The Private Life of a Nation

Lee Eung Jun

English
 Fiction

The Private Life of a Nation

205X145mm / 268 pages

ISBN 9788937482564
Copyright Agent
Minumsa Publishing Group
Michelle Nam
michellenam@minumsa.com
82-2-515-2000 (Ext. 206)
www.minumsa.com

Lee
Eung Jun

I
n the novels of Lee Eung Jun, what constantly appears are souls who
About the author are steeped in deep and profound romanticism. The grim and dreamlike
romanticist landscape that overpowers his stories reveals the wandering
of characters whose lives are not securely rooted in the world. The characters
in Lee Eung Jun’s novels forever dream of a different time and place while
entangled in twisted relationships in their present lives. Lee Eung Jun’s
novels are all painted with shades of dream-like melancholia and pathos—
that is, the belief that alienation and the absence of something fundamental
in life are conditions human beings cannot overcome, and that there is an
unreachable abyss, which could in an instant drive one’s life to the point
of inertia and nihilism—along with the characters who cannot anchor
themselves in reality but drift in space.

However, in The Private Life of a Nation, the author has abandoned his
tendency toward a romantic and dreamlike melancholia, and depicts the
virtual reality of unified Korea, writing in a highly-controlled cool and
hardboiled style about a ruthless and bleak world of organized gangsters. In
this novel, the author discloses a world that is a complete dystopia devoid
of any possible exit. Instead of his usual romanticist style, his cold realist
writing is filled with the shadows of memories, thus it is reminiscent of a
noir gangster film.

Copyright © Kwon, Hyuk-jae(권혁재)

 Other Publications Poetry collections
The Trees Rejected That Forest and A Long Distance Race with the Camel

Short story collections

The Bike Trip to the Other Side of the Moon, My Girlfriend’s Funeral, The
Romance of a Heartless Animal, and The Engagement

Novels
Heaven Concealed Beneath an Elm Tree, What Happened at Scorpio?, The
Private Life of a Nation, and All About My Romance

Awards The “Lemon Tree” is a forty-minute long film that Lee wrote and directed.
It was screened at the New York Asian American International Film Festival
in the short film competition section and in the international competition
section at the Paris International Short Film Festival in 2008.

About the book

2
3
Overview

“The action takes place quite briskly and each episode is told in a vivid and
graphic manner. They are also powerful stories. In contrast to the author’s
previous works in which he explored memories and solitude, this novel
presents a whole new world in a quite different language. While everyone
fantasizes about a rose-tinted unified Korea, the hypothetical nation of the
united Koreas that the author depicts is a dystopia where destruction and
crime are rampant. It is more bleak and grim than the world of film noir.”
- Maeil Business

“In order to write this book, the author read over 300 books germane to
the subject and did extensive interviews with North Korean defectors. He
has even provided a bibliography in the book. In The Private Life of a Nation,
the imagination of the author has surpassed the border of knowledge and
simple reading and has reached the realm of art.”
- The Kyunghyang Shinmun
 I
t is 2011, and Korea, which had been the only divided country, has
Synopsis at last become one nation after the unification by absorption of the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) into the Republic of
Korea. This novel starts with this premise, and paints all the things that are
taking place in 2016, five years after unification. The unified Korea that is
shown in the novel is a dark and bleak place, rampant with police tyranny
and corruption, disorderly and chaotic activities of organized violent crimes
by those from North Korea, all kinds of criminals that exploit people with
fake identities, the circulation of new types of drugs such as “Red Eye” and
“White Bellflower,” and a rapidly increasing number of destitute North
Koreans; in short a dystopia without hope.
The protagonist, Lee Gang, who is a participant and an observer at the
same time of this world, is the only character who is not lacking in human
warmth, compassion, and pain. The panoramic dystopia of unified Korea
fully unfolds before the readers after a somewhat romantic prologue in
which Lee Gang’s grandfather, who is in deep sorrow, tells the little boy the
story of a little egg that becomes a great fish, and how this big fish becomes
a great bird and flies away. The first scene is that of the funeral ceremony
of Lim Byung-mo, who was Lee Gang’s fellow officer in the DPRK People’s
Army.
It is April 10, 2016, five years after the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea has been absorbed into the Republic of Korea. Everyone who attended
the funeral that day believes it is Detective Mun who killed Lim Byeong-
mo. Detective Mun is a South Korean police who was a regular customer
at the pub, “Eunjwa,” which is run by the Daedongang, an organized gang
composed of former members of the North Korean People’s Army. The
head of this organization is the former North Korean officer, Oh Nam-cheol,
who has survived the hell of Yodeok Internment Camp, which was the most
infamous in North Korea before unification. Lee Gang, a heroic figure in the
North Korean People’s Army as well as the grandson of Lee Jang-gon, the
Independence fighter during the Japanese colonial period, is the number two man of the organization, not to
mention the favorite of the Big Boss. Jo Nam-do, who is disgruntled about being the second fiddle to Lee Gang
although he too is regarded as a number two figure, harbors a secret ambition of eliminating not only Lee Gang,
but Oh Nam-cheol as well, in order to become the head. In the Liberation Building, the home of Daedongang,
are a ghost company operated by Daedongang and “Eunjwa,” a high-class entertainment club where all the
elite South Korean men come to be amused by the North Korean women hostesses. In addition, in the so-called
“Underground Tunnel,” which is located under the building, a real-life theater of cruelty is being performed on
a daily basis in which people are killed, unbeknownst to outsiders.
Becoming degraded into second-grade citizens after unification, North Korean residents have quickly
degenerated into the destitute of unified Korea, and North Korea has turned into a crime-infested region with
the appearance of insurgents and bandits everywhere. It is under these circumstances that many who had
lived a privileged life in North Korea became members of the “Daedongang” or hostesses at “Eunjwa”, such as
those who were formerly People’s Army officers, as well as an ex-professor from Kim Il Sung University, and a
television anchor. Additionally, the author depicts many diverse characters who drift like phantoms in Korea
after unification, such as General Youngster, the young male shaman, with his supernatural ken, who Oh Nam-
cheol brought with him from the hellish internment camp; Hong Hae-suk, the Amazonian woman from South
Korea who is in full control of “Eunjwa”; Seo Il-hwa, the number one hostess of Eunjwa who was the daughter
of a high-ranking member of the People’s Party in North Korea and a gifted artist but who became a hostess,
overnight, after unification; Kim Dong-cheol, the boy prodigy from Pyongyang
who has repressed terrifying rage in his heart; Yi Seon-u, a street drug dealer
feigning to be a simpleton even though he has read an incredible number of
books; and Yun Sang-hi, a mysterious woman who one day suddenly shows
up in Lee Gang’s life.
The story takes on a dramatic turn when Lee Gang becomes suspicious of
the murder of Lim Byeong-mo and struggles to discover the truth. Overcome
with melancholia and agitation over the death of Lim Byeong-mo whom he
had been very fond of, Lee Gang goes to see the street drug dealer, Yi Seon-u,
to seek solace. He inexplicably feels a sense of camaraderie with Yi Seon-u who
lives like a vagrant, with his cynical smile as though he has transcended all
things in life. After his meeting with Yi Seon-u, Lee Gang unexpectedly gets into
a violent fight with two unidentified assailants who are out to abduct a woman.
This woman was Yun Sang-hi, who happened to be beloved by President Choi
Yeol, Big Boss of another under world organization; and Jo Myeong-do had sent
his underlings to kidnap her, but after finding out that his scheme to kidnap
her had been thwarted by Lee Gang, makes a new plan to kill Choi Yeol and
Lee Gang. Because of the kidnap attempt, Lee Gang and Yun Sang-hi fall in
love although they are both very important members of two rival underworld
organizations.
The closer Lee Gang gets to the truth of Lim Byeong-mo’s death, the more

4
he is caught up in a great whirlpool of unstoppable catastrophe. He suspects

5
that the culprit who killed Lim Byeong-mo is Oh Nam-cheol; this suspicion
becomes a conviction as he edges close to the truth. However, Nam Gi-jeong,
a former professor of philosophy at Kim Il Sung University, whom Lee Gang
trusts the most of all the Daedongang members, advises him not to sink any
deeper into a living hell, but to escape from Oh Nam-cheol. Yet the train in
which Lee Gang has embarked on is racing toward the epicenter of truth at a
speed that he himself can no longer control.
One evening, Lee Gang, who suspects Oh Nam-cheol as the killer, pays
him a visit. Although Lee Gang has to turn back without obtaining the clarity
he needs to resolve his doubt, the reader finds out that it is indeed Oh Nam-
cheol who killed Lim Byeong-mo. Oh Nam-cheol had intended to instigate
a rebellion in unified Korea by developing a bio-chemical weapon with the
help of Lim Byeong-mo, who had been an officer in a biological warfare unit in
North Korea. But when Lim Byeong-mo, whose conscience could not bear it,
persistently asked Oh Nam-cheol to abandon the plan, Oh finally killed him.
The meat that he took out of the freezer that night for dinner was part of Lim
Byeong-mo’s heart. Oh Nam-cheol explains his reason for wanting to throw
into turmoil the Republic of Korea with biochemical weapons by using a pest
virus as the catalyst. “The plague is an epidemic, sanctioned by God. When the
pestilence ravages mankind, the social order is changed and people become
more humble, not to mention the population is drastically decreased. It is a
truly useful thing. Isn’t it cool?” Pestilence is rampant in the heart of Seoul in
the unified Korea of the twenty-first century. It is indeed beautiful.” Perhaps
a fiend like Oh Nam-cheol is truly the icon that symbolizes Korea, which has
degenerated into a bleak and chaotic world after unification.
After discovering that not only did Oh Nam-cheol murder Lim Byeong-mo,
but he also conspired to blame him as the leader of the rebellion, Lee Gang
infiltrates the Daedongang in order to kill Oh Nam-cheol. But unfortunately, the
Daedongang is on the verge of collapse as a result of Jo Myeong-do’s avaricious
plan to become the new boss. Jo Myeong-do, who wanted to get rid of Lee
Gang, meets an absurd death when Kim Dong-cheol lights a grenade, tightly
holding Jo Myeong-do close to him, and Lee Gang finds himself in despair
when he finds the corpse of Nam Gi-jeong in the bedlam that the Liberation
Building has become. A split-second mistake finds Lee Gang as the captive of
Oh Nam-cheol who tells him, “I have a ghostly existence. I am someone who
perished in Yodeok Internment Camp and all the capitalist things I did up until
now in South Korea are done in your name. I don’t exist but you, you are me,
who doesn’t exist. We’re one person.” The moment after Oh Nam-cheol tells
Lee Gang, “From the first time I met you, I wanted to take out your heart and
devour it.” He is about to kill him when Yun Sang-hi, who rushed into the room
to save Lee Gang, fires at Oh Nam-cheol. But the bullet misses him, and in the
same moment that Yun Sang-hi is shot to death by Oh Nam-cheol, Lee Gang
shoots at Oh Nam-cheol’s forehead. With the dead body of Yun Sang-hi in his
car, Lee Gang blindly drives northward. Meanwhile, the radio announces the
news of an uprising that’s spreading nationwide, which was triggered by the
suicide of a girl who works in a medical apparatus manufacturing factory. Lee
Gang stops the car, and collapses by the river as the dark fog slowly envelops
him.

The Private Life

of a Nation
6 7
 Sample
Translation The Private Life of a Nation

Unlike a child, I was despondent, and my grandfather told me a strange story.

We were standing by the riverside where a battleship from a faraway country was
anchored. The autumn breeze felt chilly.
There was an enormous fish that had grown from an egg deep in the sea. It was so
big, that one could not begin to guess its length. Besides several thousand li(1) was not
a measurement that I could fathom.
“Is it larger than that ship?”
“Its fin is as long as the ship.”
Then I could see just how huge the fish really was. Children are like that. If you help
them visualize in their heads, anything for them becomes a reality. But one should be
wary of allowing them to visualize just anything.
“The fish became a bird.”
It was an enormous bird. It was impossible to figure out just how big it was. A
single feather was as long as the battleship that I was looking at. When the sea rocks,
this bird will soar in the air and fly to the end of the world. That was all there was to
the story. There was no more explanation. I remember the red clouds crouching in
the river.
For some unknown reason, I felt much better. The tiny egg became an enormous fish
which then became an enormous bird – why did I not ask what this all meant? When
I look back on it carefully, my grandfather looked too somber. He was a man who
had surmounted the devilish history with his blood and sweat/ sweat and blood. The
battleship from a faraway land looked as though it was in the middle of a desert.
At dawn the next morning, my grandfather had a peaceful death, one that was
so contrary to his life. Trying to overcome the insurmountable sadness, I repeated
his story to myself. The tiny egg became an enormous fish which then became an
enormous bird that flew away. Did my grandfather really believe that this story
would bring consolation to his melancholy grandson? At any rate, it did me some
good because for some unknown reason again, I felt better. I was little, and I was not
yet a murderer.

2
1)
A traditional Korean
measurement equal to about “In a few days — in a few days —we shall meet by crossing the Yodan River...”
393 meters. 2016 April 10 Sunday afternoon clear day — five years after the Republic of South
 Korea was reunited into One Korea by absorbing the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea. The privately owned Azalea Memorial Park located in the outskirt of the city
of Yongin in Gyeonggi Province. A coffin with a rope around it, covered with a North
Korean flag, was being lowered into a deep clay dugout.
“The believers who have departed from this world...will be reunited in Heaven...”
The hymn that was sung by the young male pastor and the old people was off
key and rhythm. They were brought here by almost being kidnapped in order to
administer the funeral rites for a north Korean gang member of an organized violence
of whom they weren’t even related. Therefore, it was only natural that they should
be scared.
“The suffering of man shall end...there’ll be no more tears of farewell...”
The members of the Daedongang who were standing around the grave that was
just dug felt equally out of place. As though the Protestant funeral service was
something that was completely alien to them, all of them looked awkward in different
ways. Unlike the south Korean organized gang members, there were none in their
group who were heavy-set or overweight but their hawk-like eyes and pronounced
cheekbones indicated that they were second to none in their doggedness. They were
ignorant about religion. In particular Christianity was truly the object of savage
distortion. The heavenly maiden became hungry and therefore picked an apple from
a tree to eat. The missionary appeared and tied the heavenly maiden around the apple
tree. Then with a brush dipped in the hydrochloric acid, he writes on the forehead of

9
the heavenly maiden, “thief.” A missionary named Appenzeller opened a hospital
in Pyongyang. In the basement of this hospital, he carried out experimentation with
live humans, and sold the organs in America. This is absolutely not a fairy tale. In the
textbooks that the members of Daedongang studied in the people’s school and middle
and high schools of north Korea, this was actually written in the book. The movies
were no different and the missionaries were portrayed like Dracula dressed in black
clerical suits. The sole religious organization that was active, albeit in name only,
was Cheondogyo(2) but it was a lower sub-organization of the north Korean People’s
Labor Party, and it was simply used as an instrument for reunion of the divided
families of north and south Korea. Was it 1988 when an indecipherable architectural
structure was being constructed at a corner of Pyongyang Park, when suddenly a
huge cross was put up. At the time, the residents of Pyongyang were in shock and
disbelief, but the church turned out to be exclusively for the promotional purpose of
hosting international events. There was a rumor sometimes circulating that the state
security department exposed underground religious groups and then executed all its
members. In any event, just because the country was somehow reunited, it did not
mean that the outrageous beliefs, which were deeply engraved in the mind from the
nursery days, were going to be readily eradicated.
“In a few days -- in a few days -- we shall meet by crossing the Yodan River... A
—men —”
The coffin had securely landed at the bottom of the grave pit. Before saying the
prayer, the pastor wiped the sweat off his temple.
2) “Our Father, the Lord who reigns over life and death -- Father, we are gathered
Korean indigenous religion,
here to bury the body of our brother, Im Byung-mo. Eh, the body comes from earth
which started in the 19th
century. and returns to earth, and the spirit comes from our Father and returns to Him.”
 “Aa...men.”
The old women who were initially wary and suspicious of the Daedongang
members had in no time become bold, holding each other’s hands. The Holy Spirit
had taken over.
“Amen!”
“Aamen!”
Afraid of the old women who had only few remaining years to live, the pastor, who
had yet many days left to live, shut his eyes tightly.
“...On the day of your resurrection, not only the believers but the non-believers as
well will stand before the judgment of the Lord. All the good and evil deeds done on
earth then will be revealed.
“Amen!”
“Eh, we believe, the dead will now be in the eternal care of Our Father where there
will be no more tears and sorrow. Therefore...”
“O, Lord, Amen!”
“Aamen. Hallelujah!”
“Um, therefore, give us hope that we will all be reborn on the Last Day, and rejoice
in the eternal house of our Father...
“Hallelujah!”
Jo Myeong-do was standing alone on the hill of the cemetery and looking down at
the scene below.
10

“Majestic, quite majestic.”

