Time Mansour - Chapter 103
Only Noblemtl
Episode 103: A warm smile melts the ice.
I was living in a different time than others.
but.
Sometimes I forget that fact myself.
so.
Towards Manager Chae.
Without me knowing.
“long time···”
I was about to say hello and say it had been a while, but I swallowed my words for a moment.
The unfinished greetings pass down my throat along with a gentle pop song.
Because it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you.
no.
To be exact, it’s been a while for me.
actually.
From Manager Chae’s point of view.
“You and I had a drink just a little while ago.”
I myself was often confused.
The time I spent in my sister’s room. During that time, my memories continued to accumulate and pile up.
Because overwritten data is more difficult to recover than erased data.
So sometimes I get an error code from memory.
“Director Jeong. I’ve been seeing you a lot lately.”
Manager Chae walks toward you, his voice melody audible.
The slow pop song was too slow to avoid and was caught in Manager Chae’s shoes.
I called Manager Chae today because I had something to ask about app design developers.
however.
“Youngjun. What is it? Are you so upset? Why didn’t you call me?”
There was another person right next to Manager Chae. Director Lee and Manager Chae were walking with their arms linked.
When we first met, the people who used to argue about our age went somewhere. Now, they acted like friends who had been friends for twenty years.
Two people pull back the chairs on opposite sides of the table and sit side by side while listening to music.
After making sure the two people were seated, I slowly answered.
“The director lives in Seoul. It’s a bit awkward to call him that.”
“Hey. How long does it take from Seoul to here?”
The manager waves his hand and answers as if it’s nothing serious.
The director said it as if nothing happened, but from my perspective, it was burdensome to call him to Ansan.
It’s about an hour and a half by train. I’m not sure, but it would probably take an hour by car.
Even if I came to Ansan, there’s no place worth going to. Well, even if there were, I don’t really know about it.
So, I should have gone up to Seoul instead of telling you to come down separately.
however.
Manager Chae just called her casually. It seems like the two of them have become quite close. While thinking about that, something suddenly occurred to him, so he turned to the person across from him and asked her a question.
“But how did the two of you come together?”
“I was talking to you, and the director said he was bored today. Is that okay?”
“Well, of course it’s okay. I’m just curious. I guess you two keep in touch often.”
“Of course. I contact you much more often than the director.”
“That’s right. If Youngjun doesn’t have anything to do, he doesn’t contact me at all.”
Then he glared at me from across the room at the same time.
match.
High five without context.
If they were my friends, those palms would be facing each other’s cheeks.
Well. Everyone has a different way of expressing friendship. Thinking that, I looked at Manager Chae again.
“Even if you don’t, I have something to do today.”
“I know. The director is like that. He doesn’t contact me much when he has nothing to do. So what’s the matter?”
“Just so you know, do you know any freelance developers? App design-oriented?”
“Me? I don’t know anything. No. Even if engineers don’t know anything, you know a lot more about developers, right?”
He shook his head with an expression of ignorance. Well. It seemed like it would be like this.
I’ve moved around from company to company, but Manager Chae has been in one company for a long time. And since he wasn’t a developer, he couldn’t know anyone.
I asked just in case, and it was as expected. I was thinking that I should just look for a developer in the freelance market.
moment.
Manager Chae tilted his head.
“But Mr. Director… why aren’t there any developers you can ask for help?
“I quit my job, and to celebrate, I deleted all the contact information of people I knew from before.
To be honest, it wasn’t something to be proud of, so I scratched my head in embarrassment.
“Ah··· but···”
Manager Chae stops talking and falls into thought again. He looks up at the cafe lights.
“Director, you still do some freelance developer work, right? Then, you have some connections, don’t you?”
He opened his mouth, tilting his head repeatedly.
“No. Except for Ive, I don’t work with Korean companies at all… Ah!”
I paused without realizing it as I was answering.
Then he opens his eyes wide and looks at Manager Chae.
“The developer you know… isn’t he only in Korea?”
“··· That’s right. That’s right.”
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a Korean developer, right?”
That’s right. That’s right. At Manager Chae’s words, I nodded my head up and down with my mouth open.
My head shook as the music flowed.
I didn’t even think about it.
Hundreds of online friends on Messenger.
**
A smile falls on Naite. The two people laugh like girls, forgetting their age.
A warm smile slowly melts the ice in the cup.
As we chatted, night fell before we knew it.
I was thinking that it was time to leave now, and was keeping an eye on things.
moment.
“Mr. Director Lee, don’t you think it’s a shame to continue like this?”
Manager Chae’s eyes light up.
“I can’t drink that. Bring tea.”
“Then let’s go to karaoke. Karaoke. How about it?”
Manager Chae looked back and forth between me and Director Lee as he spoke.
Then he grabbed the director’s arm and shook it.
“Uh… Okay. Let’s go…”
The director answers while swaying from side to side. Judging from his expression, it seems like he is answering reluctantly.
“Really. Actually, I really wanted to go to karaoke. It’s been so long since I’ve been there.”
Manager Chae didn’t seem to notice at all. He just raised both hands and looked delighted.
This manager doesn’t seem to like it very much, so I wonder if I should go along with this. Thinking so, I get up from my seat.
Manager Chae and Director Lee walked ahead, sticking close together. Anyone could see that Director Lee was being dragged along.
He wasn’t originally a person without any tact, but he must be comfortable with this manager.
Anyway, in the end, I followed Manager Chae to the coin karaoke.
When you insert a bill into the machine, the speaker spits out a beep.
“It’s been a really long time. I used to come here often when I was in school.”
Manager Chae holds the microphone and sings a ballad. He reads the lyrics with his eyes and moves his lips.
