episode_0120

Years ago, on a scorching summer day.

At an apartment construction site in Gwonseon-dong, Suwon, work was in full swing.

Under the blazing sun with not a single patch of shade, the workers were dripping with sweat.

Among the numerous laborers, one man stood out.

“Is this sweat or broth….”

It was still only morning, but the heat was extraordinary.

The sweltering weather had already soaked even his underwear in sweat.

Wiping away the constantly streaming sweat and grumbling, Seonghan was diligently working like an ant on a barren plot of land on one side of the site.

Tap! Sizzle- Tap! Sizzle-

Seonghan was repeatedly tapping the ground with a tool that looked like a short spear.

After marking a spot on the ground, he would spray it with lacquer.

Then, he would lower his head, fumbling with a terminal, and mark another spot.

It was a repetitive, simple task, but it couldn’t be done carelessly.

If a small mistake forced them to redo the work during the tight construction period…

‘Maybe it’s because of the heat… a chilling thought….’

Having to redo work was irritating enough, but thinking about the curses he’d endure made his heart clench. It wasn’t just about him getting cursed; real financial losses would also occur.

Knowing that, Seonghan grabbed his dizzy head, struggling with the heat, and focused.

Fortunately, Seonghan seemed confident operating with the GPS surveying equipment. His manner of reading blueprints, marking points, and giving instructions to the machinery looked very skilled.

After marking a spot, he shouted to the waiting equipment operator.

“Mr. Kiiiiiim!!”

At Seonghan’s shout, the equipment operator inside the large excavator met his gaze.

Then Seonghan began to wave his hands in the air.

Swish swish! (Nod nod) Wave wave! Flail! (Nod nod) Fist clenched! (Okay)

The equipment operator, seemingly a veteran, nodded repeatedly and immediately began to move the machinery.

Seonghan confirmed the equipment was working according to his marked positions, then looked around.

On the vast land, only Seonghan and a large excavator, which they called ‘Gongyuk,’ were visible.

In the opposite area, workers were busy with their tasks.

In the relatively quiet work environment, Seonghan gulped down water.

He wanted to find some shade and rest for a moment, but he couldn’t.

He had to hurry so that the next processes could follow.

The company announced daily:

「Please take breaks to avoid harming yourselves in the heat.」

At first glance, it seemed like a kind consideration for the workers, but it was a misunderstanding.

If they tried to take even a short break, someone would appear like a ghost or a phone call would come.

「How much work has been done~?」

The primary contractors didn’t say it outright.

This needs to be finished by today… or other processes are waiting…

Their way of speaking, masterful at pressuring people with mere nuance, had a magical power that felt like it could grow cancer cells where none existed.

The stress from this period brought Seonghan to the brink of male pattern baldness.

Wearing a hard hat all day caused heat to accumulate on his head and negatively affected his scalp, but it couldn’t compare to the effects of stress.

They say stress is the root of all illness, and it’s certainly not wrong.

Still, there was nothing else he could do.

‘If they tell me to peel, I peel.’ [a proverb about obeying orders without question.]

In a capitalist society, the one who pays is king.

Seonghan, a mere laborer, simply carried out his assigned tasks silently.

When the equipment began to move its bucket, he found a little breathing room.

Taking advantage of the moment, Seonghan pulled down his neck gaiter and lit a cigarette.

He let out a long breath.

His head was baking, and his neck and back were stinging from the sun.

Seonghan thought that if he didn’t smoke a cigarette and catch his breath, he might actually collapse.

Smoking during work meant getting a warning and a scolding, with no room to complain.

The main reason was, of course, fire, but now it was different.

“Would a fire break out in a field like this?”

There was nothing around that could catch fire.

The ground was so parched it was cracked like a turtle’s shell.

If a cigarette butt caused a fire in a place where dust flew with every gust of wind, it would be no different from witnessing a miracle.

Yet, the warnings to only smoke in designated areas were simply because they didn’t want to see it.

Even so, there was an unwritten rule on the site.

‘If you don’t get caught, it’s all good~’ [an idiom meaning that if there are no repercussions, there’s no problem].

Since they told him not to, he just had to avoid doing it openly.

He hid the cigarette butt among the piles of dirt dug up by the excavator.

Once a large amount of dirt covered it, no trace would remain.

Just as he was about to return to work as if nothing had happened.

“Foreman Shin-nim~”

“Ah! You startled me!”

Seonghan jumped at the sudden sound of a young voice from behind him.

Behind him, a remarkably young woman was approaching Seonghan.

