The letter from home hadn't changed any since it had arrived before Thanksgiving and Mr. Hyun, a diplomatic officer and agent of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or North Korea as most of the world knew it, continued to stare at the paper and what was written on it with some concerns on his mind. Some were for himself, as a part of him wasn't that interested in becoming a Korean Water Deer. He had always been fine with his species, and while he'd been willing to work with Chairman Kim's plan to gain the Animalia Virus for the state's uses, be it a super soldier or anything else, that hadn't meant that he wanted to give up his own humanity. And yet on the page was a clear order from his head of state to convert and become Ling's mate, along with what Mr. Hyun supposed was almost mocking humor that Ling had been "interested" in him, anyway. It was one of those things where he knew the truth on how North Korea operated in reality, but didn't think those policies would ever come to him personally. That wasn't quite to his liking.
However, there was also some concern for Ling as well, and some of this surprised him. Ling was supposed to be a testbed for North Korea in that she was to be uplifted and tested to see on how well Animalians might serve as super soldiers. For reports that reached North Korea out of Animalia seemed to be rather mixed. Some reports indicated an almost unbreakable pacifism and others highlighted combat sports while yet others gave some statement that if attacked, Animalians would fight to defend themselves. From there, even if Ling herself wasn't to be the super soldier, she would at least serve as a potential biological weapon to be used against North Korea's enemy when the vaccine administered after her uplifting wore off and at the same time she would be put to work to feed the Korean people. Much of this had depended on Ling not knowing the full truth about how things were in North Korea. And the more time they'd spent in Animalia, the more Hyun got the sense that Ling would not accept that.
That would in turn mean that she would run off if they returned to North Korea, and the Chinese and Russians might return her to North Korea if they caught her. And while South Korea might treat her fairly... there'd be the question as to whether or not she would even survive any attempt to get through the DMZ between the two Koreas. The thought of her arrested and sent back to face what often happened to those that opposed Chairman Kim didn't sit well in Hyun's stomach and neither did her dying in a minefield or shot by North Korean or panicked South Korean soldiers. Ling was kind and respectful, and while she was adapting to a style of life that wouldn't work easily in North Korea, that didn't mean that Hyun wanted to see her hurt by anyone. He could wish all the pain and revenge on the west for opposing the north's right to liberate Korea in the Korean War and he could wish the same on them for putting North Korea in the isolated place it was in, but he didn't want to see Ling hurt.
"You know just staring at that paper won't help you convert," came Ling's voice from behind him making Hyun snap out of his trance like state to look up to her. She was dressed warmly, as they had some colder weather the past few days though it was a style that wouldn't be accepted in North Korea, especially given the sort of status that the government had intended for Ling.
"I was thinking," Hyun said softly.
"About what?" Ling asked and walked up and bent over enough to nuzzle her muzzle to his cheek. One of her tusks dug a bit at his skin, but Hyun didn't flinch at that. "If it's about the conversion... that's good news... I could have a mate and so could you."
"We hardly know each other," Hyun answered, "you know my rank... and I know of you being raised on the farm... but there isn't that much more than that."
Ling didn't immediately answer but walked over to pull the simple wooden chair that was to Hyun's right and pulled it out and sat down that was partially next to him and partially across from him.
"I know you are a kind and good man..." Ling spoke slowly, "I know you've been good to me."
"That is part of my job," Hyun countered, "it doesn't relate to me personally... my family or any loved ones that I may have."
"Oh..." Ling said slowly, and privately admitted she may have flirted a bit too much with him at times. Not that Mr. Hyun wasn't without good qualities, but if she could see them, it'd only make sense that Mr. Hyun had left family behind, "I wouldn't wish to make you disloyal to your wife, Mr. Hyun."
"I'm not married," Hyun admitted with a sigh, "my point was merely to make it clear that there is much that we do not know about each other."
"But that could be good then... I would be a good wife for you," Ling answered, "I would cook and clean and raise our little ones. We'd be a happy family, even after returning home."
