Chapter 43

: Translator: – – Editor: – –
Actually, Oh should felt jealous of Hyunwoo. Only a high school graduate, Hyunwoo got promoted ahead of him, and the manager Park, called ‘crazy dog,
began to take his side at some point. Oh might have thought that Hyunwoo got Park’s favor by flattering him behind his back.
In that respect, offering a cup of soybean juice could be seen as flattery to Park in Oh’s eyes.
Whatever the reason, it was just foolish for Oh to feel jealous of his team member. There were so many people in the world he had to compete with, and only one of them was standing before him now. How to survive the competition wisely? It was not to defeat someone next to him. Rather, it was to make that person his ally and make use of him. But this was something Oh had to judge by himself.
Looking at Oh, Hyunwoo let out a sigh of pity.
If he changed his character, he could be my good colleague.
When Hyunwoo was thinking about Oh, Park held out the paper cup and said,

Looks like there is some more in the bucket. If nobody wants it, let me have it.


Sure, please.

Hyunwoo collected whatever soybean juice remained in the bucket and gave it to Park, which was thick but savory.

Wow, it really fills me up.


Let me prepare one for you tomorrow, too.


Oh, don’t burden your mother. Be a good son to her!


Well, she likes it. Ha ha.

Chuckling loudly, Hyunwoo headed to the construction site. Today was the last day he went directly to the site.
When the evening came, they had a pork belly get-together at the construction site.
Park was a man of moods. Because the president gave him the dinner fee, he had no reason to save it. Pork belly was roasted on the hot flat stones. Not only dispatched employees but also the others who hadn’t gotten the chance to be assigned gathered after smelling the savory smell of roasted pork belly.
After tasting it, all of them exclaimed,
Wow, this is the real taste of pork belly!

Though the flooring job was over, Park still trusted Hyunwoo. His warm consideration for Hyunwoo was pretty much noticeable. It was clear Park would support anyone once he had a crush on him or her. Yonggu found that unusual, though. He was thinking of stepping hard on him at an appropriate time, but Hyunwoo seemed to have saved Park’s face.
Having dinner together in the evening, Yonggu asked Hyunwoo furtively,

What happened?


The chance came along unexpectedly. Stepping hard on him at the right time is a good thing, but I felt it would also be as good to change him with a good method if I could.


Good method? How? Do you have an idea in mind?

Actually, Hyunwoo had been thinking about it. But suddenly, one idea came to mind when he found a change in Park’s attitude.
Nodding his head, Hyunwoo replied,

It’s looking for something Park can do well.

As if he could not understand, Yonggu tilted his head and said,

Something Park can do well? What is that?


Well, I thought hard why Park was hell bent on giving us a hard time.

Then, Hyunwoo narrated to Yonggu what he had felt about Park all along.
Hyunwoo didn’t think Park was a bad man from the start. If that was the case, he should have earned the same bad name among managers. However, they all regard Park as the best manager whenever they heard his name, which meant that Park had some commendable points. Why was he not so popular among the rank-and-file employees?
Hyunwoo thought it was Park’s own choice. It was not because of his character but his deliberate actions to hide his weakness.
Of course, Park’s weakness would be his shallow knowledge and experience. In terms of business knowledge and experience, Park was much shallower than assistant managers and ordinary employees. So, he naturally misunderstood that they were ignoring him for his shallow knowledge and experience. In other words, he could not embrace them easily.
So, Hyunwoo thought Park might change if his mistaken thinking could be corrected.
Park needed some sort of self-confidence in that respect. In other words, if Park could think ‘at least in this area I’m the best’, he might have a more generous attitude toward his staff.
Hearing Hyunwoo’s explanation, Yonggu thought about his relationship with Hyunwoo.
In fact, he hated Hyunwoo from his childhood days. He thought the more Hyunwoo would succeed in the world, the worse it would ruin him. Because of that thinking, he could not embrace Hyunwoo. Then, Hyunwoo changed him, and not in a way to crush him but to cheer him up. Actually, Hyunwoo was persuading Yonggu to change Park with the same method he had used to change him.
Yonggu felt that might be a good idea as long as it worked.
Touching his forehead with his hand, Yonggu was pondering over what Park could do well.
Come to think of it, there were a few things Park could do better than his team members.
What came to his mind first was golf. He heard that Park’s golfing ability was close to that of professional golfers’. He played under par almost always and played singles in the field.

I hear he is talented at dominating the drinking atmosphere.

Though Park was a heavy drinker, he had the ability to amuse the drinking members with his witty remarks and sense of humor. That was why Park always dominated the atmosphere at the managers’ drinking get-together. Though Hyunwoo was also talented in leading the atmosphere at dinner get-togethers, Park seemed to be one cut above him. In some ways, Hyunwoo was a hard worker while Park was a genius in that respect.
In short, Park was a typical lobbyist. If there was any drinking occasion for a sales pitch, Park had the potential to do better than anybody else.
Hyunwoo snapped his fingers and said,
Looks like we have to find ways to use his strength.

