The work began right away. And so did the absurdity.
“You want me to sit alone?”
“There’s not much work so it would be fine for Mr. YongHo to do it alone.”
“But even so… How can I alone…….”
“If you can’t even do that, how are you planning to live in this harsh world? First, you start off by going alone, learn new things and meet new people.”
The president instead said confidently. He acted as if this was obvious.
“Then which project am I partic.i.p.ating in……”
YongHo already seemed half given up since he thought that this place wasn’t somewhere he was going to spend a long time in. He was full of thoughts that he should switch companies after getting experience.
Working in stack overfly didn’t mean that he earned money right away. Even so, he couldn’t rely on the reward money forever.
Moreover, the thing YongHo needed right now was work experience. The ability so solve bugs was useless if there weren’t any bugs.
The woman who sent the message to YongHo.
Jeong DanBi.
Team leader of smart shopping strategy team.
It was the words that were written in the business card on the desk that Jeong DanBi sat.
Her looks showed that she just graduated university but her position wasn’t low at all.
Jeong DanBi was sitting and checking YongHo’s reply.
“His skills are not bad.”
Jeong DanBi made a fresh smile while nodding. She seem to like YongHo’s reply.
“What’s your opinion, head researcher Son?”
In front of Jeong Danbi sat a man.
Son SeokHo.
As one of the few open source committers of Korea, he was a talent that Jeong DanBi worked hard to scout.
He had a bulging belly and fat cheeks. The darkish shadowed beard gave off a developer’s force. The unconcealable wrinkles told that he was around his late 30’s.
At Jeong DanBi’s question, Son SeokHo answered while chewing the sweet bean bread that was in his mouth.
“Hmm… He’s certainly not bad.”
When he was answering, a few black fragments flew towards Jeong DanBi.
“Hey, speak after you eat. It’s scattering everywhere.”
“Hoho, is that so?”
Not minding Jeong DanBi’s words, he instead grabbed another sweet bean bread and put it in his mouth.
“He’s worth meeting once, don’t you think?”
“Well, I am your subordinate, so if you’re ok, then I’m good too.”
“Head researcher has better eyes for codes than me, don’t you?”
“Surely you jest, You, who graduated from KEIST worse than me, who graduated from correspondence college?”
“Oh, head researcher!”
“Haha, team leader’s words are right. I think it’s not bad to meet him once.”
“Then I’ll arrange it that way.”
Son SeokHo, who was eating a sweet bean bread, had his gaze on the window which Jeong DanBi opened. He didn’t let go of YongHo’s code, while not letting go of the bread in his mouth either.
YongHo was standing in front of a desk which was full of dust, with his laptop bag in hand. The staff known as the ‘person in charge’ came up to him.
“Who came from Onnurisoft?”
“Oh, it’s me.”
“I don’t know how how long you will be staying but… Nice to meet you anyway. I am manager Joo BeomJoon who’s in charge around here.”
With a tired face, his voice was full of annoyance.
“Oh, yes. Lee YongHo.”
“Your experience in developing is 3 years? I heard a lot about you.”
YongHo could only tilt his head. His entire work experience was 6 months as an intern, but to say 3 years of work experience… He wondered what this was about. Moreover, experience regarding development… It was the first time he heard of such a thing.
“……”
“You did it for 3 years so I trust you will be able to do it well.”
The word ‘3 years’ kept bothering his ears. In the end, YongHo couldn’t hold back his curiosity and asked.
“3 years? I only had 6 months of experience as an intern though?”
At YongHo’s words, Joo BeomJoon’s face turned ugly. And he started talking to himself.
“…*Sigh* This guy, again.”
“……”
“Well, first sit here.”
Joo BeomJoon who finished speaking left the place like the wind.
Shinseki group was the best distribution company within the country. As such, it held a lot of the customers’ private information.
Jeong DanBi ordered people to ask if anyone had the account registered with [email protected]/* */
“Did you look into it?”
“Yes.”
“And, what’s the result?”
“I think he’s currently working for us.”
A man wearing a clean suit who was reporting wondered why a person such as Jeong DanBi told him to look into this. However, he couldn’t show it on the surface. He knew very well that doing as you’re told silently was the secret to having a long employee life.
“Our company? Which department?”
The already big eyes of Jeong DanBi became wider. They say it was fate if you pa.s.s by each other.The fact that the Korean guy who came into her eyes while looking through stack overfly was working in the same company made her feel a strange hearbeat.
“Uhh… He’s not OUR staff, he’s here from an outsourcing company.”
“Outsourcing huh… Where is it? Let’s go immediately.”
“I understand.”
Jeong DanBi stood up from her seat. As she stood up the fragrant smell diffused throughout the neatly cleaned room.
YongHo silently finished cleaning his desk and sat down.
The environment here was worse than when he was an intern.
