Chapter 52

Chapter 52

Chapter 52 The Reward for Good Deeds (1)

A few minutes before lunchtime, an internal company email arrived.

【Internal Company Notice】

Subject: Notice of Internal Audit Concerning SL Software

『Greetings. This is the Audit Department.

Our company will conduct an internal audit of all business dealings with SL Software as outlined below.

1. Audit Overview

Audit Subject: All business dealings related to SL Software

Audit Period: April 10, 2025 – April 24, 2025 (15 days)

Audit Scope: All matters including contract execution, project progress, and settlements

2. Cooperation Requirements

Prepare relevant documents and materials (refer to the attached list)

Actively cooperate in arranging interviews with personnel in charge

Promptly submit any additional requested materials

3. Required Documents

Contracts and agreements related to SL Software

Meeting minutes and reports concerning project progress

Payment records and settlement documents

...』

SL Software, named after the initials of Lia's friend Serin, was a company familiar not only to me, who had a personal acquaintance with its CEO, but also to our entire team. It was a first-tier vendor that appeared regularly in various business proposals.

Due to the nature of the IT industry, the distinction between first-tier vendors was often ambiguous.

From medium-sized enterprises generating hundreds of billions of won in revenue to small companies with barely fifty employees, businesses that possessed an unrivaled advantage in a particular field and would be painful to lose to a competitor were generally included on the list of first-tier partners.

Among them, SL Software possessed several core technologies essential for multiplatform compatibility, so the sales teams included the company in their proposals almost as a matter of routine.

The dispatch of the headquarters' audit team to such a company meant one thing.

They intended to scrutinize it thoroughly and use whatever dirt they uncovered as an excuse to remove it.

And the repercussions would fall directly on the teams handling the related work.

"The SI sales teams must be in a state of emergency. How are they supposed to overhaul the UI and technical sections of their proposals and find a replacement company in time?"

"They'll probably have to request changes to every project underway this quarter too. Ugh, what a nightmare."

"Department Head Jung Jiwon really is relentless. He's already finished, so why does he keep stirring up trouble everywhere?"

"Why do you think? If he wants time to hire a lawyer and cover up the things that haven't been uncovered yet, he needs to keep the Audit Department busy. Thanks to one spectacular blunder by the Strategic Planning Team, a lot of people are about to suffer..."

"Hey! Hey!"

"What? Why? Oh!"

The two employees who had been badmouthing us while filling their cafeteria trays finally noticed our team and hurried away as though fleeing.

"Those bastards!"

"Leave them alone, Assistant Manager Joo. If you go over there and get angry, they'll think they're about to be fired and won't be able to sleep. I told you we should've gone for hangover soup. Instead of eating, we've only come here to get insulted."

"It would be the same anywhere. Is there even a department in the company that isn't badmouthing us right now?"

"Well, I'm sorry. I made the whole thing worse for everyone."

Dohyeok scratched the back of his head with a bitter expression.

"Oh my. Jung Jiwon was the one doing all those rotten things, so why are you apologizing, Assistant Manager Joo? Straighten your shoulders! And what does it matter if they badmouth us behind our backs? They can't say a word to our faces."

"That's right. Our team has always had to bother other departments with lots of little requests, so there weren't many people who liked us in the first place. Only the sales teams were happy to see us."

"Still, I'm worried. We might already be on everyone's bad side, but with an investigation this extensive, won't SL Software almost certainly lose its first-tier vendor status?"

"Wait, would an audit really go that far?"

"After swinging the axe around like this? Absolutely."

Every team needed to produce results from its work. The Audit Department investigating Jung Jiwon's corruption was no exception.

"Assistant Manager Joo, I'm saying this out of concern, but stay out of it this time. The company being investigated may feel wronged, but the Audit Department is simply doing its job."

"But even so!"

"Interfering would be an abuse of authority. It's completely different from reporting misconduct last time."

Manager Lee was right.

Reporting misconduct to the Audit Department served the public interest, so anyone could do it.

After all, it would be contradictory to require a whistleblower to follow the normal chain of command when submitting a report.

But the Chairman's son interfering with the Audit Department's work was a different matter.

It went beyond overstepping his authority and threatened the company's organizational structure itself.

There was no one inside the company who could save SL Software once the Audit Department had begun investigating it.

"By the way, Manager Kim, what have you been thinking so hard about all this time?"

"Aaaaah!"

"You startled me! Department Head, why are you suddenly screaming?"

"Manager Kim! That expression on his face!"

"What's wrong with Manager Kim's face? Huh? Aaaah!"

What's gotten into them?

"That's the face Manager Kim makes when he's about to cause a major incident!"

"Pardon?"

I've never caused an incident... And what's supposed to be wrong with my face?

_____________

The internal announcement from the Audit Department was sent to executives and employees in the relevant departments. Chairman Joo Manho, who occupied the highest position on the organizational chart, was no exception.

"Aren't they letting themselves be pushed around too much by whatever nonsense that young bastard spouts?"

Chairman Joo Manho asked in a displeased tone, lowering his gaze beneath his reading glasses as he stared at his phone screen for a long while.

"The audit is being conducted according to procedure, so there's no way to intervene. For now, their stated intention is only to investigate."

"That's as good as branding them. What department would have the nerve to approach a company that's been thoroughly investigated by the Audit Department and ask to work with them again?"

None.

Even if the investigation uncovered no problems, anyone who later became involved with the company could be subjected to endless demands for documents and interviews.

And if some previously unknown problem surfaced, the consequences might not end with a demotion or loss of employment.

