Chapter 13 – Factory (2)
We all headed into the warehouse in a group.
The warehouse was wider than I expected.
“We have to search all of this in just one hour?”
Han Jia looked around and frowned.
Unlike her usual self, she couldn’t control her emotions and looked up at me sharply.
“How are we supposed to find everything in one hour?”
Her voice was sharp.
She wanted to become one of the best new hires ever, so she was probably worried about becoming one of the worst instead.
Team Leader Jang Jiseung from the Process Technology Team clicked his tongue as he watched her.
“Tsk tsk tsk. Looks like you’ll all get labeled as idiots because you met the wrong classmate.”
The moment Kim Ain, who was standing next to me, opened her mouth to show him what it really meant to abandon the Three Bonds and Five Relationships—
I shouted at everyone.
“What are you all doing? Move!!!”
“Huh?”
“Yes?”
“What?”
“There’s a forklift coming over there. Get out of the way!”
A forklift was approaching from quite far away.
It wasn’t particularly dangerous.
But according to company manual, the moment you see a forklift, you must stop and move aside. Of course, almost no one actually follows it as strictly as a traffic light, but Jang Jiseung was different.
He smiled with satisfaction after realizing what I was doing.
“Hah. This kid… He keeps jumping between trash tier and S tier.”
He looked pleased with the part about safety awareness.
And it didn’t end there.
“Hey! Min Juchan! Which department did you apply for? I like you.”
“I applied for the Process Technology Team.”
“What? You’re my guy then.”
He looked delighted.
“Perfect. Think of it as on-the-job training and take command.”
He handed me full authority, as if saying ‘show me what you can do’.
‘This is too easy, though?’
Dealing with a bunch of kids was nothing.
I was about to start comfortably when—
“Huh? What the hell got in there that they called us?”
“Damn it. They stopped the line for this?”
“If it’s the company’s responsibility, they should just let us rest.”
From far away, the production workers came trudging over.
Their steps were extremely sluggish. They were clearly showing how much they didn’t want to be here, as if their legs were being dragged by ghosts.
However, my attention didn’t stay on them for long.
The people behind them — several who looked like they had just turned twenty.
Part-timers.
Among them, one person stood out in particular. She looked like an idol trainee. ‘Why are you working part-time here? You should be on YouTube right now.’
My eyes were drawn to a girl so pretty that I wanted to give her that advice.
The moment I saw her, my heart sank.
Memories of the past that I had forgotten — no, that I had forcibly erased — came rushing back, making me want to hide.
“Hey, what are you doing? Aren’t you going to lead the people?”
Team Leader Jang Jiseung smacked my back hard.
Only then did I snap back to reality.
Anyway, the incident related to her happens six months later. I just need to stop it before then.
Back then, as a new hire, I couldn’t do anything. But now it’s different.
This warehouse. This production line. I know the manual that controls everything.
Because the future me helped create it, I can prevent the accident.
I decided to start working the moment I got assigned and quickly returned to reality.
There were many people in front of me.
My fellow trainees. The production workers. The part-timers. They would now follow my command.
The first ones I needed to deal with were the production workers.
I walked up to them.
“Hello.”
“What’s with this kid?”
“Isn’t he a new hire?”
“They want us to listen to him?”
I shook my head.
“No. We just need you to help for one hour.”
“One hour?”
“You think you can find it in one hour?”
“Just call the professionals.”
Surprisingly, there were professionals who specialized in finding foreign matter.
People who could find things by sound and weight, like they had superpowers.
That was who I suggested calling, but Team Leader Jang Jiseung answered.
“They went to the factory in the provinces. A bigger accident happened there.”
“Ha…… So what do you want us to do?”
The person who seemed to be the leader among the production workers stepped forward.
Team Leader Jang Jiseung looked at me with an expression that said, ‘What are you going to do?’
My fellow trainees were the same — all watching curiously.
I smiled brightly under their gazes.
“It’s simple. You just need to bring out the items from the areas I tell you.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes. First, please start with Zone A-3 over there.”
The warehouse was divided into zones. When I called out the zone number, they were surprised.
“Who are you? Have you been here before?”
“No.”
“But you’re calling out zones by name? Heh. You’re something else. I always felt like dying from frustration whenever the office guys said ‘the fifth pillar’ or whatever.”
“The production workers do the same thing. When we ask for a location, you guys just say ‘in front of the fire extinguisher,’ right?”
When I teased them, they burst out laughing.
“Hahaha. Yeah, we do that too.”
“But it’s convenient that way.”
