New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 2. New Employee (2)

 

 

 

I entered the Patent Team Office.

The space that five people once shared had now become mine alone.

Before creating patents, let me organize things first.

 

I erased the traces of the employees who had quit, one by one.

Starting with waste separation, then dusting, sweeping, and wiping.

Only after completing all these processes did my mind finally feel at ease.

 

But when I faced the patent materials that filled the cabinets,

harmony and dissonance rushed over me simultaneously.

 

“Ugh, so noisy.”

 

I decided to deal with the materials producing dissonance first.

I couldn’t stand the hives that broke out every time I heard dissonance.

I boldly deleted materials that weren’t properly designed or were useless.

In their place, I combined and inserted patents that could create harmony.

 

“Camera module patents are… third cabinet, second compartment.”

 

Dozens of cabinets, tens of thousands of materials.

But I remembered exactly where each technology was located.

For six months, I had been organizing everything my way, every single day.

 

“Now let’s draw the blueprints.”

 

I opened CAD and began designing the combined patents.

It was thanks to CAD that I, despite being a high school graduate, could join a large corporation.

Thanks to that, I could draw a blueprint or two quite quickly.

 

But my feet wouldn’t move.

The pleasure of the moment when dissonance disappeared and more beautiful harmony was created.

The sound of gears meshing echoed in my brain.

As the structure aligned, my heartbeat grew quieter.

While creating new patents my way, as I wanted, routines and such vanished from my mind.

 

The more I completed the patents,

gears appeared in my mind one by one, and increasingly sophisticated structures began to take shape.

As that structure neared completion, the designated time became more and more meaningless.

 

***

 

Creating patents was never an easy task.

The Product Development Department 3 employees had spent a week burning with enthusiasm, but now they were only sighing.

 

“Sigh, I have no idea what we should be doing.”

“Is it still far off? Our Practical Affairs Team can only follow procedures once the development department gives us something.”

“We’re having meetings every day, but… patents aren’t something you can just whip up in a week.”

“It doesn’t have to be new technology, just try making something. I’m going crazy from boredom sitting here with nothing to do after coming to work.”

 

Product Development Department 3 was divided into the Development Team, Patent Team, and Practical Affairs Team.

Among them, the Practical Affairs Team was centered around patent attorneys and patent specialists, so actual ideas and inventions had to come from the Development Team for work to proceed.

 

“Everyone calm down. The private equity fund didn’t tell us to create patents right away. Let’s take our time and think it through slowly. And isn’t it nice that everyone can leave work on time?”

“That’s true. When we were at GL Group, I could count on my fingers the times I left work on time.”

“Since we’re leaving on time every day lately, my family’s worried I might get fired.”

“Speaking of which, why haven’t we seen Employee Lee from the Patent Team? I haven’t seen his face for a whole week.”

 

The employees felt a sense of alienation every day.

Lee Jung-hoo, who used to appear at set times, was nowhere to be seen.

Without him, they could feel the office gradually becoming messier.

 

“Didn’t you know? That guy is living in the Patent Team Office. He’s not even going home and keeps making something.”

“Why is the kid who never missed a day of his routine acting like that?”

“Exactly. He suddenly changed as a person. Should I go take a quick look?”

 

Lee Jung-hoo, the youngest in the department.

Although he belonged to the same department, he was technically in a different team.

Normally his superiors should have looked after him, but with all Patent Team employees having quit, no one knew what he was doing.

 

“Oh? Even our youngest isn’t acting like a gentleman.”

“What’s this mess! Haven’t you been washing? Go to the sauna in front and get cleaned up.”

“Do I smell that bad?”

“Of course. You haven’t washed for a week – if you didn’t smell, would you even be human?”

“Has that much time passed?”

“Yes! So don’t do anything else and go to the sauna first.”

 

Only then did Lee Jung-hoo become aware of the sour smell coming from his clothes.

 

“Yes, I’ll be right back.”

“Go to the sauna and then go straight home. I’ll take care of your attendance properly.”

“I still have work to finish. And… I have some completed patent documents, could you take a quick look?”

“Just go home today. Leave the documents here. Since our youngest made them, I should look them over carefully.”

“Then I’ll leave them with you. I’ll head home first.”

 

Disheveled hair, wrinkled clothes, and smell.

It didn’t match Lee Jung-hoo’s usual appearance, which bordered on obsessive cleanliness.

