Chapter 15
Clink!
“So that means the food-supply mart contract is basically done?”
Im Sanghyeon clinked his glass against mine, sounding even more excited than I was.
“The products haven’t actually gone in yet.”
“Damn. As expected of me.”
“Huh?”
“I invited you out for drinks today at exactly the right time.”
I laughed.
“Yeah. Incredible. As expected of Assistant Manager Im.”
When I had finished negotiating with the largest food-supply mart in Honam...
My phone had kept ringing.
These days, my phone vibrated and chimed dozens of times every day.
But ever since the messages from the future began appearing...
Every vibration.
Every notification.
Every ringtone.
Made my heart race.
Did something happen again?
What kind of future will the next message show me?
I felt anticipation and excitement every time.
That was why the vibration a few hours earlier, just as I was leaving Ma Juncheol, had startled me.
But the person calling had not been the future.
It had been Assistant Manager Im Sanghyeon, the coworker sitting in front of me now and drinking soju.
He filled his empty glass.
“Coworkers who joined together need to drink like this regularly. You know the saying. Love your coworkers, love your country!”
I shook my head while clinking my glass against his.
“You’ve been saying ‘love your coworkers, love your country’ since the day we joined. You never change.”
“Of course. Inwoo, people shouldn’t change too much.”
“Right.”
I emptied my glass.
“But if this is a gathering for people who joined together, why didn’t you bring Baek Seoyeon?”
“Ah, Seoyeon has something to do today.”
Im Sanghyeon grinned.
“Hey, Inwoo. Lee Sejun joined with us too.”
Then, before I could answer, he answered himself.
“No. Never mind. I can’t include that bastard anymore.”
“In the end, it’s always just the two of us drinking. Yet every time, you call it a gathering for our hiring group.”
“You idiot, Inwoo. That’s your hyung’s excuse to drink. Haha.”
I clicked my tongue.
“Oh, right. Before leaving work, I mentioned I was drinking with you. Manager Kwon said he’ll join us too. That’s okay, right?”
Tap.
Im Sanghyeon immediately put down his glass in shock.
“What?”
“Manager Kwon asked me to have a drink with him today, so I asked if he wanted to join us.”
“Don’t tell me...”
Im Sanghyeon frowned nervously.
I quickly reassured him.
“Relax. It’s Manager Kwon.”
“Whew. I thought you meant Manager Jang Woojin. If it’s Manager Kwon, no problem. When is he coming?”
There were two clear manager lines inside the sales department.
Manager Kwon Seunghun.
And Manager Jang Woojin.
The two managers themselves were not major rivals.
But the junior employees around them were clearly divided.
Their personalities were completely different.
So were their sales results and methods.
The assistant manager closest to Jang Woojin was Lee Sejun.
In contrast...
Im Sanghyeon and I naturally followed Manager Kwon Seunghun.
“Manager Kwon said he’d come straight here after finishing with his client, so he should be here soon...”
The moment I said it, the door opened.
Manager Kwon entered.
“Manager!”
We both jumped up and greeted him.
Manager Kwon fanned himself with his hand as he came inside.
“Yeah. It’s really hot now.”
“You’re right. You worked hard today too.”
“You two did too. But it’s just you two again today?”
At his question, Im Sanghyeon and I looked at each other and shrugged.
“Yes. It’s always just us. Haha.”
“You two are practically one body.”
The moment Manager Kwon said that, Im Sanghyeon and I both looked at each other and shook our heads violently.
“Manager, don’t say something that terrifying.”
“Exactly. Besides, Sanghyeon has no one else from our hiring group to drink with if I’m not here. Haha.”
“That’s true too.”
We ended the exhausting day with pointless jokes.
“You must be hungry, Manager. Let’s eat.”
“Yeah.”
Sizzle.
Pork belly and soju after work.
With one drink, the exhaustion of the day seemed to melt away.
“This is good.”
After one glass and a bite of meat, a smile naturally appeared on Manager Kwon’s face.
“Assistant Manager Choi.”
“Yes, Manager.”
“How did things go at that mart today?”
Before I could answer...
“Manager! Inwoo landed the account!”
Im Sanghyeon shouted like an excited child.
Manager Kwon looked at me again.
“Wow. You got the contract?”
I nodded.
“Yes, Manager. Thanks to your help adjusting the prices, it worked out well.”
“Good. You worked hard.”
“No. You were the one who worked hard for it.”
“So did you settle the supply quantities?”
“Yes. I met the quantity you mentioned, and we agreed to add more products later.”
“I knew our Inwoo could do it. Congratulations.”
Clink!
We raised our glasses high and clinked them together.
I smiled.
“Thank you.”
Im Sanghyeon, who looked happier than I did, gave me a thumbs-up.
“Hey, Inwoo. The third quarter is still far from ending. You can take it easy now.”
I answered without even hesitating.
“No.”
“Why not? You have Shinwoo Department Store and that food-supply mart. You said it’s the largest in Honam, so the volume should be enormous. Honestly, isn’t that like six months’ worth of sales?”
He was not entirely wrong.
Shinwoo Department Store and the food-supply mart alone did not equal that much.
But I already had existing clients.
Add several smaller new accounts on top of that...
And my performance was beginning to look like six months...
Maybe even close to an entire year’s worth of ordinary sales.
