WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Chapter 132: Anti-Imperialist Communist Organization 【Gyeongseong Troika】 (4)

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That night, Professor Miyake's residence had become a complete madhouse.

"Don't trust that bastard Yeong-tae, Professor..."

"Don't say that. They're all my students..."

"That bastard Miwa will ruin you, Professor..."

"Inspector Miwa is soft-hearted underneath it all..."

Even with two intruders in the house, the professor and the fugitive kept carrying on with their revolution. Han San pressed a hand to his throbbing forehead over his mask.

"No... Auntie, what are you doing here?"

The sleepy-eyed woman tapped the scarf around her lower face. Tap, tap.

"Who's an auntie? Call me by my code name, Red Widow."

"Red Widow? What the... Auntie, your husband's perfectly alive."

"What husband? I'm Red Widow right now, so I don't have one."

The woman who was absolutely not Mrs. Go said that, and the man who was certainly not Han San, Red Mask, clicked his tongue as he grasped the logic behind it.

"All right. Red Wi-dow... damn, that's hard to pronounce. I'll just shorten it. Wayfellow. So why are you here?"

They had met upon the road of false masks, so it was only fitting to call her a wayfellow.

Wayfellow furrowed her brow into a Soyang Bridge at that godawful form of address, but like the professional she was, able to separate her feelings from her work, she answered at once.

"That man. Professor Miyake."

"The one who hid Lee Jae-yu[1]?"

"Yeah. I need him, so I'm taking him."

"Where?"

"The Soviet Union or Japan. The Soviet Union is our home base, and the organizations in Japan could use more intellectuals too. Which way he goes depends on the situation."

People often imagined national intelligence agencies as flawlessly interlocking gears, but no field was run as haphazardly as overseas intelligence work.

[There's no other field that has to rely this much on the improvisation of agents in the field.]

As Han San recalled his younger brother's words, the fugitive and professor finally woke from their private revolutionary world as well.

Lee Jae-yu shouted fiercely.

"We aren't going anywhere! Revolution must begin, one by one, in the hearts of our people. It can't descend from the so-called leadership like a favor! We..."

Professor Miyake adjusted his glasses with his usual gentle, bitter smile.

"Quite right. We will remain here in Gyeongseong. Our bond began here, so whatever ending awaits us, we should face it here..."

Thud. Thud.

The fugitive and professor rolled back their eyes and collapsed.

Han San dusted off his hands.

"You two sure talk a lot."

Han San, sajang[2] of Han's Myriad Commerce, had shown respect to Namgung Eok, leader of the Cross Society, since he was an old man of similar age to Han San. But Red Mask, the sound conservative native of Gangwon, had no such patience for wet-behind-the-ears red brats.

Red Mask successfully skipped roughly 3,700 characters' worth of persuasion with [Strength and Agility 17 or Higher: Knock Both of Them Out], then pushed Professor Miyake toward Red Wayfellow.

"Here."

"Uh, okay."

Wayfellow caught Professor Miyake without thinking. Her sleepy eyes blinked as though she had just woken up.

"Is this really okay?"

"Seong-ja told me to help if it looked like you needed it. We're just helping each other."

"Seong-ja..."

Wayfellow's eyes softened slightly.

Han San, the Red Mask, scratched the back of his head and went on.

"And he was going to get arrested if he stayed here, right? It should be better if he goes with you, at least."

Honestly, considering what the Soviet Union would become, it didn't look all that much better. Still, it had to beat prison, didn't it?

'It's not like those North Korean residents who woke up to find themselves subjects of the Kim dynasty. He chose this work himself, so going to the Soviet Union is...'

Or was it?

Han San honestly had no idea which was worse, Seodaemun Prison[4] under the Japanese Empire or life under Stalin.

Rather than dwell on that miraculous balance game for too long, Han San settled it simply.

"If it's between the Soviet Union and Japan, please send him to Japan."

After all, this was a Japanese man who had refused the temptation of Government-General merit points and hidden a wanted Korean man under the harsh rule of the Japanese Empire.

'It'd be nice if someone like that could live a little better...'

The regressor knew that after the Japanese Empire crashed and burned, Japan would rise again from its ashes. Postwar Japan would surely be better than life under Stalin. As for the air raids in between... well, all he could do was hope the professor got lucky.

Wayfellow did not notice Han San's passing concerns, but she had no trouble nodding at his words.

"Fine. I'll send him to one of the organizations in Japan."

"Okay."

Having arranged Professor Miyake's future, Han San glanced at Lee Jae-yu.

"You don't need this guy? I heard he's famous."

