New Employee Kim Chul-soo

Chapter 16

Hwang Dae-hoon, after the presentation, went around explaining himself to his colleagues and managed to join the gathering.

He explained that he had worked on the same project topic and that Kim Chul-soo had yielded to him.

The other colleagues knew that confronting Hwang Dae-hoon, who had caught the chairman’s eye, would only hurt them, so they didn’t distance themselves from him any further.

He was, after all, an HR employee.

After ordering chicken and drinking plenty of beer and soju at a nearby Hof, they stumbled down the street.

“Wow, what’s Yoo-mi-ssi going to do? She already messed up. Is she going to get fired?”

“Nah, I doubt it. I was in the same group with Yoo-mi-ssi at the training center, you know? She’s such a go-getter. She’ll try to fix it somehow, she doesn’t give up easily.”

“It’s kind of gloomy without Jang Yoo-mi-ssi, though.”

“That’s because it’s just us guys.”

“Where should we go for the second round?”

As they were chatting and walking, one of them pointed at a spot and said,

“Isn’t that Yoo-mi-ssi over there?”

At the mention of Yoo-mi-ssi, the eyes of all nine men followed the finger and landed on a single spot.

“Huh? She’s with someone.”

“Kim Chul-soo……?”

“Yeah, it’s Kim Chul-soo, right?”

“What the? Why are they together instead of coming to the gathering?”

Someone grumbled,

“They must be dating.”

Another exclaimed in shock,

“No way! I had my eyes on her!”

Hwang Dae-hoon, sensing the strong jealousy and anger in his colleagues’ tone, casually threw in a comment.

“Wow. Damn. He gets in good with the chairman, dates the prettiest girl in the company. Isn’t he doing great?”

Their eyes instantly changed.

“Damn it! That guy from a local college is acting all high and mighty!”

Not all of the 21st batch of new employees were from prestigious universities, but those who were assigned to headquarters, except for Kim Chul-soo, were all from well-known prestigious universities.

Hwang Dae-hoon, watching his colleagues curse at Kim Chul-soo as if they were cursing his very existence, thought to himself,

‘As expected, jealousy is a primal human emotion.’

Then he recalled what Deputy General Manager Park Joon-hyung had said.

━Rumors, you see, are a means without clear accountability, and the subject of rumors is difficult to prove wrong. And people love to tear others down. If you use it well, it becomes quite a useful tool.

“Hey, hey, I’ll pay for the second round.”

Hwang Dae-hoon turned around, facing his colleagues, and shouted.

******

“Get home safe.”

“Yes, see you tomorrow.”

Jang Yoo-mi boarded the bus first. Kim Chul-soo was waiting for his bus when a whistle followed by a small “pop” sound nearby made him straighten up.

‘Do they make puffed rice snacks here too?’

It was a sound he often heard in the slums when he was young.

Kim Chul-soo followed the sound.

At the nearby traditional market, he saw an old man leisurely operating a popcorn machine. Next to him, people stood holding empty cans labeled “rice cooker,” filled with rice, barley, and beans brought from home, watching the machine work.

Most of them were middle-aged.

They all wore smiles as if reminiscing about the scene filled with memories.

Kim Chul-soo took out his portable camera from his bag and filmed the scene.

Although the sound wasn’t loud enough to make the neighborhood tremble, the white steam bursting out of the open door, blowing the old man’s remaining hair backward, showed how strong the pressure was.

A savory and sweet smell wafted through the air.

Children, who had followed their mothers, were fascinated by the sight of the sack filled with puffed rice snacks.

After fully capturing the scene, Kim Chul-soo looked closely at the machine.

‘Gadeok Machinery PR-1’

The detailed label was worn out, but the large brand name remained intact.

He captured that as well with his camera and then turned his eyes to the puffed rice snacks displayed as products.

“How much is this?”

Kim Chul-soo bought all the displayed snacks, held the large black bags in both hands, and headed home.

“What’s with all this puffed rice……”

Yoon Jin-sook went out to greet Kim Chul-soo, who came home past 10 p.m., and took the large black bags from his hands. She thought they were heavy, but they were surprisingly light. She looked inside and saw puffed rice snacks.

“Why are you going to eat puffed rice on a business trip?”

Kim Chul-soo chuckled at his mother’s question.