Muttering to himself, he was about to light a cigarette in his mouth when he caught
a shimmering silhouette that was noteworthy in the sunlit distance. Once he stepped
out of the sunlight it became clear that the dim figure, who was moving from the
entrance toward the funeral ceremony, was Lee Gang, Jo Myeong-do frowned in
irritation.
When the Daedongang members were about to pay their obeisance, Lee Gang
absently raised his hand to stop them. Subsequently, they all reverted to their awkward
position. Jo Myeong-do was even more annoyed.
Lee Gang walked up to the hill where Jo Myeong-do was with a gait that indicated
that he had discerned his whereabouts early on. Jo Myeong-do put on a friendly
face when Lee Gang who was walking toward him with his head down and looked
straight at him when he got near.
“Hey, I thought I wouldn’t see you for few more days. Has it been a month
already?”
Without answering, Lee Gang stood next to Jo Myeong-do.
“How did it go in Pyongyang?”
“What’s been going on?”
“You haven’t been to the headquarters?”
“I called from the highway but came straight here.”
“It was Detective Mun.”
“...Again?”
“Byung-mo was hosting Chief Ko’s team at Eunjwa. Looks like Detective Mun was
needling him excessively -- saying things like the north Korean bitches are such and
such. Byung-mo lost his temper and attacked him, creating a ruckus with the others
trying to intervene. Huffing and puffing, Byung-mo got up and left first and a little
later Detective Mun too left by himself, then it happened.”
“You are saying Detective Mun killed Byung-mo?”
“That’s right.”
“At night?”
“What stupid person will treat a policeman to a drink in the middle of a day?”
“Detective Mun is not that bold a man...”
“The wimps are always more dangerous. He was probably waiting by Il-hwa’s
apartment, and shot him. Chief Ko went to investigate when he got the report, and saw,
yikes it was Byung-mo and quietly handed over the corpse to the Head Director.”
“...”
“The boys, without the Head Director’s permission, took care of Detective Mun and
the next day into the furnace he went. Looks like the bastard had resigned himself ‘cuz
he didn’t even attempt to run away in the empty alley when the boys called his name.
They just cut his throat right there and then. In light of the recent Gil-su incident, the
boys were waiting for the right moment. Don’t worry. It’s all been taken care of.”
“And Byung-mo...?”
“In any event, the Head Director confiscated all the bellflower powder that the
members had in their possession. And yesterday, he ordered us to retrieve Byung-
mo’s, so we searched everywhere, and found it inside his hubcap. But can you believe
this? He stored the drug in a clear plastic bottle like he wanted everyone to know

11
what it was. I’d never guessed but he’d sealed it triple, quadruple times, like he was
going to sell it surreptitiously. If it wasn’t for the Head Director’s order, I would’ve
liked to dump it all. Confess, do you have anything stashed away? ”
“I’ve nothing. But there must be a reason why he retrieved them all. He’s not going
to do any more of that business?”
“General Youngster must’ve tipped him off. Gee whiz. The crackdown team shows
up with lightning speed ... Even if he’s a shaman, I don’t like this S.O.B. talking down
to adults. Fuck, he gives me the creeps, too.”
“A clear plastic bottle?”
“It’s about this big. They’ve packed it with the bellflower powder quite firmly. Talk
about how much money that could be...”
“...What’s going on over there?”
“They were brought from the nearby prayer house. Comrade Lim Byung-mo was
a follower of Jesus, you know. It was on the Head Director’s order to provide him
with the proper funeral rites. If you think about it, our Head Director is only humane
when it comes to unnecessary things. The whole ceremony sure looks bizarre to me.
But you never know how many traitors there are among them, who are churchgoers.
The south Korean church seems to me scarier than the north Korean People’s Labor
Party.”
“...”
“Be careful. Madam from Eunjwa is full of venom now. You know, it wasn’t too
long ago that there was a gun incident there. I had the toughest time, pacifying her.
Ha, that broad is so ferocious.”
“What’s Il-hwa doing with her pimp gone?”
“Screw it, why are you so curious about everything? Haven’t you heard Detective
 Mun has been cremated? This has nothing to do with it. It’s not like she didn’t come,
but more like she couldn’t come.”
The coffin was being covered with earth. Watching it, Lee Gang spoke,
“There is no exit from the pit.”
“What?”
“Aren’t you afraid?”
“... ”
“I am scared.”
“I am just saying. What’s there to be afraid about the south Korean church?”
Lee Gang looked straight at Jo Myeong-do’s face. His bright and clear eyes made
him sigh. Tapping him on the shoulder, Lee Gang took off. Somewhat perplexed, Jo
Myeong-do couldn’t shake off the irritating but familiar suspicion that he had been
derided by Lee Gang.
He cast a chilly glance at Lee Gang who was going down the hill. The old women
were carrying on a desperately sincere evangelism to the Daedongang members,
to come to their church, believe in Jesus, and go to Heaven. The incident happened
so quickly that the petrified pastor was on the verge of martyrdom, trying to calm
down the aged Magdalenas who were ablaze with the Holy Spirit. The cemetery
workers who were filling the grave pit even stopped their shoveling and entertained
themselves, watching this absurd play. Lee Gang who was walking past them
muttered to himself,
12

“The pit has no exit, no exit.”

Does the heaven recommended by the women whose spark of life has been almost
all extinguished have an exit? Lee Gang thought, no matter how happy, if one cannot
get out of it eternally, it could but be a pit and not a heaven. The rear view of Lee Gang
that Jo Myeong-do was glaring at from afar was blurred by his cigarette smoke.
A clear and bright spring day in the unified Korea of 2016, there was a funeral of a
man and a number of other men associated with it. Although the dead and the living
had known each other well, no one cried for the deceased.

Two days after Lee Gang’s return from Pyongyang.

A gun fell on the smooth marble floor. Someone with a black shoe covered with
dust kicked it aside. There was a corridor with evenly set apart plain doors aligning
both sides. Carrying a hatchet, Lee Gang walked with a heavy footstep, ridding his
mind of all emotions. There is nothing more terrifying than a murderous will that is
not hurried.
Chief Ko was limping and Detective Kim grabbed his left shoulder with his right
hand. Cursing Lee Gang, they were both backing up. It didn’t look like Lee Gang used
his hatchet to attack them as they weren’t bleeding.
The torso of Detective Jeong, who had collapsed on the floor with foam around
his mouth, was visible between the legs of Lee Gang who was approaching. The gun,
which had just dropped on the marble floor, was the one that Detective Jeong had
grabbed but missed when Lee Gang struck him. Because it was in the middle of the
day, Eunjwa was eerily quiet and did not quite feel like this world. Only the sound
they were making was painfully audible in the underground.
The waiter, who had finished cleaning up, came out of the room, carrying a tray
with empty beer bottles. Grabbing one of the bottles on the tray, Detective Kim crashed
it against the wall and struggled against Lee Gang. Chief Ko pushed the waiter who
tumbled to the floor. The metallic tray tossed in the air and the fragments of the dark
glass flashed under the ivory lighting.
When Lee Gang, who had knocked Detective Kim unconscious, turned around to
face Chief Ko, he was not there anymore. Catching his breath, Lee Gang kept walking.
It was an L-shaped corridor. When he turned the left corner, there were now only
two doors on each side. Lee Gang stood silently between the doors. All feelings had
disappeared and only his senses remained. That is how he always handled himself.
“Chief Ko? Chee-f Ko — Detective Ko?”
Lee Gang turned the knob on his left. The door opened easily. With a half-burned
cigar in his mouth, General Youngster was gurgling his vodka, surrounded by three
hostesses who were half-naked. The women, who were intoxicated from alcohol and
drugs, deliriously addressed Lee Gang as director.
General Youngster, dressed in a most expensive suit with his hair all combed back
with oil was a pretty fifteen-year-old youth. Looking with penetrating eyes at Lee
Gang who was standing awkwardly with his hatchet, General Youngster seemed to
be full of wickedness.

13
“Poor S.O.B.,” he said, sounding like a hundred-year-old. Lee Gang was truly
curious as to why he did not feel any disdain for this monster but instead felt a
peculiar empathy. But at that moment, he almost let out a wry chuckle as he recalled
Jo Myeong-do’s complaint about his excessive curiosity. Poor S.O.B.? Same bullshit?
Lee Gang made a pretense of closing the door unobtrusively and went out to the
corridor.
He stood in front of the room where he was sure Chief Ko was hiding. Sure enough,
the doorknob was immobile. Lifting his chin, he looked up at the chandelier that
was hanging on a particularly high ceiling. His pupils were aflame by the colorfully
intermixed light. From the very bottom of his heart, an indescribable something began
to rumble.
Standing against the wall that was furthest away from the door, Chief Ko was
witnessing the door being chipped away by the hand axe. With trembling hands, he
tried to take out the gun from his waist but it was not easy. Terror expands infinitely
when its origin is not known; it was this kind of fear that he was feeling.
The doorknob flew away and the door opened as though it was being exploded.
At the same time, the hatchet flew across the room and slightly grazing Chief Ko’s
left earlobe, struck the wall. Tightly clutching the gun in one hand, Chief Ko’s tensed
arms by his sides lost control and became loose.
Leaping on the table Lee Gang nonchalantly walked up right to Chief Ko’s face and
kneeling on his left knee, looked straight at him. As though it belonged to him, Lee
Gang seized the gun from Chief Ko.
“Our esteemed detectives like to shoot at whim. So I followed you to give you that
chance but we’re a little indolent here, aren’t we?”
Six months ago, the situation became unexpectedly hostile in the middle of a
 discussion among Chief Ko, Detective Mun, and the general secretary of Daedongang,
Han Gil-su on the illegal drug trade. Mistakenly thinking that suddenly Han Gil-su
was taking out his gun, Detective Mun instinctively shot him first. The truth of the
matter was, Han Gil-su was about to grab some bubble gum from his coat pocket in
order to calm down his nerves. The seventh day after he had stopped smoking, Han
Gil-su had attained an eternal rest he had not wanted.
It was truly neither a comical nor a tragic episode but similar ruckuses were
happening all too often here and there. In unified Korea, guns were more easily
had than automobiles. In the autumn of 2014, the whole country was turned topsy-
turvy when a private high school teacher in Anyang shot, with an old Soviet model
Tokarev, a hole the size of a water pipe in the head of a vice-principal who had
sexually harassed her for nearly three years. Therefore, one could imagine how it
would be like amongst the corrupt detectives and former north Korean People’s
Army soldiers-turned organized gang members. The police have become so paranoid
that they would subconsciously pull out their gun even at the sight of a toy gun. This
is the basis of what Jo Myeong-do meant when he said, the wimps like Detective Mun
are more dangerous. It was all because the recovery and management of the weapons
from the DPRK’s army was incomplete in the chaos of the peaceful unification that
came about like a bolt from the blue. And it was merely one of the several thousand
evil spirits that were unleashed when the Pandora’s Box was opened at 4 p.m., May
9th, 2011, on the Korean peninsula.
14

Oh Nam-cheol, the head of Daedongang, pacified the unrest of the members, and
covered up Han Gil-su’s death. It was certainly not because he didn’t value the life
of his underling, or that he was such a compassionate man as to embrace Detective
Mun and Chief Ko who were more worthless than bugs. He lived by the principle
that it was never too late to discard what is still useful until it’s been used up. Now
that Chief Ko and his cronies escaped from a terrifying revenge, they were even more
slavishly subject to Oh Nam-cheol’s authority.
With the point of gun, Lee Gang pressed hard on Chief Ko’s right eye.
“Director Lee, don’t do this.”
Chief Ko believed Lee Gang, whom he viewed as unfathomable not to mention
how he sometimes did not even obey Oh Nam-cheol’s orders, could very easily pull
the trigger on him.
“How many men do you think I’ve sent to hell while exporting revolution to
Africa? Now that we are unified, you find north Korean bitches appealing but not
north Korean S.O.B.s, is that it?”
“Lo--look, your head...”
“Cut it out, I don’t care to know. What happened with Byung-mo?”
“Isn’t it the conclusion that Detective Mun killed him?”
“Maybe? You don’t know?”
“Don’t accuse an innocent man. I am only guilty of handing over the corpse.”
“You really don’t know?”
Lee Gang’s left hand secured Chief Ko’s right hand on the table.
“What are you doing?”
“You didn’t screw around, did you?”
Lee Gang uncocked the gun, and then shoved it inside of Chief Ko’s belt buckle.
The gunpoint dug deep into his underwear, and felt cold against his penis.
“Have you gone crazy?”
“Please don’t move. The bullet might release.”
Lee Gang pulled out the hatchet from the wall.
“Director Lee, Director Lee!”
The blade edge of the hatchet, which was stuck between the middle and ringer
fingers that Chief Ko, was swaying. Chief Ko could not even bring himself to scream.
His pants got wet with his piss.
“How unsightly for an esteemed policeman of the unified Korea?”
“You sonsofbitches!” A shrill and sharp voice was heard from behind.
Lee Gang turned around to see Hong Hae-suk, the hostess of Eunjwa, with
her waiters. The waiters looked quite shaken but Hong Hae-suk seemed the least
daunted.
“I can’t believe that you are human beings.”
Lee Gang knew very well that she most sincerely meant it.

Two weeks before Lee Gang’s return from Pyongyang.

With both his hands shoved into his pants pockets, Jo Myeong-do was plodding

15
down the long and deep stairways. The Liberation Building, comprised of three stories
underground and six floors above ground. Eunjwa took up three floors from the first
basement to third floor, and the fourth floor to the sixth floor were occupied by a ghost
company fabricated by Daedongang. The heart of this hell was on the second and third
floor of the underground. This secret space, which did not exist in the building plan,
was called the “underground tunnel” by the members of Daedongang. The second
level was the Underground Tunnel No.1 and the third level was Underground Tunnel
No. 2. In the space right below the most expensive room salon frequented by south
Korean men from the upper class enjoying the service of the north Korean hostesses,
a real-life theater of cruelty that was second to none, a snuff film, was often being
performed to no audience by the never-heard of north Korean former People’s Army
soldiers-turned organized gangsters. The screams coming out of the underground
tunnel 1 and 2 could not penetrate through the concrete steel wall, and even if they
did, got buried in all the noise and music from the extravagant liquor party. The
Liberation Building was the model house of unified Korea.
Comrade Lee Gang, you think I don’t know you very well? What to do? I am
worried that there might still be something about you that I don’t know. Why are
you still secretly swallowing those pathetic pills, not being able to acclimatize to this
fantastic society? Eh? Jo Myeong-do viewed Lee Gang as pitiful. The naive ones have an
illusion that others will act just like themselves. The pure-hearted ones are those who
are angry, thinking that others have to act just like them. Jo Myeong-do’s discernment
was that Lee Gang was both the former and the latter. It was an undoubtedly a mortal
weakness. An innocent fool was more dangerous than a grenade with its pin off, and
a pure-hearted devil would undoubtedly confront God.
In north Korea, class and origin were the most important factors in formulating
 one’s life. The grandson of a prominent revolutionary who walked on a heroic path
as an elite soldier, Lee Gang, compared to Jo Myeong-do who had nothing to show
for, could not even be considered rivals but was more like a star in the night sky.
However, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea had disappeared from the face
of the Earth, and since they now resided in unified Korea, it was going to be an entirely
different story. Why? Because the south Korean capitalism befit him superbly and Jo
Myeong-do also believed that it would be quite appropriate if Lee Gang, who went
around with his Labor Party ID in the inner pocket of his combat jacket should perish
with the niggers in the jungles of Africa, in a gun battle. Jo Myeong-do could not get
over just how beautiful unified Korea was.
“What reactionary S.O.B. pasted this shaman’s crap here?”
Spotting a talisman above the entrance of the Underground Tunnel No. 2, Jo
Myeong-do roared at Yang Pyeong-gwan and Nam Gi-jeong. While Nam Gi-jeong
dawdled, Yang Pyeong-gwan replied,
“General Youngster said he felt an ominous something...”
“Ominous something? General Youngster said?
Jo Myeong-do kicked hard Yang Pyeong-gwan’s shin. In agony, Yang Pyeong-gwan
fell to the floor.
“Is the youngster like your father? Why do you address him with honorifics?”
Nam Gi-jeong intervened and stopped Jo Myeong-do from striking again.
“Please control yourself, Chief Jo. They obeyed an order.”
16

