Chapter 116 Omens

With the treaty signed and the official fall of the Korean Empire, the imperial dynasty was no more. Under the treaty's terms, the royal family of Joseon was handed over to Japan, stripped of its imperial stature and reduced to a mere royal household—a symbolic vassal state of the Japanese Empire.

The degradation didn't stop there. All Koreans were treated as second-class subjects under Japan's harsh rule. For the Japanese government, there was no room for leniency. The civilian economy lay in ruins, debt interest piled up, and failure to repay could cost them even the remaining half of Joseon's resources. In desperation, Japan enacted extreme measures of military rule.

"Didn't Russia win the war? Then why hasn't Japanese rule ended?"

"You haven't heard? The Japanese brought in support from the other powers."