NOVEL NEXT 30
Jo I-ruk stood before a massive office building. Among the dozens of offices crammed together, it took him quite a while just to locate the name
Even after finally finding it in a corner on the seventh floor, Jo I-ruk still couldn’t shake off his skeptical gaze.
‘Well, I came out because they told me to, but….’
Even as he came, he trembled with fear, wondering if this might be some kind of human trafficking or organ harvesting scheme.
Dressed awkwardly in a suit, Jo I-ruk watched people entering and exiting the building with apparent familiarity.
Just yesterday, he’d been wearing sweatpants, eating cup noodles and triangle kimbap amidst piles of law books.
Fearing that making eye contact with anyone might expose his embarrassing past, Jo I-ruk kept his eyes down. Focusing only on the floor patterns, he barely managed to entrust himself to the elevator.
‘7th floor, 112-A…. Ah, here it is.’
As he raised his head, he saw an impressive sign engraved with the name
‘Whew. I’ve come this far. I can’t just turn back now. Let’s go in!’
Jo I-ruk took a deep breath and flung the door open.
“G-good morninggg!”
His voice cracked due to excessive nervousness. Ugh. How embarrassing! Jo I-ruk felt his face flush hot.
What a way to start his first day at work.
But something was odd.
‘Why is there no one here?’
Jo I-ruk looked around in shock. No matter how he looked at it, he was the only one standing in the office.
What’s going on? Where are the other employees? Have they not arrived yet?
“You’re here.”
The ever-youthful-looking Song Woo-yeon walked out from inside.
“Here, put your things over here. This will be your desk from now on, Jo I-ruk-ssi.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
As Jo I-ruk hung his coat on the chair, he discreetly surveyed the office. The desks and chairs looked too new to suggest that other employees simply hadn’t arrived yet. There wasn’t even a trace of human presence.
Jo I-ruk asked with a trembling voice:
“B-boss. How many employees does our company have in total?”
“Two.”
“Ah, so there’s one more person besides me….”
“No. Me and Jo I-ruk-ssi. Just the two of us.”
“…….”
“Ah, we just signed the office lease last week, so not everything has been moved in yet.”
Jo I-ruk couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d been somewhat deceived. What kind of CEO of
Just as he was about to retract his words, feeling that something wasn’t right:
“Oh, but don’t worry. The conditions I mentioned earlier haven’t changed.”
It was as if she had seen right through Jo I-ruk’s mind.
‘They only signed the office lease a week ago……. Is this okay? For something so recent, it seems surprisingly well-organized.’
There was a strange lack of disorder. Apart from the cleanliness, isn’t there usually some discord when starting something new?
But this place didn’t have that feeling. Every object in the office looked as if it had always been there.
In other words, even to the inexperienced Jo I-ruk, the layout seemed perfect. As if they had been using this arrangement for years.
‘Is this an interior design company?’
Looking at the neat interior, he couldn’t help but think so.
Jo I-ruk suddenly realized he didn’t even know what this company did. He’d been so nervous about starting his first job that he hadn’t even thought that far.
“Alright. Then… we have a guest coming at 3 PM tomorrow, so shall we prepare for the meeting until then?”
“Pardon?”
As Jo I-ruk asked again, Song Woo-yeon smiled gently and stacked a pile of large books.
She only stopped when the stack, which she had started from the floor, reached Jo I-ruk’s waist. Jo I-ruk slowly scanned the titles of the books.
‘Everything About Location Analysis, This is What a Commercial District Is, Doing Business in Places That Never Fail….’
They were all books about commercial districts or location analysis.
‘Why are these for me?’
As Jo I-ruk looked at Song Woo-yeon with wide eyes, she replied nonchalantly:
“Read them all.”
“……Pardon?”
“All of them, before tomorrow’s meeting.”
“Th-these?”
Jo I-ruk’s eyes desperately pleaded, ‘Please say it isn’t so.’ But Song Woo-yeon responded with a bright smile:
“Yes. All of them.”
“…….”
“I’ll be out on an errand for a while, so fighting!”
Song Woo-yeon clenched her fist and made a ‘fighting!’ gesture.
She waved her hand lightly and left the office. Left alone, Jo I-ruk belatedly raised one hand.
“……Fighting.”
Turning his head, he saw the formidable number of books stacked up. But for Jo I-ruk, who had spent years poring over law books, this was merely an extension of his usual routine.
“Right. I haven’t been looking at printed words much lately. My eyes have rested too much.”
Muttering thus, he picked up the book on top of the pile.
“Let’s give it a shot.”
They don’t pay such a high daily wage for nothing. There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world!
Jo I-ruk burned with determination to read everything, even if it meant staying up all night.
