Chapter 124: That Time We Got a Foreign Loan in South America (5)

TL: Skye

Things moved quickly.

The moment Yu-jin returned to San Marcos, the first $10 billion tranche of the loan was deposited as if it had been waiting for him.

The U.S. Treasury had finished preparing the transfer before the signatures on the agreement were even dry.

Ten billion dollars.

14.5 trillion won in Korean currency.

The largest loan in the history of San Marcos had just been disbursed.

And the loan wasn't the only thing that moved quickly.

So did the warships.

The United States began the transfer process for the decommissioned warships the moment the agreement was signed.

On paper, it was a sale of decommissioned warships, but in practical terms, it was little different from a gift.

After all, the price was basically scrap value.

Leading the transferred ships was a Ticonderoga-class Aegis destroyer.

A mainstay of the U.S. Navy boasting a displacement of 9,800 tons and equipped with the Aegis Combat System.

It had been decommissioned not because it lacked capability, but because it was being replaced by newer Arleigh Burke-class ships.

In any other country, it would have been perfectly capable of remaining on active duty.

Behind it came two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

They were specialized for anti-submarine warfare and escort missions, exactly the sort of ships suited for deployment to the Strait of Hormuz. The Aegis system had deliberately been left out, but in exchange, San Marcos received the most recently decommissioned warships.

Finally came three 4,000-ton Perry-class frigates, which were slated for coastal defense duties in the Caribbean.

Six ships in total.

San Marcos, whose entire navy had consisted of four patrol boats, had acquired a powerful navy with an Aegis destroyer practically overnight.

Across all of Central and South America, San Marcos was the only country to possess the Aegis system.

Thinking back to the patrol boats that wouldn't even start six years ago, this went beyond feeling like a different era. It was practically dimensional travel.

And so, only two days after the agreement was signed.

The six warships that had been standing by on the U.S. mainland crossed the Caribbean and headed for the Port of Libertad.

Port of Libertad.

Normally it was a bustling harbor frequented by merchant vessels and fishing boats, but today was different.

Beyond the horizon, enormous masses of gray steel appeared.

The citizens gathered at the harbor stopped one by one.

“What's... that?”

“Looks like... a ship?”

“Can a ship even be that big?”

Most citizens of San Marcos had never seen a warship before.

The imposing presence of the Aegis destroyer at the head of the formation was overwhelming.

173 meters long.

The octagonal antenna of the SPY-1 radar rising above the bridge, the deck gun, the missile launchers. Even all four patrol boats put together couldn't match the size of this one ship.

And there was something else that astonished the citizens.

“Look over there! It's flying the San Marcos flag!”

The San Marcos flag was fluttering from all six ships.

The number of citizens gathered at the harbor steadily grew.

Adults, children, the elderly.

The people of Libertad poured toward the harbor.

As the six warships docked at the piers one after another, it looked as though an enormous wall of steel had filled the harbor.

Like the Japanese seeing America's Black Ships for the first time, everyone began staring at the warships.

And before long, they learned why those ships had come to the Port of Libertad.

[San Marcos News — Presidential Special Address Broadcast]

Presidential Palace, presidential office.

Yu-jin sat behind his desk.

The San Marcos flag hung behind him, and the gold-hilted sword Drump had given him stood upright on the desk.

Yu-jin looked into the camera.

“My dear citizens of San Marcos.”

In San Marcos, a presidential address was practically the voice of God itself.

The entire nation listened intently to Yu-jin's voice.

“Many of you will have seen the warships that entered the Port of Libertad today.”

The citizens looking up at the warships in the harbor turned toward the nearest television.

“Six years ago, this country's entire navy consisted of four patrol boats.”

Yu-jin paused briefly.

“Some of those vessels could not even start. We could not even dream of defending our own waters.”

Yu-jin's voice was calm, but it carried weight.

“But as of today, the San Marcos Navy will be reborn.”

Footage of the warships in the Port of Libertad appeared on one side of the screen.

“The six warships acquired through our cooperation with the United States will become shields protecting the waters of San Marcos in times of crisis.”

