Chapter 10

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If that’s the case, it would pose a big headache for him.
Charming and tender, Min Suji would be a burden to him, but the more troublesome would be Oh Sangho.
As a graduate from a famous university in the United States, Oh was a talent favored by the president. There was a rumor that the president had picked him up as a candidate for his son-in-law but also as the next CEO of Aurum.
He would be really reluctant to assign such a job to Oh. It could mean bringing hate from a superior above him.
However, the team leader gave up thinking like that.
The lowest performer this time will be unquestionably Hyunwoo. He should be the lowest performer by all means.

Okay, Mr. Kim. If you think so, I’ll support you.

The team leader gave him the green light.
Yonggu smiled widely. It seemed he could discern Hyunwoo’s future.
Yonggu was determined to task him with all kinds of chores. Hyunwoo would have to work every night.

I’ve to go to Wonju for a business trip today. I think I’ll come back late this afternoon.


I know. Take care.

Back at the office, the team leader called the new hires to his desk.

As I announced to you, let me assign you to some work. This work is a kind of test, so you have to try to solve it by yourself without any person’s help. Hey, Mr. Kim, bring me the document.

Yonggu gave him three documents. He had prepared them for their test today. Though each document had the hire’s name, it was the same copy.

Here you are.

The team leader handed each copy to the three hires.

They are new products. As you can see, the price of the domestic supplies has been set already. So, what we have to get is the parts we have to import from Taiwan. Just find out what the bottom price of the unit is.

As soon as the team leader said that, Min Suji and Oh Sangho opened their eyes wide. Their enlarged pupils indicated they were very surprised.
On the contrary, Hyunwoo stayed calm. He thought of it lightly as if he could finish typing it up within a couple of hours.
Yonggu smiled at his attitude before he knew it.
Huh? He just doesn’t know chickens from hens. A guy like him must leave the purchase team as soon as possible.
Yonggu hated Hyunwoo. When he was together with Hyunwoo as a child, things didn’t work out as he had expected. Hyunwoo was always a stumbling block in his life.
It was the same now when they were grown up. He just felt heavy when he was with Hyunwoo. It looked like he could feel at ease only when he trampled on Hyunwoo to the point that he couldn’t move.
Also, this was the most important time for Yonggu. He was going to get promoted to section chief, but more importantly, he had to win over the president’s daughter.
So far, his only rival was assistant manager Ko Younghwan, but an unwelcome guest named Oh Sangho had suddenly appeared. Yonggu was feeling a sense of crisis rising inside of him.
To make matters worse, Hyunwoo’s sudden appearance was like a nightmare to him. He wanted to dispel Hyunwoo from Aurum as soon as possible. He wished Hyunwoo would leave voluntarily, given the choice.

Why don’t you reply? Can’t you do it?


No, sir. We can.

At the team leader’s pressing, Min Suji answered first, followed by Oh with a faltering voice, saying,
Let me have a try.

The team leader looked at Hyunwoo.

How about you?

Hyunwoo asked with an innocent expression,

How soon should I finish it? Should I finish it before noon?

Min Suji and Oh Sangho looked at him as if they were watching a monster.
It was a very complicated task to find out the proper unit price. It would take at least one day for even an expert to do it, which meant that it would take many more days for new hires like them.
Despite that, he talked about finishing it by noon. It was almost impossible even if he had all the accurate data.
The team leader smiled lightly.

I can’t give you guys such a short time to do it. You can submit it before you leave the office in the evening. If you don’t see me at my desk, text me.


Oh, I can do it by that time.

Hyunwoo expressed a sigh of relief.
Min and Oh thought him weirdly. Actually, they wanted to ask for more time, but they couldn’t because of Hyunwoo.
Hyunwoo was the perfect case of ‘a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.’
Even without knowing how to calculate unit cost, he was carelessly saying what came to mind.
The team leader made a satisfactory look though. He even clapped his hands at them as if he was trying to cheer them up.

Good. I like you guys. I will get the lowest performer to assist in material control as a penalty. So, hurry up if you don’t want to.

Everybody went back to their desks.
Yonggu went out of the office for a business trip to Wonju. If he could, he wanted to see Hyunwoo agonize over the task, but he couldn’t delay the schedule on the purchase of raw materials.
Sitting at the desk, Hyunwoo glanced at Min Suji.
As soon as she sat at the desk, she opened the document, raised her shoulders, and dropped it in despair. She let out a small sigh, pursing her red lips.
He could hear a grumbling from her expression that said,
Ooops I’m in trouble.