“Control myself, Chief Jo? This is incredulous. Professor Nam, let go of your
arm!”
In Daedongang, there were a number of men who formerly worked as professionals
in north Korea but their credentials were as good as a toilet paper in unified Korea.
All the teachers from north Korea, for example, were kicked out from schools. At
first, the government tried its utmost to retrain the teachers but the south Korean
students rejected them, not to mention the north Korean students who were even
more adamantly against them. Consequently, there was a nationwide shortage of
teachers and finally anyone who had completed the coursework in education at any
given university in south Korea was allowed to take an informal teacher appointment
test so the government could hastily supplement the number of teachers.
Nam Gi-jeong had been a junior professor in the department of philosophy at
Kim Il Sung University. The title of “professor,” by which the Daedongang members
addressed him, was not an indication of respect but more like a nickname. Half-
heartedly calling Nam Gi-jeong, who was no longer a professor, a professor, in
mockery and pity was a source of comfort to them. On top of the list for the prospective
husbands that the women of Pyongyang wanted the least were university professors
for they were deemed as politically not savvy and their salary was only 1.5 times that
of a worker, not to mention, the only thing they could possibly sell in the black market
was chalk. There were almost no university professors who wanted their children to
pursue a career in academia. Instead, they were busy trying to find the connections for
a position in tailoring where they could get freebie clothing, if not, in cooking so that
they could eat to their heart’s content. No matter how twisted their real motivation
was for addressing Nam Gi-jeong as professor, he himself could not care less. Nam
Gi-jeong was about to turn fifty, an age when one should know better that any kind
 of affront that could not be laughed off was but an extravagance for a steward of an
organized gang where murder was committed without any hesitation by a former
professor from an elite university of a no longer existing country where nothing else
remained but pride. And he felt it should be all the more so around the people who
were suffering much more than him.
Last autumn, a former television news announcer in north Korea who now worked
as a cleaner at the Jamshil baseball stadium, hung herself in the locker room on a
Monday afternoon when there was no game. The old woman left did not leave any
will as if to say people should know that she had no other choice. The north Koreans
were panic-stricken. The south Koreans viewed the news announcer in the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea as similar to one in south Korea, and therefore could not
understand at all why the north Koreans were reacting with what was close to despair.
But how would they have felt if a popular singer like Seo Taeji was discovered dead,
after hanging himself in a rural nightclub bathroom, despairing over his fallen status
that happened overnight.
Speaking in an oratorical manner, the announcers of the north Korean Central
Television might be a source of comedy for south Koreans, but they were the crème
de la crème of the elite who were treated as the VIP of the VIPs in north Korean
society. These people were called television personnel in north Korea. In contrast
to the news announcers of the south Korean television who for the most part only
introduced the headline after which the reporter reports the news, the so-called north

17
Korean television personnel is in charge of delivering the entire news. The television
personnel job was the most coveted, and it was more difficult to become one than
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Once someone was appointed to the
honorable position of the people’s television personnel that person was provided with
a house on Changgwang Street in Pyongyang, which is the equivalent of Apgujeong-
dong,(3) where all the high-ranking party members of the Central Committee lived,
not to mention the Italian furniture, and Toyota or Cadillac. The television personnel,
like Yi Sang-byeok and Jeon Geum-seon, began their career as announcers in 1945.
Yi Sang-byeok, in particular, is a legendary figure who came down to Seoul during
the Korean War, and did not put down his announcer’s mike even when they finally
evacuated amidst the bomb explosions everywhere.
To become television personnel, the candidate had to be perfectly qualified in terms
of class, rank, and ideology, and also be outstanding in the accuracy and elegance of
enunciation, plus in appearance and speech; even after passing all these requirements,
and being chosen, the candidate, in order to get the main post, had to be personally
approved by Kim Jong Il, leader of North Korea. Once appointed as the television
personnel, the privilege of getting one’s hair done at the Changgwang Hair Salon
and free access to the sauna and the restaurant at the district of Changgwangwon
follow. They also became the first to try all kinds of new clothes manufactured in
the Pyongyang Garment Research Institute, which would instantly become a new
fashion. But their opulent lifestyle came hand in hand with peril, like when one of the
television personnel misread The Great Leader Kim Il Sung as Kim Jong Il, she was
never to be seen again. Another one got demoted when she did not show any tears
at the announcement of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung’s death. The announcers in
3)
A posh part of Seoul. North Korea represented the people and the nation and therefore, they always had to
 be extra careful of their speech and action. During the March of Ordeal in 1990s, the
leader Kim Jong Il gave out a special order that television personnel be provided with
all the usual comforts. And such a person from the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea had brought an end to her life in the gloomy corner of an isolated section of
Jamshil Stadium just before the Korean Series.
“All right, let go, let go of me. I won’t strike him. Pyeong-gwan, your problem is not
just how you talk. Your mind is rotten. Work on it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Shoving Nam Ki-jeong to the side, Jo Myeong-do looked up at the talisman attached
above the entrance door.
“Fuck, Professor Nam, what do you mean, ominous?”
“I don’t know. How would I know the mind of a shaman who won’t reveal
anything?
Nam Ki-jeong was smooth and experienced. Even though he was only a custodian
at the Liberation Building, he was highly respected by the members and perhaps
honoring his former position of a professor at Kim Il Sung University, he was given
the title of advisor by Oh Nam-cheol. Lee Gang, for one, always addressed him
respectfully as “Advisor Nam” and Jo Myeong-do who treated with condescension
those much lower in ranking than himself, could not indiscriminately be brash with
him.
Taking out a ridiculously large knife out of his jacket inner pocket, he turned to
18

Yang Pyeong-gwan.
“Should I cut off your legs so you won’t whimper?”
“No, no, sir.”
Yang Pyeong-gwan, who didn’t want his legs sliced up, instantly got up.
“Don’t be a smart ass and screw around behind my back. You’ll be a goner. Get it?”
“Yes, sir.”
Yang Pyeong-gwan had been a doctor in north Korea. When he came to south
Korea after the unification, he was astonished to see so many private clinics, especially
cosmetic surgery and dental clinics. He was also very curious as to why the doctors
met in a building with a dome by the riverside. Seeing the “Seagull meat” on the
menu of a restaurant, he felt sorry for the south Korean people who’ve had to resort to
eating seagulls, and he was aghast when he heard a young waitress calling out “dog
penis” out loud to the cook, not to mention feeling incredulous upon reading about
the arrest of a “big hand” for simply having a large hand.(4)
Modern medicine in north Korea, which was combined with herbal traditional
remedy and referred to as Goryeo medicine along with Western treatment, went into
4) a terrible decline with the downfall of the country. Because there was no anesthesia,
This paragraph has several surgical operations were almost always carried out without it. In the summer, they’ve
examples of wordplay
between North and South had to go up to the mountains and pick medicinal herbs, and because they could not
Korean words, e.g., the reject any patients, being a doctor in north Korea was by no means a desirable job.
Korean National Assembly
building has a homonym in Jo Myeong-do calmly put his absurdly large knife back in his inner pocket.
it that also means doctor; “Professor Nam, when is the screening for the new personnel?”
seagull is a also a homonym
for part of pork; marine spoon “It’s tomorrow, isn’t it? Do you think it’s okay to go ahead with it without Director
worm is also dog penis in Lee?”
North Korea; big hand means
a big investor in South Korea. “What?”
 “I mean, well...”
“Don’t concern yourself with trivial things, Comrade Philosopher.”
“Ha, ha, got it. You’re absolutely right.”
“...Did you butcher a cow? Eh? Aren’t you going to clean up the mess?”
Jo Myeong-do pointed at the shallow pool of blood on the floor.
“I’ll do it right away.”
Making an utmost effort not to limp on the leg that Jo Myeong-do had kicked, Yang
Pyeong-gwan went into what appeared to be a bathroom with a metal door ajar.
“Tsk, I’ll get going now, Professor Nam. See you tomorrow.”
“What should I do with that, Director Jo?”
“What?”
“That.”
It was the talisman that was safeguarding the door Jo Myeong-do was about to
exit. On a yellow piece of dyed paper, which was varnished with prickly ash oil, was
a drawing of spiritual patterns done with red stone powder. Jo Myeong-do could
disdain General Youngster but he was in no position to provoke him. Essentially,
Professor Nam was mocking Jo Myeong-do in a smooth, sophisticated, and well-
mannered style, just like a philosopher.
“Oh, fuck.”
Jo Myeong-do walked beneath the talisman and disappeared into the darkness
hovering over the exit.

19
Meanwhile, Yang Pyeong-gwan was wiping the pool of blood on the floor with the rag.
“Must hurt?”
“Not a problem. I just shouldn’t bother with him.”
“You’re right, you’re right.”
“I suspect that crook is up to some secret scheme.”
“If you cleaned it up earlier then you didn’t have to be abused.”
“Seems to me they just left the mess from the night before. And I didn’t want to get
involved since it wasn’t my duty...”
“It’s time we get over our socialist passivity. It’s definitely problematic just to do
what we are told.”
The room with a brown tile next to a gigantic furnace was not a bathroom but a
torture chamber. Through the door left a little more ajar than earlier, there was a man
tied to a chair with a rope. His head was bent backward. The pool of blood on the floor
was mixed with water that was sprayed to wash it out.
“Well, I’ll take care of it with the boy when they get here.”
“All right, do that. Sounds good.”

Two days after Lee Gang’s return from Pyongyang.

Seo Il-hwa had a hangover. The wall clock in the living room indicated it was two
in the afternoon. With her nightgown on, Seo Il-hwa opened wide the window of
her balcony in her high-rise apartment. All kinds of urban noise mixed with rays of
sunshine came pouring down on her. Narrowly opening her eyes, Seo Il-hwa looked
 down at the Han River. She was in Seoul; it was not the paradise Seoul that until
five years ago she had secretly envisioned based on the kind of information that was
inaccessible to the ordinary citizens of Pyongyang, but instead genuinely glamorous
Seoul where one futilely consumed one’s youth amongst a savage and avaricious
crowd. Seo Il-hwa was the most popular woman at Eunjwa. Among her regular
customers, there was not one from north Korea, but there was a Minister of Defense
of the unified Korea. All these old men who put on airs were like children who had
been abandoned by their mother. Seo Il-hwa thought to herself -- my God, these are
the men who are running the country...
Her father had been the representative of the Supreme People’s Assembly. Seo
Il-hwa suddenly found herself reminiscing about the elections in the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea. It could not really be called an election but an occasion in
which members made their vow of allegiance to the great leader, Kim Jong Il. A single
candidate from each region ran a campaign. Everyone had to show up at the election
site. Once you were given the ballot you had to bow before the Great Leader and his
son, and then leave the ballot to indicate your consent. If you want to dissent, then
you had to stamp it, but no one was foolish enough to stake one’s life and do it. This
was the world in which Seo Il-hwa lived until the age of 24. The Great Leader was the
representative from the 9th election.
Compared to the upper class men and old fogies of the unified Korea who wanted
their bleak and desolate hearts to be caressed tenderly and brightened with a smile,
20

Seo Il-hwa actually belonged to a more refined upper class in north Korea. She
discovered that people in south Korea were going berserk over how there was heaven
and hell after death, which made her think that there couldn’t be any place in this
world that was equally fair. The distance between heaven and earth seemed further
apart in north Korea where people were told that there was nothing after death. She
could only acknowledge that her life in north Korea had indeed been like heaven.
Seo Il-hwa thought it was absurd how the men of south Korea who scorned the
north Korean women, with their expensive liquor party and glorious prostitution
— these men who were high-ranking dignitaries, business men, and politicians, and
those in law, doctors and professors, journalists and generals, artists who looked
more like public servants, and the rich religious leaders who appeared they could
easily live to the age of at least hundred years. Be it north or south Korea, men were all
boring, sly and crude. It was only natural to her that one country ruled by such men
collapsed and the other remaining country was on the ways to its downfall.
Seo Il-hwa embraced her reality in a cool manner. Even if north Korea had not
ceased to exist and she had continued to live a privileged life, the gravity of her sins
would have been different only in form but not in its weight. It was not a question of
adjustment but a special skill. Her remarkable background and class in north Korea
were not something she had any say in and neither was her body that attracted the
most attention in unified Korea. She was responsible only for her sins wherever she
was and it was best not to burden herself with a sense of guilt.
It was only after meeting Hong Hae-suk, the hostess of Eunjwa that Seo Il-hwa
became a Seoul woman. Hong Hae-suk was a woman hired by Oh Nam-cheol. She
was a 37-year-old south Korean woman who still looked ravishing like an actress.
She purportedly was highly-educated and ran a fairly ambitious business -- although
there was no way of confirming it, one had to admit that at first glance, she had the
look of such a person. Hong Hae-suk seemed to like Lee Gang.
Just like Hong Hae-suk who chose to be on the same path as the monster, Oh
Nam-cheol, Lee Gang was truly a subject of curiosity for Seo Il-hwa. She thought that
Lee Gang and she were two of a kind. The lovely daughter of the highest ranking
representative of the Labor Party in the former north Korea has become a prostitute
and the proud elite soldier of the north Korean People’s Army was now a gang
member. But the obvious difference was that Lee Gang was anguished whereas Seo
Il-hwa felt it was useless to be distressed, and Lee Gang’s feeling of pain for other
people, which for her was difficult to understand, continued to annoy her.
Not all the young women at Eunjwa were from north Korea. One-fifth of them were
south Koreans. Besides them, Hong Hae-suk was the sole south Korean who worked
in the Liberation Building. It was uncertain as to what kind of sexual stimuli the
women from north Korea set off but they were in much more demand than the south
Korean women. Men from north Korea were not accepted as customers at Eunjwa.
It ran exclusively on membership and north Korean men who had both status and
money to afford Eunjwa were more difficult to find than aliens.
Hong Hae-suk screened the young north Korean women like contestants in a
beauty pageant, taught them the best of manners and style, interbreeding their
pristine image with the sensuality of a femme fatale. Putting aside a high class room
salon like Eunjwa, one could find a placard that read, “North Korean women always

21
available” in many parts of the red light district in south Korea. It was a common
knowledge that without north Korean women, one could not hope to succeed in the
liquor business.
Seo Il-hwa had been an art student. Abstract art in north Korea was a kiss of death. In
north Korea, such a thing as an abstract art did not exist. The one and only acceptable
aesthetics was the Great Leader, Kim Il Sung’s doctrine that all art should foster the
revolutionary values within the nationalist framework with Socialist content.
Seo Il-hwa recalled the realist painting of hers that was shown in the national art
exhibit and Songhwa Art Academy art exhibit on the Great Leader’s birthday. She
remembered the excessively emotional dimension of her works, for the purpose of
commemorating. If she did not have any expectation of maintaining her status in north
Korea, she would not have been a public artist by adhering to the annoying orders
of not mixing anything with the paint, but being faithful to the original material and
achieving harmony with the external elements. In her opinion, the greatest common
denominator between north and south Korea was the mercenary nature of the high-
ranking people. Since that is how she had been in north Korea, she vowed to be the
same way now that she was in south Korea. The whole notion of fatherland and
ethnicity were ludicrous to her, as unified Korea proved to be an ample evidence of.
For Seo Il-hwa, south Korea was about realism and the north, abstraction. That’s
right. Abstraction was death. And that is why north Korea was dead. For her, the
many faces of capitalism, which were crude, cruel, and crushed, was truly the real
world. It’s not like Seo Il-hwa was content but acquiescent.
When Seo Il-hwa took in Lim Byung-mo as her pimp, not just Hong Hae-suk but all
the women of Eunjwa as well as the members of Daedongang were quite taken aback.
Why did she pick him? It couldn’t possibly have been love; then was it some kind of a
 penance that was close to a brash act? Life is perhaps unbelievably simplistic than one
would guess. If it involved a man and a woman, then that’s especially how it is. But
Lim Byung-mo was dead. Seo Il-hwa had suspicions about his death and her uncanny
sadness felt awkward to her.
In the living room, Seo Il-hwa slipped out of her nightgown, like a skin. Standing
naked, she suddenly turned around to look out the large window. She was in Seoul,
in a city where the body was the vehicle of labor but also desire that was exchanged
for even greater desire.
Seo Il-hwa entered the bathtub, filled with warm water.

Two days after Lee Gang’s return from Pyongyang.

The small letters shown in the street lamplight looked like old furniture. Yi Seon-u
was crouching on the secluded sidewalk of the H region with its concentration of
peddlers, and was reading a pocket size book. Born in Seoul in 1970, he was forty-
eight years old but for him it felt as though time was at a standstill at age of thirty-
eight when he lost his only brother. Looking back, as Yi Seon-u had denigrated and
disparaged himself as an immature youth when he was thirty-eight years old, his mind
could still be lingering in 1990s. There are some people who endure their whole lives,
22

hanging on to a decisive period of their life. He disdained the twenty-first century.

