Life of a Southern Prisoner (3)
The four won clutched in the two men's hands today was a fortune.
It was easy to understand when you considered that a month's food allowance per person, while eating their fill inside the mine, ran somewhere between ten and eighteen won.
And if there were children in the household, they ate a little less, so the real cost would come down even further.
"You bought plenty of potato flour for the house, didn't you, An Hyung?"
"Yep. Stocked up on food first."
"Then how about buying some cloth for clothes?"
"Hmm…."
The truth was, Do Bannan wanted to buy a little meat.
He wanted to eat it himself, of course — but more than that, the whining of his still-young children was still ringing in his ears.
Back when they'd lived in fat comfort down south, they'd had meat every day, but these days what they mostly ate was dried meat, preserved for easy storage.
"The kids keep begging for it…."
"Sounds like you want to buy some meat, then?"
He knew it well enough. He could only imagine how desperately An Hyung's children — who had lived quite well back outside — were carrying on.
'Well, the vein's still producing, isn't it? It'll be fine.'
It wasn't his place to fuss over another man's household finances, so Kim Il-sung started to dissuade him, then thought better of it.
With four won, the man could buy twenty nyang of meat. His family of five would surely eat their fill and then some.
'Well… if there's any left over, drying it into jerky would actually be a bargain.'
Twenty-five don of dried meat cost eight won, but if you bought ten nyang of fresh meat for two won and dried it yourself, you'd end up with forty nyang of preserved meat.
True, without seasonings or such the flavor fell short, but in terms of value for money it was actually the better deal. The only downside was the hassle.
"Let's dig a lot again tomorrow!"
"Yeah! I've got some bragging to do to the kids tonight!"
And so the two men browsed through the shops.
"Hm? Candy? Chocolate? What's that supposed to be?"
"Huh? Oh — sweets the children like. Made from sugar, or so I hear."
"Well, I never…."
To think such things even made it out to this remote corner of the world. Finding it truly marvelous, he decided that next time he'd have to buy some for the children too.
"Over there — those are the winter clothes."
"Aren't they a bit too thick?"
"They say it gets cold enough to need all that, so remember what I'm telling you."
And Kim Il-sung led his friend over to the padded cotton garments and impressed the warning upon him firmly.
Without clothes like those, a person really could do nothing but stay huddled indoors — a perfect recipe for starving to death. Or freezing, once the firewood ran out.
"Haha. Well, we've seen everything, so let's head back!"
"Right."
Watching his friend giddy over the meat he'd bought, Kim Il-sung made his way home with a faint thread of worry in his gaze.
"We're having meat tonight!"
"Yaaay! Meat!"
"Heehee! It's been forever since we had meat!"
"Go wash your hands first, all of you."
That day, laughter — rare and welcome — rang without pause through Do Bannan's house.
That was just how important the joy of eating could be.
That night.
"Honey? Where on earth did the meat come from?"
"Found a copper vein with Brother Kim today. They paid us handsomely for it."
Lying side by side with his wife, he began spinning the tale of his exploits, seasoning it with a little embellishment here and there.
"Goodness! Really?"
"Yep. It was truly dangerous."
"You're amazing, dear!"
"Ah-hah!"
Do Bannan felt inexplicably wonderful tonight. His wife was egging him on so warmly, after all.
"The money looks like it'll be good for a while yet."
Perhaps that was why — even though there was no telling how long the vein would last — he went and said something he didn't need to say.
"Oh, wonderful! There's something I've been wanting to buy."
Naturally, his wife began to glow as though the money were already in her hands.
"Brother Kim says we should stock up on winter clothes. I was thinking we ought to save up for a while."
One look at his wife's face and Do Bannan knew he'd made a mistake.
"It's chilly, sure, but we can manage, can't we?"
"They say it gets far colder than this?"
"Oh come on, how cold can it possibly get?"
"You think so?"
Since he was the one who'd put the notion in her head, pride made it hard for him to walk his words back now.
'A vein doesn't dry up right away once it's found, so it should be fine… right?'
Comforting himself with the thought, he drifted off to sleep.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Over the past two months, the two of them had made truly good money chipping away at the copper vein.
Three won on slow days, and as much as six won on good ones.
"Huh? Nothing doing today, is there?"
"An Hyung, I think the vein's run dry."
"Already?"
When Do Bannan went visibly pale, Kim Il-sung felt a flicker of surely not.
"We've made plenty these past couple of months, haven't we? Couldn't you just take it easy through the winter?"
"Ah…."
And in that instant, his surely not hardened into certainty. His friend hadn't saved a thing. He'd spent it all, freely and without a second thought.
It was the common trait of people who lived in the warm south.
Laziness? Or easygoing complacency? What should you even call it? Wherever you went, food was abundant and you wouldn't freeze to death even sleeping in the road — so people simply lacked the foresight to plan for the future.
What's more, this was only his first year living here. He had no idea how brutal a season winter truly was.
"I'll say it one last time, and just this once. If you don't prepare for winter, people really die."
"Oh, come now…. You don't have to go that far?"
"Believe me or don't."
Over the past two months, Kim Il-sung had offered his friend countless pieces of well-meaning advice. But watching him buy tasty things and save nothing, he had half given up.
And because Do Bannan had once snapped at him for nagging, a small crack had worked its way into their friendship.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
They struck the rock for a long while, but nothing resembling copper ore came loose.
Clang!
"Damn it!"
"…."
Do Bannan hurled his pickaxe down in fury, and Kim Il-sung could only watch in silence.
When men like these were paid by the value of what they dug out, a single strike could bring a fortune — but it could also mean long stretches with no income at all.
That was why, out of the 311 won he'd earned so far, Kim Il-sung had spent only 67 won on living expenses and set the rest aside.
