One Year from Now
The air in the room was heavy. No one could quite bring themselves to speak.
The team leader was the first to break the silence.
"Hm. Do you still think I overstepped?"
"..."
"Confirming that a part under my authority isn't being run properly — is that overstepping?"
"...I'm sorry."
Deputy Department Head Park Seongwoo bowed his head. He couldn't even meet the man's eyes.
"Deputy Department Head Park. You'll be reassigned from the budget post in short order. Until then, Deputy Department Head Kim Soonhyeop, I'd like you to serve as budget officer."
"Yes. Understood."
"W-wait. That's—!"
He was being removed from the post he held, with no other duties waiting for him. There was only one thing that meant.
A demotion. Or pressure to resign.
It probably wouldn't go all the way to forcing him out, but he was going to be in a miserable spot for a while.
Is this enough?
The man who'd been wreaking havoc with the budget was stepping aside, and our own part leader was taking the budget officer's seat. There shouldn't be any more trouble over money.
Thank goodness.
Now I could just do the work in peace. The team leader passed along a few more notices after that, and the meeting ended. I was about to head back to the line when he called out.
"Engineer Lee."
"Yes, Team Leader."
"Could we talk for a moment?"
"Yes, of course. Just a second."
I sent Senior Yeongseok a message on the company messenger at once.
We were still on shift, after all. Once I'd let him know, I turned back.
"Where should we go?"
"The interview room. This isn't something to discuss out in the open."
"...Understood."
What was he planning to say? A few possibilities crossed my mind, but none of them felt real yet. We stepped into the interview room.
"I'll get straight to the point."
"Yes."
"One year from now, join the task force I'm going to organize."
A scout offer. A task force — TF, short for Task Force Team. It was no different from a department stood up for a single special purpose. And the man putting it together was a director. I felt it at once: this was not a place just anyone could walk into.
"Of course I know you can't decide on the spot. But I can promise you this. The terms will be generous."
"..."
"You've grown attached to your current department, I'm sure. Even so, I trust you know which choice is the better one."
The team leader finished and simply looked at me.
So that's why he asked.
When I'd ridden with him toward Line 1. What he'd said in the car.
The words came back to me all at once.
Had he been thinking about it even then?
He must have been. I hesitated, then spoke.
"What would this task force actually do?"
"I can't tell you that."
"...Then I don't understand why you'd choose me."
I was a new hire, two months in. There shouldn't have been anything worth showing him.
"Of course you still have plenty of shortcomings."
I nodded. There was still a world of things I didn't know. I had a special ability, yes, but it was useless unless I could make the person in front of me believe me. As things stood, I was lacking in a great many ways.
"Even so, I saw potential."
The team leader said it quietly. WN-15. WN-11. The rear wheel of that car, and now WN-6 on top of them.
"For a new hire, you've fixed a lot of incidents, and stopped a lot more."
"..."
"At first I couldn't tell. Was it luck? Just a hunch?"
He grinned.
"But when it keeps happening, that's skill, isn't it?"
"..."
I had no answer for that. Telling him my eyes were special wouldn't have gotten me anywhere. So I stayed quiet.
"I know you'll need to think it over. Take your time, then give me an answer."
"I will."
The team leader stood. He straightened his jacket and started for the door. His hand was on the knob, about to turn it, when he looked back.
"Oh, and if you do come — I'd like you to shore up what's lacking."
"...What do you mean by lacking?"
"You don't have any modification-and-improvement cases yet, do you? On a task force, that ability matters too."
Modification and improvement. The other half of an engineer's job: changing the equipment, making it better. There was no way a two-month new hire could do that. You usually had to understand a tool inside and out before you could even find a thread worth pulling.
So that's why a year.
He wanted me to build the skill in that time.
"Understood."
"Good. Then I'll be seeing you, Engineer Lee."
With that he was gone, and I headed for the office. I felt unsettled. I knew it myself — accepting his offer would be the better move. But.
...I've gotten attached.
That was the trouble. I hadn't expected it from a first job. Maybe I was the kind of person who couldn't let go so easily. I sank into my chair, lost in the thought. Then—
"No, I'm telling you, Engineer Lee Seokhyeon—"
Someone beyond the partition was saying my name. I lifted my head. Deputy Department Head Kim Soonhyeop, with a few of the other office staff gathered around him.
"He just goes, 'You'll see if you look,' cool as anything — and then the power supply goes boom! Blows right up!"
"No way. For real?"
"Whoa. Deputy Department Head Park must've taken that one square on the chin."
Aigoo. Why was he telling that story again? All it would do was make Park Seongwoo more spiteful. His seat, though, was empty.
Did he take a half-day?
Or maybe he'd just stepped out for some air. Not really my concern either way.
"Anyway, I tell you, I picked one hell of a rookie, didn't I? Huh? WN-15 last time, WN-11 too. This kid's instincts aren't ordinary. Not even close."
Ahem. A little embarrassing. I slipped out from under Kim Soonhyeop's eyes — he was lost in the bliss of bragging about his people — and headed for the line.
