CH 233

Jo Gyu-Min took a sip of his coffee while staring intently at a computer screen. The 'appeal' of a salaryman was on full display as he passionately analyzed various information on the screen, crunched the numbers, and furiously typed away on the keyboard.

Both of his sleeves were smartly rolled up, while the coffee was thick and strong. He took another sip and got back to work without a moment of rest. Everything seemed as it should be—he was a worker in his natural environment.

As long as the current time was discounted, of course, since it was four in the morning!

“Urgh...!” Jo Gyu-Min put the coffee cup down and held his head.

Four o'clock in the morning, yet his workload didn't want to decrease at all! As for how he ended up in this situation... Well, that was somewhat sad and kind of laughable, too.

'And they say that one's habit is a scary thing...'

Jo Gyu-Min took pride in doing a perfect job. Wasn't he someone who had a near-pathological need to ensure not a single thing was amiss in his assignments?

After finding a suitable spot for the store, Jo Gyu-Min personally went to the head office of the pizza franchise to convince and negotiate when the company refused to work with him. They said a pizzeria without a delivery service would have a hard time surviving. What Jo Gyu-Min did to make up for this weakness was to introduce the concept of a 'premium store' by strengthening the in-store salad bar. And that ultimately got the head office's go-ahead.

Jo Gyu-Min then worked out the operating hours, the number of employees needed and even deduced potential monthly revenues and profits as well. After he completed everything, he confidently headed to Hwang Jeong-Hu's office to make his report. And that was when he got to witness for the first time in his life the sight of documents flying through the air.

~

“Hey, you crazy bastard! I wanted a store opened to see that kid's business sense, so why are you spending company money to help him make more money?!”

~

‘Yes, Chairman. I also have to wonder why I did all this, sir…’

Jo Gyu-Min's habit was indeed scary, and before he noticed it, he was already taking care of everything in a perfect and concise manner. Even though this whole 'opening the store' thing shouldn't be handled that way!

“Uuurghhh...!” Jo Gyu-Min roughly scratched his head.

To think he would run into a 'crisis' of deliberately doing sloppy work! Something like this had never happened before in his life!

Even before he joined the corporation, where the concept of 'Minimum Expenditure, Maximum Efficiency' was its most-valued mantra, Jo Gyu-Min was already working his butt off to get top marks in his university course. A part of his effort included writing reports that were just long enough but without useless content, which would have made them a chore to read. Indeed, the contents had to be simple yet connotative but juuuust lengthy enough so that they wouldn’t look sloppy or half-hearted to the eyes of the professor. Jo Gyu-Min was good at that... even if he didn't fully understand the meaning of writing such reports back then!

Jo Gyu-Min yawned and rubbed his eyes. The dark circles below his eyes were drooping so low they had to have gone past his nostrils to touch his upper lip.

Writing up a new report was proving to be a tough task, but what made it doubly tougher for Jo Gyu-Min was the lack of time. Far too much time had gone by since Hwang Jeong-Hu mentioned this scheme and Kang Jin-Ho consented to do it. Jo Gyu-Min figured this task would be simple, but to think it would take this long...!

The nearly-completed interior had to be pulled down and demolished, then Jo Gyu-Min had to cancel the contract with the franchise's head office. He had to endure the humiliation of coughing up the breach of contract fee, yet there was still one more huge hurdle to overcome, and that was to write up this dang report!

'I'm going to finish this before morning.'

Jo Gyu-Min shot up to his feet. He abandoned the Americano, then went to fetch a paper cup full of cheap instant coffee. He relied on the caffeine boost from that to madly type away.

The sun eventually rose, and the corporation's workers began filling up the office one by one. Only then did Jo Gyu-Min finally complete the report. He blankly stared at the screen for a minute or two before clicking on the 'print' icon with the mouse.

“Aigoo... My back...” Jo Gyu-Min whimpered while holding his waist. Obviously, he had pulled all-nighters before. However, this one felt particularly demanding for some reason, and maybe because it was his first time getting his report unilaterally rejected before he had to write a new one right away!

Jo Gyu-Min shook his head a couple of times, then packed up the report before heading to the chairman's office. Hwang Jeong-Hu should have arrived at the company by now.

He reached the office and was about to ask the personal assistants waiting outside if the chairman had arrived for the day. But then, the office's doorway opened, and Hwang Jeong-Hu strode outside.

