New Employee Kim Chul-soo

Chapter 6

‘Whoa. My heart’s pounding.’

Kim Chul-soo placed a slightly trembling hand on his chest, his 18 years of experience feeling insignificant at this moment.

It was almost impossible for a newbie to speak to a superior like a section chief or team leader this way.

He still couldn’t predict how Team Leader Ahn Jeong-gyu would react.

━Ding.

The elevator doors opened and the new Sales Team employees poured in.

“Oh, Mr. Kim Chul-soo?”

They made strange faces when they saw him.

And then Kim Chul-soo remembered that there was a gathering for the 21st batch of new employees today.

A gathering to which he alone hadn’t been invited.

Well, he wasn’t offended.

None of these guys would last long in the company anyway.

“I don’t think I can attend the new employee gathering today. I have a family matter.”

Kim Chul-soo’s words were met with awkward laughter.

“Ah, I see.”

They turned and looked at the elevator doors.

“Where’s Jang Yoo-mi?”

“She said she couldn’t make it today.”

“Why?”

“Assistant Manager Park Dong-jin seems to have her tied up.”

“Ah… That guy.”

“Too bad.”

“Isn’t Jang Yoo-mi the prettiest employee in the company?”

“Right? Maybe Assistant Manager Park has ulterior motives?”

“Nah, a married man wouldn’t do that.”

A few male employees chuckled, and Kim Chul-soo took out his phone.

━Brrr.

Kim Chul-soo saw the message that had arrived.

━Newbie. Betray me and you’re dead. ━Team Leader.

Kim Chul-soo smirked and sent a reply.

━I’ll die after you, Team Leader-nim. ━Newbie

The 21st batch of newbies standing in front of him rushed out, and Kim Chul-soo slowly walked on.

━Brrr.

━Don’t tell Assistant Manager Lee Jun-hak.

‘As expected.’

Ahn Jeong-gyu had a precise understanding of people.

He now understood why Manager Park Joon-hyung wanted to get rid of Ahn Jeong-gyu quickly.

Kim Chul-soo immediately sent a reply.

━I understand, Team Leader-nim.

And he deleted all the remaining messages on his phone.

Your and My Fate Depends on This

“Mom.”

Kim Chul-soo washed up and sat down at the table.

“Why?”

“When you have time, please look for a house for our family to live in.”

“A house?”

Yoon Jin-sook placed a fried egg on Kim Chul-soo’s rice and sat down on the floor with a slight groan.

Her knees, which had been bad for a while, were particularly painful today.

Kim Chul-soo didn’t miss a single groan or expression of his mother.

“What house?”

“The company is offering a loan of about 20 million won.”

“Who’s going to pay it back?”

“I can pay it back slowly.”

“Forget it. Just focus on your own life, son. Mom can’t do anything for you, so just save up and think about getting married.”

Kim Chul-soo looked at his mother quietly and then spoke.

“I’m doing this for my own success. If your knees get worse and you can’t work, I’ll have to support our family with my salary anyway. And how much will your hospital bills be? Will my salary be enough? I’m saying this for our own good. So, let’s move down from the slums.”

Although he said that, Yoon Jin-sook understood Kim Chul-soo’s intentions and wiped her reddening eyes with her sleeve as she listened to his words.

“Sigh… Who did you take after to be so stubborn?”

“You, Mom. So, let’s move to a Jeonse (lease with a large deposit). Two rooms will be enough. I’ll just be sleeping there anyway. Somewhere that won’t put a strain on your legs. And since it’s my deposit money, don’t even think about touching it.”

At those words, Yoon Jin-sook chuckled.

******

Sunday.

President Yoo Ji-hoon, Managing Director Choi Young-joon, and three or four other executives.

And there were two people diligently following behind, carrying several golf clubs.

Manager Park Joon-hyung and Assistant Manager Ahn Jeong-gyu.

On one side was Manager Park Joon-hyung, who was favored by Chairman Choi Kyung-hoon, rode the express promotion train, and gained experience in various tasks while working in various departments.

