Abyss (3)
Abyss (3)
"W-Wait a moment!"
Was she seriously trying to stop us?
If that was the case, there couldn't possibly be another idiot like her in the whole world.
I had no intention of forgiving her even if she got down on her knees and begged, and she says 'Wait a moment...'?
I was so dumbfounded that I stared blankly at the woman called Manager.
"Hey there, ajumma. You weren't calling out to us, were you?"
I deliberately used a provocative word that would get on her nerves.
She looked quite young for a manager, but since she was around thirty anyway, there was no problem calling her ajumma.
Had she been more shocked than I thought?
She seemed more shocked by being called ajumma, which made me wonder what kind of person she was.
"Th-That's not it... D-Don't tell me the prosecution...?"
"Why would the prosecution be after someone like you, ajumma?"
If they were going to chase someone, they'd chase a big fish, not a lizard's tail like you.
There's a thing called knowing your place, even in delusions.
"Anyway, ajumma, you have your higher-ups, right? Tell all of them."
"Wh...What...?"
"You have Hojun's phone number, don't you? Naturally, they'll come looking for us."
Even if your bosses came and bowed their heads in apology, or prostrated themselves in apology,
we were still going to file a public interest report.
On top of that, we planned to submit the formal complaint today.
"They still don't seem to have noticed who they messed with..."
"You don't need to know right now, do you? You'll find out automatically soon anyway."
I looked at the face of that person who looked utterly dumbfounded, turned around, and exited the cafe.
In my hand, Hojun's trembling hand felt truly hot.
***
"Yes, I believe it was handled well."
- Haha, I was trusting that Jeong Bujang would pull it off.
"Oh, no, not at all. Isn't this all thanks to you, Director."
While the Manager was out meeting Hojun, the department head who had stayed behind was on the phone with someone.
It was the managing director, who could be considered one of the big heads of Triple Axel.
As befitting a large corporation department head, she was busily working
to steal the achievements of her subordinates, even though it wasn't a project or outcome she had carried out herself.
Completely unaware of how the current situation was flowing.
- Once we resolve this matter perfectly... You know what happens?
"Yes, I am well aware, Director."
- Good, I trust you, Jeong Bujang.
"Goodbye!"
As expected of a company employee, the department head ended the call with her superior very politely.
And what immediately followed was a completely impolite attitude and action, a display that made it obvious to anyone that she was a woman with zero manners.
She loosened the necktie she had done up to her throat, unbuttoned her dress shirt, and sat in a chair, putting her feet up on the desk.
With her dress shoes still on, no less.
"That Manager Kim bastard... wonder if he's doing a good job."
Though she sent him off saying things like 'I trust only you,' the department head did not trust the manager.
She just thought of him as a hunting dog, recognizing him as something even lower than a lizard's tail, to be used once and thrown away.
"Once this job is over... Manager Kim, you're out too."
Actually, from the beginning, the manager had been skeptical about pinning the crime on the new employee.
What kind of stupid prosecutor in the world would think a guy who joined only six months ago committed embezzlement worth 5 billion won?
Rather, she thought it could only be pinned on someone like Manager Kim, who had stayed with the company for a long time.
So, from the very start, she never intended to pin the crime on the new employee.
"I even manipulated the account books to make it easy for Manager Kim to embezzle, and the new employee can go freeze to death..."
The account books that were supposedly burned were still in the department head's possession.
Specifically, account books that pointed to Manager Kim as the culprit, no matter who saw them.
"On top of that, destroying evidence and pinning it on an orphan... public opinion is going to be noisy for a while."
The department head sprang up from her chair and looked outside through the large floor-to-ceiling window.
People were only visible at the size of ants, but the department head sincerely considered people to be less than ants.
*
Around two hours had passed since Manager Kim went out.
The department head, who had been spending her time in agitation for a long while, heard the door opening with a Kkiik and ran out.
The Manager Kim who had gone to meet that student had returned.
"Manager Kim! You pulled it off, right?!"
"B-Bujang-nim..."
"Ehei, are you in the mood for joking at a time like this? Come on, tell me!"
He'd said he would do it, that they just needed to get the contract in writing.
He must have fallen for it, of course.
Manager Kim didn't know he was the one being tricked by the department head's scheme, starting from the drafting of the contract.
He probably suspected something, but he must have handed over the signed contract anyway.
