CHAPTER 4

1930

Gyeongseong

The past few weeks, Myunghoon had been coming to their home late. Seungwan just assumed that it had something to do with the “Joseon work” he did at night. To satiate her boredom, Seungwan asked permission from her father if she could go outside, to go to to the other places near their quarters.

Myunghoon was hesitant.

“Seungwan, you’re just eleven,” Myunghoon sighed.

“And?” Seungwan said defiantly.

“You’re a girl… some people take girls, you know that, right?” Myunghoon said. He knew that Seungwan already knew about the existence of comfort women – he explained it to her months before.

“I promise I won’t go far,” Seungwan pleaded with her father.

Myunghoon let out another sigh. He wanted to let her daughter experience Joseon, the bustling sounds of people trading in the market, the fresh scents of gochujang[i]preserved in onggi[ii],the sights Gyeongseong offered. He wanted all of these for his daughter.

“Okay,” Myunghoon said. “But you know Jiwon, right?”

“Miss Lee Jiwon?” Seungwan asked.

“Yes, the woman who shares some kimchi with us,” Myunghoon smiled. Lee Jiwon was a close friend – she acted as Jangmi’s guardian before they moved to Pusan. And until now, she deeply cared for Jangmi, and by extension, Seungwan and Myunghoon. “You should just be in her line of sight.”

Seungwan was ecstatic. Jiwon might not live that far from where they lived and where she studied, but it was good enough. As long as Seungwan was going to see something new, she was happy. (Plus she really didn’t want to talk to Taehyung who kept approaching her.)

“I promise, Dad!” Seungwan said as she hugged her father in gratitude. “Thank you so much!”

Myunghoon chuckled. His daughter deserved the world.

“Sungmin, it’s getting dangerous,” Jihye confided in her husband. “Japan is expanding their territory, and the rebellion has largely been ineffective—”

“That doesn’t mean we should stop trying,” Sungmin offered a weak smile. “And—”

Sungmin couldn’t finish his sentence when their son Chanyeol suddenly walked in.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to greet you two—” Chanyeol said in haste, quickly turning around.

“Chanyeol, it’s okay,” Jihye said. “Come.” Chanyeol approached his parents, sitting down beside his father. “Wait, what happened to your face?!” Chanyeol suddenly hid his face, and Jihye went over to him to examine the bruises. “What happened?!”

“I just…” Chanyeol gulped. “There was just this kid. He said this other kid was a useless Korean and I just… I just think it wasn’t right. So I punched him and we fought.”

Sungmin tried to bite back a proud smile, and Jihye just closed her eyes in frustration with how the two most important men in her life acted.

“Did you go to the servants to have them checked?” Sungmin asked.

“Yes, and there was this other lady who helped me and the other kid out when she saw us,” Chanyeol said.

“Don’t get into any more fights, Chanyeol,” Jihye warned.

“But Mom, I was just—”

“No buts,” Jihye interrupted. Chanyeol sighed, and Sungmin smiled at his son. “And you should thank the lady who helped you out.”

“I did,” Chanyeol said.

“Did you hear what we were talking about when you came in?” Sungmin asked his son.

“Only a bit,” Chanyeol confessed. “The part about the rebellion.” Jihye’s eyes widened in panic. Sungmin just nodded at her. It was time.