My Company Is Black

#017

Lee Gyo-ha had been feeling uneasy lately.

It was fine that everyone thought he was just a superficial parachute executive director. He didn’t want to get caught between his sister and brother who were blinded by power and honor. It was also inconvenient to work hard and receive high-priority projects.

In the first place, it wasn’t Gyo-ha’s own will to be inserted as an executive director at BK International. Thanks to his sister who pushed him to work instead of living like a parasite, it was good that he met Jung Hwi-kyung, the “real” regression person, but Gyo-ha was thoroughly tired of business and work due to thirteen regressions.

On the positive side, working at a company was better than going back to graduate school. Anyway, BK International was his first time, so everything felt fresh as nothing overlapped with previous cycles.

The problem was that it was so fresh that even a slightly closer look revealed rotten parts.

Gyo-ha started examining the HR team in detail since the day Hwi-kyung took sick leave. Strange rumors were circulating about his strict behavior towards the HR team in particular, but company rumors had no effect on Gyo-ha.

He was already aware of the existence of such rumors. But unlike Hwi-kyung, he wasn’t affected by them. While Jung Hwi-kyung was just a deputy manager, Lee Gyo-ha was the chairman’s son. There was no reason to react to every rumor about him liking Hwi-kyung.

Gyo-ha, who had often been involved in vulgar and unsavory rumors due to his background, was indifferent to office scandals. He didn’t think Hwi-kyung would be swayed by rumors that weren’t even true. He arbitrarily judged that Hwi-kyung wouldn’t care much about this issue since it wasn’t even being reported in the media or discussed by the public.

“Nice to meet you, Team Leader Park.”

So instead of trying to stop the strange rumors, Gyo-ha decided to overturn the HR team to make it better for our regression person to work at the company. He didn’t know that this was actually turning Hwi-kyung’s stomach.

“I checked the previous hiring process, and it seems there’s a problem, so I called you in.”

“Ah… What kind of problem…?”

Team Leader Park was smiling on the outside, but inwardly he was cursing the parachute executive director. It was clear that this young brat was trying to abuse his power just because he was born to good parents.

Some people dedicate 16 years to a company and are still just team leaders, but he became an executive director as soon as he joined. How ridiculous must company life seem to him? Moreover, what does a guy who’s only been here for a few months and is already causing bad rumors by being fixated on a male deputy manager know?

“Looking at the resumes, this applicant Kim So-young seems better than Jung Min-jun who was accepted in many ways.”

“…”

“Kim So-young didn’t even pass the document screening and was rejected.”

“We don’t hire based solely on academic background or certifications.”

“But this is document screening, not an interview?”

“Yes, well… what’s written on paper isn’t everything. If you look, isn’t Kim So-young a bit old?”

“She’s the same age as Jung Min-jun.”

“How can a 27-year-old woman be the same as a 27-year-old man? Men have to serve in the military, don’t they?”

Gyo-ha gave Park Bong-jun a look that said, “So what?” Gyo-ha had also completed his military service. It’s true that the Korean military is terrible, but it was strange that a female applicant who had filled her resume with various certifications and external activities lost to a male applicant who only had a computer skills certificate and one camp experience.

“You hired him because he completed military service?”

“It’s not exactly that, but if a young female employee goes to that department…”

“This seems odd. I checked and found that Jung Min-jun is the second son of Executive Director Jung.”

“…”

“Is that correct?”

If you know that, why are you asking?

Park Bong-jun felt truly wronged. You’re an executive director because you’re the chairman’s son! You’re the biggest hiring corruption! He felt really unfair that he couldn’t freely say such things.

Jung Min-jun was able to get into BK International with unremarkable qualifications because he was the son of one of the Baekgyeong Group executives. They posted a job opening during the regular hiring season for this predetermined candidate because directly inserting him would cause problems.

But this wasn’t such a big deal. This level doesn’t even count as corruption. Real corruption is when the chairman makes his 29-year-old son an executive director, not when an executive puts his son into a subsidiary company.

It’s true that truly qualified applicants get rejected in the process. But wouldn’t those applicants get accepted somewhere else? That’s what Park Bong-jun thought. They probably didn’t apply only to this company anyway.

“It’s true that he’s Executive Director Jung’s son, but we didn’t know during the hiring process.”

“You didn’t know?”

“Yes. He applied through the official job posting, went through the executive interview, and was accepted. Jung Min-jun is doing well in the operations team.”

“I see.”

Gyo-ha, who had placed the documents related to the previous hiring on the desk, nodded.

