The Hidden Cache

'I found it. The shining object.'

This time, instead of the bright white glow of a flower vase, it was a golden light spilling out.

It was an entirely different color from that eerie black radiance.

Now the problem is how to get to it.

No proper method came to mind.

I had replayed the video on YouTube several times, but I couldn't find a decisive clue.

The YouTuber seemed to have edited it carefully to avoid revealing the location on purpose.

That was how abandoned-house exploration content always went. No matter how deserted a building looked, it was still someone’s private property.

Just because the owner didn’t maintain it didn’t mean anyone could go in.

Trespassing was a criminal offense under the law, and even an abandoned house was no exception.

So among abandoned-house YouTubers, keeping the location secret was an unwritten rule.

At this point, the only clue I had was a single line from the beginning of the video.

'I’m going to explore an abandoned house somewhere near Yeongju, North Gyeongsang Province.'

I played the video again.

This time at 0.25x speed.

Starting from the moment the YouTuber got out of the car, I examined it frame by frame.

I looked over the edges of the screen, the blurred background, anything that flashed by too quickly to notice.

Found it!

At 3 minutes and 42 seconds.

The shot of the YouTuber driving toward the abandoned house.

In the far left corner of the frame, something slipped past in the headlights.

I hit pause.

It was hidden by a tree, but a blue signboard was visible.

Unfortunately, the letters were so blurred they were almost unreadable.

But there was a way.

Who would have thought the Photoshop I’d picked up here and there while working would come in handy like this?

I opened Photoshop, captured the blurred frame, adjusted the brightness and contrast with the correction tools, and then added another round of touch-up work.

The whole captured image gained depth, and the outlines of the letters that had been hard to distinguish began to emerge clearly.

Finally, I applied a filter to sharpen the pixels.

Please, let it show.

The more desperately I wished, the clearer the blurry letters became, until I could finally make them out.

The only disappointment was that the very first character had been damaged beyond recognition; I couldn't tell what shape it had originally been.

But the two characters after it were perfectly legible.

'○am-ri'

I searched for place names in Yeongju ending in '-am-ri.'

Bongam-ri, Seokam-ri, Unam-ri, Songam-ri...

There weren’t just one or two.

If I widened the search to include not just Yeongju but nearby Bonghwa County and Yecheon County as well, there were well over a dozen.

Let's keep looking.

In the end, I went back to the video and kept watching.

And then.

At 7 minutes and 15 seconds.

The shot of the YouTuber pointing the camera into the living room inside the abandoned house.

The beam of the flashlight swept over wallpaper that looked ready to peel off at any second.

Then I saw something stuck to the wall.

I paused and captured it.

I checked again in Photoshop.

It was a calendar.

There was writing at the bottom.

“Nonghyup Bongam Branch”

It matched the '○am-ri' from the signboard.

Jackpot.

I immediately opened Naver Maps and searched for 'Bongam-ri, Yeongju.'

Bongam-ri, Munsu-myeon, Yeongju City.

Even within Bongam-ri, there were five different villages.

Should I just go there and search in person?

But then another method came to me.

Street View.

I recalled the features of the abandoned house from the video.

An old tiled-roof hanok.

A large tree in the yard.

The YouTuber had driven right up to the front, which meant there had to be a paved road nearby.

Street View cars would likely have passed along that same road.

I turned on Street View starting from the first village in Bongam-ri.

The first village didn't have a hanok at all.

Beyond the second, the third village had a tiled house, but it was a clean, occupied home.

I moved on to the fourth village.

I followed the roads around the outer edge of the village and searched carefully.

A hanok ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠standing alone between rice paddies and fields.

A tiled roof blackened with moss.

A large tree in the yard.

The front gate had fallen away, and through the opening the yard was overgrown with weeds.

I changed the angle and checked the front of the building.

The shape of the daecheong maru. The curved rafters at the eaves. Even the cracks in the earthen walls.

It matched the abandoned house in the video.

Found it at last.

I opened the notes app on my phone and wrote down the address.

The video had been uploaded five months ago.

My heart quickened.

The object might already be gone, or the building might ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have been demolished entirely.

By then, dawn was beginning to break.

Without sleeping, I used an app to rent a car and headed for Yeongju, North Gyeongsang Province.

* * *

The navigation announced that I had reached my destination.

Habo Village, Bongam-ri.

The same landscape I had seen on Street View stretched out before me.

I wanted to go straight to the abandoned house, but I couldn't.

