Pathway to Japanese Literature

1

Dr. Kim—who was said to have no equal in the world when it came to inventing new weapons—had suddenly vanished under mysterious circumstances.

Those left astonished were weapons spies from various nations who had been making daily pilgrimages to his laboratory two hundred meters beneath Shanghai City.

The lab had been meticulously ordered, and every five minutes a music box would begin playing some unplaceable melody from nowhere—followed by—

"I shall vanish for the time being.
This is my will.
Dr. Kim"

Though his figure remained unseen, these words resounded repeatedly in Dr.Kim's distinctive voice.

The recorded will was being automatically and repeatedly broadcast.

The sudden disappearance of Dr. Kim—the Weapons Invention King!

The spies from fifty-seven countries who had been monitoring Dr. Kim each suddenly felt in their chests the stinging pain of an execution bullet that had yet to pierce through.

Where in the world had Dr. Kim gone?

The disappearance of the troublesome doctor was neither the result of a mental breakdown nor, still less, a journey across the sea to propose peace.
However, the place where Dr. Kim had landed was Scotland—specifically, the secret port of Greenock located west of Glasgow City.

Dr. Kim sustained a minor injury to his right heel upon landing—this occurred precisely when British anti-aircraft guns were firing at incoming German planes, and a fragment from those artillery shells struck the right foot of this esteemed scholar, inflicting a wound steeped in curse-like misfortune. But well, it wasn’t anything serious.

“Upon taking my first step ashore, to receive such a courteous welcoming salute—not only from the British authorities but even from their anti-aircraft unit—was something I had not anticipated.”

Through the BBC microphone that was then live-broadcasting the air raid, Dr. Kim delivered his first greeting upon arrival.

Lord Carbon, Chairman of the Welcoming Committee, stood aghast at Dr. Kim's utter nonchalance amid the bombing runs. Flustered, he threw his digitalis pills into his own mouth and yanked Dr. Kim behind stacked barrels of disguised explosives on the pier.

"Ah, Lord Carbon," said Dr. Kim, "with the German Air Force having bombed you so thoroughly here, rents must be soaring sky-high. Your citizens must be having quite the time of it."

“Oh, Dr. Kim.”
“You are absolutely correct.”
“Starting with the housing shortage, there are indeed numerous other things causing hardship for us British citizens.”
“At this moment, we feel as though we have welcomed you all the way from the Orient and obtained ten million tons of potatoes.”

“How rude to call them potatoes, you corn-like fool!”

Dr. Kim said in Chinese,
“What exactly do you expect me to do about this air raid devastation?”

“Oh no—I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Dr. Kim.”
“Upon landing in Britain, there are two matters to which I must urgently request your attention.”

“Two?
What are they, then?”

“The first is—though I should have mentioned this sooner—the danger from our own anti-aircraft shells.”
“The second is the threat of fearsome spies: whether on the streets, in hotels, or even in your bed—bear in mind that dreadful spies are straining their ears to listen, so do not speak of anything at all.”

“Is that true? It’s just like my Shanghai.”

“Therefore, if you wish to carry out matters smoothly without being hindered by spies or enemy nationals, you must keep the secrets entirely to yourself—never revealing them to anyone—and execute them in silence.”

“What you’re saying is too complicated for me to understand.”

“No—it merely slipped into Knights’ Club parlance—but in essence, my advice is this: to accomplish your work as you intend, you must not chatter about confidential matters at all.”

“I see—so it’s ‘walls have ears, spies behind you,’ eh? Very well. From this very moment today, I shall take great care. That said, when it comes to avoiding spy troubles, I’ve had quite the training in Shanghai, I’ll have you know.”

“That reassures me greatly, I must say.”

At that moment, the anti-aircraft guns ceased firing, and the streets finally returned to a state where one could feel at ease.
Thereupon, Lord Carbon—emaciated as a crane—emerged from behind the barrels, first glanced upward, then took Dr. Kim’s hand from behind the barrels and pulled him out.

“Come now, let us make haste while we can.”

“Hmm, where am I being taken now, I wonder?”

“As I stated earlier, I cannot disclose our destination due to concerns about spies.”
“However, once we arrive there, you will come to realize where it is.”
“It is a place properly detailed with photographs in Volume 3 of the Globe Leader under the title ‘Sightseeing in London.’”

“Oh, so the destination’s London, eh?”

“London? How do you know that? Dr. Kim, you must be either versed in mind-reading or a graduate of spy school—one of the two, I daresay.”

“Ridiculous. You’re the one who just went on about the ‘Sightseeing in London’ title. You all seem to have your minds getting addled from round-the-clock German air raids day and night.”

