It took Jung only about 2–3 months to make himself indispensable in Hyun Ki's junkshop. By the first month, Hyun ki is using Jung as a sort of clerk and to man the cashier table. He let him deal with the various young kids' entering his shop. The kids' jobs are to dive into trash bins all over town and the surrounding countryside to look for thrown metal scraps, plastic bottles, or anything that can be recyclable enough to be resold back in the junkyard.

"How many times do I have to tell you? First, you throw away whatever is inside the bottle before bringing it back here. We are not paying for the piss inside, only the plastic bottles!" Jung said angrily.

"Eh?! But that will make it so light!” complained the thirteen-year-old girl. "We won't get much from that."

The girl was one of Hyun Ki's regular hoarders. The girl might not be winning any beauty pageants anytime soon, but Jung liked the girl because of her can-do attitude and her easy smile. But as an oppa, he did have responsibilities to guide this girl on the right path. These are doubly important because the girl is the breadwinner of her family.

"That's the problem, you dimwit! Bottles only! Not the content. Otherwise, all of you will just steal the sodas in the Kwanling warehouse and-"

He glared at the girl, who had a faraway twinkle in her eyes.

"Oi! Only recycled bottles! Don’t bring me new ones!" He warned, then leaned over and gave the girl his most intimidating glare. "You bring me anything else with liquid inside it, and I'll make sure you drink it first. Do you understand me, little one?"

"Ayeiaah! I said I understand, elder brother. What for you glare at me like that, eh?"

Jung has to hold back his smile. Jung observed that when a local gets a little excited, panicked, or angry, they always revert back to their northern accent, which the province is famous for. Many people are trying hard to sound more cosmopolitan now that there are more prominent families staying in their neck of the woods, but Jung finds it so easy to bring out the accent of the locals when he wants to. It's one of the small things that made his hometown more appealing to him as he grew older.

Faking annoyance, Jung nevertheless scaled the bottles and then paid the little brat a bit more than the current market price. “I’ll let you get away with this. This time. But if you bring me plastic bottles with any crap inside, I’ll ban you in this place for an entire week. See if I care!”

The girl barely listened to him as she counted her money with dollar signs for eyes. Jung could almost tell that the girl was already planning what she would use the money for. He knew because that was what he always did when he was younger and got hold of a few coins. Jung sighed to himself and shooed them away from the shop.

Hyun Ki's form was sitting in a rocking chair, and a towel covered his head to cool his face.

"You're too soft on the kids," he drawled under the towel. "You are not their mother, you know."

Jung sighed as he went back to his latest project. This discussion is an ongoing argument between them, and he is used to the older man's nagging. But deep down, Jung knew that the old businessman also cared for the roaming kids in town, despite his stern expression.

"As you said, old man, I'm a pushover," Jung said, smiling.

Hyun ki was silent. When the old man first saw Jung, he did think of him as a pushover. He was wise beyond his years, but the kid was just too nice for his own good. Then one day, a gang entered the shop and demanded protection money. By carefully questioning the group while being subservient, the kid subtly confirmed that the group has no affiliation with the local communist party or any of the big names in town, such as the police chief. When he was certain, the kid's eyes hardened, and he provoked the leader.

Once he threw a punch, Jung grabbed it and proceeded to break his arm. The rest lost any interest in a fight.

It turned out that they are factory workers in the next town, and they were hoping to get a few more extra money by hustling the next town over. He grabbed a few of their government IDs and told them that now he knew where they all lived.

"If any of you ever come back here, I'll visit all your families. I hope you hate your wives, parents, or siblings because they are the ones I'm going to express my anger to if you ever come back here. Do you understand me?"

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The old man gulped, remembering the aura of the boy back then. "Yeah. Yes, you are a pushover," he said without conviction.

Jung shakes his head, and the old man returns to his siesta. Jung sat down in his own seat and started dismantling a busted-up microwave oven. First, he looked around one more time to see if he had any other chores left in the office. He learned a long time ago that asking the old man about anything in the junk shop is a waste of time so he went out of his way to fix and clean what he could. When he was sure that he is free for now, he took a deep breath and concentrated on his new project.

With mechanized precision, he dismantled the microwave oven in a matter of minutes. Then he sorted the parts into neat rows until Jung finally held the part he is looking for. The device is called the magnetron device. It is the actual part that is responsible for cooking the food in the oven from the inside. Jung could simply look at it and basically learn what he could about the precision part. This alone automatically gives him the XP bubbles he wanted, the pri mary reason why he is doing this.

But, ultimately, Jung Hee enjoys learning about subjects he is unfamiliar with. It provided him with a sense of accomplishment that he doesn't often experience in school, and he appreciated it. He is mostly interested in learning how things function. But the junkyard has given him an entirely different perspective on the situation. For one thing, he is constantly surrounded by junk, and knowing why the technology doesn't work, the trash items not only provide him with a better perspective on how the item should work but also incredible insight into how the thing could work better.

