CHAPTER 1

1925

Pusan

Son Myunghoon watched as his wife, Jangmi, and his only child, Seungwan, play by their small front yard, the two girls laughing as Jangmi tried to chase their daughter. Myunghoon craved for this life: bucolic, peaceful, and most importantly, distant from the imposing presence of the Japanese imperial forces.

Myunghoon and Jangmi met in Gyeongseong[i]in the year 1915, and the Japanese have already created an imperial stronghold in Korea: destroying ancient buildings and artifacts, imposing new norms and even a new language, and more, for “progress.” Three years later, Jangmi and Myunghoon married secretly and lived together in Gyeongseong. Jangmi soon became pregnant with Seungwan, and the couple decided to escape out of the imperial center to raise their child.

But things weren’t as they seemed in the Son family.

Myunghoon and Jangmi both were quiet and unassuming, and they drew no attention to themselves. Which made them the perfect rebels.

Even before they were married, Myunghoon and Jangmi joined secret meetings of Koreans who wanted to do something to overthrow the Japanese imperial forces, be it through nonviolent resistance, armed struggle, and a whole lot of other methods. Jangmi, with a keen eye for people, recruited men and women to the faction, still maintaining her unassuming demeanor all throughout. Myunghoon, on the other hand, was skilled in both physics and weaponry, supplying makeshift guns and other weapons that were highly useful and specialized for the rebels.

When Jangmi gave birth to Seungwan, however, everything changed.

The couple moved to the countryside. Jangmi lessened her recruiting activities, but she still tried to direct at least one person per month to the organized groups in Pusan. She sold the potatoes she grew in secret – the Japanese were taxing farmers more than how much they could sell their crops. Myunghoon, meanwhile, still made weapons in secret, only building parts of weapons and having them delivered to different groups in Korea separately, giving instructions to the errand boys on how to assemble them.

Their daughter Seungwan had no idea that her parents had secret lives: all she knew was that she was happy; her parents loved her; and she loved them. She was running around lazily, with her mom Jangmi chasing her, when three men in weird outfits approached her father.

“Watanabe Jun?” Myunghoon’s Japanese name.[ii]

“That’s me,” Myunghoon responded, wiping his hands on his shirt to clear the dirt off them. Seungwan was still running and laughing, oblivious that her mother already stopped on her tracks to see what was going on with the Japanese soldiers and her husband.

“You’re coming with us,” one of the soldiers said in perfect Korean, presumably their captain – he was wearing a slightly different uniform with more colored pins on his left pocket.

“I’m sorry sir, my wife and daughter are here – I have to stay –” Myunghoon was cut off with a laugh from the soldiers.

“You’re the legendary Watanabe Jun,” the captain smiled slyly. “You don’t think we know what you’re doing?”

“I beg your pardon, Sir, but what are you talking about? I am merely a peasant,” Myunghoon tried his best to keep his tremor from showing and act nonchalant. “I just cut wood sometimes and sell them to the market. Sir, if we have to pay you anything—”

This earned another bout of chuckles from the soldiers. Myunghoon felt goosebumps running over his body. Seungwan noticed that her mother stopped chasing her and went to her side. She felt scared of the strangers who were talking to her father – they were wearing the same uniforms of the people her mom told her to avoid when they were walking outside and buying stuff in the nearby market.

“Mr. Watanabe, we know you’re supplying weapons to the rebels.”

Color drained from Myunghoon’s face. Jangmi gulped.

“Mama?” Seungwan whispered to Jangmi, and Jangmi shushed her.

“I don’t know what you are talking about, Sir. I am just—” Myunghoon said nervously. He couldn’t hide his anxiety now.

“Look, Mr. Watanabe. We need your skills. We know your mind is one-of-a-kind. You could join us and serve,” the captain smirked mischievously. “You can take the easy or hard way. It’s really your choice.”

Myunghoon weighed his choices – he would be betraying his country if he joined. But one look at Seungwan, and he made his decision.

“Okay. I’m coming with you,” Myunghoon exhaled a deep breath.

“Go inside,” Jangmi said sternly to Seungwan.

“Mommy—”

“Go. Inside. Close the door and hide in our bunk,” Jangmi repeated, and Seungwan finally relented, walking back insid