Real Man

Chapter 62

The story returned to normal after a while.

“You’re good at your job. You read the Executive Director’s mind and prepared only the necessary data.”

“I was lucky.”

“I’ll filter it out for you. Anyway, your major contribution will be helpful in this company since it’s all about people.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Yoo-hyun gave a vague answer.

Kim Hyun Min, the Manager, was already hooked on psychology, so there was no point in explaining anything.

“Haha, don’t feel too pressured. I don’t expect too much from a newbie.”

“Of course.”

“Kid. You have a humble side. Anyway, be nice to Park Seung Woo. He must be out of his mind right now.”

Yoo-hyun knew what he meant.

He didn’t mean to go all in when he said he would do a contest as a backup.

He meant to do the PDA project successfully, prepare other backups, and do the contest as well.

That’s how Jo Chan Young, the Executive Director, must have understood it.

But he still asked him to help Park Seung Woo?

That was Kim Hyun Min’s question.

Yoo-hyun answered confidently.

“Of course.”

He had no intention of leaving Park Seung Woo alone to suffer.

If he did, he wouldn’t have started this in the first place.

Kim Hyun Min smiled as if he felt Yoo-hyun’s determination.

“Haha, I’m looking forward to it. You’ll have to run like crazy.”

“I’m good at running.”

“Haha, kid. You’re good at talking.”

Was it because they shared a secret?

They felt closer than ever before, even though they had been working together for years.

Kim Hyun Min seemed to feel the same way.

There are things you can only see when you get close.

Yoo-hyun saw a positive attitude and a strong will in Kim Hyun Min.

That was enough for him.

‘Thank you.’

Yoo-hyun smiled and Kim Hyun Min put his hand on Yoo-hyun’s shoulder.

“But don’t slack off on the seminar preparation. You know that, right?”

There was a team seminar as a mandatory course during the OJT training.

It was a task where they had to choose a specific topic and present it in front of their team members and supervisors, and they had to get recognition there to start their real work.

That was the rule of the mobile sales marketing team.

“Of course. Expect a lot from me.”

“One answer is amazing. Oh, and you know my style, but don’t stay at the company and work for nothing.”

He didn’t plan to do that anyway.

At times like this, he felt that he and Kim Hyun Min were on the same page.

“I understand.”

“Go out with your colleagues and have some fun.”

He already had a meeting with his colleagues planned.

Did he know that too?

As Yoo-hyun was about to answer, Kim Hyun Min cut him off.

“What? Is it already this late? Anyway, I talk a lot of nonsense in front of you.”

“I enjoyed it. Thank you.”

“I should thank you. Let’s do well this time.”

Yoo-hyun shook Kim Hyun Min’s hand.

It was the moment when two people who had walked different paths finally took their first step towards the same direction.

That evening.

The meeting with his colleagues was in full swing at World Beer House near the company.

“Oh! Yoo-hyun is here!”

“How have you been?”

“Of course. You all look great.”

Yoo-hyun greeted his colleagues who welcomed him and sat down.

It was a meeting of his colleagues who worked at Hanseong Tower.

There were three people from the mobile sales marketing team where Yoo-hyun belonged, as well as people from TV, IT group and staff departments.

The attendance rate was quite high since it was their first meeting.

“It’s nice to see you all. Choose whatever beer you want.”

“Hey, don’t talk like you’re buying it.”

“Can’t I say anything? Yoo-hyun, this one and this one are good.”

“Thank you. I’ll have this one.”

Yoo-hyun picked up a bottle of beer and looked at his colleagues gathered around him.

The noisy atmosphere was very pleasant.

‘It’s new.’

He felt that way for a reason.

In the past, Yoo-hyun never attended any meetings with his colleagues, using his busy schedule as an excuse.

He thought these meetings were unnecessary and didn’t help him succeed.

His colleagues were nothing more than competitors he had to step on and pass by.

