At Long Last

Decisions

Hwacheon, Gangwon Province
South Korea

After finally being cleared by the NIS following a three-week investigation process, he boarded a bus with some other North Korean male defectors bound for Hwacheon.

Quietly, Jeong Hyeok leaned his head against the glass by his window seat on the bus.

The only thing that was similar to North Korea was the early July heat.

Surrounded by the unfamiliar scenery zooming past from the outside, listening to a familiar language pronounced in a different accent, his mind was brought back to his time at the NIS.

Some interviews had been respectful, some were downright humiliating and rude, treating him as if he was a spy.

Things did get better after he met Chief Kim, the latter must have helped somehow, though Jeong Hyeok would likely have no way of ever knowing.

At the NIS, they had asked him twice, if he was keen to work with them.

Of course, Jeong Hyeok would be lying if he said he didn't know his potential value to the NIS. He was a trained military captain after all; covert operations were nothing new to him.

Also, being a Pyongyang elite since birth, he definitely knew more about the North Korean leadership compared with a refugee who had crossed the Amnok River out of desperation, hunger and fear.

That was where the greatest difference between himself and the typical North Korean refugee lies.

He wasn't unhappy with his life in North Korea; it was just that he would surely be happier with Se-ri.

His mother's words were always at the back of his mind.

"Do not worry about us. Your father is certain that there will be some distrust and increased surveillance going forward, but from what we understand, as long as you maintain a low profile, we should be fine.

Never speak ill of our great motherland, and as much as possible, live under a different identity."

There was no way he could ever bring himself to work against his motherland.

Now that he was going to be South Korean, he wouldn't explicitly support the North, but he would never work against them either.

"I would like to turn down your kind offer."

Agent Kim had left it at that, well-knowing that Ri Jeong Hyeok's defection was in no way triggered by disenchantment with the North.

"So what do you plan to do?" The older man had casually asked. "I cannot imagine you working at Seri's Choice."

A genuine smile had graced Jeong Hyeok's lips then; humor was a very foreign concept at the NIS.

"Teaching. I intend to teach piano at baccalaureate and graduate degree levels."

"While performing and all?" Agent Kim asked casually, although Jeong Hyeok had no idea how casual his intention in asking was.

Nonetheless, honesty would be his best defense.

"No. I'll no longer perform at concerts or in public, for as much as possible. School recitals, maybe? But nothing more. I promised someone I'll lie low, and lead a quiet existence."

Unbeknownst to Se-ri as well, Jeong Hyeok had made the agonizing decision to bid farewell to the stage, to focus on teaching and staying out of the public eye.

The performance stage, exposed to media coverage, wasn't a place for a North Korean defector.

Especially one who happens to be the son of the Director of the General Political Bureau of Korean People's Army.