The Forged Evaluation
The ability to preview court verdicts is an advantage only I can see, but it can also prove inconvenient at times. If I could simply show this verdict to President Shin Ho-jung and tell him that since he committed a crime, he should kneel before me if he wants to avoid standing trial, it would be the simplest thing in the world. Right now, I need to find new evidence that President Shin Ho-jung committed hiring irregularities and present it to him. Well, once I already know who is lying, it is merely a bit troublesome, not difficult at all. Gathering evidence is my specialty, after all.
The investigation always begins by finding the weakest link. Assuming everything written in Hwang Sang-hyun’s tip-off letter is true and everything President Shin Ho-jung said is false, the first link that needed to be severed was obvious. Hwang Sang-hyun claimed that Im Yu-jin’s work performance was abysmal, yet the documents that had come from QS Telecom to the audit team recorded her performance evaluation in glowing terms. For the president of a company, fabricating an intern’s performance review is hardly a difficult task. However, since the president does not personally assign scores to interns, a mid-level manager must have been involved. An employee at that level would fear me far more than President Shin Ho-jung, given that I am the chairman’s son and the head of the audit team.
Having decided on the direction of the investigation, I first called the number listed on Hwang Sang-hyun’s personnel record card to hear his specific testimony regarding Im Yu-jin’s work. His first words were sharp and laced with suspicion.
“Who is this?”
I had seen this reaction many times while meeting victims during my days as a prosecutor. It is the typical attitude of people who have suffered injustice. They feel as though the entire world is deceiving them and that everyone except themselves is an enemy. I understood that feeling completely. Even when such people bristle like hedgehogs on the outside, they harbor infinitely tender, wounded insides. I answered as gently and slowly as possible.
“Hello. This is Kwon Ho-gyun from the Audit Team of the Central Management Headquarters at QS Group. I am calling regarding the document you submitted. Is this Hwang Sang-hyun, who worked as an intern at QS Telecom?”
Hwang Sang-hyun must have been waiting for my call, because the prickly tone immediately vanished from his voice and was replaced by eagerness.
“Ah, hello. Yes, this is Hwang Sang-hyun. Has the headquarters audit team decided to investigate the hiring irregularities at QS Telecom that I mentioned?”
“Yes. We have already begun the investigation and are reviewing the relevant documents.”
“Wow, that’s a relief. I was starting to worry after a week with no reply. I was even considering taking it to the prosecutor’s office or a broadcasting station.”
“I apologize for keeping you waiting. Our audit team needed time internally to assess the situation, so I am only contacting you now. Since this is an internal company matter, wouldn’t it be better to resolve it within the company rather than taking it outside?”
“Yes. I only meant that I would have done so if you had never contacted me. Since someone from the company called, I should handle it through the company. Whew.”
Hwang Sang-hyun reached out with his scarred hand and grasped mine.
“Thank you. I would like to meet with you first, Hwang Sang-hyun, to ask a few questions. Would you have time?”
“I’m basically an unemployed youth who appears on the news these days, so time is all I have. Anytime is fine.”
“Then would it be all right if I came to where you are right now?”
“Yes. If you come, I will tell you everything I know.”
Listening to Hwang Sang-hyun’s final, venomous reply, I felt grateful that I had not missed the timing of the call. He was burning with the single-minded desire to drag himself back up and take revenge on Im Yu-jin, who had been converted to full-time status. If a person like that had gone to the media while the next ministerial candidate was being discussed, and if reporters had started inflating and reporting his words, things could have truly spiraled out of control. This was the first case I had been assigned as head of the audit team under Chairman Kwon Byung-do’s orders. If it had become entangled in a political scandal, just thinking about it made me dizzy. I would have to placate Hwang Sang-hyun appropriately while extracting what I needed from President Shin Ho-jung of QS Telecom and Professor Im Su-chan, then wrap things up neatly.
* * *
Thus, a short while later, I met him at a café near the house where Hwang Sang-hyun lived. Perhaps because I had spoken with him while looking at the profile photo of him in a suit attached to his personnel record card, the sight of Hwang Sang-hyun appearing before me sent a slight chill down my spine even in broad daylight. Although it had rained the night before and the air had turned unusually chilly for recent days, summer had not yet fully departed, yet he had come out with his hood pulled low. Moreover, beneath the hood, stubble that looked at least a week old had sprouted on his face.
Scrape. Hwang Sang-hyun pulled out a chair and sat across from me.
“Kwon Ho-gyun… right?”
“Yes. If you prefer to use a title, you may call me Team Leader, since I am here in my capacity as head of the audit team.”
“Team Leader, then. I thought I would never be able to use that title again after being kicked out of the company, but here I am saying it once more. Team Leader, what did you want to ask me that you asked to meet?”
Some people move on quickly after a breakup and meet someone new, while others struggle for months or even years. Was it something similar? Even though he had failed to convert to full-time status at QS Telecom, it would have been reasonable for him to look for another company, yet his lingering attachment to his former workplace seemed to have driven him to a state close to ruin. Was that why he had sent the tip-off letter and caused such an uproar?
