Chapter 3 – Year 2017 (2)
We boarded the shuttle bus and arrived at the training center.
Sekyung Group’s Third Human Resources Development Center.
It was a modest training facility with a three-story building and dormitories.
Back in the day, the entire group used to gather at one group training center. Around 2010, they started separating by company, and since our numbers were small, we got assigned to this humble place.
The bus stopped. People got off one by one.
I got off too and retrieved my suitcase from the luggage compartment on the side of the bus.
Tap.
Along with the sound of footsteps, Han Jia came to stand beside me. Kim Ain stood next to her as well.
The male recruits looked over with envy in their eyes.
…….
This really wasn’t a great situation.
Still, it was much better than Mechanical Engineering Season 2.
So without much complaint, I followed the HR guide into the training center.
***
The training began in the auditorium.
It wasn’t a very large hall. After brushing the snow off our shoulders, Kim Ain, Han Jia, and I sat in the very front row.
An HR representative stood on the wide stage.
He explained the training rules and code of conduct.
They handed out textbooks for the training, distributed gym clothes to wear during the program, explained laundry schedules, and things like that.
Once the explanation ended, he organized the sleepy-looking recruits.
“Then, from this moment, we will begin the new employee training for Sekyung Foods.”
The HR staff member officially announced the start of training.
At the same time, another man stepped forward.
The giant screen behind him changed.
[Your First Meeting with Sekyung Foods]
Standing in front of the PowerPoint slide, the man bowed politely.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Assistant Manager Jung Ilwoo from the Planning Team.”
The first session was an introduction to the company.
Simply put, indoctrination training.
Training designed to hypnotize around thirty new hires into becoming loyal slaves of Sekyung Foods. Though the effect usually wore off after about a year.
“As Korea’s leading food company, Sekyung Foods…”
Assistant Manager Jung Ilwoo from Planning began the brainwashing.
And the effect was tremendous. Pride filled the faces of the new employees.
Everyone except me.
Promotion training. Refresh training. Regular training.
And so on.
I’d already experienced all kinds of corporate training in my previous life, so I was immune to the hypnosis. Which made everything painfully boring.
How much time passed?
Assistant Manager Jung Ilwoo bowed.
“That concludes my presentation. Thank you.”
—Wooooah!!!
—Clap clap clap!!!!
The new employees cheered and applauded.
With a satisfied smile, Jung Ilwoo bowed and stepped down.
Then another person came up.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Assistant Manager Jin Ilchan from the Research Lab. I’m the person who eats and drinks the most snacks and beverages in all of Sekyung Foods.”
The recruits laughed.
Apparently pleased with the reaction, he continued smiling as he spoke.
“At our research lab, we’re constantly developing new products.”
Snacks. Coffee. Drinks. Health foods. And so on.
The female recruits smiled at the snack talk.
The male recruits grew interested when alcohol like beer and soju came up.
“If we visit the research lab, can we try everything?”
Someone asked.
“Of course. Our department is the only one in the company where drinking alcohol during work hours is allowed.”
As Jin Ilchan answered, everyone laughed.
The atmosphere became lively. Assistant Manager Jin Ilchan rode the momentum smoothly and continued speaking.
“Our current flagship development product is zero-sugar beverages.”
Everyone tilted their heads in confusion.
It was still 2017—the very beginning of the zero-drink era. Their reactions made sense.
But not for me. I already knew the age of zero-sugar drinks was coming. Honestly, I used to think those idiots were morons for constantly whining about adjusting formulas, but now I was a little impressed. They were people who could actually predict the future.
But there was one more person besides me who didn’t look confused.
Kim Ain, sitting next to me.
Suddenly, she burst out laughing. Like a lunatic.
“Pfft. Hng… Ahaha.”
Kim Ain covered her mouth as she giggled uncontrollably.
It looked like something seriously cursed had crawled out of a grave and possessed her.
‘What the hell? She’s scary.’
Ah… Come to think of it, this happened in my previous life too. Why am I only remembering it now? If I’d remembered earlier, I never would’ve sat next to her.
Too late for regrets.
Everyone’s attention had already focused on her.
And by extension, on me sitting beside her.
Since Kim Ain wouldn’t stop laughing, people started giving me looks like they wanted me to calm her down.
But I couldn’t.
While I sat there helplessly, Assistant Manager Jin Ilchan from the research lab spoke with a stiff expression.
“Was there something funny about what I said?”
The atmosphere instantly turned tense.
“No. Pfft. Ahaha~”
Even then, Kim Ain kept laughing.
