WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise
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◈ Second Life of the Trade King ◈
Chapter 17: Competition (3)
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Auction buyer registration was more complicated than I had expected.
At the Jagalchi fish auction market office, where I had gone with Mr. Park, I took the application form and filled it out line by line.
A copy of Yeongdo Trading's business registration certificate, the trade registration certificate, a certificate of seal registration, and so on.
Fortunately, my father had transferred the trade registration certificate he obtained in 1972 into my name, and it proved useful here.
On paper, Yeongdo Trading was an end user that regularly purchased agricultural and marine products in bulk. That put us squarely within the requirements for auction buyer registration.
“You just need to put down the deposit. President Kim, the volume you take for ship provisioning is more than enough to qualify.”
The staff member said this while looking over the documents.
It was not like obtaining a licensed intermediary wholesaler permit, which required a complicated review.
Auction buyer registration was merely a registration. As long as I paid a deposit to guarantee payment, the operator of the fish auction market could not refuse me.
Thanks to the money from the first deal and the second provisioning job, the deposit was not a problem.
As we left the office after submitting the paperwork, Mr. Park asked me curiously.
“But Hyun-woo, are you really planning to go directly into the dawn auction? Do you know what kind of place that is? Ordinary people can't even set foot there.”
“I know. That's why I'm going in.”
No one in Yeongdo had imagined directly participating in a fish auction market without going through intermediary wholesalers.
Ship suppliers were supposed to receive goods from wholesalers and load them onto ships.
The common belief in this business was that if wholesalers cut you off, your ship provisioning business was over.
Daeseong Fisheries & Produce must have bought up all the wholesalers because it believed exactly that.
But I only had to rise one step above that conventional wisdom.
I would enter the fish auction market where the wholesalers got their goods myself.
Next was meat.
There was a way to deal directly with slaughterhouses near Busan, but I had also secured a shop as a backup in case something like this happened.
“Hello, sir. We met once before, didn't we? I'm Kim Hyun-woo from Yeongdo Trading.”
“Oh, you're that young president?”
“Yes. I'd like to get some goods for the next provisioning job.”
“That's fine by me. So, how much do you need?”
The unit price was a little higher than what I had paid in Bujeon-dong.
Transportation costs from Masan to Busan Port had to be added, and this was meat wholesale rather than direct trade with a slaughterhouse, so it could not be helped.
I secured a promise for same-day delivery according to the provisioning schedule. In a crisis, receiving supplies reliably and on time mattered more than saving a few won per unit.
That gave me two new supply lines.
Seafood from the fish auction market, and meat from Masan.
“That really is incredible. When Daeseong Fisheries & Produce locked down all your suppliers, I thought your company was finished for sure.”
Mr. Park clicked his tongue as he watched me complete the preparations for the next provisioning job.
“Why make such a big deal out of this? Did you think I would start a business without considering this kind of risk... I mean, danger?”
“Then you knew those bastards would do this?”
“I more or less expected it.”
“Good lord, you're something else. All this time, Daeseong Fisheries & Produce was dancing on our President Kim Hyun-woo's palm like the Monkey King in Buddha's palm.”
“Hahaha, not quite that much.”
“What do you mean, not? That's why you handled things outside Yeongdo. Am I right or not?”
As he said, Daeseong Fisheries & Produce would probably be watching all of Yeongdo as closely as the palm of its hand by now, so it would not be easy for them to figure out what I was doing.
That night, after returning to the shop once my preparations were complete, I fell into a deep sleep as usual.
* * *
Nearly fifteen days later, Sales Director Lee Dae-jun came down to Busan.
Yeongdo Trading's third provisioning job was just around the corner.
He rode through Yeongdo in a car driven by Deputy General Manager Kim Han-seop.
He intended to meet the heads of the suppliers one by one and confirm the situation.
“Has Yeongdo Trading contacted you at all?”
At Dong-gwang Meat's office in Bujeon-dong, Lee Dae-jun asked President Lee Jeong-hwan.
Lee Jeong-hwan waved his hands.
