Chapter 101

Chapter 101

Chapter 101 Tangled Threads (2)

“What did you just say? You little bastard, you think that makes any sense!”

-Bang.

Chairman Joo Manho's hand turned red as he slammed down his teacup.

“Chairman!”

“I'm fine, leave it!”

Chairman Joo Manho pushed away Director Shin Jicheol's hand as the man hurriedly pulled a handkerchief from his jacket in alarm.

“Say that again. I must've heard you wrong. Right?”

“I want to transfer to Sales Team 2.”

Even in the face of Chairman Joo Manho's furious shouting, Dohyeok's answer remained the same.

“Do you even know that I didn't put you there without thinking? I put a virtuous man in charge, surrounded him with capable workers, and even brought in an expensive teacher!”

Unlike the children of other distinguished families, graduating at the top of Seoul National University or obtaining an MBA had been out of the question.

Forget showing up for work. There had been dozens of occasions when the secretarial office had personally altered his business trip records just to cover up his unauthorized absences.

The only consolation was that he seemed aware he was the heir to Daecheon Group, since he had never caused a major incident in public.

He had spent no less than seven years carefully preparing for this wayward son.

He had reorganized the Strategic Planning Team into a department directly under Director Shin Jicheol, who was unquestionably one of the most powerful figures in Daecheon Group, and gathered only the best employees from other departments.

And Jinseong in particular was the private tutor he had nurtured with the utmost care, afraid he might fly away if blown on or break if held too tightly.

From an extraordinary promotion that more than compensated for working from home to gifts that made the usual one- or two-million-won bonuses look insignificant.

And Jinseong had thoroughly justified the investment.

Not only had his formerly hopeless son started coming to work at reasonable hours, but his weekly performance had also become excellent.

Of course, it was common for assistant managers with four or five years of experience to begin distinguishing themselves in practical work. In fact, they were expected to.

It was a period when enthusiasm for work and professional skill were particularly strong.

But his son was different.

“You've never written a single line of a report with your own hands, and now you think a few months of learning gives you the right to act so proud? You think I don't know that? But if you leave that team, you're nothing! Who's going to trust someone who hasn't even seen how a department operates for a full year with any responsibility?”

No one would.

If it weren't for Jinseong, no one in the entire company could have done it.

It would be nearly impossible to find a superior bold enough to entrust anything involving responsibility to the chairman's son, who knew nothing about practical business operations.

That was precisely why a department transfer was absolutely out of the question, yet his reckless son still understood far too little about the company.

“Even so, I have to go. Please let me transfer.”

“Listen here! Learn from Manager Kim for another ten years... No, no. Another twenty years before you come to your father with this nonsense. Understand? If you're done talking foolishness, get out.”

“Please let me transfer.”

“Joo Dohyeok! Are you talking back to your father right now...”

‘Talking back? That brat who couldn't even meet my eyes?’

Because his wife had always been overprotective of their precious only son, he had raised the boy even more strictly.

Even when he went around living like a delinquent outside, hadn't he always lowered his eyes in front of his father and answered only ‘Yes’ or ‘No’?

Yet now he was sitting there looking him straight in the eyes.

Without the slightest trace of fear.

Until now, only one person had ever possessed the nerve to sit before him, the owner of Daecheon Group, and meet his gaze like that.

Jinseong.

‘He's got the same look in his eyes as that teacher of his. There must be something behind this.’

“Are you determined not to tell me why you have to go?”

“...”

“Fine. Go, then. But from now on, don't expect to receive a single ten-won coin from your father apart from your salary.”

It was Chairman Joo Manho's ultimate weapon.

He had taken hostage the credit card on which his son casually spent a hundred million won a month.

‘Let's see how long you can hold out without confessing now.’

He knew his son well.

The boy spent money without the slightest awareness of its value and couldn't possibly maintain his lifestyle without a credit card.

But there was one thing Chairman Joo Manho had overlooked.

The teacher he had personally assigned to his son was an incurable miser who earned hundreds of millions of won a month yet stubbornly commuted to work in an ancient compact car.

“Thank you. Then I'll be going.”

“W-What? Hey! Get back here! Come back here right now!”

-Click.

Having received the answer he wanted, Dohyeok bowed and left, ignoring his father's urgent shouting.

___________

“So the chairman gave you permission?”

“Yes.”

“Wow, Assistant Manager Joo. You've certainly got guts, I'll give you that. So when are you leaving?”

“It's an order from the chairman, so Human Resources will probably notify me tomorrow. Just like last time.”

“What? Then today is our only chance to have a farewell party!”

“I was wondering when you'd finally say that, Department Head.”

“A f-farewell party?”

“What? It's your last day with us, and you think we're going to send you off without even having a drink? Do you think we're that heartless?”

“No, that's not what I meant...”

“All right, then. Let's finish up early today and have a drink at that pork-rind restaurant just down the road. Oh, right, Manager Kim. Do we have any of the company card's team dinner budget left from what the director gave us last time?”

“Just enough for one round of drinks this month.”

“Ah! Everything's falling perfectly into place. Hold on, though. We should at least tell the director before spending it. I'll go make a quick call.”

Rather than everything falling perfectly into place, we would have spent that month's team dinner budget somehow, whether on Dohyeok's farewell party or some other excuse.

And so, as always, we left the office a little before the crowded rush hour and arrived at the old pork-rind restaurant.

“Ma'am, we're here!”

