A new historical fairy tale by Han Yun-seop, author of "The Boy Who Delivered the Letter,"
Reviving the memories of the Righteous Army, the front line of the anti-Japanese movement!

A warm historical imagination, the tension of restrained sentences, and the lingering aftertaste of intense growing pains…
Han Yun-seop, the author of 『The Child Who Delivers Letters』, which was loved by 100,000 readers, has returned after a long wait.
This is the sixth full-length fairy tale and the second historical fairy tale published in ten years.
The historical fairy tale "The Boy Who Delivers Letters," published in 2011, depicts the journey of a twelve-year-old peddler boy through the midst of the Donghak Peasant Revolution.
It received attention as a new grammatical growth fairy tale that combined historical and literary value with excellent composition and refined writing style.
Meanwhile, the author, who is also active as a playwright, is a storyteller of modern history who has presented plays based on the assassination of Empress Myeongseong, the flight of the Russian legation, and the new military academy.

This time, he relives the memories of the righteous army that stood at the forefront of the anti-Japanese movement, taking place 16 years after the Donghak Peasant Revolution, the setting of his previous work.
The year was 1910, when the child who delivered the letter would have become someone's father if he had grown up.
That is, two years after the start of the Japanese colonial period, an eleven-year-old illiterate boy with no dreams sets out to find his father's grave in order to change his fate, which was shrouded in darkness.
And in the process, he carves out his own destiny with a single shoulder.
The author tells the story of two generations of anti-Japanese resistance, from father (a member of the Eulsa Righteous Army) to son (a member of the Bongodong Battle Independence Army), and movingly compares the starting point of courage that overcame the darkest period in modern Korean history to the story of a child's growth.

In fact, the late Joseon Dynasty volunteer army is introduced for several pages in elementary school social studies textbooks, but it is not as clearly imprinted in our minds as the independence activists who had a strong presence.
However, the author reminds us that, even if they were ultimately frustrated, it was the volunteer army that first rose up and confronted the vivid horrors of imperialism head-on, and that it was the independence army that struggled to bring news of victory to their homeland from a cold and unfamiliar foreign land.
This work is even more meaningful in 2020, the 100th anniversary of the independence army's victory in the Battle of Bongodong and the Battle of Cheongsanri.

Above all, the true charm of this work comes from the growth of the main character, the child.
If the journey in 『The Child Who Delivers Letters』 was the child's own path to finding 'happiness', in 『Your Destiny』, the protagonist child pursues the keyword 'darkness'.
The keywords that the child persistently digs into will make us look back not only at the harsh landscape of the times, but also at the darkness deep within us.

Seed of Darkness
A thatched-roof house that was about to collapse, a rotting wooden fence, a door full of holes, a pot with a few potatoes left, a cold stove, tattered clothes, my mother's face that looked tired every day, a neat tiled house in the distance, a gentleman wearing a pure white robe and walking with a servant—they all caught my eye in their own individual forms.
But strangely enough, everything around me fit so well with the word 'darkness'.

--- p.
14

Three baskets of barley rice
“What will I do with my life when I grow up?”
At those words, the old man sharpening his sword stopped what he was doing and looked at the child for a while.
And then he opened his mouth as if he had decided on something.
“(Omitted) Since you have no land, you will eventually become a tenant farmer with a lot of debt, and if you don’t like that, you will run away and live as a wanderer.
Then, if you have bad intentions, you will steal, and if you don't like that, you will become a beggar.
Then, if you get sick, you will die without ever trying medicine.
Then it will be abandoned somewhere without a grave.”
The old man looked at the distant mountains for a moment.
And he added the final words.
“I don’t mean to scare you.
“This is the Joseon you live in.”
A bitter smile appeared on the old man's face as he finished speaking.
'Is that my future? Is my father also abandoned somewhere like that, without a grave? That's not possible.
I don't want to be that kind of adult.'
--- pp.
70~72

