Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Chapter 32 Newcomer (2)

(See! I told you! What is that thing, anyway!)

(Oh? It looks like a raccoon dog.)

(A raccoon dog? Let me see! It really is a raccoon dog!)

The worst possible situation had unfolded on the video conference screen, with not only the Department Head and Manager Lee but even people from other departments gathered around watching my feed.

(It's cute. Are you raising it?)

"No. It just comes by occasionally to eat leftovers."

Just as I blinked helplessly, unable to think of how to deal with the situation, Manager Lee, who liked animals, asked a question that became my salvation.

(Wow, you really must be out in the middle of nowhere. Back when I was in the army, there was a raccoon dog that used to wait by the food waste bin too. Back then, huh? Raccoon dogs were nothing. We had eagles, wild boars, and sometimes even bears coming by the mess hall.)

(Department Head Cha, there you go exaggerating again. You think no one else has served in the military? Where would there have been bears in South Korea back then?)

(Didn't I tell you? There was a bear farm near the unit, and one escaped from there. Ah, I suppose Department Head Park wouldn't know since he served in the rear.)

(Why are the front and rear suddenly relevant?)

(Enough, hurry up and finish the meeting. Department Head Park Jongmyeong, why are you joining in too? Seriously. And Department Head, don't you have to give the monthly report to the Director today?)

(Ah! I completely forgot. Let's end the meeting here. Manager Kim, make sure you carefully check the materials coming over from Sales. Oh, right, Manager Kim, you're coming into the office tomorrow, aren't you?)

"Yes, I have something I need to discuss with Development Team Three."

(All right, then I'll see you tomorrow.)

"Good work, everyone."

The camera windows on the screen turned black one by one, and only then did the chaotic video conference finally end.

I hurriedly closed the window and ran outside.

"Jinseong really came out!"

And I grabbed both of Sani's cheeks as he greeted me happily and pulled them hard from side to side.

"Owowow! That hurts!"

"What were you thinking, hanging from the window like that! Other people saw you!"

"That's strange. Jinseong was the only one inside the study, so how could other people see me?"

"No, that's...!"

I was at a loss for words trying to explain to Sani that I had been working from home and that his entire appearance had been clearly captured on camera.

"Ugh, never mind. I still have more work to do. Don't hang from the window. I'll make you food when I'm done."

"I don't need food!"

"Huh?"

This was Sani, who came to the coffeehouse and demanded food every single time.

And now he said he didn't need any?

"I need this."

Sani unfolded the paper he was holding.

"You want a phone?"

-Nod, nod.

Well, even if they were meant for gaming, I had given phones to Lia and the Elder, so it was clearly unfair that Sani alone didn't have one.

But instinctively, I knew.

I knew exactly what kinds of problems would arise if I bought Sani a phone.

I couldn't give him one.

Of course, I had more than enough excuses not to.

The area around the Divine Tree on Mount Gyeryong was a tightly controlled security zone where radio signals were completely blocked.

Not only phone calls, even radios barely worked.

Besides, not only soldiers but shamans took turns standing watch—not quite guard duty—around the Divine Tree, so if there was ever an urgent need to contact someone, he could simply ask them.

Of course, none of those reasonable explanations would work on the stubborn Sani.

"Wait here a moment. There's one really good phone in the storage room. I wasn't planning to give it to anyone, but I suppose I have no choice."

"Really?"

I went into the storage room beside the kitchen and rummaged around for the boxes I hadn't unpacked when I moved.

They were boxes filled only with things I had never expected to take out again, yet somehow I had opened them twice in two days.

"Here it is. Here."

"This is my phone!"

"What do you think? It's huge, right?"

"Ooooooh! It's much bigger than Fox's!"

What I took out of the box was an electronic dictionary.

I had used it quite usefully during my school days, and it had been more than ten years since I last turned it on.

But if it powered on, that would be a huge success.

I plugged in the charger and carefully pressed the power button.

-Beep.

It worked.

And remarkably well, at that.

"If you type words into this, it has a function that automatically changes them into other countries' languages underneath. You can talk to people from China, Japan, or America with it too. What do you think? Isn't it cool?"

"It's incredible!"

"But it can't send the messages directly. You have to show them to the other person. When you're on Mount Gyeryong, you can show it to the shamans and ask them to pass the message along to whoever you want, right?"

"Any monster with a phone can do that much!"

"I'm jealous!"

-Nod.

I gave Lia, who was playing along, a small nod.

Now that I even had an accomplice, I had no choice but to deceive him with everything I had.

No, strictly speaking, I hadn't told a single lie.

The area around the Divine Tree on Mount Gyeryong was a top-secret zone where every radio signal was blocked, making communication impossible, so purely in terms of function, there wasn't much difference between a phone and an electronic dictionary there.

And in terms of appearance, it certainly boasted a size far greater than that of any other phone.

"I have to brag to Fox! I'll write it like this..."

『Search: I have a phone now toㄷo.

[Noun] A wireless telephone that can be carried by hand and used to communicate.

[Synonyms] mobile telephone, mobile phone.』

"I'll send it for you."

Watching Lia take a picture of the words typed into the electronic dictionary's search bar with her phone and send it to the Elder made me feel a little guilty, but this was the best solution.

After all, I couldn't even imagine what Sani might do if I connected him to the internet.

-KaTalk.

「Lia: (Photo)

Fox Grandpa: Is that the raccoon dog?」

"Ooooooh! The message really went through! I have a phone now too! I'm so happy that I have to dance!"

"That dance again?"

