11/17/23 ALERT: This chapter is subject to major revisions.

Author's Note: One thing I've learned from writing both Secrets and this sequel, is that it's not easy to travel between cultures, even if it is a work of fiction. Imagine the difficulties faced by those who face the same challenge in real life.

What Happened to Enos'

Little Girl?

by KayCee1951

Part One

Chapter Twelve

Flaw in the Slaw

August 11, 2022, in Hazzard

August 12, 2022, in Korea

The Hanok House, somewhere on Mount Jiri

Esme awoke to a warm beam of sunshine coming through the small window over the Bandaji chest with Min-jun sleeping peacefully next to her. On the phone, she'd told Gem, "It's too late to go back now."

More true now. Whether they were tied together with an ever-tightening crimson thread or not, she had fallen…no, she had leaped willingly into Min-jun's world. A world far removed from the uncomplicated life she'd led in Hazzard.

As complicated as her life had become in half a beat of her heart, she would hold on to whatever peace they could find in whatever time they were alllowed.

Who knew that love could make her fearless?

Or that it could also make her careless. Or that halfway around the world, the decision she'd made about her own life had become an asteroid that plunged into the ocean and caused international tidal waves.

Hazzard County, Georgia

"Let me go with you," Deputy Bowling pleaded. "My passport is up-to-date and I can understand enough Korean to get by."

"Your heart's in the right place—"

"But you don't think I'm capable."

"It ain't that, Asa. Ya' took down them old boys that was puttin' pressure on Cora Longbourne to sell her land. But you ain't been to Korea. Or anywhere else in Asia. You've never even been outside the US."

"According to everything I heard, you'd never been there either 'til you went to find Ms. Kate."

"I spent ten years with the toughest gangs in LA and saw the worst things one human could do to another. I spent the next fifteen years tryin' to put a genie back in its bottle, but the human traffickers are still stealing children. You ain't had that kinda experience to ripen you or give you a thick hide. It's not about what I think you're capable of or even how motivated you are to find our little emerald…it's about experience, which you don't have and don't have time to git to be any real help in findin' Esmeralda. B'sides, Cap'n Adams is in Busan and as soon as the state department and the Korean Embassy fast-tracks our passports, her mama and me'll be in Seoul."

"So, you don't think you need me…even though you know how I feel about her," Asa lamented.

The twenty-four-year-old looked as forlorn as Rosco's basset hounds. A descendant of the lost tribe of Appalachia, one of which included Abraham Lincoln, Asa Bowling just showed up one day six years ago and practically begged for a job as deputy. He was only eighteen at the time. Asa had no law enforcement background to speak of, Enos couldn't hire him…even though there was an opening on his staff. But Asa Bowling was more tenacious than that. Everywhere Enos went on official business, there was Asa, pleading his case. After eight months of presenting his case for why the sheriff of Hazzard County should take him on as a deputy, it was Esme that convinced Appa to give him a chance. So Enos got him into the Police Academy. Twelve weeks later, Asa Bowling became Hazzard County Sheriff's Deputy Bowling. And, consequently, fell head over heels for the sheriff's second daughter.

"Asa, I know you like Esme—"

"Sheriff, it's more than just like…I…I love her."

That didn't surprise Enos. Not only did he know, but everybody knew. Those kinds of secrets lasted about five seconds in Hazzard, especially since social media had taken over for Hazzard's Busybody Hotline. Everyone in Hazzard County had become computer literate just so they could keep up with the latest gossip. And right now, development in the strange case of Esme Strate's disappearance was at the top of their list.

"You think you do 'cause she's the one that talked me into takin' a chance on you. And…" Enos said, putting his hand firmly on Asa's shoulder. "And…you think she treats you special. Believe me, son, I know what you're goin' through. But you're gonna have to face facts sooner or later. And you should do it before you're forty-five. Esme loves you like a friend. Not like a girlfriend or finacée or...a wife."

Earlier that day, Sara Jane Coltrane had come upon two of the 'younger' versions of the Hazzard County Busybody Society while shopping at the new supermarket out on Overpass Loop. They were in the adjacent aisle. Her intention was to avoid them but when they dropped Esme Strate's name into their chinwaggin,'…well, she couldn't stand still for that. Hoping to hear them better, she leaned in closer to the potato chip counter. When she'd heard enough to make her seein'-red mad, she wheeled her buggy into the soft drink aisle and confronted them.

"Y'all should be ashamed of yourselves. Don't you two have better things to do than stir up rumors and put flies in the ointment?"

