CTL 49

Next to enter were Department Head Go Yebin and his bodyguard, along with Chief Ha. The moment they all entered, they were surprised by the sight of Seohwi and their eyes went wide.

“He said he came out to change the design.”

As if taking his side, Manager Kim Jia stepped up to explain the reason, and everyone patted Seohwi’s arm with sympathetic faces.

“You must have been really worried since you’re new. But it’s okay.”

Chief Ha said.

“If it’s something you absolutely need to come in for on the weekend, I’ll tell you to come in first, so you don’t have to try too hard until you get the hang of things. Got it?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry. I should have told you beforehand.”

Seohwi shook his head at Chief Ha’s words. It meant there was no need to be sorry. It was something he couldn’t have known in advance.

“But didn’t the Executive Director tell you not to come in?”

“Uh…”

He supposed he did. Though he didn’t actively try to stop him. As Seohwi trailed off, Chief Ha tilted his head.

“The Executive Director worries about Mr. Yoon Seohwi often, so it seems like he would have, but that’s strange.”

“……?”

It wasn’t new that Yoongeon worried about him, but hearing a teammate state it so matter-of-factly as a given was a little bewildering. The surprised Seohwi couldn’t even answer and just blinked his eyes, but Chief Ha seemed truly busy with work and scurried back to his desk, so he couldn’t ask what that was supposed to mean.

“Hurry up and go in and rest. It’s the weekend, don’t stay here in this gloomy place!”

At the words of Manager Kim Jia, who had gone inside first and was gathering a pile of documents, Seohwi finally asked with a puzzled face.

“Why did you all come out on a weekend?”

“Oh, well, we’re…”

“Is everyone here? Is Chief Ha here?”

“Yes! I’m here!”

It was just as Manager Kim was about to answer. The door opened and Yoongeon came in with a stiffly set face, making eye contact with Seohwi. He looked Seohwi up and down with eyes that seemed to say, ‘Why are you still here?’

“Mr. Yoon Seohwi, you haven’t left yet? What time do you think it is.”

Yoongeon’s voice was full of displeasure.

“Have you eaten.”

“Not yet…”

“……”

“Huh? Mr. Seohwi, you haven’t eaten yet? It’s already past 1 o’clock.”

Seohwi didn’t answer Secretary Lim, who had followed him in and asked with wide eyes. Right now, there was no way to avoid that fierce gaze, no matter what he said.

“Go out and eat.”

“…What’s going on?”

Seohwi didn’t ask Yoongeon, who was trying to kick him out of the office, but Secretary Lim who was standing behind him. Secretary Lim glanced furtively at Yoongeon and then spoke.

“Executive Director, since you’re here anyway, why don’t you share the situation? The whole team will find out on Monday anyway.”

“……”

“I’ll order something we can eat quickly. It’s the weekend, so it should be here in 30 minutes.”

“…Come in, Mr. Yoon Seohwi, you too.”

Only after Secretary Lim said he would take care of Seohwi’s meal did permission come from Yoongeon. When Seohwi entered the conference room, knowing nothing, everyone else, already aware of the situation, was busily handing out documents and taking their seats. Secretary Lim, who was the last to sit down due to placing the order, pulled over the TV and turned it on, and the news came on.

Everyone gathered in their seats focused on the screen. Not just Kim Jia, but Yebin and Chief Ha as well had distorted expressions the entire time they watched the news. It was understandable, as the reported content was a situation where, to anyone’s eyes, Yoongeon had been framed.

[Another controversy has erupted at Shinhyun Motors, home to Vice President Ko Yoonchul, who recently caused a great social disturbance.]

The anchor’s agitated voice was somehow grating.

[The Shinhyun Group, standing tall at number two in South Korea’s business rankings. Although it is a conglomerate that represents the nation, the troubles at Shinhyun Motors have been endless recently.]

The background changed, and a panoramic view of the company appeared on the screen. A reporter standing in front of it, holding a microphone, continued the report with a somewhat stiff face.

[I am currently here in front of the Shinhyun Building after receiving a tip that Shinhyun Motors has been funneling work to a specific subcontractor.]

“……Ha.”

Watching the report, everyone’s face hardened. Chief Ha was watching the screen with his arms crossed, showing extreme displeasure. Before long, the screen changed to a graphic that simply illustrated the relationship between the company and the subcontractor. In that diagram, the subcontractor, marked with initials, looked to be closely related to Shinhyun Motors to anyone’s eyes.

[They did not give fair opportunities to other subcontractors and also turned a blind eye to the fact that the company in question was producing parts using a defective line. Executive Director A, who is under suspicion of looking out for this company’s circumstances, led this initiative, and this executive director is said to be one of the most influential figures in the company.]

