Chapter 39:
Jung grunted as he shifted the massive grandfather stand clock behind him as he trek the familiar path back to his home. When he dropped it in the barn next to his home, he stretched his aching back muscle. Then the stupid bird dropped over his head with a grumpy look. Food, she projected towards Jung.
Jung sighed. “Can you not just hunt for it? You are the freaking queen of the forest!” he growled.
Not enough, was her only response. Food. Now.
Sighing, Jung went outside to the back of his small home, the giant owl still imperiously riding the top of his head. In one corner of the growing garden was a small wooden storage box. The storage box is almost hidden by the vast surrounding green vegetation. What gives it away, though, is the small chimney on one corner that continuously spouted light lazy smoke away from it.
It was Jung’s personal smokehouse. For months now, Jung is preparing for winter, and through his hard-earned money from months of doing odd work, he has accumulated choice meat from the town and then preserves them in his tiny smokehouse as it slowly cooked in his smoke oven. He got the idea from a book he read in the school’s tiny library, and he implemented it almost a year ago. He bought the meat during a season of slight abundance and got it with a fair price. He properly cured it, seasoned it with spices and salt, and then let it slowly cook in his smokehouse he prepared a year ago.
Normally, a smokehouse cooks meat in two weeks; even if it is refrigerated, you need to eat it within the day. But Jung’s smokehouse is created not to cook it directly but to preserve it. There are times within the day that the smoke barely give off heat but simply the smoke, which then coats the meat in layers of bacteria-resistant film of oil. The key is to drain the meat of all water as much as possible. Water inside the meat is a problem. It spoils everything. Dried meat lasts longer. And so the heat and smoke are meant to drive off the water. With the smoke, it continues to preserve the meat for more than a year. But Jung only needed to preserve it for 4 months or so since Jung is not willing to gamble that long with the health of his family. Fortunately, after he cleans the finished product from the meat house, Jung is usually ready to stock it back up with new meat.
Jung sometimes uses the bird to see if the meat is safe to eat. Jung peered inside the smoke house while simultaneously shoving the curious bird's head away from the mouthwatering box. Jung quickly selects a smaller, already cooked piece of meat and hands it to the bird, which nearly bites his hand off.
After a while, though, Jung grabbed the owl and tucked her under his arm. The bird is normally gentle with him and is not digging its claws into his skull, but it still uncomfortable because the damn bird weighs like a ton by now. Even so, it is rare for the bird to let Jung do this. Actually, only Jung can touch the damn bird. Her parents tried to pet her several times, but the imperious bird always dodged the hand reaching for her.
The bird looks cute, as Jung carried her in one arm and the other held her dinner just in front of her beak. Jung hee then contentedly escorted her back to her home while she leisurely ate her dinner. When they got back to the barn, the bird grabbed her remaining meat, flew over to her spot, and then contentedly sat down to eat. Jung sighed as he shook his head. At least one queen is content for the night. He looked at the docile, bored-looking cow, absently munching on a straw of hay stuck in her mouth. The cow is the room mate of the owl and the only one the owl tolerates in the barn. The chickens learned quickly that the barn was off limits to them the moment Bongcha claimed the place. Jung patted the thick skin of the bovine animal and made sure nothing was wrong with the old cow and that she was comfortable. Jung then looked at the antique stand clock he brought home, checked that it is tightly tied up and then left for his home.
At dinner, Jung’s father is a bit grumpy because of some problems in the cooperative. Apparently, the regional commissariat that father answered to is visiting and is castigating all of them, despite the fact that his co-op is only one of four other co-ops in the country that met their quotas this year.
90 percent of all the agricultural land in North Korea are organized into series of socialist cooperatives under the Union of Agricultural Workers of Korea (or its literal Korean translation of Korean Federation of Agricultural Workers). According to its most recent official survey in the 1960s, there are over 13,300 cooperatives scattered throughout the countryside, each with an average of eighty households and 130 hectares of land. Many of these organizations have been disbanded, absorbed by others, or merged into larger cooperatives as the ministry of agriculture continue its quest to find the perfect formula for the most effective cooperative. Unfortunately, it is a futile quest since the government has no accurate count of how many of these collectives exist in the twenty-first century due to a lack of funding, simple incompetence, and a lack of political will.
Hyusil’s cooperative is made up of almost 400 families running 620 hectares of land. They have 9 tractors plus utility vehicles. How it works is that, on paper, all land and farm implements are owned collectively by the members of each cooperative. But in real life, the government owns everything, and the co-op members need to request everything that they want to do with the equipment.
