Part 1: Those who climbed over the National Assembly wall that day and those who gave their backs

012 The day the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea lifted martial law by leaping over the wall like the wind and following the procedures honestly _ Woo Won-sik (Speaker of the 22nd National Assembly, first half)
026 The Voices of the Citizens Who Were There That Day: Park Seon-woo, Lim Gwang-hyeon, and Park Chan-dae
028 "If the coup had succeeded, I wouldn't be alive." _Kim Sang-wook (former People Power Party member of the National Assembly, now the Democratic Party of Korea)
038 The Voices of the Citizens Who Were There That Day Ok Hyung-bin, Moon Seong-min, Kang Young-soo, Park Shin-dong, Heo Woo-jin, Song Hwa
040 The man who stood firm, clutching the cold barrels of martial law troops with his bare hands - Ahn Gwi-ryeong (Deputy Spokesperson for the Presidential Office, former Spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Korea)
046 "It was a time when a decisive decision was needed for democracy." _Han Dong-hoon (former People Power Party leader)
056 Jeon Tae-sam, the younger brother of the late Jeon Tae-il, stands once again in the midst of martial law. _ Jeon Tae-sam (labor union activist, younger brother of the late Jeon Tae-il)
062 Orchid and Chaos - The moment you think that, Prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol returns. _ Park Eun-jung (National Assembly Member, Cho Kuk Reform Party)
070 The voices of the citizens who were there that day Kim Jong-hyuk, Baek Hye-ryeon, Kim Do-yeong, Kim Won-i, and Ryu Hyeok
072 That night, a blind member of the National Assembly searched for a gap to climb over the wall. _Kim Ye-ji (People Power Party member of the National Assembly)
081 Confession of an Actor Who Has Read "The Sorrow of the Survivor" Again and Again Since That Day _ Wonjong Lee (actor)
088 Six hours of martial law is too long. Three years of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration are too long. _Cho Kuk (former Emergency Response Committee Chairman, Cho Kuk Innovation Party)
096 The poet called out loud the name of his wife, who had become a "target of removal" under martial law. _ Go Min-jeong (Democratic Party of Korea, National Assembly Member) | Jo Gi-yeong (Poet)
106 The Voices of the Citizens Who Were There That Day Choi Mi-jeong, Han Jun-ho, Lee Dae-seon, Lee Hae-min, Jeong Hee-jeong, and Hwang Yuk-ik
108 That night, a call came in informing the emergency martial law priority arrest team. _ Ahn Gyu-baek (Minister of National Defense)
115 The Tearful Legacy a Martial Law Veteran's Mother Left Her Daughter That Day _Han Jae-yong (Teacher) | Kim Han-min-young (Activist)
121 "Everyone around me thought, 'He's lost his mind.'" How did Kim Min-seok predict martial law? _Kim Min-seok (Prime Minister)
128 The Voices of Citizens Who Were There That Day: Kim Byeong-ju, Boo Seung-chan, Cheon Jun-ho, Park Seon-won

Part 2: For the people who bring forth the brightest light when the country is in darkness

