| Death in Times of War (Part I)

Soo-Ah raised her voice. Her breath was short. Her palms were sweaty. For the first time, she defied her grandfather's authority as a general. "What? No! Grandpa… General Min-Jun, and Big Brother Duri tried to help. You can't put him to death!"

"Murder is murder! Were you a part of this also, Soldier Soo-Yun?" Min-Jun demanded to know, looking at his bloodied sword and already knowing the answer.

"I was, but please, General, hear me out. These three tried to rape one of the girls from the kisaeng camp. I tried to stop them, but they threw me out and Soldier Duri had enough heart to help. Please, spare him… grandfather." she ended with a heart-wrenching plea.

"If you were also involved then..." General Min-Jun continued in a solemn voice, too encased in his commanding role.

"Grandfather, listen to me!" Soo-Ah interrupted. "He went for his sword first. I gave Duri your sword to defend himself. This one had it coming." She pointed shaken at the dead body.

"Had it coming? Had it coming?! Who are you to decide on my men's life and death?" General Min-Jun shouted at Soo-Ah as he had never done before. "Lieutenant Bom-Seok, do these two drunkards and the dead soldier belong to your company?" General Min-Jun asked somewhat calmly, coming to face his subordinate who kneeled near the dead soldier.

Lieutenant Bom-Seok snapped upright, saluted, then bowed supplicant. "My general, yes they are. I am not worthy of the faith you put in me to lead my troops. My General, please punish me as you deem fit." The man remained bowing, his voice sounding clearly strained.

Min-Jun nodded swiftly and pursed his lips. "You are to bring all your men tomorrow to the assembly area. According to the Sillian martial law, the entire platoon is to endure the punishment for not reining their own and allowing a tragedy to occur. And you too, soldier Soo-Yun." he addressed Soo-Ah with a frown embedded deep on his already creased forehead, "You will all be strapped on the punishing board and receive ten strokes with the beating stick." Min-Jun motioned for the garrison troops in charge of keeping the order, "Put Soldier Duri in the brig, until his execution." Then he looked once more at Soo-Ah wanting to understand how she got entangled in this, but he exited the tent, leaving the guards to deal with the dead body.

Soo-Ah was still recovering from the shock of hearing about Duri's death penalty and did not even consider her own. Powerless she watched the man being taken away and tried to exchange glances with him. But it was as if Duri was not there. She tried calling his name, following him a couple of steps towards the brig but it was a futile attempt to get the soldier's attention.

Giving up, she dashed in the opposite direction trying to catch up to her grandfather. The entire way back to their tent she kept begging and talking, struggling to convince him of Duri's innocence. When they entered the tent, General Min-Jun turned to her and gave her a stare that made Soo-Ah swallow her words.

"What are the rules? What are the rules I taught you, boy? If you are ever to observe men fighting you are to alert their superior or the guards at once. Was I not clear?" he raised his voice, unsaid emotions hidden behind every word.

"There was no time. They..." Soo-Ah tried to add, disheartened.

"Was I not clear, I asked you?" General Min-Jun shouted.

"Yes, clear", Soo-Ah admitted with a quivering voice and lowered her gaze.

Min-Jung went to sit defeated in his chair. "I thought I trained you to handle your impulsiveness. I can't believe you got yourself into this, boy."

"Don't call me a boy! You know I am no boy." She finally retorted in a lowered voice, all frustrations augmenting to the point of overspilling.

"You showed the emotion of a scared girl. If it is hard for you to act like a true soldier out there, then you have to be Soo-Yun, the boy also in here!" he shouted again. As if something was choking him, he began a violent coughing fit. Reaching for his teacup he took a couple of sips and finally calmed down.

Soo-Ah remained petrified, fists clenched, unable to react to anything else but Duri's sentencing. "I can't believe you would leave your army without an able man, just like that." she spat back, shaking her head in disbelief.

General Min-Jun took another sip from his teacup to make sure the coughing had calmed down. "My army did not lose one man today. It lost two." he managed to add in the end.

"Then why are you going ahead with Duri's death penalty?"

"I am really disappointed in you if you have to ask." He raised himself from the chair, commanding the room with his presence. "We do not kill our own. And when someone does, we show no mercy. It is the law. We are nothing... Nothing!... Without order, without honor. And when honor is not enough to keep us from becoming a band of raging monkeys, fear will do the job. As for your punishment..."

"I don't care!" Soo-Ah yelled at him on the verge of tears and ran out of the tent. She needed to see Duri, so she found her way steadily fast towards the brig.

When she reached the makeshift prison, built as a big wooden box with a door barred with bolted wooden planks, there were no soldiers stationed there as guards. Duri's silhouette could barely be seen in the shadow. He seemed to have already come to his senses and was sitting on a log that held the place of a chair. Raising his face from staring aimlessly at the hay on the ground the moon shone on his face. He greeted Soo-Ah with an empty smile.

She kneeled in front of the openings in the cage door and looked at the man with tears sliding on her face. She began to sob uncontrollably. "I am sorry, I am so sorry, Duri."