“The thing I am most curious about is Im Yu-jin’s work performance. In your tip-off letter, you wrote that she was frequently late or absent and did not participate in important company tasks, correct?”
“Yes, that is what I wrote. Because it is true. If I had written down every instance of Im Yu-jin’s negligence, it would have filled an entire book, so I could not go into detail.”
Okay. The opportunity to ask what I needed from Hwang Sang-hyun had arrived.
“However, the performance evaluation on record at QS Telecom is written completely differently. Although she used up all her vacation days, there were no absences, and the other evaluation items were rated very highly.”
“That cannot be right.”
“I brought a copy. Would you like to see it?”
Hwang Sang-hyun’s eyes shook violently as he looked at the copy of Im Yu-jin’s performance evaluation I handed him.
“Im Yu-jin received such an absurdly good evaluation? I know her direct supervisor and department head were both very dissatisfied with her work attitude. Both of their names are written here. And this part makes no sense at all.”
“Which part?”
Hwang Sang-hyun pointed his finger at the attendance record among the documents I had shown him and answered.
“This day. There was a company sports day, and I clearly remember that Im Yu-jin was absent. Just a moment. I should have a photo proving she did not come that day.”
“Yes.”
Hwang Sang-hyun hurriedly pulled out his phone from his pocket, searched through his gallery, and held up a photo on the screen for me to see.
“Here. This is a photo the interns took together in the middle of the sports day. Look. Im Yu-jin is the only one missing.”
On the phone screen, only four people including Hwang Sang-hyun were visible. Im Yu-jin, whose face I also recognized from her profile photo, was nowhere to be seen.
“Is it possible that Im Yu-jin did not get along with the other intern colleagues and therefore did not take the photo with them?”
“Come on, that is ridiculous. Im Yu-jin never showed her face at our study sessions or company events, so there was no relationship to speak of, good or bad. Even if they did not get along, how could interns ostracize a colleague at a company sports day with all the senior executives watching?”
He was not wrong. Since the verdict I had already seen confirmed that Hwang Sang-hyun was not a liar, there was no need to press him further with detailed questions.
“Could you send me that photo? From what you have told me, it seems Im Yu-jin’s performance evaluation was fabricated. I will look into this a little more.”
“Yes. Thank you. I will send it right away. If you ask the other intern colleagues who were eliminated along with me about Im Yu-jin’s poor work attitude, you will be able to confirm it clearly. Other things besides the attendance records must have been fabricated as well.”
Now that my business was finished, it was time to hear Hwang Sang-hyun’s request.
“By the way, Hwang Sang-hyun, if this incident is truly revealed to be a case of unfair hiring, what would you like to happen afterward?”
“Excuse me? What do you mean?”
“I believe there must be a reason you reported this incident even while going through such hardship. It may be presumptuous, but if I were to guess, you want a job, correct?”
“Can you get me a job?”
At the very least, Hwang Sang-hyun needed to remain completely under my control until this matter was resolved. I deliberately met his eyes and nodded to give him certainty.
“Yes. It has been a while since someone did not even ask, so I was surprised, but as you know, I am Chairman Kwon Byung-do’s son. As head of the audit team, I also believe that if someone was unfairly denied employment, they should be given relief. Is there a subsidiary within the QS Group you would like to join?”
The answer that came out of Hwang Sang-hyun’s mouth was one I had not expected at all, and it was firm.
“QS Telecom.”
“Pardon?”
“Is QS Telecom difficult? Because it is a large subsidiary?”
“No. It is not difficult for me, but if you return to QS Telecom, the other employees will not look at you kindly. Of course, preventing such personal grudges from causing disadvantages is part of my job, but the audit team’s eyes cannot reach every corner of the company.”
“Still, it is fine. I really want to return to QS Telecom. That is where I first experienced having a project I led recognized by my colleagues and superiors and accepted by consumers. If I cannot return there, I will spend my whole life longing for that memory. And above all, it was originally my position.”
I could not tell whether to call this person rational or sentimental.
“Understood. Officially, this is still an ongoing audit, so once we have some results, I will make arrangements so that things can proceed in the direction you mentioned.”
“Thank you. Thank you for coming to see me today and for listening to what I had to say.”
“I should be the one thanking you for speaking so openly.”
Hwang Sang-hyun and I smiled at each other.
* * *
Electronically approved documents clearly record the creator and the time of creation, as well as the approver and the time of approval. If they are later modified, the modifier and the time of modification are also recorded. How was it possible that Im Yu-jin’s performance evaluation, which had gone through such a process, had been altered? I found it difficult to even guess. Of course, that did not mean I intended to let go of the opportunity I had finally seized. After parting with Hwang Sang-hyun, I went to Law Firm Seungbaek instead of the QS Group headquarters and met the hacker Yeo Eun-ju. When I asked whether electronically approved documents could be changed later, Yeo Eun-ju nodded.
“Yes. It is entirely possible.”
“How?”