The Wise Cleaning Life Of A Returning Genius Hunter [EN]: Chapter 92

091

One week since I ambitiously jumped into a full-fledged business.

We secured a modest office and promptly completed business registration.

Now, all that remained was hiring cleaners and securing contracts by visiting the regional branches.

Well, it shouldn’t be too difficult.

I sincerely thought so.

Until I faced the reality before my eyes.

“……Haa.”

A small, old office with cracked walls.

I kept sighing deeply while checking the online application status.

“Stop sighing. It’s not like non-existent resumes will appear because of that.”

“……Does it seem like no one will apply?”

“Nothing is easy from the start. If it were, everyone in the world would be successful.”

Chief Lee Ah-young, who was sitting across from me, grumbled.

Nevertheless, I kept hitting the refresh key repeatedly.

Of course, the empty screen remained the same no matter how many times I refreshed it.

It’s been a week since I posted the job advertisement, and still not a single resume has arrived.

Looking at it coldly, it was a natural thing.

Who would apply to a newly established company they don’t even know the name of, and as a dungeon cleaner at that?

Did I underestimate it too much…….

“I told you, you should have asked Reporter Gu Sang-chan for a favor earlier. ‘Kim Jun-woo, former Head of Operations, opens a cleaning dispatch company.’ Just that one line would have brought 100 people for interviews!”

As I unknowingly let out another sigh, Chief Lee Ah-young slammed the desk and raised her voice, as if she couldn’t stand it any longer.

“……I told you, that’s not an option.”

“No, why are you trying to hide it? It’s not like you resigned because of something bad. Honestly, with your name recognition, there’s almost nothing you can’t do in this industry, right?”

Chief Lee Ah-young’s voice was full of incomprehension.

But I had my own reasons.

This company was created to avoid the eyes of the International Association, so I couldn’t promote it with my name on the line.

“Or is it something like, you don’t want to rely on your past fame?”

“……It’s not that.”

“Of course, it’s like you…… But shouldn’t you compromise with reality a little to run a business?”

“I said it’s not that.”

“Sigh… Okay. Well, I came running to help you first, so what can I do? I have to listen to our CEO.”

“…….”

Should I beat her up a few times and just kick her out? (Just kidding, of course.)

“If it doesn’t work out, ask the Association President for help. Just ask to take a few people.”

“I already contacted him.”

“…He refused?”

“He got angry.”

It happened just the day before yesterday.

Since there were no applicants at all, I asked the Association President for help, and the answer that came back immediately was…….

-Hey, you’re trying to take everything! You’ve already used up all the budget, and we’re in a precarious situation, what more do you want?!

At that point, I had nothing to say.

I had already used up the budget for this quarter, let alone the next quarter, and the quarter after that.

‘The headquarters must be having a hard time too.’

I wonder why they made me do something I didn’t want to do.

“Or contact them personally. Soyeon or Sanghyuk would be good. Yubin and Minju would come running right away with just one call from you, wouldn’t they?”

Chief Lee Ah-young said cautiously.

But I shook my head firmly.

“That’s not a good idea either. They’re all veterans from each team at headquarters, and if I take them all, it would be difficult for headquarters. It seems like they’re already in a difficult situation.”

“……No matter how I look at it, you’re not cut out to be a businessman.”

Lee Ah-young said in a deflated voice.

Well, the reason I can’t bring them personally is also the same reason I can’t put my name on the line.

If the guys who used to work with me all transferred to the same place at once, it would be obvious.

There was a chance that I might become a target of the International Association again.

‘Haa…….’

I felt frustrated.

At least the company needs to have some semblance of a structure before I can proceed with acquiring overseas associations.

At this rate, I can’t even start.

I was wondering what to do in this hopeless situation when.

“Here.”

Chief Lee Ah-young printed out something she had been working on the computer and handed it to me.

“What is this?”

“What do you think it is?”

She snapped.

“Let’s go out and hand out flyers together.”

“…….”

Should I not have quit the company?

***

Seoul Headquarters, Headquarter Head’s office.

A middle-aged man was sitting in the office that had been vacant for a week.

Choi Ho-sung, former Suncheon Branch Manager.

As of yesterday, he was inaugurated as the new Head of Operations at the Seoul Headquarters.

He had been entrusting the branch manager position in Suncheon Branch for several years.

The amount of Korean beef and eel he gave to get to the Seoul Headquarters was dozens of kilograms.

Nevertheless, the results were not good.

The position of Seo Min-cheol, who was the headquarter head at the time, was too great.

After he was out of the picture, I thought the opportunity had finally come to me, but this time, some unheard-of guy from the cleaning crew took the position.

For a few days, I was so sick to my stomach that I was about to die…… But as a result, the sky was on his side.

After two months, Kim Jun-woo stepped down from the position of headquarter head, and the opportunity came again.

Thinking this was the time, Choi Ho-sung started looking for connections again, and just a few days ago, he received a call.

It was a direct call from Association President Park In-beom.

-A trustworthy friend recommended you. So, do you think you can do well?

Choi Ho-sung was cheering inwardly, but he couldn’t show it.

He reluctantly accepted the Association President’s words, and eventually, he was able to rise to the position he had been waiting for.

But the joy of success was only temporary.

“No, what the hell is this…….”

He couldn’t help but despair when he faced the reality before his eyes.

“Why is the remaining budget in this shape…?”

He checked the documents several times, but the result was the same.

The budget for this quarter was already empty.