‘You sing better than I thought.’
In my opinion, it was better than the national language. As I kept listening, I somehow got excited, so I lowered my voice and smiled.
“You sing well.”
“I used to live in a karaoke room. I spent so much money here. I should do this much.”
Then he puts the mic down with a smile.
After Manager Chae finished singing, Director Lee hesitated for a moment.
First of all, I grabbed the mic first.
As the song title appeared on the monitor and the interlude began to play.
“Director, are you really going to call this…?”
Manager Chae looks at me with surprised eyes.
“Yes. I’m performing. I’ve been hearing about it a lot lately.”
Baby Dolphin. This is the most popular song among children. Since it is a song that cannot be left out of children’s performances, I have been practicing it a lot recently.
When Kookyoung sang it so excitedly on stage, I just wanted to sing along.
like that.
“Baby dolphin! Turn and turn, dolphin!”
He sang children’s songs with the soul of rock, singing in a national vocal style.
“Director? Was this the original song of Baby Dolphin?”
“That’s our band’s style.”
I answered with a smile and handed the mic over to the director.
The manager stands up from his seat hesitantly and enters the number.
Your throat is a little sore today. You look like you don’t want to sing.
I was a little curious as to why he was doing that.
Let’s have this director sing a verse.
I understood it right away.
Manager Chae and I looked at Director Lee with surprised eyes.
I guess I had some kind of prejudice in my head. The prejudice that this director would naturally be able to sing to some extent.
“I… actually, I don’t really like singing. Not listening to it. Not singing it.”
My brother is the CEO of an entertainment company, but it seems like he himself didn’t really like music.
Looking back, I don’t remember ever talking about music with this director.
‘This company really wasn’t a good fit for me.’
I guess I should stop. I nod my head as I think about it.
The singing continued after that. They took turns singing a few more songs.
Every time the song changed, I would lip-sync and sing along. I would just move my lips without making a sound.
As I continued to move my lips like that.
“Is there any song you don’t know, sir?”
Manager Chae looks at me as if he is curious.
“Yes. I listened to a lot of music after I quit my job.”
If I exaggerate a little, it felt like I had heard every song in the world.
When I work, I always listen to music. I don’t really have a particular genre in mind. I know more songs than other people.
“Honestly, it doesn’t suit me. In my memory, the director seemed like a… rational person. A bit cold.”
“Of course. I’m a bundle of emotions.”
When I shrugged my shoulders as if joking, Manager Chae snickered.
While joking here and there and inputting songs one after another, at some point, only Manager Chae and I were singing.
This director actually didn’t sing many songs. It’s been a while since he took his hands off the mic.
Only then did the manager notice. He carefully put the microphone down.
“It’s already this late. I should go now.”
And then he links arms with this manager.
Director Lee looked at Manager Chae with an apologetic expression.
“It’s okay. If it’s because of me…”
“No, it’s too late. Let’s meet again next time and have fun.”
He pushed the director’s body from side to side while smiling.
Just like when you come to a karaoke room, you feel dragged out when you leave.
As we came up from the basement, chilly weather was already waiting for us.
“You’re going to have a long journey.”
“No, I’ll be there soon.”
I walk the manager to the parking lot and say hello.
He repeatedly told me to go in quickly and then turned his back.
On my way home, street noise blocks my path.
In the midst of such a noisy atmosphere, I swayed my body from side to side and hummed a song.
I’m a little embarrassed to sing it out loud.
just.
My mouth moved slightly. Silent music filled the streets.
My barely audible singing drowns out the noise.
All I could hear was my own singing.
**
‘Why didn’t I think of that?’
I raise my head and look at the monitor light.
For a moment, I forgot that there was a bigger world out there on that small screen.
‘The world is big, but I thought of it too narrowly.’
I leaned back in my chair and checked the list on my messenger.
Hundreds of developers.
Online friends from all over the world stream down from above.
‘Jashurong… I guess that’s a bit like that.’
The app I’m making is a simple app. Rather than a great developer, I need someone who is trustworthy and of a moderate level.
I’m trying to catch a chicken right now, so if I ask Jaeshirong, he’ll introduce me to a slaughter knife. There probably aren’t many low-level developers around.
I looked through the list, but I couldn’t find anyone suitable.
Most of the technicians who entrust me with work are people who look alike.
Usually, if they couldn’t catch it with a butcher’s knife, then they called me.
I really can’t see anyone suitable. I muttered to myself as I looked through the list.
There was a name that caught my eye for a moment.
-Siriu.
Thai friends who may lack skills but are full of passion.
‘Yeah. The kids would be the best.’
They may not be very skilled, but they are trustworthy.
I made up my mind and sent a message to Siriu in Thailand.
-How are you?
After waiting for a moment, a reply came right away.
-Oh. Okay. What’s going on?
-I have a favor to ask. Is now a good time for you?
-Of course. Oh! You just saw the article. I told you. I told you to trust me. But don’t sell it yet. It’s structured so that it can only go up after listing.
Siriu says something unintelligible. He guesses and answers even though I haven’t asked him yet.
-Huh? What are you talking about?
-Didn’t you see the article saying we’re going public next year?
-No. I haven’t seen it.
They’re already going public. That’s faster than I thought. Usually, they go public after they grow to a size that’s large enough to be listed.
Well, you’ll figure it out. You’ll know better than I do. I’ll have a few weeks assigned to me, but that’s not really important right now.
I was trying to send a message asking for a developer introduction.
That’s what it was.
Check the price of unlisted stocks.
-What’s your estimate for the week? Really?
I had no choice but to write something else.
I couldn’t believe it, so I asked again without realizing it.