MCT 01

Chapter 1

When I had just freshly graduated from college, I thought all companies were pretty much the same.

Of course, I knew as common sense that large conglomerates were amazing places, but I believed that any company below that tier would be practically identical.

Being the eldest of three siblings, I felt a sense of urgency. An urgency to quickly land a job and become independent.

So, I believed that as long as I got hired anywhere, I was fulfilling my duty.

I got a job immediately right after graduating from college.

It was a company located in the metropolitan area with fewer than 20 employees.

I had no grand dreams, nor did I have any desire to make full use of my major. As long as it was a company that paid my salary properly on time, anything was fine.

“Choi, you really shouldn’t go to a company recommended by a professor. It’s not even a conglomerate—it’s a small-to-medium enterprise.”

“The professor said it’s a place with high growth potential. He said I can grow right along with the company.”

“That’s just lip service. If you really go there, you’re going to suffer a lot.”

The company I currently work for was recommended by my professor when I was about to graduate from my undergraduate program.

People around me tried desperately to stop me, saying you should never go to a company recommended by a professor.

However, because of the condition that I could join immediately upon graduation… none of their words reached my ears.

“Earning money isn’t supposed to be easy anyway. I’ll be fine.”

“What are we going to do with our Chihuahua….”

“Don’t slyly call me a Chihuahua.”

For up to three months after joining, I thought I was one of the lucky ones.

While my friends were suffering through job hunting, I had become a proper member of society.

Heading off to work made me feel so proud and cool.

Only for up to three months, that is.

Yeah, right up until the probation period ended.

Looking back, there were so many red flags…….

Red flags warning me to escape from that place immediately before it was too late…….

“Wait, there was seriously a shaman sitting in your job interview?”

“Not a shaman, a physiognomist…”

“Hey, come over here and listen to this. They even read Chihuahua’s face during her interview!”

My interview story became a constant topic of gossip and ridicule in our department.

By now, even the freshmen knew about how I had my interview at a gukbap restaurant and how a physiognomist was sitting among the executive board.

Still, the physiognomist did say a lot of nice things about me.

Something about me overflowing with the good fortune of helpful people?

“She is someone who attracts noble benefactor people easily, and her face overall draws in good fortune. Her destiny is to be a self-made person, and her face shows she can expand a tiny ditch into a raging river just sitting in her seat. Put her in a place where people talk a lot.”

“We can just put her in charge of hiring people. She’ll recruit great talent and help the company grow big.”

Anyway, thanks to the physiognomist’s bizarre praise, the CEO decided to hire me right on the spot.

I was assigned to a hastily put-together management support team upon joining, which, naturally, was a one-person department.

I received my job handover from the CEO’s wife, who had been handling those related tasks until then….

And so, from the moment I joined until now, I had to handle all the company’s housekeeping by myself—human resources, accounting, general affairs, and everything else.

For a whole four years.

It took me four whole years to finally wake up and come to my senses…….

Four years to realize that this company was a famous black company, a so-called piece-of-trash company on the internet!!

They said I had great luck with people, but isn’t the professor who shoved me into a company like this actually a curse rather than a blessing?

“Assistant Manager Wawa, where are the plastic bags?”

When I snapped out of my thoughts, the dreadful reality of the office unfolded before my eyes once more.

“Geez, Department Head, it’s been so long since Choi became Team Leader, why are you still calling her Assistant Manager? Chihuahua Team Leader. Oops, my mistake. Team Leader Choi, did the CEO really say that’s all for the holiday gifts? Is that really true?”

“Team Leader Kim! If you come late, all the kitchen supplies will be gone. You said your wife told you to make sure to bring home dish soap!”

“Hold on! Anyone who’s been here less than 3 years, keep your hands off the shopping bags! The only thing you guys can touch is the styrofoam boxes! Just take some fruit!”

Naturally, the company I work for doesn’t have things like holiday gifts.

It was an annual custom to unpack gifts sent from external partners and divide them into bags to take home.

And there were far more gifts addressed to me than to the CEO.

The kitchen supplies were also sent by a business partner who found out that I personally wash the employees’ cups every morning…….

The boxes filled with fruit and the nutritional supplements were all sent to me because people said my complexion looked dark and drained.

“What’s the point of being a Team Leader in a one-person team? Assistant Manager Wawa, are there no gift certificates? I saw Assistant Manager Wawa going to get gift certificates approved by the CEO not too long ago.”

“There are some, but… they’re 1,000-won gift certificates. Will that be okay? The CEO said the maximum is five per person.”

“Five certificates… so 5,000 won?”

“Yes…. But if you take the gift certificates, you can’t take anything in the bags. The CEO said you have to choose one or the other….”

I silently watched Department Head Park walk away with a hollow expression, then resumed what I was doing.

