Chapter 235:
Chapter 235
The rumor had spread to the product development team as well.
That was why the team members had gathered in the conference room.
The team leader was absent.
Senior Maeng Gi-yong asked cautiously.
“Is it true, Yoo-hyun?”
“Senior Maeng, why are you suddenly calling me with an honorific?”
“Huh? It’s a bit intimidating.”
Yoo-hyun said, scratching the back of his head.
Yoo-hyun shook his head in disbelief.
“Don’t be ridiculous. He’s just a friend of mine.”
“Just a friend who can mobilize gangsters?”
“He’s not a gangster. He’s just a guy who likes to work out.”
“Wow.”
Yoo-hyun denied it, and Chief Lee Jin-mok joined in.
“Then what about the limousine?”
“He’s just a guy who likes to show off.”
“…”
Chief Lee Jin-mok was speechless.
Senior Maeng Gi-yong looked at Yoo-hyun and said.
“I’ll take your word for it. He won’t do anything to us, right?”
“Please stop saying nonsense.”
As he said that, Senior Min Su-jin, who was next to him, covered her mouth and laughed.
“Pfft.”
“Kkkkkk.”
Chief Kim Seon-dong, who was next to her, also shrugged his shoulders.
Senior Maeng Gi-yong felt embarrassed and changed the subject.
“But why did the team leader suddenly call for a team dinner today?”
“Didn’t we always do that?”
“No. I think this is the first time since we changed our assignments, probably.”
“So?”
Yoo-hyun asked, and Chief Lee Jin-mok answered.
“We usually had separate dinners by parts.”
“Chief Lee is right. Part 2 usually hung out by themselves.”
Senior Maeng Gi-yong chimed in, and Yoo-hyun nodded and said meaningfully.
“It seems like the team leader has something to say.”
“Really? He doesn’t seem like that kind of person.”
Senior Maeng Gi-yong tilted his head.
He was not the only one.
The only person who understood what he meant was Chief Kim Seon-dong, who was here.
Yoo-hyun looked at Chief Kim Seon-dong at that moment.
He nodded his head with a stiff expression.
The day’s work went by normally.
Senior Yun Gi-chun seemed to be very busy.
But he didn’t seem to have caught any hints yet.
He was just angry at Chief Kim Seon-dong’s unusual and impure attitude.
Normally, his anger would have been directed at Yoo-hyun, but he was unusually quiet today because of the rumor.
Chief Hong Hyuk-su was the same.
He had been glaring at him until yesterday, but today he had nothing to say.
Yoo-hyun watched him and muttered something unnecessary.
“I wonder if I should thank Nam Jong-bu for this.”
It was after the quitting time music played.
The team members packed their things and gathered at the dinner place in their own ways.
The place they gathered was a famous pork belly restaurant in Ulsan.
The atmosphere was awkward as hell.
Parts 1 and 2 clearly hung out separately.
At the center of that was Chief Hong Hyuk-su of Part 2.
He sat in the middle seat and nagged at Senior Kim Ho-geol.
“You made us all gather just to eat some pork belly?”
“It’s just a way to see each other like this. Hehe.”
“Let’s eat quickly and wrap it up.”
As Senior Kim Ho-geol laughed awkwardly, Chief Hong Hyuk-su waved his hand dismissively.
The team members were all watching.
These remarks lowered the team leader’s authority.
He should have retorted something, but Senior Kim Ho-geol didn’t do it.
No, he deliberately didn’t do it today.
Senior Kim Ho-geol pretended nothing happened and lifted his glass.
“Come on, everyone raise your glasses.”
“Yes, team leader. Come on, everyone have a drink.”
Yoo-hyun answered loudly and pointed at each team member’s glass one by one.
Then Chief Hong Hyuk-su and some others reluctantly raised their glasses.
That’s how the awkward atmosphere continued.
The alcohol was quite empty, and they ate a lot of food too.
Before they knew it, Chief Hong Hyuk-su and Senior Yun Gi-chun had left their seats.
They said they were going to smoke, but they didn’t seem to have any intention of coming back.
A few moments later, a text message came to Yoo-hyun’s phone.
Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep
It was Chief Hong Hyuk-su’s number.
-Come to the Hof bar across the street right now. Everyone except the team leader.
It wasn’t just Yoo-hyun.
All the team members who were at the dinner place received that text.
The Part 2 people looked around.
The first one to open his mouth was Senior Go Seong-cheol.
“Uh, team leader, my wife is calling me, so I’ll go ahead.”
“Okay. Go ahead.”
Then Senior Son Mu-gil and Chief Hwang Seong-ik said.
“My kid is sick…”
“I’m not feeling well…”
“Okay. I was going to get up anyway. Go ahead.”
Each time, the team leader let them go without a word.
Then the other Part 2 members came up and asked for his permission.
Senior Jeong Ah-reum, who had been watching Senior Maeng Gi-yong, also left.
Before they knew it, Chief Jeong In-wook of Part 1 was also gone.
Senior Kim Ho-geol got up first to see off the team members who were leaving.
The place that had been crowded was empty in an instant.
Yoo-hyun recalled his past memories from this series of events.
Back then, Chief Hong Hyuk-su had done the same thing.
He ignored the team leader and raised his flag, and the team members followed him.
His network and faction in the company were too big to ignore in the team.
It seemed like nothing had changed from the past, but it wasn’t.
Now, unlike then, there were people who stayed behind.
Yoo-hyun asked Senior Maeng Gi-yong.
“Senior Maeng, aren’t you going?”
“There’s still alcohol left. Where would I go?”
Senior Maeng Gi-yong laughed and lifted his glass, and Chief Lee Jin-mok also lifted his glass.
