Episode 6
Let’s Make a Prototype
We had decided to make a prototype, but I couldn’t take time off from my delivery job. Since everything might turn out to be nothing more than a delusion, I didn’t neglect my livelihood.
Drawing blueprints was no easy task for someone like me, who wasn’t even from a science background. But to my surprise, Sangcheol seemed to have a talent for it, and he began drawing the blueprints exactly as I described them.
“Wow~ You really draw well.”
“It’s because I saw a lot of component blueprints while working at factories.”
He said that, but I knew that components existing only in imagination couldn’t be easily drawn just by verbal descriptions.
During my breaks, I finished the blueprints, and then we went around factories to produce the components in the designs.
“Dad. Where are you going?”
“Just like Yul said, Dad feels like he’s going to make it big. That’s why I’m going.”
On the weekend, I went around factories with the kids, pounding the pavement.
“Uncle bought ice cream! Haha.”
“Wow~ Uncle Sangcheol is the best!”
Yul seemed to like Sangcheol, and the time she spent with him had noticeably increased.
“So cute. If you hadn’t said they were Sak’s kids, I’d never have believed they could be this pretty.”
No joke, Yul and Geon were truly beautiful. All children are cute, but Yul and Geon’s looks were especially dazzling.
They had inherited the genes of a handsome father and a beautiful mother, so it was only natural.
“Hehe.”
Thinking she was being praised, Yul smiled cutely and snuggled up to Sangcheol.
Geon, still young, had fallen asleep in my arms.
“They really do grow by the day.”
Recently, Geon had been training to wean off formula and diapers. The bright child was toilet-trained in less than a week.
These days, following his older brother, he often ate rice instead of baby food.
“I really hope the prototype works.”
“Same here.”
Watching the children, Sangcheol spoke his wish and stroked Yul’s head.
“Dad and Uncle Sangcheol are both going to make it big!”
“Haha. That’s right.”
It was a gloomy factory outing, but it was a special weekend spent with the children.
“Boss. Please just do the processing for now.”
“Ah. You can’t just whip these up just because there are measurements, you know.”
We went around foundries, but it was hard to find a factory that could make the components in the blueprints. Machining wasn’t something that could be done with blueprints alone, so most factory owners shook their heads.
“This isn’t easy.”
“Yeah.”
“Wait a minute. I should try using my connections.”
Sangcheol finally took out his phone.
“Yes. Hyungnim. It’s me, Sangcheol. Yes, yes. I’ve been well. How about you? Yes. The thing is, I want to make a few components; could I use the lathe? I’ll pay you for your trouble. After all, you just need to adjust the program a bit. Yes. Ah. Thank you!”
Sangcheol hung up with a bright expression.
“It’s the foreman hyungnim from the factory I used to work at. He told me to come by.”
“Really? That’s great.”
“I’ll just have to buy him a huge round of drinks. Keke.”
“I’ll chip in for the alcohol.”
“You punk. Forget it. You just buy the kids something tasty.”
So we finished work early on a weekday and stopped by the factory Sangcheol knew.
“Oh my, hyungnim.”
Sangcheol bought some drinks and greeted an oil-stained middle-aged man brightly and happily.
“You came.”
“You’re still the same. How is it that you never age, hyungnim?”
“You punk. Your smooth tongue is still the same. But why the sudden need to use the lathe?”
“Ah. I’m trying to make something, but it’s not easy. Haha.”
“Hmm... that’s fine, but who’s behind you?”
The middle-aged man pointed at me and asked.
“He’s my friend. Say hello. This is Foreman Choi Suncheon, the greatest lathe artist of our era.”
“Hello. I’m Dongbang Sak.”
“What kind of introduction is that......”
“What do you mean? Who doesn’t know that this factory runs on the programs you wrote, hyungnim? Without you, this factory would go under.”
Foreman Choi Suncheon didn’t deny Sangcheol’s words. As if proud of his work, he even nodded subtly.
“Give me the blueprints.”
“Here.”
The blueprints for the components we needed to make went into Foreman Choi Suncheon’s hands. Sangcheol and I watched him, tense and furrowing his brows as he looked at the blueprints.
“This... this isn’t a matter of writing one or two programs.”
Because so many components were needed, Foreman Choi Suncheon showed a troubled expression from the start.
