OWWHM 06
The Office Worker Who Hears Memories – Episode 6
7. Everyone Has Their Own Weapon
Back in the office.
“Section Chief Ma!”
When I called, Section Chief Ma Seong-geun quickly sprang up from his seat.
“Yes, Team Leader!”
“Starting now, call everyone you know—manufacturers, distributors, importers, warehouses, and hand-carriers (bottari-sang). And prepare products that we can purchase at least 10,000 units of by next Thursday.”
“Why would we…”
“We’re having a 12-hour time event right at the site’s launch. The consumer price must be over 30,000 won, the brand awareness high, and there must have been no quality incidents in the past year. Oh, and keep the supply price at 30% or less.”
“30%?”
“What is it? Can’t you do it?”
“Ah… No, sir. I can do it.”
His demeanor wasn’t exactly convincing.
I turned my head and gave the same instructions to Assistant Manager Kim Gyeong-il, who was next to me.
“Assistant Manager Kim, you heard that, right?”
“Yes.”
“The advertising time is 12 hours, meaning 12 products will rotate. Both of you must bring in at least one product each.”
“Understood.”
Assistant Manager Kim replied with a calm expression, as if he had something up his sleeve.
I set my diary down on the desk and hung my jacket on the coat rack.
“Dae-seong, go down now and secure the space in the cold storage. Woo-jin, if you get the list from other teams, organize it and send it via email.”
“Um… How much warehouse space should I secure?”
“You need to reserve space for at least 10,000 medium boxes.”
“Yes! Understood!”
He’s big, but he moves fast.
Kim Dae-seong put on the jacket hanging on his chair and walked away quickly.
Ha Yeon-doo, who had been sitting still, blinking her large eyes, timidly raised her hand.
“Team Leader. What should I do?”
“Yeon-doo, follow me.”
“Pardon?”
“We’re going to a manufacturer meeting.”
.
.
After an hour’s drive, we arrived at a small factory in Pocheon.
I carelessly parked the car in the empty lot and approached the container office on one side. I knocked hard on the container’s steel door.
Knock! Knock!
“Health inspection is here.”
I heard a rustling sound from inside.
I grinned, counted to three in my head, and swung the door open.
“What the! Team Leader Won, you scared me!”
A pot-bellied man in his 40s with long, curly hair looked at me in surprise.
Ham Joong-shik, the CEO of Yangji Food.
He was someone who had helped me greatly back when I ran One Small.
“Do you have a guilty conscience or something?”
“No! I don’t. I’ve never been caught by an inspection, you know that, right? My motto is not to work with shady people.”
“Alright, alright. How have you been?”
“I’m the same as always. But I heard you went to BO Food, Team Leader Won?”
“It’s BO Commerce, not BO Food. The site opens in two weeks.”
“Really? What’s the name?”
“Market Fresh.”
“The name sounds good! Hahaha. But what brings you here without calling?”
“I haven’t seen your fried dumplings online lately. Are you not selling?”
Yangji Food’s main product is fried dumplings.
They’re so popular they’re hard to keep in stock.
They would sell out within an hour online and are not supplied to offline marts at all.
In short, Yangji Food’s fried dumplings are a rare item among rare items.
“No, they’re selling so well I’m thinking about expanding the factory. Hahaha.”
I smiled faintly, perched on CEO Ham’s desk, and began touching his belongings.
The monitor, ballpoint pen, diary, notebook, and even the ashtray.
And I read all his recent thoughts.
“I heard your factory operating rate is less than 50% these days?”
“Who told you that? No, we’re running fine!”
“Come on… Who are you trying to fool? The rumor is all out.”
“I-is that so?”
“What’s the matter? You have to tell me so I can help. Who would know if you just keep struggling alone?”
“The truth is…”
I listened to CEO Ham’s story for over 30 minutes.
He said he received a private brand (PB) product proposal from a large mart and made an aggressive investment to produce the product. However, the mart lowered the supply price to an absurd level the day before the delivery date, and all the meat and vegetables he had purchased for the production rotted while they were negotiating.
Things like this happen often.
Naïve factory owners like him are often tricked by the sweet talk of seasoned distributors.
I shook my head and slowly spoke.
“You should have called me when the proposal came! So, are those ingredients all unusable now?”
