"Yes! It's the operation to establish the Saigon camp, but..."
"What are you talking about? Who sent the LST upstream? This is our camp! You idiot, you don't even know the operation name. It's escalation! Escalation!"
"Huff!"
Colonel Godell growled at Major Smith.
He had briefed directly in front of the commander before, so this kind of act was nothing to him.
"And I hear there's someone who ignored communications. Was that you?"
Godell recalled receiving a late report from his adjutant about the LST moving upstream. If it had been any later, he might have lost the merit to the Saigon camp, which made his hair stand on end just thinking about it. It was terrifying.
"...Sir! It's a misunderstanding. I never ignored communications."
"Misunderstanding? Misunderstanding? Who? Me? So, who made a false report to me? Who's the bastard that lied to me?"
Godell's face turned beet red as he jumped around.
Okay, he's taking care of his share.
"Cheongryong! It's Major Kim Yong-gwan from Cheongryong unit. I report that Major Smith ignored all communications from the liaison officer."
"So he ignored it?"
"Yes! That's not all. I clearly saw Major Smith aiming a gun at CS."
Major Kim from the Cheongryong unit eagerly reported Smith's actions. He made sure to be thorough.
"What? A soldier ignored ally communications and even aimed a gun at a civilian? Is he crazy about wanting to be discharged?"
"Sir! It's a misunderstanding. It was a classified operation! Confirm it with the Saigon camp."
"Shut up! Do you think I'm beneath the Saigon camp chief? Don't you understand ranks, you piece of crap?"
"Gah. Ugh."
Colonel Godell kicked Major Smith's joint.
Our jungle boots had metal plates, so it hurt a lot. Major Smith couldn't bear the pain and rolled on the ground.
Godell continued to kick Smith's butt as he panted. For Smith, there was no greater humiliation in front of his subordinates.
His military life was completely ruined.
Serves you right, you bastard.
"Discipline is terrible. Can't you get up straight? Worse than a Viet Cong, can't distinguish between allies and enemies, subordinates and superiors! Such a person is no different from a spy."
"I will correct myself, Colonel."
"Correct? Are you really a spy? Did you commit treason?"
"It's a misunderstanding. I would never do such a thing."
Seeing Major Smith stutter while sweating profusely, the atmosphere turned chilly.
Colonel Godell instinctively felt that something was off with Smith.
"Who's behind you? Who ordered you to threaten CS? Who is it? The Saigon camp chief? Are you in collusion with the enemy?"
"That never happened. It's a misunderstanding."
"Speak properly!"
Slap!
"Aaagh!"
Smith screamed as Godell hit him where he had kicked him before.
"Something's wrong, Colonel. This needs investigation."
"Judging by your actions, you're not alone. I'll look into this myself."
"It's a misunderstanding. Colonel!"
"What's there to misunderstand? A lowlife like you doesn't deserve your rank!"
Godell immediately tore off Smith's rank insignia.
"Adjutant! Take this guy away! He'll face a court-martial."
"Yes, sir!"
"It's a misunderstanding. Colonel!"
"Shut up! Adjutant, take over all tasks from the Saigon camp. I'll manage both the construction of this base and the logistics of the Saigon camp."
"Yes, sir!"
Godell nodded slightly towards me.
With this much merit, getting a star was no problem, and taking over the Saigon camp was just a matter of time.
He had a look that said, "Just give me all the military supplies from Saigon."
Wow, he's taking over the Saigon logistics too.
Just handling the supplies for our 50,000 men was quite profitable, but adding Saigon's 100,000 troops would be really lucrative.
"Colonel, the Cheongryong unit also has something to report."
Major Kim saluted Godell politely but signaled to me with his eyes.
'Should I ask him for the LST?' his look seemed to say. Naturally.
He's here to get a star, so we should at least make that deal. The Cheongryong unit gives up their merit and takes the LST, and it's a win-win.
"Let's talk quietly between soldiers."
Godell seemed to catch on and disappeared with Major Kim.
