Real Man

Chapter 33

Min Jeong-hyuk’s lecture on company life continued for a long time.

A man who looked like a senior came down.

He recognized Min Jeong-hyuk at a glance.

“Are you Min Jeong-hyuk? Sorry, I had some work to do.”

“No, it’s okay, sir.”

Min Jeong-hyuk got up from his seat, and Yoo-hyun and Kwon Se-jung followed suit.

Yoo-hyun vaguely remembered the face of the man with small eyes and round pupils.

He had met him a few times before in another team.

He didn’t remember the details, but he had a positive image of him.

The man showed his ID card with his name and face and said,

“I’m Kim Jin-yeol, an assistant manager in the sales team. Let’s go up now.”

“Yes, sir. Please speak comfortably.”

It was Min Jeong-hyuk’s first mistake.

He wanted to be friendly with his team senior, so he said that.

But the timing was not good.

He asked him to speak comfortably in front of the new employees from other teams whom he met for the first time?

It was almost impossible to do so in reality.

As expected, Kim Jin-yeol’s sharp rebuke flew at him.

“That doesn’t seem like something to say here.”

“I’m s-sorry.”

Min Jeong-hyuk froze at the sight of his stern senior.

Kim Jin-yeol turned his head and took the lead.

On the other hand, Min Jeong-hyuk followed him with a blank face.

But Yoo-hyun was not very worried.

It was obvious that he was trying to act tough as a team junior.

That was when it happened.

“Is this a big deal?”

Kwon Se-jung also froze along with him.

He didn’t have to care much about the senior from another team.

Why is he like this?

Yoo-hyun shook his head at his colleagues who were walking nervously behind him.

They both seemed to have just realized that theory and reality are very different.

The mobile product planning team on the 12th floor.

Park Seung-woo, an assistant manager who finished the meeting, blinked his eyes as he checked the time on the analog clock on the wall. 

He had a large body but a gentle impression.

The new employee he was waiting for had not arrived yet.

“It’s time…”

“Why? Are you anxious because the newbie hasn’t arrived?”

As he muttered, Kim Young-gil, an assistant manager sitting next to him, asked.

They were both assistant managers, but he was also a senior in terms of joining the company.

He was a man with a solid physique and sharp eyes.

“I’m not anxious. What’s there to be anxious about? He won’t last long anyway. It’s obvious.”

“But he’s your first official junior. I heard he got first place in all the training results. I have high expectations for him.”

“Sir, I’ve never seen anyone who does well and has good training results. Look at me.”

Park Seung-woo said cheerfully as Shin Chan-yong, a section chief who attended the same meeting, approached him from behind.

“That’s not something you should say after getting scolded so much.”

“Hahaha, failure is the mother of success.”

“You’re so cheeky. Well, that’s your strength anyway.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you for what? You’re just full of passion. You’re like a new employee who just joined the company. He’ll suit you well. Give it a try.”

Thump thump.

Shin Chan-yong tapped Park Seung-woo’s shoulder with a sarcastic remark and left.

He also gave him a sneering look as a bonus.

Kim Young-gil comforted Park Seung-woo after confirming that he was out of sight.

“He’s really good at making people uncomfortable. Don’t mind him.”

“Haha, what can I do? It’s all my fault for being lacking.”

He tried to laugh it off, but Park Seung-woo’s expression was not very bright.

“Hey, are you feeling down? The great Park Seung-woo?”

“Feeling down? Of course not.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Park Seung-woo nodded his head vigorously.

He was his first junior whom he personally received.

He was determined to do well with him no matter what.

He looked at Kim Young-gil with a fierce gaze and said confidently,

“Sir, I’ll make sure to raise this newbie well.”

“That’s more like it.”

Kim Young-gil just smiled.

Ding.

Yoo-hyun, who came up to the 12th floor by elevator, felt a slight nostalgia.

He came back.

Of course, that was it.

From now on, he told himself that it was a new company life.

Swoosh.

He entered through the glass door with Kim Jin-yeol’s guidance.

The first thing he saw was the partition and the desk, and the people working in front of them.

He heard the sound of ringing phones, typing, and going in and out of the meeting room.

They were the noises that he had become distant from as his rank went up.

Half of the 12th floor belonged to the mobile sales marketing department.

There were sales, marketing, and product planning teams in the department, and there were different parts in each team.

They were people who were related to each other by work, but he didn’t remember many of them clearly.

It was like looking at an old photo from a long time ago.

Isn’t there something like that?

Memories that make you wonder if you really were like that.

He joined the company as a LCD business unit, but he stayed here for less than four years.

He would have met them later if they were in the same building, but a few years later, the LCD business unit was spun off and left, so most of them never saw his face again.

Except for his team members, it was hard to remember them as they were over time.

It was natural that he barely remembered the faces of people who were just acquaintances.

Trudge trudge.

He passed by the marketing team where Kwon Se-jung belonged and walked a little more.

When he reached the corner, he saw the area of the product planning team.

The sign that said ‘Mobile Product Planning Team’ on the high partition felt new to him.

As he entered inside, he saw the team members working busily.

No one paid attention to Yoo-hyun.

It was the most awkward time when he joined the company.

But for Yoo-hyun, it was a time full of excitement.