"Hmm-hmm~ A fox can become a beauty~ a raccoon dog can become a scholar~ A fox can transform into a beautiful woman~ and a raccoon dog into a scholar too~ Hmm-hmm~"

The dance and song Sani performed whenever he was truly happy began.

He waved his forelegs from side to side in a cute dance as though reaching toward the sky, something I hadn't seen since he ate pork cutlet last time.

There was a possibility he might realize later that something was wrong and start pestering me again, but seeing how happy he was, I could consider this matter successfully resolved for now.

There was only one thing left bothering me.

The rumors that would spread through the company.

Even though it had happened around quitting time, rumors were like that.

Once they started, they quickly became impossible to contain.

______________

At the same time, on the twentieth floor of Daechun Group headquarters.

As befitted the top floor of the headquarters of a conglomerate controlling dozens of affiliates, it was a space where the chairman's office, secretarial office, and various core departments were gathered.

It was the sort of floor where merely seeing the number twenty light up in the elevator made people glance around and watch their words.

That was the floor where Director Shin Jicheol stepped out of the elevator.

"Is the Chairman still inside?"

"Yes, Director. Shall I let him know you've arrived?"

"No need. I'll tell him myself."

-Knock, knock.

"Chairman, it's me. May I come in?"

(Come on in.)

When the knock sounded against the solid wooden door embossed with an elegant pattern, a warm northern dialect immediately answered from inside, telling him to enter.

The office, decorated with marble floors and walls, looked to be easily fifty pyeong in size.

"Have you eaten, working this late?"

"Yes, I had something simple."

A well-built elderly man who had been practicing by swinging a golf club this way and that welcomed Director Shin Jicheol with a warm smile.

"At our age, it's easy to start skipping meals, you know? You need to eat on time too if you want to spend your old age hitting golf balls around like me. Come, sit down."

After putting down the golf club, the old man's thick hand gently pushed Director Shin Jicheol toward the sofa, urging him to sit.

Then, with his own hands, he carefully poured what looked like barely a sip of tea into a small teacup that seemed oddly out of place with him.

"I'll do it."

"Leave it. Tea loses its flavor when someone who doesn't know it brews it, doesn't it?"

-Slurp.

"So, any results?"

After taking a sip of the gently steaming tea, the old man asked in a subtle tone.

"I'm sorry, Chairman. He was far too stubborn. At present, he's alternating between working from home and coming into the office."

"You're telling me even the great Shin Jicheol couldn't talk him around?"

"..."

It was an uncomfortable truth.

He had promised Jinseong a secure future, yet Jinseong had answered without even a moment's hesitation.

Back when they had met in that shabby old restaurant, Jinseong hadn't even known that his department was favored by the Chairman to such an extent.

To Director Shin Jicheol, who had done whatever it took to rise to the board of directors, Jinseong was someone he simply could not understand.

"Hahaha, why are you making such a gloomy face? Don't be too discouraged."

"For now, I arranged an early promotion to prevent him from being passed over later. But he appeared prepared to resign immediately if his team suffered any disadvantage."

"He's not like young people these days. There are plenty of brats who'll wreck someone else's perfectly good business just to preserve their own position, but this one even has loyalty."

"I have no excuse."

"Why would you have no excuse? If you managed to rein in someone whose heart was about to leave, you ought to be praised. Still, this is troublesome. My son's no great prize to begin with, and now even the teacher I planned to put in charge of his successor training is trying to go home."

'This is the first I've heard of this. He plans to have Manager Kim Jinseong handle successor training? Wasn't the Strategic Planning Office built up to serve as the Chairman's hands and feet?'

"Why? You didn't know either?"

"No. I thought you would handle it personally, or perhaps entrust it to me."

It was a somewhat arrogant remark, but Director Shin Jicheol had every right to say it.

After all, the only two people who had staked everything on the near-miraculous transformation of Daechun Group, which began in construction, into an IT company by riding the dot-com bubble were the founder, the Chairman, and Shin Jicheol himself.

Yet an unexpected name had come from the Chairman's mouth.

"That's right. That would make the picture look better. But you see, no matter how well you dress it up on the outside with management ability and the like..."

-Click.

The Chairman stopped speaking and suddenly opened the teapot.

Inside the ornate teapot engraved with gold leaf was not loose tea, but a cheap tea bag of the sort found in any office pantry.

And one that appeared to have been steeped several times already.

"This kind of rotten disposition isn't easy to fix. Even you couldn't guarantee it, could you?"

"Is Manager Kim Jinseong the person who can fix that?"

"The brat's an only son, and we spoiled him so badly he can't tell shit from piss. At least his teacher needs to be strict."

Having Manager Kim Jinseong handle the successor's education was realistically difficult.

No matter how capable an employee he might be, one side was merely an ordinary employee, while the other was the precious only son born late in life to the owner of Daechun Group, which had not once fallen out of the country's top ten business groups in recent years.

Even if Jinseong were assigned the role of teacher, it would last six months at most.

The heir was currently only an assistant manager, but before long he would be given accomplishments and sent racing up the promotion ladder regardless of seniority.

That was what it meant for the child of a chaebol family to receive management training through actual work.

It was a kind of insurance meant to prevent labels such as "incompetent and ignorant of actual operations" or "without any notable achievements" from attaching themselves during the succession process.

He would need to wear impressive work results like medals and rotate through lucrative departments, so how much could he really learn from an ordinary manager who couldn't even transfer departments?

But the matter had already been decided.

"May I ask why Manager Kim Jinseong?"

"I first saw that fellow seven years ago, I think?"

At Director Shin Jicheol's question, the Chairman looked toward the window flooded with the lights of the skyscrapers and reminisced about the past.