Nam Huiyeol, 31 years old.
It wasn’t a university that others particularly recognized, but through steady effort in building his credentials, he had achieved his dream of joining a large conglomerate.
He was happy.
Even though it hurt his heart whenever he heard that the future of the work he was in charge of was uncertain and that it only produced deficits.
Still, contributing to a large conglomerate made him happy.
That is, until this morning when he arrived at work.
“Good mo… no, what’s going on?”
The moment Nam Huiyeol walked in, what greeted him were teammates who had arrived earlier and were already packing their things.
The team leader, who had long since finished clearing his own desk, called Nam Huiyeol over to his seat.
“If you’re here, pack your stuff. We’re moving out today.”
“Pardon?”
“A dispatch order came down. For the next year, we’ll be working at Ribbon Corporation.”
Dispatch.
Did he mean the kind of dispatch where you go to another company and do grunt work?
And that grunt work… at a company on the level of a small-to-medium enterprise?
Nam Huiyeol was dumbfounded, but he quickly pulled himself together.
“No, why are we being dispatched? That’s something subcontractors do.”
Nam Huiyeol’s protest was reasonable.
The other teammates packing their things right now all felt the same way, even if they didn’t voice it.
Reading the looks in their eyes, the team leader calmly relayed the directive that had come down last night.
“They’re disbanding our team.”
“Why, why?”
“Why else? Poor performance, deficit-generating business. You know that as well as I do.”
“That’s…”
He tried to object, but his mouth wouldn’t open.
How many times had he heard himself called a parasite by others all this time?
As those past memories flashed through his mind, Nam Huiyeol almost shouted.
“If we just had a little more time, we could have produced results. No, producing huge results all at once is actually the thing that doesn’t make sense, isn’t it?”
“Huiyeol.”
“And it’s not just our team. Other teams too…”
“Other teams are the same.”
The team leader said.
“Ever since the new vice president took office, they’ve been doing a full review of all our businesses. They’ve sorted out which ones have potential, which don’t, which fit Kangseong Foods, which don’t, everything.”
“Everything?”
“Yeah. This time, more than ten teams are being dissolved. If you include the ones being merged with others, there are even more.”
The moment Kang Jisung seized control, he launched a massive reorganization.
The hopelessly rotten structure was being thoroughly torn apart and reshaped into something usable.
“At least we’re better off. I heard one other team is on standby until a new position opens up.”
“Good heavens…”
“Well, they’re still paying 70% of salary during standby, so maybe it would’ve been better for us to get standby orders too, right?”
Nam Huiyeol stared blankly at the team leader.
Everything they had worked so hard for all this time was disappearing, yet the team leader didn’t seem dissatisfied at all; if anything, he looked relieved.
“Don’t you feel wronged, team leader?”
“Wronged? About what?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Everything we worked so hard for is being treated as if it never happened. If that doesn’t feel wrong…”
“Nam Huiyeol.”
At the team leader’s call, Nam Huiyeol shut his mouth.
“In this line of work, businesses folding is commonplace. Something like this happens at every company. We should be grateful we didn’t get forced resignation.”
“That’s…”
“And from the very beginning, our business… it was ridiculous. A food company doing idol stuff, idols!”
The team leader thumped his desk with a fist.
“It was never going to work anyway, so think of it as ending on a relatively good note.”
“…Yes.”
“Then go pack. We have to go greet them today, settle into our seats, and check our duties; it’ll be busy.”
Nam Huiyeol had a lot he wanted to say, but he swallowed it.
The decision had already been made from above; he just had to follow.
It wasn’t some unreasonable, irrational order, after all.
“Yes.”
And so Nam Huiyeol left Kangseong Foods behind.
Carrying a mountain of luggage, Nam Huiyeol looked up at the Kangseong Foods headquarters and made a vow.
I’ll definitely come back.
One-year dispatch.
Once he completed that period, he would return no matter what it took.
To remain the proud son who worked at a large conglomerate.
***
Nam Huiyeol and the five other team members stepped into a rather old office.
Compared to the desks they had used at Kangseong Foods, it looked decades older.
“Ugh…”
“We really have to work here?”
“I hate this…”
Not just Nam Huiyeol; all the dispatched employees were deeply depressed at the thought of working here.
At least the office was clean.
If dust had been flying everywhere, they might have submitted their resignations today.
“For now, take your seats. It seems the departments have already been assigned.”
“Yes.”
Following the team leader’s words, Nam Huiyeol crossed the partition to his assigned seat.
Public Relations Department.
For the next year, whether he liked it or not, this would be his place.
As he was organizing the belongings he had brought, the office door opened and an employee walked in.
“Ah, everyone came early. Maybe I should’ve come a bit sooner?”
In complete contrast to the dispatched employees, he was overflowing with energy.
After shaking hands with the nearest employee, he soon arrived in front of Nam Huiyeol.
“I’m Seong Jihoon, assistant manager in the Business Planning Department at Ribbon Corporation. Pleased to be working with you as the person in charge of this project.”
“Likewise.”
“Ah, I’m Nam Huiyeol.”
“Yes, nice to meet you.”
After personally greeting every employee with that enthusiastic attitude, he spoke.
“I know you’re all busy adjusting, but let me first convey what needs to be conveyed. We are launching a new franchise business. It will be a franchise that mainly sells fresh fruit juices along with various other beverages.”
A fresh fruit juice specialty franchise.
Names of numerous brands that had already failed flashed through Nam Huiyeol’s mind.
