RND 30

The following courses are held for the improvement of employees’ skills and their infinite development.

…(omitted)….

Instructor: Song Yi-ho, Senior Engineer, IT Solution Development

Yi-ho, who was in charge of the 21st “Ultimate Coding Class,” spent sleepless nights agonizing over a copy he had absolutely no memory of writing. Once a week, every Tuesday from 7:00 to 8:30. What on earth should he teach to make “all development work” in just eight sessions?

Yi-ho dug through his external hard drives from his days as a teaching assistant to create the course materials. Several evenings after work and weekends were ground away in the process. Even after thinking about it a hundred times during that time, he couldn’t reach a conclusion to one specific question: ‘Why the hell am I doing this?’

“Cha Min-gyu….”

“Yeah.”

“What’s the point of learning coding when global warming is this serious? Coding can’t stop the problems we’re facing. When the glaciers melt and the world is submerged in water, computers will just break. It’s completely useless.”

“…….”

“Taking a swimming class would be far more helpful for one’s life than a coding class, so why is everyone taking something like this….”

“…Song-i, you’re really struggling, aren’t you?”

Min-gyu, who had come over to tease him about why he was cooped up all the time, brought over a fan from his own house for Yi-ho, who seemed to be melting from the heat of the laptop. And for dinner, he made cold kimchi noodles as a special treat.

Thus, in May, when an early heatwave arrived as if the world were about to end, the Coding Class opened to great success.

“Then… that’s it for the explanation of if-statements. Please create your own examples, and once you raise your hand, I’ll come over and check them.”

The one-hour theoretical coding lecture ended, and the practice session began. Less than five minutes later, someone raised their hand high. It was Kwon Tae-kyung, the youngest employee of the development team. The code on his monitor was perfect, from the variable names to the alignment, exactly as it is used in the field. However, to praise this would be…

“Majors are cheating.”

“I’m a student here too.”

“Tae-kyung, why on earth are you taking this? You should have just gone home to rest after clocking out.”

“Yi-ho. I’m not a major.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Yes. I didn’t graduate from Computer Science; I graduated from the Game Department. This is my first time using Python.”

“…Good grief.”

If that’s not a major, then what is? Yi-ho tapped Tae-kyung’s monitor and went to check on the other students. Everyone was writing in a language they had never seen before, with the mindset of a foreigner.

“Overall, it seems you’re all doing well. Is there anyone who would like to put their code on the screen so we can all see it together?”

This was a question that had never received an answer during his undergraduate years. Office workers, who minimize stepping forward unless necessary to save energy… they should have, but someone in the corner boldly raised their hand. To make matters worse, he was quite tall, so when he stretched his arm out, it looked like it would pierce the ceiling. When Yi-ho tried to pretend not to see, the arm bobbed as if to say, ‘Look over here.’

“Team Leader Cha Min-gyu, are you really going to present?”

“Of course. I really want to show you how hard I worked.”

“…Alright.”

With a very ominous feeling, Yi-ho put Min-gyu’s screen up on the lecture screen.

print(“Song-i Mushroom craves caffeine..”)

For Song-i’s health!

question = int(input(“Song-i, how many cups of coffee did you drink today?”))

if question == 2:

print(“Black blood must be flowing through your veins. I cannot give you any more coffee.”)

elif question == 1:

print(“Hmph, consider this the last one~!”)

elif question == 0:

print(“Our Song-i has changed. A round of applause for praise, clap, clap, clap”)

elif question >= 3:

print(“RIP”)

“There is a Song-i Mushroom who mistakes caffeine for an essential nutrient. Ask the Song-i Mushroom who wants coffee how many cups he drank today. If he drank two, output that you cannot give him more for the sake of his vascular health; if he drank one, give him the last cup; and if he hasn’t had a single cup today, praise him. And since a Song-i Mushroom who drinks three or more cups is a poisonous mushroom, we express our condolences….”

“…….”

An incredibly irritating explanation was added. The whispers spreading around, such as “Why on earth is it a Song-i Mushroom?” and “I don’t know, maybe it’s some kind of marketing team slang,” contributed greatly to the throbbing in his head.

“…You did very well. Just do it like the example Min-gyu showed you.”

Song Yi-ho’s Coding Class finished this week’s lecture safely, though it felt like it was sailing smoothly and struggling at the same time.