It was a really narrow-minded and stupid thing to say.

He received a lot of help from his colleagues whom he had ignored.

-What are you worrying about? I have the data that our group organized. I’ll send it to you.

-Yoo-hyun, you’re a candidate for early promotion. Your English score is a bit weak, so prepare in advance.

-I’ll set the budget for you. It’s okay. It’s a favor from a colleague. You have to respond urgently.

He never went to any meetings, never contacted them first, and never helped them out.

From someone else’s point of view, Yoo-hyun’s attitude of only looking ahead could have been annoying.

But why did they help him?

-Isn’t that what colleagues are for?

Yoo-hyun looked at Seo Chang Woo from the HR team who was sitting across from him.

He was the oldest among the colleagues here, and he often took care of Yoo-hyun.

He even cheered for Yoo-hyun when he moved to Hanseong Group’s strategy office where his boss, Park Doo Sik, was.

Yoo-hyun wondered.

Did Seo Chang Woo survive when the LCD business division split off and reduced its staff?

He didn’t care at all, so he didn’t know what happened.

But he could guess that the staff department’s personnel were the first ones to be cut off.

Yoo-hyun smiled bitterly and Seo Chang Woo asked.

“Why? Is the beer not good?”

“No. It’s good.”

“Haha, right? That’s why I want to have the next meeting here too.”

Then Yoon Jae Il from the general affairs team joined in.

“Brother, why don’t we start a business like this with our money? It seems like it would be very successful.”

Swoosh.

Seo Chang Woo pulled Yoon Jae Il’s ID card that was hanging around his neck and said.

“Stop it. How can you talk about starting a business when you still have your heart in the company?”

“Hey, brother. I went through all that trouble to hang an ID card around my neck, so please give me some credit. Jae Il likes the company a lot.”

“He didn’t bring his bag, so he’s just wearing it!”

Byun Jae Seung from the global HRD team also joined in teasing Yoon Jae Il.

“But you don’t take it off. Kid, you really love the company. Look at your wallet. You have a lot of business cards too, right?”

“Is there anyone here who doesn’t have a business card? Are you not Hansung people?”

He took out his wallet and showed off his business cards instead.

It was his first business card that he received a while ago.

They said that, but they were still at an age where they had a lot of passion.

They had pride in Hansung, having gone through a tough job-hunting process.

Yoo-hyun smiled as he lifted the bottle, looking at his fresh-faced colleagues.

“Come on, let’s have a drink together.”

Clank.

The bottles clinked and the conversation continued.

They had things to talk about, since they were colleagues.

They had entered at the same time and were in the same situation, so they could empathize with each other.

“Getting paid doesn’t amount to much. I spent it all in no time.”

“You at least bought a phone and a bag. I paid off my student loans with all of it. Damn. Debt is the enemy, the enemy.”

“That’s true. But don’t you feel like you can breathe a little when you enter the company? Just think about writing resumes. It makes you suffocate.”

“Yeah, right. At least they pay us. I’m saving up to go on a trip abroad.”

“I’m planning to buy a car first. Don’t you think taking on debt will increase your satisfaction with your work life?”

If Yoo-hyun had been in this position in the past, he would have dismissed these as useless talk.

They were neither helpful for the work nor for the promotion.

He would have thought it was a waste of time.

The same went for the complaints about the company.

“What kind of OJT is this? I really don’t have anything to do. Why did they hire me if they’re going to leave me like this?”

“At least you have a mentor. My mentor quit. And the team leader went to another team.”

“Hyung, I’m always running around buying snacks for meetings. Sometimes I even make coffee myself. Have you ever made 20 cups at once?”

“Haha, I’ve carried 20 takeout coffees before. But that’s better. I don’t even smoke, but I don’t know how many times I go to the smoking room a day.”

“Don’t you leave early? I haven’t left before 10 o’clock these days.”

