Chasing Liberty // Countryhumans North Korea fanfiction

Five Years Free

  North kept himself busy for the rest of the day by checking their rapidly dwindling supply of munitions, putting himself in a worse mood with every report he got.

   Yesterday’s attempt to drive them from the hill had been particularly fierce, and they were running low not only on ammo but on manpower.

  By the time night fell, and he headed for the camp, he was more sour than ever, rubbing furiously at the scar on his eye.

     His soldiers were grouped together under the trees, squatting on the ground or sitting on fallen logs as the cooks handed out meals from the cast iron woks they had set over the fires. They had built makeshift huts around them to hide the glow of the flames.

     North looked uneasily to the sky. He couldn’t begrudge his hard-working troops a hot meal, but the smoke that managed to work its way out of the tightly bound wooden sticks to rise past the canopy set him on edge.

    One of the ruddy-cheeked cooks laughed, and North’s attention was drawn back to them. South Gyeongsang was there, vigorously stirring what was in the woks with a wooden spatula. Another look made him raise his brow.

   They were making rice hash, using fresh vegetables.

    Suddenly he realized the state of his comrades. Meals had been getting quieter and quieter over the last few days, but right now most of the soldiers were in a good mood, chuckling and chatting amongst each other as they spooned hot hash into their mouths.

“Korea!” Sang hurried over from the fires, wiping her hands on her apron. “You ready for dinner?”

    He knew the rice had come from Command, making a concerted effort to ship more food in for the anniversary of their Liberation, despite the ruined railways, but…

   “Where did we get the vegetables?”

  Her face lit up proudly. “Gyeong and I ran into some peasants on the way over here, and when we told them there were a few thousand hungry soldiers celebrating Liberation Day with just rice and bread, they volunteered to fix that.”

   North’s heart swelled proudly, even as the news gave him an idea.

   His province wiped a hand across her forehead, whisking away sweat. “Phew, I forgot how hard it is to feed this many people. Get your cutlery and go get yourself some hash.”

   “And you have to eat it,” a voice said from behind him. SH gave him a knowing look. “No eating stale jumeokbap.”

     If he didn’t eat the one in his pocket tonight, it would just get even more stale. But he supposed he had eaten worse. Namely, SH’s cooking.

     He allowed the two women to hassle him into getting a tray, though not as much as they would have liked him to. The peasants were likely already stretching themselves thin for them, the most he could do was make sure as much of it went to his soldiers as possible.

    He followed SH to where the others were gathered, along with a few of the stretcher platoon that Kangwon worked with and Tank Crew 44, the unlucky hosts of South Pyongan, although they didn’t seem to feel that way. He supposed they wouldn’t. She had helped earn them all the title of Hero of the Republic, after all.

   They all saluted as he approached, but he stopped them from rising.

    “At ease.” He took his place on a sturdy branch that Hae dragged over for him, tolerating it when she immediately curled up by his feet.

  “Comrade Korea.” Comrade Roe Chul smiled at him from his side. “Congratulations on five years of freedom.”

   “To you, too,” North replied. “You fought hard for this, comrade.”