[복제] 도구들 | hyunmo-yang-artist

Tools (2023)

The hammer thought of itself as a useful tool. At times, it was convinced that it was the only tool that could not be replaced by another. Holding onto this belief, the hammer knocked on the doors of employment many times, but the walls were high for it. Even the hammer, who confidently described the kind of life it had lived and how useful it was, began to doubt its own usefulness after a few years passed. The screwdriver told the hammer, “It’s because you are a wooden hammer that you’re not sought after in the job market. If you can’t be a pry hammer or a Hector hammer, then at least be a rubber hammer.” It added, “A wooden hammer as soft as you won’t even be as useful as a rubber hammer in modern society.” The hammer felt ashamed but couldn’t argue against its friend’s words.

The hammer followed the screwdriver to a logistics warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Working overnight would earn night-shift pay, so the screwdriver often came here when its credit card bills piled up. A shuttle bus kindly came to pick up the hammer right in front of its house, and the hammer boarded it with the screwdriver. The tools already on the bus reacted sensitively even to the small noises the hammer made. The hammer held its breath the whole way to the warehouse.

At the logistics warehouse rails, gifts for customers poured out. The hammer watched the overflowing gifts in a daze and wondered where they were all going and whether all of them were truly useful. At that moment, someone spat right on the back of the hammer’s head. It was the sprayer. The sprayer was a long-term worker at the warehouse. On friendly terms with the managers, the sprayer kept an eye on newcomers like the hammer who tried to slack off and constantly pressured them to keep working without rest.

The hammer spent the whole night packing and moving gifts that had to arrive at customers’ homes by six in the morning. It was only at five a.m., when all the gifts had been loaded onto the trucks, that they finally had a break, and the tools gathered in the break room. The sprayer pulled out some bread from its pocket and ate. “Isn’t there a meal?” the hammer asked the screwdriver. The screwdriver said, “There’s no meal during the night shift,” then broke the snack it had brought in half and gave some to the hammer. The hammer swallowed the snack in one bite and drank water. Tools like the hammer who had come to the warehouse for the first time that day only gulped down water.

The hammer got on the shuttle bus to go home, utterly exhausted as if its whole body was melting away. It vowed to itself that it would never come back here again and would try knocking on the doors of employment properly after earning hundreds of certificates. Outside the warehouse, a fellow tool named the crowbar was sweating heavily, holding a sign demanding air conditioning installation inside the warehouse and guaranteed break times. The hammer thought to itself that it was fortunate not to be affected by the heat. The screwdriver asked the hammer if it was manageable enough, and the hammer gave the screwdriver a light thump on the head.

It seemed even the sky had read the hammer’s wish. After a long job hunt, the hammer received an acceptance notice from a company famous for its blue logo. The hammer, who would be working in a stable job with a 9-to-6 schedule, a well-known tasty cafeteria, and excellent benefits, felt as if all of this was just a dream. When the hammer looked at the new employee training schedule, it felt as if blue blood was already flowing between the wood grains.

The training included all kinds of fancy tools. The hammer resolved to oil itself diligently so it wouldn’t fall behind. A manager-level executive climbed the podium and pointed at the tools standing below, saying:

“You are nothing but tools that can be replaced at any time.”

This story was inspired by Kim Beom’s Objects "Being Taught They Are Nothing But Tools" (2010), which features daily objects like wooden chairs, blackboards with fluorescent lights, a 21-minute one-channel video on a TV monitor, wooden tables, and variable dimensions.