A Last Chance at Revenge
Waking up in the morning, it turned out, could actually feel good.
The mornings I used to hate dragging myself through had started to become something I looked forward to. How high had it climbed today?
Bitcoin was charging ahead at altitude again, same as every other day. From the moment I opened my eyes, it was already up three percent.
That, of course, was if you traded it the ordinary way on Korea Bit. From where I stood, it amounted to something closer to a thirty percent gain.
A hundred and fifty million won. More than two full years of salary, earned in a single day.
A soft whispering carried in from beyond the door—Yeju and my sister, talking. What did those two find to talk about every morning?
I was only curious, and still the status window floated up in front of me. What kind of ability was it? Might as well take it for a spin. I pressed Y.
A moment later, the voices from the living room came through as clearly as if they were speaking right beside me.
"Yeju! Hurry and go wake your uncle."
"Yeju's sleepy too. Do I have to go to kindergarten today?"
"When you get home this evening, I'll play dolls with you."
"Really??? You mean it, Mom. If you say you're busy later and won't play with me, Yeju's gonna pout!"
"I know, I know, so wake your uncle. Why does that man sleep so much?"
"Right?! Yeju's seven, and Uncle sleeps more than Yeju. This is serious!"
So that was the kind of thing they said when I wasn't listening. All that soft little squabbling. It felt as if my heart were being washed clean.
This morning I stepped out into the living room before Yeju could open the door.
"Good morning."
"I was just about to come wake you, Uncle!"
"Haha. Uncle sleeps more than Yeju, and it's a serious problem?"
"Huh?! That was a secret between me and Mom. How did you know?"
"How do you think? The king's ears are donkey ears, that's how."
"Aigoo, what a circus. Jinyeong, Yeju, sit down at the table, quick. You're going to miss the kindergarten bus again."
The commute in. Lately, everything looked crisp and bright. Maybe it was because the investments were as good as locked in, and I was already picturing my exit from a company that housed two faces I couldn't stand.
With returns like these, walking out on the spot wouldn't have been strange at all. There was a reason I hadn't quit right away.
Tie the knot clean before you leave.
I was handling Taeseong Electronics' promotional-hall build for the China Show in China. The presentation review was set for tomorrow, and once the vendor was chosen, my part would be finished. I had no desire to dump what little work remained on Section Chief Lee Eunsik and Associate Lee Jayeong, as if I were shoving my load onto the rest of the team on my way out the door.
They were good people, after all.
"Hello, Assistant Manager Ju."
"Yes, hello."
Today, of all days, people were greeting me with unusual brightness.
"Good morning!"
"Yes, good morning."
What was this? Greetings I still couldn't get used to.
"Assistant Manager, let's grab a meal together sometime."
"With me?"
"Yes. I realized I've only ever seen you in the cafeteria. I don't think we've eaten outside even once."
And now, of all things, a lunch invitation. I'd felt my image improve a little after I shut down Team Leader Park's hidden-camera stunt, but not to this extent.
Don't tell me... is this the looks, too?
Ever since the Random Box ability that raised how likable my face was, it had been one thing after another that I simply could not get used to. The other day a clerk at a department store had asked for my number.
I was waiting for the elevator when a muttering started up behind me and began to grate on my nerves.
Damn it. I'd decided I wasn't going to stick my nose into other people's business. Still, I had a feeling it was about me, and I couldn't let it go. I held out as long as I could, and in the end I chose to open Pandora's box.
"Hey, doesn't Assistant Manager Ju look kind of handsome today?"
"I know, right? He gets divorced and suddenly he's taking care of himself?"
"Oh, come on, that can't be it. By that logic, every man who works on himself would turn out good-looking."
"Hmm... Then maybe when he took down Team Leader Park, the hidden-camera creep, last time, somebody slapped rose-tinted glasses on me?"
"You think so?"
The corner of my mouth twitched. There was a saying, wasn't there? Praise could set even a whale to dancing.
"But these days everybody gets married and comes back from it once, don't they? I don't think that's a mark against him."
"So... want to try sweet-talking a divorced man?"
"Someone on Assistant Manager Ju's level wouldn't be bad. I didn't even know he was that tall. I'm seeing him in a new light."
They weren't seeing me again. I'd grown recently.
Praise or not, the divorce tag followed me everywhere I went. Still, if you ran the numbers, I'd gotten divorced and received the Random Box in return. On a risk-reward basis, it was an excellent trade.
The moment I stepped into the office, people from the other departments stared at my face as if they'd planned it. Then the whispering started up all over again. No need to listen. It would be the same talk I'd heard in the elevator.
"Good morning, Chi—"
Damn it. It had very nearly been a good morning, until I laid eyes on that goddamn face.
Team Leader Park. He was seated, and our eyes met. If I had one question, it was this: I'd hit him with Punch King Rolf, hard enough to leave him with an orbital blowout fracture. How was he already fit to come in to work?
Park was the sort of man who had long since fed his company loyalty to the dogs. The broken nose had been operated on, but the swelling clearly hadn't gone down; he still had it wrapped in a bandage. The sight was ridiculous enough to be funny. What a spectacle.
Sore about the beating, he fixed me with a glare, killing intent gathered at the corners of his eyes.
Look all you want. What are you going to do about it?
"What are you staring at, Team Leader?"
Knowing I could walk out of this company whenever I pleased, the blunt words came without a hitch. At the sound of them, Park's brow drew tight.
