The Wise Cleaning Life Of A Returning Genius Hunter [EN]: Chapter 257

256

“Did you get the approval?”

I met Chief Lee Ah-young at the cleaning management office of the Vietnam branch located in the city.

It was a messy place, separate from the branch building, and thanks to being in a separate building from the headquarters, there were no prying eyes.
The reason I insisted on meeting there was that I thought it would be best not to be seen by the branch employees as much as possible.

‘Especially since the guys dispatched from the International Association might know me….’

It’s a covert infiltration, after all.

If I encounter someone who knows my face, it could lead to disputes, not to mention derailing the plan.

Therefore, the only local employees who know my identity are Huin, Chief of Operations Nguyen, and a few team leaders.

Of course, Branch Manager Sean also knows nothing about us.

“Yes, well. As expected, he didn’t even read it.”

Chief Lee Ah-young handed over the approved documents and replied.

I checked the documents again and opened my mouth.

“Of course. He must be overwhelmed with things to worry about, such as hub operations, by-product distribution, subjugation planning, and personnel reorganization… I doubt he even cares about cleaning.”

“Then, wouldn’t it have been better to submit other documents disguised as approval documents? For example, a branch operating rights transfer agreement. He wouldn’t have read it anyway.”

I shook my head firmly at her words.

“That’s fraud.”

“Now you’re saying that?”

“I’m not talking about ethics, I’m talking about validity.”

Only then did Lee Ah-young seem to realize what she had overlooked, and she exclaimed softly.

But that was only for a moment, as she tapped the document with Sean’s signature on it with a somewhat disgruntled expression.

“Still, it’s a bit disappointing. This is really a document about cleaning work. At best, it’s just the authority to manage the entire cleaning team. What can you do with this?”

“What do you mean, what can you do? Clean, of course.”

“…….”

She glares at me with a fierce look.

“Are you going to be like this here too? If you don’t tell me what you’re thinking, I’m going back.”

“…….”

Tsk, what a temper.

I took a small breath and slowly continued.

“When you first came to the Vietnam branch, do you remember how you revived the collapsed association?”

“Of course. Increased by-product recovery rate and maximized subjugation profits due to the expansion of the cleaning team, followed by the expansion of the operations team after the support team. As a result, the subjugation system was expanded through a chain reaction. This is still in the textbook at headquarters.”

“……?”

Seriously, of all things…….

Well, it’s good that you know.

“It’s impossible to take back a branch that has already been taken over by the International Association without any conditions. As long as they hold the entire Vietnamese subjugation industry hostage, the entire country could be in danger, not just the branch.”

“That’s… probably true.”

“Above all, if we rashly cause friction with the International Association and lose, we will lose the trust of other branches. Nothing could be more fatal to us, who have not yet established ourselves as an international organization.”

In other words, it cannot be solved head-on.

“So, we will continue to remain affiliated with the International Association, but our goal is to regain all authority over the branch’s operations.”

“Is that possible?”

“It’s difficult… but not impossible.”

She makes a puzzled expression at the ambiguous answer.

“Anyway, I’m going to make the International Association give up on the branch themselves. Either it’s meaningless to keep it, or the benefits they get from the investment are overwhelmingly negative.”

“Wait, are you perhaps……?”

“Yes.”

I smiled.

“We’re going to destroy the Vietnam branch from now on.”

Instead of answering, she put her hand on her forehead.

“And the fact that the collapsed association could be revived by expanding the cleaning team means that, conversely, a decent association can also be destroyed.”

“…….”

“We will reduce the number of personnel to the maximum, leave only the minimum amount of equipment, and sell everything else. Of course, we will set the work schedule to no more than three per team per day. And reduce from ten teams to five teams…….”

“Wait! Just a minute!”

She interrupted me and raised an objection.

“Are you saying… you’re going to restructure the cleaning team? To ruin the branch?”

“That’s right.”

Lee Ah-young’s voice grew louder at my answer.

“These are people we directly hired two years ago. Isn’t it a bit much to kick them out now?!”

“Isn’t that better than the branch being taken over by the International Association as it is?”

“Still! We should at least hear the opinions of the cleaning team members!”

“So, you’re saying you can’t follow me?”

“Th, that’s…….”

She hesitated, as if suddenly at a loss for words.

She avoided my gaze and was lost in thought for a long time without answering.

After a few minutes passed, she seemed to have calmed down and opened her mouth again with a calmer face.

“The employees… don’t really care or care about who the association is taken over by. As long as they get paid on time, what does it matter who the owner is? Especially if they are lower-ranking employees.”

“Well… that’s true.”

“But if we decide and decide among ourselves to kick out the people who are least related to this matter…….”

She bit her lip slightly and continued with difficulty.

“I can’t agree.”

“…….”

“No, to be honest… it might be better for the cleaning team employees to be affiliated with the International Association.”

