Dispatch to the Main Branch
"Assistant Manager Kim, come over here and take a look at this."
It was a Tuesday morning,
8:40 AM, twenty minutes before work hours began.
I'd been waiting with a faint flutter of anticipation, eager to try out the upgraded Time Pass.
That was when Team Leader Jeong called me over.
As I approached his desk, he paused mid-sorting of his documents and greeted me with a bright smile.
"Looks like whatever was troubling you got resolved?"
"Sorry?"
"Well, you seem brighter today. You looked a bit gloomy yesterday."
"I suppose I was just tired yesterday. I slept well last night, so I've recovered. Thank you for your concern."
Team Leader Jeong cleared his throat and added a word of advice.
"Ahem. Anyway, take good care of yourself. For an office worker, your health *is* your fortune. Nothing beats good health."
"Yes, sir. I'll keep that in mind. May I ask what you called me about?"
Back to business.
Team Leader Jeong gestured toward one of the stacks of documents.
"Ah, right. You'll need to go on a temporary dispatch this time. Any objection?"
My eyes widened at the word *dispatch*.
"A dispatch, sir?"
"That's right. You know the Main Branch Business Department on the first floor of our headquarters? They're in a state of emergency right now. Two of their team leaders are going on parental leave almost simultaneously. The HR team has requested support for about a month, until the personnel reshuffle next month. What do you say? A chance to catch your breath for a bit and work in a new environment—not a bad deal."
I fell into thought for a moment.
Once upon a time, I might have demanded, *Why me?*—
But it wasn't a bad thing.
Like the Team Leader said, I could simply treat it as a month's breather.
I decided to take it in stride.
"Understood. But may I ask why me, of all people? There are plenty of capable colleagues on our team..."
Team Leader Jeong nodded with a satisfied expression.
"Because you do good work. Even if it doesn't seem like it, I've been watching how you handle your tasks from behind the scenes. In particular, you have the habit of knocking out most of your weekly workload on Mondays, don't you? That makes a handover of your duties comparatively easy compared to the others. And while you're gone, the rest of the team will split up your work, so don't worry about that."
And so, after a long while, I found myself assigned to work at a banking branch.
The Main Branch Business Department.
It was similar to an ordinary branch, and yet not.
They did exactly the same work as any other branch—but with more than double the staff.
Think of it as the flagship branch representing Daehan Bank.
And I was to be a *team leader* there.
It was thrilling, but the weight of it pressed on me.
I was originally scheduled to start next week, but at the request that I come down even one day sooner, I completed the handover in a single day and received my dispatch order.
Located on the first floor of Central Headquarters, I took the elevator down.
When I arrived at the entrance of the Main Branch Business Department, a familiar yet foreign energy washed over me.
Something I couldn't quite name—a place larger than any ordinary branch, yet clearly distinct from headquarters itself.
True to the doubled headcount, the number of customers flowing through was far greater, and the density of the work, the undercurrent of tension, felt on a whole different level.
From the very entrance, the weight of the title "team leader" bore down on my shoulders.
I was already feeling overwhelmed by the place's atmosphere.
A team leader at the flagship branch of Daehan Bank, huh...
For a place I'd supposedly come to "catch my breath," as Team Leader Jeong put it, the whole scene looked dizzyingly chaotic.
I stepped inside the office alongside a staff member from HR.
Amid the business department employees scurrying about, the HR staffer guided me to one side.
"Assistant Manager Kim—excuse me, Team Leader Kim, now. This will be your post for the time being. It was originally the desk of one of the departing team leaders, but the handover happened so abruptly that things couldn't be properly cleared out. My apologies."
Rather than tidy, the desk was buried under documents and files.
The fallout of two key team leaders vacating their posts at once was palpable.
"It's quite all right. I'm only here for a month anyway. Where should I start with the handover?"
"Ah, well... about that. A formal handover is essentially impossible, I'm afraid. Both team leaders have already left on leave. Let me walk you through the work briefly. The core of it is client management across two portfolios: corporate finance and asset management. You, Team Leader Kim, will be taking the corporate finance side."
The file the HR staffer handed me was thin, but its contents weighed heavy.
Major loan reviews currently in progress, sensitive financial matters involving several corporate clients, and the materials for the upcoming weekly meeting.
"You weren't kidding about the emergency."
I gave a wry smile.
"Yes. I truly apologize for this month. I know it's unfair to you, Team Leader Kim, but we're desperate. In return, I can promise that when the personnel reshuffle comes next month, this dispatch will be taken into account as favorably as possible."
Suffer through a month, and it counts toward my promotion review.
Not a bad arrangement.
Once the HR staffer departed, I headed for the Branch Manager's office.
I knocked on the Branch Manager's door.
Knock knock.
I opened the door and stepped in—and there sat the Branch Manager of the Main Branch Business Department, Park Tae-jin, looking me up and down with a flat, expressionless face.
There was not a trace of welcome to be found anywhere in his expression.
"Ah, you're here. Kim... Team Leader, was it? Must have been a hassle, coming down on such short notice. Well, it's hardly the post you wanted, I'd imagine."
"A pleasure to meet you, Branch Manager. Assistant Manager Kim dispatched to the Main Branch Business Department... no, Team Leader Kim Dong-su."
When I awkwardly invoked my new title, the Branch Manager let out a hollow little laugh.
"Right. Team Leader Kim. Sit. I don't have time, so let's get straight to the point."
I took the seat across from him.
Without even pretending to tidy his desk, the Branch Manager fished out a single envelope from among the stacks and shoved it toward me, as if tossing it aside.
"I'll be honest with you—our business department is in crisis mode. With two team leaders out at the same time, we don't even have enough hands to process the backlog right now. No telling how much actual field experience you have, though."
The Branch Manager continued in a tone that made no attempt to hide his condescension.
"What you'll be handling is the corporate finance portfolio. I don't care about the rest, but keep this in mind: the sensitive matters that play out in the field are a different dimension entirely from the paperwork you push around at Central Headquarters. What's inside this binder is the list of corporations under special management here at the Main Branch Business Department. These aren't just companies with big loan balances—these are the kind of headaches that could shake this entire branch to its foundations if mishandled."
The Branch Manager sighed, then spoke as though it were already a foregone conclusion that I would cause some disaster.
"You've been given one month. Don't go trying to run field operations with that soft headquarters sensibility of yours. See to it that the corporate finance portfolio runs quietly, without incident. I have no time to be watching over your shoulder."
It had been a long time since I'd felt so belittled.
I'd heard there were branch managers who resented headquarters staff,
but Park Tae-jin wore his hostility openly, like a badge.
We were colleagues at the same bank, after all—
where did he get off acting so superior?
Team Leader Jeong's advice about "catching my breath"—I'd better forget that one.
"Yes, Branch Manager. I'll keep that in mind. I'll show you exactly how different headquarters paperwork is from the field—for better or worse."
The moment I stepped out of the Branch Manager's office, I headed straight to my desk.
I was about to dive into getting a handle on the work—but everything in front of me was a blur.
What's needed in moments like this—
"Time Pass!"
Time Pass
The hands of the clock began to spin rapidly.
Within that stretch of time, I never once took my eyes off the monitor.