“From now on, we will begin the group discussion.”
A few days after the news of Kang Yoon-ho reached the Hwalbindang, Clerk Su Tal-lin gathered all the party members in one place.
“What is a group discussion?”
“As the Clerk, I want to ensure that the leaders of the party properly understand what the Party Leader has told us.”
The words and achievements of the Party Leader had certainly been conveyed within Hwalbindang. However, wouldn’t the party leaders need to understand the Leader’s words even deeper than the regular members?
To provide mental training for the leaders, Su Tal-lin decided to interpret the Party Leader’s words in front of them.
“Indeed! You will personally interpret the Party Leader’s words for us.”
“It is an honor!”
“If you have any questions, please speak up.”
Seeing the passionate eyes of the party members, Su Tal-lin nodded inwardly with satisfaction.
“Are the rich who possess the means of production the new enemies of Hwalbindang? Or are we talking about the bourgeoisie?”
“That’s a good point, but both are wrong. The Party Leader warned us against blind fury.”
Su Tal-lin calmly shook his head in response.
“Blind fury?”
“As our size grows, aren’t there more party members who display blind hostility toward the rich? Just calling them all bourgeois? But that’s what the Party Leader warned us about.”
“A warning?”
“Not all rich people are the same. Those who monopolize the means of production and make the common people shed tears! That’s whom we should truly be angry at—the genuinely malicious bourgeoisie.”
“Indeed…! There are also rich people who hesitate to give back, despite having much.”
“Our enemies are still the bourgeoisie, but you’ve pinpointed who that bourgeoisie is!”
“That’s right. When I understood the Party Leader’s words, I couldn’t help but be amazed! It was truly timely advice he offered us!”
The moment Su Tal-lin understood the Party Leader’s message, he couldn’t suppress the chills running down his spine.
How was it that from so far away in Wuhan, he could give advice as if he was right next to us at just the right moment?
He truly is the unparalleled Party Leader of Hwalbindang. Without realizing it, Su Tal-lin bowed deeply toward the direction of Wuhan.
“Truly, it’s the Party Leader!!!”
“He has been worrying about us from afar!!!”
A series of amazed exclamations erupted, and once the dam broke, questions flowed in rapid succession.
“I have a part I need to understand.”
“What is it?”
Su Tal-lin looked at the young leader who had been diligently memorizing the Party Leader’s words like they were precious teachings.
“In the past, on the promised day, didn’t the Party Leader say to rise up with scythes and hammers if we lack weaponry? But in this recent speech, he seemed to belittle the scythes and hammers.”
“Correct. There are currently members throwing away swords and using scythes and hammers as their weapons. They are symbols of us, yet he said they are items that can be bought with money. Wasn’t that a bit too flippant?”
“How foolish.”
Though the young leader’s passion was commendable, Su Tal-lin spoke to him with a hint of scorn.
“What?”
“You missed the most important point and got caught up in mere tools! What did the Party Leader say next?”
“Why have those who didn’t buy their tools come to consider them as something natural? Why have they willingly become slaves?”
The young leader stammered, confused but recalling the phrases he had been repeating over the past few days.
“What did the Party Leader mean by ‘something natural’? He was talking about the common people who do not realize!”
“The common people who do not realize?”
“Just because the Green Forest members wield scythes and hammers, does that mean they are part of Hwalbindang?”
“No.”
At best, just a band of thugs. A group of bandits sprouting up like weeds, appearing and disappearing as if they were nothing. Just because they have green hair, how could they be identified as Hwalbindang?
Though the young leader thought no further, Clerk Su Tal-lin’s mind was elsewhere.
“It’s natural for them to be Green Forest members. They remain in a state of unawareness. When the Green Forest members are inspired by the Party Leader’s words! When they realize that what seems natural is not truly so, what happens to them?”
“They become Hwalbindang members, just like us!”
“Only then do the scythes and hammers in their hands become the weapons of Hwalbindang. Do you see what is more important?”
“Could it be that the Party Leader’s words were…?!”
With wide eyes, the young leader glanced at the Clerk.
“The importance of inspiration! It is crucial to awaken those who live in ignorance! To make those who think this is natural realize! That is what he told us! So what must we do?”
The first task of Hwalbindang flashed through the young leader’s mind.
“To unite the 72 Green Forests into one party…?!”
