The Little Prince in the Ossuary

Many people claimed that the disabled and the non-disabled were equal. However, for most, words and actions rarely coincided. It was not because they were intentionally evil but because it was difficult to act as such.

What was so difficult about it?

‘It’s hard not to have compassion,’ Gyeo-ul thought.

Pity was the nature of man, pity for those who were weaker than him. Therefore, compassion for someone was the perception that someone was weaker than oneself.

Good men discriminated against the disabled because they were good; evil men discriminated against the disabled because they were evil.

Jang Yeon-chul was a typical example. He called the disabled “friends.” In doing so, he revealed a sense of duty that non-disabled people should consider disabled people as friends. His intentions were very good. However, a true egalitarian would say this: ‘Why is a disabled person your friend?’

Gyeo-ul told Kang Young-soon, “If I make the same mistake, please point it out. I’m afraid I’ll be rude unconsciously.”

The old woman smiled and took up her pen.

「That’s enough for me. Didn’t even Confucius say that everything was in line with the law when he was seventy? I think it’s too much to expect an adult’s perspective from a little captain. I’m sorry for Jang Yeon-chul.」

Old Kang was sorry for Jang Yeon-chul, who treated the disabled with prejudice.

Jang Yeon-chul was a man of good heart. If his prejudice were pointed out to him, he would be ashamed and try to correct it, and the respect he held was well-deserved. However, Kang advised Gyeo-ul to use his prejudice. The old woman persuaded Gyeo-ul in a single line.

「The bigger the shade of prejudice, the better it will be to hide there.」

Disabled people volunteered to be Gyeo-ul’s eyes and ears. The lower the alertness of other people to them, the easier it was for them to fulfill that role. As such, the disabled people working for Gyeo-ul would rather be treated as poor people…

This was what the disabled people wanted. They wanted to discover new possibilities in their disabilities and feel rewarded for contributing to the community.

“If you knew what was going on, you wouldn’t think badly of him either. It’s contradictory, but you can see it like this: I am paying back the mistakes I made because of prejudice. There are many people we should be sorry for besides Jang. It’s like cheating on everyone. It’s just that this is necessary, and it’s for everyone, so we compromise. So don’t worry about it.”

The old woman responded with a smile instead of writing a message. The conversation finished, Gyeo-ul began to read over some notes taken from Kang Young-soon.

The secret internal surveillance was the role of one of the disabled, Lee Hoon-tae, but he did not stand still just because he was disabled. Perhaps it was because they’d had a hard time together, so they had a strong sense of camaraderie. Thanks to this, the amount of information that Gyeo-ul was receiving had increased.

He read a little bit about religious activities in the alliance. Something about it was bothering him. It was a record of a service held during the meeting of some Christians.

「The Lord loves us. The Lord wants to save us. But who is saving us now? Who is the one who loves us? Isn’t he the will of the Lord to stay with us?」

「There is nothing in the world that is not the providence of the Lord. Do you believe that all history and events are in the Lord’s plan from the moment of creation to Judgment Day? So, do you believe that a boy named Gyeo-ul, the son of man, is the grace of the Lord who came to the body of man?」

「You have to believe it. You have to believe it. The Lord has taught me by a miracle. How could the boy have accomplished so much without grace? How else can a man be saved as a prophecy, and how else can new miracles happen wherever he goes? Isn’t the body truly God’s will?」

「This son of man doesn’t know himself yet. He doesn’t know that he has to be anointed by the Holy Spirit. Because no one has told him. Because there were no people who said, “Where is the king? I have come to worship him.”」

「This is the mission we have been given. We are the ones who have been chosen….」

The writer must have hidden and taken notes at the scene, so they were considered crooked. They had also devoted a lot of attention to people’s enthusiastic responses. Tears, cheering, clapping, etc.

The boy shook his head. “I’ll have to convert to Islam.”

The old woman sitting opposite him laughed and covered her mouth. Then she wrote on the paper once more.

「Would you like to be their savior?」

“Stop joking around. There would be far more disadvantages than advantages to that.”

Religious communities were prone to conservatism. The ultimate answer to every question existed, so it denied everything else. Biblical inerrancy and Sharia were examples. Of course, religious communities could be reasonable enough. However, it was difficult to bet on a community that believed their savior would come again.

However, it would not be easy to pretend to be a Messiah. The rejection of the mind was greater than the difficulty of practice. It was too far from the way of life Gyeo-ul wanted to protect.

The old woman picked up her notebook.

「I think that’s a great thing about you, but I don’t think you should leave them alone. I’m afraid more people will be swept away if left unattended. As you already know, many people are wary of you inside and outside the alliance.」

“I don’t know…. Let’s just keep it in mind. Other problems need to be solved first.”

First, they needed to meet the speakers from the report. Did they really believe what they were saying, or did they just want to gain profit and influence by trading on Gyeo-ul’s name? Depending on which was true, the countermeasures would be different. If it was urgent, then they could do a counterattack.

