Next day. Seoul hospital.
Dong Xuebing left Yu Meixia’s ward to go downstairs to visit those overseas students. The student Sun Zhi, who was in a coma, woke up last evening. After a series of emergency treatments, his life is no longer in danger. Dong Xuebing was relieved to hear that. Although no lives were lost, Tianma Taekwondo School still had not sent anyone to the hospital. Those Korean students also did not settle the medical fees.
Along the corridor, Dong Xuebing heard shouting and scolding.
Dong Xuebing looks over and saw the commotion is from the overseas students’ ward.
“You say this has nothing to do with you all?! Are you even human?!
“Sun Zhi was almost beaten to death by your students, and you said this had nothing to do with you all?!”
A middle-aged man’s voice replied, and Dong Xuebing felt he sounded familiar. “I had said what I have to say. The police investigation report states that both parties are responsible. Here! I will leave the remaining school fees here. From today onwards, you all will have nothing to do with Tianma Taekwondo School!”
“Who gives you the right to do this?!” Li An shouted.
“You all are not compensating our medical fees!?”
The middle-aged man replied. “This incident has got nothing to do with the school. You all are the ones who started this incident, and you all should be responsible for your own actions.”
“F**k you!”
“How can you shirk responsibility like this?!”
One second later, the door opened, and a middle-aged man walks out. Dong Xuebing narrowed his eyes when he saw that man’s face. He was one of the men who stared at Yu Meixia’s face on the flight. Dong Xuebing remembered this man is a red belt. Could he be the person-in-charge of Tianma Taekwondo school? Han Shangyu also saw Dong Xuebing before he left.
The argument was in Korean, and Dong Xuebing did not understand a word.
After entering the ward, Dong Xuebing looked at those angry students and asked. “Who was that man?”
“Brother Dong!” Li An gritted his teeth and said. “I just realized those Koreans we met on the plane are from Tianma Taekwondo School. The man earlier is called Han Shangyu. He is an instructor at the school. The other man with a round face is called Park Eunji. He is the Head of the school, and their students are the ones who beat up Dahui and the rest!”
Dong Xuebing asked. “What did that guy say?”
Chen Dahui replied angrily. “He said this incident has nothing to do with Tianma Taekwondo School. They were trying to shirk responsibility and had refunded our school fees. They are claiming that this is our own responsibility, and they have the right to terminate us from the school. That means the school will have nothing to do with us, and we will not get any medical compensations from them! They are afraid this incident will affect the school’s business!”
Dong Xuebing felt disgusted. “Did he really say these?”
“Yes. We had all heard it.” A student, who had fractures, replied from the bed.
“These bastards!” Dong Xuebing’s face changed. “What did the police say?”
Li An suppressed his anger and said. “The police say both parties are responsible for the incident, and Tianma’s students are insisting that the injuries are from their training practice and are not intentional. Tianma Taekwondo School’s instructor, Han Shangyu, vouched for his students, by saying this is not a fight. When the police asked for CCTV footage, they claimed that it was damaged, and the past week’s recordings were gone. It must be those instructors and students who deleted them! They are in cahoots against us!”
Dong Xuebing looks at Li An. “What about the medical fees?”
“We still don’t know who will be paying for the medical fees!” Li An replied.
Chen Dahui said. “The police say those Korean students should pay for our medical fees, but they did not enforce it. The police had only brought them back for questioning and released them the next day. We tried contacting those Korean students, but they refused to answer our calls and never return to Tianma Taekwondo School. How are we going to get the compensation?! The police are obviously siding with those Koreans! Tianma Taekwondo School, or the Taekwondo Association, must have said something to the police!”
A student who is in a wheelchair asked. “Does that mean no one will pursue this matter?”
“That’s right. Our friend was almost beaten to death, and we cannot do anything to them!” Another student added.
Chen Dahui punched the wall angrily. “They are the ones who started the fight! How can they claim our injuries are from Taekwondo practices?! The police trusted their words and did not even detain them! F**k!”
Everyone was furious. In Korea, overseas students are the weaker minorities and had encounter unfair treatments. But this incident is too much. They were beaten up, and no one is standing up for them. This is discrimination!
Dong Xuebing listened to them and replied coldly. “Continue to make police reports!”
“That’s right! We must hold them responsible and will not let this matter rest!” A student replied.
“I will call the police now! Damn!” Chen Dahui storms out of the ward.
