by Kevin Brown
Reversion 2
When the clock was approaching three o’clock, Miyoung got ready to go outside and meet her parents.
She carefully washed her face put on makeup, jeans and a cardigan, then slipped on her shoes in front of the condominium gate and walked to the elevator. Her cell phone started ringing so she checked the LCD screen and saw a fellow photographer named Seonwood was calling. He was a colleague and friend who she often exchanged information with and shared opinions about scenery pictures. He left to take pictures of islands and ocean, and she had not heard from him for days. She quickly pressed the call button because she was happy to hear from him after such a long silence.
“What’s up? You have not talked to me for a while. Are you still on Geoje Island?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Did you get some good photos?”
“They’re okay. I am just hanging around and killing time.”
“What’s new?”
“Nothing much. I have some news for you.”
“What’s that?”
“Do you remember that you told me about your friend recently?”
Miyoung remembered that she mentioned something when photographers were gathered the other day. She had mentioned Junsik to her colleagues.
“You are talking about Junsik.”
“You said he is looking for people who were special geniuses when they were young.”
“Yes.”
“I think I found one.”
“Really?”
“I was not trying. I just happened to hear about Ghil Kim by chance.”
“Ghil Kim?”
“People say he shook the Japanese Islands when he was young. He was known as a genius in physics. He was Japanese, but he naturalized to South Korea three years ago. He now lives on Geoje Island. I don’t know why, but I just heard about him and I thought I should let you know about him.”
“Thank you!”
“No sweat. I did nothing.” Seonwoo laughed awkwardly.
“His name is Ghil Kim?”
“It must be the name he chose when he was naturalized. His original name was Sato Kiyoshi. He does not have a phone. Will his address do?”
“Doesn’t have a phone?”
“Yeah, he never had one. Interesting, huh?”
“Yes, it is. Give me the address please.”
Miyoung wrote down the address and his name carefully on the note. She talked about pictures they had taken for a while and then hung up.
She called Junsik to tell him the news. It rang but he did not pick up. She was thinking of calling him again but soon gave up. She remembered he was going to move today. She thought he might be busy moving so she tried to text him, but soon decided not to follow through with it. She could deliver the news when she saw him tomorrow.
Miyoung walked out to the outside parking lot where she’d left her car.
She was going to host a big meeting held by ‘People Cultivating Happiness’ tomorrow with her father. She decided to have a meal with her parents and go over the presentation materials with them for the last time.
She’d moved to the current condominium located in Yeouido three years ago when she turned thirty. She had lived with her parents until then when she finally began to support herself. She was quite independent financially, but that did not mean her life was independent. She wanted to give the true independence to her parents - of course, regardless of her marital status.
However, she often considered living with her parents again. They’d only had one child, unlike others in their generation. She felt sorry to see her mother look so lonely. She seemed to be aging rapidly in these days.
She saw her dad from time to time for the meetings, but it was different for her mom. It had not been easy to visit her often. When she talked to her mom on the phone, she felt like her mom needed a daughter who was at home every day. Yet she knew her mom wanted something else more…
Miyoung knew that what her mom wanted most of all was to see her daughter get married. However, she could not find a soulmate even though she’d searched for one for a long time. There was nobody to whom she would consider getting married.
In ancient days, people used to get married to a stranger and give birth to children when they were old enough. But that seemed like such a fairy tale; one that just didn’t happen anymore.
But there was someone who made gave her a special feeling. She had not fallen in love with him at a first sight. However, she felt like she could share her life with him.
He did not make her heart flutter. She was too old for that…
She just had a hunch that she would feel happy if she faced and walked in the same direction with him.
She could not figure out what to do next.
The most important thing was to know his feelings toward her.
Reversion 3
Junsik brought the last moving box to the second floor of a townhouse located in Ahhyun-dong, Seoul. He hesitated a moment and then took off his shoes to step inside.
He wound his way through the boxes on the floor and walked to the terrace. The small town he’d be living in for quite a while was spread out below. A delivery truck sped quickly by. Junsik checked his watch; it was 4:30 p.m.; the driver must have finished early and was in a hurry to get home for the day.
Junsik wanted to be finished moving in. He’d loaded the first box at 1:00 p.m. and now that he was here, he’d just work right through and get the job done. But just as he started unpacking boxes and organizing the contents he realized his throat was burning. He hadn’t had anything to drink all day. He walked to the terrace to scan the town below for a supermarket or convenience store, but he didn’t see any, so he decided to go find the closest supermarket. He’d need to know where one was soon enough anyway.
He stepped out of the house and walked straight for a few blocks to get out of the residential area. Turning left, he saw a small supermarket. It’s roof was old and shabby looking, but it was a supermarket. He was fortunate. It would be seriously hard for the next several years if the supermarket was further away than this. Junsik strode into the supermarket and froze near the displays by the front door. A woman passed him on the way out of the market. With every inch of his body in shock, unable to move, he watched her walk away.
