your weapon.”
The adjutant demanded. Winter set down the rifle and handed over the pistol.
“You can only bring in as many rounds as there are targets. No complaints, I assume?”
“None.”
Unfazed, Winter made the adjutant waver. With suspicious eyes, he removed rounds from the magazine, counting nine one by one and setting them aside.
Now entering the enclosure, facing an empty table, Winter disassembled the pistol without instruction. The neat spread of parts shook the adjutant again.
A feral glint began to enter the condemned men’s eyes.
The adjutant declared to them.
“You’ve already heard, but this is your last chance. Anyone. Kill this Kurt Lee here. Do that, and all of you will return to honorable service. Be grateful to the major general for her mercy.”
The response was lukewarm. They were focused on murderous intent.
The adjutant placed the rounds on the table, counting each deliberately.
“This man has exactly one bullet per head. You must assemble your gun faster than him—and not miss a single shot. Such advantageous conditions. Give it your all.”
His final words carried extra weight.
The adjutant’s rank was senior colonel. Equivalent to colonel or brigadier general elsewhere.
So Kurt Lee was beneath notice. How much of Sierru’s plan to turn Han Gyeowol into the Chinese community’s savior had been shared? Even if shared, how much buy-in? He could dismiss it as delusion. Overvaluing a mere mercenary. As if another Han Gyeowol could be made easily.
‘This is also a chance to prove it and convince them.’
If so, he needed to show the level of Han Gyeowol they’d witnessed. There were probably other tests prepared.
Winter categorized the targets by the 「Threat Level」 brushing his skin. The calmest prisoner was the most dangerous. Flexing his hands. No longer human eyes.
The nine condemned waited for the signal.