The Day He Walked Away
Boxes of documents flew through the air before his eyes.
The scene felt like a slow-motion shot from a film.
Kim Si-woo’s expression remained composed as he watched, but inside he was seething with a rage that was impossible to put into words.
Damn it.
Seeing Manager Kang, with his thinning patches of hair, shout in that rough voice only fanned the flames. The anger boiling up in him had reached the point where he could not hold it back any longer.
Kim Si-woo cut across Manager Kang’s tirade and stepped forward, his face set in stone.
"Manager Kang. How many times is this proposal now? Please give me a reasonable explanation for why you keep rejecting it. I’ll fix it."
His voice was calm, even polite, but it carried iron beneath it.
The atmosphere in Planning Team 2’s office froze at once.
Everyone still looked at their monitors, but all of their ears had turned in this direction.
In the brief silence, Manager Kang let out a deep sigh, ran a hand over the few strands of hair he had left, and glared at Kim Si-woo with a face flushed red.
"Hey! I keep sending it back because you made the proposal look like trash. Who gave you permission to talk back?"
"This is the third submission. I haven’t slept making that proposal."
"Third, my ass. You should’ve made it properly the first time. How the hell am I supposed to report this to the higher-ups?"
"You rejected it without even looking at it properly, didn’t you? If you actually read it, then tell me what I added about future new business and why I selected those vendors."
Kim Si-woo decided to go in hard.
The old motto of just staying in the middle had long since disappeared.
If he kept settling for the middle, he really felt like he’d be worked to death.
"On the first submission, you said the market analysis was lacking, so I went out and gathered more material myself and added it to the proposal. On the second, you said the budget plan was absurdly large, so I visited the client companies and rewrote every line after cutting prices as much as I could. So what’s the reason for rejecting the third one? ‘Overall insufficient’? Is that a reason? Is that even a sentence?"
"So you—"
"I know the truth, actually. You’re rejecting it because it doesn’t include the vendors you wanted, aren’t you?"
The office went silent as if a cloth had been stuffed over everyone’s mouths.
In other words, he was saying that Manager Kang had taken a kickback, or something close to it.
Even the sound of his coworkers typing stopped.
"Hey! Kim, no, Kim Si-woo! You’re making a huge mistake right now! Do you have proof? What kind of nonsense are you spouting?"
"This isn’t me lashing out. I’m telling the truth!"
"The truth? What do you know that lets you call it the truth?"
Kim Si-woo had only learned this not long ago.
At first he hadn’t known, but by chance he overheard Manager Kang on the phone.
It had been only a little over a week ago, when he nearly arrived late to work. The elevator was stopped on a high floor, so he took the emergency stairwell and happened to catch the conversation.
- Yeah, I’m telling you. I’ll push this project’s vendor over to your side. Don’t worry about it. How many times have we done this?
- I already pressured the lead assistant by rejecting the proposal again and again, so he had no choice but to catch on and include it. You didn’t forget what we agreed on, right? Hahaha. How much was I supposed to get for this one again? Ah, right. That’s it. Two thousand.
That was when he understood.
Why his proposals kept getting rejected without any reasonable explanation, and why Manager Kang kept slipping in references to a specific vendor.
He wasn’t stupid. He’d had his suspicions. But the fact that his guess had turned out to be right made his teeth ache with rage.
"Hey! Kim, no, Kim Si-woo! Come up to the company rooftop garden! Let’s talk there first."
Manager Kang seemed to want to close this off here and keep it from spreading.
Talking about it here drew too much attention from the people around them.
But Kim Si-woo had already made up his mind.
"Fuck. This is disgusting. I’m done."
"W-what... Fuck? What did you just say?"
Kim Si-woo looked Manager Kang straight in the eye.
"I can’t work under you anymore, Manager Kang. I know this isn’t the first time something like this has happened. I’m reporting everything to Audit and resigning."
Kim Si-woo’s voice rang through the entire office.
It was so quiet that you could hear someone swallow.
Manager Kang panicked and started thinking frantically about how to clean up the mess.
"Hey. Hold on. No, listen, Kim. First calm down... We shouldn’t talk here, let’s talk upstairs. Huh? Let’s sit down properly and even smoke a cigarette or something..."
