Chapter 33: Reform and Changes!

Reform and Changes. Ah, what a hopeful and radiant phrase that is!

Is it really, though?

Not at all.

Hwang Seonju, the candidate from the Joseon Democratic Party who won the first presidential election, now President Hwang Seonju, overhauled the cabinet immediately upon her election.

She filled it with people aligned with his beliefs and ideology.

Most were recommended by the South Korean government—tailored, of course, to suit his preferences.

Raised in North Korea, the most closed and oppressive country in the world, she dreamed of a free world.

A world where anyone could speak their mind. A world where anyone could engage in economic activity freely. A world where state power no longer crushed individual liberty—a truly free nation.

And to realize that dream, she began to act.

The first area she tackled was culture and society.

Until now, Kim Pyongjin’s regime had half-blocked the influx of South Korean culture. People weren’t punished for watching it in secret. This wasn’t the old North Korea.

But she hadn’t legalized or encouraged it either. Partly for her own power, but also for societal stability.

Protests were forbidden too. That much, to be fair, was understandable. The country was still at war—with rebels and monsters alike.

There were no more rebel factions now. Monsters still occasionally crossed over from Manchuria.

Kim Pyongjin’s government had been planning to loosen controls gradually.

But Hwang Seonju was different.

Where Kim Pyongjin had tried to patch the cracks in the dam and slowly drain the reservoir,

Hwang Seonju just blew the whole thing up. Demolition style.

And what happens when you destroy a dam holding back massive volumes of water? You get a flood.

A flood that sweeps away buildings, people, animals—without discrimination.

Same idea here.

All the grievances that Kim Pyongjin had been cautiously managing, All the suppressed voices,

Burst out in a frenzy.

Citizens, new to democracy and just learning how to demand their rights, took to the streets.

Unthinkable, even under Kim Pyongjin’s rule—let alone in the days before the North’s collapse.

Every other day, the streets were packed.

With workers demanding better pay and treatment.

With factory owners opposing those demands.

With the unemployed demanding food.

With former social safety agents who lost their jobs in the shift from a police state to a democracy.

With former soldiers kicked out after military downsizing.

With police officers protesting for better working conditions, worn out from controlling protests.

There were even protests against protests. That says it all.

The major streets of Pyongyang were constantly filled with shouting demonstrators, Molotov cocktails, and the pungent scent of tear gas fired by police.

As Chief of Staff, I requested the deployment of Special Forces and tanks to control the protests.

But President Hwang Seonju and her entire cabinet recoiled in horror and rejected the idea.

Meanwhile, TV broadcasts showed the advanced society of South Korea without a single bit of censorship.

Celebrities enjoying luxury in palatial homes.

Beautiful men and women dancing in skimpy outfits.

Real estate in Seoul so expensive you couldn’t buy it even if you saved your whole life.

Skyscrapers reaching for the heavens, and Korean citizens dressed in stylish, sleek fashion.

Politicians viciously attacking each other in televised debates.

The people of Joseon compared their lives with what they saw on TV.

The despair was crushing.

In her inauguration speech, President Hwang Seonju said this:

“The era of oppression and violence is over. Joseon will, through reform and opening, become a nation that can rival not only the Republic of Korea but also the West—countries like the United States—in strength and prosperity.

I, Hwang Seonju, promise this to our people!”

The measures mentioned above?
That was what she meant by “changes.”

And shockingly, she still had “reform” left.

Hwang Seonju took cues from Western nations and former communist states.

The answer: neoliberalism!

The reason this country’s in shambles is because the state monopolized the market!

She began selling off almost everything the state once ran to the private sector.

And since North Korea had claimed to be socialist, that meant nearly everything had been state-owned.

Factories, farms, railroads, mines, airports, roads, waterworks—you name it, it went private.

Privatization, the hallmark of economic liberalization and reform.

And who benefited? The so-called “donju”—a rising capitalist class in the North.

They were like South Korean chaebols in influence, but their origins were entirely different.

No—these people were eerily similar to the oligarchs that rose after the fall of the Soviet Union. In both their formation and behavior.

Using the wealth they’d quietly amassed under the North Korean regime, they bought up state assets at dirt-cheap prices.

And that wasn’t enough. To accumulate more wealth, they spared no methods.

They monopolized the economy of the young republic, whose industry and finance sectors were still in their infancy.
The entire country became their playground.

Laborers who resisted were beaten down by hired thugs. They kept close ties with Democratic Party lawmakers. They traded cash, goods, and favors—bleeding the people dry in the process.

These were tumors embedded in the body of the young republic.

Naturally, the Joseon Democratic Party government said nothing. They had received those very people’s money during the election.

Money is always honest. Money doesn’t lie.

To be fair, it did have visible effects.

No matter how efficiently Kim Pyongjin tried to run things, state-run was still state-run. It couldn’t compete with the brutal efficiency of unrestrained capitalism.

