Time flowed like water, and before long, the end of March arrived.
Since the Future Strategy Promotion Department was responsible for the future sources of profit for Hangang Group, the latest materials published by media outlets and economic organizations around the world were constantly delivered to us. Because those documents came in many different languages, artificial intelligence performed the initial translations. Taking advantage of my background in the Department of Korean Literature, I spent my days correcting awkward expressions and wording in the texts processed by AI.
The amount of material requiring editing was so enormous that I spent insanely busy days without even having time to leave for the restroom.
Yun Sola, who had been assigned to the same team as me, handled all sorts of miscellaneous routine tasks in the Future Strategy Promotion Department. As if proving her remarkable resistance to stress, she silently dealt with her duties and never once showed irritation.
Today, however, something seemed to have finally gotten under her skin. Contrary to her usual self, there was a distinct sharpness in her voice.
“Intern Yun, how could you book the plane tickets so close to departure?”
“I merely followed Senior Specialist Choi's instructions to book them as quickly as possible.”
“That may be true, but you should have considered the time needed to stop by home, pack, and get to the airport, right?”
“I assumed that you, Senior Specialist Choi, had already packed in preparation for emergency business trips.”
“Ah... I'm the idiot for not giving clear instructions. Change the reservation to a flight leaving tonight and send the ticket to my email.”
“Understood.”
After answering, Yun Sola began tapping away on her laptop to change the flight reservation. Senior Specialist Choi Hyeonsu, clearly dissatisfied with her work, returned to his desk while huffing angrily.
I genuinely felt sorry for her and sent her a message of encouragement.
Cha Jiham: Senior Specialist Choi is famous for being a complete idiot.
Yun Sola: I'm well aware.
Cha Jiham: Glad to hear that. Hang in there.
Yun Sola: I feel like drinking something sweet would make all this stress disappear.
Yun Sola frequently tried to openly flirt with me. The reason she constantly clung to me was undoubtedly the effect of the pheromones contained in that herbal calming medicine.
Knowing that full well, I normally ignored her signs of affection.
Still, today I should cheer her up a little.
If she decided to quit, the entire workload would fall squarely onto my shoulders.
Cha Jiham: Come to the break room in five minutes.
Yun Sola: Did the [N O V E L I G H T] sun rise in the west today?
Cha Jiham: Should I take that as a refusal of a drink?
Yun Sola: Haha, absolutely not.
***
Break room.
After buying Yun Sola's favorite drink from the vending machine, I sat down at an empty table.
Moments later, she appeared at the door, walked over quickly, and sat down across from me.
“To live long enough to see Intern Cha buying me a drink... I think I should write this down in my diary.”
“If someone heard that, they'd think I was some miser who never treated anyone.”
“Well, you bought me things so rarely that it was like rain during a drought. Naturally, I recorded every occasion in my diary.”
“How about we stop with the nonsense?”
“Well, if that's what you want.”
“She looks cute even when she's sulking.”
I opened the drink and handed it to Yun Sola before continuing.
“Were you very angry about what happened earlier?”
“If I got angry over things like that, I would've already collapsed from nervous exhaustion.”
“For someone who claims not to be angry, you were radiating icy coldness.”
Naturally, I only thought that to myself and merely nodded in agreement.
“Come to think of it, you're right.”
“How are things going for you, Intern Cha?”
After taking that herbal calming medicine, my mental abilities had advanced tremendously. As I corrected AI translations, I carefully organized the latest information in my head.
Thanks to that, people in our team had already started calling me a walking encyclopedia.
Despite that, I had never become arrogant.
“As you know yourself, Intern Yun, I can't even go to the bathroom properly.”
“I meant whether you enjoy the editing work itself.”
“Well, AI translates almost perfectly, so there are hardly any difficulties. The only issue is the sheer volume.”
“On the other hand, technological development means someone loses their job because of it. It's a bit depressing.”
