It took less than a day for the news to spread that Seo Gwangho had donated his entire fortune to the Association of Bereaved Families of Independence Patriots.
Everyone was stunned.
What shocked people first was the staggering amount of the donation.
It was an enormous sum, beyond imagination.
And then they were shocked all over again by the fact that the donor was Seo Gwangho.
It was truly enough to make them doubt their ears.
A man who had stood at the absolute opposite end from independence patriots.
A man who had mocked them and sneered at them every chance he got.
A man who had downplayed, distorted, and twisted every article related to them.
That Seo Gwangho had handed over the fortune he treasured as much as his own life,
and the whole of it, at that, to the Association of Bereaved Families of Independence Patriots.
Naturally, people did not believe it.
They called it a false report, fake news.
Some claimed there had to be someone behind it and brought up the possibility of a donation made under a borrowed name.
It was something that absolutely could not happen.
So they checked and checked again.
They verified it several times over.
But there was Seo Gwangho’s handwritten signature.
There was a donation contract neatly prepared in accordance with legal procedure.
And most decisively,
there was even a video of him looking straight into the camera and speaking in person.
It was definitely Seo Gwangho.
He apologized while looking into the camera.
Seo Gwangho in the video made no excuses.
He did not smile, nor did he show any sign of being coerced.
He said it was a conclusion he had reached after a very long period of reflection.
He said everything was his own fault.
He said he wanted to apologize, even if belatedly.
He said that, though it was inadequate, he wished to take responsibility with his own assets.
Though in truth he had been acting in order to survive,
though it had been a desperate struggle to beg for his life,
those watching the video could not possibly know that.
That was how sincere Seo Gwangho appeared in the video.
Perhaps because he had lived his whole life in falsehood,
Seo Gwangho was astonishingly good at lying, if nothing else.
.
.
.
But these were not people who would simply let it pass.
The first to move were Seo Gwangho’s family members.
They immediately filed a lawsuit to nullify the donation.
A donation made under coercion.
Mental pressure.
The possibility of kidnapping and threats.
They also cited the fact that Seo Gwangho’s whereabouts had yet to be confirmed.
The logic was clean, and the justification seemed sufficient.
But this time, their opponent was different.
The Association of Bereaved Families of Independence Patriots appointed one of the country’s top law firms as its representative.
This law firm was famous as well.
Famous as a law firm that would defend anyone, whether pro-Japanese or pro-Chinese, as long as there was money in it.
And sure enough, once they were paid, this time they defended the Association of Bereaved Families of Independence Patriots.
They were people with no concept of right or wrong.
People who had always fought for the vested interests
were now defending the Association of Bereaved Families of Independence Patriots.
It was ironic.
The moment Seo Gwangho’s family saw the law firm we had retained, they gave up on the lawsuit.
Seo Gwangho’s family knew all too well.
They knew how that law firm fought.
They had been longtime VIP clients of that very law firm, so there was no way they would not know.
They knew just how viciously it tormented people.
This law firm did not fight in court.
It dragged lawsuits out beyond the courtroom.
In a lawsuit, it did not matter who was in the right.
Instead, they exposed what kind of person the plaintiff was.
Suspicions of real estate held under borrowed names.
Suspicions of illegal gifts.
A history of tax delinquency.
Drunk-driving fines.
Even the most trivial disputes.
They dug it all up and made it public.
Public interest no longer remained on the lawsuit.
Does a person like that even have the right to sue?
Aren’t they just suing because they’re blinded by greed?
They created reactions like that.
Before the lawsuit even began, the person was already reduced to a tattered rag.
On top of that, Seo Gwangho already had a wonderful story prepared.
A pro-Japanese collaborator repented, donated all his assets to the Association of Bereaved Families of Independence Patriots, and disappeared.
But his family, unwilling to lose the money, was filing a lawsuit.
They were such filthy people.
It was the kind of story the public loved.
The more they fought, the more Seo Gwangho’s family’s past would be dug up,
and it would be preserved in the media.
Moreover, Seo Gwangho’s family were people who had committed tremendous abuses of power and thrown their weight around at every turn.
Even without digging, things would come pouring out.
