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Hanamura had only a few teeth left.
It was the result of countless beatings.
His entire body was mottled with bruises. By the end, he was so broken that he might as well have been called a living corpse.
One task had been forced upon him.
Whenever the prisoners in the same cell punched him in the face, he had to shout, “Manse! Long live Korean independence!”
He had attempted suicide several times, but every attempt failed.
Since he was not kept in solitary confinement, even dying by his own will was not allowed.
The guards were planning to move Hanamura into a cell with organized gang members the following month.
Taejin’s father was confined to a psychiatric hospital.
When he woke from sedation, he discovered he had been imprisoned in a mental institution and immediately went into a violent fit.
Because he was wearing a muzzle, ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) even speaking his own name was difficult.
Eventually he managed to beg them to release him, promising he would provide compensation.
One doctor was tempted by the offer and checked the ownership of the mansion he mentioned.
But the name on the nameplate did not match the registered owner.
Just as expected.
He was clearly insane.
No one believed him.
At his bedside was a card listing his diagnosis.
Delusional disorder.
Because he screamed every day, he was forced to keep the muzzle on.
Later, when he seemed calmer, they removed it.
The first thing he did was insist that he was royalty.
He cried that he could not live like this.
The doctor changed the diagnosis.
Severe delusional disorder.
He would never leave that hospital.
That same winter, two bodies were found floating beneath the river.
One was a limping Japanese man who had come up from Jinhae.
The other was an unnamed detective.
Because of the heavy snowstorm, they were discovered very late.
Thus the secret remained a secret forever.
Known only to Taeseok.
That winter brought record-breaking snowfall.
Snowflowers blanketed the world in white as if they meant to swallow everything.
* * *
Spring finally arrived.
Just like the lyrics sung by Diva Hong, it was a sweet season.
Aid from the United States and the United Nations continued.
Fresh skin quickly grew over the scars and terror left behind by the war.
For propaganda, there was no one better than Taeseok.
A man who had climbed from the bottom to the very top with nothing but his bare hands.
The perfect example of human triumph.
The man everyone wanted to resemble, possess, or become.
That man was Gi Taeseok.
Great President Gi.
That was what people called him.
It was a fine, impressive title.
But the foolish name Taeseok truly wanted was something else entirely.
Gi Taeseok.
Just that one name.
“Ah! President Gi! It’s been such a long time!”
“Oh my. President Gi is here?”
Now everyone bowed and scraped before him.
Exports and imports alike rested firmly in President Gi’s hands.
Hanamura’s fortune.
Yeon Huijae’s fortune.
Lee Taejin’s fortune.
Even his father’s fortune.
All of it had become Gi Taeseok’s.
There were countless things Taeseok had to do in order to manage wealth so enormous it was almost impossible to bear.
Now sitting at the highest place, Taeseok suffered from sleeplessness.
He had stopped drinking coffee.
Even when he drank the pear blossom tea she had liked so much.
Sleep simply would not come.
Every day he crumbled a little more, dry and brittle.
Yeon Huijae was a woman worth wagering one’s entire life on.
He had wanted to devote his whole life to making her happy.
Taeseok had thrown his life into that wager with all his strength.
And he had failed spectacularly.
So then?
What came after that?
How was he supposed to live the rest of his life?
No answer came.
He had fought desperately to climb higher for her sake.
He had struggled just to maintain his place so he would not appear pitiful.
But Taeseok’s life had become a single cog in a machine.
To keep the brewery running smoothly.
To ensure sugar imports arrived safely.
To keep the garment factories operating.
To track down Koreans who had been taken away in the still-unresolved conscription lists.
To smile comfortably before the public.
To appear as a man elegantly enjoying success.
To remain someone admired by everyone.
Huijae’s request had become a final command that Taeseok could not disobey.
After all—
It had been the last thing she said.
The unwanted wealth and fame were unbearably heavy.
Slowly, Taeseok sank beneath their weight.
