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◈ The Hunting Genius of the Japanese Colonial Era

Chapter 54

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Talent from Inje (1)[1]

For about a month after that, Han San lived peaceful days.

Under the bright spring sun he hunted alongside his father, dried the medicinal herbs he'd gathered together with his mother, hauled the fruits of all that down to town on his A-frame carrier swift as the wind to sell, checked the news while he was at it, and came home to play with Bada, and so on.

And just as he'd resolved on the first day of his return, Han San finally let his family taste fried chicken. Seasoned fried chicken, no less. At this taste of future civilization, the kind he'd only managed to eat in his old age even in his past life, the jaws of Han San's family practically dropped off.

"Omama. Was there ever anything in this world so delicious? Those town folk are real wicked! Eating something like this in secret all to themselves..."

"Hyung! Take me to town too! Take me to town!"

Han San laughed.

"Aw, come on, I only learned the recipe by luck in town myself. This is the kind of thing you can only eat over in Gyeongseong. Heard it's a recipe that came in from across the water."

"Th-those Gyeongseong rascals! No wonder they dump oil on it like they've got no fear of heaven's punishment. And pouring rice syrup and sugar into the seasoning like that too... haa, but it sure is tasty though..."

"Mom! Dad's eating it all!"

"Why you wretch! You've got to keep your hands moving that fast even while we're talking about your wife and children!?"

Han Man-seok chewed the wing down to nothing but two thick bones, then gulped it down.

"I left the breast meat for you lot. Plenty of it, and it'll make you strong."

"Waaah, the wing! The wing was the best part!"

While shouts of joy went back and forth in the Han household like that, over at the washing place the chatter ran along with the beating of the laundry paddles.

"You see it? The Han eldest son brought in an ox!"

"Not just an ox. That house put up a whole new storehouse too, calling Baechil and those Lower Hamlet good-for-nothings to help! And inside it, why, they've got everything!"

"Got what?"

"Ah, just everything! Rope, wire, thick ones and thin ones and middling ones all sorted separate. I tell you, it kept coming out and out like some magic box!"

The sound of the paddles beating the laundry was rougher than usual.

"Where'd money like that come from?"

"Where else would it come from. They made a quick killing running the tavern, off all those outsiders!"

"Heard the kids who went to help out at the tavern back then all got a cut too. Yesterday my head was aching, so I went to Baechil's mom to have her fix me some medicine, you know."

"And?"

"And then that woman goes, 'Oh my, sorry. The smell of the oil my son pressed from the wild boar meat he got as thanks for helping out is still kind of filling the house... Ah, there! Be careful you don't bang your foot on the axe my son got as thanks for helping out!' Putting on airs every which way she could..."

The women at the washing place all nodded in unison. Baechil's mom was, well, like that.

"I knew it from the start, that the Han family were extraordinary folk, talented recluses."

And over in Middle Hamlet, where Han San's family had settled, this kind of talk went around.

"Those people, did they come around the time of the land survey?"

"Wasn't it during the Manse Movement?"

"Doesn't seem like either... I think I heard they came from the Hamgyeong Province direction."

"Hamgyeong Province?"

"Yeah. Especially that Mrs. Ham, what's it, I heard she's got relatives who crew fishing boats in Wonsan."

"Huh! So a hunter and a fisherwoman fell for each other? How'd that happen? And how'd they end up here?"

"Ah, come on, you people. What does it matter when or how they came! They're just Sebeom Valley folk. Don't go poking around for no reason."

"No, I was just curious is all..."

"Right, right."

"But you know... isn't it kind of, well?"

The talk, having flared up and then settled once, turned its course a touch in a different direction.

"Kind of what?"

"No. Catching badgers and whatnot, that part I get. But making that kind of money just from running a tavern a bit..."

"Ah, this fellow! You jealous now?"

"Jealous of what? Can't a man even say this much? Same village, same hamlet even. It's just, a person's life ought to have a bit more, what's it, solid substance to it, not some one-season hustle like that, tsk..."

"Eheey! See, you are jealous! Quit talking nonsense. When things go well for someone, just say good for them and wish them even better, that's all you've got to do..."

"I said I wasn't jealous!"

Luckily, the people only knew it to the extent of "heard the Han family made a quick hundred-odd won running the tavern." Thanks to that, the jealous remarks were promptly hit with frost and shot down.

If the villagers had also known that "Han San had caught Ginsei and collected as much as 300 won," the murky talk wouldn't have stopped there. It would have crossed the critical point long ago and opened up a character-assassination bragging contest.

Of course, that bragging contest was being held every single day in one corner of Lower Hamlet.

"An ox! An oooox!!"

Hitting nothing but its daily low day after day, the modern bar Kill WOLF, Go Tae-chon writhed and squirmed as if Han San had stolen his family's ox.

"That ox was as good as all mine! Silver Star! Why did that damn beast have to get caught right at that moment! Here I am giving my whole heart to the Mainland, and those military police lot are just no help at all!"

