Chapter 3: Let's Not Hold Back (1)
Since I caused that commotion at the company yesterday, Team Leader Kim couldn't look me straight in the face.
He wasn't the type to let things slide, so he must have given the Director a bad report.
I was thinking about what stance to take if I got chewed out,
But he called me for something good?
“How old are you, Deputy Manager Go?”
“Thirty-one.”
“Hmm…… Young. Let's see. How many years have you been with the company?”
“I became a Deputy Manager last year. This is my 5th year.”
Director Yun nodded and said.
“You must know everything about the Operations Team's workflow then.”
In the Operations Team, one can grasp the overall flow even after just a year.
This is because the nature of the work is broad but shallow, requiring no deep dives.
But, why was he bringing this up?
“It seems there won't be major problems even without Team Leader Kim.”
“…….”
“I'm thinking of leaving the Operations Team Leader position vacant.”
“What?!”
I blinked my eyes.
What was this all of a sudden?
Director Yun said with an amused expression.
“Why? Surprised? Isn't this the situation you and the team members wanted?”
Everything in a company has an intention.
Let's pull myself together and think.
I'm the person who produced three group chairmen.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Well, maybe because I think of you specially?”
I had no connection whatsoever with Director Yun, and I had only seen his face a few times.
What could it be?
Because of the commotion yesterday?
Only questions kept arising, and I asked to be more certain.
“Then, Team Leader Kim Se-jun is…….”
“Ah~ Team Leader Kim.”
Surely, he wasn't hurt by yesterday's events and offered to step down himself?
He was absolutely not that kind of person.
“I believe there's a position that suits him better than team leader.”
So he really intended to remove him from the position.
I stared intently into Director Yun's eyes, and it was true.
He wasn't testing the waters.
My actions yesterday had shattered some solid equilibrium.
Not just my fate, but the fates of several people had changed.
“Who do you plan to appoint as the new team leader?”
I decided to ask directly and see his reaction.
It was a method Hyeok often used when unforeseen situations arose that he hadn't initiated.
“I plan to hold the position concurrently.”
“…….”
“The Operations Team doesn't strictly need a team leader position.”
He wasn't wrong.
Even though Team Leader Kim currently didn't do much, the team was running fine.
“I don't understand why you're telling me this.”
“Because I think you can create the vacancy in the team leader position.”
“What?!”
Finding it absurd, I looked at Director Yun, but he smiled and said.
“No matter how much I'm his direct supervisor, I can't just fire a team leader at will.”
“…….”
“Public opinion needs to form, and your actions yesterday were quite satisfactory.”
“…….”
“I'll back you up from behind, so don't be intimidated and I hope you'll continue your company life even more righteously. That's why I called you.”
***
In a novel, at this timing, one should become the youngest team leader and charge forward aggressively.
Because even if some plausibility is sacrificed, the reward must be certain.
Reality and novels are different, but anyway, if something comes, something goes.
I saw the director's unusual proposal as an opportunity.
“What do I gain from this?”
The Operations Team.
It's an organization with a lot of work, but where performance isn't visible.
On the other hand, it has the advantage of being a team that will never disappear.
Due to the nature of OTT companies, tasks change frequently and many teams disappear, but the content delivery management work cannot be eliminated.
‘A stable team, though it's hard to show performance.’
Until I earned 100 million won a month in royalties, the Operations Team was the best team for me.
But now…….
“Living a righteous company life isn't easy.”
Staying in the Operations Team might allow me to keep my position for a long time, but that's not what I want right now.
I also wanted to experience various things that only a company offers, things that money can't buy,
and my goal after the 100-million-won-a-month royalties.
I wanted to find out how to prepare a work if I wanted to get my webnovel adapted into a video format.
Director Yun shrugged his shoulders and said.
“What would be the reward for faithfully following a superior's instructions? Isn't it obvious?”
Performance evaluation, promotion, salary increase, etc.
The rewards received from the company are predictable.
“Is there anything specific you desire?”
What I wanted was a team transfer, but I hid my true feelings.
Because this wasn't the place to talk about that.
“Don't think too hard about it. I just hope you don't shrink back because of yesterday's events. Live your company life more bravely.”
“…….”
“And when the team leader position becomes vacant, I hope you, who know the work well, will assist me.”
He smiled slightly and said.
“Then won't there be something good for you in the future?”
He speaks so vaguely.
Organizational life is about swallowing the sweet and spitting out the bitter.
As an author writing my 4th company-life novel, I know this all too well,
so I remained silent, and the more I did, the more Director Yun tried to persuade me.
“If you assist me well after the position becomes vacant, I might even make you the acting team leader.”
“…….”
“It's just acting in name, but it's the same as being a team leader. You get an activity allowance too.”
“How much do I receive?”
I wasn't interested but asked out of curiosity,
Director Yun, as if granting a great favor, spread out 10 fingers and said.
“1 million won a month.”
Pfft.
I laughed without realizing it.
With just one million won a month…….
That's not even a single day's earnings from the work I'm currently serializing.
“What's the meaning of that laugh just now?”
“It's nothing.”
It seemed better for me to strike the deal first.
“As you wish, I will create the vacancy in the Operations Team Leader position for you.”
Director Yun looked around flusteredly and said in a low voice.
“Hey. Lower your voice.”
“In return.”
I spoke clearly to Director Yun.
“When the team leader position becomes vacant, I would like you to grant my wish.”
