My heart pounded like crazy.
Diary entries for March 6th and 9th, dates that hadn't even arrived yet.
To call it a system error, the protagonist of the entries pointed squarely at me.
Could it be that AI hallucination phenomenon they were always chattering about on the news?
The kind of thing where it trained on my diary without permission and analyzed my patterns.
Otherwise, there was no way it could write such an absurd piece of fiction tailored so perfectly to my situation.
However, the voice flowing through the speaker.
That was unmistakably my voice.
And I had never heard of an app training on the user's voice as well.
Then did that mean this was a diary recorded by the future me?
I couldn't tell why, but it seemed I had become able to view diary entries from the near future.
‘First…… let's bolt!’
My instincts as a ten-year Manager at a major corporation were warning me.
Right now, figuring out the situation came before returning to the office.
If I went back like this, the contents of the diary might come true just as written.
Namely, handing over an 8-billion-won lottery ticket to none other than Senior Manager Kim Seok-hun.
After calming my trembling chest, I called Senior Manager Kim Seok-hun.
-Why are you calling again? Stuck in traffic?
“It is not that, Senior Manager.”
-Then why do you sound like you're half-dead?
There was no one in the world incapable of lying.
People simply tried their best to live as honestly as possible.
Faced with an opportunity or a crisis that could completely upend their life, anyone would be capable of telling a skillful lie.
Was I trying to prove that very point?
From my mouth, which had lived without deceit, a voice mixed with panic and injustice popped out automatically.
“Well… I got into a minor fender bender. Because the car behind me rear-ended me…….”
-What? An accident? How's your body? Can you work?
Concern with a painfully obvious ulterior motive.
He was only asking because his own workload would increase if I took time off.
“My body is fine. However, calling the insurance company and sorting things out is going to take some time. Returning to the office will be difficult, so I will clock out directly from the field.”
-Ah, damn it. Fine. It's almost closing time anyway, so do that. Instead, get your ass in early tomorrow morning. You know we've got a mountain of things to report, right?
“…Um, Senior Manager. I am sorry, but I think I will have to take a half-day leave tomorrow morning to drop the car off at the repair shop. I need to get the car fixed to be able to move around.”
Senior Manager Kim openly threw a fit of irritation.
-Ha…. You really do it all. Don't you know defensive driving? Ugh-seriously. Fine, just eat lunch and get your ass right over here. Got it?
“Yes, understood, Senior Manager.”
For now, I had bought myself time until lunch tomorrow.
As soon as the call ended, I leaned my head against the steering wheel and exhaled a long breath.
It was the same even after I returned home.
Sleep wouldn't come.
Fiddling with my smartphone, I stayed up almost the entire night without closing my eyes.
Even after listening to it hundreds of times, it was unmistakably my voice.
***
Seven o'clock the next morning.
Hiding inside my car as if on a stakeout, I watched Etoile Bakery.
The future diary that was still hard to believe.
Without verifying it, I couldn't do a single thing.
[Friday, March 6th. A disciplinary committee was held, and for the first time in my life, I got hit with a pay cut. It was because the Sillim branch owner made an unnecessary phone call. A three-month pay cut over something like this? This is the decision of a company that considers mutual growth its top corporate value? I feel like quitting on the spot.]
That was the reason I had come here early in the morning.
I had to verify whether this diary was real.
What kind of phone call could he possibly have made for a disciplinary committee to be convened?
I had to stop it, even if I had to snatch the owner's smartphone away.
It wasn't the pay cut I was afraid of.
Because even if I had known this outcome in advance, I would have acted the exact same way.
What terrified me, however, was Senior Manager Kim Seok-hun winning first prize.
Watching the lottery ticket I had bought and handed over change the life of that despicable excuse for a human being was something I never wanted to see, even if I died.
Having propped up the sign I had written for him yesterday like a sidewalk board, the owner was in the middle of preparing for business.
His decisiveness was much faster than I had expected.
He must have realized that no matter how delicious the bread he made was, without customers, it would only become expensive trash.
‘Thank goodness. I was worried he might be stubborn.’
