DFLT 19

Yeonoh stared at the monitor with a blank expression. The white was the Word document, and the black was the text. With his hands resting on the keyboard, Yeonoh blinked mechanically.

‘Mr. Ji Yeonoh.’

‘Y-yes?’

‘You didn’t seem like you were going to press it.’

The events of yesterday played back like a video beyond the white monitor. Ugh, crazy. Why did I do that? Shaking his head in denial of reality, Yeonoh snapped back to attention.

[Strategic distribution results of capabilities by revenue structure factors ssssssssssssss]

While zoning out, he had pressed the key, filling nearly a page with ‘s’.

“No way. I need to work, work.”

If he messed up a big task because of a stupid mistake, it would be irreparable. Yeonoh steeled himself and deleted the mass of errors.

“What are you muttering to yourself, Mr. Yeonoh?”

“Oh, nothing! Haha.”

“I just sent you a file via email, so sort the numbers and input them into the performance report format.”

With that, An Minhyuk stood up, saying he was going to the restroom, and disappeared somewhere. Tilting his head, Yeonoh turned back to the monitor, but his throbbing headache didn’t improve. The file Minhyuk sent was a sales file from the finance team. It took ages just to open the attached Excel file.

“…What is this?”

He blinked. Countless rows and columns were densely interwoven, and the formulas were like a maze. He tried to understand what each number meant by tracking the cells in the formulas, but the volume was overwhelming. At this rate, even staying up all night wouldn’t be enough.

“I’ll ask Assistant Manager An when he’s back.”

While examining the file to familiarize himself with its items before asking Minhyuk, a long shadow fell over the monitor, followed by Manager Kim and Heonyoung appearing. Yeonoh stood reflexively to greet them.

“Mr. Yeonoh, you said the draft for the performance report will be ready tomorrow morning, right?”

“Yes, Manager.”

It seemed impossible given the current situation, but Minhyuk must have a plan. Yeonoh nodded, forcing optimism.

“Then I’ll schedule a review for the afternoon, so please handle it well. Where’s Assistant Manager An?”

Unable to say he was in the restroom, Yeonoh scrambled for an excuse, answering cautiously.

“He went to request some work from the finance team.”

“Oh.”

Was his flimsy lie convincing? Yeonoh rubbed the tip of his nose awkwardly and lowered his head. Rapid footsteps approached from a distance, and An Minhyuk, spotting Heonyoung, rushed over.

“Oh, Executive Director! What brings you here?”

“Let’s review the bidding status for the Changwon appliance factory equipment.”

“I’ll get the materials right away.”

“I’m heading to a meeting, so it’d be great if you could have it ready in 30 minutes. Possible?”

“Yes! Of course!”

Finishing his business, Executive Director Seo left without delay, followed by Manager Kim. Confirming their departure, An Minhyuk tapped Yeonoh’s shoulder.

“Mr. Yeonoh, you have ERP login access, right?”

“Yes? Oh, yes. I do.”

“The quotations are all there. Go in and organize the bidding companies and their quotes into a spreadsheet. Got it?”

“Yes… Got it.”

Yeonoh answered confidently, but his vision darkened. He had requested ERP access in his first week, only to be rejected multiple times by the security team for unclear reasons. Manager Kim Jinhwan had to argue with the security team lead to finally secure it for him last week.

He had familiarized himself with the system whenever he had time, but finding the right data alone was still beyond him. With over ten menus, where were the quotations?

“Uh, Assistant Manager, which module do I go to for the quotations—”

“Did you even try looking first?”

“No, there are so many modules…”

“Look it up before asking. Do I have to spoon-feed you everything?”

“…Sorry. I’ll look.”

Biting his lip, Yeonoh opened modules with likely names one by one. Finally finding the “Quotation Management” menu, he sifted through countless requests to locate the Changwon appliance factory case Heonyoung mentioned.

Yeonoh wanted to cry tears of joy but kept his composure. With less than ten minutes until Heonyoung’s return, he frantically inputted the companies and quotes into an Excel file. Passing by, An Minhyuk glanced at the monitor and finally approached to help.

“You can just download it all to Excel and copy-paste.”

“…….”

