Chasing Liberty // Countryhumans North Korea fanfiction

Golden March

  North’s boots were gunshots as he marched down the corridor of the underground headquarters, reverberating like thunder off the stone walls. The sound echoed in his chest, his heart beating so loudly he could hear it.

   ‘Finally. Finally finally finally.’

    His people moved aside as he passed, the tan faces of his comrades offering him fierce grins or stoic nods.

     “Chagang,” he called, and his province emerged from the war room, sticking to his left side like his shadow. “Report.”

    “China’s commander has released the prisoners of war,” he told him, following down the tunnel. “The enemy should have the false information soon. Intel says the PVA's feigned retreat has worked. As has ours. MacArthur still says they expect to be home by ‘Christmas.’”

   “And the Second Corps?”

    “They have their commands. As do the other Corps.”

    North nodded, both grim and elated.

    He slammed open the door to the shelter, the bright golden light of the setting sun flooding his vision. The mountainside spread before him, rugged and rolling, down to the destroyed city.

    He was unimpeded by the freshly fallen snow, re-energized by both the actual meal he had eaten this morning, and by finally finally being able to take action, his legs eating up the distance like he was flying. Even Chagang with his long legs was struggling to keep up.

    They found North Pyongan waiting for them at the barracks entrance, where the soldiers of the 4th Division's late arriving squads were already lined up and waiting. They saluted their Countryhuman as he approached.

     “Comrades!” North dove straight into it, no longer able to wait now that he no longer had to. “Tonight we head for the front line to join our comrades in our long-awaited counteroffensive. Our strategic temporary retreat has been successful. We had to leave many good comrades behind, but we left them for a reason. To fight behind lines, in enemy-held territory.”

He could see as the light of realization dawned in North Pyongan’s eyes from the corner of his vision, as he finally understood why so many had not made it to the 38th Parallel. A risky gamble, to leave so many Party members and soldiers behind. In some cases it hadn’t paid off. But in others it more than had.

     “Our units in the south have joined with the guerillas to strike devastating blows against the enemy’s supply lines. Already our Second Corps in Kangwon province has Liberated Yangyang, Kosong, Thongchon, and many other areas. Now they move to take the roads out of Pyongyang so we can crush the retreating enemy between our forces.”

   North started to pace, unable to stand still any longer. The eyes of his soldiers clung to him, fierce and ready.

    “Here in the west, the enemy has almost been repulsed to the Chongchon River. They are boasting now that they will be home by ‘Christmas,’ the twenty-fifth, unaware that they have fallen for our trap. They think that they’ve pushed us here, driven us into a corner to be destroyed.

    “They are wrong.”

     The men were smirking, well aware of what the plan had been. North Pyongan was nodding his head, and Chagang looked as unbothered as ever. Good. He was pleased to see that they were clever enough to have guessed why exactly they had retreated so far.

    “We led them here,” North declared. “Into these mountains that we trained in. This is our land, our country. We know how to use the terrain and how to resist what it challenges us with. The enemy doesn’t. Thousands of them have frozen to death in these peaks, and they have been unable to advance beyond the roads. Their frontline is over one-thousand ri wide, stretching from the Chongchon to the Orang. But they hold little of it. They are separated from each other, and from their Command in Japan. They can progress no farther. But we can leave. We have used this time to regird, to strengthen our line, while they have been breaking against it.”