Our vehicle was suddenly surrounded by the police. Noticing the tensed atmosphere building up outside the bus, I took a glance at the halmonis, from the rear seat. They were just observing the situation calmly, without any commotion and I was strongly impressed. At the end, we somehow managed to settle with the person in charge of the police and headed towards the Japanese Embassy.

There were approximately fifty reporters in front of the Japanese Embassy waiting for the arrival of the former-comfort women and the 500th anniversary of the protest.

"People make a great fuss about it only on a special occasion." whispered one of the halmonis. She was right. The 499th demonstration was quietly held in chilly weather while breathing out white vapor. There was no one to report on the protest.

　The Japanese government ignores the demand and even the existence of former-comfort women as a relic of the past. The same applies to the situation in Korea which consider it as a past issue. Former-comfort women are called a national disgrace or criticized in articles that halmonis are forced to participate in the Wednesday Demo for the purpose of receiving compensation by the Korean Council for the Woman Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan.

However, all the articles were written under speculation without interviewing the former-comfort women, the halmonis.

My concerns about the feeling of the halmonis participating in the Wednesday-Demonstration led to my decision to stay in Nanum-Jip, the house of sharing for halmonis, for a week to talk to them in person.