Hwang Sok-Yong - The Shadow of Arms

“We can investigate who’s been traveling the routes leading from the supply warehouse to the market, but it won’t be enough for an arrest. Vehicles can go everywhere, you know.”

“It’ll help with investigations that may lead to an arrest. You can set up a watch at particular points frequented by suspicious vehicles.”

“Laying traps is an option, but we’re short of manpower.”

“Withdraw some PX personnel and start a full-scale investigation.”

“I can’t pull people out of the PX, but I’ll find a way somehow.”

“Please do.”

Krapensky, in full dress uniform and hat, checked his watch and hurried out. Captain Kim clasped his hands behind his back and peered out the window, lost in thought. An outflow of combat rations was something not too difficult to track.

“Those sons of bitches at the recreation center. .”

He was fully aware that matters concerning the Da Nang supply warehouse had top priority. It was the heart of his control region. His detachment and the recreation center both were attached to the logistics battalion. It was the unit that oversaw the entire distribution system of goods for the Korean forces, but the recreation center had its own separate requisition channels, which made it impossible to do an exact check on their inventories. All he could get his hands on was a supply ledger and a record of an inspection of ration stores. “Bribed but not bought” was part of CID’s unwritten code. He started examining the vehicle log.

Somebody shook Yong Kyu awake.

“Hey, get up! Know what time it is?”

The gunnery sergeant yanked his blanket off. Yong Kyu sat up slowly without opening his eyes. He had a splitting headache.

“Can’t handle a few glasses of whisky? Hurry up and get ready to go on duty. . drop by company HQ.”

Yong Kyu had been out drinking with the same sergeant, so the reprimand wasn’t serious. If the laggard had been one of the five men bunking in the next room, the sergeant would have kicked him out of bed in a second even if he was dead from an all-night “Hit the Dirt” exercise. In these quarters Yong Kyu was the senior blue jacket. His bunk was directly facing the gunnery sergeant’s. As soon as Blue Jacket Kang had left for home, Yong Kyu had taken it over. To celebrate yesterday’s successful launch of the beer business, Yong Kyu and the sergeant had gone drinking at the Bamboo and then bought themselves a couple of women. Like Kang had warned, Yong Kyu was already finding himself stuck between the captain and the gunnery sergeant and forced to choose one or the other. He yawned and shook his head.

“Drop by at company?”

“Pointer just called asking for you. He told us to go get you if you were already out on duty.”

Slowly Yong Kyu got up. As he walked to the bathroom, the sergeant spoke to his back through the open door.

“Seems Pointer smells something.” His voice was uneasy.

“Fuck it, I’ll just tell him what my esteemed sergeant ordered me to do, no problem, sir.”

“You bastard, are you fucking kidding?”

Yong Kyu turned on the shower. The cold water woke him up. He had watched how Blue Jacket Kang handled this sergeant: In general do favors for him, but always remind him of the fact that you’ve got guts by picking at his weak points. For every three favors you do him, get one in return, to maintain a balance, so to speak.

“Hey. . you sure you don’t know what this is about?” asked the sergeant, holding the door open.

“Sir, how could a lowly soldier like me know something even the sergeant doesn’t? He caught wind of it, maybe?”

“What do you mean? Caught wind of what?”

“The beer trading, sir.”

Yong Kyu stepped out of the bathroom in a towel.

“You may be right.”

The sergeant sat down on the edge of his bed. He did not look very worried, though. It was just that if the business were discovered it was bound to slip through his fingers. Once it fell into the captain’s hands he’d be out. But Yong Kyu did not care which of the two men won the battle. All he had to do was keep out of the waterlogged trenches and wait for the days to pass. He was never coming back to Vietnam. The palm trees and ahozais and even the sun overhead were nothing more than extensions of the military camp. He put on a T-shirt and a pair of pants. Then he stuck the revolver he had picked up in the market a while ago into his back pocket. It was a police special, a shiny new.38 snubnosed model.

“If he asks, just flat out deny knowing anything about it.”

“And if he already knows everything in detail before he starts questioning me?”

“No way he could know in detail. It would mean losing a lot of money for the Hong Kong Group and the PX chief and Pointer.”

“Let’s get rid of the Hong Kong Group,” Yong Kyu said.

“Nah, that won’t work. You can’t traipse around the city in a military vehicle; besides we should stay behind the scenes, not go out in the open.”

“Why not get a Vietnamese middleman?”

“I don’t know. .”

The gunnery sergeant was not about to open up to Yong Kyu. The same was true of Yong Kyu, who by this time had sensed that duty in CID was in a disorganized mess. With the sergeant in collusion with the civilians, it was impossible to use the rules to control them. Looking at the man’s disconcerted face, Yong Kyu said in his head: You’ll probably be reassigned to the main body; you’ve spent what power you had and you’ve got nothing left; you’re clinging tight to my boots but I’m going to kick you off; you were in such a big hurry that the Hong Kong kids got you by the neck; I won’t go on being your hands and legs once your shoulders are weak; you already lost it all by the time Blue Jacket Kang left for home.

“I’ll do my best, sir.”

“Look, I still have three months to go before I head for home.”

“Well, I’ve got about half a year left, and when I go back I’ll be a civilian.”

As Yong Kyu turned away the sergeant tried one last time to take him down.

“Corporal Ahn, you and I are in the same boat, we sink or float together. Don’t ever forget that.”

Yong Kyu turned back around. He pulled his CID identification from his pocket, tapped the card on his palm, and in a soft voice said, “All I did was show my ID to pass the vehicle through. As the gunnery sergeant ordered. . and three times I’ve been given ten dollars for beer money. . right?” He continued, “I’m just going to be diligent and do my duty as I’m told. Anyway, when I see the captain I’ll do my best.”

He slammed the door behind him. Once outside the hotel, he decided to walk to Puohung Street. It looked like he ought to learn to drive, after all, even if it meant paying for the aftermath with C-rations, as Kang had done. It was still morning but sweat began pouring down his face as he walked. He went up to a row of vendors along the curb to buy a pack of cigarettes. All the tobacco peddlers got their merchandise from the black market, so the price was about three times what the PX charged. He held out a hundred-piaster note.

“ Thuoc la .”

The woman picked up two packs of cigarettes.

“ Moi. .”

“ Toi muon mua mot cai thuoc la .”

The woman held out a single pack, then gave him fifty piasters in change. He heard someone haggling to one side, and noticed it was a Korean technician trying to sell two cartons of cigarettes. Maybe he needed some cash for an outing. But when he turned to watch, he found there were several of them. Someone was selling American whisky. Yong Kyu walked over to the man who was counting his money from the whisky sale and stood quietly behind him. The man looked back, hesitated for a second, then spoke in Vietnamese.