WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Second Life of the Trade King ◈

Chapter 33: Winning Over the Cat (1)

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We closed the office early and headed into the back alleys of Jungang-dong.

It was around lunchtime on Saturday, and office workers in suits or factory jackets moved through the streets in small groups. Somewhere, a radio played.

“President, where are we going?”

Seo-young hurried along behind me as I kept my eyes ahead.

“There’s a place in Jungang-dong I’ve been going to since I was in school. It’s shabby, but the meat is good.”

“Sounds great. The shabbier it is, the more authentic it’ll be.”

The place I was taking them was just across Yeongdo Bridge, on a street lined with grilled-meat restaurants where dockworkers stopped for a drink after work.

Seo-young’s steps were light, as though she were excited about the company dinner.

The place I was looking for was Hangdo Coal-Briquette Ribs, deep in an alley.

It was a tiny restaurant with two sliding doors and a sign whose lettering had half peeled away. The moment I opened the door, the smell of coal briquettes and burning fat hit my nose.

Several men in dockworkers’ clothes had already claimed tables inside, with rows of soju bottles on aluminum trays.

“Come on in!”

The owner wiped her hands on a dishcloth and led us to a table in the back.

It was a low wooden table with a round metal brazier set into its center.

Manager Lee took off his suit jacket, folded it neatly, and set it beside him.

“This is a nice atmosphere.”

“Yes, I think you’ll enjoy it. Seo-young, since you’re the youngest, do you want to choose the food?”

“Sure!”

Seo-young immediately picked up the menu, raised her hand, and called out.

“Ma’am! Three servings of pork belly, one soybean paste stew, and a bottle of soju!”

Soon, thick slices of fresh pork belly arrived on a metal plate.

I placed a wire grill over the briquette brazier and set the meat on top. Fat dripped down with a sizzle.

Manager Lee naturally picked up the tongs.

“I’ll grill it.”

“You’re our guest of honor today, Manager. You shouldn’t be the one grilling.”

When I tried to take the tongs from him, he shook his head.

“No. I feel more comfortable doing this. I grilled at every company dinner at Daeseong too. If an executive just sits still, the people below them feel even more uncomfortable.”

He said that, but his hands were clearly practiced at turning meat.

He picked out the pieces that had cooked perfectly around the edges and placed them on my plate first, then on Seo-young’s.

Watching him serve himself last gave me an indescribably strange feeling.

Here was someone nearing fifty who had given up his position as sales director at a solid mid-sized company to work under a twenty-seven-year-old president. And at his own welcome dinner, he was grilling the meat himself.

Even after I tried to stop him, he would not listen, so I finally picked up the soju bottle.

“Manager, have a drink.”

“Oh, I should be pouring for you.”

“I’m pouring today. It’s your first day with us.”

Manager Lee accepted his glass with both hands.

I filled Seo-young’s glass, then mine, and raised mine.

“Thank you for joining Yeongdo Trading. I look forward to working with you.”

“I should be the one saying that.”

After our glasses clinked, Seo-young drained hers in one gulp. She went, “Kah!” and scrunched up her face, making Manager Lee chuckle.

“Seo-young, you can really drink.”

“That much is basic for a Busan woman!”

After a few more rounds of soju, the pile of well-cooked meat gradually shrank, and the mood grew warmer.

Once we were pleasantly drunk, I poured another drink for Manager Lee Dae-jun.

“Did you come down alone?”

“Yes. My wife has to look after the children, so it was easier for me to come by myself. Still, I’m planning to get a room somewhere decent and live there, so it isn’t all bad.”

That could not be true.

Before my regression, living alone as a man had not been so bad. There had been countless things to enjoy, and plenty of easy ways to take care of meals outside.

But this was an era when eating breakfast was expected, and bringing a lunchbox to work was perfectly normal.

Having to prepare every meal alone, morning and evening, would surely be inconvenient and lonely.

