Chemistry

2. A Day in the Life of a Chemical Company Intern(1)

The dawn had yet to break.

A small sedan with a modest appearance departed from AN Hospital and drove along a deserted road by the river. Seated in the passenger seat, Jeong-woo was a little surprised as he looked around at the decorations inside the car.

“Dr. Moon, your taste is unexpectedly…?”

There was a pink seat cover with flower patterns and a cute character doll near the front windshield that bobbed its head in sync with the car’s movements.

Jeong-woo glanced at Dr. Moon briefly, sensing her icy demeanor, and quickly turned his head. Was it that human warmth and femininity were different dimensions of chemical reactions?

“Mr. Han Jeong-woo.”

Dr. Moon suddenly spoke as she was driving, making Jeong-woo slightly tense up.

“People may not have a favorable impression of you since you were hired through a special recruitment process. Some may be curious about your background.”

“I’ll have to accept that, won’t I?”

“No, you don’t.”

“Then, what should I do?”

“You need to silence them with your skills. And I believe you have that ability, Mr. Han Jeong-woo.”

Her words didn’t sound forceful, but there was a sense of power emanating from her.

“Dr. Moon, I’m not completely familiar with the confidentiality clauses in the contract. All facts related to this agreement are considered confidential within the company, right?”

“You must strictly abide by them, especially with regards to ‘AF-12’.”

“If someone asks me how a business major undergraduate knows about chemistry knowledge that rivals that of a professional researcher, what should I say?”

“Tell them you learned it from Dr. Cheon Seung-guk.”

“Dr. Cheon Seung-guk?”

“That’s enough for KG Chemicals.”

Dr. Moon didn’t say anything more and focused on driving. Jeong-woo instinctively felt that he might be the owner of the knowledge related to ‘AF-12.’

As their conversation came to a halt, the car fell silent once again.

Not even a minute had passed when a chime sounded.

Jeong-woo’s phone ringtone broke the silence.

He habitually pressed the button and held the phone to his ear.

“Mom?”

• Han Jeong-woo, if you’re not going to come home, at least leave a text message. You’re living alone, right?

“Well, that’s… “

• Hey, Mom. If my brother is out all night and not saying anything, he’s probably just drinking and passing out somewhere. Did he go out to do some business?

His mother’s annoyed voice, along with his younger brother’s nervous voice, came through the phone in rapid succession.

• Jeong-woo, you drinking… Hey, Han Jeong-chan, Mom said not to drink straight from the bottle!
• Okay, I got it. Hey, stop hitting me in the back!

Jeong-woo had to be careful not to let the noisy commotion on the other end of the phone reach Dr. Moon’s ears.

“I’m on my way home now, so let’s talk then, Mom.”

• What, what? Are you the only one with work? Why are you pretending to be busy somewhere? I went to the market early this morning and opened the restaurant, so you can eat by yourself.

“I got it.”

• Oh, and put out the recycling. It’s piled up in the yard.

“I got it, I got it.”

• But I got a call this early morning. Was it you? By any chance, did you drink until morning and now lost it, Jeong-woo?

“No, I didn’t!”

Click.

The phone call was cut off.

Jeong-woo’s expression after the call was full of injustice. Dr. Moon gave him a questioning look.

“It was, um, my home. Don’t worry about it. Haha.”

An awkward laughter kept escaping him.

He couldn’t tell them that he had taken a job as a medication dispenser just yesterday. It would be difficult to explain to Mrs. Hong, who didn’t even know what a clinical trial was, and it could have led to a heated argument.

‘I can’t just say what’s on my mind. For the time being, I’ll just say I started working a part-time job.’

Dr. Moon’s car came to a stop in front of a neighborhood where villas and detached houses were densely packed together. Jeong-woo turned his head towards the driver’s seat and bowed his head.

“Thank you for the ride.”

“Mr. Han Jeong-woo.”

Doctor Moon handed a small envelope to Jeong-woo, who was about to get off.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a clinical trial compensation. There doesn’t seem to be time to give it to you separately.”

“I see.”

Vroom—

The car left.

Jeong-woo only felt the reality of what had happened at the hospital after confirming the twenty 50,000 won bills inside the envelope.

“Hopefully, it went well?”

The contract period was one year. He briefly looked at the clause that stated he could be cut if he didn’t perform well. Judging from Doctor Moon’s attitude in the negotiation, the reason for the high salary was probably valid.

“I’ll endure it unless it’s a matter of life and death.”

If everything went well, he could accumulate a considerable monthly salary, but after repaying his student loan and his mother’s debts from opening a restaurant, there wouldn’t be much left.

Still, his heart was proud that he was lucky enough to join the ranks of working people who wake up and go to work in the morning.

Jeong-woo whistled as he walked up the hill where his house was visible.

Creak.

As he pushed open the old and worn-out door, a palm-sized yard welcomed him.

