episode_0092

By the time Thursday rolled around, just past my third day at work, I was starting to settle into the routine of a working professional, both physically and mentally, able to go about my daily life and tasks somewhat numbly. My body profile, with my diet becoming weaker as the intensity of my exercise increased, still hadn’t quite adapted in the span of just a week.

Anyway.

With the anticipation of the weekend approaching tomorrow and a bit of tension easing from the smoothly progressing work in the morning, I finished my morning tasks and joined my team for lunch. Afterwards, as we were having our usual coffee time at a cafe.

“Oh, there you are. Manager Jung!”

As we leisurely sat at the cafe table chatting with my team members, a voice called out to me from somewhere. When I turned my head towards the sound, I saw a familiar face.

“Oh, Manager Park? Long time no see.”

He was none other than Manager Park Hyuncheol, who was in charge of the logistics management team in the management department.

“Yeah, it’s been a while. I’ve seen you a few times from a distance. And Manager Kwon, it’s been a while for you too. How have you been?”

“Thanks to you, I’ve been well. Haha. How about you, Manager Park?”

“Can’t complain.”

And so, we exchanged some formalities about our recent whereabouts.

To briefly explain the structure of our company, it consists of four main departments: Research and Development (R&D), Production Management, Sales Department, and Management Department. Below these are various sub-teams, but knowing this much should suffice without delving into too much detail.

Anyway, the Management Department, being more of a support department, wasn’t one we interacted with often in various meetings. Among them, the logistics management team, in particular, rarely crossed paths with our development department. Of course, with over 15 years having passed, it was getting harder to not know people at the level of managers within the company. So, it wasn’t all that strange to be meeting Manager Park for the first time today, on my fifth day back for that reason.

“By the way, if you saw me before, you should have pretended to recognize me. Why wait until now to say hello? Feels a bit hurtful.”

As I jokingly nudged Manager Park’s chest with my fist, he scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile.

“I did say hi before. I saw you when I was busy. What can I do? I barely noticed you passing by. I didn’t even know you were back. Haha.”

“It’s nice to see you after a long time.”

“Haha, I’m the one who’s happier. When would an old guy like me get to talk to a young and pretty lady like you?”

“As long as you have money and skills, what does age matter, right? Haha.”

“That’s true. It’s not like I get many chances. Anyway, are you coming to the wedding tomorrow?”

“Huh? What wedding? Who’s getting married?”

Suddenly mentioning a wedding, what a random topic. I widened my eyes and asked, but it was Manager Park who seemed more flustered.

“Oh, you didn’t know? Our director’s son is getting married tomorrow. Oh, you might not have received an invitation.”

Our company, while not a large corporation, is a mid-sized company, and it’s been 15 years since I joined. I joined when the company was about half its current size, and until I moved seven years ago, the physical distance between departments like development, production, sales, and management was much closer, reflecting the close psychological distance as well.

Of course, as the company grew, there were new hires and changes, but from my perspective, there’s a rough familiarity up to the level of executive above and the rank of at least a 5-year seniority deputy below.

Not to mention a department head level? Attending a child’s wedding is a given position.

But finding out about it the day before the wedding, what a ridiculous happening is this?

“Sigh, what is this all of a sudden… Deputy Kwon, you didn’t know?”

“Ah… I thought you knew, of course…”

“Oh, goodness. Unbelievable.”

“I’m sorry, Director.”

“It’s fine. Usually, people send out mobile wedding invitations, but it seems that Director Yu from the Support Department is weak in that area.”

It seems like he’s a bit old-fashioned, weak in things like texting. Especially nowadays, mobile wedding invitations are usually sent out by the couple themselves, not their parents.

“So, do you have any plans for tomorrow? I can give the congratulatory money on your behalf.”

“No, I don’t have any plans. It’s lucky that it’s this week, not next week.”

Next Saturday, there’s a body profile picture shoot. After focusing on diet and exercise for over a month, it can be considered a high priority schedule.

“That’s lucky. Oh, right. But you should still accept the wedding invitation, right? I’ll send it to you later as a representative of our youngest.”

“Yes, thank you. Ah, if we hadn’t met like this today, what would have happened? I almost got labeled as a person with no manners.”

After brushing off his chest, sending his subordinates away, and catching up with Director Park, he returned to the office to talk about recent events.

He finished his work smoothly in the afternoon and was able to leave work on time.

“Director, there’s a wedding tomorrow. Should I go too?”

Suddenly, in the car on the way home, Kim Taehyun asked.

“No, you don’t have to go.”

Did I answer too quickly? With a puzzled expression, as if asking ‘Why?’, he looked at me.

“First of all, you didn’t even receive an invitation. Do you really need to go just because the child of a superior you don’t even know is getting married? Isn’t that considered part of overtime work these days?”

“That may be true, but…”

“And you don’t even want to go in the first place. That’s the most important thing.”

At that, Kim Taehyun looked at me with a face like a child caught doing something wrong.

“Eh? How do you know that, Director?”

When he asked, I chuckled and replied, facing him.

“If you really wanted to go, you would have asked, ‘Can I go too?’ instead of ‘Should I go too?’ Sometimes, enthusiastic newcomers who want to impress all their bosses do that. But I don’t think that’s the case with you.”

Whether he was embarrassed that his true feelings were revealed, or that he didn’t seem like an enthusiastic newcomer, he looked down with a red face.

“Well, I think it’s just wasting energy on things like that. You just need to impress the bosses you need to impress. It’s all about timing. There are places where enthusiastic newcomers who are blind to promotions are needed, and places where people who have ambitions for work but not for promotions are needed. It may sound like bragging, but I’m someone who gets things done. I may not know much about promotions, though.”

“Hahaha!”

For some reason, my words seemed to have amused him, as his laughter was the loudest I had heard so far.

“So, does that mean I have a reason to go tomorrow?”

“Huh? Why all of a sudden?”

“Not to all bosses, but it seems like I should impress you, Director.”

“Hmph! Why would you need to impress me just because you attended there?”

No, that’s not it. It’s not my child, not the child of my subordinate or direct superior, not even the child of the adjacent department… No, it’s the child of the adjacent adjacent department’s superior. I’m just attending out of courtesy, whether he attends or not, it’s none of my business.

“As Manager said, I am quite ambitious when it comes to work, right? To do well, it’s important to have connections with other departments. So, connections with other departments are important, and it seems like Manager is not very interested in managing relationships with the Administration Department. So, even if I just get my face stamped there, maybe I can get some extra benefits from the General Affairs or Accounting team. Like extending the development deadline by a day or increasing the budget by even just 10,000 won. Then, it will be easier to work. If I provide you with some time and financial flexibility, Manager will trust me, and ultimately, I will have a reason to attend the wedding of the Administration Department Head’s child tomorrow. Haha.”

“Well… no. So, the conclusion is that I will attend the wedding tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

“So, I have to give Taehyun a ride again.”

“Uh… if you don’t mind, I’m fine with that?”

“Ugh, then it’s just more work for me.”

“If it’s inconvenient for you, you can just go separately…”

“Should I do that then?”

As I looked at him with a hint of annoyance, he seemed embarrassed as if he hadn’t expected this.

“Uh, well… that’s… um…”

“Haha, never mind. It was a joke. Anyway, since the wedding is at 1 o’clock, we should leave around 12 from here.”

“Haha, okay. I’ll be here by 12 then.”

“Alright.”

With that conversation over, I dropped off Kim Taehyun at his home and returned to my own.