Hyun's lip quivered a bit at that. The part of him that cared for Ling let his heart flutter a little faster over the prospect of a family, something that he'd never really had. His mother had died in one of the famines that had plagued North Korea in the past few years and his father died of some kind of cancer a year or so before that. Hyun had been left with a lot of party work in which he'd tried to get funds moved to pay for medical care for his father and food for his mother, but they'd all been low enough on the hierarchy of power that it didn't matter. Having a family with Ling might enable a new family, which a part of Hyun found attractive, however, Hyun also knew the full extent of his mission. Converting and taking Ling back to North Korea would effectively mean the end of his political service in any real capacity. He would be demoted into a laborer with the farm that Ling would be sent to and he would be worked to death with Ling, and any family they had would be kept in a state of near slavery. That part of him that cared for Ling didn't want to see her worked to death any more than he, himself wanted to be worked to death.
"It would not be so simple," Hyun spoke in warning but said nothing more.
"How?" Ling asked, "I know you aren't the most fond of all things American... but I'm sure given the circumstances that the Chairman... or whoever carries out weddings in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea would understand that we were not there when our fates were joined..." She paused to take Hyun's hands in her own and hold them up, "and I know you are a good man... and that you care."
Hyun felt the air escape his lips as he slumped back in the chair. A part of him was very glad to be thought a good man, but he also knew that there wasn't much he could do to get around this.
"There are some things you should know before trying to back that assessment of me," Hyun said slowly, "and the full truth... behind my mission."
"For super soldiers?" Ling asked.
"That was only part of it," Hyun answered, "the reality is that the Chairman had lots of different plans with which to work with regarding you and they were not all just super soldier programs. For we know that Animalians are physically stronger than most Humans and many have displayed some level of work and ability that a normal Human cannot attain easily. Thus it was also hoped that with you and with future uplifted deer... you could be the start of a working class project to increase food production in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Something that the Chairman tries hard to hide from the world."
"But the farm... it..." Ling said slowly.
"Was on a select piece of remote property away from towns and villages and with the funding to keep it green and cultivated," Hyun answered, "something to provide you with memories that would leave you unquestioning in Chairman Kim and the regime and ultimately accepting of the work you would be made to do to feed the people... which would then begin to go beyond the area where you were raised. Something of a trophy to display. And even if farming is work you would wish to do with your life... the management that was prepared was not something that would likely give you free time with which to do much. And any children you might have... would be taken from you to be raised by the state."
"That doesn't sound fair," Ling said slowly.
"Honestly... it isn't," Hyun answered, "there is much that goes on at home that is not fair or nice... And despite what the state media would put forward, Chairman Kim is at the heart of it. And part of his plans for you and I are tied up in that and go beyond just the farm."
"Beyond that?" Ling asked nervously.
"The Animalia Virus... can be very infectious and while Horizon Labs has generated a vaccine for it, it is something that must be updated annually, or so they told me when you were first uplifted," Hyun answered, "and the Chairman knows this. It was hoped, that with you in North Korea, once the vaccine wears off... your milk and blood could then be collected and used as a biological agent against the Republic of Korea, Japan, China, or Russia. If vast amounts of their populations became Animalians and refused to fight for their nations or at least refuse to fight without provocation that would protect North Korea from attacks from her neighbors, which Chairman Kim fears."
"So... I would be used as an instrument to attack other people and turn them into Animalians, even if they don't want to become Animalians?" Ling inquired.
"And precisely for the reason that most people DON'T want to be animal like," Hyun answered, "many accepted being Animalians...but many of them were also converted by accident in Lyre/Animalia in the first outbreaks. The Chairman saw this as a potential weapon... for his own security."
Ling let go of his hands and crossed her arms over her chest as a deep frown crossed her face.
"And you went along with this?" Ling asked.
