Real Man

Chapter 34

The team was divided into three parts, and Yoo-hyun was in the third part.

“This is the new employee…”

“Nice to meet you.”

Yoo-hyun greeted them with a confident voice.

He started with Kim Young-gil, the assistant manager of the third part, and introduced himself to the rest of the members. 

Then he went around to the other parts and said hello.

They were mostly people he remembered, since they were in the same team.

But there was one person who stood out in his memory.

It was Shin Chan-yong, the section chief of the next part.

His desk was always neat and tidy.

He wore an expensive brand suit, had a well-built body, and wore angular glasses that accentuated his sharp eyes.

He looked like someone who could handle any work efficiently.

He knew how to present himself well.

But that was all he knew how to do.

Behind his mask, he only had a parasitic nature that fed on the achievements of his juniors.

Because of him, Park Seung-woo, the assistant manager, had to quit, and Kim Young-gil, the other assistant manager, was demoted.

Don’t make me laugh.

Yoo-hyun’s eyes flashed for a moment.

He was not the naive rookie he was twenty years ago.

He would never let anyone take what he had in front of him.

He would stop them and pay them back double.

No matter who they were.

Yoo-hyun smiled lightly at Shin Chan-yong’s eyes.

Then his snake-like eyes narrowed and his lips curled up.

He was different from the other new employees who bowed their heads and acted humble.

“You’re bold. Let’s see how you do under Park.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll take good care of him.”

Before Yoo-hyun could answer, Park Seung-woo cut in.

“You’ve grown a lot, Park?”

“Ah, yes.”

Shin Chan-yong chuckled with one corner of his mouth raised, and Park Seung-woo flinched.

They didn’t seem to have a good relationship.

‘Of course not.’

They were incompatible styles from the start.

And with their different ranks, Park Seung-woo always got pushed around by Shin Chan-yong.

Yoo-hyun calmly observed their expressions.

Park Seung-woo took him to the indoor resting room on the tenth floor during his free time.

He seemed to like Yoo-hyun a lot, as he kept talking while they moved.

He even became comfortable enough to talk casually.

“So, you see…”

“I see.”

He talked non-stop, which could have been tiring, but Yoo-hyun enjoyed spending time with him.

His pointless jokes, his pretentious airs, they all felt sincere to him.

Maybe it was because he didn’t try to please him like he did in the past. 

He felt relaxed and at ease.

Maybe that’s why?

He could see his surroundings while talking.

The cleaning lady who cleaned up his seat earlier was also in charge of the tenth floor.

She was trying to replace the empty water bottle on the water dispenser.

It looked heavy just by looking at it.

‘Huh?’

That’s when it happened.

She slipped her hand for a moment, and her balance was breaking down.

Crash.

Yoo-hyun reacted in an instant.

He got up from his seat and quickly moved to catch her falling body with one hand, and grabbed the dropping water bottle with the other hand.

“Are you okay?”

“Thank you so much.”

“Don’t mention it. I’ll change the water bottle for you.”

Yoo-hyun casually took out a new water bottle from the storage cabinet next to him and put it on the water dispenser.

Everyone’s eyes were on him because of what happened in a blink of an eye.

The cleaning lady looked flustered and said,

“You didn’t have to do that…”

“Ha ha, don’t worry about it.”

Yoo-hyun smiled brightly.

He didn’t do it to be nice.

He just acted because he saw it happen.

It was just a result of paying more attention to his surroundings than before.

When he came back and sat down, Park Seung-woo looked stunned.

“You’re very quick. But how did you know there was a water bottle in there?”

“I just guessed it would be there.”

“Really? Why didn’t I know that?”

Park Seung-woo muttered to himself with self-mockery.

Was it because the cleaning lady took out an empty water bottle for show?

It was obvious that she was going to get a new one, and there was a storage cabinet next to the water dispenser that could fit exactly six water bottles.

This was not something that was hard to notice, even without being observant.

Yoo-hyun simply concluded.

Park Seung-woo just lacked common sense.

He talked a lot until his vending machine coffee got cold.

“There’s a lot of work, but don’t worry. Oh, don’t get me wrong. It’s not that bad.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Everyone is nice here. There’s no team like this one.”

“Ah, yes.”

He looked cautious when he talked about the team or the work.

He seemed to be worried that the new employee he got would leave.

‘If I was going to do that, I wouldn’t have come here in the first place.’

Yoo-hyun smiled quietly, and Park Seung-woo raised his voice.

“And! You don’t need to work overtime as a newbie.”

“Really?”

“You can leave on time. Don’t worry. I’ll cover for you.”

He was bluffing, as he couldn’t do that even if he wanted to.

But Yoo-hyun knew that he meant it.

“Thank you.”

“What, there’s nothing to thank me for. But you have to do your work well. Don’t worry. I’ll teach you everything.”

“Yes, of course.”

“Ah, where did we stop? Right. First, you need to know exactly what the product planning team’s position is. Our company is B2B, right? You know that?”

“Yes.”

Yoo-hyun nodded, and Park Seung-woo spat out his words with saliva flying.

He didn’t need to listen to know what he was going to say next.

‘He’ll start from what kind of company this is.’

“We are a company that sells LCD panels to mobile phone companies and such. That’s how we make a living. But you know…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Yoo-hyun’s inner voice interrupted him.

