Real Man

A few moments later.

A man stopped in the hallway of the 20th floor of the Gwanghwamun Future Tower.

He looked up at the sign on the wall.

-Integrated Review Platform ‘Revievver’ Interview Waiting Room.

The waiting room was crowded with people who were waiting for their turn to be interviewed.

“Revievver is a word derived from Reviewer, but unlike the existing reviewers, it aims to create a new review culture by…”

The man ignored the murmurs of the other interviewees and sat down on an empty chair near the window.

He could see the Gwanghwamun Square below.

“Sigh.”

Two years ago, he quit his job at Hansung Electronics and knocked on the door of a new company while preparing for the patent attorney exam.

As he was lost in his thoughts, he heard a loud phone conversation from a burly man.

“Of course, hyung-nim! I passed the document screening without even having a college diploma! I’ll overcome the bitterness of being a nameless actor for 10 years and open the door to employment. Haha!”

A nameless actor?

The burly man was munching on cookies as if he was hungry.

Next to him, a woman was sitting crouched.

She was wearing round glasses and fiddling with her phone incessantly.

Swoosh.

He looked around and noticed that the atmosphere of the people gathered here was generally shoddy.

‘It’s definitely different from the Hansung interview.’

Clatter.

As he was trying to shake off his past regrets, a man came out of the interview room.

“What kind of interview is this, huh?”

Gong Hyun-jun tilted his head as he saw the grumbling man.

“Where have I seen him before…”

At that moment.

In the interview room, Nado-ha asked Yoo-hyun incredulously.

“Hyung, he was a pro-gamer who dominated a generation, and he made 100,000 YouTube subscribers in a short time. Isn’t that amazing?”

“It is amazing.”

“Then why did he only talk about his certificates? I’m a real fan and I wanted to hear more personal stories.”

Nado-ha was disappointed, but Yun Bo-mi had a different opinion.

“But I was surprised. He looked gentle, but he spoke very stiffly.”

“His nickname was Needle Terran. Not only his game operation style, but also his interviews were so sharp. Compared to that, his appearance just now was nothing.”

“Really? Hmm… How was the CEO?”

“I thought he was professional and nice.”

Yoo-hyun answered positively, but Yun Bo-mi still looked worried.

“Well, yes, but I don’t know, he seemed to have his own strong opinions that might clash with others.”

“That might be a plus.”

“You think so?”

“Yes, definitely. The problem is whether he will come even if he passes the interview.”

Tap tap.

Yoo-hyun tapped the table and looked at the documents again.

The man’s name was Won Gi-jun.

He had made a name for himself as a pro-gamer, and then ventured into new markets as an internet broadcaster, a YouTuber, and so on.

His method was very original, and he had endless potential to be utilized in Revievver.

What would Revievver evolve into if such a person took the lead?

He wanted to bring him in even if he was curious about the outcome, but it was not a 100 percent guaranteed thing.

Yun Bo-mi comforted the worried Yoo-hyun.

“The CEO offered a high salary, so the competition rate for the documents was fierce. He will come if he passes.”

“I don’t think he’s the type of person who moves for money.”

“But he came because he wanted to be an employee, right? Then there’s no better place than ours. We work in Gwanghwamun and have great benefits. Why would he refuse?”

Yun Bo-mi was confident, but Nado-ha teased her.

“What, Bo-mi, did you also move to Revievver for that reason?”

“Hey, don’t say that. By the way, are you still working as a freelancer for Double Y?”

“For the time being.”

“People are flocking to the site lately, so it must be a lot of work.”

“It’s fine. I set it up so that most things are done automatically. And it’s not like there are too many users to handle.”

Nado-ha had experience in creating and operating dozens of web sites before meeting Yoo-hyun.

And they were not ordinary sites, but dark sites like gambling sites, so he was unrivaled in terms of maintenance.

‘Everything helps.’

There was no such thing as a meaningless experience.

Yoo-hyun chuckled and gestured.

“Let’s talk about personal stuff later, and meet the next interviewee.”

“Okay. I’ll call him right away.”

As Yun Bo-mi got up, Nado-ha whispered.

“Hyung, who’s next?”

“A top-ranked Revievver.”

“Oh, Gong Gong-chil? He’s your classmate, right?”

“You remember?”

“Of course. I have to remember. It’s a miraculous connection.”

“Yeah. A miraculous connection.”

Yoo-hyun nodded and looked at the documents.

-Name: Gong Hyun-jun (born in 1982)

-School: Se-yeon University, Business Administration, graduated (GPA 3.8)

-Experience: Hansung Electronics TV Sales Team, 3 years of work, and many internships.

-Etc: TOEIC 920, JPT 820, and various certificates.

-Revievver ID: Gong Gong-chil (3rd in Revievver ranking)

Revievver ranking is determined by the sum of the views, likes, shares, and comments of the reviews written.

Being a top-ranked means that he wrote a lot of reviews and gained a lot of popularity.

Especially, Gong Gong-chil had been posting a lot of reviews purely because he enjoyed them, even before the reward system was properly established.

He also had a brilliant wit, and Yoo-hyun wanted to meet him very much.

He never expected that he would be his classmate, Gong Hyun-jun.

He didn’t know how surprised he was when he checked the documents.

As he was recalling his past memories, the door opened.

Creak.

Behind Yun Bo-mi, a man in a neat suit appeared.

He had a distinctive face with thick eyebrows, no double eyelids, and slightly crowded features.

He greeted them with a loud voice.

