-Well, it would be very interesting if Mrs. Lugovskaya could tell us more about the times she was living in – his history teacher looked at the woman expectantly.

Joon wasn’t sure if she was just his type or he was actually interested in the story. Anyway, he didn’t care much.

-I was born when the war was coming to its end, so just like you I’ve only heard stories about it from my parents. I spent my childhood growing up in the postwar period. Truthfully, it was difficult, but at the same time very interesting. We didn’t have TV’s or any kind of new technologies. – She looked at Joon who was staring through the window with earphones plugged into his ears.

The teacher noticed it and immediately tried to confiscate his phone. Of course, it wasn't really possible especially after everything that happened that day. Joon took out the earphones anyway thinking that maybe the story would lull him to sleep.

-So, as I was saying, we didn’t have anything except the radio. I liked to listen to the news on it, though my parents didn’t like that. Knowing too much at that time was dangerous. I spent my childhood outside, in the fields and forests, searching and exploring. Children had to look over the farm back then. I had to take care of the animals, for example, milk the cows three times a day. I loved to drink the fresh and warm milk right after.. – She smiled at the disgusted faces of the students. - I always liked to walk in the forest, but those were troublous times and I would always see special units scouring the areas, looking for guerilla warriors. Once they found some, they would kill them. I knew it even though parents never told me about the gun downs. If a child said anything out of place when a soldier was around, he might’ve been caught and punished, and even gunned down together with the whole family. The forests were full of grenades and bullets. Our favorite game was throwing them into the fire, well, until one of those bullets ripped off my friend’s finger and took out the other one’s eye.

-Let’s not get into such detail – the teacher suddenly said.

Joon sneered at his troubled face. He always liked to act like he was so powerful, but in reality, he was a coward. If anyone wanted they could easily make him lose his job and he knew that. Students and especially Joon loved to abuse that power. He was from a rich school, and rich kids were supposed to be pampered, not listen to gruesome stories. Actually, the fact that they were riding the train was already worthy of a scandal. Originally, they had to go to Moscow by plane, but because of weather complications they had to land somewhere in the middle of Siberia. They didn’t even know where they were exactly, because none of them knew Russian. The best hotel in that city they found was more of a motel and they spent a whole day there while the teacher was trying to find a translator. That same day most of Joon’s stuff was stolen right out of his motel room because he was jet lagged and fell asleep without locking his door. The police just shrugged their shoulders like it was his own fault. With the help of a translator they quickly found a train thinking it was safer to stay on the road. The teacher hired a guide trying to fool the students that it was part of the trip.

-Can you tell us about the deportations? – Someone asked and Joon looked back to see it was the nerd named Seungho, a very rare specimen among the rich.

The other students cheered, though most of them didn’t even know what he was talking about.

-There were many of those, many of my friends and their families got deported, thousands of people fated never to return. Anyone could be the victim, from teachers to doctors, writers and simple farmers, from infants to grandparents who were barely able to move. They were all transported in boarded-up cattle cars to the depths of Siberia, through this same railroad, just to the opposite direction. I didn’t experience this, because my parents cooperated with the government, but I will never forget the day my best friend got deported. Hara was the third child in her family, with no father and a lot of land, which still wasn’t enough to feed them. The government decided it was too much for a six member family and decided to deport them. They came one autumn evening without a single notice. Hara and her brothers managed to hide in the forest while her mother and her baby sister stayed inside. I saw everything through the window. I saw how they beat her mother and I saw Hara running back through the rice fields screaming, crying and pleading for the soldiers to take her and the land instead, just spare her mother. They threw her into the truck together with her mother holding onto the baby, without a single bag, no clothes or food. Suddenly, my mother grabbed my shaking hand giving a bag full of food and pushing me towards the door. I was so scared snekaing to the truck silently while the soldiers scoured the house. I f they caught me, without a doubt I would've been deported as well. Last thing I remember was her thankful and tearful face. I never saw her again.

-So much of a friend you were, fearing for your own life while she was sentenced to unimaginable horror.. - Joon sneered at the woman watching apathetically how a tear escaped the corner of her eye.

Joon stood up walking past his shocked classmates out of the train as it had stopped in another station.