Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols – Chapter 540 – Kim Wonjoo (1)

Author: LyraDhani

After returning from Imjingak, I was bedridden. My fever kept rising and falling at random, and I was so drained that I didn’t feel like doing anything. It felt like all my energy was leaking out through the soles of my feet.

At first, I thought I had caught the flu. I figured I was paying a harsh price for standing outside all day and then coming home bawling my eyes out. No matter how overwhelmed I’d been by my emotions, it had been childish of me.

It wasn’t until I saw the flickering System window that I realized the clear cause of my illness.

[SYSTEM] ‘Subordinate’ is being notified of the ‘Syncronization Rate.’

▷ Current Syncronization Rate: 98%

How considerate of it to raise my synchronization rate just in time for the New Year. It had said that the synchronization rate could rise as a certain amount of time passed, but apparently, once I quit the company, its calculations became brutally precise. If I had dithered in the dorm any longer under the pretext of looking for a solution, I would have been truly f*cked.

Anyway, for this reason, I spent most of my days lying down, groaning like a sick chicken. If someone pointed out that my daily routine hadn’t been all that different even before the synchronization rate increased, I had an answer of my own.

Back then, even though I spent just as much time lying down, my bedding was pleasantly fresh and fluffy. Not soaked through with sweat like it was now! Thankfully, I’d been using a blanket instead of a duvet because I had a fever. If I’d kept using my winter cotton duvet as usual, I would’ve collapsed somewhere on the street while going back and forth to the laundromat to wash it.

If the system had a physical form, I would have grabbed it by the collar and demanded answers. It had said that ‘synchronization rate’ meant becoming more like the state I had been in before dying from overwork… But it made no sense that my condition was this terrible even during the period when I was still working at Hanpyeong Industry, before I collapsed while making Spark’s banner—-back when I kept forcing myself to go to work because I thought there was nothing wrong with me. If this was synchronization, it should’ve stopped at the same level as before. Calling it ‘synchronization’ while making someone even worse off than they had been before seemed inappropriate.

Perhaps noticing that I was preparing to launch an uprising against it, the system hurriedly appeared. Along with a half-hearted explanation.

[SYSTEM] A work insturction from the ‘Superior’ has arrived.

▶ I told you. Once you’ve worked four days a week, even the five-day workweek you used to do every week starts to feel like torture.

It wasn’t exactly a new story. It was merely repeating that, in the past, I hadn’t realized I was in this condition because I’d lived like a slave. Now that I was living a more comfortable life, I had finally learned to recognize when I was tired.

Impressive, really. How the hell had I dragged this body through commuting every day? I let out a hollow laugh. There was a reason a perfectly healthy man in his twenties, who’d been told at every health checkup that there was nothing wrong with him, had suddenly died from overwork.

As I lay there snickering, the system struck up a conversation again.

[SYSTEM] A work instruction from the ‘Superior’ has arrived.

▶ Still, I’ve brought some news for our Assistant Manager Kim~.

Assistant Manager Kim is currently bedridden and isn’t happy to hear any news~.

Do I look like someone who would be interested in hot issues right now? Assistant Manager Kim is too exhausted to have the energy to listen to announcements or anything else.

The system didn’t care about my irritation. Whether I glared at it or cursed it in my head, it just said what it wanted to say.

[SYSTEM] A work order from the ‘Superior’ has arrived.

▶ I went through Assistant Manager Kim’s work history to conduct a comprehensive evaluation this time, and it turns out Assistant Manager Kim was quite diligent at the company, hardly violating any internal regulations.

On the next page, a small image was attached as supporting evidence. It was the ‘Personnel Disadvantage Clause’ window I had seen at the beginning of my regression.

[SYSTEM] ‘Subordinate’ is being notified of the ‘Personnel Disadvantage Clauses.’

▷ Violation of Internal Regulations

▷ Violation of Confidentiality

▷ [Locked]

I vividly remembered getting a warning because I’d carelessly joked that Jeong Seongbin would become king. After that, I didn’t want to play a game of roulette with my life, so I played it safe on my own.

As a result, the KPI ended before I’d even had a chance to see what the locked items contained. Apparently, the system had taken this as evidence that I’d achieved ‘diligent employment’.

‘Now that I think about it, I think it did mention conducting a comprehensive evaluation to proceed with the resignation process…’

In the explanation of the comprehensive evaluation, it said that rewards or punishments would follow depending on the results. The system approached me with an attitude just as generous as its friendly introduction had been.

[SYSTEM] A work instruction from the ‘Superior’ has arrived.

▶ So, I’m planning to give an appropriate reward to an ‘Outstanding Long-term Employee.’

It was normal to use the term ‘Long-term Employee’ for situation like this. However, since the purpose of the missions, including the KPI, was closer to a time attack, it seemed to use the title ‘Outstanding Employee’ to evaluate the content of the work rather than its duration.

