Surviving Restructuring

The facilitator standing behind the single-person podium wrapped up the lengthy report. “... That concludes today’s strategic briefing.”

The conference room, shaped akin to a miniature coliseum, fell quiet soon after. It had been a passable presentation, nothing worthy of a tongue-click. The only hiccup was when the chairman himself caught a single incorrect figure during the Sales Department’s performance report.

The director of Personnel Bureau shot a contemptuous look at the sales director, who was fidgeting nervously under the chairman’s gaze. “Tsk.”

In the end, the director rose from his seat. There was no point staying any longer because all that remained were faces he had no desire to look at.

Just as he was about to leave the conference room, a rough, gravelly voice struck the back of his head. “Seung-Gi.”

It was the director of the Management Bureau.

“What is it?”

The man was as heavy on the inside as he was massive on the outside. He was not the sort to strike up idle conversation without a reason. Instinctively, Seung-Gi gathered darkness at his fingertips as he waited for the man to speak.

The chairman hadn’t left yet. Even so, Seung-Gi remained tense, fully aware that the man before him was a formidable rival. No, more than that. He was everyone’s rival and a rival among rivals.

Yet, the matter the management director raised was unexpected. “The Labor-Management Cooperation Team, was it?”

Seung-Gi flinched.

“There was a child I had my eye on.”

He didn’t have to ask who it was. It had to be Lee Eun-Ho.

“He ended up under you.”

What an obnoxiously persistent, obnoxiously arrogant bastard. But you will soon bow your vulgar head and lick the soles of my feet—

“Hand him over.”

“What did you say?” Seung-Gi had to ask.

The management director was spouting nonsense, “You know as well as I do that he isn’t the sort of talent meant to rot away playing childish games.”

“Childish games?” For a moment, Seung-Gi nearly forgot where he was and shouted sharply, “That’s enough!”

“Your organization won’t be able to hold onto him anyway.”

“What?”

“Try to swallow something you can’t handle, and all you’ll do is burst from the inside.”

Seung-Gi struggled to maintain his expression, but his facial muscles twitched against his will. He gritted his teeth. “Don’t delude yourself. I’ll handle it within my own authority.”

The moment those words left his mouth, a gentle voice came from behind them. “Oh my.”

A spring breeze, one that should not have existed in this sealed space, swept through the room. Then, with it came a wave of suffocating pressure.

“Huh?”

“Chairman!”

The usually calm and genial Seung-Gi stiffened instantly. On the other hand, the management director—usually stiff as a board—wore a mild smile.

The white-haired elder in a fedora, however, had no interest in their respective survival strategies. “I’m curious. Just who is this child you’re both so eager to claim?”

After several clashes, the fact that directors who normally avoided open disputes were stepping forward themselves was telling enough. He was simply curious who could inspire that much attention.

“Secretary.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

“I hear there’s a fellow named Lee Eun-Ho in the Labor-Management Cooperation Team. Look into him.”

“Yes sir. Understood.”

It was an order given without much expectation. If someone was truly talented, it was best to secure them early. If they harbored dangerous ideas, then all the more reason to keep them close.

“... and the fact that he used the department selection privilege you granted him to form a brand-new team already suggests he’s quite the schemer. Moreover, he appears well-rounded in intellect, character, and physical ability—”

Whether he was a talent or a rebel was not something that could be judged solely by subordinates’ evaluations.

“Call him in sometime when the weather’s nice,” the chairman said.

As a veteran, the chairman had seen countless people over countless years. He had seen trusted talents bury knives in his back. He had also seen so-called rebels, scorned by all, grow into steadfast right-hand men. Hence why, the old man trusted nothing but judgment tempered by experience.

“I’ll know once I see him.”

“Yes, sir. However...”

However, how exactly was one supposed to judge a man who ended up behind bars less than a week after becoming a team leader?

“... Where did you say he was being held?”

***

Eun-Ho had reported plenty of corrupt bastards to the Inspection Bureau before, but this was the first time he himself had been dragged in as a subject of investigation.

“Mr. Lee Eun-Ho, is it true that you engaged in illegal sales targeting elderly customers?” an auditor asked.

Besides, it was for a reason this idiotic, no less.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Eun-Ho replied evenly.

“You little shit! Admit it when we try to be nice about it!” The man in the black suit slammed his palm onto the desk. “We’ve got testimony right here! Are you still going to deny it?”

The bang echoed all the way outside the interrogation room. Judging by the noise, the staff outside were probably all craning their necks like meerkats, pretending to work while eavesdropping.

“Is that Lee Eun-Ho?”

