Real Man

“Right. How did you know?”

“I can tell by looking. But I bet Chief Jang was very nice to you.”

“He liked me as a younger sibling. He was a bit tough, but anyway. So?”

“Don’t you get it by now? People are jealous and envious of you.”

“Oh… So that’s why they kept asking me about my old college?”

Han Jae-hee rolled his eyes and brought up what could be his weak point.

His alma mater was not very impressive compared to his other qualifications.

Considering the atmosphere in the design center, it was enough to be a factor of discrimination.

“That’s right. They want to find something to criticize you for.”

“Now that I think about it, they did seem to gang up on me. I ignored it, but they also kept glancing at me.”

“They’ll also spread bad rumors about you. That’s why they don’t give you any work.”

Yoo-hyun added another comment, and Han Jae-hee praised him.

“As expected. You have a lot of experience in social life.”

“What’s going on? Keep flattering me.”

“Just give me some answers. What should I do?”

The design center had many female employees, and it was a different field of expertise.

He didn’t know much about it, so he would have given a very standard answer normally, but not this time.

Yoo-hyun thought of the recent situation where Jung Hyun-woo, a low-ranking employee, was gaining a foothold in the organization, and gave his own advice.

“In my opinion, you should approach them first. And…”

“Okay. And? Keep talking.”

“Are you sure you want to hear it?”

“This is not the time to be picky about hot or cold water. Tell me more specifically.”

Han Jae-hee leaned forward in front of Yoo-hyun, as if he thought it was his weak point.

He must have been very frustrated by his older brother’s words, since he was willing to listen to him.

He could feel his sincerity from his eyes, so Yoo-hyun opened his mouth without hesitation.

“What you should do is…”

He then gave some concrete suggestions that suited Han Jae-hee’s situation.

The content was not at all compatible with Han Jae-hee’s dream of being a confident career woman.

It was something that required a lot of sacrifice of his pride.

Yoo-hyun thought that Han Jae-hee would shake his head, but he didn’t.

He rather showed a strong determination.

“Okay. I’ll try it and ask for a second opinion later.”

“Are you really going to do it?”

“Of course. I can’t live like this. It’s too frustrating.”

“Good. I’ll give you up to ten opinions since I made your logo for free.”

“Let’s see if the first one works first.”

This part was also curious to Yoo-hyun.

Would his advice work well in a completely different environment?

He ran a simulation in his head as Han Jae-hee filled his glass.

Thud.

He then put down the bottle and declared coolly.

“If this works out, I’ll grant you one wish.”

“Deal. Really?”

“Sure. I never go back on my word. But you know what if it doesn’t, right?”

He already had something to ask Han Jae-hee soon.

It was a very timely offer, so Yoo-hyun agreed readily.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure it works. Come on, cheers.”

He held out his glass with a very confident expression.

While Yoo-hyun stepped back, the group strategy room moved quickly.

They sent an audit to the innovation strategy room under the pretext of reviewing the suitability of the Shinwa Semiconductor acquisition, and tried to block the acquisition itself by contacting Shinwa Semiconductor directly.

Chief Park Seung-woo did a good job of defending, but the other side had more people.

They used the media to spread negative rumors, and also moved other companies to block Chief Park Seung-woo’s plan.

It was hard for Vice President Shin Kyung-wook to help him from behind, as the attacks were simultaneous.

Yoo-hyun was able to hear the details of this through Deputy Manager Park Doo-sik.

He sat at his desk in the office and heard his voice over the phone.

-The group strategy room guys seem to have contacted Micron. They probably tried to prevent them from falling out.

“I see.”

-They seem to know everything about the plan. To be honest, I didn’t expect them to be so persistent.

Deputy Manager Park Doo-sik didn’t know, but Yoo-hyun had some idea of Director Lee Joon-il’s actions.

He checked the necessary parts and changed the topic.

“How is SG Bio doing?”

-They are having a meeting to officially push for the acquisition of SG Bio at the group’s main executive meeting. They are blocking our contact and having a meeting.

“They must have cut off the line we planted in Han Sung Life Science.”

