Chapter 13 – Semiconductor Engineer
The Insight wasn’t all-powerful.
It had the power of showing the truth about matter and law. However, it wasn’t omniscient nor omnipotent. At least, it wasn’t for Hahn-suhjin.
The Insight didn’t activate on everything.
Moreover, it would show the present and the past of a target, but it couldn’t show the future. If he was able to find out future events, he would have picked numbers for the lotto instead of the scratch tickets. If he could pick the correct numbers, he would have been able to make more money than all the scratch tickets combined.
Of course, horse racing, stocks and drawing lots was out of the question. The truth hadn’t been decided yet at the present.
Furthermore, the efficacy of the Insight varied a lot depending on his concentration.
His desire to live had given him an extreme amount of focus, and he had been able to use the power of Insights to its limit. He had been able to find out where the top scratching ticket was located at. Moreover, his strong thoughts allowed him to receive the manufacturing method of the Elixir.
‘It would have been great if the Insight activated as strongly as before…’
In recent days, the Insight’s efficacy wasn’t as amazing as before. Unfortunately, his concentration level might be the problem.
He had been full of desperation and focus for life before. A normal person couldn’t be compared to a person facing death.
‘Maybe the earnest desire is related to controlling the Insight?’
Afterwards, he could only identify scratch tickets, or check the chemical structure of existing drugs. That was his limit. Just in case, he focused his thoughts about treating AIDS, but he didn’t see anything.
‘Fortunately, I still have some Elixir left. Moreover, I still have the recipe on how to make more.’
Hahn-suhjin had put the manufacturing recipe into a file, and he had backed it up on several locations on the internet. He never knew when he might need to use it.
Anyways, the manufacturing method of the Elixir was the greatest truth shown by the Insight. It seemed that fact won’t change for awhile.
‘No. I might never find something of higher value…….’
Hahn-suhjin mumbled to himself as he rolled his pen around.
It was deathly quiet inside the test center. There were people placed in various locations to oversee the test, so no partic.i.p.ants will cheat. Each test takers had a serious expression as they focused on answering the questions.
Hahn-suhjin was one of the applicants.
Maybe it was because he was missing the desperation from being a terminally ill patient, but hris power of Insight was very weak. Still, it was almost a cheat-like ability when used in everyday life.
This absolute power was able to shine the most at a moment like this.
‘Now, show me. Which one is the right answer?’
One of the multiple choice was surrounded by a golden light.
He was the only one who could see it. It was a light that guided him to the truth.
“I’ve heard you took the Engineering test. You even took a personal day to take it.”
“Yes, I’ve taken it.”
His immediate supervisor let out a laugh of satisfaction. This young employee had used a personal day to increase his proficiency in his work. He had taken the qualification test. As an administrator, he couldn’t help, but show his admiration of his employee.
“Was it the written test?”
“It was the practical examination.”
His immediate supervisor looked at him with surprise in his eyes.
“That means you’ve already pa.s.sed the written examination. It seems your efforts weren’t for naught. When did you take the practical exam?”
“It’s been over a month.”
“Then they should have posted the test results….”
“Yes. Fortunately, I pa.s.sed it.”
Hahn-suhjin spoke energetically. The news must have surprised his immediate supervisor. He stared at Han-suhjin then he let out an exclamation.
“Ee-yah. You must have be tired from the factory work, yet you had the time to study? Wait a second. Did you already have the qualification for being an industrial technician?”
“No. I’ve only had the certified technician licence before. I got it immediately after I graduated high school. I had 4 years of work experience as a technician, so fortunately, I was qualified to take the engineer exam.”
“Still, you pa.s.sed it on the first try? Not bad. I’ve heard that 4 year college graduate fail the test at a high rate.”
“I guess I was lucky.”
“Luck is also a type of skill. You are young yet you work really hard. So what kind of engineer? Are you perhaps trying to be some kind of a data processing engineer?”
His immediate supervisor said it as if he was joking. He hadn’t really thought Hahn-suhjin would have gone to take a test for a data processing engineer qualification. What would an employee working at a semiconductor factory need with such a qualification?
“It was for semiconductor engineering.”
“……wait a sec. What? Semiconductor Engineering?”
“Yes. I pa.s.sed that one.”
“So you aren’t talking about being a industry engineer, but an actual engineer?”
“Yes. I haven’t received my licence, but I received notification that I had pa.s.sed it.”