“Correct. The greens who blindly covet someone else’s money! It was an encouragement to help those ‘natural’ ones realize that they are not so!”
“Indeed! The Party Leader hid such deep meanings!”
Only then did the young leader begin to slightly understand the profound words of the Party Leader.
“I would not have thought you could grasp that much! Truly, you are the Clerk!”
Other leaders also praised Clerk Su Tal-lin with wide-eyed astonishment.
“Hah…”
“What sigh is that?”
The Clerk, happy about his words, asked the leader who suddenly let out a deep sigh.
“Though the Party Leader hides great meanings in even the smallest of words, why doesn’t he join us?”
The leader bowed his head as if he felt a deep sense of loss.
“Indeed. He has not returned to the mundane to live as a commoner; he has remained steadfast. I can’t understand why he would want to become bourgeois.”
The Party Leader seeks to become the successor of Man Geum Battlefield. The feats from Wuhan sound more amazing each time, but why would he want to become bourgeois?
It was a question that someone had wanted to ask but dared not voice.
“Indeed, no one truly understands the vast vision of our Party Leader.”
Su Tal-lin let out a loud sigh in frustration.
“Clerk?”
“Am I the only one who gets to catch even a glimpse of the Party Leader’s monumental intentions?!”
The future leaders of Hwalbindang asked such foolish questions. He had no face to meet Party Leader. Su Tal-lin felt too embarrassed even to lift his head toward the direction of Wuhan.
“What do you mean?”
“Why is the Party Leader trying to disguise himself as bourgeois? Can’t anyone decipher his true intent? How dare they question him!”
To doubt the Party Leader was a grave sin. The leaders looked at Su Tal-lin in shock.
“Doubt? How could we doubt the Party Leader? We are merely worried. Please wash away our concerns, Clerk!”
Su Tal-lin looked at the flustered leaders and fell into deep thought.
Indeed, the Party Leader didn’t just trust anyone with Hwalbindang for no reason. Isn’t it the Clerk’s job to guide these foolish yet loyal individuals?
Feeling a heavy responsibility for the task given by the Party Leader, Su Tal-lin calmly opened his mouth.
“Didn’t you feel it in the speech? That he is currently focusing on the completion of ideology.”
“Completion of ideology?”
The leaders of Hwalbindang needed a moment to grasp the Clerk’s words.
“The Party Leader returned to the mundane to avoid becoming another bourgeois. But surely he must have witnessed the harsh reality impossible to escape out there!”
The Party Leader, having chosen to become an ordinary Joseon man rather than a bourgeois, could not turn his gaze from the suffering masses.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m speaking of the suffering people.”
“…!”
“He said during his speech, sadly, that we could do nothing about their means of production. From that, I recalled the helplessness the Party Leader must have felt alone, and my heart ached painfully!”
He abandoned all wealth and power to return, yet he surely found it impossible to turn his gaze from the people starving and struggling.
An unavoidable sense of sorrow flickered across Su Tal-lin’s brow.
“Then why not just return and slash down the bourgeois?!”
“We could take down the Head of Guards. But what happens next? Once the government troops come, what becomes of our grand ambitions?”
“……”
None of the leaders could respond.
“He must know. No matter how much power we use now, even if he uses his true abilities, we cannot change the current world.”
“Cough.”
A sound of helpless sorrow was heard inside the tent. Su Tal-lin almost succumbed to momentary sadness, but that was not acceptable.
The Party Leader had not given up.
“That’s why he has decided to first complete his ideology before bringing them down.”
“What exactly is this completion of ideology?”
As the leaders looked at Su Tal-lin with curious eyes, he began to voice the understanding he had hardly grasped over the past few days.
“The ancient thinkers didn’t just live among the people in the mundanity; they mingled with kings, officials, and the rich to experience the world and complete their ideologies.”
“Are you referring to the ideologies of Confucianism, Daoism, Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Legalism?”
Su Tal-lin nodded.
“Indeed. A completed ideology creates a power that leads numerous people! The Party Leader stands among the bourgeois, gaining firsthand experience of how cruel they are! Which ones need to be purged! He is taking time to sort his thoughts through direct experience.”
Without directly experiencing the bourgeois, one cannot understand them. It would be difficult to punish them. It was truly a thought fitting for the Party Leader.
“Indeed! As he did with Ho Pil, is he now disguising himself as a bourgeois again?”
