Silver Stallion by Junghyo Ahn

soldiers,” Kijun whispered. “Their clothes are not yellow.”
    â€œThey’re either the National Army or the World Army then,” said Kangho.
    The soldiers gathered around a very tall man, who stepped out to the water’s edge and pointed at Cucumber Island, giving an order to his men. As they sat or lay down to rest, the tall man climbed back up the path and disappeared into an alley near the National Grange storehouse. Several minutes later, twenty more soldiers appeared in the alley, carrying three round rubber boats on their shoulders.
    â€œLook at that, Mansik,” Kangho said. “They brought boats with them.”
    â€œWhat should we do, Chandol?” Kangho said. “I mean, if they come over here.”
    â€œWe’ve come here to watch the soldiers, and that’s what we are going to do. Stay where you are and watch what the soldiers do.”
    The soldiers fell into lines and started to cross the river in the green rubber boats.
    â€œThey must be the World Army,” Chandol murmured.
    â€œHow can you tell?” Kangho said.
    â€œThey don’t look like Koreans. Too tall and too big. And some of them have a strange dark color on their faces.”
    â€œYou mean they are the foreign soldiers who came to liberate us from the People’s Army?” Mansik said.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAre we liberated?” Kijun said.
    â€œThat’s right.”
    Kijun said, “While we’ve been sitting here, naked? That’s funny.”
    Chandol explained, “We just watch the war. It’s grownups who decide whether we are liberated or not.”
    â€œThat’s confusing,” Kijun said. “It’s so different from our Autumn War.”
    â€œIt’s really a very simple matter, Toad,” said Chandol. “Whether we’re liberated or not is decided by which side wins the war. If the World Army wins, we’re liberated from the People’s Army. If the People’s Army wins, we are liberated from the World Army.”
    As soon as they landed on the islet, the soldiers fanned out and took their positions. While this first batch of soldiers was guarding the ferry, one of them roped the three boats together and went back to fetch more soldiers.
    Kangho whispered, “They’re too close. We have to be very careful.”
    â€œQuiet,” Chandol said. “They may hear your voice.”
    â€œWe can’t stay here,” Kijun said. “They have guns. They may shoot us, if they catch us hiding here.”
    â€œBut they’re our liberators.”
    â€œThen how come the Reds did so many terrible things to the Southerners?” Kangho asked. “They were liberators too, weren’t they?”
    â€œThat’s what war is all about—killing a lot of people,” Chandol said wisely. “The team that does more killing than the other wins the war and takes the country, you see.”
    â€œDoes that mean the World Army will become our masters if they win this war?” Mansik asked.
    â€œThey say General Megado is a very good person. I’m sure he’ll return our country to the National Army,” said Chandol, somewhat dubiously.
    Kijun said, “The general may be a very good person, but these foreign soldiers look too weird to be nice.”
    Indeed, the World Army soldiers were grotesque.
    â€œThey sure look like monsters,” Mansik chimed in, resting his chin on the dirt. “I never expected the liberators to be giants with such long ugly faces.”
    â€œThey are as tall as telegraph poles,” Kangho said. “It must be quite uncomfortable in bed if you’re so tall.”
    â€œAnd some of them have black skins. What do you think has happened to them?”
    â€œToo much sun, maybe,” Mansik said.
    â€œHush!” Chandol said. “The last batch of them has finished crossing. Looks like they’ll move again.”
    The bengko soldiers stood up,