Hahn-suhjin showed his supervisor the proof of his certification. His supervisor had an expression of disbelief.
“I heard that test is incredibly difficult…… Aren’t you only a highschool graduate? When the h.e.l.l did you have time to study about semiconductor engineering?”
“I studied during my spare time after work.”
“Jeez. I don’t really know what to say.”
His supervisor was barely able to push down his surprise.
Strictly speaking, he had the basic qualification to do the work of an engineer, but semiconductor engineering was a bit different from the other disciplines of engineering..
It was most recently added to the national technique qualification examination, and it boasted for having the hardest difficulty. Even in H Semiconductor’s factory, there were only 10 engineers with the semiconductor engineer’s qualification. Every one of them were from a named university, and the youngest one was 30 years old.
Even the cream of the crop from the named universities had only a 3% pa.s.s rate for semiconductor engineering. Yet a high school graduate with only a technician qualification was able to pa.s.s it?
“You must have worked very hard.”
“……ah. Yes, a little bit.”
Hahn-suhjin felt embarra.s.sed, so he started giving vague answers.
Truthfully, he only selected the answers shown by the Insight. He also did the practical exam by following the guidance of the Insight.
He had no understanding of the truth shown by his Insight, but it guided him towards a road where he would be able to complete his tasks. This was the reason why he was able to finish the engineer qualification test successfully.
‘I’ll just get the qualification first, then I can study hard later.’
At the very least, he would study hard for the truths shown by the Insight regarding the business of semiconductors.
“Mr. Hahn-suhjin. I heard you pa.s.sed the engineer qualification test? Ee-yah. Congratulations.”
“You must have studied hard. It mustn’t have been easy to do, while you were working at the factory.”
“So what kind of engineering? Is it related to the machineries?”
His fellow workers congratulated him when they heard the news. There were some who said, ‘Eeyah. I don’t know what that is, but it sounds good.’, and they treated it as if it was an insignificant achievement. There were also those who were shocked as they exclaimed, ‘My G.o.d. You pa.s.sed that?’
It was a certification that prided itself for its extreme difficulty.
‘It isn’t as if I pa.s.sed it by studying…….’
He basically cheated on his engineering test, but it shouldn’t cause him any problems.
If he focused his mind, he could see the truth of how the machine was built, and he could find out what was wrong with the machine. He finished the practical exam without a hitch, so he believed he would be able to do the actual work.
Of course, he planned on continuing his studies One day he wanted to work without borrowing the power of the Insight.
“Man. I feel really bad about giving the job of cleaning the chemicals to a semiconductor engineer. This is like cutting a liver with a knife you butcher a cow with.”
“No. I like this work.”
He wasn’t planning on changing his job just because he earned his qualification for being an engineer. Hahn-suhjin acted in a humble fashion.
“Why don’t you get couple more years of experience to become a technical expert? I think you need 4 years on top of your engineer certification? Ah, will you become my superior by then?”
“No way, chief. You know how impossible that would be. If all engineers could become a technical expert by being an engineer, everyone would be a factory manager.”
Technical expert. It basically meant one had specialized knowledge about a single field, and one also had to have plenty work experience. It qualified one to be able to manage the overall operation of a business.
It was a qualification that will allow him to get a job as a factory manager or a director at a large corporate office. Moreover, it was Hahn-suhjin’s current dream job.
“Still, you can’t continue to do this work. Even the upper management is thinking about adjusting your work t.i.tle. Just wait a little bit and you will probably be able to hear some good news.”
“I’m fine with the current work…….”
“Eh-eee. We can’t waste such a talent.”
Hahn-suhjin clenched his fists.
‘If it’s the power of Insight, I’ll someday….’
He avoided notice as he won his winnings from the scratch lottery tickets. Now he was expanding his skills through the Insight, and he would become a technical expert as soon as possible.
This was the current Hahn-suhjin’s dream and vision. This was his ultimate dream, since he couldn’t freely control his power of Insight.
Surprisingly, the Insight showed great power over machine and equipments.
‘Did my Insight become specialized, because I had worked at the factory for a long time? The Insight works much better when used on machines.’
He would one day become a technical expert in the field of semiconductors, then he would rise to a position of import at a place like the Jinsung Electronics. Then he would become a factory manager.
This was the current Hahn-suhjin’s longing dream.