Seeing Kim Han-seop, who ruled this business, standing there politely with both hands clasped gave him a clear sense of Director Lee's influence. President Lee was thoroughly intimidated.
“No. And even if they contact us, we won't take the call. President Kim came by himself last time, so I made it clear. We've joined hands with Daeseong.”
“You did well. Keep doing that. If you ever supply goods to Yeongdo Trading, you know what will happen to Dong-gwang Meat at Busan Port, don't you?”
“Oh, of course. That will never happen.”
Lee Dae-jun nodded in satisfaction and left.
Next was Jagalchi Market.
President Park Jong-ho of Hae-seong Fisheries gave the same answer.
He had completely cut ties with Yeongdo Trading and had no intention whatsoever of joining hands with them again.
The answers were the same wherever they went, even after visiting every large and small business connected to ship provisioning in Yeongdo.
No one was supplying Yeongdo Trading.
No one even dared to.
“Director Lee, this is perfect. There isn't a single place in Yeongdo that can supply Yeongdo Trading. We've blocked every supplier, and even the Jagalchi intermediary wholesalers are on our side. At this rate, that Kim Hyun-woo bastard definitely won't be able to handle the next provisioning job.”
Deputy General Manager Kim Han-seop chattered excitedly.
After being harshly scolded by Lee Dae-jun over the Australian headquarters matter last time, Deputy General Manager Kim was clearly determined to earn points this time.
Lee Dae-jun nodded, pleased inside as well.
As the president had ordered, they had not touched the Australian route. They had only quietly tied up the wholesalers that served as Yeongdo Trading's hands and feet.
Without supplies, the provisioning work would have to stop. Once it stopped, the Australian shipping line would turn its back on them on its own.
No matter how clever Kim Hyun-woo was, what could he load onto an empty ship without supplies?
And yet...
“Director Lee, we just checked with Pacific Grain Lines, and they say the next port-call provisioning will proceed as scheduled. Yeongdo Trading says it is preparing without any problems...”
Lee Dae-jun, who had been about to return to Seoul, frowned.
“Without any problems? Did they say that themselves?”
“Yes. They said there was nothing unusual. We did give them a heads-up that there might be trouble with the provisioning, but the Australian shipping line says it wants to trust Yeongdo Trading for now.”
“Trust them... Something is strange.”
It certainly was strange.
They had blocked every supplier in Yeongdo.
The Jagalchi intermediary wholesalers and the Bujeon-dong meat suppliers were all in Daeseong's grasp.
He could understand how they might manage the meat somehow, but seafood was another matter. Without Jagalchi Market, it would be difficult to match the prices. Where could they get the goods?
“Deputy General Manager Kim, exactly when is the next provisioning job?”
“The ship arrives at dawn the day after tomorrow.”
The uneasy feeling that they were missing something would not go away, but no matter how he considered it, he could not find an answer.
“Let's stay one more night. At dawn the day after tomorrow, I'll see with my own eyes exactly how that Kim Hyun-woo bastard plans to handle the provisioning.”
“Understood.”
* * *
Dawn two days later, Busan Cooperative Fish Market.
At five thirty in the morning, before the sun had risen, Lee Dae-jun stood at one side of the market with Deputy General Manager Kim Han-seop, watching the auction floor.
Having spent his entire life in offices and entertainment venues, he found the dawn fish market unfamiliar and fishy.
The fish that had come in overnight were lined up endlessly across the auction floor, sorted by species and size.
Ice merchants diligently carried shovelfuls of ice, while people in boots splashed through the soaking-wet floor.
The cold dawn air stabbed at his nose with the mixed smell of fish and salt.
As though the auction were about to begin, auction buyers wearing caps marked with numbers walked among the piles of fish, checking their condition.
“Director Lee, it's cold. What else is there to see here? That bastard can't get any goods anyway...”
Deputy General Manager Kim was shifting from foot to foot and grumbling when it happened.
“...That, that's Kim Hyun-woo! It is!”
Kim Han-seop pointed toward the entrance to the auction floor, and Lee Dae-jun looked in that direction.