“What is it?”
“I don't know yet. I will tell you then.”
Just as he had done, I spoke vaguely too.
“What if you make a request I can't handle?”
Anyway, superiors are truly defensive.
If they were going to be like this, they shouldn't have brought it up in the first place.
“I will request something Director can do.”
“Hmm…… It won't be something outside my authority, right?”
“Yes.”
Director Yun nodded his head for a moment, then answered.
“Alright.”
One of the things superiors excel at is changing their words,
so I put strength in my eyes and made sure to pin him down firmly.
“When the Operations Team Leader position becomes vacant, you clearly promised to grant my request as long as it's not outside the Director's authority, right?”
“Yes.”
“You can't change your words later.”
“Why doesn't this person trust my words? I said okay.”
Superiors excel at changing their words.
There was no way he would agree if I asked him to send the above content via text or email.
I simply made a recording.
***
Now that the safety measure was in place, I just needed to fulfill the promise and go my way.
I felt a slight pang of sympathy for Team Leader Kim as a person, but large corporations can't easily fire people anyway.
Considering myself and the team members who worked without weekends for 4 years due to his incompetence, and the former colleagues who couldn't endure and left the company…….
‘I'm just finding him a position that suits him.’
Even though it was Director Yun's request, I believe it's not an action that goes against the greater good.
“Deputy Manager Go!”
As I entered the office, Deputy Manager Jeon hurriedly approached me.
“Why did you take so long?”
It didn't feel like we talked much, but looking at the clock, an hour had passed.
“We just talked about this and that. Why? Did someone look for me?”
“Don't even mention it. The team leader was fidgeting and looked for you several times.”
“…….”
“Since he knew you were with the Director, he couldn't even ask someone to call you.”
Team Leader Kim must have sensed with animal instinct that his position was precarious.
Indeed, one doesn't become a team leader for nothing.
“Senior, nothing happened, right?”
“What could have happened? You worry too much.”
“Honestly, thanks to you yesterday, Senior, I felt relieved, but I am anxious. I'm not the only one.”
I looked around at the team members, and I could feel them watching me cautiously.
“People from other departments keep asking if the team is okay too.”
I chuckled and said.
“What could happen at work? At worst, getting fired?”
I said it nonchalantly, but at the word ‘fired’, Deputy Manager Jeon's face turned pale.
I used to be like that too. Before I started earning a lot of money from royalties.
“How can you say something like that so casually?”
Deputy Manager Jeon examined my face carefully and said.
“Senior, are you really okay? Is there some trouble at home or…….”
I chuckled.
I fully understand his reaction like this.
“How many times are you asking the same thing? I told you nothing's wrong. Where did the team leader go?”
“Team Leader meeting.”
“Ah, then it'll take a while.”
I spoke loudly to the team members who were working.
“Would you like a cup of coffee? My treat.”
***
We came to the cafe on the 1st floor.
I took out my wallet and said.
“You can have something other than Americano too.”
Deputy Manager Jeon Seung-hyeon, 1st year as Daeri.
Working mom Deputy Manager Song A-ri.
Employee Nam Ha-neul, who joined last year.
I looked around at the Operations Team members sitting at the table.
All passive people, living their company lives as if they were barely there.
“Deputy Manager Go, thank you so much for yesterday~”
Working mom Deputy Manager Song said with a smile.
“I felt so refreshed because you said what I always wanted to say. Hoho.”
Deputy Manager Jeon Seung-hyeon added.
“I was so nervous I thought I'd die. But~ Deputy Manager Go, you were really cool. Haha.”
Asking them for coffee wasn't to talk about such trivial things.
Surprisingly, there might be someone who supports Team Leader Kim.
I'm not the only one on the team. If there was someone whose thoughts differed from mine, I intended to reconsider 'getting rid of Team Leader Kim'.
“Was anyone uncomfortable?”
I observed the team members' expressions as they took in these words, but there was nothing unusual.
They just looked at me with puzzled eyes.
“You might think my actions were excessive. That's why I'm asking.”
A moment of silence fell.
Everyone seemed cautious about my question, but Deputy Manager Song and Deputy Manager Jeon had already agreed about yesterday's events.
However, Employee Nam Ha-neul.
He had been quiet the whole time,
“How about you, Ha-neul? Was I too harsh?”
Nam Ha-neul glanced around cautiously before speaking carefully.
“May I speak honestly?”
“Of course~”
Nam Ha-neul clenched his fists and said.
“It was totally refreshing. Damn it. He does absolutely nothing himself, yet makes us run all the errands like copying, coffee, etc. Work too. If he's not going to help, he shouldn't meddle. Nitpicking every single thing…….”
I understood why he had been quiet until now. It was probably because he couldn't control his emotions.
As the team's youngest member, Nam Ha-neul had served as Team Leader Kim's subordinate and had a lot pent up.
Suddenly, I felt truly sorry for the team members.
“That's enough. Still, let's not curse.”
“Ah, yes. Sorry.”
Having confirmed the shared sentiment, I spoke to the team members.
“Let's not hold back from now on.”
Voicing opinions together holds more power than doing it alone.
“We came to the company to work, not to do emotional labor, right?”
The feeling of working while suppressing dissatisfaction. I know it better than anyone.
Because I used to be like that too.
“Confidently tell the team leader 'no' when something isn't right.”
However, I have absolutely no intention of doing that now.
“I'll help you from the side.”