Obviously, she was Nami.

How can Hyunwoo date Nami?

Sangho and Minhye couldn’t take their eyes off Hyunwoo.

Hyunwoo and Nami finished and stood up.

As if she was so happy with Hyunwoo, she quickly came beside him and hugged his arms, and Hyunwoo avoided her skinship. Still, she came close to him as if she was acting charming. It looked like she was obviously head over heels in love with him.

Looking at them, Minhye suddenly recalled what her father said to her.

Assistant Manager Jang helped me think outside the box. I used to feel that those who didn’t go to college showed their character by that because they didn’t do their duty and study hard enough to go. See one and you’ve seen them all. Such a person can’t do their duty no matter where they work.

That’s why I always put your potential groom’s academic background before anything else. Regardless of intelligence, they did their duty and studied hard during their school days, but Hyunwoo was not in that category.

I found out that he didn’t go to college because he didn’t do his duty but because he thought it his duty to restore his family fortunes instead of going to college.

In my opinion, he is a great talent. He’s a hundred times better than Sangho, Yonggu or Younghwan Koh of the production team, so keep an eye on him. Don’t hold any prejudice against him just because he’s a high-school graduate. Try to find out his true self.

When her father said that, it was only a blurred sound in her eyes. Though she recognized there was something special about Hyunwoo, she still thought he could not be her groom, but she began to think differently now.

Looks like Hyunwoo has lots of secrets that I don’t know. He might be a great guy, she thought to herself.

Suddenly, she felt a strong desire to win and take away Hyunwoo from Nami.

If somebody could read her mind, he might say “this is not her competitive desire, but her jealousy.”

Minhye would not deny it, but she felt increasingly attracted to him. She wanted to reveal all the secrets that Hyunwoo had one by one.

***

Hyunwoo showed a perplexed look on his face, “Oh my god! Can we skip this?”

Manager Youngsu Park shook his head sternly, “No way.”

His team members had lots of expectation, too. Everybody was ready to ready to set off firecrackers as they looked at Hyunwoo.

Hyunwoo looked at the brightly colored cone hat.

Suji Min came forward and pressed on, “Why are you hesitating? Please put on it quickly.”

Then, she took the hat and put it on Hyunwoo’s head.

“Done. Let’s start.”

His team members sang the birthday song for him while clapping. Youngsu, the senior of the team members, sang with the most energy. Though he was serious and solemn as a rule, he was like a child on an occasions like this.

Sure, it’ll be done in a minute, Hyunwoo thought to himself.

Struggling to overcome his awkwardness, Hyunwoo blew out the candles as loud clapping and firecrackers rang through the room.

Sangho, reluctantly, seemed to bring a gift, too, “Congrats!”

“Thanks, Mr. Oh. Thanks, everyone.”

Clapping, Youngsu led the atmosphere, “As today is Hyunwoo’s birthday, I can’t spend today without doing anything. Let me treat you guys to dinner this evening.”

Compared with his former self, Youngsu had become a completely different man. He dealt with not only Hyunwoo and Yonggu but also other team members comfortably.

Of course, whenever Youngsu found out that his team members didn’t do their job properly, he showed his sternness like before, but he took a break from his former practice of harassing them like before.

In particular, the atmosphere of the get-together dinner was different. In the past, he aggressively passed the cup around as if he wanted to control them even there, but these days he only had them refill the cup twice. They were supposed to drink the first cup all at once, but they could do whatever they wanted to do with their second cup.

What’s more surprising was that Youngsu left the place early after paying the bill.

Youngsu owed Hyunwoo many thanks for his advice and wanted to change his working style. In the past, he tried to control his staff, but he didn’t do it anymore because he was more confident as a manager. He even coveted a higher manager position.

His uncle and president Daebong’s continued advice was helpful, too.

You’re doing fine now, but you’ve got only 95 out of 100. You’ll get 100 only when you mingle with your team members. Do good not only to the managers but also to your staff. Then, you’ll get 120.

Of course, he couldn’t flatter his team members to score 100. He wanted to find some nice way while keeping his auth ority, so he asked for Hyunwoo’s advice quietly.

“How can I command the team members’ respect? Not out of fear but out of genuine respect?”

Hyunwoo replied confidently, “Well, all you need to know is when to treat them harshly and nicely, respectively.”

In other words, he should treat them harshly enough to make them cry drops of tears when needed but treat them nicely enough so that they could do whatever they wanted when necessary. It was something Youngsu could never dare to imagine in the past, but he was different now.

He felt confident because his role firmly at Aurum was firmly established, and nobody would think of him as a surplus man at the company. Thanks to his confidence, he was sort of indifferent to the staff’s minor complaints. Whenever he heard such complaints, he just didn’t care and let them complain.

Hyunwoo also gave him a piece of advice about the get-together dinner.

“Can I speak to you about it honestly?”

“Of course.”

“The best get-together dinners for the team members happens when the manager leaves at a proper time after paying the bill. They will be thankful to you.”

