Mistaken for an S-Class Employee - Chapter 10

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Mistaken for an S-Class Employee ◈

Chapter 10: Courage Surges

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Beep-beep! Beep-beep!

The second alarm woke me up.

‘7:00 AM.’

If I wanted to get to work, I had to get up now.

I got home late after drinking yesterday, wrote a chapter, then went to bed after midnight.

This was why I usually tried not to make dinner plans, but I couldn't give up the chance to meet a reader.

I was tired, but I felt good.

I stretched and went into the living room.

“You’re up? Is your stomach okay?”

My younger sister, who had gotten up first, looked at me and asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I didn’t drink that much yesterday.”

My sister looked at me worriedly.

“If you keep abusing your body while you’re young, it’ll catch up to you. You’re not in your twenties anymore, Oppa.”

“Okay, okay. Thanks for worrying about me.”

I usually wrote in the morning before work or late at night after getting home, but I had no fixed routine.

I just tried to write one chapter a day somehow, whenever I found the time.

“I’m off!”

“Okay! See you later!”

After washing up and eating a simple meal, I left home first.

I arrived at work.

“Good morning, Sunbae!”

“Morning, Assistant Manager Jeon!”

We greeted each other with bright smiles.

If I didn't work at this company, would I have gotten to see Assistant Manager Jeon's face every day?

I was happy to see a reader I had worked so hard to get to know, a soulmate with the same tastes as me, every day. And I got paid for it, too.

This was why I couldn't easily quit, even if I earned a hundred million won a month.

“Is your stomach okay?”

“We didn't drink that much.”

“What do you mean, not much? I think we each finished at least two bottles.”

“Did we? That's strange. I don't think I was that drunk.”

Assistant Manager Jeon smiled.

“I think it was because we talked so much.”

I remembered the useful conversations Assistant Manager Jeon and I had shared yesterday.

“So, did you try writing a chapter yesterday?”

“What? Haha.”

Assistant Manager Jeon laughed.

“We got home at that hour after drinking. How was I supposed to write anything?”

True. Assistant Manager Jeon didn't need to go that far just to write.

“I’ll see how things go. Maybe I'll try it over the weekend.”

“Oh! The beginning of a legendary author?”

We chuckled together, then Assistant Manager Jeon said,

“Ah, Sunbae, you should write too. How about becoming fellow authors?”

“Hmm?”

As I considered how to answer, I said,

“I've never had much of a taste for writing. I like reading.”

Assistant Manager Jeon nodded.

“Ah, Sunbae. Lunch is on me today.”

“Why?”

“You bought us something delicious yesterday, so I should buy you lunch.”

I grinned and patted their shoulder.

“Sure. All right!”

* * *

Work went on as usual without anything particularly happening.

Team Leader Kim still worked passively.

Other than attending the team leaders' meeting, Team Leader Kim did no work at all.

I worked hard in Team Leader Kim's place.

For my goal of making the Team Leader position vacant, and for the peace of the team.

Of course, since Team Leader Kim might raise an issue later, I copied Team Leader Kim on every work-related message.

The one holding out and the one pushing him out.

While continuing the invisible battle of nerves with Team Leader Kim, taking on the acting Team Leader role also gave me many chances to stand out professionally.

“I knew you were thorough with your work, Sunbae, but I had no idea you were this exceptional.”

My work partner, Assistant Manager Jeon, praised me a lot in particular.

“How do you know everything a Team Leader needs to do?”

“I've got years of experience under my belt. You think I wouldn't know that much?”

“You've only been here four years.”

It was obvious how a company operated. Four years was enough for team-level work.

Besides, while preparing my novel, I had paid close attention to the work senior employees did, so acting as Team Leader wasn't particularly difficult.

“Once you do it, you can handle it. You'd do well as acting Team Leader too, Assistant Manager Jeon.”

I simply didn't take on unnecessary work, and I made decisions quickly rather than putting them off when one was needed.

Just following those simple principles made the team happy. They said they could finally breathe again.

- Going to work has been enjoyable lately.

- Assistant Manager Song, you look so much better these days.

- What about Ha-neul? I heard you're even going on blind dates now.

- Haha, because I have evenings free now.

I had started this saying I would go all out before quitting, but I was even earning my coworkers' trust.

- I should've found the courage sooner. Now that I've actually spoken up, it wasn't such a big deal.

- Exactly. We were just scared before anything even happened.

- This is all thanks to Assistant Manager Go.

Watching these changes made me certain of my thinking.

‘As expected, Team Leader Kim needs to go somewhere that suits him.’

I didn't know where that would be, but I was sure it wasn't the position of Team Leader.

As time passed, Team Leader Kim's presence grew fainter and fainter.