He had wondered what grand thing they were planning, but it turned out to be a business many places had already failed at.
Nam Huiyeol’s enthusiasm cooled instantly.
Paying no mind to him, Seong Jihoon continued.
“We will all create together what beverages to make, how to brand them, and how to structure the business.”
“Together… does that mean nothing has been decided yet?”
“Good question. The only thing decided right now is the keyword ‘fresh fruit.’ Ah, we’ve placed the fruits we’ll be using in the first-floor warehouse, so please try them one by one. Just leave a record; you can take as many as you want.”
Offering fruit for free wasn’t bad.
Though it was hard to feel particularly excited.
“Ah, if anyone here has experience with franchise-related work, please speak up. If not, we plan to proceed similarly to how the <Neighborhood Bakery> franchise grew. Any objections?”
There were neither questions nor answers.
Only an awkward atmosphere flowed, but Seong Jihoon didn’t mind.
“Everyone must feel awkward since it’s the first day. Then let’s talk about that part gradually. So…”
Seong Jihoon glanced at his watch and spoke to the employees.
“Let’s call it a day.”
“…Pardon?”
No one had expected Seong Jihoon’s words.
And for good reason; the sun was still high in the sky.
Leaving the company at this hour was something no one at Kangseong Foods had ever even imagined.
No, not just Kangseong Foods; it was unimaginable anywhere.
At the employees’ stiff reactions, Seong Jihoon belatedly exclaimed “Ah!” and added.
“Sorry, I should’ve explained sooner. While you’re dispatched here, you only need to work during our company’s regular hours.”
“What are the regular hours?”
“9 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you want to stay later, you have to fill out an overtime request form, and overtime after 7 p.m. is prohibited.”
“…Really?”
“Yes.”
A company where you leave at 3 p.m.
Could such a company actually exist?
“If unavoidable circumstances force you to work late into the night, we provide a day off the next day without using your annual leave. Oh, it’s a five-day workweek for now, but we’ll probably switch to a four-day workweek within a few months. Please wait just a little longer.”
Leaving at 3 p.m. and a four-day workweek.
At these absurd working hours, one employee cautiously raised a hand.
“What about salary? Since the working hours are shorter, will our pay be cut accordingly?”
“Of course not. If we did that, I’d get scolded by the president.”
Full salary as before.
At this unbelievable fact, some employees even slapped their own cheeks to check if they were dreaming.
Seeing that, Seong Jihoon smiled, overlapping it with his past self.
“The project timeline will be adjusted according to working hours and labor intensity. I’ll make sure there’s almost never anything that needs to be handled urgently.”
He himself hadn’t believed the 3 p.m. quitting time at first.
But now he couldn’t imagine a life where he left after 3 p.m.
“We’ll schedule a company dinner during lunch hours later. Then see you tomorrow.”
Leaving those final words, Seong Jihoon breezed out of the office.
The employees, blankly staring after him, looked at each other and asked.
“Are we really allowed to go?”
“He did say to clock out…”
“No, but it’s 3 p.m.? For real?”
No one knew whether to treat this situation as a joke or take it seriously.
Nam Huiyeol was the same.
Since there were companies that played mean pranks, he worried first about what would happen if he left and got marked for it.
Especially since Nam Huiyeol planned to endure this year no matter what and return.
In the midst of everyone just watching each other, the first to move was the team leader.
“No one’s leaving?”
“Team leader, what if they’re testing us over there?”
“It’s not that kind of thing. Everyone who knows already knows.”
Ribbon Corporation’s work environment.
It was at a level you could call heavenly.
Those in the know all knew it quietly.
“I’ll head out first. See you tomorrow.”
“Huh, team leader, team leader!”
Without looking back, the team leader breezed off, and the other employees began standing up one by one.
In the end, the only one left until the very last was Nam Huiyeol.
“What if this really is a test…”
Unable to shake off that tiny bit of anxiety, he stayed at his desk.
Kang Jisung discovered him only when evening came.
“Huh, what’s this. You didn’t go home?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Why not?”
“Pardon?”
“I asked why you didn’t leave.”
“Well…”
It was Nam Huiyeol’s first time facing Kang Jisung, and he was overwhelmed by the man’s charisma.
As Nam Huiyeol’s eyes darted around, Kang Jisung tapped his watch and said.
“In our company, staying late without special reason earns you a written reprimand. I’ll let it slide since it’s your first day, but next time there’ll be no mercy. Don’t waste time here; go home.”
“B-but, perhaps!”
“Yes.”
“I-is this some kind of test…”
“A test? Ah, ahh. You thought it was that kind of prank?”
Only then did Kang Jisung understand what this person had misunderstood.
Like in the military, when they tell you to say everything you want to eat, then make you sit until you finish it all.
There had been that kind of harassment.
They say there are all kinds of people in the world; he hadn’t expected someone would worry about this.
“There’s nothing like that.”
“Really?”
“We only care that you do your job well; why would we do something like that? And there’s no reason to play such a nasty prank on people we’ve just met.”
“L-like a loyalty test or something…”
“If the company did that, it would be grounds for a written reprimand and disciplinary action. Keep that in mind, stop wasting time, and go home. I won’t say it again.”
As if he wouldn’t listen further, Kang Jisung turned off the office lights and added.
“Life is too precious to spend more than half of each day at the company.”
Life is too precious.
At those words, Nam Huiyeol’s heart strangely raced.
Perhaps.
Being dispatched to Ribbon Corporation might just be the greatest opportunity of all; that thought flashed through his mind the moment the lights went out.