Jia: A Novel of North Korea by Hyejin Kim Read Free Book Online

players walked into the audience, praising the Great Leader's achievements.
    The rehearsals had required so much time and effort,
but the performance itself was over in a matter of hours,
and afterward the government officials shot out of the auditorium like arrows. They had applauded, given us flowers,
and handed out a few wan compliments. Then their cars
disappeared. The performance season was officially over.
Returning to our rooms, we collapsed on our beds. The
following day was quiet, and we had no classes or activities
for the next few days.
    On the day when the government officials came again to
see me, I had gone in the morning to the dancing hall,
but none of the other orphans were there. I knew that, after the performance, the others were sick of that place and
wouldn't go there for a while.
    Alone, I practiced the part of Girl Selling Flowers that
I especially liked. Bending my arm as though holding a
flower basket, I stretched the other arm toward the sky. I
sang the passage where the lead, Kkot-bun, begs passersby
to buy flowers. Kkot-bun's devotion to her family saddened
me. At least she had a family near her.
    When, with a heavy heart, I returned to my room from
the dancing hall, I found a message saying the director wanted me in her office right after lunch. But I didn't
expect I would meet those strangers in her office.

    As I rose to my feet, still shaking from the impromptu
performance, the director returned to the office. She rushed
straight to me and grasped my hands. "Oh! I'm so proud of
you, Jia. You don't know how happy I and right now." Her
reddish round face beamed with pleasure.
    I was taken aback. "What's going on here, Director?
Who were those people? Why did they come here?"
    She held my arms more tightly and brought her face
close to mine. I couldn't help but grunt from the pain, but
she didn't care. "They are all government officials in the
art and propaganda department. Jia, they are really highpositioned people. In your life, you would never have the
chance to talk to them. Now, they are totally crazy about
preparing for the World Festival of Youth and Students, the
big festival next year. People all over the world will come
to see our Great Leader and the happy life we live under the
Great Leader, and we will welcome them with our dancing
performances. Isn't that exciting!"
    The director's face glowed a deeper red.
    "The government officials are looking for fourteen-toeighteen-year-old girls in every school. Every year they
select girls who have dancing and singing talent, and of
course, who have a good figure. They saw your performance last weekend, and this morning I got the call. Everything went so well! I still can't believe it. They'll take care
of you, they'll train you as a professional dancer. Jia-it's
a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This is especially rare
in the orphanage. You should be grateful to the government; you're a chosen person now. You'll participate in the official dancing group for the festival-they handle the best
dancing group in the country. The Great Leader will see
your dancing-I knew it. I knew they would take you. I
knew it."

    She hugged me several times, until her big glasses nearly
slipped off her small nose. My body staggered in the director's arms. My heart trembled. Am I leaving? Am I really
leaving?
    At noon the next day, as I left the orphanage, the director cried and held my hands. I couldn't help but break
down in tears too; she was like a mother to me. Unable to
have a baby of her own, she was the only one who opened
her heart and regarded the orphans as her own children.
The teachers treated us like trash. No one cared about us,
because no one needed us.
    I was already 16; the only reason I had been able to stay
longer than other orphans, who usually departed before
they were 14, was to teach the younger kids how to dance.
Otherwise, I already would have been a garbage collector,
or a factory