Chasing Liberty // Countryhumans North Korea fanfiction

Differences In Nature

     “Hey, if it isn’t the most beautiful woman in the POW camp!”

     Kangwon’s lips thinned as he heard the brash voice immediately after the hospital’s door slammed open, followed by the giggles of one of the nurses.

    “Can I help you with anything, America, sir?”

    “Maybe later. I actually came to catch a word with our resident commie nurse.”

     Kangwon could feel eyes on his back as he fiddled with the tube providing blood for his unconscious patient. He was still in the clothes he’d been brought in with- dirty white pants and a matching blood-stained shirt. He had been told the man was one of his guerillas disguised as a peasant, something they insisted was true for several of the prisoners brought in here. Kangwon lacked the English to tell them that the guerrillas did not disguise themselves as peasants- many of the peasants were guerrillas.

    “There he is!”

    Kangwon tried not to flinch at the hand that came down on his shoulder, forcefully turning him from his patient.

     “Hello,” he said, smiling at America’s chest.

     The foreigner grinned broadly back. “So, you finally have a chance to talk?”

    “That depends,” Kangwon said, trying not to shove off the hand. “Are you going to let me speak to him again?”

     “Who?” America asked innocently. “I need a name, pal.”

    “Korea,” he said easily. He had no real qualms about calling South that. Though he was not his Korea, when they were Reunified, he would be part of him.

    Irritation briefly pinched the edges of America’s lips, perhaps at the lack of resistance to saying the name.

    “I know you don’t believe me, but it really was Southie’s decision to leave you guys out in the cold,” he said, then laughed. “And I mean that quite literally.”

    It had grown even colder in the camp over the last week. Kangwon couldn’t sleep without resorting to what he had used to do before he met Korea- turning into a tiny ball, all limbs tucked firmly inside his shirt. It was so cold that Hae had actually resorted to wearing the scarf South had brought for her (with some urging from Kangwon).

    “And I’m sure he came to that decision all on his own,” he remarked. Behind America, the door opened, and a short man walked in, eyes widening comedically when he saw who Kangwon was talking to.

    The Countryhumans shrugged. “What can I say? The kid can be a bit harsh sometimes. But are you saying you do have time for a chat?”

    “No.” Kangwon slipped away from his hand, making the action as non-confrontational as possible. “I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but we’re dealing with a dysentery outbreak.”

   America scrunched his face. “Dysentery? What is this, the Oregon Trail?”

     “When people are living crammed together in caves and camps, and hospitals and sanitation plants are being bombed, disease can spread quickly.” He said this last bit with just as touch of emphasis.

   It had been spreading fast. Already it had claimed three men in this holding camp alone. Kangwon shuddered to think of the conditions in the real camps, with tens of thousands of people packed together.

     “But you’d have time to talk to South?” America asked, evidently uninterested in the conditions of his prisoners. “Could it be you just don’t want to talk to li’l ole me?”