Real Man

Chapter 110

When drinking, it would be nice to just forget about work and life, but Kim Young-gil was a person who couldn’t separate them.

He used to be like that in the past.

He never asked for help from anyone, even when he had a hard time.

He tried to carry everything on his own and somehow get through it.

Yoo-hyun felt sorry for him.

‘Why don’t you ask for some help?’

If he had a little bit of Park Seung-woo’s cunning, Kim Young-gil might have changed.

He was the most skilled in the development field among them.

He might have grown more than Shin Chan-yong, the team leader.

But Kim Young-gil, who lacked flexibility, couldn’t do that and ended up being frustrated.

-You might not care, but I think you should stop by.

The image of the old Kim Young-gil who stopped Yoo-hyun flashed in his mind.

It was his first request to ask him to visit Kwon Se-jung’s funeral.

He never reached out to him before.

He was that kind of person.

Yoo-hyun looked at Kim Young-gil, who was alone in the noisy atmosphere, emptying his glass.

After the department dinner.

Yoo-hyun came out of the store and grabbed Kim Young-gil’s arm, who was staggering.

He seemed to be out of it, leaning his head on Yoo-hyun.

Yoo-hyun put his arm over his shoulder and said to Park Seung-woo, who was next to him.

“I’ll take Mr. Kim home.”

“Isn’t your house in the opposite direction? Let’s…”

“I have a place to go.”

Park Seung-woo was about to say let’s go together, but Yoo-hyun changed his words.

He just wanted to take him home quietly today.

Kim Young-gil asked faintly.

“Oh, really? Are you okay?”

“Of course. It’s on my way anyway.”

At Yoo-hyun’s words, Kim Hyun-min, the Manager who was quick-witted, stepped in.

“Park, where are you going? We have to drink more.”

“Ah…”

Thanks to Kim Hyun-min’s intervention at the right time, Yoo-hyun could get out naturally.

The distance to Kim Young-gil’s house was not far.

During the short time they took a taxi, Kim Young-gil lay down in the back seat.

Thud.

Then the car hit a speed bump and he felt nauseous.

“Driver, please stop here for a moment.”

“Yes. Okay.”

Yoo-hyun quickly got out of the car with Kim Young-gil.

There wasn’t much left to the destination, so he sent the taxi first.

Kim Young-gil, who crouched down on the side of the road, vomited into a plastic bag that Yoo-hyun handed him.

Ughh!

Why don’t you drink moderately?

Yoo-hyun sat next to him in the same posture and patted his back.

He got up to buy a drink that would ease his stomach.

“Just stay here for a moment.”

“Huuk, huuk…”

And he realized when he went to the convenience store.

He didn’t know anything about Kim Young-gil, even though he had worked with him longer than Park Seung-woo.

He didn’t even know what he liked right now.

It was like that before too.

He didn’t care much about Kim Young-gil even though he took care of other bosses.

He was always out of Yoo-hyun’s sight.

Yoo-hyun bought Park Seung-woo’s favorite honey tea and gave it to Kim Young-gil.

“Mr. Kim, please drink this.”

“…Phew. Thank you.”

He drank it without even checking the contents and slumped down on the bench next to him.

He looked pitiful.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. Phew.”

“Let’s rest for a while. The weather is nice and cool.”

“…”

Kim Young-gil bowed his head down.

The wind blew and his hair tips fluttered.

How much time had passed?

Kim Young-gil raised his head and called Yoo-hyun.

He seemed to have regained some consciousness now.

“Hey, Yoo-hyun. Hehe.”

“Yes, Mr. Kim.”

“Phew. What are you doing here?”

-Why are you here when you’re so capable?

For a moment, the image of Kim Young-gil as a team leader who was pushed back by his junior Yoo-hyun overlapped on his face.

The deep wrinkle on his forehead, thin eyebrows, droopy eyes were no different from now.

‘What did I answer then…’

He didn’t even remember.

That’s how much Yoo-hyun didn’t care about Kim Young-gil.

He was defined as a person who didn’t help him succeed.

Why did he do that then?

“I came to see you, Mr. Kim.”

“Pffft.”

“Seriously.”

Kim Young-gil’s shoulders shook at Yoo-hyun’s joke.

He muttered in a daze.

“Don’t work too hard, man. You’ll end up ruining your body and get nothing in return.”

“…I understand.”

Was it a drunken truth?

He didn’t know if he would remember, but Yoo-hyun listened carefully.

He was right. In the past, he worked as hard as he did now.

“No, you’re different. I’m just greedy without any ability. Phew.”

“Mr. Kim, you have ability.”

“Hehe, no, man.”

Kim Young-gil also had ability and ambition.

He just didn’t get the results as much as he tried.

Usually, people would ask for help to survive, but he didn’t.

He rather blamed everything on himself.

Even when his project was taken away, when his performance was stolen.

He didn’t blame others.

-Why are you blaming others when you can’t handle your work properly?

Yoo-hyun himself put the blame on Kim Young-gil to ease his guilt.

The more he did that, the more he fell behind like he was stuck in a swamp.

