OWWHM 07
The Office Worker Who Hears Memories – Episode 7
8. It Was Really Good I Came Here
Beep-boop!
I opened my eyes to the sound of the alarm.
5:00 AM.
It was time for the gukbap restaurant grandmother to go to the market.
Elderly people are often as fickle as boiling water, so you can’t fully relax until the end.
Especially Madam Kim Ok-soon, who has quite a temper.
She’s the kind of person who has lost opportunities to make a fortune over a petty emotional spat.
I quickly splashed water on my face and hurried out the door.
After a 10-minute drive, I parked the car in the market alley.
In front of the closed gukbap restaurant.
A short woman in a white tracksuit was sitting crouched down.
Ha Yeon-doo.
It was the woman who had come to the gukbap place with me yesterday.
Is it the sense of responsibility from her first major task?
I smiled contentedly and watched her, hidden between the alley walls.
Just then.
“You dummy… What are you doing here?”
I almost screamed because the grandmother suddenly grabbed my shoulder tightly.
“Whew. Couldn’t you make some noise?”
“Why would I make noise coming to my own store? What? Did you come to go to the market with me again?”
“No. Today, not me, but Yeon-doo is going with you.”
“Yeon-doo?”
“Yeon-doo!”
“Dummy… I know Yeon-doo! I won’t change my mind this time and will work hard, so don’t worry.”
“Mom, you don’t have a daughter, do you? You only have two sons, right?”
“Why are you asking that?”
“Yeon-doo, don’t be too hard on her, treat her like a daughter. She came out this early in the morning to help you. Huh?”
“A daughter, what about you? Are you just leaving?”
“Yeah. I have a mountain of work at the office.”
“Alright. Then hurry up and go.”
“If Yeon-doo’s expression isn’t good when she comes to work later, I’ll never see you again, Mom! Got it?”
“Oh dear, how scary. Alright! Don’t you worry.”
.
.
I arrived at the office early.
A musty smell permeated the air.
And the smell got stronger as I approached my desk.
“Pick me… Pick… me, pick me up…”
When I reached my desk, I witnessed an unexpected sight.
Section Chief Ma Seong-geun.
He was lying on his desk, covered by his coat, with his socks neatly removed.
The keyboard and various items on the desk were already a mess, and his signature red tie lay on the floor.
And as if the excitement hadn’t worn off, he was even humming a song in his sleep.
I cautiously walked to my place and opened the window wide.
I thought getting rid of this musty smell was the priority.
I pressed the computer’s power button and looked at the desk.
A neatly organized PPT document was placed on the keyboard.
Market Fresh Time Event Product Planning Proposal #1 Special Sales Team Assistant Manager Kim Gyeong-il
The document prepared by Assistant Manager Kim Gyeong-il.
I liked the clean cover page right away. The moment I held the document with my right hand, I heard Assistant Manager Kim’s thoughts.
<I should go and catch an hour of sleep and come back.>
Did he stay up all night?
I immediately checked the content of the document.
Product specs, consumer price, supply price, online lowest price, competitiveness, risks, recent issues, etc.
Everything was neatly organized.
Out of the five products he had sourced, two were usable.
They were both overseas brand products, which made them quite competitive.
Back in my One Small days, I had to prepare everything alone…
A wide grin spread across my face without me realizing it.
A while later.
“You came in early. What… What the!”
Kim Dae-seong, the first to arrive, was startled to see Section Chief Ma sprawled on the desk.
“Section Chief Ma, did you sleep here?”
“It seems so. I just arrived myself. What time is it now?”
“It’s 8:30 AM.”
“Then please wake up Section Chief Ma.”
“Yes, understood.”
Kim Dae-seong gently shook Section Chief Ma.
But Section Chief Ma Seong-geun didn’t budge at all.
He must have drunk a lot.
Kim Dae-seong glanced at the wall clock and let out a deep sigh.
Then he lifted Section Chief Ma with a heave.
Thud!