There was no way the system would give me something of equal value just because I didn’t use all the functions it provided for free. Considering the system’s track record so far, it wasn’t the type to do anything for me unless it was mentioned in the contract clauses beforehand. It was the type to nag if I didn’t save scrap paper, but not necessarily the type to praise me for recycling it.

‘When it was first planned, did the system expect that I would have to use everything I gained during the regression to achieve the final KPI?’

So…… it was like the company had prepaid a restaurant near the company and bought a huge stack of meal vouchers, only for the employee to eat only half their meals. It made sense if the system’s calculations got messed up because I finished the mission without using all the privileges I had out of fear.

I could see how that would be a waste of money. Once I’d found that analogy, the system’s words started sounding like: ‘The KPI is over so I can’t give you a refund, but I’ll trade your meal tickets for drink coupons at the cafe next door’.

However, I was skeptical that there could be any reward that would actually mean anything to me. I had already left the group, I could no longer meet my sister, and only 2% of the sync rate remained. I had helped everyone I wanted to help. No matter how many drink coupons it gave me, I had nowhere left to use them.

‘I am curious to see what kind of attractive product it proposes, though.’

I had no expectations, but I didn’t want to bother arguing with it, so I gave it a suitably agreeable response. Despite my superficial reaction, the system flashed blindingly.

[SYSTEM] A work instruction from the ‘Superior’ has arrived.

▶ I bet Assistant Manager Kim will be quite tempted. Since you’ve been curious all along.

Confidence overflowed from it.

[SYSTEM] A work instruction from the ‘Superior’ has arrived.

▶ I’m talking about news regarding your ‘Predecessor.’

A phrase I didn’t understand appeared. All the text displayed on the screen disappeared, and a new notification appeared.

[SYSTEM] As a reward for completing the ‘Comprehensive Evaluation,’ a ‘Settlement Statement (Kim Wonjoo)’ is notified to ‘Subordinate.’

Before I even had time to figure out what the document was, my consciousness began to fade. Even as my focus drifted away, I could clearly see what the system was saying.

[SYSTEM] A work instruction from the ‘Superior’ has arrived.

▶ Don’t worry. Once you receive it, even Assistant Manager Kim will agree that it’s a ‘reward commensurate with the results.’

[SYSTEM] A work instruction from the ‘Superior’ has arrived.

▶ I have to tie things up without a hitch so that Assistant Manager Kim won’t come complaining to the company later. I’ll make sure everything is settled properly.

F*ck, were you giving me a cashback because you were afraid I’d write a bad review on Planet Job?

Why do you have to piss me off so much when I just said that nonsense because I never wanted to be involved with you again…

***

When my drifting consciousness returned, I was on a familiar street. To be precise, I was floating above the street of the neighborhood where I used to live a long time ago.

I’d floated around like a ghost in a dream before, too. It had been the night before I jumped in front of the car. I’d looked down at the Hanpyeong Industry office, my commute, and my apartment from exactly this angle.

My mind had been blank right after the regression, but seeing it with my eyes brought back memories. I also noticed things I hadn’t known back then. For instance, I realized that the neighborhood where I lived was actually a fairly expensive area in terms of housing prices.

Past events usually came with titles like ‘Memory Data’ or ‘Past Data’. This was the first time I had seen the word ‘Settlement Statement’.

Furthermore, the subject wasn’t me, but my sister. Like when I caught a glimpse of Spark fighting fiercely during their internal rift before the regression, it seemed I was now being forced to witness my sister’s past.

‘Considering the name is ‘Kim Wonjoo’. it must refer to my sister before she was abandoned at birth in the current timeline.’

The spot where I dropped was somewhere between the middle school my sister attended and the apartment where we all lived together. Judging by the setting sun, my sister would probably be coming home from school along this road soon.

After waiting for a bit, as expected, I saw my sister as a child in the distance. My sister was walking sluggishly, an ice cream in her mouth, with a friend. With her short bob haircut, she looked so vivid and familiar that I almost called out to her from midair.

“You should have stayed for dinner. My mom said she’d make something delicious.”

“Come on, I’ve already finished my homework. And I have to go home too.”

Apparently, she’d stopped by her friend’s house to do her homework. Our house was an environment where it was difficult to do anything peacefully.

My sister and her friend chatted nonstop even during the brief walk through the narrow alley. I almost wondered how close they had to be to have that much to talk about. Still, it was my sister’s privacy, so I pretended not to hear and hummed to myself.

Before long, the two reached the playground in front of our apartment complex. My sister stopped walking and suddenly tilted her head upward.

“Wow.”

She let out a small exclamation. For a moment, I thought our eyes met. But my sister’s gaze was focused on something slightly different.

When I turned around, I saw a light on in the window of our house, much higher than where I was.

“I don’t want to go home.”

Her mouth was smiling, but her eyes were empty. The ice cream melted and dripped down.