“That is true. Shall we change the subject?”
“Whatever you like. By the way, Intern Cha, do you spend your entire salary on clothes?”
Because the Future Strategy Promotion Department prided itself on being the face of Hangang Group, everyone strictly adhered to business attire and wore only suits.
However, last month Chairman Yoon Jongu had ordered all divisions throughout the conglomerate to adopt casual dress. Naturally, our department followed suit.
And that's where a problem arose.
Upon learning of the dress code changes, Chairman Park Yeongil had sent me over twenty sets of clothes as gifts.
The problem was that every single item came from luxury brands.
And now Yun Sola's pointed questions were aimed directly at that issue.
“The clothes I'm wearing are gifts.”
“Could it be... Tracy and Gloria gave them to you?”
“Oh, why is the conversation heading in this direction again?”
“As I told you before, I've only met them once.”
“And I can trust your words?”
“They've already returned to America anyway, so I couldn't see them even if I wanted to.”
“Then some other woman gave you these outrageously expensive clothes?”
“...I don't have any free time. Even if I wanted to date someone, I couldn't.”
“What do you mean you don't have time?”
Her relentless questioning was starting to puzzle me, but my main goal today was to relieve Yun Sola's stress.
Besides, it wasn't irritating me that much.
“I'll tell you if you promise to keep it a secret.”
“Should I swear on the lives of my parents and my own life until the day I die?”
“...No need to go that far. I trust you, Intern Yun, so I'll tell you. After work, I do delivery jobs until midnight. And naturally, I spend my weekends delivering orders too.”
Yun Sola flatly refused to comprehend what she had just heard.
Her grandfather, wishing to take care of Cha Jiham, had ordered the interns' salaries raised to eighty percent of a full employee's pay.
Including various allowances, he earned nearly five million won a month.
Yet despite that, he sacrificed even his legal days off and exhausted himself doing delivery work for money.
Trying not to touch a sore spot, she carefully asked why he was pushing himself so desperately.
“I still have bank loans to pay off.”
“If you don't mind me asking, what did you borrow the money for?”
“My younger sister is a fourth-year university student. She took a leave of absence, but returned to school this semester. I didn't have enough money for the deposit on a two-bedroom apartment, so I had no choice but to borrow.”
“Ah, I see. And which university does she attend, if I may ask?”
“The business administration department of the best university in the country.”
“Wow. You must be very proud of your sister.”
“I won't deny that.”
“But still, who is this person who showered you with luxury clothes?”
“Can we drop that topic?”
“It's a very important question for me.”
“When is the effect of that damned herbal calming medicine finally going to wear off?”
“They were gifts from a benefactor who's supporting me.”
Only then did Yun Sola finally connect all the dots.
Without question, the person who had given Cha Jiham those expensive clothes was Chairman Park Yeongil.
But if she openly said that now, she risked revealing her own background.
“What about you attracted this person so much that he gives you such generous gifts?”
“I'm sorry, but I can't answer that question.”
Bzzz.
Just as the atmosphere between them had become rather ambiguous, the phone lying on the table vibrated briefly.
I glanced at the screen.
It was a message from Deputy Manager Woo Changhun, a senior member of our team.
Deputy Manager Woo Changhun: Where are you?
Cha Jiham: In the break room with Intern Yun.
Deputy Manager Woo Changhun: Bring her and get to the main conference room immediately.
Cha Jiham: Understood.
After replying, I showed the screen to Yun Sola and stood up.
We practically ran into the conference room and froze in surprise.
Every employee of the Future Strategy Promotion Department was already seated there.
Taking the seat next to Woo Changhun, I quietly asked what was going on.
“The Vice Chairman dropped by without any warning.”
“What?!”
Yun Sola flinched and was more frightened than anyone else.
Woo Changhun looked at her in confusion.
“Intern Yun, why are you so scared?”
How could she possibly admit that Vice Chairman Yoon Sanghun was her biological father?
