Chapter 8: Close the Gates to Hell>

Next day at work.

Woosung never left his seat and worked nonstop on his computer. Because he did well yesterday, Yoon Gihwan decided to leave Woosung alone for now.

‘But if he doesn’t do well today, I will give him such a hard time. If his work isn’t perfect or he makes any mistake, I’m going to destroy him.’

He gave Woosung an evil look. Woosung must’ve felt it but didn’t react to it. The others, however, watched curiously.

‘He’s going to end up killing the newbie.’

Park Junwoo looked at them secretly.

‘So many staffs left because of Yoon Gihwan’s temper… I am worried.’

General manager Yoon Gihwan.

He was known for being good at managing people. There were times when his cruel criticisms made employees cry but strangely, the office atmosphere always remained positive.

“Tsk tsk. General manager Yoon Gihwan has to work so hard because he doesn’t have good staffs.”

“If you can’t take a constructive criticism…”

People blamed his staff members because at the end of the day, Yoon Gihwan had incredible programming skills.

‘Even if the newbie is good, he will be no match for the general manager.’

Time passed, and it was finally lunch time.

***

Park Junwoo wanted to lift Woosung’s spirit.

“I looked into the agile you mentioned yesterday, and I agree that it would be perfect for our project.”

Kim Yonggun chimed in as well.

“Where did you hear about it? There aren’t a lot of references for it yet.”

Woosung answered evenly.

“It’s something I studied before I got hired.”

Park Junwoo exclaimed.

“Oh really? And you have a good coding skill too! You must’ve studied hard at school.”

“I did alright.” Woosung smiled and looked at Yoon Gihwan.

‘Agile, TDD… These are things Yoon Gihwan would’ve ordered me to work on anyway.’

years ago, after only a week at work, Yoon Gihwan made him create the test code rather than working on developing his skills. He gave an excuse that this would be a good coding experience for Woosung. Woosung would never forget the painful criticisms from Yoon Gihwan while learning about coding. Feeling Woosung’s stare, Yoon Gihwan looked up.

“So, did you finish the test code?”

Woosung put down his spoon on the table and answered.

“I was going to tell you that after the market closes today, I would like to have a meeting with the outsourcing company.”

Thump.

Yoon Gihwan threw his spoon down.

“What? A meeting with the company that hired us? It has only been 36 hours since you started working here, and you think you can call up a meeting? I can’t believe how arrogant you are.”

To Yoon Gihwan’s anger, Woosung answered calmly.

“If you understand why I created the test code on my first day, you must also realize why I need to meet with them.”

“There is nothing to understand!” Woosung didn’t flinch against Yoon Gihwan’s rage.

“We need to stop wasting time on paperwork and develop new prototypes as fast as possible based on the feedbacks. This is the best way to minimize the customer’s complaints.”

Woosung lifted his spoon again. He ate a spoonful of rice and continued.

“Fast response to customers will maximize their satisfaction in our product. This will decrease the cost of maintaining customers.”

To Woosung’s explanation, Yoon Gihwan snorted.

“Do you understand the reality of how hard it is to follow that logic?”

Park Junwoo and Kim Yonggun watched the discussion quietly. They couldn’t join this conversation.

“I can give it a try.”

Yoon Gihwan became speechless at Woosung’s brave words. He just stared. Park Junwoo also stopped eating in surprise.

‘I can’t believe it! Woosung is actually winning the argument against Yoon Gihwan.’

Yoon Gihwan bit his lips and answered.

“You… better be right about this.”

Kim Yonggun and Park Junwoo continued having their uncomfortable mean as the atmosphere remained tense.

***

pm.

As soon as the market closed, Yoon Gihwan walked to Woosung.

“Let’s see what you have.”

Woosung started the PowerPoint presentation.

-Nuri Finances’ New System Stabilization.

It was such a big title, especially for a newbie. Yoon Gihwan sneered.

“And how many years of finance experience do you have?”

Woosung thought. ‘Including the Bitmain, I would say 10 years.’ But he couldn’t tell him the truth.

“Skills don’t always come from experiences.”

“Fine. Continue.”

Woosung continued to explain the presentation one page at a time. He explained the need for the change in the development process and what the result would be. It wasn’t empty words either. He included example codes. The perfect presentation showed Woosung’s 10 years of experience in this field. Even Yoon Gihwan was impressed.

‘Is he really new to this?’

Looking at Yoon Gihwan’s expression, Woosung gave a triumphant smile.

‘These are actually things you did 10 years ago. I just copied your work from the past.’

years ago, Yoon Gihwan developed this idea to increase project efficiency as they were short on staff. He would’ve come up with it a few weeks from now, but Woosung remembered it and presented it first.

“And that’s the end of my presentation. The change in the development process will stabilize the Nuri Finances’ HTS.”

After the 20-minute presentation, Yoon Gihwan swallowed hard. Woosung was the real deal. Park Junwoo and Kim Yonggun also couldn’t hide their shock.

“You are saying that we should show this presentation to the outsourcing company… and apply it for real?”

“Yes. And of course, this shouldn’t be free.”

“What? Free?”

“As you probably realized, this is a form of IT strategy. If we offer the company a way to decrease IT operation cost, we should, of course, be paid a consulting fee.”

“You….are you serious?”

“Haha. Of course. Why should only companies like McKinsey and Accenture provide consultation? Daesan System can be consultants too.”

Yoon Gihwan laughed as if the idea was ridiculous. “McKinsey? Accenture?”

McKinsey and Accenture.

These were the best consulting companies in the world. Graduates from best universities such as Harvard, MIT, and Stanford often got hired here with a beginning yearly salary of 100,000 dollars. Park Junwoo continued to look shocked.

“I see that someone from the Nuri Finances is finally here.”

Woosung saw someone running into the office.

“Please check the codes on HTS side ASAP. There seems to be a mistake in account balances for the customers.”

Account system.

It was a core system that dealt with customers’ transactions. In a stock brokerage company, it was the one responsible for buying and selling stocks. It was linked to the system Woosung’s project was working on. (Pages that customers saw while making transactions, for examples the online homepage, HTS, and call center.) It was HTS that was responsible for showing the account balance.

And showing the wrong balance to the customers was something that should never happen.