Go Tae-chon dropped down on all fours and wailed.

"Ahhhh, that Han San, the young bastard! Martial arts! If only I'd done a bit of martial arts! By force, eh? I'd have set right a justice founded on strength!"

But had he known the wretched end of the three bandits who'd stood in Han San's way with weapons in hand, Go Tae-chon would have counted his own lack of fighting power a stroke of heaven's mercy instead.

The reason he was still alive now with all his limbs intact was that, with Han San, he'd bared his teeth in the way of civilization rather than the way of the mountain.

"Jin-dong-a, what's to be done, really. Whether your mother even made it safely to town... that rough road all alone... I've no idea where she's gone or what she's doing right now..."

Go Tae-chon's tearful lament was cut off by the sound of his gate being kicked in.

"Go Tae-chon, you damn bastard! Business doing all right today? Come to collect on the daily ledger!"

"Aigo, Sundae-hyungniiim!!"

So it was the wailing of Lower Hamlet's Go Tae-chon alone that hit a new high day after day.

Meanwhile.

The highest, deepest place in Sebeom Valley.

Upper Hamlet lay sunk in silence.

"Oh my, is your stomach a bit poorly? This here's what they call wild boar bezoar[5], the boar gallbladder my son brought home as thanks for helping out, real good for the stomach... I wonder if it works a bit better since my son brought it home as thanks for helping out...?"

Only Baechil's house was noisy and lively, so let's set that house aside as a bit of an exception.

Inside the gate strung with sacred rope.

The big shaman's house, blue cloth fluttering down it in streaks like a war banner, was strangely quiet.

Park Il, Old Woman Wangdae's faithful servant, stood outside the gate looking down below. With his thick lips pressed shut and his arms folded, he called to mind the Inwang guardian statue[2] standing firm at Seokguram[3].

Park Il did not move. Immovable. Neither did the able-bodied men of Upper Hamlet who followed him, nor did Deok-tae's crew that held Meokbawi Valley as their territory.

Instead, a different piece moved across the chessboard.

Clang, clang, clang... The regular ringing of hammer blows from the Upper Hamlet smithy stopped dead. The white smoke rising from the furnace chimney ceased too.

The blacksmith Mr. Baek threw off his leather apron and came outside. Wiping his soot-smudged face with a towel, he trudged off toward Middle Hamlet.

His steps were heavy.

It was Sunday, May 28th, 1933.

"Giddyup, giddyup!"

That afternoon, Han San sat on the wooden bench newly set in the yard, reading a newspaper. His little brother Bada, mounted on Nureung-i's back and patting the ox's neck, looked back at him.

"Hyung! The ox won't go!"

"He's full. Leave him be."

"Nureung-i! If you rest right after eating, you'll turn into an ox!"

"Aigooo, little master, I'm already an ox, you brat."

"Hyung! Nureung-i just called me a brat... ah, what! That was you talking!"

Han San cackled. The future Teacher Han Bada puffed his cheeks all the way out and planted his fernlike little hands on his hips.

Just then, a shadow fell across the brushwood gate.

"Anyone home."

A rough yet dignified voice. It was Uncle Baek, the blacksmith.

Han San set down the newspaper he'd been reading, narrowing his eyes.

"What's the matter? Is the thing I asked you for last time all done?"

"No, not yet. I came about something else."

Uncle Baek cleared his throat as if avoiding Han San's gaze. Then, fist clenched tight, he spoke.

"Come out for the communal work."

"Work?"

"We've got to burn some charcoal. A big quantity of it. The word came down that every household must send out at least one able-bodied man."

Charcoal burning.

They called it communal work, but in truth it was going out for corvée labor[4].

Just as Im Baechil's charcoal kiln sat in a spot away from the village, charcoal basically can't be burned near the village. You have to go all the way to where there are trees good for burning charcoal, build a kiln there, and burn it.

That's because hauling the finished charcoal is far lighter than chopping the trees and stuffing them into the kiln.

But that also meant going off to a place a good distance from the village, building a charcoal kiln, and eating and sleeping there. Grueling as it was, it also took time.

Even so, Han San asked as if amused,

"How long does it take?"

"Two months."

"Two months, you said!?"

It wasn't Han San but Ham Ssang-sim, who'd come out at the sound of someone, who flinched.

"Two months! Do you know how busy San's been lately! Going hunting with his father, going to town to make money!"

"There's no helping it. One able-bodied man from each household, no matter what..."

"And charcoal, what, at a time like this! Two months from now is July, and the rainy season will be here by then..."

Uncle Baek cleared his throat. True enough, charcoal was generally burned after autumn, once the air had gone dry.

But Uncle Baek soon shook his head.

"So that's exactly why they mean to stockpile a supply before the rains come. It's already been decided, so what can be done. One able-bodied man each..."

"Then I'll go!"

