Rust - Chapter 147
Only Krnovel
RUST -147
Dan Brown, the director of the Department of Homeland Security, put a cigarette in his mouth that he had quit.
The sensation of white smoke filling your lungs.
It feels like deeply built up stress is being gently scratched away.
Phew- Even though I was blowing out cigarette smoke, my thoughts were still complicated.
‘How far should I go?’
Virginia was supposed to be in charge of foreign affairs, and the Department of Homeland Security was supposed to be in charge of domestic affairs. The reason the Department of Homeland Security was established in the first place was because there was a need for an organization that would be in charge of domestic security.
Because the Department of Homeland Security was established by gathering various related organizations based on such a pretext, problems arose. It was not an organization created from scratch, but rather an organization created by merging existing departments and agencies, so there was a lot of conflict between the agencies and departments.
Internal conflict is also a problem, and it was natural that other government agencies that had their departments taken away would dislike the Department of Homeland Security. As a result, when the Department of Homeland Security tried to do something, they had to bring along the damned set procedures, the damned official documents, and in most cases, they would just throw in, “Here. Take it. It’s dirty.”
Virginia and the FBI in particular. The same is true now, the first contact for those who escaped from Japan was Virginia. So they provided Virginia with a lot of information. Information about the situation in Japan. Information about what was happening in Japan at the moment.
Since Japan is a foreign country, it would have been right for Virginia to be in charge. But shouldn’t the spread of the mutant barnacles have been a domestic issue, and be handed over to the Department of Homeland Security?
But Virginia didn’t do that. They said that they would take care of the Japanese situation since it was overseas, and that they would also take the lead in resolving the mutant barnacle situation.
The Department of Homeland Security was just a sidekick in solving the case. That’s fine. After all, the security of the United States should come first. But Virginia’s actions were over the top. Why didn’t she share information about the situation in Japan that could directly affect the security of the United States? That was a problem.
after-
It wasn’t something I could decide on my own. If even one problem arose…
The long cigarette ash shook. The manager, who had thrown the ash into the ashtray, pressed the intercom.
“Propose a department head meeting.”
[Are you talking about a department head meeting? What level should we have it at?]
“No, level 3, level 2.”
[Okay. Call a meeting of department heads. Level 2. Let’s proceed.]
“As soon as possible.”
Level 2 in a five-level scale that divides risk and importance.
Dan Brown took out another cigarette and tried to light it, but instead stared blankly out the window.
Outside, filled with the clarity typical of winter, was peaceful. Even cold.
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Japan. Theft Hospital.
The wounded were lying in sickrooms where cardboard was stuck to the windows to prevent light from leaking out.
The hospital room was somehow gloomy. It was partly because the lights were turned off occasionally to reduce the amount of light, but the gloominess of the wounded soldiers made the atmosphere in the room even gloomier.
Major Gilbert Brown, the commander of the Marine Corps Rescue Squadron, now a lieutenant colonel, asked the surgeon.
“What do you think?”
“It’s not good.”
“Is it certain that it is airborne?”
“Almost certainly.”
“Fuck···.”
“······.”
At first I didn’t think it was a big problem.
According to information from a naturalized Japanese citizen who escaped from Japan, cockroaches, rats, and at best, crazy animals are dangerous.
Although they did mention the mutated infected, the overall emphasis was on things like wheels, rats, and birds. And there was no trace of them in the stolen hospital where the rescue team headquarters was located.
The main threat to the hospital was the infected. There were mutated infected with explosive physical abilities here and there, but flamethrowers and firearms could easily subdue them.
The rescue team determined that the specific enemy was the infected. The enemy was neither trained nor armed. They were just small Japanese people who were going crazy with the disease.
Everything went smoothly at first, except that a reconnaissance squad from Beta Company went missing after last contacting the Charlotte Group PMC.
The problem was that when a situation suspected of being airborne infection broke out, some soldiers suddenly became unable to control their impulses and became violent. At the least, it was a fist fight, but at the most, it was a shooting spree.