"Now, don't get on your high horse Miss Sara Jane. I, for one, don't appreciate bein' spied on. For your information, we're just concerned about the sheriff's daughter."

"Sure ya' are. Everybody knows neither of you voted for Sheriff Strate in the last election 'cause you haven't made any secret of it. So don't go tryin' to blow smoke up my skirt."

"C'mon, Miss Coltrane, you know how outsiders look at our county…it's lost in the past," Amy Beth Hardaway said.

"Why's that…because the crime rate in the county is the lowest in the state, or maybe it's 'cause the sheriff doesn't wanna see it turn into Hotlanta East?"

"I'm gonna let that slide b'cause you're partial," Alice Marie Keller said, with her fists on her hips. "But tell me this, why did Little Miss Perfect drop completely out of sight? By all accounts it was b'cause she wanted to, not b'cause she was forced to. Tell me that!"

"I don't know the answer any more than you do, but I'm not gonna jump to any conclusions either. And I'd suggest the two of you do the same. Like we used to say back in the sixties, 'If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.' 1) So, if you're really that concerned, do somethin' to help. Take food to the family or offer help in other ways. You both have strong grown-up boys. Send them over to help out while the sheriff's away. No matter how you feel about how Sheriff Strate does his job, I know y'all aren't gonna show up for church come Sunday mornin' with nothin' more than Bible quotin' and lip-service. Are you?"

Busan, Gyeongsang Provinces, South Korea

Turk bent to show Esme's picture to yet another security guard at the Busan train station. He'd been through every ticket agent and ticket collector on every train leaving the city. No one could remember selling a ticket to, collected a ticket from, or even seen a woman of twenty-five, around four feet ten, with red curly hair.

"She could have been wearing a hoodie. She's half-Korean, she could have looked like a local teenager," he prodded the last security guard he spoke to. Meanwhile, they were passed by several teens, boys and girls, walking like zombies. 2) This, Turk learned, was unique to the Busan Train station.

"This happens every day. They draw attention away from the normal passenger activity. Then I have to break up the crowd they're entertaining so that other passengers can get to their trains. You might think the girl in the photo stands out in the crowd, but she couldn't hold a candle to some of the sights that I see every day. And every other female under the age of thirty dyes her hair red…sometimes flaming red. And that's something I see every day too. Care to take a look?" He swept his arm over the passenger panorama. There were redheads everywhere. "See what I mean?"

"Yeah. I see what you mean."

Turk walked away more discouraged than he'd ever been in his life. It was after midnight in Atlanta, but he knew Daisy wouldn't be sleeping.

"I'm running out of options, Daisy. I've checked rental cars, taxi drivers who picked up fares at the airport, rideshare drivers, and all the commuting services available in Busan. How am I going to report back to Enos that his child is in the wind?"

"Don't you go gettin' discouraged, Jay. You've known Enos for more than half your life. We've all been through hell together. Besides, Esme's our goddaughter, which makes you extremely motivated. Soonie won't allow Enos to be discouraged. I won't allow you to get discouraged either. You hear me, Captain Adams?"

"I hear you Mrs. Adams. I knew there was a reason I married you."

"You married me for my biscuits, and we both know it. So, git out there and find our sweet girl."

His thoughts turned from the lack of progress to his best friend, his brother, of more than forty years who was stuck in Hazzard, spittin' nails because he'd let his passport expire. He and Soonie had been too busy to travel overseas and none of their consulting gigs had taken them to Canada or Mexico. He and Daisy had taken two cruises in the last ten years but their son, Zane, was working in Wyoming. Forget the rigors of their professions, Enos and Soonie had five daughters to feed and educate. They hadn't taken a vacation since Enos became sheriff in 2013 and had never once set foot on a cruise ship.

Enos did all he could do from Hazzard. Most significant was using his Interpol contacts to find out that Esmeralda Strate's passport was used to book a flight from Hiroshima to Busan on the day her diverted flight landed at Hiroshima-Nishi International in Mihara, Japan and vanished.

However, Turk hadn't turned up anyone who could confirm that it was Esme who used that passport. The security checks in the ROK are not as elaborate as in the US. Still, they were just as diligent. But none of the security personnel at the plane departures could say for sure that the girl in the picture he'd shown them had passed through their gate. Interpol had notified Korean law enforcement but that was the extent of how much they could do.

"I wish I could do more E," Officer Clark said apologetically. "But you know the rules as well as I do…maybe better."

Enos hadn't heard that nickname in a very long time and it brought back both happy and painful memories.

