During the financial crisis, Taewoo Group sold off many of its subsidiaries.
Notably, large-scale divisions such as shipbuilding, credit cards, and mobile phones were among them.
Some of these eventually returned to the group, but overall, they had been working to downsize.
However, once the crisis ended, they embarked on a series of large-scale mergers and acquisitions.
This led to the acquisition of major businesses such as battery and semiconductor manufacturing, causing the group to grow even larger.
Additionally, new divisions like Taewoo IT were established, leaving the company constantly short on manpower.
"Director, how is the preparation for the first-half public recruitment going?"
"We're planning a large-scale recruitment drive. While other companies are cutting back on new hires, Taewoo Group has been significantly increasing its hiring numbers each year."
The director's voice was filled with pride.
After all, in the face of economic crises such as the financial crash and the credit card meltdown, only Taewoo Group and Samsung Group had managed to achieve explosive growth. That alone was something to be proud of.
"How many people do we plan to hire?"
"To fill our labor shortage, the more, the better. But to maintain quality, we believe the cap should be at 10,000 hires. Including the second-half recruitment, we plan to hire up to 20,000 new employees this year."
"What's the expected competition rate?"
"The job market is getting tougher each year, so competition is continuously rising. It varies by subsidiary, but we expect at least an 80:1 ratio."
"So, 800,000 people will be applying to Taewoo Group?"
Each year, about 500,000 students graduated from universities.
Even if every single graduate applied, the number still wouldn't reach 800,000.
That meant the applicant pool included not only recent graduates but also unemployed alumni, foreign university graduates, and job seekers looking to switch careers.
"Although 800,000 sounds like a huge number, over 30% of applicants are eliminated during the initial document screening. Then, in the first job aptitude test, we narrow it down to about one-eighth. After the second aptitude test, only two to three times the final hiring number remains for interviews. So, the actual competition rate includes a lot of inflated figures."
"Once recruitment begins, I'd like to review all the applicants' resumes myself."
"Are you saying you want to go through all 800,000 resumes?"
"Not the personal statements—just the resumes. I'll just skim through them."
"Would that even be possible?"
Silently, I pulled out a calculator.
It took about one minute to review a candidate's detailed information.
If I only checked for A-grade job competency, I could cut it down to 30 seconds per resume.
At 30 seconds per resume for 800,000 applicants...
That would require approximately 7,000 hours.
Which meant it would take 260 days to go through all the resumes.
I'd be spending the entire year just reading resumes.
I was being too greedy.
"Just give me the resumes of applicants for Taewoo IT and Taewoo Electronics."
"Even then, that's at least 50,000 resumes."
Fifty thousand. If I pulled all-nighters, I could get through them in about 17 days.
But since I still had company duties to handle and needed to sleep, realistically, it would take at least a month.
"Bring them all. And also, send me the resumes of applicants from other subsidiaries who don't meet the official screening criteria but have notable achievements or outstanding qualifications."
"The HR team might not be too happy about the vice chairman stepping in on their turf."
The planning director chuckled as he spoke.
Back when I was just another subsidiary president, meddling in hiring would've been overstepping my authority.
But as vice chairman, I now had the right to do so.
"It's not like I'll be making drastic changes. At most, I'll just add a few more hires."
"But if the hiring process isn't completely fair, it could cause problems."
"Internally, no one will question it. You mean external scrutiny, don't you?"
There were plenty of politicians targeting Taewoo Group.
And once the presidential election was over, even more of them would be looking for an excuse to take us down.
The planning director was worried that political forces would attack the company to force it into submission.
After all, Taewoo Group had refused to fund any campaign.
"It's not like we're hiring people through lobbying or political favors. Don't worry too much."
"Understood. I'll send the resumes as soon as they come in."
No amount of talent scouting was ever enough.
If we were going to pay someone a salary, we might as well hire the most capable people, right?
Even if that meant I had to sacrifice my time.
By late March, the public recruitment season had begun.
An overwhelming number of applications flooded in, and as promised, the planning director sent me all the resumes from Taewoo Electronics and Taewoo IT applicants.
Rustle. Flip.
I quickly skimmed through the resumes.
Most of the rejected candidates lacked the abilities I was looking for.
As I went through more and more resumes, I started developing a knack for scanning key details even faster.
How many had I gone through by now?
Pause!
For the first time, my hand froze mid-motion.
I had come across a resume that made me stop.
[Programming Ability: A-Level]
Even at Taewoo IT, employees with A-level programming skills were rare.
Yet, here was an applicant who had already been eliminated in the initial screening—despite having top-tier programming abilities.
I scanned the resume further.
The applicant's highest level of education was a high school diploma.
Since this recruitment drive was strictly for college graduates, high school graduates were automatically disqualified in the screening process.
What a waste of talent.
Looking deeper, I discovered that the applicant had never even received formal programming education.
They were completely self-taught.
What if this person received proper training?