The situation turned into a mess in an instant. What would happen if they were just being normal and then suddenly started arguing, then started shooting and threw a grenade?
Here, infected people started to swarm in one by one. It wasn’t always like that, and it happened suddenly, without any rules or warnings. It wasn’t a zombie wave, but people came in thousands, or even tens of thousands. Troops who went out to reconnaissance without knowing anything started to disappear one after another.
They had been requesting reinforcements and supplies to continue the operation, but that was now over. After two rounds of additional reinforcements and supplies, the sea route was also blocked.
Navigation, which was already difficult, became impossible as volcanoes and submarine volcanoes continued to erupt.
Sea routes and flights were cut off. Search and rescue operations were in trouble, and the number of casualties was increasing by the day. Even if you stay still, you feel like you are being dragged into hell.
“Have you not decided yet?”
Director Yoo said as he came in.
“The United States. The Marine Corps never abandons a comrade. Don’t you know that?”
Lieutenant Colonel Brown glared at Director Yoo with a look of disgust on his face.
“You should have said that earlier. Then···”
As Director Yoo was about to say something more, a soldier with blood stains all over his uniform came running.
“Alpha Company. The reconnaissance squad that went to the Japanese Diet and the Prime Minister’s Office has returned. They say they have obtained important information.”
The soldier handed the blood-stained briefcase to the lieutenant colonel. The lieutenant colonel opened the briefcase, the sticky blood still not hardened, and took out the documents inside. The documents were densely written in Japanese.
“Which soldier confirmed this?”
“···He died in battle.”
There were no interpreters. Each reconnaissance platoon had at least one soldier who could speak a little Japanese, so interpreter resources were quickly depleted.
Director Yoo shrugged.
“Should I bring our interpreter? You said it was important information, so it might be related to the current situation.”
“···Okay.”
Director Yoo ignored the people with sullen eyes and went into the place where his subordinates were resting. The subordinates who were eating the US military combat rations jumped up when they saw Director Yoo.
“Okay. Everyone eat. Who was the guy who interpreted for the American soldiers? Was he a big shot?”
“you’re right.”
A man named Daesu came forward.
“Okay, okay. Do you know Japanese too?”
“I can’t speak Japanese.”
“Anyone who can speak Japanese? I need to look at the documents. Considering that.”
“······.”
“······.”
Director Yoo looked around and asked.
“No? It’s okay if your conversation skills are weak. It’s a document translation.”
“Hey, youngest. Didn’t I say you know how to do it?”
All eyes are on one person.
A face that definitely looks young. Where have I seen it before? Director Yoo remembered.
“아? 너. 그래. 김 팀장 구했던 걔구나. 기영이 그 개새끼 찔렀다는 애. 맞지?”
“···yes.”
“Your name is… Do Min-wook, right?”
“yes.”
Director Yoo smiled brightly and slapped Min-wook on the back.
“Why are you so stabbed?”
“no.”
“No, it’s completely shrunken.”
“······.”
Director Yoo laughed heartily for the first time in a while. The Colt Python on his waist twitched. Director Yoo laughed loudly and continued to smirk.
“So, youngest. Japanese translation. Can’t you?”
The youngest swallowed his saliva and answered at the sparkling eyes.
“I can do it a little.”
“Okay. Then let’s go.”
Director Yoo dragged the youngest away.
The lieutenant colonel looked puzzled at the person Director Yu brought.
“Wasn’t the interpreter someone else?”
“That guy doesn’t speak Japanese. If this guy here translates Japanese into Korean, I’ll tell you in English.”
This year. The lieutenant colonel was dumbfounded by Director Yoo’s obvious behavior. Even if he brought in the original interpreter, the information would still go to Director Yoo. Unless he was going to shut up after the interpretation.
“Fine. Instead, sign the security pledge.”
“sure.”
Director Yoo, who had signed the security agreement cheerfully, pushed Min-wook forward. The lieutenant colonel handed over a file to Min-wook, who had signed it together with him. The mark was at the top of a fairly thick document. It was a document with a mark that looked like a flower pattern.
