Last Stop: Pyongyang

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Yu-ja and Daniel strolled through the forest. The bare trees brought back unpleasant memories and made them feel uneasy. Also, they failed to notice the three sinister figures who followed them from afar.

"Look at that. She's turned us down, but cosies up to this rice farmer." Armin shook his head angrily. His unkempt red hair flew in all directions, and he gave a contemptuous snort. "I’d really like to intervene, but she beat us up so badly last time."

Markus put on an expression of suffering. "Why can't we just ignore her?" he asked fearfully. "That's completely out of the question!" hissed Armin angrily. He was still mad because his dad had doubted his story in the end. Usually, he supported his son unconditionally! So far, he’d never doubted any of this claims.

But Armin‘s talk of a North Korean woman having beaten up three young men was simply too unbelievable. His father had, of course, checked the official record immediately. The Chos were German citizens of South Korean origin. Sebastian started wondering whether he should have been stricter on Armin. His son was causing trouble all the time! Ever since Armin had become so close to Frederik, things seemed to be escalating.

Sebastian couldn't figure Frederik out. Why had he stayed at middle school, if he was so bored there? And now, he was just hanging out all day! His parents didn't seem to put any pressure on him to achieve something in his life. On the contrary - they made it very easy for their son to get away with all his misdeeds. Sometimes, Sebastian believed that Frederik had his own agenda, which he didn't reveal. At least not to him...

Frederik's ice-cold manner, and the way he looked at him, had often sent shivers down Sebastian's spine. He was not pleased with this friendship and tried to keep Armin away from Frederik with all effort, but was met with severe resistance and increasing secrecy on his son’s side.

Armin often got into trouble, which gradually started causing Sebastian problems in his job. How was he supposed to head a team of police officers when he couldn't even discipline his own son? Such rumours had been haunting him for a while.

Frederik eyed the couple with a grim expression on his face. Yu-ja and Daniel were in a tight embrace, their silhouettes getting smaller and smaller. His eyes took on a malicious gleam. A nasty idea entered his mind. "If we don't get the chick, we'll go after the guy!" His friends looked at him in horror. "Are you crazy?" they shouted in unison.

The look on Frederik’s face was both alarmed and full of rage. Armin and Markus immediately fell silent.

Armin didn’t feel confident at all. Last time, the three of them hadn't managed to overpower Yu-ja. Instead, they had received a severe beating. The resulting pain had been terribly hard to endure and persisted for several weeks. What a disgrace! And now they were supposed to take on Yu-ja and a guy?

Markus had a very bad feeling in this stomach. Frederik's little jokes were rarely harmless. Too often, they had ended badly. After their failed attack on Yu-ja, the three of them had been looking for an easier victim. Which they had found soon - with fatal consequences...

"So much has gone wrong already!" Armin interjected angrily. Apparently, he had gotten cold feet. "What if we mess up this time, too? You claimed that this b***h‘s classmate was too out of it to recognize us, but remember what happened! Your old man will fight you out if push comes to shove, but what about us?"

A heated discussion erupted. Frederik ran his hand excitedly over his collarbone, which had healed by now. He laid out his plan. „We’ll take him on when he’s alone. He must return at some point. Let’s wait here. He won’t be able to escape.“

A few hundred meters further on, a small stream flowed through the forest. A narrow wooden bridge without any railing led over it. The dense pine bushes on the left side offered sufficient cover for an ambush. If one of them threw Daniel into the water by surprise, and the other two kept his head under water for a while, it would be a perfect lesson. Although Frederik didn’t mention the fact that he wouldn’t let Daniel resurface, Markus visibly squirmed. He’s such a coward, Frederik thought contemptuously.

Eventually, Frederik managed to convince his friends. They marched off and were now standing right in front of the bridge.

Suddenly, Frederik stopped. "Can you hear that? Be quiet! Someone‘s coming." They quickly ducked behind a group of small fir trees and looked out.

In the meantime, it had stopped snowing. Daniel walked along the forest path with his little brother. Eight-year-old Philip had been visiting friends in Grünau, so Daniel had decided to pick him up. That way, his mother didn’t have to go. The two of them had a lively conversation, while Philip hopped along happily at his brother's side. The fog spooked him. "Maybe there are ghosts in the forest." Philip looked past a group of bare trees with wide eyes.

Daniel, however, urged him to hurry up. "Let’s go home. I'm on shift later," he told his brother.

Frederik, Markus and Armin were still in hiding. "There are two of them!" Markus whispered excitedly. Frederik rolled his eyes. The presence of Daniel's little brother was not even worth mentioning to him. "Never mind. You take care of the boy," he replied. "Or are you a little wimp who can't even handle a child?" he scoffed.

