Without noticing it, I had put my hand over my mouth in horror. Nari had grabbed the other one. It had all happened so fast my brain needed time to catch up. Then Chul’s words from just ten minutes ago repeated in my head, and my heart started racing in my chest.
Who is he trying to fool that this is ‘the easiest job in agriculture’? He’s lying… he’s trying to get us killed!
“The river is full of fallen trees and other debris from the mountain,” Chul shouted. “So the waterwheel gets clogged up from time to time. Sometimes it’s by branches, sometimes even big logs get stuck there… but you don’t have to deal with that… Ki Ha will handle it. And if he can’t do it alone, you’ll just have to run out and get somebody from the field. The two of you will never have to go near it, okay?”
He tried to say this reassuringly, but I didn’t feel reassured in the slightest.
He’s lying… he’s just trying to get us killed!
“But you also have to be careful here,” he continued, pointing at all the rotating cogwheels. “There are a lot of moving parts, easy to get tangled… so don’t wear any loose clothing or anything that could get caught.” When he looked back to us, he again had the same guilt-torn face as before.
“I know it’s not much, but it’s all I could do for you… at least for now. You’ll be safe here.”
Ki Ha had disposed of the branch into the river and stood right next to us again. He looked completely red and furious, as one of the ogres from the fantasy children’s books Young Il had smuggled in from abroad when we were younger.
“Ah, Ki Ha… well done with the branch,” Chul shouted nervously to the giant. He pointed at Nari and me. “These two girls will help you out, like we talked about before. They’re hard workers. Just teach them what to do, and they’ll do it, okay?”
“And what happened to my request to get a real worker to help me out?” the giant snarled in his growling ogre voice.
“I know… I know,” Chul looked in all directions, flustered, “but trust me… this is the best option… you don’t need a big strong man for this work, and this way, you get two people to help you… you will be very pleased, I’m certain of it…”
“I see,” Ki Ha growled, glaring at us contemptuously without the slightest attempt to hide the resentment in his voice.
Chul turned to us. I could see the sweat pearling on his forehead.
“Just do whatever Ki Ha tells you to do and you’ll be fine. I’ll come and check in with you later. You’ll be fine here… I’m sure of it.”
After having finished his rambling, Chul gave us a long guilty look. He then turned around and almost ran out through the door, leaving us alone with a furious giant ogre.
Almost immediately after Chul had left, the door opened again, and in came a small middle-aged man with an ugly face and short thin hair. He looked at us, and then at Ki Ha.
“Look, Do Hun… they sent us children to help out… isn’t that great?” Ki Ha scoffed.
“You’re kidding me… are they serious?” Do Hun glared at us, baffled.
“That little girly boy seemed serious enough… almost pissed his pants but still stuck around to order me what to do.”
Both Nari and I stood frozen right in between these two foul men. I felt like I was shrinking with every shallow breath I took. When the two men were tired of insulting Chul - which I was too afraid to be able to enjoy - Ki Ha went out and helped Do Hun to bring in four more barrels of corn. After that, they lit a couple of cigarettes and smoked in the doorway, not paying any attention to the two scared girls in the middle of the room who hadn’t moved an inch since Chul left an eternity ago. They took their merry time. Once finished, they flicked their cigarette butts to the ground, and Do Hon took his wagon and started pulling it back toward the fields.
Really…? Don’t they have horses for that?
I remembered the mandatory harvest day excursions our school arranged every year. Those farms didn’t only have all sorts of animals, they had tractors and other machines that made the work easy. But now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen anything like that at Yodok.
“Okay, children,” Ki Ha turned to us menacingly. “You’d better make yourselves useful, or else we might just have an accident here. Take a good look around you… a lot can happen in a place like this.” He waved for us to follow him while he continued muttering. “I was about to get someone good in here… a strong and hard worker… I proposed a guy I know well… but now that we have this child guard as our supervisor… the child guard decided to place his child friends here instead…”
Ki Ha continued muttering after this, but I couldn’t make out what he said over all the noise around us. His whole ogre-like demeanor, together with the dangerous machines all around us, made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I looked over at Nari. Her face had turned ghostly white.