“The disposal cost alone was over 20 million won.”
“Those bastards… Are you just letting it go?”
“It was three months ago… I’m just trying to move on now.”
He tried to act calm, but CEO Ham’s pupils were trembling.
“Let’s get the factory running first.”
“How?”
“BO will purchase 10,000 units. And of course, the payment will be an advance.”
“Really?”
“Of course! I like Yangji Fried Dumplings too. If they don’t sell, I’ll eat them all, so don’t worry.”
“Right? Our dumplings are pretty good, aren’t they?”
“Absolutely. Yangji Fried Dumplings are the best in Asia!”
Who wouldn’t be happy to hear their product is the best?
CEO Ham grabbed his belly and laughed loudly.
“Hahaha! Did you see the article that came out in China recently?”
“Oh, I saw it, I saw it! Number one for the most delicious dumplings in Korea, Yangji Fried Dumplings! Of course, I saw that.”
“Do you know how happy I was when I saw it?”
“I can imagine… I can imagine. You should be.”
“Alright, Team Leader Won. What will be the supply price?”
“1,200 won per 400g bag.”
CEO Ham’s expression, which had been jovial just a moment ago, turned cold.
“Team Leader Won! Are you kidding me? That’s below cost! You should know better.”
“Come on… that’s when you’re running the factory at 50%. You know you can meet it for under 1,000 won if you run it at 100%. Don’t be like that, we’re professionals.”
“This guy… He’s determined to skin me alive. No, I can’t do it. I won’t.”
“I told you earlier, if the reaction is good, we’ll keep going. I’ll sell it as a main top product on Market Fresh.”
CEO Ham narrowed his eyes and stared intently at me.
“Can I really trust you?”
“CEO! It’s Won Ji-hoon. It’s Won Ji-hoon. When have you ever seen me lie?”
CEO Ham silently wrote something in his notebook. He tore out the page, handed it to me, and grinned.
“1,350 won. Absolutely no less than that!”
“Deal! I’ll send the contract via email. You know how to use a computer, right?”
The meeting ended. We went outside, and Ha Yeon-doo, who hadn’t said a word, cautiously asked.
“Um… Team Leader.”
“Yes?”
“What was written on the paper CEO Yangji Food tore off and gave you?”
“Why? Are you curious?”
“Yes… It’s a bit…”
“It’s a little inappropriate… It’s better for your mental health not to look at it.”
“Team Leader! I really want to see it. I can’t stand not knowing.”
This was the first time Ha Yeon-doo had spoken so loudly.
I handed her the torn piece of paper, which I had carelessly stuffed in my pocket.
♥♥ I LOVE YOU ♥♥
Startled by the content, Ha Yeon-doo dropped the paper on the ground.
And she looked at me with a strange look.
“Why are you looking at me like that? It’s a joke. A joke. CEO Ham is just a big jokester, that’s all.”
“Really?”
Ha Yeon-doo looked at me suspiciously.
I waved my hands and quickly said.
“I’m telling you it’s not true! That’s why I told you not to look. Haa… honestly.”
.
.
6:00 PM.
Traffic was a bit heavy due to rush hour.
I parked the car in the public parking lot near the market and walked inside.
“Yeon-doo, it’s fine, you can go home first. It’s quitting time.”
“No, I want to stay.”
“You really can go. I don’t hold grudges at all.”
“I want to learn everything.”
“Do you like gukbap (rice soup)?”
“Pardon?”
“Rice soup with yangji (brisket) meat.”
“Yes, I do.”
We walked for about 10 minutes and opened the door to a shabby gukbap restaurant in the middle of the market.
And then.
“Mom, give me some food!”
At my voice, a bent-over old woman slowly walked out.
“What… Why am I your mother?”
“You’re the one who gives me food, so you’re my mother. You’d hate it if I called you Grandma, right? Just two bowls of gukbap, please.”
The bent-over old woman went into the kitchen and put gukbap into two large bowls. She brought out a whole, uncut head of cabbage kimchi on a plate.
“Eat and go.”
The menu at this gukbap restaurant is simple.
The rice is served already mixed in, and the noodles soaked in the broth are even sweet. The brisket meat is finely chopped, making it easy for both the elderly and children to eat.