“Good morning, sir!” Jo Gyu-Min bowed deeply.

Hwang Jeong-Hu scanned his Chief Secretary from head to toe, then started chuckling away. “I see that you're finished.”

“Yes, Chairman, I am. Here is the report, sir.”

Hwang Jeong-Hu accepted the documents with one hand before tutting away loudly. “Didn't I tell you to submit your reports electronically?”

“You did, sir. And I've uploaded this report to our server.”

Hwang Jeong-Hu nodded in acceptance, then patted Jo Gyu-Min's shoulder a couple of times. “Good work, Gyu-Min. Take a break for the day.”

“...Sir?”

“What were you thinking of doing in your current state, anyway? I'll let you off the hook for today, so go home, wash up, and get some sleep. However, I expect you to work your butt off according to your report starting tomorrow.”

Jo Gyu-Min blinked his eyes in a fluster while staring at Hwang Jeong-Hu.

The chairman cocked an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”

“I-it's nothing, sir. Thank you, Chairman!”

“Hurry and go home. I don't want to hear some excuses like you still have work to do or anything like that when you look this crappy, okay?”

“Understood, Chairman.”

“Good. You did great, Gyu-Min.” Hwang Jeong-Hu chuckled at Jo Gyu-Min, then walked past the latter. The personal assistants waiting for their chairman opened the elevator door and stood at attention as Hwang Jeong-Hu stepped inside.

After watching the entourage enter the elevator and the door sliding shut, Jo Gyu-Min tightly clenched his fists.

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

'Yes! Let's go watch that movie!'

He was now free, but it seemed Jo Gyu-Min had no thoughts of going to bed just yet.

***

“Tsk, tsk…” Hwang Jeong-Hu sat in the back seat of the car while flipping through Jo Gyu-Min's report.

'Nicely organized, isn't it?'

He couldn't help but think that Chief Secretary Jo should have done this from the beginning.

Hwang Jeong-Hu grunted and put the report aside. “Sometimes, people do dumb things regardless of how capable they are. Don't you think?”

A young man sitting in the front passenger seat replied to his question. “Chairman, I believe everyone makes mistakes. The important thing is to learn from those mistakes and not repeat them, sir.”

“So, should I view this matter as a simple mistake, then?”

The young man sitting in the passenger seat nodded. “Sir, Chief Jo's affection for Kang Jin-Ho is pretty much legendary by now. Even though Chief Jo knew that his job was to set up a platform to accurately measure a person's capabilities, he either consciously or subconsciously wanted to make sure Kang Jin-Ho looked good during the evaluation process.”

“Hmm... What would you have done in Gyu-Min's shoes, then?”

“Me, sir?” the young man responded with a hint of mirth in his voice. “If it were me, I probably wouldn't have cared much about it.”

Hwang Jeong-Hu tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

“In all honesty, evaluating an individual's capabilities should be done only to a person that requires it, sir. In other words, it's unnecessary to force a person to prove themselves when they have already done that. Personally speaking, this matter is basically the same as forcing Steve Jobs to manage one of his stores and sell phones directly to customers.”

Hwang Jeong-Hu subtly grinned as he glanced at the front passenger seat. The large seat back obscured the young man's face and prevented his expression from being seen, but that failed to quell Hwang Jeong-Hu's curiosity. “Sounds like you evaluate Jin-Ho pretty highly.”

“I'm merely stating the objective truth, sir.”

“Is that right? If that's what you think, then tell me, can Kang Jin-Ho do a good job running that store?”

“That, I can't tell for sure, sir.”

“...Mm?” Hwang Jeong-Hu's puzzled gaze locked on the back of the young man's seat. Didn't he say something about leaving a store to Steve Jobs a few seconds ago? But now, he wasn't sure? This didn't make sense. “Explain yourself.”

“Sir, do you think Steve Jobs can run a store properly?”

“...?”

“If he runs into rude customers, he might throw the phones in their faces and scream about how his wares are too good for idiots like them. Then, he might fabricate the store's earnings to screw over the business partners. He might even get cheap accessories from somewhere, dress them up nicely like luxury goods, and hawk them off for a tidy profit, sir.”

“That sounds rather likely.”

