George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 192

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“The world is dark. So dark.”

The old man, known as Sniper John Doe in America, was hospitalized in a university hospital in France. He had originally intended to go to Germany, but an unfortunate incident befell the doctor scheduled to perform the surgery. As a result, he urgently searched locally and managed to connect with a renowned surgeon.

And he received a lot of news. A plane hijacking occurred in France, leading to a large-scale global military operation. A strange virus was rampant, completely devastating the Latvian metropolis of Riga. The United States, along with the rest of the world, rolled up their sleeves to eradicate the virus.

People were chattering about the current era being the second Dark Age since the Middle Ages, or that the virus was divine punishment, gossiping as if the world was about to end. But the old man didn’t care. In his opinion, the world was currently in a golden age. A golden age that would never occur again in human history.

“Shall I turn on the light for you?”

The female nurse, responding to the old man’s mutterings, answered with sincerity. She was an attractive woman with brown hair.

“No, I prefer it this way. As I get older, it’s uncomfortable to look at the light for too long.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a cough came out involuntarily, and that alone caused a tearing pain in his back that dominated his body. However, even though pain could dominate his body, it could not subdue the old man’s steely will. He had learned many lessons while traversing countless wars, and his body was covered in medals that he couldn’t show to others.

Perhaps when he was younger, it would have been different, but now that he was enlightened and mature, with a detached attitude towards life, pain was merely a physical sensation.

‘Still, I must have a lingering attachment to life, so I came here.’

Trying to maintain life is a natural attitude and instinct for living beings. When he was young, he thought that once he passed the age of fifty, will could surpass instinct, but that wasn’t the case. Will cannot overcome instinct, and instinct cannot overcome will.

‘But the two are one and many…’

Another cough rose. Pain slowly flowed throughout his body, and his fading ego took shape.

‘I’m getting old, so I’m talking a lot of nonsense.’

“If possible, I’d appreciate it if you could close those curtains too.”

The nurse seemed surprised by his fluent French, which was good enough to believe he was born in France.

“Your French is very fluent.”

“Well, there was a reason for that.”

Especially during World War II, there were many reasons for that. Even now, when he closed his eyes, those days vividly came to mind.

“Then, can you also speak English by any chance?”

What came out of her mouth was English with a British accent. Since English originated in Britain, it was funny to say it was a British accent, but anyway, nowadays, when trying to indicate that something is English, people often use both the Stars and Stripes and the Union Flag, so it wasn’t wrong.

In any case, upon hearing English, the old man sensed that something was amiss.

“You’re not a nurse, are you?”

“No. I am a nurse.”

She shook the nurse’s name tag hanging around her neck. However, the old man had no way of knowing whether it was genuine or a fake.

“I’ve only been employed for two days, but a nurse is a nurse.”

She giggled as she said that. And she didn’t forget to add, ‘Although I have multiple jobs.’

From the fact that she spoke British English, one might infer that the nurse was affiliated with the Secret Intelligence Service [British intelligence agency, also known as MI6], but the old man didn’t think she was British. This was closer to a prejudice based on the old man’s experience, because he thought, ‘If they were British, they would have kidnapped me by now and be talking to me somewhere in the British underground.’

In the old man’s mind, the British were stuck in the days of the British Empire. An arrogant and presumptuous collection of people who thought that everything in the world revolved around them. People who would readily sacrifice others if they were of a different race.

“So, what’s the matter with this insignificant, crippled old man?”

What came out of the old man’s mouth was English with a strong Middle Eastern accent. It was inferior to French, which was almost indistinguishable from the local language, but there were no major problems in communication.

“That’s a relief. Actually, I’m not very confident in Arabic.”

“I’m not in a good mood right now. If you’re a real nurse, I think now is the time to do something truly nurse-like, don’t you think?”

The old man said that, raising his trembling arm and pointing to the door. It was a clear dismissal to anyone who saw it. But the nurse didn’t seem to think so.

“Do you know how hard I tried to get in here? I was originally in Germany because it was supposed to be in Germany, but I was in trouble when it suddenly changed to France. It was fortunate that they urgently needed a new employee.”

“Get to the point.”

“Would you be willing to cooperate with us?”

“Shouldn’t you reveal who you are first? And I don’t work with British bastards.”

Her smiling expression cracked at the word ‘British.’

“Let me make it clear now, I’m Irish. Not a damn Englishman.”

She was clearly agitated. She wasn’t usually someone who couldn’t hide her temper well, but she wasn’t one to get agitated by such a small provocation.

“And, fortunately or unfortunately, my boss isn’t British.”

“Hmph, whether you’re Irish or British, it’s all the same to me. So, what’s the business of that Irishman with me?”