His heart and body ached both before and after the unification. Just because one
was an eccentric, it did not mean that life in the dumps became transformed to roses
and bread. Like a broken clock, his senses had become dull and only vain and futile
emotions were left inside. Yi Seon-u had learned to think a certain way from his dead
brother but he really should not have done that. That he could live haphazardly on
the outside, but could not do the same internally, was driving him crazy but people
were rather amused by Yi Seon-u’s kind of schizophrenia. He was someone who was
misunderstood but not despised. Maybe they thought there was nothing to be gained
in disdaining him.
There was a man who looked perfectly normal. No matter how serious he looked,
people were happy, thinking he was happy. No matter how sad or pained he was,
people took his sincere remarks as remarkable jokes and were rolling on the floor with
laughter. Finally he became fed up and killed himself. Let’s say that an unbelievable
incident like this did happen. Yi Seon-u imagined from time to time that he would most
likely be this poor man. Of course, he didn’t have the courage to commit suicide.
Would he have loved twentieth century then? He truly regretted not joining a
monastery to become a Buddhist monk. His brother should have taught him how to
sever his thoughts before dying. The small letters shown by the street lamp looked
like old furniture and he was somewhat lonely tonight.
“Yikes, you startled me!”
Lee Gang stood before Yi Seon-u who had fallen backward.
“Darn it, are you a phantom or what? You can’t even make a slight noise?”
“...”
“A rare visit?”
 “...”
All that was being torn down and constructed after the unification was taking place
in north Korea, not that they were actually being completed but there didn’t appear
to be any visible change in Seoul. Instead, it felt like there was something that was
scarred lurking everywhere, making it difficult to breathe, with the atmosphere being
very gothic. The urban ethos had changed. Unified Korea was desperately struggling
not to go bankrupt. What people feared most was the time period after when the mere,
pitiful effort comes to a stop. What atrocities are going to take place then? Everyone
agreed that the prelude to the tragedy has not yet even ended and helplessly waited
for things that they really should not be waiting for.
Security in the H region where Yi Seon-u had a stall business was, relatively
speaking, not too bad. It was one of the few neighborhoods where ordinary people
could walk around late at night. Although there were some north Koreans who had
stalls there, most of them were found in much more decrepit areas. Meanwhile, over
sixty Harlems had popped up nationwide.
“What’s that grin? What’s funny?”
“...”
Lee Gang, who was a regular customer, cast a glance at the stall as though he was
going to pick something to buy. But Yi Seon-u knew very well that there was nothing
that Lee Gang would want on his stall.
“Say, you still have insomnia? Based on my scientific assessment of you, your

23
problem is that your life is too easy.”
“...”
“Reticent people are dull. ‘Cause when you dig into them, there’s really nothing
inside.”
Yi Seon-u had secretly sold a so-called “Red Eye,” which was a new hallucinogenic
drug, to only suspicious customers like Lee Gang. That was his main source of
livelihood and not the odd things spread on the straw mat.
Red eye was viewed as a replacement of marijuana in that it had the effect of
helping one fall asleep after relaxing the body and seeing hallucinations. Although
the ministry of health had issued a scary warning that it was contrary to the pseudo-
clinical results, which found that it was not very addictive or incurred any specific
damage to the body, if it frightened away anyone then it was like the Casanovas
being turned away from Viagra for its side effect on the heart. According to one report
which was impossible to verify, Red Eye was invented by a genius young pharmacist
who came down to Seoul all alone from north Korea after the unification, at an
attic in Hyoja-dong overlooking the Blue House; it was given the name “Red Eye”
to commemorate the red eye, symbolizing the of blood of the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea that was now deleted from the index of the country names, the Red
Eye of the revolution that would yet take place; that is how it became known as the
Red Eye. It was easy to transport and swallow because Red Eye was a pill, was red
in name only, was actually rough grey in color and was easily crushed when it was
gripped. The genius young pharmacist whose hometown was in north Korea might
not have had the money to buy the edible color dye at the final developmental stage
of his research but Yi Seon-u romantically deemed Red Eye as all the more poetic
because of it.
 The police did not have enough manpower to crack down on Red Eye. Even
before the unification, the distribution of drugs was on a sharp increase and after the
unification many different vicious drugs were added and spread in no time. Among
them, the most notorious one was called the White Bellflower, which was a combined
drug. It was mostly mass-produced in the mountainous regions of north Korea where
they were free from administrative controls, and it spread into all parts of the world.
In order to put a stop to it, the government had to mobilize a special task force like in
Colombia. Of the 999 mistakes made by the unified government, the most appalling
one was its shoddy treatment of the 120,000 men armed forces of the former North
Korea whose compulsory service lasted anywhere from ten to thirteen years. After
a hasty disassembling of the military in a unilateral process, a massive number of
conventional weapons disappeared like kitchenware and 120,000 robust men had to
immediately look for new jobs. A huge number of these men came to south Korea and
became part of the urban destitute or members of an organized gang, thus using their
abundant military experience. If only government authority could be imported, then
it should be done at once.
“You want to see me, drunk?”
“...”
Because Lee Gang spoke the Seoul dialect flawlessly, Yi Seon-u mistook him for a
south Korean. But he did not even know his name or profession. To Yi Seon-u, Lee
Gang was just a reticent man who bought the Red Eye to resolve his insomnia.
24

Before unification, Yi Seon-u was an unknown actor. There were no odd jobs that
he had not worked at, but at least several times a year he was on stage, and a theater
actor was how he defined his identity. But after his older brother died in vain, Yi
Seon-u gave up theater without any regret. In the midst of living in despair over his
brother’s death, the unification, that was “everyone’s dream” that he had no interest
in whatsoever, took place all of a sudden. An unbelievable number of south Koreans
in the last five years found themselves doing the kind of work that they had not once
imagined even in their dreams. Yi Seon-u happened to be one of them. Yi Seon-u did
not feel guilty. The world in which he lived did not allow guilt to occupy any space.
Even if there was any room, Yi Seon-u believed that his older brother had taken it
with him to the other world. Except when he was walking in the crowd in the middle
of the day, he wondered how many of these people could be drug addicts, and how
many were hiding the Red Eye in their pockets or bags; as such times, he felt scared
to death and wished that he could leave the country as quickly as possible. His dead
brother was no Jesus but all the things he had predicted were taking place little by
little as the years passed.
When Yi Seon-u first saw Lee Gang, there were parts of him that did not feel
unfamiliar. He couldn’t forget how Lee Gang watched his drunkenness in action with
a forlorn expression. Tonight, Yi Seon-u felt as though he understood Lee Gang a
little. Looking at him, Yi Seon-u said to himself -- you and I are alike. You want to die.
You wish you could die right now.
“If you can’t fall asleep, you should find yourself a woman. That’s the best remedy.
If you’re with a woman, it’s okay if you can sleep or not, right?”
“...”
“Are you dismissing my excellent advice?”
 “...”
“...Yes, yes, take your time and look at everything.”
Lee Gang looked to his left. There was a woman who had not been there until a
moment ago, looking down at the stall. Dressed in casual clothes, her long straight
hair was tied in a ponytail. As though she had sensed his gaze, she turned to look at
Lee Gang. Yi Seon-u intervened between their silence.
“Young lady, are you originally from Goguryeo?”
“...”
“You are a Moranbong(5) girl?”
“Do I look it?”
“You are not?”
“If I was, would I be looking at things like this?”
Yi Seon-u’s face brightened up.
“What I meant was you are pretty like the Moranbong girls. Isn’t there a saying,
south Korean man and north Korean woman make an ideal couple? Look here, it’s a
Kim Il Sung badge?”
“Oh? Really?”
“Sure, it is.”
“It’s not a fake?”
“Fake? Ah, that hurts. Do I look like someone who would sell fake things?”
“But isn’t it too much to sell a real one, though...”

25
“Let pure-hearted souls like us not get into an altercation. Look here, the wire fences,
the barricades, the warning for the land mines, things like that. All the other things
you see elsewhere are all fake. Evil-spirited people got them from any construction
site and give you a crock of shit, saying they’re authentic. It’s been five years since
unification. Don’t think there’s even a pebble left in the DMZ. Whereas my things,
they show the government stamp here. They are the official souvenirs of the unified
Korea. One shouldn’t profane the sorrowful history of Korea that was divided for
sixty three years, between us, pure-hearted souls.”
“Mister, you’re from south Korea, right? You can fool me, too. Did you not buy this
badge from a north Korean?”
“Mister? Hey, don’t drive me crazy. Who’s the mister here? Me? I am a bachelor. I
don’t look like someone who should be called a mister.”
Pointing at Lee Gang, Yi Seon-u went on.
“You call someone like him, mister. I should be called an older brother. Don’t you
feel your mind clearing the minute our eyes crossed? You know what I mean, young
lady?”
“...”
“You’re rather passive, aren’t you? Good, that’s good. Women should be like that.
It’s more appealing that way. But let’s take a pause here. The thing you’re holding
there, it’s a genuine Kim Il Sung badge. If that’s a fake, then my kidney is a fake. I
purchased it from a special task force north Korean officer last week.”
Lee Gang’s eyes turned cool. The woman quietly handed the badge to him, slightly
brushing her finger against his. Lee Gang rubbed the badge in his palm. With an
5)
A well-known North Korean
annoyed expression, Yi Seon-u snatched the Kim Il Sung badge from his hand.
musical group. “What’re you doing with something you’re not even going to buy? Don’t you know
 rubbing an object is also a kind of sexual harassment, mister?”
Yi Seon-u turned to the woman again.
“Even if the world is full of mistrust, if I were to cheat you with such a heartbreaking
object like this, then I’ll surely end up cleaning the bathroom in hell. If you miss an
important chance and lose a treasure then you’ll of course be very suspicious. Can’t
you see some kind of a halo around me? I am only telling you this because I believe
truth will get through to you. As for its collectible value, well, twenty years from now,
it could maybe end up in a museum. Think about it. How many people in north Korea
do you think wore Kim Il Sung’s badge on their heart?”
“Its owner must’ve felt bad...”
“What can he do? He needs the money. When the Soviet Union went under, there
were badges for sale in the marketplaces. The north Korean officers are now in a
pitiful situation. Poverty is not a sin, but when your pride is gone, then it’s the end ...
But on the other hand he could’ve sold it because he got fed up with Kim Il Sung.”
“...How much is it?”
The two began bargaining about the price. From the beginning, Yi Seon-u was
demanding a very steep amount.
Lee Gang felt forlorn. He also viewed the woman who wanted to buy such a
thing at a place like this at night, as strange. But then, after the unification the north
Korean wave was, from time to time, in vogue in south Korea. It drew criticism when
convenient stores sold the paintings of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jung Il that were popular.
26

It seemed, to south Korean people the residual fragments of a collapsed totalitarian

nation were as amazing as a dinosaur footprint.
“Expensive? In light of our young lady’s pure soul, this comes to me as a big shock.
Would you actually sell an Order of Military Merit? This in north Korea is equivalent
to that. No, you can’t compare. Because the Great Leader was like a God. That’s why
this is like a medal awarded by God. Think of what a great honor it is if you’re a
churchgoer and you were given a medal by God? What would an Order of Merit from
Jesus to the minister be like? It worries me that Koreans have such little appreciation
of history. I might get thrashed for saying this, but as an intellectual, I want to point
out that they shouldn’t have removed the statue of Kim Il Sung in north Korea. It
could be a relic for tourism. The Egyptians didn’t blow up the Pyramids because
the Pharaohs behaved like God. It’s all because of those Protestants who threw a fit,
saying that the country will go down the drain with the worship of an idol. Don’t tell
anyone since it’s between us, intellectuals.”
The anti-communism law was still very much in effect even after unification; in
fact, it was more staunchly observed.
“...”
“This thing, here, eh, is Lenin’s tooth. That’s right. It’s like Lenin’s molar. How old
are you, miss? Do you know who Lenin is, anyway? Do you know about the Soviet
Union? You know about the Earth? Where we’re engaged in this sad conversation is
called Earth. Earth, the blue planet in the galaxy.”
Yi Seon-u who was rambling on to the woman, but to no avail, was getting anxious
and quite annoyed with Lee Gang who was standing next to them, watching them in
silence.
“Hey Mister, what’s with you? Why are you just standing there? Go, I don’t want
to see you. I am not going to sell anything to you.”
Chuckling about Yi Seon-u’s haranguing, Lee Gang crossed the asphalt road.
If his organization found out that he was doing a drug like the Red Eye, Lee Gang,
as an officer, was sure to suffer a heavy blow. Even though Oh Nam-cheol was the Big
Boss, it was Lee Gang’s role to command Daedongang. The members’ confidence in
him was absolute. For formality’s sake, Jo Myeong-do and Lee Gang were of the same
rank, but there was no one, including Jo Myeong-do, himself who believed that, and
there was only one person, and that included Jo Myeong-do who wanted to believe it.
Jo Myeong-do was solitarily scrutinizing him.
That night, Lee Gang did not seek out Yi Seon-u to obtain the Red Eye. Could
the death of Lim Byung-mo have confounded and depressed him? Lee Gang simply
wanted to see anybody. It must not have been all too pleasant for him to savagely
interrogate Chief Ko earlier. At any rate there was no one else that he felt somewhat
comfortable with in unified Korea, except for the peddler who did not even know
his name or what he did. From the first time Lee Gang saw Yi Seon-u, there was
something about him that just did not feel all too unfamiliar. He thought he could
now understand a little of Yi Seon-u who would rant and rave about the world, then
crashing on the table in the middle of it for he was too drunk. You, too, are alone. Like
me, you too have died but are living.
Lee Gang turned around as soon as he crossed the deserted crosswalk. The woman
was accepting a brown envelope from Yi Seon-u. Lee Gang did not know that besides

27
Lenin’s molar, there was the Red Eye inside.
Right then, he heard two men not too far away from him, whispering.
“What’s she buying there? Cookies?”
“Talk about getting around. Let’s get her now.”
“Let’s wait a little.”

Ah, I must be crazy. What on earth have I done? Lee Gang bit his lips. He just could
not comprehend what he did. A killer like Lee Gang had to abide by the principle
concerning life. Why is it called the principle of life? Because if he did not adhere
to it, then he would most likely jeopardize his own life. Those, who disrupted other
people’s principles to deprive them of their lives, had to be strict with their own
principle. Lee Gang’s principle when it came to human life was that unless it had
to do with duty, he would never intervene in other people’s affairs. That night, he
disobeyed his principle as though he was possessed. But instead, it could be that he
might have saved a strange woman’s life in a strange time. Were they planning on
killing her? “Let’s get her now,” could have meant they were initially going to kidnap
her but with Lee Gang’s abrupt appearance and interference, their plan could have
changed drastically. It was dark all around. The two men beforehand had broken the
street lamp in the alley where she had parked her car. The knife swished past Lee
Gang’s left side. If he had been a little slow, the knife would’ve gone right through his
lung from below. It was not any knife but a product of a skilled hand. Lee Gang had
a taste of terror for the first time in a long time. The two men at a first glance looked
 like carpenters from a construction site. But a ruthless instinct to kill was entrenched
in their crude appearance. The knife made a complete turn and grazed Lee Gang’s left
wrist. This time, it was aiming for the artery. The failed knife flew into the darkness
in an arc and instantly emerged from darkness again. Lee Gang lost his rhythm and
floundered. Am I now a worthless human being? He absolutely had to be. If I get
excited now, the air that is enveloping me will turn into water that is much heavier
than my will to get out of this predicament. This was what Lee Gang was thinking as
he was trying to avoid the knife. Were they soldiers from People’s Army? No, they
weren’t. It was the first time Lee Gang had encountered their type and power. The
two knives were the same in size and shape but if they had been even a little shorter or
longer, Lee Gang would’ve been undoubtedly killed. The two belonged to the same
body. One of them was like the snake’s head, biting the enemy while the other was
the tail of a snake, entwining the enemy. It showed that they were not a simple pair.
Are the emotions effaced? Lee Gang got control of his scattered senses. He disoriented
the guy dashing toward him with his elbow, and changed the course of the knife
that struck the other guy’s right thigh. A scream rang out from the darkness. Lee
Gang clutched the left ear of the guy who was thrown off after injuring his colleague,
and cut it off. A scream overlapped with another scream. The head of the snake was
crushed and the tail of the snake was cut off. Right then, there was a sound of loud
footsteps, making vibrations from trained movements. They were sure to be members
of the same gang as the two fallen men. Lee Gang threw the wet ear on the floor, then
28

grabbed the woman’s hand, and ran toward the dim light in the far distance. At that
moment, a futile regret became his fate. It was not death Lee Gang was afraid of but
he was put off by the fact that he could’ve been killed. Who are they? Who is this
woman? Why did I have to do this? Am I now a worthless person? Aside from these
questions, Lee Gang had too many questions all at once.

Three days after Lee Gang’s return from Pyongyang.

