Black Flower (35 page)

Yet his idea failed to arouse any real sympathy. They all nodded out of courtesy, but they had decided to return to the Yucatán once they got their money. Nevertheless, Jo Jangyun’s grand scheme continued. “In the new nation, everyone will be equal, and it will be a republic. Mayans who want to may join us and live with us, but they will be ruled by us.”

“Why is that?” Kim Ijeong asked. Jo Jangyun replied in an incredulous tone, “Are you saying that we should be ruled by them?” “Why do you think that one side must necessarily rule the other?” Bak Gwangsu, who had been quiet up until then, said, “Why, you ask? Because he’s worried that we’ll become extinct. We are the minority and the Mayans are beyond number. He is worried that if we mingle with them, we will ultimately disappear. But we’re all going to die anyway.”

Someone spit and cut off Bak Gwangsu. “This shaman fellow is saying cursed things, damn it!”

Jo Jangyun worked diligently to create the framework for the nation. He built a slightly larger hut to use as a headquarters and wrote everyone’s name on a piece of paper and tied it up. Kim Ijeong was placed in charge of military affairs. He inspected weapons and explored the lay of the land with the Mayan commander, Mario. He taught marksmanship and formations to the untrained soldiers.

Not long after, sporadic battles broke out. The Mayan guerrillas attacked the government base at Lake Petén Itzá. On the counterattack, government troops rounded the lake and struck directly at the guerrilla camp on the outskirts of Tikal. Most of the Koreans followed them into battle, yet the government forces were far more spirited than they had expected. Kim Ijeong attacked the Guatemalan troops’ rear, using guerrilla tactics he had learned under Pancho Villa’s command. The troops fell back to Lake Petén Itzá for fear that their retreat would be cut off. In the midst of the chaos, some of the government troops passed by the pyramid where Jo Jangyun and others were positioned, and showered them with a hail of bullets.

Jo Jangyun was cowed by the bullets that came flying in. The upper part of the pyramid was riddled like a honeycomb by the Guatemalans’ bullets. Fortunately, those troops retreated, but Jo Jangyun realized that this guerrilla war was not going to end as easily as Mario had said it would. With the exception of Kim Ijeong and a few others, the guerrillas were mere children with no combat experience, and Kim Seokcheol and Seo Gijung were retired soldiers who hadn’t held guns in over a decade. Furthermore, the army of the Korean Empire had not been trained for a guerrilla war in the jungle. After a few more battles, Jo Jangyun was forced to admit that the Korean mercenaries with whom he would be fighting were nothing more than a ragged rabble. And it also occurred to him that the three million dollars they were supposed to receive from the Mayans was totally unrealistic.

The next morning, Ijeong rose from his bed and realized that everything was too quiet. Something was missing from the camp. He went outside and silently counted the Koreans one by one. He called to Dolseok, who was passing by, and asked him if he knew the whereabouts of Jo Jangyun and Kim Seokcheol. Dolseok didn’t know where they were either. Ijeong rang the bell and gathered the Koreans. As he had suspected, no one knew where the two were. Upon searching they discovered that their belongings were gone as well. Later, at the muddy edge of the camp, Ijeong found two sets of footprints that disappeared into the jungle.

The night before, Jo Jangyun had gotten up and gone outside. He still had much to do. Staying alive was his first priority. He could not die here. He had to prepare for an assault on mainland Korea and had to carry out the overseas independence movement. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, the provincial government in the jungle had been a wild dream. He unburdened himself in private to Kim Seokcheol. “Even if we were to truly found a nation here, who would recognize us?” Kim Seokcheol agreed. “It was a childish idea. This jungle will kill off even the healthy, and when the government troops besiege us, we will be killed like dogs.” Jo Jangyun beat his chest as he spoke. “Then shall we convince everyone to go back?” Kim Seokcheol shook his head. “What about the money we’ve already received? The revolutionaries will come to Mérida and shoot us all dead. Let us two go back and report to the Korean National Association, then return after we get instructions. For everyone to die here would truly be to die in vain.”

They left the camp before the day grew light. Their steps were even more cautious at the thought that the Mayans might execute them if they were caught, in accordance with the contract. And so the two leaders who had dragged everyone into the jungle headed north that night and ran for their lives.