“Yeah. The rookie who boosted Section Three’s numbers. He’s a team leader now, apparently.”

They had been making a scene since the moment Eun-Ho arrived. He wondered why they were openly hostile instead of merely indifferent.

“The guy who even got a special bonus? Is it that bastard?”

“Yeah, that’s him. Fuck, when I think about the incentive we lost because of that, I still get pissed.”

They had figured out he was the one who had wiped out the corrupt researchers at the Future Research Center during the Audit Bureau’s OJT. As a consequence, someone else’s promised incentive had evaporated.

He understood the bitterness.

After all, few things felt worse than having something you’d thought was already yours taken away.

“Can’t you fucking hear me?!”

“How could I not?” Eun-Ho replied calmly. “You’re shouting.”

“What?! This punk! Your mouth works just fine, doesn’t it?!”

No matter how he looked at it, this was irritating.

So how should I pay him back? While the auditor continued barking threats that went in one ear and out the other, Eun-Ho sank into thought.

“You arrogant bastard, with testimony like this you can’t possibly—”

“Let’s hear it,” Eun-Ho interrupted.

“What?”

Crossing his arms, Eun-Ho met the man’s gaze without flinching. “The testimony you keep mentioning. I’d like to hear it.”

Thrown off by Eun-Ho’s composure, the auditor hesitated for a moment, then sneered and began manipulating the screen.

“Lee Eun-Ho? Yeah, I remember him!”

“He really raked in the money, didn’t he?”

The voices that followed were unmistakably elderly.

“Ey, that little snot-nosed punk... His hands were vicious, I tell ya.”

“Said there’d be no mercy if we didn’t bring other old folks along!”

“Hmm?”

The clips were short and vague.

“Did you hear that?!” The auditor snapped. “It’s proof that you threatened customers into buying illegally!”

“Are you serious? That’s it?”

“Yeah!”

It’s spliced together nicely, at least.

“Ey, that little snot-nosed punk” wasn’t Eun-Ho to begin with, as it was Wei. The old man had simply misheard Wei’s name.

“Hands were vicious” referred to the complimentary massage therapy service they offered for purchases over thirty thousand points.

Besides, “no mercy if we didn’t bring others” was clearly the referral event, bringing a friend to receive benefits, twisted beyond recognition. There was no way these auditors didn’t realize this testimony was flimsy at best.

So it’s one of two things.

Either the outcome had already been decided regardless of the evidence, or the case was so shoddy that they had to scare a confession out of him.

Ding.

Just as that thought settled, an unexpected notification popped up.

[You have a new message.]

[Would you like to check it?]

A message?

He had been hauled in for an audit, yet messages were coming through freely. In other words, this was already far from an official proceeding.

Clearly, I’m not here because I breached the system rule.

“W-what are you smiling at?” the auditor shot back. “Oh?! You think this is funny?!”

That meant there was neither warrant nor formal procedure.

“I’m thirsty,” Eun-Ho said.

“What?!”

“I’m going to get some water.”

“You crazy bastard!”

While buying himself a few seconds, Eun-Ho checked the message. The sender was Guk, his mentor at the Inspection Bureau.

Guk: Don’t worry. We’re talking about transferring the case to our division for now.

For once, Guk seemed unusually talkative, probably furious at the neighboring team’s behavior.

Guk: Those sly bastar—ahem, sorry. Anyway, they’re throwing a tantrum, but the manager said he’ll come in person. So it’ll get sorted.

If the case was handed over to Field Audit Department Section Three, where Guk worked, things would move smoothly. This absurd tip-off could even be dismissed outright.

Guk: Still, no matter how much I dig, I can’t find who the anonymous informant is. Also, there’s no official report on record at all.

Eun-Ho: I have a pretty good guess.

Guk: Oh? Who?

Eun-Ho refused to let it slide. If he ignored it, there was no guarantee they wouldn’t pull the same trick again.

Guk: Either way, that’s good. I’ll talk to the manager and...

Eun-Ho: But the problem is, we don’t have hard evidence yet. Could you maybe wait a bit?

Guk: Huh? Wait?

He wasn’t planning to settle for half-measures.

Eun-Ho: I want to do this properly so this never happens again.

Eun-Ho wanted to let them know and learn exactly what would happen when they chose to put their hands on him.

“Who was it?” Eun-Ho asked the auditor.

“If you’re referring to the person who gave this testimony—”

“No. I don’t care about that.” Eun-Ho cut the auditor off without hesitation. He looked the man dead in the eyes, asking evenly, “Who put them up to it?”

The auditor answered without even a tenth of a second’s pause, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He replied too fast.

