Chapter 16: Office Tyrant-1
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 16: Office Tyrant-1
Dumping work on Kang In-ho was a well-known "pro tip" for surviving life at the company.
In-ho was the type of person who found a sense of fulfillment in helping others. To put it kindly, he was a good soul; to put it bluntly, he was a total pushover.
As one of the longest-serving members of the organization alongside the team leader, Mina, his years of handling solo practical duties had turned him into a versatile multi-tasker. This meant there was no one in the office who did their job better than him.
It had reached the point where one of the most common pieces of advice circulating the office was: "If you ask Kang In-ho, he can solve almost anything."
At first, the employees had been hesitant when asking for favors, but as time passed, they began to take his help for granted. They got to reduce their own workload while getting a good look at his handsome face—it was a win-win for them.
Thanks to him, their work was always easy, while In-ho, constantly short on time, found himself staying later and later at the office.
Few people cared about this absurd situation. The employees who handed off their work didn't care, and In-ho, who accepted it, remained indifferent. As long as the company's tasks were getting done reasonably well, everything seemed fine.
However, there was one person who cared deeply: Team Leader Lee Mina.
Whether professionally or personally, she despised the way the other employees approached him. Regarding the former, she found the sheer laziness of the staff who used him absolutely revolting; regarding the latter, she found their audacity in trying to invade her sanctuary utterly presumptuous.
But Mina was a clever woman. She knew how to look at the big picture.
In-ho showed no interest in the women in the office. He always maintained a proper distance during conversations and never gave them more thought than necessary.
That was why Mina could afford to be relaxed. In fact, the more work he took on, the more time he would spend alone with her. She considered it a strategy of "sacrificing the flesh to claim the bone."
But that was only true until last week.
If he was planning to leave because he was dissatisfied with the company, she was determined to eliminate the cause.
And so, she began the "normalization of duties."
It was time to punish the wretches who had been clinging to him like parasites. She would humiliate them openly and make them experience the same hardships he had endured.
She vowed it over and over again.
To a woman like her, hearing someone blame In-ho was like pouring gasoline on a house fire and then jumping in with a bundle of straw on one's back.
Young-ji, who had subtly shifted the blame onto In-ho, suddenly found herself meeting Mina’s murky gaze. Her eyes were dark, like a bottomless abyss.
Gulp.
Young-ji swallowed hard instinctively.
"Don't you ever," Mina said, stepping closer, "say something like that again."
"Ye... Yes, ma'am!"
Leaving the trembling Young-ji behind, Mina scanned the room. Everyone else was staring fixedly at their monitors, working with sudden, desperate intensity.
Yes, this is how it should have been from the start.
"I'll take this opportunity to make myself clear. For those of you who aren't earning your keep... I'm going to run this place so hard you'll wish you'd just quit. So, consider yourselves warned."
It was the moment the Office Tyrant was truly born.