Coder Lee Yongho

Shinseki Group.
As one of the three great distribution companies, it expanded its business in every field that looked like they could profit off it, such as department stores, discount stores, brand-name outlets and even local businesses.
The CEO Jeong JinYong declared his intentions to invest in the software field like the US company ‘Jungle’ did in his new year’s speech.
Online shopping was a market which had a growth rate of not 10~20% but 30~40%. He intended to target this market by investing in software.
From that the smart shopping strategy team was made.
Coincidentally, Jeong JinYong chairman’s third daughter, Jeong DanBi, was a talent that graduated from KEIST, a top tier university in Korea. He first gave her the t.i.tle ‘team leader’ and left her to see what she can do.
Such Jeong DanBi was sitting in front of YongHo.
She was wearing jeans but they couldn’t hide her attractive legs. The skin tight jeans didn’t expose any part of the skin but it made him unable to think where to place his eyes anywhere.
“How is it? I don’t think it’s a bad offer for you, Mr. YongHo.”
“It’s too sudden so I’m a bit dumbfounded.”
YongHo thought it was a relief that he didn’t stutter. It was due to the fact that he got used to it from all the part time job he did in the past few years.
“We will have to talk over the details but, we will treat you the same way we treat our specialized developers.”
He need to hear about the details but YongHo pretty much decided what to do after listening to the name ‘Shinseki’.
It was a company incomparable to Mirae IT. If he had to compare, it was comparable to KO Telecom.
The one who was dumbfounded at the situation wasn’t only YongHo.
It was the same for the president of Onnuri soft, who followed YongHo. Jeong DanBi’s gaze moved to Onnuri soft’s president.
“And Mr. President of Onnuri soft?”
“Oh, yes. P, president.”
“I’m no president, I’m just a team leader. You lied to us about Mr. YongHo’s work history here. You know that it’s forgery of private doc.u.ment right?”
“This, it’s… not that I lied.”
“You were about to sue YongHo for reparation damages or so I heard… I think you have to confront our legal team first?”
Although she wasn’t here, she knew a lot. YongHo was still feeling relieved so he didn’t even notice this fact.
“Who’s in charge here?”
Jeong DanBi’s voice was cold. It was a different voice to when she spoke to YongHo.
“It, it’s me, team leader.”
Joo BeomJoon who was observing from behind, stepped up. His intimidated face felt like he was predicting his own future.
“Go to the CSR team and said I sent you.”
“T, team leader.”
Even at Joo BeomJoon’s begging face, Jeong DanBi was merciless. Instead, she cornered him even more.
“If you want to pack up, then you are free to continue speaking.”
The cold gaze and a few lines captivated the audience. From the charisma given off by her, who looked young, one could imagine what kind of life she led.

The place he followed Jeong DanBi to was an office room with large windows which the outside could be seen. There was enough personal s.p.a.ce and the furnitures in the office gave off an aura of their worth.
YongHo stiffly stepped into the office. As soon as he entered, Jeong DanBi turned back and said.
“First, I would like to do a simple interview, do you have anything like a résumé with you?”
The fragrance from the long hair which flew as she turned his head kept YongHo dazed.
“Mr. Lee YongHo?”
“Oh, yes.”
“I asked if you have any résumé on you.”
At YongHo’s dazed figure, Jeong DanBi asked while wrinkling one of her eyes.
“Oh, I do have it. But it’s in a virtual drive……”
“That doesn’t matter. Then would you go and sit in the conference room you see there?”
Not long after YongHo entered the conference room, two men with Jeong DanBi came into the room. The interview began right away.

One was Son SeokHo.
The other was Heo JiHoon.
Son SeokHo of development.
Heo JiHoon of strategy.
These two were considered the left and right hands of Jeong DanBi. First, Heo JiHoon with a sharp expression started asking.
“Your school is SeonMin, with a credit of 3.5……”
“Yes.”
“How is it? Did you learn a lot?”
Heo JiHoon who was wearing a thinly rimmed gla.s.ses looked at YongHo. His indifferent expression didn’t have any trace of emotion.
“I learned to the point that I wouldn’t be called ‘useless’ anywhere.”
YongHo already had confidence in his ability. His confidence showed also from his att.i.tude.
“Really? Then, what did you learn until now?”
The questions bothered him a bit but it wasn’t like he was disdaining YongHo. He was strictly keeping his position as an interviewer.
“I think I learned basic knowledge to do programming such as languages like java, SQL, Html, various algorithms, and understanding of systems.”
YongHo’s answers were fluent. He had many interview while preparing for his employment. Heo JiHoon’s questions were all within YongHo’s experience.
And another person’s questions started. Unlike the man with a sharp expression, he gave off an entirely opposite kind of aura.
“I am Son SeokHo. Well, first off, you have a better educational background than me. I’m from correspondence college so… I will ask a few technical related questions. What do you think is the meaning of object oriented programming?”
“Rather than simply dividing programs into data and procedures, it’s a method of programming that divides programs into units known as ‘objects’ and views the program as the interactions between various objects.”
“Then, on the whiteboard in front of you, would you hand code a program to generate prime numbers the object oriented way?”
He still had a smile. However, that smile felt intimidating to YongHo.
If one coded on the computer, the program developing tools guided the way somewhat. If using an already existing function, it would guide you to that function and it would give off a notice when a program had a syntax error.
However, doing it by hand was different.
He couldn’t check the result by running the program, nor could he use the bug window. Moreover, his experience in hand coding was almost non-existent.
But he couldn’t say that he couldn’t do it.
He couldn’t let a chance that came like a miracle, go.
“I understand.”
YongHo stood up from his seat felt cold sweat on his back as he started writing letter by letter.
Thanks to Kim WonHo’s development tool prohibition, he could remember most java methods. Moreover, it didn’t matter whether he knew it or not for a program to generate prime numbers.
It was a problem that could be solved if he knew the four fundamental arithmetic operations, the if-statement and the for-statement.
The reason for YongHo’s cold sweat was because he had to code it the object oriented way.
‘First, split it into the prime number object and the calculation object.’
YongHo held the board marker and wrote slowly but correctly on the whiteboard. He made an object to store the prime number and he made an object to calculate that prime number.
And lastly, an object which called the prime number object and the calculation object and printed the result. In total, he made 3 objects.
Looking at YongHo who was hand coding, Son SeokHo still had a smiling face and nodded.
“I’m done.”
After around 10 minutes, YongHo put down the pen and stood on the side of the whiteboard. Jeong DanBi and Heo JiHoon was looking at the whiteboard.
At YongHo’s coding, Son SeokHo was in the middle of standing up without speaking a word.
“I am done with my interview. There were some points which were lacking but he’s worth working together with. I can leave first right?”
Even with team leader Jeong DanBi present, Son SeokHo had no hesitation. Jeong DanBi also didn’t look like she was affected by it.
Heo JiHoon frowned as he didn’t like that. However, he didn’t put it into words.
“Of course. You may.”
“Then.”
After Son SeokHo left the interview progressed like normal. A few simple questions were asked and it ended in no time at all.