"Chansu..."
"Sambok! You're here? Is this a dream?"
I was watching Godell and Major Kim walk away with a pleased heart when Sambok called me from somewhere.
"I came to see how well you're doing. When I arrived at the camp, they told me to get on a helicopter straight away because you were here."
"Good, good. You came well."
"Of course, I came well. Who else would take care of you? Actually, I have something to brag about to you."
"Alright, alright, brag away."
I hugged the bragging guy tightly.
I could ask what he wanted to brag about later.
Meeting a friend overseas is always nice.
***
"Cola?"
I took Sambok to the temporary barracks and threw him a bottle of cola.
"What? It's warm."
"Hey, there's no fridge here. This is a temporary barracks. It's better than drinking water and getting a stomach ache."
Though half of it would fizz out when opened, I was getting used to flat cola.
"They say they always drink Jack and Coke at the camp, but it was all a lie."
"What lie? Even flat cola is a luxury on site. Anyway, what brings a busy person like you all the way to Vietnam?"
"Haha, no matter how busy, I have to report. Hwang old man developed something amazing."
"Something amazing?"
Sambok shrugged his shoulders as if he did it himself.
Then he started pulling something out from the bag he had hugged tightly on the helicopter.
Golden thread?
What's this? I felt uneasy.
Honestly, just a glance made my whole body tingle. No way...
"What is this, Sambok?"
"What do you think? It's polyurethane. The polyurethane you wanted to develop so much! You said you could make breathable waterproof fabric with this. You said you could beat the Japanese with it."
"Polyurethane? This is it?"
I fiddled with the golden thread.
"Hey, that's just a catalyst. You have to peel the skin to get the polyurethane. Don't you even know that?"
Sambok kept repeating the word catalyst as he peeled the golden skin. It didn't peel off easily, so he put strength into his nails.
"That's the catalyst?"
"Yes, Hwang old man said so. He said you need an aramid or something catalyst to make polyurethane. This is it. He said you'd know how to peel it... do you?"
"Aramid?"
I felt dizzy.
This is aramid? Aramid fiber?
Now that I look at it, when I bunch up the golden skin, it feels tough and hard.
Could this really be Kevlar fiber... the advanced bulletproof fiber developed by DuPont in the early 1970s?
In Korea, it was only successfully synthesized in the 1980s and took 20 years of research to commercialize.
Known as super fiber, it's widely used in military products like bulletproof vests and helmets, and faced persistent interference and long lawsuits from DuPont.
Although Korea's independent development was acknowledged, it had to pay billions in compensation for allegedly leaking DuPont's mass production technology.
I remember it clearly because it was awarded the Jang Young-sil Award when I was preparing for a job in the 1980s.
Such a difficult material to develop, and we... or rather, Hwang old man developed it first?
"Aramid? Amari... Amaro... Whatever! You handle peeling it."
"Sure, sure. I'll handle the peeling. What's important is how Hwang old man made this. Do you know anything?"
"I don't know much, but when I went inside the factory, it was full of steam. Hwang old man said the answer is wet process."
"Wet process?"
"Yes, not dry but wet! He was drawing the thread inside a water tank..."
Yeah... I think I understand. To make polyurethane, an aramid-type organic catalyst is indeed used.
But, while inducing the catalyst reaction, the aramid-type organic catalyst cross-linked in a wet environment.
Instead of the polyurethane, it might have catalyzed the Kevlar material.
It makes sense, the discovery of Kevlar might have happened like this.
In history, DuPont developed both polyurethane and Kevlar around the same time.
"Great discovery. Great discovery."
"Right? It is a great discovery. Now, can you make breathable waterproof fabric with polyurethane? You said it needed coating. How exactly do you do that?"
It's not difficult.
Coating simply involves spraying polyurethane on fabric before it hardens and spreading it thinly with a rubber knife.
It can be done by skilled workers, and using equipment will improve quality.