“You accepted a lot of hardship to come here, so I’ll work hard.”

“Oh, there’s a reason I came down.”

“A reason?”

He gave an awkward smile, drank the strong soju in his glass in one swallow, and began to speak.

“When I was young, there were so many exciting things. Even going down to Busan from Seoul for work made me curious and excited. I liked the local food that the heads of client companies treated me to, and I liked the occasional envelope of cash they slipped me too. But as I got older and rose in rank, those things gradually disappeared. I just sat at a desk and signed papers.”

“...”

“But it wasn’t bad either. As I got older, my body grew heavier, and traveling far became tiring. They even gave me a driver, so I could keep up appearances while my bank account got fatter. It felt reassuring.”

“I can see that.”

“At first, I liked it. But gradually, it became boring. I worked hard, went home, and only the dog greeted me. It’s not that my relationship with my wife was bad, but... how should I put it? I was bored.”

I understood that feeling all too well.

If I had not wanted to reach the top before my regression, I might not have been able to endure that boredom either.

No, perhaps I had wanted to climb even higher in order to overcome it.

“You get bored even with children?”

Seo-young’s face was red, and her eyes had gone slightly unfocused as she asked in a cute voice.

“That’s different. My love for my children hasn’t changed in the slightest. But they’re leaving my care now too.”

“Ah...”

“It felt like my time was ending in a world where I was all alone. Something like that. That’s why I came down here.”

I quietly filled his glass again.

“Thank you. I’ll work hard so you can have fun from now on, Manager.”

“If that happens, I could ask for nothing more.”

“It’ll probably be thrilling. We’ll make deals you’ve never handled before, and you might travel abroad often.”

He tilted his head slightly at my words, wearing a dreamy expression.

“If that really happens, I’ll have no regrets even in death.”

“Hahaha, I’m serious.”

“Still, there’s something I’m curious about. Why are you interested in Hungary?”

Rather than answer, I asked him a question instead.

“I’m curious too. Why were you interested in Hungary?”

If we had been children, he might have said that since he had asked first, I should answer first.

But this was the working world, and a superior had asked a question, so the employee had to answer.

Manager Lee smiled faintly.

“Eastern Europe is not a region that feels close to us, and we do not know much about it, so I found it interesting. I thought there might be opportunities precisely because we do not know much about it. Like a treasure island, perhaps?”

“Ah. I see.”

“What about you, President?”

I folded my arms, sorted out my thoughts for a moment, and spoke.

“First, Hungary is like a gateway to the Soviet Union.”

I had mentioned the Soviet Union before, so even through his drunkenness, Manager Lee’s gaze deepened.

“You mean...?”

“Let’s leave the Soviet Union there for now. Second, there’s Hungary’s situation. Hungary currently lacks dollars. It is desperate for dollars, enough that South Korea extended a massive loan during the establishment of diplomatic relations. Because of that, Hungarian grain prices are considerably lower than market rates. If we can bring it in, we can make a huge profit.”

“Ah... You’ve already looked that far ahead? Of course, we would need somewhere to sell it... But if we consider Dae-il Sugar and Han-il Feed, and the prices are that low, that won’t be a problem at all. This sounds less like a good opportunity and more like a gold mine.”

“There are still a few things we need to consider. There’s exchange-rate risk, and as far as I know, the grain would have to take a fairly long route before it could be loaded onto a ship, so there may be a risk of spoilage.”

Manager Lee opened his mouth in amazement.

“Seriously... Did you get private tutoring from an active grain trader while you were in college?”

“Well, something like that. Anyway, work will be fun from now on.”

We continued drinking for another hour or so, then put Seo-young in a taxi and sent her home.

By the time I headed back, I was so drunk that I staggered as I walked. Yet perhaps because the sea breeze filled my chest, I did not feel bad at all. I only felt refreshed.

“Hoo... haa!”

As I walked along, breathing in so deeply that my chest felt ready to burst, I seemed to sober up halfway.

