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CHAPTER 4
“Ahh….”
Chohui let out a groan and opened her eyes. Her whole body felt as if it had been beaten with clubs.
“Are you awake?”
Her vision slowly focused. Through the fading ringing in her ears, a man’s voice reached her.
“Are you alright? You fainted for a moment.”
As the blurred world fully cleared, Chohui realized she had been lying with her head on the man’s thigh.
“Fortunately, you seem physically fine.”
“Ugh….”
This much pain and he calls it “fine”? Chohui grimaced and forced herself to sit up.
The man tried to help her, but she coldly brushed his hand away.
“Are you blind or something? You call this fine? My whole body feels like it’s been ripped apart!”
“You jumped off a train. That’s only natural.”
[You really are the worst.]
Chohui swallowed the urge to swear and spat out the words in English, cold as ice.
The man tilted his head, unable to understand her.
“What did you say?”
[You shameless, reckless, infuriating man.]
“What are you saying?”
Chohui shot him a frosty glare and stood up, brushing off her skirt.
“What language was that just now?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“That foreign-sounding speech… sounds like French.”
<French? Do you even understand it if I speak it?>
Annoyed, she deliberately replied in French.
“Oh, that was another language?”
“Stop pretending you understand. You can’t even tell French from English.”
He seemed either ignorant or strangely confident—she couldn’t tell which. Chohui frowned openly, and the man gave an awkward smile.
“I never learned foreign languages. But you seem quite educated.”
“And you seem like a thug and a shameless criminal.”
He had knocked out a police officer in an instant, jumped off a moving train, and even had a gun.
There was no doubt—this man was dangerous. The type she should never get involved with.
As Chohui stared at him with suspicion, the man quickly tried to defend himself.
“A thug? I’m just an ordinary businessman.”
“A businessman? You look exactly like a violent gangster to me.”
“Isn’t that a bit harsh to someone who just saved your life?”
At his words, Chohui let out a hollow laugh.
“Saved me? If it weren’t for you, I would’ve arrived safely in Sinŭiju on that train!”
“I apologize for that.”
His face showed no trace of real apology.
How infuriatingly shameless.
Chohui considered arguing further, even fighting again—but stopped herself. It was better for her sanity not to get involved with him any further.
When she stayed silent, the man brushed off his trousers and stood up, stepping closer.
“The sun will set soon. I was heading to Sinŭiju anyway—why don’t we go together?”
“I don’t want to travel with a thug.”
“Then will you go alone?”
At that, she was about to confidently say yes—but suddenly realized she was standing in the middle of empty wilderness.
If she followed the railway, she would eventually reach Sinŭiju, but she didn’t have the confidence to endure that endless journey alone.
Still, traveling with this unknown man might be even more dangerous.
But even a rotten rope might be better than none.
“Fine. Lead the way.”
Across the vast grasslands, the two walked endlessly, using the railway as their guide. The once-blue sky was now painted with colors of dusk.
“Ah.”
The man walking ahead stopped suddenly, as if noticing something.
Following his gaze, Chohui looked up. Far away, black smoke rose from Sinŭiju Station, staining the sunset sky.
Startled, she pointed.
“Smoke! There must be a fire!”
But the man showed no reaction at all.
Instead, he simply urged her to hurry and walked faster.
As they approached the station, the smoke grew thicker. Something felt wrong. Through the dark smoke, a massive shape was blocking the railway.
“What is that?”
As the unfamiliar silhouette became clearer, Chohui’s eyes widened.
“Oh my God—that’s… the train we were on!”
Without thinking, she grabbed the man’s sleeve and pointed.
“It must’ve exploded! Oh my god!”
“……”
It was unmistakably the train she had just been on. If she hadn’t jumped off, she might have been caught in the explosion.
She had survived by a narrow margin. She was lucky.
Or… was she really lucky?
“That means we don’t have time.”
He had said that on the train. No time. Then he suddenly smashed the window and jumped.
Could it be…
Had this man known the train would explode?
Chohui narrowed her eyes and silently stared at him.
If he was involved, she could not afford to stay near him.
She instinctively stopped walking.
“Hey.”
The man halted. With the sun behind him, his face was covered in shadow.
His expression was unreadable.
“What is it?”
“Since we’re at the station now, I’ll be going.”
“It’s getting dark. It might be dangerous. I can take you to your destination—”
“No!”
