Real Man

Chapter 76

Park Seung-woo, the assistant manager, looked at the panel for a long time, trying to sort out his thoughts.

He pressed the buttons himself and changed the images.

He muttered to himself as if something was forming in his head.

But his concentration soon faded.

Ring ring.

It was because of a phone call.

“Yes, yes, team leader. I understand. No.”

He couldn’t hear the voice on the other end, but he knew who it was.

There were only a few people who could make Park Seung-woo act like that.

Yoo-hyun naturally handed him the pen and memo pad that he often used.

“Yes, yes. I’m writing it down. Oh, the changed schedule is…”

Then he showed him the HPDA3 change schedule on the monitor.

It was a common occurrence, so Park Seung-woo seemed to handle it with ease.

But since the other party was who they were, he couldn’t avoid hearing unpleasant words.

He plugged his ears for a while and sighed deeply after putting down the receiver.

Then he apologized to Yoo-hyun.

“Let’s look at it later. It’s a mess in Ulsan.”

“Okay. Let me know if you need anything.”

“No. You do your thing. I have to do this.”

Park Seung-woo, who packed his belongings quickly, ran out.

It was to attend a meeting that suddenly came up.

In the current situation, it was almost impossible for Park Seung-woo to focus entirely on the contest.

There were still many things to sort out because of the HPDA3 event problem.

He needed to pass this bomb as soon as possible.

Of course, the person who would receive it was Shin Chan-yong, the Manager.

After the last seminar, Shin Chan-yong seemed to have regained some confidence.

He could tell by how often he called the development team and the process team directly.

Jo Chan-young, the Executive Director, and Oh Jae-hwan, the team leader, also guessed it.

He hadn’t said it directly yet, but Shin Chan-yong seemed to want him to take over.

The situation was tense as problems kept popping up.

The more impatient he got, the more he had to find someone he could trust.

In that respect, Shin Chan-yong had built a pretty good image.

Of course, it was an image made with all kinds of tricks, but at least it felt different to his superiors.

He was definitely a person who handled his work neatly and had a lot of experience.

But changing the person in charge wasn’t easy.

It wasn’t the beginning stage of the project, but now it was close to completion.

Besides, HPDA3 was such a big project that there were many teams involved and the customer’s pressure was strong.

What if something goes wrong with the project?

Not to mention the damage beyond imagination, everyone who changed the person in charge without warning would be responsible.

There was no one who would easily take over the project in such a situation.

That was why Shin Chan-yong’s worries grew longer.

No matter how much his emotions swayed, reason held him back.

“Is there no way?”

Yoo-hyun leaned his chin and fell into thought for a moment.

It would be fine to stay like this for now, but he couldn’t wait forever.

That’s when it happened.

Hwang Dong-sik, an assistant manager from part 2, called Yoo-hyun.

“Yoo-hyun, can you book a meeting room for me? I have to go on a business trip right now.”

“Okay. Tell me.”

“Just a second. VIP room for 8 people. There are external guests too, so please register them as visitors. I’ll send you an email right away.”

“Got it.”

The email from Hwang Dong-sik had the names and car numbers of the visitors.

Yoo-hyun paused for a moment at a familiar name.

He followed the email thread and saw the meeting agenda.

‘Channel Phone 2 Concept Discussion…’

Yoo-hyun’s mouth curled up slightly.

Hansung Tower Lobby Front

Shin Chan-yong looked at his opponent with an embarrassed expression on his face.

“Manager Shin, is LCD division too idle these days? We’re working our lives off here.”

“No, no, Manager Kim. What are you saying? You’re making me feel bad.”

“Then why haven’t you fixed Channel Phone 2 schedule yet? They’re going crazy over there.”

“It’s hard to get an accurate schedule at this point where we’re setting up the concept. Channel knows that they can’t have everything they want.”

“Oh come on, if they can’t have it, they have to make it happen!”

Shin Chan-yong grumbled.

But Kim Sung-deuk, the Manager of the mobile phone division’s product planning team, narrowed his eyes even more.

Why wouldn’t Shin Chan-yong want to do it?

If he just tweaked the HPDA3 panel a little bit, it could be a good alternative.

But if he revealed it now, he would have to take over HPDA3 without any choice.

He would have to be responsible for the schedule that was set.

“I’m sorry.”

“That’s enough. Team leader, you know how tight the schedule that Channel requested is, right? Our division is ready, but are you telling us to wait because of a mere part?”

“That’s right. Ha ha. Manager Kim, we’re sorting it out…”

Kim Sung-deuk’s words made Shin Chan-yong and Oh Jae-hwan, the team leader, flustered.

They had no choice but to be like that. Even though they were in the same company, the mobile phone division was the top among the customers.

Especially Kim Sung-deuk, who had a grip on the direction of mobile phone development, had a strong influence.

But this time, Kim Sung-deuk was also in a subordinate position.

The company that outsourced to the mobile phone division and the customer that made the mobile phone division a subordinate for the first time.

It was because of Channel.

It was a meeting requested by Channel.

Kim Sung-deuk was sensitive about it.

He didn’t hesitate to say harsh words to Oh Jae-hwan, who usually treated him well.

“Our division head is especially close with Channel and cares a lot about them. Please keep that in mind.”

