Real Man

Yoo-hyun turned his head and looked at Kwon Se-jung, who was sitting at the far right of the same row.

He felt sorry for him when he recalled their work life at the company.

Kwon Se-jung had worked very hard to catch up with Yoo-hyun, who always attracted attention.

He actually had some skills, and they even formed a subtle rivalry.

But he was no match for Yoo-hyun.

His sense of victimhood piled up in his heart, which seemed strong.

It got worse after he became a member of Yoo-hyun’s team.

-Why do you succeed and I fail? Why are you better and I’m worse?

He had vented his frustration to Yoo-hyun at a drinking party, drunk by himself.

He was a friend who had a sense of justice and always smiled kindly.

Yoo-hyun did not sincerely accept what he had said as a colleague and a friend.

He just dismissed it as the nonsense of a loser.

He did not feel any guilt when he left the crumbling team.

He was evaluated by his skills and recognized by his skills. 

That was how the company worked.

Surviving the competition was what made a winner.

Yoo-hyun did not see anything else but the path ahead of him.

What if he had held Kwon Se-jung’s hand back then?

He did not know if his twisted work life would have been resolved, but at least he would not have made such an extreme choice that led to the worst outcome.

It was time to correct his past mistakes, one by one, starting from Kwon Se-jung.

Yoo-hyun made up his mind.

The orientation continued right after the test ended.

There were 750 new employees for this training session, and they were divided into 15 classes.

The male dormitory was in Building A and the female dormitory was in Building B. 

They shared a room with four people each.

The class assignment was announced along with the test score after the orientation. 

They received their dormitory keys from their class.

The training period was two weeks as planned.

They had to attend classes on Saturdays and Sundays as well, and they were given extra pay for working on weekends.

“Wow…”

The new employees gasped when the instructor mentioned this part.

There were not many people who would hate getting paid for training.

But they would change their minds after a day passed.

It was that hard.

The introduction lasted for about 30 minutes, and then the person in charge shouted loudly.

“Shall we finish with the innovation clap that we learned earlier? I’ll start first. Innovation clap!”

“Ah!”

At the same time, 750 new employees raised their palms.

The slogan they chanted together was quite impressive in its own way.

The person in charge shouted again, as if to boost their morale.

“Start!”

“Clap clap clap clap clap Hansung! Clap clap clap clap clap Innovation! Woo-hoo!”

Until the last cheer.

They had to do this clap every time they finished their break during the training session.

At first, they laughed, but after doing it a few times, they became serious.

This was also a process of becoming a part of Hansung Electronics.

Buzz buzz.

The lobby in front of the hall was crowded with new employees who had just taken the test.

They wanted to check their test results and class assignments on the paper attached to the wall.

Yoo-hyun was leisurely drinking coffee at the back.

There was no need or reason for him to hurry up.

He used to try to get in early and look good, but now he knew he did not have to do that anymore.

‘I’m not going to be first anyway.’

He did not enter the training session with the goal of getting good grades in the first place.

For Yoo-hyun, the new employee training was a way to check his direction before starting his work life at the company.

He wanted to mingle with people rather than spending time only for grades.

He wanted to see if he could see a different scenery as he had thought, and how it would affect him.

When most of the people left, Yoo-hyun checked the paper on the wall.

Unfortunately, there were three people who did not score more than 70 points.

They were more gutsy than Yoo-hyun, who had taken the new employee training again.

“Class 2. Jung Hyun-woo is in class 11. Kwon Se-jung is… class 2. As expected.”

Luckily, he was in the same class as Kwon Se-jung.

He thought things would change when Jung Hyun-woo joined the company, but they did not change much.

Maybe he would meet his old colleagues again.

‘Who was there?’

He thought as he entered room 202 on the second floor of Building A.

There was a sign that said class 2 on the lecture hall. 

There were already people sitting inside.

But he did not recognize many faces.

Maybe it was because he did not encounter them often during the group training.

Or maybe they quit early.

He could tell by looking at his colleagues from Hansung Electronics LCD division. 

When Yoo-hyun was in his tenth year, less than half of them remained.

When he became the president, there were only a few left, so he did not expect much from the other groups.

There were eight teams in the class, and Yoo-hyun’s team was team 6, located in the middle of the window side.

Kwon Se-jung’s team was team 1, located near the entrance.

He looked very tense, as if he had something on his mind.

It was probably because of the aftermath of his confrontation with Chief Choi in the morning.

His aura was so gloomy that it could be felt from afar.

“Hang in there, Se-jung.”

Yoo-hyun clenched his fist.

The meeting with his teammates finally began.

Yoo-hyun sat down and greeted them warmly.

“Hello.”

“Nice to meet you.”

The greetings that came back were also pleasant.

They all knew it.

They had to spend two weeks together, whether they liked it or not.

Yoo-hyun quickly scanned his teammates’ faces.

‘Kang Chang-seok and Oh Min-jae from Electronics, Jung Da-bin from Life & Health, Choi Seul-gi from Chemicals, Seol Gi-tae from Advertising.’

There were four men and two women.

There were three people from Electronics in the class.

Considering that Hansung Electronics accounted for more than 50 percent of the entire group, it seemed like a fair mix.

As they talked, he found out that Kang Chang-seok was from the mobile phone division and Oh Min-jae was from the communication division.

‘Kang Chang-seok. That name sounds familiar…’

He looked at his face again, but he could not remember clearly.

