Chapter 21 (1/2)
”So full…”
Jungwu lay across the top of a wooden box
This was the storage area of the shopping mall, and compared to the chaos outside it was relatively quiet and peaceful
”How did you find a place like this?”
”This is alreadyup an event here”
Soochan plopped down next to Jungwu and handed over a canned coffee
”Jungwu, it’s so nice chatting with you while working again It sure makes time fly”
”My joints hurt Who is Yulhwi anyway? And why a this?”
”But you said her gentle smile washes away all your worries”
”I'ood is an idol when my body is in pain?”
”The singers are on their way to the prep roo is done so all we have to do is soht menial tasks and watch to your heart's content”
”Okay”
Jungwu rubbed the warainst his cheeks as he asked,
”How er do we have left on lunch?”
”1 hour and 30 minutes”
”Woe still have plenty of ti to eat our food Let me just nap for half an hour then”
”Here?”
Jungned loudly
”I told you, I had to stay late too et so sleepy at random hours I just need to pass out for a little while”
Soochan clicked his tongue when he saw Jungwu immediately close his eyes
”If you sleep like that your face will freeze Do you want et you a hotpack?”
”Ooh, thank you Soochan is such a great worker~”
Jungas starting to slur and appeared to be drifting off to sleep already Soochan shook his head as he left the storage unit
Not too long after, he returned with two hotpacks and put theas moved around, he was like a corpse and did not wake up
”Overti like a normal member of the society”
Soochan checked his time and then said,
”I'll be talking to the Director I'll come wake you up when it’s time”
There was no answer froho had already fallen asleep
–
'Ouch, hot'
Jungwu felt hotness co from somewhere around his chest and patted himself to find the source
The two hotpacks were in theoff intense heat
”Hey, Soochan, you almost burnt m…”
He was in an empty room all alone
Jungwu sat up and took a look around It was a dark and quiet storage space filled with products He didn't think of this earlier, but he could have frozen to death sleeping in here
He checked his cellphone for the time It was 1:15 pm and luckily, his break time was not over yet
His friend who had left hi cold can of coffee and two hotpacks was nowhere to be found
'But as I so tired?'
The exhaustion he felt earlier was not so he could overcoht in a rohen he had fallen asleep as if passing out, orried if he was ill He patted himself down to check
'I'o'
He could only suspect his symptoms to be a side effect of AF-12 But Doctor Moon had confidently declared that there was no such thing and went as far as to guarantee coes
Jungwu resolved hiive her a call after he is done with the part-time job here and picked up the canned coffee
”Cold”
He was just thinking that he prefers a war winter when his eyes fell on the hotpack that was still giving off warmth
Of course, he was able to immediately understand the chemical process of how the hotpack produced heat
”A reaction between fine powder of iron and oxygen…”
It was not all that different fro rust It was just that it happened at a faster rate than usual, creating heat in the process The mixture of salt and activated carbon in the solution further accelerated the oxidation reaction
Jungwu stared at his pal to look at the hotpack
'It's usually warht?'
He wondered if it was possible to speed up the reaction even further and heat up the canned coffee Jungwu placed one of the two hotpacks on his palm as an experiment
”Hya hya, gather, dust stars”
Half-jokingly, he gathered as e unit as he could into the hotpack
Because of the free electron's kinetic energy, slight current began to run through the iron powder
'Great, good job! Keep going!'
Perhaps his wish got conveyed? The free electron that was already swirling in the hotpack in his hand began to move even more rapidly
”Ouch”
The heat becawu placed the hotpack on top of the wooden box
”Wow, it works”
With just a rough estimate, it seemed like it became 3 to 4 times hotter Impressed that his hotpack reached tewu placed his can of coffee on top of the hotpack With this kind of teh to heat the can and a bit more
”Stardusts, I didn't realize that you guys would be so useful Great work But”
They worked hard, but it wouldn't be good if they built up static electricity, so Jungwu quickly chased them all away
It would have taken just 3 minutes for the can of coffee to be sufficiently wared and ie unit opened up on the other side
Jungwu assumed that the person would be Soochan and turned to look, but he froze in place
It wasn't his friend, but a s around her back
She put her ears against the inside of the door and listened to the sounds co from the outside Once she verified that there was no one else around, she quickly climbed and sat on top of the product boxes to the side
'Who is it?'
Jungwu decided that he needed to make his presence known to the lady who seemed to be oblivious to the fact that he was there, so he stood up
But
As if he was possessed, Jungwu stopped when he heard the song she began to hum out of the blue
The sweet sound of her hu melody
It wasn't like he listened to muchto this song was noticeably uplifting his mood It was an experience he never felt before
'Diling~'
Once she had her guitar out and added the guitar accompaniment to the melody, her once quiet hu the air of the storage rooraceful tone
'This ht tears to my eyes'
The ht sti to experience as the first time he was able to see the atomic structure with his eyes
Once her hu only the 'ah' sound She changed octives here and there and sang in various intensities as if she ar up her voice
'She's a singer, right? Well, it'd be strange if she wasn't with that kind of skill'
Between theup and down to the rhythm
Jungho finally woke up from the sudden ambush of music and charisma immediately uitarist was too focused on the music to notice him
The profile view of a graceful lady struertips entered his sights She earing a baseball cap, so the bill was concealing her face Her face was so small that only a small portion of her chin was visible underneath
”Excuse me…”
Once Jungwu opened his uitar stopped immediately
Jungwu sensed that she was startled so he quickly added,
”I didn'tlunch time on those boxes over there Are you one of the participants in tonight's mini concert?”
Once she saw the staff badge around his neck, she seeh of relief
”I must have disturbed your sleep”
The sound of her voice had the sa It was a neat and sharp voice Jungwu felt that the estion that such a sound could be considered a disturbance ought to be considered a sin and waved his hand in denial
”No, I was already awake And I don't knohat song this is, but I really enjoyed it”
”…You don't knohat song this is?”
”I haven't been able to listen to ht away Please continue with your practice”
Jungwu had been speaking when he suddenly saw the position on the guitar touching her hand zooroan
'At this ti?'
He saw the strings made of Copper and Zinc twist and taut in a chain structure They had a coating on it to keep away rust and foreign s were che the intended protection
But a As if there was a hulued onto the center of it causing a corrosive reaction
'It uess'
Jungwu felt that he should inform her, so he opened his mouth, but the canned coffee he had on top of the hotpack fell over on the side
”Oops”
Jungwu ran over to the wooden box and caught the can that was rolling away It was nice and toasty He pulled the sleeve over his palm and also picked up the hotpack
”I was lying down here for about half an hour, and it’s cold here Here, take this”
Jungwu placed the hotpack next to her and backed up