＜ Chapter 32. Year of the Republic (2) ＞
Chapter 32. end of the republic (2)
“Baby, what are you doing there?”
“…………”
Yonghwan, blankly staring at the paper and neon signs on the window, fidgeting with the dollars in his pocket, turned around, startled by the voice he heard from behind.
Behind him, a middle-aged woman dressed in fine Joseon clothes (hanbok) asked him with a worried expression.
“Baby, can’t you hear me? Where are you sick?”
“…Oh, no. comrade.”
Before the thought of ‘there was a long time ago to be called a baby…’, Yonghwan quickly took a look at the attire (a skill he learned in Pyongyang) and figured out the ‘origin’ of the woman in front of him.
First of all, not wearing ready-made people’s clothes, but Joseon clothes, and seeing that the fabric was shiny, it was clear that the clothes were imported from South Korea and not from China.
In addition, no matter how close the end of the year approaches and the situation in the people’s pockets has improved rapidly, even though Pyongyang is in a different mood these days, if you see them wearing South Joseon-made clothes openly like that, the middle-aged female comrade in front of Yong-hwan is the status and money Clearly someone had both.
More importantly, for unknown reasons, she seemed to have a favor with Yonghwan himself.
‘Perhaps you don’t know, but you’re not a high-ranking party official, so that’s about it!’
Yong-hwan, who stood up for the calculation, immediately bent down like a hammer and bowed to the woman in front of him, Jeong-hwan’s mother, Kim Myung-ae, who was just heading to the company.
“No, female comrade. It was the first Western-style house I had ever seen, so I was curious to see it.”
“That’s right, that’s an American made… No, it’s a pork belly buns from the United States. I don’t know if you’ve ever tasted it…”
“Comrade Kim Myung-ae. Right now, you and our Special Guard Bureau are carrying out the important mission given by Comrade General Secretary. We’ll take care of this comrade, so get in the car as soon as possible…”
“Don’t do that, give me a moment, comrade. Even a woman like me doesn’t seem to be in a rush… Baby, what’s your name?”
The person who intervened in Yonghwan’s conversation with Kim Myungae was a tall man with a grim expression, a black suit, and a badge with an artificial flag on his neck.
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Not only that, but on the roadside not far from Kim Myung-ae, several black cars with obvious foreign origins were parked in a row near the car, and there were men of similar stature and clothes (with an undesirable expression) near the car. were rushing aroundAt first glance, the men who seemed to be engaged in very dangerous and important duties stared at him, and Yonghwan was terrified and took a step back. became convinced
I don’t know who this aunt is, but it’s certain that he is a tall person.
“Lee, call me Ri Yong-hwan, comrade!”
“It’s Yonghwan… This auntie also has a son with a similar name. In fact, he is still on his way to see his son.”
“Is that so? The comrade’s son must be the supreme leader of the republic, whom he admires in a high position, and an cadre who takes care of comrade general secretary! I don’t know if it’s okay for a single people like me to waste their comrades’ golden time in vain…”
“It’s a high position… that’s what it is. My son also had an unspoiled side when he was young… Anyway, sweetheart, this is a gift, so I hope that he will eat this and study hard to become a helpful worker for the Republic. You and my son have the same name, so when you grow up, you will be able to do great things.”
While saying that, Kim Myung-ae took some candy from the hem of the jacket and handed it to Yong-hwan, who didn’t know what to do.
Yong-hwan’s dirty hands, who had been working all day, and Kim Myung-ae’s hands, which were hard to realize his age, overlapped for a moment.
The woman in front of her is not the common middle-aged aunt in Pyongyang, but the birth mother of the highest dignity in the present republic.
I don’t know what kind of whim she is acting like this, but none of them, the Special Guards agents, knew that she was able to blow everyone’s throats with just a passing grudge against her ‘son’.
“Then don’t leave this aunty comrade. My daughter-in-law is waiting in the car, and I want to see my son after a long time. good luck to you too Yonghwan-ah.”
“…….I….!! I….!! Over there… Auntie!”
Yonghwan, who had been fiddling with the candy Kim Myung-ae had in his hand for a moment, turned his back and grabbed Kim Myung-ae, who was walking towards the car.
The escort agent who was following her looked back, but at the desperate voice of Yong-hwan, Kim Myung-ae stopped her steps.
“Yeah so, baby?”
“Zoogi… I…”
Yonghwan couldn’t get the words out right away and muttered his words out of his mouth.
Even for Yonghwan, who was still only 16, he knew how rude the thoughts that came to him were.
