Real Man

Translator: MarcTempest

Chapter 53

He felt a pang of jealousy towards Yoo-hyun, but Park Young Hoon was not a petty person.

He was just envious of him.

Rather, he was proud of himself for discovering Yoo-hyun’s talent.

“But are you really working at Hansung Electronics?”

“Probably.”

“How do you get off work so early? That place is supposed to be super strict.”

There was no need to explain his curiosity.

“People are the same everywhere.”

“Come on, the LCD division has a bad reputation. They say it’s like a coal mine. Heh heh.”

“What do new employees have to do so much?”

“Well, these days, newbies don’t care as much as they used to. I guess Hansung is like that too.”

“Similar.”

Yoo-hyun gave a vague answer.

There was no such thing as a newbie who didn’t care.

He had to stay late and learn something to keep up and be recognized.

But he couldn’t devote himself to work alone.

He could never be happy if he gave up his personal life.

In the end, balance was important.

If the company didn’t provide that, Yoo-hyun planned to create it himself.

It was also a choice he could make because he had no great attachment to meaningless success.

As he thought, Park Young Hoon’s voice came in.

“Hey, are you thinking about work again?”

“Yeah.”

“You seem to enjoy your company. You smile whenever you talk about work.”

“What’s not to enjoy?”

Park Young Hoon raised his eyebrows at Yoo-hyun’s indifferent answer.

“Geez, you’re weird. I hate going to work. I’m still the youngest in our department. They make me do everything. Damn it.”

“What’s wrong with being the youngest? Come on, have a drink.”

Yoo-hyun pushed a glass and smiled faintly.

Starting over at a new company.

He was the lowest-ranked and powerless newbie, but he learned the value of a mentor and the warmth of his colleagues.

In the process, he found joy in finding what he had missed in the past.

They talked a lot until the beer glasses were emptied several times.

Most of it was his work story, and Yoo-hyun reflected on himself in it.

“My boss is a jerk. He doesn’t do any work, or he brings in some weird projects and makes people angry. It’s killing me.”

“That’s tough.”

Listening to Park Young Hoon’s story about his boss, he pictured Kim Hyun Min, his manager.

“There are so many psychos in our company. They really treat people like dirt.”

“Spray some medicine.”

“Do you have any medicine now?”

Park Young Hoon glared at him, but Yoo-hyun didn’t nod.

Actually, when he mentioned psychos, he thought of Go Jae Yoon, his Assistant Manager.

He had talked with him for quite a long time today.

He thought he had enough drinks, but Park Young Hoon seemed not.

“Burp. Hey, trust me with your investment. I may look like this, but I’m an expert in Jongno…”

“I know. I know. I’ll put some money in your fund.”

“Pfft. I’m not forcing you. My performance and reputation have nothing to do with it. Gold? Dollar? They’re not very popular, but if you really want it, I’ll do it for you. I just mean don’t waste your money. Burp.”

“I get it.”

Yoo-hyun shook his head.

Geez, drink within your limit.

He kept repeating the same thing over and over again after drinking a bit.

Park Young Hoon worked at a comprehensive financial company that traded everything from stock funds to foreign exchange, futures, and bonds.

He was a fund manager there.

It was natural for him to recommend investing to Yoo-hyun.

His fund returns were good lately.

The China fund jumped 50% in three months.

But the higher the mountain, the deeper the valley.

That period didn’t last long.

As they talked, Park Young Hoon slammed his head on the table.

“Hmm.”

“…”

It was time to end this meeting.

Yoo-hyun tapped on Park Young Hoon’s back and woke him up.

“Get a grip. Let’s go.”

“Huh? Bro… You’re not even up yet… Why are you trying to get up?”

“What kind of situation is this?”

He rolled his eyes at the zombie-like revival of him.

Suddenly, Park Young Hoon saw something and jumped up.

“Oh! Boss!”

‘Damn.’

When he turned around, he saw the gym owner and his colleagues coming in droves.

Yoo-hyun swallowed his tongue for a moment.

‘Don’t wear gym clothes…’

Not just gym clothes.

The sleeveless T-shirt that showed off their bulging muscles had the words ‘Number One Mixed Martial Arts’ on the back.

It was an outfit that anyone would notice.

The gym owner’s face was red as if he had a drink too.

“Ooh! Our Young Hoon! Oh? Our star Yoo-hyun!”

The other seniors were the same.

They shouted at the bar to leave and crawled into the next seat.

“Nice to see you! Our brother!”

“Oh, nice to meet you!”

“Yoo-hyun, are you happy to see us?”

“Yes, of course. Haha.”

He was happy.

He was happy, but.

When will this end?

He had just put out the fire, but it flared up again.

It seemed like this heat would last until dawn.

“Sigh.”

Yoo-hyun put his hand on his forehead and sighed secretly.

At the same time.

Go Jae Yoon, the Assistant Manager, was on his way back from having a drink with his college friends who had gathered unexpectedly.

One of his close friends accompanied him.

“Did something bad happen? You’ve looked unhappy since earlier?”

Of course he was unhappy.

The guy who got promoted to manager, the guy who moved to a foreign company, the guy who started a business and became a boss.

They all said they would pay for the drinks because they were doing well.

Huh, right.