Dong Xuebing continued. “No matter what the police say, the Taekwondo School must be held responsible. You all are their students and are injured at the school. If they are not going to pay for the medical fees, who else will pay for it?! Also, those Korean students think nothing will happen to them after they have gone into hiding?! Since we cannot find them, we will go to Tianma Taekwondo School! Inform our Chinese media about this incident! I want to see if they will still dare to shirk responsibility!”
“Contact the media?!” Li An’s eyes brighten up! “That’s right!”
The students started to move. After making police reports and contacting the media, Li An, Chen Dahui brought some of the students to Tianma Taekwondo School to demand compensation. But Tianma Taekwondo School refused to entertain them. Thus, Li An and the other students refused to leave and camped outside the school.
One day…
Two days…
Three days…
One week had passed.
Dong Xuebing was surprised to know that this incident had blown up within the past week!
On the third day after the incident, three provinces’ newspaper reported about Chinese students’ unfair treatment at a Korean Taekwondo School. Of course, it was only a short article in the papers, as sensitive topics like these will not be reported on the news. After that, the Counties and Cities under the provinces started following up on this article, and news of this incident spread throughout the nation.
Discussions about this incident are heated on the internet.
The newspaper articles had controlled the possible impact of this incident, but there are no restrictions on the internet. Pictures of Chinese students in casts and bandages, in the hospital wards, infuriated everyone. The discussions of this incident in the popular Chinese forums had more than a few million views within a day.
Nine Chinese overseas students were beaten up!?
One of the students was almost killed, and the rest suffered from multiple fractures?!
Tianma Taekwondo School is refusing to compensate for the medical fees!?
Those Korean students who beat up the Chinese students are not punished!?
This incident ignited the fury of all Chinese. Coupled with the incident two years ago, everyone, especially those youths under 30 years old, exploded!
Scold!
People started scolding the Koreans on the internet forums!
“I had dislike Koreans for a long time ago! They just like to create trouble! When can they quiet down?!”
“Motherf**kers! I will kill these Bangzi with my bare hands!”
“From today onwards, if I use Korean products, I will change my surname!”
“This is too much! Taekwondo?! I will stop attending my Taekwondo classes! They can go to hell!” This person is a Taekwondo practitioner.
The person below replied. “That’s right! We should switch from practicing Taekwondo to Wushu!”
At first, these netizens are quite diversified, and they are scolding anything related to Korea on the forums. But later on, someone starts to mobilize the netizens to focus their scolding on Seoul Taekwondo Schools and the Korean Taekwondo Association. Very soon, the online scolding and anger escalated to the real world.
On the fifth day after the incident, the windows of four Taekwondo schools, owned by Koreans in China, were smashed in the middle of the night.
The next morning, many local students clashed with overseas Korean students in universities all over China, and many people were injured.
Later that day, a few students from China’s prominent universities started protesting against the unfair treatment of Chinese overseas students in Korea. The students hang banners in their schools, and some even hung them from their hostel’s windows. This conflict had escalated to the next level.
On the sixth day, an organization of hackers started attacking Korea.
Every one of the hackers’ group was mobilized, and many angry youths joined.
“The attack is starting at 8pm! Log onto YY now!”
“Err… I am not a hacker. Can I participate?”
“I also don’t know anything about hacking. Can you all give us some software so we can help?”
“It’s fine if you all don’t know anything. I will send out a guide later, and everyone just has to follow the steps. We have so many people, and just the DDOS attack is enough to give them a bad headache!”
“Alright!”
“We will flood their internet!”
At exactly 8pm, a few Seoul Taekwondo Schools’ websites, the Korean Taekwondo Association website, and forums, were attacked mercilessly. Within twenty minutes, all the websites are either down or hacked. The hackers posted Chinese flags pictures, and some websites played the Chinese national anthem. A few websites were defaced with Chinese and Korean swear words.
Some of Feng Yu’s friends had participated in this attack.
For example, Xiong Zhiyong’s son, Xiao Hua, and Xie Huilan’s younger cousin, Xie Hao.
Xie Hao is a noob with PCs, but he is a born trouble maker. He downloaded several hacking software and sent it to websites with Korean IP address with his classmates. Xiao Hua’s hacking skills are better. He managed to hack into a Taekwondo School’s website through a loophole in their server and changed the homepage to a picture of the Chinese flag. He also embedded a song called on the site.
The hacker war between China and Korea started. No one knows the exact number of Chinese that had participated in this war. The estimation is a few hundred thousand Chinese.
In the end, the Chinese won, and many Korean websites were taken down.
The moment the Korean websites were repaired, they received relentless attacks again.
