Chapter 33: First Day At Work 2
Junhyuk did not expect a visit from Eunseo and was really surprised, but he looked at her calmly, collected himself and greeted her:
"Hello."
He had been surprised by her visit, but Eunseo was even more surprised. They told her his injuries were small considering from how high he fell, but he would still needed more than three weeks to completely recover. However, Junhyuk was completely healed and standing before her on his own two feet.
"Are you really OK?"
Junhyuk lightly jumped up and down and replied:
"My family is known for having strong bones."
Eunseo knew he was lying, but had no choice but to accept his explanation. She did not know anything about the Dimensional Battlefield and had to rely on his account.
Eunseo glanced away from Junhyuk’s focus and said:
"Congratulations."
"Thank you."
Junhyuk thought about the potion, but decided to wait. ST Capsule had an ongoing research project. If it was successful, she would recover completely.
If she didn’t heal, he could think about it later. He had evolved into an expert from a novice, and his contributions in killing enemies increase manyfold, so he could easily buy more potions.
Eunseo operated her fully automated wheelchair toward Junhyuk and handed him an envelope. As he took the envelope, she moved away and said:
"Inside it, you’ll find your employee certificate and a memo on ST Capsule’s Strategy Planning Department’s current project. You’ve been assigned to the Strategy Planning Department already, so you have to report to work starting next week, and, just like other new employees, you will have to go through a probationary period. If you don’t want to fall behind during your probation, you should study the current project and understand it. So, you should read that material thoroughly."
After listening to her explanation, Junhyuk smiled. According to her explanation, she had looked after him rather well.
"Thanks for paying close attention to me."
Eunseo fixed her glasses and turned away slightly.
"You should report to work on Monday."
After she spoke, she drove her wheelchair away from him and left, and Junhyuk opened the envelope.
Inside were an employee certificate and a heavy document.
It concerned a collaboration project between ST Capsule and an American robotics company.
"Is that even possible?"
Junhyuk looked over the information on the document at once and was really surprised. It was over fifty pages of dense information.
"I have work to do over the weekend."
After Eunseo left, a guy came in, and Junhyuk looked at him. The guy handed him discharge papers and said:
"You may leave right away."
"Thank you."
Junhyuk took his discharge papers and picked up his bags. Starting that day, he would be busy.
---
Junhyuk went home on Friday, told his family about his being discharged and slept. In front of his house, at the entrance, there was a package he had ordered.
He picked up the package and went in. Inside, he opened the package and took out the contents. It was a dulled bastard sword.
Junhyuk swung it lightly.
Slash!
Even though it was dull, Junhyuk swung it like he could cut a man up, and not just straws. He swung it a few more times and looked for videos on his phone.
The videos showed people training against each other with swords, so he had a hard time practicing alone, but was able to learn some basic moves.
Junhyuk looked around his room and smacked his lips. The room was small, and he could only do basic stabs and slashes because of the space.
"I will practice what I can do now."
It took more work than working out his muscles. He swung his sword a few more times and smacked his lips again.
"Is it too light?"
He could handle a two-handed sword with just one hand, and that was because of his strength runestone.
He thought about ordering something else and swung his sword again, slowly at first, then quickly.
SLASH!
The sword made a loud noise by slicing the empty air.
Practicing in a small room applied limitations to his swordsmanship, especially when handling a two-handed sword like a bastard sword.
Nevertheless, he did not hit any objects in his room or damaged any walls. That was because he was accustomed to using a sword.
However, he did not realize he was used to handling a sword, but was still really into practicing and learning.
He practiced with the sword for three hours, and then took a shower. After the shower, he went to the refrigerator and took out a can of beer, drank it in one shot and looked over the documents. The ST Capsule’s collaboration project was something out of comic books.
"Is this really possible?"
When he saw the fully automated wheelchair, he thought that the mechanical engineering was really advanced, but this project was even more shocking.
Junhyuk concentrated on the documents. He was already two weeks late for work, and he should work harder. They were all on probation, but Jangho and Somin were elites.
School grades didn’t necessarily correspond to work performance, but they were, in fact, ahead of him.
"I will catch up to them."
Artlan’s advice transcended the Dimensional Battlefield. Junhyuk looked at the documents and focused on the project and what it was trying to accomplish.
---
Wearing a suit and a backpack, Junhyuk stood in front of ST Capsule’s headquarters and lifted his head to look at the building. That was the third time he was there, but the first time as an employee.
Junhyuk wore his name tag and walked with energy. Someone behind him spoke to him.
"You are here?!"
Junhyuk turned and looked at the person. It was Mr. Jang, and he was smiling.
"Hello!"
He nodded, and Mr. Jang walked next to him and checked him out head to toe.
