lines of “pleasure girls” pass him as they exit. They are so young and beautiful, dressed identically in blue jackets and skirts. They lift the burdens of the motherland from the shoulders of the president. And that is for the best, for he is the leader and “We cannot live away from his breast.” Jae-hwa repeats this popular slogan to himself solemnly every time he comes to see the great one.
Guards on both sides of Jae-hwa escort him into a vast hall with a ceiling that arches high above him. This marks the beginning of the Supreme Leader’s private quarters. At the very end, the most revered one sits at a long table eating rice and vegetables and dark red ostrich meat by himself. Jae-hwa knows the ostrich comes from the president’s private farm. So much hunger, but he must eat. He must be strong. Above all others.
The Great One studies Jae-hwa, who wishes that he were shorter so that he could honor the Supreme Leader more by looking up to him with his eyes, as he does with his heart. Then the president smiles and sings. This is a momentous occasion, the highest honor ever accorded Jae-hwa. He beams with pleasure. His son and his son’s sons will forever know of the night when the most revered one sang to him.
“Our enemies are the American bastards, who are trying to take over our beautiful fatherland. With guns that I make with my own hands, I will shoot them, bang-bang-bang.” His voice is so powerful. When he points his finger and fires an imaginary gun, Jae-hwa applauds, beaming, and nods over and over. This is a song all North Koreans know, but none can sing it with such conviction, for none have shown the Supreme Leader’s heroism against their brutal foes. Jae-hwa’s own son sings this song every day at school, and before he goes to bed. He sleeps soundly because his father works with the Supreme Leader. So much pride in Jae-hwa’s home.
Now the president aims his finger at Jae-hwa and pretends to shoot him. Jae-hwa stops smiling. Stops nodding. His hands fall to his sides. Have I insulted him? Jae-hwa doesn’t know what to do. He thinks of his son: May you always sleep soundly, even when the guns are real.
“We have our guns, bang-bang-bang,” the Supreme Leader sings again.
The president means the rockets. That’s why Jae-hwa is here. For many years the army has loaded thousands of missiles with sulfates. Overseeing the arming of rockets has been Jae-hwa’s most important duty since the 1990s, when droughts and floods caused a million people to starve to death. Maybe more, but nobody dares say this.
It was a holocaust of hunger. Mothers ate dirt and fed their babies insects. It was not the fault of the great nation or the Supreme Leader. The extreme weather was due to climate change, spurred by the wastrels in North America and Europe and Japan. The Supreme Leader warned the world that he would not let his people suffer alone. The West ignored him and slandered him. Called him crazy.
They won’t ignore the president much longer. The rockets are loaded with enough sulfates to make the whole world share the gnawing hunger of the North.
“The fools in the Maldives know nothing,” the president says.
“You are right, Supreme Leader.”
“The time is coming to instruct the world.…” This is what the Supreme Leader does so well. He teaches us all, Jae-hwa thinks. We are his children. “The phony election in the United States comes in days. We must act.”
“You have been most patient with them,” Jae-hwa says.
“Do you think I have been too patient?” the president demands.
“No.” Jae-hwa’s toes curl up in his boots; he did not intend to offend the most powerful one. “We have waited for your wisdom.”
“We must be ready. Are we?”
Jae-hwa tells him that every rocket is loaded. “They will turn the sky black.”
The Supreme Leader smiles, and nods at a seat at the long table. A guard rushes to bring Jae-hwa a plate of warm food. Jae-hwa wishes that he could save the ostrich meat for his boy, who has never tasted such a luxury. Hunger is the burden of heroes. The Supreme Leader has shared these wise words so many times.
But Jae-hwa would never insult the president by asking to take home food served at his table. To eat with him is a great honor. So Jae-hwa carefully matches the Supreme Leader’s every mouthful. Eat when he eats. Chew when