Chapter 10

#10. SR-style Talent Recruitment (1)

Ma Min-su, the youngest executive at Daemyung Chemical, had a life that was nothing but glorious.

An elite who had completed a master's degree in business administration at Seoul National University and an MBA in the United States.

Although his family was middle-class, he took pride in the fact that he had received scholarships and thus hardly relied on his family for support.

After returning to Korea, he proudly joined a major domestic corporation.

Immediately after joining, he entered the Strategic Management Division of Daemyung Chemical, the main subsidiary of Daemyung Group, and was repeatedly promoted due to his recognized abilities.

He even had a romantic relationship with a female employee who won the company's beauty contest and eventually married her.

A year after their marriage, they had a son. Last year, he became the youngest executive at Daemyung Chemical, and his son was a blessing.

To him, the world was beautiful.

Until that day.

It was a day when he returned from an overseas business trip earlier than scheduled.

He came home secretly without sending a text message to surprise his wife.

“……!”

“Honey?!”

“Mr. Ma, please listen to me for a moment.”

But what he saw inside the house was his wife's affair with his boss.

The person rolling around in bed with his wife was none other than Choi Jeong-hyun, the president of Daemyung Chemical.

'So... that's why?'

Was my rapid promotion due to this reason?

Everything that went smoothly despite not being involved in office politics. Was it all because I was a cuckoo for Choi Jeong-hyun?

He was so shocked that he couldn't even speak. He wasn't angry; he was only overwhelmed by a sense of futility and despair.

After that day, he immediately started the divorce proceedings.

And just in case, he even did a paternity test.

“It’s not... my child?”

The moment his worst fears were confirmed.

Although it was a divorce, it was due to his wife's infidelity, so the division of assets was minimal. Since the child was not his, he didn't have to pay child support.

“What the hell... Where did you spend all the money until now?!”

The problem was that there was almost no money saved after their marriage.

His wife had worked in the accounting department while he was employed. So, he trusted her with the financial control.

But when he reclaimed the bank account he had given her during the divorce, there was only a fraction of his monthly salary left.

Even the severance pay he had settled upon his promotion to executive was gone.

Upon investigation, it turned out that she had spent lavishly on luxury goods and had supported her family's business, which had failed spectacularly, leaving no chance of recovery.

In the end, all he had left was an apartment in Seoul.

It was fortunate that they had agreed to keep the apartment in his name in exchange for giving her financial control.

“I can no longer work for our company.”

The problem was his job.

“That's absurd! I haven't done anything wrong.”

“You haven’t... done anything wrong?”

Choi Jun-hyuk, the chairman of Daemyung Group and the father of the man he had cuckolded, frowned.

“You don’t know your place! Why did you become the youngest executive? It was because you were a cuckoo for my son in my company! You were living off my money!”

“...”

“And instead of keeping quiet, you spread it around and disgraced my son?!”

The chairman of Daemyung Group, who usually smiled like a father, was no longer there.

“Where do you think you’re going, you lowly scoundrel! Get out! Now!”

Ma Min-su, an executive at a major corporation, suddenly became unemployed.

He knocked on the doors of the job market to make a living, but he faced continuous rejections.

He was rejected at the application stage at every company he applied to.

There were various reasons. His age was a problem, and his high qualifications, experience, and salary expectations might have been issues.

Perhaps the scarlet letter of his conflict with a major corporation's owner family was also a problem.

In the end, he decided to start a business instead of finding a job.

He sold the apartment in Seoul and used the money to start a business.

Given his background as an executive in a chemical company, he started a business to distribute and trade various chemical products, including urea and hydrofluoric acid, both domestically and internationally.

He thought he could do business with companies that were in competition with Daemyung Chemical.

But he failed miserably.

He had a natural talent for business.

However, in the face of poor capital and Daemyung's interference, he was like a small boat in a storm.

The bank refused to extend his loan without any specific reason, and some clients found all sorts of excuses to make claims.

When he finally received the payment after endless delays, it felt like his blood was drained.

Most of all, Daemyung Chemical frequently sued him for alleged trade secret violations, which was the biggest blow.