Did I have the right to say that then?

No, I didn’t.

I uttered a sincere word from my heart.

“I was arrogant, Mr. Kim.”

“Huh? Phew. What are you talking about?”

I reached out my hand to Kim Young-gil, who was half awake and looking up at me.

“Shall we go now? I’ll take you home.”

“I’m fine. I’m fine.”

Kim Young-gil got up without holding my hand.

He walked ahead, staggering.

Even when he was drunk, he didn’t want to accept any help. His personality was the same as ever.

Whether he liked it or not.

I put his arm over my shoulder.

“Let’s go.”

“Phew, I’m fine.”

“I’m fine too.”

And we just walked.

For the first time, I felt his warmth.

A few days later, Ulsan factory.

In the large conference room, there were the development staff for the Apple phone panel, the parts suppliers, and Kim Young-gil.

But the atmosphere was bad from the start.

The development team leader scolded his team members.

“Hey! You still haven’t found the problem? How can you do this when you’re getting paid?!”

“We’ve looked everywhere, but it’s not our fault…”

“Are you kidding me? When we connect the same Apple PCB, there’s no problem with the Japanese panel. Then whose fault is it?”

“That’s…”

The team members were humiliated in front of other departments.

But they had nothing to say.

It was something they had to take responsibility for in the development team.

“Hey, do you think Apple people are stupid?”

“I’m s-sorry.”

“Sorry won’t cut it! Find it now! We’re all dead if we stay like this!”

The anger of the development team leader dominated the conference room.

Kim Young-gil bowed his head helplessly.

He came all the way here, but he had no results to take back.

He knew what he would hear when he went back.

The next day, Hansung Tower 12th floor.

In his office, there was exactly what Kim Young-gil expected.

The first one to explode was Oh Jae-hwan, the team leader.

“Hey, Kim. How can you be so lenient with the development team?”

“That’s…”

“Shut up. You know what kind of people Apple are. If we mess up, we might lose all the investments we’ve had so far.”

“I’m sorry.”

The marketing team leader and the sales team leader also chimed in.

“Oh, team leader. How can we trust you if you handle things like this?”

“We might lose the investment deal if we make a mistake. Don’t you know how important this is? Tsk tsk.”

“…”

Jo Chan-young, the Executive Director, watched them quietly.

They were all people who didn’t care much about the Apple phone panel.

It was because the quantity was low and the price was not good.

But now the situation had changed.

The Apple Pod Touch that would be released in the first half of next year and the Apple Phone 2 that would be released in the second half would all use the same spec panel.

It meant that there were many places to sell them if they just made them.

It wasn’t just about making a lot of profit.

If they fell behind more than the Japanese companies here, it would be over.

They could even lose the investment that Apple promised them.

It was like a fire on Jo Chan-young’s feet.

He kept silent and then opened his eyes wide.

“Kim, find out why somehow! Or we’re all dead.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Kim Young-gil knew too.

But what he could do was very limited.

All he could do was get beaten up by his bosses and the development team.

“Do your best, don’t do well!”

“Yes. I understand.”

Kim Young-gil bowed his head and left his office.

He scratched his head as he returned to his seat.

“This is crazy.”

Then he sensed the atmosphere around him and went outside.

Park Seung-woo followed him and tried to strike up a friendly conversation.

“Mr. Kim, do you want to smoke?”

“No. I’ll just get some fresh air.”

The stress he had received showed on his face.

He looked at Kim Young-gil’s back as he walked away.

“Sigh, I wonder if he’s going to quit.”

“He looks really tired.”

“It must be hell. He can’t do anything in between. He should at least vent his anger, but he’s not that kind of person either.”

“Yeah.”

Yoo-hyun looked at Kim Young-gil’s back as he walked away.

Today, his back looked especially small.

Park Seung-woo muttered regretfully.

“I have a lot to learn from Mr. Kim, but Apple keeps getting in the way.”

“What do you mean?”

“About the development schedule for the competition panel. He’s holding it tight.”

“I see.”

Yoo-hyun thought the same.

Kim Young-gil was an expert in managing the development schedule, which was the most important part of the planning stage.

He also had a lot of know-how from running around the development, production, and quality control.

He would have been a great help for the competition preparation in any way.

And that was included in the big picture that Yoo-hyun was drawing.

He had to solve the fundamental problem.

Yoo-hyun asked.

“Mr. Park, do you know when I can get what I asked for?”

“The Apple phone prototype?”

“Yes. And the defective one that caused the problem, if possible.”

“Will that help with the internal design of the mockup for the competition?”

“Apple did a great job with everything. There’s a lot to learn from them.”

From full touch to UI design.

The Apple phone was no different from the reference material for the low-end full touch that would go to the competition.

Of course, that wasn’t why he asked for the Apple phone.

It was because of an old memory that came to mind when he heard this issue.

-This is a behind-the-scenes story, but I heard that the claim on the early Apple phone was actually Apple’s fault. Well, it doesn’t matter now.

Two years later from now.

Shin Chan-yong, who was in charge of the panel for Apple Phone 4, said to Yoo-hyun.