WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Second Life of the Trade King ◈
Chapter 30: Underdog (5)
──────
Thursday afternoon, 18th floor of the East Building of Geumhwa Twin Towers, Yeouido, Seoul.
Song Jae-jun, manager of Geumhwa International's Food Business Division, was sorting through approval documents on his desk.
The Food Business Division was practically a backwater department within the company.
Geumhwa International's main businesses were chemicals and electronics, so food was always pushed to the bottom of the list in internal meetings.
Song was a veteran who had spent more than ten years in an overlooked department since joining the company. Yet even though he had been a manager for nearly five years, he had rarely received any attention within the company.
He thought that afternoon would pass as usual.
Until the phone on his desk rang.
"Yes, this is Song Jae-jun."
"Manager Song, this is Peter Ryan, trade officer with the Canadian Consulate's Commercial Office."
At the crisp English pronunciation, Song pulled his chair in slightly and straightened his posture.
"Yes, Trade Officer. What can I do for you?"
"Canadian Wheat Board headquarters has made its decision on the Korean market partnership. I'm calling to let you know in advance."
Song's brow furrowed.
The Canadian Wheat Board Korean market partnership was something he had personally prepared presentation materials for and obtained approval from the division head two months ago.
But just before the group meeting, the Canadian Wheat Board had informed them that Geumhwa International was being excluded from the candidates because food was not the company's main business.
Song had regretted it, but thought there was nothing to be done.
"Yes, please go ahead."
"The Canadian Wheat Board has selected Geumhwa International as its secondary partner for the Korean market."
For a moment, Song wondered whether he had heard correctly.
"Pardon? Us?"
"Yes. Yeongdo Trading will be the primary partner. You may arrange the first meeting between the two companies yourselves. A Canadian Consulate employee will personally deliver the official letter within this week."
"... Ah, I understand. Thank you, Trade Officer."
"Congratulations."
Once the call ended, Manager Song sat staring blankly, receiver still in hand.
"What? Why us?"
He should have been happy, but it was so absurd that he slowly retraced the situation, trying to understand how this had happened.
But after being told they were excluded from the candidates, he had done nothing. No matter how hard he thought, there was nothing he could know.
"Hey, look into Yeongdo Trading."
He gave his subordinate an order first.
"Yeongdo Trading?"
"Yes, Yeongdo Trading. The Canadian Wheat Board says Yeongdo Trading is the primary partner, so find out everything you can."
He would have to report to the executives immediately, and he needed an answer when they asked what kind of company Yeongdo Trading was.
After spending over an hour glued to the phone, badgering every contact he could think of for information and putting together a report, he rose from his seat.
"But where are you going?"
"The division head's office."
"Pardon? Why...?"
Song did not answer the subordinate at the neighboring desk. He hurried away.
The Commodities Headquarters, which oversaw grain, food, metals, chemical materials, and more, was at the eastern end of the same floor.
When Song arrived outside the division head's office, the secretary stood.
"Manager Song? Do you have an appointment...?"
"It's urgent. Is the division head in?"
The secretary hesitated briefly, then spoke over the intercom before opening the door.
"You may go in."
Song straightened his suit jacket and entered. Managing Director Park Young-seok, head of the Commodities Headquarters, was reviewing approval documents at his desk.
Park had worked his way up from the bottom to become division head, and he was Song's direct superior.
"Hm? What brings Manager Song here so suddenly?"
Song neatly placed the follow-up review materials on Park's desk.
"I just received a call from Peter Ryan, trade officer with the Canadian Consulate's Commercial Office."
"Yeah?"
"The Canadian Wheat Board has selected our company as its secondary partner for the Korean market."
Park's pen stopped. He slowly lifted his head.
"What did you say? Say that again."
"We were notified that Geumhwa International has been selected as the Canadian Wheat Board's secondary partner. Yeongdo Trading is the primary partner."
"What the hell are you talking about? What about Il-sung Corporation?"
"They were eliminated."
Only then did Park check the materials Song had brought. After quickly skimming through them, he spoke.
"So we beat Il-sung Corporation?"
"Yes."
Park blinked a few times, leaned back in his chair, and grinned.
"You little bastard... Be honest. What kind of magic did you pull?"
"Without even the slightest exaggeration, I had no idea until I got the call today."
"You really didn't know?"
"I'd love to report that I had something to do with it, but since Yeongdo Trading is the primary partner, it would be a lie that would eventually be exposed. It's almost a shame I can't make something up."
Song could say this much because Managing Director Park had been his mentor since Song was a new employee.
At those words, Park's smile vanished.
"Get the report ready. We're taking this to Executive Director Kim."
"Understood."
Following Managing Director Park, who had already called ahead, Song moved nervously.
When they entered the office of Kim Jae-seok, the executive director in charge of sales in their late fifties, Kim pushed the approval documents aside and looked at them.
"Managing Director Park, what's so urgent?"
Park gave Song a slight push forward.
Kim's gaze moved to Song, who straightened his posture and placed the materials on the desk.
"Executive Director, the Canadian Wheat Board in Canada has decided on its Korean market partnership, and our company has been selected as the secondary partner."
"What the hell is this guy talking about?"
Executive Director Kim looked unconvinced, but then saw the seriousness on Managing Director Park's face and opened the materials Song had placed before them.
Only after reviewing everything did Kim speak.
"Weren't we out of the running?"
Managing Director Park answered.
"That's right."
"But we got selected?"
"Yes."
After a brief silence, Executive Director Kim leaned back and looked between the two of them.
"And Il-sung Corporation was rejected?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
No one could answer that question.
"That, we don't know yet..."
At Song's bowed-head reply, Executive Director Kim tapped the desk with a finger, lost in thought.
