The Fruits of Labor

Before long, we arrived at Wondong Paper, my father's company. As the event was about to begin, a crowd of people was already bustling about.

Among them, I could see people holding cameras, just like Reporter Jeong.

The names of various broadcasting stations were written on their equipment.

"Oh Daily, MM Media, Gangdong Ilbo... You invited quite a crowd."

"I told you I pulled some strings."

"It certainly looks like it. Thank you."

"No, thank you, haha. Honestly, if I had a daughter, I would have introduced her to you, President Ji..."

Well, that's a bit much.

Huh?

In the middle of our conversation, I spotted my father in the crowd.

I excused myself from Manager Baek and walked over to him.

"Father!"

"Oh, Hyunwoo! You're here?"

"Yes. You're working hard."

"Haha, I'm barely doing anything. Besides, half of this is for my son, so how ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could it be hard work?"

Although he was dripping with sweat from all the work, his face was bright with a wide smile.

He offered me a few words of encouragement for the upcoming event.

"...Especially when you explain things to the reporters. That way, we'll get good publicity, and other companies will start placing orders. Haha."

"I will."

"Well, I'm sure you'll handle it perfectly on your own anyway. Hehe."

A moment later.

"I should get going. It's almost time."

"Alright. See you at home later."

As soon as I returned, the event began.

"Now, we will begin the landmark ceremony to commemorate the first operation of the domestic eco-friendly purification facility here at Wondong Paper!"

The president I had met last time stepped up to deliver his commemorative speech, and the reporters snapped photos.

Click, click.

Soon after, the purification facility was officially turned on.

Whirrrr!

However, the results were not instantaneous.

The microbes had to culture first before the water could be purified.

Manager Baek stood up and spoke to me.

"Alright, it's my turn to step up. I'll guide them around and bring you up when the timing is right, so just wait here."

"Understood."

Manager Baek then led the crowd to guide them through the facility. It was essentially the exact explanation I had given him before.

"First, when the wastewater enters the inlet, a device called the grid rack..."

The reporters grimaced at the color of the incoming water.

"Ugh, that is filthy."

"Paper mill wastewater is worse than I imagined."

Manager Baek quickly chimed in with an easygoing smile.

"Haha, that is exactly why we introduced this facility. Let's move on to the next stage."

They moved from one stage to the next.

In the meantime, the microbial culture process was completed.

It was just as Manager Baek and the crowd reached the final stage.

"The final stage is where the purified water is discharged. Through that pipe over there... Oh? Ah, it looks like the purification process has just finished!"

Clear water began to flow from the pipe.

Trickle, trickle.

The crowd watched in awe.

"Oh?"

"The water is clear!"

"Seriously!"

"It's incredibly clean!"

Once the effectiveness of the purification facility was confirmed, a barrage of questions poured in from the reporters.

"Manager Baek, are you saying that water was purified using only microbes?"

"Yes. To be precise, it uses a technology that decomposes pollutants through microorganisms."

"Could you tell us a bit more about that technology?"

"Of course. This is a technology developed by a domestic company, utilizing a microorganism called Actiflo..."

After Manager Baek had spent quite some time answering their questions, Reporter Jeong raised his hand.

Standing among the reporters, Reporter Jeong raised his hand and asked.

"As far as I know, there was no company in the country capable of manufacturing this kind of equipment. How did this come about?"

Manager Baek smiled subtly and replied.

"A new company was recently established."

"Oh! Where is it?"

"It's a company called JHW Facilities."

"I've never heard of them. I would have thought a company capable of building something like this would be somewhat famous. Could you give us more information?"

In truth, the entire exchange was scripted.

Having waited for this exact question, Manager Baek turned his gaze toward me.

He spoke up.

"Of course I can, but wouldn't it be better to hear it directly from the developer? He is actually right here."

"Who...?"

"CEO Ji Hyunwoo? Could you step forward for a moment?"

As I walked up, Manager Baek introduced me.

"This young man here is the CEO of JHW Facilities, and the very person who developed the technology applied to our company."

The reporters stared in bewilderment.

"A student like him?"

"Isn't he wearing a school ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠uniform?"

But their confusion was short-lived.

The atmosphere shifted instantly when Reporter Jeong stepped forward first to request an interview.

Not wanting to be left behind, the other reporters rushed to throw questions at me. In an instant, all eyes were locked onto me.

"Hello. I'm Jeong Il-ho from KR Daily. I'd like to ask you a few questions. First, could you introduce yourself?"

"Ah, I'm Reporter Lee Yu-jin from MM Media. I also have a question..."

"I'm from Gangdong Ilbo, and I..."

I politely answered their questions one by one, starting with Reporter Jeong.

"Yes. I am..."

Late at night.

Tae Giseong quietly slipped into the Wondong Paper factory grounds.

His face was concealed beneath a cap and a mask.

He glanced around stealthily.

He swiped his access card at the entrance security gate.

He crept forward, looking left and right to navigate the factory layout.

Tsk. I'll never get used to this filthy factory.

Soon, he arrived at his destination.

The purification facility... is here.

It was the wastewater treatment area.

The layout had changed quite a bit, making it almost unrecognizable, but he had made it safely nonetheless.

He said I just need to collect the water currently undergoing purification, right?

Tae Giseong recalled what James Mill had told him earlier.

"I asked an expert, and they said to just scoop up some of the water during the purification process. If it's a microbial purification method, that water will contain a particularly high concentration of the microbes. They'll be able to identify exactly what it is."

He had infiltrated the facility for this very purpose, and he scanned the area to find the water.

That must be it.

It was the wastewater purification tank.

He approached it and pried open the lid.

Instantly, an unbearable stench wafted up and assaulted his nose.

