The Owner of the Taegukgi Handkerchief

The gas mask—who the hell is it?

Who is it? And why are they carrying something this dangerous around school?

A white background with a circle formed by red and blue, and long and short black lines overlapping at the four corners. The pattern drawn on the handkerchief was something no Korean could fail to recognize. It was unmistakably the Taegukgi.

Who the fuck is it?

There was a student in my class carrying that thing around. Just who was it? Moreover, if it was a kid bold enough to carry something like this…

Could they be involved in the independence movement?

No way. Or rather… yeah, it had to be. Otherwise there’d be no reason to carry something like that. A female student doing independence work inside the academy? I broke out in a cold sweat at the thought.

I can’t get involved.

I absolutely could not get tangled up with the independence movement. It wasn’t that I wanted to disparage it. No matter what anyone said, the sacrifices of the independence fighters had piled up until they became a clear declaration of the Korean people’s will for independence, and that had eventually led to liberation. But I wasn’t going to do it.

It was already 1939. If history flowed along its established course as it had so far, all I had to do was wait for Japan’s defeat. The Second Sino-Japanese War had already broken out, and newspapers were full of stories about Anglo-American pressure on Japan. So it was inevitable that Japan would start the Pacific War against the United States, and the result, as everyone knew, would be two atomic bombs. At this point, there was nothing more I needed to add to achieve Korean independence.

Therefore, my goal was purely personal—simply to graduate from the Hunter Academy and secure my own safety.

I’ll get my diploma from the Hunter Academy, avoid the forced conscription for the Pacific War, and escape to America.

That had been the plan. Yet this dangerous object had somehow ended up in my hands.

What do I do…!

I couldn’t just leave it in my boarding room. It was genuinely more dangerous than a gun. If Aoki’s pistol were discovered by the police, I could probably get away with claiming I’d received it from Renka. But this? A Taegukgi? The moment it was found, no amount of connections would save me.

Should I throw it away?

No. What if someone picked it up after I tossed it carelessly? What if it left a trace?

…Or maybe I should cut it into pieces and burn it? There was an incinerator right behind the livestock barn—

But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Burning the Taegukgi? As a Korean myself, I simply couldn’t commit such an act.

Ugh…

By now I was the only student left inside the otherworld botanical garden, so Professor Nakamori of otherworld biology had come in personally to call me. Startled, I hurriedly stuffed the handkerchief into my uniform pocket and rushed out of the greenhouse.

The next class after otherworld biology was squad tactics practice. Inside the first practice arena—which resembled a Roman amphitheater—we were to face a medium-sized low-grade magic beast for training. Following the order, our squad entered the arena. At Professor Kitamura’s shout signaling the start, one magic beast was released into the arena.

The beast we faced was a medium-sized low-grade magic beast being raised in the practice livestock barn—Nisokumukade. True to its name “two-legged centipede,” it had an elongated, arthropod-like body and two long reverse-jointed legs that allowed it to run like an ostrich.

Alright. The Taegukgi is the Taegukgi, but…

I gripped my blade and stared at the Nisokumukade. Although it was a low-grade beast that had been drugged to lower its aggression, its movements were fast, so coordination between squad members was crucial.

For now, let’s focus on the lesson.

Pushing aside my anxiety about having picked up that ominous object, I began fighting the beast alongside my squadmates.

Murasaki moved in front of the Nisokumukade, luring it into a corner.

Song Byeong-o, holding the school-issued rifle, began charging the bullet with magic power. Charging enough power into a bullet to take down a beast of this level in one shot took anywhere from a few seconds to dozens of seconds, so timing when to begin charging was critical.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

I shouted at Lee ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Yuha.

This was the most important part. Most medium and small magic beasts were arthropods or crustaceans. Against arthropod-type beasts, cutting off a couple of legs wouldn’t deal significant damage—flame or ice attacks were the way to go.

The cold air bursting from Lee Yuha’s hands struck the Nisokumukade under Yang Bok-ja’s control. The beast tried to flee in every direction, but the ice relentlessly pursued it thanks to her telekinesis. Its movements visibly slowed.

Song Byeong-o’s magic bullet flew toward the now-slowed Nisokumukade. With a small explosion, the beast suffered catastrophic damage and collapsed. I ran to the fallen creature, drove my blade into its shell, twisted it open, and extracted the magic stone. Extracting the magic stone to prevent the subdued beast from recovering and completely ending its life was the goal of the exercise.

The students watching from the stands let out gasps of admiration.