Of course she couldn’t stop. She wasn’t laughing because something was funny—it was an illness.
Joker Syndrome.
I’d once attended a meeting with Kim Ain in my previous life. Back then she’d suddenly laughed like a madwoman and shocked everyone. After the meeting, someone explained it to me: she suffered from pathological laughter. Emotional incontinence.
But back then, nobody said anything to her. By that point, everyone already knew she belonged to the Sekyung Group owner family.
Because she was from the owner’s family—and because it was an illness—they let it slide.
But not now. Nobody knew her status yet.
At least, I don’t think they did.
As if proving my prediction correct, the HR staff member frowned and glared at Kim Ain.
“Miss Kim Ain. What’s so funny?”
“Ahaha. It’s not that. I just—pfft.”
Even in front of the HR department, the absolute authority figure within the training center, she kept laughing.
Everyone looked at her like she was insane.
But I knew the truth, so I felt a little sorry for her.
With that face, that body, and that family background, she still had to live looking like a lunatic because of something like Joker Syndrome. Money really doesn’t guarantee happiness.
Once again, I became convinced that becoming a rock would’ve been the correct answer.
Then my eyes met Kim Ain’s.
“Help me. Pfft. Ahaha.”
She didn’t leave a dying message or anything dramatic. She just burst into laughter again.
Help her… huh.
It wasn’t like there was no way to help. But did I really have to? It sounded annoying. I’d have to make myself look stupid too.
The “I” in my MBTI screamed:
Just stay still. Why involve yourself again?
Then the “I” screamed again:
Wouldn’t it be more annoying later if she asked why you didn’t help her?
…That’s true.
The first option was guaranteed minor annoyance. The second was uncertain but potentially massive annoyance.
The first sounded better, so I moved.
“Hahaha!”
I started laughing too.
And just like that, we became the crazy woman and crazy man of this area.
Still, the distraction worked perfectly. People stopped staring only at Kim Ain and started staring at both of us instead.
—What’s wrong with them?
—Did something funny happen?
—Is this what people mean by “living up to your looks?”
No, it’s not. This isn’t “living up to looks.” We’re just insane.
It would’ve been nice if things ended with us simply looking crazy.
But reality never goes according to plan.
The HR staff member walked right up to me with an irritated expression.
Way too close. I should’ve sat farther back.
I regretted it, but it was too late. The HR representative spoke in a cold voice.
“Min Juchan. Why are you laughing?”
It’s not just Min Juchan. It’s Kim Ain and Min Juchan.
To make it clear there were two people involved, not just me, I turned my head toward Kim Ain.
This woman…!
At some point, she had completely stopped laughing.
“Sorry.”
“Let’s talk later.”
First, I need to deal with the mid-boss standing in front of me.
I turned back forward. The HR representative spoke coldly again.
“Why were you laughing?”
I didn’t answer with something stupid like: “I thought she’d feel lonely laughing alone, so I laughed with her. Fellow recruits are one.”
I may have lived as a pushover, but I’m not an idiot. I’ve spent years surviving corporate life. I should be able to overcome a crisis like this.
“I apologize. I was chatting with Employee Kim Ain beside me, and the conversation became funny, so I laughed. I’ll be more careful.”
In companies, politely apologizing usually lets things pass.
Normally, they’d just tell you not to do it again and move on.
“What kind of conversation was so funny that you laughed like that?”
Huh? That’s a problem.
Instead of backing down, he stepped even closer.
A variable.
“Uh… that is…”
“If it wasn’t funny, then I’ll assume you were mocking Assistant Manager Jin Ilchan.”
“That’s not it. Everyone has different senses of humor…”
“Then tell me exactly what was so funny.”
I’ll have to make something up.
“We were talking about the zero-sugar drinks Assistant Manager Jin Ilchan mentioned.”
The HR rep’s eyebrow twitched. That part didn’t matter.
What mattered was that the expression on Jin Ilchan’s face behind him softened. Curiosity appeared in his eyes as he looked at us.
Good. I think I can turn the atmosphere around.
I immediately continued.
“We were briefly discussing the fact that the research lab is developing zero-sugar drinks.”
A voice echoed from the ceiling speakers. It was Assistant Manager Jin Ilchan.
“What exactly were you discussing?”
“Employee Kim Ain studied in America, and she said she’d eat 700 grams of steak but then drink zero-calorie beverages because she was dieting. So I told her that if she was going that far, she might as well just believe ‘delicious food equals zero calories’ and eat whatever she wanted. That’s what made her laugh.”