The Operations Team ran well even without him.

And more and more people outside the team began to see it.

Everything was going according to plan.

Ding!

[From: Director Yoon Hyeon-su]

‘Assistant Manager Go Min-hyeok, come see me.’

Director Yoon had summoned me through the company messenger.

It had been nearly a month since we made our little deal.

I had wondered why someone famous for being impatient hadn't called for me sooner.

‘Understood.’

After sending my reply, I rose from my seat.

“Assistant Manager Jeon, I'm going to the Director's office.”

“You're getting awfully full of yourself.”

Startled, I looked at Assistant Manager Jeon, but they flinched and waved their hands.

“Not me.”

Surely not. I looked over the partition.

“You trying to become Team Leader yourself?”

The voice belonged to Team Leader Kim.

After remaining cowered down for so long, Team Leader Kim had stepped forward.

A tense air filled the Operations Team.

* * *

“I've never gotten full of myself. Is this because I've been working hard in your place, Team Leader?”

“Shut your mouth!”

Team Leader Kim came out swinging from the start.

His voice practically echoed off the mountaintops, and that one line drew the attention of the neighboring departments.

“You arrogant bastard. Do you think your Team Leader is such a pushover?”

“...”

“How dare you keep talking back to me!”

I silently watched Team Leader Kim's face.

It seemed he could feel the noose tightening and was making one last desperate struggle.

“Lower your voice. It won't do you any good either, Team Leader.”

I responded calmly.

“You handle everything however you want without even reporting it to me!”

“I copied you on every work-related message.”

“And when did I tell you to take on my duties as acting Team Leader?”

Could this really have been why he had been so passive all this time?

Office life required you to use your head for things besides work. It wasn't for nothing that the protagonists of my novels rose all the way to chairman.

I had analyzed and studied many different examples of office politics.

If this was Team Leader Kim's strategy, it was pretty disappointing.

“Then what should I have done? You ignored everything and sat there doing nothing. Was I supposed to sit on my hands too?”

“I have a plan.”

“What plan?”

I raised my voice slightly, and Team Leader Kim flinched.

“If I overstepped, I'll apologize immediately. Please, tell me.”

What plan could there possibly have been in doing nothing but watching the room and holding onto his position?

I hoped Team Leader Kim would look back on his past, even a little.

Why had he treated his team members as though they weren't there instead of looking after them, even when he himself was being isolated?

“I said, tell me!”

He had done nothing for over two weeks, and now all he did was pick at the person who had covered his duties.

The old saying that people don't change wasn't wrong.

“Do you have nothing to say?”

Team Leader Kim pressed his lips tightly together.

Phew.

I let out a deep sigh.

“Director Yoon is waiting for me. If you have nothing else to say, I'll be going.”

After bowing my head, I left the office.

* * *

“Hello.”

“Oh, come in.”

Once I sat down, Director Yoon asked,

“About Team Leader Kim. Why is this taking so long?”

Director Yoon frowned.

“There's a reason managers obsess over short-term results. Everything has its timing.”

Public opinion had been formed, and the lingering hesitation in my heart had vanished completely.

Thanks to Team Leader Kim throwing a fit at just the right time.

“I think you can issue the personnel order now.”

Director Yoon's face brightened immediately.

“Oh? Really?”

“No one would find it strange if you issued an order leaving the Operations Team Leader position vacant.”

I thought I had done everything I needed to do, but Director Yoon's eyes darted around, and Director Yoon suddenly said something absurd.

“What are you talking about?”

“...”

“Why would I issue a personnel order? We need to make him leave on his own.”

What kind of bullshit was that?

“What do you mean, make him leave on his own?”

“What do you mean? Why are you changing what you said?!”

I spoke in disbelief.

“Didn't you ask me to shape public opinion because you couldn't just remove a Team Leader as you pleased?”

“Yes. I told you to shape public opinion and make him leave on his own.”

Until now, I had put in a lot of effort to show that the Operations Team worked well even without Team Leader Kim.

On top of my own work, I had handled the team's work too, so overtime had become routine. And since I also had to write, I hadn't even been sleeping properly.

But now Director Yoon was saying...

I studied Director Yoon's face closely.

This was a shrewd person who had approached me after seeing the conflict between Team Leader Kim and me.

Since things were going well, there was a good chance Director Yoon intended to make me do even more.

Phew.

As I took a deep breath and organized in my head how to handle this situation,

Ding!

My phone notification went off.

“Director, excuse me for checking this during our conversation.”

“Oh, it's fine. Check it.”

When I turned on my phone, there was a notification for an email containing my settlement statement.

I considered looking at it later, but I was too curious and tapped it.