Once our squad’s turn was over, I wiped the sweat and beast fluids off with a towel and returned to the spectator seats surrounding the amphitheater-like arena. I sat down beside Lee Yuha and said,

“You did well earlier. Maintaining steady output for a certain duration during emission is necessary for a telekinetic to control it without strain, and that’s not easy.”

“It is thanks to your instructions.”

Lee Yuha smiled as she spoke. In truth, the reason Lee Yuha and Yang Bok-ja had begun to coordinate so well was, of course, because I had ordered them to. Even after briefly practicing together during the preliminary experience session, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠two still kept each other at arm’s length. It was a good thing I was in the middle; otherwise they wouldn’t even look at each other.

Lee Yuha was an ice emission type. Yang Bok-ja was a telekinetic. As I had clearly felt during the Onigumo raid, for an emission type to accurately hit distant targets, cooperation with a telekinetic was more important than anything.

Anyway, they were the ones I would be working with in the same squad for the next year—and possibly even after advancing to the next grade. In squad-based grading, their coordination was vital if I wanted good scores.

I asked Lee Yuha,

“You’re learning Japanese well from Bok-ja, right?”

Besides improving coordination, I had assigned Yang Bok-ja as Lee Yuha’s Japanese tutor to help improve her language skills. I had considered teaching her myself at first, but my Japanese was automatically acquired along with Baek Chulyeon’s memories, whereas Yang Bok-ja had learned it naturally from a young age. So she would naturally be better at teaching others.

Lee Yuha replied,

“Ah… yes. Yang is quite good at Japanese. However, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would rather you—”

Just then, several female students approached the area where we were sitting.

“Yuha! You were so amazing earlier!”

“Um, could I ask for some advice? I’m an electric emission type, and…”

They were Korean female students from other squads. I waved them off.

“Hey! Hey! Yuha’s busy right now, come back later!”

“Hmph! What are you—”

“A soldier or something?”

“……”

When I shooed them away with a wave, the Korean girls grumbled but eventually left.

Phew.

Although Lee Yuha still struggled with Japanese and came across as somewhat clumsy, her undeniable talent was beginning to make her stand out among the students. On top of her outstanding ability, she came from a prestigious yangban family and possessed a graceful appearance… Before long, Lee Yuha was quietly becoming an idol and object of admiration for the Korean female students at the academy.

I can’t let her get stolen away.

My own abilities as Baek Chulyeon were only average, so I needed to score well in squad evaluations. I couldn’t afford to miss the Lee Yuha bus. That was why I was acting like a sort of manager, preventing other students who had their eyes on her from approaching.

“Yeah. Keep learning well from Bok-ja. You need to be decent at Japanese to keep up with the theory classes. And while my instructions matter, the better you two get along, the higher your attack efficiency will be.”

“Understood…”

“Got it? Good. Then I’ll go see Bok-ja. Later, Yuha.”

“……?”

I left the puzzled Lee Yuha behind and stood up. Yang Bok-ja, who had been sitting a bit farther away, spotted me approaching and waved enthusiastically.

“When no one’s around, can’t you speak Korean?”

“But… I don’t know, Japanese is more comfortable for me!”

I sat down beside Yang Bok-ja and asked,

“So, you’re teaching Yuha Japanese properly, right?”

“Mm… I don’t really want to, but since it’s Shirabayashi-kun’s request! …Anyway! You promised to introduce me to Shimazu-sama, right?”

“Yeah.”

Yang Bok-ja didn’t particularly like Lee Yuha either, but the reason I could still assign her as Yuha’s partner was because I had promised to introduce her to Renka in return. For Yang Bok-ja, who wanted to build connections with a high-ranking noble lady, it was an offer she couldn’t refuse.

“Shirabayashi-kun, you really are amazing! You have connections with a noble lady, and you even call each other by first names! Can I become like that too?”

Hmm… I wasn’t sure if Renka would bother with her. She’d been avoiding me lately too—would introducing Bok-ja really help her build a connection?

Well, that’s her problem to figure out.

While the teaching assistants cleaned up the beast corpse inside the arena, Professor Kitamura stepped forward and announced,

Aikawa, who had barely done anything yet was still panting, jumped to his feet.

At those words, the students hurriedly got up and left the arena. Since it was now lunchtime, it was only natural they were in a rush. Yang Bok-ja also stood and said to me,

“Class is over! Then Shirabayashi-kun, onegaishimasu~!”

I watched her bouncy figure as she skipped away and thought,

She’s not the one, at least.

