Coder Lee Yongho

YongHo couldn’t help but be surprised when he felt an envelope while wearing his coat.
‘Whoa.’
When he grabbed the envelope, he could feel its contents. When he took it out, there were about 10 yellow notes in there. (1 Yellow note = 50,000KRW ≈ 43.5USD)
‘Did someone put this here yesterday……?’
The only time this could happen, in his opinion, was when his arm was grabbed by the employee from the cooperating company yesterday night.
‘*Sigh*… Sh*t.’
He swore subconsciously. He hated complicated situations like these. YongHo creased his face and took out the envelope.
Coincidentally, a.s.sistant manager Seo was also putting on his coat.
YongHo looked at the watch on his wrist and called a.s.sistant manager Seo.
“a.s.sistant manager Seo. Last night, someone from the cooperating company gave me an envelope but… I think I need to give this back.”
“Oh, really? I don’t know what it is, but just leave it there. We aren’t getting any overtime pay anyway, just think of it as overtime pay.”
YongHo inhaled deeply when he heard Seo JooShin’s words.
‘What does he mean by ‘I don’t know what it is but think of it as overtime pay’?’
Travel allowance of 30,000 won (≈26USD) and lodging allowance of 60000 won(≈52USD) per person. This was the benefit Yongho got from the company due to the business trip.
There was no overtime pay even if he worked until 11 p.m. Anyway, it wasn’t like he had any when he worked in Seoul.
“But I don’t think this is right.”
“Hey, I said you can think of it as overtime pay. You received it so you take care of it.”
Seo JooShin drew the line as if it wasn’t his business. YongHo didn’t continue since he thought that their relationship will worsen if he did.
Even with the heavy atmosphere, he needed to got owork.

Rough panting sounds could be heard from YongHo’s mouth. Testing the POS’s weren’t easy.
‘*Pant*… *Pant*……’
Despite the cold weather nearing winter, he was sweating.
They were moving about 7,000 POS machines to each of the stores.
The interior was finally being finished when it was less than 3 days before the opening.
To install the POS’s they needed a desk to put on top of it so the POS’s were only installed after the interior was done.
And that only ended 3 days before the opening.
“How many are left now?”
“50 are still left.”

Listening to an employee, who was sent here from another team, YongHo screamed in his heart. He felt that his arms were being pulled out, and his legs were trembling.
Moving the POS’s wasn’t the end. POS’s were, in a sense, computers so in order to make them work power was necessary, and even network was needed.
The problem was that there were some stores with unfinished network construction. Stores that were locked, stores which were open but had no desks to put the POS’s on.
In one word, it was chaos.
“It’s not easy, huh.”
“Openings are never easy. That’s why each team are sending personnel support.”
An employee from Shinseki I&C’s intra-company groupware management team smiled and said.
He seemed to have experienced this many times, as he was aware on how the situation was folding out.
“How many times did you do this?”
“Well, I’m the youngest in the team, so…”
And looked at YongHo. He seemed to be asking – ‘Aren’t you the youngest in yours too?’.
“Th, that’s true…”
YongHo was also the youngest in his team. Even while conversing, they were moving the POS’s. They put the POS’s in each of the brand stores before moving on to the next.
They started in the morning but it was sunset when all the work was finished.

They had some rest after dinner. YongHo approached the employee from the cooperating company he talked to yesterday.
Then he called the manager from the cooperating company alone. He seemed to be from the sales team, but there was no particular knowledge required for moving POS’s so he helped.
Of course, it was half on his will, and half against his will.

After checking the time with his watch, YongHo took out the envelope from last night.
“You don’t need to give me something like this.”
“Don’t worry about it, and just take it. This is nothing.”
“It’s because I’m uncomfortable with it. I’m also not in a position to receive something like this.”
The employee from the cooperating company kept pushing the envelope YongHo took out.
“It’s really alright. You’re in Busan, don’t you need to do some touring? Use it then.”
The employee from the cooperating company kept refusing the envelope from YongHo. However YongHo was also resolute.
“I don’t want to fight over this with words anymore.”
The employee from the cooperating company didn’t do this for one or two days. He could feel YongHo’s seriousness from his stiff face and his resolute voice.
If a few more words were exchanged and this kiss-a.s.s continued, he felt their relationship would worsen.
“I understand.”
The cooperating company employee took the envelope and left first.
When YongHo saw his watch, it was already pointing at 8. Looking at his watch, YongHo thought.
‘So not anyone can be Gab(bossy), huh…’

