A Crane Among Wolves

by June Hur

“In dark times, every mother becomes your mother, every child your child, every sister your sister…” She picked up the coat strings of my jacket and tied them into a ribbon, closing the front. “… and every stranger-in-need a friend.”

“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.”

“When someone you love is taken, you go into the den of the tiger. You go to the ends of the kingdom and across. You go to where they are. You find them—no matter the cost.”

There are too many sorrows in life to feel each too deeply.

“Were you always like this?” he asked. She narrowed her eyes. “Like what?” “Rebellious.” “It is impossible not to be,” she mumbled, half to herself. “One is imprisoned by a thousand rules as a woman, and no one will explain to me why such rules exist.”

“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.”

“Small details are infinitely more important than your general impression.”

“When one is able to differentiate good from evil, it is impossible to accept the way things are.”

“We all have the faculty to differentiate good from evil,” Daehyun murmured. “But greed closes the eyes of some, turning people into wolves who throw all ethics and values to the wind.”

a crane surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves. I had waited for the pack to tear it apart and devour it, only to be startled by the crane’s formidable strength. The truth reminded me of that crane; the truth was strong. It held the courage to strike out, no matter how ferocious the oppression.

“The path we are to take will be littered with death. Freedom will always come at a cost.”

I think even one’s beliefs and values collapse under the weight of fear.”

“I am just here until I am not. I do not think of one, five, or ten years in the future.”

“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.

“You are superstitious.” “One must believe in something.

“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.

Peace of mind is the most precious gift.

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

“Iseul and her weapon of choice,” Daehyun whispered, almost endearingly. “Why did we trouble ourselves with this coup nonsense when we could have sent you in with your deadly rock?”

“Hwang Iseul,” his voice rasped, his hands gripping tight onto my skirt, “if by any chance we do not meet again in this lifetime, then I will find you in the next—or as many lifetimes as it takes to see you again.”

“So long as you live, we’ll have the rest of our lives to find each other again. And I will find you again. I promise.”

“Why is it so irrationally difficult for men to simply leave women alone?!”

“Many often find it irrationally difficult to do what is right.”

This darkness seems without end, and yet…” He glanced at me, his touch trailing from my wrist to the very tip of my finger, before intertwining his with mine. “The night is brighter with you here, Iseul-ah.”

The fleetingness of life … I found myself thinking endlessly of Wonsik’s remark. We mortals exist for but a season, and yet we love as though we are bound by eternity.

“As Wonsik-samchon once told me: Life has been and will always be painful and lonely, and the only way to make this life endurable is that we all work together, for each other.

I am happy wherever you are.”

“All I desire,” he whispered, tenderly caressing her hair, “is to live a peaceful and honorable life, and above all, to be remembered well by you once I’m gone. Then in the next life, perhaps, you will not pass me by.” “I would never pass you by,” she replied softly. “And should I find you first, I do hope you will not greet me with an arrow.”

It is imperative to confront history because it repeats itself when ignored.

“Must you always be teasing me?” “I’m always of a mind to tease you, Iseul-ah. Teasing you will be my lifelong

“You are always teasing me one moment,” she mumbled, “then stealing my heart the next.”

He was suddenly reminded of Wonsik’s words: There is never a good time to love. They were mortals, with all their days numbered. Life would always be difficult for most, the world always harsh and cruel. There was never the right time to seize joy. One had to learn to laugh and love even in the darkest of times.

Each ending is a new chapter, and I quite enjoy this new tale of ours.”

“Loving you,” he whispered, “feels like coming home.”