I looked over at Nari, who was waiting for me in the shade of some trees further down the road, indicating that the final counting of the quota had finished. The image of her collapsing through the door with her beaten face and her ripped clothes… and the blood. All the resentment and anger flooded back into my body.
I shook my head.
“You ask me to trust you… you say, let’s not be stupid… but after what you did, trusting you is what would be stupid! I won’t do it,” I glared back at her intense stare. “If you somehow can arrange the transfer first… then we can talk, but until then… just leave us the hell alone!”
Without waiting for an answer, I marched off back to Nari.
“You’re making a big mistake,” Hana shouted after me. “You need me… I will prove it to you!”
“Come on, let’s go,” I pulled Nari’s sleeve, and we walked home without looking back.
CHAPTER 24
Mina and Mrs. Choy came over to check on Nari and eat with us again that night. Mrs. Choy brought a pungent-smelling tea made from some new herbs she had found in the mountains the night before. Nari sipped it slowly with a wrinkled nose. As always when they came over, we refrained from making rice and only prepared the usual tasteless cabbage and corn sludge soup from our daily ration. In the end, the discomfort of eating without sharing surpassed the alleviation of our hunger pains the rice would have brought us. Nevertheless, the rice was on everybody’s minds, and the atmosphere was tense. Mrs. Choy had visibly lost weight, and her desperate starved eyes were constantly drawn to the pile of our belongings on top of the loose floorboards that hid our treasure. We had, of course, not told her it was there, but there was no other place it could be in our small room.
“How long do you think they will keep up the extra quotas?” Mina asked no one in particular.
“I wish I knew,” dad said. “But I fear they are here to stay. Once they get used to the higher output, I don’t think they will go back to the way it was before.”
“I’m also afraid it’s like that,“ Mrs. Choy nodded gloomily. “And honestly… I don’t know how we will make it. Soon, Mina will finish school… her birthday is in October, and… we can barely manage with the food we have as it is.”
Nobody said anything… simply because there was nothing to be said. There was no solution.
After the Choys had left, Nari turned to mom.
“Do you think we could share some more of our food with them again? I mean… just a little, of course… it’s just that… they are being very good to me… examining me, bringing me herbal teas to drink… I don’t know if I would have made it without them.”
Mom looked at her seriously.
“Nari… you are truly a generous and wonderful person… but where we are now… in this camp… we have to be selfish. I know you think of Mina like a sister, but in here, it’s every family for themselves… and it’s Mrs. Choy’s responsibility to make sure her daughter is fed.” She sighed deeply. “And the sad truth is… we will probably be here for a long, long time… our rice will run out long before we get out. So to maximize our chances of survival… we have to be selfish. I hope you understand.”
“Yes, Mom,” Nari said, but I could see in her eyes that she didn’t agree.
Two days later, we woke up sweating. Even at this early hour, our little room was hotter than a steam room. Both mom and dad had already left for work. I opened the door to ventilate while Nari served breakfast but had to close it right away as an even more intense heatwave hit me full force from outside.
Are we really going to work in this blazing inferno?
As we ate last night’s cold leftover soup, I watched Nari with a growing worry.
Today will be daunting… there is no way she will manage…
Leaving the house, I prayed to some higher power for cloudy skies and a few drops of rain, and somebody must have listened - maybe it was the spirit of our departed Father - the Great General - because halfway down our street, the sky opened up and we were drenched from head to toe within seconds. I smiled at Nari with relief. Our luck, however, only lasted a couple of minutes, and by the time we reached the cornfield and started working, all the clouds had again disappeared from the sky. The relentless sun burned the now wet ground and made the air so steaming and hot it was almost impossible to breathe. I could see on Nari’s face her vision was already blurry, as it always was when she had exhausted all of her energy.