When he went to the office, Seo JooShin was already waiting there. He was looking at the test report that YongHo wrote.
“Did you write this, Mr. YongHo?”
“Yes. Is there any problem……?”
“Here, it says the 52nd POS had an error. Is this true?”
“Yes. Shall we test right away?”
Seo JooShin looked at YongHo with suspicious eyes. Numerous tests were done before YongHo did the test.
He just left it to YongHo as a final check. These kind of problems must not be happening now.
YongHo did the same operation as the one he wrote on the test report on a POS that was prepared in one side of the office.
Down.
The POS became down.
It was switched off and on, but it didn’t work normally.
Every time a transaction occurred, the machine needs increase the count of how many transactions it did.
That needed to happen in order to compare the final count against the sales to see if there’s anything missing. That count was stopped on the number before the error occurred.
“*Sigh*…Sh*t.”
Seo JooShin quietly swore. They only had 3 days until the opening. Moreover, the POS’s were already installed in the stores.
“It’s Seo JooShin from Shinseki. Please come down to Busan. There is a problem with the program of the POS. I sent you the contents by e-mail so check there and this needs to be fixed by at least tomorrow.”
Seo JooShin talked one-sidedly and ended the call. YongHo had a déjà vu.
Although not same, he could see No JunWoo’s appearance slightly from Seo JooShin.
“We need a drink. Everybody’s there right?”
“Yes.”
“Come with us, Mr.YongHo.”
The second get together started.

It was one day nearer to the opening and there were more people. Amongst them, there was an employee from Shinseki I&C who YongHo moved the POS’s together with.
“We didn’t even greet properly, right?”
“Oh, yes. Nice to meet you. I’m called Lee YongHo.”
“So it was Mr.YongHo. I heard a lot about you. You entered as a DS and you were scouted by the Chairman’s direct descent…”
“D, DS?”
“Development specialist. We call it DS, well, I guess you didn’t know that.”
It was the first time YongHo heard of the things the guy who named himself Won JaeJin spoke.
Development Specialist. Aka DS.
In Shinseki there is a personnel management system called the occupational grouping.
Generalists who have to do everything they were told to do.
Development specialists who specializes in developing.
Other than these, there were many other occupational groups according to jobs.
And the treatment for each occupational group was also different.
“I, is that so?”
“How much did you receive when you came here?”
“…It’s uncomfortable for me to say that.”
Won JaeJin was very direct with his questions.
Each person’s annual salary was officially a secret due to security. It was something that even the employees in the same company shouldn’t speak about.
“30s?”
However, Won JaeJin pressed for answers. Perhaps due to the alcohol, he held nothing back.
YongHo unconsciously nodded his head.
“You know how much a generalist’s beginning salary is, right?”
Won JaeJin held up 4 fingers while speaking. It implied 40s.
YongHo silently drank one gla.s.s.
“There, you see that guy in the middle?”
He pointed towards Seo JooShin and next to him was a different man from yesterday.
“That person is a generalist, and we’re DS’s. We’re doing the same work but we receive less money.”
After speaking, Won JaeJin drank a gla.s.s. He seemed infuriated just thinking about it as he poured out all the frustration piled up inside him until now to YongHo.
The man who Jeong DanBi directly scouted.
The employee who won the NetFlax Prize.
YongHo was treated as a hero amongst the development specialists of Shinseki. And they had expectations that he maybe able to change their positions.
“It’s all complicated, huh.”
It was YongHo’s opinion after listening to Won JaeJin’s explanation.
When YongHo was  first scouted by Jeong DanBi, he had a long interview with the human resources team.
The annual salary system of a big company was complication itself.
There was a basic salary, and various extra pays. Holiday extras and incentives according to evaluation… There were more than ten categories on the monthly payslip.
‘So complicated…’
It was YongHo’s opinion after he received his first payslip. It was too complicated that he didn’t even read properly. He just checked whether the total was right or not.
The total was many times higher than when he worked as an intern or when he was offered a job from the ‘escort agency’.
The categories in the payslip that YongHo skimmed over were related to the taxes that a company had to give to the country. As a company had to produce profit, they needed to decrease the cost of labor as much as possible.
Personnel management systems were developed in such way that they tried to decrease labor costs rather than give benefits.
And the result was the birth of development specialists.
The word ‘development specialist’ sounded like they were professionals that specialized in developing, but within the company, they were basically subcontractors.
“We are expecting a lot from you, Mr. YongHo. Everyone here is hoping that we may be able to become generalists.”
When gla.s.ses of alcohol went inside him, Won JaeJin’s face started to change into a tinge of red. There was one reason why he wanted to become a generalist.
Salary.
He wanted to receive more money.
“Me?”
“No matter what anyone says, Mr. YongHo is in the closest position with the powers of the company. No matter how much we employees complain, we won’t be able to change anything, but if the owner speaks a word, then everything would change, won’t it? So we’re wondering if Mr.YongHo could tell team leader Jeong DanBi ……”
Won JaeJin drank another gla.s.s of alcohol. He seemed as if he was trying to melt all the frustration inside him with alcohol.
When Won JaeJin first entered this company, he said he didn’t know what a development specialist was. Even for the others, they were the same. The only thought they had was that they were entering a big company. The human resources team also said that they were specialized in developing programs and they didn’t mention anything about salary.
According to what Won JaeJin said, even after 3 years of being a development specialist, their salary wouldn’t reach up to a generalist newbie.
The most important thing was that n.o.body knew this before they entered the company.
The inequality of information from the second-hand car market was also happening in the employment market.
The sudden personnel management system, and the people who were harmed due to that when entering. Why does this company only want to exploit the employees… YongHo was bitter when remembered his experience from his intern days and he drank another gla.s.s of alcohol.

