Changing Jobs (1)

Still, talking it over with Manager Lee didn't seem likely to get him anywhere. They weren't working together anymore—the two of them were far apart now.

What's more, he was no longer a staffer in the powerful group Strategic Planning Office. He was an employee at an affiliate in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. And Manager Lee currently worked at the same company as Oh Ha-young. There would be times he'd need her cooperation on the job. He wasn't about to go out of his way to take Kim Chirok's side.

If it went wrong, word would only spread to more people, and he'd end up with nothing but useless gossip. Besides, this was a question of whether or not an indecent assault had taken place—a private matter between two people. Manager Lee would surely hesitate to get involved.

Forget calling Manager Lee. I'll just treat it like I stepped in a pile of filthy dog shit.

He found himself thinking that from now on, he shouldn't casually go out with a woman unless he was certain about her. Offer unsolicited kindness, and you'd only end up paying for it.

When Sunday came, Kim Chirok headed down to Changwon. He still hadn't found a studio, so he slept at a motel.

On Monday, he made his way to the Changwon National Industrial Complex in Seongsan-gu to report for duty. H Heavy Industries sat inside the complex, and he timed his arrival for the start of the workday.

I came here once two years ago, but I can barely tell one building from another.

He had visited ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠once before, two years earlier, during the new-hire training for open-recruitment employees. The itinerary had included a tour of the affiliates.

The plant had plenty of older production-line workers. Many employees rolled in wearing uniforms, on motorcycles or bicycles.

At the main gate, a security guard stopped him. He explained that he was reporting for a new assignment, and the guard told him that until his ID card was issued, he'd have to wear a visitor's pass to get in.

He met the Administration Team Leader, a man at the General Manager rank—a large, broad-shouldered figure around fifty. The General Manager shook his hand and said it was good to have him.

Then he took Kim Chirok around, introducing him to everyone from the President down through the executives and the team leaders of each division. Looking at the uniformed employees, Kim Chirok saw that most of them were on the older side. He wondered whether he'd be able to work well in a place like this.

A female staffer in General Affairs handed him a uniform.

"We'll have your employee ID ready tomorrow. For now, you can use a temporary pass."

She gave him a temporary pass without a photo. Without it, he couldn't prove he was an employee—getting through the front gate would be difficult, and so would using the company cafeteria.

She didn't leave right away. She kept glancing at him. A newly transferred bachelor was always a subject of interest among the female staff, and that seemed to be the reason.

The General Manager assigned him a desk and smiled.

"The desk and chair are a bit worn. It's not time to replace them yet, so just make do."

"Understood."

"I looked at your personnel file. You graduated from Seoul National University—why did you come to the Administration Team? You'd have been better off in Finance."

"Is Finance better?"

"Of course. Finance is the better department, no question. The team that handles the money is the best, isn't it?"

There was no senior assigned to work alongside him. He was expected to figure things out on his own, and he had no idea where to even start. So he went to General Affairs, brought back the company regulations and the duty-allocation charts for each team, and spent his time reading those.

That afternoon, Deputy Song from group headquarters in Seoul called.

Kim Chirok's face fell. If even Deputy Song had heard about it, the rumors had already run their course through the company.

Then, out of nowhere, Manager Lee from H Chemical called.

Kim Chirok was tempted, he had to admit. If things went well, he might even catch a glimpse of Hirosue Yoshiko in person at the festival.

"All right. I'll think about it."

The next day came. Kim Chirok was still going through the duty-allocation charts when a man who introduced himself as a Manager on the Administration Team walked over. He was older, rough-hewn, and spoke with a Gyeongsang accent.

"Hey. Kim Chirok. The duty chart and the actual work are two very different things. Quit staring at that and help me out with my work, would ya."

"What kind of work?"

"I've been too busy to get this organized. Sort this out for me. Have it done by the day after tomorrow."

He dumped a whole bundle of work on him. The volume looked like several days' worth.

"This seems like quite a lot."

