Chapter 10
10. Future Service Team
2023.05.10.
[Han So-eun, Chief, Kim Tae-joon, Director, is calling for you. Please come up to his office.]
No sooner had the morning work begun than Chief Song Mun-gyeong, Kim Tae-joon's secretary, summoned So-eun. The rosy glow on So-eun's face, thanks to her boyfriend, was quickly overshadowed by dark clouds.
Was it because of yesterday's fire accident, or because of her drunken behavior?
'Probably both.'
So-eun rose from her seat with an expression of resignation.
He even told me to clean up my act, but after last night's disgraceful behavior, I'm probably going to be kicked out right away.
'But I'm also upset! It's not like I asked anyone to put up with my drunken antics, or grabbed a passerby.'
Or did I? Did I grab someone?
It wasn't a complete blank, but the fragmented memories only drove her crazier. She feared that there might be something even more terrible hidden within the gaps in her memory. So-eun dragged her heavy feet and finally reached the 7th-floor office.
Chief Song Mun-gyeong, the secretary, kindly opened the office door for So-eun without giving her a moment to catch her breath.
"Director, good morning."
So-eun bowed deeply and froze, unable to lift her head.
In the meantime, Tae-joon, who had been sitting at his desk working, got up and approached So-eun. Slowly, slowly. His slow pace, reminiscent of a tiger, made him even more intimidating. His chest came into view. Watching his shirt tighten with each silent breath, So-eun swallowed hard. She had a feeling he was glaring at her with fierce eyes.
It was better to get it over with sooner rather than later, but even as he approached, he didn't say a word. With a trembling heart, So-eun slowly raised her head. And she was startled. Even though she knew he was close, the moment she met his eyes, she felt a momentary constriction in her chest.
But she couldn't avoid it just because she was nervous. He was like a seasoned predator sitting at the entrance of a cave, watching a wild animal that had entered his territory. Contemplating when to devour it.
The office door opened, and Han So-eun entered.
Her voice was energetic, but her expression was bewildered.
Tae-joon got up from his seat and walked towards So-eun. With each step, her shoulders flinched.
She didn't even think about raising her head until he was completely close, so Tae-joon stood still and stared at her. He didn't make a sound, and after a moment, her head slowly tilted upwards. Her eyes widened in surprise when their gazes met.
With the glasses that had been covering half of her face gone, her clear face was revealed.
Tae-joon also felt as if the dark clouds that had been weighing him down had cleared.
Her small face had well-proportioned features that made her look determined.
Were the glasses a disguise? How nearsighted was she that her eyes looked so big?
Her dark brown eyes sparkled like dew on fruit, catching the light. Just looking at her made him feel a desire that was almost inappropriate.
There was definitely something about Han So-eun that stirred a person's possessiveness. He thought it was just an instinct based on memory, but it was more than that. She was small and delicate, her skin looked fair and soft, and she made you want to touch her everywhere, making you entertain childish fantasies about how she would react if you poked her. As he watched her, a heat gathered in his lower abdomen.
I want to keep this woman in the palm of my hand. To do that.
After standing silently for a long time, he finally spoke.
"Before we talk about work."
"……."
"Don't you have anything to say?"
Tae-joon asked teasingly, and So-eun's parched lips parted.
"……I'm really sorry about yesterday."
As soon as he opened the door, she quickly apologized.
"What are you sorry for?"
"Well, I was drunk. I said things that were disrespectful to you, Director."
"Do you remember what kind of disrespectful things you said?"
She hesitated, as if she couldn't bring herself to say she didn't remember, but couldn't say she remembered everything either.
"……I, I remember bits and pieces."
"Bits and pieces."
"Yes……."
"How can you know what was disrespectful with bits and pieces of memories?"
"……I'm still sorry."
"Forget it. Let's move on."
Tae-joon decided to let it go coolly. That wasn't the point.
"You're not wearing your glasses."
"No."
"Are you wearing lenses?"
"Yes."
Yesterday, her face with glasses was stifling, and today, her way of speaking was stifling. Did they bring a Yes-bot modeled after Han So-eun when he asked for Han So-eun? She seemed much more fun and human when she was drunk. Tae-joon felt bitter, thinking that if he gave her back her glasses in this state, both her appearance and her speech would become stifling.
Still, he thought he should give them back, and as he moved his arm slightly, the Yes-bot cautiously spoke first.
"……Director, have you perhaps seen my glasses?"
Tae-joon's lips stretched slightly.
"I don't know. I don't remember. Were they expensive?"
"Not really, but they're precious to me. My boyfriend gave them to me as a gift……."
"……Weren't you fighting with your boyfriend?"
So-eun's pupils, which had been looking at Tae-joon, trembled. Her eyes seemed to say, 'Did I even tell this man that yesterday?'
"……We were for a moment yesterday, but we've made up now."
"……."
"Anyway, have you not seen my glasses? I think I was wearing them when I left the bar yesterday, but they were gone when I looked for them this morning."
