The cold of the early morning fog made Jung hee shiver. Seconds later, the damn rooster made its morning call. He let out a sigh. This is one of the few mornings that he did not wake up energized. Yesterday was really brutal, even for him.
Every Thursday in school, the North Koreans is doing something called the CAT program, or Citizenship Advancement Training. It is similar to the ROTC program in college in many western nations but is done a little bit earlier in the north which starts in middle school all the way to high school. It is supposed to create a healthy body and mind and instill discipline to the youth, but in reality, it does nothing but teach children how to march and to turn in formation. It is rather straightforward training, but it also tiring for the kids. That is why most schools do not implement it on the same day PE classes are done. Jung has no problem doing the marching and standing with his friends however. Sang-ki, of course, is exempted because of his condition. He and the other kids, like the one with asthma, the one who is too obese, or the ones who simply have clout in school, can be placed in the medical squad, where they learn basic first aid. The training, however, is so basic that no one actually learns anything from it since all the actual teachings are in textbook illustrations with no practical demonstration of anything. Jung suspected that the teacher in charge of that squad did not know anything about real first aid.
Even so, they are the ones considered lucky since most students are soaked in sweat after every CAT session on Thursday.
After class, Jung hurried to the middle of the town and into the Gungho gym. His first hour is reserved for cleaning and maintaining the place. But after that, old man Dongyun added him to the afternoon class, where the serious clientele are starting their workout. They started with a 30-minute warmup exercise, then several laps around the building, and then the fun stuff began. After a gruelling exercise routine meant for pro-MMA body conditioning, Jung is partnered with the boy named Bon Won. The boy is the only one his age and then they continued to do energy-sapping drills. Each 50 reps rewarded them with a 2-minute rest, then a new exercise meant to reach other muscles. After 50 reps of that, 2 more minutes of rest, then more exercises
Again and again.
Muscles that Jung hee didn’t know he has are now aching. And then, after the late session, Jung still has to clean the gym quickly for the early morning class tomorrow.
Unfortunately, the day also coincides with a scheduled repair of Mr. Choo’s big ass cabinet. So after the gym session, he visited the old man in his house in town. After tying the 30+ lbs. of weight behind him, he travelled his usual route back home, crossing multiple mountains. By 6:30 p.m. in the afternoon, he had to carefully drop the cabinet in their barn, shoo the curious owl away from the cabinet, before cleaning up and then preparing dinner for the family.
After dinner, he started repairing the cabinet. The broken hinges were easy enough, but the problem was the warped sidewall damage by water. The wood expanded and warped, separating each layer of the wood and weakening the rest of the section. There is no way to fix it except to replace the entire panel. Luckily, Jung has several spare plywood stacked just for this occasion. He chose the most promising one and after a bit of hammering, chiselling, and sanding, the new side wall joined the cabinet seamlessly. Now he just needed to mix the proper varnish coloring to protect the wood and give it the perfect shine. Unfortunately, he didn’t have that much of varnish left. They only have some because his dad, Hyusil, repainted the barn fences behind the house last week to protect the wood from the upcoming rainy season.
So Jung hee had to think outside the box. He mixed several ingredients he found in the kitchen, such as flour, salt, coffee, vegetable oil, and a few others, but only a small sample of each because they didn't have an abundance of those items. Then he mixed them with the small amount of varnish they had, as well as acrylic resin and... blood. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any animal blood around. If it is still light outside, then he could have marched into the forest and hunt a wild animal and bleed it. Since he didn’t have any, he bled himself. He mixed them together, and to his surprise, he created a passable alternative to protective coat finisher. He didn’t know it then, but Jung’s mixture was actually superior to the commercially available paint coat. And that knowledge will serve him well in the future.
After the first coat of varnish paint, he sands it again with fine paper and then a fine cloth. Then a final application and the final scrubbing, and he ended up with a waterproof, well-finished product that looks brand new again.
