I found him in the guardhouse. It was clear he had been waiting for me, but as soon as he saw me coming panting through the door, his face changed. He looked at the paper I handed to him, shaking his head.
“This is bad, Areum… very bad. They are rebelling against you.”
“Are you surprised?” I asked, my body trembling so violently I could hardly stand up. “I told you this was insane… somebody is trying to get me killed! They told me to my face they want to see me tied to a pole and executed…”
Chul sighed, still mesmerized by the paper.
“Okay… let’s go talk to them together. You’re the leader, so you have to tell them no one goes home until the quotas are filled. Okay? I’ll be with you to back you up.”
I nodded, wiping a tear from my eye and fighting my rapidly growing impulse to run home and cry into my rag pillow. We went back to the cornfield together and gathered the workers, who didn’t look the least more docile seeing me accompanied by a guard. Feeling my whole face burning red with desperation, I still managed to give them the news without my voice letting me down.
“THAT IS BULLSHIT!” Dong Suk screamed, glaring at Chul. “She’s the one who kept interrupting us with her girly bullshit. And she’s the one who didn’t do anything when we came to her requesting a sharpening of our tools. And she cut our water rations!”
Chul looked at me, troubled.
“What? Wait… no… that’s not true! I didn’t do any of that,” I looked back at him, pleading with my eyes that he would believe me.
Dong Suk laughed and shook his head.
“And now, she denies it… that’s just great! What do you say, boys… who’s to blame for today’s result?”
“She is,” the whole work unit - except for Nari - grunted in unison.
I felt like my heart was about to pound right through my ribcage. My steaming red face was sweating uncontrollably.
“QUIET!” Chul ordered in a voice that - even though not authoritative - at least sounded like it came from a man. “It doesn’t matter whose fault it is… you must fill your quota, so nobody leaves until that is done. Is that clear?”
“Clear,” the men grunted, for the first time taking their eyes off Chul and dignifying me with a hateful glare.
“Good,” Chul said. “Finish before it gets dark, otherwise I’ll have to report it to my superiors… then there’s no avoiding punishment.” As the disgruntled men went back to work, he took me to the side.
“I told you,” I whispered to him furiously. “This will get me killed… whoever put me in charge wants me dead… this is a nightmare.”
“Areum,” Chul looked me seriously in the eyes. “I don’t know how this happened, but I know you… I’m sure you can do this. You have to show strength… make them respect you, and they will obey you. I know you can do this!”
I looked back at him and shook my head. Another pair of tears left my eyes.
Am I really receiving a pep-talk from my sister’s rapist?
“You’re just feeding me empty words,” I wiped my tears and walked away from him without looking back.
Everyone’s against me…
I didn’t dare approach the workers again. Instead, I went back to helping Nari and watched them from a distance. It was getting dark quickly, and my panic only continued increasing. Nari didn’t say much - there was nothing she could say that would make things better - but I saw her working harder ever before. I also noticed her pellagra rash was all but gone.
But what good will that do if we’re both executed tomorrow…?
As the night descended upon us, in my head I saw my head exploding from a hail of bullets, sending a rain of blood and brain matter onto the mural of my eternally smiling Father - the Great General. I looked up at the sky. There was no doubt in my mind the accumulating dark clouds symbolized the impending end of my existence.
When there was only a tiny sliver of sunlight left over the mountain tops, more due to the adrenaline than any kind of courage, I went around to see where we were at, trying my best to disregard the hateful glares and comments. The men had actually done some work, but we were still ten percent away from our quota target.
I’m doomed! Just like Dong Suk said… they will realize I’m the problem… and that will be it!
I went into the still unharvested part of the cornfield and crouched down in total despair, hidden away from the cruel world by the tall leafy cornstalks around me. I buried my wet face deeply in my hands. My mouth gathered saliva like I was about to vomit and I could feel the repugnant sting of stomach acid on the back of my tongue.
“What are you doing?”
I shrieked from surprise at the voice from behind me and almost fell over.
I looked up and saw Hana standing there, laughing.
“Not exactly how I expected to see the new strong work unit leader,” she said.
