“It’s ironic that I endure at work for my family, yet I have little time to spend with them.”
For Kim Young-hoon, a senior engineer at Samho Development, working about 100 meters underground to construct a tunnel is both a means to support his family and a reason for being away from them. He often looks at his sleeping child's face through video calls and has witnessed his child becoming unfamiliar with him upon returning home. His previously unspoken experiences have now been transformed into rap lyrics.
The music video titled ‘Break Through’ produced by the Korea Construction Engineers Association encapsulates Kim’s life through music. Rapper 2Key, known for his appearance on Mnet’s ‘Show Me the Money,’ features in the project. Released on YouTube on September 15, the video has garnered over 52,600 views as of September 23.
Kim, who has 18 years of experience, works as a construction supervisor on the underground project of the Dongbu Expressway in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul. He did not initially aspire to be a civil engineer; his interest in construction and civil engineering began during his service in the Marine Corps as a combat engineer at the age of 20.
“At first, I never thought I would be in this job for so long,” Kim recalled. “As I persevered and learned day by day, I suddenly found that my twenties and thirties had passed, and I feel like I have grown alongside the site.”
The deep tunnel where he works is a dark environment filled with the sounds of dripping water and heavy machinery. The confined space requires careful observation of the movements of workers and equipment. Ensuring that the construction process is proceeding correctly is also part of his responsibilities.
Initially, he struggled due to a lack of knowledge, but as time passed, the nature of his challenges changed. After getting married and having a child, he found himself spending even more time away from his family. Days when he could return home were rare, and the job he started to spend more time with his family ironically reduced the time he could actually spend with them.
“I could sense that my wife was struggling to handle parenting alone without showing it,” he shared.
When the production team approached him about creating a music and video project based on his story, his first feeling was concern rather than excitement. He spent ten days writing down his life experiences, reflecting on everything from his school days and military service to the nervousness of his first day at work, his romance that began on the job, and becoming a father. He condensed these experiences into rap lyrics, which were then refined by the music director.
His favorite line is ‘Even if I can’t see ahead, I break through.’
“Just like a tunnel doesn’t start with a clear view of the other side, if you keep moving forward little by little, a path will eventually emerge,” Kim explained. “For me, ‘breaking through’ now means more than just tunnels; it represents overcoming walls in life alongside my colleagues.”
Transforming his daily work environment into a filming location was a new experience. The familiar hard hat and work clothes were complemented by music and lighting in the usually dark and rugged site. Kim recalled feeling surprised at how different the place looked.
When his family saw him in the music video wearing his work clothes, they initially burst into laughter. However, he felt most embarrassed when they watched the parts that mentioned family.
For him, this song serves as a ‘letter’ conveying words he couldn’t express to his family. It reflects his feelings of wanting to be a good father but feeling he fell short, as well as the emotions of leaving his sleeping child to return to work.
The association spent about a year preparing this video, focusing on the lives of those who build the roads, railways, bridges, and tunnels that citizens use daily. This approach was taken to allow construction engineers to share their stories in their own words.
Lee Ji-hyun, a spokesperson for the Korea Construction Engineers Association, stated, “We believed that merely explaining construction achievements and importance had limitations in changing perceptions. We wanted to properly showcase the life of an individual who creates these massive structures and technologies.”
Kim hopes that this video will help change the perception of construction sites as merely dangerous and rough places. “I realized that the work clothes and hard hats we wear every day can look cool, and the spaces we work in can appear dynamic and new to someone else,” he said. “If people think, ‘Construction engineers have a cool job,’ I would feel very proud as someone who participated in this project.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
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