“There,” Ki Ha pointed at one of the barrels full of corncobs Do Hun just had delivered. “Start with those. Peel them and put them in this barrel over here. I will put them in the grinder… apparently, it’s my fate to continue doing all the heavy work alone… thanks to that son of a—” he shook his big crimson ogre head. “The ground corn comes out on that side, into that barrel. It’s your job to make sure it’s filled, but don’t let it overflow. If you waste even a drop, you’ll have to answer to me. If you don’t fill it enough, you’ll have to answer to me. I assure you, you don’t want to get on my bad side. As I said… you’d be surprised how easily one could have an accident in here… it would be a real tragedy, but no one would think twice about it. Understood? Good,” he said without waiting for our answer. “NOW GET TO WORK! And I don’t want to hear a peep from you for the rest of the day.”
He turned his back to us and returned to the grinder. I took Nari’s hand to comfort her, but despite her white face, she looked surprisingly calm.
“Let’s go,” I nodded to her.
Firstly, I checked the barrel of corn, cob, and tree bark slew - it was only half full, so we got started on the peeling. There was an endless number of barrels to get through, and every two hours or so, Do Hon delivered some more. After every delivery, the two men smoked together, loudly complaining about Chul and us like we weren’t even there.
Apart from Ki Ha throwing insults in our directions every five minutes, the work itself was easy enough even for Nari to manage, so I reluctantly had to admit that Chul had been right about that. But being trapped with this angry monster of a man in this death-trap of a room, I still wondered if Chul wasn’t trying to get us killed.
Once in a while, it wasn’t enough for Ki Ha to throw insults our way. Those times, he threw actual corncobs at us or came over and emptied a full barrel of poorly peeled corn over our heads and growled at us to do a better job. It only took a couple of hours before I had started to hate him with all my heart.
Yet another person added to the list…
I started wishing he would get caught with his enormously large head in the cogwheels and get crushed like a bug. Like he almost had when removing the branch that was stuck in the waterwheel. Those kinds of fantasies helped me keep going and for the time to pass faster.
All of a sudden, Chul replaced Ki Ha in my fantasies. I felt like my brain had been struck by a lightning bolt, making me drop the hundredth corncob I was peeling. I remembered Ki Ha’s warning.
‘You’d be surprised how easily one could have an accident in here… it would be a real tragedy, but no one would think twice about it.’
In a split second, the hollow vacuum that was my existence once again filled with purpose and determination.
Maybe my Father - the Great General hasn’t forsaken me after all. Maybe I was put here in the watermill for a purpose.
I didn’t even notice the smile forming on my face as the plan took shape in my mind.
I might not be able to get out of this hell on earth… but by the Great General… this is where I will make Chul pay… with his life!
CHA
PTER 10
The second day on the job continued as the first. Ki Ha continued to verbally abuse us, with Do Hun chipping in as well when he came over to deliver more barrels. More than once, we had to duck for flying corncobs we apparently hadn’t cleaned well enough. One time, we almost missed changing the barrel with the repulsive corn mixture in time and had to endure a twenty-minute verbal scolding. But at least he didn’t report us… or make us have an accident.
Almost every day, a log of wood or a tree branch would get stuck in the waterwheel and make the machinery stop. Each time, I wished Ki Ha would lose his balance while removing the obstruction and get his head crushed in the cogwheels. Unfortunately, that never happened.
Nari and I didn’t talk during the workday, partially because Ki Ha forbade us to do so, but also because it was impossible to hear each other without screaming.