"I’m sick of coming to work and having to look at your face. I’ve already made up my mind to quit, so let’s end this here."
Hadn’t he already spent all this time under that bastard, doing every sort of menial task and working late into the night?
People were arguing about four-day workweeks and all that nonsense, while he was burning the midnight oil every damn day. His body couldn’t take any more of this.
Other people talked about work-life balance, but what balance? What life?
Kim Si-woo had been working nonstop.
It’s too filthy. I can’t put up with any more of this.
He returned to his desk and began packing up his things.
He opened the drawer and put his personal belongings into his bag.
Manager Kang, now frantic, hurried over and stayed right at Kim Si-woo’s side.
"Hey, Kim. No, Si-woo."
Manager Kang was suddenly calling him by name.
"There’s no need for this, right? Huh? Maybe I was too harsh. Yeah, I was wrong. I’m sorry. I’ll just pass this proposal this time. So calm down for now, and from here on out I’ll do better..."
"Not necessary."
"No, hey! You think things will go well if you leave like this?"
When persuasion failed, Manager Kang’s attitude changed.
He really was that kind of man.
If Kim Si-woo gave in here, the backlash would come later.
"You’re going to rat on your boss and leave like some whistleblower? Do you know whether a whistleblower can even get hired anywhere else in Korea?"
"That’s my problem to deal with. You should worry about getting audited inside your own company."
Manager Kang’s face went red as he panted.
"You know how wide my network is in this business? One word from me and you won’t be able to go anywhere. You hear me?"
He snorted and glared at Kim Si-woo.
"No company is going to take in a whistleblower. Your life is over! And what, do you even have proof that I took kickbacks from that vendor?"
"Don’t worry. I already recorded everything you said to the vendor."
"What, what did you say?"
Manager Kang’s face went as white as paper.
He spluttered and shouted beside him, but Kim Si-woo ignored it as if a dog were barking and kept clearing the items from his desk.
Manager Kang’s features twisted. He glared at Kim Si-woo, then hurried away from his seat.
He was probably going to see a deputy manager or department head.
It had almost certainly not been something Manager Kang alone had done.
There was a high chance it was tied to his superiors.
From everything he had seen so far, Kang was not the sort of man with the brains to pull off a kickback scheme on his own.
Maybe it was the deputy manager. Maybe even higher.
In any case, it no longer mattered now that he was quitting.
At that moment, Yu Yeon-seok, a fellow assistant manager in Planning Team 3 and one of his peers, rushed over, grabbed his shoulder, and pulled him into the empty supply room.
Since Teams 2 and 3 were right next to each other behind the partition, he had seen the whole thing.
"Hey, idiot! Are you crazy? Manager Kang may not have any talent, but his connections are real. And he’s got his leash on because of that university line he’s got. Before this gets worse, go apologize once, bow your head, and let it go. I doubt Manager Kang even wants to make it a big deal."
"Yeon-seok. What apology are you talking about now? The bus has already left. I’ve already exposed everything, so it’s too late."
"Jesus. Seriously, idiot. If you quit like this, do you even have somewhere else to go?"
"Nope."
"Ha. You’re driving me insane. If you don’t even have a place to go, why did you do it?"
Kim Si-woo looked at him with a stunned expression.
"Since when did you care this much? Since when were you this worried about me? You’re more worked up about it than I am."
"What, worried? Please. You’re the only close coworker I’ve got. Who am I supposed to trash-talk now? If I don’t have something to live for at this company anymore, this is all I’ve got."
Yu Yeon-seok let out a short breath and then asked, "But hey, if that bastard has no trace of taking a kickback, then you’re the only one who ends up looking like an idiot. You really have the recording? You’re not bluffing, right?"
At that, Kim Si-woo let out a dry laugh.
"Do you think I’d just go in blind and do that in front of Manager Kang? I recorded his calls with the vendor secretly a long time ago. Last Thursday, the day before yesterday, and yesterday. Three times total. The idiot even made the calls in the exact same place and around the same time every single time."