“Sir, my opinion is that... Everyone has a role that suits them. If the goal was to evaluate Steve Jobs' capabilities, we should be giving him a company to run, not a store. It might come across as an insolent remark, but sir, I believe what you're doing is basically the same as letting Steve Jobs manage a corner store.”

“Hahaha...” Hwang Jeong-Hu cheerfully laughed.

This cheeky little punk dared to say that Hwang Jeong-Hu rather than Jo Gyu-Min was responsible for forcing Kang Jin-Ho to wear clothes that didn't fit him. Not even Baek Yeong-Gi would have brazenly voiced an opinion like that, yet this young man still said it out loud without any hesitation whatsoever.

Hwang Jeong-Ju finished laughing and asked something else, “Even though you said you wouldn't have cared, let's be honest here. Don't you wanna do it anyway? This might be a rare chance to screw Kang Jin-Ho over, you know?”

“This level of screwing over is nothing more than a prank, Chairman. If screwing him over was the goal, I'd have driven him into bankruptcy, not mess around like this.”

“Oh? And you think you can bankrupt Kang Jin-Ho?”

The young man ruefully shook his head. “It's not important whether the task is difficult or impossible, sir. I simply have to do it, as I don't have a say in the matter, you see.”

Hwang Jeong-Hu nodded; his eyes suddenly grew colder and withdrawn. “...We've expanded to Vietnam.”

“...”

“But things aren't going so well over there, it seems. All the brats I sent to that side are whining like crazy while doing their darndest to get out of there. I'm looking for new volunteers, but no one wants to step up.”

“Even though you've ordered it, sir?”

“Yeah. Well, surviving is everyone's priority, after all. It's a pretty good indicator of how difficult the situation is on that side.”

“That is unfortunate, sir…”

“So, I've been thinking. Abandoning that route wouldn't hurt us too much, but it'll still be a bit of a waste to do so. However, no one wants to take that task on. So, how about it?”

“...Not sure I follow, sir?”

Hwang Jeong-Hu rolled the window down, then lit up a cigarette. “I'll send along a senior rank from the management who can act as your windbreak. So, how about hopping down there and taking on this assignment?”

“Hmm...”

“Sticking next to me like glue can certainly keep you safe, but you'll instantly turn into a kite with its strings cut once I'm dead. It's about time you dip your toes into management, too. And doing so with a badge of honor stuck to your chest might not be such a bad idea, don't you agree?”

“However, Chairman. If this task is not handled in a satisfying manner, my capabilities will be seen as not good enough, won't it, sir?”

“No need to state the obvious,” Hwang Jeong-Hu replied with a low chuckle, a certain hint of slyness in his voice.

Hwang Jeong-Hu viewed the individual sitting in the front passenger seat as similar to a venomous snake. If this young man had been born in the ancient past, he would have become a treacherous retainer usually seen in historical dramas. However...

'A company needs individuals like him, though.'

It didn't matter whether someone was a snake or a treacherous retainer; they would still be utilized in full if they were skilled enough to add value to the company. That was Hwang Jeong-Hu's belief.

The young man looked over his shoulder. “Sir, when shall I depart?”

“In a week. Finish the handover of your duties by then.”

“Understood. Thank you for this opportunity, sir.” The young man expressed his gratitude with an earnest voice.

Hwang Jeong-Hu smiled bitterly at that. Kang Jin-Ho might be responsible for ruining this young man's family, but it was Hwang Jeong-Hu who did most of the heavy lifting. So, to think that this young man would genuinely thank the one responsible for utterly uprooting his entire life...

'...What an amusing kid...'

Hwang Jeong-Hu liked what he saw in this talented kid, although in a different sense from Kang Jin-Ho. And now, it was time to cast this kid into a deeper pool to see whether he would turn into a dragon or into a meek little eel. “I'll pray for your success, then.”

“I won't disappoint you, sir.”

“Should I give Kang Jin-Ho your regard?”

A bout of silence ensued before the voice as calm and composed as moments ago replied to Hwang Jeong-Hu. “No, not yet, sir. At the very least, I have to prepare a wonderful gift first, so I can fully repay my debt to him, sir.”

Hwang Jeong-Hu guffawed at that reply. As for the young man sitting in the front passenger seat... Choi Yeong-Su quietly withdrew his gaze and looked into the distance.

'Soon, you'll see…'

An unreadable grin appeared on his lips.