Chapter 13

Chapter 13. Deputy Manager Kim Is Getting Demoted (1)

The next morning.

Kim Seokhun bit his lip as he sat before Director Baek Kangjin.

The atmosphere around the company had become unbearable for him.

Other department leaders praised Jinhyeok.

Even the team members praised him.

The director obviously knew about all of it.

Then he asked Seokhun an uncomfortable question.

“What did you learn from this incident?”

Seokhun chose silence instead of answering.

Kangjin disliked that reaction and went straight to the heart of the matter.

“Does your subordinate’s success bother you that much?”

“...N-No, that isn’t it...”

“Then what is it? Do you have a complaint about what happened?”

“It’s not that I’m dissatisfied. It’s just... everything happened without going through me, even though I’m the team leader...”

It was the complaint Kangjin had expected.

Still, he hadn’t thought Seokhun would say it openly.

Kangjin placed a report on the table.

The Mullae-dong Commercial District Analysis Report.

The author’s name was Kang Jinhyeok, not Kim Seokhun.

Seokhun’s eyes trembled.

Damn.

Only now did he understand why the director had excluded him and assigned work directly to Jinhyeok.

This wasn’t about punishing Jinhyeok for the Étoile incident.

It was about keeping Seokhun in check for submitting a fake report.

His mind began racing.

Dangerous.

Using his own name on the report probably wasn’t enough to get him fired.

But he was clearly in trouble.

“You said you wrote this, didn’t you?”

“...T-This kind of thing is common, Director. A subordinate may write it, but the department head is responsible for reviewing it.”

“Really? It’s common to change nothing except the author’s name? And then make a document from three years ago look as if it was written recently?”

Even Seokhun knew his excuse sounded ridiculous.

He couldn’t respond.

The director took complete control of the atmosphere.

“I’ll give you one more chance. The chairman wants us to build a massive mixed-use shopping mall. There are two candidates. The Yangjae-dong Freight Terminal and the Mullae-dong 4-ga metalworking district. Analyze both locations. And go to the sites yourself.”

Commercial district analysis.

It was a perfectly normal instruction.

But the final sentence bothered Seokhun.

Go to the sites yourself.

The director intended to evaluate his actual ability.

“Understood, Director.”

“I’ll assign the same task to Manager Kang Jinhyeok.”

Under the table, Seokhun’s fist trembled.

He wanted to shout that this treatment was ridiculous.

But the Mullae-dong report sitting on the table sealed his mouth.

“...Understood.”

“Good. I’ll receive the report as a presentation next Monday. The Future Strategy Office will attend too, so prepare carefully.”

A ray of light suddenly appeared in the darkness surrounding Seokhun.

“The Future Strategy Office?”

“Yes. They’ll handle the actual project. We’re only analyzing the sites.”

“I understand, Director. I’ll prepare properly.”

Seokhun forced the corner of his mouth to stop twitching and left the office.

Seongun Group Headquarters.

Future Strategy Office.

That was where his former team leader and university senior now worked.

A man Seokhun had loyally served since his first days at the company.

Why is that guy smiling like that?

Kim Seokhun had returned from the director’s office with only one corner of his mouth raised.

It was the first time I’d seen him smile since the lottery incident.

That made me uneasy.

Ring.

A call from the director’s office.

My bad feeling grew stronger.

What was it this time?

Meeting the director itself didn’t bother me.

What bothered me was being called immediately after Kim Seokhun had gone there.

“Good morning, Director.”

I bowed and entered.

Bad feelings really did have a habit of coming true.

The moment I leaned back against the sofa, the director delivered surprising news.

“The chairman gave us an order. He wants a building planned that can become Seongun’s landmark.”

So far, fine.

“The Future Strategy Office decided on a massive mixed-use shopping mall. They’re considering two locations. The Yangjae-dong Freight Terminal site and the Mullae-dong 4-ga metalworking district. That’s why I called you. We need an analysis of both.”

Why was Mullae-dong suddenly appearing here?

Was that why he had looked up my three-year-old report?

This was troublesome.

Redevelopment discussions had been going nowhere, so I assumed the company would have no reason to care about Mullae-dong.

Yet somehow things kept becoming complicated.

“A mixed-use shopping mall would need a much larger site than a fashion outlet.”

“Correct. That’s why I called you. That idea we discussed before. Compensating local businesses by constructing an apartment-style factory. Couldn’t we use that?”

Something about his tone felt strange.

Even though he had asked for analysis of two sites, it sounded like the director already preferred Mullae-dong.

“Do you personally want Mullae-dong rather than Yangjae-dong?”

“Yes. The Future Strategy Office actually recommended Yangjae-dong. But I think Mullae-dong is better because people from many backgrounds could gather there, rather than only wealthy people like in Yangjae-dong. What do you think?”

Impossible.

I immediately understood why the Future Strategy Office had chosen Yangjae-dong.

The huge Freight Terminal site was already large enough.

Other companies were competing for it too.

Mullae-dong was completely different.

We would need to persuade hundreds of building owners.

What should I say?

If Mullae-dong was selected, the value of the land I bought would multiply.

On the other hand, there was a risk I could be accused of using company information to buy property.

Think.

Legally, there was no issue because of when I purchased the land.

Even if false rumors spread, the worst the company could do was recommend that I resign.

That didn’t scare me anymore.

Still, I was a commercial district analyst who had always followed my principles regardless of criticism.

I only had to continue doing the same.

