#048
Hwi-kyung hesitated for a moment. Did he know Lee Sung-ha personally? Of course he did. After all, he was the one who had broken Sung-ha’s nose.
However, it was difficult to judge whether it would be good to create a misunderstanding that he had Lee Sung-ha as a backer to Park Bong-joon. If Park Bong-joon couldn’t treat him carelessly, the chances of ousting him would decrease exponentially.
“I guess such questions are difficult to answer?”
When Hwi-kyung didn’t give a proper answer until they arrived at the restaurant, Park Bong-joon clicked his tongue softly. He continued with a devil’s whisper, saying he wasn’t the type to gossip about such matters, and that Hwi-kyung should tell him if he ever had any problems.
It was nonsense. Park Bong-joon was the type of person who would immediately spread the word to other team leaders if Hwi-kyung had even the slightest connection with Lee Sung-ha. In the twelfth iteration, Hwi-kyung had heard plenty about office relationships through Park Bong-joon.
This might be Park Bong-joon’s first time seeing Hwi-kyung, but for Hwi-kyung, it was the third time meeting Park Bong-joon. In the twelfth iteration, he had thought Park Bong-joon was a good person based on appearances. In the thirteenth iteration, he had inadvertently experienced Park Bong-joon’s true nature.
Now, in the fourteenth iteration, Hwi-kyung planned to dig even deeper into Park Bong-joon’s true nature than in the thirteenth. Since he had decided to give up on this iteration anyway, he had nothing to fear now.
Kang Moon-chul was intimidated behind Park Bong-joon, constantly watching his reactions. Hwi-kyung, pretending to be a person with minimal social skills, became a yes-man, formally agreeing with Park Bong-joon’s solo chatter.
In the previous iteration, he had acted amiably enough to monopolize Park Bong-joon’s affection from the moment he joined, but this time, there was no need to cater to his whims. After all, Hwi-kyung’s goal wasn’t long-term employment, but to oust Park Bong-joon.
“Still, our company is a place that’s hard to get into with your educational background.”
“…”
“These days, the applicants’ educational backgrounds are quite impressive. I know because I’m the HR team leader. Studying abroad seems to be a must for everyone. You’ve never been abroad, have you?”
“No.”
“That’s a shame.”
When Jung Hwi-kyung didn’t act friendly towards him, Park Bong-joon immediately attempted passive aggression. Hwi-kyung felt relieved when his counterpart started to act difficult. Yes, this is it. The taste of this jerk… I’ve seen too many decent people lately.
Hwi-kyung neatly ate the mackerel sashimi served as his portion and inwardly thought of Gyo-ha. He smiled a little, remembering that it was because Park Bong-joon was this kind of person that Lee Gyo-ha had wanted to remove him first.
However, Park Bong-joon seemed to interpret Jung Hwi-kyung’s smile differently. He wanted to somehow break the spirit of this rude (entirely Park Bong-joon’s opinion) new employee.
“Kang, you’re from S University too, right?”
“Well… my graduate school was S University.”
“Come on, graduate school is the real education. Hwi-kyung, are you thinking of getting a master’s degree?”
“Not yet.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to do some educational laundering by attending night classes while working? D University isn’t bad, but in our company, almost everyone is from S University.”
Condition not met: Academic elitism is prevalent.
Condition not met: Your superior is picking on your educational background.
Park Bong-joon’s words were false. In the sales team where Hwi-kyung had worked during the twelfth iteration, there were far more high school graduates. For a large corporation, the BK Group didn’t particularly obsess over university name value.
Moreover, D University, where Hwi-kyung had graduated from, was a well-known university in the metropolitan area. Hwi-kyung was even from the highly competitive business administration department. Although his GPA was just average because he wasted the last semester doing an internship at a strange place, overall, Hwi-kyung’s educational background wasn’t something to be looked down upon.
The academic elitism was mostly limited to the HR team, where Park Bong-joon had luckily graduated from S University. Hwi-kyung suddenly understood why new HR team members always requested transfers to other departments. Kang Moon-chul’s struggle to juggle graduate school and work must have been to please Park Bong-joon.
“D University has better employment rates than S University, doesn’t it?”
“What?”
“I saw it in the recent employment statistics. What meaning does academic background have in today’s world?”
“…”
“The days of S University being considered good are long gone. Right?”
Condition not met: You have defied your superior’s statement.
Condition not met: Your superior is looking at you with displeasure.
Even seeing the system window appear before his eyes, Hwi-kyung didn’t feel a sense of crisis. Thinking “this iteration is ruined anyway” actually made him feel at ease. Indeed, living life somewhat carelessly was the way to live healthily.
