Devil Returns To School Days - Chapter 46
10. The Butterfly Effect of Good Intentions (4)
Kim Eun-sook blinked.
I heard enough explanations and checked the contents in the contract, but I couldn’t believe that this was reality.
“…Could you explain again?”
“All right.”
This place.
There was an in-house lawyer in charge of construction, the eldest son of Myungjin Construction.
They did not show any sign of displeasure at Kim Eun-sook’s request, and at Go Chang-beom’s glance, the in-house lawyer spoke.
“As I said before, this pouring accident is entirely the responsibility of our construction company, Myungjin Construction. If the unreasonable construction schedule had not been enforced, the terrible accident that my husband experienced would never have occurred. We know that no amount of apology will bring any comfort. What we want to say is that we want to realize our responsibility and work together to solve realistic problems that will arise in the future. All costs incurred during the process, including surgery and treatment costs, will be covered by industrial accident insurance. And we will pay you 500 million won as compensation. “It may not compensate for two legs, but I’m sure it will at least be a huge help in raising three children.”
“…Are you really giving me compensation without anything in return?”
“Yes, of course. Not only that, we will specially hire your husband for an office position rather than a field position. Even if you are not in the field, there are positions that require field experience. “It is separate from compensation, and we have no intention of turning a blind eye to the years my husband devoted himself to Myungjin Construction.”
“ah.”
Tears came to my eyes.
I didn’t expect it.
I thought they would start a messy fight to get even a penny more, but I had no idea that the construction company would be considerate of the victim’s position first. Kim Eun-sook struggled to hold back tears. I couldn’t burst into tears already because I couldn’t confirm whether all of those words were true yet.
“…brother?”
I looked to the side.
My older brother, who had been looking at the contract for a while, looked at Kim Eun-sook with trembling eyes.
“It’s all true…?”
“really?”
“Yes, it’s all true. Myungjin Construction was not what we thought. “I’m really, really grateful to these people!”
From then on, I couldn’t hold back my tears.
As Kim Eun-sook burst into tears, her brother also hugged her tightly with red eyes.
It must have been difficult.
Kim Eun-sook and her siblings lived in hell for the past few days, faced with the daunting reality of how to deal with the coming future. Myungjin Construction’s compensation does not mean that the emotional wounds have been completely recovered. Although their husband’s lost leg would not come back, they were truly happy that at least a practical problem had been solved.
The head of the household lost his leg.
The three children were growing up well.
Myungjin Construction’s goodwill gave us hope that the reality we had to face in the future was not so hopeless.
Two men and women crying loudly.
Go Chang-beom, staring at the scene, did not hastily open his mouth.
* * *
It was a hard day.
After spending all day with the victims, Go Chang-beom left the hospital and took a cigarette.
“ha-.”
He is a heavy smoker.
I used to smoke two packs of cigarettes a day, but as it was an opportunity to apologize to the victims, I did not smoke a single cigarette from morning until now. So I felt like I was going crazy. At first, I thought it was just a withdrawal phenomenon, but even after soothing my stomach with cigarettes, the feeling of going crazy didn’t go away.
“I’m going to turn away.”
My mind was complicated.
There was a construction manager right next to me, and as I looked at him standing blankly without even smoking a cigarette, I asked him a question.
“hey.”
“Say yes.”
“What do you think construction work is?”
“…well. “Isn’t it just a matter of building a building?”
The person in charge scratched his head.
Although he was already 50 years old, his attitude was bound to be cautious as the other person was the eldest son of Myungjin Construction.
Go Chang-beom chuckled.
I was used to it.
Living as the eldest son of Myungjin Construction, the situation is like now where adults who are quite old are having a hard time with themselves. So I lived as I wanted. Whether at school or society. In any space, he was a predator. When he was playing in Seoul, there were predators higher than him, but that didn’t change his attitude toward life.
I took a deep drag on my cigarette.
Go Chang-beom looked at the setting sun and spoke as the smoke seeped deep into his lungs.
“I mean. I always thought this construction business was just about making money. Build a building and sell the building. It’s a very simple system. But after experiencing this incident, I started thinking a lot. Changseok said that there are many interests involved in our work and mentioned financial issues, but I have a different opinion from him. Workers working at Myeongjin Construction. They can’t make a living without us. Consumers who buy our homes. “They work their whole lives to build a house and think of it as a treasure.”
500 million won as compensation?
It’s a lot of money.
But to Go Chang-beom, it was nothing more than money that he could spend whenever he wanted.
“I guess I have taken the position of chairman too lightly. The lives of more people than you might think depend on the words I speak and my judgment. If I told them to quickly advance the construction schedule, an accident like today would occur due to the urging of the construction manager who received my order. And someone will be saddened by the loss of the head of the family. It’s fucking complicated. It’s complicated. “I just wanted to eat well and live well.”
Meet Hyunseong Kim.
Go Chang-beom reached an inflection point in his life.
Since he truly coveted the position of chairman, his way of life has completely changed.
Not like it used to be.
Living like a fool.
I couldn’t enjoy everything I wanted.
While I had enjoyed pleasure without responsibility, everything I did from now on required a little thought.