African food was surprisingly similar to Korean food, so there was no need to worry about food while he was there.

“One is to keep at home and eat. The other bag is for the business trip.”

“Why are you taking something so bulky?”

As the saying goes, seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times.

It was better to taste it directly than to imagine the taste in your head.

“There’s a time and place for everything, Mother.”

“Are you suddenly acting all grown up? Go wash up. I’ll cut up some Korean melon for you.”

“Yes.”

******

Two days later, Thursday.

A loud cheer erupted from Sales Team 2, which had been like the calm before the storm due to Jang Yoo-mi’s mistake.

“Hooray!”

“What are you thinking about?”

“How did you know? That this would be resolved in two days?”

Jang Yoo-mi recalled her conversation with Kim Chul-soo at Sky Park.

He had said it would be alright in two days, even using the word “exactly.”

At the time, she thought he was just being dramatic.

But after hearing the call from the buyer at 10:20 a.m. on Thursday and shouting “hooray,” she realized within three seconds that Kim Chul-soo had predicted it.

“Do I really have to tell you? It’s a trade secret.”

Kim Chul-soo sipped his coffee, and Jang Yoo-mi shook his arm as if she was desperate to know.

“You have to pay for the coffee somehow.”

To be honest, Kim Chul-soo didn’t know exactly how the issue was resolved.

18 years ago, he hadn’t been this close to Jang Yoo-mi, and above all, he had been too busy being scolded all day by Assistant Manager Lee Jun-hak and keeping up with the team’s work to remember how the Sales Team 2 incident unfolded.

He only remembered that it had been handled well.

“I saw it in the future.”

Kim Chul-soo said nonchalantly, and Jang Yoo-mi, who was drinking her coffee, spat it out.

“Pfft!”

She hurriedly took out a handkerchief to wipe the coffee off her clothes, grumbling.

“Are you really going to keep that up?”

As Jang Yoo-mi narrowed her eyes like an angry cat, Kim Chul-soo casually combined the information he had just heard.

“It’s May, you know.”

“So?”

“It’s the rainy season in Southeast Asia.”

Jang Yoo-mi’s eyes widened as if she didn’t know this.

“Really?”

“Of course. So I checked when the buyer’s ship would arrive using Vt (Vessel Traffic, a website for tracking ship locations). It was scheduled to arrive early Thursday morning.”

“Is that why you said two days? How did you know that the nickel ore on board would get wet and burn?”

“Of course, I didn’t know. But seeing you so desperate, Yoo-mi-ssi, I thought if there was a God, they would grant your wish, so I said two days.”

Jang Yoo-mi touched her lips and glanced suspiciously at Kim Chul-soo.

Kim Chul-soo acted nonchalantly and sipped his iced coffee.

Although she felt uneasy, Jang Yoo-mi eventually nodded, thinking that Kim Chul-soo’s words made sense.

“What were you going to do if that incident didn’t happen today?”

Kim Chul-soo shook his head at her question.

“Then my words would have become meaningless. I would have regretted not getting coffee from Yoo-mi-ssi.”

“Hmm.”

Seeing that the persistent Jang Yoo-mi was not convinced, Kim Chul-soo spoke again.

Jang Yoo-mi was tight-lipped, competitive, and never gave up, so she worked at the company for a long time, second only to Kim Chul-soo among their colleagues.

Kim Chul-soo, who had decided to make Jang Yoo-mi, who was attracted to him, his ally, casually revealed one of the know-hows he had accumulated through his experiences.

“For ores or grains, you need to check all the bulk carriers that enter the buyer’s wharf. That ship, C.Foundation, was a 27-year-old vessel. Considering the short regular docking period, it’s highly likely that it wasn’t properly repaired. There was a good chance that something was wrong with the ship.”

“Ah!”

Jang Yoo-mi let out a short exclamation, as if she finally understood.

“So, the ship scheduled for June had to leave for the buyer quickly, and the tables turned, allowing Sales Team 2 to revise the contract more favorably.”

“Wow! Chul-soo-ssi, you know what?”

Kim Chul-soo sipped the last of his coffee through the straw and looked at Jang Yoo-mi with only his eyes.

“You sound just like the team leader.”

“Oh, no way.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Assistant Manager Lee Jun-hak taught me.”