"Engineer Lee Seokhyeon?"
Someone called me while I was waiting for the elevator. I turned. The department head.
"Department Head. Hello."
I bowed, and he smiled.
"Good work today."
"Not at all. I was worried I might have gone too far..."
"No. You did well. If you're an engineer, you ought to be able to focus on an engineer's work. I should have seen to that, and I didn't. I'm sorry."
He gave my back a pat. All I could do was duck my head, awkward.
"It's all right."
"Which is why I wanted to ask..."
"Yes?"
"How did you know the power supply was going to blow? I'm genuinely curious."
"..."
Ah. So that was why he'd come.
"It's nothing much. I didn't think it would blow that badly either."
"No?"
"No. I'd only meant to show how bad the heat was, and then it just went off."
That was partly true. The original plan counted as a success if I only showed the overheating. If it caught fire, a huge success. But it had caught fire and exploded?
A grand success, then.
Anyway.
"Ahem. Right. You're doing awfully well for a new hire. Keep it up."
"Thank you."
A chime sounded. The elevator had arrived. I bowed once more and headed for the line.
When I reached the engineers' station inside the line, Senior Yeongseok looked up.
"Oh. Seokhyeon, you're here?"
"Yes. Sorry I'm late. Nothing came up, right?"
"Nope. I just sat here. You fix everything before it can, the way you always do."
I let out a short breath of laughter. He was telling me not to feel bad.
"Sure, sure. I'll handle whatever errors and breakdowns are left."
"Hm? I'm serious. I really just sat there."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
It happened sometimes. An engineer did the job so thoroughly that there was nothing left to do. Today must have been one of those days.
"That's a relief. Oh, right — the budget problem is going to be resolved."
"...Huh?"
"The team leader came down and held a meeting on the budget irregularities. Deputy Department Head Park Seongwoo is stepping down as budget officer, and Deputy Department Head Kim Soonhyeop is taking it on instead. For the time being."
"W-wait, he is?"
For the sake of my flustered senior, I told him everything that had happened in the Red conference room. When he'd heard it all, Senior Yeongseok nodded slowly.
"Park Seongwoo always did pull this kind of thing. Karma. That's what that is. Karma."
"Right? Now we can just do the engineering in peace."
I stretched where I sat. Something in my chest felt clear.
"But I thought you only put fires out. Turns out you can start them too? Should we pull your firefighter's license?"
"Senior."
"...S-sorry."
Time passed that way, and then I glanced at the clock.
It was almost time for Inform.
"Senior. Shall we go?"
"Yeah. Let's go."
We reached the meeting room and greeted Senior Jeong Woohyeon and Senior Jihan.
"Seniors. Hello."
"Oh, Seokhyeon. Long day."
"What, I don't exist?"
"Seokhyeon did all the work again today anyway."
"..."
Senior Yeongseok sat down looking distinctly unappreciated. The other three of us swallowed our laughter.
"But he's right, though. Seokhyeon pulled something off again today."
"What?"
"We don't have to worry about the budget anymore."
"...For real?"
"Yeah. Deputy Department Head Kim Soonhyeop's the budget officer now."
At that, Senior Woohyeon and Senior Jihan went still. Their faces said they couldn't begin to understand how this had happened.
"How did it turn out like that?"
When Senior Woohyeon asked, Senior Yeongseok launched in, delighted, and retold the story I'd given him — everything that had happened in the Red conference room. When the two of them had heard it through, they stared at me in open amazement.
"Well, well. I thought Seokhyeon only knew how to fix equipment."
"I know. He'll solve just about anything at this rate."
They clicked their tongues. Then, as if something had just occurred to him, Senior Woohyeon spoke.
"Seokhyeon."
"Yes?"
"If anyone gives you a hard time, you tell us. Don't go off somewhere else."
Senior Yeongseok had already said as much.
"Yeah! Without you, our part is finished now. Don't you dare leave!"
Senior Jihan piled on beside him. It stung, for no good reason. Because of the task force offer I'd heard from the team leader.
"Haha. I'm not going anywhere."
I answered with an awkward laugh. That day's Inform wrapped up without any real issues.
The commute home was no different from any other, and then I was at my studio. I tossed my bag down and dropped onto the mattress.
"Hoo..."
The thoughts crowded in. The task force, and the WN part I was in now. Lying there, I scrubbed at my face with dry hands. Even so, my head wouldn't clear.
Strange.
When Senior Woohyeon or Senior Yeongseok recognized me, it felt good. So being recognized by the team leader now ought to feel good too. Why was I this unsettled?
First...
I should do what I could. The way I always had. In the end, people had recognized me and a better chance had come because I'd done the work well.
I need to get better.
Modification and improvement. The team leader's words came back. It was early for a two-month new hire, true enough.
But if you think about it, hasn't all of it been early?
A month after joining I'd already run a line on my own, and I'd fixed equipment with no trainer beside me.
Might as well give it a shot.
What was the worst that could happen? I closed my eyes where I lay on the mattress.
They stung.