Coder Lee Yongho

One man didn’t come to work.
However, the company went on as usual as if nothing had happened. YongHo had to interview with the human resources team about what happened then.
Inside YongHo’s head, the scene kept repeating. It was a man who he didn’t know before. It was a man who he met for the first time. The only common thing between them that they were colleagues in the same company.
“YongHo. Tell me whenever you change your mind. I will write you a recommendation.”
Dave carefully spoke to YongHo, who was down. YongHo gave a forced smile as he was thankful for Dave’s thoughts.
“I’m always thankful. I will remember.”
The server construction proceeded smoothly, and after pa.s.sing most of it over to Na DaeBang, Dave & co left Korea.
Although there was that their leave was short, Dave also seemed to have received shock due to that incident. However, it wasn’t as much as YongHo.
Regret.
‘Why go to a company?’ – such a regret enveloped YongHo.

And so he focused.
He became absorbed in work to forget all of it. If he worked for success until now, now, it was to forget.
He heard about the man from time to time.
Applied for an industrial accident.
And rejected.
Yu JaeMan applied for an industrial accident while saying he worked for 4000 hours a year. He asked his colleagues around for help, but that didn’t work well either.
-We’re sorry but we need to live too so please understand us.
The man was isolated between the organized interference from the company and the negligence of his colleagues. YongHo heard that a lawsuit began.
Every single person in the company expected for him to lose.
Whenever he heard the bits of news about him, YongHo got even more absorbed in work.
He couldn’t help it since there was not a single good news about him. If he lived well after that, then it might have been easy to forget. He couldn’t do that so YongHo put himself through more work.

Burnout syndrome.
It was burnout syndrome which found its way over to YongHo. This was an illness that referred to a state where a person was enveloped by powerlessness due to consuming all of his/her energy on a specific work.
“Mr. YongHo.”
“Yes. Team leader.”
“Is there something nowadays?”
“No, there’s nothing.”
YongHo’s tone of voice was stiff. Vexation was all over his face due to the uncomfortableness and the fatigue of both his body and mind.
“I’m saying this because it doesn’t look like that. Do you know that your work efficiency is clearly dropping compared to the past?”
Jeong DanBi was saying this because of worry. However, YongHo was only displeased to hear that.
On the CI server, it was recorded who committed how many lines of codes. Son SeokHo implemented this to measure the abilities of each developers when they first enter.
The amount of codes that YongHo committed had dropped considerably.
Jeong DanBi was speaking from her heart. She was full of worry for YongHo. Even something that seemed impossible was easily solved in the hands of YongHo, who had more pa.s.sion than anyone.
Jeong DanBi accepted the test paper that Jeong JinYong gave her thinking it was the last struggle.
She couldn’t answer a single question until now, but she now saw hope to finish the paper thanks to YongHo.
However, that spark of hope was dying down.
“…What happened to Mr. Yu JaeMan?”
“From what I know, the company is treating him as he deserves but why……”
“I’ll be thrown away too if I become useless, right?”
The reason for the burnout syndrome flowed out from YongHo’s mouth. Jeong DanBi’s expression was full of confusion when she heard YongHo’s hostility-filled words. n.o.body could speak at that moment.
“……”
“Sorry for asking you a difficult question.”
YongHo apologized immediately and lowered his head. Jeong DanBi hurriedly said towards that YongHo.
“Th, then you can always be useful. Your ability is not going anywhere, and, didn’t you do well until now?”
“Ability… can disappear suddenly.”
YongHo laughed bitterly.
The bug window – the reason why other people thought of him as a genius – Like it appeared suddenly it may disappear suddenly too.
And so, until now, YongHo acted considering that the bug may disappear all of a sudden.
However, Jeong DanBi interpreted YongHo’s actions differently. She thought that he may leave this company when he said ‘disappear’. She thought that the reason for YongHo’s inner struggles was the treatment according to ability.
“Team leader… I promise you the position of a team leader. If we achieve the sales of 100 billion, I will leave the company and start a company together with head researcher Son. I want you to be the team leader in that company.”
“Pardon?”
“The CTO will be head researcher Son. So please help me a little more.”
YongHo was confused at Jeong DanBi being fl.u.s.tered but he nodded. He didn’t have any thoughts to leave the company right now, and he thought he would be alright with anywhere if it had Son SeokHo in it.
He had that much trust in Son SeokHo. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the entire reason for his nodding was due to Son SeokHo joining her as the CTO.

Perhaps thinking that just talking with YongHo wasn’t good enough, Jeong DanBi looked for Son SeokHo.
“Is it alright to leave him as he is?”
“It will be a lot of help to him just by knowing that someone is watching over him.”
Son SeokHo seemed to know what YongHo was going through right now. He was thinking that it wasn’t anything big and he didn’t worry that much.
“He worked like a madman and now he’s sitting there powerless……”
In contrast, Jeong DanBi was full of worries. The figure of YongHo seen from Jeong DanBi’s room was comparable to an homeless man in Seoul station. The empty eyes and the meaningless body movement – A useless atmosphere permeated the air.
“It’s a growth pain that everyone goes through. It usually comes in about 2 or 3 years after working… but in YongHo’s case, it came slightly early.”
Son SeokHo was composedly looking at YongHo. His calm look contained warmth.
His care for YongHo flowed out subconsciously.

