SIWON wanted to cry when he saw the state of the women and men who were stored underground for safekeeping. He couldn't understand why a government would force its own people to suffer so much that they would leave their families and their home to escape hell.
He saw a young woman helping the one next to her. She looked like she was one of them. But she talked to the older lady next to her who was crying as if she was not in the same situation as her. He smiled then and realized that people can be in the worst situation and still find time to do good things for others.
“Excuse me, I am Shiyuan. I am part of Exodus United. I have some friends with me who would give you new clothes, food, and things that you would need. Please cooperate with them so that they would get your real information. Please don't be afraid, you can trust us. We are here to help you get a new life. If it's a life of faith, then it would great but if you choose another path when you go to my country, then you can do so without guilt feelings. We need to stay as quiet as we can and not attract attention. We will be leaving this place in pairs. The people coming in would give you the clothes that they are wearing so as not to attract suspision. We are all tourists and you would be taking pictures that would be put in your new IDs and passports.” someone came it with towels, soap and water. “Please clean up for your pictures. And help yourself to the food.” several men came in with big containers of food. Everyone was given paper plates to use. “Please put the trash in one container. We need to make sure we don't leave much of a trace here. There are those who would need this place once again. So let's protect it for them.”
YU-RI listened to the odd accent of the man who was named Shiyuan. He was extremely tall and very good-looking. He looked like he was a model not a missionary. She wondered like him would be doing this kind of work when he could be out doing something else that was obviously less dangerous than smuggling people from one country to his own. She suddenly feared for her life. She might just be getting into white slavery and not really saving herself from future suffering. She was trained to protect herself and she would rather kill someone than have them make a whore out of her. But the last thing that he said made her feel more secure. Somehow it painted a picture in her mind that someday, she would be able to get her mother and sister our of the hellish existence that they had to endure for so many years.
She took some food the old lady who sat beside her. The lady had refused to give her name to her so Yu-ri just called her auntie. “Auntie, here you go. You have to eat so that you would feel less anxious. When you are done, we can wash up and get our pictures for our IDs.
“I don't want them to take a picture of me...” she was really afraid. Yu-ri tried to talk her into doing it.
“This is just another step. You have to do this to make it out of this place. You can stay here forever. You need to take this step to start your new life. We are only one-fourth of the way. There would still be a lot of things that we have to do and this would, I think, be amongst the easiest that we would have to endure. Be strong, Auntie. I won't leave your side. I will help you. We will have tea and watch cherry blossoms in South Korea someday. And we will talk about today like it was a vague nightmare.” the woman visibly brightened once Yu-ri said that. She agreed to have her face cleaned up and took the new clothes that they were given. They changed behind a big clothe barrier and was able to have their picture taken in front of a white clothe placed against the wall.
“See, it wasn't so difficult, wasn't it?” Yu-ri congratulated the newly named Aunt Joohee. Yu-ri was taking a different name for now as well. She was going to be Hana. It was the closest common name to her own. She needed to change it to make sure it wasn't too similar to her old name. She held her small travel bag, her papers where places inside a notebook and money was placed inside a hollowed travel novel. Everyone had the same “travel guide”.
Someone held out their hand to Aunt Joohee and they went up from the basement. Someone else touched her on the shoulder and she turned around and saw that the only two people remaining was her and Shiyuan. He looked at his phone then smiled at her.
“Let's go, Hana.” they walked up and Yu-ri could have sworn that the light was so blinding, she felt like she was going to the Pearly Gates and not the surface.
She looked at Siwon with squinted eyes. She couldn't help but not smile. She was going to start her life as Hana. She would be running for a while but soon, she would be able to enjoy the freedom that each person deserves.
And perhaps then, only then, can she love again.