“Wouldn’t you like to work with America?”

“The CIA, I see. An ethnicity I’ve never encountered in my life.”

She was about to say that her nationality was British, but she soon closed her mouth. When she was talking to this old man, she felt like she would reveal all her personal information and even secrets.

“The reason why our CIA was used for this contact is because it’s an unofficial contact.”

And the reason she went to Germany and then came to France was entirely the president’s fault. She only went on one overseas trip, but it was like a working holiday, and she ended up doing nothing but nursing work she didn’t want to do. Thanks to that, her breadth of professional knowledge slightly increased, but she would rather have drunk more cocktails at the bar in her hometown.

“I know your kind very well. Give & Take. I don’t know what you want, but in other words, you don’t know what I want either. And let me make it clear, I don’t want any of the things you have. If you understand, please leave.”

She ignored the old man’s protest and decided to do what she had to do. She began to recite the information on the corkboard that doctors carry around.

“Unknown real name. No family. Participated in numerous wars. Active as a sniper in all wars. All activities are unofficial. Doesn’t value money or honor. Suspected of being directly or indirectly involved in the assassination of several politicians.”

“You know quite a lot.”

The old man closed his eyes and reminisced about his past. The very first memory was when he first held a gun in his hand.

‘The first rifle I ever used was a Lebel rifle [French bolt-action rifle] I got on the black market. It was French-made. The buttstock was cracked, and the barrel was subtly bent. Back then, my country was bearing the responsibility for the defeat in World War I, and as a result, it was torn to pieces. The country itself wasn’t dissolved, but it was as good as dissolved.’

As time passed, arrogant French people settled in Sivas, and darkness loomed over Turkey, which was already dominated by chaos and confusion due to the aftermath of the defeat. Just when the shadow of destruction was surpassing the government’s control and the burning crescent and star flag was vividly drawn in the eyes of the people.

The young man’s first battlefield was his country’s war of independence. Among them, the Battle of Aintab. When he killed five French soldiers with a rusty old gun that hadn’t even been maintained in the southern front, the young man, who had been idling at home helping with farm work, finally discovered the talent and destiny sleeping within him.

Everyone who participated in this war had a truly diverse range of firearms, from arquebuses [early type of gun] that would have been used in the Middle Ages to the latest Lebel rifles seized from French soldiers. Among them, the young man boasted the most outstanding level of armament. He unofficially massacred hundreds of people until the end of the war with a captured Lebel rifle and a German-made MP18 [early submachine gun] that he didn’t know where it came from.

Others participated for the sake of their country or for a better future for the Armenian people, but what led the young man to the battlefield was the pressure from the heavy trigger and the bitter smell of gunpowder that permeated both hands. He had the base nature of feeling pleasure in the act of killing.

He didn’t feel pleasure anymore because he felt a sense of futility in his old age, but he was still killing people. As the saying goes, habits die hard, and he roamed through all sorts of wars. Although he felt pleasure in killing, he prided himself on using the talent given by God and this twisted pleasure in a fairly righteous place.

He had never committed a war crime during this long time, and he gave courage to those suffering from PTSD [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder]. The person who nursed the old man at his home in western Iraq was also such a person. As the number of such people increased, the old man was able to live a fulfilling life, even if it wasn’t abundant.

Looking back, it was truly a faithful life.

“The important thing is from here.”

She turned over one of the documents attached to the corkboard. It was noticeable that the old man’s personal information was densely written in English in a very small font.

“He never came out into the open like that, but suddenly he helps a new politician’s campaign. In return, he obtains the qualification and backing to run in the next election.”

“You’ve investigated even that far.”

The old man clicked his tongue at the thoroughness that seemed to look at a person’s entire life. The story wasn’t very long, but it accurately pointed out the key points.

“Why? What’s the reason you suddenly came out into the open?”

“Would you believe me if I said it was to fix this back?”

“No.”

“That’s disappointing. It’s true.”

Because this alone was true, he could only maintain silence with a wry smile.

“Is there anything else to say? Since ancient times, countries that prospered with the help of in-laws ended up collapsing with the power of in-laws. I’m sorry, but I have no intention of following in those footsteps.”

“Isn’t the West Iraqi political world already an EU version anyway?”

It was an open secret that the West Iraqi political world was nothing more than a puppet state that moved according to the will of the EU [European Union]. In fact, before that, the political world itself was in a mess, and the fragments of that were the insane inflation and the unbelievably high tax rates. In fact, some members of the National Assembly had never received a proper education, and there were plenty of hardliners who would never accept other opinions.

“Well, that’s not necessarily the case.”

“Well, let’s hear the rest of it first. It won’t be such a bad story.”

“Good. But as soon as you’re done, you’ll have to leave this room.”