WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Potter
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Regressed Assistant Manager Kim Can Read Minds ◈
Chapter 33
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[Sizzling Hot Webfoot Octopus]
True to the name on the sign, a spicy aroma greeted us right at the entrance.
“Assistant Manager Song, have you been here before?”
“No, this is my first time.”
“It only opened recently, but it’s already getting a reputation for good food.”
The restaurant was already packed.
When we said we were meeting people, an employee led us to a table farther inside.
Choi Yeongjin, Park Soyeon, and Kang Minho had already ordered and were waiting for us.
“You’re here, Assistant Manager Song.”
“Hello, Assistant Manager Song.”
Including Song Jaepil, there were five of us working on this wheat deal.
“Why haven’t you started eating?”
“We were waiting for you and Assistant Manager Song.”
“Since when do you do that? Come on, eat.”
We put the stir-fried webfoot octopus on white rice, added dried seaweed and sesame oil, and mixed it all together.
Kang Minho took a big bite and nodded in satisfaction.
It was spicy, but pleasantly chewy and just right with rice.
“How are things with Hanmi Milling?”
“They say they have plenty of stock. But they like our price, so they asked us to give them the whole shipment instead of selling any to anyone else.”
“Daejin Milling said the same thing.”
“Then all we need to do is secure the wheat.”
Nothing had really stood in our way so far.
What mattered was how much we bid.
Kang Minho swallowed the food in their mouth and asked,
“Manager Kim, will there be many bidders for a whole 20,000 tons?”
“Some companies might try their luck at getting it cheap.”
Not many companies could buy that much at once.
But within a year, a rising exchange rate and a supply shortage would push wheat prices to nearly double.
Knowing that future, I could make money simply by buying it now.
Only companies that could take the entire shipment and provide proof of funds could bid.
They had to submit their prices by the deadline, and the company with the highest bid would get the wheat.
In my previous life, Hando Trading had bought this wheat cheaply.
This time, Taeseong Trading was bidding too.
Knowing Hando Trading, they wouldn’t just sit back and watch.
“Assistant Manager Song, can we find out who else is bidding in advance?”
Song Jaepil, who had been listening to the conversation in a daze, answered.
“That would be difficult at this stage. We’ll have a clearer picture once the proof of funds is submitted.”
“If they need proof of funds too, there certainly won’t be many bidders.”
Even after adding Song Jaepil’s estimates for unloading, storage, and domestic transport to the expected purchase price, we still had plenty of room to compete.
“Sss. Oh, isn’t this octopus really spicy?”
Park Soyeon gulped down water.
The skin around her lips had turned red, almost as if she’d smeared lipstick around them.
Choi Yeongjin refilled the empty glass.
“You think this is spicy? It’s just right.”
“It’s spicy for me.”
“Honestly, I knew this would happen when you started stuffing your face because you were hungry. Want me to order you some soju?”
“No, beer. Everyone’s having a glass, right?”
“Yes. I’ll have beer too.”
At Kang Minho’s casual answer, Song Jaepil’s eyes widened.
[...They drink at lunchtime?]
“Why? Don’t you drink at lunch, Assistant Manager Song?”
“...Well, I’ve never tried it... Wait, would that be all right?”
Song Jaepil looked as though someone had just landed a punch.
Then the others exchanged looks and burst out laughing together.
“Oh, come on. We’re not drinking. We’re joking. You’re so innocent, Assistant Manager Song.”
“Oh, right? Of course. Drinking at lunch... Haha.”
“Just order a Coke for everyone.”
Song Jaepil smiled.
Some of the awkwardness had faded.
* * *
Outside the restaurant, Choi Yeongjin and I headed to Daejin Milling, while Park Soyeon and Kang Minho went to Hanmi Milling.
Song Jaepil returned to the Logistics Team to finish checking the warehouse and transport schedules.
“We can take your car today, right, Manager Kim?”
“Why? Is yours broken?”
Choi Yeongjin usually treasured that imported car.
When I looked over, they let out a long sigh.
“What happened?”
“I scraped it against a wall while I was on a blind date.”
“A blind date?”
That caught my attention more than the accident.
“What’s she like?”
“Hmm. She’s cute. Funny too.”
“Cute and funny? What more do you need? Give it a shot.”
“It won’t work just because I like her. What about you?”
I thought of Han Ara and grinned.
Choi Yeongjin studied my face when I didn’t answer, then shook their head.
“Things must be going well for you. I’m jealous.”
There was an unusual note of sincerity in Choi Yeongjin’s voice.
After a little more talk about the blind date, we arrived at Daejin Milling’s head office.
Daejin Milling’s factory was at Incheon Port, but its head office, where the Purchasing Team worked, was in Seoul.
The purchasing representative welcomed us just as warmly as over the phone.
They said the current price was more than reasonable and asked us to give their company priority over other buyers if we won the bid.
