The Dignity of the Chaebol

“An apartment?”

“Yes, generally speaking.”

“In the Gangnam area, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything below 2 billion won…”

“Wait, how much? 2 billion won?”

“Yes.”

“How big is it?”

“Well… since you asked for a general answer, I’m referring to something around 30 pyeong (approximately 99 square meters).”

What? What is this guy talking about?

How can an apartment of around 30 pyeong cost 2 billion won?

This doesn’t make sense.

The average salary for a manager has barely doubled in 30 years, but housing prices have increased by more than ten or fifteen times—how is that even possible?

“But didn’t you say your salary as a manager is just under 50 million won?”

“Yes.”

“How can an apartment cost 2 billion won then?”

“Well, that’s because it’s Gangnam. Other places are relatively cheaper.”

“How much cheaper?”

“Well… here, it’s possible to find something around the mid-10 million won range, but it would be tough to get a new one.”

Is this guy playing a joke on me?

“No, if the housing prices around here are in the mid-10 million won range, how do people buy homes?”

“How do they buy them? They don’t. They can’t.”

Hearing a person working as an HR officer at a large corporation casually say that they can’t buy a house made me speechless for a moment.

“Or they might gamble everything they have and get a loan to buy a place.”

“Gamble everything?”

“Yeah, they take out loans by using everything they have. Buying a house without doing that is almost impossible.”

They use everything they have to buy a house?

“This might be rude, but… do you have a house, Jeong Dae-ri?”

“Me? How could I have a house? Of course not. I’m renting.”

“May I ask how old you are?”

“I’m 33.”

He looked younger than I expected, but surprisingly, he was older.

“Didn’t you join the company later than most people?”

“Me? Not really. I actually joined earlier than most of my university classmates.”

“You’re 33.”

“Yes.”

“So, you’ve been a manager for two years.”

Yes.

At 33, shouldn’t he have already been promoted to a higher position?

“How old were you when you joined the company?”

“I joined when I was 29.”

“Is that considered early?”

“Well, don’t compare me to you, Manager.”

“No, no. I’m asking if 29 is considered early in general.”

Generally speaking, if a person enters college at 20, with three years of military service for men, they would be around 26 or 27 when they start working, which is average.

Entering at 28 or 29 would be considered late.

That’s normal.

“Look, Manager.”

“Yes?”

“You enter college at 20. But for men, they have to serve in the military in Korea.”

“Yes, I know.”

“How do you remember that? Anyway, back then, military service was 20 months.”

“Military service?”

“Yes.”

“Military service was 20 months?”

“Yeah. But before and after military service, you’d probably need to take a leave of absence. By the time you return, you’re already 24. Most people would also take a language study trip, which is a given.”

“……”

“Take a year off for that, and you’d be in your second year at 25. If the family is well-off, you might not need to take another leave to raise tuition. And internships—how about those? These days, people aiming for large companies often do internships two or three times. By the time that’s done, men usually graduate at 27, or at the average age of 28 or 29.”

“But you said Jeong Dae-ri joined at 29, and that was considered early compared to your university peers?”

“Ah, I’m really worried now.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know what to say since you’re from HR and you’re saying things like this.”

“……”

“Have you heard of the ‘1318 generation’?”

“1318 generation?”

“It’s a term for the current job-seeking generation in Korea. It refers to the 13-month period after university graduation spent looking for a job and the average work tenure being only 18 months. This is the reality for job seekers nowadays.”

“Job seekers?”

“Yes, people preparing to get a job.”

Why would a college graduate still need to prepare for a job?

Normally, businesses should be actively recruiting graduates.

“The average age of success for job seekers in South Korea is 31.3 years for men and 29.8 years for women.”

“……”

“So, in that case, it’s considered early.”

Can I really believe this?

I don’t understand it at all.

“Then, Jeong Dae-ri.”

“Yes.”

“If the average tenure at a first job is only 18 months… what is the typical retirement age in the company?”

“Well, it’s officially set at 63, but that doesn’t mean much. How many people actually stay until retirement? I’ve heard it’s about 10%, but it also varies by industry. In our company, most of the department heads leave around their 50s through voluntary retirement.”