“Most people would ask what I meant first,” Eun-Ho noted. “You answered pretty quickly.”

“Well, because you’re spouting nonsense.”

This time, the response was too slow. Watching the man scramble to adjust, Eun-Ho judged that his experience level was awkwardly in-between.

Fine. If you aren’t going to answer me properly, then I’ll use my skill.

[Piercing Gaze has been activated!]

[Duration: 3 minutes.]

[Cooldown: 12 hours.]

Fwoosh—

Then, a surge of heat flared within Eun-Ho alone. At the same time, a pillar of light shot straight into the auditor. Following that, words began firing through his mind like gunshots.

So he’s asking because he already knows? Just like Mo-Ho said, this guy’s not ordinary. Damn it... Maybe I should have asked for more, thought the auditor.

The name Mo-Ho rang clearly. He was last year’s Employee of the Year, just as Soeju had said.

“On top of that, the people working under him reported him for stealing credit and all sorts of things. Doesn’t seem like he has anywhere left to run.”

That idiot had resorted to illegal sales to reclaim his prestigious title, only to pin the blame on Eun-Ho. Mo-Ho wanted to drag Eun-Ho down with him.

Good thing I prepared in advance. But did this guy just say he should have asked for more?

That line meant he had been paid something. The bastard in front of him was in on it too!

I can probably get something out of this guy as well, Eun-Ho thought.

“Inspection Bureau’s Field Audit Department Section Four, Mak.”

“What?!”

“Am I wrong?”

The man flinched. For the first time since the interrogation began, Mak, who had maintained an overbearing attitude throughout, hesitated. “H-how do you know my name?!”

Eun-Ho couldn’t exactly say he had stripped him bare with a skill, so he just shrugged lightly. “Who knows.”

He leaned in just enough to unsettle Mak. “How do you think I found out?”

Then, a message popped up.

Yeo-Jin: Mister, are you okay? I’ll send you what I’ve organized so far first!

He had to buy time while she worked on the additional instructions.

Eun-Ho: There’s one more person I need you to look into. Inspection Bureau’s Field Audit Department Section Four. Name: Mak. Position: Assistant Manager. Focus especially on...

***

Mo-Ho, the Team Leader of VIP Sales Team Four, waited for the moment when that arrogant face would finally twist in despair.

Just bring him here... Fuck.

He had thought about it over and over while being locked in the cell. How did his smooth-sailing path to power collapse? Just how he had ended up like this?

Every time, the conclusion was the same: because of Lee Eun-Ho. He had crossed paths with that filthy nobody and paid the price.

Click.

The door opened and closed.

“We’ve brought the witnesses. So stay inside until the statements are finished,” the auditor said.

When they finally dragged Eun-Ho in, Mo-Ho felt an indescribable thrill, as the moment of revenge had arrived.

Ah, yes...!

Under the dim light, Eun-Ho dropped heavily onto the cold stone floor.

“Well, damn,” Mo-Ho smirked. “What a coincidence, huh? Running into each other in a jail cell.”

Look at his face, Mo-Ho thought as he approached.

However, Eun-Ho didn’t even glance at him, instead calmly surveying the desolate holding cell.

Are you trying to hide how scared you are? Mo-Ho assumed.

He had done the same thing the first time he was thrown in here.

“Coincidence?” Eun-Ho asked calmly. “You think so?”

That composure had to be clearly forced.

Mo-Ho spat at him and whispered, hissing, “No, you idiot. I might not be able to make anyone succeed, but I can damn well make someone crash and burn.”

It was payment for ruining the straight road his future had once been paved with. He wanted to tear away that mask of calm, crush it, and grind it into shards.

“Look forward to it,” Mo-Ho said with resolution. “I’ll make sure you feel what it’s like to hit rock bottom,”

He could not rot alone while Eun-Ho climbed higher as a team leader.

Just then, Eun-Ho asked, “Do you really think this is rock bottom?”

“What?”

Shhk—

The light outside the iron bars shifted, pulling back the shadows to reveal Eun-Ho’s smile.

“Look forward to it,” Eun-Ho said softly. “I’ll bury you so deep you won’t even see daylight. That way, you’d never try this kind of stunt again.”

His smile was chilling. The corners of his mouth curved gently, almost lazily. However, his eyes seemed as if they could tear apart anything they landed on.

“Y-you crazy bastard,” Mo-Ho stammered. “You’re bluffing even now?!”

B-but why are my legs shaking like they’ve gone numb? It has to be empty bravado. There’s no way it isn’t, Mo-Ho thought.

“Haha, sure,” Eun-Ho replied. “I guess it sure is something to look forward to.”

It has to be empty bravado, right?