Real Man

Seo Woo-seong, the manager who had been running around frantically, approached Yoo-hyun.

He wiped off his beads of sweat and said, looking at the bustling scene.

“It would have been nice if we had done this earlier.”

“People suddenly dropped out, you know. It must have been hard to respond in the short term, and it’s not easy to think about additional manpower.”

“That’s why Jang Jun-sik, the assistant manager, suffered so much. He had no one to help him, so he ran around and set up everything by himself. To think that he never studied anything related to this field…”

“Thanks to him, we can respond right away.”

“That’s right. It would have been impossible without Jang Jun-sik, the assistant manager.”

Seo Woo-seong admitted how much Jang Jun-sik had worked hard.

Even when everyone gave up and stepped back, he hung on to activate the equipment until the end.

‘You bastard.’

Yoo-hyun recalled his junior’s face and asked.

“Are you going to the funeral tomorrow?”

“Yes. I have to. But I don’t know if it’s okay for me to leave. I have my team members, but if an issue pops up, they won’t be quick to respond.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”

Yoo-hyun said confidently, and Seo Woo-seong tilted his head in confusion.

“Manager, isn’t this your first time working in the factory?”

“Of course not. I’m the one who installed the entire production line in this factory from scratch.”

“Really? Where did you do that?”

“There’s a place called Yeontae-ri, at the end of the southern village over there.”

“Yeontae-ri?”

Yoo-hyun smiled brightly at the surprised Seo Woo-seong.

He wasn’t joking when he brought up Yeontae-ri.

The working environment was completely different from back then, but there were also many similarities.

The most decisive thing was that this line required a lot of manual labor from the workers.

“Hey! How can you operate the equipment like that! If the pressure section intervals are different, the glass uniformity will drop!”

As the voices from everywhere indicated, the process was so difficult that even the veterans made mistakes.

It didn’t matter much for small-scale production, but this was mass production.

Stable production was essential as mistakes were directly linked to money.

To do this?

The production line had to be automated to minimize worker errors.

Of course, it wasn’t an easy task, but Yoo-hyun had his own way.

‘If I do it like I did in Yeontae-ri…’

He organized his thoughts and contacted the main actors who had automated the production line in a short period of time.

He didn’t just call them, but sent an official document through the upper line to make sure there was no problem.

He finished his work and sat on a chair in the factory corridor, looking at the inside scenery.

He had nothing to do as everyone was busy working.

He wondered what else was missing.

“You look so comfortable, so comfortable.”

He lifted his head at the sarcastic voice and saw his friend Kang Jun-ki standing there.

He snorted at him, who had joined late as a member of Semi Electronics.

“Did you really come?”

“Is that what you say to a friend who ran all the way here after work?”

“Whoa. Who’s late?”

Kang Jun-ki sat down next to him and answered shamelessly.

“How bored do you think I am to come and watch you work for another company?”

“How can you be bored?”

“You don’t know the heart of a developer. There’s nothing stimulating in the company anymore. It’s all obvious and I don’t have any motivation. It’s better to come to a place like this.”

Yoo-hyun had also rolled around in the development department.

He wasn’t unaware of the troubles of a stagnant developer, but he didn’t have any words of comfort.

Instead, he teased him.

“What are you talking about? You came here because they offered you more money, right?”

“Yeah. I came here for the money. They give me a bonus and a huge bonus if I succeed. Are you happy?”

“They should also include letting you sleep in a hotel room.”

Yoo-hyun added more fuel to the fire, and Kang Jun-ki grumbled.

“Oh, man! Thank you for letting me sleep in a hotel on the outskirts of Wonju. They give me expensive lunch boxes, and they even boil ramen for me at night. I feel like crying… Ahem.”

He pretended to wipe his tears with the back of his hand, but he hid his embarrassment and coughed.

It was because of the man who stopped by as he passed by.

The man who had a lot of tension in his eyes was Gong Jin-han, the assistant manager of the production management team, who had led the additional Semi Electronics employees from the entrance.

Zerk.

He had shown his charisma in front of the company employees, but he came close and asked.

“We’ll have chicken and pizza for dinner tonight. Do you need ramen?”

“Huh? No, no.”

“Please let me know if you need anything. I’ll help you with anything I can, such as accommodation, food, rest, and convenience facilities.”

“Uh… Okay. I got it.”

Kang Jun-ki bowed to Gong Jin-han, who was very serious.

This was not the same as Gong Jin-han, who had been very kind to Yoo-hyun when he was dispatched to the Wonju factory.

Yoo-hyun was dumbfounded.

“Manager Gong, why are you overdoing it?”

“Hey, if you’re a friend of the manager, you’re like my boss. And take this.”

Gong Jin-han suddenly said something cheesy and handed him a small wrapped box.

Swoosh.

“What is it?”

“It’s a macaron that my sister-in-law made herself.”

“Hyu-ju?”

“Yes. She told me to deliver it to you. Have a good time. Oh, and after we finish this job, we’ll go to karaoke like before, right?”

Gong Jin-han smiled brightly and winked, then walked away with a trot.

Kang Jun-ki, who had been silent for a while, laughed at Yoo-hyun.

“What are you?”

“What?”

“No, why are the people in the factory taking care of you like this? And who is Hyu-ju?”

“She’s my secretary. Why?”

“What? Why is your secretary taking care of you?”

“Well…”

Yoo-hyun was about to answer.