Besides a set salary, the members of the co-op are also paid in terms of the harvest goods that they farmed. In return, the government, through the central People’s Committee, give the co-ops quotas for select targeted goods that they need to plant, grow, and then harvest. Once harvest arrives, a sizable portion of their end product goes to the government. It is directly controlled by the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, which oversees the overall plan. Their harvest will soon be collected in various regional warehouses and then redirected and managed by the Ministry of Agriculture. First, the ministry normally takes 30% as the government’s direct share. This will then be used for its various programs, from incentives for its various branches of government or being sold in a backdoor deal for profit or favors. Using a program called the Public Distribution System or PDS, they then redistribute the rest of the goods in the market. The PDS is responsible in bringing those goods to the market by contracting with vetted semiprivate business sectors that became middlemen and then resold the goods to the public for a controlled profit.
It has been a common occurrence now that the collective farms could not reach the quota given to them because of various reasons. Some of them are due to luck or the lack thereof. Various flooding, earthquakes, and locust invasions destroy crops in the central plain where 75 percent of all agricultural planting takes place. But the main culprit is the lack of chemicals, which made it hard to manufacture both fertilizers and pesticides in quantities needed to cover the farming fields in the country. These key chemicals have been banned according to the UN embargo taking place in North Korea for several decades now, and although some are trickling in through the black market, it is costing the government stiff prices with their limited reserves.
Either way, because of the Worker’s party of korea’s official ideological stance called Juche , the government tried really hard to make the agricultural goals of the country achievable. Juche posits that a country will prosper once it has become self-reliant by achieving political, economic, and military independence. As a consequence, collective farms that fail the quota gets a lot of tongue-lashing from the higher-ups, but in the end, they receive an additional budget to help them be more productive. It became a fine art for the various middle managers around the country to find that elusive line that they can get more profit by getting a bigger budget, and being declared an incompetent leader, and being sent to the gulag.
The truth is, the regional commissariat is irritated with Jung hee’s father because his cooperative farm is doing well. Too well, actually and although they are getting a pat in the back for a job well done by the higher-ups in the central committee, it also means not getting a hefty increase in the budget next year, which the regional commissariat is supposed to get. Hell, the higher-ups are thinking of actually lowering their budget to help the other co-ops who are not doing so well. So now, the commissar is visiting their co-op and nitpicking everything in the office, supposedly to make them more efficient, but basically just pushing his frustration back to Hyusil’s people.
Seven times now, the commissar has screamed at Hyusil for some slight or perceived failure in his management style. “I’m being punished for doing well in my job,” he muttered that evening when his wife asked him why the commissar was up in arms.
But Jung’s father is an old hand in this job. He’d rather be treated like a child than suffer the other consequences if they fail to reach their quotas. Sure, the central committee will increase the budget of the commissariat, thus making them happy, but central might request an assurance of better performance in the future. And this is done by making an example of the so-called laziest farmers and sending them to the gulag for threatening national security and the kingdom’s self-reliant policies.
No, Hyusil thought grimly. I can take Comrade commissar’s childish tantrum, but I won’t endanger the people under my command.
That night, Jung thought about his father’s problem as he dismantled the massive antique stand clock and silently cleaned the inside. Jung can tell that it was rat-infested due to the droppings. And certain spiders also took residence inside, as the cobwebs are able to grab prime real estate. Jung barely took notice of it as he continued to clean the clock with a brush. Then, when it was clean, Jung dismantled the entire mechanism with his trusty screwdriver and pliers.
As everything was displayed on the small table, Jung sprayed the key parts with the rust remover spray he invested in some time ago and cleaned the others with either oil or soapy water, whichever was necessary at the time.
If a person of authority is not happy with your work, then just work even harder, Jung thought vaguely. At least that is my experience with working so far. I hope Father doesn’t get angry with the whole government just because of this. I think my father is just tired. So is my mother. It is up to me to help them both. That is why I should always demand perfection in all my work.
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With his new conviction, Jung’s attention returns to his status screen and what he can do better to improve himself. For several days now, he has felt conflicted on where he should put his new evolution point. The rare point can either be used to increase his existing point in BODY or MIND, or he could take a chance and find new skills in the unknown attributes in SPIRIT. Either is a gamble since he really didn’t know much even now how the system truly works. He knew that he can get more advanced skills if he improved the category for BODY and/or MIND and then increased the attribute in it. But then the available options that will become available for him if he chooses SPIRIT are something he wasn’t sure he wanted to miss.
His father’s dilemma made him finally choose. Just because you are good at one thing doesn’t mean you will be able to fix every problem that comes your way with the same method. Sometimes, people needed new solutions. And you are only going to get that if you have more options. Besides, Jung also wanted to explore and, in the future, understand how the system works. And he will never be able to understand the system if he only concentrates on a part of it.
With new determination, Jung had finally chosen to use his remaining Evolution point and activate the SPIRIT category of his attributes. And then he spent 3 attribute points on the new attribute subcategory that sprung up to make sure he got the full effect of that category. At least in the earliest stages, like the others. The two remaining attribute points he placed in AGILITY in the BODY category and in WISDOM in the MIND category.