A pen in one hand, and a job application printed out from home on top of the desk.

If I write it on a company PC, it leaves a record, so I plan to draft it on paper first and then transcribe it at home later.

That’s right. I’m going to switch jobs.

Just as the physiognomist said, the company has indeed developed immensely over the four years I worked here.

They filed many patents, their business contacts expanded, and sales grew significantly as a result.

It was all thanks to the capable former employees.

Whenever passionate, skilled, and talented people stayed and left, the company took a step forward each time.

If they had continued coming to work, becoming a mid-sized enterprise or getting listed on the stock market might not have been far off.

The important thing is that every single one of those aces left without a single exception.

“The only reason I endured this long was because the people were good. Especially because of you, Choi.”

“Who would make a company like this their forever job? Still, thanks to you, Assistant Manager, I was able to spread my wings a bit before leaving. Let’s definitely meet again. I want to work with you again.”

Even if sales increase, salaries remain frozen, and the promised performance bonuses are swept under the rug every time.

Because of the CEO’s miserly attitude, a few employees who come to work out of pure habit still think our company is poor.

“Choi, just take this as advice from a close older sister. Change jobs. There’s no answer here. It’s such a waste of your potential. Someone like you will do really well wherever you go and get much better treatment.”

With the resignation of an employee I was close with, the blinders finally fell from my eyes.

“Ask for a salary raise, and if he doesn’t grant it, leave without looking back.”

The CEO did not grant my request, and I ultimately decided to switch jobs.

The paper was white, and the letters were black.

Trying to write a résumé after several years, my rusty brain wasn’t working well.

As I wrote with the sounds of employees arguing over holiday gift distribution as background noise, the paper was soon filled with plausible-looking content.

‘Is there a company that will accept a career background like this? Even though all the people who quit said anywhere would be better than here…….’

Even if I barely manage to pass the document screening, I’m worried about the interview.

‘Hello, I’m Gong Choi. The duties I was in charge of at my previous company were… literally everything.’

“Hey, Chihuahua.”

‘I even cooked meals every morning at the company. Thanks to that, I know how to make most soups… Is this a bit too much?’

“Chihuahua! What are you thinking about so deeply? Aren’t you going to claim your gift?”

Surprised, I hurriedly scrambled the papers.

They didn’t catch me writing a résumé, did they?

“Pardon? Ah… the gifts. Division Head, you can just take my share. I’m fine. I’m a bit busy with the financial settlement……”

“Oh! No taking back your words! You always suffer a lot.”

Judging by the reaction, fortunately, it doesn’t seem like I was caught.

As I tried to shove the résumé into my bag, I suddenly noticed that the name field was filled in.

Chihuahua.

Without realizing it, I had written down what the Division Head called me.

A surge of annoyance flared up and I wanted to tear it up, but since I was going to transcribe it anyway, I left it alone.

It was almost time to leave work.

I passed the remaining time watching the people still arguing over sharing the holiday gifts.

Tick-tock.

When the minute hand of another company’s anniversary clock hanging on the wall pointed precisely at 12, I stood up from my seat.

“Huh? Assistant Manager Wawa, leaving right on the dot?”

“Ah… something urgent came up.”

In four years, I had never once left work on time.

The CEO thought that the longer you stayed at the company, the better you worked.

Normally, I would have left according to ‘CEO time,’ but now that I’m about to quit, there’s no need to do that anymore.

“I’ll be going first.”

Even though it was a completely normal thing to do, it felt like such a huge rebellion to me that I felt a tiny bit guilty.

The bus that I always had to wait a long time for arrived as soon as I walked out of the company, and I even got to sit down.

I have a feeling that today is going to be extremely lucky.

“Wow, that’s the first time I’ve seen that shop open.”

It was a shop that was always already closed by the time I left work, so I had only ever seen its doors shut.

Intending to stop by this time, I tried to pull my wallet out of my bag, when the roughly crumpled résumé popped right out of my bag.

Even though there wasn’t a breath of wind, strangely, the résumé that escaped my bag flew far away as if running away.

“Ah, where are you going!”

Embarrassed that someone might see it, I tried to quickly retrieve it, but the résumé kept inching away, just out of reach.

This bizarre chase continued all the way to the end of the alley, and just as I was finally about to catch it—

“…!”

Out of nowhere, a hole opened up in midair, and the résumé slipped right into it.

“W-What…? Am I seeing things because I’m tired?”

I froze on the spot from sheer shock, when a voice resonated from beyond the hole.

A strange voice with a tremendous echo spoke.

“I have received your résumé well. You are hired.”

Before I could even fully grasp what was happening, a massive hole opened beneath my feet.

Below was a pitch-black void where nothing could be seen.

“Eek!”

The next instant, I plunged into that void. It all happened in a split second, giving me no time to dodge.