Before he could finish, Chohui waved her hands quickly.
“It’s fine. I’m meeting someone at the station.”
That wasn’t a complete lie—she was supposed to meet her older brother.
“…If that is so, I understand.”
“I’ll be going now.”
The man seemed as if he wanted to say something, his mouth twitching slightly, but then closed it again.
Taking advantage of the moment, Chohui quickly walked past him.
She felt his gaze on her back, but ignored it.
Because she would never see him again anyway.
Chohui arrived in Sinŭiju’s old town after taking a train. Night had fallen, and darkness settled over the streets. Dim streetlights were enough to guide her steps.
Following the address written on the note from her brother, she finally arrived.
She looked up at a five-story inn. Though worn, the wooden building looked clean enough that her tension eased slightly.
So this is where I wait.
“Welcome.”
A girl in her late teens greeted her from behind the counter. Her long hair was braided into pigtails.
“Are you alone?”
“No, I’m not alone.”
“Are you from Gyeongseong?”
At the accent, the girl widened her eyes and leaned forward on the counter.
“Yes. Have you seen another man from Gyeongseong? His name is Seongga Chihun. He looks similar to me.”
Chohui asked anxiously about her brother. The girl shook her head.
“No man from Gyeongseong has come today.”
“He told me to come here. Was there no note or telegram?”
Again, the girl shook her head.
Chohui swallowed her anxiety.
Maybe he missed the train. Or maybe, because the station exploded, he was delayed.
She forced a sigh down and took out money.
“He hasn’t arrived yet. If he does come, please tell me immediately.”
“Yes, I will.”
Following the girl named Boki, Chohui received a key and went upstairs to her room. It was barely big enough for one person to lie down.
Only then did she finally exhale and sit down heavily.
What an insane day it had been—from police raiding her home, to the mysterious man on the train.
It all felt like a dream.
“So tired…”
Overwhelmed by exhaustion, she fell into a deep sleep without even changing her clothes.
The end of a long day.
“…If that is so, I understand.”
“I’ll be going.”
Doun hesitated, about to ask the woman’s name—but closed his mouth.
It didn’t matter. They would only meet once anyway.
With no attachment left, he watched her hurriedly disappearing back for a long time.
It was obvious she was lying, but he couldn’t stop her.
Saving her from the exploding train was already enough. There was no need to be entangled further with a stranger.
Yet his feet would not move.
He stood like a stone until her figure disappeared completely into the crowd, then finally turned away.
He took a rickshaw from outside the station and arrived at his office overlooking Andong across the Yalu River.
When he opened the door, two people were already inside. The pair on the sofa stood up quickly.
“Michael!”
Joseph hurried over, scanning him.
“You’re safe! Do you know how worried we were when you disappeared midway?”
“There was a Korean passenger in first class.”
Unlike Joseph’s anxious voice, Doun’s tone was cold.
If everything had gone according to plan, all Korean passengers should have survived. But because Joseph changed the plan midway, an innocent person almost died.
The image of the woman being dragged by police flashed in his mind, and he frowned.
“Our plan was to harm no one.”
“I was the one who changed the plan,” said the woman in white hanbok, Rita.
“We couldn’t miss the primary target, Michael. It was necessary.”
“That wasn’t our mission. Our task was only to blow up Sinŭiju Station and temporarily block the route to Manchuria.”
“So you wanted us to just let the target go? Stopping resource exploitation is important, but how could we stand by while the ones who ordered it remain alive?”
“Because of your reckless judgment, an innocent person nearly died! And now future missions will be harder.”
“Even so, the primary target is dead—that sacrifice is acceptable!”
“Rita, do you truly not understand?”
Doun clenched his teeth.
His jaw tightened as he suppressed his anger.
“People died. Now the Japanese will be desperate to uncover who is behind this.”
“That’s the price of a cause!”
“Then we become their first target. Intelligence gathering will become impossible.”
Joseph and Rita turned pale. They hadn’t considered it that far.
Intelligence was the foundation of their independence movement.
“This is worse than I thought…”
“…The consequences will be severe.”
Doun walked to the window and slammed his fist against the blind-covered glass.
Bang!
Beyond the blinds, the British concession district of Andong spread out below—filled with foreign companies under extraterritorial rights.
And within one of those buildings was the branch of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea that had given them their mission.
