I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 197 – Minister of National Defense

“Ugh, I’m so tired.”

Time flowed like an arrow shot from a bow.

Just closing my eyes and opening them again was enough for a match to disappear, and the snack time called debriefing would be over. After such a break, we would dive back into the match. Repeating this process several times, the afternoon would melt away like snow, and before I knew it, the sky would turn dusky.

By now, the fourth match had ended. It was about 20 minutes before 5 p.m., and Xi IMPRESSIVE’s Ink had stepped out for a moment to go to the bathroom during the debriefing. To be honest, I missed the fresh air a bit.

Luckily or unluckily, he wasn’t a walking issue maker like Dice or Yoo Jin, who anyone interested in AP would recognize – of course, that’s probably why he didn’t reveal his real appearance – and he didn’t have a distinctive look either. He would just be another person if he changed out of the shirt proving his national team affiliation.

In other words, he could walk around outside without much trouble.

───Waaah!

Wow, there are really a lot of people.

Such grand cheers could be heard from all directions, and beyond the glass wall, the outside was bustling with a crowd so dense there was no room to step. The sight of people packed densely over Yongsan Park was overwhelming in itself.

He had been out for barely a minute. He had about 2-3 more minutes to look around. So, he looked a bit more at various places like the lounge and convenience store – occasionally peeking into areas where ordinary people couldn’t enter.

While doing so, he saw many staff members carrying equipment and wires, running busily. Behind them, a general staff member overseeing the activities was giving various instructions.

Curious but hesitant to ask, he lingered in the back until the general staff turned around and made eye contact with Ink.

The staff’s gaze then settled on the national team badge hanging around Ink’s neck. In other words, it was like an employee ID. Only then did the staff’s expression soften, and he spoke up.

“Ah, you’re one of the players. It’s dangerous here. You might get hurt.”

“Oh, yes. But what are you doing right now…?”

“Right now?”

A brief pause.

However, it didn’t take long to understand what he meant.

“Oh, you mean what we’re doing right now? We’re organizing unused equipment and stuff. Since this is for soloing, AP duo and squad matches will also be held here within a month… we’re preparing to rearrange the internal facilities for that.”

“I see…”

“But since the matches are still ongoing, we’re first organizing unnecessary things where people can’t see. As a player, you know how it is, right? Even if the matches end between 6 and 7 p.m. today, we have schedules until the next day.”

“Right. We have fan meetings and dinners… plus, I heard there’s a concert tonight. I wasn’t expecting to be away from home for three days. I did prepare, but haha.”

Hearing that, it started to sink in.

The Asia preliminaries, which seemed like they would never end, even the soloing would be over in a few hours. What he witnessed was just a fragment of that fact.

After today, the players gathered here would be divided into two groups. Those who have to wait until next year and those who have to prepare for the end of this year. The number might be smaller than expected, considering overlapping participation in duo and squad matches….

Only then did Yoo Jin’s comment during the debriefing come back to him, crawling up his spine.

He remembered. He had felt this last year, but the preparation for this year’s Asia preliminaries, which progressed completely differently from a year ago, was enough to make him forget those memories.

“….”

Fortunately, he was barely in a situation where he qualified to prepare for the end of this year – unless he got eliminated in the early stages of the next two rounds, but that was an unrealistic assumption.

He exchanged brief pleasantries.

“Anyway, thank you for your hard work.”

“Oh, the players work much harder. If you don’t mind, could you sign this paper?”

“Oh, sure.”

He scribbled a signature on the paper and exchanged simple greetings.

With that, the brief encounter ended. Six minutes had passed since he left the debriefing room. The outside was still bright, but the strong sunlight from a while ago was gradually fading.

Now it was… probably time for the phrase ‘end with a good finish’ to be most fitting.

It was time to head back to the debriefing room.

‘…What unit are you from?’

‘Task Force Dagger, Minister Janet. You can call me Codename Aurora. Currently, a T-level threat has attempted a bomb terror attack on the temporary Department of Defense building. A rebar has pierced through your abdomen, so you mustn’t move.’

‘We’ve administered painkillers, anesthesia, and medical nanomachines. We will cut the rebar after the anesthesia takes effect. There’s a risk of shock death from the cutting vibrations.’

───Vroom!

‘…Did DARPA conduct some experiment without my knowledge? How come there are such ladies who don’t seem to belong here…?’

‘Haha, we are curious too. If the U.S. normalizes later, we hope you can help uncover it.’

───Beep, beep, beep!

“…Ugh.”

My mind slowly awakened from the depths of sleep. Having slept in the chair, my body felt stiff. Forcing myself to move, I hastened the awakening of my groggy mind, and after a quick wash in the bathroom, my vision finally cleared up.

Sunlight streamed through the small window attached to the fuselage. It was past 4:30 p.m. I returned to my office and operated the pad on the table to check if there were any newly updated issues to review.

The issues were sorted by importance, thanks to the algorithm. I checked them one by one, starting with the most critical ones, but aside from some more detailed pre-discussed guidelines, there was nothing particularly special.

Just as I took a small breath and was about to open the drawer under my desk, someone knocked politely on the door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Secretary McClain. I brought coffee.”

“Come in.”

Click.

The mahogany door opened smoothly, and a neatly dressed staff member entered cautiously, carrying coffee and some light refreshments. The rich aroma of coffee filled the office as our eyes met. It was one of the pre-established implicit rules.

“There’s a meeting scheduled for 5 p.m. The landing site is the USFK base in South Korea. The estimated landing time is 5:43 p.m.”

“Hmm.”

A brief thought.

