The Memory of That Day
He met Eunbyul’s gaze, and for a moment, she looked startled before she urged, "Q-quickly, go and pick up the receiver!"
"Uh... uh!"
He grabbed the phone, unable to even sit back down, and with his meal already forgotten, he held the receiver with both hands as if he were serving a high-ranking official, beginning the call with the Prime Minister.
"P-Prime Minister. Yes. Hello. This is Han Suhyun."
"Haha, you don't have to be so formal."
The Prime Minister, acting like the politician he was, tried to exchange some light pleasantries before getting into the conversation. Since it was lunchtime, Suhyun matched his tone, continuing the call with a polite, respectful demeanor.
"Hmm, I’ve interrupted your meal. My apologies."
"Not at all. Prime Minister, have you had your lunch...?"
"I plan to eat later. Doowon’s performance is excellent, which is reassuring. Other companies are causing quite a stir with tax evasion and accounting fraud... but Doowon has even been recommended for a model taxpayer award. The President was also very pleased."
"Ah... it’s only natural to pay taxes, so I’m embarrassed to be praised for it. Thank you."
Even though I wasn't the one who paid them.
"Indeed. And how is the Chairman doing? The air in Sejong is nice. It would be good for you to visit sometime..."
"Ah... he is doing well. I should have visited you and the President earlier, but time didn't permit. I apologize."
"Haha, no, no. Please convey my regards to the Chairman."
"Yes. I will certainly do so."
Then, as if to get to the main point, the Prime Minister hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"However, why did you decline the commendation, Executive Director Han Suhyun...?"
"...It weighs on my mind, so I don't think I can easily accept it."
"In what way?"
He spoke his mind frankly, saying, "Isn't that the truth?" When he was being swayed by two women, he might have been a fool, but when it came to work, he was seasoned and clever. In times like these, expressing his honest opinion often brought positive results. To politicians placed in a political arena where everyone was constantly deceiving one another, this honesty felt charming when speaking with a businessman.
"I should have explained the circumstances beforehand. I apologize."
"It's fine. Please, speak freely."
"The idea to rescue the oil tanker wasn't something I came up with voluntarily. My secretary recommended it, and I agreed, which is why I went to Incheon."
"Hmm."
"I’m usually a light sleeper, so it wasn't particularly difficult work. Furthermore, all I did on the ship was grab and pull ropes."
"..."
"The oil recovery equipment was provided by the President of Doowon Heavy Industries, and the tugboats and passenger ships were the same. Not only that, I learned how to use the oil recovery equipment on the deck. The shipyard workers who came up from Geoje taught me one by one. Some of them, with nothing but a rope tied around their bodies, jumped into the oil-slicked sea without hesitation to prevent the contamination from spreading."
"Hmm... I see."
"Prime Minister, I wasn't the one who rescued the people, either. My secretary, Eunbyul, and the shipyard workers carried the people one by one and put them on the passenger ship. I just gave orders. I just shouted to get people moving, and at other times, I pulled ropes... that’s all I did, so this award is undeserved. I don't think it suits me. Prime Minister, I... I don't need the commendation or the award."
The Prime Minister listened to him in silence. Then, as his words drew to a close, he said in a low voice.
"...To summarize, you are saying you wish to maintain your humility."
"That's not what I meant..."
"It could also be summarized that Executive Director Han Suhyun contributed greatly to the response by giving appropriate instructions on the deck."
Can it be interpreted that way? He seemed to have listened selectively...
"Prime Minister, I apologize for repeating myself. I am not qualified to receive an award..."
"General Manager."
He stopped mid-sentence and listened quietly to the Prime Minister.
"Yes. That’s right. I know what you’re worried about."
"..."
"You feel you did nothing. Yet, you are receiving an award. This fact feels too heavy. You wonder if you, who did nothing in the back and only made others work, are qualified to receive an award... You must have thought that you hadn't even established any real achievements."
And then,
"That HR Manager, the one..."
"...Ah, are you referring to the HR Manager?"
"Yes. Doowon is so global that departments sometimes have English names. There are places where the entire team is in English... anyway."
"Yes, Prime Minister."
He must be talking about the ISG. Yes, that makes sense. They even outsource strategic analysis to political parties. They were a department that handled tasks for 50 billion won per contract. There was even a department dedicated to drawing up the government's economic strategy or mapping out roadmaps.
"When I issued an official document asking for recommendations for award candidates, that manager replied with a list of several people. President, Executive Director, Assistant Manager... and the rest were, what was it?"
"Ah, I believe you are referring to the plumbers, technicians... welders, and so on."
"They weren't even regular employees or anything like that. I was intrigued because it was written that way. I heard Doowon doesn't use subcontractors, and that even the laborers are all regular employees."
That's right. Was it when he was a college student? He vaguely remembered the Chairman flying into a rage after hearing that laborers were dying and not being properly compensated, ordering them to be hired directly.
"...That was the Chairman's order,"
"General Manager. Out of curiosity, I was going to call all those people to Sejong City, but I went to visit them myself. Along with our Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs."
"Ah..."
The Prime Minister continued.
"I was curious. A man named Han Suhyun who, after experiencing failure, lived quietly, then suddenly went to save a ship from an unknown company, saved people... and lived as if nothing happened. You even refused interviews from various news outlets."
"...That was also a burden..."
"As soon as I saw them, I asked. What did a man named Han Suhyun do on the ship? And do you know what those people said?"
"Right. He paid us all our wages and sent us home on a helicopter. Everyone went straight back to the site to work."
The Prime Minister and the Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs had just listened, wondering what this meant. The laborers each sat on upside-down paint buckets placed next to them, lit cigarettes, and—
Honestly, the only reason the two of them had brought their secretaries all the way down to Geoje was one thing. They had to exclude anyone from the award list who might cause controversy later. They both knew well that the company's employees looked at him with disdain after he experienced failure. It would be a disaster if they awarded him a commendation, only for a massive protest to break out, asking why they were giving an award to that "fraudster" who was blinded by the greed of making money selling fake gasoline. That was why they had come.
However, after hearing that, the two exchanged glances, wondering what this meant. They had been certain the reaction would be negative, so they dug deeper.
The man who looked the oldest, the work foreman, said this. Clearly, the information they had received from the civil servants contained no such content. The data they had investigated said:
"General Manager Han Suhyun classified as a dangerous person within the company, risk confirmed."
"Determined to be unqualified."
"No special achievements made."
"Further investigation expected to be necessary."
"Relationship between employees is poor. Each affiliate suffered temporary losses due to the GPL incident."
That was why they had intended to say that if they were to badmouth him to the Prime Minister's face, they would at least defend him to some extent, like the Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, and that there would be no major problem in awarding him a commendation as a gesture of goodwill. But what they were saying was the exact opposite of what they had expected.
"...I heard that the relationship between the employees and Mr. Han Suhyun was not good."
Then, the foreman crushed his extinguished cigarette on the floor to put out the remaining embers, pulled another cigarette from his crumpled pack, lit it with a lighter, and spoke.
He began to tell the story of that day.