Mansusan, where boshingtang(6) was served, was a place that was more elegant and
extravagant than an expensive Japanese restaurant. In a deluxe dining room with
sliding screen doors, Oh Nam-cheol and Jo Myeong-do were sitting across from Yun
Sang-hi and Jang Yong-su with a hot pot of dog meat, a boiled dog meat dish, and two
bottles of Bourguignon between them. From early on, Oh Nam-cheol was rambling
on, drinking most of the wine.
In contrast to the other people who were all dressed formally, Oh Nam-cheol
was wearing a faded color warm-up suit. Yun Sang-hi and Jang Young-su could’ve
thought that the big boss of Dadongang, Oh Nam-cheol, had come straight from his
jogging session but he ordinarily never wore anything but a cheap shirt and cotton
pants. Seventy-year-old Oh Nam-cheol had never gone jogging in his life.
Just because he was dressed cheaply, it didn’t mean that he looked poor. He had
thick white hair and his skin with a ruddy complexion had amazingly few wrinkles.
His eyes in particular were shiny like that of a child — except it was creepy to see
6)
Dog meat delicacy. them in an old man’s face. With a tendency to speak obsequiously to his listeners,
he was short and thin, giving him a purposeful look; his passionate voice, which
lacked a definite message, made his audience tense. This kind of appearance and aura
of Oh Nam-cheol formed a bizarre ensemble with General Youngster who was very
tall and always dressed in an expensive suit with his bloodshot, crafty looking eyes;
both of them together were enough to completely intimidate anyone. Oh Nam-cheol
and General Youngster were complimentary colors to each other. When they were
combined, they turned black, making it impossible to see through them.
Oh Nam-cheol had wanted General Youngster to accompany him, but changed his
mind when he found out that he was sick after drinking. Even if it wasn’t for that,
of late there were many days when General Youngster was ailing for no reason. The
members of Daedongang were speaking among themselves that General Youngster
had depleted almost all of his supernatural powers.
“Madame might know this already, but...”
Oh Nam-cheol addressed almost all women as Madame. Accordingly, the Madame
he was referring to was Yun Sang-hi.
“In the Republic, dog meat is called sweet meat. In the beginning, it was called dog
meat there also. You know that the Yankees abhor eating dog meat. But there was a
French politician dining with the Great Leader, who didn’t know it was dog meat that
he was eating and said, how sweet it tastes. After that, the Great Leader gave an order
to call dog meat, sweet meat. Since then, that’s what it became known as. Frankly,
boshingtang in south Korea has too many things mixed in and it’s hard to tell what

29
it should really taste like. The sweet meat in north Korea tastes quite delicate. What’s
different is all you get is the meat with the sauce. And, that’s right, a side dish of
refreshing kimchi. That’s it.”
“I see.”
“Another thing that’s different is there’s no pesticide in north Korea. My apologies
for saying this in the middle of eating but the excrement is the only fertilizer and that’s
why the vegetables tastes like they should. Indeed, the vegetables are exceptional.
Pardon me, but how old is the Madame?”
“I am thirty-years-old.
“Ah, thirty ... An age when you could pluck a star from the sky.”
“Eh, Head Director, Gang is...” Jo Myeong-do cautiously interjected. “Uh, it’s odd,
his hand phone is turned off and ... it doesn’t look like he’s coming. I think we’ll have
to proceed without him.”
Oh Nam-cheol remained deaf.
“Are you still single?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Are you still unmarried?”
“Yes, I’m still.”
“Who’s going to believe our Madame is thirty-years old? You look like you’re just
over twenty.”
“That’a big compliment.”
“Our female comrades’ beauty is a national pride and joy. The problem is our men
whom we can’t be too proud of. Doctor Ahn Jung Geun was only in his twenties
when he was active in the Independence movement against Japan. But what about the
young men of today? Where can you find a brave soul who will fight for his country
 and people? If they at least don’t kill themselves after doing nothing but dance and
romance, that’s something to be praised. Dr. Yun Bong Gil was only twenty-four when
he heroically threw a lunchbox bomb at the party of the Japs. Only twenty-four years
old. The poet, Yi Yuk-sa was twenty-three when he took part in the bombing of the
Chosun Bank in Daegu. Anyway, these men addressed themselves most respectfully
even when they were quite young — that’s why their worldview can be said to have
been also quite mature. Men of today benefit from great nutrition but their intellectual
maturity level falls quite behind. This is what I am saying.”
“You are young, also.”
“Darn, all my nonsense deserves a punch from Madame.”
“No, I really mean it. What do you usually eat to be able to maintain such a youthful
look?
“...What do I eat? ...Let’s see. I was relatively all right before my experience at Yodeok
POW Camp but I’ve become a living corpse now, a living corpse. Ha, ha, ha.”
Except Oh Nam-cheol, no one laughed.
“You’re Madame Yun, right?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Your surname is, I mean.”
“That’s correct.”
“Oh yes, the first time I saw you, how should I put it, I thought to myself, I’d just
seen a flower girl. If I had known that such a lovely woman would join us, I would’ve
30

suggested another place, and not a sweet meat restaurant. Looks like since President
Choi was in Japan, I think, it was assumed that some rough punks would show up
instead...”
Oh Nam-cheol turned to Jo Myeong-do.
“Good. What kind of a job are you doing?”
“I, I had no way of knowing.”
“If a dumb ass is in the lead, then his entire people will end up in the land mine.
Rectify it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Oh Nam-cheol turned his attention to Yun Sang-hi again.
“Please pardon me for my discourtesy. But what’re we to do, since you can’t eat
anything here?”
“No, I apologize for having a fussy palate.”
“It’s true that old men like modest young people.” Oh Nam-cheol chuckled.
For Yun Sang-hi, to match Oh Nam-cheol at his level, it was as strenuous as trying
to thwart an impeccably set up conspiracy. She had heard that he was an unbelievable
eccentric, but that was an understatement resulting from a lack of expression. He was
a monster.
There were rampant speculations and legends about a senior north Korean man
who showed up in the heart of Seoul after the unification and in less than five years,
succeeded in establishing a powerful organization and built a massive sized business.
The unknown Oh Nam-cheol, along with unknown men, mobilized unknown
capital and resorted to unknown methods, established himself as a fearful leader of
the underground in the midst of the chaos in unified Korea. He acted as though he
knew all along what was going to happen in the future, and it was eerie how his
premonitions were always on target.
Yun Sang-hi was thinking, that old man does not hide his truth. He simply distorts
it without any self-consciousness. He is a madman. However, he is much more
pragmatic than those who are not crazy. He is unfathomable in an intricate way.
Yun Sang-hi compared him to Choi Yeol. If Choi Yeol were a boulder, then Oh Nam-
cheol was a fog. Who would be a more fitting villain in this cacophony? Then she felt
flustered when an image of a man popped up in her head against her will, all of a
sudden.
Turning to Jang Yong-su, Oh Nam-cheol spoke,
“Why are you so quiet? Want a drink?”
It was Yun Sang-hi who replied.
“He has to drive. If I may, instead?”
Yun Sang-hi emptied out a full glass of wine.
“An Amazonian woman, you are. There’s a saying that how much you can drink
is synonymous with one’s generosity of heart and spirit and now I see why President
Choi sent Madame Yun here. There’s bound to be a woman who’s more worthy than
ten men put together.”
“I am greatly flattered. Truthfully speaking, I am small-minded. I am wimpish, too.”
“Wimpish? You mean, you’re not ballsy? Ha, ha.”
“Ballsy? What do you mean?”
“Myeong-do, how do they say it here?”

31
“Eh, gutsy, I think, is what they call it.”
“No, I’m not a ballsy woman.”
“Ha, ha, ha. I see, all right, I’ll accept...You might view it strangely but this is what
I enjoy, sweet meat with wine. They taste amazingly good together.”
At that moment, the sliding door opened and Lee Gang walked into the room. He
did not seem at all apologetic for being late. His left hand was lightly wrapped in a
bandage. Lee Gang bowed to Oh Nam-cheol who was sitting right in front of him.
Yun Sang-hi and Jang Yong-su did not turn around. A composed demeanor was the
norm in this world. Lee Gang surmised the woman with long, wavy hair was the
secretary and the man next to her, Choi Yeol. Oh Nam-cheol greeted him with a smile,
as he would to his son.
“Right, that’s the way.”
As Oh Nam-cheol mumbled contentedly, Jo Myeong-do snapped at Lee Gang.
“Look here, what’s with you, our Head Director...um.”
With a sharp look, Oh Nam-cheol intercepted Jo Myeong-do, who shut his mouth, and
stopped reprimanding Lee Gang who sat down on the right side of Oh Nam-cheol.
“Where did you injure your hand?”
“It’s a slight burn.”
Lee Gang saw Yun Sang-hi and Jang Yong-su. Yun Sang-hi and Jang Yong-su saw
Lee Gang, too. It was a moment in which animal instinct was felt between them.
“Madame Yun.”
“...Yes? Yes.”
Putting his hand on Lee Gang’s shoulder, Oh Nam-cheol spoke,
“He is my precious sword. The work you’ve been doing with Lim Byung-mo comes
to a closure here tonight. Lim Byung-mo was going to be in charge up until Lee Gang
 came back from Pyongyang then take over, so there shouldn’t be any problem.”
“I am sorry to hear what happened to Lim Byung-mo.”
“Don’t fret over it. Men are born to die; it’s just a difference of when.”
Jo Myeong-do clenched his teeth, in secret. Lee Gang and Yun Sang-hi exchanged a
bow, from a seated position. Yun Sang-hi handed her business card to Lee Gang who
scrutinized it. He had to hold back a bitter smile. Yun Sang-hi scrutinized Lee Gang’s
left hand.
“I don’t have a business card on me now.”
Lee Gang gave a penetrating look at Jang Yong-su who was hitherto unnoticed
because of Yun Sang-hi. Jang Yong-su was overtly glaring at him, too. The tip of Jang
Yong-su’s lip curled slightly toward his left cheek that had the mark of a knife. Oh
Nam-cheol spoke,
“Frankly speaking, it’s hard to feel brotherhood between north and south after
unification but I’m greatly moved by the President’s show of passionate affection for
Daedongang. Please convey my most heartfelt feelings for him.”
“President Choi has also told us to convey his word of thanks.”
“No, no. It’s a disgrace for me, then. As I say, unification is in name only, and
we are actually refugees here. If it weren’t for your magnanimous brotherhood, we
wouldn’t be here. In my opinion, President Choi Yeol is a nationalist. He would
certainly have been a leader of the independence movement if it had been during
the Colonial period. Our guys, no matter how much we feed them, they don’t put on
32

weight whereas the south Korean dudes are all tall and robust. That’s not all. Except
for Lee Gang here, no matter how expensive the clothes, they don’t look good in them.
The traces of poverty just cannot be removed. It’s all because of the mechanism of
heart. Of course, it’s important what you grew up eating but these guys’ hearts ache
and feel the void. For us north Korean people who’ve come to live in south Korea, we
all feel the sorrow of being an alien here. That’s why what we eat does not become our
flesh, and what we wear doesn’t look stylish. Darn, what’s the use of being somber
about all this? It’s all because I’m getting old and there aren’t that many days left for
me to live. I better go soon. It’s a new country so it’s best if old people go quickly to
provide a path for the young. If we try a little harder, don’t you think, there’ll be a day
when us north Koreans can live with dignity? Myeong-do, be sure to feed and dress
our boys well!”
“Yes, of course, Head Director.”
“Unification is not just for the select few at the top to live an extravagant life. We
must cultivate new leaders suitable for a new era, understand?”
“Totally in agreement, Head Director.”
Casting a penetrating look on Yun Sang-hi, Oh Nam-cheol spoke in a quite different
tone,
“But you have to give our boys credit for their mental strength. Men aren’t just
made of flesh, you know?”

Han Eul-seol opened the rear door of the Mercedes Benz with great politeness. Oh
Nam-cheol’s face was the color of red wine. Offering his hand to Yun Sang-hi, he kept
repeating gibberish like unified fatherland and Amazonian woman. Lee Gang’s head
was swimming with thoughts. It was the same with Yun Sang-hi.
The torso of Oh Nam-cheol, which was leaning comfortably against the back seat of
the Benz, was gradually replaced by the reflections of Lee Gang and Yun Sang-hi and
Jo Myeong-do’s torso on the black-coated window that was sliding up.
Standing in front of Yun Sang-hi’s car, Jang Yong-su was watching them the whole
time. Kim Deok-gon, a member of Daedongang who was waiting by the Jo Myeong-
do’s car, was waging psychological warfare but Jang Yong-su was not paying the least
attention to him.
Deok-gon just could not stand Jang Yong-su. The strife between north and south
Korean people extended to the gang world . Where did that bastard get his tattoo? Is
it a dragon, or a tiger? The tattoo custom of the south Korean gang members was alien
to the north Korean guys. Whether or not one had a tattoo had been for a while the
laughable criterion in which to distinguish between north and south Korean thugs.
There were some gang members from north Korea who emulated the south Korean
gangs and got themselves a tattoo but if a member of Daedongang were to get one,
he would instantly be executed. That is because Oh Nam-cheol had ordered his men
never to have their body engraved with a picture or words. He said it is humiliating
for the chivalrous fighters of Korea to copy the childish behavior of the Jap Yakuzas.
At first Deok-gon wanted to pick a fight with Jang Yong-su who had an arrogant face

33
but mistaking Jang Yong-su’s focus on Yun Sang-hi and her surroundings as his fear
of Deok-gon, he felt satisfied with just glaring at Jang Yong-su. In actuality, it was this
positive thinking of his that very well saved his life. Some people unconsciously end
up holding on to their lives through a pathetic means like that.
The Benz driven by Han Eun-seul started. Yun Sang-hi looked at Lee Gang. Lee
Gang looked at her. Jo Myeong-do stole a glance at the two exchanging the look. Jo
Myeong-do had a highly refined antenna. Lee Gang knew that better than anyone else
but he could not help it at that moment.
But the Benz that was pulling away from the parking lot suddenly came to a halt.
Han Eul-seul ran to the three people who were perplexed. Jang Yong-su frowned.
Han Eul-seul stood before Lee Gang.
“Head Director is asking you to come with him.”
“What for?”
It was not Lee Gang, but Jo Myeong-do who asked the question.
“I have no idea. He’s asking Director Lee to get in the car.”
“And me?”
The reason was not all that important. That treacherous old man is at it again. Jo
Myeong-do was mortally offended at being secluded.
Han Eun-seul was expressionless. Jo Myeong-do was the type who enslaved those
close to him, and viewed those as enemies who were distant from him. It was best not
to give even an inch. If Jo Myeong-do was his subordinate, Han Eun-seul would’ve
liked to shoot him but what can he do ... He found it frustrating and inconsiderate that
Lee Gang, who was in position to put Jo Myeong-do in his place, wouldn’t do it. Han
Eun-seul was not possibly the only man who felt that way. It was uncertain whether
or not Lee Gang knew about Jo Myeong-do’s mean and base character but when it
 came to him Lee Gang was magnanimous to the point of being a bystander.
“He didn’t say. Director Lee, please come.”
Seeing Jo Myeong-do’s flushed face, Yun Sang-hi found the situation quite
intriguing. It was an important business agenda to assess the hierarchical relationship
of the other company. Yun Sang-hi intuited that Jo Myeong-do could serve as a risky
variable.
But lo and behold, the variable occurred in an entirely unexpected manner. Instead
of Oh Nam-cheol’s Benz, Lee Gang walked toward Jang Yong-su. Jang Yong-su’s eyes
turned hawk-like. Deok-gon bowed to Lee Gang.
“You get inside.” Lee Gang told Deok-gon.
“What? Oh, yes.”
Deok-gon got into the driver’s side of Jo Myeong-do’s car and shut the door.
Lee Gang and Jang Yong-su looked at each other.
“Do you know me?”
“...”
“I asked you if you’ve seen me before.”
“You haven’t changed.”
“...”
“I was a member of the special forces under the command of the Ministry of the
People’s Armed Forces. At the 15th Attack Center of the People’s army, I was trained
by you, Major, how to kill people.”
34

“...How did you end up with those people?”