“Let’s go! Fighting!”
Before he knew it, his lackluster cheer had become a magical incantation to motivate himself.
⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱
“Good morning~, or not.”
I came in with two cups of morning coffee, placing one on Jo I-ruk’s desk.
Huh? Why is the chair empty?
‘I thought he’d pull an all-nighter here since it’s not an amount easily read in one morning…. Did he run away?’
The ‘Team Leader Jo’ I knew wouldn’t do that, but the current Jo I-ruk might.
Was I too complacent? Just as I thought that.
A trembling hand emerged from under the desk and grabbed the coffee cup.
“Eek?!”
I stepped back in surprise, finally noticing Jo I-ruk half-lying behind the desk.
With dark circles under his eyes and thick glasses perched on the tip of his nose, he looked a mess. Books were strewn everywhere under the desk, suggesting he’d been there all night.
“Coffee… coffeeeee…….”
Jo I-ruk acted like a zombie that only knew the word ‘coffee.’ His hazy pupils, which had been wandering aimlessly, suddenly sharpened at the sight of the coffee cup.
“Ah. Now I feel a bit more alive.”
I’m addicted to caffeine too, but this guy is no pushover.
“There was a coffee machine inside. You could have used that.”
“I saw it. But coffee tastes best when someone else makes it….”
That’s true.
As he slurped the coffee in his hand, I asked bluntly:
“How was it?”
“…Ugh. I read all the books.”
Wow. Really, all of that?
Although it was the task I had set, I was amazed. I glanced at the clock.
“I said the meeting was at 3 PM, right? It’s only 10 AM now, and you’re already finished?”
“Well, I can’t grasp all the content in just one read-through.”
Oh ho. Look at this.
As I nodded for him to continue, Jo I-ruk took a sip of coffee and went on.
“…All the books are about location analysis. I’m not sure, but asking me to read all this overnight… it means you intend to use me in this field, right?”
Correct.
“This is employment fraud…. You said it was simple document organization work…….”
I pretended not to hear Jo I-ruk’s mumbling complaints.
‘He’s performing much better than expected.’
I was quietly impressed.
Jo I-ruk himself is quite intelligent. He has a good educational background and was confident enough to challenge the bar exam.
Though his brain efficiency declined after becoming a long-term student, and he didn’t perform well on exams due to learned defeatism….
‘At this rate, he might be ready for fieldwork soon?’
Even if he’s not at the level of the ‘Team Leader Jo’ I knew, Jo I-ruk with a vague understanding of location and commercial district concepts is quite usable.
I was a bit harsh from the start to make Jo I-ruk reach that ‘usable’ stage. But he’s following along much better than I expected.
‘I’m sorry, Team Leader Jo. But I don’t have much time.’
I smiled brightly, pretending not to notice the dark circles under Jo I-ruk’s eyes.
Meeting my gaze, Jo I-ruk shuddered strangely.
“How odd. Why do I have chills…. Ahem. Anyway, you said all this was ‘preparation’ for the meeting at 3 PM today. So I guess I need to at least pretend to be an expert in this field at that meeting.”
“Exactly.”
“Simply accumulating knowledge isn’t enough. I need to reorganize and digest this information before I can do anything. …I’m going to start now. I finished reading the books exactly 10 minutes ago.”
I couldn’t help but nod.
“I’m not easily surprised, but you keep impressing me, Jo I-ruk-ssi.”
Jo I-ruk’s face beamed with satisfaction.
“You got everything right except for one thing.”
“And that would be…?”
“I originally thought Jo I-ruk-ssi would need more time. I figured your full participation in meetings would come later.”
Jo I-ruk made a face that said ‘What do you mean?’ at my words.
What I mean is.
“We do have a guest coming at 3 PM, but there’s another one before that.”
“Pardon?”
“And that person will probably be your first real test.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
Before Jo I-ruk could finish speaking.
Knock, knock, knock.
A knocking sound resonated.
Swoosh.
“Oh, the office looks quite decent.”
“Welcome, CEO Lee In-cheol.”
Lee In-cheol made a rare appearance wearing casual clothes instead of his chef’s uniform. He had come out personally on his only day off in a week.
“You’ve even put up a proper sign. Tsk, I was going to nag if there were any shortcomings. But there’s nothing cute about this at all.”
“Haha. It’s still ten years too early for you to give me advice, boss.”
“What did you say, you rascal?”
“Please, have a seat over here.”
I exchanged jokes with Lee In-cheol as I guided him to sit at the central conference table.
“Shall we get straight to the point then?”
I said as I distributed prepared documents to Lee In-cheol and Jo I-ruk.
“Regarding the expansion and relocation of the