The owner of the Taegukgi handkerchief. I slipped my hand into my uniform pocket, stroked the hidden Taegukgi, and pondered. The owner was definitely a female student in the same class. Out of roughly thirty classmates, half—fifteen—were girls. It had to be one of those fifteen.

But,

A Japanese student or a pro-Japanese collaborator wouldn’t be carrying around a Taegukgi.

That meant it was one of the ten Korean girls. And it wasn’t Lee Yuha or Yang Bok-ja. I had only brushed against her lightly, but even then I could tell her body type was different. If it had been someone I already knew, I would have noticed immediately. So excluding those two, that left eight.

One of those eight…

Should I secretly check their panties?

That wouldn’t help. Most would be white anyway, and she might have worn a different color that day.

As I was thinking that, Song Byeong-o—who had seen me sitting with Yang Bok-ja—approached and said,

“Hey there, Baek Chulyeon. You looked pretty good earlier! The very picture of a fine young Korean man and woman.”

“It’s not like that.”

I stood up as I answered. Whether I denied it or not, Song Byeong-o continued in the tone of someone reading a literary novel.

“Ah! But he could not tear his eyes away from her! Her breasts were truly bountiful…”

“No, fuck, I said it’s not.”

I really wanted to smack him in the philtrum. Song Byeong-o walked beside me and continued,

“Come on, let’s go eat!… By the way, you really are a man after all!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Come on! Don’t try to fool me. Ever since this morning, you’ve been sneaking glances at the female students, haven’t you? What kind of wind blew into you today?”

No, damn it. It was a misunderstanding. I had been staring at the girls because I wanted to find the handkerchief’s owner, and it must have been obvious from the outside.

Was I too blatant about it?

But I couldn’t help it. That girl had seen my face, but I had no idea who she was. It was only natural to feel anxious.

…Wait a second.

As I thought that, a different idea suddenly occurred to me.

Why am I the one panicking?

It wasn’t me who had accidentally dropped the Taegukgi—it was her. From the outside, I was nothing more than “the son of a pro-Japanese traitor baron family.” If a guy like that had found her Taegukgi, shouldn’t she be the one feeling scared? In the end, I was the one holding the hilt of the knife.

I should make the first move.

I would go find that girl first. And when I met her, I would persuade her not to do anything like independence activities at school and to stop carrying such dangerous things around.

Good.

But how could I find her? I was back to square one. In desperation, I casually asked Song Byeong-o,

“Hey, listen. Actually, I picked up a female student’s handkerchief. But I don’t know whose it is.”

“Oho…!”

“I want to know who the owner is. Any good ideas?”

“So it really is a girl problem! Are you finally jumping into the romance game too? Haha…”

Song Byeong-o grinned, adjusted his glasses, and continued.

“But you sure are overcomplicating it! There’s a school bulletin board on the first floor of the main building, isn’t there? Just hang the handkerchief there and write ‘Looking for the owner of this handkerchief’ and that should do it, no?”

As if I could… Hang a Taegukgi on the school bulletin board? Unless I wanted to be expelled immediately and dragged off by the high police to have my nose shoved into seolleongtang, that was absolutely not an option.

As I was thinking that, Song Byeong-o spoke again.

“Or, if that female student accidentally dropped her handkerchief, wouldn’t she return to the place where she lost it?”

…That actually made sense.

“You go eat lunch first. I have somewhere to go.”

I told Song Byeong-o, left the first practice arena, and hurried toward the otherworld botanical garden. Since the girl had left the greenhouse right after bumping into me, she hadn’t seen me pick up the handkerchief. Therefore, she would definitely come back to the otherworld botanical garden, where she must have guessed she dropped it.

The culprit always returns to the scene of the crime…!

When I returned to the otherworld botanical garden, I didn’t go straight inside. Instead, I lingered around the perimeter for a while. I sensed no presence either inside the greenhouse or in the connected classroom. It seemed Professor Nakamori, who taught otherworld biology, had gone to eat; no one appeared to be around.

I approached the door to enter the botanical garden. I had planned to secretly pick the lock, but contrary to my expectation that it would be locked, the door was open.

Bingo.

Although it was broad daylight and the otherworld botanical garden was a glass-walled greenhouse, the interior—overgrown with various otherworld plants like a tropical rainforest—was dark and shadowy thanks to the dense foliage. I crouched down, slipped into the darkness, and before long discovered a female student wearing a ‘gas mask’—that is, a gas mask.

It’s her.

Hiding crouched in the shadows, I quietly pulled Aoki’s leather glove from my pocket and slipped it onto my right hand as I thought,

Let’s take her to a quiet place and talk alone.