With his poorly capitalized business, all of this was a huge blow, and he ended up with a large debt and bankruptcy.

After the business failed, he became a recluse.

He spent his days drinking and took odd jobs to earn money for alcohol.

Recently, he injured his back at a construction site and could no longer do physical labor.

Ding.

One day, while waiting to die in a dormitory, he received a job offer.

It was a ray of light in a collapsing sky.

* * *

His aching back. The hospital said he needed immediate surgery for a herniated disk. He tightly strapped a brace around his back like a corset.

Thump, thump, thump.

He swallowed anti-inflammatory and painkillers like rebar and put on a broken horn-rimmed glasses with tape, and arrived at the building of SR Industry in Sunyang-eup, Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province.

Now without a car, he had to take three buses to get here.

‘Why did a money-making game company set up here in such a remote place?’

He searched several times to make sure it wasn’t a different company with the same name.

But this was the right place.

It seemed they didn’t choose this location randomly.

The area was a so-called "4th Industrial Revolution Specialization Zone," a grand name for an industrial park.

There was a wide, empty 8-lane road with no cars, and instead of fields, there were empty lots. Scattered among the lots were newly built but empty buildings and shops, standing like scarecrows.

The industrial park, which clearly looked like a failure, was a prime example of wasted tax money.

The building of SR Industry in front of him was one of the empty corporate buildings in the area. An 8-story building with a compact glass facade.

‘They must have done some construction around the building recently?’

There were signs of the ground being dug up by telecommunications and power companies.

It seemed they had installed dedicated fiber optic cables and power lines for the game company. The construction clearly cost a lot of money.

‘With this much money, it would have been cheaper to move to a place like Pangyo...’

It was confusing.

‘What can I do? Even if it’s a criminal organization, I should be grateful and work for them.’

But he had no right to question such things now.

He took a deep breath, looking at his reflection in the glass door before entering the building.

“Phew...”

He had showered and shaved, but the gaunt look from years of drinking couldn’t be hidden. He doubted if he would be chosen in the interview.

‘If I fail, I’ll kill myself.’

The only money he had left was a 10,000 won bill.

If he failed, he planned to buy a rope from a nearby hardware store and then enter the building.

* * *

Sera asked me again in the interview room.

‘I believe in the situation more than the person. That man wants to sell his soul for revenge right now.’

I looked at the interviewee outside the door and responded in my mind.

The interviewee outside the door was clearly nervous.

But Sera still seemed uneasy about my decision.

‘According to the data you investigated, Daemyung Group is particularly harsh among domestic major corporations, right?’

I prepared the interview questions and dealt with her in a lenient manner in my mind.

After that, Sera didn’t argue any further.

* * *

It’s a really strange company.

Ma Min-su felt this as soon as he entered the building.

There wasn’t a single employee.

But he didn’t feel particularly afraid or anxious.

Even if this company was involved in organ trafficking, it wouldn’t matter to him.

His current situation, having been abandoned by everything he trusted, was worse than hell.

“Hello! My name is Ma Min-su.”

He bowed with his aching back and spoke loudly.

“Please sit down. If standing is more comfortable due to your disk, you can do so.”

A man with a very young appearance spoke softly to Ma Min-su.

“...!”

How did he know about my disk? Ma Min-su’s eyes trembled.

‘He looks familiar...’

On the other hand, he had a sense of déjà vu about the man in front of him.

Come to think of it, the company’s homepage didn’t mention the name of the owner.

“I am the president of SR Industry, Seo Se-ryu.”

At that moment, the president of this mysterious company, as if sensing his confusion, introduced himself.

“No way! The Baeknyeong Sea Battle?”

Ma Min-su suddenly remembered a news report he had seen about two years ago.

He vaguely remembered seeing the name in real-time search rankings at that time.

“Yes, that’s right, hahaha. I didn’t think anyone would still remember me, it’s embarrassing.”

‘His observational skills are outstanding.’

Seo Se-ryu smiled and frowned, pretending to be embarrassed.

“No, no! It’s an honor to meet a war hero.”

‘Great! I got extra points from the start!’

Ma Min-su felt good about getting a good first impression.