보이지 않는 톱니바퀴

The Shop of a Hundred Ticks

Jun pushed open the door of the old clock shop. A hundred clocks ticked and tocked at him from every wall. Tall case clocks stood like soldiers, and tiny watches slept in glass cases. Master Han looked up from his workbench and nodded once. "So you are the boy who wants to build clocks," he said. Jun stood as tall as he could and said he was ready. The old man smiled a little and handed him a broom. "Then begin with the floor," he said, and turned back to his work.

Jun had imagined gears, springs, and shining brass in his hands. Instead, he swept metal dust into small, glittering piles. He wiped the windows until the winter light came through clean. Every evening, he wound thirty clocks with a small steel key. Each one had to be wound the same number of turns. None of it felt like learning; it felt like an endless list of chores.