Chapter 3

The Days Come and Go

­­Vice Marshal waited for an opportunity like this to come. All he had to do was strike at the right time, say the right words and pray that god was in his favor. Vice Marshal was the youngest elected official in his party. He had studied in Switzerland with Kim Jung Un and acquired a tremendous amount of knowledge about government and socialism. Vice marshal also came from the elite families of North Korea. He had more than enough wealth from embezzling money on a local scale. All politicians had a skeleton in the closet. Vice Marshal was no exception. Whether he was a good politician or bad didn't matter. People with power always have to make questionable choices if they wanted to keep that power. That was the kind of official Vice Marshal was.

      The government without Kim Jong Un. Vice Marshall uttered this phrase several times in his head. He had nothing against Kim Jong Un as a person, in fact they had a mutual friendship together, but Jong Un's way of running a country was subpar in Vice Marshal's mind. What if Kim Jong Un was the kind of leader that would lead North Korea to prosperity? The kind of leader that was like him.
 

That's where Vice Marshal came up with the utmost preposterous idea. His mind was all over the place, but it ­all led up to this. 

"A doppelgänger." He thought. 
      In the year 2020, plastic surgery was heavily advanced. You could look like anyone you wanted to as long as you had the money. Vice Marshall thought long and hard about it. He would fake his death, reconstruct his face and become the one man who had everything he did not. It was a good idea yes, but would he be able to pull through with it? To trade his face with someone so retched and disgusting. His ego was on the line. No that was not something he would be willing to sacrifice. 
      Vice marshal believed that he had close allies, but the idea of snitching against your friends and family was encouraged throughout the nation. "Humans are a fickle species and as long as you can provide what they want then they will be on your side." He thought. Was he correct? 

      Everyone and everything in North Korea was under surveillance. It was a socialist-communist society. Everything and everyone had the same rights, opportunities, and wealth. At least in theory. Someone had to make sure equality remained well within society.

Vice Marshal started his day off with breakfast. His wife gave him the Sunday newspaper and set the table. His wife yelled “Bo Mi what about breakfast?”  His daughter, in a rush, fumbled to get her shoes and ran out the front door.

“I’m off to work” said Vice Marshal. He arrived at his office where he was by his assistant.

“Kyung Soo what is the schedule for today?”

“Today you have official documents you need to look over.” Kyung Soo pointed at the enormous stack of papers. “You have an interview with the North Korean Morning News channel at 10:00am, a meeting in Beijing at 2:00pm, your daughter’s parent teacher conference is at 6:00pm.” Said Kyung Soo.

“Very well. You can leave now.” Said Vice Marshal

Today was not as busy than usual. Vice Marshal sipped his coffee while scanning through the piles of documents. By 9:53am he was at the North Korean broadcasting station to do his interview. Nothing out of the ordinary.

He was taken to the Pyongyang Sunan International Airport and was ready for another meeting. He boarded the plane and had a bit of wine before take-off. Vice Marshal looked out the window to see the view of Pyongyang. It was refreshing. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath. "A doppelgänger." He thought and dosed off. By the time he woke up the plane landed. His meeting with Chinese officials was nothing new. They discussed diplomatic relations between China and North Korea. When the meeting was over it was 4:23pm. He had his lunch at a posh restaurant with other North Korean diplomats that attended the meeting.

“I can’t believe this clown is running for a second term.”

“Who Trump? Yeah that’s what happens when majority of the population are uneducated and have a say in politics, screw democracy. Well it looks like he’s going to win too.”

“That’s why communism is the way to go. Remember Park Geun Hye? She was brainwashed by a cult leader because she actually believed they could communicate with her dead mother. She was impeached and the prime minister took over.”

“What a joke. And they say North Korea is the crazy one.” All the men couldn’t contain their laughter.

Vice Marshal headed to bathroom to get away from all the pressure. He splashed some water on his face and took a good look at himself at the mirror, he looked miserable. He turned to the left to dry his hands, but noticed a tall slender man that looked familiar to him. He squinted his eyes to get a better look. Vice Marshal’s face turned pale. The man turned to face Vice Marshal and their eyes met for a good 30 seconds before Vice Marshal fell to the ground.

“My god. His face looks exactly like Kim Jong Un.” Vice Marshal though.