‘Introduce me to your team.’

“Of course, the sales team has to meet with the clients and negotiate the supply volume and price, but they need to know what kind of product we are making first. You get it?”

“Yes.”

“It’s the same for marketing. They need to have a clear concept of what product we are launching before they can do their marketing. And that’s what our product planning team does.”

“Oh, I see.”

From Yoo-hyun’s perspective, this was a boring story that he had heard many times before. 

He was barely holding back a yawn.

But he couldn’t ignore his senior who was talking passionately.

He had to.

“That’s why we are the ones who predict the future and plan products that match the trends.”

“Wow, that’s really important.”

Yoo-hyun even clapped his hands lightly to show his reaction.

Deputy Park Seung Woo was pleased and continued his speech.

“Right. Of course, we have to be realistic, so we also control the development department. That means we are at the center of marketing and R&D. Did you learn this too?”

“No.”

Of course, he had learned all this during his job training, but he didn’t bother to reveal it.

He wanted to hear how he thought of his team.

“Our team is…”

As expected, Deputy Park Seung Woo was enthusiastic.

He also showed glimpses of his love for his team.

But unfortunately, the current product planning team was not as central and proactive as Deputy Park Seung Woo said.

Rather, they were pushed around by sales and marketing, and they got all the blame from R&D.

They were in a miserable situation.

They were nice people and they worked hard, but things didn’t go well.

Especially the third part that Yoo-hyun belonged to.

It was something that Yoo-hyun really wanted to fix.

Deputy Park Seung Woo was still talking loudly.

“Hehe, don’t worry. I’ll take good care of you.”

“I trust you.”

“Yeah, trust me.”

Yoo-hyun looked at Deputy Park Seung Woo who was smiling and pounding his chest, and smiled along.

Then he took a sip of his coffee.

The vending machine coffee tasted pretty good after a long time.

Just as Deputy Park Seung Woo was about to say something again, Yoo-hyun cut him off.

“Deputy Park, it’s been 50 minutes.”

If he interrupted him while he was talking, he might feel offended, but if he cut in before he opened his mouth, it would seem like a natural part of the conversation.

Deputy Park Seung Woo scratched his head and got up.

“Oh, already? Let’s go back. Get up.”

“Yes.”

“Kid. You got a good mentor.”

He said something that was hard to say with his own mouth.

You got a good mentee.

Yoo-hyun didn’t say it out loud.

When they came back to the office, there were people sitting at the conference table next to the team leader’s seat.

It was Team Leader Oh Jae Hwan and the part leaders.

Deputy Park Seung Woo who saw them from behind the partition whispered to Yoo-hyun.

“Another meeting. I wonder when it will end.”

“Does it take long?”

“Yeah. Our team leader is famous for having long meetings. You see him. That guy.”

Deputy Park Seung Woo pointed at a curly-haired man.

It was Team Leader Oh Jae Hwan.

His bent back and hunched shoulders, his eyes moving left and right nervously showed his indecisive personality.

Yoo-hyun didn’t need to hear him talk to know why he was having another meeting.

It was the result of him not being able to make a proper decision.

As expected, the meeting content was as Yoo-hyun had guessed.

Team Leader Oh Jae Hwan looked at the TV screen with several options and shook his head.

“Is there no other way?”

“Team Leader, we barely have enough time to prepare these. Why don’t you just go with one of them?”

And the part leaders unanimously voiced their opinions.

“If we keep this up, we’ll get scolded by our supervisor again…”

“Then why don’t you ask him?”

“No way. We have to prepare first.”

This process repeated several times.

They couldn’t make a decision, so the meeting content just went round and round like a hamster wheel.

Would this ever end?

Deputy Park Seung Woo also thought this was ridiculous and whispered to Yoo-hyun again.

“Should we just greet him later?”

“Yes. Let’s do that.”

Yoo-hyun agreed neatly.

That’s when it happened.

Team Leader Oh Jae Hwan turned his head and met Deputy Park Seung Woo’s eyes, who said with a flustered face.

“Uh, Team Leader. The new hire…”

“The new hire?”

“To introduce…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Team Leader Oh Jae Hwan’s eyes widened like lanterns.

He quickly got up from his seat and adjusted his clothes.

There was only one person who could make him so startled.

Sure enough.

He followed his gaze and saw a man walking confidently.

A short man with a protruding belly, walking with a swagger, he looked angry.

He was Jo Chan Young, the supervisor in charge of mobile sales and marketing.

As soon as he entered the office, the atmosphere sank.

“Te, Supervisor.”

Before Team Leader Oh Jae Hwan could bow his head, Supervisor Jo Chan Young shouted.

“Team Leader Oh! The more I think about it, the angrier I get.”

“Yes?”

“So? You can’t do the PDA? Should I fire you? Just say you can’t do it and quit?”

“No, no, Supervisor.”

Supervisor Jo Chan Young continued to pour out his anger at Team Leader Oh Jae Hwan.

“Then why did you make such a crappy report? Is that okay? No?”

“Ok, okay.”

“There’s no one useful here. No one useful!”

Supervisor Jo Chan Young snorted and looked around with his bulging eyes.

The people who were staring blankly quickly went back to their work.