“Father! I’m home!”

“You little punk... Did you get drunk in broad daylight?”

“Yes! I love you!”

“Go to sleep, you punk! What the hell are you doing, being so creepy? Hyun-tae! Hey, drag him away.”

I threw my arms around my father, but my older brother and father dragged me off and tossed me onto the bed.

“Hehe...”

Enjoying the lingering pleasant haze of drunkenness, I fell asleep in the middle of the day.

* * *

The Tuesday after the company dinner, I took the first train to Seoul.

Manager Lee subtly indicated that he wanted to come with me, but I pretended not to notice and came alone.

If he had come with me, there would have been too much to explain, and I would have had to watch my words and actions.

After getting off at Seoul Station, I caught a taxi.

The day before, I had used KOTRA, the Korea Trade Promotion Corporation, to find the location of Hungary’s office and gathered trade materials on the Eastern Bloc, so it was not difficult to find.

It was not an official diplomatic mission. It was a temporary office renting one floor of a building in Yongsan.

That was understandable. Diplomatic relations had only been established on February 1, barely two months ago, and it would be a long time before a proper resident mission building could be established.

Not all the staff had even crossed over from Hungary yet. People with neither connections nor homes in Seoul were holding on, moving between hotels and temporary offices.

For them, opening a diplomatic mission in a country called South Korea would have been unimaginable only half a year earlier.

When I reached the fourth floor, a paper Hungarian flag had been taped to the glass door.

I opened the door and stepped inside. The office was sparse.

Only two of the five or six desks were occupied. A young female employee typing at one side stopped when she saw me.

“...What brings you here?”

She looked Korean, so she was probably a locally hired employee.

“Hello. I’m Kim Hyun-woo from Yeongdo Trading in Busan. I came because I’d like to discuss grain trade.”

Her expression turned strange.

It was probably a natural reaction. I had no appointment, and she had never heard of my company.

“Um... did you make an appointment?”

“No.”

When I handed over my business card, she accepted it and examined it briefly.

There was no particularly impressive information written on it.

I could see suspicion in her eyes.

There must have been Korean companies that had knocked on this office door during the past two months.

Quick-moving companies might have sent people after hearing rumors that the Eastern Bloc was opening up. But they would have been interested in land for factories or markets for selling appliances.

I was probably the first president of a small company to take the dawn train from Busan to buy Hungarian sunflowers.

“May I ask what you came here for?”

“I’m interested in Hungarian sunflower seed oil and sunflower meal left after pressing the oil. I want to purchase them.”

At the word purchase, her eyes widened slightly.

Everyone who had visited this office must have come seeking to gain something.

Using loans as bait. Using investment as bait.

Most of them likely knew Hungary was struggling under foreign debt and wanted to seize that weakness and shake it.

But I had come for the opposite reason.

I was offering to buy their goods with dollars.

“Please wait a moment.”

She disappeared behind a partition.

I heard a brief exchange in Hungarian. A moment later, a man emerged from behind the partition.

Was he around forty?

He wore a gray suit with his tie loosened. Dark circles hung beneath his eyes as though he had not slept properly for days, but his gaze was sharp.

Holding my business card, he looked me over from head to toe.

“Can you speak English?”

His Korean was very awkward.

“Of course. Let’s speak English.”

He nodded slightly.

“Yeongdo Trading... I have never heard of this company.”

“It is a small company, so it is natural that you have not. But we have signed an official trade agreement with Canada. We are the Korean partner of the CWB, the Canadian Wheat Board.”

Only then did curiosity appear in his eyes.

There was no way he did not know the name CWB.

It was the national agency that controlled Canada’s wheat exports, known to everyone who dealt in grain.

If the CWB had directly chosen a company as its partner, it did not matter whether that company was large or small.

“Please come inside.”

The first hurdle was cleared.

I had eased the wariness of a cat with its claws out. Now it was time to offer it a Churu treat.

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