Another Tragic Accident

In the teeth of a bitter wind, we went to Wongol to chop trees. After a while, the nearest security guard came looking for me. I made my way through the trees to meet him. There, I saw a tree which would have needed 3 people to carry it.

“Jun Ha, make sure you get this tree. You can do it, right?”
“Whoa, how can I chop a tree this big?”
“Just do it! Okay?”
“…….”
“……”
“You can’t do it alone, so do it with two or three other. There isn’t much time. Finish it within 30 minutes, okay?”
“Yes, sir.”

I called across Young Nam from the 2nd group and Kwang Ho from the 3rd. When they saw the tree, their jaws dropped. They couldn’t say a word for a while, until finally,

“How are we supposed to chop this?”
“We’re just prisoners,” I told them, “What can we do? Let’s do it! You two chop from the other side so that the tree falls my way. Chop from 10cm higher than I do.”

If I had to do it, I thought I’d rather finish it quickly. We settled on particular points on the tree and concentrated on chopping there. However, the tree was too big so our axes tended to stick in the bark. So we had no choice but to chop from another point. Still our axes kept getting stuck. The security officials started to curse.

“Jun Ha you fool! Don’t you even know how to chop a tree down? You should chop about 10cm lower on the side you want it to fall! You shouldn’t have chopped all the way round!”
“We started that way, but the tree was just too thick and….”
“Don’t give me anymore excuses, you son of a bitch! Cut it down within 20 minutes, or else you’re all in trouble, okay? Even if you have to bite it!”

So we had no choice but to start chopping from a higher point. Then we met the original point where we had been chopping, so we began to take off the bark instead. But suddenly there was a strong wind which made the tree crack just a little bit. I told Young Nam and Kwang Ho to be careful. I thought that a little more would be enough to get it to fall so, encouraged, I sped up. Then I heard the tree crack once more from the other side. That day the wind was swirling really hard from all directions. The tree seemed ready to fall down any moment, but at the same time it didn’t move that much. The whole work section had carried all their trees, and ours too. This was all that was left. They were waiting for us. We tried to hurry up as we were under pressure, but the wind caused the cracks on the tree to keep closing and opening and closing, which distracted us. Also, because we were chopping all around the trunk we couldn’t figure out which side the tree would fall.

I felt like there was going to be an accident, so eventually I told Young Nam and Kwang Ho to get away. Whenever the tree shook, I stuck my axe in a deep crack. My axe weighed about 3kg and its handle was more than a meter long; I was the only one who could use it. Other people’s axes were only about 70cm on average, so they couldn’t go through the middle of the tree. Following my orders, they tried to join the watching group, but they faced the security officials almost immediately. With the security officials cursing them and me not wanting them too near, they couldn’t proceed or go back. Not quite knowing what to do, they just stood there, 3m away from me.

The wind caused a crack to widen, so I rammed my axe deep into it. Then, finally, the tree made a big cracking sound and started to fall. Watching it fall, I stepped back towards Young Nam and Kwang Ho. But suddenly a strong gust blew through and made the tree fall where we were standing. There were bushes all around us, so there was no way we could escape. Our section members shouted, but we couldn’t move fast enough. Young Nam and Kwang Ho got stuck in the bushes, and when they tried to stand up their pants got caught again. I thought it was too late already, because this old pine tree had lots of branches, so all I could do was to identify a good spot to let the biggest branches pass around me.

With a whipping sound, the pine tree fell on us. There was snow everywhere; I felt it on my neck and back.
“Am I alive?”

The melting snow on my back gave me the shivers. I braced myself and tried to move my arms and legs. Fortunately I seemed to be uninjured, so I shook off the snow and stood up. I found that some thick branches had fallen on the bushes. Only when I saw the section head and work section members screaming and running did I remember Young Nam and Kwang Ho. I dragged my shaking legs up and looked around. I was so shocked that my whole body felt powerless. Young Nam, crushed under the pine tree, was bleeding from his mouth, nose and ears.

With the section head and other work section members, I lifted the branch and dragged Young Nam out. We found a big rock under his stomach. His stomach was crushed. His pants were wet with excrement. I was so shocked. I carried him in my arms and cried for so long. People were busy trying to figure out what to do with Kwang Ho, but all I could see was Young Nam’s bloodied body.

“Young Nam!”
No matter how many times I called his name; there weren’t any signs of life on his frowning face.
“Hey! You’ve been so good to me ever since you arrived! And now you’re dead!”

“What are you doing with a dead person?”
The security official’s cold words made my heart ache.
My fists were shaking, and I felt like my eyes were about to pop. However, I couldn’t say anything.

3 people carried Kwang Ho, who had passed out, and headed down the mountain. I, with another person, carried Young Nam. Even though people were dying, the rest had to drag trees. As I went down the mountain with Young Nam on my back, I regretted calling him to the work. Nevertheless, no matter how much I regretted it, I couldn’t turn back time.

I couldn’t believe that he was dead; as I went down the mountain I continued to call out his name. I couldn’t walk properly, so I kept slipping. I ran to the clinic doctor, just in case Young Nam could make it. However, when the doctor saw Young Nam, he shook his head. When I went inside the cell carrying him, some of the prisoners who were exempt from labor looked at me with a surprised look on their faces. In order to retrieve his body, I undressed him with the help of others. His mother had a hard time making a living so she was never able to visit him. Therefore Young Nam had no choice but to ask those who got released to give their clothes to him. Those clothes however, were also worn out. I dressed Young Nam in the underclothes my mother had sent me. Although he was dead already, I felt that it would be too cold for him to stay in a mortuary for several days. I even put socks on his feet. An unimpressed security official came inside the cell with a clinic doctor and kicked me.

“You son of a bitch! Why the hell did you bring a dead person into the cell?”
“Sir, I wanted to at least dress him in new clothes.”
“New clothes for a dead man? That’s ridiculous. Bring him out!”

The clinic doctor who had witnessed me being cursed at put Young Nam on a stretcher and took him out of the cell. The security official who had watched me for a long time warned me to be careful from then on. When the sound of the gate closing reverberated through the cell, the thought that I couldn’t see him anymore came up, and I felt tears streaming from my eyes. Why don’t prisoners even have the right to mourn a friend? We’re not traitors, so why do we have to die like this? Why does a young man like Young Nam have to disappear up Mt. Bulmang instead of getting buried in his hometown, all because he went to China for some food?

After Young Nam passed away, I kept my mouth zipped. Even when I went out to work, I didn’t talk to my section members except to answer the security official’s questions. Even eating and sleeping made me feel guilty. The day Young Nam went to Mt.Bulmang, I made an excuse and didn’t even go to work.

Many people died of malnutrition, labor accidents and epidemics, but Young Nam’s death was the most shocking to me. Even now, his mother must be living a guilty life because she never got to visit him. 5 years had passed, but even then I feel like crying when I think of Young Nam. His body became a handful of ashes, burnt on Mt.Bulmang, but I hope his soul went to heaven.