Judge Jeong Jin Wu met with Seok Chun’s equipment manager.
The equipment manager was well over sixty, but he still looked strong and energetic. He stretched out his thick-veined calloused hand to Jeong Jin Wu. After shaking his hand, the equipment manager led him to a corner of the factory and pulled out some metal chairs. A ray of sunlight penetrated the windows, exposing dust particles lingering in the air and scraps of metal on the floor.
The equipment manager quietly smoked the cigarette that Jeong Jin Wu had offered him and sat silent, motionless, with his pensive eyes fixed on the ground. Jeong Jin Wu looked at the manager with respect and admiration. The equipment manager’s leathered face and bent back told of years of work at the factory.
“Comrade Judge, you came all this way to see me, but there is not much I can say about this matter. I feel responsible and ashamed. I taught Seok Chun how to operate the lathe machine but neglected to teach him about family. I didn’t tell him how to manage his family because I didn’t want to poke my head into another man’s personal life. Besides, I’m no family counselor.”
“I see, sir.”
Jeong Jin Wu was in his fifties, and for him to call the equipment manager “sir” was strange, but he did not feel he was worthy of calling him “comrade.” He recalled the old equipment manager from Seok Chun’s story, and even at this first meeting with the elderly man, Jeong Jin Wu deeply respected him and humbled himself before him.
“I didn’t come here to ask you about your responsibility to Comrade Seok Chun’s family or to make you feel guilty. I just want to know what you thought of their marital problems.”
The two sat in silence. This was someone else’s family problem, but they both handled it as if it were their own.
Jeong Jin Wu asked quietly, “Sir, what do you think about Comrade Seok Chun?”
“He’s a genuine worker,” the equipment manager said without skipping a beat. “I’m not saying that just because I trained him. If someone asked me to pick out the best workers, I would pick Seok Chun. Ever since he started working here, with peach fuzz under his nose, he worked on the lathe machine relentlessly. He works on the lathe as if it were his life and soul.
“Some workers start with the lathe, and later when it gets to be too difficult, they resort to learning less complicated machinery. Others consider the lathe a stepping-stone to joining the Party, and they eventually do work that doesn’t require much physical labor. They think a promotion means they’ve succeeded. But I know what they’re really thinking. They’re lazy and have no conscience. They work at a factory for a few days and put down on their résumés that they’ve done something great, betraying the true workers of this nation who are here year in, year out. I’ve had to put so many of that kind of worker in their place. There was this one time when I reported them to the Factory Party Committee, saying that these boys should not be admitted to the Party unless they’ve worked here for more than ten years.”
The equipment manager’s aged eyes lit up as he spoke in the righteous tones of a true employee, as he, too, had labored at the factory for decades, finding his joy and life’s worth among the machines.
“I somehow veered onto another topic. Pardon me. There are many employees who’ve worked here for ten, twenty years. There are many whom I’ve trained as my apprentice. But, shamefully, there are also troublemakers.”
The equipment manager started to get flustered. However, he was not one to stray far from the topic like other old men. His words embodied his passion from all those years of hard work and his hope for the next generation of workers. He defied any sort of corruption and stood on the side of righteousness.
“If I can say something about Seok Chun …” began the equipment manager. But then he stood up quickly as if he remembered he had to do something. He walked over to the tool cabinet and opened it.
An oilcan, drill bits, and wrenches were among the many tools neatly organized inside the red tool cabinet. The tool cabinet was Seok Chun’s hope, the source of his creative energy, and his pride as a worker. Anyone would be able to tell that these tools were emblems of diligence and dignity.
“Since Seok Chun was eighteen years old—so, basically, almost twenty years ago—this is the tool cabinet that he has been using ever since he started working here.”
Jeong Jin Wu was shocked. He tried to mentally draw the face of Seok Chun, whom he had seen this morning walking to work—wrinkled suit, dirty dress shirt, worn-out shoes, gloomy countenance, disheveled hair. That image of Seok Chun presented a significant contrast with the neatly organized tool cabinet.
