Chapter 152. Change.
"...is what they said."
"Our village is nothing more than the exclusive property of the powerful. A utopia for the privileged, without any consideration for the weak?"
"..."
I felt no anger, despair, or dismay at this kind of propaganda campaign. I'd been through more than enough of public opinion being manipulated to stir the hearts of the masses.
"Old man."
"Yes."
"Find out what they eat, when they use the bathroom, what time they go to sleep — miss nothing, and report back."
"I've already assembled members specializing in infiltration."
Bastards like those always have something to hide. How did I know?
'It wasn't my first time, after all.'
I'd even weathered propaganda wars waged on a national scale. People were racking their brains over the propaganda war Lee Jong-hyun's group was waging with their warped sense of justice.
But I actually found the situation rather interesting.
People were frantically offering suggestions on how to handle this. Seeing me smile meaningfully to myself, my companions tilted their heads and asked.
"Representative, do you have some kind of good plan?"
"Do you know much about North Korean defectors?"
"You mean the North Koreans who couldn't endure the regime and crossed over?"
"Did you know that if you show them a taste of capitalism, they come around very quickly?"
"Well, I've never witnessed it personally, but that's what I've heard."
All we had to do was let those people, who were fed emergency rations barely fit for swine in the name of equality, experience the village for themselves. Word would spread naturally, and they'd realize just how far off their ideals were. And by the time those rumors had spread enough to reach Lee Jong-hyun's ears, it would already be too late.
While I was thinking this, that bastard paid another visit. This time, apparently intending to appeal to our emotions, he didn't bring the armed people we saw last time — only the injured and the elderly. We let them rest separately and only allowed Lee Jong-hyun himself into the assembly hall.
"Didn't you think that spreading those rumors and then coming here might get you killed?"
"You won't kill me. Or rather, it's more accurate to say you can't, isn't it?"
That expression and tone, as if he held the upper hand from start to finish. I'd save the pleasure of watching it turn to despair for later.
"Do you know why they are injured and gaunt?"
"?"
"Because you monopolize the food and refuse to share it, they are forced to risk their lives going outside to scavenge for supplies."
"And yet, despite all that, you look perfectly healthy?"
"You don't understand the reason they had to risk danger and go out. We had no choice but to do so for our survival, and to protect ourselves and others. If we didn't secure food, everyone would starve. Someone had to go out, and injuries were the result."
"That's sophistry. If you're so worried about people getting hurt, then shouldn't your able-bodied and healthy self be the one going out?"
"You may easily judge by looking at my healthy exterior, but I, too, could be injured at any time. Don't judge recklessly based on appearances alone."
'Don't judge recklessly based on appearances alone...'
"Then did you bring those people here to protest against me?"
He smiled as he answered me.
"Yes, I brought them so you could feel, even a little, what our hardships are like."
"Then leave them here."
"Pardon?"
"We'll keep them safe and well-fed. That solves it, doesn't it?"
For a split second, the corners of his mouth twitched upward and his expression relaxed. He quickly schooled his features, but I saw it. Knowing that bastard's character, he might have even planned for this. He'd judged that it was fine if the people he brought died, and fine if we took them in for a while.
They'd surely been instructed to spread bad rumors about their experience here. Conversely, if they died, that would be even better for their propaganda campaign. He hid his inner thoughts and continued speaking.
"How can we trust you!?"
"Look. It would be very easy for me to kill all of you right here and now. So do you really think I'd have a reason to bother keeping you around?"
"..."
"Then how about this? Let's send people here regularly in cycles and let them experience our village. What do you think?"
"..."
"You could be wrong, after all."
"...Understood."
He brought in the people waiting outside and explained the situation.
"I'm truly sorry... because of me, you elders and everyone else have to..."
"Young man. It's fine. If this old man, who doesn't know how to do much, can be of help..."
"That's right! If someone like me, who can't do anything because of my injuries, can help in this way, then of course I must!"
He went from one person to the next, holding their hands and putting on an expression of helpless regret.
'Was this bastard an actor in a past life or something...?'
After saying his farewells to every member of his group, he looked at me and said.
"Then, in one month... I will return."
The moment he turned around, I caught his smile. What that bastard planned to do was obvious, and against a situation I'd already anticipated, it would be utterly useless.
