The People's Joint Association (1)
The five-day stay in Pyongyang, short or long as it might have been, had finally come to an end.
The members of the Alliance Association waved and cheered “Wawa!” as they bid farewell to the Pyongyang people, then set off southward, pulling carts heavy with bribes disguised as donations from local officials and merchants.
Medicines of every kind, provisions, hides, ginseng, distilled liquor, books, ceramics, and more filled the wagons. As the richest city in Joseon, its influential residents had built academies for the common people and kept their promises to Choe Ik-hyeon and Yu In-seok within three days, leaving the scholars visibly astonished.
“Let us depart for Hanyang!”
The sight of four thousand sturdy men marching in formation, hauling carts, resembled a military procession. Local officials from towns and villages along the route from Pyongyang to Hanyang were startled and came out to greet them, but it was merely a light diversion.
The most profound harvest from this Pyongyang visit lay elsewhere.
“Kim Jae,” Choe Byeong-sim said.
“Oh Jin-young,” Oh Jin-young added.
“Welcome. I am Kim Jun-young.”
The first group, mid-level scholars from the Ganjia and Hanju schools, had approached Choe Ik-hyeon and Yu In-seok like chickens and dogs, casually inquiring about joining the Alliance Association.
They had followed our footsteps from Gongju through Boeun, Chuncheon, and Pyongyang, and finally witnessed the changes I had sparked, joining our cause.
The second was…
“Kang Wi.”
“Pleased to meet you, elder.”
A scholar of Han studies, a poet, and a living fossil of the radical reform movement, Kang Wi had joined the Alliance Association.
“…We must reconsider the relationship between the Qing Dynasty and our Joseon.”
“Based on the Public Law of All Nations, there must be conditions to interpret our Joseon’s position most favorably in the world order.”
“The Swiss and Dutch, strong nations bordering each other, have preserved their national bodies. Studying their precedents—”
“It seems the most important thing is to expand the newspapers and media led by the Alliance Association to enlighten the people of the nation.”
The result was this.
Patriots without a proper point of contact, or who dismissed others with accumulated distrust and misunderstandings, began to spill out their stories once the ground was laid.
After all, how happy would those who had spent their time idly in the corner, imagining various things, be if they met their own kind?
Confucian enlightenment advocates, reformers, anti-Qing factions, Han scholars—all were pure storytellers in the Alliance Association. There were always many respectful listeners, and plenty who lined up to talk.
The most surprising thing was…
“We must examine the Public Law of All Nations well. Even if Western powers and empires tidy up international law to suit their convenience, the vast world is too vast to be governed solely by the whims of great powers.”
“There are many historical examples in Europe of small nations and cities uniting to overthrow empires, and peasants and commoners rising up from colonies to overthrow tyrants.”
“We are not refusing to open ports. We are preventing foreign interference and maintaining our national independence.”
Scholars of the Hanju school had a very deep understanding of Western international law, including the Public Law of All Nations, far surpassing that of the awkward reformers or modernizers. And most of them deeply hated Qing internal interference.
“The Qing Dynasty has lost the Mandate of Heaven to represent China.”
According to their claims, the Qing was forcing an odd mix of international law for their interests and traditional Chinese order on Joseon?
Most Alliance Association members listening quietly evaluated that many of their words were quite right. After all, even under the tributary system, the relationship between Joseon and Qing was still following the old pattern of Jin and Yuan.
Meanwhile, the Ganjia school had only one thing they wanted from our Alliance Association.
“Mr. U-nam, as long as you keep the promise you’ve always carried in your mouth, we can throw ourselves into the Alliance Association and the Joseon people at any time.”
“What promise are you referring to?”
“The Kingly Way.”
The Ganjia school’s theory was simple: correct norms based on absolute justice that all members of society can understand.
“The Dao is the most noble entity and the master of all things…”
The Ganjia school, which seemed to want to regulate even human arbitrariness, establish absolute and objective moral norms to purify society, resembled the Legalist school but with something totalitarian lurking behind them.
“True Kingly Way, we’ll establish it? We’ll sweep away the opposition?”
“Righteousness! Righteousness! Waaah!”
“Huh.”
“Listen here.”
Feeling burdened by their mad eyes, I pulled back my neck. Choe Ik-hyeon stepped forward.
“That’s not something you discuss with me. U-nam has many friends besides you to bear it. Move along.”
Pulling the mid-level Ganjia school men by the shoulders, he quietly led them to the back of the formation. As he passed, he smiled quietly at me.
I understood.
Master…!
This is true brotherhood!
I, Syngman Rhee. My true master is only Myeonam Choe Ik-hyeon!
Without shedding a tear for his sacrifice, I grabbed the reins with a ‘whack!’ and turned my head. From within the hardliners, Kang Wi popped out.
“Hoho, these humans still can’t fix their tempers and are greedy.”
“…”
“I’ve waited long enough. Isn’t it my turn now?”
“…Speak.”
“Hoho.”
When I nodded, Kang Wi matched my pace and spoke.
“You’ve probably experienced it while touring the nation, but there are plenty of people in Joseon who want to spout their own thoughts besides those people. The problem is, without the Kyunghwa faction, there was no chance to change this country. But.”
He drove his cane into the ground with a ‘thud’.
“You appeared with a ‘bang!’ in Joseon history. Has there ever been someone who gathered scholars like clouds by promising to listen to people’s stories, like you?”
“No.”
Absolutely not. The first in this land. No, not even in neighboring China or the island nations.
I lifted my chin arrogantly, and Kang Wi laughed with his previous ‘hoho’ and agreed.
“Yes, no! So it’s possible. This enormous power. In Europe, they call it mass politics, right? You’ve realized it on this Joseon land.”
Slightly surprised by “mass politics,” I turned my head, and Kang Wi blinked.