No matter how deserted the home looked, it was still someone else's land.

If I barged in and got reported, that would be a headache.

Before heading to the village hall, I stopped somewhere else first.

A large supermarket in downtown Yeongju.

I bought a few fruit gift sets, along with yakgwa and sikhye.

It was rude to show up empty-handed in front of the elders in a rural village.

I made my way to the village hall.

Even though it was early morning, several elders were already gathered there.

So the countryside really did start the day early.

They were sitting around a flat wooden platform, chatting about something.

"Hello."

As soon as I greeted them, all eyes turned toward me and the conversation stopped dead.

"Who're you?"

"Whose grandson are you?"

An elder narrowed his eyes and sized me up.

"He's got a neat face. Is he Old Sangbong's grandson from up there?"

"No, no. I heard Old Sangbong's grandson went off to the army."

"Then is he Grandpa Kangjun's grandson?"

"Grandpa Kangjun's grandson has a round face. This young man’s narrow and handsome."

"Ah, I'm not from this village. I came from Seoul. I had something to ask."

I set down the gift sets and the bags I was holding.

"What's all that?"

"Nothing much. I brought them for you to enjoy."

My polite attitude and the gifts made the elders’ expressions soften noticeably.

"Goodness, why'd you go and buy all this?"

"It would have felt wrong to come empty-handed. Is the village chief here, by any chance?"

"That person sitting over there is the chief."

One elder pointed his chin toward the man sitting at the end of the platform.

The village chief looked to be in his mid-seventies.

"I'm the chief. What brings you here?"

"Hello. There's an empty house on the outskirts of the village, isn't there? The hanok with the tiled roof and the big tree in the yard."

The village chief's expression shifted subtly.

"That house? Why are you looking for it?"

"Well, I happened to pass by and saw it. It's old, but it still looked dignified and handsome, so I wanted to take a look inside. Please speak comfortably."

The lie made a faint pang stir somewhere in me.

I couldn't exactly say I’d come because of an abandoned-house YouTube video.

The village chief studied me for a moment.

"That house is very old. I heard it's more than a hundred years old. It was already there when my father was a child."

"Over a hundred years?"

"It's been repaired a few times, but originally it was the richest house in this village. It was a big place, with ten rooms and even a storeroom."

One of the elders next to him cut in.

"That was the house where Old Man Kim lived. A family of independence fighters. A family of independence fighters."

"Independence fighters?"

"Yeah. I heard Old Man Kim's grandfather was in the independence movement. He even went all the way to Manchuria."

The village chief nodded.

"That's why that family had a hard time for a while. The Japanese took all their property during colonial rule. I heard they only managed to get back on their feet after liberation."

"That's right, that's right. He was a good man too."

The elders began trading old stories back and forth.

"Why is it empty now?"

The village chief let out a sigh.

"The owner passed away about ten years ago. His children all moved to the city. Even if he put it up for sale, nobody around here wants to buy an old hanok in the countryside, so it just sat there and turned into an abandoned house."

"Sometimes weird bastards sneak in and take pictures and things."

Another elder said it with an irritated look.

"These days, you know, those people who upload videos to whatever-Tube. They wander around at night with flashlights sometimes. It's noisy too."

I couldn't help feeling a tiny stab of guilt.

After all, I was one of the people who had come because of that video.

"Would it be all right if I went inside with the owner's permission?"

The village chief looked at me suspiciously.

"What would you do inside?"

"I'd like to see what an old hanok looks like. I’d also take a few photos. Buildings that old still have a certain classical beauty, don't they?"

I couldn't tell the truth.

If I said I’d come to find a shining object, they'd think I was insane.

"You're going to go in after getting permission? Young people these days sure are strange."

An elder chuckled.

"That's right. Just sneak in. There probably isn't anything worth taking in there."

"Wait a bit. I'll ask and let you know."

The village chief pulled out his phone.

"It's Kim Old Man's youngest son, the one who passed away ten years ago."

The call connected.

"Youngsoo, it's your village chief uncle. Yeah, nothing serious. A young man from Seoul came by, and he wanted permission to look around your family house. Huh? No, no. He's not some weirdo. He's a polite young fellow."

A brief conversation passed between them.

The village chief handed me the phone.

"Talk to him yourself."

I took the phone.

"Hello. Sorry to call so suddenly, first thing in the morning."

- Ah, yes. The village chief told me. You can go in, but that house is very old, so it might be dangerous.

