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 equipment 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.