A Performance Grade
After I finished talking with the deputy department head, I went back out onto the line and passed the news to Senior Yeongseok.
"Productivity went up? By three whole percent?"
"Yes."
Senior Yeongseok nodded, a quiet so that's how it is.
"I've been too busy to even check... Still, that's something. How do you pin down an improvement like that in a single day?"
"Haha. Got lucky, I guess."
I laughed, a little awkward.
"You don't have some kind of special ability, do you?"
He snorted and tossed it off like a joke.
Senior. That stone you threw without looking just struck Lee Seokhyeon dead.
"As if."
"Shame. I was going to ask you to spare me some."
Unfortunately, it wasn't an ability I could hand over. Not unless he took my eyes with it.
...A chill just ran through me.
I wasn't telling anyone about this. You never knew. Someone blinded by the results might actually come for the eyes that had found them.
After a little more small talk, I excused myself and ran Tool to Tool Matching on the rest of the tools — TTTM, the work of bringing every setpoint into line. Once the DIP switch settings matched across all of them, and I'd confirmed the dummy data was coming back normal, all that remained was to check tomorrow's productivity and send the mail.
They'll probably all rise the same way.
The next day, just as I'd expected, output was up on every tool. Not all of them by three percent — the gains ran anywhere from one to five — but not a single tool had lost productivity.
Done.
It felt good. Something I'd worried over, and then actually carried out, had brought a real result.
"Engineer Lee Seokhyeon. Good work."
The department head came to my desk and praised the effort, right as I was about to write the mail sharing the improvement.
"Thank you, sir. Ah — I'm about to send it. Would it be all right to include the team leader as a recipient?"
I had a feeling this was exactly the sort of news he'd been waiting on.
"Hm... the team leader? We don't usually put him on."
"Is that so."
"Send it, and I'll forward it to him. Leave him off for now."
"Understood, sir. Thank you."
I stood and bowed. He smiled and patted my shoulder.
"What's all this over a thing like that. Thanks to you, the pushing from Manufacturing has eased up. If anything, I'm the one who's grateful."
"Not at all. It's only because the seniors, the deputy department head, and you led me so well..."
"Yeah, yeah. Enough of the sweet talk. Here."
He held out a card.
"This is..."
"Our department's corporate card. Take WN Part out for a team dinner."
"...! Thank you!"
"Don't worry about the money. Spend it. It all gets expensed."
Good lord. A boss this good actually existed. I was blessed, no question about it. And once the card was in my hand, there was nothing to hesitate over.
A reply came before long.
A team dinner. I was looking forward to it. Maybe because this was my first company — everyone I knew treated the word like a disaster and fought not to go.
Will the other seniors hate the idea?
The worry was wasted.
Everyone was for it. The mood wasn't bad at all.
Tssss—
Beef seared, rich and tempting, on the grill. The place was a barbecue house near the company, and Senior Jihan, once the word reached him, had all but wailed.
Unfortunately, the date had landed on one of his shifts. Everyone in WN Part except Senior Jihan was there.
"All right, the meat's cooked. Let's eat."
Deputy Department Head Kim Soonhyeop said it. He'd joined the dinner too, and come running the moment he heard the place. Using the department card clearly wasn't an everyday affair.
Clink—
Glasses met on a toast of thank you for your work. I kept mine low, the way a junior should, then turned slightly aside and drank. A clean, cold thread of alcohol wrapped my throat, and I let out a satisfied breath before putting the meat on my plate straight into my mouth. It melted.
This is it.
I chewed and kept the tongs moving. The grill was not allowed to rest. I was hard at it when—
"Seokhyeon. Quit grilling and eat something. I'll take over."
"It's all right. I'll do it."
Senior Yeongseok reached out. He wanted the tongs.
Senior, this is the youngest's job—
Flick—
He snatched them.
"Uh..."
"You're the guest of honor tonight. You can't just stand there grilling the whole time. Talk a little."
I laughed, sheepish.
"Haha... yes."
Come to think of it, I'd been so busy at the grill that I hadn't properly heard a word of the conversation.
"Well, well. Thanks to Seokhyeon, we get beef at a team dinner."
The deputy department head laughed and opened the floor.
"Right? That's my junior for you."
Senior Yeongseok laughed as he said it.
Ah. So I really am his junior. Being claimed like that made my chest go warm...
"Yeongseok-hyeong. Why is Seokhyeon your junior? His mentor was Dongcheol. That seat's empty now."
Senior Woohyeon, drinking off to the side, dropped it in offhand.
"That's true. We ought to be taking on juniors of our own soon, too."
"Exactly, exactly."
Senior Hyeonseong and Senior Hyeongjun, who had been putting away nothing but meat ahead of the night shift, each put a word in. Something about the mood had gone sideways. Deputy Department Head Kim Soonhyeop gave a troubled, awkward little laugh.
"Hey, hey. Save the mentor talk for later and eat."
"Woohyeon. Isn't Jihan your junior, though?"
"Drop it."
"Yes, sir."
The deputy department head's clampdown put an end to it for the moment.
"Anyway. It means you're doing well, Seokhyeon. Keep on just like this."
"Yes. Understood. Thank you."
"Even better if you do better."