-Right. So we are trying to use a consulting firm to reveal the negative aspects of acquiring SG Bio.

“It will be buried when Representative Heo Jeong-ro campaigns. The interest in bio will increase.”

If the media war was added to this, it was possible to drive the internal atmosphere with the SG Bio acquisition.

They had to stop it, but the innovation strategy room belonged to Han Sung Electronics.

They didn’t have the authority to access what was happening in the group.

-If only we could reveal that Director Shin Kyung-soo is the real owner of SG Bio.

“Please keep investigating that. I’ll look into it too.”

Deputy Manager Park Doo-sik mentioned a possible way out, but it was also a difficult task.

Shin Kyung-soo had prepared thoroughly in the US, and it was not easy to break through his scheme.

It might seem like the innovation strategy room was being pushed back unilaterally.

Director Lee Joon-il’s offensive was very strong, after reorganizing the data.

But the initiative was still in the hands of the innovation strategy room.

Thanks to Vice President Shin Kyung-wook, who had set up the board preemptively.

Since the situation was like this, Director Lee Joon-il had to run around frantically to make up for it.

He had no time to spare.

Therefore, he didn’t even pay attention to what was happening behind him.

This was shown by the content that came out of Deputy Manager Park Doo-sik’s mouth.

-Okay. Did you hear about the progress in Russia?

“Is there any update today?”

-Yeah. Some people from the group strategy room went to Russia. Song Hyun-seung Director and Ji Won-ho Deputy Manager. They are both the people you mentioned, right?

“Yes. That’s right.”

-Only two of them came. Maybe there’s something fishy going on that they have to come like this?

Director Song Hyun-seung had something that shocked him enough to fly away.

The trigger was the recent move of Executive Director Yeo Tae-sik.

Yoo-hyun, who was pondering Director Song Hyun-seung’s movement, nodded his head.

“That’s probably it. And Director Lee Joon-il won’t be able to pay attention to it.”

-Then did you make a hole as you said?

“Yes. It’s time to make a move.”

-Then what are you going to do?

“What do you mean?”

-You said you’re not going to fight head-on, but hit them from behind. You need a link for that, don’t you?

Executive Director Yeo Tae-sik, who flew to Russia, had prepared for the bomb to explode, but he was not the one who lit the fuse.

It was someone else, and he needed a way to approach him.

Yoo-hyun had already finished planning for this part.

“They made a situation for us in the group strategy room a while ago.”

-What do you mean by that?

“It’s a long story. I’ll send you a summary.”

Yoo-hyun said that and looked at the conference table.

There was Deputy Manager Kwon Se-jung, who was explaining the data on the TV screen.

He ended the call and sat down in an empty seat at the conference table, and listened carefully.

“Han Sung Electronics is planning to make virtual reality devices, VR, and augmented reality devices, AR, and they want to use semiconductor displays for them…”

Jung Hyun-woo raised his hand as he listened to Deputy Manager Kwon Se-jung’s explanation.

“Brother, what’s the difference between VR and AR?”

“VR is when you wear something on your head like HMD, and AR is when you overlay something on the real screen like a phone app.”

“Oh, I see. Google Smart Glasses are AR then.”

“Right. Anyway, they are quite aggressive. I thought they just requested a simple technical meeting, but they also increased the items they wanted. Now they want us to report as well.”

Why did Han Sung Electronics suddenly increase their demands?

This was surprisingly related to Director Lee Joon-il’s move to neutralize the innovation strategy room.

Yoo-hyun gave an answer to the puzzled Deputy Manager Kwon Se-jung.

“Maybe the group strategy room intervened.”

“What? Why would the group strategy room do that?”

“They want to get involved in Han Sung Electronics’ business strategy. This part is something that the innovation strategy room doesn’t participate in.”

“They are trying to narrow down the innovation strategy room’s position by paying attention to this kind of thing?”

“They are meticulous people.”

“Really. But Yoo-hyun, you seem to have anticipated it somehow?”

“Somewhat.”

