Surviving Restructuring

“Boss! Is that a new employee you recruited?” an employee asked.

Soeju was flustered. “No.”

“You brought in someone incredible!”

“I said no!”

The Automatic Engraving Machine, which was perfected over decades of improvements, had to be abandoned. Choosing to engrave by hand when they had pinnacle, cutting-edge technology lying around did sound insane.

Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch...

Moreover, Eun-Ho only used a fountain pen.

The employee asked again, “Then what in the world is that supposed to be? Did our pens always have a function like that?”

“He’s infusing it with Sword Aura,” Soeju explained.

Sword Aura carried a power no machine could ever replicate. Combined with dexterity pushed to its absolute limit, it produced a technique bordering on artistry.

Soeju’s employees stopped what they were doing and stared blankly.

“S-sorry?”

“I can’t even see his hand!”

Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch...

Eun-Ho’s brow furrowed deeply as he concentrated. His eyes were wide, as if he refused to miss even a single stroke. A bead of sweat slid down along his jawline. He wasn’t even aware that dozens of eyes were fixed on him.

“Whoa, he actually engraved all three! Durability, defense, and evasion rate!”

Eun-Ho had done it, the madness of beating a machine with bare hands.

“And it’s flawless!”

“I don’t know if it’s appropriate to say this, but that man is terrifyingly thorough.”

“Shouldn’t we scout him? He looks normal, but just a little crazy—no, I mean, he’d be perfect for our shop.”

However, Eun-Ho wasn’t done. Setting down a ring with a large black gemstone, he then began engraving directly onto the gem. The pattern was so intricate, it was barely three centimeters across.

“Eek! He’s engraving a pattern onto that tiny ring?!”

“He said it’s an invisibility pattern! He says he’s testing how small he can go.”

“This is insane! His eyesight is incredible!”

Not long after, Eun-Ho actually pulled it off. The employees, who had been whispering about just what kind of person he was, began raising their voices.

“Who cares what he does?! He's a talent we need!”

“We have to bring him in. Absolutely!”

Who would have thought the man who said he’d tear the company apart had this kind of skill?

What a waste.

“Ha...” As Soeju smacked his lips in regret, Eun-Ho also completed his absurd achievement.

“Is there anything else?” he asked, pushing back his sweat-soaked hair.

However, there was nothing left to engrave.

Just as Soeju was about to tell Eun-Ho to stop getting greedy, Eun-Ho pitched in some ideas. “I’ll draw up a few designs for you. I think it’d be good to engrave two patterns each and sell them to VIPs.”

The ideas were meant for Soeju instead of Eun-Ho himself.

“Pardon?”

“Oh, and if you make them limited editions, you can charge a premium.”

“Limited editions?”

“Yes. Don’t you have something to commemorate?”

“Boss, you were promoted to Team Leader!”

“That’s perfect. A team leader promotion commemorative edition.”

As the conversation flowed naturally, Eun-Ho’s hands moved just as smoothly, like a flowing river.

“Boss! We just finished a new shield design. Should we use this one?”

Soeju was still trying to catch up. “Huh?”

The employee handed the design over to Eun-Ho. “Here you go!”

“Thank you,” Eun-Ho replied.

Ha.

The same employees who dragged their feet until the very end whenever Soeju assigned them work now moved in perfect unison at a single word from Eun-Ho. Hearts were practically glowing in their eyes. It was absurd, but what could he do?

If someone was offering help, he had to accept it graciously. “Then... Maybe ten pieces for the promotion—”

Eun-Ho cut him off and asked incredulously, “Who’s that going to be enough for?”

“What? Then what?”

“Let’s do a hundred. With serial numbers.”

This Eun-Ho fellow had bigger hands than Soeju expected.

People would definitely be thrilled to hear about limited-edition shields with two engravings...

Still, Soeju was a craftsman before he was a businessman. Regaining his razor-sharp rationality, he politely refused. “Even if it’s you, Eun-Ho, engraving a hundred would take the entire day. I called you to help you and I’d feel bad making you do that much.”

“Oh, in that case...”

Why does he sound like he’d been waiting for that?

