Their Thoughts 2
Assistant Manager Park Sung-ho was so furious right now that he could barely contain himself.
Deputy Hong, whom he'd never liked in the first place, and Deputy General Manager Cho had gone and caused a massive accident, and now neither of them could be reached — not even a text to say where they were holed up.
He'd spent the entire day fielding complaint calls from the retail store owners. His colleague Young-hoon was just as swamped, fending off protest calls from the same people. Seeing that not just Marketing Team 3 but Teams 1 and 2 were all in an uproar made his temper flare all over again.
Finally, at the end of his rope, he called Young-hoon over and the two of them headed for the break room.
“Where's Deputy Hong hiding after screwing everything up? This is just the beginning — looks like at least a week of suffering ahead of us.”
“Tell me about it. And if the TVs get dumped into the electronics markets on top of everything, that's when the real tsunami hits.”
“That's what worries me too. We've had a rough day — want to go out for soju and pork belly?”
“Sounds good. Ask Manager Kim too. He's probably worked the hardest of anyone today.”
The three of them went to a pork belly joint near the office and knocked back soju while thoroughly tearing into Deputy General Manager Cho and Deputy Hong. The juicy, marbled pork belly paired with chilled soju only fired up the mood even more.
Young-hoon, pleasantly tipsy, called a designated driver service and headed home. The driver remarked that it had been a very long time since he'd driven a compact car — and an ancient, beat-up one at that.
Ordinarily Young-hoon would have just taken public transit. But he needed to bring the wine with him to work tomorrow, so he'd had no choice. The twenty-seven-dollar fare infuriated him, but there was nothing to be done about it.
He stopped by the coffee shop in front of his building, bought an americano, and returned to his studio apartment. The moment he got inside, he dug out the Magic Seasoning, mixed an appropriate amount into the coffee, and took a sip. What would it taste like? He was secretly hopeful — but it just tasted like really good coffee. Delicious, yes, but not the kind of shocking flavor that would blow his mind.
“Maybe it's because I've been drinking? I can't really tell anything special. Well, it's definitely tasty… but no, this won't do. I need to run the experiment again on a sober head.”
Perhaps because he'd been tortured by the phone all day, everything felt like too much effort. Sleep wouldn't come, so he lay on his bed staring blankly at the ceiling. Then a KakaoTalk message arrived from Hye-in.
Hye-in had received the message while on her way to an event in Daejeon. It said that a hundred and fifty million won — about a hundred and thirty thousand dollars — had been deposited into her account.
She was so happy she felt like she might cry. More money had landed in her account at once than she'd earned in her entire seven years with Five Girls.
The moment she arrived in Daejeon, she stopped by a bank and wired a hundred million won to her mother's account. Then she called her mom, and hearing her mother's crying voice through the phone, Hye-in found herself crying right along with her.
What more needed to be said?
This was just the beginning. She would work herself to the bone on promotions, and she would repay Young-hoon oppa for this, no matter what.
And of course, the best way to repay him would be to marry him — except she'd have to compete with the younger members for that. She was clearly in first place at the moment, so couldn't the kids just give up already? But she knew they'd fight to the bitter end, and a flicker of worry crossed her mind that the team might fall apart over this.
Joo-yeon received the message too. It was the largest sum of money she'd ever seen land in her account since her debut. A hundred and fifty million won.
Of course she called her mother right away. Her mom asked what on earth the money was for, and she vaguely brushed it off as a contract advance. Her mother was overjoyed, telling her to save up every penny she earned from now on — she'd need it when she got married. And then, naturally, came the question of how things were progressing with Young-hoon.
But there was nothing to report. You can't pick berries until you've seen the tree, and she couldn't even get a meeting with him. Exchanging the occasional text was the best she could manage — she counted herself lucky for that much.
This was just the beginning. If she only kept an eye on Hye-in unnie, a chance might come her way too — the thought made strength surge through her all at once.
Ring.
Ha-yeon stared down at her phone. For a moment, she doubted her own eyes. There were so many zeroes. It was the most money she'd ever earned in her life.
Of course she called her mother. Her mom was overjoyed too — she said she was going to brag to Ha-yeon's father. A while back, Ha-yeon had mentioned there was a man who'd caught her heart, and now her mother wanted to know when she'd be showing his face.
Haa~ The sigh came first. She'd have to meet him before she could even introduce him properly. Still, since her parents were eager to meet him, she'd make her move then.
The war had only just begun. And she had a certain confidence of her own — after all, she was the one member who'd been brought in without even an audition. She steeled herself to see this through to the very end.
Ga-eun was in the middle of a game when the message came through. With a small scowl of irritation, she checked the notification.
Whoa — what was this? A fortune had just landed. She'd heard the news already, but there it was, an astonishing amount sitting in her very own account.
Moments like these obviously called for a call to her mother. Her mom kept asking where the money had come from, refusing to quite believe it, then swelled with pride — that's my daughter. Ga-eun told her this was only the start. Then she declared that she had someone she liked and had already confessed to him.
When are you going to show us his face… Haa~ another sigh. If only she could actually get the man in front of her eyes.
But if she waited, the chance would surely come. And when it did, she'd snatch it up in one bite. Once again today, Ga-eun stoked her fighting spirit.
