Returner’s Magic Laundry

That's how we arrived at the practical test center for the laundry technician.

Today, I wanted to take the test with my own strength, without borrowing the power of the magical forest.

After retying the heavy bag of preparations, he entered the waiting room for the students of a high school designated as a practical test site.

Many students had already arrived and were waiting for their turn.

I sat down in an empty seat, put my bag on the table, and checked the preparations for the practical test once more.

The bag was full of ID cards, a black ballpoint pen, a silver plate, a lighter, a white long-sleeved cotton shirt, a sprayer, an ironing board, an iron, a two socket outlet, a white towel, sanitary gloves, and tools for removing stains.

'Perfect.'

After waiting for a while, the proctor came and asked each person to check their IDs and draw their back numbers.

I wrote my name on it and put a number on the back.

“If the sprayer and iron are full of water, throw them out and fill the sink over there with water and enter the test area.”

I only brought an empty bucket anyway, so I filled the sink with water and went in.

There were fifteen workbenches in the test room, and I went to the seat that matched my back number and stood there.

People of all ages came in one after another to find their seats.

Among them, I look the youngest... … I thought I was, but a man who looked one or two years younger than me ran in late and stood next to me.

The man was drenched in sweat from how hastily he had run, and he had to lie on his back for a while to calm his ragged breath.

In addition, as they kept dropping the items they brought with them, they often had to turn their eyes to the man.

I wanted to wipe off the sweat, so I took out the handkerchief I had and handed it to the man.

"there… … Would you like some cleaning with this?”

When the handkerchief suddenly caught his eye, he paused, and then the man picked it up and wiped his face.

Because it was a towel washed and dried in the magical forest, the man's sweat dried up in an instant.

Feeling it in his body, the man looked at the handkerchief, looked at my face, and nodded his head as if thanking him.

Then the supervisor came in and we had to take our eyes off each other.

The supervisor went around inspecting the shirts placed on the table, rolled them up and tied them up so they wouldn't wrinkle.

The crumpled shirt was ready for an ironing test.

The first test was fiber discrimination.

Ten sheets of fibers were tied together with a stapler.

Cotton, hemp, wool, silk, rayon, acetate, polyester, nylon, acrylic, cotton blend, etc.

Fibers could be distinguished by placing them on the silver foil brought as preparations and burning them.

I slowly burned them one by one and discriminated the fibers.

‘It smells like burning paper, there is no soot from the flames, and there is no smoke, so this is cotton. I saw black ashes forming and crumbling easily, so this is Mogo. If you pull it while it's hot, it stretches like a thread, so this is nylon.'

Since I had practiced countless times over the years, the identification of fibers was not very difficult.

At that moment, I heard a bewildered sound from the seat next to me, and when I turned around, the bundle of fibers was on fire.

"part… … fire! It’s on fire.”

The man shouted in embarrassment, and sweat dripped down his face like a fountain again.

He ignited the fiber and tried to check it, but it seemed that it had accidentally moved onto another fiber.

The fire reached the man's hand when he turned off the fire and blown his breath. Surprised by the heat, he dropped the fiber, which was a dangerous situation because it was where the medicine box was.

However, as if accustomed to this kind of thing, the supervisor came with a fire extinguisher and sprayed it without hesitation.

Thanks to that, the man was surrounded by fire extinguisher spray.

“Exam No. 147 has been rejected!”

When the supervisor shouted, the man wiped the foam of his digestive juices from his face, grabbed his belongings, and walked slowly away.

There was no sign of complaining about admitting his mistake.

‘No.’

The commotion subsided, and the rest concentrated on testing again.

Next was a test to write definitions for labeling symbols for the handling of textile products.

Among the 32 laundry symbols, if the supervisor randomly selected 6 numbers, it was enough to write down the symbol definition of the selected number.

Of course, I was able to write this down without difficulty because I studied hard.

Next, 10 minutes was given to the ironing task.

I preheated the iron by plugging it into an outlet installed on the desk, took out the ironing board, and placed the water sprayer next to it.

With the supervisor's start signal, the 14 irons started.

It may not seem like a big deal to ordinary people, but all the students here were nervous and there was no one who didn't concentrate.

10 minutes was an instant.

If you were not good at ironing, you could not finish it in time.

After ironing the large part first, I had to iron the detailed wrinkles.

When the supervisor said he had one minute left, he let out a sigh here and there.

At that moment, I was finishing leisurely.

‘Huh, that’s perfect.’

I picked up the perfectly ironed shirt and checked it one last time, then hung it on the hanger I had brought with me and hung it on the right side of my desk.

Next, stain analysis and removal work was performed for 20 minutes.

Five blots were marked on the white cloth.

Write down the name of the blemish, select a blemish removal drug that fits the blemish, and even remove the blemish.

Looking around, everyone had their fingers dipped in saliva and rubbed against the stains, smelled and worked hard.

None of the people who came to take the exam were nervous.

As if everyone was betting life and death on this test, it was as if they wouldn't let even a single blemish pass.

I also felt that way.

If I get even one wrong, I slept all night tonight.

During the stain removal test, the inspector walked around, inspecting the ironed shirts and starting to score them.

The supervisor, who was grading someone else's iron, came up to me and looked at the shirt I was hanging.

After looking at it for a while, he looked at my face and wrote the score on the grading sheet.

Looking at his expression, it was clear that he was surprised by my ironing skills.

I shrugged my shoulders once with pride while concentrating on removing the blemishes.

