The equipment manager lowered his eyes and replied quietly, “No, I’m fine. I ate plenty.”
“Would anyone care for seconds?” yelled Seok Chun in one last desperate attempt to free himself from embarrassment.
The festive atmosphere quickly dissipated, and an uneasy feeling gripped the room. The wine and beer could not keep the guests inebriated any longer. When Seok Chun realized that he had ushered in the sober mood, he refrained from speaking any further. The guests stole glances at one another, anticipating the next appropriate move.
The equipment manager invited Ho Nam, who had been sitting in the corner eating crackers and witnessing the whole thing, to come and sit on his lap.
“Do you want me to give you something nice?” asked the equipment manager.
He pulled a shiny toy car made of stainless steel from his pocket. He had engraved Ho Nam’s name and birthdate on the license plate. The car also had real wheel bearings and a man in the driver’s seat. It was truly an elaborate toy car.
All eyes were fixed on the toy as the equipment manager wound up the car and released it on the living room floor. The toy car raced across the floor, making a lively chirping sound like crickets in a field.
Ho Nam, bursting with excitement, grabbed hold of the car. But the car had so much force and power that it escaped the boy’s grip and went in another direction. The guests learned that this was not simply a toy but a miniature prototype of new machinery that the factory was planning to produce in the future.
The laughter and wonderment of the adults revived the somber atmosphere.
The equipment manager was the best technician at the factory, and it was evident that he had put all his time and energy into making this toy. Seok Chun knew that the toy car was not simply another toy for Ho Nam to play with; it represented the old technician’s genuine desire for his family to be harmonious. This alone moved Seok Chun to tears.
While the other guests were still lounging around, the equipment manager got up and put on his red cap.
Sun Hee was surprised and asked, “Why don’t you stay a bit longer?”
“I’m sorry, but I should be going now,” said the equipment manager. “Mrs. Chae, take good care of Ho Nam. He is the future of our lathe factory. When he grows up, he will become an outstanding technician.”
The equipment manager went over to Ho Nam and reached out his calloused hand for a handshake. The child stuck out his right hand like an adult. The equipment manager shook the child’s small hand as if he were transferring his spirit and passion for working with steel to Ho Nam.
The others came out to bid him farewell. While they were standing in the front yard, the equipment manager put his hand on Seok Chun’s shoulders and whispered, “Hey, what happened back there? Huh?”
Seok Chun knew that this solemn question was a rebuke. The evening was dark, but the equipment manager clearly read Seok Chun’s face. He knew that the equipment manager worried for his family. Ashamed to look at him, Seok Chun lowered his eyes. After some time, the manager patted Seok Chun’s shoulders in a gesture of encouragement.
“Don’t be too distressed. It must be lovers’ quarrels. They’re soon forgotten. Besides, your wife was also once a lathe operator. Don’t let her forget that.”
Seok Chun walked the equipment manager out of the house, but he could not free himself from the agonizing torment of his distress.
It was true that his wife had been a lathe operator at one point. The night that the cuckoo sang its melody, silver fog covered the hillside with the rapids crashing along the riverbank. Although he stumbled around with the guitar, Sun Hee still gazed at him with loving and gentle eyes. But all that had vanished now, washed away by the tides of oblivion.
The other guests left, and Ho Nam fell fast asleep with the toy car cuddled in his arms.
Sun Hee stared out the window into the melancholy night and said quietly but sternly, “I don’t think we’re right for each other. We are not on the same rhythm.”
“I think you’re right. Rhythm. You’ve used the perfect analogy.”
“So, what do we do about it?” asked Sun Hee.
“You do whatever you want to do. You don’t have to ask for my opinion. I’m so busy with work, I don’t have time to argue with you anymore.”
Seok Chun went to the master bedroom and closed the sliding door.
Their domestic problems soon leaked out to others, becoming fodder for gossip. Even though the community tried to help the couple with their marriage with collective advice, they could not heal the wound. The wound grew wider and deeper and festered more and more, leaving a horrible scar that determined once and for all that the relationship could not be repaired.
Seok Chun went to work in the morning earlier than he had before and returned later in the evening. Sometimes he slept at the factory. He buried his troubles in work.
“And that is how our marriage deteriorated. Comrade Judge, I’m not trying to make excuses for our marital problems. But I cannot bear to live with her anymore. You must divorce us. I really think that we’re not on the same rhythm anymore.”
“So, did you eventually complete your project?”
“Yes. Last month I presented it to the Provincial Science and Technology Fair.”
“So, you’ve succeeded,” cried Jeong Jin Wu in a celebratory way. “How many years did it take you to make it?”
“Five years or so.”
“It must’ve taken a toll on you. It’s not easy to invent a new machine.”
Jeong Jin Wu smoked a cigarette and sank deeper into his thoughts.
It seems like the usage of “not on the same rhythm” may have hit the nail on the head. Whose fault was it, then? After his invention, their problems with their marriage seem to have worsened. Since he succeeded in inventing a new machine, he should’ve been able to save face and win his wife’s approval. But is there something else that he isn’t telling me?
Ho Nam mumbled something in his sleep and then smiled, revealing his dimples.
Seok Chun leaned toward Ho Nam and wiped the perspiration off his feverish forehead.
“Wake him up. It looks like his fever has gone down. Besides, we need to eat dinner,” said Jeong Jin Wu as he got up to prepare dinner.
“You don’t have to do this. I will carry him home,” replied Seok Chun.
Seok Chun tried to get up, but Jeong Jin Wu pushed down on Seok Chun’s shoulders.
“My wife is away on a research trip, so I haven’t made anything fancy. It’s no problem.”
“I came to pick up my son and discuss my marital problems. How can I stay for dinner?”
Seok Chun got up, feeling ashamed.
“My house is not a courtroom. So please sit down and relax. Don’t get me upset, now.”
There was a faint knock at the front door. Jeong Jin Wu rushed over and opened the door. Sun Hee was standing there, fatigued and soaked from the rain. In one hand, she was holding a bag, and in the other was a flower-print umbrella with water dripping from it.
Sun Hee trembled, “Comrade Judge, is my son—”
She had been running from the kindergarten to her house, and then to her theater and back to her house in the rain. The thought of Ho Nam missing frightened her. When she had finally encountered the young woman in her neighborhood and found out that her son was at the judge’s house, she raced over to Jeong Jin Wu’s apartment.
“Why are you standing there like that? Come in,” invited Jeong Jin Wu.
When she realized that her son had really been at the judge’s house all along, she was relieved, and life returned to her face. She squeezed the ends of her drenched dress outside the door and followed the judge into his apartment.