"Hey, laddie… Do not let me spend my last night whipping your tears, will ya'?" He offered her a pacifying look.

Soo-Ah's eyes lit up. The latch keeping the door closed was old and rusted. She could easily unlock it. "It does not have to be your last night. You can run away."

"I heard the General plans to give me a beheading. Did you know only royalty gets to be beheaded? I guess I will become the pauper who died like a prince." Duri's expression of self-gratification did not match his eyes. Raw terror was hidden behind their molasses.

"I'll open the hinge on the door. I'll even..."

"Would you send word to my mother that her son died like a prince?" Duri continued with his thought process that had nothing to do with what Soo-Ah was saying. "I could have gone so much worse, you know? With my guts out on the battlefield or split up limb by limb."

"You're not listening to me. You need to escape… You are a good man..." Soo-Ah clutched the splintered bars and began to cry again.

"In this dying game, I did the forbidden deed. I killed one of our own." He chuckled to himself in self-derision, lowering his gaze again.

"Listen to me! Run away from here!"

Duri snapped and faced Soo-Ah firmly. "Run where, laddie? They would catch me and when they do, I will get disembowelled. I'll get a death unfit even for a pig farmer like myself."

"You could… You could go to the capital. There are a lot of people there I heard; you would get lost..."'

"Laddie…"

Soo-Ah's tears got tangled in her quivering lips and she confessed. "I am not a lad. I am a girl. I am so sorry I pulled you into this." She went for another crying fit, hanging by the bars on the door, resting her forehead on them.

Duri simply smiled back. "Of course, you are a lad, young lady." He leaned on the back wall of the brig and offered a knowing look when Soo-Ah raised her head surprised. He winked.

"How… How did you know?"

"Nah, I should spare you the embarrassment. Don't worry. It is only me who knows. It's from when, ahem, from when we last trained together. I felt something when I grabbed you… anyway, you understand my meaning."

It was good that he stopped detailing because Soo-Ah could swear her face was on fire.

"Then you began avoiding me and the others, especially at a certain time of the month. I followed the clues," he tapped at his head and struggled to smile.

"You never said anything." Soo-Ah trailed off, under the heaviness of her shared secret.

"There was nothing for me to say. That's how good of a secret keeper I am." He grinned but it was as if the grin was a front to something else. "So, laddie, you could do something for me. I would fancy some soju. The good kind. Do you think you could find some? I am sure the general could spare a bottle of his finest for a dying man."

In the end, Soo-Ah nodded, relented and helped herself off the ground.

"One more thing," Duri added, blinking with agitation and finding it hard to find his words. "Tomorrow, will you watch me when they… Would you let me find your eyes in the crowd? I will be sure to reach the grace of the gods if I die looking into them." His expression changed, and he pinned his gaze on hers until he received a reply.

Soo-Ah found it easy to say she would because she had a sliver of hope and a plan not to let the man die. The soju he requested as a last wish might as well provide him with the courage to escape instead of facing death. This is why she made sure to also bring him a two day supply of food, a cape and a plot to escape.

"I brought you your soju and these," Soo-Ah added, opening the door and placing inside everything she had packed. She came and kneeled in front of him making sure to keep eye contact." I will leave the door partially locked. You can open it if you push hard enough. Wait a couple more hours and you can sneak out. No one should be awake by then, from exhaustion or alcohol."

Duri said nothing. He remained leaning his head on the dirtied wood boards and looked at her with a slight smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Nothing could sway Soo-Ah's determination. "You know the hidden escape passage, right? I'll make sure to leave a horse for you outside the camp and a sword. You can do this. All you need to do is lift from that damned seat. Take the soju with you or take a sip if you need it to clear your head. You must do it, Duri. Think about your little brothers, your family. Didn't you say you had a girl waiting for you back in the village? Go, and take her with you to the capital."

Duri exhaled deeply and said nothing. But Soo-Ah showed no intention to go or release him from her unrelenting stare until he said something, so in the end, he avoided her gaze and agreed silently.

Before Soo-Ah pulled the cage door behind her she offered him another pleading look. Only then could she tear herself away to set in motion the rest of the escape plan. She took a horse from the outer horse pen so it would not be noticed and tied him up by the secret exit of the camp, strapping a sword to its saddle. After, she headed for her bed, which would offer no rest.

The following morning, with bags under her eyes, Soo-Ah awaited in her tent, attached to the General's, for the garrison soldiers to come and take her to submit to her punishment. When the two guards entered the first thing she asked about was if Duri's beheading was going ahead. She hoped they would say he ran away in the night, but the men offered her no words. In turn, they grabbed an arm each and escorted her, through the camp, to the assembly area now turned into gallows. She was placed in line with the entire platoon and meant to be punished for the mistake of three people. Their lieutenant was to be the first in line. She was last.

One by one, they got a chunk of their hair cut off so they would continue to bear the shame. Then they took their turn on the crossed planks called the punishing board. The men's shirts got ripped open and then ten hits were placed on their backs while their pain-filled cries became louder and louder.