“I have quite a few people depending on me. Would it be alright if I asked for help?”

Of course. He probably preemptively played that card because he felt awkward asking for more. So that was his plan from the start, Soeju thought.

Eun-Ho deliberately created an atmosphere that made it hard for Soeju to refuse. Soeju had seen right through his cunning little scheme, and now what? Letting it slide with a smile was his only choice.

Soeju smiled. “Bring them all. Even your in-laws’ eighth cousins.”

***

It was 9:00 PM, well past quitting time. They returned to the log cabin.

“Whoa! It’s so bright!” someone shouted.

As Eun-Ho pushed open the heavy door, the people who had returned earlier greeted him by blowing imaginary trumpets with their mouths.

“Cry out, God Eun-Ho! Woooo!”

“This was your idea, right?”

“Yeah,” Eun-Ho replied.

Park Gong-Chan strode over and suddenly thrust out his hand for a handshake. Wondering what this was about, Eun-Ho clasped it. The man broke into a wide grin and pointed at the mesh vest worn over his soccer uniform. At the center of it was a large circle.

“The ball pops right out,” Park Gong-Chan said cheerfully. “Thanks to this, I won’t ever have to sit out a fight just because I’ve got nothing to kick.”

His main skill was Shoot. There was nothing suitable for him to kick back in the desert, making him unable to join the combat team. Believing that every member’s strength would be precious from here on out, Eun-Ho personally created the so-called Marble Launcher Vest.

“Apparently, it gets harder the farther it flies. You should test it out sometime,” Eun-Ho said.

“I already did,” Park Gong-Chan replied with a grin. “Look at the wall.”

“The wall?”

He tapped the log cabin wall lightly with his knuckles. “It broke, so I had to repair it.”

“Sounds like the performance is legit.”

If it had been strong enough to collapse a log cabin wall with defense options applied, that said it all.

“Yeah. Makes me feel like I could smash anything that comes at me.”

After exchanging another thankful handshake, Park Gong-Chan moved away.

From behind him, someone who had been hovering hesitantly stepped forward. “Thanks for the shoes.”

It was Jang Han-Il, a perennial second-place finisher who started strong but tended to give up as soon as he was overtaken even once.

“Do you like them?” Eun-Ho asked.

“Yeah. A lot.”

Jang Han-Il’s shoes, too, had been fitted with the best possible option for their current situation. If this had been track and field, Eun-Ho would have chosen something that boosted mid-to-late Stamina.

“I added a booster,” Eun-Ho explained. “I figured all you need is a good start.”

“A good start?” Jang Han-Il repeated.

This was not a race.

“You’re not going to give up halfway through when your life’s on the line,” Eun-Ho said.

Jang Han-Il froze, looking as though he had been struck on the back of the head. He nodded slowly, his expression resolute. “That’s right.”

After clenching and unclenching his fists a few times, as if deep in thought, Jang Han-Il walked off.

“Doesn’t this mean we’re basically a complete team now?” Jae-Hyuk asked excitedly.

The cleaning lady, who had been listening quietly, eagerly chimed in. “Hoo, you kids are the best! Who would’ve thought I’d enjoy luxury like this at my age?”

“Haha, luxury is a bit much,” Eun-Ho replied.

“I’m telling you! You just swish open the path and swish lay everything out. It felt like renting out an entire department store just to shop!”

“Also, Swear-Master, I thought you said you’d done a lot of shopping before,” Eun-Ho said.

“I have! The old man even hired one of those personal shoppers for me.”

“Then why are you grinning so hard?”

“Because, damn it, I’ve never looked this cool in my life!”

Eun-Ho’s wrist was still throbbing from engraving thousands of patterns. And yet, he was not tired at all, which he found was the strangest part.

***

Crackle, crackle.

With the sound of firewood burning in the fireplace as background noise, the long day finally came to an end. Eun-Ho’s eyelids were threatening to close after the relentless schedule, but there was a reason he had made Min Yeo-Jin sit down, and even handed her a cup of cocoa.

