The Wrath of Deputy General Manager Cho
Evening had fallen while Young-hoon lay sprawled across his bed, letting his thoughts wander wherever they pleased.
He was planning to whip up a simple dinner from the side dishes Su-jin had made that morning when the phone rang — his mother, calling from the countryside.
It was painfully obvious that Su-jin had run her mouth to their mother.
"Mother? What's the occasion this Sunday evening? Have you eaten dinner yet?"
But his mother's voice drifted through the receiver, soft and mellow as the shimmering haze over spring fields.
[Son, your mother's heart is hurting. You were planning to live with Su-jin, weren't you? How could you not say a single word to me about it? And they say the house you bought is as big as a palace?]
Young-hoon's mother had begun to pour out all the hurt feelings she'd been quietly nursing.
Young-hoon did nothing but listen, for a full ten minutes and more.
[Son, are you still listening?]
"Yes, of course."
She checked in on him even as she kept talking, and for another ten minutes after that, her words flowed without a single pause for breath.
In the end, Young-hoon, worn out from listening, raised the white flag.
"Mother, I'm sorry. I was wrong."
[You'd better be, you rascal! The oldest daughter of Mr. Shin's family next door sent home a hundred million won, and that woman threw a whole village feast over it. I suppose her eldest has made it big now. This week she's supposedly off to dine at a luxury hotel in Seoul and spend the night there too. Watching that woman brag makes my eyes burn — I can't stand the sight of her anymore.]
"Well, that's wonderful for her, truly."
[And yet you — you earn all that money, buy a whole house, and not one word to your own mother? Aigoo, they say raising children comes to nothing in the end. Looks like I'm living proof of it.]
Like most men, Young-hoon had a habit of keeping even his proudest accomplishments close to the vest. Part of the reason he hadn't mentioned moving into a big house was that he'd assumed Su-jin would report it on her own without any prompting from him.
Now that his mother knew, he would have to smooth things over somehow.
"Then why don't you come up that day with Father? Stay with us for a few days and rest before heading back down."
The moment the words left his mouth, his mother's voice transformed from the chill of midwinter wind into the balmy southerly breezes of May.
[Son, would that really be all right? It's the farming off-season anyway, so we don't have much to do...]
"Of course. You can ride up with Hye-in's parents. I'll come meet you all at Dong Seoul Terminal."
[You mean it, my son?]
"You should arrive around five o'clock, I'd think."
[Got it, my son. See you then.]
"Yes. Good night, Mother."
Young-hoon's original plan had been to bring his parents up on Saturday. That was the day his cousin was moving in as well, so he'd thought to gather everyone in one go — but apparently Hye-in's mother had trumpeted the news to the whole countryside.
His mother's pride had surely taken the brunt of it.
Everything was going to come out that day regardless, so what harm could there be in learning it three days early? Besides, Young-hoon had come into a mountain of money, and he'd made up his mind to repay his parents properly for everything they'd done. He decided to start by showering them with an allowance — a hefty one.
He briefly considered ten billion won, but that was far too much. His parents would never, of course, but a sudden flood of that much money could breed real trouble. Better to give them around one billion won for now, and he resolved to build them a beautiful new house come next spring.
As it turned out, the long phone call with his mother had left both the rice and the side dishes stone cold. He'd have to heat everything up again.
And Su-jin — that girl had never once surprised him. He'd have to give her a proper scolding later.
After dinner he checked the time: barely eight o'clock. He decided to spend the evening transcribing the drama's script through episode fifteen. Chairman Jang needed to see it as soon as possible, so there was no time to waste.
He lost himself in the work, and before he knew it, it was nearly midnight. He needed sleep if he was going to make it into the office tomorrow.
He showered and readied himself for bed — but Su-jin, that girl, was apparently working overtime again and still hadn't come home.
The moment his head hit the pillow, sleep came pouring in.
And so another day slipped away.
Monday — the start of a new week.
Once again, Young-hoon was the first into the office. He glanced around to make sure no one was there, then pulled out his work notebook to review the week's schedule.