It was the very method Seo Gwangho’s family had used to fight until now.
The method they had used to silence countless people.
Attacking the messenger, not the message.
Only this time, the blade was pointed at them.
Knowing how it would end, they gave up on the lawsuit early.
.
.
.
In the end, Seo Gwangho’s assets were transferred to the Association of Bereaved Families of Independence Patriots.
Cash, buildings, various funds, and bonds all passed into their hands.
And there was something no one had expected at all.
Shares in the conservative press.
Those shares were transferred to the Association of Bereaved Families of Independence Patriots.
The owner of the conservative press had changed.
From pro-Japanese collaborators to the bereaved families of independence fighters.
Those conservative press bastards.
Perhaps because they were educated bastards, they were quick on the uptake.
The newspaper’s tone changed immediately.
They instantly realized who their new owner was.
Articles that had once been written in a fiercely critical tone were now uploaded with the angle changed.
Articles that had been killed because they did not fit the newspaper’s stance came back to life.
In the process, several people left the company.
People who left because they did not like the new direction.
People who no longer had a place to stand.
But the vast majority of trash reporters still kept their seats.
The trash reporters who were still good at writing down whatever they were told continued to write articles from the same positions as before.
To them, it did not matter who the owner was.
They only did as they were told.
They simply wrote down what they were told to write down.
Seo Gwangho had disappeared, but the system he had created still ran smoothly.
Only its direction had become the complete opposite of what Seo Gwangho had wanted.
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.
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A detached house on the outskirts of Tokyo.
It was an old traditional house, one that bore the marks of time even at a glance.
Beyond the low wall, the garden was so well maintained that it was almost excessive.
At the center of the garden was a modest pond, and beside it stood an old man in his seventies.
When they saw the old man, the koi gathered.
The old man quietly scattered feed.
The koi opened their mouths and rushed in to eat.
The old man watched the scene.
There was no expression on his face, and he seemed to have no emotion either.
Behind him, a middle-aged woman in office attire approached carefully without making a sound.
The old man did not even look at her, but the woman bowed respectfully at the waist before opening her mouth.
“Chairman. There is a problem with the Cheonghwa Association in Korea.”
The old man’s hand, which had been scattering feed, stopped.
It was only for a very brief moment, but the woman grew tense.
The old man slowly turned and looked at her.
His body was small, but his gaze was so sharp that it was hard to believe it belonged to an old man.
The woman flinched under that gaze.
“What problem?”
A low, slow voice.
Yet it seemed to pierce straight into the ear.
“Seo Gwangho has disappeared. And the key figures of the Cheonghwa Association have either gone missing or scattered.”
The old man turned back again and looked at the koi in the pond.
“Can we consider it annihilated?”
“Yes. It is at a level where it cannot function as an organization at all. Its internal communication network has also collapsed.”
The old man nodded.
He was not surprised, nor was there any anger.
“That is unfortunate. A great deal of money and time went into it.”
Though he said it was unfortunate, the old man did not look unfortunate at all.
The woman continued the rest of her report.
“There has also been a slight problem on the media side, and overall, the situation is not good.”
“Mm…”
“In particular, public opinion is extremely negative toward Japan.”
“I suppose it would be.”
The old man answered weakly.
The woman asked carefully.
“Shall I prepare a plan to create a new organization in Korea? I will also devise a way to turn public opinion around.”
The old man shook his head.
“No, not now. If we move now, it will only exhaust us and have no effect. When the flames are blazing, we must wait a while until they die down somewhat.”
After thinking for a moment, the old man finally opened his mouth.
“Call Kuroda. We should give the Korean side a gift. Something that will snap them wide awake.”
“Understood.”
When she turned to leave, she did so as quietly and soundlessly as she had come.
Left alone, the old man scattered all the koi feed in his hand at once, then went inside the house.
The old man’s mind seemed extremely complicated as he walked.
********
“Wow~ This place changed this much?”
For a moment, I was at a loss for words as I looked at the abandoned school.
It was far too different from the school in my memory.
The old abandoned school had not been bad, either.
It had been a drab technical high school, but it had been well maintained.
But now, it looked completely different.