“Hyungnim. I’m begging you with my life on the line. Have I ever asked you for something like this? I’ll buy you a huge round of drinks. Please, you have to do this.”
“This punk, really. By the way, you’re really buying big, right?”
“Of course. Naturally!”
“I trust you because it’s you.”
“Hahaha. Yes.”
Foreman Choi Suncheon looked at the blueprints for a long time before tucking them into his chest.
“First of all, this isn’t a one- or two-day job. Looking at it, I can make the big ones right away, but for the small components, I’ll need to seriously focus and write the programs.”
“I know, I know. When should we come back?”
“At least a month.”
“That long?”
“And that’s the minimum. With this level of precision, it could take over two months.”
“Ah... then we’ll leave it in your hands, hyungnim.”
“But what are you trying to make? Looking at this, it’s not some child’s play.”
Even Foreman Choi Suncheon couldn’t grasp what we were trying to make just by looking at the component blueprints.
“The future of humanity.”
I spoke on behalf of Sangcheol.
“The future of humanity? Heavens... what in the world is this.”
Foreman Choi Suncheon burst into hollow laughter at my words.
The parts for the prototype weren’t just cast metal components. Especially the substance that acted as a filter had to be manufactured directly.
“Hey. But how do we get something like this?”
Obtaining chemical substances that we’d only seen in books was also proving difficult.
“Right. It’s not like they sell them at the supermarket.”
Sangcheol and I racked our brains for a long time but couldn’t find an answer.
“Let’s just go to any university. They have laboratories there, so there must be some way.”
Having decided to dive in headfirst, we found a nearby university.
“Ah. Here......”
The university we found was the one Park Minjeong from the cafe attended, and it happened to be nearby.
Walking around the campus radiating the fresh aura of youth, dressed in gloomy work clothes, felt somewhat embarrassing, but I decided to hold my head high with dignity.
“Huh...? Mister?”
“Huh? Minjeong-ssi!”
Park Minjeong happened to see us searching for the chemistry department and shouted delightedly.
“What brings you here? A delivery?”
“Ah... I am here for work, but not a delivery.”
“Really? Then what?”
Park Minjeong the university student, not the cafe part-timer, looked truly pure and refreshing. I grabbed Sangcheol, who was hiding behind me as if embarrassed, and pulled him to stand beside me.
“We were looking for the chemistry department.”
“The chemistry department...... I know where it is. I’ll guide you.”
“Ah, you must be busy. Thank you.”
“Huhu. You’re our cafe’s regular. We should at least provide this level of service.”
Thanks to Park Minjeong’s guidance, we could easily find the chemistry department.
“But what business do you have at the chemistry department?”
“Ah. There are some chemical substances we need, but we’re weak in this field, so......”
“Huh... are they dangerous?”
“We only have the chemical formulas, so we’re not sure what they are exactly......”
High school level science knowledge had its limits, so we couldn’t give a detailed explanation.
“Well well~ if it isn’t Park Minjeong.”
“Ah. Sunbae.”
A man around our age, looking similar to us, approached Park Minjeong familiarly in front of the chemistry department where we were lingering. Needless to say, Sangcheol’s forehead twitched at the sight.
‘Sigh. That’s not something I can handle for him.......’
No matter how much I encouraged Sangcheol, he was the one who had to make a move in the end.
“What’s the Business Department Queen doing here?”
“Queen?!”
“Is there anyone at our Wooyeon University who doesn’t know Park Minjeong, the Queen of the Business Department? By the way, who are these guys?”
“Ah... these people are......”
Park Minjeong tried to introduce us but didn’t know what to say, looking troubled.
“Haha. We’re people who know Minjeong-ssi very well.”
“Huh?”
“People who know her very well.”
“Ah... yes. I’m Kim Changhui. I’m a student council officer with Minjeong.”
It seemed Park Minjeong also did student council activities. I thought she was a really diligent person.
“Oh right. Sunbae. These people say they need some chemical substances. Could you help them?”
“Huh? Chemical substances? What are you talking about?”
“We need certain substances, but synthetic materials like these aren’t easily available on the general market, so we’ve shamelessly come here.”
“Huh......”
Kim Changhui sent a dumbfounded look. I noticed the contempt contained in that gaze.