Jeong Jin Wu realized that Seok Chun had not lost his passion for his work as a lathe operator but that he struggled with his work because of his discordant marriage. How could he work productively at the factory when his family situation is so stressful? thought Jeong Jin Wu.
Seok Chun fell into a routine as he had been programmed to do all these years. No desire, no passion, no focus. He wanted to forget about all that was happening at home and vented his frustration on the lathe machine like a madman. He had been losing focus at the factory because of the conflict at home. He was now someone who had lost his passion for everything, as was evident when he had plodded to work this morning. Seok Chun had once cared about his work, but now he was desolate in his own barren world, dejected and utterly helpless.
“Comrade Judge, are you going to divorce Seok Chun and his wife?” asked the equipment manager, interrupting Jeong Jin Wu’s thoughts.
“Well, we will have to see. I don’t quite know for sure. That’s why I’m here to see you,” responded Jeong Jin Wu candidly.
The equipment manager stared at Jeong Jin Wu as if he were peering into the judge’s soul.
“Actually, I know Seok Chun’s wife quite well,” the equipment manager started. “Before Sun Hee became a celebrity, she worked at our factory. She seemed like a sweet woman, and cheerful, but she was rather stubborn. She sang well, but she didn’t work whole-heartedly. I perceived this and warned her about it, but she didn’t take it to heart. It seemed like she didn’t like me too much either, so I didn’t interfere again. I didn’t expect as much from her as I did from the male workers. Besides, she was the wife of Seok Chun, one of the best workers here. So I dropped it.”
Jeong Jin Wu listened attentively.
“A few years later, I went over to their house on Ho Nam’s birthday. But I felt something was wrong. If the air was that cold when guests were over, can you imagine how cold it must have been when they were alone? Without a doubt, the news of their marital problems came to me from their neighbors and coworkers. You know, people are often more interested in other people’s problems than their own. It’s rare to hear any unembellished gossip, though. So I filtered them out, and what I’m about to tell you are my personal thoughts from my own observations of the couple.”
The equipment manager stared into the distance and explained Sun Hee’s transformation from a humble lathe operator to a popular singer. He described how Sun Hee’s vanity surged with her quick rise to stardom, as she started to receive compliments from everyone and was recognized on the street. He explained that she thought she had progressed while her husband was still an oil-stained factory worker. In the end, she would give him the cold shoulder in public and would not give in to him at home.
“But Seok Chun is not the type of guy to remain still,” the equipment manager said. “He is stubborn and hot-tempered, and not willing to lose to his wife. From what I hear, he’s hit her several times.”
Jeong Jin Wu was speechless.
“A firm sense of principle,” the equipment manager continued, “reflects the character of a true worker. Those lacking principles are prone to drift and veer from the right path, and they begin to manipulate others who are trying to live rightly. They also resort to belittling others. I’m not sure if Sun Hee fits into this category, but this is my opinion of her.”
Judge Jeong Jin Wu listened carefully to every word the equip
ment manager said. He thought it was reasonable for the equipment manager to measure the value and principles of the couple based on his own work ethic.
However, Jeong Jin Wu did not want to nail Sun Hee’s fault on vanity. Performing artists were different from other workers. Their special gift could cause them to be vainglorious. Hundreds of eyes focused on them each night, always having to have their makeup done just right, extravagant costumes, bright lights, the audience’s thunderous applause, and receiving bundles of flowers—these things consumed the life of a celebrity. For Sun Hee to not be made vain by all this but to live a modest life would require her to be extremely self-disciplined. She was as much a part of her music as the music was a part of her. As an artist, she was responsible for moving the people of the nation through songs, lyrics, and her voice.
As Jeong Jin Wu thought about the relationship between nation and family, he recalled Chae Rim’s remarks. Chae Rim might have had a point when he said that singing has absolute influence over the singer’s emotional and ideological world.
