Chapter 5

What is this? I’m going to lose my mind.

* * *

I had just finished my shift and was sleeping in the dormitory.

Once again, there was an uninvited guest to wake me up.

Swish! Slap!

“Hey! Hey! Third Officer! Wake up and get out of bed!”

Swish! Slap!

“Damn! This kid is really out cold after causing trouble.”

The person slapping my cheeks very hard was, once again, Second Officer Kim Ho-yeong.

The only difference was that the intensity was much stronger this time.

“Ah, why are you doing this again?”

“What? Why are you doing this again?”

Kim Ho-yeong repeated what I said. He looked at me with a bewildered expression.

“Huh, this kid is really out of his mind.”

“Why?”

“Anyway, since the captain is here, come up to the bridge immediately. It’s chaos right now.”

Second Officer Kim Ho-yeong’s expression looked quite serious.

There was a reason why he, who usually never lost his smile, was making such a serious face.

Of course, I knew the reason well. The reason why the captain came up to the bridge and the ship capsized.

Stop engine (Stop engine)!

I also got out of bed and put on my clothes properly.

After all, my shift was about to start anyway.

As I was putting on my clothes, Second Officer came up behind me.

“Hey! What the hell is going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“You changed the course secretly while on duty, Third Officer. Why did you do that? Huh?”

“Ah, I don’t know. The captain will ask you anyway, so just go and hear it all at once.”

“This kid to his senior! By the way, the captain and First Officer are really pissed off. What were you thinking?”

“Well, it’ll be fine somehow.”

“Get ready quickly and come up. I’ll go ahead.”

Sure enough, it was discovered.

In fact, it was bound to be discovered unless I was a fool.

I had secretly modified the electronic and paper charts during the last shift.

I thought they would definitely notice what I did, given that the First and Second Officers were not fools.

The good thing was that I managed to buy some time.

At least, the ship had taken a detour during the time it wasn’t discovered, which bought me some time.

It wasn’t a significant loss.

There was a bigger problem.

The mysterious window that appeared in front of my eyes after completing the bonus quest was folded into a small shape.

I raised my hand and pressed the window. As it unfolded, information about me started to appear in front of my eyes.

+

<Status Window>

Name: Jang Bogo

Age: 23

Class: Navigator

Sub-Class: Third Officer

Level: Lv.1

Skills: [Navigation Lv.1], [Taekwondo Lv.3], [Gomu Gomu Kick Lv.3], [Rescue Lv.1]

Reputation: +2

Remark: Your stats are significantly low. Complete quests diligently.

+

What? My stats are significantly low?

That’s strange. I saved Joseph and received a +5 reputation reward, so why is my reputation “+2”?

‘Ah, it must have been “-3” originally!’

“……”

* * *

With various thoughts in mind, I entered the bridge with the Second Officer.

As I appeared, the temperature in the bridge dropped sharply.

Cold gazes pierced my face.

First, I noticed the charismatic man looking at me.

Captain Lee Hee-young.

A veteran captain with over 20 years of experience, known for his calm demeanor and rational, meticulous style, which earned him good reviews.

However, he was also known for being overly cold and stingy when evaluating junior crew members.

Sharp light was emanating from his eyes.

After all, the Third Officer, who was a rookie on this ship, had deviated from the planned course without the captain’s permission.

This was no small matter.

Behind the captain, a man was glaring at me as if he wanted to eat me alive. It was First Officer Yang Hwa-jong.

Captain Lee Hee-young, who had been looking at me carefully, spoke.

“So, Third Officer, you’re here?”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Sit down for a moment.”

All the officers and the captain took their seats at a table in one corner of the bridge.

The captain looked at me and spoke in a calm voice.

“So, Third Officer, why did you do that?”

“……”

“Was there a reason?”

“In fact, I heard a strange story while on duty.”

“Hmm?”

“While on duty, I accidentally overheard a conversation between other ships passing by through the communication device.”

“And?”

“They said there would be a severe storm on our planned route.”

“What? Which ships were they?”

“Fairly large long-distance fishing vessels.”

“Long-distance fishing vessels?”

“Yes, I heard that long-distance fishing vessel crew members are good at predicting the weather because their operations are sensitive to it.”

“Shit! What kind of nonsense is that!”

The First Officer suddenly shouted, hearing my answer.

“Are only long-distance fishing vessel crew members crew members? Are we idiots? This is ridiculous!”

Nonsense? Yes, of course it was nonsense.

It was hastily fabricated nonsense, a complete lie.