“You’re lucky to have such a good mentor.”

Kim Chul-soo couldn’t help but chuckle at her words.

‘Lee Jun-hak is a good mentor? Park Dong-jin is much better. If she had made that mistake under Assistant Manager Lee, she would have been so mentally drained that she wouldn’t have been able to smile for a month.’

“Lunch break is almost over.”

“Oh, time flies.”

Jang Yoo-mi felt that time flew by whenever she talked to Kim Chul-soo.

With about five days of business trip ahead, Kim Chul-soo handed over his work to Lee Jun-hak.

As expected, Lee Jun-hak asked a lot of questions, like what to do in this situation, what to do in that situation, and so on. But Kim Chul-soo knew Lee Jun-hak’s personality and had prepared thoroughly to answer them.

When the handover with Lee Jun-hak was finished, Ahn Jeong-gyu looked at his watch and gathered his team members.

“Kenya is not safe. Don’t go out alone, and come back in one piece. You’re leaving on Sunday, right?”

“Yes, Team Leader.”

“Claim your overtime and extra work allowances. All expenses from the moment you leave home are on the company. Don’t try to impress the company by spending your own money.”

“Understood, Team Leader.”

“If any problem arises, use all your resources to contact us and get advice.”

“Yes, Team Leader!”

Ahn Jeong-gyu looked at Lee Jun-hak.

“Assistant Manager Lee, you received the handover properly, right?”

“Don’t worry, Team Leader.”

Lee Jun-hak said confidently, and Ahn Jeong-gyu nodded.

“Good. Then it’s time for a happy end to the workday and a happy weekend. Manager Pyo.”

At Ahn Jeong-gyu’s words, Manager Pyo Il-soo turned his eyes.

“Don’t drag Assistant Manager Lee out for drinks just because we got off work early. Go home early today, okay?”

“Ah, this is an invasion of privacy, Team Leader.”

“Hey, Jun-hak needs to go home and take care of his wife and kids. If you really want to go out, call me tomorrow.”

At the invitation, Manager Pyo Il-soo waved his hands in refusal.

“Hahaha. You too, Team Leader.”

“No. Get ready for hiking on Saturday and come to my house by 8 a.m.”

“Uh oh……”

“Stop complaining and get out of here.”

Lee Jun-hak looked at the dejected Manager Pyo Il-soo and then at Ahn Jeong-gyu.

If they were going hiking on Saturday, it meant they were going to meet with higher-ups, and including Manager Pyo Il-soo meant he was being prepared for promotion.

‘If this is the case, it means the Team Leader is getting promoted this time? I thought it would be difficult because of Deputy General Manager Park Joon-hyung, but this is unexpected!’

However, Manager Pyo Il-soo seemed oblivious, letting out a long sigh.

Lee Jun-hak clicked his tongue inwardly, watching him.

‘It’s troublesome that he’s so clueless. Seeing him being dragged along by the Team Leader, I guess he’s chosen his side?’

Kim Chul-soo also brightened up at Ahn Jeong-gyu’s words.

According to his memory, Section Chief Ahn Jeong-gyu left the company as a section chief two years later.

Therefore, there was no reason for him to look after Manager Pyo Il-soo, who was a manager. The fact that he was being so proactive meant that his promotion was confirmed.

‘That’s why the Team Leader was so happy after the new employee presentation.’

Apparently, there had been some sort of bet or deal among the higher-ups.

“Alright! Let’s get out of here! Time to go home!”

Section Chief Ahn Jeong-gyu cracked his stiff neck, rotated his shoulders, and turned his body.

Then, with sharp eyes, he looked out the window and walked towards his desk.

‘It seems they’ve already noticed. Now they’ll have to choose sides. Assistant Manager Lee Jun-hak, Manager Pyo is a fool, but his loyalty is high, so it’s good to keep him around. I need someone who can take the initiative and do things. Chul-soo still needs time to grow. It would be great if Assistant Manager Lee Jun-hak came to my side.’

Ahn Jeong-gyu glanced at Lee Jun-hak, who was preparing to leave, picked up his bag, and said loudly,

“Oh, I’m beat! Let’s go, let’s go!”

******

Choi Hye-na was enjoying wine in the empty private room, looking out the window.

