Ling seemed to progress fine with her acclimation classes, or at least she felt so. Her balance on two feet was getting better and she was getting a better grasp on some of the things that the Horizon Staff and other Lyre/Animalia staff wanted from her. Though there were some things that Ling noticed from nearly everyone that she ran into, and that was a certain amount of suspicion. It was not necessarily aimed at her, but at Hyun. It was something she did not understand, as she remembered seeing Hyun at various times in her past, and while he was firm... he'd always struck her as a respectable man.
He'd stood firm against Western Imperialism, which hadn't gone away or died down. And that wasn't a bad thing in her opinion. People had the right to be free and not be bullied by those who did not respect them. It was something that she reasoned was worth following, and something that everyone followed. This included even the Western powers. In many ways she saw them as greedy and lazy, and all the vices that North Korea saw in the world outside of it, but that didn't necessarily mean that they didn't have the right to choose their own destiny. But... she'd found that many of the people in Lyre and Animalia, as they got ready for "Saint Patrick's Day" remained suspicious of Mr. Hyun and she had no way of asking them, as she did not know English and they did not know Korean.
However, she'd never gotten the chance to ask Mr. Hyun on why or even if some lessons in English might be helpful. Ling recognized a few words, but not enough to be fluent in the language, and the only reason she recognized the words was that they were repeated or had some sort of physical gesture that she caught onto. But their schedule had been fairly quick, which prevented Ling from asking that question and now they were being called to Horizon again. Hyun accompanied her with their military escort behind them. It drew a few heads, but she supposed Americans didn't have guards, which made her wonder haw law and order was kept.
"What do you suppose this is, Mr. Hyun?" Ling asked to him as they made their way through the tiled hallways of the Horizon offices, with one secretary escorting them at present.
"I cannot say for certain," Hyun answered, "the Americans are a tricky people. They gained their independence fighting against imperialism and then became an imperial power... and despite all their slogans about being free, they largely are not. They aren't cared for or protected by their government. They are quite content to slaughter each other in their streets over petty financial reasons, and they think spreading information is a good thing. When there are times when secrets must be kept."
Of course, for Mr. Hyun there were also secrets that he kept from Ling as well. As her uplifting was not part of any intent on being friendly with Animalia or its colonies. Chairman Kim really didn't care about their society or their behaviors beyond what he could get for his regime and its preservation. Ling had showed all the signs of pacifism that Animalians seemed to be known for, which only confirmed that Animalians wouldn't make good super soldiers, as it would seem to take an inordinate amount of pressure to get an uplifted Animalian to consider military service and even converted Animalians seemed to be hesitant on that sort of thing. This essentially defeated the primary reason Ling had been uplifted, to grant North Korea unrestricted access to the Animalia Virus, which Horizon did jealously guard, and allow them to raise an army of uplifted Leopards and Tigers that would tear their enemies to pieces.
However, that wasn't quite the end of what could be done. True, Animalians might only be valuable as soldiers if the country they called home was directly invaded, but it's infectious nature and some of its side effects might also help North Korea. Hyun had seen the various news reports on Animalia, and some of them, namely Heather's attack on Lyre High School at the start of the 2017-2018 school year, had favored the possibility of altering the virus to allow for more aggressive mentalities or that the right mental conditioning could allow for it, but there were other aspects that the Animalia Virus could provide the North Koreans. Namely its infectiousness. Horizon had spent a lot of money, time, and effort to contain the spill of the Animalia Virus and then develop the vaccine that they had.
Hyun was well aware that the potential chaos the Animalia Virus on an unprepared population could cause and the periodic talks with Doctor Stein and other members of Horizon's staff had helped him with this. In this, he knew with Ling, he could deliver a biological weapon that would surely create trouble for all of North Korea's neighbors, as the vaccine couldn't prevent humans from getting infected. It merely rendered the virus inert within an Animalian for a year. He'd also seen some of the news reports on how slow Japan's progress on getting an apartment complex for Animalians, and potentially large Animalians, ready. No one would be ready if the plan worked out well, which it would, given how much the US government had caved in recent years on the demands or intent of North Korea or its Russian allies. They didn't have to do much to deceive the government, which then in turn put its muscle on Horizon who had tried to protect its secrets. Some of the private suspicion from Horizon staff and others was noted and would a problem, but Hyun was fairly confident that so long as Ling didn't understand English, America's "nasty habit" of insisting that individuals had rights wouldn't matter and he could keep the brainwashing on her in tact. It wasn't as if his government's plan could be stopped, but it would be a lot easier if Ling remained cooperative.
"But you will ask, correct?" Ling wondered.
"Of course, my dear," Hyun answered with a forced smile, "You must trust that I would never let them harm you as they have harmed so many others."