“Why don’t you ask if you don’t know? Wow, you typed this all manually? That’s so inefficient. You’ve been here a month—shouldn’t you know by now?”

Hadn’t he just been scolded for asking? Swallowing his frustration, Yeonoh quietly found and pressed the download button.

“Assistant Manager, about the file you sent earlier, I have a question…”

“Yeah, later. Get that quotation spreadsheet set up on the tablet.”

As soon as Yeonoh handed over the tablet with the completed data, Heonyoung and Jinhwan returned from the meeting. An Minhyuk, clutching the tablet, greeted them politely.

“You’re back?”

“Is the bidding data ready?”

“Yes! Right here.”

“That was quick. Thanks.”

Triumphantly handing over the tablet, An Minhyuk returned to his seat as if nothing had happened. Yeonoh couldn’t shake the feeling of being blindsided, but there wasn’t much he could do. …Guess that’s how it is. He decided to chalk it up as a lesson learned.

Hearing rustling, he turned to see An Minhyuk pulling cigarettes and a lighter from his drawer.

“Assistant Manager, heading to the rooftop?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah.”

Suspiciously flustered, An Minhyuk was followed by Yeonoh, who stood up. As usual, Minhyuk would probably call him along, bored of going alone.

“Mr. Yeonoh, you don’t have to come anymore.”

“What?”

“…You can’t handle cigarette smoke. Secondhand smoke’s bad for you, I hear.”

“…….”

Speechless, Yeonoh stared at An Minhyuk. Had he just realized secondhand smoke was harmful?

For a month, Minhyuk had dragged him to the rooftop three times a day without guilt, blowing smoke in his face. Why the sudden change? Yeonoh couldn’t fathom the man.

“Yes, Mom.”

Leaning against the rooftop railing, Yeonoh held the phone close. Darkness had settled over the night sky.

“I’ll be home late today. Work’s busy.”

In the end, Minhyuk, holding Yeonoh back with questions, tossed him a work guide, saying to check it. He then left for a prior engagement, promising to review it in the morning.

He must trust me to handle such critical tasks. Yeonoh chose to think positively. It was a role with much to learn, and to survive among alphas, an ordinary beta had to work twice as hard.

“Yes, of course I ate. Our company takes good care of meals.”

Rubbing his growling stomach, he answered. Having driven Executive Director Seo home and returned to the office, he hadn’t had time for dinner but planned to grab something at the lobby convenience store. Promising not to overdo it, he ended the short call.

After a quick meal, he returned to the empty office. Past 10 p.m., the lights automatically turned off, so Yeonoh relied on his desk lamp and monitor glow to focus. With urgent tasks piling up, stray thoughts didn’t even cross his mind.

“This formula… goes here, right?”

Comparing Minhyuk’s template and last quarter’s data, he pieced things together. The initially complex format became familiar after a few reviews.

After roughly completing the data, Yeonoh called Minhyuk, propping the phone on his shoulder.

“Hello, Assistant Manager?”

—Hey, Mr. Yeonoh. What’s up? Yo, keep it down.

Minhyuk’s voice was drowned by noise, suggesting he was somewhere lively.

“It’s about the file you sent. I’m inputting the data, but the year-over-year difference seems off. Did I enter it correctly?”

A deep sigh followed from Minhyuk.

—I told you to follow the file. Just copy-paste the formulas, and it’s done. Why make it so hard? It’s an hour’s work, and you’re agonizing for hours.

To a seasoned alpha, it’s an hour’s job. Yeonoh realized why TG favored alphas. For a non-traited person like him to even touch an alpha’s level took far more time.

“Sorry…”

—Do it a couple times, and you’ll get the hang of it. Anyway, we’ll review it in the morning.

“Got it. See you tomorrow, Assistant Manager.”

As Yeonoh sighed softly after hanging up, approaching footsteps grew louder. Thinking it was a hallucination from long overtime, he pressed and released his ears when a familiar voice pierced through.

“Manager Kim says he’ll be here in five minutes, so set up a video conference.”

It was Executive Director Seo Heonyoung. Hurrying with urgent steps, Heonyoung froze the moment his gaze met Yeonoh’s, who was blinking cluelessly in midair.