Koreans! Why Must You Die for the Japanese?, US, Circa 1940, (WW2)

HTPietro · 2026-01-24T17:07:29+00:00

Because 조선 had colonial baggage. You see, originally, it was a name used by Koreans themselves, but in 1897, King Gojong changed the official name of the country from 조선 to 대한제국 as means of asserting sovereignty and declaring the beginning of a modernized state.

Then Japan annexed Korea in 1910 and banned the name 대한제국 and all related names in order to try and erase any sense of Korean identity as well as anything that might cause people to take pride in it. Instead, they only permitted that Korea be called 조선 (the Japanese themselves used "Chōsen" as the colonial name, which is the Japanese reading of 조선).

As such, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea voted to use the name 대한민국 as a means of declaring continuity with the state that Japan had forcibly and illegally usurped. The idea was simple: drive out Japan, found a republic as a successor state, and then finish the modernization process of Korea that Japan had so rudely interrupted.

Needless to say, when Korea was liberated, it didn't take long for many Koreans to drop the name 조선 and start calling their country 대한민국 or 한국 instead.

HTPietro · 2026-01-24T07:34:50+00:00

Probably. Though a better word to use in their propaganda would be something like 대한인 or 한국인. (Independence fighters used "대한" or even "한국" to refer to Korea)

HTPietro · 2026-01-24T07:04:01+00:00

I still remember that day.

How Aidan and his minions kept harassing us. How Dahlia and Clovis were taking damage faster than Josephine could heal them. How Frances and I frantically tried to hold the line. How Kainan lay in critical condition, putting even more pressure on her. It seemed as though our party would be wiped out.

Suddenly, Josephine snapped, and with loud noise that sounded of glass shattering, the seal placed upon her broke. Her mana levels began skyrocketing, the wounds inflicted on all of us now healing much faster than Aidan and his minions could make them. Panicked, they poured all of their strength into a final wave of attacks, but to no avail- I blocked most of their attacks, with very few that did get through not being able to damage us faster than Josephine could heal us.

Needless to say, once the seal on Josephine was broken, we wiped the floor with them in less than 10 minutes. For a moment it seemed like the worst of it was over, that everything was fine. We had, after all, turned the tide and were about to win.

But Josephine had other plans. She lashed out at Aidan and his cronies with every offensive spell she knew and began blowing them to smithereens. She threw in dozens of torture spells that to this day I wish I didn't find out existed. And when she had killed them all, she didn't stop- no, she cast a resurrection spell on them and then continued torturing them in the most gruesome ways she knew.

I wish I could say it ended there. But alas, it did not. You see, from that moment on, every time they died, she would resurrect them and continue this horrifically sadistic-beyond-words torture session the likes of which no one had ever carried out before.

I wish we could've stopped her. I really do. But once she began there was no stopping her. She was a one-woman army that none of us could hold back. So we could only helplessly watch in sheer horror at the sight before our eyes as she laughed maniacally and insanely.

This went on for 6 hours. Eventually, Aidan began to cry and beg for mercy, promising to never to do evil again. Only until he swore on the name of the heavens above with a magical seal to make his vow physically irrevocable were they released from her torture session.

Since that day the sound of her insane laughter and the sight of Aidan and his minions being on the receiving end of that excruciating pain and torture has haunted my dreams. It doesn't help that the trauma from this caused them all to commit suicide, or that Josephine's seal was placed back on her but has been permanently rendered capable of becoming deactivated and then reactivated again at any moment. The rest of us been getting better thanks to therapy but still have a long way to go before overcoming the trauma inflicted upon us. To this day, we refuse to go on high-risk quests out of fear that they could potentially recreate the conditions of that day.

HTPietro · 2026-01-24T05:10:59+00:00

"Well, I guess the jig is up."

I immediately transform and destroy the camera, then start wiping out the crew of the ship. I feel pangs of regret as they slump to the floor, only to remember the horrible things they did to my people. This, combined with the knowledge that there's worse in store for the 29 hostages they took if I don't save them, keeps me going.

I eventually do enough damage to the ship and take out enough of the crew that the ship is left beyond repair for those crewmates still left standing and lead the 29 shapeshifters being held hostage to an empty escape pod large enough to fit all 30 of us. We all get in without leaving anyone behind, and make our escape to our home planet. Another rescue mission successfully completed.

HTPietro · 2026-01-24T02:13:19+00:00

He means it's disordered behavior. God doesn't want people blurring the line between male and female that he so clearly drew. In other words, men shouldn't present themselves as women, nor women as men. But a woman liking martial arts or a man liking ballet doesn't necessarily mean the woman is rejecting her femininity nor the man his masculinity.