And the workday hasn’t even started yet…
Officer Roh must have realized this would affect the output because we got two whole water rations before lunch. With the heat and humidity increasing by the hour, however, this was far from enough to save us. After lunch, Nari was barely able to stand. The heat and thirst made me dizzy from exhaustion as well, so I couldn’t double my work pace to compensate as I usually did.
“I’m sorry,” Nari mumbled from time to time, but instead of motivating me to continue helping her, it just made me angry. With the daunting exhaustion consuming my body, I didn’t have any patience to spare.
By the time the sun finally started to turn red and set behind the mountains, it was clear we wouldn’t be able to fill our quotas. I was hoping in my heart we would not be the only ones and that some leniency would be shown due to the heat. I should have known better. Mr. Ma, our work unit leader, virtually blew up when he found out and immediately gathered Dong Suk, Sang Jun, and some other of his closest men and barged over to Nari and me.
“You worthless little rats,” he bellowed at us. “I knew from the first day the two of you would get us into trouble. And now, thanks to your laziness, we will all get punished. Are you happy, huh?”
“It’s not our fault,” I said. “It was impossible to work fast enough in this heat.”
I was tired and annoyed and just wanted to go over to the river and stick my head into the fresh cool water.
“All the rest of us managed, so it is your fault,” he screamed. “And if the rest of us end up getting punished for this, you will pay… both of you!”
He was now so close that the stench of his sweat stung my nose.
“Hey,” I started to lose my temper. “My sister should have never been assigned here… it was ridiculous in the first place… it was the Work Assignment Officer who messed up, so you can’t blame us for that.”
“Sure… yeah…” Mr. Ma laughed. “It’s the Work Assignment Officer’s fault… of course, we understand… so why don’t we just mosey over to his office, and you can explain all about how he has made a mistake? I’m sure he will correct it right away. Maybe you’ll even get a reward. Maybe you’ll get triple rations until the end of the year.”
All of them laughed, but their glares remained murderous.
I sighed from the dizziness and the feeling I was losing control over the situation.
“Mr. Ma… I’m sorry we haven’t filled our quota yet, okay… we’ll continue working until it’s done… and I promise you, it won’t happen again. Just let it pass this time… please!”
More people from our work unit had gathered up behind Mr. Ma and his small posse. They looked just as furious as he did.
“You know what,” Mr. Ma said. “It won’t happen again… because we’re going to put you and your already half-dead sister in the hospital so you can’t ruin any more quotas for us. And then… maybe we’ll get some people here who can actually work.”
He took a menacing step toward us.
“Back off!” I commanded, hearing the desperation in my voice.
My tiredness and dizziness were starting to wear off and were replaced by panic. Dong Suk, Sang Jun, and two other large men started flanking us from the sides. The rest of the men stood ready behind them. I grabbed Nari’s hand and started walking backward. After a day like this, my chances of winning an actual fight were close to zero.
My instincts told me to run away, but I knew very well it wasn’t possible. Nari could hardly walk, let alone run. And we would only be postponin
g the inevitable… running away from our work detail with unfinished quotas would not end well.
Mr. Ma and the others drew closer, their faces distorted by sweat and fury. Their heavy breathing mixed with the cracking of cornstalks breaking under their feet.
“This is the way it has to be, little girl,” he looked at me like a predator eying his prey. “You’ll just have a little accident… fall and break your arm. And your sister… maybe it’ll be her leg. We can say that’s the reason we didn’t fill our quota… and all of us are really broken up about it. Losing two workers… hell, we might even avoid punishment altogether,” he sneered, looking back at his men who nodded in agreement.
Nari had snapped out of her semi-coma and realized the danger we were in.
“Areum… what will we do?” she whispered, grabbing my arm tightly.
“Back off!” I again shrieked at our aggressors, but all of them continued coming toward us.
“We should have done this the very first week,” Mr. Ma spat. He was now only a few steps away.