If that were the case, then was Sun Hee’s vanity really the problem? Jeong Jin Wu did not think she was complaining about her husband for being a lathe worker but rather for living a backward life without making any progress for the past ten years. It seemed as if Seok Chun’s intellectual drive and idealistic passions had leveled off or even regressed since the day of his marriage. He had become complacent in his work, feeling more pride at being recognized as a humble worker than at actually completing his projects. He built a tight fence around himself under the cover of diligence and national duty, but in doing so, he excluded his wife and his son. This precise friction between the couple made Sun Hee react adversely, even imperiously, toward Seok Chun. His reluctance to fulfill his true national duty—the duty to progress and advance in his social position—thrust Sun Hee into despair. Jeong Jin Wu concluded that the source of the problem seemed to be with Seok Chun.
Seok Chun was in his thirties, a young age when hopes and dreams have not yet been extinguished. Unlike the equipment manager’s generation, which was content with humble manual labor and a traditional wife who would be subservient to him for the rest of his life, Seok Chun’s generation sought something different. A harmonious family may help one do well at work, but this alone was not enough. Compassion for others, particularly in the family, was still one of the foundations of society.
“All in all, the greatest loss is Seok Chun’s talent,” continued the equipment manager with a deep sigh of regret. “Since his wife behaves like that at home, his head must be overloaded, preventing him from being creative at work. That’s okay for some, but a skilled worker must have a clear mind to produce good material, and invent things as well.”
“Didn’t Seok Chun succeed in inventing a multispindle machine?”
“You mean the one that won him third place? He went through a lot for that. Nearly five years to finish it. It seems like you know something about the incident?”
“Incident? No, I don’t. All I know is that he was successful …”
“Then let’s not talk about it. I get very frustrated just thinking about it.”
“Why?”
“It’s because the Provincial Industrial Technology Commission is completely corrupt,” replied the manager angrily. He rubbed the cigarette butt out with his foot and changed the subject. “There’s another machine he’s been working on for some years now. It’s a semiautomatic lathe machine.”
The equipment manager led Jeong Jin Wu to the assembly sector.
A machine was buried in dust. It was Seok Chun’s invention. It looked like a lathe machine, but half the body had been removed and dismantled, with rusty parts scattered around the station.
“A few days ago, I said something that must’ve hurt Seok Chun’s feelings. I said, ‘Don’t walk around like a deadbeat and go complete your machine. Don’t let the outcome of the contest stop you from your next project.’ ”
The equipment manager picked up a rag from the floor and began to wipe the machine.
Jeong Jin Wu also picked up a rag and began to wipe the machine. His hands were covered in machine lubricant, which soon brought on a cold and numbing sensation.
“Don’t bother. Your clothes will get dirty,” said the equipment manager, as though he was irritated with the judge for bringing up the past.
The equipment manager’s tone did not bother Jeong Jin Wu. In fact, he was thankful to the equipment manager for allowing him to gain insight into Seok Chun’s marital problems.
What was the reason for the other argument between them when Seok Chun had completed his first invention?
“Sir, please tell me. How did the Provincial Industrial Technology Commission Board evaluate Seok Chun’s machine?”
The equipment manager glared at Jeong Jin Wu. The manager did not think that the evaluation of Seok Chun’s new machine had anything to do with the divorce case.
“Please tell me,” Jeong Jin Wu persisted.
The equipment manager relented when he realized that it might have everything to do with it. He wiped the grease off his hands with the rag and led Jeong Jin Wu to a corner.
“Comrade Judge, take a look at this first.”
The equipment manager opened a large cabinet, three times the size of ordinary tool cabinets.
“The multispindle machine is still at the exhibition. But take a look at this, and you’ll see the painstaking process that he went through. Our factory made this cabinet for him and put a plaque—‘Inventor’s Chest’—on it.”