The good news was that, despite the never-ceasing slamming and squealing, and the unbearable heat and humidity that even made Nari’s glasses fog up, the work itself was not hard, so Nari managed to fill her quota without a problem. I was relieved by this but refused to be thankful to Chul. Nothing he could do would ever be enough to atone for what he had done. Every moment of every day, I fantasized about his head being squashed by the massive cogwheels, or about him getting stuck in the waterwheel and drown in the merciless currents of the river, kicking and screaming for help that would never come. And every time Chul came in to check in on us, I had to fight the urge to give him a slight push… that was all it would take.
We still had a couple of hours to go before the workday was finished when Chul, pale as a ghost, came panting through the door. All three of us looked up at him, surprised.
“There’s… an emergency assembly… in the… courtyard,” he panted. “Go! NOW!”
He turned around and ran back out the door.
Nari and I just looked at each other, but Ki Ha disconnected the cogwheels so that the corn mixture wouldn’t go over the brim, and then turned to us and growled, “What are you waiting for… GO!”
We didn’t have to be told twice. We dropped our corn cobs and hurried out the door.
“What do you think has happened?” Nari asked me as we sped down the dirt road along the cornfields.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s another execution,” I said, but then felt guilty for being so callous. “But I hope it’s something else,” I hurried to add, giving Nari an encouraging look. But the worry on her face didn’t go away.
As we reached the Bloodyard where I had witnessed my first - and what I sincerely hoped had been my last - execution just a few days after we arrived in Yodok, the whole scene foreboded the worst. The masses of the Strayed filled the yard in silence, leaving a semi-circle around the concrete wall and execution poles in the middle. It looked like all the guards, officers, and administrative personnel from the Oversight had gathered as well. I cringed at the very thought of witnessing some other poor souls having their brains exploded onto the poles and the concrete wall in front of us, and I knew it would affect Nari even more. At least this time, I was glad we were hidden deep in the masses and didn’t stand in the front row like last time. I squeezed Nari’s hand. She squeezed mine back.
I looked around to see if I could find anybody else I knew - Jun Ha, Miss Ae, Mina or Mrs. Choy - or even Sun Hee or Young Il for that matter - but all I saw was a vast sea of strangers. The atmosphere was tense.
The crowd parted a few moments later, and just like last time, General Roh, Colonel Wan, and some other indistinguishable senior officers emerged from the main Oversight building and stood in front of the execution poles. As they did, a wave of murmurs echoed through the crowd. I raised myself on my toes to see what the commotion was about. I had to squint to get the officers in focus, but then I had to blink several times because I didn’t believe what I was seeing. All the officers, including General Roh - the fierce Demon of Yodok - and Colonel Wan, were crying.
I was stunned.
What is this? Will somebody be executed? Or…
I didn’t know what to make of it.
“What is happening? What do you see?” Nari, who wasn’t tall enough to see over the crowd, pulled my sleeve.
I leaned over and whispered into her ear.
“They’re crying… all of them are crying.”
She looked back at me in disbelief. She was about to say something more but stopped as the crowd around us went dead silent. I stood back up on my toes. General Roh held his hand raised. The tears on his cheeks glistened in the early evening sun. I suddenly noticed Chul and Chang Min among the many guards standing behind the officers. They were crying as well.
What is this…?
“Today,” General Roh started with a deep and ceremonious voice that instantly made my heart clench. “Today… is a day of the greatest of sorrows.”
He took a long pause, looking somewhere far into the distance.
What in the Great General’s name is going on?
“The greatest, most unspeakable tragedy… has struck our beloved country,” he continued. His voice trembled. “A tragedy… that all of us thought impossible… that we were certain we would never have to suffer in our lifetime…” He had to pause for a moment because his voice broke. He cleared his throat before continuing. “An immense wound has opened all across Choson… all across the world. A wound so profound, it will never heal. A wound that forever will leave us a broken and desolate nation.”
He had to make another pause to recompose himself.
What is going on? What has happened?
An immense terror grew inside me. It was even greater than when I thought this was another execution.