Seeing there was no escape, I finally let my survival instincts take over. And since flight was not an option…
I pushed Nari back, and harnessing my strength from the adrenaline pumping through my body, I jumped up and kicked Mr. Ma right on the nose. He grabbed his bleeding face and screamed in pain. The rest of the work unit stopped dead in their tracks, but Dong Suk and the others in Mr. Ma’s posse continued advancing on me. I glared at them, panting and sweating. Nari was right behind me. Her breathing was shallow and fast. The adrenaline kept pumping in my veins, so I charged at Dong Suk with all my strength and got a clean punch on his cheek. But a split second later, I felt like a sledgehammer had struck my jaw. My body was thrust backward, and in an explosion of pain, I landed on a pile of rock-hard cornstalks that expelled all the air from my lungs. In my delirious state, I heard Nari screaming behind me. I tried to turn to her, but a merciless kick in the side made me squeal in pain as my body curled. Another man - my vision was too blurry to see who - pushed me onto my back and sat on my chest, locked my arms to the sides with his legs, and started throwing punches at my face. The blows came in rapid succession one after another. I felt my lip crack and the taste of blood in my mouth. Then my eyebrow. I heard punches and screams from behind me as well. Nari was also on the ground.
“STOP IT!” I screamed as I tried to wiggle free from the man’s leg lock, but it was no use.
His fists kept rhythmically pound my face to the cheering of the men around us as I whimpered in absolute powerlessness. My lip cracked in more places and I felt pain in my teeth. I felt my nose break again in the same place as before. Then my other eyebrow cracked and blood flooded my eye, coloring the whole world dark red.
“What’s going on here?” I suddenly heard a soft but agitated voice from behind me.
The punches to my face stopped and in the corner of my swollen eye, I saw a blood-red version of Chul approaching.
No… not him… it can’t be him who saves us…
“These girls here attacked us,” I heard Mr. Ma say in a nasal voice from right next to me. “Look at my nose… she fucking broke it!”
“These girls attacked you?” Chul asked in an incredulous tone. “Are you referring to these girls here, whom you have beaten to bloody pulps on the ground… are those the ones who attacked you?”
“YES,” Mr. Ma screamed. “They didn’t fill the quota today… I approached them about it, and they attacked me out of the blue! That one… she’s stronger than she looks… she kicked me right in the nose… look, it’s broken! My guys here… they were just helping me fight them off, that’s all.”
“Get off them,” Chul ordered.
The man sitting on top of me - first now, I saw it was Dong Suk, the one I had informed on other week - looked over at Mr. Ma, who reluctantly nodded at him. After a moment’s hesitation, Dong Suk finally got off me and walked over to our other assailants. I painfully filled my lungs with air, which was interrupted by a cough attack from swallowing some of the blood I had in my mouth. I tried to sit up, but the pain in my side was too strong. I turned my head to see if Nari was okay, but with my left eye swollen and filling up with blood and the other one overflowing with tears, I could only see a blurry red shape lying a few yards away on the ground.
She’s not moving… did they—?
“Is that what happened?” Chul turned to me.
I tried to get up again to crawl over to Nari but failed once more. It felt like at least one rib was broken and my whole face was throbbing.
“No,” I spat blood on the ground but was interrupted by yet another cough attack.
“They attacked Areum first,” Nari said from behind me, her voice trembling.
Thank the Great General… she’s alive!
“BULLSHIT!” Mr. Ma screamed. “That girl struck first… all these men saw it! You should arrest her.”
“What’s going on here?”
A new voice appeared from behind Chul. I still couldn’t see clearly, but I recognized his voice as Sergeant Park - Chul’s commanding officer.
“There has been a fight between prisoners,” Chul explained. “These four men against these two girls. Prisoner Ma claims it was these two girls who started it… the girls claim it was prisoner Ma who struck first.”
“It was,” Mr. Ma grunted.
“Any other witnesses?” Sergeant Park asked.
“Well… the whole work unit apparently stood by and watched,” Chul pointed at them with incredulity in his voice.
