WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Chapter 87: Armed Organization for Transforming the National Polity [Inwangdang] (2)
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Two chairs stood side by side on the iron deck.
Imok sat.
Han San sat as well.
The men of the Inwang Gang stood in ranks on either side. Those with rifles slung over their shoulders stood to the left, while those holding hwando swords stood to the right. Their lines were straight, their toes aligned.
At this royal audience of the Inwang Gang, a man dressed in animal skins, his whole face covered in hair, stepped forward.
“Ahem. I am Park Sang-jun. I shall speak on the Elder’s behalf.
“The tribute tax paid by those wishing to launch boats upon these waters is, by custom...”
Han San looked at the man called Park Sang-jun.
‘So it was this man.’
That mudflat. The Haetae cigarette burning down to the filter. The hand that pulled it away when his lips began to burn.
[Who was the one who took charge of Lord Han?]
[It was me, Elder. As you know, Brother Man-seok was terribly stubborn...]
Han San smiled as he looked at the man who had “taken charge of” his father in his past life, the man who had called his father Brother Man-seok.
Then he raised a hand.
“First, there’s something I’d like to ask.”
Sang-jun fell silent. When his eyes sought Imok, Imok nodded without taking his gaze from Han San.
Han San nodded back.
“I’d like to know what kind of organization the Inwang Gang is.”
The shoulders of the men in formation stirred faintly.
What kind of organization was the Inwang Gang? Was that worth interrupting a discussion of tribute money for?
It was to Han San.
‘Father said he’d been active in the Righteous Army.’
Han San had always found that claim a little strange.
Because...
‘The timing doesn’t fit.’
His father had injured his leg and come to Sebeom Valley when Han San was three or four years old. That was about fifteen years ago. He had captured the Type 38 infantry rifle around then as well.
But fifteen years ago meant 1918.
Japan annexed Korea in 1910, and the age of the Righteous Army had ended in the Gyeongsul Year. The embers that remained afterward called themselves the Independence Army.
‘Yet Father always called it Righteous Army activity.’
His father was not a man who used words carelessly. A man like that always made exact distinctions in his terms.
In other words, though he had remained active until 1918, his father had been involved in something that could be called not the Independence Army, but only the Righteous Army.
Han San’s gaze swept over Imok.
‘He carries the blood of King Danjong, received Heaven’s mandate after the incense at Jongmyo went out, and founded a new state...’
He had a guess. Still, he wanted to be certain.
So Han San asked plainly.
“Is the Inwang Gang the Independence Army?”
Park Sang-jun paused.
Imok answered at once.
“No.”
Swish. A folding fan opened, hiding his lower face. His unusually well-defined eyes rose over rain-soaked Mount Inwang like the moon and sun.
“I do not seek to restore the fallen Sajik. I do not bow before a Jongmyo whose incense has gone out.
“Our Dynasty is a new court founded at Baekdu Mountain.”
In a voice like one reading from an account book, the man closed one country and opened another.
Sang-jun cleared his throat and added,
“We do maintain ties with those beyond the Tumen River. Shanghai was... quite far away, of course, but we were in contact with them until last year. I hear they are in Hangzhou now, and we are trying to restore contact.”
Han San’s eyes lit up.
“If I wished it, could you put me in touch with them?”
The stir this time was somewhat greater.
Sang-jun’s beard trembled as he made an awkward face.
“Young man... I know you are young, but do you understand what sort of path that is...?”
“Ah, you misunderstand.”
What Han San had thought on the day he inherited his father’s rifle had not changed. He would not take up a gun himself and leap into the war for independence.
‘Family comes first.’
His family had always come first. That principle had never changed.
Still.
“If my circumstances improve in the future, couldn’t I show my sincerity somehow?”
It was possible, and necessary.
Not only for the country and its people, but for himself and his family as well.
‘I need to prepare early for after liberation.’
Surely that preparation could not end with getting rid of the photographic plate taken with Sawada.
‘That’s only to avoid the Committee for the Investigation of Anti-National Activities. Wouldn’t it be nice to earn an Order of Merit for National Foundation too? Preferably the Republic of Korea Medal, first class.’
The Provisional Government was especially desperate for financial support from now until liberation, with its Shanghai offices having fallen apart. Thinking of establishing the Han family as the finest distinguished house after liberation, Han San found himself salivating without realizing it...
Sang-jun, wholly unaware of Han San’s thoughts, relaxed. Emotion also rose on the faces of several men in formation, those who had come with Imok to pay their respects at the abandoned house site in Han San’s past life.
“It can be done. Leave it to me.”
Sang-jun thumped his chest.
“Ordinarily, I take a commission when someone asks me for this, but for you, I’ll deliver every last coin without taking a single jeon.”
