.jpg/dims/resize/740/optimize) |
| Chang Kang-myoung, a former journalist at the DongA Ilbo, is one of today's emerging authors in Korea. An English edition of Chang's book "Fired" translated by Teresa Kim was published by ASIA in October 2015. / Courtesy of Chang Kang-myoung and ASIA |
By Choi Ha-young
.jpg) |
Chang has also touched on this important youth issue in his short story "Fired," published last October. "The Bleached," which has also been translated into English by Teresa Kim, received the Young Authors' Award this year.
In the story is a series of conflicts at a German company's Seoul branch, between Eun-young, a full-time office worker, and Hye-mi, a part-time administrator, whom Eun-young later fires.
One day, the company's new CEO points out Hye-mi's antisocial aspect. Eun-young, who had not paid too much attention to Hye-mi's attitude in the office, suddenly becomes acutely aware of the part-time worker's behaviors. Hye-mi is often late in the morning, citing subway breakdowns, and goes to hospital during her office hour. She often surfs the Internet for information on musical performances and Japanese tours. Her colleagues also dislike her stony face.
"If you are working at an organization, you need to be sociable," Eun-young told Hye-mi. Eun-young tries to help Hye-mi and gives her advice. Eun-young thinks Hye-mi should prepare drinks and snacks for guests, with a bright smile.
All of the incidents are described from Eun-young's point of view, prompting readers to sympathize with the character.
At the office, Eun-young is usually called "the girl." The part-time worker, whose monthly salary is only 1.5 million won ($1,350), is not invited to the company dinner. She is also mobilized to join an anti-labor union rally representing the company, regardless of her opinion and physical condition.
Everyone in the office takes it granted though. While everybody thinks Hye-mi is not kind to guests, nobody cares that there are no glasses for guests in the office and that Hye-mi doesn't have authority to buy such supplies. Further, Eun-young expects her salary to improve if Hye-mi is fired.
Eventually, Eun-young asks the CEO to fire Hye-mi. After Hye-mi is fired, Eun-young justifies her decision by treating Hye-mi to barbeque ribs and a luxury brand-name scarf. "Why do the poor guys always go to an expensive restaurant and order barbeque ribs?" she wonders at the same time. Even though Eun-young thinks she has been a very considerate boss to Hye-mi, she doesn't understand that her efforts to help Hye-mi originates from arrogance.
Eun-young's sense of superiority collapses as Hye-mi asks for a legal basis for her dismissal. She considers Hye-mi's demands, for severance pay, insurance payments and career certificates, as a betrayal. Eun-young thinks Hye-mi is weaker because she has been trained by the harsh labor market to maximize her interests. Both Eun-young and the CEO don't blame their ignorance on labor law, but simply criticize Hye-mi's slyness.
Hye-mi appears as a poor girl, who is lazy and uneducated. Her social status justifies Eun-young's feeling of betrayal despite the favors she has done for the social minority.
There are plenty of reasons for the youth's poor working conditions in this society ― they lack maturity, training, career experience and even money to pay expensive tuition fees.
Readers might get confused between Eun-young and Hye-mi due to the book's unusual point of view. By choosing Eun-young as the narrator, the author effectively shows how easy it is to sympathize with the strong's point of view. Following his award winning work "The Bleached," which gave a voice to the young generation, Chang has expanded his social consciousness, including about generation discord, social hierarchy, misogyny and the imbalanced development between Seoul and its satellite cities.
![[ANALYSIS] Pandemic awakens demand for data-driven automation](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/2b05d621a193420abef7ee24b95eab3d.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