On the other side was Assistant Manager Ahn Jeong-gyu, who had the best performance and abilities among the six sales team leaders and was predicted to become the next sales department manager.

They had given up their comfortable and cozy weekend, sweating profusely as they followed the executives around, so there might have been a touching camaraderie between them, but they didn’t even make eye contact.

Instead, only a chilly, cold wind blew between them.

Park Joon-hyung was in President Yoo Ji-hoon’s line, placed there by Chairman Choi Kyung-hoon.

Ahn Jeong-gyu was still in his late thirties, and although he was the fourth son, which was a disadvantage as an heir, he had put his foot in the door of Managing Director Choi Young-joon’s line, seeing potential.

In fact, Ahn Jeong-gyu wanted to join President Yoo Ji-hoon’s line, which was known as the elite group within the company, but because Park Joon-hyung had already taken that spot, he had no choice but to choose the second-best option.

When the golf ball hit by Yoo Ji-hoon’s 1-wood landed in a good spot, everyone clapped.

Park Joon-hyung, famous among the employees for being aloof, clapped while shouting “Nice!” repeatedly, as if he were a child showing off.

“Manager Park seems to be in a good mood today.”

When Choi Young-joon spoke while fiddling with his golf club, Yoo Ji-hoon replied.

“Haha. Manager Park is always happy when he’s with me.”

“He’s a really good person.”

“Right? Hahaha.”

Meanwhile, Ahn Jeong-gyu placed a tee on the tee box (the starting point for hitting the ball) and put a golf ball on top of it.

“Ready, Managing Director-nim.”

Hearing those words, Choi Young-joon swung his golf club a few times, then took his stance and hit a tee shot.

The golf ball flew high and far, bounced around near the hole, then gently touched the flag sticking out of the hole before sinking right in.

“Hooray!!! Hooray!!!”

A hole-in-one was something golfers rarely achieved even once in their lifetime.

When Ahn Jeong-gyu shouted “Hooray!” until his face and neck turned red and his voice became hoarse and cracked, Choi Young-joon looked at Yoo Ji-hoon with an awkward expression and said,

“It seems I was lucky this time.”

Yoo Ji-hoon nodded with a regretful expression.

Then, looking at Ahn Jeong-gyu, who was shouting “Hooray!” until his voice was hoarse, he said,

“A hole-in-one! Congratulations. By the way, Assistant Manager Ahn Jeong-gyu’s voice is quite impressive.”

“Hahaha. He’s not as cute as Manager Park Joon-hyung, but he’s quite a reliable man.”

“It’s a good thing that we have so many good people in our company.”

“Right?”

Yoo Ji-hoon and Choi Young-joon handed their golf clubs to Park Joon-hyung and Ahn Jeong-gyu and started talking.

“I heard that Daesung Group is introducing the 6-Sigma method this time.”

Choi Young-joon nodded at Yoo Ji-hoon’s words.

“Yes, I’ve heard.”

“How about introducing it to our company as well?”

“It takes quite a bit of time. Wouldn’t it affect the employees’ work? The effectiveness hasn’t been verified either.”

Yoo Ji-hoon nodded in agreement with Choi Young-joon’s words.

“That’s right. The effectiveness hasn’t been verified. So, how about trying it with the new recruits this time?”

“New recruits? I wonder if it will be effective.”

“They don’t take on major tasks until their first year, so how about trying it even if it costs a little? Good ideas could come out, and if the new employees who learn the trendy techniques grow, it will be a great help to the company.”

Choi Young-joon, sensing the validity of President Yoo Ji-hoon’s words, nodded.

“It sounds like a good idea.”

“Hahaha. But wouldn’t it be boring to just do it like that?”

At Yoo Ji-hoon’s words, Choi Young-joon smiled and said,

“A bet?”

“Of course. Wouldn’t it be boring without competition? Especially since I’m feeling a bit down after losing the golf bet just now.”

“Good. Let’s do that. What kind of bet will you make?”

Yoo Ji-hoon stopped walking and turned around to look at Manager Park Joon-hyung and Assistant Manager Ahn Jeong-gyu, who were bringing the golf clubs.

