[One Thousand Characters a Day] The Body of a Veteran <1>

Editor's NoteWe call those who have stayed in one place for decades doing the same work 'veterans.' What they hone through repetition until they become veterans is not only skill. Their bodies become 'diligent recorders,' enduring and engraving the time and memories of their work. In ＜The Body of a Veteran＞, author Heejeong interviews 13 veterans of different genders, ages, and fields, unraveling the organic relationship between body, work, workplace, and society. With sharp awareness and detailed yet calm prose, the book reveals to readers not only bodily transformations such as illness, body shape, posture, and facial expressions but also habits like tone of voice and gait, as well as attitudes toward work. We introduce the stories of those whose traces of work have become themselves to the readers of Asia Economy’s ＜One Day Ten Thousand Steps, One Day One Thousand Characters＞ in five installments. Word count: 1032.

They said that veterans are those who get things done by doing them. It was what the veterans said. The mastery of 'increasing by seeing one thing' is completed through repetition, practice, trial, and correction. One day becomes two, and this continues over weeks, months, and years until one suddenly realizes, "I've been working for 10 years," or "It's been 30 years." Over those years, just as the nails of someone scraping iron wear down, the body wears down too.

A veteran masseur said that by touching a customer's body, one can infer their occupation. "I can tell just by feeling the muscles." What kind of work they do, and what posture they use while working. I also often hear similar remarks. "You sit at a desk for a long time, right?" is usually said after someone comments that my neck is completely stiff. The veteran masseur kept rubbing his right thumb. "You do work that uses your fingers a lot, right?" I wonder if anyone ever asks him that.

The body is a diligent recorder that engraves the memories of work. The diligence of someone who opens the door to a workshop, kitchen, bathhouse, delivery room, or practice room early in the morning is faithfully engraved on their body. Workers believe that their diligence feeds, clothes, and supports themselves and their families, but the record of labor faithfully engraved on the body demands a price.

From fingers to wrists, from wrists to shoulders, neck, waist, and pelvis. Through pain, he comes to understand how the joints are connected. Pain shapes posture, and posture shapes body form. Repeated actions remain as habits and customs. Before long, a sturdy torso, deeply tanned skin, firm calves, a face full of varied expressions, neatly trimmed short nails, cracked soles, a loud voice, and ears with reduced hearing become one’s own. They live with bodies they could not have imagined in their youth, before labor.

(Omitted)

What I saw in them were certain 'attitudes.' Some said they exercise consistently for work, while others said they don’t even hike for work. Some sharply said that if you like to play, you can’t do this work, while others offered a strange comfort that since the money earned from work is honest, there is no shame in what one experiences while working. Whatever their personal principles, all endured, persevered, and patiently maintained a proper physical and mental attitude.

- Text by Heejeong, photos by Choi Hyungrak, ＜The Body of a Veteran＞, Hankyoreh Publishing, 20,000 KRW

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.