George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 134

< 133 >

The happiest time for someone who works is when they’re off while others are working. Conversely, the most draining time is when they’re working while others are off.

Thanks to the constant flow of information from Russia, almost every CIA operative was able to endlessly indulge in the fatigue and self-doubt that came from long-term service.

The more information that came in from Russia, and the longer it took to process, the more the initial sense of complete failure vanished, replaced by an attitude of, ‘So what? We did our part!’

The CIA could only hope the President would be satisfied with this information. The interim briefings, forced by the President’s demands, were so overloaded with data that even the presenters couldn’t fully grasp it, inevitably leading to unsatisfactory results and, consequently, diminished motivation.

In any case, the important thing was that the Russia report was finally complete. After cutting out redundant parts, piecing it together, and extracting only the correct and accurate information, they created a modern report that was the epitome of readability.

A vast amount of information that could fill a room was condensed into fewer than 1,000 pages. It was a modern reinterpretation of ancient wisdom, like the Emerald Tablets [a collection of hermetic texts] or the Rosetta Stone [a stone slab inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphs, Demotic script, and Greek, which was key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs]. At the same time, it couldn’t have been more perfect.

Of course, it was still closer to a summary, and delving deeper would paradoxically require an additional room’s worth of data. But just being able to know what was in that room-sized data simply by reading the summary was quite remarkable, wasn’t it?

“Better than expected.”

Thus, when the President, after reading the ‘Russia Comprehensive Report,’ finally uttered the words ‘better than expected,’ the CIA reporter felt a thrilling electrical signal spreading throughout his body. A shiver ran down from the crown of his head to his toes. Was this what they called exhilaration?

“You’ve really worked hard.”

It was the moment when the seed that had grown by feeding on the CIA’s soul finally sprouted magnificently. The sense of relief and accomplishment sublimated into catharsis, coursing through every part of the brain, over-secreting hormones and causing chemical reactions.

How much backbreaking effort had been put in to hear this response? It felt like chunks of lifespan had been shaved off to create this report. Perhaps someone’s lifespan actually had been reduced. Almost every department in the CIA had to voluntarily work overtime for this one report.

Being assigned an excessive workload that clearly exceeded what each individual could handle, being constantly pressured and criticized by superiors, and staying up all night working every day—it was no wonder lifespans were being shortened.

‘Impressive. I didn’t expect this much. It was worth the wait.’

President Bush admired the report in his hands, a product of desperate effort by one of the most outstanding intelligence agencies of the current generation. It felt like observing Russia, like holding the Monkey King [a powerful and mischievous figure from Chinese mythology] in the palm of his hand. He wondered how they had managed to extract such information.

‘Of course, there’s a casualty report too.’

The casualty report was near the end. Local agents had to be used as expendable resources for this one report. Even though they were called expendable, it wasn’t as if they were thrown into deadly situations; it simply meant that this Russia Comprehensive Report was their final mission, and they would forever sever ties with the CIA.

The contents of the report, already summarized once, were forcibly compressed and categorized again for easier understanding, as follows. First, the broad categories were ‘Diplomacy, Politics, and Military.’ In the diplomacy section, from minor details like how a certain official felt about a certain country to response manuals and protocols for all sorts of situations were included.

In politics, internal affairs were revealed in detail, with lists of each politician’s inner thoughts and secrets. Even the current President, Vladimir Putin, couldn’t escape this list. Digging deeper, one could find relationship charts of politicians and how certain cities were favored or oppressed, and how much the Red Mafia [Russian organized crime] was involved in the country’s politics.

In the military section, the designs and development philosophies of each weapon, even those that ended as paper plans, were smuggled out. Naturally, it didn’t stop there; from simple military deployments to contracts with certain businesses, and from external defense plans to invasion plans, everything was written in detail. Furthermore, beyond simple plans, there was even a logical and rational analysis of how each army would move according to the commander’s tendencies in a real war situation.

In addition, the distribution and reserves of as-yet-undisclosed natural resources, double agents from the United States and various other countries, the masterminds behind various unsolved cases, and even the number of nuclear missiles were revealed in detail. Of course, it would be unreasonable to completely trust this data, as the CIA’s large-scale movements might have been noticed, and information might have been leaked in reverse. However, this information had already been filtered once.

“The CIA did better than I thought.”

In any case, the important thing was that one of the largest projects in the CIA’s history since the end of the Cold War was complete, and the person in charge was satisfied.

“Now, I guess we need the Chinese version of the same thing.”

“Excuse me?”

And the CIA reporter heard unbelievable words. The thrill that had been warming his entire body instantly transformed into a cold shiver that stole his energy. ‘What did the President just say? Ah, right. I must have misheard. That must be it,’ he repeated to himself, but reality didn’t change. The President continued speaking with a very pleased expression.