A small but charming two-story house where he had lived since birth. He had learned to smoke his first cigarette from a local unemployed man in the narrow alleyway next to the wall, and he had even had his first kiss with Eun-sil under the streetlight at the three-way intersection. Now, everyone had moved out, and he didn’t even know the news.

Creak—

Lost in thought, he was startled by the cold wind blowing, causing the door to rattle.

“Ugh, it’s giving me chills. I need to spray some WD-40¹.”

Jeong-woo walked through the yard with quick steps and opened the front door.

“Mom, I’m back.”

He peeked into the living room, where a pile of newspapers was stacked on the floor, but his mother was nowhere to be seen.

The kitchen was dark, indicating she had already gone to the market.

“Chan-a!”

There was no sign of his younger brother in his room either. He must have gone to school early since the final exams started today.

“I made this much money from my part-time job, but there’s no one to show off to.”

As soon as I got home and confirmed that no one was there, I felt a bit empty. I had a heartwarming thought that even in a small house, living closely together is a good thing, but his movements stopped in front of the tracksuit hanging on the kitchen chair.

“That kid… stole my jacket again.”

Jeong-woo was angry.

If it were any other day, he would have followed his brother to school and pinned him down until the end, but it was time to change. From today on, he was no longer an unemployed older brother preparing for a job but a mature working adult.

‘A working adult.’

He needed to prepare for work…

The Monday morning subway ride on Line 1 was truly a nightmare.

“Excuse me, please!”

Caught in the waves of people pouring out, Jeong-woo barely managed to step onto the train that had just arrived.

“Phew. I almost missed it.”

He had prepared in advance, but was a little late due to rushing to put on his stiff, newly-pressed suit.

“Shouldn’t have to worry about my style with this kind of outfit, right?”

It was a high-priced suit he had worn when he went for an interview. Jeong-woo was adjusting his clothes using the subway window as a mirror when his gaze stopped on his sleeve.

“Oh, there’s still some dust on it.”

As he carefully brushed it off, he absentmindedly grabbed the handle next to the door.

Then, with a snap, static electricity shot from his fingertips.

“Ow!”

It hurt even more because he was in a dry subway car with the heater blasting. Jeong-woo rubbed his palms together to alleviate the pain.

‘Huh?’

As his eyes lingered on his fingertips, they suddenly grew larger. It was as if he had a high-powered microscope between his eyes and his hands.

Countless stars were swirling around in their own orbits above my hand, each with its own translucent symbol [-] overlaid on it.

There were so many of them that the faint light felt like a cloud of dust.

‘It’s not like I’m experiencing some virtual reality thing.’

The group of dusty stars wanted to flee somewhere, but there was no way to do so, so they reluctantly stayed on his hand.

When Jeong-woo grabbed the metal handle again, the group of dusty stars yearning for freedom quickly scattered and moved to the surface of the metal inside the train.

‘Go, go. Don’t go causing static electricity for no reason by clumping up like that.’

The group of dusty stars climbed up the handle and scattered on the metal surface inside the train.

However, it was only for a moment, as the dust particles in the air began to gather around his empty hands as if wrapping around them.

“Do these guys have free souls? They’re just wandering around aimlessly.”

Although no one was watching, since the act of conversing with free electrons itself felt like something only a crazy person would do, Jeong-woo stopped paying attention and looked out the window.

• This next stop is Jongno 3-ga, Jongno 3-ga Station.

The subway stopped.

Perhaps because it was a transfer station, people poured out more energetically than the dust particles.

Jeong-woo held onto the handle and leaned against the door to avoid being swept away by the moving crowd. In the meantime, he witnessed groups of dust particles colliding with each other all over the subway.

In one man’s hand, there was an accumulation of electricity that could spark at any moment, and in one woman’s sweater, there was a dance of free electrons that seemed to rustle with just a brush.

‘Ouch.’

Because the sudden jolt of static electricity just now was unexpected, Jeong-woo avoided it and weaved around to avoid it. As a result, he was pushed from the door to the aisle between the cars.

He first counted the remaining number of stops since if he stood too deep, he might miss his chance to get off.

‘Eight stops? I can wait a little longer.’

As Jeong-woo tried to grab the handle in the corner to balance himself on the shaking subway, he stopped in his tracks. Then he snickered towards the creatures that lingered on his fingertips.

‘Am I going to get hit again? Hurry up and disappear!’

Jeong-woo shook his hand and scattered the massive amount of dust particles that had gathered around him as he brushed past people.

About a second passed like that.

The dust particles, which had left his hand, flew inward like being sucked into a vacuum cleaner. A strange flow.

Jeong-woo followed it and turned his head, then his gaze stopped towards the aisle of the subway.

What he first discovered was the white back of an A4 document. Then he noticed a girl who was staring at it intently.

Her sparkling eyes, which could be glimpsed beyond the document, were very beautiful, and Jeong-woo couldn’t take his eyes off them for a moment.

Although only her small forehead and eyebrows were revealed, they shone so brightly that his heart pounded.