Since no department followed every minor instruction in its manuals to the letter when carrying out a project, an audit was practically a sentence that could be handed down to anyone. If they were lucky, it would end with a written apology and a pay cut.

"Then have they found a company to replace them?"

"Future Leap Software happens to possess the same technology, so the sales teams are contacting them."

"Hoho. They've found a new body before the executioner has even chopped off the old one's head? They certainly have thick skins."

Only an hour had passed since the Audit Department's announcement.

Yet a replacement company had already been selected.

Someone inside the company was clearly manipulating things.

"I'll look into it."

"No need. They'll deny everything anyway. Going around asking questions will only damage your reputation. Leave it alone."

"There's considerable resentment toward the Strategic Planning Team over this matter. Assistant Manager Joo Dohyeok and Manager Kim Jinseong, who were mentioned in that office-worker community post last time, are in a particularly difficult position."

"I imagine so. It's human nature to want some bastard to blame and beat up for a problem like this."

"Do you intend to leave things as they are?"

"Hahaha! What can a powerless old man like me do at this age? I'll just watch."

-Sip.

He swallowed a mouthful of bitter tea.

"The one who tied the knot ought to untie it, shouldn't he?"

'I'm not sure how two low-ranking employees from a department with vaguely defined responsibilities could possibly resolve this situation.'

No matter how hard Director Shin Jicheol thought about it, he couldn't come up with an answer.

"Why? Are you curious?"

"Yes. It wouldn't matter if their only goal were to hold on until retirement, but Manager Kim Jinseong places greater importance on his teammates than on his own well-being. I can't think of any solution other than resignation."

"How many times have I told you he's a teacher I paid a fortune to bring in? Don't go saying things that bring bad luck! Just watch. That fellow has even more nerve than my son, so he might do something beyond our ability to handle. When that happens, you'll have your share of trouble too, so you'd better be prepared."

And Chairman Joo Manho wasn't the only person who suspected Jinseong was about to do something.

______________

"Detective Lee, turn off the interrogation room lights."

-Click.

The lights went out in the interrogation room—or rather, the conference room.

The Department Head slipped his fingers between the blinds to check outside, then placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Now, hurry up and tell us the truth. We'll take any mitigating circumstances into consideration."

"That's right! Instead of doing something again and telling us afterward, just come clean now!"

"What's with everyone ganging up on Manager Kim? You've got to tell me what's going on if you expect me to play along!"

"Detective Joo doesn't know the story, does he, Manager Lee?"

"It was late autumn, three years ago."

"No, back then..."

"Shh!"

I was unmistakably being treated as a suspect.

Lunchtime had long since passed, but this nonsensical detective game showed no sign of ending.

"Everyone was busy when someone knocked on the door of our team office. Then, out of nowhere, he started screaming that he'd been chewed out by the executives at a new business presentation because the materials our team had sent him were wrong!"

"Oh, it was terrible."

"Department Head, stop adding comments. You're ruining the atmosphere."

"Huh? Sorry."

"Ahem. Anyway, his accusations were completely unreasonable. All we'd done was organize the data and send it to him. But the man wouldn't listen to reason."

"He lost his mind after getting chewed out in front of all the executives."

"Department Head."

"Sorry."

"But the problem was that there was only one new employee in the office, someone who had just finished his internship. Everyone else had gone on business trips because it was such a busy season."

As Manager Lee paused for dramatic effect,

-Gulp.

The sound of Dohyeok swallowing was clearly audible. He had become completely absorbed in the story.

And that day had been an incredibly long and difficult one for me.

Even without Manager Lee's vivid recollection, I remembered it as clearly as though it had happened yesterday.

"You two didn't go on business trips. You both ran away. And what happened that day was..."

In the end, if the story was going to be told without distortion, I would have to finish it myself.

____________

Three years earlier, in the Strategic Planning Team office.

"Hey! Who wrote this damn report? Come out here! Now! Aren't you coming?"

"May I ask what brings you here?"

"Who are you? Are you with the Strategic Planning Team?"

"Yes. If you tell me what the matter is, I'll pass it..."

"What the matter is? Ha! What's the matter? Hey, you! Hey!"

-Smack. Smack.

The middle-aged man struck Jinseong on the head with an approval folder containing a thick proposal.

As it happened, only entry-level employees remained in the other departments sharing the office, so there was no one to stop the middle-aged man, who appeared to hold a fairly senior position. This only made him more aggressive.

"Do you have any idea how badly I got chewed out because of you people? All the executives were there, and the statistics you bastards compiled didn't match the proposal at all!"

In his agitation, the man kept repeating himself incoherently.

"May I ask which part was incorrect?"

Jinseong asked as he politely accepted the approval folder from the man with both hands.

"Look! Look right here! The proportions of users on each platform don't match at all!"

"That's because users who access multiple platforms are counted more than once. Users who use multiple platforms are highly likely to become potential customers when a new platform is launched."

"Oh, really? Hey, you. Go to the meeting room and say that. Go explain it like that in front of the directors and senior executives!"

Even after Jinseong's calm explanation, the man's anger had not subsided. He continued making unreasonable demands while tapping Jinseong on the head with the approval folder again.

"Ha, fuck."

The moment he stopped tapping Jinseong's head and swearing,

-Smack.

Jinseong snatched the approval folder away.

"Yes. I'll go and explain it to the executives myself."

With the documents in hand, Jinseong broke into a full sprint.

"Huh? Where are you going? Hey! Hey!"