Real Man

Chapter 48

“They said they would try their best to meet the schedule as much as possible.”

He knew there was no answer to this situation.

And he lacked confidence, so he stuttered.

No matter how bad the situation was, stuttering during a report was fatal.

It would make him look like he didn’t work hard enough.

Jo Chan-young, the executive director, who had been listening quietly, asked.

“What if they fail?”

“We are trying to expedite the schedule of the second supplier in the circuit team.”

“Are you confident?”

“I’ll check on that.”

It was also a problem to hesitate when answering a question.

It would give the impression that he was not prepared enough.

It seemed that Park Seung-woo’s mind was blank.

He couldn’t even say what he had prepared.

Jo Chan-young frowned and asked again.

“So what do you think?”

“I…”

Park Seung-woo had nothing to say.

It was not something he could do alone.

But he couldn’t blame the development team either.

It was this side that proposed the unrealistic schedule in the first place.

‘You can be more selfish.’

Yoo Hyun looked at Park Seung-woo.

But his inner voice didn’t reach Park Seung-woo, who had lost his judgment.

To Yoo Hyun, Park Seung-woo needed to put down the burden on his shoulders.

He was having trouble with the panel company because of a component problem, not a panel problem.

Even if the schedule was messed up, the development department said they would do it.

Strictly speaking, it was the development department’s fault that the schedule was delayed, not the product planning department’s fault.

He had every right to show confidence as someone who managed the schedule.

Jo Chan-young also wanted that.

‘I expected a lot from him because he worked hard…’

Jo Chan-young’s thoughts were similar to Yoo Hyun’s predictions.

He endured a lot today.

No, he gave him a chance because he worked hard.

But the finish was lacking.

How could he do his job without confidence?

Jo Chan-young didn’t care about the pressure that Park Seung-woo felt.

All that mattered to him was whether it worked or not.

And he believed that the will of the project leader was important for that.

Jo Chan-young asked impatiently.

“Is it done or not?”

“It’s done.”

“Then? Why is it so hard to say you can do it?”

“It’s not that…”

Park Seung-woo’s hesitant answer made Oh Jae-hwan, the team leader, grimace.

Lee Kyung-hoon, the director, also skillfully backed off when Jo Chan-young spoke.

They both sensed that Jo Chan-young’s shouting would soon erupt from his distorted expression.

But then,

“Cough cough.”

Yoo Hyun suddenly coughed as if he had something stuck in his throat.

It wasn’t just a passing cough, but a severe one that broke the atmosphere of the meeting and drew everyone’s attention to him.

Even Jo Chan-young’s voice was full of concern.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry. I think something got stuck in my throat.”

“How about now?”

“I’m fine now. I’m really sorry for ruining the important mood.”

“No, no. It’s over anyway.”

As he spoke, Jo Chan-young’s expression softened.

He was heated up, but suddenly cooled down.

Jo Chan-young sighed briefly and looked at Park Seung-woo.

“Anything else?”

“No, no.”

“Okay. Good job.”

“Thank you.”

Park Seung-woo sighed with relief at the smooth end of the report, but Yoo Hyun knew it was just the beginning.

He didn’t go through all this just to end the report well.

The important thing was directionality.

If he couldn’t prevent the failure of PDA, he had to plant another possibility in him.

It was at that moment when a brief silence fell after the report ended.

“Ahem.”

Yoo Hyun gathered attention with a small cough.

His upper body leaned toward Jo Chan-young, and his eyes were fixed on his forehead.

With the same posture as yesterday’s interview, Jo Chan-young naturally asked him a question.

“How is it? Did you understand some of it?”

“I didn’t understand everything, but I thought it was a really difficult project.”

“It’s not an easy project. Yeah.”

“And…”

“Do you have something to say?”

Yoo Hyun quickly threw out a hook as soon as Jo Chan-young finished speaking.

He had to catch his interest more here.

“It reminded me of a case I heard during new employee training. It was interesting.”

“Yeah? What was similar?”

“It was a case of lithium-ion battery delivery. They developed a difficult technology to meet the deadline for electric cars. The development was successful, but…”

“But, what?”

Jo Chan-young showed curiosity as Yoo Hyun dragged on.

It was an opportunity.

Yoo Hyun boldly continued.

“Other components were not supplied properly, so the electric car development failed.”

“Hmm.”

“They failed to develop electric cars, so the battery project also failed.”

It was actually a case in the casebook.

It was a story of success in developing a difficult technology.

“Electric car development failed…”

Jo Chan-young, who had a lot of interest in new technologies, seemed to think about it several times.

“Yoo Hyun.”

Oh Jae-hwan, the team leader, who misunderstood his intention, called him in a low voice and frowned.

He had no sense.

There was a reason why people didn’t get recognized.

“I’m sorry. I think I said something irrelevant.”

“No, you can see it that way. But you have to know that if you don’t challenge yourself because it’s hard and scary, you won’t get anything either.”

Jo Chan-young suddenly interrupted and Oh Jae-hwan quickly backed off.

“That’s a good point.”

“Hmm.”

Lee Kyung-hoon, the director, crossed his arms and nodded reluctantly.

