In the Paper Factory, Part 3

Director Tae claimed that everyone was overlooking something important.

Hearing this, the president turned to him.

"What would that be?"

"President. Nothing has been verified yet, has it?"

With that, he picked up the document I had handed out and shook it for everyone to see.

"This is nothing but a scrap of paper. Anyone can write whatever they want on it. Even a lie about developing something."

"Hmm..."

"And in the first place, how could a young student build a complex purification system? It makes no sense."

"That is true."

"I don't know what his intentions are, but this is an insult to us. There is no need to listen any further."

As he continued, the executives glanced at each other and nodded.

The atmosphere had shifted back in his favor.

He has a point.

Logically, it was hard to believe a high school student had built such a thing.

Especially when the only proof offered was a sheet of paper.

But.

That's not all I have.

So I stepped forward.

"Then why don't you test it yourself?"

Director Tae flinched at my words.

"What?"

"What kind of test?"

I answered the president's question.

"Naturally, I mean testing the purification system."

At the same time, I turned to my father.

"Father. Please give me that."

"Ah, right."

I was referring to the bag I had brought.

Standing beside me, my father quickly picked it up and stepped forward.

"Heave-ho."

Thud.

When he set it down and pulled off the cover,

Slide.

"Hmm?"

"Oh."

The prototype purification system I had built for testing was revealed.

"Now, this is a miniature version of the purification system mentioned in the documents."

The onlookers reacted in various ways.

"Oh!"

"This is...?"

"It looks plausible..."

On the other hand, Director Tae looked flustered but tried his best to deny it.

"Haha... The question is whether that thing actually works. But there's no way it does."

No way?

"You can see for yourself."

"What?"

Ignoring Director Tae's glare, I spoke to the president.

"Thirty minutes. One liter of wastewater can be purified in thirty minutes."

The president asked, half-believing.

"Are you saying you can turn wastewater into clean water in just thirty minutes?"

"Yes. Into drinkable water."

The Actiflo culture was already quite dense.

It had taken a full day before, but in its current state, thirty minutes was more than enough.

I explained this point again.

"As I mentioned, this system utilizes the activity of a microorganism called Actiflo..."

Director Tae cut me off.

"This brat keeps lying to the very end...! President, there's no need to waste your time. This ridiculous nonsense..."

But.

"Verifying the truth is simple. You just have to watch the process yourself. And those thirty minutes could save you a lot of money."

"Hmm..."

The president pondered my words for a moment, then nodded.

"Indeed. Let's run the test first."

Director Tae shouted in protest.

"President!"

The president warned him with a terrifying expression I hadn't seen before.

"Director Tae. Quiet. You keep crossing the line today. You do know I'm exercising a lot of patience, right?"

"......"

Nodding at Director Tae, who had suddenly gone quiet, the president turned back to me.

"Go ahead and start."

"Yes. But before that..."

I made a request to Department Head Baek.

"Department Head Baek."

"Yes?"

"To ensure an accurate test, we need wastewater from this factory. Could you get some for me?"

"Ah, y-yes. Hey, Assistant Manager Kim. Go quickly and bring a bottle of wastewater."

A short while later.

"Here it is."

An employee handed me a plastic bottle.

It was filled with black water, and the moment I opened it, a foul stench wafted out.

"Ugh!"

"The smell!"

The executives recoiled in disgust and backed away.

The one my father brought home smelled like this too.

Back then, I was the only one around when I poured it in, so I just dealt with it.

But this was the normal reaction.

Anyway.

The device had already been running for a while.

I poured the wastewater into it while explaining.

I spoke to the president, who had approached while calmly holding his nose.

"You just pour the wastewater in here and wait. Since this is only a prototype for verification, the final product will feature automatic feeding and additional systems."

"Right. If it purifies properly, those details won't be an issue."

"Yes. Now, let's wait thirty minutes."

"Hmm."

While waiting, I stepped outside for a moment to speak with Department Head Baek.

He seemed highly satisfied with my performance. In a slightly excited voice, he kept showering me with praise.

"Well done! I really didn't expect ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you to do ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this well! Did you see Director Tae's face earlier? Ah, wait, you don't know what he looks like."

"I do."

"Hmm? Anyway! He was so flustered, scrambling to cut you off. Haha!"

"Yes, he was."

"I'm not just saying this, Hyunwoo. You were amazing!"

However, he still seemed worried about what Director Tae had said.

He subtly brought up his concern.

"But... by any chance, the machine won't fail to work now, will it?"

"That won't happen."

Unless someone tampers with it.

But my father was standing right next to the prototype, guarding it.

With so many eyes on it, no one would dare touch it.

With that thought, I checked my watch.

"It's almost time. Shall we head back in?"