Section Chief Ma was startled and struggled, and Kim Dae-seong had no choice but to drop him on the floor.
“Are you okay?”
A surprised Kim Dae-seong helped Section Chief Ma up.
Section Chief Ma brushed himself off, stood up, and his eyes met mine. He quickly tucked his shirt into his pants, tightened his loose suspenders, and approached me, bowing his head.
“I apologize, Team Leader.”
“It’s nothing. It’s not even working hours yet.”
“Even so…”
“You didn’t go home?”
“No. I met some friends after a long time…”
I picked up Section Chief Ma’s red tie, which was lying on the floor.
<Ah, the brat… What’s the harm in helping a guy out?>
<3,000 units? Not enough… Who should I call?>
<Choi Soon-hyeong. It really has to be you.>
<Lee Jung-myeong… I’m not a man if I see you again.>
I heard so many of Section Chief Ma’s memories, showing how many meetings he had.
I handed him the tie and smiled.
“Did you have any success?”
Section Chief Ma kept glancing at Assistant Manager Kim’s PPT on my desk.
And then, he said:
“I will prepare the report within 30 minutes.”
He’s quick-witted.
However, the final confirmation from Department Manager Cha is needed this morning to finalize the budget.
“No, it’s alright. Just tell me now.”
“Really?”
“Yes. We’re short on time.”
“I secured a 30,000 won discount coupon for a delivery app at a supply price of 5,000 won.”
“It’s not a paper coupon, is it?”
“No, it’s an SMS coupon.”
“Quantity?”
“100,000 coupons. But there is a condition…”
Delivery apps are a hot commodity these days.
Three companies are fiercely competing, and the user base is huge.
Furthermore, an SMS coupon incurs no shipping cost.
Honestly, I never expected Section Chief Ma to bring back such a result.
“What’s the condition?”
“They asked if we could officially sell the app on the market after the special promotion ends… Would that be alright?”
“What about the commission?”
“6%… They asked us to match the open market rate.”
“You did well. I’ll try to persuade the Department Manager on that.”
“Yes! Thank you!”
Just then.
“Good morning!”
Assistant Manager Kim Gyeong-il and Ha Yeon-doo walked in.
I raised my hand and motioned to Assistant Manager Kim.
“Assistant Manager Kim! Come see me for a moment.”
“Yes, Team Leader.”
“I read the PPT, and it was great. First, prepare an order for 60,000 units of the Koreco snack, 300g, and 6,000 bags of Stipple coffee beans.”
“Understood.”
“And one more thing!”
I took out the corporate card from my pocket and placed it on the desk.
“Take Section Chief Ma to the sauna, have a wash, and enjoy a banana milk. Actually, rest a bit and the two of you have lunch together before coming back.”
“That’s not necessary.”
As Assistant Manager Kim Gyeong-il politely refused, Section Chief Ma quickly reached out his hand. He grabbed the card and bowed his head.
“Yes! Thank you!”
“Section Chief!”
“What are you doing, let’s hurry up and go. When a superior gives you a reward, you’re supposed to take it quickly. Isn’t that right, Team Leader?”
“Yes. Hurry and go before I change my mind.”
Ha Yeon-doo, who woke up early to help the grandmother.
Section Chief Ma, who pulled an all-nighter drinking and doing sales even though he can’t hold his liquor.
Assistant Manager Kim, who prepared things cleanly and meticulously.
Everyone achieved results in their own way.
“Team Leader Won, is something good happening?”
Kim Tae-ha, I didn’t see him come in, peeked his head over the partition.
“I have lots of good things happening.”
“What is it? Let me be happy too!”
“I’ll tell you later. But why?”
“Oh, where’s my head. This was missing from the list I sent to Woo-jin.”
Kim Tae-ha held out a file folder.
“What is it?”
“Our Team’s Section Chief Park secured this to use for the time event. You can drop it if you don’t like it.”
I sat down and checked the document Kim Tae-ha handed me.
A vintage-designed 3.9L air fryer.
