My Company Is Black

#023

Lee Gyo-ha woke up in his studio in New York City.

“Shit…”

It was a situation where cursing was unavoidable. He had finally found a regressor in his thirteenth life, and it ended up like this? It was unbelievable. Usually in novels featuring regressors, when they meet so fatefully, it’s standard to remain in that cycle. Reality and fiction were indeed very different.

Just because of a few rumors, organizational restructuring, and anonymous online community posts – not even real names – they had to regress again. Modern people were too fragile.

Gyo-ha slowly recalled the reasons why Jung Hwi-kyung had regressed before. Workplace sexual harassment, backing the wrong horse, not becoming a full-time employee by thirty, facing racial discrimination and pouring coffee on a superior… Wasn’t this just a list of top reasons to escape a company? Thinking about it that way, having one’s real name revealed on an anonymous community seemed like a valid reason to regress as well.

[Noona]

[Noona, I need to go back to Korea]

There was no need to think deeper. Gyo-ha needed to find Hwi-kyung as soon as possible. Fortunately, he vaguely remembered Hwi-kyung’s eleven-digit phone number. He was unsure about the last digit, but he recalled the others from all his prying into personal information.

After registering all possible combinations of the uncertain number in his messaging app, Gyo-ha finally obtained Hwi-kyung’s contact. An account with just a dot for a profile picture and the default settings – this was definitely Jung Hwi-kyung.

Gyo-ha immediately called that number. However, no matter how many times he called, Hwi-kyung remained silent. After saying he would never return to BK International, he must be too busy trying to get hired by another company.

Eventually, Gyo-ha gave up on contacting Hwi-kyung and reached out to his sister first. After learning that talking to his father would only result in “Just come back to Korea first,” Gyo-ha always turned to Jung-hye when problems arose.

Jung-hye was a strict older sister, but compared to his crazy older brother, she was more understanding. Even if Gyo-ha said something strange, instead of immediately suggesting he be admitted to a mental hospital, she would listen with an expression that said, “How far is this bastard going to take this…”

[You’re coming back to Korea? I thought you said you’d never come back.]

[I need you to find someone for me]

[What are you talking about?]

[I need to meet this person right now]

[Are you on drugs?]

They say that even after regressing, changes in those around you are minimal, and that proved true. Dramatic changes don’t happen easily. People all move with their own inertia, so even if a regressor suddenly appears and warns, “If you sit with your legs crossed like that, you’ll get a herniated disc,” they’d be sitting cross-legged again ten minutes later.

How many people genuinely take such warnings to heart? In this harsh modern society, those who listen meaningfully to others have long been snatched up by cults.

Lee Gyo-ha’s sister, Lee Jung-hye, was no exception. Just like in the previous cycle, as soon as her brother acted a bit strangely, she immediately asked, “Are you on drugs?” Gyo-ha felt like he was about to burst with frustration. Hwi-kyung probably experienced similar feelings in every cycle.

That’s why regressors always go crazy because of the people around them who don’t listen. Gyo-ha felt the pain he had experienced dealing with university professors more than ten times. Damn it! We’re not communicating!

[I’m not on drugs and I’ll give up on my degree I’m telling you first before telling father if Jung Hwi-kyung comes for an interview at our company just pass him unconditionally his specs must be incredible he’ll probably get hired anyway]

[Are you insane? This is hiring corruption.]

[Hiring corruption is me being parachuted in]

Hastily getting dressed, Gyo-ha immediately booked a flight ticket to Korea. In his rush, he didn’t even tidy up the studio, and he booked an economy class seat, something he had never experienced before.

Although hurrying like this probably wouldn’t change anything, he couldn’t just sit still. He desperately wanted to see Jung Hwi-kyung right away. Not because he loved him, but because he was extremely worried about his mental state.

Hwi-kyung’s original personality was probably not like it was now. Just as Gyo-ha had developed some semblance of intellect after thirteen regressions, Hwi-kyung was originally just an ordinarily positive college student. But the company had driven him to madness.

That’s why Gyo-ha was so worried about Hwi-kyung. Why does he keep saying he’s fine, making people worry like this? From Gyo-ha’s perspective, Hwi-kyung was not fine at all.

Jung Hwi-kyung needed someone to hold onto him. Like the catcher in the rye stopping children from running off a cliff, someone to support him and prevent him from completely falling apart…

* * *

While Gyo-ha was hurriedly flying back to Korea, Hwi-kyung bought over twenty lottery tickets. He wanted to buy about a hundred, but unfortunately, Jung Hwi-kyung was poor at this point in time.

“What are you doing, my grandson?”

“Picking lottery numbers.”

“Should grandma call out some numbers for you?”

“No. There are a few numbers just crossing my mind right now.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. If this wins, let’s eat something delicious.”