“Anyway, this wasn’t something you did personally, Team Leader Park?”

“No. There was no problem with the open recruitment process.”

“I understand. I’ve wasted your time unnecessarily.”

Gyo-ha waved his hand, telling Park Bong-jun to leave. Even at that moment, Park Bong-jun was inwardly cursing, thinking that this young brat was abusing his power after becoming an executive director through nepotism.

“Ah, and on your way down, could you call Jung Hwi-kyung for me?”

“Yes. But…”

“But?”

“About the temporary secretary. Our team’s Manager Kang wants to take over from now on.”

“Why?”

“What? Well…”

Don’t you know about the dirty rumors? Park Bong-jun awkwardly smiled, unable to say those words out loud.

“Deputy Manager Jung does work well, but he still lacks experience.”

Hearing Park Bong-jun’s words, Gyo-ha tried to estimate how much work experience Hwi-kyung had as an office worker. If he had been a company employee throughout all thirteen cycles, he must have worked for at least 50 years, so it was surprising that he was still being told he lacked experience.

It was also amusing that Park Bong-jun, with only 16 years of experience, was talking about lack of experience to Jung Hwi-kyung, a 13-time regression person. Gyo-ha deliberately smiled brightly at Team Leader Park.

“I’d prefer Jung Hwi-kyung if possible.”

“…”

“As you said, he works so well. I’d like him to become the official secretary if possible.”

“Yes…”

“Is that not possible?”

Is there anything impossible for the chairman’s son?

Park Bong-jun nodded with a half-crumpled smile. The common-sense thought that romance should be kept outside the company passed through Park Bong-jun’s mind.

* * *

At the same time, Hwi-kyung was feeling an inexplicable chill.

He had a hunch that Gyo-ha would bother him again. It was the intuition about terrible bosses that supposedly develops forcibly when one becomes an office worker.

This cycle must be cursed. How else could one explain the current situation where the previously nice HR team leader and Gyo-ha, who was in America in the last cycle, were both acting up simultaneously?

Just as he was thinking about visiting a shaman to buy a talisman to ward off bad luck, Team Leader Park entered the office, huffing and puffing.

“Deputy Manager Jung. Follow me to the meeting room.”

Hwi-kyung’s red light feeling was spot on. When one’s ancestral spirit does a break dance in one’s head sending a red signal, it was a revelation that something terrible was bound to happen.

Following the team leader to the meeting room, Hwi-kyung assumed a polite posture in front of Team Leader Park, who was doing Lamaze breathing to calm his anger. It was clear that Gyo-ha had done something strange to upset Team Leader Park. Since Gyo-ha was an Idiotropithecus, it wasn’t surprising that he had angered the usually agreeable team leader.

It was rare for the usually genial team leader to be unable to contain his anger. Hwi-kyung was slightly tense, not knowing what kind of stern reprimand he might receive. He was fine with being scolded, but if he heard personally insulting words, the possibility of forced regression would accumulate. He wanted to avoid that at all costs.

“Did you also report this?”

“…Pardon?”

“The previous open recruitment. You assisted with that too, right?”

“Yes…”

It’s called assistance, but all I did was schedule interviews… Hwi-kyung tried to recall what the previous recruitment was like. Manager Kang handled the practical work, and the team leader took care of the approvals.

Hwi-kyung just sent guidance texts to applicants and submitted interview expense approvals. That’s assistance if you call it that, but he couldn’t imagine what he might have reported to Gyo-ha.

“I… don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know!”

Inadequate conditions: Your superior makes incomprehensible statements.

As soon as Team Leader Park raised his voice, the system window popped up as if it had been waiting. Hwi-kyung was truly bewildered. Was there a problem with the previous hiring? Hwi-kyung didn’t even know who was hired exactly. The team leader had taken full charge from the executive interview stage.

It’s not pretending not to know, I really don’t know. Hwi-kyung left the meeting room, thoroughly scolded by Team Leader Park. It was perplexing to be yelled at without knowing the reason. Even though it wasn’t the first time experiencing this, getting angry each time was unavoidable.

It was almost impossible not to think, ‘Why is he acting up again?’ Hwi-kyung sat down at his desk unsteadily and dove into tedious Excel work to calm his mind.

As he immersed himself in Excel formulas, his bewildered feelings gradually subsided. Only then did Hwi-kyung start opening files related to the previous open recruitment one by one. Since the files containing applicants’ personal information had already been discarded, it wasn’t easy to find out who was finally accepted.