Pa.s.s.
He already knew but, after getting a call from Shinseki group’s human resources team it came to him more realistically.
The unrealistic appearance and the unbelievable situation pa.s.sed and a heart-clenching reality came upon him.
A pa.s.s he dreamed of.
It was safe to say that there were no seniors in SeonMin who commuted to Shinseki group. The awareness and the welfare side was also incomparable to Mirae IT.
“You pa.s.sed as a specialised developer for Shinseki I&C.”
YongHo felt like shouting out loud. He felt the frustration he got until now being washed away.
“The photograph for the employee card can be taken from the studio I tell you, and when can you start working?”
“In one week.”
He already talked with Jeong DanBi that he will start working in one week.
He had enough of the jobless life so one week was enough. YongHo who ended the call couldn’t help but keep smiling.
Such YongHo’s change was first noticed by his mother.
“Did something happen?”
“Oh, I just got into Shinseki, that’s all”
“What, Shinseki?”
YongHo purposely answered like it was nothing.
“Yeah. That Shinseki.”
“My G.o.d. It’s good, it’s too good!”
His mother even started clapping as she couldn’t contain the joy. It was ranked within the top 30 of the financial world.
Frequently referred to as a big company.
It was a company that YongHo’s parents knew too well.
“They said come starting next week.”
“Don’t we have to buy you a new suit or something?”
His mother first worried about clothing. She was stingy when buying her own clothes, but she was always sorry about not being able to buy them for her son.
“You don’t have to do that. I need to do my filial duty now since I got a job. Let’s go. If an employee goes to the department store, it’s 20% off.”
He didn’t have an employee card yet but, he could make a credit card for employees before that.
He could make it as long as he got a confirmation from the human resources team, and if he used that, he would automatically get a 20% discount.
Even the already discounted products would have an extra 20% discount. Even though she first expressed that she didn’t need to go to somewhere like a department store, YongHo’s mother, in the end, expressed a silent approval.

It had been a long time since he last came to a department store.
It was the first time if he excluded the time he got a brand name perfume for his girlfriend he dated for a short time in university.
And that first time was spent with his mother. He already decided on a present for his father, who worked on weekends.
His mother’s gaze sparkled as she looked around the department store.
His mother wasn’t an exception when it came to liking pretty items.
“Summer will be here soon, so, shall we buy some summer clothing?”
“You are spending so much money now that you got a job? Your mother is fine with just one T-shirt.”
“Like I said, I get a 20% discount. Moreover, it’s discount season so if you take another 20% off those prices then it doesn’t cost that much.”
YongHo persuaded his mother by saying that he got a discount. Perhaps his mother’s heart moved as she started looking around.

After she placed the clothes upon her chest at the mirror to see whether it matches her or not, his mother put down the shirt after looking at the price tag.
YongHo didn’t miss that.
“That looks good.”
“No it’s not, it’s doesn’t suit me.”
“I said it looks good, go try it.”
It looked good.
His mother also seemed to like it.
It was different from those clothes bought from an unknown origin. That figure was pleasing to his eyes.
Shaking off his mother who was trying to dissuade him, YongHo stood in front of the counter. And he took out the card he received not too long ago.
“Employee discount applies here right?”
Even without looking back, YongHo knew how much his mother felt great.
Parents felt the most joy while watching their children being acknowledged outside the house.
“Yes, it does. Please wait a moment.”
The staff who received the card swiped it on the POS(Point of Sales: a terminal which can do the transaction).
And tilted his head as if it was strange.
“I, I’m sorry sir, The transaction isn’t working right now.”
“What?”
Fear filled the employee’s face.
However, the problem wasn’t limited to this store. From various places in the store, the employees were confronting customers while sweating cold sweat.
Transaction error.
It was one of the things that must never happen in a department store.

Translator’s note

Thx for reading!

Translator : Chamber