“It was these two who didn’t fill their quota today… Sir,” Mr. Ma said, this time in a respectful tone. “That girl attacked me because I confronted her about it. She kicked me in the nose.”
“Is that true, Private Gang?” Sergeant Park asked Chul.
“Yes, Sir… that part has been confirmed,” Chul fidgeted nervously. “But we don’t know for sure who started it.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Sergeant Park concluded indifferently. “These men have committed the offense of fighting… they’ll get cut rations for one week.” Mr. Ma and the others growled but didn’t protest. Unlike Chul, it seemed Sergeant Park was a guard they feared. “And these two girls have committed two offenses… fighting, and not filling their quotas, so they will have cut rations for two weeks. It’s as simple as that. I leave it to you to execute their punishments, Private Gang,” Sergeant Park turned around and left.
“This is bullshit,” Mr. Ma grunted under his breath.
“You heard the sergeant,” Chul stared him down. “I’ll inform Food Distribution of your penalties.”
I wiped the blood and tears out of my eyes to see more clearly. Mr. Ma shook his head at Chul, then turned to me with a long murderous glare.
“Come on, boys… let’s go,” he spat on the ground in my direction as the entire work unit unfroze and followed him off the cornfield.
Chul gave me a hand and helped me up, and I was already on my feet when I realized what I had done. Chul extended his hand to do the same for Nari, but I stepped in and pushed his hand away.
“I’ll help her up,” I glared at him as I gave my hand to Nari.
Nari also had a cracked lip, was blue around her left eye, and had scrape marks on her right cheek. She had blood-smears all over her face, and her glasses were gone.
“Areum…” she whimpered when she saw my face, which I assumed was in even worse condition than hers.
“You should go see the doctor,” Chul said.
“Thank you, but I don’t think that old drunk can help us,” I sneered. “We know a real doctor… she will patch us up.”
I looked around and found Nari’s glasses under a corn leaf. They were miraculously still in one piece, but I squealed from the pain in my broken rib when I bent down to pick them up.
“Thank you, Areum,” Nari whimpered.
“I’ll walk you home,” Chul offered, his eyes afraid to look at our faces.
“No,” I said firmly. “We�
��ll be fine, just… leave us alone.”
Chul looked at us with a sad and guilty expression but then nodded and left without saying anything else.
I took Nari’s hand - it was warm and sweaty - and we started walking home slowly… very slowly.
“Are you okay, Nari? Do you have anything broken?”
“I don’t think so,” she said.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you… Dong Suk pinned me to the ground… I couldn’t move.”
“Sang Jun did the same to me,” Nari’s voice broke. “He just… kept hitting my face… I…”
“I know… it’s over now,” I comforted her.
We limped past the School of Juche. Fortunately, the school day had finished long ago and no one was there to witness our walk of shame.
“What will happen tomorrow?” Nari asked me in a feeble voice.
“We’ll manage,” I said. “I don’t know what will happen, and I don’t know how… but somehow we’ll manage… we always do.”
“Mom and dad will be so mad for the cut rations,” Nari sobbed.
I nodded.
“Yes, they will…”
CHAPTER 25
As soon as we returned home after having picked up our significantly reduced daily rations, we both collapsed on our quilt beds. I lay there, looking up at the ceiling, feeling the pulsating pain in my swollen and still bleeding face, my stomach, as well as my right side where I felt at least one rib being broken. My finger was also bleeding again. I must have hit it against something during the struggle. Nari lay next to me. We listened to each other’s strained breathing and struggling heartbeats. I grabbed the Great General pin from under my rag pillow, but same as every night the past few weeks, it didn’t give me much comfort. The hollowness and feeling of abandonment, however, added to my overall state of pain and agony, and the relentless metallic taste of blood in my mouth made me nauseous.
After staying like that for a long while, Nari groaned as she sat up.
“I’d better get started with dinner,” she said.
The Weeping Masses: A Young Adult Dystopian Survival Saga (Juche - Part 3) Page 20