"Ugh, the smell."

Pinching his nose with one hand, he quickly lowered the empty bottle he had brought into the opening to scoop up the water.

"Okay. This should do it."

But right then.

A bright light flashed.

Someone shone a flashlight directly at him and called out.

"Who's there?"

"Damn it!"

It was a security guard.

Tae Giseong scrambled to his feet and bolted.

Patter, patter!

"Hey! Stop right there!"

The guard gave chase immediately.

Thud, thud, thud!

A frantic chase ensued.

"Ugh!"

Before long, the chase came to an abrupt end. Tae Giseong had made a wrong ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠turn. Finding himself trapped in a dead end, he spun around.

He whipped around.

The guard blocked his only escape route.

Damn it!

Tae Giseong tried ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to shove past him and escape.

However, the guard grabbed onto his clothes, and a scuffle broke out.

"Who are you? What were you doing just now?"

In the midst of the struggle, the guard's hand caught Tae Giseong's mask and pulled it down.

Rip.

The guard recognized the face revealed beneath.

"Director Tae?!"

Tae Giseong shoved the startled guard away.

"Get lost!"

He sprinted away.

And escaped into the night.

The next day, school was in an absolute uproar over yesterday's events.

One issue is because of Ildong, and the other is because of me.

I heard that Ildong's disciplinary committee had convened yesterday afternoon. Perhaps pressured by the reporters, the principal had handled the matter with unusual haste.

The result was a score of zero in all subjects, along with a sentence of community service.

Public opinion among the students was split.

Some shrugged it off or were secretly pleased, while others felt a bit sorry for him.

The former group was happy because everyone's class rank had bumped up by one. Moreover, the vast majority of the kids felt it was only natural since he had cheated.

Which is the right way to look at it, honestly...

On the other hand, the latter group mostly consisted of Ildong's close friends. Ildong's original personality wasn't bad at all, which was why they felt that way.

I know that too.

In the end, more than half the blame lay with his parents.

He didn't even show up to school today...

But Ildong's situation wasn't my fault.

An incident that would have otherwise been swept under the rug was only brought to light because of his mother's dramatic entrance and scene.

Therefore, none of the kids blamed me for it.

If anything...

They were losing their minds after finding out that I was running a business.

Jang Junyeob was the first to react.

"Hey! Are you crazy?! Why did you do it? Why?"

"Do what?"

"Running a business! Why did you keep it a secret?!"

"I didn't really keep it a secret. I just didn't mention it."

"That's the same thing!"

Oh Yunsung chimed in next.

"Are you really running a business? For real?"

"Yeah."

"Sigh... Whenever we asked why you were skipping school to go somewhere fun, you'd dodge the question... So that was it."

I did feel a bit bad about that. But even if I had told them the truth back then, they wouldn't have believed me anyway. It would have been too difficult to explain.

"So, what kind of business is it?"

"Hmm... Manufacturing purification facilities?"

"What's that?"

"We build and sell wastewater treatment systems that use microorganisms."

The two of them stared at me with completely blank expressions.

"Micro-what?"

"Huh...??"

I pulled up the internet on my phone and showed them an article. It was the one containing my interview from yesterday, complete with my photo.

"It'll probably be easier to understand if you read this."

"An article?"

"Huh?"

After scanning the screen, the two of them looked up at me, their eyes wide with shock.

"What is this?"

"Is this really you? You're in the news?"

"Yeah. It was published yesterday."

"Holy crap!"

"What the hell? Just how big is your business?!"

As they made a scene, the surrounding classmates grew curious and gathered around.

"What's going on, Jang Junyeob?"

"What happened?"

Jang Junyeob raised his voice even louder.

"Look at this, everyone! Hyunwoo is in the news! Haha! It says he's a genius entrepreneur!"

Even Oh Yunsung, who was usually quiet, joined in.

He began boasting about me to the other kids at the top of his lungs.

"Look at this! Look! This is insane! That talk about 1.4 billion won yesterday was actually true!"

The other students rushed to check the article.

Shocked, they began showering me with questions.

"Whoa! It's real!"

"Crazy! 1.4 billion won? Did you make 1.4 billion won?"

"No, that's the revenue..."

"Wow, a facility that purifies water with microbes? How did you even build something like that?"

"No wonder. He's not rank one in the school for nothing."

"Hey, look at this! Ji Hyunwoo is in the news! A genius entrepreneur!"

"There are other articles too!"

"Send me the link!"

Some of the kids even ran out into the hallway to spread the news.

Others kept firing questions at me.

Thanks to this, my Karma began to climb rapidly.

After a long period of noisy excitement.

Vibrate.

I answered the call from my father. His voice sounded incredibly urgent.

"Son! We have a big problem! Last night, at the newly installed facility... Director Tae broke in! He, he..."

He was stammering, so I tried to calm him down.

"Take a deep breath and tell me slowly."

"So... Director Tae snuck into our purification facility last night and scooped something into a bottle! What if our technology gets leaked because of this?"

Hmm... It seems Director Tae really did make a move. Hearing this, I could easily guess what had happened. What he tried to steal was undoubtedly the wastewater currently undergoing purification.

Because if he takes that, he can identify my microorganism.

In fact, the Actiflo microorganism was a lifeform that already existed naturally within wastewater.

However, because typical wastewater contains an almost infinite variety of other microbes alongside Actiflo, it is normally impossible to pinpoint exactly which one is performing the purification.

But if they had a sample of the wastewater during the active purification process, they could deduce that the microbe present in the largest quantity was the one responsible.

However...

"Father, he didn't use the security key I gave you before, did he?"

"Huh? No, he didn't... but..."

"Then don't worry. There is absolutely no way he stole it."