Then he looked at his new status screen.
Name: Kim Jung Hee
Age: 13
Class: Peasant
Level: 12
Attributes:
Body: 1
*Strength: 2
*Endurance: 1
*Agility: 1
Mind: 1
*Perception: 1
*Intelligence: 1
*Wisdom: 2
Spirits: 1
*Essence: 1
*Will: 1
*Dexterity: 1
Current XP: 108,433
Total XP needed for the next level-up: 112,725
Available skill points: 8
Available Attribute points: 0
Available evolution points: 0
Available Perk points: 0
Jung gasped as his chest felt that it suddenly exploded from within. Then he realized that it was the very air that he breathed. It was as if he is inhaling pure fire right into his lungs. He tried to hold his breath for a moment, but it was as if the moment his lungs tasted the new air, it wanted more, and he was forced to inhale a whole lungful of it again and again, and it was scorching him from within. It took several seconds of agony, but he felt himself getting used to it after he expelled a massive amount of sweat from his body. At first, it was just like a buzz of electricity getting absorbed by his every breath, which was uncomfortable, but then his entire skin tingled all over. It was like the same feeling when you sat on your hands for a long time and it starts tingling of insects moving around it as blood reenters your limbs, except this one covered his entire body and felt ten times worse. Jung Hee clamped his mouth shut as he felt like screaming from the pain inside of him. His eyes are irritated and blurred, his brain is throbbing with the increase beat of his heart and every breath he takes is like lava burning his throat and lungs.
Jung didn’t know how long the pain savaged his body but he simply gritted his teeth and took it. He vaguely followed the logic that this crap he is feeling has something to do with the system, and if that is the case, then it will eventually stop. At least he hopes so. Ten more minutes, and his theory is proven correct. It is not as if the pain simply eases off. It is more like Jung’s body began to get used to the changes being forced upon him.
Congratulations!
You have discovered Essence Energy.
You have 5/5 Essence Energy.
Eventually, the pain eases off enough that he can stand up. When he could, he immediately settled himself, and upon closing his eyes, he started meditating while standing up. He concentrated on breathing in and out, and while the first few inhalations almost doubled him over all over again, he persevered, and the pain eased up some more. He didn’t know how long it took, but eventually, his body stopped shaking, and for the first time, he relaxed his tense muscles.
Well, that was stupid, he thought grimly. Then, with shaking hands, he reached out for his trusty screwdriver and continued to work on the wall clock like nothing had happened. He'll read the new info he received later. For now, he still have work to do.
****
He was still working on the clock when he heard heavy footsteps coming from the house. He looked up from the window, and noticed his mother open the house door, locked her eyes on him, and started walking purposefully towards the barn.
Heeeeeek!! Jung thought, almost in a panic. The pain he endured a while ago was something he could grimly endure, but an angry mother can turn him into a whining puppy. He looked around desperately for a hiding place. Then he crouched in one corner of the barn and hid his face with a massive flower pot as he remained still.
He almost threw the flower plant when he realized that his hiding place is stupid and wouldn't work. He paced around the barn, looking for an escape route.
Mom looked pissed.
To Jung’s point of view, his mother was emanating a dark aura following her, and her dark, flat eyes could see directly into his soul. He unconsciously moved around the table to place it between him and his mother.
Jin Ae, a hair roller still stuck in her hair, glared at her son. To Jung’s point of view, it was like the eye of Sauron is staring at him.
“Heeeeekk!!” Jung said again, almost involuntarily. He was ready to kowtow on the dirty floor for any mistake that he had made.
“Kim Jung hee!” Jin Ae, his mother, declared. “What in the ancestor’s name are you still doing here? Don’t you have enough presence of mind to stop working in these ungodly hours?!”
Jung blinked. And then his inner clock screamed at him on what time it is. Suddenly all the clues are there for him to see. The crickets in the nearby forest had lessened their chirping as they prepared to go to sleep in the morning. Buching, the old cow, is already sleeping despite still standing up. Jung knows this because the cow’s eyes are close, her mouth is slightly open, and there is a cute snot bubble in her left nostril. And his pet owl is even back in her nest, meaning her nightly hunt in the forest has ended and she is now preparing to take a nap. Jung didn’t have an actual clock, but he was sure that it is way past midnight and that it is now in the early morning.
Crap! More than likely, I have barely a couple of hours left to sleep before school. No wonder she is pissed! I forgot the time!
He’d been tinkering with the damn wall clock for hours.
“Well?!”
Taken by surprise, Jung hee wasn’t able to think of a lie and simply blurted out, “I’m so sorry! I forgot the time!”
His mother walked across the distance between them, around the table, and then grabbed Jung by the ear and marched him inside the house while lecturing him about the consequences to his body of lack of sleep. No matter how much bigger Jung hee had become, the ear pinching always felt like Jung turned into a chibi puppy curling up as the mother dog grabbed him by the skin of the back of his neck. All that is left is for him to whine pathetically.