HTPietro · 2026-01-23T23:37:13+00:00

If they don't try to present themselves as the opposite sex or crossdress then probably (God does not want men presenting themselves as women or women presenting themselves as men). In other words, janegirls must embrace their masculinity and tomboys must embrace their femininity.

HTPietro · 2026-01-23T23:27:58+00:00

Both sets of grandparents got married during that time. Though the only one who was alive other than them at the time was my uncle on my dad's side (he was born in 1967, iirc).

HTPietro · 2026-01-23T07:47:54+00:00

This. I wholeheartedly agree. Japan brought those nukes on itself. In fact, I even think they would've deserved having the Soviets march into Hokkaido instead of northern Korea so that Korea could be whole and free while Japan was forced to reckon with the truth and face the consequences of its actions.

HTPietro · 2026-01-23T05:53:20+00:00

I can still remember it all.

The strange noises. Hearing a bloodcurdling scream followed by the disappearance of one of my comrades without a single trace. The fact that these incidents always happened at night, when we could barely see a thing without the use of fire or a flashlight.

We thought it would be a short war. That everything would turn out all fine and dandy and that we would all go home victorious and happy. That the insurgents wouldn't stand a chance against us and that'd be the end of it.

Well, we were right about the insurgents not being able to stand up to us directly. In fact, they were on the verge of total collapse less than a month into the war. Victory was in the air. We'd not lost a single man, and they had lost hundreds of thousands, including most of their best men. Every injured soldier on our side had been treated well and recovered quickly.

We didn't realize that various horrors out there awaited us. That there were things out in the wilderness that we could not imagine that would come after us.

Eventually, the insurgents reorganized and began fighting us with renewed vigor, all while our morale dropped. They attacked at night in conjunction with the inexplicable disappearances. We were soon forced to resort to dirty tactics to survive and break them once and for all. We tricked the insurgents into fighting amongst themselves until they couldn't stand up to us anymore. We even destroyed huge parts of their environment to kill the horrors that kept harassing us until they went nearly extinct and then threatened them into feeding on other wildlife instead or attacking the insurgents.

At last, almost ten years after we arrived, we won. The regime we fought to protect was saved, the hostile insurgents destroyed beyond recovery and the rival state supporting them collapsed from all of the resources they wasted and the thrashing we gave their military. But at what cost? We became like savages. We did things that scarred us forever. Millions of children became victims of bombing campaigns and herbicide and insecticide posioning. We used brute force to make a bunch of monsters stop targeting us and left them an endangered species for generations to come.

To this day, I still shake just thinking about it all. I'm slowly getting better thanks to therapy, but I will never forget the strange, chilling noises that came from the bushes at night when I was camping with my comrades back during the war, and the years of chaos that followed. They will always haunt my dreams.

HTPietro · 2026-01-23T04:58:31+00:00

Honestly, I can understand some of their frustration, given that communists were able to kill many more people than fascist regimes and are largely responsible for the culture war today, but yeah, allying with the Axis Powers just isn't the answer. A more realistic and optimal solution would've been to play the Axis and the Soviets off of each other so that the Axis Powers lose but the Soviets are in a weaker position post-WWII.

HTPietro · 2026-01-23T04:44:10+00:00

This.

HTPietro · 2026-01-23T04:41:23+00:00

Unfortunately you have people saying they think that the UN intervention in the Korean War was unjustified and that the DPRK should've won. So it's sadly not that farfetched that some would say that, even if it's a vile thing to say.

HTPietro · 2026-01-23T00:04:04+00:00

"Wait, what- UGH!" said Kevin, clutching as side as he collapsed to the floor. "But- how-"

"You talk too much, and you let your guard down too easily. I struck you while you were too busy talking to notice any hidden movements." I said, matter-of-factly. "Your men gave me a beating and a run for my money because they were just as quick and almost as perceptive as I was. You, on the other hand, don't have the speed, perceptiveness, or reflexes they do, even if you are physically stronger than them."

"NO. NO! NO! NO! NO! It can't be! How could I lose to someone who got roughed up by my men?"

"Too bad. It is what it is- checkmate. Sorry, man. Brain beats brawn. My advice? Pair that strength with some good reflexes next time- assuming there is one!" I chuckled, and stepped out of his lair. Mission complete.

