소나기는 피하는 게 상책

A rain shower is better off avoiding.

Sunan, May 19th, 1950

The department-heads of the People's Committee knew that it was coming for months by this point - the reorganization, the reshuffling. The throwing-out, the settling of scores, and the revarnishment of authority in the north into a solidified mass. The purge of the domestic faction in 1947 had already shown the divisions in the North, and it was only a matter of time before these flared up again. It was only hoped that the additionally militarization of the regime would not be a factor in the new balance of power.

Yet such a belief was inherently naive.

O Ki-Sop hurried through the downpour in Sunan. The old jumak at the corner of the Pyongyang highway had become a place of peace and gathering after the Japanese had been thrown out. It was here that many of the early issues of the North Korean Branch Bureau had been decided, debated, wondered over and dreamed about.

Yet those days were long past. O Ki-Sop knew that his opposition to Kim Il-Sung had been remembered, that his fraternity with the Domestic faction was not forgotten. He had survived the earlier purge, retained as head of the Labour Department, yet he felt the ground quaking under his feet - the winds and tides of change blowing hard across the Yellow Sea.

He entered the jumak and doffed his hat, shaking some of the rain off it before hanging it upon the wall. The room was warm and dense with cigarette and woodsmoke. In the corner set two of the other members of the People's Committee - Ho Nam-Hui, the transportation department head glanced nervously from the door to his drink, while the postal head, Ju Hwang-sop, looked morose and contemplative over his bowl of jjajangmyeon.

"The news isn't good," Ju said as O Ki-Sop joined them at the table. "Pak is looking for a clean sweep - besides himself, of course. And of course, the head of the Army backs him up. The powerbase is shifting."

"What of my work?" Ho twittered. Whether he was cold from fear or from the driving storm was hard to tell.

"Damn your work," O Ki-Sop said with uncharacteristic venom. "Our safety is of primary threat."

"You really think he's that vindictive?" Ho asked.

"Pak is, undoubtedly. And with the Army now, gaining their support is important. You haven't angered Choe Yong-gon, I hope?," Ju asked.

O Ki-Sop's face turned ashen. He worked up the courage to ask: "What to do? Flee south?"

"That's simply suicide. You'll be a traitor," Ju replied.

The conversation turned quiet for a few moments - just enough time for Yoon Si-u to slip out the rear of the jumak, heading directly to telephone the Security Bureau.

To be continued...