Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 5



Only Noblemtl

Novak Clinic (1)

Alan woke up. His pillowcase was soaking wet. He wiped it with his sleeve and lay down straight, staring at the ceiling.

I could see the raw concrete ceiling. It was incomparably sturdy and clean compared to a shack, but why did I miss the roof that had been covered with wood to keep out the rain?

It was a good dream when I fell asleep, but it was a nightmare when I woke up. Even if I pretended like nothing happened, it was hard to ignore the memories.

Ding ding ding!

The loud sound of metal striking metal forcibly pulled Alan out of his recollection. He sat up and carefully climbed down from the bunk bed.

The only furniture in the room was a bunk bed, a bunk bed, and a small wardrobe. Even the floor was made of concrete, so the cold air rose up.

Alan stood next to the bunk bed and looked down at the lump of blanket.

“You have to get up.”

“know···.”

A muffled voice could be heard from under the quilt, the threads of which were fraying here and there. When Alan urged her again, the quilt was slightly lifted, revealing sharp eyes.

“You have to get up.”

“Oh my.”

The young man who had just left his boyhood sighed at the voice without any highs or lows.

“Mr. Vito.”

“Okay, I got it.”

Vito was only verbally annoyed. The mark on Alan’s necklace bothered him, making it hard to treat him like a worker.

For an assistant like you, you are usually assigned three workers to use as tools. But who would have thought that the last one would be treated specially?

But he didn’t look at me with envy. That sign meant that I was a precious test subject. It was also a toy that satisfied the boss’s interest.

“Mr. Vito.”

“I’m deaf, so please stop calling me···.”

Vito met Alan’s eyes and shivered. It was too cold underground to say that, but his dead eyes were bothering him. There was an emptiness inside that could not be filled.

Vito pretended as if nothing had happened, got dressed, and left the room. Three workers, including Alan, followed him.

After filling his stomach with bread and mate tea in the communal dining room in the basement, Vito explained today’s schedule.

“I’ll be going around the city in the morning and afternoon to repair broken magicware and magical tools. I’ll collect any items that are impossible for me to collect, so you guys bring out your carts.”

“”all right.””

“If you finish work quickly, I’ll give you plenty of break time.”

Two boy workers smiled broadly at the carrot that Vito held out.

Unlike them, Alan was expressionless. He looked at Vito, who was scratching his neck with calm eyes. To be exact, at the necklace on the back of his neck.

It was much lighter and thinner than Allen’s. It was a necklace exclusively for assistants, with no explosive function and only a location tracking function.

All the assistants and workers were wearing necklaces. This meant that Novak, the head of the Novak Clinic, did not trust anyone deeply.

“···hey!”

Vito was snapping his fingers in front of Alan’s eyes.

“Are you listening?”

“yes.”

“Come to your senses and follow me.”

He didn’t scold him anymore. It was Vito’s personality that he wouldn’t hit him for no reason, and there was no worker as smart and nimble as Alan.

Although he has the flaw of being physically weak, his sponge-like speed at absorbing knowledge and his quick wit more than make up for his shortcomings.

Vito recalled the conversation he had with Alan yesterday. Even though he had deliberately asked about trivial matters, he received answers quickly. There were some parts that Vito didn’t know, so he would sneak a peek at the book while watching Alan’s reaction.

‘Has it been a month since you came under me? If you study properly for about a year, you might be able to become my assistant…’

Even Vito himself, who was known to be smart at the orphanage, took five years to become an assistant, so it was a five-fold reduction in speed.

Of course, the one who decides everything is Novak, the teacher and boss. Vito led the workers while patting them on the cheek.

Knock knock!

The iron gate opened upwards and a slope leading down to the ground appeared. Alan followed Vito, pulling a smaller cart than the other workers.

As I walked out the front gate, a wide open landscape unfolded before my eyes. The Novak Clinic was located in the middle of the city, which was lined up in steps along the hillside.

A squadron of seagulls appeared behind Alan and glided toward the dock. A part of the crescent-shaped port city of Aromaa came into view.

At the dock below, ships were coming and going repeatedly. Trucks and forklifts carrying containers were also moving busily.

It was a scene full of life. A small feeling of admiration sprouted in my empty heart, but it ran away as if nothing had happened at Vito’s nagging.

“Oh, why is it like this?”

Vito rubbed a small piece of glass on his clothes a few times, then blew air into it with his mouth. After briefly holding it up to the sun, he placed the piece into the Evi port, a headgear-style device.

It was a storage device called a memory crystal. Evie also had the ability to cast spells engraved on the memory crystal on behalf of the user.

You might ask why magic is needed for a simple repair job.

bang!

A gunshot heard from afar blew away all doubts.

Alan only glanced in that direction for a moment, while Vito and the two workers went on their way indifferently, as if they were listening to the chirping of birds.

Alan quickly followed Vito’s side. A list of places to visit today floated in front of his face in the form of a translucent window.

Vito, who was counting them one by one with his fingers, turned his head to the side.

“why?”

“I was wondering how many places I should visit.”

“You’ll find out anyway, so what···.”

Vito, who was walking briskly, went to the back of the mansion with a large garden and rang the doorbell. A ding sound was heard, and soon after, the housekeeper opened the back door.

“Hello. I’m here for a routine checkup at the Novak Clinic.”

“Welcome. The employees’ washing machine and refrigerator just broke down.”