“Are you really all right with giving me such favorable terms?”
When Han San asked as though surprised, Sang-jun realized his mistake. It did not last long.
“Ha ha. How could I take a commission when a young man’s love for his country is so admirable?”
That was what he said, but Han San knew he was surely doing it for his father’s sake.
He simply smiled and moved on to his next question.
“Thank you. Do you have contacts in other foreign countries as well...?”
“Manchuria, as I mentioned.”
Sang-jun began counting on his fingers.
“We can reach the Soviet Union too. Japan as well. As for anywhere else... to be honest, we can make contact nearly anywhere, France and America included. It will take some time and money, though.”
Being able to travel between Russia, Japan, and Manchuria meant precisely that.
“That’s impressive. If I ever need it, I’ll ask you for a favor.”
Han San grinned broadly. He had just acquired a foreign embassy called the Inwang Gang, privately run but universal in function.
The possible uses were truly endless!
‘For example, illicit remittance, laundering stolen goods, and illegal entry... Though, well.’ Han San thought he might be a picture-perfect piece of human trash to some degree, but he was not just that sort of bastard. ‘For example... there must be something. Nothing comes to mind right now, but something right and just, something with that sort of feeling...’
Nothing really did come to mind. Surely there had to be something?
‘No, never mind. Speaking of laundering stolen goods...’
Han San looked at Sang-jun.
“I heard the Inwang Gang handles a certain special kind of merchandise...”
Sang-jun’s expression stiffened at once. The eyes of the men standing on either side turned cold as well.
It was not the sort of thing an old comrade’s son, an eighteen-year-old boy, ought to seek. Whether he meant to smoke it or sell it.
But Han San smiled.
“Automobiles.”
The frozen faces immediately loosened. A faint chuckle even escaped from somewhere in the ranks.
Han San had not forgotten the conversation he overheard from the bandits on his first journey to Sokcho.
[Why not? I hear the Inwang Gang bastards make a fortune stealing cars.]
[Where do they sell the stolen cars?]
[How should I know? Some say they drive them to Chuncheon and sell them there. Some say they load them on a ship and send them to Primorye...]
This was an organization that operated ironclad whaling ships and traveled between Manchuria and Russia. That story had more than enough credibility.
Sang-jun smiled.
“It’s possible. But at the moment, there’s no stock... Cars are like sea bream. They don’t turn up often, and they don’t keep long. It’s hard to catch the kind you want, too.”
“If it were a one-ton cargo truck, how much would it cost, roughly...?”
“The price varies greatly by type and condition, but for that kind... around 200 won.”
Han San cheered inwardly.
‘A used one-ton truck goes for 1,500 won!’
Of course, he could not use stolen goods as they were.
Would Kim Mal-ja, no, Kim Seong-ja in Chuncheon, have to step in? In any event, if he borrowed the hands of those ladies from the great gangster family to launder it and hired a driver too, he would need to add at least another 100 won.
‘Even then, it’s one-fifth the price.’
Until the Great Flood of the Gapsul Year, it would be perfect for use around his territory alone.
“If an opportunity arises, please do help me.”
Just as he said that with his hands clasped together.
Swish.
The folding fan shut once, then opened again.
Imok had moved.
“Today, you asked me questions, sought things from me, and sought yet more.”
Imok’s eyes rose over the Clearing After Rain on Mount Inwang and turned toward Han San.
“Now I shall recite the account.”
The sunset sank another hand-span. The shadows of the men in formation stained the iron audience chamber dark red.
“The waters upon which you wish to travel hereafter are the territory of Our Dynasty. What you sought today are the connections, windows, and goods of Our Dynasty.
“How will you pay their price?”
If Im Baechil had heard it, he would have trembled. If the Chuk brothers had heard it, they would have held their breath.
But the only person on the deck now was the sajang of Han’s Myriad Commerce.
“It’s better to settle accounts clearly.”
Han San reached into his coat.
Several men in formation flinched on reflex, then paused again when they saw what he drew out.
It was a photograph.
A one-eyed man in the uniform of the Japanese military police stood beside Han San in the picture.
“As you can see, I happen to be rather close with the commander of the Inje military police.”
Han San then took out his Contract Assistant Forest Warden badge as well.
“This is the official title that man gave me.
“He kept trying to give me things. Even though I told him I didn’t need them, Sawada kept saying, ‘I really want to treat you well,’ and begging me to accept them. He was so insistent, honestly.”
The eyes standing in formation around the iron audience shifted about without finding their direction. Only Imok’s clearly outlined eyes watched Han San without wavering.
Han San spread his fingers toward those eyes.
“But this photograph and this title came with conditions.”
