After the ordeal, Woosung sat down. He proved his skills, so no one bothered him. It felt strange coming back to his old job.

‘It was difficult then but now… it’s different.’

His time at Daesan System was the hardest time of Woosung’s life.

After the development of the next generation system by Nuri Finances, they worked on what they commonly called the spaghetti code. The program itself worked well but spaghetti code meant that the programmers found it difficult to understand its code.

It used to take Woosung late nights before he could interpret and fix the bugs and incorporate any feedback from the outsourcing company. But that was when Woosung was inexperienced. The thing he ever made using MFC (Microsoft Foundation Classes: C++ language and Windows application programming interface classes bundled in a software application development library.) was a simple online notice board.

HTS program with its hundreds of functions was an impossible territory for Woosung back then.

‘But that was 10 years ago. I used to have to work till morning for months and get home by cab. I also had to work on weekends to check the codes.’

Woosung’s eyes sparkled as he looked at the codes now.

‘But now, that’s unnecessary.’

He would continue to work in this company but would also try to make more money on the side. He also had to improve his programming skills. He planned on testing his skills one by one on the Nuri Finances system.

He planned on making his own cryptocurrency dealer to aid his revenge. He swore to bring them down from the top. He would make sure they suffer the pain worse than death for the rest of their lives.

‘Just you wait.’

Woosung promised himself.

***

3 pm.

In 2008, the stock market closed at 3 pm. When it closed, workers could relax at last. Yoon Gihwan asked Park Junwoo to join him for coffee and smoke. He asked.

“What do you think? Is it really true that the newbie did it all by himself?”

Park Junwoo sipped on his coffee and answered.

“Yes, I checked it and it’s true. He is amazing. He could perform the development environment setting and debugging perfectly.”

“That’s strange…. Why would someone like him apply to our company?”

“I saw his resume, and he… didn’t graduate from a good school. Maybe that’s why?”

“Well, I guess. You need to graduate from top universities in Seoul to get into the major companies.”

Park Junwoo continued to drink his coffee and said with a frown.

“But there is something strange. I think no one showed him how to find the files with server address and SVN account information… but he found them easily. How could he…”

Yoon Gihwan inhaled his cigarette deep and gave a lazy answer.

“He said he came by before to say hello. Someone probably showed him then. Based on what we saw of his skills, I don’t think we need to hire any more help, right?”

Park Junwoo disagreed quickly.

“He’s a fresh graduate. He may have done well today, but we can’t be sure he would continue to perform well. Do you know how much work we have to do here? We’ve been working nonstop, day and night, for months now.”

“I know, but the headquarters keep telling me they can’t hire people anymore. You know, our company isn’t doing well right now.”

“And that’s why I have been patient but only one new employee? We can’t do this again.”

Yoon Gihwan inhaled deeply and answered.

“It’s not that bad, Manager Park. I promise that as soon as we finish this project, we would hire one more. So please be patient a little while longer.”

Park Junwoo sighed. He crumpled and threw away his paper cup. He thought of his wife and his new baby and bit his lips.

“This is really the last time.”

“I promise. You are being difficult today.”

Yoon Gihwan frowned and Park Junwoo became quiet. The atmosphere was becoming tense. Yoon Gihwan patted Park Junwoo’s shoulder.

“I know how hard you work. We have to get through this and the headquarters will help us out.”

Yoon Gihwan inhaled his cigarette again.

“All right,”

“Just a bit longer,”

Yoon Gihwan left to return to the office.

***

At 6:30pm, Woosung stood up.

“Manager, it’s time to go home.”

Park Junwoo looked at Woosung in confusion. Woosung said the same thing to Kim Yonggun.

“Assistant manager, it’s time to leave. Why aren’t you getting ready to go home?”

Yoon Gihwan said in annoyance.

“Hey, newbie! Are you crazy? You said you would create a test code. There is no way you finished it.”

“I completed about 15% of it. I will finish it in one week. If you can’t believe it, have a look yourself.”

“What?”

“You know how to check a test code, right? You are the general manager, so this should be easy for you.”

Yoon Gihwan reddened at Woosung’s challenge. Park Junwoo watched nervously. Kim Yonggun stepped in.

“We-ell, it IS time to go home. We should all leave. General manager, you should get home too. We’ll all go home early for once and have dinner with our family.”

To Kim Yonggun’s gesture, Park Junwoo also stood up. Yoon Gihwan looked at him and asked.

“Manger Park, did you fix all the bugs from today? How about the requests from the outsourcing company? There are so many things to fix by the end of today. Or are you willing to work overnights starting tomorrow?”

Woosung answered instead.

“We can work on number 43, 44, 45, and 46 of today’s bug report together tomorrow. No one wrote the request letter yet. We will need to have a meeting with the outsourcing company tomorrow to sort it out.”

Woosung grabbed his briefcase.

“Unless you, General manager, can explain the report. You must understand it better than any of us. If you can, then I will give you a schedule of when the development requests finish. I think Park Junwoo would agree with me. Right?”

Park Junwoo stuttered to Woosung’s unexpected question.

“Y-yes. I think that sounds right.”

Woosung bowed to Yoon Gihwan sitting in the inner corner of the office.

“Well then, I assume that’s it? I will see you tomorrow.”

Following Woosung, Park Junwoo and Kim Yonggun left quickly. Before Yoon Gihwan could say anything, the three left the office.