Like they don’t have money.

He felt sick seeing the guys who didn’t do well in school doing better than him.

“It’s not work. It’s just like that. Come here. I’ll buy you a second round.”

“Here? It’s just a pub.”

“The beer here is good. If you want to go somewhere else, go ahead.”

“Well, if you’re okay with it, let’s go.”

Go Jae Yoon, the Assistant Manager, glanced at his friend and silently climbed the stairs.

He felt like his friend’s words were mocking him.

He was already annoyed enough, but there were only people around him who irritated his nerves.

It was all because of that newbie.

If only those guys hadn’t shown up then, he would have taught him a lesson.

‘Wait, did that kid do it on purpose?’

The more he thought about it, the more things seemed strange.

Why were those thugs waiting there?

The conversation reminded him of the feeling that the newbie knew them.

-He seemed to apologize on purpose. He shouted loudly on purpose.

A hypothesis popped into his mind as he recalled Shin Chan Yong, the senior manager’s words.

A staged fight?

Yes, that’s right.

How could an ordinary office worker beat up three thugs?

Go Jae Yoon, the manager, ignored the fact that he was the one who went out first and came to a conclusion.

He was completely fooled by the newbie!

Gritting his teeth, Go Jae Yoon muttered.

“How should I deal with that kid…”

“What?”

“No, let’s go in.”

Go Jae Yoon opened the door of the pub.

“Ha ha ha ha.”

A loud laughter filled the pub.

“What is this?”

He said habitually and a big man in front of him turned around.

He instinctively bowed his head at the threatening look in his eyes.

Go Jae Yoon turned his body and said.

“Hey, it’s a bit noisy here. Should we go somewhere else?”

“No. Why? It’s lively and nice.”

This clueless kid.

The only empty seat was next to a table full of burly men.

That meant he had to keep an eye on them.

They were not just ordinary guys, but they looked like troublemakers for sure.

He could tell by the words on their backs.

Then his friend said with a surprised expression.

“Oh? They’re Number One fighters. There’s Kim Tae Soo too.”

“What?”

“Mixed martial arts fighters. Wow. This place is really cool. Wow!”

Go Jae Yoon swallowed his saliva.

He felt the gaze of the big man he had made eye contact with earlier.

His fist alone could cause at least four weeks of dental treatment.

They were different from the thugs he had seen before in quality.

That’s when it happened.

Between the loud voices, he saw a familiar face.

“Heh heh heh, you got beaten by Yoo-hyun.”

“What about you? You lost a bet to him.”

“This kid is not our star for nothing. Right, boss?”

“Of course. If Yoo-hyun does well, you all have to kneel down to him. Got it?”

“Ha ha ha ha.”

Flinch.

Frozen Go Jae Yoon hid behind the sofa as Yoo-hyun turned his body.

His friend looked puzzled.

“What are you doing? Sit down.”

“No, I can’t.”

“What?”

“I’m going first.”

“Hey? Go Jae Yoon!”

Go Jae Yoon left the pub in a crouching position.

Yoo-hyun turned his head after the door opened.

“Yoo-hyun, what?”

“No, I think I heard it wrong.”

“You’re so cold. Come on, let’s drink!”

Yoo-hyun shrugged and picked up his beer glass again.

Park Young Hoon was already out of it, and some of the gym seniors seemed to have reached their limit too.

The boss would take care of it.

Yoo-hyun decided to relax.

The next day.

“Good morning.”

Yoo-hyun started his day with a cheerful greeting as he arrived at work.

Then Go Jae Yoon, the Assistant Manager who returned after a long vacation, walked by.

He could at least say hello to him.

It was a different matter to keep the basics at work.

“Huh!”

As soon as he saw Yoo-hyun, Go Jae Yoon turned around with a startled expression and started walking in the opposite direction of the bathroom.

Without even putting his bag down on his seat.

“What?”

He felt like he was avoiding him on purpose.

Was it because of what happened at the dinner?

Yoo-hyun didn’t think too much about it.

“It’s better this way.”

He was someone he didn’t want to see anyway.

It was a relief that he sorted it out himself.

As Yoo-hyun was about to sit down, Kim Hyun Min, the leader of his part, greeted him as he passed by.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning to you too.”

Kim Hyun Min, the manager.

He looked more relaxed than anyone else.

Yoo-hyun momentarily recalled his conversation with Park Young Hoon yesterday.

The boss who was a jerk according to him matched exactly with Kim Hyun Min’s image.

Kim Hyun Min always acted like that.

He seemed like he came to work for fun.

-Hey, you don’t have to be so bad. You won’t get fired for that.

He was disappointed by his lack of responsibility in the past.

He was sure that he wouldn’t be able to achieve good results in the third part if he stayed there.

Then one day.

When he was working all night, Kim Hyun Min called him to the break room.

He couldn’t understand why he wanted to go to the break room when the project deadline was right in front of him.

He ran blindly ahead and went to the break room with anger.

There were his colleagues gathered there.

And a cake was on the table.

-Hey, happy birthday. Don’t tell me you forgot it’s your birthday because you’re busy.

What did he say in front of Kim Hyun Min who was laughing and talking?

Yoo-hyun shook his head as he remembered the embarrassing memory.