Devil Returns To School Days - Chapter 43
10. Butterfly effect of good intentions (1)
Low interest rate era.
Korea is experiencing a real estate boom these days, where people are called stupid for leaving their money in the bank.
As housing prices in Seoul have risen, surrounding markets have risen, and when an application is made for a good spot, the competition rate of hundreds to one has become laughable. As the situation was like that, at some point, fences began to go up all over the country. There was no reason not to erect the building as the sale was guaranteed and the construction costs were supported by the bank.
A construction company in Incheon.
They also followed the trend of the times.
We had a busy time purchasing land in a commercial area and setting up a residential officetel.
Numerous trucks visited the construction site every day, pushing the workers to push up the completion date even a little. It was a very common scene at a construction site. Although we were exposed to a dangerous environment, like walking a tightrope, no one present said it was dangerous and asked us to delay construction.
blast furnace.
It was a predictable accident.
A worker who was frantically carrying items accidentally dropped construction materials.
“evil! be careful!”
Crumbling.
It was a situation that happened in an instant.
The construction material, which had completely collapsed, fell down and hit a worker who was passing underneath.
Quang!
“Ahh!”
“Holy shit!”
The construction site was turned upside down.
When people rushed out, the worker had already lost consciousness and collapsed on the floor. Wearing a hard hat did not guarantee safety. One worker shouted loudly as red blood soaked the floor.
“119! “Call 911!”
“I’ll call you!”
I had to send him to the emergency room right away.
Since he was hit in the head, time was of the essence to save the worker.
It was then.
“stop!”
The man who arrived late screamed.
His behavior was different from that of ordinary workers.
The safety belt on his forearm and neat attire proved that he was the manager of this place.
“wait. “I will first report it to the higher-ups.”
“If you do that, it’s dangerous….”
“You crazy bastard! “Are you out of your mind?!”
The manager’s expression suddenly changed.
He showed his ferocious teeth as if he were going to eat the worker at any moment.
“If this fact becomes known and construction is delayed. Are you going to take responsibility for that? Can you make up for the loss caused by the delay? So, if you want to keep working from now on, keep your mouth shut. “We’ll take care of it, so for now, just stop worrying about this and go do your own work.”
“….”
“Did you fucking see it? “Work!”
I couldn’t do anything anymore.
The manager was A.
Because it was something the workers could not stand against, they had no choice but to leave one by one, leaving their colleagues lying on the floor. In the meantime, my colleague’s appearance caught my eye. No matter how much I thought about it, I didn’t think it should be left like this, but the hesitation was only momentary and people tried to avoid eye contact.
that day.
The workers were only able to arrive at the hospital after two hours.
And it was not a hospital 10 minutes away, but a hospital 1 hour away that was connected to a construction company.
* * *
The worker was belatedly escorted to the hospital.
It was long past the golden time, but fortunately no lives were lost.
But that’s it.
That didn’t mean it was safe.
“…father.”
Next to the hospital bed.
Oh Jong-hyuk, the son looking at his father, could not hide his eyes filled with sadness.
I heard it from the doctor.
Although it is not life-threatening, it seems that he suffered permanent disability during the severe shock. When my father was told that he would never be able to use one arm properly for the rest of his life, he started screaming and fell unconscious.
My heart ached.
He was someone who had to endure arduous construction work to pay for his child’s school fees, but I couldn’t believe this reality.
Misfortune bites its tail.
The next afternoon.
Oh Jong-hyuk heard shocking news.
“I beg your pardon?”
“I’m sorry, but your father is not insured. “I think it will be difficult to get proper industrial accident compensation applied.”
“What bullshit is that!”
Father’s work.
It was clearly an industrial accident.
We need to receive clear compensation for medical expenses and permanent disabilities, but the person sent by the construction company proposed an appropriate settlement.
“I won’t spin things around, but I’ll be honest with you. This is a mountain disaster. It is not a structure where you can receive everything you want. In particular, people like my father, who told me not to pay even 10,000 won because the small insurance fee was too precious, cannot be protected. Rather, what is truly embarrassing for us is that there are many testimonies that say your father did not follow safety regulations while working. We prioritize the safety of our workers, but compensating for all self-inflicted accidents would set a bad precedent. So, let’s reach an agreement within a reasonable range.”
It felt like the sky was falling.
I didn’t know at the time.
There are certainly things that can be received against the construction company, but the construction company’s pun was meant to show how much the other party knows about the construction site. Unfortunately, Oh Jong-hyuk was ignorant. Although he often worked on construction sites with his father, he was still in his early 20s and could not fully see through the harshness of reality.
at last.
Compensation was completed at a minimal level.
The construction company had enough power, and Oh Jong-hyuk’s voice, overcome by evil, was swept away by the flow of the world.
Discharge day.
Oh Jong-hyuk, who decided to go back to his hometown to take care of his father, heard a sound coming from the TV.
[Recently, construction companies are cheering with joy due to the real estate boom. The operating profit margins of large construction companies have increased significantly….]
I turned my attention.
I wanted to cover my ears.
Oh Jong-hyuk gritted his teeth at the sight of his father’s weakened appearance.
“You bastards are trash.”
A day that is nothing special to other people.
Oh Jong-hyuk could never forget that day.
* * *
Mid-October has already passed.
Just as all construction companies in Korea were experiencing a boom period, Myungjin Construction was also going through busy days.
“Move quickly, quickly.”
“We have to hurry.”
A construction site in Daesan.
Workers were seen busy moving around.