“Hyung, at least you’re working. My team leader takes me to a PC room after work and I have no choice but to go home late. I’ve never played StarCraft before and I’m sitting in a PC room playing WoW.”

Yoo-hyun smiled faintly.

These were not the stories of losers who had given up on life and work.

Rather, they were venting their frustrations because they wanted to improve.

By sharing with each other, they could lighten their burden.

He hadn’t thought of that before.

In a way, his colleagues had more in common with him than his friends.

They were people with similar specs who graduated from similar four-year colleges.

They also had similar work lives, future prospects, interests, and hobbies at the company where they spent more than half of their day.

He didn’t realize how much they relied on and helped each other.

Yoo-hyun felt a new appreciation for his colleagues, whom he had regarded as nothing more than competitors.

He suddenly had a thought.

‘What if I had kept talking to my colleagues like this?’

Would the loneliness he had hidden behind his success have faded?

Maybe he would have had someone to call when he reached the top.

Yoo-hyun wanted to stay with them for a long time.

And he hoped they would all do well.

That’s when Seo Chang Woo asked him.

“Yoo-hyun, what would you do if you were me?”

“The mentor problem?”

“Yeah.”

“The team doesn’t change just because the team leader changes. And if your mentor left, you must have a new one. Isn’t Park Doo Sik your mentor?”

“Huh? How did you know? But he’s really strict.”

He didn’t know how long he would be connected with him, but Park Doo Sik was not someone who would abandon his junior.

He was someone who had the ability to pull him up as long as he did the basics.

“I heard it from a rumor. He’s as skilled as he is strict, right?”

“Well, he does talk well.”

“They say he values seminars a lot. He might just give you an assignment and leave it at that, but go and report your progress at least once a day.”

“Huh? Really? Wait a minute. I have to write this down.”

Seo Chang Woo actually took out a notebook from his bag.

How could he not help him when he was so eager?

“Have you ever asked him about OJT yourself?”

“Uh. Now that I think about it…”

“Then go with a plan first.”

“A plan? I don’t have any.”

When Seo Chang Woo hesitated, Yoo-hyun pushed him hard.

“It’s better to go with something you’ve thought about, even if it’s sloppy, than to go empty-handed. Then he’ll probably fix it for you.”

“That makes sense. Okay. I’ll try it.”

As Yoo-hyun’s advice continued, Seo Chang Woo nodded his head repeatedly.

The other colleagues who were listening also showed curiosity.

They all had similar worries.

“How do you know all that?”

Yoo-hyun smiled inwardly.

‘You’ll know if you roll around in the company for 20 years.’

But what came out of his mouth was different.

“I just picked it up here and there.”

As Yoo-hyun dodged the question, Yoon Jae Il chimed in.

“I have a question…”

“What about…”

Yoo-hyun laughed softly and answered their questions.

He didn’t have any trouble giving them advice, since he could tell most of their problems without seeing them.

It would be much better later if he caught them well in the beginning, so Yoo-hyun actively stepped in.

The colleagues also realized that his words were helpful to them and soon became immersed in them.

That’s how the Yoo-hyun counseling center was successfully operated.

It was then that Seo Chang Woo raised his hand and greeted someone.

“Sun Mi! Over here!”

When he turned his head, Jin Sun Mi from the PR team was walking over with a bright smile.

Voices lowered from here and there.

“What’s Sun Mi doing here? Didn’t she hate these kinds of gatherings?”

“I know. I thought she wouldn’t come for sure.”

“Isn’t she here to see Hyun Joon?”

“Really?”

At Kwon Se Jung’s question, Gong Hyun Joon from the TV sales team shrugged his shoulders.

His expression pretended not to care, but his heart was beating nonstop.

Jin Sun Mi was someone.

She was one of the few new female employees in the LCD business unit who boasted overwhelming beauty.

She had beauty, family background, and education.

She had every reason to be arrogant.

She didn’t even spare a glance at Gong Hyun Joon, who had been pining for her.