"I heard you got discharged. That’s really astounding. You fell from such a height and got out so early."
"I have really strong bones."
"I hope you are energetic."
Junhyuk, then, checked out Mr. Jang’s condition. He had dark circles under his eyes.
"Are you okay?"
"I shouldn’t tell you since you just got discharged from the hospital, but I’ve been to my house only once this past week."
"What?"
"Since you will be working in our department, you should know. It’s concerning our current project."
"I heard about it from the department chief."
"Hm? How did you meet her?"
"I saw her in the hospital before I was discharged."
"Hmm."
Mr. Jang understood the situation immediately and nodded. Junhyuk fell from a cliff to save Eunseo. So, Eunseo could go see him.
"First, let’s go inside."
"OK."
In front of the entrance, there was a gate where everyone had to scan their name tags. Junhyuk followed Mr. Jang, scanned his and went inside.
His parents had always wanted him to work for a major corporation. He was taking his first step toward that goal.
Time spent in the Dimensional Battlefield should have destroyed his ability to have feelings, he thought, but he was feeling really nervous at that moment. Mr. Jang took Junhyuk to an elevator.
"Our office is on the 9th floor."
Waiting for an elevator, he heard a familiar voice:
"Hello."
Junhyuk saw Somin, who was wearing a beige-colored women’s suit. He knew she was beautiful, but she was holding everyone’s attention.
"Hello."
Somin smiled at Junhyuk.
"I heard we will be working in the same department, but did not know you would be discharged so soon."
"My family members have strong bones."
"That’s a relief! You look good."
A moment later, an elevator arrived, and they all got in. It was morning, and everyone was trying to get to work. Junhyuk, Mr. Jang and Somin were pushed to a corner.
Junhyuk got close enough to Somin to smell her perfume and felt odd. He had no relationship with her, but then she leaned on him just a little bit.
Why was this woman acting this way? So, he ignored her. He had no feelings for her. He thought she was pretty, but that was about it.
Before the 9th floor, everybody else got out. There was more space, and Junhyuk saw Somin was a little sad.
Junhyuk shook his head a bit, and the elevator arrived at the 9th floor. He followed Mr. Jang, who took the lead and said:
"You are on probation, so you should try to learn what we do here. Read about the current collaboration project."
"OK."
He continued following Mr. Jang to the Strategy Planning Department’s office. There were fifteen people inside.
Mr. Jang went in and waved.
"Everyone is here early."
"Hello."
Among them was Jangho, who saw Junhyuk and frowned. Junhyuk ignored him and, in a loud voice, greeted them.
"Hello!"
Everyone was surprised at his loud introduction, and Junhyuk smiled and introduced himself.
"I’ve been assigned to the Strategy Planning Department. My name is Junhyuk Lee. Please, take good care of me."
"Take good care of us."
He greeted everyone, and Mr. Jang showed him his seat. After taking his seat, he worried about what he should do. Then, a mountain of files appeared in front of him.
He lifted his head and saw Mr. Jang smiling.
"It’s about our contributions to the collaboration project with Robotics. Focus. If you have questions, ask Jangho."
"Mr. Jangho Kim?"
"He’s been here for only two weeks, but he already understands everything."
"OK."
He knew Jangho did not like him, so the thought of asking him questions gave Junhyuk a headache. Therefore, he decided to focus on the project on his own. After Mr. Jang left, Junhyuk turned to the files.
Robotics was a major corporation in America. They had started by making robots for the military, but they jumped into the civilian sector, and he was curious as to why and curious about their collaboration with ST Capsule.
He found out one more thing about the project: W.A.N.C.S. was eagerly participating in it.
Junhyuk was surprised again by the influence W.A.N.C.S. carried. He knew ST Capsule had ties to W.A.N.C.S. because the company made capsules for abnormal narcolepsy and mass coma patients. This new project also had ties to them.
ST Capsule was a major corporation in South Korea, but, comparing it to Robotics, it still had many weaknesses. This new collaboration project was goaded by W.A.N.C.S.
Junhyuk was reading the files when people got up from their seats. Junhyuk got up as well and saw Eunseo on her automated wheelchair.
She looked pretentious, and everyone greeted her. Junhyuk nodded at her like everyone else.
Eunseo exchanged glances with Junhyuk and went into her office like nothing happened.
He hadn’t cared when Somin had leaned on him, but now he felt sad because he felt Eunseo had ignored him.
Junhyuk shook his head a little, sat and looked over his files. Then, his phone rang. He looked around, and everyone told him to pick up the phone, so he did:
"Strategy Planning Department."
"Mr. Junhyuk Lee?"
"Yes, this is him."
"Please, come to the chief’s office."
He felt good that Eunseo was looking for him and got up from his seat.
"I will right there."