“For Juche’s sake, Hana… you scared the living crap out of me,” I frantically wiped the tears off my face. Then I stood up and looked at her, surprised. “H-how did you hear about that?”
“Hear about it?” she scoffed. “I’m the one who got you the job… you’re welcome!” She put her hand over her heart and bowed down in a pose that could have been interpreted as reverence if she weren’t still laughing.
“WHAT?” I almost screamed. “You’re the one who got me into this mess?” All my anxiety and panic transformed into pure and unadulterated fury directed at Hana. “Are you completely insane? Do you realize what you have done? They’re going to kill me! By tomorrow morning, I’ll be tied to one of the poles in the Bloodyard in front of the firing squad! And Chul will be one of the people putting bullets through my head… is that what you planned all along in your sick, twisted mind? That the person whom I hate the most would get the honor to blow my brains out?”
“What are you talking about?” Hana calmly raised her left eyebrow. She had stopped laughing. “If you’re having problems with the workers, just put them in their place.”
“Put them in their place? You really are insane! Or is this some kind of sick joke? Huh? How am I supposed to do that? They are fifty large, strong men… they don’t have any respect for me. If I do anything, they will crush me—”
“Okay, okay,” Hana raised her hands to calm me down. “I see you’re agitated… but don’t make a big deal about it. There will always be a few hiccups the first day on the job, but we’ll handle it… don’t worry, I’ll help you.”
“This… is not… a few hiccups,” I growled. “They will get me killed!”
“No, they won’t,” Hana rolled her eyes like she was dealing with a child throwing a tantrum for no reason. “Just give me twenty minutes… I’ll be back, and then we’ll take care of your problem. Are you close to being finished?”
“We’re ten percent off… and… and Chul will report us to his superiors if we don’t finish before sundown… which is basically now.”
My head was spinning from all the adrenaline.
“Don’t worry, I’ll stall him,” she said. “In the meantime, you go over to them and tell them to get their asses off the ground, otherwise there will be consequences… okay?”
I didn’t answer.
“Just keep your head above the water. I’ll be back soon,” she ran off, leaving me alone to face my damnation.
“Where have you been?” Nari shrieked as she spotted me walking back toward workers.
I didn’t answer. I had no energy.
After checking the status, my fear that there had been almost no progress was confirmed. We were still nine percent off.
“Looks like you’ve got a real problem on your hands there, Boss Lady,” Dong Suk smirked at me.
“You’re getting us all into trouble… including yourself,” I said, exhausted. “How can you not see that?”
“We’ll see,” he shrugged and sat down on the ground to light a cigarette. Then he did something strange. With his eyes still locked on mine, he extended his arm and index fi
nger. He was pointing at something. I followed the line of his arm, and as I saw what he pointed at, a frosty chill shot down my spine. Rising in the distance was the dark contour of Cemetery Hill.
“That’s where the two of you will be by noon tomorrow,” Dong Suk snarled, blowing a cloud of smoke in my direction.
Without being able to breathe, I turned my eyes away from the hill of death and looked at Nari. We both knew he was right. I started praying for a miracle - that was the only thing that could save me now - but I doubted that was what Hana would bring.
If she comes back at all… maybe this was her sadistic way of getting rid of me now that I have fulfilled my purpose to help her regain power. Or is this yet another test?
Nari and I continued working as hard as we could - which was not very hard at all - while the rest of the men sat on the ground doing nothing for about twenty minutes while I waited for my miracle, my hopes waning by the minute. My only distraction were flashes of the baby and mother being killed in the barn, my naked mother in General Roh’s arms, Sang Jun’s head exploding on the Great General’s face of infinite kindness… and Chul ripping up my shirt and forcing me down on the wet grass in the clearing in the mountains. Needless to say, those distractions didn’t make me feel any better. They just added to the hopelessness. I knew the miracle wouldn’t come.
As I was just about ready to admit defeat, Hana appeared at the edge of the cornfield.
And she wasn’t alone.