The old woman then wrote down a new question.

「What is the problem?」

Gyeo-ul briefly thought about it and confided to her about the unknown man’s letter and the differences between the two managers. It was supposed to be a secret, but there was no point in hiding it just because it was one. That was why the old woman had already shared a bigger secret with the boy.

“How do you like it? What do you think I should do?”

In response, Kang Young-soon wrote a little slower than usual.

「For me, it’s very difficult to say which is better. Because I don’t have the right to give advice.」

“No, right? Why do you say that?”

「Because I’m from a generation that experienced 6.25.」

As Gyeo-ul tilted his head, the old woman added a few lines of explanation.

「I still see the war in my dreams. It’s a fear carved into the bone. These days, new fears have been added, but new ones don’t take the place of the old. And in one corner of that nightmare, there’s still the fear of the Chinese army.」

「That’s why. I could hate the Chinese people. Of course, I don’t feel that way myself, but as long as my dream is still obsessed with the old war, won’t the effects necessarily exist in my subconscious?」

In other words, because this incident was related to the Chinese, she was not confident in making an objective judgment. Gyeo-ul formed a soft smile.

“I’ll take that into account while I’m listening. I’m just trying to get as many opinions as I can before making a decision. So, you don’t have to think too hard. Speak comfortably.”

The pen stopped. The old woman shifted into a more comfortable position and went through a long deliberation. Eventually, her decision began to flow from the pen.

「From the perspective of Jang Yeon-chul’s good intentions, it is embarrassing to oppose helping others, regardless of the reason, but Min Wan-ki’s opinion seems more reasonable to me.」

「The Triad’s members include those who have committed crimes in the past. There’s a saying, “Hate the sin, not the sinner,” but this incident is different. In my view, the problem is not their sin but the resentment against them for sinning.」

「The person who wrote the letter said that the members of Hwaseunghwa and Subangbang were discriminated against in the Triad. It was a family hostage situation, so how easy would it have been for the Triad? There must have been so much blood on their hands.」

「So if the alliance accepts and protects them, wouldn’t those who have resentment against Hwaseunghwa and Subangbang also develop a grudge against the allies and the captain?」

Gyeo-ul argued back, “If that kind of resentment existed, it would have already started when I joined the Triad. Because of the Winter Alliance, other Chinese organizations are having trouble with the Triad.”

Kang Young-soon began to write down her answers even before he had finished speaking.

「It’s a little different, though. So far, you’ve been a third party with indirect influence; however, you’ll become a party to the resentment after accepting the faction of the unknown man.」

「It is also necessary for them to establish a good relationship with us as a means of maintaining their organization. Life with the Winter Alliance looks better, or people who break away from the inner conflict wouldn’t continue to appear. It’s different from simply disliking or having antipathy.」

Gyeo-ul stated his opinion in response. “In a way, it’s the same argument as Min Wan-ki’s opposition, but that’s something I hadn’t thought of yet. Thank you for a good idea. I’ll think more about what you said.”

The old woman smiled mildly.

Afterward, Gyeo-ul read the remaining notes meticulously and got up from his seat, sorting them out.

“It’s late; get some rest today.”

The boy bowed to the old woman and left the alliance headquarters.

Even though the sun had passed the horizon, the construction site was still busy. Gyeo-ul thought about this and that all the way to the accommodation block, receiving many greetings.

There must already have been many Chinese who thought the Winter Alliance would be better to live in, but no one had actually wanted to trust it. They must have thought the alliance was the home of Koreans. There were only five countryless people in the camp, and they had been at Amalia’s request. Therefore, the difference in nationality was an invisible wall.

If Gyeo-ul accepted the unknown man, the wall would eventually collapse. That was Jang Yeon-chul’s claim, and in fact, Gyeo-ul also wished for it. But other Chinese organizations would naturally dislike it. Kang Young-soon had also pointed out that the wall of nationality would soon be replaced with a wall of resentment.

He doubted how effective that would be.

In the worst-case scenario, there was a possibility that the Chinese would somehow try to kill a faction of the unknown man’s people, perhaps to prevent a series of deviations. Perhaps it wouldn’t even stop there. ‘You might want to warn Gyeo-ul, too. Don’t interfere in our affairs.’

On the other hand, there was no possibility of a head-on fight. That would be like suicide. However, what if there were an unspecified number of indiscriminate attacks targeting the Gyeo-ul alliance?

Suddenly, Gyeo-ul remembered the time when he went to meet Li Chinzen. The “sense of survival” and “sense of battle” had warned of the death of the war machine, which was believed to be a bow or sling system. It was already easier to find materials to make weapons due to construction going on everywhere these days.

‘Maybe we can use it.’

The U.S. military would not allow a full-fledged projectile machine as it would pose a serious threat to the security of the base. Of course, the Chinese knew that. Unless a dangerous situation occurred, they wouldn’t actually try to use it.

That was, of course, unless a dangerous situation was to occur.