“Didn’t the leaders witness it? The true form behind his mask! If he truly wanted to be bourgeois, would he have incited the workers?”
“No, absolutely not!”
“He is a man willing to bear the stigma of becoming bourgeois and aims for the highest place for those at the lowest!”
Why did the Party Leader resist the Head of Guards, risking his life, when simply becoming bourgeois would have sufficed?
He was enduring.
Hiding the boiling hatred for the bourgeois behind a mask, he was preparing for that day.
After several days of contemplation and interpretation, Su Tal-lin had finally grasped a bit of the Party Leader’s grand ambition.
“Cough!”
“Cough!”
“Party Leader! Our Party Leader!”
Some hid their faces with their arms and cried out, while others knelt and wept openly.
“We heard of the world that the Party Leader wishes to open.”
“It’s a world where we can rest one day out of ten!”
“A world where we can rest when times are tough!”
“A world with lunch provided! And rising salaries!”
“Truly a dreamlike world!”
“As the Party Leader completes his ideology, he is surely seeking those who will support his ideology, just like the ancient thinkers.”
To bring about such a world, the Party Leader is working hard. Su Tal-lin spoke calmly while controlling his boiling emotions.
“Indeed!!!”
“But could we not have misunderstood?”
In the back of the tent, a Hwalbindang member from the Third Mountain Village, who had less inspiration than others, poured cold water on the atmosphere.
“Are you questioning Clerk’s proper interpretation of the Party Leader’s words?!”
“Enough.”
Su Tal-lin stopped the leader who seemed ready to attack the doubting member immediately.
“Clerk!”
Su Tal-lin looked at the doubting member as if to say he understood.
It was indeed possible to have such unanticipated doubts. But who was the Party Leader? He was the one who foreseen all this and conveyed his words to them.
“Look closely. The Party Leader sent us this because he knew he might be misunderstood.”
Su Tal-lin presented proof that would dispel even a sliver of doubt about the Party Leader.
“This is a red headband?! Isn’t this the headband we’re supposed to tie around our heads before carrying out the operation?”
What Su Tal-lin displayed in front of the leaders was a red headband from Wuhan.
“I heard that workers also wear this red headband when they strike. Just like us.”
“……!”
“Look at what is written on this red headband.”
“Unity and Struggle?!”
The headband bore four words written in bold lettering—the four words that the Party Leader directly conveyed to Hwalbindang.
“The Party Leader is telling us! Even while wearing the stigma of bourgeois, we will constantly struggle! He will unite with us wherever he is!”
Any doubt had been utterly dispelled by the four words directly sent from the Party Leader.
“Party Leader! I dared to misunderstand you!!!”
“Ahhhh… We failed to grasp the grand intention of the Party Leader!!!”
“The day will come when the Party Leader will return with a thought that surpasses Confucius and Mencius, surrounded by those who resonate with his ideology! What must we do until then?”
All questions vanished, leaving only one left. Su Tal-lin raised his voice and asked the leaders.
“For that day!”
“For Hwalbindang!”
“For the returning Party Leader!”
“For everything to unite as one party!!!”
“Unite the 72 Green Forests into one party! Turn the Green Forest into Hwalbindang!”
“We must run tirelessly until the day the Party Leader returns.”
All that remained in Hwalbindang was the anticipation for that day.
“How long has it been since I had a leisurely day?”
“Is that you, Master Kang?”
It’s a lovely autumn day. Sitting on a rock in the inner garden, I was enjoying the scenery when I unexpectedly locked eyes with Miss Zhuge, who was carrying documents.
Oh no. I didn’t expect to get caught while slacking off for a bit.
“The autumn breeze feels nice.”
I smoothly changed the subject. Kang Yoon-ho pretended not to notice the paperwork he had left behind, looking at Miss Zhuge with a friendly smile.
“Master Kang, tomorrow…”
“Isn’t it better to take a good rest today so I don’t mess up in front of Man Geum-jeon tomorrow? Miss Zhuge should come join me for a bit of slacking off!”
I’ll have to make her my accomplice as well. I patted the empty space next to the rock and gestured toward Miss Zhuge, who seemed hesitant.
“Oh, um… okay!”
The breeze was cool, and it was enjoyable just being together in silence, appreciating the scenery.
Tomorrow is the last day of the second exam. This was enough rest before jumping back into action.
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