Life At War Author:Alpha-Adventurer 17
Story Draft: It’s August 3rd, 1950 and it’s a hot day in South Korea. Seo Jwa Song, a South Korean girl who is in 3rd grade of middle school and she lives in Seoul. She is unaware of the dreadfulness of war. She is about to face a serious and long journey. She has black colored hair and dark brown eyes. Hooray! I can stay at home until there’s a letter from school that says its safe to go again! That’s what my teacher Ms.Kim had said. She also had said that North Korea was attacking South Korea, us, so I was a bit worried from the word “attacking” but I don’t know what she really means so never mind. As I walked home, I could see some people crying on the streets but I didn’t know why. When I got home, I asked mother what this was all about, North Korea attacking our country. Later that night, my parents said staying here in our house is too dangerous because of the war going on so we have to go to this camp in North Korea for South Korean people. Now I understand it. So my brother, my mother and I set out to go to the camp but I am so worried about my dad because he has to stay to watch and take care of our house. 3 weeks have passed after we arrived in the camp in North Korea when my mom received a letter from my dad that the North Korean soldiers are using our house as their main office because they just appeared to come near and my dad got caught! Will my dad get killed? Remember, the South Korean camp is a secret to the North Koreans so my mom, my brother and I carefully went back to our house in South Korea without getting seen crossing the 38th parallel which is like a border taking 2 weeks and 2 days. We went back just to see if dad was okay and see the situation. He said the North Korean soldiers didn’t harm him if he didn’t mess up their things but he just felt it was really uncomfortable for them to stay in our own house just being watched and also being used as their main office. We stayed in our house for 1 night but on the next morning at 8:30, we were forced to leave here by the North Korean soldiers and they tell us we are not permitted to go to North Korea of course because if the guards see us crossing the border, we will get shot and killed. We want to go to a camp in Chuncheon which is still in South Korea but my father says that we will have to walk to there from here (Seoul) for about 2 weeks to get there.We had to sleep in certain shades of trees and we were so afraid the North Koreans might come to fight on our way to the camp because we heard that 5 South Koreans got killed yesterday by the North Korean soldiers. We arrive 2 weeks later in the small camp in Chuncheon as my dad told us and the other campers explained the situation in there. Since we were so worried after listening to the other campers about their opinions, my mother says returning to the South Korean secret camp in North Korea again is a good idea because if we are staying here in Chuncheon, the North Koreans might come and attack us on their way to Seoul. I think thats not a good idea because we have to cross the border but I have to follow my parents way. So we walked and walked again until we finally reached the South Korean camp in North Korea again secretly choosing the place of the border where the guards are unlikely to see us. 2 days have passed and we received a mail from the South Korean army saying that my brother Yoon Song has to go to the war and fight for them! I see both my parents crying while my brother isn’t saying anything and just
sitting down and looking down. I feel really sorrowful but I think nothing is going to change if I just cry so I just tell my brother that I hope he will survive and wish him good luck. 5 days later, my brother set out to fight in Pyongyang (capital of North Korea) with his South Korean soldier mates on a large tank. His tank got bombed 3 days later and all of the people on the tank including him was killed. I feel like crying. Why was he one of the chosen ones to go to war and not every man had to go fight? I don’t get it. My parents say that life is sometimes really bad and we will just have to keep living safely and survive without my brother.