“We will take care of things from here, Comrade Korea,” one of the Yongdong guerrillas said respectfully.
Korea nodded. “Good. You’ve done well, comrades. Hold the town, and we’ll see you at Reunification. Move out,” he ordered their little unit. “We need to catch up with the division.”
North Pyongan followed his country as they once more took up the march, the soldiers around him falling into line on the dusty country road. They hummed as they went, bolstered by their day of rest, and the news they had picked up in Yongdong.
When the Americans had fallen back from Taejon, they had sought to regroup in the little village. But the people’s guerrillas had already Liberated it, and had hassled them out of there, too, sending them along on their retreat south. Now those that hadn’t joined with the army would administer their town in the wake of the KPA.
The provinces' unit had followed the 3rd Division out of Taejon to allow Korea to make contact with the guerillas here to bolster their ranks. Now they would turn further south to meet back up with Ri Kwon-mu’s 4th Division.
A gaggle of a scrawny children ran alongside the infantry, wide-eyed at the procession’s dusty black boots and shiny firearms. One soldier stopped in his progress to rummage around in his rucksack, pulling out a jumeokbap- one of the heavily-salted rice balls that served as their rations. He split it in two, squatting to hold the pieces out to the children, two of which eagerly darted forwards to take them.
The man pursed his lips, considering the other three kids, then reached into his bag again.
“I’ve got it,” North Pyongan reassured him, slipping out of the column with a piece of sweet potato bread already in hand, having been given to him by a woman in the village.
The soldier grinned up at him, wrinkles crinkling his eyes. “’Fish and water,’ eh?”
“Something like that.” The province smiled as he separated the bread into three pieces, handing them over to the other children, two boys and a girl with pigtails that stuck straight out of her head.
“Thank you, misters!” The girl did a full ninety-degree bow, her hair pointing up like little horns.
“Don’ go runnin’ off yet.” A soft but heavily rural-accented voice made them all look as a woman came gliding down from the front of the column, like a fish swimming against the current.
“A meal isn’ a meal without a fruit,” she said, pulling apple after apple from her bag.
The children took them with eager hands and shiny eyes, tucking the equally shiny fruits to their chests.
“Thank you!” the girl chimed again, and they all bowed low, like ducks bobbing in water, before springing up and hustling away on stubby legs.
“Long live Korea!” the soldier called after them, grinning.
“Long live Korea!” the kids chorused back, giggling as they ran back towards Yongdong.
North Pyongan nodded to the soldier as they all fell back into line, the two provinces at the end of it now. To the woman, he said, “Exactly how many apples did you bring, SJ?”
SJ smiled demurely, making the blue ‘freckles’ on her cheeks move. “My revolution’ries wouldn’ let me leave withou' an entire orchard.”
South Jeolla and her sister- North Jeolla, obviously- had caught up to them just as they’d reached Yongdong, the two women bringing the grateful news that Jeonju had been Liberated by the 6th Division, and that Gwangju would soon be as well. Until then, though, NJ was the only one of the two allowed a gun, despite the fact that the people of the two provinces had been the most ardently involved in the guerilla movement in the south.
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Chasing Liberty // Countryhumans North Korea fanfiction
Fiksi PenggemarThe Koreas were victims of Japanese Imperialism for thirty-six years, deprived of freedom in their own country. With the defeat of the Japanese Empire after the second World War, you would think that their problems would be solved. But things rarel...