Yoo-hyun knew the people in the group strategy room, and also accurately grasped Director Lee Joon-il’s actions.

It was not a difficult task to predict how the organizational structure would change according to the situation.

Besides, he had confirmed it through Deputy Manager Shin Nak-kyun a while ago.

-We don’t get involved in the electronic business strategy in our strategy department. We are too busy with our own projects. I think the human resources support department took care of that.

As expected, things were moving as he wanted.

Yoo-hyun was imagining the future situation in his head.

Deputy Manager Kwon Se-jung asked him abruptly.

“Yoo-hyun, are you going to attend the meeting this time?”

“Of course. I think the group leader will have to attend too.”

“I heard that the promotion department contacted us directly.”

“Yeah. And let’s just go with the two of us for the TF.”

“Just the two of us?”

“Yeah. Jun-sik and Hyun-woo, please check the mass production of the items that Deputy Manager Kwon will report. Whether it’s possible with OLED, and if so, the price comparison too.”

Yoo-hyun gave the order and Jang Jun-sik bowed his head and got up from his seat.

“Yes. I’ll go to the strategic product planning department right away and check it out.”

“I’ll go with Jun-sik.”

Jung Hyun-woo followed Jang Jun-sik naturally.

The two of them walking side by side looked very close.

Yoo-hyun recalled the past days when he tried hard to get closer to Jang Jun-sik and muttered.

“It would be nice if Jae-hee was like Hyun-woo.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing. Just. You two look close.”

“They hang out well even when you’re not around. Look. The grass dolls are also stuck together.”

As Deputy Manager Kwon Se-jung said, the doll of Jung Hyun-woo, who had just moved in recently, was standing next to Jang Jun-sik’s doll.

The two dolls, one with a smiling expression and the other with a stiff expression, looked very contrasting but also harmonious.

They looked just like Jung Hyun-woo and Jang Jun-sik, who were peers and seniors.

Yoo-hyun smiled faintly as he looked at the dolls that had settled in their places.

“It’s a good thing.”

“Hyun-woo has a nice personality. The problem is that he picks up and drops people.”

“Haha. He does have that side.”

Deputy Manager Kwon Se-jung cautiously brought up a topic to Yoo-hyun, who agreed with a shrug.

“Yoo-hyun, but you know.”

“What?”

“If it’s as you say, someone from the group strategy room will come to the meeting, right?”

“Right. Maybe someone high up will come.”

“Are you okay with that?”

Yoo-hyun had not visited Han Sung Tower to avoid Director Lee Joon-il’s radar.

So meeting the group strategy room staff was something he had to be more careful about.

He understood Deputy Manager Kwon Se-jung’s intention belatedly and chuckled.

“Of course. I’m fine. There’s someone I really wanted to see.”

“Someone you wanted to see? Were you close?”

“Well, someone I’m going to get closer to.”

Someone he wanted to see and get closer to. It was Executive Director Joo Jae-oh, who was in charge of human resources support.

He was also the person who would blow up the bomb from Russia.

He looked at Yoo-hyun’s pleasant smile and sighed in relief.

“That’s good. I was worried when I heard what you said earlier. I thought that’s why we were only going with the two of us.”

“We’re only going with the two of us for a similar reason. It’s less likely to make mistakes with fewer people.”

“I guess so.”

“Maybe a lot of high-ranking people will come. You’ll have to report there. Maybe I won’t be able to help you.”

Yoo-hyun asked him to do so, and Deputy Manager Kwon Se-jung said in a confident voice.

“That’s nothing. I can do it anytime.”

“Confident, huh?”

“Wait and see. I’ll show them our company’s presence at this report.”

“Our company’s presence?”

“Yeah. We split off, but they still treat us like a business unit. We have to show them we’re different.”

What was he going to do and how?

‘Ah.’

Yoo-hyun had a fun idea and gestured to Deputy Manager Kwon Se-jung.

“Se-jung, come here.”

“Why?”

“To show them our presence…”

“Okay? I got it. Just trust me.”

Deputy Manager Kwon Se-jung was fired up after hearing Yoo-hyun’s plan.