Guys. GUYS. I need your help please.
As said in the title, I’m looking for a book in which the/a protagonist is living under some kind of oppression that makes them take up a vigilante role in order to help their people. They rescue the unjustly imprisoned, punish the oppressors, steal to give the poor, the whole spiel.
From the outside, however, it appears they have betrayed their own people for their own gain, by working in some kind of official position for the enemy: police officer, assistant to the evil emperor, etc. Because of this, they are considered a traitor and continuously condemned by the very people they work so hard to protect. Oof, the tragedy, the pain.
I know this is unbelievably specific. Obviously, there is something that prompted this quest of mind: I have been rewatching my very first and beloved kdrama Gaksital/Bridal Mask (2012).
It depicts Lee Kang-to, a young ambitious Korean man who during the Japanese occupation works his way up to a high position in the imperial police, all the while secretly helping his fellow Koreans as Gaksital, a masked hero. While Gaksital is celebrated, Kang-to is called the “Japs’*” dog, the devil, the traitor who feasts on the Korean people’s flesh.
It is deliciously whumpy, and tragic and I love it very much.
I’m hoping to find something as satisfactory in written form.
Thank ye sooo much in advance for any hint yous might have!
*I do not endorse this slur.
by poof_poyka