Go Chang-beom, who had been sweating with them just a moment ago, quietly moved away and took a cigarette.
“ha.”
The cigarette was sweet.
He was the eldest son of Myeongjin Construction and was not in a position to involve himself with ordinary workers. Still, quite some time has passed since I went to work at the construction site. I think I was motivated to work in the beginning, but as each day passed without any results, my motivation was eroded.
I didn’t really understand it.
Why did Kim Hyun-seong, who clearly seemed to have a plan, send him to the far end of the construction site?
“I want to spread out and sleep. I want to drink. I want to play with girls. Hey shit. “How long do I have to do this?”
suddenly.
I missed the past.
When I was simply working as an asshole at Myungjin Construction, I would wake up around sunset and visit the karaoke bar I always visited. As I was massaging the woman’s body, forgetting about time there, the sun rising in the sky made me frown. Even though it was such a wasteful life, there was no day more fun than this.
My throat burned.
I wanted to gulp down the liquor right away, but I knew better than anyone else that now was not the time.
‘If I don’t get to the position of chairman. Go Chang-seok That fox-like bastard might kick me out with nothing. I will pay attention to my father when he is alive, but if he passes away, my future cannot be guaranteed. In order for me to maintain my current wealth and power, I must rise to the position of chairman.’
I took a deep breath of cigarette smoke.
And when I exhaled it again, the bad thoughts seemed to dissipate in the smoke.
‘Let’s trust Kim Hyun-seong. Even though that kid is young, he’s not without a plan.’
If other people knew about Go Chang-beom’s situation, they would find it truly funny that the position of chairman of Myungjin Construction was at stake for a 17-year-old high school student. In fact, there was a time when Ko Chang-beom himself thought so. There were many days when I regretted accepting the offer, but as time went by, my faith in Kim Hyun-seong grew.
It was clever.
No, it was vicious.
Kim Hyun-seong did not seem like just a high school student because he was willing to use any means to achieve his goal.
Think about it.
Usually, if you plan to take down a group, you can simply use force and wipe them out. However, Kim Hyun-seong co-opted the teachers and destroyed the reality of the Iljin people one by one, giving them a tremendous sense of helplessness. Seeing Park Min-cheol’s gang and Shin Young-min finally giving up and accepting a juvenile detention, Go Chang-beom became convinced that this was Go Chang-seok’s distant future.
So I blindly followed.
Even requests for 100 million won and annoying requests like chores.
There was no need to complain.
The situation would be different if Kim Hyun-sung could not show clear results, but now was the time to at least trust.
Tuk.
I threw away my cigarette.
Now he had to return to the field and become the eldest son who was faithful to his role.
But then.
Quang!
Crumbling.
A huge roar was heard from the construction site.
* * *
I hurriedly ran.
And the sight I saw was that part of the building had collapsed.
“…Wow.”
I was out of breath.
Go Chang-beom, who was ignorant of the construction world, had no way of knowing what kind of accident this was, so he grabbed the manager next to him and asked.
“What happened to this?!”
“It appears to have been a pour-over accident.”
“Pour? What is a pour-over? pestilence. “I’ll explain that later. Are there any workers in there?”
“there is. “I will report this to the higher-ups immediately and control the media to prevent it from leaking out as much as possible.”
Why?
Go Chang-beom felt his heart beating like crazy when he saw the manager trying to cover up the incident.
‘…what are you, little boy?’
a few days ago.
Kim Hyun-seong said this to Go Chang-beom.
“There is one thing that Go Chang-beom must keep in mind while working at the lower level. Whether or not you focus on your role is up to you, but if an accident occurs at a construction site. At that time, please use your title as the eldest son of Myungjin Construction to resolve the incident as much as possible, rather than being the lowest ranking member. Instead of considering the profit or loss of the construction company, think about what is best for the workers and act accordingly. “That is the starting point of my plan.”
then.
I didn’t understand that.
Go Chang-beom did not know how often accidents occurred on construction sites, and he had never once in his life thought about the workers’ position. If you were your usual self. As someone who didn’t know what a pour-over or a manual was, he would have nodded and said that everything the manager said was correct.
But not now.
I had to follow Kim Hyun-seong’s words.
The fact that this was a critical issue that put his position as chairman at stake clearly came to life in Go Chang-beom’s mind.
Go Chang-beom said.
“Call 119 right now. Gather all the paramedics in Daesan and rescue the workers quickly!”
“Oh no! You know it well, don’t you? If we call 119 and expose the accident scene, our safety responsibility will inevitably increase. Then, construction will be delayed due to not only compensation but also the process of identifying and resolving the accident. The Chairman will definitely admire you. “Once the incident has been resolved as much as possible and the media is under control, there will be no problem in calling 119!”
What the administrator said.
It was a manual.
The response method of making pale noises was a commonly used method at construction sites.
It was a very complicated situation for Go Chang-beom.
For him, who lived a simple life, this situation where Kim Hyun-sung’s plans and the chairman’s name were mentioned was very frustrating.
What should I believe?
What should I follow?
I was at a crossroads of choice.
As he gritted his teeth, a loud noise sounded in his ears again.
Crumbling.
There was no time.
I believed what I saw and heard.
For me, who lived instinctively, that was a more appropriate way.
“Just report it.”
“But…”
I turned my head.
Go Chang-beom looked down at the manager and spoke in a fierce and firm voice.
“I am the eldest son of Myungjin Construction. Don’t my words have that much power?”
Hyunseong Kim.
I foresaw this situation.
Go Chang-beom’s instinct was to trust a child with no blood on his forehead.