Real Man

Chapter 356

From the words of the assembly team leader, he could confirm their power dynamics once again.

“Team Leader Park, don’t just suck up to Manager Lee, give us some credit too. Maybe then, who knows? They might give us better products instead of reassembled ones at Yeontae Factory.”

“Yeah. We need to revive Yeontae Factory too. It used to be bigger than the reassembly team, remember?”

Another assembly team leader put his arm around Park Chul-hong’s shoulder and joked.

The reassembly team leader, Ma Jong-hyun, rubbed his hands quickly and flattered.

“Hey, Team Leader Cha, that’s not fair. You know we can relax because of the reassembly team.”

“Hehe. Are you nervous, Team Leader Ma?”

“Of course not. I’m still at the bottom of the ladder.”

“Hahaha. True. That’s true.”

The assembly team leaders laughed at Ma Jong-hyun’s words.

Yoo-hyun snorted at their pathetic behavior.

They were all at the bottom of the company hierarchy.

They were acting like they had ranks and power among themselves.

Then Park Chul-hong spoke cautiously.

“Team Leader Ma, please check our reassembled products first.”

“Huh. Team Leader Park, we’re having a conversation here. Don’t butt in.”

“I’m sorry.”

Park Chul-hong bowed his head as Ma Jong-hyun scolded him.

He was always too humble, just like he was during the audit.

Ignoring Park Chul-hong, Ma Jong-hyun pulled the arms of the assembly team leaders.

“Oh, come on, team leaders, don’t worry and let’s go have a drink.”

He acted like a bully to his subordinate.

The assembly team leaders giggled.

“Are you going to leave Team Leader Park alone again?”

“Team Leader Ma, you’re so mean.”

“What if he cries all night?”

They exchanged useless words and Ma Jong-hyun sneered at Park Chul-hong.

“It’s okay. Manager Lee from Yeontae Factory will help him out.”

“Hahahaha.”

The assembly team leaders laughed loudly as if they had agreed on it.

Yoo-hyun just smiled and watched them play around.

Their relationships were tangled but he didn’t need to think too much about it.

Yoo-hyun’s goal was not to revive Yeontae Factory, but to live a more comfortable life.

To do that, he needed to establish a clear relationship with the reassembly team that he was directly connected to.

As Ma Jong-hyun was about to turn around, Yoo-hyun intervened at the right timing.

“Team Leader Ma, we worked hard to meet the quantity. Please check it for us.”

“What check? You do that yourself.”

Ma Jong-hyun waved his hand in annoyance.

Yoo-hyun raised his voice a little more and showed his rookie spirit.

“Then please give us some reassembled products for next week. We need them to work.”

The assembly team leaders stopped walking and turned their heads.

Ma Jong-hyun gestured roughly as he met their eyes.

He said, “Don’t give it to me. I can’t take it. Just go away and rot.”

The assembly team leaders burst into laughter.

“Puahaha. Aren’t you being too harsh on him?”

“It’s okay. This is how I learn.”

As he shrugged his shoulders and turned to leave, Yoo-hyun spoke to him clearly.

“We clearly requested confirmation and delivery of the product. You didn’t give it to us. It was you who said it was okay to go.”

“Ouch. Did you get some ink on you and fall off the ladder? You talk like a scholar.”

Despite that, Team Leader Ma Jong Hyun only mocked him.

He was trying to show off in front of the other assembly team leaders.

Yoo-hyun politely greeted him.

“I understand what you said. We’ll leave now.”

“Go ahead.”

Team Leader Ma Jong Hyun turned his head with a snicker.

A loud laughter echoed behind the leaving group.

“Puahahaha.”

They were quite good at laughing.

After they left, Team Leader Park Chul Hong approached Yoo-hyun and sighed.

“You did as you said and left it alone. Was that okay?”

“Yes. You did well.”

“Sigh. What now?”

“What do you mean, we have to go back. They told us to go, right?”

“Just go back like this?”

“I got enough of the answer I wanted.”

He showed his phone to Team Leader Park Chul Hong, who asked with a bewildered expression.

On the screen, the words ‘Recording’ were clearly visible.

Seeing that, Team Leader Park Chul Hong shook his head.

“Recording here won’t do anything. They are so shameless. There was a case before where someone from the reassembly team reported them and…”

Yoo-hyun cut him off, feeling that the story would be long.

“Don’t worry. I just got it for confirmation, not for reporting.”

“Then what are you going to do? They will treat us the same way tomorrow. No, they will be worse because of the grudge.”

Yoo-hyun understood Team Leader Park Chul Hong’s concern.

But that was not an option in Yoo-hyun’s answer.

“I’m not coming tomorrow.”

“What? If we don’t meet the yield, we’ll be out in the next audit.”

“That won’t happen. Just trust me.”

He chuckled and got into the passenger seat.

“Team Leader, can I drive?”

“No need. You’re already in the passenger seat.”

For some reason, Team Leader Park Chul Hong’s shoulders looked more slumped.

It was when the truck carrying Yoo-hyun left the factory.

Vroom.

One of the assembly team leaders walking next to him pointed at the truck and said.

“Huh? Are they really leaving?”

The sight of it made Team Leader Ma Jonghyun snort as if he didn’t care.

“He must have hurt his pride. Just leave him alone.”

“Do you want to send him back tomorrow?”

“Of course. I won’t give it to him even if he begs on his knees tomorrow.”

The other team leaders laughed loudly at Ma Jonghyun’s words.

“Hahaha. Team Leader Ma, you’re really cruel.”

Ma Jonghyun pretended to laugh along and gritted his teeth.

His authority had been undermined by the unexpected actions of the Yeontae factory guys.