“Yeah. Let’s drink till the end.”
Yoo-hyun turned his head and looked at Chief Kim Seon-dong.
He smiled faintly and held his glass.
Yoo-hyun poured alcohol into Senior Min Su-jin’s empty glass, who was sitting diagonally across from him.
Glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug
“Senior Min, are you okay with not going?”
“I have to go with them if I want to go. Stop. It’s overflowing.”
Senior Min Su-jin raised her hand to stop him, and Yoo-hyun smiled brightly.
“My heart must be overflowing.”
“Don’t talk like that.”
“Yes. I’ll be careful.”
The other part members turned their eyes to each other at that sight.
They were about to have a drink when it happened.
Clatter.
The sliding door opened and Chief Kim Ho-geol entered.
He sat down and said, as if surprised.
“What are you all doing here? Why don’t you go home?”
“There’s still some alcohol left. How can we leave?”
“…”
Yoo-hyun answered on behalf of the people who were looking around.
He filled the glass of Chief Kim Ho-geol, who was silent.
Chief Kim Ho-geol looked down at his glass without a word.
He looked very complicated.
“Let it go.”
“No, I’m just, a bit drunk.”
He pretended it was nothing, but Yoo-hyun seemed to know his true feelings.
He thought that today might be the last time they all gathered together.
He wanted to end it with a smile, but it didn’t go as planned.
He felt guilty as a team leader.
Clang.
The glasses clinked and a few drinks went down in the heavy atmosphere.
Then Chief Kim Ho-geol said something out of the blue to Senior Maeng Gi-yong.
“Senior Maeng, you’ve been working very hard lately.”
“Not at all.”
The team leader’s words were unexpected, and Senior Maeng Gi-yong straightened his posture.
Chief Kim Ho-geol poured out his heart with the help of alcohol.
“No. I know you’ve been suffering because I couldn’t make a decision for a while.”
“That was also part of the process.”
“You don’t have to say that. Anyway, thank you.”
“Thank you, sir.”
That was the beginning.
Chief Kim Ho-geol looked around the team members and spoke in turn.
“Senior Min, too…”
“Thank you, sir.”
They all listened to his specific words of encouragement with proper attitude.
It was something they had never seen in the team before.
Chief Kim Ho-geol looked at Yoo-hyun last.
“Yoo-hyun, you…”
“Let’s have a drink.”
Yoo-hyun cut off his hesitating words and handed him a glass.
They exchanged glasses without saying anything.
The team members quietly stepped back and chatted on the side.
It was a consideration to give them some time.
One drink, two drinks.
The glasses piled up.
Chief Kim Ho-geol looked like he had a lot to say.
So much that he didn’t know what to say first.
In this case, cooling his head was the answer.
Yoo-hyun reached out first.
“Do you want to get some fresh air?”
“Let’s do that.”
Chief Kim Ho-geol readily agreed.
Yoo-hyun went out of the restaurant with Chief Kim Ho-geol.
There was a small garden and a bench behind the restaurant.
They sat side by side there.
The wind blew quite warmly.
The sound of quiet wind, toilet water flushing, cars passing by in the alleyway were heard.
With that sound as background music, Yoo-hyun said one word.
“Sir, your words today were good.”
“What do you mean?”
“The words that reached out to the team members sincerely.”
“That’s just, well, something like that.”
Chief Kim Ho-geol answered awkwardly.
Maybe it was a mistake.
It was because of various situations and alcohol that made him emotional.
But that was the real answer.
Yoo-hyun put his thoughts into honest words.
“Sir, that’s what office politics is.”
“What?”
Looking at his slightly surprised eyes, Yoo-hyun continued his words.
“Office politics is looking at your team members at the same eye level.”
“…”
“Not swaying back and forth while watching out for the higher-ups.”
Whoosh.
The wind blew and Chief Kim Ho-geol’s hair fluttered.
He clenched his lips and asked Yoo-hyun.
“What are you?”
“A team member.”
“No, what do you want?”
“Are you curious?”
“I’m curious.”
When Yoo-hyun smiled and asked back, Chief Kim Ho-geol nodded his head.
He had thought about Yoo-hyun’s actions for a long time.
It would have been strange if he wasn’t curious.
Yoo-hyun didn’t give him an answer right away, but turned his words slightly.
“Sir, what would it look like if the project succeeded?”
“We would probably supply Apple with our panels.”
“Yes. That’s right. Apple will choose our panels this year and confirm them next year.”
“That’s what we wrote in the project plan.”
“Yes. It will happen just like that. And there’s something else that’s not written there.”
Yoo-hyun’s words piqued Chief Kim Ho-geol’s curiosity.
He leaned closer and asked him.
“What is it?”
“This panel will change the world in two years.”
“Change the world?”
“Yes. It will be so successful that it will change the world. And you and your team will get the spotlight.”
“Huh…”
Yoo-hyun smiled at him, who couldn’t close his mouth.
“You asked me what I want, right?”
“I did.”
“If you’re curious, let’s talk about it then, while smiling.”
“You’re really something.”
Chief Kim Ho-geol shook his head as he looked at Yoo-hyun’s smile.
He hesitated for a moment and opened his mouth with determination.
“I’ll talk to the manager.”
“Yes. You made a good choice. That’s the right answer when you face it head-on.”
“But it won’t be easy.”
“Don’t worry. It will work out.”
“But if it doesn’t…”
Yoo-hyun knew what he was worried about.
Even if the fault was obvious, the manager was the leader who was responsible for the department.
The mistake of the department member was also his mistake.
And it happened to be the time when the group leader and the business director were replaced.
He didn’t want to expose his flaws in front of them.
But it was something he had to do.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter