“It took only a few days for Eodaejin Market to echo with fictionalized stories of our triumphs, including training sessions that involved our slaying wild boar with our bare hands and hurling nunchaku with such precision we could skin the fur off a bear. I’d laugh when I’d hear these stories but then wonder after: Was this how Kim Il-sung’s childhood snowballed into such an epic? Myeongchul’s words came back to me: Folklore has a funny way of becoming truth.”