“Oh my, it's been a while! Four servings of pork belly and four of pork rinds, right? I'll bring them right out, so go into the room and turn on the air conditioner.”

“All right, let's set everything up.”

“Yes.”

With a little exaggeration, we'd repeated this routine nearly fifty times.

I arranged the side dishes, Manager Lee handled the soju and beer, and the department head took care of the seat cushions and utensils.

And Dohyeok, who had now been part of our team for more than half a year, hadn't treated these company dinners as wasted learning opportunities either.

“Oh my, I could've brought that in for you!”

“It's fine. You struggle with it every time.”

With those indifferent words, he personally filled the brazier with glowing red charcoal and carried it into the room.

“Wow, having one more person really makes setting up much faster! But now that you're leaving, I can't help feeling sad.”

“Good heavens, you're sad because of how quickly we can set up a team dinner?”

“Ahem! No, that's not what I meant! Anyway, Assistant Manager Joo, don't worry about appearances tonight. Drink as much as you like. It's your last night with us. Are you really going to leave without getting drunk?”

“No, well, I understand, but... I still have work tomorrow...”

“Don't we have work tomorrow too? Never mind. Talking about it is a waste of time. Come on, let's fill our glasses.”

Dohyeok's natural enemy was none other than our department head, whose energy rose dramatically whenever alcohol was involved.

And so, after filling our beer glasses with somaek mixed at the golden ratio(?),

“Ahem. Since Assistant Manager Joo is leaving, today's toast will be ‘Madangbal.’”

“Pardon? Madangbal?”

“To the advancement of the person sitting across from you! Madangbal!”

“Madangbal!”

We emptied our first glasses with a toast that tasted worse than soju the more one thought about it.

“Ahh, that's good! The alcohol's going down like water today!”

“Exactly how many of those unfunny toasts have you memorized? I don't think I've ever heard you use the same one twice.”

“Huh? Do you have any idea how popular the toasts in our group chat are?”

“That's a lie! How could such terrible toasts possibly be popular!”

“Pfft! See? Even Assistant Manager Joo is getting worked up.”

_____________

At the same time, Chairman Joo Manho and Director Shin Jicheol were standing outside the pork-rind restaurant.

The trouble had begun with a phone call from Department Head Cha Jaehun, who had casually said out of courtesy, ‘Director, you should come and grace us with your presence too.’

As luck would have it, Chairman Joo Manho had been present when the call came, and that was how the two men had ended up visiting an old restaurant that seemed utterly unsuitable for either of them.

But neither could bring himself to go inside.

That was because Chairman Joo Manho's thoughts had become unsettled when he heard the lively laughter of the Strategic Planning Team ringing out from inside.

“Chairman?”

“You hear that? Anyone listening would think it was just an ordinary team dinner. Who would ever guess that the son of Joo Manho, chairman of Daecheon Group, was sitting in there?”

Even from a brief listen, their conversation was completely informal.

Naturally, differences in age and rank dictated how politely they spoke to one another, but the four sounded closer than most teams.

Hearing his once hopeless son laughing, chatting, and drinking with ordinary office workers filled him with even greater satisfaction than when he had seen the report covered in meticulous notes last time.

And as that warm feeling began to settle, he remembered what Dohyeok had said.

‘He asked to leave teammates like these and transfer to another department? And to a team that's practically dying? I think I finally understand.’

Chairman Joo Manho's question did not lead to another question, but to a vague certainty.

Someone had arranged things behind his son's incomprehensible actions.

It was none other than his son's private tutor, whose thoughts were impossible to read.

When that realization finally reached him, a faint smile appeared on Chairman Joo Manho's face without his realizing it.

“Let's just go back. They're enjoying themselves as a team. Wouldn't it make everyone uncomfortable if you and I barged in?”

“Yes, Chairman.”

______________

The day after the grand farewell party.

As usual, the drunken Dohyeok had spent the night at our coffeehouse.

“Ugh, I'm dying... Hyung, where's the ramen?”

“Did you order it in advance or something? Here.”

I'd drunk quite a bit myself, so the two bowls of hangover ramen disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“Anyway, what should I do first when I get there?”

“Just do what you did here. Familiarize yourself with the relevant documents, attend team dinners, and write reports.”

“Huh? Didn't you say I had to revive the AI project?”

“What special power does a lowly assistant manager have?”

“No, you're the one who sent me there to do that!”

“I did send you for that, but once you get there, you'll still have to do your assigned work. And even if you want to do something, an assistant manager in a sales department doesn't have enough standing to get anywhere.”

Although he had been promoted early, an assistant manager in a sales department, where rank was everything, was not someone who could accomplish much on his own.

But there was one thing even an ordinary assistant manager could do.

“Just go there and look through the documents.”

“And then?”

“What should you do if you find something strange in them?”

“Ask why they were made that way.”

“Exactly.”

“Ah!”

It seemed he'd finally found the answer.

The AI project had undoubtedly been deliberately suppressed by the higher-ups.

Every document prepared in the meantime would have something unnatural about it, something that didn't quite add up.

After all, changing ‘correct’ into ‘incorrect’ required collusion and revisions to far more than just one or two documents.

Finding those cracks and digging into them was precisely the role I'd sent Dohyeok to perform.

And I intended to make sure the wound he opened became thoroughly infected.

After all, hadn't I already experienced something like that once before?

At the hands of the Audit Team, an independent organization within the company that even the chairman himself could not easily control.