George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 95

Camp David Lodge. A vacation facility ‘exclusively’ for the U.S. President. So exclusive that, apart from the staff, Camp David was strictly open only to the U.S. President. The facilities Camp David provided to the U.S. President were as follows:

Basic sports facilities such as a billiard room, riding grounds, golf course, swimming pool, and bowling alley were standard. Furthermore, there was even a skeet shooting range and a chapel. However, it wasn’t grand. These were leisure facilities built for the President alone, so they were neither too big nor too small.

However, the most important function that Camp David provided was ‘isolation from the outside world,’ because Camp David was classified as a ‘military facility,’ not a general facility. Because of this, Camp David boasted airtight security.

For example, if a civilian unrelated to Camp David tried to forcibly enter Camp David, the U.S. Marine Corps security forces guarding the area would be dispatched to stop them, and the civilian would be granted the privilege of freely experiencing the heart and soul of America at an interrogation-related institution.

If a civilian plane flew into Camp David’s airspace, two F-15Es would scramble to force the civilian plane to land at a nearby airport. Similarly, they would be granted the honor of directly experiencing what the interrogation-related institution does and how they spend their tax money.

However, the response policy is similar even if it’s not Camp David but other military facilities. In general, if a civilian trying to infiltrate a military facility does not have impure intentions, it ends with a short interrogation or a fine.

Of course, if someone tried to infiltrate a military facility with a higher level of importance or classification, it wouldn’t end as a joke, and they could be charged with espionage and enjoy the full course in the room of truth, but such things rarely happen.

In addition, there were accommodations for foreign dignitaries to carry out diplomatic affairs, mainly inviting those who could be called dignitaries to facilitate smoother and more effective diplomacy.

In any case, since President Eisenhower named it Camp David, every U.S. President has visited this villa during their term, without exception.

‘A villa? Why would anyone need such a thing? Don’t they know the saying, “Going away from home means suffering”?’

Except for this George Bush, who dreams of true isolation from the world.

‘If there’s a connection, I’ll go someday.’

It wasn’t like he had bad memories or experiences like in the military, so he vowed never to go there again. He just thought he would go someday if there was an event like entertaining foreign dignitaries. However, the idea of ‘taking a break’ wasn’t appealing to him.

Getting there was a chore, and resting there was also a chore. Whether it’s Camp David or another villa, once you go, trying to rest is all work. Work.

‘Work, work, work! Can’t I escape from this work even for a little while?’ This vacation started from that thought, so taking a vacation at home like this was inevitable. The American’s frontier instinct, engraved in his genes, craved leisure, but his head longed for a cozy bed.

However, it was true that both his body and mind wanted a vacation. No matter what anyone said, George W. Bush was famous as the president who took the most vacations during his term. It would be stranger if such a person’s body didn’t want a vacation.

‘I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve read a book so quietly.’

It was true. Kim Gap-hwan, who should be called his past life, worked like a dog when he worked, but on holidays, he stayed in his room as quiet as a mouse except when eating. When his peers went to Yeongheungdo [a popular island for boat fishing] for boat fishing or Jirisan [a famous mountain] for mountain climbing, he diligently watched the news in his blanket.

If he ever went outside, it was to go to the convenience store or to the library to return books. So, his friends often told Kim Gap-hwan that he was introverted, but it wasn’t that Kim Gap-hwan didn’t want to go out.

It was because of the damn debt. Yes, it wasn’t Kim Gap-hwan’s own debt but a debt passed down from his parents’ generation. However, he didn’t resent his parents. It wasn’t a debt caused by his parents’ business or guaranteeing someone, but a debt incurred to escape a jeonse [a Korean housing lease system where a large sum of money is given as a deposit instead of monthly rent] house, so he had no choice but to diligently repay it.

After several years of frugal family life, the debt disappeared, but he became accustomed to saving, so his days off became days of truly resting everything.

Because of that, he clung to library books and news that didn’t cost money, but now he thought it was fortunate. Thanks to this knowledge, he had been doing quite well so far, hadn’t he? Of course, that knowledge was a natural mix of Kim’s and Bush’s knowledge, so he could see such dramatic effects.

‘Am I doing well?’

Was there anything I could have done better? For example, going to Korea in an F-22 instead of an F-18. Of course, it’s ridiculous, but now I feel like there’s nothing I can’t do.

‘Forget the past.’

The rest of my term is more than enough, even if I don’t like it. After thinking that far, he turned his eyes back to the book.

‘Struggle.’