What we needed wasn’t a contract signed on the spot, but demand we could show our company.
We took down the quantity they wanted and their preferred delivery dates, then left.
As we were leaving the building, Park Soyeon called.
Hanmi Milling’s response had been much the same.
Between them, the two companies wanted more than enough to take all 20,000 tons.
Choi Yeongjin’s face brightened while listening to the call.
“At this rate, we just need to bring the ship in and we’re done.”
“Assistant Manager Choi, don’t go raising red flags.”
“Red flags? What do you mean?”
“You know that supporting character in horror movies who always says, ‘Did we get it?’”
Choi Yeongjin nodded.
“Yes, and then they always die horribly. But isn’t that a death flag?”
“Right. In sales, we call it a red flag.”
“But things really are going well, aren’t they?”
I looked at Choi Yeongjin without a word, and they fell silent.
“...Was that another red flag?”
“Your second.”
“Then I take it back. Nothing’s gone well at all.”
“That sounds unlucky in its own way, so just stay quiet.”
Choi Yeongjin really did stop talking.
It didn’t last long.
“Still, this deal really is...”
“Third.”
“Ah, I should just keep my mouth shut.”
Back at the office, I wrote up a report and submitted it to Oh Sangcheol.
An odd smile stayed on the department manager’s face throughout the reading.
“Is there something you’d like to say?”
“I hear you went down to the Logistics Team and raised hell.”
“Me?”
“Everyone’s talking about it. They say you kicked the door open and even put the Logistics Team’s deputy general manager in their place.”
The rumors had grown far beyond what I’d actually done.
Thanks to that, I was now a lunatic who ran wild because the chairman had my back. Oh Sangcheol, however, seemed pleased with my new reputation.
[That’s my boy, Manager Kim.]
“Well done. It was about time you showed them. If you ask me, your only problem was that you were too soft.”
Oh Sangcheol put the report down.
“What good is being good at your job? The moment people think you’re a pushover, they’ll take advantage of you. At first, they ask you for a little help, right? Then before you know it, the work’s yours and so is the responsibility. If you say you can’t do it then, you’re the bad guy.”
“That’s true.”
“When you’re on your own, you can put up with a few things and let them slide. But once you have people under you, you need to show your temper sometimes. People won’t mess with you if they know you’ll be trouble when they push you.”
It had been the same during the clash with Team 3 not long ago.
Normally, Oh Sangcheol weighed the possible losses first. But when someone went after the team, the department manager raised hell louder than anyone.
“That Assistant Manager Song is the same, right? Good at the job, but willing to do everything they’re told, so all the busywork gets dumped on them. Isn’t that why you brought them over?”
“That was part of it.”
“I knew it.”
Oh Sangcheol smiled in satisfaction.
“If you want to look after your people, sometimes you need to charge in without weighing every little thing.”
I nodded silently.
Then Oh Sangcheol glanced around and asked in a low, confidential voice,
“But tell me. Is it true the chairman’s backing you?”
“Of course not. There’s the Thailand deal and all. The chairman probably just thinks well of me.”
“Really?”
[There’s definitely something going on.]
“All right. Get going. Tell me right away if there’s a problem.”
After leaving the department manager’s office, I was walking down the hall when two employees coming the other way recognized me and bowed first.
“Hello, Manager Kim.”
I returned their greeting with a small nod and walked past.
Behind me, their thoughts reached me one after the other.
[That must be Manager Kim, the one who turned the Logistics Team upside down.]
[It’s always the normal-looking ones who are scarier when they snap.]
* * *
The next day, Kang Minho and I visited the seller’s agency in South Korea.
The representative handed us the wheat inspection report and bid form, then reminded us of the deadline.
“Please fax us your purchase price by three p.m. on Friday.”
It matched what Song Jaepil had already confirmed, so we collected the documents and got up.
“I’ll stop by the restroom before heading down.”
“All right. I’ll wait downstairs.”
A man in a dark navy suit was washing his hands in the restroom.
From his perfectly fitted suit to the watch on his wrist, everything about him looked expensive.
When I stood at the sink beside him, our eyes met in the mirror.
“Manager Kim Seongjun?”
“Do you know me?”
“Very well. Your name comes up in our meetings now and then these days.”
Kwon Dohun’s gaze moved over my suit, then my watch.
[He’s even less impressive than I expected.]
He shook the water off his hands, then dried them with paper towels.
One sheet for each hand, until no moisture remained.
“Anantakul Group, Gwangjin Precision, Mongsil Latex. We’ve crossed paths too often for it to be a coincidence.”
[Including Daemyeong Electronics, you’ve ruined three deals for us.]
The man took a business card from inside his jacket and held it out.
[Kwon Dohun, Manager, Sales Team 1, Hando Trading]
His name caught my eye before his rank did.