132 Retirement due to martial law _Hong Won-gi (production worker)
Martial law forces attempted to bind civilians with cable ties. A reporter who overcame the trauma of that day and resolved to reveal the truth. _Yoo Ji-woong (News Tomato reporter)
146 The voices of the citizens who were there that day: Raphael Rashid, Park Hee-young, Bae Dong-ho, and Lee Hae-sik
148 In Search of "Tank Man," the Hero of That Day Whom President Lee Jae-myung Also Begged to See _ Kim Dong-hyun (Social Activist)
156 Musicians fight against the oppression of revealing their political views, against the fear of martial law _ Hwang In-kyung (musician of the band 'Electric Eel')
Actors from the 164th Special Forces Unit Convince Their Juniors to Join the Martial Law Forces _ Lee Kwan-hoon (actor, former member of the 707th Special Mission Unit)
170 The Voices of the Citizens Who Were There That Day: Park Chan-ik, Baek Yeong-min, Lee Shin-cheol, Shin So-hyun, and Seong Gyeong-heon
172 That day, after the vote, martial law troops and National Assembly staff continued to fight at the back door of the National Assembly. _Kim Min-ki (Secretary General of the National Assembly)
178 The Voices of the Citizens Who Were There That Day: Ahn Do-hyun, Kang Jeong-wook, Lee Gwang-bok, Jo In-tae, and Yoon Gyeong-hwang
The day the People Power Party spokesperson barricaded the National Assembly to block martial law troops _ Park Sang-soo (lawyer, former People Power Party spokesperson)
189 "Participating in the vote that day was the right choice." _Han Ji-ah (People Power Party member of the National Assembly)
The 196 Sewol Ferry Generation Goes to the National Assembly to Stop Martial Law _Song Young-kyung (University Student)
202 The Voices of the Citizens Who Were There That Day Hong Ye-rin Kim Ye-dam Park Soon-hyung Shin Hyeong-mok Shim Ji-hoo Lee Jae-hoon
The Determination of a Graduate Student Who Held the National Assembly Entrance on the Night of Martial Law _Lee Jae-jeong (Graduate Student)
The 211th Army was passive, and the citizens were active. _Choi Jin-young (office worker)
216 The Voices of Citizens Who Were There That Day: Kim Hye-jeong, Yoon Hyun-joo, Seok Min-joo, Kim So-won, Lee Yong-seon, Lee Ji-yoon
218 Looking for the person who blocked the martial law bus with me - Oh Jong-gil (self-employed restaurant owner)
225 A meeting of rich men in front of the National Assembly that night - Park Yong-jin (former Democratic Party of Korea member of the National Assembly)

Part 3: We must muster our courage to stop this martial law.

Yoon Seok-yeol's "warning martial law" remarks are linguistically tainted and corrupted. _Kim Jin-hae (Professor, Humanities College, Kyung Hee University)
240 Voices of the Citizens Who Were There That Day: Ahn Deok-hun, Choi Bo-geun, Kwon Byeong-jin, Kwon Ma-ro, Park Geon, Jo Ye-chan, Han Il-hwan
Martial law due to allegations of election fraud makes even engineers laugh _ Oh Hyun-ok (Professor, Department of Information Systems, Hanyang University)
249 Perpetrators of state violence also ultimately suffer from trauma. _Lee Jae-seung (Professor, Konkuk University Law School)
254 Voices of the Citizens Who Were There That Day: Yoo Ha-young, Choi Hee-yoon, Lee Ji-hoon, Hwang In-soo, Kim Hee-jung
256 The lawyer's cry to the martial law troops that day: "I will make you innocent, so disobey." _Jeong Gu-seung (lawyer)
262 Voices of the Citizens Who Were There That Day: Oilnam Park Pyeonghwa Park Beomsu Kim Gyeonghyeon Han Dongsu
Marine Corps Uiyeoldan members reassured citizens gathered at the National Assembly _ Kang Gu-seop, Cheon Se-seung, Park Ji-su, Bae Ho-seong, Jeong Deok-gyo (Marine Corps Uiyeoldan)
276 "Dad, why are you raising your hand?" Dad on TV during a standoff with martial law troops - Ahn Bo-ram (IT developer)
282 The Voices of the Citizens Who Were There That Day: Hwang Pu-ha, Lee Hyeong-suk, Jo Yeong-ju, Park Seung-ryeol
284 The person who took the speakers out of the protest tent that day and set them up for the citizens - Kim Seon-yeong (Chairman of the Automobile Sales Solidarity Branch of the Metal Workers' Union)
290 Voices of the Citizens Who Were There That Day Kwon Young-guk, Kwon Min-seong, Baek Gyeong-jin
The day the youngest Hankyoreh reporter covered the National Assembly to publish the 292nd "Emergency Martial Law Extra" _ Go Na-rin (Hankyoreh reporter)
298 Kim Yong-hyun's classmate at the Korea Military Academy, faced a different landscape than before martial law. _Choi Hwa-sik (Army Reserve Brigadier General)
306 The Voices of the Citizens Who Were There That Day: Han Kyo-hoon, Kim Chang-gyu, Kim Kyu-hyun, Lee Yong-jin, and Ryu Sam-yeong
308 A Day in the Horrific Whirlwind of One Man's Delusions _ Kim Seong-hoe (Democratic Party of Korea, National Assembly Member)
314 "Yoon Seok-yeol is destroying South Korean conservatism," lamented a young conservative politician on that day. _Cheon Ha-ram (National Assembly member, New Reform Party)
320 "Time Between Dog and Wolf": The Time of the Beast, the Face of Humanity Witnessed by a Drama Writer _Ryu Yong-jae (Drama Writer)