But human greed had no end.
I had no intention of stopping here.
No.
I could not stop.
I still did not know what Lee Sejun might do right before the quarter ended to suddenly raise his numbers.
And the third quarter was not even halfway over.
There was no way I was going to relax already.
“I’m not going to stop just because my numbers look good. I’ll keep going as far as I can.”
Manager Kwon smiled with satisfaction.
He filled my glass.
“You were the first among your hiring group to become assistant manager. Looks like you’ll be the first one to become manager too.”
“I’ll work hard, Manager.”
He blinked, then poured a drink for Im Sanghyeon too.
“Sanghyeon, you need to work harder too. Shouldn’t you follow Inwoo up next?”
“That’s right. I might not beat Inwoo, but I have to pass that bastard Lee Sejun.”
“Exactly. Work harder, you punk.”
“Yes, sir!”
Shinwoo Department Store.
The largest food-supply mart in Honam.
They were both enormous achievements.
But I had to keep accomplishing more.
These were only the foundation.
From now on, I had to keep using the power of the messages from the future to climb higher and higher.
That had to be why I received this ability.
The bottles gradually piled up on our table.
Our conversation also became deeper.
But almost everything we talked about was related to work and the company.
Leaving work did not mean we were completely free from it.
Still, none of us was forcing ourselves to talk about work.
At a busy company with endless tasks, we rarely had enough free time to talk properly.
So once we finally sat together like this...
There was always too much to discuss.
“So the meeting is right after the weekend?”
“Yeah. Everyone submitted their materials today, right?”
At Manager Kwon’s question, Im Sanghyeon nodded.
“Yes. There weren’t many clients buying WG Instant Rice in the first place.”
“Right. But there are still a few places using it. If the discontinuation gets approved after the meeting, telling those clients will become another headache.”
“Exactly. It’s awkward and difficult telling clients who use the product well that we’re discontinuing it.”
I made a thoughtful sound.
“Manager Kwon.”
“Yeah?”
“WG Instant Rice... it’s definitely going to be discontinued, right?”
He raised his eyebrows.
“Probably. The CEO will try everything he can to stop it, but who’s going to support him?”
“I guess so. It loses money every month... There’s no obvious way to stop the discontinuation.”
At that, Im Sanghyeon snapped his fingers.
“Maybe I should support the CEO’s side.”
“Huh?”
“If I do that, at least the CEO might start liking me more. Haha.”
“So our Sanghyeon has decided that instead of improving his numbers, he’ll climb directly onto the CEO’s personal line?”
“Isn’t that the best option, Manager?”
Manager Kwon raised his index finger and shook it hard in front of Im Sanghyeon’s face.
“If you try to get on his good side like that... I can already see your sales numbers crashing.”
“Why?”
“You think you can take responsibility for WG Instant Rice?”
“...What?”
“You said you’d support keeping it alive. Then you need to take responsibility for the product too.”
Im Sanghyeon’s eyes shifted awkwardly.
“Ah...”
“If you try to make the CEO like you but the sales still fall, you’re the one who’ll end up carrying the losses from WG Instant Rice.”
“Come on. The CEO himself pushed that product. Surely he wouldn’t dump the responsibility on an assistant manager like me.”
“See? Maybe because you’re still an assistant manager, you don’t really understand how heavy responsibility can be yet.”
Everything in life came with responsibility.
Every word you said.
Every action you took.
The older you became...
And the higher your position inside a company rose...
The heavier that responsibility became.
I looked at Im Sanghyeon.
“Sanghyeon, don’t speak carelessly. You could get yourself into real trouble.”
“That’s right. One sentence can bring a huge responsibility with it.”
I nodded at Manager Kwon’s words.
He looked at both of us.
“From now on, always be careful while working at a company. Remember how heavy the words ‘I’ll take responsibility’ really are.”
His cheeks were red from the alcohol.
“Especially when it involves sales.”
“But Manager Kwon... is there really no way to revive WG Instant Rice?”
He moved his lips slightly while thinking.
“...We should probably assume there isn’t.”
“Why?”
“If you didn’t work at WG Food, would either of you actually buy WG Instant Rice?”
Im Sanghyeon immediately answered.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Honestly, the large-company products are more familiar. And they’re cheaper than ours.”
“Exactly. Big-company products have better brand recognition, and they’re cheaper too. How is WG Food supposed to compete?”
WG Instant Rice simply had no competitive power in the market.
Price.
Brand recognition.
In both areas, the big corporations beat us.
“So if you want to support the CEO and stop the product from being discontinued, you need a reason.”
I bit my lip at Manager Kwon’s words.
Naturally, all of us wanted to support CEO Jeong’s desire to save the product.
But if we agreed to keep it alive...
We needed evidence.
Something concrete that proved it could generate sales.
Because our words and opinions came with responsibility.
“All right. Either way, everyone except the CEO will probably argue for discontinuation. Once that product disappears, we’ll probably start discussing another new product...”
Manager Kwon shook the soju bottle while continuing.
Then...
Ding.
Even in the noisy restaurant, I heard that notification clearly.
A message from the future...!
I quickly pulled out my phone.
[K-POP craze spreads across the world... while a boycott movement begins at the same time...]
I frowned at the strange headline.
“K-POP is booming... but a boycott is starting?”
