PAO 85

Assistant Manager Jang of Chungil Headquarters Marketing Team 2 and Junior Staff Member Lim were drinking coffee, chatting about the hottest news that had recently broken out.

“Do you know? I heard the head of the HR department went and personally scouted one of the new employees this time.”

“Really?”

“Yes. They say he’s a student who just graduated from university, and that his grades are outstanding.”

Assistant Manager Jang, sipping his coffee, expressed his doubts about the news Junior Staff Member Lim had brought him.

“Being good in terms of grades seems a little insufficient.”

“Of course. But…”

Junior Staff Member Lim looked around. Then, as if he were about to tell a rather big secret, he covered the side of his mouth with his hand. As Assistant Manager Jang instinctively leaned his upper body forward, Junior Staff Member Lim whispered into his ear.

“What? With the chairman’s son?”

“Shh. Shh.”

Junior Staff Member Lim flapped both his hands, telling him to lower his voice. Because of that, even Assistant Manager Jang covered his own mouth with his fist and glanced at the other people in the employee break room. Fortunately, they were all busy chatting amongst themselves, and no one was paying attention this way.

Assistant Manager Jang let out a sigh of relief and looked at Junior Staff Member Lim.

“How do you know that?”

“Well, someone saw him going in and out of the chairman’s office.”

Assistant Manager Jang tried to organize what he had just heard. Among the new employees coming in this time, there was one who the head of HR personally went to recruit, and this person was said to be acquainted with the chairman’s son. And with that connection, he even goes in and out of the chairman’s office and calls the chairman ‘Mister’?

“But is that a reason for the head of the HR department to go and scout him?”

“Who knows about that. In any case, all we know is that he’s a new employee with a connection to the chairman.”

Junior Staff Member Lim shrugged and drank his coffee. Assistant Manager Jang had been with the company longer, but he couldn’t keep up with Junior Staff Member Lim when it came to information. It could be exaggerated, but it meant the story wasn’t entirely made up.

As Assistant Manager Jang was thinking about this and that, he recalled what he had heard from Section Chief Kim this morning.

“Aren’t we getting two new employees in our Team 2 as well?”

“That’s right. Could one of them be among them?”

To Junior Staff Member Lim, who spoke with great excitement, Assistant Manager Jang shook his head as if to say he didn’t know.

“How would I know anything when we don’t even know who the scouted person is. A new employee with the surname Yoo is coming to our team, so does that mean that employee is the chairman’s son?”

“You’re right, not everyone with the surname Yoo is of the chairman’s bloodline.”

Junior Staff Member Lim flatly dismissed it as absurd. Assistant Manager Jang also admitted that he had gotten too ahead of himself and went back to drinking his coffee.

“Anyway, if I find out who that new employee is, I’d want to treat him well.”

It was undeniable that being on the good side of one acquaintance of the chairman’s son was better than being on the good side of ten executives. However, Assistant Manager Jang was skeptical.

“What are you going to do even if you find out who it is, if he’s not on our team? It’s not like you’re going to go and help him out. Enough of that, let’s get up now.”

Assistant Manager Jang, holding his still unfinished coffee, suggested to Junior Staff Member Lim that they return to their desks. Junior Staff Member Lim, likewise holding his unfinished coffee, followed him.

“The new employee…”

“The chairman’s… acquaintance…”

The snippets of conversation heard as they passed by were all about a similar story, so it seemed the fact that Assistant Manager Jang had been so loudly surprised earlier wouldn’t be a problem.

“Isn’t there any way to find out who it is?”

“You want to know that badly? First, the new employees will be split up into their respective departments, so during lunchtime or something, ugh.”

Assistant Manager Jang, who had been walking without looking ahead, bumped into someone who suddenly appeared from the side. Startled, he twisted his body, stumbling and losing his balance. Just before he fell, he was saved from the crisis thanks to a hand that grabbed his arm.

“Are you alright?”

“Ah… well. I’m fine.”

The coffee had spilled onto his hand, but it wasn’t hot, so it was fine. After replying, Assistant Manager Jang checked the person who had caught him and immediately froze.

“I’m sorry. Please wipe it with this for now, and I’ll get you another coffee.”

Assistant Manager Jang was a man. His secondary gender was also beta, so if he were to meet a potential partner he was interested in, it would be a female beta. Therefore, he had almost never felt anything even when looking at another man, but for the first time, he was surprised.

It was because the face of the man who had grabbed his arm and was even offering him a handkerchief was handsome enough to capture Assistant Manager Jang’s eyes. The man, to whom a smile suited well, was the likable type who seemed like he would be surrounded by people on his looks alone.

“Who are you?”

Junior Staff Member Lim, who saw the other person’s face first, cutting in front of Assistant Manager Jang who had frozen late after seeing the face, hurriedly interjected.

“I’m a new employee, Han Seowon. I’ve been assigned to Marketing Team 2.”

“Ah… a new employee.”

He had been told two were coming, so he had met one of them. Assistant Manager Jang wiped his coffee-stained hand with the handkerchief while stealing a glance at the new employee’s face.

At first, he looked because he was handsome, but then, he unknowingly became suspicious.

Since it hadn’t been revealed who the new employee with the connection to the chairman was, Assistant Manager Jang hadn’t actually been that interested. But strangely, he had a feeling that this man might be the one.

“Mr. Seowon. What’s the matter?”

Just then, someone approached while calling the new employee’s name. Assistant Manager Jang merely turned his gaze, spotted the man approaching, and flinched.

