Chapter 7

It's inconceivable for a junior researcher to berate their superior. After all, a manager in a regular company is almost at the level of an assistant manager.

But Ji Seohyun was an exception.

A super genius who swept all the national hacking competitions during her college years, despite attending a local university.

She even led her university to third place in the world in an international college programming competition with a fully automated script for breeding land turtles.

She chose to attend a local university solely because she didn't want to study for the college entrance exam.

In any case, due to her impressive background, she was a sought-after talent, with major companies lining up to recruit her even before she graduated.

Now, she is responsible for a significant portion of the development at HanSol Innovation's software development team. How impressive is that?

To be honest, although Jung Woo is her mentor in terms of overall company life, he learns more from her in terms of development.

In fact, even if the entire development team worked together, they couldn't match Ji Seohyun's programming skills.

'Back then, I couldn't understand why such a genius would come to this small company.'

In any case, Ji Seohyun joined the software development team, and Jung Woo became her mentor.

And he discovered something.

Ji Seohyun's fatal flaw.

'She has absolutely no social skills.'

She had no concept of an organization or superiors. She spoke informally and her working hours were erratic.

How else could she have created a macro to automatically handle simple daily tasks during working hours and then played games, claiming she had finished all her work?

'Frankly, that was a reason for termination.'

If Jung Woo hadn't covered for her, she would have been fired.

Of course, the current Ji Seohyun has grown a lot since then.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

"… I should cancel that."

"What are you going to cancel?"

"Nothing."

"…?"

Ignoring Ji Seohyun, who was staring at him with her large eyes, puzzled, he entered the office.

The office, which he hadn't seen in three years, looked exactly the same as before.

It had the atmosphere of a regular office, not a typical researcher's lab. This was because, although the software development team was under the research institute, they were more like 'development researchers' rather than typical researchers.

Since their main tasks were managing data and programming, sitting in front of computers coding was their daily routine, which was a natural scene.

When he entered the office, the engineers, who had apparently just finished lunch, were holding cups of coffee.

The team leader, Park Hakgi, greeted them.

"Did you all have a good lunch?"

"Yes, we had a set meal nearby."

"Really? We had pork cutlet."

"Is that the new Japanese pork cutlet place nearby? I wanted to go there."

"The special pork cutlet there is amazing. It's so tender…."

"Yeah, I wish I had gone with you, Senior, and Seohyun."

The employee who responded to Park's question subtly glanced at Ji Seohyun. It was obvious that he had a crush on her. The person in question was Yang Gyu-cheol, Jung Woo's senior and a colleague.

'Now that I think about it, he's here too.'

Yang Gyu-cheol, who was a year older than Jung Woo, was remembered as a rude person who spoke informally to his colleagues because of his age. Not only was his personality not good, but his development skills were not outstanding either, so his reputation among his peers was not great. However, he was always present at drinking parties and had built many connections, which earned him favor from the upper management.

'But he betrayed that favor.'

Although it hasn't happened yet, Yang Gyu-cheol will later leak company secrets to the outside and flee to a foreign country, causing the company to go bankrupt and be sold to Daehan Chemical.

In other words, Yang Gyu-cheol was a notorious scumbag and criminal.

And now, that notorious scumbag was looking at Ji Seohyun with a friendly face and subtle glances.

Fortunately, she seemed oblivious.

"I don't like pork cutlet."

"Seohyun, you're unique. Don't most young people like pork cutlet?"

"That's a hasty generalization. It's time to get back to work."

Ji Seohyun's words naturally ended the lunchtime chat.

An awkward silence fell over the office, but given her unique character, everyone seemed to accept it.

Team Leader Park clapped his hands.

"Right. When did lunch end? Let's get to work."

"Team Leader, the CS team said they have a claim and asked us to check JIRA."

"What's the issue?"

"The battery coater we supplied to Daehan is having an error, and it seems to be an issue with our script."

"It's strange for a battery coater, which rarely malfunctions, to have an error. Alright, I understand. Senior, can you and Seohyun check the CS JIRA?"

"Yes."

Jung Woo, who had been silent, was suddenly involved.

Was this the first task after his regression?

Lunchtime had been relaxed, but once work started, the office was filled with the sound of busy keyboards and phone calls for coordination.

Jung Woo awkwardly went to his desk and booted up his computer.

How long had it been since he last used a company computer? He logged in with a hazy memory of the password and opened JIRA. At that moment, his deputy, Ji Seohyun, leaned over from the next desk.

"Senior, do you need help?"

"Huh? Help with what?"

"You had trouble using JIRA, didn't you? I'll show you."

"Oh, I see. I thought something else."