In a place without the lion, the fox was the king.
This time, another employee from a cooperating company payed the bill on the counter and took Seo JooShin and left.
YongHo, who saw that, drank the a gla.s.s for the last time and he returned to his room with Won JaeJin while swearing.

The main work of Shinseki I&C, a data processing company, was not developing programs.
It was managing programmers.
They were in a similar situation to KO Telecom.
The program developer of the POS program arrived at dawn after receiving the all from Seo JooShin last night.
Of course, it was an employee from a cooperating company.
“We did a test at our company and the problem you have mentioned to us is indeed true. Currently, our company is in the process of fixing it.”
“How long will it take?”
Seo JooShin said as calmly as he possibly could. YongHo, who was next to him, thought that he was a gentleman compared to No JunWoo.
If it was No JunWoo from KO Telecom, he would have called for the president of the cooperating company by now.
“Th, that… We’re doing our best to finish it as soon as possible… but we are unable to tell you anything concretely.”
“Hey, listen here. We’re opening the day after tomorrow, and you think you can say ‘you don’t know when’?’
“The error that’s occurring right now is a special case. Anyway, would the customers do a transaction that makes an error like this……?”
The person from the cooperating company made an excuse with a mosquito-like-small voice. Seo JooShin seemed frustrated as he raised his voice.
“And if it does occur?”
“Then wouldn’t you need to just change the POS?”
“*Sigh*… This won’t do… I will call our team leader. I wanted to solve it here, but if you are so uncooperative like this, then I have no choice.”
At Seo JooShin’s reaction, the person from the cooperating company peeked at YongHo.
“a.s.sistant manager, why don’t we smoke for a bit?”

A moment later, Seo JooShin came back with the cooperating company. Then, he looked towards YongHo who was sitting in the office.
“Mr. YongHo. I heard you solved a POS program transaction error when you just entered the company… Can you fix this too?”
The problem came over to YongHo.
Of course, he could fix it. It wasn’t YongHo’s area so he didn’t interfere until now, but when Seo JooShin asked, YongHo quietly nodded.

Translator’s notes

Regular chapter 2/3

Uhhh, it seems I went a bit overboard in that last chapter (keikaku doori? Lol, but I am serious. I can drop this novel any time.)….

I won’t drop this project. Don’t worry.

Nice reading~

Translator : Chamber