"Hah. You little bastard, you’ve got some nerve. Go become a detective. I’ll introduce you to someone."
Yu Yeon-seok laughed, amused.
"I thought you’d just gone in swinging without thinking, but you were actually sharpening the knife, huh? When did you start planning this?"
"It wasn’t really planning... More like insurance, just in case. I kept thinking it over, and then I decided I couldn’t keep working like this."
"So this is really going to hit him hard, then? That bastard Manager Kang might be finished. Nobody around here liked facing him anyway."
"I don’t know what’ll happen, but we’ll see."
Yu Yeon-seok clicked his tongue and frowned.
"Damn. What a cursed bastard. You really had it rough running into a manager like that. If it were me, I’d have quit long ago."
He patted Kim Si-woo on the back.
"All right. You’re probably busy, and I kept you here for nothing. Once this is over, let’s grab pork belly and soju sometime."
"Yeah. Got it."
Now that he’d actually done it, he did feel lighter, but tomorrow was another matter.
Kim Si-woo headed for the tenth floor, where the Audit Team was, his steps heavy.
Inside the elevator, he took out his smartphone and checked the recording file.
As the elevator climbed toward the Audit Team’s floor, the tension kept building.
Already, a little regret was creeping in.
No. I made the right choice.
There was no way he should spend the next few years enduring life under Manager Kang when leaving was a hundred times the better choice.
If he kept flattering that bastard just to survive, all it would do was wreck his health.
And if Manager Kang decided to dump the blame on him and use him as a disposable scapegoat?
That bastard would absolutely do it.
Ding dong.
The elevator soon signaled that it had arrived on the tenth floor.
* * *
"We need to wrap this up quickly, but that assistant won’t listen. Don’t worry, it’ll be over soon. And next quarter, we’re planning a major project..."
The Audit Team leader’s expression darkened as he listened to the recording file.
"This is certainly enough evidence to justify an investigation. Don’t worry about uncovering the precise details. Leave that to us."
Relieved by his attitude, Kim Si-woo bowed his head.
"I appreciate it."
"For now, the company will place you on paid leave for about three months, and during that time we’ll handle the case. Rest up for a while."
"Thank you."
He had been planning to resign anyway, but if they were offering paid leave, there was no reason to refuse it.
After all, as Manager Kang had said, a whistleblower would have a hard time staying at the company without drawing attention.
He spent some time talking with the Audit Team, and by the time he came out, the sun was already setting.
When he returned to the office, most people had already gone home.
A few team members were still seated at their desks, but Manager Kang was nowhere to be seen.
It was obvious that they wanted to speak to him, but all they did was glance at him sideways and hold back.
No one was going to casually strike up a friendly conversation with a whistleblower who was about to resign.
No matter how unjust the matter he had exposed, the person who spoke up inside the company was never safe either.
Especially if it involved someone connected to Manager Kang’s superiors.
They were coworkers he had spent years with, so he felt bitter inside as he gathered his things and walked out.
"Take care, everyone."
After he bowed one last time, the team members awkwardly stood up from their seats and returned the greeting.
* * *
Outside the company, people were streaming out of the building after work.
It was Friday night, and a burning one at that.
The bright faces on everyone heading home were probably no illusion.
The weather was pleasant, a cool breeze was blowing, and the sunset reflected off the high-rise buildings in a way that made him squint.
Still, he now had a three-month grace period ahead of him.
Should he take his severance pay and the money he’d saved and look into opening some kind of small business?
He was confident enough in frying pork cutlets.
That was a joke, of course. A small business? No way.
More than a million self-employed businesses reportedly shut down every year.
Would he survive in a market like that?
Of course not.
Unless he suddenly awakened some kind of special ability as a chef, like in a web novel, that was a hopeless idea.
Just when he’d thought his mind was finally settling down, new worries about the future rose up again.
For today, he decided not to go straight home.
He would take the long way back and walk slowly, just to clear his head.
I should grab some canned beer and a few snacks on the way.
He didn’t think he’d be able to sleep tonight without getting drunk first.
How long had he been walking? Then Kim Si-woo noticed a box abandoned in front of a large mansion.
What the hell?
Bright light was spilling out from inside it.