WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Second Life of the Trade King ◈
Chapter 18: Competition (4)
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Seoul, Euljiro, Daeseong Fisheries & Produce headquarters, president's office.
Before entering the president's office, Sales Director Lee Dae-jun looked down at the report in his hands one more time.
The numbers did not change no matter how many times he checked them.
If anything, every look made his stomach ache more.
He swallowed a sigh and opened the door.
“President.”
President Lim Byeong-guk, who had been practicing putting in the office with a golf club, looked up and glared at Director Lee Dae-jun. Then they lightly tapped the golf ball and spoke.
“Report.”
Unable even to sit on the sofa, Director Lee began speaking while standing.
“...Yeongdo Trading completed its third provisioning run without any problems. The Australian shipping line still trusts Yeongdo Trading as well.”
“I already heard that. What I want to know is how that was possible. We tied up all the intermediary wholesalers at Jagalchi. We blocked all the meat suppliers in Bujeon-dong too. So how did that little brat get his hands on goods?”
Faced with President Lim's furious gaze, Lee Dae-jun swallowed hard.
“...The fish auction market. Kim Hyun-woo registered directly as a auction buyer and went into the dawn auction to win seafood bids himself. He did not go through intermediary wholesalers. As for the meat, we found out he brought it in separately from Masan.”
“A auction buyer?”
“It is a system where end users can participate directly in auctions without going through wholesalers. They only need to register, and intermediary wholesalers cannot legally stop them. No matter how thoroughly we tied up the wholesalers... it was pointless once he went above them.”
At that, President Lim tossed the golf club onto the floor.
Thud.
The heavy club struck the floor, and Director Lee Dae-jun's heart sank.
“What the hell are those bastards doing? What kind of bullshit is this?”
“...I'm sorry.”
“Can't you do anything? Can't you catch that arrogant little bastard?”
He could understand the president's rage, but Director Lee had to show his superior the reality of the situation.
“First, we no longer have any means of sanctioning Yeongdo Trading. We cannot block auction participation. And Yeongdo Trading is not the problem now.”
“Then what is?”
President Lim's brows drew sharply together.
“We are the immediate problem. To pull in the wholesalers, we offered generous prices, extended more credit, and even paid deposits in advance. That raised our procurement costs. Then we lowered our provisioning prices to pressure Yeongdo Trading... so our company is now buying high and selling low. Every time we provision a ship, our losses grow.”
“What the...!”
“On the other hand, Kim Hyun-woo buys directly at the fish auction market without an intermediary wholesaler's margin. His costs are lower than ours. Even if we lower our prices, he has room to lower his further. And those reduced prices apply to all of our Busan Port provisioning volume... To be honest, the longer we drag out this price war, the one bleeding money will not be Yeongdo Trading. It will be us.”
The president's fingertips trembled slightly as they took the report Lee Dae-jun offered.
President Lim went through the figures page by page.
Each time their eyes stopped on a line marked with a loss, their jaw tightened.
Then, in the next instant, the report flew through the air.
“You bastard!”
The report struck Lee Dae-jun in the chest and scattered across the floor.
“So what you're saying is that we lost. Huh? Daeseong Fisheries & Produce lost to that twenty-six-year-old brat and his little hole-in-the-wall shop with less than one hundred million won in capital!”
“...President, that is not what I meant. If we consider the profit and loss...”
“Profit and loss? You idiot, do you think I care about profit and loss right now? We lost! That is what matters!”
Lee Dae-jun closed his mouth.
Anything he said would only add fuel to the fire.
The president's shouting battered the office walls.
“You little shit, I have held Busan Port in the palm of my hand and worked it for decades. Who in that business would dare challenge us? But some greenhorn from who knows where slips through every net we cast and provisions ships without a hitch? And he does it with our money, making us take the losses?”
“...I'm sorry.”
“Do you think this ends with an apology?”
