Chapter 28
- Please 2021.08.04.
Jeong-o was dumbfounded by Jo Si-nae's fabricated tale. She saw Eun-bi subtly lifting the corner of her lip a little ways away. She was angry, but she couldn't just roll up her sleeves and fight in this situation. Fixing the problem came first. Jeong-o grabbed her laptop PC.
“I’ll go to the computer room and fix it quickly.”
“Together……”
“Let’s go together.”
Song Gi-hun stood up from his seat, but Ji-heon cut in. Gi-hoon, who had been about to go to the computer room with Jeong-o, couldn't even finish his sentence and sat down. Si-nae looked at Eun-bi at Ji-heon's words that he would move himself. A subtle spasm ran across the corner of Eun-bi's lip, which she had been slightly lifting. Eun-bi clenched her fists so hard that her nails dug into her skin and returned to her seat. Jeong-o ran busily. Ji-heon followed behind her with large strides. The two people's speeds roughly matched. As Jeong-o and Ji-heon entered the computer management room, several employees who recognized Ji-heon stood up from their seats.
“Director, hello.”
Ji-heon nodded and immediately got to the point.
“The computer isn’t working. I’d like you to fix it.”
The employee who received the laptop from Ji-heon turned on the laptop and checked its condition.
“Since when has it been like this?”
“It hasn’t been long. It became like this while I was away from my seat for about 30 minutes.”
The employee's expression gradually darkened as he looked at the laptop screen for a long time and pressed various buttons.
“Is there any data that you absolutely need to save?”
“Yes. There are essential files.”
Jeong-o answered.
“It looks like a virus. If you need to save the files instead of wiping the laptop clean, it will take some time. I’ll have it recovered by next Wednesday.”
Jeong-o felt like her heart was falling out at the employee's answer. Ji-heon asked.
“The data is urgently needed. Can’t you do it any faster?”
“It looks like it will take at least a full day……”
“I’d like it resolved today.”
“……I’ll try.”
The employee nodded with a troubled expression at Ji-heon's pressure. Jeong-o was devastated after confirming the employee's expression. She had a feeling that the work file would not be recovered today. As they left the computer room, Jeong-o said to Ji-heon.
“I’ll recreate it as I remember and report it.”
“That would be better. Is it possible by six o’clock?”
Ji-heon asked with a blank expression.
“Yes. It’s possible.”
“Then I’ll receive the report at six o’clock.”
Jeong-o's body became busy due to the unexpected incident.
As soon as she returned to her seat after parting with Ji-heon, Team Leader An Chan-seop came chasing after her.
“Assistant Manager Lee Jung-oh. What did the computer team say? Will it be recovered right away?”
“No. It seems like it will take time, so I’m going to recreate the data.”
“You’re going to recreate all of that?”
“I have it somewhat in my head, so I think I can do it.”
Eun-bi said at Jeong-o's confident answer.
“The nuance of a copy is different depending on how you say it, but can you just remember it to some extent and perfectly capture the original feeling?”
It was a worried tone, but there was a barb in her words. It seemed like she was sure that Jeong-o would fail. Team Leader An Chan-seop encouraged Jeong-o.
“Anyway, let’s try, let’s try. It’s just the first proposal anyway, so you’ll have to put in the effort again. Let’s look at it carefully then and give meaning to submitting it today. Assistant Manager Lee, you can do it, right?”
“Yes. I’ll try.”
“I have another matter that needs to be resolved right away, so I’ll be away for a bit. I’ll be back later, so please take care of things in the meantime. Call me if you get stuck!”
“Yes. I understand.”
The current time is 2 PM. There are four hours left until the 6 PM report. She won’t be able to leave work right on time because of the 6 PM report, but she’ll be able to leave at 7 PM.
‘That’s enough.’
Jeong-o burned with fighting spirit. The production team members were too busy, so Jeong-o couldn't ask for help separately. Eun-bi was diligently doing something with even the new copywriter from Production Team 1 by her side. Jeong-o kept suspecting whether she was working or pretending to work, but she didn't bother to say anything out of need. And so, at 5:30 PM, Jeong-o barely completed the proposal. It wasn't completely the same as the original proposal. She filled in the parts that she couldn't remember well with alternatives. Jeong-o sent the completed proposal to the team members via email. Eun-bi, who had checked the proposal, sat with her chin propped up and asked.
“Assistant Manager Lee Jung-oh, this is completely different from the copy I wrote. Are you remembering it correctly?”
“Then would you please correct the parts that are different from your memory and send it back via email, Section Chief?”
“I gave you notes a long time ago. What did you do with all of those?”
“They’re somewhere. However, I don’t have time to find them right now. For now, please look at the data and correct it, Section Chief. I’ll find the notes later and check how accurate your memory is.”
Eun-bi flinched at Jeong-o's pointing out her memory and made an excuse.
“I don’t have time either, so it would be better for Assistant Manager Lee to take care of it. It’s meaningful for you to take responsibility and report it since it’s something that happened due to your fault. I’ll cheer you on.”