“It wouldn’t be right to make the executives or assistant managers compete. How about we bet on which new employee, among those under Manager Park Joon-hyung and Assistant Manager Ahn Jeong-gyu, gets a better score?”

Choi Young-joon didn’t know which new employee Assistant Manager Ahn Jeong-gyu had, but it was quite an interesting bet, so he readily nodded.

“It sounds like a good bet.”

“Right? What should the prize be?”

At those words, Choi Young-joon looked back again.

Park Joon-hyung was already riding President Yoo Ji-hoon’s line and was favored by the chairman, so he would be promoted to executive, but Assistant Manager Ahn Jeong-gyu was being held back by the HR team where Park Joon-hyung worked, making his promotion difficult.

“How about promoting the person on the winning side? Both Manager Park and Assistant Manager Ahn would be great as executives.”

At those words, President Yoo Ji-hoon laughed heartily.

“Good. Very good.”

“However.”

At Choi Young-joon’s words, President Yoo Ji-hoon stopped laughing.

“Wouldn’t it be more fun if we didn’t interfere and just looked at the new recruits’ abilities?”

“Of course.”

“Let’s say that if anyone cheats, they lose.”

President Yoo Ji-hoon readily agreed to Choi Young-joon’s suggestion.

According to Manager Park Joon-hyung, there was a new employee under Assistant Manager Ahn Jeong-gyu who graduated from a nameless local university with a degree in Applied Music and… was the last in training scores. He had heard that he was a clueless idiot.

“Good. Good!”

Arriving at the company at 6:50 AM after taking the first bus from home, Kim Chul-soo entered the company gym, which was provided as a welfare benefit.

The spacious area was equipped with various fitness equipment, but it was empty in the morning.

There were only a few people around after work.

Kim Chul-soo lightly stretched his sore body and began his workout in earnest.

It had already been 20 days since he started working out here.

If he signed up for a fitness center, it would cost him over 50,000 won a month, but here it was free!

No matter what you do, you need stamina, but when you’re working, you lose time to exercise.

If you don’t become more diligent, you’ll quickly become a pot-bellied ahjussi, and you’ll be too tired to become an attractive person.

Salesmen, whose work is more than half related to sales, need to manage their appearance well to give their clients a sense of trust and likeability.

The reason why handsome and tall people are generally more likely to succeed in society is because of the attractiveness that comes from their appearance.

You need to take good care of yourself from a young age to last long.

And from April, he had to start working part-time at Blue House, so physical management was crucial.

******

Chairman Choi Kyung-hoon, who arrived at the company at the crack of dawn because of the Han-Young Corporation shareholders’ meeting and executive meeting that would be held today, walked around the quiet building accompanied by Secretary Baek Jun-seok.

Choi Kyung-hoon, the founder who built the group with nothing but his two fists after the war, was quite meticulous about trivial matters.

Lighting, brightness, cleaning status, and so on.

“The building management is quite well done. It’s gotten a lot better.”

“President Yoo has been paying a lot of attention since he took office.”

“Yes. I like that man. But the lighting here seems very dark, doesn’t it? In such a dark place, people become gloomy. Gloomy people are the ones who ruin companies.”

The secretary diligently wrote down the chairman’s words.

“I’ll issue a corrective action order later.”

“Yes.”

“This area needs to be cleaned more carefully. There’s quite a bit of dust accumulated.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

Choi Kyung-hoon carefully inspected the building as he descended and, seeing a place with lights on in one corner of the hallway, headed there.

He looked at the sign that read

[Gymnasium]

and peeked inside through the window.

He saw a young man diligently working out.

Choi Kyung-hoon looked down at his watch as he watched.

[7:31 a.m.]

“Shall we go inside?”

At those words, Choi Kyung-hoon shook his head with a satisfied smile.

“No. I can’t interrupt him while he’s working out so hard. Seeing an employee coming out and working out so hard at this hour reminds me of myself in the past. I used to be like that. Hahaha…. Let’s go.”