"I'll be careful. I'll just look around for a moment and come back out."

- Right. It's an empty house anyway. Just be careful, the floorboards in the main hall are pretty worn.

"Yes. Thank you so much."

I hung up and handed the phone back to the village chief.

"All right then. Be careful and go on."

I stood, thanked them again, and left.

I returned to the car and started the engine.

I drove toward the abandoned house.

It was the same place I had seen on Street View.

A tiled roof black with moss. A large tree in the yard. The wall was half-collapsed, and there was no gate at all.

I parked by the roadside and got out.

The smell of grass and earth ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠brushed the tip of my nose.

It was silent.

Nothing could be heard except birdsong.

I stepped into the yard. The weeds had grown up to my knees.

There was no sign anyone had maintained the place.

The main hall came into view.

Some parts were so badly worn that it looked like the floor might give way at any moment.

I placed one careful foot forward.

It creaked.

The inside looked exactly as it had in the video.

Torn wallpaper. A dust-covered floor. Old furniture pushed into the corners.

And then...

There it is.

A golden light was shining from atop the wardrobe.

It was in exactly the same place as in the video.

My heart started pounding faster.

I climbed onto the folding stool I had brought with me.

I reached out.

But there was nothing to grab.

Looking more closely at the light, I realized it wasn't coming from on top of the wardrobe at all.

It was seeping out from inside the ceiling.

I felt around above me and touched the ceiling.

Then my hand brushed against something.

Is this it?

I pressed my palm against it and pushed.

With a creak, a wooden ceiling panel opened.

Dust poured down in a shower, and I clenched my eyes shut.

At that moment, something fell.

Thunk.

Something lay at my feet.

A bundle neatly wrapped in hanji paper.

It was old, but in good condition.

Because it had been wrapped in multiple layers of hanji, it had been preserved without suffering from moisture or insect damage.

I carefully untied the string holding it shut.

Inside were several things.

The first thing that caught my eye was a Taegeukgi.

It looked as if it had been made by hand.

The cloth had turned yellow with age, and the stitching was uneven.

But the taegeuk symbol itself was still clear.

Below it was something that looked like an old ledger.

The cover was worn down so badly I couldn't make out the writing.

I opened it.

Strange symbols I didn't recognize filled the page.

What was this?

Then a window appeared before my eyes.

"Good heavens, what on earth!"

I had never imagined something like this would be here.

And that wasn't the end of it.

There were several letters beneath the ledger.

Some were written in a mixture of Chinese characters and Korean.

The handwriting was brushed out in ink.

Then my eyes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stopped.

At the name written at the end of one letter.

'Yi Yuksa'

Ding.

I read the letter.

'...These days I write poems at night. I hope that on the day freedom comes to this land, I can read them with you, sir. I enclose a few pieces; I hope they may serve as companions in lonely moments.'

Beneath that, a poem had been written out.

My chest throbbed.

I carefully wrapped it back in hanji, then took out the next letter.

This one was in a different hand.

The strokes were stronger, heavier.

Analysis Complete

[Kim Gu (1876-1949), pen name Baekbeom.]

[Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. A national leader who became the center of the independence movement.]

[He organized the Korean Patriotic Corps and directed the actions of Lee Bong-chang and Yoon Bong-gil.]

[His memoir, Baekbeom Ilji, is regarded as a valuable record of modern Korean history.]

[After liberation, he worked toward the establishment of a unified government, but was assassinated at Gyeonggyojang in 1949.]

[Very few of his handwritten letters survive.]

[Most documents were lost during the Provisional Government's relocations or seized by the Japanese.]

[This letter is a thank-you note for support of the independence fund, a valuable historical source proving exchanges between the Provisional Government and independence activists inside Korea.]

[It may become an important resource for studying the Provisional Government's finances and the flow of independence movement funds.]

[Estimated value: at least 100 million won]

I read through the contents of the letter.

'...I received your donation safely. In these difficult times, I cannot express how grateful I am for your support. The Provisional Government will use this money to keep the embers of independence alive.'

'...The deeper the darkness, the closer dawn is said to be. Please hold out with us until the day Korea is liberated. I wish you good health, and I hope we may meet again someday in a free homeland. Kim Gu.'

Finally, I took out what had been spread on the bottom.

A few old black-and-white photographs.

Several people stood together in them.

Every one of them wore a resolved expression.

There was writing on the back.

'1932, Shanghai Provisional Government.'

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