WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Second Life of the Trade King ◈
Chapter 21: The Great American Drought of 1988 (3)
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In an old public phone booth in an alley on the outskirts of Yeongdo, Choi Seong-hwan, a manager in Dae-il Sugar's Food Ingredients Department, nervously fed coins into the phone.
Assistant Manager Lee Chan-seong braced a hand against the booth behind them and asked,
“Did things not go well?”
“Quiet!”
“...Yes.”
After scowling fiercely, Manager Choi immediately called the company.
Soon, Oh Jin-su, the department head, answered in a deep voice.
“This is Oh Jin-su from the Food Ingredients Department.”
“Department Head, this is Choi Seong-hwan.”
“Oh, right. How did it go? Did you get it?”
“Well... I got it, but the volume isn't much.”
“How much is it?”
“Fifteen hundred tons of corn and five hundred tons of soybeans, two thousand tons total.”
A disappointed voice came through immediately.
“What? That's all?”
“By the time I arrived, the president of Han-il Feed had already arrived and was negotiating the contract.”
“Don't tell me you just stood there and watched quietly?”
Manager Choi gripped the receiver and hunched their shoulders as they hurriedly explained.
“Of course not! But that young president at Yeongdo Trading heard the Dae-il Sugar name and didn't even flinch, as if he'd heard the neighbor's dog's name. He said someone had come first, so we should wait and talk later!”
“Really?”
“Yes! I'm telling you!”
“...Go on. Then what?”
“I had no choice but to wait. Negotiations only began after the president of Han-il Feed left, but they had already set the volume and unit price. Two thousand tons total at 120,000 won per ton. Apparently, that was the price offered to Han-il Feed.”
“And that's the limit?”
“Yes. I tried to persuade him, but...”
“How? Report the details.”
Manager Choi hesitated for a moment, scratched their head, and reported honestly.
“I said that if he kept being so stubborn, we'd open a direct line to Australia ourselves, but it didn't work at all. Instead, he said I probably hadn't come on my own, but had been sent on orders, so I didn't know much. Then he told me to go ahead if we wanted. He even said the executives would dislike us bypassing Yeongdo Trading and contacting Australia directly. Does that brat really know what he's talking about?”
There was silence on the other end for a moment. Assistant Manager Lee Chan-seong, hearing the story for the first time, looked incredulous.
Their lips moved as if muttering, “How dare he,” but Manager Choi did not look over. They focused only on the voice that would come through the receiver.
At last, a heavy voice sounded in their ear.
“You've met your match. But Yeongdo Trading's president is quite young, isn't he? Did he really say that?”
“Yes... Would the director really be troubled?”
“He's right, but... that's not something anyone under thirty could say. And I heard he'd never even worked for a company before.”
“But is that bastard right that we can't secure an Australian line?”
“Ha... He is. I told you to get grain from Yeongdo Trading because of information we got through the Australian Embassy. It wasn't even something I found out myself. The director brought us that information.”
“The director?”
“That's right. The director said Yeongdo Trading was the Australian Department of Trade's priority cooperation channel. What do you think that means?”
“That...”
“It effectively means that when Australia's major grain companies enter the Korean market, the Australian government's official position is that they should go through Yeongdo Trading.”
Only then did Manager Choi understand why that young president had not even snorted at the threat.
And why he had found Manager Choi's ridiculous threat laughable.
“Well, we might be able to overcome even that official position and secure an Australian grain company. But once negotiations begin, it'll take at least several months. More importantly, we'd have to go through the Agricultural and Fishery Products Marketing Corporation, so it'll be expensive and take a long time. Did he see even that coming?”
Even through the voice alone, Manager Choi could picture Department Head Oh's troubled expression.
“What should we do?”
“What do you mean, what should we do? You got it, didn't you? If you secured even two thousand tons, just bring it back.”
Manager Choi squeezed their eyes shut.
“Understood. I'll return.”
As soon as they hung up, Assistant Manager Lee asked,
“What happened? Did they tell us just to come back?”
“No, they told us to bring it.”
“Ah... Do we really have to? Should I look into other Australian shipping companies right now?”
Manager Choi pushed them aside as they left the booth.
“When would you look into them? And then what? From now on, we'd have to hold executive meetings at headquarters, take a business trip to Australia, review contracts, conduct trial deals, then sign the main contract... How long do you think that would take?”
“Ah...”
“Our feed ingredients team and food ingredients team are both on emergency footing. The ramen line, cooking-oil line, and feed line will all stop if Australian corn doesn't come in by next month. If we start direct negotiations with Australian headquarters, it'll take at least three months. How are we supposed to keep our lines running during those three months?”
“I didn't think it through. I'm sorry.”
“No.”
Manager Choi let out a deep sigh, felt hunger gnawing at them, and headed toward the pork-and-rice soup restaurant visible in the distance.
“Let's eat first.”
“Yes.”
They decided to soothe their upset stomach first.
They had already reported to Department Head Oh that the contract was settled. There was no backing out now. They had no choice but to go back, admit defeat, and get the contract signed.
Should they at least be grateful that Yeongdo Trading's young president had taken their circumstances into consideration?
That only made their stomach hurt more.
* * *
I was working in my room on the second floor when Father's rough voice rang out from below again.
“Hyun-woo! A guest is here!”
“Yes!”
I checked the clock and thought they had arrived almost exactly on time. When I went downstairs, Manager Choi Seong-hwan was indeed standing there, the same person who had boldly stormed into the shop earlier that day.
This time, they held their bag with both hands and bowed to me.
“Come in.”
“Yes.”
It seemed their superior had given them a thorough dressing-down. Their attitude had completely changed.
Education really was important.
I had been in that position before my return as well, so old memories briefly came to mind.
“You've thought it over?”