"Yeongdo Trading is primary, and we're secondary. Il-sung Corporation got cut, and we got brought in instead without knowing why..."
Muttering that, Executive Director Kim raised their head.
"What kind of company is Yeongdo Trading?"
The report already stated that it had annual sales of around one billion won and that its president was Kim Hyun-woo.
So that was not what Kim meant.
The question was what Yeongdo Trading had done to win this.
Naturally, no one could answer that either.
"We don't know that well either..."
Executive Director Kim frowned at Song's deeply lowered head.
But Kim did not yell at him for not knowing.
They might not know the reason, but this was still a huge break, and Manager Song was the one who had handled the project.
Kim turned to Managing Director Park.
"Are you going, or are you sending him?"
"I think I should go."
"Personally? To a company with one billion won in sales?"
"They are the Canadian Wheat Board's primary partner. They may only handle around one billion won now, but their president will soon be leading deals worth tens of billions of won."
"And the president is twenty-seven?"
Park hesitated for a moment, but he did not waver.
"That's why I think I need to go even more. I think I'll understand the whole picture only after seeing him in person."
"... Still, you're really going to bat for your junior, huh?"
"Haha, it isn't like that."
"Then take responsibility and find out everything behind this absurd but welcome development."
"Understood."
After leaving the executive director's office, Park put an arm around Song's shoulder.
"Congratulations. You pulled one off. Maybe you'll make director this time too."
"Would that really be okay? This is one hell of a fluke, even for a fluke."
"Life is all luck, punk."
The situation was certainly strange and hard to understand, but it was still good news. The two began arranging a schedule to head down to Busan.
* * *
Two days after a company in Yeouido enjoyed that unexpected joy, an English official letter arrived on the desk in the office of Kang Seok-yoon, vice president of Il-sung Corporation's Trading Division, on the twenty-third floor of its Taepyeong-ro headquarters in Seoul.
The document cover, which the secretary had brought in respectfully, bore the words: Embassy of Canada, Trade Section.
With an ominous feeling, Kang slowly opened the letter.
The short, one-page document contained about two paragraphs in English.
Yeongdo Trading was selected as the primary partner, with Geumhwa International serving as the secondary partner.
It stated that Yeongdo Trading was the primary partner, with Geumhwa International selected as the cooperating company.
"Fuck..."
Usually, successful bidders received a phone call first, while unsuccessful ones received an official letter like this later.
That was why Kang had been uneasy about the delayed notification. But they had never imagined they would truly fail.
Their anger rose to a boiling point, along with a burning curiosity over how this had happened.
No, after checking the letter again, Kang decided curiosity could go to hell.
Kang slowly picked up the phone on their desk.
"Tell Manager Cho Seong-hun to come in."
By the time Cho arrived outside the vice president's office, Kang's secretary had already told him that the vice president was calling for him.
But Cho had not been told why.
When he knocked and entered, Kang glared at him.
"Hey, Cho Seong-hun."
Feeling the murderous aura at once, Manager Cho snapped rigid as though struck by a poisoned dart.
"Yes!"
"What is this?"
Kang tossed a document onto the reception table.
It drifted through the air, then fell limply at the edge of the table with a flop.
Cho hurried over and checked the document. His legs nearly gave out beneath him, but he barely held himself upright and returned to a rigid stance.
I'm fucked.
This was really fucked.
It was not merely that Il-sung Corporation had been rejected. The document plainly named Geumhwa International as the company selected after Il-sung Corporation had been passed over.
This was the worst possible situation.
Geumhwa International belonged to a corporate conglomerate that had been Il-sung's rival for years.
They could not lose to them of all companies.
"Geumhwa, huh? We lost to Geumhwa?"
"... Yes, Vice President."
"Hey, Manager Cho."
"Yes."
"You reported that you thought President Kim had basically accepted it, didn't you? You said that after the results were announced, we could move on to a full partnership."
"... That was my report."
"And this is the result?"
Cold sweat began to run down Cho's forehead and the back of his neck.
"This will reach the chairman's ears. The food industry executives will report it to the chairman. Then the chairman will take an interest in our Food Ingredients Division, and that interest will come down to you and me."
"... Yes."
"Go sort it out. Start with how we're going to report this to the chairman."
When someone was too angry and bewildered, they could not even swear.
As far as Manager Cho could see, Vice President Kang was exactly in that state.
Cho realized it instinctively.
His promotion to executive was gone.
The affair had blown up in a particularly damaging way.
He returned to his desk on trembling legs and began considering how things had reached this point.
But his thoughts led to only one place.
Yeongdo Trading, you bastard...
Grinding his teeth, he began writing a report.
* * *
Around the time the fortunes of those two companies were crossing, I stood before Pier 3 at Busan Port.
A bulk carrier loaded with corn from Sydney, Australia, was docked at the pier. Cargo bound for Han-il Feed and Dae-il Sugar flowed along conveyors into the terminal silos.
I stood to one side of the pier, quietly watching the scene.
"President Kim, if you recommended Geumhwa International instead of Il-sung Corporation, won't Il-sung Corporation hate you?"
Seo-young, who stood beside me admiring the imposing grain ship, asked.
"Probably."
"Are you okay with that?"
I turned to Seo-young and spoke to her innocent-looking face.
"That's how the world works. If I don't eat them, they'll eat me. They were trying to eat me, so I gave them a little growl. Rawr! Like that."
I curled both hands into claws and struck a threatening pose. Seo-young recoiled half a step, then spoke.
"What if they're still not scared?"
"Then... someday, we'll find out who's stronger."
Seo-young looked at me as though I was strange, but I did not care. I turned my eyes back to the massive grain ship.
Seo-young would not know that, as long as I had one of those, there was nothing in the world I had to fear.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