The Koreans did not sit back and do nothing. Some Korean Taekwondo students start to organize groups to log in to the Chinese forums to scold the Chinese using an online translator. However, their accounts are blocked immediately by the moderator, and they had to register new accounts. This fight lasted two days, and a few Chinese websites were taken down by the Korean hackers.
The fighting intensified.
The Chinese demanded the Koreans to compensate for the medical fees and apologies from Tianma Taekwondo School and Korean Taekwondo Association. If not, the hacking activities will not stop.
Koreans: “Blame yourselves for being so weak! Shut up!”
Koreans: “We just want to beat you all up! Apologize?! In your dreams!”
The Koreans were firm is not apologizing and compensating for the medical fees. They felt it’s right to beat up those Chinese students!
The Chinese side got mad, and more people joined the online war against the Koreans. All of them want to get revenge for overseas Chinese students!
This war is escalating to the next level.
……
Dong Xuebing, who was still in Seoul, received a phone call.
It was Xu Yan. “Xiao Dong, are you still in Seoul?”
“Yes. My friend is still undergoing treatment.” Xu Yan had helped Dong Xuebing applied for his passport, as it’s not easy for an ex-State Security Officer to get the approval. Xu Yan is one of the few who knows Dong Xuebing is in Seoul.
Xu Yan asked. “How is your friend? Is surgery successful?”
Dong Xuebing laughed. “Thank you for your concern. The operation is very successful.”
After chatting for a while, Dong Xuebing asked. “Leader, I heard the incident in Seoul had blown up in China. Is it true?”
“Haha… you just heard about this?” Xu Yan laughed. “My son had come over to stay with me on Monday, and I overheard him cussing at the Koreans in front of the TV. I wonder where he learns the swearing from, and I was so angry that I give him a beating.”
Dong Xuebing paused for a second and said. “Is it that serious?”
Xu Yan replied. “I called you is to remind you that Seoul is quite dangerous now. You must be careful there.”
“Sigh… It’s none of my business anyway.”
“It is no longer whether if it is your business or not. I had received news that some Korean Taekwondo Schools’ students and instructors are targeting the Chinese. Some of our overseas students and tourists were beaten up by them. You must watch out for them.”
Dong Xuebing’s eyes opened wide. “Did they really do that?”
“Yes. These Koreans are really too much.”
After hanging up, Dong Xuebing called Li An and verified what Xu Yan told him. Not only the Chinese students and tourists were beaten up. Two Chinese restaurants were smashed, and countless Chinese students and workers were scolded and insulted. All these are done by the people from Seoul Taekwondo Schools. They had vented their anger on all Chinese!
Bastards!
Dong Xuebing is furious!
Not only you all did not apologize after beating up our students, but you all are also targeting all Chinese now?! Are you all crazy?!
This information was relayed back to China and become the turning point of the online war. The Chinese side heard that the Chinese were beaten up in Korea, and the Korean police are not doing anything to stop it. All of them were furious. Some hackers employed more extreme forms of attacks, and their attacks spread to the whole of Korea Taekwondo Schools. But many people started to call for hackers to stop. This is to prevent the Chinese Korea from getting beaten up.
A few hours later, the Chinese side stopped their attacks on Korea Taekwondo School’s websites.
Everyone was still mad.
But despite the Chinese side stopped attacking, the Koreans did not stop. Some Korean Taekwondo students continued to find trouble with the Chinese. They went to Chinese restaurants to create trouble and smash up the place. Some even left without paying.
Some of the more common attacks are in the form of insults!
When the Taekwondo Schools’ students heard people speaking Chinese along the streets, they will find trouble with them and insult them. Some even start beating up the Chinese speaker. A Korean singer, who used to practice Taekwondo in Seoul, even insulted the Chinese publicly during his concert!
Within a few days, there are dozens of assault cases in Seoul.
But this is only the cases that were reported. Many Chinese cannot speak Korean and did not make any reports.
Most of the injured are Chinese, but a few Japanese tourists were beaten up as they were mistaken for Chinese.
The Korean police stepped in to control the situation and arrested many Taekwondo students.
But the Seoul Taekwondo Association has powerful connections. All it takes was a few phone calls, and those Korean students were released. Korean media also did not report on these incidents, and there was no follow up by the police. There was nothing the victims can do, as they are in another country.
Seoul Taekwondo allowing their students to beat up the Chinese, and the arrogance of the Korean students were too much!
Anger had reached a boiling point in China!
Translator’s notes:
a song by Na Ying.
