Manager Kim's Crisis (2)
As far as anyone could tell, there was no longer anything to be seen.
"So did Manager Kim actually say 'yes, sir' when you told him to do it? Don't you think you're playing favorites with Manager Kim a little too much, Team Leader?"
"Hey, Deputy Hong! Aren't you going way too far? You have zero respect for the chain of command!"
"Well, you should worry about yourself, Team Leader. For all you know, your fate could change next month. I almost feel sorry for you. You work yourself to the bone, and what do you get... Anyway, you two deputies over there, start behaving yourselves. The days of you groveling to me are numbered. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off."
It was the moment a whirlwind tore through an otherwise peaceful Monday morning. Deputy Hong shoved his chair back, stormed out of the conference room, and slammed the door behind him. The team members left inside, Manager Kim included, sank into a state of complete mental collapse.
Young-hoon knew he had to get this situation under control, and fast. He sent Employees Kim Jin-man and Lee Ji-young out of the room, then did his best to console Manager Kim alongside Park Dae-ri.
"Team Leader, it seems like Deputy Hong has something going on at home. I hope you'll be understanding."
"Kim Dae-ri, do you think I'm deaf and blind? I know full well whose backing that punk Hong is strutting around on."
"I'm sorry, what...? How do you know about that?"
"His father is Hong Sang-gyu, the president of LK Chemical. In other words, he's the Chairman's nephew. I've known longer than either of you have. What worries me is what the little bastard said on his way out. 'Worry about yourself'—'I feel sorry for you.' I can't make heads or tails of what he meant by that. I'm certain he's been in contact with our Deputy Head about something."
Only then did Young-hoon understand why Manager Kim's expression hadn't changed at all during the month-end team dinner. The man's mouth truly was sealed tight.
Young-hoon had a rough idea of what Deputy Hong had been implying when he stormed out, but it didn't seem wise to say so out loud in this company. For now, the wisest course was to watch how things unfolded. The meeting wrapped up with a lingering, unpleasant aftertaste—like someone who'd done his business and walked off without wiping.
When they stepped out of the conference room, Deputy Hong was nowhere to be seen; he'd already left his desk. Off playing hooky, no doubt.
Park Dae-ri's face was grave. Watching Deputy Hong commit what amounted to open insubordination this morning seemed to have pushed him to some kind of decision.
"Should I really keep working at this crappy company?"
"Why worry so much? You can always go work at your dad's hospital. Me, I'll go farm."
"Don't talk nonsense. Do you actually mean it about quitting?"
"How many people at this company aren't thinking about quitting? Probably even that punk Deputy Hong wants out."
"Deputy Hong's reasons for wanting to quit are nothing like ours, though. Kim Dae-ri, if you quit, let's quit together."
"What would the two of us quitting together even accomplish? Don't tell me—opening a coffee shop?"
"Ha! Kim Dae-ri, you could win a bet with nothing but a bare mat and still come out on top."
The truth was, Young-hoon felt like handing in his resignation that very moment. But he'd steeled himself to throw in his papers only once this crisis was resolved—because somehow, he had to bring Manager Kim along with him. Yet listening to Park Dae-ri now, what sounded like a joke clearly wasn't just a joke.
Should I take this guy with me too? Better sound him out first.
"Quit kidding around. What Deputy Hong said as he stormed out of that conference room—you understood it, right?"
"Probably the same thing you did. So what happens to Manager Kim now?"
"That's exactly it. How is a guy that capable been buried in China of all places..."
"He blew the whistle on internal corruption at the company there, didn't he? That's why some executive blacklisted him and shipped him back to Korea. And now he's on the verge of becoming Deputy Head Cho and Deputy Hong's fall guy all over again..."
"Wait—tell me the truth. Was Manager Kim actually involved in this phone shipment mess?"
Young-hoon had long suspected that Deputy Head Cho would make Manager Kim his scapegoat, but now that it was staring him in the face, he found himself flustered. Park Dae-ri seemed to have his own suspicions as well, and true to his self-proclaimed reputation as a master detective, he laid out his theory.
