A compass in the center of a giant maze shines its light toward the exit. While the legal code, ballot boxes, newspapers, microphones, and cameras are positioned as if trapped within the maze walls, a procession of citizens outside moves away from the darkness and toward the light. This image conveys the message that even within a maze created by power, truth does not lose its way. [Photo = Hanmi Ilbo Graphic]

Shrewd power always sets the chessboard first. They intend to dictate the positions of the pieces, the paths they can move, and even the rules of victory and defeat. Those with money buy time; those with power manipulate institutions; and those with prestige package public opinion. They simply wait for their opponents to move on the board they have constructed.

However, an authentic person is not one who looks for a better move on that chessboard; they are someone who declares that the board itself is flawed. They do not seek to become shrewder, more cunning, or fight with grander calculations. Refusing to enter the framework of calculations created by power—that is the starting point. Ultimately, there is only one way to win: to move straight ahead with authenticity.

There is no need to blame an elite society built on academic credentials and titles. It is not wrong for those who have studied well to hold good positions. The problem begins when those elites turn into power holders. When they dismantle justice, trample on freedom, and transform the law into a tool for their own survival, anger becomes justified.

There was a time in this country when the demand to “rule only according to the law” shook the courts. What the public demanded was not special treatment, nor retaliation, nor rulings tailored to the tastes of the powerful. They simply asked for the law to be followed. Yet, now that those individuals hold power, the outcry that they are attempting to rewrite the very laws themselves is shaking 21st-century South Korea.

We are shifting from an era that demanded equality before the law to an era where the law itself has become a shield for power. If they dislike a verdict, they attack the judge; if an investigation is inconvenient, they shake the investigative agency; if an institution becomes an obstacle, they say they will change it. That is how power hollows out the rule of law while pretending to uphold it.

The Dreyfus affair in France also followed this structure initially. The military and state power framed one person, and the media and public opinion chose hatred over truth. Dreyfus was weak, and the power was strong. Truth was not the language of the victors from the start; rather, it was mocked, isolated, and trampled.

However, Émile Zola did not remain silent. With his piece "I Accuse," he took direct aim at the lies of power. That one piece did not change the world overnight. Truth was slow, and power was persistent. Yet, the recorded truth did not vanish.

The essence of the Dreyfus affair went beyond the grievance of one individual; it was an event that showed how far records and conscience can hold out when state power seeks to bury the truth. The wall of lies built by power eventually cracked in the face of repeated questions and records.

What shrewd power fears most is not a brilliant strategist. They believe they can appease, isolate, or draw smart people into their calculations. However, they fear those who record until the end, those who do not calculate what they might lose, and those who move straight ahead with authenticity. Such people cannot be bought, tamed, or easily silenced.

That is why people speak of the "Chul-po-pan"—judges who have given up on career advancement. These are judges who do not look to the powerful but rule according to records, conscience, and legal principles. We have now reached a world where we must hope for more "Chul-po-geom" (prosecutors who forgo advancement) and "Chul-po-gyung" (police who forgo advancement). If one must abandon the pursuit of success to uphold justice, that society is already severely ill.

However, what is truly infuriating is the broken state of the media. When the law is shaken, power grows arrogant, and judicial and investigative agencies turn a blind eye, the media is the last line of defense. The media must monitor power. It must look where the public cannot, ask what is difficult for the public to ask, and keep records so that the public does not forget.

But if even the media becomes a mouthpiece for power, a subcontractor for money, and chooses factions over truth, where can the public turn? The runaway train of power thrives on the silence of the media. Lies grow in the complicity of the press, and injustice is cemented like an institution amidst the selective outrage of the media.

This is why, from the perspective of the Lee Jae-myung regime, the cries of "Repeal the rigged election, recount the same-day paper ballots," which started at Olympic Park and are spreading nationwide, are burdensome. Those slogans are not mere political opposition. They are not saying, "Let’s find a better move on the chessboard laid out by power." They are a declaration by citizens that the board itself is wrong.

"Repeal the rigged election" is a demand that no election can be justified by its result alone. "Recount the same-day paper ballots" is a demand that we no longer call it democracy if the process cannot be verified before the eyes of the people. This slogan is terrifying not because it is radical, but because it is simple. It cuts through complex legal and institutional debates to re-establish the principles of democracy in language the public can understand.

Shrewd power always creates a maze. They make citizens lose their way, the media lose its direction, and the judiciary lose the exit. However, truth is more like a compass than a map. Even if it doesn't know every path, it points to where the North lies until the very end. An authentic person is one who never lets go of that compass.

This is the reality as seen by Hanmi Ilbo. The current struggle is not just criticism of the administration, nor is it an emotional clash between camps. It is a fight to make the law law-like, to restore elections to what they should be, and to restore the media to its true purpose. When shrewd power lays out a chessboard, changes the rules, and demands silence from the citizens, what is needed is not a more cunning strategy. It is the authenticity of citizens who declare that the board itself is flawed.

If the world is one where the law becomes a blade, representatives of the public interest turn into traitors, and the media becomes a mouthpiece for power, there is only one answer. Do not enter into the calculations created by power. Do not exhaust yourself by merely consuming anger. You must record until the end, speak until the end, and keep moving straight ahead until the end.

The most terrifying force against shrewd power is unwavering authenticity. Power can survive for a long time through calculation. Money can buy time. Prestige can deceive people. But it can never permanently defeat recorded truth and the heart of a person who does not give up.

Therefore, there is no need to fear. There is no need to be buried in anxiety. There is no need to trap yourself in the emotion of defiance and burn yourself out. Just do what must be done. Look at what needs to be seen, write what needs to be written, and say what needs to be said. Shrewd power fears such people most of all. People who move forward without calculating, people who hold onto the truth without counting what they might lose—it is they who rebuild the broken board.