Real Man

Chapter 346:

Chapter 346

Yoo-hyun chuckled as he skimmed through the newspaper article.

“It looks like they’re finally making their move.”

Shin Myung-ho, the vice-chairman, and Shin Cheon-shik, the vice-president.

The power struggle between the two whales had begun again, just like in the past.

Back then, Shin Kyung-wook, the director, had been caught in the middle and suffered a great loss, but not anymore.

He was in a position where he could leisurely watch the fire across the river.

How would this fierce fight end?

Yoo-hyun was thinking about that when it happened.

Kang Jong-ho, who was reading a martial arts novel, casually asked him.

“Is there anything important?”

“No. It’s just some useless stuff. Why?”

“No reason. I just wondered why you stayed in the break room when it’s not your turn.”

Yoo-hyun gave a clear answer to Kang Jong-ho’s question.

“It’s hot outside.”

“True. It is.”

Vroom vroom vroom vroom vroom vroom.

Yoo-hyun felt the cool breeze from the large fan and took another sip of his coffee.

It was cooler inside, but there was another reason why he stayed.

Yoo-hyun casually asked.

“By the way, I guess there’s no audit from the Mokpo branch this time?”

“If they haven’t come by now, they probably skipped it.”

“Does this happen often?”

“Sometimes. They must have some busy work, I guess.”

Kang Jong-ho shrugged it off as if it was a common thing.

It was a 180-degree change from his panic during the first audit.

The CCTV had definitely given some peace of mind to the workers of the Yeontae branch.

“I see.”

Yoo-hyun nodded his head, and Kang Jong-ho closed his martial arts novel.

He looked at the ceiling and muttered.

“Meeting the village head today is more of a problem than the audit.”

“I’m just going to go with an easy mind.”

“Go and see for yourself. He’ll nag at you like an old relative on a holiday.”

Kang Jong-ho shook his head as if he was fed up, and Yoo-hyun just smiled.

It was a typical reaction whenever the topic of the village people came up.

Why did they all dislike the village people so much?

It had something to do with their individualistic tendencies, but more than that, it was because they were newcomers who only stayed for a short while.

They had no reason to be friendly with them when they didn’t plan to live here for their whole lives.

They all wanted to get out of Yeontae as soon as possible.

After work hours were over.

The workers gathered at the vacant lot in front of the factory, led by Park Cheol-hong, the team leader.

Park Cheol-hong expressed his discomfort first.

“Don’t make any mistakes in front of the village head.”

“Let’s just go and get it over with.”

Cho Ki-jeong, the supervisor, also looked unhappy about going to the meeting that the village head requested.

Park Cheol-hong glared at him and said sarcastically.

“Cho supervisor, you’re the one I’m most worried about. He’ll surely scold me for not managing my team well.”

“That’s why I put on a hairpin, okay?”

Cho Ki-jeong touched his long hair that was tied back with a hairpin and answered snappily.

Then Kang Jong-ho, who was listening, suddenly felt bitter and clicked his tongue.

“Still, it’s better to be criticized for having long hair. He always tells me I have a fierce look on my face.”

“He tells me I have no forehead every time he sees me. Well. It’s all the same. Sigh.”

Park Cheol-hong also sighed.

Yoo-hyun spat out a silent laugh as he watched the three of them.

They looked like troublemakers on the surface.

Adding their background of being sidelined made them seem even rougher.

But to Yoo-hyun’s eyes, they were just softies.

They couldn’t hide their true feelings very well, and their way of speaking was rather naive.

He wondered how they managed to gather such people in one place.

‘It’s because they’re like this that they could endure it?’

Yoo-hyun was thinking about this and that when it happened.

Park Cheol-hong’s gaze turned to Yoo-hyun.

“And Han supervisor, I told you before, but be careful.”

“Of course. I’ll just enjoy the food.”

“Don’t expect too much. He’ll give us some rice wine and pancakes and act like he’s doing us a favor.”

“Then I’ll just keep quiet, okay?”

With Yoo-hyun as the last one, Park Cheol-hong’s warning was over.

But he still looked uneasy and rubbed his hands incessantly.

His emotions of discomfort were emanating from his whole body.

He was about to take a step when it happened.

“Alright, let’s go… Huh?”

Vroom. Screech.

A white van made a sudden stop in front of the vacant lot.

A man got out of the car and greeted the workers curtly.

“Get in. I’ll take you to the village head’s house.”

“Huh? We can just walk there, you know?”

Park Cheol-hong asked with a bewildered expression, but the man shook his head.

“No, you can’t. Don’t feel burdened and get in.”

He said that, but his eyes looked very pressured.

His big eyes that protruded like a frog’s made him look even more uncomfortable.

His eyes moved from side to side and landed on Yoo-hyun, who bowed his head slightly.

He remembered seeing him during the dawn run and nodded back politely.

Then he whispered to Kang Jong-ho.

“Who is that guy?”

“He’s a busybody who lives in this village.”

“Oh.”

Yoo-hyun simply nodded his head.

The busybody’s name was Bae Yong-seok.

He was the younger brother of the owner of the Bokdeokbang house, and he said he worked at a big company in Seoul and came down for a while.

“So I decided to revive this village…”

Of course, that was what he said to himself as he drove.

The others ignored his words and looked at the distant scenery.

Yoo-hyun, who was sitting in the back seat, didn’t bother to reply either.

He kept talking to himself even without any reaction.

It didn’t take long to get to the village head’s house by car.

Clank.

As they got out of the car, they saw a single-story house with a spacious yard.

They had been here a few times and should have been familiar with it, but they all looked nervous.

Yoo-hyun just followed them with a light step.

