Regressed Assistant Manager Kim Can Read Minds - Chapter 12

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Potter

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Regressed Assistant Manager Kim Can Read Minds ◈

Chapter 12

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After leaving the hotel, I chose the largest, fanciest hotel near the airport.

The wide glass doors opened, and cool air washed over my sweaty face.

Chandelier light spread across the gleaming marble floor.

I walked straight through the lobby, but Kang Minho stopped after only a few steps.

Only then did he look down at his shorts and slippers.

“Assistant Manager Kim, is it really all right for us to stay here?”

“Compared to what we've accomplished, this is nothing.”

I checked for available rooms at the front desk.

Beside me, Minho kept looking around until I received the room key.

Once inside, we took turns washing up.

Only after washing away a day's worth of sweat and the warehouse's musty smell did it finally feel like the inspection was over.

I put the room service menu on the table.

“Minho, order whatever you want.”

“Can I order beer too?”

“Of course. Get one for me too.”

Even after choosing his food, Minho couldn't bring himself to pick up the phone.

He wrote some English sentences in his notebook and held it out to me.

“Can I say it like this?”

I glanced over the notebook and handed it back.

“Yes. Even if you get it wrong, you have to try saying it to improve.”

“Is that how you practiced too?”

“Yeah. I studied whenever I had time, too. Foreigners are people just like us. They'll get the general idea.”

Reading from his notebook, Minho stumbled through the order.

Only after hanging up did he let out the breath he'd been holding.

“I placed the order.”

“See? You can do it.”

Room service arrived a little later.

As the table filled with hot food, Minho's face brightened.

We clinked our cold beer cans together.

“That was pretty eventful for your first overseas business trip.”

“Are all overseas business trips like this?”

“Not as bad as Cambodia.”

I laughed at his obvious relief.

We'd experienced business entertainment, fraud, a hotel break-in, and an attempt to frame us for drug possession, all on one trip.

He'd tasted both the bitter and the sweet on his very first business trip.

“I don't think I'll ever forget this trip.”

As his beer can emptied to the halfway point, Minho began talking more.

When he told me his parents ran an old neighborhood bookshop, I asked which neighborhood.

I immediately pictured the faded sign and the middle-aged man sitting among the narrow bookshelves.

“Does your father happen to wear reading glasses and sit behind the counter?”

“Yes. That's my father.”

“You're the son from that bookshop?”

Minho awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

“You must've read a lot of books.”

“No. I saw so many growing up that I got sick of them. I actually don't read much.”

“That makes sense. My family runs a vineyard, but I don't eat many grapes either.”

“Haha, really?”

Minho smiled brightly.

“Did you always want to work in trading?”

“No. I applied to a lot of places while job hunting, and luckily, Taeseong Trading accepted me.”

“So you just took the job?”

“Taeseong Trading is a mid-sized company, after all, and the pay isn't bad.”

After answering, Minho fiddled with his beer can.

His voice grew a little quieter.

“But the harder I try, the more things seem to go wrong. I just keep making mistakes. Sometimes I wonder if I've always been this incompetent...”

“You make mistakes because you're new.”

“The others who joined with me are already going along on client visits, but I couldn't even make copies properly. At this rate, even getting promoted...”

“Hey, you've got some nerve saying that to an assistant manager with eight years on the job. It'll be a while before your promotion's as late as mine.”

I'd meant it as a joke, but Minho shook his head seriously.

“No. You're the best assistant manager I've ever met.”

“That is a compliment, right?”

“Yes. I mean it. I want to be like you.”

I smiled as I drank my beer.

Hearing that from our youngest team member felt pretty good.

“When we get back, you write the report. I'll check it for you.”

“Me?”

“You came along too. You should at least get your name on it.”

“Thank you, Assistant Manager Kim. I pledge my loyalty.”

“Forget loyalty. Just make sure you get it right.”

Minho and I talked about all sorts of things until bedtime.

“We should get some sleep.”

“Yes, Assistant Manager Kim. Good night.”

There were no insects chirping all night or noises from an old air conditioner like the night before.

As soon as my back touched the soft bed, my eyes closed on their own.

The next morning, we ate a hearty breakfast with our faces still puffy from sleep, then headed to the airport.

* * *

We got our tickets at the check-in counter first.

“Assistant Manager Kim, I'm going to the restroom.”

While Minho was away, I took out the camera.

