A Title
The term Counterweight is an extremely purposeful misdirected within the story itself. In comparison to something like Scripter which uses a coding pun as its title, Counterweight is a story inspired by Modernist literature like Lord Jim and gothic sci-fi like Frankenstein. Stories like these have simple titles with simple objects. Stories like Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None are short descriptions of the story meant to entice interest, or you could of course just put the name of a character like the former two. In Counterweight‘s case, it was object. A set-piece, a location, and, via analysis, a meaning. The titular counterweight, within the nothing but a container full of garbage, it’s a dumpster. The story, as it’s from the lens of the biased and unreliable Mac, constantly undermines native Patusans and their home as being literal and metaphorical trash, and yet the single thing keeping the Space Elevator (a representation of LK’s authority and belief system) up is nothing different. A dumpster maintained by the judgement of an unfeeling AI. What exactly does this pile of garbage want to say about the rest of the story? Let’s zero in on a seemingly separate word, “Murder”.
Mac and LK’s Murders
Above are the uses of the exact word “Murder”, but besides the word itself the instances of death and killing in Counterweight are much higher. If anything, the actual usage of “Murder” being relatively low in the story itself compared to the actual amount of it that occurs is worth noting. This is especially apparent with the main character Mac and the organization he works for; LK.
It’s up for considerable debate how responsible LK and Mac are for a lot of the deaths that happen throughout the story. A great example is the very first time we’re introduced to Mac and his “rival” of sorts Rex Tamaki. Mac never directly participates in the slaughtering of Patusans that Rex and his Security team do, but he hardly seems bothered and is aiding them in this endeavor. The biggest instance of LK’s murders were from the three quite disgusting employees Lee Jaechan, Kang Youngsu, and Jung Mungyeong. The event within the story is spoken almost entirely via the lens of what it meant for the company’s bottom line and public image than it does for the victims and their families. The acknowledgement of the crime as murder is only done once and entirely for the sake of clinical accuracy than the severity a situation like that would require, obviously from the perspective of Mac.
It’s only after the events of the story that we begin to see a shift in Mac’s perspective on murder as a whole. While he scoffs at the shame Gangwu feels for his (or more specifically Han’s) murders, he does give a clear example of how he really feels about death when attempting to console Gangwu. “One’s own life is more important than the lives of others. Always.” It’s clear to Mac that this death has weight and is worth inquiring about more than just being a necessary situation. It’s arguable Mac even feels grief over his choice to kill the rampaging Rex Tamaki.
Choi Gangwu and Kim Jaein’s Murders
In comparison to the heartless and by-the-numbers LK (and by association Mac) Jaein and Gangwu have more metaphorical heart in their endeavors. While both are passionate about the Space Elevator, it means something different than the cynical expansionism that’s reflected in the general LK perspective or the self-sufficient conformity of Mac. Jaein’s beliefs are left mostly up to interpretation, but it’s clear she views the Space Elevator as a pure symbol of revolution, one that could potentially lead to real good across the world (as evidenced by her using her trip to space to help a desperate robot). Gangwu, on the other hand, has it a tenuous connection to a “darker” side of himself, one he both wants to respect the wishes of but also atone to the sins of. Those sings being, of course, murder.
Jaein only participates in one direct “murder” within the story, one that isn’t even called one within the story, the death of Han’s memory. It’s instead described as “destroying”, as if breaking a piece of glass. Jaein feels secure in her choice as its meant to preserve the sanctity of her dream, instead of to sort of emotionless deaths caused by LK. Gangwu’s only purposeful murder is even more hot blooded, being entirely out of self-defense. Interestingly, Gangwu feels directly responsible for the decisions he arguably didn’t even make, as he simply has Han’s memories. It’s clear he believes, if he’s even a bit of Han, he has to make the deaths he caused right. Jaein is revealed to be just as angry at Han for these choices as well, making it clear they both have a similar perspective on the events as they played out. In the in, Jaein seemingly only cared for the Elevator, while Gangwu really did see Andra’s death as a loss worth repenting over.
Trashy Kill
Afore-un-mentioned is the choice Rex Tamaki made to allow the victim and the victim’s mother to kill the three rapists. While this decision seemed to be mandated and part of a further political statement, it’s important to note that Mac’s judgement of Tamaki seemed to be entirely unfounded by the end of the story. There’s maybe even the chance that Tamaki was acting just as passionately as Jaein in feeling like he had to give some sort of closure to the victims.
Counterweight is steeped in issues of perspective, but it’s always about the same thing. Trash on the earth or trash in space is still trash, whether you decide to take it out, incinerate it, or use it to your advantage by making it into a counterweight. We can see how each of the characters would handle their own perspectives on this, and how that coded their decisions within the story.