The book Bush was reading was about struggle. Why is a guy who’s supposed to be cutting off ties with the world and healing, looking at a book with such a grim word like struggle, leaving all the good books behind? To that question, I would give this answer.

“No, damn it, it’s supposed to be a poetry collection, but why is there a poem about the proletarian struggle? Is it because it’s a really old book? I’ve never seen a poem like this in my life.”

As expected of a rich man’s son, he had a fairly large personal library at home, filled with everything from general books to hardcover books that looked like they belonged in a museum glass display case. Of course, that’s just a figure of speech, and they weren’t really classified as relics. However, they were quite old and had been handled a lot.

‘Hmm, anyway. Struggle.’

The human instinct for struggle is painfully proven in all history books. Isn’t half of history about war? And it seems that the body has evolved to be ‘struggle-oriented.’ Have you ever heard that a healthy body houses a healthy mind? It’s the story that the mind is determined by the state of the body.

In that sense, the human body is nothing more than a mad arena built from the corpses of red and white blood cells from the moment it is born in its mother’s womb. The human body does not hesitate to use scorched-earth tactics to protect itself from disease.

The method our body has chosen in the process of evolution is very interesting: raising the body’s temperature. Most viruses that plague humans are mesophilic [thriving in moderate temperature], and their activity is suppressed above 40 degrees Celsius. The problem is that when the temperature rises, the germs die, but the humans, the subjects that the cells were trying to protect, also cross the Samdo River [a metaphorical river in Korean folklore that the deceased must cross to reach the afterlife] together.

“Damn it. What struggle? I can’t concentrate.”

Even now, he couldn’t concentrate on the content and soon his mind was filled with japsaenggak [idle thoughts], wasn’t it? Of course, the content of the poem was a bit crazy, but even so, he couldn’t concentrate on the content and closed the book. He couldn’t even count how many times he had been so distracted.

Bush put this crazy poetry collection back in its place. Who knows, it might have been popular in its time. But at least it wasn’t the kind of content that would suit Bush now. Bush took out another book, hoping it would be a bit more ordinary this time.

He didn’t look at the title of the book, it was a habit he had since he was Kim. He had a hobby of closing his eyes and picking any book to read in the library. Most of them didn’t suit him and ended up going back to the bookshelf, but when he did this, he could find interesting books without knowing it.

Because this vacation had the goal of pursuing stability, he stopped watching the news or reading the newspaper. He even quit exercising to rest his body. Only for a true sense of rest.

In fact, he was nervous that his work phone would ring at any moment. It wasn’t that he hated work, but if the phone rang when he had decided to put everything aside and rest, it meant that something was seriously wrong. So, if the phone rang now, it would be when ‘at least’ one state was out of control due to a natural disaster.

This time, both Bush and the Chief of Staff were focusing all their attention on a ‘perfect vacation.’ The administration was adjusted to run faster and more efficiently while Bush was resting,

“Even trying not to care is all work.”

Bush sat in the chair in the library and let out a heartfelt sigh. This is the vacation of the President of the United States! Who could believe it? Even he himself couldn’t believe it!

“At least these snacks are good.”

He felt a little better after getting some sugar in his head. By the time this simple but stimulating snack and reading exploration was over, it was dinner time.

‘I guess I should do some leisure activities next time.’

He thought he would give in easily, but as time went on, he became more and more lethargic and restless.

It was then. Bush’s work phone started ringing. He wanted to believe it was a mistake, but when he saw his cell phone vibrating and shaking, he could no longer avoid it as a mistake.

‘Damn it, can’t I rest even for a moment?’

「Mr. President. I didn’t want to call you, but I judged that it was a major issue that I couldn’t handle on my own.」

“Please, just tell me it’s nothing serious.”

「It’s not a domestic matter.」

“That’s a relief. Did a war start or end or something?”

If that were the case, it was certainly not a problem that the Chief of Staff or the Vice President could handle.

「It’s a war, in a way. It’s a war on terror. A large-scale terrorist attack has occurred in the Philippines. You don’t have to cancel your vacation, but you should at least issue a statement.」

“Terrorism? Where exactly?”

「A bomb attack occurred on a street in Mindanao Island. The Philippine authorities are doing their best to investigate the details. The estimated death toll is about 1,500.」

He already knew that the Philippines was not a terrorism-safe zone, but it was too sudden.

“1,500 people?”

「Yes, according to top-secret information, bombs exploded simultaneously in several places.」

“This is bullshit.”

1,500 innocent civilians died, which didn’t make sense no matter how he thought about it.

“Let’s issue a statement right away.”

A crack began to form in Bush’s beautiful vacation.