Otherwise, there was no reason to remain at this company.

I would never submit a false report just to increase the value of my own land.

I had already followed procedure and filed the Real Estate Transaction Pre-Approval Request.

There was no problem there.

But the director didn’t know I had invested in Mullae-dong.

I should tell him and withdraw from the assignment.

That would be the proper thing to do.

Then...

What was this?

The moment I tried to turn that thought into words, my smartwatch stopped me.

What notification had appeared?

The instant I decided to act the way I normally would, my wrist vibrated.

Was that something I shouldn’t say?

This was bad.

I couldn’t answer before checking the diary app.

Would it be okay to ask if I could check my phone?

The director was staring directly at my mouth, clearly waiting for an answer.

There was a rumor.

If you were summoned to the director’s office, staying alert wasn’t enough.

But me?

Instead of staying perfectly alert, I needed to do something that looked slightly insane.

“Um... Director?”

“What is it? Speak freely.”

“Would it be all right if I check my smartphone for a moment?”

I shut my eyes tightly the instant I asked.

“...Ahem. Did you receive an urgent call?”

The director’s face hardened like stone.

Of course.

I was probably the first person in history to behave like this in front of a man known to be scarier than a tiger.

“...It’s related to something important about this task.”

It wasn’t a lie.

He had just asked whether Mullae-dong was suitable for the mixed-use shopping mall.

My wrist had vibrated the moment I tried to answer.

The alert was obviously related to this.

“Ahem. Fine. Check it.”

The moment he gave permission, I quickly opened the diary app.

The director probably assumed I was checking some work-related document.

Instead, what I read was this.

[Monday, April 20.

Deputy Manager Kim Seokhun was demoted.

Once again, this proved something.

Keep acting according to my principles.

My way of handling work without bowing to outside pressure was right again.]

Kim Seokhun was getting demoted?

That was truly surprising.

The one obstacle that had repeatedly made me consider resigning would disappear on his own.

Naturally, I became curious.

What in the world would he do to get demoted?

I wanted more detail.

But the diary entry was extremely short.

One thing was clear.

I only needed to continue acting as I always had.

Judging from the entry, this future would happen because I stuck to my principles.

Future me was satisfied because I refused to bow to outside pressure.

The outside pressure probably meant the director in front of me.

So Mullae-dong really was unsuitable.

I simply needed to say what I believed, even in front of the director.

The corner of my mouth rose without me realizing it.

“Ahem. Finished?”

The director asked while pretending to be calm.

“Yes, Director. I’ve finished. You asked what I thought about Mullae-dong as the site for the mixed-use shopping mall, right?”

“Yes. You seem to know Mullae-dong better than anyone else in the company.”

I appreciated the compliment.

But I had no intention of saying what he wanted to hear.

“I’ll need to visit the site, but if we’re talking about a massive mixed-use shopping mall like the ones in Hanam or Busan, a single apartment-style factory won’t be enough.”

The director thought for a moment, then asked with some disappointment,

“What if it absolutely had to be Mullae-dong?”

Now he was asking for a solution rather than an opinion.

There was one possible method.

But depending on how things went, it could hurt my own property.

I gripped the smartwatch on my left wrist with my right hand and answered.

“If it absolutely has to be Mullae-dong, then we would need to purchase the entire metalworking district. The group would have to step directly into the stalled redevelopment negotiations and take control. I don’t think it’s an ideal method.”

“Not ideal?”

“There are many risks. But if we monopolize the redevelopment negotiations, there are huge advantages too.”

“Continue.”

“First, we would secure close to thirty thousand pyeong. That means profit wouldn’t come only from the mixed-use shopping mall. We could also benefit from the surrounding commercial district. On top of that, once redevelopment is finalized, I believe floor-area ratio restrictions in the semi-industrial zone could be relaxed up to five hundred percent.”

The director’s face, which had briefly shown hope, turned cold again.

I had already understood his personality somewhat when he approved the Mutual Growth Support Fund for Baristers.

When he said he preferred Mullae-dong because it allowed more people to coexist, he meant it.

But this project was simply too large.

“I understand your thoughts. For now, analyze both locations. The presentation is next Monday. Is that enough time?”

“Enough time, yes. But you said presentation, not report?”

“The Future Strategy Office will attend. You and Deputy Manager Kim Seokhun will analyze the same locations and present separately.”

So this was probably it.

The event connected to Kim Seokhun’s demotion next Monday.

Something huge must happen during that presentation.

“There’s one thing I need to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“My analysis might lead to Yangjae-dong being selected. Mullae-dong is likely to receive the kind of assessment I just explained.”

Why was he looking at me like I’d said something strange?

“That’s fine. The reason I could openly tell you that I preferred Mullae-dong is because I already knew what kind of person you were.”

That was unexpected.

I had assumed he was pressuring me to make Mullae-dong work.

Instead, he had already known that kind of pressure wouldn’t work on me.

Then he had chosen the right person.

A commercial district analyst who wasn’t afraid of resigning didn’t need to care about anyone’s mood.

“Understood. I’ll prepare as thoroughly as possible.”

There was no reason to refuse.

Analyzing commercial districts was my job.

More importantly, there was the diary entry from next Monday.

I didn’t know what Kim Seokhun would do to get demoted.

But if I withdrew from the task, that future could change.

All I needed to do was what I always did.

The moment was approaching when the cancerous man who had ruined countless people for his own benefit would finally be removed.