Chapter 142
Again, Hyunwoo looked at Suji’s face to read her mind.
“Just pick up the phone,” she said as if she was giving up.
“Oh, it’s you, Juhwan.”
As soon as Hyunwoo picked up the phone, Juhwan spoke in an excited voice, “Sir, I’ve hit gold. I’ve received some orders of coating film from Vietnam. If the quality is good, they gave me an oral promise that they would order more!”
Hyunwoo’s eyes popped out suddenly. He had Juhwan learn some sales skills just in case, but he already pulled off a contract. Though it was an oral promise, it was still a great success.
“Great job, dude!”
Hyunwoo wanted to shout together with him and share the joy, but he had to be conscious of Suji’s cold look at the moment, so Hyunwoo tried to hide his joy and spoke in a casual and calm tone.
Was it a good reason? Juhwan’s voice became subdued, too. It looked like his morale was down because of Hyunwoo.
“I think the monthly sales will be 20 million won, and the profit on our side is about 4%.”
At that moment, Hyunwoo felt he made a big mistake and regretted it.
He thought it was just stupid to undermine Juwhan’s moral because of Suji’s mood. She could understand it if she knew the situation, so he changed his tone and praised Juhwan in a cheerful voice.
“What a nice job! Wonderful. I didn’t ever dream that you would hit gold so quickly. I am really surprised,” said Hyunwoo.
Juhwan also changed his voice and answered cheerfully, but he seemed to have noticed an air of awkwardness on Hyunwoo’s end.
“By the way, are you uncomfortable speaking over the phone now, sir?”
“Oh, just a little bit. We can talk briefly.”
“Oh, I see. Sorry, sir. Let me give you a call later.”
“Really? Sure then.”
Hyunwoo ended the call and then tried to turn off the phone.
Then, another call buzzed on his phone.
This time Suji’s voice was much more subdued.
“Please pick up the phone.”
Instead of picking it up, however, Hyunwoo tried to power it off, but Suji stopped him.
This time it was a call from another older woman asking about the faceless angel.
“By the way, I’m too bored when I wake up at dawn. Call me if you need help. I can make some food.”
“Thanks for your attention,” said Hyunwoo and hang up the phone.
Then, he powered off the phone.
However, Suji was pretty upset, and Hyunwoo tried to soothe her in vain.
“I’m going to go home,” said Suji in a chilly voice.
“Shall we have dinner together?” said Hyunwoo, quickly holding her shoulder as she turned back.
“You told me to go home and take care of my father.”
“Oh, what I mean is…” murmured Hyunwoo. He had a ready tongue, but he was at a loss for words now.
“No, thanks,” said Suji curtly and then turned back, without looking at him at all.
Hyunwoo felt funny about the situation.
Why is she mean? What did I do to her? By the way, what was the day before yesterday?
There might be some reason why she placed particular emphasis on the day before yesterday.
Hummmm… Was it Suji’s birthday?
Come to think of it, he wrote down the birthday of other people, but not Suji’s. He didn’t even try to find it out.
“Damn it! I’m so dumb. I have been completely unaware of her birthday! I think I have been so indifferent to her up to now.”
He then turned on the cellphone.
“Nonetheless, let me send her a text message anyway.”
He texted a message expressing his regret. He didn’t expect any reply, though. By tomorrow, her anger would melt away; then, he would call her. Then, she would probably pretend to give in and pick up the phone.
Hyunwoo called Juhwan.
“Sorry about a moment ago. I was kind of uncomfortable talking with you long then. By the way, you’re so great. How could you open a business network so quickly?”
“Well, I was just lucky. Actually, I called you to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
“I know a couple of friends who are very competent. Would you hire them? They are really competent and diligent. If you hire them for three months as contractors and like them, you can hire them as full-timers.”
“Can you guarantee them?”
“Yes, I can. Though they haven’t learned much, they are…”
“What are their strengths?”
“They don’t have any particular strength, but whatever assignment they get, they can carry it out to satisfaction. They’re also pretty smart about handling their job.”
“So, what kind of assignment do you want me to give them?”
“Well, let me have them on the job training, first. They’re really nice guys.”
“Sure. If you can guarantee, let me trust you. Their monthly payment will be 1.5 million won including the transportation and lodging fees. If they can do better, I can give them more pay. If they’re interested, come and see me during the weekend.”
“Yes, sir. Thanks so much.”
After the call, Hyunwoo smiled with satisfaction. Hyunwoo went back home and had dinner with his parents, but something wrong must have happened while he was away for a while.
His father asked gently, “Honey, who the hell are they, who stopped by earlier in the day? Your face is not that bright after they left.”
“Phew…They are from some factories. They insist on our breakfast service for their employees.”
It was something she might feel happy about, but Hyunwoo’s mother had a somber look on her face all along.
“Looks like you feel bad, Mom. What’s wrong with you? Something wrong or are you sick?”
“No, not at all. As you know, I’m short of hands. I have to hire more people, but as this needs working early in the morning, it’s tough to find workers. They’re all asking for more money for their work.”
Hearing that, Hyunoo instantly giggled because he was reminded of the conversation he had with the older women.
“Mom, can you be ready to interview the potential workers? Let me bring some after dinner.”
Not only his mother but also his father made a curious look, “Interview? Potential hires?”
“As a matter of fact, I was busy answering calls from older women. They all said they wanted to help you.”
“Grandmothers?” said she, opening her eyes wide. It looked as if she was reproaching herself because she didn’t think of it at all.
“Sure, let’s bring five healthy older women. Who might be the right candidates?”
After a little bit of thinking, Hyunwoo’s mother, Jisook Han, called the names of the potential hires. Hyunwoo already talked to some of them while getting back home, and others were unfamiliar to him.
Hyunwoo wrote down the names.
Jisook’s first condition for hiring was the distance. She ruled out those who lived too far from her house. The second was good health; third was character, and last was cooking skills.
The menu for the breakfast meal was simple, which meant cooking skills didn’t matter. In the meantime, Hyunwoo suddenly recalled one person, Mrs. Hong, who was missing from his mother’s list.
“Why don’t you call Mrs. Hong?”
“Mrs. Hong? She is 80 years old.”
“Still, she is as healthy as other elderly women.”
Jisook agreed, and Mrs. Hong was a great cook, too, living not far from her house.
“Okay, then. Let’s include her, too.”
It was still early in the evening.
Hyunwoo called each of them one by one, explaining to them about hiring for the breakfast meal service. Everybody clapped their hands, expressing so much joy.
“Okay, please wait for me in the alley. I’m driving to your place now.”
After the call, Hyunwoo immediately drove the van to pick up the elderly women.
A little later they gathered at Hyunwoo’s house.
Jisook explained to them about various stuff such as when they would have to report to work, when they could leave the shop, what they should pay attention to, etc.
In particular, she emphasized the importance of sanitation.
The women nodded their heads as an expression of approval.
Next, she explained about their pay.
“Let me give you 700,000 won per month.”
“Really? That much money for four hours a day?” they said, pleasantly surprised.
“Oh, no! That’s too much. You’re going to run out of money if you give us that much. I can’t accept it,” said one woman. Others, too, said the same thing.
However, their pay was not that much, because when she looked for job seekers, they asked for 1.5 million won per month, citing the need for early than usual hours.
In that respect, even 700,000 won was not high.
Anyway, Jisook concluded that they would get 700,000.
At that moment, however, her mobile phone started ringing endlessly. They were calls from the women who were not selected for the job.
“What happened? How come you didn’t call me?”
“I feel so mad at you. How many years did we spend together?”
“Oh, little did I think you were so mean like that.”
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