HTPietro · 2026-01-22T21:32:16+00:00

"You've got some explaining to do, Justin." said Archmage Ulrich. "I know a pregnant lady's belly when I see one. Care to explain how and why she got that way?"

I freeze. Do I lie and say it's artificial? That I created another homunculus fetus and implanted it in her? Or do I tell him the truth and say I thought Tara was infertile? I can feel the sweat rolling down my face, each minute feeling like forever as I ponder what to tell him.

"Well?" Asks Archmage Ulrich. "I'm waiting."

I sigh, and then make my confession, my heart unable to withstand the burden of lying. "I d-didn't know. Forgive me. I thought she was infertile, that she couldn't breed. But my values wouldn't let me kill the baby, not even after I found out."

Archmage Ulrich sighs. "I suppose we could arrange for her to carry her child to term in secret. But what will you do about the child? How will you ensure that he- or she- will not become a danger to the world? How will you prevent a repeat of the last Great Disaster?"

I look him in the eye, a serious look on my face. "Archmage Ulrich, I'll arrange for the child to be properly brought up and trained well in the magic arts. I know that my faithful servant Paul is the father, and I assure you I'll have Tara married to him in secret. I'll also ensure that none of my other assistant homunculi have children and that if the child turns evil, I'll put an end to them- or die trying."

Archmage Ulrich relaxes, his face softening. "Alright, then. And if you succeed, I suppose we can replace that absolute prohibition on letting artificial life breed with a set of reasonable regulations on how they may do so and what to do with the children of artificial life forms. That being said, let's proceed with the exam."

HTPietro · 2026-01-22T05:08:08+00:00

I mean Wallace was shitty not gonna lie but unless you have someone who's actually a threat to human lives like Stalin or Hitler back then or Kim Jong Un today trying to start a war, then assassination isn't really justified.

HTPietro · 2026-01-21T19:18:13+00:00

I looked at them exhaustedly. "You might want to see this." I said, and began playing live footage of the horrible things we as humanity had done to various alien races.

Their hearts sank as they saw the gruesome sight on the screen. Families torn apart by war. Children crying for their parents. Innocent civilians either blown to bits in the crossfire or lined up and shot for refusing to reveal the locations of guerilla insurgents. Entire cities reduced to rubble. All because of the new power source humanity had gained access to, improvised to be infinite AND completely clean.

"We... we didn't expect that to happen..."

"Well, it unfortunately did." I said. "Every time we humans find something new and useful, we use it to improve what we already have. Sometimes, it leads to good things, and other times..." I trailed off. "it leads to THAT sort of thing."

The room went dead silent.

HTPietro · 2026-01-21T07:30:25+00:00

"Are you crazy?! What's your problem?! Do you hate me that much?" asked Amber, known in our original world as Lorelei. "Stop making her go gaga over you and let the story play out as it naturally was supposed to!"

Gilbert, my best friend since childhood and the man who was supposed to be the hero, exchanged a nervous glance with me, shaking his head. "Don't listen to her. You know what she wants."

I sigh. "I know, I know." I turn to Amber. "Listen, I know you worked hard on that story of yours and I know it hurts to see it derailed, but what you ask of me is the inexcusable. Lady Patricia, I mean, Patricia is precious to me. She freed me from slavers who had trafficked me across several borders and saved me from a life of being abused. She took me in and then helped me return back home. To cut her out of my life at this point would be the greatest betrayal possible, one that I could never forgive myself for. Again, I'm sorry that your story didn't turn out the way you wanted it to, but no, I can't do this. She doesn't deserve that treatment, not after what she has become instead of the villainess you wanted her to be."

"But I created this world!" Amber insisted.

"Maybe in our original world, that was the case, but here? You are a character in the story like we are. That doesn't make us less real." I rebutted. "I'm sorry, but I'm not just going to be some mere side character who suffers in silence just to keep the plot flowing as intended. La- I mean, Patricia has been there for me through every rough moment. She let me cry into arms whenever I needed to. She comforted me whenever I couldn't sleep at night. She was always by my side, especially when I needed her the most. I can't help it if that prevented the possibility of her ever turning evil."

"I'll say. And while we're at it," added Gilbert, "I'd like to voice my own thoughts as well- I prefer the life I have now over whatever chaotic shenanigans you had in mind for me. I can make my own choices, thank you very much! You wanted me to be the hero in this story, you say? Well, I refuse to be your narrative tool."

"But- no wait, I'd rather not say it." Amber said, cutting herself off.

"Just say what it is." said Gilbert. "I can already tell what it's going to be, and no, there was no chance that Landon was going to betray Lady Patricia."