"Yes. I'll keep at it."
I lifted the soju bottle and poured for him. Another toast.
"Seokhyeon's going to do well. Sometimes when I watch him, he actually startles me."
"You work with him every day, hyeong, so of course you'd know. I'm only on the receiving end of the Inform, and he still surprises me every time."
Senior Yeongseok and Senior Woohyeon went back and forth. Then Senior Hyeongjun asked.
"He's that good?"
Both of them nodded without a moment's pause.
"Yeah."
"I see. We're always the ones handing the Inform over, so we didn't really know. We knew he was impressive, but."
Every time I came in, I took the Inform from Senior Hyeonseong and Senior Hyeongjun, then passed it on to Senior Woohyeon and Senior Jihan. The shift pattern was fixed, so it never changed, and because of that we'd come to understand one another's work in a lopsided way.
"He really is something. Honestly, if he took a performance grade, nobody could say a word against it."
"You think so too, hyeong?"
Senior Yeongseok and Senior Woohyeon nodded at each other.
Come on, seniors. A performance grade is still a bit much, even so...
"So we've decided to give him one."
"What?"
It jumped out of every mouth at once. The deputy department head drained his water.
In the shock of that sudden announcement, no one found it easy to speak.
I should stay quiet for now.
This didn't feel like a normal situation.
Senior Yeongseok was the one who broke the silence.
"...For real?"
"Yeah. The department head said so."
"Whoa! Seokhyeon, that's great!"
He clapped. So did Senior Woohyeon. Senior Hyeongjun and Senior Hyeonseong followed along.
"Thank you. I'll work hard."
I was on my feet and bowing before I knew what I was doing.
"Waaaah— Seokhyeon's buying this table!"
"Treat us for the grade! The grade treat!"
"Lee Seokhyeon! Lee Seokhyeon!"
Their mischievous jokes came flying. I let out a short laugh and drew the card from my jacket.
"Don't worry. Eat up. I'll pay."
It was the corporate card, of course.
The uproar died down at last. Everyone was so full they had slumped back in their chairs.
"Ah. And one more thing."
When the deputy department head spoke, they all merely turned their heads to look at him. They were too full to do anything else.
"Word came down from above. They want us to change the work pattern."
"What? How?"
Senior Yeongseok answered. As the eldest, he had the most reason to care about the schedule.
"An office-concentrated schedule. One person on mornings, one on nights, and everyone else eight-to-five."
It was a pattern people had been talking about a lot lately. I'd heard other departments were already on it.
"Well, the reviews aren't bad, apparently. People say they end up with a lot more time, too."
If that was the case, then fine. Everyone nodded at his words.
"Shall we get up, then? The night crew has to clock in."
"Yes!"
The dinner was over. I ran the corporate card and took the receipt. I'd need it for the expense report.
"Thank you for your work!"
I saw the seniors off at a shout as they headed in. And then—
"Let's go, Seokhyeon."
I got into Senior Yeongseok's car. He was a newlywed, so he hadn't touched a drop. I climbed into the passenger seat first, and the deputy department head and Senior Woohyeon took the back.
"All right. Here we go. Seat belts, everyone."
The car pulled out quietly. It was late evening, and in the city only the engine and the exhaust sounded, like white noise. Loud, and quiet at the same time. The deputy department head got out first, then Senior Woohyeon. I was last. Senior Yeongseok and I lived in the same direction.
"Seokhyeon. Congratulations again on the grade."
"Thank you."
I smiled and dipped my head. He was smiling too.
"...Hyeongjun and Hyeonseong looked a little put out."
They had reason to. A newbie of barely three months had taken a performance grade ahead of them.
"Don't worry too much. Once the shifts change and they work with you, they'll recognize you right away."
"...I hope so. I don't want things getting awkward for no reason."
"Haha. Same here."
The car moved quietly on. Was it because night had fallen? Or because the alcohol was coming up? I opened my mouth before I knew it.
"Senior."
"Yeah?"
"...The team leader asked me to join his TF team."
The TF team. A task that still sat unresolved in my chest. With this latest round of improvements, I'd met every condition he wanted. In other words, all I had to do was go. Even so, I was torn.
I think I like the department I'm in.
The work was hard. Old tools. Breakdowns at the drop of a hat. Problems that had been chronic for years. But I'd grown attached. Only three months, and still, the things I'd fought through in there were still with me.
"Torn about it?"
"...Yes."
That was why I'd brought it up. I wanted to know what he would do.
"If it were me, I'd just go."
"...What?"
The answer came without a shred of hesitation. It threw me.
"It's a good opportunity. Set an old line next to the team leader's TF team, and of course the latter's better."
Something about that stung. It felt a little like a betrayal, too.
So you don't need me all that much, then, Senior? Is that it?
"Stay in one place long enough, and whoever you are, whenever it is, you leave. That's just how it goes."
"..."
"Only the timing changes. And going doesn't mean you cut contact forever."
He smiled.
"Later we can have a drink together, like tonight. Right?"
"...I guess that's true."
"If you go, you'll still come see me, won't you?"
"Of course."
The car ran through the city.
"...But you didn't drink tonight, Senior."
"Let that one go."
The car ran on through the city.