The adventures of the MV Mangyongbong 92

Under attack

Mangy (shorter name) opens his eyes. He is still in a state of shock that he doesn't remember what exactly happened. All he remembers is that he was sailing in the South China Sea near the border and then everything went dark. After that, he remembers nothing except losing his consciousness.

After getting up, he realizes he is standing on the deck of his ship, dressed in his navy uniform and holding his type 98 assault rifle, which confuses him. As far as he remembers, ships don't have human forms. Yet here he is, walking on the deck around his ship. Not only that, he also realizes that he has full control of its weapons without the need of being on the bridge. It's like he and the vessel are linked with each other, which makes no sense.

Still, it's not as important as to where he is right now. Now that he has regained his consciousness, he has realized that he is no longer in the South China Sea. According to his radar, he is in the Pacific ocean, far away from his nation. How he got here, he has no idea. Maybe he was unconscious for months and he just woke up after a long time. Or maybe he was part of a military experiment for which nobody told him and they decided to get rid of him once it would be over. 

Either way, he needs to plot a course for home, which won't be easy as there are too many US navy ships in the Pacific. As there was probably no vessel registered in the area where he is, the navy will consider him as a suspicious vessel and will send the coast guard to identify him and then either impound him or sink him. And while he does have the firepower to defend himself, a battle could escalate into an all out war with the US and the South which would also drag China into it. The only way is to navigate at night with his engines and electronic equipment off and let the currents guide him. It's impractical but it's the only way to avoid being detected.

As he walks towards the bridge, he decides to drop the anchors. Since he's not in a hurry, he can just sit for a few hours until the currents start pushing him. After that he'll start navigating slowly to avoid crashing on any rocks. It's not the best idea, but it's better to be a ghost ship than a dead ship.

He walks around the decks a few more times before deciding to return to the bridge. Why he wants to go there? He doesn't know. To be honest, he doesn't know what to do next. He just finds himself wandering around for no particular reason. He doesn't have something to do, he hasn't got anywhere to go. Walking around is the only thing he has been doing for the past 45 minutes like a sentry in a prison camp, walking back and forth from the bow of the ship to the stern.

After arriving at the top deck, he stops near the door that leads to the bridge. He then aims his rifle at the sky and fires a few shots in the air. He doesn't know why, he just feels like doing so. The more rounds he shoots the more excited he feels. It's like he releases all the stress and fear he's had for the Supreme Leader and his elites. While he had never questioned their authority, he always feared that he might be the next one to end up blown up or in a scrapyard, so he kept his mouth shut and never talked to anybody, not even his comrades. This slowly caused him to develop a hatred towards everyone around him, including himself, which made things even harder for him as he had no right to open his mouth and say whatever he want

Yet, now that he is truly free, without anybody monitoring him, he still has no words to express his hate. Shooting at the sky is the only way to say how furious he really is. A few bullets are not enough though. He wants to burn the photos of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il to show his fury to the Americans, but he can't. While he despises the regime, he can't help but feel that there's still a part of him that's North Korean. He can't just spit on the regime that easily. That place is his home and he can't just betray his home like this.

As the hours pass, he keeps firing as many shots as he can. It's a good thing there's not a single ship or helicopter in the area, or he might have attracted plenty of unwanted attention and then, it would be only bloodshed. Even though he probably wouldn't survive from it, he would still take many of his enemies with him at the bottom of the sea. At lest he would have met an honorable death that way, even though nobody will feel any remorse for him. After all, he's nothing more than an object for the regime, a possession, a mindless killing machine, a tool for the survival of the regime. Throughout the years he has learned that to be viewed as someone loyal, he must show that he belongs nowhere. That he's just there to follow a specific order, like a robot.