Chapter 6
Luxury Life (2)
“That guy has completely changed. He’s a totally different person now.”
Team Leader Park gathered the team and recounted what had happened earlier.
“Seriously? Intern Hwang actually did that?”
“I’m telling you, it’s true. The guy who used to be timid all the time was chewing out a security officer. He looked like a completely different person.”
“Well... I’ve seen movies where people become geniuses or gain superpowers after a brain injury, but this is the first time I’ve seen someone get dumber and have their personality improve.”
Assistant Manager Jo Hyeyoung quietly listened before coming up with what she thought was a brilliant idea.
“Team Leader.”
“Yeah? What is it, Assistant Manager Jo?”
“I finally figured out a way to make use of the intern.”
“Oh? Where? I heard he’s even typing with the hunt-and-peck method now.”
“Exactly. We should give him something other than paperwork.”
“What else is there for us besides paperwork?”
“Fighting. You said his personality completely changed, right? From what I heard, he’s turned into a complete attack dog.”
“Fighting? With who?”
“The Sales Division. What do you think?”
Team Leader Park thought it was a good idea, though he wasn’t entirely comfortable with it.
He hadn’t accurately described what happened in the security office.
The intern might actually win a fight, but he had a feeling the bigger problem was that he would create an even larger mess.
Still, seeing how hard Assistant Manager Jo worked, he couldn’t bring himself to refuse.
“Fine. Let’s do that. But you keep him under control. That guy’s completely unpredictable. He’s the one who rammed into the chairman, after all.”
Team Leader Park was serious.
Everyone else laughed.
That made him uneasy.
***
“Do you understand?”
Does this girl think I’m an idiot?
“So basically, I need to collect inventory reports for the outsourced suppliers used by the Sales Division—the inventory they’ve already paid for—and organize the data. Right?”
Assistant Manager Jo’s eyebrow twitched.
Ever since the accident, this guy had become strangely curt.
She wanted to correct his attitude, but perhaps this shamelessness would actually work in their favor.
For now, she decided to endure it.
“That’s right. But the Sales Division is always busy, so they never transfer the information to us quickly. Some teams cooperate, but not all.”
So she’s assigning me debt-collector work?
“Shouldn’t they be sending it promptly in the first place? It’s not even that difficult. The Sales Division has to keep track of inventory at outsourced suppliers anyway, doesn’t it?”
“They have to organize everything by supplier and convert it into our internal format, so it’s annoying work. Anyway, from now on, you handle collecting those reports. We’re doing quarterly settlement, so it’s urgent. We need everything finished by the day after tomorrow.”
“Fine. Let’s do it.”
Let’s do it?
The way he said it sounded as if he were granting them a favor.
Assistant Manager Jo engraved the character for patience into her heart three times and handed him a list.
“I’ll handle the rest. Just get these six. Then we’re done. Sounds manageable, right?”
Chairman Kang nodded and accepted the list.
Department names.
Contact persons.
Department phone numbers.
Even mobile numbers.
“If they won’t cooperate, go there in person and lie down in front of them. Even then they might not budge.”
People really make life difficult for themselves.
The ones who should give, give.
The ones who should receive, receive.
Such a simple process, yet they end up wrestling each other over it.
“I’ll handle it.”
Chairman Kang spun his chair around and sat at his desk.
Picking up the receiver, he called the first department on the list.
“Hello, Parts Team 3, Assistant Manager Kim Cheolho speaking.”
“Hello. This is Materials Team 2.”
“Ah... didn’t I say I’d send it? I’m busy as hell right now. Stop hounding me.”
The irritation in the man’s voice was obvious even before Chairman Kang explained the purpose of the call.
Poor guy.
“I’m not hounding you. I’m just letting you know that if we don’t receive the documents by the day after tomorrow, Parts Team 3 will have a hole in its report.”
“What? Hey! What did you just say?”
“Stop speaking informally. What else are we supposed to do? If you won’t send the documents, we’ll leave your section blank. You don’t expect me to make up numbers, do you? Anyway, our deadline is the day after tomorrow. After that, it’s your problem. Alright then.”
He hung up.
Immediately, Assistant Manager Jo’s shrill voice exploded.
“Hey! Hwang Junhyun! What do you think you’re doing?!”
Her voice was quickly drowned out by Team Leader Park’s.
“Are you insane? What do you mean leave a hole? You want us to submit settlement documents with blank sections? This guy... this guy has no clue. Does he even know what financial settlement means?”
Seeing people get angry made Chairman Kang feel slightly sorry for them.
A trading company naturally revolved around its sales departments.
That was why every other department got lumped together under the label “support divisions.”
But support divisions were not the sales division’s servants.
And more importantly, these people didn’t yet realize they possessed an even greater source of power.
“Calm down and listen carefully... please.”
Everyone stopped shouting.
The intern’s firm expression and gaze carried a strange pressure.
“There are several unpleasant things in life. One of them is having someone inferior to you standing in front of you.”
Chairman Kang thought of Chairman Choi of ST Group.
Same age.
Same high school.
Same university.
A guy who was hopeless at studying—or rather, never studied at all—and got into college through donations.
When that idiot inherited the group, Chairman Kang had thought ST was finished.