Frowning like that—doesn't the nose hurt?
"The hell did you just say, you little shit?"
"You were staring, so I thought you had something to say. Anyway, you ought to be thanking me. You got that nose job because of me."
"Pfft—!"
Section Chief Lee Eunsik, who never could read a room, failed to hold the laugh in and let it burst out. Then—
"Ahem. Jinyeong, step out with me a minute."
Sensing how cold the air had gone, Chief Lee, seated in the middle of the team, took me up to the roof.
"Want a cup of coffee?"
"Sure."
He stopped in front of the coffee vending machine on the rooftop terrace and started feeding pocket change into the slot, one coin after another.
If it was loose change, I had plenty of my own. The ability I'd picked up last time had left my drawer heaped with it.
When I finally quit, I ought to hand the whole pile over to Chief Lee.
We drew two cups of vending-machine coffee and sat down on the bench.
"Jinyeong."
"Yes, Chief."
"He's still our team leader. Even if we're going to see him off, you've got to keep a little courtesy."
"I'm sorry..."
Wait. Did he just say see him off?
"Chief, what do you mean, see him off?"
"They held a disciplinary committee for Team Leader Park last week. Day after tomorrow he'll be dismissed and transferred to another affiliate."
"Another affiliate?"
"Yeah. Sounds like they're shipping him out to the provinces. They call it a transfer, but the plan is to make sure he can't settle in and then push him out."
An organization that always dragged its feet, moving this fast—that would be Lee Jayeong's doing. And the reason they hadn't fired Park outright was probably her as well. Was she burying the hidden-camera incident she'd suffered, just to cover my assault?
A sudden gratitude came over me. Even when I left—the coins for Chief Lee, and at least one more meal for Jayeong before I went.
"Then why did he come in today? One look at his face and you can tell he shouldn't be here."
"That, I don't really know. From what I heard, he asked the disciplinary side to delay the transfer a little. Said he had work to wrap up."
I'll say it again: Park Seonghun was not a man with any love for the company. The only reason someone like him had ever made team leader was that he'd latched onto the right line. There were even vague stories that he'd covered every weekend bill, from the golf course all the way to the room salons. It had seemed strange even then. A man with that much money—why the hell put himself through all that just to become a team leader?
"Something smells off..."
"...How'd you know I farted?"
Chief Lee was a good man in every other way. He just had a fatal talent for seventies-and-eighties gags that drained the strength right out of you.
"......Let's head down."
"Yeah."
I decided to use the ability one more time.
The target was Team Leader Park Seonghun. Dragging that hurting body all the way into the office... something about it felt unclean. Today I meant to keep my ears pricked for him and no one else.
Lunch hour.
Slurp.
Slurp—haah!
Sounded like a bowl of gukbap, that hearty rice-and-broth meal. Hurt or not, the food seemed to be going down just fine.
"Buuurp! Ahh, I'm stuffed."
Unbelievable.
"Anyway, thanks to that son of a bitch Ju Jinyeong, I don't even know what kind of bullshit errand this is."
The cursing, I'd expected. Then came the sound of him on the phone with someone.
"Haa... I am seriously the victim here! Hidden camera, what hidden camera! Baby, you don't believe me?"
Baby. So he was on the phone with that woman.
"Yeah. That's what I'm telling you. You're still carrying the bag I bought you, right?"
"I bought you the bag, so you've got to be good to me."
"I booked room 302 at the Kingston Motel, the one we always go to. Come there tonight."
"Am I okay even though I'm hurt? I'm fine. That bastard's punches were all water. Didn't hurt a bit."
I should have cranked his jaw around back then. So this was how he'd been talking even during my marriage. I didn't have a shred of feeling left for that woman, but I couldn't stop the anger from climbing. I'd opened Pandora's box. I had to stomach at least this much.
"I'll show you tonight. Whether I'm in one piece or not."
"You want to rest...? Baby, last time you said you wanted a car. Treat me right, and I might even be able to buy you one."
"Heh heh. Yeah. Good thinking. See you there. Love you, baby!"
The call seemed to have ended. Park let out a sigh.
"Haa. Anyway, she is greedy as hell for money. Fucking bitch."
"I'll pull off one big score this time and get out of this filthy business. And I ought to cut that woman loose while I'm at it."
One score...? What did he mean, pull off something big?
And then I heard him place another call.
"Yes, yes. Of course I know. That's why I told you I'd push hard for you this time, didn't I? Taeseong Electronics has opened the budget quite a bit on this promotional-hall job. It's a matter the CEO himself gets briefed on, so they told us not to worry about the figure on our end—just turn out a good design."
"Aigoo, obviously. Where else are you going to find a construction partner like Changjo Construction? If I make a strong enough case on the design concept, the ease of construction, and the technical side, it's a sure thing, I'm telling you."
"Ahem. So when, exactly, will you be sending over that token of sincerity?"
"Haha! Understood. Then I'll see you at tomorrow's presentation."
The call ended.
So that was it. The scattered pieces of the puzzle finally clicked into place. Why Park had wanted to be team leader even with all that money. Why he'd come straight back to work after surgery without so much as a recovery period.
At tomorrow's bid presentation, he meant to push Changjo Construction through and collect a kickback. From the sound of the call, this wasn't the first time, or even the second. How much had he skimmed in rebates over the years?
And then I let out a short breath of a laugh. If there was a god, I felt like dropping to the floor and bowing. They were handing me one last chance at revenge, just like this.