"Let's do that!"

We returned to the meeting room.

"Ah, here they come."

Curious about the results, the executives had already gathered around, waiting for us.

As I approached, the president asked.

"Thirty minutes have passed. Is the purification complete?"

Naturally.

"Yes, let's check it together. Um, where is the bowl I asked for earlier?"

"Here it is."

Taking the bowl from the employee, I placed it beneath ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the outlet.

Clack.

And then I opened the valve.

Turn.

Trickle, trickle.

Unlike before, crystal-clear, transparent water flowed out.

The foul odor from earlier was completely gone.

"Oh."

"It really changed!"

"The water is completely clean?!"

The onlookers gasped in admiration.

Well, except for one person.

Director Tae.

He stared blankly at the clear water in the bowl, looking utterly devastated.

"How can this be..."

Then he hurriedly spoke up.

"This is impossible! Ah, could they have swapped the water in the middle of the test?"

But I countered him immediately.

"That's impossible. Everyone was watching. Isn't that right?"

"Indeed."

"Yes, that would have been impossible."

Since I had been outside the entire time, he couldn't push that argument any further.

Left with no choice, he resorted to pure stubbornness.

"T-then there must have been clean water inside the machine from the start! Yes, that must be it...!"

In response, I opened the lid of the inlet where I had poured the wastewater.

"Take a look."

Inside, instead of the black wastewater, clear water was sloshing around.

The executives confirmed it and nodded.

"Hmm! It really is clean."

"We saw the wastewater go in... We have no choice but to admit it's been purified."

"Certainly."

Yet, Director Tae persisted.

"Wait, it might have only changed color! We must run a water quality test...!"

At that moment,

"Hmm. Director Tae, this is unlike you."

"But, President...!"

Director Tae quickly replied to the president's murmur.

But that seemed to be the limit of the president's patience.

The president's voice grew colder than ever.

"Enough! I warned you, didn't I?"

"......"

"Of course, we will conduct a water quality test on this. But I think you also need to undergo a separate audit."

"Pardon?"

Director Tae's face froze completely.

An audit?

An audit meant they were going to dig into Director Tae.

Well, there were rumors of corruption surrounding him.

Perhaps the president had already known about it.

"Anyway, before that..."

The president's gaze turned to Department Head Baek.

"Good work, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Department Head Baek."

"Thank you, sir."

Then to my father.

"Ji Yonggeon, was it? The supervisor?"

"Yes, President."

"You have a wonderful son. You must be proud."

"Ah! Thank you very much, sir."

Finally, the president looked at me.

"And Ji Hyunwoo... student? Mr. Ji? Hmm, I'm not sure what to call you... but thank you for the excellent proposal. We will review it favorably. Good work. Let's shake on it."

He extended his hand.

"Yes."

I took his hand.

Grasp.

By the time I returned to school, classes had already ended.

I grabbed my books and headed to our usual study room. The guys, who were studying, quickly approached and questioned me.

"Hey, did you do something fun?"

"What did you do to skip class?"

"Something very interesting."

It had been a rather fun experience.

Presenting in front of people without having any established credibility.

It was quite thrilling.

Pushing past those who rejected it, convincing the others,

and turning the tables completely.

Honestly, I was a bit flustered when things didn't go exactly as planned,

but it was exciting and fun nonetheless.

Because in the end, it succeeded.

The small trickles of Karma rising right now were proof of that.

It's probably coming from the people at my father's company.

I hadn't received a definitive answer on whether they would adopt my system yet.

They said they would let me know after a meeting, so I figured it might take a few days. Waiting for the results felt both tense and exciting.

Maybe I have a bit of talent as a businessman?

I smiled contentedly.

"I asked where you went!"

"What's with that look on his face? Where on earth did you go?"

I stopped daydreaming and spoke to the noisy guys next to me.

"Alright, stop chatting and let's study. Time flies. Finals are in a month."

After midterms, I had been busy running around for my father's company, and time had slipped away.

Personally, final exams weren't that important to me, but I needed to raise these guys' grades.

The Karma I get from tutoring them is quite decent.

Just teaching these two in small increments kept my Karma steadily rising.

Since this had been going on for days and weeks, the accumulated amount was substantial.

I might be able to unlock another technology with this soon...

Just then, my phone vibrated.

Buzz—

It was an unknown number, but I answered quickly.

"Hello?"

"Yes, it is."

"Ah, yes."

As expected, it was Department Head Baek Gyumin. He had taken my contact info before I left the company earlier.

"How did it go?"

But he hesitated to answer.

As if the meeting hadn't gone well.

No way. That can't be.

There was no way, not when my Karma had been steadily rising like this.

Just as that thought crossed my mind,

We did it!