New Employee Kim Chul-soo

Chapter 14

“Therefore. Let’s have a team dinner next week. Alright, since it’s a happy Friday today, let’s leave work early.”

At Ahn Jeong-gyu’s words, Lee Jun-hak and Kim Chul-soo replied.

“Yes. Team Leader-nim!”

“Where’s Section Chief Pyo Il-soo?”

“I don’t know. He’s been living in the bathroom all day. I think he has an upset stomach.”

“That son of a gun. I’m leaving, so tell Section Chief Pyo when he comes back.”

As Ahn Jeong-gyu left, waving his hand widely, Lee Jun-hak put Kim Chul-soo in a headlock.

“Chul-soo!”

“Yes! Assistant Manager Lee-nim!”

“You dare hide your skills? You hid them because you didn’t want to work, didn’t you?”

“No sir! Assistant Manager-nim.”

“You’re dead meat starting next week. By the way, why aren’t you bringing your TOEIC score?”

“The announcement date is in May.”

“This guy doesn’t keep his promises!”

“Ouch. I’m sorry.”

Just then, Section Chief Pyo Il-soo appeared, rubbing his stomach.

“What’s going on? Why are you bothering Chul-soo?”

At Section Chief Pyo Il-soo’s words, Lee Jun-hak released the headlock.

Kim Chul-soo quickly fixed his messy hair.

Then, this time, Section Chief Pyo Il-soo put Kim Chul-soo in a headlock.

“You little rascal! If it was spoiled milk, you should have thrown it in the trash!”

******

Jang Yoo-mi, who left work at 6 o’clock, was on the bus heading home.

If she hadn’t seen Kim Chul-soo speaking Russian fluently, she would have been surprised like the other colleagues today.

Seeing Kim Chul-soo, who was usually treated coldly, receiving attention like the main character today made her feel as happy as if she had received it herself.

‘He’s really amazing. He’s good at fixing copy machines. He’s good at English, and Russian too.’

“Excuse me.”

Jang Yoo-mi, who was smiling brightly while looking out the window, turned her head at the sound coming from beside her.

Fair skin, neat attire, beautiful appearance, and even a bright smile.

The man, thinking he had met his ideal lover, cautiously asked.

“Excuse me, but could I possibly get your contact information?”

At the sudden advance, Jang Yoo-mi blinked her eyes and stared at the man, then turned her head without answering.

The bus happened to be stopped at a traffic light, and outside the window, a man in shabby clothes was limping and struggling to pull a handcart loaded with boxes.

Jang Yoo-mi opened the rear window and shouted loudly.

“Dad!”

Jang Go-dong turned his head at the sudden sound and saw Jang Yoo-mi waving her hand from the window.

Jang Yoo-mi soon asked the bus driver to stop and got off, pushing Jang Go-dong’s handcart from behind.

“Are you done with work?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you sell a lot?”

“Enough for the two of us to eat.”

“I’m hungry. Let’s go quickly.”

“You said you had a presentation today, how did it go?”

“I don’t know exactly, but I lost cleanly.”

At Jang Yoo-mi’s words, Jang Go-dong replied.

“This is the first time I’ve heard my daughter use the expression ‘lost cleanly’.”

“Yeah. There’s a really amazing colleague.”

Jang Go-dong noticed that Jang Yoo-mi’s voice was slightly excited.

His daughter, who would usually fight tooth and nail to win if she lost to someone, was speaking in a tone he had never heard before.

“Whoever it is, they must be amazing, huh?”

“Yeah. I feel like I can’t win no matter what I do.”

“No other thoughts?”

“Other?”

“Is it a man, perhaps?”

“Dad, too! Really!”

The Joy of the Unexpected

The good thing about being a public official is that you get paid by someone you don’t know.

No one can claim ownership of the organization, so even high-ranking officials can’t easily fire their subordinates.

If you don’t work as instructed, they can give you a disadvantage in your performance evaluation, but they can’t tell you to quit.

Because of this structure, even ministers and vice-ministers in public institutions can’t ignore the opinions of lower-ranking officials.

In conclusion, this means that public corporations are much more democratic than private companies.