It was the first time he’d seen her, but she was not unfamiliar. In fact, he felt he knew her well and that he seen her many times.
Junsik called out after her, unaware that he was speaking.
“Hyunah…”
She turned and glanced at him. In that moment he realized the name he’d spoken had no connection to his life, it seemed to be a fragment of memory straight from oblivion, for he found himself facing a strange woman. In his embarrassment he turned and fled, his heart pounding heavily in his chest all the way home. He couldn’t understand his actions or the reaction he was feeling now. He couldn’t understand the psychological shock he was feeling. He’d spoken the name ‘Hyunah’ without thinking, with no foresight as to who she was. Yet he knew she was more than a friend to him. That was the only clue he had.
Junsik spent meaningless time in the evening after unpacking his stuff, and then went to bed and tried to sleep. Although he was tired from the exertion of moving and unpacking, he could not sleep. His mind was cluttered and in overdrive, putting his physical fatigue on hold. Finally, after tossing and turning most of the night, Junsik finally fell into just as dawn was breaking on the horizon.
He awoke at 10 a.m. and put on a suit for the big event at the hotel. Mr. Kim was to speak in the conference room in Gangnam at 2 p.m. All the future sponsors would attend, and since the support of these related organizations was constantly being sought, it was an important event. Junsik had contributed as much time to helping organize it as he could.
Arriving at the hotel’s underground parking lot, Junsik found the elevator and took it to the second floor where the conference room was located. Soft, classical music flowed from inside as he exited the elevator a
nd stepped onto the exquisitely patterned carpeting in the lobby area outside the room. Before opening the door he took a moment to appreciate the plush feel of the carpet and the beautiful music wafting around him. Then he pulled the door open and went inside.
“How are you?” Miyoung said coming toward him.
“Where’s your dad?”
“Looking over the presentation.”
“We don’t have anybody here yet, right?”
“It is still early. By the way, Junsik, I have something to tell you.”
“What’s that?” Junsik asked, looking at her.
“I got a phone call from a fellow photographer yesterday. I think we found someone you were looking for. I called you right away, but you did not pick up. I figured you were too busy moving.”
He took out of his cell and checked the call history. As she said, there was a missed call. He didn’t even think of checking his cell after the incident with the woman.
He was puzzled by her reference to someone he was looking for, but soon realized what she was talking about.
He had been looking for certain people for a long time and, as he got closer to Miyoung, he naturally had spoken to her about that. He also told her he had been suffering from extreme nightmares since childhood and that they didn’t seem to be improving as he got older. Instead, they seemed to be getting worse.
The nightmares were a recurring sequence of dreams, as if they were connected stories. Some random scenes sprang out as well. Most of the time he woke up in fear from these dreams. They seemed so real, so he went to a doctor since his daily life was so adversely affected. But the doctor hadn’t helped much other than to say it appeared as though Junsik had some memories hidden in his subconscious that were making themselves known through his dreams. But when he tried to draw them out while he was awake, it seemed they just got buried even more deeply in his mind in a corner he could not access.
The dreams had worsened around the time he quit his job and went down to Cheongju. He’d told Miyoung about the dreams and that he thought they were related to some sort of ‘familiarity’ that some people shared; the people he was looking for. He’d also told her how he came to recognize this. It was something his mother said one day when he was getting ready to go outside.
She was very excited about a piano prodigy that was on tv right then, as if he was her own son.
“Look at him play the piano, honey. He’s only six years old, but he is amazingly good. It reminds me of when you were young and there was no math problem you could not solve. The whole town was excited about you then.”
His mother was smiling. “It’s all about the old days.”
Junsik laughed in embarrassment. He was a little bit sorry about the current situation - he was too ordinary compared to the childhood expectations.
“It’s the same. I was just getting used a little faster.”
Junsik stroked his head bashfully.
A thought occurred to him as he was putting on his shoes. He looked again at the child on the TV who was so devoted to playing the piano.
Familiarity. The genius I had at math and the genius the boy has with the piano could be just familiarity.
Junsik tried to relate his unusual math talents to the unidentified mass of memories which had been bothering him so much. Somehow, he felt like the genius he had originated from it. Along those lines his present ordinary life could be explained to some extent. It seemed the talent he had when he was young was not genius, but familiarity. He was born with the familiarity of something.
I had the memory of math when I was young. The kid on TV has familiarity with the piano. We were born with knowledge we were supposed to have forgotten.
Junsik felt like he finally had a little clue that could help him resolve the nightmares. He thought he would be able to discover something if he met and talked to people similar to him, just like the kid on TV.
Finally, he felt a measure of hope.