The maknae, Su-min, was no exception. Naturally, she called her father. Her dad seemed so overjoyed he could barely string words together — he appeared to be fighting back tears.
She told him she was sending him every last won of it. He practically leapt out of his seat, insisting she keep it for her wedding day. She shot back that she'd be earning plenty more from now on, so he should hurry up and pay the factory workers their overdue wages first. Her father thanked her.
Really, the person she should be thanking was Young-hoon oppa — if only she could actually get a look at his face. When she called, the line was busy; when she texted, she got a two-word reply. How was she supposed to make progress like this? Still, the odds were equal for everyone. She was the youngest and the prettiest, so she had a little premium of her own.
President Lee Jae-man was so deep in thought that sleep wouldn't come.
Before Chuseok, after an endless marathon of meetings, the decision had been made: Five Girls would be disbanded effective the end of September, and Girin Entertainment would shut its doors for good. Then their leader Hye-in had brought home her hometown oppa, Young-hoon, and the situation had turned one hundred and eighty degrees.
Things had taken a strange turn from the moment Five Girls' songs were chosen for the drama OST. A Loving Heart had been released on November 1st, but nothing much changed at first. The song was beyond superb — but with no marketing whatsoever to push it, a rise up the charts had seemed all but impossible.
Then, at the drama's press preview last Friday, Five Girls set off what you could only call an explosion. Since then, the girls had blanketed the internet, and A Loving Heart was sweeping every single music chart.
Last Saturday, Young-hoon had gathered the entire staff and handed full responsibility for management to him — along with a performance bonus of a hundred and fifty million won each. He was the nominal head of the company, but Young-hoon was its real owner, so yesterday he'd sent a work report by email. But Young-hoon told him not to bother with reports unless something important came up. Yet skipping the report entirely felt discourteous, and his heart was caught in the middle.
Once again, Young-hoon was the first one at the office. On his way in, he packed the three bottles of wine Ki-jin had asked for, along with a small supply of Magic Seasoning — he planned to test the seasoning on Assistant Manager Park today.
He pulled out his work notebook and ran through the day's schedule. Nothing internal was planned. Even on normal days, internal schedules rarely went beyond training and meetings — though orders tended to rain down irregularly. Externally, however, there was something important. His brother-in-law was going to introduce him to a man called Chairman Choi. That was bound to be an intimidating occasion.
Other than that, today he'd be cleaning up the mess Deputy General Manager Cho and Deputy Hong had made — and would keep making, without end, for the foreseeable future.
Just then, a brief text arrived from President Lee Jae-man.
Young-hoon typed back.
By the time he finished texting President Lee, the other employees had arrived. He studied their faces quietly — it was only Tuesday, and yet they looked more worn down than they usually did at month-end sales closing. Apparently the fallout from a full day of nonstop phone calls.
Assistant Manager Park at the next desk dropped into his chair like a sack of rice.
“Hey, Kim. You taking herbal tonics or something?”
“No? Why?”
“You look incredibly fresh.”
“Tonics, my foot. I'm just young.”
“So I'm a total old fossil then? You really do have a talent for saying the most annoying thing possible. Is that punk Deputy Hong late again today?”
“Probably. Huh, Deputy General Manager Cho is running late today too? The man who's punctual about absolutely everything.”
“Still not in?”
Young-hoon answered with a glance toward Cho's desk. It was nearly nine before Deputy General Manager Cho finally showed up, looking utterly haggard. Maybe he'd been running hard yesterday, or maybe the stress was getting to him. And yet his expression was no different from the day before. He had certainly heard the rumors by now, but he was maintaining a perfect poker face.
Before long, he called a meeting. Deputy Hong still hadn't arrived, so everyone except him gathered in the conference room.
“You all know about the nationwide marketing team leaders' meeting on November 10th? Prepare the presentation materials thoroughly, and build the sales report assuming we hit only the base targets. Deputy Hong is on leave today and tomorrow — there's a family matter, so that's that. And I'm on an out-of-office trip today, so call if anything urgent comes up. I'll be at the executive office, so Manager Kim, please run the rest of the meeting.”
Deputy General Manager Cho said his piece and walked straight out of the conference room. As usual. He rarely had any intention of listening to anyone else.
“You've all heard from the team leader, so — we're supposed to present our best sales performance cases at the nationwide marketing leaders' meeting… and honestly, I'm struggling with how to structure the report, because we don't exactly have any standout cases. It's not as though we can claim we hit our targets by dumping fake deliveries into the wholesale market, either. I'll put the report together myself, so each of you bring me one case by tomorrow. As for the sales targets, Kim, compile those and get them to me — at the base level of three billion won that we reported at the start of the year. Got it?”
“Yes, sir. Thanks to Deputy Hong, we're basically starting thirty percent ahead of the base target already.”
“Exactly. And Park — check on the status of the customer complaints that came into our team last month and report back. Shouldn't be too many.”
“Aside from the phone complaints, it's just a handful — some air conditioners leaking water, that sort of thing. I'll have the resolution report to you by tomorrow.”
“Good. Just don't be late — it's going into the leaders' meeting report. Alright, let's get out there and get to work.”