She had been answering in monosyllables until now, but she added a string of explanations only to this question. What was she trying to say?
"I haven't seen them."
Tae-joon withdrew his hand, which had been reaching towards the desk. The desire to return them vanished completely.
"You must be very upset. I hope you find them."
He was about to add one more word, saying that the glasses didn't suit her anyway, but he immediately changed the subject.
"And now, we need to talk about what we need to talk about. Han So-eun, Chief."
So-eun took a deep breath, her shoulders heaving greatly as he started with an expression that he had been sharpening his knife for a long time.
"I told you to wrap up all the work you're doing now. Do you remember that?"
"Yes. I remember."
Hearing So-eun's answer, Tae-joon immediately grabbed the doorknob. When Tae-joon opened the door himself and looked out, So-eun cautiously stepped outside. After letting So-eun out first, Tae-joon also came out of the office.
Tae-joon's office was at the very end of the 7th-floor hallway. In front of it was the auxiliary office where Song Mun-gyeong worked, and next to the auxiliary office was an empty room and the support team. Tae-joon opened the door to the empty room.
"Chief Song?"
When Tae-joon called his secretary, Song Mun-gyeong, Mun-gyeong got up from her seat.
"Yes, Director."
"Exactly here."
"……."
"Set up a desk in this spot."
So-eun froze, and Mun-gyeong blinked and flared her nostrils.
"Tell the HR team that we're going to create a team with Han So-eun as the team leader."
Mun-gyeong slowly turned her head and looked at So-eun. The pale-faced, pretty woman only looked pitiful.
She had to take responsibility for causing the fire accident, but was he really putting so much pressure on a mere chief? Was he trying to create a case as an example to prevent himself, as a new director, from being looked down upon?
Mun-gyeong cautiously racked her brains and asked.
"Yes. I understand. Then, what about the team members?"
"Do we need team members?"
"Ah…… Then, what should the team name be?"
"Is that important?"
"……."
"Just call it…… the Future Service Team, I guess."
So-eun felt like she had been hit over the head by Tae-joon's decision. The Future Service Team. How could they have a Future Service Team when they couldn't even handle the current services properly?
"Have it ready by Monday morning, and you don't need to submit a separate approval. I'll report to the CEO myself."
After telling Mun-gyeong, Tae-joon turned his head towards So-eun.
"Did you hear that, Han So-eun, Chief? Come to this spot to work next week."
Tae-joon threw down the cold notice and went back into his office. So-eun stood blankly in front of it for a long time before bowing to Mun-gyeong. Mun-gyeong nodded with a pitiful expression, as if she felt sorry for her.
She had read stories about this kind of workplace harassment in news articles and online communities. Creating a position with a team name that no one had ever heard of, giving them plenty of grief, and then making them resign voluntarily in a despicable way. The current situation was exactly the same as the stories she had seen on internet bulletin boards.
She had caused an accident and, to top it off, had been drunk and made rude remarks to her superior, so it was a perfectly plausible scenario.
*
"Chief, what did the director say?"
Park Bo-bae, the employee in the next seat, asked as So-eun returned to her seat with a dazed expression.
"From Monday……."
But she didn't have a chance to answer properly. As soon as So-eun returned to her seat, work piled up.
Yesterday, a female customer who had come in with a 10-year-old cell phone came to pick up the repaired phone.
So-eun handed the perfectly repaired phone to the woman.
"It took a long time to repair because it was an old product and it took a while to find the parts. The battery broke during the repair, so we replaced it with a new battery. The battery replacement was free of charge."
"Oh, thank you, teacher. Thank you so much."
The woman stroked the phone she received from So-eun as if it were a pet and greeted her. So-eun gave the woman a word of caution.
"But if it breaks again, it may be difficult to repair. If that happens, the stored data may be lost as well. Please back up your data often, and I recommend that you replace it with a new phone if possible."
"How can I replace this? Our engineer fixed it so diligently."
"But you'll have to replace it someday. There will be many apps that no longer support the old version."
"Anyway, thank you. I'll use it well. And this."
The woman, who had nodded at So-eun's request, rummaged through her bag and took something out. It was a drink. So-eun waved her hands.
"No, no. It's okay."
"I'm so grateful. It's nothing much, but please take it as my heart."
Occasionally, there are customers who give unexpected gifts like this. It is against company policy to receive anything from customers, but it was tacitly accepted that refusing even this kind of gift was too harsh.
So-eun had no choice but to accept the drink and bowed her head. The customer's heart that gave the drink was prettier than the drink itself. She felt proud that she had fixed the device well and even healed the customer's heart.
She also felt like she had received encouragement from the customer to cheer up.
Gaining strength, she began to think differently about the new life that would soon come.
'Okay. It may not necessarily mean that I should resign voluntarily. If they watch me closely and I seem diligent, they'll let me go back to my position.'
Let's work hard wherever we go. They can't kick out someone who works hard.
So-eun decided to accept her fate. She decided not to be too afraid.
Han So-eun. You've overcome much scarier things.