He was either someone he had not seen at the company or someone with the same name but different person.

He did not remember Oh Min-jae at all, which meant he probably quit his work life early.

The other three were also not from his previous team.

The senior instructor was also unfamiliar to him.

‘It’s definitely a bit different.’

It was an old memory, but he could tell that it was not exactly the same as before.

“Alright, have you all introduced yourselves?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s choose a team leader who will work hard for two weeks. You all know how important the role of a team leader is. Please discuss it carefully.”

It was time to elect a team leader according to the senior instructor’s suggestion.

The position of a team leader was not easy, as he could tell from the senior instructor’s words.

In short, he had to volunteer and serve as if he was doing community service for two weeks.

But there was a definite reward for that.

It was extra points.

If he wanted to be first, it was a position worth coveting.

But it was not easy to raise his hand voluntarily.

He had to be mindful of others.

There was an evaluation within the team, and it was also a burden to lead the whole group.

The senior instructor gave them five minutes to think and compromise.

But only a few seconds passed and Kang Chang-seok raised his hand sharply.

“Is there anyone else? I think I’m the oldest here, so I’ll do it.”

He even said something ridiculous.

Then Oh Min-jae also raised his hand.

“I’ll apply too.”

“Hey, Min-jae, you’re shy. This is something your brother should do.”

“That’s not true.”

As Oh Min-jae and Kang Chang-seok faced each other incredulously, the atmosphere turned cold.

Choi Seul-gi, who was sitting across from them, tried to mediate, but it did not help much.

It was Yoo-hyun’s turn to step in to keep the peace.

“Why don’t we do rock-paper-scissors?”

“That’s…”

They all hesitated.

It was actually the most fair way that everyone could agree on.

Kang Chang-seok, who had been quiet, put some force in his voice.

“Well, if you really want to do it, I won’t stop you. But I already received new employee training at Shinwa Group, so I know everything about this place. You’ll be better off with me. Right, Min-jae?”

“…”

They all looked at him as if to say, is that something to brag about?

It was too much to mention his age and another company in a row.

Yoo-hyun did not remember such an annoying person in his old memory.

Oh Min-jae swallowed his anger and looked away as he said,

“If you’re so confident, then go ahead.”

“Thank you. I’ll repay you by making us the first team. Now, clap.”

Clap clap clap clap clap.

But Kang Chang-seok acted as if it was natural and even urged them to clap.

The other teammates’ expressions also soured.

This was the first time he encountered such a case during the new employee training session.

There was no way that guy could do well in the company.

If it had been the old Yoo-hyun, he would not have stayed still.

He would have tried to become the team leader by any means.

To be first, his team had to be first.

He could tell the answer by simply calculating the score distribution that the senior instructor had told them.

But that stupid guy was already ruining the team.

What was worse was that he was completely oblivious to the current situation.

The name Kang Chang-seok flashed through Yoo-hyun’s mind for a moment.

-Kang Chang-seok, deputy manager. Resigned on recommendation for violating subcontracting law.

When Yoo-hyun was in the group, there was a big incident in the electronics division.

It was a case of bullying and cursing at a supplier.

He remembered looking for his photo on the website because he was curious who it was.

Of course, it could be someone else.

It could be just a coincidence of names.

He erased his hasty judgment from his head.

“Probably not.”

Yeah. 

He hoped that he was not such a trash.

His worry became a reality in less than an hour.

“Team 6, answer!”

“Yes. Please tell me. You’ll lose your chance if you say it once.”

“Washing machine!”

“Wrong! I’ll show you more video.”

As soon as the senior instructor finished his words, a sigh burst out from the side.

“Ah…”

“I’m so tired of moving…”

But it was already too late.

In the game of guessing advertisements, which was a kind of ice-breaking activity, team 6 did not get a single question right.

That meant they did not get any stickers that other teams got, and they fell behind in the competition from the start.

Of course, Kang Chang-seok was the one who raised his hand the fastest.

He ignored the opinions of other teammates and got everything wrong.

He was too eager and had no sense at all.

It looked funny to Yoo-hyun, but it had a negative impact on the morale of the team.

“That’s too much.”

“If you don’t know, just keep quiet.”

They could not say it out loud, but they were groaning or sighing in resignation behind him.

The atmosphere of caring for each other that Yoo-hyun had hoped for seemed to have gone away already.

He had messed up the water with just one mudfish.

It was Yoo-hyun’s moment to shine.

Break time.

Yoo-hyun got up first and approached Kwon Se-jung.

He did not expect Kwon Se-jung to become the team leader.

Kwon Se-jung in his memory was not the type to step up.

He did not remember his appearance during the new employee training session, but he was definitely like that at the company.

Yoo-hyun smiled brightly and said the first word to him.

“Congratulations on becoming the team leader.”

“Thank you, Yoo-hyun. I’m also very grateful for what you did earlier.”

“Oh, that’s nothing.”

“But, you know, that guy earlier… Will he be okay?”

“Well, there’s nothing we can do right now. He’ll be fine.”

Yoo-hyun comforted him as if nothing was wrong, seeing his darkened face.

He still looked anxious.

It was impressive that he took the position of team leader in this state.

Maybe his anxiety was justified.

He might have gone to see the new employee training manager directly or talked to his senior team leader after the training ended.

No matter how hard Kwon Se-jung tried, he could not undo what had been done.

‘I have to help him. I have no choice but to help him.’

He felt so sorry that he kept thinking about him.