Real Man

“Well, then. This is some practical know-how. Oh, and if you achieve great results, you can also negotiate with the upper management. Of course, it depends on your competence as a manager.”

“Thank you. That was very helpful.”

It was not a fundamental solution, but it was better than knowing nothing.

Of course, the choice was up to Hyun Kyung-young.

Time passed and it was almost time to leave work on Thursday.

The employees who had a group vacation ahead of them were delighted by the surprise gifts that were delivered to their desks.

It was the gift set that Yoo-hyun had suggested instead of a vacation.

“Wow! What’s this? A beef gift set?”

“It’s from the manager’s bonus. And it’s grade A.”

“We finished our work, didn’t we? And we achieved our goals, so it makes sense.”

“Haha! My wife will love this.”

They all smiled brightly as they held the gift bags.

How would Hyun Kyung-young react to this?

‘He’ll learn a bit more.’

Yoo-hyun briefly thought of Hyun Kyung-young and took in the office scene.

He could feel the warm atmosphere even from a distance.

They were buzzing.

The people who were blocked by the partitions started to communicate with each other over a single gift.

He could no longer see them shouting at each other.

They all looked happy for leaving work early these days.

Jang Jun-sik, who was looking at the same place as Yoo-hyun, said in a voice full of emotion.

“The atmosphere has changed a lot. They all look happy.”

“Anyone would be happy if they got a beef set.”

“But it’s rewarding.”

The good mood could collapse again if the situation got twisted.

Still, he had achieved a meaningful result in a short period of time.

He felt that he would do better in the future as he gained more experience.

Yoo-hyun smiled and looked at his colleagues who had helped him.

“Thanks to you all. You worked hard.”

“Don’t say unnecessary things and let’s go. I think they’ll be better off without us, sir.”

As Kwon Se-jung suddenly came out politely, Yoo-hyun quickly backed off.

“Ahem. Lead the way, team leader Kwon.”

“I’ll open the door as the leader of the second part.”

Jung Hyun-woo ran quickly and opened the door to the stairs with a smile.

Yoo-hyun went down the stairs and came out to the lobby on the first floor.

It was still before the end of work, so it was quiet.

He walked a few steps along the silent corridor.

Tap tap tap.

He heard a fast footsteps behind him.

He turned his head and saw that Cha Mi-kyung had already approached him.

She was panting as if she had run down the stairs.

She called out to Yoo-hyun.

“Huff, huff! Sir, sir, wait a minute.”

“Yes, Ms. Cha. What is it?”

Yoo-hyun spoke calmly and racked his brain.

What went wrong?

He reviewed the purchasing team’s work, but there was no big problem.

He thought of various possibilities, but she bowed her head to him.

“Sir, thank you.”

“What did I do?”

“You sent a flower pot to my mother’s hospital. She was very happy.”

He realized the situation belatedly and waved his hand.

“No, I didn’t do that. It was the general affairs manager who did it.”

“I heard it was you, sir.”

The money was paid from the manager’s bonus.

Yoo-hyun only made a suggestion, so he drew a line right away.

“You heard wrong. You should thank the team and the manager.”

“And also… thank you.”

He waved his hand again, but Cha Mi-kyung didn’t budge.

She looked at Yoo-hyun with determination in her eyes.

“I’ll study more as you told me, sir. I’ll correctly judge the right and wrong as a manager, and I’ll speak up if something is wrong.”

“Uh…”

“I’ll make them move from below even if they don’t move from above. Thank you for teaching me, who only blamed the superiors and the environment.”

Why was she making such a big deal?

Yoo-hyun blinked his eyes and his lips curled up slightly.

“Rather, I should thank you. I learned a lot from you.”

It was not just a polite remark.

He felt that he learned how to deal with things in the future through her.

He walked out of the building and Kwon Se-jung poked his side.

“Do you feel good?”

“Yes, I do. Look at this.”

Yoo-hyun showed him the message he had received a while ago.

On the screen, there was a bright smile of a little kid holding various school supplies.

Below was a message from Kwon Ik-tae.

-Sir, Yena was so happy to receive the entrance gift. Thank you so much for taking care of her.

“Wow, how cute. But the gift arrived already?”

“I guess so. But how did they all know and contact me?”

Yoo-hyun asked suddenly, and Jung Hyun-woo turned his head sharply.

He had been looking elsewhere and muttered.

“I guess they found out by chance.”

“That chance, it’s amazing how well it fits.”

At Yoo-hyun’s meaningful words, Jung Hyun-woo asked bluntly.

“Is that important right now?”

“Then?”

“What’s important is that today is our last day to explore the Ulsan restaurants. Come on, let’s go.”

Jung Hyun-woo stretched out his arm and shouted cheerfully, and Yoo-hyun put his hand down.

“You’re right, but I’ll join you from the second round today.”

“Oh, you had an appointment, right?”

“Yes. A very important one.”

Yoo-hyun nodded and smiled softly.

Yoo-hyun met a lot of people while he was staying in Ulsan.

He greeted his old acquaintances and had a drink with his classmates he hadn’t seen for a while.

He didn’t just focus on the future product work, but listened to the stories of many people.