“Health Supervisor-nim? What brings you all the way out here?”

“Have this~”

Seeing the young woman smile shyly and offer him a cold coffee, Seonghan smiled back warmly.

“Kyah~ Our Health Supervisor-nim is the best worker on this site. Thank you~”

“Um~ Manager Choi-nim asked me to tell you to call him….”

“Which Manager Choi-nim?”

“Ah! Safety, he said.”

“That person, really… why doesn’t he just do it himself….”

“Well, he said you weren’t answering your calls at all.”

At that, Seonghan checked his phone and fell silent.

【9 missed calls…】

“…….”

“Well, I’ll get going then. Take it easy~”

“Ah! Health Supervisor-nim, thank you for the coffee!”

The Health Supervisor, who looked about college-aged, began to retrace her steps.

Seeing her wearing a hard hat, vest, and safety belt, she just looked like they didn’t quite fit her.

Remembering that he’d heard she was there for field training, Seonghan watched her totter away, then picked up his phone.

“Yes~ Manager-nim. What have you stirred up this time~?”

「Foreman Shin. Why aren’t you answering your phone?」

“I was right next to the equipment, so I couldn’t hear it. What’s up?”

「Oh, that~ Could you press down the compactor box in Section 1?」

“What the… Manager-nim. I’m at the end of Section 2 right now, aren’t I? We’re busy right now.”

「Aigoo~ I know you’re busy. I know, but it’s because of the union….”」

“Ah….”

It was like being asked to do unnecessary cleaning in the middle of being busy.

Since he was on the phone and no one was watching, Seonghan furrowed his brow.

「You know too, Foreman Shin, right? For the past few days, they’ve been taking pictures and causing a huge fuss. That’s why… they said not to do anything that could be held against us.」

“Has this been discussed with our Site Manager-nim?”

「Oh, yes, that’s right. But it seems it wasn’t conveyed because he went into a meeting.」

“Sigh~ If they tell me to peel, I peel, I guess. I’m powerless, so I have to do as I’m told.”

「Puhahaha~ What are you saying~ You, the civil engineering ace~」

“Ace, my foot…. Anyway, I got it. I’ll do it and send you the pictures.”

「Right, right. Thanks, Foreman Shin~」

Hanging up the phone, Seonghan let out a deep sigh, then gestured for the equipment.

He then explained the situation and began walking across the vast site with the equipment.

The Gwonseon-dong site where Seonghan worked spanned over 130,000 pyeong [approx. 100 acres].

The sheer number of laborers working there was enormous.

It was a massive site, ranking within the top 5 in terms of size in the area.

The remaining construction period was over three years.

The construction company was the famous Jincheon Construction.

It was clearly a site that generated significant profit.

Thanks to that, the surrounding area was incredibly noisy in many ways.

Of course, this was utterly unrelated to Seonghan, who was merely a laborer.

From draining the reservoir, which used to be a massive duck farm, to reaching the current stage, they had endured considerable hardship.

After filling and compacting the land, a problem arose just as they were about to begin serious construction.

None other than the labor union had interfered.

And what’s more, two of Korea’s leading union groups had swooped in.

Young Seonghan didn’t know much about labor unions.

He only knew them as groups that gathered voices for the legitimate rights and interests of workers.

Reality, however, wasn’t quite like that.

It was when he had finished the requested task and was returning to his original work area.

“Whoaaaa! Shoot! Take pictures!”

“??”

The construction site was restricted to authorized personnel only, but a group of people burst in.

People with red headbands clearly emblazoned with the word ‘Struggle’ instead of hard hats began to act noisily.

Dozens of people pushed their way in at once.

They made loud noises, blocked paths, and began to interfere with the laborers.

Among those disturbed was Seonghan, who was passing by with the equipment.

“What are you doing―”

“Aaah! Oh my, I’m dying!”

“What in the…”

He had only raised his hand because the man tried to charge at him with his body.

The approaching man suddenly threw himself to the ground and began screaming.

Then came fierce glares and curses from all directions.

Seonghan was greatly startled by the menacing aura of the crowd.

It was truly a moment of “oops!”—the atmosphere felt like they could bury someone alive.

Seonghan had experienced many rough situations, but this time felt very different.

Regardless, the site came to a complete halt due to the union members’ intrusion.

The person who had put on a show in front of Seonghan had disappeared at some point.

Work for the day was finished, but no major incident occurred.

He thought the incident was over like that.

Seonghan truly believed it was.