Unfortunately, his "Mechanic" and "Repair" talents are specialized, so just repairing stuff will not help him progress it any further. To level them up, he needed to invest additional skill points in them.

However, they have advanced to the point where any broken object in the junkyard can be repaired with minimal hassle, provided that he has all the necessary replacement parts.

His skill, "disassemble,” however, is a general skill, and he continued to use it almost every time he could. In his first 4 months working in the junkyard, he was able to upgrade the skill by 2 levels up to level 8. If he could continue to work in the junkyard for another year or two, he is confident that his dissemble” skill may become a level 10 skill in the future.

Jung stretched out as he prepared to reassemble the microwave with a refurbished magnetron device that he is able to loot from another microwave in the pile of junk in the backyard of the property. Jung grabbed his trusty screwdriver, leaned closer to the disassembled parts, and then…

And then he stopped suddenly.

Something… something broke his concentration. As the boy's senses improved, it took some time for him to completely trust them again. However, as he became accustomed to their higher level, they became a part of what he considered to be his outer senses. And as the years have passed, it has become an inseparable part of his soul. Anything he notices with his outer senses tells him that his body is telling him something important and thus, warrants a second glance.

But this time, he could not pinpoint what is disturbing him currently. Jung looked around the place, his “Spotting” skill active as he slowly scanned the room. The old man fell asleep and was snoring strongly. Jung focus on him for a moment and he confirm that he is breathing rhythmically, so nothing wrong there. There is nothing different with the smell of the junkyard nor is there any misplaced junk out of place. So what did…?

His eyes returned to the radio in the corner as it blasted classical Korean music.

Jung unconsciously stood up and went closer to the radio. It was an older model, but after Jung is done with it, it is back in its peak condition, maybe even better. The speakers installed inside are high-quality devices, and the sound is full and rich. So that is not the problem.

Jung leaned closer.

A month ago, Jung found a crude blocking chip embedded inside the radio’s motherboard that jammed radio frequencies unregulated by the government, such as frequencies coming from the south. He’d check enough portable radios in the junkyard to know that it was a standard part for all manufactured radios, much more common than the freaking speaker. The old man talked him into throwing the blocker away to get more stations on his beloved radio. Jung hesitated. He understood the government’s reasoning for blocking corrupt ideas coming from capitalist filth in the south, and if the old man didn’t stop him, he’d keep the blocking device inside. But the old man reasoned that the radio belongs to him, and this is what he wanted to do with his radio. Besides, if the government finds out, he will just say he has no idea about the chip, and when Jung fixes it, the jammer is already gone.

Jung wanted to point out that ignorance of the law is not an excuse the government takes kindly, but he kept his mouth shut instead. And now he is happy he did so. Jung fell in love with kpop the first time he ever heard them. His favorite is a singer named Kim Jong-Kook and his quirky song called “Lovable.” For a while, Jung hee wanted to be a singer and if he has skill points available at the time, he would have invested heavily on singing. Alas, the skill is a general skill, and despite his sudden obsession, he wasn’t stupid enough to spend major skill points on a skill that he can increase by grinding.

That phase lasted him only a month. 3 weeks, to be exact, until he return to earth. But it didn't stop him from continuing to enjoy music while he was in the junk shop.

The radio is now singing a beautiful ballad, and while Jung appreciated it in the background, his senses were finely tuning themselves in the peripheral of the radio signal. There is something there that Jung just couldn’t explain. He reached for the radio knob and tuned the radio until it changed stations. Jung listened to the news radio for a moment and then returned the knob a little until he was back at the station broadcasting the ballad. Then Jung tuned it again until he returned to the news. Jung changed the frequency again and then back.

Jung was focusing on the static in between the two radio stations. He leaned closer and listened more intently. To other people, all you can hear is the steady static buzz of the radio, but Jung’s hearing is slightly extra ordinary due to his hearing skill, and he can hear... and feel something between the two stations. He knew that the sound was in a different spectrum but that is all for now. The sound was very elusive, as if it didn’t want to be found. Jung just kept listening.

What the hell is it?

“Will you stop doing that!” the old ma said, glaring at him. “freaking screeching is grating at my nerves.”

Jung sighed. “Sorry, I thought I heard something?”

“What? You think the aliens are greeting you or some shit?” Hyun ki snorted at his own joke. Jung ignored him and returned to his workbench, still troubled but let go of it either way. 8 minutes later, a group of kids entered the junkyard and presented him with stacks of old newspapers to be weighted, and Jung had to deal with them.

The junkyard continued its business for the rest of the day, but Jung didn’t forget about that sound and resolved to research more about sound frequencies when he is back at school.