“Yes... We'll accept your original proposal. Two thousand tons at 120,000 won per ton.”
The fact that they accepted without even a little bargaining showed they had come fully prepared.
“Good.”
I was pleased as well.
The reason I had given them another chance was that it would benefit me enough too.
The volume going to the two companies came to a total of four thousand tons a month, three thousand tons of corn and one thousand tons of soybeans.
At a margin of 18,000 to 25,000 won per ton, that would bring Yeongdo Trading 80 million won a month, or 960 million won a year.
It was a completely different scale from the five to seven million won in profit I had made per vessel by running around the fish auction market myself to supply ships at Busan Port.
Ship provisioning was a business that required running around in person, while grain was a business run by a system.
“President Kim, I have one more request.”
“Go ahead.”
“You said this afternoon that volume might increase in three months. Could you tell me more specifically when that would be, and what portion of the increased volume we might receive? That part needs to be clear when I return to headquarters and report.”
“Toward the end of this year, I plan to ask Australian headquarters to expand the consignment volume. Once the Australian side sees the track record of simultaneous deals with Han-il Feed and Dae-il Sugar, there's a good chance they'll release more volume.”
“How will you allocate the increased volume?”
“We'll decide then, but I will probably take things such as payment accuracy and reliability in taking delivery into account. The better score you receive in those areas, the more that will be reflected in the allocation.”
Manager Choi nodded bitterly at the fact that nothing was guaranteed.
It wasn't priority status, but it meant the door was open for competition. I had shown as much consideration as I could.
This was enough to give them something they could report to headquarters.
“...You're fair. Understood. We'll accept those terms as well.”
That was how we signed another contract.
After Manager Choi left, Father came in and asked,
“Did you really sign a contract with Dae-il Sugar?”
“Yes. That's what happened.”
“Wow, I guess business isn't something just anyone can do. You're a hundred times better than me.”
“I just got lucky.”
“What kind of luck is that? Do you think you can just deal with a major corporation because you're lucky? You worked hard.”
“Should we all go eat meat for dinner? Korean beef.”
“Korean beef? Just because you're making money, does that mean you can spend it however you want?”
“I made a little. We should at least do this much.”
“Then we'll have to let the neighbors smell the meat.”
That evening, I took Father and my older brother to a barbecue restaurant where the well-off people of Busan ate, and we ate until we were stuffed.
After signing supply contracts with the two companies and speaking with several Australian shipping companies to secure consignment volume, I spent the next few days preparing around the ship-provisioning schedule again.
But after about a week, calls began coming into the company constantly.
“Hello, Yeongdo Trading.”
“Is this President Kim? I'm Executive Director Kim from Dongsung Feed in Saha District, Busan.”
It was an unfamiliar voice, but Dongsung Feed was a company I had heard of in the feed industry.
It was a mid-sized company, smaller than Han-il Feed.
“Yes, please go ahead.”
“Well... we need an Australian grain line too. We heard that Han-il Feed signed a contract with Yeongdo Trading, so we contacted you. Could you allocate some volume to us as well?”
“I'm sorry, but we don't have any volume right now. Once we confirm transaction stability over about three months, I plan to ask Australian headquarters to expand the consignment volume. Please contact us again once we have the result.”
“...Ah, is that so? Understood. Please do remember us then.”
That was not the end.
“This is Director Park from Gyeongnam Feed.”
“This is the Materials Team at Dongbang Foods.”
Similar calls continued without stopping all afternoon.
Feed companies, food companies, even flour mills...
Korean grain buyers shaken by the Great American Drought were somehow hearing the name Yeongdo Trading, which held the Australian line, and contacting us one after another.
But it would be too much to start meeting people and expanding just because I wanted to increase volume now.
For the moment, I needed to secure the lines I already had more firmly.
If I ran around chasing every opportunity because I wanted to make more money, a problem could arise somewhere and crack the company's credibility.
I had experienced this countless times before my return, so I forcibly suppressed my greed.
* * *
A few days later, Busan Port's Third Pier.
At seven in the morning, a massive shadow slowly approached over the distant horizon.
It was a grain bulk carrier that had departed from Sydney, Australia.
As the enormous vessel, nearly two hundred meters long, drew close to the pier, the foreign cargo ships I was used to looked like small boats.
The thunderous sound of the anchor dropping rang through the pier.
Soon, a massive conveyor belt descended from the deck to the pier, and dark reddish corn kernels began pouring down.
Every kernel that fell onto Korean soil was part of the first grain Yeongdo Trading had brought in under its own name.
On one side of the pier, trucks bearing the Han-il Feed logo stood in a line.
They had come down from Yangsan at dawn. Beside them, a separate line of trucks bearing the Dae-il Sugar logo stood waiting.
Those trucks had driven through the night from Incheon to Busan.
I stood at the entrance to the pier and watched the scene.
The corn falling onto the concrete pier was the first grain I had brought onto Korean soil in my own name, and it left me with a strange feeling.
Lee Man-su, the president who had come all the way to Busan, approached me warmly.
“Hey, President Kim. You were here?”
“Yes. You came in person.”
“We must be desperate, shouldn't we? Since I'm here, I thought I'd see your father for the first time in a while.”
“Ah...”
In the distance, Manager Choi Seong-hwan of Dae-il Sugar was giving instructions to an employee. They noticed me and bowed.
“Wow, you've become a real big shot. Look at that Dae-il Sugar employee bowing just from seeing your face. Your father must be thrilled.”
“Ha ha, not really...”
Just then, familiar music began playing from the radio in one of the waiting trucks.
It was the song that announced the Olympics that had shaken all of South Korea were already coming to an end.
Feeling good for no particular reason, I hummed along.
It felt as though a more beautiful future was unfolding before my eyes.
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