He had thought it would pass without much fanfare, as construction sites were places where all sorts of crazy people ran rampant and then disappeared.

The next day.

The Gwonseon-dong site was turned upside down.

The union pushed forward all sorts of photos for what was less a negotiation and more a demand with the site management.

Seonghan was included in dozens of those photos.

‘Where on earth did they take these?’

Seonghan had almost been absurdly embroiled in a violence dispute, but thanks to the CCTV cameras on-site and nearby testimonies, he managed to get through it safely.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

As negotiations stalled, the incident was reported in local newspapers and news outlets in huge headlines.

Jincheon Construction was framed as having an overly aggressive response, and its image plummeted. Several laborers and equipment operators who were caught in the photos suffered minor damages.

But Seonghan was not one of them.

In the released photos, Seonghan was depicted pushing an elderly man.

His face was obscured, but it wasn’t difficult to recognize him as Seonghan.

Moreover, the journalist who wrote the article had exceptional writing skills, truly showing their education.

The incident was framed so well, so subtly, that it made readers think, ‘How can such a son of a bitch exist?’

When cunning photos combined with eloquent writing, he became a scoundrel of the century in an instant.

Naturally, he could have proven his innocence with the CCTV footage, so he was relieved, but it never came to using the CCTV content.

However, two days later.

Seonghan was expelled from the site.

He was also forced to resign from the company he belonged to.

Like a current carrying him along, Seonghan’s expulsion to the streets was unstoppable.

Seonghan was dumbfounded.

He lost his job while still reeling in confusion.

In his bewilderment, he sought out the site manager and other officials to complain, but it was meaningless.

The only reply he received was a single word: “Sorry.”

No one offered a proper explanation.

It was all just a hushed attitude, as if they wanted to avoid being associated with Seonghan.

For Seonghan, who had diligently focused only on his work, he felt not just bewilderment but also anger and betrayal, yet there was nothing he could do.

Seonghan searched for the person who had pulled the “Hollywood action” [staged incident], but he couldn’t find him.

Instead, he was assaulted by union members and chased away.

Unable to bear the injustice, Seonghan even reported it to the police, but it ended in an absurd manner.

“…Let’s just let it slide nicely.”

“What…?”

The enforcers of public authority, who should have been fairer than anyone.

The words and attitudes of the detective and police officer who responded to his report were merely indifferent.

Instead, they seemed to know the union members he had reported, exchanged greetings, and then left immediately.

The looks of disdain, as if he were an insect, and the tuts of their tongues towards Seonghan were just extra insults.

In vulgar terms, it was a situation you’d only expect to see back in the old days [a slang term for the 1980s, implying a bygone, less civilized era].

But he was seeing it now.

Seonghan had a hunch then.

That he had gotten caught up in something unlucky.

And that there was nothing he could do.

Seonghan knew well, having received unfair treatment and disdain constantly throughout his life.

He knew well that clenching his teeth and raging would be meaningless.

Now, that experience was sending him a signal.

So he bit back his anger and swallowed it.

Because Seonghan knew that if he fought back, he would only be the one to suffer the loss.

Seonghan, who was young and practically a rookie in society, didn’t cling on any longer.

Instead, he quietly sought to find the journalist who had screwed him over.

He felt he wouldn’t be able to sleep unless he at least smashed that person’s head in.

But it was an impossible task for Seonghan, who had no special connections.

He could only find out the journalist’s name.

“Lee Giho… I will never forget you.”

He replayed the journalist’s name in his mind, feeling as if he were licking a bear’s gall bladder [a proverb meaning to endure great bitterness or hardship].

But the problems didn’t end there.

After that, he couldn’t get a job in any related industry.

Even people who had invited him to work together began to quietly avoid him.

Getting a job was always difficult, but Seonghan, who had built up some experience, was puzzled, though he soon learned the reason.

“Seonghan-ssi. A rumor has spread throughout this industry. You’ll probably have a hard time finding work in this field.”

It was a story told by a manager from another company, with whom he had a friendly relationship, as he handed him a shot of soju.

Naturally, Seonghan expressed his injustice.

But the more he listened to the manager’s explanation, the more he had no choice but to shut his mouth.

The gist was simple.

He had simply been needlessly caught in a battle of interests between two factions.

The union wanted to muscle their way into a site that clearly generated significant money.

They wanted material to leverage for negotiations and an opening to exploit.

Jincheon didn’t want a perfectly well-running site to be disrupted.

They didn’t want interference from other factions.

It was a petty incident that occurred during that process.