Now that he had run into Wayfellow, did he really need to go all the way to Sokcho to send Lee Jae-yu to Primorye?

Han San thought it would be clean and simple if he could hand the man over here and wash his hands of it.

Wayfellow, however, firmly shook her head.

"No. Don't need him."

"Really?"

"What we need are cogs, not flags. Besides, his ego's too strong."

Then that was that. He would stick to the plan.

Han San took Lee Jae-yu, while Mrs. Go took Miyake. Having each gotten what they wanted, the two wayfellows left Professor Miyake's residence behind.

"Leave getting us somewhere quiet to me. After that, you handle leaving traces for anyone who follows us and muddying the trail."

"My, you trust me?"

"I heard you're different when you're working and when you're having fun. That's what Malja told me."

Han San only said it because he was confident he could handle whatever happened, but Mrs. Go shrugged.

"Fine. Work is work."

And the work got done. They even put on a convincing escape act to fool any watching eyes.

Before long, it was time to part ways.

They had only crossed paths briefly on the road, so Red Mask and Wayfellow kept their farewells simple.

"Thanks. It ended quickly because of you."

"Don't mention it."

"Tell me if you get the chance. If it's something I can help with, I will."

"Same goes for you, Auntie. If it's something I can't help with, then I never heard it."

"Older sister. Not auntie."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm leaving."

A little later, Han San removed his mask and returned to being the sajang of Han's Myriad Commerce. He put Lee Jae-yu in a gamani[3] sack, loaded the sack deep into the car, piled the fruits of this Gyeongseong trip on top of it, and set off.

There were a few things resembling inspections on the way to Sokcho, but Han San handled those smoothly as well.

"Hey! Can't you see this commendation certificate and silver cup, proof that I'm an exemplary citizen of the Empire?"

"Eek!"

"Good heavens! If you rummage around like that, won't you ruin the handwritten manuscript Committee Member Choi Nam-seon gave me?"

"Gah!"

Back when he lacked 【standing】, Han San had even filmed [Bridal Mask][5] atop the tiled roof near a police constable post. But he was in a different class now. All the preparations he had made, beginning with the help he had secured by deceiving the Silver Fox, finally paid off.

That was how he reached Sokcho.

In one corner of the harbor, at a wharf with no lanterns, an Inwang Gang motorboat waited.

Two people stood by the side of the boat to receive them. One was Park Sang-jun, an Inwang Gang executive clad in animal skins. The other was Chuk Jae-seok, vice president of Han's Myriad Commerce.

Lee Jae-yu, the Red Prince of the peninsula, had only just crawled free of Han San's gamani sack when his eyes widened.

"You..."

For a moment, Chuk Jae-seok wore an indescribable expression. Then he pressed his glasses into place and immediately cut him off.

"Call me Jae-seok."

Lee Jae-yu hesitated.

Taking a new name was a basic survival skill for activists. The principle of the world beyond, that casually speaking a true name could wound the true self, applied here as well.

Lee Jae-yu spoke at once.

"Jae-seok... so it was you."

"Yeah. I heard you had been arrested..."

"Thank you. But this... what should I call this bastard?"

"Red Mask."

Han San answered with his hands behind his back, naturally still wearing his red hood.

How could a traditional conservative old man from Gangwon reveal his true name and true self before a Red Prince like Lee Jae-yu?

Lee Jae-yu ground his teeth.

"This bastard Red Mask handled me roughly. And he handed the professor over to some Soviet woman..."

Chuk Jae-seok's brow twitched.

"Red Mask went to help you, Jae-yu."

"I never needed help from the likes of him."

The Red Prince snorted and held out a hand to his old friend.

"What I need is your help, Jae-seok! I'm glad we could meet again like this. Come with me! Revolution is waiting for us!"

Lee Jae-yu's voice burned red.

"That bastard seems to be sending me to Primorye, but revolution isn't in the Soviet Union! Revolution exists only in the hearts of the people! Come, Jae-seok! Come with me on the journey to plant the spark of revolution in this peninsula!"

Like the revolutionary who had turned the peninsula upside down in this era, his voice held power. Even the dark-blue sea of Sokcho seemed to boil in its deepest depths.

But.

"Jae-yu, I'm sorry." Chuk Jae-seok shook his head. "I've decided to quit the movement."

"...What?"

Lee Jae-yu's face stiffened.

Chuk Jae-seok pressed his glasses into place and looked at Han San, Red Mask, standing right beside Jae-yu.

"I've decided to work under Red Mask."

"What!?"

"Yeah. And Red Mask kept his promise and rescued you. To leave someone like that and join you in revolution...