After the anchor’s narration ended, a person claiming to be an employee of the subcontractor in question came on and gave an interview about what had happened. He said that this was all led by Executive Director A, and because of that, watching parts being produced on a defective line, he ‘couldn’t bear it any longer and decided to become a public interest whistleblower.’ After that, a university professor appeared.

[This cannot be anything but a major concern. Parts produced on a defective line are cheaper, but they can be extremely fatal to a car’s stability. If we estimate the cost reduction that a global company like Shinhyun Motors achieved in this manner….]

“Wow, this is some seriously amazing patchwork.”

Unable to hold back his anger, Manager Kim Jia clenched his fists and trembled.

“I went through so much hell because of that!”

“……”

At first, Seohwi, who had been watching the screen blankly, wondering what was going on, couldn’t help but know by this point. The Executive Director A they were pointing to was Ko Yoongeon, and the subcontractor in question was Jungseo Industries in Goesan, which he and Manager Kim Jia had visited before.

“Is this really something that should be interpreted like that right now?”

At Chief Ha’s words, spoken with a dumbfounded face, Manager Kim, who was making punching motions, answered.

“Anyway, as soon as they grab hold of something sensational, they just blow it up without even looking into it properly! Ugh, seriously!”

“This is a big problem…”

Yebin said, pressing on her head as if she had a headache.

“We’ll obviously prepare a rebuttal report, but people don’t usually watch rebuttal reports. As long as the news has gone out like this, the Executive Director just becomes the person who led this kind of thing.”

Everyone clamped their mouths shut at the remark that it had nothing to do with the truth. What he said was a fact that everyone sitting here knew very well. While everyone was troubled, Yoongeon was strangely silent, just sitting there without a word. If you looked at him alone, it would be hard to think there was anything wrong, as his face was so expressionless.

“What should we do? The rebuttal report is one thing, since we’ll be making it, but what about the rest?”

At the department head’s words, Secretary Lim answered.

“First, we need to hear their side, so I’ve summoned their president. He said he’ll arrive in 30 minutes, so let’s ask him then. So for now, there’s nothing to do but wait. Nothing to do but eat the sandwiches we ordered.”

At the joke Secretary Lim, who seemed unconcerned, added at the end, the team members finally let out a chuckle. And just then, with good timing, a delivery person came in with sandwiches, and the atmosphere was refreshed.

“It goes without saying, but the Executive Director is treating this time too!”

At Secretary Lim’s exaggerated words, everyone bowed 90 degrees in greeting. To their words of apology for mooching off someone who was already having a hard time, Yoongeon just made a few dismissive hand gestures.

A short while later, just as he had finished the sandwich Secretary Lim had forced on him, though he hadn’t really felt like eating, it was time. Although they had definitely summoned the president, the factory manager came inside, sweating profusely. Despite the cold winter, his face was red, and seeing him constantly sweating, he seemed quite startled.

“Oh my, Executive Director.”

Yoongeon looked at the factory manager, who seemed ready to put his head to the floor the moment he entered. Not only him, but all the team members’ eyes turned to the factory manager, and the factory manager, sweating pitifully, even began to tremble. His complexion was so pale that he looked like he might collapse at any moment, but he seemed to be barely holding on to his senses.

“Well, gosh, oh my…”

The factory manager began to speak incoherently without anyone asking, and the expressions of the team members who heard him all darkened.

According to him, one of the factory employees had been missing for a few days. The phone rang when he first called, but yesterday, a recorded message said it was a non-existent number, so he too had been quite flustered.

“Well, sometimes guys quit by just ghosting you like that without any decency, so, uh, even though I felt a bit bad, I just figured that was it and let it go. But then one of our employees called and made such a fuss, saying something suddenly blew up today and to turn on the TV quickly, so I wondered what it was and watched, and ah, that punk…!”

Saying he knew it was him just from seeing the back of his head during the interview, the factory manager pounded his own chest, thump, thump, and bowed his head again.

“I’m sorry, Executive Director. We… we will contact the broadcast station again and try to do something…”

“If you say you’ll do something, will the broadcast company even accept it?”

“……”

At the words of Yoongeon, who had been listening quietly without a word while tapping his fingers on the table, the atmosphere instantly sank, and the factory manager became as silent as a clam.

“It’s obvious without even looking. If the factory manager goes out and does an interview to clarify that it’s not true, what will they say? They’ll say, ah, he must have gotten something from Shinhyun Motors. What I mean is, it won’t be helpful.”