“You worked hard today, Mister,” Yeo-Jin said. “I thought you’d come straight back after finishing Employee A’s trial. I had no idea you were preparing all this.”

“You worked hard too,” Eun-Ho replied. “Thanks to you buying time, I was able to track things down right away.”

“Whew, you have no idea how scary it was. The observers kept calling me frustrating and cursing me nonstop...”

There was still one last thing to take care of today.

“Alright, then you’ll need to log back in with a different nickname now.”

“Huh? I have to go back in again?”

“Yeah.” He had been too busy to explain earlier. “You’re the manager of that room now.”

Min Yeo-Jin’s eyes widened. “Me?”

“There’s not much you need to do. Just organize whatever comes up about the observers, share any issues with the team, and keep the atmosphere under control.”

“Ugh, but the people in there are seriously scary...” Yeo-Jin muttered quietly, then avoided his gaze and took small sips of her hot chocolate.

She had likely been pretty shaken today.

“I’ll make you a private room in the underground fortress.” Thus, he played the card he had prepared in case she refused. “You can monitor broadcasts there and sleep alone.”

For a high school girl cast into a harsh world and made to live among dozens of others, nothing was more tempting than a space entirely her own.

Yeo-Jin took the bait. “It’s a studio and a bedroom?! Then can I decorate it however I want?”

“Of course. I’ll give you purchasing authority for the whole day tomorrow, so look up any furniture you might want in advance.”

“Yaaaay!” Yeo-Jin leaned forward eagerly, her eyes sparkling. “Well! What should I put in there? A bed and desk are a must, and I want a small sofa and a tea table too!”

“You’re that happy?”

“Yes! Of course!”

It had been a good call to ask Sol-Ah in advance. As expected, the first step in sales was understanding one’s customer.

“Oh, right. There’s one thing I’d like you to look into first once the studio’s set up.”

“Just say the word! What is it?”

He slipped in her first assignment while she was still in a good mood. “First...”

“That’s true. The way the Personnel Bureau has been moving is suspicious, and that sneaky bastard in sales doesn’t sit right with me either.”

“The sneaky bastard in sales?”

“The one we met at the restaurant back then.”

Just like Soeju had said, it was better to be prepared just in case.

“That’s about it. That’s all.”

The brief explanation and detailed instructions came to an end. By then, Yeo-Jin had already drained her hot chocolate.

She set the cup down, clasped her hands together as if in prayer, and asked eagerly, “Mister! Mister! Then if I hurry and investigate that, can you give me a bigger room?”

“A bigger room?”

“Yes! I’ll ask Yoon Sol-Ah, and if she’s okay with it, I want to sleep together. She’s secretly kind of timid. She’ll probably be scared if she has to sleep alone.”

That much was doable. He had already planned to give her a larger room anyway, since it was meant to function as both a studio and a private room.

“Alright. Once you’re done, send it over,” Eun-Ho instructed.

“Yes sir!”

Everything had gone smoothly. Thinking that, Eun-Ho lightly patted Yeo-Jin on the head and stood up. “Let’s sleep. It’s late.”

“Haa, I’ve already slept enough today.”

“You still have to sleep if you want to grow taller.”

“Ugh.”

Even though he was worn out, he thought things could not be more peaceful than this.

Bang—

Just then, a noise tore through that peaceful moment.

“Huh?”

It was 10:45 PM and at this hour, nothing was welcome except food delivery.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Someone was pounding on the log cabin door so violently that it sounded like they wanted to break it down.

“Who is—”

“Shh.”

There was no time to assess the situation because the door shattered.

“Eek!”

A dozen or so burly men tore off what remained of the broken door and stormed inside. Dressed head to toe in black suits, each of them carried a blue box as they invaded his home.

“We’re from the Inspection Bureau,” one of them said.

“That’s a rather rude introduction,” Eun-Ho replied coolly.

Then, they got straight to the point. “We received a report that you engaged in improper sales targeting elderly customers.”

In other words, illegal business practice.

If there’s anyone who’d spew this kind of nonsense, there’s only one possibility.

“Team Leader Lee Eun-Ho, please come with us.”

So this is how he wants to play it.