But instinctively, the lady in front of him was convinced that it was impossible for him to meet again while working as a delivery man in Pyongyang.
The urgency to not miss such an opportunity, combined with the selfishness, selfishness, and unripe greed that only that age can have, Yonghwan finally uttered the words he had been thinking about.
“Hey, hey, hey, can you give me money instead of candy? All in dollars. When I get home, Abai and Omani are hungry and waiting…”
match—-!!!
Before he could finish speaking, a light flashed in front of Yonghwan.
The agent of the escort country, who was listening with an absurd expression next to him, put his cheek with a palm the size of a pot lid.
Yonghwan, who was thrown out by the slap of a strong adult man who far exceeded the average weight of the Republic, did not see a third person getting out of the car and hurriedly walking towards them as he was rolling on the floor.
On the fallen Yonghwan, the agent of the guard country grinded his teeth like an angry brown bear in the Hamgyeong-do mountain valley.
“This crazy bastard who doesn’t even know about grace… He knows who this comrade is and is blasphemous! You have to taste for yourself that you deserve revolutionary education just by delaying the execution of the task directly assigned by the supreme leader…”
“Please stop it. Comrade, I came to see why you are so late for this simple matter…”
“Ha, but comrade major…”
“…and I know, didn’t the general secretary not long ago forbid revolutionary education in any way except for serious crimes such as murder for student comrades who had not yet reached the age of majority? Comrade, am I really going to have to make a direct request to the general secretary?”
“Oh, no! Comrade Yoo Hye-rim! How can we…”
Even in the dark and dreamy, Yonghwan witnessed the sight of a ‘brown bear’ who had slapped him and saluted a woman who suddenly appeared in embarrassment.
The woman was a young, white-faced woman who looked 30 years younger than the aunt who had just been called ‘Kim Myung-ae’, but nevertheless, the men in dressmaking, including ‘Brown Bear’, seemed to have more difficulty with her than Kim Myung-ae.
“I’m sorry for making you go through something like this, Comrade Kim Myung-ae. I’ll take care of everything here, so get in the car.”
“No, Lieutenant Yu. He always takes care of our Jeonghwan by my side, so what did his comrade have to apologize for? I just heard that the republic is changing these days, but that young comrade and the people are changing accordingly.”
As if slightly bitter, Myeong-ae Kim murmured and gently raised Yong-hwan, who had fallen to the floor, and was murmuring.
She brushed off the dirt on Yonghwan’s clothes, which was still a little wobbly, and with a complex and subtle expression, he put some ten dollar bills in Yonghwan’s hand from a woman named Lieutenant Yu.
“Oh no, comrade. This aunt just didn’t learn anything, and it’s dark these days about the affairs of the Republic, so she’s had a disgrace instead of her comrade. Without realizing it, I didn’t realize that my starving young comrade wanted to eat at that American restaurant… This dollar is an apology, so I wanted to eat as much as I could. Hahaha, Jeonghwan also said that feeding and dressing the people well is the only way for the Party and the Republic to live…. It was nice to meet you.”
Myeong-ae Kim, who was muttering like that, left Yong-hwan, who was still holding the dollar, and walked to the car with Hye-rim Yoo.
Two women in a car, escorted by men in black dress, could hear a conversation between two women, but now Yonghwan’s ears did not hear it at all.
“…How was your meal, Comrade Kim Myung-ae?”
“…well… I’m getting older, so I don’t know what tastes good. After all, I think Joseon food is the best for my taste, Major Yu.”
“ha. The general secretary must have guessed that in advance. Hurry up. You have asked God to bring it back before it gets soggy.”
Then they got in the car and disappeared like the wind, with the strict security.
Yonghwan stared blankly behind him, stroking his still tingling cheek for a moment, then noticed that he still had a dollar in his hand.
As soon as the thought occurred to him, he turned his back and ran to McDonald’s, slammed the door open and entered.
The line was still quite long, but Yong-hwan was able to enter McDonald’s without delay because Pyongyang citizens (who had just met Kim Myung-ae and Yoo Hye-rim in Sodong) moved away from the scene to avoid sparks.
“Wow, are you ordering food here?”
“Yes, it is. Comrade, no, guest. …………Hmm, what would you like to order?”
The clerk at a McDonald’s in Pyongyang, who looked like he had met a customer similar to Yong-hwan several times, looked at Yong-hwan’s clothes stained with dirt and looked up and down.
As he looked around his head as he looked around for the first time in his life, as he pretended to be unable to keep his mouth shut due to the flashing lights and warm chromatic interior decorations, it was clear that he was a local wanderer who had visited Pyongyang for the first time.