“You still understand exactly what we mean even when we speak roughly.”
The atmosphere quickly became friendly and lively.
I immediately pushed forward.
“Alright. Let’s finish this quickly and go eat lunch together.”
Before I knew it, I was speaking the same way as them.
No one felt awkward about it.
“Hey, Mr. Kim. Bring the forklift over.”
“Let’s hurry up.”
The production workers moved busily according to my instructions.
After sending them off, I looked at the new hires and part-timers.
“Everyone, please stand to one side so you don’t get hurt. You’ll start moving after the items are brought out.”
They obediently went and huddled in the corner.
Jang Jiseung looked surprised.
“Who the hell are you? Are you actually a veteran?”
“No, I’m a new hire.”
“Then how did you handle those factory uncles so well…”
“I worked a lot of part-time jobs before, so I’m used to it. Team Leader, you should move aside too.”
“Huh? Uh… Okay.”
Even Jang Jiseung moved according to my command.
Vrrrrm.
The forklift brought over a pallet stacked high with beverage cans.
It stopped in front of me.
“Should I put it down here?”
“Not here. Let’s put it outside. It’s too cramped here. People might trip.”
“That makes sense too. Got it.”
The production workers moved like my limbs.
They carried the pallets outside the warehouse as I instructed.
According to my memories from the previous life, the problematic items were in Zone A-3.
The eggs had to be here.
What if they weren’t?
I was a little worried, but it didn’t last long.
“This one feels a bit different.”
One of the part-timers spoke up.
The problem was that this part-timer was ridiculously pretty, like an idol trainee.
Everyone paid more attention to her than to the cans.
Embarrassed, she hunched her shoulders and kept her head down.
I was different. I walked forward, picked up the can, shook it, and compared it with another can beside it.
“The weight is different.”
“Give it here.”
Before it could go to Team Leader Jang Jiseung, I handed it to the part-timer.
“Open it and check.”
“Me…? I have to open it?”
“Yes.”
With a face like a scared kitten in the rain, she opened the can.
Click.
Then she handed it to me.
I looked inside.
There was an egg.
“We found it.”
Team Leader Jang Jiseung, the production workers, and my fellow trainees all gathered around at once.
They were shocked when they saw the half-burst egg inside the can.
“It really was inside?”
“Juchan was right?”
“Wow…… How did he know?”
Everyone was astonished.
I looked at the most surprised person among them — Team Leader Jang Jiseung.
“Team Leader!”
“Huh? Uh…… Yeah! What?”
“What about our promise?”
“…Wait. I’ll go get the corporate card.”
“While you’re at it, can you do one more thing?”
“What?”
“The part-timer was the one who found it. Can you give them extra hourly pay for today?”
The part-timers’ faces brightened up instantly. Even the pretty part-timer, who had been hiding behind the others, looked happy.
“You…… just how far are you going to go?”
Team Leader Jang Jiseung looked like he was about to explode at my overstepping request, but he was blocked. The production workers, who had somehow become my protectors, stepped in.
“Why? He’s not wrong.”
“That’s extra work, so you should compensate them properly.”
“Team Leader Jang. You can’t overwork part-timers these days. It’ll end up online.”
“Just take care of them a bit.”
If Jang Jiseung was the mad dog of this area, the production workers were the dog catchers.
They pressured him with the attitude that they’d roast him alive if he refused.
“Ha…… I got completely caught this time. Fine. I got it. I’ll do that too.”
In the end, he lowered his tail and left the warehouse.
“So we’re done now.”
It took only 30 minutes. A much faster ending than expected.
Plus, we even got the beef reward.
The moment Team Leader Jang Jiseung left, my fellow trainees rushed toward me like they had just hit a game-winning buzzer beater and clung to me.
“Juchan! How did you know?”
“Are you a shaman or something?”
“Wow, shit! So we’re really having a beef party?”
“Min Juchan! Min Juchan! Min Juchan!!!”
They cheered for me like I was a war hero.
I waved my hand at them.
“Enough. I’m not grilling any meat today.”
“Yeah, yeah. We’ll grill it.”
“Oppa, I’ll grill for you!”
Han Jia said with a bright, beaming smile.
She came close and made a fuss.
“But how did you know?”
“Huh? It was just a coincidence.”
“And the way you told everyone to dodge the forklift was amazing too! I was too far away so I just watched, but if it wasn’t for you, Oppa, there could’ve been an accident. Hehe!”
Don’t overdo it.
She really is a fox.
Right now, in this moment, I was shining the brightest. She was trying to absorb some of that light by standing next to me, acting like we solved the problem together.
