Tumor (2)
The young president, who had always been unfailingly polite to the employees, had everyone holding their breath at the sudden change in him.
He fixed his eyes on Team Leader Jo with a ferocity like a guard dog growling at a stranger.
Manager Park Han-soo, Team Leader Kim Young-sook, and the others swallowed hard, looking back and forth between the young president and Team Leader Jo.
"It did come out of our line... There might have been a little problem. But what is that attitude, anyway? No matter how much of a president you are, I’m still older than you. Is this really how you treat people?"
"Everyone makes mistakes. I make mistakes too. If it were just a mistake, I wouldn’t be this angry."
"What did you say?"
"Do you know why, when that sample failed the tensile strength test earlier, I asked for fabric from another line as if I’d been waiting for it?"
Seung-hyun cut himself off, gave a faint laugh, and walked forward, brushing past Team Leader Jo with a chill in his stride.
Every employee’s gaze followed him.
As Seung-hyun strode toward the line, Team Leader Jo flashed a momentary look of panic, then followed after him with a face that said there was nothing else he could do.
The employees held their breath and trailed behind.
Once he reached the line, Seung-hyun dropped to one knee and pointed a finger at a corner of the panel installed on the work machine.
"Here. The panel settings have been changed, haven’t they? The optimum angle should be 37 to 38 degrees, but the CCTV caught someone raising it to 42 degrees at dawn yesterday."
Team Leader Jo Han-gyeol’s eyes went wide.
Gasps of "Really?" broke out among the employees.
He had pinpointed something no one else had known with such precision that it was impossible not to feel rattled.
A few days earlier, Seung-hyun had confirmed through the CCTV that Jo had tampered with the line.
After watching him handle the machine, he checked the fabric and even assessed the defect rate.
If every roll from Team Leader Jo’s line had been defective, he would have been caught immediately, so he had calculated things carefully, adjusting only enough that eight rolls would look normal and two would show problems.
Seung-hyun had originally planned to act at once, but he had a feeling Taesung Apparel would send QC soon, so he held back and waited for the right opportunity.
Sure enough, after hearing the day before that QC would be coming today, he watched Team Leader Jo secretly tamper with the machine this morning when no one was looking, recorded the whole thing, and saved it.
He had gone this far not only to catch Jo, but for another reason as well.
Team Leader Jo forced a smile and tried to deny it.
"What... CCTV? Someone must’ve messed with it overnight. You can’t say for sure it was me."
"Are you sure?"
Seung-hyun took out his phone and displayed a photo he had captured from the previous night’s recording.
Though blurry, it still clearly showed Team Leader Jo Han-gyeol’s build, side profile, work clothes, and other details.
The employees watching from a distance couldn’t make out the image properly, but Park Han-soo, who had followed right beside him, hurriedly zoomed in on the photo on the young president’s phone and looked at Team Leader Jo with a face of horror.
"Jo Han-gyeol, you..."
The look in his eyes was pure disgust at a traitor.
That alone was enough for the employees to understand what Team Leader Jo had done.
Jo’s face went scarlet as he fought back desperately.
"That’s, well, it’s blurry, so how can you be sure I’m the one who did it? Don’t pin this on me like that! What, are you gonna push a man around just because you’re young? Hey! Do you even know fabric? Have you ever produced a single roll yourself?"
He even tried to shove Seung-hyun in the chest, but the manager and the employees immediately restrained him.
"Don’t do this. Calm down."
Jo’s voice grew louder and his behavior more violent.
"Let go! Dammit, who says I’m not angry? I’ve been putting up with this damn company, and now you treat me like a thief? You think I’ll just sit here and take this? Huh!"
Even as he screamed, Seung-hyun didn’t flinch.
Instead, he simply looked at him and said, "I’ll be filing a formal complaint using the CCTV as evidence."
Team Leader Jo Han-gyeol’s face twisted instantly.
"What?"
"And we’ll also be filing a damages claim for all the fabric that came out of Team Leader Jo Han-gyeol’s line and was rejected by Taesung Apparel."
The strength drained from Jo’s body like water, so clearly that even the employees holding him back could feel it.
Seung-hyun went on, speaking to the man who was now turning ashen.
"As you can imagine, records show that a large portion of the fabric piled up in the warehouse came from Team Leader Jo’s line. I’ll need to verify the exact amount, but it looks like the fabric alone will come to well over 100 million won."
"W-wait!"
His tone had already shifted from rude to deferential, but Seung-hyun’s cold expression did not change.
"I’ve already consulted with a lawyer, and we’ll be calculating the full damages. That swagger of yours. I’m very curious whether you can keep it up when you’re handed the complaint at home."
Seung-hyun then said to the manager, "Clear out all of Jo Han-gyeol’s belongings and put them outside. And from now on, don’t let him touch any company machine, and don’t let him back into the factory."
"Ah, yes..."
"You all heard that, right? As of now, Jo Han-gyeol is no longer an employee of our company. Don’t exchange unnecessary words with him and get dragged into some pointless misunderstanding. Focus on your work."
Seung-hyun could take such a hard line because his father had always told him that running a company required a cold head, but more than that, Jo’s behavior had simply crossed the line into something unforgivable.
If the company collapsed, not only would the president go down, but fifty-some employees would lose their jobs too.
He had done it for his own benefit, and Seung-hyun had no intention of forgiving him.
After issuing a stern warning to the employees, Seung-hyun went inside, and only then did Team Leader Jo Han-gyeol, finally grasping the situation and coming to his senses, head for the president’s office.