“It'll be my first time seeing the Vice Chairman in person. Of course I'm nervous.”
“Well, when you put it that way, that's understandable. But why are you so calm, Intern Cha?”
About once every ten days, Chairman Park Yeongil summoned me to his estate.
Every third visit or so, I would inevitably run into Chairman Yoon Jongu and Chief Secretary Song Dosok.
I regularly saw people whose influence vastly exceeded that of the Vice Chairman.
Why would I panic now?
Naturally, I had no intention of revealing my true thoughts.
“He has nothing directly to do with me, so why should I be nervous?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that the person deciding whether I'll become a full-time employee certainly won't be the Vice Chairman.”
“Well... there is some logic in that.”
“Does the Vice Chairman often visit the Future Strategy Promotion Department?”
“Not often. Occasionally. But this is the first time I've ever seen him come without notice. And to call together the entire department too. Just why would he do something so sudden?”
“How would I know? Intern Yun, what do you think?”
Yun Sola remembered complaining to her mother a few days earlier about certain difficulties in corporate life.
There was a high chance her mother had passed those words on to her father.
And he might have arranged this sudden visit to personally check the situation.
But even if she died, she couldn't reveal the truth.
“How would an ordinary intern know something like that?”
Click.
At that moment, the conference room doors opened and Vice Chairman Yoon Sanghun entered, accompanied by his chief secretary Cho Seongjin and Department Director Jeong Sunho.
Everyone shot to their feet and greeted the executives.
Vice Chairman Yoon Sanghun sat at the head of the table, surveyed everyone present, and spoke calmly.
“Please, take your seats.”
As everyone promptly sat down, he continued.
“The reason I came to the Future Strategy Promotion Department without prior notice is because I wanted to personally meet the people working hard for the company.”
“Yes, sir.”
“By proper etiquette, I should hear introductions from each of you, but that would take too much time, so we'll skip that part. Does anyone object?”
“Of course not.”
“Thank you for your understanding. While we're here, I'd like to conduct a small test of your professional abilities. Employees who answer my questions correctly will receive cash bonuses.”
“Thank you very much!”
Excited murmurs filled the conference room.
Vice Chairman Yoon Sanghun looked around, pointed at someone, and addressed him.
“Would you introduce yourself?”
The employee immediately stood up.
“I'm Senior Specialist Won Uyeong from Team Three of the Future Strategy Promotion Department.”
“Excellent, energetic answer. I'll ask the most basic question. What is the fundamental mission of the Future Strategy Promotion Department?”
“It's... well...”
Senior Specialist Won Uyeong began stammering and, seemingly ashamed of his own helplessness, lowered his head.
Vice Chairman Yoon Sanghun looked at him in disappointment for a moment before speaking coldly.
“You may sit down.”
Won Uyeong sat down as though the world had collapsed around him.
The Vice Chairman chose another employee and, after hearing his name, asked the same question.
“Well... um... discovering new sources of profit...”
That colleague also mumbled incoherently before lowering his head.
The Vice Chairman turned to a third person, only to hear:
“...I'm sorry.”
Bang!
Vice Chairman Yoon Sanghun slammed his palm onto the table with all his might, genuinely furious.
Everyone present, including Director Jeong Sunho, shrank in fear and bowed their heads.
As though he had long been harboring this dissatisfaction, Vice Chairman Yoon Sanghun harshly rebuked them.
“You are the people responsible for the future sources of revenue for all of Hangang Group. Yet you cannot even state the fundamental mission of your own Future Strategy Promotion Department? Does that make any sense at all? What do you yourselves think about this?”
“......”
Nobody had an answer.
The entire room remained deathly silent.
His voice still trembling with anger, Vice Chairman Yoon Sanghun delivered his final remark.
“If there is even one person here who knows the mission of the Future Strategy Promotion Department, raise your hand and answer.”
“Vice Chairman, allow me to speak.”