329 Epilogue_ To all of us who endured that day with our whole bodies

“Why are you crying?
As I was leaving for the National Assembly, I really thought that I might not be able to come back.

We risked our lives thinking that we might not see our families and loved ones again.
"It's not martial law, it's enlightenment." "Nothing happened?"
“When I hear stories like this, I get more than just angry; I get emotional.” _Park Seon-woo (college student)

“As the interviews continued, the memories of that day sometimes overlapped and sometimes became difficult to approach.
If there is overlap, it is that they ran to the National Assembly without hesitation or after hesitating and coming forward late.
But the memories of that night recounted by seemingly ordinary citizens were anything but ordinary.
Hong Won-gi, a production worker at a factory in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, turned around just before starting his night shift.
He sped to Yeouido, picking up dozens of speeding tickets.
Professor Oh Hyeon-ok, who was guiding the master's and doctoral program at the end of the semester, said that it would be better for her to sacrifice herself, having received so many benefits from society, and rode the subway alone, leaving her family behind.
It was common to remember leaving after giving a week's worth of cat food or packing up to sleep out for a few days.


In the common memories of you and me, the word death was also a given.
'I'm going to get trampled on', 'I'm going to be stripped naked and beaten first' Thinking that this might be their last night, they took selfies and left messages on their social media accounts saying that they were going to the National Assembly.
If contact was lost, he would tell his family to go to the front of the National Assembly building, and he would prepare to remove his cell phone SIM card in case he was taken away and tortured.

Citizens responded with vivid memories of the night when Yoon Seok-yeol claimed nothing happened.
The roar of the special forces helicopter was piercing, and the leaves blowing in the wind hurt my face.
When one person started running after seeing a military vehicle, several people ran together to block it.
When someone's throat got hoarse while leading the chant, the person next to them would shout it out.
He said that the sound of metal overlapped with the sound of metal.
While there were citizens who came wearing coats and shoes to avoid being beaten by martial law troops in their 'tracksuits', there was also a couple who ran in pajamas and padded jackets to disguise it as a walk around the neighborhood when they encountered martial law troops.” _Epilogue

People who climbed over the wall, people who gave their backs,
People who cried, police and military bowing their heads before the citizens…
To all of us who endured that day with our whole bodies

December 3, 2024, was the day we almost lost everything we had ever treasured overnight.
The 123 witnesses gathered in this book confessed that they "couldn't sleep well" for a while, and one reporter, who was dragged away by martial law troops and nearly tied up with cable ties before finally being released, confessed that it became a "life-changing trauma."
And there are protagonists who have collected all these testimonies with tenacity and urgency.
There were producers who remembered the eerie silence and desolation in front of KBS, the national broadcaster, that night. The KBS production team for "I Was There That Day" began a project to record testimony on the December 3rd martial law incident, unprompted and unsupported by anyone.
This epic interview began with a pledge to remember and record in detail the scars of that day, which must never be repeated, and to reflect on the weight of the word "martial law," as a single person, determined to maintain his power, nearly brought down the entire Republic of Korea.


That day, there was the citizen known as the "Tank Man" who threw his entire body into blocking a military vehicle, there was the struggle of Spokesperson Ahn Gwi-ryeong who resolutely grabbed the muzzle of the martial law army's gun with his bare hands, and there was a photograph of the back of National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik running over the wall.
But in this book, everyone's days that have not been highlighted until now pour out and touch our hearts.
If you listen again to the live broadcast of President Lee Jae-myung (former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea) who was calling on citizens to come to the National Assembly building now through YouTube Live, you can hear someone sobbing softly.
Perhaps it was the sound of Mrs. Kim Hye-kyung's cries as she sent her husband on a path of no return.
On that day, the entire National Assembly building was suddenly lit up brightly. This was a clever move by the National Assembly staff to hide Speaker Woo Won-sik, who had hidden in a room near the main chamber to avoid being arrested by martial law forces before the vote on the bill to lift martial law.