“Th-that’s true, but…”

The factory manager’s face now turned bright red. He seemed extremely humiliated, as if he hadn’t expected to be publicly reprimanded in front of the employees. But Yoongeon was not one to be considerate of someone who had caused the company harm in any way.

“It goes without saying, but you will have to take responsibility in some way.”

“Ex-Executive Director!”

“The president over there, who sent the factory manager without even properly grasping the situation, will bear the greatest responsibility.”

Yoongeon’s face still showed no expression to speak of, but everyone noticed that he was clearly angry.

“And the factory manager, who came here without any countermeasures and without thinking to stop the clueless president, won’t have an easy time from now on either.”

After coming all this way, all he had to say was, ‘We didn’t know such a thing happened.’ Their side and this side were equally unaware of the situation, but unlike them, who had gathered to prepare for something, the factory people, even to Seohwi’s eyes, were acting extremely negligently.

“Oh my, that is, we, we’re not doing this without thinking. You have a misunderstanding.”

“In the first place, the fault lies with Jungseo for not properly equipping the line to save money.”

At Manager Kim Jia’s words, who was sitting next to him, the factory manager, with an even more troubled face, stammered that it wasn’t like that, but he couldn’t make any proper excuses. In the end, it meant that the points made by Yoongeon and Manager Kim Jia were correct.

It was a truly chilly response. Seohwi, watching the stiff faces of the team members who laughed and spoke warmly every day, also looked at the factory manager with chilly eyes. The man, who had come with the complacent thought that this would be enough, even shed tears and pleaded that they would all die if this continued, but Yoongeon coldly sent him away.

“There’s nothing more they can do now. Even if they try to frame the Executive Director now, it would be like spitting in their own face.”

Everyone nodded at the words of Secretary Lim, who was watching the back of the factory manager as he finally turned away with heavy steps.

“Organize the evidence and prepare it. The rebuttal report?”

“It can be done within today. The evidence is already organized, so we just need to make it.”

Saying he had done it in advance, Secretary Lim crossed his arms and nodded. Everyone was amazed at his preparedness and applauded, but Yoongeon just passed over the documents as if it were nothing.

From then on, everyone returned to their seats and began to do their own work. Manager Kim Jia and Chief Ha began to compile the emails and text messages exchanged with Jungseo Industries, while Yebin, Yoongeon, and Secretary Lim went to the executive director’s office and talked with serious faces. Among them, the only one sitting idly in his seat with nothing to do was Seohwi.

After sitting for a long time, Seohwi, feeling that he should at least do something, went to Chief Ha and Manager Kim Jia. Seeing Seohwi still in the office and not having left, they were startled and shot up from their seats.

“Hey, why are you still here! Hurry and go, Mr. Seohwi.”

“I’ll help you.”

“No. It’s really okay.”

Kim Jia told him not to waste his precious weekend and to go back quickly, but Seohwi, having no intention of leaving Yoongeon here and going back, asked for any task at all.

“Hmm, then for now, can you take this card and go buy some coffee? Everyone came in such a hurry, I think they need some caffeine.”

“Yes.”

As he took the card Chief Ha handed him, he said quietly, “Don’t tell the Executive Director, and hurry back. He might try to pull out his own card again.”

“Since we’re always being treated, I should treat this time. When else would I get to buy coffee for the sons and daughters of a chaebol family if not at a time like this?”

“Hmm… actually, the one who should be treating might be our Mr. Sunwoong, not Ms. Inyoung…”

Manager Kim Jia giggled, saying that he was always extorting the Executive Director’s money.

“Right, that’s true. But Ms. Jia, did you know? Mr. Sunwoong is really ruthless. He swipes the Executive Director’s card and accumulates the points on his own number. The story is that sometimes when the Executive Director goes out alone, the snacks Mr. Sunwoong buys for us are all from those points.”

“Oh my goodness…”

“……”

“So you see how shrewd he is? He’s just thinking and thinking about what we’re going to eat every single day.”

“I see.”

“Exactly. I’m just glad Mr. Sunwoong is on our side. If he were on someone else’s team…”

“At first, he extorted so much I wondered if it was okay, and thought, isn’t that embezzlement at this point? But now I’m past that and kind of wish he’d squeeze out just a little more…”

So the conclusion was that Secretary Lim, in preparation for when he could no longer extort money from Yoongeon, extorted points instead, and used those points to frugally buy snacks for the team members. It was so brazen that he almost burst out laughing, but Seohwi bit his lip hard to keep from laughing.

“Anyway, I’m not going to embezzle today, so hurry up and go buy coffee. We’re all having iced americanos. Mr. Seohwi, you can get whatever you want to drink. You can drink something expensive.”

Seohwi nodded and picked up his coat. When he said he would be back, Chief Ha and Manager Kim Jia waved to him.