Though it wasn’t an action to take in front of someone else, the decision on whether to give additional instructions to the secretary depended on my judgment.

The deliberation was short.

“Tell everyone not to come in until I come out or call for someone.”

“Understood.”

Click.

The door closed firmly. The soundproofing function was activated. Now, this room became an impenetrable fortress – I took out my personal tablet from the desk and, just in case, activated the thermite incinerator installed under the table.

I activated the screen, spread my right hand for the first authentication, and then brought my eye to the sensor for pupil recognition. The words “Janet G. Harper” appeared, and the authentication was completed. I quickly entered the authentication key with my fingers and went to my personal agenda to find one new request clearly displayed.

A document stamped with approvals from the Secretary of the Army, the Department of Defense Human Resources, and the Deputy Secretary of Defense.

“Damn Washington raccoons.”

I said that, but it was impossible to overlook their influence.

The Omega virus was an issue that affected not only the entire United States but the whole world, and ICARUS succeeded in sweeping away all the impurities interwoven within the infrastructure necessary for society to function properly.

Of course, there were many parts missing to lump everything together with such a word.

Those ICARUS and its subordinate teams had to face included escaped prisoners, gangs, rioters, military-like PMC groups, some US military that had betrayed the country, Russia and China, who declared all-out war on the US, and numerous terrorists armed with their support.

Because of this, the number of enemies they had to sweep away skyrocketed, and the kill count of Task Force Dagger, one of the strongest spearheads held by ICARUS, reached 10,000 in four years.

It was the foundation rebuilt after driving out that many enemies. Among them, it was impossible to grasp the number of various people Task Force Dagger had encountered.

The clear fact was that if those who had received help from Dagger were interested in politics, they might have already risen with the approval of the House of Representatives. Most of them were evenly scattered across the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the State Department, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Justice, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Health and Human Services.

And barring any major changes, next year – strictly speaking, the year after next – a person who had received help from Dagger was expected to be included among the presidential candidates.

“To think a moment where I have to stake my career would come like this.”

But there was no hesitation.

I pressed my thumb down to add the US Secretary of Defense approval signature, then put the tablet back in the drawer. The thermite incinerator had long been turned off.

This document was now deferred until the year after next, and would be sent as soon as Henry was officially qualified to occupy the chair in the White House. That senile old man – of course, I was joking – might remember this issue until then, but who knows.

And…

‘A soldier must be devoted to the country. Then the country must duly reward that devotion. However, can we confidently affirm that? We must not say yes. We must say we need to do more.’

The reward for devotion was something I emphasized more than anyone else.

I couldn’t know how Yoo Jin had managed to return here, but she was someone who should have been declared killed in action during the mission, and in that sense, she was the person most deserving of the Medal of Honor.

Originally, I wanted to personally confirm if she was doing well in Korea, but the position of a person was truly inconvenient. If I were an ordinary person, it wouldn’t be impossible to meet her directly, but… right now, I was sitting in the office of an E-4B airborne command post.

That, too, crossing the Southeast Asian sky at about 900 km/h.

The protocol provided to the Secretary of Defense – I wasn’t sure if I could call it that – was extremely complex and glamorous.

“Damn.”

The coffee had gone cold before I knew it.

But it was still drinkable. I wasn’t expecting some top-class hospitality brew while flying, and the temperature of the fuel to wake up and clear my mind wasn’t particularly important.

Checking the time while wetting my dry throat, it was already 4:55 p.m. Only 5 minutes left until the meeting.

The series of overseas visits from Central Asia was truly exhausting. It would have been much better if the route had crossed the Pacific, stopping in Japan and Korea, but the situation in the Middle East was always chaotic.

That damn oil.

I sent a call signal and added,

“Bring Secretary Edwin Sirkins here. Quietly.”

There was no answer, but within a few dozen seconds, the vibration detector in the office precisely projected the vibrations beyond the wall.

After two knocks, the door opened without a sound. A figure hiding an extremely trained appearance under a neat suit. One of the attendants and Chief Secretary Sirkins – in other words, the Secret Service.

Affiliated with the Department of Homeland Security.

And collectively referred to as – the Remembers.

“Did you call for me?”

“Do you think there are any files related to Yoo Jin’s movements left in the Korean database?”

A question skipping several steps of reasoning.

It was a hard habit to break. Jumping straight to the main point without any greeting and not explaining why this issue arose, it was a question to verify the other’s quick thinking and reasoning simultaneously.

The omitted explanation was as follows – the US military career of Yoo Jin was already being worked on. However, there might be separate files recording Yoo Jin’s movements in Korea, and there was a high possibility they would conflict with the newly created US ones.

It was a preliminary task to exclude any possible mishaps arising from such conflicts.

In essence, the real meaning of the question was a comprehensive inquiry about whether there was a possibility that files related to Yoo Jin’s movements existed and, if so, whether it was possible to infiltrate and overwrite them.

However, the person in front of me was also one of those who shared a different past.

The answer soon came.

An unexpected answer.

“You will have to contact Yoo Jin directly regarding that issue.”

“Why?”

“The deep-cover agents in Korea consistently responded that ‘the files are locked with an undecipherable high-dimensional encryption algorithm.’ It’s probably impossible to decrypt without the ICARUS gear, or the files themselves might be connected to the gear.”

“The surprise is gone. We’ll have to think of another method.”

-[Notification: 3 minutes remaining until the meeting.]

There wasn’t much time left for conversation.

But the schedule in Korea was for 3 days and 2 nights. There was enough time.

“We’ll discuss it later. You may go.”

“Understood.”

Click.

The door closed, and the hologram projector started moving automatically.

The day was ending, but at the same time, it was just beginning.