Why does a tree cutter go to a private school?
“You want to make money by selling other people’s trees?”
“I will bring the same kind of firewood to your house as well.”
“Why do you need money?”
“I will go to a private school.”
“Why does a tree cutter go to a private school?”
“I will change my fate.”
The child spoke confidently.
He was no longer a sinner.
“You’re going to cut down trees, sell them, go to a private school, and change your fate?”
"yes."
“Why, don’t you like your fortune right now?”
The child couldn't answer right away.
I was worried whether I could say everything I wanted to say to the nobleman.
But on the other hand, he wanted to speak confidently to the nobleman who had been exploiting him.
“I am living in a dark place right now.
It seems like many people, except for the nobles, live like that.
Winter is coming and there is no place to put a load of wood.
“I want to live better than I do now.”
There was so much more I wanted to say, but I couldn't say it all.
“So, are you saying you want to learn to write so you can become rich?”
Although he clearly wanted to become rich, the boy suddenly wanted to say something more plausible to the nobleman who had given him a hard time.
At that moment, the face of the scholar who had been crying came to mind.
"no.
It is said that Joseon was taken over by the Japanese not long ago.
“I will learn to read and write, become rich, and take back my lost country.”
--- pp.
95~98

Winter hunting
“Where did you get this?”
“I picked it up.”
“Where did you pick up the gun?”
I didn't understand what it meant to pick up a gun.
“I picked it up when the Righteous Army rose up in the year of Eulsa.”
“The volunteers lost their last battle against the Japanese and were scattered.”
The word 'righteous army' came out of the old man's mouth.
At that moment, the child's heart began to pound.
“I went to the place where that battle took place.
To find people.
I picked it up there.
I've been keeping it secretly all this time.
“I cleaned it well so it’s still usable.”
“Did a lot of people die back then?”
The child asked cautiously.
“A lot of people died.
Probably hundreds.
Quite a few Japanese people died too.
Of course, more Koreans died.
Because I lost the fight.
(Omitted) My younger brother fought there.
The Japanese kept looking down on Joseon, so I couldn't stand it anymore and stepped forward.
“I found that kid’s body there.”
As he said that, the old man looked at the gun.
It seemed like he was recalling that time.
“It was all in vain.”
“You say that the volunteer army is a useless thing?”
“The Japanese are well-trained soldiers and are even properly equipped with weapons.
Because the outcome was obvious.
So they're all dead."
The old man sharpening his sword never took his eyes off the gun, as if he were talking to it.
“What happens to those who die fighting like that?”
“If you don’t claim the body at home, the government troops or the Japanese will bury it in one place.”
A picture of hundreds of corpses lying in a large pit flashed through my mind.
“You said you wanted to become a volunteer soldier who seeks the country, right?”
The child was momentarily speechless at the old man's question.
“Yes, I will work to find the country.
“It’s a volunteer army.”
The child clenched his teeth to hide his fear.
Then the old man smiled.
“That’s why I wanted to show you this gun.
“You are a man of great things.”
“But is the volunteer army really a useless thing?”
The old man shook his head at the child's question.
“No, it’s the coolest thing.”
--- pp.
110~112

Uninvited guest of spring
Feeling regretful, the child raised both hands as if holding guns and aimed at the Japanese soldiers approaching from afar.
Then he took a slow breath and made a gesture of pulling the trigger with his finger.
'bang!'
He made a small sound with his mouth.
And just as the old man had taught me, I loaded the bullet and aimed again.
At that moment, the child felt as if he had made eye contact with the Japanese soldier he was aiming for.
I quickly lowered my hand.
Even though our eyes weren't close enough to meet, I felt a chill for some reason.
The old man sharpening his knife seemed to have noticed the situation as the child moved.
“You must remain silent and not say anything.
If you do something wrong, you will die a dog's death.”
The old man began sharpening his knife as if nothing had happened.
The child also kept his eyes fixed on the old man's whetstone and did not look anywhere else.
The sound of horse hooves was getting closer.
The child's heart began to pound wildly.
At some point, the sound of horse hooves stopped in front of the two people.
The child pretended not to know anything and did not raise his head.
The old man who sharpened his knife also continued to sharpen his knife.
There was no sound and everything was quiet.
A cold sweat ran down my back.
After a while, the sound of horse hooves began to be heard again.
The child did not raise his head until the sound of the Japanese soldiers' footsteps completely disappeared.
The first to raise his head was the old man sharpening his sword.
“I almost got into trouble.”
The old man sighed.
Only then did the child raise his head.
The Japanese soldiers had already disappeared.

--- pp.
125~126