“Conditions?”
“Yes. That man currently has his eye on three groups, and he told me to gather information on them.”
He counted the fingers he had spread.
“The Gyeongseong Troika, the Inwang Gang, and Baekbaekgyo.”
The deck fell silent.
Only Han San’s voice carried over it.
“The military police classify the Inwang Gang as the most dangerous of all robber bands. They know it is armed with firearms.
“But they have yet to identify its base or its size.
“That is the first piece of merchandise.”
Han San put the photograph and badge away.
“I’ll provide further goods whenever I have the opportunity, so long as I remain close to Sawada.”
At last, the eyes of the Inwang Gang’s men found their direction.
Sang-jun made a sound that was neither an exclamation nor a groan.
“Huh... So you mean you’ll become a cuckoo in the military police bastards’ nest?”
“Sawada will think I’m just his dog, at least.”
After saying it, Han San had a brief regret. If he had layered in one more “dog” there, he could have gifted his father’s old friends with a joke as well...
Even without that amusing joke, Park Sang-jun burst into hearty laughter.
“Ha ha! Really! That sort of nerve, it, ahem! In any case, it reminds me of someone!”
The man swallowed the rest of his sentence and cleared his throat.
Imok did not laugh.
His folding fan slowly folded shut instead. The Clearing After Rain on Mount Inwang folded away section by section, revealing beneath it a clean-shaven lower face that called a banker to mind.
“Are you volunteering to become a double agent?”
Well, when he put it so plainly, Han San could not help wondering whether he really was human trash after all. But the seventy-four-year-old man, confident he could live honorably even without laws, decided not to think too deeply about it.
He simply said,
“It’s what I can offer now, and something you might buy at a high price.”
Imok looked at Han San for some time. His eyes were so sharply defined they seemed almost bluish.
“It is dangerous work.”
“Yes.”
Han San did not deny it.
The old man who had regressed without ever seeing the 1990s naturally could not have watched the world-class films Infernal Affairs or New World, but he had watched Man on the Brink and City on Fire, their spiritual forebears.
Still.
“You’ll only pay dearly if I do it knowing it’s dangerous.”
His father’s old superior seemed to fall into thought.
Then.
“That is reasonable.”
Imok rose to his feet.
“I shall consider the account settled. Your ship may travel the waters of Our Dynasty.”
When Han San crossed the plank and returned to the putt-putt boat, the people of Han’s Myriad Commerce threw their arms around him.
“Sajang! You made it back safe!”
“S-sajang... Don’t do such dangerous things... If your mother finds out... No, if you have to, take me with you...”
Han San laughed heartily and eased Chuk Hong-cheol and Im Baechil out of his embrace.
“Come on. You can’t avoid taking risks. And if you’re going to take a risk, isn’t it better to do it alone so you don’t inconvenience anyone else?”
It had not even been a risk. In the end, was it not just a meeting with his father’s old friends?
What? Those old boys were restoration-crazed monarchists, opium-growing drug dealers, smuggling geniuses, and a gang of robbers? Well... the seventy-four-year-old man’s eyes were dim, so he did not know about things like that.
Anyway.
“They say we don’t have to pay tribute. And this is, uh, a token those people gave me. They said if we show it in Sokcho, Wonsan, Yangyang, Goseong, or Primorye, we can contact the Inwang Gang.”
When he held up the horse pass Sang-jun had given him, a real horse pass, a round iron plaque with a horse drawn on it, the people of Han’s Myriad Commerce passed it around and clicked their tongues.
“Wow! This... This is a horse pass, isn’t it? Even I know royal secret inspectors!”
“It’s well made!”
“When they were talking about King Danjong, it sounded ridiculous, but seeing they even prepared props like this... I don’t know if they’re sincere or simply saying things, but either way, it’s frightening.”
Around then, the ironclad ship was moving away with the sun at its back, toward the darkening horizon.
It was then that Broker Jang, who had looked from the horse pass to Han San and then to the stern of the ironclad in amazement, spoke.
“No one knows where those people’s base is.”
“You don’t know?”
“That’s right. Even I, the contact person who receives this plaque in Sokcho... I’ve been doing this for ten years and don’t know. I only know the method of making contact.”
Broker Jang looked relieved, though.
“But there are things in this world that don’t need to be known. Would the people of the Inwang Gang let anyone who knew such things live?”
“That’s true...”
The people of Han’s Myriad Commerce nodded. This too was probably one of the countless boxes in the world better left unopened.
Han San nodded as well.
‘I know, though.’
In his past life.
There came the difficult time when the name Inwang Gang vanished from the world, when his father’s inheritance, which he had not even known existed, disappeared and he had to truly stand on his own.