At one time, it was a place where people would line up after it was featured on TV.
But as the business did well, the grandmother’s health deteriorated, and she couldn’t keep the doors open.
Not a day went by that I didn’t pass by the closed gukbap restaurant.
Even though it took more than 30 minutes out of my way, I checked every day on my way home to see if the store was open.
Six months passed like that.
I made a new proposal to the grandmother, who had finally reopened the store.
The proposal was to sell her Kim Ok-soon Kimchi.
The cabbage kimchi that made her ordinary gukbap the best.
I scooped up a spoonful of the gukbap broth and tried to tear a piece of kimchi with my chopsticks.
The grandmother, exasperated by this, came over to the table and tore the kimchi with her hands.
“You dummy. Kimchi is torn and eaten like this, with your hands.”
“Your kimchi is the best, Mom.”
I put the kimchi the grandmother had torn into my mouth and gave her a thumbs-up.
After the meal.
“Mom, I’ll do the dishes!”
“Just pay and hurry up and go! What are you talking about doing the dishes, you idiot…”
“Your back hurts, though. Just rest for a moment, okay?”
I gently forced the grandmother to sit in a chair and walked into the kitchen.
As I rolled up the sleeves of my dress shirt to start the dishes, Ha Yeon-doo rushed into the kitchen.
“I’ll do it.”
“No, it’s alright. Go keep the grandmother company.”
There was only one reason I insisted on doing the dishes.
It was to read the memories from the kitchen utensils the grandmother frequently used.
<Ye-jung needs to go to college.>
<Why is Jung-soo sick again?>
<These brats are not children, they are a curse.>
The dishes were done, and I casually wiped my wet hands on a towel.
“Mom. Your grandchildren are old enough to go to college, right?”
“Why are you asking that?”
“Are the boys causing any trouble these days? I mean your real sons, not me.”
“Why?”
“Come on… You know all about it. Should we sell some more of your kimchi? I even gave it a cool name.”
“If you’re going to talk about that, just go. My back hurts now, and I can’t do it.”
“Aww, Mom, you’ll just be the head director. Just sit down and instruct the aunties what to do.”
The memories I heard from the objects were accurate.
The grandmother, who needed money, would not be able to refuse my offer.
And then.
“How much do you need?”
The grandmother asked cautiously.
I seized the opportunity, took both her hands, and smiled brightly.
“10,000 heads for the first batch.”
“Are you crazy?”
“Sorry… Is that too much? Just organize the ingredients like before and send them over. This pretty young lady here will prepare everything.”
I smiled brightly and pointed to Ha Yeon-doo next to me.
“M-me?”
“Well, who else is the pretty young lady here besides Yeon-doo?”
The grandmother looked Ha Yeon-doo up and down and spoke.
“When does it have to be ready?”
“Next week. Monday.”
“Are you seriously… out of your mind?”
“That’s why I’m begging you so earnestly, right? Huh? The packaging is already being printed, you see. If you refuse, I’ll get fired from the company. You wouldn’t do that to me, would you?”
“Hoo… Fine. You little rascal.”
With the grandmother’s permission, I felt relieved and left the gukbap restaurant. Ha Yeon-doo walked close beside me, who was leading the way, and carefully asked.
“How did that grandmother…”
“Yeon-doo, you know Kim Ok-soon Kimchi, right?”
“Yes, I do! My family buys that kimchi.”
“That grandmother is Madam Kim Ok-soon herself.”
“Really?”
“Yes. She’s a true master, a master of kimchi. Yeon-doo, stop by here tomorrow and pick up the list of ingredients the grandmother writes down.”
“Understood. Team Leader… I hope the Section Chief and Assistant Manager are doing well, too?”
“Why? Are you worried?”
“Yes…”
“Yeon-doo, every MD has their own weapon. And they only take out those weapons when things are urgent like now. Don’t worry. Both of them will bring good news tomorrow.”
Ha Yeon-doo looked at my face with a strange expression.
It might have been my imagination, but I felt a sense of trust in her eyes as she looked at me.
Just like Lee Eun-ji, who worked with me at One Small two months ago…
Was it thanks to that? I was certain.
That Section Chief Ma and Assistant Manager Kim, who have worked in this field for the same amount of time, or even longer, would pull out even better weapons.
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