Last Stop: Pyongyang

Calm refuge

A few kilometers north. At the same time.

Sang-wan strolled through the woods and breathed in the fresh air. The trees‘ lush green had a calming impact on him. The tall man took advantage of the warm spring days to go on long walks. Today, he had finished work early to wander a little through the forest.

He loved this area. It gave him hope. The dense forests and clear skies on the Bavarian-Thuringian border reminded him of Korea. This country had also been divided, but in Germany, the division had been overcome more than thirty years ago. Just a few more meters and he would be in Thuringia. Without any border security! Would his country ever be like this?

He tried to imagine the signs pointing to the now-vanished inner-German border at the DMZ - the heavily guarded demilitarized zone on the 38th parallel that separated the two Koreas, ever since the 1953 truce. For now, the idea of reunification was a long way off.

Sang-wan strolled past the deciduous trees. He loved the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves. Rays of sunlight fell through the treetops and left reflections on his hair, which was beginning to show the first gray strands. He particularly liked walking along this little path!

Always careful not to trample down the vegetation, he carefully made his way between the small shoots and the berries that were growing all over the forest floor. When he heard a knocking sound, he looked up and paused briefly to watch a great spotted woodpecker that was making a new home for itself.

Sang-wan still couldn't quite believe it - his family was safe. They had found a place where they could live without fear. In their tranquil municipality of 8,000 people, no one would come looking for them.

Admittedly, discipline left a lot to be desired in Germany, and his kids often took things too lightly. Yu-ja in particular, who had just turned sixteen, showed a tendency to be sloppy. Everything was lying all over the place. In Korea, he would never have let her get away with this mess!

After arriving in Germany, Sang-wan and Min-ju were astonished to see that other families' homes looked much messier than theirs. The Chos would have been ashamed and were pretty confused about what was appropriate and acceptable in their new home country. There were certainly no denunciations in Germany and no neighborhood committees. But this was not the case in South Korea either. Nevertheless, much more importance was attached to order and cleanliness there.

Over the years, Min-ju had adopted a more relaxed lifestyle. She no longer vacuumed every day and only washed the curtains twice a year. She cleaned the windows every few months. And if Sang-wan was honest - he had also become more relaxed. That was probably part of it.

Nevertheless, they were often facing difficult decisions. Telling their children the whole truth about their origins was one of them. Sang-wan and Min-ju had agreed that Tak-yuen and Yu-ja should know about the family’s history. That way, they could avoid unpleasant surprises and long explanations, just in case their cover got blown one day.

He glanced at his gold watch, which Min-ju had given him for his last birthday. It was time to head home. Even though there was not much left of Min-ju's Korean strictness, she still valued fixed meal times.

***

An hour later, the Chos were sitting around the cherry wood table in the cozy kitchen-diner of their house, eating their dinner. As always, Min-ju had cooked excellently.

"Pass me the salad, please, Yu-ja," Min-ju asked her daughter. She handed her mother the large blue glass bowl without saying a word and continued to stare at her cell phone, while running her left hand through her long black hair. With the other hand, she was busily typing a message.

"Can you at least put that thing away while we’re having dinner?" Sang-wan called irritably. He couldn't get used to people constantly being glued to their cell phones. Such behavior really got on his nerves, so he did his best to stop it at home. As if she had been torn from a daydream, Yu-ja's brown almond eyes turned to her father. "Sure. Sorry, Dad." She put the cell phone in her pocket.

"It‘s Friday... you surely don't mind if I go to 3Nights with Carola, do you?" Yu-ja asked her parents. "Again? Weren't you there just last week?" Min-ju was not at all happy. She frowned at her daughter. "But it's a new week, Mom. We'll be back well before midnight," Yu-ja assured her mother. "Okay," Min-ju gave in surprisingly quickly. "But Tak will drive you."

Tak, who was just about to put the last noodles from his plate onto his fork, looked up annoyed. Now that he finally had a car, he constantly had to drive his sister. Most of the time he didn't mind. He was very grateful to his parents for letting him choose a brand new car as a reward for passing his driving test. His dark blue Renault drove really well. Tak's friend Daniel was not that lucky - although he had gotten his driver's license at the same time as Tak, the Nguyens could not afford another car, so Daniel borrowed his mother's red Seat whenever she didn't need it.

Tonight, Tak had a date. A classmate he fancied quite a bit had invited him to the cinema. Tak didn't like rom-coms, but refrained from telling her so since he didn't want to cause any bad feelings right from the start.

"But mom! That's not necessary. Carola and I will leave together, so nothing can happen to us." "She'll manage," Tak agreed with his sister. Yu-ja gave him a surprised look and nodded gratefully.

***

Tak left the cinema shortly before eleven. He pulled a face of sheer disgust. The evening hadn't turned out as expected. They had missed the first twenty minutes of the film, although there was at least a quarter of an hour of commercials before it started. His companion, who was fairly drunk when she arrived late, had thrown herself at him so clumsily that Tak had lost all interest. She drooled on his T-shirt and poured her Coke over his pants. Disgusted, Tak looked down at the large sticky stain. And that on their first date! Alcoholism was an absolute no-go for Tak.

The fact that he barely got to see anything of the film was the least of Tak's problems. He took no interest in the plot at all.

After the screening, Tak quickly said goodbye and fled. It was a good thing Nathalie no longer went to school with him - otherwise, he would have had a hard time avoiding her. He had no desire to repeat this experience!

Tak turned his cell phone back on. Ah, a message from Daniel. Wanna join me at 3Nights? Your sister is here, too. Great.

Maybe he should pick up Yu-ja after all. By the time he got to 3Nights in Buchenhang by car, it would be time for her and Carola to go home anyway. He decided to give the two girls a lift and drop Carola off at home. Daniel would definitely want to stay longer. Whenever Tak allowed himself to get dragged along, they rarely came home before three in the morning. He unlocked his Renault and got in.

Tak drove along the winding road through the forest. Since it was only a single-lane road, he had to swerve every time there was oncoming traffic. Through the windshield, he looked at the full moon peeking out from behind the tall trees. The moon had always fascinated him.

Twenty minutes later, he arrived at 3Nights, which was located in the woods outside of town. Tak parked his car and got out. Perfect timing. Yu-ja and Carola would be leaving any minute.

There was no sign of the two girls, however. Tak asked the people standing in front of the discotheque, but they couldn't help him. After a while, a friend of Yu-ja's came out of the building. When Tak spoke to her, she told him, stunned, that Carola had disappeared with a guy she had met during the evening. Yu-ja had already started to make her way home - alone. Tak thanked her and set off straight away.

Anger rose in him. Carola was a really bad person to be around. Hadn't she just changed boyfriends last month? And now, she was dating a new guy already? Whom she had just met? Hopefully, her lack of judgment won't rub off on Yu-ja, Tak thought disgustedly.

He thought about it - which route would Yu-ja take? The one along the country road? No, it was twice as long as the dirt road through the forest. His sister had definitely chosen the shortcut. He turned the car around and drove down the hill, past meadows and fields, towards the extensive forest area.