By Zephyria 
My impetuousness was reflected in her bewildered eyes. Her thick eyebrows twitched upwards. The office, barely half-full due to most people working from home, fell into a momentary silence.
Yes, she couldn’t possibly be unaware. The subtle yet distinct difference was discrimination, and everyone was simply ignoring it. It was too bothersome to interfere, and it wasn’t their problem.
“This is too sudden. I have my own work to do; you should have told me at least a few hours in advance.”
“So, is that work so critical and urgent that you can’t spare me even a few minutes right now? It will take about 30 minutes. I don’t believe there’s anything with such a tight deadline that you’d have to work overtime just to meet with me.”
“…Yes, there is!”
“It was my role to assign you work. Did you perhaps receive work from another team without Team leader’s knowledge? If so, that would be a very big problem. Which team is it, that insane team that doesn’t know the procedures?”
I replied languidly to Michelle’s sharp retort. After all, the one who loses out when anger is vented is the one doing the venting. If not Michelle, then I could do it with David. I couldn’t tolerate them interfering with my work.
Exclusion from lunch or tea time was nothing, but public detriment was a different matter. No one could take responsibility for my performance in my stead.
The clicking of a pen was grating on my ears. Dozens of sheets of paper were being crumpled more and more with the force of her hands. My documents, untouched and pushed aside, stood out on her messily cluttered desk.
“…That, that’s my personal area. Do I have to get Winter’s permission for everything I do?”
“There’s no need to ask for permission if this is a personal matter, not a public one. If you’re so busy, shall we have the meeting here? We’re both short on time. The choice is yours.”
I raised the corners of my mouth and smiled brightly. I hoped my benevolent heart would reach her.
To put it bluntly, what I was about to do was to give Michelle a hard time. To seriously discuss how lacking and useless her work skills were. If she wanted, I could do it publicly, anytime.
As she said, the one who had to bear it was different. Work was my domain, emotions were hers. And the fact that I was her evaluator was also her burden to bear.
“…Winter Che!”
“Speaking, Michelle Brink.”
Even in this situation, she mispronounced my name, so I returned the favor in kind. Her face, full of rage, was severely distorted.
I was willing to listen as much as she wanted. If I could be convinced. As much as she wanted.
So, in fact, what this meant was that I was fucking pissed at her right now. She needed to know her place. I was past the point of wondering how much I had to put up with. This was beyond childish.
This wasn’t a school playground. This was a company where you had to provide ability equal to the value you received. I couldn’t stand to see work ruined by personal feelings.
“I’m your Sunbae, you know that?”
“It’s so far back I can’t even see it. Do you happen to know what floor I’m on?”
“…….”
“If you don’t know, I’ll tell you. I’m on the 8th floor, Michelle is on the 2nd.”
There was a tendency to see me as young because I was Asian. So, she was expressing to me that she didn’t want to know about me, didn’t even think about knowing. Assuming, of course, that I was her Hubae. So, she wanted to bring me down by any means possible.
It was the end of the world that a greenhorn employee was standing up to a Head of section.
“Excuse me?”
“The fact that I’m Michelle’s evaluator is also important, I suppose. I heard it’s promotion review next year, but I guess I was mistaken. Otherwise…”
There’s no way you’d deliberately tank your evaluation by flaunting your incompetence. If you were in your right mind.
I finished speaking and stared intently at Michelle. Her face was flushed with shame, and her whole body was trembling. I’d never given anyone this much grief even in Korea.
If she were someone who was easily hurt by such coldness, she might have collapsed quickly. Their own tight-knit perpetuation that excludes others regardless of ability. But I wasn’t that kind of person. I was almost grateful that she gave me something to hold against her.
So, she should have known her place when I was being lenient.
“I’ll ask again. Do you have time?”
Michelle bit her lip tightly. Her curly hair fell loosely over her face. It covered more than half of her black horn-rimmed glasses.
“…Yes, I do.”
Her voice trembled. I could feel the anger fueled by humiliation.
