“They say he died after eating poisoned food.”
The person who told me this was Mr. Lee, the owner of the dried fish store.
At those words, I sat there as if I had lost my mind, but Mr. Lee added something very secretly.
“There are rumors going around that the assignee was being followed.”
Hwayoung shivered.
A scene that should not happen naturally appeared in my mind.
Bae Jeong-ja, who was said to be Ito Hirobumi's mistress, was now openly obstructing those who were trying to save the country.
Hwayoung didn't doubt Mr. Lee's secret words, but on the other hand, she desperately hoped that even those words were false information.
“No, it might be a fabricated rumor.”
Mr. Lee tilted his head.
“There must be some reason.
There must have been circumstances that made it unavoidable.
“I haven’t even confirmed that he’s dead yet, so don’t go around saying things like that.”
Mr. Lee also ended up keeping his mouth shut at Hwayoung's firm attitude.
In fact, Mr. Lee had not seen Mr. Lansa die, so there was no benefit to spreading the rumor.
(…) After Ms. Lee left, Hwayoung took out the note she had left behind.
It was a fairly thick Western notebook.
Hwayoung carefully opened the first page.
My life is my own.
I live as I think.
My thoughts are there.
To reclaim our lost country! I will gladly become a grain of wheat.
She felt it.
Hwayoung opened only the first page and then closed the notebook.
I got goosebumps when I guessed why she had left the notebook with Hwayoung.
Hwayoung wrapped the notebook neatly in a cloth and put it deep inside the closet.
I haven't had the courage to look at it yet.
I hoped the rumor that she was dead was a fabrication.
Hwayoung decided to wait for her.

--- pp.16~17

Then one day, Hwayoung heard a strange story.

“It looks like a weirdo is coming to our school.
“They allowed him to enroll despite the school rules.”
The woman who changed her name to Sylvia because she hated the name Jeomsoon so much said:
Hwayoung was also well aware that the school rules at Ewha Hakdang had changed a lot recently.

“Ignoring the school rules”
"huh.
“That woman’s distribution is amazing.”
“What distribution?”
“They said married people couldn’t enter, so he came up with a brilliant idea and was admitted.”
“What a brilliant idea!”
“One day she appeared in front of Mr. Fry in the middle of the night.
He said this while putting out the lantern he had brought in front of the teacher.
We are in the dark like this extinguished lamp, so can you not give us the bright light of learning?
So, thanks to the teacher who was impressed with him, he was accepted into the school.”
“Oh, there are women with such courage.”
Hwayoung was curious about that woman.
Then, on her first day at school, we ran into each other by chance in the hallway.
Hwayoung recognized her immediately.
Ah, the woman who caught the thief, the woman who put an end to the evil of the first wife, was she.
It was nice to meet you.
She also recognized Hwayoung.

“It’s nice to meet you here.”
She was the first to reach out.
Hwayoung felt sorry for a moment.
If Hwayoung had known that you had the will to study, it would have been a good idea if she had recommended you.

“It’s really nice to meet you.”
Hwayoung held her hand for a long time.

--- pp.38~39

“I love the women of this land.
Love the women who are uneducated and untreated.
I want to do something for them.
We must become a country where women are treated equally to men.
“Women have the same determination and resolve as men.”
The eyes of Prince Ui, who was looking at Lan Sa with deep affection, were filled with deep trust.
Nodding to Prince Ui's words, she considered all of it to be the right thing to do.
He was also very proud of the fact that he was the one who did that.
But in front of him, I felt infinitely ashamed and pathetic.
The lofty ambition to provide education for the powerless and uneducated women was a trivial matter in front of His Majesty the King.
It was possible that Lee Kang had deep faith in Lansa's courage.
Even Esther was surprised that Lansa, who had been so arrogant in front of His Majesty, had done such a thing.
Her desire for women's education was deeper and more passionate than anyone else's.

“It’s amazing.
How did you come up with that idea?”
He looked at Haransa intently, holding a glass of wine in his hand.

