Chapter 15: <Planning for the Future>

Kim Yonggun frowned when he saw Nam Kyungsang. Park Junwoo shut his eyes and sighed. Yoon Gihwan turned away in disgust.

“Hello, Manager Park. We meet again.”

“Yes.”

“The thing is, we received a few VoC on our end, but they seem like problems related to HTS channel. I really hate to bring this up over and over again, but your mistakes are inconveniencing us.”

“I… I’ll check it right now.”

Park Junwoo did a weak reply. Kwon Hyungeun also seemed to feel awkward. He reiterated the situation in a kinder tone.

“We checked our system multiple times, but we couldn’t find anything wrong. We thought it would be smart to cross check with your system. Please don’t take this the wrong way.”

“I am telling you this is definitely an HTS problem. I called up the Stochastics (Point of a current stock price in relation to its price range over time) graph API several times, but nothing is wrong on my end.”

“Well, we aren’t sure.”

“No, I’m positive.”

Nam Kyungsang gave an adamant reply and looked at Park Junwoo.

“I sent the problems to your email, Manager Park. It takes too long to bring up the Stochastics graphs. There were also some other problems, but I didn’t read them. They are not my problems. There’s nothing wrong on our end. They’re HTS errors, so you need to fix them right now.”

His voice was rude and condescending, but Park Junwoo couldn’t fight back. Yoon Gihwan turned around.

“I checked the email just now. It says there is a delay in bringing up the ‘Stochastics monthly graph API.’ Are you saying that’s our problem?”

“I tested it out many times. When I try it on my end, it only takes 2 seconds, so isn’t it obvious? Something went wrong on your side.”

Yoon Gihwan couldn’t be rude to people from another company, so he replied respectfully.

“How?”

“Handling the screen data is HTS territory. Do I have to explain everything to you?”

Nam Kyungsang became louder and angrier. Kwon Hyungeun tried to calm him down.

“Manager Nam, that’s enough. Haha, I apologize General Manager Yoon. Our company is under a lot of stress…”

The now aggressive Nam Kyungsang added.

“Why should I stop? I need to say this. You all heard about the new point system, right? If your channel problems keep appearing as ours, I won’t stay silent.”

Yoon Gihwan bit his lips. He wanted to say something, but there have been many occasions when problems turned out to be his department’s mistakes. Park Junwoo felt the same. Kim Yonggun was biting his nails. This situation was familiar to Woosung. Kwon Hyungeun tried to stop Nam Kyungsang again.

“Manager Nam, stop right now.”

He exclaimed causing Nam Kyungsang to quiet down, but then he made eye contact with Woosung and Nam Kyungsang couldn’t help himself but continue.

“Lastly, that recent problem was something I could have fixed. What you need to focus on are your own problems.”

Woosung remembered Nam Kyungsang from the past.

‘He has such a big ego. He really believed his codes were the best. No one could challenge him… Well, he had good skills, so nobody could stand up to him. But things are different now.’

The impatient Yoon Gihwan stood up. Park Junwoo kept repeating miserable sighs. Kwon Hyungeun grabbed Nam Kyungsang’s arm and pulled.

“Manager Nam!” He then bowed to Yoon Gihwan. “General Manager, I am so sorry. Nam Kyungsang isn’t usually like this. I will make sure he doesn’t behave like this again.”

He then dragged Nam Kyungsang out of the room.

Crack.

Yoon Gihwan kicked the chair and left to take a smoke break. Park Junwoo asked Kim Yonggun and Woosung.

“Let’s go for coffee.”

Woosung followed them quietly.

10 years ago, because of Nuri Finances’ new system, Woosung had to deal with Nam Kyungsang often. Even after the new system stabled, they still had to maintain a stable meeting among one another. Park Junwoo explained the history of Daesan’s slipups to Woosung.

Server crash because of an infinite loop request. Wrong parameter request causing a delay in server development. Failure in updating the screen enhancements provoking the need for a new server. The server team was inconvenience multiple times in the past because of the mistakes from HTS team. It was no wonder Nam Kyungsang fretted about it. Woosung didn’t react and listened to Park Junwoo.

“So Woosung, don’t feel bad. We did make a lot of mistakes.”

A nice guy.

10 years ago, Park Junwoo said the same thing. He was such a nice guy. Kim Yonggun felt different, however.

“Even so, there is no need to be that rude. We all work hard.”

“But if they have to work late because of our mistakes, then it’s understandable that they get frustrated.”

“I know but…”

“Assistant Manager Kim, don’t you remember complaining when we had to work late because of the server or infra errors?”

Kim Yonggun reddened in embarrassment.

“Well, you don’t have to bring that up.”

“I’m just saying it’s all good. When a person feels inconvenienced, we all become defensive. Some may react more strongly than others.”

Kim Yonggun drank his coffee in silence. Park Junwoo looked out the window. Woosung had a different feeling.

“To me, it looks like ST wants to take everything.”

Park Junwoo spilled his coffee in surprise.

“W… what?”

“I told you before. The new point system will decide which outsource company will get its contract renewed with Nuri Finances. That means one or more companies could lose their work next year.”

Kim Yonggun swallowed hard.

“So…”

“I don’t think ST has protested this much before, right?”

Park Junwoo thought carefully. Thinking about it now, this was the first time they made such a big fuss. In the past, Nam Kyungsang fixed the problems himself to show how good he was.

“So ST wants to take our contract and work on HTS maintenance too?”

Woosung shook his head.

“Who is Nuri Finances’ main partner?”

Kim Yonggun answered.

“That would be Daeyang System.”

“Our company and ST are secondary outsource companies. We are only ‘small fish.'”

“Wow. Only ‘small fish’.”

“If ST gains the most points in this new system, what do you think would happen?”

Park Junwoo put down his coffee and answered.

“ST can stand equal with the main partners?”

Woosung nodded. Kim Yonggun swallowed again.

“Yes, that’s it. They are thinking big.”

Park Junwoo looked at him in shock.