UOW: North Korean Chronicles, Chapter 1: Kim Ji-Min:

Kim Ji-Min sat in her office and looked over the dossiers in front of her. It was her job to determine who of the American invaders could be useful to the regime and who needed to be.. Made an example of. She had initially marked out this ‘Cult of the Blob.’ for liquidation. They were obviously dangerous and could not be allowed to survive. The Emperor and his family were the only recognized deities in North Korea and the country would tolerate no other dissenting thoughts on the matter. She had also singled out Kronin and Valora as people to keep an eye on. They both did a decent job of hiding it, but neither could hide their advanced military training. Kim Ji-Min shuffled her documents to a folder given to her by her ally in Beijing. Kronin indeed had military training. German KSK, special forces. He would definitely require observation. Valora was an assassin, apparently. That seemed to confirm the rumors they had heard before hand. That these ‘wrestlers’ were coming to North Korea to launch some sort of pre-emptive strike on the country. Maybe even a cover for an invasion from the South! Kin Ji-Min narrowed her eyes at the thought. Her grandfather had fought in the original Korean War. Her father had fought in numerous border skirmishes since. She had been lucky enough to be allowed to carry on the family tradition, advancing higher in rank than any previous member of her family to the point where she was one of the Emperor’s closest and most trusted advisers. Now, she had been named as one of the Emperor’s champions for this tournament. To make the honor even more meaningful, she was getting a chance to fight the very example of America. ‘Huckleberry’ An arrogant, simple minded dotard. Someone who could barely speak his own native language. Someone who fought animals and thought that proved he was something other than an uncouth, mindless barbarian. Like most Americans. His country had threatened North Korea since it came into existence. Every day, North Korean’s state TV pointed out how close the Americans were to invading. Kim Ji-Min had grown up every day of her life fearing that today was the day the Americans decided to try and sate their bloodlust by attacking North Korea. She had grown up determined to protect herself and her people from that and now, she would make an example of this Huckleberry. She was set to fight him in a C4 Explosive match and would take great joy in blowing him up. Making him beg for mercy and, with luck, ending his life in that ring in front of everyone.

She set Huckeberry’s file aside for now. She would come back to that. For now, she shifted her focus to Valora Salinas and Abbigail Dresden. It was an odd relationship. Valora had traditionally spoken very critically out against caucasians. Now she was at times risking herself to protect this one. She checked the ages of the two women and thought for a moment before nodding and putting in an order to have a blood sample drawn from each woman. If nothing else, it would give her more information than she had right now and that was something. She then stood up and walked to her mirror on the wall. Her full length mirror was a luxury most in her country could only dream about owning. She looked over the military uniform she wore and ruthlessly inspected it. The medals and awards she wore, her rank insignias. Her unit ids. All of it was scrutinized. She, like her beloved Emperor, demanded absolute perfection. Nothing less could be tolerated. This was the mindset those corrupt lazy Americans were facing. She had been trained literally from birth for her role. She had been accepted into the North Korean special operations group. This was North Korea’s special forces. People who trained better and harder than most Olympic athletes. People who were so fanatically loyal to the Emperor that they would volunteer to be executed, rather than fail a mission. That lesson had been drilled into her head and had even been put into practice once, many years ago.

flashback: Korean DMZ: 4 years ago:

The group made it into a group of bushes and ducked down. In the distance, American voices shouted. South Korean voices as well, speaking in English and Korean. Kim looked ahead. They were not safe yet. She looked back at the one slowing them down, and the blood leaking from his leg. She narrowed her eyes and he nodded, dropping to his knees. “Do it. We must not be caught here.” Without hesitation, Kim Ji-Min drew her knife slit his throat. Their enemy was too close to risk a gunshot. She looked into the man’s eyes and calmly, coldly, watched the life bleed out. The last thing he heard was her whisper. “You have redeemed yourself for failing the Emperor, comrade. Rest now.” Just like that, Kim and the others were gone. Without the blood trail to follow, their pursuers were soon left behind and one dead body could hardly be called a conspiracy…

As her thoughts returned to the past, Kim nodded. She felt no remorse or regret for her actions that night.. Or any of countless actions she had taken since. She would do whatever was needed to secure the safety of her country. Seeing her uniform perfect and passing her inspections, she put on her cap and spun sharply on her heel and walked out. Her first stop was the gym. Where she changed into her workout fatigues. This led to 3 hours of long distance running. Followed by two hours of Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido training. This cycle would repeat later on and every day as it had for most of her life. Her morning training wrapped up, she made her way to lunch. From there, it was back to her office.

As she walked through the halls to her office, she was stopped by one of her comrades. “Colonel. You have a call.” Kim raised an eyebrow and nodded, ordering it routed to her office. Entering her office, she sat at her desk and turned on the video chat. She, being one of the lucky few who had access to such technology, limited and heavily monitored as it was. The face that appeared was that of Jade, her friend, ally and contact from China that she had met during one of her numerous trips down to that country. Jade nodded, bowing her head slightly in respect, a gesture that Kim returned. “What do I owe this unexpected pleasure to?” Jade nodded. “I heard tell that you have some new guests.” Kim smirked a bit. “Indeed. We are introducing them to North Korean Hospitality. I imagine they will find it enlightening.” Jade smiled sardonically at this. “Perhaps I’ll visit and watch the spectacle. Did you get the gift I sent you? I know how you view such things, but I thought you might like the chance to try some tequila. Not the most..sophisticated of drinks, but for as crude and simple as it appears on the outside, the insides offer some amazing details to the trained connoisseur.”

Kim thought about this for a second. Jade had indeed sent a bottle of tequila to her, but Kim knew her friend well enough to know that she was not referring to the obvious. Kim nodded. “Yes well.. I haven’t tried it yet. I’m quite busy at the moment and I don’t have time for indulgences.” This was not only true, but more importantly, it was what those listening in would likely be expecting to hear. Jade nodded. “Be sure you try it. I’ll want your thoughts when next we have a chance to speak..” The two continued their chat for a few minutes discussing the upcoming tournament and whether or not Jade would be appearing, before ending the call to allow Kim to return to her work. She leaned back in her chair and thought for a bit, glancing at the file opened to Valora Salinas. Who was Mexican, and had a penchant for...tequila. Indeed, if the videoes of her Kim had seen were anything to go on, the woman was an alcoholic. Meaning that this tournament was not going to be kind to her.. Especially as withdrawal kicked in. That weakness was her opportunity. She pushed a button on her desk and the door opened and a man walked in, snapping her a sharp salute. She returned the salute. “The Mexican.” She said simply, in Korean. He nodded once to indicate he understood who was being referred to. Kim glanced at the folder. “Room 317. I imagine by now she will be thirsty. Give her some ice water.” The man smirked a bit as he knew what was being ordered and hurried off to fulfill the orders. Kim thought for a few moments and decided to begin the fun for some of the other ‘guests’ as well. Beginning with her opponent, Huckleberry. She brought up his file on the desk and wrote out the orders for his treatment. Sleep Deprivation. No sleep. At all. Not even a minute. No food. 2 glasses of water per day. Moderate labor. If he insisted on acting like a barbarian, Kim Ji-Min would treat him like one. It would be interesting to see how long it took him to resort to finding his own ‘food’. These Americans had no honor or dignity after all. Grabbing the bottle of tequila, she left her office and handed the envelope containing the orders for Huckleberry’s internment treatment off to a subordinate who promptly headed off to deliver them to the proper personnel. She then made her way down the hallway. She was going to start an entirely new part of her day now. The fun part.