The outer walls had been changed to refreshing colors,
and colors reminiscent of dancheong had been placed here and there like accents.
It was not excessive, yet I could clearly feel that the design had been intentional.
Even to me, someone completely ignorant of design, it looked truly impressive.
I could feel the touch of an expert.
Materials were neatly arranged on the sports field,
and at the entrance hung a sign that read K-ORIGIN.
“I hardly recognize it.”
“I know. It’s completely different.”
At my words, Daehun also spoke in a voice full of admiration.
Just then, a familiar voice came from behind us.
“Welcome.”
When I turned my head, Kwon Sangyeol was standing there.
He was Kwon Jua’s father and the person in charge of overseeing the K-ORIGIN project.
When this project first began, Kwon Sangyeol had been nothing more than a consultant.
We had asked him to consult on a system and educational institution for teaching K-culture.
But Kwon Sangyeol had crossed that line in one stroke.
Instead of merely consulting, he redesigned our plan as a massive project.
He declared his ambition to make it into a platform that went beyond a simple educational institution.
Not a school that simply taught people and ended there,
but a structure that gathered, connected, and circulated talent.
He said he would build a system that took into account career paths after education and even the industries beyond.
We made the decision on the spot.
We appointed Kwon Sangyeol as the chief director of the project.
The only person who knew this project best and could put it into action was Kwon Sangyeol.
There was no one better suited than him to do this work.
And the results Kwon Sangyeol brought back far exceeded our expectations.
He was responsible for every process, from planning to execution.
Construction progress, student recruitment, hiring lecturers. Purchasing supplies, hiring staff. Even coordinating cooperation with the government.
He was managing and taking responsibility for everything.
As if trying to shake off the frustration of all the time he had been unable to work, he was working with tremendous momentum.
With such an enormous workload, I thought he would look tired, but if anything, he seemed even more full of energy.
We entered the school, where construction was in full swing.
Tools sounded throughout the corridors, and equipment was set down here and there.
Places that had once been classrooms were being reborn as practice rooms and lecture halls.
“How far along is the construction?”
Kwon Sangyeol immediately answered my question.
“Looking at the overall process, about seventy percent. Structural reinforcement, electricity, and communications are complete. Right now, we’re working on the interior finishing and equipment installation at the same time.”
“That’s faster than I expected.”
“Time is important, after all. Isn’t ‘hurry, hurry’ the pinnacle of Korean culture?”
At Kwon Sangyeol’s words, we all laughed together.
I could not deny it.
Korea’s greatest culture was the hurry-hurry culture.
It was its greatest strength and its weapon.
It was the driving force that had created the Republic of Korea as it was today.
“How about the students? Are recruitment efforts going well?”
“The response is far better than expected.”
Kwon Sangyeol took out a tablet and showed us the situation.
Applicant statistics appeared.
Their countries of origin and age groups were visible at a glance.
Far more people had applied than expected.
There were especially many from the Philippines.
Most likely, many had applied from Unity Town.
After all, we had created this with Unity Town in mind from the beginning.
“The fact that it is a program directly promoted by the government is significant, and there are many applicants because it isn’t just theoretical education, but field-centered and practical-work-centered. Of course, the many scholarship programs are also helping a great deal.”
Kwon Sangyeol summarized only the key points in his answer.
“So there’s no problem recruiting students?”
“If anything, we’re at the point where we need to raise the admission requirements.”
We nodded.
At this level, it was sufficiently successful.
“Really? That’s a relief. It would be great if many outstanding students came.”
“We are not only raising students. In three years, the name K-ORIGIN will probably resound throughout the world.”
Daehun and I continued looking around the school while listening to Kwon Sangyeol.
The K-ORIGIN project was moving far faster than we had expected,
and on a far larger scale.
I looked at the school once more.
What I saw was not an abandoned school, but a newly transformed one.
It looked as though it had only just begun to breathe.
Everything here would be new.
The people, the buildings, the education, the culture.
They would mix together and create new stories, new content.
My heart fluttered.
It felt as though, after a long period of preparation, we had finally stepped up to the starting line.
All right.
Let’s go.
Into the world of K-ORIGIN.