After breathing heavily for some time, President Lim Byeong-guk turned toward the window.
They stood there for a while before finally lowering their voice.
But the quieter voice was even colder.
“...Fine. Stop the price war. If this goes on any longer, our Busan business will truly start to shake. I know that much, so withdraw for now.”
Lee Dae-jun tried to breathe a sigh of relief.
But the president's next words caught that breath in his throat.
“Do not think this is over. We cannot just leave that brat alone. Find a way, no matter what it takes. It does not have to be now. It can take time. But someday, make him understand his place. Understood?”
“...Understood.”
“Leave.”
The door closed behind Lee Dae-jun as he left the president's office.
He stopped in the hallway for a moment and loosened his tie.
“Whew...”
Resentment throbbed beneath his sternum.
It was not because he had been incompetent.
Avoiding the Australian shipping lines, tying up the wholesalers, and applying pressure through pricing had all been reasonable moves.
It was just that his opponent had laughed at all that reason and moved beyond it.
In nearly twenty years in the trading industry, he had never seen anyone move like that young man from Yeongdo Trading.
It was a style of play he had never encountered before.
But such protests would not work on the president.
The anger of those above always poured down on the closest subordinate.
“Should I wrap this up while things are still this manageable?”
In any case, he could not let the company fall into danger.
Cleaning up the mess quickly came first.
* * *
At the same time, Yeongdo, Busan.
“What a niiiice view.”
The sight of a huge Pacific Grain Lines cargo ship sailing away over the blue sea was truly beautiful.
Of course, it was probably not just the view. Earning money likely made it look even better.
David Jo stood beside me as I watched the cargo ship leave the dock after our third provisioning run.
“Mr. Kim, to be honest, I was worried this time.”
David Jo handed me a coffee and continued.
“I heard Daeseong Fisheries & Produce had pulled in all the wholesalers in Busan. I wondered whether your provisioning work would be disrupted, but you filled the ship with supplies as if nothing had happened. How on earth did you do it?”
“If there are no wholesalers, I thought I would go directly to where the wholesalers get their goods. Sometimes you have to do that.”
It was something I could do because of my experience before returning to the past.
Though I had never personally bid at Jagalchi Market before.
“Did you bid directly at Jagalchi Market?”
“Yes.”
“Ha, have you done something like this before?”
“Ah, not exactly. I just came across cases like that while studying.”
Around 2011, when I was trying to import wheat from Ukraine, a local intermediary trader suddenly broke the contract and sold the shipment elsewhere.
Back then, I had driven out to farm cooperatives and silos (grain storage facilities) in inland farming regions and signed contracts directly with farmers to scrape together enough supply.
That was why jumping into the Jagalchi auction today had felt natural to me.
“That is impressive. It is not easy to think of something like that just because you studied it, and putting it into action is even harder. You must have had things to learn to bid at the fish auction market. Were you able to manage?”
“I was born and raised in Yeongdo. I knew the basics, and I spent a few days having someone teach me the hand signals. It was quick to pick up.”
“Wow, that really is impressive.”
He gave me a thumbs-up as if acknowledging me.
The suspicion and distance from when we first met were gone from his eyes.
“Thank you.”
“Mr. Kim, I made an official report to headquarters. Busan Port provisioning will continue with Yeongdo Trading. There is the Australian Department of Trade's priority cooperation channel designation, but more importantly, you have never failed to provide the goods you promised, no matter the circumstances. Nothing is more important to us than that.”
“I feel the same way. There will be no problems with provisioning from now on either.”
The grain ship sounded its horn as it departed Busan Port.
I watched its massive hull disappear beyond the horizon for a long time.
Something inside me felt secure.
No matter what Daeseong tried, Australian Pacific Grain Lines was mine now.
* * *
A week passed.
Nothing was different for me, and Yeongdo was as busy and lively as ever.
South Korea was excited for the coming Olympics, and the shop, which grew busier by the day, was bringing in a tidy profit.
