WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Economics of an Alchemist ◈
Chapter 17
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The official sales of the Aegis Case had begun, and Valence's factory had become a veritable battlefield.
Ding!
Ding!
Ding-ding-ding!
Notifications for Aegis Case orders, inquiries, and Q&As rang madly from the computer speakers.
“Hyung! The printer broke! I need to print shipping labels, but...”
Boxes and shipping bags were piled like mountains around Jaeseong, who clutched his hair with a half-dazed expression.
Jaeha, who had been running the Aegis Case production line, frowned and checked the time.
9:40 p.m.
‘I'm cutting it close.’
He had to hurry before the big supermarket downtown closed. He quickly grabbed his coat and car keys, then looked at Jaeseong.
“I'll buy a new one. Keep the line running for me.”
“Yesss...”
Leaving his soulless-looking younger brother behind, Jaeha hurried to where his car was parked.
Vroooom!
He barely made it to the big supermarket before closing. To prepare for another possible breakdown, he bought two sturdy printers and loaded them into his cart.
After putting the printers in the car and getting behind the wheel, Jaeha's eyes were full of exhaustion. He let out a heavy sigh, popped a glucose candy into his mouth, and pressed the accelerator.
‘Things went completely differently from what I expected.’
The original plan had been to grow the business slowly through word of mouth. But reality was different. It had exploded from the very beginning.
[The Ultimate Phone Case Is Here! The Amazing Case Even TechPark Endorsed!]
[Posted by: AppleOrchard]
Did you all watch TechPark's livestream yesterday?! I seriously got chills while watching it. So intense.
(GIF of a phone being thrown from a ladder)
(GIF of an SUV driving over a phone)
Edited? Fake? NO! It was real, live footage!
The famous influential blogger TechPark personally tried to verify whether this was a scam, then ended up admitting his mistake and even gave the company CEO a ninety-degree apology bow lol
The name of that talked-about case is...
Drumroll... the Aegis Case!
It's only 19,900 won too, so the value is out of this world. But I couldn't buy one... Is it seriously sold out every time I go on G-Mall? T_T
[Comments]
└ PhoneGeek: I watched it live too, and I seriously thought it was made by torturing aliens;;
└ ShoppingGodDescends: Whoa, amazing... Can I get the link? T_T
└ AppleOrchardOwner: [Link] Here's the G-Mall link! But I don't know when it'll be restocked, so you'll have to keep refreshing T_T
TechPark's livestream had been edited into GIFs and spread even to small personal blogs run by women who normally had little interest in IT devices.
The Aegis Case was produced at a rate of around one per minute. There was no way they could keep up with the flood of orders.
As a result, the production line was now effectively operating twenty-four hours a day.
The equipment was semi-automatic, so it wasn't backbreaking work, but someone still had to stay there.
In the end, the youngest sibling had been sacrificed.
‘Thank goodness he's on break.’
For the past few days, Jaeseong had been eating and sleeping at the factory with Jaeha.
Seo-yun, who was already overwhelmed by her day job as an accountant, helped remotely as well.
After work, she would open her laptop at home and neatly convert the open marketplace's Excel order data into the shipping company's label format.
Whenever she had a spare moment, she also handled the delivery questions pouring into the message board.
‘Should I tell her to quit her job?’
The thought that suddenly came to him while waiting at a light made Jaeha shake his head in alarm. Maybe he was so sleep-deprived that he was having ridiculous thoughts.
His younger sister was only in her second year at the firm. This was an important time for her to gain practical experience and become a true professional. She shouldn't be spending her time taping boxes.
Then a realization flashed through his mind. The same went for him.
‘I shouldn't be stuck on the production line either.’
Looking at the orders pouring in and the waiting demand, running the line twenty-four hours a day was nothing more than a meaningless struggle.
Pouring his stamina and time into a production volume of barely more than a thousand units a day was the same as throwing away his own golden opportunity.
What the CEO needed to do now was not make one more product. He needed to build a system capable of making thousands, tens of thousands of them.
