Chapter 1485: Discussing (5) |
“Fuu-woo…”
A former agent of South Korea’s National Intelligence Agency, Yi Jong-Wuk, stopped typing on his keyboard and grandly stretched his limbs.
Geez. I’m finally finished.
Neatly organized files dominated his computer screen. As Lee Hyeon-Su had confidently declared earlier, he was making Yi Jong-Wuk work like crazy lately.
As far as the workload goes, the amount of work an NIS agent is expected to finish in four days is just a day’s work in this place.
Yi Jong-Wuk was infamous for being a workaholic back in the National Intelligence Service. But here? The workload he was entrusted with was at least double the amount of what he used to deal with back in the NIS.
Of course, the work itself didn’t deal with anything too important, so he was spared from accumulating too much mental stress, but…
Who cares about stress, though? When you might keel over from how much work there is, anyway!
Despite the crazy workload, though, Yi Jong-Wuk couldn’t dare complain, because…
“…”
Sitting in front of him was Lee Hyeon-Su, currently going through an extraordinary amount of work without batting an eye once!
Is he even human?
Yi Jong-Wuk sneakily connected his computer to the Assembly’s internal server and watched new files popping up in the work folder. If he didn’t know Lee Hyeon-Su was uploading them, the frequency would’ve made him think it was done by a bot!
Of course, Yi Jong-Wuk had to get approval from someone higher up the food chain before proceeding with his work, while Lee Hyeon-Su could make that determination himself. But even if that difference was taken into account, Lee Hyeon-Su’s speed was still awe-inspiring, to say the least!
Should I also learn this cultivation thing, too?
Lee Hyeon-Su might be referred to as a half-martial artist within the Assembly’s hallways, but a half of a martial artist was still a martial artist in Yi Jong-Wuk’s view. Lee Hyeon-Su’s stamina, concentration, and brain processing speed easily outpaced what ordinary people possessed.
Not all of these advantages were from this cultivation thing, probably, but Yi Jong-Wuk wouldn’t have minded receiving help in any shape or form right now. Thus, the idea of walking down the path of cultivation was starting to sound rather appealing to him.
“Mm…!”
Lee Hyeon-Su eventually stopped typing away and rested his chin on his fist. Outwardly, at least, it seemed he had finished with his morning workload. But then, he shook his head slightly in dissatisfaction.
He glanced at one of his subordinates in the office. “Hey, you. Summon all the team leaders to the conference room. Now.”
The subordinate jumped up in alarm. “S-sorry, sir?”
“I said, summon all the team leaders!”
“Y-yes, sir!”
The poor subordinate rushed outside the office. Lee Hyeon-Su lightly tutted away, reclined in his chair, then put his feet up on his desk.
“These bastards think they can laze around?”
“…?” Yi Jong-Wuk cautiously studied Lee Hyeon-Su’s mood before breaking the silence. “Did you spot a potential problem?”
“Yeah! Just because I was in America for a while, these bastards thought it’d be cool to do a sloppy job! On so many things, no less!”
“…”
My dear Chief Lee, not everyone can match your work ethic, okay?If people wanted to match your lofty standards, they might as well install luxury beds in the office and start camping here, you heartless bastard!
Although he had plenty of things he’d have loved to get off his chest, Yi Jong-Wuk knew he couldn’t do that.
The impression he’d gotten before joining the Assembly was that Lee Hyeon-Su was a slimy, treacherous retainer who always whispered dastardly schemes into Kang Jin-Ho’s ears. However, now that Yi Jong-Wuk was an employee of the Assembly, he could see that Lee Hyeon-Su was actually a tyrant—nay, a devil in human guise who didn’t hesitate to throw his subordinates into hell!
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that, when it came to office work, Lee Hyeon-Su held the power to decide who lived and died!
Of course, his authority or power paled in comparison to Kang Jin-Ho’s. Unfortunately for the Assembly’s office workers, though, they had no reason to speak directly to Kang Jin-Ho and discuss the administrative matters. At this point, they might as well be living in two different worlds!
Meanwhile, to all office workers of the Assembly, Lee Hyeon-Su was the final recipient of their reports. He was their highest superior, the one who held total control over their work.
Not only was Lee Hyeon-Su’s personality crappy and strict, but he was also good at work and super-diligent as well. Which made him the worst nightmare of a boss anyone could imagine!
Just as Yi Jong-Wuk’s thoughts reached that far…
“Hey, Yi Jong-Wuk.”
“Yes, Chief Lee?”
“How is it? You doing okay?”
“Uh…”
Yi Jong-Wuk scratched the back of his head. How should he reply to that question?
“Well, I’m… I’m not sure yet.”
Lee Hyeon-Su smirked. “Hey, want some coffee?”
