Legend of Legend – Chapter 11

Posted on June 23, 2016

< Legend of Legend(LOL)-New Employee(4) >

Lee-joonhyuk was eating another two dishes of food. Jun-somin lightly smiled at his figure. Then she spoke as she ate the soba noodle she brought.

“Director Kim-oonsuh spoke directly to you. Did she ask you to join the Strategic Planning department at the headquarters?”

Lee-joonhyuk shook his head from side to side.

“No. I was picked as an employee model.”

Jun-somin could only stare at Lee-joonhyuk, who had given a truthful answer. He didn’t even give her the chance to talk to him on the bus, and now he was answering her question way too honestly. She had no idea which was his true self.

At that moment, Lee-joonhyuk raised his head, and he smiled.

“This is unexpected.”

“What?”

Lee-joonhyuk pointed towards her back with his chin. Jun-somin turned her head to look at the people, who climbed the stairs. The piano started to play, and a female started to sing a jazz song as held on to the mic stand.

The voice was sweet and sticky.
Jun-somin watched the singer with the sexy voice, then she turned head back. However, Lee-joonhyuk was already gone from his seat.

She was taken aback, so she started looking around. Lee-joonhyuk was already at the buffet table with his dishes.

“He’s acting like someone, who is at his first buffet.”

Maybe it was because she had a favorable impression of him, but his actions were cute to her. Jun-somin moved her seat. She moved to the seat next to Lee-joonhyuk, then she started eating as she appreciated the jazz music.

Soon, Lee-joonhyuk had brought his food back, and he tried to sit in the opposite seat of Jun-somin.  Jun-somin patted the seat next to her as she spoke.

“We sat next to each other on the bus, so why are you trying to sit by yourself?”

“This is different from the bus.”

Lee-joonhyuk spoke as he bit into the ribs he brought.

“We don’t know each other well enough to sit next to each other.”

“You are a a hard man to please.”

“I’m not an easy man.”

Lee-joonhyuk showed her his smile, then he started inhaling the food on the dishes. Jun-somin let out a laugh when she saw him, then she started to focus on her dinner as she listened carefully to the jazz songs.

Kim-jangho grinded his teeth, while he watched the two of them.

Lee-joonhyuk was inferior to him in every facet. He had coincidentally gotten involved in an accident. He did what anyone would do in that situation, and as a result, he became a star overnight. He used that incident as a pretext for joining the same company as him. Moreover, he had gotten close to director Kim-oonsuh, and of course, Jun-somin was trying to get closer to him. His stomach twisted by itself.

“Hoong.”

Kim-jangho got up from his seat, then he headed towards his lodging. It was a get-together, but director Kim-oonsuh had already left. So he didn’t need to stay there.

On Thursday, they directly experimented on the Capsule’s performance. The Capsule could be handled easily even by a civilian, but they had to learn about all the individual components.

To borrow a phrase from deputy head Jang’s words, they had to be familiar with each components, and they had to understand its function. If not for the new employee’s orientation, they won’t have another chance to do so. Once they were assigned to different departments, they wouldn’t need to understand the details of each parts unless they were a researcher, salesman or a service engineer.

This was why everyone was learning it half-heartedly, but it was different for Lee-joonhyuk. He was interested in the subject, because he might need to use the knowledge in the future. Lee-joonhyuk carefully paid attention to how it performed, and he tried to understand it.

When Kim-jangho saw this, he mocked him.

“Since you won’t become a researcher, are you trying to become a salesman or a service engineer?”

Lee-joonhyuk didn’t pay attention to Kim-jangho’s words. Instead, he even asked questions to the researcher, who was giving an explanation. When the others saw this, the other new employees started whispering about Kim-jangho.

The event turned out in such a way that he somehow felt like a delinquent who bullied the honor student. Also, this made Kim-jangho more ill-humored.
After the lecture on Capsule finished, they ate lunch.

After lunch, they were told to gather at the exercise yard. Everyone gathered in groups to chat, but Jun-somin stood next to Lee-joonhyuk.