Jaeha's eyes sharpened at that moment, and the light changed. He pressed down on the accelerator.
Vroooom!
Jaeha arrived at the factory with a rough roar of exhaust, carrying the two heavy printer boxes inside.
Jaeseong, who had been running the production line, brightened.
“Hyung! You're back? I seriously feel like I'm dying. My fingers won't straighten properly. I keep hearing phantom dings in my ears...”
“And there really are dings. They're not phantom sounds. You're young, so quit whining.”
“Huh? You bought two printers. Should I set them up?”
“I can handle this much.”
Jaeha set down the printer boxes and opened one. After unpacking the new printer and connecting it to the computer, he pressed the test-print button.
Whirr, clunk.
A clean white sheet of A4 paper slid smoothly out. Jaeha nodded and printed the backed-up shipping labels.
While he was at it, he logged into Temp-man. He needed to check the job listing he had hurriedly posted.
[Applicants: 3]
‘Oh, there are three already.’
Excited, Jaeha checked the résumés and began making calls.
“You mean I won't just be doing simple packing? I have to operate an injection molding machine too? Isn't operating machinery dangerous...? Take care.”
Click.
“You mean I have to walk thirty minutes from the bus stop, and there's no shuttle?”
Click.
The third applicant, his last hope, had a lot to say from the start.
“But do I really have to work overtime?”
“There are a lot of orders right now. We'll compensate you generously for overtime.”
“I prefer leaving on time... And there might be days when I can't work weekends.”
Jaeha fell silent. Yet the applicant continued without taking the hint.
“Oh, and how are the smells and dust? I have a bit of rhinitis.”
Jaeha replied briefly.
“I'm sorry, but I don't think you'd be a good fit for us.”
“What? We haven't even discussed the pay in detail.”
“Even so.”
Click.
After ending the call, Jaeha roughly brushed back his hair.
“Hyung, was that last person weird? You sounded really stressed just from your voice.”
“They don't want overtime, weekends are difficult, and there can't be much dust.”
Jaeseong nodded in understanding.
“Ah... The type who'd run away after one day of work?”
“No. Normally, they'd hang up first. But considering how they kept talking to the end, I get the feeling they'd stick around and slack off.”
“That's even scarier.”
A headache started to build, and Jaeha took a can of cola from the refrigerator.
Crack! Fsssh!
He poured it down his throat, and he felt a little more alive. Throwing the empty can into the trash, he sat back down in front of the computer.
‘Hiring people isn't easy.’
Even though he had offered a generous hourly wage, operating machinery at a container on the outskirts of Gimpo with terrible transportation access apparently wasn't an appealing proposition.
‘It was wrong to try to patch this up with part-timers in the first place. I need to offer proper terms and hire permanent employees who'll stay with us for the long haul.’
Without hesitation, Jaeha took down the old job listing and posted a new one.
There were two positions available.
One was a production job to manage the nonstop machinery and pack deliveries. The other was an office job to handle order spreadsheets, customer service, and settlement work.
Both were permanent positions.
In the most important category, salary, he entered a generous base pay above the industry average.
He then clicked every benefits box without exception, including “four major social insurance programs,” “lunch and dinner provided,” and “overtime pay.”
He intended to completely crush the fatal disadvantage of inconvenient transportation with solid pay and the security of permanent employment.
‘Think long-term. If I hire the right people, it'll definitely be worth it.’
After registering the listing, Jaeha logged into the G-Mall seller center website.
[Unread Messages and Notifications (99+)]
Bright red text in the upper-right corner of the screen greeted him.
Jaeha quickly began going through them.
[CEO, I know you're busy, but I'm leaving another message regarding my previous promotion proposal. Please contact me again.]
There were messages from the merchandising manager as well.
He had already drawn a line, saying he'd get in touch later because he was too busy handling the backed-up orders. This time, Jaeha boldly skipped the merchandising manager's message and started putting out the most urgent fires first.