Ling managed a small smile when the secretary they were following finally came to a stop and nocked on a closed door. Hyun noted Doctor Stein's name posted beside the door and guessed this was a simple formality. This was confirmed when he heard the American scientist converse with the secretary in English. She then opened the door and allowed Hyun and Ling entrance into the room. Hyun lead the way, but was soon disappointed to find that Doctor Stein was not alone in his office, but that there was a man there in a tweed jacket and rather large glasses standing beside the scientist's desk. This immediately made Hyun suspicious as this man wasn't part of Horizon's staff that he'd seen
"Who is this?" Ling wondered to Hyun, also noticing the new man with the American doctor.
"I am Lexington Oswald, a professor of linguistics and languages," the man in the tweed jacket spoke in near perfect Korean, though the dialect sounded more like someone from Seoul, but Ling did understand it perfectly.
"You speak Korean!" Ling said with surprise.
"Yes," Lexington nodded, "Primarily I've taught French, Spanish, and Latin... but I've also picked up some German, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and Korean."
Ling stood in some amazement at being able to hear someone else speak her language. For the most part she'd been dependent on Hyun to translate things for her, which she'd accepted, but there were times where the body language of some of the people struck Ling as being too nervous to have really said some of the things that Hyun had said they'd said. Hyun, meanwhile, looked to the new arrival with a great deal of suspicion of his own and narrowed his eyes at Doctor Stein.
"This was not part of our agreement!" Hyun spoke in English to Doctor Stein.
"The agreement between our governments was that we would uplift Ling, which we have done," Doctor Stein answered, "to help prepare her for what you will surely require of her to feed your starving country is to ensure that her strengths and abilities are well measured and ready. Which will also mean that she is able to adapt to and interact her new circumstances and even interact with other Animalians, which has required her acclimation classes."
"Which were going well," Hyun answered while moving his eyes toward Lexington before returning them to Doctor Stein, "this man is not required."
"I would say that he is needed very much," Doctor Stein spoke, "particularly while the acclimation classes are here in America. No one here speaks Korean, aside from you, your guard, and Ling, here. Which then means that when she is to interact with any Animalian here and can't converse with them, the socialization aspects of the acclimation classes won't work. Doctor Oswald can teach Ling at least a basic understanding of English which will help her interact and make your job easier as you won't have to translate everything that is said to her. Particularly as these classes may take time."
"I have the right to refuse," Hyun answered, "you know that."
"Of course you have that right..." Doctor Stein shrugged, "of course, it would only prove how much you desire to hold secrets from her."
Ling watched the debate go back and forth for a little while. This actually wasn't too abnormal, as Hyun often did end up arguing with anyone he judged to be too interested in Ling or was too critical of North Korea in their comments. However, she was curious about Lexington Oswald and slowly made her way toward him while Hyun and Doctor Stein debated.
"Would you like to learn English?" Lexington asked in Korean, "I will warn you... it can be a difficult language to learn for a non-native speaker."
"I would like to learn a bit..." Ling admitted, "people seem so nervous around me and Mr. Hyun. And while my tusks could be a valid reason... this unease for Mr. Hyun does not seem normal, and the way it is delivered... would almost seem... false."
"As he has been your only translator?" Lexington surmised, to which Ling nodded. When she finished he answered, "than I would be more than happy to help. It would let you perhaps see where people are nervous and then explain your position. It might make things easier for you to understand things and express yourself in a way that would let you support your country without others fell like they're talking to your government."
"Her government protects her! Something your government does not do for its own people!" Hyun turned on the doctor and growled in Korean, "You... like every other Imperial power... have a host of problems and yet you feel the need to throw stones from your glass houses!"
"That may well be, sir," Lexington replied calmly, "but then that doesn't mean that Americans are going to be suddenly comfortable with your government. And so long as Ling is going through acclimation classes here in America and you are the only one she knows who knows both English and Korean... many of the people here will get the sense that they are negotiating with a government and not a person. Which may not help you in the long term."
Hyun scowled at this, but he noted that Ling's eyes looked bright, focused, and her ears were alert. And from what he'd overheard of her conversation with this professor that Doctor Stein had recruited, it seemed fairly clear that she was actually interested in the lessons. This wasn't something he wanted, as he knew that man of the Americans that Ling would likely meet with before her acclimation classes were completely finished would have critical views of his country's regime and he couldn't risk Ling doubting the regime. The farm she'd been raised on had been specifically designed to leave her exposed to only a very limited part of North Korea and one that was used to reinforce loyalty to the regime. So far, that program had worked quite well, but that didn't mean that Hyun wanted to deal with the potential of Ling finding out that Hyun and those that had run the farm had continually lied to her and leading to another embarrassing defection to either China or South Korea.
"You will not instruct her to hate her country," Hyun finally spoke, giving an indication that he was at least reluctantly accepting the addition of teaching Ling some English.
"Of course," Lexington nodded.