The Sound Empress: Chapter 4
Brief synopsis: Kari thinks about what the next course of action would be on the quest. Nari and Boni supply some information/guidance, and a new can says to take advantage of people's elders.
Over the next few days, I had to think about what would be the next course of action. With no governmental assistance, I wouldn’t get any intel on the actions of the group. On the other hand, how else would I get information about the group? So I began to map out a plan with all the contacts that I know about:
The sound dispenser machine, which led me to this quest in the first place
Nari, who apparently has connections with the government in some capacity, although I don’t know who these connections are, nor what role they might be able to play here
My parents, who are older and wiser than me. So, they might have some input on this matter. In fact, my father’s father was in the air force, which was a part of the military. So maybe the military would know something about this group, which would be transmitted down from generation to generation
And that’s all that I have so far. So where do I go from here? I decided to call up Nari, to see if she thought of anything that could assist me in my quest.
“Hello?” I called, still deep in thought.
“Hey Kari. What can I help you with?”
“Look, I’ve been looking through the clues I have so far, and right now, I don’t really have any solid leads. Perhaps you’ve had better success?”
“Give me one moment.” I could hear some rustling of papers on the other end. Maybe it was her list of contacts that she mentioned the other day.
“Ok, so here’s what I have: I managed to talk to Nashi Nakamura.”
“Who is he and how could he possibly be of assistance?”
“Well, Nashi is a worker in the intelligence agency, housed in the Cabinet Secretariat. He is perhaps one of the best codebreakers on the planet. He also can play around with sound recordings to decipher any messages that might be contained on them. He said he’d be willing to work with us, off the book, so to speak.”
“Off the book? That seems illegal,” I questioned.
“We aren’t paying him, he’s just repaying a favor I did for him a long time ago. The details of which aren’t important for the purposes of this.”
“Okay. But we have only one sound recording, which I was able to decipher with no issues. Where are we going to get…” I paused for a moment, and then I had a revelation: “A ha! The sound dispenser machine! That had more things I could buy! Maybe with more things I will get more information about the machines, and perhaps more information about the Korean Origin Force! And then we will be in business.”
“Exactly right, Kari. Now go out there and get some more data for us!”
I hung up at that point, without saying goodbye. It was a bit rude, but considering the importance of this mission, it was worth doing it. The mission, of course, would be to drink. A lot. Not sure how this will affect my pocketbook, but then again, once I am empress of Japan, money will be the least of my concerns.
As I was going to head out the door, the doorbell rang. It was Boni. Apparently she had returned from her vacation a bit early.
“You’re early, Boni. Did something go wrong in China?”
“I had a hunch something was going wrong here, which could put my property in jeopardy.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Anyway, I took good care of Marcus, giving him the best fish I could buy and allowing him to experience Tokyo for the first time.”
Boni was both overjoyed, but perplexed.
“You took Marcus to Tokyo.” She paused a moment after saying the cat’s name.
“Yes.”
“Why? There was no need to take him anywhere.”
“I had gotten wind of a reward that I could claim if I went to Tokyo. This led me to a quest where apparently a militant group claimed that the first emperor of Japan is Korean, and therefore the line of succession is not correct, which means the current emperor is not the rightful one.”
Boni shook her head in agreement.
“Well, it’s good I came back home early. We seem to be getting more radical by the minute. I can’t be sure if my place will be safe for any given time.”
I then asked if she knew anything about the Korean Origin Force, which was the group I managed previously.
“I only know two things. Apparently, the leader of the group is someone by the name of Buson-min Park. He is a mysterious man. No one that roams around in public has ever seen him, nor are there any pictures of him online. And second, he has a trained mercenary force. He will kill anyone that he deems a threat to him. Your best bet to confront him will be to disguise yourself as one of the mercenaries.”
“Thank you for the information, and here is your cat back.”
I picked up Marcus and carefully transferred him to the outreached arms of Boni. She thanked me for that, and tossed me a few more coins as a tip. She then drove off.
“Guess I have to write down this information, so I don’t forget it later on.”
On an empty sheet of paper below the one that had the list of contacts, I wrote down the pieces of information that Boni told me. Now, it would be a task of mine to find out more information about this Park person. I would need to find more people that would know some information, as well as find more information about the organization and of the sound dispenser through the products contained therein.