"This is just my take, mind you. At the end of the month, Manager Kim handled the phone shipment, right? I think they're going to call him out for forcing the shipment through despite the missing components. And the shipment itself went out under Manager Kim's direct handling."
"So then how does the rest of the scenario play out, Kim Dae-ri?"
"Deputy Hong's probably in cahoots with the retail distributor. Delivery was scheduled for October, but it got pushed to November 'for reasons on the buyer's end.' Then the distributor asked Deputy Hong to ship in November, but while he was off on vacation, Manager Kim forced the shipment through. The distributor didn't have the funds to settle at month's end, so they dumped the stock onto the electronics wholesale market. Sound about right for a scenario?"
"So they pin the whole thing on Manager Kim? If it plays out exactly the way you're predicting, Kim Dae-ri... honestly, it gives me chills. You're not a master detective in name only after all."
"Better late than never. Bottom line: the guy who worked like an ox gets a heavy disciplinary measure, while that weasel Deputy Hong slithers away scot-free. I swear, I don't know why the world is so goddamn rotten."
"And there's not exactly anything we can do to help Manager Kim, either."
Just then, Park Dae-ri seemed to remember something and made a suggestion.
"Kim Dae-ri, back when I was a new hire in Sales Support, I had a mentor—and he's now a Manager in Audit Team 2. Should we look into it?"
"Would he actually be able to help Manager Kim?"
"Well, knock and the door shall open. Let me find out what I can, then we'll talk it over together."
"All right. Then please, do everything you can."
By the time Young-hoon returned to his desk, his KakaoTalk was already lighting up—the ritual afternoon conversation with Five Girls. But with everything that had happened, he didn't have the bandwidth for banter, so he asked for a rain check right away.
In the middle of something important right now.
When it came to this phone debacle, there was nothing Young-hoon could do for Manager Kim right now. All he could do was hold onto one plan: if this incident drove Manager Kim out of the company, that would be the moment to recruit him. He was genuinely convinced that leaving might turn out to be the better outcome for the man. The situation around him was suffocating, but for now, all he could do was watch and wait.
Having already resolved to leave the company, Young-hoon refused to let Deputy Hong's tantrum ruffle him. What mattered far more than that clown's antics was how he would move his own business forward from here.
He picked up his phone and contacted Executive Director Yoo Eui-hyun, telling him he'd be heading over to the Synergy Building around two in the afternoon and asking him to be at his desk. Then he tried to focus on work—but concentration simply wouldn't come. The hours crawled along through the unsettled atmosphere until, somehow, lunchtime arrived.
He took Manager Kim and Park Dae-ri to a budae-jjigae joint near the office and got the meal over with quickly. Whether it was the morning's commotion or not, the mood at the table was thoroughly deflated. After a moment of hesitation, Young-hoon excused himself and headed for the Synergy Building in Gangnam.
Today was the first time he stepped foot inside the office Chairman Jang had arranged for him. An adjoining room sat out front, which looked perfect for use as a secretarial office or the like if the company expanded down the line. The office as a whole was slightly smaller than Chairman Jang's own executive suite, but it was equipped with a table that could seat at least ten people for a meeting. Looking out the window, the sight of high-rises lined up shoulder to shoulder gave him the full flavor of the city, and somehow his chest felt like it had been flung wide open.
He was sitting in his chair, marveling at the view, when Chairman Jang swept in with several people in tow.
"What's the occasion today? Not coming to my office—wanting to meet here of all places?"
"Oh? I was actually here to see Executive Director Yoo. What brings you here, Chairman?"
"Come now, why do you think Kim Daepyo asked to meet Yoo? Because he's got some worries about the business, obviously. So out with it—tell me everything."
"Um, and the other gentlemen here would be...?"
"Young-hoon, all you need to know is Executive Director Yoo. The rest are hands-on staff—call them Yoo's team members, that's close enough. This one is Team Leader Min, and this one is Team Leader Jung. Those two are all you need to remember."
"Understood. Then let me get to it. I mentioned before that I was writing a drama script—do you happen to remember that?"
"You rascal, do you think I don't know I'm fifty-two? My memory's still razor-sharp. You promised to show me the moment you finished writing it, didn't you?"
Young-hoon held out a USB drive as he spoke.