Even in Pyongyang, where the wealthy people of the republic live, there were no such fools, but they quickly got used to the experience of visiting foreign countries and pretended to be like other capitalist people… I would have called the circle and kicked it out.
However, Yong-hwan did not notice the contemptuous gaze of such a waiter as he looked around an American restaurant he had never seen before.
“Wow, what is the most delicious and what people order the most?”
“….Big Mac…. Wearing a set. Guest.”
After many twists and turns, Yonghwan sat down in a chair holding a tray of Big Macs, French fries, and Coke.
He stuttered, unwrapping the paper wrapper around the hamburger, put the strange-looking Big Mac in front of him, looked at it for a moment as if observing it, and then took a big bite as if he had made a decision.
A blend of ketchup and mayonnaise, cheese, meat patties, and, most importantly, salt and seasonings, the flavor hit his nose and mouth relentlessly.
“……………………………………”
The ‘taste of capitalism’ was unfamiliar at first.
However, as soon as the sweet and salty taste, which has been supplemented over a long period of time to suit the taste of more than half of the people in the world (especially young people of Yonghwan’s age) gradually took over the brain, Yonghwan took two or three bites without realizing it.
Whoops, whoops….
Yonghwan, who immediately ate the burger as if he was hiding his eyes, quickly lost his appetite, but the burger was already gone.
And only then did Yong-hwan, who was able to stop eating or inhaling and have time to look around, noticed the presence of the silent gaze that was pouring on him, and soon felt a strange feeling he was experiencing for the first time in his life.
The name of that emotion was shame or inferiority.
“……Twitter, how did such a flower swallow get into such a high-end restaurant? It looks like there is no republic money, let alone the dollar…”
“Didn’t you steal some foreign guests’ shoes while cleaning them? I heard that the travel permit ticket is gone these days, so the villagers are going to Tokyo to smell Pyongyang in the countryside…”
“Brother, this should have come earlier. After a while, I didn’t notice the opportunity to spend dollars in Pyongyang and I liked it.. It’s already at this point, but from next year, all sorts of scumbags will come up to try and imitate Pyongyang citizens. Let’s go to a Japanese restaurant that the chief executive said that his comrade also visits occasionally.”
Yonghwan’s face was shriveled even as a child at the sneers that came from here and there, holding his breath.
It was the reality of Pyongyang, the capital of the republic, where capitalization and the invisible class division induced by it were taking place little by little (almost openly since taking office) before Jeong-hwan took office as general secretary.
Around Yonghwan, there were not only adults but also children of party officials, that is, teenagers of a similar age, but their outfits were neat and equipped with what could be called the latest fashion in their own way, unlike Yonghwan, who was flowing with firewood.
And unlike adults and their parents, those boys and girls didn’t seem to try to hide such ridicule.
‘…Am I really dirty? Couldn’t we just set foot here?’
Come to think of it, the previous employee seemed to have laughed at what he had done somehow.
However, what left the biggest trauma to young Yonghwan’s chest was that the other guests around him looked very formal and sophisticated (at the time) even in his own eyes.
Recognizing that, he couldn’t be so ashamed of his own behavior, which he ate as if he was obsessed with pork belly or hamburger just like a flower swallow, who had no house or moderation.
‘…In Pyongyang, money is really the king, the Party Central Committee, and the general secretary.’
And even as a young Yong-hwan, it was not difficult to guess that the entire republic would change like this Pyongyang in the future.
Shame turned into a sense of entitlement, a sense of entitlement turned into resentment, and a certain determination changed and decided the course of life for 16-year-old Ri Yong-hwan that day.
Yonghwan vowed to himself, quietly looking out the McDonald’s window at the night view of Pyongyang, which never gets dark as high-rise buildings are being built one by one, roads are being built and subway lines are expanding.
One day I will surely repay this disgrace.
He said that he would rake up more money than anyone else, whether it be republic won, yen, or dollars, and make the jaws of those bastards who are laughing at him by his side like a conch forever.
And in the process, Yonghwan vowed to do anything if he had money.
And that winter, at the first McDonald’s in Pyongyang, another capitalist monster was born, just like many North Koreans who visited the planned special zone in search of jobs and wealth.
“Wow, it tastes like this. Good work. Lieutenant Yu.”
“….You said that you asked to bring Comrade Kim Myung-ae, too. Comrade General Secretary.”