Min-wook started translating hesitantly.
[···Japan is cooperating with China to establish new aircraft carrier technology··· China is using the General Ford aircraft carrier blueprints obtained by the US··· to build a pilot aircraft carrier and then use this··· The two countries]
“for a moment.”
Director Yoo stopped the youngest, who was hesitating to translate.
“Are you sure about this?”
“Yes? Yes.”
“Speak straight. Are you sure you translated it correctly? Are you sure about Japan and China?”
“Yes. Yes.”
Min-wook nodded at the sharp gaze.
“Hah- what the- fuck- this-”
After the Korean shipbuilding industry surpassed Japan and China to achieve first place, the cooperative relationship between Japan and China continued.
At the time, China lacked shipbuilding technology, so it received technical guidance from Japanese shipping companies and built ships. Unlike Korea, where individual shipyards had their own shipbuilding technology, Japan often had shipping companies that had the original technology.
They have been transferring shipbuilding technology to China for 10 years. Most people interested in the shipbuilding industry know this. Japan and China have started to act as one body, calling for the overthrow of Korea, only in the shipbuilding industry.
Ten years ago, it coincided with the time when China began designing a new aircraft carrier. Coincidentally, documents related to it emerged. Documents suggesting that Japan may have had some kind of deal with China.
‘Fuck, is that why?’
It was strange that China didn’t trample on Japan even when Japan kept talking about fighting China or making war jokes. Even in Korea, China, which would just squash anything that seemed to be a problem, didn’t issue a statement or issue a warning when Japan started making a fuss, but instead, why didn’t they trample on Korea like they were trampling on China?
The lieutenant colonel urged Director Yoo, seeing his expression change.
“What is the content that made you stop translating?”
“H-Please wait a moment. I need to sort this out.”
The Japanese government was ruined. So Japan was not the problem, but it was hard to guess how this would spread. It was a bomb from the beginning, and Director Yoo was anxious about what would happen next.
‘Let whatever happens happen.’
Would the US and China ever go to war? Japan was devastated by a disaster.
As Director Yoo began to interpret into English, the lieutenant colonel’s face turned red with anger.
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black van
A man with his hood pulled down low was checking the monitor. He had hacked all the CCTV cameras in the area, so there were no blind spots.
“What the heck are those things?”
The building under construction was built in the 60s and 70s when Detroit was doing well. The first to fifth floors were used as exhibition halls, so the ceiling height was much higher than that of modern buildings. So, even though it was 25 stories, the building was well over 120 meters tall.
They were building a smart farm in that building and even constructing a livestock shed.
“I’m really going to do it seriously.”
There was no reason to go that far without assuming a survival of the fittest situation. So it seemed like they were preparing for the worst case scenario, a situation of permanent isolation and survival. Like Noah’s Ark.
‘But how do you reveal your face?’
I had come, but it was difficult to know how to bring up the subject. It would take people to run a facility like that. There were no job postings.
‘So you hit the automation equipment?’
Even so, system-related personnel were needed, computer program management was needed, and machine equipment personnel were essential.
First of all, the knife wielder looks dangerous, so no, and the gunman doesn’t look normal, so he’s out. Then, I need to make some contact with the nurse, but she’s locked herself in the hotel and won’t come out.
So I hacked into his phone and the internal camera and looked into it, he was just studying like his life depended on it.
I should have gone out for a walk and pretended it was a coincidence so we could meet. There really was no contact. No contact.
“Oh my god. This is driving me crazy.”
In the eyes of the hooded man, he saw the figure of a swordsman walking. After checking the construction site, he came down and walked through the parking lot. It was the first time this had happened.
But the direction in which I was walking was strange. As I followed the screen, I saw a black van in the distance.
huh?
The knife handle is this way? Why?
Hood stared at the monitor. It was definitely this way. The knife-wielding man was getting closer.
Huh? Why?
A scene on the screen. A pitch-black blade is pulled out.
Srrrrrrrr-
and.
Kwajik-
A black blade pierced the side of the van.
Heeeeeeeeeeek!