“China, I mean. China. Those guys are up to something. They might declare a moratorium or default soon. And if that happens, we’ll take a significant hit too.”

When is infrastructure at its weakest? When the country is in a state of anarchy? When war breaks out and enemy forces invade? No. Infrastructure is at its weakest when it’s under ‘construction.’

Even in a state of anarchy, some groups will manage to keep the infrastructure running, however weakly. Even in war, it can keep going until the country completely collapses. But if funding is cut off and construction becomes impossible, it’s just a giant pile of scrap metal and concrete.

Moreover, most of the new weapons being developed will be ruined. Of course, unless something like the subprime mortgage crisis [a major cause of the 2008 financial crisis] explodes and the economy collapses, it won’t turn out like Kim Gaphwan remembers, but at that moment, arms reduction would be unavoidable.

‘Arms reduction is unacceptable. Arms reduction is. The reason the United States can talk big is because of its economy, but also because of its large military and advanced next-generation weapons, enough to fight the entire world alone.’

Of course, if it becomes a militaristic state and loses sight of its priorities, it will end up like North Korea, but that’s what Chinese money was for. If that’s cut off, the United States will be in considerable trouble.

‘But to actively help or bail them out is out of the question.’

Help itself was already going. In the form of medical supplies and relief goods. It seemed China was unboxing them again and making them into ration packages. Of course, it felt like China was giving medicine after causing the illness, but the UN, whose purpose was to maintain world peace, couldn’t just not help China.

Of course, this was also a measure taken because China was a permanent member of the Security Council. If it were a very small and insignificant country, everyone might have ignored it like Taiwan.

“Can you do it? This is something that will determine the fate of the United States, in the short term for the next 10 years, and in the long term, the very existence of the nation.”

President Bush was more serious than ever. If they collapsed here, all administration would start to go wrong, and eventually, they would fall into the ‘America that needs to be great again’ that Kim Gaphwan remembered.

What could he say when the President came out like this? All he could do was be a yes-man.

“Yes.”

The reporter began to move quickly to deliver this news. His heart ached when he thought of the expressions on the faces of his colleagues and subordinates, who were expecting a more relaxed schedule and overdue vacations now that everything was over, but wasn’t he also looking forward to a vacation? Anyway, everyone was on standby because this Russia Comprehensive Report might be rejected. Only the work they had to look at would change a bit.

However, he was worried about the budget because they had spent more than necessary to consume and replenish local agents this time. However, the President said he would personally take care of this part, so he could only firmly believe in those words.

In any case, there were mountains of problems to solve from now on. The problem was that CIA agents had been weeded out in China once before. The situation was a bit different from Russia, where they had been steadily and secretly cultivating spies since the Cold War. There weren’t many personnel who could move. Fortunately, the relatively dangerous parts like military information weren’t mixed in this time.

Of course, he suspected that other information might be, but they could at least make excuses if they dug up that kind of information indirectly. Military-related information couldn’t be denied and would immediately be treated as espionage. It meant having in-depth consultation time with a former KGB [Soviet Union’s primary intelligence agency] advisor.

“Ah, that’s right.”

Of course, no matter how busy he was, he couldn’t ignore the President’s words, so he stopped in his tracks. The problem was that not only did his actions stop, but his heart almost stopped as well. Just imagining what he was going to say this time made his legs tremble like aspen leaves.

“I’ll give you plenty of time this time. I heard you had a lot of trouble because I rushed you. It’s enough if you can do it by the end of the year.”

So he couldn’t help but feel relieved to the point where his legs gave way when he heard these words. If he had the budget and time, he could do it comfortably. The CIA was an intelligence agency capable of doing that. They would just do what they could.

‘If it’s by the end of the year, I can do it! No, I will do it no matter what!’

He would have taken it calmly under normal circumstances, but he felt emotional because he had gone through so much unnecessary hardship.

“Understood!”

With a confident answer, he walked out of the office with a dignified air. With the sense of accomplishment that the CIA had achieved and the hope that they now had time to spare.

“That guy is surprisingly energetic for his age?”

“That’s strange. He’s not usually like that.”

The Chief of Staff briefly questioned his actions, but turned his attention to the mountain of reference materials for the Russia Comprehensive Report, thinking that there might be days like that. He wanted to focus on Russia right now.

“To establish a strategy for Russia, I’ll have to read all of that eventually.”

Looking at the incredibly piled-up reference materials, he suddenly felt a migraine coming on. President Bush lightly squeezed his hair.

Only a white Maine Coon, suspiciously like a cat, was watching the scene, yawning leisurely on the chair.