From the opposite perspective, being noticed by the supreme power holder of an absolute monarchy-like private company is a very joyful event.

“What good thing happened?”

Now, when he entered the staff room, Choi Hye-na naturally styled his hair.

“Yes. Something good happened at work.”

“Oh? Really? What happened?”

“I think I made a good impression on the Chairman at the presentation.”

At Kim Chul-soo’s words, Choi Hye-na rounded her mouth and paused her hands for a moment.

‘To my father? A regular employee? That’s definitely not an easy thing to do.’

However, when Choi Hye-na made eye contact with Kim Chul-soo in the mirror, she started moving her hands busily again.

“That’s something to be happy about. But Kim Chul-soo-ssi, you said you were a new employee this time, right?”

“Yes.”

“It’s not easy to find a new employee who gets attention from the Chairman.”

“That’s true. I was lucky.”

Choi Hye-na finally touched up Kim Chul-soo’s hairstyle and clapped her hands.

“It’s done now. Is your neck okay?”

“Yes. I’m taking good care of it.”

“Thanks to Chul-soo-ssi, the number of customers on Friday and Saturday evenings has increased considerably. You can’t disappoint me, can you?”

“Of course not.”

“Then, come out when you have time.”

“Yes.”

Choi Hye-na said that and was about to go outside when she heard that an important guest had arrived and entered the VIP room.

There, Choi Young-joon and Chairman Choi Kyung-hoon were sitting together.

Choi Hye-na’s expression stiffened slightly.

“Oh? Father?”

When she was young, she was so cute and smart that she was loved as if she were the apple of his eye, but as she grew older, her tendency to do as she pleased caused Choi Kyung-hoon a lot of heartache.

After running away from home, saying she would marry whomever she wanted, despite being introduced to a good marriage prospect, this was the first time they had met face-to-face.

Although there was joy in their reunion, no good words came out of Choi Kyung-hoon’s mouth.

“Tsk tsk tsk. What’s with the way you’re dressed?”

Choi Hye-na, wearing a black dress that slightly revealed her skin, spun around in a cool pose and replied.

“What? What’s wrong with this? I made this dress myself. Why are you here?”

“I came to check on you since you haven’t contacted me for a year, as if you were dead somewhere.”

At Choi Kyung-hoon’s words, Choi Hye-na sighed.

“You must have been curious.”

“So, did you find a man you like?”

“That again. I’ll take care of it myself when the time comes. It’s not like we’re in the Joseon Dynasty.”

When Choi Hye-na grumbled and tried to argue, Choi Kyung-hoon waved his hand and said.

“Just bring me some drinks.”

“What do you think I am, a bar girl……”

Choi Hye-na was about to bring up the story about Kim Chul-soo, but she was offended by Choi Kyung-hoon’s tone and slammed the door shut as she left.

“That……that…… that brat……”

Seeing Choi Kyung-hoon’s troubled expression, Choi Young-joon said.

“She has a very free-spirited nature, unlike us siblings, Father.”

“I shouldn’t have sent her abroad. By the way, that guy, did you know?”

“Who are you talking about?”

“The four candidates who presented today.”

Choi Young-joon recalled Kim Chul-soo, who had shown more than expected at the presentation today.

And also Ahn Jeong-gyu’s reliable appearance, trusting his new employee.

“I believed in them.”

“Who? That guy? Or that Ahn Section Chief guy who’s the only one who follows you?”

“I believed in both of them.”

“Why did a guy with that kind of guts, presentation skills, fluent English, and amazing ideas come in last among the new employees?”

“Isn’t it because of adults who are prejudiced based on just specs?”

Choi Young-joon thought he was in a similar situation to Kim Chul-soo.

Of course, he was a bit lazy.

He was tired of his siblings fiercely competing for management rights, so he stepped aside slightly.

His brother and sister, who only looked ahead and ran, didn’t treat him with hostility, as he was pushed back.

Because he wasn’t competition.

He was just comfortable being complacent for a while.

“Why do you want to talk to me like that too?”

At Choi Kyung-hoon’s words, Choi Young-joon nodded.

“I won’t deny it.”

