Citizen of the Year
Even with eight years of company life under my belt, this was only the second time I had seen him this close.
I had glimpsed him at the entrance ceremony and a few company events, but I had never once spoken with him face-to-face.
"Bitna seems completely unfazed, doesn't she?"
"Huh? Me? Assistant Manager Jo's the same way, though."
"Well, that's because Assistant Manager Jo is…"
Associate Kim Seungho trailed off as he glanced at Assistant Manager Jo Cheoljeong, who was finishing up the meeting materials.
If it were him, he would probably stay completely deadpan even if the President of South Korea appeared right in front of him.
"Anyway, Assistant Manager Noh Hoojin. You just got your face stamped into the CEO's memory, didn't you? Already the second time? That's insane. Seriously."
"Eh, 'stamped' is a bit much."
I grimaced slightly and waved it off.
"Wow~ But how are you so calm? You've got nerves of steel. Looking the CEO straight in the eye and holding a conversation like that."
"I haven't committed any crime, so why should I shrink away?"
"As expected. A real man's man who goes his own way."
Associate Kim Seungho raised both thumbs this time.
Just then, Deputy General Manager Jeon Yonggi, who had downed a vitamin drink in one go, looked over at me and said,
"Assistant Manager Noh. When the broadcasting stations call, lock in the schedule right away and let me know. I'll clear the calendar for you. No—take Associate Kim or Employee Bitna with you. You might need someone for the little errands."
"No, sir, that's really not necessary…"
"Is this a request? It's an order."
Deputy General Manager Jeon Yonggi widened his eyes for emphasis.
Since this was a directive from the CEO himself, there could be no noise about it.
"Understood. I'll do as you say."
Considering his position as well, I answered with a light bow of my head.
When I turned, Associate Kim Seungho was sparkling at me, clearly lobbying to be taken along, while Employee Kang Bitna was watching me with a rather awkward smile.
And behind them, Manager Park Heegon was glaring at me with a thoroughly dissatisfied expression.
Ah, all three of them are making this awkward as hell.
Over two days I filmed interview segments with a total of four broadcasting stations and spoke with reporters from seven newspapers. The police came by, and so did people from City Hall.
They were giving me this year's Citizen Award.
Under the CEO's orders, I got through every appointment without major difficulty.
If Associate Kim Seungho and Employee Kang Bitna had not been there helping, I really would have been exhausted.
But the next day, an unexpected situation arose.
The children of the woman who had collapsed from a seizure came looking for me.
One was a girl who looked like a high school student—the same one who had shouted for help in the subway.
Her face was still clear in my memory.
The other was a soldier. He looked to be in his early twenties, and from the sergeant's rank insignia, it seemed he had hurriedly taken leave to come out.
"I should have come to see you right away, but I was in the military, so I'm a little late. I'm sorry. Thank you so much for saving our mother!"
"Thank you. Really, thank you."
When the soldier bowed at the waist, his younger sister followed suit.
In that instant, camera flashes went off all around us as if they had been waiting for exactly this moment.
My brow furrowed on its own.
"I'm sorry, but that will be all for today's interviews."
I offered the reporters a polite farewell and led the two of them to the café inside the company building.
"You really didn't have to come all the way here like this."
When I said it with an awkward smile, the soldier hurriedly waved his hands.
"That wouldn't do. We wouldn't feel right if we didn't thank you properly. Thanks to you, our mother is doing much better. She couldn't come herself, so she asked us to give you this."
What the soldier held out was a white envelope.
From the slight outline of the contents, it was money.
"It's really not much, but please accept it. And we will never forget this kindness for the rest of our lives. I will definitely repay you later—ten times, no, a hundred times more."
The soldier bowed his head and shouted it with desperate intensity.
Why was he so desperate while offering money? His younger sister sitting beside him also wore a guilty expression, looking completely at a loss.
Apparently the amount inside the envelope must have seemed far too small.
There was no need for that.
I stared quietly down at the envelope resting on the table.
I had already heard the story from the reporters.
The woman I had saved had recently lost her husband and was struggling to raise two children on her own.
Her husband had been ill for quite a long time, so the hospital bills had left them with considerable debt.
The one silver lining was that her son had enlisted as a non-commissioned officer this time and was covering some of the living expenses and debt.
He was a true filial son.
They called it shared suffering, didn't they?
It didn't feel like someone else's business, so my heart went out to them for no particular reason.
My gaze shifted again to the name tag on the soldier's chest.
Seo Hun. A single-character given name.
Looking at the name tag on his sister's school uniform, hers was also a single character.
Seo Jin.
I looked back at Seo Hun and opened my mouth.
"Seo Hun."
"Y-yes?"
Seo Hun's head snapped up.
"I'm fine, so use this money toward your mother's treatment."
"No, but still…"
When I pushed the envelope of money back, Seo Hun looked slightly startled and flustered.
I needed to cut this short before the conversation dragged on.
"If I take this money, I think I'll feel uncomfortable. I'll just accept the thought. There's no need to go so far as to give me money. Just the fact that you came all the way here to thank me is more than enough."
"Ah, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. I'm really sorry."
"No, there's nothing to be sorry for… If anything, I should be thanking you. Thanks to this, I even get to receive this year's Citizen Award."
When I smiled gently, both of their faces brightened just a little. It was as if a weight had been lifted from their shoulders.
Strange. An act of kindness I had performed without thinking was coming back to me like this.
A quiet sense of pride welled up inside me.
I had never felt this way during the interviews with the broadcasting stations or the reporters. It was a truly peculiar feeling.
"Well then, is it all right if I go? It looks like you two haven't seen each other in a while as brother and sister. I should give you some space…"
"Ah! No, sir."