Han San remembered something Sawada Kazuo had said in passing.
[Those bastards were on Baekdo.]
The East Sea.
There were many cormorants on that sea.
White reefs covered in bird droppings stretched in a line from the waters off Busan to the waters off Wonsan. People called all of them Baekdo, White Island, so there were countless Baekdos in the East Sea.
But to the Inwang Gang, Baekdo meant only one island.
Imok’s royal ship headed toward that place.
“That boy has nerve, I’ll give him that.”
Sang-jun spoke with heated excitement.
“And he has skill. I heard he wiped out the Misiryeong Pass bandits before the typhoon. That boy did.”
“He is every bit Brother Man-seok’s son.”
“A tiger would never sire a cur.”
The Founding Meritorious Subjects who had been with Imok since Baekdu Mountain joined in. Sang-jun nodded, then suddenly looked to Imok with a careful expression.
“Should I have brought up Brother Man-seok first, Elder?”
Imok shook his head.
“He is a clever boy. He must have already heard of it from Lord Han. He would have known that invoking that name would make the conversation easier.”
But he had not invoked it.
Whether father or son, their stubbornness was something else...
Imok hid his lower face with his folding fan. The shape of his mouth could not be seen, but Sang-jun, who had served Imok for many years, knew he was smiling.
In truth, Sang-jun was smiling too. So were the other Founding Meritorious Subjects.
The leader of the Inwang Gang summed it up.
“Let us respect his intention. Just as we respected Lord Han’s intention.”
That settled the matter.
But affairs of state never stopped.
“What became of the meeting with the Soviet agents?”
“Do you mean the man or the woman?”
“Both.”
“Jorige is moving somewhere soon, apparently. They say where he’s going is top secret. As for Anna... ha, who can understand what that woman is thinking?”
Sang-jun recalled the woman with sleepy eyes and scratched the back of his head hard.
“The railway... In the end, they’ve been fighting over the railway since May. Sell it, don’t sell it. Isn’t that all it comes down to? Whether it’s the Japanese bastards or the Russians, they’re only measuring whether war will happen or not.”
“What is your view?”
“Won’t it happen? Next year... or even the year after.”
“Is that so.”
Imok nodded and turned his attention to the next matter.
“What of those criminals?”
A red light came into the eyes of Sang-jun, that good-natured bearded man in animal skins.
“We have one middleman in the cargo hold. The bastard crawled all the way into Sokcho, trying to lure women away.”
“Let us see him later.”
The iron ship was nearing its destination.
At first, it looked like nothing more than a reef whitened by cormorant droppings.
But as they approached, that reef grew larger.
It opened its mouth.
The cliffs parted, and a waterway stretched inward. The instant the iron ship entered, gun ports running along the cliffs turned their gaze toward it one after another.
When the final gun port shut its eye, the iron ship reached a land of flowers.
A basin lay hidden in the center where the cliffs leaned shoulder to shoulder and bowed their heads. What filled it was neither crops nor fruit trees, but flowers.
Scentless flowers, as though folded from paper, swayed gently.
The sunset settling over drained leaves took on an abyssal red, and round poppy pods remained wherever flowers had fallen, raised like clenched fists.
Opium poppies.
Once under the Tang, then once again under the Qing. Imok climbed into the field and looked over the crop whose name had brought empires down twice as he waited.
Sang-jun came up carrying a gamani sack.
“Heave-ho!”
Thump. The sack thrown into the middle of the poppy field wriggled strangely.
Sang-jun grinned and untied the sack’s rope. A bloodied face suddenly popped out from within and screamed.
“Y-you bastards, how dare you!
“Do you know who I am? Do you know what position I hold in the cult!
“Are you not afraid of the Great Magistrate’s divine power, you robber bastards!
“You will be judged! You will be judged by water! White white white, red red red, righteous righteous righ...”
When Imok held out his hand, Sang-jun presented him with a hwando sword.
“For deceiving and misleading the people, and harming the common folk in the territory of Our Dynasty.”
The blade slipped free of its scabbard and caught the final light of evening.
“Execute without delay.”
It swung.
The chanting stopped, and the sack lay down among the flowers.
The wind blew.
The flowers, the stems, the poppy pods standing like clenched fists all swayed in their own ways, revealing the outlines of sacks lying here and there.
Some were old and decayed, while others still retained their color. Some were completely tattered, while others looked as though they had been set down only moments ago.
The ages of the sacks held in the arms of the poppies were just as varied.
Imok handed the hwando back to Sang-jun and flicked open his folding fan.
Over the mist of rain-soaked Mount Inwang, the clearly outlined sun and moon looked down upon the flower field.
“This year’s crop will ripen well too.”
Footnotes:
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