Smiling contentedly as if everything was over,
the department head patted Manager Kim on the shoulder.
"Hahaha! Well done, well done!"
"Th-That's not it..."
"What do you mean that's not it! Didn't things get resolved well thanks to Manager Kim doing a good job! Haha!"
"Bujang-nim!!"
The department head, who had been laughing very joyfully, was startled by the manager's sudden shout.
She was even more surprised because he was never usually someone who yelled or raised his voice.
"Bujang-nim... We're finished..."
"Why are you being like this? You don't mean it's all over just because some student said he wouldn't do it, do you? There are any number of replacements..."
Just as she was about to say there were any number of replacements, the manager slammed the desk very hard.
It was a silent statement that asked if a mere thing like that would make him act this way.
"Ki...Manager Kim?"
"Bujang-nim, we've been caught in a sting operation! A sting operation!"
Upon hearing words that should never have come out, the department head's eyes went round as she doubted her ears.
A sting operation, wasn't that an investigative technique where the police deliberately set someone up to get caught?
It was impossible for the police to have noticed their crimes when an audit was just around the corner in the first place.
Therefore, thinking it was absurd, the department head loudly retorted to Manager Kim.
"Wh-What are you talking about! A sting operation!"
"After I finished stamping the contract with my seal and went out, two senior officers from the main station snatched the contract away..."
"M-Main station..."
And senior officers, no less.
Police officers who start as constables typically get worn down quite a bit at the senior officer rank.
Then they rise to sergeant and get promoted one final rank to lieutenant upon retirement.
There are rare cases of retiring as senior officer, one rank higher, but...
No, at this moment, such details were probably the least of her concerns.
What was important was that if senior officers were out in plainclothes, it was highly likely they were from the violent crimes unit of the detective division or the metropolitan investigation unit.
If they were from violent crimes or the metropolitan investigation unit...
Then truly, everything would end just as Manager Kim said.
"Wh-What should we do, Bujang-nim? Ar-Aren't we going to jail?!"
"Ha... haha..."
Everything would have been over if she had just bolted to Paraguay.
With the rage toward Manager Kim for failing even that one task and the sense of helplessness that everything was over, the department head slumped to the floor and laughed like a madwoman.
***
"Hyung..."
"It's okay, it's all over now."
Now the rest was a matter for the Director and the lawyers to handle.
There was nothing more Hojun and I could do by worrying about it.
"You focus on job hunting."
"Okay... Thank you."
"There are plenty of decent places besides just large corporations or mid-sized companies..."
Wait a moment.
Now that things had come to this, how about suggesting he try starting a business?
Hojun had learned a lot of things from before, so maybe he would do well with his own startup.
Since he's my brother, I could trust him, too.
"Hojun, would you ever think about starting a business or something?"
"A...A startup?! Where would I get the money..."
"You have your hyung, dummy. Didn't you make money before selling used goods or something?"
"Th-That laptop thing?"
"Yeah, that!"
He had once boasted that he received laptops cheaply and sold them to earn the difference.
I think he said he made about 2 million won?
I remember he gave it all to his mother and properly played the role of a devoted son.
"How about making a website and buying used laptops, tablets, and phones, then selling them offline and online? Seems worth a try, don't you think?"
"Mm... The used market is definitely a market with merit."
It seemed he was considering it after all.
Wasn't there a recently popular app where people from the same area could trade used items?
Which was all due to the fall of the giant online cafe that started it all.
"Think about it at least. I think you have a talent for that kind of thing."
"Okay, got it."
"And if you start a business, you can employ your younger siblings too, right?"
".........!"
Here was Hojun, who had even tried to take the rap for Triple Axel's crimes for the sake of his siblings' future.
How great would it be if he could put in the effort himself and create decent jobs for his siblings?
And those jobs would be under him.
They wouldn't have to tremble in fear of going to some strange place, being used as disposables, and thrown away.
"You'll really invest in me, right?"
"Why? Do you think I'm lying?"
"N-No, that's not what I meant..."
"You'd be able to pay back the investment quickly, and then wouldn't your mind be at ease?"
I even brought up that it wasn't a gift, but a loan to be repaid.
It couldn't be helped because my siblings really disliked just receiving things.
Hojun started to make a face that seemed like he'd consider it more positively than before.
If this worked out, we could do the business I thought of before, and his siblings would get jobs too. Wasn't that killing two birds with one stone?