WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Second Life of the Trade King ◈
Chapter 15: Competition (1)
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Seoul, Euljiro. Daeseong Fisheries & Produce headquarters, seventh floor.
Sales Director Lee Dae-jun slowly turned his fountain pen as he looked down at the forest of buildings beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Steam rose from the freshly brewed coffee his secretary had set down, while a report from the Busan branch lay neatly arranged on his desk.
Yeongdo Trading.
Irritation welled up for no reason.
It was a startup that Deputy General Manager Kim Han-seop had clumsily provoked into becoming a problem, run by a twenty-six-year-old rookie who had slashed Busan Port provisioning rates and cracked their monopoly.
Still, being troublesome did not mean they were untouchable.
“Manager Jeong.”
When he pressed the intercom, the head of Sales Team 3 came in.
“That startup in Busan, it was called Yeongdo Trading, right? How much capital do they have?”
“I don't know the exact amount, but even including the profit from their first deal, it should be under 100 million won. Foreign-vessel supply work is all they've done.”
“Under 100 million won?”
Lee Dae-jun set down his fountain pen and smiled faintly.
Daeseong Fisheries & Produce had generated more than 20 billion won in revenue from foreign-vessel provisioning at Busan Port alone last year.
Comparing that to a company worth less than 100 million won was laughable.
“Manager Jeong, our Jagalchi Market wholesalers are still our clients, right?”
“Yes. More than half are still on our line.”
“Give them better prices. Extend their credit terms too. If we offer them better payment terms than Yeongdo Trading can, how's that shitty little company supposed to survive?”
That was how a large company should quietly and overwhelmingly dispose of a startup.
Growling at someone outside the front gate, like Deputy General Manager Kim had done, was an amateur's move.
As Lee Dae-jun was about to close the report, Manager Jeong hesitated before speaking.
“However, Director Lee, there's one thing I need to report.”
“What is it?”
“The Pacific Grain Lines Busan line. Manager David Jo... has been retained.”
For a moment, Sales Director Lee Dae-jun thought he had heard wrong.
“...What happened?”
“Manager David Jo, who was scheduled to return to headquarters as part of the regular personnel rotation, has been retained. The Korea branch received official notice yesterday. We just confirmed it.”
When something was too absurd, the mind froze. That was what happened to him.
For about five seconds, he could only stare blankly.
This was impossible.
They had even submitted a formal opinion statement. The pretext of a regular staff rotation had been perfect, and Pacific Grain Lines had already reached a decision internally.
Yet they had reversed everything and retained him?
“What about the opinion statement? What happened to the statement we submitted?”
“It was... buried. I only heard that a Korean business agenda was separately brought before the headquarters board, and our statement lost its weight there.”
“Who?”
“Pardon?”
“Who buried our statement? If they reversed a decision that had already been made, there must be a reason!”
Startled by Sales Director Lee Dae-jun's sudden roar, Manager Jeong wiped away a cold sweat and lowered their head.
“...I'll find out.”
Before three days had passed, Manager Jeong returned with an answer.
The Korean business agenda presented to the headquarters board had come from the Australian Department of Trade.
The Australian Department of Trade had directly sent Pacific Grain Lines executives an official statement supporting the opening of the Korean market, and Manager David Jo's name had been included in the document.
Sales Director Lee Dae-jun frowned.
An entirely unexpected party had appeared.
“The Australian Department of Trade? Why would a government agency interfere in the personnel matters of some grain company?”
“It appears that a trade commissioner named Kevin Matthews from the Australian Trade Office in Korea handled it personally. He's been in charge of entering the Korean feed market for five years and submitted a formal report to headquarters this time.”
“Ha... Fuck. Every little thing has to become a pain. Manager Jeong, go and...”
Sales Director Lee Dae-jun stopped himself before assigning the task.
He wondered whether someone at the department-head level would carry enough weight when meeting an Australian trade commissioner.
