Deputy General Manager Cho Jae-ho
Once again, Young-hoon was the first one in the office.
He had been born in a remote mountain village in Inje, Gangwon Province, where getting to the nearest town with a school meant walking a good hour or more. To keep from being late, he'd had no choice but to leave home at the crack of dawn. That childhood diligence had apparently soaked into his bones, because now, whether or not there was work waiting, he always arrived at the office early.
But after running himself ragged the night before, his stomach felt like it was going to turn inside out.
Did I drink too much yesterday? At this rate, am I going to kick the bucket before I even get married? If I keep this up, I won't live out my natural years. I need to cut back on the booze. Or maybe start taking some herbal tonics? Wait—who brought me home last night? I don't remember a thing. I'll just call Lee Jae-man later and ask.
As usual, Young-hoon organized his work notebook, copying over everything he'd already handled, everything that was falling behind, and all the newly added tasks and schedules.
So the copyright registration we were supposed to do yesterday got pushed back to October 31... That means 'After Farewell' will be delayed too. What new items did I add? Ah, right—after 'A Loving Heart' airs on the radio, I've got a drink scheduled with PD Jang Won-seok. Still, I knocked out two important things yesterday, so I can afford to breathe a little.
By nine o'clock, everyone on Marketing Team 3 had clocked in—except for Deputy Hong. If he'd been coaxed into showing up yesterday, you'd think he'd come in on time today, but old habits die hard with that dog.
Kim Jin-man, the team's junior employee, printed out the sales progress charts—one by team, one by individual—and handed them out. Marketing Team 3 ranked first in the nation on team sales progress, and the number one individual? None other than Deputy Hong himself.
After checking the charts, Assistant Manager Park called Young-hoon over.
"Kim."
"What? Something on your mind?"
"Doesn't it strike you as amazing that that lunatic Hong has the worst attendance record in the office and still sits at number one in sales progress?"
Park whispered just loud enough for only Young-hoon to hear.
"Park, take a look at the Kyungin Distribution numbers. Notice anything off? Subtract them and he's dead last. Getting the picture?"
"So your theory was right—they dump the phones through Kyungin Distribution and paper over it with fake delivery orders?"
"Is there any other explanation? Ugh, I drank way too much yesterday—my stomach's killing me. I'm heading out early on a 'field visit' to settle it. If I disappear mid-day, just assume I went to get some air."
"Hey, count me in. I was out drinking with friends yesterday too."
"Fine. Let's slip out quietly around eleven, then."
Meanwhile, Deputy General Manager Cho was being unusually quiet today. Probably in a good mood after taking the national number-one spot on the sales figures, Young-hoon figured.
Around nine-thirty, Deputy Hong sauntered into the office. Cho called him over and gave him a mild reprimand, which Hong acknowledged with all the attention of a man watching paint dry.
That guy was simply impossible to like. When your superior calls you out, the least you could do is pretend to listen—but there wasn't a trace of even that.
Upstairs, Managing Director Kim had his secretary summon Cho to his office.
"Come on in, Cho. What'll you have—coffee? Tea?"
The warmth in Kim's voice put Cho on high alert instantly, though he managed to keep his expression composed. Evidently the night before last had gone very smoothly indeed.
"Anything is fine, sir."
Kim ordered two coffees from his secretary and continued.
"Congratulations on your team topping the national rankings. If you just close out the month's sales cleanly, promoting you from Deputy General Manager to Department Head won't be any trouble at all."
"Thank you, sir! I'll give it everything I have!"
"By the way, Cho—do you play golf?"
"I've been to screen golf plenty, but I haven't had many chances to get out on a real course."
"So what's your average score?"
"I'd say I play around bogey golf."
"So about ninety strokes. Not bad at all—a decent, casual player. Now, tell me—does President Jung play golf?"
There it was. He clearly wanted to squeeze one more round of hospitality out of President Jung. If Cho suggested a round on a proper course, Jung would say yes without a moment's hesitation.
"He joined me on a course once. I'd say he plays at about a single-digit handicap level."
"Really? Even better, then. Say, Cho—are you acquainted with Vice President Nam Young-soo at the holding company? He was a senior in our department, seven years ahead—class of '81, I believe. You know he's the executive in charge of personnel across the entire group, right? It took some doing to arrange a meeting with him, and it seems I'll need a sponsor. Looking at it dispassionately, President Jung seems like the most suitable candidate. So book us a round at a golf course outside Seoul this Saturday. Four attendees: the Vice President, me, you, and President Jung."
"Sir, am I to attend as well?"
"Why? Would you rather not?"
"No, sir. Who am I—a small fry—to impose on a round among such distinguished seniors?"
"Oh come now, it's time you started managing your connections. Have President Jung prepare something befitting the occasion."
"Understood. I'll pass along the booking request to him right away."
"Good, get going. Once it's booked, send me the location and time. You can manage that by end of day, yes?"
"Yes, sir. I'll take care of it immediately."
Cho walked out of the managing director's office having made his grand pronouncements. When he relayed the golf request to President Jung, the man agreed readily, as if he'd been waiting for the call.
Cho had already fallen into an anthill of a pit, and struggling now would do no good. His body was sinking deeper into the hole by the day. He wanted to pull his leg out at this point—but he was already riding the tiger's back. Only by keeping his wits about him could he survive.
I climbed this far—there's no way I'm falling out of this chair now. Just watch. I'll survive this if it kills me.
And so Cho Jae-ho steeled his own resolve.