As I scrolled through the pictures of yellowed green coffee beans and sack numbers, I heard a raised voice at the cargo information counter.

A woman with dark skin was arguing with an employee, holding out some crumpled documents.

[The shipment is here, but we can't release it with these documents. The registration number doesn't match, and the receiving company is different too.]

The woman spread the papers out again in frustration.

[The company prepared these documents and was supposed to handle customs clearance too. You said the shipment was here. Please check again.]

As she grew upset, her English became faster.

The counter employee caught only scattered words and kept repeating that it wasn't possible.

[It's just latex concentrate for a trial production run.]

I looked away from the camera screen and toward the woman.

Latex concentrate and trial production. And a deposit, too.

I thought of the Mekong Green warehouse I'd just been looking at.

I switched off the camera and stood up.

[May I take a look at your documents? I work for a Korean trading company.]

The woman's gaze traveled up and down my body.

I was dressed far too casually to look like an office worker.

I took a business card from my wallet and handed it to her.

After checking it, she gave me the contract and shipping documents.

[What were you planning to make with this concentrate?]

[Latex foam for mattresses. I was going to sign the contract after seeing the trial production.]

[You haven't seen the factory yet?]

[No. I was pickpocketed as soon as I arrived.]

Only then did I notice what she was holding.

All she had was a small passport wallet and the crumpled documents.

She said the employees who'd come with her had gone to the police station to report the theft. She'd stayed at the airport alone to recover the concentrate.

I placed the contract and shipping documents side by side.

The contract listed a latex foam manufacturer.

But the importer and recipient on the shipping documents were a completely different company. The registration numbers didn't match either.

I asked the counter employee to check the importer's information again.

Looking annoyed, they typed on the keyboard, then turned the screen toward us.

The address on the shipping documents belonged to a small office in downtown Phnom Penh.

It was nothing like the large production facility described in the contract.

[There's no factory at this address.]

[That can't be right. They even sent me samples...]

[They probably got those from another factory. You haven't sent the deposit yet, have you?]

[No. I was going to send it after seeing the trial production.]

[Then you're fine. Don't contact them again.]

For a moment, a rapid stream of curses in mixed Thai and English came from her thoughts.

[But how did you figure it out so quickly?]

[I'm on my way home after checking out something similar.]

I handed back the documents.

[Here, you need to start by asking why something is cheap. And don't go anywhere alone until your employees return.]

[If it weren't for you, I'd still be standing here getting angry. Thank you.]

Lalita took a gold business card from her wallet and offered it to me.

When I read it, I was startled.

[ANANTAKUL GROUP]

[LALITA ANANTAKUL]

[DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC BUSINESS]

Anantakul Group.

It was a major Thai conglomerate with businesses in not only natural rubber and latex, but also auto parts, logistics, and hotels. In my previous life, Taeseong Trading had approached them several times without even managing to meet the person in charge.

And the woman in front of me had the same surname as the company's name.

A strategic business director whose surname matched the group's name. She belonged to Thailand's top 0.1 percent, the upper class known as high-so.

Lalita held out her hand and introduced herself again.

[Let me introduce myself properly. I'm Lalita Anantakul.]

Even as I shook her hand, my mind was racing.

[What will you do with this concentrate if the deal falls through?]

[I'll have to find another factory.]

[Would you consider supplying any surplus to Korea?]

Lalita laughed in disbelief.

[You just helped me, and now you're already making a sales pitch?]

[It would be a waste for someone at a trading company to walk away with just a business card.]

[So you're not just a nice person.]

[I'll take that as a compliment. If you haven't chosen a distributor in Korea, please offer it to Taeseong Trading first.]

I focused on her thoughts.

[...If my older brothers find out this deal was a scam, they'll tear into me like jackals. Korea isn't a market I'd considered, but shifting the supply there wouldn't be a bad option. And...]

Lalita narrowed her eyes as she looked me over.

[...This Korean man is my type, too.]

After thinking for a moment, she said she'd send me a list of natural latex concentrate and related products she could supply to Korea, along with pricing based on order quantities.

On the back of her business card, she wrote her direct number rather than the group's main number.

[Contact me here if anything comes up. Please write your direct number on your card too, Mr. Kim.]

[Yes, of course.]

For the first time, Lalita's tense expression relaxed into a bright smile.

I put her card in my wallet.

The Mekong Green deal had fallen through, but I wasn't going home empty-handed.