“Team Leader, you’re not discriminating against universities like people used to in the old days, are you?”
“Huh!”
Moon-chul, who had been fidgeting uncomfortably like someone sitting on pins and needles at Hwi-kyung’s bold retort, started coughing as if choking. Uncomfortable with the situation, he was eating his food in tiny bites despite his large frame.
Park Bong-joon was now openly staring at Hwi-kyung with a strange look. He was probably thinking, ‘What is this green rookie saying? This is why new employees these days are…!’
Hwi-kyung was actually a bit old-fashioned compared to truly recent new employees. As proof, even as he continued eating nonchalantly, he felt uncomfortable in a corner of his heart. It had been a long time since he had rebelled against a superior like this, since the time he threw coffee at a boss who habitually sexually harassed others.
But he felt a strange sense of liberation. After always catering to others’ feelings, speaking his mind made him feel like his twisted emotions were stabilizing as if receiving physical therapy.
Hadn’t the previous iteration ended without even a small revenge against Park Bong-joon due to the trap card of online communities? Feeling the long-standing indigestion subsiding, Hwi-kyung smiled brightly like an innocent novice to society who knew nothing.
“You’re not offended, are you? You look like a total new generation person, Team Leader.”
“Gasp, cough, hack, ahem…”
Kang Moon-chul was now on the verge of dying. Hwi-kyung willingly refilled Moon-chul’s water glass and continued speaking like a typical young person.
“I don’t think the BK Group is that closed-minded.”
“…”
“Academic background? The world these days is… I think there should be more blind hiring processes. That would reduce corrupt hiring practices too.”
Condition not met: You are a beneficiary of corrupt hiring.
Condition not met: You were hired through an unscheduled special recruitment.
The system window picked a fight with Hwi-kyung, but he completely ignored it. Though he had been patient all this time, Jung Hwi-kyung could easily pull off passive aggression if he put his mind to it.
“Hwi-kyung, you’re quite… bold, aren’t you?”
“Yes. I hear that a lot.”
“Haha… I like it very much. I’m already looking forward to seeing how well you’ll work.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Yes, yes… You need to get through the probation period safely. Learn about social life while working at the company. I guess you don’t know much since you’ve just been discharged from the military…”
“It’s been a long time since I was discharged.”
“…”
“It’s true.”
The numerous rookie villains he had encountered through multiple iterations were a great help in dealing a blow to Park Bong-joon. Hwi-kyung was grateful to the bold new employees he had thought poorly of. Thanks to all of you in the past, I too can excellently perform the role of a crazy novice to society today…
The system window warned Hwi-kyung that he had talked back to his superior on his first day of work. At this rate, there was a high possibility of forced regression within a few months, let alone a year.
But Hwi-kyung didn’t turn off the system window that was hiding Park Bong-joon’s distorted smile. If Park Bong-joon continued the passive-aggressive battle, he was prepared to fight back without backing down.
“Wow, people these days are really scary. Kang, how can you handle being so intimidated?”
“Ah, no, it’s not like that.”
“Lunch time is already over. I’ll go ahead and pay. You two buy some coffee and come back slowly. You probably don’t have much to do on your first day anyway.”
Fortunately, however, Park Bong-joon seemed to have decided to put on a friendly face and leave first, regardless of what he thought of Hwi-kyung inside.
Hwi-kyung bowed his head to Park Bong-joon as he left first. Regardless of what he thought of him, the sushi Park Bong-joon had bought was innocent, so he properly expressed his gratitude for the meal.
Anyway, with Park Bong-joon leaving like this, it was Hwi-kyung’s victory. Park Bong-joon would probably be in a bad mood all day. After all, a new employee who came in through special recruitment didn’t even pretend to listen to him.
“Um, Hwi-kyung.”
“Yes.”
“What are you trying to do?”
But unlike the unperturbed Hwi-kyung, Kang Moon-chul looked at him with trembling eyes. He seemed anxious that the newly arrived employee might be driven out elsewhere because of Park Bong-joon.
Hwi-kyung wanted to pat Moon-chul’s back and tell him there was nothing to worry about, but unlike the previous iteration, in this iteration, he had only known Moon-chul for a day.
So Hwi-kyung responded like a truly clueless, ill-mannered new employee.
“What do you mean?”
Moon-chul now looked like he was about to cry. Hwi-kyung dragged him out and neatly bought and drank coffee using the corporate card given by the team leader. It was thanks to Se-young from BK Entertainment’s marketing team becoming Hwi-kyung’s role model.