"Don't worry. I'll teach the foremen the coating method. We'll make breathable waterproof products, stretchable pants, ultra-comfortable underwear, and sleek sportswear. You just focus on exporting."
"Wow!"
Sambok raised his arms and jumped in delight.
It was as if dozens of products had already been created.
"Sambok."
I gently pulled down Sambok's raised arms.
"Why? We're going to be rich. We should celebrate."
"Polyurethane products are great, but the bigger hit is this golden skin."
"Golden skin... this is the big hit?"
"Yes.
It's called Kevlar, a super fiber."
"Kevlar? Super fiber?"
"Yes, it repels bullets."
To be precise, it entangles rotating bullets, but to laymen, it's all the same.
"So, bulletproof? Bulletproof vest?"
"Yes, bulletproof vest."
"Wow!"
Sambok was so surprised he pounded his chest as if he was out of breath.
"Let's leave the polyurethane products to the foremen. We must release bulletproof vests and helmets with Kevlar before American companies step in. Can you do it, Sambok?"
Sambok's face turned pale at my words.
"Are you kidding? No... Tell me you're kidding, Chansu."
I couldn't tell if he was scared or overwhelmed by the looming workload, but Sambok waved his hands in refusal.
"What should I do... leave Vietnam again?"
"If necessary, yes. Hwang old man said you must return to Korea now. Otherwise, Japan will eat us up."
"What? Japan will eat us?"
When did the Japanese occupation end, and now what absurdity is this?
"Hwang old man asked me to come back and beat Japan. If the Korea-Japan normalization proceeds, Japan will suck our blood again."
"Korea-Japan normalization?"
At the mention of Korea-Japan normalization, I frowned without realizing it. I knew about it, but it was a term I wanted to ignore.
The normalization was the only opportunity to clear the colonial bitterness between the two countries, much like Germany and the EU, but we handled it too cheaply.
The reparation fund, known as "blood debt," excluded victims, and was filled with political maneuvers.
Apologies to the victims were more important than money, and the two countries should have aimed for a future-oriented relationship.
But Japan viewed the normalization as something they were pushed into by the US, and approached the reparation fund purely from an economic standpoint.
Collaborators who thought Japan helped Korea would never understand this.
But do I really have to intervene?
Even getting close to the Blue House is burdensome enough.
"Don't you think you can do it? You have connections to the Blue House..."
Sambok seemed too burdened to continue.
"Can I really make a difference now? Isn't the negotiation already over?"
It's a pity, but the responsibility is too great, and the time required is not trivial.
More importantly, it's already too late.
Haven't they already signed the agreement?
"I thought so too, but before I left, I found out it's supposed to be ratified and take effect in December? It's not completely over yet."
"What?"
I thought it was a done deal, but hearing that there's still a chance brought back buried thoughts.
What if I could handle the Korea-Japan negotiations?
The claims for civilians, the Dokdo issue, maritime development like the 7th district, the fishing agreement, the shipping industry, all these could be addressed together.
No, there's no need to resolve them. Just delaying everything for one generation, 30 years, would suffice.
The gap is too big now, but by then, we might be able to stand toe to toe with Japan.
'And with this...'
Kevlar could open doors with DuPont and even the US Department of Defense.
Using shrewd American lawyers, we wouldn't even have to face Japan directly.
Honestly, the Korean government at the time wasn't stupid, they knew the significance of this issue. But they sold out the claims cheaply because they desperately needed money.
If the money problem is solved, they might maintain some dignity.
'I came to change everything. But will I avoid daunting, difficult, and high-responsibility problems?'
Suddenly, that thought hit me.
Was my previous life, following what everyone else did, really happy?
Will I repeat that in this life?
When strange people tell me to leave, will I bow my head and retreat like a slave?
"Damn it..."
I cursed without realizing it.
"Chansu..."
"I have to return to Korea."
Let's make big money.
A really valuable big money.
Even if it's incredibly hard.
I will change everything.
I will do what I want.
I've already seen that there is no paradise in fleeing from fate.