Real Man

At that moment.

Team leader Nadoyeon’s mind was complicated as she sat in her seat.

‘Second place in smartphone market share.’

It was a ridiculous mission that required at least five times more sales than the current level, even though it was called second place.

It was almost impossible to achieve, objectively speaking.

But it was a different story if everything depended on it.

She might be able to decide the next chairman of Hansung in her hands, and there was no reason not to seize that opportunity.

She was so eager to succeed that her heart was pounding.

But then.

It was team leader Shin Jeonggeun from the Home Appliance Strategy Team.

-You know, I haven’t seen you for a long time, team leader Na. Of course, I know your skills. But looking at your team members, I guess it’s hard to make a good phone this time too, right? Well, it’s okay if you fail, you can just blame your team members. Haha!

She couldn’t forget his sneering face that she saw at the meeting.

Snap.

“He dared to look down on our team, didn’t he?”

She wanted to confront him right away, but she had something to sort out with the Home Appliance Strategy Team.

They had to establish a direction on how to apply smartphone technology to smart home appliances.

This was the first collaborative mission that Vice President Yeotae-sik had thrown to the two teams.

It was a side task that was sudden and irrelevant, but they had no choice but to follow.

The problem was the personnel assignment.

She had to send someone she could trust, as the team’s pride was at stake.

Considering the workload, the only member was Assistant Manager Shin Nakgyun.

Then who should be the assistant for this task?

She needed someone else who could organize the meeting.

‘Should I just stick someone in the middle?’

She picked up the phone as she pondered.

Yoo Hyun, who received team leader Nadoyeon’s call, confronted her.

He gave her the prepared answer as she said what he expected.

He sneered after finishing the conversation.

‘Do I have to lay a mat or something?’

He was talking about Assistant Manager An Jaekyung.

As he predicted, team leader Nadoyeon tried to attach one of his colleagues.

Considering her pride, it was a rather surprising result.

Moreover, his guess that Assistant Manager Shin Nakgyun would be the main member was also correct.

It was not easy to pull this off with just the keyword of meeting with another team.

How could he have such intuition?

It was amazing, even if it was a coincidence.

He didn’t have time to marvel, though. He called Assistant Manager Jeong Hyun-woo.

It was important to untie the tangled knot from now on.

He approached him blankly, his colleague and junior from college, and told him his opinion.

“Hyun-woo, you know the materials you prepared for smart home appliances before…”

“Huh? You mean with Assistant Manager Shin?”

Assistant Manager Jeong Hyun-woo’s eyes widened.

Meanwhile, Assistant Manager Shin Nakgyun, who received the mission, was slightly annoyed.

“This is crazy.”

It was not because he was in charge of a side task that was not his main job.

The problem was Assistant Manager Jeong Hyun-woo, who was attached as an assistant.

He heard that the guy had never learned planning properly and had no experience.

It was a shame that such a person was in the Innovation Strategy Office.

It would be nice if he just stayed still, but he kept bringing things that he had prepared.

He was disgusted by his cheerful smile even when he was harshly rejected.

Why did he research things that were useless anyway?

Sigh.

Assistant Manager Shin Nakgyun shook his head as he looked at Assistant Manager Jeong Hyun-woo’s materials.

And a few days later.

He shook his head again at the meeting with the Home Appliance Strategy Team.

It was because of the man who was sitting across from him and picking a fight throughout the meeting.

He took a break and made a sarcastic remark.

“You know, Assistant Manager Shin must be having a hard time.”

“What do you mean?”

“The assistant next to you is from the subsidiary management team, right? You have to teach him everything from scratch, since he doesn’t know anything. How annoying that must be.”

He should have attacked him directly if he wanted to, but the man tripped over Jeong Hyun-woo instead.

The best thing to do in this situation was to fight back, but Jeong Hyun-woo seemed to be intimidated and couldn’t say a word.

No matter how annoying he was, he was on the same team.

He couldn’t tolerate hearing such words from a nobody.

Assistant Manager Shin Nakgyun snapped coldly.

“Team leader Kim, you should worry about your own team members. Don’t call us for consultation when you prepare such poor materials.”

“What, what did you say?”

Team leader Kim Myeongjong from the Home Appliance Strategy Team was surprised by the sudden attack.

The one who was more surprised and blinked his eyes was Jeong Hyun-woo.

After the meeting was over.

Assistant Manager Shin Nakgyun left without a word, but Jeong Hyun-woo had a lot to say.

He quickly returned to his seat and spilled everything that happened at the meeting.

The place was the break room, where his display colleagues were sitting across from him.

“You know, how Assistant Manager Shin crushed the Home Appliance Strategy Team…”

Assistant Manager Kwon Se-jung, who was listening, exclaimed.

“I didn’t know where to use that nasty person, but I guess he can be used like this.”

“That’s right. Even shit can be used as medicine sometimes.”

Jang Junsik also added a ridiculous remark.

Yoo Hyun was dumbfounded by his words.

“Junsik, where did you learn that?”

“Did I, did I make a mistake?”

“No. It’s just funny. You did well.”

Yoo Hyun patted Jang Junsik’s shoulder and asked Jeong Hyun-woo.

“So, how did the meeting go?”

“It went well.”

“Didn’t Assistant Manager Shin say he didn’t prepare anything?”

“That wasn’t true. He completely knew my materials and pressed the other side.”

This was also unexpected, and Assistant Manager Kwon Se-jung intervened.

He also knew what Jeong Hyun-woo had prepared, as he had worked with him before moving to the Innovation Strategy Office.

“You mean the direction for smart home appliances you worked on? The one that suggested using the low-power version of the self-developed OS for smartphones on home appliances?”