“Hello! I’m Gong Hyun-jun, who came for the interview!”

“Nice to meet you, Hyun-jun.”

Gong Hyun-jun’s eyes widened as he lifted his head.

“Uh? Yoo-hyun, how did you get here…?”

“Let’s sit down and talk first, okay?”

“Ah, alright.”

Gong Hyun Joon tried his best to hide his confusion as he sat down at the round table.

He felt uncomfortable with the interviewer being too close to him, but he didn’t show it.

He also forgot that he was facing Yoo-hyun.

He was determined to focus on the interview, which he had prepared for a long time.

Just as he was about to break the silence, Yoon Bo Mi, who was sitting next to him, sparkled her eyes.

“Gong Gong Chil, I’m a fan of yours. I really wanted to meet you.”

“Really?”

“Your reviews are so fun to read. Did you really buy so many phones? And you used the audio and camera yourself, right? Then what do you do with the old products? Do you sell them second-hand?”

“Well, yes, I do.”

Gong Hyun Joon was flustered by Yoon Bo Mi’s rapid-fire questions.

It was strange enough that the interviewer and the interviewee were sitting at the same table, but she even brought up his ReviBer ID and claimed to be a fan.

Gong Hyun Joon felt everything was weird.

Yoo-hyun smiled across the table.

“It’s my first time seeing a top-ranked ReviBer in person.”

“Oh, it’s nothing big.”

“It is big. You made 500,000 won in monthly ReviBer revenue, didn’t you?”

“That’s because I had nothing to do… No, no, I worked hard.”

Gong Hyun Joon felt awkward and Yoon Bo Mi asked him.

“Do you know the ID Spring?”

“Of course. You’re the one who posted the early WithH usage tips, right? You also shared a lot of information on the community.”

“That’s me.”

“Really? You’re Spring?”

“Yes. Thanks to your review, Gong Gong Chil, I…”

Yoon Bo Mi started to tell him what happened online and Gong Hyun Joon got interested.

“I also changed my unique evaluation completely after reading Spring’s review…”

Was it because they had connected online for almost three months?

Even though they met for the first time today, the two had a lot of common ground.

Yoo-hyun and Na Do-ha, who had been posting regularly on the ReviBer site, were no different.

“Haha. Really?”

“Yes. I’m telling you.”

The four people chatted like old friends.

Before they knew it, the promised 15 minutes had passed.

Gong Hyun Joon, who had been talking about reviews the whole time, blinked his eyes.

“Mr. President, is this the end of the interview?”

“Yes. You linked the ReviBer interview bot to the With Messenger, right?”

“Yes. I did.”

“Then the result will go there. Thank you for your time.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

Gong Hyun Joon got up from his seat, bowed, and turned around.

He felt relieved when he got out of the building.

He muttered to himself as he came to his senses.

“Yoo-hyun was the president of ReviBer…”

Why did he come out of Hansung, where he was doing so well?

He remembered the words he had heard from him when he was a new employee.

-Forget about school, region, or line. Just build up your skills so that the company can’t do without you. Then even if they tell you to leave, the company will hold on to you.

He hated himself for feeling inferior and clenched his teeth and ran, but he couldn’t catch up.

He barely made it to deputy, but his smart colleague was promoted to manager in a flash and widened the gap.

On the day he was supposed to receive congratulations for his promotion, Gong Hyun Joon decided to quit the company.

Slap, slap.

‘Get a grip. You promised not to repeat the same mistake.’

He slapped his cheeks with both palms and turned around to look at the building.

The windows of the 20th floor of the splendid building sparkled in the sunlight.

Yoo-hyun met many other interview applicants after Gong Hyun Joon.

They all used ReviBer, so they had a good conversation.

Some people showed brilliant sides as they talked, and the man he was facing now was one of them.

“Although I lived a hard life as an unknown actor for 10 years, I’m sure it will be a great asset for ReviBer.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Not everyone who uses ReviBer is rich. There must be many people who watch it for vicarious satisfaction rather than buying products. I can empathize with those people and…”

The man’s name was Jang Man Bok.

He had a round face with a 5:5 parting and was a comedian-turned-actor who had been active on the ReviBer site since its inception.

He was two years older than Yoo-hyun and had no impressive career or specs.

Yoo-hyun asked him as he listened for a while.

“So you post mukbang and cooking reviews?”

“Yes. I like to share the moments I have with my wife. It makes me happier to be recognized by people.”

“You don’t make any profit from writing in the other reviews section, do you?”

“I don’t have the ability to use expensive and good products. I think it’s better to do what I like than to do what I can’t, and someday I’ll shine.”

Was it because he was an actor?

He had a good voice and a confident look.

His legs were shaking, but his voice didn’t waver until the end.

He was the ReviBer ID ‘Jang Man Bo’ that Yoo-hyun wanted to meet.

His reviews, which contained mukbang and cooking, made the readers smile with humor and humanity.

Maybe that was why.

His posts had very high recommendations, even though they were not in the main category.

Yoo-hyun realized something from seeing that.

Reviews don’t have to be tied to product introductions!

Making tteokbokki can be a review.

It can also be a topic that many people can relate to.

With this concept, the expansion potential of ReviBer was endless.

But would this work just by increasing the categories?

If that was the case, Yoo-hyun wouldn’t have had any trouble.

To make it work, he needed someone who could set the framework right from the start.

And Jang Man Bok was someone who had already proven that possibility with his reviews.

Squeak.

Yoo-hyun smiled and Jang Man Bok swallowed his saliva.