Chapter 12 – Elixir
“What a foolish man!”
The king awoke as he yelled out. This was the first time such a thing had happened, so the maids in the vicinity approached him with shock on their face.
“Your majesty. Is something bothering you?”
“No. No. It’s nothing. You guys can withdraw.”
When the king waved his hand, the maids respectfully bowed as they put some distance from him. However, they didn’t leave the bedroom.
The king gasped for his breath as his clenched fists became clammy.
Insight wasn’t some simple magic. It was a power awakened through the bloodline of the n.o.ble royal family. It allowed one to pierce through to the truth of the world. It was a tool used to rule over the people of the continent with truth.
Hahn-suhjin was his dream self. Although, his self-awareness of the situation eluded him in the other reality, he was undeniably still the owner of Lejinoran.
A personage like that could only think up that kind of….
“He dare he use the Insight on such a trivial matter!”
Service Engineer.
It was Hahn-suhjin’s position in the factory. Currently, he was in charge of maintenance at the semiconductor manufacturing facilities.
It sounded nice, but in truth, he cleaned the chemical agents daily, and he checked whether the chemical fume was leaking. That was the extent of his responsibilities.
He didn’t have a speciality degree, so the t.i.tle Service Engineer was basically putting a lipstick on a pig. In his previous job, he followed the finished products on the automated line to do a quality check on the packaging…
Anyways, he had found enlightenment in recent days, so Hahn-suhjin went to work diligently every day. He took a notebook around as he inspected the status of all the equipments. He looked at the semiconductors, electrical system, and the sprinkler system. He took stock of all the equipments he could see, then he wrote down the results.
He had inspected and checked the status of all the machine accessible to him in the factory, and soon he started see the flow of work in the factory.
“Why is the failure rate on line 5 so high? Is there something broken along the factory line?”
“The last inspection revealed nothing.”
“How does that make any sense? There must be a problem, since the failure rate is so high. Isn’t that right?”
The engineer had nothing to say at the chief’s scolding.
“The director said to either fix the problem or find out what is causing the problem. There weren’t any abnormalities on the last check up. So how can this be? ”
“I’m sorry.”
“If you are sorry, then hurry up and find out the cause. At this rate, we will have to replace the entire line 5. Do you know how much loss we would take?”
Hahn-suhjin eyed the situation from the edge of the group.
He had the same t.i.tle of engineer as the man over there, but Hahn-suhjin did maintenance. The man over there was a real engineer. He was a college graduate with a degree, so Hahn-suhjin couldn’t hold a candle to the man’s expertise.
He was here, because he was inspecting the 5th line when the director had come over with a group of inspectors. Somehow, he was grabbed accidentally.
Hahn-suhjin hesitated for a moment. He was a newbie, who had just joined them not too long ago. Moreover, he only had a high school diploma. If he became marked by his fellow employees for stepping forward needlessly, his company life would become troublesome.
However, he made up his mind. If he stayed put, he would never be able to capitalize on the opportunities that was presented to him.
“Excuse me……. I have something I have to speak to you about.”
“It’s the first time I’ve seen you around here. Who are you?”
“Yes! I’m F1 Hahn-suhjin!”
F1. He was the lowest rank service engineer. Basically, he worked in name only inside the inner part of the factory. Of course, the director’s eyes slightly narrowed at this. It was obvious by his expression that he didn’t like being interrupted by a mere service engineer.
“All right. What do you want to say to me?”
“I heard the 5th line has a high failure rate.”
“I did say so. Do you suspect something?”
His demeanor was still obviously expressing his annoyance, but now he was showing a little bit of interest. Hahn-suhjin felt everyone’s eyes focus on him. Most of them didn’t look at him with favorable gazes. He felt a p.r.i.c.kling sensation. It felt as if they didn’t appreciate a mere service engineer trying to show them up.
“PTS-3 of the Automatic Processing Robot maintains the stability of the horizontal movements, and it seems to be unstable. Since the failure rate is high, I would recommend we look once again at all the horizontal modules.”
