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Chapter 136: Great Calamity 【Great Flood of the Gapsul Year】 (2)

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"Prepare? You really believe a flood is coming, honey?"

Yoshihiro nodded at his wife's question.

"Yes!"

Yoshihiro had worked on the Meokbawi Valley construction project.

For months, while stacking stones and mixing cement, he had watched the president of Han's Myriad Commerce come personally every few days to inspect the site.

"Maybe he's just making a big fuss. You said he's young. Haven't you seen plenty of people his age make money and then pour it into their hometown like they're building monuments to themselves?"

"I have. At first, I thought he was one of those too. But people like that don't act this way."

A foreman grows old at construction sites. Over the years, Yoshihiro had seen more projects than he could count.

"People who spend their own money to build bridges and walls back home don't inspect every little thing themselves. Most of them just stand back with their hands behind their backs, thinking it'll work itself out."

"Really? Even when they're paying for a village project themselves?"

"Yes. I don't know exactly what's going through their heads. Maybe they think spending the money means their part is done. Or maybe they think they're too important now, and going to the site to nag people would hurt their dignity...

"But that young president wasn't like that. He checked every detail as if he were building his own house."

There was something to it.

Nobody in this world was a fool. Most people acted in whatever way seemed most reasonable from their own perspective.

Those who had not seen the construction came up with their own supposedly [wise] explanations. Those who had seen it came to a different [wise] conclusion.

Yoshihiro was no exception.

His wife blinked.

"But even if we buy that much, where would we put it...?"

"I rented a warehouse. We pooled our money. Turns out I wasn't the only one from that project who had the same idea."

"What? Without even telling me?"

"I'll take responsibility, honey. If nothing happens, we'll just eat it all. Canned goods, hardtack, grain, whatever. They're all things we can eat anyway."

"All you ever think about is food! Honestly!"

His wife smacked him on the back, but from that day on, she began making whatever preparations she could, starting with clothes.

They had been married for twenty whole years. Her husband only got this stubborn once every five or six years, if that, and every time before, he had been right.

Chuncheon, Gangwon Provincial Office.

It had once been a royal temporary palace of the Joseon court, known as the Chuncheon Secondary Palace.

"Do you believe that young man's words too, Governor?"

The only Korean administrative officer at the Gangwon Provincial Office blinked.

Gangwon Governor Lee Beom-ik sat deep in thought as he adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses. Approval documents concerning stockpiled supplies lay before him.

"Do you attend church?"

"Pardon? No..."

It was well known that the Chuncheon military police commander disliked religious people, and naturally, fewer believers remained at the provincial office.

What? Separation of civil administration and the military? Hah.

Still, there were people in power who could speak openly about religion. Gangwon Governor Lee Beom-ik was one of them.

"I don't either. But those Catholic fellows have a pretty convincing sales pitch."

"What do they say?"

"They say that if you don't believe and go to hell, you lose a hundred. If you believe and go to heaven, you gain a hundred. But if nothing happens either way, then all you've lost is the one unit of effort spent believing."

The Korean administrative officer clicked his tongue.

"That does make sense. But why go into religion? With that kind of talent, they should start an insurance company."

"Exactly. Insurance."

Lee Beom-ik grinned.

"It was something that young man, who listened so well to his elders, said. As an elder, I should buy some insurance too. It isn't even coming out of our own pockets. It's tax money."

Governor Lee Beom-ik picked up his seal and approved the documents. The Korean administrative officer's mouth twisted.

'That's money we're supposed to divide among ourselves...'

By that logic, it was a tremendous loss, but the person with the authority had made the decision, so the administrative officer said nothing more.

'Then again, if nothing happens, we can just divert those supplies and sell them off, then split the money. Our shares will be a little smaller, but not by much. Manchukuo is short on things like that right now, so they'll pay well.'

And if something did happen?

Wouldn't their Gangwon Province, dismissed as a bunch of country bumpkins, especially Chuncheon, become the sole exemplary case that had shown foresight and prepared in advance?

