Chapter 12: <Planning for the Future>

They deposited the payment for fixing the server to his account the very next day. Yoon Gihwan was a quick-tempered bully, but he did his job well. Woosung first paid back his student loan and gave 20,000 dollars to his parents.

“Use this to pay back part of the mortgage loan.”

Their current house was 62,000 dollars and 35,000 of it was a loan.

“W… Woosung, what is this?”

Kim Eunjung trembled as Woosung showed her the cheque.

“My company paid me a bonus for a big job I completed.”

Kang Gichun was in shock.

“You just started working there. This doesn’t make sense.”

“I’m telling the truth. I did nothing illegal for it so don’t worry. You guys did so much for me and now it’s my turn.”

They still seemed wary.

Woosung added quickly.

“It’s actually the money I saved since university from part-time job. Trust me.”

“H… how about your student loan?”

“I paid it back, so stop worrying about it.”

Even after Woosung explained, Kim Eunjung couldn’t bring herself to accept it. Woosung put the cheque in her hand.

“Son…”

Woosung could feel that his parents felt apologetic to him. He could see that things were about to get emotional. He stood up and walked towards the front door.

“I need to get to work, so I’ll see you later.”

He didn’t want to see his mother cry. Woosung left quickly.

***

As soon as Woosung arrived, Park Junwoo greeted him.

“Hello, Woosung.”

Kim Yonggeun treated Woosung similarly. They greeted him first before he did. Even Yoon Gihwan, who was already at work, greeted him.

“Hey, newbie.”

“Hello. I received the payment. Your personality isn’t great, but you do your job well.”

Yoon Gihwan closed his eyes. Woosung just insulted him, but he needed to remain calm.

“I told the headquarter that we need you. I also asked to promote you to Assistant manager ASAP.”

“Haha, you worked hard for me.”

“And as for your consultation presentation, Nuri Finances asked us to arrange another meeting. They asked us to make sure to bring you.”

Woosung sat down in his chair and replied.

“It’s my job, so of course I’ll go. Oh, and I want the consulting team to include Manager Park and Assistant manager Kim. We will also continue to maintain HTS.”

“The headquarter promised to send some talented developers.”

Park Junwoo.

Kim Yonggun.

10 years ago, they helped him to grow in Daesan System. This was his chance to repay them.

“I don’t need talented people. I need people I can trust. I won’t do it if I don’t have Manager Park and Assistant manager Kim.”

“Gosh, do you always have to get your way?”

“I must be learning from you, General manager.”

“W… what?”

“You have a horrible personality, but the company is keeping you because of your skills.”

Both Park Junwoo and Kim Yonggun nodded in agreement. Yoon Gihwan reddened.

“You!”

Park Junwoo watched nervously. He was worried about Yoon Gihwan losing his temper, but strangely, nothing happened.

‘Yoon Gihwan is always condescending to me… but he can’t win an argument against a newbie.’

It was strange to see haughty Yoon Gihwan like this.

“I’m busy. Let’s get to work.”

“Fine. Just make sure your presentation is perfect. You need to prepare a proposal as well. You are getting paid 50,000 dollars, so you should do all the work.”

“Haha, of course.”

Woosung sat down and began. Yoon Gihwan left in mad fury but didn’t say another word.

***

Lunch time.

Woosung stood up to go for lunch when guests arrived for him. ST Data System’s Kwon Hyungeun was here with another familiar face.

“Hello. I’m sorry that I came by without an appointment but…”

“Oh, why are you here…?”

“I was so thankful for your work yesterday, I wanted to buy you lunch.”

The developer next to him frowned.

“I told you I would’ve fixed it myself.”

“Fine. Let’s just go for lunch.”

Woosung looked at Yoon Gihwan. It was uncomfortable to meet with people from a competing company.

“When did you ever worry about what I think?”

“Ok. Then I will have lunch with my guests.”

Woosung was happy to see Kwon Hyungeun. Park Junwoo and Kim Yonggun were his friends from Daesan, while Kwon Hyungeun was the one who gave him the opportunity to work at ST. Woosung laughed.

“Let’s go. By the way, I like sushi.”

To his friendliness, Kwon Hyungeun laughed as well.

“Haha, I was worried about what we should eat. That sounds good.”

