He had never dreamed Elder Jeon would be the one to say it first.
Having lit the fuse on the bomb, Elder Jeon was leisurely holding his teacup.
Slurp.
“Mm. This is good.”
That was all he said.
His composure felt so calm it seemed like part of everyday life.
Perhaps Jo Jeongmin sensed that this was not his place to step forward, because he quietly moved back.
Taesu and the medical team, on the other hand, quickly exchanged glances.
It was a silent battle over who would answer.
Everyone’s eyes turned to Taesu. Whenever something like this happened, they pushed it onto him as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Taesu shot Brad Kim a look of protest.
‘You’re the team leader.’
‘…….’
Brad Kim naturally turned his head away and ignored him.
It was Taesu’s problem if he felt wronged.
No one cared.
In the end, pushed forward by the principle of majority rule, Taesu cleared his throat and answered.
“Ahem. The people here devoted themselves to the independence of the Republic of Korea…….”
He had only just begun speaking when Elder Jeon cut in with a cold look in his eyes.
“Gwangbok.”
“Pardon?”
“I said it is not independence. It is Gwangbok.”
Whoosh!
Elder Jeon’s bearing changed into something extraordinary.
The stubborn, rough-spoken village elder vanished without a trace.
In his place sat a fighter, carrying not merely solemn resolve but blood-boiling fervor.
Taesu, of course, and everyone else were more than a little startled.
With nothing but his gaze, he held Taesu and the others frozen in place.
Taesu apologized first.
“I’m sorry.”
At that very moment—
Hoo.
Elder Jeon’s intense presence disappeared as if it had been a lie.
As though nothing had happened, he lifted his teacup and said,
“Do not confuse the two. Gwangbok is not merely another word for independence.”
“In Korea, too, we call it Gwangbokjeol.”
“Do you even know what that means when you say it?”
At that question, Taesu and Jeong Minsu felt a sting in their chests.
There was only one thing they could say.
“We don’t know exactly.”
“If you take the characters literally, it means to regain the light.”
“Yes.”
“But its meaning is not so simple.”
“Then what is it?”
Taesu asked seriously.
Jeong Minsu, Brad Kim, and Kim Hyeokgwon were all listening closely as well.
It felt as though they were hearing anew a view of history that had never been clearly established within them.
Elder Jeon seemed to sense that this was no mere formality.
Slurp.
After wetting his throat with tea, he spoke in a calm voice.
“Gwangbok means our consciousness of national independence, our consciousness of restoring sovereignty, and our spirit of autonomy all melted into one.”
“Ah…….”
“You said there is Gwangbokjeol. Is there a separate Independence Day as well?”
The answer lay within Elder Jeon’s question.
Taesu did not need to think any deeper and immediately spoke.
“No. Only our country calls it Gwangbokjeol.”
“That’s true, isn’t it? Other countries all call theirs Independence Day.”
“I think I’ve been saying it far too thoughtlessly.”
Jeong Minsu and Brad Kim were reflecting on themselves as well.
Kim Hyeokgwon was a little weak when it came to history. Perhaps because of that, he simply entered the correct meaning into his head from the start.
Just as they were chewing over the deep meaning behind a word they had uttered so easily—
“Damn it.”
Elder Jeon suddenly spat out a bitter curse.
Taesu paused, then carefully asked,
“Did we make another mistake?”
“How could I feel good when even that basic thing has not been properly passed down?”
“I’m sorry.”
“That is not your fault. I am cursing the bastards who would not be forgiven even if they were torn limb from limb.”
Tremble.
Whatever Elder Jeon was recalling, even his eyes became bloodshot.
Taesu and the medical team had to hold their breath at the sudden shift in his presence.
Still, curiosity was curiosity.
“Who are you referring to?”
“Turncoats.”
“Ah…….”
“I won’t explain in detail right now, so just know that much.”
Elder Jeon cut the conversation off faster than they expected.
Everyone still had questions, but they swallowed them along with their saliva.
Even Kim Hyeokgwon, of all people, was overwhelmed by Elder Jeon’s mood.
Then Elder Jeon loosened the tightly wound atmosphere and spoke again.
“I came here to talk about us. I do not want to mention trash.”
“Ah, that’s true. So all we’ve heard is that you are people who devoted yourselves to Gwangbok, and their descendants.”
“Were you unable to find out where we came from, how we came here, or what we did?”
When Elder Jeon asked, Taesu answered with a bitter expression.
“Yes. Everyone is careful with their words.”
“They would be. Especially because you are Korean, they must have been even more cautious.”
“To be honest, I don’t really know why we’re able to have this conversation now.”
Taesu asked while carefully gauging his mood.
Elder Jeon said one thing to Taesu and everyone else.
“Straighten your shoulders. Why are you shrinking in on yourselves?”
“Ahem.”
“You’re wondering why this is happening all of a sudden…… Yes. I suppose it could feel that way.”
At those words, Kim Hyeokgwon spoke up.
“It is sudden enough to be quite bewildering.”
“The child from the Namgung family said something to me. The world has changed, so why can’t you break free?”
“I’m wondering if Hyeoncheol misspoke.”
Kim Hyeokgwon answered again.
But Elder Jeon lightly shook his head and said,
“No. That child was right. We became accustomed to living on the run, and that is how we ended up here.”
“Why did you have to do that?”
Taesu asked heavily.
Elder Jeon looked at him and answered.
“Because we were children.”
“Pardon?”
“Because back then, we were far too young.”
“I…… I did know that was the case.”
Because the information was not precise, Taesu answered hesitantly.