All they had to go on now was the phone call to Gem. For Soonie, finding out that Gem knew that Esme was in the ROK on the fifth day and kept the information to herself was a devastating disappointment. There was an explosive exchange between them that Enos didn't even try to diffuse. But Gem stood her ground, like Soonie had taught her. She insisted that Esme was not under duress when she made that phone call.

"Omma. Esme fell in love. She half admitted it to me. She only asked for three weeks. She promised to come home after that. I have a feeling she'll keep her promise."

"And that's all you have to go on…with only a few minutes to form an opinion? Are you clairvoyant or a mind reader? Did you get mental signals from your sister from 7000 miles away?"

Gen mumbled, "You defied your father to be with Appa…"

"Not the same. My father is a self-absorbed tyrant…an oligarchy of one. He and Kim Jong Un would get along quite well. They have the same mindset. That's what I ran from. Esme has no reason for defiance."

Rue, Gigi, and Yaya were torn. When Yaya grew out of her tomboy phase, she became the family's hopeless romantic and imagined Esme as being in some historical drama where two people fall in love and defy the emperor to be together…without allowing for the tragic ends they usually suffered.

Busan, Gyeongsang Provinces, South Korea

After three days of canvassing the Hiroshima and Busan airports, and the Busan train station, Turk had to accept that Esmeralda Strate, raised around law enforcement her entire life, had learned how to cover her tracks and become smoke. (With the assumption that her original goal was to avoid her mother finding out she was in South Korea.) He only hoped that Gem's instincts were on the money and Esme hadn't been abducted or held against her will. Simply that she didn't want to be found…yet. He and Daisy were at the house when Enos and Soonie confronted Gem. Caleb, who was there to support his wife, could only stand by and watch.

"Appa, please believe me," Esme had pleaded to her dad. "If I thought she was in any danger, or that she had made the call under duress…I would have told you right away. She's a grown woman. Let her make her own decisions. You and Omma have to trust her."

"I do trust Esme. It's all the polecats in the world who can take advantage of her sweet nature that I don't trust. She said you couldn't track the call."

"Yes, but it sounded like it was her idea."

"How would she be able to set that up? She's not computer savvy enough to do that." Gem's face showed the first signs of doubt. "Somebody had to do it for her, somebody who didn't want to reveal their location. Whoever it was probably thought he was buying time."

"But she sounded so much like she was in a relationship…one that she wanted—"

"She may be, but is it a healthy one? If it was, wouldn't she want us to meet him? Unless she's been blinded by her feelings, she wouldn't want to be with anyone whose identity she needed to keep a secret. And we're still not sure that your grandfather isn't behind it all."

Hazzard County, Georgia

Above all else, the possibility that frightened Gem most was any involvement of Mun Chung-hee. She knew that Soonie was neither paranoid nor blowing anything out of proportion. She had lived in that house. She had felt the sting of being a possession rather than a granddaughter. It was years after she left that gloomy prison that she remembered something her four-year-old self had difficulty understanding.

"Eun-kyung, my little gem, we have something very serious to talk about. You know that Appa is going away for a while to help heal people who have never even seen a doctor. I plan to be back here with you as soon as I can. But if anything should happen and I don't come home I want you to live with my sister, Mun Kyung-Soon. I've written it into my will. You're not to go with anyone else. Do you understand?"

Gem remembered nodding and hugging her father. "Ihaehabnida, Appa." 3)

A few months later, she was taken from her boarding school by a man who said he was the father of her father. She went to live in his house. Living there would have been more than a nightmare had it not been for the housekeeper, Baek Sung-mi, who was also considered a possession. When Appa came to take her away, to a better life, he took Sung-mi as well.

The answer to the question of why she'd stayed all those years before that was buried in the nearby cemetery halfway between Jesse and Olivia Duke, and Enos' parents.

References and Translations:

1) The expression was coined by an ad agency, no longer in business, called Vista in the 1960s. It was updated to fit into the campaign against pollution as "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the pollution" There are many other paraphrasings of the expression since the original phrase was coined.

2) Reference to Busanhaeng, aka Train to Busan, which became an instant classic in Korea and Internationally and has been touted as "one of the best zombie films ever made." (according to IMDb)

A/N: I never liked Zombie movies, but I loved this one. Although Train to Busan was deadly serious, it led me to comedy/dramas such as Warm Bodies, Zombie for Sale, and Zombie Detective (all hilarious with a slightly serious undertone). Now I'm into Japanese manga and anime about vampires.

3) "Ihaehabnida, Appa." means " I understand, Daddy" in Korean.