I didn’t react to her answer.

Counting both the time she worked as my aide before the regression and the time she worked with me as a colleague after the regression… this is the first time she has rebelled against my decision.

‘Well, if you think about it, she was originally this kind of person…….’

I muttered inwardly, looking at her.

She was originally a person who was tired of such hierarchy and tried to leave the association.

It’s understandable that she would feel self-conscious about having to do the things she hated the most now.

Above all, what she said isn’t exactly wrong either.

The question of where the branch and the hub go is a matter for those who benefit from it, not the employees.

Rather, as she said, it might be better for the employees to be taken over by the International Association.

Therefore, it is ironic to kick out employees in the name of regaining the branch’s sovereignty.

But.

“Chief Lee Ah-young, we are at war right now.”

A war where if you don’t eat, you get eaten.

The moment you show even the slightest weakness, the cleaning team won’t be the only ones out on the street next time.

You must not overlook that fact.

“If we take everything like that into account, we can’t do anything. Unless there’s no other way, there’s no reason not to do it if there is a way.”

“……”

I said more firmly than ever.

Lee Ah-young seemed to have a lot to say, but she didn’t raise any more objections.

In order for the person sitting at the top to maintain their position, the sacrifice of subordinates is inevitable.

It’s for the company, it’s for everyone, no matter how much you package it, it means nothing to the subordinates.

The sacrifice of those who have nothing to do with it is forced.

That is the organization, and that is how I have lived.

But such contradictions do not even belong to a dilemma.

The real dilemma is… if you don’t kick them out when you can, someone might lose their life.

And I had to choose one of those two every time.

This time is no different.

“Of course, we won’t proceed right away. We need to create a restructuring list, and we need to readjust the schedule according to the local work methods and the reduced number of personnel.”

“…….”

“Well, I’m going to help with cleaning for a week and check things out. I need to know how the work is done, how many people need to be reduced from which team, and how the work should be done with the remaining personnel.”

Lee Ah-young still didn’t answer.

I looked at her for a moment and then got up from my seat.

“If you have nothing more to say…….”

With those words, I looked straight at her.

“Let’s go.”

“…….”

Nevertheless, Lee Ah-young stood still, her eyes lowered in place.

But that was only for a moment.

Thump.

She turned her back and left the office without saying a word.

“…….”

I also watched the place where she had left without saying a word.

***

“Oh, you’re here, you’re here!”

“Mr. Junwoo! Come quickly!”

When I arrived at the dungeon where cleaning support was scheduled, Department Head Park Geun-tae, Moon So-yeon, and Han Sang-hyuk grabbed me as if they had been waiting.

When I got closer, it seemed like there was a problem with the local cleaning team employees.

“What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

“No, the boss here is a slime type, and they’re trying to take a chainsaw!”

“Even if you take this, the flesh will get stuck on the blade and you won’t be able to use it. I want to tell them to just take a knife, but… I can’t communicate.”

Following Han Sang-hyuk, Department Head Park Geun-tae explained the situation.

‘What the heck…….’

Someone is dying of a headache because of the cleaning team restructuring, and someone is pointing out equipment.

Anyway, these are people who are serious about cleaning even when they come all the way here.

“…Okay, I understand.”

I nodded and turned to the local employees.

At the same time.

“No, what are you trying to do now!”

“We need to get to work quickly, why are you blocking us from entering!”

“Aren’t you here to help?!”

The local employees complained with angry expressions.

Well… it’s natural to react like this because they don’t know what’s going on.

I calmed them down and slowly explained the part that Department Head Park Geun-tae had pointed out.

“……Ah!”

“Is that so…?”

“I didn’t even think about that part…….”

Only then did the local cleaners realize that they were trying to catch their mistakes, and they scratched their heads with embarrassed expressions.

Then, they bowed to the 3 team members.

“T, thank you.”

They said hello in awkward Korean.

“Haha! I’m glad the misunderstanding has been resolved. We are grateful too~.”

“Then let’s get to work right away.”

“We’ve wasted all our time. We need to hurry?”

The 3 team members started preparing for work again as if nothing had happened.

I entered the dungeon with everyone.

Well, fortunately, the work itself was quite smooth.

“Give me some chemicals there. Uh… chemical, chemical!”

“Ah, okay.”

“The slime is bigger than I thought… should we divide it into 5 equal parts?”

“Hmm, the processing facility doesn’t like it when it’s broken down a lot… but I can’t help it.”

“Hey, five parts. Ah, so… five pieces!”

“Five? Okay!”

“Be careful. Be careful! Okay?!”

“Okay, okay.”

Everyone continued to work without any problems even with clumsy language.

Even though the nationalities were different, the work to be done was the same, so there seemed to be something that could be communicated with just gestures and body language.

There was no need for long conversations, and they communicated with them…….

That relationship continued for a week.