CHAPTER 41
I watched Hana approaching with thirty or so prisoners behind her. Men and women, all tall and muscular except for one, whom I immediately recognized as Jun Ha. He greeted me with a nod, but he wasn’t his normal relaxed self. I recognized a few of the others as well from the previous nights in the cave. What astounded me the most, however, was not this fierce-looking posse marching toward us. It was the fact that each of these prisoners was carrying a massive sharp stick, a harvesting knife, or a sword. The upper part of Hana’s stick had long crooked nails sticking out from it on all sides. I looked around to see if there were any guards chasing after them with their machine guns ready, but not a single one was in sight.
“Okay, let’s do this,” Hana said as she passed me without slowing down.
I wasn’t sure exactly what she meant by this, but I followed her lead. Nari looked at me worriedly from the side without moving. We walked over to Dong Suk and the others, who had already gotten to their feet and stood there staring at us. Their smug expressions were gone and had been replaced by a mix of apprehension and surprise. They firmed their grips on their harvesting knives but didn’t move in either direction.
“Hello there!” Hana said as she casually swung her massive stick up in the air and made it land so perfectly on her shoulder I was certain she had practiced that move a thousand times just for occasions like this. “Dong Suk is it, am I right?”
“Hey,” Dong Suk raised his empty hand in front of him but kept the one with the knife steady by his waist. “We don’t have any issues with you guys, okay… it’s—”
“Is that so?” Hana interrupted him, taking the stick from her shoulder and slamming it hard against the ground. The stick had Dong Suk’s complete attention, even though he was standing there with a large harvesting knife in his hand. “So you say you don’t have any issues with the Dragons?”
Dong Suk’s eyes widened when she spoke the name. He shook his head.
“But you see,” Hana took a menacing step forward, “the Dragons have an issue with you.” Hana put the stick back on her shoulder, and went over and put her free arm around my neck. “As I’m sure you’re aware, Dong Suk… if you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us.”
Dong Suk threw his knife on the ground next to him, shaking his head. His lip trembled and he sweated heavily.
“Hey… I’m sorry… I had no idea she was one of you, I swear… really… I—”
“Thank you for that heartfelt apology,” Hana said. “I do appreciate it… but I’m afraid it’s just not enough. You see… you have disrespected one of us in front of this whole work unit… worse yet… it’s the very work unit she’s now in charge of. On top of everything, you have purposely failed to fill your quotas today, which the guards have been made aware of. I don’t know how you see that,” she rhetorically asked the small army behind her, “but in my book, that’s bad… very bad.” All the Dragons nodded and hit their weapon of choice rhythmically against the palms of their other hands.
“W-we’ll fix it,” Dong Suk stuttered. “Right guys? There’s only a little left… nine percent, right, Areum? It’s n-nothing… we’ll have it done within half an hour… or sooner… we’ll sort this out—”
The rest of the workers dropped their knives as well and nodded vigorously while slowly retreating backward. I was stunned by the level of fear Hana and the Dragons instilled in these large, strong - and not to mention armed - workers.
“Yes, you will,” Hana continued forward. “But first… I believe we need to teach you a lesson.”
Dong Suk looked at the long nails protruding from Hana’s stick, and then at his knife several steps away on the ground. His face displayed pure terror.
“Oh, don’t worry, Dong Suk,” Hana jeered. “We’ll make it a fair fight. Just you… and Areum. No weapons.”
I looked at Hana in shock.
Is she completely out of her mind?
“You’ll be fine,” she reassured me with her eyes.
From having calmed down a bit, knowing I had a smaller army behind my back, I now went back into a full-scale panic… I couldn’t even voice my protest.
Nari spoke in my place.
“That’s insane, Hana… let’s just fill the quotas before the guards come back… or we’ll all be punished,” she pleaded.
“The guards are not coming back until I tell them to,” Hana snorted without looking at her. “And this is none of your business!”
Before Nari could say anything else, Dong Suk cleared his throat. He had straightened up and looked more relaxed and confident now.
“And if I win?” he asked with a hint of a sneer.
“Well… we don’t have the habit of consorting with losers,” Hana said. “So if you do win, you’re off the hook… and she’s out.”