"Yes, my apologies for the oversight. On this USB is the full script for a twenty-episode miniseries. I've titled it Love Met Again, though if a better name comes along later, we're free to change it. Please have it reviewed with this first. If it gets the green light, I'd like to move straight on to the next stage."
"Hold on—you wrote the entire script for all twenty episodes? Who does that these days? Executive Director Yoo, what's the current practice?"
"Yes, Chairman. These days, four episodes plus a synopsis is considered sufficient. Writers only begin writing in earnest once a drama's broadcast slot is confirmed. For Kim Daepyo to have already finished all twenty episodes—it's truly remarkable, sir."
Taking the opportunity, Young-hoon laid out his plans and his ambitions for the road ahead.
"Ah, I'm not ignorant of current practice, but we have absolutely no intention of sharing the copyright with any broadcaster. In other words, we'll produce it ourselves and sell the finished product to a network."
Met with looks of surprise all around, Young-hoon stated his position with firm conviction.
"We won't be accepting outsourcing commissions from broadcasters. To make that work, full pre-production is non-negotiable. If the substance is solid, there's no need to be shackled to convention. So we will do this without a single scrap script, and with at least ten episodes fully pre-produced. We will not be foolish enough to shoot on a stopwatch."
"Kim Daepyo has it right. Under the fine-sounding pretext of 'checking audience trends,' this country rushes its dramas to air at a frantic pace far too often. That's no way to produce a masterpiece. I wholeheartedly support Kim Daepyo's position."
With Chairman Jang throwing his weight behind him, Young-hoon pushed forward his plans with full confidence.
"As the Chairman says, shooting off scrap scripts is far too common in this industry. I intend to put an end to that practice. That's why I'm asking Executive Director Yoo's team to dispassionately evaluate whether the drama script I've written has any real chance of success. And if Executive Director Yoo says no, then this script gets thrown away. That's my resolve."
Having seen Young-hoon's determination for himself, Executive Director Yoo Eui-hyun answered with careful deliberation.
"Understood, sir. As you say, I will commission industry experts and thoroughly assess the script's prospects. By when should the review be complete?"
"Executive Director Yoo, print a copy for me as well. Three days ought to be enough to look it over, no?"
"Then, per the Chairman's instruction, we will finish the review by Wednesday."
"Then we'll meet again on Thursday."
"Executive Director Yoo, have your team push the review through as quickly as they reasonably can. Now, everyone, off to work—and Kim Daepyo, come with me to my office."
In the Chairman's office, Young-hoon and Chairman Jang picked up the conversation they hadn't been able to finish out front.
"Honestly... just where do your abilities end, Kim Daepyo? I truly never expected you to bring me a complete drama script in so little time."
"It's my first attempt, so I hope you'll be understanding if the content leaves something to be desired."
Before long, Secretary Byun arrived with the printed script and placed it before Chairman Jang. Leafing through the thick stack of pages, the Chairman let out a fresh gasp of admiration.
"With a full-time job on top of everything, when in the world did you find time to write this much?"
"I wrote in the margins of my evenings after work, but mostly on weekends."
"Remarkable, as always. Secretary Byun, you read it too and give me your impressions."
"Yes, Chairman."
"Kim Daepyo, you're aware the old man Choi is in a sulk, aren't you?"
"Ah, because he lost at Go-Stop and had to buy you two meals?"
"Ha! Choi would never sulk over something that petty."
"Then he has nothing to sulk about, does he?"
"He's sulking because I haven't handed him any work to do—what else would it be? Last time, it was the elixir powder and meeting Dr. Shim. Today it's the drama team, so he's sulking even harder. Give it a few minutes and he'll come strolling over here on his own."
Speak of the tiger and he shall appear—before Chairman Jang had even finished talking, Chairman Choi swung the door open and marched in with Executive Director Kim Sang-hoo at his side.
"You old rascal Choi, you'll never make a gentleman. We were just talking about you."
"What were you saying? Don't tell me you were badmouthing me?"
"Of course not, sir. We were just discussing how the Chairman should give you some work to do."
"Is that so? And what exactly were you discussing?"
Chairman Choi's eyes were sparkling like a child's.