“I guess I definitely take after my dad. If you see your arms bending inwards. I don’t know about other people, but I want the people who work under me to live as well as I do. “Whether it’s the workers at Myungjin Construction or the people who bought our house.”
“…That’s a good thing to say.”
The person in charge showed a friendly smile.
Today’s story is Go Chang-beom’s words.
It remained clearly in his mind.
It was then.
The hospital’s door opened, and a person who appeared to be an administrative employee frowned.
“What if you smoke here? Turn it off right now. “Don’t you know this is a hospital?”
It was a natural request.
This is a hospital.
It was a common sense mistake to smoke outside of the smoking area in places where sick people came.
however.
“Why don’t you fucking turn it off? “I was feeling really good up until now, but you ruined it all.”
“No….”
“Fuck off. “Before they destroy the hospital.”
The person in charge smiled.
As expected, it was the same.
People do not change easily.
* * *
Myungjin Construction Incident.
It was just a passing incident.
There weren’t many people who were interested in the local construction company and the incident without even a single fatality.
Myungjin Construction’s good intentions and Myungjin Construction’s bold decision.
There was no one who particularly recognized me.
People living in Daesan gave the company a thumbs up, saying that it was Myeongjin Construction and that you could trust it as a construction company that clearly took responsibility for mistakes, but that reputation was not a meaningful result in compensating for the loss of building a new apartment building. In any case, that is how the incident ended. Thanks to Go Chang-beom’s busy work, prospective buyers did not bother to put up a new building.
A week after that.
An unexpected accident occurred.
[Five workers killed in Gangnam apartment building accident!]
One-line article.
It was so stimulating.
Because it was an incident in which as many as five people died, the number of views on the article quickly increased, and the circumstances of the incident were revealed through a follow-up article.
[…According to the investigation, it is believed that problems arose in the curing process as pouring was rushed due to the tight construction schedule. Incidents like this are a common problem in the construction industry. Especially in Gangnam, where construction costs start at at least 10 billion won, accidents often occur as construction companies push ahead with their schedules excessively.]
That wasn’t the only thing.
Testimony from the scene was also added.
[This was definitely not an incident where all the workers would have died. If an accident occurred, the situation should be quickly assessed and rescue operations should be carried out, but the construction company responded late, saying they would first report it to the higher-ups, and missed the golden time. Everyone who works in the field knows this. The reality in the field is that construction is prioritized over human life due to the responsibility that construction companies must take when an accident occurs.] Accidents and
accidents that appear on TV.
These are issues that ordinary people would lightly curse at and move on from.
However, when five deaths occurred that could not be overlooked, people’s reactions suddenly began to boil over.
[What is happening at the construction site?]
[Is the safety issue at the construction site okay as is?]
[People are dying due to unreasonable construction schedules.]
Articles reported one after another.
It was no longer a problem that would simply end.
The fire, which was growing day by day and burning brightly, suddenly spread throughout the country.
* * *
Safety issues at construction sites.
It was discussed as a social issue.
In particular, in response to rising housing prices, the anger that had been suppressed exploded in succession.
[Does this make sense? No matter how important construction is, does it make sense that people die because of it?]
[Construction companies should really be punished properly. Do you know how many people get injured or die at construction sites nationwide every day? This is a normal battlefield, go away. Especially with the real estate boom coming, they are saying they are going to put up buildings here and there, but they are not thinking about the safety of people at all. If you look at most incident scenes, there are no proper safety measures in place?]
[This incident must never be overlooked. Only strong punishment can protect the workers at the construction site.]
It was chaos.
Korea has a strong tendency toward pot.
This meant that the heat would die down quickly, but it also meant that once it burned, it would burn really scary.
And in the flow of such times.
Broadcasting companies moved quickly.
The area that people are most interested in is safety issues at real estate and construction sites, so we needed an item that would draw attention to that issue. The same was true for current affairs program producer Ahn Cheol-hyeon. What he focused on was not simply analyzing the case, but finding victims whose families were injured in a construction site accident.
“The victims of the Gangnam incident are excluded. The current atmosphere of commemoration is so great that there is a possibility that bringing in the direct victims could result in backlash. Like the Gangnam incident, this person can prove the construction company’s slow response and uncooperative attitude even though it was an accident at a construction site. “Somehow, bring someone like that.”
I searched for it in every possible way.
After asking around like that, they were able to find one person.
A few days after that.
Filming took place.
The MC of a current affairs program looked at the man who was both a witness and a victim in a serious yet calm voice.
“Could you introduce yourself?”
The camera was focused.
Many people, including PD Ahn Cheol-hyun, looked at the male victim’s mouth.
I felt a lot of pressure.
The male victim had a lot of worries before coming here, but there were things he wanted to say.
He said.
“My name is Oh Jong-hyuk, and I am the son of a victim who suffered permanent disability at a site in Incheon.”
It was a familiar face.
A person who left the hospital with a fierce face.
And in the Myeongjin Construction incident, the young worker who told Go Chang-beom about the pouring accident was Oh Jong-hyuk.
That’s something even Kim Hyun-seong didn’t expect.
The flapping of a butterfly’s wings was creating a new world.