"So you're saying you won't do it?"

"N-no, that's not it. It's just that finishing it all in two days would be difficult..."

"You're new, so you don't know how things work around here. This is a place where you do as you're told. It ain't the Strategic Planning Office at headquarters, sitting around making life miserable for the affiliates."

"The Strategic Planning Office has plenty of work too. We pull overtime some nights."

"Overtime? Perfect. You pull some overtime, you'll have it done by the day after tomorrow."

"Was there an order from above to get this organized?"

"Boy, you talk a lot. You putting on airs around here because you went to Seoul National?"

"Excuse me? What are you talking about?"

"You think you can look down on me because I'm a perennial Manager? You keep this up, it's going to be hard on both of us."

With that, the Manager spun on his heel and walked off.

These guys don't throw a welcome for a new employee—they start by chewing him out?

His mood was foul, but he decided to do the work anyway. He sat there grinding through it.

Whenever he got up to use the restroom or headed to the cafeteria, the female staff would whisper behind his back and laugh. Sometimes they even pointed at him, giggling.

Is it because I got kicked out of the Strategic Planning Office? Or has the rumor that I made a move on the Chairman's secretary—the one who already had a boyfriend—spread all the way down here?

The atmosphere at this company was truly rotten. It was nothing like H Chemical in Incheon. He had the distinct feeling of being frozen out, an outsider. It was not a place that inspired any affection.

Should I just quit?

A Seoul National graduate wouldn't starve, wherever he went. He had experience now, too—even as a mid-career hire, he figured he could match the salary he was making here.

He decided to wait and see a little longer, and he still didn't look for a studio. For the time being, he'd keep living out of the motel. Forty thousand won a night—he'd tough it out for a week and see.

He spoke to a young staffer on the Administration Team.

"There seem to be a lot of older people here."

"Yes. Plenty of perennial Managers. Not many of the people here came in through group open recruitment the way you did. Most of them were hired by Heavy Industries itself. The promotion pipeline's pretty badly jammed."

"I see."

"That's why my own future's a bit unclear. Too much deadweight clogging the road ahead. But you came in through group open recruitment, so you're in a different league from those old clunkers."

"Want to grab a beer this evening?"

"I'd like to, but I commute by motorcycle. Next time."

"Ah, so you ride."

"The old clunkers might get touchy with you. Watch your back. Open-recruitment guys can leapfrog right over them, so they always keep those people in check."

So that was why the Managers here had been so cold to him, Kim Chirok thought.

The next day. Kim Chirok was still working through the tasks the senior Managers had dumped on him. A female staffer happened to walk past, and he looked up. A Deputy General Manager spoke up.

"That guy's eyes light up the second a woman walks by, don't they?"

The whole team burst out laughing. The women ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in particular clapped their hands over their mouths, giggling as if they couldn't help themselves. The Manager who had piled the work on him grinned.

"Kim Chirok was famous up in Seoul, I hear. There's even a rumor he made a move on a secretary who already had a boyfriend."

The entire Administration Team snickered again.

Kim Chirok's stomach turned. He wanted to flip the desk and storm out. He held it in. Instead, he raised his voice.

"Who's spreading that kind of nonsense?"

The Manager who had just spoken put his tail between his legs.

"Ah, well. What would we know? We just heard there was a rumor like that in Seoul, that's all."

"Why would I go after a secretary who already had a boyfriend? There's not a shred of truth to that."

The Deputy General Manager cut in.

"Why are you making such a scene and yelling? If you didn't do it, that's that. Just get back to work."

The work wouldn't come. He walked outside and looked up at the blue sky.

Kim Chirok made up his mind to leave H Heavy Industries. The staff's hostility was a problem in itself, but more than that, he didn't see anything here worth learning.

That evening, in his motel room, Kim Chirok drank a canned beer and searched the job-recruitment sites. He couldn't go in as a new open-recruitment hire, so he scanned the mid-career listings, working through the headhunting pages one by one.