Seul-ki nods, "We would play the concert, then that night our guard would accompany us to the port. There'll be a man on the boat to take us to the South."
"Is the guard coming with us?" Da-som asks.
"I think so," Seul-ki whispers. "Administrator Ji Yong-bom. He must have spoken to the Ambassador."
"I know," Seul-ki replies.
Da-som sighs, shaking her head. "Otoke. Thank God my parents passed on early. I just hope we can follow their path, and not be a burden to the children."
Seul-ki looks up at the late summer sky. It's bright blue with scattered clouds as white and pure as cotton balls. He continues. "Violin is as good a way as any to make a living. It's not something everyone can do, so once you obtain that skill, you will always be in demand. If I noticed that you had no ability, I would have let you study something else. But you have ability, Ha-neula."
Just then he pauses, thinking of the changes that are right around the corner. "No matter what," he adds, "Just keep up your studies. An education is something no one can ever take away from you. Once you graduate, you can always decide to be a janitor or a gardener, and if you change your mind you can go back to violin. I have nothing against janitors, but if you stop school, and become a janitor, then it's far more difficult to go back and study violin again. So stick with it, while you have the chance."
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