It was as if from somewhere deep inside my body, an unfounded confidence was gushing out endlessly like oil that had just been successfully drilled.

‘Never miss a single blot test.’

I calmly erased them one by one as I had been practicing.

When the overseer said that there was one minute left, sighs and sighs leaked from here and there.

Some people even pick up the cloth they were holding and toss them to see if it can't be erased no matter what.

In the midst of that, I smiled with a smile of conversion alone.

'Perfect!'

When the supervisor announced the end of the exam, the students all at once lowered their hands from the workbench and took a step back.

I grabbed my bag and went out with the other students.

As I stepped out of the building, the strong sunlight fell on my face, and I unknowingly spread my arms and held out my chest.

The sunlight was like a spotlight on me.

It was like the moment I won an award at the Cannes Film Festival in my previous life.

The moment the whole world applauded me!

The moment I am the protagonist!

What does it mean that now is different from that moment?

Although no announcement has been made yet, the Laundry Technician's Test was like passing.

I was immersed in the feeling of being alone, and while I was enjoying the spotlight with my arms wide open and my eyes closed, someone spoke to me.

"excuse me."

Surprised, I raised my arms and took a step back.

When I looked up, the man who almost caught fire was holding out the handkerchief I had given him.

“I was waiting to return the handkerchief.”

"Ah… … Yeah."

I took the handkerchief and put it in my bag.

“The handkerchief worked well. Absorbs sweat quickly... … I guess I'm a little less confused. What brand is it?”

“I just bought it in a pack of 10 at a traditional market.”

"Ah yes. I know it's a luxury item again. Anyway, congratulations.”

"What?"

“You did well on the exam. I'll have to wait another year. Last year, I was supposed to bring a 100% cotton shirt, but I got it wrong and was rejected.”

"Ah… … We can do it again next year.”

“I must have thought it was too easy.”

“You are still young. Laundry doesn’t necessarily have to have a license, you just have to study hard and prepare for next year.”

At my words, the man stared at me in the face.

"why? What's on my face?"

“No, other people tell me to do something more constructive when I’m thinking like this, what kind of laundry is the young man doing… … It’s the first time I’ve ever heard you say to work hard.”

Naturally, when I first started doing laundry, people said a lot to me, so I didn't want to say that out loud.

Where is the high or low value of what you want to do?

If you could work hard and have fun, what would it be?

“My name is Gangnam Young. Thank you for lending me the handkerchief.”

“Yes, my name is Ahn Nam. I run a small laundry. Belatedly, I got my laundry technician’s license.”

“Oh, you already run a laundromat. My father suddenly became ill, so I thought I would try to run the business for a while. I was originally preparing for the civil service exam, but I keep slipping.”

"Ah yes. Still better than me Because I didn't even know there was an exam for a laundry technician when I started. It's really terrifying when you think about it. It started without thinking.”

“I don’t know if I can say this. It feels so good to have met the same laundry comrade. May I go play often? I saw you earlier, you are very calm and good, but I would like to receive some instruction.”(Read more @ hotmtlnovel.xyz)

Laundry friend... … .

“Child, what is it? I don't have the skills to teach anyone."

“Are you not hungry? I'll buy you a meal to commemorate the handkerchief you borrowed. When I came here earlier, I saw a Pyongyang naengmyeon restaurant, but it looked really delicious.”

Pyongyang cold noodles?

The saliva was dripping.

It was one of my favorite foods in my previous life.

When it comes to Pyongyang naengmyeon, I had to go anywhere in the country to taste it.

I was reluctant to eat with people I didn't know well, but I couldn't resist the temptation.

“I didn’t think I would go with other food. It’s Pyongyang cold noodles, so I can’t refuse.”

“Oh, you like Pyongyang naengmyeon! I love it too.”

We seemed to have a lot in common.

The Pyongyang naengmyeon restaurant that Gangnam-Young said he had looked at was shabby and had few customers, but the taste was amazing.

‘How could there be such a delicious Pyongyang naengmyeon restaurant in such a nook and cranny!’

When I looked carefully at the name of the store that I had overlooked, a sign called [Eullaeok] caught my eye.

‘Eullaeok’ was a famous naengmyeon restaurant that later appeared on ‘Thursday Gourmet’.

'It's the famous 'Eullaeok' that failed every time I made a reservation at least a week in advance. It’s nice to be back.’

At this point, I had one more plan to visit all the restaurants before they became famous and try them.

'I live by this taste. Eat delicious food and laugh with good people.’

Gangnam-young sweated profusely while eating Pyongyang naengmyeon.

“Am I sweating a lot? I have hyperhidrosis. That's why I don't eat well with other people... … .”

"Fine. It’s unavoidable.”

Gangnam-young smiled brightly at my words.

I passed the exam well, ate my favorite Pyongyang naengmyeon, and thanks to Mr. Gangnam-young, today's exam seemed to be completed perfectly.

We parted ways to see each other again.

* * *

A few days later, on a day when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, I went up the hill to go for a spring drink with my grandmother.

If you go to Yeouido by now, the cherry blossoms must be in full bloom, so it was good to eat gimbap under it.

However, there was no one in the pavilion where the grandmothers came out and chatted every day.

‘The weather is warm, are you at home? I'll have to go home right away.'

After spending most of our time at Grandma Kim's house, which has a slightly larger house and a yard, we headed to Grandma Kim's house.

For some reason, the door to Grandma Kim's house was half open, and a familiar voice could be heard from inside.

‘Uh, is this the voice of real estate boss Kim?’

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