Yu-jin continued.

“And today, I formally proclaim the re-establishment of the San Marcos Navy.”

Across the country, people held their breath in front of their televisions.

“At the same time, our navy will participate in the Strait of Hormuz International Escort Coalition. This will be San Marcos's first step toward contributing to peace in the international community.”

Yu-jin looked straight into the camera.

His expression changed.

From the face of a president to the face of one man.

“And I would like to ask something of you today.”

A request.

The President was asking something of his people.

“We need young blood to get these ships moving.”

Yu-jin's voice lowered.

“We need courageous soldiers who will defend the seas of our homeland and carry the name of San Marcos out into the world.”

Yu-jin bowed his head.

“Please.”

The people watching Yu-jin bow his head fell silent and held their breath.

A young laborer watching television in a construction-site barracks set down his spoon, the son of a farmer watching at a grocery store in a rural village clenched his fist, and a student watching in a Libertad high school classroom opened his eyes wide.

“Lend us your strength.”

Three seconds of silence.

Yu-jin raised his head.

“Thank you.”

The screen changed, revealing the anchor's face.

[That concludes President Choi Yu-jin's address to the nation.]

Even after the televisions were turned off, people remained where they were for a long while.

Somewhere in Libertad Central Market, a restaurant owner set down the remote and murmured.

“His Excellency bowed his head...”

“He... bowed to us?”

“He asked us. It wasn't an order.”

A customer at the next table spoke.

“My son's turning twenty this year... I should send him to the Navy.”

“Didn't you say you were sending him to college?”

“His Excellency asked us. How could I not send him? He can study after he finishes his service.”

And so news of the deployment spread throughout San Marcos.

The reaction went completely beyond Yu-jin's expectations.

“His Excellency is calling for us!”

“If it's for His Excellency, enlisting is nothing!”

“This is our chance! A chance to prove our loyalty to His Excellency and the nation!”

Lines formed outside recruitment offices.

Three thousand applicants on the first day.

Five thousand on the second.

Within a week, the number exceeded twenty thousand.

Only around three thousand people were needed to operate the six warships, yet more than nine times that number applied.

The response from fishermen accustomed to battling the waves and employees of Tortilla Seafood was especially overwhelming.

“The sea's my territory!”

“If it'll help His Excellency, shouldn't we do whatever it takes?!”

“Before our proud flag, I solemnly pledge to devote my loyalty to His Excellency! And to the everlasting glory of our homeland!”

What came next was even more surprising.

Public perception of soldiers began to change.

Unlike during President Juan's era, public regard for the military had gone into free fall after the Yu-jin administration took power.

To begin with, there was a simple reason soldiers had been viewed favorably under President Juan.

In San Marcos, a country so poor that many children didn't even know what it felt like to have a full stomach, the military had been practically the only source of stable employment, and completing one's service also granted eligibility to apply for government positions.

But under Choi Yu-jin's administration?

With the country growing explosively at well over ten percent a year, quality jobs were popping up everywhere.

Looking for stable employment?

Go to the industrial complex and find a job.

Want to make as much as possible in a short time?

Then go work at a new-city or tourist-city construction site.

As long as all four limbs worked, there was no shortage of work to do.

In circumstances like that, there was no way a low-paying military career would be popular.

More importantly, after the Motiñu brothers' rebellion, the military had been thoroughly saddled with the disgrace of having started a civil war.

Naturally, public opinion of it couldn't possibly be good.

But after Yu-jin's address, attitudes reversed completely.

His Excellency had reminded the people that the military bore the noble duty of protecting the nation.

Now, when citizens saw someone in uniform on the street, they would actually approach and greet them.

“Obrigado pelo seu serviço!”

In Korean, that would be Thank you for your service.

In English, Thank you for your service.

The people had begun showing respect toward their soldiers.

The soldiers gradually grew accustomed to it, and couldn't help but stand a little taller.

Now children could be seen all over the streets copying soldiers' salutes.

“When I grow up, I'm joining the Navy!”