Seeing how he caught on to the lie, I realized I shouldn’t underestimate this bear of a man.

The story I just made up was flimsy, even to me. The devil is in the details, and the setup was poor.

But I couldn’t say that a tsunami was coming soon, based on my experience from my previous life.

If I mentioned the quest, I would definitely be treated as a lunatic.

‘Sure enough, it doesn’t work.’

“You, this kid, the punctuality evaluation is coming up soon. If you cause trouble like this, we’re all in trouble, don’t you know?”

The First Officer’s face turned bright red as he shouted.

The punctuality evaluation assessed how accurately container ships arrived at ports according to the scheduled timetable.

It was a method to evaluate the accuracy of transportation services provided by ships as they arrived at ports according to the schedule, and it was conducted annually by relevant agencies to assess the service quality of shipping companies operating container ships.

Hae Shin Shipping always ranked in the top tier, indicating that they maintained high quality.

Of course, this also meant that Hae Shin Shipping’s crew members were highly skilled.

Since the punctuality evaluation was approaching, the headquarters had become quite sensitive to the ships’ schedules.

‘Anyone listening would think I’m a loyal employee.’

I glanced at the red-faced First Officer.

In fact, there was another reason why the First Officer was making such a fuss.

If this voyage went well, he could be a candidate for captain promotion.

He was undoubtedly worried that any incident during this voyage might affect his promotion. That’s why he was making such a fuss.

In my previous life, the First Officer was criticized for his inadequate initial response to the upcoming accident.

And due to Captain Lee Hee-young’s rather cold evaluation of his subordinates, he was actually omitted from the captain promotion the following year.

He finally became a captain two years later, and he was one of the first to leave the company when it faced difficulties.

A guy with no sense of loyalty.

‘If this voyage goes smoothly, he might get promoted to captain next year. Then he should know he owes it all to me.’

It was unpleasant to see the bear of a First Officer get promoted quickly. However, I couldn’t let personal feelings ruin things.

Captain Lee Hee-young thought for a moment and continued.

“Did you receive any special instructions about the weather forecast from the navigation team or the headquarters?”

“No.”

“I see……”

“Captain, you’re not going to believe this lunatic, are you?”

The captain nodded at the First Officer’s words.

“Yes, you’re right, First Officer. We can’t continue sailing based on such inaccurate information. First Officer, change the course back to the original plan.”

“Yes, Captain.”

The First Officer stood up, glared at me, and walked towards the helmsman at the center of the bridge.

The helmsman, a Filipino crew member named Joseph, was the one I had saved.

He had visited me during the last shift, bowing deeply several times to express his gratitude.

Joseph was looking at me with a worried expression, his face dark with concern.

Just as the First Officer was about to give instructions to Joseph, I suddenly stood up. Everyone was startled and looked at me.

I shouted loudly at the First Officer.

“First Officer!”

The First Officer, who had stopped, turned around and said,

“What, man!”

“It’s shift change time.”

“What?”

“It’s my shift now.”

“What are you talking about, this kid?”

“I’m the officer on duty from now on.”

“So what?”

“I’m going to take over and give navigation instructions from now on.”

“What nonsense!”

The First Officer shouted loudly.

I stood up and ignored the First Officer, who was glaring at me, and walked past him.

I approached Joseph.

“I’m the officer on duty now. I’ll give the navigation instructions from now on.”

Joseph, unsure of what to do, just clutched the wheel and didn’t move.

I looked at Joseph and ordered,

“Helmsman, follow only my instructions.”

“This, this lunatic!”

The First Officer, who was extremely agitated, rushed at me. He grabbed my collar forcefully.

“Hey, you! Are you really out of your mind?”

The Second Officer hurriedly stood up and ran to us.

“Hey, First Officer, calm down. Third Officer is just inexperienced. Hey, Bogo! Jang Bogo! Apologize quickly!”

The Second Officer poked my side, but I ignored it.

The First Officer was still holding my collar, but I didn’t care.

Instead, I shouted even louder so that it would echo throughout the bridge.

“Joseph!”

“Yes? Yes, Sir!”

Joseph replied, startled.

“Stop engine!”

“……! What?”

Joseph also shouted in surprise.

“Stop the ship immediately! Stop engine!”

Joseph, receiving my instructions, was unsure of what to do and only rolled his eyes back and forth.

“Joseph, if you listen to this kid, I won’t let you off!”

The First Officer shouted loudly at Joseph, still holding my collar.

“Joseph! Stop engine (Stop engine)!”

I shouted loudly again.

“…….”