Limitless LLC.
A limited liability company called Limitless.
It was a fledgling startup less than six months old, yet in that brief span of time, Limitless had hurled nothing short of a nuclear bomb into the Korean job market and stirred up an absolutely colossal storm.
Someone had posted a Limitless pay stub online, and it had spread like wildfire across every community on the internet. And as people stared at that pay stub, they were stunned to realize that the 100-million-won annual salary the CEO of Limitless had promised was not a joke — it was real.
It was the kind of high salary that no one outside a major conglomerate or the financial sector could even dream of. And precisely because of that, Limitless's unorthodox trajectory threw Korean society as a whole into chaos across a dozen different fronts.
"Boss, I need a raise."
"What……? What's this all of a sudden?"
"Come on, there are companies out there where first-years take home over 7 million a month. What about us? I'm in my fourth year and I'm still making minimum wage. No overtime pay, either."
"That's…… that's because we're on a salaried-exemption contract! Anyway, no raise! You know perfectly well the company's struggling!"
"Struggling how? The same guy who says the company's broke sent his son to school in America and just traded in the company car for a brand-new imported one."
"You little punk……"
"If you won't give me a raise, I quit. I'd be better off learning a trade and applying to Limitless instead."
"Hey, wait! You can't do that. If you quit, who's going to handle the work?"
"? What does that have to do with me?"
"No, hey! Just…… hold on a second! Fine, I hear you — let's talk this through."
Across the country, owners of small and mid-sized businesses — stingy about raises no matter how much their revenue climbed — were sweating buckets trying to calm down employees who had suddenly risen up demanding higher wages.
"Mom, I don't want to go to college."
"Huh? What nonsense is this all of a sudden?"
"Even a degree from a top university doesn't get you a job these days anyway. Money's tight at home, so why waste time and cash chasing a diploma? I think it'd be smarter to learn a skill and start job hunting sooner."
"……?"
Students were shattering the unspoken social rule that a university degree was simply a given, abandoning the path of academia in droves on the logic that learning a trade was the better bet.
"Why is this all the manpower you have?"
"Don't make me laugh! Finding skilled tradesmen these days is like plucking stars from the sky! Stars, I tell you!"
"……. I'm sorry, what?"
"That place — Limitless or whatever it's called — scooped up a whole horde of certified skilled workers! Every last one of the good ones has vanished, so now finding people is a full-time job! A job!"
Like a black hole, Limitless had sucked up every tradesman with a name for himself in the construction industry, and now construction firms across the board were suffering through a labor shortage none of them had seen coming.
Limitless had shaken Korea's once-peaceful job market to its foundations. And there were plenty of people who looked upon the situation with a critical eye.
It was, in essence, one giant act of sabotage — a naked display of throwing money around designed to screw over every rival construction firm in the country.
And their criticism wasn't entirely off base. Thanks to Limitless, mass strikes and worker walkouts were triggering work stoppages and delays at firm after firm, and several construction companies were bleeding money because of it.
Limitless itself, buried under an enormous payroll, was clearly headed for a massive deficit as well.
But…… of course, that didn't mean I had any intention of backing down.
"I'm an investigator with the Ministry of Employment and Labor……. My name is Kim Han-seok."
"Yes. CEO of Limitless — Kang Gun."
Seated across from me was a labor ministry investigator who kept fidgeting with his teacup, his face practically announcing how uncomfortable he felt.
He clearly hadn't expected me to come out and handle him personally, because he repeated what he'd said earlier almost word for word.
"Well…… I'm sure you're busy, so there's really no need for you to meet with me directly. A brief interview with someone from your HR team would be more than sufficient……"
"No, no. You've come all the way out here in person to investigate a matter concerning my company, so the least I can do is receive you myself."
"……"
"Please, don't feel pressured. Speak freely. What brings you out here to investigate us?"
At my bright, easy smile, the investigator seemed to resign himself to the situation and let out a long sigh. He pulled out a few documents, put on his glasses, and began.
"First…… to explain why I'm here: we've recently received a large volume of complaints against Limitless."
"Complaints?"
"Yes. It's been alleged that Limitless's recent hiring practices…… disrupted the labor market and constituted unfair conduct by poaching personnel from competing companies."
"Oh……"
"There have also been reports…… that you applied discriminatory criteria favoring a particular class of people in your hiring."
"I see."
The investigator walked me through the contents of the complaints that had come in against Limitless. I listened quietly, then organized what I'd understood into my own words and asked him.
"So, if I'm hearing you right — the problem is that I'm paying the people who do lowly construction work far too much money……. Something like that?"
"No, that's not quite……"
"Or is the problem that, unlike other companies that pinch pennies by working day laborers, contract workers, and interns to the bone for the lowest possible cost and then tossing them out without mercy the second they're used up, I've offered stable full-time positions to young people suffering through an employment crisis — and now those other companies are short on the slaves…… ahem, the manpower they need to exploit?"
"……"
At my words, the investigator could offer no reply. His mouth simply clamped shut.
"If that's really the problem, shall I step outside this office right now and make an announcement? That the Ministry of Employment and Labor has flagged our company's wage and employment structure as a problem, and that regrettably, we'll be cutting wages by, oh, fifty percent — no, make it sixty — and converting everyone from full-time employees to fixed-term contract workers and day laborers?"
"N-no, that's not what I……!"