“You handle your work like this!”

But, it was just as he was stepping out of the office to take the elevator. The doors of the elevator coming down from the upper floor opened, and a very angry old man got off. It was Chairman Go. He passed by without even acknowledging Seohwi, who bowed his head in greeting, and shouted as he went inside. Startled by this, Seohwi went back into the office.

“Chairman, what brings you here…”

Chief Ha, who had been talking with Manager Kim Jia inside, was startled and shot to his feet, then ran to Chairman Go. As he asked, bowing his head repeatedly, Chairman Go pointed a finger at him and spoke.

“Ko Yoongeon, where is that bastard!”

“Executive Director Go is inside right now, Chairman. I’ll… ah!”

“Stop getting in the way and move, just get out of the way!”

Chairman Go roughly shoved Chief Ha’s shoulder, who was trying to go to the executive director’s office first to speak. Pushed away helplessly, Chief Ha bumped his shoulder against a partition, but Chairman Go didn’t care whether an employee was in pain or not and just kept shouting.

“What are you doing here instead of resting at home.”

Just then, Yoongeon opened the door of the executive director’s office and came out. He glanced at Chief Ha, who was groaning while holding his shoulder, and then looked back at Chairman Go.

“How can I sit at home when you handle your work like this, you son of a bitch!”

“……”

Chairman Go roared with rage, but Yoongeon’s face was utterly indifferent. When Yoongeon didn’t even feign being scared, Chairman Go furtively glanced at his surroundings. It seemed his pride was hurt because Yoongeon wasn’t playing along, even though he had bravely shouted in front of everyone else.

“I’m sure you’ve looked into it as much as you need to.”

“Is that the problem right now?! You couldn’t even block one news report and you caused this mess!”

“Haa…. Yes, I’m sorry.”

“……”

For a moment, sparks flew from Chairman Go’s eyes at the attitude that seemed to say, since that’s what you want, I’ll apologize. He knew very well that even Yoongeon couldn’t treat him carelessly in a place where all the employees were present.

“You, you good-for-nothing…!”

Before anyone could stop him, like a lightning bolt, Chairman Go’s hand struck Yoongeon’s cheek.

“Oh my, what do we do! Executive Director!”

“Aack!”

The violence didn’t end with one blow. The hand that had struck Yoongeon’s cheek hit the same spot again, and a brutal sound of flesh hitting flesh, smack, rang out.

“Dad!”

Yebin, who saw Yoongeon get slapped, clung to Chairman Go’s arm, telling him to stop, but Chairman Go shook her off so forcefully that she lost her balance and staggered. Fortunately, however, Jaehong stepped forward and caught Yebin so she wouldn’t fall.

“Mr. Jaehong, please stop my dad! Hurry!”

At Yebin’s words, Jaehong hesitated and then tried to grab Chairman Go’s arm. But there was someone who cut in between Yoongeon and Chairman Go even faster. It was Seohwi.

“What’s this now!”

“……”

Because he had been swinging his hands wildly, a fierce hand ended up striking Seohwi’s shoulder. Chairman Go, looking at Seohwi who had jumped in and interfered out of nowhere, glared with wide eyes, and this time, he swung his hand toward his cheek.

Yes, it’s better to just get hit. Let’s argue after getting hit.

He closed his eyes, expecting to be hit, but strangely, he felt no pain. Puzzled, Seohwi opened his eyes again, and Chairman Go was looking at Yoongeon behind him with flustered eyes. His arm was caught in Yoongeon’s firm grip.

“What do you think you just did?”

“Wh-what?”

As Seohwi questioned him and pushed Chairman Go’s body without thinking, Chairman Go couldn’t hold his ground and staggered backward.

“……”

He wanted to argue about something, but since it was who it was, the words didn’t come out easily. But to just endure it and move on, he was so upset inside that he just couldn’t.

So, unable to do either, all Seohwi did was stare intently at Chairman Go’s face, unable to hide his cold expression. Chairman Go swore at him, saying how dare a young punk stare at him with his eyes wide open, but somehow, unlike before, there was no strength in his voice. It was probably because Yoongeon still hadn’t let go of the arm he was holding.

“Things are already a mess because of your damned brother, you can’t, can’t be like this too, huh?!”

Yoongeon didn’t answer the question, “Right, aren’t I right?” and only squeezed the hand holding his arm. Unable to withstand the strong force, Chairman Go struggled and shouted that he was going to break his father’s hand before he was finally released. As soon as his arm was free, Chairman Go, his face already pale, turned around and began to flee in a hurry.

“Solve this problem properly!”

“Just a moment.”