Chasing Liberty // Countryhumans North Korea fanfiction

An Eye For A Lesson

1910

   The door slammed shut as the Japanese guards left, but not before they had made sure that the Koreas wouldn't be attempting another break-out for awhile.

    "Ouch." The slightly shorter of the two winced, rubbing his wrist. "That certainly didn't work. Who knew that 'running for it' wouldn't succeed for the second time?"

    The other dragged himself up from the floor, ribs throbbing from the military-grade boots that had been driven into them. "Did you have a better plan?" he asked sarcastically. "Do you want to share it now?"

    "No." His brother shrugged. "What other plan is there?"

    There wasn't one. They had no weapons, no fighting experience, and they had never even been outside of this small hut within the walls of the Government-General complex in Seoul for more than a few hours.

   "We'll try again," the taller Korea said, surly.

   "Third time's the charm?" the other asked.

    "However many times it takes." He got to his feet, hobbling over to their water pitcher and pouring some into his mouth.

   "Sure." His brother followed him, taking the pitcher. "But let's wait until you stop limping, okay?"

    "I'm not limping," Korea replied, limping over to their single small window. From it he could see the orange leaves of the maple trees, branches trimmed short so as not to hang over the outer wall, just in case they managed to escape. It was why they had made their disastrous run for the front gates. Next time, they would try for stealth.

    Korea glared at the maple. They had watched those leaves fade from green to orange to yellow, and now he watched one fall from the tree, its dry, shrivelled carcass twirling to the browning grass.

    "Fall's almost over," his brother noted, setting the water down. "Winter's going to suck."

    "We won't be here in winter." He watched a goshawk take flight from the tree, effortlessly leaving the walls of the Japanese behind. He turned away from the window.

    The other Korea's eyes widened. "Brother, you're injured!" He saw his withering glare and quickly added, "You've got blood on your face."

    Korea raised a hand to his brow, looking at the specks of blood on his white fingertips. "One of the bastards punched me," he grunted. It would probably leave a black eye, too.

   "Sit down," his brother ordered, dragging him over to the futon and arranging him so his face was lit by the light from the outside.

    Korea sat still as his brother flopped down next to him, dipping a corner of their blanket in the water pitcher to clean the blood away. Though of course not until after he'd pretended his intention was to clean him with spit instead.

    "So I've been thinking," he said, delicately dabbling at his cut.

    "Someone tell Japan," Korea responded automatically, earning a mock glare.

    "Careful what you say to the person so near your eyes, brother." He menacingly raised two fingers to punctuate his point.

    "What were you thinking about?" Korea prompted, knocking the hand down.

    "We should give ourselves names," his brother continued.

    "We have names," Korea pointed out. "We're Korea."

   "Yeah, exactly. Isn't that confusing?" the other Korea asked. "And we can't always just call each other 'brother.'"

   "Why not?"