He quickly dealt with only the critical issues requiring immediate attention, such as missing deliveries and incorrectly entered addresses. He ignored all the minor delivery-schedule and product questions.
A while later, feeling that he had put out the urgent fires, Jaeha rolled his stiff neck and checked the time. It was well past eleven at night.
He turned around to check on his younger brother.
Clack! Hiss!
Jaeseong continued his repetitive work with empty eyes.
His younger brother had been unable to go out and enjoy his school break, practically kidnapped and forced to burn through his stamina. It was a pitiful sight.
“Jaeseong.”
“Yeah? What?”
“Finish what you're doing and turn everything off.”
Jaeseong turned with a puzzled expression.
“Huh? Why?”
“We're going home.”
Jaeha pointed at the door with his chin. Jaeseong's eyes widened like a frog's as he asked in disbelief.
“Huh? Really? Is that okay? What about all those people demanding we restock already?”
Jaeha nodded.
“Right now, it's time to take one step back so we can advance ten steps. We only had a quick dinner too, so let's stop by Sunja's Hangover Soup on the way. I'll buy you the pork bone stew you like.”
“Ooh!”
Jaeseong's face lit up in an instant, and he cheered.
“Pork bone stew! Sprinkle loads of chili powder over the bones, make it nice and spicy, then take a spoonful... Ah! Then go home, take a good hot shower, and dive onto the electric blanket! Just imagining it feels like heaven.”
Humming happily, Jaeseong looked ready to kick open the workshop door and run out immediately.
Jaeha grinned at his younger brother.
“Right. So come over here and finish sticking the shipping labels onto the boxes. I'll clean up the machinery.”
“...Huh?”
Jaeseong's face, which had looked as though he owned the whole world, immediately fell after he saw the stack of labels from the new printer and the mountain of delivery boxes.
“If you want pork bone stew, hurry up and stick on the labels.”
“...Boss, you're mean.”
After some time, the two of them had stubbornly finished attaching every shipping label to the mountain of boxes and were finally able to leave the factory feeling lighter.
Then came their late-night meal.
“Hyung.”
Jaeseong suddenly called to Jaeha while tearing meat from a dripping piece of pork bone stew.
“What?”
“Aren't we pricing it too low?”
“Too low?”
“We can't sell them because we don't have any stock. I feel like there are tons of people who'd still buy it even if we raised the price by another ten thousand won from 19,900.”
Jaeha looked thoughtful as he scooped up a spoonful of broth. After savoring its spicy warmth, he slowly opened his mouth.
“If we raise the price now, we'll become the kind of company people call scummy. Consumers aren't fools. They might buy it for the performance now, but the way they see Valence will change completely.”
Jaeha calmly continued explaining to his attentive younger brother.
“The reason I set the price at 19,900 won is to build the trust that says, ‘Valence sells products with overwhelming performance at prices this affordable.’ Not to make an immediate profit.”
“...”
“My first goal is to make everyone who uses a smartphone put one of our cases on without hesitation. The foundation of that overwhelming market control is trust with our customers.”
Admiration flashed through Jaeseong's eyes.
For a moment, his older brother, who wore work clothes every day and got covered in dust, looked like the chairman of a major corporation armed with unwavering convictions.
But another question soon arose.
“But, Hyung.”
“What now?”
“If trust with customers is the foundation, what are we supposed to do when we're always sold out?”
“...”
“I looked at the G-Mall message board, and it seems like a lot of people have already lost trust in us. They're saying things like, ‘Isn't this scarcity marketing, where they deliberately release tiny amounts to test the waters?’ and ‘Are they acting high and mighty when they don't even have enough products?’”
“...Let's eat.”
Jaeseong smiled mischievously at his brother, who had run out of things to say.
A little later, just before they got up after finishing their meal, Jaeha wiped his mouth with a tissue and spoke to Jaeseong.
“I think you'll have to stay at the factory by yourself tomorrow morning.”
“Huh? Why?”
“I'm going to visit a real estate agency and go to Guro. If we don't want people calling this scarcity marketing, we need to change the system first.”
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