Prologue

HOOPERVILLE, OREGON

SUNDAY, APRIL 6, 1890

When he was sober, Kwon YongDeuk was bearable to be around, but when he drank, Song Mino was afraid of him. Why , Mino wasn’t certain. As far as he knew, YongDeuk had never done any thing truly vicious to any one. But even so, Mino couldn’t shake the feeling that he might.

It was an unsettling thought because it forced Mino to examine his own character. If he didn’t like YongDeuk, why did he associate with him, let alone drink with him? It was a question Mino had asked himself a dozen times, and the answer, though unpleasant to admit, was that he was afraid to tell YongDeuk no. No—such a simple word. But say ing it to someone like YongDeuk wasn’t simple.

Slowing his horse’s pace, Mino squinted against the bright morning sunlight to study the backs of his four companions as they rode along in front of him. Kwon YongDeuk , a head taller and broader across the shoulders than the others, led the group. As though to emphasize his authority , he frequently sank spur into his gelding’s flanks and continually jerked on the poor beast’s reins. Observ ing the mistreatment, Mino felt a little sick. The gelding was well-behav ed, and there was absolutely no need for YongDeuk to handle it so harshly .

Shifting his gaze, Mino observ ed Choi Minho, Kim Bum, and Jang GeunSuk, the other three young men who preceded him.

They had been his best friends since way back when he still wore knickers, and he felt he knew them nearly as well as he knew himself. He suspected each of them feared YongDeuk as much as he did. What a pitiful lot they were, forsakingev ery thing they’d ever been taught, following along behind YongDeuk last night like ducklings in a queue, visiting the brothels with him, then drowning their guilt in drink, only to pay the price this morning with fierce headaches. Christ. It was Sunday . Their families would be at church right now, wondering where they were. Did none of them hav e a will of his own?

Wheeling his mount sideway s in the road to block their way , YongDeuk swept off his gray felt derby and wiped the perspiration from his forehead with his sleeve. It was an uncommonly dry April; there had been little rain the last two weeks, and the road was dusty . He grimaced at the dirt that came away on his white cuff. “I say we sober up with a swim,” he said with a challenging air. “Last one in is a mama’s boy .”

Misty Falls and their fav orite swimming hole were nearby . Scarcely able to believ e he had heard correctly , Mino glanced in that direction. YongDeuk loved to do wild, crazy things, the more daring, the better. But coming on the heels of last night, this was too much. “A swim? Have you lost your mind? We’ll freeze our asses off.”

“Jesus, Mino, you’re such a little molly coddle. It’s hotter than blazes out here. I’m sweating and so are you.”

“Fully clothed and dry , yes, I am sweating,” Mino conceded. “But I won’t be if I get in that swimming hole.”

“The water in that pool is melt off from the snow in the mountains,” Kim Bum pointed out. “It’ll be uncomfortably cold, YongDeuk, without a doubt.”

“Uncomfortably cold? Are you a man, Kim Bum ? Or a mewling girl dressed up like one?”

Kim Bum ’s face flushed with humiliation, but he said nothing in defense of his manhood. None of them ever stood up to YongDeuk.

With a snort of disgust, YongDeuk spurred his gelding off the road and into the drainage ditch that ran alongside. Waving his derby , he let out a caterwaul as his horse sprang up the bank. YongDeuk looked dubiously at his three friends, knowing without asking that none of them wanted to go swimming. Sadly enough, he also knew they ’d kowtow to YongDeuk’s whim because no one had the guts to buck him.

“Well?” Kim Bum said.

Jang Geunsuk sighed. “Sometimes I wish it was just us again, that we’d never gotten involved with him.”

“I’ll second that,” Choi Minho put in.

Mino shared the sentiment, but it seemed a moot point. The fact was, YongDeuk had not only joined their group but had taken over.

The four of them turned their horses and headed reluctantly toward the falls. As if in forewarning, the wind suddenly picked up, brisk and refreshingly cool on Mino’s face. Against wet skin, he knew it would feel icy .

Instead of taking the trodden path, YongDeuk cut through the woods to reach the swimming hole, and it was rough terrain. Madrone, laurel, stunted oak, and twisted fir tangled together like an old woman’s arthritic fingers to block the way , their stout, gnarled trunks shooting up from thick clumps of undergrowth. It was impossible to see the ground. Afraid his horse might stumble into a chuckhole and break a foreleg, Mino slowed his pace to a cautious walk. His friends, fearful of getting on YongDeuk’s bad side if they dallied, made no such concession.

The cost of a ruined horse aside, Mino felt they showed no humane regard for their mounts by pushing them across such uneven ground. But he was only a follower, not the leader. Whatever YongDeuk insisted upon, the others did, no questions asked, their horses and every thing else be damned.

Arriving last, Mino heard the voices of his four companions drifting back to him through the pine and fir trees. Whoops and hollers. Despite his resentment of YongDeuk, he smiled, imagining GeunSuk, Bum , and Minho leaping into the freezing water.

Crazy fools. They’d get pneumonia for this day ’s work, and all only to humor Kwon . Blast the Kwon’s. Blast their fancy house up on the hill. Blast their money . Sometimes Mino wondered if their self-appointed leader didn’t come up with these outlandish suggestions just to see how far he could push them.

Breaking through the trees at last, YongDeuk was surprised to note that no one had entered the water yet. He cupped a hand over his eyes to see what all the commotion was about and determined that there were fiv e figures near the swimming hole, his four companions and a slightly built girl.

YongDeuk had taken possession of the girl’s shawl and was holding it bey ond her reach.

Typical.

Any time YongDeuk got a chance to bully someone, he took it. Though it disturbed Mino, he supposed the teasing was harmless enough.

Then he recognized the girl. Dara Park, the town moron. Though nearly twenty and well past girlhood, she cut a childish and pathetic figure in her shapeless blue frock, black stockings, and high-button shoes smudged with dirt. Because his mother was a frequent v isitor to the Park home, Mino knew that Park Minyoung  tried to keep her daughter tidy , but Dara ran wild in the woods so much it was an impossible task.

His heart caught at the panicked expression on her small face as she grabbed wildly to reclaim possession of her shawl. Because Dara frequently forgot articles of clothing in the woods, her folks were strict with her about bringing her things home. YongDeuk knew she’d get a scolding, or worse, if she went back to the house without her wrap. Her father, the judge, didn’t believe in sparing the rod, and, given Dara’s affliction, he used a firmer hand with her than he ever had with his three older daughters.

Mino didn’t fault the judge for that or think him cruel. A girl of Dara’s limited intelligence was difficult to control, and her parents were to be commended for keeping her at home. Most people would hav ecommitted a child like Dara to an asylum. If not for the fact that the Park managed to keep the girl pretty much out of sight when they had callers, they might have been ostracized by polite society . A good many individuals found someone like Dara off-putting. Despite that, Dara’s parents had not institutionalized her, ch