"I am but a very small piece in a much larger machine," Hyun answered, "and if I refused or argued against it... I would not be here to tell this to you. I would be dead. And things as they stand now... if I convert and we return "home," they will do to you and I what I've said... I would lose any position that might enable me to protect you and we would both be worked to death. And with things as they stand... I fear the time is approaching where the Chairman may demand your return where he can get back what he can on the investment."
"Why are you telling me this?" Ling asked carefully and with narrowed eyes.
Hyun looked down for a moment to the dark colored suit that he had. It wasn't the typical uniform that he might otherwise wear as per his position within the North Korean's version of the "State Department," but given the length of time that he and Ling had been in America, he did need more than just the one or two pairs of suits packed. He eventually looked back up to her.
"Because I do care..." Hyun said weakly, "you have been kind and trusting... and I will also admit many of the Animalian's responses to me have been different from what I'd expected... and in this, the more you've learned and the more you've grown... the less I've seen you willing to accept the truth of the work that will be demanded of you and the low status you would be given, and the part of me that wants to see you happy... for putting up with me... that part of me has become increasingly looking for a way to let you find your own path to freedom... real freedom, not just what the state tells you is free."
"And what about you? Wouldn't that mean your mission failed?" Ling asked.
"It would... and it would mean my recall once the Chairman knows you wouldn't be coming back with me," Hyun answered, "but my father is dead... my mother is dead... and there is no one left to mourn me, and I'd at least know that I'd given you something more than a slave's existence."
"And you don't think I would mourn you?" Ling asked.
"After participating in this scheme... and at the very least withholding information from you?" Hyun answered, "I would be surprised if you ever speak my name politely again."
"The fact that you told me shows me that you care," Ling spoke again as she leaned forward and again took his hands in her own, "I do not like it... but you did tell me and you have even said to be willing to wish to shield me from such a fate... In this, you are very much still the man I've found dashing and heroic. Willing to confront wrong doers and with bravery. There may be points where you could open up a bit more... but you are at your core a good man, and that I like."
"Not good enough to keep you safe," Hyun sighed.
"Who says you'd have to go back?" Ling commented, "you could... leave the government post and ask to immigrate or for asylum in America and as your bond-mate, I would stay with you."
"If this were under the previous American administration, that might work," Hyun answered, "that administration had some humanity to it and would be willing to allow it... The present American government... No. It's weak. It's cowardly and at war with itself, while its head of state worships authoritarian leadership styles, like that of Chairman Kim. It's in this that the Chairman felt the whole scheme could work. America's president is looking for something he can claim as a diplomatic victory and is willing to sell out everything his country stands for to get it. If I were to try and defect... I would be arrested and returned, with you sent with me as a gift to get Chairman Kim to return to the conference table, without realizing that all he'd be doing is the Chairman's dirty work."
"What about as a more ambassadorial role," Ling offered, "granted Animalia and its colonies don't qualify as independent countries and thus would be under the administration of the country they're in... but it is so new that they are offering things like that. I saw online that Heiya Island has whole embassy buildings constructed as part of the main area for China and Japan. Maybe you could present to the Chairman a role of different importance... at least until this "defecting" would be safe..."
"Maybe in the short term, but that will depend on how much the Chairman would even want to keep any ambassadorial contact with Animalia on," Hyun answered, "he wants information, yes... but nothing that could be drawn out over time... Going that way would still take a request and would be dependent on what he wants. He may accept the idea of an ambassador to Animalia... either here or on Heiya Island with the Chinese... but a lot of that would still be vulnerable to recall and dire straits."
"And you couldn't convince the Chairman that some of his ideas are wrong?" Ling wondered.
"Not unless he already supports it," Hyun warned, "that is the problem with men who focus solely on power. Such men are liable to do anything."
"Well... if it comes down to it, we'll think of a way out," Ling answered, "and the fact that you care... that still shows to me that I've made the right choice for who I want as a mate... Please, convert and we'll think of something..."