A few more days passed.
Song Gil-ho, the department head of 【High】, once again kept an eye on the event window of 【Jungle】.
It was about 【MS Entertainment】’s boy group ‘Candy Boy’ selling their album exclusively for a week.
“When is Candy Boy, who is exclusively sold by 【Jungle】, debuting?”
“Next week.”
“Next week, huh…”
“Yes, they will debut on the popular music show on 【MBS】.”
Previously, the album of Clones sold tremendously through 【Jungle】, and since then, record labels had been scrambling to sign contracts.
Hence, it seemed they could even conduct exclusive sales a week before releasing it to retail stores.
“Why are they so confident? What if this unverified rookie group fails?”
“Indeed.”
Song Gil-ho conversed with his subordinate as if he was hoping they would fail.
If this went well too, it would make him very bitter.
So, he muttered to himself as if hypnotizing,
“It’s hard to succeed continuously. It seems like they are putting a lot of effort into this, but it won’t be like Clones this time.”
A few days later, an announcement appeared that 【Jungle】’s homepage would be revamped, giving Song Gil-ho an inexplicable sense of unease.
Sure enough, the new service that came with the revamp caught his eye.
“【Jungle Café】?”
What on earth is this?
When he moved the mouse to click on it, an earthquake seemed to shake his eyes.
“It’s a club! They are targeting PC communication clubs!”
Should he just watch this happen?
No, what would he do if he didn’t just watch?
Song Gil-ho, who was agonizing inside, called in each team leader.
Then he said,
“Starting today, don’t even dream of leaving on time.”
“What?”
“……?”
“Do you see this? 【Jungle】 copied our club.”
Saying they copied it seemed like an exaggeration, but none of the team leaders said a word.
After all, Song Gil-ho was the one who had made a fuss last time saying 【Jungle】 copied their email.
So now they couldn’t leave on time because of this?
“We leave late even when there’s no talk of not leaving on time, so hearing this means we’ll definitely be leaving at dawn.”
Since most were thinking the same, one person quickly spoke up on behalf of everyone.
“Our 【High】’s club is still strong. Celebrity fan club activities are also centered around our club. Working inefficiently because of Candy Boy who hasn’t even debuted yet seems a bit…”
“Hey, Team Leader Woo. No, Woo Sang-won!”
“Yes, department head.”
“Inefficient? What if Candy Boy succeeds as big as Clones? Will you take responsibility?”
“That’s not what I meant… It’s just that we can’t come up with a concrete plan right now…”
“Isn’t that why I’m asking you to stay and come up with one? Ah, why can’t anyone understand me? Anyway, young people these days are all like this. Back in my day…”
Hearing the start of “Back in my day,” the youngest team leader Woo Sang-won made a grimace.
He felt like he had stirred up a hornet’s nest for no reason, but his senior team leaders had actually asked him to do it before coming in.
If Song Gil-ho demanded overtime or extra work, the youngest team leader Woo Sang-won was to resist.
Eventually, he listened to his seniors but ended up being completely blacklisted by the department head.
“Damn, should I just hope Candy Boy debuts with the worst song?”
A few more days passed.
On that sunny Saturday, Candy Boy debuted.
The planning director of 【High】 must be sensitive to the entertainment industry.
This is because more than half of the club activities, bulletin boards, and chat rooms on PC communication are focused on celebrities.
So Song Gil-ho watched Candy Boy’s debut on TV with the team leaders.
“Is it just my feeling? The popularity already feels incredible.”
“No, how does 【Jungle】 know and prepare such album events in advance?”
“More than that, the change on 【Jungle】’s homepage just before Candy Boy’s debut bothers me.”
“I saw that too. The notice. It seemed like they were seriously promoting their internet café.”
Two people frowned here.
One was the youngest team leader Woo Sang-won who had taken the lead last time, and the other was Song Gil-ho.
The latter visibly frowned, silently pressuring the employees to be quiet.
At the same time, he recalled a new phrase from 【Jungle】.
- 【Jungle】, which presented a new form of album sales with Shin Sung-hoon and Clones, is now leading the fan club culture.
For some reason, he had a feeling that the fan club culture for celebrities would be systematically organized through internet cafés.
It was a cause for concern.
“Is this going to be a real war?”
After watching the broadcast, he started scolding the team leaders again.
“You guys might have to give up your Sundays for a while.”
“But tomorrow is…”
“So? You don’t want to?”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Understood…”
“Sigh, what a mess because of 【Jungle】.”
Veteran employees could at least vent and complain, but the youngest team leader Woo Sang-won had a fleeting look of death on his face.
It was understandable since this situation had repeated itself every time a competitor appeared in the PC communication industry.
Overtime, special work, weekend work.
Today, Saturday, was no different.
They should have left by midnight, but now it’s five in the afternoon.
“Damn, at this rate, I wonder if I’ll ever date again.”
He had already broken up with his girlfriend a long time ago due to work.
