But that was their problem.
I had my own lurking around the corner…
It was a pleasantly cloudy morning in early September. As I arrived in the cornfield, I noticed something was off. Chul had gathered our work unit before him. Mr. Ma was nowhere to be seen. I joined them with hesitant steps but stood as far away from Chul as I could without it looking suspicious. I had been fortunate enough not to see him around much lately, but my hatred burned just as strongly as ever. In my agonizing wait for Hana to put the wheels in motion, I entertained my fantasies of increasingly elaborate and gruesome ways to murder him. It was also a method that worked for me to block out the horrid imaged from the barn… although it only worked when I was awake.
Chul cleared his throat and gave me a guilty look before addressing the group.
“Good morning! Er… I’m here to let you know that your unit leader, prisoner Ma Suk Won, has been… er… transferred to another work detail.”
There was a gasp among Mr. Ma’s old friends followed by loud protests.
“What’s the meaning of this?”
“What kind of idiot has decided something that stupid?”
“Mr. Ma is the best leader our work unit has ever had… this is an outrage!”
I was astounded by how little respect they showed for Chul, and how blatantly and without even a hint of fear they were breaking Sacred Rule No. Four - Re-education officers must be obeyed and revered!
I guess the rules don’t apply to everyone…
“Settle down!” Chul commanded as harshly as he could with his high-pitched feminine voice, raising his hand like General Roh usually does in the Bloodyard. The group did indeed settle down, but I was fairly convinced it was more because of the curiosity of what Chul would say next than anything else.
“This has already been decided by the Work Planning Administration Office… I don’t have any more details about it, and also… it’s none of your business what they decide.”
There were some more muttering and disgruntled looks, but they halted their protests momentarily. They knew Chul was right, and even if they weren’t afraid of him specifically… if he decided to escalate to his superiors, they would all get into trouble.
I looked around me and suddenly noticed something change in the face of Dong Suk - Mr. Ma’s right-hand man… the one who beat my face to a pulp the day we failed to fill our quota.
“So… Private Gang… who will take Mr. Ma’s place as work unit leader?” he asked in a respectful tone, his eyes full of hope.
“Yes… I was coming to that,” Chul cleared his throat uncomfortably. “The new work unit leader, starting today, will be Kim Areum.”
At first, everybody looked completely confused - I think nobody had actually heard my name before - and the only one looking at me, with her mouth wide open, was Nari. Of course, nobody was more confused than me. I just stood there stiff as a board, staring at Chul, and waiting for him to say that he misspoke or that it was a bad joke.
That didn’t happen.
Chul saw everybody’s confusion, so he cleared his throat again, repeated my name, and pointed to where I stood behind them.
Now everybody woke up.
“WHAT?” the whole work unit erupted in a choir.
“What kind of ridiculous joke is this?” Dong Suk sneered, bolts of lightning shooting from his eyes.
“Areum…?” Nari spoke her first words to me in days.
Other people just laughed, thinking it was a joke.
“She’s a baby. She’s a baby girl… what—” a man I had never noticed before said with tears streaming from his eyes from laughing so hard.
“This is not up for discussion,” Chul said nervously, but again raised his hand to silence them. He had to stand like that for more than a minute before they had settled down and he could continue. “I understand this is somewhat unorthodox, but I’m saying this for the last time, so you’d better listen. Kim Areum is the new work unit leader and you will answer to her.” He scanned the stunned faces before him with sweat pearling on his forehead. “That is all… you’re dismissed! Now get to work!” Nobody moved until Chul forced a path through them and walked over to me. I stood petrified like a statue, staring at Chul without blinking. Despite Chul’s order, nobody went to work. They just stood there with their mouths open, looking at each other for some kind of explanation that wouldn’t come. Chul saw it, but he didn’t want to start up another discussion.
“Let’s go over here,” Chul told me instead, breaking my paralysis, and led me away toward the edge of the cornfield.
I briefly caught Nari’s eyes. She was as pale as a ghost and looked more terrified than I had seen her in a long time. She was shaking her head. I averted my eyes and continued following Chul. As soon as we were out of earshot, he opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off before he could produce his first syllable.
“Are you completely out of your mind?” I screamed in a whisper, letting my eyes do the heavy lifting to convey my outrage and desperation. “What the hell were you thinking? They will kill me… first chance they’ll get, they’ll kill me… and probably Nari, too…”
“I-it wasn’t my decision,” Chul mumbled like a scolded little boy. “It comes from higher up… really, I don’t know more than—”
“But… from whom? Who could have done something this… insane?”
“I… I don’t know,” Chul stuttered. “Maybe it was General Roh… but I honestly don’t know… but… but whoever it was, the decision has been made, so… you just have to accept it, Areum… okay?”
“Accept it?” I scoffed. “And how about them? There’s no chance in hell they’re going to accept having me as their unit leader. You are giving me a death sentence, Chul… do you understand that? A death sentence!”
I heard the irony as soon as the words had left my lips, but in my agitated state, I couldn’t care less.
