A Stroke of Luck
Sometimes, if you browse the internet, you come across these kinds of posts. What are the criteria for an S-tier employee? 1. The employee who meticulously handles their assigned tasks. 2. The mood maker who, even if their office skills are lacking, knows how to encourage the team. 3. The employee who reads the boss's mood perfectly, senses the grand flow of things, and survives by riding the right coat-tails. Who do you think is actually S-tier? It might sound like a riddle, but all of these are wrong. The person who wrote this has clearly never worked a day in a real company.
The true S-tier person in a company is someone who doesn't create unnecessary work. They don't handle their tasks with obsessive perfection, and they know how to occasionally stack up a few "useless" points through minor mistakes so that those above and below them underestimate them just enough. That’s the only way to ensure people don't dump extra work on you. However, you need to balance this carefully. The point is to focus just enough on important tasks so you don't get called out. In short, a level of mediocrity that doesn't stand out is S-class. It’s important to solidify your own unique position without causing significant harm to others. It’s Jia Xu. You have to live life like Jia Xu. There’s no need to aim for great achievements like others; if you just survive, you’re the winner.
Thud.
“Assistant Son, aren’t you slacking off a bit too much today?”
“……Ah.”
However, I failed to be that S-class person today.
“Team Leader Han.”
Team Leader Han, who hadn't chosen the ordinary path like me but instead opted for the fast-track promotion route, placed a file folder on my head. She was only two years older than me, yet she was on a career fast track, looking down at me with half-lidded eyes, seemingly disappointed.
“This report today—there are too many typos and awkward sentences to just let it slide. Fix it and resubmit it.”
“…Understood. I’m sorry for the trouble.”
“Is something wrong? You usually do just enough to get by.”
She rolled her eyes slightly and asked, “Is there… something going on at home?”
“That is……”
To be honest, my mind was elsewhere. Ever since that incident yesterday, the face I had dismissed as a fleeting encounter kept popping up. I had intended to just do a good deed and move on with a pleasant feeling, but I kept thinking about that face. That face the size of a fist—the face of a woman whose name I didn't even know. I’m already twenty-eight, and at this age, I’m suffering from lovesickness, unable to focus on my work. That’s the butterfly effect for you. It was now affecting my office work, which I could usually do on autopilot.
“Anyway, come find me again after you finish your work.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Once the team leader left, I sipped the cold coffee in my mug, relying on caffeine to boost my focus. I hammered away at the keyboard, vowing not to cause any more trouble, even if my heart was miles away.
“…I really don’t want to work.”
It was a day where nothing went right. The only consolation was that there was no overtime today.
“Good work today.”
“Yeah, good work.”
And so, the day ended safely somehow. Team Leader Han didn't look particularly pleased when she received the revised report, but she seemed to brush it off as me just having an off day. This was also possible because I had lowered expectations by acting like a mediocre employee, while also having built up some "virtue" in the past.
‘Phew…’
As I walked to the bus stop, I started devising a countermeasure for this abnormal state. Surely, the reason that face kept appearing was due to the extreme loneliness of not having a girlfriend for so long. Therefore, the prescription was simple.
‘I should have a massive wank tonight.’
If I had a storm of a session at home for the first time in a while, I wouldn’t be thinking about women anymore. Based on Professor Freud’s philosophy that everything stems from sexual desire—
Buzz, buzz!
My phone vibrated in my pocket.
<010-6XXX-XXXX>
I pulled it out, wondering who it was. Since it started with 010, it wasn’t spam.
‘……………………No way?’
Honestly, my heart started pounding the moment I saw it. I wondered if it could be her. Even as I tried to deny it, expectation took the lead. I imagined that nameless face. I tried to suppress my base desires, telling myself there was no way such a drama-like event could happen, but they kept bubbling up.
When the vibration repeated for the fifth time, I cautiously answered, “Hello?”
『Ah, you finally picked up! My savior!』
A very gravelly male voice, as if he’d been gargling sandpaper. The middle-aged vibe was palpable just from the tone.
‘…Yeah, of course.’
I knew it the moment I heard him. My expectations shattered instantly, and at the same time, I knew exactly who this was.
“Uh… are you the person who was taken to the emergency room yesterday?”
『Haha, you knew just by my voice!? That’s me! The drunkard you helped yesterday! I heard you even came to the ER with me!』
‘How did this drunk old man get my phone number?’
That thought crossed my mind. I had written my number down as the rescuer when checking in at the hospital. I had also called it out once in the ambulance just in case. Come to think of it, if he tried hard enough, he could have found it anywhere.