As the Nguyen boys were about to cross the bridge over the narrow stream, Philip was suddenly grabbed from behind. Someone covered his eyes and threw a kind of sack over his head. The boy screamed in shock.

Daniel, who wanted to rush to his aid, was also grabbed and pushed into the stream. Everything happened so quickly that he was unable to defend himself. The water was ice cold and much deeper than Daniel had imagined. Every cell in his body contracted. When he tried to resurface, his head was pushed under water with full force. It was pitch black around him. Panicky, he tried to fight his way to the surface.

Tak had finished his errands and bought himself a delicious poppy seed roll, which he finished on his way home. Monika had approached him again! She must really mean it. He had a feeling that she was literally waylaying him; as often as they happened to cross paths... she was actually quite pretty. Reddish-blonde hair, fair skin with freckles, a plump figure, a head shorter than him. If she were a year older, or two, I might well give her a chance.

Yu-ja and Daniel... Tak still couldn’t make sense of it. However, things could have been much worse for Yu-ja. Daniel's family was not exactly wealthy, but the Nguyens were good people. They would treat Yu-ja well. More importantly, Daniel was a good guy. He never took advantage of others, but was a honest, helpful and reliable character.

Now that Tak had seen his sister with Daniel, he was convinced that they were deeply in love. They seemed so happy and trusting with each other... Tak was sure that their relationship had been going on for a while. Still, he wondered how he could have overlooked that. I'm getting rusty, he scolded himself.

The bare, gloomy forest did not look inviting at all. Dusk had arrived, and a light mist was rolling in. Tak quickened his pace.

Suddenly, he heard the sounds of fighting. A child screamed some distance away in front of Tak. Heavy splashing of water drowned out the background noise. What was going on? It sounded like someone was in dire need.

Tak came closer. Daniel's brother's orange anorak immediately caught his eye. Philip had a dark sack on his head and was struggling as hard as he could against Markus's grip, but to no avail. Markus held the scrawny Philip as tight as a vice. So the other two good-for-nothings couldn't be too far away either.

Tak looked down at the stream. He was horrified to see Frederik and Armin pushing someone under water! After a moment of shock, he reacted immediately and pulled a black stocking mask out of his pocket. He quickly put it on. Tak didn't know why, but he was very sure that he didn’t want anyone to recognize him.

He hit Markus in the face with such force that he lost consciousness. Markus immediately let go of Philip and sank to the ground. Without a word, Tak pulled the sack off Philip's head. He pushed the boy aside and ran to the water. Philip, who was so shocked that he couldn't say a word, stared after him with wide eyes.

Now, Tak attacked the howling Frederik from behind by kicking him hard in the back. Frederik, who was completely surprised by this attack, staggered and fell into the ice-cold stream, where he desperately tried to stay above water. The current was unexpectedly strong. "I can't swim!" he yelled. Tak was almost gleeful. Now that’s bad luck. Frederik should see for himself how he got out of this!

Overpowering Armin was equally easy for Tak. He grabbed him and threw him to the ground. Then he kicked him hard in the side several times. Armin curled up, whimpering. He was completely covered in mud.

Without further delay, Tak waded into the stream and grabbed Daniel, who was now half-fainted, by his arms. Luckily, he had gotten caught on a branch and wasn’t carried away by the current. It took Tak a lot of strength to pull his friend out of the ice-cold water. He was visibly shuddering.

Philip, who had now overcome his state of shock, came running. "Dani, wake up! Come on!" he called and shook his brother. Tak gently pushed Philip aside and quickly checked whether Daniel was breathing. He was relieved to see that his friend was regaining consciousness.

Blinking in confusion, Daniel raised his head. He looked questioningly at the black-masked figure above his face. Was that a hallucination?

Tak hoped fervently that Daniel didn't recognize him. But the mask did its job. "What..." Daniel asked, but stopped when a stabbing pain shot through his body. Philip tried to help him up. "It's okay, Phili," Daniel murmured when the blackness in front of his eyes had abated. "I'll get up." His head was pounding. He fought against the dizziness as he stood up. Daniel was still unsteady on his feet, Tak noticed, but he should be able to make it to Waldheide.

Tak ran away quickly, ignoring Philip’s calls, who was supporting his brother best he could. He stopped behind a small fir tree and watched the two of them. The fog grew thicker and visibility became even more limited.

Tak followed Daniel and Philip from a safe distance to make sure they reached the edge of the forest safely. He watched them enter Waldheide.

Only now did he feel the biting cold. Trembling, he looked down at himself. His trousers were completely wet and his dark blue woollen sweater was soaked up to his chest with water. He turned around and set off for Grünau, running. He had to get home and take a shower as quickly as possible if he didn't want to catch a pneumonia!