If his talent had to be put to use, Hyunwoo wanted to use it quickly because N&C was about to produce new products soon.
Hyunwoo felt he had to fundamentally change Park, and in his mind, Park could be changed more than he expected.
Park had a clear distinction between those he liked and those he didn’t.
Once he was convinced that Hyunwoo and Yonggu were on his side, he was really generous to them. In particular, his attitude turned 180 degree when he dealt with Hyunwoo.
Park was just fixated on harassing Hyunwoo in the past, but he just gave the green light to whatever Hyunwoo suggested.
That was not a good manager’s attitude in the eyes of Yonggu and Hyunwoo.
On the other hand, he treatment of the other team members was still the same as before. As Park discriminated against them more and more as time passed, they got to complain about Hyunwoo and Yonggu. In particular, Oh Sangho complained the most, especially about Hyunwoo, who got hired at the same time.
Though Oh had some fond memories of Hyunwoo because of his help, that had been fleeting. When he saw Park giving Hyunwoo special treatment while telling him off, Oh’s hatred of Hyunwoo began to grow again.
Of course, he was aware that Park Daebong was keeping an eye on him, and that was why he was being patient. But he felt his patience running out. He even felt he was becoming a fool. If he wanted to win over Minhye, he had to show an outstanding performance. Rather than an outstanding performance, he was being pushed aside by Hyunwoo.
When Oh thought that far, he even felt that Hyunwoo was taking advantage of him, and that kind of thinking began to snowball as time went on.
Jang Hyunwoo, that cunning dude. You just pretended to help me. You really wanted to show others that you were such a thoughtful man. No way, man. Damn it! I should not have received any help from him at that time.
He regretted raising his hand when Park asked for a helping hand at the sauna construction site. Though he was never assigned to that job, that was not important. He felt he was being played by Hyunwoo, though it was only brief.
The more he thought about it, the more upset he became. He wanted to correct the wrong situation he was in now, but he could not figure out a good idea.
When he was about to punch out, Park Minhye called Oh out.

What are you doing, Sangho? Let’s have dinner.

Oh felt refreshed when he saw her. Though he was given bad treatment, he felt that the situation would still reverse soon. Once he and Minhye get married, he would take over Aurum as president and control Hyunwoo freely.

Sure,
said Oh.
Both of them went to a high-restaurant nearby.

You didn’t look good a moment ago. What’s up?
asked Minhye.

Nothing particular. I don’t like the atmosphere of the purchasing team.

Minhye was puzzled to hear that because she heard that the atmosphere of the purchasing team was the best ever.

So, how is it?
asked Minhye attentively, opening her eyes wide.
Then, Oh jumped at it and gushed as if he was dancing.

Do you know what the business of the purchasing team is? It is to find out good raw materials, calculate the proper unit price, and then sign the contract, right?


Yes, it is.


The problem is they put aside their main job to focus on some stupid stuff. I just feel stuffy.


Stupid stuff?


As you know, we have an employee in our team, a high school graduate. His name is Jang Hyunwoo, and he’s getting special treatment from our manager because he has speciality in building yellow clay sauna houses. On the other hand, I’m out in the cold even though I’m focusing on my main duty.


Really? I can’t understand that!

Minhye made a stunned expression as if she understood his feeling.
Encouraged by her words, Oh continued,

Of course I recognize Hyunwoo cut the cost of raw materials by a lot by changing the source from Taiwan to Vietnam last time. However, I don’t think his special treatment this time is right. Why is the manager linking Hyunwoo’s skill in the sauna construction to his job performance?


You’re right. That doesn’t make any sense.

Oh continued to vent his anger while complaining with her. The more he talked, the angrier he got instead of calming down.

Is there any way this guy can be transferred to a different team?

Minhye giggled at that.

Are you now feeling jealous of a high school graduate? Instead of thinking like that, just try to appease him and make him your ally. Don’t you remember my father specially asked you to take good care of the team members?
said Minhye.

Well, I wanted to do so the best I could, but he is a very cunning guy. He is trying to beat me not with hard work but with flattery.

Minhye smiled widely as if she wanted to cheer him up.
At the same time, she let out a sigh in heart. She felt that he was more narrow-minded than she had thought.
Jang Hyunwoo, as Oh argued, might be a rat bastard. However, what was obvious was that it was Jang Hyunwoo, not Oh Sangho, who stood out the most among the members of the purchasing team.
Actually, she could not feel his presence, much less his performance. Unless she met him occasionally like this for a meal, she just didn’t feel like he was actually working there.
However, she believed Oh. She felt he could explode his pent-up potential once he found a nice opportunity.

Okay, can I give you a nice tip? I mean, a tip that can reverse the atmosphere.


Really? What is that?