The cabinet had five shelves. On each shelf, there were used tools and machine parts in disorder, covered in grease and dirt.
The equipment manager reached for a pile of blueprints on the bottom shelf. Many of the small and large blueprints had oil stains on them and were faded, so the angles and measurements were difficult to make out.
“These are Seok Chun’s that he’s been working on for many years. The one that he recently finished is at the technician’s lab. He would draw the plans over and over again. Then he would try to make the machine, and when that failed, he would go back to the drawing board. There’s no telling how many times he repeated this routine. There must be hundreds of these blueprints on this shelf. Can you imagine the ones he’s thrown away? He has also paid for all of the wasted materials and prints.”
Jeong Jin Wu helped the equipment manager put the blueprints back on the bottom shelf. An indescribable feeling weighed down Jeong Jin Wu’s heart. He could not ignore the blood, sweat, and tears Seok Chun had put into the hundreds of blueprints and wasted materials. For so many years, Seok Chun desired affection from Sun Hee, and for so many years, he had to endure his family discord, leaving evident traces of suffering on the broken machine parts. Who will ever truly understand the extent of Seok Chun’s efforts, even with the copious blueprints?
“They say raindrops bore holes in stones, and needles are made from grinding metal. The harder the labor, the greater the reward. The multispindle, for Seok Chun, did its job and functioned well. I saw tears welling up in his eyes. I’m sure you know, but only the inventor can truly feel the joy of his work. The difference between an ordinary person off the street who sees a golden field of rice and the farmer who harvests the rice that he planted is immeasurable.”
Jeong Jin Wu nodded his head in quiet acknowledgment.
“When I was younger,” the equipment manager said, “I, too, invented a new machine. And let me tell you, there’s no feeling quite like it. This one time, I was so overjoyed with my invention I went to my wife to tell her about it. She laughed and said, ‘Could it possibly compare to the joy of giving birth?’ I know that you can’t compare a metal invention to the birth of a child. But let me tell you, my eyes welled up with tears.”
Jeong Jin Wu stared at the ground with a pensive smile. He, too, remembered the joy of seeing his law essays published in prestigious legal journals.
“Comrade Judge, the multispindle is very energy-efficient
with good speed and power, and it will increase the nation’s production. It requires very little manpower, so it will cut down on labor. On top of that, it can be sold at a reasonable price. The technicians at the exhibition, however, questioned the engineering of the mechanisms and asked for the blueprints. And even after that, the Provincial Industrial Technology Commission Board—”
With a sigh of frustration, the equipment manager closed the door of the Inventor’s Chest. His warm expression turned cold and rough. His wrinkles settled in deeply as he frowned, and his eyes reflected his vengeful thoughts.
“How could they do that to him? All they gave him was a vase and a plaque.”
Jeong Jin Wu was confused and wanted to ask about it, but he let the manager explain.
“Seok Chun is so selfless and humble that he received those gifts as a sign of honor. I also saw the vase. It wasn’t a special vase that was made particularly for the inventors or something that honored their hard work. It was bought at the local flower shop. It was something that anybody could go and buy anytime he wanted to. It was very condescending. I was absolutely livid, so I called the Provincial Industrial Technology Commission Board. This chairman or someone answered the phone and told me that everyone received a plaque equally without any partiality or discrimination, so I shouldn’t complain about it. I was so enraged I just hung up the phone. Then Seok Chun confronted me and gave me a piece of his mind for calling the chairman. I’m sure he had his own reasons.”
Jeong Jin Wu remained silent as myriad thoughts occupied his mind.
“It’s really pathetic and humiliating. Comrade Judge, this incident doesn’t just affect Seok Chun, but think about all the other factory workers and technicians who helped him with the machine parts and assisted him from the sidelines for so many years. Imagine how they all felt? The chairman said that the judges evaluated all the contestants from other factories the same way, so you can imagine how much it affected all the workers involved.”
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