Real Man

Translator: MarcTempest

Chapter 71

As he tried to regain his senses, the bell rang.

Ding.

At the same time, he heard the voice of the gym manager.

“That’s it, stop!”

“Manager, I can do more.”

“I know. You didn’t take much damage, Tae-su.”

“Then…”

“That’s enough. You already found out what you need to prepare for.”

The gym manager climbed onto the ring and comforted Kim Tae-su, then asked Yoo-hyun.

“Yoo-hyun, did you set a trap on purpose?”

“That was the only thing I could do, since I could only land one hit.”

“How did you come up with such a plan as a beginner?”

The gym manager chuckled sarcastically, and Yoo-hyun smiled.

Did he think a beginner couldn’t set a trap?

That was because he didn’t know about Yoo-hyun’s corporate life.

In fact, compared to his work at the company, this was nothing more than a simple trap design.

It was because he only had one opponent.

But it was different at the company.

He had to consider the causal relationships of many people and draw a big picture.

He also had to respond quickly to changing situations.

That way, he could move people like chess pieces and make them fall into the traps he designed.

‘Just like the trap that Shin Chan-yong will fall into soon.’

Yoo-hyun felt a thrill at the thought of Shin Chan-yong’s gloomy face that he would see soon.

He was more excited than the feeling of his fist hitting his opponent.

He got off the ring and Kim Tae-su offered him a drink.

Then they sat down on the floor and talked.

“Thank you, Yoo-hyun.”

“I should thank you more. I learned a lot from you, hyung.”

“No, I learned more from you.”

“Did you hold back at the end?”

“Huh?”

“If you didn’t do that, I wouldn’t have been able to land my punch. You were faster than I expected.”

Kim Tae-su laughed when he heard Yoo-hyun’s words.

Yoo-hyun also smiled happily from across him.

Another week passed by quickly.

In the meantime, Assistant Manager Park Seung-woo went on a business trip to Ulsan alone.

It was to come up with a solution for the development event issue that followed the last meeting.

He chose the most suitable ones from each team’s proposals and made them into a final plan.

The plan was much more reasonable than before.

Thanks to the distribution of responsibilities among teams, Park Seung-woo’s workload also decreased significantly.

This seemed to be enough to handle this event issue without much trouble.

But Park Seung-woo’s expression was not very bright when he came out of reporting the results to Executive Director Jo Chan-young.

“Are you okay?”

“Why? I’m fine.”

Did someone who was fine have wrinkles on their forehead even when they were still? And what was with his flaring nostrils?

“What did your boss say?”

“Let’s go. The cigarettes are calling me.”

When Yoo-hyun asked, Park Seung-woo shook his head and gestured toward the hallway.

Park Seung-woo went down to the outdoor smoking area on the first floor and told Yoo-hyun what had happened in his boss’s office.

“Team Leader Hwe said something on the phone.”

“And then?”

“What do you think Director Jo said?”

“What did he say?”

“He scolded me for being so incompetent in handling things. And Team Leader Hwe just ignored me and sat there.”

Yoo-hyun calmly echoed Park Seung-woo’s angry voice.

“Really? Didn’t he say it was a good result?”

“That’s right. It would be fine if we just fixed it like that.”

“Right.”

“But he didn’t like the process. He asked why I made other teams hear harsh words. I don’t know whose side he’s on.”

“That’s too bad. I don’t know what he’s doing either.”

He said that, but Yoo-hyun had a smile on his lips.

It was because the chess pieces were moving as he planned.

Park Seung-woo didn’t notice Yoo-hyun’s eyes sparkling and spat out saliva.

“Hey, do you know? He asked another team about the progress instead of me, who is right next to him.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You know Son Min-han from Process Team, right? The one you saw last time. His senior in charge of another part asked me about it. He said it was Shin Chan-yong’s request.”

“Oh. Really?”

Park Seung-woo didn’t notice Yoo-hyun’s surprise and snorted.

“He must have used Channel Phone 2 as an excuse to pressure him. He’s his loyal follower. But still, why did he ask another team instead of me, who is right next to him?”

“That’s strange.”

“Anyway, he’s an inscrutable person.”

Park Seung-woo shook his head as if he couldn’t understand.

It was better not to know.

If Park Seung-woo knew Shin Chan-yong’s dark intentions, he might have collapsed clutching his neck.

Yoo-hyun combined Park Seung-woo’s words and drew a rough picture of the situation in his head.

Executive Director Jo Chan-young had a purpose for scolding Park Seung-woo.

He wanted to make him hand over the project to Shin Chan-yong.

It was exactly what Yoo-hyun wanted.

Park Seung-woo, who didn’t know that, blew out cigarette smoke into the air and continued.

“This project is really not going well. I wish they would take it sooner. I want to prepare for the contest.”

“Don’t you think it will happen soon, as you said?”

“Nah, it won’t be easy. There are so many problems involved.”

“Really?”

When Yoo-hyun asked, Park Seung-woo shook his head.

“Yeah. Oh, you shouldn’t learn this from me. A newbie should just think that work is the best thing and do their best. You can complain after you have some time.”

“Yes. I will keep your words in mind.”

