Chapter 25

Job Change Quest

Kansas.

I had always thought the day might come when I would return here, but that didn’t stop the trembling.

“We should’ve at least properly prepared wedding gifts…”
“They said just coming ourselves would be enough.”

It wasn’t exactly that I was marrying into the family as a son-in-law, since the Congressman had a son—but still, weren’t we basically being taken in?
Honestly, I didn’t care whether it was marrying in or being a househusband. Who in the world would refuse a free ride?
As for all that complicated political engineering about harmony between minority races… I pushed it aside for now.

My mind was blank—completely bleached clean.

“Hyung. How does it feel, going to get married?”
“Uh… uh… huhhh… I have no thoughts. Because I have no thoughts…”
“He’s completely lost it.”

Shut up. What do you know about this feeling.
Yeah, it feels amazing. My mood is through the roof.
But what if I end up as a neatly packed Lotteria bulgogi burger set in a trench? What if she’s already pregnant, and I get taken out by a U-boat crossing the Atlantic and turn into a shrimp burger combo instead?

Come to think of it, I’d only met Dorothy briefly during school breaks. What if, while I’m off somewhere far away, some handsome blond gu—

“Hyuuung…”

Anyway, when I awkwardly voiced my worries, Dorothy just stared at me like I was ridiculous.

“If you were that scared, you shouldn’t have gone to a military academy.”
“…What?”
“Well, of course I’m scared too. I’ve heard plenty about how hard it is being a soldier’s wife—living in constant anxiety.”

Bang!

She shot down a distant deer with her Winchester rifle as she spoke.
No—seriously, don’t fire a gun in the middle of a serious conversation. I’m starting to project onto that dead deer. Am I supposed to interpret that as, “If you’re going to whine now, I’ll make you like that deer”?

“If you want, I can beg my father and get you a desk job in Washington. At least a second lieutenant’s position, no problem. But that’s not the top you want, is it?”
“That’s true.”
“Then you have to go. And you have to come back alive. If you don’t, I’ll wear mourning clothes for about five years and cry for you. After that… I don’t know?”
“What do you mean you don’t know?!”
“Well, who knows? If some handsome, ambitious, considerate man like you comes along and falls for a widowed me, who knows what might happen. So just don’t come back in a coffin.”

Seeing her smile bitterly like that filled me with a fierce determination to survive.

The wedding itself was relatively modest.
And by “relatively,” I mean modest considering it was the wedding of a senator’s daughter.

Word spread that the eldest son of the Kim family in San Francisco was getting married, so a bunch of local elders came along. Add in my entire family, plus Teacher Dosan and a group of his followers.
That was just our side. As for the people who wanted to at least show their faces at the senator’s daughter’s wedding—there were enough to form a mountain.

I shook so many hands that my palms nearly swelled up, but at least I made my presence known. That alone made it worthwhile.

Sadly, most of my classmates—who had just begun receiving their assignments—couldn’t attend.
Especially since many of them had been stationed near the tense Mexican border, making it nearly impossible to take a train all the way to Kansas.

The reason I said “most,” though—

“Congratulations on your wedding!”
“Oh—uh… you actually made it?”
“Everyone else is basically on semi-war footing dealing with those taco-loving Mexicans, but I’m with the 21st Regiment. Took leave and came.”

The 21st Regiment—stationed in Washington State, way up in the northwest.

“So I pulled a few strings and came early! Hahaha!”

Yeah. A few of my friends, including that rascal McNally, had shown up.

“Congrats, you bastard. You really rushed into it.”
“Senior Benion.”
“You’d better get your assignment soon and come back.”

Seeing faces I thought I might never meet again felt… surprisingly good.
Though I had no idea how many of us would still be around to meet again a few years later.

After the wedding, we headed to Washington, D.C. with Congressman Curtis—now officially my father-in-law—and Mrs. Dorothy Margaret Kim.

Before reporting to the War Department, I was able to have a three-way meeting with Chairman Ford and Congressman Curtis.

“So, you want to go to war?”
“Yes, sir.”
“To be honest, I would strongly advise against it.”
“Because you’re worried your investment might die a meaningless death?”

Ford shook his head.

“That’s not it. If that were the concern, we would have placed you in the State Department or assigned you to an arsenal from the start.”

Even Curtis—who usually challenged him—remained silent, as if the two had already reached some kind of unspoken agreement.

“…Your skin color is the issue.”

“Ha… this again. This shackle is really persistent.”
“Well, you knew that going in. Complaining now won’t help.”
“So what exactly is the problem?”

Honestly, I already had a sense of it.
It was something I had thought about many times.
But still—I wanted to hear it directly.

“If you were given command of a unit, would white soldiers truly follow your orders?”
“They would have to.”
“You do understand that making that happen would be an extremely difficult and exhausting path, don’t you?”

Curtis fell silent, and Ford continued.

“There are people in the War Department who view you purely through a racial lens, and there are those who are concerned about your future.”