With that, Dr. Kim knocked rhythmically on his own head over the gas mask.

2

In the grand hall of an underground hotel in London, a National Defense Banquet was being held.

The grand hall seemed spacious at first glance.
Right at its center, a single table surrounded by thirteen chairs had been arranged in a configuration resembling a lone button dropped onto the middle of a tray.
Upon the tabletop, extravagant dishes towered like mountains in large bowls, while aged whiskies and cognacs—their labels alone potent enough to induce intoxication—stood arrayed like a dense forest.

At that moment, the northern door of the hall slid open to both sides, and twelve gilded generals—followed by Dr. Kim in a black satin Chinese robe that looked ready to lose its sleeves—filed in and took their appointed seats.

“Well then, let us begin in earnest.”

“Everyone may now help themselves through self-service as they please.”

The waiters were completely expelled from this grand hall.
Moreover, these dishes—luxurious fare procured at five hundred percent black market prices—constituted nothing less than the utmost hospitality for Dr. Kim, the visitor from afar—or rather, Dr. Kim, the King of New Weapon Inventions whom the British government and military now clung to as their lifeline.

“Now then—though abrupt—we shall have Dr. Kim advise us.”

And so, General Gongora, Supreme Commander of the World War Army in his capacity as chairman, began to speak.

“If possible, I’d prefer to polish off this entire feast first before getting down to business.”

Dr. Kim remarked regretfully.

“No—given the nature of this affair, we cannot indulge in delays.”

And General Gongora, the Supreme Commander, pressed on with his explanation undeterred.

“This is the top secret I disclose tonight exclusively to you gentlemen: in truth, our British military—to reverse at once an irreversible decline—now seeks to develop here a covert operation of utmost secrecy.”
“What manner of operation might that be?”

With that, General Gongora—having built up their anticipation—surveyed the assembly.

(Thirteen seats—what dreadful luck.)

The general’s expression clouded momentarily before he crossed himself over his chest,

“It is none other than—”
“Thirteen—no, gentlemen, do not be alarmed.”
“I hereby resolve to establish a top-secret German Homeland Landing Operation.”

The assembly broke into uproar.
Some generals dropped their cups in shock; others choked on half-swallowed chicken, eyes rolling wildly.
Only Dr. Kim remained unperturbed, his face unchanged as he continued drinking and eating without pause.

“The German Homeland Landing Operation—is that a misprint for ‘British Homeland Landing Operation’? No—rather, a verbal slip?”

“No, it is unequivocally the German Homeland Landing Operation.”

“Hoho, I propose we have physicians evaluate Supreme Commander Gongora’s mental condition—what say you?”

“No—before that measure, we must first issue stringent orders to all airbases nationwide forbidding General Gongora from boarding single-seat fighter planes.”

“There is no need for that.”
“Why? Because fortunately, General Gongora cannot pilot an airplane—so you needn’t worry.”

General Gongora, the Supreme Commander, turned his cheeks tomato-red and struck the table.

“No matter how many may say what they will, my resolve to execute the German Homeland Landing Operation remains unchanged.”
“The path to subjugate Germany is singular—no other remains beyond it.”

The assembly remained in uproar, descending into utter chaos.
Here and there, fratricidal clashes began breaking out.

“There’s no need for such a dangerous stunt. We can crush Germany far more reliably—and safely.”

“That’s not the case,”
“I agree with the Supreme Commander’s operation.”

“That is utterly idiotic.”
“Is that clear?”
“The operation I have devised is extremely simple and clear.”
“That is, if we propose to Germany, ‘We of Britain shall aid your nation,’ that’s all we need to do.”

“What on earth is that? If we aid enemy Germany, our Britain will only end up losing all the more.”

“That’s precisely why I say you’re hopeless.”
“You’d do well to study a bit of history—history!”
“Since this World War began, has there been a single nation that received Britain’s offer of aid yet avoided destruction?”
“Look at Belgium! Look at Holland! Look at Czechoslovakia! Look at Poland! Then look at Yugoslavia!”
“Look at Greece! Look at Chiang Kai-shek!”
“Therefore, simply by us British declaring ‘Germany, we shall aid you,’ Germany too must inevitably perish.”
“This operation—the most precise and secure ever deduced from historical facts!”

Since the assembly showed no signs of settling down, General Gongora, the Supreme Commander, stood up from his seat and came over to Dr. Kim.

“Dr. Kim.”
“This is my most earnest entreaty.”
“Create a novel weapon and have them depart from our British shores to land on German soil.”

