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Chapter 2. iron man (2)

Chapter 2. iron man (2)

The festival was gorgeous.

4.15, the birthday of Kim Il-sung, later called the Day of the Sun, is one of the biggest holidays in North Korea, along with the birthday of Kim Jong-il in February, called the Day of Gwangmyeong.

To commemorate this day, various sports competitions and scalpel games were held at the Neungla-do Stadium, and the sky was decorated with fireworks in five colors.

For the Day of the Sun, a military parade was held for the Korean People’s Army, which was prepared with much more time and effort than the actual battle training, and the distribution, which has been slowly starting to deteriorate these days, has grown abundantly on this day under the name of the leader’s gift.

Everywhere in Pyongyang, there was a festive atmosphere.

Except for Junghwan, who is looking at all these events with distasteful eyes from the window of the newly opened Goryeo Hotel.

‘You bastards, what nonsense is that?’

All these festivals and show-off events taking place outside the window may have looked glamorous to the party officials and Pyongyang citizens who planned them, but to Jeong-hwan, they just seemed like a feast of waste of money and resources.

It may have been quite splendid and sophisticated for people of this age, but it was nothing more than rustic to Jeonghwan, a future human more than 30 years ago.

But the reason Jeonghwan was really angry wasn’t because he didn’t like the festival, but because of something else.

‘If the budget and resources were spent on planning and executing this asshole… Shiba, the savagery of these children knows no bounds.’

That was the reason why Junghwan couldn’t look at the crucible of enthusiasm at all.

Judging from his knowledge of the history of economic development between the two Koreas, it was at this time that the limits of the socialist-style planned economy were slowly being revealed in North Korea.

Factories are shutting down due to a lack of coal, the military is reducing training schedules due to a lack of oil, and rations of daily necessities are starting to decrease.

However, no matter how much money was spent to maintain the system and promote propaganda, it would be much easier to prepare for the disaster to come.

Besides, 10 years from now…

“Let’s not get nervous.”

As if to calm himself down, Junghwan repeated it like a mantra.

Realizing the plan as soon as possible can prevent the rich Kims from dropping North Korea (who will become his) to the abyss, but don’t be in a hurry.

After all, isn’t Junghwan just the illegitimate child of Kim Il-sung and one of the side branches of Baekdu bloodline?

While Jeonghwan was studying himself like that, finally today’s main event, a secret party that only party officials and Kim Il-sung’s relatives could participate in, was held.

The party venue was a restaurant located on the top floor of the Goryeo Hotel, boasting a panoramic view of the city center and downtown Pyongyang.

After the outside ceremony of waving and speaking to ordinary Pyongyang citizens was over, the doors of the banquet hall opened and guests from this secret party began to enter one after another.

As the powerful men who actually lead North Korea entered one by one, Jeong Hwan poked his tongue out as he checked the aspects he had only seen in history books or evening news footage.

‘Director of the General Political Bureau of the People’s Army, the Minister of People’s Security, the Director of the General Reconnaissance Bureau, the Foreign Minister of the State Council of the Workers’ Party, the Director of Political Affairs, the Standing Members of the Politburo…’

Party and military officials who insisted on giving it up took their seats in the banquet hall one after another, but among them, there was a person whose eyes stayed longer than others.

But before he could even turn his eyes to the others, thunderous applause erupted, and the executives who were seated in their seats jumped up all at once.

“President Kim Il-sung is entering!”

“Sir, may you live a long and disease free life!”

“Sir, I’m going to give you a reduction! Please continue to live forever and lead this Joseon for all eternity!”

‘…………..!!!!!!’

Jeonghwan watched an old man entering the banquet hall surrounded by secretaries while clapping others for his back.

A silver-gray robes, a mixture of white and black hair, and even a lump on the back of the head that was already clearly outlined.

It was Kim Il-sung, the old man with glasses, who, despite the age spots and wrinkles that grew on his skin, did not look so weak for a North Korean because of his stature.

He was also Jung-hwan’s current father.

‘Oh my God, I’m sure I’ll see all of Kim Il-sung before I live.’

What would my acquaintances, team leaders, or family members say when they saw me before my return?

At the time of 2019, he was already dead, but seeing the head of evil that any modern Korean would have encountered at least once by name or face, even the cynical Jeong Hwan felt a complex feeling that cannot be expressed in words.

The man who caused the Korean War and, after numerous purges, made half of the Korean Peninsula his own hereditary dynasty, was now passing in front of him.

“Isn’t Jung-il here yet?”

“Go-jeo… General, the military parade is a little late, so he’s coming in a hurry now.”

“okay? …I have to put things first.”

“………!”

Whether he does or not, Jeong-hwan pricked his ears at the conversation he had with his aide as Kim Il-sung passed by as he headed to the guest table.

Something was felt in the somewhat uncomfortable expression of Kim Il-sung’s voice.

However, as soon as Kim Il-sung sat down, the party began in earnest, probably because the other participants did not feel this sign.