She watched Kim Chul-soo, who sang with an incredible sensitivity that a man in his mid-20s couldn’t possibly possess, and listened with a happy face.

Of course, there were singers who sang better than Kim Chul-soo, but it was obvious that she couldn’t listen to them here, and she would have to go through the trouble of finding concert halls that were held only once or twice a year.

It was naturally a shame that she could only listen to them once or twice a year.

Compared to that, she could listen to such a song live twice a week for two hours each time without much effort, so she was extremely happy.

Sometimes she got goosebumps from his endlessly soaring high notes, and sometimes her heart ached from his endlessly soft, whispering low notes.

Occasionally, he would even sing trot songs, receiving great responses from the drinkers on the first floor.

It seemed Kim Chul-soo chose his songs based on the audience.

Thanks to this, on Friday and Saturday evenings, there were sometimes people lining up to get in.

For a live cafe, not a club in Itaewon.

And he was so good at managing his voice that she had never seen him lose his voice or strain it.

It was truly rare to find someone who managed themselves so well while working at a busy company.

He didn’t smoke, and she had never seen him drunk.

After the performance, Kim Chul-soo always cleaned up and returned to being a neat office worker.

When the last song ended with a thrilling high note, the customers shouted for an encore.

However, as always, Kim Chul-soo politely bowed several times to the audience instead. In such an atmosphere, he would be swept away by the mood and sing a few more songs.

He had to sing again tomorrow.

He was managing his voice.

She believed that unrestrained freedom could bring joy and happiness to humans, and French artists put this into practice.

She believed that the essence of happiness was how much one could use the time given to a human being, which would disappear before death, for oneself, so she left home for freedom.

She recalled the days when she had argued with her colleagues about humans and freedom while drunk and high on marijuana. But she realized that even without freedom, there was something to be admired in the act of restraint, like a machine.

She looked at herself, finding a strange charm in Kim Chul-soo, who controlled himself like a machine, unlike her, who acted impulsively.

“Cool.”

Kim Chul-soo, who had finished his Friday part-time job at the live cafe, as always, fixed his hair and straightened his clothes.

“Good work, Chul-soo-ssi.”

Kim Chul-soo took the envelope Choi Hye-na handed him and replied with a smile.

“Thank you. See you tomorrow.”

“Wait a minute.”

Kim Chul-soo turned his gaze at Choi Hye-na’s words.

“Are you free tomorrow?”

“Yes?”

“I want to ask you out on a date. Are you free tomorrow?”

Kim Chul-soo was momentarily flustered by her straightforwardness.

The confident beauty in front of him was likely the hidden lover of Managing Director Choi Young-joon.

He had to get in good with Managing Director Choi Young-joon, and dating his hidden lover was definitely not the right thing to do.

“No.”

Choi Hye-na was slightly hurt by Kim Chul-soo’s immediate rejection of her request without any hesitation. No man had ever rejected her date request before.

“Wow, how can you just turn me down like that?”

“So, a date is difficult.”

‘Geez! Really.’

Feeling a surge of defiance, Choi Hye-na quickly thought of a plan.

“What kind of date are you thinking about?”

“Well, you know……”

“What are you thinking about?”

Kim Chul-soo’s thoughts became tangled when Choi Hye-na refuted him.

“We’re getting individual lockers next week. You’re the ace of our shop, Chul-soo-ssi, and don’t you think it’s time to break out of those typical clothes?”

When Choi Hye-na pointed at Kim Chul-soo’s neat suit, he nodded reluctantly.

“Seeing you come in such awful clothes after I told you to prepare your outfit, your fashion sense must be terrible. That’s why I wanted to go with you tomorrow to pick out some clothes that would suit you.”

“But tomorrow I have to go to work……”

“As far as I know, Saturday is not a workday, is it? If you want to keep working here, you should listen to the owner, shouldn’t you? If you’re going to refuse, don’t come next week.”

However, Choi Hye-na regretted her words as soon as she said them.

‘Ah, this isn’t right.’

At Choi Hye-na’s words, Kim Chul-soo thought of the stock that was going up like a red arrow in his mind.

He was buying stocks with all the money he earned here, and if that 800,000 won disappeared next week, it would be quite troublesome.

‘Alright, I just have to buy clothes. But, the clothes chosen by someone like her will be quite expensive.’