Lee-joonhyuk didn’t normally talk a lot, but she didn’t talk either. She just stood there keeping a fixed distance between them.

He stood there with his arms crossed, and he focused on controlling his interior muscles. His life depended on this training. He didn’t have the luxury to pay attention to something else.

This was how he waited until Kim-oonsuh, who wore climbing clothes, approached them with the event personnel. When the group turned to look at Kim-oonsuh, she smiled.

“Let’s go on a light hike.”

Kim-oonsuh was the person in charge of training the new employees. She said it so casually that no one could refuse it.

All the event personnel except deputy head Jang wore backpacks. It should only take 1 hour and 30 minute to climb to the top of the Chunma mountain. If they returned right after arriving at the top of the mountain, three hours should be enough to make the round trip.

“Let us go.”

Kim-oonsuh and deputy head Jang headed out first then the 1st group followed. The 2nd group followed in the rear with 2 employees in the front and back.

As the group leader, Lee-joonhyuk walked in the back of the group with the event personnel. When he saw an event personnel struggling with his pack, Lee-joonhyuk stepped forward.

“Give it to me.”

“It’s fine.”

“It’ll be good for me as an exercise. Give it to me.”

The event personnel tried to refuse couple of times, but he saw the party moving farther away from them. He eventually relented, and he gave Lee-joonhyuk his pack. After putting on the backpack, he asked with a slight frown.

“The weight is quite considerable?”

“Just give it back to me.”

“No.”

Lee-joonhyuk shook his head then he started to walk. The weight was quite considerable, but it wasn’t too hard for him. If one looked at his outer appearance, one would think he would be weak, but he possessed a considerable amount of physical strength.

He carried the backpack as it was nothing. The event personnel admired Lee-joonhyuk. Lee-joonhyuk climbed the mountain without breaking a single sweat.

They were told it was a light hike, which would only take 1 hour and 30 minutes, but Kim-oohsuh and deputy head Jang kept a pretty fast pace. They were experienced hikers, so they outpaced the others. Several people started to lag behind as the group tried to follow them. This was more apparent in the second group.

The second group was made up of mostly new female employees. The women had never hiked before, so their speed started slow down. The one who stood out was Jun-somin. She helped push the tired ladies, and she climbed the mountain energetically.

Unlike how she looked, she had some tenacity. Lee-joonhyuk’s estimation of her rose a couple points. She wasn’t just a pretty face wanting everyone to serve her. He saw her be considerate of others, so even by a little, it made him look at her in a different light.

Finally, the second group arrived at the top of the mountain, but it was 20 minute after the estimated time.

Kim-oonsuh was standing at the top of the mountain, and she was looking at the scenery. She turned around to look at Lee-joonhyuk’s group, then she spoke.

“You guys are late.”

“I’m sorry.”

When Lee-joonhyuk calmly apologized, Kim-oonsuh adjusted her glasses as she spoke.

“Then let us start.”

He wanted to ask what they were going to start. She waved her hand towards deputy head Jang. Lee-joonhyuk approached deputy head Jang, and he put down the backpack.

“You brought this up?”

“Yes. What is in there?”

“I’ll show you.”

Deputy head Jang smiled, and he opened the back pack. Then he started to take out the items inside. The backpack was packed with rice wine.(TLN: not soju, but Makgeolli)

Lee-joonhyuk felt the sensation of liquid moving. Of course, he thought it was water. As if he was mocking this idea, everything he brought out was the rice wine. There were 17 bottles of rice wine inside the the bursting bag.

After he put everything down, the other event personnel came over to deputy head Jang’s side. Their backpacks held the cup for the rice wine, and various side dishes.

Before he knew it, Lee-joonhyuk had turned to look at Kim-oonsuh. She was still looking into the distance. Lee-joonhyuk followed her gaze, and his eyes saw the scenery of the Chunma mountain.

He didn’t particularly like hiking, but he breathed in the air on top of the mountain. When he felt the cool wind, and he saw the unhampered view, he thought hiking was something worth doing again.

When Lee-joonhyuk was enjoying the sensations on top of the summit, he heard deputy director Jang yell.