The Kwon Dohun I remembered wasn’t a manager, but an executive director at Hando Trading.
He had cut off smaller companies’ customers and funding until they could no longer hold out, then bought their factories and technology for next to nothing.
That was how he had expanded Hando Trading’s business, and he had clashed with Deputy General Manager Seo Jeonguk several times too.
“And now you’re dealing in wheat? Isn’t your approach to sales a little too unfocused?”
“Who says sales has to stick to one field? If it makes money, we do it.”
There was a condescending edge to everything he said.
When I didn’t bother being especially polite either, Kwon Dohun gave a short laugh.
“That’s true enough. In the end, we’re all in sales to make money.”
“So what is it you want to say?”
“Get in touch if you ever want to join Hando Trading. For someone like you, Manager Kim, I could make a position available.”
Kwon Dohun tossed the paper towels into the bin. He started opening the restroom door, then turned back.
“Oh. We’ll be taking the wheat. You do know selling goods is harder than buying them, don’t you?”
“...”
“Let’s stay in our lane, shall we?”
I looked straight at Kwon Dohun.
“The bidding results will tell us who should have stayed in their lane.”
“Good grief. You just have to have the last word.”
[Arrogant bastard.]
Kwon Dohun left the restroom without another word.
* * *
Kwon Dohun’s warning hadn’t been an empty threat.
Less than thirty minutes after we returned to the office, Daejin Milling called.
- I’m sorry. I don’t think we’ll be able to take the wheat this time.
“What? Yesterday, you said you’d take it as long as we secured the shipment.”
- Ah, well... We have our own circumstances to consider.
Not long after that call ended, Hanmi Milling called with the same refusal.
The two companies that had been asking us to give them priority just yesterday had both turned us down.
Park Soyeon stared at the receiver in disbelief.
“Does this make any sense? Yesterday, they were both asking us to sell to them first.”
“Hando Trading made its move. They know a mid-sized company like ours will struggle to get funding approved without confirmed buyers.”
Choi Yeongjin quietly watched my reaction.
[Surely I didn’t really raise a red flag, did I?]
Hearing that thought actually made me laugh.
“Manager Kim, how can you laugh right now?”
“We’re up against Hando Trading. We expected them to do something like this, didn’t we?”
Selling goods was harder than buying them.
That was the warning Kwon Dohun had given me in the restroom before cutting us off from the milling companies.
After hearing the news, Oh Sangcheol came over to my desk too.
“I hear both milling companies pulled out.”
“Yes.”
“So what are you going to do now?”
“If the two big buyers are blocked, we’ll win over all the small ones.”
I spread a newspaper article I had printed in advance across my desk.
[Eight Flour Companies Fixed Prices and Production Volumes for Six Years... Fines Total 43.4 Billion Won]
“This was big news at the start of the year.”
“That’s right. Hando Trading, Daejin Milling, and Hanmi Milling were all on the list.”
The eight companies that controlled most of the domestic flour market had spent six years setting supply volumes for each company and raising prices together.
A fine wasn’t going to change the market in just a few months.
A handful of large milling companies still bought the wheat and set the prices. Noodle makers, bakeries, and confectionery companies had no choice but to buy flour at whatever prices they demanded.
[Imported wheat → Large milling companies → Small and medium-sized food companies]
I crossed out the large milling companies in the middle.
“This is the only part Hando Trading has blocked.”
Oh Sangcheol narrowed their eyes.
“Wait. If we leave out the milling companies, who’s going to make the flour?”
“We’ll find a separate mill and hire them just to process the wheat.”
“And handle the sales ourselves?”
“Yes.”
We could supply smaller food companies at lower prices than they were currently paying and still leave a profit for Taeseong Trading by cutting out the milling companies’ distribution margin.
“But it’s 20,000 tons. Can we do it?”
“We’ve sold nine tons of synthetic resin in smaller lots before. There’s no reason we can’t do it this time.”
Park Soyeon looked even more distressed than she had while eating the spicy octopus.
“I think my stomach’s starting to burn again.”
“This time it wasn’t your mistake, Assistant Manager Park, so don’t worry.”
I immediately handed out company lists.
While the team members picked out smaller food companies and mills that could grind our wheat, I dialed the first number myself.
The person on the other end had grown unhappy with their existing supplier since the price-fixing scandal. As soon as they heard our supply price, they asked me to confirm it.
- Can you really supply it at that price?
“I’ll send you the inspection report and a quote first.”
- If the quality meets our standards, we’ll consider it. If it’s cheaper than what we pay now, we have no reason to turn it down.
Everyone’s eyes lit up as they listened.
I hung up and said,
“Start making calls as soon as your lists are ready.”
“Yes, Manager Kim.”
“Now this is something we’re good at.”
I intended to turn every company Hando Trading had dismissed as too small into one of our customers.
Staying in our lane.
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