The Witness in the Center Seat
After she left the room, he glanced at the door as if checking to see if she was truly gone, then slowly got up to brush his teeth. Honestly, he didn't care whether she spoke like that or not. The love that had once existed between them was already gone. Men and women often diverge significantly when it comes to matters of love; that was something he had learned through his long history of dating. He had even grasped it while observing the beginnings and ends of his peers' campus romances during his university days.
Women, for the most part, respond emotionally. When something happens, they start by getting annoyed, and they make no effort to suppress it—no matter where they are. It seemed that way not just with her, but with most women. Because of this, women prioritize their own emotions regardless of the space they occupy. When they snap at their boyfriends in sharp, high-pitched tones, the men are flustered and rush to calm them down. He remembered doing exactly that in his own past.
The end of such emotions is the word "break up." Thinking back, even before they were married, and even before they divorced, whenever her mood soured during their dating days, she would say things like, "Ugh, that just turned me off," or "Suhyun, if you keep doing that, I’m just going to dump you." She did this to establish dominance. And there was no sincerity in those words. If she had truly intended to break up, she would have simply vanished without saying anything at all. It was also a characteristic trait of hers to spout absurd, baseless nonsense like, "I have other guys lined up even if I don't see you," or "I'm only seeing you because I feel sorry for you. Do you think I'd be alone if I broke up with you?"
Let's say she really did have guys lined up. Then why was she seeing him? He could have asked that, but when he heard a college peer say they had been told the same "I'm only seeing you out of pity" line, he couldn't hide his bewildered expression. He had carefully looked at his peer and said, "...Out of pity? Does that person like wasting their time?"
"...?"
"Sounds like complete nonsense to me."
Just like that, men are different in this regard. Most men dislike being swayed by emotions, and even when they are among themselves, they criticize those who act that way, calling it "emotional manipulation." They might show annoyance at some point, but that is usually the result of holding it in a hundred times before finally exploding once. Even if that one explosion is quite intense.
Why do they hold it in? Men have a tendency to firmly believe that if they just endure it, everything will be resolved. They think that if a woman is being annoying, they can just bow their heads once to smooth over the situation, and in practice, it often works. However, once the threshold is crossed—when a woman lashes out while the man is already at his limit—it’s like throwing a stone into a lake; the situation changes. Everything he has suppressed comes crashing down like a tidal wave.
While a woman might relieve her emotions by venting her annoyance, men are actually "venting" their affection while they speak. After she pours out her irritation, the woman might think, "He'll get over his anger just like we do," but in reality, that isn't the case. When a man gets angry, he does so with the mindset that he will leave not a single shred of lingering attachment for the woman once the fight is over. As he does so, he drags out all the love, affection, and feelings he had for her from his mind. And once that is finished, he truly feels nothing left for her, even when he looks at her.
As mentioned before, women think that if a man gets angry, he’ll get over it just like they would, but well, that rarely happens. He believes that if a man were the type to get over it, he wouldn't have gotten angry in the first place.
That was why he remembered the time he had lost his temper a few weeks ago. Remembering how he had lost his reason and exploded without meaning to, he felt how his body had instinctively tried to push her away completely. So, he continued to cultivate his hostility toward her, talking to himself in his head:
"...'Effort,' my ass."
"If she knows the reason, I wish she’d just get lost. Is she that oblivious?"
"I haven't even spoken to her or treated her like a human being, so why isn't she leaving?"
"If she knows it's uncomfortable, doesn't she have the decency to stop making it uncomfortable? Is she just inherently selfish?"
Honestly, it was hard not to be shaken when his ex-wife came crawling back after the divorce, seemingly unable to even hold down a job, doing everything she could to gain his favor. But if he were to be swayed by that and take her back, it would be... "...Hellgate open..."
He fell asleep, and upon waking, he rose and went to shower. He dressed, drank a cup of coffee, and stepped outside when the time came. The driver greeted him, and he bowed in return, opening the passenger door himself to climb in.