『Anyway… the reason I called is to thank you! And I feel like we have a special connection, so let’s grab a meal together!』
“Excuse me? A meal?”
『If you were passing through that alley, you must live around here, right? I woke up at dawn yesterday because I had collapsed from exhaustion. Today, I want to have a celebratory drink with my savior to commemorate surviving death!』
“No, I’m…”
I was in a bind. The way he attached meaning to every drink felt like the genuine groove of a true alcoholic. I appreciated the effort he took to find my number out of gratitude. I understood that a meal was a reward for saving him.
‘I didn't even sleep well last night, and I’m exhausted…’
Still, I didn’t want to be bothered further. He gave off the vibe of a troublesome drinker who would drag me into all sorts of things once I got involved, and I had planned to go home and have that scheduled session—
『Not interested? Do you, by any chance, dislike Hanwoo beef?』
“Ah.”
Domain Expansion: Sizzling Beef.
Suddenly, a hot grill appeared in my mind. Maybe I was getting older, but I craved meat more than the adult videos loaded onto my hardware.
“What’s the… address?”
I bit the bait immediately. How did he know that even if I hated company dinners, I’d show up for Hanwoo?
“Cheers!”
When I arrived, the drinking party was already in full swing. There was the middle-aged man who had survived death, and two other drunks who I assumed were his friends. I flinched at the sight of a group rather than just the two of us, but I couldn't back out now that I had reached the promised location.
“Oh my~ I really survived death. See? If it weren't for this dashing young man, you’d all be eating rice mixed with yukgaejang at my funeral!”
“Hahahaha……”
He patted my shoulder as he kept me by his side. As soon as I arrived, he tucked me under his arm like a security blanket, and the two friends looked at me with pity.
“What the hell did you eat on the street to get your airway blocked?”
“Yeah, you should really think about that first.”
“Ha… I’ve said this already, but I don’t remember! Well… I remember getting something like a rice cake from a regular side-dish shop.”
“Sigh… you idiot, it’s a shame you didn’t just die right there.”
“I really wanted to taste the yukgaejang at your funeral before I died, what a pity.”
“You bastards, what did you say!?”
“Hahahaha……”
It was immediately clear that the three were best friends. They probably drank like this even before the accident yesterday. The drunkard I saved looked exactly like a middle-aged man. A middle-aged man who enjoyed alcohol so much that he had a beer belly like Winnie the Pooh. He had the warm, fuzzy impression of Pooh. Another man was tall and looked healthy, but his cheeks were flushed from the alcohol, and the third man was balding with a small build, spitting as he greedily downed alcohol like water. It was truly a drinking party for elderly gentlemen. If hell existed, this was it.
‘Endure it, you must stay until the end…!’
But I had to endure it. No, it wasn't that I was enduring it; I had no choice. Honestly, since I entered, I had been completely intimidated by their presence. They looked like ordinary middle-aged men who loved to drink. From their uncoordinated outfits to their way of speaking, they were the kind of uncles I’d seen since I was young. However, I had witnessed something before entering this BBQ place.
‘A Mercedes S-Class, a Genesis G90! And one of them even owns a Rolls-Royce Ghost!’
I had seen three cars parked there that would require mortgaging a villa if I even scratched them. And I had also witnessed that the car keys on the table matched those brands perfectly. If you looked closely, even their casually worn clothes were luxury brands. I thought they were just clothes picked up in the neighborhood because their fashion sense was poor, but when they picked up their glasses, I saw luxury logos.
Ring, ring!
However, this drama-like suspicion was resolved by a single phone call to the middle-aged man who was laughing while holding me.
“Who’s calling at this hour?”
“Oh… it’s from my former company. They call me for everything.”
“A company you retired from? Why there? You said you cleared out most of your shares since you weren't handing the company over, right?”
“What else could it be at this hour! It’s probably them whining because they couldn't land a contract and are feeling the heat. Good grief, it’s been ages since I handed over the company, and they’re still calling like children.”
“Hey, let it go. Still, the old guard needs to help out a bit. Kids these days don't even know what risk management is. Back in our day, we had times when the whole company almost went under because of one bad OEM deal in Vietnam.”
The small man who had been silently drinking his soju took a sip and said, “Ah! Speaking of risk… hey, I’m planning to sell some land in Jeju this year.”
“Why all of a sudden? You said you barely managed to buy 500 pyeong last year after begging for it. Has the price already gone up?”
“That’s not it… the taxes on that tiny piece of land are just too high! The tangerines I get from my hobby farming are enough to give to you guys and my relatives, but the country is ripping me off for that little hobby, tsk.”