Then he saw a man who glanced at him secretly.

The man with a large body and gentle eyes was Park Seung-woo, an assistant manager.

He was very happy to see him.

He was Yoo-hyun’s mentor and boss in the past.

He had a lot of jokes and made a lot of mistakes in his work, but his passion was certain.

And pain swept over his heart.

He was also someone who quit soon after.

-What did you do wrong? You have nothing to apologize for. Hold your head high. Son, live well.

He left him with those warm words, despite his disappointment in himself for choosing a different path than his direct senior to pursue greater achievements.

He realized it only later.

That there was no one else in the company who had such pure passion.

Yoo-hyun was standing blankly, when Park Seungwoo’s eyebrows twitched.

It was a sign of nervousness.

He was clumsy at training new recruits.

Acting was such a pain.

A faint smile appeared on Yoo-hyun’s lips as he recalled the vague memory.

He thought he should play along with this prank, and approached Park Seungwoo to greet him.

“Hello.”

“Yes. What can I do for you?”

He pretended to be calm and stern, but Yoo-hyun could tell.

His twitching eyebrows, his drooping eyes, his raised shoulders. 

They were all very unnatural.

He looked awkward, but Yoo-hyun answered politely.

“I’m Han Yoo-hyun, assigned to the product planning team.”

“That can’t be. Our team didn’t plan to receive any new recruits this time. Right, Kim?”

“Hmm, yeah. Maybe you’re in the wrong team?”

How dare they.

The other guy, Kim Younggil, was also playing along.

He was nothing like the gloomy old man who came to announce Kwon Sejung’s death.

Seeing his smooth skin and fine features, Yoo-hyun felt the reality of coming back again.

While Yoo-hyun was lost in his old memories, it happened.

Grrr.

Park Seungwoo, who got up from his seat, frowned.

“It seems like you came to the wrong place. Why don’t you go somewhere else?”

He looked intimidating because of his large build, even though he just made a slight expression.

Yoo-hyun didn’t know what to do, and his lips curled up slightly.

“Where should I go?”

“How would I know? Why don’t you ask the HR team?”

He snorted through his nostrils.

He wanted to continue the joke, but it was time to wrap it up.

What was Park Seungwoo afraid of?

Yoo-hyun sneaked a glance at him.

“That’s strange. The person in charge told me it was this team…”

“Who? The person in charge?”

Seeing his shaken eyes, Yoo-hyun quickly turned his head.

Then he pointed at the hallway and exclaimed in surprise.

“Oh? There’s the person in charge!”

“Where, where?”

Park Seungwoo looked around in confusion, and Yoo-hyun pretended to scratch his head.

“Ah, maybe I saw it wrong.”

“Phew… You scared me. Ahem, I mean…”

Park Seungwoo sighed in relief and felt embarrassed.

He had prepared several jokes, but the mood was ruined from the start.

Ring ring ring ring ring.

The phone on the desk rang.

Park Seungwoo glanced at Yoo-hyun and answered the phone with a serious expression.

“Yes. This is Park Seungwoo.”

-What are you doing, Park? I told you that spec is impossible. Why are you pushing something that doesn’t work?

‘Damn…’

Park Seungwoo pressed the receiver against his face so that no sound would leak out.

“Yes yes. I understand. Hey, I know. Yes. Oh, the thickness part? Increase it by 0.2T…”

He looked for a pen to record the numbers that kept coming in.

But there were his favorite black pen and a sky-blue post-it note for recording numbers on his desk.

He turned his head and saw that it was the new guy’s doing.

It was amazing that he had exactly what he wanted.

What’s going on?

He felt a sense of incongruity as he continued to talk on the phone.

This time, the desk calendar that he had moved to the side was placed right in front of him.

He was already reaching out for the calendar to check his schedule.

“…”

Park Seungwoo turned his head and thanked the new guy with a hand gesture before quickly checking his schedule.

“Yes, this is…”

Yoo-hyun just watched him with a gentle smile.

“Phew…”

After hanging up the phone and getting up, Kim Younggil next to him glanced at him.

Then he nodded at the new guy and said,

“Park, it seems like the new guy has some sense.”

“Yes? That’s… right?”

It was more than just some sense.

He was quick-witted and handed him exactly what he needed at the right time.

And he picked out only what he needed from the items scattered all over the place.

That was something that even Park Seungwoo himself would take some time to do.

Park Seungwoo was dumbfounded, and Kim Younggil poked his ribs.

“What are you doing? It looks like the game is over. Just hurry up and introduce yourself.”

“Ah, yes. I’m Park Seungwoo. I’ll be Han Yoo-hyun’s mentor for six months.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Han Yoo-hyun.”

Clack.

He grabbed his hand naturally, and Park Seungwoo tilted his head.

It felt like he was shaking hands with a high-ranking executive of a client company, not a new recruit.

He was very polite, but why did he feel this way?

Park Seungwoo’s eyes turned to him naturally.

“Kim, is it normal for him to be so calm?”

“Why would he be nervous? It’s funny that a senior is nervous because a junior came.”

“Haha, is that so? You said your name was Yoo-hyun, right? Let’s go and greet the team leader before he comes.”

Park Seungwoo smiled kindly and pulled Yoo-hyun along.