Once privatized, factory owners began squeezing their workers. The effects showed up quickly.

Production increased. And with it, the overall economy improved.

But the people’s lives didn’t improve in the slightest. In fact, they got worse—exploited in harsh new work environments and crushed by rising prices.

And the worst part? That was the situation in Pyongyang’s middle class.

The provinces were far more dire.

Everyone knew North Korea never really distributed food rations, despite calling itself a socialist state.

That’s why grey-market economies like “jangmadang” had developed. But not everyone benefited from them.

Once you left Pyongyang and headed into the countryside, you’d find people just surviving to eat.

People doing whatever it took to scrounge up one meal a day—

Not even a full meal.

Corn and grains mixed into rice. Side dishes that were basically grass. Or potatoes.

So Kim Pyongjin’s government had restarted food rations. Most of it came from South Korean aid, but it still helped. At least the poor could eat rice and something like meat once a day.

To President Hwang Seonju, however, such socialist-style rationing was a relic to be abolished.

So it was. Rations were halted.

State-run markets were privatized too. Prices were deregulated.

And hell began.

In some areas, people said it felt like the Great Depression had returned.

Naturally, dissatisfaction grew. In the past, the iron grip of the Kim family dynasty had suppressed such discontent.

Even if someone dared speak out, they disappeared without a trace.

But this wasn’t that era anymore.

Now, anyone could speak freely. Police were beaten by protestors. People screamed their hunger in the streets.

I don’t know if this is democracy, But it’s what we call democracy—

And now, men and women of all ages were out protesting.

Hwang Seonju’s approval ratings had been declining steadily since her election.

But the National Assembly elections had occurred before that. And her party had secured almost enough seats to amend the constitution.

Just a few lawmakers changing sides would make it possible.

Throughout history, many methods have been used to quell domestic unrest. But the most effective?

Creating a common enemy.

Sometimes it was a foreign country. Sometimes it was an internal minority.

A group with small numbers, distinctive traits, and exceptional abilities.

Just like how Nazi Germany targeted the Jews.

President Hwang Seonju thought:

‘Who is our enemy?’

China?

Those dumb bastards couldn’t even handle a single gate in Manchuria. They had to build a new Great Wall and fight a capital defense war.

Russia?

They’d never cared much about East Asia. If anything, our relations were decent.

America?

Unlikely.

South Korea?

They’re our wallet—I mean, our sponsor.

So President Hwang turned his gaze inward.

To him, an autonomous region for a single race was excessive. Especially since other races existed too—why did only elves get an autonomous zone?

Of course, that was part of a deal between Fride and Kim Pyongjin.

But with falling approval and a weakening grip on power, this fledgling administration had nothing left to lose.

The president and his cabinet came to a conclusion:

Elves were the privileged class. They had superior bodies and didn’t stop there—they amassed social status and wealth.

Surely the people resented them for it.

If we bring up dissolving the elven autonomous region, it’ll work in our favor.

Good. Let’s move fast.

There’s a saying—tap the stone bridge before crossing it.

They followed it.

They ran an unofficial public opinion poll.

They expected overwhelming support for abolishing the region.

But there was more opposition than they thought. Plenty of apathy too.

In the hellish competition they’d created, most Joseon citizens were too busy worrying about today’s meal to care about some autonomous district far away in Pyongyang.

Besides, the elves’ image was better than expected.

Their attractive appearances helped, sure. But aside from a few exceptions like Fride, most elves were known for their kind hearts and good manners.

Many had already made a positive impact across Joseon. Elves had left Pyongyang to volunteer in rural areas.

They said strange things like, “It’s the duty of the long-lived to care for the short-lived,”
But to those receiving help, it didn’t matter. They were just grateful.

Elves who weren’t kind or polite—like Fride—didn’t volunteer, So the bias only grew stronger.

To the rural people, elves were just good-hearted folks with long ears who came to help.

Still, the Hwang administration decided to move forward.

There was no turning back now.

***

“So, Director. You said you had a private report?”

“Yes, Chief of Staff.”

The Director of the Military Security Bureau had called me in.

He handed me a USB.

I plugged it into the computer. Inside was an audio file.

I hit play.

–”So… we agree this is best, yes?”

–”It’s the only viable option.”

–”Good. Let’s start feeding the media. Something like ‘Elven Autonomy: Unfair Privilege?’ should do.”

–”The people may not care as much as we think.”

–”Doesn’t matter. Those media bastards are with us. If one of us goes down, the rest go down with them. Symbiotic parasites…”

–”I’ll start drafting the amendment proposal.”

–”Right. Line up lawmakers we can flip, too.”

“No need to continue any more.”

The Director continued his briefing. It seemed the current administration had chosen a scapegoat to deflect public outrage.

And that scapegoat was the elves.

And I am an elf.

Which means—

They’re not going to get their way.