To start a new relationship, he needed free time, but now weekend work was scheduled…
“Should I really change jobs?”
The information and communication industry he envisioned was not like this.
Creativity, leisure, and freedom.
But the cyber space where one could be connected 24/7 was strangling Woo Sang-won.
Even though they had meetings late into Saturday night and gave up Sunday mornings and afternoons, there was no breakthrough.
It was expected.
Who could come up with brilliant ideas when they didn’t want to work?
The more annoying situation was that the next day was Monday.
And maybe because he overworked on the weekend, Woo Sang-won caught a severe summer cold that even dogs wouldn’t catch.
With great determination, he picked up the phone and called a senior team leader.
“Sir, I think I’ll be a bit late today after stopping by the hospital.”
(What?)
The senior team leader’s incredulous reaction came through the receiver.
(Fine, come quickly. You know that if you’re not here, I’ll have to do your work too, right?)
Couldn’t he just tell him to go and come back quickly?
Woo Sang-won sighed after hanging up the phone.
“I really want to quit.”
Could he endure this job feeling like a nightmare every day?
No matter how much he thought about it, he felt this place was not right for him.
In the end, he submitted his resignation letter to department head Song Gil-ho that day,
“Why do young people these days have no patience?”
“……”
“Alright, get out.”
He didn’t even try to stop him.
“Not that I expected it, but it’s still disappointing.”
Leaving the office with that feeling, he somehow felt abandoned.
No matter if he stayed or quit, he couldn’t help feeling dirty.
At that moment, a name suddenly came to his mind.
“Come to think of it, 【Jungle】 said they were hiring developers.”
Woo Sang-won recalled the notice that said, “365 days a year, contact us anytime.”
The reason it came to mind now was because of a mix of complex emotions.
A desire to board a rising company with fiery momentum.
A feeling to prove his worth and give a middle finger to his now former company, 【High】.
Rumors that 【Jungle】’s working environment was different, etc.
So when he got home, he turned on his computer and looked into it in detail. It said they would contact him immediately if he sent his resume via email.
He didn’t spend long in deliberation.
Woo Sang-won quickly wrote his resume.
He also attached a cover letter, filled with emotions rather than reason since he wrote it right after quitting his job.
After sending it, he realized,
“I wrote the cover letter too emotionally.”
It was filled with nuances that he wanted to change jobs because of the inefficient working environment with overtime, special work, and weekend work.
“Sigh.”
He thought he should give up on getting a response.
It seemed like he would come across as someone with a lot of complaints.
But unexpectedly, he received a response the next day.
They asked him to come for an interview.
“What’s going on?”
With that feeling, he went and was greeted by a man who introduced himself with a friendly smile.
“My name is Lee Hyun-woo, the CEO of this company.”
He then began to introduce the company,
“Our company has an eight-hour workday. Saturdays are four hours.”
“Ah, yes…”
“But due to the nature of our industry, we felt the need to introduce night, holiday, or Sunday work.”
Of course.
Isn’t this the same as 【High】?
But the following content was completely different.
“So we decided to expand our staff and exclude those who work nights, Sundays, or holidays from Saturday work.”
“……?”
“In other words, working forty hours a week.”
“Forty hours? Then, what about the ‘pay’?”
Unconsciously blurting that out, Woo Sang-won realized he had made a mistake again.
In Korea, asking openly about money doesn’t usually leave a good impression.
He quickly tried to rectify it.
“Oh, I… I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize. It’s natural to know about the working conditions and salary. The developer’s salary starts at 500,000 won.”
“Oh… yes, 500,000 won?”
“But since you have experience, I’d like to set it at double, 1,000,000 won. What do you think?”
“……”
Woo Sang-won momentarily held his breath.
“A million? In this small company that’s not even a conglomerate?”
How could he not like it?
A million won was about three times the salary of a friend who recently passed the level 9 civil service exam.
And it was for working only forty hours a week, which seemed unbelievable.
“But you need to prove your ability within the given time. Otherwise, it will affect your annual salary increase factors during re-contracting.”
“Ah, yes…”
“Anyway, our internet café is getting great responses. Since Candy Boy’s debut, numerous fans have been joining and participating in café activities every day.”
This was something Woo Sang-won had confirmed over the past few days.
Before coming, he had looked into 【Jungle】’s website. Apart from auctions and shopping, the newly revamped internet café already felt packed with netizens.
“So we are prioritizing hiring experienced developers, and we would like you, Woo Sang-won, to make a decision soon.”
“Yes? Then does this mean I can start working at 【Jungle】 right away?”
Even with continuous questions, Lee Hyun-woo kept nodding with a friendly smile.
“You are lucky. Recently, when we were hiring for sales, supplies, and marketing, there were hundreds of applicants.”
“Ah, yes… haha…”
“I don’t know about other things, but especially your knowledge of search engines caught my interest. We needed more specialized personnel for that.”
Why would they need such personnel?
Obviously, they had a portal site in mind.