Seeing the smile on Choi Kyung-hoon’s face, Baek Jun-seok sighed inwardly.

He knew from long experience that if the chairman was in such a good mood, there would be no reprimands.

Baek Jun-seok turned his eyes and, seeing the young employee who was really working hard from early in the morning, wrote in his notepad.

━ March 21, 2003. 7:31 a.m. Who is the employee working out in the gym?

This was because the chairman might suddenly ask who that employee was.

Not being able to answer would be the fate of the secretary.

******

“Chul-soo, print the email from Heung-A Shipping. And prepare the catalog Aramco sent, the B/L copy file, and the reply from KIKO and put them on the table. We’ll go into the meeting as soon as the team leader arrives.”

“Yes! Assistant Manager Lee.”

At Lee Jun-hak’s words, Kim Chul-soo replied and began to move like a machine.

He immediately printed, went to the copy room, checked for waste paper while retrieving the printed papers, secured them with a clip, found the catalog and the file, and placed them neatly on the table.

He aligned the angles perfectly and arranged them in order, so it seemed like there would be no tangling while flipping through them.

Lee Jun-hak, glancing at the scene, nodded slightly.

‘His work efficiency is top-notch. It would be nice if he was good with languages. I wonder if he’s studying English diligently?’

However, Lee Jun-hak didn’t harbor any doubts.

He recalled the sight of Kim Chul-soo studying diligently from the crack of dawn.

‘Was asking him to get over 900 in two months too much? No, it’s not. You do what you’re told in the workplace.’

When Section Chief Pyo Il-soo entered, Kim Chul-soo bowed deeply.

“Good morning, Section Chief Pyo.”

“Oh!!! Chul-soo, too.”

“Have you been well? Section Chief Pyo.”

“Hey, are we in the Joseon Dynasty?”

Lee Jun-hak chuckled at Section Chief Pyo Il-soo’s words.

A little later, when Team Leader Ahn Jeong-gyu appeared at the door carrying a lot of things, Kim Chul-soo ran like a bullet and received what Ahn Jeong-gyu was carrying.

They were books.

Books related to 6-Sigma.

‘Ah! It was time for this.’

“Welcome, Team Leader!”

“Yes. Put those on the table.”

Ahn Jeong-gyu, panting, wiped the sweat from his forehead.

He received greetings from his team members and sat at the table.

As soon as Ahn Jeong-gyu sat down, he abruptly called out Kim Chul-soo’s name.

“Yes, Team Leader.”

Ahn Jeong-gyu slapped the book on the table with his palm.

“Your and my fate depends on this.”

Section Chief Pyo Il-soo and Assistant Manager Lee Jun-hak looked at the book with surprised eyes at Ahn Jeong-gyu’s overly serious and earnest tone.

Stop fighting, will you!

Pyo Il-soo and Lee Jun-hak looked at the team leader again with serious expressions.

“How is it? My acting! Top-notch, right?”

Team Leader Ahn Jeong-gyu, who had been putting on a serious face, smiled and added the last words, causing Pyo Il-soo to burst into laughter.

“Wha… What is this! Team Leader! Ah… really…”

Lee Jun-hak was desperately covering his mouth to suppress his bursting laughter, and Kim Chul-soo stared blankly at Ahn Jeong-gyu.

‘Your and my fate depends on this. Those aren’t simple words.’

Team leaders rarely play this kind of prank.

Kim Chul-soo, who couldn’t even handle the work from 18 years ago, naturally came in last, and Hwang Dae-hoon from the HR team came in first.

Ahn Jeong-gyu looked at Pyo Il-soo and Lee Jun-hak who were bursting into laughter, then shook his head at Kim Chul-soo who was staring blankly at him, and thought,

‘Even I think it’s ridiculous. There’s no way he has a chance. And I can’t embarrassingly say that my promotion is riding on this bet. A team leader has to maintain his pride!’

“Chul-soo. Put these books on the bookshelf. I heard from the training team that they’re conducting 6-Sigma training for new employees. There will be an evaluation, so as a man, you have to come in first, right?”

