Real Man

Translator: MarcTempest

Chapter 99

Time flew by quickly.

There were many changes, and at the center of them was Manager Choi Min-hee.

“Manager Choi, the team leader is looking for you.”

“Ah, I see. Thank you.”

She heard the whispering voice of Kim Eun-young, an employee from the next department.

In the end, Manager Choi Min-hee had no choice but to get up from her seat.

“I’m so busy and they’re bothering me. What do they want? Really.”

As she walked towards the team table, she saw Executive Director Jo Chan-young standing there.

Executive Director Jo Chan-young took out a bottle of energy drink from the box on the table and handed it to Manager Choi Min-hee.

He even smiled kindly, which didn’t suit him at all.

“Hehe, Manager Choi, you must be exhausted. Drink this and cheer up.”

“…Thank you.”

“Manager Choi, you’ve worked so hard. Isn’t that right, Team Leader Oh?”

“Yes. She’s been working overtime every day. She’s very busy. Oh, did you say that the negotiation with Hyunil was done?”

Team Leader Oh Jae-hwan asked with a friendly expression that he never had before.

Manager Choi Min-hee answered in the driest voice possible.

“Yes. The first proposal from NaviTime was agreed upon, and the rest are being verified.”

“See? This is all thanks to our manager. He took care of everything.”

“Hehe, this person.”

Then he used Manager Choi Min-hee’s answer as an excuse to flatter Executive Director Jo Chan-young.

Executive Director Jo Chan-young laughed again when he heard that.

‘They’re having fun.’

Manager Choi Min-hee bit her tongue as she watched the two people who had changed 180 degrees.

When things were going wrong, they acted as if it was all her fault and pushed her away. 

What happened now?

They didn’t help at all and they were just annoying.

“If this project ends well, Manager Choi should be promoted. Team Leader Oh, take care of her in the team.”

“Yes. I’ll make sure to reflect it in the performance evaluation.”

It sounded like a lie.

Thanks to this Hyunil Automobile project, his executive life might be extended.

Manager Choi Min-hee had been waiting for this opportunity, but she couldn’t say thank you right now.

She cared more about the junior employee who had really worked hard.

“It wouldn’t have been possible without Yoo-hyun. Please take care of Yoo-hyun instead of me.”

-What did I do? You did everything, Manager.

Yoo-hyun tried to deny it, but Manager Choi Min-hee was confident.

It wouldn’t have been possible without Yoo-hyun.

Manager Choi Min-hee was sincerely grateful to Yoo-hyun.

“Hehe, look at this person taking care of her junior.”

“Haha, yes, Manager. Manager Choi Min-hee is very generous.”

But the two men just laughed and ignored Yoo-hyun.

They thought that a new employee couldn’t have done much.

She realized it clearly through this project.

These two people were not leaders at all.

‘A leader should listen to what their subordinates say.’

Manager Choi Min-hee looked at the two people who were having a boring conversation with a dull expression on her face.

That’s when it happened.

“Manager Choi!”

“Yes?”

Manager Kim Hyun-min, who was passing by, spoke with an urgent expression on his face.

“Director, I’ll borrow Manager Choi for a moment. It’s urgent.”

“Hehe, sure. Work comes first.”

“Manager Choi, come here.”

He dragged Manager Choi Min-hee to the hallway in a hurry.

She followed him in surprise and asked him.

“Manager, what is it?”

“Huh? Just. Let’s have a cup of coffee. What do you want to drink?”

Then he made a cheeky expression in front of the vending machine.

She made a dumbfounded expression and then laughed out loud.

“Hoho.”

“What? Why are you laughing? Are you crazy?”

“Thank you.”

They say that you have to go through hard times to know someone.

When she was struggling and exhausted, Manager Kim Hyun-min was the one who listened and trusted her.

Maybe that’s why?

She saw him differently from before.

“You’re welcome for a 200 won coffee.”

“…I’m going to have a 500 won one?”

“Do you care about your health? Fine. Choose. I’ll be nice to you today.”

“I’ll buy it next time.”

She even accepted his lame joke.

A moment later.

Manager Choi Min-hee and Manager Kim Hyun-min returned to the office and continued to joke around with each other.

They looked much closer than before.

Assistant Manager Park Seung-woo looked at them with a curious look on his face.

“Yoo-hyun, don’t they look close?”

“They look good together.”

“It’s not common to see them like that.”

“…”

Yoo-hyun just kept silent.

He knew the reason too well.

It was all thanks to the success of the project.

Yoo-hyun felt a great sense of accomplishment as he watched her come back to life.

He felt like he had paid back some of the debt he had lost in the past.

And now, the only thing left to do was to bring down Manager Song Ho-chan.

He would finish him off soon.

Yoo-hyun vowed to himself as Assistant Manager Park Seung-woo whispered to him.

“But they’re too friendly, aren’t they?”

“So?”

“People die when they change suddenly.”

“Do you want me to tell that to Manager Choi?”

“What? No!”

He glared at Assistant Manager Park Seung-woo, who was fuming.

He looked miserable with his pale face, but he still smiled.

It was a completely different look from when he was forced to do the PDA project.

He couldn’t see Assistant Manager Park Seung-woo’s initiative back then.

Yoo-hyun’s lips curled up as he saw him take charge.

What would he look like if they passed the contest and made their own product?

