A Crane Among Wolves

by June Hur

“You will not always be the wisest, nor the strongest, nor the bravest. That is why we need friends. They will guide you down the right path, no matter how dark it grows.”

“History moves its course, Young Mistress Iseul,” he murmured, flipping the page of his journal. He took up his calligraphy brush again. “But it is the youth who point the current in its direction.”

“Because rape is about power; it is never about desire or love,”

The ones I loved most dragged me through the darkest of hours. Yet in the next life, I would still love them again.”

“Our kingdom is surrounded by the sea, yet I have never seen it…,” he confessed, grappling with every word. “I should like to stand before the very expanse that literati scholars have captured in their writings. To witness this vast eternity.” There was a beat of silence, and then he murmured under his breath, “To believe that life is far greater than this one wretched moment.”

“Could there be a woman less concerned about her life? Are you so unafraid of death that you would charge straight into it?” “Of course I am afraid, but what I fear most is regret.”

“Sisters bicker and quarrel. They despise and love each other. You cannot stand each other, yet when the other bleeds, you bleed, too. That is family.

“I became old, and I realized power cannot protect us from the greed and wrath of others—and it will not protect us from ourselves. Marry for power, and it will only entangle you deeper in the web of treachery. You will be far happier if you choose the simple life among the mountains and waters. Peace of mind is the most precious gift.

“I knew you would come,” he said. I held his unwavering gaze. “How so, daegam?” “Because your uncle told you not to.”

There is an old saying … Mun-gyeong-ji-gyo. A friendship worth sacrificing one’s life for, without any regret.

“You must change the heavens. So go, daegam. Go and move the heavens for her.”