Thud.

The moment they stepped into the open front door, Park Cheol-hong, the team leader, froze.

“What is this?”

“Wow.”

The others were the same.

Buzz buzz.

Contrary to their expectation of seeing only the village head and a few villagers, there were quite a lot of people in the yard.

And they were not just gathered, but they were eating like there was a feast.

A lavish banquet was laid out on a large wooden platform in the middle of the yard.

It was definitely not just some rice wine and pancakes.

What was even funnier was the outfits of the people in the yard.

They all wore the Hansung Electronics T-shirts that they had received a while ago.

It felt like they had prepared them for today’s meeting.

Why?

Yoo-hyun looked around with a puzzled expression when it happened.

The village head, Lee Young-nam, who was sitting on the wooden floor inside the house, ran out with his socks on.

“Oh my. Aren’t you the stars of today? Come on in.”

“Ho ho ho. Hurry up.”

The ladies who were serving food also waved their hands.

“Ah, yes.”

Park Cheol-hong, whose hand was grabbed by Lee Young-nam, was dragged to the wooden platform.

His face was full of awkwardness.

A moment later.

The workers of the Yeontae branch sat in a row on the large wooden platform.

Four men, including the village head Lee Young-nam, faced them.

In between them, there was a wide spread of food and drinks.

It looked like a banquet on the surface, but the atmosphere was rather like an interview.

It was even more awkward because the ladies who brought food had all left.

“…”

The workers were not comfortable, but neither were the villagers who faced them.

They all looked cautious and conscious of something.

Yoo-hyun, who was being watched by Lee Young-nam, smiled awkwardly and gestured with his hand.

“Ha ha. There’s not much to offer, but please help yourselves.”

“…”

In the awkward silence, Yoo-hyun was the first to offer his glass.

“Thank you for taking care of us.”

“Ha ha. It’s not like we tried to take care of you. It’s something we do often in our village.”

It didn’t look like that at all.

Yoo-hyun didn’t argue and smiled and offered him a drink.

He just wanted to eat some of the delicious-looking food anyway.

To do that, he had to grease the wheels a bit as a courtesy.

“I really like the village atmosphere. Especially this wooden platform.”

Thump. Thump.

Yoo-hyun tapped on the wooden platform with a smile and Lee Young-nam’s eyes widened.

“A wooden platform?”

“I was actually thinking it would be nice to have one in front of the factory.”

Yoo-hyun said it casually without much thought.

Of course, there was some truth in it, but he didn’t have any special intention behind it.

But Lee Young-nam’s expression didn’t look good.

He thought for a moment and then smiled and nodded his head.

“A wooden platform, huh? How did you have the same idea as me? Park team leader, don’t you think so?”

“Huh?”

Park Cheol-hong was surprised and only opened his eyes wide, but Lee Young-nam acted as if he agreed with him.

“I told you when I saw you guys sitting on the ground in front of the factory last time.”

“Ah.”

Park Cheol-hong exclaimed but he didn’t understand what he meant at all.

Lee Young-nam had only given him a hard time every time he came to the factory, saying that they were not working and wasting time.

Park Cheol-hong just rolled his eyes and Lee Young-nam continued with a laugh.

“I was actually planning to give you guys a wooden platform there. It’s too empty in front of our village’s representative factory.”

“You’re really amazing, sir.”

Yoo-hyun smiled and raised his glass at the unexpected jackpot.

The awkward atmosphere was eased by alcohol.

The hardware store owner who sat across from Kang Jong-ho offered him some rice wine.

He also made some habitual nagging comments as he did so.

“You know, Kang supervisor, that time…”

“Ah, yes.”

Across from Park Cheol-hong was the owner of Bokdeokbang house.

He asked him about the factory situation.

“How’s the factory doing these days…”

“We’re doing our best.”

Park Cheol-hong looked somewhat relieved that he didn’t have to face the village head.

On the other hand, Yoo-hyun was sitting across from Lee Young-nam.

He led the conversation with a smile on his face throughout.

He had deep wrinkles on his forehead, prominent cheekbones under his sharp eyes, and clear laugh lines on his face. He gave the impression of being stubborn and strong-willed.

Just by looking at his appearance, one could understand why Park Cheol-hong had a hard time with him.

But this was also like Yoo-hyun’s prejudice.

Listening to him, he was more open-minded than he thought.

He even tried to match the conversation with him, who was much younger and a stranger.

It was not easy for an old person to do that.

“So this time…”

Yoo-hyun was listening to his explanation when he asked in surprise.

“Really? So you were the one who installed electricity at the reservoir fishing spot?”

“Heh heh. I was actually trying to expand the fishing spot a bit.”

“No wonder. It looked much nicer after you cleared the weeds.”

Yoo-hyun answered and Lee Young-nam was pleased.

“Of course. You’re a good worker as they say. You noticed that. Do you have any suggestions?”

“What do I know?”

“Ha ha. No, no. I really want to grow this village. The village has to grow for the factory to grow too.”

“That’s true.”

Yoo-hyun nodded his head without much thought and drank some rice wine.

It tasted deeper because he brewed it himself.

He closed his eyes for a moment and focused on the taste.

The unique tanginess lingered in his mouth.

He liked that feeling so much that his lips curled up involuntarily.

Lee Young-nam watched him and nodded his head.

“Of course.”

His faint murmur ended when it happened.

Yoo-hyun opened his eyes with a good mood and saw Lee Young-nam’s pressured gaze in front of him.

He leaned forward and flicked his ears as he opened his mouth.

“Just say anything you want.”

With that one sentence, he conveyed his sincere concern for the village.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!