“I’m immensely sorrowful,” General Roh continued in his profound trembling voice, “and heartbroken… more than words can describe… to inform you… that our beloved Leader… our Father - the Great General…“ His voice broke again as more tears streamed from his eyes. “Our beloved Father - the Great General… has… has passed away.”
CHAPTER 11
There was a brief moment of silent shock. Then the crowd erupted like a volcano. Several people around me passed out or just lost their balance and collapsed on the ground. The rest erupted in frantic screams.
“No, no, NO… it can’t be true, NOOO… please, Father… please oh please… oh, Father… oh, Great General… Please… don’t let it be true… PLEASE…NOOOO!”
The roar from the masses grew in intensity, and before long, it became deafening and all-consuming, like there was a great wall of sound pressing against me. With every second it grew more powerful… more desperate… more erratic. Outcries and hysteria, mixed with people crying and throwing themselves to the ground, or on top of each other… it was chaos in its purest form… it was like a stormy ocean of people and despair without a lifeboat in sight… and I was standing right in the middle of it.
I was numb. I couldn’t understand what General Roh had said.
What is happening? What is this?
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. All the sounds entering my ears were distorted and muffled. People bumped into me, but I didn’t move.
Did he say that…? Did he say…? No… it’s not possible. I must have misunderstood. Everybody must have misunderstood… it can’t be…
Then I noticed Nari. Just by the look on her face, it dawned upon me.
This is happening! This is really happening!
It was like I had been hit by a tsunami… by a tornado… like I’ve been caught up in a landslide… or an earthquake. My hands started shaking uncontrollably. Then my arms, my legs, and my lips. I fell to the ground… and… and… I just screamed. A scream of pain… such unimaginable pain… originating from my heart.
It can’t be! It can’t be! IT CAN’T BE!
I kept repeating it to myself, trying to make it true, but the pain grew only stronger. It consumed me, devoured me, and amid my desperate screams came the tears. They flooded like waterfalls, and I sobbed, and I sh
ivered in wild spasms. I had no control over any part of my body. I was swept away in a stormy ocean of misery and despair together with all the other condemned souls around me. All was lost. The world had come to an end. Nothing made sense. Nothing had any meaning. There was nothing left in the world… nothing, but endless despair. I felt Nari’s arms around my neck like she was trying to rescue me… but it was not possible.
All was lost.
Forever.
I don’t know how long this orgy of misery continued, but all of a sudden there was a gunshot fired that woke me from my trance. Then there was another. And then another.
Are they shooting at us?
I looked up at the people in the crowd around me, who, like me, seemed to have just awoken from a delirious dream… or more likely, from a tormenting nightmare. I saw the guards standing in the middle of the semi-circle, their rifles aimed at the sky. Chul and Chang Min were among them. They fired another round. I jumped by pure reflex even if I saw it coming.
“STAND UP!” somebody barked. I think it was Colonel Wan.
I stood up. So did everybody else. I felt Nari’s hand in mine, but it felt strange… like it wasn’t even my hand anymore… like I was feeling her through somebody else’s skin.
I noticed General Roh standing in front of us with his hand raised. The crowd slowly went silent. The General’s face was still distorted with grief, and the red and puffy skin around his eyes accentuated his silvery ghost eye even more than usual. When the Bloodyard had become immersed in complete silence, he spoke.
“I… I cannot even begin… to express… the sorrow and the despair that I feel in my heart at this moment,” the tremble in General Roh’s voice was even greater than before. ”The Great General was not only the Father of our nation… he was my Father…he was the Father of my family and all other true-hearted families of Choson… and he was the protecting and caring Father of you, the Strayed… even after you betrayed him!” He had to pause to regain control over his voice. “Each and every one of us… all the people of Choson… have lost our Father… our savior, who was supposed to… who was supposed to take care of us… and protect us… for all et—” He again broke out in tears, and so did I. So did everybody else in the crowd.
The Weeping Masses: A Young Adult Dystopian Survival Saga (Juche - Part 3) Page 9