There was a loud greeting and people bowed their waists.

“The director is here.”

Bam.

Kang Jun-ki also reflexively stood up and bowed his head.

“Hello, director.”

Ha Seong-il, the director, nodded his head and stood in front of Yoo-hyun.

As he met Yoo-hyun’s eyes, Ha Seong-il, the director, coughed and continued.

“Ahem! Manager Han, how is the work going?”

“It seems to be going well.”

“I hope you appreciate that I’m doing my best to help you.”

Yoo-hyun agreed with Ha Seong-il, who was trying to impress him.

He had no reason to be rude to the person who was helping him.

“Of course. Thanks to you, the employees are working comfortably.”

“Good. And…”

“Please tell me.”

Ha Seong-il, who hesitated, asked very cautiously.

“Could you stop by the factory manager? He seems to want to have another cup of tea with you.”

“Okay. I’m in the middle of a conversation right now. I’ll go after I finish.”

“Alright, alright. Of course, your work comes first. Then I’ll go and check the line.”

Ha Seong-il took care of Yoo-hyun and stepped back.

Kang Jun-ki looked at Yoo-hyun with a disbelief.

“…”

“What are you looking at?”

“What are you doing that the director is so nervous? And what’s with the factory manager wanting to have tea with you?”

Kwon Se-jung, the assistant manager, wouldn’t understand, but the executives here had once donated 50 percent of their salary to the company.

It was the aftermath of Yoo-hyun resolving the strike situation.

He didn’t have to explain this background, so he just dodged it.

“They’re paying attention to me because I work hard.”

“You’re kidding. You’re just watching people work and acting like a company president, giving orders to the director and the factory manager, and then bowing to a passing assistant manager.”

Kang Jun-ki, who was upset, complained, and Yoo-hyun didn’t back down.

“Hey, I have something to contribute, too.”

“What is it? Let me hear it.”

“Um… I’m going to automate the equipment.”

He had a bit of a guilty look, but Yoo-hyun told him what he had been thinking.

Kang Jun-ki snorted at his words.

“Automation? Have you ever used that equipment?”

“No. Why?”

“Ha! That’s why people who don’t develop equipment don’t understand. I wrote the communication program for that equipment. That’s not the kind of thing that can be automated.”

“Why not?”

“Man, I’m a person who has a PLC control (production automation technology) certificate. Do you know how many things you have to adjust when you automate equipment?”

Kang Jun-ki pushed his experience and explained why it wouldn’t work.

Even if an expert came, he would stubbornly shake his head and argue. He was a talkative guy.

Kang Jun-ki was also a very hard-working guy.

He seemed to have written the equipment communication program, and he actively helped when there was a problem.

He also gave his opinion on areas he didn’t know well, and got along well with other people.

Thanks to him, the place where he was looked more lively.

Yoo-hyun looked at his friend with curiosity.

The next morning.

Yoo-hyun headed to the warehouse located in D factory.

There was someone he had to meet in this place where he had gathered all the parts from other factories.

Creak.

As he opened the door and entered, he saw an office connected to the warehouse.

A man with a sharp chin and a somewhat grumpy face jumped up and greeted Yoo-hyun.

“Oh! Manager Han! No, Manager Han! How long has it been?”

“Have you been well?”

“Of course. As you can see. I’m doing fine.”

“Congratulations on becoming a manager, Manager Kang Jong-ho.”

Yoo-hyun and Kang Jong-ho, who had met in Yeontae-ri, were warehouse experts.

He came to help when Yoo-hyun was normalizing the process after the previous Wonju factory strike, and that became a connection to settle in Hansung Precision.

Now that he was a respectable leader, Kang Jong-ho waved his hand.

“What congratulations. But what did you say yesterday?”

“What do you mean?”

“You said that. We need to automate the production line. How am I supposed to support you?”

Kang Jong-ho, who was puzzled, asked Yoo-hyun for the reason.

“We need to supply the parts that are lacking right away. Don’t you remember what we did in Yeontae-ri?”

“Hey, back then we did it by ourselves with a rough method.”

“The situation is not much different now.”

“Huh? Really? Then who’s going to do the automation? It doesn’t seem like a company, since you’re using our parts…”

“They’ll be here soon.”

Yoo-hyun smiled meaningfully at that moment.

Bang.

The door opened and a familiar face appeared.

His messy long hair was tidy, but there was no problem recognizing his face.

Kang Jong-ho greeted Jo Gi-jeong, whom he hadn’t seen in three years, with a loud voice.

“Manager Jo!”

“Manager? I’m a senior. To be exact, a senior researcher at CTO.”

“Anyway. How did you get here?”

“How? Our great Manager Han called me.”

Yoo-hyun smiled as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Senior Jo, thank you for coming all this way.”

“There’s someone who came from farther away than me, so what.”

“Who… Huh! Manager Park!”

Before Kang Jong-ho’s question was over, Park Cheol-hong, the manager, appeared.

His short sports hair and thick eyebrows were still the same, but he had lost a lot of belly fat.

Yoo-hyun approached him and greeted him.

“Welcome, Manager Park Cheol-hong.”

“What the hell is this?”

He was called by the upper order and came here, and he looked bewildered.

He met old acquaintances in an unexpected place.

After exchanging greetings for a moment, Yoo-hyun went straight to the point.

“As I told you yesterday, we need to automate the equipment for this…”

He explained the background again and delivered the details of the equipment line.