ⓒ Getty Images Bank

Having read a newspaper article about the opening of a new subway line, Mr. Jo left home with his grandson Ki-yun the next morning. He was going to see the new subway trains. 

In one hand he had a lunch box. He was not out to simply board the subway but to go on an outing. 

Mr. Jo was particularly intrigued by the subway. 

His interest wasn’t surprising because he used to be a tram conductor.

스르르, 차가 멈추고 자동으로 문이 열리자

조주사와 기윤이는 들어가 자리를 잡았습니다.

Mr. Jo and Ki-yun each grabbed a seat once the door slid open. 

천정에 줄지어 매달린 선풍기가 빙긍빙글 도는데

도무지 여름 같지 않고 시원했습니다.

거기다 차내를 장식하고 있는 광고판에,

반짝거리는 쇠로 된 선반,

가지런히 대롱거리는 동그란 손잡이들,

부드럽고 푹신한 좌석까지 그야말로 별천지였습니다.

Fans attached to the ceiling were circling to cool the interior. Mr. Jo thought it didn’t feel hot like the summer at all inside the subway car. He was even more impressed by the flashy advertisement boards, shiny steel luggage racks, evenly swinging handles and soft, cushiony seats.

# Interview with literary critic Jeon So-yeong

The story is set against Seoul in 1974 when the subway was first opened. Until then, the main transportation means in Seoul was electric trains called trams or streetcars. Back in 1899, King Gojong introduced the tram system to modernize Joseon and trams had long served Seoul citizens. But when the population of Seoul surpassed one million after the country’s independence, trams could no longer accommodate the growing population and the city needed a new transportation mode. So the trams ceased operation in 1968 as the government decided to build a subway. Ha Geun-chan, who had majored in civil engineering, probably had a better eye for such changes, which enabled him to describe Cheongryangni Station in very precise detail. This momentous event in Seoul history was seen through the eyes of the main character, a former tram conductor.

문은 세 개다.

앞쪽과 뒤쪽의 작은 문은 타는 문이고,

가운데의 큰 문은 내리는 문이다.

그러니까 옛 전차 중에서는 신형인 큰 놈이다.

창문에 유리는 붙어 있지가 않다.

형해(形骸)만 안치해 놓은 것이다.

전차 주위를 두르고 있는 철책 앞에 와 선 조 주사는 

코허리가 약간 시큰해지는 느낌이다.

옛날 정다웠던 친구의 퇴락한 모습을 보는 듯한 기분이라고나 할까.

반가우면서도 약간 민망스럽기도 하고, 쓸쓸하기도 하고....

There were three doors – the small ones in the front and back were for boarding and the large one in the middle was for getting off. This model was the largest and latest one among the old trams. The windows didn’t have any glass panes, only the frames, bare-boned. Mr. Jo stood in front of the fence set up around the tramcar. He was feeling a little nostalgic, as if he was seeing a dear friend who had grown old and decrepit. A little bit of joy, embarrassment and sadness, all mixed together. 

그는 삼십여 년이라는 세월을 전차와 함께 살아왔던 것이다.

그런데 몇 해 전에 지하철 건설 바람에 그만 

전차와 함께 자기의 인생도 밀려나버리고 말았다.

He had lived with the trams for thirty-odd years. But his life, along with the tram system, was displaced, because of the subway construction a few years back.

---

Ha Geun-chan (Oct. 21, 1931~Nov. 25, 2007, Born in Yeongcheon, Gyeongsangbuk-do Prov.)

Debuted with short story “The Suffering of Two Generations” in 1957