Kim Chul-soo paid attention to Ahn Jeong-gyu’s tone, which particularly emphasized coming in first.

‘First place?’

“Yes! Team Leader.”

While Kim Chul-soo was neatly arranging the books on the bookshelf, Section Chief Pyo Il-soo asked,

“What is 6-Sigma?”

“You guys. Do you not even watch TV? It’s in the commercials.”

“Well, I know the commercials. But why are they training new employees on that?”

At those words, Ahn Jeong-gyu’s face hardened.

‘Hmm.’

“Section Chief Pyo.”

At that voice, Pyo Il-soo also wiped the smile off his face.

“Yes, Team Leader.”

“By tomorrow, no matter what you do, find out what 6-Sigma is and report to me in writing.”

“Oh… uh.”

“You’re not going to answer?”

“Yes… Team Leader. I’ll report to you by tomorrow.”

Ahn Jeong-gyu, having ended the situation, started the work meeting.

After a 20-minute meeting, Ahn Jeong-gyu announced that he was going to meet an important buyer from England and went straight out.

Section Chief Pyo Il-soo, who was already busy with work and now had to take on this unexpected task, called Lee Jun-hak.

Lee Jun-hak made a troubled expression.

“Section Chief Pyo. I have three meetings today and have to visit two clients.”

“Oh, come on. I’m busy today too. I have to go to Pyeongtaek. I don’t have time for this.”

Then, Lee Jun-hak pointed to Kim Chul-soo sitting at his desk.

“Didn’t the team leader say to find out no matter what we do?”

“Ah! That’s right! There’s Chul-soo.”

Pyo Il-soo called Kim Chul-soo, and Kim Chul-soo quickly approached.

“Chul-soo, you heard the team leader, right?”

“Yes! Section Chief Pyo.”

“Summarize what 6-Sigma is and send it to my email. Got it?”

“Yes, Section Chief Pyo.”

“As always, answer internal calls, get help from other teams for external calls and leave a good memo, or contact me immediately if it’s urgent.”

“Yes. Don’t worry, Section Chief Pyo.”

Pyo Il-soo then grabbed his briefcase, patted Lee Jun-hak on the shoulder, and said,

“Let’s go have a cigarette and then head out.”

“Yes, Section Chief.”

Lee Jun-hak also grabbed his briefcase and said to Kim Chul-soo,

“Don’t make any mistakes. You have to do it properly. You’re on your own today. Contact me immediately if you have any questions.”

“Yes! Assistant Manager Lee.”

“I’ll be watching you, okay? How you do. You’re dead if you mess this up.”

After Lee Jun-hak, who had firmly laid down the law, disappeared outside following Pyo Il-soo, Kim Chul-soo took out all the 6-Sigma books and spread them out on his desk.

If an opportunity arises to maximize your abilities in the workplace, you must seize it.

This was such a case.

This was a competition.

A competition only for new employees, among new employees.

A chance to freely demonstrate your abilities without being subjected to jealousy, glares, and scrutiny.

Kim Chul-soo roughly spread out the books and immediately started working on PowerPoint.

‘This is nothing!’

In the past, Kim Chul-soo had worked with 6-Sigma for five years, obtaining a Green Belt in his second year and a Black Belt in his fourth year, making him a 6-Sigma expert.

Summarizing what 6-Sigma is was a piece of cake.

Just as he was about to start working,

Ahn Jeong-gyu, who had said he was going to meet a buyer, suddenly entered the office.

Although it was a task assigned by Section Chief Pyo Il-soo, summarizing 6-Sigma was not work-related, so Kim Chul-soo hurriedly closed the book.

However, Ahn Jeong-gyu saw this and said to Kim Chul-soo,

“No, it’s okay. Continue what you were doing.”

“Yes! Team Leader.”

Ahn Jeong-gyu listened to Kim Chul-soo’s reply and changed from his slippers into his shoes.

“Everything alright?”

“Yes! No problems, Team Leader.”

“Okay.”

Ahn Jeong-gyu left Sales Team 5 with a grin.

‘Section Chief Pyo… I knew you’d do that.’