A moment later, the store's exhaust fan began to spin.
A delicious smell drifted into the car.
It wasn't the smell of ordinary toast that I knew.
It was the aroma of savory butter, salty ham, and rich cheese baking in an oven.
‘Did the owner pull an all-nighter too? Isn't that croque monsieur?’
When I zoomed in with the camera, loaves of bread with golden-brown melted cheese cascading down them filled the display case one by one.
With parsley flakes lightly sprinkled on top, they looked every bit like authentic croque monsieurs.
-Growl.
My stomach, which hadn't eaten a thing, reacted first, but I could endure this much.
Because I had something far more important to deal with.
If the pay cut incident written in today's diary entry really happened, then the 8-billion-won lottery incident would also become real.
By the time the delicious aroma filled the alley, students who looked as though they had just woken up gathered in front of the store one by one.
“Hey! Is this really 4,000 won? Isn't this way too high-end for toast? The coffee aroma is a work of art too!”
“I know, right? It's way more generous than what they sell at cafes. Look how thick the ham and cheese are!”
Word of mouth swelled on its own.
A famous chef from France was selling croque monsieur at a low price.
Exam-prep students shuffling out in their slippers packed the once-deserted place where not even a fly had buzzed.
The effect of a waiting line forming during the morning rush hour was tremendous.
Not only students, but office workers on their way to work and even nearby merchants were drawn in by the smell and lined up.
‘Huh-. This actually works?’
I clicked my tongue in amazement.
I had only given him a little advice suited to the commercial district, yet combined with the owner's quick decisiveness and skill, a miracle had unfolded in a single day.
Had about two hours passed?
Running out with a flushed face, the owner bowed repeatedly and hung up a sidewalk sign.
[Ingredients Sold Out. See you again at 5 PM.]
It seemed he had completely run out of not only the ingredients received from headquarters, but also the ones he had hurriedly sourced last night.
“Ah, come on! It got cut off right in front of me!”
“Boss, can't you do just one more? Please grill me even some leftover sliced bread!”
Even as he bowed repeatedly from the waist toward the disappointed students, the smile never left the corners of the owner's mouth.
“I am sorry. Today was the first event, so I had no idea it would sell this much. I will prepare plenty from now on. Next time you come, I will give you yours for free. I'm sorry. Haha.”
He was good at dealing with people too.
After personally apologizing to everyone who had been waiting, the owner wiped the sweat from his forehead and went back inside the store.
Wearing a satisfied smile, the owner picked up his smartphone.
In that instant, an alarm went off inside my head.
“Wait a second! Sir!”
Startled by me barging in so urgently, the store owner barely managed to catch the smartphone that had nearly fallen to the floor.
“…M-Manager Kang? What brings you here….”
“Haa-. That is not what matters right now. Where are you trying to call right now?”
When I asked while catching my breath, the store owner blinked as if he had no idea what was going on.
The name written above the call button was the Seongun Development Franchise Operations Team.
“I was just about to call headquarters. Thanks to your advice, Manager, I hit the jackpot! I was going to raise an issue over that scam of a contract Senior Manager Kim Seok-hun pushed through, and heap praises on you! Hahaha.”
Goosebumps broke out all over my forearms.
In trying to help me, the naive store owner was about to shove me straight into hell.
“Do not do it. Something like that will not help me in the slightest.”
“Pardon? No, why? I was just trying to put in a good word for you, Manager…….”
“Ha-. You do not need to praise me. So please, never call headquarters. Just yesterday you said you were terrified of the penalty fee, so why are you suddenly acting like this?”
Had business gone so well that he momentarily lost his senses?
At the word penalty fee, the owner's jaw dropped wide open and he scratched his temple furiously.
“You understand now, right? So never report anything to headquarters first. I understand that you are angry at Senior Manager Kim Seok-hun, and I appreciate that you are trying to look out for me. That alone is enough for me.”
“…Ah, I understand. I was just so grateful that I got carried away…….”
The goosebumps that had risen on my forearms began to subside one by one.
After earnestly asking the Sillim branch owner not to do anything impulsive, I got back into my car.