At this moment, Dr. Kim had finally finished sending every last dish on the table into his stomach.
Dr. Kim wiped his sticky hands and mouth with a napkin,

“Ah, my coming all this way was worth it.”
“Well now, that was a satisfying feast.”
“Hmm, what was it you said again?”

he said with an air of finality.

“Oh, Dr. Kim.
“As I have just stated, this is my most earnest entreaty.
“Create a novel weapon and have them depart from our British shores to land troops upon German soil.”

General Gongora, with voice and tears streaming down, pleaded with this Eastern scholar.
Then Dr. Kim,
"Oh, if it's just that much, I'll show you how easily it can be done."
"What? Do you truly believe there's a viable prospect of success?"
"Of course there is."
"That's child's play compared to designing something like a cyborg tank."
"Oh! If that be true, my joy would ascend to the heavens—no, in any case, it would be immense joy."
"But, General Gongora."
"Regarding that matter, I wish to discuss it thoroughly with you, General, but not in this gathering."
"In other words, if we allow this to reach so many ears, there might be some among them that have been bought by spies."
"Can't we manage to be just the two of us?"

“Ah, if it’s about that matter, it’s precisely what I could have wished for.”
“Very well.”
“Then let us have the other generals withdraw.”
“Hey, gentlemen.”
“You lot will kindly withdraw to another room for the time being.”

At the Supreme Commander’s single command, the other generals—grumbling and clamoring all the while—left General Gongora and Dr. Kim behind and exited through the door they had originally come from.

“Well then, let’s have another drink.”

“I may have circled round the issue a bit too much, but might I trouble you for another drink?”

After that, the two of them faced each other in undisturbed privacy.

Dr. Kim brought his face closer to the general at that moment.

“What I’ve now pledged, I’ll certainly carry out.”
“But really—when you say ‘landing on German soil,’ where exactly should we land?”
“Do you need us going all the way to Bremen or Kiel Naval Port for satisfaction, or would crossing the nearby Dover Strait to land around Calais in Germany’s occupied former French territory suffice? Which one do you actually want?”

When Dr. Kim pressed forward assertively, General Gongora, the Supreme Commander, rolled his blue eyes restlessly,

“Either would suffice, but I’d greatly prefer an early landing.”
“Should it become known that we’ve landed on German-held territory from our side, that news would rock the world as sensational headlines. Even the British forces—stagnant for so long—would find their courage multiplied a hundredfold and erupt in jubilation.”

“Erupt in jubilation?”
“I rather doubt that.”

“No—I can assure you they’ll go wild with joy.”

“Is that so? I can’t quite wrap my head around that part—but in any case, when executing this landing operation, I intend to secure every last thing I require upfront.”

“Ah, I must apologize for my belated mention of this. Upon the operation’s success, I shall submit any manner of commendation for your immeasurable contributions, Dr. Kim. What manner of medal might you desire? How about the Diamond Cross Medal? Nor need we limit ourselves to British decorations. How about a Dutch medal? Or perhaps a Polish one? Even an Ethiopian medal would do! Or would you prefer a French medal?”

“Even if I were to receive medals, it’d be a nuisance to carry them back—no thank you.”
“What I want instead is unlimited access to British whisky during my stay here.”
“If I don’t drink it now, those German troops will surely swill it all down.”

“That’s an ill omen!”

“But General Gongora.”
“When I said earlier that I wanted to secure what’s mine upfront—it wasn’t about such trifles.”

“Wait—that wasn’t about the medals?”

“Easterners, you see, aren’t as avaricious as the likes of you.”
“What I want are blank order forms.”
“I want about a hundred of them.”

Dr. Kim proposed something peculiar.
A blank order form meant one where no command text had yet been inscribed.

“A hundred blank order forms are all very well, but what might you be using them for?”

At this, General Gongora wore an unconvinced look.

“It’s plain as day.”
“To pull off what you asked for, I gotta keep everything hush-hush.”
“That’s why scoring those blank orders works best—lets me play dumb like I’m the only one who knows the plan.”
“I’ll scribble in a clause saying ‘Until further notice, don’t breathe a word about this operation to HQ,’ so you’d better sign off on that upfront.”

3

General Gongora, the Supreme Commander, finally handed over a hundred blank order forms to Dr. Kim, placing great expectations in the doctor's ingenuity.

However, even after one week had passed, then two weeks, there was no news whatsoever that Dr. Kim had begun to act.

The intelligence officers who came and went to the general’s quarters would invariably receive the same line of questioning from him.

“I say—any news on Dr. Kim’s activities? Bring me something at least worthy of a newsreel!”

The general was starving for news of Dr. Kim’s activities.