Yoo-hyun wanted to see that as soon as possible.

“Shall we go then?”

“Sure.”

Assistant Manager Park Seung-woo hurriedly got up from his seat.

He was about to go for a coffee break when it happened.

Lee Chan-ho, who was sitting in his seat, gestured to Assistant Manager Park Seung-woo.

“Mr. Park. Mr. Park.”

“What?”

“Did you see the post on the anonymous board?”

The anonymous board.

It was an internal bulletin board that only Hansung Electronics employees could access.

Since it was anonymous, there were often interesting stories posted there.

Mr. Park Seung-woo asked with a curious look in his eyes.

“No. What is it?”

“Take a look at this. Yoo-hyun, come and see too.”

Yoo-hyun went to his side and looked at the post on the monitor.

-A manager who goes crazy when he drinks alcohol.

That was the title of the post on the board.

The content was as provocative as the title.

It was about a manager who sexually harassed female employees at a drinking party, who beat up his team members after drinking, who forced his part-timers to drink until they had to be hospitalized, and so on.

All kinds of dirty things that could happen after drinking were described in detail like a diary.

Perhaps because the post was so stimulating and specific, there were a lot of anonymous comments.

-Wow. Who is it?

-It looks like it’s from Hansung Tower.

-It’s the LCD division. The only ones who drink like that are from the LCD division.

-What’s the three evil demons in the post? Lol

-I know who it is. Is it from the mobile side?

-Yeah, right. It seems like someone from his team wrote it. How do they know so much?

Yoo-hyun nodded his head.

“Mr. Park, you know who it is, right?”

“Yeah. I can tell by looking at it. Do you know, Yoo-hyun?”

“Well…”

He said that, but he knew very well who it was.

They didn’t mention his name or his team, but it was obvious.

At least anyone in the mobile group sales marketing department would know.

It was such a well-known rumor.

He didn’t know the details, though.

Mr. Park Seung-woo, who had been watching quietly, said with a satisfied expression as if he had hit the nail on the head.

“It’s Manager Song Ho-chan. I don’t know who did it, but he’s got guts. He’s messing with one of the three evil demons.”

“Isn’t it anonymous?”

Yoo-hyun asked and Mr. Park Seung-woo gave him a meaningful smile.

“It is anonymous. That’s why it’s funny. No one cares here.”

“But the views are pretty high, aren’t they?”

“That doesn’t matter at all. It’ll disappear soon as if nothing happened.”

Mr. Park Seung-woo’s words were not wrong.

They couldn’t officially target anyone on the anonymous board, and even if they did, it wouldn’t have any effect.

But this time was different.

He was sure of it and caught his words.

“But this isn’t the end of the post.”

“What?”

“It’s been coming up continuously with different content for a few days now and it seems like they’re all about him.”

“Really? Let me see.”

Lee Chan-ho clicked the mouse and flipped through the pages to find the post.

From stories involving various corruption cases, to office politics, to stories of former employees.

Series posts containing ‘Manager’ in the title were constantly being uploaded.

“Huh… Is this really true? It’s very specific.”

“Yeah. Isn’t this a problem? It seems like there are more than one or two people who quit because of Manager Song.”

“But there’s no direct evidence, right?”

A post without a name couldn’t be evidence.

But what he didn’t know was that there was something else going on.

The ethics committee was monitoring this post.

They would ignore simple rumors, but they would take action on corruption that involved financial damage to the company.

At this level, Manager Song Ho-chan might have been on their list too.

The timing was perfect.

It was just when Manager Song Ho-chan’s position was shaken because of the Hyunil Automobile case.

Manager Choi Min-hee started to lead the negotiation with NaviTime in a proactive way.

On the other hand, he, who was in charge of the sales team and opposed to it, became an outcast.

It meant that his shield and his grip were not as strong as before.

Looking at the content of the post, there were many people who were harmed by Manager Song Ho-chan.

Especially female employees suffered a lot of damage.

They had enough reason to resent him.

Lee Chan-ho, who was next to him, also joined in enthusiastically.

“I heard that people are talking about it openly in other teams too. I found out from my colleague.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. This is a big deal.”

Listening to Lee Chan-ho’s words, this wasn’t something he did alone.

The posts were written by different people.

It looked like they had exploded and rushed in at the same time.

People should not commit sins.

What should he do?

Yoo-hyun fiddled with his phone in his pocket.

There was a phone number he had found out a while ago.

Lawyer Kwon Chi-yeol.

He was someone who had a connection with Yoo-hyun in the past, and he was planning to use him according to the situation.

There was no need to do as planned in this situation.

Then Mr. Park Seung-woo asked him.

“Why are you so serious, Yoo-hyun?”

“Me?”

“Shouldn’t you be happy? No, never mind. Let’s go get some coffee.”

Yoo-hyun knew why Mr. Park Seung-woo was beating around the bush.

He didn’t want to recall the memory of his junior being persistently questioned by Manager Song Ho-chan.

He was really none of his business, but he understood Mr. Park Seung-woo’s feelings and smiled and answered.

“Sure. Let’s go, Chan-ho. Mr. Park is buying.”

“Oh, cool. Cool. Takeout coffee?”

“…Yeah. Let’s go.”

Yoo-hyun decided to think lightly.

The ball was rolling to the goal by itself, so why bother going around?

He just had to make good use of this opportunity that came by chance.