Recommendation
Retired Major General Cho Byeong-yun / Commander of the 6th Division Engineer Battalion (2009–2010)
Park So-ra, Manager of Hyoyong Saemaul Geumgo / Hyogok Branch Manager (2011-2013)
Kwon Young-seop, Managing Director of Allwin Edu / Consultant, Job Creation Headquarters, Korea Productivity Association (2014)
Shim Gyu-jin, Professor, Creative Convergence Education Center, Handong Global University / Director of Mike Impact Education Headquarters (2015)
Seungwoo Yoo, Deputy Director of the 5th Regional Prosecutor's Office of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation / Deputy Director of the Gyeongbuk Business Management Department (2020-2021)

Prologue: The Tale of the Tortoise and the Hare

1.
A time when my head grew big but my heart was empty

I'll do water today
My hobby is 'doing nothing'
The Weight of Words and My Place at Work
The Power of Small Greetings at the Beginning and End of Work Life
A Word of Sincerity in the Workplace: Amid Generational Differences
First Paycheck, Learning the Meaning of Life
Why We Work: Honest Questions from Generation 2030
Observation, the art of quiet survival
My growth story in one report
Life as a New Employee: Learning, Observing, and Growing
How Generation MZ Works: Questions, Growth, and Survival Skills
After work, find some time to recharge yourself.
I finally realized this on my way to work
What protects me at work
Small but important things
Even a single email can reveal your personality.
Courage learned at the conference room door
The weight of a business card
Social life during lunch hour
My place is still being cleaned up

2.
Protect your torso and control your speed

How to endure without erasing
I am here
I want to get promoted, but I don't want to lose myself.
Step by step, walking my own path
Office Politics: This is How I Survive
The season that reminds me of work, the street that protects me
Decide to judge instead of adapting
Between what you like and what you are good at
A colleague more reliable than a friend
Mistakes are not the end
It's okay not to be an indestructible person
Joining and leaving a company: not the end, but another beginning.
I decided to be on my own side again today.
Even if it's not noticeable, it doesn't disappear
I hope there will come a day when I don't have to try hard
Silence can also be speech
10 minutes before work saves me
I don't want to be a useless person
That day, I didn't say anything.
Moderation is difficult, but necessary.

3.
I ran with fast legs, but slowly I learned myself.

I wanted to be someone who was understood, not someone who was good at their job.
My annual salary was 100 million won, so why did I feel empty?
Skill is not a skill, it's an attitude.
Growth is not about speed, it's about direction.
An attitude of caring for myself rather than work
How to set your own standards
People who are easy to work with are remembered longer than those who are good at their jobs.
Me growing up in the silence of being alone
The changed me protects me
It's okay to go slow, what matters is the direction.
Moments of Big Growth Created by Small Changes
Growing beyond failure makes me stronger.
Choose discovery over comparison
Growth comes unnoticed
To not be swayed by work and to focus on life
It takes courage to admit what you don't know.
Faced with myself being awkward in front of compliments
I decided not to live up to everyone's expectations anymore.
Instead of envying, learn
Growth begins with a desire to do well.

4.
Even though my tail is short, my path is long.

Quitting a job, the courage to protect myself
Saying I want to quit is actually the courage that protects me.
Choose to flow with life, not endure.
The desire to quit is the courage that protects me.
A job change to find your own identity
The real reason for changing jobs isn't in KPIs.
A good me is better than a good company
Folly is not a burden, it's a milestone.
If this feeling is enough right now
What kind of person do you want to be?
Not a departure, but the beginning of moving forward
A new discovery after leaving the company
The sentence continues after I put a period.
Quit the company and rehire me
It's not disappearing, it's flowing in a better direction.
Questions I Asked Before Writing My Resignation
Things I learned on my last commute to work
Quitting well is also a skill
I only saw myself after my business card was gone
I was scared, but I did it in the end

5.
At my fifth company, I learned again.

Frequent job changes, and finally finding "my way"
Turn around and come back to the same spot
The time I learned the true meaning of work
From holding on to taking care of it
Time to learn to be okay
Open your heart to everyday life again
Time to build me up
Salary Negotiation: The Courage to Protect Myself
Reset the speed
Me as me with the company
I bloom in the place I returned to
Embracing the past and walking toward the future
Just as I am not the same person I used to be when I came back
Become stronger as much as you rested
You can take your time.
We'll help you
An empty seat was waiting for me too
While resting, you don't lose anything, you gain something.
I'm finding my own pace
Return is not about 'going back', but about 'moving forward again'
What's more important than a gap in your career is a connection between the heart and mind.

Epilogue Another Tortoise and Hare Story

Not a quick way to succeed,
A story about how to not collapse for a long time

We spend most of our lives at work.
But rather than being a space that supports our identity, the workplace can sometimes become an emotionally draining, unfamiliar battlefield.
"The Fifth Company, Learning About Myself Again" speaks to us like that.
Through the honest account of a person who tried not to lose balance in life while repeating the process of changing jobs, quitting, and returning, we learn that we should focus on 'emotional management' rather than 'career management'.

"The Fifth Company, Learning Myself Again" is composed of five chapters: Joining the company → Survival → Growth → Quitting the company → Returning.
Each chapter contains honest and sincere language about the various emotions experienced by office workers: helplessness, loneliness, self-reproach, anger, tears, anticipation, and recovery.
When my self-efficacy wavers, when I feel like crying in the conference room, when I swallow my frustrations without being able to express them...
The author's sentences, which do not miss the details of the emotions, are affectionate yet firm.
This image will provide both emotional comfort and practical empathy to those who feel they have lost themselves every time they change jobs, especially those with 1-10 years of experience, as well as employees considering quitting or returning to work.
If you are having a hard time right now because “work is too much” or “the company doesn’t recognize me,” this will come as a warm comfort to you, just like the colleague sitting next to you.

What's more important than performance is,
Without collapsing day by day
It is an emotional routine to recover yourself.

While many career essays focus on "career growth," this book addresses "emotional growth."
The author says, “I hope that the company will become a place where I can learn not to lose myself, rather than a place where I have to prove myself.”
In an era where even holding on is difficult, readers who are contemplating "how to work without losing themselves" or are considering changing jobs or quitting, or experiencing burnout due to emotional exhaustion, will find this an opportunity to reflect on their attitude toward life and emotions and how they can better care for themselves.
Perhaps, at this very moment, somewhere in the 'fifth company', I am learning from you again, and you will become a companion who walks that journey with me.