The 31st Man

Who is the 31st Man? My story takes place in the countryside 220 kilometers south of Seoul in the mid-thirties. Our townships involvement in what transpired during that period converges with historical events and provides a rare and compelling glimpse into Koreas past. When I was a young boy our townships well-respected teacher was known by his alias Mr. Kang. He was in fact a legendary political fugitive the sole escapee of the famous 31-man rebel group who orchestrated the 1919 nation-wide uprising against Japanese rule. In the aftermath of this event Mr. Kang had been traveling for nearly 17 years sometimes as an itinerant poet other times as a hunter thus earning a cryptic code name Tiger Hunter. One day a rumor surfaced accusing Mr. Kang of abusing his 14-year-old student the beautiful daughter of Mr. Hung township chief. This act supposedly took place in dense fog under the famous Virgin Bridge. As a result the local waenom (foreign devil policeman) put Mr. Kang under surveillance. As we students watched Mr. Kang challenged the waenom to a fight and he felled the policeman with a single blow. We cheered of course and Mr. Kang fled later that day accompanied by his errand boy Poong Do. The policeman was able to go home unaided but committed a hara-kiri next day.