Chapter 50: Convalescence (Failed)

What a beautiful morning.

The sunlight is chirping, the birds are sparkling.

Everything is so lovely…

“President?”

“Huh, ah. Yes.”

“…Are you alright?”

Seeing Section Chief Hagichul looking at me with such worried eyes made me feel unnecessarily embarrassed.

“I’m fine.”

“…President, have you heard the ghost story going around the company lately?”

“A ghost story?”

“Yes.”

Han Yeri never mentioned anything like that when she handed over this office.

Ah!

Did she deliberately not tell me?

Because if she had, I would’ve tried to squeeze even more out of her?

No, still, if there was a defect, she should’ve disclosed it…

“They say no one has ever seen the lights in our company turn off.”

“Electricity bills are expensive. Looks like the last person leaving isn’t cleaning up properly.”

“Every other place turns off, but only the president’s office stays lit.”

“President.”

“Yes.”

“When was the last time you actually went home after work?”

Hmm…

“I did go home yesterday.”

“It’s hard to call coming home just to shower and change clothes ‘going home,’ don’t you think?”

“Hmm, ahem. If you put it that way…”

Strange, I can’t remember.

Come to think of it, I have no recent memory of lying down in my own bed.

The only rest I’ve gotten has been short naps in the office chair.

Even those were barely sustained by chewing fruits blessed with fatigue recovery.

“It’s been a few months, hasn’t it?”

“…There’s just so much that needs to be done right now. Especially things that have to go through me personally.”

The existing businesses of Ribbon Corporation and the new ones.

Managing Kangseong Foods’ operations and internal issues.

Negotiations and team-ups with Han Yeri, plus keeping Spectrum in check.

These aren’t things I can easily delegate to others.

I keep eating the fatigue-recovery fruits, but the exhaustion is still piling up.

“Once we get past this period, things will get better. If we just resolve the urgent matters—like rebuilding Kangseong Foods and the new business launches…!”

“Then another issue will pop up. Isn’t that how it always goes?”

Section Chief Hagichul’s voice was firm.

He wasn’t the type to usually speak like this, so it startled me even more.

“Section Chief Hagichul?”

“President, you said Ribbon Corporation would become a global company, right?”

“I did.”

“I know you’re working toward that. Your next target after Kangseong Foods is the entire Kangseong Group, isn’t it?”

Yes, the next goal is Kangseong Group.

I have to swallow that to move to the next step.

And then…

“President, that’s not something that can be accomplished in a short time.”

“I know.”

“Then you must also know that health is the most important thing of all.”

…No words.

“At this rate, you’ll collapse before reaching your goal.”

“I won’t.”

“President.”

“Before I take over Spectrum and make that bastard Yoo Jinsang kneel…”

“President! President!”

I absolutely won’t colla…

THUD.

***

When I opened my eyes, I saw an unfamiliar ceiling.

A white ceiling with what looked like wriggling worms crawling all over it.

The sharp smell of alcohol and various medicines stinging my nose, the noisy voices of patients and doctors assaulting my ears.

“A hospital.”

Why am I in a hospital?

How did I get here?

Both questions were answered by my last conversation with Section Chief Hagichul.

“I collapsed.”

To think I fainted while insisting I wouldn’t.

This is a little embarrassing.

Section Chief Hagichul better not spread this around.

“You’re awake, patient?”

“Yes. How long was I out?”

“About two hours. You collapsed from accumulated fatigue. You need to rest and not work for the time being.”

“It’s hard to stop working, but if I just get glucose IVs occasionally…”

“Oh my, how did you know our hospital also has a funeral home?”

“…Yes, I’ll be careful.”

I can’t go straight from the ER to the morgue.

There’s still too much to do.

“Where do I pay?”

“It’s already been taken care of.”

“Who paid?”

“Someone who said he was a section chief?”

It was Section Chief Hagichul.

Hospital bills are expensive; I’ll have to reimburse him later with the receipt.

“Thank you.”

“You really need to rest for a while. Otherwise, next time it might not be the ER—it could be the funeral home.”

“I’ll be careful.”

I left the hospital while listening to the nurse’s chilling warning.

Going home and resting right now would be the right thing to do.

But I have to finish what I was doing first.

I was in the middle of discussing Ribbon Corporation’s future operations with Section Chief Hagichul.

I needed to wrap up that discussion first, whether I rested afterward or not.

So I went to the company.

“What is this?”

“Ah, President, you’re here?”

“Assistant Manager Seong Jihoon.”

“Did you see it?”

“Yes.”

“Then please go back.”

A B4-sized sheet of paper was plastered on the front of Ribbon Corporation’s office.

Along with a warning written in massive letters.

<<President is banned from entering for the next 1 month>>

“This is my company. What am I supposed to do if I can’t go in?”

“Well…”

Assistant Manager Seong Jihoon smiled brightly and said.

“You can think about that a month from now.”

“No, a month is too long—Assistant Manager? Assistant Manager!”

He didn’t even listen and breezed into the office.

“Tsk.”

Did they really think I wouldn’t enter just because something like this was posted…

“Go rest.”

There was a gatekeeper the moment I stepped inside.

A gatekeeper with blazing eyes and disheveled hair.

“Yuha.”

“I knew the president had a lot of work. But what can I do? Everything requires your final approval.”

“Right, you understand.”

“But I realized something today.”

“…What?”