It was the same as Oh Sangho. Touching his forehead with his hand, he was looking at the document without doing anything.
Having checked out their attitude, Hyunwoo got nervous too.
Though he learned a bit from Jang Dukwoo, it was only one week. He couldn’t surpass Min Suji, a trade major graduate from a top university, and Oh Sangho, a graduate from an elite university in the United States.
Though the test was about calculating the unit cost, it might be something totally different from what he had learned from Jang Dukwoo.
Hyunwoo also opened the document cautiously.
On the first page was the picture of a finished product. It was an office chair. Its frame was steel, and the back was fabric pulled tight across it. Its five legs were attached with rollers, so it could roll on the floor. Though it was said to be a new product, he felt he had seen it somewhere when he checked its design.
He turned over the next page, where the raw materials to be supplied from the domestic market were shown. Their prices had been set already. Next to them were the raw materials to be imported from Taiwan, for which the proper unit price had to be calculated.
There were so many items, and the terms were difficult. But the harder the work, the easier one should approach it. Instead of being dominated by the contents of the document, one should use the document in one’s own way.
He opened Excel on the computer.
First, he divided the components of cost into material cost, labor cost, and manufacturing cost. The contents of the files were divided into its own individual components.
First of all, the manufacturing cost… labor cost…
Simple thinking didn’t mean simple work. When it comes to material cost, the standard cost and the actual cost were separated. The standard cost was the cost based on the theoretical design of the product, and the actual cost was the cost actually incurred at the factory.
Analyzing the reason for the difference between the standard cost and the actual cost may be the key to cost reduction.
The baseline should be the standard price, I guess
He examined each page of the document and copied it to Excel.
Standard time … hourly production … and the input … this will give me standard man hour… and this is discarded man hour. Subtracting the discarded from the standard is value man hour. Oh, this is how it comes out.
Jang Dukwoo’s explanation was excellent. As Hyunwoo calculated the numbers as Jang had explained it, all the items were sorted out neatly.
What if I hadn’t met Dukwoo?
It was even terrible to think about it. He didn’t even know that a man hour was a quantification of the amount of work that a person or machine could do, let alone how to calculate value man hour.
This is the data I need to calculate man hour.
Hyunwoo didn’t hurry. He filled the date on the Excel by checking which documents were the right match with the items in the cost sheet.
Min Suji glanced at Hyunwoo, who was hard at it, and a surprised expression appeared on Min Suji’s face.
In contrast to her, who plunged into despair the moment she opened the document, Hyunwoo stayed calm. Going further, he went as far as working on something on the computer.
It looked like he was sorting out the contents of the documents, given his constant checking of the document.
Did he understand all this?
Min Suji thought that was impossible. Though he was really working hard on something, she felt that he hadn’t even grasped the core point of the task. For example, if the mission was to find out the break-even point, he might simply sort out the necessary data.
On the other hand, she was nervous that she may be the lowest performer.
Shaking her hand, she tried to shake off her anxiety.
No way! I can do better than Hyunwoo. Sure, let’s face it without any fear. Let me do it as far as I can.
Oh Sangho thought similarly. A sense of anxiety overtook him when he noticed Hyunwoo and Min Suji seriously getting to work.
What made Oh more nervous was that his academic background was too high.
Though Min Suji graduated from Hanyang Women’s University, one of the top schools in Korea, it was nothing compared to his alma mater. Also, Hyunwoo hadn’t even gone to college.
If he got lower points than both of them, it would be too shameful! Everybody would laugh at him behind his back, saying he was worse than someone from a Korean university, let alone a high school graduate.
Oh couldn’t afford to be ridiculed like that, and he thought that it was impossible.
It wasn’t a matter of victory or failure to Oh. What really mattered to him was for him to produce work that was clearly different from Min Suji and Jang Hyunwoo’s.
It is just shame on me that I have to compete with these guys while I’m being treated the same. I have to demonstrate my outstanding abilities clearly on this occasion, though it’s a difficult task, Oh thought to himself.
Oh got down to calculating the standard price.
The end of the day was quickly approaching.
They were still busy in the office, but the new employees, including Hyunwoo, didn’t move, staying frozen as if they were still pictures.
The team manager grinned, looking at them. He had already cleaned his desk before leaving the office.
Glancing at his watch quickly, he rose from his seat and said

Let me take my leave first. Just text me when you new hires get the standard price. Email me the profit and loss statement, though.


Got it. Goodbye

Mr. Yang Suchol, the purchase team manager, headed straight to the restaurant. It was an unusual family dinner meeting for him.

This way, daddy!

When Yang arrived there, his daughter shouted in an excited voice. She was a middle school girl who had a special attraction towards high-class restaurants, so a dinner outing like this made her walk on air.

Did you wait long?


No, we just got here.


What would you like for dinner, my princess?

While looking at the menu together,he got a text message.

Who is it?

He looked at the message and frowned.

Jang Hyunwoo!

His wife cast a suspicious look at him and asked,
What’s the matter? Anything wrong?


No. I assigned some work to a new hire, and he texted me that he was done. He’s totally lacking in any determination.


Isn’t it good that he finished the assignment quickly?


Well, it’s not the kind of task that a new hire could accomplish easily.


Hmmmmm…
his wife became more quizzical.
Yang didn’t talk anymore about it. He didn’t want to badmouth Jang in front of his family.
However, a strong anger was rising from within his heart.
Jang Hyunwoo is just useless. How could he have given up without even trying? I think I have to give him a good scolding tomorrow.