Chapter 43: Chapter 43 (1/2)

Actually, Oh should felt jealous of Hyunwoo. Only a high school graduate, Hyunwoo got promoted ahead of him, and the manager Park, called 'crazy dog,” began to take his side at some point. Oh might have thought that Hyunwoo got Park's favor by flattering him behind his back.

In that respect, offering a cup of soybean juice could be seen as flattery to Park in Oh's eyes.

Whatever the reason, it was just foolish for Oh to feel jealous of his team member. There were so many people in the world he had to compete with, and only one of them was standing before him now. How to survive the compet.i.tion wisely? It was not to defeat someone next to him. Rather, it was to make that person his ally and make use of him. But this was something Oh had to judge by himself.

Looking at Oh, Hyunwoo let out a sigh of pity.

If he changed his character, he could be my good colleague.

When Hyunwoo was thinking about Oh, Park held out the paper cup and said,

”Looks like there is some more in the bucket. If n.o.body wants it, let me have it.”

”Sure, please.”

Hyunwoo collected whatever soybean juice remained in the bucket and gave it to Park, which was thick but savory.

”Wow, it really fills me up.”

”Let me prepare one for you tomorrow, too.”

”Oh, don't burden your mother. Be a good son to her!”

”Well, she likes it. Ha ha.”

Chuckling loudly, Hyunwoo headed to the construction site. Today was the last day he went directly to the site.

When the evening came, they had a pork belly get-together at the construction site.

Park was a man of moods. Because the president gave him the dinner fee, he had no reason to save it. Pork belly was roasted on the hot flat stones. Not only dispatched employees but also the others who hadn't gotten the chance to be a.s.signed gathered after smelling the savory smell of roasted pork belly.

After tasting it, all of them exclaimed, ”Wow, this is the real taste of pork belly!”

Though the flooring job was over, Park still trusted Hyunwoo. His warm consideration for Hyunwoo was pretty much noticeable. It was clear Park would support anyone once he had a crush on him or her. Yonggu found that unusual, though. He was thinking of stepping hard on him at an appropriate time, but Hyunwoo seemed to have saved Park's face.

Having dinner together in the evening, Yonggu asked Hyunwoo furtively,

”What happened?”

”The chance came along unexpectedly. Stepping hard on him at the right time is a good thing, but I felt it would also be as good to change him with a good method if I could.”

”Good method? How? Do you have an idea in mind?”

Actually, Hyunwoo had been thinking about it. But suddenly, one idea came to mind when he found a change in Park's att.i.tude.

Nodding his head, Hyunwoo replied,

”It's looking for something Park can do well.”

As if he could not understand, Yonggu tilted his head and said,

”Something Park can do well? What is that?”

”Well, I thought hard why Park was h.e.l.l bent on giving us a hard time.”

Then, Hyunwoo narrated to Yonggu what he had felt about Park all along.

Hyunwoo didn't think Park was a bad man from the start. If that was the case, he should have earned the same bad name among managers. However, they all regard Park as the best manager whenever they heard his name, which meant that Park had some commendable points. Why was he not so popular among the rank-and-file employees?

Hyunwoo thought it was Park's own choice. It was not because of his character but his deliberate actions to hide his weakness.

Of course, Park's weakness would be his shallow knowledge and experience. In terms of business knowledge and experience, Park was much shallower than a.s.sistant managers and ordinary employees. So, he naturally misunderstood that they were ignoring him for his shallow knowledge and experience. In other words, he could not embrace them easily.

So, Hyunwoo thought Park might change if his mistaken thinking could be corrected.

Park needed some sort of self-confidence in that respect. In other words, if Park could think 'at least in this area I'm the best', he might have a more generous att.i.tude toward his staff.

Hearing Hyunwoo's explanation, Yonggu thought about his relations.h.i.+p with Hyunwoo.

In fact, he hated Hyunwoo from his childhood days. He thought the more Hyunwoo would succeed in the world, the worse it would ruin him. Because of that thinking, he could not embrace Hyunwoo. Then, Hyunwoo changed him, and not in a way to crush him but to cheer him up. Actually, Hyunwoo was persuading Yonggu to change Park with the same method he had used to change him.

Yonggu felt that might be a good idea as long as it worked.

Touching his forehead with his hand, Yonggu was pondering over what Park could do well.

Come to think of it, there were a few things Park could do better than his team members.

What came to his mind first was golf. He heard that Park's golfing ability was close to that of professional golfers'. He played under par almost always and played singles in the field.

”I hear he is talented at dominating the drinking atmosphere.”

Though Park was a heavy drinker, he had the ability to amuse the drinking members with his witty remarks and sense of humor. That was why Park always dominated the atmosphere at the managers' drinking get-together. Though Hyunwoo was also talented in leading the atmosphere at dinner get-togethers, Park seemed to be one cut above him. In some ways, Hyunwoo was a hard worker while Park was a genius in that respect.

In short, Park was a typical lobbyist. If there was any drinking occasion for a sales pitch, Park had the potential to do better than anybody else.

Hyunwoo snapped his fingers and said, ”Looks like we have to find ways to use his strength.”

If his talent had to be put to use, Hyunwoo wanted to use it quickly because N&C was about to produce new products soon.