It was Kim Hyun-woo.
But he was dressed unexpectedly.
He was not the neatly suited young man Lee had faced at the coffeehouse. He wore black rubber boots that came up to his knees and a work apron that would not matter if it got splashed with water.
He looked exactly like someone from the fish market.
Lee Dae-jun let out a snort before he realized it.
He wondered if the young man had gone hungry for several days and come skulking around the dawn market.
“Hah, look at the state of him. Now that every supplier has cut him off, he must have come to buy fish himself. President Kim, are you finally coming to your senses? This isn't going to work just because you do that.”
Lee Dae-jun deliberately raised his voice so Kim Hyun-woo would hear him.
Kim turned his head and spotted Lee Dae-jun.
But he showed neither surprise nor panic.
Instead, he gave a slight nod and smiled faintly.
That relaxed attitude slightly irritated Lee Dae-jun.
“What brings Director Lee all the way here at this hour?”
“I came because I was curious how you planned to hold out. But what is this getup? You're supposedly the president of a trading company, yet here you are in boots at a fish market before dawn. It's pitiful. Why not reconsider our proposal while you still can? The department head position is still open.”
Instead of answering Lee Dae-jun's mockery, Kim Hyun-woo casually adjusted the cap on his head.
It was marked with the number 35, like the numbered caps worn by the other auction buyers.
“Thank you for the offer, but I'm a little busy right now. The auction is about to start.”
“The auction? What auction could you possibly...”
Before he could finish, a bell signaling the start of the auction rang out across the auction floor.
Kim Hyun-woo raised his hand lightly, then strode into the auction floor.
Wearing the same numbered cap as the other auction buyers, he naturally took his place among them.
The smile slowly disappeared from Lee Dae-jun's face.
The auctioneer stood before the first pile of fish.
Then, in a rapid chant that was impossible to understand, like a pansori melody, the auctioneer began calling out prices.
At that moment, the auction buyers' hands all moved at once.
They clenched and spread their fingers, indicating their bids.
Lee Dae-jun could not understand what the scene meant.
Not a word was exchanged. They only moved their fingers, yet transactions were being made.
And among those hands was Kim Hyun-woo's.
Kim spread his fingers to make his bids. His movements were clearly more awkward than those of the other auction participants.
“Is he really doing it?”
At Director Lee's stunned murmur, Deputy General Manager Kim answered.
“I... think so?”
The auctioneer's chant sped up, and another auction buyer raised another finger.
Kim Hyun-woo's hand moved once more, and the auctioneer's eyes stopped on him.
“Number 35!”
The hand-signal caller beside the auctioneer immediately shouted.
“Number 35 wins the bid! Five boxes!”
Lee Dae-jun doubted his own eyes.
Kim Hyun-woo had just won a bid for fish.
Not through a wholesaler or an intermediary wholesaler, but personally, in the middle of the auction floor.
“D-Director Lee... How is that...?”
Kim Han-seop's voice trembled.
Lee Dae-jun could not answer.
His mind had gone blank.
He had thought that blocking the wholesalers would end everything.
He had been certain that Yeongdo Trading would have no way to get supplies once they had tied up every supplier in Yeongdo.
But as if mocking all their traps, Kim Hyun-woo had entered the very auction market where the wholesalers got their goods.
He had skipped the entire middle stage.
The wholesalers Daeseong had worked so hard to buy up had never been necessary to Kim Hyun-woo in the first place.
The auction continued, and each time Kim Hyun-woo's fingers moved, boxes of fish became his.
The seafood needed for the provisioning job steadily piled up in front of him.
As Lee Dae-jun watched, something cold ran down his spine.
Then a truck entered through the fish market entrance.
It was a refrigerated truck.
Lee Dae-jun casually read the company name written on its side, then bit his lip.
It was a meat delivery truck.
“Fuck... We're screwed.”
He took a cigarette from his coat and put it between his lips.
Through the white smoke spreading before him, he looked at Kim Hyun-woo and felt a crushing sense of defeat.
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