“yes? No, I have a schedule today, and I also wanted to see my mother after a long time… and… well…”
At Yoo Hye-rim’s reprimanded gaze, which seemed to be a disappointment, Jung-hwan frowned, picked up a flavor he had missed again, French fries, spread plenty of ketchup, and put it in his mouth.
While in exile in Japan, and after taking office as general secretary, I was able to taste all kinds of delicacies and delicacies with half of him, but it was impossible to imitate the taste of this seasoning.
“Wow, Comrade General Secretary. Meat buns… No, if you want a hamburger, just order it from our chef comrade…”
“Ah, no one else knows, but you don’t know about Lieutenant Yu? You should buy this and eat it for the real taste. In any case, you have done a very important job. Now that I see, the guards are quite useful. haha.”
At noon that day, the identity of the ‘task directly assigned by the supreme leader’ carried out by a group of escort agents who slapped Ri Yong-hwan was this Big Mac (large set) delivery.
At the end of the year, Jeonghwan gave the following instructions to Yoo Hye-rim, who was going out with the guards to accompany Jung-hwan’s mother, Kim Myung-ae.
– Ah, an American restaurant that came to Pyongyang this time with my mother… Take me to McDonald’s. I want to go there myself, but I can’t, so please.
– …….I see. But Comrade Kim Myung-ae enjoys eating Joseon food on a regular basis, so I wonder if it will suit her taste…
– …..And buy mine when you come back to the clerk’s office. It’s a Big Mac, with a large set! Lieutenant Yu, remember how many times you’ve been to McDonald’s in Japan?
– ………………………….
– Don’t forget to hurry so the fries don’t get soggy. what are you doing come on without going
‘When I was a college student or when I was dying in a research institute, I was just staring at the monitor, but it tasted like I ate it hard… but after eating this for the first time in a few years, it’s really excellent. Is this why it is said that the human tongue is the most cunning? Eheh, being the general secretary is a bit inconvenient. I can’t even walk into Tulletalle McDonald’s by myself… Shall we sneak a peek at McDonald’s North Korea to introduce Mac Delivery earlier?’
Without even dreaming that the instructions he had given that day had decided (one more time) the fate of a human being, Jung-hwan ate a Big Mac as fast as young Ri Yong-hwan.
And Junghwan smiled at Yoo Hyerim (who was looking at him with a disappointed expression even though he didn’t do much).
“I will ask you more often. Now, let’s go see my mother.”
“…I’m just afraid of what it will be like when Burger King comes to Pyongyang in the future. Comrade General Secretary.”
And some time later, on the last day of 1991, major North Korean media outlets such as Chosun Central Broadcasting, Pyongyang TV, and Chosun Broadcasting Corporation reported several news intensively regardless of newspaper broadcasts.
– In 1991, this year, when the Republic achieved a great leap forward into a prosperous nation, Comrade General Secretary Kim Myung-ae, the new honorary director of the Pyongyang Industrial Accident Hospital, visited Comrade Kim and treated the patients. Comrade Kim Myung-ae, who was newly established by the Party, will concurrently hold the positions of the newly established Republic of Korea Disability Soldiers, Honorary Chairman of the Comfort Committee for the Disabled, Honorary President of the Korean Revolutionary New Women’s Rights General Federation, and the Chairman of the Children’s Protection Commission of Korea.
– Comrade Kim Myung-ae, in response to Comrade General Comrade Comrade who personally visited and congratulated his inauguration ceremony, ‘without supreme dignity and acquaintance’, said, ‘As the republic develops, the former republic forgets that there are people who are marginalized in life that is becoming more and more difficult. It should not be,’ he specifically expressed his opinion. On this day, Comrade Jang Seong-taek, head of the Organization and Guidance Department, and Comrade Hong Gye-seong, deputy commander-in-chief of the People’s Army, attended the event, attracting attention as it was very unusual for the importance and scale of the party’s event.
It is true that Kim Myung-ae, who had almost no political experience except for a brief job as an interpreter when she was young, suddenly took on numerous watch posts (mostly honorary positions), and that there was a lot of speculation under the water about the relationship between her and General Secretary Jeong-hwan. It was.
However, the Public Affairs Office of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea officially dismissed the controversy as ‘just a rumor’, and Kim Young-il, head of the Anti-Corruption Investigation Bureau, said, ‘There is no mercy at all for spreading rumors about supreme dignity and trying to lower social discipline’. Revealing the truth, such rumors disappeared as quickly as they appeared.
Thus, 1991, the first year of the most dynamic decade in the history of the republic, ended with snow falling in Pyongyang, a city of development and decline, rise and fall, desire for wealth and dreams .