“When I left my hometown~ The words my mother told me to go well in front of my door~ Ah~ It’s hard in my ears~ Daedong River water~ The beautiful spring of Mangyongdae…”

Starting with ‘Musk’, a folk song that Kim Il-sung liked, the band started playing and the singer sang and the party started.

‘Amazing.’

Looking at the food being served, Junghwan once again stuck out his tongue.

As much as the seat is a seat, as the guest is the guest, the dishes served were luxurious to the extent that even Jeonghwan, a regressor, had never eaten or even looked at it.

The shark fin dish was served with caviar, tuna belly sushi, pheasant meat, snow white soup, whole pig roast, alcohol was Hennessy XO Cognac, and wine was Bordeaux wine.

Each dish was difficult to eat even with the average North Korean citizen’s annual income.

‘That’s why power is good, by the way, I think I’ll have to sit down somewhere to get a taste…’

The tables lined up in the banquet hall were designed for 4 or 4 people to sit together, and the invited guests were sitting around, eating, drinking, laughing and chatting with close friends.

The problem is that Jeong-hwan, who is the first to be invited to such an exchange of core classes, suddenly became a loner (even here).

Jeonghwan, who has revived the bad memories of eating alone, desperately looked around the party hall to find someone to accompany, and finally found a familiar face.

“Comrade Hyerim! This is it.”

“Ah… Comrade Junghwan…”

Unlike Jeonghwan, who rushed to her with a friendly face, Hyerim Yoo, who was standing in the corner of the banquet hall, looked uncomfortable when she saw him.

Besides, she wasn’t alone.

“Comrade Hyerim, who is this comrade?”

Yu Hye-rim was surrounded by a group of soldiers in military uniforms.

They were mostly men in their 30s and 40s, and rarely in their 20s, and they laughed and chatted among themselves and had a party without any sense of incongruity.

However, some sharp-eyed people, including Jung Hwan, were able to see that they formed a separate group on their own, slightly deviated from the central flow of the banquet hall.

“Oh, let me introduce myself. This person is… Comrade Kim Jeong-hwan whom I serve. You are currently attending Kim University.”

“Comrade Kim Jeong-hwan? Oh, then, this comrade……”

A man in his early 40s, who seemed to be the head of the group, with sharp eyes, heard Jung-hwan’s name, his eyes brightened, and looked up and down Jung-hwan with a new look.

Perhaps he had already guessed the name Kim Jung-hwan and his true identity.

“It is an infinite joy to be able to meet the blood and flesh of the great leader in this way. About Comrade Jeong-hwan, I know it well because I heard it from Yoo Hye-rim. My name is Baek Seung-cheol, the head of the operations department of the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces.”

‘Your face doesn’t look like Gwangyeong, does it?’

Jeonghwan was greeted by the strangely stiff pedestal Baek Seung-cheol, and he shed a cynicism inside, but on the outside he didn’t show it at all.

Rather, he smiled and asked for a handshake first.

“Hahaha, Kwangyoung is on my side. I usually live with peace of mind thanks to Comrade Hyerim’s faithful counsel.”

“Comrade Hyerim has a female body since college, and she has the same resourcefulness and ingenuity as male military comrades, so it was the pride of our classmates. I am glad that Comrade Jeonghwan also knows about it.”

Contrary to his words, Baek Seung-cheol, who gently grabbed Jeong-hwan’s extended hand and released it, said so with a dry voice.

Haha, he’s a key member of the military, and even though I’m of Baekdu blood, I’m at best an outsider out of power, right?

Jeonghwan was thinking about that, and he noticed that some of the members of the group, who had gathered behind Baek Seungcheol, were whispering to each other.

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No, the words were whispers. Seeing them talking to each other in a voice that wasn’t too small, they seemed confident that Jeonghwan wouldn’t understand them.

It was also possible because the words that came out of their mouths were not the standard or cultural language of North Korea.

“Prisoner Hundred, did you come from Frunze too?”

“Yes?? Ah, yes. After the agreement between the leader and Comrade Gorbachev at the Party Central Committee, we went to Russia for the first time to study abroad in Frunze. How do you…”

“Haha, I was just guessing because Comrade Hyerim came out of Frunze. Besides, it’s not a very difficult task, given that the officers behind you can also speak Rossi, isn’t it?”

At Jeonghwan’s point, the soldiers whispering in Russian from behind froze with surprise and astonishment.

He seemed to never have dreamed that he could understand Russian.

It was the military officer’s voice from the front door of the banquet hall that saved Baek Seung-cheol, who was suddenly in an awkward situation.

“General Kim Jong-il delivered!”

As soon as the officer’s voice fell, the banquet hall, which had just been drunk and excited, immediately froze with tension.

Even the generals (generals) and high-ranking party officials, who had their belts untied and enjoyed drinking in a relaxed posture, got up all at once and set their manners, and some even hurriedly fastened their necks and adjusted their outfits.

In a way, it was not unreasonable to say that he looked more tense than when Kim Il-sung, the main character of today, entered.

Soon, the door to the banquet hall opened again, and a stocky middle-aged man in robes walked in, attracting everyone’s attention.

“Ah, take a seat, how are you so stiff on a special day like Abbadi’s birthday ?”