He couldn’t deny it.

Sometimes things don’t work out even if you try hard.

It wouldn’t matter if it only failed, but the problem was that it affected other people.

Yoo Hyun glanced at Park Seung-woo, who was rolling his eyes, and bowed his head to Jo Chan-young, the executive director.

“I’ll keep that in mind, sir. I was too curious and didn’t think deeply. I’ll be more careful in the future.”

“What can I say? It’s not a rigid place here. Don’t hold back if you have any questions. This is the time for new employees to ask, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I do. But I might be wrong…”

“Hey, don’t be afraid and ask. Haha. So, what is it?”

Yoo Hyun straightened his posture and put aside his awkwardness as a new employee.

He had to go for it.

He couldn’t miss this opportunity that Jo Chan-young had given him.

“The pre-order volume is quite large, but I wonder if other components can be made on time besides the LCD panel. The specs of HPDA3 are so innovative.”

“Yoo Hyun, that’s not our concern. We already secured the initial supply.”

Yoo Hyun quickly responded to Oh Jae-hwan, the team leader’s advice.

“I’m sorry, team leader. I have a lot of interest in IT and I’ve heard some things, but I don’t have enough work experience to think that far.”

“Oh team leader, let’s just listen.”

Jo Chan-young stopped Oh Jae-hwan and looked at Yoo Hyun.

It was a project that he pushed for himself, but now he was in charge of it.

No one had ever talked about other components in his project.

He was more curious than angry at the unexpected story of the new employee.

The meeting time was already over, but Jo Chan-young wanted to hear more from Yoo Hyun.

“Go ahead and continue.”

“I saw a related article on the internet a while ago. It’s also the first time to commercialize a 1.5-inch ODD (optical disc drive). And they said they would exclusively supply Intel’s CPU, which has no mobile experience.”

“…”

It was a general story that had already been reported in the news.

But it wasn’t something that an LCD panel company would be interested in.

Unless it was just about other components.

Yoo Hyun paused for a moment and then resumed.

“And Microsoft is also making a new mobile OS for the first time to supply the OS. It was amazing that all these things were combined and the schedule was met.”

“Amazing…”

He had probably read enough between the lines by now, but Yoo Hyun decided to make sure.

“The LCD panel is hard enough to make on time because of the new touch component we’re getting for the first time, but HPDA3 has all new components.”

A perspective that aimed not only at the panel he supplied, but also at the final product.

It was a perspective that an executive who led a project should have.

And he even checked the status of other companies’ components?

It was plausible enough that Jo Chan-young thought he needed to check with the sales team once.

But he couldn’t show it.

“It’s a good opinion, but you won’t be able to focus on our work if you think too much about this and that.”

“Yeah. We just have to do our job.”

Jo Chan-young glanced at Oh Jae-hwan who intervened.

He quickly turned his head back to Yoo Hyun, but Yoo Hyun didn’t miss his change of gaze.

It was a look that seemed to scold Oh Jae-hwan for not understanding this much.

Lee Kyung-hoon, the director, hid his expression and nodded.

It was a project that he had initiated, but now Jo Chan-young was in charge of it.

He wasn’t so stubborn as to stake his pride on an unconfirmed question from a newbie.

He probably thought ‘How dare this newbie say such an opinion?’

Lee Kyung-hoon was much more conservative than Jo Chan-young, as Yoo Hyun knew him.

Yoo Hyun didn’t care.

The important thing was Jo Chan-young’s reaction.

And he seemed to understand enough.

That was enough.

Now it was time to pass the ball.

“Yes. You must have thought of everything already, sir. I’m sorry for being out of line.”

“No, it was fresh. Park, you need to be prepared for any possible problems. Backup is always important, isn’t it? Haha.”

“Yes? Yes. I understand.”

What would Park Seung-woo think when he heard the word backup?

Would he be discouraged by the fact that there was more trouble?

Or would he be determined to prepare for any contingency?

Yoo Hyun read the traces of his dilemma on his face, which was still bowed.

He didn’t know what he was thinking, but he hoped he knew this for sure.

It’s not enough to make a good LCD panel for the project to succeed.

Even if he raised the panel yield to 90% within the period as planned, it doesn’t mean that the success rate of PDA is 90%.

He had to check the other components that make up the product, and the success rate of the product as a whole.

If you look at it that way, even if you set it high, the success rate of the product is less than 50%.

Is it right to go all-in on a strategy with such a low probability?

In fact, HPDA3, which everyone believes will succeed, will fail completely.

Park Seung-woo’s career started to go downhill from this point.

He couldn’t leave it alone.

He wanted to blame the person in charge who made such a ridiculous decision, and the team leaders who made him do it, but he couldn’t do that forever.

Right now, the experts in this industry who predict failure because the iPhone, which was released two months ago, didn’t sell well.

No one can foresee that Nokia, which accounts for 50% of the mobile phone market, will fall into hell from next year due to Apple, which has just stepped into the mobile phone industry.

What would they say if he said this here?

Would they praise him for being great?

Or would they call him crazy?

Knowing the future doesn’t mean he can change everything.

And above all, he didn’t want to be the one to do that.

The meeting ended like that.