His first impression was that he was aloof. Every single step he took was out of the ordinary, and he was a man who had a certain elegant air about him. He was surprisingly taller than Han Seowon, yet his looks, on the contrary, felt rather delicate.

That was the impression based solely on the aura he gave off, as it was impossible to scrutinize every feature.

As Assistant Manager Jang and Junior Staff Member Lim just stared, Han Seowon extended his hand and pointed to the man.

“This is Yoo Junghoo, who joined the company with me.”

It was the new employee with the surname Yoo, the very one they had said couldn’t all be of the chairman’s bloodline just because his name was Yoo.

“This is insane.”

Junior Staff Member Lim’s mumble was exactly what Assistant Manager Jang was thinking. With the appearance of two men whose faces were insane—truly handsome in a good way—he couldn’t get a grip on himself. It wasn’t that he felt any sexual attraction, but simple admiration. It seemed those two would draw people’s attention even without any connection to the chairman.

“Nice to meet you. For now, please follow me.”

After a moment of appreciating their faces, Assistant Manager Jang recalled the instructions he had received from Section Chief Kim and told the two to follow him.

First, he would show them to their desks, and then when the computers arrived from the support office, he would connect them to the company’s VPN.

“Are you okay where you bumped into me earlier?”

“Yes. I was more worried that someone else might get hurt, so I grabbed you quickly.”

As he was trying to organize what to teach them first, he unintentionally overheard the conversation of the two men following him. It seemed they had quickly become close, probably because they joined the company at the same time. On top of that, since they would be working on the same team from now on, they would probably hang out more often.

“I’ll walk in front next time.”

“It’s fine.”

“Still, it’s better for me to fall down than for you to get hurt, Mr. Seowon.”

“…Why would I get hurt.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt, Mr. Seowon.”

“I mean, why…”

New employee Han Seowon’s words were cut off. It seemed he had shut his mouth late after realizing someone else was there, but it rather had the opposite effect.

Assistant Manager Jang was starting to become more curious about the relationship between the two people who had joined his team than about the new employee with a connection to the chairman.

There was nothing special about the circumstances under which Seowon came to be employed at Chungil.

As he was coming out after finishing his last final exam of the semester, a man who identified himself as the head of HR at Chungil blocked Seowon’s path and held out a business card.

“I am Park Taegyu, head of the HR department at Chungil. I’ve come to offer Han Seowon a scouting proposal.”

While Seowon stood there, too surprised to say anything, students who were just finishing their exams couldn’t pass by, wondering what was going on.

“Why are you giving me a business card? Are you giving it to me because I’m Junghoo’s friend?”

If that was the reason, he intended not to accept the card, even if everyone was watching.

“Han Seowon.”

The head of HR pushed up his glasses with his middle finger.

“If it were for something like that, the chairman’s secretary should have come, not me. I came purely after seeing your resume, Seowon.”

Seowon, who had noticed something was strange, was about to speak but then felt the gazes around him and closed his mouth again. Realizing this was not a conversation to be had right here, Seowon suggested to the head of HR that they go to a cafe. Fortunately, the head of HR readily agreed, so they were able to move.

Only after they were alone did Seowon mention the strange part.

“I didn’t submit a resume.”

He had been eyeing a few companies, but he hadn’t paid much attention to Chungil. The company where Junghoo’s father, Yoo Younghan, was the chairman had been off the table from the very beginning. He knew it was a large corporation with a solid foundation, but there was something that bothered him about applying based on just that. Perhaps the fact that he had a personal connection was a big hang-up?

‘Others would probably say, how could you give up on a company for such a petty reason.’

But from his perspective, it was different. Thanks to Yoo Junghoo, who liked him so much, even Mister Yoo Younghan seemed ready to give him his liver and gallbladder, so joining that company felt burdensome.

That’s why he hadn’t considered it, but how could it be that his resume had been submitted?

“Don’t worry about that.”

The head of HR confidently took out his phone from his breast pocket and thrust it at Seowon.

“I received it from your friend.”

“…”

And he had acted as if it had nothing to do with Junghoo.

While Seowon was looking at his resume on the phone, the head of HR placed the business card he hadn’t been able to give earlier on the table.

“It’s true that I offered you a scouting proposal, but please enter the company officially through the open recruitment process.”

He was even demanding he go through the official recruitment, not even the rolling admission.

“I’ve delivered all of the chairman’s words, so will you accept the business card now?”

And he had said the chairman’s secretary should have been the one to come.

“Ah, I almost forgot this. He said that a company life together with Yoo Junghoo could be a substitute for the school days that unfortunately passed by.”

It was the Mister’s own way of being considerate, asking if he wasn’t disappointed that they had gone to different high schools due to Junghoo’s circumstances, even though they had attended elementary and middle school together. He wished he could tell him that wasn’t the case at all, but…

“I look forward to working with you.”

When he found himself shaking hands with Yoo Junghoo in front of the head office, he decided to admit it. That he was drawn to a company life together with Junghoo…

‘It’s the first day, can I do well?’

Seowon touched his awkward necktie and subtly created distance from the presence clinging tightly to his side. He had to make a new start in an unfamiliar environment, but he was worried about this person he knew so well, down to every nook and cranny, constantly being so clingy.

“The two of you will be sitting here. The official introductions will probably happen when the section chief, who went out for work, returns.”

Assistant Manager Jang pointed to two empty desks facing each other with a partition in between, and then pointed to the farthest empty desk and spoke.

“For now, I’ll briefly introduce the team members who are here. I’m Assistant Manager Jang Hansu, this is Junior Staff Member Lim Yong, and over there is Staff Member Kim Taejun…”