It was as if some fate were slowly approaching Ijeong with a wide grin. Come on, come. Ijeong sucked forcefully on a cigarette. The anger of those left behind was tremendous. “We thought they were our leaders, and look what they’ve gotten us into!” someone shouted. “Let us pursue them now and shoot them dead!” But no one was as shocked and bitter as Ijeong. After Villa had been routed, the reason he had returned to Mérida, and the reason he had gotten involved in all this, was Jo Jangyun.

Nevertheless, Ijeong calmly appeased them. “I will be responsible for the contract with the Mayans. It might be upsetting that they left, but maybe it’s better this way. Now, if we get the three million dollars, it will all be ours. Forget the political games of the esteemed men of the Mérida branch office or the Korean National Association. That money belongs to the forty of us left here. Those who survive will get everything.” They all nodded. Ijeong said, “If you agree to this, let us make our thumbprints. And from now on, traitors will be punished. Only then will we all be able to get back alive.” They fell over themselves to sign their names on a piece of white paper and make their thumbprints. Then Ijeong drew blood from his finger and wrote “Deserters will be killed” at the bottom.

Despite this fervent declaration, that night more men attempted to escape. Ijeong heard the sentry yell, got out of bed, picked up his gun, and ran into the jungle. There were two deserters; it was difficult to get through the jungle alone. After a chase, the two were caught and dragged back to camp. One of those caught was Jo Jangyun’s comrade Seo Gijung. The other was eighteen-year-old Bak Beomseok. Seo Gijung looked at Ijeong and laughed obsequiously. “We weren’t running away. We were going to come back.” As for Bak Beomseok, he was trembling like a leaf. Tears and mucus ran together as he knelt down and hung his head to the ground.

Ijeong took from his pocket the document covered with red thumbprints and showed it to the two of them. Then he marched them to a reservoir near the pyramids. There were a lot of bogs before the reservoir. Up until then, many of the Koreans had thought he was just bluffing, to raise morale. But Ijeong aimed directly at the back of Seo Gijung’s head and fired his pistol. Seo Gijung, who had sensed his death and struggled at the last moment, dropped with one shot. Eighteen-year-old Bak Beomseok met the same fate. But he was more composed than Seo Gijung. With no Buddhist temple nearby, he left only these words and then closed his eyes: “I pray only that my karma will end here.” This time as well, Ijeong mercilessly pulled the trigger.

From that day on, there were no more deserters. The only way out would be to kill Ijeong first. Battles were infrequent. The government troops withdrew to the southern highlands before a pincer attack by the guerrillas. Under the command of the Mayan officers, Ijeong’s men ambushed the retreating troops and won a small victory.

Three months went by. Tranquil days passed without casualties, with the exception of a twenty-year-old man who died of fever. Ijeong sat at the top of one of two small, twin pyramids, deep in thought. Perhaps Jo Jangyun’s scheme had not been absurd after all. Was Pancho Villa so special? He beat a foreman to death and became a bandit, then took advantage of a period of revolution to become a general, and in the end triumphantly entered Mexico City. Of course, Obregón drove him off, but even Obregón had been a typical greenhorn at first. And yet was not Guatemala in a far more severe state of anarchy than Mexico? Given the situation, founding a nation would not be so difficult. The Mayans could have their nation and we could have our own small but powerful nation, centered here at Tikal, where we could be self-sufficient. We are outsiders anyway. There is no possibility that we could ever grow like Obregón.

During the next battle, Ijeong indirectly presented his scheme to a Mayan revolutionary commander. “If Cabrera is ousted, you will drive out the white people and start your own nation, no?” The commander said that they would. “Then you too will go to Antigua or Guatemala City, those hospitable highlands, the land of eternal spring?” Again he said that they would. “Then there would be no problem if we founded a small nation around Tikal?” He laughed heartily and said that the Koreans could found a slightly bigger nation if they wanted. He mentioned Belize, to the north, and said that it was a country brought into being by black slaves from Africa. “Similar to your plight, yes?” Ijeong said, “This is very important to us, as our nation across the Pacific Ocean has disappeared.” The revolutionary commander nodded as if it were of little importance. Ijeong could see in his face that he wondered what a few dozen people could possibly do.

Then the commander sternly appended a condition: “Except that Tikal will not do. You can stay here for a while in order to help us. But this place is holy ground. By Lake Petén Itzá to the south or in the jungle regions farther north is fine, but not Tikal.”

When he returned, Ijeong gathered the remaining soldiers and told them of his plan. There were those who opposed it. Of course there were those who laughed at it as well. No one readily agreed with Ijeong’s idea.