For now, it seemed I had prevented the pay cut.
Was the diary really a record of the future? Or just a coincidence?
Even after preventing the pay cut, it still didn't feel real.
Aren't there times like that every once in a while?
When something you saw in a dream comes true in reality just as it was.
It was a little strange, though.
Even assuming the Sillim branch owner had made the phone call, it wasn't something worth convening a disciplinary committee over.
I would have just gotten chewed out plenty.
That was definitely how it should have been…….
***
Two o'clock in the afternoon. The moment I opened the office door and stepped inside, a booming roar struck my eardrums.
“Hey! Kang Jin-hyeok! Are you out of your mind right now?!”
It was Senior Manager Kim Seok-hun.
Striding over as if he were about to strangle me, he hurled a stack of documents at my chest.
“You bastard, what the hell did you do at the Sillim branch yesterday?!”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“What do I mean? Are you seriously asking because you don't know?! CS contacted me! They said complaints are pouring in because of the Sillim branch!”
In that instant, my heart sank.
There was no way.
I had taken care of everything cleanly before coming back, so why on earth?
When I just blinked with a blank face, Senior Manager Kim Seok-hun spat out his irritation.
“Did you tell the Sillim branch owner to grill toast and sell it?! Was that the event you talked about?! The owners of the neighborhood snack bars and restaurants are raising hell, calling it a conglomerate's encroachment on alley businesses!”
A sigh escaped me of its own accord.
It meant business had gone so well that it had drawn the jealousy of the surrounding merchants.
Why were they so desperate to tear each other apart?
It was truly a mindset hard to understand.
“I am sorry. Since you told me to prevent the store from closing by any means necessary…. I thought something like toast as an event would be fine.”
“Ha…. You thick-headed bastard. Does selling toast at Etoile make any sense to you?!”
“To be exact, it is croque monsieur. Even Etoile had it on the menu until last year….”
“It did. As a 9,000-won à la carte item, not a measly 4,000 won.”
The goddamn bastard sure had a good memory for that, at least.
Seeing as talking any further wouldn't do a bit of good, I bowed my head slightly and admitted fault.
“I am sorry. Since you told me to prevent the store from closing by any means necessary…. I thought a small event would be fine.”
“Ha…. You thick-headed bastard. Tarnishing the brand image, plus violating the mutual growth agreement. What are you going to do about this?! A disciplinary committee is being held in two days, so consider yourself informed!”
Unbelievable.
It was unfortunate that complaints had poured in, but a disciplinary committee just for suggesting an event for promotion?
Did this make any sense at all for a company that preached mutual growth?
As I let out a small sigh, Senior Manager Kim Seok-hun shot me a cowardly warning.
“Let me make this clear—you'd better not breathe a single word about me ordering you to stop the store closure. It's not your first day in corporate life, so watch how you conduct yourself! Got it?!”
Damn bastard.
It seemed he had thrown an even bigger fit because he was afraid the sparks would fly back onto him.
After bowing my head in acknowledgment, I headed to the outdoor smoking area to soothe my foul mood.
I didn't smoke.
I just wanted to let out a whole bunch of sighs.
Swallowing the cold air in the empty smoking area, I turned on the diary app.
‘……Huh? What's this?’
Tilting my head, I tapped on the diary entry for two days from now.
[Friday, March 6th. A disciplinary committee was held, and for the first time in my life, I got hit with a pay cut. I stopped the Sillim branch owner's phone call, but I didn't anticipate the complaints from the surrounding merchants. A three-month pay cut over something like this? This is the decision of a company that considers mutual growth its top corporate value? I feel like quitting on the spot.]
The contents… changed?
Could it be that the future had changed because of my actions?
Letting out a hollow laugh, I could only look up at the sky.
I should have checked the diary app constantly.
The records written inside it were real.
As I stood there letting out a dazed laugh, Senior Manager Kim Seok-hun approached along with the department heads of other teams.
“Where's my lottery ticket?”
That snapped me wide awake.
If what was written in the diary app was real, I had to protect the lottery ticket by any means necessary.