The intelligence officers, unfortunately, had no news material regarding Dr. Kim.
Thus, from the next occasion onward, they resolved to do their utmost, clinging to Dr. Kim’s every move like hunting dogs, like ticks, or even like the air itself as they investigated what the doctor was putting into action.
The results gathered day and night from each intelligence officer made their way to General Gongora, the Supreme Commander.

“Dr. Kim appeared at Sebastian Restaurant today at 10 AM and spent four hours until 2 PM drinking midday alcohol, becoming thoroughly intoxicated.”

“Hmph—he’s really going at it.”

With that, General Gongora took up the next report.

“Dr. Kim appeared at Kasei Hotel today from 2:15 PM onward and engaged in drinking for three hours.”
“At 5:30 PM, he departed.”

“He certainly drinks a lot.”
“As long as he doesn’t wreck his health…”

The next report stated the following.

“Dr. Kim was attacked by several Easterners on Piccadilly Street at 5:45 PM today…”

“Oh, now this seems like real news!”

At this, the Supreme Commander involuntarily leaned forward—then, upon reading what came next,

“…[he] was coerced into chugging whisky on the street, but upon the doctor’s proposal, it was decided to hold a collective binge-drinking session at Bar Horn in Corcott Street’s back alley, continuing until 11 PM that night—for a total of five hours…”

The general grimaced in frustration, sniffed sharply at the report, and threw it into the wastebasket.

“Dr. Kim appeared at the local tavern Lantern at 11:15 PM…”

No matter how far one read, the reports were all about Dr. Kim drinking alcohol.
General Gongora had enough.
No matter how carefully they monitored him, every single report that gathered day and night consisted solely of alcohol consumption records, with not even one sheet among them containing operation-related news such as “Dr. Kim sits at a desk, drafting paper before him, twisting a slide rule” or “Dr. Kim has just placed an order for fifty tons of manganese steel at Birmingham’s specialty steelworks.”

General Gongora, the Supreme Commander, found himself troubled by an impulse to board a plane and attempt special flight maneuvers.

Finally, General Gongora’s patience snapped, and he ordered the guards to haul Dr. Kim out of Omsk Bar and bring him to the official residence.
At that moment, Dr. Kim was utterly smashed in a disgraceful state of complete drunkenness.

“Heeey...”
“Hey, dragging me to such a dull bar like this...”
“Hey, General over there!”
“Hurry up and bring the prosthetic here!”

General Gongora made a face like a guardian deity who’d bitten into a lemon and grabbed Dr. Kim’s limp shoulders in an eagle-like grip.

“Now, Dr. Kim.”
“However much of a drink lover you may be, it is regrettable that you do nothing but drink and neglect your promise to me.”

The Supreme Commander, keeping his anger in check with great effort, spoke as calmly as a spring sea.

“Oh, you were General Gon of the Gongon Spinning Top, weren’t you? Now that I hear it, you went and said something to me I can’t just sit here listening to.”

“I’ve spent three weeks utterly irritated.”
“During that time, you did nothing but drink.”
“You haven’t lifted a finger on that job!”

“Ha ha ha ha!” Dr. Kim laughed. “You’re worried about that?
“I’m not like your British lot—folk who say they’ll act then sit idle.”
“Doubt me? I’ll show you proof.”
“Now grab my right leg and pull with everything you’ve got.”
“Hey! Move your arse!”
“This’ll leave me less drinking time.”
“Soon I’ll be bidding farewell to British whisky anyway.”
“Pull already!”

Urged on by the doctor, General Gongora, the Supreme Commander, knelt on the floor, grabbed Dr. Kim’s right leg, and pulled with a heave.
Then, with a *pop*, Dr. Kim’s right leg came off from around the thigh⁉

4

It appeared as though… but there was no need for alarm—in reality, it was merely the flesh-colored extra-long boot that Dr. Kim had been wearing on his right leg popped off and remained in General Gongora’s hand.

“Gah!”

Even a general who had commanded thousands of troops was utterly terrified by this and threw down Dr. Kim’s single leg—or rather, the extra-long boot—onto the carpet.
Dr. Kim casually picked it up, put his hand inside, and soon pulled out a blueprint.

“General Gongora.”
“Allow me to present this.”

The general blinked rapidly.
He spread the blueprint across his knees and was startled a second time.

“This is a magnificent new weapon.”
“It looks like a single-seater miniature submarine, but…”

“General Gongora, this is the transoceanic submersible I designed immediately upon returning to my lodgings after our first meeting with your excellency.”

“Ah, truly splendid!
“Truly, Dr. Kim.”
“How do we use this?”