People knew nothing.
They believed the great President Gi possessed everything.
They said he lacked nothing.
But what he truly wanted had only ever been one thing.
If he could throw away all of this and gain Yeon Huijae instead, he would discard it all without hesitation.
Huijae.
What was I to you?
The question he never managed to ask tormented Taeseok.
One day he resented her.
One day he hated her.
One day he still loved her.
One day he gave up again.
And when another sleepless night ended, he put on a fine suit and lived once more as the great President Gi.
A perfectly pressed shirt.
A gleaming tie pin.
Hair combed neatly back.
And a face that made people gasp in admiration.
Every day he stood before cameras with a smile.
The sound of Taeseok being preserved forever beyond the lens echoed.
Click.
[Korean Chamber of Commerce General Assembly]
Click.
[Textile Industry Federation Founding Ceremony]
Click.
[Busan Trade Port Expansion Ceremony]
Click. Click. Click. Click.
Late at night he returned home.
With careful movements he removed his jacket.
Loosened his tie.
Took off his expensive watch.
Then he wandered toward the window.
As if you might arrive at any moment.
As if you might ask whether he had waited long.
Even knowing she would not come, Taeseok looked beyond the window.
Huijae.
You should have said at least one thing before leaving.
That you liked me.
That you missed me.
At the very least that you wondered whether I was still alive.
Or perhaps that you loved someone else.
Or that you no longer cared for me.
You could have said any of those things.
Instead you left only those words—
That you had to go.
And that promise asking me to take care of this place.
Why did you leave me behind?
Why do you always leave me behind...?
An immeasurable darkness settled over his broad shoulders.
Leaning his forehead against the window frame, Taeseok looked as if he might collapse at any moment.
Time beyond the window continued to pass faithfully without him.
Flowers bloomed on the tree that had once seemed dead.
They were pure white pear blossoms.
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That night as well, Taeseok sat late at his desk in the study and quietly looked out the window.
The pear blossoms had already burst into full bloom.
Petals scattered in the wind.
Through the open window came the sweet scent of spring.
Rustle.
At that moment a stack of letters fell from his cluttered desk.
They were letters addressed to the great President Gi, arriving every day.
With a sigh, Taeseok bent down and gathered the fallen envelopes.
“....”
Among them was one letter covered in stamps.
And on it was written the name of the woman he loved.
Sender
Yeon Huijae.
Forgetting even to breathe, Taeseok immediately tore it open.
He pulled out the white letter and held it in his hands.
If you are reading this letter,
then it means I arrived safely in Manchuria.
Ah.
He could hear Huijae’s voice in his ears.
I am doing well.
The night sky here is filled with so many stars.
It feels as though they might pour down at any moment.
Sometimes I feel uncomfortable because I cannot understand the language.
But I suppose that will get better with time.
When I think about it, I can speak three different languages already.
What is one more?
Of course I can learn it.
You’re still the same.
The cheerful girl who laughed easily and loved to chatter.
Yeon Huijae, you truly have not changed.
The corners of Taeseok’s mouth lifted as he read.
He smiled with a face that looked ready to cry.
His eyes glistened with tears as he read the letter.
In truth,
I do not know where I was born.
I never asked,
and no one ever told me.
So I lived my entire life like a person without a homeland.
But something strange happened.
Even though I had no place to long for,
I always felt homesick for somewhere.
After crossing the sea and traveling such a long road,
I finally found a place I could hold in my heart for the rest of my life.
So this is what people mean when they say “home.”
The Joseon I first saw was a strange place.
Everything was different—from the way people placed their spoons to the way they spoke.
But that was the first time anyone had ever told me to eat a lot.
From that moment,
that place became my home.
Because there were people there who asked whether I had slept well,
and whether I had eaten.
Because there was even a boy who promised to show me flowers.
How wonderful it was.
How much I looked forward to tomorrow.
After that, I started telling lies.
Whenever people asked where I came from,
I answered that it was Jinhae.