“PTS-3?”
The director folded his arms, then he frowned. PTS-3 was imported not too long ago from Germany. It was the newest automated robot. Moreover, the mechanical engineers were still not familiar with the machine.
“Aren’t you with the maintenance crew? How do you know this?”
“That is…….”
Hah-suhjin couldn’t come up with a decent answer, so he hesitated. He had gathered his courage to step forward, but he couldn’t come up with a decent excuse.
“Mr. Hahn-suhjin. What are you doing here? Currently, the other line is backed up with work.”
It was at that moment. His direct supervisor found Hahn-suhjin, so he approached the group. His supervisor gave a respectful greeting to the Project Director.
“He’s a member of my team. I’ll be taking him now.”
“Ah. You do that.”
Hahn-suhjin was about to turn his body to follow his immediate supervisor, when his eyes met the director’s gaze for a brief moment. He was a man in his late 30s. The man was very young compared to his position. He suddenly wondered how smart a person had to be to be able to rise to such a high rank at that age.
His immediate superior gave him a light scolding.
“Why were you amongst the project’s engineers like a cat in a strange garret? If someone saw you, one would think you were on their team.”
“Well, I was checking on the state of the machines when I was swept up along with the group. The director was lecturing someone in a serious manner, so I thought it would be awkward if I just suddenly left….”
“In a situation like that, you don’t have to be tactful. Just leave. This isn’t your first job experience. You worked at Jinsung Electronic’s factory for 4 years, yet you can’t adapt to such a situation?”
“I’m sorry.”
Hahn-suhjin slightly lowered his head, then he apologized.
He mixed the truth with some lie. It was true he was swept along with the group by accident, but he could have immediately excused himself from the group.
He didn’t do so, since the berating of the engineers under the director led to Hahn-suhjin speaking about the information he possessed.
‘PTS-3 Horizontal Module Deterioration.’
‘This is the reason why the 5th Line has an increased failure rate.’
He had found out everything through the Insight.
He had mustered up his courage to speak when he saw the director was berating an underling on that very subject.
His heart beat faster just from thinking about what had happened earlier. The displeased gaze of the director had changed a little bit. Moreover, he looked at the other process engineers as if they were lacking.
At that moment, his heart was still beating fast from the nervousness he had felt.
In the past, he would have never had the courage to do something like that. He had thought not being noticed was a good thing. This was why he had lowered himself at all cost.
Maybe it was because he had a second chance at life. He had become bolder than his past self. Hahn-suhjin firmly bit his lips.
‘If I do nothing, I’ll become nothing.’
The previous event happened, because of his courage. Even if the director laughed off his words, Hahn-suhjin didn’t care.
The fact that he would have never been able to muster up his courage like he did earlier made him feel a sense of pride.
After the king woke up from the dream, he put his hand on his forehead, and he didn’t speak. When his loyal and old servant saw this, he carefully asked a question.
“Your majesty. Is there some kind of problem?”
“A problem……. I guess you could say there’s a problem.”
“Please tell me what’s wrong.”
The king swept his bangs backwards. His face was gaunt, and it was filled with anguish.
“What kind of power is the Insight?”
His voice was seeped with a deep anger. The old servant decided to just shut his mouth and listen to him.
“It is a power a small percentage of the Royal line can possess. It is the power to see through to the truth. Moreover, isn’t it the power that chooses the owner of the throne?”
The eldest son didn’t inherit the Lenorjian’s crown. Even the current king couldn’t select the next successor. The king didn’t have the power to choose even his son, who was of his direct line.
It had to be a member of the Royal Family, whose Insight shone the most. It basically meant the crown sought its owner.
“Isn’t it the power that searches for wisdom and truth? It holds up the weight of the crown, and it is used to lead the entire population of the continent into prosperity. That n.o.ble power….”
The king forgot about keeping his dignity as he grinded his teeth.
“He used it on such trivial matters.”