'I knew the day would come when the vein ran dry….'
Long experience had taught him how uneven the income could be.
And he had watched more than a few people spend freely in fat times, only to starve or freeze to death come winter.
"Damn it all…."
Bang-bang-bang.
The sound of Do Bannan's angry, frantic pickaxe began to ring through the mine once more.
From that day on, the conversation between the two men thinned noticeably.
Screeeeech, screeeech.
"T-t-t-talk…."
Between the two men pushing the ore cart came the sound of teeth chattering against each other in the cold, grinding and stuttering.
"You holding up?"
"…."
By now Kim Il-sung had given up. And honestly, was it even any of his fault? He'd offered his heartfelt advice, only to be ignored — and now to be outright snubbed.
Thud, thud. Screech, screech.
On the road to the mine in early winter, there was nothing between the two men but the sound of footsteps and the grinding of cart wheels.
If you sealed the entrance with thick cloth, the inside of the mine was considerably warmer than the world outside.
The deeper you dug, the greater that difference became.
Bang-bang-bang.
That day, too, the two men swung their pickaxes in search of a vein, and not a single word passed between them all the way home that evening.
And the next morning.
"Kim Il-sung. I'll be going my own way from here on."
"Is that so?"
"I've decided to join another crew."
In the end, Do Bannan couldn't bear it any longer and chose to join a different team.
Joining an established crew partway through was genuinely punishing. The newcomer got saddled with all the grueling, miserable work the crew had to offer.
That was precisely why these two had originally banded together and broken away from a crew in the first place….
"Right. Good luck out there."
With him gone to another crew, the tunnel the two had dug together now belonged to Kim Il-sung alone.
Watching his friend's retreating back, he offered up a silent prayer that things would work out for him.
'I've still got plenty of spare money saved, so I'll dig on my own for a while.'
He walked toward the ore cart, then stopped short for a moment.
Out of habit, he'd approached the cart he'd always hauled together with his friend.
He moved aside and took a single-person cart instead. It was a small vehicle one man could manage alone — small enough that even if it started rolling, you could stop it by throwing an obstacle in its path.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"It really is dull working alone."
Left to himself, Kim Il-sung worked his pickaxe diligently in search of a vein.
Then another month or so slipped by, and he was just about ready to give up for good.
"If nothing shows up today, I'll try another spot."
Bang! — CRASH!
Swinging with all his might, he cocked the pickaxe back and smashed it into the ceiling — and rock came pouring down in a cascade.
"Oof…."
Blindsided by the sudden shower of stones, he was completely dazed. Thankfully he seemed to have avoided anything big or sharp — no serious injuries.
"Hm? What's this? Oh? Is that copper?"
Scattered around him lay greenish pebbles — copper ore.
"Oh! It was hiding up top all along!"
A vein could thin out or shift, of course — but for it to dry up in a mere two months of digging by two men was unusual.
That was why they hadn't been able to give up, and now it turned out the ore had been lurking in the ceiling the whole time.
"Ahahaha! Now we're talking!"
He started digging into the ceiling within arm's reach first. He had to pile the broken rock on the floor to build himself a taller platform, after all.
When he'd mined diligently until his little cart was filled to the brim, his steps were astonishingly light.
"Let's head up nice and slow, shall we?"
Alone as he was now, hauling it up by winch was out of the question — he'd have to push it up himself. But having pocketed a tidy sum, his feet scarcely touched the ground.
The exit incline was gentle enough that a small cart could be pushed up and out.
"Whew, out already."
Kiii-eeeek.
Once outside, he clung gleefully to his ore cart and went bounding toward the village.
"Ahahaha!"
Arriving in the village, he hurried straight to the settlement office.
As he returned the cart and waited for his payout, a shout reached his ears.
"What do you mean, a measly two won!?"
It was Do Bannan's voice. Convinced his day's earnings were too low, he was arguing with the crew chief.
"What are you on about? That's the average income, man!"
It was a fair point. If you made roughly sixty won a month and divided it across thirty days, two won a day was exactly right.
"That's not the issue! Twenty-four won split six ways — how does that come out to two won!?"
"You joined later, didn't you? You weren't here when we first found the vein, were you?"
"Exactly!"
Not a word of it was wrong. No — Do Bannan had known all of this already.
It was precisely why he'd split off from Kim Il-sung and gone looking for a new vein of his own….
The only problem was that his pockets were empty.
"Sir, it seems you found quite a fine vein. That'll be four won."
"Gasp…."
It had been a small personal cart — about a quarter the capacity of what he'd hauled with his friend. And even so, this much income was a jackpot.
"Thank you."
"You work hard, sir. Keep it up."
"Yes, sir!"
With his friend quarreling back there, he couldn't very well celebrate loudly, so he moved quietly off toward the row of shops.
Today, he intended to buy meat.
He and his family all loved meat dearly. It was only because they were scraping together every won to leave this place that he'd been holding back….
Surely he could allow himself one day's splurge, couldn't he?
Kim Il-sung's steps were astonishingly light as he carried the meat home.
Another month passed like that, and it was now January — the cruelest stretch of winter.
Murmur, murmur.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk."
"What did those poor children ever do to deserve this?"
"Why on earth didn't they buy winter clothes?"
"Weren't they the ones always bragging about how much money they were making?"
On his way to fetch the ore cart, Kim Il-sung spotted a crowd gathered in the direction of his friend's house, buzzing with whispers.
"It can't be…."
Hiding his unease, he made his way toward his friend's home.
"Make way. We need to clear these out at once."
And there, he could not help but see them — his friend and his friend's family, all five of them, frozen solid, being loaded onto a cart.
They still wore the thin summer clothes they'd arrived in when they first came to this place, their bodies twisted in agony — a sight too wretched to bear.
"If only he'd listened to me…."