“That’s right. I checked it with the development team back then.”

“It must have been a tough opponent, right?”

“It seemed like they had everything figured out. Kim, the manager of the Home Appliance Strategy Team, was digging deep into it, but I used your data to fend them off.”

“So what? You think you can win just by defending well? How can the meeting outcome be good?”

Deputy Kwon Se-jung looked puzzled, but Yoo-hyun had a hunch.

He had worked with Manager Shin Nak-kyun for a long time, so he could imagine the next situation.

Before Deputy Jung Hyun-woo could answer, Yoo-hyun spoke first.

“He probably set a trap and cornered them.”

“That’s right. I didn’t think Manager Shin was like that, but he was very cunning.”

Before he knew it, Deputy Jung Hyun-woo added ‘nim’ after Manager Shin Nak-kyun’s name.

Jung Hyun-woo continued to talk without noticing it.

“He pushed the opponent into a tight spot and then delivered the final blow. It was not a skill that he had done once or twice.”

“But what’s the use if the opponent is stubborn?”

“Unlike the Home Appliance Strategy Team’s proposal, we used OS and also secured the price and power. When we showed them the concrete results, they shut their mouths, didn’t they?”

“I guess he does have some skills after all.”

Deputy Kwon Se-jung looked very surprised.

Yoo-hyun, who had been listening quietly, chuckled.

“I told you. He has skills, but his personality is a bit…”

“His personality and his work don’t match. I don’t understand how he can be so friendly.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

It was when Yoo-hyun nodded his head.

Clap.

Deputy Jung Hyun-woo clapped his hands and said with a suppressed smile.

“Oh! Do you know what happened at the end of the meeting?”

“What happened?”

“He threw my file like this.”

Deputy Jung Hyun-woo made a gesture of throwing with his hand, and everyone blinked in surprise.

“What? He threw it?”

“Yes. And do you know what he said?”

“What did he say?”

“He said that he was worse than a mere deputy from the management team, even though he was a manager.”

“What? That’s crazy. Hahaha!”

Deputy Kwon Se-jung laughed loudly, and Deputy Jang Jun-sik also covered his mouth and shook his shoulders.

Yoo-hyun was speechless.

It was not because of Manager Shin Nak-kyun’s rude attitude, who treated the other team as a subsidiary.

It was because of Manager An Jae-kyung’s words, who had predicted this situation.

-If it’s Manager Shin Nak-kyun’s style, there will be a lot of friction with the other team. But it won’t be a big problem if the conditions I mentioned are met. It might even create a bonding effect.

Deputy Kwon Se-jung, who had been laughing for a while, gave a thumbs up.

“Ah, really. I admit it, I admit it. I’m going to do well with Manager Shin from now on.”

“Me too.”

“I like him too.”

The other two said the same.

Yoo-hyun looked at the three people who had changed so much and gave a hollow laugh.

After that day, the team atmosphere changed subtly.

There was still factional conflict, but the tension between Manager Shin Nak-kyun and the display deputies decreased.

No one else knew, but Manager An Jae-kyung, who was sensitive to the discord around him, could not miss this change.

Sure enough. He sat down and shook his head in disbelief.

Yoo-hyun laughed at him.

‘It must be strange.’

Manager An Jae-kyung had no idea that his plan had been executed.

He might have heard that they had a meeting with the other team.

But he could not imagine that Vice President Yeo Tae-sik was behind it.

He probably did not think that it was possible.

But now Manager An Jae-kyung had to know.

As long as the direction was right, everything he thought of could be achieved.

Yoo-hyun was determined to make it happen.

It was a necessary task for the success of everyone, not just Manager An Jae-kyung.

And the next day, the time for Manager An Jae-kyung to find out came.

The Mobile Phone Strategy Team’s 10 members were seated in the conference room.

They might look like a small number, but each one of them was a representative of the Innovation Strategy Office.

It meant that they had the authority and power to control the subsidiaries.

In front of these people, Team Leader Na Do-yeon said a word to Manager Shin Nak-kyun.

“Manager Shin, you did a good job of sorting out the direction with the Home Appliance Strategy Team.”

“Thank you.”

“Oh, don’t worry too much about what their team leader says. I’ll cover for you.”

“Yes. I understand.”

Team Leader Na Do-yeon then made eye contact with Deputy Jung Hyun-woo.

She did not say anything, but it was clearly a positive look.

Yoo-hyun thought it was very surprising.

They did not get a great meeting result, they just suggested a direction.

There was still a possibility that the situation could change.

But she praised him from the start of the meeting?

This did not match Team Leader Na Do-yeon’s style, who was stingy with compliments.

She had changed her personality just by having a rival team.

Yoo-hyun was amazed by Manager An Jae-kyung’s sense.

On the other hand, Manager An Jae-kyung was surprised for a different reason.

‘No way.’

From the team leader’s words, it seemed like they had a meeting with the Home Appliance Strategy Team.

And the members were Manager Shin Nak-kyun and Deputy Jung Hyun-woo.

From their expressions, it seemed like the conflict had been resolved quite a bit.

-Manager Shin Nak-kyun will make the enemy inside his side if a big enemy appears outside. You can check it out by arranging a meeting with a rival team.

This was exactly the same as the method he had told Yoo-hyun a while ago.

There was a precondition for this.

Deputy Jung Hyun-woo had to show trust to Manager Shin Nak-kyun first.

That was impossible unless it was prepared in advance.

But all this happened in a short period of time.

Was this a coincidence?

It was not a coincidence, as he could tell from Team Leader Na Do-yeon’s words that followed.