He seemed to be looking down on us because of our clothes.
“Chemistry isn’t easy. If you go to a science supply store, they sell research materials for kids, so why don’t you try there? You look like delivery drivers, so you know where a science supply store is, right?”
“.......”
We were ignored, no, completely disregarded. Of course, I knew we must seem absurd showing up out of nowhere saying we needed chemical substances, but I didn’t think it warranted this level of contempt.
“Maybe you’re arrogant because you’re from a prestigious university. Or have you just grown accustomed to judging people by their appearance?”
Since it seemed we wouldn’t get what we wanted here anyway, I also responded sharply.
“Sigh. You look like some day laborers. Were you trying to make something like Viagra? Or are you druggies? Maybe I should report this.”
Kim Changhui had crossed the line, and how.
“Let’s go, Sak.”
Sangcheol’s face flushed red at Kim Changhui’s words, and he grabbed me.
If he had met the Sangcheol from high school, the person in front of him definitely wouldn’t have even been able to open his mouth.
“Sangcheol-ah. Don’t be ashamed. We came to ask a favor, not to beg.”
“But still......”
“This isn’t a place for people like you to be loitering around, so please leave.”
“Sunbae!”
Park Minjeong intervened, shouting at Kim Changhui as if troubled. Even she seemed to think Kim Changhui’s reaction was excessive.
“Park Minjeong. You too. Is it okay to just let outsiders into the school building like this?”
“Still, sunbae. These people are......”
Not wanting Park Minjeong to be troubled because of us, I stepped back.
“Sigh... Minjeong-ssi, we’ll be going now.”
“Ah. I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright. See you again later.”
Sangcheol and I turned around.
“Tch. Where did these trash come from......”
Kim Changhui’s muttered words dug all too vividly into our ears.
Kim Changhui had uttered words that couldn’t be taken back. His words were enough to sever Sangcheol’s reason, not mine.
‘I can understand his perspective, but those words are too harsh.......’
I too had been a prestigious university student, so I knew well what kind of pride they had. I had made blood-sweating efforts to stand above others, and I had swaggered when people held me up as a prestigious university student. But that was in the past.
My appearance not long ago, fallen into the abyss, was miserable enough to shatter any pride of being a prestigious university student.
You never know how life will flow.
The same was true for Kim Changhui before my eyes. If he was from the chemistry department of a prestigious university, he probably wouldn’t have trouble getting a job after graduation. But I, who well knew the inner workings of large corporations, knew. It was a fiercely competitive society where not even one in ten could hardly survive.
It felt as though Kim Changhui was getting an early taste of the bitterness of society that he would experience after graduation.
“What did you just say?”
“Didn’t you hear me? I said you’re trash. Trash! I can tell just by looking at your clothes.”
The Sangcheol who had been embarrassed in front of Park Minjeong was nowhere to be seen; he was showing the visage of Samcheon from his high school days.
‘Surely he’s not going to hit him?’
Whether he knew my worry or not, Sangcheol simply flared his momentum and glared at Kim Changhui.
“Why... are you looking at me like that......”
“.......”
As Kim Changhui faltered, Sangcheol took another step toward him.
“Hey. Young friend. Act like a gentleman. If you don’t, it’ll hurt when you get hit......”
“.......”
It was a line I’d heard somewhere before, and it sent both Kim Changhui’s and my souls fleeing from our bodies.
‘Sangcheol, you.......’
Leaving the frozen Kim Changhui behind, Sangcheol turned his steps again.
“Then Minjeong-ssi. See you next time.”
“Ah... yes......”
After hurriedly greeting Park Minjeong, I followed Sangcheol.
“Sangcheol-ah. Why didn’t you hit him?”
“What era do you think this is? We’re not kids.”
“I thought you would.”
“Would you have liked that? Should I go back and hit him now?”
“No way. You showed good restraint.”
“You punk......”
I felt Sangcheol was very mature, unlike the past. No, perhaps he had been mature in the past too. Maybe I had just been too young and too convinced that studying was everything to notice it.
‘Hmm... I didn’t want to use my university connections unless absolutely necessary.......’
Seeing Sangcheol acting so maturely, I couldn’t keep up my pride forever. In the end, I decided to pull out a connection that had been sealed away for a long time.