A month passed faster than expected, and Lee Jong-hyun personally brought other people. Again, he brought women and the injured, just like last time.
'Worried that their fighting strength might switch sides. People whose absence from the group wouldn't matter much.'
Even knowing his transparent tactics, I didn't pay it much mind, and silently watched as he took away the group of people who had been staying in our village.
Now all I had to do was wait for the seed of 'doubt' I had planted to germinate. A month was more than enough time for that seed to sprout and the flower of doubt to spread.
When the people from Lee Jong-hyun's group first arrived at the village, their hearts were filled with unease at the quiet, peaceful atmosphere. Truth be told, it was because the expressions of the people we exchanged them for didn't look as bad as they'd expected. Quite a few people had shuttled back and forth to this village so far, and their expressions were different from what they'd been told — supposedly everyone had said it was terrible.
'They've definitely been put through something...'
They also felt wary of how overly friendly and cooperative the villagers here were. Two women who had been friends for a long time, 'Hanna' and 'Jimin,' talked among themselves.
"Hanna, everything looks fine on the outside, though?"
Hanna nodded slightly in agreement at Jimin's words, but she steeled her resolve, determined not to be fooled. Contrary to expectations that something would happen, the days passed without any particular incident. Each person did their assigned work, ate their meals, and lived a peaceful daily routine.
The people here accommodated them, even setting aside a separate place so the people from Suwon could stay by themselves.
"It's so different from what we heard..."
"I feel more active farming here than I did before, too."
At their words, Hanna and a few others indignantly retorted.
"They're just treating us well on purpose! Everyone, you mustn't let your guard down!"
As the days passed, Hanna felt something strange. She could sense the others from her group gradually changing within the village's daily life. They became more lively and laughed more readily than they had back in Suwon.
But she recalled Lee Jong-hyun's words: 'Don't be fooled by outward appearances.' She convinced herself that the 'true equality' he emphasized could never be achieved in a place like this.
The warnings about Cheon Sihu that Lee Jong-hyun had given them wouldn't leave her mind. Despite the village's gentle and cozy environment, Hanna believed it was nothing more than a pleasant-looking shell that could crumble at any moment.
But contrary to her beliefs, seeing her companions growing happier day by day, Hanna finally couldn't stand it and ran to the bathroom.
"Urrggghh...!"
Even as she watched the people from Cheon Sihu's village sit across from them at mealtimes and share food, she told herself it wasn't mere hospitality but a method to domesticate them.
— Smack!
"I can't get used to this village... it's all a fabricated script..."
She slapped her own cheek hard and swore to herself. But unbeknownst to her, a feeling of doubt was already slowly blooming in her heart.
Despite her resolve, the longer Hanna spent in the village, the deeper her inner conflict grew. Every day she tried to brainwash herself and pull herself together, but the reality unfolding before her eyes was slowly eating away at her heart.
About a week before they were to return to Suwon, Hanna was wandering around the village when she ran into Jimin. Jimin already seemed to have completely blended into the village. When they first arrived, she had also sworn not to let her guard down, alongside Hanna.
"Jimin—!"
Unable to hear Hanna's voice, Jimin ran off somewhere. A deep smile spread across her face, and her eyes were filled with tranquility. Only three weeks had passed, but unlike back in Suwon, with nutritious meals, she looked healthier than before.
Hanna stopped in her tracks for a moment and stared at Jimin. She could see her helping out in the fields. Jimin was mingling with the villagers, carrying crops, and spending a joyful time laughing together. Seeing her looking so free and happy, Hanna's chest tightened. She clenched her teeth without realizing it.
'Am I pathetically jealous right now...?'
There was no trace left on Jimin's face of the 'equality' that Lee Jong-hyun had indoctrinated into her. This complete transformation felt like a betrayal. No, perhaps more than feeling betrayed, her jealousy and confusion over her own inability to accept that happiness were greater.
'Why can't I be like Jimin?'
Jimin had accepted it, but Hanna had not. Jimin had found happiness here, while Hanna was still trying to deny her own life in this place.
Her heart was in turmoil. She wavered between conviction and reality, between ideals and rest. At the same time, she was afraid of the desire welling up inside her to be dyed in this place, just like Jimin.
'Why... can't I be happy?'
A small crack formed in the once-solid dam, and the water that began to flow couldn't be stopped, bursting through and bringing the whole thing crashing down.