A few more weeks had gone, and the Guanzu People's School remained busy as final exams approached, followed by graduation celebrations for the high schoolers.

As graduation day looms on the horizon, the atmosphere within the school is electric, charged with anticipation and a palpable sense of urgency. Students scrambled to finish requirements and harassed overworked teachers to give them assistance or more time. Meanwhile, maintenance staff are busy putting on banners and decorations in the school colors of blue and white, and there are rumors that high-level communist party members are going to become this year’s guests of honors. Even the weather is cooperating as the warm wind begins to settle around the mountainous province as spring gives way to summer and the cold air surrounding the town begins to retreat.

Kim Jung Hee remained busy throughout the end of the school year. Despite the fact that his different business activities consume a large portion of his time and energy, he finds time to instruct his friends Kwang and Sang-ki. He would have invited Garam to join them, but the boy hasn't been seen in school for a while now. In any case, Jung Hee performed such a superb job that Sang-ki noted that he has a knack for teaching.

"Any guy who has the skill and patience to teach that big oaf over there has enough qualifications for me to become a real teacher," he once said. "Maybe you should think of being one."

Jung smiled. He didn’t dislike the idea. Kwang stared back at them with an ice cream cone in one hand and an oblivious look on his face.

The thought of teaching made Jung grin again as he remembered his great luck to get the scholarship grant for the University of Joseon in Pyongyang. He and his family are planning to visit the place after graduation before he can start his studies in their hollowed halls by the end of summer.

He and his mother had been pouring over the courses available for several nights now and attempting to find the best one for Jung to take. “Your friend Sang-ki is right, you know,” his mom told him. “Being a teacher will get you a job right away with steady pay, and when you retire, you will have a guaranteed pension.”

Jung smiled. No one in the north talks about getting a high-paying job unless you are a high-level party member or a relative of a high-level party member. The rest get a universal wage bracket that has been frozen since the 1960s. The most desirable job is one with a lot of chances for upward mobility or one with a guaranteed pension once you leave the profession.

“I’m not sure, mom. I like teaching people, but...

How can he explain to his mother that he doesn’t consider pensions important at the moment? Jung is confident that when he is in his 60s, he can still make money to provide for himself, whatever his job circumstances are at the time. What he wanted, though, was a job that would directly help his parents now.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

He has his eyes on either a Bachelor of Agriculture or Biotechnology. Biotechnology will directly help his father’s cooperative, while a Bachelor of Agriculture is a prerequisite to becoming a farm commissar, which controls multiple cooperatives, so he can directly influence and protect his father’s work.

“Where is my food, woman? " shouted his father at the table. “I’m starving! ”

“It’s ready, you old goat! Grab it on the stove if you are in such a hurry! ” replied his mother.

Jung smiled as he stood up and prepared the table.

The incident with Chung -ho was almost completely forgotten when new gossips started working its way around school. The kids learned about Kim Jung Hee's scholarship almost a week ago. No one has officially said it yet, and the finals has not yet been given, but everyone already knew that Jung Hee was a shoo-in for the valedictorian position. So him getting a scholarship was not that far-fetched. Then rumors came around that Cao Kwang Ho, the semi-Kaiju idiot, was admitted in another university in Hamhung, the second-largest city in North Korea. Many are annoyed and envious about this, but this also wasnt that surprising to many since Kwang is the son of the most powerful party member in town, and he is powerful enough to find a new university for his son. But the third person who got a spot at another university made a lot of eyebrows go up in disbelief.

Only Jung and Sang-ki were genuinely happy for the big guy. Sang-ki pointed out that even with his father's influence, Kwang wouldn't have gotten the spot at that university if he didn't work hard and actually passed their exams. Unfortunately, Sang-ki is the one with the worst possible future among them. If you didn't secure yourself a higher education, normally kids will go either to the farmer's cooperative or the nearby sardine factory in the next town. With his condition, Sang-ki couldn't do either of those since both jobs demand a lot of physical labor. Having no legs to stand on made him automatically disqualified for the job.

Jung Hee had talked to old man Hyun-ki, the owner of the junkshop, and negotiated a deal with him to give him a desk job once school ended. The old man was reluctant, but Jung used his "Negotiate" skill on him, plus Jung had enough IOU's and favors from him that the old man reluctantly agreed.

Now that Sang-ki's future is secured, Jung's next project is with his other friend, Bon Won.

*****

Eun Mei walked into the forest on her way back to her mother’s house.

Her mother’s house.

Not home.

Once inside the decrepit house, she will endure an hour or so of her mother’s plastic concern and gleeful barrage of semi-accusations of why she is not deserving of her love while her mother’s current boyfriend stares lecherously at her. She will do all her chores like a quiet slave, then she can lock herself in her tiny room until dinner, where she has to endure the same treatment for another hour or so until she can excuse herself from her so-called study. She will plan for her future, sleep, and then start all of this again in the morning.

But everything will change soon, she smiled coldly.

I got all of it figured out. Soon, she will have the necessary excuse to leave this place and enough money to support herself in the near future. FInally, she will be able to get rid of this hell hole once and for all.

The forest is particularly ominous these days. The usual sounds were nowhere to be heard, as if they went to a great leader’s ceremony or something. Even so, Eun Mei is alone in the forest. And because of that, she let one of her very rare smiles be etched on her beautiful face. Today is a good day for her.For once, fortune was on her side. This hasn't happened to her in a long time, and she's going to relish it. That old man never knew what hit him.

Her feet are light, and everything seems rosy, despite the gloomy atmosphere. But she is alone, so maybe she can let her guard down for a moment before the inevitable stings of her mother’s disappointments besiege her once more.

But she shouldn’t have let her guard down. Because she is in the forest.

And like every forest, this one has its monsters lurking in the shadows.