Chapter 28 (1/2)
Afternoon 1 PM
Gathered in the hallway outside the conference hall on the third floor were a group of youngwith tension
Six individuals selected in fall as temporary hires and the one and only special case individual selected in Decereenest most junior member of the lab, were here to prepare for the Proposal assess to take place in an hour
”Is everyone present?”
Manager of Huhak Jun stood before them with the roster
”I will call out the names in the order of the presentations Pilho Kim?”
”Here”
The tean to form a line in front of the Head in the order they were called
'He's the Head of Training, right?'
Jungwu's name didn't come up until even the fourth call He knew that his position would be towards the end He was relieved because going later would give hieous for him
”…Sunghwan Jo, Jungwu Han”
Then Jungwu realized that there was nothingordered in alphabetical order (korean letters), and let out a laugh
Had he ever beenan 'h' sound?
”There is a 5 minute time limit on the presentation, followed by a 5 ive you 3 minutes as a mic test We typically don't do practice beforehand but as everyone knows, the Research Head and the Department Heads…”
The Huer Jun trailed off his words as he opened the doors to the conference rooer was as nervous as the presenters as the one responsible for the training of the temporary hires
'crap I' nervous because everyone else is so frozen stiff'
He did feel that he was adequately prepared, but Jungwu couldn't help but feel hisdry He followed the people in front of him into the room
The conference rooe lecture hall There were laptops and e projection screen hung at the front facing the desks, as well as a white dry erase board
”Ah ha, Mic test one two three First presenter, please come forward”
The oldest of the tee, stepped up to the podiuer Jun's voice
Jungwu sat on the chair in the corner and began to watch the practice proposal presentations
'Now that I think of it, this isout the research topics that others have picked'
Pilho's PT's title was 'Heat Insulation Coating for Glass' The presentation on the subject of liquid heat insulation project for exterior Apart room with a completely anxious voice
”Pilho ssi Your content was good but you lack confidence Do you really think that the Fundamental Element Laboratory Researchers ant to ith you? Exert yourself more”
”Ah, yes understood, er-nim”
The Huestured to the next presenter After the first practice presentation, Jungwu tilted his head as he suddenly thought
'This seems like a rather stale subject…'
He shook his head to convince himself it wasn't true and turned his attention towards Gitae ashis way up to the podium
Gitae's PT was on a research about Solar power He seeil of the Central Research Laboratory and had picked a research topic that simply debated the efficiency of 'Semiconductor N and P' used in solar panels
'This is rather ordinary as well'
Even the research topics of Gyuave their presentation afterwards were extreies'
At least the fifth speaker Gaehyung Yi spoke about a brand new type of adhesive that was made of components extracted from Mussels, but this PT's content was siwu, it looked like the presentationmore than an announcement intended to show each of their desired departments what research they would like to participate in
– What could newly hired temp researchers possibly propose that could compete with the professors?
Jungwu recalled an advice fro few days ago
”…Jungwu Han ssi?”
Jungwu juer's call
”Yes, on my way!”
”Please try to relax and take it easy Jungwu Ssi's preparation period was short and all, so the judges will take that into consideration when scoring you”
Jungwu didn't reply and only grinned as a response to the Manager's considerate words as he waited for his own PT material to appear on the screen He then moved up to the mic
”I would like to develop a cheap recyclable plastic material that has at least the 5 times the hardness of steel”
Hu the sound systewu's energetic voice and attitude that was fundamentally different from the other presenters
”Plastic's drawback is that it has a lower heat resistance and hardness compared to metals This is because the majority of the plastic is actually composed of noncrystalline structure…”
The basis of his proposition, steps and procedures, research ideas needed to cowu's practice presentation was over before the 3 minutes were up
”…That is all”
Manager Jun's expression looked rather complicated due to the fact that the presentation was no different fro a research abstract during one of the company's official project announcement events
Jungwu spoke into the er
”Sir, I'm finished May I climb down?”
Manager Jun snapped awake and nodded
”Ah ok Oh yeah, Jungwu ssi?”
”Yes?”
”Were you scouted from another research institution for the topic you just presented? I haven't received the file for you from the Human Resource department”
”No, that's not it It's just a topic I've had an interest in for a while”
Once Jungwu sat down, the rest of the tean to stare at him Especially Gitae, who had witnessed a si the Seminar held in the City Hall
Once everyone was done, Manager Jun walked to the front of the Podium
”Please re by about 10 minutes before the start time You have a break until then”
”Jungwu ssi”
Gitae caught up to hied his head but Gitae immediately asked,
”There was a ru you and even sent an offer… is this true?”
”So like that did happen that day, but there's a ru around?”
”We all watched the interview together on the news”
”Ah…”
Gitae stared at Jungwu's apparent as
”Wait for me!”
Sunghwan ran up fro
”Jungwu ssi, your presentation just now When were you able to prepare like that?”
”Whenever I had time”
”I noticed since the last end of the weekto see Manager Jun's surprised expression as well How did youbusiness admi…”
Gitae also began to eagerly express deep interest in Yujin Chemical's Mobile Research Station and asked questions as to as inside They must have determined that he was a rival they si wary of him
”I want coffee How about you, Jungwu ssi?”
”I'm fine ater”
Gitae and Sunghwan headed towards the vending alked over to the water dispenser and held the plastic cup
'Hmm?'
He suddenly saw his vision zoom in onto a small point in the break rooedy and transparent co around in the air
'What is it? That color makes it seem like it would smell horrible'
Jungwu retraced the direction thein the corner of the breakrooe straw hat pressed down far into her head
She was leisurely enjoying her tea when she flinched upon noticing his gaze and lowered her face But although her face was covered, Jungas able to recognize her immediately thanks to the naulped down a cup of water and calht across from her
”You s Sunbae”
Boyoung looked away as if she hadn’t heard hi all around her as he asked her,
”I guess there was toocultivated to ensure good level of oxygen supply?”
She would normally talk back or offer her own opinions when he would share his thoughts, but she reh she had pretended like it wasn't so, shecovered in 'the s in the microbial laboratory
”You're not hurt, right?”
She decided that she could no longer pretend to not hear him and shook her head
”Well you weren't speaking, so You're okay, right?”
Jungwu noticed that she looked resolute in re silent, so he decided to taunt her
”Strange I thought Sunbae was soive ords of advice to her Hoobaes, but now that I see…”
”Now that you see what? What do you want to say?”
He heard an automatic response shoot out from under the straw hat
”I'm usually suuuper cal tea time, I am”