“……”

“Heh…”

“What? I don’t think that’s funny at all.”

“It’s not the content that’s funny, but the situation… it’s kind of amusing.”

“The situation?”

“I’ve worked with you for almost 6 months, but it feels like in these few minutes here in the car, I’ve talked about more HR matters with you than in the entire 6 months we’ve worked together.”

I had no response.

The comment I made earlier about how Korea has become a world where there’s never a dull moment, an easy and comfortable place to live… I wish I hadn’t said it.

It’s a relief I didn’t speak those words carelessly in front of Jeong Dae-ri.

***

“Why are there so many non-regular workers being used?”

It was when I arrived at the village where Jeong Hoon was living alone.

The term “village” seems appropriate.

It was a very exotic, unfamiliar type of residential area to me.

First, at the entrance to the community, there was a space resembling a guard post, almost like a toll booth on the highway.

Jeong Dae-ri pulled the car up close, and a beep sounded, followed by the rising of the barrier, granting us access.

“What was that beep sound just now?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You heard that beep sound, right? After that, the barrier went up, didn’t it?”

“Oh, that? This sticker here.”

Jeong Dae-ri pointed to a small sticker on the windshield.

“This acts like a key. That barrier just verified that your car is registered to this townhouse community.”

“Townhouse. You call this a townhouse?”

“Yes, it’s a bit different from an apartment. These are more like individual single-family homes.”

This is the place where Jonggangyanghaeng used to be, 30 years ago.

Who would have ever imagined such a residential area would be built on this expensive land?

I couldn’t bring myself to ask Jeong Dae-ri how much these houses cost.

I couldn’t add to my sense of deprivation.

The 3-story houses, all identical, stretched on for a long distance.

Each house had a steel gate that looked like a garage door on the first floor, and Jeong Dae-ri began to park the car in front of one of the houses.

Then, he took out a small device resembling a car key from the sun visor.

He pressed a button on it, like a TV remote, and the garage door started lifting and opening.

To my surprise, the garage was quite spacious, and inside, there were three cars that were clearly expensive, clearly much more luxurious than the ones we had seen on the way here.

“This building… is for one household, right?”

“Yes, one household.”

“So, these cars… they’re all mine?”

“Yes.”

“And I’ve been switching between these cars to go to work?”

“…Yes.”

At this point, I didn’t feel any anger or resentment toward Jeong Hoon or his father, Hong Jun.

If I had been in this shock while still alive, and still Hong Jun’s father, I would have kicked him out right on the spot.

Even if I didn’t fully understand the world or how it works, it was clear that raising a child this way was wrong.

“Do you… not remember the password?”

It was when we arrived at the front door.

Jeong Dae-ri asked me.

“Password? What password?”

“Hold on… Oh, thank goodness. It works with a fingerprint scanner too.”

A fingerprint scanner?

“Manager, here. Please place your thumb here.”

There was a device attached to the front door handle, resembling a cordless phone, with numbers appearing on the screen. Jeong Dae-ri asked me to place my finger in a small slot below it.

Following his instructions, I placed my thumb there, and this time, a “beep” sound was followed by a soft metallic scratching sound coming from the door handle.

“You just open the door like this.”

“Ah… so now my thumb is the key.”

I felt somewhat humiliated by how clumsy I was with such modern technology.

“Just to be safe, should I change the password for you?”

“Change the password?”

“Yes. It can be changed from inside.”

I thought for a moment, then shook my head.

“No, just leave it.”

I didn’t know when I might leave this body, and I didn’t want Jeong Hoon to be confused after I was gone.

Since, as he mentioned, I could open the door with just my thumb, there was no reason to change anything.

Despite the large exterior, the house was a mess, and I couldn’t hide my embarrassment in front of Jeong Dae-ri.

What’s the point of a big house with a nice exterior if the inside is like this?

I let out an involuntary sigh.

Thankfully, my wallet was sitting on the dining table.

“……?”

The bills looked different.

What is this, toy money?