“He is a Japanese stooge.
Isn't he the person who clung to Japan and served as the president of the Korean Central Christian Youth Association (YMCA), the president of the Korean Sports Association, an advisor to the Privy Council, and even the principal of Yonhui College?
Someone needs to rebut this harshly.”
"hmm……."
He leaned against the wall, letting out a short groan.
The paper window rattled a few times as the wind blew.
The door seemed loose.
The clattering sound pierced the empty space several times.

--- pp.175~176

Lanza sat quietly beside him and continued to recite the Declaration of Independence.
He sat with his eyes closed and listened while Lanza recited the sentence.
Then, when Lansa stopped memorizing, he opened his eyes and continued.

“It has been ten years since our people, for the first time in thousands of years of history, suffered oppression by another people, falling victim to the aggression and authoritarianism that are relics of an old era….”
And then there was silence again.
He had another drink.
Without any side dishes.
His hand holding the glass trembled slightly.
He held out his glass without saying a word.
Lansa also accepted the glass without saying a word.
The alcohol that went down my throat was as bitter as poison.
Drink a glass of alcohol and memorize a sentence, drink another glass and memorize a sentence, and so on several times.
Tears like blood flowed from his eyes.
It was a tribute to his father, a tribute to Emperor Gojong, the emperor of a country, and the people's aspiration to save their country from the abyss.
They had already been repeating the same sentence several times.

“The March 1st Declaration of Independence is the pride of Korea.
“4,252 years after the founding of Joseon, all actions must respect order, and our claims and attitudes must be upright and just.”
The trees in the yard trembled.
Even the sky in alcohol is blue.
Feeling powerless and unable to do anything, he just drank alcohol.
I kept my mouth shut, my eyes closed, my ears closed, and my heart empty.
No, I can't contain it.
Sometimes, when he opened his mouth, all he said was, "Look here."
Then, when I got drunk, I collapsed without any strength.
He could not say that he was a living person.
A goblin with all his limbs cut off, he didn't move.
If only I could, if only I could disappear into the ground, if only I could disappear without a trace… … .
He would like to do so.
Lanza's heart was torn apart.
Yet, I couldn't do anything for him.
However, there was a friend named Haransa who drank with him.

--- pp.233~234

As I entered the prison, I heard shouts from somewhere.
“Long live Korean independence! We are frogs!”
Hwayoung knew what they meant when they shouted.
She was well aware of the practice of cramming so many prisoners into a small room that they couldn't even sit down, torturing them so they couldn't physically rest.
My teeth were clenched.
But there was nothing she could do there.
Prayer was literally just prayer.
Nothing could comfort them or give them strength.
I felt so pathetic about myself.
But right now, meeting Sooni is the top priority.
After meeting, we had to find a specific method.
The prison cell where Sooni was imprisoned was said to be cell number 8 in the women's prison.
Thinking of Sooni, locked in a damp, dark cell with no sunlight, made my heart ache as if it were struck by a stone.
Yu Gwan-sun, Eo Yun-hee, Kwon Ae-ra, Shin Gwan-bin, Sim Myeong-cheol, Kim Hyang-hwa, Lim Myeong-ae… … .
Except for Yu Gwan-sun and Hyang-hwa, I didn't know them, but I thought that even if I met them, their eyes would look the same.
(…)
As I turned around and left after finishing the prayer, I heard a faint singing voice.
“……When I was kneeling on both knees in my mud-colored overalls and praying to God, when I threw two plates of rice and beans through the open window, I prayed with tears of blood.
Daehan lived.
The mountains and rivers move and the sea boils.
Ehei dehei ehei dehei Korea is alive, Korea is alive… … .”
Even before the song ended, the guards with fierce expressions rushed in.
He was holding a club in his hand.
Even without seeing it, the scenery afterward would have been miserable.
The phrase, 'Daehan lived' pierced my heart.

--- pp.285~289