“Kid. You have a good attitude. Hahaha.”

Yoo-hyun pretended to be nervous and Park Seung-woo laughed heartily.

He had already forgotten the stress he had received in his boss’s office.

At that moment.

In the mobile sales marketing office.

“Yes, sir. Did you call me?”

“Heh, yes. Have a seat.”

Director Jo Chan-young gestured to Shin Chan-yong, who opened the door and greeted him politely.

He smiled, but his face was full of worries.

“Do you know why I called you?”

“I don’t know.”

“I wanted to ask if you thought about what I suggested last time.”

Shin Chan-yong wanted to pretend he didn’t know, but he couldn’t.

It was because he had answered that he would think about Director Jo’s proposal before.

He wanted to decline politely.

“Taking care of the PDA panel as well is too much for my current workload.”

“I understand that.”

“Yes. I think it would be better to use the PDA panel event after it is completed, if we are using Channel Phone 2 as a backup.”

“Hmm, I see. I see. But looking at the development team’s reaction, it seems like Park Seung-woo is not doing his job properly.”

But Director Jo didn’t argue with him as expected.

Instead, he turned the conversation to Park Seung-woo.

“I see.”

“I think you would have done a better job if you were in charge.”

“No, sir.”

“Don’t be so humble. You can’t use someone who is too humble. Heh heh.”

Director Jo casually offered him a carrot without changing his expression.

“We have an opening for an overseas MBA TO in our department.”

“…”

“I want to recommend someone, but I need a good reason. For example, successfully completing the PDA project, which is our department’s key task.”

Shin Chan-yong tried to stay calm, but he couldn’t hide his trembling eyes.

The rice cake he had always wanted was right in front of him.

“It’s also the time for personnel evaluation. Well, if Park Seung-woo does well, he might catch two rabbits at once.”

“…I’ll think about it some more.”

“Okay. I hope you don’t take too long. There’s not much time left.”

“Yes. I understand.”

“Let’s go in a good direction. Heh heh heh.”

A good direction?

From Shin Chan-yong’s perspective, choosing Lee Kyung-hoon’s line was the best direction.

Director Jo’s position was no different from a broken kite.

It was soon to be Lee Kyung-hoon’s world.

But the carrot in front of him was too tempting.

It was different if it was an MBA.

He would choose the immediate benefit over the one year later if he had to choose.

Who knew what would happen two years later after finishing the MBA?

Shin Chan-yong had no choice but to hesitate.

The atmosphere was slowly changing.

He could tell from Executive Director Jo’s eyes that passed by Yoo-hyun.

And from the casual questions that Team Leader Oh Jae-hwan threw at him.

And from Shin Chan-yong’s look around as if nothing happened, he could sense the flow of change.

Executive Director Jo had already made up his mind.

That’s why Shin Chan-yong was hesitating.

He was wondering if he should take on such a risky project.

If he had to decide right away, he would rather refuse it according to Shin Chan-yong’s style.

He didn’t want to take any risks.

Making him choose differently.

That was what Yoo-hyun was trying to do now.

Park Seung-woo glanced at Yoo-hyun’s monitor and said.

“What are you working so hard on? Don’t worry about it and just do it roughly. No one passes on the first try.”

There was Yoo-hyun’s seminar presentation material on the screen.

Yoo-hyun shook his head.

“I have to work hard not to cause trouble.”

“Trouble? You’re already doing more than enough. Haha. Anyway, I got it. I have something to do today, so I’ll go first.”

Park Seung-woo patted Yoo-hyun’s back and got up from his seat.

The clock pointed at 6 p.m.

“He must be stressed about the seminar. He didn’t even eat dinner.”

“How can he be in the mood to eat? There are only a few days left.”

Assistant Manager Hwang Dong-sik and Assistant Manager Kim Young-gil from Part 2 left Yoo-hyun behind and went out for dinner while chatting with each other.

Others who passed by Yoo-hyun also left a word or two.

Soon, the office became quiet.

Tap. Tap tap tap.

Only Yoo-hyun’s keyboard sound filled the silent office.

How much time had passed?

When Yoo-hyun looked out the window after taking his hands off the keyboard, it was already dark outside.

Starting his corporate life again.

He thought it was basic to stick to his quitting time, but he couldn’t help it this time.

He had a lot to prepare.

No matter how high his insight was and how clearly he knew the direction he had to go, making a seminar material was a different matter.

It was not a place to show off how much he knew, but to show how much he prepared.

Even so, he had no reason to volunteer.

He just needed to achieve his goal that he had in mind for this seminar.

-You can pass the seminar easily if you use people’s psychology, right? Let’s get rid of that quickly. You have other things to do.

That was what Kim Hyun-min, who was into psychology, said.

It was a statement with a weak causal relationship, but it was true that he had to pass the seminar this time.

If not, he would have to prepare for the seminar for a month.

‘I can’t do that.’

Yoo-hyun had no intention of doing that.

He looked over the material he had organized so far.

It was close to 100 pages.

Park Seung-woo would have been shocked if he saw this.

He would have asked why he made such a long material that he couldn’t even finish half of it in two hours without stopping.

But it was necessary for achieving his goal.

He was getting closer to finishing it.