Promotion Desire — Very High (1)
There isn't a person alive who hates the thrill of being worshipped, and Lim Jiwoo was no exception.
"Alright, everyone, gather over here~"
A pretty, crescent-eyed smile. A sweet, lilting voice. Elegant little gestures. And unlike the new hires themselves, she held the rank of Assistant Manager.
The way those new employees looked at Lim Jiwoo — men and women alike — was no different from the way people gaze at an idol.
And so.
"We're moving. Please follow me closely~"
Not a single person tried to step out of line.
The new hires followed Lim Jiwoo into the banquet hall and sat down one by one exactly as she directed them. Having shepherded them all into place, Lim Jiwoo clicked her tongue.
"...Where did that kid go?"
Her junior, Woojin, was nowhere in his seat, and it irritated her.
Ugh. What a pain.
Of course, the annoyed look on Lim Jiwoo's face was carefully angled so that not a soul could see it. When she turned back toward the new hires, her expression had already transformed.
"Please wait just a moment."
Her face sparkled more beautifully than anyone else's in the room, and once again she was every new employee's idol.
And that sparkling face—
"Ah, sorry. I was in the restroom."
"......"
—faltered the instant she saw Woojin carefully slipping into the hall.
She really froze. Lim Jiwoo stood there stunned for quite a while before she finally looked away from his face, flustered. But then,
"Woojin, we're busy right now. You can't keep disappearing like that."
"I'm sorry."
"...Fine. For now, just get the new hires seated."
"Yes."
As if nothing had happened, she dumped her work on Woojin the way she always did and stepped out for a moment.
I'd expected something dramatic to happen once she became an Intensive Management Target, but Lim Jiwoo's reaction hadn't changed at all from usual.
What's going on?
For now, I guided the waiting new hires to their seats, just as Lim Jiwoo had "asked" me to. While we had a brief lull waiting for the other teams to file in, I slipped to the back of the hall, pulled out the phone, and opened the HR Management App.
What I was looking up was, of course...
Lim Jiwoo.
The moment I designated her as an Intensive Management Target, buttons had appeared next to her HR Score and Promotion Desire that let me raise or lower the values.
That said, I had no idea how to interpret her Promotion Desire being Low. Was that why she was always dumping her work on me?
Thanks to taking every scrap of work she threw my way, I was treated as the ace of the department. Treated as, anyway. If you asked whether I was grateful to Lim Jiwoo for that ace reputation...
"Hmmm..."
Anyway, there was also that Remarks field. I knew what the word meant, of course, but I had no idea what I was supposed to enter there.
For now, I'd start light.
I cranked Lim Jiwoo's Promotion Desire all the way up to Very High. I figured if I went this extreme, some dramatic phenomenon would show up that would make the whole thing easier to understand.
Having done that, I looked around for Lim Jiwoo again — only for another manager to call me over.
"Woojin."
"Yes, Manager."
"This just came down from Executive Director Yoon. The CEO is coming later. Make sure the new hires react properly, and pass that along."
"Ah, the CEO is coming too?"
"Apparently so. That's why I called you."
"Yes, I'll pass it along."
"Okay. Won't be long now."
"Yes, sir. Hang in there, Manager."
After receiving the message, I was heading back to the new hires we were in charge of when Lim Jiwoo, who'd stepped out of the hall earlier, returned.
Unlike before, she looked at me with a far more dramatic change of expression, flinched — and then approached with the face of someone about to suck up.
...Could it be.
"Um... Senior?"
"Yes?"
"Manager Choi Hyunho asked me to pass something along just now."
"Ah... yes."
"He said the CEO will be coming for the closing ceremony later. He wants us to make sure the new hires react properly beforehand, and he asked me to relay that, so..."
"Ah, got it... understood."
Wanting to confirm whether I was thinking what I thought I was thinking, I casually tried dumping some work on Lim Jiwoo.
A short while later.
"Um, Woojin...?"
"Yes?"
"I already told the new hires. That thing you mentioned earlier, I... I passed it along..."
Lim Jiwoo reported back to me while practically bowing, letting me know she'd completed the task I'd handed her.
"Then... is there anything else I should be doing...?"
"Ah, no. You can just keep doing what you were doing, Senior."
"Alright. Woojin, you just take it easy and rest. You've been working yourself to the bone since the day before yesterday — I'll take it from here."
"Sorry?"
"I can handle it. You have to be the MC later anyway, so just take it easy over there. Your throat... you need to save your voice, right?"
"Ah..."
At this point, I was pretty sure I had it right.
"...You're really working hard, Senior. It's nice to see. Truly."
"Ah...! No, not at all, you're too kind... but thank you!"
Got it.
It was called an HR Management App, wasn't it. Literally an app that let you manage the HR evaluations of people in this company.
Which meant the HR Score was... I'd have to figure out the exact threshold, but once it hit a certain number, a promotion would go through. And Promotion Desire was obviously the target's own drive and hunger to get promoted... and right now, Lim Jiwoo's Promotion Desire was sitting at Very High.
