Every Falling Star: The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea

With nowhere else to go, Sungju returns to Young-bum’s house and begs Young-bum to let him stay there while offering to help steal from the market in return. Young-bum agrees as long as Sungju promises to find food for himself and, if there’s only food for one person that day, that they’d both give the food to his sick grandmother.

Young-bum tells Sungju about the time he joined a gang and how he learned to steal from people in the market. The boys clash when talking about the regime’s responsibility for the famine that has caused them to starve and the ethics of stealing from other starving citizens as Sungju still tries to defend the communist party. But Young-bum reminds him that if the regime worked well, no one would starve. Sungju reluctantly agrees to go back to the market so he can learn how to steal effectively while watching Young-bum.

Sungju observes Young-bum successfully stealing in the market. He then tries it for himself, first stealing candy, then trying to steal from the woman who gave him bread the day before. A man catches Sungju, chokes him, and tells him to put the stolen bread back. Sungju fights back and runs away.

Sungju nurses his injuries while Young-bum critiques his stealing techniques. They return to the market and try to steal by using a razor to cut small holes in their fellow marketgoers’ bags, so they can slip their fingers inside to steal food and won.

The boys continue this routine over the next few months to feed themselves and Young-bum’s grandmother. When she tries to tell them about the past, they ignore her because as Young-bum says, “The past doesn’t feed us” (112). Sungju observes that Young-bum doesn’t believe in much of anything anymore and only performs obedience to the regime when it serves him. But Sungju isn’t sure what he believes in anymore—he doesn’t totally believe in the communist party, but he isn’t faithless either.

As the weather gets colder, Sungju and Young-bum try to steal from people arriving in the train station, which is more dangerous due to the prevalence of gangs. After an unsuccessful day, Young-bum notes that the most lucrative kotjebi there are the street performers. The performers consist of Min-gook, their former classmate, as well as other boys: Sangchul, Unsik, and Myeongchul. The two boys decide they will ask these performers to join them and form a gang.

The group of performers plus Young-bum and Sungju pool money after a day of performing so that they can all buy food and eat together. Each boy’s parents have either died or gone missing, but some wonder if their missing parents will return come winter. Sungju is inspired to then return to his own house and see if either of his parents have come back. He’s excited to see that someone has turned on the lights and rushes home, only to see that two strangers are now living in his house. Sungju insists that they leave, but the strangers tell him that the house was sold to them, and they got rid of all of his family’s belongings that were left behind. He is then thrown out of his former home.

Disappointed and in despair, Sungju collapses beneath a tree outside and falls asleep. He sees an owl, a symbol of ancient ancestors, and what he thinks may be a ghost, which makes him wonder if he has died. He prays for his parents and their souls as the night ends and the sun rises. After getting some rest, he returns to Young-bum’s, where he learns that Young-bum’s grandmother is now being sent to live with an aunt and that he must accompany her to the nearby city so she arrives safely. He confides in Sungju that he isn’t sure if she’ll ever return.

Sungju returns to the train station and sees that his fellow gang members all look exhausted after being chased by the shangmoo. They tell him that each of their houses were sold as well, and that they have also been forced to sleep on the streets, just like him. Sangchul, who they decide is the world’s best singer, performs for money before the gang convinces Sungju to show off his tae kwon do skills.

After a successful day of performing, Sungju tries to find Young-bum at his aunt’s house in a nearby city but quickly learns that his grandmother died when she arrived. Sungju and the gang continue to perform so that they can help Young-bum raise the money to give her a proper funeral.

Young-bum and the gang return to Gyeong-seong, and Chulho shows up with moon cakes, surprising them all. They all drink sool, an alcoholic beverage, and get drunk. Sungju accepts his new life as a kotjebi, which feels less scary now that he’s found this brotherhood of other lost street boys.