“Do you need to fix it urgently? But I need to check the master’s magic tool first, so please wait a moment.”

“Please do so.”

Vito was led into the mansion by the housekeeper, while Alan and the workers headed to a storeroom near the wall.

Alan, who wanted to watch the repair scene, had no choice but to lean against the wall of the warehouse. He couldn’t go around to watch because he was warned not to attract the landlord’s attention.

Just as I was trying to forget about the boredom and think about the magic engineering book I was reading recently, I heard the squeaky sound of a hinge opening.

Alan’s gaze turned to the spacious warehouse. On one wall were garden tools, on the other were dusty household implements.

There was a washing machine and a refrigerator in the center of the warehouse. They were called household appliances because they made a humming sound and shook. That’s why they were called household appliances.

Alan strode inside and first examined the washing machine, then took out a screwdriver from his waistband. The workers who were watching together raised their voices.

“What are you going to do?”

“Let’s take it apart first. If we look inside, we’ll be able to see what’s broken.”

“It hasn’t even been a month since I started studying the theory of magic circuits. If I mess with it and it breaks badly, Vito will scold me.”

“As you know, if you just open it, there won’t be any problem, right? Besides, if you do as you’re told, you’ll stay in that place for the rest of your life. You can just report that you did it alone, so if you’re really worried, just stay outside.”

The workers looked at each other at Alan’s calm but pointed words.

Of course, things were different now. It wasn’t a circuit for repair training, and I couldn’t practice on a customer’s home appliance. The workers who had come to their senses opened their mouths to try to dissuade me again.

“Why would Vito-sama push it to the end? To give us a chance… It’s already been dismantled.”

Before he knew it, Alan was disassembling the cover and unplugging the connector. He was doing it very quickly, even though he wasn’t using an automatic drill.

“It’s so slow when moving things, but why is it so fast at this time···.”

The workers slowly followed Alan. Since they had already disassembled it, scolding was a given. Since their fate was predetermined, they were planning to study.

Even if they didn’t show it on the outside, they were admitting it deep down. The fact that the knowledge of the beginner Alan had already caught up with theirs.

Alan concentrated on his investigation of the washing machine, whether they were watching or not.

“The power outlet looks fine, and the circuit board looks fine too···.”

Alan, who was looking around, held the code in his hand and released mana. To be exact, it was the process of the mana that had filled his body due to excessive magical power leaving.

Woof!

The washing machine’s motor started spinning and then stopped.

“Is it a motor or capacitor problem?”

Allen tilted his head and thrust a screwdriver into the dusty washing machine against the wall. Meanwhile, the workers took a close look at the internal circuitry of the disassembled washing machine.

“What is a capacitor?”

“Are you seriously asking?”

“···.”

“It’s a component that helps to keep the mana flowing evenly, because if it flows too much, the circuit will break down. Please, let me read a book.”

“Then you?”

“Please step aside for a moment.”

Alan pushed the two bickering men away and replaced the parts he had taken out with the parts from the washing machine. When he got his hands on the cord again, this time the motor turned properly.

“You really fixed it. But why did you just leave it? How about assembling it?”

“I need to get it checked out by Vito.”

“ah···.”

Only then did the thought of having been ripped off without permission cross the workers’ backs. While they were enjoying the coolness inside the warehouse, a new shadow stretched out inward.

“What? Who said this?”

The workers turned their heads to one side at Vito’s question. Alan opened his mouth, not caring about the hot gaze.

“I was looking to see what was wrong and replaced the capacitor and it worked fine. I’m waiting to get it inspected.”

“You’ll know when you see it.”

Vito dismissed the workers and inspected the washing machine himself. He didn’t have to examine each part like Alan did. It’s not that he was much better than Alan because he was his assistant.

Beep!

A device with a scale and needle checked the component for abnormalities. If it was normal, it lit up green, and if it was not, it blinked red.

When Vito reached behind the needle and saw that no matter where it went on the washing machine’s circuitry, only green was detected, he reached back.

“Give it here.”

Alan handed over the capacitor that he had determined to be broken without a word. When Vito gently touched the component with a needle, the dark warehouse turned red.

“It looks like the internal circuitry has broken. We’ll need the precision equipment at the clinic to fix it properly. Good job.”

After saying a word, Vito left the warehouse and stood in front of the waiting housekeeper.

“I think it will work fine once you use it. I just replaced some parts, but there should be no problem with operation.”

“Thank you. Come here for a moment…”

“Is it because of that thing?”

“Yes. I just got a few this time.”

The housekeeper whispered in Vito’s ear. She spoke carefully, but her eyes were trembling.

“Then I’ll stop by again on my way back.”

“yes.”

So Vito and his men visited the addresses listed one by one. Then they visited the mansion again, but this time instead of a housekeeper, a stern-looking servant guided them to a dark warehouse far from the mansion.

Alan’s returning carriage was covered with a white sheet. The wind coming down the steep road lifted the red-stained sheet slightly.

There was a person inside. Alan tried to ignore it.

At first glance, the Novak Clinic may seem like a repair shop and treatment center run by an elderly man who appears to be healthy for his age.

In reality, it was a hospital for people from the underworld, a money laundering house, and a den of thieves.

Once the corpse that Alan carries is moved underground, Novak’s trusted assistants will remove all the magicware embedded in the body. Then, after repairs and cleaning, it will be sold as a commodity.

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