Please don’t laugh too hard.
At least everyone praises my Korean skills.
Taeseok’s hand trembled slightly as he held the letter.
I always wanted to tell you this someday.
I am glad I can say it this way.
Thank you for giving me a homeland.
For giving me a place I can think of when life becomes difficult.
For teaching a wanderer what a homeland truly means.
I am sincerely grateful.
Now I have come
to give other Koreans their own homeland.
To give them a compass they can carry in their hearts forever.
And someday, much later...
He could hear Huijae’s promise.
I will follow the compass in my heart as well.
I do not know when that day will come.
Please do not blame me for being too cold.
Until then, I will send letters like this from time to time.
Until we meet again,
please stay healthy.
Yeon Huijae
Taeseok could not bring himself to crumple the letter sent by his first love.
He quietly read the neat handwriting again and again.
The crooked handwriting that had once been so childish had grown refined.
So you truly have become an adult now.
Yes.
You told me to live well and stay strong.
So I must do exactly that.
How could I possibly disobey your words?
A man who shines brightest in the darkness.
Ji Haebeom’s face suited that name perfectly.
Under the dim lighting, he slowly blinked with boyish eyes.
The viewers witnessed the moment when a man who had once collapsed because of love rose again because of love.
The empty eyes slowly filled with light.
Clear anticipation.
The look of a young man ready to throw his entire life forward again and again without ever growing tired.
A heart that had believed everything was over began to burn once more.
Taeseok opened the top drawer of his desk.
Inside lay a familiar necklace.
With careful hands, Taeseok picked it up.
Click.
When he opened the pendant, the girl he still loved smiled back at him.
Untorn.
Unfaded.
Unbroken.
Taeseok gently rubbed the necklace containing Huijae’s photograph.
At that moment, everyone remembered the first time they met Huijae.
The girl who had been called Joseon scum without even knowing the insult.
The girl who waited for him on tiptoe over the wall.
The girl who had been overjoyed to receive a single worn book.
The girl who wrote her name on his palm.
The girl who asked him to teach her Korean.
The girl who glared at him stubbornly.
The girl whose hands were white, soft, and cold.
The girl who looked beautiful in a pink sweater.
The girl who wrapped her arms around his waist while riding behind him on a bicycle.
The girl who stayed brave even in the rain.
The girl who encouraged him that he would surely succeed.
The girl who believed in him.
That girl.
How could he forget you?
How could he ever hate you?
Our eternal first love.
Taeseok stared at the necklace for a long time.
As if that alone were enough.
As if a single promise with no appointed day were enough to make him happy.
Just as a devastated world rises again from ruins,
the young man’s life began anew.
The sun rose beyond the window.
The next day, notices were posted throughout the city.
Two schools were going to be built.
The great President Gi announced that skilled carpenters would receive extra pay, so people flocked there in droves.
The destinations were Jinhae—
and the distant land of Manchuria.
* * *
Three years later.
A proper school had finally been built in Jinhae.
The building was divided into two parts.
One was a girls’ school.
The other a boys’ school.
Classes were divided between day and night so that factory boy workers could attend as well.
The school had even been deliberately built near the factories.
Recently that had not been enough.
Another building had been constructed as a library.
Everyone was deeply moved by the charity of the great President Gi.
To commemorate the man who had brought new vitality to Jinhae,
a metal plaque bearing the school motto and Taeseok’s name hung above the front gate.
[Gi Taeseok]
“Hey! That’s enough polishing!”
“If the name of the great President Gi shines brightly, the opening ceremony will shine even more!”
The carpenters grinned widely.
They wiped Taeseok’s name with the towels hanging around their necks.
One carpenter squinted at another plaque hanging on the opposite side of the gate.
“What does that one say? I can’t see it well.”
“Let’s see... Ah, it says Baehwa.”
The motto, resembling pear blossoms, glittered in the sunlight.
Like the children of this land who would someday bloom in full.