“This is essentially a type of submersible, but it doesn’t dive deep. The vessel’s back barely submerges below the sea surface—in numerical terms, it dives just twenty to thirty centimeters beneath the waves and no deeper. It’s a single-seater craft designed for shallow submersion.”

“Hmm.”

“The reason I created this is because any anti-submarine net is deployed two meters to over ten meters below the sea surface, making it difficult for ordinary submarines to break through.”
“Moreover, ordinary submarines might either collide with mines or trigger alarm systems and reveal their location—neither outcome being acceptable.”
“Therefore, this transoceanic submersible swiftly and safely breaks through shallow waters just below the sea surface—in other words, it targets the gap between the water’s surface and the anti-submarine nets.”

“Oh, that’s truly splendid!”

“However, this was merely prototyped—I’ve already scrapped it.”

“Oh, what a waste!
“Aren’t you going to use it?”

“It’s no good.
“It still won’t do if the enemy discovers it.
“While it does navigate the gap between sea surface and anti-submarine nets, deploying thousands upon thousands of these would make them collide with both enemy and allied surface vessels before reaching the far shore—immediately triggering alarms.
“Thus there’s risk of annihilation before even landing on German soil.
“I abandoned this one.”

“What a shame indeed.”
“So, having scrapped this, you’ve been drowning your sorrows in drink ever since, I take it?”

“Don’t be absurd.”
“I’m not like the British, you know.”
“I’ve already built a brand-new weapon brimming with confidence.”

“What kind of…”

“Fool.”
“Do you think I’d let the secret of the current weapon leak to others?”

“But I am the Supreme Commander…”

“Not even the Supreme Commander can be trusted.”
“In any case, I intend to follow through on my agreement with your excellency, actually carry out the German Homeland Landing Operation, and then return home.”
“A hundred debates are worth less than a single action.”
“If I show results, you’ll have no complaints, right?”

“I see.”
“So then, Dr. Kim’s new weapon for the German Homeland Landing Operation is currently being steadily constructed?”

General Gongora’s eyes gleamed.

“The construction was completed two weeks ago,”
“Then I had some trouble recruiting crew members—but that was settled a week ago too. Right now, our 200-strong suicide squad for the German Homeland Landing Operation inches closer to German soil by the minute.”
“I suppose I can tell you this much.”

“Two hundred personnel may be few, but in any case, the fact that they inch closer to German soil by the minute is welcome news.”
“I have high expectations, but I wonder if it will actually succeed.”

“After all, I was shocked by the complete absence of British soldiers willing to land on German soil.”
“I feared my painstakingly crafted new weapon might go to waste—for a time, a gloom as profound as an emptied liquor bottle’s dregs overcame me.”

“However, even two hundred men—securing that number of suicide squad members is most welcome.”
“At any rate, my honor has been preserved.”

“Well, who knows?”

As someone was exclaiming “Huh?,” a staff officer rushed into the room.

“Supreme Commander!”
“Germany is currently broadcasting Big News.”
“This is a grave matter—will you listen to it?”

“A grave incident?”
“Ah, so that’s it.”
“Turn on the switch.”

The switch was turned on, and the voice of the German broadcast station’s announcer began flowing from the loudspeaker.

“…I repeat.”
“Today at 5 PM, a unit of two hundred German officers and enlisted personnel safely returned from the British mainland to our occupied territory of Calais.”
“This was achieved by Dr. Kim’s deep-sea walker—an invention currently in Britain—which breached forty kilometers of the Dover Strait’s seabed and safely returned, marking a truly groundbreaking continental link.”
“Incidentally, Dr. Kim’s deep-sea walker is a sturdy metal sphere approximately three meters in diameter, designed to hold a single occupant who navigates the seabed using walking mechanisms while avoiding mines and anti-submarine nets ahead with localized lighting, and is fully capable of withstanding the water pressure beneath the Dover Strait.”
“Regarding other matters, they remain classified, and we regret that details cannot be disclosed here. However, as an episode of this grand feat, Dr. Kim initially sought a suicide squad from within the British military to board this groundbreaking weapon—the deep-sea walker. Yet recalling Germany’s illustrious military record and the Dunkirk defeat, not a single volunteer came forward. Ultimately, Dr. Kim became furious and inquired whether the aforementioned two hundred German military personnel—long held as prisoners of war—desired to land on German soil. To this, they joyfully volunteered for the suicide squad, thereby achieving the great success witnessed today.…”

By the time Supreme Commander Gongora, crimson-faced, whirled around toward Dr. Kim, the doctor’s figure had already vanished—as if erased—along with the liquor bottle on the table.