As he found what he had missed, Yoo-hyun had someone he wanted to meet.

It was Kim Ho-geol, the executive director.

Yoo-hyun kept his old promise and had a private drink with Kim Ho-geol at a quiet bar.

He had a lot of conversations with him at every drinking place, but it was the first time he faced him from the beginning.

Maybe that’s why?

Kim Ho-geol kept pouring drinks, feeling awkward.

“I should have called Jung, the team leader, and Maeng, the manager.”

“We already drank separately. They might get bored if they see us again.”

“Oh, was that the place Jung invited me to?”

“Yes. Why didn’t you come?”

“How can I join the young guys’ party?”

He muttered and emptied his glass.

Yoo-hyun filled his empty glass and looked at his face.

He had changed a lot compared to when he was in the previous product.

His round face had lost weight and his cheekbones were exposed, and his gentle eyes had become sharp.

His work style had also changed a lot.

He wore a hard mask to protect his staff and kept a distance from them.

Maybe it was because he survived so fiercely?

The novice team leader who was only clumsy had become a mature leader.

But he looked lonelier than before.

Yoo-hyun clinked glasses with him and had a lot of talk.

Kim Ho-geol was not a good reactor like Kim Hyun-min, but somehow he spoke easily in front of him.

“I had some unexpected experiences these days…”

He told him everything from meeting Kim Ho-seong to entering the future product team.

It was something that could be considered as Yoo-hyun’s weakness, but he said it casually.

Yoo-hyun felt very strange as he spoke.

“…”

Kim Ho-geol was quiet at first, but he nodded a little.

Then he was drawn into Yoo-hyun’s conversation.

He also opened up his mouth as the bottle emptied.

“I had a similar experience when I first became a team leader.”

“Did you?”

“Yes. I just worked hard, but my team members suffered a lot. Some people even missed their promotion because of me. And…”

He had a hard time starting as a novice team leader in a weak team.

He stumbled and many people who were with him suffered because of his wrong direction.

He knew there was a problem, but he didn’t know what to do.

So he learned a clumsy office politics by looking sideways.

“Then, you came as a dispatch. How should I say it, it was a big shock to me.”

“I did run around a lot.”

“Right. Sometimes I think about it. What if you hadn’t come?”

“What do you think would have happened?”

“Well. Maybe I would have quit first. I was cornered that much.”

Kim Ho-geol spat out some emotional words with a faint smile.

He was grateful for his consideration, but he needed to correct the facts.

Yoo-hyun looked into his calm eyes and showed his sincerity.

“No, you wouldn’t. You would have overcome it eventually. You just needed some time, sir.”

“No. I would have been eliminated for sure. I’m certain of that.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Because I was already a branded leader in the company. To break that and climb up, it was impossible as long as the system didn’t change, as you said.”

Was that really the case?

He had the ability to make high-resolution panels and lead the OLED panel development, but did he eventually collapse?

Kim Hogul, the executive director, spoke to Yoo-hyun, who was pondering various assumptions.

“But things changed when you came. You fixed the problems that were festering in the team, and you also repaired the wrong relationships with other departments. You even changed the way of work from the root.”

“I didn’t have such a grand intention back then.”

“I know. You stepped in because you felt sorry for me.”

“Not exactly.”

Yoo-hyun lowered his head, hiding his embarrassed feelings.

Kim Hogul, who emptied his glass, continued.

“Anyway, you, who were just an employee, did what the team leader couldn’t do, what no one in the company could do for me.”

“That’s flattering.”

“It’s true. Without you, there would be no me today. I’m sure of that.”

“…”

Yoo-hyun looked into Kim Hogul’s sincere eyes and recalled what he had said in the past.

-Do you know what kept me going when I was having a hard time? It was your advice. Thanks to your words, I was able to overcome it.

Kim Hogul was the person who changed because of Yoo-hyun.

Although they had a short time together, he engraved Yoo-hyun’s words in his heart and gradually improved until today.

In the meantime, many people grew under him and bloomed beautifully.

The small seeds that Yoo-hyun had sown had become a large flower garden through Kim Hogul.

‘So that’s how it was.’

Yoo-hyun suddenly realized that there were many people who changed as much as the people he missed.

One person changed and it didn’t stop there, but it affected many others.

Just like Kim Hogul did.

What if there were a second or third Kim Hogul?

The people who were positively influenced by him would also bloom another flower.

The work of creating a system that could make that happen.

That was what Yoo-hyun wanted to do.

Yoo-hyun felt like he finally knew why he wanted to meet Kim Hogul.

He had something he really wanted to say at this point.

“Director, you asked me before, right? If I achieve a great result, can I tell you what I really want?”

“That’s right.”

“Thanks to you, the semiconductor display has achieved a great result. So I think I can tell you.”

“Tell me.”

It was already three years ago, and Yoo-hyun had promised Kim Hogul.

The words he didn’t spit out then came out of Yoo-hyun’s mouth after a long time.

“I realized it again as I went through the whole process. I want to make a good company.”

“A good company?”

“Yes. A good company. I want to make a company where the colleagues who work together can show their abilities in a good environment.”

“…”

Maybe it was different from what he expected, but Kim Hogul blinked his eyes.