Later, after asking around, he’d met three people - two adults and one child. They were famous prodigies when they were young, just like Junsik. However, since then they had taken regular jobs and lived ordinary lives, just like Junsik. They knew nothing more than Junsik - they just learned things much faster than others did. He had successfully found the type of people he was interested in, but he still hadn’t found the solution.
Now, a year later, Miyoung had found another prodigy. He was deeply grateful that she was trying to help him as if it was her own problem.
“He is Japanese,” she said. “He naturalized three years ago. His original name was Sato Kiyoshi. In Korea people call him Ghil, a name he chose when he naturalized. He lives on Geoje Island.”
She handed Junsik a note with Ghil’s name and address.
“Don’t you have his phone number?”
“I don’t think he has one.”
“How can he contact others?”
“I don’t know.”
“I will find him by address. Geoje Island…”
Junsik carefully folded the note and put it in his suit pocket.
Reversion 4
As one o’clock approached, members of ‘People Cultivating Happiness’ began entering the conference room one by one. Soon afterwards, invited guests began to fill the room.
After they had welcomed and seated guests, Junsik checked the time and then he and Miyoung sat in the MC seats in the left hand corner of the room. Most of the round, precisely placed tables were filled now and the assembled people were talking quietly to each other as they waited for the program to begin.
At two o’clock, Mr. Yu walked onto the stage and stopped in front of the podium.
“How are you doing, ladies and gentlemen?” he said into the microphone. “I am Yu. It is such an honor that so many representatives from respected organizations were able to join us for this meeting in support of our organization. I am very grateful.”
He bowed politely as the audience broke into applause.
“Today is a most meaningful day. Our organization has taken small steps to change the world through ‘People Cultivating Happiness’ but, with your support, we can finally take big leaps. Thank you, everyone!”
Long rounds of applause echoed through the hall again.
Mr. Yu had founded ‘People Cultivating Happiness’ three years prior, with the main goal to organize as many people as he could that were interested in finding the true meaning of life while living happily in a modern, competitive society where most people lived frenetic, unhappy lives.
His own life hadn’t been very smooth earlier, either. He had devoted himself and his life to the company he worked for, and was recognized early on by the company for his passion and selfless devotion. However, he was fired in 1997 – just because he was older than the others -- when the company went through a hard time after South Korea got a loan from IMF.
Afterward, he worked his rear off to successfully run a small company that, unfortunately, was adversely affected during the global financial crisis of 2008. Later, his company reached a point of stasis, but the two-deep shocks left him wounded so he handed the company over to his friend and retired. He was sixty-two years old at the time. After that, Mr. Yu founded an organization based on what he had learned from the ups and downs of his life.
How can the majority of people live happily by acknowledging the value of life?
‘People Cultivating Happiness’ was born from this question.
From practically the minute they are born, the majority of people are trained under the guise of education to become good workers who labor long and hard and compete fiercely with others in order to build a life. But even though they work just as hard tomorrow as they are today, the cycles of economic boom and bust continue being repeated regardless of their efforts. Money and debt get inflated during these cycles and many people turn to credit, but when the bubbles burst, people are worse off than they were. They suffer and blame themselves.
Mr. Kim believed the selfishness of le
aders is what instigates people and whole societies to compete against each other, and that it’s the competition that perpetuates the endless economic cycle of boom and bust.
Most people agreed with the economic problem, but the majority of them considered it would be difficult or impossible for an organization to precipitate results that would affect the economic cycles.
However, Mr. Kim thought differently. He firmly believed that the unlimited competition around us was too detrimental to overlook. He believed the organization could bear fruit if it continued to affect the consciousness of the public by giving lectures, hosting meetings, and writing publications even though visible results might be a few years away. His hope and belief was that the organization could slowly change society if the people who were aware of the problem tried to change the world in various places.
Mr. Kim’s speech moved into his main arguments after the opening remarks.
“I found this interesting cartoon from today’s newspaper,” he said, “a worker was trembling with fear as a monster named Monday approached him from across the room.”
Small laughs of amusement erupted across the room.
“Though it is a little exaggerated, I feel it is a portrait of modern society – this cartoon depicts anyone who must work for a living.”
He gaze panned the room from left to right. Then he smiled.
“In some aspects we do not have much time just to enjoy our lives. However, a cartoon like this found in the newspaper indicates there is an issue, and it wins the sympathy of many of us.”
Suddenly the amusement disappeared from his face.
“Technology is constantly evolving, and it makes our lives very comfortable. However, we cannot deny that our lives are more competitive and more difficult because of those conveniences. We are on an arduous battlefield that drives us to have a better TV today than yesterday, wear better, more stylish clothes, driving a more feature-loaded car, and own the fanciest cell phone on the market; the one with all the latest functionality. We are living contradictory lives - live harder to make it more convenient. We need to ask a question of ourselves. Where are we going? What do we truly need?”