“Hahaha. Look at you getting cocky just because you won once in a trivial matter.”

“You have to be able to rejoice in small things to be able to rejoice in big things. If your eyes are set too high in life and you don’t feel anything even with small happiness, that would be the biggest misfortune.”

“You rascal. Always talking back. Alright, let’s see how you handle that unfavorable fight.”

“Thank you very much for giving my player a good opportunity.”

At Choi Young-joon’s words, Choi Kyung-hoon chuckled.

Actually, he had planned to make a fool of him.

But he couldn’t have imagined that he would be so prepared.

The joy of that unexpectedness.

“That guy just seized the opportunity with his own abilities.”

After saying that, Choi Kyung-hoon looked down through the window at the young male singer on stage singing a pop song in a charming voice.

After listening to the music for a while, Choi Kyung-hoon turned his head as the waiter brought drinks and snacks.

“He’s good. Hye-na, that girl was pretty bright in that area, wasn’t she?”

“Yes, Father.”

“Let’s have a simple drink and go in after a long time.”

******

“From now on, Chul-soo will be in charge of the African continent, Assistant Manager Lee will be in charge of the Middle East and Australia, Section Chief Pyo will be in charge of China and Russia, and I will be in charge of large-scale projects. This is how the team’s workload will be divided.”

The week after the presentation, Ahn Jeong-gyu made a major change to the team’s workload.

“Then what about the tasks we’re currently working on?”

“Even if you have to work late, hand over the important ones first. Other teams’ new employees are also in charge of their own areas, so our Chul-soo has to follow suit. Especially Assistant Manager Lee Jun-hak will have to work hard.”

“Yes, Team Leader-nim. Don’t worry. I will support the Africa project even if I have to make time for it.”

“Okay. Hearing Assistant Manager Lee say that, my worries disappear.”

After that, Kim Chul-soo received a handover of tasks from Assistant Manager Lee Jun-hak for a while.

He was in charge of the intermediary role of importing special products produced in Africa and selling them to other countries, or selling products from other countries to Africa.

The first thing he took over was the project of selling Kenyan coffee beans to Yangseo Food, a large coffee mix manufacturer.

As people’s perspective on coffee changed with the introduction of Starbucks in Korea, they started looking for better coffee, and Yangseo Food decided to import high-quality Kenyan coffee beans to create a coffee brand similar to Starbucks.

The quantity was 2,000 tons per year.

The transaction amount was 16 billion won per year.

With a margin of 2.3%, a profit of about 370 million won was expected.

“It’s a bit of a big project for a new employee, but since all the paperwork is done, you just need to check if the goods are being exchanged properly. Make sure to check the shipping schedule, vessel schedule, unloading schedule, etc. with Assistant Manager Gong Jeong-hoon of Han-Young Logistics every day.”

“Yes, Assistant Manager Lee-nim.”

Kim Chul-soo diligently took notes and replied.

“Before shipment, you’ll need to go to Kenya and check if the goods are being delivered properly. They have a history of mixing in poor quality coffee beans when dealing with other companies.”

Han-Young Corporation had a strong trading business character, connecting import and export companies.

Other than that, all the processes of actual import and export customs clearance, loading and unloading of goods were handled by a forwarding company called Han-Young Logistics.

After the contract was signed, the role of the employee in charge of the general trading company was to manage whether the process was going smoothly.

So, it was necessary to go to the site and check the goods directly.

Most salespeople avoid such remote areas, but for Assistant Manager Lee Jun-hak, the location didn’t matter much.

He was the type of person who had to go if it was necessary.

“Yes, I understand. I will discuss with Assistant Manager Gong Jeong-hoon from the forwarding company and the exporter to set a date and then observe the shipping process.”

“Okay. You’ll also need to study coffee. To find out what the bad ones are.”

“I’ll work hard.”

“This project is directly related to my performance evaluation, so if you screw up, you’ll need to wash your neck clean, okay? I’ll fire you in an instant.”

After handing over the minor tasks that were currently underway, Assistant Manager Lee Jun-hak immediately received the handover of the Australia-related project from Section Chief Pyo Il-soo.