“Huh. Well, of course. Let’s just hear what they have to say first.”

Division head!

Oh Jae-hwan wiped his cold sweat and tried to calm down Kim Sung-deuk.

Kim Sung-deuk sighed deeply and asked Kang Hee-joo, an assistant manager from the same team, next to him.

“Did they arrive on time?”

“Yes. They said they’ll be here soon.”

“Okay. Let me know as soon as they pass through the entrance. Oh, Manager Shin. Did you register the VIP car?”

“Yes. I applied for it.”

“Huh, don’t make any mistakes this time. You know who we’re dealing with.”

Oh Jae-hwan’s chest burned more and more.

Soon after, he heard from the security guard that Channel’s car had entered.

Then two foreigners followed a middle-aged woman with blonde short hair.

Everyone’s attention was drawn to her because of her unique haughty atmosphere.

It was like watching a scene from a Hollywood movie.

Kim Sung-deuk approached her quickly and bowed his head.

“Long time no see, Laura Parker. I’m Kim Sung-deuk, Manager.”

“Oh, I remember you. Nice to meet you.”

Laura Parker answered in English with a thick accent and reached out her hand with a white glove on.

Kim Sung-deuk touched her fingertips lightly and showed his courtesy.

Laura Parker.

She was in charge of marketing at Channel.

She was the woman who sat across the table when Hansung Electronics’ mobile phone division head flew to France and negotiated with Channel’s headquarters.

She had a lot of influence not only within Channel but also worldwide.

She was a VVIP customer in the company, of course.

She wouldn’t have had this meeting if she hadn’t suddenly said she wanted to see the LCD panel staff directly.

Shin Chan-yong knew that better than anyone.

Swoosh.

Shin Chan-yong pulled his left sleeve with a confident smile.

Then a high-end watch worth a year’s salary of a Hansung Electronics rookie employee came into view.

He bowed his head slightly and bent his knees to greet her.

“Hello.”

For a moment, Laura Parker’s eyes swept over Shin Chan-yong.

The only thing he heard after the freezing tension was the sound of her high heels hitting the marble floor.

By the time he realized what was going on, she was already far ahead.

“Ha, really. How ridiculous.”

Shin Chan-yong bit his tongue as he watched Laura Parker’s back, ignoring him openly.

He was annoyed, but he held it in for now.

She seemed to have a strong intention to dominate him, but it wouldn’t be easy.

He knew who he was.

The core of Channel Phone 2 was the LCD panel, wasn’t it?

He would make her pay for ignoring him like this.

Shin Chan-yong vowed to make her cling to him by any means necessary.

Inside the VVIP meeting room, Shin Chan-yong’s presentation was in progress.

What he had prepared in advance after hearing from Kim Sung-deuk was the progress report on the previous Channel Phone panel.

Shin Chan-yong spoke nonstop in fluent English.

“The LCD panel for Channel Phone is the world’s first one with full-touch function, and it took a year to develop. It was such a difficult technology that there were some problems even after it came out in the market, and we fixed the panel twice to solve them and reached the current state.”

He quickly flipped through the data and mentioned various numbers.

He was confident because it was a presentation he had worked hard on.

But Laura Parker looked sour.

She just looked at him with an expression that he couldn’t tell what she didn’t like.

As Shin Chan-yong continued to speak, it happened.

Laura Parker whispered something to an employee next to her.

For some reason, the employee spoke for her.

“We didn’t want this. We understood everything, so please move on to Channel Phone 2. You said that the schedule we proposed wasn’t possible because of the LCD panel development schedule. What is the reason?”

“As I said, it will take at least a year to develop an LCD panel with a new concept. If the concept matches well, we can shorten it to nine months at most. But right now there is nothing decided…”

“Then are you saying we have to wait indefinitely? We want to hear from the LCD side. That’s why we arranged this meeting.”

This time, Laura Parker spoke directly in a stiff voice.

Shin Chan-yong answered politely as possible.

“If you had decided on Channel Phone 2 concept right after Channel Phone was released, it would have matched the schedule, but if you decide now, we need that time.”

“I see. So it’s our fault for not giving you the concept sooner?”

Laura Parker’s prickly words pierced Shin Chan-yong’s chest with a thick accent.

Kim Sung-deuk interrupted as he was startled by her blunt answer.

Laura Parker spoke to an employee next to her again.

The employee nodded and continued to speak for her.

“It’s hard to reveal the name of the company, but we got a deal that they can make an LCD panel with the specs we requested in six months.”

“What?”

Ignoring their shocked reactions, the employee kept talking.

“Do you have any plans to use another company’s LCD panel in your mobile phone division?”

“…”

“…”

Shin Chan-yong and Oh Jae-hwan’s eyes widened.

What kind of bolt from the blue was this?

Use another company’s stuff?

They didn’t have to say which company it was. 

Everyone here could guess.

The one who had worked hard for Channel all this time was none other than Ilseong Electronics.

“That…”

Their eyes turned to Kim Sung-deuk at the same time.

It would be over if he said okay from his mouth.

There was a chance that they would have to use Ilseong Electronics’ LCD panel in this situation.

If that happened, not only would the mobile phone division suffer, but the LCD division would also face an indelible shame within Hansung Group.

Oh Jae-hwan had no other choice.