As I walked out of the house, I began to think more. Could the group have been responsible for the riot that occurred that close? The news had stated otherwise, stating that the people were peaceful. But there were explosions, and usually when those occur, violence is in order. From my thoughts, I figured the group was a militant group, so there is a possibility of this being true. But I don’t have enough information to confirm or deny this.
Of course, I can’t forget my own personal needs. I needed to go to the store to fill up my fridge with food, and that came first. This was done without a hitch. There were surprisingly few people at the grocery store. Maybe people were living in fear and had impulsively bought after the riots occurred, just in case things got worse. Yet life has to go on, despite the inherent risks of going out these days.
After collecting my goods, I went over near the fish market again, to go buy some tea from the sound dispenser machine and to get my exercise for the day. Upon reaching the vending machine was a whole new selection of drinks, with none of them having the same logos as the cans I saw when I first came to the machine. The prices were higher, too. Why? Is it because the product is now of better quality? Or are they just trying to extort me of my money?
I eventually went with the cheapest option available. The product had a cat shaped as a treble clef as a logo. This is twisted, I thought. Cats should not be shaped like that. The can came out, and then I took it out of the machine and ripped the top off. I took a sip and swished it around my mouth. The drink was a carbonated beverage, with an orange flavor. It reminded me of a drink I had when I had traveled to America for a family vacation. It actually tasted pretty good – better than the tea that I last had from this machine. I just finished it just as I was walking back through my apartment door.
I felt the can carefully, and it had a similar feel to the previous one – it was grooved. So, it must be a record that has a message recorded on it, which I can play off of the phonograph. I then cleaned the can thoroughly and then cut a hole in the bottom of the can. I paid much care in cutting the hole, ensuring that the hole was as circular as possible. I then took the can back to my room, with all of my audio equipment. Much like the previous time, I placed it on my phonograph, which I had modified slightly to better suit the can. The mounting rod was replaced with a larger one, which will ensure that the can is held on tightly. I also adjusted the rotation speed slightly, to ensure that the message would be heard as clearly as possible. Now, I turned on the machine, and I placed the needle on the can. A message began to play:
“A piece of advice: take full advantage of your elders. They won’t be here forever, and they are wiser than you.”
A brief pause occurred, and then there was a second little message. This was just an advert to buy more drinks from the company that made this drink. Then the phonograph stopped, as the end of the recording was reached.
“Take full advantage of my elders…” I said repeatedly as I paced in the room. This is a fairly generic piece of advice, especially for me, as being only 25, there are many people who are older than me. Nari was older than me, but she had no further information to tell me at the time when I last called her. Who else could be my elders?
I first thought of my teachers, but I never really made great relationships with my teachers. I’d always work on stuff by myself, except when forced to for a project. Next, I thought of my parents. I’ve had good parents, as they were quite humble. My mother worked as a farmer who lived on the land. She was wise, but she didn’t really talk to people. Hence, she probably wouldn’t have too much to say on my issue. My father, on the other hand, is a car mechanic. He was known as the “hands of Koshu” since everyone went to him when they had a car issue. He was able to determine the issue, find the parts, and fix it quickly. As a result, he had a lot of business. He’d even fixed a Zero that fought in the war, and because of that, he has some notoriety. So, he would know people.
But hold on! I shouldn’t be so quick to bring my parents into the fray. They are getting up there in age, and I should allow them to live and enjoy their life. So then what is the can referring to when it mentions elders?
I thought for a long time. There were quite a lot of people I could think of that could fit the bill, but most of them I didn’t know very well. Eventually I figured it out: it was any person that could be a mentor to me. So, this includes my parents. It also included more senior members of a group I am in online that coordinates pet sitting services throughout Honshu. So I decided to go online and message some people in the group to see if they had any information regarding the Korean Origin force and the Sound Dispenser vending machines. Within a few minutes, my phone blew up with information regarding the location of the vending machines. Apparently these machines could be found throughout Japan, but a higher proportion of them could be found in the region I am in, as they are closer to the capital and thus can be supplied with news quicker. One person also said that there is a possibility of getting an encrypted message which will need more work to figure out what is being said.
With all of this information, I pulled out a map of Japan and marked on it the locations that people reported seeing them. There were about 60 sites.
“Wow, that’s a lot. Apparently there could be a lot of information lying around for me to find.” I said. Now I just need to get said information…