Mogok, Hongcheon.

Preparations were proceeding steadily at the school that had once planted rose of Sharon, now called Han-ga Academy.

"Evacuation drill today, no, evacuation training!"

"Everyone to the dormitory rooftop!"

At the sound of the whistle, the children sprang from their seats and gathered their belongings. Their movements were as swift as those in a future preparedness drill.

"Waaah!"

Though their actions had become instinctive, their faces held the excitement and mischief of children enjoying a game.

The teachers, older students in their mid- to late teens, and former gang-member dormitory supervisors, including Gomchi, kept them in line.

"Don't run! Walk! Stay in line, but move quickly!"

"Hey! I told you, being frantic isn't the same as being fast!"

Han San had built the dormitories with the Great Flood of the Gap-sul Year in mind from the very beginning.

The dormitories stood on firmly packed, high ground. Spacious emergency storehouses had been built around them, filled to the brim with grain, cotton cloth, waterproof tarps, and firewood.

"We'll sleep here tonight!"

"Keep everything clean! When we go back down tomorrow, clean up so well that there isn't a trace we were here!"

Some teachers tilted their heads in confusion.

"Not a drop of rain has fallen. Is all this really necessary? Isn't our chairman going a little too far?"

Namgung Eok said nothing.

The elderly principal of Han-ga Academy, and leader of a secret society, did not look at the cracked rice fields wrinkled like his own hands. He looked to the sky beyond them.

The sky said nothing.

The sky had always said nothing.

When he first read the Bible. When he added his name to the founders of the Independence Club. When the country fell. When Yi Wan-yong slept in peace. When he was arrested again and again, the sky had said nothing.

Even when he planted rose of Sharon and was caught, the sky had remained silent.

But.

The sky had sent people.

Thinking back, the sky had always sent people.

The leader of the Cross Society had learned long ago, through his own life, that this was how the Lord worked. The Lord entrusted the affairs of this earth to people.

"You don't have to understand."

Namgung Eok finally spoke.

"Just believe, and follow."

That was the old principal's request. He kept his eyes on the sky.

One by one, the teachers followed his gaze upward, then nodded.

"Yes. We will."

They chose to believe.

Of course, not everyone did.

At an outdoor table of a tea house near the Hongcheon police constable post, two men sat facing each other. Their names were Jeong Guhwan and Jeong Do-il.

The former Mogok School teacher who had reported the school over the rose of Sharon, and the Hongcheon police constable who had accepted the report, had been forced into an extremely awkward situation since the case had fizzled out.

Hongcheon was as small as Inje, and the Methodists whom Guhwan had reported and Do-il had imprisoned all lived in the area.

Guhwan had even worked with them as a colleague before reporting them.

And then every last one of them had been released and come back!

It was not quite a Return of the King. More like a half-commoner, half-lowborn half-and-half combo return, but there were rather a lot of them. It was only natural for the Jeong sworn brothers to feel like little polar bears dropped in the middle of a village of Malay bears.

Guhwan spoke.

"Did you hear, hyung?"

Father Cho's suggestion that they become sworn brothers because they shared the Jeong surname had made them laugh at the time. It had seemed a little much.

After the people from Mogok School returned, though, it had become something they had no choice but to do.

In any case, the two Jeongs had no one but each other to rely on now.

Constable Jeong Do-il made a tsk sound.

"About a flood coming?"

"Yes. Mogok, no, I guess it's Han-ga Academy now... Anyway, they're making all kinds of preparations there too..."

"You went to look?"

"No, I just happened to..."

Guhwan scratched the back of his head. Do-il sighed, inwardly despising him as a spineless rat bastard of an informer, though the sight of his indecision bothered him too.

"Looks like a lot of people are preparing these days. There's a famous lunatic named Kim Gang-cheol at the Inje police constable post, you know? That crazy bastard has been buying up supplies and cramming them into storage too."

"What? A constable like you?"

