Chasing Liberty // Countryhumans North Korea fanfiction

From Us To You, With Trepidation

   “Looks like I’ve got an electrician’s course in North Hamgyong’s province.”

    “Oo, me, too!”

    Hae excitedly waved her paper over the mess hall table, and South Pyongan snatched it from her, scanning it over.

    “Same timing, too. Nice.”

    “Ura! Pyo an’ me get to electrocute stuff together!”

     North Hamgyong grimaced as the two women cheered, undoubtedly not looking forwards to having to give them on-the-job training, since Korea had expedited him into full-time electrician’s work soon after Liberation.

    SH smiled as she looked over her own schedule that Korea had made for her. He had been planning them out for awhile, but had only handed them over towards the end of their ride to the outpost in Kangwon’s province.

    They had all gleaned what information they could from night-classes both during and after the Liberation, but now that the government was running smoothly, Korea had decreed that it was time for serious dedication to their education. They of course had their main jobs in the fields they were already skilled at, but he wanted them to be proficient in every stream they possibly could be in order to run their provinces efficiently. One couldn’t expect to offer on-the-spot guidance to factories and farms if they had no clue on what to do themselves.

     SH’s itinerary was mostly as expected- her main focus was art- in which she would be teaching others- and light industry management. She was beyond pleased to see that several months had been devoted to textiles and sewing courses. Finally, time set aside to learn properly.

    Her side-courses were the basics that they all had to learn- office management, technical and mechanical skills, a refresher on basic medical training, and much more. She had a block set aside for electrician’s classes, too, though in her own province. At least she wouldn’t have North Hamgyong grumbling as he was forced to teach her. He’d be glad for that, too.

    There was also something she was less pleased about, though not entirely surprised to see.

    “Let me see SH’s.” South Pyongan leaned across the mess hall table to grab her paper. After a second, she wiped her forehead in exaggerated relief. “Phew! No cooking classes. The well-being of the Republic is assured!"

    SH slumped next to her rice as Kangwon patted her shoulder.

     “It’s alright comrade,” he soothed. “None of us got them.”

     SH hurriedly snatched his course sheet, scanning it suspiciously. North Pyongan surrendered his as well. She felt slightly mollified to confirm that it wasn’t an ‘SH-only’ bar on cooking lessons.

    “He must be depending on us getting South Gyeongsang back,” Hwang joked.

    “We all are,” North Hamgyong grumbled, leaning back as SH tried to swat him.

    She sat back on the bench, frowning at her itinerary again. Of course Korea was depending on getting their southern cousins back, but that just made her other main course even stranger. After her technical courses, she was to enroll in a communications program. Not just on-the-job training, but actual enrollment at Kim Il-sung University.

    South Gyeongsang had also been the one with an interest in news and reporting. Surely that was to be her focus when they were Reunified. And Hwang was the one monitoring telecommunications right now.

    She leaned over to surreptitiously eye his paper again. He had already completed his teacher’s school, so all his ‘education’ blocks must be for teaching classes. The other main courses were information work and communications, which made sense because they tied together and telecommunications was his field.