“……But do I have to buy the clothes with my own money?”

Choi Hye-na burst into laughter, looking dumbfounded.

‘He’s funny.’

“Those clothes will be in the locker at the company, and the locker is owned by the shop, so the clothes are mine too. Of course, the owner will pay for them, right?”

“Then I understand.”

“Come here at 10 a.m. tomorrow.”

“Yes.”

“Then go home safely.”

Choi Hye-na waved her hand with a satisfied expression and left the waiting room.

‘Why didn’t you say so earlier?’

Kim Chul-soo watched Choi Hye-na leave the waiting room, humming happily, and then checked his watch before quickly starting to move.

He didn’t have much time left before the last train.

A precious guest from Korea

One of the things men hate the most is shopping, and one of the things women love the most is shopping.

Kim Chul-soo was no exception, being dragged around like a bridled colt by Choi Hye-na.

Well, it’s the same for any man who goes shopping with his wife or girlfriend.

‘I hate this!’

However, Kim Chul-soo’s expression, honed by 18 years of sales experience, remained docile.

“How about this?”

“It looks good.”

“No, the color is a bit off.”

Until he became independent, he used the shampoo, soap, and socks that his mother bought for him. But after getting married, whenever he went shopping with his wife, she always asked the same questions.

How about this? How about that?

Men would say that everything was fine, but regardless of their reactions, women already had in mind what they wanted to buy.

Why did they have to go through this process?

“How about this?”

Kim Chul-soo replied with a smile.

“It looks very good on you.”

Choi Hye-na frowned and shook her head.

“The fit is a bit off.”

Then she handed him another outfit.

“Try this one on too.”

Kim Chul-soo was troubled by Choi Hye-na acting like his wife or girlfriend.

‘It would be troublesome if Managing Director Choi finds out.’

However, he followed her like a lamb, unsure of how women, creatures of whims, would react.

How many times did he have to go in and out of the fitting room just to buy one outfit?

Kim Chul-soo, remembering his newlywed days, didn’t irritate his employer, Choi Hye-na.

After about two hours of back and forth, they finally bought clothes she liked, decided to have a simple lunch, and part ways.

“You work on weekends too?”

“Yes.”

“When do you have personal time?”

“I make time whenever I can.”

“It seems like you only live for work.”

Kim Chul-soo shook his head while tearing off a piece of the wood-fired pizza.

“I sleep at home.”

Choi Hye-na burst into laughter at his reply and asked while twirling her spinach pasta with a fork.

“Hahaha. Why do you work so hard? Do you have a goal or something?”

“Everyone who joins a company has the same goal. To become the president.”

“Are you really working hard to become the president, Chul-soo-ssi? People who work for trading companies seem to work hard to start their own businesses.”

Most trading company employees start their own side businesses around the time they become managers, using their accumulated network.

They rent a small office in an officetel and hire a couple of people, and it’s quite profitable compared to their company salary.

The company turns a blind eye to this because these small businesses handle deals that are too small for the trading company, building trust with buyers. The company then benefits from the trust built through these small businesses.

Kim Chul-soo also planned to run a small business like that, but he wanted to sit in the top office of Han-Young Corporation.

The thought of becoming the president and the leader of Han-Young Corporation with its 2,000 employees made him blurt out,

“I will become the president. I will definitely become the president.”

Choi Hye-na thought it was such a peculiar answer that she could intuitively sense that he meant it.

He declared it as if it were a certainty that he would be the president someday.

‘He’s a strange man.’

“Why?”

Choi Hye-na widened her eyes and stared at Kim Chul-soo with intense curiosity.

Kim Chul-soo, realizing that he had unintentionally revealed his true feelings, scratched his head and tried to recover.

“I just want to, there’s no particular reason.”

“Hahaha. That’s silly. Isn’t it really difficult to become the president? It would be hard without any foundation, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s why I have to work hard. There’s nothing I can do right now except work hard.”

Kim Chul-soo said that and put the rolled-up wood-fired pizza into his mouth.

Of course, nothing can be achieved just by working hard.

‘The world is not that easy.’

Choi Hye-na also put the spinach pasta she had twirled on her fork into her mouth and thought.

‘He said he caught the chairman’s eye, right?’