JIRA and Confluence, known as JIRA Confluence, were enterprise programs that facilitated the tracking of various projects and workflows within the company.

In simple terms, they helped record who, when, where, and how an issue was received, interpreted, and resolved, essentially building a database and algorithm for the company's processes.

However, Jung Woo, who was used to the old, informal way of handling tasks, had struggled to adapt to the newly introduced JIRA at the time.

Not anymore.

"I'm fine. I know how to use it now."

"Really? How?"

"Just… I got the hang of it."

After leaving SungWoon Innovation, he continued to work as a database manager and developer until just before his regression. With all the experience he had, how could he not know how to use this program?

Jung Woo skillfully opened the project and checked the bug issue.

"The coating thickness was input as 0.1, but the result was 1, making the product too thick and messy? It sounds like a coding error."

"… You're already proficient."

Ji Seohyun muttered, looking at the monitor.

"Huh? What did you say, Seohyun?"

"You learn programs quickly. You must be a genius, Senior."

She's exaggerating. She looks sleepy, probably from post-lunch drowsiness.

"Stop saying weird things. Let's focus on the work."

"… Yes."

"From what I see, there's no reason for the thickness data, which was fine before, to suddenly malfunction. It seems there's a conflict with other data. What do you think?"

"I agree. It seems to be an issue with the function or action switch, not the thickness variable. I'll check that."

"Okay."

"… I found it."

"Huh? Already?"

"The return value part is commented out, so the coating function is being applied in a loop."

"Wow, you found it so quickly. So the thickness data was being applied repeatedly, making it too thick?"

"That seems to be the case."

"Wait, if it's an error with the action switch, shouldn't there have been errors in all processes of the coater, not just the thickness? There were no issues with the dry chamber or temperature."

"That's because the error occurred in the part where the coating function returns to the action switch, so other functions were not affected."

"Ah, okay, okay. I was mistaken. So we just need to fix this part."

After analyzing the script error with Ji Seohyun, they were able to resolve the claim issue. It was mostly her doing the coding, with Jung Woo just assisting.

"Seohyun, you're amazing. You solved it so quickly."

"Thanks to Senior's help."

"Wow, now you're flattering me. You're really a top-tier employee."

"Thank you for the compliment."

"… You're so serious, I can't even joke with you. Since the CS issue is resolved, let's have a cup of coffee?"

"Sure."

With a moment to relax, they headed to the break room for a cup of coffee. As they picked up the capsule coffee, Jung Woo asked,

"What would you like to drink?"

"Juice. Orange juice."

"Really? Me too. But it's funny."

"What is?"

"Usually, when people say they're going for coffee, they actually drink coffee, but we're drinking juice. Didn't you used to like Americano, Seohyun?"

"Then give me coffee."

"Just kidding, kidding. I'm not forcing you to drink juice."

"I know."

"… You really don't get it, do you?"

While joking with the clueless Ji Seohyun and sipping juice to clear their heads, a group of female employees entered the break room.

They were from the CS team. One of them caught his eye.

The woman who had just filed for divorce with him… his wife, Ahn Yeseul.

* * *

Even for Ahn Yeseul, who had a steel-like mentality, the divorce was a blow.

She tried to act like nothing was wrong, but she couldn't, and her uneasy mood was noticeable to those around her.

A concerned colleague from the CS team looked at her.

"Yeseul, you don't look well. Is something wrong? You took a half-day off this morning."

"Well, actually…"

"Instead of worrying, let's go to the break room for a cup of coffee. There are no calls coming in right now, so it's a quiet time."

"Sure! Let's go for a change of pace!"

"Yeseul, let's go, let's go!"

Pushed by her colleagues, she headed to the break room.

A cup of coffee and some chitchat would help her feel better.

She believed that until she saw her husband, Jung Woo, already in the break room.

"Oh, Jung Woo is here too. What a coincidence."

"Telepathy must work. You two are truly a match, hehehe."

The older female employees chattered happily, but the parties involved couldn't laugh.

Ahn Yeseul wanted to run out of the break room right away, but the awkward-looking Jung Woo took the initiative.

"I'm busy. Good work."

He left as if he were running away. Ji Seohyun, who had been standing there blankly, bowed to Ahn Yeseul and followed him like a shadow.

The colleagues watching them had strange expressions.

They sensed something was off about Jung Woo, who had left so abruptly.

"What's going on? Why is Jung Woo acting like that?"

"He's really cold. Yeseul, did something happen with your husband?"

"No, nothing…"

"Come on, tell us. What's going on?"

"… Well, the truth is… we're getting a divorce."

"What?"

Oh.