“Yes?”
“No. Tell him I want to meet. Set up an appointment.”
If one trade commissioner had acted, they could meet and straighten it out.
If he explained Daeseong Fisheries & Produce's standing in the Korean market, showed their record so far, and gave him an appropriate justification, diplomats usually understood.
He had resolved more than a few matters that way.
Fortunately, he secured a meeting at the Australian Embassy Trade Office the very next day.
Kevin Matthews, seated across from him in an office on the second floor of an annex along the diplomatic street in Jongno District, was younger and colder than expected.
Lee Dae-jun spread the company materials he had prepared across the table and got to the point.
“Trade Commissioner Matthews, Daeseong Fisheries & Produce has handled foreign-vessel provisioning at Busan Port for more than five years. We have a considerable record with Pacific Grain Lines alone. From our perspective, it was somewhat unexpected for the Australian Department of Trade to intervene in this Korea branch personnel matter.”
Kevin Matthews replied without even looking up from the documents.
“I haven't intervened. The Australian government merely stated its position in support of opening the Korean market. It hasn't involved itself in any particular company's personnel matters.”
“Yet that statement effectively rendered our opinion statement useless.”
“That's a matter for your company, Mr. Lee.”
Lee Dae-jun was briefly at a loss for words.
He realized this would not be easy.
Korea was still a small country, and he could not take a hard line against a major global grain exporter allied with the United States.
“Trade Commissioner, we're one of the companies importing the most Australian grain into Korea. We're an important partner for Australia as well. I would appreciate it if you placed greater importance on your relationship with us. After the Olympics, there will be opportunities to import even greater volumes. If relations with our company are poor, that won't be good for the Australian authorities either.”
Only then did Kevin Matthews put down the documents and look directly at Lee Dae-jun.
There was something like strange disappointment in his eyes, more than the courtesy one showed a businessman.
“I see.”
“...?”
Sales Director Lee Dae-jun was stunned by Kevin Matthews's attitude, as though he had fully understood.
“Is there anything else you'd like to say?”
Only then did Lee Dae-jun realize it.
To the Australian trade commissioner, they were not an important business partner at all.
He had no choice but to ask.
“Which company is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“What company moved Trade Commissioner Kevin's heart? They must have assured you that they could adequately replace us. Isn't that right?”
“...”
“I guarantee that's not the case. You'll have a hard time finding a company better than Daeseong Fisheries & Produce.”
“Hmm. I've heard your company's position. You're mistaken, however. We have no intention of souring our relationship with Daeseong Fisheries & Produce. Our response is simply for the national interest. And there's no reason to explain in detail to a company from another country exactly how it serves that interest. Do you understand what I mean?”
“...I understand.”
Kevin grinned and stood.
“It was a good meeting. Your company was close to developing a serious misunderstanding, after all. Korean food was difficult for me at first, but I think it's quite good now. We should have a meal together sometime. Well, then...”
That was the end of the meeting.
He had been utterly crushed without even having a chance to resist.
He did not even know where he had been struck.
Back at the company, Sales Director Lee Dae-jun gathered every sales department head and above, then shouted.
“Drop everything and find out who came to meet Kevin Matthews! Someone has clearly screwed us over. Find them, no matter what it takes!”
Exactly seventeen hours after his order, they got an answer.
“We found them. Someone came up from Busan not long ago looking for Kevin Matthews. They contacted him five hours before arriving, then came here without an appointment and insisted on meeting him, so they were only barely granted a meeting!”
“Who was it?”
“...Kim Hyun-woo of Yeongdo Trading.”
The office air turned cold.
“Who? You mean that twenty-six-year-old green kid? The green kid who humiliated Deputy General Manager Kim?”
“...Yes.”
“Whew...”
With his anger at its peak, Sales Director Lee Dae-jun let out a frustrated breath. The employees could not even breathe loudly.
