"How many times have I told you not to mess up the data sheets? What the hell is this? Huh, tell me, what is this? Why did you add two different columns to the data?"
"I added them to simplify the collection…"
"Who the hell asked you? This report cannot be accepted. Go back and do it the right way. How long have you been with us now?"
"6 months including the 3 months of probation"
"6 months and you can't fill a simple data sheet; why the hell are you in sales anyway? If you can't learn something this simple, how the hell do you think the company will entrust you with sales?
At this rate you will be fired first before you get to handle any project. Now get back to your desk and get me those data sheets…"
"Yes, sir."
"Within the hour. Do you understand?"
"The data will be on your desk within the hour, section chief."
The young man who just had an earful coming from his superior walked back to his workstation with a calm and collected expression on his face, standing at over 185 cm with a handsome face that always made him the center of attention wherever he went.
"Man, the chief yelling is the background music of our floor. Are you okay, Leon?"
After sitting at his desk, he was drawn to the concerned voice coming from his right side.
"I'm fine, Jimmy, thank you. I guess it was my mistake, fumbling those data sheets."
Taking a look at his senior at work, Jimmy, who is 40 years old, working in the same environment Leon did, the same dark cubicle with piles of paper and the computer that always seems to be just short of breaking apart.
If there was one difference between him and Jimmy, then it was age, as he was only a 23-year-old who had graduated college six months ago.
Yet the grim prospect of his future displayed clearly right in front of him could be counted as a sobering moment for the young Leon.
He could not help but tell himself, Is this where I will be in 20 years from now?
That simple question caused jitters to run through his body. The simple gray and white image of himself reflected in Jimmy was enough to make him feel dread.
Leon has never thought that he was ever special, but he always remembered the precious words he heard a long time ago.
Every human has a dream; as long as they have it, they are special, but the moment the dream dies, a person's life becomes mundane.
Leon himself had dreams, but there was also one thing that made him special.
It was not his handsomeness, comparable to a model's, or his hard-working nature, which can be almost called stubbornness.
Leon had a secret that he never told a soul, the memories of a past life where he lived in a place called Earth, almost like a replica of the world he is living in right now.
Yet this replica has many differences from history to geography, but his life there was by no means different from the one he is living now.
His memories reflected the life of a normal person who had a normal loving family, went to school, graduated from my university, and entered a good enough company.
The river of memories from his past life almost mirrored his current one.
He did not want to seem ungrateful, as this normal life was the dream of many who truly suffered the turbulence of the word.
Yet whether it was his past life or his current one, there was always that slight dissatisfaction in the back of his head like a voice whispering in his ears, Is this it??
Just as he was spacing out, a loud voice ran through the office space like thunder waking them up from the dream of thoughts he was having.
"Where is Leon???"
The loud voice was the signature of the floor in this building, so Leon knew exactly who was yelling; confused, he turned around and answered.
"I'm here, Chief. What can I do for you?"
"Come to my office now."
"But chief, those data sheets aren't…"
"You can do them later. To my office now."
"Sigh…"
Under his colleagues' eyes he went back immediately to the chief's office.
Everyone had their head low, simply stealing a glance that carried the different emotions, chaotic as they may be.
Some had pity in their eyes, while others showed a glint of joy at the misery of their youngest coworker.
....
5 minutes earlier inside the Chief's office.
After berating Leon, feeling extremely good about himself, the chief was basking in his own glorious throne, the little amount of power that he managed to gain after many years of slaving at this company.
Suddenly the joyful silence was interrupted by the ringing tone of the phone.
The section chief answered.
"This is Section Chief George of the Sales Department, second division. What can I do for you?"
"Hello, Section Chief George, this is Director Huang speaking."
The mention of the name immediately caused The dissatisfied expression on the section chief's face is replaced with a nervous look.
"It is my pleasure to hear your voice, Director Huang. How can I help you?"
"Section chief George, I called you today because I wanted to ask about the contracted project for the steel welding subsidiary. I believe the number of the project is 3382; according to the documents in my hand, we have delivered more than 75% of the agreed order, yet only the small deposit at the start of the project was paid, and nothing else entered the company's accounts.
I have received an inquiry from the account division, so I looked into it, and I saw that the project was under the second division, so I want you to update me on the progress."
The more the director talked, the darker section chief George's face became; fear and uncertainty were the clear reflections of section chief George's face right now.
"Ah …this …yea, project number 3382, supplying steel material to a low-medium-sized construction company; they have defaulted on the second payment, rearranging the company compensation into one final payment …ahhh … The other party was assessing if they would enter other deals with us in the future based on this project, so we showed them some leeway in the payment plan. Everything is going according to the plan; there is no need to worry, Director Huang."
Moving his hands around, shuffling the many documents on his desk, as if he were looking for something, yet all of this was an act of nervousness that Director Huang could not see over the phone.
"It is okay to provide some advantages to prospective deal partners, but according to accounting, over 75% have been handed over, plus the original 3 months. It has stretched now to 6 months; there is no need to give them more room as we have provided plenty to accommodate all their needs.
Now what I want from you is to close this deal and get the final payment because the last 25% of the material has been prepared and we are ready to send them over.
You have to finalize the payment by tomorrow so we can send the rest of the material. Do you understand me, Section Chief?
"Ye…. Yes, sir …. I will have a sit-down with them tomorrow, but I'm not the direct person in charge of this deal!!"
"So it must be your subordinate, right?"
"Yes, Director, he… I mean, his name is Leon; I will have him finalize the deal as soon as possible, and I will supervise the whole process too."
"Good, that will be all."
As soon as the call ended, Section Chief George fell into his chair like a broken doll.
In a low voice contradictory to his nature, he kept mumbling.
"No…no…no…no, there's no way we can get the payment back, especially against that company. Oh no, if they found out that during the bidding process I had practically handed the project to this company, now there will be no payment, and the kickbacks I took back then will definitely see the light of day if there was an internal investigation!!"
As if he were chanting some sort of spell, talking to himself like a madman, the section chief suddenly darted out of the office, thinking to himself.
"There is only one way out of this!! LEON!!!"