As soon as he entered the fourteenth cycle, Hwi-kyung came to see his grandmother. In the early stages of regression, Hwi-kyung’s grandmother always greeted him with a thin, frail body in a crowded hospital ward.

Every time he saw the multi-bed ward filled with all sorts of people, Hwi-kyung had to hold back tears and think about making money to move his grandmother to a better room. Without money, his grandmother would suffer. She would eventually pass away no matter what, but he wanted to at least change her accommodations to a private or double room if possible.

For this reason, Hwi-kyung checked all the faintly remembered lottery numbers. He had sworn never to touch it again after failing miserably once… but he had no patience to wait for his first paycheck after entering a company, so he had no choice.

Only after finishing with the lottery numbers did Hwi-kyung check his phone. There were all sorts of messages from someone presumed to be Lee Gyo-ha. He thought Gyo-ha was empty-headed, but apparently, he was good at memorizing other people’s phone numbers.

He tried calling, but perhaps due to the time difference, the call didn’t connect. This was natural, as Gyo-ha had long since boarded the plane.

Hwi-kyung also memorized Gyo-ha’s number, just in case. Not knowing when he might move to the next cycle, it seemed necessary to know the phone number of his fellow regressor.

Condition Not Met: A targeted post about you has been uploaded to an online community.

Condition Not Met: Malicious posts about your company are spreading.

The remnants of the previous cycle were visible because he hadn’t paid attention to anything but the lottery after regressing. He was a bit curious about what kind of post it was. Well, it was probably something like “There’s a homosexual in our company? And it’s the chairman’s youngest son?” That kind of content.

Korea was still conservative. Gyo-ha, who had lived in the US where same-sex marriage was legalized, might not understand, but Hwi-kyung, who had lived in Korea his whole life, knew well how fatal such rumors could be to one’s social life.

Moreover, since Gyo-ha had turned Hwi-kyung’s HR team upside down, it was clear that employees, triggered like a disturbed beehive, would have posted online one after another.

[Title] Our company becomes “You’re the Solo: Chaebol Edition”

BK International · llillillill

TLDR

The chairman’s son comes in as a parachute and falls for an HR team deputy manager

I didn’t think this would happen in the 21st century…

Sounds like a joke? The love-blinded one handed over the team to the deputy manager

Comments

BK Electronics · liiiill Huh, I heard an executive director was suddenly fired, is this why?

Lotte Chemical · ChemicalLotte BK is past its prime, just run for a job change

Han Express · OkcheonHUB Wasn’t BK’s youngest in the US? When did he come to Korea? Is the HR team deputy manager that pretty?

BK International · llillillill BK’s HR team deputy manager is a man

Tax Accountant · Pay5TimesMoreTax Wow, Korea has shed its conservatism

It wasn’t hard to imagine what the online posts and comments were like. Hwi-kyung wasn’t interested in such online communities, but whenever an embezzlement case broke out, everyone would post saying they should have just embezzled and gone to jail, causing the system window to busy itself with “Condition Not Met” notifications.

The emergence of anonymous communities where only company names and nicknames could be disclosed was a big threat to Hwi-kyung. Offline social life was already miserable enough, and now he had to worry about online too.

However, since he had never been the main target of online communities before, even having his real name exposed and personal information dug up made Hwi-kyung’s heart race. Is this what cyber bullying is like? Where else could he experience becoming a crazy person who seduced a parachuted executive director and overturned a team among people he didn’t even know?

It was unfair, but since it was already a past cycle, it was better not to think too deeply about it. Anyway, he had no intention of going to BK International in this cycle. He thought about joining the sales team again, but the sales team accumulated black company stats too quickly. If he encountered even one difficult customer, he might end up on the express train to regression.

“Grandma.”

“Yes?”

“Where should I become a house servant to be happy?”

It was truly the worst that even being a servant in a noble house wasn’t entirely happy. To begin with, a servant dreaming of happiness. It was nonsensical.

If even the master is upset because they don’t like the servant, how would it be any different for the servant? The world wasn’t so lenient as to allow one to work thinking they were the owner of the company. How could one have an owner’s mindset when they’re not paid like an owner?

Now it was an era where a few internet searches could reveal the average salary and rating of one’s company. The more people knew, the more distressed they became. Jung Hwi-kyung was no exception. “They cut 200 from the average salary because I don’t have overseas study experience!” This would apply black company stats again. Knowledge was a disease.

“Hwi-kyung.”

“Yes?”

“Servants are inherently unhappy…”

“…”

Hwi-kyung, overcome with sadness, buried his face in his grandmother’s embrace.

“Oh, my poor puppy.”

Still, it was fortunate that he gave up on the previous cycle early. At least he regressed before his grandmother passed away.