It wasn’t that no one else had been treated unfairly in that incident.

But no one suffered as much as Seonghan.

He had simply been singled out and used as kindling.

There wasn’t any particular reason.

He had just unluckily gotten caught.

If he had to pick a reason, it was that he was an easy person to handle afterwards.

“Seonghan-ssi. You got money besides your severance pay, right?”

“No. I left without receiving anything.”

“You should have taken even that….”

The manager, handing him a glass with a bitter expression, truly felt sorry for him.

In fact, unions rushing in and causing a ruckus was a common occurrence.

However, this time it was quite intense, and all sorts of dirty tricks were exchanged, he said.

What was even funnier was that afterward, both sides engaged in what was less a negotiation and more an agreement, and were getting along just fine.

The few who were unlucky enough to be tossed aside, and Seonghan, who got severely screwed over [literally “ate a big yeot,” meaning to be severely deceived or harmed].

Seonghan realized after hearing the manager’s explanation.

That they simply needed kindling to draw public attention, and that he was it.

That a single low-quality article had sent him plummeting into ruin.

Seonghan learned right then and there.

He learned that there was a world where sacrificing one or two people for profit was no big deal.

That people didn’t care about facts; they just needed someone to curse and badmouth.

He learned that even if he had told the truth, people wouldn’t have listened.

He learned that bringing someone down was an incredibly simple task.

The truth of a mere orphaned laborer didn’t matter at all.

“Wow… this is really messed up….”

He realized once again how terrifying money could be.

He realized that the derogatory term ‘journo-trash’ [a portmanteau of ‘journalist’ and ‘trash’] didn’t just appear for no reason.

Experiencing firsthand the things he had only heard about was indescribably awful.

After that, things truly unfolded just as the manager had said.

Seonghan couldn’t find a job in any related industry.

He hadn’t caused an accident or committed a crime, yet Seonghan was rejected by the industry.

Seonghan suffered from emptiness and helplessness.

In his despair, he spent several months drinking alcohol he couldn’t even handle, just wasting time.

Feeling like he would truly die if he continued living this way, he pulled himself together.

He got back on his feet with a fresh start in mind.

However, finding a job was extremely difficult amidst the economic downturn.

Even when he tried to do something, he lacked knowledge and assets.

It was so hard that he even tried to voluntarily enlist in the military, but he was rejected for enlistment.

“Damn it… shouldn’t orphans be *more* readily accepted into the military?”

Even the country rejected a mere orphan.

It was a truly difficult time mentally.

The only saving grace, perhaps, was that he hadn’t resorted to gambling or illegal activities.

Ultimately, he circled back around and headed to a temporary employment agency.

Fortunately, he could find work at the agency.

They didn’t ask questions or demand explanations; he just had to do the work well.

From then on, Seonghan spoke less.

The people at the agency always asked Seonghan:

“You’re still young, so why are you already working here?”

It was a question born of pure curiosity, not malice.

Indeed, Seonghan was the youngest at the temporary employment agency.

Most of the temporary workers were older.

But Seonghan lived with his mouth shut.

Whenever he heard questions like that, Seonghan would just smile and brush them off.

From this time, his drinking increased, and he smoked much more.

He thought that if he didn’t, cancer would grow within his rotting insides.

Seonghan kept his mouth firmly shut and only did what he was told.

He couldn’t do the extremely difficult jobs, but he usually didn’t pick and choose his work.

Thanks to this, even when others were struggling to find work, Seonghan could get jobs.

Though it wasn’t as good as before, he had an income, and his life became stable.

However, the foul feeling of having been unfairly cast into ruin was difficult to shake off.

Days continued where he toiled for a daily wage and fell asleep as if collapsing.

Seonghan lived like a bear for several years that way.

Then one day, Seonghan suddenly realized.

His heart no longer felt tormented.

There was nothing to forgive or not, but even when he recalled it, he felt only indifference.

He hadn’t forgotten, but it was okay.

“Even when it feels like you’re going to die, somehow it works out.”

Only then did Seonghan feel that he had become very dry.

Seeing his reflection in the mirror, Seonghan felt that he looked very dark.

‘…Should I cut back on work?’

His bank account held a fair amount of money, saved through years of struggle.

He was still in his twenties.

Thinking that he might occasionally indulge himself, Seonghan took the day off work.

It was impulsive, but he planned to take a break and eat some meat.

Seonghan dressed in his old clothes and went outside.

One day, when Seonghan was 28 years old.

It was an hour before he was forcibly dropped into another world.