“Isn’t it a Great Unified Korea? Or magnificent brotherhood? There’s no law that
bans a north Korean from being part of a south Korean organization.”
“What was your rank?”
“I was a Master Gunnery Sergeant but I am nothing now.”
“Nothing, eh?”
“You often told us, there is no one more scary than a man who is nothing, therefore
become one.”
“Is that what I said?”
“I hope there’s a lot more you’ve forgotten besides that. It will be good for your
well-being, especially for people like us.”
“...What do I look like to you now?”
“I just said it. You haven’t changed.”
“Haven’t changed?”
“It’s neither good or bad.”
“...”
“...”
“For someone who’s come to sell his body in south Korea, your comedic skills have
improved greatly, to put us at the same rank.”
“...”
“Go tell that strange woman who’s your boss that Lenin’s tooth is a fake.”
“...”
Jang Yong-su suddenly had a look of someone who was lost. Copying Jang Yong-su
inside Mansusan, Lee Gang curled the tip of his right lip.
 10

The Benz was driving along the Han riverside. Lee Gang felt uneasy about all the
inscrutable encounters he’s had lately. To view them as chance meetings did not seem
quite right. Let’s not think about it. Then nothing will happen. Lee Gang persuaded
himself to think in this way. From the flock of birds flying over the steel bridge, one
broke away from the line and was descending toward the little island faraway.
Oh Nam-cheol who had his eyes closed the whole time opened his mouth to
speak.
“Turn it on.”
Startled by the loud sound jumping out of the speaker, Han Eul-seol quickly
lowered the volume. Oh Nam-cheol opened his eyes.
“I am sorry, Head Director.”
Oh Nam-cheol was a big fan of Western classical music. Rachmaninov’s piano
concerto was playing. Oh Nam-cheol was a hybrid aesthete whose fussy tastes were
intermixed with elements that are fundamentally inharmonious, manifesting in a
bizarre combination that was difficult to judge its merit. Just like the dog meat and
wine, for example. And the same could be said of the marriage of the Daedongang
Head Director and classical music. The two extreme worlds co-existed within Oh
Nam-cheol. Like Jo Gwang Jo,(7) he was tormented, adhering to a principle, but he

35
was also obsessed with an aesthetic quest, like Baudelaire. The fragmentation as a
result of a collision between an inextinguishable flame and ice that does not melt
was Oh Nam-cheol, in a nutshell. He was a man who committed murder, like an
appreciation of art, for the ideology that he worshipped. The satan ended up having
a crush on the nun in the midst of destroying the church.
“Why do you walk when you have a car?”
“...”
“If those people saw you like this, what’ll they say about me? Don’t you understand
that we, north Koreans can easily be misunderstood no matter what we do?”
“...”
“I don’t like driving.”
“What kind of an answer is that? Just pick a suitable person to drive for you. Hmm.
Myeong-do would conjure up a car so that he could drive but what’s the matter with
you?”
“Did you want me to ride with you to tell me this? But you’re the one who transferred
Eul-seul to another department?”
“What? Is Eul-seul the only guy who can drive for you?”
7)
Jo Gwang-jo (1482–1519)
“I can’t seem to find anyone who I like, besides him.”
was Korean Neo-Confucian “Aigo, I’m moved to tears, you bastards.”
scholar who pursued radical
reforms during the early 16th
Han Eul-seul, who was looking at Lee Gang through the rear view mirror, and Lee
century. He was sentenced Gang, who was looking at Eul-seul in the mirror, were both smiling. Han Eul-seul was
to drink poison in the Third
Literati Purge of 1519. He
the younger brother of Han Gil-su who was mistakenly shot to death by Detective
has been revered as a martyr Mun.
and an embodiment of the
“virtuous scholar” by later
“Head Director, couldn’t you have Myeong-do do this type of work from now on?
generations. It’s just not my type of job.”
 “This type of work?”
“Signing contracts, and things like that. I am more comfortable managing the store
and the boys — since I don’t know much.”
“Myeong-do is too clever. In other words, he’s dumb. He has his heart set in
something else. He doesn’t know the most scary thing in the world is an old man.”
“Even now he seems disappointed. He’s accomplished a lot.”
“Attaboy, I see you haven’t lost your sharpness.”
“So it is possible to let him? The person with a passion can succeed in what he does.”
“You mean, you lack passion?”
“...”
Oh Nam-cheol handed Lee Gang an old gun that he took out of a drawer attached
to the rear of the front seat.
“I used it as a young man.”
“...It’s a 68 pistol. It’s been a while since I laid my hands on it.”
Lee Gang took out the magazine from the gun barrel and saw that there were eight
bullets secured.
“When Kim Jong Il inspected the military base, he always bestowed his gun, saying
the gun never betrayed its owner. Well, he was quite wrong about. The true appeal of
a gun is that even after commanding it, once it’s taken from me, I fall prey to it. That’s
what it’s about...here, you keep this.”
“...Why me?”
36

“It means there’s no one else but you I trust.”

The 68 pistol. Lee Gang was thinking. In 1968 when the students in Europe were
protesting by means that were little more than camping out at school, north Korea
was copying the Soviet-made TT-33 pistol to make this gun. Student Revolution?
Revolution was something you did with guns at the national assembly or at the
broadcasting company. Shouting a literary slogan, “We ban banning,” on the streets
and in the theaters of Paris was a performance, not a revolution. On January 21, 1968,
31 men from Unit 124, which is affiliated with the National Security Office sub-division
in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, made a surprise attack of the Blue
House. Twenty-seven of these men, who underwent hellish training, such as sleeping
next to a corpse after digging one up, died and the remaining two were captured alive
but one of them killed himself by exploding a grenade. The sole survivor, twenty-six
year old Kim Shin-jo later became a Protestant deacon after marrying a woman who
corresponded with him while he was serving his prison term. All 30 members of Unit
124 each had in their possession a special restricted number TT-33. Although it had
failed, Lee Gang believed, that is how a revolution should be carried out. He could
not trust any revolution that did not pay the price with blood. And it’s been long time,
since all that he wanted to desperately change had long vanished from his life. Even
though he was alive, he was not really living. Lee Gang inserted the bullets into the
magazine again. 1968, 48 years ago from today. The 68 pistol. It was not an easy gun to
use as it had a strong recoil and was therefore mostly used by the Ministry of Public
Security men. How many men did the young Oh Nam-cheol send to the netherworld
with this gun? The netherworld?
What awaits us after we die? Can it really be that I am a materialist?
“I heard north Korea was better off than south Korea when they were making
 these.
“They didn’t even have a single tank when we attacked them.”
“...”
“Chief Ko reported it to me. It was a useless thing to do.”
“It’s not clear to me.”
“What isn’t?”
“I observed detective Mun somewhat carefully, and he doesn’t seem like someone
who’d harbor a grudge and murder someone. And if he was shot straight on at night
that means, unless it was a Special Force unit member, it had to be someone very
close for there is no way Byeong-mo would’ve not done anything. You know better
than anyone, just how good he was. I am sure he was a bit drunk at the time but he
probably became sober when he got into an argument with Detective Mun...how did
his body look?”
Even if it weren’t for an exigent circumstance like this, it was the custom for the
Head Director Oh to collect the dead body of the Daedongang members. It was Oh
Nam-cheol’s expression of his most noble love for his subordinates.
“...”
“He was shot from a close range, right? Was there perhaps anything noteworthy?”
“Director Lee?”
“Yes?”
“About a hundred years ago, there was the Prohibition Era in America. A society

37
without alcohol ... what an amazing delusion it was. You can see how the Puritans
were as outrageous as the Communists. How can human beings survive without
alcohol and prostitution? In the end, it just made only the gangsters rich and was
abolished after about ten years. All the famous movies on gangsters are based on
stories from that period. Even to this day, the streets of America are controlled by
the gangs and corrupt police. The organizations founded by immigrants are really
scary. It so happens that once they are exiled to their home country, the gangs are
imported back, and then from there on they spread worldwide. Committing your first
murder as a teen and imprisonment afterward is your initiation rite. These gangs have
triple, quadruple control of the jails. That’s the reality of America, our International
Police.”
The predictions about the future, by scientists were completely off, that is, America
would collapse and either the European Union or China would take over sovereignty
in international politics. The U.S. still reigned supreme. The two nuclear warheads that
were in North Korean possession were seized by the U.S. This was another decisive
blow to the north Koreans whose pride was already wounded. The south Koreans
who were being denounced as misers and sex maniacs were now also condemned as
servants of the Imperialist.
8)
A North Korean political “Do you think people like us could’ve lived so well if unified Korea had run
philosophy that is sometimes smoothly? If we can consider this as a fatherland, then our fatherland has become a
translated in North Korean
sources as “independent garbage dump. It was the same during the Prohibition Era. Be thankful for the chaos.
stand” or “spirit of self- Do you know what your problem is? You are always seeking an answer. Don’t look
reliance.” According to Kim
Il-sung, the Juche idea is for an answer. The world is not a dictionary of Juche(8) philosophy. It’s because you
based on the belief that “man are searching for an answer that you’re more confused than the world. It’s because
is the master of everything
and decides everything.” you are searching for an answer that you are attached to the dead. Being scrupulous?
 Of course, it’s necessary. But the particulars are particulars and the whole is whole.
The survivors are strong when it comes to the whole. You have to be able to evaluate
the whole well in order to distinguish between what you should do and shouldn’t
do. In a time of chaos, being strong in particulars is merely about emotional strife. An
answer? There is no such thing anywhere in this world. How can there be an answer
when the question doesn’t make sense? I can understand you. Because we lived in
such a society. In north Korea where good and evil, foe and comrade are clear-cut and
if not, it’s a catastrophe.”
“...”
“You didn’t just stay put in Pyongyang, did you?”
“There’s no need to even mention places outside of Pyongyang. It’ll take a good
hundred years to be developed like south Korea. Pyongyang is just like south Korea.
It’s become a madhouse.”
“Hundred years? That is, assuming the country doesn’t go under.”
“After being here for a long time, I could see how we’ve lived like animals there.”
The corporations and the rich from south Korea were flocking to the north to buy
the desolate lands. There was also a throng of people who claimed their rights to the
land before the Korean War.
If south Korea was in chaos, then north Korea was about terror. Because there was
no electricity, the nights in north Korea were darkness, itself. A little outside of the
city, one could not even go on an official duty without protection in an armored car.
38

Some of those who were discharged from the People’s army by force kept in their
possession the conventional arms and were dispersed all over north Korea. They were
not partisans. Lacking in a kind of ideology, they were simply bandits and insurgents.
The scenes of the anti-government guerillas in Africa that the National Geographic
covered were re-enacted in the north of the Korean peninsula.
“Look at what happened after the unification of East Germany that was the
wealthiest on this side and West Germany, which was wealthiest on the other side.
It’s because it was Germany that they could endure. South Korea has long gone
bankrupt.”
Among the Socialist countries, the GNP of East Germany ranked number one
with around three thousand dollars but that was still one-tenth of West Germany.
The difference in the GNP between south and north Korea in 2011 was even by a
conservative estimate about forty times greater. The economic power of south
Korea was one-third of Germany of 1990; therefore, in simple arithmetic, the cost of
unification that Korean had to bear was twelve times that of a German. It was the 26th
year of German unification, but the country was still staggering.
“From the south Koreans’ point of view, unification shouldn’t have happened.
As for the north Korean people, other than starving less, there are too many off-
putting things to put up with. Anyway, the south Korean way of capitalism is all
about real estate. That’s because since the Joseon Era, people have been disgusted
with the exploitation by the nobility and the rich. It was the Republic that uprooted
that reactionary trait but look at what these venomous S.O.B.s are doing in the north.
These are the bastards who will build a church at the summit of Myohwang Mountain,
and claim Daedongang as theirs with a piece of document. As I see it, the turbulent
period is almost over. Something drastic is bound to happen to this country. It will
happen soon enough.”
The Mount Myohwang that was two hours away from Pyongyang was considered
a sacred place and consequently not a tree could be pruned in the north Korea of the
past. Even when all the mountains were being deforested because of the shortage
of food and energy, Myohwang Mountain was well-preserved. It was this Mount
Myohwang that was being ravaged, on account of development after unification, for
tourism with the south Korean capital. Lee Gang felt the same rage as Oh Nam-cheol.
Yet he still wanted to ask. It will happen soon enough? So what are we going to do
about it? What kind of an ending do you have in mind?
Their car was now in downtown. There was heavy traffic. There was an incredibly
long line on the street. At the so-called “unification soup kitchen” the unified
government was offering a meal a day to the north Korean refugees. In Seoul alone,
there were about twenty such places. It was a modest safety net.
“If they were to start a rebellion, do you think it will make the south Korean
reactionaries think a little?”
“What?”
“Think of how much the south Koreans must disdain those people.”
The stray cats, which were rampant in south Korea, were nowhere to be seen. That’s
because the north Korean men captured them all with a trap and a net, in the mini-
parks of the apartments and neighborhood empty lots, and then skinned them and
barbecued them. The south Koreans were not going to thank them for exterminating

39
all the stray cats for what the north Koreans were doing were more painful to them
than a bad nightmare. Even if there was the slightest sign of a welfare facility being
built for handicapped children, then the democratic citizens of south Korean would
immediately stage a protest and collect signatures. Frankly speaking, the children’s
parks in decrepit areas were, even before the unification, a space for despairing adults
to condemn the world while drinking in the middle of the day. It was just that the faces
and the inclinations of these adults have somewhat changed but the south Koreans,
like they’ve always been, are in denial of their self-portrait of the past and reacted in
a sickening manner.
Things were getting more and more interesting. Incredible rumors were circulating.
The most interesting one among them was the appearance of a cannibal spirit. A man,
who during the March of Ordeal could not endure the hunger and ate human flesh,
could not get over the taste and after unification he came to Seoul and selected only
south Koreans to murder and feasted on their hearts. Unfortunately, there were serial
reports of missing people but since there hadn’t been a corpse that was discovered
without a heart, this rumor was an example of how much the south Koreans disdained
the north Koreans. Unified Korea was still in a divided state internally, and a regional
prejudice arose that was even more vicious than the one between Gyeongsang and
Jeolla Provinces.
“Choi Yeol looks suspicious to me.”
“When is he coming back from Japan?”
“...He’s not going to be easy.”
“Isn’t it only natural that should be so, if it’s Choi Yeol?”
“The despicable woman. I’d only heard about her, but I think I know now.”
“...Are you talking about Yun Sang-hi?
 “Sitting demurely like that but a woman of her rank in our world is not a mere
woman. She is like a whole army.”
“It didn’t seem that way to me.”
“How would you know that?”
In the eyes of the old man, who has experienced everything but death, Lee Gang
was reflected. Lee Gang instantly knew he had made a blunder.
“You saw how she was.”
“The truth of a woman is only revealed when she betrays. Before that she’s only a
phantom.”
“...”
Red satin hung from a low ceiling and covered the entire wall of the narrow
prayer room. Lee Gang tore a piece from the bottom. Luckily, his cut was not deep.
He used the red satin like a bandage and wrapped it around his side. The blood
permeated through the soft layer of the red satin. The woman tore the red satin. Lee
Gang looked at her. The woman came toward him. Folding the piece of a red satin,
she rolled it around Lee Gang’s finger and tied it. Lee Gang was rather taken aback
by the woman’s composed demeanor. The woman did not remain quiet from shock.
She was purposely not saying much. She was quite familiar with how to react in
an unexpected situation. Who are you, woman? It was only when they were going
through a corridor that Lee Gang realized the place he had barely managed to escape
to, with him dragging the woman, was a church with its lights off. Through the open
40

door of the church, a large wooden cross was visible. There was a picture of a praying
blond boy in the dim prayer room. Who are you, I asked? Is that what you’re curious
about? That was the first conversation they had. The woman kept her calm. Was it
because of her, but Lee Gang, too, suddenly felt subdued. Did you know those men?
They probably knew who I was. She was definitely a strange woman. When Lee Gang
was running from the darkness toward the dim light, clutching the woman’s hand, he
had a similar experience of a man jumping down from a rooftop, and remembering
everything he’d done in his life in a very brief time. Lee Gang wondered how he could
be so unlike himself. The Lee Gang that he glimpsed was very alien to him. And the
cool voice coming out of General Youngster’s mouth penetrated his innermost heart.
You are going to kill yourself. You are going to kill yourself. If he had a gun that
night, could things have been easier? But since it was a confrontation with expert
knife-wielding guys, a gun would’ve been of no help anyway. Lee Gang couldn’t
remember from when, but he’d been afraid of carrying a gun on him. If Daedongang
members knew, they would break into laughter. The whale is avoiding the sea? He
just couldn’t explain. Lee Gang knew that if he had a gun on him, chances are he’d
end up shooting himself. The whale was enduring the sea. The woman walked over to
the other side, and sat leaning against the wall. But who are you, then? Do you collect
human ears? Lee Gang was stupefied. Why did you rescue me? It finally occurred to
him that if he was not in a position to answer the woman’s questions, then the woman
could be in the same position. The woman took out her phone from her jean pocket.
I am now going to make a call. There is someone who’ll get me out of here safely.
How about you? When this person arrives, you can come with us. We can take you to
wherever you want. Those guys might still be outside. The woman did not mention
the police. I’ll go out now, and let us not get entangled anymore, although it was me
who intervened first. How should I pay you back? Once we leave here, we won’t see
each other again. In the faint darkness, the woman handed him her business card.
That’s okay. I am the one who got myself into this. The woman’s eyes wavered. Lee
Gang thought momentarily. This woman is just pretending to be strong. She’s afraid
that her complicated self might be unveiled. Slipping out of the main building of the
church, Lee Gang moved along tightly against the wall in the garden. He did not hear
any suspicious sound. In the moonlight, Lee Gang gazed at his right hand that held
the woman’s left hand. His hand was bloodstained.
“Capitalism after all is a sea of indefatigable desires — a sea from where you can’t
see land anywhere. Men sail on in a boat about the size of their palm, and believe
they’ll arrive somewhere soon. It is foolhardy. A boat, which can’t anchor itself
anywhere, cannot conquer the sea. Wandering aimlessly in the waves, it will sink
when its time runs out.”
...She was thoroughly prepared. She wanted to get a better sense of the north Korean
men who’ve become her business partners.
That is how Lee Gang misinterpreted Yun Sang-hi’s interest in something like Lenin’s
molar and showed up in a neighborhood like H that was quite unbefitting of her.
...Who sent the carpenter look-alike pair of knife-wielding guys after Yun Sang-hi?
Most likely, they must be the enemies of Choi Yeol. After obtaining a favorable card
called Yun Sang-hi, they probably wanted to start the game with Choi Yeol or ask for
more than that.