“Eh? Didn’t you order the team managers to gather in the conference room?”
“It’s fine. They aren’t doing anything, anyway. A bit of waiting won’t hurt them in that case. Come on, let’s go.”
“…”
Well, if you say so.
***
“So? How is it?”
Lee Hyeon-Su’s question was vague. Without context. Yet Yi Jong-Wuk still figured out the intention behind the question.
“Mm…”
How should he explain his thoughts on the matter?
“I’m still having a hard time trying to organize my thoughts, but…”
Yi Jong-Wuk scratched his head before sighing softly.
“It’s somewhat inefficient, and I keep thinking that there’s no structure here. Yet the whole organization still chugs along somehow. That’s why I’m not sure what to make of this place.”
A deep smirk floated up on Lee Hyeon-Su’s face. That observation accurately explained the Martial Assembly’s current state, didn’t it?
“That’s because this place went through a lot of changes in a relatively short period. And there’s also the fact that our workforce got split in half recently.”
“Yes, that could be why.”
Objectively speaking, Yi Jong-Wuk couldn’t say the Assembly’s office workers were good at their job. Apparently, they had attended Jaegyeong’s new employee training program in the past, which was known for its difficulty. So, for them to be this bad even after experiencing that program… Yi Jong-Wuk couldn’t even imagine just how much worse they were before that.
But this man still has managed to raise their level up to this point.
Yi Jong-Wuk was given a fresh reminder of how incredible Lee Hyeon-Su was.
“So? How should we fix this situation?”
“Sorry?”
Lee Hyeon-Su smirked again. “It’s about time we flip the table and shake things up a bit, but as you already know, I’ve been in this place for too long.”
Technically speaking, one might say Lee Hyeon-Su hadn’t been with the Assembly for that long. The thing was that both the Assembly and the Yeongnam Group had been managed quite similarly in the past. Lee Hyeon-Su’s problem was that he had gotten too used to doing things this way.
Yi Jong-Wuk quickly figured out what Lee Hyeon-Su wanted to say here.
“Are you saying I should change the Assembly’s structure?”
Lee Hyeon-Su shook his head. “It’s nothing that grand. Just think of it as you offering your opinion on how to improve the system of departments in the organization.”
“Mm…?”
Yi Jong-Wuk sheepishly scratched his cheek. Offering his opinion didn’t sound like a tough job, since he had noticed a few things while Lee Hyeon-Su was away in America.
Lee Hyeon-Su asked again, “Okay, so…?”
“Yes?”
“How is the life in the Assembly so far?”
Yi Jong-Wuk grinned wryly. Did this guy really want to know how it was?
“Well, it’s been hellish, Chief Lee.”
Lee Hyeon-Su couldn’t help but chuckle. He wasn’t even remotely surprised to hear that response.
The Martial Assembly, all things considered, was an organization of martial artists. One’s strength was used as the yardstick in this place, and one’s ability only got acknowledged through their martial prowess. In a world like that, a man with zero cultivation like Yi Jong-Wuk was bound to find life pretty tough going.
“We won’t mind even if you want to quit now,” said Lee Hyeon-Su.
“Eiii… Don’t say that. They say being alive is better, even if that means you gotta swim in the sewer. Who knows what will happen to me if I’m no longer in the Assembly’s protective shadow? I do not wish to become a target practice for certain individuals, Chief Lee.”
Lee Hyeon-Su chuckled softly. “You know we can protect you. If not, you also have the option of transferring to MK. Plenty of ordinary people work there, so acclimatizing to MK’s corporate culture should be easier.”
“Thank you for the consideration, but…” Yi Jong-Wuk muttered, his sentence drifting away. “I… I’d like to stay here for a bit longer.”
“Hmm…?”
Lee Hyeon-Su stared in amusement at Yi Jong-Wuk.
The latter’s attitude didn’t surprise him. After all, hadn’t Yi Jong-Wuk tried to negotiate with Kang Jin-Ho despite the intense pressure exerted on him? His abilities were one thing, but as far as his mental fortitude and perseverance were concerned, he deserved Lee Hyeon-Su’s full acknowledgment.
“It’s not gonna be easy for you, though.”
Yi Jong-Wuk nodded. “I never thought it’d be easy. Besides… Doing something difficult is a great way to build my reputation, isn’t it?”
Lee Hyeon-Su chuckled again. “Oh? You want to build your reputation? So that you can aim for my spot one day?”
“You must be joking, Chief Lee,” said Yi Jong-Wuk while hurriedly waving his hands.
Obviously, he had a functioning brain. He didn’t even have to think about whether it was possible to snatch Lee Hyeon-Su’s position away.