Elder Jeon continued without minding it.
“I was born in China, but my parents were Korean, and they had dedicated themselves to Gwangbok.”
“I see.”
“Do you think there were only one or two children like me?”
“No. I understand there were many.”
At Taesu’s answer, Elder Jeon nodded.
“Yes. As we were born and raised, we naturally came to carry the same desire for the Gwangbok of our homeland.”
“But weren’t you too young to really do anything?”
“Heh heh. That thought was exactly the blind spot.”
The moment Elder Jeon answered—
Jeong Minsu, who had been listening with sparkling eyes, quickly asked,
“Then you did do something?”
“We earned money. Odd jobs like shining shoes, washing dishes in restaurants, and delivering newspapers.”
“Ah…… yes.”
“Wherever people gather, information always comes and goes.”
At what followed, Taesu paused.
“Then you were working undercover.”
“That’s right. During the day, we worked. At night, we gathered among ourselves, sorted and analyzed information, and passed it on to the adults.”
“Wow…… wow…….”
Everyone’s mouths fell open.
It meant even children had lent a hand for Gwangbok.
It was not something they could hear casually.
And they realized that they were living in a country regained through such effort and sacrifice.
No one could easily say anything.
Because Elder Jeon had been one of those people, he instead answered plainly.
“Then one day, as if it were a lie, we heard the news that the light had been regained.”
“Ah. The declaration of surrender.”
“Everyone rushed out into the streets, hugging one another and causing an uproar. But no one knew that would be the beginning of another tragedy.”
“A tragedy?”
When Taesu asked, Elder Jeon asked back with a heavy expression.
“Do you think the bastards who had been playing king in that region raised both hands and surrendered quietly?”
“Surely not?”
“Yes. As if they had sensed their end, they struggled desperately and raised hell.”
“Ah…….”
Everyone let out a sigh.
Despite their reaction, Elder Jeon continued in a low voice.
“The adults who got hold of that intelligence one step earlier evacuated only the children.”
“Why?”
“Because we walked slowly. They had to buy time.”
“Then…… Hah!”
The moment they imagined it, their breath caught.
Even as everyone looked shocked, Elder Jeon took a sip of Toritina, then calmly continued.
“We were not the only children like that.”
“Then that would have been most of eastern China.”
“That’s right. We had to flee to Chongqing, where the provisional government was.”
“Hmm.”
“Do you think those vicious bastards let us run away peacefully? Many died then, and many were separated.”
At Elder Jeon’s words, Taesu’s mouth turned bitter.
Gulp.
Even after drinking Toritina, the bitterness did not go away.
Elder Jeon’s expression was not good either.
So Taesu asked with a cautious look.
“Then was that when something happened to Elder Wang?”
“Yes. It was.”
“But shouldn’t the bastards who were chasing you have been caught first?”
Taesu could not understand that point.
Elder Jeon answered calmly.
“In the end, later on, that did happen.”
“Then why did you have to keep running even after that?”
“Because the Chinese were chasing us.”
“Why?”
When everyone tilted their heads, Elder Jeon answered with his brow hardened.
“Do you think there were no turncoats among them?”
“But it was all over, wasn’t it?”
“That damned country had not collapsed, had it?”
Elder Jeon did not even mention the name of the country that was the source of it all.
Not once in the entire conversation had he spoken it aloud.
That was how deeply the enemy was carved into his bones.
Then he continued.
“Even if they had to pay money, they needed to erase the living witnesses of history. Only then could their atrocities be concealed, at least somewhat.”
No one could listen to those words casually.
Something surged up inside them.
“Those sons of…….”
“How could they do that even to children!”
“Damn it, we shouldn’t have let those bastards go back then!”
They even brought back up Dr. Kuramoto, whom they had met in Padum City.
That was how indignant they were, clenching their fists.
Perhaps pleased to see them angered alongside him, Elder Jeon continued.
“And so we kept fleeing west, again and again. Experiencing many meetings and partings along the way.”
“I see.”
“And as we did, we naturally found partners, made families, and because we had things to protect, we ran again.”
“A vicious cycle.”
Jeong Minsu reacted bluntly, his face full of irritation.
But Taesu had developed one question.
“I’m sorry, but couldn’t you have asked the Korean embassy or consulate for help?”
“Do you think we never thought of that?”
“So you did. I asked because I’ve occasionally seen newspaper articles about people who returned to Korea that way.”
“It seems things have changed a great deal now.”
Something in Elder Jeon’s words caught Taesu’s attention.
“Now?”
“Back then, even when we risked our lives to get there, we were rejected.”
“Why?”
“They said there was no evidence. The reason was that we had nothing to prove our parents were Korean.”
“But not everyone who was active back then had passed away, had they?”
Taesu could not understand it.
But Elder Jeon smiled coldly and said,
“The bastards reviewing those cases were turncoats.”
“What?”
“If we were alive, their carefully packaged true faces would be exposed.”
“Then from that side again?”
Taesu was left speechless in disbelief.
Elder Jeon, on the other hand, nodded with a bitter expression, as though that too was merely a thing of the past.
“They put out contracts on our lives.”
“Insane…… wow. That’s truly unbelievable.”
“That was when we left the place where we had finally managed to settle down and made our decision. That we would never face Korea again.”
“Is…… is that how you came all the way here?”
Taesu asked in a trembling voice.
The more he listened, the more dumbfounded he became.
He did not merely understand why they had struggled so desperately to push them away all this time—he sympathized.
If it had been him, he would never have wanted to get involved again either.