41
Lee Gang all of a sudden took a glance at a side view of Oh Nam-cheol.
...Could it be? Did they actually risk a provocation that could almost trigger a war
by sending strange men without telling me? And the night before they were to close a
business contract? Ah, it’s worthless to speculate wildly. Who were those men in the
dark? Who’s behind them?
“...Then what is Socialism? Is it a sea with land within its purview?”
“It’s a ruse. As we know, it’s been found out.”
The three men burst into roaring laughter. Lee Gang and Han Eul-seul stopped
laughing after a while but Oh Nam-cheol continued to the point of almost suffocating.
A deathly silence ensued after his long laughter that brought even tears to his eyes. It
was clearly melancholia everyone felt.
“...Eh, hmm, Choi Yeol must be a romantic of some sort? He was a bachelor and
married a widower who had a daughter. Then his wife died in some kind of an
accident, and his stepdaughter became his mistress. Yun is the woman.”
“What?”
Even Han Eul-seul was astonished.
“It can’t just be a rumor. Why? Because this is south Korea. Ha, ha.”
Lee Gang’s emotions were sucked right into a labyrinth.
“Director Lee, capitalism is not something you get mad at. You have to ignore it.
That’s how you can be happy in south Korea.”
Their Benz was waiting for the traffic light to turn green. Caressing his 68 pistol, Lee
Gang looked out at the famished citizens of a collapsed kingdom, where they were
standing in an endless queue. Lee Gang asked himself. Could it be that I am nothing?
Oh Nam-cheol brought himself to lean against the seat and closed his eyes. Suddenly
Lee Gang’s face became distorted. His left side, which had been nicked by the tip of
 the knife belonging to an enemy whose identity was not known, began to ache.

11

The Benz was driving along the Han riverside. Yun Sang-hi was disturbed by the
mysterious encounter. There was something that was persistent about it to simply
view it as a chance meeting. Yun Sang-hi was a woman whose life was not ordinary
like most women, and therefore she reacted more sensitively to indefinable events
than the obvious ones. The other two occurrences, which had shifted her life to a
direction she had not once imagined, happened with the same kind of oppressive
feeling she felt now.
Above the steel bridge, which looked beautiful under the light, only the dark night
sky could be seen. Let’s not think about it. Yes, let it just pass. Yun Sang-hi tried to
pacify her unsettled mind.
...It’s most reasonable to see it as the act of those who wanted to put President
Choi in a predicament by kidnapping me who’s known as his woman. Their goal
might not be business gain but the end of Choi Yeol. They could not have risked such
a provocation unless they were prepared for the worst, even if they had very little
information on him. They were truly bold and scary men.
...Lee Gang seemed to be acquainted with that eccentric peddler and he did not
42

come there for the shoddy objects but to buy the Red Eye, for certain, and happened to
rescue me by accident. Since they did not recognize each other, they can’t be members
of Daedongang. Who are they? Who are they working for?
Yun Sang-hi prevented Jang Yong-su from letting Choi Yeol know that he had come
to the church in H neighborhood last night to pick her up. And she remained quiet
on the events that took place prior to that. Jang Yong-su did not ask any questions or
betray his thoughts in any way. Like a machine, he was a man who lacked feelings. At
any event, Yun Sang-hi concluded that Jang Yong-su was ultimately faithful to Choi
Yeol. She was about to make a very important decision. At this juncture, when she was
ready to put a closure to her indecisiveness, she could not afford interference from a
variable.
Choi Yeol who had been silent all along with his eyes closed spoke,
“You have to remember, the moment you read the other person is when he reads
you too.”
He thought that Yun Sang-hi’s discomfort was derived from her encounter with
Oh Nam-cheol.
“That’s all right. You were sent there to size him up. As long as you did, that’s what
matters. You’ve discerned something as well, though. Don’t bother, they’re just north
Korean bumpkins.”
“There’s a man called Jo Myeong-do. He is like the number three man, in their
ranking. I don’t know the precise reason but he’s being alienated by Oh Nam-cheol.
We need to keep an eye on him.”
“Jo Myeong-do is just lost and Lee Gang is the main player. We need to get rid of
him. That’s how we can destroy them.”
“...”
 At the sound of the name, Lee Gang, Jang Yong-su glanced at Choi Yeol through
the rear view mirror. Choi Yeol had his hand on Yun Sang-hi’s hand. Contrary to Oh
Nam-cheol’s conviction, their physical relationship extended only this far. Choi Yeol
always stayed within the limit and Yun Sang-hi watched him.
Jang Yong-su was not too thrilled about his reunion with Lee Gang. In north Korea,
Lee Gang was an embodiment of a soldier he wanted to emulate, albeit from afar. He
was distressed to come face to face with Lee Gang in the parking lot of the Palace for
it felt like he was looking at himself. Lee Gang’s eyes did not look the same. His eyes
were bereft of any light. They showed not his pride and confidence of the past, but a
void. Jang Yong-su thought it could perhaps become his task to eliminate Lee Gang,
in which case he decided he would do so without hesitation. Because the Jang Yong-
su in the mirror, who regarded him with eyes that were devoid of light and full of
nihilism, must perish.
Because Choi Yeol’s love toward Yun Sang-hi was not carnal but instead, sacred, it
was problematic. From the first moment he saw the seventeen-year-old Yun Sang-hi,
Choi Yeol found himself in sweet hell. That was Yun Sang-hi’s first encounter with
fate.
After his wife died in a car accident, Choi Yeol sent Yun Sang-hi, who was a senior
in high school, to study in America. Bidding a permanent farewell would have been
intolerable but having her around him meant she would be damaged; for that reason
it was the best alternative for him at that time. But all of a sudden six years later, right

43
before her admission to a graduate school, Yun Sang-hi came back to him. He was
taken much aback by her, who had turned into a woman, and even more startled
when she told him she wanted to work for his organization. Choi Yeol tried his best to
dissuade her but she was adamant. Choi Yeol decided to give into herHis alternative
plan could no longer be long distance love and there was no other way of having her
close by. He was meticulous in all matters but he did not have it in him to suspect Yun
Sang-hi. That’s how one gets hopelessly lost in an uncontrollable desire.
Initially he had thought it would not work but the successor training had brought
about an unexpected outcome. Not only did Yun Sang-hi adjust extremely well, she
consistently achieved great results. It was then Choi Yeol became worried. This is a
child I can never have. I can only keep on looking at her. But he did not regret his
preposterously sacred love or desire for her, as that sweet hell was the only meaning
in his life. He also did not regret having his wife killed. And that was Yun Sang-hi’s
second encounter with fate.

12

Jo Myeong-do revised his plan in an even more reckless and swift direction. If he
were to be deterred by a little failure, then it would’ve been a dream that he should not
have dreamt about from the beginning. There was no revolution without adversities.
It did not occur to him that Yun Sang-hi would not report the failed kidnapping
incident to Choi Yeol.
Who the hell was it? Damn, I can’t believe it.
Jo Myeong-do did not know yet that the person who had confounded him was
 Lee Gang. The carpenter brothers were the same. Because they were surprised in the
pitch dark, they did not get a chance to identity the other person’s face or anything. It
was only today the carpenter brothers received a picture of Lee Gang. Putting aside
everything, both Jo Myeong-do and the brothers wanted to give this great fighter a
bouquet of flowers and pay their obeisance, after which they would, of course, kill
him.
Then the carpenter brothers told Jo Myeong-do that their nuisance, Batman, might
have been lightly wounded on his left side and left hand. Right then, a silhouette of
Lee Gang flitted past him for he had seen earlier Lee Gang’s bandaged left hand at the
Palace. That’s how an inference started, like writing a poem after being intoxicated by
the fallen leaves. Jo Myeong-do then recalled how Lee Gang went to H neighborhood
to buy the Red Eye from a beggar, thinking how many fiends could there be in this
country who could totally humiliate the carpenter brothers, who were his proud
secret weapon, only to remember the exchange of laser beams from the eyes of Yun
Sang-hi and Lee Gang in the Palace parking lot, and shuddered in joy at discovering
the connection that was as a piano wire but that which could actually kill a person. Jo
Myeong-do definitely had talent for poetry.
Yes, things could turn out quite entertaining. If that were the case, well then. How
despicable those two were. Not only President Choi, but we should hurry up and take
care of...
Jo Myeong-do, who was momentarily a poet and a detective, returned to being a
44

thug and put out his cigarette in the ashtray.

There were two men standing by the window in his office. One of them was blankly
looking out the window, and the other one was concentrating on a ring puzzle. The
one looking out the window had his left ear covered with heavy gauze and the other
one, focusing on the ring puzzle was limping a little on his right leg when he went to
get a drink of water. Although their eyes were not moving, they were as icy and sharp
as that of a snake in the fall.

13

One day before Lee Gang’s departure for Pyongyang.

“Poor Brother Eul-seul.”
Yang-mi was going on with how worried she was about Eul-seul. She finally burst
into tears after saying how Eul-seol might get himself into trouble as he has become
incredibly irritable and much more violent after his brother, Han Gil-su, was killed by
Detective Mun when the bullet from his gun was discharged by mistake.
Lee Gang recalled how Eul-seol got into a fight with six south Korean young men
and beat them all to a pulp. The south Korean men were playing basketball dressed in
People’s Army military uniform tops with numbers on the back and Hip Hop shorts.
Perhaps the name of this street basketball team was People’s Army. And Eul-seul
could have felt it was an insult to his past. Lee Gang could only tap Eul-seul back in
silence as he was throwing up, completely drunk. Eul-seul howled and wailed.
“Don’t cry, Yang-mi.”
“Elder brother, please come back soon, and help Eul-seul, yes?”
 Lee Gang had in secret heard from Eul-seul that Lim Byeong-mo had become a
Christian. It was Yang-mi who had brought him to the church. Yang-mi was from Seoul
and worked as a hostess at Eunjwa; she and Eul-seul were lovers. Their relationship
lacked anything that was vague or fishy, like the relationship of Il-hwa and Byeong-
mo. It would be an absurd question to ask why she proselytized a man who was other
than her lover. If anyone had an inkling of how contemptuous Eul-seul was of south
Korean Protestantism, one would’ve immediately understood why Yang-mi couldn’t
even mention the word, Jesus, in front of him. In truth, she herself was not that devout
a believer who would escort others to Heaven’s entrance.
Oh Yang-mi, who was so kind-natured that she looked like someone that was prone
to get ripped off, was on intimate terms with Seo Il-hwa who did not get along with
the other young north Korean women at Eunjwa. It was only natural that even average
north Korean women all grew up in different social environments. For example, the
apartments in Hamgyeong Province could not be called an apartment compared to
the ones in Pyongyang. Apartments in Hamgyeong Province took turns heating the
building with logs and they had to use communal bathrooms, whereas Pyongyang
was a different world within north Korea. Living in Pyongyang was itself a privilege.
That is why, those from Pyongyang and those from other parts of north Korea living
together in Seoul after the unification could not have the same mindset. Especially in
the case of Seo Il-hwa who was from the most elite class.
She was someone that all ordinary women from north Korea, without exception,

45
would feel jealous of. And it wasn’t about her looks, which fetched a high price in
south Korea. The concept of a diet did not exist in north Korea. Being slender did not
mean a woman was attractive but weak. North Korea was a society where neither
appearance nor educational credentials elicited envy but one’s political background.
You were the envy of everyone if your father was a high-ranking official of the Party,
like Seo Il-hwa. And it was driving the female comrades of Eunjwa crazy that even
in unified Korea, Seo Il-hwa with fragile body was treated much better than them.
Although the world had been turned upside down, the class difference remained the
same. Perhaps the current class inequality was more infuriating to these women than
the one in the past. That is why, Seo Il-hwa must’ve found a south Korean woman
made a more comfortable friend than a north Korean, and Oh Yang-mi was chosen
among all the south Koreans for she was not a typically conceited and shrewd Seoulite
but unbelievably angelic.
“Elder Brother.”
“Don’t call me that. Call me Chief.”
“How come?”
“It sounds strange.”
“What is? That I am calling an elder brother, Elder Brother?”
“I said not to call me Elder Brother.”
“Gee, I think you’re more strange.”
“...”
“Elder Brother. Elder Brother Gang. Ho, ho, ho.”
In north Korea, unless you were related by blood, women did not address elder
men as Elder Brother. The first thing young north Korean women were trained to
do when they came to Eunjwa was learn to affectionately call their customers, Elder
 Brother. The other thing they had to learn was to sing old songs, like “You Probably
Don’t Know It” by the singer Haeuni or Choi Jin-hi’s “The Labyrinth of Love,” as
they served liquor to men. Was it because these men derived wicked pleasure as they
visualized the Ensemble of Joy or beautiful cheerleaders? The customers at Eunjwa
were fanatical about the young north Korean women singing these songs, rather than
the current hits. “The Labyrinth of Love” was a song that Chairman, Kim Jung Il, liked
to sing. He liked this song so much that he put it on the test for the voice majors at the
music colleges, although all things considered, it was printed as a foreign song.
Lee Gang felt like throwing up just at the thought of Seo Il-hwa singing “The
Labyrinth of Love” in the unique north Korean vocal style. It was The Great Leader
Kim Il Sung who said that the original voice of a Korean woman was beautiful and
banned women with hoarse voices, proclaiming that only those with a pure and
cheery voice can sing; and so a voice was developed that was thin and sounded like
it was going to evaporate, which was how the young north Korean woman sang
“You Probably Don’t Know It” at Eunjwa. You probably don’t know this. You, who I
address as Elder Brother, probably don’t know me who’s singing this song. No matter
how much time you spend with me, you probably don’t know what kind of a country
I came from.
“Ah, my poor Elder Brother Eul-seul.”
“Huh, you don’t feel sorry for me?”
“You? No, I don’t feel sorry for you.”
46

“Why not?”
“Because you are good-looking. Ho, ho, ho.”
“What a crazy thing to say.”
“No, no, my Eul-seul is good-looking, too. He’s handsome enough. Elder Brother
Byeong-mo is good-looking also. And Advisor Nam, too, as well as Elder Brother
Pyeong-gwan.”
“...”
“Goodness, come to think of it, all the men around me are good-looking! Is it
because I am so pretty?”
Lee Gang felt a medley of emotions with a person like Yang-mi who was very
different from other south Korean women. It was because he realized that what
determined a person’s evil and impudent nature was not necessarily the political
system.
Lee Gang thought, people were bound to come in different types, in accordance
with their inborn nature and desires no matter where they are from and when they
lived. A political system could repress and incarcerate human beings but could
not create them. Why? Because humans were already created this way, several ten
thousand years ago. Very far in the future when humans have evolved to the point
of acquiring a donkey’s ear if not an elephant’s nose, if they can still be considered
humans, their greed, which is invisible to the human eye, can never be eradicated.
Incarcerated and oppressed time will initially remain compressed but will inevitably
explode one day. The system that negated this truth, and became standardized, in
the end collapsed and the people in it had become grotesquely twisted. That was my
fatherland and that’s me.
Lee Gang remembered that there was prostitution in north Korea. The women with
heavy make-up in the marketplaces and by the train stations. They looked conspicuous
as there weren’t that many women who wore make-up. After bargaining about the
price, the man and the woman would enter a nearby house, perform their act, and
part of the money the woman received from the man is given to the person who
provided the place. It was mostly soldiers or foreign currency dealers who paid for
the service of the prostitutes. Soldiers stole money, and the foreign currency dealers
had business; therefore they at least had money in their pockets.
Lee Gang was curious. What place in south Korea came up with the south Korean
male fantasy that north Korean women were pure and innocent? Perhaps there was
a surprisingly simple clue hidden here somewhere as to why the unification of north
and south was so disappointing, apart from economic dimensions.
Permission from the Party was not mandatory to get married. But if your superior
objected, it became a little more difficult. That was because he was in charge of your
pay and the housing provide by the Party. That could be the reason why there were
many instances where one’s superior at work did the matchmaking. The most popular
dating place was the Daedong riverside. The main source of energy in north Korea
was coal and when daily trash came in from the Western world, the dollar began to
circulate. The pollution at Daedong River, compared to the Han River, was more than
twice as bad. Asking for a date by that polluted river was like asking for a serious
relationship with marriage in mind. Food was distributed with the father’s meal
ticket and housing was registered under his name, thereby making the entire system