This week held quite a few important engagements. Today he had to deliver a bottle of the Elixir to Director Park; tomorrow came the lyric recording for Returned Love. The day after that, he was due to have dinner with the families of Girin Entertainment's staff, and on Thursday he had a meeting with Ha-yeon's father to commission an analysis of the Magic Additive's effects.
Once again, his week outside of work was packed tight. But everything seemed to be moving along smoothly, and his spirits were light.
First things first — tonight, on his way home, he would stop by Chunghyo General Hospital and hand Director Park the bottle of Elixir.
Though he still had no idea how much longer he could keep Park Dae-ri in the dark.
Young-hoon fetched a cup of coffee from the break room and stirred in a pinch of the Magic Seasoning. He was, by now, hopelessly addicted to magic coffee.
Just then, the phone rang. At this hour, only one person ever called — President Lee Jae-man. The morning phone call had become as much a part of the daily routine as clocking in.
"Good morning, President Lee. How was your weekend?"
[Aigoo, Mr. Kim. Weekends are busier for us than weekdays. Not that I'm complaining — the extra work puts me in a good mood.]
"I'm sorry. I was under the impression yours was a fairly ordinary life."
[Please, no need for that. Let me run through a brief report for today. Yesterday's schedule went off without a hitch. But after running seven events, the girls' stamina seems to be dropping off noticeably. Following your advice, Mr. Kim, we're playing the long game — I'll make sure we never exceed five events in a single day.]
"Yes. I'd be very grateful if you would."
[Today I'll proceed with the lease contracts for the office and the dormitory. And for the family dinner the day after tomorrow, I'd like to hold it at a hotel in Seoul. Your thoughts, please.]
"Certainly. I'll leave the contracts entirely in your hands. Also — my parents will be attending the dinner the day after tomorrow, so please look after them as well. As for the venue, any luxury hotel will do."
[Understood. Then let's make today a great one.]
"You too, President Lee."
By the time he hung up, the other employees were trickling into the office one by one. Jae-man arrived back from his week-long promotion training, visibly plumper — no surprise, really, since he'd spent every day of it eating, sleeping, and sitting through lectures, with zero work stress to burn any of it off.
Deputy General Manager Cho had reported in exactly on time, too, and would be convening a meeting shortly — feedback time on the results of last Friday's nationwide marketing team leaders' conference. With plenty to relay today, the meeting would likely run a little long.
Deputy Hong, that bastard, was off at promotion training all week. A whole seven days without having to lay eyes on that insufferable creature. With no one whining at his side all day, the week promised to fly by.
And sure enough, Deputy General Manager Cho called the meeting. All the staff — everyone except Deputy Hong and Lee Ji-young — filed into the conference room.
"I'll walk you through the results of the nationwide marketing team leaders' conference held this past November, so take notes if you need to. First — you all worked hard pushing sales in October. As everyone knows, our team is number one in cumulative sales for January through October, and number one in target achievement as well. All that's left now is the qualitative evaluation, so keep up the effort. November sales only need to hit the baseline plan of three billion won. The Managing Director says don't overextend yourselves — and above all, do not let the dealerships build up inventory. As for the October sales excellence reports, Manager Kim's presentation materials were so well put together that he earned praise from the Managing Director himself."
There was an uncharacteristic hollowness to Deputy General Manager Cho's voice. Any other day, he might have taken a swipe at Young-hoon, but nothing of the sort — he simply pressed on with his remarks.
"Also, the Hankook University tender won praise from the Vice Chairman. That's not any one person's achievement — I want everyone on this team to take it as our collective credit. And last, customer complaint numbers are rising, so step up the courtesy training at the dealerships. Deputy Hong is at promotion training this week, so Manager Kim — distribute the dealerships under his charge among the team members as you see fit, and make sure there are no gaps. Anything else? No? Then we're done."
Every employee, Young-hoon included, left the room without having managed a single word, having heard nothing but the Deputy General Manager's monologue. Everyone was left bewildered by his bearing — as though he had quietly set down every burden he carried.
That's not like him at all...
The moment the meeting ended, Deputy General Manager Cho announced he was heading to the Managing Director's office and walked out.