But today was… slightly different. To her mother’s surprise, Jung resisted this time. He stop her gently, but firmly. “I’m so sorry mother. And I won’t do it again,” he said. “But this clock is important. If I leave it here now, I won’t have time to fix it when I go to school. And I promised uncle soo-ha to return it tomorrow aftern-- no, this afternoon.”
“I don’t care what you promise all your uncles! You will go to sleep right now!”
“but mom!” Jung whined, as he held on to the table while his mom tried to drag him away. “I promised that I will sleep earlier tomorrow! But I really need to fix this first.”
That only got him a karate chop in the forehead. “Don’t be stupid. You are the smartest person I know. You should be aware that any lack of sleep today is not gonna be fix by sleeping more tomorrow. The damage is already done by then.”
“Even so, I need to fix this!” Jung and his mother had a comical tag of war near the barn. There fight was so loud that the owl looked down at them in disapproval. The cow continued to sleep peacefully. A new smaller bubble snot appearing on top of the original bubble.
“The money I will get from this is just enough to buy… well, the toy that I want!”
That made his mother hesitates. Jung hee knew that if he mentions that he doing this to get money to supplement the household expenses, or that he wants to give a gift to her or to his father, she wouldn’t care much for it.
But if he mentions that he needs the money to buy something for himself like say, he shuddered to himself, toys…then his mother will be more amenable.
For some reason, his mother wants him to be more like the other normal kids and continue playing and spending time with kids his own age. But who has the time for that crap? Jung hee had seen how hard labor was sapping the energy of his parents day by day. How the hell can you play with that as your background? Jung Hee decided a long time ago that his happiness is finding ways to ease the trouble and hardship of his parents. He didn’t have time for games.
Of course the money he is making is to help out around the house!
And … well, maybe a bit of money also to find a decent gift for Eun Mei’s upcoming birthday. But they didn’t need to know that.
When his mom asked him tentatively what kind of toy he was planning to buy, Jung said the first thing that appeared in his mind. Jung quickly described the family computer that Kwang received almost a lifetime ago, and is still bragging every time they met. And with that inspiration, he quietly explained that Kwang has one and showed his subtle envy of his friend’s toys. In his desperation, both mother and son forgot that such a toy needed electricity to work, and their household doesn’t have one.
Jung could tell that his mother’s anger is lessening and showing weakness. Strike while the iron is hot!, Jung thought grimly. “I really want this mama!” he said with his most adorable voice ever. “With the money I’ll get from this work, I’ll be that closer to buying my dream toy! I only need an hour—no, a half hour—and I’ll be finished with my work. Just this once, mama…pleeeasse!”
Jin Ae glared for a long time but her face gradually soften. She made a small inward sigh. “Fine,” she said, still slightly annoyed. You have 30 minutes to finish this and then go to bed. A minute longer, and I’ll make sure your butt is raw from my slipper! And I don’t want any grumbling from you when you prepare for school this morning. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, mom!” Jung said, hugging her. She was surprised by her son’s impulsive move, but slowly relented. Within moments, she is hugging her son back. “Oooh, I don’t know what to do with you! I’m just always worried about you, son,” she said. “You are just too young to be shouldering all these responsibilities. I am the one who should be taking care of you, little Jung. Not the other way around.”
Jung Hee just hugged her mother even tighter, but very, very carefully. Her familiar garden scent always relaxed Jung, and he almost squeezed her harder, but he didn’t. He can almost feel the frailty inside his mother, and he is afraid of hurting her.
But I want to take care of you mom, Jung thought affectionately. You and dad.
That is my purpose.
“Thank you, mom! You are the best!” he said instead.
After another pat in the head, Jung’s mom slowly left the barn and went back to the house, presumably back to her bed. “Half an hour!” she said behind her back. “Not a minute more!”
Jung happily waved at her like a dork as she reentered the house. Before she entered the house, Jung noticed her shivering from the cold and tightened the flimsy sweater over her body. Jung resolved to get some firewood in the forest before he left for school later.
Now back to the clock. I don’t have any more time to doddle around. He just needed to reassemble the-
Congratulations!
You have unlocked the specialist skill called “Negotiate.”
-You now have a better chance of succeeding in any form of negotiation and get the better deal from it. The skill is cumulative in effect with other yet similar skill.
Requirements: The skill “Trade” to at least lvl 1. Wisdom 1, SPIRIT 1, Charm 1.
Current level: 0
Needed points to unlock the skill to the next level: 1
Remaining Skill Points: 8
Jung smacked the top of his forehead. The realization that a whole bunch of new skills will now become unlock because he opened a whole new category of attributes is slowly sinking in.
And he groaned softly.