“Areum… calm down,” Chul said, forcing his voice to be firm. “It’s decided and you have to accept it… and they have to accept it as well. But you’re right… you will have a tough time earning their respect.”
“Tough time…? It’s downright impossible! It was only a few weeks ago they tried to kill us for not filling the quotas… they have hated us from day one!”
“That may be, but it is possible,” Chul insisted. “From the second I leave the field, you need to act like you have been a leader for years… you need to be fearless… don’t show any weakness… demand that they do their work and fill their quotas. Don’t take any crap from any of them… don’t let them disrespect you.”
“But… but… what does it mean to be the leader? I have never been a leader… what do even I do?”
My initial reaction of shock faded quickly and gave my fear free rein to consume my existence.
“Well, that part is very simple… it’s your responsibility that the whole work unit delivers its quota every day.” He handed me a piece of paper with some names and numbers written on it. “If the unit doesn’t fill the quota, all of you will be punished… as you know. That means if any individual on your team is not performing, you need to handle that by any means necessary,” he gave me a meaningful look.
“Great… I have found the first one… Nari! She’s completely useless, and I’m doing most of her work,” I rambled in a frenzy. “So what now? Should I go and beat the crap out of her right away?”
“No… of course not,” Chul’s face turned scarlet from one second to the other. “No… I… I don’t know… you have to find a way to help her… without making the others… er… kill you…”
I gazed into Chul’s flickering eyes, searching for any form of substance. I found none.
“Okay… listen, Areum,” Chul tried to compose himself. “I think I know how you can help Nari… I mean, you’re the leader now… that means you can make changes in your team… and you could agree with a leader of another work unit to exchange a member, yeah? Nari is, from what I gather, book smart…
so maybe working on inventory or something would be good for her.”
Hearing Chul talk about my sister made my blood boil, but I suddenly saw an opportunity I couldn’t allow to pass me by.
“Could I put her back in the watermill?” I asked.
“Er… sure… why not,” Chul nodded, slightly taken aback. “But I thought… she might be better suited somewhere where she could use her head…”
“She did well in the watermill,” I insisted. “And she knows the job… she doesn’t need the stress of learning something new. I think it would be good for her… especially now that she won’t be locked up with Ki Ha the whole day.”
“Okay,” Chul conceded. “Then go and talk to Pan Do Hun… he’s in charge now. I can join too if you want. But the first thing you need to do is to establish your authority before your work unit. Give today’s quota… be relentless… and show no weakness.”
“Okay,” I said, feeling like I was capable of none of those things.
“Good… you’ll do great,” Chul lied. “I’ll be keeping an eye on you, just in case.”
He gave me a feeble smile, then turned around and walked away, avoiding the incredulous stares from all directions.
In my state of absolute fear, for just an instant, I felt the overwhelming urge to call out to Chul and ask him to stay with me… to keep me safe. But then the images from that night in the mountains flashed before me… of him ripping my shirt open… breathing on me with his pungent drunk breath… Chang Min indifferently observing from the side behind the smoldering red dot of his cigarette… then seeing Nari falling through the door, her face and body bruised… blood between her legs…
Don’t get distracted, Areum! He doesn’t have your back… and he’s not the innocent little boy your eyes want to see. He has to pay! I will make him pay!
I took a deep breath to compose myself, straightened my back until the point it almost hurt, and went back to my still baffled work unit, which immediately went silent as I approached. I gave them today’s quota that I had gotten from Chul with every ounce of authority I could muster… which wasn’t much. I knew one thing for sure - if looks could kill, I would already be dead. But all of them went to work without saying a single word in protest.
Not sure what to do myself, I went over to Nari and started helping her with her quota, same as any other day.
“Areum… what’s going on?”
The hostility in her voice had vanished without a trace and left was nothing but grave concern.
“I don’t know, Nari,” I said truthfully. “Somebody’s up to something… but I have no idea who or why.”
My mind went to General Roh and our recent meeting where he had commended my work, but I couldn’t imagine why he would do something like this.
To what end?
“Will you… be okay?” Nari asked hesitantly. “I mean… it’s no secret what they think of us… and they were discussing very heatedly until you came back from talking with Chul… they looked very… aggressive.”
“I… honestly don’t know,” I sighed. A throbbing headache consumed my attention, but at least it felt good having Nari talking to me again.
“If there’s anything I can do…” Nari started, but we both knew there was nothing she could do to help me.
“Thanks,” I attempted a smile.
During the morning, I took several breaks to go around and check the progress of the work unit, as Chul had instructed me, and every time it felt like I interrupted an intense discussion that came to an immediate halt as soon as they saw me. I asked them how it was going, and they just answered, “fine,” then glared at me until I left.
Around midday, just before the lunch break, I saw Do Hun coming out from the watermill. I went to talk to him about letting Nari coming back to her previous job. At first, he looked at me like I had lost my mind, but after I had explained the change that had happened this morning, he blankly refused, saying that both my sister and I better stay away from him… or else. Even though I was anything but surprised, I was disappointed that every single thing had to be a struggle. There was, however, a part of me that was relieved I had an excuse to postpone killing Chul. A very small part of me… but a part of me nonetheless.