∗   ∗   ∗

For Song Yi-ho in his twenties, May was the month of all-nighters. Between progressing lab projects, grading and answering grade inquiries for the courses he assisted, and preparing for his own graduate school exams, he had to carve out sleep, all while managing external obligations like Parents’ Day and Teachers’ Day.

Now that Song Yi-ho was in his thirties, he inherited that history, and May became the month of overtime.

“Sigh….”

There was no way that just because he spent time on that damn coding class, projects wouldn’t come his way. The company never leaves idle manpower alone. If another development team took over Yi-ho’s work and struggled through overtime, they would say, ‘Team Leader Song has no work?’ and create new tasks just to give them to him.

And some of the work that Team Leader Nam and Team Leader Kim had taken over returned to Yi-ho. In the worst possible form: taking over the follow-up work after others had made a mess of the foundation….

Even though the days were gradually getting longer, the sun didn’t stay up until the coding class ended. Through the bright windows of the building across the street, the faint silhouettes of others in the same plight were reflected. Similarly, Yi-ho occupied the office in solitude. With no one around, his head naturally grew closer to the monitor. It was a posture that increased efficiency while decreasing lifespan.

Just then, a coffee carrier was plopped down next to the turtle-backed man.

“Song-i, how many cups of coffee did you drink today?”

“One.”

“I shall give a strawberry latte to the poisonous mushroom who lied.”

Min-gyu took the americano out of the two-slot carrier and placed the remaining pink liquid next to Yi-ho’s keyboard. Yi-ho let his head drop against the backrest and glared at the man standing behind him.

“If you bought it, just give it to me nicely.”

“Black blood must be flowing through your veins. As expected, I cannot give you caffeine.”

“Ugh.”

With a swift swing of Yi-ho’s hand, Min-gyu easily let the americano be snatched away. Yi-ho put the straw to his lips and sucked it in. Soon, his expression turned lukewarm. Min-gyu, who had taken the strawberry latte, clicked his tongue lightly upon seeing this.

“How on earth do you tell the difference? To me, caffeine or decaf is all the same.”

“It’s subtly… bland, like it’s watered down.”

“A round of applause for Song-i, who has gone beyond being addicted to caffeine to become a professional taster, clap, clap, clap.”

“Sigh….”

In front of Yi-ho, who was sighing openly, Min-gyu’s expression was annoyingly nonchalant.

“Why are you even taking a coding lecture? It can’t be that interesting.”

“Don’t say it’s not interesting. It was surprisingly competitive to sign up just to hear Song-i Song-i lecture in that dazed voice.”

Clearly teasing him, Yi-ho tried to glare again, but a white shopping bag was waved in front of his face. The name of a nearby Japanese restaurant was written on the front.

“Eat while you work. Song-i, you’re really going to wither away.”

“…….”

Inside were two servings of sushi.

…Mischievous, sweet, and abruptly crossing the line with kindness. Today, too, Song Yi-ho climbed onto Cha Min-gyu’s palm of his own accord and swayed back and forth.

Min-gyu took his portion and leaned back against the windowsill behind Yi-ho.

Yi-ho flicked his chopsticks as a greeting to say he would eat well. Min-gyu simply shrugged without making a big deal of it.

“Do you have a lot left to do?”

“I can’t finish it all today anyway. I’ll just do as much as I can.”

“It feels like it gets exceptionally busy around this time.”

“True…. Maybe I’m just incompatible with May.”

“This year is worse than last year.”

“…That’s also true. Aren’t you leaving?”

“I’ll check what pops up at 9:00 while I’m taking care of the withered Song-i, then I’ll go.”

“Ah….”

“Actually, I left my car, so I’m planning to hitch a ride.”

“Since when? …If that’s the case, you should have come to work in my car this morning.”

“Ah, you’re right. I should have clung tightly to Song-i Song-i.”

Min-gyu wore a relaxed smile.

After everyone else had clocked out, Cha Min-gyu at this hour became loose. He set his jacket and tie on the desk, undid two buttons of his shirt, and rolled up his sleeves to his elbows. Thus, every time his broad shoulders moved, the deep shadows of his collarbones were visible through the gaps in the shirt.

This sight was like a small reward when working overtime with him. Should he call it the notification of a successful update deployment, the openness of leaving the company parking lot, or the sunset appearing at the end of a cloudy day….