Despite his fatigue, Jung is too proud not to give his best, and now that it is finished, his satisfaction is immense. The several bubbles of XP floating on his head also told him that he did well.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Bongcha suddenly landed near him with a dead rodent in her claws. She turned her head curiously at him. Their connection made him sense the curiosity of the owl.
“Woooh!” she said.
The owl is asking herself why the human is still here. Jung frowned at that but forgot about it a moment later. He cleaned up the place before returning to the house.
Only when he is back at the main house did he realize how late it was. The door to his parents room is already closed and locked, meaning that his parents are already sleeping. Now that he was aware of the time, he vaguely remembered his tired father checking up on him, and when he said he’ll finish soon, Hyusil told him not to stay up too late since he still had classes tomorrow.
Jung quickly clean himself up from the accumulated grime of the day and then lay down in his small bed. The moment his head hit the pillow, he was clocked out.
******
Now that he is awake this morning, he still feels a bit groggy. And his muscles are still protesting their lack of rest. Even so, Jung stood up, washed his face in the basin, and put on heavier clothes before tackling his chores that morning.
It was still dark in the morning, but he always needed to wake up that early because of the chores he still needed to do BEFORE he left for school. But now he has a new problem. The straps he use to carry the damn cabinet over is moist and dirty due to his previous action. If he wore his school uniform over that, then the uniform would surely get dirty as well.
“Gaaaah!!” Jung said in frustration.
“Woooh?” Bongcha hooted in alarm.
Jung had no choice but to wear an old shirt and just change back to his uniform when he was back at school.
Eventually, Jung calmed down. He continued to do his chores, and after a while, he is back to his normal cheeriness. Of course, every time his muscles hurt him again, it reminds him of his grueling day yesterday. But none of that showed up when his parents stirred and joined him at the small table.
They simply blinked in surprise when Jung waved them goodbye as he went to school with a big ass cabinet in his back.
***
After school, Jung delivered the cabinet to Mr Choo's house, and the satisfied old gentleman paid him a fair price. Jung used that money to buy a few essentials for the kitchen and the rest as savings for a particular young girl's coming birthday.
Jung was placing the ouch of chili powder in the shelves next to the kitchen when his mother announced that dinner was ready. His father is already seeated and reading a report in his hands. Jung was helping his mother placed the hot food in the table when a new message popped up in front of him.
Congratulations!
You are able to complete the quest "Forest Bounty 2."
-You received 35,000 XP
-You received 100 Skill point
-5 Attribute points
-1 Evolution point
Congratulations! You leveled up!
Congratulations! You leveled up!
Current level: 14
-You received 5 Skill Points (SP)
Current XP: 148,167
Total XP needed for the next level up: 176,207
**
New Chain Quest: Forest bounty 3
-This plant is special. Find out its hidden characteristics and find a way to scientifically apply it and then commercially exploit it.
Requirements: You must earn the equivalent of 100 million US dollars from the discoveries you gained from the plant.
Duration: 10 years.
Reward:
-250,000 XP points
-1,000 Skill points
-10 Attribute points
-1 Evolution point
Jung hee immediately checked his status screen to see the new inputs:
Name: Kim Jung Hee
Age: 12
Class: Student
Level: 14
Attributes:
Body: 1
*Strength: 2
*Endurance: 1
*Agility: 1
Mind: 1
*Perception: 1
*Intelligence: 1
*Wisdom: 1
Spirits: 0
Current XP: 148,167
Total XP needed for the next level up: 176,207
Available evolution points: 1
Available Attribute points: 5
Available skill points: 109
It took Jung a moment before the faraway voice reached him.
“Huh?” he said unintelligently.
“I said, are you okay, son?” Hyusil was looking at Jung hee strangely. His disheveled sando shirt lifted up from his belly and he is scratching his butt. “You have a faraway look, and yet you have a maniacal smile on your face. Again, Are you all right?"
Jung’s dorky smile grew even wider, his pained body forgotten for the moment. “I’ve never been better, father!”