From the computer’s specs to the desk and chair’s quality… There wasn’t a single thing that was intact. The chair’s height adjustment was broken, and the desk was chipped here and there.
The only take-over information was a USB that the president threw at him.
‘I can’t believe he gave me this and told me to start working.’
His work was maintaining the ERP. The president emphasized the point that he could do it alone since there’s not much work to do because it was an SM(System Management)
He couldn’t let anyone from Mirae IT find out that he was hired so he said that YongHo could only work in a place where they wouldn’t know. He emphasized again and again that this was the only place where he could work that he found.
‘It’s a bit too much.’
While YongHo’s chair and desk was doubtful to whether it’s even usable or not, some places boasted of the latest tech.
The chairs looked big and comfortable, and the desk seemed at least twice the size of YongHo’s desk.
‘Shinseki huh.’
YongHo also knew of Shinseki.
A big company with over 10 trillion won(≈8.4 billion USD) profit per year.
YongHo also had the experience of failing his application to Shinseki I&C which was Shinseki’s data processing subsidiary.
While thinking of the self introduction he made. as he looked around the place, he could find a clear difference in treatment.
The quality of the desks and chairs differred according to the name that was written on the name tag.
The environment for people who had ‘Shinseki’ in their name tag and the environment for people who had ‘Outsourcing’ in their name tag were different.
‘Wow, they are really stingy.’
He was bitter. He took out a candy from his pocket to relieve himself of his bitterness and he connected the USB to the laptop.
‘Let’s have a look at the USB.’
YongHo opened the USB and had a look at the ERP system structure.
“Mr. YongHo, are you that dense?”
YongHo wondered what this kind of humiliation was about. While he was looking at what to do on his seat, the president who called YongHo started getting angry at him.
“What do you mean……”
“You said you had 6 months of experience?”
“Yes.”
YongHo replied confidently. He had no hesitation since it really was 6 months. However, the president’s thinking was different.
“Listen well, Mr. YongHo. From now, you had 3 years of experience maintaining ERP. Especially in business management.”
“I don’t understand what you mean……”
“AGH, just do as you’re told.”
At YongHo, who kept asking questions, the president got angry and shouted. At that figure, YongHo’s blood circulated faster in his body.
“You are telling me to lie?”
“It’s not a lie, it’s flexibility, don’t you know flexibility? Flexibility. The client(gab) company requires people with at least 3 years of experience. Do you know how much effort I spent to get you in there?”
“……”
“The work is not that hard anyway so you don’t have to worry about it. Just that, if someone asks you, then you say you indeed have 3 years of experience, and you were specially dispatched from Onnuri. You understand? It’s not even that hard.”
The president said in a quiet and secretive voice. He tried to persuade YongHo by telling him that it was good for both sides.
“I can’t do that.”
However, YongHo didn’t budge. Such YongHo made the president more angry.
“If you can’t do it, you’re fired! Fired! Also, you made the company experience a loss so it’s okay if I sue you for reparation right?”
As they continued, the situation turned worse and worse. The president tried to persuade him with both the carrot and the whip but YongHo didn’t budge.
He couldn’t lie. He didn’t live or was taught that way.
“Do whatever you want. Then I’ll start packing.”
He pompously said and stood up. The president tried to stop him but YongHo shook him off in no time.
“LEE YONGHO!”
“Mr. Lee YongHo?”
When he went back to his seat, he was dumbfounded at the situation so he could do nothing but just stand there.
He was overwhelmed with just the outer look. Ji SuMin and Choi HyeJin were both quite pretty, but this was the difference between a celebrity and the general public.
The woman who sat on YongHo’s seat with crossed legs didn’t mind YongHo’s reaction and kept asking him.
“Is your e-mail address [email protected]/* */?”
YongHo opened his mouth without speaking and just nodded. The president of Onnuri soft who followed YongHo also stood there, dazed.
“You are active in stack overfly right?”
Perhaps her voice contained a power to freshen a person’s mind, YongHo’s stirred heart started calming down. He also felt that the blood in his head started going down..
He calmed down to the point of being able to speak.
“That’s correct. But How do you……”
The woman who appeared out of nowhere knew what kind of activity YongHo did in the site correctly.
The woman asked each and everything of YongHo’s activity in stack overfly. He was more curious as time went on at this woman who seem to know a lot about him.
Before YongHo even had a chance to ask, the woman introduced herself first.
“h.e.l.lo. I’m team leader Jeong DanBi from Shinseki group’s smart shopping strategy team. From what I got, you just got fired. Do you have any intentions to work with us?”
Jeong DanBi stood up from her seat and offered her hand. YongHo who looked at the suddenly offered hand and a weird thought pa.s.sed by his head.
‘Even her hands are pretty.’
And he grabbed her hand. The soft sensation made his heart stir again.