Uncle Baek narrowed the space between his brows.

"Mrs. Ham, you aren't an able-bodied man. It's only men gathering to eat and sleep there, and for a woman... and isn't this house doing its spring plowing?"

"The man worrying about my spring plowing is the same one demanding one able-bodied man each!? The spring plowing will work out somehow now that our Nureung-i's here! And who in this village even sees me as a woman!? Never mind, I'll go out for the village communal work like I always do..."

"No, see... one able-bodied man from each household, no matter what..."

Troubled as he was, Uncle Baek kept his fist clenched and repeated the same words over and over like a broken phonograph.

The air had turned uneasy, and Bada hugged Nureung-i's neck tight, and Han Man-seok had come back from the watering spot and was standing beside his wife, when—

"So an able-bodied man is what's needed."

Han San said it with a chuckle.

'A textbook bit of bullying the newcomer.'

It was plain as day. They meant to ship him off to the charcoal kiln site so he couldn't do anything.

Refuse? The villagers' resentment and jealousy, already come to a dangerous stage, would cross the critical point at once. To be shut out in a slash-and-burn village like Sebeom Valley was fatal.

Accept? With him shipped off to the charcoal kiln site, not being able to make money was the lesser matter, and who could say what tricks they'd pull on his parents and Bada in the meantime?

'Not bad at all.'

A sharp strike landed at an exquisite moment. Truly worthy of Old Woman Wangdae, who'd sat deep in Upper Hamlet and held onto power for decades.

But.

"Wait just a moment."

Without the slightest sign of fluster, Han San brushed off his trousers and stood. He walked right past Uncle Baek, who'd been avoiding eyes with a troubled face under Ham Ssang-sim's scolding.

Uncle Baek was startled.

"Hey now, where are you going?"

"To fetch a person."

"A person..."

Han San didn't answer. He just strode off into the distance.

"What in the world..."

Uncle Baek blinked, then was startled once more, in a different sense. Even at Han San's sudden move, the Han family hadn't been the least bit shaken.

No, far from shaken—

'Trust?'

The hard-driving Ham Ssang-sim, the young Han Bada, even Han Man-seok, the head of the house, all stayed quiet without showing the slightest puzzlement or bewilderment.

If anything, you could even glimpse a kind of relief, as if this matter would simply work itself out.

'How...'

The answer revealed itself a little later, when Han San returned.

Only, he hadn't come alone. Han San had his arm slung over the shoulder of some man.

"Now then, allow me to introduce him. My family's uncle has come."

Uncle Baek looked at the man with a dazed face.

The face covered in pockmarks was familiar. He was one of the lackeys Lower Hamlet's Pi Sun-dae kept around, the one called Gomchi.

Slapping that lackey's shoulder, Han San grinned bright.

"This uncle here will be going out for our family's communal work."

"Aye, of course! It's my nephew's family's communal work, so naturally I oughta step right up and go, ain't I."

Gomchi bared his gums in a heh-heh grin. A yellow gold tooth flashed.

"No, hold on..."

Uncle Baek was dumbstruck.

And in that moment, Ham Ssang-sim burst forward.

"Gomchi!"

Who was she? A woman of mettle who'd raised two sons even while saddled with a hunter husband whose leg was ruined. One of them she'd even borne after her husband's leg was ruined and they'd moved to Sebeom Valley.

It took her less than a second to catch on to her son's intent.

"Aigooo! Gomchi! Why are you only coming now!"

Ham Ssang-sim seized Gomchi's hand in both of hers.

Gomchi too grabbed her hands right back.

"Noonim! How I've missed you, noonim!"

"As if that needs saying, you rotten thing! Not a word of news, and you finally show up now? Eeeeh! My eyes have gone raw missing you too!"

"Noonim! Wuhuh! Mighty glad to see you, I really am!"

A truly tearful scene of family reunion was right there in that spot.

Han San rubbed the rims of his eyes with his sleeve.

"Uncle Baek, what a moving moment this is... You shed a few tears too, Uncle. Don't go making the mood weird."

Uncle Baek's mouth gaped open.

[1] The chapter title puns on the place name Inje (인제) and injae (인재, 人材), "talent" or "able people" — near-homophones in Korean; the line reads roughly "fetching talent (injae) from Inje."

[2] The Inwang (인왕, 仁王) are the two muscular Vajra guardian kings who flank the entrances of Buddhist temples, traditionally posed as fierce, immovable protectors.

[3] Seokguram (석굴암, 石窟庵) is a renowned 8th-century Buddhist grotto temple near Gyeongju, famed for its stone Buddha and guardian carvings.

[4] Corvée labor was unpaid compulsory work owed by villagers to a communal authority — here recast as "communal work" but functioning as forced labor.

[5] Wild boar bezoar (저황, 猪黃) is a concretion or dried gallbladder substance taken from a boar and used in traditional medicine, prized as a stomach remedy.

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