"I imagine our employees would give you a very, very enthusiastic welcome, Investigator."
Investigator Kim Han-seok had the sudden, visceral intuition that if that happened, there was no guarantee he would make it out of this building alive. Feeling his life flash before his eyes, he went white as a sheet.
Then, after a deep sigh, he spoke with complete candor.
"Look…… sir…… no, Mr. CEO. If I'm being completely honest with you, I didn't want to come here in the first place."
He'd been radiating a distinct lack of enthusiasm from the moment he'd walked in. Now, all at once, he began pouring out his grievances to me like a man unburdening himself at last.
"I know perfectly well that there's nothing wrong with your company, Mr. CEO. This isn't labor exploitation or wage theft — paying workers a high wage is something that deserves praise, if anything. But when a complaint comes in, we're obligated to conduct an investigation, even if it's just going through the motions."
"I understand a hundred percent if you're annoyed that we showed up out of nowhere. But I'd appreciate it if you'd understand my position a little, too."
I'm not here to make trouble. I'll just pretend to investigate and leave. That was the message of surrender the investigator was waving at me like a white flag. I put on my most sympathetic expression and responded.
"Ahh…… so that's how it is."
"Yes. So with your permission, I'll just review a few documents about the recently hired staff with your HR manager and be on my way. There won't be any problems, so please don't worry."
The investigator reassured me over and over that nothing would ever redound to Limitless's disadvantage.
I nodded along to his assurances, then asked.
"By all means. So — who exactly were the people who filed these absurd complaints?"
"……. I'm sorry, what?"
The investigator blinked at me, caught off guard, and echoed the question back. Then, looking distinctly uncomfortable, he forced the words out.
"I'm very sorry, but that…… I'm not able to disclose."
"Why not?"
"The identity of public-interest whistleblowers is…… that is…… personal information……. I'm sorry."
The investigator bowed his head, making it clear that this much he could not reveal. But I wasn't particularly disappointed. I hadn't asked the question expecting an answer from his mouth in the first place.
Hmm…… a coalition of small and mid-sized construction firms filed the complaints. They can't match the employee benefits you dangled, Grandpa, so it looks like they tried to throw sand in the gears……. Oh? A few of the big construction companies were preparing to pull the same stunt, too?
Alex had already shaken down every last detail of the matter back when the Ministry of Employment and Labor first called to say they'd be visiting the company for an investigation. With his help, I'd had the entire story — beginning, middle, and end — mapped out from the start, which meant there was no reason whatsoever to shrink back or tread carefully.
If anything……
You know what they say — the pot calling the kettle black. The ones who filed complaints demanding an investigation are the ones who deserve to be investigated themselves, wouldn't you say? An absolutely premium-grade bundle of degenerates.
It was a deeply ironic situation: people whose own affairs were rotten enough that a formal ministry investigation would have stripped them bare and landed them in court had bombarded the ministry with complaints demanding that Limitless be investigated.
And so, to the investigator still bowing his head in apology, I replied with a bright smile.
"Not at all. The protection of public-interest whistleblowers is something we absolutely have to uphold. Of course, of course."
At my response — so quick to drop the subject and move on — the investigator let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank you for understanding. Then I'll take my leave……"
"Oh, before you go……"
Every line of his face screamed how desperately he wanted to escape this office. As he moved toward the door, I stopped him and asked, the picture of innocence.
"I was thinking of filing a few public-interest complaints of my own. Would that be all right?"
"……. I'm sorry, what?"
The investigator echoed the question back with a perfectly blank expression, as if to say he couldn't possibly have heard me right. But I was already pulling open the drawer and lifting out an extremely thick…… a very, very thick set of binders — documents Alex had extracted by one means or another, crammed with a record of every atrocity the construction firms of this industry had committed as a matter of routine.
"You see, when I first entered the construction business, there was so much I didn't know about the industry, so I studied up on it quite diligently in advance. Which means I did a little personal research into how other companies run their projects…… and what exactly all these so-called 'industry practices' entail."
"……"
Binders stuffed with documents that were, at a glance, thousands of pages long — and no fewer than nine of them came tumbling out of that steel filing cabinet. Staring at the mountain of paperwork stacked on the desk, Investigator Kim Han-seok froze solid.
"It's quite something, let me tell you. Unpaid wages, violations of working-hour limits, failure to draft employment contracts, noncompliance with safety regulations. Concealed industrial accidents, workers left off industrial-accident insurance, withheld safety equipment, illegal labor dispatch…… oh, and there are violations of the Minimum Wage Act and the 52-hour workweek in here too. At this point they've committed every illegal act known to man, one of each — there really are a lot of people living outside the law, aren't there?"
Dozens of construction firms. Some bore names he'd never heard before, but plenty of them were heavyweight names anyone would recognize — and cold sweat broke out across Kim Han-seok's face all on its own.
"Well, since you're already here…… I'd appreciate it if you'd investigate these companies just as thoroughly as you're investigating mine, and see whether there's anything problematic going on."
Give them an inch and they'll take a mile…… no. This was more like tossing out a light jab only for the other side to pull out a machine gun and open fire in every direction.
I placed in his hands a bomb of truly colossal proportions — one no single investigator could ever hope to contain……
And then, wearing the guileless face of a worried twenty-something young man, I asked:
"The identities of public-interest whistleblowers are kept strictly confidential, right?"