Kim Ye-ji, a visually impaired member of the National Assembly, ran to the National Assembly that night, but saw a tall and scary wall in front of her, the one she had been shouting "barrier-free."
And I endure the night with a longing heart, endlessly circling around the wall.
On the way to the National Assembly with her husband, poet Cho Ki-young, Assemblywoman Ko Min-jeong suddenly gets the thought that she might never see her again. Without even hearing her wife's name being called out loud from behind, she jumps out of the car and runs into the National Assembly.
There were reporters who, while enjoying a drink with colleagues at the end of the year, heard the news of martial law and immediately returned to the newspaper office, carrying a bundle of socks and underwear, to protect the newspaper company's printing press and to publish an extra edition.


And countless citizens who stopped martial law that night left messages to their families, fearing that this might be their last, and left traces of their trip to the National Assembly on social media. Some even resolutely headed to the National Assembly with stickers of their names on their helmets.
However, few people say that it is because of a great sense of justice or historical awareness.
They say calmly that at the time, it seemed like it 'just had to be that way'.
Just as people come to help clear away the pile of items that have spilled out of a truck on the street, and just as people stop their daily routines and turn their steps toward someone's sorrow when they hear their story, that night, citizens gathered and united in front of the National Assembly.

That night, in front of the National Assembly building, citizens continued to freely express themselves, reminiscent of a 'People's Assembly'.
There was a person who said he had rushed in from Gwangju in a taxi, a middle school student who said he had gotten angry while studying for a test, a person in his 60s who bowed his head saying that it was the fault of our generation, and a teacher who said that he had prepared a first aid kit and would treat anyone injured, whether by being beaten or shot.
December 3, 2024 was a night when an unexpected hell approached, but it was also a tearful night when everyone came together to prevent the arrival of that hell.


“How clear and cheerful, how unhesitating, how merciless and unhesitating were these voices that cried out against martial law without a trace.
Standing in Yeouido, I was happy because I thought that I could now hand over and pass on my past days to that sound.
“I was just happy in Yeouido itself.”
Jeon Tae-sam (labor union activist, younger brother of the late martyr Jeon Tae-il)

Fortunately, there were already as many civilians at the scene as there were soldiers and police officers, so I don't think it was scary.
When I thought about it later, that's what happened.
Because of those 'fellow citizens', I wasn't scared or cold.
Ok Hyung-bin (40 years old, clothing business owner, former secretary to a member of the National Assembly)

Politicians and citizens alike give credit to others for preventing martial law that night.
Voices overflow, saying they want to buy me a meal, that there were people braver than me back then and that they didn't do much, that they owed their courage to someone else.
And so, we were able to overcome that harsh night thanks to the help of countless nameless strangers.
The stories of those who were there on December 3, 2024, and of all of us who were not there but watched the news and our phones with longing hearts, are preserved here.
To all of us who endured that day with all our might, I leave a greeting from the author, who has been diligently collecting this testimony without any praise or compensation from anyone.
“Thanks to you, we were able to protect democracy.
Thank you all.”

There was no embellishment in the memories and testimonies.
I cried several times during the story that night.
The performers didn't even reveal themselves.
Rather, he praised the other citizens who stood by his side, saying that he was not alone and that he was strong.
The members of the National Assembly, without exception, bowed their heads to the citizens who protected the place that day.
Since that night, Yoon Seok-yeol has denied the rebellion and incited his supporters.
He spewed out undignified hatred and distrust.
Concerns and cynicism are spreading that the common sense and solidarity that prevented the destruction of the Constitution are fading in the face of the political reality where people have to compete with each other to stand out.
I want to tell them and all of us again the amazing story of the night of December 3, 2024.
The river of civil war is still deep and unfathomable, but the memories of relying on each other and persevering are vividly written down, letter by letter.
_Epilogue