September 10, 2001
A day before the Sept. 11 attacks, Kwon woke up early in the morning and was ready to go to school. He has just turned 11 this year. He was living with orphans from North Korea in an orphanage sponsored by the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan in Shimane Prefecture. He packed his bags, ate at the nursery restaurant, and put on his school uniform and boarded the bus to the Joseon school. His homeroom teacher made sure that all of the students were on board, and left the bus. Kwon sat alone in a corner of the bus. Other nursery students avoided his seat and sat in another seat. In fact, Kwon was a well-known figure for being a weirdo.
As the school bus started to leave, Kwon opened his bag and checked. He checked if the lunch box was okay and if the pencil case was okay. Then, he found a mechanical pencil lead missing. He turned to the school bus and said, "My mechanical pencil lead is gone. Has anyone seen my mechanical pencil lead here?" The children turned their heads to him and avoided him.
Kwon Jeong-pil shook his head and got up from the bus. He's homeroom teacher told him not to get up while the bus was moving, but Kwon ignored. He immediately walked toward a girl. He picked up the girl's hand and checked if there was charcoal dust on her hand. "You… touched my mechanical pencil lead, right?" The girl put her hand in her bag in shame and pulled out the pencil case. It contained the mechanical pencil lead. "… I knew it. I thought I notive the thief if I put charcoal dust on it." Kwon grabbed the mechanical lead stared at her face. "What's your name?" She shyly turned her head. "… My name is Go Ah-young. I'm sorry..."
Kwon stroked Goa-young's head. "It's okay. Thank you for being honest. I solved the problem, so I'll forgive you. Don't do that in the future." Go Ah-young turned her head while he went back to her seat. Go Ah-young's face turned bright red.
The bus took a few minutes to reach the Joseon School in downtown Shimane Prefecture. Kwon got off at the last minute and stood out of the bus door when all the children got off. The homeroom teacher looked around at the children with a warm smile. "Everyone~ Today is inspection class day. Just for today, children without parents will have parents will also have parents like the rest of the children. The people who came to adopt will have an observation on the class with us in person to keep their eyes on you. Everyone~we should stay calm and quiet, right?" The children all answered in positive with a bright manner. Kwon raised his hands to ask a question, but the teacher turned her head and ignored. "No questions. Now~ Follow me, everyone."
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Kwon followed the children into the classroom without saying a word. The classroom had black blackboard with an wooden floor, and a portrait of Kim Il-sung was hanging on top of the blackboard. Go Ah-young sat next to Kwon and looked at Jeong-pil with a curious face. "Jeong-pil, what were you going to ask earlier?" Kwon answered without being serious. "I was going to ask if I could leave the nursery right away if I got adopted. I don't want to stay in the nursery for another second," Go Ah-young nodded in an expression of conviction. After a while, parents came into the classroom and stood behind the children as the inspection class began. People looking for adopting a child stood by the door and watched. For a moment, the children shut up and focused on the teacher when she came in. The homeroom teacher opened the history book and started the class in a gentle voice.
"Everyone~ Today, we are going to have a lesson on World War II. Please open page 108 of the history books." The children opened the books at the teacher's words. When Kwon did not open them, Go Ah-young tapped Kwon's arm and whispered, "… hey… class has started… you have to take out the books…." Jeong-pil looked at the blackboard without taking out the books. "Don't worry. I memorized all the contents of the textbooks." Ah-young burst into laughter. "Thats hillarious!" She looked around for a moment and shared her book with Jeong-pil's desk. "Let's see together. I'm helping you because I was so grateful for you earlier." Kwon ignored her and looked at the teacher. Ah-young looked at the blackboard with a slightly disappointed look on her face.
"… We will first look at the time span of the Sino-Japanese War. The Sino-Japanese War was started by General Mutaguchi Renya, who was confronting China from the Manchuria region." She drew a map of the war between China and Japan on a blackboard. "When the Sino-Japanese War started, a lot of Chinese people were massacred. Then, Japan invaded the U.S. without declaring war again. This time it started with a planned authorized invasion of Hawaii."
She drew Southeast Asia and India on the board. Her drawing skills were very crude. "The Japanese, who soon faced off against the British, invaded the British Indian Empire through Myanmar. General Mutaguchi Renya also led the invasion, but the problem was that the supply lines were cut off. Eventually, when the soldiers ran out of food, the Japanese leadership urged General Mutaguchi Renya to retreat." The teacher said with a funny look on her face. "… Then, General Mutaguchi Renya spoke up he's famous words in a grave manner. "The Japanese are herbivores. How can the Japanese starve to death when they are overgrowing grass in the jungle?"
The children burst into laughter. The homeroom teacher was satisfied. The aim of this chapter was to let the students know about the atrocities of the Japanese military, so it wasn't bad to start with a funny story. This atmosphere didn't lasted, as Kwon raised his hand. The teacher's face stiffened. While she was wary of the parents, she tried hard to smile in case they thought she was ignoring the kid if she didn't listen to he's questions. "…Yes, Kwon? Do you have any questions?" Kwon stood up and asked his teacher. "Miss, did the soldiers starve to death?" His teacher doubted her ears. "I beg your pardon?" Kwon asked again. "I said, Did they starve to death?"
