Chapter 4
- Are you out of your mind?
2023.05.04.
Tae-joon, who had been staring at the photo, turned off his PC. Then, he left his office.
Most of the employees had already left.
Tae-joon headed to Han So-eun's office, the Mobile Service Team.
A few people were left in the office, working overtime.
"Director Kim, you're here."
One of the employees who recognized Tae-joon stood up and greeted him, and the other employees awkwardly stood up as well.
"Don't mind me, just keep working."
Tae-joon gestured to the employees who had stood up and sauntered over to So-eun's desk, pretending to look around the office.
He saw a notebook spread out on one side of So-eun's neatly organized desk.
- Devotion is not a virtue.
He thought the round handwriting on the notebook somehow resembled Han So-eun's face from when she was a child.
As he was looking around the desk, his phone vibrated. It was a call from the counselor he had hired. Tae-joon quietly answered the phone.
"Yes, go ahead."
[Yes. Han So-eun was raised by her aunt until she became an adult, and she doesn't seem to have any contact with her biological father, Han Hong-gyu. No one seems to know anything about Han Hong-gyu's whereabouts.]
While talking to the counselor, Tae-joon's eyes swept across the desk and landed on a small photo frame next to the pencil holder.
"Did you meet her aunt?"
[Yes. But... she didn't seem to know much about how Han So-eun is living now. It seems that she cut off contact after Han So-eun became a college student and stopped providing financial support.]
Tae-joon picked up the frame. It was a photo of a man striking a pose in front of a desk with a 'look how great I am' expression. The name 'Yang Hee-wook, Attorney at Law' was written on the nameplate on the desk.
Tae-joon instinctively realized that this man was the person whose back he had seen in Han So-eun's SNS, the owner of the ring.
"I understand. Thank you for your hard work."
The next day at noon.
Tae-joon had lunch with Oh Gap-soo, the CEO of K Electronic Service.
Oh Gap-soo was a self-made man who had started as a worker in a PC factory, became a factory manager, completed an MBA in Korea through night school, and rose to his current position. He had heard about him, but this was the first time he had met him in person, and he was a very cheerful person.
"Oh, the Chairman himself called me. He told me to take good care of Director Kim Tae-joon."
Gap-soo greeted Tae-joon with a long smile that revealed his gold teeth. Tae-joon also opened his mouth with a polite greeting.
"The pleasure is all mine, CEO Oh."
"Oh, what can I do? I'm sure our Director Kim will do well on his own."
As the food came out, CEO Oh Gap-soo's tongue darted out and back in between his lips. CEO Oh stretched his neck and lowered his shoulders as if he were about to tell an important story.
"I heard that you're scheduled to go to the electronics headquarters in a year, but you're coming here first for management training."
Tae-joon's eyes narrowed at the information Oh Gap-soo had.
Twenty years ago, K Electronics became a leader in the wireless business market as his father, who was the president of K Electronics' wireless division, had wished. He couldn't take credit for the business having grown so much after his father passed away. But strictly speaking, it was his father's 10-year plan that had come to fruition and brought them to where they were now, so it could be said to be thanks to his father.
However, his father's name had been erased from the group. Now, K Electronics was firmly in the hands of Kim Sang-deok, Chairman Kim Jae-pil's nephew and Tae-joon's fifth cousin. It was operating smoothly without any problems, but he had felt a sense of unease for some time.
Tae-joon wanted to dig into what that was.
He didn't know if he could achieve his goal at 'K Electronic Service' rather than 'K Electronics'.
Of course, there was no need to report this to CEO Oh Gap-soo.
"Well, I just followed the instructions I was given."
"Then my information network might be more accurate. It seems that they took measures to have you quietly learn the atmosphere of the group here before assigning you to the management strategy office of the electronics division during the regular personnel reshuffle."
Oh Gap-soo had a confident expression, as if he knew high-level information. A glossy sheen of oil flowed over his long lips.
"Our Director Kim just has to stay put and then move on to the electronics division in a year. Hahaha."
There didn't seem to be a punchline, but CEO Oh Gap-soo's laughter was quite loud. Tae-joon found it a little annoying.
"I can't stand still. Since you've given me a position, I have to do something to help the company."
Tae-joon couldn't help but say something, and CEO Oh raised his palm high as if he were holding up an object.
"Of course, of course. Director Kim, you can do whatever you want. The service center runs well on its own, so you don't have to worry about it."
"..."
"The service center doesn't require serious thinking or environmental improvements. It's just a place where you fix machines according to the manual when they break down. It's a company where service is the top priority, so the employees are all very steadfast and sincere. Our Director Kim will have a comfortable time."
Saying that he would do something to help the company didn't necessarily mean that. Basically, he meant that he would do his job well, but it seemed that CEO Oh had misunderstood Tae-joon's words.
In any case, if the CEO was this kind of person, it would be better to just leave him as he was. He had secured an excuse to do something on his own in his current position.
"And this is just between us, but most of the customers are people who come to get things fixed for free. People who don't want to buy new things. Frankly, it's against the group's ideology. The group has to keep selling things, but if we fix things too well here, the circulation won't work."