“I'm joining the Army!”

“I'm joining the Air Force!”

“I'm gonna be a captain!”

A little kid who didn't even know what a warship was, declaring that he would become a captain.

Things that would have been unimaginable six years ago were now becoming reality.

Everything seemed to be going well, but Yu-jin himself couldn't have felt more conflicted.

“Field Marshal Pedro.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“Submit the organizational plan for the deployment force. And include support measures for the families of deployed personnel.”

“Yes, understood.”

They had received the warships as promised, so now they had to decide on the deployment to the Strait of Hormuz.

Drump, determined to make the deployment happen as quickly as possible, had also gathered retired Navy personnel and provided as many as five hundred of them under the cover designation of Vessel Operation Technicians.

There was no room to stall any longer, so Yu-jin made the unprecedented decision that, excluding officers, enlisted personnel would deploy after only fifteen days of basic military training.

The roughly five hundred retired U.S. service members would handle the actual operation of the ships, while San Marcos soldiers would assist them, learning and picking things up along the way.

It was quite literally a decision to have them learn in the field.

“I'll say this again. Only volunteers are to be sent on deployment. Make it clear that anyone found creating a coercive atmosphere or pressuring people in any way will be severely punished.”

“...Yes. I'll make sure of it.”

Pedro saluted and left.

Yu-jin looked out the window.

The Port of Libertad.

Six warships were bathed in the light of the setting sun.

***

That night.

Feeling troubled, Yu-jin sat alone at the dining table, drinking soju with kimchi.

Yu-jin tilted his soju glass and sank into thought.

‘Is this really the right thing to do?’

It was.

Rationally, it was right a hundred times over.

They had received ten billion dollars, acquired warships, and raised their international standing.

From a macro perspective, there couldn't have been a better decision.

The chance of anyone being sacrificed was low as well.

Unless Iran had gone completely insane, there was no way it would attack a San Marcos warship sailing alongside U.S. Navy vessels.

But.

‘If something happens, even by some one-in-a-million chance...’

What frightened him was that war did not belong to the realm of reason.

If someone died, then that death would trace back to Yu-jin himself.

Glug, glug.

He poured himself another glass of soju and drank it down.

‘...I should stop drinking.’

Before long, the bottle was empty, and Yu-jin stood up from his seat.

At that moment.

Thud!

“Aagh!”

His pinky toe slammed squarely into the table leg.

“Nnnngh...!”

Tears sprang to his eyes.

No, they spilled over.

Even a president was not immune to that lethal pain.

And when Yu-jin wiped away his tears and looked up, his eyes met Isabella's as she approached carrying a water bottle.

A real man only ever showed a woman his fearless side.

Yu-jin hurriedly wiped the pain from his face and asked.

“What brings you here at this hour...”

“It looked as though you were drinking alone, so I thought I'd at least bring you some water... Are you all right?”

“Ah, it's nothing. I just stubbed it a little.”

Yu-jin barely managed a smile.

But Isabella did not take his words at face value.

An empty bottle of soju.

Reddened eyes.

Tears.

And the complicated expression Yu-jin had worn all day.

Isabella believed those tears belonged to a president crushed beneath the weight of his decision to send troops abroad.

‘His Excellency... is crying...’

Isabella's heart ached.

In the six years she had spent beside Yu-jin, this was the first time she had ever seen him shed tears.

Not when he declared martial law.

Not when he wiped out the gangs.

Not when he laid highways and built new cities.

Wasn't Yu-jin the iron-willed superhuman who had never once wavered?

‘So this is how heavily it's weighing on him.’

Of course, there was nothing she could do for a superhuman.

Except, perhaps, help him overcome it on his own.

Isabella held out the cold water she had brought.

“Please get some rest. You have much to do tomorrow as well.”

“...Thank you.”

Isabella walked toward the door, then stopped.

“Your Excellency.”

“Yes?”

“The people believe in you.”

“......”

“And so do I.”

“...?”

And so another peaceful day in San Marcos came to an end.

*****

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