“Our preparation is complete.”

At that sound, Kim-oonsuh slowly turned her gaze, and she saw Lee-joonhyuk. Lee-joonhyuk was still looking at unhampered scenery from the summit of the mountain with deep eyes. Lee-joonhyuk was probably feeling the same emotion she felt a moment ago, so she felt like they had shared that feeling.

Kim-oonsuh let out a little smile as she walked. Deputy head Jang had prepared seats, and the new employees sat around in a circle. Then the cups with the rice wine followed.

Kim-oonsuh was about to walk to them, but she spoke to Lee-joonhyuk, who was still absorbed in the view from the summit.

“Mr. Lee-joonhyuk should come too.”

“Ah, yes.”

Lee-joonhyuk suddenly woke up from his reveries. Lee-joonhyuk laughed awkwardly as he sat in his seat. Once Lee-joonhyuk took his seat, Kim-oonsuh raised her cup with rice wine, and she spoke.

“In the future, there will be a lot of hardship in your career at this company. Please think back on this hike, where the people in front of you pulled you up, and the people in the back pushed you up. If we encourage each other with words, our company life would become a bit smoother, and we will be able keep our energies up.”

He thought this was just a simple hiking excursion, but there seemed to be a deeper meaning to it.

Lee-joonhyuk looked fixedly at her, so Kim-oonsuh continued to speak.

“I pray for good health in your company life. Cheers.”

“Cheers.”

When everyone raised their cup with rice wine, Kim-oonsuh emptied it in one-shot. She had always show herself to be haughty, so everyone saw a different side of her. All the new employees started to drain their cup.

Everyone was thirsty from climbing the mountain, so they had no trouble emptying a cup of rice wine.

Kim-oonsuh put down her cup, then she turned to look at Lee-joonhyuk.

“Normally, the event personnel has to carry it, but I guess the new employee did the work instead. We were able to drink this cool rice wine, because of him. Please give a round of applause to 2nd group leader, Mr. Lee-joonhyuk.”

When everyone started to clap loudly, Lee-joonhyuk scratched his head, and he lowered his gaze. At this sight, Kim-oonsuh’s smile turned into a laugh. She spoke.

“Your new employee training program has ended. Please come down after drinking moderately. The two vehicles will bring you back to the training facility. Let’s see who survives until the end. Please work hard.”

After finishing her words, Kim-oonsuh turned to deputy head Jang to speak to him.

“Please make sure no one drink too much. I’ll go down first.”

“I’ll escort you down.”

“I’m fine. I only had one cup, so you don’t have to worry about me.”

“But…”

Kim-oonsuh adjusted her glasses. It was a simple act, but this one movement transformed her back into the haughty director of strategic planning.

“Are you trying to be a boss who can’t take a hint?”

“I’m not.”

When she saw deputy head Jang smile, Kim-oosuh slightly nodded her head then she started descending the mountain. Lee-joonhyuk shrugged his shoulder when he saw her strong appearance from behind. He grabbed the bottle to pour another cup of rice wine.

Drinking the rice wine on top of the mountain was much sweeter, so he wanted to drink one more cup. As he was about to pour the alcohol, a hand grabbed onto the rice wine bottle.

When he turned, he saw Jun-somin with a slightly red face. She spoke.

“I’ll pour it for you.”

“It’s ok.”

“Did you know that if you pour your own drink, the person in front of you will have bad luck for 3 years?” (TLN: if you didn’t know, it is customary for others to pour the drink in a group setting)

Since Jun-somin teased him, he had no choice, but to put raise his cup. Jun-somin filled the cup to the brim, then she raised her own cup.

“Please fill mine up.”

Since she had shown a good side of herself during the hike, Lee-joonhyuk willingly poured the contents of the bottle into her cup. There was no downside of being nice to a fellow employee. Also, she was a beauty, so he really didn’t mind.

When the cup filled up, Jun-somin laughed with her eyes as she started to bring her cup to his for a toast.

At this sight, Lee-joonhyuk had no choice but to smile.

The two of them emptied their cups in a good mood.