But then,
"Team Leader Jo... no, Mr. Han-gyeol. Let’s not do this."
Manager Park Han-soo and several senior employees blocked his way.
"Look, this is all a misunderstanding. That CCTV... it was definitely tampered with! I’m telling you, I never did anything like that!"
"Then what about today?"
"What?"
"Why was there a problem with today’s fabric?"
At the manager’s question, Team Leader Jo only blinked, unable to answer.
Disappointed, the manager spoke in a tone that carried nothing but exasperation.
"Oh, come on. Jo Han-gyeol, you’re not that incompetent. You’re the sort of man who can tell just by looking when fabric comes out—hell, you could rub it once and know its durability. And you had no idea?"
"I, I really didn’t know. No, ever since morning Taesung Apparel has been making a huge fuss about coming here... Was I the only one nervous? Everyone was nervous!"
"Being nervous is one thing. Standing around with your head empty is another. Honestly, what’s wrong with you? Calm down first and go inside to think this through properly."
"What do you mean, think this through calmly!"
At last, Park Han-soo exploded.
"What do you think? You need to think about how you’re going to respond when the police call. Go on, get out of here already."
Manager Park waved his hand as if shooing away a peddler.
After Jo disappeared, the workers from his line stood in front of the machine with faces full of unease.
The shock had left everyone silent, and a heavy stillness settled over the factory.
Manager Park let out a deep sigh and went into the president’s office.
"President, are you really... planning to take this through the legal route? And more than that, are you really going to stop doing business with Taesung?"
"Of course. Why wouldn’t I? It’s obvious what Team Leader Jo was doing. Taesung must’ve ordered it. Unless he had some personal grudge against the factory and my father, there’s no reason he’d go this far. Hoo... we don’t have any other choice now. What kind of nerve would I have had to declare that we were cutting ties with Taesung Apparel? It was because I saw this kind of thing happening from inside, too."
Seung-hyun’s voice was low, but there was no hesitation in it.
Even the manager no longer tried to stop him.
"Then I’ll do what I can to calm the employees down."
"Yes, please. I’ll need you to handle things in the middle for me, Manager. We can’t let the atmosphere in here get any more unsettled."
"Understood."
With a nod, the manager left the office and saw the employees still gathered in small clusters, unable to settle themselves.
The senior workers soon ordered the machines back into operation, then all gathered around the manager.
"What happens to us now? Jo’s one thing, since he clearly did something wrong and will deal with it himself, but if Taesung and this batch are both gone..."
When technician Lee Hyeok-min asked, Manager Park Han-soo replied calmly, "I know everyone’s worried, but you all know the president’s been trying to open up sales channels in a lot of different directions. The furniture and interior design side is already planned through next month, and there may be other possibilities as well..."
"You’re not seriously banking on these blankets, are you?"
Team Leader Kim Young-sook pointed at the quilts being sewn out with a suspicious look.
"The president thinks bedding is one of the directions we need to move toward."
"Do you really think those will sell? I’m worried sick."
"Let’s trust him. We’re using fabric that was already sitting in the warehouse, so it’s not a huge loss."
"It is a loss. If we keep it long enough, places willing to pay a fair price for the fabric will start showing up one by one... and with summer season coming, there’s definitely demand for tencel fabric."
"Taesung rejected it as defective. Who’s going to buy it now?"
"How would another company know that? We just have to keep our mouths shut."
He knew it was easy to say that and impossible in practice, and since he didn’t have the energy to argue or the will to keep talking about it, the manager changed the subject.
"Enough. I understand why you’re anxious, but let’s all put in a little more effort. The president is doing his best. We have to match that."
"Yes..."
"Let’s keep our spirits up! All right?"
"Yes~"
In the end, the team leaders were calmed and dispersed by the manager, but the unease never left their faces.
Seung-hyun, sitting alone in the president’s office, had already anticipated that kind of reaction.
But he did not waver.
He knew exactly what he needed to do.
In fact, with a calm expression, he copied the video he had edited onto a USB drive, took off his factory jacket, and got ready to leave.
Then his phone began vibrating nonstop.
On the screen was the name "Deputy Manager Lee Sang-moo."
The moment he pressed the record button and answered on speakerphone, a sharp voice tore through the air in the office.
"President Jung, I’m hearing you’re cutting ties with Taesung after this batch. Is that really true?"
The mix of anger and bewilderment on the other end was almost impressive.
Seung-hyun glanced at the various documents and bedding samples on his desk and steadied his mind.
"Yes, that’s correct. I’ve already made up my mind."
"Haha! Where do you get that nerve? More than half your sales were coming from Taesung, weren’t they? You think you can just abandon us?"
Deputy Manager Lee Sang-moo’s sneer came through clearly. The tone carried the unmistakable sense of, Go on, then, try to struggle. Seung-hyun answered with a faint snort.
"I don’t think there’s any need to say more. I’m sick of being squeezed by sudden, heavy-handed QC like today’s. This is where it ends. Of course, we’ll finish the remaining order responsibly, but after that, I won’t have any regrets."
"Fine. Then we’ll see."
The call ended cleanly.
Seung-hyun looked down at his phone without expression, and then it rang again.
This time, the caller was surprisingly Team Leader Jo Han-gyeol.
"Yes? Hello?"
From the other end, Jo’s voice came through taut with tension.
[President, I have something to tell you.]
He’d been waiting for that.
"I’ll send you a text with a quiet place."
After hanging up, Seung-hyun wondered what card Jo Han-gyeol still had left to play.