A full-blown smirk spread over Dong Suk’s face as he looked at me. I stood petrified, still unable to speak.
“Okay then,” he said, tilting his head to both sides, making loud cracks.
Still mute, I looked imploringly at Hana, who came over to me and put her hand on my shoulder.
“Just do what I know you can do,” she whispered. “Do what I have seen you do… what you did to Chul and Chang Min up in the mountains. Trust me… he doesn’t stand a chance.”
She pushed me into the circle the Dragons and the field workers had created around Dong Suk and me without me noticing. I searched desperately for Chul or any other guard who could intervene and stop this madness, but there was no one in sight.
“Alright, let’s do this!” Dong Suk grunted and was encouraged by his half of the circle.
I found Nari to my right. She was covering her eyes. Close to her I saw Jun Ha, and I threw him a pleading look, but he just mouthed, ‘You can do it!’ and mimicked a taekwondo combat stance.
A primal scream erupted from my side, and in the corner of my eye, I saw Dong Suk charging at me like a raging bull. Before I had the chance to react, his fist collided with my face. I lost my balance and tumbled to the ground, landing on my back. My head was in a daze and my jaw throbbed with pain. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. Before I had time to recover, Dong Suk landed with his entire body weight on my stomach, forcing every last particle of air out from my screaming lungs. My mind was transported back to the clearing that fateful late June night… and over of my naked, bruised chest I saw Chul’s drunk boyish face asking for forgiveness.
Gasping for air through the pain, I tried to focus, but Dong Suk and the whole ring around us were
spinning. There was loud, but muffled, cheering from all around us… but I had no idea who they were cheering for. Dong Suk bent forward and tried to grab my arms. His mouth smelled of rotting cabbage, and sweat from his thinning, gray hair dripped down on my face and stung my eyes. I evaded his attempt and tried to push him off, but without being able to breathe, I had no strength. He finally managed to get hold of my arms. He fit both of them in his left hand and pressed them against the ground over my head while he punched me right in the eye with his right fist. Flickering stars appeared before me and there was a loud ringing in my ears. The cheering from the crowd became increasingly muffled and distorted. There came another blow, and then another. I felt my left eyebrow cracking in the same place as last time, and warm blood flowed down into my eye and my ear. I tried to raise my arms to block his punches, but I was too weak. Another blow came, this time to my jaw, and then another one to my already cracked eyebrow.
I tried to remember my taekwondo training. I had no strength to lift my arms, but I could extend them, so I straightened my whole body into a long arrow, making Dong Suk abandon his next punch to regain his balance. Then, with almost superhuman power, I made a pull while twisting my body to the side. I got my left hand loose from his grip, forcing Dong Suk to abandon his second punch as well and use both his hands to get me back under his control. Before he had time to grab my arm again, in the blink of an eye, I clenched my left hand into a fist, thrust it down along my stomach, and grabbed his scrotum with all my might.
Dong Suk screamed in agony as both his hands by reflex went down to protect the hurt area. He was still on top of me, but both my hands were now free, so I grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him down toward me while twisting to the right. Since his heavy torso still wouldn’t budge, I abandoned the last principles of a fair fight my taekwondo training had instilled in me my whole life and bit him as hard as I could in his nose. Blood gushed into my mouth. Dong Suk wailed like a cut pig and fell on the ground next to me.
Now my body was free as well. I jumped up and went to attack before he could recover. He held one hand between his legs and the other over his bleeding nose, as tears flooded from his eyes. I kicked him in the ribs from the side with a furious roar. He wailed and cringed his body. I went in for another attack, but he saw me coming and pulled up both his feet against my stomach and thrust me backward with enormous strength. I tumbled to the other side of the circle where I collapsed on the ground, my lungs again painfully gasping for air. I turned my head, and through my tears, I saw Nari. She was no longer covering her panicking eyes - her hands were instead covering her mouth. Tears ran down her glistening red cheeks.
The Weeping Masses: A Young Adult Dystopian Survival Saga (Juche - Part 3) Page 36