Even so, neither my father nor my older brother asked how much I earned or how I spent it.
As I waited peacefully for the fourth provisioning run, Director Lee Dae-jun of Daeseong Fisheries & Produce visited the shop again.
My father, now used to this, called for me without much concern.
“Someone from Seoul came again. Go see him.”
“Yes, Father.”
Director Lee Dae-jun's expression at the entrance was clearly stiffer than during his last visit.
“Let's go.”
Neither of us said where we were going, but Director Lee Dae-jun naturally headed toward the same coffeehouse we had visited before.
“Two coffees, please.”
After ordering as we entered, I sat in the same seats as last time.
“You must be a regular.”
“Not really... This coffee is not quite to my taste. It is too sweet.”
Before I died, I had enjoyed iced Americanos, so the coffee at these old-fashioned coffeehouses was sweet enough to startle me.
But leaving out the powdered creamer and sugar meant it did not taste like coffee from that era, so I drank it anyway.
“By the way, why are you here today? Do you still want to acquire my company?”
At my question, his expression stiffened further. But he soon composed himself and spoke.
“I admit it.”
“Pardon?”
“I admit it. I mean you.”
“Ah...”
“To be honest, I want you even more now. But you would not come no matter what I offered, would you?”
I let out a quiet laugh. Perhaps he took it as an answer, because he nodded and pulled a white document from his bag.
“What is this?”
When I glanced at the document and asked, he answered in a calm tone.
“A business cooperation agreement.”
“What?”
“What are we doing, you and us? Going to an auction house in rubber boots just to lower prices. Both of us.”
“So?”
“We will lift the restrictions on your provisioning. And we will no longer interfere with the provisioning work you have for Australian Pacific Grain Lines. You can have it all to yourself.”
I stared at him with my mouth open in surprise.
I had not expected them to simply raise both hands and surrender here.
“You really want to do that?”
“Yes. But... let us agree not to enter beyond that area. You keep disrupting the market. Let us not keep cutting into each other's prices.”
Only then did I understand what they were after.
“Ah, so you want to split Yeongdo between us?”
“Something like that.”
“And I only get Pacific Grain Lines?”
“The English-speaking world, including Australia. Even monopolizing that much provisioning is an enormous volume, so at least read it carefully.”
I slowly examined the document he had placed on the table.
As he said, it recognized Yeongdo Trading's operating rights solely for foreign-vessel provisioning at Busan Port, while Daeseong Fisheries & Produce agreed not to compete with Yeongdo Trading in that area.
The page was packed with phrases about avoiding needless ruinous competition and respecting each other's territory.
“You know what it means for Daeseong Fisheries & Produce to offer an agreement like this to a new company.”
“...”
“You know continued bloodshed hurts both sides, do you not? We will never interfere with your side again. In return, do not touch our territory either. Grain imports, logistics, anything like that. That is our place. What do you think? Where else would a new company find a guarantee like this?”
I slowly set the document down.
On the surface, it was an extraordinary offer.
A corporation worth hundreds of billions of won was offering to guarantee operating rights to a company with less than one hundred million won in capital.
Any ordinary new entrepreneur would have accepted it with both hands.
“What do you think?”
I gave him a faint smile as he looked at me meaningfully.
“Did you really think I would accept this? You take me for too much of a fool.”
“What?”
His temple twitched as I turned the document over.
Then I called to the coffeehouse waitress.
“Could I get a pen, please?”
Using the pen she brought, I wrote the number 200.
“What is that?”
When he asked, I replied.
“Your salary.”
“What?”
“How about it? If you come work under me, I can take better care of you than you are being treated now. Interested? It will probably be much better than staying at Daeseong. If you agree, this becomes a contract. If not... it becomes a scrap of paper.”
This was not even an offer.
It was practically a provocation, so Director Lee Dae-jun could not even get angry. He simply stared with his mouth hanging open.
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