Flashlight

Over years, Serk develops a set of rules to survive his reeducation camp. Living conditions are so poor that prisoners resort to eating vermin and grass. There are regular executions, which everyone must attend. Thanks to his engineering skills, Serk is assigned to work as a boiler steward, which gives him a warm place to sleep at night.

On the birthday of North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung, some prisoners are granted clemency, though the selection has no discernible pattern. Serk is surprised when his name is called. The pardoned prisoners are taken to work on a collective farm. The farm manager enlists Serk in his side business, leveraging his engineering skills to repair the manager’s truck.

The government tries to force increased rice production by cramming seedlings together. Workers complain that this will guarantee the crop’s failure, but the manager cannot do anything about it. The government will blame the failure on anything other than policy. Later that summer, the Sung’s death is announced, causing mass panic among workers. Serk does not mourn, though he understands that the workers’ grief comes from fear for their survival.

The farm manager disappears one day. Serk leaves the farm to work with charcoal burners on a nearby mountain.