第1章 | CHAPTER 1

糟糕的情況 | POOR CIRCUMSTANCES

The rooster crows and Shangri La slowly starts to come alive again. For us, every day is a struggle because it's hard to find food. Shangri La sounds like a paradise, but let me tell you that it's far from a paradise. In reality, we live in poorly maintained houses and we barely have anything to come around with. We barely survive each day by the huge amount of water we had.

But other than that, food is hard to find. It's sometimes my dad who has to find food and sometimes, it's me. I'm an only child and I feel lonely quite a lot, because I am bored every single day. When I was younger, I played with children from the neighbourhood and I could make it through the day. But now that I'm older, I have nowhere to go. Basically because of that there's no money to move out. The only food we have, is fish we have to catch by ourselves.

Besides that, there's a lack of money. And taking showers is something what I name as luxury, because we have enough water for that like I said before.

''Taekwoon-ah, are you going to fish today?'' my dad asks, when he sits down next to me. My dad had been fishing yesterday, so I have to go today again. We have made a deal that my dad will go fishing one day and I will go fishing the other day.

''Yes dad, I'll go today again.'' I tell him and I get up. I grab the fishing rod and other stuff that I'll need for fishing.

''I'll see you later!'' I say and I leave the house. We live nearby a lake, so we don't have to walk too far. And I'm glad we live nearby a lake, because everyone in Shangri La can't walk long distances. No one has great feet for that ,you gotta thank the poor circumstances for that, so this obviously shows how bad health care is. On my way to the lake, I walk past houses of my former friends.

I haven't seen them in years and I really wonder how they are doing. Back when we were young children, we played quite a lot with each other with each other. But as soon as we hit puberty, they locked themselves into their houses and they closed themselves off from the world. Since then, I haven't heard anything from them.

''Taekwoon-ah!'' a familiar voice yells. When I look up, I see my friend Hongbin coming over to me.

''Ah Hongbin, on the hunt again too?'' I ask and Hongbin nods. Just like me, Hongbin is on his way to the lake to catch some fish. Hongbin is coming from a bigger family, so he has to bring home more fish. I sometimes feel sorry for Hongbin, but I can't change his way of living. Our fate has been like this since we were born, so we have to deal with it.

''Long time no see, how are you doing?'' Hongbin asks and I take a deep breath. Well, I feel the same everyday. Lonely, bored and hungry as heck. I'm not doing bad, but I'm not doing well either.

~*~

''Well, I'm doing as usual... Bored.'' I tell him and Hongbin nods, before he speaks up.

''Well, the same at our place. Being poor makes me bored and I don't have to count on my siblings, because they are too busy with entertaining themselves.'' Hongbin says and I somehow have to laugh, but it's the hard truth. I do remember the moment when I first met Hongbin. He was crying a lot and not only because of the fact that he was hungry, but his siblings ignore him since he was born. That's why I feel sad for Hongbin.

''So you are going to catch fish for your family again?'' I ask Hongbin and he nods, before he chuckles. ''Yeah, but I don't mind though. Because when I have to go fishing, I'm being distracted from my life at home.'' Hongbin admits and smiles. He is right about that, because he doesn't have to focus on his life at home with he is fishing. On our way to the lake, we stop by an open-air theater and we stand still when we see the open-air theater.

''It would've been great if they would use this again.'' Hongbin says and I look at him. The open-air theater hasn't been used for the past 15 years and the reason mainly is the fact that the elder people retired and the young people refuse to play at the open-air theater. Maybe it would be fun if I would come up with something to perform it here. But we'll see.

We continue our walk to the lake and we arrive at the lake after 5 minutes. Hongbin and I search for a spot and we sit down on the spot we chose. I apply the bait on my fishing rot and I throw out my fishing rot. Hongbin does the same later aswell and it's quiet between the two of us. Enjoying the silence while hoping to catch a fish, I love that. I love to enjoy the silence in the nature, I absolutely love it.

''Hey Taekwoon?'' Hongbin asks and I hum in response.

''Have you ever thought how life would be if Shangri La would have more wealth?'' Hongbin asks and I don't have to think long for an answer, because I nod pretty quick with a bright smile.

~*~

''Ofcourse, because we would live in more luxurious houses and we would have more food, our health care would be better and we would have better clothes. Jeez, I really feel like a homeless man sometimes.'' I tell him and I take a deep breath.

We don't have to hope for a miracle to happen and it's not our motto either, it's just working hard and hoping to make it through the day. The Chinese gouvernment loathes us, they rather want us to die because of the hunger we suffer from. Believe in miracles if you want the Chinese gouvernment to help. Yeah, that isn't gonna happen here. Shangri La is a Chinese village, but the Koreans are basically in the lead if it comes to the amount of citizens living in the village. And I'm born here, so I'm not used to a life outside of Shangri La.

Hongbin ,on the other hand, is born in Seoul and moved to Shangri La when he was 3 years old. Well... moved? His family was kicked out of South-Korea, but don't ask me why.

''Hongbin? If you had the chance, would you go back to Seoul?'' I ask and Hongbin takes a deep breath after my question.

''I would love to, but they won't let me back in. So I can only stay here in Shangri La.'' Hongbin responds and his voice sounds shaky, as if he is about to cry. That sounds horrible to me.

Then, I'm thinking of the open-air theater we walked past today again. Do I have anything in mind to play there to earn some money for my family? I can always try, because who knows how it will go. If it becomes a success, I can consider to continue with the play or to reach some bigger goals.