Was Lee Hyeon-Su’s achievements until now the deciding factor? No, that was only secondary. The biggest hurdle would be Yi Jong-Wuk not having any way to surpass Lee Hyeon-Su’s capabilities. Unless Lee Hyeon-Su experienced a burn-out and quit the Assembly to search for freedom and his personal happiness, Yi Jong-Wuk would never get a chance.
Then again, I’m not even angling for it, anyway.
What Yi Jong-Wuk was aiming for was a spot just below Lee Hyeon-Su’s; a spot where he’d handle most of the Assembly’s administrative affairs while Lee Hyeon-Su was accompanying Kang Jin-Ho on some random, wild adventures. Which was likely to happen fairly often in the future.
The way Yi Jong-Wuk saw it, the Martial Assembly definitely needed someone to perform such a role.
“I’ll be honest here,” said Lee Hyeon-Su with a good-natured grin. “I don’t trust you all that much.”
Yi Jong-Wuk silently held Lee Hyeon-Su’s probing gaze.
“Of course, I do trust your administrative skills. No, wait. Let’s be honest here. With your skill, calling you S-tier would be greatly underselling your capabilities. In fact, we should be kowtowing to you, begging you to come and work for us. But here’s the thing, okay? You and I have pretty much nothing in common.”
Despite his good-natured smile, Lee Hyeon-Su sounded disinterested. Distant. Yi Jong-Wuk couldn’t think of a way to refute that, however.
Nothing in common, he said. What a fatal opinion that was to Yi Jong-Wuk.
Lee Hyeon-Su also hadn’t started off as an Assembly member but as the antagonistic Yeongnam Group’s executive. But something else, something even more decisive, separated his case from Yi Jong-Wuk’s. And that was…
Yi Jong-Wuk wasn’t a martial artist.
Even if martial artists bared their fangs and fought each other to death, they still shared this commonality of walking the path of martial arts. That was why the Crimson King and Kang Jin-Ho could sit together at the same table and share a meal, despite being mortal enemies.
But Yi Jong-Wuk was an ordinary person with no cultivation. He had no commonality with the martial artists. And being formerly an employee of the National Intelligence Service, an organization that stood in opposition to the Assembly, dealt a far larger, perhaps fatal blow to his chances of integrating into the Assembly.
“This is why I didn’t want to accept you in the first place,” said Lee Hyeon-Su. “You probably will never receive the same level of treatment as other martial artists while working here. And, if a martial artist boasting the same level of administrative skills as you appears one day, you will be overlooked in favor of that person. Knowing all that, do you still want to stick around?”
Yi Jong-Wuk sighed softly, then replied firmly. “Of course I want to stick around.”
“Hmm…”
“You say a martial artist with a similar level of administrative skills as me? But doesn’t that also imply that this hypothetical person will be younger than me? In that case, I’ll still get pushed aside whether I am a martial artist or not.”
Lee Hyeon-Su slowly nodded. That reply was quite satisfactory in his book. Yi Jong-Wuk was right.
“Besides, you started with a bit of a handicap yourself, didn’t you?” Yi Jong-Wuk asked rhetorically. “I ain’t gonna whine about unfairness and whatnot when someone who has overcome his own problems to reach his current position is sitting right next to me.”
“Hmm…?”
Lee Hyeon-Su cocked an eyebrow. That didn’t sound like a man trying to kiss ass, no?
After nodding in satisfaction again, Lee Hyeon-Su got up to leave.
“Got it. Do your best, then.”
“Chief Lee? Are you leaving?”
“Yeah. It’s about time I remind the team leaders about their lack of discipline. You gotta remind them who their boss is once in a while to keep them sharp, you see? It’s not like I enjoy doing this, you know?”
Really? Even though you seem to be enjoying it a great deal?!
At least you could have stopped smiling while saying that!
Lee Hyeon-Su unhesitantly walked away, leaving behind Yi Jong-Wuk, who just sat there in silence and watched the distancing figure of his superior.
He’s remarkable, isn’t he?
They weren’t all that far apart, age-wise, but the gap in their skill levels was absolutely gigantic. Yi Jong-Wuk had always been proud of walking the exclusive path of elites in this country, but comparing himself to Lee Hyeon-Su sometimes made him feel like a little kid instead.
Besides… Half a martial artist is still a martial artist, no?
Moments like this always saddled Yi Jong-Wuk with this nearly crippling sense of alienation. This was the world of martial artists, a world where only those walking the path of martial arts could get their peers’ acknowledgment.
Could he do well in a world like that?
He might have replied confidently to Lee Hyeon-Su earlier, but in all honesty? It would be a lie to say he was not worried about his future.
Just as his thoughts reached that far, Yi Jong-Wuk’s phone began ringing. He pulled the device out from his pocket, but his expression stiffened noticeably after confirming the name of the caller appearing on the screen.