“We are nothing more than mercenaries. If their revolution succeeds, we will simply get our money and go back.” “Go back? To where? Do we have someplace to go back to?” “Whatever the case, we can’t live in this jungle.” “Why not? Here there are no hacendados and no governors, only us and the Mayans.” “The Mayans may need us now, but if the revolution succeeds, they will chase us out. This land is sacred to them.” “It doesn’t have to be here. There are lots of good places in the north of Guatemala.” “Fine, let’s say there are. What does it matter if we have a nation or not?”

Ijeong appeared to think for a moment. Then he grinned. “If it doesn’t matter whether we have a nation or not, then does that mean we can have one? If that’s true, then we can make a nation, can’t we?”

A brief silence fell. “We may all die tomorrow. Is there anyone here who wants to die as a cursed Japanese or Chinese? I don’t,” Ijeong said. “Then wouldn’t it be better to have no nationality?” Dolseok asked. Ijeong shook his head. “The dead cannot choose to have no nation. We will all die as the citizens of a nation. We need our own country. Even if we cannot die as citizens of the country we created, at least we can avoid dying as Japanese or Chinese. We need a country in order to have no nationality.”

Ijeong’s logic was difficult to grasp. In any case, it was not his logic that convinced them; it was his passion. And that passion was a curious thing. It was not a passion to become something, but a passion to not become something.

And one month later, they founded the smallest nation in history in the temple square of Tikal. The name of the nation was New Korea. The only nation names they knew were Korea and Joseon, so they didn’t have much choice. The Mayan revolutionary commander sent them a bull as a present. Ijeong sent him his thanks and reassured him that they might have begun here, but they planned to move south to Lake Petén Itzá soon. As a shaman, Bak Gwangsu quietly and humbly performed the sacrifice to celebrate the birth of a new nation, and Kim Okseon went up to the highest place and played his flute. When the ritual ended, Ijeong spoke. “This country is a new country with no division between noble and common, high and low. Now, in this place, we are responsible for its fate. Let us tell Mexico and Korea, letting them join in the establishment of this new country.” But almost no one took this declaration of the founding of New Korea seriously.

Their country survived for over a year in the jungle of Tikal. New Korea prohibited desertion and thievery first of all. A month later, some of the soldiers married Mayan maidens. Their country then prohibited child marriage and the keeping of concubines. As time went on, intermarriage with the Mayans increased. The Mayan guerrillas paid them no mind. The wedding ceremonies were a compromise between the Mayan style and the Korean style. Two days before the wedding, the groom would ride a horse to the Mayan village and perform a wedding ceremony in their fashion. They slathered mud on the groom’s head and sang songs. They sometimes pretended to seriously threaten to kill the groom, and at other times they fed him a strange potion that made him hallucinate. Yet when the day of the wedding came, they congratulated the bride and groom and sent them off to Tikal with the playing of drums. When the bride arrived in Tikal, they performed a simple wedding ceremony in the Korean style. There was no splendid bridal headpiece or rooster with its legs bound; instead, the couple bowed to each other, shared a cup of liquor, went into the new paja prepared for them, and spent their first night together.

Dolseok found a partner. She was a sixteen-year-old girl who had lost both her parents to the government troops. The couple could not communicate with each other, but they looked happy. Once they went to bed, the sound of ecstatic moaning was heard outside until morning. There were no secrets in the pajas.

Ijeong did not seek a partner. There were those who said that he was trying to set an example, but Ijeong generally spent his time patrolling the area and thinking about places where they could strike out and places where they could draw back. Along with a Mayan guide who could speak Spanish, Ijeong traveled around Tikal, realizing for the first time that this was no ordinary place. The guide said, “This is sacred ground. Look.” Stone tombs could be seen wherever he pointed. He grabbed a vine and pulled. At that, a pile of earth crumbled to reveal a stone building. According to the guide, around 700
A.D.
a new king, Ah Cacau, appeared. This strong ruler, whose name meant Lord Cocoa, began to build great stone structures here. He was buried in what is called Temple I. Until the year 900, when the Mayan Empire in the area began to collapse for unknown reasons, Tikal enjoyed an age of prosperity. But long before that, countless new arrivals founded kingdoms in Tikal. This happened repeatedly, beginning around 700
B.C.
, and it was said that the population reached 100,000 by the sixth century
A.D.
Those in power immediately recognized Tikal’s strategic value, even though it was covered by the jungle.