Knowing this fact himself, he placed the thick document folder on the Department Manager’s desk and quickly headed to the sauna.

 

“That’s quite a lot? Anyone want to look at what our youngest made together?”

“We don’t have anything else to do, should we look together?”

 

The Practical Affairs Team with patent attorney licenses began showing interest.

To them, who had been stuck at their desks all week, the documents Lee Jung-hoo created looked like well-ripened prey.

The practical affairs team members, having prepared their pens to tear through the documents, dragged their chairs over to the manager’s desk one by one.

 

“Let me see… the title is ‘Mobile Phone Improvement Plan’. I should first check what exactly has been improved and how.”

“There are blueprints and specifications too. The examples are well organized as well.”

 

They examined the documents like teachers checking an elementary student’s picture diary homework.

However, their playful expressions soon turned serious.

 

“…It’s about adding camera functionality to mobile phones.”

“A method of inserting a compact camera module and storing photos on an external storage card. Theoretically, it’s entirely feasible.”

“The shutter button operation method is also specifically explained.”

“Most of the technology is a fusion of existing patents, but the application itself is definitely possible. Especially the structural patents and control method patents are solid.”

“It even includes methods to circumvent existing patents! This could be made into a core patent, couldn’t it?”

 

The voices of the Practical Affairs Team grew louder.

Department Manager Cha Ik-hyeon, who had been skimming through the documents first, couldn’t continue speaking and couldn’t take his eyes off the specification.

After reviewing all the documents, a single word finally burst out.

 

“…This is insane.”

“It’s really insane. This isn’t the level of work a new employee should be producing.”

“The blueprint quality is also incredible. We could hand this to the factory right now and they could make a prototype.”

“But is it really possible to attach a camera to a mobile phone that just makes calls and receives texts?”

“Technically, it’s possible. The issue would be market response. Still, since patent registration itself is the goal, this is sufficient as core technology.”

“I know Nokia applied for a similar patent before, but this is a much more sophisticated approach.”

 

The Practical Affairs Team became genuinely busy.

They thoroughly reviewed all existing similar patents.

All related materials from Japan, the United States, and Europe piled up on their desks.

 

“The differentiating factors are definitely clear.”

“Existing patents were for unidirectional photography, but this one enables both front and rear photography by placing an optical module in the hinge area.”

“This isn’t simply attaching a camera, but a patent designed considering the user’s position and orientation.”

“At this level, we’d get one core patent with derivative patents following in succession, wouldn’t we?”

“One core patent, and including derivative patents, we’d get at least 5 or more applications.”

 

Department Manager Cha Ik-hyeon looked at the specification again.

This wasn’t just a simple idea.

It was technology that could not only be registered but also ‘sold at a high price’.

If he claimed this as department performance? He could make money and build achievements.

 

Such temptation crossed his mind briefly, but he soon shook his head.

 

“This is the rookie’s first patent. Of course it should be filed under Lee Jung-hoo’s name. Everyone agrees, right?”

“Our Practical Affairs Team is fine with it. This is originally our job anyway. We never even thought about bonuses or shares.”

“Good. Then let’s file this entire patent under Lee Jung-hoo’s name.”

“That’s fine. We’re not desperate enough to steal the rookie’s achievements.”

 

No one was greedy.

As they said, it was partly because the retention bonus had come into their bank accounts this week.

Thinking of the rookie who received the smallest retention bonus, they couldn’t be greedy about this patent.

 

“Well then, let’s all get to work. Practical Affairs Team, please organize the documents so the patent can be registered, and Development Team, make a mockup based on the rookie’s blueprints.”

“When do we need to finish it?”

“We should pull an all-nighter too. We can’t just sit still after seeing what the rookie made overnight.”

“Sounds good. I’ll do some overtime after a long time. Actually, going home early these days has been more uncomfortable.”

“Overtime has its own romance.”

 

The rookie who was always called upon only for copying and document organization.

Today, conversely, assistant-level employees were copying the rookie’s patent documents and distributing them to each team.

That day, Product Development Department 3 all moved for the ‘rookie’s patent’.

 

***

 

As I immersed my body in the hot bath, my entire body relaxed drowsily.

Did I really do that for a whole week?

I checked the calendar several times, but a whole week had already passed.

 

‘I broke my routine for a whole week?’

 

Daily arrival at 7:51 AM.