“Hummm… they’re going to complain about me behind my back,” said Youngsu.

“Probably. Even the best manager can’t avoid that. As a matter of fact, that’s why they have such get-together dinners to vent their complaints, isn’t it?”

Youngsu accepted Hyunwoo’s advice 100%.

As soon as Youngu was done with eating, he quietly stood up,”Let me leave now.”

“Oh, are you leaving that early?”

“Don’t complain too much about me. Just some nice words about me sometimes. Let me pay the bill in return.”

“Thanks so much!”

Youngu left the place, and the team members had a great time among themselves, drinking and chatting away. Though Sangho, who was not yet familiar with the atmosphere, left early, nobody cared as it was normal for him.

Hyunwoo treated them to beer at the second place.

Though he wanted to treat them at the third and fourth place, he couldn’t because of the constant ringing on his mobile phone. It was all text messages and calls congratulating him on his birthday.

Among them was an unexpected person.

Happy Birthday, Deputy Manager Hyunwoo.

Sent by Minhye

Huh? Manager Minhye?

Hyunwoo wondered how she could have found out about his birthday and was perplexed at her text message to him. No matter how hard he thought about why, he couldn’t figure it out.

He couldn’t ignore her message for that reason.

Thank you. Thanks for remembering my birthday.

Her reply was rather embarrassing to Hyunwoo, For your reference, my birthday is Sept. 3.

Hyunwoo was kind of in a daze. He could understand the situation if someone he knew well sent such a message, but he couldn’t figure out how to respond to the way she was acting so friendly to him out of the blue.

When Hyunwoo was sitting with a blank look on his face, Yonggu peeked at the message on his mobile phone.

“Why are you sitting like that?”

Hyunwoo felt a prick in his heart at his question because he knew how Yonggu thought of Minhye. If something went wrong, he might misunderstand Hyunwoo, so Hyunwoo just showed him the text message from Minhye.

“Manager Minhye Park sent me a congratulatory message out of the blue, and she reminded me that her birthday was Sept. 3. What am I supposed to make of her message?”

“Isn’t she interested in you?” said Yonggu casually.

Thinking that Younggu didn’t feel casual about it, Hyunwoo had to reply in a way that would not offend Yonggu, “Oh, no way. How could she get interested in a high school graduate like me? And I love ordinary women like Suji. Where can I find a woman like you?”

“What? Am I ordinary? When I leave the office, there are lots of guys following me.”

“Yes, you’re right. I agree you’re more than beautiful than an ordinary beauty. Hahaha”

Fortunately, Yonggu smiled broadly, but Hyunwoo could not keep smiling as much as he liked because he received calls and text messages almost every five minute.

Yonggu giggled at that, “I envy you, man. You didn’t spend your life in vain.”

“I agree. I’ve never seen anyone receive so many congratulatory calls as you.”

Hyunwoo scratched his head, “I’m sorry. I can’t turn off my phone, though.”

“Oh, no. We all envy you.”

That was true. They all looked at him with envious look.

At that moment, Yonggu stood up, “I have to leave now. I’m afraid we shouldn’t hold him any more. Let’s split up.”

“Oh,no. Let me treat you at the third place,” said Hyunwoo, but they’re already set to leave.

Hyunwoo had no other choice but to leave.

When he arrived home and checked the time, it was already 9 pm. He found a very unexpected guest at home when he entered. She was a college student with girlish face.

“How are you?”

“Who are you…?”

Though she was familiar to him, Hyunwoo could not figure out who she was.

Suddenly, he recalled a certain face in his mind.

“Are you Jungah?”

“Yes, I’m. Did I put on that much makeup?” she asked with a bashful smile.

“Oh, no, no. I momentarily didn’t recognize you because you’re so beautiful. I know you’re beautiful, but you’re so much more stunning now. I wonder if you’re taking part in the Miss Korea contest.”

“Miss Korea? Oh no, how can I…?”

Jungah’s face became brighter. Anyway even a slight mention of beauty was pleasing to any woman.

“By the way, how come you’re here at this hour? What about attending your class?”

“Today is your birthday, so I just decided to forget my class tomorrow morning and came here to see you.”

“Because of my birthday?”

Hyunwoo’s face hardened a bit at her remarks. That meant she knew he had been supporting her financially. Jungah presented a gift to him that looked like a frame, given its shape and size.

“It’s my gift to you. Please open it.”

When he opened it, he found a picture. It was a character sketch but it was not detailed.

“I made a character sketch based on your features. I spent a lot of time on it, but I’m still lacking in many aspects.”

“Wow! It’s great. I think you were right to choose this as your major. Thanks so much. This is the first time I have received a gift like this.”

Hyunwoo spoke highly of Jungah’s picture. She gave him a satisfied smile, and then, she hesitated a bit with a serious look on her face and lowered her head deeply to him.

“Sir, I really appreciate your help.”