When a man like that started making frequent trips to the Managing Director's office, it was a sure sign something dangerous was brewing — so why did his chest suddenly feel so uneasy? In the awkward silence that followed, Park Dae-ri pulled Young-hoon into the break room.
"Park Dae-ri, doesn't it rub you the wrong way, Cho going straight to the Managing Director's office? I'm pretty sure Managing Director Kim was the one behind the dumping scandal last time..."
"Tell me about it. That's exactly what worries me. Though I have to say, thinking I won't have to see that bastard Deputy Hong for a whole week does put a little spring in my step."
"Fair enough — that guy's a walking tumor. Do you think he might get transferred to another department in this personnel shuffle? If that bastard's still around, I'm jumping ship to another department, no question."
"You think you get a say in that?"
While Young-hoon and Park Dae-ri gossiped away in the break room, Deputy General Manager Cho sat facing Managing Director Kim, his expression heavy as lead.
"Cho, I think President Jung of Kyungin Distribution has us by the balls. It's got me so worried I couldn't sleep a wink."
"Managing Director, what's happened?"
"As you know, business conditions in the electronics market have been terrible lately. Last Thursday, I had dinner with the owner of Dong Seoul Dealership — our top-performing agency — and he told me someone's been dumping phones into the commercial market. He eventually tracked down the source: Kyungin Distribution under my jurisdiction, and a place called Gyeongbuk Distribution in Daegu, under Managing Director Choi's southern region. The Dealership Association is pushing to file an official inquiry with our head office audit department, and — that lunatic son of a bitch wants me to ship out the TVs fast."
"Managing Director... don't tell me that man has something on you."
"That health tonic you brought me when we had dinner, remember? There was a hundred million won tucked inside. And I took two hundred million more on the condition of delivering the TVs at the start of the month."
Deputy General Manager Cho had suspected something was off from the moment Managing Director Kim ordered the fake TV deliveries to Kyungin Distribution — but he'd never dreamed the man had taken money.
Still, the first fire had to be put out first.
"This is a disaster. If a complaint letter lands on the audit desk, an audit is practically one hundred percent certain... and if the TVs get dumped into the electronics market on top of that, this thing will balloon beyond anyone's control."
"That's exactly why I'm preparing a little theater to keep the audit team to a document review only. As it happens, Hong the Executive Director of Audit is three years my senior from the same school. So here's what I need — go meet the president of Kyungin Distribution. Persuade him to treat the fake TV deliveries as if they never happened, and if it comes to that, we'll return the two hundred million."
A curse rose unbidden in Deputy General Manager Cho's throat.
You shameless bastard — you were planning to swallow those two hundred million won whole? No wonder I've ended up like this, serving a rotten piece of trash like you as my superior. And now you've dug all these holes yourself and expect me to fill them in?!
But anyone who said exactly what was on his mind wouldn't last long as a corporate man. Choking down the boiling fury, Cho answered evenly.
"Understood. I'll give it a try."
"Look, if this blows up, you and I both go down together. I've got a decent pile of money set aside, so it won't ruin me — but you, Cho, your kids are still young. I'll do what I can to block the phone matter, so you just work on shutting President Jung's mouth."
"I'll do my very best."
You son of a bitch.
"Check in with me on progress now and then. Now get going."
"Yes, sir."
The truth was, Deputy General Manager Cho had already grasped the full picture by Thursday afternoon. The dumping evidence had been secured, and the complaint had already gone to the audit office — there was no dodging this one, no wriggling out of it. And he was the one who'd played the field commander, unable to resist Managing Director Kim's lure, which meant he would take the heaviest punishment of all.
But Managing Director Kim had gone and accepted money on top of it, putting himself in line for an even harsher penalty. Otherwise the man would hardly be thrashing about so desperately to survive.
Ten to one, he'd been planning to cut off his own tail by making Cho the scapegoat.
And yet, from Deputy General Manager Cho's perspective, things weren't all bad. If he could just clean up the TV matter and seal President Jung's lips... a faint thread of hope was beginning to show.
He was never getting out of this quagmire anyway. The only sensible move, he decided, was to steer things in whatever direction bought his corporate life a few more days.
For now, meeting President Jung — the man who'd lit the fuse on this whole affair — was the most urgent order of business.