This is exactly why I'm spending my precious time reviewing these resumes.
Rustle! Flip!
I set the resume aside and resumed flipping through the stack.
Finding a hidden gem had sharpened my focus, and my hands moved with renewed energy.
"Vice Chairman, I think it's time for you to take a break. You look exhausted."
"Is it that late already?"
I had spent the entire night reviewing resumes.
But finding raw talent wasn't easy.
Empty coffee cups piled up on my desk, and I felt like caffeine was flowing through my veins instead of blood.
In the end, I had only found five people.
Each of them possessed A-level skills but had been unable to continue their education due to financial hardships.
"Hire all five of them, no exceptions."
"I've been thinking—perhaps we should bring them in as interns first. That way, there won't be any procedural issues later on."
The planning director had clearly been considering this carefully.
If they entered as interns and later proved their abilities, there would be no controversy over bypassing the official hiring process.
"That works. To align them with the current hiring batch, let's have them start next month as interns."
"Understood. I'll make sure they join the next cohort for training."
With that, our short conversation ended, and I headed to the sauna.
After sweating out the caffeine and getting a solid three hours of sleep, I returned to the office.
And then—
Rustle. Flip.
I dove right back into the resumes.
Finding five raw talents wasn't enough.
I wasn't just looking for A-grade candidates—I was searching for S-grade gems.
Someone out there had the potential to sustain an entire subsidiary.
Fueled by the belief that an S-grade genius was hidden among these applicants, I flipped through the resumes even faster.
Two weeks passed.
By now, I could scan a resume in under 10 seconds.
I had become a machine, mindlessly processing page after page—until...
"Found one!"
At last, an S-grade talent emerged.
No, not just one—this person had two S-grade abilities.
A once-in-a-generation genius, ranked among the best in the world, had been living unnoticed in South Korea.
There was no way I could bring someone like this in as just an intern.
Clutching the resume, I stepped outside the office.
I hadn't even noticed how much the weather had changed—spring had arrived, and a warm breeze brushed past me.
Shaking off the momentary distraction, I headed straight for Captain Kang's office.
"Boss, what happened? You look exhausted."
"That doesn't matter. I need all the information on this person. Every single detail. It's urgent."
"Understood! My team and I will head out to Myeong-dong immediately and gather everything by noon!"
Handing Captain Kang the resume, I collapsed onto the sofa.
Sleep overtook me before I could say another word.
***
"Boss! I've got everything on Chun Min-jeong."
"Chun Min-jeong? Ah, right—the name on the resume. How long was I out?"
"Five hours."
Five hours?
It had felt like just five minutes.
The entire morning had disappeared, yet my body felt noticeably lighter.
"Give me a summary of what you found."
"She's 21 years old and currently unemployed. In high school, she dominated computer-related competitions with outstanding academic performance. However, her father's business collapsed during the foreign exchange crisis, and she couldn't even afford to apply to university."
"With those achievements, she could've found a job anywhere. Why is she still unemployed?"
"Technically, she isn't."
"What do you mean?"
"Instead of getting a job, she's been making money by creating university graduation projects for students. It turns out that selling these projects earns her more than working at a small company."
"So, she only applied to Taewoo Group because she expects to earn even more here."
Captain Kang had uncovered an impressive amount of information in just five hours.
He had everything—her current address, her parents' occupations, her social circle, and even criminal records that only law enforcement had access to.
"The police are keeping an eye on Chun Min-jeong."
"Why?"
"One of the students who bought a graduation project from her filed a police report, claiming they were dissatisfied with the work."
"That doesn't make sense. Reporting her would only cause trouble for the student as well."
"That student's father is a prosecutor at the Central District Prosecutors' Office."
I could already guess what was happening.
I didn't know exactly what Chun Min-jeong had done wrong, but it was clear that she had somehow bruised the prosecutor's son's ego.
"I'd like to meet Chun Min-jeong. Can that be arranged today?"
"Will you be meeting her as the Vice Chairman of Taewoo Group? Or as the CEO?"
"Both."
"Understood. I'll make sure she meets you today."
"No rough methods."
"Of course. I'll bring her in with the utmost courtesy."
I returned to the office.
With a mountain of resumes still waiting on my desk, I had to use my time efficiently if I wanted to finish screening them before the recruitment season ended.
I continued reviewing resumes until 9 PM, when Captain Kang contacted me.
He had arranged for me to meet Chun Min-jeong at a quiet bar near the office.
***
When I stepped inside, she immediately stood up and pointed her finger at me.
"The Taewoo Group's heir?! What the hell are you doing here?"
"Nice to meet you. I'm Kim Min-jae, Vice Chairman of Taewoo Group."
Caught off guard, she instinctively shook my hand.
As I looked at her face, I recalled the detailed information from her resume.
[Skills: Programming - S, Algorithms - S, ....]
She truly had two S-grade abilities.
And those abilities were exactly what I needed for a new business venture I had in mind.