"Damn it, not every constable is the same. I told you, that bastard's crazy.

"There's a military police detachment commander over there whom Kim Gang-cheol worships like a sacred relic, you know? Sawada or whatever. Seems Sawada put word out that anyone who wanted to prepare should do so, just in case. That lunatic Kim Gang-cheol took it as gospel."

"Even the military police detachment commander..."

Guhwan's ears began to twitch in earnest. He looked like he was weighing whether to run to the market at once and buy the full flood-preparedness set.

Do-il could not ignore that spineless look.

"Forget it. It's all nonsense."

"R-Really?"

"Yes. It's all that young bastard, the president of Han's Myriad Commerce, running his mouth to make money. Prices have already gone up, haven't they?"

"That's true..."

"Right. It's all a scheme."

In truth.

Do-il said that, but with everyone around him making such a fuss, he too had begun to wonder whether he should prepare at least a little.

The problem was that while he hesitated, prices had already risen. Grain, cotton cloth, anything useful for flood preparations now cost ten to twenty percent more than usual.

In stock market terms, it was like everyone going wild to buy shares for twelve won that they had refused to buy at ten.

That twenty percent increase kept catching Do-il's eye and rubbing him the wrong way.

'Honestly, a twenty percent increase isn't a huge burden. Not compared to right after last year's typhoon. The problem is, what if I buy at the higher price and nothing happens? Won't I look like a complete fool?'

It was a matter of pride.

These strange contests of will, even when a person did not know who they were competing against, sometimes arose in markets where everything had a price tag.

Naturally, Do-il had no intention of letting the spineless, rat-faced informer he called his sworn younger brother see that side of him.

So he changed the subject.

"More importantly, where has Father Cho gone? Hey, Guhwan. Have you heard anything?"

"Uh, well... You're the constable, hyung. Haven't you heard anything?"

Do-il frowned. Half because he thought the man was useless, half because he was trying to recall the rumors he had heard.

"Well... He lived in a place called Sebeom Valley, didn't he? They say he hasn't even gone back to his house there for months now..."

"Then, isn't that serious?"

"He has always been elusive. Even his household thinks he might have just set off to preach somewhere across the country without telling anyone."

There were bad rumors too.

Rumors that he had gotten tangled up with Baekbaekgyo and was being pursued either by the authorities or by Baekbaekgyo remnants who had lost their main base and had nothing but malice left.

Do-il did not mention those rumors. His useless, spineless, rat-faced informer of a sworn younger brother would only become more anxious.

With such complicated feelings, the two fell silent. Their tea had gone beyond cold and was beginning to dry up, yet neither of them touched it.

Then.

"Hm?"

"Uh."

Without either one moving first, the Jeong sworn brothers looked up at the sky.

Tap, patter.

At the same time, raindrops began striking the area around them.

Patterpatpat. The sound soon covered everything around them. Whooosh, and within moments it grew thick and dense.

The Jeong sworn brothers, seated outdoors, became drenched rats in an instant. Their untouched teacups splashed up under the pouring rain as though struck by arrows, then began to overflow.

Guhwan panicked.

"I-Isn't a flood really coming, hyung!?"

Do-il panicked too.

"D-Don't overreact, idiot! It's just a little rain. The sun's been beating down forever, and now we're finally getting a bit of welcome rain, that's all..."

"R-Right?"

"R-Right."

"Yes... Uh, hyung. I just remembered something urgent I have to do..."

"Oh, you too? Hey, me too. Damn it, the faces of those seditious bastards suddenly flashed through my mind."

They rose from their seats at the same time. Both had only one thought, to run to the market and buy something, anything, while they still could.

The Jeong sworn brothers, thinking exactly the same thing, would run into each other in front of a grain shop at Hongcheon Market ten minutes later.

It was July 15, 1934.

The newspaper published the following day wrote that the farmers' worries had eased after the welcome rain that finally came at the end of the drought.

That was how it was then.

Footnotes:

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