Yet the moment the government announced its privatization policy for public corporations, that bastard acquired two of the most profitable state-owned enterprises.
It wasn’t policy.
It was favoritism.
ST Group was the only company that benefited.
Because of those acquisitions, ST rose into the top ten conglomerates and remained firmly entrenched there.
Just hearing the letters “ST” on the news still gave him indigestion.
“Compared to the people in Sales, are you lacking in education? Qualifications? Ability? No. You all entered the company together and were simply assigned to different departments. So why are you letting Sales drag you around?”
Even the team leader was listening intently.
Because he agreed.
Everyone worked hard, yet year-end bonuses in Sales were always several times higher.
The work was different, but the effort wasn’t.
“And there’s another thing. Having someone inferior standing in front of you is irritating enough. But it’s even worse when they act like they’re above you. Standing in front and standing above are two completely different concepts. Isn’t it strange? Sales and Support aren’t above and below each other. They’re equal. At least that’s how the president and chairman would see it. Just employees.”
“So what does that have to do with the mess you just created?”
Assistant Manager Jo wanted to put out the fire in front of her.
Instead, the intern sounded like a guest lecturer delivering a seminar.
“We take it to the end.”
“What?”
“You only find out when you reach the edge of a cliff. Which bastard falls... and which bastard hangs on.”
“What are you even talking about?”
Chairman Kang decided not to explain further.
Or rather, he couldn’t.
How could he explain the art of fighting to people who had never truly fought?
The reason Sales always dominated Support was simple.
Sales fought every single day.
Against competitors.
Against rival departments.
Against coworkers.
Against seniors.
Against juniors.
Even against supplier representatives.
The moment they arrived at work, they fought everyone around them.
Support departments had already lost the battle of wills before it even started.
Ignoring the sparkling curiosity in his teammates’ eyes, Chairman Kang stood up.
“Team Leader. Let’s talk privately in the conference room.”
***
“Even involve the executive director?”
“We need it to reach the president’s ears.”
“The president?!”
Team Leader Park was astonished.
And dumbfounded.
Over outsourced inventory reports?
“You think the edge of the cliff ends at the team leader level? Or the executive level? The Sales Division won’t realize they’re standing at the edge unless it reaches the president.”
“And what if we’re the ones who fall? What if Sales hangs on and survives? Then we’re screwed.”
“You think I’d walk to a cliff without doing the math first? You calculate first. Then you walk.”
“What math?”
Chairman Kang barely suppressed a sigh.
Was this really the caliber of the company’s personnel these days?
This was basic analysis of responsibilities and authority.
And this man was a team leader.
“Efficiency is everything in a company. Instead of fighting over this every month, why not eliminate the middleman?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Cut out the Sales Division. Let Materials Department collect inventory reports directly from suppliers. If this becomes an issue, we simply volunteer to do it ourselves. We’d be taking work off the Sales Division’s hands. What’s the downside?”
“Are you out of your mind? Ah, right. You’re not in your right mind. And here I am seriously listening to an intern.”
Park resisted the urge to smack the back of his head.
“Do you know how many suppliers the Sales Division manages? At least ten per team. There are dozens of sales teams. Five hundred at minimum. Maybe over a thousand. How are we supposed to manage all that?”
“Which is easier? Herding dozens of insubordinate senior sergeants, or lining up a thousand obedient recruits?”
“What?”
“No matter how many suppliers Choi sung Trading has, we can simply send them our form and tell them to fill it out. One day’s work. Besides, Materials Department belongs to the Support Division, and Support controls fund disbursements. If they don’t submit reports on time, freeze their payments. We’re the ones holding the sword. What difference does a thousand suppliers make?”
When he thought about it that way, it really didn’t seem difficult.
“We hold that sword and walk to the cliff. If we’re willing to do all the work ourselves, why would we be the ones who fall?”
“It’s a good idea, but someone still has to organize reports from a thousand suppliers. Even if they’re using our format, compiling everything would take—”
“Hire more people.”
“You make it sound easy. This isn’t daily work—it only happens during settlement periods.”
“Then hire temporary workers during settlement periods. We’d be managing a thousand suppliers and reducing the workload of the Sales Division. Do you really think the president would object to hiring a few temps for two or three days each month?”
It sounded reasonable.
Yet Park still hesitated.
Chairman Kang threw out one final piece of bait.
“The more work a team handles, the bigger the team becomes. The bigger the team, the harder it is to ignore. And bigger teams get promoted faster. That’s just how things work.”
The moment Park’s expression began to brighten, the conference room door suddenly flew open.
A young employee stormed inside.
“Hey! Were you the one I talked to earlier? I heard you’re just an intern. How dare an intern talk to me like that on the phone?”
Chairman Kang looked at the man pointing a finger at him.
“Do you know me?”
“What?”
“Where did you learn to speak informally to someone you’ve never met before? You forgot that you started using informal speech first, didn’t you?”
“You little—”
The young assistant manager from Sales couldn’t finish.
Team Leader Park’s roar interrupted him.
“Hey! Have you lost your mind?! Can’t you see we’re in a meeting right now? How dare an assistant manager barge into a meeting with a team leader and start causing a scene? Did you leave your manners at home?!”
Good.
Chairman Kang knew Team Leader Park had made his decision.
And he also realized that teaching people was never easy.