"Did you make good use of the money I gave you, driver?"
"Ah... the money was too heavy. I still have it."
"Please, use it to buy snacks for your children. Don't worry about it."
"My kids have all moved out, so I can't even feed them snacks. Haha."
As the driver steered the car, he added, "Ah. I heard you aren't going to the company today. Why the National Assembly..."
"The Chairman suddenly told me to come, but I don't know the reason."
"Then, since you aren't prepared..."
"I wish they’d tell me something."
Remembering the news he saw on TV the day before, the driver said, "Perhaps it's because of the ship near Incheon?"
"Eh. I think so too..."
The car stopped in front of Eunbyul's home, and she climbed in. It seemed she had received separate instructions from the company, as she hadn't gone to the office early but had waited at home. He bowed to the driver again and moved to the back seat.
"General Manager!"
"Yes. Get in."
"...We drank the same seawater, are you really going to be that cold?"
"This is the company."
"We're in a car."
"How can you not lose a single argument?"
"I will always win!"
He clutched his head, and the driver in the front had a hard time suppressing his laughter. He had felt since the company dinner that a peculiar secretary had joined, but to this extent? "I'm troubled today."
"Yes. You must be troubled because you have to see the politicians."
"That's why... why the National Assembly.... ....Politicians?"
"Yes. You are attending the National Assembly hearing today, General Manager."
"Wait, so suddenly?"
It was inevitable. He had rescued the ship through his own unilateral action, without approval or reports to anyone. The relevant government ministries had judged that it would be better to call him directly to the National Assembly to hear the exact details regarding the accident. And as quickly as possible, at that.
"What about the other employees..."
"They are calling the person in charge. They want to hear exactly how it was done, why it was done, and what the process was."
"...."
"Don't feel burdened. You have me, Silver Star!"
"Silver..."
Watching him look exhausted from the morning, Eunbyul winked and smiled. "A long time ago, at an English village, they told us to pick a foreign name, and I chose this one immediately. Isn't it refreshing?"
"It makes me want to throw up. Why go to the National Assembly? It's being broadcast live on the National Assembly channel."
"....Still, you just need to listen to me well and put it into action."
Eunbyul's eyes sparkled, and as if she had prepared everything, she leaned close to his ear and began whispering for a long time. Meanwhile, the car slowly entered the National Assembly.
He went inside, put on the visitor's badge for the National Assembly, and walked past the photo line with Eunbyul. It felt like there were more cameras than people entering. A guide gestured, and he walked further inside, entering a large room. His seat was in the center of the witness stand. And sitting next to it, his father had already arrived. Since this was work, he bowed to him as a Senior Managing Director to a Chairman, not as a son to a father, and walked further inside to sit down. He kept his gaze fixed forward without saying a word, until he suddenly heard his father call him softly.
"Suhyun."
"Yes, Chairman."
"...I must have been too busy to tell you."
Seeing him sitting with his back stiff and his posture rigid, his father spoke to him quietly.
"You are sitting here because you accomplished something great."
"...?"
"This isn't like those shouting matches you see on the news with your dad. So, relax your tension and just state the facts you know."
No matter how he looked at it, he felt like he was here because he had done something wrong. As he was thinking this, other National Assembly members and government officials entered, and the person sitting across from him, somewhat far away, grabbed the microphone and began to speak.
"Eh, then, I will now open the 1st Administration and Security and Oceans and Fisheries Committee of the 485th National Assembly."
The sound of a gavel striking three times echoed, and the hearing began. He wore a bewildered expression, looking as if he had expected a hearing for the Ministry of Economy and Finance or the Fair Trade Commission, not this. Everyone else was looking at him sitting in the witness stand, and the spotlight of the cameras was also fixed on him. As the noisy shutter sounds died down a little, the person who appeared to be the committee chair began to continue speaking.