No matter what happens, time flows.
When weekdays pa.s.s, the weekend comes.
When company workers officially don’t have to go to work. While YongHo was lying down due to the powerlessness, the time for the study was approaching.
A little more, just a little bit more – it has been 30 minutes since he first thought that.
His family moved to Nonhyun-dong from Gaepo-dong. He would arrive at Gangnam station if he walked for 20 minutes. It would take him 10 minutes if he took the bus.
However, the biggest reason why YongHo couldn’t stand up was powerlessness. In the end, he opened the message app.
And he wrote word by word.

Lee YongHo : I think I won’t be able to partic.i.p.ate today due to being sick.

Due to powerlessness, his body felt like a sponge dipped in water. When he sent the message on the group talk replies started popping up quickly.
Choi HyeJin consoled him with words filled with worry. However there also was a person who wasn’t like that.

Sup’s : But isn’t it Mr. Lee YongHo’s turn today? If I remember correctly, it was about hashing(A type of algorithm)
Study Leader : That’s true. Today’s Mr. YongHo’s presentation day… Now… what do we do today…

YongHo also had forgotten.
He wasn’t even doing his work properly. There was no way he could remember what he did in the study.

Lee YongHo : I’m really sorry…
Sup’s : This is the problem with studies. There are always leeches. A sudden problem popped up at work. I’m sick. And it’s always the day of their presentation.
Study Leader : Oh, well. If you’re sick… There’s no helping it.
Sup’s : Why don’t we set some rules? Let’s ban someone if he/she doesn’t come for a few times. How is it?

Jeong JinSup’s messages kept touching YongHo’s nerves. His anger started welling up while lying down.

Sup’s : Well, the presenter is away so why don’t we just gather for some fun today? It’s been quite a while since the study started and it’s not bad to get to know each other better.
Study Leader : Well, that’s also a good idea. What are your opinions?
Sup’s : Let’s do that. Looking at the time, everyone must have left their homes by now. If Mr. YongHo told me yesterday, I would’ve prepared it myself, but too bad.

There was less than 20 minutes till the study started. The other people had all left their houses.
YongHo, who was looking at those messages forcefully stood himself up. It was clearly his fault. He had no excuses.

When he arrived, it was him who arrived first. Everyone was a little late.
“Y, you came?”
“I was sick so I couldn’t prepare a PPT specially, so can I explain hashing while coding?”
“P, please do.”
At YongHo’s energy, the study leader said with a dazed face.

Explanations ended in about 30 minutes.
n.o.body could a find a fault in the explanation. Some questions were thrown but they could only nod their heads at the detailed explanation.
And a little bit of resting time.
Of course, the topic was Shinseki.
Choi HyeJin took this chance to ask YongHo.
“s...o...b..e, is your body alright? I heard a person collapsed in your company… It seems like they give you a lot of work. s...o...b..e’s body is bad like this too…”
The story about Yu JaeMan was also spread here. The topic of him having to cut off one of his lungs due to over exhaustion was too stimulating so internet media all dished out articles.
Perhaps due to the strength of the company known as Shinseki, the central media didn’t talk about it a lot, but amongst the developer community, it was a hot issue.
“They do give you a lot of work…”
YongHo cringed when he thought up of that memory. Choi HyeJin continuously spat out exclamation in surprise.
“Whoa, it’s really no joke.”
At that moment, YongHo could hear some words which touched his nerves.
“That’s why developers need to to put in effort in self development. They don’t develop themselves so they always collapse after nights of overtime work.”
“……”
YongHo’s lips twitched.
A change was occurring to the air of powerlessness about him.
“You say ‘Yes’ ‘I will do my best’ since you don’t have any ability. It’s not that ‘you have to do your best’ but ‘you have to do well’. In that point, Miss SuMin or Miss HyeJin is doing well. Considering that they don’t even play on the weekend and come to the study. If you miss due to the excuse of ‘being sick’ or ‘work’, you will be in big trouble later.”
Twitch.
YongHo’s hand twitched. Jeong JinSup’s words became a spear and a hammer and smashed the membrane that covered YongHo.
The one who replied to Jeong JinSup’s words was Choi HyeJin. She knew more details as if she was interested in this incident.
“I looked at the news and they said it was due to working overtime a lot due to the launching of the S Mall……”
“Like I said, he works overnight because he doesn’t have the ability. If it were me, I definitely won’t do that.”
Sc.r.a.pe.
At Jeong JinSup’s words, YongHo suddenly stood up. Then he shot a glare at Jeong JinSup with cold eyes. Perhaps surprised due to that, Jeong JinSup stuttered his words.
“Wh, what is it?”
A volatile situation.
Fortunately, Choi HyeJin, on YongHo’s side, pulled YongHo’s arm, so the situation didn’t explode.
“I will see how much ability you have. I will take my leave first since I’m not well.”
While bringing cold wind, YongHo stood up from his seat. The membrane of powerlessness that enveloped YongHo tightly was also punctured.