Opening windows at 52 minutes, replacing water dispenser water at 53 minutes, organizing desk at 54 minutes… etc.

I hadn’t performed all these routines for a whole week.

 

It was unbelievable.

If even one day, no, even one thing got disrupted, my body would heat up and I’d break out in hives.

Yet I spent a more peaceful week than ever without any problems.

 

‘Why?’

 

One comment from the Department Manager had triggered me.

‘Just combining a few existing technologies well can become a patent.’ Those words stimulated my brain.

I freely combined Patent Team materials that I had always only thought about.

Each time I did that, the sound of gears clicking and whirring echoed endlessly in my head.

 

‘There were plenty of technologies. They just weren’t organized or combined.’

 

All of this was thanks to copying and organizing senior colleagues’ materials while working as a rookie.

The specifications I secretly read during spare time, organization methods, and expression techniques now became a great help.

 

Moreover, GL Group held most technologies as internal patents.

The senior colleagues who gave me no tasks early on and just told me to read materials.

Such neglect-like task assignment actually helped me more.

 

“Let’s only think this far today.”

 

I could see the results tomorrow.

Whether my approach was right or wrong.

But I was confident.

The harmony of perfectly meshing gear sounds couldn’t be wrong.

 

***

 

The next morning.

I arrived at work at 7:51 AM as usual.

I always opened the office with my keys, but today the door was already open.

 

“You’re here early, Assistant Manager.”

“Early my ass. I haven’t left from yesterday yet.”

“Did some kind of event happen?”

“Isn’t it a bit funny when the person who caused the event says that?”

“Did I cause some kind of accident?”

“Go see the Department Manager. He’ll explain it well.”

 

My heart was pounding.

Could it be because of the patent materials I submitted yesterday?

If the materials were a mess, they could just discard them, so let’s not get scared for nothing.

 

“Good morning! Department Manager.”

“Our youngest is here? Ugh! Pulling an all-nighter at my age is killing me.”

“What happened?”

“Why do you look so gloomy? After creating such an amazing patent. Look at this!”

 

The Department Manager placed something on his desk.

It was something I’d never seen before, but it looked so familiar.

 

“Could this be a prototype of the patent I made yesterday?”

“The Development Team really struggled with this. It’s still quite rough, but it’s a working device. It’s the only model that can take photos from both directions and transmit them too.”

“How did you make a prototype in just one day?”

“We’ve been working at the Research Institute for years, you think we can’t make this one thing? Plus, the blueprint this employee made was so precise that we just had to follow it.”

 

The prototype was a bit different from the blueprint in my head.

Since it was made just to check functionality, I could see the lacking parts.

Crude finishing lines, tangled wiring here and there, and even gaps.

 

But I wasn’t displeased at all.

Rather, my chest swelled with emotion.

I never thought the blueprint that only existed in my head would become an actual product. Maybe that’s why my heart kept aching.

 

“The Practical Affairs Team says they’ll proceed with the patent application this week. Is there anything to add?”

“I still have a few more ideas I’m thinking about, but the camera phone is sufficient as it is now.”

“Ah! You’re going to call this a camera phone? It rolls off the tongue nicely. Let’s make the prototype a bit more precise before filing the patent application.”

“I’ll process the remaining parts myself!”

“Of course. Since you made it, you should finish it too.”

 

It was the first time since joining the company.

I did real ‘work’ instead of making coffee, sending faxes, and copying.

And I led it myself.

Of course, I had no intention of giving up my existing routine, but I wanted to include real work in my routine.

 

“Ah! Employee Lee. You’ve been working overtime for a week, so you haven’t checked your bank account, have you?”

“It’s not payday yet, is it?”

“I was going to tell you, but you were so focused I couldn’t say anything. The retention bonus came in, so check it out.”

“The retention bonus already came in?”

“Since you haven’t even been here a year, only 500 would have come in.”

“You mean 5 million won? That’s much more than I expected!”

 

Where else could you get five hundred in times like these?

But the Department Manager and other seniors’ faces were full of guilt.

Just how much did they receive as retention bonus to make such expressions?

 

What would that matter anyway?

Right now, the patent was more important than money.

The desire to release something I created to the world was dominating my thoughts.

 

Ah, but first I need to open the windows.

And change the water dispenser too.

No matter how strong my passion, I must maintain my existing routine.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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