"It's fine. Anyway, thank you. For coming all the way here to greet me. It made me feel good for no reason. I'll always be rooting for you. Fighting!"
I clenched my fist and offered the cheer.
I deliberately did not bring up their family circumstances, but I felt I ought to shout "Fighting!" for them at least.
If that was meddling, then so be it.
"Thank you!"
"Thank you so much for saving Mom!"
The two of them kept bowing until I disappeared from sight.
My first meeting with Seo Hun ended like that.
Before returning to the office, I asked the reporters and found out the contact information for Seo Hun's family and which hospital their mother was admitted to.
After work there was a team dinner.
Deputy General Manager Jeon Yonggi was treating us to celebrate my receiving this year's Citizen Award—on the company card, of course.
I had planned to leave right on time, but since they were gathering because of me, I could not skip it.
"Congratulations, Assistant Manager Noh."
"Congratulations, Assistant Manager Noh!"
"Congratulations~!"
"All right! Everyone, cheers!"
The team members each offered a word and clinked glasses with me.
Employee Kang Bitna was already looking lively, smiling bashfully.
That expression was rather cute. So this girl only returned to her usual self once she started drinking?
"But where did you learn something like that?"
"I learned it while I was in the military."
"They teach that kind of thing in the military?"
"Well… something like that."
I vaguely brushed off Deputy General Manager Jeon Yonggi's question.
If I said I had simply followed a book I read in the hospital, no one would believe me.
"Looking at you, it feels like you've become a completely different person. Was Assistant Manager Noh always this kind of personality?"
"Right? He used to be so obedient and polite."
Manager Park Heegon answered, twisting the corner of his mouth as if something about it displeased him.
This guy was seriously twisted.
It was not the first or second time. I had put up with enough.
In the past I would have endured more, but things were different now.
"Manager Par—"
The moment I started to call Manager Park, Kang Bitna suddenly cut in.
"Still, doesn't he seem much better than before? Don't you think so, Associate Kim Seungho?"
"Huh? Me?"
Suddenly finding all eyes on him, Associate Kim stopped grilling the meat and quickly scanned the staff. He seemed to be reading the room.
Then he set down the tongs and continued.
"Well, I, uh, think so too. Looking at the things Assistant Manager Noh Hoojin has shown us lately… there's a lot worth learning from. Right? Assistant Manager Jo Cheoljeong?"
Associate Kim smoothly passed the baton to Assistant Manager Jo Cheoljeong.
Without caring about the surrounding gazes, he chewed his meat in silence before muttering quietly,
"…As long as he just does his own work well."
"Oh! That's a positive reaction, right? Right, Assistant Manager Jo?"
"The meat's burning."
"Ah, yes sir!"
When Assistant Manager Jo pointed at the grill, Associate Kim quickly grabbed the tongs and started moving his hands busily.
He knew full well that ending it there was the way not to ruffle Assistant Manager Jo Cheoljeong's feathers.
As the atmosphere flowed pleasantly, Manager Park Heegon said nothing more.
An hour later.
The drinking session ended sooner than expected.
Deputy General Manager Jeon Yonggi had to attend an early morning executive meeting the next day, so when he stood up first, everyone else followed.
Associate Kim Seungho and Employee Kang Bitna called for a second round, but I was not particularly in the mood either. It absolutely was not because of Kang Bitna.
It was just that my condition suddenly felt off.
Something was writhing throughout my entire body.
My vision swam slightly, and everything looked unnaturally sharp.
"Assistant Manager Noh Hoojin!? Are you okay? Your complexion doesn't look good."
At the same time, a headache that had been absent for a while throbbed faintly, and Employee Kang Bitna's voice reached me as if she were speaking from far away.
Why was this happening all of a sudden?
A buzzing filled my head as dizziness surged in.
Why?
I did not even understand my own body.
My memory cut off there.
When I opened my eyes again, I was in the VIP room of LK Hospital where I had been admitted before.
Looking out the window, the morning sunlight was just beginning to stream in.
Don't tell me… Did I regress back to the time of the traffic accident? If so—!
I quickly checked my legs. Both were perfectly fine.
"Ahem…"
No cast. So it was not a regression.
"Assistant Manager? Assistant Manager Noh Hoojin! Are you with us?"
Then I sensed a presence beside me, and Kang Bitna's face came into view. The dark circles under her eyes were heavy; she looked thoroughly exhausted.
Had she stayed by my side all night?
"Why… am I…?"
"You don't remember? You lost consciousness and collapsed the moment we left the barbecue place."
"I lost consciousness, so of course I wouldn't remember…"
"Ah, right. That makes sense."
As if she had just woken from a doze, Kang Bitna, still half-asleep for a moment, collected herself and quickly continued.
"Anyway, I really thought something terrible had happened. I'm so glad you're okay. Just a second. I'll call the doctor. The details can come from him."
"No, there's a call button…"
She hurried out of the room and returned a short while later with a doctor in tow.
Then she vanished as if fleeing.
Apparently she had realized her makeup was smeared.
"You've regained consciousness. May I have the patient's name?"
"Pardon? Ah… Noh Hoojin."
"I'll perform a brief examination."
The doctor immediately began checking my condition as he continued speaking.
"It appears to be aftereffects from the accident, but given the possibility of a concussion, we performed a brain CT and MRI."
My heart plummeted for a moment.
Of course I had planned to get examined eventually, but I never expected to be ambushed with tests like this!
"What? Then, inside my head…"
"Fortunately, all the test results came back normal."
"What? Normal?"
I doubted my own ears.
Normal.