“… ”

“The latter worry that if it takes time for you to establish control over your unit—or if any trouble arises—racists will immediately use it as an excuse to strip you of your position or mark your record.”

It seemed my situation was more controversial within the War Department than I had expected.
One wrong step—and my head would roll immediately.

Thrilling.

“Even those who highly regard your abilities have been giving that matter a great deal of thought. The more enlightened people in the War Department don’t want to lose a promising young talent for nothing.”

“Then… has some kind of compromise been proposed?”

Right.
This was the important part.
All that long-winded explanation was just laying the groundwork for a proposal.

“The first option is the Philippines.”

“…Huh.”

“The Philippine garrison isn’t a bad post. Earn some merit there, build up your career, and then return—that’s the unofficial first suggestion.”

…Look at these guys.

It wasn’t a bad offer at all.
It really wasn’t—but my goal right now was Europe, and nowhere else. And honestly, it smelled a bit like, ‘Well, he’s Asian, so he’ll do fine in the Philippines,’ didn’t it?

“That feels a bit… uncomfortable.”

“I thought you’d say that. After all, you’re the one who predicted a great war in Europe.”

Ford nodded casually and moved on.

“The second option is the Signal Corps Aviation Section.”

“…Pardon?”

“The aviation fellows heard about you somewhere and are practically flopping around like salmon. They’re all excited, saying their era is coming.”

At this point in time—long before anything like a dominant U.S. Air Force existed, before even a proper Army Air Corps was established—they were little more than airborne messengers.
From their perspective as part of the Signal Corps, my prediction of fierce aerial battles for control of the skies must have sounded like a hopeful fantasy worth praying for.

“Uh… what would happen if I went there?”

“You’d be a pilot. One way or another, if you’re assigned to an aviation role, you should at least know how to fly—it’ll help your career prospects.”

“Son-in-law.”

Curtis, who had been quietly listening, called out to me in a low voice.

“Yes, sir.”

“Flying machines… they’re quite dangerous, aren’t they?”

“Well… there is some risk.”

“If you end up becoming a star in the sky, Dorothy would be very sad, wouldn’t she?”

“Uh… well…”

“If you make my daughter cry, I’ll kill you. You bastard.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can go to the aviation section. Please consider it withdrawn.”

I immediately flipped over and pledged my loyalty, and Ford let out a chuckle.

“Already living under your wife’s thumb? How pitiful.”

“I’ve been blessed with a wife far beyond my station. Naturally, I should live long and serve her as a proper lady deserves.”

“…So aviation is out too.”

Having both options rejected, Ford nodded slowly and brought up the next proposal.

“Then perhaps weapons and doctrine development—”

“No.”

“You won’t even listen?”

“I’m not actually good at mechanical engineering. I’ve only put forward a few ideas. If I go there, it’ll become obvious how shallow my foundation really is.”

Yeah. No way I’m going there.

You could practically feel the shadow of Henry Ford—the capitalist monster—looming behind that option, ready to squeeze every last drop out of me with government funding.
If I went there, I’d end up like some canned writer—“Produce the next blueprint or you don’t eat!”—living a miserable life. Absolutely not. That kind of ending wasn’t for me. The only person allowed to lock me up and feed me dumplings was Dorothy.

“What a shame. If you chose that path, I could push you all the way to the top—no matter what it took.”

“I’m not going.”

“…Then there really aren’t many options left. The next one is the last.”

He hesitated for a moment before speaking again.

“This is something I didn’t want to bring up.”

“Sounds like a problematic proposal.”

“That’s right.”

He fell silent again.
Unexpectedly, Curtis didn’t press him either, as if he already knew what it was.
What kind of option would make both of them hesitate like this?

“As I mentioned earlier, there are those in the War Department who hold prejudices about you.”

“Yes.”

“One of their arguments is that your loyalty is questionable.”

“…They’re questioning the loyalty of someone who graduated from West Point?”

That was honestly absurd.
This racial barrier was truly relentless.

“No, it’s a bit different. According to their logic, if the interests of your ‘nation’ and your ‘ethnic people’ were to conflict, you might not side with the United States.”

I didn’t expect that to come up already.
I had always known it might, someday—but this was too soon. Too heavy a blow for a newly commissioned second lieutenant who hadn’t even received his assignment yet.

“Yes. That you might side with Koreans over the United States. Of course, I have no such concerns, given what I’ve heard from Congressman Curtis—but if this were to become public, it would put the White House in a difficult position.”

Ah. So it was about that statement of Rhee Syngman’s.
If it turned into a full political scandal, Wilson would end up looking like someone who had supported a potential traitor.

“So, the final proposal is this: what if you take the initiative and demonstrate your loyalty to the United States first?”

“…Then… does that proposal mean…?”

“Tokyo.”

Henry Ford let out a deep sigh.

“Of course, assigning a newly commissioned second lieutenant there as a first post is absurd. Completely unreasonable. But… considering that your very existence is already something of an anomaly within the U.S. Army…”

He looked at me steadily.

“Choose one of the four.”