It was excessive. For a simple neighborhood drinking conversation, the units they were talking about were terrifyingly high. From my perspective, sitting right next to them, this wasn't a boastful tone mixed with bluffing. It was just an everyday conversation for them, and they sounded genuinely annoyed.
“Good grief, it’s already overpriced, do you think I bought it to make a few hundred million won?”
“Hey, didn't you get caught by your wife for buying gold-plated golf clubs before?”
“No, we agreed not to talk about that!”
“…….”
That’s right. The people gathered here were definitely successful CEOs. The kind of people everyone dreams of—those who succeeded young and are now spending their twilight years quietly enjoying their favorite drinks. The kind of people I’d only seen in cartoons were alive and moving right in front of me.
“Umm, hmm… i-it’s delicious.”
So, I, a mere office worker with peach fuzz still on my face, was terrified and just kept eating meat. Before I knew it, I was holding the tongs, flipping meat for the chairmen, and shrinking back like a child who had tagged along to their father’s drinking party. Even so, I kept stuffing meat into my mouth, and they looked at me with such satisfaction.
“Oh my~ eat up! It’s just a meal of meat, but I’m very satisfied that I can repay you.”
The drunk CEO patted my shoulder as if I were his own son. We were still strangers whose names I didn't even know, having just met to share a drink, but he showed his closeness through skinship.
‘…Was it a mistake to come here?’
The meat I was being fed tasted excellent. It was just that the atmosphere made me feel like I might get indigestion. I prayed for this hellish time to end—
“This guy Young-cheol, he’s really going on and on about you saving his life.”
“Hey, would you rather spit on your savior instead of licking his boots?”
“Huh? No, that’s not what I meant……”
The small friend who failed at teasing his friend picked up his beer glass and said, “Ah! Come to think of it, Young-cheol, you said you needed a son-in-law?”
“Huh? Oh~ right, I did! You said your precious daughter is finally at the age to get married, right?”
“…….”
At this topic, the expression of the man I had saved turned sour instantly. It seemed his name was Young-cheol; Young-cheol—CEO Young-cheol gulped down his soju and shouted.
“Hey, what’s the point of her being at the age to marry!”
Thud!
“Do you think she’d listen to a pot-bellied old man no matter how much I urge her to get married? Kids these days don't want to have children, so unlike you guys, I’ve given up on seeing grandchildren. Besides, as you know, she’s not exactly easy to deal with—”
“Stop it. No, that’s not what I meant—”
“If you’re worried because she’s at the age to marry, it wouldn't be a bad idea to set her up here, would it?”
“Set her up? With who?!”
He raised his voice, perhaps thinking they were just teasing him.
“? Well, it’s obvious.”
“Who else? Who here is in good shape?”
The CEO’s friends just glanced over.
“………Excuse me?”
Without needing to point a finger, they just looked at me calmly. When I reacted by blinking with dull, fishy eyes, even the savior uncle stared at me blankly.
“Ah, ahhhh!”
Then, as if he’d made a new discovery, he shouted "Eureka!" in admiration. He then scanned me up and down with drunken eyes as if appraising an item, and said, “You.”
“Y-yes, yes…”
“How old are you?”
“Uh…… I’m 27 this year…”
Clap!
A sudden round of applause. He laughed heartily as if a complex problem had been solved in one go just by knowing my age, and said, “So that was it, there was such a way!”
“……?”
“How about it?”
This time, he put his arm around my shoulder as if to put me in a headlock. He whispered with excessive friendliness, “Would you like to go on a blind date with my daughter?”
“……?”
A sudden proposal for a blind date.
“This is great, this is exactly what they mean by killing two birds with one stone.”
“Wow~ you saved his life, and now a decent son-in-law has rolled in on his own.”
“???”
The story was spiraling out of control. If I had to understand them, I took it as them just trying to liven up the drinking party. An empty promise and a bad joke shared between drunkards ending their night at a bar.
“Great! This way, you won’t just be saving my life, but my whole family!”
“Ah……… ahahaha?”
The story had gone off the rails, but of course, I didn’t take it seriously. Everyone was pleasantly drunk at the moment. I just thought I’d play along as if I were entertaining them and leave it at that. But then,
* * *
“Hello. I’m Joo Yeoeun, and I run a small Pilates studio in Gangnam.”
“Y-yes! ………I-I’m Son Seungwoo, and I just work at a regular company!”
So I didn’t know it would actually happen. That the very next day, a meeting would be arranged with the woman I saw that day.
Smile♥
……Gulp!
The first blind date of my life, something I’d never done before, was starting just like that.