He could stare at it all night if he wanted, but if he did that now, he might actually have to stay up all night starting next week. With a feeling of wanting to cry, Yi-ho pointed at the screen.

“I’m going to eat while I work now.”

“Yeah. That’s why I bought it.”

Unlike Yi-ho, who felt a lingering regret, Min-gyu agreed without hesitation. Behind Yi-ho, who had resumed his work, Min-gyu checked the opening of an overseas event being held today on his phone. Meanwhile, the sushi Min-gyu was eating one by one ran out. Yi-ho, who ate slower, had three or four pieces left.

Setting his phone down for a moment, Min-gyu’s eyes fell upon the seat of the development team leader. The sight of the back of a head with sushi filling both cheeks and two hands mechanically producing difficult code were strangely mismatched.

After watching for a moment, Min-gyu’s hand reached out from behind and pinched a handful of the cheek flesh under the chin.

“What is it.”

Yi-ho hunched his shoulders, but he didn’t look back.

“Song-i Song-i, didn’t you have chubby cheeks here in the past? Who stole them all?”

“What would happen if I still had them at thirty-three?”

“Maybe one side was eaten by graduate school, and the other by the company.”

“…Let’s go with that.”

A few more lines of code, like a cipher, were engraved on the monitor. Min-gyu leaned his head over Yi-ho’s backrest to peer at the screen.

“What is this doing?”

“Fixing the parsing API.”

“What’s that?”

Yi-ho thought for a moment before answering.

“…Making it so that even if you search like crap, the results come out perfectly.”

“Song Yi-ho’s ability to speak human has improved a lot.”

Until a few years ago, if asked about code, he would only give equally incomprehensible answers. To think he could now provide a clear summary in one sentence. As expected, the company is a place that carves the impossible into the possible.

He looked busy, so he really should stop bothering him. Min-gyu, returning to his own seat next to him, began to focus, taking in the online broadcast and people’s reactions. The parts to reference were neatly written in his notebook.

About an hour later, with a ‘clack’ of the enter key, Yi-ho, whose two hands had been stuck to the keyboard, stretched his arms forward. A groan of “Uuuugh…” accompanied the movement.

“If you have that much work, you should distribute it among the team members.”

“I’m re-doing the parts I distributed.”

Yi-ho let out a deep sigh and ruffled his hair.

“Sometimes it’s just difficult. Even if I divide the work and assign it, there are times when I eventually have to redo it myself, like now. I know it takes three days if I do it alone by staying up all night, and a week if we do it together, but we still have to do it together.”

“It’s because you’re too kind, you idiot….”

“What? Why are you suddenly whispering?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“……?”

Then he could just teach and push the subordinates until the desired result came out…. But with Song Yi-ho’s personality, doing that would only give him stomach pains and have little effect within the team. Still, it was a relief that he had good luck with his team members. It seemed they were all rolling along smoothly without anyone trying to outdo the team leader.

“Are you almost done with today’s goal?”

“Yeah. Roughly…. Let’s get ready to go.”

As if to do a final check, Yi-ho scrolled up and down in front of the monitor. Meanwhile, Min-gyu, who had already finished tidying his seat, approached from behind and firmly massaged his hunched shoulders. Yi-ho’s head shrank.

“I took the coding class, but I still have no idea what this means.”

“…I feel the same when I look at the documents you handle.”

“Those are in Korean and English, so I can at least grasp the context. I really don’t know what this means. Even if you wrote insults about me, I wouldn’t know.”

“How do you insult someone with code?”

Yi-ho turned his head, and his gaze met Min-gyu’s closely. Min-gyu’s chin was only a tiny gap away from the line of Yi-ho’s shoulder. It was a distance where a short breath could touch the other’s skin.

At the sudden narrowing of the distance, Yi-ho pressed his lips together and forced his head back toward the screen. Unlike his churning stomach, the very friend-like reaction was something he was accustomed to.

However, Min-gyu, who still kept his gaze on the side of Yi-ho’s face, found this subtle tension interesting.

Something had definitely changed since the workshop. It wasn’t in a negative direction, but Song Yi-ho was strangely lingering in his mind.

Min-gyu quietly observed the vibration of Yi-ho’s Adam’s apple. A long breath, and until he turned off the computer and stood up from his seat.