“Joseon, China, Japan—all the same. British, Americans, all humans. So, the Western powers will soon start manipulating this world at their whim. I thought maybe you might be the evidence right in front of my eyes.”
“…”
“Time will pass, and our Joseon people will think like Europeans, and conversely, the European masses will think and act like our Joseon people. I thought it would be solved by waiting, with a difference in time and effort. But.”
Kang Wi, with lips parched from the long story, chuckled ‘kekek!’ and opened the hip flask at his waist to gulp it down. It was the apple-flavored Chojeong sparkling water actively promoted by the Alliance Association.
“You shortened that time by appearing in this land. So, I’m looking forward to it.”
“…What?”
Calmly answering, he smiled brightly. As expected, or rather.
“Indeed, you are no ordinary figure. You have conviction.”
“!”
“Those eyes. Exactly those eyes. Unwavering eyes that already know the answer. I like it very much.”
His offhand remark pierced to the core, and I opened my eyes wide. It had been a long time since my emotions were not controlled by someone’s provocation.
What on earth is this guy saying now?
Out of curiosity, I pulled the reins hard, leaned close to his head, and spoke.
“Right now—”
“Later. We’ll talk later. Do you see the people from Kaesong over there?”
But he shook his head as if not wanting to.
Pointing to the crowd that had come from far Kaesong, Kang Wi slowly slowed down and eventually disappeared into the formation.
That was the end.
“…”
However, there was no easy day when I would meet Kang Wi again and probe the essence of the question he threw.
The only information I later learned about him was that the man named Kang Wi had once studied occult arts and divination under Kim Jeong-hui of Chusa, and then mysteriously disappeared without a trace.
*****
In Kaesong, there was a grand welcoming ceremony, and after being seen off, we entered Hanyang quietly.
The first thing we did after disbanding some of the familiar members and sending the young members back to their hometowns to prepare for the next farming season was…
“Father, Mother. Please give me the house deed.”
“Hey, you prodigal son! Is it really that hard to come back home and see your parents’ faces just because you got a reprieve? And the house deed!?”
At first, the father, who came down from the main hall with a look of ‘Is this my son?’, scolded loudly.
“You! Where did you go and come back? Now you’re back!”
“Argh! Say it with words, Father!”
“You wormed your way in like a thief? Thief? Thief!”
“Waaah!”
“Dear.”
“Wh-what is this, honey…? Ugh!”
The father, Lee Gyeong-seon, who suddenly appeared and demanded the house deed on the spot, called the unfilial son, but was soon suppressed by Kim Mal-ran, holding a laundry club.
“Here.”
After subduing the father, Kim Mal-ran rummaged through the wardrobe and handed over the neatly folded house deed, wiping away her tears.
“It’s good that you’re healthy.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“And don’t worry too much. Your father came home yesterday.”
“Wh-what?”
I, who had barely held back the surging tears of guilt for always making her suffer, bowed my head deeply. She was always like this.
At that time, the father Lee Gyeong-seon said,
“No, why are you giving that! Wait, don’t hit… Talk, ugh!”
“What’s different from the son who wandered around for two years? You came home after ten years!”
“Ah, no, recently I went all the way to Chuncheon to see my son’s face—”
“Shut up!”
“I-I’ll go!”
Having obtained the house deed, I went home and headed straight to Bukchon. Because our Alliance Association members were gathered there.
“Here it is!”
On the usually quiet road in Bukchon, hundreds of people had gathered, setting up platforms and stages. Many high-ranking people in this neighborhood occasionally came out to watch.
I ran to the place where Choe Ik-hyeon and Yu In-seok were and proudly showed them the house deed in my palm.
“Hoho, you’ve emptied your entire estate for the sake of the Chunbu Jang.”
“You’ve always said you should be a model for all people.”
“So you got a son like me.”
Yes, a model.
A politician must show a model before asking others. Even if it leads to death.
Holding the house deed in one hand, I boldly climbed the stage and said.
“I humbly request that we use our house as the headquarters of the Alliance Association.”
At that, members raised their hands and joined the donation procession.
“I will donate too!”
“Take our house too!”
The people of Bukchon, surprised by the scene, passed by with surprised expressions or their interest gradually gathered.
*****
Before entering Hanyang, I gathered the main executives and advisors of the Alliance Association to explain the plans ahead.
“We will gather as many people as possible.”
“Hm? You didn’t gather well before?”
“On a scale different from before, we will create a place where all the people of Hanyang come to listen to our story.”
“Just talk?”
“Well, like now, we can have speeches, award prizes for competing in poems and writings I’ve written, hold newspaper reading sessions or reading lectures. Oh, gathering scholars with expertise in chess or go and holding a tournament to draw people’s interest would be interesting too.”
“Chess and go.”
Most members tilted their heads.
Why? Aren’t the loud and active people already joining the Alliance Association and hanging around?
To such people, I said seriously.
“Starting from Hanyang, everyone must join our cause to finally restore the correct order of the new world.”
“If I say so, the world will really be enlightened.”
“Yes. Everyone, imagine once. Gentlemen, officials, commoners, slaves, scholars, merchants, porters, widows, palace maids, and so on… A huge crowd without distinguishing between men and women, old and young, gathered in one place to discuss the future of this country.”
People began to ponder my words deeply.
Some closed their eyes and let out exclamations, others smiled as if it was fun to hold go tournaments and give lessons everywhere.
At that time, Yu In-seok asked.
“What do you think we should call it?”
“The name?”
“Yes.”
All eyes turned to me, and I gulped. Yes. The name I’d cherished for a long time.
I straightened my back and said boldly.
“I think we should call it the People’s Joint Association.”
The only opportunity for the people of this land to rise up on their own.
This cause is born twenty years early.