WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Mistaken for an S-Class Employee ◈
Chapter 6: A Flaw Discovered (1)
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Team Leader Kim thought he needed to fight back, but instinctively took a step backward.
“Say that again!”
Assistant Manager Song raised her voice sharply once more, and Team Leader Kim flinched.
“Why do you keep yelling?”
“I'll record everything, including me raising my voice, so let's start from the beginning. You had plenty to say about housewives earlier. Why can't you say it now that I said I'd pass it along to HR?”
“...”
Team Leader Kim looked around.
With their voices raised, people had naturally gathered.
Yesterday, and now today.
The Operations Team's image was plummeting.
‘If they'd just said, “Yes, understood,” whenever the team leader spoke, this would've been over...’
Rather than considering his own inappropriate remarks and behavior, he thought the team members were unnecessarily making a big deal out of things.
In any case, it had already happened, and what mattered now was this.
‘If I give in here, I'm finished.’
He could let the matter with Min-hyeok, the team's most senior employee, slide, but if he yielded even to Assistant Manager Song, a working mother and a woman, he believed he would lose his authority as Team Leader.
“Fine. Let's record it.”
Team Leader Kim came out strong, pulling out his phone as he spoke.
“I can apologize for speaking a little harshly, but as Team Leader, I'm entitled to reprimand someone over an incident at work.”
“...”
“But what is this attitude of yours? Are you asking for special treatment because you're a woman?”
“What did you say?”
“Male employees don't get worked up over this level of reprimand.”
“...”
“How are we supposed to work together as a team like this?”
Team Leader Kim pinned Assistant Manager Song's attitude on her being a woman and a working mother.
Watching him, Min-hyeok clicked his tongue inwardly.
‘Even if he's backed into a corner, what kind of approach is that?’
He wanted to step in immediately, but this seemed like something Assistant Manager Song needed to handle herself.
“Haah... You're being too much, Team Leader.”
“How am I being too much?”
“You really are. When have I ever argued with you? Today was the first time. And what does any of this have to do with gender?”
“Hmph! I remember it happening several times. We may remember things differently.”
Team Leader Kim kept forcing the issue, then met Nam Ha-neul's eyes.
Normally, Nam Ha-neul had been so intimidated by Team Leader Kim that he could hardly move whenever their eyes met.
To firmly take control of the situation, Team Leader Kim addressed Nam Ha-neul.
“Ha-neul, am I wrong? You’re a man. Would you have reacted that way to an order from your team leader?”
Nam Ha-neul frowned.
He was no longer the person who bowed his head and smiled at every word.
“If I say you're wrong, are you going to call me selfish because I'm from the MZ generation?”
“...What?!”
Team Leader Kim felt dizzy.
‘Did these brats decide to come after me today?’
“Team Leader, please stop. As a fellow man, I'm ashamed.”
“...”
“Why do you keep pitting the genders against each other? Are all women in this world the same?”
“The truth is, women tend to have a stronger victim mentality.”
“Try saying that in front of the Planning Director.”
The Planning Director was a woman and one of GoPlay's most influential figures.
“Why do you lump people together whenever there's a problem? I really don't think that's right.”
Once Nam Ha-neul started speaking, he could not stop. He must have had a lot built up as well.
“And were you good from the beginning, Team Leader? New employees can fumble while working, can't they? You overlook the same mistakes when senior employees make them, but you only criticize me. You think you can push me around because I seem easy, don't you?”
He was calling out Team Leader Kim's typical habit of being weak before the strong and strong before the weak.
“Why are you taking it that way? I'm teaching you how to work...”
“Did I join this company to train in seclusion? Why do you have to tear me down while teaching me?”
Team Leader Kim smacked his lips.
He was surrounded on all sides.
For whatever reason, he clearly realized he was surrounded by enemies.
- What's going on with the Operations Team lately?
- How much must they have been holding in against Team Leader Kim?
- Hearing the story, he really was too harsh.
‘I'll get out of here for now.’
“Hello? Yes, just a moment.”
Team Leader Kim held his silent phone to his ear and left the office.
* * *
I was very surprised by Assistant Manager Song and Nam Ha-neul.
I knew they had a lot bottled up, but I hadn't expected it to be this much.
After Team Leader Kim left, silence filled the Operations Team office.
I saw Assistant Manager Song's trembling shoulders and approached her.
“Sniff...”
She was crying.
“Sniff, sniff...”
Even though Assistant Manager Song had won the battle of wills, the words Team Leader Kim had spat out could not be taken back.
Those sharp words must have pierced her heart.
I thought of my mother.
When I was young, my mother sold insurance. Had she gone through experiences similar to Assistant Manager Song's?
It was probably worse than it was now, not better.
I remembered whining that my mother was never home and trying to keep her from going to work, without thinking about how hard things were for her.
Getting knocked around at home and outside of it.
Being a working mother was not easy.
I handed Assistant Manager Song a tissue.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded lightly.
“Yes. I feel relieved.”
“...”
“If it hadn't been for you, Assistant Manager Go, I wonder if I ever could have properly said anything to Team Leader Kim while working here. It hurts a little, but I feel relieved.”
She looked at me with tearful eyes and smiled.
“Thank you, Assistant Manager.”
Assistant Manager Jeon approached us.
“I don't think Team Leader Kim has a mother. Maybe he was hatched from an egg?”
I found myself laughing at the silly remark.