"I'm sorry, Jae-yu. No matter what we mean to each other, that would be going against what is right."

Lee Jae-yu glanced over at Red Mask, who, meanwhile, was beginning to hate being in this space, then ground his teeth.

"Did this bastard demand you in exchange!?"

Lee Jae-yu's eyes reddened. He could practically picture the scene.

[You don't want Lee Jae-yu to rot in Seodaemun Prison, do you? If you want to save him, obey me from now on.]

[Kh! I'm sorry, Jae-yu... To save you, I have no choice but to carry on the revolution under Red Mask's leadership...]

"No."

Chuk Jae-seok gave a bitter smile.

That would have been easier to understand. If Han San had demanded that he quit his activities and pledge loyalty in return for saving Lee Jae-yu, it would have been better.

But Han San had not done that. He had simply crossed that dangerous bridge in silence.

"Red Mask didn't demand anything. He only told us to each keep to our side of the line..."

That only made Lee Jae-yu's eyes turn redder.

"How is taking you away not crossing the line? He's already crossed it!"

"Jae-yu... stop it. This isn't like you."

"On the way here, I saw that this bastard can even drive! He can rattle off the names of pro-Japanese figures too! And you, Jae-seok, serving a lowly capitalist like him!"

"Watch your mouth, Jae-yu! I won't tolerate you saying another bad word about Red Mask!"

"Jae-seok, wake up! You're being deceived..."

Thud.

The Red Prince rolled back his eyes and fainted again. Red Mask looked thoroughly sick of him.

"Damn, this guy talks way too much..."

Han San grabbed the limp Lee Jae-yu by the back of the neck and loaded him onto the boat. Chuk Jae-seok watched his former revolutionary comrade with a complicated look, then shook his head and helped his sajang.

Once the Red Prince loading operation was complete, Han San spoke to Park Sang-jun, an Inwang Gang executive and his father's old friend.

"Then, Uncle Sang-jun. Please arrange expedited delivery to Primorye."

"Uncle, huh."

Han San grinned.

"I figured Uncle really does suit you best."

Sang-jun's fur-covered mouth curved upward.

"Very well, Nephew."

"I'm counting on you.

"Oh, and please tell this man once he wakes up on the boat. If he comes back to the peninsula and starts stirring things up again, I don't care if he gets himself killed, but if it looks like he'll cause trouble for everyone around him, catch him immediately and trade him in for Government-General merit points... Ah, damn.

"I feel like that kind of threat would only backfire on someone born rebellious like him."

Sang-jun laughed heartily.

"Don't worry, Nephew. I'll personally take him to General Hong and ask him to look after the boy."

"General Hong?"

"There's a man like that. He's very good at giving young people serious guidance."

Sang-jun said that Lee Jae-yu seemed a little sharp-tempered, but that he could become useful if properly cultivated and honed.

Only then did Han San let out a sigh of relief.

"Please take care of him."

Han San honestly did not know who General Hong was, or whether Lee Jae-yu could truly become useful after being honed.

But Han San knew Sang-jun. If his father's old friend vouched for someone, there would be no problem.

A little later.

Still wearing his mask, Han San watched the putt-putt boat carrying the Red Prince sail away with Chuk Jae-seok.

Chuk Jae-seok spoke.

"Red Mask."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry."

"Forget it. Miss Ayame said we should say thank you more often than sorry. Just work twice as hard from now on."

Chuk Jae-seok grinned.

"I'll work three times as hard."

"Ah, that's a little too much pressure."

And so.

Lee Jae-yu, who was originally meant to found the Korean Communist Party Gyeongseong Reconstruction Group[6] after his escape and shake the peninsula for years to come, was sent directly to Primorye in the Soviet Union. Professor Miyake's revolutionary tale also moved its serialization venue to Japan while he was writing its fifth volume.

As for what butterfly effects those changes might bring...

Neither Han San nor Red Mask cared much.

[1] Lee Jae-yu (1905–1944) was a Korean communist organizer whose clandestine Gyeongseong network operated under Japanese rule in the 1930s.

[2] Sajang is a Korean title for the owner or manager of a business.

[3] Gamani is a large woven straw sack traditionally used to carry grain or produce.

[4] Seodaemun Prison, in colonial Gyeongseong, was a notorious prison where Japanese authorities held and interrogated Korean independence activists.

[5] Bridal Mask is a 2012 Korean television drama set under Japanese colonial rule, adapted from Huh Young-man's comic.

[6] The Korean Communist Party Gyeongseong Reconstruction Group was Lee Jae-yu's clandestine communist organization in colonial Seoul.

Footnotes:

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