Real Man

As their words crossed, the two men blinked as if they had made a silent agreement.

“What? Did I say something harsh?”

“Why are you suddenly acting like a married couple…”

Senior Kwon Eok-tae, who was rolling his eyes quickly, asked first.

“Isn’t it because I made a mistake on the phone with the manager last time?”

“What does that have to do with anything… Ah! Senior Kwon, I’m not that petty. I was just worried that you couldn’t go home and had to work all the time.”

“Oh, I see. I thought… Haha.”

Senior Kwon Eok-tae laughed awkwardly, and Yoo-hyun was dumbfounded.

“Is this something to laugh about? You said you couldn’t even see your child.”

“You wouldn’t have to work so hard in the first place.”

“But I got a reward and a nice overtime pay. When I was in the CTO, I didn’t get anything, but now I get some bonuses.”

He was a very proud subordinate in the eyes of his superiors, but there was one important fact missing.

Yoo-hyun pointed out the part that was more important than his work life.

“So, what about your family?”

“It’s not just me. There are many seniors who are worse off than me. At least my child and wife are both healthy.”

“That’s not enough. We should all go in a better direction.”

“How can the company do that? What can a mere employee do?”

“…”

Senior Kwon Eok-tae looked completely resigned.

What should I do?

Yoo-hyun was thinking about it.

Ziing. Ziing.

Senior Kwon Eok-tae’s phone, which was on the bench, rang and reminded him of the cute little kid.

Yoo-hyun gestured to Senior Kwon Eok-tae, who was hesitating.

“Senior Kwon, answer the phone.”

“No, I’ll call back later.”

“Your daughter must have called because she misses her dad. Don’t regret it and answer it.”

Yoo-hyun urged him, and Senior Kwon Eok-tae, who had a troubled expression, finally pressed the call button.

At the same time, the video call was connected and a loud voice came out of the speaker.

-Dad! Why can’t you come home again? You said you would.

“Uh, Yena. Dad has some work to do.”

-Is it because of those bad people at the company? Who are they? Change them right now. They’re making dad’s life miserable.

“Yena, what are you saying? It’s not like that…”

She was not even in elementary school yet, but she spoke very well.

Yoo-hyun chuckled and whispered to Senior Kwon Eok-tae, who was flustered.

“Let me talk to her.”

Senior Kwon Eok-tae, who had covered the speaker, showed his reluctance.

“Manager, Yena is not an ordinary kid.”

“It’s okay. She’s so cute that I want to say hello to her.”

-Dad, switch. Yena will scold them.

“This is really…”

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Senior Kwon Eok-tae turned his phone around as if he had no choice and showed Yoo-hyun to the child.

Yoo-hyun smiled brightly and greeted the child who had puffed up her cheeks.

“Hi, Yena.”

-Who are you?

“Dad’s colleague. Are you sad that dad can’t come home?”

Yoo-hyun expected to be scolded and asked back.

But there was a twist.

-Wow! You’re handsome!

“Huh?”

-Brother, you’re so handsome! You’re totally different from our dad.

Senior Kwon Eok-tae felt a pang in his heart and scolded his daughter.

“Yena, what are you doing?”

-Dad, I can’t see brother. Switch to brother.

“No, is that what you should say to dad?”

-Switch. Please? If you switch, Yena will show you her cuteness.

“Really, Yena…”

He looked very endearing as he argued with his young daughter.

Yoo-hyun watched him and felt like he knew what he had to do.

It was not the time to postpone things because they were tangled and hard to solve.

He had to untie the knot, even if it meant creating some uncomfortable situations.

That was what Yoo-hyun had to do now.

He made up his mind and leaned his face next to Senior Kwon Eok-tae.

“Yena, dad will come this week. Don’t worry.”

-Wow! Really?

“Yes. He’ll make a lot of money and come home often. So be nice to dad.”

-As expected. Handsome brother! The best!

Yoo-hyun chuckled and Senior Kwon Eok-tae blinked his eyes.

After parting with Senior Kwon Eok-tae, Yoo-hyun went down to the third floor office.

He remembered the last words that Senior Kwon Eok-tae had said.

-Manager, I appreciate your consideration, but there’s an equipment setup this weekend. If I don’t show up, the other team members will suffer more.

What kind of work required him to touch the equipment on the weekend?

Something was seriously wrong with the future product team.

Thud. Thud.

As he walked, he heard a sharp voice next to him.

“What the hell are you trying to do?”

“Why are you blaming me? Did I say anything wrong?”

The two people who were confronting each other were from the future product team.

They looked very angry, as if they had a deep grudge.

The people next to them were the same.

They pointed fingers at each other with emotions.

It would have looked pathetic at any other time, but today it looked different.

Some of them must have talked to their families.

They might have said they couldn’t come this week, they were sorry, they asked for understanding.

It was hard to keep calm in this situation that lasted for more than a month.

It was a bitter side of the future product team, which seemed so perfect on the outside.

Yoo-hyun passed by the future product team’s seats and met his colleagues again.

The place was a meeting room, perfect for having a quiet conversation.

First, Jung Hyun-woo told him the overall atmosphere.

“I talked to the staff and asked them casually, and the problem is…”

As expected, the employees were very dissatisfied with their attendance.