That business card might hold an opportunity several times bigger.

Just then, Lalita's employees returned, and Minho came back from the restroom.

“Assistant Manager Kim, who's that?”

“A new client.”

“You made a sales pitch while I was in the restroom?”

Minho looked at me with eyes full of respect.

* * *

After completing the departure procedures, we browsed the duty-free shops.

My mother's birthday was only a few days away.

Since I was abroad, I thought I'd buy her a present.

As expected of duty-free shops, there were plenty of expensive luxury goods, but I didn't think she'd like them.

She'd probably tuck a handbag away in the wardrobe to save it, and she was sure to wave away perfume, complaining about the smell.

“Assistant Manager Kim, I'm going to buy some cigarettes for my father.”

“Sure.”

As I passed a women's shoe store, a pair of low-heeled shoes caught my eye.

The moment I picked them up, I remembered the white shoes I'd helped my mother put on in her hospital room.

After several cancer operations, even her mind had begun to fade. When the hospital shoes touched her toes, she'd pulled her feet away and said,

“Seongjun, where are my dress shoes?”

“Your dress shoes?”

“Yes. My dress shoes.”

At the time, I hadn't known which shoes she meant.

After she died, I'd found an old shoebox while sorting through her belongings.

Her mother had bought them for her as a wedding gift, but she'd treasured them so much that she'd only worn them a few times in her entire life.

I turned over the shoes in my hands to check the heels first. They weren't high, and there was plenty of room across the toes.

My mother should be comfortable wearing them. I took them straight to the counter.

When I came out after paying, Minho was waiting with a carton of cigarettes.

“Aren't you buying a present for your girlfriend?”

“...I don't have a girlfriend.”

After arriving in Korea, we parted at the airport.

“Get plenty of rest today. I'll see you at work.”

“I'll wash the clothes and return them.”

“Just keep them. Don't bring nothing but suits on your next business trip.”

“Thank you, Assistant Manager Kim.”

Minho gave me a deep bow.

Walking toward the parking lot, I checked the messages I'd missed. The first was a card payment notification.

[I signed up for classes! Thank yooou! You know I love you, right!? >o<]

“That brat only acts cute at times like this.”

After Suyeon's message, I saw Han Ara's name too.

[You're coming back today, right? I'm super busy again today...! Phew T_T]

As soon as I read it, I considered stopping by Mood Bean.

But I shook my head after seeing my reflection in the glass. My sweat-soaked clothes seemed to carry several days' worth of business-trip smell.

[I've arrived safely. I'll get some rest today and stop by another time.]

As I sent the reply, a message arrived from an unfamiliar number.

[It's Lalita. :) I've emailed you the latex product list and terms for supplying Korea as promised, so take a look and get back to me.]

“That was fast.”

I carefully placed the box containing my mother's shoes on the passenger seat and started the Avante.

* * *

As soon as I got home, I collapsed like a corpse and fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes, a full day had passed. The exhaustion from staying on edge throughout the Cambodia trip must have hit me all at once.

When I arrived at work, Minho handed me a draft of the inspection report.

The photographs we'd taken in Cambodia, sack numbers, and shipping details were neatly attached. It wasn't bad for his first report.

“Did you do this at home?”

“Yes. I didn't have anything else to do, so I thought I'd get it done early.”

“Good work.”

I corrected only the parts that needed it, then submitted the report to Seo Jeonguk right away.

Seo Jeonguk read it carefully without a word.

“They were openly deceiving us.”

“Yes.”

Seo Jeonguk's gaze stopped on the existing assessment documents for Mekong Green.

They contained records from the people who'd visited the site beforehand.

[Surely they didn't see all this and approve it anyway. Those vermin, eating away at the company.]

The other four suppliers had issues to address, but nothing serious enough to end the deals. They'd also accepted the verification process I'd created and the condition that the balance would be paid after inspection.

Seo Jeonguk crossed Mekong Green off the final shortlist.

The teams in charge were listed beside the remaining suppliers.

Team 1 and Team 3.

As expected, Team 2 wasn't there.

“You've been a great help, Assistant Manager Kim.”

“Thank you.”

“On that note, I've put your name forward for this round of promotion reviews for manager.”

“Me?”

“Eight years is more than enough seniority. Just don't mess up the exam.”

I hadn't expected that.

“Thank you.”

I was about to leave after saying goodbye when Seo Jeonguk called me back.