"I have to keep working even harder. You're always working so hard, Woojin, so I... I have to work hard too. Of course."
She was spouting things she didn't even mean, just to get on the good side of the person managing her HR evaluation.
And the important part here was me.
"That's right. Please keep up the good work going forward, Senior. I'll be counting on you."
"Yes! For now, Woojin, just rest your voice and get ready for the MC gig later. I'll take care of things here."
Lim Jiwoo knew that I was the one managing her HR evaluation. That was why she was taking my work, bowing her head, and trying so hard to get in my good graces.
And the first "desire" that rose in me as I watched her like this was...
"...Alright. I'll leave it to you, Senior."
"Is there anything else you need?"
"Anything I need..."
Lust.
She was so fucking pretty it was almost unfair. The woman who had used that face to rule the office, who'd built her entire reputation on it, who'd used that reputation to dump every scrap of her work on me — that woman was groveling at my feet. It pulled a strange, sadistic thrill right out of me.
If — if I could really use the HR Management App properly... maybe I could have my way with Lim Jiwoo however I wanted.
Once I'd gotten more familiar with the app, my interest would probably go beyond simple lust and start turning toward my own success. But for now.
"Nothing at the moment. If something comes up, I'll let you know."
"Alright. I'll be getting things ready, then."
"Sure."
The sight of Lim Jiwoo groveling right in front of my eyes loomed larger than anything else. For the time being.
"Hmmm..."
I still needed to look into this more, but right now the Remarks field was what needed thinking about. Fortunately, since Lim Jiwoo had taken over my work, I was able to hide at the back of the hall and comb through the HR Management App...
"Why isn't there anything about me?"
The first thing that struck me as odd was myself. If I was the Administrator, shouldn't there be information about the Administrator too? Had registering at the start been the end of it?
"Wait, no."
...or so I'd thought. I hit the back button a few times, returned to the home screen, and found something called Administrator Mode.
I entered it without hesitation.
"Remarks..."
Same as before. Just like when I'd looked at Lim Jiwoo's profile a moment ago, there was a Remarks field. By definition, it was a slot for notes you could refer to... but refer to for what?
Honestly, the idea of writing reference notes about myself was a little unsettling, so I went back to Lim Jiwoo's Remarks field — the one I could actually mess with right now.
I roughly... well, I wrote something that was literally just a note I could refer to.
And then, five minutes later.
"Um, Woojin."
"Yes?"
"I've got the microphone and everything set up, so... maybe you should do a mic check at least once..."
About five minutes had passed, and Lim Jiwoo, who'd been getting things ready up on the stage, came over to me. I was starting to get a rough sense of how these Remarks fields were meant to be "used"...
"Ah...?"
The space beneath the first Remarks field had activated, and looking closer, I could now enter a second note.
Okay. I filed that away too, then looked at Lim Jiwoo standing in front of me, not knowing what to do with herself.
"...Woojin, the mic check..."
"Ah, right."
The truth was, Lim Jiwoo groveling at me felt good in the moment — but in a place this crowded, it was the kind of behavior that would look bizarre. People would think she had some dirt on me. And given her reputation, I'd be the one who ended up looking like trash.
So.
I put Lim Jiwoo's Promotion Desire back where it belonged.
"Woojin, are you going to do the mic check or not?"
For now. For the time being, treating me like "usual" was the right call.
The orientation was over.
For the company, it had been a successful orientation. For me personally...
"Woojin, take care of this cleanup."
"Ah, yes."
...it had gone beyond success. It was a jackpot.
Even when a once-again arrogant Lim Jiwoo came over and dumped work on me, I was happy to pack up the laptops and the rest. Once everything was put away, I stepped out of the hall to find the new hires boarding the buses back to Seoul.
And standing beside them,
"Thank you so much, Senior!"
"I really want to work with you..."
"We'll see you again once we're back in Seoul, right?"
Lim Jiwoo was smiling sweetly, having already completely won them over.
I casually pulled out the phone...
I steered things so that Lim Jiwoo would end up riding back in my car. I wasn't entirely sure this would be enough, but if it didn't work, whatever. I could always just tell her outright to come with me.
I set that up and tried to walk past her like I hadn't noticed a thing.
"Ah, Woojin."
"Yes?"
"You're heading back to Seoul too, right?"
"That's right, yes."
"Let's go together."
"Weren't you going separately, Senior...?"
"I said we're going together. I have something to ask you."
"...Yes. Yes, of course."
Lim Jiwoo caught me and did exactly what I'd written in the Remarks field. Which meant if I used this thing well...
"Woojin, go get the car. I'll finish seeing the new kids off."
"Mm... alright."
...it was actually going to be terrifying.
Once again I'd been dumped with the work, but I headed to the parking lot like it was nothing. I got into my car and pulled up the app.
"......"
I sat there and thought about it quite deeply.
What should I write? What should I put down if I wanted to toy with Lim Jiwoo?