Even so, there was a reason why they couldn’t easily complain.

Jung Hyun-woo pointed out that part.

“Many of the future product managers are candidates for promotion next year. They all seem to have anxiety that they will miss the promotion if they fall behind even a little.”

“That makes sense. It’s a relative evaluation after all.”

“Besides, Hyun Kyung-young, the head of the department, announced that he would give differentials between teams, so they are more wary of each other. They work overtime even when there is no work, because of that.”

“What a mess.”

Yoo-hyun snorted, as the situation was absurd.

He tried to understand to some extent, since the personnel evaluation period was near, but that was too much.

Jung Hyun-woo supplemented what he had said earlier.

“But that doesn’t mean there is no work. It seems that a lot of work is piled up on certain managers. Everyone is in a sensitive state because they can’t make any mistakes.”

“What kind of work are you talking about? There’s not much to do.”

To Yoo-hyun, it seemed like everything was already settled, but that was not the case internally.

For this part, Kwon Se-jung, the assistant manager, answered based on the data he had investigated.

“It looks like the future product managers are also doing a lot of the purchasing team’s role. They made all the data themselves.”

“Why?”

“It’s because they were pushed by the logic of power. To be precise, it seems that the future product managers have no experience in the business unit.”

“Sigh. This is what happens when there is no team to mediate.”

Yoo-hyun let out a sigh involuntarily.

Jang Jun-sik also mentioned the same problem.

“The handover part is also completely dragged by the future product research institute. They only prepare and get confirmation from the future product managers.”

“That’s not a proper handover.”

“It’s not a proper handover. If they only get confirmation, they might miss important parts.”

No matter how much they cared about the future product research institute, this was too much.

Yoo-hyun put his hand on his forehead and changed the topic.

“What about the equipment setup?”

“The equipment setup was also done by the future product managers, not the process team.”

“I see. That’s why they said they would do it on the weekend.”

Yoo-hyun recalled Kwon Ik-tae, the senior manager, and clicked his tongue. Jang Jun-sik nodded.

“That’s right. They requested to complete the setup by this weekend at the future product research institute.”

“They have a lot of requests, but they don’t do the handover properly. So? The process team can’t respond?”

“Yes. They agreed to handle everything by the future product managers. It’s a matter of agreement between the managers.”

“Really, there’s no place where they don’t get hit.”

Yoo-hyun laughed bitterly, as he was too dumbfounded.

They formed a small organization for the efficiency of work, but they were being pushed around by other departments.

They should have cut them off boldly, but the novice managers who were thirsty for performance embraced them all.

The employees were suffering and doing all the favors for others.

Kwon Se-jung, the assistant manager, who had the same expression, asked Yoo-hyun.

“You’re going to sort it out, right?”

“Yeah. I can’t leave it like this.”

“I thought you would. But are you okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a matter that involves several organizations. It won’t be easy to solve.”

“I know. But I already promised to do that.”

The unexpected answer made Kwon Se-jung blink his eyes.

“Promise? With whom?”

“There’s someone like that. Someone who will scold me if I don’t keep it.”

Yoo-hyun smiled as he recalled the cute little kid’s tantrum.

He was determined to do it somehow, since he had promised.

Meanwhile, as Yoo-hyun and his colleagues were looking for ways to improve the problem, the team leaders in the future product department were having a different kind of worry.

“Hyun-woo asked the employees about their attendance issues… There must have been quite a few complaints.”

Hyun Kyung-young, the head of the department, looked worried. Oh Young-pyo, the team leader of the future module development team, raised his hand.

“Our team members are working hard without any complaints. It’s an important time, isn’t it?”

“So are we.”

Jang Jae-ho, the team leader of the future board design team, also stepped up, as if he couldn’t lose. Both teams had many candidates for promotion, so they needed to score some points.

“It’s a very important time. But one director doesn’t know that.”

“What did the director say?”

“He was worried about the employees’ attendance. He said I slept here and made the employees work more overtime. Really, they’re not kids. How could that be?”

“That… can’t be. It’s because there’s so much work.”

Jang Jae-ho hesitated, and Hyun Kyung-young misunderstood his intention and urged him strongly.

“I know it’s hard to do all the work of other departments. But you have to do it. Aren’t we the owners?”

“Yes. I understand.”

As he nodded his head, Ha Tae-min, the team leader of the future advanced technology team, cautiously raised his hand.

“Sir, what should we do this weekend?”

“What do you mean? If you have work, you come out, and if you don’t, you don’t. But I’ll make sure to check who worked hard.”

“…”

Ha Tae-min swallowed his words and sighed inwardly.

He had a headache thinking about how to make up work that didn’t exist.

What should he do to untangle the twisted work of the future product department?

The best way was to improve the system, but that would take too much time.

Yoo-hyun planned to sort out what he could do first.

There was an important premise here.

He had to look at the people under the surface, not the visible results, as before.

He needed to listen to the employees’ stories for that.

That was why Yoo-hyun came to the office.

-Let’s make it a habit to leave work on time~ ♩ ♪ ♬

The leaving work song rang, but no one got up from their seats.

They all listened to the song as if it was natural and did something.

To Yoo-hyun, they were all unnecessary things.

He took in the faces and the work of the employees as he passed by, and headed to the inner seat of the future board design team leader.