Back at the Marketing Team 3 office, Deputy Hong had grown bored and started picking on the team's most junior member, Kim Jin-man.
"Hey, Kim Jin-man! Aren't you on the promotion list for Assistant Manager next year? And you do work like this? The formulas on the sales progress chart are broken, you blockhead!"
"I'm sorry, sir. I should have double-checked the chart before printing it, but the team leader kept rushing me... I sincerely apologize."
"Third-rate diploma-mill graduates are always the problem. Eh, at least you're better than some. They say the dumbest-and-quickest ones cause the most disasters, but you—well, you're not exactly industrious, are you? Unlike some people."
Hong was showing off his half-baked knowledge of leadership archetypes, gleaned who knew where. Young-hoon had studied the subject himself, so he saw straight through what Hong was actually doing.
Hong was invoking the example of the 'stupid but diligent leader' to take a veiled swipe at him.
For the record, there are four archetypes of leaders, ranked from worst to best: the stupid-but-diligent leader, the stupid-but-lazy leader, the smart-but-diligent leader, and the smart-but-lazy leader.
The stupid-but-diligent leader, hampered by low intelligence, sets the organization on the wrong course with a warped vision and misguided convictions—and then drives them home with reckless, unstoppable force, eliminating any chance of correcting the mistake. In a word, it's the worst possible case for any organization.
One step better is the stupid-but-lazy leader. Such a person still lacks the stuff of leadership, to be sure, but their laziness at least spares the organization much of their influence—which one might charitably call a positive. Even so, being incompetent and unwilling to recognize their subordinates' abilities, they can hardly be expected to develop the organization.
At first glance, the smart-but-diligent leader seems like the ideal. In truth, this type carries its own side effects. Such a leader steers the organization with brilliant direction and vision—but the bar rises accordingly. The more capable the leader, the more they end up solving everything themselves, and any member who can't keep pace is ultimately winnowed out. With an exceptionally talented roster, this is the perfect model; without one, it eventually tears the organization apart.
Which is why the smart-but-lazy leader is, arguably, the ideal to steer an organization. They paint the big picture of direction and vision, but stay out of the trenches, exercising the aesthetic of patience so that members learn to solve problems on their own. It's the textbook case of teaching a man to fish rather than handing him one. In the short term, the smart-but-diligent model delivers results; viewed across the long arc of the future, the smart-but-lazy model is the sounder one.
By that measure, then, Deputy Hong wasn't quite the worst leader a team could have—because no matter how you scored his intelligence, the man was irredeemably lazy.
"Well, that's a relief, sir. I'm not a leader—I'm just the guy at the bottom of the totem pole."
Jin-man was no fool either. Judging by that subtle counterpunch, the stupidest person on Marketing Team 3 was, in fact, Deputy Hong himself.
Just then, Deputy General Manager Cho came into the office and called for Hong. Who knew what the two of them would be whispering about in the meeting room this time.
While Hong and Cho were holed up in the conference room, Young-hoon decided this was his moment to slip out on his "field visit." His stomach still felt like it was curdling, whether from the night's overindulgence or not.
Right then, a KakaoTalk message arrived on his phone.
Young-hoon sent his reply and began gathering his things for the trip out. But no sooner had he finished than Manager Kim called him over.
"I know perfectly well you two are planning to slip out somewhere. Go on ahead and get settled first. I'll watch for an opening and bring Jin-man over after."
"Then let's do the freshwater spicy fish stew place we went to last time—you know the one up on the hill at the north end of Mapo Bridge? Let's play a round of Hula for lunch stakes and head back to the office after."
"Got it. I'll be there by eleven-thirty at the latest, so hold my seat."
Young-hoon decided to head down five minutes ahead of Park and wait. If they left together, another team might notice and get suspicious.
While he waited, Young-hoon called President Lee Jae-man to ask who had sent him home the night before. The answer surprised him: it was PD Shin Hye-yoon, who had hailed a taxi and seen him into it. Lee Jae-man urged him not to forget to thank her properly.
Young-hoon wasted no time dialing PD Shin Hye-yoon. Her cheerful voice came through almost at once.
"Oh my, Mr. Kim Young-hoon. Did you get home all right last night?"
"Yes, thanks to you, PD Shin. I heard you even paid my taxi fare for me... I'm truly sorry for the trouble. Tell me the amount and I'll send it over right away."
"Sure, no problem. It came to about a million won or so..."
"I'm sorry—you're joking, right?"
"Hoho, of course I'm joking. I'm swamped right now, so I need to hang up. Don't forget to come to the production announcement. Have a good day out there."
The moment the call with Hye-yoon ended, Park was already making his way down to the parking lot.
The busiest, most punishing stretch of the corporate year is late October. That's when performance evaluations for every team and division are tallied based on sales through the end of the month. But thanks to the unplanned antics of Deputy General Manager Cho and Deputy Hong, Marketing Team 3 was coasting into late October with room to spare—which was exactly how they could pull stunts like this and slack off in broad daylight.
Young-hoon and his companions had lunch at the spicy fish stew restaurant and whiled away a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon, only strolling back to the office around six as the workday wound down. They entered wearing every expression of exhausted suffering they could muster—but the office was empty except for the lone female employee, Lee Ji-young.
"Ji-young, where did the team leader and Deputy Hong go?"
"They left for a business lunch and haven't come back. Given that it's this late, I'd say they're doing their usual 'working dinner'—that is, clocking out on the spot."
Apparently, Young-hoon's crowd weren't the only ones with a talent for scheming.