47
patriarchal. But in order to resolve the shortage of food, women started getting out
of their houses and worked, which led to more and more women making their own
choices for marriageable men. That’s how the joke came about, in that the March of
Ordeal improved women’s rights in north Korea. A friend of Lee Gang’s went out
for matchmaking. But the reports he received afterward were not very favorable. The
woman was known to go out with many men and played very rough with them. His
friend in the end told the woman that he could not marry her. The woman responded.
There are no pure women in the Republic. An ass like yourself should look for a bride
in the nursery.
Lee Gang remembered something else — that there were all kinds of crimes in
north Korea. A mob of thieves infested the subways and at the Changwangwon sauna,
foreigners were robbed of their wardrobes, including their shoes and underwear. The
mirrors and the audio systems, not to mention the tires, were stolen in the cars parked
on the side of the road at night. It was wise not to go out past ten o’clock at night, even
in Pyongyang.
There was even organized gang violence. Since one could only work at a job chosen
for you by the Party, and you were sent to a re-education institution if you were absent
from work for an extended period without a special reason, most of them became
active after work. The commandos mobilized at the construction site transformed
themselves into gangsters at night. They were mostly young and stalwart men from
rural regions who signed a brotherhood pact with regional organized gang members;
consequently, the safety patrol avoided a crackdown on them. Once the safety patrol
guy went off duty, the peers of those he arrested took revenge on him. That’s how
the gang members became fearless and made a habit of changing the bus stops,
and if the bus driver refused, then they would break the bus windows and resort to
 violence. But if there was something they would not touch, it was a Benz, belonging to
a Labor Party member. If they were to do that, then the state political security would
intervene, instead of the safety control, because it was no longer just a criminal case
but was seen as subversion by a political force. An ordinary criminal could someday
be released from prison but a political prisoner had to rot in a completely restricted
area. The north Korean gangs were very well aware of this situation, and applied it
to their advantage. Moreover, with Kim Jong Il’s politics of priority for the military,
north Korea became a paradise for the military. The soldiers took control of society
and no matter what horrific tyranny they committed, one could do nothing but watch
helplessly. It was not an unfamiliar sight to witness a civilian being battered by a
group of People’s Army soldiers in broad daylight. Near the border, officers had their
subordinates go over to China and steal things.
As Lee Gang saw it, although the south Koreans knew something about the north
Koreans, in short, they really did not know about them very well. Why was that? It’s
because south Koreans did not regard north Koreans like themselves. If they had
viewed them as people who were just like them, they naturally would have many
questions for which they would try to come up with answers, but the south Koreans
did not do that before and even after the unification. They chose to merely focus on
what they wanted and didn’t want to see, instead of trying to see the essence of the
people who were no different from them. Pure and innocent north Korean women
belonged to what they wanted to see, and scary north Korean men were what they
48

did not want to see. Neither was based on scientific facts but emotions, worse than
caprice, which shrouded the truth.
Men in north Korea did not get any time off during the ten years of their rigorous
military duty that follow after graduation from high school. Only once toward the
end of their service was there a two-week vacation but they were hardly ever able to
go on vacation. Leaving home at the age of about seventeen and returning to their
hometown not until the age of about thirty after having been trained to become a war
machine, men did not have a close-knit relationship with their family. In fact, there
were many men who had not had a chance to properly hold a woman’s hand. There
was no data available in unified Korea as to what kind of accumulated stress and
violence these men were prone to. Many north Korean men were involved in rape
cases, not because they were beasts, but because they were ignorant about sex.
“Elder Brother, please call Eul-seul often from Pyongyang. Here, give me your
finger and promise!”
“Yang-mi, I beg of you, I am not your Elder brother.”

14

The greatest obstacle to north Koreans making it in south Korea was their
immediate poverty but their habits acquired from a socialist system. Compared to the
south Koreans, north Koreans were not very individualistic but were very strongly
predisposed toward Groupism. Instead of making a personal decision and taking
responsibility for it, they tended to depend on the other person and if the outcome
was not positive then they most often avoided the problem. This was not a problem
that applied only to the north Koreans. It was symptomatic of people from the socialist
countries who have experienced its sudden collapse and had to struggle under the
ruthless conditions of a market economy. People never quite learn the way to express
their desires, when they have come of age in an authoritarian environment that is
fostered by a humongous organization such as the government. It is very difficult for
them to know what it is they truly want, for following the orders and fulfilling the
expectations of those, who are in a superior position than them, most often renders
happiness and a sense of identity for them. In other words, they have been deprived
of a sense of self in their lives. For these people, complete freedom is synonymous
with terror.
Moreover, north Korea, even compared to the other socialist nations, had an
embarrassingly authoritarian system. The neo-Confucian culture of the past and
present, Communism since the Liberation from Japan, the Juche ideology enacted by
Kim Il Sung and his son, not to mention the national isolationist policy, which shut
off all information of the outside world to the north Korean people, ah, nowhere can
one find a system that was more totalitarian than this. Therefore, the despair and
limitations encountered by the east Germans after East Germany was united with
West Germany by absorption, could only have been minute compared to what north
Koreans were experiencing.
A mental void is not just limited to one’s interior but takes on concrete forms
externally. To cite a trite but fundamental case, north Koreans even when they

49
met for the first time always ask each other what the other person’s job and rank
is, then carry on their conversation. They want to set their behavior in accordance
with the other’s status. A Socialist type of a person will make sure they will not be
a victim of unfairness by persistently scrutinizing others, compare himself to other
people, and further demand affection and recognition from them. When these needs
are not fulfilled, things could become serious, resulting in the manifestation of fear
and anxiety, and attacking others in a group for no specific reason. Of course, there
are many complex causes but the north Koreans blamed the wrong things for their
unemployment. There were not-so-funny incidents of these people, who were until
very recently Communist, turning extreme reactionary, looking down on foreigners,
and going around harming them. They had wanted to be accepted by south Koreans
who they believed were one family but when it became hopeless, and there was no
other way of venting their frustrations, they took it out on the foreign immigrants and
tried to assuage their feelings of inferiority and defeatism. Since unification, countless
foreign laborers left unified Korea, which had turned into a brutal place. But the south
Korean businessmen much preferred the foreign laborers to north Korean laborers.
That is because their expectation that north Koreans would be hardworking and
diligent was but a delusion. Unless they were specifically told, north Koreans did
not work, while most of them just killed time, and not only that, they were not only
thoroughly uncreative but also very obstinate.
Unified Korea for north Koreans meant painful deprivation. Their hope of one day
enjoying wealth when they become members of the capitalist system, which their
countrymen had established in the warm south, was irrevocably crushed. The south
Koreans offended the north Koreans by calling them lazy and incompetent. The
north Koreans criticized the south Koreans as being arrogant and miserly. The north
 Koreans have come to view themselves as the citizens of the now defunct Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea, instead of unified Korea. They had somewhat anticipated
something similar but the south and north Koreans had not in their wildest dream
thought they would be so horrifically and antagonistically different.

Thirteen days before Lee Gang’s return from Pyongyang.

The personnel interview was taking place in Underground Tunnel No. 1. The
committee of judges consisted of Jo Myeong-do and Nam Gi-jeong. With only two
applicants, it was a cozy event. Those who passed the first round interview, which
took place outside, came to the Liberation Building for their second interview and
once they passed it they were chosen as members of Daedongang or hired as a waiter,
cook, or handyman at Eunjwa. The applicants, who had been disqualified at the
second interview, were for security reasons all killed and burned at the huge furnace
in Underground Tunnel No. 2. Who would ever think of staking one’s life for a job
but from the first interview, it was customary to pick only those who were prepared
to die. After such an honorable admission, even if one were to betray or withdraw
from the organization, it wouldn’t be considered as such. Immediately he would be
killed and burned.
“Professor Nam, where do we need to replenish our manpower?
“We are short in waiters, and we need more members, too...”
“I’ll be an innovator. Please give me any kind of work. I’ll do my very best.”
50

An innovator was not someone who was going to initiate a reform but a person
who would work most diligently.
Those who could leave north Korea have all left. In particular, the north Korean
youth, who looked eagerly forward to an prosperous life, deserted their hometown
although they were the ones in great demand for the rebuilding of north Korean
society. North Korea in the present day was not simply bereft of only material things.
A state of sterility became chronic usually in this kind of manner, and was simply
described as being without any hope.
“You do your best not by word but by action.”
“...”
“Hey, you’d be good in an electronic music band.”
Seo Sang-ok, man in his early thirties, had been a music teacher of the lower grades
at the Geumseung Institute where gifted children were trained in the arts. The singer,
Jeon Hae-young, who sang “Whistle,” came out of that school. That’s why Jo Myeong-
do made that comment. The electronic music band was an Eunjwa slang for the room
salon accompaniment band.
A job interview in north Korea was just for the sake of formality and in actuality,
it was the Party that allocated the jobs. On the resume, naturally one had to include
an autobiography as well as a detailed list of one’s family and acquaintances whereas
the document, which assessed the degree of one’s allegiance, was separately done
by the Party. Your autobiography had to be written in such a way as not allow any
corrections. Jo Myeong-do mused how easy it’s become for the interviewees.
“Look here, Seo Sang-do, you don’t have a proof of your military service.”
“That’s because I was an artist. But I have the Party certificate, showing all my
accomplishments.”
 Men in north Korea were treated with respect only if they possessed proof of their
military duty and the I.D. from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. All the
seemingly endless years in the military did not feel futile on the day when a certificate
of service was issued. Even though it would take over a month before their discharge,
men wrote home and spent sleepless nights. For a Labor Party member, the Party
I.D was more precious than life itself. If you perchance lost it, then you were either
deprived of your party membership or demoted to a member-in-waiting status. There
were approximately three million and three hundred thousand Party members, and
considering the total population of north Korea in the past was about 22,000,000, it
was a very high ratio, compared to the other former Socialist nations. Under these
circumstances, the general public becomes overly conscious of whether or not one is
a member of the Party. There were some people who put the I.D, which looked like a
small notebook, in a plastic case, tied a rubber band on both sides, and strung it over
one shoulder to underneath the opposite armpit on top of the undershirt, and only
took it off when they had to take a bath.
“What is this rhapsody about the Party I.D when we both know that thing is
worthless now? You have to go with the times.”
“...”
It was a prerequisite of Daedongang for their members to have military background.
Under the circumstances, Seo Sang-ok was as good as dead.
The remaining applicant was an impoverished-looking, skinny boy. The cell

51
members had picked him out for the waiter job. Because the military duty lasted
so long in north Korea, the men who appeared to be of any use were almost always
over thirty years of age. The customers were not too thrilled about the oldish waiters
at Eunjwa, which must have been reflected in their decision. But even so, it would
be irksome if they had to cremate a seventeen-year-old boy because they found him
inappropriate for the job of a waiter.
Then an unexpected turn of events followed. The boy kept on insisting how he
wanted to become a member of Daedongang. Both Jo Myeong-do and Nam Gi-jeong
burst into laughter, something that would happen perhaps once in hundred years, at
the incredulousness and audacity of the boy.
“Where’s your hometown?”
“My parents are from Hamgyeong Province, and I was born and grew up in
Pyongyang.”
“Your background is good enough.”
Near the border of Hwanghae Province there were many people who sided with
the south Korean army during the Korean War. If there was even one such member
in the family, then you were put into an enemy category. That’s how the saying, it’s
difficult for people from Hwanghae Province to succeed in north Korea came about.
Not only did the state relocate the insurgents to Jagang-do and Yanggang-do or to the
mountain ranges in North Hamgyeong Province, they were also persistently given
an unfair distribution of food and clothing. Accordingly, these regions were not very
safe, and during night patrol even the soldiers had their safety mechanism released
from their guns, for a unit of three completely armed soldiers felt frightened because
of the threat to their lives. In contrast, the people from Hamgyeong Province, which
was far away from the 38th Parallel line, fought till the end on the side of the Great
 Leader, Kim Il Sung. Consequently, something called the Hamgyeong Province Mafia
came into existence and the ratio of the high-ranking officers in the Party took up
seventy percent in Pyongyang, and exceeded half in north Korea, altogether.
“I will give my life.”
“This punk, here, is quite brawny.”
Finding the job interview, which was like an execution game, quite sickening, Nam
Gi-jeong had intended to have Jo Myeong-do to take full charge but couldn’t help
intervening after watching the whole process that was too outrageous.
“Stop talking nonsense. You can work as a waiter. It’s good money. The customers
here are no ordinary people. The monthly tip could easily be double the salary of
most men.”
“It’s not the money. I’m all set to become a member.”
The Underground Tunnel No. 2 turned quiet. What’re we going to do with this
child who’s digging his own grave? Nam Gi-jeong was at a loss as to what to do.
Jo Myeong-do suddenly blurted out,
“You, Kim Dong-cheol, you don’t have a national card, do you?”
“What?”
“The I.D. issued by the unified Korean government.”
“No, I don’t have it.”
At that moment Nam Gi-jeong’s eyes twitched as he took an alternate glance at Jo
Myeong-do and the boy.
52

The government failed to register everyone from the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea as residents of unified Korea. North Korea, even at the time of unification,
was dysfunctional as a nation. Refugees were everywhere, and there were arson
attacks at public buildings that stored mostly the hard copies of the data system, which
led to the loss of a massive quantity of documents. The unified state should have
tried to recover and reorganize the information but it couldn’t be done in the chaos;
later on, no matter how much the government encouraged registration, there were
many north Koreans who intentionally refused to register. They were citizens who
lacked modern records; they were non-existing people. They did not have a resident
number, or a picture or fingerprints. These people who did not have a material proof
of their identity were phantoms who were impossible to track down. The Republic of
Korea, which boasted of advanced digital technology, turned into an underdeveloped
nation in terms of the data management of their people after the unification. The
police capture a suspect, and ask, “Who are you?” The confession of a person, whose
background is impossible to check, can only be a hunch but not facts. The dark forces
of Capitalism were not about to leave these outstanding human resources alone.
He was lucky. The music instructor became a waiter. His youthful face saved him.
The boy became a waiter, too. He seemed quite disgruntled but did not further push
the matter aggressively.
After Jo Myeong-do left, Nam Gi-jeong summoned Yang Pyeong-gwan to take Seo
Sang-ok to Eunjwa but left the boy behind.
An awkward silence passed between him and the boy. Nam Gi-jeong took a slow
and careful look at the boy once more. He had been a student at Pyongyang First
Middle School where only the smartest of the smartest students were admitted. His
shabby attire and appearance could not hide his brilliance. Nam Gi-jeong did not go
 out of his way to interrogate him but he could sense that this proud and gifted boy
was deeply scarred from all kinds of tribulations he must’ve undergone. Nam Gi-
jeong felt sorry and apprehensive about the boy.
“When did you stop going to school?”
“In the second year. Right after the unification.”
In north Korea, one usually entered the four-year people’s school at age seven.
“Here, take this.”
Nam Gi-jeong took out a fountain pen that was in his shirt pocket. It was a Mont
Blanc that Lee Gang had presented to him for teaching him English.
“What is this?”
“Don’t you know what it is? It wears a hat on its tail when it’s working, and on its
head when it’s not.”(9)
The boy gazed at Nam Gi-jeong laughing by himself, who quickly found himself
embarrassed. The boy was too sincere to understand the joke. Or the joke could’ve
been too childish.
“Some day, many things are going to be different. Do not become a man who’s
disposable like a ballpoint pen but instead like a fountain pen, be someone who can
be worthwhile for a long, long time. Try to study as much as you can while you work
as a waiter. You were, after all, a student of Pyongyang First Middle School. Someone
like yourself can easily achieve success here.”
The boy tightened his grip on the fountain pen.

53
“Were you really a professor at Kim Il Sung University?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“What’s going to be different?”
“What?”
“What’s going to be different some day?”
Stupefied, Nam Gi-jeong could not answer. Some day everything is going to be
different… He doubted if he actually believed it himself. His face became flushed.
Nam Gi-jeong brought the boy up to the first floor of the Liberation Building.
General Youngster was walking alone toward them in the corridor. He seemed to
have come for his usual drink. Nam Gi-jeong bowed to him. Except Oh Nam-cheol,
all the members of Daedongang had to do it, including Jo Myeong-do who dissed him
viciously behind his back and did so half-heartedly even though it must’ve pained
him. They had to absolutely follow Oh Nam-cheol’s orders. Lee Gang was the only
man who dismissed that order and regarded General Youngster in an indifferent
manner.
The two boy’s eyes clashed. A bizarre current packed the air. Dressed in an
expensive silk suit with his hair slicked back, a shaman, who was possessed by a
spirit in a Socialist nation that denies the whole notion of the afterlife, stood before
another boy with his greasy hair and beggar-like appearance whose hatred for the
world around him has robbed him of his heart, a brilliant, gifted boy from Pyongyang
First Middle School.
General Youngster stopped and looked at Dong-cheol in a penetrating way. Dong-
cheol was by no means intimidated by him.
9) Silence.
North Korean riddle about a
fountain pen. There was a quiet and clear whirlpool-like stir in General Youngster’s eyes. Dong-
 cheol’s heart shook in a subtle but intense manner and he felt his blood surging.
General Youngster’s face seemed to frown a little then he let out a giggle, and
brushing Dong-cheol’s shoulder slightly, walked past him.
Dong-cheol turned around and looked at him. Half way down the long corridor,
General Youngster turned left and vanished.
“Who’s that kid?”
“He’s a shaman.”
“A shaman?”
“Yes.”
“Why’s that?”
“Must there be a reason for being a shaman? He was a shaman from when he was
in north Korea.”
“No.”
“...”
“Why must you bow to a lowly shaman?”
Nam Gi-jeong’s heart sagged because something about the boy felt sad and
foreboding.
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