Assistant Manager Jeon had made the joke on purpose to lighten the mood.
“They're married and have a child, don't they? Why can't someone like that understand working mothers?”
I gave a bitter smile.
“They're outsiders. That's why.”
“...”
“People like Team Leader Kim treat their own families well.”
I had done a lot of research while writing novels.
The more someone made a habit of raising hell at work, the more likely they were to dote on their own family.
I didn't know the exact reason, but perhaps it was because they were strongly individualistic.
Assistant Manager Jeon shrugged.
“True. Seeing how defensive they are and how good their survival instincts are, they probably do treat their own family well.”
Assistant Manager Song sighed and muttered.
“I should tell my husband that he can care a little less about his family, as long as he doesn't go around acting like that.”
* * *
An hour later.
Team Leader Kim returned to the office with his shoulders drooping.
If he was planning to start another fight, I intended to step in, but he seemed quite exhausted too.
“Phew...”
They let out a deep sigh and sat at their desk.
The Operations Team was as quiet as a temple all day.
Things had passed for today, but Team Leader Kim would strike back before long.
It was the first time the team members had spoken up.
He may have been flustered by the unexpected attack, but Team Leader Kim was not someone who would retreat like this.
A week passed, yet nothing happened.
Once, when I submitted a report, I watched his reaction.
“Team Leader, I'm reporting in.”
“Yeah, leave it there.”
“Do you have any comments?”
“I'll ask if I have questions after I read it.”
Normally, whenever Team Leader Kim received a report, he would examine it item by item on the spot and question every little detail. He would nitpick over the most trivial things.
At first, I wondered if he was only acting that way because I had become difficult to deal with, but it wasn't just me.
“Team Leader, I'm submitting an incident report.”
Nam Ha-neul had made a mistake during the pre-intake content inspection and was submitting an incident report. After listening to everything, Team Leader Kim simply said,
“Got it.”
“...”
“What? Do you have anything else to say?”
“Ah, no. I don't.”
He was letting the youngest employee's incident report pass just like that.
It was nothing like Team Leader Kim.
His change was too dramatic for him to have simply been cowed.
“Team Leader Kim!”
The Planning Team Leader entered the office and called for him.
The Planning Team's main job was designing the UI, and they worked closely with the Operations Team.
“Oh, what's this? If you had something to say, you could've called me.”
Team Leader Kim looked at the Planning Team Leader with a slightly flustered expression.
“You said you'd change your work style, so I came to see how it was going.”
After checking the team members' reactions, Team Leader Kim pushed the Planning Team Leader toward the door.
“Let's talk outside.”
“Are you watching what your team members think?”
“Hey, I said let's talk outside.”
It was only for an instant, but I saw Team Leader Kim's expression completely change.
Then I understood for certain.
Team Leader Kim had not been cowed. He had changed his way of surviving.
They had switched into stone-statue or soggy-fallen-leaf mode...
* * *
Of course, it wasn't going to be easy.
He hadn't become a Team Leader for nothing.
After sensing a crisis recently, he was keeping his head down as much as possible.
As Team Leader Kim spent more time speaking softly and behaving quietly, more and more people began to pity him.
- They're a little pitiful.
- He isn't even treated like a Team Leader.
- They should ease up a little. Aren't the team members bullying him too much?
The team members had done nothing.
But because Team Leader Kim acted so withdrawn, he gave those around him the wrong impression.
Somehow, the situation was heading in a different direction from what I had imagined.
If this were a novel, this would be where the Team Leader made one last desperate move, completely lost public support, and ended up leaving on his own. That would make the catharsis more dramatic.
But novels and reality were different.
If things continued like this, there was a high chance things would return to how they had been, or that the team members would be replaced and Team Leader Kim would mount a counterattack.
Assistant Manager Song approached Team Leader Kim.
“Team Leader, I'm reporting on this week's Original content intake.”
Originals were content GoPlay produced directly. Since they were made under the company's name, they were considered extremely important.
For that reason, once an Original had been received, the Operations Team Leader was required to conduct a post-review.
“There are three pieces of content in total, one variety show and...”
“Enough. Handle it yourself.”
One of the few Operations Team responsibilities that other departments considered important.
The Operations Team Leader ignored it.
Assistant Manager Song looked flustered.
‘If the Team Leader won't do it, I will.’
This had started because of me, and I couldn't just watch the team members struggle with it.
“Assistant Manager Song.”
I called to her.
“The Team Leader seems busy. Could you show it to me? I'll review it.”
“What?”
“The Team Leader said to handle it ourselves. This isn't something we can just let pass.”
“Ah, all right.”
She glanced nervously at Team Leader Kim, and his eyebrow twitched.
‘Huh?’
Team Leader Kim, who had recently been living like a stone statue, showed a reaction.
Was it bothering him?
‘Ah...’
I felt as if I had found a flaw in Team Leader Kim's strategy.
As I carefully reviewed the Original content intake report Assistant Manager Song had brought, I quietly called her over where Team Leader Kim could not hear.
“Assistant Manager Song, just a moment.”
If we showed the rest of the company that the team ran well without Team Leader Kim,
or if we did even better than that...
“There may be something to check here.”
“Is there a problem?”
“I think the episode information is duplicated.”
“Oh my.”
He would wind up in a position suited to him, one other than Team Leader.
Footnotes:
MZ generation: A Korean umbrella term referring to Millennials and Generation Z.
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