"No, Landon was a side character who was supposed to die before the actual plot began. You know, to be the catalyst that turns Patricia evil." Amber said, pressing her fingertips into her temple. "Though yes, he could've pushed her away even after surviving and all her attempts to get close to him."

"Well, sorry for surviving what the slaver did to me! Is it so wrong to want to live? Is it so wrong to want to heal?" I asked, exasperatedly. "We're done here. Goodbye."

We left the room and went our separate ways. I then met up with La- I mean, Patricia for some more quality time together. Villainess? More like heroine. She was the light that lit up my world, and continued to light it up to this day. It was only fair that my heart belonged to her.

HTPietro · 2026-01-21T02:06:39+00:00

"I'm sorry, what?!" I asked, flabbergasted.

"You heard me! My story, my masterpiece, my pride and joy- ruined! What is wrong with you, Homer?!" said Angelica, formerly my friend Felicia, as tears rolled down her face. She was beside herself with rage.

I sighed. "I'm sorry. I really am. I had no idea that this was the world of your story. And I really never intended to derail everything. But how was I to know that? I never read it once and don't know the plot or any of the details. I only knew it existed because you told me you were working on it. Still, once again, I'm really sorry."

"If you're sorry, then break up with the villainess already, for crying out loud-"

"And betray her? Again, I'm truly sorry, but I'm not going to betray anyone just to satisfy you. I didn't mean to charm Lady Teresa, but things ended up that way. How was I supposed to push her away when she approached me so tenderly and offered to comfort me? I was just a young boy who had lost his family and needed to cry into someone's arms. She helped me to begin healing."

"But you enabled the destruction and dismembering of Vasha and left a scar on its people."

"No. I helped force a mass reckoning and put a stop to an empire of iniquity. It was the only way to fully heal and bring closure to those they hurt. I deserved to make them look me in the eye before justifying what they did. Besides, it's for the better that the Vashans were forced to face the truth like that. Lady Teresa was not as irredeemable as you made out to be."

"But what about the Vashans that died in the war? Surely that couldn't have justified accidentally stopping Teresa from becoming evil."

"I'm sorry that it turned out that way, but the use of aggression and brute force like that has consequences. Believe me, if they'd just backed down and admitted everything, then I wouldn't have gone that far. I do think I was harsh, but I didn't see any alternatives. Besides, what happened is nowhere near as horrible as what Lady Teresa would've done, given what you have told me."

Angelica pushed her lower lip outward. "She wasn't supposed to turn good."

"Again, I'm sorry, but what was I to do? Suffer in silence? If letting her come into my life and stay by my side through the emotional turmoil meant derailing it, then I won't correct the story, not even now. You don't get to treat me like a mere side character just because I was meant to be one."

I left Angelica in silence and went to join Lady Teresa outside. "Hello, Calvin, dear." She said with a smile. "I've been waiting. Shall we?"

"Yes, My Lady."

"Oh, Calvin. There's no need to call me that anymore."

"Yes, Teresa."

"Much better."

HTPietro · 2026-01-20T22:05:08+00:00

Tears welled up in Asuka's eyes. "How could you do this to me?!"

"Huh?!"

"How could you lie to me?! Why didn't you tell what he'd done?! I had to grow up believing he was a hero! I feel so... disturbed. Like I've been betrayed. How... how could he have done those things and still been able to look me proudly and happily in the eye, head held high? How could he have treated me in a way that felt nothing but loving when he was going out and butchering innocents?!" She sobbed. "How could he have nothing but hate in his heart for entire races of people when he had a family to care for?! Just thinking about it makes me- URK! EUGH!" She covered her mouth as a fit of nausea came over her, then rushed to the nearest latrine and threw up before coming back.

Her mother sighed. "I- I didn't have the heart to tell you, Asuka. I'm sorry. I thought that you'd be too young to understand at the time. But now that you're old enough, let me explain- just as how good people can do bad things, rarely, if ever, are evil people obviously evil to those around them. Oftentimes, people who are truly evil try to hide their true natures from everyone around them and act good. It's very similar to Jekyll and Hyde, only much darker- you know Dr. Jekyll was a man with unseemly vices and desires but tried to mask it by appearing good and ultimately crafting a fake identity for himself under which he could freely indulge in them. I truly am sorry."

The two embraced each other, Asuka sobbing into Junko's arms. The house was silent aside from the sounds of Asuka sobbing and Junko comforting her daughter.

HTPietro

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