I tossed out a single word to follow me and brushed past her. The surroundings were still quiet, as if listening to our voices. It was understandable. A conflict suddenly thrown into a boring company life, I would have enjoyed it too if I were them.
The sound of keyboards filled the silence. It didn’t matter who became the bad guy.
All that mattered was getting the results I wanted from her. Good relationships could be built with good people. Like Ian or Jamie. There was no place for Michelle.
I’d learned by paying a high price that there was no need to stress myself out by forming relationships with bad people. It was right to cut off what wasn’t right.
I went to the small conference room first and sat down. Soon, Michelle came in hesitantly. The confidence I had seen earlier had vanished without a trace. The change wasn’t surprising in the slightest. It was within the expected range.
“Um, well…”
“Come in and sit down.”
I suppressed a laugh at the sight of her coming in empty-handed without even bringing her laptop. The US branch wasn’t anything special either. People were all the same everywhere. Here too, there were bugs that only wasted money, and talented people were sacrificing themselves to make up for the losses.
So, was the person in front of me a king bug?
“I understand that Michelle has doubts about my work abilities.”
“…….”
“I’m seriously wondering if Michelle is the Chairman’s hidden daughter. If so, I’ve taken the wrong path.”
When I was printing out the data just now, I also printed out the report that Michelle had recently approved. As I slowly turned the pages and read it, I was on the verge of laughing. It was funnier than most comedy shows.
Maybe I chose the wrong career path. It seems like being a comedian would suit me.
“…Personal insults are not Winter’s right, I believe!”
“I clearly heard that the US branch has very quick dismissal procedures for incompetent employees, so how did you last two years? Ah, just talking to myself. Don’t mind me. I wasn’t singling you out.”
The paper was tossed onto the desk with a flutter. The scattered papers were a mess. But what was more serious than that was the text written on them.
Honestly, if I thought of her as a newbie, I couldn’t say it was completely bad. But she was in her second year. In a few days, she would be in her third year.
Yes, that was the problem. This pathetic level of report was filled with sentences that even a three-month-old newbie wouldn’t write.
“You… I’m going to report you!”
“Yes, go ahead. I like mud fights. I’m pretty good at them, you know.”
I smiled kindly at her.
I realized something while working in the United States. This place was very individualistic. Just as no one stopped her, no one stopped me. What a comfortable mindset.
It meant that there was no need for the fierce calculations as in the Korean branch. There, it was also important to gain an advantage in public opinion.
A strange foreigner who rolled in and a team member who had worked together for years. I was in a very unfavorable situation. If this were Korea. But this wasn’t Korea, was it? This was favorable enough for me.
“I’ll keep this report in mind for the evaluation. But that’s not what’s important right now.”
“…….”
“There are two projects that I needed Michelle’s cooperation on. So, would it be okay if I asked you a few questions about how much you understand?”
“…Is it my fault that I couldn’t cooperate because the documents were terrible?”
She still didn’t know her place.
It was already a predicted result. How much could I expect from someone who supported such discriminatory ideas? It couldn’t be helped that my heart ached even though I knew.
To think I had to work with such a moron. Ian, you definitely didn’t say that. That one of your team members had the intelligence of an amoeba asking to be friends!
Or was the endless opportunity for growth that you mentioned for me to realize on my own while working with someone beyond redemption?
The angrier I got, the colder my head became.
I tossed the documents in front of Michelle. I didn’t have enough patience left to hand them over nicely.
“Of course not. Then point out where it was so terrible. If you can make me acknowledge even a single error, I’ll push for your promotion next year. I’m capable enough to do that.”
My smile deepened.
Her tightly closed lips trembled. Her hand slowly reached out onto the desk. The hand with the red nail polish was full of hesitation.
If Michelle found an error in this document that I could accept, then she was really a candidate for promotion. It would mean that she had even better abilities than me.
But I was also confident. I never started a fight I was going to lose from the beginning. That was my motto.
“I’ll give you 20 minutes. I’m a little busy. Thanks to incompetent people.”
I set the timer and put my phone down where it could be seen easily. 19 minutes 59 seconds. 58 seconds.
Time was flowing.