The three arrived at a Japanese restaurant nearby. They ordered expensive sushi dishes. Woosung’s mouth watered. Kwon Hyungeun lifted his chopsticks.

“Let’s eat.”

“Are you sure it’s ok for you to buy such an expensive meal?”

“Of course. Oh, and this is the server development PL (Project Leader) Nam Kyungsang.”

Kwon Hyungeun introduced the man next to him.

Nam Kyungsang.

Woosung knew him. How could he forget? Because of this man, Nuri Finances lost its confidence in the developers of HTS at Daesan. They had to work late nights for a year because of him.

“Manager Nam, nice to see you. It has been a long time.”

Kwon Hyungeun and Nam Kyungsang looked at him strangely. Woosung added quickly.

“Oh…. I think we’ve met before at the office. It’s nice to see you.”

Nam Kyungsang replied rudely.

“Really? I’ve never met you before.”

“Oh…well. Perhaps you don’t remember me, but I never forget a face.”

Kwon Hyungeun didn’t want this conversation to get any more uncomfortable so he joined in.

“Haha, Woosung must have a good memory. And he is also very skilled. He was able to fix the server problem so easily.”

“Manager, I told you that I could fix it myself. I was almost done fixing it when this guy swooped in.”

“Oh… Haha. Of course. I’m getting old. I keep forgetting things. Did you have anything you would like to ask Woosung?”

“I already know everything, so there is nothing to ask.”

Woosung looked at Nam Kyungsang unkindly.

‘He had such a big ego. 10 years ago, he blamed us for the problem…’

While Woosung was deep in his thoughts, Kwon Hyungeun continued.

“Of course I believe you. But don’t you think it would be helpful to us if we know how Woosung fixed the problem?”

Nam Kyungsang refused to budge.

“Nobody knows server codes better than I do.”

There was no way to convince him. Kwon Hyungeun gave up and looked at Woosung.

“Let’s eat.”

Woosung picked up his chopsticks.

It was an awkward lunch.

‘If he has something to say, he should just say it. Why is he looking at me like that?’

Nam Kyungsang didn’t say a word and kept glancing at Woosung. Kwon Hyungeun noticed how uncomfortable Woosung was, so he asked.

“You seem so young. How are you so good at your job already?”

“I studied hard and learned the new techniques from the internet.”

“Wow, you make it sound so easy. But not everyone can become skillful like you, Woosung.”

Kwon Hyungeun complimented Woosung. Nam Kyungsang didn’t like this, so he added maliciously.

“I’m like that too.”

“Haha of course. You can learn so much on the internet, especially from stackoverflow.com. (One of the world’s biggest website for programming information).”

Kwon Hyungeun has never heard of this website before.

“Stack Overflow? Manager Nam, do you know this site too?”

Nam Kyungsang stuttered.

“W… well of course. I’ve looked at it a few times. There is a lot of information there.”

Stack Overflow.

Some IT companies required applicants to include information from this website on their cover letters. It was a very famous site, so if Nam Kyungsang didn’t know about it, that could mean only one thing.

‘It must not be available yet.’

No one has created the website yet. Now that Woosung thought about it, he didn’t remember visiting this site in 2008. This was a second mistake he made today.

‘I need to be careful of what I say.’

As Woosung remained silent, Kwon Hyungeun added.

“I can see why you are so good at your job. After lunch, I will go back to the office and look this website up.”

Woosung laughed awkwardly.

“Oh, haha… It’s nothing. There is no need.”

“A programmer should never stop learning. You always need to learn the newest techniques.”

Nam Kyungsang added competitively.

“Especially if you are a C++ programmer, you need to visit MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) often. Right?”

Then suddenly, Kwon Hyungeun’s phone vibrated. After apologizing, he answered the phone. His face darkened.

“Oh, I’m so sorry but I need to get back to work…”

“It’s ok. I’m full anyway.”

“Manager Nam, are you sure you don’t need Woosung’s help?”

“No. I’ve been doing this for 7 years.”

“Fine. Let’s go.”

Kwon Hyungeun seemed nervous. Woosung watched him worriedly.

‘Now that the gates to hell closed, they must discuss how to prevent such situations in the future. If I remember correctly, they came up with a point system.’

Woosung could guess why Kwon Hyungeun was getting worried.