Smack!!!
“When did I ever say that?!”
Kim Ain’s elegant composure shattered. Her face turned bright red like a kid getting teased, and she smacked my arm.
The recruits burst into laughter.
Assistant Manager Jin Ilchan laughed too.
Only the HR representative still looked stiff, but that didn’t matter.
Once the mood loosened, I knew I was heading in the right direction. I deliberately twisted my body dramatically as if in pain to lighten the tense atmosphere even more.
“You just saw it, right? The power of 700 grams. I simply said that at that point, she might as well just enjoy eating, and then she laughed, so I laughed too. I apologize for disrupting the atmosphere.”
I bowed deeply.
The HR representative clearly didn’t like my excuse at all.
He stared at me with an expression that practically screamed, What kind of bullshit is that?
“You two will receive penalty poi—”
At that moment, the microphone crackled again.
“That’s an excellent idea.”
Our savior, Assistant Manager Jin Ilchan.
With a satisfied expression, he continued.
“If it tastes good, then it’s zero calories. That’s exactly why we make zero-sugar drinks.”
He walked forward and stopped about five steps away from us.
“What he just said is the very motivation behind our development. Do you understand what I mean?”
As he approached, I stood up from my seat as well.
At this point, it became a conversation between me and Assistant Manager Jin Ilchan. The HR representative had no choice but to step back.
Just as planned.
The HR representative retreated, grabbed a microphone, and handed it to me.
Holding the microphone, I began answering the question.
“You mean consumers will eventually struggle between taste and dieting, right?”
Assistant Manager Jin Ilchan looked surprised.
“Oh? Exactly. What made you think that?”
“A famous franchise CEO helped reduce the public’s resistance toward MSG by saying that, compared to getting fat, artificial sweeteners are the better option. Lately, society’s been moving in that direction. So I thought that in the future, people would struggle between taste and dieting. More precisely, between artificial sweeteners and dieting. However…”
“However?”
“There’s one major problem with zero-sugar drinks.”
“What is it?”
“They don’t taste good. Right now, zero-sugar beverages still have that distinctive aspartame taste that people either love or hate. That’s why they haven’t gained much popularity yet.”
Assistant Manager Jin Ilchan looked shocked. Like someone who had just discovered a gem.
Like the HR representative earlier, he walked right up to me.
“Oh? I’d like to hear a new employee’s thoughts on that.”
“If you replace the aspartame currently being used with sucralose or acesulfame potassium, the taste would probably improve significantly. Competitors are already doing that, after all. But personally, I think a little differently. Is there really a reason to preserve the original taste exactly?”
[TL Note: Aspartame, sucralose, and acesulfame potassium (Ace-K) are the three most common FDA-approved artificial sweeteners used globally.]
“What do you mean?”
“I wonder if zero-sugar drinks really need to taste identical to the original versions. Rather than forcing the same taste, I think another approach would be creating an even tastier beverage.”
“Create an even tastier beverage…”
“Yes. Instead of people choosing it because it’s zero-sugar, they should choose it because the drink itself tastes good.”
…….
A brief silence fell.
Assistant Manager Jin Ilchan broke it with applause.
Clap clap clap.
He looked like Archimedes shouting “Eureka.”
“This is why we should talk with new employees. We’ve only been researching how to recreate the original flavor exactly, but after hearing you, I’m starting to think that might not even be necessary. Creating a tastier beverage… It’s such a small shift in perspective, yet worth trying. Do you have any methods in mind?”
“How about adding fruit flavors?”
“Fruit flavors… for example?”
“I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
I actually know the answer, but I’m not saying it.
I don’t want to get dragged into this.
“Anyway, those are just my thoughts. And again, I apologize for laughing during your presentation.”
Please give me my pardon now.
That’s the kind of look I gave Assistant Manager Jin Ilchan.
Maybe he understood why, because he turned toward the HR representative.
“Very good. I’ll keep it in mind. Assistant Manager from HR.”
“Yes.”
“Since we ended up hearing such useful ideas thanks to this, how about letting it slide? Turns out their conversation was work-related after all.”
At last, the HR representative forgave me.
“Be careful next time.”
Whew… That was close. Thank goodness.
Just as I relaxed, Assistant Manager Jin Ilchan spoke again.
“Your name?”
“I’m Min Juchan. I applied for the Process Technology Team.”
“That’s a shame. You would’ve been great in the research lab. Still, I’ll remember you.”
There’s really no need for that.
Still, things ended smoothly enough.