It was an unfamiliar brand I’d never heard of.
But the product design perfectly matched the current trend.
I leaned over the partition and whispered to Kim Tae-ha.
“Where is this from?”
“Germany… Good design, right?”
“Yeah. Just based on the image, it looks good. What are the product specs?”
“I’ll send them when I get them. Did you see the supply price?”
I hadn’t looked properly, only focusing on the design.
“No.”
“Your impatient nature hasn’t changed, has it?”
“Hmph, look who’s talking. How much is it?”
“6,300 won. What do you think? It’s a huge deal, right?”
A domestic 3.9L air fryer product would typically have a consumer price of 30,000 to 50,000 won.
The supply price would be around 20,000 to 30,000 won.
My eyes widened in surprise at the unbelievable supply price, and I asked back.
“It’s 3.9L?”
“It is.”
“Why is it so cheap?”
“They said it took six months for customs clearance.”
“Six months?”
“Yeah. The German headquarters is in an uproar. Their Korean promotion is next month, but they forgot to follow up on the marketing schedule that had to be done in advance. So they’re currently dumping all of it for marketing purposes. 6,300 won isn’t the manufacturing cost; it’s just the customs and container fees.”
“Then what’s the consumer price?”
“It’s a little over 100,000 won.”
Sometimes, like now, goods that get delayed in customs for a long time end up in a difficult situation.
This is the kind of deal you’re lucky to catch once a year…
“Samples?”
“Section Chief Park is bringing them tomorrow. Buy me and Section Chief Park a nice drink on Friday.”
“Name whatever you want to eat. I’ll buy you anything.”
With this, a total of 7 out of 12 products were confirmed.
In just one day…
I felt it was really good that I came here.
If this were back at One Small, it would have taken a week to secure 12 products.
Because I handled product sourcing, distribution, sales, marketing, and even product page design all by myself.
But now it’s different.
I have trustworthy team members and a friend working with me.
The feeling of working together was a new emotion I hadn’t experienced before.
I wrote the product names, consumer prices, and supply prices into the Excel document and hit the print button.
“…”
Department Manager Cha Gi-young said nothing even after looking at the printed document.
But his expression said it all.
A look that asked how I prepared so much in just one day.
He looked at the document for a long time, swallowed dryly, and slowly opened his mouth.
“Good work. I’ll see if I can get the other five items from other teams.”
“No, we’ll finish it.”
“No, the Special Sales Team should focus more on event planning. The Marketing Team is busy getting ready for the launch, so I’m just trying to help out. Got it?”
Was he trying to share the credit with other MD teams?
Or was he trying to ruin the event with absurd products?
I know Department Manager Cha Gi-young, who came from Chain Market, well.
I couldn’t trust him 100% in either case.
“What about the budget?”
“The 1.2 billion won has been approved, as is.”
“Understood. Then we will prepare backup items.”
“Team Leader Won, don’t you trust me? I’ve been in this business for years.”
“Where is there 100% certainty in the world? One of these seven items might get dropped, you know.”
“Well, then do as you see fit.”
Department Manager Cha replied dismissively.
I returned to my seat and called Kim Dae-seong and Lee Woo-jin.
“Dae-seong, did you secure all the cold storage space?”
“Yes. The existing frozen foods have all been stacked on the opposite side.”
“You did that yourself?”
“Yes. All I have is strength, after all. Hahaha.”
“Ah… Next time, don’t do that. Just tell the Logistics Team.”
“Understood.”
“Woo-jin.”
“Yes?”
“Did you see any usable products from the lists that came from other teams?”
“Not really…”
“You think the same way I do. Alright.”
I put on the coat hanging on the rack.
And I called out the name of the person who was staring intently at me.
“Yeon-doo, let’s go! We’ll be eating out at a meeting, so Dae-seong and Woo-jin, the two of you have lunch together.”
Ha Yeon-doo quickly hugged her diary tightly to her chest and followed closely behind me.
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