“Those bastards, did they really think they could leave? I’ll show them hell tomorrow.”

His eyes flashed fiercely under his lowered head.

A little later.

Right when the work hours were about to end, the truck that had gone on a business trip returned to the Yeontae factory.

The sun had not set yet.

Jo Gijeong, who had come out to greet them in front of the factory site, asked in surprise.

“Why did you come back so soon?”

Team Leader Park Cheolhong, who got out of the driver’s seat, gestured with his chin in a tired manner.

“Ask him.”

Yoo-hyun, who received his gaze, handed over a plastic bag and gestured with his hand.

“Let’s talk while you eat this first.”

“Huh? Octopus?”

Jo Gijeong’s eyes widened as he looked inside the plastic bag.

Yoo-hyun smiled brightly and said.

“When you think of Mokpo, you think of three-legged octopus, right?”

“Wow…”

“I bought it as a souvenir. Please enjoy it.”

Yoo-hyun guided Jo Gijeong and Kang Jong-ho to a wooden table.

Jo Gijeong opened his mouth with a bewildered expression.

“What the hell is going on…”

“That’s what I want to know.”

Team Leader Park Cheolhong, who had come back with Yoo-hyun, added with a grim expression.

A simple table was set up on the wooden table.

They all paid attention to Yoo-hyun’s mouth rather than the three-legged octopus.

Yoo-hyun chewed on the three-legged octopus and explained briefly.

“The reason why I just came back is…”

As soon as the explanation was over, the three people were surprised as if they had made a promise.

“You just left them like that?”

“They gave it to us and you’re saying that makes sense?”

“What are you going to do about the audit?”

Yoo-hyun answered Kang Jong-ho’s last question first.

“It doesn’t matter if the audit comes out. They didn’t give it to us.”

“Team Leader Ma did the audit himself.”

“That’s not proper. Team Leader Ma doesn’t have the authority to audit. If they want to discipline us, they have to come down from the audit team themselves.”

As Yoo-hyun said that, Team Leader Park Cheolhong added in a stern voice.

He was the only one who had ever been disciplined here.

“That’s what Han said.”

“Fine, let’s say Han is right. But if we don’t get the goods from the reassembly team, we can’t meet our quota. That’s a fact. Won’t that be a problem during the audit?”

Yoo-hyun answered Jo Ki Jung’s question, who had butted in.

“As I said before, that won’t happen. If we get disciplined, so will the reassembly team.”

“For not handing over the goods?”

“Yes. I have secured the evidence for that. And there is another more important reason.”

“What is it?”

Yoo-hyun had been paying attention to one question since he came to the Yeontae factory.

Why was the number of reassembled products entering the Yeontae factory so low?

If their goal was to reduce their workload, they could have increased the quantity instead of just sending defective products.

But they only gave them the minimum amount of work that matched the number of half-cylinders classified as F-grade.

That didn’t match the atmosphere of the reassembly team, who bullied them as if it was their daily routine.

Rather, it felt like they were managing the Yeontae factory’s performance for them.

Yoo-hyun expressed his thoughts.

“Our performance is linked to the Mokpo factory. That means, if we fail, they will also have problems.”

Jo Ki Jung seemed to understand half of it and retorted.

“They will only suffer losses, but we could get fired.”

“No one would risk harming themselves to get others fired.”

What would a team leader do when a team member slacks off and leaves early?

One might think that he would scold him and correct him, but no.

If it gets too serious, he would rather try to hide his team member’s mistakes.

Because if it gets out, it would backfire on him.

The same logic applies to organizations.

That’s why Yoo-hyun decided to slack off too.

By twisting the problem this way, he had a chance to change his perspective completely.

Yoo-hyun planned to use this opportunity to overturn all the unreasonable practices.

“What if not?”

Yoo-hyun answered Kang Jong-ho’s question confidently.

“Then I’ll take responsibility.”

“How can Han take responsibility?”

When Park Chul Hong looked at him incredulously, Yoo-hyun smiled brightly.

“Well, if it doesn’t work out, I’ll buy you some sweet and sour pork. You know I’m close with the Chinese restaurant owner.”

“Ha.”

A sigh escaped from everyone’s mouth.

The next day.

The Yeontae factory workers did not go to the Mokpo factory to receive the goods.

They followed Yoo-hyun’s opinion more out of fear than agreement.

The situation had already gotten out of hand.

In this situation, no one had the courage to go to the Mokpo factory and clean up the mess, saying that Yoo-hyun was wrong.

And that was the right direction.

Another day passed.

At lunchtime, Park Chul Hong asked Yoo-hyun in the cafeteria.

“Did you get a call yet?”

“No. Maybe soon?”

“Ha, I guess so.”

He answered and immediately picked up his spoon.

He was worried sick until yesterday, but now he ate well.

He seemed to have given up completely.

Yoo-hyun chuckled and ate with him.

The cafeteria lady’s cooking skills were still very good.

That afternoon, when it was close to quitting time,

Yoo-hyun sat on the stairs at the edge of the forest with his butt hanging over them.

The view of the reservoir spread out from the end of the steep stairs.

He hadn’t been fishing for a while, and the surroundings of the reservoir had changed a lot.

The weeds were cut down and the soil was smoothed out.

It looked perfect for pitching a tent.

According to Bae Yong Seok, they were planning to install a temporary toilet soon.

He hadn’t heard the details yet, but it seemed like they were really trying to make a proper fishing spot.

Lee Young Nam was not a person who only talked big after all.

Yoo-hyun admired him inwardly.

His phone rang and he checked it. The caller ID showed Mokpo factory’s number.