Returning to the cornfield, I didn’t tell Nari about my plans to have her reassigned. Now that we were on speaking terms again, there was no reason to rock the boat with new information. At midday, we had lunch together. Even though I was still in a state of shock, it was nice sitting next to her without having the weird tension between us. After lunch, I went around inspecting quota fulfillment among my work unit, just like Chul had instructed me to.
If I had been in shock in the morning, now I was in a complete panic.
We were thirty percent behind!
CHAPTER 40
I gathered all the workers around me for an emergency meeting. Standing against the wind, I was overwhelmed by the stench of permeated sweat, which made my nose twitch in disgust. Seeing their smirks and sneers, standing there with their arms crossed in contempt, I knew Chul had been full of crap.
“What’s going on? Why are we so far behind?” I asked, feeling how my high-pitched voice, red face, and panicking eyes undermined every shred of authority I might have had.
My question was met with silence. The only thing close to a reply was Dong Suk spitting on the ground in front of him while glaring me straight in the eyes. The rest just stood there with their arms crossed, giving me disdaining looks.
“Come on,” I pleaded. “If we don’t fill the quota, we will all be punished.”
Dong Suk took a step forward, still with his arms crossed and a relentless sneer on his face.
“Well, Miss Boss Lady… maybe it’s your fault,” he said.
I saw all the others nodding in agreement behind him.
“My fault? How could it be my fault? You do this work every day—”
“Well,” Dong Suk continued, “it just so happens that Mr. Ma was a very good leader and a hard worker… he kept us motivated and helped us fill the quotas every day… maybe you just didn’t notice… I mean, being away doing the work for your half-dead sister every day.”
I opened my mouth but closed it again since nothing came out. An intense pain in my right eye made me blink, and I realize my face was covered in sweat.
Dong Suk smirked at me.
“Maybe it just so happens that having a teeny tiny baby girl who is barely out of her diapers as a unit leader is just not… let’s say… motivating enough for us.”
The men behind him laughed and nodded vigorously. I felt my face flush and had to wipe the sweat off my forehead with my sleeve so it wouldn’t sting my eyes and make me blink again. I heard Chul’s voice in my head.
‘Show no sign of weakness!’
And here I stood showing nothing but weakness! I looked over at Nari, who stood paralyzed, staring at me in sheer panic a few yards to my side. That made my panic grow even more. I started to desperately search for Chul or any other guard around me… anyone who could intervene… anyone who could save me. But there was none, and I knew by doing so I had displayed even more weakness.
Wait a minute… Jun Ha’s a member of the Dragons… he can help me!
But looking around frantically, I first now realized Jun Ha had not been here today. My heart once more sank to my stomach. Using every ounce of energy I had left to keep my trembling at bay, I turned back to the evermore sneering Dong Suk and gathered enough courage to speak again.
“Listen… you can think whatever you want of me… I know you don’t like me… but that doesn’t change anything… the fact remains that we’ll all be punished collectively if you don’t fill your quota.” I was horrified by the desperation I heard in my voice.
Dong Suk took another menacing step forward.
“Yeah…” he said, “I rather see it like this… if one of us doesn’t perform, then he’s the problem… but if all of us don’t perform… well, then I believe the officers will fin
ally come to their senses and realize it’s… surprise, surprise… the baby girl leading us who is the problem. Wouldn’t you say, guys?”
“Yeah,” they all nodded in agreement, glaring at me with resentment and hatred. I felt my face flushing with hot blood, and not only was my sweating out of control… I could no longer stop myself from trembling.
“You’re taking a big risk,” I fought to have enough self-control not to back away from him. “Sacred Rule number seven - All prisoners must fulfill their work quota every day. Failure to fulfill your work quota will lead to execution. A-are you really willing to die to make a point?”
Dong Suk took another firm step toward me.
“Well, as I said, Miss Boss Lady… I don’t think it will be us up there, tied to the poles… I think it will be you,” he spat again on the ground in front of me. “I don’t know whose moronic idea it was to put a tiny girl to lead a work unit of large, strong men… but I’m pretty sure they will see their mistake soon enough.”
I felt my body would break down at any second. This situation had to end.
“I guess we’ll see,” I said. “But in the meantime, you all need to get back to work… or I’ll call the guards to show them how you’re just standing around and doing nothing.”
Dong Suk stepped back toward the other guys, smirking, and holding his hands up in surrender.
“Okay, guys… you heard the Boss Lady… if we don’t go back to work she’ll run off crying to the guards, so let’s get back to work. Let’s work real hard.”
All of them laughed as they went back into the field.
My eyes met with Nari’s. Fear was written on her face, and nothing else.
“I’ll work as hard as I can, Areum… I promise,” she said.
“I know you will.”
But we both knew it wouldn’t make the least bit of difference.
The sun started to set and the temperatures dropped to more humane levels. But even if it looked like the unit was working, we were still thirty percent behind target. With a heavy lump in my stomach, I had no choice but to go and report my failure to Chul.
The Weeping Masses: A Young Adult Dystopian Survival Saga (Juche - Part 3) Page 35