Yuha said with the same expression Seong Jihoon had worn earlier.

“That things work just fine without the president.”

“…Huh?”

“If the president isn’t here, I, the vice president, can just take over that role, right?”

A coup? A revolution?

A vice president trying to oust the president and take the seat?

I’ve never heard of such a thing in any company.

“Yuha? Let’s put the scary talk aside for now and calmly do what we need to do.”

“Don’t worry, President. You’ve already set all the guidelines, so we can just follow them.”

Did I do all the work perfectly, or is Yuha just that capable?

Either way.

The conclusion keeps coming back that the company runs fine even if I’m not here.

At this rate, I really will be forced into convalescence at home…!

No way, there’s so much I still have to do!

Time is a resource you can’t buy with money!

I have to work right now!

“Sorry, Yuha. Resting isn’t possible. There are things I have to…”

“President, you really are stubborn, aren’t you?”

“You need a strong sense of conviction to run a business.”

“Yes, yes, I knew you’d say that.”

Yuha sighed.

Then she pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to me.

“What’s this?”

“A plane ticket to the United States.”

“Why are you giving me this?”

“Because I figured you wouldn’t listen if I just told you to rest, so I created some work for you. Please go on a business trip.”

“A business trip? What business do we have in America?”

Maybe later, but not yet.

We’re not even thinking about global expansion at this stage.

There shouldn’t be any reason to go to the U.S. now.

“There is.”

Yuha handed me several documents along with it.

“Remember when we talked about building a separate intranet for security?”

“Ah, right.”

“It’s almost finished. Soon we’ll be able to roll it out company-wide. Go check and test it in advance.”

I had forgotten because there were so many bigger things going on.

We had been preparing this to prevent information leaks to Spectrum.

“Something like that can be checked over the internet…”

“It’s a security issue. And rolling it out company-wide means applying it to Kangseong Foods too. It’s important.”

Yuha put heavy emphasis on the word important.

She knew that only an excuse this strong would move me.

Our vice president knows me too well.

…Fine, it is important.

“You’re only going for testing purposes, so it’s still work. All expenses will be reimbursed, so just use the corporate card.”

“You’re so thorough.”

“It’s for the entire company.”

That “entire company” probably doesn’t just refer to the program.

It’s closer to saying the company needs me—the person—to keep standing.

“Thanks for looking out for me.”

“I’m the vice president. If I don’t do it, who will?”

“That’s true.”

I took the documents and plane ticket from Yuha.

“Please take care of things while I’m in America. Contact me anytime if something urgent comes up.”

“I’ll only contact you during work hours. Why would I contact my boss outside of work hours?”

“Urgent matters don’t care about time. Also, because of the time difference, I’ll be asleep when you’re working?”

“Uh… I hadn’t thought that far. But don’t worry.”

Yuha gently pushed my shoulder.

It wasn’t that I was pushed by her strength, but this time I let myself be pushed.

It was hard to resist the force behind that hand.

“It’s the company you’ve built so solidly. It won’t collapse easily.”

“That would be nice.”

“See you in a month.”

Without another word, Yuha turned and walked away.

She headed to her office as if certain I wouldn’t come inside.

“Well now.”

Our vice president is sharp; I like that.

That’s why I can trust and leave things to her.

“America, huh.”

I went a few times while running Spectrum, so it’s been a while.

Back then I was busy studying English and running around selling our programs, so I never got to sightsee properly.

“Maybe this time will be different.”

Programs aren’t my specialty.

Security definitely isn’t.

Even if it’s testing, I’ll probably just click a few times and be done.

So the entire schedule might just end up being proper convalescence.

“Maybe I’ll focus a bit on dimension management while I’m there.”

It feels like I haven’t touched it for nearly 100 years in dimension time.

They say ten years changes even mountains and rivers; what could a hundred years have done?

Have they met new races while conquering the dimension?

All sorts of thoughts accompanied me as I walked away from the company.

And so I distanced myself from my busy daily life.

I failed to distance myself.

“GOD DAMN!”

“Sorry, sir. This is just…”

“…Haa.”

Yeah, if things went that smoothly, it wouldn’t be my life.

I rubbed my eyes and looked at the situation in front of me.

An office that looked even more rundown than Ribbon Corporation’s.

That office currently looked like a storm had just torn through it.

No, a storm would’ve been better.

“I’d rather have come to the wrong place.”

That would honestly be the best outcome.

But the address Yuha gave me was definitely here.

This chaotic, wrecked office was supposed to be the one handling Ribbon Corporation’s security and intranet.

Hahaha.

“I’m really going to lose it.”

I pressed hard on my eyes, let out a long sigh, and started walking.

I can’t just leave things like this.

“[Is there a lead developer or person in charge here?]”

The employees who had been too flustered to think straight finally noticed me.

Their eyes, which had only been darting around nervously, all turned to one spot.

A plump, kindly-looking man groaned as if he couldn’t withstand the pressure anymore and raised his hand.

“[I’m John Friedrich, the person in charge here.]”

“[Nice to meet you. I’m Kang Jisung, CEO of Ribbon Corporation.]”

“[Ribbon Corporation!]”

His face turned even paler than before, as if he hadn’t expected his client’s boss to show up in person.

At this rate, he might faint.

“[I understand it’s chaotic and overwhelming, but please explain first.]”

Explain before you collapse.

“[What on earth happened here?]”

I need to know why this place is such a complete mess.