Jeong Jin Wu was pleasantly shocked by her critical response and could not keep his eyes off her.
The mild glow of the morning sunlight reflected off Eun Ok’s deep eyes. It was as if her entire body exuded the fragrance of the autumn forest.
Jeong Jin Wu had first thought of Eun Ok as quite ordinary, but her acute intelligence and angelic face made him more attracted to her.
“Although I want to offer my rebuttal to your argument, I can’t. Your theoretical thoughts have given me a fresh perspective,” said Jeong Jin Wu.
“You don’t have to take my comments seriously,” added Eun Ok.
“No, you’re absolutely right,” Jeong Jin Wu corrected. “It’s clear you are well-read, and I truly admire that.”
Eun Ok humbly remained silent.
That afternoon, Jeong Jin Wu spent many hours in the corner of the library revising his thesis by including an appendix that Eun Ok had recommended.
“…The accomplishments of humanity, high productive capacity, and economic progress became the foundation of man’s ethical progress, and this advanced the noble human emotions. Although the primitive age had a lower form of human emotions, such as love, responsibility, respect, anxiety, humiliation, fear, conscience, virtue, etc., these ethical concepts began to flourish beginning in that era. Maternal instincts are considered a higher grade of emotion and could have caused clans to evolve in a progressive direction. But when man dominated the family and demanded certain emotional responses from his children, the communal marriage system could not progress. The need to pass down property to their progeny occupied and dominated the ethics of that era. However, this was based on a ‘life or death’ system of ethics, which reveals the psychological instincts of even men. The transformation of this form of man into a loving father to his children with developed paternal instincts required thousands of years. During the long passage of time, all kinds of ethical reasoning and sentiments occurred, and as they became clearly divided and subdivided, humanity’s psychological life increased. This was one of the determining factors in a marriage. That is why exogamous and monogamous relationships were no longer seen as relationships meant only for survival or economics but for ethicality… However, the process of developing human psychology did not always progress so smoothly. Since the ancient past, man’s conflicts, contradictions, and solutions…”
Jeong Jin Wu could not develop the scope of the topic for his thesis any further. He included the legal study of marriage relations and the first half of the psychoanalytical problem with the development of ethics and morals. He did not realize that his appendix could not substantiate a strong argument and that it was turning into an abstract theory. Researching the wider scope of historical and social materials and analyzing the law would require a tremendous amount of time and effort. He tried to rewrite the appendix in excellent penmanship because he realized that in order to present a scientific and theoretical argument, the story of the development of the consciousness of marriage relations needed to be written with patience. But Jeong Jin Wu rewrote the appendix hastily so that Eun Ok could read his revision. He could not suppress his desire to see her one last time.
Jeong Jin Wu quickly gathered his thesis along with the appendix and went toward Eun Ok’s dormitory, where he ran into Yun Hee. She could not contain her curiosity and noticed that he was carrying his senior thesis and some other essay. Yun Hee perceived that Jeong Jin Wu was more interested in seeing Eun Ok than discussing his paper with her. She gave him the unfortunate news that Eun Ok had left for the station to take the late afternoon train back to her hometown. Jeong Jin Wu had only thirty minutes to make it to the station.
He immediately hopped on a bus that was heading in that direction. As soon as he got off the bus, he raced to the turnstile, only to be met by a long line of travelers. The train howled as it approached the station. Jeong Jin Wu grew impatient and restless.
Jeong Jin Wu searched frantically for Eun Ok amid the crowd on the platform. He identified her in a plain, dark gray fall suit. She had her luggage on one side and three flowerpots on the other. He shouted her name several times, hoping she would glance in his direction. Confused, Eun Ok turned and saw Jeong Jin Wu standing by the turnstile waving at her. She was shocked and hesitated to respond. Jeong Jin Wu then hopped over the turnstile and swiftly maneuvered his way through the crowd.
Eun Ok asked warmly, “Did you come to meet someone?”
“I came to see you, comrade,” responded Jeong Jin Wu excitedly.
“Me?”
“I revised my senior thesis, and I wanted you to take a look at it.”
“What, now?”
“That’s why I’m here!”
Jeong Jin Wu knew that he was being dishonest with her. He blushed and rolled up his thesis.
Eun Ok was taken aback. “You took my comments seriously? I don’t think I’m in any position to read your thesis. Besides—”
Eun Ok could not find the words to complete her sentence, and as she strained to come up with an excuse, the screeching wheels of the incoming train defused the awkward moment. She stood aloof, trying to avoid looking at Jeong Jin Wu. The train shook the platform and brought with it a gush of wind. Eun Ok brushed her hair back in place and grabbed her luggage. With her left hand, she reached for the three flowerpots.
Jeong Jin Wu sensed that Eun Ok knew that he had not come to the station just to show her his revised thesis but that he had come to see her. He was ashamed of bringing his thesis to her, so he put it in his back pocket and grabbed the flowerpots for her.
She tried to prevent him from helping her. “No, I’m fine. I was going to put my luggage on board and come back for these.”
“Comrade Eun Ok, it’s no trouble at all. Do you not like it when someone helps you?”
Eun Ok could not respond to that statement and turned her eyes away.
Jeong Jin Wu asked an ignorant question to clear the air.
“What kinds of flowers are in these pots?”
“They’re actually vegetables.”
“Really?” asked Jeong Jin Wu, closely examining the soil in the pots. “So why are you taking vegetables back home?”
“My hometown is Yeonsudeok, and, at the vegetable research institute, we’re conducting research on a new breed that can grow in high and unforgiving altitudes.”
Jeong Jin Wu was secretly moved by Eun Ok’s noble research. He carried the flowerpots for her and followed behind her. He boarded the train and placed the flowerpots in the compartment above the seats.
“Thank you,” said Eun Ok.
“Please have a safe trip.”
With those words, Jeong Jin Wu did not know whether to shake her hand as a customary farewell gesture between comrades. He did not want to appear too forward, so he waited for Eun Ok to make the first move. After an intolerable moment of uncomfortable silence, he realized that nothing was going to happen, so he hurriedly deboarded the train. He waved at Eun Ok from the platform, reassuring himself that it was an innocent and less awkward gesture. But to make matters worse, the train did not leave just yet. Jeong Jin Wu found himself waving more than he should have, so he disguised his embarrassment by burying his hands deep in his pockets and looking beyond the roof of the train to the distant clouds in the sky.
An inexplicable impulse of anxiety surged from within Jeong Jin Wu. He felt as though someone precious was about to slip away, and the intensity of the pain was past enduring. But he didn’t know what to do; he felt utterly unfulfilled.