Eun-bi ended the argument by passing on the responsibility. Afterward, An Chan-seop, the team leader of Production Team 1, who had gone out, also gave a confirmation call. Jeong-o would directly report the proposal to Ji-heon. At exactly 6 PM, Ji-heon said he would come to the conference room himself, so while she was preparing the room with the AE and waiting, she received a call from Guk-soon. Jeong-o came out of the conference room and answered the phone.
“Hello.”
[Mom!]
Yena's cute voice was heard. Yena had called using Guk-soon's cell phone. Even amidst the tension due to the proposal report, Jeong-o unknowingly smiled.
[Mom, did you leave work? When are you coming?]
“I haven’t left work yet.”
[Why? Why haven’t you left yet?]
Jeong-o's heart ached at Yena's sulky voice. But she couldn't show it too much because she was near the conference room. She was nervous that Ji-heon might come over and acknowledge her.
“Because I have a lot of work. But I’ll finish it soon and go. I’ll call you when I leave work.”
[Okay. Come quickly, Mom! You know what you promised, right?]
“Of course, I know. I’ll go quickly.”
As she carefully soothed Yena and hung up the phone, she saw Ji-heon from over there. It seemed like Ji-heon was staring intently at her for some reason. Jeong-o bowed and entered the conference room first. After Jeong-o entered first, Ji-heon entered, and after that, the members of Production Team 1 entered in a row. It seemed like they thought they should make an impression during the report. The responsible AE handed Ji-heon the proposal that had been printed out in advance.
“Shall we start the presentation?”
“I’ll just look at it myself.”
Ji-heon answered briefly to the AE's question and turned the first page of the proposal. The conference room quickly became quiet. When the intermittent noise of pages turning occasionally stopped, when Ji-heon's head tilted, the team members shrank their shoulders. Ji-heon, who had checked until the last page, put down the proposal.
“The planning part is concise and neat. The problem is the production part.”
The employees swallowed hard with tense expressions.
“It would be impossible to come up with better ideas here, right? If the meeting gets longer, it will be even more difficult to gather opinions.”
Ji-heon asked a question that was pointless, so everyone couldn't say anything. Since both the team leaders of Production Team 1 and 2 were away, there was no one to take charge and argue with Ji-heon.
“Then, Assistant Manager Lee Jung-oh.”
“Yes.”
“Please recreate it and show it to me today. The rest of you can do your own work.”
The color drained from Jeong-o's face at the shocking order.
“Director, what you’re saying right now is……”
“We’ll have to redo everything.”
“……”
“We’ll have to rework everything from the beginning.”
Ji-heon said as he stood up from his seat. The others secretly breathed a sigh of relief that they hadn't been scolded separately. Gi-hoon, who had been held by Ji-heon a few days ago and had worked in the director's office, looked at Ji-heon with a bleak expression. Jeong-o followed Ji-heon as he left the conference room.
“Director, could you please tell me first what parts need to be fixed?”
“The copy is strange. There’s no sincerity at all.”
“Which copy exactly seems insincere?”
“All of it.”
“……”
No… Jeong-o felt wronged and desperate at Ji-heon’s heartless words. Jeong-o kept following Ji-heon. After reaching the hallway of the office and being left alone, Jeong-o called Ji-heon again.
At Ji-heon’s continued questioning, Jeong-o curled her lips inward. She had heard how cruelly Ji-heon had treated Assistant Manager Jo Si-nae the day after Assistant Manager Jo Si-nae had passed off a client reception to Jeong-o, claiming to be busy. She had a feeling that if she said it was her father’s death anniversary, she would be asked to bring a copy of his family registry showing his death, and if she said her mother was sick, she would be asked to bring a hospital diagnosis.
As Ji-heon was about to turn away, Jeong-o, feeling desperate, grabbed Ji-heon’s sleeve.
However, Ji-heon remained unmoved.
Jeong-o had no choice but to close her mouth again at Ji-heon’s remark.
Ji-heon pulled out the sleeve that Jeong-o was holding onto with her fingertips and entered the office. Jeong-o urgently contacted Team Leader An Chan-seop. Team Leader An Chan-seop did not answer the phone. When she returned to her seat, she saw Eun-bi staring intently at her. But she was in no position to be picky. Jeong-o ran to Eun-bi.
A favor she would never normally ask. A favor she might regret someday. But Jeong-o threw away her pride. She was that desperate. She swore to herself that if Eun-bi helped her this once, she would never be hostile to Eun-bi again.
But the response she received was extremely cold. Eun-bi raised her voice as if she had been subjected to an utterly absurd situation. People around them began to stare.
Jeong-o immediately realized the reality. Right. How foolish of me. Chae Eun-bi is not the kind of person who would grant such a favor. I was so desperate that I reached out to a rotten rope. Jeong-o quickly gave up and returned to her seat. Gi-hoon, who knew all about Jeong-o’s situation, was reporting this fact to Mi-ran, who was out of the office, and asking for help.
Jeong-o’s eyes welled up at the sight of him trying so hard to get her off work. Gi-hoon, who had finished talking to Mi-ran, said to Jeong-o.
At that moment, Ji-heon’s voice was heard from the hallway.
Jeong-o stood up from her seat.
Eun-bi’s eyes widened at Ji-heon’s instruction. ……He’s going to be alone with Lee Jeong-o in the conference room?