After glaring at them as though he wanted to devour them, he grabbed the jacket hanging on the coat rack.
“Have the car ready. I'll see the president, then head to Busan.”
No foolish employee asked, “Why? Where are you going?”
“Understood.”
Sales Director Lee Dae-jun went straight to the president's office, while the employees rushed into action.
It was around seven in the evening when his car arrived in front of Kim Hyun-woo's shop in Yeongdo, Busan.
The driver opened the door, and Lee Dae-jun stepped out.
In his neatly pressed suit and expensive watch, he looked completely out of place in this shabby, brine-scented part of Yeongdo.
He glanced over the shop sign, then opened the door and entered.
“Is President Kim Hyun-woo of Yeongdo Trading here?”
* * *
“Hyun-woo, someone came looking for you. Looks like he came from Seoul.”
I was sitting at my desk checking the next day's provisioning schedule when my older brother called me.
I went downstairs to see who it was, and a middle-aged man in a black suit was looking at me with sharp eyes.
“President Kim Hyun-woo...?”
“Yes, that's me. Who are you?”
He pulled out his wallet, then took a business card from it.
“I'm Lee Dae-jun of Daeseong Fisheries & Produce.”
As I stared at him blankly, my father, who had already been through a situation like this once, looked over from the counter without much surprise.
“Are you going to keep him standing there?”
“No. Let's talk outside.”
After taking his card, I led him to a nearby coffeehouse.
“What brings you here?”
When I asked after ordering two coffees, he stared at me without touching his cup and put a cigarette between his lips.
He lit it stylishly, then spoke.
“I think it's impressive that you started a business after graduating.”
His sudden informal speech was understandable considering the times.
This was an era when people smoked without concern not only in coffeehouses but also on buses and trains. A middle-aged man over forty speaking informally to a twenty-six-year-old about to graduate was common enough.
“...”
“Not just anyone can do it. It takes a certain kind of courage to even attempt it.”
He took another drag, exhaled white smoke, and continued.
“Hoo... We like talented people. South Korea is reaching out to the world, and our company is looking beyond Korea to America and Europe. Once the Olympics are over, South Korea will stand proudly before the whole world. Daeseong Fisheries & Produce will likely become one of the pillars of Korean logistics.”
“So? Don't tell me...?”
“Your guess is correct. I'll give you an opportunity to join our company.”
“Pardon?”
He spoke quietly to my dumbfounded self with a deeply ingratiating gaze.
“To be precise, we'll acquire Yeongdo Trading. We'll pay 100 million won and treat you as a department head. Even Seoul National University graduates don't receive terms this extraordinary. Just accept. I'll fill the ranks under you with graduates from Seoul National University, Yonsei University and Korea University. Your monthly salary will be one million won. With your ability, your performance bonuses will be considerable too.”
“...”
“You should think carefully. I guarantee that if we decide to act, your company won't last long. We're buying it for 100 million won and treating you as a department head. Your next executive position is practically guaranteed. You might even become president before you're forty. Not the president of some tiny company like this, but of a giant enterprise with annual revenue in the hundreds of billions of won. What do you say?”
It was funny.
Before my return, I would have done anything to obtain that position.
Yet just because I had changed my thinking a little and acted differently, it had come offering itself to me.
Had it really been this easy?
“Ha...”
Seeing me laugh in disbelief, his expression hardened.
“Why are you laughing?”
“I'm just... disgusted with myself.”
“Disgusted?”
“No. It's just... something else crossed my mind.”
“What do you...?”
Leaving him flustered, I stood.
“Anyway, I'm sorry, but I'll decline.”
“Decline? Do you know what you're doing?”
“Yes, I know very well. And if you want to interfere, you can try. That's how it is. The market is a competitive system. We grow through competition.”
Sales Director Lee Dae-jun had suddenly been placed on equal footing with a neighborhood hole-in-the-wall shop.
He could only stare blankly as the young man left the coffeehouse.
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