I didn’t feel bad about it. I just thought she was trying hard. But then someone who clearly looked upset popped out.
It was Kim Ain.
“I’ll grill the meat too.”
She stood on my other side. As if declaring ‘this Pokémon belongs to me’.
……What the hell is this?
I suddenly felt like my human relations battery had run out.
I became extremely tired.
***
We returned to the training center. We changed into our tracksuits, rested in the dorms for a while, and gathered at the cafeteria at 5:30 PM.
The cafeteria staff had already gone home, so the entire space belonged to us.
A new-hire-only party began.
The cafeteria had two main areas.
One side was the kitchen. The open section served as the serving counter. Outside the kitchen were tables where people could sit and eat.
We didn’t grill the meat at the tables. It would be grilled in the kitchen and served.
Han Jia and Kim Ain volunteered to handle the grilling.
Plop.
The first batch came from Kim Ain.
Half-burnt and half-raw beef was served on the counter.
She tried hard, but the result wasn’t great.
“Here you go.”
On the other hand, Han Jia grilled well. She handled the meat skillfully, like someone with cooking experience.
In a situation where comparisons were inevitable, Kim Ain seemed to hate it. She immediately left the grill.
“I’m not doing it.”
This girl…?
She took off her apron and plopped down right next to me.
“You said you’d grill the meat.”
“It’s better to let someone who can do it well handle it instead of burning it. I’ll practice next time and grill again.”
“If only you were bad with words too, I could at least hit you. You damn fox.”
“You wanna die?”
She glared at me.
But what are you going to do about it? You’re the one who’s going to make money thanks to my help.
When I stuck my tongue out to tease her, she trembled with anger.
At that moment—
“Last batch of meat.”
Han Jia came out of the kitchen with a bright smile, carrying two plates of grilled meat.
Her smile was like a Hahoe mask — the male trainees copied it perfectly. They received the plates with dazed, polite expressions as if they were receiving gifts from a queen.
Seeing that, Kim Ain quietly whispered.
“I can’t do that. So don’t expect anything from me.”
“I wasn’t expecting anything in the first place. I didn’t even ask you to grill.”
“That’s how it looks.”
“Are your feet feeling numb?”
“If you want, I’ll grill some more.”
“It’s already all done.”
“It doesn’t work, huh.”
“By the way, why do you even care?”
“About what?”
“Her. You didn’t care until now.”
Kim Ain looked at Han Jia and slightly frowned.
“It feels like I’ve become an idiot.”
She got completely outplayed by Han Jia.
That was Han Jia’s specialty — using her overwhelming presence to make other competitors look stupid.
By sending out meat at the exact same timing as Kim Ain, she made herself the queen of this area.
It might be an overinterpretation. After all, it’s just grilling meat.
But foxes have always shown their presence through small things. Having seen it many times in my previous life, I was probably right.
Kim Ain, who had been stepped on by Han Jia, looked unusually downcast, so I decided to cheer her up.
“You hate looking stupid?”
“It’s unpleasant. It’s something money can’t solve.”
“Alright. I’ll save you from that feeling.”
“No, no. Just don’t do anything.”
“Everyone!!!”
I stood up from my seat.
The tables in the cafeteria were covered with empty plates, eaten meat, lettuce, and chopsticks.
I pointed at them with my finger.
“Go back to the dorms and rest well! Kim Ain said she’ll clean everything up!”
No one cheered.
‘Really? No way? Why her?’
They looked at me with those expressions.
Then Kim Ain stood up.
“Juchan Oppa is helping too. The two of us will clean up!”
“Why me, you crazy girl!!!”
Only then did the trainees look relieved.
Their stomachs were full and they were sleepy. They didn’t miss the chance to rest.
“Then we’ll trust you and go.”
“Thanks for the hard work.”
“I’ll do all the assignments for you.”
“Wait, everyone!! Ack!!”
“Goodbye!!!”
Kim Ain covered my mouth. The others left the cafeteria with smiles.
Except for one person.
Han Jia. She didn’t seem to like that Kim Ain had taken the final spotlight of this stage. There was a slight edge to her smile.
“Then I’ll leave it to you~”
Still, she didn’t lose her smile.
She left with the others, smiling.
In the end, only Kim Ain and I remained in the cafeteria.
“Hey! Why am I the one becoming a water ghost… no, a virgin ghost?”
Kim Ain smiled seductively.
After confirming everyone had left, she even locked the door.
“You won’t be able to run away today~”
Ding.
A yellow traffic light appeared.