As he listened quietly, CEO Oh Gap-soo became even more excited. He seemed to think that Tae-joon was responding well.
"Just tell the employees to take care of what the customers want and be moderately kind. Just make sure there are no problems. You don't have to worry about sales, so Director Kim, you can comfortably plan the business you're going to plan next year. I'll help you wholeheartedly!"
CEO Oh Gap-soo seemed to have already written Tae-joon off as a third-generation chaebol who was just loafing around. A chairman's grandson who had been partying overseas and had reluctantly come to take a position because he was old enough.
Still, it wasn't bad that the CEO was willing to bend over backwards. Tae-joon smiled contentedly.
"Thank you for your consideration. Still, I have to do what I have to do, so I'll try to manage the central headquarters well."
"Oh, I'd be more than grateful."
CEO Oh Gap-soo bowed deeply at Tae-joon's resolution.
The stories of people who visit the center with broken cell phones are diverse. Not a single one is without its touching aspects.
"I've been using this for 10 years without breaking it once, but today it suddenly went black. What am I going to do?"
A middle-aged customer, who had been looking anxious while waiting for her turn, rushed to So-eun as soon as it was her turn and handed her her cell phone. It was an entry-level cell phone that had been released 10 years ago.
"You've been using it for a long time, so it looks like the Mainboard is gone. I can see some corrosion as well."
"Can't you do something about it? It was really working fine until last night."
"I'll open the device and take a look. It's a discontinued model, so there are no more parts to replace. It may be difficult to repair."
When So-eun is asked to repair a device for which replacement parts are no longer produced, she sometimes has to play the villain. 'This product cannot be repaired, it is much more cost-effective to purchase a new product than to replace the parts of this product...' Some customers immediately agree with such a diagnosis, while others look as if the world has collapsed, as if they have received a death sentence.
"Oh, ma'am. Please do something about it. My son bought me this phone with his first paycheck after getting a job. It's my alter ego. I can't live without it."
When she faces a customer who clings to her with the feeling of asking for a last-ditch resuscitation, So-eun's heart aches as well. The attachment of someone who steadfastly uses one device can be touching. For them, it is more than 'just a cell phone', it is a companion device.
"I'll take a look and get back to you. In this condition, records such as photos and contacts may be erased. Have you saved them separately?"
"No. I don't know how to do that. There are a lot of pictures there... Oh, can't you do something about that too?"
"Then I'll try to back it up first."
"Oh, ma'am, ma'am... Please, please... I'm really counting on you..."
So-eun sent the customer away, who repeatedly greeted her, and then disassembled the cell phone. It had been treated so preciously that the exterior was quite intact compared to the 10 years that had passed, but the inside was severely corroded. So-eun plugged the battery into a separate charger and then looked at her own cell phone for a moment.
Hee-wook hadn't contacted her since he had asked her to make some side dishes for his mother yesterday. So-eun knew that he would faithfully reply if she contacted him first, but she somehow didn't want to call him first.
At the same time, she wanted to check how her boyfriend was doing. That foolish heart moved So-eun's fingers.
So-eun went to Hee-wook's SNS. Most of the photos were work-related. They were photos showing how wonderfully he was working. There were no newly uploaded photos.
So-eun looked at the photos she already knew one by one and examined Hee-wook's colleagues. Something that she had passed by without a second thought before bothered her.
Wonderful colleagues with whom she shared time that she could not share. They all had bright and confident faces.
So-eun's eyes were fixed on a young-looking woman as she checked a few photos.
The woman in the photo was laughing brightly as she looked at Hee-wook, as if something was so funny. It was a bright face that seemed to have no shadows.
This person must be Choi Hyun-ji.
'She's pretty.'
She's pretty and lovely.
So-eun felt a sense of distance from her beautiful appearance, which seemed to have grown up receiving only love in a harmonious family. She felt that no matter how hard she tried, she would not be able to surpass this person's bright energy.
After finishing spying on her boyfriend's SNS account, she turned off the cell phone screen, and the silhouette of her face was reflected on the darkened screen. After checking the photos, she felt even more tired and drooped her shoulders.
I shouldn't be this tired.
They say my body has fully recovered now.
It felt like mental fatigue was building up, not physical fatigue.
"Huh! Team Leader Han!"
At that time, someone called out to So-eun, who was staring blankly, in a loud voice. So-eun's pupils, startled by the loud noise, refocused.
Huh.
The battery being charged was on fire.
"Aah!" Someone screamed after confirming the fire.
"Fire extinguisher. Fire extinguisher!"
So-eun hurriedly looked around for a fire extinguisher. In the meantime, the fire alarm went off. People's screams could be heard from outside the inspection room. When So-eun barely found the fire extinguisher and pulled out the safety pin, someone else approached the device first and sprayed Fire Suppression Gas. The fire went out while So-eun's vision blurred.
The person who emerged from the dust was none other than Director Kim Tae-joon.
"Hey! What are you doing!"
Tae-joon, who had put out the fire, shouted at So-eun.
"Are you out of your mind?"