Not only that.

The budget for the next quarter, the quarter after that, and even next year was running out.

Thanks to that, there was a huge deficit in a row last month and this month.

‘Damn it. What the hell did he do…….’

Choi Ho-sung groaned.

His executive secretary, Yoo Young-soo, who had been watching the scene silently, carefully opened his mouth.

“Well…… Former Headquarter Head Kim Jun-woo said that he gave a lot of budget to each team to support them.”

“No, how much did he support them that the budget is running out until next year? Does the board of directors know about this?”

“Probably…….”

“They knew and left it alone?”

Yoo Young-soo closed his mouth.

It wasn’t that he was an acquaintance Choi Ho-sung had brought from the Suncheon Branch, and he had only been to the Seoul Headquarters for a day.

There was no way he could answer even if he asked about the internal affairs of the headquarters.

“Haa…….”

Choi Ho-sung covered his head.

Of course, the future profits were guaranteed because of the signing of the private guild cooperation agreement and the hub that was built with the construction of the Vietnam branch…….

But those were things that would only produce results in a few months.

In the end, it meant that he had to embrace this ridiculous deficit for those few months.

And the person in charge was himself, who had just been inaugurated yesterday.

‘Damn it, making such a mess and leaving…….’

That’s why they entrusted such an important position to someone from the cleaning crew.

Headquarter Head Choi Ho-sung was furious.

This was just a poisoned chalice [an opportunity that seems appealing but is likely to bring negative consequences].

If he had known that this was a position where he had to fix everything, he would have refused.

Choi Ho-sung ruffled his hair nervously.

And then, a suspicion suddenly crossed his mind.

“Hey, could it be that…… Kim Jun-woo ate it all up [embezzled the funds]?”

As he cautiously opened his mouth, executive secretary Yoo Young-soo was horrified.

“Oh, come on. What kind of person is that?”

“No, it doesn’t make sense otherwise. I think it’s 100%. Go to the General Affairs Department and ask them to send me the budget statement.”

“Ah, yes. Just a moment.”

Executive secretary Yoo Young-soo made a phone call to the administrative headquarters and talked for a while.

Soon, a document arrived in Choi Ho-sung’s internal messenger.

Choi Ho-sung immediately checked the document.

He had heard of Kim Jun-woo’s reputation.

The true leader of this era.

A person who steps forward with a selfless attitude for the rights of employees.

The youngest, the shortest period, the headquarter head with the best performance.

The more excessively packaged guys are, the higher the probability that the contents are bad.

No matter how much they are praised on the outside, if you look at the reality…….

[300 stainless steel brooms (custom-made) – ₩5,203,000]

[5,000 multi-purpose mops (made in Italy) – ₩40,380,340]

[200 C-grade protective suits made of special materials (made in the USA) – ₩240,523,000]

[……]

“…What is this?”

Choi Ho-sung’s pupils shook greatly.

The more than 30 pages of details below were all filled with cleaning team equipment, performance pay, incentives, and bonuses.

He’s crazy.

He’s crazy about cleaning.

Even if he was from the cleaning team, how could he put the entire quarterly budget into the cleaning team?

Of course, Choi Ho-sung had no way of knowing that those were the things Kim Jun-woo did to unlock skills immediately after taking office as headquarter head.

Choi Ho-sung continued to scroll down.

After pouring the quarterly budget into the cleaning team, he poured 50 billion won into the expansion of the support team’s research facilities, and then poured 20 billion won into securing the special suit ‘Goliath’ to be used during the underwater dungeon.

And as the crowning glory, he poured the rest of the budget into the development of the Vietnam branch.

It was a detail that he couldn’t understand even after seeing it with his own eyes, but one thing was certain.

Yes, he didn’t embezzle the budget.

He just spent the money like a crazy person without thinking.

In fact, he doesn’t care what he was thinking when he did this, but in the current situation, even the monthly salary of the operation team is barely enough.

‘Damn it. The operation team’s salary is delayed……?’

His head turned white just thinking about it.

It can’t be.

The association’s number one asset is the hunters. They must be given the best welfare and the best treatment.

The best welfare and treatment ultimately mean salary.

If he, as the head of the operation headquarters, cannot take responsibility for that…… He will have to take all the backlash from above and below.

It would be fortunate if it ended like that.

If he’s not careful, he might be the one to renew the shortest term of office as headquarter head.

‘……That can’t happen.’

Choi Ho-sung muttered.

How did he get to this position?

He will do anything to protect his rice bowl [livelihood].

That was Choi Ho-sung’s motto, and it was also the driving force that brought him this far.

He made up his mind and immediately began to look through all the documents Kim Jun-woo had left behind.

It was to find a way to secure the budget by any means.

After reviewing everything slowly.

‘…No matter how I look at it, this is the only way.’

One thing caught his eye.

The dungeon cleaning team.

Since Kim Jun-woo became the head of the operation headquarters, the number of people and the salary have more than doubled, and it is the place that has benefited the most.

They’re just cleaners, they don’t need this many people.

Of course, he won’t be able to avoid the backlash.

But that will only be temporary.

The reason why a lizard cuts off its tail even at the risk of danger is because it is the last resort.

So it can’t be helped.

This is the Seoul Headquarters’ last resort.

“Young-soo.”

“Yes, yes?”

As he opened his mouth, executive secretary Yoo Young-soo answered with an uneasy expression.

“We’re going to get some flak [criticism].”